The average annual electricity consumption for a U.S. household is ~10,000 kWh. Not sure about Ukraine but let's use the same number as a ballpark estimate. Population of Ukraine is ~45 million, or ~17 million households.
Assuming your number is correct, and assuming the latest ~20% solar cell efficiency, it requires ~850 million sqare meters to power all households in Ukraine. That's ~328 sqare miles, or ~18 miles x 18 miles.
To continue on my previous post... It's a relevant and fun article. I clicked it and expected the Slashdot audience to tear the whole concept apart from the technical standpoint, and was not disappointed.
"Sensations and feelings", really?? Nothing wrong with them and we all have them, but they are almost the antithesis of "intellectual capacity". Also, the all lower-case sentences really don't help, especially when complaining about teenagers. The irony...
Even with the dubious 20% efficiency claim, he'd be getting 20kW. At today's ~12 cents per kWh in the U.S., he'd be selling it at ~$85 a month. Seems hardly worth the hassle.
In case you are a Texan and offended, I live in Houston, which doesn't have a "tech" scene in the strict sense of software/hardware startups, but otherwise is quite heavy in science and engineering in general, and probably has the lowest cost of living out of all major cities in the US.
Predictable response when it comes to India and China. Check out the following article.. Hint: cheating, or at least the temptation, is something universal in human nature.
Thanks for the link. Sounds like the key to Minerva is their platform that promises to be more interactive and engaging than the traditional lecture hall style classes.
I think it has potential. However, an overall college experience has much more to do with knowledge and learning.. It's about the people you meet. It's not clear whether Minerva has an edge in that regard.
Russia or China maybe, but no way ISIS can pull this off because they'll never have the massive industrial infrastructure needed for such development and deployment. Only slight chance for them is to buy the robots from Russia and/or China.
> a complex fabric of personal, corporate and government organization relationships
Are we talking about China, or America? At that high level, the line between corporations and the government becomes blurry, no matter which country you live in. Just look at Standard Oil, Boeing, Halliburton... The list goes on.
Liability not in the sense of suing someone, but in the sense that you won't be liable and your ass is safe.
Say you are the CIO of a company. If you pick MS and something goes wrong, you can shift the blame onto MS. If you pick OSS and something goes wrong, well, the blame will be on you.
Hence the old adage: nobody ever got fired for buying IBM.
Here's a secret: what you find interesting and exciting while you are 20 year old, and therefore "want to do with the rest of your life", may be vastly different 20 years later.
It's called personal growth, and the trick is to constantly reinvent yourself.
All Science is computer science nowadays, and I'm not even a computer scientist. So yes, there are many fields that are in great need of computer scientists and/or programmers. For example this guy, who popularized the term "connectome":
When you work for a big corp. and have the money to burn, it's all about shifting liability to a 3rd party -- the bigger, the better, hence the saying, nobody ever gets fired for buying IBM.
In turn, with the money you pay them, a big 3rd party will more than likely throw all the man power at your problem until it gets fixed.
I've lived in Houston for 15 years. I think it has something to do with Texas' root of being a "Lone Star" state in the Union, i.e., we used to be our own country -- the Republic of Texas. And a lot of people here are still proud of that root to this day.
So whenever the federal government starts to impose some draconian policy over the entire nation, Texans have the natural tendency of saying, FU, not here in Texas. And I suspect if/when things got out of hand and a new revolution were ever needed, it might just possibly start in Texas.
I suspect the reason most nerds are bad at social etiquette simply because they don't see the point and don't care. It's a waste of time and/or something beneath their intellectual pursuits. If you are on the verge of a breakthrough in a new black hole theory, or revolutionary AI algorithm, everything else might seem unimportant by comparison.
If they started caring, picking up proper social etiquette is really not that hard. You don't need a school a class or an instructional manual... Just mirror whatever other "smooth" and "cool" people are doing. (The hard part is to hold an engaging social conversation talking about nothing, but that's a story for another day.)
So the key is to convince the nerd of the importance of social etiquette. Ironically, those who do go to this school probably don't really need it, and those who really need it haven't realized what they are missing... but sooner or later, they will do.
One main reason why history is fascinating is precisely because historical records are rare and incomplete.
Imagine every single person's entire life in known history can be viewed at the push of a button. Nobody will ever watch it except maybe those with great historical importance. The vast majority of it would be more boring than the current crop of reality TV shows.
Slashdot Mirror
The average annual electricity consumption for a U.S. household is ~10,000 kWh. Not sure about Ukraine but let's use the same number as a ballpark estimate. Population of Ukraine is ~45 million, or ~17 million households.
Assuming your number is correct, and assuming the latest ~20% solar cell efficiency, it requires ~850 million sqare meters to power all households in Ukraine. That's ~328 sqare miles, or ~18 miles x 18 miles.
In comparison, the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone is 1,004 square miles: https://www.google.com/search?...
To continue on my previous post... It's a relevant and fun article. I clicked it and expected the Slashdot audience to tear the whole concept apart from the technical standpoint, and was not disappointed.
"Sensations and feelings", really?? Nothing wrong with them and we all have them, but they are almost the antithesis of "intellectual capacity". Also, the all lower-case sentences really don't help, especially when complaining about teenagers. The irony...
Believe it or not, politics (as well as religion) is largely an emotional topic. It's hard to sway emotion with logic, least with an FB post.
Even with the dubious 20% efficiency claim, he'd be getting 20kW. At today's ~12 cents per kWh in the U.S., he'd be selling it at ~$85 a month. Seems hardly worth the hassle.
https://xkcd.com/397/
It's surrounded by Texas..
In case you are a Texan and offended, I live in Houston, which doesn't have a "tech" scene in the strict sense of software/hardware startups, but otherwise is quite heavy in science and engineering in general, and probably has the lowest cost of living out of all major cities in the US.
Just came across this picture yesterday, better than the one in the article:
http://www.afternoongossip.com/its-time-to-be-worried/14/
Predictable response when it comes to India and China. Check out the following article.. Hint: cheating, or at least the temptation, is something universal in human nature.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-...
On an unrelated note, Chinese students dominate the prestigious International Science Olympiad competitions. You can't cheat in those.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I...
Thanks for the link. Sounds like the key to Minerva is their platform that promises to be more interactive and engaging than the traditional lecture hall style classes.
I think it has potential. However, an overall college experience has much more to do with knowledge and learning.. It's about the people you meet. It's not clear whether Minerva has an edge in that regard.
Russia or China maybe, but no way ISIS can pull this off because they'll never have the massive industrial infrastructure needed for such development and deployment. Only slight chance for them is to buy the robots from Russia and/or China.
NO, he had the insight, and much more importantly, he took the risk and made things happen. It's the right time and the right place only in hindsight.
Keep bitching and moaning about others' success from the comfort of your couch, while the risk takers out there continue to do big and great things.
Democracy is a human construct, i.e. consensus of the majority, while science reflects how nature behaves. Good luck imposing man's will on nature.
> a complex fabric of personal, corporate and government organization relationships
Are we talking about China, or America? At that high level, the line between corporations and the government becomes blurry, no matter which country you live in. Just look at Standard Oil, Boeing, Halliburton... The list goes on.
Liability not in the sense of suing someone, but in the sense that you won't be liable and your ass is safe.
Say you are the CIO of a company. If you pick MS and something goes wrong, you can shift the blame onto MS. If you pick OSS and something goes wrong, well, the blame will be on you.
Hence the old adage: nobody ever got fired for buying IBM.
History is written by the victors.
I know it's too late now, but I would have looked into this:
http://www.ted.com/talks/yoav_...
Sorry wrong thread (haven't logged on in a while).
I know it's too late now, but I would have looked into this:
http://www.ted.com/talks/yoav_...
Here's a secret: what you find interesting and exciting while you are 20 year old, and therefore "want to do with the rest of your life", may be vastly different 20 years later.
It's called personal growth, and the trick is to constantly reinvent yourself.
All Science is computer science nowadays, and I'm not even a computer scientist. So yes, there are many fields that are in great need of computer scientists and/or programmers. For example this guy, who popularized the term "connectome":
http://hebb.mit.edu/people/seung/
And BTW, his excellent TED talk:
http://www.ted.com/talks/sebastian_seung.html
When you work for a big corp. and have the money to burn, it's all about shifting liability to a 3rd party -- the bigger, the better, hence the saying, nobody ever gets fired for buying IBM.
In turn, with the money you pay them, a big 3rd party will more than likely throw all the man power at your problem until it gets fixed.
I've lived in Houston for 15 years. I think it has something to do with Texas' root of being a "Lone Star" state in the Union, i.e., we used to be our own country -- the Republic of Texas. And a lot of people here are still proud of that root to this day.
So whenever the federal government starts to impose some draconian policy over the entire nation, Texans have the natural tendency of saying, FU, not here in Texas. And I suspect if/when things got out of hand and a new revolution were ever needed, it might just possibly start in Texas.
I suspect the reason most nerds are bad at social etiquette simply because they don't see the point and don't care. It's a waste of time and/or something beneath their intellectual pursuits. If you are on the verge of a breakthrough in a new black hole theory, or revolutionary AI algorithm, everything else might seem unimportant by comparison.
If they started caring, picking up proper social etiquette is really not that hard. You don't need a school a class or an instructional manual... Just mirror whatever other "smooth" and "cool" people are doing. (The hard part is to hold an engaging social conversation talking about nothing, but that's a story for another day.)
So the key is to convince the nerd of the importance of social etiquette. Ironically, those who do go to this school probably don't really need it, and those who really need it haven't realized what they are missing... but sooner or later, they will do.
One main reason why history is fascinating is precisely because historical records are rare and incomplete.
Imagine every single person's entire life in known history can be viewed at the push of a button. Nobody will ever watch it except maybe those with great historical importance. The vast majority of it would be more boring than the current crop of reality TV shows.