and taken out by the slightest breeze

as was explained on the box of a toy helicopter:

"these are basically 1/40th scale helicopters. Full-sized helicopters can't fly well in high winds-if a full size helicopter has difficulty in 50 mph wind,your model will have difficulty with 1-2mph. There's nothing to be done about it."

A lot more power and wing area that can be used to fight wind than a robofly and they're useless at anything stronger than the flatulence after Taco Bell. Turn on a decent fan (or hell, the A/C) and these "drones" are at the mercy of the system.

Increase the power through some sort of future-wish battery and motor tech? People will hear the flying dentist drill from two closed doors away.

AAA-CHOO! and the latest snooper pastes itself against the wall...Hopefully not carrying some sort of antipersonnel chemical agents when ya swat it.

this used to be a joke about Yellow Journalism

and now it's day-by-day headlines accepted as fact:

World Will End Tomorrow, Women and Minorities Hardest Hit.

I was all in for the Musk interview

until they said it was only a tour of the LA headquarters. I've seen all sorts of offices already. I want to go where the real magic happens. No one is assembling Merlins in LA. No one is doing airframe work, getting their hands dirty and making dreams actually perform in the real world.

Seen enough dreamers. Want to hang with the do-ers.

In the radio control and EV world,

we have always been warned against depleting a lithium based chemistry battery. Problems with cell balance and "venting with flame" were significantly reduced when our speed controllers automatically shut down before any cell in a battery gets too low.

In other words, "Never Go Full Discharge". :)

gah

we can blow trillions for banks to buy up their competition, millions to fly presidential families to vacations around the world (with their multiton armored vehicles, royal retinues and security/military personnel. We can throw away more in foreign aid and to people who haven't contributed anything to society other than crime statistics in three generations.

But we can't find money for our own supercollider, or a Mars mission or a deep solar system probe.

I wish they'd sell "green" honestly and without FUD or hype.

It is what it is. green(I hate that term, I prefer sustainable") energy, like electric cars, CAN stand on its own merits and even continue to command premium prices-but NOT if its sold with vapor, unicorn f@rts, well-wishes and lies.

All that does is p*ss people off and disappoint those who are truly giving the technology an honest go. It's better to sell a program truthfully, so people get what they expect, than to hype it up and have all your early adopters being disappointed.

Don't sell sustatinable programs as being "cheaper" if they're actually not-forget about long term and intangible future promises or breakthroughs. But you CAN sell on a history of improvement and use that to draw a possible breakthrough as a selling point.

But if after all that, you can't show any benefit, then government subsidy is NOT the way to go. However I don't believe this to be the case-we just need to get the profitteers and "true believers" off the podium.

For example, try something like this: "Wind power-it's not for everyone. When it works, it produces power with minimum emissions, but don't expect it to work all the time. We're working on improvements-last year our best turbine produced X kilowatts over the year, while our newest one today produces X + Y kilowatts. Our testing, financed by the admittedly expensive rates we're charging, lead us to believe next year's unit can generate X+Y+Z and reduce maintenance costs as well- you can see our research at nosmokeandmirrors.com"

Be honest, and people WILL pay. Not all, but enough. Blind us with brilliance, don't baffle us with Bullsh*t. companies like ZAP promised us the world with their golf cart EVs, hiding the flaws behind greenwashing and advertising. Nissan says "here's an electric car, run it and see if it works for you."-and I've personally witnessed dozens of Leafs while Ie seen TWO Model S's in the wild (and I live less than 20 miles from the factory!) Tesla seems to be losing sight of that with the NYT debacle-they created perception about the Model S that isn't being met, even though the technology performs as designed. Had their marketers and shills been open up front and honest about "you're gonna have issues in the cold" with as much fervor as "rich movie stars and moguls say their Model S will save the planet", then the NYT article would have offended and surprised nobody. Jus like no one expects most cars to run far if there's a hole in the gas tank.

computers, cell phones and even gas cars were crap when they first came out. They didn't get better because their producing companies claimed they were already perfect and needed no improvement. People knew the limitations of being an early adopter. Now look where we are.

Sustainable energy needs to follow their example.

loudest music?

the sound of all 4 of the Concorde's engines at full takeoff power. Music to me ears

time for the nuclear hotfoot?

the tasteful wall to keep the spaced out youth from breaking in before they're harvested?

old news?

I stuck my last-gen iPod Nano into a cheap Chinese watch band.

all it needs is 3/4G and bluetooth.

story is lacking

where's the link to sign up?

the wifey loves sitting on FB almost all day as it is. Give us plenty of videogames and we're all set.

seriously :)

more power!

Scotty would approve.

if it's not running on the edge of failure, it's not trying.

Oh yeah!

DS9's biggest accomplisments?

Having the lead character hating, not admiring, previous Enterprise captains.

The defining moment of the series? Where Q shows up and challenges Sisko to one of his little "games". They're in a virtual old school "smoker" (boxing match) and Q uses his typical goads and challenges to try to get a reaction, like he did with Picard. Sisko throws a punch and lays the demigod out on the canvas.

Q: "You hit me! Picard never hit me!"

Sisko: "I'm not Picard."

why not true laser?

I can get lasers in red, blue and green. Most of them are capable of extremely rapid switching.

why not simply write the entire image with laser resolution? Are there no MEMS scanners that can move fast enough?

I know televisions were patented demonstrating this exact scheme, but the patents appear to now be owned by companies still making money on LCD and LED panel systems.

Is there actually a technical reason full laser projection can't happen?

don't forget vibration

excessive vibration is also something that must be managed for human spaceflight. It's one of the biggest issues with the Orion/Shuttle SRB concept.

and this old machine is *still* mostly what the lion's share of the workforce needs even today.

Give it some wifi, a Raspi or similar, SD cards for memory, and power it off of AAs and you've nailed the OLPC. communications and education can still be handled through simple text and audio, the way it was done for generations.

the whole culture of "throw it away because it's old" needs to end sometime

it leads one to wonder

if the account was compromised by "hackers" months ago, could the "threats" the conveniently allowed the FBI to bring this to light have been sent by these "hackers" in order to make this come to light?

Hmmm

one possible use

a spongy neoprene mouse pad with the printed keyboard on it to absorb shock from the fingertips. waterproof or not depending on requirements and appearance, disposable and cheap or customizable as giveaway swag. Problem is that might make it so the vibrations are too muffled to use.

there's always the "Animaniacs" version

"it's a great big universe, and we are all really puny...."

Dear netflix:

the secret to gaining more customers is not to be *cutting* available online content but to be increasing it.

signed- a 5 year customer whose finding more and more movies and older series are becoming "unavailable" for either disc or stream as time passes.

my only interest in upgrading to this device

is knowing soon Nintendo's new games will only be able to run on 3DS hardware. Other than that, I'd leave the 3D mostly switched off. My DSiXL is barely a year old:(

I think I saw this in an anime once

or something else sci-fi.

They create some particle to save us all from evil pollutants. The particles, however, cause dangerous and fatal allergic reactions in most of the human population.

So it's dangerous to be outside whenever these savior clouds are around, and for a while after they've left. Creating a much more hazardous condition than the unspecified "pollution" they were released to clean up.

Of course the company that owns the patent on these magic particles becomes the most powerful corporation on earth, subverting all governments openly....

when it comes to government help, I look to HP Lovecraft: "I say to you againe, doe not call up Any that you can not put downe; by the Which I meane, Any that can in Turne call up Somewhat against you, whereby your Powerfullest Devices may not be of use. Ask of the Lesser, lest the Greater shal not wish to Answer, and shal commande more than you."

Because not only do you have to worry about what Big Government does to "help", you have to worry what that "help" can bring about.

backward traditions?

so can we do something about me having to donate a few months' salary to DeBeers in order to get married in America? Not to mention the obscene cost of *flowers* of all things? :P

Traditions should not be considered "backwards" unless they are as Law. Then it's a backwards LAW that needs to be addressed.

If everyone involved is happy with a tradition, then it's good. If one isn't, then deal with it by not following tradition. If there is no third party forcing that tradition down your throat, then any disagreement should be addressed as part of the arrangement. If you can't agree on something like this, you're not gonna get by being married either.

why not do it the way RC drivers already do?

we're already adjusting the balance of small RC cars in midair by using torque on the rear wheels. Hit the electronic brake to nose down, cram the throttle to nose up. Works really well on those self balancing RC motorcycles with gyroscopes in the rear wheel.

That being said, a properly designed tail can also help compensate for roll, so a tail unit can help in both pitch and roll axes. As well as help physically right a vehicle that borks the landing.

Of course if they can manage both strong and flexible in a tail appendage, they should be able to do it for limbs and eliminate the need for wheels or tracks completely.

so lets do the right thing

cancel this petition, create a new one for pardoning all of them. Though it'd be nice to name any legislation after Turing in his honor.

Just please don't turn this into a cash-grab payday of a multigenerational demand for "reparations" because someone's great grandfather was involved and it somehow means only money will make his great grandson "whole" again.

what is the point?

what is the point of spending time and money to create and pass a bill to increase snooping of video records? If there is a criminal case they can be subpoenaed. If there is some illicit investigation it can be gathered without legal permission.

Only thing this benefits is advertisers. Congress should not be passing laws to assist advertising companies and violating citizen privacy for that purpose. Spurious law enforcement and "think of the children" is bad enough.

now, follow the money

find out whose business is currently profitting from this misinformation, and you'll find the source of the "prank".

Information is a weapon. Wield responsibly.

is this another Australia in the making?

so we're going to take what we've been told is a "fragile ecosystem" and introduce a massive increase of one particular life form to deal with another? Especially when, in order to get the coverage needed to be useful, large scale bee breeding programs will need to be instituted, with plenty of opportunity to "improve" the species for "economic" reasons?

or are going to be assailed by the global warming alarmists who see an increase in the "aggressive Africanized" honey bees as a sign of the Thermocalypse and not a thing to do with a massive increase of cultivation of said bees for "fencing"?

no worries here

of course, still running my old 3GS. It's survived drops (while in a case, natch) been dropped in the bog (displayed a "device not compatible" message!) and subjected to eight hours or more of freezing temperatures while stashed in a motorcycle bag on a long winter ride.

But it took quite awhile for Apple to pull it's head out and address a number of issues. It was definitely *not* a reliable device right out of the box. I expect the same "we'll fix it later" philosophy that we also saw in the 4G will also be part of the 4GS and the mythical 5 in turn as well.

I'll probably still be using the 3GS until there's no more iOS support for it (I'm surprised iOS 5 didn't already cause serious performance issues). Then it'll be time to turn it into an iPod and see what's available outside of the Walled Garden...if it didn't mean losing my grandfathered "unlimited data" plan from AT&T I'd have already jumped ship to a shiny new android device.

A month of new desktop wallpapers!

thanks, Reg! I now have a nice collection of (work safe!) desktop backgound wallpapers to use!

sci fi in my lifetime again!

first, battery powered motorcycles that (other than improper price/benefit balances) are useful, and now, mobile communication laser systems that are as good as fiber optics.

That's the killer app that will trickle down into the civilian world. Point to point laser datalinks that can adapt to weather and still maintain fiber speeds. It'll be like the old days of microwave all over again! :)

wow. finally almost there.

as in, I can "almost" afford one. The range works, the speed works. Of course, this is the marketing taking these numbers. How far does it go when at the top speed? Can I get at least 50 miles at freeway traffic (70 plus?) speeds?

also, does "topping off" at work or home count against the number of charges in the lifecycle?

Rode the Zero S, its a fun little scoot. Problem is, I ride a 600 pound, 145HP bike as my daily driver. Rode it to the Zero demo too. So the performance and response was understandably less than impressive-not having a clutch to work with was weird too. Scooter owners would be right at home with this though.