The editors note that is now attached to the Register article that you link to really does not help to support your position. Incidentally I remember having read earlier that year that the warming trend will be put on hold this year because of a severe La Nina effect - apparently the National Geographic guys didn't get the memo.
As a European who has lived in the US and currently Canada I am sorry to report that the political apathy is pretty pronounced in Canada as well. The winner takes all electoral system that has been inherited from the UK reinforces the status quot but there is a fairly persistent movement to change over to a proportional representative system. For Canada this would be a step in the right direction. On the other hand I think a governmental system should accommodate the existing apathy. I.e. let's have more direct democracy but with a twist. How about a little quiz before you can actually vote and your vote will only count if you get the quiz right. Not that I really thought this through. This adds another layer of complexity i.e. who decides about the quiz? But it would be nice if only people could vote on issue that they have a minimum of basic knowledge about.
Humans as most social animals are capable of empathy i.e. the ability to identify with others and share their pain. The golden rule is a very direct consequence of this social conscience. That is why even without repeated scolding a healthy child will learn that hurting others is not "good". That is also why the psychopath is crime thrillers best friend. In most severe cases a psychopath is totally incapable of empathy. That is why the comment that started this threat rings very true. An individual that solely refrains from killing because of religious scripture is essentially a psychopath. Of course a far as psychopaths go one of the more agreeable kinds
Sounds like a good case for medical gene manipulation of the germline to fix this.
I find this whole evolutionary argument kind of redundant and very yesteryear. After all we are deepening the understanding of the human genome at an ever accelerating rate. I find it much more interesting to contemplate if gene therapy will eventually also be used to fix what ain't broken i.e. enhance healthy ordinary human genome.
The situation is anything but that back and white.
I suggest you brush up on the history of civic code. The development of the Western World has been very much a transition of making ever more entities (individuals and institutions) subject to law. A typical example for such a transitional order would be the civic code enacted by Frederick the Great in Prussia. Of course he was a bit ahead of the curve and actually did not believe in the divine rights of kings famously calling the crown "a bad hat that lets the rain in".
With regards to the US you are almost right as the government does lavish itself with excessive immunity (which is why the court ruling appears absolutely proper). But there are exceptions. For the UK you would be right "as lawsuits against the Sovereign in his or her personal, private capacity are still inadmissible in British law". Pretty sorry state of affairs if you ask me.
It goes without saying that much of the credit for this approach goes to the American Founding fathers and Jefferson in particular. Assuming that you are American I'd wish you knew better than espousing this view. It reeks of fatalism.
The purpose of the probe goes significantly beyond direct irrefutable proof of water on Mars. But you also need to understand that the other readings from orbit were with regards to hydrogen. All the large data collected on Mars indicate it was very wet in the past and that there still was water in form of ice - but science does not deal in conjecture. Proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that there is water and being versus certain that there is lots of it is a great achievement.
Now if Phoenix can also carry out some more experiments to determine the soils chemistry that'll be all the better.
In regards to the tax argument. Don't know if this makes you feel any better but given the federal debt burden most of the US expenditures are just baby steps closer to maxing out the national credit card so to speak. Also if my memory serves me right the Phoenix was at some point a scrapped mission although the orbiter was already build. NASA then - more by chance than design - could secure some additional payload on a rocket launched for another mission.
So the Phoenix literally rose from the ashed and your monetary scorn is a bit misdirected at this particular mission.
On a related note as a non-American with strong ties to your country I am happy about any positive news associated with the US. From a internationally political angle this is money well spend.
No insult meant but you either don't have very much disposable income or you seem to plan to spoil your children. I intend to offer a 1st class education to my children if they are so inclined but after that they will need to be able to support themselves. Don't see how anything material beyond education will be of much benefit.
Satellite surface penetrating radar measurements indicate a layer of almost pure ice with depth of up to 1.8 km in places. Lateral spherical distribution of what is most likely water ice with about 1000 km diameter has been observed in March 2007 around the south pole.
Once you put 4000 wind generators into a area the laws of large numbers may work its magic - oh wait... law of large numbers - I guess that means the morons will always win.
I don't want to claim to be an expert on wild fires but it seems to me your attitude is a bit cavalier. These things obviously sit in windy spots. All sort of dry vegetation can burn under the right conditions. If there is enough wind fires can spread easily and get out of control. A quick google search should demonstrate to you that wild fires are a real threat in large parts of Texas.
Sub 1% lets say.3% times 4000 wind mills makes 12 burning wind mills that can not be extinguished in dry bush land.
Germany had a head start with this technology and if you could read the article you would learn that they were taken by surprise. And those things are very well engineered.
GE does not have as much experience in wind energy. Putting them in such a wild fire prone area calls for some contingency planning.
Wind energy is great but rushing into it without taking this factor into account could literally lead to disaster and damage the reputation of this great technology beyond repair.
Very good point especially since these things can literally burn and crash.
This PDF contains some scary pictures. And there is nothing you can do if the turbine catches fire. It is to high up to put it out. Don't get me wrong I like wind energy but if these things are conventionally designed each one of them will be a bush fire waiting to happen.
What is generally overlooked is that the presidency in Iran is purely a figurehead position not at all comparable to the the role of the president in the US. Ahmadinejade has about as much real power as Queen Elizabeth. Iran is called a theocracy for a reason. If the elected president actually had any real power it wouldn't be a theocracy after all. Fact is in Iran the clergy calls the shot i.e. the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
The thought that this thing must be designed with some sort of overheat fail-safe occurred to me. Yet, this obviously will only kick in well above 100 degree Celsius since the stated purpose is to power a steam turbine. Hence my observation that permafrost ground and this super heavy weight battery won't mix very well.
It is also pretty apparent that you've never seen a nuclear reactor. A reactor itself is pretty small compared to the overall size of a plant. It's the cooling loops, turbines, myriad of control and power equipment, and containment structure that take up space.
None of which this reactor possesses. Let's do a little back of the envelope calculation:
1 calories is the energy to warm 1 gram of water by 1 degree Celsius (for the purpose of this estimate this is accurate enough across the considered temp spectrum).
This means you have enough energy to warm 6460 l of water 1 degree Celsius within 1 sec (1l water weighs about 1 kg). Assuming we put this thing into a spacious swimming pool 2 meters deep 5 by 15 meters wide i.e. 150000 l. Assuming this pool is well insulated it will heat up by 1 degree Celsius every 23 seconds i.e it will reach a boiling point within about 40 minutes if the pool water started out at just above freezing.
If ever the steam engine fails as heat sink than it will be quite a view to behold what happens to the "nuclear battery". Especially if they bury that thing into the permafrost ground of Northern Alberta to provide energy for oil shale development.
At the time that I am writing this youtube seems to be done. So here's the written account - although words don't really do this incident justice:
A man was tased and arrested on a Utah highway after being stopped by an officer and refusing to sign a speeding ticket because he did not understand what offence he had committed or why he had been pulled over.
The encounter, captured on the police car camera on September 14th and released this week, is the latest in a long string of incidents involving the unacceptable use of Tasers by officers on citizens whom the evidence reveals are in no way threatening, acting unlawfully or resisting co-operation.
The video shows the Utah Highway Patrolman pull over Jared Massey and his pregnant wife who also had their baby with them in the car and ask for Mr Massey's license.
Mr Massey tells the officer he does not understand why he has been stopped or what he is being charged with, at which point the officer orders Massey to get out of the car. The officer then puts down his clipboard and immediately takes out his Taser and points it at Mr Massey without any provocation whatsoever, yelling "Turn around and put your hands behind your back" as Massey attempts to point out the speed limit sign and engage the officer in conversation.
(Article continues below)
A shocked Massey asks "what the hell is wrong with you?" and backs away, turning around as the officer had demanded, at which point the officer unleashes 50,000 volts from the Taser into Massey's body, sending him screaming to the ground instantly and causing his wife to jump out of the car and yell hysterically for help.
Watch the video:
Lying face down on the ground a shell shocked, Mr Massey says "officer I don't know what you are doing, I don't know why you are doing what you are doing" to which the officer replies "I am placing you under arrest because you did not obey my instruction."
Mr Massey then once again asks the officer several times why he was stopped and what he is being charged with. He then asks for his rights to be read and points out that the officer cannot arrest him without doing this. Instead of reading Massey his rights the officer then addresses another patrolman who arrives on the scene sardonically commenting "Ohhh he took a ride with the Taser" to which the other officer answers "painful isn't it".
The icing on the cake comes at the end of the video when the officer LIES to his own colleague about the encounter, clearly stating that he verbally warned Massey he was going to tase him, as is the law, when there was no warning whatsoever.
Mr Massey is planning to file a lawsuit against the Utah Highway Patrol. He says he was already slowing down as he approached the 40 mile per hour sign in the construction zone outside of vernal. All charges except for the speeding ticket have been dropped.
You discovered the perfect scapegoat! Nobody likes banks. Everybody will always agree that they are the source of all evil. No more concepts such as self-responsibility needed. And you even build in a fall back position. If not the banks than the pill is to be blamed. Well done, sir. Your comment surely qualifies as insightful.
The water is re-injected. In a dry rock cycle even if you have some saline in there you'd run out of water pretty quickly if you don't re-inject. Basically you use the artificially fractured rock like a heat exchanger. Usually you will have to inject more water than you actually gain on the other end if you are looking at a real dry rock system. The loss of injected water is actually the largest challenge to the dry rock technique. That is why a desert like in Australia is not an ideal location - not enough water sources to supplement the water that you lose down hole.
And BTW you are of course entirely correct about the Carnot efficiency. Ideally you can use the rest heat for heating buildings or use it for farming applications i.e. heating green houses, fishery ponds etc. Again a desert is not a good place to get that extra bit of benefit.
The beauty of/. is that even an absolute crap article will in most case get somebody to point out what actually was newsworthy about the item. So to summarize: It seems that the game allows the user to create their own procedural content generation through the use of editors.
Always welcome to see a comment moderated favorably but really I was going for *funny* - empires never last forever. So let's all take some solace that while the US empire crumbles at least we did not overspend on the infrastructure.
Slashdot Mirror
The editors note that is now attached to the Register article that you link to really does not help to support your position. Incidentally I remember having read earlier that year that the warming trend will be put on hold this year because of a severe La Nina effect - apparently the National Geographic guys didn't get the memo.
As a European who has lived in the US and currently Canada I am sorry to report that the political apathy is pretty pronounced in Canada as well. The winner takes all electoral system that has been inherited from the UK reinforces the status quot but there is a fairly persistent movement to change over to a proportional representative system. For Canada this would be a step in the right direction. On the other hand I think a governmental system should accommodate the existing apathy. I.e. let's have more direct democracy but with a twist. How about a little quiz before you can actually vote and your vote will only count if you get the quiz right. Not that I really thought this through. This adds another layer of complexity i.e. who decides about the quiz? But it would be nice if only people could vote on issue that they have a minimum of basic knowledge about.
Humans as most social animals are capable of empathy i.e. the ability to identify with others and share their pain. The golden rule is a very direct consequence of this social conscience. That is why even without repeated scolding a healthy child will learn that hurting others is not "good". That is also why the psychopath is crime thrillers best friend. In most severe cases a psychopath is totally incapable of empathy. That is why the comment that started this threat rings very true. An individual that solely refrains from killing because of religious scripture is essentially a psychopath. Of course a far as psychopaths go one of the more agreeable kinds
Sounds like a good case for medical gene manipulation of the germline to fix this.
I find this whole evolutionary argument kind of redundant and very yesteryear. After all we are deepening the understanding of the human genome at an ever accelerating rate. I find it much more interesting to contemplate if gene therapy will eventually also be used to fix what ain't broken i.e. enhance healthy ordinary human genome.
The situation is anything but that back and white.
I suggest you brush up on the history of civic code. The development of the Western World has been very much a transition of making ever more entities (individuals and institutions) subject to law. A typical example for such a transitional order would be the civic code enacted by Frederick the Great in Prussia. Of course he was a bit ahead of the curve and actually did not believe in the divine rights of kings famously calling the crown "a bad hat that lets the rain in".
With regards to the US you are almost right as the government does lavish itself with excessive immunity (which is why the court ruling appears absolutely proper). But there are exceptions. For the UK you would be right "as lawsuits against the Sovereign in his or her personal, private capacity are still inadmissible in British law". Pretty sorry state of affairs if you ask me.
A modern approach to law is to start with the universal declaration of human rights and derive all civil code from there without allowing for immunity exceptions.
It goes without saying that much of the credit for this approach goes to the American Founding fathers and Jefferson in particular. Assuming that you are American I'd wish you knew better than espousing this view. It reeks of fatalism.
The purpose of the probe goes significantly beyond direct irrefutable proof of water on Mars. But you also need to understand that the other readings from orbit were with regards to hydrogen. All the large data collected on Mars indicate it was very wet in the past and that there still was water in form of ice - but science does not deal in conjecture. Proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that there is water and being versus certain that there is lots of it is a great achievement.
Now if Phoenix can also carry out some more experiments to determine the soils chemistry that'll be all the better.
In regards to the tax argument. Don't know if this makes you feel any better but given the federal debt burden most of the US expenditures are just baby steps closer to maxing out the national credit card so to speak. Also if my memory serves me right the Phoenix was at some point a scrapped mission although the orbiter was already build. NASA then - more by chance than design - could secure some additional payload on a rocket launched for another mission.
So the Phoenix literally rose from the ashed and your monetary scorn is a bit misdirected at this particular mission.
On a related note as a non-American with strong ties to your country I am happy about any positive news associated with the US. From a internationally political angle this is money well spend.
No insult meant but you either don't have very much disposable income or you seem to plan to spoil your children. I intend to offer a 1st class education to my children if they are so inclined but after that they will need to be able to support themselves. Don't see how anything material beyond education will be of much benefit.
Satellite surface penetrating radar measurements indicate a layer of almost pure ice with depth of up to 1.8 km in places. Lateral spherical distribution of what is most likely water ice with about 1000 km diameter has been observed in March 2007 around the south pole.
Source (Sorry is German):
http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/fotostrecke-33791-9.html#backToArticle=569278
I think you will find this one is right up your ally.
Pricey but worth it.
Once you put 4000 wind generators into a area the laws of large numbers may work its magic - oh wait ... law of large numbers - I guess that means the morons will always win.
I don't want to claim to be an expert on wild fires but it seems to me your attitude is a bit cavalier. These things obviously sit in windy spots. All sort of dry vegetation can burn under the right conditions. If there is enough wind fires can spread easily and get out of control. A quick google search should demonstrate to you that wild fires are a real threat in large parts of Texas.
None of these fire hazards sit hundreds of feet above the ground unreachable by conventional fire fighting methods.
Sub 1% lets say .3% times 4000 wind mills makes 12 burning wind mills that can not be extinguished in dry bush land.
Germany had a head start with this technology and if you could read the article you would learn that they were taken by surprise. And those things are very well engineered.
GE does not have as much experience in wind energy. Putting them in such a wild fire prone area calls for some contingency planning.
Wind energy is great but rushing into it without taking this factor into account could literally lead to disaster and damage the reputation of this great technology beyond repair.
Very good point especially since these things can literally burn and crash.
This PDF contains some scary pictures. And there is nothing you can do if the turbine catches fire. It is to high up to put it out. Don't get me wrong I like wind energy but if these things are conventionally designed each one of them will be a bush fire waiting to happen.
Of all places I guess it had to be /. to find somebody confusing race with nationality.
What is generally overlooked is that the presidency in Iran is purely a figurehead position not at all comparable to the the role of the president in the US. Ahmadinejade has about as much real power as Queen Elizabeth. Iran is called a theocracy for a reason. If the elected president actually had any real power it wouldn't be a theocracy after all. Fact is in Iran the clergy calls the shot i.e. the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
The thought that this thing must be designed with some sort of overheat fail-safe occurred to me. Yet, this obviously will only kick in well above 100 degree Celsius since the stated purpose is to power a steam turbine. Hence my observation that permafrost ground and this super heavy weight battery won't mix very well.
It is also pretty apparent that you've never seen a nuclear reactor. A reactor itself is pretty small compared to the overall size of a plant. It's the cooling loops, turbines, myriad of control and power equipment, and containment structure that take up space.
None of which this reactor possesses. Let's do a little back of the envelope calculation:
27 MW = 27 *1000 * 1000 J/s ~ 6460 * 1000 calories / s
1 calories is the energy to warm 1 gram of water by 1 degree Celsius (for the purpose of this estimate this is accurate enough across the considered temp spectrum).
This means you have enough energy to warm 6460 l of water 1 degree Celsius within 1 sec (1l water weighs about 1 kg). Assuming we put this thing into a spacious swimming pool 2 meters deep 5 by 15 meters wide i.e. 150000 l. Assuming this pool is well insulated it will heat up by 1 degree Celsius every 23 seconds i.e it will reach a boiling point within about 40 minutes if the pool water started out at just above freezing.
If ever the steam engine fails as heat sink than it will be quite a view to behold what happens to the "nuclear battery". Especially if they bury that thing into the permafrost ground of Northern Alberta to provide energy for oil shale development.
I'd be interested to learn if you still think this way after watching what happened to this dad in Utah who was stopped on a ride with his family for alleged speeding. I find this incident highly instructive of how some cops use their tasers.
At the time that I am writing this youtube seems to be done. So here's the written account - although words don't really do this incident justice:
A man was tased and arrested on a Utah highway after being stopped by an officer and refusing to sign a speeding ticket because he did not understand what offence he had committed or why he had been pulled over.
The encounter, captured on the police car camera on September 14th and released this week, is the latest in a long string of incidents involving the unacceptable use of Tasers by officers on citizens whom the evidence reveals are in no way threatening, acting unlawfully or resisting co-operation.
The video shows the Utah Highway Patrolman pull over Jared Massey and his pregnant wife who also had their baby with them in the car and ask for Mr Massey's license.
Mr Massey tells the officer he does not understand why he has been stopped or what he is being charged with, at which point the officer orders Massey to get out of the car. The officer then puts down his clipboard and immediately takes out his Taser and points it at Mr Massey without any provocation whatsoever, yelling "Turn around and put your hands behind your back" as Massey attempts to point out the speed limit sign and engage the officer in conversation.
(Article continues below)
A shocked Massey asks "what the hell is wrong with you?" and backs away, turning around as the officer had demanded, at which point the officer unleashes 50,000 volts from the Taser into Massey's body, sending him screaming to the ground instantly and causing his wife to jump out of the car and yell hysterically for help.
Watch the video:
Lying face down on the ground a shell shocked, Mr Massey says "officer I don't know what you are doing, I don't know why you are doing what you are doing" to which the officer replies "I am placing you under arrest because you did not obey my instruction."
Mr Massey then once again asks the officer several times why he was stopped and what he is being charged with. He then asks for his rights to be read and points out that the officer cannot arrest him without doing this. Instead of reading Massey his rights the officer then addresses another patrolman who arrives on the scene sardonically commenting "Ohhh he took a ride with the Taser" to which the other officer answers "painful isn't it".
The icing on the cake comes at the end of the video when the officer LIES to his own colleague about the encounter, clearly stating that he verbally warned Massey he was going to tase him, as is the law, when there was no warning whatsoever.
Mr Massey is planning to file a lawsuit against the Utah Highway Patrol. He says he was already slowing down as he approached the 40 mile per hour sign in the construction zone outside of vernal. All charges except for the speeding ticket have been dropped.
I think this warrants a new category. Rather than 'insightful' I really think 'terminally depressed' captures it better.
You discovered the perfect scapegoat! Nobody likes banks. Everybody will always agree that they are the source of all evil. No more concepts such as self-responsibility needed. And you even build in a fall back position. If not the banks than the pill is to be blamed. Well done, sir. Your comment surely qualifies as insightful.
The water is re-injected. In a dry rock cycle even if you have some saline in there you'd run out of water pretty quickly if you don't re-inject. Basically you use the artificially fractured rock like a heat exchanger. Usually you will have to inject more water than you actually gain on the other end if you are looking at a real dry rock system. The loss of injected water is actually the largest challenge to the dry rock technique. That is why a desert like in Australia is not an ideal location - not enough water sources to supplement the water that you lose down hole.
And BTW you are of course entirely correct about the Carnot efficiency. Ideally you can use the rest heat for heating buildings or use it for farming applications i.e. heating green houses, fishery ponds etc. Again a desert is not a good place to get that extra bit of benefit.
The beauty of /. is that even an absolute crap article will in most case get somebody to point out what actually was newsworthy about the item. So to summarize: It seems that the game allows the user to create their own procedural content generation through the use of editors.
Always welcome to see a comment moderated favorably but really I was going for *funny* - empires never last forever. So let's all take some solace that while the US empire crumbles at least we did not overspend on the infrastructure.
Glad this was cleared up. Stupid, stupid romans.