D_Alex

60 ms·

601.
by D_Alex 15y ago
the only worthwhile conducts of human life are technological and scientific research, and building infrastructure Wow... the basis of my philosophy! IMHO: technological and scientific research - and art! - are basically the worthwhile
602.
by D_Alex 15y ago
death is inherently "bad" Hell, yes. And it is not an assumption, it is an observation.
603.
by D_Alex 15y ago
I love how a piece in The Atlantic originated on Reddit!
604.
by D_Alex 15y ago
And here is the story to which the final scene in the Google doodles refers: English: http://english.lem.pl/home/bookshelf/how-the-word-was-saved Polish: http://www.wattpad.com/133117-stanislaw-lem-cyberiada Well worth the 5 mins it tak
605.
by D_Alex 15y ago
Wow, this is SO like the Half-Life scanners... Life imitating art??
606.
by D_Alex 15y ago
One of the coolest things I've seen on the internet recently! Show this to Richard Dawkins! Please do continue with work on this site, I'd love to see the underlying algorithms etc. I would like to make a small donation, if you let me know
607.
by D_Alex 15y ago
Interesting, but: citation needed.
608.
by D_Alex 15y ago
Nominated for 2011 "Kookiest Product Idea by a Multi-Billion Dollar Company" prize.
609.
by D_Alex 15y ago
I am amazed at the vitriol in the comments following the article. A sign of serious issues a-brew.
610.
by D_Alex 15y ago
I was thinking about the transistor (and hence computers etc), rather than the LCD. As for the study - yes, such returns are very difficult to measure or even estimate accurately, as the range of estimates suggest. But won't you agree that
611.
by D_Alex 15y ago
No, not an argument from authority, but an appeal for putting the "right" people in positions of authority. What I meant was "people must be well qualified (and also consider alternatives carefully ) so that we CAN trust them".
612.
by D_Alex 15y ago
Seriously...? Not "all", but in general, "blue sky research" does deliver massive benefits (just look at what is in front of your face right now! It would not be there without quantum physics.). Also, take a look at http://www.nsf.gov/stat
613.
by D_Alex 15y ago
Yes, yes, good question. People who make the decisions to spend money on this scale - US$ 9 billion! - must be well qualified to make such decisions, and do so after careful consideration of various alternatives. I think it was the right de
614.
by D_Alex 15y ago
Yes, they are within 20% of the Betz' limit. But you must understand that the Betz' law refers to "available power", and the "available power" is higher for a shrouded turbine due to its larger apparent diameter.
615.
by D_Alex 15y ago
Shrouds do two things: 1) they improve the efficiency by reducing tip vortex losses; 2) they increase the effective diameter of the turbine, so Betz' law is circumvented to SOME degree. I worked for a time on shrouded propellers for ship pr
616.
by D_Alex 15y ago
Well... what about this then: http://www.johnsphones.com/ ? Also, look at the history of wristwatches. In the early 80's new features were being adopted: digital displays, stopwatches, alarms, calculators... but the trend reversed, and now
617.
by D_Alex 15y ago
> The government is literally awash in cheap credit. --> infrastructure projects! If it is a given that money can be borrowed for basically zero interest rate, why not invest it at long term low yield infrastructure projects such as
618.
by D_Alex 15y ago
I did not downvote you, I was away from the computer for the last few hours. However your comment is so disingenuous that I am wondering if you are trolling. To wit: - "A lot of the text in that article isn't particularly actionable" - what
619.
by D_Alex 15y ago
Evidence... how about this: http://xkcd.com/903/ ? "Water purification" was this first thing that popped into my head based on your "basic necessities" comment earlier. The article is in fact an extremely good starting point for a compete
620.
by D_Alex 15y ago
A hell of a lot, albeit indirectly. Let me give you a hypothetical example: an engineer in a remote community in Indonesia needs to consider a water purification plant, not something he had previous direct experience with. Do this please: G
621.
by D_Alex 15y ago
I agree that the internet has enabled a great deal of various kinds of collaboration. IMO, Wikipedia is the most complete, and generally the most useful - summing over the whole of the world population - product of this. Regarding charities
622.
by D_Alex 15y ago
Wikipedia is my charity of choice. No other entity (apart from perhaps Google) has done so much to actualise the potential of internet and deliver so much benefit to the world.
623.
by D_Alex 15y ago
tl;dr: unemployed people should write blogs. This is wrong for so many reasons...
624.
by D_Alex 15y ago
Not a bad article, however: "Throw on the cost of a small apartment and a used car, and you've arguably got all you could want: health, friends, and intellectual exploration." "Arguably" is the key word here. I, for one, want a helicopter a
625.
by D_Alex 15y ago
Estimates of the computing power of human brain vary widely, the ones that have some logic behind them range from 0.1 to 1000 petaflops. IMHO, they tend to be very "pro-brain", and should be seen as an upper limit. Currently, the fastest su
626.
by D_Alex 15y ago
I want one. Pre-loaded with memories of Marilyn Monroe.
627.
by D_Alex 15y ago
Unfortunately, an opportunity to better the system was lost by settling out of court. Jay Meisel : you suck. For doing this. (...too bad HN pages rank low on Google).
628.
by D_Alex 15y ago
I have worked my arse off in my 20's. 10 hour workdays on average, and when I left my first employer, after 9.5 years, I got paid out 260 unused leave days (we had time-off-in-lieu for weekends). On the plus side: this set me up financially
629.
Japan reclaims supercomputer title (US now #3)(top500.org)
1 points by D_Alex 15y ago|0 comments
630.
by D_Alex 15y ago
The process was conceptually identical, AFAICT. Actual implementation differed insofar as coolant was sprayed onto the hot strip rather than being contained in a bath as shown in the linked graphic. BHP's steelmaking research in the early 9

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