If you're a small custom contract electronics shop here in the US with two or three people, a few dollars a chip can make a big difference. Multiply that by how many chips on whatever board you're making and it adds up quickly. Especially in a down economy where manufacturers aren't ordering many custom control boards for production lines or other uses.
Some of the contracts will be quite profitable, but many will be marginal at best. As we said around the shop (no longer in business) "You have to kiss a lot of toads to find a prince."
Oh, but implicit in this whole article is the idea that only US software companies make such things, or even can make such things.
Seems a touch US-centric to me given the large amounts of software developed overseas.
Even a good bit of ostensibly US software was written in Bangalore, or the like.
Or has everyone conveniently forgotten the amazingly racially biased flame fests here on slashdot about outsourcing to India? India had a rocket failure and it turned into a bashing of Indians about outsourcing.
Or maybe it's just that someone feels if it's not from a US company then they can't be blamed. "Not my fault. My guilt is assuaged. I can continue feeling superior to all of "those" people over there."
"I'm surprised North Korea hasn't taken the opportunity to finish off Fukushima with light artillery"
Aside from getting arty (ship or shore) with a range of 20 miles or so within effective range, there's a small problem called The Combined Field Army (US and ROK) in the northern part of South Korea. Oh yeah, and the substantial air power of Japan and the US forces based there.
And why would China want to take over a headache like that even if there was a way to do it?
But I wouldn't mod you down just for that. That's epidemic around here.
Yes, the floors were designed to pancake if a controlled demolition was done after specific weakening of the structure, but instead the support beams softened more than they predicted from the heat of a huge fire.
There's a whole raft of practical problems and misconceptions with what you suggest.
As soon as they started injecting seawater, the reactor was toast as far as re-use.
And why would you want to dump something like concrete into it that would be less effective at getting rid of heat? (Let alone the fate of the poor schlemiel you'd get to direct the stream of concrete into it.). You wait until the fuel has cooled and isn't generating so much heat before entombing it if it comes to that. Trying to cast concrete around a major heat source contained in a water filled pressure vessel is a great way to make a bomb.
Besides, it already is surrounded by concrete. It's called a containment. Chernobyl didn't have that. And at least some of it is getting out of that regardless.
This is similar to when someone from outside of the computer field has suggested how to handle a software problem. From their view, it's obvious and has got to be easy. From the developer's view it's usually completely the wrong direction.
I can assure you that's not just in the financial sector.
I've left jobs for lower pay too. For me, at least, working with a group of people you like is a big thing. Going in to work and having to deal with people you detest and detest you grinds after a while regardless of how interesting the projects are. Bad office politics can poison even the otherwise best position.
Gee. Is this a little like that other article about not letting engineers become finance type, but just tailored to your particular slant? It wouldn't be trying to disuade public employment would it?
I'm sure that anyone who is facing a court trial would love to have a high res version of all conversations by the judge and jury and the public prosecutor.
Of course that would be just for keeping them on the up and up, and not seeking advantage.
It would have a downside for anyone not able to afford a private lawyer, as the public defender would be subject to it.
Perhaps you'd like them to be subject to weekly colonoscopies as well.
It's simple. It's insightful if the mod agrees with it. If the mod doesn't, it's a troll. Further, if they disagree with it, it's not a fact and therefore automatically polemical.
Base score was one, since he was a signed in user. He was modded insightful by one mod and modded troll by another. And, he had a karma bonus. So, since troll trumps insightful, all things being equal he's a score 2 troll. I suppose that's a higher rank troll than just the random AC troll. More sophisticated or can tell food from clothing or some such.
What gets even more fun, is when someone with 5 or 15 mod points posts something as an AC, and then later goes back and mods down anyone who disagrees with his AC post.
"yes and some fanboi always feels a need to say "but the other guys do it too!" anytime a specific party is mentioned."
And whenever someone posts something pointing out the people you agree with do it too, just label them as a partisan "fanboi" and it makes it all okay.
If they really are against you, it helps neutralize their argument in the eyes of those on the fence. If they mostly agree with you, but aren't being sufficiently strident, it may well get them to go back to being more polarized to counter you. So, it's a win in either case.
Oh, and post as an AC so it's hard to link any other views to you. It lets you feign neutrality in the post. And if anyone mentions it, just say it's to keep from being harrassed.
When I saw the "active shooter at BUILDING NAME/INTERSECTION", my first thought was that I'd prefer comatose, asleep or just plain lethargic shooters.
It really was pretty quick between the mistake and the correction especially with that many emails going out for each. I check email fairly often, but the correction was already there when I saw the message. They mentioned that the updating was being done in response to comments from those getting alerts previously. I assumed that was from the Green St. fire notifications.
Having it be spring break was definitely a good thing for both the previous fire, and the mistaken alert.
If I were still between jobs like I was for much of last year, sure.
I've always wanted to see Japan, and if I could do something helpful while there that would be great.
I'd be up for doing more than just getting close to Fukushima Daiichi. During cleanup, you need people who have no or low existing exposure so they can go into hot areas for a time. You rotate them in and then send them home when they get to a certain fraction of the maximum allowed dose.
The parent post is full of hyperbole, but truly the levels we've seen thus far aren't that bad outside of the plant. It's always possible something else could go wrong and they would get worse.
Believe me, I've seen both a gasoline vapor explosion and what a high current battery does when it's shorted. I'll take the battery any day. It's more localized even though it's violent.
But even just touching off gasoline in liquid and letting it burn when it's dispersed in a thin sheet on a floor is pretty impressive for rate of energy release. Yes, it's got to be in vapor form, but most things are that way for normal burning.
Fire related things in movies tend to be among the most bogus science wise. All cars in wrecks burn, and apparently in movies radiant heat doesn't exist because action heroes can have huge waves of fire go just inches away from them with no burns.
I think highly decentralized power has merits. Certainly it's less vulnerable to a natural disaster, point failure or military strike. There are also some areas that for technical or political reasons big centralized power plants have downsides.
Nuclear is just one energy source. I think that it's a useful one. I'm not sure the public reaction to a neighborhood nuke plant with Joe Average running it would be favorable enough to site them. In time, perhaps.
But, it's only one of many ways to supply our energy needs. All of them have downsides. None of them are appropriate for every situation. It'll be a mix of things regardless of what direction we go.
For example. Amory Lovins, one of the notables of the anti-nuclear movement was asked in an interview what he thought of a truly cheap clean energy source. He said it would be a disaster. Why? Because he believes that whenever humans are given concentrated sources of power, they use it to destroy nature. Thus humans need to be limited to diffuse and limited sources of energy.
Quite often the waste and radiation questions are arguments used against nuclear power, when some of the motivation would have problems with any concentrated source of energy.
Needless to say, I disagree with that viewpoint, but it is one that can be argued and is not totally without merit.
Did you even bother to look at the travelling wave reactor info? Did you just hear the word "fast" or breeder and stop?
It's designed to make proliferation nearly impossible. That's a big reason why Gates is interested.
It only generates the fissile fuel in a narrow strip where the reaction is going on, and then burns it up. In front of the reaction wave, no plutonium. Behind the wave, maybe some traces left. In the wave, it's an active reaction. That's a touch difficult to turn into a bomb.
Slashdot Mirror
If you're a small custom contract electronics shop here in the US with two or three people, a few dollars a chip can make a big difference. Multiply that by how many chips on whatever board you're making and it adds up quickly. Especially in a down economy where manufacturers aren't ordering many custom control boards for production lines or other uses.
Some of the contracts will be quite profitable, but many will be marginal at best. As we said around the shop (no longer in business) "You have to kiss a lot of toads to find a prince."
"I ride to work on a fucking unicorn each and every day"
Must be an awfully bumpy ride.
"Excuse me but this is above any argument."
Really? Seems to be a lot of argument going on about it here.
Oh, but implicit in this whole article is the idea that only US software companies make such things, or even can make such things.
Seems a touch US-centric to me given the large amounts of software developed overseas.
Even a good bit of ostensibly US software was written in Bangalore, or the like.
Or has everyone conveniently forgotten the amazingly racially biased flame fests here on slashdot about outsourcing to India? India had a rocket failure and it turned into a bashing of Indians about outsourcing.
Or maybe it's just that someone feels if it's not from a US company then they can't be blamed. "Not my fault. My guilt is assuaged. I can continue feeling superior to all of "those" people over there."
So, you're saying you'd like the 14 year old ones?
Hope you're still in high school or it'll be a rough time in prison.
"I'm surprised North Korea hasn't taken the opportunity to finish off Fukushima with light artillery"
Aside from getting arty (ship or shore) with a range of 20 miles or so within effective range, there's a small problem called The Combined Field Army (US and ROK) in the northern part of South Korea. Oh yeah, and the substantial air power of Japan and the US forces based there.
And why would China want to take over a headache like that even if there was a way to do it?
Except for what you tell us, right?
Oh wait. You're an AC. How will we know you from the untruthful ACs on $other_side?
"There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
Ok. You don't get it.
But I wouldn't mod you down just for that. That's epidemic around here.
Yes, the floors were designed to pancake if a controlled demolition was done after specific weakening of the structure, but instead the support beams softened more than they predicted from the heat of a huge fire.
That was unplanned.
There's a whole raft of practical problems and misconceptions with what you suggest.
As soon as they started injecting seawater, the reactor was toast as far as re-use.
And why would you want to dump something like concrete into it that would be less effective at getting rid of heat? (Let alone the fate of the poor schlemiel you'd get to direct the stream of concrete into it.). You wait until the fuel has cooled and isn't generating so much heat before entombing it if it comes to that. Trying to cast concrete around a major heat source contained in a water filled pressure vessel is a great way to make a bomb.
Besides, it already is surrounded by concrete. It's called a containment. Chernobyl didn't have that. And at least some of it is getting out of that regardless.
This is similar to when someone from outside of the computer field has suggested how to handle a software problem. From their view, it's obvious and has got to be easy. From the developer's view it's usually completely the wrong direction.
I want my harem of 18 year old Rei Ayanami clones!
Although a few cat girls would be a groove too.
I can assure you that's not just in the financial sector.
I've left jobs for lower pay too. For me, at least, working with a group of people you like is a big thing. Going in to work and having to deal with people you detest and detest you grinds after a while regardless of how interesting the projects are. Bad office politics can poison even the otherwise best position.
Gee. Is this a little like that other article about not letting engineers become finance type, but just tailored to your particular slant? It wouldn't be trying to disuade public employment would it?
I'm sure that anyone who is facing a court trial would love to have a high res version of all conversations by the judge and jury and the public prosecutor.
Of course that would be just for keeping them on the up and up, and not seeking advantage.
It would have a downside for anyone not able to afford a private lawyer, as the public defender would be subject to it.
Perhaps you'd like them to be subject to weekly colonoscopies as well.
It's simple. It's insightful if the mod agrees with it. If the mod doesn't, it's a troll. Further, if they disagree with it, it's not a fact and therefore automatically polemical.
Base score was one, since he was a signed in user. He was modded insightful by one mod and modded troll by another. And, he had a karma bonus. So, since troll trumps insightful, all things being equal he's a score 2 troll. I suppose that's a higher rank troll than just the random AC troll. More sophisticated or can tell food from clothing or some such.
What gets even more fun, is when someone with 5 or 15 mod points posts something as an AC, and then later goes back and mods down anyone who disagrees with his AC post.
Of course no one would ever do such a thing.
It's always easy to tell someone else they should take a job that pays them less to conform to ones ideology.
"yes and some fanboi always feels a need to say "but the other guys do it too!" anytime a specific party is mentioned."
And whenever someone posts something pointing out the people you agree with do it too, just label them as a partisan "fanboi" and it makes it all okay.
If they really are against you, it helps neutralize their argument in the eyes of those on the fence. If they mostly agree with you, but aren't being sufficiently strident, it may well get them to go back to being more polarized to counter you. So, it's a win in either case.
Oh, and post as an AC so it's hard to link any other views to you. It lets you feign neutrality in the post. And if anyone mentions it, just say it's to keep from being harrassed.
"fanbois like you aren't helping."
Look in the mirror.
When I saw the "active shooter at BUILDING NAME/INTERSECTION", my first thought was that I'd prefer comatose, asleep or just plain lethargic shooters.
It really was pretty quick between the mistake and the correction especially with that many emails going out for each. I check email fairly often, but the correction was already there when I saw the message. They mentioned that the updating was being done in response to comments from those getting alerts previously. I assumed that was from the Green St. fire notifications.
Having it be spring break was definitely a good thing for both the previous fire, and the mistaken alert.
All your boarders are belong to us.
If I were still between jobs like I was for much of last year, sure.
I've always wanted to see Japan, and if I could do something helpful while there that would be great.
I'd be up for doing more than just getting close to Fukushima Daiichi. During cleanup, you need people who have no or low existing exposure so they can go into hot areas for a time. You rotate them in and then send them home when they get to a certain fraction of the maximum allowed dose.
The parent post is full of hyperbole, but truly the levels we've seen thus far aren't that bad outside of the plant. It's always possible something else could go wrong and they would get worse.
"when they were first broadcast in the 19070s"
Ah, so you've met the good Doctor. Or at least someone with a Tardis.
(Pertwee is my favorite Doctor as well.)
Believe me, I've seen both a gasoline vapor explosion and what a high current battery does when it's shorted. I'll take the battery any day. It's more localized even though it's violent.
But even just touching off gasoline in liquid and letting it burn when it's dispersed in a thin sheet on a floor is pretty impressive for rate of energy release. Yes, it's got to be in vapor form, but most things are that way for normal burning.
Fire related things in movies tend to be among the most bogus science wise. All cars in wrecks burn, and apparently in movies radiant heat doesn't exist because action heroes can have huge waves of fire go just inches away from them with no burns.
Well, there is something that can deliver even more energy in a short time.
It's called a gasoline tank.
We're used to it, but gasoline is a definitely dangerous thing. We just have learned the rules for how to deal with it most of the time.
It's incremental progress. Right now nanomaterials for power applications are a hot topic.
But I'd give Braun more chance than some at actually turning up something that'll make it into use.
(Disclaimer: I'm biased. He's an affiliate professor in the deparment I work in.)
I think highly decentralized power has merits. Certainly it's less vulnerable to a natural disaster, point failure or military strike. There are also some areas that for technical or political reasons big centralized power plants have downsides.
Nuclear is just one energy source. I think that it's a useful one. I'm not sure the public reaction to a neighborhood nuke plant with Joe Average running it would be favorable enough to site them. In time, perhaps.
But, it's only one of many ways to supply our energy needs. All of them have downsides. None of them are appropriate for every situation. It'll be a mix of things regardless of what direction we go.
That's not entirely true.
For example. Amory Lovins, one of the notables of the anti-nuclear movement was asked in an interview what he thought of a truly cheap clean energy source. He said it would be a disaster. Why? Because he believes that whenever humans are given concentrated sources of power, they use it to destroy nature. Thus humans need to be limited to diffuse and limited sources of energy.
Quite often the waste and radiation questions are arguments used against nuclear power, when some of the motivation would have problems with any concentrated source of energy.
Needless to say, I disagree with that viewpoint, but it is one that can be argued and is not totally without merit.
Did you even bother to look at the travelling wave reactor info? Did you just hear the word "fast" or breeder and stop?
It's designed to make proliferation nearly impossible. That's a big reason why Gates is interested.
It only generates the fissile fuel in a narrow strip where the reaction is going on, and then burns it up. In front of the reaction wave, no plutonium. Behind the wave, maybe some traces left. In the wave, it's an active reaction. That's a touch difficult to turn into a bomb.