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Comment Re:Relying exclusively on electronic technology (Score 1) 154

The problem is that you have to. Nowadays the fighter jets have become so complex to fly, with so many control surfaces, that a pilot would not be able to do it by himself. So he tells the computer what he wants to do, and the computer interprets and responds by changing the surfaces.

Comment Re:Consortium (Score 1) 149

BlackBerry is dead - there is nothing else of significant value remaining in the company.

I've been out of the IT industry for a while, but is there any product that works like BlackBerry's Enterprise Serve (suite) for Android / iPhone / Windows Phone?

I remember reading a couple of years back that RIM had purchased a company that was developing software like that for Android / iPhone.

It's been five years but I remember that BES, even though it was a pain to install, worked like a charm for the Enterprise.

Comment Re:Nissan Leaf (Score 1) 466

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_Motors#Supercharger_network

"The Supercharger is a proprietary DC rapid-charging station that provides almost 120 kW of power, giving the 85 kWh version of the Model S an additional 150 miles (240 km) of range in about 20 minutes, or 200 miles (320 km) of range in about 30 minutes..."

"Tesla designed its Model S to allow fast battery swapping (...) At an event at Tesla's Hawthorne Design Studio, CEO Elon Musk demonstrated a battery swap operation with the Model S, which took just over 90 seconds for the car participating in the demo. By contrast it took nearly four minutes to refill a gasoline-powered Audi used for comparison purposes during the event."

Oh, and by the way, using their Supercharger network to recharge your car is free (battery swap isn't).

Comment Re:Population growth (Score 2) 185

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIDS#Epidemiology

HIV/AIDS is a global pandemic. As of 2010, approximately 34 million people have HIV worldwide. Of these approximately 16.8 million are women and 3.4 million are less than 15 years old. It resulted in about 1.8 million deaths in 2010, down from a peak of 2.2 million in 2005.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_growth#Human_population_growth_rate

The CIA World Factbook gives the world annual birthrate, mortality rate, and growth rate as 1.89%, 0.79%, and 1.095% respectively.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Population

  As of today, it is estimated to number 7.109 billion by the United States Census Bureau (USCB).

0.79% * 7.1 bi = 56 mi deaths yearly.

If these calculations are correct this means AIDS accounts for 3.5% of yearly deaths worldwide, I don't think this counts as a "big source".

But I could be wrong...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortality_rate

According to the World Health Organization, the 10 leading causes of death in 2002 were:

        12.6% Ischaemic heart disease
        9.7% Cerebrovascular disease
        6.8% Lower respiratory infections
        4.9% HIV/AIDS
        4.8% Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
        3.2% Diarrhoeal diseases
        2.7% Tuberculosis
        2.2% Trachea/bronchus/lung cancers
        2.2% Malaria
        2.1% Road traffic accidents

Comment Re:Fail (Score 4, Insightful) 420

What this guy figured out has been taught over and over to MBAs all over the world.

Basically the market leader is afraid to take risks because he doesn't want to risk his #1 position. Meanwhile the small players take risks and, sometimes, go all-in on whatever they think can be the next big thing - after all, they don't have that much to lose. Eventually one of the small players hits the sweet spot and becomes #1, displacing the incumbent. He then fights to defend his position, and eventually becomes risk adverse. Rinse, repeat.

Comment Re:Testla is good... (Score 1) 452

The truck burning 14.28 gallons of diesel generates about 145 grams of CO2. [1]

The energy losses for the transmission line (considering it comes from coal) generates about 7 tonnes of CO2. [2]

Hopefully my calculations are correct. Obviously a huge difference here.

But after dumping all that CO2 into the atmosphere, we now find ourselves at a gas station with 10K gallons of gasoline and 1000 MWh of energy.

The Tesla S would be able to drive about 2.857.142 miles with that energy. [3]
Driving these miles, it would "release" about 936 metric tonnes of CO2 (at the coal plant).

A BMW 5 Series 520i would be able to drive about 915.294 miles with that gasoline. [4]
Driving these miles, it would release about 91 metric tonnes of CO2 (in the streets).

Conclusion: fuck the coal plants, we need more renewable energy sources!

[1] http://www.epa.gov/otaq/climate/documents/420f11041.pdf
[2] http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=74&t=11
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_S#Powertrain
[4] http://www.bmw.com/com/en/newvehicles/5series/sedan/2010/showroom/compare.html?model_1=

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