Hell, some of the students believe it too - if you don't work like a dog for 60-80h a week you're not a *worthy* engineer. Bullshit of that sort.
As a engineering grad, and a working engineer, I can safely say, that if you want to be more successful than your peers, you will on occasion be required to work more than 60 hours a week. Engineering teaches you to work under pressure, and weeds out those who are unable to cope.
If you crack under the pressure while in school, where many real life pressures are absent(imagine doing 60-80 hours a week, but also with a wife, 3 kids and two dogs, aging parents, a house and property to maintain, etc etc), then you're also likely to crack later in life.
Better to sort out if you are capable of handling the pressure early on, rather than when you hit your 30s and you waste 10 years of your life doing work you are not cut out for.
There is a cabbie in the city of Ottawa that crossed the 400,000 kilometer point with his Prius... after owning it for only two years. Apparently him and his co-worker both shared the cab on rotating 12 hour shifts, thus basically driving the car 24/7 for 2 years. In fact, Toyota took the car from them and bought them a brand new Prius, so they could study the effects of the heavy usage.
I believe the reason for CD sales declining is far more simplier than "P2P caused it" or even "all new music sucks". Maybe the real reason is simply that the format is starting to die. I own dozens of CDs but I don't even play them anymore. I play MP3s on my computer or on a portable device (that conveniently connects to my home and car stereo on demand), or the very least listen to the digital radio stations on my digital cable (which also carries 15 local radio stations from the city where I live). 15 songs per cd? That's *so* 90's.
Don't make it a bad thing for the family with 4 kids to drive an SUV because they need the space
Bull. My parents had a piece of crap, small Lada that had springs coming out of the seats. We were 4 kids, and somehow, just somehow, my parents were able to get us around and survive.
Are you also entitled to a refund of a movie ticket if you didn't enjoy it?
Most theatres will refund your money if you leave within the first 10-15 minutes. I don't know about you, but it usually doesn't take me that long to figure out if a movie is trash.
There were some prohibition laws in Canada. However, with the exception of PEI (48 years), they were all very short lived and completely unenforced. Instead, the provinces have a liquor control board and provinicially regulated alcohol sales, although the trend is towards privitization of these boards (thus government sanctioned monopolies... booze is *too* expensive here)
Also, not everybody might have seen it the first time.
Tough. This isn't Digg, where articles are posted to the front page multiple times (sometimes as much as a dozen times over a two week period). Slashdot hosts far less articles, but they are of generally much higher quality (than Digg).
Didn't you see South Park this year? 25% of all people are retarded.. in the United States, with their voter turnout, thats enough to elect a President.
At that rate it will take over 300 years to raise sea levels by a foot.
Ah, but you are assuming a constant rate of melt. All the studies on Arctic melting rates has concluded that the Arctic ice (incl Greenland) is melting at an accelerating rate. Thus, the increase in melting ice will be exponential. It is almost certain that levels will rise at least foot within 100 years, not 300 years. And they are very likely to rise 4 or 5 feet in the 100 years after that.
I believe that movable offshore platforms are a solution looking for a problem. Offshore winds are generally very stable year-round, and even with some seasonal changes, are still continuously profitable. If there is another location with higher winds during a certain period of the year, it is likely far more efficient just to build wind farms in both locations. The wind will continue to blow even in the off-season.
What about bringing power back to land? Currently, offshore platforms transmit generated power back to land via undersea cable. Undersea cable and transmitting equipment adds to the already hefty cost. It would be prohibitively expensive to run cables while the barges are travelling, so the power generation would have to be shut down while in transit between locations.
It's not that power generation on barges is an impossible concept. Its just that it would be extremely expensive. It's already expensive enough to install fixed towers. If you have more money than brains, go ahead, but any investor with any sense will go for fixed stations that have a fraction of the cost and generate the same amount of power.
I believe that the additional cost of installing windmills on a barge would not be economically feasible.
To mount a windmill on a seaworthy barge is no small feat. These windmills are very, very heavy and require a very stable surface to be mounted on. Most large windmills require thousands of tons of concrete as a base. You would require the same foundation for a barge with a windmill on it.
To relocate thousands of tons of windmill x 1000 windmills as the seasons change would be a massive undertaking. The energy cost would be enormous, and would cut into the small margin of efficiency that windmills currently enjoy.
Most of the water that is being moved by tides isn't moving very fast, or very far. Tidal power is most efficient where the world's largest tides can be found, such as the Bay of Fundy in Canada.
There is tidal power being generated in the Bay of Fundy, there has been a 20MW generator operating for the last 20 years. However, it is expensive (operating in salt water isn't the most friendly enviromnent), and expanding it would put a large strain on the ecosystem.
This isn't a lot of power though. 20 large windmills could produce the same or more power, for much less cost. Incidentally, Nova Scotia, which borders half of the Bay of Fundy, has some of the world's strongest and most consistent winds.
I wouldn't be a bit surprised to learn that birds adapt very quickly to windmills. We built skyscrapers, and birds die when they fly into them, yet we haven't torn down our buildings. The stupid ones either die, breed in sufficient numbers to replace those lost, or adopt behavior such that they do not fly into them.
By creating energy from CO2 and H2O suffers from the same problem.
Agreed, but what is the efficiency of producing of hydrocarbons from CO2 and H20 (e.g. biofuel??)? How can it be done and how does it compare to the 25% that you get from hydrogen? And is it superior given the infrastructure that already exists for an oil-based economy?
Wind won't work outside of a very few areas that have the kinds of sustained winds to make it workable. In general, it just takes up too much physical space for the energy it generates.
Sounds like a challenge.
Farmers are installing windmills in their fields, where there is little blueprint on the ground itself.
Some people have experimented with windmills in the sky, at 1000 feet elevation. The wind is always blowing up there.
Solar power can be generated in the deserts of the world. I don't think there's a lot of human demand for that kind of real estate.
And so on. I could think up dozens more. Don't write off innovation so quickly. Harder problems have been solved in the past.
The only way you'll make a difference is if people stop driving generally.
Wrong. It is a proven fact that people will drive less if the cost to drive is higher. The demand is inelastic but it is not perfectly inelastic. Raising the price, or perhaps forcing the entire cost of driving (roads, pollution, etc) onto drivers through taxation will get them off the roads.
Naturally the results will be greater if this is combined with smart urban planning and public transit options. But saying that more fuel efficient cars and higher driving costs (e.g. gasoline) will have no effect is false.
For many watching online is more of a shared experience.
Not only is it shared because of online forums, chatrooms, etc, but how many times have a friend or relative sent you a video clip from Youtube or some other site, something funny or interesting or a good TV show that interested both of you? The comments and thoughts and shared experience is real - albeit a very 21st century experience - and will probably only grow in the future, as video allows more thoughts to be expressed without words.
The smart tv networks are joining the rush to online video, e.g. CBS. Their television shows are receiving some of the highest views on Youtube. (3 of the 25 highest viewed clips last week were from CBS shows)
Also good to note is the National Hockey League - they offer full hockey games on Google Video 48 hours after they are aired, and allow video clips on Youtube 24 hours after the games are aired. They are the only major North American sports league to do so.
Message to content producers and distributers - get with the program, or be left in the cold!
IBM seems to have recovered from the bloat referred to above, and while certainly they are not "lean and mean", it appears they have managed to find some kind of happy medium. It comes from a willingness to cut the slack when necessary. When is the last time Microsoft laid off 10,000 workers? Sometimes, you can't just hunt and peck for little savings, you need to scrap the whole deal and start from scratch.
If we're saying, it is theirs, you have licensed it, by a one time payment with no further obligations to them, how does it differ from a sale except in name?Legally. There is quite a difference, as with a license, the licensor still has some control over the use and disposition of the good. The licensee, unlike a purchaser, does not obtain full control of whatever is purchased.
You don't have a license agreement unless there is a contract signed by both parties. When you buy Vista off the shelf, you are not signing a contract, there is no negotiation between two parties, no 'meeting of the minds'. Thus there is no contract, there is no license, and you have bought a CD/DVD that you can use as you see fit, on whatever computer you want, reinstalling and uninstalling all day long if thats what fills your boots.
I'm usually not this blunt, but this seems like a good time: are the authors of this report FUCKING IDIOTS?
So you are able to predict the future, then? Where should I invest my money? If I invested it in oil at this time last year, I would not make very much, as the price of oil has decreased significantly ~20%.
If the cost of energy becomes expensive enough, people will learn to be more efficient. Consumption will decrease. That is a fact.
Decreasing oil supplies is not the end of the world. People will adapt. Peak oil enthuasists are usually correct in their data, but incorrect in their appreciation to the adaptive nature of the human race.
In oil, there's money. And a ton of it. So, advancement will happen much faster. We will use it more efficiently and get it from places we never thought possible.
From places we never thought possible. When there is as much money at stake as their is in the energy industry, people are going to use everything in their power to come up with an idea to make money. Don't count out human ingenuity just yet. Oil can come from many more places than the ground. Yes, it is not a simple task, but no one knows for certain what the net sum of biofuels, hydrogen fuel cells, solar power, algae biomass, etc etc etc will be. It may actually be possible to harnass enough solar energy, through some yet undetermined means (yes, people discover new things all the time), to power civilization.
It may be that conventional and unconventional oil supplies decline, so does the human population of the Earth.. In case you haven't noticed, the population of Earth won't be 25 billion in 2100 anymore - it will be closer to 8-9B.
Those who can accurately predict the future and take advantage of new technologies will be the most successful. Are you merely predicting doom and gloom, or doing something about it? If you aren't doing anything, you might be the one who is missing out.
Slashdot Mirror
Hell, some of the students believe it too - if you don't work like a dog for 60-80h a week you're not a *worthy* engineer. Bullshit of that sort.
As a engineering grad, and a working engineer, I can safely say, that if you want to be more successful than your peers, you will on occasion be required to work more than 60 hours a week. Engineering teaches you to work under pressure, and weeds out those who are unable to cope.
If you crack under the pressure while in school, where many real life pressures are absent(imagine doing 60-80 hours a week, but also with a wife, 3 kids and two dogs, aging parents, a house and property to maintain, etc etc), then you're also likely to crack later in life.
Better to sort out if you are capable of handling the pressure early on, rather than when you hit your 30s and you waste 10 years of your life doing work you are not cut out for.
There is a cabbie in the city of Ottawa that crossed the 400,000 kilometer point with his Prius... after owning it for only two years. Apparently him and his co-worker both shared the cab on rotating 12 hour shifts, thus basically driving the car 24/7 for 2 years. In fact, Toyota took the car from them and bought them a brand new Prius, so they could study the effects of the heavy usage.
I believe the reason for CD sales declining is far more simplier than "P2P caused it" or even "all new music sucks". Maybe the real reason is simply that the format is starting to die. I own dozens of CDs but I don't even play them anymore. I play MP3s on my computer or on a portable device (that conveniently connects to my home and car stereo on demand), or the very least listen to the digital radio stations on my digital cable (which also carries 15 local radio stations from the city where I live). 15 songs per cd? That's *so* 90's.
Don't make it a bad thing for the family with 4 kids to drive an SUV because they need the space
Bull. My parents had a piece of crap, small Lada that had springs coming out of the seats. We were 4 kids, and somehow, just somehow, my parents were able to get us around and survive.
Are you also entitled to a refund of a movie ticket if you didn't enjoy it?
Most theatres will refund your money if you leave within the first 10-15 minutes. I don't know about you, but it usually doesn't take me that long to figure out if a movie is trash.
There were some prohibition laws in Canada. However, with the exception of PEI (48 years), they were all very short lived and completely unenforced. Instead, the provinces have a liquor control board and provinicially regulated alcohol sales, although the trend is towards privitization of these boards (thus government sanctioned monopolies... booze is *too* expensive here)
Also, not everybody might have seen it the first time.
Tough. This isn't Digg, where articles are posted to the front page multiple times (sometimes as much as a dozen times over a two week period). Slashdot hosts far less articles, but they are of generally much higher quality (than Digg).
Didn't you see South Park this year? 25% of all people are retarded.. in the United States, with their voter turnout, thats enough to elect a President.
At that rate it will take over 300 years to raise sea levels by a foot.
Ah, but you are assuming a constant rate of melt. All the studies on Arctic melting rates has concluded that the Arctic ice (incl Greenland) is melting at an accelerating rate. Thus, the increase in melting ice will be exponential. It is almost certain that levels will rise at least foot within 100 years, not 300 years. And they are very likely to rise 4 or 5 feet in the 100 years after that.
I believe that movable offshore platforms are a solution looking for a problem. Offshore winds are generally very stable year-round, and even with some seasonal changes, are still continuously profitable. If there is another location with higher winds during a certain period of the year, it is likely far more efficient just to build wind farms in both locations. The wind will continue to blow even in the off-season.
What about bringing power back to land? Currently, offshore platforms transmit generated power back to land via undersea cable. Undersea cable and transmitting equipment adds to the already hefty cost. It would be prohibitively expensive to run cables while the barges are travelling, so the power generation would have to be shut down while in transit between locations.
It's not that power generation on barges is an impossible concept. Its just that it would be extremely expensive. It's already expensive enough to install fixed towers. If you have more money than brains, go ahead, but any investor with any sense will go for fixed stations that have a fraction of the cost and generate the same amount of power.
Sorry, I misinterpreted you on my first reply.
I believe that the additional cost of installing windmills on a barge would not be economically feasible.
To mount a windmill on a seaworthy barge is no small feat. These windmills are very, very heavy and require a very stable surface to be mounted on. Most large windmills require thousands of tons of concrete as a base. You would require the same foundation for a barge with a windmill on it.
To relocate thousands of tons of windmill x 1000 windmills as the seasons change would be a massive undertaking. The energy cost would be enormous, and would cut into the small margin of efficiency that windmills currently enjoy.
Most of the water that is being moved by tides isn't moving very fast, or very far. Tidal power is most efficient where the world's largest tides can be found, such as the Bay of Fundy in Canada.
There is tidal power being generated in the Bay of Fundy, there has been a 20MW generator operating for the last 20 years. However, it is expensive (operating in salt water isn't the most friendly enviromnent), and expanding it would put a large strain on the ecosystem.
This isn't a lot of power though. 20 large windmills could produce the same or more power, for much less cost. Incidentally, Nova Scotia, which borders half of the Bay of Fundy, has some of the world's strongest and most consistent winds.
Why don't they put these wind farms on barges floating around the seas offshore
Hmm, maybe you should have read the submission text, let alone the article. Let me quote for you:
According to the BBC website ehe UK govt has just given the go ahead to two large offshore wind-farm projects
Offshore, meaning, you know, not on land. On the water.
Survival of the fittest my friend.
I wouldn't be a bit surprised to learn that birds adapt very quickly to windmills. We built skyscrapers, and birds die when they fly into them, yet we haven't torn down our buildings. The stupid ones either die, breed in sufficient numbers to replace those lost, or adopt behavior such that they do not fly into them.
By creating energy from CO2 and H2O suffers from the same problem.
Agreed, but what is the efficiency of producing of hydrocarbons from CO2 and H20 (e.g. biofuel??)? How can it be done and how does it compare to the 25% that you get from hydrogen? And is it superior given the infrastructure that already exists for an oil-based economy?
Wind won't work outside of a very few areas that have the kinds of sustained winds to make it workable. In general, it just takes up too much physical space for the energy it generates.
Sounds like a challenge.
Farmers are installing windmills in their fields, where there is little blueprint on the ground itself.
Some people have experimented with windmills in the sky, at 1000 feet elevation. The wind is always blowing up there.
Solar power can be generated in the deserts of the world. I don't think there's a lot of human demand for that kind of real estate.
And so on. I could think up dozens more. Don't write off innovation so quickly. Harder problems have been solved in the past.
Tag: copywrong
The only way you'll make a difference is if people stop driving generally.
Wrong. It is a proven fact that people will drive less if the cost to drive is higher. The demand is inelastic but it is not perfectly inelastic. Raising the price, or perhaps forcing the entire cost of driving (roads, pollution, etc) onto drivers through taxation will get them off the roads.
Naturally the results will be greater if this is combined with smart urban planning and public transit options. But saying that more fuel efficient cars and higher driving costs (e.g. gasoline) will have no effect is false.
For many watching online is more of a shared experience.
Not only is it shared because of online forums, chatrooms, etc, but how many times have a friend or relative sent you a video clip from Youtube or some other site, something funny or interesting or a good TV show that interested both of you? The comments and thoughts and shared experience is real - albeit a very 21st century experience - and will probably only grow in the future, as video allows more thoughts to be expressed without words.
The smart tv networks are joining the rush to online video, e.g. CBS. Their television shows are receiving some of the highest views on Youtube. (3 of the 25 highest viewed clips last week were from CBS shows)
Also good to note is the National Hockey League - they offer full hockey games on Google Video 48 hours after they are aired, and allow video clips on Youtube 24 hours after the games are aired. They are the only major North American sports league to do so.
Message to content producers and distributers - get with the program, or be left in the cold!
IBM seems to have recovered from the bloat referred to above, and while certainly they are not "lean and mean", it appears they have managed to find some kind of happy medium. It comes from a willingness to cut the slack when necessary. When is the last time Microsoft laid off 10,000 workers? Sometimes, you can't just hunt and peck for little savings, you need to scrap the whole deal and start from scratch.
100"? ppssssh. I front project onto the side of my barn at the farm, and I get a ~100 foot screen (~1200 inches).
If we're saying, it is theirs, you have licensed it, by a one time payment with no further obligations to them, how does it differ from a sale except in name?Legally. There is quite a difference, as with a license, the licensor still has some control over the use and disposition of the good. The licensee, unlike a purchaser, does not obtain full control of whatever is purchased.
You don't have a license agreement unless there is a contract signed by both parties. When you buy Vista off the shelf, you are not signing a contract, there is no negotiation between two parties, no 'meeting of the minds'. Thus there is no contract, there is no license, and you have bought a CD/DVD that you can use as you see fit, on whatever computer you want, reinstalling and uninstalling all day long if thats what fills your boots.
I'm usually not this blunt, but this seems like a good time: are the authors of this report FUCKING IDIOTS?
So you are able to predict the future, then? Where should I invest my money? If I invested it in oil at this time last year, I would not make very much, as the price of oil has decreased significantly ~20%.
If the cost of energy becomes expensive enough, people will learn to be more efficient. Consumption will decrease. That is a fact.
Decreasing oil supplies is not the end of the world. People will adapt. Peak oil enthuasists are usually correct in their data, but incorrect in their appreciation to the adaptive nature of the human race.
In oil, there's money. And a ton of it. So, advancement will happen much faster. We will use it more efficiently and get it from places we never thought possible.
From places we never thought possible. When there is as much money at stake as their is in the energy industry, people are going to use everything in their power to come up with an idea to make money. Don't count out human ingenuity just yet. Oil can come from many more places than the ground. Yes, it is not a simple task, but no one knows for certain what the net sum of biofuels, hydrogen fuel cells, solar power, algae biomass, etc etc etc will be. It may actually be possible to harnass enough solar energy, through some yet undetermined means (yes, people discover new things all the time), to power civilization.
It may be that conventional and unconventional oil supplies decline, so does the human population of the Earth.. In case you haven't noticed, the population of Earth won't be 25 billion in 2100 anymore - it will be closer to 8-9B.
Those who can accurately predict the future and take advantage of new technologies will be the most successful. Are you merely predicting doom and gloom, or doing something about it? If you aren't doing anything, you might be the one who is missing out.