For people that claim to be objective and science-based, people here sure don't seem to have the same rules of evidence for claims they want to be true and claims they don't want to be true.
Look at the existing franchise laws and how they are being used. It's not really a question that bribes are occurring, it's what lobbying is by it's very definition.
No. Lobbying involves talking and bribery involves illegal money.
If it's "not really a question" then you should be able to provide tons of evidence to back up your claims. How about it?
I'm a big fan of Tesla. But I wouldn't exactly say that their $75k cars are "for the masses". I have a Nissan Leaf, which is less than half that price. It's a great car, but it's certainly no Model S.
Also on the logistics side, the amount of power required would be extraordinary even if there were no waste heat. The battery in my electric car is 24 kW-h. 70% of that is 16.8 kW-h. Wouldn't delivering that much power in 5 minutes require a 200,000 Watt hook up? Now imagine an electric "filling station" with 5 or 10 bays that could be used concurrently.
The outlet in my garage is 220V 30A (normally used for electric clothes dryers), and I think that's about as heavy duty as you can get in a normal American home. The battery charger is 6600W, to go along with that outlet.
So even if we had these amazing batteries today, there are still a lot of other problems involved in actually shooting that much energy into them that quickly.
I always liked the idea of using the excess power during the day to lift water to a lake high up, and running hydro at night to power the datacenter.
The version I like is using excess power to pump air into an enclosed space, natural or artificial. Then at night, release the compressed air to drive a turbine. It seems more flexible than large water works. And in case of massive failure, you just get a loud noise instead of a million gallons of water everywhere. Datacenters and standing water door poorly together.
A different variation is what they're doing at Solar Two in California. It's a "solar thermal" plant, but unlike other thermal plants that heat up water, Solar Two uses a molten salt mixture. The higher temperatures involved allow the plant to continue producing electricity for up to 3 hours after the sun sets. By the late evening, demand drops off and base load plants can handle it. This technology dovetails nicely with nuclear power.
In the US, any cash transaction over $10,000 requires some paperwork and an ID. It doesn't matter if the transaction is at a bank, casino, or car dealership.
The Governor of New York got busted because an automated search of his bank records found a large number of similar transactions for $9000. Breaking up one large transaction into multiple smaller ones, under $10k, is a common evasion tactic called "stacking". It turns out he just banged a $9000 hooker a bunch of times.
No one is looking for a solution to any problem here,
From several posts up this thread-
"The irony of course is that inflation has devalued what's left to the point where it actually makes some sense to bring some of those larger bills back."
My friend's dad tried to buy a $45,000 car in cash. The dealership had no process for it because nobody had ever tried it before. They ended up creating a $45k repair bill in the maintenance department.
The irony of course is that inflation has devalued what's left to the point where it actually makes some sense to bring some of those larger bills back.
Most retail establishments won't even accept a $100. I'm not seeing the need for a bigger denomination, which nobody would accept.
Inflation has been at historic lows for 30 years. 100 bucks is still a lot of money.
Slashdot Mirror
And it's wrong a vast majority of the time.
For people that claim to be objective and science-based, people here sure don't seem to have the same rules of evidence for claims they want to be true and claims they don't want to be true.
Who needs evidence when you already know everything?
I was saying that "lobbying" and "bribery" have actual definitions as words.
So do you just ignore all facts that conflict with your narrative and make up word definitions as needed?
Look at the existing franchise laws and how they are being used. It's not really a question that bribes are occurring, it's what lobbying is by it's very definition.
No. Lobbying involves talking and bribery involves illegal money.
If it's "not really a question" then you should be able to provide tons of evidence to back up your claims. How about it?
s and futuristic car designs they probably stole from us!!
They pretty clearly copied Aston Martin's exterior design. But Ford only owns a small minority of Aston Martin.
Teslas are for the masses.
I'm a big fan of Tesla. But I wouldn't exactly say that their $75k cars are "for the masses". I have a Nissan Leaf, which is less than half that price. It's a great car, but it's certainly no Model S.
On Slashdot, bribery and shadowy conspiracies are always the default answer.
Do you have any evidence that anyone was bribed in this case?
Also on the logistics side, the amount of power required would be extraordinary even if there were no waste heat. The battery in my electric car is 24 kW-h. 70% of that is 16.8 kW-h. Wouldn't delivering that much power in 5 minutes require a 200,000 Watt hook up? Now imagine an electric "filling station" with 5 or 10 bays that could be used concurrently.
The outlet in my garage is 220V 30A (normally used for electric clothes dryers), and I think that's about as heavy duty as you can get in a normal American home. The battery charger is 6600W, to go along with that outlet.
So even if we had these amazing batteries today, there are still a lot of other problems involved in actually shooting that much energy into them that quickly.
"Cash" as in bills or "cash" as in a check? Everyone can handle checks, no problem. I'm talking about a stack of $100 bills.
I always liked the idea of using the excess power during the day to lift water to a lake high up, and running hydro at night to power the datacenter.
The version I like is using excess power to pump air into an enclosed space, natural or artificial. Then at night, release the compressed air to drive a turbine. It seems more flexible than large water works. And in case of massive failure, you just get a loud noise instead of a million gallons of water everywhere. Datacenters and standing water door poorly together.
A different variation is what they're doing at Solar Two in California. It's a "solar thermal" plant, but unlike other thermal plants that heat up water, Solar Two uses a molten salt mixture. The higher temperatures involved allow the plant to continue producing electricity for up to 3 hours after the sun sets. By the late evening, demand drops off and base load plants can handle it. This technology dovetails nicely with nuclear power.
In the US, any cash transaction over $10,000 requires some paperwork and an ID. It doesn't matter if the transaction is at a bank, casino, or car dealership.
The Governor of New York got busted because an automated search of his bank records found a large number of similar transactions for $9000. Breaking up one large transaction into multiple smaller ones, under $10k, is a common evasion tactic called "stacking". It turns out he just banged a $9000 hooker a bunch of times.
No one is looking for a solution to any problem here,
From several posts up this thread-
"The irony of course is that inflation has devalued what's left to the point where it actually makes some sense to bring some of those larger bills back."
My friend's dad tried to buy a $45,000 car in cash. The dealership had no process for it because nobody had ever tried it before. They ended up creating a $45k repair bill in the maintenance department.
This is a solution in search of a problem.
I could see it being useful to load munitions at a combat base. But our bases have proven to be quite safe.
$30,000 in 20s will fit in a small shopping bag.
Apparently you don't know what a "sniper" is.
Have you actually called the cops for that? I'll bet $100 you haven't.
The irony of course is that inflation has devalued what's left to the point where it actually makes some sense to bring some of those larger bills back.
Most retail establishments won't even accept a $100. I'm not seeing the need for a bigger denomination, which nobody would accept.
Inflation has been at historic lows for 30 years. 100 bucks is still a lot of money.
Congrats. This is the dumbest comment I've seen all week. And there are a lot of really dumb comments on this site.
This is meant to be used inside bases. How many Americans have been killed by snipers while inside their bases recently?
Those golf courses are maintained by greens fees, not taxpayer money.
Here in the real world, the Secretary of Defense is proposing budget cuts.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/defense-secretary-chuck-hagel-to-recommend-deep-budget-cuts-targeting-pay-benefits/
The DOD has put a lot of effort into fuel efficiency and renewable energy. You have no idea what you're talking about.
Your cost estimate only only off by one or two orders of magnitude.