Not unrealistic! There are a number of battery powered aircraft (that even hold people!) being manufactured today. Still kinda experimental, but getting much better. For starters, check out:
Yes, the energy density of the best batteries are about 5% that of gasoline (not 1%) but a gasoline engine is only about 20% efficient at converting chemical energy to mechanical. An electric motor is more like 90%. It's no where near equal, but definitely usable.
You've a valid point with regards to the LabVIEW code. I've been a LV and C programmer for a really long time and, as an independent consultant, I'm usually called when things go awry. That said, some of the worst code I've ever seen has been written in LabVIEW. Loops nested 20-levels deep when a simple state-machine would do. Parameters passed solely via over 1000 globals. Logic so contorted that Godel would have shot himself in frustration.
The problem is not that LabVIEW is bad per se, but that the coding bar is low. People who have only written "hello world" in VisualBasic get a copy of LabVIEW and try to conquer the test and measurement world.
So I guess I feel your pain, but don't blame the tool for crap-code.
- Jim
Two ways of doing this. Easy way (and the way that NI tells you to do it): create a control template for the cluster. When the template changes, everything that subscribes to the template changes accordingly. The limitation is that it is still a cluster and those aren't the easiest things to work with. Your circuit analogy is a good one in this case.
Harder way (but worth it and something that NI doesn't tell you): Store all variables as a 2D array of either strings or variants. For each row in the table, the first element is the variable name, the second is the value, the third is the data type and the fourth is the units.
This is a royal pain in the *** to code initially, but will save you limitless time later on as you end up getting things like state persistence, search-sort, type conversion, and so forth.
Over the decades (yes, I've been coding LabVIEW for a couple of 'em), I've come up with an entire suite of VIs to work with these variables in 2D arrays just as though they were named members of clusters.
Don't know if the paper and sample code is still up on ni.com, but I did a presentation on this at NIWeek 2006. Hope this makes your LabVIEWing much more pleasant...
I've been a LabVIEW developer for 20 years now (since v2 came out in '89) and a C-coder for about almost as long and I can say this with about 99% certainty: LabVIEW is not for everything, but what it is good at, there is no good replacement (open source or otherwise). LabVIEW is second to none for data acquisition, control, (some) analysis, (some) simulation and (some) SCADA. On the flip side, unless you've a lot of experience with LabVIEW and/or a lot of time to kill, don't try anything with recursion, distributed computing or high-end visualization. I guess I'm not really sure what the problem is here: For less than $2k, you can pick up a copy of LabVIEW and save your boss hundreds of hours of your time. For about $5k, you can get the whole dev package and compile things to.exe's for deployment all over the company.
In the latest round of budget cuts, NASA introduced plans to modify the CEV for the planned Moon landing in 2038. The original plan called for an updated J-2 engine first used on the Saturn V rocket. The new plan is to have a guy sitting on the outside with a fire extinguisher. The fire extinguisher engine was first used in a high-school physics lab in the 1930s. It is not expected to save any money in the near-term, but in the far term, it should be a cost saver since the technology already exists and is proven.
You may think that funny, but... If you take a humble kosher dill and stick a nail into either end, then run normal 110v AC through said pickle, it will glow with a soft yellow light as the salt in the brine becomes excited. Go ahead an try this at home. For some reason, kosher dills do this best. So given this as prior art, I'd take the laser findings with a grain of... yeah, whatever.
- Jim
References please? I've known about antimatter propulsion methods, but didn't know of any major breakthroughs in either production or storage. Last I heard, storage was via (leaky) Penning traps and production amounted to picograms per year.
It's not that I would use it given any choice in the matter. At issue
is if M$ will be able to sell it to the PHBs of the world. And I'm
afraid that the answer is "yes".
Check out the Space Show at http://archived.thespaceshow.com/ The
host has a moderately annoying voice, but the guests are first rate and
the content is deep enough to satisfy the interested nerd. Shows are
generally more than an hour, so also good for long drives.
Especially considering that the "mainstream press" is relying more and more on the bloggers for their news. As I see it, this is nothing more than freelance journalism, which is now and always has been a respected and vital part of the mainstream news agencies. Certainly the distinction has been made that freelance journalists are journalists by trade whereas bloggers are full time (x) and only part-time journalists, but is this is fair distinction to make, as many freelance journalists also act as consultants, analysts, etc.?
Several varieties of fusion rockets are being considered:
IEC (inertial electrostatic confinement) is just like the Farnsworth Fusor with a selectively leaky grid. This produces a unidirectional jet of plasma useful for propulsion and power. This idea is being pushed by Bussard for his ramjet.
Dense plasma focus is just like a rail gun with a plasma armature. Take two coaxial pipes, puff some duterium between them, run a couple million amps across them and the Lorentz force pushes the gas out at about mach 100. When the plasma reaches the end of the electrodes, the magnetic field pinches off a bunch producing fusion. This is similar to several existing plasma rocket designs and can be scaled to hundreds of newtons of thrust with an Isp of 10-50K. Takes a ton of power though.
Field-reversed configuration (FRC) is like a open-ended tokamak with magnetic mirrors on the ends. One mirror is leaky causing a stream of plasma to escape. The design is similar to the VASIMR (variable specific impulse magnetoplasma rocket) design being developed at NASA in Huntsville AL.
Won't even mention Orion, Daedalus, etc. Those have been covered before. There are of course many other concepts as well. For a great look at fusion space propulsion:
Kammash ed., Fusion Energy in Space Propulsion, AIAA Press 1995
Emilio Panarella ed., Current Trends in International Fusion Research, Plenum Press 1997
or look up papers by George Miley or Terry Kammash.
Speed squared is no longer speed. Just like length squared is no longer length. To get technical: speed (in meters per second) squared = (meters squared) per (seconds squared). Or, if you prefer, joules per kilogram (a constant).
Can we hear from someone who has used a BeOS or derivative for more than the 1 week, I'll-use-it then-write-a-review-about-it period? While I'm as willing as the next guy to try out a new OS, I'm not going to play early adopter potentially burn up a perfectly good machine with an install that renders it only marginally usable.
Slashdot Mirror
http://www.yuneec.com/
http://www.electraflyer.com/
http://www.pipistrel.si/planes/35
Yes, the energy density of the best batteries are about 5% that of gasoline (not 1%) but a gasoline engine is only about 20% efficient at converting chemical energy to mechanical. An electric motor is more like 90%. It's no where near equal, but definitely usable.
... but my VT102 terminal only has the one and the APL compiler doesn't understand a \t.
Mantis shrimp eyes would be f-ing cool!
All of the "Johns" from Buckaroo Banzai. Worfin, Ya Ya, Small Berries, etc. That is all.
You've a valid point with regards to the LabVIEW code. I've been a LV and C programmer for a really long time and, as an independent consultant, I'm usually called when things go awry. That said, some of the worst code I've ever seen has been written in LabVIEW. Loops nested 20-levels deep when a simple state-machine would do. Parameters passed solely via over 1000 globals. Logic so contorted that Godel would have shot himself in frustration.
The problem is not that LabVIEW is bad per se, but that the coding bar is low. People who have only written "hello world" in VisualBasic get a copy of LabVIEW and try to conquer the test and measurement world.
So I guess I feel your pain, but don't blame the tool for crap-code. - Jim
Oh, and that's me (j_cavera)... Just forgot to log-in. - Jim
Harder way (but worth it and something that NI doesn't tell you): Store all variables as a 2D array of either strings or variants. For each row in the table, the first element is the variable name, the second is the value, the third is the data type and the fourth is the units.
This is a royal pain in the *** to code initially, but will save you limitless time later on as you end up getting things like state persistence, search-sort, type conversion, and so forth.
Over the decades (yes, I've been coding LabVIEW for a couple of 'em), I've come up with an entire suite of VIs to work with these variables in 2D arrays just as though they were named members of clusters.
Don't know if the paper and sample code is still up on ni.com, but I did a presentation on this at NIWeek 2006. Hope this makes your LabVIEWing much more pleasant...
- Jim
I've been a LabVIEW developer for 20 years now (since v2 came out in '89) and a C-coder for about almost as long and I can say this with about 99% certainty: LabVIEW is not for everything, but what it is good at, there is no good replacement (open source or otherwise). LabVIEW is second to none for data acquisition, control, (some) analysis, (some) simulation and (some) SCADA. On the flip side, unless you've a lot of experience with LabVIEW and/or a lot of time to kill, don't try anything with recursion, distributed computing or high-end visualization. I guess I'm not really sure what the problem is here: For less than $2k, you can pick up a copy of LabVIEW and save your boss hundreds of hours of your time. For about $5k, you can get the whole dev package and compile things to .exe's for deployment all over the company.
Just my $0.02...
1/100th of 1 bear. By the way, polar bear tastes wonderful smoked over apple wood with a red wine marinade.
... when you pry it out of my cold, dead (yet still shaking) hand!
I can see this one coming:
In the latest round of budget cuts, NASA introduced plans to modify the CEV for the planned Moon landing in 2038. The original plan called for an updated J-2 engine first used on the Saturn V rocket. The new plan is to have a guy sitting on the outside with a fire extinguisher. The fire extinguisher engine was first used in a high-school physics lab in the 1930s. It is not expected to save any money in the near-term, but in the far term, it should be a cost saver since the technology already exists and is proven.
- Jim
And yes, I AM a rocket scientist...
Eject Buckaroo! Eject!
> does this mean that Disney's movies will improve, or that Pixar's will become worse?
Put a gifted kid in a class full of idiots. Will the idiots become smarter? Think not.
You may think that funny, but... If you take a humble kosher dill and stick a nail into either end, then run normal 110v AC through said pickle, it will glow with a soft yellow light as the salt in the brine becomes excited. Go ahead an try this at home. For some reason, kosher dills do this best. So given this as prior art, I'd take the laser findings with a grain of ... yeah, whatever.
- Jim
References please? I've known about antimatter propulsion methods, but didn't know of any major breakthroughs in either production or storage. Last I heard, storage was via (leaky) Penning traps and production amounted to picograms per year.
I for one welcome this new technology. I look foward to being able
to buy a handheld model that can tell me why my wife is mad at me.
It's not that I would use it given any choice in the matter. At issue is if M$ will be able to sell it to the PHBs of the world. And I'm afraid that the answer is "yes".
Check out the Space Show at http://archived.thespaceshow.com/ The host has a moderately annoying voice, but the guests are first rate and the content is deep enough to satisfy the interested nerd. Shows are generally more than an hour, so also good for long drives.
- Jim
Bring it on! (BTW, Burt Rutan _is_ on our side, right?)
Especially considering that the "mainstream press" is relying more and more on the bloggers for their news. As I see it, this is nothing more than freelance journalism, which is now and always has been a respected and vital part of the mainstream news agencies. Certainly the distinction has been made that freelance journalists are journalists by trade whereas bloggers are full time (x) and only part-time journalists, but is this is fair distinction to make, as many freelance journalists also act as consultants, analysts, etc.?
200 trilobyte connection? I've heard of sneakernet, but those things have got to have a horrific latency.
Several varieties of fusion rockets are being considered: IEC (inertial electrostatic confinement) is just like the Farnsworth Fusor with a selectively leaky grid. This produces a unidirectional jet of plasma useful for propulsion and power. This idea is being pushed by Bussard for his ramjet. Dense plasma focus is just like a rail gun with a plasma armature. Take two coaxial pipes, puff some duterium between them, run a couple million amps across them and the Lorentz force pushes the gas out at about mach 100. When the plasma reaches the end of the electrodes, the magnetic field pinches off a bunch producing fusion. This is similar to several existing plasma rocket designs and can be scaled to hundreds of newtons of thrust with an Isp of 10-50K. Takes a ton of power though. Field-reversed configuration (FRC) is like a open-ended tokamak with magnetic mirrors on the ends. One mirror is leaky causing a stream of plasma to escape. The design is similar to the VASIMR (variable specific impulse magnetoplasma rocket) design being developed at NASA in Huntsville AL. Won't even mention Orion, Daedalus, etc. Those have been covered before. There are of course many other concepts as well. For a great look at fusion space propulsion: Kammash ed., Fusion Energy in Space Propulsion, AIAA Press 1995 Emilio Panarella ed., Current Trends in International Fusion Research, Plenum Press 1997 or look up papers by George Miley or Terry Kammash.
Speed squared is no longer speed. Just like length squared is no longer length. To get technical: speed (in meters per second) squared = (meters squared) per (seconds squared). Or, if you prefer, joules per kilogram (a constant).
Probably the first time in Slashdot's history that that comment is actually on topic...
Can we hear from someone who has used a BeOS or derivative for more than the 1 week, I'll-use-it then-write-a-review-about-it period? While I'm as willing as the next guy to try out a new OS, I'm not going to play early adopter potentially burn up a perfectly good machine with an install that renders it only marginally usable.