Want to read Slashdot from your mobile device? Point it at m.slashdot.org and keep reading!

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×

Comment Trickle Down Economics (Score 1) 414

So what *is* the purpose of policy designed to make the rich richer?

Whilst "... rich richer" may be partially true, I'd -hope- the policy is designed to make -everyone- richer. If(f) that were the case and everyone gets richer at the same rate, then the rich-poor gap would indeed widen, but everyone is -still- getting richer.

Comment Re: Why not? (Score 1) 678

Well, a mixture of all of the above, plus desalination and perhaps even a supply pipe from the northern states - after all, if they've a surplus of water and California has a surplus of money, well sell 'em some water!

If the desalination is solar powered, well there's certainly some synergies being leveraged there!

Comment Re:Night (Score 1) 437

You sell any daytime excess back to the grid during the day, and draw back at night (see also Tesla's new home battery pack stuff?). Then California is generating a bunch of power during the day and maybe it could sell some of that to neighbouring states? Store some itself maybe (there are various technologies that could allow that)?

It's odd how it seems like most posters are trying to find problems rather than trying to find solutions. It's almost like you don't want solar power, when 'solar' is one of the things California has so much of.

Comment Re:The number one thing (Score 1) 250

You can get central heating boilers (I've certainly seen gas fired ones in the UK) that are actually mini-generators, the heat almost being a bi-product of the electricity generation. More pricey than the normal boilers but an interesting technology.

If you can setup your roof solar panels (be they solar thermal or solar PV) to follow the sun that should increase efficiency, but it might be marginal. I've also seen a lens system fitted over a solar panel that concentrates the solar radiation.

Next is to try and cut down on your power usage ... LED lights have come on in leaps and bounds over the last five years and greatly reduce your power consumption, though they are not cheap to buy. The upside is that they are supposed to last a LOT longer.

Air-to-Air heat exchangers might be an option too, and certainly using heat exchangers to try and not flush your heat out might be worth a look.
EG when you have a shower the water that goes down the plughole is only a handful of degrees cooler than when it came out the shower head. Could you use a heat exchanger to take heat from the 'waste' water and pre-heat water going into your hot water cylinder?
EG If you run a clothes dryer, are you venting the air directly? Could you run that through a heat exchanger to pre-heat fresh air coming in?

Comment Re:I've been wondering why this took so long (Score 1) 127

I'd start with the Jubilee Line, as the JL Extension has trackside barriers already (the trains pull in and the train doors line up with doors in the tracksdie barriers). If they could roll those barriers out along the rest of the Jubilee Line it'd be one less 'safety' thing for the union to get their panties bunched about.

Piccadilly Line next as it services Heathrow and that seems like a useful target for (approaching) a 24hr service.

Line by line will take some time and hopefully natural wastage (ie people retiring) should lessen the blow on the drivers, but they're not going to like it and make life hell for Londoners as this progresses.

Maybe the answer would be to insist on a new contract that stops them striking over anything to do with the introduction of automation. Obviously, we can't expect them to not strike when drivers are sacked for being drunk so there'd be no point trying!

Comment Re:Is this at least user-selectable? (Score 1) 475

Even if that was actually safer to exceed the limit at that point?
By the time it's asked you "Do you want to allow me to potentially save your life by exceeding the local speed limit Dave?", and you've noticed the question and answered it, it could well be too late!
So let's assume you've given it permission to save your life by exceeding the speed limit, and something happens and your GoogleCar guns it and saves your life, but your vehicle is spotted and you get a ticket. Who pays?
If GoogleCar had decided the safest thing to do (for you, at least --- hmm this raises another question I'll come back to) then I'd feel somewhat aggrieved if I got a damn ticket for doing it!
... and do these GoogleCars follow the Asimov Laws of Robotics? Would it career into a queue of children to protect you from truck?

Comment Re:The cloud (Score 0) 387

Off Topic ... but I like your sig. I've been leaning that way myself for some time now. Much like the US president can only run for two terms, wouldn't it be grand if there was something similar for the politicians lower down the tree! Politicians _should_ be people who've been out in the real World. They should _not_ be people who go to university with the desire to be politicians.

Comment Re:3000km is not a lot in the U.S. . . . . (Score 4, Funny) 363

Damn. Yeah, good point. Shame really, 'cos them Israeli boffins have been working so hard on it and now they've got to just stop and do something else 'cos your commute is too long. You know, I bet they're kicking themselves for not asking you about your commute first 'cos they could've saved themselves the bother!
PAH! 3000km! 3000 schkilometers I say! Not to menschion we don't even have any kilometers in the US anyway.

Comment Re:Eeeehhhhhh - meanwhile in Europe... (Score 1) 251

With you up until the the ID card stuff. Whilst our (UK) Gov. (Previous nuLab and current Con) seem to keep trying to foist ID cards on us we've been able to stop them so far. Odd that both nuLab and Con have both been mostly against it whilst in opposition, then seem all gung-ho for ID cards when they get voted in. Makes you wonder what the hell changes when they get the keys to No 10!

So I too see ID Cards in that very "papers please" light. They are a tool that gives power to the Gov and adds nothing to the people forced to carry them. Just Say No!

Comment Re:This is what Thatcher was good at (Score 4, Informative) 712

Obviously carefully stepping over the fact that the previous labour government (Callaghan was it?) shut more mines than Thatcher because, and here's the kicker, they were uneconomic! It cost more to dig up the coal than the coal was worth, and we could get coal cheaper from elsewhere, including the damn shipping costs! ... no really!

Had Scargill not tried to bring down the elected government by flexing the miner's muscle maybe the scenes of violence could have been avoided, but I'll grant you that anywhere the Met (London Police) got brought in it turned nasty, but that's more a reflection of the Met than Thatcher - the Met are _still_ a little too handy with their fists (see Ian Tomlinson)

Slashdot Top Deals

There are two ways to write error-free programs; only the third one works.

Working...