I think it would make more sense to break this down a little;
I'd say the "Robots" in I-Robot are more in the Android class -- they replace or duplicate human functionality.
A General Purpose robot, is one that can navigate and be given different tasks. An advanced robot would be able to deal with new information.
The "Rooma" is sort of between a general purpose and an assembly robot since it has to navigate.
An Assembly Robot, which can work perfectly for years, has a fixed domain and task, generally doing something like putting a tire on a hub, over and over again, or spot welds at the exact same predictable point. Even Legos can function well to do repetitive tasks.
>> Now, everyone stop comparing apples and oranges.
>> I think prisons are not providing a benefit to our society. Instead of dealing with major factors in crime; poverty, education, opportunity, drug treatment, and even health -- we depend upon a system that warehouses people.
My brother "experimented with drugs" without using a Lab Coat in college. He was a suburban white kid and went to a treatment program -- kind of like a summer camp with hard labor. Nothing went on his record, and today he is a 6 figure executive with a good family. If he had been an "urban" person, he'd be coming out of jail now, with no prospects and little value to society.
So by not getting caught, or society has an educated person who supports the economy. I think that is a pretty powerful statement. Our justice system might work better if it stopped arresting MOST people. Most kids just need to be in a good environment with a little discipline.
I could imagine, that this person is unlikely to commit this crime again. Deterrence would work -- but only for White Collar criminals.
Prison should not be intended as a punishment. It is to protect others, or to rehabilitate. We have way too many people in prison -- now the most of any country. Being abused by some dangerous thugs, is not much good for making a better person come out of prison -- we are basically throwing away a human life.
And nobody should be in prison for using drugs. They should be in treatment.
>> Make him pay a fine and do community service. You can't make examples out of a few people with the intent of scaring everyone else into compliance with a law. That is un-equal protection. They ruin a few people, to help promote an anti-distribution policy. 99% of the people doing this won't be punished, so how is this fair? If Police just took a few speeder a year and shot them in the head, it might get people to slow down on the roads -- but it would be highly "unequal" for the person being shot.
Time travel, while it allows to explore "what if" scenarios, is a bad Sci-fi Crutch. The only time I ever enjoyed it in a sci-fi show, was when Babylon V used it in their show arc. It made sense, and the causality were written into the plot line throughout the series. It didn't magically solve any problems, nor did it change the future -- it already was part of the history.
Star Trek's 1st series was kind of cool, because they experimented with social statements by throwing them into cultures and having the enterprise deal with them.
The idea of putting Star Trek in a dark universe, where mankind is NOT the solution, but stuck in a morass of survival, kind of defeats the whole point. Make a different show inside the Trek universe,... but I'm not interested in seeing our Future culture, make those difficult compromises but go ahead and torture because the situation demands it. Only if the characters try and show integrity, and an evolved sense of humanity -- then set that against a universe where they have to lose, in order to maintain their integrity. Star Trek swept the world because it proposed a positive (yet at the time, not tacky) view of humanity.
They are just morphing Star Trek into everything else-- but of course, I haven't seen it yet.
Oh yes, the oil companies make it, and get it passed. Then put it in bills where they can't be sued for its cancer causing effects. Maybe there was a misguided rule, or a Democrat involved. Maybe a DINO on a payroll. So now it's all the responsibility of every environmentalist.
You are asking for perfection. We are just asking for decency. Nothing will ever get done, unless all Liberals or Environmentalists are free of all error?
There is a difference. Greenies do good things and Republicans, for the most part, don't. Bank robbers rob banks -- is that controversial too?
Basically, I was giving him a taste of his own medicine.
And yes, I basically know something is screwed up if Bush or the Republicans propose it -- can anyone name any proposal in the last 6, maybe 10 years from that group of people that was any good?
I am a person who is concerned with environmental issues, but I'd never call myself an 'environmentalist' because it's practically a dirty word, at least in my social circle.
Same here which is why I started calling myself an ecologist. While I support some of the goals of some of these people, I don't support some of the tactics used by them. Falcon... sorry to say it but that is pretty chickenshit. You let these NeoCons scare you away from proud traditions.
In a few years, nobody will admit to having been a neocon or having voted for George Bush. Stand up to them. There is nothing embarrassing about wanting to preserve the planet for our children.
The EPA research department got all it's furniture sold out from under it... about $80,000 went for around $450. Also many research information records were taken off the computers. They are doing everything they can to destroy checks and balances -- they think everything is theirs to piss on.
If we don't impeach these people -- all of them, there is no point to having the law. We've got boss hogg running the nation.,/I>
You can't define a movement by a few extreme remarks. Scientists who represent environmentalism, or global warming issues or take your pick are extremely careful.
There always some excuse, to allow Corporations to rake in profits at the expense of people and the environment. And there is always some excuse to go to war while calling people asking for peace or investigations or even some evidence traitors.
This is no different -- and it follows a pattern. The Corporatists are responsible for death, for birth defects, for exploitation of entire nations. Oh, but a case where the ACLU or Greenpeace was overzealous? You will hear it for days on the news.
So excuse me, we've got to flush any alternative energy programs down the drain, because some activists let some bunnies lose at a lab.
People with this attitude marginalize everything they don't agree with. I'm sick of it.
Wind won't work outside of a very few areas that have the kinds of sustained winds to make it workable. In general, it just takes up too much physical space for the energy it generates. Well, that used to be true. But now people are designing Large 24/7 robotic "Kites" that can move a windmill-type generator into the sky. Prevailing winds off coasts can be used, or perhaps even trade winds. So now wind-technology is not limited by the ground.
Sea level is the level of the water in the sea. Your joke submits that the measurement is the limit. Your pun doesn't work. It's like saying, no matter how much milk you have in a gallon jug -- you only have a gallon. No, you have a half full jug, or milk on the floor. Jokes have to make sense on some level to be funny -- that is the measure of myrth.
Dang, I can't make any good jokes about measurements either.
OK, what about this; "Don't worry about the rising sea level, no matter how high it gets, the oceans will always be flat."
Sea level in Earth history, have on average been much higher than today. At it's peak, it could be 300M higher (that was about 500 million years ago).
"There is a lot of money in the field now," he continues. "I think that it was a mistake to start with a 'Presidential Initiative' rather with a thorough analysis like this one. Huge sums of money were committed too soon, and now even good scientists prostitute themselves to obtain research money for their students or laboratories--otherwise, they risk being fired. But the laws of physics are eternal and cannot be changed with additional research, venture capital or majority votes."
Thanks for the "greenies" insult. After the "brownies" have done nothing but get us in Oil wars, and increased polution resulting in Asthma in kids -- you guys should be so proud.
I mean, just following the same-old path the former Robber Barons used, and blazing a trail of gluttony and entitlement to other's resources.
And as someone who would LIKE better air, and to get out of the Resource Wars before it's too late, I think there are a lot more Sensible "greenies" than you imagine in your Tree-Hugging fantasies. I know a lot of Hippies as well, who make good livings, have kids in school, and drive cars and don't do drugs -- oh wait, maybe they aren't hippies...! Maybe, people can be concerned about our future and energy issues, without being whinney morons -- is it possible?
Could I care about Children, AND not be a tree-hugger? Not that there is anything wrong with hugging trees, they are just a little rough, and not very cuddly. But they don't complain.
Other than the WalMart shoppers watching CNN or Fox, there are a lot of us Liberals who didn't think the Hydrogen nonsense that Bush proposed would work. Our first clue was that Bush, or just a Republican, proposed it. They would never propose a working solution to compete with current, pocket-lining industry. That was why we wasted so much time on Ethanol.
Look, Brazil is already doing this with sugar cane -- so stop pretending alternatives are unrealistic.
Fresh water may be getting Rarer -- but I don't remember ever canoing down a river of Oil, do you? The amount of Fresh water needed is a lot less for energy than for drinking. So even if it is inefficient, I seriously doubt that we don't have enough Volume -- this is pretty silly on its face. Can't you even use Salt Water?
I'll admit that I already think that a Hyrdogen fuel system is NOT where we should be going right now -- it's many years away and sort of a Red Herring.
And I don't think that Electrolysis is the only way to produce Hydrogen. It could be a byproduct of a nuclear reaction tuned to create Hydrogen. It could be possible to have plants produce it instead of carbohydrates and store it in square, pre-packaged seed pods with the company logo built into the genetic code. This sounds like people who are looking at "can't do" excuses.
The whole system seems made upon the assumption that we just gear up around the current BAD hyrdogen technology we have today. I would think that we would not transport frozen hydrogen, but create something like a nano-container (much like modified versions of Methane batteries), that use the different physics at small sizes to contain and release Hydrogen. So I'm pretty sure, that before Hydrogen becomes viable, the first thing to change is the transport mechanism; more like a cartridge, or cell-like foam or something non-intuitive like a ferro-fluid or aerogel.
But I agree with others, we need to look at an Alcohol-based fuel economy. Start with something like Brazil is already doing, and then cultivate super-crops that store energy more efficiently. But please, not methanol -- that's just Corporate Welfare for Agribusiness; corn is about 1/5th as efficient as sugar cane for producing energy.
I've always thought that most pronouncements of a Hydrogen system were not thinking about these very issues -- so I'm glad someone came out with this article. But on the other side; it assumes that we don't have smart people who can do things more efficiently -- which is ALWAYS a bad assumption. There isn't anything that smart people can't accomplish with the right resources and determination.
I think the title should change to; "Hydrogen System inefficient and difficult with current technology." But hey, they got slashdot to link to them, so why bother with measured and reasonable statements?
It doesn't all have to melt to raise sea levels as they found out in antarctica. An Ice damn broke away, and a huge land-locked ice field moved into the water (ice can flow under pressure -- it just flows very slowly). Thus before 2040, the could be a lot of sea level rise before all the ice melt -- depends upon geography.
From what I'm reading, the Greenland ice sheets are only a few degrees above freezing at ground level due to geothermal heating. So -- it's going to make the Slide--not melt occur sooner.
And I'll agree with hal2814 -- iceburgs take up the same volume frozen or melted -- the excess volume of expanded ice floats.
97% of the world's water is ocean, let's ignore it. 68.7% of the remaining fresh water is locked up in glaciers and ice caps, the vast majority in ice caps. 30% is currently groundwater.
If the greenland icesheet melts completely it will add ~7 metres, WAIS will add about 8 (it is already mostly below sealevel) the EAIS would add around 65m (http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/fs2-00/)
Good Old Wikipedia has more; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_level_rise The sea level has risen more than 120 metres since the peak of the last ice age about 18,000 years ago. The bulk of that occurred before 6,000 years ago [note; think Noah's arc] From 3,000 years ago to the start of the 19th century sea level was almost constant, rising at 0.1 to 0.2 mm/yr; since 1900 the level has risen at 1 to 3 mm/yr. Since 1992 satellite altimetry from TOPEX/Poseidon indicates a rate of about 3 mm/yr.
Various factors affect the volume or mass of the ocean, leading to long-term changes in eustatic sea level. The two primary influences are temperature (because the volume of water depends on temperature), and the mass of water locked up on land and sea as fresh water in rivers, lakes, glaciers, polar ice caps, and sea ice. Over much longer (geological) timescales, changes in the shape of the ocean basins and in land/sea distribution will affect sea level.... Ice Shelves float on the surface of the sea and, if they melt, to first order they do not change sea level. Likewise, the melting of the northern polar ice cap which is composed of floating pack ice would not significantly contribute to rising sea levels.
Though the computations are complex, and land shape changes a lot of the factors -- throughout geological history, sea level has been much higher than today -- about 300 meters at it's peak. So you can imagine if ALL the water ice were to melt. And at the last great ice age, it was 100 meters lower than now.
The problem is, the rate of change is going to be hard to estimate. If it is not a slow geological process -- but a manmade process. Certain things that we cannot predict might accelerate the change. Case in point, the Earth Scientists thought the ice had to melt, before a huge ice flow moved out of Antarctica (the size of manhattan island). Also, the Siberian tundra, a huge area of permafrost looks to be melting. The color is going from hazy white to a black wet mud -- absorbing more heat. It's potential is that it could increase the natural release of Carbon Dioxide as much as 50% per year in the coming years.
So these trigger events complicate predictions. Even if global warming is alarmist and looking at extremes -- it is not a reasonable position to look at the "best case scenario" because we are not allowing for unknown effects. There is no downside to reducing Carbon emissions, as far as I can tell -- except if you are an oil company. Only, with peak oil arrived
As a fellow liberal has the situation you just presented ever made you wonder if perhaps far left liberal ideas just have next to no appeal among the majority of Americans?... No.
It's that the MONEY comes from Corporations, and stealing for Corporations is, for the most part, a Conservative trend.
Eventually the Economy goes haywire or the people revolt, and to fix the mess, we have to institute Liberal policies. It won't be the first time this has happened.
And a Movie DVD can be purchased, for $25 down to $9 now. Though movies seem to have a bit more involved to create them.
>> "...your salary would have to drop by $20K a year"
The Utility and Service provided to the customer are not mentioned. Would many allow the government to arrest people so that they could make an extra $2 Million a year? Apparently so. What's the product? Who cares -- I've got the government guaranteeing me a fat check -- who-hoo!
Secure Computer president Paul Burke will now pay $200,000 in penalties, make $75,000 worth of restitution to Washington residents, and pay another $725,000 to cover the state's attorneys' fees.
>> That the Lawyer's fees are more than the fine and the restitution combined. It seems to me, that just going to court is penalty enough -- much more than if you are guilty of anything.
You just get into court hoping that you don't have to pay lawyers fees. They might as well just say; "anti up!" "I'm going to bring in a bigger and more expensive lawyer," says the plaintiff. "OK, I fold, I was only holding a pair of Jacks anyway."
For instance, the company ChoicePoint, which accidentally threw out 80,000 votes in the 2000 Florida campaign, got paid 10 times more than the group that, by hand, removed 8,000 voters who were actually felons 4 years before.
The electronic voting machines have costed a LOT MORE than the old punch and hand count method, yet shown to have more "happy accidents for the ruling party."
If you or I knowingly vote twice -- we can become a felon. But if someone accidentally deprives us and thousands more of our vote -- oops!
The Electronic Voting has been a lot more expensive -- but mainly due to the cost of loyalty and silence.
>> Like ending welfare is "about the money, and teaching self-responsibility to the poor" but the Pentagon losing $2.3 Trilion is; "Oops. It could happen to anyone."
I agree with some of the criticisms of this lawsuit.
But she is saying that it "shared files after it was removed," and allowed files to be shared that she didn't know about. Though it might be an excuse to get out of the fine (who expects to be caught?), it might be valid if you don't know what you are sharing.
If she didn't choose to download certain files, but they were cached and shared on her system -- that is a different issue.
While the TSA might protect us from the lone nut job... it's just more or less a show, when Dubai owns ports and we just NOW started putting in Nuclear detectors. But they are at 10 ports -- which are posted.
Wow, who could figure out which ports to use to sneak in weapons...
Most of the security, is in the areas that are in contact with the public. Past the thin facade, I'm sure there isn't much going on. You can tell by the counterfeiting of boarding passes, that none of this was designed to thwart the professionals. The 9/11 folks were already on security watch lists yet were allowed in the country.
Until we secure our LEADERS... scanning grandmas shoes is a waste of time.
I was a really bright kid, and most of the education I endured did it's best to beat out any creativity and desire to learn that I possessed.
We have kids getting bad backs with all the thick books they carry. Just to highlight the lines that might end up on a test. They are so busy studying for some test, they don't get a chance to understand how to figure out things they DON"T KNOW.
After you memorize the fundamentals -- everything is better learned through application. We used to have apprenticeships (which only appear for people once they are becoming PhD's -- well after it could do some good).
Life is not a multiple choice answer. Learning how to think and research and how to dismantle problems is far more vital.
Here is a cognitive disconnect; "They are innovators; Regardless of whether or not they created the ideas, by far the most difficult part is putting them into practice."
This is a fundamental mental dysfunction I'm seeing in the USA that just drives me crazy... it is the main thing that allows corporations to have their way with our society.
Yes, implementation IS TRICKY AND IMPORTANT. Kudos to Microsoft to implement other people's already working ideas "cough" -- this isn't like drawings on a chalk board. But the fundamental problem is, it's part and parcel with the "those who win, right the rules." Microsoft is "GOOD" because they are powerful. Wow, what scary thinking.
Sorry to rant on this, and many won't get what I'm talking about. But its the same sort of disconnect that allows people to think; there is no such thing as greed. That it's either Free Markets or Communism, that un-checked opportunism allows for fairness. That we have to "debate" torture.
I know people will see this as flaming -- but I know some of you understand. I think it's why so many people "bash Microsoft" -- because we have this impotent frustration, with a company that continually abuses the marketplace. It steals ideas and then buries the competition -- it is everything that shouldn't happen in Capitalism, if we have a functioning government that provides oversight.
But our country is more or less Corporate controlled. And "bundled" with that, is the mindset that we exist for profit, and not the benefit of each-other. Anything that smacks of "greater good" is automatically thrown into the "Hippie pile." When we criticize Microsoft because they are being corrupt -- we are just "Bashing" and resenting "Winners."
So, success is it's own justification. That means we will continually have ENRON failures -- because we will allow anyone in the lead to abuse the marketplace as long as they win -- and the only check on them is the folly of their own greed.
Anyway, it's not MS business, or this persons comments in particular that so bugs me -- it's the sense that I live in a land full of blind people, who just don't see the big damn elephant in the room, about to step on their heads. It goes to an authoritarian mindset that values "Power" over "Decency."
Slashdot Mirror
I think it would make more sense to break this down a little;
I'd say the "Robots" in I-Robot are more in the Android class -- they replace or duplicate human functionality.
A General Purpose robot, is one that can navigate and be given different tasks. An advanced robot would be able to deal with new information.
The "Rooma" is sort of between a general purpose and an assembly robot since it has to navigate.
An Assembly Robot, which can work perfectly for years, has a fixed domain and task, generally doing something like putting a tire on a hub, over and over again, or spot welds at the exact same predictable point. Even Legos can function well to do repetitive tasks.
>> Now, everyone stop comparing apples and oranges.
They seem to have kept the space ships in the background. Only are a few "end of season blockbuster shows" using space battles.
Usually the fun of the series is scrappy and tricky humans outwitting superior forces while someone cracks a wry joke with plenty of gallows humor.
So far, I still enjoy the series -- and I'm glad they chose people from Farscape.
>> I think prisons are not providing a benefit to our society. Instead of dealing with major factors in crime; poverty, education, opportunity, drug treatment, and even health -- we depend upon a system that warehouses people.
My brother "experimented with drugs" without using a Lab Coat in college. He was a suburban white kid and went to a treatment program -- kind of like a summer camp with hard labor. Nothing went on his record, and today he is a 6 figure executive with a good family. If he had been an "urban" person, he'd be coming out of jail now, with no prospects and little value to society.
So by not getting caught, or society has an educated person who supports the economy. I think that is a pretty powerful statement. Our justice system might work better if it stopped arresting MOST people. Most kids just need to be in a good environment with a little discipline.
Society doesn't benefit by this man in Jail.
I could imagine, that this person is unlikely to commit this crime again.
Deterrence would work -- but only for White Collar criminals.
Prison should not be intended as a punishment. It is to protect others, or to rehabilitate. We have way too many people in prison -- now the most of any country. Being abused by some dangerous thugs, is not much good for making a better person come out of prison -- we are basically throwing away a human life.
And nobody should be in prison for using drugs. They should be in treatment.
>> Make him pay a fine and do community service. You can't make examples out of a few people with the intent of scaring everyone else into compliance with a law. That is un-equal protection. They ruin a few people, to help promote an anti-distribution policy. 99% of the people doing this won't be punished, so how is this fair? If Police just took a few speeder a year and shot them in the head, it might get people to slow down on the roads -- but it would be highly "unequal" for the person being shot.
I'd go for that.
Time travel, while it allows to explore "what if" scenarios, is a bad Sci-fi Crutch. The only time I ever enjoyed it in a sci-fi show, was when Babylon V used it in their show arc. It made sense, and the causality were written into the plot line throughout the series. It didn't magically solve any problems, nor did it change the future -- it already was part of the history.
Star Trek's 1st series was kind of cool, because they experimented with social statements by throwing them into cultures and having the enterprise deal with them.
The idea of putting Star Trek in a dark universe, where mankind is NOT the solution, but stuck in a morass of survival, kind of defeats the whole point. Make a different show inside the Trek universe,... but I'm not interested in seeing our Future culture, make those difficult compromises but go ahead and torture because the situation demands it. Only if the characters try and show integrity, and an evolved sense of humanity -- then set that against a universe where they have to lose, in order to maintain their integrity. Star Trek swept the world because it proposed a positive (yet at the time, not tacky) view of humanity.
They are just morphing Star Trek into everything else-- but of course, I haven't seen it yet.
Oh yes, the oil companies make it, and get it passed.
Then put it in bills where they can't be sued for its cancer causing effects.
Maybe there was a misguided rule, or a Democrat involved. Maybe a DINO on a payroll. So now it's all the responsibility of every environmentalist.
You are asking for perfection. We are just asking for decency.
Nothing will ever get done, unless all Liberals or Environmentalists are free of all error?
There is a difference. Greenies do good things and Republicans, for the most part, don't.
Bank robbers rob banks -- is that controversial too?
Basically, I was giving him a taste of his own medicine.
And yes, I basically know something is screwed up if Bush or the Republicans propose it -- can anyone name any proposal in the last 6, maybe 10 years from that group of people that was any good?
Agreed.
... sorry to say it but that is pretty chickenshit. You let these NeoCons scare you away from proud traditions.
I am a person who is concerned with environmental issues, but I'd never call myself an 'environmentalist' because it's practically a dirty word, at least in my social circle.
Same here which is why I started calling myself an ecologist. While I support some of the goals of some of these people, I don't support some of the tactics used by them.
Falcon
In a few years, nobody will admit to having been a neocon or having voted for George Bush. Stand up to them. There is nothing embarrassing about wanting to preserve the planet for our children.
The EPA research department got all it's furniture sold out from under it... about $80,000 went for around $450. Also many research information records were taken off the computers. They are doing everything they can to destroy checks and balances -- they think everything is theirs to piss on.
If we don't impeach these people -- all of them, there is no point to having the law. We've got boss hogg running the nation.,/I>
You can't define a movement by a few extreme remarks. Scientists who represent environmentalism, or global warming issues or take your pick are extremely careful.
There always some excuse, to allow Corporations to rake in profits at the expense of people and the environment. And there is always some excuse to go to war while calling people asking for peace or investigations or even some evidence traitors.
This is no different -- and it follows a pattern. The Corporatists are responsible for death, for birth defects, for exploitation of entire nations. Oh, but a case where the ACLU or Greenpeace was overzealous? You will hear it for days on the news.
So excuse me, we've got to flush any alternative energy programs down the drain, because some activists let some bunnies lose at a lab.
People with this attitude marginalize everything they don't agree with. I'm sick of it.
Wind won't work outside of a very few areas that have the kinds of sustained winds to make it workable. In general, it just takes up too much physical space for the energy it generates.
Well, that used to be true. But now people are designing Large 24/7 robotic "Kites" that can move a windmill-type generator into the sky. Prevailing winds off coasts can be used, or perhaps even trade winds. So now wind-technology is not limited by the ground.
... Yes, but in a Billion years, won't they curse your lack of foresight?
LOL. Beat me to it on the "turns back into water."
I'm not trying to be a flamebater -- just responding to a slur against "greenies."
You'd think they actually hurt someone, by all the Vitriol against environmentalists.
Sea level is the level of the water in the sea. Your joke submits that the measurement is the limit. Your pun doesn't work. It's like saying, no matter how much milk you have in a gallon jug -- you only have a gallon. No, you have a half full jug, or milk on the floor. Jokes have to make sense on some level to be funny -- that is the measure of myrth.
Dang, I can't make any good jokes about measurements either.
OK, what about this; "Don't worry about the rising sea level, no matter how high it gets, the oceans will always be flat."
Sea level in Earth history, have on average been much higher than today. At it's peak, it could be 300M higher (that was about 500 million years ago).
"There is a lot of money in the field now," he continues. "I think that it was a mistake to start with a 'Presidential Initiative' rather with a thorough analysis like this one. Huge sums of money were committed too soon, and now even good scientists prostitute themselves to obtain research money for their students or laboratories--otherwise, they risk being fired. But the laws of physics are eternal and cannot be changed with additional research, venture capital or majority votes."
Thanks for the "greenies" insult. After the "brownies" have done nothing but get us in Oil wars, and increased polution resulting in Asthma in kids -- you guys should be so proud.
I mean, just following the same-old path the former Robber Barons used, and blazing a trail of gluttony and entitlement to other's resources.
And as someone who would LIKE better air, and to get out of the Resource Wars before it's too late, I think there are a lot more Sensible "greenies" than you imagine in your Tree-Hugging fantasies. I know a lot of Hippies as well, who make good livings, have kids in school, and drive cars and don't do drugs -- oh wait, maybe they aren't hippies...! Maybe, people can be concerned about our future and energy issues, without being whinney morons -- is it possible?
Could I care about Children, AND not be a tree-hugger? Not that there is anything wrong with hugging trees, they are just a little rough, and not very cuddly. But they don't complain.
Other than the WalMart shoppers watching CNN or Fox, there are a lot of us Liberals who didn't think the Hydrogen nonsense that Bush proposed would work. Our first clue was that Bush, or just a Republican, proposed it. They would never propose a working solution to compete with current, pocket-lining industry. That was why we wasted so much time on Ethanol.
Look, Brazil is already doing this with sugar cane -- so stop pretending alternatives are unrealistic.
Fresh water may be getting Rarer -- but I don't remember ever canoing down a river of Oil, do you?
The amount of Fresh water needed is a lot less for energy than for drinking.
So even if it is inefficient, I seriously doubt that we don't have enough Volume -- this is pretty silly on its face. Can't you even use Salt Water?
I'll admit that I already think that a Hyrdogen fuel system is NOT where we should be going right now -- it's many years away and sort of a Red Herring.
And I don't think that Electrolysis is the only way to produce Hydrogen. It could be a byproduct of a nuclear reaction tuned to create Hydrogen. It could be possible to have plants produce it instead of carbohydrates and store it in square, pre-packaged seed pods with the company logo built into the genetic code. This sounds like people who are looking at "can't do" excuses.
The whole system seems made upon the assumption that we just gear up around the current BAD hyrdogen technology we have today. I would think that we would not transport frozen hydrogen, but create something like a nano-container (much like modified versions of Methane batteries), that use the different physics at small sizes to contain and release Hydrogen. So I'm pretty sure, that before Hydrogen becomes viable, the first thing to change is the transport mechanism; more like a cartridge, or cell-like foam or something non-intuitive like a ferro-fluid or aerogel.
But I agree with others, we need to look at an Alcohol-based fuel economy. Start with something like Brazil is already doing, and then cultivate super-crops that store energy more efficiently. But please, not methanol -- that's just Corporate Welfare for Agribusiness; corn is about 1/5th as efficient as sugar cane for producing energy.
I've always thought that most pronouncements of a Hydrogen system were not thinking about these very issues -- so I'm glad someone came out with this article. But on the other side; it assumes that we don't have smart people who can do things more efficiently -- which is ALWAYS a bad assumption. There isn't anything that smart people can't accomplish with the right resources and determination.
I think the title should change to; "Hydrogen System inefficient and difficult with current technology." But hey, they got slashdot to link to them, so why bother with measured and reasonable statements?
Most of the ice volume is on land.
...
It doesn't all have to melt to raise sea levels as they found out in antarctica. An Ice damn broke away, and a huge land-locked ice field moved into the water (ice can flow under pressure -- it just flows very slowly). Thus before 2040, the could be a lot of sea level rise before all the ice melt -- depends upon geography.
From what I'm reading, the Greenland ice sheets are only a few degrees above freezing at ground level due to geothermal heating. So -- it's going to make the Slide--not melt occur sooner.
And I'll agree with hal2814 -- iceburgs take up the same volume frozen or melted -- the excess volume of expanded ice floats.
About 12% of the earth is covered in ice; http://illconsidered.blogspot.com/2006/03/ice-caps -will-melt-into-aquifers.html
The aforementioned link dismisses the ideas that the water will be absorbed into aquifers, in case anyone brings it up.
97% of the world's water is ocean, let's ignore it. 68.7% of the remaining fresh water is locked up in glaciers and ice caps, the vast majority in ice caps. 30% is currently groundwater.
If the greenland icesheet melts completely it will add ~7 metres, WAIS will add about 8 (it is already mostly below sealevel) the EAIS would add around 65m (http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/fs2-00/)
Good Old Wikipedia has more; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_level_rise
The sea level has risen more than 120 metres since the peak of the last ice age about 18,000 years ago.
The bulk of that occurred before 6,000 years ago [note; think Noah's arc]
From 3,000 years ago to the start of the 19th century sea level was almost constant, rising at 0.1 to 0.2 mm/yr; since 1900 the level has risen at 1 to 3 mm/yr.
Since 1992 satellite altimetry from TOPEX/Poseidon indicates a rate of about 3 mm/yr.
Various factors affect the volume or mass of the ocean, leading to long-term changes in eustatic sea level. The two primary influences are temperature (because the volume of water depends on temperature), and the mass of water locked up on land and sea as fresh water in rivers, lakes, glaciers, polar ice caps, and sea ice. Over much longer (geological) timescales, changes in the shape of the ocean basins and in land/sea distribution will affect sea level.
Ice Shelves float on the surface of the sea and, if they melt, to first order they do not change sea level. Likewise, the melting of the northern polar ice cap which is composed of floating pack ice would not significantly contribute to rising sea levels.
Though the computations are complex, and land shape changes a lot of the factors -- throughout geological history, sea level has been much higher than today -- about 300 meters at it's peak. So you can imagine if ALL the water ice were to melt. And at the last great ice age, it was 100 meters lower than now.
The problem is, the rate of change is going to be hard to estimate. If it is not a slow geological process -- but a manmade process. Certain things that we cannot predict might accelerate the change. Case in point, the Earth Scientists thought the ice had to melt, before a huge ice flow moved out of Antarctica (the size of manhattan island). Also, the Siberian tundra, a huge area of permafrost looks to be melting. The color is going from hazy white to a black wet mud -- absorbing more heat. It's potential is that it could increase the natural release of Carbon Dioxide as much as 50% per year in the coming years.
So these trigger events complicate predictions. Even if global warming is alarmist and looking at extremes -- it is not a reasonable position to look at the "best case scenario" because we are not allowing for unknown effects. There is no downside to reducing Carbon emissions, as far as I can tell -- except if you are an oil company. Only, with peak oil arrived
As a fellow liberal has the situation you just presented ever made you wonder if perhaps far left liberal ideas just have next to no appeal among the majority of Americans?...
No.
It's that the MONEY comes from Corporations, and stealing for Corporations is, for the most part, a Conservative trend.
Eventually the Economy goes haywire or the people revolt, and to fix the mess, we have to institute Liberal policies. It won't be the first time this has happened.
What happens the first time someone who is assisting the blind person targets a person on purpose or accidentally?
;-)
Who is responsible, the person with the mis-information, or the person pulling the trigger?
Of course, this is corporate America, so I'm guessing that the law will go after the blind person, but I want to know what you think...
Huh.
Right.
And a Movie DVD can be purchased, for $25 down to $9 now. Though movies seem to have a bit more involved to create them.
>> "...your salary would have to drop by $20K a year"
The Utility and Service provided to the customer are not mentioned. Would many allow the government to arrest people so that they could make an extra $2 Million a year? Apparently so. What's the product? Who cares -- I've got the government guaranteeing me a fat check -- who-hoo!
Secure Computer president Paul Burke will now pay $200,000 in penalties, make $75,000 worth of restitution to Washington residents, and pay another $725,000 to cover the state's attorneys' fees.
>> That the Lawyer's fees are more than the fine and the restitution combined. It seems to me, that just going to court is penalty enough -- much more than if you are guilty of anything.
You just get into court hoping that you don't have to pay lawyers fees. They might as well just say; "anti up!"
"I'm going to bring in a bigger and more expensive lawyer," says the plaintiff.
"OK, I fold, I was only holding a pair of Jacks anyway."
>> Agreed.
For instance, the company ChoicePoint, which accidentally threw out 80,000 votes in the 2000 Florida campaign, got paid 10 times more than the group that, by hand, removed 8,000 voters who were actually felons 4 years before.
The electronic voting machines have costed a LOT MORE than the old punch and hand count method, yet shown to have more "happy accidents for the ruling party."
If you or I knowingly vote twice -- we can become a felon. But if someone accidentally deprives us and thousands more of our vote -- oops!
The Electronic Voting has been a lot more expensive -- but mainly due to the cost of loyalty and silence.
>> Like ending welfare is "about the money, and teaching self-responsibility to the poor" but the Pentagon losing $2.3 Trilion is; "Oops. It could happen to anyone."
I agree with some of the criticisms of this lawsuit.
But she is saying that it "shared files after it was removed," and allowed files to be shared that she didn't know about. Though it might be an excuse to get out of the fine (who expects to be caught?), it might be valid if you don't know what you are sharing.
If she didn't choose to download certain files, but they were cached and shared on her system -- that is a different issue.
They are punishing him for the embarassment.
... scanning grandmas shoes is a waste of time.
While the TSA might protect us from the lone nut job... it's just more or less a show, when Dubai owns ports and we just NOW started putting in Nuclear detectors. But they are at 10 ports -- which are posted.
Wow, who could figure out which ports to use to sneak in weapons...
Most of the security, is in the areas that are in contact with the public. Past the thin facade, I'm sure there isn't much going on. You can tell by the counterfeiting of boarding passes, that none of this was designed to thwart the professionals. The 9/11 folks were already on security watch lists yet were allowed in the country.
Until we secure our LEADERS
Mod maximthemagnificent up to 10.
Dude, I really feel the same way.
I was a really bright kid, and most of the education I endured did it's best to beat out any creativity and desire to learn that I possessed.
We have kids getting bad backs with all the thick books they carry. Just to highlight the lines that might end up on a test. They are so busy studying for some test, they don't get a chance to understand how to figure out things they DON"T KNOW.
After you memorize the fundamentals -- everything is better learned through application. We used to have apprenticeships (which only appear for people once they are becoming PhD's -- well after it could do some good).
Life is not a multiple choice answer. Learning how to think and research and how to dismantle problems is far more vital.
Here is a cognitive disconnect; "They are innovators; Regardless of whether or not they created the ideas, by far the most difficult part is putting them into practice."
This is a fundamental mental dysfunction I'm seeing in the USA that just drives me crazy... it is the main thing that allows corporations to have their way with our society.
Yes, implementation IS TRICKY AND IMPORTANT. Kudos to Microsoft to implement other people's already working ideas "cough" -- this isn't like drawings on a chalk board. But the fundamental problem is, it's part and parcel with the "those who win, right the rules." Microsoft is "GOOD" because they are powerful. Wow, what scary thinking.
Sorry to rant on this, and many won't get what I'm talking about. But its the same sort of disconnect that allows people to think; there is no such thing as greed. That it's either Free Markets or Communism, that un-checked opportunism allows for fairness. That we have to "debate" torture.
I know people will see this as flaming -- but I know some of you understand. I think it's why so many people "bash Microsoft" -- because we have this impotent frustration, with a company that continually abuses the marketplace. It steals ideas and then buries the competition -- it is everything that shouldn't happen in Capitalism, if we have a functioning government that provides oversight.
But our country is more or less Corporate controlled. And "bundled" with that, is the mindset that we exist for profit, and not the benefit of each-other. Anything that smacks of "greater good" is automatically thrown into the "Hippie pile." When we criticize Microsoft because they are being corrupt -- we are just "Bashing" and resenting "Winners."
So, success is it's own justification. That means we will continually have ENRON failures -- because we will allow anyone in the lead to abuse the marketplace as long as they win -- and the only check on them is the folly of their own greed.
Anyway, it's not MS business, or this persons comments in particular that so bugs me -- it's the sense that I live in a land full of blind people, who just don't see the big damn elephant in the room, about to step on their heads. It goes to an authoritarian mindset that values "Power" over "Decency."