Both hydrogen and batteries are essentially means to store electrical energy. Electricity is used to electrolyze water into hydrogen and oxygen. Methane can also be used to produce hydrogen in some cells, but you may as well burn it to produce power.
The real issues are energy density and ability to safely store the energy. The energy density of hydrogen sucks, so if you want decent range you need big tanks and/or high pressures. And hydrogen, being such a small molecule, diffuses readily through most tank wall materials. Oh, and there aren't many hydrogen refueling stations because there aren't many hydrogen cars, so you have the chicken-and-egg problem to overcome.
Battery technology is a bit better in energy density, and electrical transmission infrastructure is already (mostly) in place. The trick is the proper interface. Battery technology is improving with experience and there are fewer hurdles to overcome in order to use them effectively. Batteries can blow up and burn, as can hydrogen and even gasoline. Gasoline car fires do occur but considering how many vehicles are out there it is a pretty rare event.
Can someone explain to me what dumping piles and piles of computers into Africa is going to accomplish?
In Africa I see waves of ethnic turmoil coupled with basic infrastructure problems, all played by the governments to keep a few powerful folks in power.
Are we trying to turn Africa into our next call center and need to get the kids up to speed with computers? I don't think that is going to happen until something resembling stability (i.e. taking care of food, clothing and shelter for entire years without fear of a machete attack) takes hold.
Peter Gibbons: Well, I generally come in at least fifteen minutes late, ah, I use the side door - that way Lumbergh can't see me, heh - after that I sorta space out for an hour. Bob Porter: Da-uh? Space out? Peter Gibbons: Yeah, I just stare at my desk, but it looks like I'm working. I do that for probably another hour after lunch too, I'd say in a given week I probably only do about fifteen minutes of real, actual, work. Peter Gibbons: You see, Bob, it's not that I'm lazy, it's that I just don't care. Bob Porter: Don't- don't care? Peter Gibbons: It's a problem of motivation, all right? Now if I work my ass off and Initech ships a few extra units, I don't see another dime, so where's the motivation? And here's another thing, I have eight different bosses right now. Bob Porter: Eight? Peter Gibbons: Eight, Bob. So that means when I make a mistake, I have eight different people coming by to tell me about it. That's my only real motivation is not to be hassled, that, and the fear of losing my job. But you know, Bob, that will only make someone work just hard enough not to get fired.
I've sifted through 300+ posts of "Gee, I bend over every month and let stretch all of my orifices to the snapping point, but keeps me coming back. But I pine for a la carte!"
Is it *really* worth it? Really? $150/month is $1800 per year folks. How much entertainment could you buy with $1800 per year outside of cable? A lot, I would bet. Is what you get through cable worth $1800 bucks per year?
If you only sell coffee to bubble surfers, you yourself would be a bubble surfer. You might consider marketing coffee to tradesmen like plumbers and such; they aren't going anywhere.
Don't ALL scientists doubt the Big Bang and other models for the universe in the sense that they are all subject to comparison with observations? If a model conflicts with observation, the model either must be dropped or modified.
Science isn't about believing something to be true.
If a dumb kid wanders into the road, they'll been deselected by evolution. Thanks for playing.
If you're driving so fast that you need to slam on the brakes to save said evolutionary dead end and snuff yourself instead, I think survival of the fittest still applies.
Have a small amount of C-4 explosive in the phone. If the phone is switched on when the velocity is greater than 30 mph *BOOM*.
And instead of airbags, we should also have daggers sticking out of our steering wheels, poised directly at our hearts. That way people will only be able to drive like assholes once.
Read "A Canticle for Leibowitz" by Walter M. Miller for a cautionary tale about the value of scientists and engineers post-apocalypse. In this book, "simpleton" mobs hunt down and kill anyone of learning as they are blamed for developing the technology that enabled the nuclear holocaust of WWIII.
Myself, I plan to play dumb and leverage my homebrewing talent to appease the simpleton mobs.
Ditto on this, and I was a Linux skeptic for a while after my first painful experiences trying to work with SUSELinux and Debian several years ago.
There is hardly any learning curve required to go from XP to Mint. Everything works pretty much right out of the box. Getting wireless up was easy and I had my printer and scanner up and running in 15 minutes after a brief search for drivers. I was pretty much back to business as usual on my netbook about 30 minutes after overwriting XP with Mint. LibreOffice works nicely with my existing spreadsheets and documents.
If you have mission-critical software that just needs Windows, well, that is another story. But if you or someone you know has a home machine that they use just for browsing, spreadsheet and document applications, Linux Mint is the way to go.
Exactly this. Employers want to see the market flooded with STEM graduates so they can drive wages down. Schools are on the bandwagon to crank out STEM graduates because they get their money regardless of whether the graduates get a job or not, thanks to the student loan system. STEM is the next humanity major degree.
This will work for a while when there are jobs available, but eventually this is just going to dump a lot of graduates out into the world with poor job prospects and mountains of debt. The employers can then sift through the mass of humanity and select the best of the lot who will work for whatever amount is offered.
So... either we need to voluntarily reduce our population to about 1% of what it is today (but please make plans for the bodies first!) or we need to be stewards, 'cause if we (humans) don't then in a few hundred years it will be too late.
Too late for what? The earth / Mother Nature doesn't give a damn. Humans went extinct? Shit...25 other species of critter snuffed today, and maybe another few evolved into being. 4 billion years of stewardship vs our several hundred? See the George Carlin links above; they really are enlightening.
Humans aren't important. You and me are not important. We're walking compost food.
So...if I get a lobotomy and am not self-aware I can eat/fuck/kill all I want? Sign me up! Maybe I can just do it at home with a bottle of whiskey and a power drill?
I could probably even manage to keep my current job if I use a sharp 7/32" bit...
Really, every other major predator can chow down to their heart's content, screwing sustainability with long, hard strokes, and they get a pass, because they are furry and noble-looking in posters.
But humans? Nay! Once you become self-aware you have to be sustainable, stewards of the Earth, resurrect the mammoth, replant forests, self-flaggelate for our unending sins, yadda yadda.
Here's a hint for you - humans are animals. Eat-Fuck-Kill. That has been our mantra ever since we first banged two rocks together. Now it is Eat (Vegetarian) Fuck (only our spouses, with condoms) Kill (never, unless the government says it is OK). $It's all our fault, for any value of $It.
It won't make much difference, certainly not a factor of 10 difference. You are still limited by nutrient depletion. Accelerating the return of nutrients requires energy and that is a limited resource as well.
Slashdot Mirror
Both hydrogen and batteries are essentially means to store electrical energy. Electricity is used to electrolyze water into hydrogen and oxygen. Methane can also be used to produce hydrogen in some cells, but you may as well burn it to produce power.
The real issues are energy density and ability to safely store the energy. The energy density of hydrogen sucks, so if you want decent range you need big tanks and/or high pressures. And hydrogen, being such a small molecule, diffuses readily through most tank wall materials. Oh, and there aren't many hydrogen refueling stations because there aren't many hydrogen cars, so you have the chicken-and-egg problem to overcome.
Battery technology is a bit better in energy density, and electrical transmission infrastructure is already (mostly) in place. The trick is the proper interface. Battery technology is improving with experience and there are fewer hurdles to overcome in order to use them effectively. Batteries can blow up and burn, as can hydrogen and even gasoline. Gasoline car fires do occur but considering how many vehicles are out there it is a pretty rare event.
Yep. Back when Osama bin Hidin was running around, all it took was a video to make the U.S. clench its buttcheeks.
Now it just takes a 16 year old prankster.
Can someone explain to me what dumping piles and piles of computers into Africa is going to accomplish?
In Africa I see waves of ethnic turmoil coupled with basic infrastructure problems, all played by the governments to keep a few powerful folks in power.
Are we trying to turn Africa into our next call center and need to get the kids up to speed with computers? I don't think that is going to happen until something resembling stability (i.e. taking care of food, clothing and shelter for entire years without fear of a machete attack) takes hold.
Peter Gibbons: Well, I generally come in at least fifteen minutes late, ah, I use the side door - that way Lumbergh can't see me, heh - after that I sorta space out for an hour.
Bob Porter: Da-uh? Space out?
Peter Gibbons: Yeah, I just stare at my desk, but it looks like I'm working. I do that for probably another hour after lunch too, I'd say in a given week I probably only do about fifteen minutes of real, actual, work.
Peter Gibbons: You see, Bob, it's not that I'm lazy, it's that I just don't care.
Bob Porter: Don't- don't care?
Peter Gibbons: It's a problem of motivation, all right? Now if I work my ass off and Initech ships a few extra units, I don't see another dime, so where's the motivation? And here's another thing, I have eight different bosses right now.
Bob Porter: Eight?
Peter Gibbons: Eight, Bob. So that means when I make a mistake, I have eight different people coming by to tell me about it. That's my only real motivation is not to be hassled, that, and the fear of losing my job. But you know, Bob, that will only make someone work just hard enough not to get fired.
I've sifted through 300+ posts of "Gee, I bend over every month and let stretch all of my orifices to the snapping point, but keeps me coming back. But I pine for a la carte!"
Is it *really* worth it? Really? $150/month is $1800 per year folks. How much entertainment could you buy with $1800 per year outside of cable? A lot, I would bet. Is what you get through cable worth $1800 bucks per year?
What was this based on? Did the PI rent Independence Day from Redbox last week and suddenly get an idea to spin a humanities degree into notoriety?
Stuff that *might* happen *might* lead to other stuff that *might* happen.
Slashdot makes me want to throw my laptop against the wall and punch people. Gahhh....
If you only sell coffee to bubble surfers, you yourself would be a bubble surfer. You might consider marketing coffee to tradesmen like plumbers and such; they aren't going anywhere.
Assuming that there is a bubble, it will burst and take the dumbass fools who think the dot-com glory days are about to make a comeback.
Nothing of true value will be lost. Stupid people and money will be parted.
Assuming that there is a bubble in the first place.
Which I am told there is, but that might be BS.
Slashdot is like that.
Beta still sucks.
Don't ALL scientists doubt the Big Bang and other models for the universe in the sense that they are all subject to comparison with observations? If a model conflicts with observation, the model either must be dropped or modified.
Science isn't about believing something to be true.
...fish fuck in it.
If a dumb kid wanders into the road, they'll been deselected by evolution. Thanks for playing.
If you're driving so fast that you need to slam on the brakes to save said evolutionary dead end and snuff yourself instead, I think survival of the fittest still applies.
Homeo-don't-play-that.
Have a small amount of C-4 explosive in the phone. If the phone is switched on when the velocity is greater than 30 mph *BOOM*.
And instead of airbags, we should also have daggers sticking out of our steering wheels, poised directly at our hearts. That way people will only be able to drive like assholes once.
Darwinian evolution is our friend. Let's use it!
Read "A Canticle for Leibowitz" by Walter M. Miller for a cautionary tale about the value of scientists and engineers post-apocalypse. In this book, "simpleton" mobs hunt down and kill anyone of learning as they are blamed for developing the technology that enabled the nuclear holocaust of WWIII.
Myself, I plan to play dumb and leverage my homebrewing talent to appease the simpleton mobs.
Ditto on this, and I was a Linux skeptic for a while after my first painful experiences trying to work with SUSELinux and Debian several years ago.
There is hardly any learning curve required to go from XP to Mint. Everything works pretty much right out of the box. Getting wireless up was easy and I had my printer and scanner up and running in 15 minutes after a brief search for drivers. I was pretty much back to business as usual on my netbook about 30 minutes after overwriting XP with Mint. LibreOffice works nicely with my existing spreadsheets and documents.
If you have mission-critical software that just needs Windows, well, that is another story. But if you or someone you know has a home machine that they use just for browsing, spreadsheet and document applications, Linux Mint is the way to go.
I believe they are called "monkeys".
But it IS sensational science - it is a reported observation, fine.
/., for this I say "Pretty cool, let them be sensational".
Mind that the sciences do often need to think about PR for funding.
Of all the crap that gets posted on
Exactly this. Employers want to see the market flooded with STEM graduates so they can drive wages down. Schools are on the bandwagon to crank out STEM graduates because they get their money regardless of whether the graduates get a job or not, thanks to the student loan system. STEM is the next humanity major degree.
This will work for a while when there are jobs available, but eventually this is just going to dump a lot of graduates out into the world with poor job prospects and mountains of debt. The employers can then sift through the mass of humanity and select the best of the lot who will work for whatever amount is offered.
So... either we need to voluntarily reduce our population to about 1% of what it is today (but please make plans for the bodies first!) or we need to be stewards, 'cause if we (humans) don't then in a few hundred years it will be too late.
Too late for what? The earth / Mother Nature doesn't give a damn. Humans went extinct? Shit...25 other species of critter snuffed today, and maybe another few evolved into being. 4 billion years of stewardship vs our several hundred? See the George Carlin links above; they really are enlightening.
Humans aren't important. You and me are not important. We're walking compost food.
<a href="http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10793961">http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/n...</a>
</p></quote>
However, it later evolved into the one-eyed lizard, which became ubiquitous, much to the dismay of the female homo sapiens.
Boy, somebody musta peed in your Cheerios this morning.
Here's a great link about how humans have developed their inner wolf. Cheer up champ!
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/review/R2XKMDXZHQ26YX/ref=cm_cr_pr_viewpnt#R2XKMDXZHQ26YX"</a>
*Clap* *Clap* *Clap* Well played sir.
So...if I get a lobotomy and am not self-aware I can eat/fuck/kill all I want? Sign me up! Maybe I can just do it at home with a bottle of whiskey and a power drill?
I could probably even manage to keep my current job if I use a sharp 7/32" bit...
Really, every other major predator can chow down to their heart's content, screwing sustainability with long, hard strokes, and they get a pass, because they are furry and noble-looking in posters.
But humans? Nay! Once you become self-aware you have to be sustainable, stewards of the Earth, resurrect the mammoth, replant forests, self-flaggelate for our unending sins, yadda yadda.
Here's a hint for you - humans are animals. Eat-Fuck-Kill. That has been our mantra ever since we first banged two rocks together. Now it is Eat (Vegetarian) Fuck (only our spouses, with condoms) Kill (never, unless the government says it is OK). $It's all our fault, for any value of $It.
I wish I was a wolf.
It won't make much difference, certainly not a factor of 10 difference. You are still limited by nutrient depletion. Accelerating the return of nutrients requires energy and that is a limited resource as well.