Burning the dirtiest form of coal in the oldest, dirtiest coal-fired power plants is STILL more efficient than every single person burning gasoline in their tiny engines (I don't care how big your motor is, it is tiny compared to a power plant of any size).
In all fairness, we might (notice the attention I give to that word) be closer to such explorations than anyone thinks.
While we're certainly decades if not centuries away from being able to physically travel even as close as Titan, "Quantum Entanglement" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spooky_action) might allow for instantaneous communication across distance.
That would allow, with current technology, robotic probes possessing human levels of sophistication because it would alleviate the need for advanced Artificial Intelligence. Specifically, being able to communicate over any distance instantaneously without lag would allow for human beings to remotely control such probes with human levels of intellect (and our ability quickly adapt to changing situations).
Much like the multi-decade "Voyager" probe missions, a craft could be built with the idea of being self-powered with a compliment of robotic crew controlled by humans on Earth. In simple eight hour shifts, the robotic crew would simply be passed between different shifts of humans in simulators on Earth.
Of course, this is all dependent on if "Faster than light" communication is possible at all, in any capacity, which I admit is very much in the air.
Except that ships have a fixed (and not very large) supply of missiles, but do have lots and lots of electricity for lasers.
Very famous legend among those that are unfamiliar with modern naval military. Ships have EXTREMELY limited supply of elictricity in combat, so low that US Navy toyed with idea of supplying zumwalt-class with a nuke power plant. In fact, one of the major issues with zumwalt has been supplying it with enough electricity in combat, as their new SPY-3 radar on full power used too much power to keep all other ship systems powered at the same time in the initial design (according to very persistent rumors and jane's analysts in their weekly).
Why? Modern fire control radar eats several megawatts each ALONE and that is going up as their capabilities keep on increasing. There was a nice article on the issue on navy's own.mil website (you can probably find link to it by browsing my post history, I had to bring it up when same system was "successful" at shooting down a drone and we had a similar discussion on slashdot. It's about a year old.)
Long story short, every megawatt counts even on a cruiser. Destroyers, or even corvettes? Forget about even thinking of installing high energy weapon systems, they barely have enough to power all of their low energy kinetic and missile weapons and their support systems when radars are in full power mode in a combat situation.
If you don't mind me jumping in to this discussion, I've been following research on a completely different subject that, coincidentally, might tie directly into your ideas.
Right. Individual citizens don't get government funding. Try again.
As long as they don't accept Socialist Security or Medicare, anyway.
--begin sarcasm -- But you're right, "self starters" all of them. --end sarcasm--
Getting back to reality, YOU have to pay for "Planned Parenthood" just like I have to pay for roads I don't use and schools I don't need (am not a child, nor do I have any children). That's because THIS IS THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, not "The United States of ArcherB"
Even if every person in a state was in favor of succession I doubt they could stand up to the federal government, which historically has had little reservation about attacking and incarcerating its own citizens.
Yes...it's called running a country (as opposed to a country club).
While in fact the Supreme Court really isn't all that conservative, people simply declare that because the small (gettin' smaller all the time in fact;) ) majority were nominated by Republican Presidents -- though I could also question just how "conservative" those Republican Presidents would be considered in this day and age of "the Constitution doesn't specifically have my name in it so I don't have to do anything I don't want!" thinking.
Now, up until this point, the right-wing has been getting everything they've wanted because up and until this point, the "Boundaries of Law" have been pushed by center-left causes by center-left (I refuse to call them liberals because, by my definition, they are VERY far away from "liberal" in their mindsets) politicians. Therefore the right has been able to count on the, in theory at least, center-right leaning court to keep the country in a right-leaning status.
But now we're starting to get into things that WERE considered center-right until the right-wing Republicans (not to be confused with sane Republicans) decided they could better get elected by turning tale and supporting the opposite simply to score cheap points.
Their decades old dependence on the Supreme Court to ultimately give them their way is quickly going to come to an end. Such as when the the center-left members of the Court, lead by Chief Justice John Roberts, form a majority opinion that the Healthcare Reform act is Constitutional -- heard it here first folks!
SpaceX has specifically said it's Dragon Spacecraft has a heat shield designed to withstand the increased speed that would exist from a return trip from Mars.
"The ablator, called PICA-X for short, was tested inside an arc jet laboratory at NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif.
"It's actually the most powerful stuff known to man. Dragon is capable of re-entering from a lunar velocity, or even a Mars velocity with the heat shield that it has," Musk said.
So the public don't like the law because they can get ratted out. The ISPs don't like the law either
Why is there this law again?
Because little children sometimes (surprise!) don't like to eat their vegetables.
I know it's "PC" to believe everything government does these days is aimed, solely, at "taking your toys away" but, believe it or not, there IS a reason why we are a society of laws and choose not to degenerate into a "Mad Max" like existence.
If you think the laws are wrong (or just stupid), then by all means, try and change the laws. But don't just sit on your ass and blame imaginary monsters ("guberment", conspiracies between "monied folk", etc.) for your ills.
Regenerative braking, by virtue of not being a method of implementing perpetual motion, is limited to generating less energy than is required to get the bus back up to the speed it was going before braking. So it won't extend the range at all, just avoid reducing the range too much in stop-start traffic.
>>>it's not like they are taking your money, out of your wallet.
No they are taking money out of the Chinese government's wallet (and other lenders like Saudi Arabia). The people who will eventually repay that money won't be us, but our children and grandchildren. Jefferson or maybe Madison (forget who) said it is immoral to borrow money from future generations, which is why they bent-over backwards to pay off the government debt as soon as possible. WE should do the same.
Current national debt == ~$130,000 per US home, plus another ~$90,000 in personal debt per home == a not rich country
“A national debt, if it is not excessive, will be to us a national blessing.” -- Alexander Hamilton
And considering how U.S. T-Bill auctions are practically "standing room" only...I don't buy the tales of doom and gloom by those who try and compare the finances of the United States to a two-bedroom household in Jersey.
Much like how the laws of physics break down on the quantum level (hence the putting together of Quantum Physics), "common sense" economic theory completely breaks down when you get to the level of National Government (especially one the size of the United States).
What about people like my father who collect scrap from their work (with employer approval?) He currently brings home removed cable and cut ends and throws them in a barrel.
Will he have to go get a special license just to sell the barrel of scrap copper he's been collecting?
Yeah--just you wait. My dad did the same thing. Damn copper thieves stole his barrels of copper about a year ago.
Apparently you're all for taking what doesn't belong to you, under the guise of "well everyone is doing it, I might as well."
It is nothing short of looting the public (yourself) at the expense of the public (yourself) with the government being the middle man whom you pay as a conscience clearing money launderer.
But hey, if that makes you Feel Better(tm)* then by all means tell yourself that.
*(TM) Two Party System, Republican/Democrat parties,
Oh spare me the martyrdom speech.
I've yet to meet anyone who "rails against the machine" who won't take one side or the other in lieu of whatever it is they, personally, think they deserve.
How ironic that these are usually the people moaning about "freedom"...the problem is it's always the freedom to get what they want.
But you go ahead..."vote your conscience"...15 will get you 20 "your conscience" always seems to settle at the candidate with the "R" after their name.
Difference between you and me? I admit I'm always going to vote "D" AND ensure the person with the "D" after their name EARNS my vote.
But, again, be my guest...if you are really a person of your word (and not just an embarrassed Republican...afraid to admit that all "third party" candidates ultimately end up with that "R" after their name) then vote Independent/Libertarian/whatever screwball "party" appears on your ballot underneath the "D"s and "R"s.
It worked out real good for us in '92 when old Ross helped put Clinton in the White House:)
I think the simplest way to describe the difference between liberals and conservatives and this pretty much is true irregardless of what your speaking of, BTW
Liberals are whores...but well paid whores...we don't just give our vote away without being paid handsomely for it in the way of Government Action.
Conservatives ARE NOT whores...simply sluts...they will simply give their vote to anyone who makes them feel all cuddly inside irregardless of the truth.
Make no mistake, whichever side you're on, you're going to get f$%ked...no question about it. The only choice you have is whether you actually get something out of the deal.
With that said...Democrat for life, thank you very much.
"Reprocessing nuclear fuel" isn't the language. "Producing nuclear weapons" is the language you're looking for. Refined spent nuclear fuel is weaponized nuclear material, regardless of use. Welcome to politics.
The United States has signed no such treaty to limit production of Nuclear Weapons.
During the Bush Administration, a treaty was proposed to eliminate the production of "Weapons Material", but it never came to anything.
There is nothing preventing us from reprocessing Nuclear Fuel except our own decisions not to do it (for the reasons I mentioned earlier-- cost, etc.)
Slashdot Mirror
Thanks to inflation, ten years from now the deficit will automatically be 25% LOWER than it is now.
Meaning, essentially, that in ten years time, $15 Trillion will be as hard to come by as $11.25 Trillion is today.
See, that's why no one cares about deficits until election time ;)
it's exactly the same problem as we have with current power plugs. the US will (eventually) have a standard and nobody in Europe will agree on one.
Which I think should make it clear for all time -- Democracy simply does NOT work.
The wisdom of the Founder's Representative Republic strikes again.
So what.
Burning the dirtiest form of coal in the oldest, dirtiest coal-fired power plants is STILL more efficient than every single person burning gasoline in their tiny engines (I don't care how big your motor is, it is tiny compared to a power plant of any size).
Que the conspiracy theories.
In all fairness, we might (notice the attention I give to that word) be closer to such explorations than anyone thinks.
While we're certainly decades if not centuries away from being able to physically travel even as close as Titan, "Quantum Entanglement" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spooky_action) might allow for instantaneous communication across distance.
That would allow, with current technology, robotic probes possessing human levels of sophistication because it would alleviate the need for advanced Artificial Intelligence. Specifically, being able to communicate over any distance instantaneously without lag would allow for human beings to remotely control such probes with human levels of intellect (and our ability quickly adapt to changing situations).
Much like the multi-decade "Voyager" probe missions, a craft could be built with the idea of being self-powered with a compliment of robotic crew controlled by humans on Earth. In simple eight hour shifts, the robotic crew would simply be passed between different shifts of humans in simulators on Earth.
Of course, this is all dependent on if "Faster than light" communication is possible at all, in any capacity, which I admit is very much in the air.
Except that ships have a fixed (and not very large) supply of missiles, but do have lots and lots of electricity for lasers.
Very famous legend among those that are unfamiliar with modern naval military. Ships have EXTREMELY limited supply of elictricity in combat, so low that US Navy toyed with idea of supplying zumwalt-class with a nuke power plant. In fact, one of the major issues with zumwalt has been supplying it with enough electricity in combat, as their new SPY-3 radar on full power used too much power to keep all other ship systems powered at the same time in the initial design (according to very persistent rumors and jane's analysts in their weekly).
Why? Modern fire control radar eats several megawatts each ALONE and that is going up as their capabilities keep on increasing. There was a nice article on the issue on navy's own .mil website (you can probably find link to it by browsing my post history, I had to bring it up when same system was "successful" at shooting down a drone and we had a similar discussion on slashdot. It's about a year old.)
Long story short, every megawatt counts even on a cruiser. Destroyers, or even corvettes? Forget about even thinking of installing high energy weapon systems, they barely have enough to power all of their low energy kinetic and missile weapons and their support systems when radars are in full power mode in a combat situation.
If you don't mind me jumping in to this discussion, I've been following research on a completely different subject that, coincidentally, might tie directly into your ideas.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polywell#Recent_US_Navy_funded_work
Right. Individual citizens don't get government funding. Try again.
As long as they don't accept Socialist Security or Medicare, anyway.
--begin sarcasm -- But you're right, "self starters" all of them. --end sarcasm--
Getting back to reality, YOU have to pay for "Planned Parenthood" just like I have to pay for roads I don't use and schools I don't need (am not a child, nor do I have any children). That's because THIS IS THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, not "The United States of ArcherB"
Even if every person in a state was in favor of succession I doubt they could stand up to the federal government, which historically has had little reservation about attacking and incarcerating its own citizens.
Yes...it's called running a country (as opposed to a country club).
While in fact the Supreme Court really isn't all that conservative, people simply declare that because the small (gettin' smaller all the time in fact ;) ) majority were nominated by Republican Presidents -- though I could also question just how "conservative" those Republican Presidents would be considered in this day and age of "the Constitution doesn't specifically have my name in it so I don't have to do anything I don't want!" thinking.
Now, up until this point, the right-wing has been getting everything they've wanted because up and until this point, the "Boundaries of Law" have been pushed by center-left causes by center-left (I refuse to call them liberals because, by my definition, they are VERY far away from "liberal" in their mindsets) politicians. Therefore the right has been able to count on the, in theory at least, center-right leaning court to keep the country in a right-leaning status.
But now we're starting to get into things that WERE considered center-right until the right-wing Republicans (not to be confused with sane Republicans) decided they could better get elected by turning tale and supporting the opposite simply to score cheap points.
Their decades old dependence on the Supreme Court to ultimately give them their way is quickly going to come to an end. Such as when the the center-left members of the Court, lead by Chief Justice John Roberts, form a majority opinion that the Healthcare Reform act is Constitutional -- heard it here first folks!
Five? No wonder everyone else is pissed at me.
SpaceX has specifically said it's Dragon Spacecraft has a heat shield designed to withstand the increased speed that would exist from a return trip from Mars.
"The ablator, called PICA-X for short, was tested inside an arc jet laboratory at NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif.
"It's actually the most powerful stuff known to man. Dragon is capable of re-entering from a lunar velocity, or even a Mars velocity with the heat shield that it has," Musk said.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/falcon9/002/100716firststage/
Which will do nothing but drive people to buy "crackers" to allow HDMI to broadcast without encryption (some of which have already been mentioned).
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!
"The aging spacecraft have been flying for close to 30 years, and NASA is retiring them for good reason..."
NASA is retiring them for no reason other than a lack of money.
They were designed to fly 100 missions each, I'm not sure if they've even passed 25 each yet.
So the public don't like the law because they can get ratted out.
The ISPs don't like the law either
Why is there this law again?
Because little children sometimes (surprise!) don't like to eat their vegetables.
I know it's "PC" to believe everything government does these days is aimed, solely, at "taking your toys away" but, believe it or not, there IS a reason why we are a society of laws and choose not to degenerate into a "Mad Max" like existence.
If you think the laws are wrong (or just stupid), then by all means, try and change the laws. But don't just sit on your ass and blame imaginary monsters ("guberment", conspiracies between "monied folk", etc.) for your ills.
Regenerative braking, by virtue of not being a method of implementing perpetual motion, is limited to generating less energy than is required to get the bus back up to the speed it was going before braking. So it won't extend the range at all, just avoid reducing the range too much in stop-start traffic.
So says you and your elitist "scientists".
>>>it's not like they are taking your money, out of your wallet.
No they are taking money out of the Chinese government's wallet (and other lenders like Saudi Arabia). The people who will eventually repay that money won't be us, but our children and grandchildren. Jefferson or maybe Madison (forget who) said it is immoral to borrow money from future generations, which is why they bent-over backwards to pay off the government debt as soon as possible. WE should do the same.
Current national debt == ~$130,000 per US home, plus another ~$90,000 in personal debt per home == a not rich country
“A national debt, if it is not excessive, will be to us a national blessing.” -- Alexander Hamilton
And considering how U.S. T-Bill auctions are practically "standing room" only...I don't buy the tales of doom and gloom by those who try and compare the finances of the United States to a two-bedroom household in Jersey.
Much like how the laws of physics break down on the quantum level (hence the putting together of Quantum Physics), "common sense" economic theory completely breaks down when you get to the level of National Government (especially one the size of the United States).
So I think I speak for everyone when I say:
"Are you gonna bark, all day, little doggie...or are you gonna bite?
What about people like my father who collect scrap from their work (with employer approval?) He currently brings home removed cable and cut ends and throws them in a barrel.
Will he have to go get a special license just to sell the barrel of scrap copper he's been collecting?
Yeah--just you wait. My dad did the same thing. Damn copper thieves stole his barrels of copper about a year ago.
Yeah! They're always after me lucky copper!
...Voila no more copper thefts!
...until the robots take over.
...and all they eat is old people's medicine as fuel.
Apparently you're all for taking what doesn't belong to you, under the guise of "well everyone is doing it, I might as well."
It is nothing short of looting the public (yourself) at the expense of the public (yourself) with the government being the middle man whom you pay as a conscience clearing money launderer.
But hey, if that makes you Feel Better(tm)* then by all means tell yourself that.
*(TM) Two Party System, Republican/Democrat parties,
Oh spare me the martyrdom speech.
I've yet to meet anyone who "rails against the machine" who won't take one side or the other in lieu of whatever it is they, personally, think they deserve.
How ironic that these are usually the people moaning about "freedom"...the problem is it's always the freedom to get what they want.
But you go ahead..."vote your conscience"...15 will get you 20 "your conscience" always seems to settle at the candidate with the "R" after their name.
Difference between you and me? I admit I'm always going to vote "D" AND ensure the person with the "D" after their name EARNS my vote.
But, again, be my guest...if you are really a person of your word (and not just an embarrassed Republican...afraid to admit that all "third party" candidates ultimately end up with that "R" after their name) then vote Independent/Libertarian/whatever screwball "party" appears on your ballot underneath the "D"s and "R"s.
It worked out real good for us in '92 when old Ross helped put Clinton in the White House :)
There, fixed it for you.
There, fixed that for you too.
You may be getting fscked, but eventually if you're a slut or whore, you're gonna catch a disease, and the bad ones are deadly.
No thanks.
If it makes you feel better, by all means...tell yourself that.
I think the simplest way to describe the difference between liberals and conservatives and this pretty much is true irregardless of what your speaking of, BTW
Liberals are whores...but well paid whores...we don't just give our vote away without being paid handsomely for it in the way of Government Action.
Conservatives ARE NOT whores...simply sluts...they will simply give their vote to anyone who makes them feel all cuddly inside irregardless of the truth.
Make no mistake, whichever side you're on, you're going to get f$%ked...no question about it. The only choice you have is whether you actually get something out of the deal.
With that said...Democrat for life, thank you very much.
In the United States, over the past 100 years the forests have been growing faster than we cut them down.
Point of fact we now have more forest in the United States than when the Pilgrims landed.
"Reprocessing nuclear fuel" isn't the language. "Producing nuclear weapons" is the language you're looking for. Refined spent nuclear fuel is weaponized nuclear material, regardless of use. Welcome to politics.
The United States has signed no such treaty to limit production of Nuclear Weapons.
During the Bush Administration, a treaty was proposed to eliminate the production of "Weapons Material", but it never came to anything.
There is nothing preventing us from reprocessing Nuclear Fuel except our own decisions not to do it (for the reasons I mentioned earlier-- cost, etc.)