100% sounds efficient, but if you're set on electric heating then it's pretty lousy compared to an electric heat-pump. For example, I have an aircon at home that runs at about 400-500% efficiency for heating - not unusual these days. Admittedly, though, it's not so easy to fit as a light bulb, and not so bright either!

Yeah, I think http://www.betterplace.com/ has the better idea. Swapping out a battery in just a few minutes is far superior to waiting 30 minutes for a charge.

Nobody read Marooned Off Vesta? By tyhe end of the story and since it was written in 1938 I'd expect some of the water would have made it there....

PayPal is highly profitable. Even though Musk is no longer involved in the company, it helped to bankroll his future endeavors. SpaceX has the potential to be highly profitable, although its fortunes (at least initially) will be tied closely to the whims and political meanderings of NASA's budget.

The problem is that you have to support all of that equipment you just threw together all piecemeal-like. Do you have spare parts available? If no, how much does it cost to have them shipped overnight? Are they still available via retail channels or do you have to dredge through eBay? How much does it cost to purchase and store spare inventory? Do you have the equipment to test for failed components without the possibility of frying other equipment?

Those "Big Three" server companies charge more because of service and support so you don't have to worry as much about those things. RMA and forget. And yeah, I'm saying that with a straight face.

There are times where a company is small enough to where your tech has enough idle time to deal with a white box server. Other times, your techs are better utilized doing other work.

I was recently asked by a client to 3D print some replacement parts for his pet duck.

But he balked when I gave him the bill.

That 3D printing couldnt get any more awesome, something like this comes out of nowhere an proves that, yes, it can!

What implications does this hold for humans?aube we could get 3D printe false teeth with A faster turn-around than current moulding techniques.

I find these titbits about number theory absolutely fascinating... I followed a few courses at undergraduate level that touched on this material - without giving me a solid grounding. What I'd like to know is this: Is there a good textbook that would bring me up to speed with this material? I like Wikipedia articles - but I find them disjointed.. what I'd like from a textbook is something that leads me through the subject from undergraduate level onwards. Can anyone make any recommendations?

What happens when a screw falls out in orbit?

OLVWM was the GUI on my first linux workstation, back in 1995. Once I got graphics working at all that is. (Yay slackware 0.(somethingorother), had do download a half-tonne of floppy disk images, and install it with a lot of disk-swapping, and even then I still had to compile almost everything myself, including kernel drivers for my video card, network card, and mouse.)

Nope nope nope.

The ONLY safe thing are treasury bills. You won't make much, but you CAN'T lose money. It doesn't pay out much, but then again your investment is truly safe.

Anything else, absolutely anything at all, runs the risk of loss.

I imagine there is a cloud of interstellar gas sonewhere which displays the current capacity of the universe like one of those online data storage companies.

Since "Many More" I'm often frustrated by not being able to navigate the article-stream in a meaningful way.

The feature I'm missing most (after getting rid of "Many More" ;-)) is a mode to read from old posts to the newer ones with current position saved between visits.