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User: tinkerton

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Comments · 1,983

  1. Re:How about actual sunlight instead of projectors on Let There Be Light: Germans Switch on 'Largest Artificial Sun' (theguardian.com) · · Score: 1

    It's called thermolysis: water will dissociate at temperatures above 2500K.

  2. Re:Phat sound system on Let There Be Light: Germans Switch on 'Largest Artificial Sun' (theguardian.com) · · Score: 1

    If you were, then not anymore.

  3. Ah, I just looked it up and Xenon arc lamps can reach a color temperature of 6200K . So that's indeed a candidate.

  4. Another example: it's not possible to use mirrors to concentrate sunlight so that it can heat something up to more than 5500 degrees.

  5. That's a lot really. What kind of lights are these?

    The summary obfuscates this but whatever the amount of incandescent bulbs you are focusing on the same spot, you cannot get a temperature that is higher than the filament in the bulb (the black box temperature of the bulb). And 3500 is a lot for an incandescent bulb.
    Maybe it's another kind of lighting then. Like a combination of different LEDs.

  6. Re:The new device uses 35 microliters of sample... on Researchers Develop App That Accurately Determines Sperm Quality (scientificamerican.com) · · Score: 1

    Nice try but a bit too high.

  7. Re:The new device uses 35 microliters of sample... on Researchers Develop App That Accurately Determines Sperm Quality (scientificamerican.com) · · Score: 1

    I think, translated to /. units it would be one percent of a handful. I think we can agree that they find microliters confusing...

  8. Re:The new device uses 35 microliters of sample... on Researchers Develop App That Accurately Determines Sperm Quality (scientificamerican.com) · · Score: 1

    Yeah right, that'll mean something to the average /. nerd, when they're looking at their hand, estimating.
    Anyway, it's the amount of a drop of water.

  9. The new device uses 35 microliters of sample... on Researchers Develop App That Accurately Determines Sperm Quality (scientificamerican.com) · · Score: 1

    Uh, what's that in units that people on here can understand?

  10. Re:Smart Grid as a solution for DER challenge on Japanese Company Develops a Solar Cell With Record-Breaking 26%+ Efficiency (arstechnica.com) · · Score: 1

    The key word is 'buffering' , the ability to absorb excess energy. Solar and wind energy are very variable. You can store a bit of excess energy locally in your own home, but a smart grid allows you to pass it on to others who need it. Excess energy production on a larger scale becomes problematic. If you can adjust fossil energy production quickly to match so you can compensate this way, but the possibilities for storing renewable energy are minimal. They're also rather lowtech so they won't get much attention(except when Tesla comes up with household battery storage).

    One reason why the German 'energiewende' is fairly successful is because they're the first to do large scale conversion to renewables, so they can make use of the European buffering capacity of the network. But the next one does not have that benefit.

  11. We need Gunpistolman on here.

  12. And don't forget , 26.29% is just 2.7% away from that theoretical limit!

  13. Oh I like how this is going!

    Maybe the word 'ambiguous' is too ambiguous for you?

  14. That's because the RSS dropdown feeds have an item 'open all' which I click inadvertently and sudddenly I have 10 tabs opening up. So closing everything to the right would be useful then.

    Of course I'd also be happy if that 'open all' option were removed...

  15. Bastards. on Patents Are A Big Part Of Why We Can't Own Nice Things (eff.org) · · Score: 1

    There. I said it. Ok, that wasn't very deep was it...

  16. Why not let the insurers prove that the hacking caused the malfunction.

  17. Tractor Users, not Owners on Why American Farmers Are Hacking Their Tractors With Ukrainian Firmware (vice.com) · · Score: 5, Funny

    As is the case with most modern-day engineering vehicles, the mechanical problems experienced with the newer farming tractors are often remedied via software.

    As is the case with most tech products, they try to reduce you to a user, not an owner. Maybe the farmers were tired of the tractor stopping in the middle of the field, and starting projecting ads on the windscreen while downloading an upgrade.

  18. Re:Just great. on Spider Venom Might Protect Us From Deadly Strokes (arstechnica.com) · · Score: 1

    This is why I always keep a few funnel web spiders running around in the house. Helps my peace of mind.

  19. No my other machines have 'What is your password' , 'Fuckyouclowns' and 'Seeyouincourt'.

  20. My password is "sorry I've forgotten my password". They won't be able to claim I didn't tell em!

  21. Re: FAKE NEWS! on FBI Director Comey Confirms Investigation Into Trump Campaign (reuters.com) · · Score: 1

    Hm, i think i prefer it truncated. As a statement it's sufficiently provocative

  22. Re:FAKE NEWS! on FBI Director Comey Confirms Investigation Into Trump Campaign (reuters.com) · · Score: 1

    That does describe pretty well what is happening. It's also a guarantee for being deceived. Because Trump's opponents (or whoever the enemy is) know they can get away with absolutely anything.

  23. Disagree :) ..It's like a compass that points southwards. Quite usable, once you know it.

  24. Re:FAKE NEWS! on FBI Director Comey Confirms Investigation Into Trump Campaign (reuters.com) · · Score: 1

    As far as the NSA is concerned they don't collect our data.
    I think it's Snowden who said it means they do collect our data but just haven't looked at it yet.
    So as far as Trump is concerned the question is 'did they look at his data'.
    Now Trump seems to think there's some extra surveillance going on. Could be. But then, Trump seems to think.

  25. I doubt coming up with the new information about the Clinton leak was Comey's initiative. It's more that he did not see any way to withhold the new information. I recall that the problem was that if he didn't disclose it others would. So he sent out the information and tried to minimize the damage. Which did not work very well.

    As for the current Trump investigation, I can imagine Comey did not see any way to refuse it either. Trump called on the FBI earlier to speak out and say the whole Russia-Trump link was bullshit, (it is) but the FBI seems to have preferred to stay out of it. So I expect the FBI to come up with whatever they find and leave it to others to whip up a frenzy and act as if it's very serious.