shaqbert

9 ms·

31.
by shaqbert 8y ago
Keeping track might not be the most important problem. The track record of keeping the vast stockpile of weapons grade plutonium safe is somewhat worrying me: , when even grannies can break into the highest security facility [0]. [0]: http
32.
by shaqbert 8y ago
That article is light on how they tackle the thermal aspects of NOX exhaust. The key challenge to diesel engines is that the combustion is essentially a chemical reaction in vastly different thermal conditions depending on the outside tempe
33.
by shaqbert 8y ago
As the production costs with windpower decrease due to the technological progress, the question of grid storage and grid interconnection becomes more pressing. E.g. in Germany, they frequently have days of negative energy prices, where prod
34.
by shaqbert 8y ago
Why does software cost so little? When you look at the value created by tech, the productivity gains from buying solutions instead of rolling your own, the possibility to focus on your own competencies vs getting distracted by maintaining y
35.
by shaqbert 8y ago
You are right. My point is moot. Alas, when we could not even fix Hanford with money in the past, I am a little worried about doing it with less cash going forward.
36.
by shaqbert 8y ago
Not that surprising given the current leadership and budgetary direction at the Department of Energy. Micheal Lewis ran a great piece [0] on the Nuclear facility safeguards about a year ago, and it appears it is quite prophetic... [0]: htt
37.
by shaqbert 8y ago
Sounds like you need a young gun co-founder to complement your expertise with the energy and enthusiasm of youth.
38.
by shaqbert 9y ago
You need a headless CMS like Contentful[0]. They have a free developer tier which is great for static sites, especially when you pair it with the super awesome React based static site generator GatsbyJS[1]. [0]: https://www.conte
39.
by shaqbert 9y ago
Well yes in terms of Plutonium in general, but not the weapon grade P239 kind of material that is very pure... For those you need a specific reactor dedicated to one cause.
40.
by shaqbert 9y ago
In context, here is a great video from the Belfer center on nuclear bomb making and what are the hard parts [0]. Getting the fission material is the hard part, and in order to get plutonium nukes you need a enrichment plant, i.e. a reactor
41.
by shaqbert 9y ago
The key issue with N26 is their poor unit economics. Right now, they are losing money on most of the checking accounts, as they foot the ATM wholesale fee (though they limit it to 3 "free" ATM withdrawals per months). The issue is
42.
by shaqbert 9y ago
In general, mining is very responsive to price signals. If a given commodity becomes dear, prices go up, and mining recommences. A couple of years later, all is back to equilibrium. Our planet is fully of all elements. True, some deposits h
43.
by shaqbert 9y ago
While innovation to substitute an expensive ingredient from a potentially unreliable supplier is laudable, from a chemist/metallurgist point of view I wish there was more innovation in mining and cleaning up the process of getting rare
44.
by shaqbert 9y ago
Indeed it is. Joel had a great analyis on what went wrong[0] at FB (and to some extend Twitter). They were optimising for the wrong metrics, forgetting user utility and happiness in the process. Fixing this will mean making less money. But
45.
by shaqbert 9y ago
Why did Larry Lessig not find more support amongst the tech billionaire crowd? His open source policy programs on fixing US democracy ought to be a magnet for hobnobbing billionaires at the very top of Maslow's pyramid.
46.
by shaqbert 9y ago
Actually, it is quite the opposite. Once an enterprise software company has crossed the $40m revenue threshold, has low churn, and growth is >2x, you got yourselves a winner. Now Snowflake has grown 3x over consecutive years, and with al
47.
by shaqbert 9y ago
If they are smart, they will do some self regulation to preempt the government from coming in. Giving more transparency and empowerment to the users, and explaining a little more what they are doing, and why they are doing it, would go a lo
48.
by shaqbert 9y ago
Flamanville - cost overrun. Olkiluoto - cost overrun. Hinkeley Point C - cost overrun. You see the pattern? The bane of the nuclear industry is not safety, but cost. Too expensive and risky to build and decomission.
49.
by shaqbert 9y ago
That one is really meant for small things. Alas, for massive sites with lots of content, Netlify's other services plays nicely with other tools. E.g. his AT&T dev proposes GatsbyJS, Contentful, and Netlify in combination [0]. [0]:
50.
by shaqbert 9y ago
TL;DR: - the 2nd stage with passive graphite divertor tiles ready to fire up plasma tests again - now temperatures of 70m centigrade for the ions possible, vs. 10m for the 1st stage tests - operation of up to 10 sec next - 3rd stage planned
51.
Wendelstein 7-X: Second round of experimentation started(ipp.mpg.de)
2 points by shaqbert 9y ago|1 comments
52.
by shaqbert 9y ago
More likely that when you don't get it, that you're probably not the target audience. B2B companies typically have pretty narrow target personas, wither their very own set of needs and challenges. They need to get it. The rest doe
53.
by shaqbert 9y ago
A couple of years back, when rare earth prices were high and China restricted exports, the media was full of scaremongering stories about how we gonna see our industry shut down, etc. Turns out that prices are a strong signal to start minin
54.
by shaqbert 9y ago
In my country, arbitration is NOT legally binding. That said, the court ruling is often the same but much more onerous costly and time consuming. Thus arbitration rulings are accepted 9 out of 10 times.
55.
by shaqbert 9y ago
I know it is intentional. It is the easy way out to minimize friction, potential litigation, social backlash. All short term cost. Alas, the long term cost of being opaque is lost trust. I much rather have Google give a straight answer. Esp
56.
by shaqbert 9y ago
Just hit "report spam" in Gmail and before long their email domain gets burned. That hurts much more than some shaming list. The crafty companies use dedicated and disposable domains (e.g. facebookmail.com) for their more "ag
57.
by shaqbert 9y ago
The automated canned answer is what rubs me the most here. There is a professor who trusted Google's Gmail and Blogspot product, gets the Axe for some violation of Terms of Service or Quality Guidelines, and does not get a clear and st
58.
by shaqbert 9y ago
Tom Scott has a very educational video[0] on why electronic voting is a really bad idea. [0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3_0x6oaDmI
59.
by shaqbert 9y ago
On the neutron absorption challenge: There are big advances in material science, especially with a FLiBe salt blanket fill. The challenge is more on the engineering side, i.e. how can you build it so that you can do maintenance and replace
60.
by shaqbert 9y ago
Problem w/ the ARC reactor is that it is just a design. The real life engineering challenges are still daunting. E.g. for the supra conductors at the Wendelstein 7-X, which provide a much less powerful magnetic field, just assembling a

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