Seriously, we may be 20 years out yet, but I don't think you have a full grasp on where we really are on this. We have a design and are working the details of the materials and understanding how the materials will react to the neutron flux created by the reaction. There are still valid questions about how viable this design will be, but it's fairly certain that it will work and produce more energy than it takes to get the reaction going.
Look at ITER: $20B and rising, it will only make 500 MW(th) -- six times less thermal energy than a 1 GW(e) fission reactor -- and it doesn't even include the advanced materials needed to withstand commercial reactor levels of integrated neutron flux.
Well, that's ITER's point now isn't it? We know what is required to make fusion work, we just don't know how long we can sustain a reaction because we do not understand how the large neutron flux will affect the materials in the container and we still have difficulties maintaining the containment. It's an engineering problem now, not something that is clearly impossible.
IMHO, investments in such experiments should be expanded, by both government and industry. Just like getting a man on the moon, We need a JFK'esk commitment to making this work.
It's not a "physics" problem to solve, it's an engineering problem. The Physics are fairly well understood. What we need now is the equipment to be engineered which will require some new engineered materials and a few engineering breakthroughs..
I don't think you are correct. Fusion seems to be quite doable to me. Right now we have some issues with materials and reactor designs, but the basic physics are in place and understood. I think we are closer than 30 years myself.
Of all the things we spend money on, the national ignition facility seems to be one of the best scientific investments we can make and IMHO we should redouble our investments in similar research equipment.
Confusion is correct. This guys damn confused. I'd love to have the problem hes talking about as that would mean that we actually have working fusion reactors. Wake me from my grave when we have one actual working power producing fusion reactor (I'm in my early 30s).
Good Morning Sleepy head! We do have working fusion reactors, they just don't work long enough or well enough to get much energy out of them.
The Germans spy on the United States and other NATO countries?
Yea, so?
If Kerry is dumb enough to have sensitive conversations in ways others can monitor, then the Germans need to listen. Even as a USA citizen, it matters not to me. Please, listen in. Just don't cry crocodile tears when we listen to you.
What bothers me about all this is that it's being talked about in public. Everybody used to just accept this and quietly go about their business. Now it's policy to rake your friends over the PR coals for something you already knew was going on? That is seriously troubling to me. Just go encrypted if you don't want the other guy to know what you are "really" thinking. Why all the complaining?
Further, they specifically give you an "out" if you, A. Don't upload the pictures/videos to the internet. B. Agree to delete any videos collected. So if the police walk up when you are flying the drone over the neighborhood's well known nude sunbather, all you have to do is delete the recordings. So you say, "Sorry officer, I will delete that data right now."
Just don't get caught with such pictures or upload them at a later date...
No, actually the laws about pointing lasers at airplanes is routinely enforced, so he's right, you are clueless.
That little prank is incredibly dangerous and the penalties for breaking that set of laws are pretty steep. Just because it is really difficult to find some yahoo with a laser pointer, doesn't mean they don't try, and sometimes succeed.
Don't assume shitty slashdot summaries are ever going to be written into law.
Don't assume they won't either. These are city politicians, which means they are either on their way up and have a lot to learn, or have reached their maximum level of stupidity. However, this is Phoenix, which should at least have some competent lawyers actually drafting the final laws, but a city lawyer is going to be in the same boat as the politicians, wither on their way up with lots to learn, or already maxed out.
How are they going to prevent satellites from observing people in their yards?
Satellites do not fall under this law's definition of "drone".
How can that be true? What's a drone? An unmanned flying machine? Satellites fly overhead, they are usually unmanned...
Personally, I think they should modify their law to allow pictures from aircraft above 1000 feet AGL, or from any aircraft that carries a human pilot at any altitude. The rest of the rules seem to make sense and seem to be enforceable. They might want to make flying an unmanned aircraft above 500 feet AGL which is not registered and approved by the FAA requires written permission from the city in advance.
Now look here. If Google can produce images from space with resolutions measured in centimeters, What do you suppose the capabilities of the United States government? I'm guessing that we are talking about at least one order of magnitude better, which if true, means they can see details down to 1cm or so. I'd bet that is enough to invade a lot of your backyard privacy,
I've seen aircraft based photos that are better than 1 cm resolution. I guess in Phoenix they are OK with any resolution you want, just so long as your image is big enough to cover a number of houses.
I'm thinking that they need to do this based on AGL. If your camera is below 1,000 ft AGL, you better be taking pictures of public locations or of multiple areas at a time. Or perhaps they could do a combination of AGL and being manned. If the aircraft is above 1,000 feet, OR if it is carrying a pilot, you are free to shoot what you want.
No, I don't think so. Where I'm not going to argue Quicken has improved, I don't think Money was better. Microsoft didn't either.
I seem to recall when Microsoft tried to buy Quicken but got it's hand slapped in the cookie jar by the DOJ, fearing it would be a monopoly. Microsoft even tried to GIVE MS Money away to a competitor and the regulators said "nope, not even then". Microsoft shuttered the Money operation shortly after that.
So where your preference might have been for MS Money, the market was going to Quicken.
Why Microsoft didn't open source Money at that point is a mystery to me though...
Depends on how they do this. The cheap way is to just catch HTTP and HTTPS at some router someplace then do some filtering on IP addresses. Problem for the ISP is that now they have to actually THINK about their network design, because it has to work at some point, then redirect at others.
For me, this would be loads of fun to bypass. About all I'd have to do is change my MAC address and restart the router and presto, I am somebody else. I even managed to run TWO independent connections from time to time (both getting my full bandwidth). I didn't do that on purpose, it just happened once when I plugged in a new router to my switch network. I think the ISP figured it out before I did and killed one, but it was a day or so, and swapping the MAC got it back while I transitioned everything over.
I don't think ISP's would be very good at doing this, but it doesn't matter to me... At least until I get hit for something I never do..
You are correct. This is a political move being driven by the Deputy Mayor of Munich. One can only assume that Microsoft is funding his rise to power (and promising to move their German HQ to Munich) for a reason. ($15.6 Million reasons to be exact.)
You seriously need to run Ubuntu. I think there are some distributions that have made some serious strides in user interfaces and Ubuntu is one of them.
What I would say is that Linux desktops are significantly different from Windows. The look and feel and the GUI standards are worlds apart. What needs to happen is Linux desktops and programs all need to ascribe to the windows look and feel as closely as they can without infringing on patents. X-Windows is just so different and we are bound by it's customs so this is a difficult sale.
That's not to say all is lost. Personally, I think Windows 8 (and presumably 9) and it's move towards "metro" interface might just give Linux a big push. Especially if we can leverage the Android look and feel, we might capture some of the desktop world and get users who are going to have to switch to "metro" anyway learning something else instead. It's a long shot, I know.
Slashdot Mirror
That's the ITER's goal. Construction has started.
Seriously, we may be 20 years out yet, but I don't think you have a full grasp on where we really are on this. We have a design and are working the details of the materials and understanding how the materials will react to the neutron flux created by the reaction. There are still valid questions about how viable this design will be, but it's fairly certain that it will work and produce more energy than it takes to get the reaction going.
Funny because the Fusion solution requires magnets, really strong ones.
Look at ITER: $20B and rising, it will only make 500 MW(th) -- six times less thermal energy than a 1 GW(e) fission reactor -- and it doesn't even include the advanced materials needed to withstand commercial reactor levels of integrated neutron flux.
Well, that's ITER's point now isn't it? We know what is required to make fusion work, we just don't know how long we can sustain a reaction because we do not understand how the large neutron flux will affect the materials in the container and we still have difficulties maintaining the containment. It's an engineering problem now, not something that is clearly impossible.
IMHO, investments in such experiments should be expanded, by both government and industry. Just like getting a man on the moon, We need a JFK'esk commitment to making this work.
It's not a "physics" problem to solve, it's an engineering problem. The Physics are fairly well understood. What we need now is the equipment to be engineered which will require some new engineered materials and a few engineering breakthroughs..
What you've missed about fusion technology could fill a journal. Maybe even more than one.
It already has... Oh that was your point.
As it always has, and likely always will be.
I don't think you are correct. Fusion seems to be quite doable to me. Right now we have some issues with materials and reactor designs, but the basic physics are in place and understood. I think we are closer than 30 years myself.
Of all the things we spend money on, the national ignition facility seems to be one of the best scientific investments we can make and IMHO we should redouble our investments in similar research equipment.
Confusion is correct. This guys damn confused. I'd love to have the problem hes talking about as that would mean that we actually have working fusion reactors. Wake me from my grave when we have one actual working power producing fusion reactor (I'm in my early 30s).
Good Morning Sleepy head! We do have working fusion reactors, they just don't work long enough or well enough to get much energy out of them.
So... Your definition of a drone includes an engine too? Ever heard of a glider? No engine, can stay aloft for a long time.
How about a lighter than air craft? Hot air balloon or Helium filled airship? Neither require an engine to keep it aloft.
No, what makes a satellite different is it's altitude and speed, not much else.
The Germans spy on the United States and other NATO countries?
Yea, so?
If Kerry is dumb enough to have sensitive conversations in ways others can monitor, then the Germans need to listen. Even as a USA citizen, it matters not to me. Please, listen in. Just don't cry crocodile tears when we listen to you.
What bothers me about all this is that it's being talked about in public. Everybody used to just accept this and quietly go about their business. Now it's policy to rake your friends over the PR coals for something you already knew was going on? That is seriously troubling to me. Just go encrypted if you don't want the other guy to know what you are "really" thinking. Why all the complaining?
Further, they specifically give you an "out" if you, A. Don't upload the pictures/videos to the internet. B. Agree to delete any videos collected. So if the police walk up when you are flying the drone over the neighborhood's well known nude sunbather, all you have to do is delete the recordings. So you say, "Sorry officer, I will delete that data right now."
Just don't get caught with such pictures or upload them at a later date...
No, actually the laws about pointing lasers at airplanes is routinely enforced, so he's right, you are clueless.
That little prank is incredibly dangerous and the penalties for breaking that set of laws are pretty steep. Just because it is really difficult to find some yahoo with a laser pointer, doesn't mean they don't try, and sometimes succeed.
Don't assume shitty slashdot summaries are ever going to be written into law.
Don't assume they won't either. These are city politicians, which means they are either on their way up and have a lot to learn, or have reached their maximum level of stupidity. However, this is Phoenix, which should at least have some competent lawyers actually drafting the final laws, but a city lawyer is going to be in the same boat as the politicians, wither on their way up with lots to learn, or already maxed out.
How are they going to prevent satellites from observing people in their yards?
Satellites do not fall under this law's definition of "drone".
How can that be true? What's a drone? An unmanned flying machine? Satellites fly overhead, they are usually unmanned...
Personally, I think they should modify their law to allow pictures from aircraft above 1000 feet AGL, or from any aircraft that carries a human pilot at any altitude. The rest of the rules seem to make sense and seem to be enforceable. They might want to make flying an unmanned aircraft above 500 feet AGL which is not registered and approved by the FAA requires written permission from the city in advance.
Now look here. If Google can produce images from space with resolutions measured in centimeters, What do you suppose the capabilities of the United States government? I'm guessing that we are talking about at least one order of magnitude better, which if true, means they can see details down to 1cm or so. I'd bet that is enough to invade a lot of your backyard privacy,
I've seen aircraft based photos that are better than 1 cm resolution. I guess in Phoenix they are OK with any resolution you want, just so long as your image is big enough to cover a number of houses.
I'm thinking that they need to do this based on AGL. If your camera is below 1,000 ft AGL, you better be taking pictures of public locations or of multiple areas at a time. Or perhaps they could do a combination of AGL and being manned. If the aircraft is above 1,000 feet, OR if it is carrying a pilot, you are free to shoot what you want.
No, I don't think so. Where I'm not going to argue Quicken has improved, I don't think Money was better. Microsoft didn't either.
I seem to recall when Microsoft tried to buy Quicken but got it's hand slapped in the cookie jar by the DOJ, fearing it would be a monopoly. Microsoft even tried to GIVE MS Money away to a competitor and the regulators said "nope, not even then". Microsoft shuttered the Money operation shortly after that.
So where your preference might have been for MS Money, the market was going to Quicken.
Why Microsoft didn't open source Money at that point is a mystery to me though...
Only if they have common carrier status... ISP's do not. At least in the USA..
Depends on how they do this. The cheap way is to just catch HTTP and HTTPS at some router someplace then do some filtering on IP addresses. Problem for the ISP is that now they have to actually THINK about their network design, because it has to work at some point, then redirect at others.
For me, this would be loads of fun to bypass. About all I'd have to do is change my MAC address and restart the router and presto, I am somebody else. I even managed to run TWO independent connections from time to time (both getting my full bandwidth). I didn't do that on purpose, it just happened once when I plugged in a new router to my switch network. I think the ISP figured it out before I did and killed one, but it was a day or so, and swapping the MAC got it back while I transitioned everything over.
I don't think ISP's would be very good at doing this, but it doesn't matter to me... At least until I get hit for something I never do..
none of my fingers are going to pay up.
Oh, so you are going to NOT give them the middle finger then?
Yea, read the article... They "suffer" so...
I'm thinking it's all the missing CODECS so the porn doesn't play like it should. However, same difference.
And don't forget to put those old LiMux dvds under your pillow for the dvd fairy to exchange for credit at the Windows Store.
I don't think the DVD fairy is real... I've had the AOL CD's under my pillow for decades and she never even left a note saying "no thanks!"
We are talking about government workers here and city workers at that.
You are correct. This is a political move being driven by the Deputy Mayor of Munich. One can only assume that Microsoft is funding his rise to power (and promising to move their German HQ to Munich) for a reason. ($15.6 Million reasons to be exact.)
These Germans. Cant follow through on anything. Fascism, Nazism, linux ..... No wonder they got their asses whooped by Americans. USA ... USA ... USA ...
Yea, they are the wurst...
You seriously need to run Ubuntu. I think there are some distributions that have made some serious strides in user interfaces and Ubuntu is one of them.
What I would say is that Linux desktops are significantly different from Windows. The look and feel and the GUI standards are worlds apart. What needs to happen is Linux desktops and programs all need to ascribe to the windows look and feel as closely as they can without infringing on patents. X-Windows is just so different and we are bound by it's customs so this is a difficult sale.
That's not to say all is lost. Personally, I think Windows 8 (and presumably 9) and it's move towards "metro" interface might just give Linux a big push. Especially if we can leverage the Android look and feel, we might capture some of the desktop world and get users who are going to have to switch to "metro" anyway learning something else instead. It's a long shot, I know.
MS money made the users hate the experience.
Well, I agree MS Money was horrible and I much preferred Quicken, but I'm not sure how that has anything to do with a desktop in the office...
(Removing tongue from cheek now.. )