I categorize this as "cool" in the same way a "car" that gets 150+ mpg by carrying a single passenger lying down in an egg shaped vehicle at 5 mph is "cool." Yes, it is progress that a solar powered airplane has flown. That said, there are a lot of things that don't scale, and if it can't carry cargo or people, or get there in anything approaching a reasonable time frame it is a novelty at best.
Do you know everything NASA has taken up into orbit? The means to get somebody may already be there. If you mess with something on the moon, you still have to get back to Earth. At some point you will be in a place that you can be gotten to, and collecting evidence that a spaceship's destruction wasn't an accident is going to be mighty difficult.
Back when they offered cash rewards for cracking the RC5 keys our Director of IT installed the software on the servers we used at our firm. While I couldn't prove it was him, I noticed that his username jumped in the rankings so I knew he had some serious horsepower running the software for him and these machines were multi-way UN*X boxes. I mentioned in passing to a colleague that the culprit had impressively jumped in the rankings within earshot of the director. They were uninstalled by the next Monday; I guess he knew he had been found out.
Thank you for reminding me again how happy I am to not live in the nanny state that is California. It is a beautiful state, with dynamic people and wonderful climate, but the amount of regulation its citizens to which the citizens subject themselves is unreal.
I know that weight decrease efficiency comes into play with commercial passenger aircraft but I question its relevance in general aviation flight. I have flown from Destin, FL to near Houston, TX in a C182 non-stop. While I definitely notice that my performance improves as I reach the latter part of a long flight due to the decreased fuel load, the difference is not enough to include in flight planning. I am very curious to know if any piston GA pilots go that far in their flight planning. Maybe this matters up in the Class A airspace, but down in the 7,000-10,000 foot altitudes I fly it simply doesn't matter enough.
Here's a radical idea: why does all of that money have to be made for shareholders? Why can't some of it also be for the people doing the work?
In companies managed for the long term, everyone participates. Shareholders want a decent return on their money, and the large shareholders understand that if a company makes more than 10% after taxes that an extra bonus at Christmas, individual project bonuses or an extraordinary contribution to the 401(K) plan is a good way to retain and motivate employees. I have worked for three different firms, representing more than 50% during my 18 year working career that did this. One was even privately held by just two people, so the distribution of cash came directly out of their pockets and yet they still knew that they'd be better off in the long run to share the wealth.
I had the great fortune to attend a talk + q&a session with Tom Shippey, friend of Tolkien and author of multiple pieces on Tolkien, who would have stated the subject of my response. Although plenty of fantasy has come since, LotR is the acknowledged beginning of fantasy writing. Tolkien himself envisioned his Middle Earth as filling in the missing history of the people of the British Isles. Given that in LotR, the future is projected as the time of Man and the Elves have sailed to the West, the accents of the UK would be the closest accents to those actually spoken in the fantasy times. As LotR was written, and not performed, Tolkien attempted to give his characters regional dialects through their speech. Shippey pointed out that were one well enough versed in the history of the English language it would be obvious to the reader that Smeagol was significantly older than Bilbo through the choices of riddles in the Riddle Game in the Hobbit.
make every technician in charge of systems security liable for hacks to their network
Okay, so technicians will require hack insurance, because nobody will risk the financial penalty of taking said job with unlimited financial liability. This means that network technicians will have to be licensed to be insurable, which will cost money. Now only large firms will be able to afford the cost of these technicians. It is almost certain that the government will step in an license operators, just as they do doctors, accountants and other professionals. This is all certain to do wonders for the "anyone can do it" nature of computing.
with a cube balanced on a tip you'd have a sun facing panel at all times.
So by extension you then have some portion of the remaining panels NOT facing the sun at all times. If we're talking about ROI, doesn't this present a huge hurdle?
You can buy NG futures instead. They are almost giving the stuff away at the moment.
You'd have to hate money to do this. Where I live in South Central Texas they are drilling wells and then capping them in anticipation of any rise in price. The supply that can come online in reaction to any rise in price will immediately bring it back down.
Perhaps if we redesign landfills to harvest natural gas from then they'll be taken over by Exxon, BP, et al.
This is already being done. Garbage trucks that run on natural gas are being fueled by the natural gas collected at the very facility at which garbage is dumped. California has over 1,000 trucks running on landfill gas already.
However, it wouldn't be much fun to be running a mine in the middle of the desert.
I can think of plenty of places that are much worse. I've worked the oilfield in Alaska when it was well below zero. Even bumping into things hurts when it is that cold. I've spent time in Louisiana swamps with bugs and beasts that exist to suck your blood (mosquitos) or eat/kill you (alligators & snakes.)
"The desert" might not be Napa Valley but I would take that over those other environments in a heartbeat.
Casino junket buses from Texas to Louisiana go well over 35mph. The problem then becomes catching said cellphone whilst intoxicated and using one's hands to stand up.
The Volt is a marketing tool, period. You are supposed to think that by offering the Volt GM gives a rat's @ss about the environment and are all about being Green, but then you see the Cruze for much less that gets decent mileage and buy that. It is a vehicle (pun intended) to get people to come to the dealership and buy something else.
We hear about new renewable energy sources every day, can everyone just focus on one so we can see it in the next 10+ years?
When I read this, my immediate thought was "This reminds me of Linux." If all the people working on their own distribution had chosen to focus on one distro Windows would already be history.
Slashdot Mirror
I categorize this as "cool" in the same way a "car" that gets 150+ mpg by carrying a single passenger lying down in an egg shaped vehicle at 5 mph is "cool." Yes, it is progress that a solar powered airplane has flown. That said, there are a lot of things that don't scale, and if it can't carry cargo or people, or get there in anything approaching a reasonable time frame it is a novelty at best.
Do you know everything NASA has taken up into orbit? The means to get somebody may already be there. If you mess with something on the moon, you still have to get back to Earth. At some point you will be in a place that you can be gotten to, and collecting evidence that a spaceship's destruction wasn't an accident is going to be mighty difficult.
now a days they probably say on facebook or whatever
Given the stuff people put on FB I am not so sure I would recommend this yardstick...
Back when they offered cash rewards for cracking the RC5 keys our Director of IT installed the software on the servers we used at our firm. While I couldn't prove it was him, I noticed that his username jumped in the rankings so I knew he had some serious horsepower running the software for him and these machines were multi-way UN*X boxes. I mentioned in passing to a colleague that the culprit had impressively jumped in the rankings within earshot of the director. They were uninstalled by the next Monday; I guess he knew he had been found out.
Thank you for reminding me again how happy I am to not live in the nanny state that is California. It is a beautiful state, with dynamic people and wonderful climate, but the amount of regulation its citizens to which the citizens subject themselves is unreal.
I know that weight decrease efficiency comes into play with commercial passenger aircraft but I question its relevance in general aviation flight. I have flown from Destin, FL to near Houston, TX in a C182 non-stop. While I definitely notice that my performance improves as I reach the latter part of a long flight due to the decreased fuel load, the difference is not enough to include in flight planning. I am very curious to know if any piston GA pilots go that far in their flight planning. Maybe this matters up in the Class A airspace, but down in the 7,000-10,000 foot altitudes I fly it simply doesn't matter enough.
And when did cable companies start *making* content? Aren't they distributors of content?
When they figured out that advertisers pay for eyeballs, and content draws eyeballs, not network connections.
I have 6Mbps DSL. Still a cable but not Cable.
and not-so-slowly dissolves buildings away.
The broken window economics folks might consider this a positive.
Here's a radical idea: why does all of that money have to be made for shareholders? Why can't some of it also be for the people doing the work?
In companies managed for the long term, everyone participates. Shareholders want a decent return on their money, and the large shareholders understand that if a company makes more than 10% after taxes that an extra bonus at Christmas, individual project bonuses or an extraordinary contribution to the 401(K) plan is a good way to retain and motivate employees. I have worked for three different firms, representing more than 50% during my 18 year working career that did this. One was even privately held by just two people, so the distribution of cash came directly out of their pockets and yet they still knew that they'd be better off in the long run to share the wealth.
I had the great fortune to attend a talk + q&a session with Tom Shippey, friend of Tolkien and author of multiple pieces on Tolkien, who would have stated the subject of my response. Although plenty of fantasy has come since, LotR is the acknowledged beginning of fantasy writing. Tolkien himself envisioned his Middle Earth as filling in the missing history of the people of the British Isles. Given that in LotR, the future is projected as the time of Man and the Elves have sailed to the West, the accents of the UK would be the closest accents to those actually spoken in the fantasy times. As LotR was written, and not performed, Tolkien attempted to give his characters regional dialects through their speech. Shippey pointed out that were one well enough versed in the history of the English language it would be obvious to the reader that Smeagol was significantly older than Bilbo through the choices of riddles in the Riddle Game in the Hobbit.
How about the tools used to create the pyramids?
I'm pretty sure Ra took those with him when he went through the Stargate.
make every technician in charge of systems security liable for hacks to their network
Okay, so technicians will require hack insurance, because nobody will risk the financial penalty of taking said job with unlimited financial liability. This means that network technicians will have to be licensed to be insurable, which will cost money. Now only large firms will be able to afford the cost of these technicians. It is almost certain that the government will step in an license operators, just as they do doctors, accountants and other professionals. This is all certain to do wonders for the "anyone can do it" nature of computing.
with a cube balanced on a tip you'd have a sun facing panel at all times.
So by extension you then have some portion of the remaining panels NOT facing the sun at all times. If we're talking about ROI, doesn't this present a huge hurdle?
You can buy NG futures instead. They are almost giving the stuff away at the moment.
You'd have to hate money to do this. Where I live in South Central Texas they are drilling wells and then capping them in anticipation of any rise in price. The supply that can come online in reaction to any rise in price will immediately bring it back down.
deposit a layer of hard silicon dioxide that can build up inside an engine and eventually destroy it.
Silicon used to destroy an engine? Are you certain this isn't an Obama "Feature?"
Perhaps if we redesign landfills to harvest natural gas from then they'll be taken over by Exxon, BP, et al.
This is already being done. Garbage trucks that run on natural gas are being fueled by the natural gas collected at the very facility at which garbage is dumped. California has over 1,000 trucks running on landfill gas already.
It won't block bloodflow
If plaque builds up in arteries, why would it not build up on this stationary object in a blood vessel?
However, it wouldn't be much fun to be running a mine in the middle of the desert.
I can think of plenty of places that are much worse. I've worked the oilfield in Alaska when it was well below zero. Even bumping into things hurts when it is that cold. I've spent time in Louisiana swamps with bugs and beasts that exist to suck your blood (mosquitos) or eat/kill you (alligators & snakes.) "The desert" might not be Napa Valley but I would take that over those other environments in a heartbeat.
Everyone knows buses never go over 35mph
Casino junket buses from Texas to Louisiana go well over 35mph. The problem then becomes catching said cellphone whilst intoxicated and using one's hands to stand up.
My cousin died two years ago after fighting CF for 32 years. My aunt hit her annual out of pocket cap no later than Jan 31st every year.
And as such, if you thought the US beat Iraq easily in the first Iraq war, just wait until you see what they can do in this one.
The problem of Sealand truly has a one bomb answer.
Or does the water get it instead?
Chevy Volt is a joke.
The Volt is a marketing tool, period. You are supposed to think that by offering the Volt GM gives a rat's @ss about the environment and are all about being Green, but then you see the Cruze for much less that gets decent mileage and buy that. It is a vehicle (pun intended) to get people to come to the dealership and buy something else.
We hear about new renewable energy sources every day, can everyone just focus on one so we can see it in the next 10+ years?
When I read this, my immediate thought was "This reminds me of Linux." If all the people working on their own distribution had chosen to focus on one distro Windows would already be history.