Please create an account to participate in the Slashdot moderation system

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×

Comment Re:Why use ISP email? (Score 1) 269

One of the reasons I use Gmail is I can forward my ISP mail to the Gmail account and if need be Google allows me to respond to an email using my ISP account (once you validate the account by replying to an email sent to it by Gmail).. So I get a great spam filter, lots of storage, and access from anywhere if I so choose. I don't see them going anywhere, as the are handling email for enterprise customers as well as 500 million users. They may shut down some day, but I expect email itself to evolve long before that happens...

Comment Re:probably a muslim (Score 1) 168

Well, if you had to place a tap on a large fiber line, cutting it someplace else first might help the tap insertion go unnoticed. Cut at point A and add a tap at point B while the line is down. If a hostile country or organization wanted to capture real time traffic on fiber without setting off alarms, setting off the biggest alarm of all would make a good smoke screen for other tampering...

To really make it slick, have the "repair crew" place the tap as part of the repair.
But who would do a thing like that?

Comment Re:Wind is the answer! (Score 1) 419

Well, NASA says it's 250 F in the sun and -250 F in the shade. They do use a radiator to dump waste heat, and it's big... 1680 square feet big. But that takes care of the environment plus the equipment and that is a lot of waste heat being moved. So it's kind of being used now, but there's not enough differential for creating power. I was thinking waffles of high pressure capillary tubes for the heater/condenser... but it's all just spitballing...
For results send up Jamie Hyneman. For a space station in the back yard, send Adam Savage along.
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2001/ast21mar_1/

Comment Re:Wind is the answer! (Score 1) 419

If a solar sail works, a windmill type design like this might work.
http://inhabitat.com/city-windmills-enable-clean-energy-and-unique-advertising-opportunites/city-windmill/?extend=1
The vanes rotate to flatten for maximum surface area when being pushed then rotate to go thin edge first through resisting winds. Given that light will be pushing it, some thermal reacting spring might help the vanes pivot on the dark side of the revolution and then snap back to "full sail" when they hit the sunlight again.
Interesting to think about but there are better ways to get power out there... I would like to try temperature difference using sunlight and shade to vaporize and condense a volatile liquid, passing it through a turbine in the middle, then flip the rig over (sunny -> shady side) to repeat. Wonder what kind of metal fatigue issues would arise transitioning between full sun and shade...

Slashdot Top Deals

One man's constant is another man's variable. -- A.J. Perlis

Working...