Well, that was during the Clinton administration... back when ol' slick Willie was schmoozing his way around the globe and the US was rolling in cash... during a period of unsustainable growth and market inflation due to gross speculation in the markets both by US and foreign investors... then the bubble burst, the economy went to crap, Clinton was impeached for obstructing justice, Bush was elected and then terrorists attacked...
Times change.
p.s. I'm not for or against Kyoto... I think it's not the best solution or the worst treaty ever made.. but i don't think it stops people from pursuing green tech or environmentally friendly methods... it also won't stop pollution to any great extent either... it's an 'OK' thing to do with big downsides for US economically and no big upside environmentally, though it would be better than doing nothing.
Do you know how the Kyoto treaty works? Each nation gets a certain number of vouchers for pollution that they can trade amongst each other or sell off at a market value... the number of vouchers is based on old data regarding pollution wherein some of the nations will instantly have more vouchers than they need currently and stand to make a huge windfall selling them off to nations who have continued to progress or haven't been able to slow down pollution levels for any number of reasons... basically Russia specifically will stand to make several billion dollars selling their vouchers to nations like India, US, and other nations that have continued to grow their industries while Russia's has languished for the last decade.
This 'system' of vouchers is what the US will not buy into... as it leaves us at an automatic pollution deficit with nery little hope of ever catching up.
Ever hear of a thing called Energon? Yep, that's the one... I for one willl welcome our new mechanical transforming overlords, when they come for our energon;-p
I think maybe I'd leave the tequila drinking until after I returned to gravity.... just imagine your stomach contents floating around like those M&Ms;-p
No, the Wright Brothers flew a proof of concept machine that simply proved you could fly a self-propelled machine. All the innovation really came later, with the advent of the turbine engine and later the jet engine and of course more specifically applied laws of aerodynamics. The biggest thing they did correctly was their propeller design.
So yes, I think this robot that climbs a 'two-dimensional' ribbon which is a scaled down model of the carbon nano-fiber ribbon intended to be used.. is a proof of concept.
It simply demonstrates the method to be used for climbing up such a structure.. something never really done before. I don't recall a robotic device that climbs a ribbon being used commercially or otherwise, do you?
I do suspect that had you been alive and aware of Kitty Hawk when it happened you would have had the same response... "This is just a toy."
SO they are at the 'Kitty Hawk' stage of development. I mean, the Wright Brothers didn't really achieve too much and at the time no one thought too much of it seeing as how all they did was to fly for a few seconds really...
Ever use a calculator? Do you trust the results? Yes you do, because the accuracy of it's results are well known and trusted.
In the same way e-voting will become trusted.
The problem here is that the state's are all using different code sets.. not necessarily a problem if there is a standard spec.. but there is no standard spec as yet.
Our federal government and other governments should be regulating the voting systems in the same way as they always have.. with standards. Which is what they are working on.
Now these standards should have been in place before e-voting was adopted and they should have been enforced over several years of QA... in some states they were, in others not so much.
A standard will come about though and it will be trusted.
The standard should not only be developed it shoud be exemplified with a standard case demonstration... all other systems should need to be verified against this standard demo system (which may or may not be the cheapest or easiest to use but it is verified).. in other words e-voting machines should be able to be re-counted against a verified case demo unit and come up with the same results.
Much like poverty and homelessness this talking with women can not be solved by technology... we've tried (www.americansingles.com, www.playboy.com, www.harmony.com) but to no avail... men who are beta-men will always be beta-men... just learn to live with it.......and accept YOUR ALPHA MALE SUPERIORS!
Damn it man, be an asshole for once... treat the girl like a whore and she willlll respond.
Don't be nice until you've gotten laid... then slam the door and move on...
It's a numbers game... tell her this:
"Do you like peanut butter? Good.. let's have sex..." If she says no, say "You're a slut." then move on... if she doesn't follow then she never wanted sex to begin with and you need to move on.
If you want a wife... look in Russia or Mexico.. much better wives, America sucks for wives...
I'd love to provide you with art.... but I can't figure out how... your website is obtuse to say the least... no contact form in sight... contact form, please.
SO you wouldn't want the military to have developed a means of networking computers together to transfer data? How about learning how to send large metal receiver/transceivers into orbit? Maybe learning how to use high-octane fuel to superheat air and force it through a small opening as a means of propulsion? Learning how to maintain a habitable atmosphere under water for extended periods of time? What about learning how to create artificial blood plasma for use by field medics?
All developed for military purposes and some not even by Americans.. but they've all been put to use outside the military and our world is far more interesting as a result.
Stay scared if you want but you shouldn't be scared of military technology... it's military policy that determines how that tech gets used. All tech can be used as a weapon, whether developed for that purpose or not.. lots of private tech has been put to use by the military as well, should we stop developing new tech because it might get used to hurt someone?
Hmmm.. what happens when this technology is co-opted for use in powering spacecraft? or better yet used to power the space elevator? Interestingly enough we Americans manage somehow to re-use military technology for non-military purposes ALL THE TIME.
Think of it this way... the US government is contracting a company or companies to figure out how to transfer large amounts of energy vast distances with pin-point accuracy.
The fact that the primary excuse for developing said tech is to shoot down missiles shouldn't hinder you from seeing the potential applications in other areas.
Wow... mention a critical comment about the Bush administration and you're instantly Insightful... three times no less. Sure I wrote what everyone was thinking but I wouldn't say my comment was "insightful".. well, maybe just a little.. but not 3 times over.
Here is the truly insightful comment:
"Most likely this is an Aschcroft legacy project and will be curbed soon by Gonzalez."
I just wanted to test out my hypothesis that any negative or even pseudo-negative comment about Bush would get high marks here on/.
From the very first rumors of "leaked" data to the bold and blunt official news that data has been requested/demanded... there is a definite program here.
As a personal rights advocate, all I ask for is transparency in the process. The Bush administration has been criticized for it's misleading statements regarding the purpose of it's initiatives... so Bush, just tell us what's going on so we know what to think about it...
Observationally you are correct. The facts are there true enough. There are many scenarios where in a child will not result from the formation of a zygote... but there is only way way that you can be gauranteed there will be no child, only one way where you deprive completely all chance that a viable human will join us here in 15 years to discuss the issue and give his/her perspective... abortion.
Now understand that my problem with the practice doesn't stem from right to life dogma... I just simply think it's barbaric and totally unnecessary in this day and age of technology.
Birth control and other contraceptive methods are diverse and widely available to anyone who doesn't want children. Rather than funding abortion clinics we should be funding birth control awareness and distribution programs. Free access to contraception for anyone who wants it. Then it is a free choice and there are no excuses for abortion other than medical.
Mistakes do happen of course but you know what, in every other aspect of our lives we take responsibility for our mistakes... take out an unplanned pregnancy insurance policy.. as long as you're on birth control, both male and female, you're covered. You can keep the child or put him/her up for adoption to someone who wants a child but can't have one. Don't want to give birth... insurance will cover a surrogate mother.
There are better methods available. We as a society need to stop adopting convenience policies in regards to social behavior... technology can provide solutions but those solutions should be constructive not destructive.
So in the end you tend to agree with the philosophy that we have evolved beyond the need to solve our inconveniences by destroying the cause...
The key method here is to wait for the Right Gadget(TM) for what you really want to do. I waited until 3rd gen iPods came out to get one... it finally had enough space and a really good interface for a reasonable (IMHO) price. I don't foresee getting a new one for quite a while cause it just does exactly what I want it to do.
If I was a jogger I would have picked up a flash based player with similar qualities.
I still have my Ti Powerbook 500mhz... I paid $3400 for it but it did everything I wanted it to do and it still does... again, I don't foresee getting a new laptop any time soon.
I bought a new car a couple weeks ago... I'm getting married in March and plan to have at least one child in the next 5 years, so I got an SUV that was 2 years old with low mileage and a great price... again I don't foresee needing anything different or new any time soon.
I'll buy an HD TV eventually but it's just not at the right level of maturity and the manufacturers are still making back their R&D money so the price is still way high.
LCD monitors should be at the right price/feature ratio but for some reason companies are still charging way too much for a good sized screen, even though manufacturing costs are way down at this point, maybe next year.
Maybe it's boring to make thoughtful gadget purchasing decisions but in the end you know that you got what you wanted and that it will last you several generations of new gadgets until something sufficiently interesting comes along.
Even if you have more money than you know what to do with it's still better to buy something you'll actually be happy with and not feel like a schmuck 3 weeks later.
Chances are that if you follow gadgets you'll still be a relatively early adopter. I was still one of the first people I knew to have an iPod, 1.5 years after it was out.
Ah but you're missing something with the glass roads... cars on top wouldn't be letting much sunlight through...
no streetlamps, just some reflected light through skylights... you can easily focus light from above through a lens and mirror arrangement to provide plenty of sunlight... that's if the material itself used as a 'roof' wasnt' already translucent.. but those types of collector materials are too expensive as yet so it would be skylights to start with.
It can't be such a bad idea if all you can come up with is the need to light the freeway as a problem.. but of course there are other problems that wouldn't come up until you did wind sheer studies and structural integrity analysis, etc. too bad we know some damn much about stuff and you can't just build things anymore and worry about fixing it later.
I've been thinking of a plan to put solar arrays on tube domes over freeways here in Southern California, one of the biggest users of electricity anywhere.
The idea is that the land is already being used so it would not impact new land, the atmosphere over freeways is already fscked so no change there or possible with additions like air scrubbers you could posivitely impact it. Additionally solar heat is already being wasted over freeways so there would be zero gain/loss there. During periods of rain the dome tubes would provide some protection from the elements improving safety and reducing maintenance costs for those covered areas..
The structures themselves would be lightweight, low cost super-structures with translucent plastic panels covering them, with the lowest cost solar collectors available, since there will be soo many of them they don't need to be super-efficient.. they just need to be abundantly available, low-cost and sturdy enought to last several years between upgrades. Of course as more efficient low-cost components become available they can be swapped in.
The system could begin with a small demo/trial project and would be very scalable and robust as it would be such a lightweight structure that construction would be quick, prefabbed and able to be placed via crane very quickly. The only permanent components would be the foundation 'tie-downs' which could also hold all of the electronics and capacitors needed to convert/monitor and transmit the collected energy.
If needed the tubes can be sem-solid grids to allow exhaust gases to escape and later in the systems maturity air scrubbers could be put in place.
Certainly some engineering would be needed to ensure earthquake safety but because they are superstructures they would allow for a lot of movement.
Keeping them clean seems like the biggest challenge, certainly more a political problem than anything else. I'm thinking organic solvents on the top outside with an insolvent transparent surface veneer to protect the collector arrays. A high pressure sprayer mounted on a vehicle could be used during non-peak hours to clean the insides of residue. Eventually it could be automated with a rail based robotic sprayer running the course on a schedule... decades down the road.
Definitely a big public works project but certainly achievable, especially in a State that really, really needs a new source of renewable energy to supplement it's growing demand.
Early today I read about mice being grown for Nicotine Addiction studies... Now they're growing them for Handicap people?
What do Handicap people need with experimental mouse varieties? Isn't the stem cell research enough for these people... first the parking spots, now their own breed of mouse.. jeeezzzz.. they aren't THAT special
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Well, that was during the Clinton administration... back when ol' slick Willie was schmoozing his way around the globe and the US was rolling in cash... during a period of unsustainable growth and market inflation due to gross speculation in the markets both by US and foreign investors... then the bubble burst, the economy went to crap, Clinton was impeached for obstructing justice, Bush was elected and then terrorists attacked...
Times change.
p.s. I'm not for or against Kyoto... I think it's not the best solution or the worst treaty ever made.. but i don't think it stops people from pursuing green tech or environmentally friendly methods... it also won't stop pollution to any great extent either... it's an 'OK' thing to do with big downsides for US economically and no big upside environmentally, though it would be better than doing nothing.
Do you know how the Kyoto treaty works? Each nation gets a certain number of vouchers for pollution that they can trade amongst each other or sell off at a market value... the number of vouchers is based on old data regarding pollution wherein some of the nations will instantly have more vouchers than they need currently and stand to make a huge windfall selling them off to nations who have continued to progress or haven't been able to slow down pollution levels for any number of reasons... basically Russia specifically will stand to make several billion dollars selling their vouchers to nations like India, US, and other nations that have continued to grow their industries while Russia's has languished for the last decade.
This 'system' of vouchers is what the US will not buy into... as it leaves us at an automatic pollution deficit with nery little hope of ever catching up.
Ask for whitepapers, documentation, a sales call... presentations, etc etc
If you're planning on buying something that is... otherwise.... hmmm why, it will all change by the time you need to make a decision.
Know what that sounds like?
;-p
Ever hear of a thing called Energon? Yep, that's the one... I for one willl welcome our new mechanical transforming overlords, when they come for our energon
Reminds me of a joke:
"What is an 11 foot pole for?"
"Touching stuff you woudn't with a 10 foot pole!"
heheheheh, yeah it's g-rated, so what.. you got beef?
I like your comment so much I added the last line as my sig ;-p
thanks
I think maybe I'd leave the tequila drinking until after I returned to gravity.... just imagine your stomach contents floating around like those M&Ms ;-p
No, the Wright Brothers flew a proof of concept machine that simply proved you could fly a self-propelled machine. All the innovation really came later, with the advent of the turbine engine and later the jet engine and of course more specifically applied laws of aerodynamics. The biggest thing they did correctly was their propeller design.
So yes, I think this robot that climbs a 'two-dimensional' ribbon which is a scaled down model of the carbon nano-fiber ribbon intended to be used.. is a proof of concept.
It simply demonstrates the method to be used for climbing up such a structure.. something never really done before. I don't recall a robotic device that climbs a ribbon being used commercially or otherwise, do you?
I do suspect that had you been alive and aware of Kitty Hawk when it happened you would have had the same response... "This is just a toy."
SO they are at the 'Kitty Hawk' stage of development. I mean, the Wright Brothers didn't really achieve too much and at the time no one thought too much of it seeing as how all they did was to fly for a few seconds really...
I'd think you should be talking about Impulse speed, not Warp... I mean at low speeds they use Impulse engines right?
At least it doesn't refer to how many Horses equivalent are Powering the damn thing ;-p
Ever use a calculator? Do you trust the results? Yes you do, because the accuracy of it's results are well known and trusted.
In the same way e-voting will become trusted.
The problem here is that the state's are all using different code sets.. not necessarily a problem if there is a standard spec.. but there is no standard spec as yet.
Our federal government and other governments should be regulating the voting systems in the same way as they always have.. with standards. Which is what they are working on.
Now these standards should have been in place before e-voting was adopted and they should have been enforced over several years of QA... in some states they were, in others not so much.
A standard will come about though and it will be trusted.
The standard should not only be developed it shoud be exemplified with a standard case demonstration... all other systems should need to be verified against this standard demo system (which may or may not be the cheapest or easiest to use but it is verified).. in other words e-voting machines should be able to be re-counted against a verified case demo unit and come up with the same results.
As in web applications, desktop applications should now follow the paradigm of separating logic from presentation.
When this is done there can be no issues where GUI == insecurity.
Problem solved.
Until this happens...
GUI should not ask for low level changes.
GUI should demand that low level changes meet their needs.
Being able to query data should not bypass security... and it should not be limited by security where it is not merited.
Smarter design, smarter design, smarter design...
Much like poverty and homelessness this talking with women can not be solved by technology... we've tried (www.americansingles.com, www.playboy.com, www.harmony.com) but to no avail... men who are beta-men will always be beta-men... just learn to live with it.... ...and accept YOUR ALPHA MALE SUPERIORS!
Damn it man, be an asshole for once... treat the girl like a whore and she willlll respond.
Don't be nice until you've gotten laid... then slam the door and move on...
It's a numbers game... tell her this:
"Do you like peanut butter? Good.. let's have sex..." If she says no, say "You're a slut." then move on... if she doesn't follow then she never wanted sex to begin with and you need to move on.
If you want a wife... look in Russia or Mexico.. much better wives, America sucks for wives...
yeah, what he said....
I'd love to provide you with art.... but I can't figure out how... your website is obtuse to say the least... no contact form in sight... contact form, please.
SO you wouldn't want the military to have developed a means of networking computers together to transfer data? How about learning how to send large metal receiver/transceivers into orbit? Maybe learning how to use high-octane fuel to superheat air and force it through a small opening as a means of propulsion? Learning how to maintain a habitable atmosphere under water for extended periods of time? What about learning how to create artificial blood plasma for use by field medics?
All developed for military purposes and some not even by Americans.. but they've all been put to use outside the military and our world is far more interesting as a result.
Stay scared if you want but you shouldn't be scared of military technology... it's military policy that determines how that tech gets used. All tech can be used as a weapon, whether developed for that purpose or not.. lots of private tech has been put to use by the military as well, should we stop developing new tech because it might get used to hurt someone?
Hmmm.. what happens when this technology is co-opted for use in powering spacecraft? or better yet used to power the space elevator? Interestingly enough we Americans manage somehow to re-use military technology for non-military purposes ALL THE TIME.
Think of it this way... the US government is contracting a company or companies to figure out how to transfer large amounts of energy vast distances with pin-point accuracy.
The fact that the primary excuse for developing said tech is to shoot down missiles shouldn't hinder you from seeing the potential applications in other areas.
Wow... mention a critical comment about the Bush administration and you're instantly Insightful... three times no less. Sure I wrote what everyone was thinking but I wouldn't say my comment was "insightful".. well, maybe just a little.. but not 3 times over.
/.
Here is the truly insightful comment:
"Most likely this is an Aschcroft legacy project and will be curbed soon by Gonzalez."
I just wanted to test out my hypothesis that any negative or even pseudo-negative comment about Bush would get high marks here on
From the very first rumors of "leaked" data to the bold and blunt official news that data has been requested/demanded... there is a definite program here.
As a personal rights advocate, all I ask for is transparency in the process. The Bush administration has been criticized for it's misleading statements regarding the purpose of it's initiatives... so Bush, just tell us what's going on so we know what to think about it...
Observationally you are correct. The facts are there true enough. There are many scenarios where in a child will not result from the formation of a zygote... but there is only way way that you can be gauranteed there will be no child, only one way where you deprive completely all chance that a viable human will join us here in 15 years to discuss the issue and give his/her perspective... abortion.
Now understand that my problem with the practice doesn't stem from right to life dogma... I just simply think it's barbaric and totally unnecessary in this day and age of technology.
Birth control and other contraceptive methods are diverse and widely available to anyone who doesn't want children. Rather than funding abortion clinics we should be funding birth control awareness and distribution programs. Free access to contraception for anyone who wants it. Then it is a free choice and there are no excuses for abortion other than medical.
Mistakes do happen of course but you know what, in every other aspect of our lives we take responsibility for our mistakes... take out an unplanned pregnancy insurance policy.. as long as you're on birth control, both male and female, you're covered. You can keep the child or put him/her up for adoption to someone who wants a child but can't have one. Don't want to give birth... insurance will cover a surrogate mother.
There are better methods available. We as a society need to stop adopting convenience policies in regards to social behavior... technology can provide solutions but those solutions should be constructive not destructive.
So in the end you tend to agree with the philosophy that we have evolved beyond the need to solve our inconveniences by destroying the cause...
The key method here is to wait for the Right Gadget(TM) for what you really want to do. I waited until 3rd gen iPods came out to get one... it finally had enough space and a really good interface for a reasonable (IMHO) price. I don't foresee getting a new one for quite a while cause it just does exactly what I want it to do.
If I was a jogger I would have picked up a flash based player with similar qualities.
I still have my Ti Powerbook 500mhz... I paid $3400 for it but it did everything I wanted it to do and it still does... again, I don't foresee getting a new laptop any time soon.
I bought a new car a couple weeks ago... I'm getting married in March and plan to have at least one child in the next 5 years, so I got an SUV that was 2 years old with low mileage and a great price... again I don't foresee needing anything different or new any time soon.
I'll buy an HD TV eventually but it's just not at the right level of maturity and the manufacturers are still making back their R&D money so the price is still way high.
LCD monitors should be at the right price/feature ratio but for some reason companies are still charging way too much for a good sized screen, even though manufacturing costs are way down at this point, maybe next year.
Maybe it's boring to make thoughtful gadget purchasing decisions but in the end you know that you got what you wanted and that it will last you several generations of new gadgets until something sufficiently interesting comes along.
Even if you have more money than you know what to do with it's still better to buy something you'll actually be happy with and not feel like a schmuck 3 weeks later.
Chances are that if you follow gadgets you'll still be a relatively early adopter. I was still one of the first people I knew to have an iPod, 1.5 years after it was out.
Ah but you're missing something with the glass roads... cars on top wouldn't be letting much sunlight through...
no streetlamps, just some reflected light through skylights... you can easily focus light from above through a lens and mirror arrangement to provide plenty of sunlight... that's if the material itself used as a 'roof' wasnt' already translucent.. but those types of collector materials are too expensive as yet so it would be skylights to start with.
It can't be such a bad idea if all you can come up with is the need to light the freeway as a problem.. but of course there are other problems that wouldn't come up until you did wind sheer studies and structural integrity analysis, etc. too bad we know some damn much about stuff and you can't just build things anymore and worry about fixing it later.
I've been thinking of a plan to put solar arrays on tube domes over freeways here in Southern California, one of the biggest users of electricity anywhere.
The idea is that the land is already being used so it would not impact new land, the atmosphere over freeways is already fscked so no change there or possible with additions like air scrubbers you could posivitely impact it. Additionally solar heat is already being wasted over freeways so there would be zero gain/loss there. During periods of rain the dome tubes would provide some protection from the elements improving safety and reducing maintenance costs for those covered areas..
The structures themselves would be lightweight, low cost super-structures with translucent plastic panels covering them, with the lowest cost solar collectors available, since there will be soo many of them they don't need to be super-efficient.. they just need to be abundantly available, low-cost and sturdy enought to last several years between upgrades. Of course as more efficient low-cost components become available they can be swapped in.
The system could begin with a small demo/trial project and would be very scalable and robust as it would be such a lightweight structure that construction would be quick, prefabbed and able to be placed via crane very quickly. The only permanent components would be the foundation 'tie-downs' which could also hold all of the electronics and capacitors needed to convert/monitor and transmit the collected energy.
If needed the tubes can be sem-solid grids to allow exhaust gases to escape and later in the systems maturity air scrubbers could be put in place.
Certainly some engineering would be needed to ensure earthquake safety but because they are superstructures they would allow for a lot of movement.
Keeping them clean seems like the biggest challenge, certainly more a political problem than anything else. I'm thinking organic solvents on the top outside with an insolvent transparent surface veneer to protect the collector arrays. A high pressure sprayer mounted on a vehicle could be used during non-peak hours to clean the insides of residue. Eventually it could be automated with a rail based robotic sprayer running the course on a schedule... decades down the road.
Definitely a big public works project but certainly achievable, especially in a State that really, really needs a new source of renewable energy to supplement it's growing demand.
Early today I read about mice being grown for Nicotine Addiction studies... Now they're growing them for Handicap people?
What do Handicap people need with experimental mouse varieties? Isn't the stem cell research enough for these people... first the parking spots, now their own breed of mouse.. jeeezzzz.. they aren't THAT special