| mrstickball said: Shameless plug: My brother wrote the article. But its quite good, I think. http://spaceopedia.com/2012/11/6-amazing-technologies-that-are-illegal-in-the-us/ Sometimes, we believe the government's regulations are there to save us, but actually hurt everyone in the process. EPA regulations on cars are one of the examples. Europe has vehicles that get >70MPG, but are banned in the US for not meeting environmental standards. Lots of other things out there, too. |
That's a slightly skewed article. If you read the Diamond Nuts suit for example, it doesn't say Diamond can't say their walnuts are healthy for you, they say they can't use specific claims which haven't been proven or for which walnuts haven't been tested. I don't have a problem with that.
I don't want a company claiming their product can cure cancer when it doesn't.
Also Ford is bringing a 1.3L Ecoboost engine to the US.
SpaceX will be used by NASA for taxi missions to the International Space station.
The issue with Nuclear Power plants has been that no new plants were built since the late 1970's or early 1980's. Thus, they use old technology. Prior to events in Japan last year, the US was looking at expanding its nuclear power plant development and utilize newer, safer designs. After the Earthquake/Tsunami, the concerns over plant safety were even higher. But the thing really stopping nuclear plant development in the US is our expanding reliance on natural gas power plants. The US has a huge supply of natural gas, subsequently, it's cheaper to build (and maintain) a natural gas plant than it is any other type of plant.
I had a conversation with someone who supplies coal-fired plants, and power companies aren't interested in building new coal-fired power plants (or updating their older ones) because natural gas plants are so inexpensive and cleaner.
A shortwave radio antenna is mounted significantly higher than a wi-fi antenna. Not only that but the frequency is completely different. You're talking 1.5KHz - 30kHz compared to 2.4 - 5Ghz. Shortwave radio isn't microwave. Also, the lowest licensing class (the easiest to get) only allows 10W radios. The most you can go in the US is 1.5KW. That's a lot of power, but you're talking about a licensing level that will require significant amounts of time, and investment to receive. Not $25.
