China's first Mars probe Yinghuo-1 was the main attraction. The newly completed probe will soon be sent to Moscow for some further testing, before a joint launch with Russia's own probe Phobos-Grunt
A probe to Mars, made by China, tested and then launched by the Russians with their effort called 'Grunt'. What could possibily go wrong?
Meanwhile it's surprising how often my mates who have done IT or computer science ask me for help on something because they just don't know how to THINK.
Interesting post - I believe there are different kinds of thinking. I've had the benefit of learning how to fix cars by tinkering with them alongside my father since I was 10, and also a decent post-grad level education. I'm pretty good at fixing things, both cars and complex systems. I'm not special - there are plenty of people like me, including you, it would appear.
OK, some missed out on the practical stuff, and have thus never developed this 'practical' side. This does not make them incapable of thought IMHO. For example, my wife is a lawyer - I'm amazed at her ability to spend hours 'thinking' about a complex case and then having that 'Eureka' moment when she finds the angle that she'll use for constructing a defense or attack. She's not worried about not knowing how to fix her PC or her car - she has a husband for that;-)
You can utilise the (agreed) good performance of the PS3, as witnessed by the number of eggheads who have hacked them to serve as cheap supercomputing clusters, (see/. posts Ad nauseam.
I'd personnally rephrase your comment more along the lines of "is it financially viable"? Of course, the PS3 is a notorious horror to code for, but the other factor - market share - should be up there too. Naturally, the two are related.
AMD & DirectX11 - sounds like a similar Pyrrhic victory...
Now if only OpenGL etc. had the same marketing hype.
By 'legitimising' the software, by using it. Just as IBM got people used to the idea of using PCs in a business environment, so big organisations, by using Linux and Oo, are saying that it's "OK" to use this stuff. As more and more businesses use FOSS, pressure will increase on hardware and software companies to improve support - in fact, this trend is well underway...I'm really looking forward to the time when I can go to the local store and pickup a laptop or whatever and it's got Linux pre-installed, I get home/to the client's site, plug it in and all my peripherals 'just work', I can install and run my old windows legacy apps 'out of the box' etc.
We're pretty close already...(those of you that have not tried - for example - Ubuntu lately, try again. I just installed on a brand-new laptop that came with Vista as standard and everything worked pretty well, including traditional problem areas such as video, wifi and bluetooth. Impressive.)
Sorry to reply to my own post, but it just struck me, it actually would be a good idea if the nutjobs were forced to wear some distinguishing badge. As Churchill said, 'a fanatics is someone who can't change his mind, and won't change the subject'...I'm sick of the nutjobs who bore you to tears while they try to convert you to their cause - and there are plenty of them, of all denominations. Suggestions as to an appropriate badge or sign to make 'em easy to avoid, please.
Interestingly, they decided to release the files due to the sheer workload of responding to individual requests for information. The article states that they got more requests for info about UFOs than about Iraq for Afghanistan...anyway, you can get to the files here:
"All these files and more besides are now available on the MoD website, www.mod.uk. Go to the Freedom of Information section and search the Publication Scheme and the Disclosure Log, using keywords such as UFO and UAP and itâ(TM)s all there, alongside documents and files on a vast range of other fascinating subjects including MoDâ(TM)s 2001 remote viewing study."
Not entirely true, but certainly an interesting point. Why not true, well, the noted hedge fund that was founded by a former Nobel-prize winner, then went spectacularly bust even before the current mess, springs to mind. Can't remember the details, but the guy was certainly a (dismal) scientist before he became just another pig at the financial trough. All power corrupts, etc.?
On the other hand, in most 'developed' nations, those same taxes pay for people to protect you and your property. (If you disagree with this viewpoint, try living in a lawless state: then you'll find out why we used to live in castles, or their modern equivalent, gated communities).
You're absolutely right though in your main point - the systematic erosion of civil liberties by these same 'developed' nations is very worrying, and must be resisted otherwise we'll end up with the worst of both worlds. Who was it who said something like "eternal vigilence is the price of democracy"? Churchill?
I came from a relatively poor family, but was blessed with parents who were hard-working and skilled in many 'manual' areas. Whilst other kids were playing at the week-end, I was helping my Dad grow vegetables, fix the car, wire the house, whatever. Evenings after school were spent helping my mother cook, repair clothes, clean the house...
I'm now doing OK, (thanks to them pretty much forcing me to get a decent education), and live in an expensive area. I'm in much demand when my 'professional' neighbours cannot get the car started, the lights to work, the sink unblocked, whatever...they're sick of paying a fortune to wait hours for some idiot to come out and half-do something I can fix for free in 5 minutes.
Let's stop blaming schools and education systems - parents have a role to play too! (I'm trying to teach my kids practical skills too).
You're right, but most people understand 'average' to be the aritmetic mean...ask them 'how do you calculate the average' (OK, trick question), and they'll give you the formula for the mean. Median, some people have heard of it since the newpapers started to use it more. Mode? You'll get a 'huh?' look.../end pedant
Damn - just used my points in another thread. Exactly what I wanted to say. Unfortunately, people in these countries are unlikely to have a choice...I remember handing out copies of my Skype backup install in the UAE, since downloading it was blocked there...
Is Russia the last country where engineers are not (yet) forced by corporations to intentionally produce designs that fail two days after warranty expires?
Well, no. As another poster has already pointed out, NASA's still got some stuff that's working well-past design goals. I'm sure that 'western' bits of the ISS could be have their working lives extended in the same way, if the political will was there.
Russia has excellent engineers that often found ingenious solutions in the 'make do and mend' Soviet era. Nothing's changed in the Putin-directed puff, propaganda and hubris era. The execution of the ideas often compromised by poor materials and processes - so not always up to Western standards of robustness and reliability.
If you don't agree, just compare an old Volga to an old Mercedes-Benz...
Many sports - skiing for example - are best enjoyed in a 'relaxed' state. When I started to ski, I used to hurt myself in the inevitable, regular falls. A sympathetic fellow-novice provided support in the form of regular shots of decent whisky from the largest hip-flask I'd ever seen.
Pretty soon I was collapsing gracefully into the snow with no difficulty or pain / damage.
Put some 200-proof in the 'bots hydraulics and it'll be fine...
True indeed. Ahhh, the memories - getting a new screen & popping a hernia to lift it onto the desk, then having to buy a new card to be able to experience the highest resolution.
Then - discovering - after getting updated drivers via the (snail) mail - that your card could not support a decent refresh rate at the highest resolution...
Then...finding out that your PC could not actually keep up with the data that certain apps wanted to write.
Then, oh the joy of AMD 486 overclocked Intel clones that drove the VGA straight of the CPU pins - what was that called again? - just a few excotic video cards, but that worked really well - combined performance better than Intel's 486DX2/66....oh dear, time for me to lie down...
Problem is , many of these poor people are exploited by organised crime (human traffic is big business). If they're 'lucky', they get across OK; if not, they end up dying in the desert, foced into protitution or working all their life to pay offthe 'debt' they owe.
Maybe I'm just naive and old but I have yet to hear a good reason why children need laptops.
Agree. Maybe they don't need them, however that does not mean that they cannot benefit from them.
I'm unfamiliar with the specifics of this target population, but I've seen some pretty horrific 'family' situations through work & travel.
For many underpriviledged kids, school is a real 'haven', where they can gain some knowledge and competencies that - hopefully - will one day help them move on and up. Surely IT familiarity is a good one?
So, in the context of a carefully-(re)designed program, (agree with other posts above - computer-assisted learning is great, but only when integated in a holistic program), this should be good news.
As to the insightful post about eBay - yup, better keep 'em in school until you're sure the relatives won't hock them for food or drugs...
Look on the bright side. Now that the new administration has banned 'not *quite* torture', they'll need something to get the alleged nutjobs to confess.
Obscure geek Python parodies would surely crack even the most hardened Talib.
Slashdot Mirror
China's first Mars probe Yinghuo-1 was the main attraction. The newly completed probe will soon be sent to Moscow for some further testing, before a joint launch with Russia's own probe Phobos-Grunt
A probe to Mars, made by China, tested and then launched by the Russians with their effort called 'Grunt'.
What could possibily go wrong?
Meanwhile it's surprising how often my mates who have done IT or computer science ask me for help on something because they just don't know how to THINK.
Interesting post - I believe there are different kinds of thinking. I've had the benefit of learning how to fix cars by tinkering with them alongside my father since I was 10, and also a decent post-grad level education. I'm pretty good at fixing things, both cars and complex systems. I'm not special - there are plenty of people like me, including you, it would appear.
OK, some missed out on the practical stuff, and have thus never developed this 'practical' side. This does not make them incapable of thought IMHO. ;-)
For example, my wife is a lawyer - I'm amazed at her ability to spend hours 'thinking' about a complex case and then having that 'Eureka' moment when she finds the angle that she'll use for constructing a defense or attack. She's not worried about not knowing how to fix her PC or her car - she has a husband for that
You can utilise the (agreed) good performance of the PS3, as witnessed by the number of eggheads who have hacked them to serve as cheap supercomputing clusters, (see /. posts Ad nauseam.
I'd personnally rephrase your comment more along the lines of "is it financially viable"?
Of course, the PS3 is a notorious horror to code for, but the other factor - market share - should be up there too.
Naturally, the two are related.
AMD & DirectX11 - sounds like a similar Pyrrhic victory...
Now if only OpenGL etc. had the same marketing hype.
By 'legitimising' the software, by using it. Just as IBM got people used to the idea of using PCs in a business environment, so big organisations, by using Linux and Oo, are saying that it's "OK" to use this stuff. As more and more businesses use FOSS, pressure will increase on hardware and software companies to improve support - in fact, this trend is well underway...I'm really looking forward to the time when I can go to the local store and pickup a laptop or whatever and it's got Linux pre-installed, I get home/to the client's site, plug it in and all my peripherals 'just work', I can install and run my old windows legacy apps 'out of the box' etc.
We're pretty close already...(those of you that have not tried - for example - Ubuntu lately, try again. I just installed on a brand-new laptop that came with Vista as standard and everything worked pretty well, including traditional problem areas such as video, wifi and bluetooth. Impressive.)
Sorry to reply to my own post, but it just struck me, it actually would be a good idea if the nutjobs were forced to wear some distinguishing badge.
As Churchill said, 'a fanatics is someone who can't change his mind, and won't change the subject'...I'm sick of the nutjobs who bore you to tears while they try to convert you to their cause - and there are plenty of them, of all denominations.
Suggestions as to an appropriate badge or sign to make 'em easy to avoid, please.
Absolutely. Talk about lacking a sense of proportion - any member of any 'banned IP' group - be they MPAAers looking for torrenters or the Scientologists - can just nip round to the local cyber café or wifi hotspot. Not an option for the people Hitler and his cronies persecuted and slaughtered.
Interestingly, they decided to release the files due to the sheer workload of responding to individual requests for information. The article states that they got more requests for info about UFOs than about Iraq for Afghanistan...anyway, you can get to the files here:
"All these files and more besides are now available on the MoD website, www.mod.uk. Go to the Freedom of Information section and search the Publication Scheme and the Disclosure Log, using keywords such as UFO and UAP and itâ(TM)s all there, alongside documents and files on a vast range of other fascinating subjects including MoDâ(TM)s 2001 remote viewing study."
Ah yes, that's the one. Thank you.
Not entirely true, but certainly an interesting point.
Why not true, well, the noted hedge fund that was founded by a former Nobel-prize winner, then went spectacularly bust even before the current mess, springs to mind. Can't remember the details, but the guy was certainly a (dismal) scientist before he became just another pig at the financial trough.
All power corrupts, etc.?
On the other hand, in most 'developed' nations, those same taxes pay for people to protect you and your property. (If you disagree with this viewpoint, try living in a lawless state: then you'll find out why we used to live in castles, or their modern equivalent, gated communities).
You're absolutely right though in your main point - the systematic erosion of civil liberties by these same 'developed' nations is very worrying, and must be resisted otherwise we'll end up with the worst of both worlds. Who was it who said something like "eternal vigilence is the price of democracy"? Churchill?
I came from a relatively poor family, but was blessed with parents who were hard-working and skilled in many 'manual' areas. Whilst other kids were playing at the week-end, I was helping my Dad grow vegetables, fix the car, wire the house, whatever. Evenings after school were spent helping my mother cook, repair clothes, clean the house...
I'm now doing OK, (thanks to them pretty much forcing me to get a decent education), and live in an expensive area. I'm in much demand when my 'professional' neighbours cannot get the car started, the lights to work, the sink unblocked, whatever...they're sick of paying a fortune to wait hours for some idiot to come out and half-do something I can fix for free in 5 minutes.
Let's stop blaming schools and education systems - parents have a role to play too! (I'm trying to teach my kids practical skills too).
You're right, but most people understand 'average' to be the aritmetic mean...ask them 'how do you calculate the average' (OK, trick question), and they'll give you the formula for the mean. /end pedant
Median, some people have heard of it since the newpapers started to use it more.
Mode? You'll get a 'huh?' look...
Damn - just used my points in another thread. Exactly what I wanted to say. Unfortunately, people in these countries are unlikely to have a choice...I remember handing out copies of my Skype backup install in the UAE, since downloading it was blocked there...
Is Russia the last country where engineers are not (yet) forced by corporations to intentionally produce designs that fail two days after warranty expires?
Well, no. As another poster has already pointed out, NASA's still got some stuff that's working well-past design goals. I'm sure that 'western' bits of the ISS could be have their working lives extended in the same way, if the political will was there.
Russia has excellent engineers that often found ingenious solutions in the 'make do and mend' Soviet era. Nothing's changed in the Putin-directed puff, propaganda and hubris era. The execution of the ideas often compromised by poor materials and processes - so not always up to Western standards of robustness and reliability.
If you don't agree, just compare an old Volga to an old Mercedes-Benz...
If he was using Verizon...
More seriously, why would he run off with a non-functioning cell?
Many sports - skiing for example - are best enjoyed in a 'relaxed' state. When I started to ski, I used to hurt myself in the inevitable, regular falls. A sympathetic fellow-novice provided support in the form of regular shots of decent whisky from the largest hip-flask I'd ever seen.
Pretty soon I was collapsing gracefully into the snow with no difficulty or pain / damage.
Put some 200-proof in the 'bots hydraulics and it'll be fine...
*cough* sourceforge
True indeed. Ahhh, the memories - getting a new screen & popping a hernia to lift it onto the desk, then having to buy a new card to be able to experience the highest resolution.
Then - discovering - after getting updated drivers via the (snail) mail - that your card could not support a decent refresh rate at the highest resolution...
Then...finding out that your PC could not actually keep up with the data that certain apps wanted to write.
Then, oh the joy of AMD 486 overclocked Intel clones that drove the VGA straight of the CPU pins - what was that called again? - just a few excotic video cards, but that worked really well - combined performance better than Intel's 486DX2/66....oh dear, time for me to lie down...
Actually you have more chance to survice a motorcycle crash than being rolled up in a tin can.
That aside, security standards aren't the same around the world and there are far less chance fo these tin cars to smash against a big SUV in india.
As for the apartments, they beat the slums by a long shot.
Eh? Have you driven in India? Forget the SUVs, its the trucks and buses you need to worry about...
I'd stick with the car any day.
You're right about the appartments, tho.
Problem is , many of these poor people are exploited by organised crime (human traffic is big business). If they're 'lucky', they get across OK; if not, they end up dying in the desert, foced into protitution or working all their life to pay offthe 'debt' they owe.
The trafficers are the bastards we need to stop.
Did the vendor include the original invoice? That should work.
Can't understand their 'fix' of adding you as user of the original owner's account, though. Surely goes against the basic rules of CRM.
While we're on the subject of 'ownership transfer', note also that under most EULAs, you should also buy the software all over again...
Maybe I'm just naive and old but I have yet to hear a good reason why children need laptops.
Agree. Maybe they don't need them, however that does not mean that they cannot benefit from them.
I'm unfamiliar with the specifics of this target population, but I've seen some pretty horrific 'family' situations through work & travel.
For many underpriviledged kids, school is a real 'haven', where they can gain some knowledge and competencies that - hopefully - will one day help them move on and up. Surely IT familiarity is a good one?
So, in the context of a carefully-(re)designed program, (agree with other posts above - computer-assisted learning is great, but only when integated in a holistic program), this should be good news.
As to the insightful post about eBay - yup, better keep 'em in school until you're sure the relatives won't hock them for food or drugs...
Indeed; I loved OS/2 but it was frequently a bitch to install on anything vaguely 'exotic' and lacked hardware driver suport - sound familiar?
For such a boring job.
Look on the bright side. Now that the new administration has banned 'not *quite* torture', they'll need something to get the alleged nutjobs to confess.
Obscure geek Python parodies would surely crack even the most hardened Talib.