Search results

Well, there are a lot of problems with hydrogen. At the extremely high pressures it has to be stored at, you'd essentially have a bomb strapped to your car. It isn't very good for powering internal combustion engines, so we'd have to wait until fuel cell technology caught up. If fuel cell...

Well, there are government jobs, but ignoring that matter, I was just pointing out that if no one is forcing you to do community service, there shouldn't be a problem. I know what you mean. And I think this is a good way to get students involved in community service. They might just find out...

First, it'd be more practical to develop non-toxic batteries for use in electric cars or plug-in hybrids than it would be to build a hydrogen-powered vehicle. Second, the best-performing batteries use lithium, which isn't toxic. Heck, it's found naturally in spring water and it's used to treat...

To compress hydrogen to higher pressures than it can physically be compressed to? Technology can't do everything. And pretty much every material we can make tanks out of would weigh much more than the fuel inside it if it were designed to withstand that pressure. It's not impossible, but...

Heh, thanks... an engineer reading Atlas Shrugged is kind of like a computer programmer watching "Swordfish" or a video game developer watching "Grandma's Boy", ie, a wildly inaccurate depiction of something you actually know about. I did read The Fountainhead, but it was about architecture...

You're right, we can create hydrogen virtually emission-free. However, storing that hydrogen for use in vehicles is the hard part. The pressures it would need to be under are immense, and even liquid hydrogen (which is the densest it can be compressed to) is only about as dense as styrofoam...

When I said I liked chaos, I suppose I should have said I like that the universe is as complex as it is, ie I'm glad it's not too simple. And I'm not advocating anarchy, by any means. As humans, we need to make laws in order for our civilizations to survive. I'm just saying that the universe...

See, this is the part that probably tripped you up. Water by itself doesn't combust; water is the product of combustion. You can make flames come out of water by adding energy, but you're still losing energy overall. For instance, you can put sodium metal in water, and it will burn, but...

Article one, section eight. Congress has the power to borrow money, levy taxes, and pass laws to improve the welfare of the US.

Thanks... I guess. :p I thought about it, and I think you're wrong about engineers' greatest fear. It sounds like you might be misinterpreting defensiveness as fear of being wrong. So what is an engineer's greatest fear? Honestly, I don't think engineers are afraid of much, other than the...

The ACLU may disagree with you on many issues, but they're not insane. Like I said, separation of church and state goes both ways, and churches are allowed to put their own criteria on membership and sacraments. The church just performs the ceremony, the justice of the peace does the legal part.

That would be capitulating to them, not reconciling with them. Some people aren't all that intelligent, and can easily be manipulated by their employers. We saw this a lot during the late 19th century. I think there should be protections against this, do you? Not everyone has the skill or...

I thought the quotes and the winky smily face would make it obvious it wasn't serious. My point was that there was an equal and opposite sentiment to whoever I quoted (Vi I think), but not that I actually shared those sentiments.

The price of gold has actually plummeted lately. I'm not sure what the object of your post was, but I thought I'd mention that. I know all about John Maynard Keynes, if that's what you're talking about. 100% free and open markets might sound nice, but they do lead to a vicious boom/bust cycle...

As far as what type of person is, Obama isn't much like FDR. The similarity comes from the fact that they both took office during an economic crisis, and may have to implement similar plans. Obama is more like JFK, in that both are inspirational and charismatic, both represented a break with...

Vi - Interesting perspective. I'll admit that a lot of that describes me pretty well, although I'm a bit more impulsive than the type you describe. And I usually dress pretty inconspicuously, like jeans and a t-shirt when not at work or a polo shirt and khakis at work. I don't shave very...

If they don't want to do it, that's fine, they just don't get the money. Or don't graduate from public school. I'm sure you wouldn't suggest that an employee is allowed to say "fuck this, i'm not doing it" do his boss and not get fired, right?

The Catholic church doesn't marry couples who don't go through their marriage preparation classes, or couples who were divorced. Separation of church and state goes both ways, thankfully.

Or emancipate the "wage-slaves" from the oppression of their "corporate taskmasters." ;)

... where people can invent stuff without having to worry about those pesky laws of physics. ;) By 'over the weeks' I meant over the weeks after I read it, as I thought about it. Oh? I'm curious what you mean... Personally, I think engineers are more grounded in reality than most other...