Destroying Mines is easy, Detecting them is Hard
on
Robot Mine Smasher
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
The problem with mines is that they hard very hard to detect. Modern mines have very little if any metal content. Battlefields usually are riddled with shrapnel/shell casings etc which make metal detecters useless even if the mine had metal.
The Canadian Defence Research Establishment(DRES) in Sulfield Alberta is a world leader in mine detection technologies. Their latest invention is the Improved Landmine DetectorProject (ILDP). The ILDP system consists of a teleoperated vehicle carrying three scanning sensors which operate while the system is in motion; a metal detector array (MMD) based on electromagnetic induction (EMI), an infrared imager (IR), ground penetrating radar (GPR), and a confirmatory sensor which requires the system to be stationary and near a target of interest, consisting of a thermal neutron analysis (TNA) detector. Each of the sensors provides information concerning the presence (or absence) of physical properties which accompany the presence of landmines. For example, IR provides a measure of thermal anomalies, EMI reports anomalies in electrical conductivity, GPR detects anomalies in dielectric and other electromagnetic properties, and the TNA provides a measure of nitrogen content.
One the mine is identified and marked the vehicle can move on and let the lifing or destruction of the mine to the engineers.
Canada first proposed the banning of anti-personnel mines and the treaty is commonly refered to as the Ottawa treaty. They also set up the Canadian Centre for Mine Action Technologies which is coordinating research into new technologies from around the world.
As a soldier, I agree that anti pers mines have a limited tactical role and the human cost in civilian casualties is too great to justify their use. It is time to ban them forever.
Why mention a ring phone? I would think that a phone built into a pair of glasses would be more practical. You could even have a projection monitor built in so you could see caller id, menus, browsers/video etc.
Of course the Trekkies would all buy the 'com badge' version.
A district court judge has rejected Microsoft's proposed settlement in the private law suits brought against the company.
Microsoft's $1.1 billion giveaway of computers software to US schools would constitute "court-approved predatory pricing," if approved, said Judge Motz. He didn't, and it's back to the drawing board for The Beast.
The cynical proposal was criticised on the grounds that would extend Microsoft's monopoly into the education market, which has been a loyal Mac stronghold. Over 40 per cent of US schools use Macintosh computers.
Motz gave a strong signal that Microsoft's revised proposal would have to be a lot more generous: he deemed there was "insufficient value" in Seattlement (Private Edition)Version 1.0.
A year ago Motz dismissed 38 suits from customers who had acquired Windows as part of an OEM bundle, even though state law allows such an 'indirect' acquisition to be treated as a direct relationship.
Bootnote:The term 'Seattlement' was contributed by a reader from the Lichtenstein.
"
Even if the DOJ settles with M$ the findings of fact still stand and makes the civil cases a slam dunk. Each of these cases could cost M$ billions of dollars. A few multi billion dollar judgements should give M$ a good reason to clean up their act or else the govt could start the process all over again.
So in effect the civil cases have the potential for causing the greatest damage and the threat of further cases could be a better deterrent than anything the govt could come up with.
A reader of The Register provides this translation:
After Samba and kIllustrator, yet another open-source-program fillsthe pockets of lawyers. The [ill-reputed] German lawyer Günther Freiherr von Gravenreuth has won a preliminary injunction at the Munich District Court against the German Linux-distributor SuSE.
The reason seems to be an open-source-software referenced on one of the SuSE-CDs. Apparently Gravenreuth has prohibited the Nurenberg based company from delivering its Linux-distribution,
as long as the disputed program name is contained on the disks.
SuSE could face serious financial losses if the copies already produced cannot be sold.
Being asked, Freiherr von Gravenreuth confirms the preliminary injunction against the name of the open-source-software, but refuses to give any more details, since his client wishes to get a settlement with "the opponent" and doesn't want to be named.
SuSE spokesman Christian Egle says his company will publish a statement in a few days.
IBM getting out of the desktop business? Is their strength failing? Perhaps the following story might help to explain why:
Recently one of my friends, a computer wizard, paid me a visit. As we
were talking I mentioned that I had recently installed Windows XP on my
PC. I told him how happy I was with this operating system and showed
him the Windows XP CD. To my surprise he threw it into my microwave
oven and turned it on. Instantly I got very upset, because the CD had
become precious to me, but he said: 'Do not worry, it is unharmed.'
After a few minutes he took the CD out, gave it to me and said: 'Take a
close look at it.' To my surprise the CD was quite cold to hold and it
seemed to be heavier than before. At first I could not see anything,
but on the inner edge of the central hole I saw an inscription, an
inscription finer than anything I had ever seen before. The
inscription shone piercingly bright, and yet remote, as if out of a
great depth:
12413AEB2ED4FA5E6F7D78E78BEDE820945092OF923A40EElO E5 I OCC98D444AA08EI 324
'I cannot understand the fiery letters,' I said in a timid voice.
'No but I can,' he said. 'The letters are Hex, of an ancient mode, but
the language is that of Microsoft, which I shall not utter here. But in
common English this is what it says:
One OS to rule them all, One OS to find them,
One OS to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
It is only two lines from a verse long known in System-lore:
"Three OS's from corporate-kings in their towers of glass,
Seven from valley-lords where orchards used to grow,
Nine from dotcoms doomed to die,
One from the Dark Lord Gates on his dark throne
In the Land of Redmond where the Shadows lie.
One OS to rule them all, One OS to find them,
One OS to bring them all and in the darkness bind them,
In the Land of Redmond where the Shadows lie."'
The Press Release" was dated 20 Nov 2001 but MOST will not be launched until Oct 2002. My post was accepted in Nov but was delayed in posting due to a bug in the database which showed its date as 31 Dec 1968. I emailed Hemos and he fixed it Christmas eve.
The Canadian Space Agency describes MOST as a next generation microsatellite that will be the world's smallest astronomical space telescope, capable of measuring the ages of stars in our galaxy and perhaps even unlocking mysteries of the universe itself.. You are probally reffering to SCISAT1 on which will be the MAESTRO instrument (Measurements of Aerosol Extinction in the Stratosphere and Troposphere Retrieved by Occultation). SCISAT1 is due for launch in Dec 2002. There are other projects here.
I take umbrage that you would say my comments are misleading. From Oxford dictionary: humble >adjective (humbler, humblest) 1 having or showing a modest or low estimate of one's own importance. 2 of low rank. 3 of modest pretensions or dimensions.
The MOST as described in the project proposal - STELLAR SEISMOLOGY FROM SPACE is a 15 cm optical telescope with a broadband photometer. While the Hubble is larger (2.4m telescope) it has a number of instruments such as the Wide Field Planetary Camera with a role of trying to investigate the age of the universe.
So it is literally true that the MOST is a more humble version of the Hubble as they are both space telescopes trying to investigate the age of the universe.
As for your second comment, one of the MOST's team leaders was on a CBC radio science show and he said that in addition to the images available through the web site(like hubble), an unprecedented amount of time will be allocated to amateur observer projects through a public outreach programme. He also said that the project could last for over ten years. Now it is hard to say exactly how many astronomers(professional, amatuer, casual) will use data from MOST but it is safe to say that many will and the Canadian Space Agency will be getting good value from its $12 million(cdn) investment.
One of the team leaders was on a CBC radio science show. He said that while the $3 billion Hubble was designed to be good at many different observation tasks, the MOST will be great in only a few limited tasks. It would be, as noted in the proposal STELLAR SEISMOLOGY FROM SPACE , ironic if an optical telescope only 15 cm across, armed only with a broadband photometer and with a budget of only about Cdn$12M, could probe the cores of stars and set a limit on the age of the Universe thus shedding new light on a fundamental question in cosmology.
He also said that an unprecedented amount of time will be allocated to amateur observer projects through a public outreach programme.
After MOST achieves its primary scientific goals, we plan to give the Canadian public a chance to make observations with this unique space observatory. In conjunction with the RASC (Royal Astronomical Society of Canada), an Amateur Observers' Contest will be held. Amateur astronomers and students will be able to submit observing proposals for MOST, with the technical support of Canadian astronomers.
The MOST Project also plans to spread information about our project and its science through the Pacific Space Centre in Vancouver, B.C.
Yes, but it's more than 0.25 percent (in my logs, for my company site, it's 5% Linux - which is impressive, I think).
- Which company, Redhat?
- Corel, but don't tell the boss
Hmmm, so a company that owns/maintains Corel Linux OS and sells Corel Draw, Photo Paint and WordPerfect(vers 8 and 2k) for Linux only has 40 PCs running on Linux(based on latest headcount)?
In Canada, the law that is supposed to protect Canadian consumers and businesses is the Competition Act. The Government agency in charge of upholding this law is the Competition Bureau.
It is funny how the Microsoft has been convicted in the US and EU of illegal monopolistic business practices yet the Canadian Competition Bureau has done nothing. You can email them to ask why here.
If you are Canadian and want to ask the same question of your member of parliment, their email addresses are here.
I just went through the switch over this morning and it took hours. The Rogers transition help pages were confusing. For email there were only instructions for Outlook express v 4 - 6. Outlook xp/2000, Eudora and Netscape were 'not supported'. In the end it would not accept my mail password but the mail showed up anyways. I was not impressed.
It did not take Microsoft long to act on this. They have already reported the cost against this quarter's earnings.
Microsoft Corp. today announced that it will record a pre-tax charge of approximately
$550 million in the quarter ending Dec. 31, 2001, resulting from the
settlement of more than 100 class action lawsuits.
On an after-tax basis, the settlement will result in a charge of
approximately $375 million, which represents a $0.06 to $0.07 reduction in
forecasted diluted earnings per share for the quarter ending Dec. 31, 2001.
It is not clear if they are writing the total cost off all at once(in which case they it is costing them alot less) or this is the first of five instalments(which would make it more than the $1.1 billion reported).
Once again The Register brings up some good points:
Poor children in rich countries what do they need?
Here's our incomplete list. Somewhere safe to live; three meals a day; parents who love them, who don't beat them up, and who maybe even read read to them occasionally; somewhere to play outside; a good school which doesn't treat them as failures because they are poor; books; swimming lessons; friends. And when they are a little older? A credit card. This is how one gains membership of the Digital elite, not through owning a poxy computer decked out with poxy software.
If Red Hat really wants to help the indigenous poor, why doesn't it pay for free breakfasts for all children of primary school age in poor areas? And why doesn't Microsoft restock the public libraries with books, or pay for a hundred thousand class-room assistants. Or dole out free pianos, a cause we have urged since 1997.
Why free pianos?
Musically trained children will also make more clued-up employees. Recent research shows that young children who practice as little as 10 minutes a day on the piano are more intelligent than their non-music playing counterparts. They have better powers of concentration and are more confident too. In the University of California, Irvine study, 78 children aged three and four were tested on their ability to assemble at four-part jigsaw. The children were divided into three groups: the first were taught how to play Mozart and Beethoven: the second lot received computer tuition: and the third group - poor lambs - had no teaching at all.
Nine months later, the children were tested again. The performance of the piano-playing group jumped 35 per cent, compared with little or no improvement in the other groups. What's the betting this news will ever make its way in to the marketing material of educational CD-ROM publishers or PC vendors.
So what do these poor kids need more? A full stomach and music lessons or a talking paper clip?
I tried the link to the $102,360 Camcorder but all that comes up is:
This site is currently unavailable
for Netscape 6 users, please click
here to download the Netscape 4.76
browser or open this URL in
your older version of Netscape.
This is the only site that I have had a problem with NS 6.2. Does it open in Mozilla?
XBox in Canada
on
XBox Released
·
· Score: 3, Informative
I had a look at the Xbox at a Future Shop. They are charging $600Cdn($377US). One of the store clerks was trying to set up a demo machine but it was too big to fit in the kiosk case they had for it. I asked him about playing DVDs on it and he said you could but you had to spend another $50 for the DVD controler and $25 for the cable to connect it to the TV. It comes with one game controler and to add extras would be another $50 each. So now I'm looking at shelling out $825 + $120 in taxes. I said no thanks and walked on which is what I suspect is most Canadians will say.
Sam the Record Man -A chain of Canadian music stores just filed for bankruptcy after operating for the past 65 years(see story here).
'But the key factors that toppled the retailer that was once Canada's top music merchant were fierce competition from rival chains, such as HMV Canada Inc. and Wal-Mart Canada Inc., and the growing popularity of music downloads from the Internet, they added.' One person in the story was quoted...'And Sams was hurt by people who, like him, downloaded music from the Internet. "My friends don't bring CDs to parties any more -- they bring their computers,' Mr. Broadhead, 31, said.'
Free music is great but it is hurting music sales which has an effect on not just the artists and music companies but lots of small store owners.
A Globe and Mail article states that a $1.5 billion Cdn plan to bring broadband service to every rural Canadian will likely not go ahead due to the need to spend more money on security. Its a shame as farmers should have the right to download porn in a timely fashion as the rest of us.
America the Good Neighbour has been posted on the internet quite a bit. It is amazing that it still stands up so well even though it was written 28 years ago.
"I thought you might like to hear the "origins" of this 1973 piece written by Gord Sinclair (who passed
away in 1984).
Origins: On June 5 1973, Canadian radio commentator Gordon Sinclair decided he'd had enough of the stream of criticism
and negative press recently directed at the United States of America by foreign journalists (primarily over America's long
military involvement in Vietnam, which had ended with the signing of the Paris Peace Accords six months earlier). When he
arrived at radio station CFRB in Toronto that morning, he spent twenty minutes dashing off a two-page editorial defending
the USA against its carping critics which he then delivered in a defiant, indignant tone during his "Let's Be Personal" spot at
11:45 AM that day.
The unusualness of any foreign correspondent -- even one from a country with such close ties to the USA as Canada --
delivering such a caustic commentary about those who would dare to criticize the USA is best demonstrated by the fact that
even thirty years later, many Americans doubt that this piece (which has been circulating on the Internet in the slightly-altered
form quoted above as something "recently" printed in a Toronto newspaper) is real. It is real, and it received a great deal of
attention in its day. After Sinclair's editorial was rebroadcast by a few American radio stations, it spread like wildfire all over
the country. It was played again and again (often superimposed over a piece of inspirational music such as "Battle Hymn of
the Republic" or "Bridge Over Troubled Waters"), read into the Congress Record multiple times, and finally released on a
record (titled "The Americans"), with all royalties donated to the American Red Cross. (A Detroit radio broadcaster named
Byron MacGregor recorded and released an unauthorized version of the piece that hit the record stores before Sinclair's
official version; an infringement suit was avoided when MacGregor agreed to donate his profits to the Red Cross as well).
Sinclair passed away in 1984, but he will long be remembered on both sides of the U.S.-Canadian border -- both for his
contributions to journalism, and for his loudly proclaiming what no one else at the time would stand up and say.
As a side note, you can hardly get mad at MS for letting Roxio write POS drivers. I mean, I'm sure more people would get pissed at MS, if they
started telling companies who can and can't write software...
Thanks for the help. As for Win2K, it seems to be a design fault where drivers can cause so much damage. I hear now that our motherboard was damaged somehow and has to be replaced. (I can't see CD Creator being responsible for that but who knows?) If we were using Linux would not the OS stop the process before such damage was done?
We just got a new PC at work. We are just starting to deploy Win 2k pro desktops so it came with Win 2k. We loaded CD Creator 5 with the patch and watched all our CD drivers disappear. Now we have to reformat the HD and reinstall Win 2k. I had not heard the controversy about CD Creator and there is no warning on the box or even the Roxio web site unless you dig down to the support section where they talk about the patch. I am mad at Roxio for not having a warning on their product page where it says Win 2k compatable and I am mad at Win 2k for letting Roxio screw it up so badly.
LinuxTodayhas the press release concerning Xandros licensing CLOS from Corel and
In addition to the information found in the press release below,
Xandros has this to say about its plans:
"Xandros is developing a customized Debian-based Linux
distribution that is derived from version 3.0 of the award
winning Corel LINUX OS. It will support both the KDE
and Gnome desktop environments. In addition to the
features that Linux users expect, Xandros will be
distributing significant additions and enhancements.
Furthermore, Xandros is creating a server and enterprise
management solution that will significantly reduce the total
cost of ownership of computing environments. The overall
solution is complete "off the shelf", but Xandros
Professional Services can customize and integrate the
products as well as provide enhancements to legacy
systems as needed. Finally, all Xandros offerings will be
backed by world-class support."
So there is a version 3 of CLOS. What happened to ver 2? The last release was ver 1.1. It is a licensing deal so Corel will still own the distro. Xandros plan enterprise version. I wonder if it is the software part from Rebel? You can see bios of all the the key players at the Xandros web site. It seems like they all were graduates of Corel U(ex employees cut loose in the last bloodbath). They are also supporting Gnome which is a change from CLOS 1.1. Should be interesting.
I bought my Vaio at a Future Shop and got a deal. It was $500 less than the other brand names and came with a 12 gig HD, DVD drive, 2 usb ports plus a firewire port and some nifty video editing software. The downside was that it was only a 550mhz processor and its numbers suck when checked with Sandra. Oh well you get what you pay for.
One thing that bugged me was I had problems when I plugged a PS/2 external mouse into the
provided port marked mouse. The problem was not readily apparent as it
would work fine for awhile then start erratic mouse movements then stop
working. On reboot it would work fine for awhile then the problems
would return.
I returned the PC to Future Shop but the technician could offer no
solution other than reformatting my hard drive and restore all the
programs to their default. There was no help on the Sony web site. I
finally called the tech support call center. After several calls, navigating a complex menu, and a long
time on hold I was finally informed that
I should not be using a PS/2 mouse as it causes the unstable behaviour.
The Tech guy recommended buying a USB mouse which in my frustration I
did for $40.00.
OK $40 is not alot of money but I was really unhappy that Sony is selling
a product with a defective PS/2 port and not providing any warning
sticker, info in the manual or on their web tech support site. Keep in mind this
problem is not unique to my machine. The tech guy said that this
problem is a hold over from the 500 series and the port should not even
be on there due to the conflicts!
So, yes you can save some bucks by not buying the latest and greatest model but also be prepared for problems if it seems too good to be true.
That being said, even with the 550 processor, it works ok for what I do(checking email on the road, word processing and portable DVD player in the van for the kids). I would not think of using it for its intended function of editing video as it would take forever.
Slashdot Mirror
The problem with mines is that they hard very hard to detect. Modern mines have very little if any metal content. Battlefields usually are riddled with shrapnel/shell casings etc which make metal detecters useless even if the mine had metal.
The Canadian Defence Research Establishment(DRES) in Sulfield Alberta is a world leader in mine detection technologies. Their latest invention is the Improved Landmine DetectorProject (ILDP). The ILDP system consists of a teleoperated vehicle carrying three scanning sensors which operate while the system is in motion; a metal detector array (MMD) based on electromagnetic induction (EMI), an infrared imager (IR), ground penetrating radar (GPR), and a confirmatory sensor which requires the system to be stationary and near a target of interest, consisting of a thermal neutron analysis (TNA) detector. Each of the sensors provides information concerning the presence (or absence) of physical properties which accompany the presence of landmines. For example, IR provides a measure of thermal anomalies, EMI reports anomalies in electrical conductivity, GPR detects anomalies in dielectric and other electromagnetic properties, and the TNA provides a measure of nitrogen content.
One the mine is identified and marked the vehicle can move on and let the lifing or destruction of the mine to the engineers.
Canada first proposed the banning of anti-personnel mines and the treaty is commonly refered to as the Ottawa treaty. They also set up the Canadian Centre for Mine Action Technologies which is coordinating research into new technologies from around the world.
As a soldier, I agree that anti pers mines have a limited tactical role and the human cost in civilian casualties is too great to justify their use. It is time to ban them forever.
Cheers,
Why mention a ring phone? I would think that a phone built into a pair of glasses would be more practical. You could even have a projection monitor built in so you could see caller id, menus, browsers/video etc.
Of course the Trekkies would all buy the 'com badge' version.
The Register's article adds a good quote from the judge:
A district court judge has rejected Microsoft's proposed settlement in the private law suits brought against the company.
Microsoft's $1.1 billion giveaway of computers software to US schools would constitute "court-approved predatory pricing," if approved, said Judge Motz. He didn't, and it's back to the drawing board for The Beast.
The cynical proposal was criticised on the grounds that would extend Microsoft's monopoly into the education market, which has been a loyal Mac stronghold. Over 40 per cent of US schools use Macintosh computers.
Motz gave a strong signal that Microsoft's revised proposal would have to be a lot more generous: he deemed there was "insufficient value" in Seattlement (Private Edition)Version 1.0.
A year ago Motz dismissed 38 suits from customers who had acquired Windows as part of an OEM bundle, even though state law allows such an 'indirect' acquisition to be treated as a direct relationship.
Bootnote:The term 'Seattlement' was contributed by a reader from the Lichtenstein.
"
Even if the DOJ settles with M$ the findings of fact still stand and makes the civil cases a slam dunk. Each of these cases could cost M$ billions of dollars. A few multi billion dollar judgements should give M$ a good reason to clean up their act or else the govt could start the process all over again.
So in effect the civil cases have the potential for causing the greatest damage and the threat of further cases could be a better deterrent than anything the govt could come up with.
A reader of The Register provides this translation:
After Samba and kIllustrator, yet another open-source-program fillsthe pockets of lawyers. The [ill-reputed] German lawyer Günther Freiherr von Gravenreuth has won a preliminary injunction at the Munich District Court against the German Linux-distributor SuSE.
The reason seems to be an open-source-software referenced on one of the SuSE-CDs. Apparently Gravenreuth has prohibited the Nurenberg based company from delivering its Linux-distribution,
as long as the disputed program name is contained on the disks.
SuSE could face serious financial losses if the copies already produced cannot be sold.
Being asked, Freiherr von Gravenreuth confirms the preliminary injunction against the name of the open-source-software, but refuses to give any more details, since his client wishes to get a settlement with "the opponent" and doesn't want to be named.
SuSE spokesman Christian Egle says his company will publish a statement in a few days.
IBM getting out of the desktop business? Is their strength failing? Perhaps the following story might help to explain why:
O E5 I OCC98D444AA08EI 324
Recently one of my friends, a computer wizard, paid me a visit. As we
were talking I mentioned that I had recently installed Windows XP on my
PC. I told him how happy I was with this operating system and showed
him the Windows XP CD. To my surprise he threw it into my microwave
oven and turned it on. Instantly I got very upset, because the CD had
become precious to me, but he said: 'Do not worry, it is unharmed.'
After a few minutes he took the CD out, gave it to me and said: 'Take a
close look at it.' To my surprise the CD was quite cold to hold and it
seemed to be heavier than before. At first I could not see anything,
but on the inner edge of the central hole I saw an inscription, an
inscription finer than anything I had ever seen before. The
inscription shone piercingly bright, and yet remote, as if out of a
great depth:
12413AEB2ED4FA5E6F7D78E78BEDE820945092OF923A40EEl
'I cannot understand the fiery letters,' I said in a timid voice.
'No but I can,' he said. 'The letters are Hex, of an ancient mode, but
the language is that of Microsoft, which I shall not utter here. But in
common English this is what it says:
One OS to rule them all, One OS to find them,
One OS to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
It is only two lines from a verse long known in System-lore:
"Three OS's from corporate-kings in their towers of glass,
Seven from valley-lords where orchards used to grow,
Nine from dotcoms doomed to die,
One from the Dark Lord Gates on his dark throne
In the Land of Redmond where the Shadows lie.
One OS to rule them all, One OS to find them,
One OS to bring them all and in the darkness bind them,
In the Land of Redmond where the Shadows lie."'
The Press Release" was dated 20 Nov 2001 but MOST will not be launched until Oct 2002. My post was accepted in Nov but was delayed in posting due to a bug in the database which showed its date as 31 Dec 1968. I emailed Hemos and he fixed it Christmas eve.
The Canadian Space Agency describes MOST as a next generation microsatellite that will be the world's smallest astronomical space telescope, capable of measuring the ages of stars in our galaxy and perhaps even unlocking mysteries of the universe itself.. You are probally reffering to SCISAT1 on which will be the MAESTRO instrument (Measurements of Aerosol Extinction in the Stratosphere and Troposphere Retrieved by Occultation). SCISAT1 is due for launch in Dec 2002. There are other projects here.
I take umbrage that you would say my comments are misleading. From Oxford dictionary: humble >adjective (humbler, humblest) 1 having or showing a modest or low estimate of one's own importance. 2 of low rank. 3 of modest pretensions or dimensions.
The MOST as described in the project proposal - STELLAR SEISMOLOGY FROM SPACE is a 15 cm optical telescope with a broadband photometer. While the Hubble is larger (2.4m telescope) it has a number of instruments such as the Wide Field Planetary Camera with a role of trying to investigate the age of the universe.
So it is literally true that the MOST is a more humble version of the Hubble as they are both space telescopes trying to investigate the age of the universe.
As for your second comment, one of the MOST's team leaders was on a CBC radio science show and he said that in addition to the images available through the web site(like hubble), an unprecedented amount of time will be allocated to amateur observer projects through a public outreach programme. He also said that the project could last for over ten years. Now it is hard to say exactly how many astronomers(professional, amatuer, casual) will use data from MOST but it is safe to say that many will and the Canadian Space Agency will be getting good value from its $12 million(cdn) investment.
One of the team leaders was on a CBC radio science show. He said that while the $3 billion Hubble was designed to be good at many different observation tasks, the MOST will be great in only a few limited tasks. It would be, as noted in the proposal STELLAR SEISMOLOGY FROM SPACE , ironic if an optical telescope only 15 cm across, armed only with a broadband photometer and with a budget of only about Cdn$12M, could probe the cores of stars and set a limit on the age of the Universe thus shedding new light on a fundamental question in cosmology.
He also said that an unprecedented amount of time will be allocated to amateur observer projects through a public outreach programme.
After MOST achieves its primary scientific goals, we plan to give the Canadian public a chance to make observations with this unique space observatory. In conjunction with the RASC (Royal Astronomical Society of Canada), an Amateur Observers' Contest will be held. Amateur astronomers and students will be able to submit observing proposals for MOST, with the technical support of Canadian astronomers.
The MOST Project also plans to spread information about our project and its science through the Pacific Space Centre in Vancouver, B.C.
Yes, but it's more than 0.25 percent (in my logs, for my company site, it's 5% Linux - which is impressive, I think).
- Which company, Redhat?
- Corel, but don't tell the boss
Hmmm, so a company that owns/maintains Corel Linux OS and sells Corel Draw, Photo Paint and WordPerfect(vers 8 and 2k) for Linux only has 40 PCs running on Linux(based on latest headcount)?
In Canada, the law that is supposed to protect Canadian consumers and businesses is the Competition Act. The Government agency in charge of upholding this law is the Competition Bureau.
It is funny how the Microsoft has been convicted in the US and EU of illegal monopolistic business practices yet the Canadian Competition Bureau has done nothing. You can email them to ask why here.
If you are Canadian and want to ask the same question of your member of parliment, their email addresses are here.
I just went through the switch over this morning and it took hours. The Rogers transition help pages were confusing. For email there were only instructions for Outlook express v 4 - 6. Outlook xp/2000, Eudora and Netscape were 'not supported'. In the end it would not accept my mail password but the mail showed up anyways. I was not impressed.
It did not take Microsoft long to act on this. They have already reported the cost against this quarter's earnings.
Microsoft Corp. today announced that it will record a pre-tax charge of approximately
$550 million in the quarter ending Dec. 31, 2001, resulting from the
settlement of more than 100 class action lawsuits.
On an after-tax basis, the settlement will result in a charge of
approximately $375 million, which represents a $0.06 to $0.07 reduction in
forecasted diluted earnings per share for the quarter ending Dec. 31, 2001.
It is not clear if they are writing the total cost off all at once(in which case they it is costing them alot less) or this is the first of five instalments(which would make it more than the $1.1 billion reported).
Once again The Register brings up some good points:
Poor children in rich countries what do they need?
Here's our incomplete list. Somewhere safe to live; three meals a day; parents who love them, who don't beat them up, and who maybe even read read to them occasionally; somewhere to play outside; a good school which doesn't treat them as failures because they are poor; books; swimming lessons; friends. And when they are a little older? A credit card. This is how one gains membership of the Digital elite, not through owning a poxy computer decked out with poxy software.
If Red Hat really wants to help the indigenous poor, why doesn't it pay for free breakfasts for all children of primary school age in poor areas? And why doesn't Microsoft restock the public libraries with books, or pay for a hundred thousand class-room assistants. Or dole out free pianos, a cause we have urged since 1997.
Why free pianos?
Musically trained children will also make more clued-up employees. Recent research shows that young children who practice as little as 10 minutes a day on the piano are more intelligent than their non-music playing counterparts. They have better powers of concentration and are more confident too. In the University of California, Irvine study, 78 children aged three and four were tested on their ability to assemble at four-part jigsaw. The children were divided into three groups: the first were taught how to play Mozart and Beethoven: the second lot received computer tuition: and the third group - poor lambs - had no teaching at all.
Nine months later, the children were tested again. The performance of the piano-playing group jumped 35 per cent, compared with little or no improvement in the other groups. What's the betting this news will ever make its way in to the marketing material of educational CD-ROM publishers or PC vendors.
So what do these poor kids need more? A full stomach and music lessons or a talking paper clip?
I tried the link to the $102,360 Camcorder but all that comes up is:
This site is currently unavailable
for Netscape 6 users, please click
here to download the Netscape 4.76
browser or open this URL in
your older version of Netscape.
This is the only site that I have had a problem with NS 6.2. Does it open in Mozilla?
I had a look at the Xbox at a Future Shop. They are charging $600Cdn($377US). One of the store clerks was trying to set up a demo machine but it was too big to fit in the kiosk case they had for it. I asked him about playing DVDs on it and he said you could but you had to spend another $50 for the DVD controler and $25 for the cable to connect it to the TV. It comes with one game controler and to add extras would be another $50 each. So now I'm looking at shelling out $825 + $120 in taxes. I said no thanks and walked on which is what I suspect is most Canadians will say.
Their older model had 24 blades in 3U and now they have 6 blades in 1U. How is this denser?
Sam the Record Man -A chain of Canadian music stores just filed for bankruptcy after operating for the past 65 years(see story here).
'But the key factors that toppled the retailer that was once Canada's top music merchant were fierce competition from rival chains, such as HMV Canada Inc. and Wal-Mart Canada Inc., and the growing popularity of music downloads from the Internet, they added.' One person in the story was quoted...'And Sams was hurt by people who, like him, downloaded music from the Internet. "My friends don't bring CDs to parties any more -- they bring their computers,' Mr. Broadhead, 31, said.'
Free music is great but it is hurting music sales which has an effect on not just the artists and music companies but lots of small store owners.
A Globe and Mail article states that a $1.5 billion Cdn plan to bring broadband service to every rural Canadian will likely not go ahead due to the need to spend more money on security. Its a shame as farmers should have the right to download porn in a timely fashion as the rest of us.
There is a good description of the first Anglo-Afgan War here and for a more entertaining read I reccomend Flashman.
This explanation is supplied by Xanada2
"I thought you might like to hear the "origins" of this 1973 piece written by Gord Sinclair (who passed
away in 1984).
Origins: On June 5 1973, Canadian radio commentator Gordon Sinclair decided he'd had enough of the stream of criticism
and negative press recently directed at the United States of America by foreign journalists (primarily over America's long
military involvement in Vietnam, which had ended with the signing of the Paris Peace Accords six months earlier). When he
arrived at radio station CFRB in Toronto that morning, he spent twenty minutes dashing off a two-page editorial defending
the USA against its carping critics which he then delivered in a defiant, indignant tone during his "Let's Be Personal" spot at
11:45 AM that day.
The unusualness of any foreign correspondent -- even one from a country with such close ties to the USA as Canada --
delivering such a caustic commentary about those who would dare to criticize the USA is best demonstrated by the fact that
even thirty years later, many Americans doubt that this piece (which has been circulating on the Internet in the slightly-altered
form quoted above as something "recently" printed in a Toronto newspaper) is real. It is real, and it received a great deal of
attention in its day. After Sinclair's editorial was rebroadcast by a few American radio stations, it spread like wildfire all over
the country. It was played again and again (often superimposed over a piece of inspirational music such as "Battle Hymn of
the Republic" or "Bridge Over Troubled Waters"), read into the Congress Record multiple times, and finally released on a
record (titled "The Americans"), with all royalties donated to the American Red Cross. (A Detroit radio broadcaster named
Byron MacGregor recorded and released an unauthorized version of the piece that hit the record stores before Sinclair's
official version; an infringement suit was avoided when MacGregor agreed to donate his profits to the Red Cross as well).
Sinclair passed away in 1984, but he will long be remembered on both sides of the U.S.-Canadian border -- both for his
contributions to journalism, and for his loudly proclaiming what no one else at the time would stand up and say.
started telling companies who can and can't write software...
Thanks for the help. As for Win2K, it seems to be a design fault where drivers can cause so much damage. I hear now that our motherboard was damaged somehow and has to be replaced. (I can't see CD Creator being responsible for that but who knows?) If we were using Linux would not the OS stop the process before such damage was done?
In addition to the information found in the press release below,
Xandros has this to say about its plans:
"Xandros is developing a customized Debian-based Linux
distribution that is derived from version 3.0 of the award
winning Corel LINUX OS. It will support both the KDE
and Gnome desktop environments. In addition to the
features that Linux users expect, Xandros will be
distributing significant additions and enhancements.
Furthermore, Xandros is creating a server and enterprise
management solution that will significantly reduce the total
cost of ownership of computing environments. The overall
solution is complete "off the shelf", but Xandros
Professional Services can customize and integrate the
products as well as provide enhancements to legacy
systems as needed. Finally, all Xandros offerings will be
backed by world-class support."
So there is a version 3 of CLOS. What happened to ver 2? The last release was ver 1.1. It is a licensing deal so Corel will still own the distro. Xandros plan enterprise version. I wonder if it is the software part from Rebel? You can see bios of all the the key players at the Xandros web site. It seems like they all were graduates of Corel U(ex employees cut loose in the last bloodbath). They are also supporting Gnome which is a change from CLOS 1.1. Should be interesting.
One thing that bugged me was I had problems when I plugged a PS/2 external mouse into the provided port marked mouse. The problem was not readily apparent as it would work fine for awhile then start erratic mouse movements then stop working. On reboot it would work fine for awhile then the problems would return. I returned the PC to Future Shop but the technician could offer no solution other than reformatting my hard drive and restore all the programs to their default. There was no help on the Sony web site. I finally called the tech support call center. After several calls, navigating a complex menu, and a long time on hold I was finally informed that I should not be using a PS/2 mouse as it causes the unstable behaviour. The Tech guy recommended buying a USB mouse which in my frustration I did for $40.00.
OK $40 is not alot of money but I was really unhappy that Sony is selling a product with a defective PS/2 port and not providing any warning sticker, info in the manual or on their web tech support site. Keep in mind this problem is not unique to my machine. The tech guy said that this problem is a hold over from the 500 series and the port should not even be on there due to the conflicts!
So, yes you can save some bucks by not buying the latest and greatest model but also be prepared for problems if it seems too good to be true.
That being said, even with the 550 processor, it works ok for what I do(checking email on the road, word processing and portable DVD player in the van for the kids). I would not think of using it for its intended function of editing video as it would take forever.