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Comment Don't forget the weather. (Score 1) 381

When I had my flirtation with getting a pilot's license, weather proved to be far more significant than I imagined. Even a "safe" consumer plane like the Cessna 172 can only fly when the weather permits. Guess what? The weather does not permit on anything like a regular schedule. People commute in their cars through the traditional rain, sleet and snow. Wind is never a consideration. Wind is huge to something like a Cessna. Even on beautiful warm days, the updrafts from the heat can make flying bumpy beyond anything that's desirable. A small prop plane is utterly at the whims of mother nature. If you can be very, very flexible in your schedule or you just love to fly, it makes sense. If you need to be somewhere at a specific time, fly commercial or drive.

Comment Like an old episode of Red Dwarf. (Score 1) 75

I couldn't help but think of the episode where the computer on Red Dwarf became dramatically smarter at the expense of lifespan. This computer is tremendously fast, but it has to be backed up and rebuilt all the time. It seems to be the reliance on thousands of off the shelf parts that creates this problem. I wonder if it is always the case with supercomputers or if this problem can be overcome with improvements like flash storage?

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