But lifting turbines has been proposed by other groups in this problem space.
Soft and hard tethered flying vehicles have been proposed to lift said turbines.
The bullshit stops when one of these groups gets paid for power to the grid.
A few groups are in the design phase.
I saw Saul Griffiths talk on TED about this. Long on hyperbole short on details.
Until they put up a kite and sell the power it's all fluff.
Get back to us when you have that surge protection set up.
Thanks for the links.
I'm even more convinced they are going down the wrong route.
Kites flown to generate more lift take up a lot of sky. Simple single line foils can be stacked very close together and would move as a flock.
I'm not working for any of the parties, but I sure would like to
Trimming a traction kite takes significant power i.e. arm strength for a smallish kite. The motors will not be RC servo sized.
Work out the internal resistance for a thin light wire running 1Km. Doubt it is feasible to send power or information along such a line.
This letting in and out is where I really have issues. Time spent reeling the kite in will kill over all efficiency.
A simple single line foil kite provides the KISS method to do this but you need to turn constant pull into power. The best I could think of was Pizo-electric.
I think you'll find the kite lines are different material for power/traction kites and toy/single line kites. I'm pretty sure it's cut by friction not broken by load.
600lbs, I doubt the line alone will weigh 600lbs for a kite at 30,000ft. I'm thinking kevlar/spectra lines at least an inch in diameter. The ship kites look like they have a 3" diameter line!
Then add in wind load and kite pull! The weight of the lines becomes a big concern in this endeavor.
I've seen some TED videos about this.
Two questions
Control line drag, 30,000ft induces a lot of delay etc. Where is the computer and control equipment? On the ground will not the control delay crash the kite. Aloft, how do we get enough power up to the motors controlling the kite.
Conversion to electricity. I see no way to efficiently generate power from a kite. If I have constant pull on the line how do I transfer that to rotation without letting out line?
I take it you are not a pilot or a kite flyer?
Work out just how much load is on a line 30,000ft in the air. Now do some calcs based on a light plane hitting that line.
Basically the light plane is going to get cut in half and maybe take down one or two kites.
1920 OMG Commies
1930 OMG Fascists
1940 OMG Fascists
1950 OMG Commies
1960 OMG Commies
1970 OMG Commies
1980 OMG Japan
1990 OMG Iraq
2000 OMG Muslims
Basically, the US has always had a national fear to attack. Independent thought is rare and independent action even rarer in the US.
Now shut up and go watch the TV.
Syntax is not a concept it's an implementation.
The reason for a simple syntax is to reduce spending time teaching things that are not important. Syntax is not important in learning to program!
Concepts are such things as Turing, Shannon, Von Neuman, Imperitive, OO, functional, relational, algorithims etc. Things that do not change from one implementation to the next.
Implementation is stuff that changes from language to language, OS to OS etc.
Should have used Logo/Scheme/Lisp. You'll spend more time teaching syntax rather than programming/logic.
Take a look at
The only thing I would like to see is all exams open to all people at all ages. This would probably mean some sort of exam week and maybe some sort of central control.
Anybody can work if they have passed the requisite exams otherwise you wait until 14 before you can earn your salt.
I think the issue is not that people are un-educated but rather they do not wish to become educated. There must be motivations in a society for people to become educated not just trained.
Education is not required by law school attendance is.
The reason for school is to cage all the kids, free up more adults for the workforce and to train the next generation of worker bees. Follow orders blindly, do as everyone else does, do not question imposed authority etc is what you are taught in school. But most of all do not think for yourself, do not hold independent ideas and do not think you know better than those in charge.
As an adult with a honors degree etc and 20+ years of work experience in engineering I am 100% against mandatory schooling the damage done to the young mind is devastating and in the majority of cases irreversible.
Your post would seem to show a remarkable lack of thinking on just what School is and is for. I would suggest you read how and why mandatory schooling was introduced in the US.
They don't even have to say the T word. Basically, the constitution was buried by Ashcroft. A man so scared of breasts he had statues covered up to hide them. So scared of liberty he had it written out of the law books.
So you end up with the weight on the floor?
MESSAGE ACKNOWLEDGED -- The Pershing II missiles have been launched.
