Search found 6180 matches

by KitemanSA
Mon Dec 08, 2008 1:31 pm
Forum: General
Topic: How did we convert from horse and buggy to automobiles
Replies: 91
Views: 33806

In fact the system most able to do the right thing (which does ot mean that they will) is that in China. Government can persist with thoroughly unpopular measures. At this point, anything getting in the way of China modernizing their economy will be met with crushing blows. China is trapped behind ...
by KitemanSA
Sun Dec 07, 2008 1:29 am
Forum: General
Topic: How did we convert from horse and buggy to automobiles
Replies: 91
Views: 33806

I think the science on trees and CO2 balance is currently unclear. They take up CO2 when growing but unless the wood is sequestered it is not a permananet solution. You just plant more trees. In any case we don't need a permanent solution. Just a 100 year solution while we lower the cost of alterna...
by KitemanSA
Sat Dec 06, 2008 9:06 pm
Forum: Administration
Topic: Better Software?
Replies: 7
Views: 15297

Joe,
I am "ye complete idiot" when it comes to this type of software, but I have a small amount of $ I am willing to invest. Is there some way to hire someone to help you to improve things a bit?

Same goes for that wiki I asked about earlier.

Dana
by KitemanSA
Sat Dec 06, 2008 1:34 am
Forum: General
Topic: Ocean Current could provide Power for 15 Billion People
Replies: 7
Views: 4696

Ins't a bit sad that here we are on the forum of one of the most important potential energy sources in all of history, and we are talking about wave energy and ocean current energy.
Rick, we beseech you, let us know what is happening!
by KitemanSA
Thu Dec 04, 2008 2:00 am
Forum: News
Topic: Risk Asessment slows innovation
Replies: 26
Views: 11166

BTW I'd like to see an article on how the cities are subsidizing the suburbs. Around here there is a special tax on new developments that cover sewage, water, roads, and schools. Maybe your area is unique, but around here, the "special taxes" pay a small part of maintaining and improving the local ...
by KitemanSA
Wed Dec 03, 2008 5:26 am
Forum: News
Topic: Risk Asessment slows innovation
Replies: 26
Views: 11166

I love urban sprawl. In the 30s and 40s it was the American dream. A house, a picket fence. And a lot large enough for a serious garden. But you know what the chief cause of urban sprawl is? It is what people want. And as long as thy are willing to pay ALL the costs of getting it, more power to the...
by KitemanSA
Wed Dec 03, 2008 2:02 am
Forum: News
Topic: News on the Review?
Replies: 18
Views: 16045

MSimon wrote: A couple of million $$ is not much of an embarrassment.
$~6M is if the data were in hand that BFR was impossible after the first $150k.
I HOPE that zbarlici is correct and this is a case of "no news is good news". But I tell ya, it ain't good for the nerves!
by KitemanSA
Wed Dec 03, 2008 1:57 am
Forum: News
Topic: News on the Review?
Replies: 18
Views: 16045

Re: Zimwalte

Putting two and two together I'm wondering how much of the future of the Polywell was tied to the DDG1000 (Zimwalte) cruisers that the Navy was making? Not at all. There are good reasons to go all electric, even if the source of the electricity is a gas turbine (read LM2500 or MT30). Would it be ni...
by KitemanSA
Tue Dec 02, 2008 6:51 pm
Forum: General
Topic: Virtual Reality
Replies: 5
Views: 3015

We can take it to another thread after this post.

I would go to a 32 hour week in a heart beat, even with the proportional loss of pay. I offered to go part time to my employer, but it seems they are not interested.
by KitemanSA
Tue Dec 02, 2008 2:01 am
Forum: News
Topic: Risk Asessment slows innovation
Replies: 26
Views: 11166

Let's talk big ticket. The moonshots. Have they proven profitable over time? Should we have done them or not? I used to be a NASA cheerleader type, and was heavily into "spin-offs" control. But seems that most of the technologies were used by NASA, not created by them. They would have happened anyw...
by KitemanSA
Tue Dec 02, 2008 1:46 am
Forum: News
Topic: News on the Review?
Replies: 18
Views: 16045

Re: Silence

I think you would all agree that if we do not hear anything of it in the next few months, then the embargo is back on. Meaning that whatever the results are they are good enough to warrant further government funding/contract extension. Folks have been saying "a few months" since the middle of Augus...
by KitemanSA
Mon Dec 01, 2008 2:24 pm
Forum: General
Topic: Ocean Current could provide Power for 15 Billion People
Replies: 7
Views: 4696

A "field" of cylinders built on the sea bed over a 1km by 1.5km area, and the height of a two-storey house, with a flow of just three knots, could generate enough power for around 100,000 homes. At some point the current moves up and over or around the array and they get nothing. Where is that poin...
by KitemanSA
Sat Nov 29, 2008 1:47 pm
Forum: News
Topic: Risk Asessment slows innovation
Replies: 26
Views: 11166

There is capital risk management which leads to more wise yesses and capitol risk management which leads to more ignorant noes. Never get the two confused. A 747 crashes and the fleet is flying in hours to days and improved as needed. A shuttle crashes and the program is shut down for years. I guess...
by KitemanSA
Fri Nov 28, 2008 3:37 am
Forum: News
Topic: Superconductivity Theory
Replies: 13
Views: 7941

You bet, and SC at dry-ice temperatures would be better still! assuming you don't use dry ice, solids are hard to pump, I'd wager. True. In the NASA... forum that preceded this one there was a long discussion on using certian electronics cooling fluids as a preference to LN because they have a much...
by KitemanSA
Thu Nov 27, 2008 1:36 am
Forum: News
Topic: News on the Review?
Replies: 18
Views: 16045

News on the Review?

We have heard a lot of news on this forum about a lot of interesting things, but what about the results of the review committee?