ridgeguy

81 ms·

841.
by ridgeguy 10y ago
If your data dies with you, the rest of us lose whatever insight your data might have given us. Suggestion: leave decryption instructions with (attorney, loved one, safe deposit box, etc.) so we don't miss your take on life. Someone (c
842.
by ridgeguy 10y ago
Check out page 212, 1969 Big T (lower photo). Big smile. But yeah, didn't see that very often. Upper photo of him on that page is amusing also. [1] http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechCampusPubs:20111101-15354...
843.
by ridgeguy 10y ago
Tom Apostol was my freshman math prof. He made math a useful tool for me. He was a great teacher. Thanks so much, Tom.
844.
by ridgeguy 10y ago
Duration of action for pain medication can differ extremely among individuals. When my wife (chronic pain patient) wanted to switch from one pain med to another because of diminishing effect, I helped her neurologist review literature on th
845.
by ridgeguy 10y ago
If it's only to make a nicotine mist, can't we use a simple ultrasonic fogger and get away from pyrolysis issues entirely?
846.
by ridgeguy 10y ago
It isn't the shrapnel from flywheel failure that's hard to deal with. Frag containment, particularly of composite rotors that have high volume fractions of fiber and low volume fractions of binder, is actually pretty easy. What&#x
847.
by ridgeguy 10y ago
Her post is a good illustration of the chilling effect created by minimal but specific attention from essentially all-powerful state agencies. That the potential events of which she was concerned haven't yet occurred still leaves them
848.
by ridgeguy 10y ago
Possible it was more than the lead bullets. Lead styphnate has been a component of centerfire ammo [1]. That use would put it in vapor form near the firearm where it could be readily inhaled. I agree with another poster - get tested for lea
849.
by ridgeguy 10y ago
I think the first world would look much like it does now, except that fusion would replace most current nuclear, coal, and oil-fired plants - the technologies that supply base load. Natural gas plants will continue in service as fast respon
850.
by ridgeguy 11y ago
Making cars is a capital intensive industry.
851.
by ridgeguy 11y ago
Blue fabric dyes were rare and very expensive until aniline and its colored derivatives were synthesized. There was Tyrian purple and royal blue [1], both derived from marine mollusks. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
852.
by ridgeguy 11y ago
I'll second "Smilla's Sense of Snow" as both a good read and a portal to some insight on issues in the NPR article.
853.
by ridgeguy 11y ago
Ironically, it was Boris Derjaguin's participation in the polywater debacle that caused many to dismiss him when he claimed to have synthesized diamond by chemical vapor deposition, at pressures far below the thermodynamic stability re
854.
by ridgeguy 11y ago
For anybody who's interested, there's a NASA forum devoted to the EmDrive: http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=39772.1440
855.
by ridgeguy 11y ago
A magnet inside a ferromagnetic box. The box material has to have a high permeability to shield an enclosed magnet from external detection. You can think of permeability in this instance as the ability to contain a magnetic field. As long a
856.
by ridgeguy 11y ago
Recommend you listen to this [1] interview that I heard earlier today. It's by a Stanford neuroscientist, discussing why and how the teenage brain leads their owners to be impulsive, addiction-prone, and just generally idiotic. The TLD
857.
by ridgeguy 11y ago
Water can change things. It might easily combine with the corium to form various hydrates. Hydrates contain hydrogen, which is a neutron moderator. To the extent that corium's complex decay involves neutrons, changing the neutron energ
858.
by ridgeguy 11y ago
Would a slightly conical mirror with its apex pointed towards the laser be self-stabilizing in tilt? Kind of like an aircraft with dihedral wings [1] is self-stabilizing in roll - imagine the laser illumination as an analog of the aero lift
859.
by ridgeguy 11y ago
I assumed an interstellar medium density of 10 H atoms/cm^3, which is 1e7 atoms/m^3, given 1e6 cm^3 per m^3. I think the volume swept out by the spacecraft is about right: (3e8m/sec) (.2) 6.45e-4m^2 is about 3.9e4m^3/sec
860.
by ridgeguy 11y ago
Referring to another current HN post, if Hugh Everett was right, at least one of you did attend MIT.
861.
by ridgeguy 11y ago
Perhaps they might. Looking forward to reading the entire project description when I get home this evening.
862.
by ridgeguy 11y ago
Yes, but yk's note that the friction load is a small fraction of the craft's kinetic energy makes me rethink whether the effect will matter much.
863.
by ridgeguy 11y ago
What about the energy dissipated by collision with the interstellar medium? Won't that slow the probe considerably? Apologies for significant errors and appreciation for corrections in the following hasty and unchecked calcs. Wikipedia
864.
by ridgeguy 11y ago
The posted article illustrates one of the things I like about HN, which is visibility on the wide range of technologies people deploy to get things done. On one end of the spectrum, we've got fabulous hardware & code & infrastr
865.
by ridgeguy 11y ago
It looks really dramatic, but it might not be close to tipping, really. I'd guess the fuel is very nearly depleted at landing. This would put the center of mass somewhere fairly low on the stage, close to the engines which are dense, h
866.
by ridgeguy 11y ago
Agreed. If Forbes is serving malware to visitors who have complied with its instruction to turn off their adblockers, and if those visitors suffer damages due to malware served through Forbes, you'd think there's the basis for at
867.
by ridgeguy 11y ago
Don't know wrt the OP, but I think people problems are much more difficult to remedy than problems rooted in technology.
868.
by ridgeguy 11y ago
Interesting, but didn't SA already tell us about a gravity-defying superfluid in 2009? [1] One that doesn't need a gazillion GPa of pressure to work with? [1] http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/superfl
869.
by ridgeguy 11y ago
I think there's explanatory power in remembering that private, for-profit insurance companies have as their corporate priority maximization of shareholder value. Protecting people from bankruptcy due to medical expenses is not a corpor
870.
by ridgeguy 11y ago
I concur, except I'd state it: one hallmark of excellent design is relentless elimination of required maintenance.

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