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Politics : Ask Michael Burke -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Knighty Tin who wrote (123457)	7/8/2010 9:45:58 PM
From: bruiser98	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 132070

Our elite concentrate on financials. In the late 1930's a Russian cargo aircraft showed up in Alaska, demonstrating range capabilities unheard of for American aircraft. In the late 1950's the Soviets surprised USA again with the launch of Sputnik. Our geniuses are working Wall Street while other countries incentivize their geniuses to work on technical stuff like high speed magnetically levitated railroads.

To: Knighty Tin who wrote (123457)	7/8/2010 10:30:06 PM
From: marcher	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 132070

is it true that carter installed solar panels for the white house and reagan took them down?

To: Knighty Tin who wrote (123457)	7/9/2010 3:06:49 AM
From: GuinnessGuy	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 132070

Mike, That was a pretty neat trick they pulled off. The fact that they successfully flew through the night was at least as complimentary towards the battery technology as it was the solar panel technology. And don't forget my thesis about carbon-fiber materials. This plane couldn't have begun to do what it did without their inherently ultra-light, ultra-strong characteristics. I now think the sector will go ballistic a bit earlier than I thought when I brought the idea here up exactly one year ago today. Leave it to those crazy germans at BMW to figure out a way to mass produce this stuff. Be interesting to see what kind of application this sort of aircraft first gets used for. The only thing I can think of offhand is a flying cell tower or perhaps wi-fi for the internet(or both since some phones can use the wi-fi protocol). It would be ideal in an emergency situation where cell towers got knocked out due to some natural disaster. Being able to stay up 24/7 would be a big advantage logistically. Some automotive carbon fiber news today from The Economist: =================================================== Electric cars made from carbon fibre will be safer and go farther Jul 8th 2010 \| MUNICH MARK WEBBER has a lot to thank tiny strands of carbon for. When his Formula 1 car cartwheeled in a spectacular 306kph (190mph) crash at the recent Valencia Grand Prix, what helped him to escape unscathed was the immensely strong carbon-fibre “tub” that racing drivers now sit in. Carbon fibre is an expensive alternative to making things in steel or aluminium, but besides being extremely strong it is also very light. It is found in high-performance parts, like aircraft wings, bits of supercars and the frames of pricey mountain bikes. But if work by Germany’s BMW proves successful, it could also become the material of choice to mass-produce electric cars. [SNIP] economist.com