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Comment Re:Williams WASP X-Jet (Score 1) 81

Just saying why the original did not catch on.

The current issues have to do with the propulsion method. It still requires moving large amounts of air which causes significant turbulence. I would not want to be anywhere near one of those when they took off or landed.

Then there is the noise of the jet engine. Jet turbines designed to produce thrust are quite noisy.

Comment Re:Williams WASP X-Jet (Score 2) 81

According to this here are two numbers that would cause the X-Jet to be useless.

Empty weight: 401 pounds (182 kg) (182 kg)
Loaded weight: 550 lb (250 kg)

That would mean that the aircraft could lift 149 lbs in people and fuel. Most people who would be allowed to fly it would be over that weight. If one is 110 lbs one could carry 39 pounds a fuel and maybe get the advertised range. Sorry but that is not a very big market.

Comment I Detect Spin. (Score 2) 107

As there is no transcript of the phone call we have no idea what was actually said. It could have been something along the lines of "We try to guard against fraud and malicious behavior" or "continuing to do this could be considered fraud or malicious behavior". There is no proof the reporter was ever accused of either of those. Being accused makes a better story though.

Comment We will never know (Score 1) 170

I definitely would not have gotten into programming if I hadn't played games as a kid.

It is impossible to state that as fact. It is quite possible another cause may have set him on the same path. One can state the positive, "Gaming as a kid caused me to be interested in programming", but the negative is probably not accurate. If he didn't game maybe he would have been more interested in math which may have been the cause of his interest in programming.

Comment Re:In other news... (Score 1) 256

We use cloth racks.

I have a small apartment without a balcony. I do not have room for a washing machine and/or drier or space to hang laundry.

If the washing machine is in the basement and the drier, too, why are you arguing about electricity prices and smart grids and when to wash and when not to wash if all that does not even apply to you?

Because I can see further than the end of my own nose and can see that what may work for me may not work for other people. The thing about smart grid is that it needs to be controllable. I am point out instances where it demand is not as controllable as you think.

Comment Re:In other news... (Score 1) 256

In any real sense with respect to weather and wind power systems, electricity does not take time to move.

I did not say it was a delay issue I said it was a capacity issue. Say the western portion of the grid is over producing and the eastern portion is under producing. There must be enough transmission capacity in the form of electrical wires to be able to transport the electricity from the west to the east. With PVs this could happen every night as the sun goes down.

Even on a neighbourhood level it can be a problem. Say a neighbourhood goes heavily into solar. At noon they could produce much more electricity than they use. Now instead of drawing electricity, like the local connection was designed for, it area is trying to inject a large amount of electricity into the system which could overload the local transformers and switched. Hawaii is quite concerned that this is a problem.

Comment Re:In other news... (Score 1) 256

If there is a similar report every year then why don't you quote them? Evidence that is out of date is useless.

It's worthless continuing this argument.

Because you do not have any real life current evidence that actually shows ant real life current effect of pricing on demand.

By the way the report you cited talks about controlled demand. That is demand that can be cut off from a central control if supply gets short. That is very different than price controlled demand which is the original topic.

Comment Re:In other news... (Score 1) 256

No one in his sane mind uses a drier anyway.

So how do you dry your cloths? Sorry some of us would rather not have wet cloths hanging all over our apartment.

If you need a drier so desperately why don't you by a combo?

Because I live in an apartment and we are not allowed to have launder machines in our apartments.

Comment Re:In other news... (Score 0) 256

Your initial argument was that price doesn't influence demand.

To clarify, price does not influence voluntary demand. People do not change habots due to price. Sure there are some expensive technologies that can help but even they are not complete solutions.

Sorry but you showed a repost that gives very vew details and I showed how it actually didnt work.

Comment FTFY (Score 1) 150

Get in the way of the method people want to do their work, and users will figure out very creative ways around it.

Some users think their way is the only and/or best way to do things. Their priorities are the most important no matter how much damage it can do to the company. Nothing else matters.

Tell a user they can get free apps, and they'll install and use SSH and the command line...

Not sure if you think that is funny but it is definitely untrue.

Comment Re:Won't someone think of the birds. (Score 1) 256

That is why you use a kite and not a balloon.

Do you have any idea how big a kite that can hold 30,000 feet of electrical cable would be? We are talking about 20 tons for the conductor alone.

Also you don't let the turbine fly but use the tension on the cable to run a generator on the ground.

Tension generators work by letting the kite pull a cord which is attached to a generator. The kite is the partially furled and reeled part way back in, and the process repeated. The prototypes I have seen have many issues and none use tethers anywhere near 330,000 feet long.

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