The amount of energy you gain from air launching is a tiny fraction of what's required to get the payload into orbit. Optimistically assuming air launch at 40k' (12k metres) and 600mph (270 metres per second), the energy of 2.2lb (1kg) of payload at launch is approximately 275 kJ but to achieve a 100 mile (160 km) orbit travelling at 17,500 mph (7,800 metres per second) 32 Megajoules of energy is required for the payload. Interestingly enough, I did a quick check of my math and found out that the 32 MJ required for putting a 1kg payload into orbit is the theoretical minimum - the practical minimum is around 100 MJ (https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/4330/how-much-energy-is-required-to-put-1-kg-in-leo). So, the "first stage" of air launch provides 0.85% of the energy required for the theoretical minimum for orbital flight and about 0.275% for the practical amount.
It should be pointed out that if you count the air launch as the "first stage", you actually have a three stage booster - all the current and planned air launched boosters are two stages. So, if air launching was a true "first stage" and the booster only had one stage, then you could argue that you're reusing the first stage but, as it is, you're still throwing away as much expensive booster hardware as if you were launching from the ground - AND you're spending money on an aircraft to get it where the booster's first stage can light.
Now, there is the supposed advantage that air launching is more flexible and doesn't have weather issues. If you look at Orbital Science's Pegasus air launch record, it's no better than any other launcher because of weather (it's a factor when flying an airliner with a 50,000 lb external load) and the extra precision required to launch at the correct point of time and space (which is more of a factor because during the first few seconds of launch, the energy expended to get the booster correctly lined up is quite insignificant compared to when you're already in the air).
Air launch seems to be an obviously more efficient method of launching space craft, but when you look at it practically, there is no economic or even scheduling advantage.
It was a fair service at best and I never saw anything in it that differentiated it from other platforms out there.
Hopefully we'll start seeing a culling of social media platforms with the remaining ones excelling at: - User security - Dealing with assholes ^H^H^H^H^H Trolls - Identifying and removing fake news
Back in the '90s, when I worked at IBM, I was appalled at the people they let go. Age was clearly a factor, followed by the number of letters behind a person's name. Up to that point in time, the company had been incredibly successful and never had to consider layoffs before, so the primary decision point was literally who had a full retirement followed by degrees, type and where are they from. Guess how many mainframe system admins were over 50 with only high school? The damage done to the company was incredible and measurable.
Now, being older and wiser, I have seen many, many layoffs from different companies with no clear criteria or thought to what would happen after the layoffs were complete - they're generally done to bring quarterly costs into line with investor's expectations with little lip service being put to only keeping the most productive employees.
So, while I can see the reason for tracking the demographics of who a company fires is important, I'm not aware of any cases where layoffs improved the long term health of the company or that any demographic study would show that the layoffs were done in a strategic and effective manner.
If this app was put online labeled as "Fred's AMAZING online truth teller" with the usual ads for bikinis, penis enlargement, crockery, the latest Chevy, I don't think you have anything to worry about in terms of it causing problems.
If it's part of the Google home page or comes up automatically when submitting documents to the IRS, I think there is a great deal of concern regarding whether or not people believe the results are accurate.
All it did was move calls to overseas (India being a big one) and by publishing the "Do Not Call" list all they did was provide the callers with a list of numbers that they knew people would pick up if they were called.
Ironically, the people who are bothered the least are the ones that didn't sign up for the "Do Not Call" list.
And, if you ask me again in 2024, I'll say that we're probably 5 years away.
The technical issues are being chipped away but there are power and autonomy (traffic control) issues that will require decades of work before we will have practical flying taxis.
It's great that a number of companies are reaching out to the moon and organizations like NASA is paying for it but until there is some way to cheaply return materials, the "moonrush" will be a flurry of explorers and then nothing.
The moon gets a lot more exciting when we get cheap titanium and aluminum down to Earth and power from solar cells from the moon's crust. Oh, and maybe in 10 years or so we'll know what to do with He3.
For years, here on/., there have been stories about how people use technology - I think the first time was Radio Shack laying off employees: https://slashdot.org/story/06/...
I guess that you can see why people use technology to avoid unpleasant situations, but they should be highlighted as being inappropriate with the message being that like a Stark, "The man who passes the sentence should swing the sword."
The rule changes are interesting, I think adding the radar system for helping call balls and strikes will probably cause more problems than it will solve.
Many of the changes will result in a faster game, but they don't address what I see as the real time waster and energy drag - the throw from the pitching mound to hold a runner at first.
How about calling a ball on the batter each time that's done? It will mean that if the runner is a slug will stay close to the base but if the runner is fast, knowing that the pitcher will give up a ball throwing to first, will probably be more aggressive about getting ready to steal second. This will add tension to the game and eliminate the endless throwing balls to the first basemen, destroying the rhythm of the game.
Oh, if you're adding robots, don't forget the blackjack - and hookers!
That was my thought the first time I saw the subject line - but, there's a lot more Disney product than just "Song of the South" that today's audiences would find objectionable. There's a ton of blatantly racist (even for the time) material from WWII as well as other films through the '40s and '50s.
It would be interesting to see how "entire" the library really is.
I haven't heard that, but I would find it highly unlikely as I believe the crew will be in their pressure suits which would be very tight/awkward in anything less than a van.
Also, if there are up to seven astronauts going on the flight, that would mean up to four Model X's to transport the astronauts (four if an astronaut can't sit shotgun).
While I agree with the general consensus that releasing the source to calculator is underwhelming, I'm wondering if there is more to the plan here.
Maybe Microsoft has a long term goal of making more apps open-source, to help with the support workload or to develop more Microsoft developers and maybe find some UI designers with fresh approaches.
I guess having a cell phone that opens like a paperback book increases usability/viewing area but is anybody looking at turning something the size of a USB thumb drive into a full sized cell phone by unrolling it in the vertical ("Y") direction?
In a lot of ways, that would be a lot more interesting to me - have something small that I can just use as a phone with a minimal screen for seeing who's calling and select a number to call and expand when I need to access other features/apps on the device.
Slashdot Mirror
Arghh. You beat me to it.
Sounds nice after all the abuse and indifferent service I've gotten from them over the years.
See my previous comment.
It seems like air launch should be a superior method of launching but the math and the practicalities don't come together for it to work.
The amount of energy you gain from air launching is a tiny fraction of what's required to get the payload into orbit. Optimistically assuming air launch at 40k' (12k metres) and 600mph (270 metres per second), the energy of 2.2lb (1kg) of payload at launch is approximately 275 kJ but to achieve a 100 mile (160 km) orbit travelling at 17,500 mph (7,800 metres per second) 32 Megajoules of energy is required for the payload. Interestingly enough, I did a quick check of my math and found out that the 32 MJ required for putting a 1kg payload into orbit is the theoretical minimum - the practical minimum is around 100 MJ (https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/4330/how-much-energy-is-required-to-put-1-kg-in-leo). So, the "first stage" of air launch provides 0.85% of the energy required for the theoretical minimum for orbital flight and about 0.275% for the practical amount.
It should be pointed out that if you count the air launch as the "first stage", you actually have a three stage booster - all the current and planned air launched boosters are two stages. So, if air launching was a true "first stage" and the booster only had one stage, then you could argue that you're reusing the first stage but, as it is, you're still throwing away as much expensive booster hardware as if you were launching from the ground - AND you're spending money on an aircraft to get it where the booster's first stage can light.
Now, there is the supposed advantage that air launching is more flexible and doesn't have weather issues. If you look at Orbital Science's Pegasus air launch record, it's no better than any other launcher because of weather (it's a factor when flying an airliner with a 50,000 lb external load) and the extra precision required to launch at the correct point of time and space (which is more of a factor because during the first few seconds of launch, the energy expended to get the booster correctly lined up is quite insignificant compared to when you're already in the air).
Air launch seems to be an obviously more efficient method of launching space craft, but when you look at it practically, there is no economic or even scheduling advantage.
Earmuffs and hats aren't placed in the ear canals like ear buds (like the driver was using).
Even with side-impact air bags, I'm sure there could be a lot of damaged caused by them in an accident.
It was a fair service at best and I never saw anything in it that differentiated it from other platforms out there.
Hopefully we'll start seeing a culling of social media platforms with the remaining ones excelling at:
- User security
- Dealing with assholes ^H^H^H^H^H Trolls
- Identifying and removing fake news
Porn stars don't get fired. They get jobs singing adult contemporary pieces on cruise ships and mountain resorts
Man, I've got to get my wife to consider something other than Disney for our next vacation.
Back in the '90s, when I worked at IBM, I was appalled at the people they let go. Age was clearly a factor, followed by the number of letters behind a person's name. Up to that point in time, the company had been incredibly successful and never had to consider layoffs before, so the primary decision point was literally who had a full retirement followed by degrees, type and where are they from. Guess how many mainframe system admins were over 50 with only high school? The damage done to the company was incredible and measurable.
Now, being older and wiser, I have seen many, many layoffs from different companies with no clear criteria or thought to what would happen after the layoffs were complete - they're generally done to bring quarterly costs into line with investor's expectations with little lip service being put to only keeping the most productive employees.
So, while I can see the reason for tracking the demographics of who a company fires is important, I'm not aware of any cases where layoffs improved the long term health of the company or that any demographic study would show that the layoffs were done in a strategic and effective manner.
If this app was put online labeled as "Fred's AMAZING online truth teller" with the usual ads for bikinis, penis enlargement, crockery, the latest Chevy, I don't think you have anything to worry about in terms of it causing problems.
If it's part of the Google home page or comes up automatically when submitting documents to the IRS, I think there is a great deal of concern regarding whether or not people believe the results are accurate.
All it did was move calls to overseas (India being a big one) and by publishing the "Do Not Call" list all they did was provide the callers with a list of numbers that they knew people would pick up if they were called.
Ironically, the people who are bothered the least are the ones that didn't sign up for the "Do Not Call" list.
And, if you ask me again in 2024, I'll say that we're probably 5 years away.
The technical issues are being chipped away but there are power and autonomy (traffic control) issues that will require decades of work before we will have practical flying taxis.
https://physicstoday.scitation...
Interesting work with the best message to get out of this; don't rely on what's obvious, test what you think is true.
How big do you think a strip mine on the moon would have to be for you to see it on a telescope? What about the naked eye?
You're talking about an excavation 100 or so miles on a side...
It's great that a number of companies are reaching out to the moon and organizations like NASA is paying for it but until there is some way to cheaply return materials, the "moonrush" will be a flurry of explorers and then nothing.
The moon gets a lot more exciting when we get cheap titanium and aluminum down to Earth and power from solar cells from the moon's crust. Oh, and maybe in 10 years or so we'll know what to do with He3.
For years, here on /., there have been stories about how people use technology - I think the first time was Radio Shack laying off employees: https://slashdot.org/story/06/...
I guess that you can see why people use technology to avoid unpleasant situations, but they should be highlighted as being inappropriate with the message being that like a Stark, "The man who passes the sentence should swing the sword."
The rule changes are interesting, I think adding the radar system for helping call balls and strikes will probably cause more problems than it will solve.
Many of the changes will result in a faster game, but they don't address what I see as the real time waster and energy drag - the throw from the pitching mound to hold a runner at first.
How about calling a ball on the batter each time that's done? It will mean that if the runner is a slug will stay close to the base but if the runner is fast, knowing that the pitcher will give up a ball throwing to first, will probably be more aggressive about getting ready to steal second. This will add tension to the game and eliminate the endless throwing balls to the first basemen, destroying the rhythm of the game.
Oh, if you're adding robots, don't forget the blackjack - and hookers!
No people aboard - scheduled for July (https://nextspaceflight.com/launches/details/1162)
First crewed flight is planned for November (https://nextspaceflight.com/launches/details/1002)
That was my thought the first time I saw the subject line - but, there's a lot more Disney product than just "Song of the South" that today's audiences would find objectionable. There's a ton of blatantly racist (even for the time) material from WWII as well as other films through the '40s and '50s.
It would be interesting to see how "entire" the library really is.
Nothing more to say, it looks like it was done flawlessly.
I haven't heard that, but I would find it highly unlikely as I believe the crew will be in their pressure suits which would be very tight/awkward in anything less than a van.
Also, if there are up to seven astronauts going on the flight, that would mean up to four Model X's to transport the astronauts (four if an astronaut can't sit shotgun).
When I RFTA, I see that Cotton died in India - how was this verified?
If I were an investor, I would want DNA proof that he was dead otherwise, I would think Interpol should be notified to start looking for him.
$137M disappears eight months before the only person with the password dies?
It could be criminally inept business practices or just simply criminal. I would look at the latter scenario.
While I agree with the general consensus that releasing the source to calculator is underwhelming, I'm wondering if there is more to the plan here.
Maybe Microsoft has a long term goal of making more apps open-source, to help with the support workload or to develop more Microsoft developers and maybe find some UI designers with fresh approaches.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
What is a less inane and useless application for this amazing technology?
I guess having a cell phone that opens like a paperback book increases usability/viewing area but is anybody looking at turning something the size of a USB thumb drive into a full sized cell phone by unrolling it in the vertical ("Y") direction?
In a lot of ways, that would be a lot more interesting to me - have something small that I can just use as a phone with a minimal screen for seeing who's calling and select a number to call and expand when I need to access other features/apps on the device.