Thank you for posting that. I, for one, am glad for NJ to keep it's awful reputation -- then all the dimwits from NYC, Staten Island, Pennsyltucky, etc will stay the F out.
That said, please don't tell anyone about the rest of NJ, you know, the parts away from the TP and GSP.
They mentioned how a particle zooming around in it would have the force of a bus
Not really. The most powerful cosmic ray particles ever observed, which have are millions of times more energy than anything we can create, each have approximately the force of a thrown baseball.
I'd be willing to bet that a thrown bus accelerates much more slowly than a thrown baseball.
Seriously, though, F = M*A. Without a discussion of the acceleration of the bus, you can't even guess at the force. If the bus is traveling in a circle at constant velocity, then the acceleration can be calculated; it will depend on the speed of the bus and the diameter of the circle. I have the feeling calculating the acceleration of a thrown baseball is a bit more difficult. Given that a baseball weighs around 145 grams and a bus weighs about 6500kg, the baseball needs to be accelerating around 45000 times as fast as the bus in order for the force to be equivalent.
Have you taken a look at the top research graduate schools in the US recently? Have you noticed the change in distribution of nationalities over the past couple decades?
China is developing quite a lot of top researchers in many fields, and it's hubris to think that we'll always be technologically ahead of China. The way things are going, they'' soon have greater resources dedicated research (if they don't already), as well as some of the top minds in almost every discipline.
One other note -- isn't this announcement pretty much a statement that they are poised to leap ahead, rather than play catch-up?
Well, it turns out that over the past 25 years oil companies paid more than $2.2 trillion in taxes (adjusted for inflation). That is more than three times what they earned in profits during the same period.
Source?
Also, gross profit? Net profit? US profit? Worldwide?
Keep in mind that corporations are taxed differently than individuals, hugely profitable ones more so.
Never mind the indirect subsidies the oil industry gets, as well as the indirect costs born by the public (pollution, etc) that aren't factored into the oil companies' P&Ls.
Well, they say they hope to have a prototype in a couple years. Seems to me it's a press release to get some funding, not that there's anything wrong with that.
As for 'it' providing power in low-light areas, all they have is a proof-of-concept, not a production-quality cell.
But when the word 'discuss' is used at the end of a post like that, it sets me off... I just don't like being told what to do, I guess -- it;s rude to use the imperative anyway.
But that's the killer. If you're looking at residential use, doubling the area requirement puts this as a supplemental, not primary, energy source. Sure, it's good for that, but if we really want distributed generation to answer our home energy problems, we need density.
1/10 of the cost? Great. Less than 1/2 the efficiency? Uh-oh.
In the long run, we're better off with the high-efficiency Si cells.
Also, we don't have a good idea of the durability of these cells. I'm a bit concerned because of the organic nature; how stable are they? What kind of reduction in efficiency will we see over, say, 20 years?
The problems with it are that most of it is oxidized, and until recently there has not been a worthwhile electrolytic process for its refinement (I don't know if this is catching on or not.)
The porphyrin dye solar cell uses the oxidized titanium -- no need for electrolysis.
I still think it's just stupid not to work on a first-generation product now
Well, that's what they are looking for funding for, prototyping a product.
"This is a proof-of-concept cell," said researcher Wayne Campbell, pointing to a desktop demonstration model.
"Within two to three years we will have developed a prototype for real applications.
...
Now the team is seeking extra funding to go commercial.
Ahh.. I see.
I thought that currently porphyrin dye cells had an efficiency of under 6.5%... commercial silicon cells are 14-16%, while multi-junction research lab cells are getting over 40%... (but use some rare/expensive compounds).
What I like is the ability to generate electricity in less-than-ideal light conditions, but the efficiency is a concern.
Sorry, I'm hardwired to ignore any words preceding that one when it appears at the end of a comment. It's condescending -- I'm not a student of yours, and if the comment is worth discussing, people will discuss it anyway.
Here's a nifty quote from Comcast (emphasis mine):
"The customers who are notified of excessive use typically and repeatedly consume exponentially more bandwidth than an average residential user, which would include, for example, the equivalent of sending 256,000 photos a month[1], or sending 13 million e-mails every month (or 18,000 emails every hour, every day, all month). In these rare instances, Comcast's policy is to proactively contact the customer via phone[2] to work with them and address the issue or help them select a more appropriate commercial-grade Comcast product."
[1] 256,000 photos? Or one or two HD movies? There's more to this policy than meets the eye, I'd bet.
[2] Via phone? Are you kidding me? Put it in writing or it doesn't exist (I'm an accountant, it's one of the rules that I live by). If a class-action suit does come into being, that policy of contacting people by phone could come back to bite them... of course, if they put it in writing, then the policy could come back to bite them even more easily. Nice Catch-22.
Given the above, I think good mechanical pencils suck a lot less than wooden pencils
Koh-I-Noor are the best I've used. Available at art supply stores & online.
For people with breakage problems, try 0.7mm or 0.9mm pencils/leads instead of 0.5mm. I prefer the feel of the 0.7mm to the 0.5mm anyway. Also, buy good leads, not the cheap generics.
The patent on Lego bricks has expired. Copyright has never applied to Lego bricks.
The trademarks on Lego and Lego bricks are still in force, however (annual renewal). However, "In October 2005, the Supreme Court [of Canada] ruled unanimoussly[sic] that 'Trademark law should not be used to perpetuate monopoly rights enjoyed under now-expired patents.'"[1].
What this means is that if he copies Lego bricks exactly, he's fine, as long as he doesn't call his product "Lego".
I would hate to see the day that universities pass up on research because they don't see the ability to make money from it. "oh sorry professor Jones, we aren't going to allow you to research that. We really need you to focus on things that we can license. Thanks."
That day is already here. Many professors are hired because of the revenue-generating potential of their research -- whether by licensing potential or the ability to get grants. The research is pre-screened by the administration by hiring professors who they know will bring in the cash.
This may not be true at all universities, and it's definitely not true for all disciplines -- but it is especially true for pharma (I've seen) and food science (I've heard) research.
Of course, ou can;t believe everything you've seen and heard, but it's long been known in academic circles that hiring and tenure depend not only upon published work, but also on ability to bring home the bacon.
The Tianyuan Cave is a carefully protected area, listed on UNESCO's World Heritage List, and monitored specifically to prohibit such funny business
Your tinfoil-hat-fu is weak. Who monitors it, and what would they stand to gain by this find occurring there?
What if nothing was found at UNESCO sites? UNESCO would lose relevancy, of course. It's rather obvious that UNESCO, the Chinese government, and academics have conspired to pull one over on us, and that these bone fragments are actually the remnants of last Friday's goat barbecue.
In 2010, some elite gamers will have acquired some high end VR gaming hardware, and There It Will Be.
It's 2007 right now. I've seen a lot of VR that, to be nice, I'll only say isn't near ready for mass adoption. Are you saying that there is high-end VR gaming hardware going into production in the next two years?
If so, please share with the slashdot community the companies that are past initial R&D on this, I've got some spare change I'd like to invest.
I did a bit more investigating, and it turns out that the lion pride case (in terms of social structure, not hunting behavior) occurs normally only when there is a concentrated food supply, and you're right, typically behavior is more like tigers.
As for the females killing young, I don't know much about it -- but I have witnessed a male cat (brought in from a different farm) hunt down kittens; this hadn't happened at all at the farm the tom came from.
I'll admit it. I use Myspace occasionally. Useful for keeping in touch with non-Geek friends, it saves me the hassle of making phone calls -- which I generally detest using my free time for. Great for letting masses of people know that you've changed jobs, etc. Especially true for friends/contacts who I don't regularly spend time with anyway, such as former coworkers.
That said, don't announce your engagement[1], your wife's pregnancy[2], the birth of your child[3], or moving out of Mom's basement[4] on Myspace prior to telling your family. Trust me on that one.
[1] Never mind, this is slashdot;) [2] Ditto. [3] Ditto. [4] Better?
Slashdot Mirror
Q1 2007: 80% from two families.
2006: 74% from these families.
Hmm. Too bad bots reproduce asexually, otherwise we could hope for inbreeding to take them out.
Seriously, though, is the decreased diversity in bot "heritage" a good thing -- does it mean that bot infections are easier to detect and treat?
Or does it not make any bit of difference until the typical user learns to protect their PC?
No worries -- but in a discussion of a particle collider, I'll always assume when people are talking about force, they mean the physics term...
But at any rate, then for definition #3, we're talking about mass and velocity, and the distinction still appplies.
/Sorry for being such a pedant, but it's Monday morning, compounded by a nasty sugar hangover from Easter candy.
Thank you for posting that. I, for one, am glad for NJ to keep it's awful reputation -- then all the dimwits from NYC, Staten Island, Pennsyltucky, etc will stay the F out.
That said, please don't tell anyone about the rest of NJ, you know, the parts away from the TP and GSP.
Seriously, though, F = M*A. Without a discussion of the acceleration of the bus, you can't even guess at the force. If the bus is traveling in a circle at constant velocity, then the acceleration can be calculated; it will depend on the speed of the bus and the diameter of the circle. I have the feeling calculating the acceleration of a thrown baseball is a bit more difficult. Given that a baseball weighs around 145 grams and a bus weighs about 6500kg, the baseball needs to be accelerating around 45000 times as fast as the bus in order for the force to be equivalent.
Have you taken a look at the top research graduate schools in the US recently? Have you noticed the change in distribution of nationalities over the past couple decades?
China is developing quite a lot of top researchers in many fields, and it's hubris to think that we'll always be technologically ahead of China. The way things are going, they'' soon have greater resources dedicated research (if they don't already), as well as some of the top minds in almost every discipline.
One other note -- isn't this announcement pretty much a statement that they are poised to leap ahead, rather than play catch-up?
Also, gross profit? Net profit? US profit? Worldwide?
Keep in mind that corporations are taxed differently than individuals, hugely profitable ones more so.
Never mind the indirect subsidies the oil industry gets, as well as the indirect costs born by the public (pollution, etc) that aren't factored into the oil companies' P&Ls.
Not only that, but positive mods on a new ID wouldn't garner any karma on the user's regular ID...
Well, they say they hope to have a prototype in a couple years. Seems to me it's a press release to get some funding, not that there's anything wrong with that.
As for 'it' providing power in low-light areas, all they have is a proof-of-concept, not a production-quality cell.
I'm irked by a lot of things :)
But when the word 'discuss' is used at the end of a post like that, it sets me off... I just don't like being told what to do, I guess -- it;s rude to use the imperative anyway.
1/10 of the cost? Great. Less than 1/2 the efficiency? Uh-oh.
In the long run, we're better off with the high-efficiency Si cells.
Also, we don't have a good idea of the durability of these cells. I'm a bit concerned because of the organic nature; how stable are they? What kind of reduction in efficiency will we see over, say, 20 years?
Well, that's what they are looking for funding for, prototyping a product.
Ahh.. I see.
I thought that currently porphyrin dye cells had an efficiency of under 6.5%... commercial silicon cells are 14-16%, while multi-junction research lab cells are getting over 40%... (but use some rare/expensive compounds).
What I like is the ability to generate electricity in less-than-ideal light conditions, but the efficiency is a concern.
Bugger off.
[2] Via phone? Are you kidding me? Put it in writing or it doesn't exist (I'm an accountant, it's one of the rules that I live by). If a class-action suit does come into being, that policy of contacting people by phone could come back to bite them... of course, if they put it in writing, then the policy could come back to bite them even more easily. Nice Catch-22.
Koh-I-Noor are the best I've used. Available at art supply stores & online.
For people with breakage problems, try 0.7mm or 0.9mm pencils/leads instead of 0.5mm. I prefer the feel of the 0.7mm to the 0.5mm anyway. Also, buy good leads, not the cheap generics.
The patent on Lego bricks has expired. Copyright has never applied to Lego bricks.
The trademarks on Lego and Lego bricks are still in force, however (annual renewal). However, "In October 2005, the Supreme Court [of Canada] ruled unanimoussly[sic] that 'Trademark law should not be used to perpetuate monopoly rights enjoyed under now-expired patents.'"[1].
What this means is that if he copies Lego bricks exactly, he's fine, as long as he doesn't call his product "Lego".
This may not be true at all universities, and it's definitely not true for all disciplines -- but it is especially true for pharma (I've seen) and food science (I've heard) research.
Of course, ou can;t believe everything you've seen and heard, but it's long been known in academic circles that hiring and tenure depend not only upon published work, but also on ability to bring home the bacon.
What if nothing was found at UNESCO sites? UNESCO would lose relevancy, of course. It's rather obvious that UNESCO, the Chinese government, and academics have conspired to pull one over on us, and that these bone fragments are actually the remnants of last Friday's goat barbecue.
If so, please share with the slashdot community the companies that are past initial R&D on this, I've got some spare change I'd like to invest.
I did a bit more investigating, and it turns out that the lion pride case (in terms of social structure, not hunting behavior) occurs normally only when there is a concentrated food supply, and you're right, typically behavior is more like tigers.
As for the females killing young, I don't know much about it -- but I have witnessed a male cat (brought in from a different farm) hunt down kittens; this hadn't happened at all at the farm the tom came from.
So we'll all be Coopers?
I think this'll be more fun than a barrel of monkeys.
/rimshot
Will there be a mini (PDA-viewable) version for our friends at BMW? You know, so they can all be Mini Coopers?
/double rimshot
Thanks folks, I'll be here all week. Try the fish.
I'll admit it. I use Myspace occasionally. Useful for keeping in touch with non-Geek friends, it saves me the hassle of making phone calls -- which I generally detest using my free time for. Great for letting masses of people know that you've changed jobs, etc. Especially true for friends/contacts who I don't regularly spend time with anyway, such as former coworkers.
;)
That said, don't announce your engagement[1], your wife's pregnancy[2], the birth of your child[3], or moving out of Mom's basement[4] on Myspace prior to telling your family. Trust me on that one.
[1] Never mind, this is slashdot
[2] Ditto.
[3] Ditto.
[4] Better?
I keed, I keed.