Re:MIR2 has been around for a while...
on
Mir 2
·
· Score: 1
...so these plans are likely 10 years old
What's wrong with that? Things that worked well should stay. Things that broke too often should be improved. You do not need to improve something that already works.
It's unfortunate the Russians can't get behind the ISS from a national pride point of view.
International relationships are much cooler now than they were when ISS project just began. Russia saw [very politicized] Kosovo war, now USA sends 50 russian diplomats out... this is not an atmosphere of cooperation. So ISS became a political liability.
There is also a fierce opposition of NASA to any
commercial projects on ISS (including Tito). I do
not know NASA internal politics, but apparently
they are unfit to "innovate" in this aspect. I
personally think that if someone rich wants to
pay for a trip (and therefore finance many other
scientific experiments) - good! Send them all up,
Russia can use the money and space is big enough
for everyone. But NASA puts brakes on that! A
national space station would be free of those
parsecs of red tape: pay today - liftoff tomorrow.
Of course, that's probably against human nature.
No, it's against interests of some humans. Hint: only very few of them work for space program, and at least one of them can't explain what "space" is even if his life depends on correct answer:-)
Re:so they can get FREE TACOS this time...
on
Mir 2
·
· Score: 2
Do not underestimate complexities of an international (15 countries?) project. ISS is a station which neither country has a decisive vote about. The conflict around Tito is just an illustration, a first signal.
Countries may have different use for orbital stations. Countries may want not to share some research. There are many very valid reasons to build a national space station, including spy and other military use (with no weapons).
As mentioned above, ISS is indeed overdesigned and too expensive. This is because of much stricter standards that were applied, as if spaceflight can ever be as safe as a walk in a park. Russia indeed can build a space station for a price of one module. They already have a spare FGB module that they want to launch and link with ISS.
And what's wrong with "group of engineers floating ideas"? That's what engineers do. What else a designer of spaceships should do? Twiddle thumbs? Send a resume to Saddam?
With regard to lack of money, people often mistake poor citizens for poor state. USA is full of homeless people, but that does not make USA as a state poor. In Russia salaries are low but the state firmly controls oil, gas and other exports. In 1980 an average salary was about 150 rubles, or from $10 to $200 depending on how you convert. This had no effect on space program!
Said that, Mir-2 can become a reality if Duma and President approve. There is some small but visible support of such idea. The infrastructure is already there, rockets, factories and people. This is a lot - most countries on the planet would have no clue even where to start, not mentioning that only Russia and USA have sufficient launch capabilities. This project would not be overly expensive.
Neither DNA databases nor anything else to that matter, short of preventive imprisoning of everyone, can stop criminals. They will use DNA database to frame other people, for instance.
With such "definite proof" a criminal will walk free (knowing that s/he must be careful), while someone else (who was stupid enough to throw away a cigarette butt) will be incarcerated or executed.
By definition, a criminal can carefully plan the deed; all advantage is on his side. Other people, however, do not know that they are about to be framed. Rephrasing known words of wisdom, a criminal always remembers that he committed a crime, but honest people do not bother to maintain alibi, wear gloves, burn their shoes.
You really think US troops would fire on their own people?
Various TLA agencies do it all the time, and in large numbers too. I doubt that a marine would refuse to shoot at "communist militants" - soldiers are heavily trained to obey orders. They fired upon South Korean civilians without much of a second thought, and Vietnam was not much better either.
The tax is on everyone because the authorities can catch and prosecute only a tiny percentage of the pirates
I believe collective punishments are illegal.
You don't pre-fine every car owner only because statistically people illegally park and get away with it.
As for MS "redesigning" the USB port - while initially it sounds like an assinine thing to do, it actually does make sense (at least to me). Otherwise, folks are going to see the port and try plugging in all sorts of USB device, and become quite confused and frustrated when nothing happens.
I thought that a copy of the OS is included with every game, tailored to the game (like it should be). This allows MS and developers to do whatever they want with the underlying OS - you said it yourself in this very comment. So why I can't plug a newest Super-Force-Feedback Joystick which uses standard USB? If I have access to the OS and all the hardware it's my problem, not MS's!
I, personally, am looking forward to the XBox.
Same here. It would be a great pleasure to legally take money back from Microsoft:-) Of course, I won't be buying any games - X itself is the game in town:-)
J Allard... claims that the system would only run Microsoft-signed data on DVD-9 media, making it pretty damn difficult to hack it.
In worst case you only need to reflash or replace the BIOS. CPUs do not check signatures on boot yet:-) I would certainly be curious about that, and surely I will find a use for a network-enabled, 750 MHz/64MB/8GB box!
He offered a job to anyone who could boot linux on it:)
This means that neither he nor his people know how to do it. Why would I want to work with them?:-)
You'd also have to build connections to the rest of the network in Canada and Russia.
Canada already has a railroad across the country, and Russia has two - one near Chinese/Mongolian border (Transsib) and another farther to North (Baikal-Amur). Both can be easily connected to the projected entrance of the tunnel.
Passengers are unlikely to use this service, but the raw materials and goods from Asia and North America don't care about fun:-) Ships are much more expensive, and you can't run ferries up there - it's ice most of the time.
China and Japan will surely appreciate the tunnel!
In the former USSR, the situation is dramatically worse, as I understand it.
Entire USSR used one (standard) dimensions of tracks. Western Europe has different standard, so international trains had to replace wheel assemblies near the border (faster and cheaper than moving passengers). I do not know how both standards correspond to american one. Probably they all are different, but that's not a big deal - if you have $6e10 to dig the tunnel you can also invest into adjustable wheels.
X-Box can be used to run Linux... But who wants that?
Anyone who needs a reasonably fast cluster node, Web server (data in central database), firewall with lots of goodies... for low price because the X-box will be a loss leader (sold at loss).
Unrelated to that, I don't know how successful this thing will be. It is already possible to get 1.3 GHz CPUs and faster; stability is good, but if you want to display thousands of moving 3D objects (in FPS game) at 1600x1200 the 700 MHz CPU might be insufficient. Hardware obsoletes in 6 months, and MS is not used to that.
It's the squeezing out of the publisher's profits that is at issue.
And there is nothing wrong in undermining profits of other businesses. It's free market. If fewer new books are sold maybe remaining books will be better. A good author today can make herself heard easier than 100 years ago.
What the letter asks to do is to subvert the free market mechanism by taking away the choice from customers. If this is allowed to proceed even in the relatively innocent manner that the letter suggests then customer loses his freedom and the balance gets skewed.
By the way, if this crazy initiative is to be implemented - which has negative probability, IMO - the total volume of sales may stay the same because people will be simply buying fewer books. Given the current state of economy ("back to basics"), it is even wrong time to squeeze consumers. Christmas hasn't managed to do so, why book sellers will be any better?
It should be easy to hack JavaScript code in Mozilla and either deactivate popups forever or prompt for permission as it is already done for cookies. This would make Mozilla most user-friendly browser:-)
I have HHKB, it came bundled with some sort of hardware. It is nice as a portable keyboard, I often plug it into one or another x86 server (which normally does not have keyboard attached, or a monitor).
However HHKB didn't work for me as a permanent solution. I tried to use it several times and each time I found it unnecessarily hard to use. I often need arrows, PgUp/PgDn keys and like that. I have four OSes on my main box at work, I can't customize them all and I have better use for my time. Access to arrow keys is through Meta key, and it's a pain. Del/Bs are problematic too.
Basically, HHKB tries to solve a problem that does not exist for me. I like to have keys that are always there, at their rightful places when I need them (like Print Screen). Try to press Alt-SysRq-U, for example (one of Linux magic keys) on HHKB - it will take an effort and four keys! When in Windows, HHKB does not have "Windows" key - and it's a pain to click until you turn blue.
HHKB is small, and in some applications it may be beneficial. Some people will like it. But it hasn't worked for me. Well, I still have it around, maybe I'll try again one day.
My understanding is the KGB was more like the CIA, NSA, and FBI together. That is, responsible for all internal and external state security
Wrong. Anyone who lived in Russia knows that. KGB never worked domestic crime cases. They focused on counter-intelligence and (before Gorbachev) dissidents. They did a quick background check on every applicant for a passport (to travel abroad). But they did nothing beyond that.
The confusion may be caused by its origins as NKVD (department of internal affairs). When NKVD was reorganized (in 50s) the internal crime investigation was rerouted to MVD (ministry of internal affairs), and that's where it is right now - MVD controls all police and it has few military units. KGB does not have any military force; it focuses on security of the state. It does not act as FBI (general crime investigation), it is much more like CIA. KGB doesn't even actively spy, there are other agencies (GRU, SVR) to do that. Primakov, one of PMs, was head of SVR IIRC - search Google.
For all their bad publicity, the CIA are pussycats in comparison.
Tell that to Cubans:-) When was the last time KGB arranged an invasion of a foreign country?
The "point gun", as you are referring to it, was immediately after the accident.
You can not force anyone to go and certainly die in agony by threatening him with quick, painless death by shooting. This alone breaks "theory" of that professor.
There is only one way: a volunteer, a hero, goes and does the job. Many workers felt ready to do that if needed. All the rest... they were paid very, very well; no government could do anything beyond that, and if the accident happens again in other country we'll see the same thing all over again. The Earth civilization knows no other way to contain the damage. We do not have robots that can walk/crawl in "hot" areas long enough. That's why the building is left alone until such technology becomes available.
I don't know what the NKVD
A predecessor of KGB - in Stalin's times. I don't remember when it was renamed/reorganized, but apparently in Khruschev's time. As other posters mentioned, KGB had very little influence on everyday life, and if Prof. Zoller says otherwise advise him to go jump off a cliff. KGB == CIA, and you won't find many CIA agents roaming USA and forcing people to do things.
This lecture is very weird - mix of half-truths and half-lies. Other already commented on robots taking pictures, and I read about these robots as it happened back then. Firefighters were not forced to go there by "KGB" - they were routinely called to put out a fire; they didn't know the danger - this is how a dying firefighter explained, I read complete report in "Novy Mir" IIRC. There was a lot of coverage in Russian press.
Chelyabinsk and Tomsk are two large cities in Siberia. There are nuclear facilities all around, but nobody dies anywhere from what I know, and there were no nuclear accidents ever, not counting a polluted small lake (which was not an accident but just unwise storage plan.)
I never ever heard about nuclear hand grenades. The critical mass of even pure fissile material is about one or two kilograms, it is too heavy for a grenade even without necessary shell. A nuclear suitcase did exist, from what I read - but that is far from hand grenade.
These half-truths lead me to believe that this Professor Zoller is not a very reliable source, to put it mildly... Unfortunately, he does not talk about any of this and now I see why. All the information about Chernobyl incident is available and was openly available immediately after investigation was completed. There is nothing secret. This guy is a fake, rehashing random info for $$$ in lecture payments.
If you've never had a 3D driver break in windows, then you haven't really been using windows very much:-)
I have Q3A Demo installed on Win98SE at work. I have USB speakers there. Guess what? It does not work: no sound whatsoever or quick burst of something on startup screen and then silence. It is not very useful without sound:-)
This story tells one thing: It is hard to support software in unknown, never tested before configurations. The OS does not matter - Linux, Win98, WinNT - they all are too fluid, too unpredictable. Game must run on a game box, and that's it. All consoles are such dedicated boxes. PCs aren't. Only assortment of CPUs will confuse anyone - and in games you definitely want to use as much of CPU hardware as possible. Video cards are another endless source of excitement:-) Even sound, as my experience shows, may be tricky.
The OS does not matter. A game must run on known system, only then it can be properly tested and supported.
When you register your new CD the server can ask for few random blocks of data off of that CD. This may be as little as 1KB or so, easy to store in database. Then when verification is needed the server will ask for random data from that list - not from whole CD (which is not stored). This allows to tie you to your CD, and the similar CD made with different master won't work.
An obvious hack of that scheme would be to modify client to send pseudo-random data instead of CD blocks, and that pseudo-random data should be easy to calculate at a later time based on offset. Then the client will be able to "confirm" previous reading without the need of having a CD.
Alternatively, the unmodified client accesses hacked CD drive (driver, actually) to get the data. Access gets logged and read blocks get saved; later if client asks for those blocks the driver will return saved data even if there is no CD in the drive.
It is also possible to use a network proxy (like Quake aiming proxy). Neither client nor the driver need to be modified. The proxy has to understand the protocol (which, unless cryptographically protected in a serious way will be unavoidably reverse engineered). The proxy will rewrite the CD signature to be of the same pseudo-random but easily computable sort.
What I say is: this thing will be circumvented faster than anyone can imagine. The service is simply too challenging to teenage computer geniuses.
The Watchers don't need to be capable of logging all traffic and right now. They only need to be allowed to log anything they want and keep that for many years.
This provides for random surveillance as Watchers see fit. When the technology becomes available/affordable/procured they will be logging everything, since it has been already authorized. But the point is that nobody in UK can be sure that his links aren't monitored, and this makes it almost as good as actual monitoring of all communications.
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What's wrong with that? Things that worked well should stay. Things that broke too often should be improved. You do not need to improve something that already works.
It's unfortunate the Russians can't get behind the ISS from a national pride point of view.
International relationships are much cooler now than they were when ISS project just began. Russia saw [very politicized] Kosovo war, now USA sends 50 russian diplomats out... this is not an atmosphere of cooperation. So ISS became a political liability.
There is also a fierce opposition of NASA to any commercial projects on ISS (including Tito). I do not know NASA internal politics, but apparently they are unfit to "innovate" in this aspect. I personally think that if someone rich wants to pay for a trip (and therefore finance many other scientific experiments) - good! Send them all up, Russia can use the money and space is big enough for everyone. But NASA puts brakes on that! A national space station would be free of those parsecs of red tape: pay today - liftoff tomorrow.
Of course, that's probably against human nature.
No, it's against interests of some humans. Hint: only very few of them work for space program, and at least one of them can't explain what "space" is even if his life depends on correct answer :-)
Countries may have different use for orbital stations. Countries may want not to share some research. There are many very valid reasons to build a national space station, including spy and other military use (with no weapons).
As mentioned above, ISS is indeed overdesigned and too expensive. This is because of much stricter standards that were applied, as if spaceflight can ever be as safe as a walk in a park. Russia indeed can build a space station for a price of one module. They already have a spare FGB module that they want to launch and link with ISS.
And what's wrong with "group of engineers floating ideas"? That's what engineers do. What else a designer of spaceships should do? Twiddle thumbs? Send a resume to Saddam?
With regard to lack of money, people often mistake poor citizens for poor state. USA is full of homeless people, but that does not make USA as a state poor. In Russia salaries are low but the state firmly controls oil, gas and other exports. In 1980 an average salary was about 150 rubles, or from $10 to $200 depending on how you convert. This had no effect on space program!
Said that, Mir-2 can become a reality if Duma and President approve. There is some small but visible support of such idea. The infrastructure is already there, rockets, factories and people. This is a lot - most countries on the planet would have no clue even where to start, not mentioning that only Russia and USA have sufficient launch capabilities. This project would not be overly expensive.
Does it mean that Native Americans must be grateful to invaders for being allowed to have children?
With such "definite proof" a criminal will walk free (knowing that s/he must be careful), while someone else (who was stupid enough to throw away a cigarette butt) will be incarcerated or executed.
By definition, a criminal can carefully plan the deed; all advantage is on his side. Other people, however, do not know that they are about to be framed. Rephrasing known words of wisdom, a criminal always remembers that he committed a crime, but honest people do not bother to maintain alibi, wear gloves, burn their shoes.
Various TLA agencies do it all the time, and in large numbers too. I doubt that a marine would refuse to shoot at "communist militants" - soldiers are heavily trained to obey orders. They fired upon South Korean civilians without much of a second thought, and Vietnam was not much better either.
I believe collective punishments are illegal. You don't pre-fine every car owner only because statistically people illegally park and get away with it.
I thought that a copy of the OS is included with every game, tailored to the game (like it should be). This allows MS and developers to do whatever they want with the underlying OS - you said it yourself in this very comment. So why I can't plug a newest Super-Force-Feedback Joystick which uses standard USB? If I have access to the OS and all the hardware it's my problem, not MS's!
I, personally, am looking forward to the XBox.
Same here. It would be a great pleasure to legally take money back from Microsoft :-) Of course, I won't be buying any games - X itself is the game in town :-)
In worst case you only need to reflash or replace the BIOS. CPUs do not check signatures on boot yet :-) I would certainly be curious about that, and surely I will find a use for a network-enabled, 750 MHz/64MB/8GB box!
He offered a job to anyone who could boot linux on it :)
This means that neither he nor his people know how to do it. Why would I want to work with them? :-)
Not different at all. Receiving and transmitting antennas are interchangeable.
Canada already has a railroad across the country, and Russia has two - one near Chinese/Mongolian border (Transsib) and another farther to North (Baikal-Amur). Both can be easily connected to the projected entrance of the tunnel.
Passengers are unlikely to use this service, but the raw materials and goods from Asia and North America don't care about fun :-) Ships are much more expensive, and you can't run ferries up there - it's ice most of the time.
China and Japan will surely appreciate the tunnel!
Entire USSR used one (standard) dimensions of tracks. Western Europe has different standard, so international trains had to replace wheel assemblies near the border (faster and cheaper than moving passengers). I do not know how both standards correspond to american one. Probably they all are different, but that's not a big deal - if you have $6e10 to dig the tunnel you can also invest into adjustable wheels.
Anyone who needs a reasonably fast cluster node, Web server (data in central database), firewall with lots of goodies... for low price because the X-box will be a loss leader (sold at loss).
Unrelated to that, I don't know how successful this thing will be. It is already possible to get 1.3 GHz CPUs and faster; stability is good, but if you want to display thousands of moving 3D objects (in FPS game) at 1600x1200 the 700 MHz CPU might be insufficient. Hardware obsoletes in 6 months, and MS is not used to that.
Sales rep: We won't enforce that, never, ever, I swear! (while cleaning his desk to leave and never return)
So go ahead and sign, you were promised! The catch is that anything they say is irrelevant and not binding. But what you sign is.
That must be understatement of the month :-)
It is needed for work and for play:
At work:
- To route PCBs, simulate heat dissipation and other modeling applications (not only nuclear explosions)
- To run 3D CADs (ProEngineer), real-time photorealistic renderers (Alias)
- To process images in publishing industry, sounds and videos in entertainment
- To run SSL-enabled Web servers
At home:- Play highly compressed audio and video streams
- Encode video and audio
- Play games
There are more uses for high performance, but that gives the idea.And there is nothing wrong in undermining profits of other businesses. It's free market. If fewer new books are sold maybe remaining books will be better. A good author today can make herself heard easier than 100 years ago.
What the letter asks to do is to subvert the free market mechanism by taking away the choice from customers. If this is allowed to proceed even in the relatively innocent manner that the letter suggests then customer loses his freedom and the balance gets skewed.
By the way, if this crazy initiative is to be implemented - which has negative probability, IMO - the total volume of sales may stay the same because people will be simply buying fewer books. Given the current state of economy ("back to basics"), it is even wrong time to squeeze consumers. Christmas hasn't managed to do so, why book sellers will be any better?
It should be easy to hack JavaScript code in Mozilla and either deactivate popups forever or prompt for permission as it is already done for cookies. This would make Mozilla most user-friendly browser :-)
However HHKB didn't work for me as a permanent solution. I tried to use it several times and each time I found it unnecessarily hard to use. I often need arrows, PgUp/PgDn keys and like that. I have four OSes on my main box at work, I can't customize them all and I have better use for my time. Access to arrow keys is through Meta key, and it's a pain. Del/Bs are problematic too.
Basically, HHKB tries to solve a problem that does not exist for me. I like to have keys that are always there, at their rightful places when I need them (like Print Screen). Try to press Alt-SysRq-U, for example (one of Linux magic keys) on HHKB - it will take an effort and four keys! When in Windows, HHKB does not have "Windows" key - and it's a pain to click until you turn blue.
HHKB is small, and in some applications it may be beneficial. Some people will like it. But it hasn't worked for me. Well, I still have it around, maybe I'll try again one day.
Wrong. Anyone who lived in Russia knows that. KGB never worked domestic crime cases. They focused on counter-intelligence and (before Gorbachev) dissidents. They did a quick background check on every applicant for a passport (to travel abroad). But they did nothing beyond that.
The confusion may be caused by its origins as NKVD (department of internal affairs). When NKVD was reorganized (in 50s) the internal crime investigation was rerouted to MVD (ministry of internal affairs), and that's where it is right now - MVD controls all police and it has few military units. KGB does not have any military force; it focuses on security of the state. It does not act as FBI (general crime investigation), it is much more like CIA. KGB doesn't even actively spy, there are other agencies (GRU, SVR) to do that. Primakov, one of PMs, was head of SVR IIRC - search Google.
For all their bad publicity, the CIA are pussycats in comparison.
Tell that to Cubans :-) When was the last time KGB arranged an invasion of a foreign country?
You can not force anyone to go and certainly die in agony by threatening him with quick, painless death by shooting. This alone breaks "theory" of that professor.
There is only one way: a volunteer, a hero, goes and does the job. Many workers felt ready to do that if needed. All the rest... they were paid very, very well; no government could do anything beyond that, and if the accident happens again in other country we'll see the same thing all over again. The Earth civilization knows no other way to contain the damage. We do not have robots that can walk/crawl in "hot" areas long enough. That's why the building is left alone until such technology becomes available.
I don't know what the NKVD
A predecessor of KGB - in Stalin's times. I don't remember when it was renamed/reorganized, but apparently in Khruschev's time. As other posters mentioned, KGB had very little influence on everyday life, and if Prof. Zoller says otherwise advise him to go jump off a cliff. KGB == CIA, and you won't find many CIA agents roaming USA and forcing people to do things.
Chelyabinsk and Tomsk are two large cities in Siberia. There are nuclear facilities all around, but nobody dies anywhere from what I know, and there were no nuclear accidents ever, not counting a polluted small lake (which was not an accident but just unwise storage plan.)
I never ever heard about nuclear hand grenades. The critical mass of even pure fissile material is about one or two kilograms, it is too heavy for a grenade even without necessary shell. A nuclear suitcase did exist, from what I read - but that is far from hand grenade.
These half-truths lead me to believe that this Professor Zoller is not a very reliable source, to put it mildly... Unfortunately, he does not talk about any of this and now I see why. All the information about Chernobyl incident is available and was openly available immediately after investigation was completed. There is nothing secret. This guy is a fake, rehashing random info for $$$ in lecture payments.
I have Q3A Demo installed on Win98SE at work. I have USB speakers there. Guess what? It does not work: no sound whatsoever or quick burst of something on startup screen and then silence. It is not very useful without sound :-)
This story tells one thing: It is hard to support software in unknown, never tested before configurations. The OS does not matter - Linux, Win98, WinNT - they all are too fluid, too unpredictable. Game must run on a game box, and that's it. All consoles are such dedicated boxes. PCs aren't. Only assortment of CPUs will confuse anyone - and in games you definitely want to use as much of CPU hardware as possible. Video cards are another endless source of excitement :-) Even sound, as my experience shows, may be tricky.
The OS does not matter. A game must run on known system, only then it can be properly tested and supported.
An obvious hack of that scheme would be to modify client to send pseudo-random data instead of CD blocks, and that pseudo-random data should be easy to calculate at a later time based on offset. Then the client will be able to "confirm" previous reading without the need of having a CD.
Alternatively, the unmodified client accesses hacked CD drive (driver, actually) to get the data. Access gets logged and read blocks get saved; later if client asks for those blocks the driver will return saved data even if there is no CD in the drive.
It is also possible to use a network proxy (like Quake aiming proxy). Neither client nor the driver need to be modified. The proxy has to understand the protocol (which, unless cryptographically protected in a serious way will be unavoidably reverse engineered). The proxy will rewrite the CD signature to be of the same pseudo-random but easily computable sort.
What I say is: this thing will be circumvented faster than anyone can imagine. The service is simply too challenging to teenage computer geniuses.
This provides for random surveillance as Watchers see fit. When the technology becomes available/affordable/procured they will be logging everything, since it has been already authorized. But the point is that nobody in UK can be sure that his links aren't monitored, and this makes it almost as good as actual monitoring of all communications.