Re: Not the first time
Or just make a new and slightly bigger one to eclipse the previous one.
55 publicly visible posts • joined 13 Jul 2011
"Hi Chris."
"Hi Sundar, Nice to hear from you. How life at the Big G"
"Oh you know, just fired 12k.
Getting a bit of blowback about my stock options though.
Could you pop out a press release asking us to fire 20k instead."
"No Problemo - Why don't I make it a round 30k, that should make them properly grateful eh?"
Corporate tussles: It's actually like WWF wrestling
Much as rockets and space are very cool, I think we get little payback from it.
Compare spending just on the SLS with the total US spend on fusion power.
http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2021/ph241/margraf1/
One of these things pushes the boundaries of pure science and applied engineering to the very limits, so far we are not even certain of an outcome. It might give the whole planet a way out of existential threats.
The other retreads the 1960's, but even when/if it succeeds there is no significant payoff for the people who paid for it.
You seem to be supporting my point, not contradicting it.
Since baseload electrical generation (of the kind you describe) can't be shutdown quickly, you need to have loads that can be turned on and off at whim instead.
Process heat, augmenting existing fossil fueled furnaces with renewable electricity is that kind of of load. You can turn the heaters up and down as fast as you can send control signals. Your process always runs as normal, because it is (initially at least) a fossil fueled system anyway
This is economic because the (pre-existing) fossil fuel furnace is sunk cost - so there is no penalty for not using it when cheaper renewables are available.
Of course this is a transitional tool, in 30 years time, long after today's furnaces have been scrapped we need to do something different.
Easy to find some number for that: 46 vs 164g/kWh
Total life cycle GHG emissions from solar PV systems are similar to other renewables and nuclear energy, and much lower than coal.
https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy13osti/56487.pdf
It is true to point out however than renewables are front loaded: most of the emissions happen today, not over the lifetime.
It is reasonable to expect solar to improve by a factor of 2 over time, while coal won't.
(My mate just added new panels and they are ~30% lighter/W than those installed 6 years ago)
Assuming your figures (18km/yr) are correct, then:
To miss a 12600 diameter object you have to move 6300km / 18km/yr = 350 x 570kg=200,00kg
SpaceX Starship is ~100T dry mass and 100+T payload = 200,000kg
Coincidence??
From cars whose engines overheated when the sun came out,
I still remember shock at British Leyland when they discovered that in some parts of the world, water fell from the sky unexpectedly fouling the ignition system that was right behind the front grille. Luckily they were able to put a piece of cardboard in to stop water.
This -> 100.5 tonnes is f-all.
And obviously wrong since 100T of carbon is ~10 truckloads of coal - not exactly going to run a power station for a year is it?
I roughly calculate that 100MW @4hrs/day average = 105,195 tonnes CO2/year for coal fired power.
At 2 years for construction energy and 25 year lifetime to 50% output, that's 1.8MT CO2
> drive into the back of a stationary Motorcycle in broad daylight
Oh yeah, I was stopped at a pedX for an old lady to dodder across, and (improbably) noticed a car coming up behind didn't seem to be slowing. The screaming wheelie I did at the last possible second probably saved the old lady too. I dare say she didn't think so.
"More recently, access to wholesome, affordable food has become problematic."
So true.
Where I was living in small town US for a while, there were 2 supermarkets (now only one, they bought the other and demolished the building). No butcher. No vege shops. No other choice.
There were veges but they were never fresh - tomatoes could be left out for months - they didn't rot or mould, just shrink. Plain rolled oats were only in small boxes, and a premium priced food (~9x the price of fruit loops, if you can beleive it) for some sort of health freak that would that shit.
The nearest fresh veges I managed to find were ~120miles away.
Tasty cheese and beer - drive to Toronto. (Mmmm Toronto - Cheese, Beer, Svelte women)
I love my Samsung N145/150 netbooks - got about 20 for work use, a couple for the kids at home.
Cost nothing.
Run for ever.
Weigh nothing. (well theres no bloody metal in there for sure)
Runs Matlab, LOffice, etc.
Don't really care when the missus stands on it and smashes the display.
Don't care if a dirt bag flogs it when I'm travelling, or I fill it with beach sand, or drop it in the sea.
Get a pixel Qi display. Costs a couple of hundred $, but you can read the screen in full sunlight, and the battery life is even longer. Piece of p**s to change screens in my Samsung N150's
And Windows 7 Home - brilliant.