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User: Paleolibertarian

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Comments · 177

  1. Re:Democracy is a failed system. on America's Technical Debt · · Score: 1

    I provided one case of which there are thousands. Your metaphor provides nothing to refute my statement that Public Schools are fucked.

  2. Re:Democracy is a failed system. on America's Technical Debt · · Score: 2

    Public education is fucked. Case in point, recently a student was suspended for nibbling a toaster pastry into the shape of a gun. This is an example of the demagoguery of which you speak. There ARE good teachers however they cannot educate in an environment where such stupidity prevails.

  3. Democracy is a failed system. on America's Technical Debt · · Score: 1

    First of all, humans aren't computers that obey logical laws. they also have emotions such as greed and fear.

    Second, democracy is a failed system and will always fail. The original framers of the constitution setup a representative republic and not a direct democracy. Democracy is nothing more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what's for dinner.

    The entire public school system is built around the concept that democracy is the best form of government. This is by design to keep the people deluded by the falsehood that democracy will succeed if only the people had the right information or that if the right honest politicians were elected that all would be well. See my first statement above.

    The only possible way to improve the system of government is to improve the people who support it. This is only possible with proper education. A proper education isn't possible with a public school system and a proper government isn't possible with democracy. Therefore we're fucked. A collapse of the entire system is coming. Probably wars, probably nuclear wars which possibly will destroy most if not all life on earth. I do not state this with any hint of humor or sarcasm, it's just the way things are.

  4. Re:WHAT radioactive materials? on Boeing Patents an Engine Run By Laser-Generated Fusion Explosions · · Score: 1

    While deuterium is stable, tritium has a half life of 12.32 years. However there wouldn't need to be a lot of tritium and it could be contained in such a way that it wouldn't be spread over a crash site.

  5. Re:Russian ship. on Russian Progress Cargo Ship Docks With Space Station · · Score: 0

    Just send them a sack of potatoes and they can make their own.

  6. Re:Meanwhile... on Federal Wiretaps Down Slightly, Encryption Impact Decreases · · Score: 1

    They have a warrant. A secret FISA court warrant. Still unconstitutional though.

  7. Re:Windows is for luddites. on Windows 10 the Last Version of Windows? Not So Fast. · · Score: 1

    And if you hold your tower up to your ear you can make calls!

  8. Re:Sweet Jesus on William Shatner Proposes $30 Billion Water Pipeline To California · · Score: 1

    I think both ideas have merit. I have no idea what desalination costs but I't wouldn't be cheap given the amount needed. Moving water from where it's plentiful especially if it's in excess, to where it isn't is a good idea if it can be done economically.

    Of course political considerations come into play via such groups as the EPA and the Sierra club. We would probably have plenty of water if the EPA didn't prevent it's diversion to preserve the habitat of a stupid fish.

    One thing is certain though is that the problem could be solved with enough engineering and a free market in water. Politics prevents the free market from operating so we have shortages. What else is new.

  9. Re:So? on Futures Trader Arrested For Causing 2010 'Flash Crash' · · Score: 2

    Any skillful trader would also have a stop loss order in place in case the price moves against him. That's the price you pay for being in the market to begin with. Stocks are risky which is why the profit potential is so great. If you don't stay on top of things you lose.

  10. Re:So? on Futures Trader Arrested For Causing 2010 'Flash Crash' · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Market manipulation is only legal when the big banks do it.

  11. Re: Watt is this article about? on The Myth of Going Off the Power Grid · · Score: 1

    OK. SO lets say I actually average 35 kwh/day on an annual basis. I generate 70 kwh/day with PV and other passive means. I store about half that. Hopefully I can use less during the night than during the hot days in summer. If I store thermal radiation with a heat sink it will help heat during winter.

    All of this is dependent on the local climate but I believe it is doable. All of the comments so far have said it isn't doable, to be off grid, that is. Plainly the collectivists on this forum are more numerous than the individualists but the politics doesn't alter the science. It all numbers and up to the initiative and ingenuity of the engineer.

    I am an engineer and I believe in real things. Not your collectivist defeatist paradigm but one of hope with a "can-do" attitude.

    If the Egyptians can build a pyramid and the Romans can build roads and aqueducts without an electrical power grid I think I can build an off-grid power system that will satisfy my families needs.

    "Always listen to experts. They’ll tell you what can’t be done and why. Then do it!" - Lazarus Long

  12. Re:Watt is this article about? on The Myth of Going Off the Power Grid · · Score: 1

    In what way is my math wrong?

    In what way is the idea wrong?

    If the storage efficiency is wrong (which it isn't) then I just add more solar panels or reduce my energy consumption.

    Before you challenge an engineering concept you need to provide some proof. BTW this system works and many systems are now in use. You haven't shown how this is a bad idea.

    Again if it can't be expressed in numbers it is not science.

  13. Re:Watt is this article about? on The Myth of Going Off the Power Grid · · Score: 4, Informative

    What I was trying to show is that in order to solve an engineering problem you have to have sound engineering principles. If you're talking about energy you use words like "watt" and numbers like Kilowatt Hours and maybe even joules and other terms that the author is probably unfamiliar with.

    For example, If I equip my home with 5,000 watts (peak) solar panels that generate 35 kwh of energy. 15 kwh which I use immediately that leaves 20 kwh excess which I can store. If my storage system is 75% efficient I can then use another 15 kwh at night which will make me capable of being off grid. What's wrong with that?

  14. Watt is this article about? on The Myth of Going Off the Power Grid · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This seems to be an article more about condemning Tesla's batteries that about energy. In fact the word "watt" appears nowhere. Before you can have a discussion about energy you need to be armed with some facts about actual energy needs and potentials. This is just more anti-Tesla propaganda.

  15. Re:Heisenberg compensator ... on Researchers Identify 'Tipping Point' Between Quantum and Classical Worlds · · Score: 1

    Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. - Arthur C. Clarke

    The fact that a person feels a phenomenon is beyond his comprehension doesn't alter the reality of the phenomenon. I know people who believe that Einstein's special theory of relativity is flawed. I have heard of others who believe rockets cannot fly in a vacuum because there is nothing for the rocket to push against. Still others insist that, "If men were meant to fly, God would have given them wings."

    What was my point? I forgot.

  16. Re:Wasteful? on Ikea Unveils Furniture That Charges Your Smartphone Wirelessly · · Score: 1

    The coil of wire is resistive so there will be heat as long as there is a current according to ohms law and the power formula. E = I x R and P = E x I.

  17. Re:Wasteful? on Ikea Unveils Furniture That Charges Your Smartphone Wirelessly · · Score: 1

    This is a good thing. I'm glad to see that there are engineers who think better than my assumption of just plain induction coils.

    Thanks.

  18. Wasteful? on Ikea Unveils Furniture That Charges Your Smartphone Wirelessly · · Score: 1

    I'd like to see some figures on the amount of energy lost when these devices aren't being used. Then to compare them to the energy wasted by wall transformers when they are idle.

  19. Re:"to an accuracy of 10 cubic kilometers" on Theory of Information Could Resolve One of the Great Paradoxes of Cosmology · · Score: 1

    Actually the accuracy depends on whether Schroedinger's cat lives.

  20. Re:Cat on The Strange Story of the First Quantum Art Exhibition In Space · · Score: 2

    A million here. A million there. Pretty soon you're talking about infinity.

    Just like the federal debt.

  21. Re:Cat on The Strange Story of the First Quantum Art Exhibition In Space · · Score: 1

    Not to mention that million monkeys thing.

  22. Re:Dive! Dive! Dive! on Satellites Reveal Hidden Features At the Bottom of Earth's Seas · · Score: 1

    How deep is a league? 5.55600 kilometers.

  23. Like I want them to know where I am 24x7... on New Usage-Based Insurance Software Can Track Drivers Using Smartphones · · Score: 2

    Which I don't. If I need them I'll call them. Only an idiot want's to be tracked.

    Edwin

  24. Re:Very simple on Ask Slashdot: What Old Technology Can't You Give Up? · · Score: 1

    My KA-BAR

  25. Re:How about your employer? on Ask Slashdot: What Old Technology Can't You Give Up? · · Score: 1

    I still have a copy of SmartCam 3D. It's fun to program a 5 Axis machine.