I worked at an R&D firm that focused on natural fibre composites until about a year ago, and we had some projects with nanocellulose going on while I was around. Apparently it's pretty tiny stuff (maybe that explains the nano part, hmmm...) so barring a huge breakthrough it's not going to be threatenning kevlar fabric anytime soon since weaving it wouldnt be practical at this stage of the game. If it's used in composites, it'll be as a reinforcing fibre that gets mixed in with the matrix (some sort of polymer) which will give it a rigid shape.
The article explained the challenges fairly well. First, it's hydrophilic, so bonding it with a hydrophobic polymer won't work very well and you'll end up with poor fibre/matrix bonding which is currently the achillis heal of most natural fibre composites. Sure, there are surface treatments that can help this, but most of the current ones degrade the performance of the fibre while improving the fibre/matrix bond so that the strength increase isn't all that great (I'm talking about macroscopic natural fibres now. this may not be the same for nanocellulose but I expect that it's similar since the chemistry is similar).
Anyways, best of luck to all the people trying to make this work. I'm making plans for a transparent aluminum boat, but I'd love to use transparent wood if possible:)
"If customers, because of 20 years of practice want a start menu... why not just give it to them."
20 Years? 26 for me. I began with Windows 1.03 and I really don't like new crap.
First thing I always do with a new version is to disable all the visual gimmicks, like aero, menu shadings etc and install the classic scheme. Lately I also had to install utilities to get a decent menu.
Went to LibreOffice because of that damn Ribbon as well.
It's a fucking tool that I used for over a quarter century, I don't have the patience to get slowed down every couple of years because some young moron thinks some new gimmick is 'cool'.
Finding a technical job in China without knowing Chinese isn't impossible. As a Canadian currently working as an engineer in China, I'd recommend looking for international companies as they will often hire people who speak English only. Searching on LinkedIn can be a good filter because, by and large, the only companies that recruit on there are companies that will accept non-Chinese speakers.
That being said, I'd highly recommend you start learning Chinese (mandarin in your case since you're going to Beijing) right away. It goes without saying that most of the people you'll be working with are far more comfortable speaking Chinese, and as a foreigner living in their country it's only reasonable that you make as much of an effort to learn as possible. Most Chinese people are far kinder than North Americans when it comes to understanding you're difficulties in learning their language, but this shouldn't be an excuse to persist in ignorance. Show some respect and make every effort you can to learn the language.
They dont get paid annual leave in China, so in order to do this they quit before Chinese New Year and now come back and get another job after CNY. So the article is a complete and fallacious troll and a belated Gong Xi to Parent.
Chinese New Year is a paid holiday (provided that your Chinese employer follows the law, but thats another story). However, many companies give an annual bonus at Chinese new year time, so any employee who is thinking of quitting their job in November typically sticks it out until new years and then quits after they get their bonus. The lines of people applying for jobs are likely a combination of people who quit their previous jobs after getting their annual bonus, as well as normal villagers coming into the cities to look for work.
As an Canadian living in China, I'd say Penguinchris's comment above is pretty spot on. Foxconn jobs may not be cushy by N.A. standards, but they're better than village life. Regarding the overtime violations, I think this is a case where North American standards and Chinese standards don't really line up. Most workers view the availability of overtime as a good thing since it's paid at 1.5x so they can make more money to send back to their families (or save up for an iphone. Materialistic motives aren't only limited to the rest of the world). In addition, a 40 hr work week isn't really standard in southern China. Most of the engineers that I work with work 60+ hour weeks without overtime pay and consider this to be pretty much normal.
Slashdot Mirror
I live in china and I can read this. Can't get to github though.
Sure wish it was vice versa :)
Overseas ofcourse. Doesen't anyone think about these things? What is the cost of electricity in China/India compared to the US?
I currently live in China. Power here is roughly twice the price that it was in Canada where I used to live.
...This had been fixed with the new 'completely intuitive 22-foot-tall, 11-foot-wide 600 lever steam-powered voting machines'
http://www.theonion.com/articles/florida-to-experiment-with-new-600lever-voting-mac,29699/
Mod Parent Up.
I worked at an R&D firm that focused on natural fibre composites until about a year ago, and we had some projects with nanocellulose going on while I was around. Apparently it's pretty tiny stuff (maybe that explains the nano part, hmmm...) so barring a huge breakthrough it's not going to be threatenning kevlar fabric anytime soon since weaving it wouldnt be practical at this stage of the game. If it's used in composites, it'll be as a reinforcing fibre that gets mixed in with the matrix (some sort of polymer) which will give it a rigid shape.
The article explained the challenges fairly well. First, it's hydrophilic, so bonding it with a hydrophobic polymer won't work very well and you'll end up with poor fibre/matrix bonding which is currently the achillis heal of most natural fibre composites. Sure, there are surface treatments that can help this, but most of the current ones degrade the performance of the fibre while improving the fibre/matrix bond so that the strength increase isn't all that great (I'm talking about macroscopic natural fibres now. this may not be the same for nanocellulose but I expect that it's similar since the chemistry is similar).
Anyways, best of luck to all the people trying to make this work. I'm making plans for a transparent aluminum boat, but I'd love to use transparent wood if possible :)
And where does chance get its random numbers from?
The same place we all do http://xkcd.com/221/
I believe this is what you're looking for:
http://slashdot.org/story/12/08/20/0216225/finland-hosts-mobile-phone-throwing-championships
'QB Sliderule' for iOS :)
"If customers, because of 20 years of practice want a start menu... why not just give it to them."
20 Years? 26 for me. I began with Windows 1.03 and I really don't like new crap. First thing I always do with a new version is to disable all the visual gimmicks, like aero, menu shadings etc and install the classic scheme. Lately I also had to install utilities to get a decent menu. Went to LibreOffice because of that damn Ribbon as well.
It's a fucking tool that I used for over a quarter century, I don't have the patience to get slowed down every couple of years because some young moron thinks some new gimmick is 'cool'.
aaaaaaaaand.... GET OFF MY LAWN!!!
Sure, but it's Japanese so it keeps freaking out and yelling about Godzilla whenever lizard gets played....
Glad to see that the quality of our first posts is still worldclass.
Learn the damn language before you post on this English speaking site!
1. I'm a native English speaker 2. I believe I specified that I'm an Engineer, and therefore have full license to spell like a 6 year old :)
Finding a technical job in China without knowing Chinese isn't impossible. As a Canadian currently working as an engineer in China, I'd recommend looking for international companies as they will often hire people who speak English only. Searching on LinkedIn can be a good filter because, by and large, the only companies that recruit on there are companies that will accept non-Chinese speakers. That being said, I'd highly recommend you start learning Chinese (mandarin in your case since you're going to Beijing) right away. It goes without saying that most of the people you'll be working with are far more comfortable speaking Chinese, and as a foreigner living in their country it's only reasonable that you make as much of an effort to learn as possible. Most Chinese people are far kinder than North Americans when it comes to understanding you're difficulties in learning their language, but this shouldn't be an excuse to persist in ignorance. Show some respect and make every effort you can to learn the language.
Imagining the hacking opportunities already: “Quit hitting yourself, Quit hitting yourself”
... Guangdong. Time to clean the tubes
Hope this doesn't nullify the "blue cheese" theory.
They dont get paid annual leave in China, so in order to do this they quit before Chinese New Year and now come back and get another job after CNY. So the article is a complete and fallacious troll and a belated Gong Xi to Parent.
Chinese New Year is a paid holiday (provided that your Chinese employer follows the law, but thats another story). However, many companies give an annual bonus at Chinese new year time, so any employee who is thinking of quitting their job in November typically sticks it out until new years and then quits after they get their bonus. The lines of people applying for jobs are likely a combination of people who quit their previous jobs after getting their annual bonus, as well as normal villagers coming into the cities to look for work. As an Canadian living in China, I'd say Penguinchris's comment above is pretty spot on. Foxconn jobs may not be cushy by N.A. standards, but they're better than village life. Regarding the overtime violations, I think this is a case where North American standards and Chinese standards don't really line up. Most workers view the availability of overtime as a good thing since it's paid at 1.5x so they can make more money to send back to their families (or save up for an iphone. Materialistic motives aren't only limited to the rest of the world). In addition, a 40 hr work week isn't really standard in southern China. Most of the engineers that I work with work 60+ hour weeks without overtime pay and consider this to be pretty much normal.