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Comment Terrestrial solar? (Score 2, Interesting) 514

I don't get why we aren't doing more with space-based solar. I'm no physicist, but it seems like you should be able to launch 4 or 6 fairly-equidistant satellites with solar collectors into orbit somewhere around the equator, and you have fully fault-tolerant/redundant 24 hour a day power that you can beam down to regional distribution points via microwave, which then uses the existing power grids to get it where it is needed. This provides a big enough chunk of the required energy for the planet, and OPEC countries become just competing providers, not a defacto energy monopoly bloc that they are.

Then we can move on to having wars over something else, like clean water, the next limited, mismanaged resource.

If you thought that solving the oil problem would stop wars, think again. We're human - we're really good at killing other humans. It's our thing, yo. In light of that, my dream is that one day, our wars, instead of being about tragic-yet-understandable resource management and distribution, are about utterly ridiculous things. I hope my kids or grandkids are around when Fox News is trying to pin the great Boxers vs Briefs vs Commando war (World War 6) on the Clinton Administration. Or maybe Al Jazeera reports that the Big Endians are regrouping after a deadly surprise attack by the Little Endians in the Where-to-break-open-your-eggs war that is now going into its third year in Southeast Asia.

Maybe, just maybe, in the year 3019, future generations will have a war over whether we should execute Dick Cheney with a firing squad or by hanging. Yes, he'll still be around then, causing mischief. If you don't like it, then YOU get off your ass and find the rest of the horcruxes.

But I digress - space-based solar beats the pants off terrestrial solar, what with no silly clouds and atmosphere to get in the way, not having to worry about a lack of sunny days, and a host of other reasons I can't think of right now.

Can some smart person of science who actually knows what they are talking about comment on whether this is a crazy argument?

Comment No relation to (THE) Yakov Perelman... (Score 1) 226

His father's name is Yakov Perelman, but not THE Yakov Perelman. Although when he was a kid, his dad gave him a copy of Physics for Entertainment.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakov_Perelman:

He is not related to the Russian mathematician Grigori Perelman, who was born in 1966 to a different Yakov Perelman. However, Grigori Perelman told The New Yorker that his father gave him Physics for Entertainment, and it inspired his interest in mathematics.

Small freakin' world.

Comment On another note (Score 2, Funny) 555

Like many of you, I haven't built a box in a while because what I have now still works fine and my needs haven't grown enough to deal with the hassle of getting current with the newest tech. While reading this discussion I happened to revisit Pricewatch, just to see what their offerings look like and see how much stuff costs and so forth. This led to this very uh... interesting discovery. When the hell did THIS happen?

I believe this adds a whole new dimension to the compatibility and benchmark question...

Software

The Final Release of Apache HTTP Server 1.3 104

Kyle Hamilton writes "The Apache Software Foundation and the Apache HTTP Server Project are pleased to announce the release of version 1.3.42 of the Apache HTTP Server ('Apache'). This release is intended as the final release of version 1.3 of the Apache HTTP Server, which has reached end of life status There will be no more full releases of Apache HTTP Server 1.3. However, critical security updates may be made available."
Google

Google Toolbar Tracks Your Browsing, Even When Off 118

garg0yle writes "Google's Toolbar is supposed to allow the user to disable it. However, it was discovered by a researcher that it was still sending information even when disabled. A patch is now available, and Google claims this was just a bug, not a feature."
Cellphones

Motorola Takes Android To China, With Or Without Google 42

An anonymous reader writes "Google's spat with China could affect Motorola as it vies to crawl back into the mobile market, but recent partnerships will allow it to pursue the Chinese mobile market alone. Circumventing the fallout, Motorola on Thursday introduced its own Android app store for China and a deal with Baidu, the leading search provider in China."

Submission + - Survey links health insurance affordability and us (bizjournals.com)

lumenistan writes: A 2009 Employer Health Benefits Survey, released Sept. 15 by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research & Educational Trust, found that family health insurance premiums rose about 5 percent in 2009. What's interesting is what one might infer from the average family total premium: n00bz should pay an amount that makes it clear they're not 133t and are not worthy.
Communications

Speculating On the Far Future of Cellphones 220

Trio writes "What will cellphones look like in in future? silicon.com explores five future characteristics that could shape tomorrow's phones — from a wearable prototype such as MIT's SixthSense device which projects mobile data into the user's world, to a mobile that mixes the real and the virtual by using holographic telepresence. So far, so futuristic, but one question remains: will there be enough spectrum to support all this wireless communication?"

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