Not only that, but America has been DESIGNED for the automobile. It's almost impossible to live in the US without a car - at least if you want any quality of life. The scale of the towns, the distances to supermarkets, restaurants, schools, workplaces boggle the mind. In Europe everything is fairly close unless you live way out in the country, public transport is, with few exceptions, excellent, etc. In the US you have to wait for buses that come every half hour instead of every 5 minutes, you have to walk 1km or so to the bus stop (unless you're lucky and live near a major route), and everything you need it at least 3 or 4 km away. It's amazing how you don't notice the distances in the US until you try to walk it.
Yes it makes for nice, clean, tidy towns, with beautiful roads, ample living space, etc. But take away the automobiles and people are screwed.
There are some that would argue that the US is already broke. The creditors just hadn't started calling yet. But they are now. Take a look at the S&P 500 over the past couple months, then zoom out and compare it to 2001. Yes, friend, right here is the abyss. Not later - right now. 1250 is where it stopped a few months ago. 1250ish is where we are now. After that it's 800 and we're back to the low point of the dot-com crash, and after that there's only the floor. It goes all the way down.
No, America doesn't have 10 years. Oil is going to break America long before that. Europeans are paying $9 US or more per gallon of gas and although they don't like it, they manage. What happens to the US economy when gas doubles again? You're having trouble at $4/gallon.
I agree. There is an incredible lack of thought among people who propose hydrogen gas from electrolysis, or even just electricity, as an energy source for cars. They fail to take into account the sheer amount of energy we derive from fossil fuels.
Each gallon of gasoline provides at combustion around 125 x 10^6 Joules of energy. If you travel at 60mph and get 25 miles per gallon on average, that means that in one second you will have consumed 60 mph =.02 miles/second / 25 mpg = consumption of.0008 gallons of fuel per second = (125 x 10^6 Joules/gallon /.0008 gallons/second) around 100,000 Watts of energy, or 100 kW. Much of which is wasted in heat, noise, vibration, etc, but some of which actually powers your car (the "rated" horsepower or kW of the engine).
Do you have ANY idea how much electricity your vehicle needs to store to be able to provide a sustained power output of 100kW (assuming electrical engine efficiencies are close to those of internal combustion engines)?
Now you want to multiply this by how many cars, every night, plugging into the national power grid? A power grid which currently is breaking under the strain of millions of 1000W toasters, irons, ovens, etc? You want to add millions of CARS that need millions of Watts EACH? Or better yet, you want to use a process that is far less than 100% efficient (electrolysis) to try and get that amount of energy from hydrogen? Then it's going to "cost" you the energy you need PLUS the inefficiency.
There is NO substitute for crude oil. NONE. It is IMPOSSIBLE, no matter how many "nuclear" power plants you want to build. Hydrogen from natural gas comes close, but still energy is required to obtain it - similar to the fact that crude oil needs energy to be refined. Fair enough. But frankly once the oil is gone, our "free ride" is over. Oil companies aren't "stalling" at trying to find an alternative energy source. THERE ISN'T ONE. Poor horses, looks like we will need them again.
Anyone who truly has something to hide to the extent of worrying about torture will have an utterly plausible explanation or ten prepared.
No, anyone who truly has something to hide will not send someone through customs with compromising information. That's where compartmentalization comes in. Encrypt your file, break it apart, and mail the parts to yourself separately. If you really want to be paranoid - to different recipients at different addresses. On different days. If one package is intercepted, the data will be meaningless. Also for good measure throw in some CD's/DVD's with truly random data - so if all the CD's are intercepted they will not know which ones are the real ones.
Calling one right and the other wrong sort of loses its meaning in this context
I agree. Once again science... REAL science, is never about "right" or "wrong". It's about "can I use what you just told me in a predictable manner?". If it's BS and it doesn't work, then leave me alone I have stuff to do.:)
Einstein has yet to prove why hot dogs and hot dog buns come in inequal quantities.
I guess relativity explains that again. It depends on your country. In my country, you get 8 buns in a package and 8 sausages in a package. However my country is probably closer to the equator than yours, therefore our frame of reference is a lot faster than yours. Therefore the parity increases as a function of velocity. I would probably have to weight the buns and sausages to figure out any discrepancies in mass, but presumably the optimum is reached asymptotically when approaching the speed of light.
Makes things like this sit in the same bucket as one of my drunken musings. "I have a theory that.... in..... etc".
Not really the same. Theories have been tested and are supported by facts. A drunken musing, valid scientific starting point though that may be, is merely a hypothesis which then must be tested. If it survives the test, it then becomes a theory. And if it survives the test of time, it may become a "Law". There are very few scientific "laws", however. The gas laws are pretty much the only ones I can think of off the top of my head. Everything else is stuck at "theory".
Not that we can do anything about it - unless of course you buy the "we humans are responsible for global warming on Earth, Mars, Venus, Mercury, the Moon, etc" arguments those who pretend to be scientists would have you believe. Even if the argument DID have some foundation in fact, the world is not going to stop using energy just because the G8 tells them to.
development in Africa
Hahaha, yes, a lot is going to be accomplished THERE too! Africa and "development" do not go in the same sentence.
Piracy is taking precedence over energy conservation, alternative energy, weapons proliferation, violent crime, inflation, commodity prices and a couple permanent wars. Hooray. Let's choose an IMPORTANT topic for this year's G8 meeting. After all, quadrillions of dollars are being lost and billions of people are put out of work every day/starve to death because little Johnny watched a Britney Spears video on Youtube!
To the world's politicians: WHAT THE FUCK??? SERIOUSLY!
Actually, they did predict the coming of the bearded white skinned gods from the east and that this would signal the end of their civilization. They predicted the exact date, down to the day that the conquistadors arrived.
Where can I find this documented? Please no links to crackpot sites.
I'm sure it's possible, but pointless. Decades ago, astronomers mapped proper motion and showed that all the stars were streaming away from a single point in the constellation Hercules. Presumably, that's where we're headed.
Makes you think, doesn't it? Everyone is getting the hell out of there and we're headed straight for it. Someone ought to do something about this...:)
A fix should be available for them, as well as everyone else infected.
The problem is when you're dealing with for profit pharmaceutical companies, a "fix" is not in their best interest. Not many research dollars are going to be assigned to THAT. Keeping you alive and dependent on their overpriced medications is far more profitable. Don't hope for a "fix" for anything. Expect lifelong "treatments" instead.
that could be heard by any aliens who might be listening
Assuming that "aliens" can hear at all.
Of course "hearing" is based on the detection of vibrations in the surrounding medium - a sense that is very antiquated indeed - and available to even some of the most primitive organisms. On Earth. However it's difficult to use the mere existence of such a sense to apply it to possible creatures on entirely different worlds. Perhaps given very different environments with stranger density/pressure conditions other senses would be more vital for survival. Of course one could argue that as far as we know the conditions that are suitable for life would not be that different from our own, therefore hearing would probably have to exist.
And then we can argue that the "screeches", etc, are merely the way we choose to make our computers interpret this data.
Slashdot Mirror
Not only that, but America has been DESIGNED for the automobile. It's almost impossible to live in the US without a car - at least if you want any quality of life. The scale of the towns, the distances to supermarkets, restaurants, schools, workplaces boggle the mind. In Europe everything is fairly close unless you live way out in the country, public transport is, with few exceptions, excellent, etc. In the US you have to wait for buses that come every half hour instead of every 5 minutes, you have to walk 1km or so to the bus stop (unless you're lucky and live near a major route), and everything you need it at least 3 or 4 km away. It's amazing how you don't notice the distances in the US until you try to walk it.
Yes it makes for nice, clean, tidy towns, with beautiful roads, ample living space, etc. But take away the automobiles and people are screwed.
In 10 years we'll be broke if we continue that.
There are some that would argue that the US is already broke. The creditors just hadn't started calling yet. But they are now. Take a look at the S&P 500 over the past couple months, then zoom out and compare it to 2001. Yes, friend, right here is the abyss. Not later - right now. 1250 is where it stopped a few months ago. 1250ish is where we are now. After that it's 800 and we're back to the low point of the dot-com crash, and after that there's only the floor. It goes all the way down.
No, America doesn't have 10 years. Oil is going to break America long before that. Europeans are paying $9 US or more per gallon of gas and although they don't like it, they manage. What happens to the US economy when gas doubles again? You're having trouble at $4/gallon.
I agree. There is an incredible lack of thought among people who propose hydrogen gas from electrolysis, or even just electricity, as an energy source for cars. They fail to take into account the sheer amount of energy we derive from fossil fuels.
Each gallon of gasoline provides at combustion around 125 x 10^6 Joules of energy. If you travel at 60mph and get 25 miles per gallon on average, that means that in one second you will have consumed 60 mph = .02 miles/second / 25 mpg = consumption of .0008 gallons of fuel per second = (125 x 10^6 Joules/gallon / .0008 gallons/second) around 100,000 Watts of energy, or 100 kW. Much of which is wasted in heat, noise, vibration, etc, but some of which actually powers your car (the "rated" horsepower or kW of the engine).
Do you have ANY idea how much electricity your vehicle needs to store to be able to provide a sustained power output of 100kW (assuming electrical engine efficiencies are close to those of internal combustion engines)?
Now you want to multiply this by how many cars, every night, plugging into the national power grid? A power grid which currently is breaking under the strain of millions of 1000W toasters, irons, ovens, etc? You want to add millions of CARS that need millions of Watts EACH? Or better yet, you want to use a process that is far less than 100% efficient (electrolysis) to try and get that amount of energy from hydrogen? Then it's going to "cost" you the energy you need PLUS the inefficiency.
There is NO substitute for crude oil. NONE. It is IMPOSSIBLE, no matter how many "nuclear" power plants you want to build. Hydrogen from natural gas comes close, but still energy is required to obtain it - similar to the fact that crude oil needs energy to be refined. Fair enough. But frankly once the oil is gone, our "free ride" is over. Oil companies aren't "stalling" at trying to find an alternative energy source. THERE ISN'T ONE. Poor horses, looks like we will need them again.
This clause should be included in any contract, license or law:
1. Thou shalt not over-analyze the fucking wording of the contract!
It's just as possible people are wasting time fixing unimportant issues and ignoring more important ones.
We're talking programmers here, not politicians...
or will daemons start spewing out of cracks in time and space?
I finally figured out what the UAC were doing on the Mars colony... and it had nothing to do with those artifacts!
Thank god there's a division of Space Marines there...
128k should be enough for anyone.
Anyone who truly has something to hide to the extent of worrying about torture will have an utterly plausible explanation or ten prepared.
No, anyone who truly has something to hide will not send someone through customs with compromising information. That's where compartmentalization comes in. Encrypt your file, break it apart, and mail the parts to yourself separately. If you really want to be paranoid - to different recipients at different addresses. On different days. If one package is intercepted, the data will be meaningless. Also for good measure throw in some CD's/DVD's with truly random data - so if all the CD's are intercepted they will not know which ones are the real ones.
Fanboyism of China is not helpful ... and even potentially dangerous."
Thanks for the laugh. Oh wait, you were serious? LOOK! There's a "terrorist" behind you! Boo!
Then again, how could we not have expected the nation that is chronically high on cocaine to become paranoid delusional?
I've not used AV software for the last 6 years, and have never had so much as a spyware infection.
How do you know you're not infected if you've never used the software?
I've had a couple surprises myself over the years. But then again I have kids.
Calling one right and the other wrong sort of loses its meaning in this context
I agree. Once again science... REAL science, is never about "right" or "wrong". It's about "can I use what you just told me in a predictable manner?". If it's BS and it doesn't work, then leave me alone I have stuff to do. :)
Einstein has yet to prove why hot dogs and hot dog buns come in inequal quantities.
I guess relativity explains that again. It depends on your country. In my country, you get 8 buns in a package and 8 sausages in a package. However my country is probably closer to the equator than yours, therefore our frame of reference is a lot faster than yours. Therefore the parity increases as a function of velocity. I would probably have to weight the buns and sausages to figure out any discrepancies in mass, but presumably the optimum is reached asymptotically when approaching the speed of light.
Makes things like this sit in the same bucket as one of my drunken musings. "I have a theory that.... in..... etc".
Not really the same. Theories have been tested and are supported by facts. A drunken musing, valid scientific starting point though that may be, is merely a hypothesis which then must be tested. If it survives the test, it then becomes a theory. And if it survives the test of time, it may become a "Law". There are very few scientific "laws", however. The gas laws are pretty much the only ones I can think of off the top of my head. Everything else is stuck at "theory".
If they want to REALLY test a theory, they should just post it on slashdot.
No, silly, that's just how you test the server.
mostly concern climate change
Not that we can do anything about it - unless of course you buy the "we humans are responsible for global warming on Earth, Mars, Venus, Mercury, the Moon, etc" arguments those who pretend to be scientists would have you believe. Even if the argument DID have some foundation in fact, the world is not going to stop using energy just because the G8 tells them to.
development in Africa
Hahaha, yes, a lot is going to be accomplished THERE too! Africa and "development" do not go in the same sentence.
This, of course, is a religious view which I will neither refute nor defend in this forum.
Hah! Unbeliever. As a true FSMer I would gladly give your life for my religion!
RAmen.
Piracy is taking precedence over energy conservation, alternative energy, weapons proliferation, violent crime, inflation, commodity prices and a couple permanent wars. Hooray. Let's choose an IMPORTANT topic for this year's G8 meeting. After all, quadrillions of dollars are being lost and billions of people are put out of work every day/starve to death because little Johnny watched a Britney Spears video on Youtube!
To the world's politicians: WHAT THE FUCK??? SERIOUSLY!
Actually, they did predict the coming of the bearded white skinned gods from the east and that this would signal the end of their civilization. They predicted the exact date, down to the day that the conquistadors arrived.
Where can I find this documented? Please no links to crackpot sites.
and move their headquarters to other "smaller" countries.
Funny, I read that as "free-er" countries.
Hi, from a "small", "lawless" country. And I LIKE it that way.
Go to bed, George...
I'm sure it's possible, but pointless. Decades ago, astronomers mapped proper motion and showed that all the stars were streaming away from a single point in the constellation Hercules. Presumably, that's where we're headed.
Makes you think, doesn't it? Everyone is getting the hell out of there and we're headed straight for it. Someone ought to do something about this... :)
Just because the Mayans calendar ended then means what exactly? They didn't even invent, let alone UTILIZE the wheel...
Not only that but they were able to predict "the end of the world" and yet utterly failed to foresee the end of their own civilization?
A fix should be available for them, as well as everyone else infected.
The problem is when you're dealing with for profit pharmaceutical companies, a "fix" is not in their best interest. Not many research dollars are going to be assigned to THAT. Keeping you alive and dependent on their overpriced medications is far more profitable. Don't hope for a "fix" for anything. Expect lifelong "treatments" instead.
If the same pricing was applied on a per-byte basis to a single MP3 song download, it would set you back almost $24,000 according to one estimate.
Looks like we're not downloading MP3's from the same place... Even if my price goes up 2000%, I will still pay exactly $0.00 for my MP3's.
that could be heard by any aliens who might be listening
Assuming that "aliens" can hear at all.
Of course "hearing" is based on the detection of vibrations in the surrounding medium - a sense that is very antiquated indeed - and available to even some of the most primitive organisms. On Earth. However it's difficult to use the mere existence of such a sense to apply it to possible creatures on entirely different worlds. Perhaps given very different environments with stranger density/pressure conditions other senses would be more vital for survival. Of course one could argue that as far as we know the conditions that are suitable for life would not be that different from our own, therefore hearing would probably have to exist.
And then we can argue that the "screeches", etc, are merely the way we choose to make our computers interpret this data.