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Comment Ooh, ooh, I got this... (Score 1) 360

"People who spend a lot of time visiting hospitals are more likely to die shortly thereafter, Slashdot scientists said on Wednesday. These 'hospital visitors' suffered proportionately more illnesses, ailments and injuries, CmdrTaco said. They also had a higher incidence of moderate to fatal conditions than normal people."

Sigh. I thought the point of research was to discover, inform and enlighten. Not just "research for research's sake".

- Edward -

Comment Re:Brilliant battery idea (Score 1) 897

This is going to be a little random.

A brillant battery idea, but it's not mine: Swap the battery rather than charging it in place. Replaceable battery modules can be swapped out quickly and recharged at leisure. Charging stations can have the infrastructure in place to robotically swap batteries in about the time it takes to pump gas. GPS systems can be programmed to route to swapping stations with an available battery for your vehicle. With reliably present battery swapping stations, road trips of any length become possible. It doesn't take a large surplus of batteries to make this work out given the statistical variation - and charging your battery with 220V AC is a good default solution. Forget 110V. That's not going to work. You're going to need more current than your typical wall outlet will provide.

.....

I'll just comment on the batteries issue. Hot-swapping batteries to speed up battery recharge times is unnecessary unless you insist on recharging from a standard household plug/voltage. Also, you should not run your electrical car until battery depletion. That means that most of the time you will be doing a top-up charge, going from about 20% to about 70% battery capacity, which is quicker.

Batteries need some improvement but they are not the only electricity storage solutions. Capacitor based systems may ultimately be the future direction.

I have personal reservations about hot-swappable batteries. If it is possible for someone to do at home, somebody will try it. The prospect of a fully/partially charged battery pack being accidentally discharged by a weekend tinkerer is frightening. Anything that can release that much energy that quickly should be left to experts.

Comment Re:SUVs (Score 0, Troll) 897

The first half of you post had merit, but you lost it (and my interest) from then on. The following quotes are the problem:

- British/American enlightenment devotion to the Rights of Man
- inflicts Hell on Earth on its own citizens because they might think there is a mystical element to some forms of exercise
- hardcore socialist (chortle) Barack Obama(snicker)
- Second Coming of Karl Marx

Each of those statements is factually wrong and would be misleading even if intended as hyperbole. You were doing well until then, stick with what you know.

Quickies

Submission + - Big 'Ocean' Discovered Beneath Asia

anthemaniac writes: Seismic observations reveal a huge reservoir of water in Earth's mantle beneath Asia. It's actually rock saturated with water, but it's an ocean's worth of water ... as much as is in the whole Arctic Ocean. How did it get there? A slab of water-laden crust sank, and the water evaporated out when it was heated, and then it was trapped, the thinking goes. The discovery fits neatly with the region's heavy seismic activity and fits neatly with the idea that the planet's moving crustal plates are lubricated with water.

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