I second this. Great magnets for all sorts of uses. I particularly like using them in the shop to hold up tools. Especially tools that belong to the table saw, band saw etc. No need to make a special hanger for each tool, just apply the magnet to the frame and attach tool to the magnet.
You are limiting your choices (as so many people do) down to two. There are many others and I'll only list an additional two
Ron Paul is in it for the long haul, so he can affect the political process for many months to come and ultimately he can run as a 3rd party candidate or as a write-in. Yes it will split the vote and may cause the Republicans to lose, but that is NOT beyond a desirable outcome to people like Ron Paul and to people like myself. We LOVE gridlock in government, so it is actually a desirable outcome to shake up the process and if we can't win, then make it so little gets accomplished by letting someone less effective in.
There is the long haul about doing what we believe to be RIGHT, and not looking at the short-term election as an end goal. If you haven't seen the movie "Amazing Grace" then I suggest you watch that movie and realize that there are people out there that are in it for the end goal, NOT a temporary win (battle, whatever). If you haven't seen the movie or know history, William Wilberforce worked for decades to end the slave trade in England and ultimately succeeded.
I can tell you from decades of supporting Ron Paul, he is a man of this type of character to do what he thinks is right consistently and will use the political process as best he is able to get to his end goals, and I agree with his goals. So yes, we might loose some steps along the way, but we are NOT going to give up and compromise for one battle.
The cell voltages for NiCd, NiMh, and Alkaline are APPROXIMATELY 1.2, 1.2, 1.5 volts respectively. The cell voltage for Li is about 3 volts, so AAA, AA, C, and D's are out of the question without a DC/DC converter or voltage regulator on the battery to limit the voltage to about 1.6 volts or less. They could make a 9V battery, but they are going the way of the Dodo. Even C's and D's are dying. Some of the newer rechargeable C and D cells are actually AA battery inside a C or D casing (check out the capacities some time at your local favorite store, and check the weight of the package). They still do make full C and D rechargeable cells, but they are not as readily available in box stores.
Ditto. I actually registered earlier, but forgot password. Now, I don't even remember the UID (or password). Twas good to standardize on usernames and passwords. I think I started that on Slashdot. Oh memories!!!
When then in YOUR universe, you haven't been paying much attention to ozone hole research. They have been predicting that the hole would take 30-100 years to recover. BUT, more importantly, their models don't predict this kind of behavior. Which DIRECTLY brings into question their models in most if not ALL areas of ozone hole research. We, as scientist/engineers/etc, don't expect perfect models, but this kind of errant behavior signals a huge OOPS to the other scientists. Look at the 1st chart here: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17436 (NOTICE this is a NOAA chart) and see that the average and the hardly vary by 30%, but what the article states is "Antarctic ozone hole is 30% smaller than it was during the previous RECORD year". My emphasis. 5-10% beyond a record year would be acceptable. 30% beyond a record year (which yields 60-70% beyond the average) is a BIG DEAL. At least some of the models are suspect, end of story (unless you doing politics, then make up your own story).
So many problems. Lets see, where to start? Lets start with the word "cobbled" shall we. You NEVER just cobble together some rocket motors. When OSC (or others) use military rockets, there is an extensive retrofit to each motor: V-band separation instead of linear shape charges, replace liquid injection systems with thrust vector controllers, entirely new avionics, new safe and arm devices, new wiring, new raceway, batteries, etc. Plus, as the acticle CLEARLY stated, it was 2 military motors (Minuteman, probably SR-70 and M-55) and two motors from the Pegasus vehicle. Plus most of the re-used military rockets are re-poures with the cheapest ones I've seen being about $6 million (SR-19 motors). The Air Force didn't re-pay for these motors, but you can bet a civilian launch of the same vehicle would have to figure in the extra cost of the used military motors.
So what if it's a economically challened area, the STATE (and then states) funded the launch pad, NOT the feds. They are lifting themselves up for their own area, not looking for federal handouts. And ranges DON'T hire rocket scientists at all (unless the scientist is looking for a stiff pay cut). These are typical building maintenance and electronic types. Even if they could launch from their own port, it presents two problems. ALL federally controlled space ports are overpriced since their government jobs, and they want/need to have launch sites in different areas to allow different orbital insertion planes. The bottom line is the military likes having places like this or Spaceport Alaska to give them more options and lower overhead.
And no, most military launches aren't any more secure than civilian launches. EVERYBODY is concerned when there is a multi-million dollar highly-explosive vehicle sitting on the launchpad. Only some launches are under super tight security (and contained unlabelled/mis-labelled cargo).
The extra hard drives is what is killing your power supply. I've done this same thing on many occassions. I've tried many of the $40-$60 power supplies, but they all seem to stink. I never could justify the higher priced power supplies so my ultimate solution was to get the cheap Dell servers. I've purchased quite a few Dell SC420's for $300-$350 for Celeron or Pentium 4 HT (respectively), but they are no longer available. I've have yet to have one fail (in almost 4 years of use). The power supplies are only rated at 300 or 320 watts, but if you look inside the PSU it looks likes it built for a tank. Huge coils with thick wire and large caps. Dell servers are about the best bang for the buck, cheaper than I can build a comparable unit, plus you don't have to pay the windows tax. Look for good deals on Techbargains.com, or just check in frequently at Dell. I think it was an Enermax power supply in my dells, but I think all the manufacturers can put out both junk and great drives.
Your example doesn't hold water. THEY ARE DISTRIBUTING THE DERIVATIVE WORK. In the case of CleanFlicks, if you buy the movie from them, they give you the original and the derivative work at the same time. This doesn't affect the GPL, because they are doing what everyone does with GPL software, distributing the derivative work.
Onto another example, say some virus infects Microsoft Word. Is it legal or not for Norton Antivirus to REWRITE Microsoft Word to get it back to the original state, thus rewriting a copyrighted work? Or can Norton modify Word to prevent it from getting infected with certain viruses to begin with? Or even just toggle the read/write bit, or change the ownership of the file? Or split the bloatware into two files for transportation? Where does it end?
It will vaporize the stuff in front, and some of the lighter metals like aluminum and mangesium. But I've seen high speed impacts that have hardened steel penetrators (actually the penetrator from a Pershing missile front end) that are scrapped up a bit, but entirely intact probably maintained 98-99% of their original mass. The shell holding the penetrator made a spectacular plume that looked like an explosion (no warheads or energetics onboard) and was due entirely to the aluminum combusting. This test was into solid granite, which was picked to simulate hardened concrete bunkers.
As some other posted noted, hitting water at those speeds is about as bad as hitting the ground.
Something I failed to note in my first post, the solid state recorders can significantly reduce the cost of a test over using telemetery systems. Plus they typically take up much less space in the vehicle and you don't have to worry about attenuation/blocking in the transmitting signal from the shock waves, or the thermal issues in using an antenna mounted on the outside skin of the vehicle. The antenna is also required to point mostly down towards the receiving antennsa which further complicates the thermal issues. Only NASA can afford to receive telemetry back up to a satellite.
Actually vibration and shock are HUGE issues for rockets. The qualification environments are pretty severe and a lot of trial and error goes into designing all the components. I've seen so many failures due to new reasons it would make your head spin. But shock and vib are the real culprits. Most of the other environments (heat, cold, vacuum, etc) are easily tested and resolved, but just TRY to agree on what a "good" vibration or shock spectrum SHOULD look like. Nobody completely agrees and therein lies some of the problems. The connectors can also be a big problem because of vib and shock, but also because of too many connect/re-connect cycles on the ground due to pre-flight testing.
Cheap and turbo-pumps have never been successfully used together. Someday our material science will catch up and truly make a "cheap" turbo-pump, but it might still be a few years off. Most start-up companies come out with all sorts of neat charts, but the big cost savings is always in the engines and particularly the turbo-pump.
In response to another comment, the flight was paid for (mostly) by DARPA and the Air Force through their Falcon program. The Falcon program by DARPA and the Falcon name were just coincidence. Of course, hardly any of the actual development of the hardware was paid for by DARPA or the Air Force, which certaily exceeded the actual flight cost.
All in all he had a 50/50 chance of getting a first flight vehicle off the ground. I got bit by these odds once myself, so I certainly feel for them, but they should have also known the odds themselves. I hope they stick to their guns since their claiming that they are in it for the long haul.
In response to another comment. This so-called "new" design is actually 1950's technology. New electronics and new manufacturing techniques maybe (not that I tut-tut those), but certainly NOTHING NEW in terms of design.
I'd have thought that getting as much data as humanly possible would be worth almost any additional effort.
Ah....This ending pretty much explains the whole comment. You must be a physicist....certainly NOT an engineer. There is always diminishing returns on investment. You must pick a price point evaluate what you will get out of any test. More data is almost always better, but somebody has to pay out in the real (non-university) world.
Other errors: There are solid state data recorders specifically made for high speed impacts. On the order of 100,000 G's. Place one in the back behind something heavy/solid and you shouldn't have any problem.
Wireless can hit 10,000,000 bits/second with one channel. Throw a couple of S-band channels and you have a stout communication line to the ground. Plus the hardware (Rx stations) is already in place at most ranges.
I assume they are doing the burn on the way down because they couldn't afford a rocket big enough to accelerate up to M=7.6 in a dense atmosphere. Plus they don't have to deal with all the heating issues while they are accelerating. Take a nice gentle ride at speeds up to M=3 or 4 and then use gravity to assist you up to the desired speed for the test. As an ENGINEER, I like their simple, low-cost solution to their test.
Alsee (515537) did a good job of hitting most of the important responses, but missed one detail. A work enters the public domain upon RELEASE of the original. The originating body then has a monopoly on copying and distributing the work (copyright) for a specified time, then it expires and then anyone can copy and distribute. This is an important point that the work is already owned by the public since it recognizes that anything that is created is dependant upon the culture, people, values, etc. An idea is NEVER created in a vacuum. For example, somebody had to "make" the language that a work uses. The Lord of the Rings is probably the best example of a work pushing the farthest outside this construct (made up languages and made up world). But, of course, it still had to be relayed to us mere mortals in the english language so that we could appreciate it. This whole concept is why SOME of the founding fathers were against any copyright/patent. They knew the 'current' ideas were based on pieces of 'old' ideas.
The grass clippings might actually work, but the recycled paper won't help at all. What they are talking about is the starch/sugar left over from paper manufacturing that is useful for alcohol conversion. The paper is the cellulose/fiber part of the tree and doesn't contain enough starch to convert into alcohol.
Canada is treated differently from all other countries when it comes to defense department purchases. They are, for all intents and purposes, on the same footing at US based companies. Most all of our 120mm mortar manufacturing takes place in Canada for instance, and many small arms ammo too. The Brits have been trying to get the same status as Canada for years, but it has never been successfully pushed through congress. Canada is still subject to ITAR restrictions, but it is a pretty process to get the restrictions satified.
$3000 of labor to manufacture (probably high since Ford advertises $2000, but doesn't state specifics - just labor? Benefits? Major subassemblies like engines and transmissions?)
$3000 profit to manufacturer (probably high guess)
$3000 profit to dealer - also probably high
So we are left with $30000-$9000 = $21000.
Everything in that 21000 is basically energy (some labor too, but the closer to raw material, the less labor). Steel bodies, drive trains, suspensions. Plastic seats, doors, and dashes. Electronic stereos, dash, engine/trany controllers, and convenience devices. Batteries, etc., etc. All these components are either made from energy (oil) or take significant energy to mine, extract, refine, process, clean, etc. It all gets back to energy + profit and I assure you profit in the automotive business is made strickly on volume and not on huge margins. Less say I missed $6000 in labor somewhere (highly doubtful). That is still $15000 in 'energy' so using your 250 gallons/year times $2/gal = $500 per year in energy cost. Lets say I use 3 times that amount in a normal car the delta would then be $1500 - $500 = $1000 savings/year in energy of operation which means 15 years to break even assuming you don't have to replace the expensive batteries in the hybrids (ha). I've done similar figures for the cost of a hybrid versus a conventional car and the hybrids just about break even right at the time the batteries need replacing, then they go negative once again. The numbers will have to get distinctly better before I would believe a hybrid is practical or 'energy' efficient.
Buddy network. Most company owners, CEO's, etc have business contacts (buddies or acquaintances) that they prefer to do business with and it works both ways. People look upon this negatively, but ask yourself, would you rather deal with some nameless, faceless corporation you've never dealt with before, or an acquaintance/buddy who you have had some dealings and some belief of character. Nobody likes the unknown. This is not the way corporations work, it is the way PEOPLE work. The buddy network typically works both ways.
Tax benefits are APPROXIMATELY the same, however the timing of the tax benefits are different (this year versus 3 years from now).
Cleaner. You get a monthly bill with an exact amount versus guessing at an amount down the road. Depreciation calculations can be ugly and you never feel you have a solid justification until the capital is sold off. Legal liability
Cash flow
Downsides:
Capital values is less (obviously since you don't own some of the capital).
Hard on mergers/acquisitions with different leases within the combined company.
Vendor lock-in. Few companies replace ALL the equipment every 3rd year. Same reason as above, you don't want to switch lease companies year to year so you tend to keep going back to the same jerks since they had the contract "last year".
Disclaimer: I KNOW I missed some benefits or downsides to leasing, but the kind folks at/. will add on.:)
Very well said, however I would replace the word "some" with "all". I.E, to read "they knew that all people and institutions would be corrupted..." The founding fathers believed that government was established among imperfect men, essentially a necessary evil, but one that required layers of oversight because of the corrupt nature of man. They firmly believed that ALL men were fallible and would give in, it was only a matter of level (money, power, control, prestige, pride, etc.). Their model for this concept was biblical " for all have sinned and fall short"-Romans 3:23. Even the deists followed this line of reasoning. Excellent write-up.
SAP http://www.sap.com/ also makes programs that seem to only fully work with IE and not with any version of Netscape, Mozilla, Firefox that I have tried.
If all consisted of was the 1.5" screen then you might have a point, but there is this neat little cable that will allow the iPod Photo to connect to a RCA and S-Video jack on a TV set, just like most of the camera's on the market. Some people I know are using the iPods as portable Powerpoint/Keynote devices (a wireless remote would be nice for this application though, but someone probably makes one).
"I'm not an expert on military hardware or capabilities"
Yes, but you should think through this just a little bit.
"who would want to nuke the US using an ICBM?"
Probably the the same "whos" that are developing the ICBMs. The "whos" have made their choice, and they chose ICBMs. They have been developing them for years and continue to push development. This includes all the counties from 1st world to 3rd world. The Taepo Dong 2 has a range of 3500 to 6000 km depending on who you believe. Just who do you think they need to threaten with that kind of range? They are spending substantial piles of money to develop a technology which according to you is utterly wasted and would never be sanely used. Why? They are sharing this info with Iran who is in the same exact boat. Why?
We are pleased to announce the immediate availability of TheOpenCD v2.0. The disc contains old favorites like Mozilla, OpenOffice, AbiWord, Gimp in updated versions, but also has some noteable additions like Firefox, Thunderbird, Blender and Gaim. The CD browser technology is also new this time, and is based on Gecko (see screenshots). This approach should make it simpler to make derivatives, including localized versions, some of which will be out shortly. We have timed the release to be out just before the holidays so you can fill the stockings of friends and family with Free and useful software. Get a copy from one of our FTP mirrors or on Bittorrent.
With this release we also start a long-term working relationship with the Ubuntu Linux distribution. We include a brief introduction to Ubuntu in our browser and will continue to supply technology and expertise to the Ubuntu LiveCD. About TheOpenCD
TheOpenCD is a small collection of only the highest quality OSS for Windows, easily available on a CD. The programs are carefully selected to ensure stability, ease of use and a clean install and un-install from your computer. The CD is intended as a first introduction to the world of OSS, but it is our hope that you will later go on to explore other projects, and at some stage you may even want to try a whole new operating system, such as Linux (sometimes called GNU/Linux). -- TheOpenCD Team
OK, maybe scratch the young (although given your spelling it's a stretch), but keep the inexperienced (at least in the political arena) and still a sheep for believing a neutered statement thrown out by a politician. So you want to engage a discussion based on a POLITICIAN's statement that is not even stating a POSITION, but merely states the issue is "open to examination". Fine.... I'll start the discussion by saying that he'll open the examination and find that he needs to tighten the congressional control by adding extra layers in order to make a legitimate copy. Kerry's record is clear. He voted for the DCMA and he has never authored a bill to modify or rescind the DCMA. He has shed his tears and "felt our pain" and has done exactly nothing beyond rhetoric. A statement fed to the sheep to appear as if there is hope that he might actually do something, but in reality he has no intention of doing anything (based on the historic fact that he has done exactly nothing). I don't even watch the media (ANY media-the TV ads were related to me by others), but unlike the stock market, I firmly believe past performance is a true indicator of future results when it comes to politics.
My second statement was concentrating on the real possibility of the union crumbling and not focusing on the states rights versus slavery debate (of which I am firmly on the states rights side BTW). Come on you old fart, try to stay focused on the topic. I presented a tangible result from history where a presidential election directly contributed to a civil war. Besides to address your tangent with your own words, it wasn't "cost effective" to have our first civil war either.
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I like pretty much everything you said, except CP/M came from Digital Research not Digital Equipment. http://www.digitalresearch.biz/CPM.HTM
I second this. Great magnets for all sorts of uses. I particularly like using them in the shop to hold up tools. Especially tools that belong to the table saw, band saw etc. No need to make a special hanger for each tool, just apply the magnet to the frame and attach tool to the magnet.
You are limiting your choices (as so many people do) down to two. There are many others and I'll only list an additional two
Ron Paul is in it for the long haul, so he can affect the political process for many months to come and ultimately he can run as a 3rd party candidate or as a write-in. Yes it will split the vote and may cause the Republicans to lose, but that is NOT beyond a desirable outcome to people like Ron Paul and to people like myself. We LOVE gridlock in government, so it is actually a desirable outcome to shake up the process and if we can't win, then make it so little gets accomplished by letting someone less effective in.
There is the long haul about doing what we believe to be RIGHT, and not looking at the short-term election as an end goal. If you haven't seen the movie "Amazing Grace" then I suggest you watch that movie and realize that there are people out there that are in it for the end goal, NOT a temporary win (battle, whatever). If you haven't seen the movie or know history, William Wilberforce worked for decades to end the slave trade in England and ultimately succeeded.
I can tell you from decades of supporting Ron Paul, he is a man of this type of character to do what he thinks is right consistently and will use the political process as best he is able to get to his end goals, and I agree with his goals. So yes, we might loose some steps along the way, but we are NOT going to give up and compromise for one battle.
The cell voltages for NiCd, NiMh, and Alkaline are APPROXIMATELY 1.2, 1.2, 1.5 volts respectively. The cell voltage for Li is about 3 volts, so AAA, AA, C, and D's are out of the question without a DC/DC converter or voltage regulator on the battery to limit the voltage to about 1.6 volts or less. They could make a 9V battery, but they are going the way of the Dodo. Even C's and D's are dying. Some of the newer rechargeable C and D cells are actually AA battery inside a C or D casing (check out the capacities some time at your local favorite store, and check the weight of the package). They still do make full C and D rechargeable cells, but they are not as readily available in box stores.
Ditto. I actually registered earlier, but forgot password. Now, I don't even remember the UID (or password). Twas good to standardize on usernames and passwords. I think I started that on Slashdot. Oh memories!!!
When then in YOUR universe, you haven't been paying much attention to ozone hole research. They have been predicting that the hole would take 30-100 years to recover. BUT, more importantly, their models don't predict this kind of behavior. Which DIRECTLY brings into question their models in most if not ALL areas of ozone hole research. We, as scientist/engineers/etc, don't expect perfect models, but this kind of errant behavior signals a huge OOPS to the other scientists. Look at the 1st chart here: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17436 (NOTICE this is a NOAA chart) and see that the average and the hardly vary by 30%, but what the article states is "Antarctic ozone hole is 30% smaller than it was during the previous RECORD year". My emphasis. 5-10% beyond a record year would be acceptable. 30% beyond a record year (which yields 60-70% beyond the average) is a BIG DEAL. At least some of the models are suspect, end of story (unless you doing politics, then make up your own story).
So many problems. Lets see, where to start? Lets start with the word "cobbled" shall we. You NEVER just cobble together some rocket motors. When OSC (or others) use military rockets, there is an extensive retrofit to each motor: V-band separation instead of linear shape charges, replace liquid injection systems with thrust vector controllers, entirely new avionics, new safe and arm devices, new wiring, new raceway, batteries, etc. Plus, as the acticle CLEARLY stated, it was 2 military motors (Minuteman, probably SR-70 and M-55) and two motors from the Pegasus vehicle. Plus most of the re-used military rockets are re-poures with the cheapest ones I've seen being about $6 million (SR-19 motors). The Air Force didn't re-pay for these motors, but you can bet a civilian launch of the same vehicle would have to figure in the extra cost of the used military motors.
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So what if it's a economically challened area, the STATE (and then states) funded the launch pad, NOT the feds. They are lifting themselves up for their own area, not looking for federal handouts. And ranges DON'T hire rocket scientists at all (unless the scientist is looking for a stiff pay cut). These are typical building maintenance and electronic types. Even if they could launch from their own port, it presents two problems. ALL federally controlled space ports are overpriced since their government jobs, and they want/need to have launch sites in different areas to allow different orbital insertion planes. The bottom line is the military likes having places like this or Spaceport Alaska to give them more options and lower overhead.
You should also point to this launch site, since it's a heck of a lot closer:
http://www.spacetoday.org/Rockets/Spaceports/Laun
And no, most military launches aren't any more secure than civilian launches. EVERYBODY is concerned when there is a multi-million dollar highly-explosive vehicle sitting on the launchpad. Only some launches are under super tight security (and contained unlabelled/mis-labelled cargo).
The extra hard drives is what is killing your power supply. I've done this same thing on many occassions. I've tried many of the $40-$60 power supplies, but they all seem to stink. I never could justify the higher priced power supplies so my ultimate solution was to get the cheap Dell servers. I've purchased quite a few Dell SC420's for $300-$350 for Celeron or Pentium 4 HT (respectively), but they are no longer available. I've have yet to have one fail (in almost 4 years of use). The power supplies are only rated at 300 or 320 watts, but if you look inside the PSU it looks likes it built for a tank. Huge coils with thick wire and large caps. Dell servers are about the best bang for the buck, cheaper than I can build a comparable unit, plus you don't have to pay the windows tax. Look for good deals on Techbargains.com, or just check in frequently at Dell. I think it was an Enermax power supply in my dells, but I think all the manufacturers can put out both junk and great drives.
Your example doesn't hold water. THEY ARE DISTRIBUTING THE DERIVATIVE WORK. In the case of CleanFlicks, if you buy the movie from them, they give you the original and the derivative work at the same time. This doesn't affect the GPL, because they are doing what everyone does with GPL software, distributing the derivative work.
Onto another example, say some virus infects Microsoft Word. Is it legal or not for Norton Antivirus to REWRITE Microsoft Word to get it back to the original state, thus rewriting a copyrighted work? Or can Norton modify Word to prevent it from getting infected with certain viruses to begin with? Or even just toggle the read/write bit, or change the ownership of the file? Or split the bloatware into two files for transportation? Where does it end?
It will vaporize the stuff in front, and some of the lighter metals like aluminum and mangesium. But I've seen high speed impacts that have hardened steel penetrators (actually the penetrator from a Pershing missile front end) that are scrapped up a bit, but entirely intact probably maintained 98-99% of their original mass. The shell holding the penetrator made a spectacular plume that looked like an explosion (no warheads or energetics onboard) and was due entirely to the aluminum combusting. This test was into solid granite, which was picked to simulate hardened concrete bunkers.
As some other posted noted, hitting water at those speeds is about as bad as hitting the ground.
Something I failed to note in my first post, the solid state recorders can significantly reduce the cost of a test over using telemetery systems. Plus they typically take up much less space in the vehicle and you don't have to worry about attenuation/blocking in the transmitting signal from the shock waves, or the thermal issues in using an antenna mounted on the outside skin of the vehicle. The antenna is also required to point mostly down towards the receiving antennsa which further complicates the thermal issues. Only NASA can afford to receive telemetry back up to a satellite.
Actually vibration and shock are HUGE issues for rockets. The qualification environments are pretty severe and a lot of trial and error goes into designing all the components. I've seen so many failures due to new reasons it would make your head spin. But shock and vib are the real culprits. Most of the other environments (heat, cold, vacuum, etc) are easily tested and resolved, but just TRY to agree on what a "good" vibration or shock spectrum SHOULD look like. Nobody completely agrees and therein lies some of the problems. The connectors can also be a big problem because of vib and shock, but also because of too many connect/re-connect cycles on the ground due to pre-flight testing.
Cheap and turbo-pumps have never been successfully used together. Someday our material science will catch up and truly make a "cheap" turbo-pump, but it might still be a few years off. Most start-up companies come out with all sorts of neat charts, but the big cost savings is always in the engines and particularly the turbo-pump.
In response to another comment, the flight was paid for (mostly) by DARPA and the Air Force through their Falcon program. The Falcon program by DARPA and the Falcon name were just coincidence. Of course, hardly any of the actual development of the hardware was paid for by DARPA or the Air Force, which certaily exceeded the actual flight cost.
All in all he had a 50/50 chance of getting a first flight vehicle off the ground. I got bit by these odds once myself, so I certainly feel for them, but they should have also known the odds themselves. I hope they stick to their guns since their claiming that they are in it for the long haul.
In response to another comment. This so-called "new" design is actually 1950's technology. New electronics and new manufacturing techniques maybe (not that I tut-tut those), but certainly NOTHING NEW in terms of design.
I'd have thought that getting as much data as humanly possible would be worth almost any additional effort.
Ah....This ending pretty much explains the whole comment. You must be a physicist....certainly NOT an engineer. There is always diminishing returns on investment. You must pick a price point evaluate what you will get out of any test. More data is almost always better, but somebody has to pay out in the real (non-university) world.
Other errors:
There are solid state data recorders specifically made for high speed impacts. On the order of 100,000 G's. Place one in the back behind something heavy/solid and you shouldn't have any problem.
Wireless can hit 10,000,000 bits/second with one channel. Throw a couple of S-band channels and you have a stout communication line to the ground. Plus the hardware (Rx stations) is already in place at most ranges.
I assume they are doing the burn on the way down because they couldn't afford a rocket big enough to accelerate up to M=7.6 in a dense atmosphere. Plus they don't have to deal with all the heating issues while they are accelerating. Take a nice gentle ride at speeds up to M=3 or 4 and then use gravity to assist you up to the desired speed for the test. As an ENGINEER, I like their simple, low-cost solution to their test.
Alsee (515537) did a good job of hitting most of the important responses, but missed one detail. A work enters the public domain upon RELEASE of the original. The originating body then has a monopoly on copying and distributing the work (copyright) for a specified time, then it expires and then anyone can copy and distribute. This is an important point that the work is already owned by the public since it recognizes that anything that is created is dependant upon the culture, people, values, etc. An idea is NEVER created in a vacuum. For example, somebody had to "make" the language that a work uses. The Lord of the Rings is probably the best example of a work pushing the farthest outside this construct (made up languages and made up world). But, of course, it still had to be relayed to us mere mortals in the english language so that we could appreciate it. This whole concept is why SOME of the founding fathers were against any copyright/patent. They knew the 'current' ideas were based on pieces of 'old' ideas.
The grass clippings might actually work, but the recycled paper won't help at all. What they are talking about is the starch/sugar left over from paper manufacturing that is useful for alcohol conversion. The paper is the cellulose/fiber part of the tree and doesn't contain enough starch to convert into alcohol.
Canada is treated differently from all other countries when it comes to defense department purchases. They are, for all intents and purposes, on the same footing at US based companies. Most all of our 120mm mortar manufacturing takes place in Canada for instance, and many small arms ammo too. The Brits have been trying to get the same status as Canada for years, but it has never been successfully pushed through congress. Canada is still subject to ITAR restrictions, but it is a pretty process to get the restrictions satified.
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Homebrew Maytag Gas Battery charger
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$30,000 car
$3000 of labor to manufacture (probably high since Ford advertises $2000, but doesn't state specifics - just labor? Benefits? Major subassemblies like engines and transmissions?)
$3000 profit to manufacturer (probably high guess)
$3000 profit to dealer - also probably high
So we are left with $30000-$9000 = $21000.
Everything in that 21000 is basically energy (some labor too, but the closer to raw material, the less labor). Steel bodies, drive trains, suspensions. Plastic seats, doors, and dashes. Electronic stereos, dash, engine/trany controllers, and convenience devices. Batteries, etc., etc. All these components are either made from energy (oil) or take significant energy to mine, extract, refine, process, clean, etc. It all gets back to energy + profit and I assure you profit in the automotive business is made strickly on volume and not on huge margins.
Less say I missed $6000 in labor somewhere (highly doubtful). That is still $15000 in 'energy' so using your 250 gallons/year times $2/gal = $500 per year in energy cost. Lets say I use 3 times that amount in a normal car the delta would then be $1500 - $500 = $1000 savings/year in energy of operation which means 15 years to break even assuming you don't have to replace the expensive batteries in the hybrids (ha). I've done similar figures for the cost of a hybrid versus a conventional car and the hybrids just about break even right at the time the batteries need replacing, then they go negative once again. The numbers will have to get distinctly better before I would believe a hybrid is practical or 'energy' efficient.
Buddy network. Most company owners, CEO's, etc have business contacts (buddies or acquaintances) that they prefer to do business with and it works both ways. People look upon this negatively, but ask yourself, would you rather deal with some nameless, faceless corporation you've never dealt with before, or an acquaintance/buddy who you have had some dealings and some belief of character. Nobody likes the unknown. This is not the way corporations work, it is the way PEOPLE work. The buddy network typically works both ways.
Tax benefits are APPROXIMATELY the same, however the timing of the tax benefits are different (this year versus 3 years from now).
Cleaner. You get a monthly bill with an exact amount versus guessing at an amount down the road. Depreciation calculations can be ugly and you never feel you have a solid justification until the capital is sold off.
Legal liability
Cash flow
Downsides:
Capital values is less (obviously since you don't own some of the capital).
Hard on mergers/acquisitions with different leases within the combined company.
Vendor lock-in. Few companies replace ALL the equipment every 3rd year. Same reason as above, you don't want to switch lease companies year to year so you tend to keep going back to the same jerks since they had the contract "last year".
/. will add on. :)
Disclaimer:
I KNOW I missed some benefits or downsides to leasing, but the kind folks at
Very well said, however I would replace the word "some" with "all". I.E, to read "they knew that all people and institutions would be corrupted..." The founding fathers believed that government was established among imperfect men, essentially a necessary evil, but one that required layers of oversight because of the corrupt nature of man. They firmly believed that ALL men were fallible and would give in, it was only a matter of level (money, power, control, prestige, pride, etc.). Their model for this concept was biblical " for all have sinned and fall short"-Romans 3:23. Even the deists followed this line of reasoning.
Excellent write-up.
SAP http://www.sap.com/ also makes programs that seem to only fully work with IE and not with any version of Netscape, Mozilla, Firefox that I have tried.
If all consisted of was the 1.5" screen then you might have a point, but there is this neat little cable that will allow the iPod Photo to connect to a RCA and S-Video jack on a TV set, just like most of the camera's on the market. Some people I know are using the iPods as portable Powerpoint/Keynote devices (a wireless remote would be nice for this application though, but someone probably makes one).
"I'm not an expert on military hardware or capabilities"
Yes, but you should think through this just a little bit.
"who would want to nuke the US using an ICBM?"
Probably the the same "whos" that are developing the ICBMs. The "whos" have made their choice, and they chose ICBMs. They have been developing them for years and continue to push development. This includes all the counties from 1st world to 3rd world. The Taepo Dong 2 has a range of 3500 to 6000 km depending on who you believe. Just who do you think they need to threaten with that kind of range? They are spending substantial piles of money to develop a technology which according to you is utterly wasted and would never be sanely used. Why? They are sharing this info with Iran who is in the same exact boat. Why?
It's strained silicon which gets it's name from stretching the silicon.
n edsilicon/
http://www.intel.com/labs/features/si12031.htm
http://www.research.ibm.com/resources/press/strai
TheOpenCD 2.0 released
We are pleased to announce the immediate availability of TheOpenCD v2.0. The disc contains old favorites like Mozilla, OpenOffice, AbiWord, Gimp in updated versions, but also has some noteable additions like Firefox, Thunderbird, Blender and Gaim. The CD browser technology is also new this time, and is based on Gecko (see screenshots). This approach should make it simpler to make derivatives, including localized versions, some of which will be out shortly. We have timed the release to be out just before the holidays so you can fill the stockings of friends and family with Free and useful software. Get a copy from one of our FTP mirrors or on Bittorrent.
The following programs are included:
Productivity
* OpenOffice 1.1.3
* AbiWord 2.2.1
* PDFCreator 0.8
Design
* GIMP 2.0.5
* Blender 2.35a
* Dia 0.94
* TuxPaint 0.9.14
Internet/Networking
* FireFox 1.0
* Thunderbird 1.0
* Mozilla suite 1.7.3
* Gaim 1.1.0
* Filezilla 2.2.9
* TightVNC 1.3dev6
* WinHTTrack 3.32-2
Multimedia
* Audacity 1.2.3
* Celestia 1.3.2
* CDex 1.51
Utilities
* 7-zip 3.13
* Notepad2 1.0.12
* SciTE 1.62
Games
* Sokoban 1.187
* Battle for Wesnoth 0.8.8
* Lbreakout 2.4.1
With this release we also start a long-term working relationship with the Ubuntu Linux distribution. We include a brief introduction to Ubuntu in our browser and will continue to supply technology and expertise to the Ubuntu LiveCD.
About TheOpenCD
TheOpenCD is a small collection of only the highest quality OSS for Windows, easily available on a CD. The programs are carefully selected to ensure stability, ease of use and a clean install and un-install from your computer. The CD is intended as a first introduction to the world of OSS, but it is our hope that you will later go on to explore other projects, and at some stage you may even want to try a whole new operating system, such as Linux (sometimes called GNU/Linux).
-- TheOpenCD Team
OK, maybe scratch the young (although given your spelling it's a stretch), but keep the inexperienced (at least in the political arena) and still a sheep for believing a neutered statement thrown out by a politician. So you want to engage a discussion based on a POLITICIAN's statement that is not even stating a POSITION, but merely states the issue is "open to examination". Fine.... I'll start the discussion by saying that he'll open the examination and find that he needs to tighten the congressional control by adding extra layers in order to make a legitimate copy. Kerry's record is clear. He voted for the DCMA and he has never authored a bill to modify or rescind the DCMA. He has shed his tears and "felt our pain" and has done exactly nothing beyond rhetoric. A statement fed to the sheep to appear as if there is hope that he might actually do something, but in reality he has no intention of doing anything (based on the historic fact that he has done exactly nothing). I don't even watch the media (ANY media-the TV ads were related to me by others), but unlike the stock market, I firmly believe past performance is a true indicator of future results when it comes to politics.
My second statement was concentrating on the real possibility of the union crumbling and not focusing on the states rights versus slavery debate (of which I am firmly on the states rights side BTW). Come on you old fart, try to stay focused on the topic. I presented a tangible result from history where a presidential election directly contributed to a civil war. Besides to address your tangent with your own words, it wasn't "cost effective" to have our first civil war either.