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handol

327 karma · joined June 25, 2020

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handol··on Japan tests explosion-powered rocket for the first time in space (2021)
The detonation produces higher pressure and temperature, causing higher exhaust gas velocities. More energy in the exhaust means more push from the same amount of propellant. About 15% more. The other yet to be realized in practice advantage is that by eliminating the compressor stages on a rocket engine its construction is simplified, and despite needing a much stronger combustion chamber, it could actually be lighter.

If it can live up to more efficient, cheaper, and lighter then it will certainly see widespread use.

There are bound to be issues with new larger designs, but nothing show stopping is expected.

handol··on Air pollution cancer breakthrough will rewrite the rules
> Most companies decided to just pull diesel cars from the US market, and it turns out that all of the ones that stayed were tricking the tests in one way or another.

That's just not true. There were three options, stop selling diesels, implement a selective catalytic reduction system, cheat the test. All three were done.

handol··on Bicycles Have Evolved. Have We?
>I'm actually surprised that there isn't more direct action against overly aggressive drivers.

What direction action could a cyclist take on a car driver that intentionally buzzed them while passing? I suppose if you happen to catch up to them at a light you could vandalize their car. Make a habit of doing that and you'll wind up the victim of an unfortunate accident that no one will be punished for.

handol··on Facebook staff now to be known as “Metamates”
> A future myth?

Yes, a story about the future that he wants to generate a collective social belief in.

handol··on Facebook staff now to be known as “Metamates”
Seems pretty selfish to keep all that money when he could give it back to Meta.
handol··on Facebook staff now to be known as “Metamates”
I think it really boils down to, they need a near future myth for investors to speculate their stock price up. That myth is, ubiquitous, always-on AR is just around the corner, and they're going to be the platform it runs on.
handol··on US DOE to offer $6B to keep struggling nuclear reactors online
Take the money from public education and fund vouchers. Those vouchers aren't going to get you into the good private school, you'll need money on top of the voucher for that. They get you in the school that prepares your for life in prison. https://time.com/101440/new-orleans-charter-schools-shouldnt...
handol··on Omicron wave was brutal on kids; hospitalization rates 4X higher than delta’s
What percentage of the population do you think would need be hospitalized for "brutal" to be accurate?
handol··on How Einstein arrived at his theory of general relativity
If giving his collaborators credit diminishes his stature, then his stature must have become overblown.
handol··on Tesla FSD beta crashes into object [video]
You don't have to look at other industries. Other auto-manufacturers do their testing on test tracks.
handol··on DNA has a 521-year half-life (2012)
There has been some evidence that DNA can be preserved far longer than the half-life would suggest.

https://academic.oup.com/nsr/article/7/4/815/5762999

handol··on America's Favorite Pickup Truck Goes Electric
Is that simply your impression, or is there trip length data to support that?
handol··on Are warp drives science now?
> We know what happens to matter at those speeds, it becomes infinitely "heavy" and would experience time in relative light-years (I mean time-to-travel at light speeds) no?

I don't think we do know what happens. Relativistic mass approaches infinity at exactly c. Beyond c we obviously have no data, but if we just apply the same equations the relativistic mass would drop back to a finite value. A finite complex value.

handol··on Are warp drives science now?
Isn't getting where you're going in less time the whole point of going fast? Why would you want to use a device that made your journey take longer?
handol··on Are warp drives science now?
> It was never a stipulation of warp drives that they would cause something to move.

The name was lifted from a very well known science fiction universe, where it has exactly that stipulation. As a result it carries that implication for (the vast majority of) readers when it shows up on IFLScience or whatever.

handol··on Are warp drives science now?
The field can't help being click bait with a name so loaded with implications that the work does not back up.

e.g. that the warp fields studied would be capable of causing something to move.

handol··on Did a Cuttlefish Write This?
You can still raise sentient animals for slaughter, it's pretty far from being a legal person. Other animals in the sentient legal category include all vertebrates.
handol··on Interview with Charlie Munger on Controversial UCSB Dorm
And they rarely need to leave with the Costco and the night club on the roof.
handol··on Edward Snowden on corporate media hiring surveillance state operatives and liars
MSNBC and techchrunch aren't 'other' to the category of corporate media
handol··on OpenWorm
Would you believe that a text-to-speech program was suffering if it told you so?
handol··on Harnessing the benefits of UVA light treatment in Covid-19 patients
The quote (referring to a presentation on surface disinfectant studies):

> I asked Bill a question that probably some of you are thinking of, if you're totally into that world, which I find to be very interesting. So, supposing we hit the body with a tremendous—whether it's ultraviolet or just very powerful light—and I think you said that that hasn't been checked, but you're going to test it. And then I said, supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or in some other way, and I think you said you're going to test that too. It sounds interesting…

And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in a minute. One minute. And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning. Because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs. So it would be interesting to check that. So, that, you're going to have to use medical doctors with. But it sounds—it sounds interesting to me.

handol··on How can we make air conditioners more efficient? [video]
> That conversion is done by a crankshaft and once a crankshaft is in the system ... you get diminished efficiency because you're only getting maximum shove force in the middle of the piston stroke.

I don't think that's right. Why would diminished force when the piston is turning around lead to a power loss?

handol··on The World’s Largest Computer Chip
I think the Tesla "Tiles" of 25 D1 chips are on a single wafer with integrated interconnects. But there is certainly a huge difference in the memory bandwidth claims. Cerebras claims 20PB/s, and Tesla claims 10Tbps.
handol··on The protocol designed to heal the ozone layer may also have fended off warming
> Sure, but ditching your 20-year old beater of a car for a new electric one is not viable for a large percentage of the population at the moment, even in the richest countries. Maybe when 20-year old beater EVs are a thing the tide will turn.

That's part of the coordinating as a species problem.

handol··on The 3x+1 Problem [video]
for almost all inputs
handol··on Perceptual distortions in late-teens predict psychotic symptoms in mid-life
The article seems to treat psychosis, psychotic symptoms, and Schizophrenia as though they all refer to the same thing.
handol··on Physical Warp Drives
Doesn't that mean that warp drives are not possible? I mean if the device can't produce a driving force why call it a "drive"?
handol··on Live feed of Starship SN15 flight test [video]
Yes, it gets to terminal velocity pretty quickly, it's decelerating for most of the fall as the atmosphere gets denser.

Estimated kinematics from a prior flight. https://flightclub.io/result/2d?code=SN91

edit: To clarify, a drop from 100km would not hit terminal velocity quickly, it would accelerate until it got to the thicker lower atmosphere where it would be rapidly slowed.

handol··on Live feed of Starship SN15 flight test [video]
The difference would be supersonic/hypersonic flight during the fall.
handol··on ‘Insanely cheap energy’: solar power continues to shock the world
> (10 million watts of electricity)

10 million watt-hours of electricity

Your system would produce 10 million watts if it did 10 million watt-hours per hour.

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