Weeeeeell not exactly. What global business is discovering is that workers in the West actually do better work and are more productive in a strict man-hour basis. If you have simple repetitive tasks, China does a really good job of assembly manufacturing. If the process involves multiple steps or movement within a…

I think both are true. There absolutely is exploration for exploration's sake. The long, deadly history of Polar exploration was thinly veiled in economic benefit which was never actually realized. in the end, the drive to be first and simply to see what was there was enough to send hundreds to their deaths.

Frontiers are only a myth to those who think that the reason for living is collectivism. The equation of expansionism to the frontier shows a dead-end bias. The frontier isn't expansionism. That's colonization and...to be prosaic...expansionism. The frontier is simply exploration. The very fact that anyone would want…

Well stop reading self help books. Being nice cheers me up. And everyone I know feels the same way. Try it. I'm assuming you were being silly here. Being nice is a great way to restore your faith in humanity in small doses.

1) Yes...and then you start running up against fragility. It's a trade off between robustness and survivability. That's why engineers get the big bucks. That and all those Jolt Colas. Those things don't grow on trees you know...

In my mind Wall-E WAS a gun-toting battle bot.

That was just amazing. The shot from the harbor up into the crumbling towers on Manhattan was especially well executed.

Were you not wearing your prescribed verbal safety gear?

1) Part of the problem is low average yield. Most of the time a wind turbine is operating at about 20% capacity. Scandinavia has better luck with them having a wide Northern, Arctic coast but the US doesn't have many places with that kind of sustained wind. The real problem is maintenance. Getting to the turbine heads…

Souffle dear sir...

Consider this - no poop.

I'm assuming that the mule hangs back in combat. Also, armies are NOISY. HMVees, tanks, Bradleys all make an incredible racket audible for miles. Further, I assume this thing would operate like a conventional sub. It would burn fuel while topping off a battery in normal movement then switch to battery only for covert…

Obviously this depends on where they are deployed but where I live - no. They run 20 years and don't return the initial investment when maintenance is factored in. They come to just about at break even but not quite. Obviously they will improve but I am told point blank by my clients that they are not the "money…

1) I frequently work with two municipal power companies in the South. When I ask, the numbers I am given state that wind turbines do not yet return their full cost of production over their estimated twenty year life cycle. They are still immensely useful for peak hour supplements and load balancing although how the…

I mostly agree with you on the issue of solar power. Although current solar technology potential does not factor in the maintenance from dust, debris and particulate erosion which has been a monumental issue with current photovoltaic systems. I speak from actual pilot programs that simply could not keep pace with…

None of this is new but the problem remains: capturing wind is unpredictable, uncontrollable and expensive with current technology. The problem is that material science hasn't evolved to the point where global air movement energy capture can be made reliable and sustainable. Currently turbines cost more money to make…

My anti-cockroach fantasy involves a 500 gallon canister of either CO2 or Nitrogen and a slow release valve. Fill the living space up to four feet with oxygen depleted gas for a weekend and come home and open the windows. I'd even tape the windows and doors to be sure.

OOoooo...

On the rebuttal end of this debate:

I'm not saying bittorrent but...bittorrent.