My Verizon/Frontier fiber termination included it's own battery backup -- I thought all of them did. I'm pretty sure 24/7 availability is a requirement for 911 emergency service for landlines, so if they can't get power off the wire, they need a backup.
I plan on running DC power to every room (USB and car cigarette lighter outlets) when I build my house, and using all LED or electroluminescent lighting. I'd also like to install car stereos in every room, with 4 car speakers in the ceiling. Not sure what the most efficient way to do voltage conversion is, probably just run 12v (13.8v) everywhere and convert to 5v for USB. I'm thinking car and RV electronics for most purposes. But, I intend to install AC power everywhere too, and probably propane as well (for stove, at least), and make provisions for solar, wood or pellet heat, because I think multifueling keeps your options open. I kinda like refrigerators, microwaves, and hot showers -- don't think I could live on just what could be stored in a single car battery.
I'm open to suggestions on how to run flat-panel displays off 12v without coverting to AC and back to DC inside the display. One would think there would be DC televisions available, but I'm fairly certain there aren't any large DC displays on the market.
I'm missing something here. Why not let the economic system adjust itself, just like in the real world? Establish a marketplace, let people bid on selling and buying prices, and automatically set the value based on accepted bids -- just like the stock market. Values automatically track up and down based on supply and demand... am I oversimplifying the problem, or is the original article overcomplicating it?
The problem with relying on human nature of hundreds of humans in succession to send this experiment on it's way is obvious: it only takes one a-hole to break the chain. Didn't somebody try a similar experiment years ago, with a mobile robot that relied on passers-by to point it in the right direction? Again, relying on the kindness of strangers is only dependable in an environment with no griefers... kind of the same reason the internet sucks.
You know, people used to be able to put their cars on trains or boats for long trips... perhaps we could bring back that old tradition for holiday travel. It would be a lot more energy efficient as well.
On long trips, horses can eat the grass growing along the side of the road... where the hell am I going to find petroleum products on a long trip?
(The supply generally tends to expand to meet the demand. If enough people are willing to pay to quick-charge their electrics away from home, some entrepreneur will build the charging stations. Most will simply take over some of the space in existing gas stations.
The tipping point will come when a usable battery pack costs less than $30,000 (more than a low-end entire car). Sure, the Model S is nice, but at $70,000 to $120,000, it's beyond most people's means. People can keep claiming they are going to come out with and affordable electric with great range "any day real soon now", but until I drive out of a dealership in an electric car with the 200 mile range of a Model S for less than the cost of Honda Civic, I'm going to keep insisting they are full of shit. (Yeah, the Bolt sounds cool, but again, I'll believe it when I can actually purchase it.)
It doesn't matter how much better any new CPU design is. Unless you've got a billion dollars a year to invest in making it better, you're simply not going to keep up with Intel, and it will soon be obsolete. And unless you're selling hundreds of millions of copies of that CPU, you likely don't have a billion dollars a year to invent in R & D. Unfortunately, CPU chips are a textbook case of a "natural monopoly" i.e. "A natural monopoly is a monopoly in an industry in which it is most efficient (involving the lowest long-run average cost) for production to be permanently concentrated in a single firm rather than contested competitively."
Sure, Sparc was cool when it first came out. Now, it's just a curious anachronism.
Himalayan blackberries were intentionally introduced to Oregon as a food. They are quite tasty, but they are virtually impossible to wipe out, and you may think that they are free, but you pay for them in blood -- they have the worst thorns I've ever seen. The canes are tough enough to destroy the string used by weed-wackers, and I'm pretty sure they scratch the paint on cars as you drive buy. In other words, just because they taste good doesn't make them really obnoxious.
Blueberries, on the other hand, quickly get eaten by dear and birds as soon as they become ripe. Birds are actually useful for spreading seeds, but that doesn't help the blueberries I was trying to grow in my garden. Strangely, however, where the birds ate all my blueberries, the next year there were "wild" strawberry plants growing! Apparently my blueberry bushes were the birds dessert stop after the strawberry fields.
We've also been trying to wipe out lions, tigers, bears, and most other predators (oh, my!) for thousands of years, so that must make it ok to drive those animals into extinction by killing every last one of them now, right? Just because we've been doing something misguided for a long time, doesn't make it ok, especially now that we're much more efficient at it. That being said, many GMO modifications aren't substantially different than those achieved by hybridization and selective breed, which has itself resulted in pretty massive changes in plant and animal species over the years. Ok, so at what point does modifying a species become a bad thing? That's the problem; it's almost impossible to know in advance. We've survived for millions of years as a species precisely because we don't agree on everything, it is useful for the survival of the species to have a certain percentage of people that disagree and refuse to do the "obvious" thing, because in a small percentage of cases, the obvious thing is actually fatal. For example, Christian Scientists refuse to get blood transfusions? They don't get HIV or many other blood-borne diseases. The lunatic fringe is actually ensuring our survival as a species.
I agree, most GMO foods are harmless, and there is no scientific evidence that they are any worse than the original. However, I also believe people have a right to their own paranoid delusions, therefore they have a right to know whether or not the food they buy contains GMO ingredients, and the federal government has a duty to endure that foods and other products are properly labeled, which in this case, would be a large, conspicuous "GMO" on the front label.
Dihydrogen Monoxide kills hundreds of times more people every year than Sodium Chloride does...
If you die from Sodium Chloride, to the police categorize it as assault?
Wouldn't this increase battery life in mobile devices? Data centers could all be run off of solar/wind/wave power, if we really cared about energy use.
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My Verizon/Frontier fiber termination included it's own battery backup -- I thought all of them did. I'm pretty sure 24/7 availability is a requirement for 911 emergency service for landlines, so if they can't get power off the wire, they need a backup.
I plan on running DC power to every room (USB and car cigarette lighter outlets) when I build my house, and using all LED or electroluminescent lighting. I'd also like to install car stereos in every room, with 4 car speakers in the ceiling. Not sure what the most efficient way to do voltage conversion is, probably just run 12v (13.8v) everywhere and convert to 5v for USB. I'm thinking car and RV electronics for most purposes. But, I intend to install AC power everywhere too, and probably propane as well (for stove, at least), and make provisions for solar, wood or pellet heat, because I think multifueling keeps your options open. I kinda like refrigerators, microwaves, and hot showers -- don't think I could live on just what could be stored in a single car battery. I'm open to suggestions on how to run flat-panel displays off 12v without coverting to AC and back to DC inside the display. One would think there would be DC televisions available, but I'm fairly certain there aren't any large DC displays on the market.
I'm missing something here. Why not let the economic system adjust itself, just like in the real world? Establish a marketplace, let people bid on selling and buying prices, and automatically set the value based on accepted bids -- just like the stock market. Values automatically track up and down based on supply and demand... am I oversimplifying the problem, or is the original article overcomplicating it?
I keep getting her confused with Linda Lovelace...
Canadians: they only destroy things when they lose a hockey game!
The problem with relying on human nature of hundreds of humans in succession to send this experiment on it's way is obvious: it only takes one a-hole to break the chain. Didn't somebody try a similar experiment years ago, with a mobile robot that relied on passers-by to point it in the right direction? Again, relying on the kindness of strangers is only dependable in an environment with no griefers... kind of the same reason the internet sucks.
You know, people used to be able to put their cars on trains or boats for long trips... perhaps we could bring back that old tradition for holiday travel. It would be a lot more energy efficient as well.
Heck, my daughter takes longer than that just to use the restroom...
That's a silly argument. Wouldn't most gas station simply convert to electric charging stations as gasoline sales wane?
I'm pretty sure that problem was solved a long time ago by the fancy contraption called a "bush"...
You forgot: road maintenance currently financed by a tax on gasoline and diesel, not electricity...
On long trips, horses can eat the grass growing along the side of the road... where the hell am I going to find petroleum products on a long trip? (The supply generally tends to expand to meet the demand. If enough people are willing to pay to quick-charge their electrics away from home, some entrepreneur will build the charging stations. Most will simply take over some of the space in existing gas stations.
Right... cause the neighbors cat, small children, and various other small animals will NEVER be out on your lawn..
No problem! You can always buy a gasoline-powered generator and charge those batteries right up!
"How many miles per brain are you gettin'?"
The tipping point will come when a usable battery pack costs less than $30,000 (more than a low-end entire car). Sure, the Model S is nice, but at $70,000 to $120,000, it's beyond most people's means. People can keep claiming they are going to come out with and affordable electric with great range "any day real soon now", but until I drive out of a dealership in an electric car with the 200 mile range of a Model S for less than the cost of Honda Civic, I'm going to keep insisting they are full of shit. (Yeah, the Bolt sounds cool, but again, I'll believe it when I can actually purchase it.)
It doesn't matter how much better any new CPU design is. Unless you've got a billion dollars a year to invest in making it better, you're simply not going to keep up with Intel, and it will soon be obsolete. And unless you're selling hundreds of millions of copies of that CPU, you likely don't have a billion dollars a year to invent in R & D. Unfortunately, CPU chips are a textbook case of a "natural monopoly" i.e. "A natural monopoly is a monopoly in an industry in which it is most efficient (involving the lowest long-run average cost) for production to be permanently concentrated in a single firm rather than contested competitively." Sure, Sparc was cool when it first came out. Now, it's just a curious anachronism.
Himalayan blackberries were intentionally introduced to Oregon as a food. They are quite tasty, but they are virtually impossible to wipe out, and you may think that they are free, but you pay for them in blood -- they have the worst thorns I've ever seen. The canes are tough enough to destroy the string used by weed-wackers, and I'm pretty sure they scratch the paint on cars as you drive buy. In other words, just because they taste good doesn't make them really obnoxious. Blueberries, on the other hand, quickly get eaten by dear and birds as soon as they become ripe. Birds are actually useful for spreading seeds, but that doesn't help the blueberries I was trying to grow in my garden. Strangely, however, where the birds ate all my blueberries, the next year there were "wild" strawberry plants growing! Apparently my blueberry bushes were the birds dessert stop after the strawberry fields.
We've also been trying to wipe out lions, tigers, bears, and most other predators (oh, my!) for thousands of years, so that must make it ok to drive those animals into extinction by killing every last one of them now, right? Just because we've been doing something misguided for a long time, doesn't make it ok, especially now that we're much more efficient at it. That being said, many GMO modifications aren't substantially different than those achieved by hybridization and selective breed, which has itself resulted in pretty massive changes in plant and animal species over the years. Ok, so at what point does modifying a species become a bad thing? That's the problem; it's almost impossible to know in advance. We've survived for millions of years as a species precisely because we don't agree on everything, it is useful for the survival of the species to have a certain percentage of people that disagree and refuse to do the "obvious" thing, because in a small percentage of cases, the obvious thing is actually fatal. For example, Christian Scientists refuse to get blood transfusions? They don't get HIV or many other blood-borne diseases. The lunatic fringe is actually ensuring our survival as a species.
I agree, most GMO foods are harmless, and there is no scientific evidence that they are any worse than the original. However, I also believe people have a right to their own paranoid delusions, therefore they have a right to know whether or not the food they buy contains GMO ingredients, and the federal government has a duty to endure that foods and other products are properly labeled, which in this case, would be a large, conspicuous "GMO" on the front label.
Dihydrogen Monoxide kills hundreds of times more people every year than Sodium Chloride does... If you die from Sodium Chloride, to the police categorize it as assault?
"Gallium Nitrade" is proof that the slashdot editors STILL don't check their spelling... (The linked article calls it "gallium nitride".)
Wouldn't this increase battery life in mobile devices? Data centers could all be run off of solar/wind/wave power, if we really cared about energy use.
... what's it taste like?
... all the way down!