Comment Re: The "news for nerds" on this.... (Score 1) 961
However at the macro level a stiffer suspension will give less body roll, leading to better camber control, and thus more grip.
Since Slashdot is supposed to be a place for nerds... and nerds like to know the technical details more than just sensationalizing the latest headlines (or at least like to think so).... here's some technical information on why cars like the Porsche Carrera GT is so difficult to drive. I unfortunately don't have time to write out all the details here, but here are some basic principles of automotive suspension tuning to keep in mind:
As you can see... the more aggressive you tune a chassis (which the Carrera GT was designed to be very aggressive, as that's the market they were after), the less compliant the car will be, and the more apt it will bite you if you make a mistake. Is this unsafe, or just a fact of the physics involved that you can't drive an aggressive sports car and expect it to handle like your Camry?
Lift off oversteer isn't exclusive to Porsche - pretty much any car that adheres to the laws of physics will do it. It stems from the weight transfer off the rear wheels when you lift off the throttle (due to less forward acceleration pushing the body of the car "back"), this decreases the normal force on the rear tires, causing the total grip to decrease in the rear (while the exact opposite is happening at the front end), and shifts the grip balance towards the front.
The only reason most "other" cars don't exhibit this behavior as strongly is that they aren't setup (from the factory) with such a neutral balance - they're setup to understeer so strongly that the balance window you play in goes from "more understeer" to "less understeer" - not "understeer" to "oversteer".
They've already done this...
Many "crossovers" (which are just hatchback sedans with lift kits) are being classified as "light trucks" to both improve their passenger car average (by removing the less efficient vehicles from that spectrum), and improve their light truck average (as they are "ringers" in the truck mpg category). Additionally, cars have been getting slightly longer and wider on average, as increasing this footprint gives them the same gov't break as actually increasing the fuel economy, but is much easier to do.
A classic example of this is the PT Cruiser (which is just a 4 door Neon hatchback with some "retro" styling cues) is being classified as a light truck.
"I'm an interenet expert, and I've seen what damage it can do... you don't want it"
Possible that he just self-proclaimed himself as an "internet expert" to add credibility to his claim that DPRK doesn't need or want to be on the internet? Also would add to his magical mystique - "All praise our dear leader for being so skilled on the internet to save us from it".
... otherwise someone could easily steal your design, write up a patent for it, and beat you to the patent office. Now you're out of business unless you pay royalties to them because they beat you to the office first.
Makes me wonder what FOSS software hasn't been patented yet, seems like all you need to do now is file a patent and you can claim ownership over a project that you had nothing to do with.
"Protozoa are small, and bacteria are small, but viruses are smaller than the both put together."