ncmncm

Seemingly everyone who talks about storage for intermittent renewable energy goes straight for batteries. But today most utility storage uses gravity, because gravity storage is cheaper. That is unlikely to change.…

After we have built out plenty of solar and wind generation capacity, and we have enough of both to supply users and charge up storage at the same time, we are going to need cheap and capacious energy storage for nights…

Many who are supposed to be serious people insist our universe must be a simulation. (The argument seems, as far as I have been able to discover, to be "because how could it not be?") My question is, is there any…

Picture a fabric structure floating, anchored, in the ocean, roughly tube-shaped. At the surface, the edge is supported a few feet above average water level, positioned so waves wash over the edge into it. Once in, the…

This is a question for natives of the Southeastern US. There is a song that used to be popular in the region, involving gathering pawpaws, which are a local relative of custard apple and soursop. It could be sung…

Just sayin'. For me, the threshold was crossed when I heard somebody say, in all earnestness, "incredibly honest".

SpaceX is, lately, lofting satellites with laser links to other satellites, I assume pointing them at others leading and following in the same orbit, so they don't need to track. An orbit near 70° inclination takes…

I got a poison ivy rash, from weeding. It got annoying, so I bought a white boletus mushroom, shaved the stem into a mix of hand sanitizer, dish detergent, and hydrogen peroxide 3%, and mashed it up well; rubbed it…

RISC-V is important, but its bit-manipulation capabilities are woefully weak. The proposed Bitmanip ("B") extension is very powerful, but large, so even if ultimately ratified it might never be supported in lower-cost…

RISC-V is an important development, but its academic roots show in its poor bit-manipulation capabilities. The Bitmanip extension, while an impressive effort, has languished, and in any case will not be implemented in…