I could buy that if it weren't for the fact that Rodney completely depleted a ZPM in only a few minutes of operation. (See: McKay and Mrs. Miller) If the ZPM used capacitors to store a "boost" charge, then he would have been unable to completely deplete the ZPM. Either that, or the ZPM was nearly depleted anyway which means that it was about to become a paperweight anyway.
I'm not talking about the electronics of it, I'm taking about physical wear on the rotating parts. Constant changes in velocity cause all kinds of interesting stresses on a motor under load. This sort of situation is regularly seen with power generators vs. car engines. Power generators tend to maintain a constant rotational velocity while in use and thus tend to have lifetimes that measure in decades. Car engines, on the other hand, change rotational velocity regularly and very suddenly. As a result, car engines have significantly shorter operating lifetimes than your typical generator.
Of course, there's no denying that consumer quality parts result in shorter lifespans for DVD drives. However, the Wii contains the exact same motors and mechanisms used in consumer DVD drives. Thus the drive is engineered for CLV operation, but Nintendo gets much better lifetime out of the drive by reprogramming it for use in CAV operation. Which means far fewer repair orders than competing consoles with DVD Playback features.
Zero Point Energy will never yield any significant amounts of energy. It's merely an artifact of the way the Universe is constructed, and not a large source of power or fuel. Stargate attempts to remain (somewhat) scientifically accurate by positing that a micro-universe is contained inside each of the ZPM devices, and that the device attempts to extract all energy from that universe via Zero Point Energy extraction. Thus the ZPMs are capable of "running out" of power once all the energy from the micro-universe is exhausted.
Technically, such an idea suggests that the ZPMs should deliver a constant stream of power at all times. Yet in practice, the ZPMs shown in the program appear to behave more like batteries; often providing more or less power depending upon the city's current requirements. However, this appears to be a literary device as it creates a variety of consistency problems within the program. (e.g. If energy can be extracted at such a rate as to exhaust the unit within a few minutes, why can't the city fly on only one ZPM?)
It's just a firmware change. Either the hackers are updating the firmware on their DVD burners, or they're updating the drive firmware in the Wii to support both methods of reading.
Constantly reading the DVD does produce heat, which can be a problem in a tight package like the Wii.
Which is why the Wii has proper ventilation. There are large vents out the back and bottom of the unit. These allow heat to be dissipated while hiding the bottom vents with a stand underneath the unit. (Check it out sometime. The stand has a huge hole in it and notches on the side.)
Heat with the Wii is primarily a problem when it's "turned off" in WiiConnect24 mode.
Wrong. The Wii spins the disc at Constant Angular Velocity, which means that it is far better designed for constant reads. DVDs are spun up and down at Constant Linear Velocity. Which makes the electronics simpler, but puts a lot more wear and tear on the motor. Thus the PS2 drives that failed during its early lifetime vs. the low rate of Wii drive failures.
Take this with a grain of salt, as it may just be made up crap I read on the internet:
It's made up crap you read on the Internet. Like most made up crap, though, there's a grain of unrelated truth. The Wii's firmware drives the disc at a constant velocity, no matter what track is being read. This is different from regular DVD drives that spin the disc faster or slower depending on the track. The latter puts more strain on the motor, which often causes the drives to fail faster. Thus the Wii's design is for reliability purposes.
Remember all the drive failures in PS2 models? Well, we'd definitely see a higher rate of drive failures if Nintendo supported DVD playback. In addition, Nintendo would need to add MPEG decoder hardware or software. At a minimum that would be additional licensing fees that would drive up the cost of each unit. At a maximum, that would mean licensing PLUS extra decoder chips.
So in effect, no DVD support is a practical measure. With DVD drives being plentiful, there's no realistic reason why anyone actually needs their Wii to support such a feature.
Annnnddd the thread comes full circle. You just confused Ares I and Ares V.
Ares I - Small, man rated rocket Ares V - Heavy cargo rocket that is NOT man-rated
The profile for a moon launch requires two separate launches. The first is an Ares V launch to place the necessary equipment (e.g. Altair Lander) and boosters (Earth Departure Stage) into orbit. The Ares I rocket would then launch the Orion capsule carrying the crew. The capsule would dock with the cargo launched by the Ares V, then use the Earth Departure Stage to make a Trans-Lunar Injection burn.
As a result, the figures for the Ares V TLI burn are a bit misleading. The Ares V will be unlikely to send cargo directly to the moon. At least at first. Such capability might be used later on in support of a base or colony.
Those are not my quotes, they are NASA's. And I do realize that 71t "to the moon" means a TLI burn. The reason for the 188t figure is that NASA added a sixth engine to the previously 5 engine stack AND moved from the SSMEs to the RS-68 engines. These changes significantly increased the performance of the booster.
That is, in theory. We'll see how close the booster is to its theoretical figures once it's on the pad.;-)
This is incorrect. Missions were planned to service Skylab using the Space Shuttle. The Shuttle was simply not available in time, the funding didn't materialize for an automated boost, and Skylab's orbit degraded faster than expected. NASA would have been much happier continuing to run and expand Skylab than build the International Space Station.
The versatile, heavy-lifting Ares V is a two-stage, vertically stacked launch vehicle. It can carry nearly 414,000 pounds (188 metric tons) to low-Earth orbit. When working together with the Ares I crew launch vehicle to launch payloads into Earth orbit, Ares V can send nearly 157,000 pounds (71 metric tons) to the moon.
Ares V Stats ============ Height: 116 m Diameter: 10 m + 3.7 m(2x) Payload to LEO: 130,000 kg (does not appear to be corrected after addition of sixth engine) Payload to GEO: 71,100 kg
Saturn V Stats ============== Height: 110.6 m Diameter: 10.1 m Payload to LEO: 118,000 kg Payload to GEO: 47,000 kg
The Ares V is going to be the large booster we SHOULD have built after the Saturn V. It's late, but it's finally coming.:-)
I think you're confusing Ares I and Ares V. Ares I isn't all that big. It's a single stack of capsule -> fuel tank -> stage 2 engine -> stage 1 solid rocket booster. If anything, it's quite a bit thinner than most rockets. However, it does make up for this by towering a massive 94m high. Which does mean a few upgrades to the scaffolding.
The Ares V, however, she's gonna be a beasty. With six (!) main engines, two outboard Solid Rocket Boosters, a plump width of 10m on the central stack, and a towering 116m tall, she's going to put every other rocket to shame. Personally, I can't wait.;-)
Unfortunately, it's not going to happen if the "No manned space program!" supporters get their way. Those supporters keep telling us that all science can be achieved without a manned space program. Yet we have yet to see a probe provide as much useful material, data, and support infrastructure for return missions as the manned space program. Can we send a probe to drill for soil? Sure.
Can we send a probe that will collect samples from all over the area, collect rocks in their original condition, and respond to scientists on the ground who get to review each sample before it is collected? Maybe. But it's a LONG way from having been proven yet. And there's still the aspect that Astronauts are able to return a significantly larger quantity for study.
Then there's the situation of the Hubble Telescope. That telescope would still be a floating piece of space junk if not for the repairs carried out by the manned space program.
"I can say unequivocally, that if it weren't for the human space program, Hubble would be a piece of orbiting space junk." --Ed Weiler, Chief Scientist, Hubble
At the end of the day, humans are more adaptable to situations, and can do the job better than automated systems. That's not to deprecate the role of robots in space, but the two are incredibly complementary. So please tell your favorite political candidate, we want the Constellation Project!:-)
Pff. You guys need to learn how the business works.
Day 1: "Daughter claims rich family had a drunken orgy party!"
Day 2: "Mother claims daughter told an 'embellished' story about the party"
There you go. A story and a retraction. Both of which are perfectly legal and true. The mother can sue all she wants, but what she should be doing is stringing up her daughter by her pinky toe. Instead, we end up with...
Day 3: "Family sues newspapers for reporting embellished story"
A properly designed set of valves and receptacles would solve the problem of "leaks".
You do know that hydrogen leaks out of nearly any container, right? Hydrogen is SMALL. It manages to pass straight through just about any material. That's one of the reasons why it's so hard to transport.
Right now, there is a flammable gas being pumped into my basement.
Correct. Flammable gases that are directly introduced to a pilot where they are immediately burned before they can escape. Prior to the advent of auto-shutoff valves, things could get quite dangerous if the pilot went out.
Even today, you are told to evacuate your house IMMEDIATELY if you smell gas, because natural gas is extremely dangerous. That smell is a safety feature that is added by the gas company to prevent accidental deaths. More than enough people have blown themselves up by accident:
Adding odorant to natural gas began in the United States after the 1937 New London School explosion. The buildup of gas in the school went unnoticed, killing three hundred students and faculty when it ignited. Odorants are considered non-toxic in the extremely low concentrations occurring in natural gas delivered to the end user.
Explosions caused by natural gas leaks occur a few times each year. Individual homes, small businesses and boats are most frequently affected when an internal leak builds up gas inside the structure.
Now here's the rub, there is not yet any safety infrastructure for dealing with home-produced hydrogen gas. Any incidents with the gas or the pressure containers may go unnoticed until it is too late. That is why it is so important to either show a solid plan for dealing with the safety concerns or to keep the fueling stations outdoors. Simply separating the garage from the house is not a sufficient safety solution.
Slashdot Mirror
Now that's just outright thievery there:
http://ask.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=182297&cid=15068416
I could buy that if it weren't for the fact that Rodney completely depleted a ZPM in only a few minutes of operation. (See: McKay and Mrs. Miller) If the ZPM used capacitors to store a "boost" charge, then he would have been unable to completely deplete the ZPM. Either that, or the ZPM was nearly depleted anyway which means that it was about to become a paperweight anyway.
You're talking shit. They don't have step-up transformers in the Pegasus galaxy? ;-)
I'm not talking about the electronics of it, I'm taking about physical wear on the rotating parts. Constant changes in velocity cause all kinds of interesting stresses on a motor under load. This sort of situation is regularly seen with power generators vs. car engines. Power generators tend to maintain a constant rotational velocity while in use and thus tend to have lifetimes that measure in decades. Car engines, on the other hand, change rotational velocity regularly and very suddenly. As a result, car engines have significantly shorter operating lifetimes than your typical generator.
Of course, there's no denying that consumer quality parts result in shorter lifespans for DVD drives. However, the Wii contains the exact same motors and mechanisms used in consumer DVD drives. Thus the drive is engineered for CLV operation, but Nintendo gets much better lifetime out of the drive by reprogramming it for use in CAV operation. Which means far fewer repair orders than competing consoles with DVD Playback features.
Zero Point Energy will never yield any significant amounts of energy. It's merely an artifact of the way the Universe is constructed, and not a large source of power or fuel. Stargate attempts to remain (somewhat) scientifically accurate by positing that a micro-universe is contained inside each of the ZPM devices, and that the device attempts to extract all energy from that universe via Zero Point Energy extraction. Thus the ZPMs are capable of "running out" of power once all the energy from the micro-universe is exhausted.
Technically, such an idea suggests that the ZPMs should deliver a constant stream of power at all times. Yet in practice, the ZPMs shown in the program appear to behave more like batteries; often providing more or less power depending upon the city's current requirements. However, this appears to be a literary device as it creates a variety of consistency problems within the program. (e.g. If energy can be extracted at such a rate as to exhaust the unit within a few minutes, why can't the city fly on only one ZPM?)
It's just a firmware change. Either the hackers are updating the firmware on their DVD burners, or they're updating the drive firmware in the Wii to support both methods of reading.
Which is why the Wii has proper ventilation. There are large vents out the back and bottom of the unit. These allow heat to be dissipated while hiding the bottom vents with a stand underneath the unit. (Check it out sometime. The stand has a huge hole in it and notches on the side.)
Heat with the Wii is primarily a problem when it's "turned off" in WiiConnect24 mode.
Wrong. The Wii spins the disc at Constant Angular Velocity, which means that it is far better designed for constant reads. DVDs are spun up and down at Constant Linear Velocity. Which makes the electronics simpler, but puts a lot more wear and tear on the motor. Thus the PS2 drives that failed during its early lifetime vs. the low rate of Wii drive failures.
It's made up crap you read on the Internet. Like most made up crap, though, there's a grain of unrelated truth. The Wii's firmware drives the disc at a constant velocity, no matter what track is being read. This is different from regular DVD drives that spin the disc faster or slower depending on the track. The latter puts more strain on the motor, which often causes the drives to fail faster. Thus the Wii's design is for reliability purposes.
Remember all the drive failures in PS2 models? Well, we'd definitely see a higher rate of drive failures if Nintendo supported DVD playback. In addition, Nintendo would need to add MPEG decoder hardware or software. At a minimum that would be additional licensing fees that would drive up the cost of each unit. At a maximum, that would mean licensing PLUS extra decoder chips.
So in effect, no DVD support is a practical measure. With DVD drives being plentiful, there's no realistic reason why anyone actually needs their Wii to support such a feature.
Annnnddd the thread comes full circle. You just confused Ares I and Ares V.
Ares I - Small, man rated rocket
Ares V - Heavy cargo rocket that is NOT man-rated
The profile for a moon launch requires two separate launches. The first is an Ares V launch to place the necessary equipment (e.g. Altair Lander) and boosters (Earth Departure Stage) into orbit. The Ares I rocket would then launch the Orion capsule carrying the crew. The capsule would dock with the cargo launched by the Ares V, then use the Earth Departure Stage to make a Trans-Lunar Injection burn.
As a result, the figures for the Ares V TLI burn are a bit misleading. The Ares V will be unlikely to send cargo directly to the moon. At least at first. Such capability might be used later on in support of a base or colony.
More information on the Constellation Project can be found at the usual sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Constellation
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/main/index.html
Those are not my quotes, they are NASA's. And I do realize that 71t "to the moon" means a TLI burn. The reason for the 188t figure is that NASA added a sixth engine to the previously 5 engine stack AND moved from the SSMEs to the RS-68 engines. These changes significantly increased the performance of the booster.
That is, in theory. We'll see how close the booster is to its theoretical figures once it's on the pad. ;-)
This is incorrect. Missions were planned to service Skylab using the Space Shuttle. The Shuttle was simply not available in time, the funding didn't materialize for an automated boost, and Skylab's orbit degraded faster than expected. NASA would have been much happier continuing to run and expand Skylab than build the International Space Station.
More info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylab#End_of_Skylab
FYI, I found updated numbers for the six engine Ares V on NASA's site here:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/ares/aresV/index.html
The correct LEO figure is stated here:
The Ares V will even put the Sat V to shame.
The Ares V is going to be the large booster we SHOULD have built after the Saturn V. It's late, but it's finally coming. :-)
I think you're confusing Ares I and Ares V. Ares I isn't all that big. It's a single stack of capsule -> fuel tank -> stage 2 engine -> stage 1 solid rocket booster. If anything, it's quite a bit thinner than most rockets. However, it does make up for this by towering a massive 94m high. Which does mean a few upgrades to the scaffolding.
The Ares V, however, she's gonna be a beasty. With six (!) main engines, two outboard Solid Rocket Boosters, a plump width of 10m on the central stack, and a towering 116m tall, she's going to put every other rocket to shame. Personally, I can't wait. ;-)
Unfortunately, it's not going to happen if the "No manned space program!" supporters get their way. Those supporters keep telling us that all science can be achieved without a manned space program. Yet we have yet to see a probe provide as much useful material, data, and support infrastructure for return missions as the manned space program. Can we send a probe to drill for soil? Sure.
Can we send a probe that will collect samples from all over the area, collect rocks in their original condition, and respond to scientists on the ground who get to review each sample before it is collected? Maybe. But it's a LONG way from having been proven yet. And there's still the aspect that Astronauts are able to return a significantly larger quantity for study.
Then there's the situation of the Hubble Telescope. That telescope would still be a floating piece of space junk if not for the repairs carried out by the manned space program.
"I can say unequivocally, that if it weren't for the human space program, Hubble would be a piece of orbiting space junk." --Ed Weiler, Chief Scientist, Hubble
At the end of the day, humans are more adaptable to situations, and can do the job better than automated systems. That's not to deprecate the role of robots in space, but the two are incredibly complementary. So please tell your favorite political candidate, we want the Constellation Project! :-)
Pff. You guys need to learn how the business works.
Day 1: "Daughter claims rich family had a drunken orgy party!"
Day 2: "Mother claims daughter told an 'embellished' story about the party"
There you go. A story and a retraction. Both of which are perfectly legal and true. The mother can sue all she wants, but what she should be doing is stringing up her daughter by her pinky toe. Instead, we end up with...
Day 3: "Family sues newspapers for reporting embellished story"
Even more sales! (Cha-ching!)
Where's the geek cred in that? It's much cooler to create a scriptlet that computes the value for them! ;-)
You do know that hydrogen leaks out of nearly any container, right? Hydrogen is SMALL. It manages to pass straight through just about any material. That's one of the reasons why it's so hard to transport.
Excuse me, three orders of magnitude.
You're off by an order of magnitude. The formula is:
Which simplified to:
Reduced further:
Then rounded up a smidgen:
Someone else posted this in scientific notation as (capacity * 10^12 / 2^40). Which agrees with my computations.
No such thing exists. However, you can hose your browser nicely if you run the following script:
WARNING! Do not run the following script!
(*ahem* I told you not to run it! :-P)
Copy the following into your URL bar and press Enter. The code will allow you to compute the real amount.
No worries. It has since been fixed. The parent to the one you replied to was at -1 Flamebait this morning.
Correct. Flammable gases that are directly introduced to a pilot where they are immediately burned before they can escape. Prior to the advent of auto-shutoff valves, things could get quite dangerous if the pilot went out.
Even today, you are told to evacuate your house IMMEDIATELY if you smell gas, because natural gas is extremely dangerous. That smell is a safety feature that is added by the gas company to prevent accidental deaths. More than enough people have blown themselves up by accident:
Now here's the rub, there is not yet any safety infrastructure for dealing with home-produced hydrogen gas. Any incidents with the gas or the pressure containers may go unnoticed until it is too late. That is why it is so important to either show a solid plan for dealing with the safety concerns or to keep the fueling stations outdoors. Simply separating the garage from the house is not a sufficient safety solution.