D_Alex

34 ms·

301.
by D_Alex 10y ago
I am really quite confident that no serious development of electric passenger aircraft will take place during the coming decade. And it is not a question of feasibility, but rather of priorities. There is so much low hanging fruit to be col
302.
by D_Alex 10y ago
If we are living in a simulation, time has to be quantized... at least if the simulating computer has a clock.
303.
by D_Alex 10y ago
It's complicated... crude oil is a mix of hydrocarbons with carbon chain lengths between say 5 and 40+, plus various impurities such as sulfur. It is refined into gasoline (~7-12 carbon atoms per molecule), diesel (~12-18) etc, with bu
304.
by D_Alex 10y ago
It is in fact largely the specific fuel that they burn. "Heavy fuel oil" is where the refineries direct almost all the sulfur and heavy metals originally present in the crude. The sulfur content of HFO can be, and often is, up to
305.
by D_Alex 10y ago
That is a terrible idea, for many reasons, and it would not reduce CO2 emissions... probably the opposite. A much better idea would be to reserve petroleum and natural gas for production of high value products such as plastics, instead of u
306.
by D_Alex 10y ago
Australia. Please. We have the land, we have the lithium, we have the sunshine and we have a massive car market - 1.2 million cars sold in 2016. We also have a good automotive manufacturing base... about to go into idle mode. Aussie federal
307.
by D_Alex 10y ago
Maybe he is young and his net worth is very low compared to his anticipated future earnings??
308.
by D_Alex 10y ago
1. I am pretty sure they can count the strands exactly. What happens is that material akin to a tar pitch is extruded through tiny die holes, each hole generating one strand... if there are 500 holes, then 500 strands at a time are produced
309.
by D_Alex 10y ago
The supply and demand "law" refers to the observation that the price of a good settles at a point where the available supply (which increases as the price goes up) matches the demand (which decreases as the price goes up). Jevons
310.
by D_Alex 10y ago
I shudder at the thought of being a dentist. Imagine your first day on the job, looking into people's mouths all day... then going home and thinking that this is what you will do every working day for the next 40 years. Dentists, I hea
311.
by D_Alex 10y ago
>is there really a shortage of smart and skilled people? Hell yes, and there always will be, for the right values of "smart" and "skilled". >Given the low pay for many scientific positions... etc The sad fact is th
312.
by D_Alex 10y ago
>if you could magically offer 6-8 hour train service between New York and Chicago You know, that's not terribly fast... 1200 km in 6 hrs, so 200 km/hr. France started operating 320 km/hr trains in 1990's. Do you think
313.
by D_Alex 10y ago
The problem with monoculture is the you have a potential for a complete and utter failure . Ant it is not really "single-point", there are numerous mechanisms by which crops will fail.
314.
by D_Alex 10y ago
You would not believe how hard the "no pests" thing is in real life. It only takes a few insect eggs to start an infestation. It is hard enough to do that on a "sack of grain" scale, let alone on industrial farm scale. O
315.
by D_Alex 10y ago
But... under his conditions it is clear that everyone in the group with the least altruists dies. There also seems to be no particular benefit for an individual of getting more points than anyone else. No point trying anything, it is cl
316.
by D_Alex 10y ago
You sound like one of those old curmudgeons who were warning people about reading books 100 years or so ago. And you have created a throwaway user profile, which seems to indicate you have an online presence and reputation that you care abo
317.
by D_Alex 10y ago
>What are the people who were "gifted" but live a mediocre life supposed to do? Be bitter and drink for 40-60 years? It is hard to give a brief yet universally applicable answer to "What are _____ supposed to do?", bu
318.
by D_Alex 10y ago
>Oil is on the way out Oil production and consumption is higher than ever and projected to keep increasing to 2030 (though I do not personally believe this). The demand growth is driven by the transportation sector, particularly in the d
319.
by D_Alex 10y ago
Are you in the renewable energy industry in the US? If yes, send me a message on the e-mail in my profile please.
320.
by D_Alex 10y ago
That graph is not from a credible source, it is from a company trying to push tidal power generation. Sure enough - according to the graph, tidal power is the cheapest. In reality, tidal power is WAY more expensive than wind turbines.
321.
by D_Alex 10y ago
Housing: Today's 30yo live in nicer houses, that are on the whole located in nicer places. Eg. in cities that have less pollution and more facilities than they had before. Education: Okay, that kind of sucks. But in here Australia, as
322.
by D_Alex 10y ago
This "post-truth" does not need to be understood, it needs to be rejected, as hard as possible.
323.
by D_Alex 10y ago
One regulation, at least you'd still have that.
324.
by D_Alex 10y ago
Yes... it clearly is a manageable issue. The opening comment writer was the one who was overwhelmed, and no surprise given his lack of understanding demonstrated in his answer elsewhere. I just hate it when people with such a lack of knowle
325.
by D_Alex 10y ago
When you said that you worked on the LHC for several years - what was your role, and how were you involved with the vacuum system? Because your answers show a serious lack of understanding. First, part tolerances are not a particularly impo
326.
by D_Alex 10y ago
Helium, for the time being, is a non-renewable resource, and there are concerns of a helium shortage for important applications like cryogenics. It is probably not a good idea to use helium as you suggested.
327.
by D_Alex 10y ago
Elon Musk had zero experience building cars, yet he made Tesla happen. Perhaps a high intellect and a good general purpose engineering training can accomplish more than you think. You, on the other hand, are overwhelmed by the challenge of
328.
by D_Alex 10y ago
I lived in Jakarta in 2010... there is no such system operating (and IMO there never will be - it is inferior to conventional electric light rail despite the claims to the contrary made in the video). But there are a bunch of unused concret
329.
by D_Alex 10y ago
"Where are the customers' yachts?" by Fred Schwed is a must read for anyone interested in investing in stocks. An absolute must.
330.
by D_Alex 10y ago
Neither does solar :(

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