eyes and ears are both usefull in their single cell varieties. The eye has been explaned a million times so let's take the ear: The first critter to be able to hear the predetor stomping it's way (and cause the critter to start running) has an advantage, even if the predetor has to make a shitload of noise to do so and even if the noise feels more like an itch. Predators probably weren't as silent back then, and the species that didn't evolve ears have died out. The vibrations can be picked up by cells with micro hairs in the skin (wich wasn't as evolved as it is now: probably no epidermis over the dermis so there were probably living cells on the outer skin). As generation after generation evolved the further and further specialising cells grew back in a "tunnel" to protect them. The evolution of an tympanic membrane seems quite a large step, but we still see babies being born with membranes over eyes, mouth and nose. They are removed quick enough.
As the evolution continued the critters with some sort of outer ear had an advantage: sound is much clearer if you have an outer ear. Note: this is not a proof, the ear may have evolved in a different way. It's just a way it could have happened. Disclaimer: I can accept there is a God if decent proof is offered. Up to now I can only look at the proof from both sides and conclude that there is no proof of a God. If He exists he may have been testing when He created everything to seem like He didn't do it. In that case I fell for His trap and I will be screwed royally when I meet Him. I do not mean to ridicule believers, I just call them on the flaws in their proofs, as I do with atheists' proofs that He does not exist.
Will it include a cyclotron to make the high energy particles that are theorised to create the original conductive path wich allows the real lightning to travel far further than it should? The high energy particles may not be the reason, but this setup may be part of what's required to test it. 14 million volts should only jump up to 50 meters (or about 150 feet) or so, depending on the shape of the electrodes (33 KV/cm is a rule of thumb for perfect spherical electrodes, usually it's lower). No where near the hundreds of meters needed to cross air-ground.
Edison's original design required powerplants every few miles. It was DC and you back then you couldn't tranform DC up and down as easily. This is very bad for the efficiency of long lines.
Now Tesla's design was based on AC and thus it could be transformed, allowing for long distance transport. I don't know how wireless fitted into that, but I can assume the powerplants could be far from the actual transmitters. note: nowadays the supply lines for extremely long distances are DC again because of induction losses, but it's usually converted to 500KV with step up converters of various designs they didn't have back then.
No. "It's not economically feasible" would be more sensible. The article claims solar power uses silicon and pretends it will be gone forever. No it will not. If the solar panel is degraded the high grade silicon isn't lost. It can be recycled. He compares that with coal for example: the coal is burned into (mostly) CO2 and H2O. To get coal again you'd have to put, by definition, at least as much energy in it as you got out of it in the first place. That's not an recyclable energy source, that's an expensive battery.
And that still just HALF of the time, half life is called so for a reason you know
Half life is the time in wich half of the atoms degrade. If I have 1Kg of pure plutonium 239, after 24,000 years this will be 0.5 Kg of plutonium and 0.5 kg of Uranium 235 (ignoring the fact that U-235 degrades a bit in and of itself). After another 24,000 years I have 0.25 Kg of P-239 and 0.75 Kg of U-235. 24,000 years later it'll be 0.125 Kg of P-239. Now as to the danger of it:
Due to the fact that P-239 decays so slowly it doesn't generate a lot of radiation. Your body is able to handle quite a lot of radiation, there are many protection mechanisms. This because the environment is actually radioactive (even water is a bit radioactive) and we evolved to cope with that (or God designed us to cope with that (I do not want to mix that discussion in))
P-239 has alpha decay. As long as you don't get much (micrograms) into your body you'll be fine. It can not penetrate a sheet of paper or the outer layers of your skin. Storage is done in many small containers. If one breaks each decade the amount that gets into your drinking water supply (and thus into you will be miniscule. Your body will be able to cope.
...
Profit (in the form of cheap and semi-renewable energy).
The 100,000 years you mentioned is way shorter than the true time required for the sun to go red giant (when it does it will get a bit bigger than the orbit of Earth so at that point we are most definetely screwed).
The sun will go red giant in a couple of billion years. Up to that point we can use solar energy as much as we wish. We may be able to keep the sun for 10 billion years if we find a way to peel off the external layers with some huge magnetic field within the next 1 million years, but we are nowhere near that technology. It would require a particle accelerator the size of the orbit of Mercury. Not that we need to be close to it now, but it's fun to speculate.
The impression I got from P4's was that they were always overheating and the consessions made to get these high frequencies were unacceptable (looooong pipelines) and limiting to the actual speed. It was an overall recognised brand, but not always in a good way.
You are forgetting the loss from the oil refinery (my guess would be 25% or so)
You are fogetting the 3 km/l truck that drives the fuel to the tank station (assuming 400 km and 10,000l this comes down to 1.2%).
If you calculate the efficiency of both the supply lines the gas car starts to look even worse.
No yagis required. No radio required. I had the wrong acronym: I meant Ethernet Over Power. I assume you mean the long powerlines will act as antenna's. (Yagis are quite exact in their dimensions, or they will not work with measurable efiiciency) That's what the low frequency is about: antenna's suck for low frequencies (around 1KHz: labda=300.000 km, a usefull antenna starts at 1/4 labda = 75.000 km (over 45.000 miles) or almost twice the circumference of earth) as far as I know (IANARA, just interrested in the subject and an electrical engineer). The length of the antenna's, the required power and the frequency can be limited by using modems in transformer houses. Most will be close to some form of internet (ADSL/Cable), can use cellular or can act as repeaters (splitting the antenna and lowering the power although the frequency will not be affected).
Glass is mostly silicon dioxide although it does contain some other oxides. We will not soon run out of silicon dioxide because it is the main component of sand (sand is mostly silicon dioxide with a lot of impurities). Calcium oxide and Sodium oxide are no big problem either. My estimate would be: we can coat the entire earth's surface with a layer of 10 cm (4 inches) of glass if we wanted (energy requirements of making so much glass not withstanding).
100% if they use batteries (which are highly unrenewable - 7 years and they are toast under very good conditions- less under bad conditions).
The materials are not wasted, they are simply in the wrong place. Most western countries have begun recycling batteries and making new ones from the "waste". Batteries are renewable.
I agree with you on the "people should spend more time with their dogs" part.
I agree with you that a dog getting injured is more cruel
I agree with you that the people who have the most problems most likely use it as the only solution, not the last line of defence. They should do the empathical test: put it on themselves and walk over the line. Know what you do to your dog, although some people will never understand the line isn't clear to the dog, he simply can't see it. I agree with you that your use is relatively good. I do not agree with you that it was the best choice. Dogs are expensive, you should have known that when you bought them. The chainlink fence is an expensive solution, but the edge is absolutely clear to a dog. An electric fence is not as clear.
I am not a city dweller. My dog has about 1/2th of an acre to frolic on but she doesn't. Back when she was younger (upto a couple of years ago) I walked her about 6 km each day, up to around 20 km in the weekends. Now she is older and her hips are shot (she has Hip dysplasia, the worst case our vet has ever seen) so the distances have gone down, although the individual times are as much (4 times a day)
I have no knowledge of collies, I have only had a Shepherd and a Golden Retriever. From what I can find Collies are very smart dogs so it should be possible to keep them close, although it will be difficult with the inbred traits. My guess would be:
Give them a clear cut leader (hint: it's probably you). Be sure to "win" all the little wrestling matches, that's how a dog determines rank.
Walk with the dog over the inside edges of your ground. The old (older than any breeding) native behaviour of the dog should see that as the edges of your domain.
...
Profit!
But that's not based on much experience. My dogs were never very interrested in the neighbours. Tying up is a bad thing to do as well. Most smarter dogs may be able to figure it out, but the dumber dogs can't. They can't figure out why they are being punished, so they are being punished without reason from their POV. That's what creates the trouble. That's why I think it should be forbidden. A fence is actually not a bad solution, although it's expensive for bigger area's. The dog has a clear indication of where he should and shouldn't go.
I do not know enough about dog psychology to make a claim whether their psyche can be measured with the same words as human ones. I do know there is something there that is similar, althoug I think it is much simpeler. The quotes were there because I wanted to use the word while I was not sure whether it was the appropriate word, or if there was an appropriate word. In any case I am quite sure it's much simpeler than a human psyche.
Are you one of those "Humans are not animal, as animals don't have a soul" retards?
I have seen no proof for a soul, so I asume neither a dog nor a human has one.
I've studied psychology and neurology, and it's clear as day that everything with a neural net also has a psyche. Including simulated ones. It's just a inseparable artifact of every neural net, by definition.
I take your word for that. It is not my area of expertise.
And a dog definitely has a complex psyche. If you ever really knew a dog, there is no doubt about that. I've seen dogs who had schizophrenia, for god's sake!
I know a dog very well. My own. I have had it from birth (it's mother was my parents'). I know they have something that could very well be called a psyche and in my post I warned against damaging it. I have seen great differences in behaviour in puppies (before most conditioning is done) so I know each dog's psyche is very unike. I still wouldn't call the psyche comparable to a human's or complex. Most dogs have simple goals they will always persue: mine looks for attention, water and food (in that order, she's a terrible attention whore). I see this as an indication of a simple psyche.
Its a common enough tool for people who are to lazy to properly train their pet. The version I know is a wire in the ground that sends a low power radio signal and a collar that detects if it crosses the wire. If it does the pet gets a small electric shock. In my vieuw (and I have trained a dog to stay inside my parent's garden) this can't be a good thing: the dog gets punished without a clear reason (lazy people didn't take the time to make it clear to the dog it can't go into their flowerbeds). This can wreak havoc on the dog's simple "psyche": I'd expect some to grow fearfull of everything, some to grow extremely viscious and some to go completely beserk.
Shielding doesn't work if the device needs an antenna to function. Wireless devices need their antenna's. These devices work on the same frequencies as wireless/bluetooth/micowaves/dect/alarms. "POE. Try it, bitches" would have been more appropriate. Assuming the transformers allow high frequency signals to pass, a relatively high power/low frequency/low bandwith (The supplier doesn't need to check your usage more frequently than once a year, multiplied by the amount of data (1K would easily be enough) multiplied by the amount of subscribers in the area) POE communications channel would let them check all the houses without driving a car through the neighbourhood at all.
Dunno about the durabilty of optical. The frequent twisting and flexing of optical might cause it to fail soon. I haven't handled high quality fiber so that may be no problem. Biology builds things in a completely different way. The sea sponges build the fiber up atom by atom. This gives great flexibility in "design". The sea sponge may be able to repair it's optical fibers when damaged. We puny humans are currently not able to repair minor damages on an optical fiber without cutting the fiber out first.
Paying for the 'license' keeps this chemical out of meth labs... how?
Paying for it means a methlab can't get 10000 people to get one. This means the DEA can check everyone once in a while. This means the methlab can't simply get a license for it. This means the methlab can't aquire it through legal means.
tab explosion Assume 10000 people read it and would like to refresh their memories (low estimate). Assume it costs 10 times as much time to make a link than it costs to only search for "site:xkcd.com tab explosion". Is your time 1000 as valuable as someone else's?
RIM is another that is much like MS and Apple in that they sell hardware for profit. The only drawback with RIM is that you must pipe your data through RIM's servers. They have the added benefit of being vetted by many corporations so that may be a deciding factor.
Is it possible to use these photo's as an alibi that you weren't someplace else? A clear cut example: A car with my license plate is caught stealing (and it's the same kind of busted up blue Opel Astra stationwagon, since anyone can get that data nowadays). My car is pictured 10 minutes later 100 kilometers (62 miles) away. Will I get a ticket? Can I use the picture to prove there is at least something terrebly wrong?
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eyes and ears are both usefull in their single cell varieties. The eye has been explaned a million times so let's take the ear: The first critter to be able to hear the predetor stomping it's way (and cause the critter to start running) has an advantage, even if the predetor has to make a shitload of noise to do so and even if the noise feels more like an itch. Predators probably weren't as silent back then, and the species that didn't evolve ears have died out. The vibrations can be picked up by cells with micro hairs in the skin (wich wasn't as evolved as it is now: probably no epidermis over the dermis so there were probably living cells on the outer skin). As generation after generation evolved the further and further specialising cells grew back in a "tunnel" to protect them. The evolution of an tympanic membrane seems quite a large step, but we still see babies being born with membranes over eyes, mouth and nose. They are removed quick enough.
As the evolution continued the critters with some sort of outer ear had an advantage: sound is much clearer if you have an outer ear.
Note: this is not a proof, the ear may have evolved in a different way. It's just a way it could have happened.
Disclaimer: I can accept there is a God if decent proof is offered. Up to now I can only look at the proof from both sides and conclude that there is no proof of a God. If He exists he may have been testing when He created everything to seem like He didn't do it. In that case I fell for His trap and I will be screwed royally when I meet Him.
I do not mean to ridicule believers, I just call them on the flaws in their proofs, as I do with atheists' proofs that He does not exist.
Will it include a cyclotron to make the high energy particles that are theorised to create the original conductive path wich allows the real lightning to travel far further than it should? The high energy particles may not be the reason, but this setup may be part of what's required to test it.
14 million volts should only jump up to 50 meters (or about 150 feet) or so, depending on the shape of the electrodes (33 KV/cm is a rule of thumb for perfect spherical electrodes, usually it's lower). No where near the hundreds of meters needed to cross air-ground.
The problem with DC was that the power plants could economically deliver DC electricity only to customers within about one and a half miles (about 2.4 km) from the generating station
Now Tesla's design was based on AC and thus it could be transformed, allowing for long distance transport. I don't know how wireless fitted into that, but I can assume the powerplants could be far from the actual transmitters.
note: nowadays the supply lines for extremely long distances are DC again because of induction losses, but it's usually converted to 500KV with step up converters of various designs they didn't have back then.
No. "It's not economically feasible" would be more sensible.
The article claims solar power uses silicon and pretends it will be gone forever. No it will not. If the solar panel is degraded the high grade silicon isn't lost. It can be recycled.
He compares that with coal for example: the coal is burned into (mostly) CO2 and H2O. To get coal again you'd have to put, by definition, at least as much energy in it as you got out of it in the first place. That's not an recyclable energy source, that's an expensive battery.
And that still just HALF of the time, half life is called so for a reason you know
Half life is the time in wich half of the atoms degrade. If I have 1Kg of pure plutonium 239, after 24,000 years this will be 0.5 Kg of plutonium and 0.5 kg of Uranium 235 (ignoring the fact that U-235 degrades a bit in and of itself). After another 24,000 years I have 0.25 Kg of P-239 and 0.75 Kg of U-235. 24,000 years later it'll be 0.125 Kg of P-239.
Now as to the danger of it:
P-239 has alpha decay. As long as you don't get much (micrograms) into your body you'll be fine. It can not penetrate a sheet of paper or the outer layers of your skin. Storage is done in many small containers. If one breaks each decade the amount that gets into your drinking water supply (and thus into you will be miniscule. Your body will be able to cope.
The 100,000 years you mentioned is way shorter than the true time required for the sun to go red giant (when it does it will get a bit bigger than the orbit of Earth so at that point we are most definetely screwed).
The sun will go red giant in a couple of billion years.
Up to that point we can use solar energy as much as we wish.
We may be able to keep the sun for 10 billion years if we find a way to peel off the external layers with some huge magnetic field within the next 1 million years, but we are nowhere near that technology. It would require a particle accelerator the size of the orbit of Mercury. Not that we need to be close to it now, but it's fun to speculate.
The impression I got from P4's was that they were always overheating and the consessions made to get these high frequencies were unacceptable (looooong pipelines) and limiting to the actual speed.
It was an overall recognised brand, but not always in a good way.
You are forgetting the loss from the oil refinery (my guess would be 25% or so)
You are fogetting the 3 km/l truck that drives the fuel to the tank station (assuming 400 km and 10,000l this comes down to 1.2%).
If you calculate the efficiency of both the supply lines the gas car starts to look even worse.
No yagis required. No radio required. I had the wrong acronym: I meant Ethernet Over Power.
I assume you mean the long powerlines will act as antenna's. (Yagis are quite exact in their dimensions, or they will not work with measurable efiiciency)
That's what the low frequency is about: antenna's suck for low frequencies (around 1KHz: labda=300.000 km, a usefull antenna starts at 1/4 labda = 75.000 km (over 45.000 miles) or almost twice the circumference of earth) as far as I know (IANARA, just interrested in the subject and an electrical engineer). The length of the antenna's, the required power and the frequency can be limited by using modems in transformer houses. Most will be close to some form of internet (ADSL/Cable), can use cellular or can act as repeaters (splitting the antenna and lowering the power although the frequency will not be affected).
Glass is mostly silicon dioxide although it does contain some other oxides. We will not soon run out of silicon dioxide because it is the main component of sand (sand is mostly silicon dioxide with a lot of impurities). Calcium oxide and Sodium oxide are no big problem either. My estimate would be: we can coat the entire earth's surface with a layer of 10 cm (4 inches) of glass if we wanted (energy requirements of making so much glass not withstanding).
100% if they use batteries (which are highly unrenewable - 7 years and they are toast under very good conditions- less under bad conditions).
The materials are not wasted, they are simply in the wrong place. Most western countries have begun recycling batteries and making new ones from the "waste". Batteries are renewable.
I agree with you on the "people should spend more time with their dogs" part.
I agree with you that a dog getting injured is more cruel
I agree with you that the people who have the most problems most likely use it as the only solution, not the last line of defence. They should do the empathical test: put it on themselves and walk over the line. Know what you do to your dog, although some people will never understand the line isn't clear to the dog, he simply can't see it.
I agree with you that your use is relatively good.
I do not agree with you that it was the best choice. Dogs are expensive, you should have known that when you bought them. The chainlink fence is an expensive solution, but the edge is absolutely clear to a dog. An electric fence is not as clear.
I have no knowledge of collies, I have only had a Shepherd and a Golden Retriever. From what I can find Collies are very smart dogs so it should be possible to keep them close, although it will be difficult with the inbred traits. My guess would be:
Profit!
But that's not based on much experience. My dogs were never very interrested in the neighbours.
Tying up is a bad thing to do as well. Most smarter dogs may be able to figure it out, but the dumber dogs can't. They can't figure out why they are being punished, so they are being punished without reason from their POV. That's what creates the trouble. That's why I think it should be forbidden.
A fence is actually not a bad solution, although it's expensive for bigger area's. The dog has a clear indication of where he should and shouldn't go.
Did you seriously put "psyche" in quotes??
I do not know enough about dog psychology to make a claim whether their psyche can be measured with the same words as human ones. I do know there is something there that is similar, althoug I think it is much simpeler. The quotes were there because I wanted to use the word while I was not sure whether it was the appropriate word, or if there was an appropriate word. In any case I am quite sure it's much simpeler than a human psyche.
Are you one of those "Humans are not animal, as animals don't have a soul" retards?
I have seen no proof for a soul, so I asume neither a dog nor a human has one.
I've studied psychology and neurology, and it's clear as day that everything with a neural net also has a psyche. Including simulated ones. It's just a inseparable artifact of every neural net, by definition.
I take your word for that. It is not my area of expertise.
And a dog definitely has a complex psyche. If you ever really knew a dog, there is no doubt about that. I've seen dogs who had schizophrenia, for god's sake!
I know a dog very well. My own. I have had it from birth (it's mother was my parents'). I know they have something that could very well be called a psyche and in my post I warned against damaging it. I have seen great differences in behaviour in puppies (before most conditioning is done) so I know each dog's psyche is very unike. I still wouldn't call the psyche comparable to a human's or complex. Most dogs have simple goals they will always persue: mine looks for attention, water and food (in that order, she's a terrible attention whore). I see this as an indication of a simple psyche.
I am sorry. I had the wrong acronym. I meant EOP: Ethernet Over Powerline.
Its a common enough tool for people who are to lazy to properly train their pet. The version I know is a wire in the ground that sends a low power radio signal and a collar that detects if it crosses the wire. If it does the pet gets a small electric shock.
In my vieuw (and I have trained a dog to stay inside my parent's garden) this can't be a good thing: the dog gets punished without a clear reason (lazy people didn't take the time to make it clear to the dog it can't go into their flowerbeds). This can wreak havoc on the dog's simple "psyche": I'd expect some to grow fearfull of everything, some to grow extremely viscious and some to go completely beserk.
Shielding doesn't work if the device needs an antenna to function. Wireless devices need their antenna's. These devices work on the same frequencies as wireless/bluetooth/micowaves/dect/alarms.
"POE. Try it, bitches" would have been more appropriate. Assuming the transformers allow high frequency signals to pass, a relatively high power/low frequency/low bandwith (The supplier doesn't need to check your usage more frequently than once a year, multiplied by the amount of data (1K would easily be enough) multiplied by the amount of subscribers in the area) POE communications channel would let them check all the houses without driving a car through the neighbourhood at all.
Dunno about the durabilty of optical. The frequent twisting and flexing of optical might cause it to fail soon. I haven't handled high quality fiber so that may be no problem.
Biology builds things in a completely different way. The sea sponges build the fiber up atom by atom. This gives great flexibility in "design". The sea sponge may be able to repair it's optical fibers when damaged. We puny humans are currently not able to repair minor damages on an optical fiber without cutting the fiber out first.
That doesn't sound as much as a superpower! It will not do.
Paying for the 'license' keeps this chemical out of meth labs... how?
Paying for it means a methlab can't get 10000 people to get one. This means the DEA can check everyone once in a while. This means the methlab can't simply get a license for it. This means the methlab can't aquire it through legal means.
XKCD has a comic called tab explosion
tab explosion
Assume 10000 people read it and would like to refresh their memories (low estimate). Assume it costs 10 times as much time to make a link than it costs to only search for "site:xkcd.com tab explosion". Is your time 1000 as valuable as someone else's?
RIM is another that is much like MS and Apple in that they sell hardware for profit. The only drawback with RIM is that you must pipe your data through RIM's servers. They have the added benefit of being vetted by many corporations so that may be a deciding factor.
Not quite true: you can set your own blackberry server. There even seems to be free option. Dunno how much work it is though.
Bing is your friend [ducks]
The inertial sensor for the navigation (drift prevention by GPS, detailed position by inertial sensor) would indicate something is wrong.
Is it possible to use these photo's as an alibi that you weren't someplace else? A clear cut example: A car with my license plate is caught stealing (and it's the same kind of busted up blue Opel Astra stationwagon, since anyone can get that data nowadays). My car is pictured 10 minutes later 100 kilometers (62 miles) away. Will I get a ticket? Can I use the picture to prove there is at least something terrebly wrong?