What makes this different is the 10 story rocket. The LEM was 18 ft tall. The Sky Crane was probably about the same, if not smaller. The scale here makes your "toys" kinda pathetic ... it's clearly not the same by any means.

This is just a baby step to doing the whole thing from orbit, starting from hypersonic velocities (although I think a heat shield and parachutes do a significant amount of work before the rockets kick in).

This project is ramping up to be something really impressive.

He already said he's not going to do this one ... yet. He's giving the world a chance to chime in first. Then, in a couple years, if someone else hasn't picked up the ball, he says he'll pursue it himself.

Given Musk's history, I'm going to think of this project as vaporware that has a decent chance of condensing into a liquid someday.

I'm 6' even. It sticks out of my pockets, too, but that's my point exactly.

You're not going to be sitting down with this in your pockets. But the 7" form factor means you have a place to put it when the need arises, unlike a 10" tablet.

BTW ... I think Apple missed this key feature with their iPad Mini. It's over a half inch wider than the Nexus 7, making it that much harder to pocket. Especially with any sort of case.

My Nexus 7 fits perfectly fine in my pockets, thank you. Even with a case.

Not that I'm going to roam around town 24x7 that way, of course. But I can slip it into my back pocket when I need to chase after my toddler. It also fits into my suit coat pocket -- a bit heavy, of course, but convenient for business purposes.

7" tablets are "pocket-able," but not "pocket-sized." And that's perfect for me.

If by "electronics" you mean "a couple resistors" ... you're basically correct. Apple creates a voltage divider on the data lines to tell the device what the charger is capable of. Credit where credit is due to MintyBoost.

The original USB spec allowed for 100 mA power with a negotiated increase to 500 mA over the data connection. Nobody bothered to implement this, and most everything will just supply 500 mA regardless.

Apple decided 500 mA wasn't enough, and created their own proprietary (albeit simplistic) system for communicating the power capability (which includes upping the voltage in the newest chargers, I think).

The rest of the industry simplified things even more by just shorting the data lines. USB 3.0 officially increases the power capabilities.

End result: original poster to the thread is PROVABLY WRONG. Apple chargers are very much proprietary, from the wall wart all the way to the device connector.

You're right, of course. I was fooled by the alphabet ... all the other 4-letter "union" words came from a Cyrillic alphabet.

Now I know.

Browsing possible translations in Google Translate (where "union" refers to a labor union), the 4 letter word could be one of a few Slavic languages, or possibly Polish.

Once again, Boost comes to the rescue! Provide a couple of operators, and it fills in the other ones you may want. Very well thought out, as most Boost libraries are -- for example, NaNs mean floating point numbers can't necessarily be given a strict ordering, so they provide "partially_ordered" if you need that.

When it comes to efficiency, compilers are remarkably capable these days. I just ran a test with GCC 3.4.5. It optimized "a < b || a == b" to the exact same as it generated with "a <= b" (at -O1). Source code available on request, but just try it yourself.

The lesson here: never make assumptions as to what is most efficient until you actually compile and see what happens. Instead, give the programmer the tools to make the code readable and maintainable, and then fix inefficiencies as you find them. "Premature optimization is the root of all evil." (Donald Knuth)

But how do you know if NASA is supposed to be spoken as a word or spelled out? For the most part, this is determined by convention, but here's a rule of thumb:

1) Anything that forms an actual word is spoken as a word
2) 2-3 character acronyms are spelled out
3) 4+ character acronyms are spoken as a word

If you're creating long acronyms that can't be spoken as a word (HMMWV comes to mind), expect people to come up with a word that fits (Humvee).

I had to read many scripts in English class. An excruciating exercise, honestly (scripts aren't meant to be read, they're meant to be performed!).

Fact is, scripts are in themselves useful. Not to you or me, but to some crazy nuts out there it has entertainment value. I guess they just perform it in their head or something.

No, dude. You pay exactly as much as you're willing to pay, no more. If it's not worth $150 to go to a concert, don't go. The problem is that the Market is willing to pay $150. Don't blame the labels or the artists for charging what others are willing to pay.

Your "gag" is actually spot-on.

My hearing is fine, and I want subtitles, too.

The art of diction is lost on many actors. It's amazing how much more dialog is understandable when you know what they're supposed to be saying.

Add in loud special effects and noises in my home (kids, neighbor's A/C, etc), and it's nice to know what that word that you missed was.

Assuming you're misleading me ... does that mean I really can make a derivative without violating the Les Mis copyright? Now I'm confused...

15 lbs so far, 25 to go.

And yes, changing what you eat is essential, too. The key, however, is not to "diet" ... but instead to change your lifestyle. So, I now bike to work whenever possible and go on longer recreational rides on the weekend. 100 miles per week, give or take. Smaller portions, with a good balance of carbs, fat, and protein. Plenty of fruit, vegetables, and whole grain.

And, as long as I keep this up, and have no qualms about treating myself to periodic high-fat, high-sugar items.

This is a lifestyle I can continue indefinitely: it's fun, and I'm not starving myself. (Just need to figure something out for the winter ... biking in the snow doesn't interest me all that much).

Proper source: http://xkcd.com/221/

But I'm guessing 90% of ./ already caught the XKCD reference.