'If you're in a parking orbit round the Earth, and one of them intersects your trajectory, you just need enough fuel to change your velocity and now you're on a new trajectory that is free,' says Ross.
Oy Vey! Of course I haven't RTFA (will later, being a space guy and all). But 'all you have to do is change your velocity'? That's exactly the same as what you do *without* gravitational currents. If you are in a parking orbit around Earth, and change your velocity by 13000 FPS, yes, you don't have to expend any more fuel to get to Jupiter. Of course that maybe took 200,000 lbs of fuel, but otherwise it's free. It's like saying "all you have to do is buy General Motors, and you get Corvettes for free".
It is probably just a matter of saving some fuel, but the quote is exceptionally misleading.
"Microsoft's Zune HD, set to go on sale Tuesday, will not feature a tightly controlled by control freaks with degrees in control freakery application store like its competitor the iPod Touch, and therefore may or may not work and may or may not do anything you want it to do"
Of course they are aware of the risks, and I can assure you, they *don't care*. I am sure they would object to any specific item that was clearly dangerous, but as an overall statistical risk, it's not even on their minds. There were *plenty* of volunteers to launch critical national payloads right after the Challenger incident.
Of course they are not actually changing radioactive materials to non-radioactive materials - they change the compounds containing uranium to compunds that are very weakly soluble in water (instead of highly soluble), so they don't migrate easily. Very useful, but a little different from the impression I got from the summary.
It may be a good point, but the people I am referring to (and myself) have plenty of disposable income. DVRs just seem to be a "in between" solution to the problem that I haven't seen a lot of people use. That may indeed be an outlier statistically, but it would surprise me a bit.
Uh, I know I am outside the age range you describe, but to be honest with you, I have never actually *seen* a DVR, or know anyone that uses one. And I am a serious TV watcher - at least 8 hours a day.
Everyone either watches stuff when it's on (and most shows are repeated 10 times a week anyway - I can want Law and Order:CI 5 times a day, and 3 of them will be the same episode, so who needs to record it?), or they watch on the computer. DVR is sort of an in-between solution.
And these have been used in space applications since the early 60's. In fact every satellite program that I have worked on used TWTA amplifiers. People are always looking for alternatives because they are very squirrely devices, but it's pretty difficult to generate much power at microwave frequencies with solid-state alternatives.
the energy-intensive electrolysis that produces the hydrogen will need to use a carbon-neutral energy source; and the complex multi-step process will always consume significantly more energy than the fuel it produces could yield. '
But it's easy to put a nuclear reactor in a ship, and not so easy to put one in a fighter jet.
Isn't it a feature of diesels that they run best in a narrow RPM range?
That's a characteristic of ALL internal combustion engines, not just diesels. The reason it has been associated with diesels is that the common applications of diesels are those that lend themselves to narrow-range or constant rpm applications like trucks and diesel-electric trains. You could easily optimize a gasoline or methanol engine for a particular RPM range wtih similar results - a restrictor plate NASCAR motor being a hallmark example. It jusy runs around at an almost constant RPM the entire race, and it highly optimized for both power and mileage.
I have had exactly the same experience - any idiot can find "references" to any idiotic thing they want, whereas established experts in the same field are effectively locked out by not being able to quote themselves.
The acceptable exposure limit for hydrazine is 0.01 ppm, the exposure limit for N2O4 is 3-5 ppm.
Hydrazine is a sensitizer and a carcinogen. N2O4 will react with the first thing it touches and become inert - meaning you really only have to worry about the acute effects.
"Carcinogen" in the sense that sometime in the future you will have a slightly elevated risk of cancer. It's hardly any more dangerous than asbestos (and thats 99% scam, 1% real health issue). NTO will ignite many organic compounds on contact. You want to breath hydrazine instead of NTO.
Hydrazine is not all that bad compared to the oxidizer used, nitrogen tetraoxide. People used to sniff for hydrazine leaks with their nose (smells like rotten fish) early in satellite development. Nitrogen tetraoxide smell like the inside of your nose being dissolved.
But your general point is correct in that the chemical effects of most of these items are far more problematic than the radioactivity, and the chemical effects can be dealt with reasonable safety as has been proven for decades.
And if a meteor *does* strike the reactor, we are going to contaminate the Moon with radioactivity? More than being exposed to an unshielded fusion reactor for 4.5 billion years?
Microsoft always do this with search engines. They seem to start from the assumption that any query represents a user problem, for which there exists a Microsoft based solution.
Given that most people use Windows, assuming any search represents a user problem is a pretty safe bet.
When you say "scary", do you mean scary as in "scary that people are still making the same unfunny Skynet comparison"? Jesus Christ, why don't they make a reference to being "The Weakest Link, Goodbye" while they're at it.
No, I would mod either of those "+1 Tiresome". Or is it -1?
I am just amazed, like the original poster, that *it's a mother-fucking text editor* that now reads PDFs and runs on a server, for Chrissake. It's the equivalent of Cartman's Trapper Keeper.
Slashdot Mirror
Heck, why go to all that trouble ? Just use the bullshit as a fuel.
Brett
"Microsoft's Zune HD, set to go on sale Tuesday, will not feature a tightly controlled by control freaks with degrees in control freakery application store like its competitor the iPod Touch, and therefore may or may not work and may or may not do anything you want it to do"
Further corrected.
Brett
Of course they are aware of the risks, and I can assure you, they *don't care*. I am sure they would object to any specific item that was clearly dangerous, but as an overall statistical risk, it's not even on their minds. There were *plenty* of volunteers to launch critical national payloads right after the Challenger incident.
Brett
Of course they are not actually changing radioactive materials to non-radioactive materials - they change the compounds containing uranium to compunds that are very weakly soluble in water (instead of highly soluble), so they don't migrate easily. Very useful, but a little different from the impression I got from the summary.
Brett
I think the thousands of mites already crawling around in there probably do that job. Unfortunately, you wind up with mite poop.
Brett
I presume you mean 16 degrees centigrade, as opposed to degree Fahrenheit, or Kelvins or Rankines.
Brett
No insult perceived.
It may be a good point, but the people I am referring to (and myself) have plenty of disposable income. DVRs just seem to be a "in between" solution to the problem that I haven't seen a lot of people use. That may indeed be an outlier statistically, but it would surprise me a bit.
Brett
Uh, I know I am outside the age range you describe, but to be honest with you, I have never actually *seen* a DVR, or know anyone that uses one. And I am a serious TV watcher - at least 8 hours a day.
Everyone either watches stuff when it's on (and most shows are repeated 10 times a week anyway - I can want Law and Order:CI 5 times a day, and 3 of them will be the same episode, so who needs to record it?), or they watch on the computer. DVR is sort of an in-between solution.
Brett
And these have been used in space applications since the early 60's. In fact every satellite program that I have worked on used TWTA amplifiers. People are always looking for alternatives because they are very squirrely devices, but it's pretty difficult to generate much power at microwave frequencies with solid-state alternatives.
Brett
But it's easy to put a nuclear reactor in a ship, and not so easy to put one in a fighter jet.
Brett
That's a characteristic of ALL internal combustion engines, not just diesels. The reason it has been associated with diesels is that the common applications of diesels are those that lend themselves to narrow-range or constant rpm applications like trucks and diesel-electric trains. You could easily optimize a gasoline or methanol engine for a particular RPM range wtih similar results - a restrictor plate NASCAR motor being a hallmark example. It jusy runs around at an almost constant RPM the entire race, and it highly optimized for both power and mileage.
Brett
We obey the laws of physics in this household, young man!
Brett
I have had exactly the same experience - any idiot can find "references" to any idiotic thing they want, whereas established experts in the same field are effectively locked out by not being able to quote themselves.
"Carcinogen" in the sense that sometime in the future you will have a slightly elevated risk of cancer. It's hardly any more dangerous than asbestos (and thats 99% scam, 1% real health issue). NTO will ignite many organic compounds on contact. You want to breath hydrazine instead of NTO.
Brett
Hydrazine is not all that bad compared to the oxidizer used, nitrogen tetraoxide. People used to sniff for hydrazine leaks with their nose (smells like rotten fish) early in satellite development. Nitrogen tetraoxide smell like the inside of your nose being dissolved.
But your general point is correct in that the chemical effects of most of these items are far more problematic than the radioactivity, and the chemical effects can be dealt with reasonable safety as has been proven for decades.
Brett
And if a meteor *does* strike the reactor, we are going to contaminate the Moon with radioactivity? More than being exposed to an unshielded fusion reactor for 4.5 billion years?
Brett
No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.
Given that most people use Windows, assuming any search represents a user problem is a pretty safe bet.
Brett
Stole everything but the stability? NT was a lot better than 95/98/ME but hasn't come close to the reliability of VMS.
Brett
Uh, it has to be "electronic" to be useful? Every hear of electric light? Or a toaster?
Brett
No, I would mod either of those "+1 Tiresome". Or is it -1?
I am just amazed, like the original poster, that *it's a mother-fucking text editor* that now reads PDFs and runs on a server, for Chrissake. It's the equivalent of Cartman's Trapper Keeper.
Brett
I don't know why someone modded this "Funny"! Well, actually, I do - because there's no tag for "Scary"
Brett
Touche'.
Brett
Dear God in heaven, have these guys *ever* had an original thought? I mean an original though that was good, of course.