Yes, it's very strange should require "emergency repairs".
It should have undergone regular maintenance a decade ago, and a decade before that, and the decade before that. A pre-war bridge should be inspected regularly because it requires maintenance.
The fact that it's closed due to emergency repairs is because it has either been passed by for regular repairs, or has been completely ignored.
Still, one has to wonder about the accuracy of reporting on the 'weapon'. It could easily be interpreted to read:
"The device projects a narrow beam of extremely annoying sound, at levels that can reach 151 decibels, (right in front the device, with an effective range of) over a distance of a mile or more."
Well, that's the problem. (IANAL, but I had this thoroughly explained by one)
See, as a group, they're only guilty of "marching without permit", but individuals in the group may be tossing bricks, disturbing the order, causing damage, looting, etc. etc. The problem is, unless you can identify said individuals, you can't do anything about it. You can't arrest them all for looting, because some of them are not. You can't arrest everyone in the group for burning down cars, because most of them are not.
The difference between a protester and a rioter is that protesters don't toss bricks. The problem is getting rid of the rioters while not harming the protesters. So what can you do to stop some of them from causing damage?
You can get them all to leave. If you have a better suggestion that does not involve single policemen and women walking through a potentially dangerous crowd to stop individuals, I'd love to hear it. Until then, it's a case of a few bad apples.
That makes no sense...
Getting up there isn't all that hard, but as it happens, there's a lot of sky that doesn't contain airships. Getting up there with a payload and a guidance system that will actually lock on to the blimp is the hard part. An AIM-92 Stinger missile has only a range of 8km, (which I assume means distance, not height) against stationary targets. That's about the best you can do for shoulder launched weapons.
If you want to hit that blimp, you're going to need a really big missile. Think several meters long, a thousand kilograms, tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars, specialized launchers, etc. etc. Nothing to hard to get for a real army, but not something your average goatherd with a rifle is likely to have.
UK libel laws work exactly opposite to those in most other countries. In this case, Singh said that chiropractic was bogus, and is getting sued by the BCA.
Now, in any sane country, the BCA would have to prove that
A - BCA has to prove that Singh is wrong and and chiropractic is perfectly supported
B - BCA has to prove that That Singh's statement caused damage.
But, in with the UK's libel laws, you're basically guilty until proven innocent. In this case, when the BCA sued Singh, Singh has to prove either
A - Singh has to prove that his statement was true
B - Singh has to prove no damage was caused.
Now, again, in a sane country, both A and B are impossible, the BCA would lose the lawsuit without Singh even getting a lawyer. But, in the UK, Singh needs his lawyers badly, because damage was caused, his only chance to win is to show that chiropractic is crap. A piece of cake if you're in a room with scientists, but when you're surrounded by lawyers and convincing a judge, it's not so east.
heh, us desk people work in carefully planned deathtraps as well. At least a factory has a potential exits (emergency exit, normal exit, window)
and office on the 12th floor, however, has an emergency escape (good luck running down 11 stairs in 15 secs) and elevators (DON'T!)
we had a fire drill where the first X people outside were paid a certain ammount of money. Normally we have a 75 second complete evac time, for a 6 floor building. With people actaully pushing and shoving to get down, it got up to a whooping 180 seconds. And that's not counting the time for a full sweep of every floor, or with actaul smoke.
no, it would suck as a warning system, because you only measure the event yourself. If an earthquake triggers my system, I don't need a system to tell me an earthquake is happening.
also, you need a pretty big hit to tigger the sensor, no use sensing the small pre-shocks.
nope, a 15 second warning would barely be enough.
this is what happens:
second 0 event detection
Second 1 alarm sounds
second 1-4 people go 'huh, wha's that?'
second 5 it hits 'Earthquake alert'
second 5-7 people put down what they're doing and look around for the exit
second 8 people start moving
after that you still need to get to the exit/safe spot.
This sounds like the same advice from those old 'be ready for nukes' films. Just drop in a ditch and you'll be fine, don't forget to cover up with a coat or something....
Seriously, do you think your table is going to support the weight of your roof? If you've got a 20 second warning, use it to get the hell out of your house. jump through the window from the 2nd floor if need be. If you're in a flat or other high-rise, make for the central staircase, they're usually a critical loadbearing structure in most tall buildings, and such are the thoughest reinforced conrete in the whole building.
take it from a civil engineer that ducking under a table isn't going to do you any good in a big earthquake, no matter what the safety pamflet says.
If talk.origin should get whitelisted, the list may not be as short as you think.
The problem lies not in the initial proces, the problem is that websites are not books. You can't say "This one's ok, lets whitelist it until the end of times." Webiste change, so when you go around whitelisting sites you need to check up on them once in a while, which will turn in to a huge investment, for something which should really sort itself out.
I recall a test at the university here.
The local audiophile group set up their best of the best stuff, which measured up to about a Lexus worth of gear. Insert one CD holding original tracks, 128, 160, 192, 224, 256 kbit/s mp3s, all at 44.1khz.
Most people could generally pick out 128kbit as 'not quite as good as the rest' but all the others sounded pretty similar. However, when the platina encrested CD player gest replaced by a generic mp3 player, it all sounds a lot worse.
IIRC, we (the dutch) have had the 'stemwijzer' for at least the last couple of elections. I think at least eight years now (paars 2, balkenende 1, 2 and 3), and it hasn't hit the news until today? I know slashdot can be a bit slow, but eight years?
There is actually a way to vote online.
I just noticed on the news that 19000 (out of 15M) voted online, not that I knew that was even an option....
But there IS a reason such a system can't be used in the US, several infact.
1 - There's barely any difference between the two parties.
2 - The majority doesn't even vote on issues but on people
3 - [insert terrorists here]
4 - [Insert evil voting manipulation here]
This is quite normal, because of the natural tendency of people vote for whatever is most opposite the current government "Because they suck" even though they did a great job economically, social issues could use more focus. Economics are not what people see, social issues are, and they see them being 'neglected' thus vote for a social party.
What if there had been bias on the test in favour of on or another far left, or worse, far right political party? It is surprising that there is so much trust and popularity in a simple web-based system in the first place. Then it's a good thing that every political party has to first agree to the questions. This isn't a matter of some guy in a dark room rolling a some bice and randomly picking questions. It take months of discussion to agree on these 30 questions.
However one must doubt that anyone in their right mind would make an important political decision based on this alone.True, however, here in the sane world, we've got more then two real parties. With 20 parties to choose, would you seriously consider reading all their programs? or would you prefer if 'some web app' would show what is most likely to intrest you first?
5) People think that geeks love fixing computers so much, that we should do it for free.
which is why one should ALWAYS charge at least minimum wage for fixing computer stuff. That way, people will not ask you, unless there's something really wrong.
4) People think that error messages are for geeks.
Ah yes.
1"And then what happened?"
2"Well, a window opened with a red cross and an ok button"
1"ok, what does it say"
2"I don't know, I closed it"
1"why?????"
2"I thought it wasn't important"
1 *goes through all steps again to reproduce error*
1"what does it say"
2"windows did not shut down properly, to avoid seeing this message etc etc"
1"so what do YOU think the problem is and how to solve it??"
hehe, we actaully had a course on that in the first year. took two whole days and instructed students on how to secure their computers, lock their wireless etc. (all of us living on campus on the same network tends to make people nervous)
Only when you passed the test, could you register your MAC adress for acces. When I pointed out to the guy teaching us that I had frequently posted on slashdot how they should use this idea for the whole world, his reaction was "you post on slashdot? ok nothing new to learn here then, go do something usefull"
who says/. is a waste of time? it earned me two days.
True, very few kids actaully know what they're doing on a computer. Even those that are "Really good with computers" sometimes know how to install files, and run a virus scan. those that "run a website" actually have a myspace. Those that "can make programs and stuff" know a little HTML.
The saddest thing is that you can't teach coding or computer maintenence, You can only teach routines and languages. When people ask me 'How do you know that stuff?' my answer is usually that I don't, they're educated guesses of what will probably fix their code/machine based on an instinct. When you teach people how to solve computer problems, you need to litterally teach some people 'ok, click here, a window opens. Select Properties, because that's where you want to go, then go the the seocnd tab from the left....etc etc'
Instead, you should be teaching associative thinking, probable cause and effect, and teach people to scout around a bit for what seems like something that could work.
Slashdot Mirror
But with sandworms comes spice and He who controls the Spice controls the universe. I'd like to rent some goats please.
Yes, it's very strange should require "emergency repairs". It should have undergone regular maintenance a decade ago, and a decade before that, and the decade before that. A pre-war bridge should be inspected regularly because it requires maintenance. The fact that it's closed due to emergency repairs is because it has either been passed by for regular repairs, or has been completely ignored.
Still, one has to wonder about the accuracy of reporting on the 'weapon'. It could easily be interpreted to read: "The device projects a narrow beam of extremely annoying sound, at levels that can reach 151 decibels, (right in front the device, with an effective range of) over a distance of a mile or more."
Well, that's the problem. (IANAL, but I had this thoroughly explained by one) See, as a group, they're only guilty of "marching without permit", but individuals in the group may be tossing bricks, disturbing the order, causing damage, looting, etc. etc. The problem is, unless you can identify said individuals, you can't do anything about it. You can't arrest them all for looting, because some of them are not. You can't arrest everyone in the group for burning down cars, because most of them are not. The difference between a protester and a rioter is that protesters don't toss bricks. The problem is getting rid of the rioters while not harming the protesters. So what can you do to stop some of them from causing damage? You can get them all to leave. If you have a better suggestion that does not involve single policemen and women walking through a potentially dangerous crowd to stop individuals, I'd love to hear it. Until then, it's a case of a few bad apples.
That makes no sense... Getting up there isn't all that hard, but as it happens, there's a lot of sky that doesn't contain airships. Getting up there with a payload and a guidance system that will actually lock on to the blimp is the hard part. An AIM-92 Stinger missile has only a range of 8km, (which I assume means distance, not height) against stationary targets. That's about the best you can do for shoulder launched weapons. If you want to hit that blimp, you're going to need a really big missile. Think several meters long, a thousand kilograms, tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars, specialized launchers, etc. etc. Nothing to hard to get for a real army, but not something your average goatherd with a rifle is likely to have.
UK libel laws work exactly opposite to those in most other countries. In this case, Singh said that chiropractic was bogus, and is getting sued by the BCA. Now, in any sane country, the BCA would have to prove that A - BCA has to prove that Singh is wrong and and chiropractic is perfectly supported B - BCA has to prove that That Singh's statement caused damage. But, in with the UK's libel laws, you're basically guilty until proven innocent. In this case, when the BCA sued Singh, Singh has to prove either A - Singh has to prove that his statement was true B - Singh has to prove no damage was caused. Now, again, in a sane country, both A and B are impossible, the BCA would lose the lawsuit without Singh even getting a lawyer. But, in the UK, Singh needs his lawyers badly, because damage was caused, his only chance to win is to show that chiropractic is crap. A piece of cake if you're in a room with scientists, but when you're surrounded by lawyers and convincing a judge, it's not so east.
heh, us desk people work in carefully planned deathtraps as well. At least a factory has a potential exits (emergency exit, normal exit, window) and office on the 12th floor, however, has an emergency escape (good luck running down 11 stairs in 15 secs) and elevators (DON'T!) we had a fire drill where the first X people outside were paid a certain ammount of money. Normally we have a 75 second complete evac time, for a 6 floor building. With people actaully pushing and shoving to get down, it got up to a whooping 180 seconds. And that's not counting the time for a full sweep of every floor, or with actaul smoke.
no, it would suck as a warning system, because you only measure the event yourself. If an earthquake triggers my system, I don't need a system to tell me an earthquake is happening. also, you need a pretty big hit to tigger the sensor, no use sensing the small pre-shocks.
not in greece. There's never been a hurricane, or a flood iirc, or a large forest fire.
nope, a 15 second warning would barely be enough. this is what happens: second 0 event detection Second 1 alarm sounds second 1-4 people go 'huh, wha's that?' second 5 it hits 'Earthquake alert' second 5-7 people put down what they're doing and look around for the exit second 8 people start moving after that you still need to get to the exit/safe spot.
This sounds like the same advice from those old 'be ready for nukes' films. Just drop in a ditch and you'll be fine, don't forget to cover up with a coat or something....
Seriously, do you think your table is going to support the weight of your roof? If you've got a 20 second warning, use it to get the hell out of your house. jump through the window from the 2nd floor if need be. If you're in a flat or other high-rise, make for the central staircase, they're usually a critical loadbearing structure in most tall buildings, and such are the thoughest reinforced conrete in the whole building.
take it from a civil engineer that ducking under a table isn't going to do you any good in a big earthquake, no matter what the safety pamflet says.
If talk.origin should get whitelisted, the list may not be as short as you think. The problem lies not in the initial proces, the problem is that websites are not books. You can't say "This one's ok, lets whitelist it until the end of times." Webiste change, so when you go around whitelisting sites you need to check up on them once in a while, which will turn in to a huge investment, for something which should really sort itself out.
I recall a test at the university here. The local audiophile group set up their best of the best stuff, which measured up to about a Lexus worth of gear. Insert one CD holding original tracks, 128, 160, 192, 224, 256 kbit/s mp3s, all at 44.1khz. Most people could generally pick out 128kbit as 'not quite as good as the rest' but all the others sounded pretty similar. However, when the platina encrested CD player gest replaced by a generic mp3 player, it all sounds a lot worse.
IIRC, we (the dutch) have had the 'stemwijzer' for at least the last couple of elections. I think at least eight years now (paars 2, balkenende 1, 2 and 3), and it hasn't hit the news until today? I know slashdot can be a bit slow, but eight years?
Or try the Zweefwijzer
http://www.burorenkema.nl/2006/11/zweefwijzer.php
There is actually a way to vote online. I just noticed on the news that 19000 (out of 15M) voted online, not that I knew that was even an option.... But there IS a reason such a system can't be used in the US, several infact. 1 - There's barely any difference between the two parties.
2 - The majority doesn't even vote on issues but on people
3 - [insert terrorists here]
4 - [Insert evil voting manipulation here]
several small cities had to vote the old fashioned way, as the machines couldn't be certified' due to the people delivering it banging up the seals.
This is quite normal, because of the natural tendency of people vote for whatever is most opposite the current government "Because they suck" even though they did a great job economically, social issues could use more focus. Economics are not what people see, social issues are, and they see them being 'neglected' thus vote for a social party.
What if there had been bias on the test in favour of on or another far left, or worse, far right political party? It is surprising that there is so much trust and popularity in a simple web-based system in the first place. Then it's a good thing that every political party has to first agree to the questions. This isn't a matter of some guy in a dark room rolling a some bice and randomly picking questions. It take months of discussion to agree on these 30 questions. However one must doubt that anyone in their right mind would make an important political decision based on this alone.True, however, here in the sane world, we've got more then two real parties. With 20 parties to choose, would you seriously consider reading all their programs? or would you prefer if 'some web app' would show what is most likely to intrest you first?
ok, insert random arabic words in place of ... for proper snipe remark.
it seems slashdot is just as bad as the ICANN
Guess I'll see you soon on moc...www good luck.
hehe, we actaully had a course on that in the first year. took two whole days and instructed students on how to secure their computers, lock their wireless etc. (all of us living on campus on the same network tends to make people nervous) Only when you passed the test, could you register your MAC adress for acces. When I pointed out to the guy teaching us that I had frequently posted on slashdot how they should use this idea for the whole world, his reaction was "you post on slashdot? ok nothing new to learn here then, go do something usefull" who says /. is a waste of time? it earned me two days.
the mere fact that you're posting this, would place you in the other group.
True, very few kids actaully know what they're doing on a computer. Even those that are "Really good with computers" sometimes know how to install files, and run a virus scan. those that "run a website" actually have a myspace. Those that "can make programs and stuff" know a little HTML.
The saddest thing is that you can't teach coding or computer maintenence, You can only teach routines and languages. When people ask me 'How do you know that stuff?' my answer is usually that I don't, they're educated guesses of what will probably fix their code/machine based on an instinct. When you teach people how to solve computer problems, you need to litterally teach some people 'ok, click here, a window opens. Select Properties, because that's where you want to go, then go the the seocnd tab from the left....etc etc'
Instead, you should be teaching associative thinking, probable cause and effect, and teach people to scout around a bit for what seems like something that could work.