For specific kinds of applications, yes, there is demand. DARPA is interested in this, because electronics use, and there fore electricity use, by the military has expanded tremendously, even in remote locations. A diesel generator has to receive a constant supply of fuel. This is very expensive and inconvenient on the top of a mountain in Afghanistan. A solar power receiving station doesn't. The power supply is invulnerable to attack. The receiving station doesn't make constant noise. In such contexts, power delivered at rates an order of magnitude higher than commercial generation is very competitive.
It's expensive like hell, sure, but it would start delivering energy long before it's completed and its goals are way more ambitious than this flying solar panel's! Think no more unrenewable energy, no more CO2, no more pollutants (sulphur, heavy metals etc.) from coal plants, no more soil erosion due to dams, no more gas or oil (yeah, in italy they have plenty of those) power plants. Only a few windfarms and perhaps the French nuclear plants to iron out the energy needs during night time.
Don't tell me the USA has a lack of sun and deserts.
Aren't you forgetting that what you want is every bit as important as what she wants?
If what I want jeopardizes my family's (and ultimately, my own) happiness, then no, my wants are not my priority. I believe that if you are not ready to put your family's wants and needs before your own, you are not ready to be a father, either.
I thought a bit more about your post, and realized that it makes even less sense than I thought initially. And the reason is: even in imperial units, you end up using metric subdivisions. Example: the median distance between the Sun and the Earth is 92.58 MILLION MILES. Note the decimal point. Note the millions. You could also say 92.58 mega miles. So, all those fancy-ass 16ths and 12ths went right out the window. No use for them.
But, let's look into the sub-inch world, and I don't mean 1/32th of an inch, I mean smaller. What do you guys use? Oh, that's right, you use MILS! Yep, one mil is 1/1000 of an inch. For a nation that hates the metric system, you sure are a bit inconsistent, huh?
And when it comes to even smaller sizes, not only do you give up on fancy 12ths - you are forced to forgo the beloved inches, feet, yards and miles altogether: the micro, nano and picometers reign supreme and undisputed. (BTW, same goes for volume and mass).
If you're dividing meters into centimeters, you can really only talk about tenths, hundreds, etc. If you're dividing yards into feet and inches, or pounds into ounces, etc. you have thirds, 16ths, 12ths, and all kinds of other useful fractions to use to think about the divisions.
And that would be an advantage for the imperial system? Really? Having to keep in mind always different fractions, instead of just 1000 (as in kilo, mega, giga... and milli, micro, nano, pico...)?
Well, the Nazis have, in my opinion, shot themselves in the foot with their "Final solution": they wanted to exterminate all Jews, but many of the most prominent scientists and engineers were Jews. And in fact, the Nazi propaganda machine has put the "Jewish science" in its crosshairs. This was mainly the "newfangled" quantum physics and related disciplines. Even though they had Leo Szilárd in Berlin, who discovered the nuclear chain reaction, because of the persecution of Jews, he fled to London. Thus, Nazi's Germany lost a huge leg-up to the Allied forces in the development of the nuclear bomb. Let me state this again: Germany had THE best physicists between the two world wars; it was a powerhouse in physics, especially atomic physics. They were in the lead, they had the scientists, the laboratories and the academic structure in place. But they threw it all away by killing or persecuting a sizable part of these scientists. They gave this huge advantage to the Allies, specifically to the US. Sure, the US had to build up all what Germany had pretty much from scratch, but where there is a will there is a way.
What would have happened had Hitler developed and built the atomic bomb before the end of the war? I submit to you that it would have had a very important strategic advantage: a nuclear explosion in London would have almost certainly achieved an armistice on the Western front. And this doesn't even take into consideration all the other benefits that the Nazis would have had from all the Jewish scientists, engineers and physicians/surgeons. And it also doesn't take into consideration the benefit of not having forces and resources tied down in the pursuit of the "final solution". With their obsession of exterminating Jews, Germany may very well have lost the war on that account.
As for SAF: I see what you mean, but with a baby on the way, I'm starting to be more "mature" about things, myself, and am starting to think that having a synth rack *both* in the living room *and* in the bedroom maybe isn't such a great idea after all. I.E., I'm starting to change and anticipate my spouse's wants and priorities before she voices them.
Dude, that train has already left. Ahmadinejad is already going full-throttle on the UK and the US with allegations. Heck, they even kicked out the UK diplomats, even though the UK said NOTHING regarding the demonstrations. Obama, as mild as he was, was more vocal than Gordon Brown.
Most of the time, if you care for your family, that's the #1 factor in your decisions. Unless your ambition is one of those short-lived, Hollywood marriages.
The artificial "tree" is projected to remove as much CO2 per day as 25194 real trees.
Am I the only one who smells bullshit, in this statement?
You mean to tell me that someone came up with this particular figure, 25194 "real trees", and wasn't laughing his own ass off? And what kind of tree is a "real tree"? Is it an oak? A pine? An eucalyptus? At which stage of development of said tree is this "a real tree"? Which season?
Isn't it ridiculous that the post was modded "informative" although it contains no information whatsoever, except for a number clearly pulled out of someone's ass.
This isn't true, from here [projectorcentral.com]: "The primary advantage of this format is a low manufacturing cost. Since HD-DVD media is so technically similar to standard DVD media (it uses the same layer thicknesses as DVD, made of similar materials), the discs can be produced with only a slight modification to existing manufacturing lines. " "This technology comes with a significant price. Manufacturing Blu-Ray discs requires significant costs in updating DVD fabrication equipment, and would be a sharp manufacturer cost increase over HD-DVD."
Do you really believe that the price of a movie, be it on Blu-ray, HD-DVD or standard DVD has anything at all to do with the price of the media? We're talking less than 10% of the movie price, here. The fact that a HD-DVD media is/would be 10 cents cheaper than a Blu-ray one, doesn't make a lick of a difference.
It depends strongly on blade rotation speed. The larger windmills are rotating slower, and the tendency is towards larger and slower windmills anyway. These present very little danger for birds. Basically, the tips of the blades (the outer perimeter) may still be dangerous, but it is unlikely that a bird would fly exactly there.
That said, the vertical axis, multiple-helix wind turbines are very promising, and completely harmless to birds.
Would this apply even if your ringtone is an illegally downloaded MP3 (like with my, uh, friend's phone)? It's kind of Al Capone having to pay taxes on money he got from drug trafficking.
(Actually, strange as it may sound, in the US one is supposed to pay taxes on illegitimately acquired income)
The way I see it, one should care: the end of the war was dictated by realities on the war front. The survival in the largest concentration camps was between 3 and 6 months (it was nearly impossible to survive longer than that. Just the winter roll-calls would be a murdering device all in itself). If the Nazis had a less efficient method of keeping track of the population, they would have picked up the Jews somewhat (it's debatable how much, but probably by a considerable amount) slower than they in fact did, allowing for more survivors by the end of the war. We are talking about law abiding, fully innocent civilians here.
This is my point of view, feel free to dsimiss it.
Instead, they tend to see things more like this: "I cut our expenses by x%. I want a bonus. Now let me find another place to work before this decision catches up with me."
Exactly. And that's what corporate psychopaths do. And psychopaths are great at angling their way into executive positions, so this kind of behavior is extremely common, especially in the murky world of publicly traded companies, where ultimate responsibility doesn't exist (except on paper "to the shareholders", who don't see jack of what's really going on).
Obama's economists decided that they need to spend their way out of this recession, and even though Orion would not pass muster by my bang-for-buck standards, it's not the worst way to spend money if spending money is what you're trying to do.
Of course we could do better: We could dream big like JFK and (for the first time since the 60's) try something truly ambitious and expensive. As Americans, it's time we finally accomplish something! Ever since we lost the Vietnam war, we've been complete pussies about big projects. (It doesn't help that when we do try we fail miserably, like when we try to impose Western democracy to Iraq) As far as I can tell, the largest public project recently was the Big Dig in Boston. We can't even rebuild Ground Zero. We act like a country who lost faith in ourselves, in a time when it's very important that the rest of the world has faith in us (and our currency).
Mod parent up: sat phones, while expensive, are the perfect tool for this (and a few other) job. Unless the Ayatollah puts a fine-grained Faraday cage all over Iran, there is no way to stop or trace satellite phone communications by the Iran regime.
What does he think, who and what is responsible for most of the scientific books in libraries? I like libraries, too, but I also like institutions of higher education, as well as the Internet.
I only dislike pompous second-rate sci-fi writers whose only reason for fame is striking a populist cord in his overrated novels. And I don't like Fahrenheit 451 - what an overrated piece of crap.
Slashdot Mirror
For specific kinds of applications, yes, there is demand. DARPA is interested in this, because electronics use, and there fore electricity use, by the military has expanded tremendously, even in remote locations. A diesel generator has to receive a constant supply of fuel. This is very expensive and inconvenient on the top of a mountain in Afghanistan. A solar power receiving station doesn't. The power supply is invulnerable to attack. The receiving station doesn't make constant noise. In such contexts, power delivered at rates an order of magnitude higher than commercial generation is very competitive.
Invulnerable, huh?
So, the gigantic effort to put this solar plant into orbit will create... 200MW of power?
Contrast to this: 0.3% of the Sahara could power the whole of Europe
It's expensive like hell, sure, but it would start delivering energy long before it's completed and its goals are way more ambitious than this flying solar panel's! Think no more unrenewable energy, no more CO2, no more pollutants (sulphur, heavy metals etc.) from coal plants, no more soil erosion due to dams, no more gas or oil (yeah, in italy they have plenty of those) power plants. Only a few windfarms and perhaps the French nuclear plants to iron out the energy needs during night time.
Don't tell me the USA has a lack of sun and deserts.
Aren't you forgetting that what you want is every bit as important as what she wants?
If what I want jeopardizes my family's (and ultimately, my own) happiness, then no, my wants are not my priority. I believe that if you are not ready to put your family's wants and needs before your own, you are not ready to be a father, either.
Oh. You mean *that*! I get it...
BTW, I am very enthusiastic when it comes to my spousal duties in that department. You know, everything to please my missus.
Fahrenheit is a wonderfully human temperature scale. Over 100 is Way Too Damn Hot, and under 0 is Way Too Damn Cold. I like that.
That turns out to be just as true if you replace Fahrenheit with Celsius. :o)
I thought a bit more about your post, and realized that it makes even less sense than I thought initially. And the reason is: even in imperial units, you end up using metric subdivisions. Example: the median distance between the Sun and the Earth is 92.58 MILLION MILES. Note the decimal point. Note the millions. You could also say 92.58 mega miles. So, all those fancy-ass 16ths and 12ths went right out the window. No use for them.
But, let's look into the sub-inch world, and I don't mean 1/32th of an inch, I mean smaller. What do you guys use? Oh, that's right, you use MILS! Yep, one mil is 1/1000 of an inch. For a nation that hates the metric system, you sure are a bit inconsistent, huh?
And when it comes to even smaller sizes, not only do you give up on fancy 12ths - you are forced to forgo the beloved inches, feet, yards and miles altogether: the micro, nano and picometers reign supreme and undisputed. (BTW, same goes for volume and mass).
If you're dividing meters into centimeters, you can really only talk about tenths, hundreds, etc. If you're dividing yards into feet and inches, or pounds into ounces, etc. you have thirds, 16ths, 12ths, and all kinds of other useful fractions to use to think about the divisions.
And that would be an advantage for the imperial system? Really? Having to keep in mind always different fractions, instead of just 1000 (as in kilo, mega, giga... and milli, micro, nano, pico...)?
Well, the Nazis have, in my opinion, shot themselves in the foot with their "Final solution": they wanted to exterminate all Jews, but many of the most prominent scientists and engineers were Jews. And in fact, the Nazi propaganda machine has put the "Jewish science" in its crosshairs. This was mainly the "newfangled" quantum physics and related disciplines. Even though they had Leo Szilárd in Berlin, who discovered the nuclear chain reaction, because of the persecution of Jews, he fled to London. Thus, Nazi's Germany lost a huge leg-up to the Allied forces in the development of the nuclear bomb. Let me state this again: Germany had THE best physicists between the two world wars; it was a powerhouse in physics, especially atomic physics. They were in the lead, they had the scientists, the laboratories and the academic structure in place. But they threw it all away by killing or persecuting a sizable part of these scientists. They gave this huge advantage to the Allies, specifically to the US. Sure, the US had to build up all what Germany had pretty much from scratch, but where there is a will there is a way.
What would have happened had Hitler developed and built the atomic bomb before the end of the war? I submit to you that it would have had a very important strategic advantage: a nuclear explosion in London would have almost certainly achieved an armistice on the Western front. And this doesn't even take into consideration all the other benefits that the Nazis would have had from all the Jewish scientists, engineers and physicians/surgeons. And it also doesn't take into consideration the benefit of not having forces and resources tied down in the pursuit of the "final solution". With their obsession of exterminating Jews, Germany may very well have lost the war on that account.
Our TV/Radio has some rules about a certain amount of Canadian content.
Does that mean that you get to watch this gem often?
Hahahah, your wife reminds me a lot of mine.
As for SAF: I see what you mean, but with a baby on the way, I'm starting to be more "mature" about things, myself, and am starting to think that having a synth rack *both* in the living room *and* in the bedroom maybe isn't such a great idea after all. I.E., I'm starting to change and anticipate my spouse's wants and priorities before she voices them.
Dude, that train has already left. Ahmadinejad is already going full-throttle on the UK and the US with allegations. Heck, they even kicked out the UK diplomats, even though the UK said NOTHING regarding the demonstrations. Obama, as mild as he was, was more vocal than Gordon Brown.
Most of the time, if you care for your family, that's the #1 factor in your decisions. Unless your ambition is one of those short-lived, Hollywood marriages.
The Iranian govt. already accuses the US and the UK of inciting violence and revolt in Iran. There's nothing to fix.
The artificial "tree" is projected to remove as much CO2 per day as 25194 real trees.
Am I the only one who smells bullshit, in this statement?
You mean to tell me that someone came up with this particular figure, 25194 "real trees", and wasn't laughing his own ass off? And what kind of tree is a "real tree"? Is it an oak? A pine? An eucalyptus? At which stage of development of said tree is this "a real tree"? Which season?
Isn't it ridiculous that the post was modded "informative" although it contains no information whatsoever, except for a number clearly pulled out of someone's ass.
This isn't true, from here [projectorcentral.com]:
"The primary advantage of this format is a low manufacturing cost. Since HD-DVD media is so technically similar to standard DVD media (it uses the same layer thicknesses as DVD, made of similar materials), the discs can be produced with only a slight modification to existing manufacturing lines. "
"This technology comes with a significant price. Manufacturing Blu-Ray discs requires significant costs in updating DVD fabrication equipment, and would be a sharp manufacturer cost increase over HD-DVD."
Do you really believe that the price of a movie, be it on Blu-ray, HD-DVD or standard DVD has anything at all to do with the price of the media? We're talking less than 10% of the movie price, here. The fact that a HD-DVD media is/would be 10 cents cheaper than a Blu-ray one, doesn't make a lick of a difference.
You have a wrong website for Pacwind: try pacwind.NET
It depends strongly on blade rotation speed. The larger windmills are rotating slower, and the tendency is towards larger and slower windmills anyway. These present very little danger for birds. Basically, the tips of the blades (the outer perimeter) may still be dangerous, but it is unlikely that a bird would fly exactly there.
That said, the vertical axis, multiple-helix wind turbines are very promising, and completely harmless to birds.
Would this apply even if your ringtone is an illegally downloaded MP3 (like with my, uh, friend's phone)? It's kind of Al Capone having to pay taxes on money he got from drug trafficking.
(Actually, strange as it may sound, in the US one is supposed to pay taxes on illegitimately acquired income)
The way I see it, one should care: the end of the war was dictated by realities on the war front. The survival in the largest concentration camps was between 3 and 6 months (it was nearly impossible to survive longer than that. Just the winter roll-calls would be a murdering device all in itself). If the Nazis had a less efficient method of keeping track of the population, they would have picked up the Jews somewhat (it's debatable how much, but probably by a considerable amount) slower than they in fact did, allowing for more survivors by the end of the war. We are talking about law abiding, fully innocent civilians here.
This is my point of view, feel free to dsimiss it.
Instead, they tend to see things more like this: "I cut our expenses by x%. I want a bonus. Now let me find another place to work before this decision catches up with me."
Exactly. And that's what corporate psychopaths do. And psychopaths are great at angling their way into executive positions, so this kind of behavior is extremely common, especially in the murky world of publicly traded companies, where ultimate responsibility doesn't exist (except on paper "to the shareholders", who don't see jack of what's really going on).
If those floppies were used with DOS/Windows, you should be able to read them with most 1.44MB floppy drives, still easily available today.
Obama's economists decided that they need to spend their way out of this recession, and even though Orion would not pass muster by my bang-for-buck standards, it's not the worst way to spend money if spending money is what you're trying to do.
Of course we could do better: We could dream big like JFK and (for the first time since the 60's) try something truly ambitious and expensive. As Americans, it's time we finally accomplish something! Ever since we lost the Vietnam war, we've been complete pussies about big projects. (It doesn't help that when we do try we fail miserably, like when we try to impose Western democracy to Iraq) As far as I can tell, the largest public project recently was the Big Dig in Boston. We can't even rebuild Ground Zero. We act like a country who lost faith in ourselves, in a time when it's very important that the rest of the world has faith in us (and our currency).
I am with you, 100%
Mod parent up: sat phones, while expensive, are the perfect tool for this (and a few other) job. Unless the Ayatollah puts a fine-grained Faraday cage all over Iran, there is no way to stop or trace satellite phone communications by the Iran regime.
What does he think, who and what is responsible for most of the scientific books in libraries? I like libraries, too, but I also like institutions of higher education, as well as the Internet.
I only dislike pompous second-rate sci-fi writers whose only reason for fame is striking a populist cord in his overrated novels. And I don't like Fahrenheit 451 - what an overrated piece of crap.
Yeah, and the concert should be called "Fuck the RIAA-benefit".