Large government contractors live or die suckling the tits of taxpayers... and their internal goal is NOT to solve the problems they're brought in to solve (the paperless initiative to reduce costs and ALSO as a side effect make all government records indexable and searchable for example) but to maximize billable hours.

It makes perfect sense to say it isn't economically feasible to make the first stage of spacecraft reusable; because for them it ISN'T an economically sound business model. It would reduce their total revenue for these projects. For new players, it absolutely makes perfect sense because it is a new market which established players will not touch with a ten foot/3m (notice the inaccurate conversion of english to metric, quite appropriate for aerospace contractors ;) ) but new players who want to break into the market are seizing as an opportunity to get established in the industry.... so of course now that practical designs, even if flawed, are proving to be achievable they are absolutely terrified of being forced to unlatched from the teat. That has them scared so they will of course now begin in earnest to develop more reusable spacecraft because they work on such a large scale that losing just a couple of contracts where they have designed their business model to be as inefficient as possible in order to maximize net profits could bankrupt them very quickly.

This business model will also make affordable space tourism and arriving at next generation, more efficient spacecraft to be developed sooner.

Consider this: what if Scaled Composites were to get into the strategic fighter game? What if they were to go head-to-head against Lockheed's Skunk Works, and reduced the cost of stealth interceptor/fighter/bombers and spy planes to tens of millions per unit rather than a blllion per unit, and made them more efficient and faster to boot? Given their immense investment in conventional tooling and methodologies, I don't think they could change their ways and remain profitable... taxpayers would save money, we'd see more capable military aircraft, and as a side effect we would probably see variable geometry airfoils with the ability to reduce or even cancel out audible sonic booms become reality and over-land supersonic airliners become a practical reality.

The goal of a large government contractor is not to reduce costs (even if that is a requirement laid out in the RFQ/RFP), but to maximize net profits. Cost-cutting measures are always impractical until a new emerging player proves that it is possible.

Yep... I've done work for the Red Cross and they are extremely wasteful. We were brought in to audit the design, development and QA process to make it more efficient and less prone to defects and to reduce iterations... but even though THEY brought us in they fought the process every step of the way. We eventually ended up firing them as a client. I think they just wanted someone to rubber stamp their chaos.

Making health care universal and bringing back asylums for long-term inpatient treatment would address that.

Interesting problem....

I'm very pro gun. I'm going to be buying two rifles (AR-15 and AR-10) and two pistols (two Colt 1911s, a .45 and a .22) and will be training for competitive shooting.... I do believe that the second amendment means what it says (The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed) but we made a really boneheaded move in not requiring background checks, and not implementing waiting periods across the board. When I'm ready to buy the firearms, I won't be opposed to a waiting period. I don't see either a waiting period or background check as any sort of infringement.

Also I think the whole "assault rifle" ban was ridiculous; why is it that if I put a semi-auto lower receiver into a plain-looking rifle it was okay, but if I put it into an AR/AK-style rifle that "looks scary" it is suddenly something which needed to be banned?

The interesting issue this presents is this: should we implement background checks for 3D printers capable of sintering metal, or CNC milling machines? Of course for a machinist who already has access to such a machine, it's simple to replicate a pre-original-ban AR lower receiver which is very easily converted to fully automatic (which should not have been banned since that IS an infringement but that's beside the point at the moment).

The bottom line is this: we need to not coddle psychopaths and sociopaths, we need to not ignore warning signs, but to commit and treat them. Don't let people with serious illnesses suffer and let anger or violent tendencies fester. Treat the actual problem - and if it takes implementing universal health care so they can actually get access to proper mental health treatment, so be it. Health care SHOULD be a universal human right - and yes it is an entitlement - EVERYONE should be entitled to full health care.

Why punish the tool, or act like the tool is the problem? The real problem is society telling everyone FUCK YOU WE DON'T WANT SOCIALIZED MEDICINE then suddenly act surprised when a teenager with serious psychological problems steals his mom's firearms and shoots up a school, or when a mentally ill adult decides to shoot up a workplace. Why are we so shocked when we keep rejecting universal health care, and keep rejecting treating the mentally ill?

At one point, there were shooting leagues in schools, where students brought their firearms in. What school shootings were there? The only shootings at that point were ones carried out by the government, not by The People. The mentally ill were locked away (which IMHO is nearly as bad as not treating them at all which is what we do now - we pretend they don't deserve "free" health care) to protect society. My generation? No school shootings, and yet guys often had rifles in gun racks out in the parking lot. No problems with it.... but now we're scared of our own shadows, and a kindergartener drawing a picture of a gun or playing "cops and robbers" and pointing fingers at each other and saying "bang" results in expulsion.

We have our priorities all wrong, we misplace blame on the tools rather than the evil and/or mentally ill people who carry out the evil acts, and we act all shocked when the people we denied health care end up hurting others.

Sooo do we start instituting background checks for ANYTHING which can be used as a weapon or manufacture a weapon (CNC milling machines, die grinders, billet metal, pressure cookers, knives, plate glass, tubing, anything which is combustible, etc.) or do we fucking wake up and provide free treatment to the mentally ill and start locking them up if necessary?

I say we start treating the mentally ill, and if they are a threat so society keep them locked up and provide competent treatment until they are mentally stable, and stop blaming inanimate objects for society's failings.

Not to worry - they're working on VR shoes so you can get the full LEGO experience ;)

A gasoline odor coming from a car? That NEVER happens, despite an 8 - 30 gallon tank of gasoline being in the car. It sure is grounds for probable cause. >_>

(in case you missed it: NOT)

and I suppose the M3800 is glued together like the newer Macbooks, making it near impossible even for seasoned techs to replace without warping or breaking parts during disassembly or at least baking the crap out of it with a heat gun?

> Worst thing ever. White-LED backlight. Why? Shit color gamut with RGB. White LEDs are near-blackbody in emission spectrum, have been for ages.

That would be true if white LEDs didn't have a very notchy color spectrum. The whole point of RGB-LEDs is that they cover the full Adobe color gamut. White LED backlights do not. Read up on backlight tech - RGB-LED is acknowledged as the best backlight. To get better you need a plasma screen (unworkable in a laptop unless you want crap battery life)

Oh other things I have done to the notebook:

* Upgraded to a Core 2 Quad Extreme (did that a week after buying the notebook - as usual it was many hundreds cheaper to buy the upgraded processor separately so I ordered it with a mid-range Core 2 Duo)
* Replaced both heat sink thermal transfer pads with copper shims when I replaced the motherboard after the lightning strike (and of course cleaned ALL of the dust out of every nook and cranny of the notebook while I had it torn down to the bare chassis)
* About six months ago the screen hinge FINALLY started to loosen up so I disassembled the screen assembly to tighten all the internal screws on the screen frame. Feels like new.
* Upgraded to hybrid hard drives about six years ago (so, not long after buying the laptop)
* Upgraded the RAM about four years ago

Aside from the above all I've done since is maintain the Windows 7 install (including defrag of MFT and shrinking/defragging registry hives) and update the Linux install (OpenSUSE - my preferred Linux distro for workstations). The processor is still plenty fast for sysadmin work, and even for software builds on occasion.

It has what is by far the best laptop screen I've used - and I do credit that to the RGB-LED backlight array, I've worked with newer Precisions, HPs, Asus, Lenovo, and other desktop/workstation replacement and gaming laptops and none of the screens compare. :-(

I'd like to see a real upgrade to the m6x00 line (their 17" mobile workstations). I am still running an M6400 Precision Mobile Workstation. Why? Because I like a full keyboard, dual pointer options, and the 17" screen. I check the Precision lineup every few weeks hoping an upgrade comes out. The problem with the current models is that they are downgrades; the laptop I have has a WUXGA (1920x1200) RGB-LED backlit display while the current models top out at 1080p, with white LED edgelights. I want to see them go back to the RGB-LED backlight, and more importantly, offer a 1440p or higher resolution display.

They manage to offer WQXGA+ (3200x1800) and UHD (4K) displays in the 15" models - why are those of us who want the flagship 17" worksation left out in the cold when it comes to decent screens now? I also checked the Alienware line (since they're pretty much Precisions/Latitudes with a gamer case and gaming video card rather than the Quadro line) but even they top out at 1080p in the 17" model.. :-(

Until Dell gets their act together with screen offerings on the m6x00 I'll keep my M6400 going. It paid for itself hundreds of times over and it is still going strong. I did have to replace the motherboard after a lightning strike but other than that it has been absolutely flawless. It's dropped from a 4' high ledge onto a tiled concrete floor while running and never skipped a beat; you cannot tell it was ever dropped and the hard drives scanned clean and STILL scan clean (SMART long test and surface scans with CHKDSK and fsck respectively) to this day. It's been an absolute tank for me, and aside from video resolution and video performance (I can't really use it for current games, plus it'd be nice to drive an external 3D display when at home) I am still very happy with it. I am still even on the original battery and still get decent life (almost two hours - when new it would get almost three hours) with the thing. :-)

Dell please throw m6x00 customers a bone - offer a 1440p or higher resolution display, then shut up and take my money.

15" laptops? Not interested. I like larger screen models (since it allows for close to full-size keyboards) with as high of a resolution as possible.

You don't even need to RTFA to learn the printed parts are metal - it's stated right in the summary.

Modded down? How can anyone think that post is serious? The whole point of Tim Minchin's "Storm" is that homeopathy is total bullshit and people who ignore science are absolute morons. It's called "sarcasm."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Of course :)