You got it all wrong. Exhausting more crap reduces your fuel efficiency.

I have replaced every car I've owned with a newer, more powerful one. Every single one has been more fuel efficient.

My current car is a heavily modified S60-R Volvo. Yes, it is heavier than my old Supra, and it has 460hps at the wheel (with the AWD fuse pulled) But it is also a Ultra Low Emission vehicle, and the first time I had it smog checked, the guy did it twice, because all but one of the categories on the California Smog check form were 0 (Zero point Zero)

The guy could not believe him eyes nor his machine. I have a bigger (than original) turbo, a dual intercooler, and a modified exhaust. After every single one of these modifications, the power AND the fuel efficiency went up.

So right now, I have a car that gets 31.1mpg on my daily commute, which is 12 miles highway and 5 miles streets.

It means before sunrise and after sunset, but not too long either way. Refraction by the atmosphere.

The pressure that matters is not the pressure at the time the shot is fired, but the pressure at the time the bullet gets past the gas tube. 100kPa is only 1% of 10Mpa, but by the time the bullet passes the gas tube in a Kalashnikov, the pressure is barely over one megapascal.

And it is not about the pressure differential on the two sides of the bullet. It's about the fact that the gas in the gas tube has to do some work compressing a spring, while the gas in the barrel is accelerating a bullet, which would be A LOT easier without air resistance, while the spring is not affected at all.

Even on Earth, gun heat can be a VERY BIG deal, and not only for automatic weapons (which have to be air/water/etc cooled) I know people who have burned themselves on their guns, and, at least in the 80s, most machine guns would have been ruined if fired even at 20% of their maximum rate. (Or at least, they would have needed their barrels swapped constantly)

I bet you see the problem with air cooled guns that overheat even in air. When you fire them in space, there's no air to carry the heat away. It does not matter whether the sun shines or not, but it matters that the only cooling is through radiation.

You definitely have a point with lubricants. Yes, many would evaporate/freeze/etc...

But you are wrong about the reloading. Quite a few guns are rather finicky about the pressure inside the gas tube. For example, the AK-47 you brought up requires attachments when you are using non-standard ammunition, because sometimes, the pressure isn't enough to cycle. Other guns will not cycle properly if they are not shouldered properly, i.e. if the whole gun is allowed to go back.

When firing in vacuum, the lack of air resistance will let the bullet leave the barrel more easily, and will make it harder for the gas chasing it to do it's job in the gas tube. The effects will be compounded if the shooter is not properly braced (much harder if there's nothing pressing down on his soles)

The first shot will be even better than the one you'd get on Earth. The power already contains the oxidants the combustion needs, and there will be no air resistance.

The rest of the shot are trickier. If the gun is an automatic, and has not been modified, you may need to chamber the rounds manually, because the lack of air resistance may mess up the automatic action.

If the gun is a revolver, you will be able to fire all chambers as usual, but the gun will be only cooling by radiating heat AND through the contact with your gloves. That may become uncomfortable rather quickly.

And of course, you may have problems with recoil. Unless you have anchored yourself rather well, you will start moving in very complex way, especially if you do not fire the bullet along a line passing through your center of mass and the end of the barrel.

Or, you just may be making enough that it is not worth your time to spend the effort to protect yourself against malware and the -AA goons.

There isn't all that much media I'm interested in, and I can easily afford it. If anything, I would like to help artists/programers to generate more good stuff.

In my book, if you are pirating stuff, you are a combination of (1) poor (2) greedy (3) having something to prove (4) an asshole.

I'm at worst (4) and I have other ways of displaying that.

> I imagine it'd be irritating as hell to use an e-reader through a ziplock bag as well.

No, it actually is quite easy. I tried a few $10+ waterproof nook covers, and I liked them all less than a dirt cheap freezer zip-lock bag. It's not perfectly transparent, and gets worse with time, but at least with my Nook Color, it is perfectly usable, and damn cheap to replace.

Just don't let your wife catch you using it to store food after it's too scuffed to use as a nook cover. :-)

Yeah, and my bicycle smokes any Ferrari... in miles per calorie efficiency.

The iPad2 is the second coming of Christ, we got it already.

Yes, you caught us. I'm doing my part in trying to 'genocide' you. Due to hatred and jealousy, I married a blue eyed woman, and am thus doing my part in insuring that there are fewer blue eyed people in the next generation.

It runs in the family - my father was also led by hatred and jealousy to marry my green eyed mother. I wonder whether this means that I carry the hated genes myself... I better go and drown myself... in beer.

It's not for profit, because there's nothing worth lifting off the Moon.

It will not work as a proof of concept, because what we learn from it will not apply to a space elevator anchored on Earth.

Maybe I should elaborate on the this. The Moon rotates slowly. Remember, the same side always faces the Earth, thus its rotation period is the same as its orbital period. So for a space elevator to stay up, it would have to be quite long, anchored at an equatorial point facing Earth, and the higher end would have to be close enough to Earth for the forces to balance. (Attraction from Earth, attraction from the Moon, pull exerted by the string/rail...)

I am not a physicist, nor have I done the math. I do not even know whether the above setup is workable. But I do not believe that another setup is even remotely possible, and I do know that we would not learn much about building an elevator from Earth even if we built an elevator from the Moon in the above fashion.

Basically, I believe this is bullshit. Now that I have probably revealed my ignorance, I'll go and RTFA. Probably I'll learn that the summary's misleading.

When I was growing up in Bulgaria, Clifford Simak was certainly considered one of the great ones. For some reason, he, together with Isaac Asimov and Arthur Clarke, was one of the three most translated Western Sci-Fi authors.

For obvious reasons, Harry Harrison, Heinlein, and Orwell were less likely to be translated... because their anti-totalitarianism was more overt.

Basically, Apple has the ability to decrypt the data, and all the government needs is a court order to force them to do so. At the same time government officials are deploring their ability to access the data. Three possibilities that I see:

1. The government is attempting to deceive people into storing data where government officials can access it with a court order.

2. Some government officials do not have a problem admitting that they would love to access personal data without a court order, i.e. without probable cause.

3. Some government officials do not mind to supplement their income by advertising for Apple.

I frankly would have no problem with 1), would not be surprised by 3) but suspect the answer is 2)

You should be a bit more precise, because what you said is broadly true, but factually incorrect. I.e. your post was sloppy.

Some 9mm rounds are designed to defeat armor, for example the 9x31 subsonic used in the Vintorez.

Some 7.62 rounds will be easily stopped by level 1-2 armor, for example the 7.62x25 for the Tokarev.

It's silly to talk about caliber, when what matters is the kind of weapon that's firing the round. Body armor is mostly effective against pistols. Few of them offer any significant protection against assault rifles, and nothing you can wear will help you much against battle rifles, most sniper rifles, or machine guns.

Yes, gun enthusiasts can spend hours discussing the merits of a .45 handgun vs a 9mm one, but at the end of the day a pistol is a pistol, a rifle a rifle, and the significance of calibers is infinitesimal in comparison.

> you and your 'colleagues' just won a lottery

Sure, it sounds like a lottery. No way the ACM finalists would be able to find jobs on the basis of their skills alone. It has to be luck.

"I believe in luck. That's how I explain the success of people whom I hate and envy"