It's a way of automatically complying with the rules to gain exemption from London's Congestion charge, while not giving up fossil-fuel range/power for longer trips. Quite neat, really.
I could see this happening on your side of the pond if California presses ahead with the ZEV zoning intent.
..And I have to say the hybrid approach probably makes better sense than a 'pure' EV given the scale of American cities.
Here in the UK electric vehicles have long been a feature of the townscape - Doorstep milk deliveries were always carried out by the huge (10,000+ at peak IIRC) fleet of 'milk floats' operated by the major dairies (this service is now in decline, killed by supermarkets). EVs just makes so much sense for such start/stop urban use, and for early in the morning - they're near-silent.
Fortunately, the advantages are recognised - many local councils are experimenting with newer EVs and hybrids for the obvious reasons in town centres. Here in Bristol there is a fair percentage of council-operated natural-gas powered vans, and experimental conversions of diesel city buses.
I am also one of that million - in fact I dearly hope the number is higher than that.
The problem I do have is that, on one hand, we are told that ID cards are essential to our 'security' when more-enlightened people are moving the other way - travel throughout continental Europe as an EU citizen and you just don't not need a passport to travel; I've *never* been challenged to produce one, and it's a joy to travel light, far and wide. You come home to find Tony B.liar (aided and abetted by David Blunkett, our control-freak Home Secretary) cannot act fast enough on enabling legislation which has the potential to lock-down UK citizens.
[sarcasm] The day I plan some great abomination against a group of people I'm sure my biggest worry will be that I can't prove who I say I am. Mmmm: handguns in the UK, check; explosives, check; evil plans, check. Fake ID - oh bugger, I'll never carry that off. [/sarcasm] You see where I'm going with this? Benjamin Franklin's most famous quotation was never more true.
Guess what? I will protest, all I can, for my liberties which have their roots in law delineated in the Magna Carta. Posters in the U.K - read it, it is the legal acceptance of pre-existing common law, now an 800 year-old precedent. And it was expressly draughted to prevent interference in the lives of citizens by the Government:
IT IS ACCORDINGLY OUR WISH AND COMMAND that [...] men in our kingdom shall have and keep all these liberties, rights, and concessions, well and peaceably in their fulness and entirety for them and their heirs, of us and our heirs, in all things and all places for ever.
Both we and the barons have sworn that all this shall be observed in good faith and without deceit. Witness the abovementioned people and many others.
That we now have an elected dictator, rather than a hereditary one, does not change the rights of the people.
Easy demonstration. Ever been shocked by a car's ignition system (plug leads) while tracing a fault ? I can't recommend it for fun, but that's 10-35KV potential right there. It smarts a bit, but since the current is limited theere's no harm done.
In fact the biggest danger is from banging your head on the underside of the bonnet (hood) while yelling 'fuckity fuck'...
A sea of calm
on
Directed Sound
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
It would be simple to defeat though. The effect relies on heterodyning a signal (mixing HF to produce an intermodulation effect) so broadcasting white noise above the range of hearing should drown the wanted signal nicely - just like interference on an AM radio. Say a small device located near the billboard - or two piezo drivers on the outside of headphones, heck you could build it into your cellphone hands-free kit.
Done well, you wouldn't hear a thing; even partial cancellation should reduce the adspeak into something akin to a distant ocean sound.
I think there would be privacy isues to overcome on the part of the Admen first however - remember the hoo-haa over subliminal advertising?
rRecently translated extract from a clay tablet found recently]
Council of exploration:
Meeting convened Just-After-Sol-Moved-Behind-Big-Rock
Item, Oog present plan to explore beyond Place-where-Mammoths-Panic.
Item, OogCousins observe that half the tribemembers who visit the mammoths don't come back.
Item, Also Discussed: those found after mammoths leave are generally flat, or at least, never the same again.
Item, Elders noted that the OogFather went as far as Sunny-Shore-beyond-Mammoths about 400 moons ago. Nothing worth eating either there or on way back.
Item, General dissent on cost of amulets and war-axes for visits in direction of Sunny-Shore-beyond-Mammoths. Much time lost to carving which could be better used scraping skins or digging roots.
Item, Oog scorns 'neanderthal' values of previous comment.
Item, Meeting broke for breaking-of-heads with OpenSourceFlintAxe.
Item OogWife noted cave is getting rather crowded, but more OogSprogs expected soon and skins and roots in very limited supply
I have mod points, but prefer to amplify the central point you make.
Humans may be fragile - but they are not expensive; remember Werner Von Braun's observation that people are the most sophisticated computer there is AND the only one we can mass-produce.
Cultural hang-ups over -maybe- sending people to their deaths are what inhibits space exploration. Presently the risk is about 1:50 for Shuttle passengers, and I'm sure each and every one of them discount the risk because it's something they really , really want to do and believe in.
One day I hope the rest of us can leave the trees and follow. I'd rather my grandchildren have the choice, than still be holding this whole debate. I'll volunteer to test gear in space right now to this end - *please, let me go.*
Meanwhile in here in the UK 5500 people are killed every year due to people travelling from A to B by car for mostly mundane reasons. Almost all these deaths, insofar as the reasons are mundane, are ultimately avoidable with either forethought, planning or better use of existing resources. In the US I believe the figure is roughly 7 times greater.
So where's the fucking problem? We have become a world which knows the cost of everything, but the value of nothing.
The problem is quite simply that Hollywood is about selling escapism; it's not a public service.
Presenting dogfights in space, even whole planets exploding, in complete silence would be very dull. In most films, the soundtrack is where the drama is, and sets the context for the action (or lack of) on the screen. It's audience direction, pure and simple.
The only sci-fi film I can think of that successfully elides this issue is Kubrick's 2001, where classical music is used instead to stunning effect - if only because it credits the audience with some intelligence and gives sufficient pause to wonder.
..is fundamental to the ability to record music on vinyl.
Basically, it involves the master being equalised with the bass rolled-off by (up to 20dB) and the treble boosted by a similar amount. On playback, the 'phono' input on your amplifier ampplies inverse EQ to re-create the original signal.
The reasons are two-fold:
The initial treble emphasis followed by roll-off reduces the contribution of record surface noise from the mechanical transcribing.
The bass rolloff means that the excurions required by the cutter (and the sylus in playback) are kept within reasonable limits - and enable closer groove spacing, allowing a useful recording time. Note there's a direct tradeoff in LP mastering between playback time per side and sound quality, depending on how 'hot' the signal to be cut - more groove excursion requires more space.
The RIAA's contribution was to declare a standard for the EQ curves, when before c.1948 each record company would do more-or-less its own thing.
I don't know, but I'm sure the good people over at Stereophile would see it the other way round...
"The curious drop-out in the fifth bar turns out not to be Schnabel sneezing, but a rare neutrino interaction. Of course an inferior cartridge would just miss it completely..."
Of course this once-in-a-lifetime-purchase is going to be in uncompressed format, isn't it?
Well 4000dpi @ 24bits/pixel for 24fps for what will be at least three four-hour films... is about 28TB if I've done my sums correctly. That's pretty much a 10000(doublesided)DVD box set, and swapping discs every four seconds of footage will soon piss you off.
You can insert the obligatory quote about a speeding stationwagon loaded with DLT tapes here.
Slashdot Mirror
It appears you are trying to land a plane. Would you like to:
[x] Allow Windows to detect new hardware ?
[ ] Allow planes to circle in uncertainty ?
[x] Show this window at all airports
Serious kudos due here - it's a labour of love.
I could see this happening on your side of the pond if California presses ahead with the ZEV zoning intent.
Here in the UK electric vehicles have long been a feature of the townscape - Doorstep milk deliveries were always carried out by the huge (10,000+ at peak IIRC) fleet of 'milk floats' operated by the major dairies (this service is now in decline, killed by supermarkets). EVs just makes so much sense for such start/stop urban use, and for early in the morning - they're near-silent.
Fortunately, the advantages are recognised - many local councils are experimenting with newer EVs and hybrids for the obvious reasons in town centres. Here in Bristol there is a fair percentage of council-operated natural-gas powered vans, and experimental conversions of diesel city buses.
Comparatively few are actually without any sight, mercifully.
Try it again, coward.
Imperial Gallon = 4.54litres
Therefore 22-27mpg(US) = 26.4- 32.4mpg (UK), not quite as bad as it appears - though hardly 'economical' in European terms..
The problem I do have is that, on one hand, we are told that ID cards are essential to our 'security' when more-enlightened people are moving the other way - travel throughout continental Europe as an EU citizen and you just don't not need a passport to travel; I've *never* been challenged to produce one, and it's a joy to travel light, far and wide. You come home to find Tony B.liar (aided and abetted by David Blunkett, our control-freak Home Secretary) cannot act fast enough on enabling legislation which has the potential to lock-down UK citizens.
[sarcasm] The day I plan some great abomination against a group of people I'm sure my biggest worry will be that I can't prove who I say I am. Mmmm: handguns in the UK, check; explosives, check; evil plans, check. Fake ID - oh bugger, I'll never carry that off. [/sarcasm] You see where I'm going with this? Benjamin Franklin's most famous quotation was never more true.
Guess what? I will protest, all I can, for my liberties which have their roots in law delineated in the Magna Carta. Posters in the U.K - read it, it is the legal acceptance of pre-existing common law, now an 800 year-old precedent. And it was expressly draughted to prevent interference in the lives of citizens by the Government:
IT IS ACCORDINGLY OUR WISH AND COMMAND that [...] men in our kingdom shall have and keep all these liberties, rights, and concessions, well and peaceably in their fulness and entirety for them and their heirs, of us and our heirs, in all things and all places for ever.
Both we and the barons have sworn that all this shall be observed in good faith and without deceit. Witness the abovementioned people and many others.
That we now have an elected dictator, rather than a hereditary one, does not change the rights of the people.
Kablooie!
Careful with your generalisations - this European think Starbucks generally tastes like gnat's-piss-with-a-hint-of-charcoal.
In Soviet Russia Academia discounts YOU!
(sorry, the little voices told me to post that..)
Its the volts that jolt, the mils that kill.
...
Easy demonstration. Ever been shocked by a car's ignition system (plug leads) while tracing a fault ? I can't recommend it for fun, but that's 10-35KV potential right there. It smarts a bit, but since the current is limited theere's no harm done.
In fact the biggest danger is from banging your head on the underside of the bonnet (hood) while yelling 'fuckity fuck'
It would be simple to defeat though. The effect relies on heterodyning a signal (mixing HF to produce an intermodulation effect) so broadcasting white noise above the range of hearing should drown the wanted signal nicely - just like interference on an AM radio. Say a small device located near the billboard - or two piezo drivers on the outside of headphones, heck you could build it into your cellphone hands-free kit.
Done well, you wouldn't hear a thing; even partial cancellation should reduce the adspeak into something akin to a distant ocean sound.
I think there would be privacy isues to overcome on the part of the Admen first however - remember the hoo-haa over subliminal advertising?
Council of exploration: Meeting convened Just-After-Sol-Moved-Behind-Big-Rock
Item, Oog present plan to explore beyond Place-where-Mammoths-Panic.
Item, OogCousins observe that half the tribemembers who visit the mammoths don't come back.
Item, Also Discussed: those found after mammoths leave are generally flat, or at least, never the same again.
Item, Elders noted that the OogFather went as far as Sunny-Shore-beyond-Mammoths about 400 moons ago. Nothing worth eating either there or on way back.
Item, General dissent on cost of amulets and war-axes for visits in direction of Sunny-Shore-beyond-Mammoths. Much time lost to carving which could be better used scraping skins or digging roots.
Item, Oog scorns 'neanderthal' values of previous comment.
Item, Meeting broke for breaking-of-heads with OpenSourceFlintAxe.
Item OogWife noted cave is getting rather crowded, but more OogSprogs expected soon and skins and roots in very limited supply
Rest of transcript lost due to broken tablet
I have mod points, but prefer to amplify the central point you make.
Humans may be fragile - but they are not expensive; remember Werner Von Braun's observation that people are the most sophisticated computer there is AND the only one we can mass-produce.
Cultural hang-ups over -maybe- sending people to their deaths are what inhibits space exploration. Presently the risk is about 1:50 for Shuttle passengers, and I'm sure each and every one of them discount the risk because it's something they really , really want to do and believe in.
One day I hope the rest of us can leave the trees and follow. I'd rather my grandchildren have the choice, than still be holding this whole debate. I'll volunteer to test gear in space right now to this end - *please, let me go.*
Meanwhile in here in the UK 5500 people are killed every year due to people travelling from A to B by car for mostly mundane reasons. Almost all these deaths, insofar as the reasons are mundane, are ultimately avoidable with either forethought, planning or better use of existing resources. In the US I believe the figure is roughly 7 times greater.
So where's the fucking problem? We have become a world which knows the cost of everything, but the value of nothing.
Forgent: Eeny, meeny, miney, moe.....
Presenting dogfights in space, even whole planets exploding, in complete silence would be very dull. In most films, the soundtrack is where the drama is, and sets the context for the action (or lack of) on the screen. It's audience direction, pure and simple.
The only sci-fi film I can think of that successfully elides this issue is Kubrick's 2001, where classical music is used instead to stunning effect - if only because it credits the audience with some intelligence and gives sufficient pause to wonder.
Basically, it involves the master being equalised with the bass rolled-off by (up to 20dB) and the treble boosted by a similar amount. On playback, the 'phono' input on your amplifier ampplies inverse EQ to re-create the original signal.
The reasons are two-fold:
The initial treble emphasis followed by roll-off reduces the contribution of record surface noise from the mechanical transcribing.
The bass rolloff means that the excurions required by the cutter (and the sylus in playback) are kept within reasonable limits - and enable closer groove spacing, allowing a useful recording time. Note there's a direct tradeoff in LP mastering between playback time per side and sound quality, depending on how 'hot' the signal to be cut - more groove excursion requires more space.
The RIAA's contribution was to declare a standard for the EQ curves, when before c.1948 each record company would do more-or-less its own thing.
You mean her mother doesn't let her seen guys?
"The curious drop-out in the fifth bar turns out not to be Schnabel sneezing, but a rare neutrino interaction. Of course an inferior cartridge would just miss it completely..."
Well 4000dpi @ 24bits/pixel for 24fps for what will be at least three four-hour films... is about 28TB if I've done my sums correctly. That's pretty much a 10000(doublesided)DVD box set, and swapping discs every four seconds of footage will soon piss you off.
You can insert the obligatory quote about a speeding stationwagon loaded with DLT tapes here.
..of brains with wide-bandwidth communications protocols do exist: they're called a sewing circles.