First, about LED lighting: what are the environmental costs of producing it? Remember, semiconductors are usually produced in expensive fabs, which are known for needing a lot of fresh water to run. Of course, they do have the advantage of much longer life than other light sources, so this may not be a big problem.
LED lighting seems to me to be a matter of spending more upfront to gain a long-term benefit, both economically, and -- as you point out -- environmentally. LEDs manufacture causes a certain amount of environmental damage, but they last so much longer than either incandescent or fluorescent bulbs that it seems to be worth it, since we essentially never have to replace the bulbs (with exception for very strange environmental conditions to find in the home).
I was convinced enough that I replaced the incandescent bulb in my Surefire G2 with an LED, to increase my 1-hour battery runtime by a factor of 10. I haven't bothered replacing any of my home lights though, because of the cost.
Secondly, nuclear power is NOT a panacea.
I know, and I think that we should diversify our energy sources, but it's much better than coal, and a good stopgap solution until we're able to harness fusion.:)
Well, the ideal solution so far seems to be widespread LED lighting, combined with widespread nuclear power. With nuclear power, we could use incandescent bulbs without polluting the environment until LED bulbs sufficiently come down in price to be viable for use in every home.
I consider myself a true environmentalist, like Hank Hill; I believe in finding pragmatic solutions to keep our environmental treasures available for the next generations, by reducing unnecessary waste. Most modern ecomentalists are really just anti-industrialists and anti-technologists, fighting scientific progress. This is why they're opposed to nuclear power -- because it would allow our increasingly technological lifestyle to continue growing without killing the planet.
Sorry if this seems like a bit of a rant. It's not against you, it's just a beef I have.:)
But the BSD has no effect whatsoever on the copyright system, since all that's really required from someone who reuses code from a BSD project is a copy of the copyright notice inside the new source code. Meanwhile, reusing code from a GPL project means that you cannot publish your new program under traditional copyright protection.
I'm not saying the GPL is better -- after all, I published FlacSquisher under the Apache license. If copyright somehow ceased to exist, the GPL wouldn't exist either, but only because proprietary code wouldn't have any copyright protections to prevent it from being released into the public domain.
Shakrai said "in spite of our flaws". You seemed to ignore that phrase, as if he waved a flag while shouting about how America's the best country in the world.
All he really said was "You know, America's not as evil as some people make it out to be."
Flat rooves: insane really in a climate that gets decent snowfalls, as every building(mainly industrial or other commercial buildings) have to do TONS of maintenance on them every spring, and they almost always seem to develop major leaks.
My girlfriend's family bought a ranch house in New Hampshire, so the roof is only slightly angled -- probably about a 15 degree incline, as opposed to about a 50-60 degree incline on my parents' house. It doesn't leak, but her dad has to climb onto the roof after every major snowfall to clear it. Fortunately, because it's a one-story ranch with a roof that only has a 15 degree incline, this isn't difficult.
If the state's repaving a New Hampshire highway, it's done in a day. Our everlasting roadwork projects are generally much more involved, like laying down sewage pipeline and whatnot.
and the mouth breathers that won't get a transponder even though they are now free and clog the automatic lanes
Some of us don't like the government being able to monitor our vehicle's location, and another group of us doesn't like the government to have direct access to our bank account.
On the other hand, cars tend to have similar colors on the outside and inside, so a black car generally has a black interior, while a white car generally has a light tan interior. The black car in this case will have much more solar gain.
Maybe, but the necessity of letting the car run for a quarter of an hour before starting the journey is lessened if the car has already been warmed by sunlight.
I don't know if this is true of all cars, but at least on my friend's old Jetta, it had a separate electric heating element used to heat the car interior, so turning the heat on didn't just extract wasted heat from the engine.
that by lightening paved surfaces and roofs to the color of cement
Personally, I wouldn't want to drive on a surface that bright; I'd be squinting even with my sunglasses on!
Also, as a current resident of California, I can see the value in having a light-colored car or house, but as a former resident of New Hampshire, I can tell you that having a black car and black roof on a cold but sunny winter's day is very helpful! Snow slides off my car roof with ease, and it means I didn't have to turn the heat up quite so much!
Slashdot Mirror
Back when DDR first came out, one of my friends from high school bought it, and started playing it for 30-60 minutes every day.
In about 4 months, he went from a 220-lb pudgy kid, to a 170-lb lean, muscular guy. It was hugely impressive!
Yes, but these incandescents contain nanoparticles which are going to reduce our world to grey goo!
Or, if you're a fan of Jason X, it will create über serial killers from spaaaaaaace!
Well, then when you feel lazy, feel free to look like a toolbox. ;)
First, about LED lighting: what are the environmental costs of producing it? Remember, semiconductors are usually produced in expensive fabs, which are known for needing a lot of fresh water to run. Of course, they do have the advantage of much longer life than other light sources, so this may not be a big problem.
LED lighting seems to me to be a matter of spending more upfront to gain a long-term benefit, both economically, and -- as you point out -- environmentally. LEDs manufacture causes a certain amount of environmental damage, but they last so much longer than either incandescent or fluorescent bulbs that it seems to be worth it, since we essentially never have to replace the bulbs (with exception for very strange environmental conditions to find in the home).
I was convinced enough that I replaced the incandescent bulb in my Surefire G2 with an LED, to increase my 1-hour battery runtime by a factor of 10. I haven't bothered replacing any of my home lights though, because of the cost.
Secondly, nuclear power is NOT a panacea.
I know, and I think that we should diversify our energy sources, but it's much better than coal, and a good stopgap solution until we're able to harness fusion. :)
Well, the ideal solution so far seems to be widespread LED lighting, combined with widespread nuclear power. With nuclear power, we could use incandescent bulbs without polluting the environment until LED bulbs sufficiently come down in price to be viable for use in every home.
I consider myself a true environmentalist, like Hank Hill; I believe in finding pragmatic solutions to keep our environmental treasures available for the next generations, by reducing unnecessary waste. Most modern ecomentalists are really just anti-industrialists and anti-technologists, fighting scientific progress. This is why they're opposed to nuclear power -- because it would allow our increasingly technological lifestyle to continue growing without killing the planet.
Sorry if this seems like a bit of a rant. It's not against you, it's just a beef I have. :)
Give them a break; they're Australian. They're still playing Knifey Spooney.
It takes months/years for new hardware to reach them.
It's a Unix system! I know this!
Seems to me that the best recommendation is this: if you need to stay in a 32-bit environment, keep with XP. Otherwise, go for Win7 64-bit.
Anyone disagree?
In all fairness, he did say one kind of country, for which I think he meant "viciously authoritarian", or something similar.
But the BSD has no effect whatsoever on the copyright system, since all that's really required from someone who reuses code from a BSD project is a copy of the copyright notice inside the new source code. Meanwhile, reusing code from a GPL project means that you cannot publish your new program under traditional copyright protection.
I'm not saying the GPL is better -- after all, I published FlacSquisher under the Apache license. If copyright somehow ceased to exist, the GPL wouldn't exist either, but only because proprietary code wouldn't have any copyright protections to prevent it from being released into the public domain.
An even better format: txt
Safe and secure.
(joke stolen from a test... anyone have a link? I only have a local copy)
Well, since they can search the whole database in 30 seconds, maybe they only display one out of every 200 or so possibles?
As if the prints would return this quick?
I don't know, man. On CSI they always have a match within about 12 seconds!
Shakrai said "in spite of our flaws". You seemed to ignore that phrase, as if he waved a flag while shouting about how America's the best country in the world.
All he really said was "You know, America's not as evil as some people make it out to be."
ICANN != IANA
These are two different issues.
The GPL uses copyright only insofar as it subverts the copyright system against itself.
Flat rooves: insane really in a climate that gets decent snowfalls, as every building(mainly industrial or other commercial buildings) have to do TONS of maintenance on them every spring, and they almost always seem to develop major leaks.
My girlfriend's family bought a ranch house in New Hampshire, so the roof is only slightly angled -- probably about a 15 degree incline, as opposed to about a 50-60 degree incline on my parents' house. It doesn't leak, but her dad has to climb onto the roof after every major snowfall to clear it. Fortunately, because it's a one-story ranch with a roof that only has a 15 degree incline, this isn't difficult.
What state do you live in? I don't have a barcode anywhere on my car.
Regardless, even if they can track my car now, I still don't like the idea of giving the government direct access to my bank account.
I blame the Massachusetts government.
If the state's repaving a New Hampshire highway, it's done in a day. Our everlasting roadwork projects are generally much more involved, like laying down sewage pipeline and whatnot.
and the mouth breathers that won't get a transponder even though they are now free and clog the automatic lanes
Some of us don't like the government being able to monitor our vehicle's location, and another group of us doesn't like the government to have direct access to our bank account.
On the other hand, cars tend to have similar colors on the outside and inside, so a black car generally has a black interior, while a white car generally has a light tan interior. The black car in this case will have much more solar gain.
Unless we can also change the rubber in the tires to be lighter color as well
A comeback for white-wall tires? Awesome!
Maybe, but the necessity of letting the car run for a quarter of an hour before starting the journey is lessened if the car has already been warmed by sunlight.
I don't know if this is true of all cars, but at least on my friend's old Jetta, it had a separate electric heating element used to heat the car interior, so turning the heat on didn't just extract wasted heat from the engine.
In New England, we have four seasons:
Almost Winter, Winter, Still Winter, and Construction.
From TFS:
that by lightening paved surfaces and roofs to the color of cement
Personally, I wouldn't want to drive on a surface that bright; I'd be squinting even with my sunglasses on!
Also, as a current resident of California, I can see the value in having a light-colored car or house, but as a former resident of New Hampshire, I can tell you that having a black car and black roof on a cold but sunny winter's day is very helpful! Snow slides off my car roof with ease, and it means I didn't have to turn the heat up quite so much!