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Power

Can NASA Warm Cold Fusion? 556

TomOfAmalfi writes "Andrea Rossi says he can provide domestic energy sources (about 10 kW) based on his E-Cat system (a Low Energy Nuclear Reaction or Cold Fusion energy source) for between 100 and 150 US$/kW and begin shipping this year. Many people are skeptical about Rossi's claims because he has not explained how his 'reactors' work (apparently the reactors contain ingenious security devices to prevent reverse engineering), there is no theoretical basis to support his process, and no one has supplied independent measurements to support the specs on his black boxes. However, buried at the bottom of a NASA web page there is a comment about progress in 'cold fusion' research and a link to the slides used in a September 2011 presentation (PDF) which talks about LENR research. NASA has also released a video describing the great benefits we will get from NASA LENR research. Could Rossi be on to something?"

Comment Re:At last (Score 1) 77

But the SRBs have about 5 times the total thrust of the main engines, so the main engines become really helpful only after the SRBs give out. Therefore, they're more like a second stage, and like the second stages of the Saturn V or Atlas V (Centaur) should probably use LOX/LH2 to reduce mass and increase the mass ratio of the first stage.

Comment Re:FUCK YES! BROWSER EXPLOITS AT LOGIN! (Score 1) 236

Chrome's port of WebKit can only work inside chrome; it's designed to be connected up to a shim which talks using IPC to a browser process, which handles a lot of the work. Chrome and its browser process are not designed to be embedded, so using that in LightDM won't work. LightDM would probably have to use the Gtk+ port, which shares a lot of code, but has to be built separately due to all the ifdefs.

Comment Re:Uh...Probably gonna get his server creamed (Score 1) 609

Thanks for giving us the formal analysis. It also states the point that has been mentioned: "The Control shaft (and associated mechanical elements) should be sized to this torque requirement accordingly - the Input and Control should be considered as parallel power paths rather than as 'power' and a 'control' elements respectively."

There's a reason that that document includes a CVT in the design to power the "control", because the power that goes through the control is the same as the power through the input, so unless you have a convenient high-torque high-power variable-speed electric motor you might as well use the main power source. Of course, if you use an electric motor then it''s quite similar to a Prius, and if you use a CVT then it's pretty similar to the Torotrak, or some other IVTs.

However, this device does have a new feature. There are two different control inputs with different properties, so by switching which one you're braking and which one you're controlling with the CVT you can either go in reverse or at top speed, but still with a CVT's output speed always being positive and less then the input speed. However, that makes it complex for no gain (you could just directly gear up the output of the CVT to do that), so it seems like the things that are new aren't good, and things that are good aren't new.

Programming

Survey Says C Dominated New '08 Open-Source Projects 378

svonkie writes "C overwhelmingly proved to be the most popular programming language for thousands of new open-source projects in 2008, reports The Register (UK). According to license tracker Black Duck Software, which monitors 180,000 projects on nearly 4,000 sites, almost half — 47 per cent — of new projects last year used C. 17,000 new open-source projects were created in total. Next in popularity after C came Java, with 28 per cent. In scripting, JavaScript came out on top with 20 per cent, followed by Perl with 18 per cent. PHP attracted just 11 per cent, and Ruby six per cent. The numbers are a surprise, as open-source PHP has proved popular as a web-site development language, while Ruby's been a hot topic for many."

Comment Re:Okay. (Score 1) 532

Many theories posit that the universe is grainy, but the graininess there is so small that we can't measure it. The holographic universe theory has, as a possible consequence, that the graininess is much larger than otherwise, so that it can be (and has been) measured by experiment.

Comment Re:Synonymous? (Score 1) 317

My father went to state school in RI, and was recruited by Raytheon before he'd even graduated. He was working alongside graduates from all the Ivy Leagues, getting paid the same. It doesn't matter what the name on the diploma is, what matters is the effort you put in and the skills you provide for your employer. Save your money, avoid crippling student loan debt, and get those smaller class sizes anyways.

The graduates working at Raytheon were the same, but, as you said, they were also being paid the same. Couldn't the smarter students get higher-paying/better jobs elsewhere?

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