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Comment Re:Invested in AI while not invested in AI (Score 1) 198

Spacex is far along with developing by far the cheapest way of getting stuff into space, because within a year they will have a FULLY reusable launch system that is also the most capable ever. Competitors are about a decade behind.

Blue Origin’s new Glenn made it to orbit on its first launch, and recovered the booster on the second launch. Starship has not made it to orbit yet. New Glenn 7x2 can lift more to LEO than can Falcon Heavy for a partially reusable launch. (If you throw away the Falcon Heavy, it can carry more to orbit than New Glenn).
So SpaceX has competitors that are in some ways ahead.

Comment Re:1M satellites? (Score 1) 198

With that said, the whole "AI in spaaaaaaaace" bit seems even more insane than terrestrial AI. Where is all the heat supposed to go?

The only place it can go. Out through large radiators. The Space Shuttle would have had to immediately re-enter the earth’s atmosphere if the cargo bay doors didn’t open up; its radiators are inside those doors. The radiators on the International Space Station are smaller than the solar panels, but still the second-largest external feature.

Comment Re:Donâ(TM)t fear the batteries! (Score 1) 122

So the question is whether to spend the capital dollars on a plant to turn electricity into fuel, or spend those same capital dollars converting or replace the internal combustion engine with batteries and an electric motor. They have a long way to go to make the economics of this air+electricity to fuel machine a better choice than converting to batteries and electric.

Comment Re:For the auto industry, it's even worse (Score 1) 118

... they just want BIG vehicles for a really stupid reason, all the other stupid people around them that insist on having a large vehicle.

My sister-in-law just traded in her Fiat 500 for a Hyundai Tucson. Because she and my brother were in an accident (not their fault) in my brother's bigger car, and is still recovering from her injuries. I fully understand. But I'll be driving my 2200 lb convertible as soon as the snow and salt is gone.

Comment Re:For the auto industry, it's even worse (Score 1) 118

"High Speed Rail" has been defined as 85 MPH, and it's regulatory, more than practical. If you run your trains at more than 85 MPH, you have to update all your grade crossings so that they put the gates down a constant time from the train arriving at the crossing, rather than a constant distance. Steam trains would exceed 85 MPH at times in the 19th century. I believe the record is above 100 mph.

Comment I’ll believe it when others report it (Score 3, Interesting) 31

Last year, I bought a pack of Meross smart light bulbs, because NY Times Wirecutter said they were the choice to work with Apple’s HomeKit. The one bulb I installed worked great with Siri, but only for a little while. Once HomeKit could no longer see the device, you had to delete it and re-add it, which meant climbing up to the ceiling fan and removing the globe to get to the bulb to scan the QR code printed on the bulb. After it dropped the third time, I gave up and just use the Meross app to control it. Dimmimn, color, and color temperature are all controllable.

Home Automation has been promised for at least 11 years now (Apple introduced HomeKit in September 2014; not sure when Amazon opened their APIs to third party vendors). And for a lot of people, it doesn’t work better than old-fashioned power switches. Yes, home automation offers new features, you can control them from a distance, or with your voice. But they also have costs, in configuring, and repairing configurations, and obsolescence, that the preceding technology just didn’t have.

Comment Re:In case anyone else was wondering... (Score 1) 75

It's closed loop, like the refrigerant in your refrigerator. After the CO2 is expanded, it gets stored in that big dome at atmospheric temperature and pressure. When surplus energy is needed, CO2 is pumped out of the dome and compressed. So the CO2 just goes back and forth between the high-pressure steel tanks, and the low pressure dome.

Comment Congratulations! (Score 5, Informative) 68

Congratulations to Blue Origin! This is an accomplishment, and the fact that there are now 2 partially-reusable launch systems available should be great news for companies that want to put payloads into orbit.

New Glenn is a much bigger rocket than Falcon 9, and bigger than even Falcon Heavy.

New Glenn is fueled by Liquid Oxygen and Liquid Methane, so the first stage won't have coking issues like Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy. We will see whether this gives Blue Origin an advantage in turning-around and re-launching the booster.

And New Glenn has successfully launched payloads into orbit, something Starship has not done so far.

Comment Generation vs Distribution, and sharing the costs (Score 1) 75

I put a solar roof on; started the process last summer, signed the papers by the end of September, about a 5 month delay from the local utility for permitting, completed in march. My bill has 3 parts: a fixed customer charge (~$20 per meter; I have 2), a delivery charge (about 7 cents per KWh), and a separate generation charge (also about 7 cents per KWh). I pay delivery and generation charges for every KWh that the utility sends me, so 14 cents per KWh, and if I generate more electricity than I'm using, I get a rebate on the generation charge.
This seems to me to be fair. It's as if I'm another electrical supplier, and for the energy I give back to the utility, I'm getting credits at the same rate as I'm paying. Which is, in theory, the wholesale rate for power.
Now I need to find a way to see in real time if I am sending electricity to the grid or taking electricity from it, and move as much of my shiftable consumption to times when I'm supplying, to avoid delivery charges.

Comment Re:Yes we know (Score 1) 141

I don't see any 2K screens here sold as TVs here in Ohio. 720p, 1080p, and 4K are the choices I see in the big-box stores. Haven't seen much 8K or 16K offered, but I bet those are in higher-end AV stores. I went with 43" 4K, which is as big as my walls will allow (windows and doors and bookcases, oh my!), and our viewing distance is just under 8 feet.

Comment Re:Trump crashes the economy and planes (Score 1) 157

Do we have a gigantic budget deficit because of 2017's Tax Cuts and Jobs Act? That cut taxes, but didn't really create jobs? Shouldn't we find every way we can to increase revenue? Like hiring more IRS agents to go after wealthy tax cheats? Oh, no, we have to let those people go because we have to reduce spending. Cutting staff at National Parks, where the park brings in more revenue than it costs to run? Got to cut those positions, too, even though people will have a worse time, and maybe not spend as much.

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