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User: geogob

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Comments · 616

  1. Re:ITT... on Uber Now Blocked All Over Germany · · Score: 1

    Yes, its obvioue that laws regulating taxi services in Gemany have been in fact thought out to block business of american companies. And obviously, New York managed admirably to achive the same goal.

  2. Re:Competition is good. on Battle of the Heavy Lift Rockets · · Score: 1

    Certainly not in Quebec, where he's going to get eaten for lunch.

  3. Re:Not worth it. on How the World's Fastest Electric Car Is Pushing Wireless Charging Tech · · Score: 1

    No one is suggesting we should install right away an inefficient system. What is suggested is that such a system would be useful and should be developed further to make it both practical, affordable and efficient. At its current stage, the technology is obviously not mature.

    An what's with the frustration about electrical cars? Do you really believe the concept doesn't go beyond the aspiration of sum assholes or of Tesla motors?

    Anyway, you might be surprised to learn that electrical cars are more effective and save energy when compared to comparable internal-combustion engine cars. An they would still be more efficient and energy saving, even with 25% addition loss, which doesn't imply that this 25% loss is in anyway acceptable.

  4. Re:Not worth it. on How the World's Fastest Electric Car Is Pushing Wireless Charging Tech · · Score: 2

    Although I agree that the 25% loss is not acceptable, I can't rally to your argumentation based on "several place are having power supply issues". What if I live in an area that doesn't have issues at all?

    I've heard the same argumentation before for water. Fresh water is short in server place, so we need to save water said the politic. Followed large (and expensive) initiatives to save water - even in region where fresh water was not an issue. Followed that in those region, the water saving was so efficient, that the consumption dropped below critical threshold for the infrastructure. To maintain it, it now needs to be flushed out on regular basis, which in turn lead to a higher overall water need as before the initiatives. I'm not saying that this is case for electricity, but it just illustrate how this kind of argumentation can be a two-edged sword.

  5. Re:Not worth it. on How the World's Fastest Electric Car Is Pushing Wireless Charging Tech · · Score: 2

    It's not a question of difficulty, but of convenience. Imagine you could charge at every red light you stop.

    I drive an electrical car every day to work. The charging time for one leg from home to work is typically 15 minutes. Driving time is about 40 minutes. In those 30 minutes. I cross about 20 intersections with traffic lights; about 10 of those are major intersections, where I often wait 30 seconds to 1 minute. So assuming my luck is bad, I get to wait 10 minutes at red lights on my way to work.

    With a charging system embedded in the road only at major intersection, I would already recharge most my day's use, mitigating the need to charge full every 2 days or so. As range is still the biggest limitation of electrical cars, I believe this would be an important step forward.

  6. Re:Quite warm beneath the car, right? on How the World's Fastest Electric Car Is Pushing Wireless Charging Tech · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Quite warm, yes! It's already quite warm under may car, where the battery is, when charging it with 22 kW over a good ol' copper thick copper wire. At this charging rate, the cooling fans and the car's AC automatically jump in to cool the cells.
    Although I never tried it, I could also charge at 44 kW... that's sure going to produce a lot of heat.

    Now I imagine doing so at 80% transfer efficiency. I am convinced heat would be a major issue; It's not yet a technical issue, but definitely a comfort issue. Furthermore, paying now about 0.28€/kWh, I wouldn't be happy to lose 20% of it to melt the snow on the road. That's only good for Quebec, where I used to pay under 0.04$/kWh.

  7. Re:interesting case.... on Fake NVIDIA Graphics Cards Show Up In Germany · · Score: 1

    It will get intestesting if it traces back to manufacturing. Lets hypothise a second that the production plant has problem reaching their production goals. It would be quite a nasty twist if they simply took the products of another production line which was working under its nominal rate and rebranded the products.

    If (and its a big IF) the deception occured at that level, it will raise an important question on the quality and authenticity of any other products comming out of those work and countries. So in other word pretty much anything.

  8. Screw-up? on Time Warner Cable Experiences Nationwide Internet Outage · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Did the NSA screw up again while tapping in into the TW infrastructure? I mean, if the manage to knock whole countries of the Internet by doing so, I wouldn't be surprised if they knocked a few ISP offline now and then.

  9. Re:You've gotta hand it to him though. on $75K Prosthetic Arm Is Bricked When Paired iPod Is Stolen · · Score: 1

    It's appropriate that they chose a device with arm processor to pair with these prosthetic.

  10. Re:I see three possibilities on $75K Prosthetic Arm Is Bricked When Paired iPod Is Stolen · · Score: 1

    See the original submission before it got edited for the worse...
    http://science.slashdot.org/su...

  11. Re: Spherical Torus on Princeton Nuclear Fusion Reactor Will Run Again · · Score: 1

    ... and aren't still any close to walking on mars.

  12. American capitalism on Net Neutrality Is 'Marxist,' According To a Koch-Backed Astroturf Group · · Score: 1, Informative

    What would be so bad about changing American capitalism? As if moderating part of it would automatically send the American society deep into communism.

    But staying on topic, net neutrality IS a good idea, and I do hope that so-called Marxist as well as anyone else believes so. Saying it would be bad because group X or Y think so, is the stupidest thing ever. These sort of argumentation can get so fast out of control...

  13. Re:Public cynicism about fusion on Princeton Nuclear Fusion Reactor Will Run Again · · Score: 2

    It's because of AC like you I need a cushion on my wall. Else my head would hurt a little bit more every few days.

  14. Re:Spherical Torus on Princeton Nuclear Fusion Reactor Will Run Again · · Score: 2, Informative

    In other words, it's a torus.

    No it is not. There is a very clear defintion to what a torus is, and this is not. It may be seen as a torus-like shape, but not a torus. Proper use of terminology is important in science and engineering.

    It may not be of the standard donut dimensions people are accustomed to when they think torus, but it's still a torus.

    Again, its not a question of what people are accustomed to, but rather a question of definition. And no, the shape named "thorus" is not defined through the shape of a donut.

    It's like saying that a rectangle with dimensions of 50x51 is a square-like rectangle. Simply calling it a rectangle would do.

    False analogy. Both linguisting points are absolutely not comparable. In the case of the shape of the Tokamak built at PPPL, it is neither a sphere nor a torus. It's something else, which has no specific name. In your analogy, the 50x51 surface IS a rectangle. A better analogy would be, assuming there is no name such as rectangle for a 50x51 surface with straight angles, calling it a square-like box.

  15. Re:Many other municipalities switched to Linux on Munich Council Say Talk of LiMux Demise Is Greatly Exaggerated · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ...don't know why media keep talking only about Munich. It's not the only city that switched to Linux, several others have. The Italian city of Udine, for example:

    http://www.lffl.org/2014/07/co...

    One reason, size...

    Munich : 1,4M
    Udine : 0.1M
    Turin : 0.9M

    source: wikipedia (because only order of magnitude matter).

    Furthermore, Munich is one of the most influential city in one of the most influential country of the European Union. From the size, Turin is not that far behind, but from the impact both cities cannot be compared. All this explains quite easily the media coverage.

    But its quite interesting to see more cities considering this alternative. And with large cities like Turin and Munich doing it effectively, a lot of smaller cities and communes will start to consider open source as a serious alternative.

    The open consideration of such an alternative has much more to do with psychology than with technical needs or limitations. Exactly why the media keep talking about Munich. Psychology. Marketing. And failing to understand this is a large part why open source alternative are still so far beyond what they could be.

  16. Re:Thoughtcrime on UK Police Warn Sharing James Foley Killing Video Is a Crime · · Score: 1

    Possessing or distributing it could be regarded as a crime. But citing viewing the content as a crime leaves a very bitter after taste.

  17. Re:Jurisdiction 101 on UK Police Warn Sharing James Foley Killing Video Is a Crime · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If you believe jurisdiction questions are more important to the officials in the UK than in USA, you should go back and review some history lessons. Actually, the only people who care less about international law and jurisdiction than the those in the USA, are those in the UK.

  18. Re:Actually... on No, a Huge Asteroid Is Not "Set To Wipe Out Life On Earth In 2880" · · Score: 2

    I wonder on what basis you make those assumptions...
    Look where mankind was 800 years ago. Look where we stand today. Although such a leap forward isn't assured, it can nonetheless be assumed without too grand risk for error.

  19. Re:You don't say.... on 3 Congressmen Trying To Tie Up SpaceX · · Score: 1

    Regardless of the exaggeration (I doubt a P47 would do the job), you hit the nail on the head. There's nothing like gaining air superiority with fighters/interceptor. That works only well in Hollywood blockbusters. For the current state of warfare (or at least what I get from it from afar), it seems that workhorses like the A-10 and AC-130 are much more appropriate. The only good thing about a fast multi role aircraft is that you can get of from a carrier and get somewhere fast for time critical precision strikes. But even that can be done through other, much cheaper means.

    In the end, the F-35 has little more use than the flag poles and fanfares. It's a power demonstration that serves no purpose in modern warfare. But that shows also how off topic this subject is. I can't help myself frowning when I read about the F-35 in a discussion about NASA, launchers and SpaceX. While the F-35 is a purely ideological endeavor, the design and operation of space launchers plays a crucial role in our society. We are highly dependent on space systems and really need good and reliable launchers. I feel that comparing anything that has to do with space launchers with the F-35 is like comparing the building of new roads with a city (hypothetically) buying a few Ferrari for marketing purposes.

  20. Re:How much have they spent already? on Australia Rebooting Search For MH370 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Still no clue whatsoever?

    And this is exactly why we should keep searching for the wreckage and find it. Knowing what happened is the key to prevent it from happening again. More than in any other fields, aviation safety is build upon knowledge gained from past incidents and accidents. This is why it is worth investing both the time and the money to understand the events that lead to the crash.

  21. Re:Small sample size but powerful results? on UK Team Claims Breakthrough In Universal Cancer Test · · Score: 1

    It's powerful when the time comes to look for new funding.

  22. Re:Why the fuck is this on Slashdot? on Satellite Images Show Russians Shelling Ukraine · · Score: 1

    Like any other site, this site is about that what the editors choose. Not the people consuming the information. It is the case for any type of media... why would you believe it is any different with this one?

    You are always free to write your thoughts to the editors or to the editor who accepted the submission. Ranting about it is probably the least helpful thing one can do.

  23. Enough time to connect to Wi-Fi on Android Leaks Location Data Via Wi-Fi · · Score: 2

    "[...] because it clearly denotes in human language places that you've spent enough time to use the Wi-Fi."

    I though driving by an open hotspot on the highway was enough time to use it. At least they would know on which Highway I drove.

  24. Re:The same way many global warming papers got pub on How Did Those STAP Stem Cell Papers Get Accepted In the First Place? · · Score: 2

    Although alternative spelling may be current, there is only one correct spelling. Ignoring the correct spelling, doesn't make the common alternative spelling suddently correct.

  25. Re:The same way many global warming papers got pub on How Did Those STAP Stem Cell Papers Get Accepted In the First Place? · · Score: 2

    No. The correct spelling is "voilà".