I did pay attention. It is one thing to get net positive energy in an experiment, and another thing to capture that energy and to sustain the reaction in a feasible way.
I would argue in favor of this experiment for the possible interesting scientific results, but by trying to market it as a viable power plant before 2020 they are turning it into a scam.
They didn't have much credibility to start with, and turning to crowdfunding only makes it worse.
It is not a mass market product with quick deliverables, it is an industrial solution. So the natural financing source would be venture capital, rather than crowdfunding. If they have to turn to indiegogo, it can only mean they failed to convince anyone relevant and are desperately trying to ride the "fusion is cool" fans, and disappoint them in the process.
As much as I would love to see fusion plants soon, it looks like this is not the company that will deliver them.
Maybe the producer's preferences are a factor, but I believe these two are more important:
1) Google ranks videos higher and displays them more prominently in their regular web search, plus you come up in video search on Google, YouTube and possibly elsewhere.
2) Some people, for whatever reason, perceive reading as "hard", "boring", or "work", and prefer to watch videos for all their non-work information needs, even if those are just talking heads. I cannot understand it, but apparently this is a real phenomenon.
I believe the producers are just acting rationally to get the word out. I wish they at least provided a transcript more often.
In possibly related news, Russia is building their own Internet! With central control! And domestic payment system! And in fact, screw the whole "inter" thing...
I wish that every launch was a success, and that humanity expanded into space faster. But the recent issues come just in time to help SpaceX win the much needed first contracts. They only need to finish their man rating and first stage return, and they are golden.
I think your sarcasm is not entirely fair. Several governments and private companies now estimate this at 15-20 years away. It is still not tomorrow, but it is less than 30 years. For instance, SpaceX work on reusable rockets, powered landing and Mars Colonial Transporter looks promising.
Do you think NASA could consider/design a Voyager-like mission with a much higher speed, using three-body chaotic gravity assist method, like this article (pdf) suggests?
Basically, it involves capturing an asteroid in a mutual rotation with the probe, then entering solar gravity assist trajectory with this binary object, then making small adjustments at the right times, so that the probe gets an even bigger kinetic energy boost at the cost of the asteroid losing its energy and falling into the Sun. Maybe there are asteroids or comets with close-to-required orbit where we could take a ride.
To a layman like me, this, while hard, sounds like the most realistic method for reaching speeds relevant for interstellar travel with our current technology. Rosetta spacecraft did perform a successful rendezvous with a comet recently, which looks like a solid stepping stone for a mission like this.
Once again, the "abolishing" did not happen. Imagine people who felt that Ukrainian unity and sovereignty was under threat from that law, people who felt repressed by the previous administration and promised to their voters to fight. I am not advocating one way or another, but I understand why they tried to revoke that law. I'm also glad that they managed to moderate themselves.
I also don't want to delve into whether Crimea was a "gift". In any case, Russia recognized Ukrainian borders in the 90s, and even promised to protect them. And now we have an aggressive takeover.
It is sad to see how some people support revising of historical borders using military force. If this becomes popular, the world will be a very violent place. There are so many regions that changed owners throughout history.
Yes, OSCE refused to take any part in this circus, because the poll was illegal under Ukrainian law and was conducted under "protection" of Russian armed forces posing as local militia.
First, any public poll with close to 90% outcome should be suspect.
There are 10% Crimean Tatar and 25% Ukrainian nationals in the Crimea, that makes Putin's figures unbelievable.
And even people who identify with Russia do not necessarily all want to actually join it under Putin's regime.
So, even though there are no proofs for this story and you are right to doubt it, too, you should doubt the official results more.
Also, regardless of any poll results, the poll was illegal under Ukrainian law, and you cannot legally come to another country, conduct a regional poll, and take a part of the territory.
Modded insightful by other "Russian World" enthusiasts, apparently.
Ukrainian new unelected leadership is more like Hitler.
Putin's annexation of Crimea repeats Hitler's early annexations one for one, including the "referendum" part.
"Right Sector", the hardcore right-wing faction, is low in head count and public support (1-3%) and has zero representation in the current government. The more moderate but still nationalist-driven "Svoboda" has about 5% support and also not much power. The rest are normal politicians by Western standards.
The current government was temporarily appointed by the parliament, which was the single possible solution after the previous president had failed to suppress the protests and fled the country. A real election is scheduled on May 25, and Russia is trying hard to prevent it in order to prolong the current suspended state.
No-one was "abolishing equal rights". There was a move to revoke a controversial language law introduced by the previous administration, but the temporary president (whom you criticize) has blocked the move, demanding that a new, better version of the law should be negotiated and accepted by the parliament first.
There have been many sci-fi novels about virtual worlds and their economy, and they inspire a lot of people. I have spoken to people eager to "relocate" into virtual reality with most of their business and even personal life. I guess it's because virtual worlds simplify or ignore many boring details of life.
Even the current, far from perfect, simulations like Second Life, WoW or Lineage have so many fans that it shows the potential for adoption.
If Facebook and other vendors make it right, it can be a smooth continuum of shades of VR, from games, through virtual art galleries, shows and meeting places (like Second Life or Minecraft), and to 3D chat and augmented reality.
I haven't seen a way to use BASIC- in the way it was originally conceived - in 25 years.
To be fair, a lot of people were still using VB6 for Windows frontend programming as recently as 10 years ago. Now it looks like it is finally dying off, although I'm pretty sure a lot of legacy projects are still in use.
The whole thing reminded me of a fashion model interview in Bruno:
Modelling, a lot of people think it's easy.
But it's the hardest job in the world, isn't it?
It's very hard. Standing in heels all day,
and everyone's watching you,
so you have to make sure your walk is good.
And, yeah.
Yeah, it's really hard,
'cause you've gotta remember, like,
to put your right leg forward
and then put your left leg forward
and then, like, which one now?
Right leg again, and then, like, the left one.
And then sometimes you even have to turn.
Yeah. And especially the turn. It's so scary.
I think we have several technologies (some ready, some getting there) which could gradually make this realistic in more areas:
- passenger apps for route planning and cab calling
- smart traffic scheduling/dispatching systems
- self-driving cars
Slashdot Mirror
I did pay attention. It is one thing to get net positive energy in an experiment, and another thing to capture that energy and to sustain the reaction in a feasible way.
I would argue in favor of this experiment for the possible interesting scientific results, but by trying to market it as a viable power plant before 2020 they are turning it into a scam.
Not if they really had made their case.
Are you going to invoke the oil industry conspiracy, too?
They didn't have much credibility to start with, and turning to crowdfunding only makes it worse.
It is not a mass market product with quick deliverables, it is an industrial solution. So the natural financing source would be venture capital, rather than crowdfunding. If they have to turn to indiegogo, it can only mean they failed to convince anyone relevant and are desperately trying to ride the "fusion is cool" fans, and disappoint them in the process.
As much as I would love to see fusion plants soon, it looks like this is not the company that will deliver them.
Maybe the producer's preferences are a factor, but I believe these two are more important:
1) Google ranks videos higher and displays them more prominently in their regular web search, plus you come up in video search on Google, YouTube and possibly elsewhere.
2) Some people, for whatever reason, perceive reading as "hard", "boring", or "work", and prefer to watch videos for all their non-work information needs, even if those are just talking heads. I cannot understand it, but apparently this is a real phenomenon.
I believe the producers are just acting rationally to get the word out. I wish they at least provided a transcript more often.
In possibly related news, Russia is building their own Internet! With central control! And domestic payment system! And in fact, screw the whole "inter" thing...
Under a heart-warming name "Cheburashka".
Not sure if this is directly related to the 28% Cisco orders decrease.
Why does NSA have to do this? Can't they just order Cisco to install this in their factory?
Or did they co-operate in this way to prevent whistle-blowing or counterintelligence at the factory?
In any case, I doubt Cisco didn't know about this. They are probably trying to save their face after a third party uncovered this.
Wealthy guys love extreme submarines
...because jets are so 20th century, no-one will take you seriously.
I find NoScript extension convenient.
I wish that every launch was a success, and that humanity expanded into space faster. But the recent issues come just in time to help SpaceX win the much needed first contracts. They only need to finish their man rating and first stage return, and they are golden.
Also William Zinsser, On Writing Well.
I think your sarcasm is not entirely fair. Several governments and private companies now estimate this at 15-20 years away. It is still not tomorrow, but it is less than 30 years. For instance, SpaceX work on reusable rockets, powered landing and Mars Colonial Transporter looks promising.
Do you think NASA could consider/design a Voyager-like mission with a much higher speed, using three-body chaotic gravity assist method, like this article (pdf) suggests?
Basically, it involves capturing an asteroid in a mutual rotation with the probe, then entering solar gravity assist trajectory with this binary object, then making small adjustments at the right times, so that the probe gets an even bigger kinetic energy boost at the cost of the asteroid losing its energy and falling into the Sun. Maybe there are asteroids or comets with close-to-required orbit where we could take a ride.
To a layman like me, this, while hard, sounds like the most realistic method for reaching speeds relevant for interstellar travel with our current technology. Rosetta spacecraft did perform a successful rendezvous with a comet recently, which looks like a solid stepping stone for a mission like this.
Once again, the "abolishing" did not happen. Imagine people who felt that Ukrainian unity and sovereignty was under threat from that law, people who felt repressed by the previous administration and promised to their voters to fight. I am not advocating one way or another, but I understand why they tried to revoke that law. I'm also glad that they managed to moderate themselves.
I also don't want to delve into whether Crimea was a "gift". In any case, Russia recognized Ukrainian borders in the 90s, and even promised to protect them. And now we have an aggressive takeover.
It is sad to see how some people support revising of historical borders using military force. If this becomes popular, the world will be a very violent place. There are so many regions that changed owners throughout history.
Yes, OSCE refused to take any part in this circus, because the poll was illegal under Ukrainian law and was conducted under "protection" of Russian armed forces posing as local militia.
While I do believe that these figures are closer to reality, but given a complete lack of evidence, I agree this "leak" is not very useful.
First, any public poll with close to 90% outcome should be suspect.
There are 10% Crimean Tatar and 25% Ukrainian nationals in the Crimea, that makes Putin's figures unbelievable.
And even people who identify with Russia do not necessarily all want to actually join it under Putin's regime.
So, even though there are no proofs for this story and you are right to doubt it, too, you should doubt the official results more.
Also, regardless of any poll results, the poll was illegal under Ukrainian law, and you cannot legally come to another country, conduct a regional poll, and take a part of the territory.
Modded insightful by other "Russian World" enthusiasts, apparently.
Ukrainian new unelected leadership is more like Hitler.
Putin's annexation of Crimea repeats Hitler's early annexations one for one, including the "referendum" part.
"Right Sector", the hardcore right-wing faction, is low in head count and public support (1-3%) and has zero representation in the current government. The more moderate but still nationalist-driven "Svoboda" has about 5% support and also not much power. The rest are normal politicians by Western standards.
The current government was temporarily appointed by the parliament, which was the single possible solution after the previous president had failed to suppress the protests and fled the country. A real election is scheduled on May 25, and Russia is trying hard to prevent it in order to prolong the current suspended state.
No-one was "abolishing equal rights". There was a move to revoke a controversial language law introduced by the previous administration, but the temporary president (whom you criticize) has blocked the move, demanding that a new, better version of the law should be negotiated and accepted by the parliament first.
Please stop trolling here.
There have been many sci-fi novels about virtual worlds and their economy, and they inspire a lot of people. I have spoken to people eager to "relocate" into virtual reality with most of their business and even personal life. I guess it's because virtual worlds simplify or ignore many boring details of life.
Even the current, far from perfect, simulations like Second Life, WoW or Lineage have so many fans that it shows the potential for adoption.
If Facebook and other vendors make it right, it can be a smooth continuum of shades of VR, from games, through virtual art galleries, shows and meeting places (like Second Life or Minecraft), and to 3D chat and augmented reality.
And of course porn.
I hope it gets broader adoption than Kinect or those Wii sports novelties.
Maybe they can use VR to help Slashdot editors visualize the summaries. Or the crowds of disappointed readers.
I haven't seen a way to use BASIC- in the way it was originally conceived - in 25 years.
To be fair, a lot of people were still using VB6 for Windows frontend programming as recently as 10 years ago. Now it looks like it is finally dying off, although I'm pretty sure a lot of legacy projects are still in use.
One has to be prepared.
Modelling, a lot of people think it's easy. But it's the hardest job in the world, isn't it?
It's very hard. Standing in heels all day, and everyone's watching you, so you have to make sure your walk is good.
And, yeah. Yeah, it's really hard, 'cause you've gotta remember, like, to put your right leg forward and then put your left leg forward and then, like, which one now? Right leg again, and then, like, the left one.
And then sometimes you even have to turn. Yeah. And especially the turn. It's so scary.
How many of them are happy?
I think we have several technologies (some ready, some getting there) which could gradually make this realistic in more areas:
- passenger apps for route planning and cab calling
- smart traffic scheduling/dispatching systems
- self-driving cars