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Comment Re:the myth of growth (Score 3, Insightful) 280

Meanwhile, students of the Chicago School and other borderline criminal groups of economists with an agenda continue to believe that growth is the only important thing about an economy, not things like, say, the ability to supply its population with necessities, maintain its infrastructure and provide medical and educational services.

Completely agreed. Working in manufacturing, I'm seeing first hand what challenges we face in the coming months/years. Necessities, infrastructure, health, and education is what we need to focus on.

Submission + - Da Vinci's Ingenious 1502 Bridge Design For Istanbul Would Have Worked (cnn.com)

Submitted by dryriver
dryriver writes: CNN reports: In 1502, Leonardo da Vinci sketched out a design for what would have been the world's longest bridge at the time — 280 meters (918.6 feet). Although the bridge itself was never built, engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have tested the design to see if it would work. Da Vinci submitted his innovative bridge sketch when Sultan Bayezid II, ruler of the Ottoman Empire from 1481 to 1512, put out a request for bridge designs that could span across the Golden Horn. This natural river estuary separated the cities of Galata and Istanbul. Da Vinci's proposal was not selected. Now, a cable-stayed bridge is in place. But what would it have been like if da Vinci's design had been constructed? Their [ the MIT engineers' ] model included 126 3D-printed blocks fitted together for a 32-inch long bridge. When a bridge was constructed in this Roman style, scaffolding was used to keep the stones in place. Once the final keystone was in place, the scaffolding could be removed. The researchers did the same thing with their model. "When we put it in, we had to squeeze it in," MIT graduate student Karly Bast said. "That was the critical moment when we first put the bridge together. I had a lot of doubts. When I put the keystone in, I thought, 'This is going to work.' And after that, we took the scaffolding out, and it stood up. It's the power of geometry. This is a strong concept. It was well thought out." The engineers also tested the bridge's stability by simulating what might have happened if the soil was weakened by earthquakes. The bridge withstood the simulations."What we can learn from Leonardo da Vinci's design is that the form of a structure is very important for its stability," Bast said. "Not only is Leonardo's design structurally stable, but the structure is the architecture. It is important to understand this design because it is an example of how engineering and art are not independent from each other."

Comment Mac OS X and iOS Integration (Score 1) 38

Apple has been trying to integrate iOS into Mac OS X for quite a few versions now. The writing is on the wall that they will want to have a more iOS-centric experience in Max OS X, eventually leading to touch-screens in the iMacs. It's really too bad, OS X is a great operating system that is being eaten by the large App-centric ecosystem that is iCloud. I hope they keep Mac OS X close to it's roots.

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I've noticed several design suggestions in your code.

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