ryanstanton

Great sales is a byproduct of a great product. Focus on the needs of your customer (talk to them) and build a product that solves their problems, saves them money, or helps them make more of it.

Regarding nuclear waste: first off, the amount of nuclear waste generated today is drastically less than in the past. During WWII and the Cold War era the methods for processing nukes was extremely crude, resulting in an embarrassing amount of waste, which we are still dealing with today. Today, the amount of waste is small fraction of that. Second, the waste problem has been solved by vitrification. Vitrification takes nuclear waste (in liquid or solid form) and blends it with molten glass in a high-strength steel casing. When it cools, it becomes solidified. Then it can be stored in a remote location. Vitrified nuclear waste poses no acute danger to humans and IMHO is much preferred to the damaging effects of fossil fuels which include both harmful pollutants (Particulate Matter, NOx, Ozone, etc.) and dramatic acceleration of climate change.

If this thing is coming to live with us for a little while, doesn't it deserve a better name than "object 2020 SO?" How about ... Lunacris?

From the pictures it doesn't appear any copper wires were removed, the large conductors are still very much there. They got a few 480V breakers, which aren't worth much, maybe $50/ea on eBay. It appears to be sabotage to me.

Eek, who knew the rise of cheap CMOS-based surveillance cameras would lead to DDOS attacks?

Peter Diamandis (okay, he's done a lot of interviews and blogs a lot, but has a great perspective on the impact of tech on humanity)

I'm not a developer, I'm an engineer, but I think the same principles apply. If you want to become the best at what you do, you must surround yourself with people smarter, more experienced, and more capable than you. So, go to the company from whom you can learn the most. If a particular startup has an experienced / innovative team, go there. If you find the same thing at a corporate giant, go there. I started my career at a startup, but found I quickly exhausted their expertise since their team was 'limited' in experience, capability, etc. So I ended up at a Fortune 500 where there were thousands of engineers to learn from. In the developer world, it might be completely opposite - the good ones are at startups. Just as employers pick their employees carefully, you should pick your employer carefully :)

Interesting. Medical needs for FAST delivery may be one of driving forces for adopting drones quickly. I believe Matternet is also pioneering this in the developing world for vaccine deliveries and medical tests in rural field clinics.

My brain goes crazy thinking about all the ways drones could dramatically improve (and reduce the cost of) logistics and delivery.

Steam is cool, yes, I love the history behind antiques and the insight into their periods of history, but electric is SOOOO much better. Steam does not give instantaneous torque, nor the ability to precisely control individual wheels / motors. I just can't see steam making a comeback.

Electric = exponential

Steam and ICE = incremental

Resistive heating is 100% efficient, yes, but the electricity required to power the element is rarely above 40% efficient for most combustion powered sources (combustion turbines, combined cycle, etc.).