Has said Java programmer actually looked at much code from the '70s and the '80s? (and I don't mean the 70s/80s code that is still in use today... I mean the stuff that got used for a few years and then thrown away)
and didn't include a battery system (meaning it's only good during the day - and not all days at that, of course).
Does your house have a connection to the electrical grid? If so (and assuming your local electric company supports it) you can avoid the "only good during the day" problem via net metering: buy enough panels to overproduce during the day, the excess power is sold to the electric company which gives you a credit for it on your bill, which you use to offset the cost of the power you use at night. Essentially you use your local power company as a gigantic, free "virtual battery". Works great.
So, hands up anyone whose privacy concerns RE:Google had to do with people stealing hard drives or breaking into datacenters, rather than Google mining them...
You and I might not worry about that, but keep in mind Google is trying to convince government and industry to outsource much of their internal email and other IT operations to Google's servers. I'd imagine they would like to be reassured that nobody will walk in and grab their confidential data.
All you'd have to do is find a way to carry around an engine, a gas tank, an alternator, and any needed transformer/induction coils and you'll be all set.
Sounds to me like they will be sold with such a system already included. All you need to do is add an aimable mirror under the hood...:)
Father? Yes son? What does regret mean? Well son, a funny thing about regret is that it's better to regret something you have done than something you haven't done.
And by the way, if you see your mother this weekend be and sure and tell her SATAN! SATAN! SATAN!
does that make it an easy target for terrorists (from, say, redmond) to hit with a dirty bomb?
The point of a dirty bomb is that it is dirty -- i.e. you want it to blow up in a place where a lot of people live and (hopefully) make them sick. Blowing up a dirty bomb in the middle of a desert where nobody is around to get sick seems like a waste of a good bomb.
As for whether it would be easy to blow up in general (dirty aspects aside)... perhaps you could blow up the central tower, but the mirrors constitute the bulk of the infrastructure, and they would be spread out enough that you'd need an awfully big bomb to destroy many of them.
If you wanted to destroy $1.4 billion worth of infrastructure, there are many other targets that would give you more destruction and/or terror for your money. Blowing your terrorist wad on a little-seen facility in the middle of the desert isn't going to get you on the front page; blowing up a stadium full of sports fans, OTOH, probably would.
If I could return a "copy-on-write-reference" to my array, I'd get the best of both worlds.
I like the copy-on-write idea, but there is another possible solution also: do what C/C++ do, and allow the method to return a const pointer. That way callers are allowed to read the array but they aren't allowed to modify it. This would have the advantage of being somewhat simpler, and also requires no runtime overhead (const correctness can be enforced solely at compile time).
The suicidal (now moving) observer checks his watch about an hour later and measures his distance to his ship: ~1,000 km from his ship (also 1,000 km from the singularity,
Assuming he manages to withstand getting torn to shreds for long enough, can our suicidal observer look backwards (away from the black hole) and see the entire future of the universe (or much of it) play out in front of his eyes over the next few seconds/minutes of his subjective time?
That was my first thought -- "How do we know this isn't a trick like in Ender's Game?"
Only because it's too obvious. When the government really wants people to unwittingly direct battles from afar, it releases the software under its other label, EA.
Slashdot Mirror
However, while solar isn't a great option in places like Germany
The Germans beg to differ.
when they have this?
Awesome idea! Spread some of that sunless-tanning chemical on to your rooftop PV panels, and you'll be producing electricity 24/7!
Has said Java programmer actually looked at much code from the '70s and the '80s? (and I don't mean the 70s/80s code that is still in use today... I mean the stuff that got used for a few years and then thrown away)
and didn't include a battery system (meaning it's only good during the day - and not all days at that, of course).
Does your house have a connection to the electrical grid? If so (and assuming your local electric company supports it) you can avoid the "only good during the day" problem via net metering: buy enough panels to overproduce during the day, the excess power is sold to the electric company which gives you a credit for it on your bill, which you use to offset the cost of the power you use at night. Essentially you use your local power company as a gigantic, free "virtual battery". Works great.
A geek or a solar power guy may pay a premium, but I think most home buyers would not pay any premium for a house with solar power.
The whole point of TFA is that yes, they will.
What the longest way to 100% CO2 free power... well that's simple too. Waste as much money as possible on current expensive tech.
You're forgetting how 'expensive tech' becomes 'cheap tech'. How do they do it? Volume, volume, volume!
Use the fanboi pawns to astroturf.
Point of order: if they are real fanbois, it's not astroturfing.
So, hands up anyone whose privacy concerns RE:Google had to do with people stealing hard drives or breaking into datacenters, rather than Google mining them...
You and I might not worry about that, but keep in mind Google is trying to convince government and industry to outsource much of their internal email and other IT operations to Google's servers. I'd imagine they would like to be reassured that nobody will walk in and grab their confidential data.
All you'd have to do is find a way to carry around an engine, a gas tank, an alternator, and any needed transformer/induction coils and you'll be all set.
Sounds to me like they will be sold with such a system already included. All you need to do is add an aimable mirror under the hood... :)
Those guys haven't even figured out how to feed themselves. By what conceivable quirk of fate would North Korea become a super power?
Father?
Yes son?
What does regret mean?
Well son, a funny thing about regret is that it's better to regret something you have done than something you haven't done.
And by the way, if you see your mother this weekend be and sure and tell her SATAN! SATAN! SATAN!
Can I plug the battery in to my tin foil hat directly, or will I need some sort of adapter?
Wouldn't it have been better to make it mandatory years ago?
They wanted to do that, but they didn't have enough black helicopters to enforce it.
here's been a "breakthrough" in thin film efficiency twice a year for a long time now, and nothing ever comes of it.
If you think nothing ever comes of it, you haven't been paying attention.
does that make it an easy target for terrorists (from, say, redmond) to hit with a dirty bomb?
The point of a dirty bomb is that it is dirty -- i.e. you want it to blow up in a place where a lot of people live and (hopefully) make them sick. Blowing up a dirty bomb in the middle of a desert where nobody is around to get sick seems like a waste of a good bomb.
As for whether it would be easy to blow up in general (dirty aspects aside)... perhaps you could blow up the central tower, but the mirrors constitute the bulk of the infrastructure, and they would be spread out enough that you'd need an awfully big bomb to destroy many of them.
If you wanted to destroy $1.4 billion worth of infrastructure, there are many other targets that would give you more destruction and/or terror for your money. Blowing your terrorist wad on a little-seen facility in the middle of the desert isn't going to get you on the front page; blowing up a stadium full of sports fans, OTOH, probably would.
392 MW sounds like a lot, until you consider that's only ~8% of Fukashima.
It's actually a lot more than the output of Fukashima these days.
The only problem is that most solar installations aren't 'sufficiently long lived'.
The average energy payback period for a solar installation is 1-4 years. The expected lifetime of a solar installation is 30 years. Source.
Uh, if we had as many windmills as cats, I'd think we'd figure out a solution...
An easy solution: put bells on all the windmills.
If I could return a "copy-on-write-reference" to my array, I'd get the best of both worlds.
I like the copy-on-write idea, but there is another possible solution also: do what C/C++ do, and allow the method to return a const pointer. That way callers are allowed to read the array but they aren't allowed to modify it. This would have the advantage of being somewhat simpler, and also requires no runtime overhead (const correctness can be enforced solely at compile time).
There is a reason, in that applying sales tax rules is very hard
Hmm, if only there were some sort of device that could be employed in order to do perform this difficult calculation.
Out into the big room, with the green carpet, and blue ceiling? Never!
Agreed -- I can't stand the WinXP desktop background either.
I'm disappointed that they don't have a video demonstrating Stooge Sort.
The suicidal (now moving) observer checks his watch about an hour later and measures his distance to his ship: ~1,000 km from his ship (also 1,000 km from the singularity,
Assuming he manages to withstand getting torn to shreds for long enough, can our suicidal observer look backwards (away from the black hole) and see the entire future of the universe (or much of it) play out in front of his eyes over the next few seconds/minutes of his subjective time?
That might almost make it worth the trip.
If I took a cube 100 meters on a side, carved information on it that could be read from a distance, and slung it past the EH
You euthanized your faithful Companion Cube more quickly than any test subject on record. Congratulations.
That was my first thought -- "How do we know this isn't a trick like in Ender's Game?"
Only because it's too obvious. When the government really wants people to unwittingly direct battles from afar, it releases the software under its other label, EA.