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Tau Zero Foundation Analysis of EmDrive

Posted by takyon on Saturday December 31 2016, @03:52AM (#2176)
0 Comments
Science

Uncertain Propulsion Breakthroughs?

Further into the article, they really trash the recent peer-reviewed paper for having several flaws.

Overview

Technical

(1) The experimental methods and resulting data indicate a possible new force-producing effect, but not yet satisfying the threshold of “extraordinary evidence for extraordinary claims” – especially since this is a measurement of small effects.

(2) The propulsion physics explanations offered, which already assume that the measured force is real, are not sound.

(3) Experiments have been conducted on other anomalous forces, whose fidelity and implications merit comparable scrutiny, specifically Jim Woodward’s “Mach Effect Thruster.”

Implications

(1) If either the EmDrive or Mach Effect Thrusters are indeed genuine, then new physics is being discovered – the ramifications of which cannot be assessed until after those effects are sufficiently modeled. Even if it turns out that the effects are of minor utility, having new experimental approaches to explore unfinished physics would be valuable.

(2) Even if genuine, it is premature to assess the potential utility of these devices. Existing data only addresses some of the characteristics necessary to compare with other technologies. At this point, it is best to withhold judgment, either pro or con.

Pitfalls to Avoid

(1) The earlier repeated tactic, to attempt fast and cheap experimental tests, has turned out to be neither fast nor cheap. It’s been at least 14 years since the EmDrive first emerged (2002) and despite numerous tests, we still lack a definitive conclusion.

(2) In much the same way that thermal and chamber effects are obscuring the force measurements, our ability to reach accurate conclusions is impeded by our natural human behavior of jumping to conclusions, confirmation biases, sensationalism, and pedantic reflexes. This is part of the reality that also needs understanding so that we can separate those influences from the underlying physics.

CES 2017 Dumping Ground

Posted by takyon on Wednesday December 28 2016, @11:42PM (#2175)
0 Comments

Zookeeper to Syrian Army

Posted by takyon on Wednesday December 28 2016, @03:43PM (#2174)
0 Comments
/dev/random

A fun piece over at the Mirror that managed to reach near the top of Google's World news section.

Dec. 26 Mall Melees of America (Updated)

Posted by takyon on Tuesday December 27 2016, @02:41AM (#2173)
1 Comment

Fill the Swamp! (Updated)

Posted by takyon on Wednesday December 21 2016, @07:30PM (#2166)
4 Comments
News

Gingrich Says Trump Must Address Business Conflicts Soon, Urges Monitoring

Gingrich: Trump dropping 'drain the swamp'

Trump Adviser Says He Is Ditching 'Drain the Swamp'

Newt Gingrich says Trump is done with ‘drain the swamp’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_MJbgO7SF0

The God Kek demands many more human sacrifices, otherwise Trump will continue to discard all of his campaign promises. Sacrifice children for the glory of Kek and the success of Trump.

Update: The child sacrifices have satisfied Kek, and Trump will continue his policy of draining the swamp.

Fake News Joke Tweet Leads to Call From the FBI

Posted by takyon on Thursday December 08 2016, @12:59AM (#2162)
0 Comments

Trump and Duterte's Drug War Bromance

Posted by takyon on Sunday December 04 2016, @01:52AM (#2158)
6 Comments

Some BBC Election Stories

Posted by takyon on Tuesday November 08 2016, @05:04PM (#2130)
18 Comments

Oculus VR vs ZeniMax

Posted by takyon on Monday October 31 2016, @10:55PM (#2122)
0 Comments
Business

Oculus VR made "factually inaccurate" statements in ZeniMax lawsuit, forensic analyst says

A recently-granted motion in the lawsuit between ZeniMax Media and Oculus VR suggests that the case could be about to get very interesting, and not in a way that's good for Oculus. The motion to "permit disclosure of any 'demonstrably inaccurate' representations made to court," as reported by Polygon, indicates that an independent expert investigating the case found sworn statements that are "factually incorrect," and that "critical log files" on one of John Carmack's hard drives were deleted prior to its collection as evidence.

I'm too lazy to give this one the research needed to produce a coherent submission, since I haven't been following the case.

script to stop windows ten updates

Posted by Runaway1956 on Friday October 28 2016, @02:41PM (#2120)
2 Comments
Code

#NoEnv ; Recommended for performance and compatibility with future AutoHotkey releases.
; #Warn ; Enable warnings to assist with detecting common errors.
SendMode Input ; Recommended for new scripts due to its superior speed and reliability.
SetWorkingDir %A_ScriptDir% ; Ensures a consistent starting directory.

/*
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/release-info
This site contains latest version info etc.,
To be compared to CurrentBuild and UBR registry entries contained in:
        HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows NT \ CurrentVersion
LastAutoAppUpdateSearchSuccessTime in:
        HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate
LastScheduledRetryTime in above.
*/

;Parameters
;MS Win10 release info page https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/release-info
LatestUpdateURL := "https://winrelinfo.blob.core.windows.net/winrelinfo/en-US.html"

whr := ComObjCreate("WinHttp.WinHttpRequest.5.1")
whr.Open("GET", LatestUpdateURL, true)
whr.Send()
whr.WaitForResponse()
releaseinfo := whr.ResponseText

RegRead, ReleaseId, HKLM, SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion, ReleaseId
RegRead, CurrentBuild, HKLM, SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion, CurrentBuild
RegRead, UBR, HKLM, SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion, UBR

needle := "\s*" . ReleaseId . "\s*\s*\s*(" . CurrentBuild . "\." . UBR . ")\s*"

found := RegExMatch(releaseinfo, needle)
if (found) {
        MsgBox % "Your version of Windows 10: " . ReleaseId . "`nOS Build: " . CurrentBuild . "." . UBR . "`nThis is the latest version."
}
Else {
        MsgBox % "There may be updates available! Please turn on Windows Update Service!"
}

;UrlDownloadToFile, %LatestUpdateURL%, %A_ScriptDir%\release-info.html
;FileDelete, %A_ScriptDir%\release-info.html

;First, find CurrentBuild.UBR preceded by ReleaseId, if can't be found alert user!
;Second, check that UBR and CurrentBuild.xxx are the same!
; If same, alert user that they are up to date.
; If different, get KB# (or numbers, this could read the entried until it finds the UBR number) and give user a link so that they may read about the future update. Ask if user would like to update now, remind me later, or not right now
; If user decides to update, turn on windows update service.
; How do we know when to disable that pesky service? After the reboot? Perhaps add a script to the startup folder / registry that will disable windows update on the reboot.

===========================

No, I'm not the script writer. The guy who wrote it gave it to me. Here it is. And, I don't have a Win10 machine to test it on. No attribution - I guess he's AC.