No American has any idea why the 5th of November is significant unless they read comic books. At least that's the truth for me.
Well, shame on you. It was a significant event leading up to the foundation of your country, since religious persecution (which was what the Gunpowder Plot was all about) was the reason your founding fathers set sail on the Mayflower. That took place only 15 years after the Gunpowder Plot. While the dissenters on the Mayflower were protestants, they were opposed to any state interference in religion, which was enshrined in law the year after, and directly arising from, the failure of the plot.
Sorry, no useful advice for your particular situation, but it does remind me that exhibition hall interference is a problem that goes way back.
In the late 80s I worked for an exhibition company and we built a huge pond made up like Portsmouth Docks which ran a couple of remote controlled boats that punters could play with, and were meant to take part in a timed race. (Left unsupervised of course, they much preferred the sport of ramming each other until one sank). The first version used standard 27MHz radio control gear and was utterly hopeless - monitoring the channel using a CB proved that there was a positive noise-to-signal ratio. Version 2 ran the same basic gear but used infra-red transmissions from four strategically placed towers at the corners of the pond and an omni-directional pickup on the boats. Worked totally reliably. We never successfully solved the ram-and-sink problem though.
They are all like it. In the UK, I had a very similar experience with British Telecom, trying to cancel my phone + internet account because I'd emigrated. Yet they still kept on charging for me long after I'd left the country! (The procedure to actually notify them that I'd cancelled both accounts was Kafka-esque in its byzantine intricacy and ineffectiveness). In my case I simply refused to pay and eventually when it got to the legal proceedings stage, I could simply prove my case that I'd moved abroad and it was immediately dropped. Bloody stupid that it had to get that far though.
I'm 50 next year. My programming ability gets better and better all the time, and has done since I started in 1980. When I look back at stuff I wrote in the 80s, it's cringe-worthy and an embarrassment. I'll probably say the same about the stuff I'm doing now when I'm 70.
What has changed for the worse though is my energy. Back then I could code like a demon, then go out and party half the night and carry on next day without feeling any the worse. Of course, I was pouring my energy into a lot of bad code, but it often ended up working by brute force. Now I find it hard to stare at the screen for long periods at a time and overall my work rate is much lower - but its effectiveness is much higher.
It's really about time an element was named Daltonium. It was John Dalton who came up with the original ideas that led to correct theories about the structure of the atom and what an element was, yet his name is not honoured, and is passed over again and again for silly names. It's almost as if people have forgotten him....
You can still hack away using Interface Builder (free on install discs, or downloaded). However since nibs became encrypted it's much less fun than it was a few versions back, but you can still reduce an app's disk footprint by removing all the languages you don't need. But then again, who worries about disk footprint these days? It's also usually possible to change image resources, since all images are now just that - tiff, pdf, png standard files, rather than some arcane ResEdit format. All these things are steps forward from ResEdit days, though I do admit, it was kinda fun to hack that way.
While it sounds ridiculous on the face of it, they have a point, especially in respect of cell towers and longer-range Wifi, or even wired. For example, after very heavy and prolonged rain, our own ADSL connection deteriorates because the underground cable between our house and the street connection (which is rather long) gets waterlogged. It's a definitely noticeable effect.
D'oh, you're right, I was getting the kWh and Wh confused there too. I'm seeing a price of AU$78 for a single Thundersky 60Ah cell in quantity, which is 180Wh (2.3Wh per dollar, AU$ are slightly above US$). The energy density of this cell is 78Whr/kg and is a very common cell in many pack configurations. You can get better densities than this, but the raw chemistry has to be packaged so this is the practical density when you put it in a plastic case and add terminals and so on. Even allowing for the poor efficiency of IC, this is still just 3% of petrol. (Though the weight saving in the vehicle as a whole would further improve this). 3C charging is the absolute maximum on these cells, giving ~20 minutes, 0.5C appears to be recommended, and 3C is hard to achieve using domestic supplies - even a smallish 60Ah pack would need 180A at the rated voltage, which is going to exceed the current available from a domestic socket at anything over 17V assuming no losses in the charger. Most packs have voltages much higher than that. The most I can charge at from a domestic socket on my hypothetical 60Ah 72V pack is 0.72C.
The only thing that will get them down in price is more volume. It's starting to happen, but it's still at the very start of the ramp. There's only been one commercial manufacturer until recently - the fact there are now two is a great sign. Costs are no longer ridiculous - I'm seeing around $2 per kWh at present, which is half what it was only a year ago. When it's down to $1 I think that could well be the tipping-point, due to the psychology of nice round numbers. $2 is still "economically viable" though, if you do the maths.
LiFePO4 has actually a slightly lower energy-density (78kWh/kg) than other lithium chemistries, but it's worth it for the much greater safety and other benefits you mentioned. I'm not sure about 10 minute charge times though, that seems optimistic. Most data sheets I've seen suggest charging at 0.5C, which translates into two hours in most cases.
On the other hand --
As an independent developer
- I have to do it the approved Apple Way or not at all
- Apple takes a cut of my sales
They do, but as an independent developer, it's actually really good value for money. It's a much, much bigger shop window than any independent developer could create on their own, it handles all the hassles of providing an install and update mechanism, and best of all, handles all the payment aggro worldwide. Apple even throw in a little comarketing.
I was initially a little skeptical about the store, but having now tried it, I'm totally sold. Our app store app is outselling our more traditionally distributed app about 50:1. For the first time, our little independent software shop looks less like an expensive hobby and more like a viable business.
It's not my life, it's the values and life of the nation as a whole - in particularly the USA. (I'm not a US citizen BTW, though whenever I travel there I find it does effect me considerably). The USA is supposed to enshrine the idea of individual freedom, innocent until proven guilty, not spying on its own citizens, not detaining people indefinitely without trial and so forth. I see significant changes to all of these things since 9/11 which overall add up to the USA becoming well on its way to becoming a police state (though far from unique in that). I believe personally that its too high a price to pay, but then again, people's memories are short and the lessons of e.g. Nazism and the DDR are already being forgotten.
Bugger, this is the first time I've backed an unsuccessful technology since I bought a DAT recorder in 1992. Still, it'll keep working for me. The Flip has surprisingly excellent picture quality, good storage time (I have the 16GB Mino model with 2 hours capacity) and is super easy to use and integrate with other things - laptop, AV system, etc. Sad to see it now considered a 'flop'.
Most likely it means that the engine has terrible spin up/down times and/or is inefficient at doing them. Its best operated at constant speed, generating electricity for an electric motor which actually pushes you forward.
Which would be a HUGE leap forward in thinking, assuming the quoted efficiency is real. Too many people tie themselves in knots wondering how we can couple such an engine to the wheels. The answer is: with wires. Forget all the shafts, gears, clutches, differentials, CV joints and nasty rotating heavy bits. Replace it all with wires, and put nice high-effeiciency motors in the hubs (doubling as regenerative brakes). It can be done with equivalent unsprung mass as a conventional vehicle now, with 5kW/kg and 85%+ efficiency. The only thing holding back electric vehicles is batteries and the infrastructure to charge or swap them. A fixed-speed generator of this sort of efficiency would be a quantum leap forward for series hybrid vehicles, and the much needed bridge between ICE and electric. I just hope it's not snake oil.
Slashdot Mirror
No American has any idea why the 5th of November is significant unless they read comic books. At least that's the truth for me.
Well, shame on you. It was a significant event leading up to the foundation of your country, since religious persecution (which was what the Gunpowder Plot was all about) was the reason your founding fathers set sail on the Mayflower. That took place only 15 years after the Gunpowder Plot. While the dissenters on the Mayflower were protestants, they were opposed to any state interference in religion, which was enshrined in law the year after, and directly arising from, the failure of the plot.
Carbon, Hydrogen, Nitrogen and Oxygen. Surprise!
You don't need a reader, as long as the format is discoverable. They didn't send a reader up with the Voyager disc, did they?
The new standard: we're all poor.
Sorry, no useful advice for your particular situation, but it does remind me that exhibition hall interference is a problem that goes way back.
In the late 80s I worked for an exhibition company and we built a huge pond made up like Portsmouth Docks which ran a couple of remote controlled boats that punters could play with, and were meant to take part in a timed race. (Left unsupervised of course, they much preferred the sport of ramming each other until one sank). The first version used standard 27MHz radio control gear and was utterly hopeless - monitoring the channel using a CB proved that there was a positive noise-to-signal ratio. Version 2 ran the same basic gear but used infra-red transmissions from four strategically placed towers at the corners of the pond and an omni-directional pickup on the boats. Worked totally reliably. We never successfully solved the ram-and-sink problem though.
Not only the Daily Mail, but the Daily Mail in August. You might as well get your news from the Beano.
Well, maybe if enough people do that and a clear winner emerges, that would prove something? Or don't you believe in statistical effects?
I bet you're a bundle of fun at kids' parties.
They are all like it. In the UK, I had a very similar experience with British Telecom, trying to cancel my phone + internet account because I'd emigrated. Yet they still kept on charging for me long after I'd left the country! (The procedure to actually notify them that I'd cancelled both accounts was Kafka-esque in its byzantine intricacy and ineffectiveness). In my case I simply refused to pay and eventually when it got to the legal proceedings stage, I could simply prove my case that I'd moved abroad and it was immediately dropped. Bloody stupid that it had to get that far though.
I'm 50 next year. My programming ability gets better and better all the time, and has done since I started in 1980. When I look back at stuff I wrote in the 80s, it's cringe-worthy and an embarrassment. I'll probably say the same about the stuff I'm doing now when I'm 70.
What has changed for the worse though is my energy. Back then I could code like a demon, then go out and party half the night and carry on next day without feeling any the worse. Of course, I was pouring my energy into a lot of bad code, but it often ended up working by brute force. Now I find it hard to stare at the screen for long periods at a time and overall my work rate is much lower - but its effectiveness is much higher.
"Patents are anything you can get away with".
Fox gets more far-right than you'd ever like to admit
FTFY
It's really about time an element was named Daltonium. It was John Dalton who came up with the original ideas that led to correct theories about the structure of the atom and what an element was, yet his name is not honoured, and is passed over again and again for silly names. It's almost as if people have forgotten him....
Thomas Edison was a really awesome inventor
No, he wasn't. You've fallen for the hype (mostly created by Thos. Edison himself).
You can still hack away using Interface Builder (free on install discs, or downloaded). However since nibs became encrypted it's much less fun than it was a few versions back, but you can still reduce an app's disk footprint by removing all the languages you don't need. But then again, who worries about disk footprint these days? It's also usually possible to change image resources, since all images are now just that - tiff, pdf, png standard files, rather than some arcane ResEdit format. All these things are steps forward from ResEdit days, though I do admit, it was kinda fun to hack that way.
Upgrading another Mac SE to run OS X itself was even more of a challenge....
What, like this one? Mac SE/X A project I did a few years back now.
While it sounds ridiculous on the face of it, they have a point, especially in respect of cell towers and longer-range Wifi, or even wired. For example, after very heavy and prolonged rain, our own ADSL connection deteriorates because the underground cable between our house and the street connection (which is rather long) gets waterlogged. It's a definitely noticeable effect.
D'oh, you're right, I was getting the kWh and Wh confused there too. I'm seeing a price of AU$78 for a single Thundersky 60Ah cell in quantity, which is 180Wh (2.3Wh per dollar, AU$ are slightly above US$). The energy density of this cell is 78Whr/kg and is a very common cell in many pack configurations. You can get better densities than this, but the raw chemistry has to be packaged so this is the practical density when you put it in a plastic case and add terminals and so on. Even allowing for the poor efficiency of IC, this is still just 3% of petrol. (Though the weight saving in the vehicle as a whole would further improve this). 3C charging is the absolute maximum on these cells, giving ~20 minutes, 0.5C appears to be recommended, and 3C is hard to achieve using domestic supplies - even a smallish 60Ah pack would need 180A at the rated voltage, which is going to exceed the current available from a domestic socket at anything over 17V assuming no losses in the charger. Most packs have voltages much higher than that. The most I can charge at from a domestic socket on my hypothetical 60Ah 72V pack is 0.72C.
Of course I mean 78 Wh/kg, not kWh - that would be a remarkable breakthrough!
The only thing that will get them down in price is more volume. It's starting to happen, but it's still at the very start of the ramp. There's only been one commercial manufacturer until recently - the fact there are now two is a great sign. Costs are no longer ridiculous - I'm seeing around $2 per kWh at present, which is half what it was only a year ago. When it's down to $1 I think that could well be the tipping-point, due to the psychology of nice round numbers. $2 is still "economically viable" though, if you do the maths.
LiFePO4 has actually a slightly lower energy-density (78kWh/kg) than other lithium chemistries, but it's worth it for the much greater safety and other benefits you mentioned. I'm not sure about 10 minute charge times though, that seems optimistic. Most data sheets I've seen suggest charging at 0.5C, which translates into two hours in most cases.
On the other hand --
As an independent developer
- I have to do it the approved Apple Way or not at all
- Apple takes a cut of my sales
They do, but as an independent developer, it's actually really good value for money. It's a much, much bigger shop window than any independent developer could create on their own, it handles all the hassles of providing an install and update mechanism, and best of all, handles all the payment aggro worldwide. Apple even throw in a little comarketing.
I was initially a little skeptical about the store, but having now tried it, I'm totally sold. Our app store app is outselling our more traditionally distributed app about 50:1. For the first time, our little independent software shop looks less like an expensive hobby and more like a viable business.
It's not my life, it's the values and life of the nation as a whole - in particularly the USA. (I'm not a US citizen BTW, though whenever I travel there I find it does effect me considerably). The USA is supposed to enshrine the idea of individual freedom, innocent until proven guilty, not spying on its own citizens, not detaining people indefinitely without trial and so forth. I see significant changes to all of these things since 9/11 which overall add up to the USA becoming well on its way to becoming a police state (though far from unique in that). I believe personally that its too high a price to pay, but then again, people's memories are short and the lessons of e.g. Nazism and the DDR are already being forgotten.
"They intend to change our values and way of life". Well, they have. Mission Accomplished indeed.
Bugger, this is the first time I've backed an unsuccessful technology since I bought a DAT recorder in 1992. Still, it'll keep working for me. The Flip has surprisingly excellent picture quality, good storage time (I have the 16GB Mino model with 2 hours capacity) and is super easy to use and integrate with other things - laptop, AV system, etc. Sad to see it now considered a 'flop'.
Most likely it means that the engine has terrible spin up/down times and/or is inefficient at doing them. Its best operated at constant speed, generating electricity for an electric motor which actually pushes you forward.
Which would be a HUGE leap forward in thinking, assuming the quoted efficiency is real. Too many people tie themselves in knots wondering how we can couple such an engine to the wheels. The answer is: with wires. Forget all the shafts, gears, clutches, differentials, CV joints and nasty rotating heavy bits. Replace it all with wires, and put nice high-effeiciency motors in the hubs (doubling as regenerative brakes). It can be done with equivalent unsprung mass as a conventional vehicle now, with 5kW/kg and 85%+ efficiency. The only thing holding back electric vehicles is batteries and the infrastructure to charge or swap them. A fixed-speed generator of this sort of efficiency would be a quantum leap forward for series hybrid vehicles, and the much needed bridge between ICE and electric. I just hope it's not snake oil.