cstross

45 ms·

391.
by cstross 9y ago
Apple is a hardware company. They make their money by selling computers. (Less true these days thanks to the app store 30% top-slice, but it's in their DNA ...) To the extent that there's demand for high-performance workstation-gr
392.
by cstross 9y ago
It's an interesting example of the value of customer goodwill. In addition to being a bookshop, Borderlands is a cultural hub for SF/F readers in the Bay Area. As such, it's not simply selling SKUs at the cheapest viable pric
393.
by cstross 9y ago
Disagree: they will hang the idiots responsible for WCry high and publicly, just to make an example pour encourager les autres . Seriously, this cat's already out of the ba. There's nothing to be gained by trying to bury it, and
394.
by cstross 9y ago
The correct comparison for the Boeing 787 is not the A380 super-jumbo but the A350XWB. It's mostly a successor to the earlier A330, but with a more extensive use of composites, updated everything, and a slightly wider fuselage; it&#x27
395.
Rejection Letter(antipope.org)
522 points by cstross 9y ago|72 comments
396.
by cstross 9y ago
Note that the tabloids have different Scottish editions with radically different editorial policies; the Scottish Sun and the Scottish Daily Mail, while visibly close siblings of their English sister-papers, often cover headline topics (and
397.
by cstross 9y ago
end 1M embryos up to Mars, take them out of the freezer as you need more workers. Because of course a one month old baby is ready to work, right? Sorry, but humans are social animals. We don't come ready-to-use; it takes a lot of t
398.
by cstross 10y ago
The Nimrod maritime patrol aircraft was a modified Comet airframe: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawker_Siddeley_Nimrod In the early 2000s, BAe Systems had a project in train to upgrade them to the MRA4 spec, essential
399.
by cstross 10y ago
Prepping notes before I dive in to redraft and finalize Ghost Engine , my new space opera for July 2018 (UK publisher will be Orbit; US publisher TBA). Also working on a Wild Cards short story for George R. R. Martin, and awaiting the copy
400.
by cstross 10y ago
Not in this case; the main effect of deuteration is to slow the rate at which the active drug is metabolized and excreted. Now, that might not sound significant — but patient compliance with medication regimes is a significant sticking poin
401.
by cstross 10y ago
You're American, aren't you? It's perfectly normal human behaviour to assume that one's own country's motivations and activities are benevolent and effective. However, the picture looks very different to folks livin
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by cstross 10y ago
You might think that, but Airbus developed the A350XWB — a direct competitor for the 787 — on a budget of €11Bn. Even taking into account exchange rate issues, that's less than half the cost. https://en.wikipedia.org/
403.
by cstross 10y ago
Concorde ran into (a) the oil price shock of the 1970s (the price of fuel quadrupled overnight around the time manufacturing commenced), and (b) the airport security theatre of the immediate post-9/11 era (a 3 hour LHR-JFK flight is a
404.
by cstross 10y ago
Note that the 787 development costs included building multiple full-sized prototypes of a wide-body (read: price on the order of $225M per aircraft) and a moving vehicle production line — you can tour the Boeing plant at Everett and see f
405.
by cstross 10y ago
I would just like to note that March 25th (Saturday) is the 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, which created the European Economic Community (from which the EU evolved): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Rome
406.
by cstross 10y ago
Partly, but mass production in time of war simply isn't a thing in this day and age — hot wars between roughly-comparable adversaries (as opposed to the asymmetric conflicts such as counter-insurgency campaigns) are generally over in d
407.
by cstross 10y ago
How does this perform in adverse weather conditions? I'm thinking dust storms, rain, and fog — anything that puts droplets/dirt in the beam path is going to scatter/absorb energy. Which brings us back to the old staple of war
408.
by cstross 10y ago
Please note that the BBC is a UK-wide broadcaster, and takes comments from everyone — anecdotally, a lot of the anti-Sturgeon comments on twitter, reddit, etcetera[1] come from English nationalists. Scotland-bashing has never really gone ou
409.
by cstross 10y ago
Scotland has about the same population as Norway or Ireland — 5.4 million — not Montenegro (0.62 million). GDP on the order of US $245Bn, 40-50 times higher than Montenegro. (And, geographically, 70% of the land area of England). Politely,
410.
by cstross 10y ago
I( worked as a developer for a startup aged 34 ... in the UK. I was the youngest person in the startup, too. (It went public via reverse-takeover and ended up being absorbed by Mastercard a decade later: as we were in payment services, you
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by cstross 10y ago
Musk quoted $25M for the batteries? I'm guessing that this escapade — if it works — is going to be more productive than $25M in marketing/advertising spend.
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by cstross 10y ago
NOTE: Step 2: Write the Novel ... You know, the easy part. For those who have never written a novel, writer is being sarcastic here. The equivalent in terms of reference more familiar to the regulars on HN might well be: "Step 2: stu
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Stross on: Some notes on the worst-case scenario(antipope.org)
4 points by cstross 10y ago|1 comments
414.
by cstross 10y ago
I suspect a declining UK facing a continental hegemonic superpower — anathema to British foreign policy going back half a millennium or more — would not have gone down quietly. And with an overseas empire behind it, the result could well ha
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by cstross 10y ago
If the Schlieffen Plan had worked, the Germany that emerged victorious would be unrecognizable — an authoritarian monarchy with a rubber-stamp house of representatives that had demonstrated decisively that militaristic aggression got result
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VIPER: The Versatile Intermediate Pulsed Energy Reactor [pdf](npl.co.uk)
3 points by cstross 10y ago|0 comments
417.
by cstross 10y ago
Almost certainly accidental. Consider the population of NK (not large — 24 million). Now consider that it's a closed society; access to foreign media and learning materials is going to be restricted. Now on top of that, consider that l
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by cstross 10y ago
Your definition of fascism is totally inadequate. Here, try reading Umberto Eco on the subject: he grew up under Italian fascism, and has some insights: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/1995/06/22/ur-fasci
419.
by cstross 10y ago
You missed the just-aborted far right coup in Montenegro, or the way France is looking to see a run-off presidential election between a hard-right candidate and Marine Le Pen (who is a court-certified fascist -- as in, she sued an opponent
420.
by cstross 10y ago
a magic box which would reliably and cheaply convert black/gray water to high quality drinking water and turn poop and organics into energy bricks to eliminate sewage plants and septic tanks seems like a technology we should have inve

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