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Comment Re:It's a start (Score 4, Informative) 128

ehm, have you ever studied ships?

Large ships already have extremely efficient two stroke diesel engines (even over 50% which is extremely high if you consider the carnot max) They also have many devices to recover waste heat.

Propeller designs are already very sophisticated, difficult to improve there.

weight: the weight of the ship is very low relative to the amount of cargo it carries (compared to e.g. a truck). Also, the ship sails at relatively low speeds and mostly in a straight line so acceleration/deceleration losses that increase with mass are not really a factor.

All in all cargo ships are already the most efficient mode of transport on a fuel/cargo weight-distance ratio basis.

Comment Re:So ridiculous (Score 1) 131

I'm not an expert on electro-magnetism but I know a bit about ocean waves. The swell typically has a period in the range of 5-15 seconds depending on location and depth, taking into consideration the wave height you can easily work out that there will be a fair bit of variation/acceleration at the buoy. Also, keep in mind that the waves generally aren't regular waves but part of a seastate that consists of various components with different periods, heights and directions. Personally I don't expect much from this idea, it is too complex and probably too expensive. All I'm saying is that I think that you under-estimate the energy content of waves a bit.

Comment Re:Freedom is only "free" if blood is freely spilt (Score 1) 309

most governments do have the right to determine what you look at; child porn is illegal in most countries and in some countries regular porn is even illegal.

so, yes, governments already censor other media (what do you think happens when customs find kiddy porn in your luggage?), thus it is to be expected that they try to censor the internet as well.

Off course there's a fine line between censoring and censoring. However, if your government is doing a reasonable job of providing relative free "old" media like tv, print, radio etc. I don't see a reason why they can't be trusted with the internet, there's no reason to be so paranoid.

And let's not focus on the government here, let's focus on the scum that brought this about; the child abusing kiddy porn people. Yes, some people will always find a way to do evil but let's make it as difficult as reasonably possible for them.

Comment Re:Install Ubuntu (Score 1) 823

sorry, I don't mind ubuntu at all but windows is not all that hard to administer if you set it up right, especially if it's only a single pc. Just install it on a virtual machine on a linux host if necessary so you can restore it from time to time if need be.

Apart from that, the main advantage of windows is that all the "popular" apps and peripherals in the senior citizen crowd (think of, web-browsing, photo viewing, photo-printing, web-cams etc.) are much more readily available for windows than for linux.

Portables

Best Technology For Long-Distance Travel? 257

An anonymous reader writes "Over the past year I have traveled across the globe for work but I can't seem to find the right balance of technology to take with me. After reading a CNET article about tech for traveling, I'm still slightly undecided about what hardware suits me best. On the work side of things I need a laptop, nothing fancy but it can't be too heavy or slow. I also need a smart phone that can receive emails across the world and if possible a satellite navigation device, as I need to get to less-traveled locations on a regular basis. From a personal perspective I need my music but I don't care about video, so I'm looking for something with high-quality audio and great battery life. A compact camera wouldn't go amiss but dSLRs are too heavy for my needs and carrying strength, so something I can tuck in a pocket would be perfect. Any suggestions greatly appreciated."

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