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The Hydlaa Plaza / Re: I'm back! (again)
« on: September 22, 2010, 02:02:48 am »
Welcome back. Don't quite remember you but then again I joined the forums back in January 2002 and then left for a few years.
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The Hydlaa Plaza / Re: WAT DO I DO??
« on: September 22, 2010, 01:59:22 am »so, i just became an adult
...
what do i do with my newfound adultlyness
Work every day, start paying taxes, and start realizing that you miss the free time and lack of responsibilities you had as a kid. No wonder old people turn out so darn grumpy
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General Discussion /
« on: December 16, 2005, 03:13:35 am »
Wow, how did you find this old post? It was posted way back in January 2002. Welcome to PS 
.
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The Hydlaa Plaza /
« on: November 10, 2005, 09:00:20 pm »
Speaking of solar cells, here\'s some interesting news:
Nanotechnology Center Makes Flexible Solar Cell Breakthrough
Looks good if they can lower the manufacturing costs. Now that the military is interested, this might happen eventually as these fibers would need to be mass produced at a quick rate.
Nanotechnology Center Makes Flexible Solar Cell Breakthrough
Quote
...researchers at Wake Forest University\'s Center for Nanotechnology and Molecular Materials have made significant strides in improving the efficiency of organic or flexible solar cells.
?The consumer market would be really open to having these conformal systems if you could, for instance, roll them up and put them away,? said Carroll, who is also an associate professor in Wake Forest?s physics department. ?Imagine a group of hikers with a tent that when you unrolled the tent and put it up, it could generate its own power. Imagine if the paint on your car that is getting hot in the sun was instead converting part of that heat to recharge your battery.?
Carroll said flexible, organic solar cells also offer several possibilities for military use.
?The military would obviously want something like that because you could only put maybe tens of those big solar panels on a transport, but you could put hundreds of ultra-thin flexible ones on a transport and supply half the army,? he said.
Using a set of polymer coatings, researchers at Wake Forest constructed a nanophase within the polymer called a ?mesostructure.? The ?mesostructure? changes the properties of the plastic and makes it better for collecting light.
Looks good if they can lower the manufacturing costs. Now that the military is interested, this might happen eventually as these fibers would need to be mass produced at a quick rate.
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The Hydlaa Plaza /
« on: November 08, 2005, 04:56:57 am »
Here are some helpful links:
ITER website
Wikipedia article on ITER
This is the international project that aims to build a plasma fusion reactor that can achieve break-even. Break even occurs when the reactor produces enough energy for the fusion reaction to sustain itself (and the hope is that it will eventually produce excess power output). This is probably 25-50 years away due to the massive costs and overhead involved. Not to mention the difficulty in containing the ~50 - 100 million degree C plasma with the magnetic fields...
Don\'t confuse plasma fusion with cold fusion , which has never been proven to work and is considered impossible or highly improbable by many reputable sources.
Here\'s another good layman link from wiki: Hydrogen power
It\'s not the most trustworthy source, but it addresses a lot of points mentioned here.
Meanwhile I found an old slashdot article on the car that made its own fuel . Doesn\'t look too feasible to me though.
What about solar power? I know it\'s not very effecient right now (best light to electrical power conversion effeciency was 30% I think). But maybe someday with improving technology and materials, it could reach 70%. Won\'t replace fossil fuels, but it will really help save massive amounts of energy and help in the transition to the next step.
ITER website
Wikipedia article on ITER
This is the international project that aims to build a plasma fusion reactor that can achieve break-even. Break even occurs when the reactor produces enough energy for the fusion reaction to sustain itself (and the hope is that it will eventually produce excess power output). This is probably 25-50 years away due to the massive costs and overhead involved. Not to mention the difficulty in containing the ~50 - 100 million degree C plasma with the magnetic fields...
Don\'t confuse plasma fusion with cold fusion , which has never been proven to work and is considered impossible or highly improbable by many reputable sources.
Here\'s another good layman link from wiki: Hydrogen power
It\'s not the most trustworthy source, but it addresses a lot of points mentioned here.
Meanwhile I found an old slashdot article on the car that made its own fuel . Doesn\'t look too feasible to me though.
What about solar power? I know it\'s not very effecient right now (best light to electrical power conversion effeciency was 30% I think). But maybe someday with improving technology and materials, it could reach 70%. Won\'t replace fossil fuels, but it will really help save massive amounts of energy and help in the transition to the next step.
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The Hydlaa Plaza /
« on: July 20, 2005, 06:14:52 am »Quote
Originally posted by Efflixi AduroQuoteOriginally posted by Demarthl
so paint all your keys black, theres a das keyboard :|
I\'ll be stealing the first optimus i see
No, you see dem, some keys wll be harder to press than others. It will let you type 100 times faster and your iq will jump up 100 points.
I bet all those harder to press keys will also add two inches to your biceps and 150 lbs to your bench
. You\'ll also learn how to type in pitch black conditions
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The Hydlaa Plaza /
« on: July 08, 2005, 10:34:30 pm »Quote
Originally posted by AnnahQuoteSo by the same logic, why should we care about the war in Iraq and the genocide in Sudan? Hey, people die everyday, right? More people commit suicide than die in wars every year.
What you say is true, but the difference is that this is an act of deliberate mass murder. The same applies to genocide and war - you cannot ethically compare the lives lost in these events to accidents, local crimes, or natural death. This attack was directed against a group of people (against Britain in this case) with the intent to destroy lives, morale, and infrastructure. The extremists did this even though most of the victims had nothing to do with the war in Iraq and were going about their daily lives.
Actually, that\'s by your personal logic. I don\'t think you\'ve heard me saying that.
Actually that\'s exactly what you said. You asked why we feel sorry toward the London bombing victims or for people that are victims in events that get a lot of news coverage (wars, terrorist attacks, etc) and seemingly ignore the deaths of other people around the world.
Like I said before, you can not ethically compare the loss of people in wars and terrorist attacks to other events like petty crimes. The terrorist attacks are an attempt to emotionally as well as physically attack all people of a certain nationality or group. The same can be said of a war. In effect they are a blow to the nation or group targeted as a whole - a symbolic act that rattles morale and hurts more than the immediate victims. That is the reason these events get more coverage than the death tolls from disease (which has killed more people than all wars combined).
So when people try to express sympathy, realize that they are not trying to say \"hey, the lives of westerners value more to me\". They are sincerely trying to help the people affected overcome the terror, know that they are not alone, and that they have friends abroad standing with them.
Now let\'s become more civil and stop these arguments. I want to add my sympathies to the people affected and hope people continue going about their lives, refusing to let the extremists win.
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The Hydlaa Plaza /
« on: July 08, 2005, 12:30:51 am »Quote
Originally posted by Annah
And don\'t want to sound mean, but people are killed every day, in every part of the world, but no one cares about them. People die, but no one even looks at them. People die, and you don\'t see those on the news. Don\'t they have all your sympathy?
So by the same logic, why should we care about the war in Iraq and the genocide in Sudan? Hey, people die everyday, right? More people commit suicide than die in wars every year.
What you say is true, but the difference is that this is an act of deliberate mass murder. The same applies to genocide and war - you cannot ethically compare the lives lost in these events to accidents, local crimes, or natural death. This attack was directed against a group of people (against Britain in this case) with the intent to destroy lives, morale, and infrastructure. The extremists did this even though most of the victims had nothing to do with the war in Iraq and were going about their daily lives.
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The Hydlaa Plaza /
« on: May 18, 2005, 06:37:26 pm »
I believe immortality (as in eternal life) is impossible. However, slowing down the mechanisms of aging is a very big possibility. It is an engineering problem (but a very complex one).
DNA does degenerate with every cell replication. The DNA - mRNA transcription process is also not perfect and it sometimes leads to faulty protein production. Metabolic processes in the cell produce toxic waste and this becomes a problem as these toxins slowly build up, accelerating the rate of decay. There are also environmental causes of aging like radiation, free radicals, and disease. Even breathing causes aging; the air is part oxygen, a highly reactive chemical.
The best ways to live longer right now is eating healthy food and getting plenty of exercise. There is no \"miracle pill\" (and probably never will be).
Theoretically, it is possible to repair DNA at the molecular level and increase mitochondrial/metabolic efficiency. It is also possible someday to re-engineer DNA by promoting genes that slow aging or aid in cellular repair mechanisms. Then there are other more radical options - replacing worn out tissues with those grown from stem cells, molecular machines (either bionano or nanobots) that clean the body from within, machine replacement parts, etc etc.
Since aging is a finite solvable problem, it can be overcome. The question is when.
DNA does degenerate with every cell replication. The DNA - mRNA transcription process is also not perfect and it sometimes leads to faulty protein production. Metabolic processes in the cell produce toxic waste and this becomes a problem as these toxins slowly build up, accelerating the rate of decay. There are also environmental causes of aging like radiation, free radicals, and disease. Even breathing causes aging; the air is part oxygen, a highly reactive chemical.
The best ways to live longer right now is eating healthy food and getting plenty of exercise. There is no \"miracle pill\" (and probably never will be).
Theoretically, it is possible to repair DNA at the molecular level and increase mitochondrial/metabolic efficiency. It is also possible someday to re-engineer DNA by promoting genes that slow aging or aid in cellular repair mechanisms. Then there are other more radical options - replacing worn out tissues with those grown from stem cells, molecular machines (either bionano or nanobots) that clean the body from within, machine replacement parts, etc etc.
Since aging is a finite solvable problem, it can be overcome. The question is when.
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The Hydlaa Plaza /
« on: May 18, 2005, 09:12:39 am »Quote
Originally posted by ajdaha
Anyway, something else that I was wondering about. Does anyone else know about this...it is possible to stop light in its tracks and then a couple of secs/mins/hours later (or whichever time period) let it go again. So for example you shine a light onto this clear box with certain gases in them, the light doesn\'t come out the other end.
There was an article in Scientific American about them slowing light using super-cold gas.
http://www.physics.hku.hk/~tboyce/sf/topics/lightfreeze/lightfreeze.html#ultracold
Original location (a snippet of the article)
And here is the practical side (optical computers):
http://www.physorg.com/news3679.html
If you are interested in research into life-extension and serious debate on whether immortality is possible, look in this site:
http://www.imminst.org/
Some more science/tech news sites:
http://www.newscientist.com/
http://www.physorg.com/
Physics news update
Wired
Kurzweilai site
And buddha is right, take things with a grain of salt.
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The Hydlaa Plaza /
« on: April 29, 2005, 11:13:20 pm »
The Psychology Behind Games
The link is kind of self explanatory. I\'ll just add that the article mostly deals with what makes games enjoyable.
I think you have to register to see the article, but you can go to bugmenot.com to bypass that step.
The link is kind of self explanatory. I\'ll just add that the article mostly deals with what makes games enjoyable.
I think you have to register to see the article, but you can go to bugmenot.com to bypass that step.
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The Hydlaa Plaza /
« on: October 23, 2004, 10:14:14 am »
You can use the rusty old plate armor or better yet, this thing . Although I wouldn\'t be sure if it could withstand a 500kg bear as the inventor claims .
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The Hydlaa Plaza /
« on: October 23, 2004, 05:21:01 am »Quote
Originally posted by Typhorean
The moral of this story is wear metal gauntlets all the time, ask your sparring partner just how hard and how often they train, and dont stick your hands under moving 16-year-olds.
Yeah, but metal gauntlets won\'t save you when a 250 lb college football player is trying to tackle you. Ouch... they would have to pry what\'s left of your hands out of the damn things.
Yea and keep your hands away from toddlers. These little dudes love to try out their new teeth on anything
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The Hydlaa Plaza /
« on: October 21, 2004, 10:00:54 pm »Quote
Originally posted by JellyWerker
sum =
work out 3 hours a day (running, rowing, erging (rowing machine) and misc. exercises and stretches, and about 10 mi. biking)
eat out about once or twice a month
5,8 (or 9 or 10?)
120lb
eat constantly ( never gain weight though, fast metabolism?)
It has to do with many factors. Genetics is one of them when talking about how our body gains weight or in what way it metabolizes food. But in your case I notice that you do a lot of cardiovascular and endurance exercise.
You won\'t really gain weight because those types of workouts use up tons of calories and only slightly increase muscle mass. On the other hand, if you eat constantly and weight train (with heavy weights and low reps), then you will more easily gain a few pounds every few weeks or so.
Btw, good stuff. At your age it\'s better to do endurance exercises than weight training. It\'s also good for your heart. Even if someone doesn\'t weigh a lot, being active is a lot better in the long term than being sedentary.
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The Hydlaa Plaza /
« on: October 08, 2004, 02:40:11 am »
Good stuff. This should have been said in the beginning. While the forums appear to be dieing for some (for their own personal reasons), they look as normal as ever to me and many others.
In other words, it will die if you let it. Doesn\'t mean other people will not take interest in the forum and move it in the direction they like it to go. And yes it is evolving - so you might find something you like if you are patient and passively (like I am) take part in a few discussions that spark interest. It\'s up to you.
In other words, it will die if you let it. Doesn\'t mean other people will not take interest in the forum and move it in the direction they like it to go. And yes it is evolving - so you might find something you like if you are patient and passively (like I am) take part in a few discussions that spark interest. It\'s up to you.