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Comment Re:Electric car with problems? (Score 2, Interesting) 308

The theory behind biofuels is that they could be carbon neutral. While they would put C02 into the atmosphere when you burn them, the next crop would consume the same amount of C02

My beef with biofuels is that they compete with food for farmland.Call me crazy, but as much as I like driving, I prefer to eat.

Comment Re:There is a problem (Score 1) 320

You've been able to use .NET in the way you mentioned above for some time. Right now you can download visual studio express, go to codeplex, and start an open source project. It's true that you'll be bound to windows, but there are other benifits to Microsoft opening up a bit.

MSDN is just a nice community of developers to be involved in. It makes me loyal to Microsoft development products because I know that if I use Visual Studio and .NET tools there is a community of friendly people who will help me with my problems and there are friendly people working together to release open source code that Microsoft hasn't gotten around to yet. There are also a host of well written blogs, well made videos, and clear tutorials that help you get started using .NET tools.

I have not had the same experience working with Java. Whenever I have a java problem to solve I am met with unclear articles and flames. Lots and lots of flames.

Comment Re:Creative and engaged users, not cheaters (Score 1) 738

I agree that modders are not XBoxes best customers, but I do not agree that microsoft is trying to keep their box a secret.

I am a developer in the Xbox live creators club and in order to write a decent game you have to really dig in and understand the hardware in the box. My game has code in the shaders and physics engine to specifically work with the xbox hardware. Whenever I get a slow framerate, it's usually because I've missed a difference between my xbox and my pc.

I'm able to do this because microsoft publishes an API (XNA) and information about how the xbox works.

Comment Re:Houston Has Similar Plans (Score 1) 456

Apologies, I made some math errors in my calcs. The upward force exerted by a one mile diameter hemisphere inflated to 1 psi would actually be 6300000000lb.(2*pi*r^2) Still astronomical.

A tire inflated to 1psi (0.007N/mm^2) isn't much stiffer than it would be non-pressurized. It's the tires superstructure that helps it keep its shape. Try inflating a partyballoon to 1psi above atm.

Thank you for making my point. If you had enough pressure difference to support the structure than the loads would be too high to hold the thing to the ground. If you keep the pressure difference low you will need to build a support structure for the panels which would very heavy.

The force exerted by a 1 mile diameter disk as another reply to my first post suggested would be half that, or 3150000000lb. Even though this design would have half the upward force due to any pressure difference, it is probably less feasible. Flat rooftops are poor structures. The moment exerted by the center of such a rooftop on the outer walls would make any structural engineer break into a fit of simultaneous laughter, crying and anger.

I don't have time to do the calcs right now, but you could model the wind loading on either type of building as drag around a hemisphere or a cylinder respectively and I'm sure you'd find the loads to be ridiculously high.

Comment Re:Houston Has Similar Plans (Score 1) 456

The problem isn't the paneling, the problem is the structure to hold the paneling one mile up in the air. That is far, far larger than any structure we have ever built. They propose to hold it up by pressurizing the inside of the dome. Well, if you pressurized it at 1 psi more than atmospheric pressure, you would have a 16,815,854,700lb upward force. And I don't think 1 psi would come anywhere close to doing the job. Just think of how stiff a tire is if you inflate it to 1 psi.

The company claims the panel can withstand a 180 mile per hour wind, but that must be a panel with a specific surface area that is supported in a specific way. The forces on a dome of that size under wind loading would be astronomical.

And if you're inside a dome and there's a fire, and the dome starts to shrink, it would shrink towards the fire, in other words, towards you. This would be very, very bad. Men women and children running and screaming around with molten goo on them bad. Ever dripped candle wax on your hand on accident? What about burning plastic? Not good.

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