Posts by Weapon

Boring SpaceX lobs another sat into orbit without anything blowing up ... zzzzz

Re: Ob: Pournelle

Except the Thunderbirds are a figment of imagination. Where as this is real life.

SpaceX's Musk: We'll reuse today's Falcon 9 rocket within 2 months

The ocean was not that calm. It just looks like that due to scale. The Falcon 9 first stage is HUGE. Think statue of liberty huge.

Watch: SpaceX finally lands Falcon rocket on robo-barge in one piece

Re: Well done :)

It was a really good day as far as clear skies go. So the launch footage was excellent. Also good that they placed a camera outside the barge this time around so that we could see the footage just in case the rocket landing interfered with communications like in previous landings.

Microsoft SQL Server for Linux is a brilliant and logical idea

Re: Why (collations! that is one reason!)

For postgres ADO.net, have you looked at Npgsql?

Re: Transact-SQL

There is also tPostgres and pgTSQL for porting from MS SQL to Postgres using the same.

SAS supports Postgres in 9.4 and forks of Postgres (Greenplum) in earlier versions. (Netezza and Aster are also forks of Postgres but are proprietary)

Re: Why

Sorry, Postgres is WAY more powerful than SQL Server.

Re: Why

You mean the GUI client, The query planner and the database engine? Though the query planner is generally part of the engine so maybe you are thinking of load balancer proxies?

Generally SQLite is decent for mobile or for making a small database to run on in testing then scale up. Otherwise for in-memory Redis is far easier to work with and is more intended for working in memory and scaling in memory.

If your goal is to move from Oracle, Postgres is a much better option than MariaDB. It is virtually compatible to Oracle (with maybe a few minor changes, but overall, you can port all stored procedures and everything with little issue). It is also a more powerful database than MariaDB and MS SQL.

What Microsoft is doing is simple, the cloud is dominated by Linux. They think that if they offer MS SQL for linux, that their clients will stick to using it on linux rather than migrate to Oracle, Postgres or MariaDB.

That said I don't see anyone switching from Postgres to MS SQL. So taking new market share is unlikely. Maybe from Oracle to some extent.

Re: Why

I can't think of almost anything that you can do on MS SQL that you can't in Postgres. It can pretty much do everything and more. You can also do extensions in other languages on Postgres (but have a wider variety of language options)

Sick burn, brah: SpaceX test fires rockets for SES bird launch this week

Re: As usual it's a 50/50 chance.

The change of this one landing is as I mentioned above really slim. It has nothing to do with how far it progressed and everything to do with the fact that they are launching a really heavy payload into a high orbit. To the point where most people didn't even think they would do a water landing even.

The more fuel, the higher the margin of error as it can run the throttle longer thus have more time to adjust. With so little fuel, this attempt is most likely under 10% chance. It literally has to perform perfect. My guess is the only reason why SpaceX is even doing it is to gather more data and attempt more difficult maneuvers.

The next one should be a real attempt. That said, despite the low odds of this one, I am hopeful.

The chance even for a water landing is going to be really slim for this one due to the heavy satellite and high orbit will leave them with little fuel. Regardless, I am hopeful.

Watch: SpaceX Dragon capsule breathes fire during crucial hover test

Re: Take me to your leader

Do they get extra points for doing this next to a cow farm?

Here is their SpaceX GrassHopper being tested in the same spot and cows going crazy:

http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--uZTCMuJ0--/c_scale,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/pnusnxe80xnwq7wifyor.jpg

SpaceX: launch, check. Landing? Needs work

Re: smuggling in from space

I am sure they did, because even earth orbiting satellites don't leave the atmosphere, the exosphere goes all the way to 10,000km

Re: Live embarassment

There is a DELAY in the feed and actual data. They did not cut it off, the EXPLOSION cut it off.

From then on data took priority over the feed.

And your Stalin comments are a sad joke.If Stalin was running it, he would not make a live feed, he would just only show the success and cover up all failure. SpaceX is offering full transparency, more than anyone else in the space industry.

Re: Live embarassment

The barge feed goes to their servers, then they transmit it to you. While the feed is live there is most likely a few seconds delay. Due to actual data taking priority over video feed data.

When it crashed, the explosion most likely temporarily killed the data feed. From then on priority was on collection of data. Not recovering the video feed.

A pretty simple concept.

1) Because even if you own the land you still need approval

2) Not all launches will have the luxury of landing on land that you want

3) This launch was to polar orbit, a rare orbit to launch to.

They might buy some land or make some fake land in their new launch facility they are building in Texas. But as far as their launch platform in CA, the launch happens too rare there.

Re: Live embarassment

You have a data link to the craft, the live feed is eating up data. If they are getting a lot of data, the data would prioritize itself over the feed.

Realistically speaking, they had no reason to even show you a live feed, they haven't in the past. They included a live feed out of courtesy, something they do not have to do. But again, Data > you getting live video feed.

Once they got their data, they downloaded the feed and published it in a few hours.

It is not as simple as making it water proof, you need to make it corrosion proof (salt water is corrosive) and water pressure proof. Doing all that will add a lot of complexity, cost and weight.

Cocky SpaceX will try another sea landing with next rocket launch

Point 2 is quote from Musk himself. That is not to say that Falcon Heavy could not land all 3 boosters on land, it can. But then it would have to be carrying a very light payload. (Think something barely too heavy for Falcon 9 FT but nowhere close to Falcon Heavy's capability)

Re: Of course they're testing it again

Even in worst case scenario, the Dragon V2 can separate from the rocket to safety and deploy parachute. You have multiple layers of fault tolerance.

Re: Of course they're testing it again

Try this year. The next one they recover will be reused within a year.

SpaceX makes rocket science look easy: Falcon 9 passes tests

Re: How many times?

It is hard to call shuttle engines fully reusable when they were exposed to salt water. Salt water is corrosive.

Getting metal hunks into orbit used to cost a bomb. Then SpaceX's Falcon 9 landed

Re: Real numbers would be interesting

SpaceX is already the cheapest launch provider in the world.

Elon Musk unmasks Tesla's Model X – the $132k anti-bioweapon SUV for the 1%

Re: Nice car

It is priced similar to the X, well to be more accurate they said it would be single digit % higher, in this case 5k higher.It is important to note current prices are top end special edition Founder/Signature models. After those are out of the way they will begin production of the lower end models and non-signature models.

Those are not gullwing doors, gullwing doors are single hinge. Those are Falcon Wing doors (2 hinge)

Re: Nice car

The Model X was always going to cost about same price as the Model S. Slightly more. Because it is based on same platform as the Model S. This was said from day 1. Some media outlets made the mistake of thinking the Model X was the affordable car because back in the day, the Tesla Model 3 was called Gen 3 car. The Tesla Roadster was Gen 1. And Tesla Model S was Gen 2. The Generation represents the platform, the Model X is a Gen 2 car. But many media outlets failed to do their research and assumed that Model X being the 3rd car was Gen 3. It is not.

If you look back at articles when the Gen 3 and Model X was announced, it makes it pretty clear Model X about same price as Model S, Gen 3 (Tesla Model 3) the affordable car.

Don't blame Tesla for the mess up by the lazy media.

Take THAT, Tesla: Another Oz energy utility will ship home batteries

The sunverge battery storage system costs 900$ per kwh. Tesla is selling the Powerwall for 350-430$ per kwh and Tesla Powerpack at 250$ per kwh. Somehow I don't think Musk is worried. If anything he would welcome more competition. If that is considered even competitive.

Tesla still burning cash: each car loses $4,000

Tesla actually has the highest gross profit of any US automaker. But rapid growth is not cheap. And Tesla takes that large gross profit and reinvests it into almost doubling in size every year.

I can just imagine how it was when Henry Ford started, I bet you media were going Henry Ford is losing X for every car he builds.

Popping the Tesla S bonnet – to reveal SIX NEW FLAWS

Re: Just the tip of the iceberg

The Tesla was never hacked, they first had PHYSICAL ACCESS to the car and modified it. (with physical access you can break any car by modifying the engines or etc). Tesla still fixed it in a day or 2.

Even then none of the 6 hacks pose any safety issues. So you are not making any sense.

PS no hacker is going to bother hacking cars to begin with realistically. There is no money in it. Same thing with PCs, most PC hacks are to gain control of a PC and use it as a zombie to try to attack servers and banks (where the real money is)

Petrol cars are dead in the water, says Tesla CTO waving numbers on the back of an envelope

Not really, they have a high self discharge rate because they prepare themselves for use. They can also go into sleep model. In sleep mode a Tesla can last 2 years on a charge. Also, petrol cars always have a leak in them, as vapors escape they continue to lose energy. Leaving petrol for a long time can even damage the car.

Based on US census, only 13% of the US population lives in apartments/condos. Which means for majority in the US it is a non-issue. Places high on apartments tend to be cities, retrofitting streetlights with EV chargers would solve the problem.

Re: Is it really cheaper?

I think you are underestimating the efficiency. If you were to put a gasoline car into kwh usage, it would be over 1 kwh per mile, in comparison an EV is 1/3rd to 1/4th that. So the efficiency difference is not 2X but 5X.

Re: Get this man a job in Congress!

Again an ignorant statement. The 7kwh powerwall is meant for markets which have high difference cost between peak and offpeak. It can be coupled with solar but generally not due to net metering. It instead is generally implemented to use offpeak power during peak. In some markets its cost is paid back within 5 years or so. Overall though Tesla is more focused on the cheaper grid/commercial Tesla Powerpack which is 25k USD for 100kwh. Economist peg the Tesla powerpack current cost to equivalent 2 cents power kwh.

Though overall, looking at the big picture, solar prices are expected to drop 40% within the next 2 years. Battery prices will hit 100$ per kwh within the next 5 years.

Did you say that just because you felt like it or actually bothered to research it? In a petrol car, production of the car is 20% of the pollution, driving is 80% of the pollution.

An EV only takes up about 30% more to produce. With the gigafactory it will be less since the factory will produce 120% of its power in renewable energy.

There is also no rare earth in neither a lithium ion battery nor the motor. (you are confusing it for either NIMH batteries or PM motors)

lol, you call -20c cold? The guy who has the most Tesla cars lives in arctic circle in Norway. It gets so cold, diesel freezes. But his Tesla cars work well.

Don't confused lead acid batteries to lithium ion batteries.

Buy a Tesla for the good of Australia, say country's dino-burners

That is nonsense. One does not stop the other. If every new car sold was an EV it would still take almost 2 decades to replace every car on the road. Start now on BOTH.

Solar is dropping in price, batteries are dropping in price. Take advantage and push both or be left out of the market.

GM's cheaper-than-Tesla 'leccy car tested at batt-powered data centre

Re: Don't believe it

You are wrong on a few counts.

1) Lithium Ion batteries lifespan varies by chemistry. Some chemistry can go over 50 years lifespan. In this case the chemistry used has over 15 years lifespan.

2) There will always be spare capacity batteries, especially from cars that ended up totaled.

3) Lithium Ion batteries are non-toxic. Don't confuse them for Lead Acid batteries.

4) Based on studies, even in places which have lots of travel like the US, 250 miles includes 99.8% of travel, yes even during holidays. Above 500 miles, most travel is by airplane.

5) You would only need about 1,500 fast chargers to cover the entire US or EU every 50 miles.

6) Hydrogen fuel cells are a joke. Not only do they offer lower range than EVs due to poor volumetric density. And not only will it cost TRILLIONS to build a fuel cell infrastructure. They are inferior to EVs in almost every single way. Do some research.

7) Based on latest studies, interest in EVs is about 20-25%. That said, the majority of the population is still not aware of EVs, as they become aware that will change. For one, EVs have the highest consumer satisfaction so far among cars.

A lot of errors.

There is a lot of errors in this article.

1) The Tesla Model 3 has NOT been delayed. It is a confusion in interpretation when Tesla mentioned mass production of the Model 3 will be in 2018, but actual production will start in 2017. For reference, when Tesla means mass production they are talking about over 5X the production rate the Bolt is expected to run at.

2) The Bolt is actually more expensive, it costs 37,500$, not 30,000$. The misunderstanding is that the Bolt will be 30K AFTER the 7.5k tax credit. In comparison, the Tesla Model 3 will be 35k BEFORE any tax credit.

Elon Musk pours more Kool-Aid into Powerwall

Personally I see no point in a 2-3kw installation. The best cost of return is probably about 7kw-12kw range. Based on statistics, in 2011 the average solar panel system was 5.7kw. There are no recent stats but based on what I have seen people are aiming for about 6.5kw - 8kw.

Elon Musk's $4.9bn taxpayer windfall revealed

Re: I totally object to UK & Ireland Electric Car Policy

Everyone benefits from fresh air. Unfortunately those polluting that air are not paying their fair share and we all have to pay for the health impacts. Which is far more than road taxes or fuel taxes.

Re: A little perspective..

Actually even more than that, the subsidies they are counting for Musk are not just subsidies of the past but also subsidies of the future. The Nevada deal for example is based on 20 years of subsidies that assume Tesla buys 10 billion worth of equipment over this time.

Most of these subsidies are not subsidies available to startups but subsidies available to all new businesses that come to a state. The largest subsidy here is the one from Nevada which is tax breaks on property tax and sales tax. This is available to pretty much any new business coming to Nevada:

http://www.diversifynevada.com/programs-resources/incentives

Fact of the matter these subsidies are a norm for all businesses these days, just look at Boeing who secured 8.7 billion subsidies just in 1 deal.

Hey, Woz. You've got $150m. You're kicking back in Australia. What's on your mind? Killer AI

They are not saying AI should not be done, what they are saying is AI should be regulated and logic worked out. Unlike other industries where we just let things go and let it work out by itself. AI if the logic is not carefully plotted can have devastating consequences.

So the warning is to make sure AI is being carefully planned and regulated rather than wait for bad stuff to happen when it will already be too late.

Elon Musk insists Gigafactory's ALL GO as China charging fears hit Tesla shares

Re: Model X

They haven't gotten quite about the Model 3. They released a bit of info just a month or 2 ago about it. The Model 3 will be unveiled in 2016 and on sale in 2017.

The biggest delay on the Model X has been due to overwhelming demand on the Model S. During this time they are refining the Model X.

Re: Hurry, hurry, hurry...

The gigafactory will be up and running in 2016. By 2020 it will hit full production. I also would not be worried about any technology replacing lithium ion within the next decade or 2.

SpaceX in ROCKET HOVERSHIP PRANG: 'Close – but no cigar,' says Musk

Re: Not a bad result!

Well the landing was too hard for the rocket to handle, but it was not too hard overall. If it was way too hard it would have sunk the barge. Judging that the barge is for the most part fine, what most likely happened different from a water landing to a surface landing is just that, accounting for the surface. It gets even more iffy since that said surface is floating up and down due to water flow.

Tesla's Elon Musk shows the world his D ... and it's a monster

Re: I dont get it.

Wrong! Yes it displaces some pollution, but overall you would decrease pollution due to efficiency of the drivetrain. There is no need to do upgrades to the grid nor would you need to add power generation facilities, the current grid can handle it with minor changes.

Lithium ion cell construction is not an issue, especially since Tesla plans to make them 100% using renewable energy. There is no rare earth used in batteries or motors of BEVs. Actually you would REDUCE rare earth use vs an ICE car.

Re: I dont get it.

Tesla offers an 80A twin charger, that is the fastest in-home charger. But you are under no obligation to use it. Lets put it this way, the average commute in the UK is 16.7 miles.

If you were to plug the car into a standard 240V @ 13A outlet. Your car would be topped off in less than 2 hours. So even if you have 3 cars you are only talking about using 39A at night. Aka no big deal.

Even if you drain your car to 0, you can still get over 100 miles overnight on a standard outlet. A 240V @ 40A can charge you to full over night from 0.

The twin charger is meant for people who need it, most don't really need it.

Re: Charging issues? Range?

Are you measuring energy consumption by weight?

I'll make it easy. About 300 billion miles are driven every year. A Tesla Model S goes about 3 miles per kwh. So about 100 billion kwh or 100 million mwh or 100,000 gwh or 100twh. Compared to almost 400twh of electricity production per year.

So if we were to convert every vehicle to EV, it would be only a 1/4th increase in electricity use.

And don't forget, gasoline takes a lot of electricity to refine even 1 gallon.