The point of sport is exercising your body for the fun and health benefits.
For you and I, perhaps. But the point of sport at the Olympic or Professional levels is very definitely *not* for fun and health benefits. The point is to win, and training (even without drugs) at those levels is already often disabling to the participants during their lifetimes. American pro football is the obvious example, but even in places where you wouldn't expect it-- running, tennis, etc-- athletes intentionally wreck themselves for a short period of maximal performance followed by a lifetime of lingering persistent injury.
He's correct in the way that matters for his usage, actually. I wasn't aware that there was no "EP" speed for UK VHS. If we compare LP to LP or SP to SP, a UK VHS tape is about 43% different than an NTSC VHS tape. He, however, is comparing UK "LP" to US "EP", and is correct.
A difference of ~1.43x. A VHS tape labelled "12 hours" in england would be labelled "8.4 hours" in the US, even though the two objects were exactly the same.
Between this effect and the market gaps in the range of available hybrids, I think we've accounted for most of it. I would like to see a "control" study that shows what percentage of people buy a car in the exact same class the next time as well. The compact you had in college may be replaced by a sedan that may be replaced by a minivan. That's fairly normal.
But there aren't ANY hybrid minivans, and there isn't a very wide selection of hybrid sedans.
Then you have weirdness like the small-SUV market, where Ford's Escape Hybrid was the most efficient option until they discontinued it, but new gas engines have suddenly made other options the most efficient in that segment. If I were to replace my now-discontinued Escape (which was the most efficient at the time) today, it would be with something like the 2013 Subaru Crosstour XV, which is more efficient but not a hybrid. It's not because I dislike hybrids. It's because I don't actually care how it works, I'm shopping for fuel efficiency.
The government needs to come down on these manufacturers harder with respect to their fakey-fake estimated EPA numbers.
The government makes those numbers. They're generated by the EPA itself testing the cars. On top of that, those numbers are the only numbers the manufacturer is allowed to display or advertise in the US.
You could fairly complain that the EPA testing could be more accurate or more representative-- but this is not something manufacturers are doing.
It was a market failing. I ended up in a Ford Escape Hybrid despite actually wanting something smaller. A Subaru-type design with ground clearance and AWD would have been perfect, but two years ago, Subaru's engines got horrible fuel economy. Best they had was in the low 20s. So I ended up with a larger vehicle than I wanted, because it was more efficient at 32mpg. That's weird, but that's what happens when the available product range has gaps.
Subaru has since fixed their crap, and they have a little hatchbacky offroadable thing that gets 33mpg coming out shortly. And Ford has discontinued the hybrid Escape. If I shopped again today with the same needs, it wouldn't be a hybrid. In two more years, it could be again. Hybrids aren't in every market niche.
This is a huge factor. There's large market holes that hybrids haven't filled yet, and some that were filled but aren't anymore. If you want a chunky hatchback, you're covered. You have a few choices of small sedan, one large SUV, and one medium-sized three-row SUV. There *was* a small SUV (the Ford Escape), but the hybrid version has been discontinued.
So, if you want a minivan, a small SUV, a wagon, a crossover, or any number of other options-- there isn't a hybrid for you.
I got the 32mpg Escape in 2010 because it was the most efficient option that did what I wanted, but if I were to shop with the same requirements today, I'd end up with a Subaru Crosstour XV at 33mpg... which isn't a hybrid.
Hybrid buyers aren't loyal to hybrids-- they're loyal to fuel economy.
I've got a 2010 Ford Escape Hybrid, and I really like it-- but I bought it because it was the most economical vehicle that did what I wanted at the time. I wanted something that had enough ground clearance to do light offroad driving, and was practical enough to use as a daily driver. You'd think a little Subaru would have been perfect, but in 2010, their most efficient car had gas mileage in the low 20s. So I ended up with the Escape, which was larger and less aerodynamic than I'd prefer, but which fit my requirements.
Things change, though. If I went shopping this year, Ford has discontinued the Escape Hybrid and Subaru has finally brought their engine designs into this decade... and the non-hybrid Crosstour XV will get 33mpg, doing slightly better than my Escape Hybrid.
I can't be the only one in a position like this-- until there's a hybrid version of every car, some people will go car shopping and find the most economical car that meets their needs is actually not a hybrid. Even some people who already had a hybrid they liked, like me. I love my hybrid, but if it up and died, its replacement would not be a hybrid, at least for the foreseeable future-- because the most efficient replacements on the market right now just aren't hybrids. That, too, will probably change in another few years when somebody else introduces a small AWD vehicle with ground clearance and a hybrid drivetrain.
So it's not a question of disliking hybrids, it's that hybrid buyers' primary loyalty isn't to a particular technology... it's to efficiency.
That's called a Serial Hybrid, but the Volt isn't that, either. It has a system of clutches that let the engine drive the wheels directly in an arrangement very similar to a Prius-style planetary-gear drivetrain. There was a surprising amount of outrage over this-- it's an optimization that makes the car more efficient in some driving modes, but "purists" who expected a straight-up serial hybrid were for some reason offended.
Incandescents are not outlawed. Efficiency standards were set, and met, by improved incandescents. You can buy them (and have been able to since at least 2008, when I bought my first) at Home Depot (and probably other places) under the Philips Halogena Energy Saver brand name (and probably others here as well).
"Of course, Apple should really take a tip from proper, grown-up consumer electronics manufacturers like Sony or Samsung and give its products proper, grown-up names like the "IPD2048-16B2(W)/A":-)"
They do. MD370LL/A and MD367LL/A are the white and black 32GB 4G "new iPads," for example.
I dearly wanted a Subaru, but they're apparently two decades behind on fuel economy. Everything else about them was perfect for me-- but their best 2011 model in fuel economy got 26mpg combined. And that was the Legacy sedan, not one of the wagon/hatch models I would have wanted. Ended up with a brick-shaped Ford Escape Hybrid rated at 32mpg combined despite preferring a smaller car.
The laser can be "reloaded" in space. Ball bearings, pikes, and "long aluminum poles" are heavy and expensive for launch and maneuvering, will require even more energy expenditure to reach your suggested.01c, and when you run out, you're unarmed until you can be resupplied.
Remember, too, that when you say "dropped as mines," it doesn't work like it does here. Anything you just drop out the back carries on with roughly the same velocity you had. You'll have a cloud of mines sort of hanging around your bomb bay until you change course. To "drop" it, you've got the same effective problem as launching a missile. There's no air or ground friction to cause them to remain where you leave them. They'll have to be accelerated at massive energy cost.
I think now. When I hit their website yesterday, they had "buy now" buttons, turnaround estimates, and it appeared you could check out although I did not go all the way through the process to be 100% sure. I'm going to hold off until my next phone-- the only problem with the scheme is the loss of your phone for a week or so while they coat it. But when I'm ready to replace this phone, I'll send the new one off for coating before it's activated.
If you find yourself in situations where you end up at 3D movies despite your wishes, get a pair of the $8 "2D glasses" from Amazon (or wherever). It's just a left-eye lens on both eyes, so you'll see the same 2D frame with both eyes at the same time. That should fix it for you.
Of course, the easiest thing is to just not go see 3D movies, but even on slashdot, people sometimes have friends they like to hang out with, and it's not always possible for a group of friends to agree on something that's perfect for the entire group.
I thought Intel was so far ahead on energy efficiency that it wasn't even close-- but that their absolute power consumption didn't scale down well. In terms of "getting crap done per watt", they have an edge from being a full cycle ahead of everybody else in the process-tech race. But they don't have chips that get anything done for less than a watt. The Atom was an attempt to address this-- it's substantially less power-efficient than an i7, but it uses less power.
Re:Ken Murray's blog
on
How Doctors Die
·
· Score: 4, Informative
Give cold-turkey an actual try sometime-- it's worth it. It's about two days of headaches (a couple of ibuprofen cover this nicely) followed by three or four days of slight drowsiness. Then you're good. And when you do get around to starting back up, it's SUPER AWESOME. I do this every few months-- usually when I find myself going for a third cup of anything caffeinated in a single day.
When I look to promote someone I specifically look for things they've done to help the company/department.
You are a mythical creature that does not exist, like some sort of management unicorn. I haven't seen this sort of thing happen to anyone in my fifteen years in the industry. It's interesting to hear it's not completely dead as a concept, but it's rare enough that I wouldn't base any career decisions around it. Better operating principles are:
1. Your company isn't loyal, so you shouldn't be. 2. Promotions require changing jobs. 3. Don't go "above and beyond" for a company that doesn't share profit with you. 4. Salaried jobs for non-executives are a way to make you work overtime for free.
Leave if you're offered a nickel more in compensation. Insist on a hard limit on your hours for a given salary, or just take hourly jobs. If you want to be an overachiever and do all sorts of cool extra work, start a company on the side and pour your soul into that. And interview constantly. Try for two a month. Have lunch with contacts. Your company is interviewing other candidates, contractors, recent college grads, and international outsourcing companies right now with an eye to replace you as cheaply as possible... and won't hesitate to dump you as soon as they find a cheaper alternative. Feel no guilt about looking for something better or taking it when you find it.
When looking into the real cost of solar I found that my homeowners insurance premiums would skyrocket.
You may want to find another insurance company. State Farm didn't change our premiums at all when we went solar, and they cover the panels the same as they do the rest of the house.
To be fair, I guess if you have a borderline-limitless energy source and a bunch of spatially separated gizmos spread all over your ship to power to do things, most of your failures probably ARE in your power distribution system.
On top of that there's the whole "do more of X" class of problems, too. If your weapons can't cut it on "high," but the devices themselves are rated to take more power, you can do more shooting if you turn off the propulsion or the shield.
Day-to-day operation of a machine like that is probably that simple: fix the wires and the fuses as they blow, route via other paths in emergencies, and turn off the space heater if you're going to run the hair dryer.
Every time I hear a person say this, I wonder why the person feels like they have to access all of those things against their will.
It's your phone. Don't want calls? Don't pick up. Don't want corporate email? Don't even set it up. Don't like to ever be bothered? Only turn it on when you want to use it. I can see situations where a person has no need for the features of a smartphone, or doesn't want the expense... but I don't understand this particular philosophy-- especially if you could use and appreciate the smartphone features for yourself, but don't because you would feel compelled to answer every call from your office.
Mostly, this is just a misperception caused by math errors. There are only a few cars that are identical across multiple countries for us to compare with, but all it takes is one to get a solid idea of how different the UK and US ratings systems are.
The Prius makes an excellent example case, as it's a car that's both identical in both markets and has widely-published fuel economy numbers.
EPA Test Cycle, in US gallons, combined mileage is: 50mpg UK Test Cycle, in Imperial gallons, combined mileage is: 72.4mpg
Adjusting for the difference in the size of the units, and the UK model (which, again, is an identical car) is rated at 60.3mpg.
Keep that in mind. It's not that we can't buy cars as efficient as the ones in Europe here-- it's that even if what you're reading gets the unit conversion right, you have to adjust by about 20% just to account for the testing differences. And most of the time, the reporters don't even notice the unit conversion issue, so you'll frequently have to add more than 40% to the US/EPA numbers to get a rough equivalence.
Yes, we have stricter NOx emissions rules. And that DOES keep companies from importing cars that don't meet our standards. But we can buy cars just as efficient as the european market-- it just doesn't look like it because reporters suck at unit conversion and explaining test differences.
Slashdot Mirror
The point of sport is exercising your body for the fun and health benefits.
For you and I, perhaps. But the point of sport at the Olympic or Professional levels is very definitely *not* for fun and health benefits. The point is to win, and training (even without drugs) at those levels is already often disabling to the participants during their lifetimes. American pro football is the obvious example, but even in places where you wouldn't expect it-- running, tennis, etc-- athletes intentionally wreck themselves for a short period of maximal performance followed by a lifetime of lingering persistent injury.
Woah... why are the prices so much higher at your Costco? Those Feit 40W-equivalent bulbs are less than $1 each at ours.
Right. Turn on your electric stove. It makes light, right? When was the last time THAT element burned out?
On the other hand, it pulls a kilowatt and makes like half a lumen of really orange light.
He's correct in the way that matters for his usage, actually. I wasn't aware that there was no "EP" speed for UK VHS. If we compare LP to LP or SP to SP, a UK VHS tape is about 43% different than an NTSC VHS tape. He, however, is comparing UK "LP" to US "EP", and is correct.
That's the difference in a nutshell...
"The tape speed is 3.335 cm/s for NTSC, 2.339 cm/s for PAL."
A difference of ~1.43x. A VHS tape labelled "12 hours" in england would be labelled "8.4 hours" in the US, even though the two objects were exactly the same.
Between this effect and the market gaps in the range of available hybrids, I think we've accounted for most of it. I would like to see a "control" study that shows what percentage of people buy a car in the exact same class the next time as well. The compact you had in college may be replaced by a sedan that may be replaced by a minivan. That's fairly normal.
But there aren't ANY hybrid minivans, and there isn't a very wide selection of hybrid sedans.
Then you have weirdness like the small-SUV market, where Ford's Escape Hybrid was the most efficient option until they discontinued it, but new gas engines have suddenly made other options the most efficient in that segment. If I were to replace my now-discontinued Escape (which was the most efficient at the time) today, it would be with something like the 2013 Subaru Crosstour XV, which is more efficient but not a hybrid. It's not because I dislike hybrids. It's because I don't actually care how it works, I'm shopping for fuel efficiency.
The government needs to come down on these manufacturers harder with respect to their fakey-fake estimated EPA numbers.
The government makes those numbers. They're generated by the EPA itself testing the cars. On top of that, those numbers are the only numbers the manufacturer is allowed to display or advertise in the US.
You could fairly complain that the EPA testing could be more accurate or more representative-- but this is not something manufacturers are doing.
It was a market failing. I ended up in a Ford Escape Hybrid despite actually wanting something smaller. A Subaru-type design with ground clearance and AWD would have been perfect, but two years ago, Subaru's engines got horrible fuel economy. Best they had was in the low 20s. So I ended up with a larger vehicle than I wanted, because it was more efficient at 32mpg. That's weird, but that's what happens when the available product range has gaps.
Subaru has since fixed their crap, and they have a little hatchbacky offroadable thing that gets 33mpg coming out shortly. And Ford has discontinued the hybrid Escape. If I shopped again today with the same needs, it wouldn't be a hybrid. In two more years, it could be again. Hybrids aren't in every market niche.
This is a huge factor. There's large market holes that hybrids haven't filled yet, and some that were filled but aren't anymore. If you want a chunky hatchback, you're covered. You have a few choices of small sedan, one large SUV, and one medium-sized three-row SUV. There *was* a small SUV (the Ford Escape), but the hybrid version has been discontinued.
So, if you want a minivan, a small SUV, a wagon, a crossover, or any number of other options-- there isn't a hybrid for you.
I got the 32mpg Escape in 2010 because it was the most efficient option that did what I wanted, but if I were to shop with the same requirements today, I'd end up with a Subaru Crosstour XV at 33mpg... which isn't a hybrid.
Hybrid buyers aren't loyal to hybrids-- they're loyal to fuel economy.
I've got a 2010 Ford Escape Hybrid, and I really like it-- but I bought it because it was the most economical vehicle that did what I wanted at the time. I wanted something that had enough ground clearance to do light offroad driving, and was practical enough to use as a daily driver. You'd think a little Subaru would have been perfect, but in 2010, their most efficient car had gas mileage in the low 20s. So I ended up with the Escape, which was larger and less aerodynamic than I'd prefer, but which fit my requirements.
Things change, though. If I went shopping this year, Ford has discontinued the Escape Hybrid and Subaru has finally brought their engine designs into this decade... and the non-hybrid Crosstour XV will get 33mpg, doing slightly better than my Escape Hybrid.
I can't be the only one in a position like this-- until there's a hybrid version of every car, some people will go car shopping and find the most economical car that meets their needs is actually not a hybrid. Even some people who already had a hybrid they liked, like me. I love my hybrid, but if it up and died, its replacement would not be a hybrid, at least for the foreseeable future-- because the most efficient replacements on the market right now just aren't hybrids. That, too, will probably change in another few years when somebody else introduces a small AWD vehicle with ground clearance and a hybrid drivetrain.
So it's not a question of disliking hybrids, it's that hybrid buyers' primary loyalty isn't to a particular technology... it's to efficiency.
That's called a Serial Hybrid, but the Volt isn't that, either. It has a system of clutches that let the engine drive the wheels directly in an arrangement very similar to a Prius-style planetary-gear drivetrain. There was a surprising amount of outrage over this-- it's an optimization that makes the car more efficient in some driving modes, but "purists" who expected a straight-up serial hybrid were for some reason offended.
Incandescents are not outlawed. Efficiency standards were set, and met, by improved incandescents. You can buy them (and have been able to since at least 2008, when I bought my first) at Home Depot (and probably other places) under the Philips Halogena Energy Saver brand name (and probably others here as well).
"Of course, Apple should really take a tip from proper, grown-up consumer electronics manufacturers like Sony or Samsung and give its products proper, grown-up names like the "IPD2048-16B2(W)/A" :-)"
They do. MD370LL/A and MD367LL/A are the white and black 32GB 4G "new iPads," for example.
I dearly wanted a Subaru, but they're apparently two decades behind on fuel economy. Everything else about them was perfect for me-- but their best 2011 model in fuel economy got 26mpg combined. And that was the Legacy sedan, not one of the wagon/hatch models I would have wanted. Ended up with a brick-shaped Ford Escape Hybrid rated at 32mpg combined despite preferring a smaller car.
The laser can be "reloaded" in space. Ball bearings, pikes, and "long aluminum poles" are heavy and expensive for launch and maneuvering, will require even more energy expenditure to reach your suggested .01c, and when you run out, you're unarmed until you can be resupplied.
Remember, too, that when you say "dropped as mines," it doesn't work like it does here. Anything you just drop out the back carries on with roughly the same velocity you had. You'll have a cloud of mines sort of hanging around your bomb bay until you change course. To "drop" it, you've got the same effective problem as launching a missile. There's no air or ground friction to cause them to remain where you leave them. They'll have to be accelerated at massive energy cost.
Not all crap is US based.
I think now. When I hit their website yesterday, they had "buy now" buttons, turnaround estimates, and it appeared you could check out although I did not go all the way through the process to be 100% sure. I'm going to hold off until my next phone-- the only problem with the scheme is the loss of your phone for a week or so while they coat it. But when I'm ready to replace this phone, I'll send the new one off for coating before it's activated.
If you find yourself in situations where you end up at 3D movies despite your wishes, get a pair of the $8 "2D glasses" from Amazon (or wherever). It's just a left-eye lens on both eyes, so you'll see the same 2D frame with both eyes at the same time. That should fix it for you.
Of course, the easiest thing is to just not go see 3D movies, but even on slashdot, people sometimes have friends they like to hang out with, and it's not always possible for a group of friends to agree on something that's perfect for the entire group.
I thought Intel was so far ahead on energy efficiency that it wasn't even close-- but that their absolute power consumption didn't scale down well. In terms of "getting crap done per watt", they have an edge from being a full cycle ahead of everybody else in the process-tech race. But they don't have chips that get anything done for less than a watt. The Atom was an attempt to address this-- it's substantially less power-efficient than an i7, but it uses less power.
Give cold-turkey an actual try sometime-- it's worth it. It's about two days of headaches (a couple of ibuprofen cover this nicely) followed by three or four days of slight drowsiness. Then you're good. And when you do get around to starting back up, it's SUPER AWESOME. I do this every few months-- usually when I find myself going for a third cup of anything caffeinated in a single day.
When I look to promote someone I specifically look for things they've done to help the company/department.
You are a mythical creature that does not exist, like some sort of management unicorn. I haven't seen this sort of thing happen to anyone in my fifteen years in the industry. It's interesting to hear it's not completely dead as a concept, but it's rare enough that I wouldn't base any career decisions around it. Better operating principles are:
1. Your company isn't loyal, so you shouldn't be.
2. Promotions require changing jobs.
3. Don't go "above and beyond" for a company that doesn't share profit with you.
4. Salaried jobs for non-executives are a way to make you work overtime for free.
Leave if you're offered a nickel more in compensation. Insist on a hard limit on your hours for a given salary, or just take hourly jobs. If you want to be an overachiever and do all sorts of cool extra work, start a company on the side and pour your soul into that. And interview constantly. Try for two a month. Have lunch with contacts. Your company is interviewing other candidates, contractors, recent college grads, and international outsourcing companies right now with an eye to replace you as cheaply as possible... and won't hesitate to dump you as soon as they find a cheaper alternative. Feel no guilt about looking for something better or taking it when you find it.
When looking into the real cost of solar I found that my homeowners insurance premiums would skyrocket.
You may want to find another insurance company. State Farm didn't change our premiums at all when we went solar, and they cover the panels the same as they do the rest of the house.
To be fair, I guess if you have a borderline-limitless energy source and a bunch of spatially separated gizmos spread all over your ship to power to do things, most of your failures probably ARE in your power distribution system.
On top of that there's the whole "do more of X" class of problems, too. If your weapons can't cut it on "high," but the devices themselves are rated to take more power, you can do more shooting if you turn off the propulsion or the shield.
Day-to-day operation of a machine like that is probably that simple: fix the wires and the fuses as they blow, route via other paths in emergencies, and turn off the space heater if you're going to run the hair dryer.
Every time I hear a person say this, I wonder why the person feels like they have to access all of those things against their will.
It's your phone. Don't want calls? Don't pick up. Don't want corporate email? Don't even set it up. Don't like to ever be bothered? Only turn it on when you want to use it. I can see situations where a person has no need for the features of a smartphone, or doesn't want the expense... but I don't understand this particular philosophy-- especially if you could use and appreciate the smartphone features for yourself, but don't because you would feel compelled to answer every call from your office.
Mostly, this is just a misperception caused by math errors. There are only a few cars that are identical across multiple countries for us to compare with, but all it takes is one to get a solid idea of how different the UK and US ratings systems are.
The Prius makes an excellent example case, as it's a car that's both identical in both markets and has widely-published fuel economy numbers.
EPA Test Cycle, in US gallons, combined mileage is: 50mpg
UK Test Cycle, in Imperial gallons, combined mileage is: 72.4mpg
Adjusting for the difference in the size of the units, and the UK model (which, again, is an identical car) is rated at 60.3mpg.
Keep that in mind. It's not that we can't buy cars as efficient as the ones in Europe here-- it's that even if what you're reading gets the unit conversion right, you have to adjust by about 20% just to account for the testing differences. And most of the time, the reporters don't even notice the unit conversion issue, so you'll frequently have to add more than 40% to the US/EPA numbers to get a rough equivalence.
Yes, we have stricter NOx emissions rules. And that DOES keep companies from importing cars that don't meet our standards. But we can buy cars just as efficient as the european market-- it just doesn't look like it because reporters suck at unit conversion and explaining test differences.