A cheap 20-30W panel and a cheap car battery will go a long way toward charging a cell phone, running a radio and providing a few hours of light at night, which is what they're after.
If it's in a lamp on a table, or next to where you're sitting on the ground, it's enough to read by. Extending available work hours to beyond sunset allows for more time for education. It also increases the time available for work. Both can result in reduced poverty.
ESD protection implies either a transorb or a spark gap type device. Neither were mentioned (yes, yes, it's early in the tech's development). Since the circuit is effectively on the surface of the bill where it would be damn difficult to protect, I don't see that happening.
Well, I can assure you when you've got a multi-engined 200+ car freight passing your house, even if it's over 1/4 mile away (sorry mate, that's 400 meters), you definitely know it's there. Even the 90mph passenger trains are obvious, if only because they have to lay into the horn well in advance of crossings in order to warn off the idiots (I have to agree with the grand-parent; how can you not notice a train?)
After you drive by with the big block pick_your_favorite_engine with open pipes, they might not be able to hear any of the rest of traffic and walk right into the middle of an interstate highway without knowing it. Ever been to a tractor pull? Without hearing protection?
Took high-school CS about the same time period. 1st year was computer fundamentals, problem solving, sorting data, all done in BASIC (and 6502 assembler if you were brave). 2nd year was basic data structures, linked lists, etc. done in Pascal. Apparently things have gone downhill...
While it might be better to avoid creating the plastic waste in the first place... If the plastic is headed to the landfill anyway, the eventual decay byproducts will include gasses like methane anyway. Better to put it to use than let it escape into the atmosphere.
Headphones - this is the true reason I love my i-phone. I can plug my headphones in (have even thought about getting the expensive noise canceling ones) and they can't complain that I am taking up computer space or bandwidth with my music but I can shut out the office mate coughing up a lung two cubes over (seriously why not stay home? I want to vomit just hearing you!), the person loudly speaking Cantonese or arguing with her eye doctor about a fee on the other side, and the people blaring webcasts in the conference room with the door open on the other side, etc
I already do this occasionally. I'm admittedly easily distracted and the motion of people moving around is as bad as the auditory distractions.
hate it. Had an office and when I really needed to concentrate I could close the door. Then they said they needed the office space so moved me into my lab. Fine, I spent a lot of time there anyway and I could ignore the sound of the equipment running. Now there are three (3) cubes in my lab space, I'm in one. The space in each is only 44 sq ft. But at least the partitions are 6 foot tall; so, I can pretend to concentrate. In 4 month we're moving into a new building, with cubes. And the partition walls are 4 foot tall.
So, the point of the rant is, How in Hell do you expect me to concentrate on my work with no opportunity for peace and quiet?
Sad when an internet meme is so appropriate... So they had a microswitch that says it deployed. Why not put a small camera on one or both to provide some visual feedback? It is an experimental deployment of (1) a cubesat from a microsat, and (2) an experimental sail membrane, yes? How would they know, for certain, that it deployed correctly if there are no pics? Given how small cameras are today, it seems like a no-brainer.
Well, as reported elsewhere... If SpaceX can secure the funding they will design and build a super heavy lift which would give them capability of 120mT - 140mT to orbit. They're floating a fixed price of $2.5B for development and building the initial flight hardware. That's cheap compared to the current proposals for heavy lift vehicles that NASA is floating. If they can arrange for the funding, that gives us a vehicle in the Saturn V class (again) and it's game on.
I doubt you'll get permission to have a welder or plasma cutter in a building that (based on the limited description) is office space. Hot work carries a lot of baggage, safety wise; and, the welder or plasma cutter may trip any IR sensors in the fire alarm system.
I daresay that if NASA could have a budget like that, we'd have a Moon base, a Mars base, and manned operations in deep space, all in short order. But it's not going to happen
They switched to the lightweight tank some time (some years) ago. Although it's kind of late in the game... They are now concerned this may be related to the switch -- it would be bad, if you know what I mean, to find a design deficiency through loss of one of the last three scheduled flights.
I think this is fair... as long as we can build a dinosaur park next door, including skeletons, full sized animated replicas, and a museum that explaines, at length, the evolutionary timeline from Triassic to the modern chicken.
Slashdot Mirror
A cheap 20-30W panel and a cheap car battery will go a long way toward charging a cell phone, running a radio and providing a few hours of light at night, which is what they're after.
If it's in a lamp on a table, or next to where you're sitting on the ground, it's enough to read by. Extending available work hours to beyond sunset allows for more time for education. It also increases the time available for work. Both can result in reduced poverty.
Same accelerator concept though.
Unless you mean: "uses electrodynamics to drive the sled forward", you're wrong. They're not even close.
ESD protection implies either a transorb or a spark gap type device. Neither were mentioned (yes, yes, it's early in the tech's development). Since the circuit is effectively on the surface of the bill where it would be damn difficult to protect, I don't see that happening.
If I accidentally zap it with a static electric discharge, is it now worthless?
Well, I can assure you when you've got a multi-engined 200+ car freight passing your house, even if it's over 1/4 mile away (sorry mate, that's 400 meters), you definitely know it's there. Even the 90mph passenger trains are obvious, if only because they have to lay into the horn well in advance of crossings in order to warn off the idiots (I have to agree with the grand-parent; how can you not notice a train?)
After you drive by with the big block pick_your_favorite_engine with open pipes, they might not be able to hear any of the rest of traffic and walk right into the middle of an interstate highway without knowing it. Ever been to a tractor pull? Without hearing protection?
Took high-school CS about the same time period. 1st year was computer fundamentals, problem solving, sorting data, all done in BASIC (and 6502 assembler if you were brave). 2nd year was basic data structures, linked lists, etc. done in Pascal. Apparently things have gone downhill...
While it might be better to avoid creating the plastic waste in the first place... If the plastic is headed to the landfill anyway, the eventual decay byproducts will include gasses like methane anyway. Better to put it to use than let it escape into the atmosphere.
Headphones - this is the true reason I love my i-phone. I can plug my headphones in (have even thought about getting the expensive noise canceling ones) and they can't complain that I am taking up computer space or bandwidth with my music but I can shut out the office mate coughing up a lung two cubes over (seriously why not stay home? I want to vomit just hearing you!), the person loudly speaking Cantonese or arguing with her eye doctor about a fee on the other side, and the people blaring webcasts in the conference room with the door open on the other side, etc
I already do this occasionally. I'm admittedly easily distracted and the motion of people moving around is as bad as the auditory distractions.
Too late. We were bought out mid-year and will consolidating into the "new" combined office space by spring.
Point. That explains the distortion at my desk: 5.5 x 8 = 44. It's not quite in tune with the universe...
hate it. Had an office and when I really needed to concentrate I could close the door. Then they said they needed the office space so moved me into my lab. Fine, I spent a lot of time there anyway and I could ignore the sound of the equipment running. Now there are three (3) cubes in my lab space, I'm in one. The space in each is only 44 sq ft. But at least the partitions are 6 foot tall; so, I can pretend to concentrate. In 4 month we're moving into a new building, with cubes. And the partition walls are 4 foot tall.
So, the point of the rant is, How in Hell do you expect me to concentrate on my work with no opportunity for peace and quiet?
Sad when an internet meme is so appropriate... So they had a microswitch that says it deployed. Why not put a small camera on one or both to provide some visual feedback? It is an experimental deployment of (1) a cubesat from a microsat, and (2) an experimental sail membrane, yes? How would they know, for certain, that it deployed correctly if there are no pics? Given how small cameras are today, it seems like a no-brainer.
Well, as reported elsewhere... If SpaceX can secure the funding they will design and build a super heavy lift which would give them capability of 120mT - 140mT to orbit. They're floating a fixed price of $2.5B for development and building the initial flight hardware. That's cheap compared to the current proposals for heavy lift vehicles that NASA is floating. If they can arrange for the funding, that gives us a vehicle in the Saturn V class (again) and it's game on.
I doubt you'll get permission to have a welder or plasma cutter in a building that (based on the limited description) is office space. Hot work carries a lot of baggage, safety wise; and, the welder or plasma cutter may trip any IR sensors in the fire alarm system.
Welding (hot work) adds too many complications to what sounds like an office environment. Don't do it.
"about twice the size of my office cubicle" My cube is only 9 x 5.5 ft. What luxury you must live in.
Resisting urge... failing...
Imagine a Beowulf cluster of nests of hornets.
That hurts.
some of the items, individually, will not fit on a Falcon 9. It simply does not have the lifting capacity.
For the 2010 fiscal year, the president's base budget of the Department of Defense rose to $533.8 billion. Adding spending on "overseas contingency operations" brings the sum to $663.8 billion
I daresay that if NASA could have a budget like that, we'd have a Moon base, a Mars base, and manned operations in deep space, all in short order. But it's not going to happen
Stuff won't fit on the Falcon 9. Now the Falcon X heavy (up to 125mT to LEO) might do... Makes me wonder how serious they were about those.
They switched to the lightweight tank some time (some years) ago. Although it's kind of late in the game... They are now concerned this may be related to the switch -- it would be bad, if you know what I mean, to find a design deficiency through loss of one of the last three scheduled flights.
I think this is fair... as long as we can build a dinosaur park next door, including skeletons, full sized animated replicas, and a museum that explaines, at length, the evolutionary timeline from Triassic to the modern chicken.
a stargate and figured out how to make it work. But now the aliens know we exist...