Doesn't this ignore completely the efficiency of the batteries? These batteries aren't ideal, you won't get out 100% of the energy that is put in. I don't know the efficiency rating, and I haven't done the math, but I suspect that the losses will cut into the savings significantly.
The page says >92% round trip efficiency. Since they also claim that they're selling them to utilities for exactly this purpose I'd guess it's theoretically possible and probably comes down to the pricing structure offered to consumers in your local area to buy and sell to the grid.
Movements or fads like Avocado-based diets or the practice of drinking one glass of alcohol a day are really hard to justify scientifically because the human body has such a multitude of variables. It's almost impossible to test the effects of such a diet ceteris paribus. So I'm not sure if "science" can really be blamed. The general public wants a simple and easy solution, so the "science headlines" are going to try to give such a solution with half-proven theories and loosely-correlated results.
Not just a variable thing, also a time scale thing.
I put my hand in a fire, I get a burn right away. Pretty easy to know what happened. Sure there were many variables. My shoes, my pants, the weather.. but pretty clear.
Drinking a drink a day may do something good. May do something bad. But both those events happen in 20 years. Holy crap that is hard to tell! (but yes, partially because it mixes with many variables).
There is also a part of science of "we all WANT what makes us happy to be deemed healthy!". Decision affirmation rocks! So if there are 4 studies that say a drink a day is bad for you, and 2 that say a drink a day is good - which makes the newspaper? Coffee, chocolate, alcohol - all things people love, and all affirmed by at least SOME studies out there. Awesome!
My university has a very similar digitized collection, albeit smaller. One common denominator with these types of online collections is software that leaves much to be desired. Accessing the collection and searching through it is usually very painful. I realize they are on a tight budget, but it is disappointing nonetheless. Maybe it would be a good open source project.
The problem I have with this is that a historical maximum in the prescriptions for behavior controlling drugs doesn't seem to imply that society is any closer to BNW. Obtaining complete control over society through the use of drugs is significantly more challenging than simply giving every citizen a prescription.
The problem with the comic strip drawing is that it could be interpreted as meaning things associated with the trefoil take away sickness and sadness if you read the pictures in the wrong order. I don't think a growing tree is strong enough to convey the correct order of the drawings. Inhabitants of the future could just assume the trefoil-material has some negative effect on trees as it heals the sick.
I didn't interpret those trees as growing myself. It looked to me like the trees were far in the background and he moved towards them before collapsing.
What about numbering each panel in unary? While our current number systems didn't exist 10,000 years ago, humans could presumably count and will retain that capability in the future.
If they released a monospace version, I would switch from Inconsolata! Although it is probably more important to continue work on supporting more languages.
It's interesting that a place that has such overwhelmingly friendly people gives the impression of being a terribly dangerous place to visit to so many Americans.
It is in fact a dangerous place to visit. Having an incredibly friendly and hospitable population is something it has in common with several other dangerous places to visit.
I definitely don't dispute that fact. But if you ask most people in America what their opinion is of the Yemeni population, "friendly and welcoming" would not be the most common response.
