Fuller's car was one of the stupidest-looking, foolishly designed cars ever built. Modern cars are streamlined by reducing their height to allow smooth contours. Fuller reduced the width to allow streamlining, and with the three-wheel design tippyness could not be avoided.
They also did it by greatly reducing the power available from a car engine. 300 HP car engines were commonplace in the 1960s (although the numbers were somewhat exaggerated). Only in the last 15 years has technology improved enough to get good pollution, economy, and power all at the same time. As example of what was going on in the middle of that era, a 1984 Corvette had only 180 HP and struggled to meet emissions requirements.
The work to meet pollution and economy restrictions imposed by the gov't has been long, difficult, and expensive.
They're still stealing the 'W' off the keyboard. After about 18 months, they figure there are some 'W's inside the grey box, so the one who's bright enough to use a screwdriver opens the box while it's running and drags the screwdriver over the motherboard, frying the machine.
The surface problem that the bureaucracy faces is the obvious opportunity for widespread fraud. Want an iPad? Get a cooperative doctor to fraudulently document a learning disablility, and bingo! the gov't pays for your new toy.
The deeper problem is that the gov't takes the money in the first place. Have you any idea how rich the average person would be if everyone who got money acquired it through productive work? An appropriate tablet computer and associated software would cost less than a day's wages.
People who think pessimism is realistic tend to be depressed and find it harder to do anything to improve matters. Peoplw who think optimism is realistic tend to be happy and see problems as opportunities to make things better.
Mathematics is full of examples of non-obvious developments, and developments for which at the time there was no use (which seems to be the criterion that separates pure and applied mathematics), and developments that were the product of only one man.
Look at the wikipedia article on calculus. Not to diminish the immense contributions of Newton and Leibnitz, but parts of calculus had been in development for about 3500 years before their contributions. Archimedes in particular is noteworthy.
CEOs generally are responsible for critical decisions, allowing or prohibiting major projects that make or break companies. A poor quality CEO can destroy a company, a mediocre CEO means no progress. Sadly, too many are just inept. CEOs often set the tone for how employees are treated.
It is not necessary for a CEO to be a psychopath for a company to succeed, nor is psychopathy necessary for the CEO to do well. Similarly, technical excellence in a CEO bears no relation to whether he is a vicious person; I've seen both types. Geniuses can be motivated by power and greed, and even when they're not they can be blind to the damage they do. Geniuses are human, too; they have human virtues and vices. They're better at finding the truth, and they're better at fabricating lies.
No such thing ever existed. Intel advanced along the 8008 -> 8080 -> 8088-8086 -> 80286... path, the Z80 is a branch off the 8080 that Intel did not follow. Even Zilog never built a 16 bit extension of the Z80. When Zilog, with the help of another manufacturer, finally produced an improved version of the Z80, it was too late and the market had moved on.
EMF hardening of semiconductors is neither new nor difficult, it's just a damn nuisance. And FWIW tubes don't work during an EMF pulse, either.
The problem is that active devices turn on as hard as they can during an EM pulse. If there's enough energy in capacitors attached to the active devices to destroy the active devices, that's what happens. Tubes can't turn on very hard, are inherently resistant to quick destruction by high temperatures, and have enough mass that they're not going to get heated much by capacitor discharge. Semiconductors don't have those advantages and must be protected by having resistors between big capacitors and the semiconductors. (Well, it's not that easy. Circuits like power supplies require more sophisticated protection, and if inherent devices susceptible to latch-up exist, they must be given time to unlatch. Nevertheless, the lesson is that EMP hardening of semiconductors is practical when necessary.)
As far as guitar amps is concerned, semiconductor circuits can be made to perform in the manner that tubes do, and more reliably, but there's just too much myth and momentum for tubes for them to be obsoleted as they should be. And the "audiophiles" who prefer tubes fall into two overlapping categories, audiofools and audiofrauds.
Alas, it does not "open new markets where traditional semiconductor gates won't function". Their silicon carbide relay devices are failing after short periods at 500 C, while silicon carbide semiconductors have better reliability and speed at 650 C. It's clever and interesting research, and may lead to something useful in niches, but it doesn't even look like it has any advantages yet.
Among the pervasive flaws in your arguments is the failure to understand Zeno's Paradox.
Generally, your statements are huge masses of non sequiturs. Look at 7.6
If atheism is true then man is "the chief of the earth". What makes you think (hah) that atheism implies that, or that "the chief of the earth" actually means anything?
If man is "the chief of the earth" then he can abandon absolute standards (i.e., morality). Depending upon content, "absolute standard" implies that it is not possible to abandon the standard or that there are cause-and-effect repercussions for abandoning the standard. In the first case, your statement is trivially false. In the second, man is not special in being able to abandon the standard, and nothing is able to evade cause-and-effect.
If man can abandon the absolute standards then "everything is permissible". Huh? Where does "permission" have a connection to standards?
Therefore, if atheism is true, everything is permissible A conclusion based only upon 3 nonsenical statements has no logical support.
Warren Buffett's advice is an expression of his political philosophy, not what actually does him (or the country) good. He's old and he's made his money, he isn't interested in a lavish lifestyle. Assuming no outright theft of all wealth occurs, he's so rich that nothing the government does affects him.
Excess return is irrelevant. What's important is the gain referred to a constant value, i.e. corrected for "inflation". Historical evidence shows no difference between democrats and republicans before the 2001 crash.
The T-bill is out of phase with the economy and the stock market. Low rates indicate either a stable money base and a moderate economy (late 1950s), or a government desperate to boost a cripled economy, loading up to create a huge devaluation not yet happening (now). On the other side, high rates indicate high ongoing inflation (1979-1980) or an attempt to reign in a bubble.
To some extent, trying to control the economy by changing treasury rates is like pushing on a rope.
The claim of reduced savings is based on the government using an obsolete measure of savings, the amount of money in bank and credit union accounts. It ignores investments in stocks and businesses. Likely savings has gone down, but gov't stats can't be used to prove it.
When I last did the calculation in 2001, stock market gains for democrats and republicans were identical once adjusted for "inflation". It would be more informative to measure stock market gains versus political philosophy, but in the last 100 years there have only been 2 or 3 presidents that weren't kleptocrats.
Food stamps and other such "stimulus" temporarily increses money flow, but does not improve overall wellbeing. Food stamps make it possible to continue living without producing, to be a net drain on the economy. To make this perfectly clear, since leftists are logic and reality rejecters, consider a world where everyone got food stamps and $1000 a day from the government and nobody produced anything. What would the money and stamps buy, with no production? Poverty and starvation would be universal.
Slashdot Mirror
We have "Chia Earth", which features the Sixteen Chapel.
Fuller's car was one of the stupidest-looking, foolishly designed cars ever built. Modern cars are streamlined by reducing their height to allow smooth contours. Fuller reduced the width to allow streamlining, and with the three-wheel design tippyness could not be avoided.
They also did it by greatly reducing the power available from a car engine. 300 HP car engines were commonplace in the 1960s (although the numbers were somewhat exaggerated). Only in the last 15 years has technology improved enough to get good pollution, economy, and power all at the same time. As example of what was going on in the middle of that era, a 1984 Corvette had only 180 HP and struggled to meet emissions requirements.
The work to meet pollution and economy restrictions imposed by the gov't has been long, difficult, and expensive.
They're still stealing the 'W' off the keyboard. After about 18 months, they figure there are some 'W's inside the grey box, so the one who's bright enough to use a screwdriver opens the box while it's running and drags the screwdriver over the motherboard, frying the machine.
The surface problem that the bureaucracy faces is the obvious opportunity for widespread fraud. Want an iPad? Get a cooperative doctor to fraudulently document a learning disablility, and bingo! the gov't pays for your new toy.
The deeper problem is that the gov't takes the money in the first place. Have you any idea how rich the average person would be if everyone who got money acquired it through productive work? An appropriate tablet computer and associated software would cost less than a day's wages.
In Los Angeles, people who are seen "loading scrounged wooden pallets onto a trailer" are usually stealing wooden pallets. They aren't free.
People who think pessimism is realistic tend to be depressed and find it harder to do anything to improve matters. Peoplw who think optimism is realistic tend to be happy and see problems as opportunities to make things better.
If you provide free hookers to all technology students you will kill off a generation of technologists by STDs.
Mathematics is full of examples of non-obvious developments, and developments for which at the time there was no use (which seems to be the criterion that separates pure and applied mathematics), and developments that were the product of only one man.
Or can you name the equivalent of Galois?
Look at the wikipedia article on calculus. Not to diminish the immense contributions of Newton and Leibnitz, but parts of calculus had been in development for about 3500 years before their contributions. Archimedes in particular is noteworthy.
CEOs generally are responsible for critical decisions, allowing or prohibiting major projects that make or break companies. A poor quality CEO can destroy a company, a mediocre CEO means no progress. Sadly, too many are just inept. CEOs often set the tone for how employees are treated.
It is not necessary for a CEO to be a psychopath for a company to succeed, nor is psychopathy necessary for the CEO to do well. Similarly, technical excellence in a CEO bears no relation to whether he is a vicious person; I've seen both types. Geniuses can be motivated by power and greed, and even when they're not they can be blind to the damage they do. Geniuses are human, too; they have human virtues and vices. They're better at finding the truth, and they're better at fabricating lies.
No such thing ever existed. Intel advanced along the 8008 -> 8080 -> 8088-8086 -> 80286 ... path, the Z80 is a branch off the 8080 that Intel did not follow. Even Zilog never built a 16 bit extension of the Z80. When Zilog, with the help of another manufacturer, finally produced an improved version of the Z80, it was too late and the market had moved on.
EMF hardening of semiconductors is neither new nor difficult, it's just a damn nuisance. And FWIW tubes don't work during an EMF pulse, either.
The problem is that active devices turn on as hard as they can during an EM pulse. If there's enough energy in capacitors attached to the active devices to destroy the active devices, that's what happens. Tubes can't turn on very hard, are inherently resistant to quick destruction by high temperatures, and have enough mass that they're not going to get heated much by capacitor discharge. Semiconductors don't have those advantages and must be protected by having resistors between big capacitors and the semiconductors. (Well, it's not that easy. Circuits like power supplies require more sophisticated protection, and if inherent devices susceptible to latch-up exist, they must be given time to unlatch. Nevertheless, the lesson is that EMP hardening of semiconductors is practical when necessary.)
As far as guitar amps is concerned, semiconductor circuits can be made to perform in the manner that tubes do, and more reliably, but there's just too much myth and momentum for tubes for them to be obsoleted as they should be. And the "audiophiles" who prefer tubes fall into two overlapping categories, audiofools and audiofrauds.
Alas, it does not "open new markets where traditional semiconductor gates won't function". Their silicon carbide relay devices are failing after short periods at 500 C, while silicon carbide semiconductors have better reliability and speed at 650 C. It's clever and interesting research, and may lead to something useful in niches, but it doesn't even look like it has any advantages yet.
Among the pervasive flaws in your arguments is the failure to understand Zeno's Paradox.
Generally, your statements are huge masses of non sequiturs. Look at 7.6
Warren Buffett's advice is an expression of his political philosophy, not what actually does him (or the country) good. He's old and he's made his money, he isn't interested in a lavish lifestyle. Assuming no outright theft of all wealth occurs, he's so rich that nothing the government does affects him.
Excess return is irrelevant. What's important is the gain referred to a constant value, i.e. corrected for "inflation". Historical evidence shows no difference between democrats and republicans before the 2001 crash.
The T-bill is out of phase with the economy and the stock market. Low rates indicate either a stable money base and a moderate economy (late 1950s), or a government desperate to boost a cripled economy, loading up to create a huge devaluation not yet happening (now). On the other side, high rates indicate high ongoing inflation (1979-1980) or an attempt to reign in a bubble.
To some extent, trying to control the economy by changing treasury rates is like pushing on a rope.
The claim of reduced savings is based on the government using an obsolete measure of savings, the amount of money in bank and credit union accounts. It ignores investments in stocks and businesses. Likely savings has gone down, but gov't stats can't be used to prove it.
When I last did the calculation in 2001, stock market gains for democrats and republicans were identical once adjusted for "inflation". It would be more informative to measure stock market gains versus political philosophy, but in the last 100 years there have only been 2 or 3 presidents that weren't kleptocrats.
Food stamps and other such "stimulus" temporarily increses money flow, but does not improve overall wellbeing. Food stamps make it possible to continue living without producing, to be a net drain on the economy. To make this perfectly clear, since leftists are logic and reality rejecters, consider a world where everyone got food stamps and $1000 a day from the government and nobody produced anything. What would the money and stamps buy, with no production? Poverty and starvation would be universal.
When you run out of victims, you die.
Raising personal income tax is an incentive to find loopholes or emigrate. Neither adds to the GNP.
cat /dev/random >Bodleian
pricewatch.com lists 6 21 inch monitors (some of which are $3000 1600x1200) and some others at 21.6".
I'd pay double for adequate vertical resolution in one screen, but it's not possible. To get it, we're talking about multiple thousands of dollars.
According to wikipedia, Japan has the balloon record at 53 km (33 miles).