Put fiber optics underground, and no matter how well you try, someone is going to hit them. Whether by contractor laziness/mistake, or due to utility locates being off by more than 20 feet, it's going to happen. Also, you have the problem of lazy install contractors who will find the softest dirt, and bury fiber optics right smack dab on top of existing utilities.
Well, maybe. If you add sloppy workmanship and hodgepodge record keeping to the mix, you're going to run into problems. That seems to be a mostly American problem though, usually quite irrelevant in other parts of the world.
Why do we use fiber optics anyway when there's wireless?
Bandwidth ? Reliability ? Security ? Range ? What kind of question is that ?
This experiment in burying wires has gone on long enough, time for it to end.
Well, if you do everything wrong, you're going to end up with bad results. Why don't other parts of the world have the same problems ? Workers with better training ? Better recordkeeping ? Not trying to shave the last half-cent off the cost for the insulation ?
The problem is that the positive externalities generated by the underground lines would not be captured by the power company.
And you know why that is so ? It is because the power companies are not liable for any damages caused by outages. This little jewel is buried somewhere in the contract each of their customers has with them.
Therefore, power companies (at least in the US) do not have an incentive or interest to increase the reliability of their service.
Underground cables are much more difficult to repair and it is harder to locate exactly where the fault is (important if you're going to be digging up roads to repair it).
Still, it can be done without digging up the cable, with reasonable accuracy (~1m).
I think that is very rare here, even with houses with 3-phase power connected.
Many, many houses here (Europe) have 3-phase power connected for things like stoves.
Also there is a risk of wiring the active of two different phases together by mistake
People who don't know the basics shouldn't be playing with electricity.
Also, in which situation would anyone ever connect two phases together ? Sounds like a stupid thing to do. Doing stupid things with electricity causes bad results. Someone who doesn't have a clue should leave these things up to properly trained people.
Maybe on Mars or Los Angeles, neither of which have weather or intelligent life. But here on Earth, where it rains, underground utility conduits are notorious for flooding, resulting in extensive telephone and electric outages where such conduits are deployed.
Great. Then most of Europe should have extensive telephone and electric outages quite often ? I haven't heard or experienced them yet. They happen, wait, I can't remember, oh... once every couple of years, maybe ?
Underground lines getting cut by construction. They do that all the time, mostly when the old lines weren't recorded, or recorded properly. And the occassional idiot that doesn't check. Of course, they seem to accidentally trash above ground lines just as often around here.
Well, then you need better-trained construction teams. Of course, in the US they can be pretty careless. They wouldn't even think that the reason why the backhoe suddenly went *clunk* was that it hit a ~60 year-old, 2000-pound bomb.
I'm not a Supreme Court expert (I'm not even an American), but I can't imagine a ruling that would allow people to start challenging patents on "obviousness".
In other countries, being "not obvious" is a requirement for getting a patent in the first place.
VxWorks is non-free, so I very much doubt it's cheaper to licence than Linux (which costs nothing).
I was referring to the whole package (hardware & software) providing a working router (doing the job). Apparently someone thought going VxWorks (and re-doing frikking everything software-wise, while a working solution already existed) and saving a few cents on the hardware(seriously - flash memory is cheap, and it's getting hard to dig up chips with less than 8 MB) was worth the effort. Sounds like a... management decision to me.
Especially since it's still possible to run Linux on the thing.
Somewhat off-topic...
Earlier releases of the WRT54GS firmware had a bug that caused the "ghost town syndrome" in World of Warcraft (I believe this was fixed in 4.50 or 4.70). Do the firmware alternatives (dd-wrt/hyperwrt/etc) contain this bugfix ?
It's not a better-than or worse-than comparison, I'm simply stating the facts. You have to have a certain critical mass of density to make rail networks worth your while. An analogy that works well with Europeans I've met: Imagine France. Now imagine there is nothing in the country but Paris, Lyon, and Marseille. None of the little villages, towns, and cities. Nothing but desert. Now consider the practicality of a rail network in the country. This is Texas.
Why... that'd be great. You only need three stations, with lots of traffic between them.
Hoho, did you ever drive on the autobahn? I do it regularly, and the shape of most of the 'autobahns' is pretty bad. Lots of potholes, sometimes concrete plates instead of a real paved road, etc. Furthermore, the amount of 'baustellen' (construction works) are huge, and the german goverment does have some getting the money for all this together.
Sorry, dude. I've driven a lot in both places (and still do), and the Autobahn at its very worst would still be considered a pretty smooth Interstate.
There's a reason they don't sell Smarts in the States - they'd disappear into some of the bigger potholes.
Compare that to the ICE trains in Germany, which (while crowded) run like clockwork. There are plans to bring high-speed rail to the southeast, but they're running into the usual pork-barrel project problems -- every little town wants a stop, which negates the purpose.
Guess why ICE stands for Intercity Express. Sorry little towns, you're out, at least as far as ICE trains go.
However, there's no reason the same tracks can be used for slower trains with more stops.
The v5 has much less resources (RAM/Flash) and VxWorks is much smaller than Linux. They used the best tool for the job.
Tell that to the people who just want a router (not hacking it or anything), and had to find out that v5 fails at even fairly basic tasks. They used the cheapest tool for the job, and let their customers deal with the consequences.
Okay, if you are sure of that. We are taxed quite well on initial vehicle registration (when you purchase the vehicle), annual vehicle license renewal, and gas taxes (amount depends upon which state you are in). Toll-based roads, bridges, tunnels are also an occasional occurance.
Ridiculously small amounts. And gas taxes ? Oh please. Cry me a river. Come back when your "gas tax" makes upt 50% of the total gasoline price, then we'll talk.
Oh, and that might happen at some point. As soon as the right people realize that drivers will bitch, whine and moan about gas prices but not really lower their consumption. Think about how much money the government could make this way, to spend on new shiny military toys, all of course in the name of national security. You're certainly not against national security, are you ?
It just seems that you've been convinced for too long that the amount of taxes your government collects is fair and necessary.
As long as 75% of the gas price is taxes and people are still going in excess of 100 mph, the taxes certainly aren't too high yet.
If a corporation files bankruptcy so the shareholders don't have to ante up to pay the debt for the entity they own,
It looks like you need to read up on the concept of "limited liability". Shareholders are limited in their liability to the amount of shares they own. They will never ever have to pay any debt of the company (that's exactly _why_ incorporation happens). The worst that can happen (and probably will happen when a corporation files bankruptcy) is that they lose their ownership of the company (read: their shares go *poof*) and the company ends up being owned by the former creditors. If that is not sufficient to pay the debt of the company, then the creditors end up losing money.
Yes you are...but if the direct stroke hits fifty feet from you, it's a different story. That's why you bought that surge suppressor for your computer.
If it strikes that close, there's a good chance your computer will be fried by the EM pulse. A surge suppressor won't help in this case, because it's only designed to block surges in the AC power.
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Oh
If it strikes anywhere near a buried power line, it will find that power line and overload the circuit.
Even if it were this way, the power line is insulated.
Well, maybe. If you add sloppy workmanship and hodgepodge record keeping to the mix, you're going to run into problems. That seems to be a mostly American problem though, usually quite irrelevant in other parts of the world.
Why do we use fiber optics anyway when there's wireless?
Bandwidth ? Reliability ? Security ? Range ? What kind of question is that ?
This experiment in burying wires has gone on long enough, time for it to end.
Well, if you do everything wrong, you're going to end up with bad results. Why don't other parts of the world have the same problems ? Workers with better training ? Better recordkeeping ? Not trying to shave the last half-cent off the cost for the insulation ?
And you know why that is so ? It is because the power companies are not liable for any damages caused by outages. This little jewel is buried somewhere in the contract each of their customers has with them.
Therefore, power companies (at least in the US) do not have an incentive or interest to increase the reliability of their service.
Still, it can be done without digging up the cable, with reasonable accuracy (~1m).
Many, many houses here (Europe) have 3-phase power connected for things like stoves.
Also there is a risk of wiring the active of two different phases together by mistake
People who don't know the basics shouldn't be playing with electricity.
Also, in which situation would anyone ever connect two phases together ? Sounds like a stupid thing to do. Doing stupid things with electricity causes bad results. Someone who doesn't have a clue should leave these things up to properly trained people.
Usually, different circuits inside the house use different phases, which helps balancing the load even with just one house.
Brilliant. What are these guys smoking, and where can I get some ?
Great. Then most of Europe should have extensive telephone and electric outages quite often ? I haven't heard or experienced them yet. They happen, wait, I can't remember, oh ... once every couple of years, maybe ?
Well, then you need better-trained construction teams. Of course, in the US they can be pretty careless. They wouldn't even think that the reason why the backhoe suddenly went *clunk* was that it hit a ~60 year-old, 2000-pound bomb.
What's wrong with disabling wireless on a cheap wireless router box that can run linux ?
No, it doesn't anymore. See the link to VxWorksKiller at the top of the page there ?
In other countries, being "not obvious" is a requirement for getting a patent in the first place.
I was referring to the whole package (hardware & software) providing a working router (doing the job). Apparently someone thought going VxWorks (and re-doing frikking everything software-wise, while a working solution already existed) and saving a few cents on the hardware(seriously - flash memory is cheap, and it's getting hard to dig up chips with less than 8 MB) was worth the effort. Sounds like a
Especially since it's still possible to run Linux on the thing.
Somewhat off-topic
Earlier releases of the WRT54GS firmware had a bug that caused the "ghost town syndrome" in World of Warcraft (I believe this was fixed in 4.50 or 4.70). Do the firmware alternatives (dd-wrt/hyperwrt/etc) contain this bugfix ?
Why ... that'd be great. You only need three stations, with lots of traffic between them.
It's also pyrophoric (self-igniting in powdered form). NOT what you want armor to be made out of.
Sorry, dude. I've driven a lot in both places (and still do), and the Autobahn at its very worst would still be considered a pretty smooth Interstate.
There's a reason they don't sell Smarts in the States - they'd disappear into some of the bigger potholes.
Guess why ICE stands for Intercity Express. Sorry little towns, you're out, at least as far as ICE trains go.
However, there's no reason the same tracks can be used for slower trains with more stops.
Tell that to the people who just want a router (not hacking it or anything), and had to find out that v5 fails at even fairly basic tasks. They used the cheapest tool for the job, and let their customers deal with the consequences.
Linux destroys buildings (and drowns kittens and puppies, too) !
Ridiculously small amounts. And gas taxes ? Oh please. Cry me a river. Come back when your "gas tax" makes upt 50% of the total gasoline price, then we'll talk.
Oh, and that might happen at some point. As soon as the right people realize that drivers will bitch, whine and moan about gas prices but not really lower their consumption. Think about how much money the government could make this way, to spend on new shiny military toys, all of course in the name of national security. You're certainly not against national security, are you ?
It just seems that you've been convinced for too long that the amount of taxes your government collects is fair and necessary.
As long as 75% of the gas price is taxes and people are still going in excess of 100 mph, the taxes certainly aren't too high yet.
It looks like you need to read up on the concept of "limited liability". Shareholders are limited in their liability to the amount of shares they own. They will never ever have to pay any debt of the company (that's exactly _why_ incorporation happens). The worst that can happen (and probably will happen when a corporation files bankruptcy) is that they lose their ownership of the company (read: their shares go *poof*) and the company ends up being owned by the former creditors. If that is not sufficient to pay the debt of the company, then the creditors end up losing money.
If it strikes that close, there's a good chance your computer will be fried by the EM pulse. A surge suppressor won't help in this case, because it's only designed to block surges in the AC power.
Aren't pagers mostly one-way ? They don't need to send data, just receive.
El cheapo li-ion batteries should do the trick.