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CaptainPanic

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Everything posted by CaptainPanic

  1. ! Moderator Note I have reopened your thread (I guess it's this one?), but I want to ask you to consider creating a new thread instead, where you explain the topic again. This is to avoid that we get distracted by some of the posts that caused the old thread to be closed. Also, please do us a favor, and make sure people can participate in the thread without having to click on any documents (not everybody can download it). Attached documents should only be supportive of the thread, and not make up the whole point. Finally, please just send a PM to one or multiple mods next time. I'm closing this thread, because I think we're done here.
  2. This is totally awesome: You saw it first on SFN!
  3. ! Moderator Note Two trollish posts were deleted. Please keep this discussion on topic. Frivolous posts can be made in The Lounge.
  4. ! Moderator Note acsinuk, as you already state yourself, what you are talking about belongs in a new topic, and therefore a new thread. Stop bringing it up here. Didymus, as long as you ask good questions or start an interesting discussion, there is really no limit to the number of threads you can open. If you have another question or wish to discuss something else, it is really a better idea to open a new thread, even if this was "your" thread, opened by you. A person who has opened a thread can still take that thread off-topic, and we really don't like to moderate two separate discussions in one thread. So, unless you really must ask questions about the internal heat of the sun or earth here (please explain the relation to the 1st post), please consider to open a new thread for this.
  5. Looks to me like she's scratching her cheek a little, while holding some object that looks a little like a modern phone. However, the amount of objects that have the same rough shape as a modern phone is endless. However, my main problem with the idea that this is a phone is simple: she keeps on talking while she lowers the object, which must mean she is not talking into the object, but instead is talking to the other people around her.
  6. ! Moderator Note Guys, I have warped this thread into the Lounge, so it can travel into the future safely and according to the rules of the forum.
  7. I don't think there is a law against defining your own frame of reference... however, if you observe the entire universe from your own personal frame of reference (which is your car), then please don't expect the rest of the world to adapt to that, and please don't expect the world to engage in a conversation with you. So, if you have a 1-person frame of reference, why are you on a public forum? Why not write a diary? (This is not meant as an offense: I am just trying to help you deal with your rather limiting frame of reference!).
  8. For really smart and motivated kids, school can be tedious and boring, and a bit of a waste of time. They would absorb more knowledge if they had more freedom. But for the large majority of kids, more freedom means playing more video games or hanging out with friends. And I am not sure that is a good way to get started in life. Also, school teaches you more than just what is in the books.
  9. I disagree. Profit has always been a huge motivator for exploration. The conquisatores of Spain were not out there to chart land and study culture. They were in America to find gold and silver, and to get rich. Likewise, a lot of arctic exploration was done to find a northern route to the East from Europe, or nowadays to find oil. Large established corporations do not like risks... but smaller enterprises (who can still have sufficient funds) typically take larger risks. It is all a matter of finding the right investors. It is possible to calculate the bare minimum cost of the mission, which is simply the fuel cost to bring all the weight of the materials and people to Mars. I believe NASA spent much more than that, on all kinds of things. But arguably, they also just spend a lot on their internal bureaucracy. I don't doubt that Elon Musk can do things a lot cheaper than NASA. However, he may not have mentioned that the chance of failure is also a lot higher. If NASA launch people to Mars, they must be nearly 100% certain that those astronauts will survive, and make it back to Earth. Elon Musk accepts failure as an option (and then he'll just try again), and may eventually not bring people back to Earth. That makes a mission a LOT cheaper.
  10. Good point. That might work, although I wonder if eventually you would not heat that asteroid through? We'd have to make a heat balance, comparing heat transport through that asteroid with the IR radiation of the dark side. Then we can determine the temperature on the dark side. I'm not in the mood to do that now.
  11. Here's an explanation of how electricity prices can actually become negative. (You are paid to use electricity then). The bottom line: inflexibility on the grid. As far as I know, consumers cannot benefit from this (yet), but it is the idea that smart grids enable consumers to switch on/off machines (laundry, dryer, dishwasher), or recharge the car when prices are ok.
  12. Iota, I am not sure you understood it: that electricity is essentially a 'waste'. They are not giving it away because they're nice people, they are essentially begging someone to use it, because otherwise the grid will overload and break down. Obviously, this has been arranged in business deals and treaties, so they don't have to call up the Dutch or the French in panic every time the wind blows, but it's not just a case of philanthropy. Also in the USA, you can get all kinds of waste and garbage for free, if you want. It sounds like this is all not so bad, but the Dutch electricity producers complain: they need to stop their electricity production, which ruins their business case. Even the most efficient large scale powerplant cannot compete against (nearly) free electricity. Obviously, the consumer doesn't notice too much of this yet, at this moment. Most people pay a fixed price per kWh. But once you have a fleet of enough electric cars that can each receive a signal when it is cheapest to recharge, the peak in power production can be absorbed. Obviously, there is a slight risk that you happen to need the car while your car is still waiting for a cheap price... which means it is optional to let your car recharge cheaply and smartly. You can also just tell it to recharge whatever the cost.
  13. I believe the main reason that the European market may adopt electric cars before the US is that the electricity grid is being upgraded to accommodate large amounts of wind power (as well as some solar power). There are times when Germany/Denmark produce so much wind power that they have to dump the excess electricity on foreign markets (e.g. Netherlands) for free. If you have an electric car, and you have a smart grid, maybe in the (very near) future it becomes possible to recharge your car for free, just so the German grid can get rid of its electricity. The 80-186 mile (129 - 300 km) is sufficient for almost all commutes, as well as some other business trips. If you only commute, this can be quite an affordable option (low tax, low fuel costs), and it is obviously a fashion item: "My electric BMW".
  14. ajb, who are you quoting?
  15. CaptainPanic

    EU

    But the EU is one huge experiment where multiple markets with multiple sets of rules are slowly merged into one huge market with the same set of rules.
  16. 2. A Big Mac is not the same size across the world, and therefore cannot be used as a unit for energy.
  17. Why Venus? I'd think that putting a rock in an orbit around Venus would make one very hot rock. Hardly a place to build a space station. Personally, I would think that Mars is an easier planet to give a new (little) moon? Asteroids are a little closer, so the delta V for your space rock to go from the asteroid belt to Mars is less than to Venus. Also, if I were to build a space station, I'd rather build it in a place where it's cold than in a place where it's boiling hot. Engineering-wise, it is just easier to keep something 100 degrees above ambient temperature than below.
  18. You seem to base your argumentation on the assumption that the USA is the only country that should be considered capable of putting people on another planet. I am not sure that is a good assumption. I think that China is a far more likely candidate for a Mars colony. They have shown themselves capable of managing very large projects over the last decade. And in addition, their government funding does not suffer from the short-term problems that the Western world has. And finally, they have set their sights on a lunar colony, stating that as a long-term goal. And to bring this post back on topic: no, asteroid mining is not listed among the goals... yet.
  19. CaptainPanic

    EU

    You build your argument on the first assumption, but the first assumption is just not necessarily true. The EU is government is not some sort of essential requirement to enable market forces, and they do not see that as their primary task - if you disagree, please provide a source for that. There are far more rules and regulations in the EU, and the EU tends to be far more socialist too. You can argue that this is merely a burden or a hinderance, but there are people (like myself) who vote for socialist parties and are happy to see their political views reflected in EU policy. Also, as this crisis has shown, certain countries (e.g. the Netherlands) are quite capable players on the international financial market, striking rather good deals in the bail-outs of insurance companies and banks. The Dutch didn't bail-out a bank, they just bought it. I would be surprised if they cannot sell it at a profit (although time will tell). If anything, the EU is some sort of essential requirement to hold back the extremes of market forces. As for bailing out countries like Greece... I agree that lending them money at a low interest rate is probably a bad investment for the short term - and the investment itself may never be paid back. But from such a short-term perspective, the Marshall plan was probably a horrible idea too. That investment by the USA in Europe only paid back decades afterwards. But you all seem to portray the entire EU as a financial disaster, but looking around me (and living right in the middle of it), I just don't see it. Sure, Greece, Spain, Italy, Ireland, Portugal and Cyprus are in financial trouble. But altogether, that is a minority of the total EU economy. The Scandinavian countries, as well as Germany, and multiple Central and East-European countries are doing surprisingly well. The EU has absorbed a number of weak economies, and pumped billions into it in order to make them stronger. In many East European countries (as well as the Baltic) this is a complete success, as the GDP growth in the period 2005-2012 shows. And the EU is still the largest economy in the world.
  20. Heh, true. Why would the NSA use animals when they can just crack your encryption to read all your email? (This may be considered a thread hijack, but it is only my intention to make a little joke... if you plan to write a lengthy reply about the NSA, please make a new thread, and I'll join the discussion there).
  21. It is not strange that the mother replied on Facebook. Facebook posts are meant for a relatively small group of people - if your settings/preferences have locked your Facebook down. But it is weird that someone else at Yahoo found it necessary to write an article about it. This was not the family's choice, as shows this quote from the article:
  22. I believe that a small but essential part of the question is missing. Maybe you should start by reading the question carefully, and then copy it here again.
  23. Optimal for what? Getting spine-injuries or back-injuries? Quite a few systems in our bodies were designed for walking on 4 legs. In order to free up two limbs, we made a few sacrifices. The design is still good, but it is far from perfect.
  24. I get the feeling you're still at high school. And your budget is counted in tens, or possibly hundreds of dollars/euros, not thousands or ten thousands... Correct? Does your project need to result in something built? Or can it also result in knowledge (a research project)? Building something like a google glass is gonna be insanely difficult, and I promise that you will get bogged down on something small, like how to create the display, or how to make the computer small enough. So, therefore you are much better off taking on a project that (for example) is called "researching how to make a simplified display like in a Google glass". Then you can stop worrying about the computer, the apps, the actual looks of the glass or the resolution of that display. Just try to get a red dot on it will be difficult enough. And if you study, and understand how it works, then after 1 year, this will have been a very good learning experience.
  25. The ISS has approximately 240 kW of electrical power. I am not sure they will get excited when you propose to install a light that used any more than just a fraction of that power. However, I believe that aircraft strobe lights (which can at least be seen at 10 km distance, although perhaps not at 400 km), use in the order of 50 W of power (note: commercial link), which is negligible in comparison. If you would get some kick-ass 500 W strobe light (or if you just reduce the frequency of the flash in comparison to the frequency of aircraft), this idea is totally feasible, with regards to the power consumption. Unfortunately, I have no connections to NASA. By the way, the ISS is operated by ESA and the Russians too.
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