The slow-speed rail in California is being killed by green tactics.
Category Archives: Technology and Society
The Tim The Tool Man Approach
…to lighting up the moon.
One quibble. If you really bought that many one-watt green lasers, I’m sure that you’d get the price well below $300.
Being Immortal
Five reasons that it would suck.
I think it misses the point a little, though. It assumes that only you would be immortal. If everyone was, some of the reasons would go away. But more importantly, the goal isn’t immortality, it’s the ability to live as long as one wants to. I think that when you phrase it that way, none of the objections apply.
Obama’s Next Solyndra
Here comes Smith Electric:
The company has very limited customer base of only eight companies, and “the loss of any of these customers could materially harm our business.”
The SEC filing contained other damaging revelations. The firm said that its truck’s lithium-ion battery cells “have been observed to catch fire or vent smoke and flames,” and their warranty reserves may be insufficient to cover future warranty claims.
The company’s top management has limited or no experience in the automobile or truck business. Hansel previously led Evo Medical Solutions, which sold portable oxygen concentrators.
But other than that, it was a great bet, Secretary Chu.
Electric Cars
…are a waste of money, according to the CBO. Well, at least government subsidized ones. But who would expect a physicist to know anything about business or economics?
A Vision Of The Future
This will not make women obsolete, but it’s going to be rough on the prostitution profession, when the technology achieves its peak.
Of course, many prostitutes will tell you that men don’t really come (so to speak) for the sex.
Your Dishwasher
Six unconventional uses for it. What’s particularly amusing is that, because it’s the Internet, the comments section almost immediately degenerates into a political flame war.
Elon Musk
A long profile over at Business Week.
Obama’s iPhone Flub
Some thoughts on the unjustified arrogance of The One. He really is insufferable. Again, I have no idea why people find him “likable.” I never have, except in that one speech in 2004.
Unsure Robots
…make better teachers than know-alls.
This doesn’t surprise me at all. I’ve always found that the best way to learn a subject is to teach it to someone else.