What I want is a program that can scan in the picture on the box of the puzzle, along with some selected pieces, and then print out the piece that fell under the couch and was zapped into an alternate universe, never to be seen again. I think there would be some commercial potential for a "puzzle repair kit".
You are talking about a theoretical system called "thor". Basically the idea is that you drop a large crowbar from orbit. The crowbar has just enough brains to wiggle some vanes around to stay on target. The kinetic energy it gains from falling from orbit obliterates the target. No explosives, no radiation, no duds.
For a fictional view of how devastating this could be, see Niven & Pournelles 'Footfall'.
The scary part is that we could do this with current technology. It would just be horribly expensive. But once launched, the owner would have the ability to destroy any selected square meter of the Earth's surface, and there's nothing anyone could do about it (aside from shooting down the satellite).
Chemistry is not a science in the same sense as physics. There are general rules for chemical reactions, but when you get right down to it, chemistry is not predictive. It consists of a bunch of recipies telling you how to make stuff, and a catalog of what happens when you mix various things together.
Given even the most complete description of the molecular structure of a substance, down to the individual atoms and their positions, you can't use chemistry to predict the most basic properties of the substance. such as:
what color is it?
What's the melting point? boiling point?
is it a conductor, insulator or semiconductor?
Is it stable at room temperature?
and so on.
What you are asking about is even harder: given a list of properties, come up with a substance that has them, and a way to make it. That is so far beyond what chemistry can do that it is probably not even chemistry any more.
This problem was solved by NQS (Network Queueing System) a long time ago. They have a date parsing routine that knows about timezones. You can either use NQS itself, or rip the date parser out of it. In any case, it allows you to specify, literally, "midnight EDT" as a time to run a job. NQS code should be available on the net - the source was released by NASA a long time ago.
Wouldn't it be really convenient to just slap on a caffiene patch in the morning and forget about it? I'm sure there are times when, for whatever reasons (medical, maybe) drinking lots of coffee/coke is not advisable. We need a patch!
Get together with the other companies that they have sued and sue them back for restraint of trade or something like that. With the legal fees split 10-12 ways, it should be easier to defend yourselves.
Wired had an article about this way back in '97. They called it mipsucking. The idea was to skim off CPU cycles when someone visited a web site. They even had a sample java-script app.
I've always wondered if the principle of
eminent domain can apply to intellectual property...
If the government can force the sale of private property, if it is in the public interest, can the government force a patent to be void for the same
reason?
... And many of them are designing products.
Let's take that flashing VCR clock for a second.
The US Naval observatory broadcasts the atomically correct time all over america. Why can't the VCR set it's own damn clock? I've got better things to do with my time than fiddle with the VCR every time the power blinks. And maybe it's not so bad,
setting the time on one VCR. But then there is the OTHER VCR which is a different brand and has a completely different way of setting the clock. Plus the clock on the Microwave, and the other appliances, etc.
It's not that I'm too dumb to handle the
technology: I'm not. But after the 50th gadget
takes up 'just a few minutes' of my time getting
it to work correctly, I've had it. Let the damn
VCR blink, my daughter wants to play crazy eights.
Slashdot Mirror
...HPUX and all those patents on printer cartridges.
... 640K of course. That should be enough for anyone.
Another million dollar idea given away for free. Just be sure to put my name on the patent.
It had to be said.
What I want is a program that can scan in the picture on the box of the puzzle, along with some selected pieces, and then print out the piece that fell under the couch and was zapped into an alternate universe, never to be seen again. I think there would be some commercial potential for a "puzzle repair kit".
... But am I paranoid enough?
Only if it turns out that our universe is actually a prison for the worst criminals in the mult-verse.
For a fictional view of how devastating this could be, see Niven & Pournelles 'Footfall'.
The scary part is that we could do this with current technology. It would just be horribly expensive. But once launched, the owner would have the ability to destroy any selected square meter of the Earth's surface, and there's nothing anyone could do about it (aside from shooting down the satellite).
This property is guarded by Smith and Wesson 3 nights a week.
You guess which three
Duct Tape.
Given even the most complete description of the molecular structure of a substance, down to the individual atoms and their positions, you can't use chemistry to predict the most basic properties of the substance.
such as:
- what color is it?
- What's the melting point? boiling point?
- is it a conductor, insulator or semiconductor?
- Is it stable at room temperature?
and so on.What you are asking about is even harder: given
a list of properties, come up with a substance
that has them, and a way to make it. That is so far beyond what chemistry can do that it is probably not even chemistry any more.
$0.02.
There's a great career ahead of you in robot repair services!
This problem was solved by NQS (Network Queueing System) a long time ago. They have a date parsing routine that knows about timezones. You can either use NQS itself, or rip the date parser out of it. In any case, it allows you to specify, literally, "midnight EDT" as a time to run a job.
NQS code should be available on the net - the source was released by NASA a long time ago.
Wouldn't it be really convenient to just slap on a caffiene patch in the morning and forget about it? I'm sure there are times when, for whatever reasons (medical, maybe) drinking lots of coffee/coke is not advisable. We need a patch!
Get together with the other companies that they have sued and sue them back for restraint of trade or something like that. With the legal fees split 10-12 ways, it should be easier to defend yourselves.
Hey! What about the smart, unproductive people?
Wired had an article about this way back in '97.
They called it mipsucking. The idea was to skim off CPU cycles when someone visited a web site. They even had a sample java-script app.
Once a day, encrypt a block of random data (or a random article from USENET) and email it to a random address.
Let the spooks figure that out.
I've always wondered if the principle of
eminent domain can apply to intellectual property...
If the government can force the sale of private property, if it is in the public interest, can the government force a patent to be void for the same
reason?
... And many of them are designing products. Let's take that flashing VCR clock for a second. The US Naval observatory broadcasts the atomically correct time all over america. Why can't the VCR set it's own damn clock? I've got better things to do with my time than fiddle with the VCR every time the power blinks. And maybe it's not so bad, setting the time on one VCR. But then there is the OTHER VCR which is a different brand and has a completely different way of setting the clock. Plus the clock on the Microwave, and the other appliances, etc. It's not that I'm too dumb to handle the technology: I'm not. But after the 50th gadget takes up 'just a few minutes' of my time getting it to work correctly, I've had it. Let the damn VCR blink, my daughter wants to play crazy eights.
- treatment for clinical depression without the side effects of drugs.
- training aid (you do it right, feel good, do it wrong, feel bad). Very intuitive.
- new art media
- another communication method (this is how that makes me feel).
Of course it could be misused, but so can a coat hanger.