I always figured magneto-optical discs would be a good candidate for packaging in a higher precision drive. Looks like that's on it's way. :)

Earthquakes are just mean. They'll completely null the entire area. Expect to rip up the entire network and start afresh.

It requires a decent battery, and an inverter with the ability to run off-grid. Lead acids are cheap but short lived. Lithium phosphates are still expensive. The inverter/charger combo is much higher priced than plain grid-tying.

It only makes sense if you aren't already on the grid, since paying for a new line to the property has it's own hefty price tag.

so that they stay operating, period! I hate being a passenger in modern cars.

NoScript for the win! And Ghostery as a safety net when desperate.

Actually, now you've mentioned it, I don't think I was hassled about the lack of a cellphone by the inlaws last Christmas, nor since. It had been a bit of ritual for the last decade or so. Maybe it's starting to sink in for them.

Lets decide not to have any secrets while were at it.

Doh! I'd misspelt the subject. :(

The projected confidence is a learned behaviour I suspect. One learns to effect change through convincing others to do their bidding.

So, its a misunderstanding that most idiots are even looking to give a "correct" answer but rather are caring more about personal status and influence.

get out the soldering iron! :P

Yeah, for a rechargeable I think I'd be okay with as little as six months per recharge.

I never understood why they stop working without the ignition turned on, or shortly after being turned off.

Why isn't there an option to have electric windows operate at all times?

for Joe plebb investor. There's just another level nowadays.

If the marketers are so sure that people really want this drag-netting then let those that are so keen to have it actually choose it.

Because it's such a big undertaking, nobody, until recently, has ever even tried to get fusion to work at the scale required to prove it.

The cost meant it was easier just to put off till later.

Fission's got a number of issues but the biggest by far is stupidity of designing and building inherently unstably reactors. And then continuing to use them without fixing the problem!

Again, it comes back to the bean counters. When the spend is warranted, then they'll act. If the cost of disposing of the old fission reactors/fuel and rebuilding with new inherently stable designs can be shown to be cheaper than leaving the existing ones in place then it'll happen. This situation is a good example of why to get it right first time around.

For the time being, sadly, fossil fuels are cheaper. Hence the drive to start accounting for the cost of pumping so much carbon into the atmosphere.

Doing some full stride walking every day is the bees-nees!

Standing isn't going to give you anything more than sore feet.