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The sad thing is that you would be hard pressed to find something new from the big three which is any better than what you're driving. That's part of the reason GM is hurting. Nobody is going to want to buy a new car if it's technically no better than what they're driving in terms of economy...

I read here that for various reasons GM credit is close to junk bond status at this point. All three domestic automakers are hurting and will continue to hurt even more as gas prices go up. Instead of making the more efficient cars and EVs that people will want in a few years, they'll continue...

I heard somewhere that new coatings may actually enable the head to ride right on the platter. In effect, the drive would be "crashing" all the time. 30 atoms separating you from destruction of your data is rather scary. I also tend to think by 2010 or so SSDs will make huge inroads into...

If/when it happens. That's been talked about for years. So has NYC seceding from NYS or even the US, and becoming its own city-state like Hong Kong or Singapore. Somehow I doubt either will happen for a long time, if at all. I'd love to see NYC as its own entity. Since we send out more in...

And the day that happens is the day I'll join you in Canada. It's the extremists on both sides of the isle who scare the sh*t out me. And on this issue, I think Congress running with its hand up its behind to reconvene for an emergency session was one of the most disgusting spectacles I've...

I'd have to say that the backspace key is useful enough to me that I'm glad it's a little bigger. Often when you type fast you make a lot of mistakes and then need to backspace one or two characters to correct them. In fact, I hit the backspace key about 20 times just for this post alone. One...

I think maybe thermium, nuclium, or perhaps solarium would be appropriate given the number of BTUs these things put out.

Congratulations all! :beer: I'm guilty as charged, as is everyone else, for not noticing these milestones.

Why not bubble wrap? :mrgrn:

This will be the first nonstop, unrefueled, solo global circumnavigation. See here. The pilot will be Steve Fossett, who also went around the world in a sailboat and hot air balloon. In 1986 Dick Rutan (Burt Rutan's brother) and Jeanne Yeager set a record of nine days for a nonstop...

I like the solar tower. Very interesting. If nothing else a 1 km high structure would be very impressive. As for the other thing, I still don't get what the point of the so-called hydrogen economy is. You make hydrogen and then use it to make electricity in fuel cells which are way less...

I'd like to see a similar small vehicle using modern technology. That Myers Motors thing doesn't have regenerative braking, doesn't use an AC motor, and worst of all uses lead acid batteries. There's no reason in this day and age to use lead-acid batteries. The aerodynamics could be better as...

Exactly Buck. Some people don't need or want a huge car. For example, living in a city with no real need for any car, the only kind of car that I might consider buying would be one passenger with some space for groceries, weighing well under 1000 pounds, under 10 feet long, and of course...

I agree that hybrids have a place, and anything that fosters mass production of better batteries is a good thing. I just don't see why hydrids and BEVs can't coexist for a while before we go entirely to BEVs. BEVs are a natural in large cities where trips are short and large concentrations of...

If you really must know he had a habit of constantly posting the same off-topic religious nonsense in every thread much like its-fubar posted the same anti-capitalism, anti-Republican crap in every single thread he posted in here. Oh, and TA also used to post ridiculous things like claiming to...

What bothers me is that we're really not getting ready. The oil is going to start getting scarce within the next decade. They'll be huge price swings which cause global financial problems long before it runs out. We should have already converted a good part of the economy to non-fossil fuel...

Thanks mubs for the compliments. I was afraid I was in danger of hijacking your thread but I'm glad you saw my post for what it was-an attempt to start a debate of hybrids versus other technologies. I fully agree with everything else you wrote. Until the automakers change their business model...

Tony, you and your friend Tea are, um, special cases. :wink: Of course there are not going to be any recharging stations when you take your long trips across the outback. Then again there won't be any gas stations, either. Don't forget that battery technology is advancing at a rapid pace...

And I also need to add that no R&D is needed to make a good BEV today other than gearing up for mass production same as with any other car. Compare that to the fuel cells which have been researched since the 1960's and which will eventually be dismissed as unfeasible because of cost issues by...

A state of the art BEV (battery electric vehicle) can get a 300 mile range, recharge to 80% capacity in 15 minutes, doesn't pollute at all, can out-accelerate any gas car, will be much cheaper to refuel, and won't have the maintainance issues anything with an engine will have. A hybrid may be a...

I think it was simple demographics that caused MS to pull out-car and plane simulators sell better than train simulators. Or maybe they just couldn't get it to work right. The exact audience which would buy MSTS II would be more concerned with having realistic physics and realistic operation...

The only games I ever play are simulators. I just never got into all the other types of PC games. I have MS Flight Simulator, MS Train Simulator, and Fly currently installed. As far as I know, the physics on the two flight simulators are halfway decent but out of the box MS Train Simulator...

Looks like the 100 lumen per watt barrier for white LEDs has finally been broken! :cheers: Amazing! We went from 60 to 100 in less than two years. At this rate we may be at the 2012 goal of 150 lm/W far sooner than expected. The future certainly looks bright (pun intended).

I just want to point out that this election was mainly to elect legislators. They weren't choosing more important posts like president, prime minister, fuhrer, ayatollah, or whatever other name they may ultimately choose to hold the highest elected office there. Whenever elections for that...

Same here. It's above freezing after quite a few days of 20°F and much less. It looks like it'll be seasonal for at least the next week or so rather than below average. I might also add that it's odd how it can feel "warm" in the 30s in midwinter after a cold snap yet in fall the first day in...

Why on Earth would venture capitalists invest in screwing up people's computers? Adware makes machines unstable and slow to the point that they're unusable. What good is trying to sell stuff via adware if the adware renders the PC useless? I cleaned junkware from my sister's computer 3 times...

Last night it got down to 5°F. I actually went for a long walk earlier when we were having a heat wave (10°F). I enjoy this kind of weather. Very exhilarating. The snow's coming down hard now. Looks like about 4" so far with much more to come. Looks like I'll be busy shoveling on and off...

Now all we have to do is turn it into a commercially viable system. ;) Seriously, as much as I want fusion to be used as soon as possible, it looks like any practical implementations of it are millenia away. By then it'll simply be too late for the planet. Of course, if we put as much R&D...

I agree Tea. I just mentioned it because so little has been happening with hard drives these last few years that, well, I had to mention something else besides higher areal density and less noise. I have yet to own a SATA drive. I just don't see any compelling reason to. And yes, the...

About the only major developments in the last few years have been increasing areal density and SATA. Lately even areal density hasn't gone up by much. Seek times, power consumption, and spindle speeds have remained more or less the same. Any real speed improvements are a result of increasing...

Actually Coug, that was 630 meters for the initial wave height, or over 2000 feet. :o We're roughly 8 miles from water here so hopefully we should be OK but my brother just bought a house on the Rockaway Peninsula and he's about 70 feet off Jamaica Bay. At least about 1 mile of island is...

Since my brother moved back with us in June his cat made the adjustment very well. Within a month she acted like she owned the place. I think frequent moving is a bad thing for cats, but moving every few years or less often shouldn't be that big of a deal.

Ok, that changes things a lot if he has the problems you mentioned. Parenting can only do so much in a situation like that. My post was referring to children without such issues. Sorry about the lecture. :mrgrn: What brought it on is that I'm more than a little annoyed when I read about...

There was exactly one good thing about 2004. I got roaring drunk to celebrate it's end. Let's hope 2005 brings better things.

Agreed. In fact, this is the only way a child can grow into a normal, healthy, thinking adult. The current climate of parents spying on their children in all sorts of ways is a disgusting trend. If a parent does a good enough job instilling some sort of inherent sense of right and wrong, they...

The death toll started out at 3000 when I first learned of this. Now it's up to 7100. :cry: It's humbling that for all our technology and science we still can't always predict things like this.

Heat might help. I sleep on my side most of the time like mubs, and if I face my back towards an electric heater set on low I find it helps if I'm starting to get any aches. Also, you might try elevating your feet. This seems to help me relax more, and when I'm more relaxed I'm less likely to...

I personally don't know what the bandwidth limit is for a cable ISP like RR but the modem they gave me is good up to 30 Mb/sec. I wonder when/if we'll ever see standard speeds that high? About the only difference I'm noticing at this point going from 3 to 5 Mb/sec is that downloads are much...

I've never had back pain to the point that it's very painful, but when I notice it starting I'll sleep in my workroom either on the table (wood composite) or on the floor (ceramic tile over concrete) for one night. Usually the table works but if it doesn't the floor certainly will. In both...

I'm as happy as all hell for you, Merc. Given everything that's happened to you, it's nice to finally see your luck changing. It couldn't happen to a more deserving person.

Yep. Plain old 21-speed road bike. The funny part with the 65 mph run was that I could have gone even faster but my gearing limited my top speed. Figure that with a 53 tooth gear on the crank and a 12-24 cluster in back, plus a 27" tire, when I reach 180 RPM (about the fastest I can do) this...

Maybe I'm the only one here who thinks in exactly the same way. I stayed in NYC after college despite a smaller variety of job choices for the very reasons you mention. I simply don't wish to be a slave to a car so that means living in an area that offers comprehensive public transportation...

Thanks, Pradeep. That did the trick-4725 mbs down! :thumbright: Still 384 kbs up but I guess you can't have everything. We'll see if everything feels faster.

When I read your post I was ready to say I hadn't noticed any difference but then I decided to try one of the download speed tests to see if the service really was upgraded. I did and I got the same 2814 kbs which I've gotten since I hooked up with RoadRunner. Apparently the speed increase...

And the bitter irony is that if one was mass produced, it would actually cost less than a gas-engined car. It's a chicken and egg sort of thing where I feel the government may need to step up to the plate and jump start the EV industry. BTW, I don't know what sort of physical condition your...

Doug, it's the burning oil for power part which concerns me more than anything else. The other methods of using oil you mentioned put far less junk in the air than using it for fuel. In fact, all the more reason to conserve oil since it's a finite resource and very useful for something besides...

It's dumb in that vehicles like that shouldn't even be made unless there is a real need for it. You don't see me complaining that an 18-wheeler gets maybe 4 mpg because that's the best you can do given the requirements. If someone really needs to tow 10,000 pounds, drive on a glacier, or drive...

I was just laughing reading this line in that article Howell linked to: We shouldn't even be using internal combustion engines in 2020, but to say we'll only have 5% to 15% of vehicles hybrids (with the rest presumably regular internal combustion engines) by 2020 is laughable. This is...

I'm glad he's doing what he's doing but nobody will listen until oil gets expensive and/or there's massive climate change. Sadly, it's human nature to do nothing about a problem until it comes up and bites you in the behind. The fact is that fossil fuel use kills over 600,000 per year in the...

Was this the company you're referring to? Fiber optics isn't really something that this project calls for since we have plenty of room to put the LEDs in the sign. I do wish I had some 80 or 90 lm/W LEDs though.