actually, I do... they aren't spoiled rotten:) theres no reason a kid needs an iPod until he can afford to purchase one with his/her own money. That's our philosophy.
Oh come on. It was a business decision, and the guy from Snapper didn't see the $$$. If he saw the $$$, he would have stayed with WalMart. Had you read the FastCompany article you would have gotten that; the shill that wrote the summary is just that.
in capitalism there are Patriots, and there are Traitors- and Wal-Mart is effectively the economic version of the Chinese Secret Police.
Walmart plays by the rules. Don't like the rules? Do something about them. Imports are taxed. They hire more-than-average number of women and minorities. We can argue about insurance until you are blue in the face but they follow the rules and practices the government has laid out. And where do you think the revenue is all going? Who do you honestly think makes more money, the producers or the wholesaler?
Dreadful analogy - the 50-cent vending machine coffee is crap, the $3.50 starbucks latte is crap.
Excellent analogy. I'd rather have 7 cups of generic coffee than 1 cup of super expensive coffee that tastes a little better than the generic.
I shop at WalMart. For the basic everyday items (food, toiletries, etc.) generic items at decent prices. However for something that is a long-term investment - computers, furniture, clothing, etc - we go for quality. Its a balance.
This guy is nothing new. I read the article in Fast Company a few months ago. He wasn't willing to bend and neither was Walmart, so the deal was cut off. Deals are called off all the time...
I have no knowledge of linux systems using FAT in any other case than to interoperate with windows.
thumb drives. They all use FAT. And it doesn't matter what you are interoperating with, Microsoft owns the IP, you are using the IP, unlicensed, they have every right to come after you.
They haven't, yet. Microsoft is being nice. They have every right to. Microsoft has asked digital camera/DV camera manufactuers/thumb drive manufacturers to comply but has not talked said a word about Linux.
Microsoft holds the patent to the FAT file system. Most, if not all Linux distributions still ship with support for FAT, including the ability to format and read/write to the filesystem. Taken to court, Linux would lose.
They have done longer tests. The last run was merely to test the sequencing of the system as a whole. What you are trying to quantify with this type of a test is that your countdown sequence works (you've done hundreds of dry runs, yes, but with the real thing its always different) and that the thing is igniting / pumping / lighting / moving appropriately.
There was a plume coming out the side of the rocket in the last few frames of the SpaceX feed, normal to the body of the rocket - not the direction of flight. Most likely due to an engine/turbopump failure. This could possibly cause adverse roll/pitching. It looks like a physical problem; I doubt it was a guidance problem.
Thats $6M to a paying customer, not $6M in cost to SpaceX. SpaceX is built to be a profitable entity. I think Elon jumped the gun.
The other important thing to note is the Falcon system sports a reusable first stage and a disposable second stage. However the first stage has never been tested as to its reusability. You would think a resuable system would be tested for... reusability. Maybe stick a dummy load on it and try to fire it, let the dummy upper stage ballistically reenter, recover the first stage and see how the reusability works. Long story short he was trying to check off too many points on his checklist in 1 flight and I think he paid the price. Of course its easy to say this from the armchair, and even easier in retrospect...
he's talking about dividends. Since Google is pretty hardcore about never splitting stock, you will never get any dividends by purchasing Google stock. Investing in prettymuch any other company (besides Berkshire Hathaway and a few other notable exceptions) you will have a shot at getting dividends on a semi-regular basis. That's free stocks, which translates into free money on top of the increased valuation of your stocks over time...
The problem here is although they are trying to model after Berkshire Hathaway, look at this 6-month trend: http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=GOOG&t=6m&l=on&z=m &q=l&c=%5EGSPC,%5EIXIC,%5EDJI: the results are suprising: they are only keeping up with the market. After we get over the first year of hype they are really doing no better than the aggregates. That's pretty sad. Now granted there is some volatility in there from the DOJ and the china stuff, they may rebound, but really they should be doing better. Maybe if they had stuck with the basics...
Dual-CPU/dual-core machines might be useful for scientific applications, graphics, and other things which legitimately require processor speed.
Yup. Also very useful when you are trying to compile a program or run a "job" of any type and try to do something else simultaneously. Anyone who needs to multitask with an CPU intensive process benefits tremendously.
And remember... RAM is cheap. You can have RAM and CPU. 2 gigs of the "good stuff" is $150.
200 isp with no throat = a cf (coefficient of expansion) of 1. IIRC (im at work) a 1.4 cf is very conservative. That puts him at 280, right now, no design changes other than slapping a nozzle on the end.
He's a tinkerer. He isn't in a race with anyone. He's said that before. He puts 1% of Id's revenue into it (not much) and then his own personal money. This is a diversion for him. He's not trying to be Elon. He's trying to do something different (I've said it the third time now, sunk in yet?)
And on the peroxide note... Peroxide was bad from one perspective but it was excellent in another perspective. Peroxide's virtue is quick turnaround time and handleability. He was able to turn around engines quickly and perform quick experiements. That level of playing around and discovering truths is not available when you move to a cryogenic/pressurized oxidizer/fuel combination. So while in the long run it was a setback there was a lot of valuable lessons learned and in fact it may have sped up the learning curve (IE: they may be further ahead of the game than if they started with LOX/Ethanol.
I'm a fan of both camps, I wish Elon well but you have to realise they are doing the same thing Boeing and LM and Raytheon have all done before. Pintle engines are old: he's not even getting that good of performance out of them. 2 stage to orbit vehicles optimization is a classic textbook problem. Both men are examples of people who aren't Aerospace engineers but look up at the stars, who found themselves in money due to hard work and good fortune in their fields and wanted to pursue space. They are taking different routes and again I commend both. I just think I find more value in what John is doing. His vehicle is unique - VTVL hasn't been done yet, not that he's there, but if he does it he will be the first. Differential throttling is spot on. I think he's finally got it.
It is a multithreaded application. Running on two processors. Meaning you'd need a single processor with **double** the speed in order to have a similar benchmark. In a few months when AMD has a mobile dual core offering then the comparisons can and will be made.
I moved every 6 months in college (dorm life) therefore I got all my club cards right as I was leaving one room to move to the next. If you butcher the spelling of your name well enough the annoying mailers never quite make it to your new dorm across campus, and the grocery store / club doesn't know your true identity.
And kids, NEVER i mean NEVER fill out a credit card application from a credit card company that shows up on campus. I don't care if the T-shirt is free. I was smart enough never to do it but I know people who were not so lucky.
210 with no throat could easily = 250 with isentropic expansion. The flow is severely underexpanded. Come on man you should know this.
He switched to LOX in April of last year. That was LOX/Methanol. He's using Ethanol now and according to my email archive that's been since July. Methanol and Ethanol are pretty similar though, the issue was film cooling with the Methanol, IIRC.
VTVL is big. He's no Elon (I said that in my original post) but his head is in the right place. Elon is replicating, John is innovating.
I believe the FCC is one of the most unconstitutional departments in the Federal government and completely destroys the reason why it was set up in the first place. If the airwaves are public property, why are they regulated to the point that no one but the elite can access them?
ARRL would beg to differ. Private individuals can do all sorts of stuff on the public airwaves for next to nothing. Private individuals even have satellites in LEO.
Take a look sometime at the amateur radio allocations and the power allocations - amateurs can use up to 1,000MW on many bands (and you can communicate to ISS and satellites on as little as 0.5W if you are good) - there is room for everyone as it stands right now.
It is time for a second Internet to come into action -- one that is voluntarily connected, one that is run over cabling (or satellite) connections that are not subsidized by any government regime.
Amateur radio kinda has that... RTTY. Its not the flashy internet we have here but its data transfer over the airwaves.
If you would have read the damn article - yes it was confusingly worded, read the links, and the summary is wrong - you would have realised the rep. from did **not** say that it was OK for AT&T to "extort" companies like Google, but rather he said it was OK for them to offered tiered internet **access** at different price points. I quote:
"Any provider who blocks access to the Internet is inviting customers to find another provider," Whitacre said in his keynote speech. "It's bad business." He then emphatically stated that AT&T would not block independent services, "nor will we degrade [Internet access]. Period, end of story." (Whittacre, AT&T)
However, Martin also added that he supports network operators' desires to offer different levels of broadband service at different speeds, and at different pricing -- a so-called "tiered" Internet service structure that opponents say could give a market advantage to deep-pocket companies who can afford to pay service providers for preferential treatment. (Martin, FCC)
Elon is copying technology that already exists and making a fairly conventional rocket - single engine pintle motors. He's also funding a full-scale production facility.
John is not. He is funding it by selling off his collection of cars. His development team is a group of friends. His idea is a little different - a VTVL with a hovering tail setdown, not a splashdown. He's working on four throttled throatless engines on his stage - a radically different beast. Control law between multiple engines is a pain. Quite frankly it hasn't been done yet - Apollo used 1 single gimbleable engine, and even that was in reduced gravity! Much easier since your closing velocities will be slower. Etc.
Long story short, Elon is repeating history but trying to cut costs and make it manageable. John is trying to do things a new way.
Actually I've never used a laptop in class. I could never afford one in college. I took notes with pencil and paper. But I've had professors come up with equally stupid rules and I've known freshman who were not smart enough to start thinking for themselves and realise that they are adults and they can start acting like adults and take on other adults in an adult fashion. Many professors teach their students like children, this isn't high school anymore...
Many professors have spent too much time in the ivory tower. Don't get me wrong there are a lot of good ones and I'm grateful for the ones on my thesis committee, they are a blast to work with and they are the reason I'm going back to get my PhD. But there are plenty of professors who are a pain and sadly they get thrown at the freshmen and sophmores, when really they should be getting the better professors to encourage their education. And we wonder why so many drop out...
Exactly once, because that student was removed from my classroom and had to retake the class with someone else the next term
As a student I've run into professors like you. Unfortunately not all of us roll over quite so easily. On the contrary, some of us are quite vocal and will work to make things change our way. I led a petition drive that successfully reverted a policy change implemented mid-semester; similar to this case. I was also an RA at the time and went to bat for several students who were getting pushed over by manipulative professors.
Long story short a vocal student can get what he wants just as easily if not easier than a professor. The whole point of the university system (beyond generating papers and research for more funding) is to educate. If I can't optimally absorb knowlege then there is a problem, and I will make sure damn sure that problem is resolved. Quite honestly, the students don't need your self-centered, self-absorbed pompous self either.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm pretty sure it was in jest. Of course it is hard to read in text... think "lol.. I brainwash my kids... no iPods, no Google"
Its kind of like if you worked for Ford, you really wouldn't want your kids driving a Chevy. Bad publicity.
actually, I do... they aren't spoiled rotten :) theres no reason a kid needs an iPod until he can afford to purchase one with his/her own money. That's our philosophy.
Oh come on. It was a business decision, and the guy from Snapper didn't see the $$$. If he saw the $$$, he would have stayed with WalMart. Had you read the FastCompany article you would have gotten that; the shill that wrote the summary is just that.
in capitalism there are Patriots, and there are Traitors- and Wal-Mart is effectively the economic version of the Chinese Secret Police.
Walmart plays by the rules. Don't like the rules? Do something about them. Imports are taxed. They hire more-than-average number of women and minorities. We can argue about insurance until you are blue in the face but they follow the rules and practices the government has laid out. And where do you think the revenue is all going? Who do you honestly think makes more money, the producers or the wholesaler?
Dreadful analogy - the 50-cent vending machine coffee is crap, the $3.50 starbucks latte is crap.
Excellent analogy. I'd rather have 7 cups of generic coffee than 1 cup of super expensive coffee that tastes a little better than the generic.
I shop at WalMart. For the basic everyday items (food, toiletries, etc.) generic items at decent prices. However for something that is a long-term investment - computers, furniture, clothing, etc - we go for quality. Its a balance.
This guy is nothing new. I read the article in Fast Company a few months ago. He wasn't willing to bend and neither was Walmart, so the deal was cut off. Deals are called off all the time...
I have no knowledge of linux systems using FAT in any other case than to interoperate with windows.
thumb drives. They all use FAT. And it doesn't matter what you are interoperating with, Microsoft owns the IP, you are using the IP, unlicensed, they have every right to come after you.
They haven't, yet. Microsoft is being nice. They have every right to. Microsoft has asked digital camera/DV camera manufactuers/thumb drive manufacturers to comply but has not talked said a word about Linux.
It is a sad world when not having an iPod is child abuse.
http://news.com.com/Microsofts+file+system+patent+ upheld/2100-1012_3-6025447.html
Microsoft holds the patent to the FAT file system. Most, if not all Linux distributions still ship with support for FAT, including the ability to format and read/write to the filesystem. Taken to court, Linux would lose.
They have done longer tests. The last run was merely to test the sequencing of the system as a whole. What you are trying to quantify with this type of a test is that your countdown sequence works (you've done hundreds of dry runs, yes, but with the real thing its always different) and that the thing is igniting / pumping / lighting / moving appropriately.
The camera was pointing straight down along the body, from the nose to the tail.
There was a plume coming out the side of the rocket in the last few frames of the SpaceX feed, normal to the body of the rocket - not the direction of flight. Most likely due to an engine/turbopump failure. This could possibly cause adverse roll/pitching. It looks like a physical problem; I doubt it was a guidance problem.
Thats $6M to a paying customer, not $6M in cost to SpaceX. SpaceX is built to be a profitable entity. I think Elon jumped the gun.
The other important thing to note is the Falcon system sports a reusable first stage and a disposable second stage. However the first stage has never been tested as to its reusability. You would think a resuable system would be tested for... reusability. Maybe stick a dummy load on it and try to fire it, let the dummy upper stage ballistically reenter, recover the first stage and see how the reusability works. Long story short he was trying to check off too many points on his checklist in 1 flight and I think he paid the price. Of course its easy to say this from the armchair, and even easier in retrospect...
... and yet you post on /.
Unless you take your dividend checks and invest it in more stock of the same or similar companies
yes, that is what the smart investor does.
he's talking about dividends. Since Google is pretty hardcore about never splitting stock, you will never get any dividends by purchasing Google stock. Investing in prettymuch any other company (besides Berkshire Hathaway and a few other notable exceptions) you will have a shot at getting dividends on a semi-regular basis. That's free stocks, which translates into free money on top of the increased valuation of your stocks over time ...
m &q=l&c=%5EGSPC,%5EIXIC,%5EDJI: the results are suprising: they are only keeping up with the market. After we get over the first year of hype they are really doing no better than the aggregates. That's pretty sad. Now granted there is some volatility in there from the DOJ and the china stuff, they may rebound, but really they should be doing better. Maybe if they had stuck with the basics...
The problem here is although they are trying to model after Berkshire Hathaway, look at this 6-month trend: http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=GOOG&t=6m&l=on&z=
Dual-CPU/dual-core machines might be useful for scientific applications, graphics, and other things which legitimately require processor speed.
Yup. Also very useful when you are trying to compile a program or run a "job" of any type and try to do something else simultaneously. Anyone who needs to multitask with an CPU intensive process benefits tremendously.
And remember... RAM is cheap. You can have RAM and CPU. 2 gigs of the "good stuff" is $150.
200 isp with no throat = a cf (coefficient of expansion) of 1. IIRC (im at work) a 1.4 cf is very conservative. That puts him at 280, right now, no design changes other than slapping a nozzle on the end.
... Peroxide was bad from one perspective but it was excellent in another perspective. Peroxide's virtue is quick turnaround time and handleability. He was able to turn around engines quickly and perform quick experiements. That level of playing around and discovering truths is not available when you move to a cryogenic/pressurized oxidizer/fuel combination. So while in the long run it was a setback there was a lot of valuable lessons learned and in fact it may have sped up the learning curve (IE: they may be further ahead of the game than if they started with LOX/Ethanol.
He's a tinkerer. He isn't in a race with anyone. He's said that before. He puts 1% of Id's revenue into it (not much) and then his own personal money. This is a diversion for him. He's not trying to be Elon. He's trying to do something different (I've said it the third time now, sunk in yet?)
And on the peroxide note
I'm a fan of both camps, I wish Elon well but you have to realise they are doing the same thing Boeing and LM and Raytheon have all done before. Pintle engines are old: he's not even getting that good of performance out of them. 2 stage to orbit vehicles optimization is a classic textbook problem. Both men are examples of people who aren't Aerospace engineers but look up at the stars, who found themselves in money due to hard work and good fortune in their fields and wanted to pursue space. They are taking different routes and again I commend both. I just think I find more value in what John is doing. His vehicle is unique - VTVL hasn't been done yet, not that he's there, but if he does it he will be the first. Differential throttling is spot on. I think he's finally got it.
It is a multithreaded application. Running on two processors. Meaning you'd need a single processor with **double** the speed in order to have a similar benchmark. In a few months when AMD has a mobile dual core offering then the comparisons can and will be made.
I moved every 6 months in college (dorm life) therefore I got all my club cards right as I was leaving one room to move to the next. If you butcher the spelling of your name well enough the annoying mailers never quite make it to your new dorm across campus, and the grocery store / club doesn't know your true identity.
And kids, NEVER i mean NEVER fill out a credit card application from a credit card company that shows up on campus. I don't care if the T-shirt is free. I was smart enough never to do it but I know people who were not so lucky.
210 with no throat could easily = 250 with isentropic expansion. The flow is severely underexpanded. Come on man you should know this.
He switched to LOX in April of last year. That was LOX/Methanol. He's using Ethanol now and according to my email archive that's been since July. Methanol and Ethanol are pretty similar though, the issue was film cooling with the Methanol, IIRC.
VTVL is big. He's no Elon (I said that in my original post) but his head is in the right place. Elon is replicating, John is innovating.
I believe the FCC is one of the most unconstitutional departments in the Federal government and completely destroys the reason why it was set up in the first place. If the airwaves are public property, why are they regulated to the point that no one but the elite can access them?
... RTTY. Its not the flashy internet we have here but its data transfer over the airwaves.
ARRL would beg to differ. Private individuals can do all sorts of stuff on the public airwaves for next to nothing. Private individuals even have satellites in LEO.
Take a look sometime at the amateur radio allocations and the power allocations - amateurs can use up to 1,000MW on many bands (and you can communicate to ISS and satellites on as little as 0.5W if you are good) - there is room for everyone as it stands right now.
It is time for a second Internet to come into action -- one that is voluntarily connected, one that is run over cabling (or satellite) connections that are not subsidized by any government regime.
Amateur radio kinda has that
If you would have read the damn article - yes it was confusingly worded, read the links, and the summary is wrong - you would have realised the rep. from did **not** say that it was OK for AT&T to "extort" companies like Google, but rather he said it was OK for them to offered tiered internet **access** at different price points. I quote:
"Any provider who blocks access to the Internet is inviting customers to find another provider," Whitacre said in his keynote speech. "It's bad business." He then emphatically stated that AT&T would not block independent services, "nor will we degrade [Internet access]. Period, end of story." (Whittacre, AT&T)
However, Martin also added that he supports network operators' desires to offer different levels of broadband service at different speeds, and at different pricing -- a so-called "tiered" Internet service structure that opponents say could give a market advantage to deep-pocket companies who can afford to pay service providers for preferential treatment. (Martin, FCC)
it thrusted for a total of 3 seconds, [s], the quantity thrust was measured in [N], the impulse was 3*N or [N*s]
Elon is copying technology that already exists and making a fairly conventional rocket - single engine pintle motors. He's also funding a full-scale production facility.
John is not. He is funding it by selling off his collection of cars. His development team is a group of friends. His idea is a little different - a VTVL with a hovering tail setdown, not a splashdown. He's working on four throttled throatless engines on his stage - a radically different beast. Control law between multiple engines is a pain. Quite frankly it hasn't been done yet - Apollo used 1 single gimbleable engine, and even that was in reduced gravity! Much easier since your closing velocities will be slower. Etc.
Long story short, Elon is repeating history but trying to cut costs and make it manageable. John is trying to do things a new way.
40 minutes in a VMware virtual machine for me ... real box would have been quicker. That's respectable for 5 CD's.
Actually I've never used a laptop in class. I could never afford one in college. I took notes with pencil and paper. But I've had professors come up with equally stupid rules and I've known freshman who were not smart enough to start thinking for themselves and realise that they are adults and they can start acting like adults and take on other adults in an adult fashion. Many professors teach their students like children, this isn't high school anymore...
...
Many professors have spent too much time in the ivory tower. Don't get me wrong there are a lot of good ones and I'm grateful for the ones on my thesis committee, they are a blast to work with and they are the reason I'm going back to get my PhD. But there are plenty of professors who are a pain and sadly they get thrown at the freshmen and sophmores, when really they should be getting the better professors to encourage their education. And we wonder why so many drop out
Exactly once, because that student was removed from my classroom and had to retake the class with someone else the next term
As a student I've run into professors like you. Unfortunately not all of us roll over quite so easily. On the contrary, some of us are quite vocal and will work to make things change our way. I led a petition drive that successfully reverted a policy change implemented mid-semester; similar to this case. I was also an RA at the time and went to bat for several students who were getting pushed over by manipulative professors.
Long story short a vocal student can get what he wants just as easily if not easier than a professor. The whole point of the university system (beyond generating papers and research for more funding) is to educate. If I can't optimally absorb knowlege then there is a problem, and I will make sure damn sure that problem is resolved. Quite honestly, the students don't need your self-centered, self-absorbed pompous self either.