Slashdot Mirror


User: rolias

rolias's activity in the archive.

Stories
0
Comments
45
First seen
Last seen
Profile
(view on slashdot.org)

Comments · 45

  1. Re:Mostly a repeat. on 3-D Printing with Molten Steel (Video) · · Score: 1

    Not a repeat, just another project, and it is TIG. Another project called Strongprint is using TIG because the mass of the print head can be quite low and move over a large, fixed print surface. The one you cited uses MIG and moves the print surface under the print head using a delta robot, while Strongprint mounts the print head on a delta robot, and Delaire's printer moves the TIG head on a gantry. http://reprap.org/wiki/StrongP...

  2. Nice but... on Canadian Supreme Court Delivers Huge Win For Internet Privacy · · Score: 1

    More transparency into government and business would, I think, have a lot more benefits than incrementally regaining a little privacy.

  3. Open source on Tesla Releases Electric Car Patents To the Public · · Score: 2

    This is about the best press coverage that open source can get, when an aggressive, innovative, and successful CEO with the ear of the press & public challenges the idea that patents actually help "To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts..." It's a rare day when I hear the words "open source" on NPR's Marketplace.

  4. Heck on Was Turing Test Legitimately Beaten, Or Just Cleverly Tricked? · · Score: 1

    You can hook ELIZA to autorespond to email and fool some people.

  5. Prior art on New Car Can Lean Into Curves, Literally · · Score: 1

    A company called Wesll developed leaning suspension on a prototype quad. It uses motorcycle wheels & tires so it can maintain surface contact on the curved tires while leaning. http://wesllcorp.com/

  6. Great... on Pixar To Give Away 3D RenderMan Software · · Score: 1

    Great... more non-commercial licensed stuff to confuse with open source...

  7. Re:This should be a wake up call... on Russia Bans US Use of Its Rocket Engines For Military Launches · · Score: 1

    Except that the Atlas V with its outsourced RD-180 engines isn't the lowest bidder.

  8. Move poleward. The animals are already adapted.

  9. Needed technology on UAE Clerics' Fatwa Forbids Muslims From Traveling To Mars · · Score: 1

    The technology to return from Mars is the same as that required to get there with this project - both of which are in short supply: money.

  10. Still useful on Neutrino-Powered Financial Trading In Our Future? · · Score: 1

    0 or 1 for "buy/sell"

  11. Re:Sell it to Google on NSA Mimics Google, Angers Senate · · Score: 1

    Now that it's open source, somebody can download it and compete to sell it back to NSA as software services for a lot more than $1. Efficiency!

  12. Sounds like an opportunity... on Intellectual Property Rights: The Quiet Killer of Rio+20 · · Score: 1

    ...for the open source community to step in and say they're happy to help.

  13. Re:notepad++ dude. on Ask Slashdot: Best Open Source Answer to Dreamweaver? · · Score: 1

    With Org-mode!

  14. Suggestion on Actress Sues IMDb For Revealing Her Age · · Score: 1

    I suggest she quit blaming other people and follow the Steve Martin Method.

  15. I'm optimistic on Neal Stephenson On 'Innovation Starvation' · · Score: 1

    If projects like the Global Village Construction Set achieve their goals, communities could establish their own industrial base to pursue big goals. Maker culture (and open source before it) has achieved some amazing things, like affordable home 3D printing, and it's accelerating. The failure of government and business to achieve big goals could be seen as an opportunity. What goals would you pursue?

  16. Re:Yes. on Should Science Be King In Politics? · · Score: 1

    Maybe that's a good thing.

  17. Re:409 sq. ft.? on NASA To Demonstrate Largest-Ever Solar Sail in Space · · Score: 1

    Glad to help. Yeah, a sufficiently large (thrust) and lightweight (acceleration) sail could counteract and even exceed the sun's gravity. A sail mass/area of ~1.5 g/m^2, which accelerates at ~6 mm/s^2 at Earth would achieve this. Lower performance sails could still linger over the sun in "halo" orbits.

    I think it's an opportunity when large organizations fail do do something new. They get out of the way, giving more flexible and innovative parties have a chance. I think expansion into space has, in part, been held back for a generation or two because we expected government space programs to do it all for us: throw enough tax dollars at it, and it will happen. It didn't, and now parties like SpaceX are making great strides - with government cooperation.

  18. Re:Sorry but the Japanese deployed a larger one. on NASA To Demonstrate Largest-Ever Solar Sail in Space · · Score: 1

    The Russians deployed the Znamya space mirror from a Progress resupply ship in 1993, and tried a second time in 1999. The Progress propelled and steered it to reflect a spot of light down on the Earth, so it didn't do actual solar sailing. IKAROS has that distinction. This new mission will actually test a 38m x 38m sail, so it will be the largest.

  19. Re:An important step towards propusion on NASA To Demonstrate Largest-Ever Solar Sail in Space · · Score: 4, Informative

    Except that the article is wrong. The sail will be 38m wide, or 1444m^2. That's 0.013N: 2 * (38m)^2 * 1368W/m^2 / (300,000,000m/s)

  20. Re:409 sq. ft.? on NASA To Demonstrate Largest-Ever Solar Sail in Space · · Score: 2

    The Gizmag article was... imprecise. The sail will be a square 38m wide, with an area about 1400 m^2. It's based on a 20m wide sail L'Garde built and tested for NASA in 2005. More info here: http://www.nasa.gov/offices/oct/crosscutting_capability/tech_demo_missions.html