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Comment Prograph (Score 2) 207

by drerwk (#44841349) Attached to: Time For a Hobbyist Smartphone?
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prograph
I loved using this in the mid 90s. I was 5x to 10x productive. But there was no diff available, no way to do SCM, it was hard to come back to code I'd written 6 months before and refresh my memory of what it did. And it was next to impossible to collaborate will a team. I was forced to use http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executable_UML using some horrible tools (Kennedy Carter iUML) in the 2005s - same exact problems.
Now iBuilder or what ever the I tool is in XCode is pretty nice. But building software that works, is maintainable, is extendible, and so on is a hard task - I don't think it is the lack of drag and drop tools.

Comment Re:Depends on the energy source duh! (Score 5, Insightful) 775

by drerwk (#44167631) Attached to: Electric Vehicles Might Not Benefit the Environment After All
http://www.theworld.org/2012/11/the-energy-costs-of-oil-production/ “Back in the 1920’s, oil was paying off at 100-to-1,” said Zencey. “It took one barrel of oil to extract, process, refine, ship and deliver 100 barrels of oil. That’s a phenomenal rate of return. If you work out the percentage, that’s a 10,000 percent rate of return.” But that’s not the rate of return today. Now, conventional oil production worldwide pays off at about a 20-to-1 ratio. And in Canada, where the oil comes from tar sands, it’s closer to 5-to-1. “Renewable energy sources are paying off at higher rates, 12-to-1, 15-to-1, 17-to-1. That tells you right there, hmmmm, the age of oil should be over.”

Comment Re:Threat from r/c planes (Score 1) 233

by drerwk (#44132099) Attached to: RC Plane Attack 'Foiled,' Say German Authorities
The difference you are describing is the difference between detonate and deflagrate. Even in a pipe you are not turning black powder into a high explosive - it is still just burning not detonating. See http://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~eroberts/courses/ww2/projects/firebombing/detonation-and-combustion.htm for some good info.

Comment Re:Good to see intelligence rewarded for once. (Score 1) 241

by drerwk (#43805445) Attached to: Curiosity Rewarded: Florida Teen Heading to Space Camp, Not Jail

It's more complicated than that

"Unfortunately, what she did falls into our code of conduct," Leah Lauderdale, a spokeswoman for the district, tells Riptide. "It's grounds for immediate expulsion." More specifically, Wilmot's mini-explosion -- which came after she mixed "common household chemicals" in a plastic bottle -- violates Section 7.05 of the school's conduct code, Lauderdale says, which mandates expulsion for any "student in possession of a bomb (or) explosive device... while at a school (or) a school-sponsored activity... unless the material or device is being used as part of a legitimate school-related activity or science project conducted under the supervision of an instructor." ...Wilmot's principal ack

http://www.fedcoplaw.com/html/Federal%20Explosives%20and%20Bombing%20Laws.dwt.htm
Not obvious to me that what she had qualifies as either a bomb or explosive.

Comment Re:Well That Escalated Quickly (Score 1) 727

by drerwk (#43105605) Attached to: North Korea Threatens US With Preemptive Nuclear Strike
I love Holland and immensely enjoyed touring from the cost to Utrecht to Groening and further on my bike in the early 90s, nothing like riding south to Den Oever in a strong wind from the west. We did bomb you only about 6 years prior to the last time we did NK - I am sure you know Nijmegen. And while that was no doubt accidental I'd dare say your neighbors are a center of European economic strength due to their treatment by the US and Allies both before and after VE. One of my favorite Dutch jokes - "How does a German tourist get to France? Drives to Holland and turns left." Perhaps not as funny as some of the Belgian jokes I heard in Holland.

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