And there are tons of used 172's in excellent condition for a third that price.
Or, you could compare the Terrafugia to a two-seat LSA. That would be a fairer comparison, since the Transition is an LSA while the 172 is a real certified airplane. Pipistrel and Icon both sell LSAs for about half the price of a Transition.
The problem is that the limitation is physics, not engineering. There is little overlap between what characteristics make a good airplane and what make a good car. Additionally, many of the characteristics that make a good [airplane|car] directly work against your efforts to make a good [car|airplane].
Let me give you some concrete examples: You want an airplane to be light, have good impact protection from the front (because airplanes very rarely get run into by a mountain from behind), and not require long runways. A car, on the other hand, must have good impact protection from all sides, fit inside a lane on the road, and good acceleration so you can merge onto the freeway.
The second car requirement and last airplane requirement together necessitate folding wings, which are heavier than fixed wings (and also more complicated and more expensive). Short of a powered-lift design (which is going to be even more insanely expensive), there is no other way around the physics. It doesn't matter how good your engineers are. Physics puts limits on what you can do with a wing.
The side and rear impact protection on a car do nothing beneficial to the airplane, but add weight. Again, clever engineering can only do so much within the limits of physics with regard to material strength. I don't care if you use the most expensive quantum-dot-infused titanium-nanotubes: Real-world materials have strength limits.
As part of making an airplane light, you're probably going to want to put a small, air-cooled engine in it (the Rotax 912, used in the linked aircar, produces between about 90 and 110 HP, depending on the variant). Even a light car is going to have very poor acceleration with that engine. Again, this is a matter of physics: F=ma. Some sort of continuously-variable transmission will help a bit, but you still only have 110 HP to work with.
Smartphones have improved radically over the past 10 years because the problem was not physics, but rather engineering. Software engineers made better software (which is really what made the iPhone different from Blackberries when it was introduced) and hardware engineers made better CPUs to run the software at a decent speed.
What's wrong wrong with it is simple: The question "Is PCM transparent?" is not subject to taste. It either is or it isn't. If listeners can't tell the difference between a source that is being reproduced from PCM or one that is being reproduced from DSD, then we can objectively state that PCM does not degrade sound quality.
You and I can disagree about whether impressionism is a "good" style of painting. The art world spent a good deal of energy debating that point. That is something which is subject to taste. But if you say "yes" and I say "no" to the question of whether van Gogh created his impressionist painting on canvas, then only one of us can be right. In this case, my insistence that van Gogh didn't paint on canvas would put me squarely in the loony or wacko category.
France probably doesn't tie both its rail agency's hands behind its back with pointless environmental impact reports (the sole purpose of which seems to be to generate extra revenue for civil engineering contractors) and then let NIMBYs sue because this or that insignificant detail wasn't included.
What John Dakota said, plus one more thing: I've noticed that papers written in the past ten years tend to be written by people who have poorer writing skills (to the point of sometimes writing nearly incomprehensible paragraphs) than papers published, say, 30 to 40 years ago. At least in my field and a few somewhat-related fields. It may be different in other fields.
It's possible that some of today's reviewers also have poorer reading skills than reviewers 40 years ago, and thus don't really understand what they are reading some of the time. Combined with a lack of time, they might simply skip parts they do not understand.
Why would you base your assumption on experience with laptops when you have access (through the magic of the Internet) to perfectly good data about the Tesla Roadster? They've been on the road for over four years now.
It says that the batteries have, on average, over 80 percent capacity remaining after 100,000 miles. 80% of the original 265 mile EPA range is still well over 210 miles of range.
Interesting... I've noticed your username above several rather anti-social comments in several different threads over the last day or so. I wonder why.
/Meta
To be honest, I don't think alxndr was being snarky. I see plenty of drivers plow through stop signs at 5-10 mph. I also see plenty of people on bikes plow through stop signs at 5-10 mph. Both are in the wrong, but the fact that the person on the bike was going the same speed before the stop-sign doesn't seem hugely relevant to me. What does seem relevant is that plowing through at 5-10 mph in a car is far more likely to injure or kill a pedestrian or cyclists than doing so in a car, for simple reasons of mass and vehicle width.
Frankly, your little rant sounds like the self-serving justification I usually hear from several of my friends and relatives for raging at cyclists. Those friends and relatives are among the least courteous and defensive (that is to say, the most dangerous towards other drivers and cyclists around them) drivers I've ridden with. I hope for your sake and mine that you are not like that.
Drivers opening their doors into the bike lane without looking doesn't help cyclists avoid weaving in and out of it. And before you say anything: In California (and I believe this is true in many other states), opening your door into traffic (and, yes, cyclists count as traffic) automatically puts you at fault in the even of an accident or incident.
I have seen such notes, but you have to take them with a grain of salt. When a department posts a note like that it's sort of the corporate equivalent of "Don't talk to our managers: submit your resume on this web form right here." So you should still talk to professors (but don't waste their time).
When a professor writes that on his/her personal/research website, it means "I already have grad students coming out of my ears, and I don't have enough grant money to support even half of them." This is useful information, because you (should) pick a grad school based on who you want to work with. You need to look elsewhere if all the professors you want to work with at a particular school are over-subscribed. Some professors also become jaded by the sheer number of unqualified candidates who can't hack it: None of the string theory groups in my school will talk to you until after you've been admitted, gotten good grades for a couple semesters and the passed department's second-year screening exam with a good score.
Let me part with this: I got into grad school (probably) mostly because I sent an email to the professor who ended up being my research advisor. I described what I did in the past (which was sorta-kinda tangentially in the same field), omitted any mention of my (not very good) grades, and asked a non-time-waste-y question about the research group. The thing about grad school (at least in the hard sciences) is that one of the criteria for admission is "doesn't anybody want this candidate in his/her research group??" When you have someone pulling for you on the inside, getting in is a whole lot easier.
> As I understand it TSA only do the finding of the guns and it's local law enforcement who does the rest. So TSA have no idea about who's allowed to carry the weapon or not.
I have no idea if this is true, but let's assume it is.
So what? How does that prevent TSA's Office of Public Relations from following up with law enforcement after the fact? Is there some law of which I'm unaware that prevents the TSA from asking the local PD for statistics about this sort of thing?
Sure, but then how do you tell the police that you just saw a black SUV with Massachusetts plates ending is 907 blow through a red light and almost run down an old lady with a cane at 7th and main? How would they ever find the driver or owner?
While there are many ways to abuse the fact that license plates are publicly-visible (the aforementioned abortion protester being one example), there are still very legitimate reasons they should continue to be that way (holding people responsible for their actions when they infringe on the rights of others, as in my example). This isn't to say that we should always and forever attach a stamped piece of metal to cars, but the current system does have the advantage of being compatible with the Mk. I Eyeball.
You are correct that, slightly re-stated, there's nothing hypothetical about the amount of money you have to give SpaceX to put your payload on a Falcon that you reserve today. But you missed his point.
We don't know what the failure rate of the Falcon will be, whereas we do know what the failure rate of a Proton is (~10%). Satellites are expensive and delivery is not guaranteed, so every launch provider always gives a discount to early customers who put their payload on one of the first few launches of a new system.
Pvarangot's point was that the price for booking a launch today is almost certainly less than, say, booking a launch after Falcon has had ten successful launches on its first ten attempts. If Falcon has Delta's failure rate, then SpaceX can charge a premium. If Falcon's failure rate is closer to Proton, they will have to underbid the Russians to get customers. We won't know until Falcon has a few launches under its belt. Saying they are booking launches at guaranteed prices today is true, but only gives a hint to what it will cost customers five years from now.
ntpdate won't complain because it's entire purpose is to set the time on a system that isn't synchronized with the rest of the world. So it is expected that the clock may have drifted by a substantial amount, and it is only meant to be used occasionally. It is especially bad practice to run it from cron.
On the other hand, ntpd is a daemon that is meant to be run continuously. It will complain if lower-strata time servers start jumping around, and has a built-in mechanism for ignoring time servers that seem to be giving incorrect time (compared to both other servers and the system's own idea of the current time). Note that, if having accurate time is important, ntpd also supports using external reference clocks with a pulse-per second connected to, for example, a serial port.
Part of the problem (as I understand it) is that when patent examiners reject a patent application, they are required to give a reason from an approved list of rejection reasons. The "this already exists" reason requires the examiner to cite some sort of approved publication which describes the invention. Unfortunately, the list of approved publications is essentially "existing patents and nothing else." The patent office recently (less than a year ago) started a wiki to allow experts in certain fields to document the state of the art in that field.
Another part of the problem is that patent examiners are required to examine X number of patents per unit time. Unfortunately, when a patent applicant resubmits a rejected application, the patent examiner does not get credit for examining the patent a second time. So an applicant can troll the patent examiner by repeatedly modifying the application. The examiner becomes so overwhelmed with resubmitted applications that he or she has no choice but to approve the application in order to meet quota.
The result of these rules is that a patent examiner effectively can't reject a patent application unless someone has already tried to patent the exact same thing. Or, "blame the game, not the player."
> They're saying it's possible to make more money on less education by targeting some specific 2-year-degree jobs, especially as compared to some lesser-paying 4-year-degree jobs.
Right, they are comparing very highest AS/AA holders to the average BS/BA holder. It's an interesting point, but it isn't quite as strong a point as the point the headline suggests.
Also, one thing I notice about the highest-paying of those jobs is that they require some sort of certification and continuing education / recurring training above and beyond a 2 year degree. In other words, the 2-year degree alone isn't sufficient to enter one of those careers that out-earns the average bachelor's holder. Additionally, the jobs cited are mostly in fields that are notoriously highly-paid (medicine, nuclear technology, etc). That's not to say that any particular high school student shouldn't look at community colleges.
As for anecdotal evidence, the article is full of it (comparing, for example, the community college and university graduates only in Tennessee, and comparing "technical" fields in Virginia CCs to all Virginia BS/BA graduates). Wikipedia has statistics from 2009 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Educational_attainment_in_the_U...), which suggest that nationally BA/BS grads earn 30% more than AA/AS grads.
Alright, but you've carefully evaded the question. So let me ask you again: Would you acknowledge that Broder acted in bad faith if someone were to drive a Model S round trip between Milford and Groton at a reasonable speed, with the car in a freezer at 10F and without plugging in overnight?
> Why have zero (or negative) income to get post baccalaureate education if you can go work somewhere (for money) and learn on the job?
Well, ok, so here's the thing: If you apply to grad school in one of the physical or life sciences and they don't offer you a TAship for your first year[1], then they are politely telling you to f*ck off. It's "generally understood" (which means that nobody knows this unless someone tells them) that any serious offer comes with a TAship that will just barely pay your rent in a crappy one-bedroom apartment with a little left over for food.
[1] And make wild promises about how everyone has a full RAship with ponies by his second year
Sure, but, unless you're a rockstar graduate student, you do R in service of your advisor's grant needs. Unless you're a rockstar post-doc, you do R in service of your PI's grant needs. Unless you're a rockstar PI, you do R in service of your own grant needs. Wherever you end up, someone is writing the checks. That someone gets to determine what you research.
I'd guess that computer science is very different from experimental physical science disciplines: In experimental, you have to have a research advisor with grant money if you want to have vacuum pumps/oscilloscopes/glassware/liquid nitrogen/etc., even if you plan to TA your way through grad school.
Can we discuss this civilly, without resorting to ad-hominem attacks? I'm not drinking Musk-Aid, though that is certainly your implication. I don't fully trust Musk, but there are strange inconsistencies in Broder's account, and his rebuttal to the rebuttal has many statements that are nonsensical[0]. We can't apply our bullshit detectors to only one party.
>Just like the CNN "test" the situation was much different, and the temperature played a significant and undeniable role, so that's an apples-to-oranges comparison
Sure, and the owner's test involved snowy conditions (Broder's drive had clear weather), which generally increases energy consumption. So what? If they repeated the test, but put the car in a refrigerated warehouse at 10F overnight in Groton, would that satisfy you? Can you propose any test that would satisfy you? I don't say this to be combative. It just seems like the goalposts keep moving.
I'd actually love to see a test with the car kept in a freezer, but I don't think the results would be significantly different. In the owner's test I cited above, the remaining range when returning to Milford was greater than the range loss experienced overnight by Broder. The only thing they did differently (besides leaving the heat on while driving) was to fully charge the car before leaving the Milford Supercharger.
>You are choosing clever words here. He chose to follow Tesla's advice, and you can imagine the vitriolic reaction if Broder disobeyed Tesla's advice and ran into trouble.
But that is entirely the point, my friend. Broder sometimes followed Tesla's advice, and sometimes he didn't. Yet he seemingly only followed Tesla's advice when it was bad advice [1]. He ignored Tesla's advice when they gave him good advice[2]. That is precisely why there has been such a strong reaction on HN.
[0] Broder attributes the speed discrepancy to a difference in wheel diameter. That would actually make the speedo read higher, but there's a more fundamental point: The wheel diameter isn't relevant; the tire tread diameter is. There is less than a 0.7% difference in tread circumference between the two wheel options.
[1] For example, let's assert for the sake of argument that Tesla did tell him it was ok to leave the Level 2 charger
[2] Like that he should fully charge at Superchargers
Or, you could compare the Terrafugia to a two-seat LSA. That would be a fairer comparison, since the Transition is an LSA while the 172 is a real certified airplane. Pipistrel and Icon both sell LSAs for about half the price of a Transition.
http://www.pipistrel-usa.com/ http://www.iconaircraft.com/