All I can really say is that you must really miss the pre-Nixon era.
Hmm let see. There hasn't been a "unique" local culture in the better part of the last 100 years since rail and auto began the move and World War 1 spread all the country folk accross the planet. Other than maybe some local foods, or driving habits.
Americans are far from bland, but we do have a habit of taking from other cultures and intergrating into our own. Don't believe me start in LA and drive to NY and you'll see quite a variety of people and attitudes with their own local color.
Entertainment is universal, but we don't all "watch" the same thing. There is more of a variety now than there has ever been in the past. (Unless you count chucking cow shit as entertainment, then maybe in that case there are only a few enlighted small towns left and the rest of us are borring.)
Family tradition of what? On my mom's side alcoholics and factory workers. Hmmm errr no. On my dad's side wanna be farmers (hobbie farmers) and neurotic corporate climbers I'll pass. Thank God we aren't shoehorned into the wonderful family "traditions". Never wanted to go work in a factory or on the back forty. Now if they had say I don't know a craftsman trade it would have been a different story but only a very small percentage of people work in a craftsman trade anymore and those that do tend to become family traditions.
Family religion hmmmm let's see be a part of a cult with a LONG history of murder, decite, tourture, holy wars, genocide, and terrorism (Catholic Church) or not be part of a cult. Tough choice there.
Small towns suck, unless you like the whole cow pie tossing thing, happen to be trying to raise kids (they can join hate groups instead of gangs), or like blasting squirles from your back porch. Then they are kind of cool.
My first job was for $2.45 an hour in a plant nursery, yeah bright future prospects there. I don't know anyone including my parents and grandparents that stayed with their first "job" or even their third one well maybe my one grandfather, he was a farmer.
What people pine for from the good ol' days, was really nothing more than an absolute lack of choices on where and how people wanted to live and what they did to make a living. So people tended to stay put and act exactly like everyone else they knew(sounds kind of familiar doesn't it, but on a smaller scale).
That attitude hasn't existed in a large portion of the counry in some 50-60 years, I say good riddance.
I think you have that backwards, I think Texas is ashamed of you. But hey California is proud of you, but then again California has the lowest standards on the planet.
It sounds likea wonderfull concept as every major city has turned "Interstate" highways into the local commute.
This project sounds alot like the E-1 I think it was called, which was a East-West highway that ran globally (fictional story) across Europe, Asia and North America. With auto's took up a traditional lane, Semi's took up two lanes (Think twice the length, height, and width of typical trucks of today. There were something like 20 auto lanes on each side.
Ahh yes, the failure of only reading half an article.
I don't see why it couldn't do 131mph. The precurser to the EV-1 (aka neutered POS) was the Impact and that could go over 100mph in 1990.
We were kicking around some other uses of hybrid systems in RV and Semi's that seemed kind of interesting. Typically you either run the main engine or a generator for power when just sitting there. Either solution stinks, in the case of the generator (RV) it adds weight and the case of the main engine (RV or Semi) it's completely oversized and wastefull in terms of fuel. Instead you save yourself a few pounds by switching to hybrid and a few more by having a pair of gasoline engines, a main and an APU (aux power unit). When you are driving both are working, generating electricity, and when you stop then the main drops off. The RV shaves the weight of the generator off and the Semi saves fuel when left running pulled over while the driver sleeps.
There is no reason a similiar system could be set up in other vehicle types and sizes, it's already commonly used in Trains and Ships.
You obviously dont live in Southern California. 60? Maybe on the side streets. The speed limit is 65-70 and everyone drives 70-90.
Hybrids would have plenty of accelleration, but only if the car companies build them that way. I see the speed trials as an "In your face" from Toyota to Honda. Which is all good, a little chest beating gets the public interest and could spark a performance war between companies. I'm sure though this time next year Honda will be holding that title when the new hybrid Accord comes out, which by the way will be built with a higher output engine than what will be avialable to the conventional versions and gets 40% better gas millage.
2005 is shapping up to be be an interesting year for hybrids.
Yep just like the "your speed is" automated radar guns that flash at you on the side of the road to get you to slow down. Just about every motorcycle magazine/websse I've ever seen has a regular posting of people taking pictures of them while a friend passes it in the tripple digits.
Space Ship One wasn't a whole project of new technologies, Scaled Composites have building these aircraft for years, the only thing new about the whole thing was the launch vehicle/space vehicle combination and the integration of a rocket motor rather than a piston or turbine engine.
Other than a few other a few new inovations practically the whole project was off the shelf.
You are absolutely right about the return on investment. Though I have a sneaky suspicion that the people invovled would have done it anyway. (The same company did the Voyager flight a few years back without a prize.) The X-prize just made it more news worthy. Rich successfull people like doing trailblazing things that make them even more rich and successful.
This would not work for whole projects, but would be quite effective for components.
For example Boeing put their entire company at risk by creating the 747 especially after it was the losser in the C-5 Air Force cargo aircraft bid. They managed to make it work quite well fortunately. Many companies aren't willing to take that kind of risk.
But on the other hand if say NASA said after looking around at off the shelf equipment and not finding what they needed for say a new manuevering thruster then they could post a prize (contract)
10 million for one that fits the minimum specs
and then throw in bonus awards
1 million if it is 50% smaller than specs
100k for each 10% thrust strength above specs
15k for each 1% reduction in weight below specs
500k for each 10% gain in efficiency
Now I can see many companies being interested in this since they can compete on multiple levels or work with other companies to claim portions of a multi-award prize.
The problem is not that companies don't have the capabilities to advance space technology, Scaled Composites proved that, it's just that there is little interest and fewer opportunities for smaller companies that are not associated with the big boys of aviation to get involved.
I see these prizes as very effective means of streamlining the component aquisition portion of space flight, and who knows maybe one of these days companies will make space ships the way companies crank out airplanes.
No one just "builds" a space station, or moon base, or hell even something as technically "simple" as a car.
Just in the manufacturing of an automobile hundreds of companies are involved.
What car companies do is come up with a design and standards and then other companies or in house departments develope products to fill those designs.
I would expect NASA to have at least a couple people to have a clue and offer prizes (contracts) for specific components required. As time goes on companies may have the capability to deliever a finished product that is an entire station, but until then it will be much smaller pieces.
For example lets just say NASA offers a prize for
an ION engine
1 million dollars for one that puts out 1 lb of thrust
then 2 million dollars for one that puts out 3 lbs of thrust
then 5 million dollars for one that puts out 5 lbs of thrust but is 30% more efficient
etc, etc, etc...
To suggest otherwise is like asking a two year old child to skip learning to walk and go straight to training for the track and field events in the Olympics.
There are many intermediate steps to be filled before we go for He3, but that would be obvious to anyone with a clue...
Nasa should set standards for the work they want completed, and have it done in a safe manner
NASA does set safety standards for this as they do for large portions of the aviation industry. Who do you think has a say in the authorization of said companies to test their products?
the original X- Prise were working on the super cheap and therefore were much more dangerous than should be tolerated..
None of the X-prize pilots for space ship-1 were working on the "cheap" these were very wealthy men pursuing a goal that has and will continue to make them even more wealthy. They knew the risks and they found them exceptable. These weren't military personel being ordered to do so or corporate slobs in fear of their jobs.
Again the FAA and NASA both had to sign off on the Space Ship 1 launch. Safety did not take a back seat for those flights. Before you yell conflict of interests, the portion of NASA that is involved with aviation safety is seperate from other opperations and their suggestions usually go far above and beyond what the industry/government is able to comply with.
...reacted very differently to the winning vehicle had it tumbled back into the atmosphere and burned up killing the pilot..
Yes they would have reacted differently to a vehicle that burned up, as in they would have not been made the "winners". Let's also ask these little questions. How many space shuttles have we lost in the "safer" method of vehicle aquisition? How many people have died in just the past year of military developement of aircraft? Hell how many people died in car accidents this year? You are all worried about a few dozen flights in the next few years verses the tens of thousands who will die by this time next year? Glad to know you have priorities straight.
Worker saftey and standards are somthing that shouldnt be shoved aside in the quest for scientific advancement on the cheap...
Again none of the pilots involved in the X-prize were anything but willing. It's not the government's job to play mommy and make sure everyone is safe. Besides we already have the FAA which makes the US aviation industry the safest in the world (Over 80% of major aviation accidents occur outside the US) and I'm sure they are more than up to the challenge of regulating this new field of private enterprise.
You're right on the money to say your 2 cents worth. Uniformed emotional opinions are usually worth very little.
Easy they wouldn't be able to control which team "wins" since the best product would win rather than the winner being picked by the current "political process" of lowest bidder/cost overruns.
Actually the old method does not insure that the money is spent well, but that it's spent in their consituants home town.
This space station will cost only 3 billion dollars
5billion...
10 billion...
15 billion...
20 billion...
30 billion...
and going and going.....
verses
NASA would like to propose a new space station modual that has X characteristics and they'll give the first team that creates one that fullfills that need for 1 billion dollars and won't pay out a penny for those that don't
It's called being a smart shopper you do it every day (hopefully) why shouldn't they?
I think what he ment was just simply black listing people who don't bother updating their system, run a firewall, run virus products, or engage illegal activities.
Kind of like a "credit check", or at least start having them offer more integrated services that will do them for the people that can't do it for themselves.
You'll have to take a look at the site. Basically they offer a wholesale price based on which package you buy. Which aren't that cheap you are also fairly limited to the total amount of pictures you can post, so dropping a online stock photo store is prohibitibly expensive. More or less you can sell any sized print they offer and I would think you could do all the mugs and calender etc.
i use www.imagestation.com for my main online photo albums since they give you unlimited storage along with the ability to retrieve the orginal sized picture.
The only one I've seen so far that had a photo selling option was www.shutterfly.com, but they only let you sell prints of your photos, not the images themselves. It was fairly limited and looked like it only catered to the event photographer (kids sports, weddings, etc).
There are quite a few stock photo places to sell your pictures to the mass media you just have to look around.
Let's see the guy comes out of pocket a million dollars a month for six years to make a game that is better than it's previous versions as well as just about anything out there and silly him (what a bastard) would like to make some money out of the deal inorder to be able to keep on making games.
If I remember correctly from the orginal Half-Life I only recall about a half a dozen or so people I knew actually putting cash down to pay for it. Most everyone else just ripped a copy from somewhere else.
Other than the crybabies (cheap bastards) hoping for a repeat of free lunch that was Half Life, Team Fortress, Counterstrike, etc, etc, etc I haven't heard back from any of my friends who plunked down the dollars on this one anything but raves.
Steam is not the evil corporate monster everyone has made it out to be. It is box of rocks easy to use, so for those having problems that doesn't say much about your computer, your ISP, or your intelligence. As far as HL2 the single player kicks ass. Also the willingness to keep on bringing out the goodness on the part of Valve, in a very timely fashion (it's what been a whole three weeks?) especially when they had orginally said there would be no multiplayer is just simply cool.
So other than the big stink of a BS release date the first time around, which by the way they have come clean on and when has any game ever come out on time? I just don't see why everyone is bitching so much about Valve and the very high quality product they've released.
The majority of birds getting killed are not being done so by the blades but by the wires holding the towers up. The wires are very difficult to see and extend out into the path that a bird would take to go around the windmill. This has been a problem for years in the US with power and phone lines as well as radio towers that require the support wires. The newer towers don't require wire support and in turn do not have near the problem of bird deaths. The ones out near me don't have birds littered underneith them. Of course I have to admit I see alot of fat coyotes.;)
Actually something similar happened in Texas with armadillos. The little tanks would jump when scared, as in when a car was bearing down on them, putting them perfectly at bumper height and out of the gene pool. Now the little guys just curl up in a ball and get bounced of the road from wind draft, but are much more likely to survive the incident unharmed. Of course if someone swerves to get them with a tire.....well so much for new tactics.
Slashdot Mirror
Hmm let see. There hasn't been a "unique" local culture in the better part of the last 100 years since rail and auto began the move and World War 1 spread all the country folk accross the planet. Other than maybe some local foods, or driving habits.
Americans are far from bland, but we do have a habit of taking from other cultures and intergrating into our own. Don't believe me start in LA and drive to NY and you'll see quite a variety of people and attitudes with their own local color.
Entertainment is universal, but we don't all "watch" the same thing. There is more of a variety now than there has ever been in the past. (Unless you count chucking cow shit as entertainment, then maybe in that case there are only a few enlighted small towns left and the rest of us are borring.)
Family tradition of what? On my mom's side alcoholics and factory workers. Hmmm errr no. On my dad's side wanna be farmers (hobbie farmers) and neurotic corporate climbers I'll pass. Thank God we aren't shoehorned into the wonderful family "traditions". Never wanted to go work in a factory or on the back forty. Now if they had say I don't know a craftsman trade it would have been a different story but only a very small percentage of people work in a craftsman trade anymore and those that do tend to become family traditions.
Family religion hmmmm let's see be a part of a cult with a LONG history of murder, decite, tourture, holy wars, genocide, and terrorism (Catholic Church) or not be part of a cult. Tough choice there.
Small towns suck, unless you like the whole cow pie tossing thing, happen to be trying to raise kids (they can join hate groups instead of gangs), or like blasting squirles from your back porch. Then they are kind of cool.
My first job was for $2.45 an hour in a plant nursery, yeah bright future prospects there. I don't know anyone including my parents and grandparents that stayed with their first "job" or even their third one well maybe my one grandfather, he was a farmer.
What people pine for from the good ol' days, was really nothing more than an absolute lack of choices on where and how people wanted to live and what they did to make a living. So people tended to stay put and act exactly like everyone else they knew(sounds kind of familiar doesn't it, but on a smaller scale).
That attitude hasn't existed in a large portion of the counry in some 50-60 years, I say good riddance.
I think you have that backwards, I think Texas is ashamed of you. But hey California is proud of you, but then again California has the lowest standards on the planet.
This project sounds alot like the E-1 I think it was called, which was a East-West highway that ran globally (fictional story) across Europe, Asia and North America. With auto's took up a traditional lane, Semi's took up two lanes (Think twice the length, height, and width of typical trucks of today. There were something like 20 auto lanes on each side.
I don't see why it couldn't do 131mph. The precurser to the EV-1 (aka neutered POS) was the Impact and that could go over 100mph in 1990.
We were kicking around some other uses of hybrid systems in RV and Semi's that seemed kind of interesting. Typically you either run the main engine or a generator for power when just sitting there. Either solution stinks, in the case of the generator (RV) it adds weight and the case of the main engine (RV or Semi) it's completely oversized and wastefull in terms of fuel. Instead you save yourself a few pounds by switching to hybrid and a few more by having a pair of gasoline engines, a main and an APU (aux power unit). When you are driving both are working, generating electricity, and when you stop then the main drops off. The RV shaves the weight of the generator off and the Semi saves fuel when left running pulled over while the driver sleeps.
There is no reason a similiar system could be set up in other vehicle types and sizes, it's already commonly used in Trains and Ships.
It's a cool concept, maybe not for typical high speed applications, but it might have some use in robotics for composite and stero imaging.
Hybrids would have plenty of accelleration, but only if the car companies build them that way. I see the speed trials as an "In your face" from Toyota to Honda. Which is all good, a little chest beating gets the public interest and could spark a performance war between companies. I'm sure though this time next year Honda will be holding that title when the new hybrid Accord comes out, which by the way will be built with a higher output engine than what will be avialable to the conventional versions and gets 40% better gas millage.
2005 is shapping up to be be an interesting year for hybrids.
Yep just like the "your speed is" automated radar guns that flash at you on the side of the road to get you to slow down. Just about every motorcycle magazine/websse I've ever seen has a regular posting of people taking pictures of them while a friend passes it in the tripple digits.
That was an excellent series. What were you expecting a ten year old running around with a whip and a gun?
Other than a few other a few new inovations practically the whole project was off the shelf.
You are absolutely right about the return on investment. Though I have a sneaky suspicion that the people invovled would have done it anyway. (The same company did the Voyager flight a few years back without a prize.) The X-prize just made it more news worthy. Rich successfull people like doing trailblazing things that make them even more rich and successful.
For example Boeing put their entire company at risk by creating the 747 especially after it was the losser in the C-5 Air Force cargo aircraft bid. They managed to make it work quite well fortunately. Many companies aren't willing to take that kind of risk.
But on the other hand if say NASA said after looking around at off the shelf equipment and not finding what they needed for say a new manuevering thruster then they could post a prize (contract)
10 million for one that fits the minimum specs
and then throw in bonus awards
1 million if it is 50% smaller than specs
100k for each 10% thrust strength above specs
15k for each 1% reduction in weight below specs
500k for each 10% gain in efficiency
Now I can see many companies being interested in this since they can compete on multiple levels or work with other companies to claim portions of a multi-award prize.
The problem is not that companies don't have the capabilities to advance space technology, Scaled Composites proved that, it's just that there is little interest and fewer opportunities for smaller companies that are not associated with the big boys of aviation to get involved.
I see these prizes as very effective means of streamlining the component aquisition portion of space flight, and who knows maybe one of these days companies will make space ships the way companies crank out airplanes.
Exactly. You get it.
Just in the manufacturing of an automobile hundreds of companies are involved.
What car companies do is come up with a design and standards and then other companies or in house departments develope products to fill those designs.
I would expect NASA to have at least a couple people to have a clue and offer prizes (contracts) for specific components required. As time goes on companies may have the capability to deliever a finished product that is an entire station, but until then it will be much smaller pieces.
For example lets just say NASA offers a prize for an ION engine
1 million dollars for one that puts out 1 lb of thrust
then 2 million dollars for one that puts out 3 lbs of thrust
then 5 million dollars for one that puts out 5 lbs of thrust but is 30% more efficient
etc, etc, etc...
To suggest otherwise is like asking a two year old child to skip learning to walk and go straight to training for the track and field events in the Olympics.
There are many intermediate steps to be filled before we go for He3, but that would be obvious to anyone with a clue...
NASA does set safety standards for this as they do for large portions of the aviation industry. Who do you think has a say in the authorization of said companies to test their products?
the original X- Prise were working on the super cheap and therefore were much more dangerous than should be tolerated..
None of the X-prize pilots for space ship-1 were working on the "cheap" these were very wealthy men pursuing a goal that has and will continue to make them even more wealthy. They knew the risks and they found them exceptable. These weren't military personel being ordered to do so or corporate slobs in fear of their jobs.
Again the FAA and NASA both had to sign off on the Space Ship 1 launch. Safety did not take a back seat for those flights. Before you yell conflict of interests, the portion of NASA that is involved with aviation safety is seperate from other opperations and their suggestions usually go far above and beyond what the industry/government is able to comply with.
Yes they would have reacted differently to a vehicle that burned up, as in they would have not been made the "winners". Let's also ask these little questions. How many space shuttles have we lost in the "safer" method of vehicle aquisition? How many people have died in just the past year of military developement of aircraft? Hell how many people died in car accidents this year? You are all worried about a few dozen flights in the next few years verses the tens of thousands who will die by this time next year? Glad to know you have priorities straight.
Worker saftey and standards are somthing that shouldnt be shoved aside in the quest for scientific advancement on the cheap...
Again none of the pilots involved in the X-prize were anything but willing. It's not the government's job to play mommy and make sure everyone is safe. Besides we already have the FAA which makes the US aviation industry the safest in the world (Over 80% of major aviation accidents occur outside the US) and I'm sure they are more than up to the challenge of regulating this new field of private enterprise.
You're right on the money to say your 2 cents worth. Uniformed emotional opinions are usually worth very little.
Easy they wouldn't be able to control which team "wins" since the best product would win rather than the winner being picked by the current "political process" of lowest bidder/cost overruns.
This space station will cost only 3 billion dollars
5billion...
10 billion...
15 billion...
20 billion...
30 billion...
and going and going.....
verses
NASA would like to propose a new space station modual that has X characteristics and they'll give the first team that creates one that fullfills that need for 1 billion dollars and won't pay out a penny for those that don't
It's called being a smart shopper you do it every day (hopefully) why shouldn't they?
Of course the footage from the towers would have been funny instead of horrifying (people jumping to their deaths).
Kind of like a "credit check", or at least start having them offer more integrated services that will do them for the people that can't do it for themselves.
You'll have to take a look at the site. Basically they offer a wholesale price based on which package you buy. Which aren't that cheap you are also fairly limited to the total amount of pictures you can post, so dropping a online stock photo store is prohibitibly expensive. More or less you can sell any sized print they offer and I would think you could do all the mugs and calender etc.
The only one I've seen so far that had a photo selling option was www.shutterfly.com, but they only let you sell prints of your photos, not the images themselves. It was fairly limited and looked like it only catered to the event photographer (kids sports, weddings, etc).
There are quite a few stock photo places to sell your pictures to the mass media you just have to look around.
If I remember correctly from the orginal Half-Life I only recall about a half a dozen or so people I knew actually putting cash down to pay for it. Most everyone else just ripped a copy from somewhere else.
Other than the crybabies (cheap bastards) hoping for a repeat of free lunch that was Half Life, Team Fortress, Counterstrike, etc, etc, etc I haven't heard back from any of my friends who plunked down the dollars on this one anything but raves.
Steam is not the evil corporate monster everyone has made it out to be. It is box of rocks easy to use, so for those having problems that doesn't say much about your computer, your ISP, or your intelligence. As far as HL2 the single player kicks ass. Also the willingness to keep on bringing out the goodness on the part of Valve, in a very timely fashion (it's what been a whole three weeks?) especially when they had orginally said there would be no multiplayer is just simply cool.
So other than the big stink of a BS release date the first time around, which by the way they have come clean on and when has any game ever come out on time? I just don't see why everyone is bitching so much about Valve and the very high quality product they've released.
"Sorry we would like to hire you but here in 1992 you were in a chemistry lecture class (of about 300 people) with the nephew of a known terrorist."
Give me a terabit a second transfer rate and a year and I'll show you someone who is sick and tired of the damn wait for things to download/upload.
It's all what you are used to.
Actually something similar happened in Texas with armadillos. The little tanks would jump when scared, as in when a car was bearing down on them, putting them perfectly at bumper height and out of the gene pool. Now the little guys just curl up in a ball and get bounced of the road from wind draft, but are much more likely to survive the incident unharmed. Of course if someone swerves to get them with a tire.....well so much for new tactics.