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It's surprising that they had trouble there. That's a big, stiff truss span, with lots of cross-bracing. Those usually don't have serious wind problems. (The Tay Bridge disaster was, of course, one involving a truss bridge. But it was badly designed and very badly fabricated.) The worst case for wind is a long, narrow, thin span. The Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapsed through that kind of failure, and the Golden Gate Bridge was vulnerable to it. In 1951, during high winds, the Golden Gate Bridge deflected enough that one side of the roadbed was 11 feet higher than the other. Stiffening trusses were added under the span. (These are big trusses, each over 20' high, but the bridge is so huge that few people noticed the retrofit.)

In the 1989 quake, the Bay Bridge had an upper deck section break at the joint between the high truss span and the lower spans. That was an impedance mismatch - the two sections oscillated in different ways, and the stress at the transition point was enough to break bolts. When the Bay Bridge was designed in the 1930s, those problems weren't well understood, and could not yet be simulated.

The problem seems to be that the quick fix for the crack was underdesigned. That was recognized within days, and a second fix was under construction.

The damaged eyebar could be replaced, but that requires fabricating a new eyebar and some specialized tooling to take off the load from that whole eyebar chain during repair. This span will be torn down in a few years, when the new span is finished, so that may not be worth it.

What has me puzzled is why Nokia hasn't got any commercials out for it's N900. It runs a Debian Linux variant, and runs full flash right now, and it's [sic] hardware is superior to the Droids in some ways. Why they aren't shouting about it from the rooftops, I don't know.

Well, the N900 doesn't seem to be intended to be a mass-market device. I can't find the exact quotes at the moment, but I think the Maemo people are discouraging ordinary consumers from buying the N900. It's definitely step four out of five for making a mass-market device, and not a mass-market device itself.

Nevertheless, they do have a few ads for the N900.

Well, there's been CB and HAM for decades, really

Not even close. Speaking as an ex-CB'er, an extra class ham operator, and an EE with oodles of RF experience I can tell you that in both CB and ham operation, the things you can say, never mind broadcast, are strictly limited by FCC rules.

For instance, the closest a ham can normally come to a voice-mode broadcast is when calling CQ, which is looking for another ham to talk to. You can't (just as one example) fire up at 10pm every night on 7.175 MHz and present a program about quasars, current events, sex toys - or even ham radio. It's strictly forbidden. There are a few exceptions that have been made, for instance, W1AW in the northeast broadcast the band conditions for many years, might still be doing it for all I know (the ham bands basically don't work very well in times of low sunspot conditions, as now.) But I can't broadcast anything on any band, licensed to operate there or not - even though I hold both the highest class ham license and a broadcast engineer's license. As a musician, I can't even broadcast my own original compositions. Political discussion is actually forbidden.

CB is the same. No broadcasting.

if you're emphasizing the broad in broadcast

Yes, that's exactly what I was saying. The act of speaking to another ham about the weather and the propagation conditions and perhaps the relative merits of ham gear is one thing; putting on a show that educates about rare jazz, local mineral clubs, entertains with the local garage band, or speaks to political issues at any remove... that's something else entirely, and that is what I'm talking about when I say we have been disenfranchised.

partly because that's mostly how we knew how to do it (aside from the ad hoc community or public access station), partly because it's always been that case that money talks.

No, not really. It's been trivially easy to set up an AM band station that is spectral rules compliant since, oh, about 1950. Today, an FM or AM broadcaster, with antenna, costs a hundred bucks and up. You could easily cover your entire neighborhood for that kind of money, or a small town (like the one I live in - a mile in every direction and you're golden, here.) There are kits and there are ready made units - a few minutes visit to ramseyelectronics.com will bring you up to speed you on that subject.

It's never been a technology problem. It's strictly a regulatory problem. A serious one.

Well, there's been CB and HAM for decades, really

Not even close. Speaking as an ex-CB'er, an extra class ham operator, and an EE with oodles of RF experience I can tell you that in both CB and ham operation, the things you can say, never mind broadcast, are strictly limited by FCC rules.

For instance, the closest a ham can normally come to a voice-mode broadcast is when calling CQ, which is looking for another ham to talk to. You can't (just as one example) fire up at 10pm every night on 7.175 MHz and present a program about quasars, current events, sex toys - or even ham radio. It's strictly forbidden. There are a few exceptions that have been made, for instance, W1AW in the northeast broadcast the band conditions for many years, might still be doing it for all I know (the ham bands basically don't work very well in times of low sunspot conditions, as now.) But I can't broadcast anything on any band, licensed to operate there or not - even though I hold both the highest class ham license and a broadcast engineer's license. As a musician, I can't even broadcast my own original compositions. Political discussion is actually forbidden.

CB is the same. No broadcasting.

if you're emphasizing the broad in broadcast

Yes, that's exactly what I was saying. The act of speaking to another ham about the weather and the propagation conditions and perhaps the relative merits of ham gear is one thing; putting on a show that educates about rare jazz, local mineral clubs, entertains with the local garage band, or speaks to political issues at any remove... that's something else entirely, and that is what I'm talking about when I say we have been disenfranchised.

partly because that's mostly how we knew how to do it (aside from the ad hoc community or public access station), partly because it's always been that case that money talks.

No, not really. It's been trivially easy to set up an AM band station that is spectral rules compliant since, oh, about 1950. Today, an FM or AM broadcaster, with antenna, costs a hundred bucks and up. You could easily cover your entire neighborhood for that kind of money, or a small town (like the one I live in - a mile in every direction and you're golden, here.) There are kits and there are ready made units - a few minutes visit to ramseyelectronics.com will bring you up to speed you on that subject.

It's never been a technology problem. It's strictly a regulatory problem. A serious one.

The true learning curves....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/23579228@N04/2335016192/

The Marine dozing off in the corner of the crypto room.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/zaruka/2946414133/in/set-72157608078635808/

Oh...my...god...

Get the Bill O'Reilly bikini

In that case, the artist's royalties would be less $1.60 per album.

This isn't a particular case, it's "the cost of a typical major-label release".

So I should just listen to different artists because those I like receive peanuts for each album? That's stupid. I like *those* artists, not some artists per label. If I can't buy that specific albums, I'm not buying "cheaper" ones, albums are not like blenders.

Giving most of my money to the labels and retailers isn't helping the artists (and hence helping produce new music), which was the problem with pirating in the first place (killing music).

If we need to give most of my cash to labels profit to keep music alive, I say let it die.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/77519640@N00/4031434206//

for that purpose, it's way better than a Touch.

This claim is very much debatable. If your vision is very poor (meaning, you can't read an iPod), then sure, you need a big reader. But there are very few other features the Kindle offers that actually make it a better choice when you actually look at them carefully.

You're right: I'm not typical. I read a lot - I read one book a week

A book a week? I read a book a day. Here's some of my library, all pre-e-reader. I have more books just packed into the shelves on the ceiling -- well over a thousand -- than most people even own. Reading a book has always been part of my daily routine. So I really don't have time for e-ink to ghost up into readability. When I turn a page, I want to continue reading. And I read fast... my page consumption, with the smallest font, is quick on either Kindle or iPod. But the Kindle makes me wait after every page. The iPod does not.

I don't read in the dark

[laughs] of course you don't -- you have a Kindle, you can't read in the dark.

As for speed, it's only unreadable for half a second or less - about as long as it takes to turn a real page

And you think this is a good thing? You turn the page on an iPod, there's zero lag, you're reading instantly. One tap and you're there. And I think your 1/2 second estimate for a page turn is way out of line. I hold a physical book with the next page ready to flip, and flip it in a small fraction of a second. I think most serious readers do the same; otherwise, again, you're losing time and breaking rhythm. I'd estimate physical real-page turn time at about 50 ms, or a 20th of a second, max. Less for a paperback.

If you have a device with a large screen, like a Kindle, you're not turning the page more than 2-3 times a minute.

Ok. Kindle: .5 second for the text to come up; 3 pages a minute; 1.5 seconds; 1.5/60ths, or 2.5% of your reading time shot. A minute and a half per hour. iPod touch: Doesn't matter how fast you turn the page, because there's no delay. No reading time lost. Zero. touch is about 50 chars/line (in portrait... in landscape, it's about 75.) This is pretty much right where you want to be for maximum comprehension if you don't have to move your eyes. Consequently, page turning is perfectly reasonable; better yet, because the screen is small, there is little eye movement required and this also speeds up your reading if you are reading at a reasonable level (which I know you are because you say you can get through a book a day on vacation.) Finally, the contrast on the touch fonts is much higher than that on the Kindle; this makes a significant difference in readability. All these things lead to fewer breaks in concentration, less strain when reading (given that you have normal vision), and higher reading speeds.

I'm happy you're happy with your Kindle; but as I say, we own both, and the Kindle is a pale shadow of the reader that the Kindle app on the iPod touch is. With both at hand, the choice for readability, storage, flexibility, convenience and comfort is easy: it's the iPod. And as I said initially, when there is a real tablet out there - not e-ink, and not just a reader - that'll be the end of the readers. e-ink is to LCD as McDonald's "eggs" are to a gourmet breakfast. LCD's offer glorious color, high contrast, high speed, high resolution, ability to read in any light, and when that LCD is on a general purpose tablet, functionality that exceeds that of a dedicated reader by an almost incomprehensible degree. Because the iPod touch is small, there will be many users that cannot deal with the small fonts, and for them, the Kindle and devices like it are the only fallback available. Tablets will eliminate that one failing, and that'll pretty much be the end of it unless e-ink comes a very long way forward.

We have those in Vancouver as well, except we have articulated and single electric trolleys. Great idea, virtually silent.

in picture : http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2551/4018220375_38422cdfb7.jpg

New York - Central Park

I actually just saw one of these guys today at Rockefeller Center:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/spike666/4017224220/

As a trained biologist...

I take it that you've never helped two mullet-sporting hillbillies jack off a horse and collect the spooge with a 44oz. Big-Gulp cup. You, sir, are no trained biologist!

Good day to you, sir. *Hmmph!*

And more here

And while you're at it, also add this puppy

Wow. Cell towers every 1/4 mile. That will be attractive. Might look something like this:
http://pro.corbis.com/images/IH172885.jpg?size=67&uid=77B92ED2-843B-4F46-9484-2496E45AE139 http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2071/1943018955_52100c0f4d.jpg

Why would we want our modern 2000-era cityscape to look like something from the late 1800s cityscape?

You sound... uh... odd.

Yeah, no doubt.

You really bought a backup PS3 just so you could keep playing PS2 games?

Not "a", several. Yes.

How often do you even care about playing a PS2 game?

I play them quite a bit, actually. I'm particularly fond of the original Maximo, before they "manned him up", but also Crash Bandicoot and some of the early Tekkens (we've got Tekken on all manner of hardware.) We've probably got over 100 different PS2 titles, and *way* more than 100 games. A lot more than we have for the PS3, in fact. Also well over 100 titles for the XBox, and the XBox360. Not very many for the Wii or gamecube... we're not really Nintendo oriented, no young kids in the house.

My absolute favorite game is previous gen XBox; it's "Mechassault." In any case, we have plenty of reason to keep older hardware around, or compatible newer hardware. I expect to be able to play these games until I go nipples north. at 54, I probably only need another decade or two. :)

I find it almost unbelievable you would bother to spend all that money on a redundant PS3, or a whole new set of PSPs.

The hardware investment is nothing compared to the loss for the software if we abandon the games. At about $50 each, it only takes a few games to equal the cost of the hardware, and as I say, we're *way* beyond that. I find it... not sensible... to spend thousands and thousands on games, only to balk at a few hundred bucks for each console.

Hell, by the time your current lot start to break noticeably (and by that I mean more than one goes, because do you really need all 5 at the same time?) someone will likely have cracked the Go anyway.

I don't use cracks. So it makes no difference to me who cracks what, other than it keeps the damned manufacturers churning around in circles, screwing up legitimate backup capability and generally making things work less well than they otherwise could. I'm not a fan of that kind of hacking.

As for not needing them at the same time, the boys have their own homes, Deb has hers setup in the library with her game collection, and mine is on the main system (here), where I get the benefits of the big screen. When the boys visit, we often use the big system, and Deb plays the various guitar hero / rockband type titles with me, and them, there. There are *tons* of single player games, though, and yes, everyone uses their own machines and has good reason to do so.

All of these problems are easily solved

My laptop has enough power. If I wanted more, I could get a "desktop replacement" laptop; but I'm fine with what I've got.

When I'm not going mobile, I plug in a keyboard. I can even drive the classic AT keyboard you see in this picture, via adapters which aren't expensive at all.

I've also plugged in an auxilliary monitor.

My chair (not pictured) is not fancy, but it's comfortable enough for me.

As you can see, I've even got multimedia speakers plugged in. I watch vids all the time like this. The only thing I can't do is expand my hardware; but I'm not trying to build some neon game machine here. Once I got this laptop setup, I never looked back.

IIRC, there was an overpriced solution back in the day called a "docking station"; but modern laptops have all the power, and all the connectors you need to duplicate the desktop experience. I have a comfortable workstation that I can take on the road with me. I can't imagine why anybody would want a traditional tower case that's not mobile.

Oh, in case you're wondering, the case is open because I like the trackpad. I could use a mouse separately and move the machine off the desktop if I really wanted to do that.

Hey, breaking news! I found a patch for stupid! It works pretty well.

Previously, the Apple hate was technical in nature

My loathing for Apple dates back to the infamous "look and feel" lawsuits. (Yes, I'm old enough that one of my office mates in grad school had one of those " Keep Your Lawyers Off My Computer" button stuck to the wall of his cubical.)

Yes, I hated the Macintosh, found it an annoying toy with a screen that gave me a headache, a poor keyboard, and a mouse with only one button. But that was merely dislike. My loathing comes from their corporate practices.

So that's what Tribett was up to!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/43492742@N00/352574903/

This guy was coming right at me, crossing 2 lanes of traffic one night. Driver behind him reported that he was looking down and fumbling with a device while driving (likely texting):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28154298@N05/sets/72157605928214101/detail/

He never slowed down after hitting the bank on the opposite side of the road, and nailed the house at around 50mph.

Obligatory image: http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1283/790399551_d8a1e0ea5a.jpg

The second sentence ("He looks like a great family man[...]") is even funnier if the only picture of him you've seen is what he looks like now. Let's see, his parents are VME SPARCs while his grandfolks are 68k VME (I hear his uncle was a 3/370) and his kids are SS10s and 20s... in another generation they'll have Hypersparcs, and his great-great grandkids will basically be mediocre PCs with UltraSPARC processors and PCI buses. From the look of that plaque, though, there's a NeXT in the... oh, somebody stop me.

1) It's been years since I did any work with film, so I'm afraid I can't help you there. I've just got a DSLR that I use now.
2) ~20 seconds. If you go very far beyond that, you'll end up with trails instead of nice clear shots. 30 seconds is passable, you'll just end up with tiny, tiny trails - probably not that noticeable unless you look closely. You may be able to stretch that out a bit more if you have near-superhuman vision, a geared tripod, and a steady hand, but I wouldn't count on it. That's not a bad thing though, there are some great images done that show the movement of the stars. Not every picture has to be tracked in order to be worthwhile.
3) Personal preference. I've taken some pictures at 18mm that I loved, and some at 200mm that made me just as happy. Experiment, and see what turns out catching your eye. Everyone has a different sense of aesthetics. What works for me may not work for you.

For any pictures you do take, I highly recommend the Astrometry group on Flikr. It's a bot that will match up your images with a massive database covering the night sky, and tag major features in your images for you. I certainly don't know everything in the sky I'm looking at when I decide to take a picture, so being able to upload it and have all the major features identified is incredible. In my experience, the people behind it are great as well, and very willing to share the datasets they use.

That said, if you want to get serious about it, you should look at picking up an equatorial mount. It's high on my list, right after a nice intervalometer.

"... an awesome office chair."

Except, with the Honda vehicle, if there is a failure in the computer system, you die. But we Slashdot readers know that computer failures hardly ever happen, right?

Segways made me appreciate bicycles. If you hit something large, like a rock, it's possible you will be carried over it. Bicycles have no computer system to fail, and they are inexpensive.

I rode a Segway. It had a RISK OF DEATH (all caps) label.

My experience of that article about Honda is that it says to me, "Buy a Toyota. That company concentrates on doing one thing well." I recently bought a Toyota because Consumer Reports said Hondas had automatic transmission problems.

He might be this guy:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dotancohenpics/sets/72157594412481833/

"After painting evil elephant faces on them"

It could be worse, they could use this one!... (I'm sure this one would be very popular over a Muslim country!) :)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/20034293@N00/182195424/

Here's a few I took on my way to work...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesswift/sets/72157622435317234/

This was posted on one of the Aussie mailing lists I'm a member of, absolutely sureal. Wish I could have seen it, bit of a drive from the West coast and I believe they were grounding planes at one point.

Sorry, China has already cooked your goose and canned it. Photos, so it's true: http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1309/1203124928_12566d8af1.jpg

the posted article is PIC based. some people like PICs.

I happen to prefer arduinos (atmel). and here's my first effort (collaborated with a friend) called LCDuino-1:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/linux-works/3939835161/

beta-test boards have been sent out and once the beta period is over (and all builders report success in the design/layout) we'll produce them in quantity. we are also planning on having partial and maybe full kits to help DIYers build this quickly and easily.

firmware is open source, of course.

ethernet is planned but as a daughter card or 'shield'. there is a small proto-hole area to the right where custom app-specific components/soldering can be done. the form factor is made to exactly fit behind a standard hitachi 2x16 LCD display.

(I initially needed one of these for my DIY audiophile work; but after hand building about 4 of these things, I finally got serious enough to work on the PC board and get some made. hopefully they will be useful to the arduino and DIY community, too.)

What planet are you on where exists such a thing as a "chemistry set"...much less one expressly designed for children? Are you mad, sir? Sounds like a liability nightmare, not even counting the ones who do it right and synthesize chemicals right there in their houses, with no plan for disposal. No vent hood, no fire extinguisher, no eye protection...seriously who came up with an idea like this? 'Timmy tries chemistry' indeed.

Or this one... http://www.flickr.com/photos/eklektikos/47549033/ I can just see it now.. Front page news about terrorists learning how to make dirty bombs at home. And people wonder why science is getting more and more sidelined...

You think that's a tough GB? There is/was one on display at nintendo world in NYC from the gulf war.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/59136485@N00/2785641084

Seriously, we should start sending our soldiers out covered in gameboys.

I remember stuck A and B buttons on the official N64 controllers. SNES controllers were indestructible. You could build a bunker out of Game Boys.

great pic. mod parent post up. amazing to see the damn thing still works after you drop a bomb on it and set it on fire.

I remember stuck A and B buttons on the official N64 controllers. SNES controllers were indestructible. You could build a bunker out of Game Boys.

Is it impossible to find any original Mac that isn't yellow now?

I mean, check this Amiga 1000.(Yeah, I don't remember mine ever looking that good either. What a score.)

But Macs, I haven't see /one/ in the last ten years that hasn't succumbed to nasty yellow. Is there no hope? Anyone have one that's still white?

Using the PC Engines ALIX platform - http://www.pcengines.ch/alix.htm an Atheros based AR5413 802.11abg 500mW mini-PCI card
External omni-directional antenna
8GB CF card
rugged case
Sprint USB card
External cellular antenna
Ubuntu 8.10

Picture here (opened) http://www.flickr.com/photos/dougnaka/3921609717/
I think costs were about $500, but would probably be under $300
I've had one in my car for the past couple months, and it's been constant, roving Wifi.
Don't take the Sprint cards to Canada though, $5k in one month roaming fees isn't fun ;)

Alright, I've left the wife's tupperware in the microwave for 12 hours now, and nothing is happening. What gives? RTFA AGAIN!! Oh, wait - IR, not microwave. Hmmmm. It's gonna take a long time with this little 'mote control thing, isn't it? I need a bigger 'mote....

Google "remote control infrared" - no, nothing there, how about "Huge remote control inrared" - hmmmm, one more time: "FUCKING HUGE REMOTE CONTROL INRARED"

Ahhh, screw it

And let's not forget this Roma. It also has (oldish) stone buildings and it also results in name confusion. For instance, I've encountered several Australians who thought that the "Roma tomatoes" that they get in the supermarket are called that because they come from Queensland!

Maybe they did mess up by getting pictures from this Roma. That would explain why all their images seem to be full of flies.

A background wallpaper for your insecurable XP desktop. (Anyone got a pointer to the 1024x768 version?)

Yo!

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/25/49346772_0ee70562a6_o.jpg

I'm busy setting this as the wallpaper for all the XP machines in the office.

did you see the size of those Dingo eating birds?

You should see the one that preys on helicopters.

On a side note, I wondered why this picture was suddenly getting so many views. I guess the upgrade from "bird eating" to "man eating" makes the Haast eagle a lot more interesting.

How do you do selective focus with a pinhole lens that puts everything sort-of-in-focus? You can't.

To be fair, you can, though admittedly it's not nearly as much DOF as you'd get with a camera that has a much larger sensor and you have to be pretty close to get much of an effect (portraits tend to suffer as you describe).

How do you get low light performance with a lens that doesn't admit much light? You boost the gain electronically, ruining the picture quality.

No arguments there.

Now I'm thinking about more balloons and a DSLR with a circular polarizing filter...

Already been done.

Twice. :)

Now I'm thinking about more balloons and a DSLR with a circular polarizing filter...

Already been done.

Twice. :)

Some High School Students from Bilbao, Spain, did the same thing earlier this year for less than $100. Looking at the photos, it seems they got better shots.

Story here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/5005022/Teens-capture-images-of-space-with-56-camera-and-balloon.html

Photos here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/meteotek08/sets/

Microsoft Police Escort

Anyone fancy a pint?

It hasn't affected our local demolition derby at all!