Interesting Links for 18-04-2012
Apr. 18th, 2012 12:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
andrewducker- Scotland's wind expertise is paying off - now selling turbines to the USA.
- Scotland's wind expertise is paying off - now selling turbines to the USA.
- Moore's Law hits cinema cameras - a 2.5K Cinema Camera with 12bit RAW for $3000
- A message to application programmers (these things piss me off too)
- 10 films that were rumoured to be ghost-directed
- Boston, 1967: When marathons were just for men
- At last, a use for homeopathy!
- An explanation of tech terms through the medium of breakfast cereal
- The 501 Developer Manifesto - valuing life over your job
- Wind Turbine Makes 1,000 Liters of Clean Water a Day in the Desert
- The BP oil spill, two years later: Natural recovery far greater than expected
- Twitter Vows To Sue For 'Defensive' Patent Purposes Only. Fantastic. Can we see a trend please?
- Talking to yourself has cognitive benefits
- Half-siblings of autistic children have 50% the chance of having autism as full-siblings
- Neil Gaiman Interviews Stephen King
- What Happened to the Iceberg That Sank the Titanic? (I'm looking forward to The Berg Strikes Back!)
- Now that consumer IP is non-rivalrous and non-excludable, what does that tell us about its price?
- Further evidence found of disturbed immune system in autism
- Operators think Nokia would sell better with Android - Windows smartphones still not selling
A shame, as I'd love there to be more competitors in the phone space, to keep everyone on their toes. I'd actually be tempted by a Windows phone, if they weren't locked to the MS app store.
- We Don't Need Game Publishers, Hardware Makers or Retailers
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no subject
Date: 2012-04-18 02:06 pm (UTC)... if only there was a way to generate energy from drizzle too we'd be able to take over the world... :-)
no subject
Date: 2012-04-19 08:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-19 03:01 am (UTC)But 2500 pixels isn't much, and even 2500 x 2500 doesn't sound that impressive. So it must not be pixels. Does the K even stand for kilo, or maybe Kelvin?
no subject
Date: 2012-04-19 08:46 am (UTC)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4K_resolution
no subject
Date: 2012-04-19 12:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-18 11:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-18 11:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-18 10:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-18 12:03 pm (UTC)Also to keep in mind: by contributing to an office-culture of working long hours and having-no-life you are contributing to the disadvantage suffered by those who no option but to have an outside-the-office life (because management tend to feel that "works longer hours" means "is better at job" and that means that people unwilling/unable to work long hours are much less likely to get raises, promotions, or even jobs). Plus by doing the work of three people you are keeping two people out of a job (supposing people would be hired rather than the work going undone).
no subject
Date: 2012-04-18 12:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-18 12:50 pm (UTC)I envy people who have jobs that they love and are happy spending time on...
I don't envy people who spend their whole lives at work though. I have too many hobbies to want to do that - I want to spend time running, and knitting, and playing at being in the 16th century.
no subject
Date: 2012-04-18 01:40 pm (UTC)I do NOT envy the "so very wealthy". With nothing you *have* to you better hope to have something you *really want* (see aforemetioned people with jobs they love) to do.... or what's the point to life?
At the moment, due to modest lifestyle, paid off mortgage (1-bed flat) and money in my consulting company pot, I don't *have* to do anything much. At least not for, say, a year. It's actually very hard, because we are none of us used to being self-directed, from early childhood we have been trained to either be someone's minion or to claw our way into the ranks of the minion-herders [this being my own particular terminology - hence the name of my original music project :-) ].
Given the time/space/funds/free energy to do what we *want* how many of us still actually have the drive to actually do all that much? It seems like it, when we are cramming our hobbies into small spaces, but it's very different when those restrictions really are off... or so I am finding.
To have something worth doing and to be doing it well, to know I am trying my hardest and that what I am achieving thereby is enough - that's what I need. Damned hard to find....at least for me.
no subject
Date: 2012-04-18 01:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-18 02:14 pm (UTC)(I'm the kind of weirdo can't truly enjoy something unless I know I am good and getting better/trying my damnedest to get better. Well, maybe dancing... cos I know I'll never be much cop at that :-) )
no subject
Date: 2012-04-18 02:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-18 04:26 pm (UTC)Interesting!
Date: 2012-04-18 02:33 pm (UTC)I'd like to work in the psychiatric outpatients/inpatients here, because they're so woefully understaffed (or at least it looks that way from here). They look like they could do with a bit more of administrative support and to develop a better system of doing things. Although, this is fantasy, so I'm not worrying about the potential Data Protection Act hell, and NHS + bigger systems hell.
After that gets fixed, I'd like to go work as a therapist or dietitian, something involving the mind and body. This I can do in real life, but it requires another undergraduate degree and postgraduate diploma/masters to be able to. Even if I wanted to be a clinical psychologist, I'd have to get on the course (very hard) and complete a 3 to 4 year doctorate which probably would drive me insane. And, I don't really want to work with people at the far end of the psychological disordered/dysfunctional spectrum. I'd much rather work with middle of the road people who are ill, and help them find ways of getting better (without touching them).
I have lots of things I'd like to do, which resemble careers, but I knew from an early age I was going to have to work, so I've spent a lot of my child time focusing on that. I dabble with painting and sewing. Maybe if I was better at them, I'd want to do them more. I also dabble with cooking, but I'm so sick of having to eat 3 times a day and cook/prepare food, even if I was better I'd rather have a special machine to do it for me!
Re: Interesting!
Date: 2012-04-18 04:36 pm (UTC)I could see me being a personal trainer/diet advisor. I actually have a perfectly good enough working knowledge, much more than most people (maybe even than some that do it, no, in fact I *know* better than some that do it!) but I could never keep my mouth shut through the bullshit of getting certificates for it. There is such a lot of crap talked/done and so many people with non-science heads who just take things as gospel/follow the latest trends. Kinda depressing. Getting the work probably means networking or doing dubious deals with gyms and all that cr@p that I can't be arsed with and am no good at.
Rehab phyiso would also appeal - but long training and the NHS need way, way more (and to use them more! Injury rehab is dreadfully limited compared to what pro athletes get... and it's SO necessary, people just dont' realise. Think about all those old people with minor falls and knee ops etc etc...) but can't afford them so there's no obvious 'training ground' where you can get better and more experienced whilst learning from others who are better/more experienced.
Re: Interesting!
Date: 2012-04-18 10:58 pm (UTC)God if I believed that I think I'd just kill myself. Any ability to be pragmatic about my employment prospects depends entirely on my acceptance that, for most people, work and enjoyment are two separate things, and that's okay, it's just how it is.
Re: Interesting!
Date: 2012-04-19 08:59 am (UTC)Re: Interesting!
Date: 2012-04-19 04:17 pm (UTC)I didn't mean 'fun' - I meant 'enjoyment' in the sense that's closer to 'satisfaction'.
And it was all my own personal opinion/experience. *I* personally don't cope well with work when I don't have that.
Urgh, I am in a bloody strange mood at the moment, probaby best not to mind me too much.
no subject
Date: 2012-04-18 01:20 pm (UTC)Partly it's that in my case, it's difficult to argue that my free software activities are some kind of unwholesome overspill from my job, since I was doing them before I even had a job, and when I started applying for jobs one of my major criteria for choosing between them was whether any given job would afford me the time and energy (not to mention freedom from overzealous copyright land-grabs in the contract) to carry on with free-software stuff.
But mostly, I think, there's a fundamental difference of viewpoint in that they're dividing the space of human activity into Software Engineering (work) and Everything Else (personal life). Whereas I divide it into Doing Stuff That Matters To My Employer (work) versus Doing Stuff That Matters To Me (personal life), and if some things in the latter category also happen to be software engineering then that makes them no less me-stuff rather than work-stuff.
no subject
Date: 2012-04-18 01:46 pm (UTC)"I vary on this one. I have a bunch of hobbies, of which coding is one. When I go through a coding phase then I'm not a 501 developer. When I go through a boardgaming phase I am.
In any case, I try not to _work_ more than 40-hours per week, but my play frequently still involves computers."
no subject
Date: 2012-04-18 02:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-18 11:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-19 05:37 pm (UTC)Also, I can have a work/life balance without it having to be a stone wall sort of thing; I will stay at the office late to play board games with co-workers, or stay late to finish something and then sleep in the next day.
no subject
Date: 2012-04-18 01:36 pm (UTC)I’m an accountant.
Sometimes I do management accounting and business planning for my employer and sometimes I do it for friends of my lovely wife and sometimes I do it for various clubs I’m involved in.
Sometimes I enjoy it and sometimes I don’t. This doesn’t necessarily depend on whether I’m being paid or volunteering.
no subject
Date: 2012-04-18 01:55 pm (UTC)moisture farming! :)
all we need now is blue milk.
no subject
Date: 2012-04-18 02:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-19 07:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-18 03:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-18 03:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-18 03:55 pm (UTC)I'm perfectly prepared to believe that some of the things I link to are incorrect, but I'm not so happy to just have people swear at something without giving any reason to take their word over the writer of the original article.
no subject
Date: 2012-04-18 04:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-18 06:43 pm (UTC)First, I don't understand it. I'd understand it if it was a condenser. It's not a condenser.
Plus, two things that seem ridiculous to me, that it works regardless of the amount of atmospheric moisture. That doesn't make sense, you can't wring a dry sponge. When they say they turn the air into steam. Air doesn't turn into steam, water does.
They say the dessicant is exothermic. Ok, fine, it'll absorb water without consuming energy, but what endothermic process removes that water?
Plus, this article only links to other articles by the same author. And the company describes the technology in glowing advertising terms, but doesn't actually describe the processes involved.
Maybe there's something about physics I don't know, ok, there's lots of physics I don't know, but I can't find anything believable or verifiable in this article.
no subject
Date: 2012-04-19 11:40 am (UTC)Some discussion here:
http://andrewducker.livejournal.com/2697837.html?thread=21827181#t21827181
no subject
Date: 2012-04-18 07:43 pm (UTC)Mostly, the article still sounds like it could be talking about a condenser - but has been badly written by someone who confuses condensing water out of air with 'steam'?
Okay, going roughly on the diagram (admitting that I have no idea how feasible it looks) A compressor would cool the air (like it does in a fridge or air-con), causing it to not be able to carry so much moisture, so it would start to condense out (it'd produce heat as waste, maybe you could use that for something?) - a process continued in the condenser unit.
Basically I can see it working like a dehumidifier - and those specifically DO pull water out of the air.
The text describes heating the air first - I don't see why you'd do that.... anyone? Getting moisture out of air involves cooling it - unless you are going for slow evaporative collection (a la solar stills) - where of course it still comes out via the eventual cooling of the moist air....
Where I do agree with you is on not being able to pull out moisture that's not there so I doubt their production figures, and I am doubtful that the genny can provide enough oomph to run the show. You could directly belt(or gear)-drive the compressor from the blade axle, bit like an engine driven fridge on a boat [which might be more efficient], but it'd obviously mean it produced less actual electricity....
15mph is possibly a lot of wind to count on - sure you can pick your areas but avg global windspeed over land is not quite that impressive (see http://www.stanford.edu/group/efmh/winds/global_winds.html - looks like global mean of about 10mph at 80m).
Pub-argument ballpark figures: My 620W dehumidifier produces 3-4 litres of water from pretty damp air in about 8 hours. If they DO get 30kW out of the turbine then they could power 48 units of a similar efficiency (or big one unit that might no doubt be more efficent) - let's say 4/l * 48 per 8h = 193.5 litres.
So their unit needs to be at least 5 times as efficient as my (admittedly probably pretty crappy) one that's parked in my very damp hallway in my flat that's at the bottom of a hill practically in a stream. And that's with no power left over, all going to power the condenser, remember.
no subject
Date: 2012-04-18 09:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-19 11:04 am (UTC)I think you would need to process about 1.7million cubic meters of air to produce a 1,000 litres of water.
The capacity of air to carry water at 40 degrees Centigrade is 49.8 grams per kilogram of water. The desert air is about 5% relative humidity so is carrying about 2.49 grams per kilo.
Air weighs about 1.2 kilograms per cubic meter of air so a meter cubed of air is 0.833 kilos. A cubic meter of air would be carrying about 2.1 grams of water.
I make the dew point for air with this amount of air somewhere about minus 5.
If you drop the temperature to -10 the capacity of air to carry water falls to 1.8 grams per kilo.
For every kilo of water you reduced from 40 C to -10 C you get 0.69 grams of water. For every cubic meter it’s 0.575 grams.
So to get a million grams (or 1000 litres) you need 1,739,000 cubic meters of air chilled from 40C to -10C.
I’m having some difficulty believing the amount of energy I think you need to do this.
no subject
Date: 2012-04-19 11:40 am (UTC)Interesting discussion here:
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3856764
including that they only expect 350L/day in the desert, it's 1000L/day in a temperate climate.
no subject
Date: 2012-04-19 01:04 pm (UTC)Except that it seems an expensive way of doing things.
Something about 30kW is going to cost about £100k. Ish.
That seems an expensive way to produce water.
I can see it working for somewhere like the farming communities of South Australia who might be able to lay their hands on a couple hundred thousand dollars but I think they’d be better of running the turbine for power and using the power for, inter alia, a desalination plant.
If a family living in Africa could rustle up £100k-£200k then they be better off buying a house in East Kilbride, where it rains a lot.
no subject
Date: 2012-04-19 04:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-19 04:26 pm (UTC)I often remember how visible the exchange students from Kenay and Nigeria were in Aberdeen.
Strangly, especially during the Christmas holidays when most of the UK resident students had gone home.
no subject
Date: 2012-04-19 04:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-18 11:03 pm (UTC)interesting. Given that I don't use windows at home, and have a severely limited set-up at uni, I have very little idea of how this works. On Macs it's quite a lot different. I get to choose on install whether something has a permanent or auto-launch presence. It's generally very obvious if something is auto-launching, and trivial to ask it not to. Updates are largely painless, thanks to the completely free and open Sparkle update mechanism / the App store update mechanism.
I don't care how often a program gets updated. Daily is fine, because it's almost completely painless and often background-automatic. System resets are rarely required - occasionally on initial install, almost never for non-Apple updates.
actually, now I think about it, I stopped using the Vista partition on my laptop because it insisted on 'installing updates' on shutdown, which usually took hours and just made me force power-down.
I'm not attempting an arsey pro-Apple dig here, just interested by the difference. I had assumed Win7 would be better
no subject
Date: 2012-04-19 08:58 am (UTC)I can understand why they might think that was difficult, as there are thousands of ways of installing a Windows app. But they could have said "We will do unattended/background installs, but only if you follow pattern X." and then people would presumably have shifted over to that pattern.
As it is lots of apps have implemented the functionality themselves. Firefox just started doing it in version 14 by using a background service. Chrome does it by installing silently into the user's profile folder. Not sure how Flash does it, but it's also started.
Definitely a major gap in the functionality.