It is not that simple...
Solar plants, however, do not operate very efficiently at certain times of the day... (For example, we have this thing called 'darkness' whenever it happens to be 'nighttime'.)
Sometimes, there are lots of clouds too, etc...
Due to these simple points, terrestrial solar power generation stations will NEVER replace the 24/7 reliability of Coal/Gas/Nuclear/Hydroelectric power generation plants. Solar can only be used as a supplement during peak demand in sunny 'daytime', for example..
Sounds like an Absentee-Landlord (as it applies to voting)...
He is there about 1/2 the time, fixing trivial things (voting on non-controversial issues), but is mysteriously he is absent when the real work is to be done (as in THIS case on telecom immunity).
Obama better get his act together ASAP. Hope and Change DO NOT constitute a *Plan Of Action*.
Another reason to vote for the ONLY candidate who can say with pride: "IANAL".
ON a side note, Dodd is a very bad person IMHO...
-He has inserted terrible legislation into the housing bill on surveillance of anyone that does online transactions for the benefit of the IRS and any part of the government that wants to conduct non-anonymous consumer spending data analysis WITHOUT A WARRANT.... Read all about it: http://www.freedomworks.org/newsroom/press_template.php?press_id=2571
-Unethical if you consider that he is the Chairman of the Banking Finance Committee and whole hearted member of Countrywide's VIP Mortagagor club... Even IF he does have good credit, that in the least is a serious conflict of interest. He should have secured a loan from an institution that is not affiliated with any government bailout (which is clearly the case...) and at a rate that is considered "average for his credit rating, which is listed there too".
I Bet the turbines are similar to these: http://www.reuk.co.uk/OtherImages/repower-5mw-wind-turbine.jpg
There is a motorized & computer-controlled 360 Degree bearing surface where the generator housing nacelle attaches to the vertical supporting column. The computers on-board each generator keep their own weather sensors for wind speed and direction as well as for power demands of the cluster of wind generators and they calculate how best to pitch their blades and what direction to point or if they need to feather their pitch because of an incoming storm, etc...
General Electric has a detailed drawing of one of their models here: http://www.gepower.com/prod_serv/products/wind_turbines/en/36mw/index.htm
The new ethos seems to be that it depends on the what the definition of is IS (The most basic of verbs: TO BE).
For Bill Clinton it was whether or not a BJ IS sex,...apparently it is not by his definition of IS. (Most women seem to disagree with Bill on this one...)
"Unreasonable" is the wiggle term here, and Congress is noting by their defining actions that what is "Unreasonable" to them IS different to what is "Unreasonable" to their constituents.
What this REALLY means is that *ALL Data* will be collected, but PRESENTLY only data for more than $10k or 200 "items" will 'count' (they can and probably will easily pass some bill amendment to remove this threshold).
Obviously, this implies that all of the data will be collected in full anyway, and when you individually hit $10,000.01 or 201 'items' it will meet some automatic threshold and exit their buffer and your transaction are suddenly officially counted in the IRS databases... Great!
Anyone RTFA and notice that this is REALLY about New Data collection on the Taxation of Internet Transactions hidden inside a "Housing Bill"?
I say this because the data "will be required to report the annual gross amount of reportable transactions to the IRS and to the participating payee". I also liked this entry in the full bill summary: "Lenders must document and verify borrowers' income with the IRS." (And I thought THREE independent Consumer Credit Reporting bureaus were sufficient, but NO! now we must directly involve the IRS too for every purchase over $10k)?
Read it for yourself: http://rpc.senate.gov/public/_files/L62HR3221Houseamendments0618SN.pdf
I agree, the tried and true standards for voter rabble-rousing traditionally been the politician's stances on "God, Guns, & Gays", the holy trinity of American politics...
7) *have cheaper gas* through drilling for oil where it is already KNOWN to be (as well as explore for new reserves offshore) and build modern efficient refineries to process it.
8) *have more expensive gas* but be somewhat green and vote to not not drill for more oil nor build any new and modern efficiant refineries that produce far less pollution.
9) Allow new Nuclear Power station constructions in the US for cheaper and more reliable clean power not dependent on the volatile fossil fuel futures markets.
10) Ban new Nuclear power station constructions and continue to generate most of our electricity from old plants dependent on the volatile fossil fuel futures markets.
I am surprised that there is NOT some sort of MS kick-back schema for buying *something* with Windows Vista pre-installed (even if Dell or whomever replaces WinVista with WinXP before the end-user ever touches their new PC.)
I am NOT surprised that this is how Microsoft can claim Vista is their best selling and most popular OS of all time? (Thusly, Now nearly every PC has originally Vista, even if it is formatted and never used...)
If I sold wrenches and screwdrivers separately and I suddenly stopped selling my screwdrivers and subsequentally required anyone wanting to buy my screwdriver (beyond an arbitrary date) to first buy the unwanted wrench and then to "downgrade" their wrench purchase as it apparently entitles them to also have the screwdriver (but NOT to use both at the same time). (Nevermind, that if they wish to "upgrade" their screwdriver to a wrench, they will lose all the ability to use that screwdriver ever again...)
Now I can claim my wrenches are the best selling hand tool ever of all time!!
(Of course no one ever "OWNS" my said wrenches or screwdrivers, they ONLY license their use from me after first agreeing to a very lengthy EULA that no end user has ever read and of course paying me first for the privilege... )
-Great marketing racket and business model Microsoft./sarcasm
Good Point, I will just donate some of my time (akin to purchasing 'Carbon offsets') and download it ~100x or so this afternoon to make up for the sooners downloading it early. LOL.
Yes, I too agree it must be *meant to be* confusing.... It is just the Microsoft Way. I think there are several amortization table calculations involved in the selection of the dates too... http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifepolicy
Uh,...he's gonna need to get a bigger Boat.., er. I mean Case and PSU...(maybe)
Plus the Doc will likely need to remove the other side of his current case as well (which it appears he cannot)... Better yet, Doc could juet get a bigger and better case.
I suggest this one from NZXT: http://www.techreport.com/gallery/index.x?id=14909&image=28934 True, it does have excessive blue LEDs (Why?) but it is still a nice case.
It also has room for DUAL PSUs so he can run 2 of those big 1500W PSUs (Most PSUs have better efficiencies at less than rated loads and a longer MTBF.)
I for one, Now plan on purchasing a new space heater soon for my box (NOTE: Nvidia GT200 has a TDP of 236W!)... so long as I can FINALLY have Crysis playable at resolution!
So there could be multiple combined alternative business models:
(1) Develop Genetically Engineered strain of crude hydrocarbon-producing single-celled organisms similar to what humans have in their guts.
(2) Patent/Copyright/Trademark their DNA/RNA sequences as well as Patent something obligatorily vague about their production methodology and their how to store them.
(3) Seek FDA "Approval" after 'throughly testing' the new bugs in human 'field trails' in remote 3rd-world countries.
(4) Produce several of each under shell companies funneling all profits into banks off-shore in non-extradition countries:
-(a) Conversion Plants for Cellulose to syn-crude oil from (biomass, woods chips, and yard waste)
-(b) An all new 'natural' and patented formula of stool softener/loosener. (No more drinking mineral oil, etc...)
and
-(c) The world's first truly effective, yet also intestineally-challenging, Fat Camps! (and you thought only too-much Olestra could give you "anal leakage" AKA "Steatorrhea" ) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steatorrhea
(5) = PROFIT!
In college I knew a 'dancer' who had named her 2 breasts "Alex and Nikki"!
As I recall, they each had "...a near-spherical shape, but not enough for it to clear its orbit of its rocky neighbors..."
-I suppose naming them "Pluto and Eris" would have worked equally as well...
No. Not Really.
And certainly not at the temperature of the Sun's corona (which probes will most likely have to travel through to get to the inner 'cooler' layers..)
This is where we need 'shielding' technology similar to Star Trek, or to jump physical dimensions directly into the desired location with technology similar to Event Horizon, etc..
"The coolest layer of the Sun is a temperature minimum region about 500 km above the photosphere, with a temperature of about 4,000 K."... "Above the temperature minimum layer is a thin layer about 2,000 km thick, dominated by a spectrum of emission and absorption lines. It is called the chromosphere..."... "Above the chromosphere is a transition region in which the temperature rises rapidly from around 100,000 K to coronal temperatures closer to one million K." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun
"The chemical element with the highest melting point is tungsten, at 3695 K (3422 C, 6192 F) making it excellent for use as filaments in light bulbs. The often-cited carbon does not melt at ambient pressure but sublimates at about 4000 K; a liquid phase only exists above pressures of 10 MPa and estimated 4300-4700 K. Tantalum hafnium carbide (Ta4HfC5) is a refractory compound with a very high melting point of 4488 K (4215 C, 7619 F)" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melting_point
Even diamonds are not tough enough... Above 1700 C (1973 K / 3583 F) diamonds are converted into graphite.
Great! Now the kids are gonna want designer 'clothes' for their cars.
A Ralph Lauren skin, or a Prada Skin, and even some of those ludicrous-speed expensive handbags.
I can see the fashion shows being conducted on *actual* runways.... 'Oh the humanity....
-I am sure Larry Flynt has some creative ideas for 'skin' designs for his new BMW 'GINA car too... a very slippery slope... LOL (Cool, I just made a Double Entendre!)
Well, I agree with your point there.
Now there needs just needs to be a Constitutional Amendment which requires the ENTIRE US TAX CODE to be read into the Congressional Record every single year for it to be legally binding! Of course, that would either require CSPAN to get another satellite or for the tax code to be shortened into the flat tax...
Then again, I was under the impression that "earmarks" were not required to be read into the record either? Whoops... confusing the Congressional Record's purpose with that of Official Congressional Business as Usual...
What? What was its purpose again?...just a thought.
Wow! That speaks volumes of our government's efficient use of Congressional time!
So, He literally READ (verbally) it for 4 straight hours into the Congressional record? Geez.
-Someone should tell him about this new fangled-contraption called "text to speech": http://www.google.com/search?q=text+to+speech
-What about just sending a tape recording of him reading it? No, no...I mean email an MP3 instead...
-Better yet!, Could he not have just emailed the *actual speech text* to the Congressional Records Office?
-What about sending the *actual speech text* in letter form via snail mail (with the Congressman's notarized signature and seal) to the Congressional Records Office??
Great! Another fine waste of our precious taxpayer dollars... ...Brought to you by Carl's Jr.
Time will likely solve this issue as Chinese reverse-engineering development teams (and "ghost shifts" at probably the same factories making current 'official' 3G iPhones get to cranking out 'overages' lol)
Then again, if the killer app is not the device but the method by which it is unlocked.... surely this will not increase handset theft or there is always the 100% 'honest' 3G iPhone vendor unlocking the phones in house for some under the table cash?
Just what is so technically savvy about the new unlocking method or is this simply some lawyer-authored bulletproof contract that one must sign in fresh blood?
I for one compliment the cloners in order to avoid those ridiculous lock-in contracts. This is the world of competition, and the nature of global competitors.
How useful would it be for Asus' eeE PC to only work under contract and only from an Asus Wi-Fi router? It is a matter of time before someone creates a truly unlocked Wi-Fi handset that VoIPs whenever possible with Vonage et al, and other times uses the SIM for whatever carrier you choose to use that day. I can use my laptop with a variety of pay ISPs even at the same time. A few more evolutions of these devices and stiff competition will likely leave consumers getting a better product not crippled deliberately. This is why I despise the iTunes lock-in on iPods (and will not own one as a result). I remember when MP3 Players were as easy to access as USB memory sticks and they played nearly anything despite its source... Given Apple does make some sharp looking items, but they are not consumer-friendly due to their hardware lock-ins. I'd love to use Tiger or Spotted-Leopard or whatever it is called these days on my Intel PC hardware, I'd love to just use windows explorer to copy MP3 files onto my Nano. I'd love to swap SIM chips in my iPhone and use whatever carrier I am using at the time... But NO.. They are lawyer-empowered consumer-restraining capitalists above all else. So I pay for and own NONE of the Apple devices mentioned above.
Don't count out Russia yet as a possible US foe... Most of the Nuclear fuel used by the US Navy currently comes from Russian Nuclear Weapons we purchase and reprocess. They could always choose another buyer...
The Boogie-Man that worries me: China ANGRY...
China will someday become Very Oil-Deprived, Over-Populated, Starving, and desperately needing to maintain their economy with the fruits of Oil. (this could very well happen...)
Realize we are in the middle of what Historians are already calling "The Oil Age".
Even the Big Oil Companies themselves are agreed that the halfway point of "Peak Oil" production is now. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_oil
The world economy is based on a substance (Oil) that yields 100x the energy used to extract it, and modify it, and market it.
There is NO alternative to Oil other than NUCLEAR that can compete on that ~100x cost/benefit yield concept. When it starts going very scarce wars will happen. This is the nature of man.
I am no expert, but me thinks the 'war in Iraq' and the over 12+ 'permanent' military bases being built there ( http://www.fcnl.org/iraq/bases.htm ) and the 100+ Acre US Embassy ( http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12319798/ ) are what I call "Prudent Planning".
Like it or not, the world as we know it is built on OIL.
I for one, am glad we have established a new good footing in the middle of old Babylon ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylon ), because we are going to surely need it in the future when the oil wars REALLY get underway. (And in fact, the US presence being there will likely prevent larger wars and ensure that what wars do occur, will be as small as we can cause them to be. It's the big Picture.
McCain did volunteer and serve and sacrifice in our military for our country with honors during the Cold War.
He will bring to the presidential desk wisdom, knowledge, and experience which no other candidate can begin to claim they have in this election.
The next president Must understand how to lead our military and how utilize it to best protect our economy and people and mitigate larger wars that are very very likely when Oil runs out.
I would not count on "Change" too much....as far a US medical care goes anyway.... ...unless you think that we need some government-run universal medical coverage which will be much like Medicare/Medicaid for people of all ages....
Because that's likely where it's eventually headed if the Dems get in charge of it and have the votes to get anything they want fast tracked through Congress...
Another big bloated entitlement program. (which probably will NOT require citizenship because of the desire to have millions of non-citizen legal and non-legal immigrants behind your party)
-Ask YOUR Doctor how many dollars they pay in just Malpractice Insurance yearly. (It will likely be in the multiple hundreds-of-thousands-of-dollars range for a general Doctor, and more for a Surgeon, etc...)
-Now ask yourself which candidate will likely have some meaningful and practical TORT REFORM plans to cap medical malpractice lawsuits.
HINT: There is ONLY ONE candidate who IS NOT A LAWYER.
(Not to mention the ONLY candidate who sacrificed a considerable amount of his youth and volunteered to serve in the military, serving as a Aircraft Carrier Fighter Pilot in the US Navy...)
It has been my experience in life that 99.9999999% Lawyers do well for their kind immediately after they do well for themselves.
There are exceptions,...in theory. Then again, Lawyers DO make Lots of money facilitating changes, whether they work or not.
Change happens slowly and tends to happen in a manner in which those in power (and those behind those in power) profit from whatever paths of change are put forth.
Dr. Blair: [throwing a fit in the radio room] You guys think I'M crazy! Well, that's fine! Most of you don't know what's going on around here, but I'm damn well sure SOME of you do! You think that thing wanted to be an animal? No dogs make it a thousand miles through the cold! No, you don't understand! That thing wanted to be US!
(later...)
MacReady: [talking into tape recorder] Nobody... nobody trusts anybody now, and we're all very tired... there's nothing more I can do, just wait... RJ MacReady, helicopter pilot, US outpost #31.
[turns off recorder] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084787/
Slashdot Mirror
It is not that simple...
Solar plants, however, do not operate very efficiently at certain times of the day... (For example, we have this thing called 'darkness' whenever it happens to be 'nighttime'.)
Sometimes, there are lots of clouds too, etc...
Due to these simple points, terrestrial solar power generation stations will NEVER replace the 24/7 reliability of Coal/Gas/Nuclear/Hydroelectric power generation plants. Solar can only be used as a supplement during peak demand in sunny 'daytime', for example..
Sounds like an Absentee-Landlord (as it applies to voting)...
He is there about 1/2 the time, fixing trivial things (voting on non-controversial issues), but is mysteriously he is absent when the real work is to be done (as in THIS case on telecom immunity).
Obama better get his act together ASAP. Hope and Change DO NOT constitute a *Plan Of Action*.
Another reason to vote for the ONLY candidate who can say with pride: "IANAL".
ON a side note, Dodd is a very bad person IMHO...
-He has inserted terrible legislation into the housing bill on surveillance of anyone that does online transactions for the benefit of the IRS and any part of the government that wants to conduct non-anonymous consumer spending data analysis WITHOUT A WARRANT.... Read all about it:
http://www.freedomworks.org/newsroom/press_template.php?press_id=2571
-Unethical if you consider that he is the Chairman of the Banking Finance Committee and whole hearted member of Countrywide's VIP Mortagagor club... Even IF he does have good credit, that in the least is a serious conflict of interest. He should have secured a loan from an institution that is not affiliated with any government bailout (which is clearly the case...) and at a rate that is considered "average for his credit rating, which is listed there too".
I Bet the turbines are similar to these: http://www.reuk.co.uk/OtherImages/repower-5mw-wind-turbine.jpg
There is a motorized & computer-controlled 360 Degree bearing surface where the generator housing nacelle attaches to the vertical supporting column. The computers on-board each generator keep their own weather sensors for wind speed and direction as well as for power demands of the cluster of wind generators and they calculate how best to pitch their blades and what direction to point or if they need to feather their pitch because of an incoming storm, etc...
General Electric has a detailed drawing of one of their models here: http://www.gepower.com/prod_serv/products/wind_turbines/en/36mw/index.htm
So ATI has in their new Linux drivers Havok technology and it works under Linux for the new ATI cards?
What Linux application/game uses Havok?
The new ethos seems to be that it depends on the what the definition of is IS (The most basic of verbs: TO BE). ...apparently it is not by his definition of IS. (Most women seem to disagree with Bill on this one...)
For Bill Clinton it was whether or not a BJ IS sex,
"Unreasonable" is the wiggle term here, and Congress is noting by their defining actions that what is "Unreasonable" to them IS different to what is "Unreasonable" to their constituents.
What this REALLY means is that *ALL Data* will be collected, but PRESENTLY only data for more than $10k or 200 "items" will 'count' (they can and probably will easily pass some bill amendment to remove this threshold).
Obviously, this implies that all of the data will be collected in full anyway, and when you individually hit $10,000.01 or 201 'items' it will meet some automatic threshold and exit their buffer and your transaction are suddenly officially counted in the IRS databases... Great!
Anyone RTFA and notice that this is REALLY about New Data collection on the Taxation of Internet Transactions hidden inside a "Housing Bill"?
I say this because the data "will be required to report the annual gross amount of reportable transactions to the IRS and to the participating payee". I also liked this entry in the full bill summary: "Lenders must document and verify borrowers' income with the IRS." (And I thought THREE independent Consumer Credit Reporting bureaus were sufficient, but NO! now we must directly involve the IRS too for every purchase over $10k)?
Read it for yourself: http://rpc.senate.gov/public/_files/L62HR3221Houseamendments0618SN.pdf
So each blatantly duped entry has the following text right below it (or something similar): "...Brought to you by Carl's Jr."?
I agree, the tried and true standards for voter rabble-rousing traditionally been the politician's stances on "God, Guns, & Gays", the holy trinity of American politics...
You left out some:
7) *have cheaper gas* through drilling for oil where it is already KNOWN to be (as well as explore for new reserves offshore) and build modern efficient refineries to process it.
8) *have more expensive gas* but be somewhat green and vote to not not drill for more oil nor build any new and modern efficiant refineries that produce far less pollution.
9) Allow new Nuclear Power station constructions in the US for cheaper and more reliable clean power not dependent on the volatile fossil fuel futures markets.
10) Ban new Nuclear power station constructions and continue to generate most of our electricity from old plants dependent on the volatile fossil fuel futures markets.
I am surprised that there is NOT some sort of MS kick-back schema for buying *something* with Windows Vista pre-installed (even if Dell or whomever replaces WinVista with WinXP before the end-user ever touches their new PC.)
/sarcasm
I am NOT surprised that this is how Microsoft can claim Vista is their best selling and most popular OS of all time? (Thusly, Now nearly every PC has originally Vista, even if it is formatted and never used...)
If I sold wrenches and screwdrivers separately and I suddenly stopped selling my screwdrivers and subsequentally required anyone wanting to buy my screwdriver (beyond an arbitrary date) to first buy the unwanted wrench and then to "downgrade" their wrench purchase as it apparently entitles them to also have the screwdriver (but NOT to use both at the same time). (Nevermind, that if they wish to "upgrade" their screwdriver to a wrench, they will lose all the ability to use that screwdriver ever again...)
Now I can claim my wrenches are the best selling hand tool ever of all time!!
(Of course no one ever "OWNS" my said wrenches or screwdrivers, they ONLY license their use from me after first agreeing to a very lengthy EULA that no end user has ever read and of course paying me first for the privilege... )
-Great marketing racket and business model Microsoft.
Good Point, I will just donate some of my time (akin to purchasing 'Carbon offsets') and download it ~100x or so this afternoon to make up for the sooners downloading it early. LOL.
Support for Windows XP SP2 ends on 07-13-2010. http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifean31
The "Extended Support" phase is scheduled to end on 04-08-2014 for Windows XP SP3. http://news.softpedia.com/news/Windows-XP-SP3-Brings-the-Death-of-SP2-July-13-2010-85986.shtml
Yes, I too agree it must be *meant to be* confusing.... It is just the Microsoft Way. I think there are several amortization table calculations involved in the selection of the dates too... http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifepolicy
Uh, ...he's gonna need to get a bigger Boat.., er. I mean Case and PSU...(maybe)
Plus the Doc will likely need to remove the other side of his current case as well (which it appears he cannot)... Better yet, Doc could juet get a bigger and better case.
I suggest this one from NZXT: http://www.techreport.com/gallery/index.x?id=14909&image=28934 True, it does have excessive blue LEDs (Why?) but it is still a nice case.
It also has room for DUAL PSUs so he can run 2 of those big 1500W PSUs (Most PSUs have better efficiencies at less than rated loads and a longer MTBF.)
I for one, Now plan on purchasing a new space heater soon for my box (NOTE: Nvidia GT200 has a TDP of 236W!)... so long as I can FINALLY have Crysis playable at resolution!
-Another good article on the GTX280 (GT200 GPU) at TR: http://www.techreport.com/articles.x/14934
So there could be multiple combined alternative business models:
(1) Develop Genetically Engineered strain of crude hydrocarbon-producing single-celled organisms similar to what humans have in their guts.
(2) Patent/Copyright/Trademark their DNA/RNA sequences as well as Patent something obligatorily vague about their production methodology and their how to store them.
(3) Seek FDA "Approval" after 'throughly testing' the new bugs in human 'field trails' in remote 3rd-world countries.
(4) Produce several of each under shell companies funneling all profits into banks off-shore in non-extradition countries:
-(a) Conversion Plants for Cellulose to syn-crude oil from (biomass, woods chips, and yard waste)
-(b) An all new 'natural' and patented formula of stool softener/loosener. (No more drinking mineral oil, etc...)
and
-(c) The world's first truly effective, yet also intestineally-challenging, Fat Camps! (and you thought only too-much Olestra could give you "anal leakage" AKA "Steatorrhea" ) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steatorrhea
(5) = PROFIT!
In college I knew a 'dancer' who had named her 2 breasts "Alex and Nikki"!
As I recall, they each had "...a near-spherical shape, but not enough for it to clear its orbit of its rocky neighbors..."
-I suppose naming them "Pluto and Eris" would have worked equally as well...
No. Not Really.
... "Above the temperature minimum layer is a thin layer about 2,000 km thick, dominated by a spectrum of emission and absorption lines. It is called the chromosphere..." ... "Above the chromosphere is a transition region in which the temperature rises rapidly from around 100,000 K to coronal temperatures closer to one million K." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun
And certainly not at the temperature of the Sun's corona (which probes will most likely have to travel through to get to the inner 'cooler' layers..)
This is where we need 'shielding' technology similar to Star Trek, or to jump physical dimensions directly into the desired location with technology similar to Event Horizon, etc..
"The coolest layer of the Sun is a temperature minimum region about 500 km above the photosphere, with a temperature of about 4,000 K."
"The chemical element with the highest melting point is tungsten, at 3695 K (3422 C, 6192 F) making it excellent for use as filaments in light bulbs. The often-cited carbon does not melt at ambient pressure but sublimates at about 4000 K; a liquid phase only exists above pressures of 10 MPa and estimated 4300-4700 K. Tantalum hafnium carbide (Ta4HfC5) is a refractory compound with a very high melting point of 4488 K (4215 C, 7619 F)" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melting_point
Even diamonds are not tough enough... Above 1700 C (1973 K / 3583 F) diamonds are converted into graphite.
Great! Now the kids are gonna want designer 'clothes' for their cars.
A Ralph Lauren skin, or a Prada Skin, and even some of those ludicrous-speed expensive handbags.
I can see the fashion shows being conducted on *actual* runways.... 'Oh the humanity....
-I am sure Larry Flynt has some creative ideas for 'skin' designs for his new BMW 'GINA car too... a very slippery slope... LOL (Cool, I just made a Double Entendre!)
I wonder if the fact that the Bakken Formation ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakken_Formation ) is around North Dakota and the recent approval for the construction of the FIRST NEW REFINERY in the US in over 30 years... in NORTH DAKOTA have anything to do with each other? Nah.. http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/articles/2008/06/04/news/top/4e608d46402d5adb8625745e00110beb.txt
Well, I agree with your point there.
...just a thought.
Now there needs just needs to be a Constitutional Amendment which requires the ENTIRE US TAX CODE to be read into the Congressional Record every single year for it to be legally binding! Of course, that would either require CSPAN to get another satellite or for the tax code to be shortened into the flat tax...
Then again, I was under the impression that "earmarks" were not required to be read into the record either? Whoops... confusing the Congressional Record's purpose with that of Official Congressional Business as Usual...
What? What was its purpose again?
Wow! That speaks volumes of our government's efficient use of Congressional time! ...I mean email an MP3 instead...
...Brought to you by Carl's Jr.
So, He literally READ (verbally) it for 4 straight hours into the Congressional record? Geez.
-Someone should tell him about this new fangled-contraption called "text to speech": http://www.google.com/search?q=text+to+speech
-What about just sending a tape recording of him reading it? No, no
-Better yet!, Could he not have just emailed the *actual speech text* to the Congressional Records Office?
-What about sending the *actual speech text* in letter form via snail mail (with the Congressman's notarized signature and seal) to the Congressional Records Office??
Great! Another fine waste of our precious taxpayer dollars...
Time will likely solve this issue as Chinese reverse-engineering development teams (and "ghost shifts" at probably the same factories making current 'official' 3G iPhones get to cranking out 'overages' lol)
Then again, if the killer app is not the device but the method by which it is unlocked.... surely this will not increase handset theft or there is always the 100% 'honest' 3G iPhone vendor unlocking the phones in house for some under the table cash?
Just what is so technically savvy about the new unlocking method or is this simply some lawyer-authored bulletproof contract that one must sign in fresh blood?
I for one compliment the cloners in order to avoid those ridiculous lock-in contracts. This is the world of competition, and the nature of global competitors.
How useful would it be for Asus' eeE PC to only work under contract and only from an Asus Wi-Fi router? It is a matter of time before someone creates a truly unlocked Wi-Fi handset that VoIPs whenever possible with Vonage et al, and other times uses the SIM for whatever carrier you choose to use that day. I can use my laptop with a variety of pay ISPs even at the same time. A few more evolutions of these devices and stiff competition will likely leave consumers getting a better product not crippled deliberately. This is why I despise the iTunes lock-in on iPods (and will not own one as a result). I remember when MP3 Players were as easy to access as USB memory sticks and they played nearly anything despite its source... Given Apple does make some sharp looking items, but they are not consumer-friendly due to their hardware lock-ins. I'd love to use Tiger or Spotted-Leopard or whatever it is called these days on my Intel PC hardware, I'd love to just use windows explorer to copy MP3 files onto my Nano. I'd love to swap SIM chips in my iPhone and use whatever carrier I am using at the time... But NO.. They are lawyer-empowered consumer-restraining capitalists above all else. So I pay for and own NONE of the Apple devices mentioned above.
Don't count out Russia yet as a possible US foe... Most of the Nuclear fuel used by the US Navy currently comes from Russian Nuclear Weapons we purchase and reprocess. They could always choose another buyer...
The Boogie-Man that worries me: China ANGRY...
China will someday become Very Oil-Deprived, Over-Populated, Starving, and desperately needing to maintain their economy with the fruits of Oil. (this could very well happen...)
Realize we are in the middle of what Historians are already calling "The Oil Age".
Even the Big Oil Companies themselves are agreed that the halfway point of "Peak Oil" production is now. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_oil
The world economy is based on a substance (Oil) that yields 100x the energy used to extract it, and modify it, and market it.
There is NO alternative to Oil other than NUCLEAR that can compete on that ~100x cost/benefit yield concept. When it starts going very scarce wars will happen. This is the nature of man.
I am no expert, but me thinks the 'war in Iraq' and the over 12+ 'permanent' military bases being built there ( http://www.fcnl.org/iraq/bases.htm ) and the 100+ Acre US Embassy ( http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12319798/ ) are what I call "Prudent Planning".
Like it or not, the world as we know it is built on OIL.
I for one, am glad we have established a new good footing in the middle of old Babylon ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylon ), because we are going to surely need it in the future when the oil wars REALLY get underway. (And in fact, the US presence being there will likely prevent larger wars and ensure that what wars do occur, will be as small as we can cause them to be. It's the big Picture.
McCain did volunteer and serve and sacrifice in our military for our country with honors during the Cold War.
He will bring to the presidential desk wisdom, knowledge, and experience which no other candidate can begin to claim they have in this election.
The next president Must understand how to lead our military and how utilize it to best protect our economy and people and mitigate larger wars that are very very likely when Oil runs out.
I would not count on "Change" too much ....as far a US medical care goes anyway....
...unless you think that we need some government-run universal medical coverage which will be much like Medicare/Medicaid for people of all ages....
...in theory. Then again, Lawyers DO make Lots of money facilitating changes, whether they work or not.
Because that's likely where it's eventually headed if the Dems get in charge of it and have the votes to get anything they want fast tracked through Congress...
Another big bloated entitlement program. (which probably will NOT require citizenship because of the desire to have millions of non-citizen legal and non-legal immigrants behind your party)
-Ask YOUR Doctor how many dollars they pay in just Malpractice Insurance yearly. (It will likely be in the multiple hundreds-of-thousands-of-dollars range for a general Doctor, and more for a Surgeon, etc...)
-Now ask yourself which candidate will likely have some meaningful and practical TORT REFORM plans to cap medical malpractice lawsuits.
HINT: There is ONLY ONE candidate who IS NOT A LAWYER.
(Not to mention the ONLY candidate who sacrificed a considerable amount of his youth and volunteered to serve in the military, serving as a Aircraft Carrier Fighter Pilot in the US Navy...)
It has been my experience in life that 99.9999999% Lawyers do well for their kind immediately after they do well for themselves.
There are exceptions,
Change happens slowly and tends to happen in a manner in which those in power (and those behind those in power) profit from whatever paths of change are put forth.
Dr. Blair: [throwing a fit in the radio room] You guys think I'M crazy! Well, that's fine! Most of you don't know what's going on around here, but I'm damn well sure SOME of you do! You think that thing wanted to be an animal? No dogs make it a thousand miles through the cold! No, you don't understand! That thing wanted to be US!
(later...)
MacReady: [talking into tape recorder] Nobody... nobody trusts anybody now, and we're all very tired... there's nothing more I can do, just wait... RJ MacReady, helicopter pilot, US outpost #31.
[turns off recorder]
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084787/