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Comments · 19
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Re:The problem with the ISSFirst, many of you are probably wondering what L1 is-the first Lagrange Point where an object can enter an equilibrium orbit that matches the moon's motion.
It could be useful if we want to come up with a plan similar to this one for colonizing Mars. Due to Earth's immense gravity, weight and aerodynamics are critical in spaceship construction. However, once the ship is in low gravity these considerations are totally irrelevant. Given a good space station we could have three sets of spacecraft: a true space shuttle for lifting things up to the station; transportation craft designed to move things between planets and moons, and explore new areas; and landers designed to reach planetary surfaces. Assuming we'd be establishing actual colonies on the moon and eventually Mars, this is probably the only cost-effective way of doing it.
In space you can do a lot of cool things with something as simple as a piece of string - provided, of course, that your "string" is made of high-tech materials, has an electrically conductive core, and measures many kilometers long. Tethers have electrodynamic applications - for example, a tether in Earth orbit to which electricity is applied will interact with Earth's magnetic field and climb to a higher orbit without using propellant. Allowing ionospheric electrons to move through the tether via plasma contactors at both ends causes the tether to slow down and drop to a lower orbit. Tethers also have momentum-exchange applications. Physically linking high- and low-orbit objects with a tether forces the object in lower orbit (for example, a spacecraft) to travel slower than dictated by orbital mechanics, while the higher-orbit object (for example, a payload) travels faster. If the tether is cut, the payload will jump to a higher orbit while the spacecraft will drop to a lower one. Hoyt and Uphoff propose a Cislunar Tether Transport System for shipping cargo between low-Earth orbit (LEO) and the lunar surface using minimal propellants. Their work is described by "Cislunar Tether Transport System," AIAA 99-2690, R. Hoyt & C. Uphoff; paper presented at the 35th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference & Exhibit, Los Angeles, California, June 20-24, 1999.
That's just one example of the stuff we could try if we had a serious space program with good infrastructure. Once a moon colony starts to have practical value (mining, manufacture in decreased gravity, science, and of course, the all-important military applications) we'll start to see progress down this road. Unfortunately, it will be a long time before that happens. The military, our best bet to kick-start the process, won't bother until rival nations start building fleets of armed satellites.
Once the military faces the prospect of a space-based war all these ideas are no longer just cool, they may be essential to survival. So, the best-funded operation in the world will be determined to create a moon base capable of controlling space near Earth. Once that's done it will be paid for and justified by tacking on scientific and industrial components. Yes, that's how we're most likely to begin our grand and heroic journey into the destiny of man-for the purpose of being able to kill each other more effectively. Human nature, right?
But don't worry, recent history shows us that the best deterrent to war is mutual assured destruction, and we'll be fairly safe until we have a large enough moon base to become self sufficient and declare independence from Earth. In Soviet Russia, the moon colonizes YOU!
Read the rest of this comment... -
Re:The problem with the ISSFirst, many of you are probably wondering what L1 is-the first Lagrange Point where an object can enter an equilibrium orbit that matches the moon's motion.
It could be useful if we want to come up with a plan similar to this one for colonizing Mars. Due to Earth's immense gravity, weight and aerodynamics are critical in spaceship construction. However, once the ship is in low gravity these considerations are totally irrelevant. Given a good space station we could have three sets of spacecraft: a true space shuttle for lifting things up to the station; transportation craft designed to move things between planets and moons, and explore new areas; and landers designed to reach planetary surfaces. Assuming we'd be establishing actual colonies on the moon and eventually Mars, this is probably the only cost-effective way of doing it.
In space you can do a lot of cool things with something as simple as a piece of string - provided, of course, that your "string" is made of high-tech materials, has an electrically conductive core, and measures many kilometers long. Tethers have electrodynamic applications - for example, a tether in Earth orbit to which electricity is applied will interact with Earth's magnetic field and climb to a higher orbit without using propellant. Allowing ionospheric electrons to move through the tether via plasma contactors at both ends causes the tether to slow down and drop to a lower orbit. Tethers also have momentum-exchange applications. Physically linking high- and low-orbit objects with a tether forces the object in lower orbit (for example, a spacecraft) to travel slower than dictated by orbital mechanics, while the higher-orbit object (for example, a payload) travels faster. If the tether is cut, the payload will jump to a higher orbit while the spacecraft will drop to a lower one. Hoyt and Uphoff propose a Cislunar Tether Transport System for shipping cargo between low-Earth orbit (LEO) and the lunar surface using minimal propellants. Their work is described by "Cislunar Tether Transport System," AIAA 99-2690, R. Hoyt & C. Uphoff; paper presented at the 35th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference & Exhibit, Los Angeles, California, June 20-24, 1999.
That's just one example of the stuff we could try if we had a serious space program with good infrastructure. Once a moon colony starts to have practical value (mining, manufacture in decreased gravity, science, and of course, the all-important military applications) we'll start to see progress down this road. Unfortunately, it will be a long time before that happens. The military, our best bet to kick-start the process, won't bother until rival nations start building fleets of armed satellites.
Once the military faces the prospect of a space-based war all these ideas are no longer just cool, they may be essential to survival. So, the best-funded operation in the world will be determined to create a moon base capable of controlling space near Earth. Once that's done it will be paid for and justified by tacking on scientific and industrial components. Yes, that's how we're most likely to begin our grand and heroic journey into the destiny of man-for the purpose of being able to kill each other more effectively. Human nature, right?
But don't worry, recent history shows us that the best deterrent to war is mutual assured destruction, and we'll be fairly safe until we have a large enough moon base to become self sufficient and declare independence from Earth. In Soviet Russia, the moon colonizes YOU!
Read the rest of this comment... -
Re:Call me a skeptic, but Real...
How most people feel about Real:
http://pms.colonpee.com/irc/realplayer.txt
Helix looks promising. The win32 nightly build isn't as nice looking as the GTK version though. -
CD-Rs aren't "mechanically changed."
CD-Rs use an organic dye which reacts to the recording laser in a CD-R burner, causing it to melt and pit--it then becomes non-translucent and the reading laser is refracted when it attempts to read those portions of the disc.
There are several known cases of bacteria and fungus attacking this organic dye, not including the obvious danger that heat and sunlight pose to it.
"Regular" CDs use a polycarbonate substrate instead which is literally stamped into the CD during an injection moulding process. THIS is a mechanical change, giving the advantage that a stamped CD could very well last 50-200 years, whereas a burned CD-R that is not hermetically sealed will be lucky to last 10-20.
It seems that what we need is an inorganic hybrid of a stamping machine and a CD-R burner, something that can (using a much more powerful laser) physically inscribe the bits into a polycarbonate-like material. The nice thing about a technology like this being adopted, is that the firmware could be modified to allow the same machine to create CDs, DVDs, and whatever else they throw at us within that form-factor. Even better would be the ability to come up with your own (Open Source?) disc data storage format.
Anyone want to play devil's advocate on that idea? Apart from cost, I could see consumables and waste being an issue.
Jason Fisher -
no longer pronounced "Scuzzy."
If SCSI is pronounced "scuzzy."
And the full acronym for "Serial attached SCSI" is SASCSI..
How exactly would we pronounce that? Sacksie? Sasky? Oh God, I bet it will be a silent C.
Yay, my computer iss really sspeedy now that I've upgraded to the new SSSASSSSSY DRIVE !@#!@^#^$^$#!
Jason Fisher. -
no longer pronounced "Scuzzy."
If SCSI is pronounced "scuzzy."
And the full acronym for "Serial attached SCSI" is SASCSI..
How exactly would we pronounce that? Sacksie? Sasky? Oh God, I bet it will be a silent C.
Yay, my computer iss really sspeedy now that I've upgraded to the new SSSASSSSSY DRIVE !@#!@^#^$^$#!
Jason Fisher. -
People freaking out- News at 11.
Innovation is down because the innovators are too busy freaking out over how they will pay their mortgage. As soon as the general populace is no longer preoccupied by trying to survive, innovation will continue. However, it is a nasty catch-22.
(For reference, please see the Dark Ages and the Renaissance.)
Jason Fisher -
coding != manufacturing
Being a developer for nearly 10 years, I will forever make the statement that coding is NOT like manufacturing.
It is not like building a house; you are not limited by your physical abilities.
It is not like building a car; you are not limited by available manufacturing facilities, techniques, materials and the like.
It is a science and possibly more importantly, an art. You are limited only by your creativity, logic and problem-solving ability.
Having spent 3 months in India last year, they still have a long ways to go. Thousands upon thousands of development firms in a single city, yet out of the couple of dozen I visited, nearly half were asking--no, begging me to train and teach coding practices to their developers and managers alike.
Having worked with a few Indian firms, I can tell you that it is definitely no cake-walk/easy-out for companies looking to "reduce their overhead." A logistical nightmare, you need someone to collaborate with them daily (or nightly as it may be) -- as you slowly watch them piece together an application over the course of several months, wading through their relatively broken English, only for you to throw half of it out at the end, rewriting it yourself. What? You mean it's taken twice as long for them to do it than us? But wait- why didn't we just write it ourselves to begin with? Oh, right- we thought it would be cheaper this way.
To Corporate America: Most of you never needed dedicated development teams. If you really want to save money, you should be looking locally for development houses on contract. There's a very good chance it will not only be cheaper, but of higher quality than the total cost of doing business either internally or offshore.
Instead of worrying about what everyone else is doing while we cry over the thought that we may lose business to overseas developers, let's spend that energy on education and figuring out how to improve the *quality* of our developers.
Given the knowledge and skill, one developer CAN do the work of ten. No question. And this is how we, through the economies of scale, will remain a viable option for American industry.
Jason Fisher -
"Arcade Generation"
They are ghost towns because we, the arcade generation, are now in our 20s and 30s, and the children born into gaming more recently are faced with the fact that technology in arcades was already near or behind their home PC or console.
Without our nostalgia and memories, what's left for them? A few decent games here and there, most of which they already have at home?
But now this brings another opportunity to the equation: with this machine, the sole value that Microsoft wants is that of advertisement. This coupled with the opportunity mix an arcade and a computer/game/netcafe, and you've found yourself the symbiotic mix that just may be the shot-in-the-arm the industry has been waiting for, and their ticket to the mainstream once more. Did I mention XBox Live?
Do not confuse this arcade market to that which our nostalgia holds so dear. Our nostalgia has been franchised, coupled with decent food and alcohol and placed against a mainstream soundtrack partially designed to insight and trigger the memories we're searching for; enter GameWorks, Dave & Busters, and the like--where the concept of an arcade follows the market which gave it life.
You don't suppose that in another 30-40 years our offspring will be loving enough to atleast place us in retirement homes with Galaga, Robotron and Tetris
Jason Fisher -
Linux Media Center.
As has been pointed out, this thing does run Linux.. It also has a REALmagic EM8500 onboard.
And that the DVD-ROM is connected via the IDE port?
I would put my money that the set of pins on the side of the board are for a standard PC/104 riser card (i.e. ethernet) -- not to mention the serial port that is internal to the box.
*THIS* is a perfect starting point for the "Linux Media Center." Why not add ethernet.. and another HD?
Unless it does this already (I didn't read the review, I hate Tom. I just look at pretty pictures.) - This thing is just waiting for transcode and some other software to be scripted together--stick a normal DVD in the drive, press a button on your remote control--bingo. DVD -> DIVX, stored on the internal HD, accessible via the network.
I would love a box like this with a HD added, connected to a P2P network. Search, download, right to the box. Oh, and replace DVD-ROM with DVD-RW; all of my friends will want copies of the movies I've stolen--or purchased if the MPAA gets their shit together. -
Re:This is useless.
Yeah, I agree with "specialized_sporks." --You don't know what the hell you're talking about.
Gamma rays, shmamma rays. And what the hell is a "meter" anyway?
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Add THAT to your utility belt.
So we are going to start seeing thieves pack their own PS/2 or USB mice with them to circumvent this "security"?
Right. -
#quake CD to Ogg Vorbis conversion guide
CD to Ogg Vorbis guide (CDex + oggenc + VorbisGain): http://pms.colonpee.com/cd2ogg/
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Real*
I'm sure others may have commented on this, but WHY dear god create another license, or two in this case? Netscape did this with Mozilla and is still looking for four hackers so that the codebase can be complete relicensed using an NPL/GPL/LGPL "triple license".
History of the hatred of Real: http://pms.colonpee.com/irc/realplayer.txt
Will this turn out great in a couple years like Mozilla? I hope so, but I doubt it. -
Re:Bandwidth?
High bandwidth costs are a myth only validated through the initial cost of infrastructure. In five years, these costs will be subsidized dramatically through the decreased cost of business and bandwidth will rain upon us from the heavens as never before.
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LaserDisc vs DVD - IANAVPIANAVP (... videophile), but I think presently the big downfall to the (ANALOG) laserdisc format is its direct encoding of composite video. The signal has been succeeded by S-Video, which offers unique channels for chrominance and luminance, and more recently component video, taking things further with multiple luminance-to-color based channels.
You can argue that a laserdisc only has 480 horizontal lines, compared to a standard 525 lines for DVD (it supports more using various techniques, but most movies still even only use 480). Yes, there are laserdisc players with S-Video out--these are nothing more than filters. You cannot get around the fact that the video is stored as a true composite signal on the disc. Inversely, you cannot get around the fact that a DVD, being compressed, will have artifacting--you may even be able to argue that this artifacting hurts the luminance quality more so than being limited to a composite signal (I would wager that in this scenario, component video would only serve to remind you further of the artifacts!).
So what's the real issue here? Don't get me wrong, I find everything about the LaserDisc to be very ingenious, but the fact is: I don't have to get my lazy ass off the couch, or potentially ruin a special 'moment' (either with myself or someone elseNot getting into the audio differences. More information:
LD vs CD under microscope
Home Video Format Comparison
Jason Fisher -
Please support FDSFFAS!
"I've had to buy some CDs twice (and #$Y&^@ Tidal by Fiona Apple FOUR times)"
"More than once I've sent a song to a friend in e-mail"
"And do you know what? I don't feel guilty about doing it."
You should feel guilty. Haven't you heard of FDSFFAS?
Friends Don't Send Friends Fiona Apple Spam.
:P? -
Re:A Computer Shop's point of view"We've seen more than once, a customer coming back with what he said was a defective AMD CPU, and when we check the CPU, we could see the adhesive barcode that we put on the underside of each, partially burned out !"
Not that I'm taking sides, but have you bothered to check if the *working* AMD chips (and Intel chips) are burning their adhesive out also? It sounds like you're using regular barcode stickers, and personally I doubt that they can even survive a cool CPU for any extended period of time.
Jason
www.:P.com -
Still whining! (Troll: i++)
Look at all of you.
This completely applicable and fully functional device is released. Hack it away, install Linux, do whatever. But quit bitching about features that it's missing. Why? Because if it had those features, you would be damned well bitching about the price.
Be content and show your support for the progress of technology towards our realm of function--something relatively inexpensive and *not* created for the lowest common denominator.
To those that disagree?