GE Plastics (owner of Lexan) has been trying to get that idea going for a while now. Though it sounds like this material would be even more scratch resistant, and also offer windshields that don't need wipers in the rain (like a permanent Rain-X coating).
I also found it interesting that Sony-Ericsson released a similar plastic coating for the screen of their new phones, but isn't saying a word about how it's made or what other applications it has.
Damn I wish America wasn't so stuck up, we'd totally flip our shit if a girl's posterior was displayed on any government building. The FCC wouldn't stop till it had fined the individual photons from the projector.
I really appreciate that he still used a glycol/water mixture. Pretty unnecessary, but certainly a nice touch.
Radiators were made to have a flow of air over them, so putting a fan blowing over that thing would greatly increase its cooling abilities. Of course, he's still stuck with old shitty car parts under his desk...
If you just count the voter turnout during a presidential election of about 100 million people, that means that there are at least one million people who are voting for these "1%" candidates.
And that's just the people that have the balls to vote third party. I'm sure there are even more who live in a swing state and would rather vote against the worst candidate than vote how they really feel. Not to mention all of the people who have never even heard of the 3rd party candidates thanks to the media.
People will flip out in rage against the tobacco industry if they hear a statistic like "20,000 people die every year from second hand smoke," but if you hear "one million people are so fed up that they voted Libertarian" it gets shrugged off.
Sorry for the pathetic metaphor, but small percentages can still be big numbers, especially when those small percentages are drastically more informed than your typical voter.
You've obviously never taken any aerodynamics classes. The point of the spoiler isn't for traction, it goes along with the basic understanding that an airfoil will provide a significant horsepower increase. Your typical spoiler on a Civic will increase horsepower 40 to 60 percent.
Take airplanes for instance. They need a large amount of thrust to get off the ground, so aircraft engineers went ahead and put TWO big airfoils on each side, as well as some smaller ones in back.
It's all simple engineering really. Let me guess, you think that stickers are purely aesthetic, and don't serve their main purpose of abrateable heat sheilding during fast runs?
I've been trying to read between the lines on this thing, and I think I finally figured it out.
Basically, it acts like the traditional XM "portable" receivers that can be switched between docking stations in the home or car other semi-permanent setup. Those require an external antenna to be run somewhere with a good view (though my desk unit will pick up a signal through the wooden roof at home, but not through the metal roof at work).
It doesn't look like this unit comes with an internal antenna, in fact it looks to come with an indoor and an outdoor antenna as well as the docking setup for each. So I'm thinking this isn't a revolutionary device, but instead adds a little more functionality to their existing product line: the only music you can listen to while on-the-go is the music that you've recorded onto the device while it was plugged in. In other words, you set it up on your desk or in your car to record all night, then you listen to new audio as you drive around, and when you get out you can listen to the audio you recorded overnight.
This is just my interpretation though, because my experience with satellite radios is they wouldn't work very well in your pocket as you walk down the street. They solved this problem by letting you record onto the same device you'd already have for home and office.
As somebody who already owns a home kit and car kit with a receiver that goes between each, I'll skip buying this product and just copy 5 hours of programming at night onto a cassette and listen to it on a walkman.
I recomend my highly patentable invention: "typing gloves." Take a pair of cheap wool gloves (army surplus wool gloves work great) and cut the fingers off at the first knuckle (of the gloves, not your hands) and presto! all the warmth of not-cold hands, with the dexterity required to hit 90 wpm.
To complete the look, I also recomend growing out a beard, transferring everything in your briefcase into a handkerchief tied onto the end of a stick, and always eating cold beans out of a tin can for lunch (and potentially burn a 55 gallon drum of garbage for ambient lighting.)
I always assumed offices were so cold to keep all of the "suits" comfortable as they went about their corporate level day. I know I'd certainly be sweating having to wear a coat inside while showing some Japanese investors around.
Which is why I doubt the AC is gonna be lowered anytime soon. It would be a battle between HR and upper management, and while certainly a glorious battle it would be, uppper management usually wins.
Try 60% with some of GE's newer STAG units (STeam And Gas, taking the exhaust from the gas turbine to essentially run a boiler for a steam turbine). That's the number for just straight up energy produced to energy available in gas ratio. Most of the high numbers you see like 80% use gimicks suck as "operational" efficiency, taking things into consideration like heating the offices of plant operators and how many people are on staff.
Now, the next generation of power plants will use gas, steam, and fuel cells to produce a true 80% efficiency, but that's probably a decade off (like flying cars).
Cept where did the energy come from to charge that 80% efficient battery? From your local gas turbine powerplant, which once you factor in the efficiency loss of the grid, will come out to much lower efficiency than your hand held gas turbine.
You definitely make sense, and being on the engineering side I try and throw logic at it all the time. But keep in mind that the general public is not informed, and our product is one that is nearly identical to our competitors, both in price and performance. That means our end-users will select us based on brand recognition and familarity. So, if they buy the competitor at Walmart, they'll continue to buy the competitor at super markets and drug stores, where we make most of the profit.
So losing the 20% of customers we had at Walmart theoretically means we lose them in other venues too, so soon instead of in league with our competitors, we're considered a "smaller" brand, along with all the stigmas associated. I'm by no means happy with the way this sort of marketing and business works, but it's whats become of giant corporations these days.
My god man! Keep quiet, if Walmart became a record label, it'd destroy every last shred of hope for decent music in the world as we know it. I can see it now, they'd turn to radio stations and say "pay us a ridiculous amount of money to play our songs, or you won't get to play any of our #1 hits, of which currently take up the top 40."
Suddenly, radio stations are folding because they can't afford to pay the Walmart prices, Clear Channel has to start playing independent bands selected by live DJ's, and the only place you'll hear the Britney Spears is at her live concert in a Walmart parking lot.
Wait, nevermind, that's a great idea! Get Walmart into the music industry ASAP!
Except that Walmart isn't the one offering those low prices. They turn to the producer and say "cut your prices so we can be competitive, or we won't sell your product."
In most instances, such as the music industry, the producer can't afford to lose 20% of their market, and Walmart is famous for being strict on their tactic of "our way or the highway."
20% of the market may not be a majority, but it's most likely a plurality. The corporation I work for has Wal-Mart as it's single largest source of revenue, even though it only makes up about 30% of that revenue.
Tie that in with the fact that Wal-Mart operates on a "do it our way or you're out" mentality, and will not hesitate to give your competitor an internal "wal-mart monopoly" by only selling their product, and you're quicky doing whatever they say. Our company identifies that we lose money in cutting prices for Wal-Mart and meeting their ridiculous supply demands, but if we didn't play game with them they'd make sure in a second that our competitors could run us out of town.
Wal-Marts cut throat tactics should also give a clue as to why the music industry is putting out so much formulaic crap, because Wal-Mart refuses to put anything on the shelves unless it makes them a certain amount of profit in any given time. So only the big pop stars get pushed at Wal-Mart, which in turn means 20% of the market won't even know about other artists.
Ah, Zoo cleaning, now there was a well spent childhood. Let me tell you though, scooping horse crap into a cart all day wasn't all that bad, in fact I often preferred doing that to any other jobs (pony ride attendent, snack shack operator, train driver).
But man, there is absolutely no fowler stuff in the world than tiger shit. The smell, the consistency...ugh, I'm sure you can imagine what eating raw meat exclusively will result in.
Anyhow, as a shameless plug, if anybody is in the Austin, TX area be sure to go support Austin Zoo, one of the best rescue-oriented non-profit animal sanctuaries in the south.
I find this remark especially meaninful having been posted on the American "Columbus Day," in which we celebrate the guy who, though he was by no means the first to step land in the "new world," he is credited as the one to have discovered it.
Sorry, guess I wasn't laying the sarcasm on thick enough. You might have picked it up had I gone into my next point about how I'd like to take my favorite chapters from different books and create a "mix book" that I can read anywhere.
Aside from my sophomoric attempts at humor, I agree with you. There is a BIG difference between trying to do away with technology that limits your abilities to access your own property, and doing away with technology that limits your access to somebody else's property.
The BPAA (Book Publishers Association of America) has destroyed literature by stifling innovation and branding it's own pop authors that it force feeds to the masses. Why, I can't go outside without being forced to read the latest chart topper.
And really, why should I be forced to pay $20 for a whole book when only a few chapters in it are any good, and I could just download those from google or have a friend make me a copy.
I enjoyed the original version of this movie. Martin Sheen's portrayal of Kerry was spot-on and heart felt, though Brando's vision of Bush was a little over acted.
Kerry: "They told me that you had gone totally insane, and that your methods were unsound." Bush: "Are my methods unsound?" Kerry: "I don't see any method at all, sir."
Well, as we all find out freshman year of college: Biology class is actually Chemistry, Chemistry class is actually Physics, and Physics class is actually Calculus.
Slashdot Mirror
I also found it interesting that Sony-Ericsson released a similar plastic coating for the screen of their new phones, but isn't saying a word about how it's made or what other applications it has.
For what it's worth.
Damn I wish America wasn't so stuck up, we'd totally flip our shit if a girl's posterior was displayed on any government building. The FCC wouldn't stop till it had fined the individual photons from the projector.
Radiators were made to have a flow of air over them, so putting a fan blowing over that thing would greatly increase its cooling abilities. Of course, he's still stuck with old shitty car parts under his desk...
And that's just the people that have the balls to vote third party. I'm sure there are even more who live in a swing state and would rather vote against the worst candidate than vote how they really feel. Not to mention all of the people who have never even heard of the 3rd party candidates thanks to the media.
People will flip out in rage against the tobacco industry if they hear a statistic like "20,000 people die every year from second hand smoke," but if you hear "one million people are so fed up that they voted Libertarian" it gets shrugged off.
Sorry for the pathetic metaphor, but small percentages can still be big numbers, especially when those small percentages are drastically more informed than your typical voter.
At least it didn't go apocalyptic this time, like everyone seems to think it will on each of its 1000 year birthdays.
I know, I wish I could take it back now. I'm sorry world, I forgot the [BLATANT DUMBASS SARCASM] tags.
Take airplanes for instance. They need a large amount of thrust to get off the ground, so aircraft engineers went ahead and put TWO big airfoils on each side, as well as some smaller ones in back.
It's all simple engineering really. Let me guess, you think that stickers are purely aesthetic, and don't serve their main purpose of abrateable heat sheilding during fast runs?
Basically, it acts like the traditional XM "portable" receivers that can be switched between docking stations in the home or car other semi-permanent setup. Those require an external antenna to be run somewhere with a good view (though my desk unit will pick up a signal through the wooden roof at home, but not through the metal roof at work).
It doesn't look like this unit comes with an internal antenna, in fact it looks to come with an indoor and an outdoor antenna as well as the docking setup for each. So I'm thinking this isn't a revolutionary device, but instead adds a little more functionality to their existing product line: the only music you can listen to while on-the-go is the music that you've recorded onto the device while it was plugged in. In other words, you set it up on your desk or in your car to record all night, then you listen to new audio as you drive around, and when you get out you can listen to the audio you recorded overnight.
This is just my interpretation though, because my experience with satellite radios is they wouldn't work very well in your pocket as you walk down the street. They solved this problem by letting you record onto the same device you'd already have for home and office.
As somebody who already owns a home kit and car kit with a receiver that goes between each, I'll skip buying this product and just copy 5 hours of programming at night onto a cassette and listen to it on a walkman.
To complete the look, I also recomend growing out a beard, transferring everything in your briefcase into a handkerchief tied onto the end of a stick, and always eating cold beans out of a tin can for lunch (and potentially burn a 55 gallon drum of garbage for ambient lighting.)
Which is why I doubt the AC is gonna be lowered anytime soon. It would be a battle between HR and upper management, and while certainly a glorious battle it would be, uppper management usually wins.
Now, the next generation of power plants will use gas, steam, and fuel cells to produce a true 80% efficiency, but that's probably a decade off (like flying cars).
Cept where did the energy come from to charge that 80% efficient battery? From your local gas turbine powerplant, which once you factor in the efficiency loss of the grid, will come out to much lower efficiency than your hand held gas turbine.
So losing the 20% of customers we had at Walmart theoretically means we lose them in other venues too, so soon instead of in league with our competitors, we're considered a "smaller" brand, along with all the stigmas associated. I'm by no means happy with the way this sort of marketing and business works, but it's whats become of giant corporations these days.
Suddenly, radio stations are folding because they can't afford to pay the Walmart prices, Clear Channel has to start playing independent bands selected by live DJ's, and the only place you'll hear the Britney Spears is at her live concert in a Walmart parking lot.
Wait, nevermind, that's a great idea! Get Walmart into the music industry ASAP!
In most instances, such as the music industry, the producer can't afford to lose 20% of their market, and Walmart is famous for being strict on their tactic of "our way or the highway."
Tie that in with the fact that Wal-Mart operates on a "do it our way or you're out" mentality, and will not hesitate to give your competitor an internal "wal-mart monopoly" by only selling their product, and you're quicky doing whatever they say. Our company identifies that we lose money in cutting prices for Wal-Mart and meeting their ridiculous supply demands, but if we didn't play game with them they'd make sure in a second that our competitors could run us out of town.
Wal-Marts cut throat tactics should also give a clue as to why the music industry is putting out so much formulaic crap, because Wal-Mart refuses to put anything on the shelves unless it makes them a certain amount of profit in any given time. So only the big pop stars get pushed at Wal-Mart, which in turn means 20% of the market won't even know about other artists.
But man, there is absolutely no fowler stuff in the world than tiger shit. The smell, the consistency...ugh, I'm sure you can imagine what eating raw meat exclusively will result in.
Anyhow, as a shameless plug, if anybody is in the Austin, TX area be sure to go support Austin Zoo, one of the best rescue-oriented non-profit animal sanctuaries in the south.
So in Slashdot terms...you're saying that Han Solo (circa Special Edition) was a tree hugger?
I find this remark especially meaninful having been posted on the American "Columbus Day," in which we celebrate the guy who, though he was by no means the first to step land in the "new world," he is credited as the one to have discovered it.
Good point. Looks like the phrase "when it rains, it pours" can be based on harmonic resonance.
Aside from my sophomoric attempts at humor, I agree with you. There is a BIG difference between trying to do away with technology that limits your abilities to access your own property, and doing away with technology that limits your access to somebody else's property.
The BPAA (Book Publishers Association of America) has destroyed literature by stifling innovation and branding it's own pop authors that it force feeds to the masses. Why, I can't go outside without being forced to read the latest chart topper.
And really, why should I be forced to pay $20 for a whole book when only a few chapters in it are any good, and I could just download those from google or have a friend make me a copy.
Kerry: "They told me that you had gone totally insane, and that your methods were unsound."
Bush: "Are my methods unsound?"
Kerry: "I don't see any method at all, sir."
Well, as we all find out freshman year of college: Biology class is actually Chemistry, Chemistry class is actually Physics, and Physics class is actually Calculus.