"Shall we play a game?"
                                                                -- W.O.P.R.

Who remembers Linux95 (April Fool's Day prank) or linus.microsoft.com (Red Hat Linux system with a base install including Apache in Microsoft's domain, back in the 90s)?

No, the spelling is correct, it was Linus, not Linux in the FQDN.

What the ISPs want to get back to is called Rent Seeking. They want to make money by milking something that isn't theirs.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

They discovered they can extort money from companies they have no business relationship with by throttling bandwidth to *their own customers* (who pay for a connection with specified bandwidth, not a website) in order to harm those companies. They were stopped. Now they want that ability back.

Verizon did this blatantly with NetFlix, who was dumb enough to pay up (they should have sued them for extortion).

To anyone who believes the absurd tagline "the market will sort it out", there is no market here. The vast majority of Americans don't have a choice, those who do have two choices, and both companies are guilty of numerous violations of consumer trust (and occasionally, the law). When a local community or government attempts to address this with a community or public internet provider, the big ISPs sue or bribe (sorry, "lobby") the local government officials to get it shut down. This is not a free market if they can eliminate competition without actually competing.

To take this from another angle, a very serious question: Are ISPs an "information service" or a "telecommunications service"?
Seriously, what "information" do you get *from* your ISP? They don't even host usenet servers anymore. Everything that comes to and from your computer goes _through_ your ISP, it doesn't come _from_ them.
This is precisely the question being answered by this re-classification (they're saying your ISP is an information _service_).

Just add the tem "organic" to your search. You can't use those chemicals and call your crop organic, and Monsanto has gone after many organic farmers.

A touchscreen dash is an absolutely horrid idea. Physical buttons can be accessed via muscle memory. A dynamic control with zero tactile feedback requires you to focus on it for every function. How can anyone in the automotive industry not see this as an enormous liability?

Having a video or computer display in the line of sight of the driver is already illegal in most states (distraction) and having a computer in the front seat of a vehicle is illegal in at least California. I can't help but wonder how a 17" touchscreen with computer controls will be viewed by the police and court systems.

Monsanto doesn't discriminate... They sue the seed washers into the ground too.
And exactly how are the seed washers and such supposed to be able to tell the difference?
It's not like the seeds have Monsanto's corporate logo on them.

You can't have someone with a sense of right and wrong in an agency like the EPA... That would completely unbalance the industry!

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulatory_capture
(seriously, read it, and pressure congress to fix it)

Monsanto produces seed that they cannot control. Cross-pollination contaminates even the most carefully selected organic crops. The plants produce a product that is essentially the sum of the egg and pollen, which means it contains Monsanto's infection. Monsanto then trespasses on the farmers' properties, stealing "samples", waits 2 years so the farmers have no way to prove their innocence, then sues them for every last penny they have. This is their MO and is essentially making a process (seed reuse) used for countless thousands of years, illegal.

In any civilized world, the farmers would be able to sue Monsanto over the infection and loss of a valuable crop. Instead, they're ruined.

Think any of this is made up? You need to read the lawsuits and not Monsanto's propaganda.
Think the goal of the genetic modifications is high yield? You need to read more on that too... Google "roundup-ready"... Its there for one purpose, so they can dump megadoses of roundup (poison) onto the crops without killing them.

Think my use of "infection" is out of line? Read up on the process. They took a gene they discovered in a bacteria and used a virus to insert it into the plant's genes.
Notice I used the word "discovered" and not "invented"... They did not invent the gene that they patented, but then that's true of many of their patents. They've patented many naturally occurring plants and animals. Yes, animals (google Germany Monsanto large hogs).

For those who don't believe the contamination is out of control, google "wild canola Monsanto percentage" (if you're too lazy, 86% of "wild" canola has at least one modified gene from Monsanto, and many have two (2nd from another company), which means multiple generations of contamination). This is complete and total loss of control of a contagion. It won't be long before wild canola is extinct.

The fact that this company has not been brought up on countless charges for the above actions is beyond comprehension.

" Carbon fiber composite was used to varying degrees on military aircraft, but at the time the Starship was certified, no civilian aircraft certified by the US Federal Aviation Administration had ever used it so extensively."

Also, I'm talking airplanes, not gliders.

Burt Rutan's beautiful creation holds that title.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beechcraft_Starship

Don't discount industrial engines. While automotive diesels are designed to operate at a wide range of RPMs, industrial engines are typically designed for a fixed speed purpose, such as powering a water pump to lift water from one canal to another for irrigation, or powering a generator, etc. An engine like this with a well tuned intake and exhaust can be extremely efficient and extremely quiet.
Google "Helmholtz Resonator Principle" for designing the intake and exhaust properly.

One that pops immediately to mind is a lightweight, but very torquey 3-cylinder Kubota Diesel engine, such as that used in the Urba-Centurion (128mpg DIY Diesel sports-car designed by Mechanix Illustrated back in the early '80s).
If that one isn't powerful enough, the company makes a wide range of similar engines.

Alternatively, try and find a wrecked VW TDI with a good powerplant, like the one the West Philadelphia high school students used to make a hybrid sports-car (K1 Attack, 0-60 in 4 seconds while burning 50mpg!)

As I suggested in a previous post (not sure if you read them all), please post in evalbum.com, as I'd love to watch your progress! :^)

You should check out Kokam Li-Ion batteries. They've got some pretty impressive tech to improve their charge and discharge rates (you need the latter for high torque impulses required for standing-starts, especially if there are any hills in the area) and "ten-plus years of operational life". Just going to the first vendor that showed up in google, I see they now have a huge range of batteries all the way up to 240AH (@3.7V), so you could give your SUV an incredible range before needing the ICE range-extender.
The nicest thing about these, compared to the typical cylindrical Li-Ion cells that are popular with many of the DIY electric-car crowd, is these are large and rectangular with large tabs for electrodes, which makes them much easier to make carriers and contacts for, not to mention the battery control circuit savings (you'll need less of them if you have fewer/larger batteries).

Circuit Cellar Magazine issue 217 (August 2008) had an article titled Electric Vehicle Inverter Design (Build A System For Powering AC Induction Motors) by Dan Hall, Tristan Kasmer, Doug Krahn, Adam McIntyre, and Dena Ponech.
It should still be available from their website, though I think they charge a couple bucks for it now (it used to be freely downloadable as Kasmer-Krahn-McIntyre-Ponech-217.pdf).

This is a fantastic article discussing many different speed control methods used for A/C motors, and why the authors chose the one they did (very little motor noise and very natural feeling torque control, among other things). The article states "Obtaining a typical three-phase high-power inverter for driving an ACIM can cost between $8,000 and $25,000" then goes on to say "Any technically minded person should be able to complete this project for around $2,500".

While A/C seems odd at first due to losses within the inverter, apparently the increase in efficiency more than makes up for it... not to mention motor availability.
Before anyone replies that DC motors make more power, tell that to Tesla (and AC Propulsion, from whom Tesla licenses the powerplant design and creators of the tzero). ;^)

Good luck with your project, and please post pics and info to evalbum.com! (fantastic source of inspiration and information if you haven't been there)

(I just realized I accidentally posted A/C last night... reposting while logged in)

Before they changed the name ("Creo"? Really?) away from the extremely well established Pro/ENGINEER branding, they had a personal use license for $250. I just came up with a use for it (interesting timing for this announcement), and now I don't see this option available.
I did find the student license, but I'm not a student and the requirements are quite clear and specific - and I don't meet them.
I also found the Creo Elements/Direct Modeling Express for free (up to 60 parts, which suits my needs), but this doesn't appear to be the same software. Does anyone know if this still has the "sketcher" to rough draft the profile of the 3D parts? (I'll have to build a MS machine to even test it out - doubt it runs in Wine).

Granted, the last time I used Pro/E was ~1994 (on Solaris) and the UI has changed dramatically at least twice since then, so I'll have to re-learn it anyways.
I actually liked the original UI... when they changed it to meet Microsoft's requirements (when they first offered it on MS windows), I thought it was a horrible turn to an inefficient design. Don't get me wrong, I understand the reasoning (make it "familiar" to windows users), but the change made it much less efficient to use even though the learning curve was shallower.

Yes, I agree with other postings, it's a shame they dropped Linux support.
I just googled "3d cad linux" and the top advertisement is titled "3D CAD Linux - Flexible, Easy-To-Use Application | PTC.com" with a link to www.ptc.com/Free-Download, which leads you to download 2 options, 32bit and 64bit windows software. That's kind of a dirty advert method for a company as well established as PTC...

As proof of your point, just look at the Viewsonic gTablet (very similar specs to this device, but Android as the OS)... every time it comes up somewhere for $279, it sells out quickly.