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User: ChrisMaple

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  1. Re:It was bound to happen. on Hitchhiking Robot's Cross-Country Trip Ends In Philadelphia · · Score: 1

    All wealth comes from human action. The concept of wealth has no meaning without it.

  2. Measured how? on JAXA Successfully Tests Its D-SEND Low-Noise Supersonic Aircraft · · Score: 1

    Halving the noise is not a scientific description. Half the noise power? Half the peak pressure? Half the average pressure? Half the perceived noise?

    Half the noise power (3 dB) is so small a difference that an untrained listener couldn't reliably tell the difference between tests performed a day apart.

  3. Re:Passed data with a ton of noise? on $340 Audiophile Ethernet Cable Tested · · Score: 1

    Changing magnetic fields induce voltage along a wire. Two "ground" wires, traversing two different paths through magnetic fields between two pieces of equipment, can result in a current flowing around the loop formed by those two wires. Add more pieces of equipment, and each "ground" can be effectively at a different AC potential. This causes noise in analog signals if the signals are referenced to "ground".

    ... you use an earth ground, as it's a constant and not relative.

    That is a fantasy. There is no one universal earth ground.

  4. Re:Not nearly forever on Why Micron/Intel's New Cross Point Memory Could Virtually Last Forever · · Score: 1

    Refresh rate is much lower than maximum data rate.

  5. Re: like the lightbulbs that last virtually foreve on Why Micron/Intel's New Cross Point Memory Could Virtually Last Forever · · Score: 1, Informative

    If it was ever true that power cycling is hard on incandescents, it hasn't been for decades. The primary wearout mechanism is evaporation of the filament.

  6. Re:Physics and economics don't care on Why Micron/Intel's New Cross Point Memory Could Virtually Last Forever · · Score: 1

    Most people aren't stupid about light bulbs, including not being stupid enough to buy your conspiracy theory about filament life. Long life incandescent lights are available, giving 2X or 4X life. The problem is that there's an unavoidable tradeoff; long-life bulbs are less efficient, so much less efficient that even including purchase price the long-life bulbs give less light per dollar.

  7. Re:How do they fare in colder climates? on Are We Reaching the Electric Car Tipping Point? · · Score: 1

    Your sarcasm notwithstanding, heat pumps have problems with icing when operating in cold air.

  8. Re:Electric is Evolution. Driverless is Revolution on Are We Reaching the Electric Car Tipping Point? · · Score: 1

    In the 1950s and 1960s a typical family car struggled to get 13 mpg on the highway. In the 1970s it got worse, as environmental regulations crippled IC engine performance. Now, a typical family car gets 35 mpg on the highway because the cars are lighter, smaller, and more streamlined, engine technology has caught up with regulations, and tires are better.

    This has resulted in the number of US filling stations falling 30% since 1980 and (I'd guess) 50% since 1950. Also, unattended filling stations reduces the number of stations needed. I'd expect the number continue to fall with or without electric cars.

  9. Re:AYFKM? on Are We Reaching the Electric Car Tipping Point? · · Score: 1

    Torque in most electric motors is maximum at stall, when it's producing no power. Maximum torque in IC engines is often at about 70% of the redline, just below the maximum power point. EVs should be good at laying rubber off the line, but 0-60 times and maximum horsepower are more important.

  10. Re:quickly to be followed by self-driving cars on Are We Reaching the Electric Car Tipping Point? · · Score: 5, Funny

    The concept of car ownership is archaic.

    Young men are surely going to impress their dates when they show up in the modern equivalent of a rusty self-driving Pinto. For extra points, the last user was hauling dead fish and cow manure.

  11. Re:everything old is new again? on Replacing Silicon With Gallium Nitride In Chips Could Reduce Energy Use By 20% · · Score: 1

    In the vicinity of the 0.35 micron node, GaAs starts to lose its speed advantage over silicon in digital circuits. That was Vitesse's smallest process, after which they stopped making new GaAs CMOS. They've lost immense amounts of money since then and became essentially worthless. In April of this year Microsemi acquired the pathetic remains.

  12. Re:What goes around, comes around on Replacing Silicon With Gallium Nitride In Chips Could Reduce Energy Use By 20% · · Score: 1

    GaAs has a better match to the visible spectrum than Si (not much IR response in GaAs due to the larger bandgap). This was valuable particularly for film cameras, as common films were not IR sensitive.

    The response speed of silicon is plenty fast. Prior to the use of silicon, cadmium sulfide and cadmium selenide (IIRC) were used in light meters, and their method of operation was much different from silicon photodiodes. CdS was used as a bulk photoresistor, and due to inherent multiplication properties was much more sensitive than silicon. The disadvantages were that the multiplication process made the devices slow, and shoddy design and manufacturing techniques caused the devices to degrade and become useless after a couple of decades.

  13. The next executive order on Obama's New Executive Order Says the US Must Build an Exascale Supercomputer · · Score: 2

    Synthesize the unicorn genome, to provide fuel for transportation and buy the votes of little girls.

  14. Re:Science. on Scientists Identify Possible New Substance With Highest Melting Point · · Score: 1

    It's 2015, folks. You lost.

    Evidently not, TFA used glorious Fahrenheit.

  15. Re:I never understand the point of that on HP R&D Starts Enforcing a Business Casual Dress Code · · Score: 1

    A T-shirt is a short-sleeved collarless shirt with an unadjustable opening to put your head through, made of a thin, soft knitted material (usually cotton). If it's sleeveless or long-sleeved, it's not a T-shirt. If the shirt opens in back or in front, or if the neck opening buttons up, it's not a T-shirt. If it has a collar, it's not a T-shirt. If it's made of flannel, leather, shiny plastic or chain mail, it's not a T-shirt. If it's woven, not knitted, it's not a T-shirt. That leaves a lot of possibilities beyond T-shirt and bare-chested.

  16. Re: Silly but on HP R&D Starts Enforcing a Business Casual Dress Code · · Score: 1

    Steel-toed boots and hard hat. People with crushed feet and dented skulls have problems performing well on construction sites.

  17. Re:shorts on HP R&D Starts Enforcing a Business Casual Dress Code · · Score: 1

    Siemens in Cheshire, Ct. did something like that.Once a year as the weather turned cold the warm air inside, still thick with water from the summer, would lose its water to the windows, and pools of water would end up on the windowsills. Anyone ignorant of the phenomenon (me) who left work documentation or books on the windowsills got important stuff damaged.

  18. Re:So what? on HP R&D Starts Enforcing a Business Casual Dress Code · · Score: 3, Funny

    vane pageantry

    Any way the wind blows.

  19. Re: So what? on HP R&D Starts Enforcing a Business Casual Dress Code · · Score: 1

    So buy slacks at WalMart. Under $20.

  20. Re:That's copyright for you on Georgia Lawmakers Sue Carl Malamud For Publishing Georgia Law · · Score: 1

    Just reading the law in sequence becomes a hugely tedious exercise

    That's what shell scripts are for.

  21. Re:The article should use "ridiculous" 0 times. on Georgia Lawmakers Sue Carl Malamud For Publishing Georgia Law · · Score: 1

    If it can be displayed on a computer screen, it can be captured and inserted into a PDF. Even better, there's image-to-text software.

  22. Re:The article should use "ridiculous" 0 times. on Georgia Lawmakers Sue Carl Malamud For Publishing Georgia Law · · Score: 1

    Most places, you can access building codes for reading at no direct monetary cost. Having your own copy may involve illegal copying.

  23. Re:The article should use "ridiculous" 0 times. on Georgia Lawmakers Sue Carl Malamud For Publishing Georgia Law · · Score: 1

    Just how much of value have you accomplished in your life, compared to a million-selling author of a major philosophy?

  24. Re:Banks vs Manchester. Law, no. Indexes by publis on Georgia Lawmakers Sue Carl Malamud For Publishing Georgia Law · · Score: 1

    FWIW, it was Madison's argument that indirect election of U.S. Senators would result in good people (those in State legislatures) choosing the very best to become U.S. Senators, a kind of compounding of virtue. He either didn't see the potential problem or thought it insignificant compared to the available alternatives (and I agree with the latter possibility.)

  25. Re:Banks vs Manchester. Law, no. Indexes by publis on Georgia Lawmakers Sue Carl Malamud For Publishing Georgia Law · · Score: 1

    So, what you are saying is that the Framers of the Constitution placed a provision in it which they knew meant nothing?

    No. Both the letter of the law and its obvious intent have been perverted and violated.