Look at a large amount of government systems. Everything is to the cheapest bidder. But the cheapest bidder isn't always the best or product, and contains issues. Also known as 'good enough.'
Parent is ignorant of how the government buys. The days of low price are gone. -- That's a how to buy question anyway, not *what to buy* which is discussed in the article.
Today most of the buys are still encumbered by perfection.
Examples? How about the IRS and FAA computer systems. Or the F22 fighter. Or the continuing drive to put humans in space.
So Copper and Concrete. Fine combo, no worries. But concrete and steel, there is a magical combination! -- - Concrete is weak in tension, steel is strong. - Concrete is cheap, steel is expensive. - Concrete is durable against wind and water, steel needs protection. - And when it counts, they get together -- they expand and contract nearly at the same rate with changing temperature.
Concrete and steel, are a perfect match, just mix the proportions for the job at hand!
Re:How many soldiers die if 187 F-22s aren't enoug
on
F-22 Raptor Cancelled
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· Score: 1
The F-22is a relic of the cold war, and has taken a back seat to the Predator. The future of air-superiority and air-to-ground is unmanned aerial vehciles (UAVs) aka drones.
The USAF should begin planning it's reintegration with the Army.
The cost is also a little misleading. Additional units cost ~$130M each (which is still expensive as hell), the $339M figure is total program cost plus build cost divided out per aicraft. That number only decreases the more we produce. So if we ordered another singe aircraft, it would not cost $339M.
That's also a little misleading. The majority of any weapon's cost is in operation, maintenance and training. The production is a fraction of the cost.
I agree with your point, but reasons the poor American train network are more complex than 'car subsidies killed the train'. -- The large mass transit systems at the turn of the century were created and subsidized by land speculators.
Your essential point is correct though, developed nations subsidize transit. We just have to decide which transit we want to subsidize. That will decide development patterns for generations.
BTW, an enlightening history of Suburbs and 20th century development is 'Crabgrass Frontier' by Kenneth Jackson. Worth a read for anyone interested in urban planning.
I can assure you, good people are trying to accurately report. Check out USASpending.gov.
The hard part is really finding what you are after. Each agency spends in different ways for different things and products are generally embedded in larger programs.
There is no transparency panacea. The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and a stubby pencil remain our best tools.
I beleive the total energy of water consists of static and dynamic pressure, velocity and the gravitational potential. At 1700ft, all of the energy in the water was converted to gravitational potential.
Perhaps someone who knows wave mechanics could enlighten us of the relative energy proportions at an arbitrary position?
All kidding aside, these could be a huge breakthrough. We (those with indoor plumbing) lose 40% of our water supply to exfiltration. Sewage treatment plants are at capacity and routinely suffer from cross-connects and infiltration.
For civil and chemical processes, these devices promise lower costs, increased service-life and decreased pollution
The summary has a error. Cementicious grout is injected under the tower to *increase* the bearing pressure of the soil, not to reduce it as stated in the the summary.
When sitting in a government office building, holding a government title and collecting a government check, you are a servant of the people. EVERYTHING you do from that position must be subject to public scrutiny and in their interest.
WINE isn't very good at running the latest and greatest (bloated) version of AutoCAD, but it runs most small applications very well. For example, I just installed a new version of a small concrete and masonry design app last week. Straight from the installer, everything worked, from the calculations, right down to the correct menu items being placed and all of the reports printing.
I agree with Mark Shuttleworth about not making WINE part of the default install, but don't say the project is worthless. For people who need a to run small, packaged windows applications it's great.
Cute gimmick. For framing, if it doesn't need to be all that accurate, +/- 2", why take the time? For finishwork, if it has to be within 1/8", better to take dimensions directly to account for things being out of plumb or not quite square.
I applaud Bill Gates' move. The Foundation will do it's good and then burnout, instead of wasting money on a perpetuity of lawyers, foundation reports and calls for proposals.
Regarding the government taking a cut -- civilization has a price: taxes. Would you prefer blissful anarchy? It's our societal (and governmental) stability which makes accumulation of wealth possible at all.
Slashdot Mirror
Spoken like someone who is not a structural engineer.
Look at a large amount of government systems. Everything is to the cheapest bidder. But the cheapest bidder isn't always the best or product, and contains issues. Also known as 'good enough.'
Parent is ignorant of how the government buys. The days of low price are gone. -- That's a how to buy question anyway, not *what to buy* which is discussed in the article.
Today most of the buys are still encumbered by perfection.
Examples? How about the IRS and FAA computer systems. Or the F22 fighter. Or the continuing drive to put humans in space.
And I thought Engineers trolled Slashdot...
So Copper and Concrete. Fine combo, no worries. But concrete and steel, there is a magical combination! --
- Concrete is weak in tension, steel is strong.
- Concrete is cheap, steel is expensive.
- Concrete is durable against wind and water, steel needs protection.
- And when it counts, they get together -- they expand and contract nearly at the same rate with changing temperature.
Concrete and steel, are a perfect match, just mix the proportions for the job at hand!
Mod parent up!
He hit the nail on the head.
The F-22is a relic of the cold war, and has taken a back seat to the Predator. The future of air-superiority and air-to-ground is unmanned aerial vehciles (UAVs) aka drones.
The USAF should begin planning it's reintegration with the Army.
The cost is also a little misleading. Additional units cost ~$130M each (which is still expensive as hell), the $339M figure is total program cost plus build cost divided out per aicraft. That number only decreases the more we produce. So if we ordered another singe aircraft, it would not cost $339M.
That's also a little misleading. The majority of any weapon's cost is in operation, maintenance and training. The production is a fraction of the cost.
I agree with your point, but reasons the poor American train network are more complex than 'car subsidies killed the train'. -- The large mass transit systems at the turn of the century were created and subsidized by land speculators.
Your essential point is correct though, developed nations subsidize transit. We just have to decide which transit we want to subsidize. That will decide development patterns for generations.
BTW, an enlightening history of Suburbs and 20th century development is 'Crabgrass Frontier' by Kenneth Jackson. Worth a read for anyone interested in urban planning.
I can assure you, good people are trying to accurately report. Check out USASpending.gov. The hard part is really finding what you are after. Each agency spends in different ways for different things and products are generally embedded in larger programs. There is no transparency panacea. The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and a stubby pencil remain our best tools.
I beleive the total energy of water consists of static and dynamic pressure, velocity and the gravitational potential. At 1700ft, all of the energy in the water was converted to gravitational potential. Perhaps someone who knows wave mechanics could enlighten us of the relative energy proportions at an arbitrary position?
All kidding aside, these could be a huge breakthrough. We (those with indoor plumbing) lose 40% of our water supply to exfiltration. Sewage treatment plants are at capacity and routinely suffer from cross-connects and infiltration. For civil and chemical processes, these devices promise lower costs, increased service-life and decreased pollution
The summary has a error. Cementicious grout is injected under the tower to *increase* the bearing pressure of the soil, not to reduce it as stated in the the summary.
Mod parent down. He's the former editor (founder?) of the Weekly Standard. That's as mainline political conservative as one can be!
Is there any public list of what software is already approved?
Agreed. Also, consider industrial espionage may be the real concern. -- Terrorism is a tiny subset of national security.
When sitting in a government office building, holding a government title and collecting a government check, you are a servant of the people. EVERYTHING you do from that position must be subject to public scrutiny and in their interest.
First, a FLOSS laptop. Now, posting their promo materials in an open format -- http://media.dellone2one.com/dell/May2007/Linux.og g
Way to go Dell!
WINE isn't very good at running the latest and greatest (bloated) version of AutoCAD, but it runs most small applications very well. For example, I just installed a new version of a small concrete and masonry design app last week. Straight from the installer, everything worked, from the calculations, right down to the correct menu items being placed and all of the reports printing. I agree with Mark Shuttleworth about not making WINE part of the default install, but don't say the project is worthless. For people who need a to run small, packaged windows applications it's great.
Cute gimmick. For framing, if it doesn't need to be all that accurate, +/- 2", why take the time? For finishwork, if it has to be within 1/8", better to take dimensions directly to account for things being out of plumb or not quite square.
I applaud Bill Gates' move. The Foundation will do it's good and then burnout, instead of wasting money on a perpetuity of lawyers, foundation reports and calls for proposals. Regarding the government taking a cut -- civilization has a price: taxes. Would you prefer blissful anarchy? It's our societal (and governmental) stability which makes accumulation of wealth possible at all.