Do the makers have a specification for the differential pressure at which the balloon bursts?
Posts by Neil Barnes
651 posts • joined Wednesday 18th April 2007 10:33 GMT
Re: Breaking up something large is PATENTED?
This is true (and also for other agglutinative languages) but you still have to save a bit at the end the verb to put.
Re: Breaking up something large is PATENTED?
Packets be damned; every sentence is made up of separated units we call 'words'; each of those of individual 'letters' and (gasp) each letter, or 'character', is made of a number of sequential bits... at which point does the 'breaking up a message' stop? Surely the prior art on this goes back as far as 'Hmm, there isn't enough room on this side of the clay tablet to fit all this cuneiform on; I'll turn it over and use the other side...'
I have to agree: there's little point in software patents and a ridiculous amount of damage and wasted resources caused by them. Sure, copyright your code, your images, your data; trademark your logo and your *nonobvious* design features... but algorithms? Nah.
The (generic) patent office approach of 'allow everything that isn't perpetual motion and let them fight it out in court is hardly an efficient way of doing things unless you happen to be a lazy public service... oh, wait...
There is no Cabal.
Only Enoch Root.
Re: Patent lawyers... IN SPAAACE!
Not if they're breathing vacuum...
Posted in LOHAN sucks 27 inches
I'm seriously impressed
with any piece of equipment that has a 'warning - bacon' sticker...
Posted in HP cuts 27,000 workers
Re: This is what happens when you focus on being big instead of good
Second that - I've got an HP 10C on my desk here - still on the original batteries from 1987 and tough as old boots.
Eggs?
Fried, please.
And by the way - keep up the good work.
I hate to say I told you so...
wait, no I don't.
See the marvel of the century! Gasp in amazement as the special effects leap out of the screen! Marvel as the once-every-twenty-years fad disappears in smoke, just as it has every twenty years or so since 1850... the Victorians had steam-punk moving stereoscopic images and it hasn't got much better since.
Re: The (low) price of ad-free TV
I agree entirely. See my previous comments on ad-free internet browsing...
But I don't know of *any* TV channel which is run entirely by subscription; that is, with no money from anywhere else in the organisation, no friendly plugs in the same company's newspapers, no support from other channels in the same bundle, no shared infrastructure/staffing costs. Doesn't mean there isn't one, but in thirty years of working in the industry I never came across one.
I'm a huge fan of the BBC (I worked there over thirty years) but I'll be the first to admit it's expensive - but also that a lot the cost is internal administration which is a relic of John Birt's attempts to kill it. But I really don't think that there is any way you could fund the BBC (or a similar ad-free system) on a per-program subscription model; you need to buy the whole package. If the BBC ever went that way you could say goodbye to BBC3, 4, and probably BBC2, Radio 3, local radio... it needs the many to support the few. Whether that's a good idea or not is of course political, irrespective of my views on it!
Summarising some arguments
My understanding - I stand ready to be corrected - is that the helium balloons are essentially atmospheric pressure; they contain a fixed volume of gas which expands into what might be described as a 'loose fitting' container that gets bigger simply by filling out the folds. I don't think the pressure rises until the envelope is taut and starts to exert a pressure on the filling - presumably, just before it bursts.
We have a number of constraints on the firing time:
- as high as possible, please
- but with a stable platform
- so with the balloon still lifting or at least stable
- we don't want to drift out of our airspace if we don't get altitude
- we don't want to launch accidentally at ground level or close to it
- we don't know how high the balloon will go before it bursts
It seems to me that as others have said, we need a multi-layer approach. So that we launch if:
- height is above 15k feet (range safety)
- height is at or above calculated maximum lift
- time is greater than calculated lift time (we should have data on that from Paris, no?)
- balloon is about to burst
- we're pointing above the horizon
We might also consider the issue of range safety and perhaps think about destroying the launch package if we lose tension on the lift wire - i.e. the balloon's burst.
I wonder if a differential pressure sensor between the balloon and atmosphere might give a warning of 'about to burst'? If it maintains a constant pressure as it rises and only increases once the envelope's full, we should be able to detect that... I don't know how well a temperature system would work; it's hot up there (in that the air molecules are zipping around pretty actively) but there isn't a lot of air to actually be *warm*. I have no experience in this direction...
Re: The (low) price of ad-free TV
>>> BBC: £145.50 for colour * 25 million homes in the UK = £3.6 billion in 2010 => 2.4bn on TV (66% of BBC revenue on ad-free TV). A bit expensive for just 2 ad-free channels?!
Well, four. And six national radio channels, and a heap of local radio stations, and t'internet site, and the iPlayer...
And to be honest, no, not expensive at all. Problem is you get to pay the advertising costs whether you watch commercial TV or not, or indeed even if you don't have a TV, since it can be assumed to apply to pretty much any product you buy... the deal with the BBC is that you pay, and you get content. The deal with commercial channels is that the programme is intended to entice me to watch the adverts... but there's no contract with me, even implicitly.
I've said it before (and got downvoted for it) but I'll say it again: advertising is an attempt to steal my time. If I want something, I'll search; if I don't, why would an advert persuade me? Advertising is an increasingly nonsensical way of funding 'entertainment'.
Posted in SpaceX Dragon chokes at the last second
C'mon guys, it's not rocket science...
Oh, wait...
(Somebody had to say it!)
And on a more serious note - I too would far rather have the control system decide to shut things down safely on the ground and leave me with a usable-in-future rocket than be picking up spare parts two hundred miles down-range. Particularly if I'm (hah, fat chance) going to be sitting on top of it.
Re: Micro Altimeter?
I've used Intersema parts before, Simon, and they're tricky to talk to but excellent once they're running; they compensate for temperature and manufacturing differences and give very accurate results.
I haven't used this particular part, but you've reminded me I do have an otherwise unoccupied experimental altimeter/variometer using the MS5534 which claims to have resolution down to 1kpa. I intended it for use under 15k feet, so I didn't much care about such rarefied air... I'm quite happy to dig it out and donate to the cause, if the pit crew could use it. Conveniently it has a detachable display on a circuit board a couple of inches square, and some convenient output triggers. It would certainly need testing beforehand, but you'll be doing hypobaric tests anyway.
Drop me a line if you can use it and I'll dig it out, guys. It will probably need some software changes to display that altitude, but shouldn't be impossible!
10mW/mm^2?
That's ten times the limit for a class one laser... and staring straight into the sun comes out at only about 70mW/mm^2.
Pressure sensors
The problem you're going to have is that at 100,000 feet the pressure is only just over 1kPa (as you've noted) but it's getting thinner up there very slowly - at 70,000 feet it's still only 5kPa.
So you're really going to need something with a range of no more than about 10kPa to have any hope of being within even a few thousand feet of your selected altitude. MPX10 works in that range, though it will require temperature compensation - it may be simpler just to arrange a small circuit that will trigger once the pressure drops to a predetermined level.
The problem is, though, that they burst at about 100kPa - i.e. ground level - so it's going to be really fragile if you launch on a high pressure day, or even in storage, with a gauge type. A two-port differential type doesn't really help you either.
It may be that you have to consider some mechanical approach, as with Paris.
If these idiots had the courage of their convictions
They would immediately suicide (in a carbon-neutral way) and leave the rest of us in peace.
My ancestors spent many millennia moving on from living in caves and I have no desire to return to them - there's a definite shortage of caves in Hertfordshire, and what there are are cold and draughty.
Man is the animal that changes his environment to suit himself. The greens of any flavour might not like that - though they seem quite happy to use the latest technology and infrastructure to live themselves and to try and shout about their point of view - but the simple fact is that *every* animal, plant, microbe, or whatever, uses as much of its local resources as it can. Always and without exception.
Assuming that 'equalising' things by reducing the haves to the level of the have-nots makes any kind of sense at all is idiocy of the finest order.
Include me in the ten percent.
Block everything; pay for what I need.
Including, should it become necessary, vulture central. Though we'll discuss an adequate level of compensation at some other time.
Re: Memorable quotes?
You're just a rank sentimentalist.
Re: Yup.
I can tell you've worked in the industry.
Yup.
The expressions of interest are there, but it will be interesting to see how they plan their budgets. If the original requirement of two hours' 'quality programming' a day still stands, they're going to need someone with deep pockets because five million a year simply isn't going to cut it.
How to make a small fortune in local broadcasting? Start with a large one...
Posted in Ten... freeware gems for new PCs
I use just three of those applications:
Open Office, Avast, and Notepad++.
The others I have no great need for, since Windows is used only because I have a couple of windows-only development suites, but nonetheless a good selection I think.
No recommendation for a browser, though? Or a PDF viewer? Surely not Adobe...
Sand dunes be damned...
That's worm-sign, I tell you, worm sign!
Posted in Microsoft SkyDrive
Who wrote the software?
When I see a couple of questions that require 'yes/no' answers articulated in the user interface with 'on/off' as the options, I begin to despair.
Were the last twenty years of UI development *completely* wasted?
Anonymous take out the Kremlin
Three days later, the KGB/SVR take out Anonymous...
Posted in Ape Apps help Orangutans talk to people
Orangutans are using the devices to indicate body parts that need medical attention.
So, if they're so smart, why don't they just point at the afflicted part?
Posted in VW STUNS WORLD+DOG WITH REAL HOVER-CAR!
It's the perfect car...
You can test drive it, but when you try to buy it, your credit card mysteriously no longer works!
Girl Genius got it right...
Mimmoths is the only possible name, even if they are really a *touch* too large...
btw - I'm reminded of a science fiction short story - Harry Turtledove's 'The Maltese Elephant'...
As a paraglider pilot...
that's the one test you always do - leg straps for paragliders, hang checks for hangies. For an instructor to forget is unthinkable; for an instructor (in the UK, only instructors are allowed to take passengers tandem) to forget to check his passenger is unforgivable.
It's happened before and it'll no doubt happen again, but it doesn't make it any less of a tragedy for the victim's family.
Posted in Moon at annual perigee this weekend
Close approach of the moon?
I'll just take my hat off, then.
Posted in Biennial boner blights Beemer biker
A little quiz:
You buy a bike. You find that riding on it causes a painful condition. Do you:
[a] stop riding it and find something else to get about on?, or
[b] sue somebody?
I need a spleen...
Right... let's see who's volunteered.
Posted in Google Drive Issues on Mac
Re: Am I alone?
>>Isn't it the job of the applications to handle their own data types, rather than deferring all this administrative work to the user?
Well, no... perhaps I want to open Word documents with Open Office; HTML documents with any old browser; text documents with whatever's handy... I might want to edit a text, or assemble or compile it; I might want simply to view an image - should I require all of a picture editor to do that?
It's bad enough that W7 (and I suspect it's predecessors) won't even display fundamental information - e.g. file size - for certain files, but driving an entire operating system on the assumption that a file has only one application which can work with it? That way lies madness...
Posted in Google Drive Issues on Mac
Am I alone?
I thought, think, and will continue to think that the only possible sane use for a remote storage service is precisely that: storage of *data* - and maybe, at a pinch, metadata - that is otherwise in every respect managed on my personal PC, laptop, or whatever.
There is absolutely no need for any service to interf[ere|ace] with your OS other than to appear as another drive...
We seem to be moving from a data-centric view of the world to a view which encompasses the application which created the data, and I don't think I like it.
Posted in Twelve... classic 1980s 8-bit micros
Re: Predating these of course, but
Well, it did rapidly encourage me to start developing hardware and software, and I went for the Tangerine Microtan as soon as it came out.
I found the MK14 in my father's attic a couple of years ago, but I suspect he's fed it some backwards volts and fried the proms. Maybe I can make it work again... it's on my desk at work, but damned if I know where the Microtan got to.
Toxic metals
Isn't cadmium one of the group banned here under the RoSHH rules?
Posted in Twelve... classic 1980s 8-bit micros
Predating these of course, but
hands up all those who still have a Sinclair MK14?
Deficit?
$90M on football, $30M deficit... we've all done harder sums than that one.
But then, given that US education appears to be dominated by those who can run faster or carry a ball further rather than those whose skills will be *needed*, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised.
Posted in Twelve... classic 1980s 8-bit micros
NIce to see Tangerine mentioned...
Though they've now gone the way of the Great Auk, I hold a soft spot for them...
So, thirty-five years ago...
(My word, has it been that long?) I started playing with 8060 and Z80 from Sinclair, 6502 from Tangerine, and 8080/85 from some surplus CP/M place.
And now I'm working for one of the guys who worked on the Spectrum developing Z80 code.
Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose...
Re: don't underestimate the lawyers
Henry VI, Scene II, Act 4.
And yes, I do know that he meant it for exactly the opposite reason.
It's been obvious for years that punishment does not deter;
If it did, there would be no crime.
Perhaps it's the fear of being caught that deters? The recent riots in London had some evidence I think that there was an assumption by the looters that they could not be caught from a group so large...
Posted in Stray SMS leads to aborted landing
So how close are we to the new cockpit paradigm?
Two crew and a dog: one crewmember to check his messages, the dog to bite him if it looks like he might touch a flight control, and the other crewmember to feed the dog...
Posted in Gmail goes titsup for 30 MILLION PUNTERS
at time of writing it hadn't got back to us
Probably had a gmail account, then...
(the one with an envelope in the pocket, thanks!)
Excellent.
Can we have some proper nuclear fission plants now please, until we can get fusion properly organised?
"for purposes of tariff comparison"
It's all a bit weird, really... remember when there was a price per kWh, and perhaps a lower price if you used Economy 7 overnight? Now there are, so I hear, 120 different tariffs.
Which is patently ridiculous.
Instead of supplying electricity at the best rate, we seem to be supporting an industry whose main task is simply persuading you (me) to change suppliers. Oh, and our new tariff is great but you have to do it by direct debit so you won't know how much we've charged you until later, and we won't actually measure your consumption since its so much better for us to overestimate it...
A smart meter is all very well if it simply reports the consumption once a month and the bill is based on that, but the only tariff required is as simple as 10p/kWh, reduced to 5p/kWh between midnight and six (scaled for real numbers, of course).
Variable charging rates are going to do nothing more for the customer than confuse him; turning hardware on and off depending on the rate requires significant infrastructure changes (and incidentally, I want to run the washer *now* not when the leccy say I can!); and 120 different tariffs is basically insane.
Remember, no matter which company you pay your bill to, it comes down the same wire from the same national grid. Why the hell this was ever privatised (sorry, I mean of course 'stolen from the people who had already paid for it and handed over to realise a short term reduction in tax) baffles me...
Posted in Ten... Bedroom Gadget Treats
I think it's safe to say
that I wouldn't want to share my bedroom with *any* of these gadgets.
Perhaps I'm just an old Luddite?
Re: I am also confused
What do they get?
Bragging rights...
What about copyright?
I seem to recall that copyright is transferred to Elsevier and its cohorts upon acceptance for publishing; that might well have an impact on the requirement to publish in MedPub.
Nonetheless, I do think this is an important step; it seems to me that the more published peer-reviewed material the better. It's extremely annoying and prohibitively expensive for someone not currently in the academic work to get access to this material - though I have a bad feeling that this is not going to have much impact on the last hundred years of work... that's still going to be stuck behind a paywall.
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David McLeman
My 25 years of comical IT buzzwords
Tim Worstall
Time to take a sniff at the coffee, perhaps
Chris Mellor
Will they have to drag him back like last time?
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