Chase your dream job in one of the hottest fields! We are the largest employer in our industry, and this is your opportunity to be a part of a growing team.
We have an immediate opening for an experienced HVAC engineer with our facilities maintanence staff. This is a contract position related to a recent failure of our heating system. Duties will continue until completion of repairs and a period of observation and validation. Responsibilities include:
Identification and resolution of problems related to heating system failures
Conduct inspection, supervision, and repair work in an icy environment
Identification and resolution of maintanence concerns
Costing and sourcing of required parts/labor related to facilities environmental controls
Supervision of engineers/technicians of facilities maintanence staff
Development of updated maintanence plan and documentation of procedures.
The successful candidate will have a BS in mechanical engineering and a minimum of 10 years experience in HVAC, preferrably focusing on heating more than AC. Experience with flame handling equipment preferred. We're looking for a sadistic and maniacal personality who will fit in with the other employees. Security Clearance: must have at least 5 outstanding mortal sins and have not had an exorcism within the past year. ADA limitations: Must be able to reach heights of 5 feet. Must be deceased. Upon hiring, candidate may be required to obstain a bullwhip certification. Ability to work around flying pigs required.
Benefits include medical, dental, and beta access to Duke Nukem Forever.
Send your resume and cover letter to:
hrjobs@hell.com
(666) 666-1234
Oh man! We came soooo close to slashdotting the World Wide Web Consortium! They caught it just in time however and threw a 403: forbidden back at me when I tried the html validator link.
Hopefully they don't use the power of CSS to make the site look too nice. It's crappiness makes it easy to pass it off as a technical or internal website when I'm reading at work.
You have the answer to your question in your own post. Lemme just play with your wording a bit...ah, there!
I know we have a plan for the future and all, but since a cure for AIDS won't be viable or even economical for another 60 or 80 years (by which time I, and all current AIDS sufferers will be dead), I would rather have a nice reduction in taxes.
The deal is, you have to start sometime if you're ever going to get there. We've reached the point where investing significant amounts of money trying to develop treatments for HIV is worthwhile, and I would also argue we've reached the point where we should be putting some money into further developing our space capabilities.
The Saturn V weighed 3000 tons at launch. By the time it reached 17,500 mph, it weighed about 100 tons. Most of the lost weight was used to generate the kinetic energy ultimately imparted into the remaining 100 tons. That paper is talking about a 15000 ton structure continuously moving at orbital velocity. I'm skeptical of the concept based on that alone. Furthermore, if I'm reading it correctly, it proposes to trade kinetic energy of the ribbon for the force necessary to support it against gravity. This is akin to supporting an Ohio class ballistic missle submarine in midair with a stream of water. He addresses the issue of providing energy to accelerate launch vehicles via the ribbon, but not how to replace the kinetic energy of the ribbon itself as it is accelerated downward by the upward force it exerts on its sheath. It is theoretically possible to support a submarine with a stream of water, but you'd better have one heck of a big pump transferring energy into the water stream. Granted, I haven't investigated the issue as much as the author of that paper, but I think he left out quite a few details from his analysis. Plus, even though all the technology for this may exist today, as the poster stated, none have been applied on anything close to this scale.
If this were really such a great idea, I would expect to at least see engineering students playing with scaled down models, as many have with the space elevator concept, and Liftport is planning on doing on a larger scale in the near future.
On a completely unrelated note, it seems I've been delayed about an hour posting this for a 503 error, and unless I missed it before, the long awaited CSS transition took place before my very eyes. Yippee!
While you make quite a few positive statements in this post and your reply to the reply, there is one I have to single out as complete crap. I'm not knocking on you personally, but too many people have said essentially the same thing, and as a skeptic of the global warming claims it's really starting to bug me:
...and you push your political agenda.
Political agenda? Bush has a political agenda. Chevron has a political agenda. The Sierra Club has a political agenda. They all attempt to influence laws and policies in pursuit of their own personal goals, be they good or bad. I, just like many others, am merely trying to sort through the facts and myths in my daily life. My opinions are certainly not part of a goal to make southern France a barren desert and submerge Los Angeles under 10 feet of glacial melt while killing all the baby whales with the reduced salinity of the oceans. Frankly, when the sort of people who think The Day After Tomorrow was a good movie start talking about my political agenda for denying global warming, I lose almost all my ability to believe a word they say.
Don't forget the Spitzer, Chandra, and the James Webb observatories. Science will not end with the Hubble. Data will just have to come from different sources, and if they find they really need the wavelengths Hubble observed at, a follow-on will eventually make it's way spaceward.
And nerds need no fear for their precious space wallpaper collections. We will continue to have entrancing false color images, every bit as real as those from Hubble, generated from these other sources, as well.
My point is this: Anything that can be done by robots should be done by robots. And exploring Mars can be done by robots.
True. But it is hardly conceit for humans to explore space and further the technologies to do so. If we never start exploring and learning how to survive in space, we will never colonize. Baby steps. The mars rovers figure out where we want to go and what resources are available when we get there, the lunar missions teach us how to get there and survive in the process, then we actually go to Mars (or Europa, or maybe someday Alpha Centari), and last of all some other slashdotter adds in the cliche "3.) ???; 4.) Profit!"
As to the capability of robots, it is true that they improve constantly, but they still aren't human. If a robot truly could match a human, not just in dexterity or sensors, but economically and intelligently, as well, there wouldn't really be a need for risky jobs like combat soldiers, firemen, demolition experts, coal miners (the most hazardous peacetime occupation, as far as I know), etc. Ultimately, I guess it comes down to money.
Because of the difference in cost and risk, you can do vastly more exploration with robots than with people. I think sending people is the real conceit, and one that costs lives.
Fine you stay on the ground. I'll go pave the way for further exploration and inspire future generations. There's people out there more than willing to take the risks to be part of something as big as manned space exploration. I totally would, if I could think of a way to convince NASA they want me up there. It's more expensive, yes, but if all the ultimate goal of sending astronauts and robots up into space and learning everything we can about the universe and its formation isn't to expand mankind's presence and experience, what is it for? Sending robots alone into space is never going to fulfill the dream of colonizing other planets.
If everyone did that, they'd soon get the message.
Probably not, actually. They'll just take a lesson from Bonzi Buddy, Weatherbug, and Gator. All that would change is there would be a little warning on the insert, in 4 pt font, saying that the CD includes software that you are legally obligated to install if you want to use the contents of the CD, and insertion of the CD into a reading device is aknowledgement of acceptance of the terms of the EULA, or some such crap like that.
What is people's sick fascination with "the goatse man?" Why does he have to be referred to over and over again in every single discussion? Are you people really that much in love your twisted image that you have to mention it everywhere you go? I don't care about who does what in Soviet Russia, or what Roland Pixiedust or whatever his name is posts, first posts, or even the eternal classic "haha, their server got pwned," but for goodness sake, enough with the stupid goatse references!
Do your worst mods. I've got plenty of karma to burn and can easily gain anything back without so much as thinking goatse. It's a race to -1.
I suppose the list of people who can do both that and pass their intelligence reviews is probably a lot shorter, but I agree, that sounds fairly simple. I wish it were that easy to get an astronaut's slot in NASA. You essentially have to have some sort of flight experience, and your chances are still pretty slim if you don't have a PhD or experience in military aviation.
Nearly half a century to "return" to the moon... Something tells me things aren't as efficent as can be.
It really doesn't sound too bad when you consider that it's no more than 0.01 times as long as it took the first time (50 / 6000-4.5 billion years, depending who you ask). When was the last time you heard someone complain about a 99% decrease in project development time from one generation to the next?
There are a ton of ordinary blogs (mostly the worthless ones) that get spammed themselves by people trying to screw with search engine results. Rather than filling false blogs up with links to the site they want to promote, they go to legitimate blogs and fill the guestbooks/comments up with links.
I search google blog search for "blog" (ooohhh, recursion. He must be a hax0r) and I got 3,747,283 hits. To save everybody else on slashdot the trouble, here's some others that I know you will try.
And I am sufficiently unimpressed by NASA's inability to even piggyback a rover with this.
You misunderstood that completely. The problem wasn't that they couldn't, but that they felt there were more important places to spend their limited budget. How much do we really need lots of closeup pictures of an asteroid's surface? We (or rather the Japanese) are already getting a few closeup pictures and a sample. Will the extra data be worth the cost, or should it be spent on something like more instruments for the upcoming mission to Pluto, a mission that won't likely see a follow-on for 20+ years. And before you say it, ditching the space shuttle in favor of other missions is not viable until we finish the ISS. We have too much committment to it right now to abandon it.
Space Shuttle: Bad NASA
Well, Slashdot as a whole has been through this argument enough I shouldn't bother rehashing the main points, but I don't think you fully consider the program in the big picture of space development and exploration. Too many people are firmly entrenched in the concept that because it costs more than it should and 2 have had fatal accidents that it's an abyssmal failure on NASA's part, and the abundance we've done an learned with it is completely negated by its shortcomings. Remember that the Hubble, which you praised, was not without incident, and the shuttle both delivered to orbit and revisited it to fix a critical flaw.
I'm sure someone will want to say "what about that big ol' comet we blasted with our satellite. Did we get any samples back? Did we get anything new except maybe a little more practice at aiming our missiles? Not really.
Back to the Hubble, did we get any samples from that? Very little science involves disecting little green men. Certainly not the Deep Impact mission. Instead we got closeup images of a comet, spectroscopy to learn more about its chemical composition, and a debris field to learn more about its physical properties, all of which may teach us something about the early solar system.
Hayabusa looks like it's going to be headed back to Earth with samples. Real science.
Edison gave us real lightbulbs. Maxwell gave us a bunch of equations dealing with electomagnetism. Despite Maxwell's work being less tangible, it was ultimately far more important. You've picked a poor qualifier for identifying "real" science.
I guess that is pretty good for a complete system, but the whole time I was reading the article I couldn't help but think of an ealier test, performed by Digital Camera Shopper Magazine on flash memory cards, in which they not only survived all the easily imaginable abuses (washing machine, dunked in coffee, skateboarded, etc), but two of them showed crazy survival skills. The testers were able to retrieve data (although not by normal means I don't think) from them after they had been hit by a sledgehammer and nailed to a tree. The things just don't die.
Do you mean as a source of energy for a traditional refrigeration cycle, or run in reverse with manual input as a cryo cooler? I don't think many people realize they can be run both ways, but I don't know about the effiency as a cooler.
Well then. It seems I've been properly educated now. I also find the lightweight keyboards that come with most systems less than ideal, but I didn't realize so many people were willing to scrounge ebay for old grimey keyboards and ps/1 to ps/2 adaptors to get keys that don't wiggle so much when you press them they catch half the time.
"Compared to my 1984 (IBM) Model M" ~orginal submission
Sophisticated Nerd #1: This keyboard was soldered in 1984. That was a good year for PS/1 input devices, you know.
Sophisticated Nerd #2: Ah yes, 1984. The vintage is most excellent.
Nerd 1: Can you believe that some people actually type on (shocked whisper) PS/2 keyboards?
Nerd 2: That's positively scandalous! Worse yet, I was at my financial institution (banks are for the unwashed masses) yesterday, and the teller was actually typing on a Logitech USB keyboard. Every time he hit the Windows key, I wanted to lecture him on real keyboards and the proper volume of key clack, but it would have been completely lost on the brute.
Nerd 1: It's completely ridiculous. There should be laws against such mindless use mundane computer components.
Or did nobody else think it was odd how the author compared it to a 20 year old design as if it were a car or a fine wine?
Unlike the hurricanes, though, over here we don't have a history of multiple eruptions each year. This just happens to be a special year, what with Mount Saint Helens. Plus, in order for the significantly populated areas around Portland or Seattle to be severely affected would involve an eruption on the order of something we see worldwide every hundred years, or so.
That was individual turbines. The modern ones are big enough to be worth describing on their own, but you're right about them usually being in groups. I know of a farm being installed in easter Washington that will run about 100 1.8 MW turbines, which obviosly exceeds the aforementioned 16 MW by a factor of roughly 12.
The turbines you're thinking of in California are actually quite a bit smaller. The largest generate something like 200 kW, but there's thousands of them between San Francisco and LA. With the latest resurgence of interest in wind power, they've leapfrogged in size and the dimensions are mind-boggling compared with people's perceptions of "windmills." The biggest turbines sweep an area roughly the size of a football field! You build a couple dozen of those in a single farm and you're talking about a lot of energy.
Slashdot Mirror
We have an immediate opening for an experienced HVAC engineer with our facilities maintanence staff. This is a contract position related to a recent failure of our heating system. Duties will continue until completion of repairs and a period of observation and validation. Responsibilities include:
The successful candidate will have a BS in mechanical engineering and a minimum of 10 years experience in HVAC, preferrably focusing on heating more than AC. Experience with flame handling equipment preferred. We're looking for a sadistic and maniacal personality who will fit in with the other employees. Security Clearance: must have at least 5 outstanding mortal sins and have not had an exorcism within the past year. ADA limitations: Must be able to reach heights of 5 feet. Must be deceased. Upon hiring, candidate may be required to obstain a bullwhip certification. Ability to work around flying pigs required.
Benefits include medical, dental, and beta access to Duke Nukem Forever.
Send your resume and cover letter to:
hrjobs@hell.com
(666) 666-1234
Oh man! We came soooo close to slashdotting the World Wide Web Consortium! They caught it just in time however and threw a 403: forbidden back at me when I tried the html validator link.
Hopefully they don't use the power of CSS to make the site look too nice. It's crappiness makes it easy to pass it off as a technical or internal website when I'm reading at work.
The deal is, you have to start sometime if you're ever going to get there. We've reached the point where investing significant amounts of money trying to develop treatments for HIV is worthwhile, and I would also argue we've reached the point where we should be putting some money into further developing our space capabilities.
The Saturn V weighed 3000 tons at launch. By the time it reached 17,500 mph, it weighed about 100 tons. Most of the lost weight was used to generate the kinetic energy ultimately imparted into the remaining 100 tons. That paper is talking about a 15000 ton structure continuously moving at orbital velocity. I'm skeptical of the concept based on that alone. Furthermore, if I'm reading it correctly, it proposes to trade kinetic energy of the ribbon for the force necessary to support it against gravity. This is akin to supporting an Ohio class ballistic missle submarine in midair with a stream of water. He addresses the issue of providing energy to accelerate launch vehicles via the ribbon, but not how to replace the kinetic energy of the ribbon itself as it is accelerated downward by the upward force it exerts on its sheath. It is theoretically possible to support a submarine with a stream of water, but you'd better have one heck of a big pump transferring energy into the water stream. Granted, I haven't investigated the issue as much as the author of that paper, but I think he left out quite a few details from his analysis. Plus, even though all the technology for this may exist today, as the poster stated, none have been applied on anything close to this scale.
If this were really such a great idea, I would expect to at least see engineering students playing with scaled down models, as many have with the space elevator concept, and Liftport is planning on doing on a larger scale in the near future.
On a completely unrelated note, it seems I've been delayed about an hour posting this for a 503 error, and unless I missed it before, the long awaited CSS transition took place before my very eyes. Yippee!
Don't forget the Spitzer, Chandra, and the James Webb observatories. Science will not end with the Hubble. Data will just have to come from different sources, and if they find they really need the wavelengths Hubble observed at, a follow-on will eventually make it's way spaceward.
And nerds need no fear for their precious space wallpaper collections. We will continue to have entrancing false color images, every bit as real as those from Hubble, generated from these other sources, as well.
As to the capability of robots, it is true that they improve constantly, but they still aren't human. If a robot truly could match a human, not just in dexterity or sensors, but economically and intelligently, as well, there wouldn't really be a need for risky jobs like combat soldiers, firemen, demolition experts, coal miners (the most hazardous peacetime occupation, as far as I know), etc. Ultimately, I guess it comes down to money.
Livejournal, blogger, myspace...all losers. Real men (and women) code their own personal website.
What is people's sick fascination with "the goatse man?" Why does he have to be referred to over and over again in every single discussion? Are you people really that much in love your twisted image that you have to mention it everywhere you go? I don't care about who does what in Soviet Russia, or what Roland Pixiedust or whatever his name is posts, first posts, or even the eternal classic "haha, their server got pwned," but for goodness sake, enough with the stupid goatse references!
Do your worst mods. I've got plenty of karma to burn and can easily gain anything back without so much as thinking goatse. It's a race to -1.
I suppose the list of people who can do both that and pass their intelligence reviews is probably a lot shorter, but I agree, that sounds fairly simple. I wish it were that easy to get an astronaut's slot in NASA. You essentially have to have some sort of flight experience, and your chances are still pretty slim if you don't have a PhD or experience in military aviation.
Yeah, it really is much more of an acedemic exercise than anything.
Wow! I didn't realize Dave Barry read Slashdot!
I was going to stick with "Nobody expects the Spanish Astronomers," but someone beat me to it.
There are a ton of ordinary blogs (mostly the worthless ones) that get spammed themselves by people trying to screw with search engine results. Rather than filling false blogs up with links to the site they want to promote, they go to legitimate blogs and fill the guestbooks/comments up with links.
I search google blog search for "blog" (ooohhh, recursion. He must be a hax0r) and I got 3,747,283 hits. To save everybody else on slashdot the trouble, here's some others that I know you will try.
Princess - 504,636
Podcast - 108,447
Photoblog - 47,412
Iraq - 645,658
nucular - 958
And of course, coming in surprisingly low "Paris Hilton" got 72,274 results.
I guess that is pretty good for a complete system, but the whole time I was reading the article I couldn't help but think of an ealier test, performed by Digital Camera Shopper Magazine on flash memory cards, in which they not only survived all the easily imaginable abuses (washing machine, dunked in coffee, skateboarded, etc), but two of them showed crazy survival skills. The testers were able to retrieve data (although not by normal means I don't think) from them after they had been hit by a sledgehammer and nailed to a tree. The things just don't die.
Do you mean as a source of energy for a traditional refrigeration cycle, or run in reverse with manual input as a cryo cooler? I don't think many people realize they can be run both ways, but I don't know about the effiency as a cooler.
Well then. It seems I've been properly educated now. I also find the lightweight keyboards that come with most systems less than ideal, but I didn't realize so many people were willing to scrounge ebay for old grimey keyboards and ps/1 to ps/2 adaptors to get keys that don't wiggle so much when you press them they catch half the time.
Sophisticated Nerd #2: Ah yes, 1984. The vintage is most excellent.
Nerd 1: Can you believe that some people actually type on (shocked whisper) PS/2 keyboards?
Nerd 2: That's positively scandalous! Worse yet, I was at my financial institution (banks are for the unwashed masses) yesterday, and the teller was actually typing on a Logitech USB keyboard. Every time he hit the Windows key, I wanted to lecture him on real keyboards and the proper volume of key clack, but it would have been completely lost on the brute.
Nerd 1: It's completely ridiculous. There should be laws against such mindless use mundane computer components.
Or did nobody else think it was odd how the author compared it to a 20 year old design as if it were a car or a fine wine?
Unlike the hurricanes, though, over here we don't have a history of multiple eruptions each year. This just happens to be a special year, what with Mount Saint Helens. Plus, in order for the significantly populated areas around Portland or Seattle to be severely affected would involve an eruption on the order of something we see worldwide every hundred years, or so.
That was individual turbines. The modern ones are big enough to be worth describing on their own, but you're right about them usually being in groups. I know of a farm being installed in easter Washington that will run about 100 1.8 MW turbines, which obviosly exceeds the aforementioned 16 MW by a factor of roughly 12.
The turbines you're thinking of in California are actually quite a bit smaller. The largest generate something like 200 kW, but there's thousands of them between San Francisco and LA. With the latest resurgence of interest in wind power, they've leapfrogged in size and the dimensions are mind-boggling compared with people's perceptions of "windmills." The biggest turbines sweep an area roughly the size of a football field! You build a couple dozen of those in a single farm and you're talking about a lot of energy.