I was recently looking into getting a pager for a elderly relative of mine. Still gets around OK but can't be bothered to carry the super-simple cell phone we purchased and set up for her (not to mention on and charged.) Plus she's been known to leave her landline phone off the hook once in awhile.
I figure a pager would work for all the reasons listed before - small enough to fit in her purse, loud as hell, battery lasts for months. (And as we're the only ones who'd be paging her, she know who it's from.)
I guess I'll look into Skytel - do they have a consumer-level pricing option? Any other recommendations out there?
Excellent name - simple and straightforward. They should have a contest for naming the next model. Put me down for "Amazing Freaking Ginormous Wonderscope"
The job will start off solely focused on the big picture, but after about six months...
Setting: CxO's office - White House basement level
Biden (in doorway): Knock, knock! Hey Steve-o! You in the middle of anything?
CxO (not looking up from PC): Uh, yeah.
Biden: Sorry! This is completely my bad. It'll just take two minutes. We're starting a meeting in the big conference room and can't get the other guys on the video. I know you showed me how before, but could you...
CxO: (voiceover: Dumb f***!) (sighs) Uh, yeah, sure, be there in a sec.
Biden (does a double pistol finger point): Owe you another one, big guy! (exits)
Fortunately or unfortunately depending on your POV we've long moved past the point where we get a few million people together, put guns in their hands, and tell them "Here! Point these at the bad guys and shoot!"
Today's military is made up almost entirely of specialists. Training specialists cost money - lots of money. The government doesn't want to waste thousands of dollars and hours on training a soldier that's going to bail at the first opportunity. That's why the current military offers so many incentives, which are just a fraction of all the other costs.
If the military could openly draft civilians for five or more years at a stretch, it probably would. Some would say it already does.
Democracy Now! will be doing a special five-hour broadcast on November 4th from 07:00PM - 12:00AM ET to bring you the 2008 election results as they come in.
The program will include live coverage of the results as the polls close, on-the-ground reports from across the country, reactions from across the globe, and running in-depth analysis and commentary from a wide range of guests you won't get anywhere else.
On November 5th, the morning after, Democracy Now! expands to a two-hour broadcast from 08:00AM - 10:00AM ET to provide complete coverage of the election outcome.
Please contact your local radio or TV station for local listings. There will also be a live video and audio stream of the show on our homepage at democracynow.org.
Just a thought experiment. Suppose you set up a TLD -.bob for instance. Users can set up domains for web sites, e-mail, FTP etc. within.bob just like any other domain, but the rules of using it are different from the rest of the web. Such as -
Web -
- Only other.bob account holders can access.bob sites. No one else can get in, not even google.
-.bob sites cannot be accessed anonymously, but.bob sites must guarantee privacy - your usage can't be shared with anyone else.
E-mail and IM -
- No anonymous addresses or accounts..bob e-mail addresses or chat names must be linked to an actual person.
-.bob users can only send/receive e-mails or IM to other.bob addresses. Nothing outside.bob is allowed in.
- Spam is not allowed. At all. You spam, you lose your.bob access
Content -
- Your.bob account comes with a license with nearly all known media companies. (www.timewarner.bob, for instance.) For a monthly fee you can access any media they have digitized - books, news, film, music, games, software, etc. It's DRMed out the wazoo, of course. All usage is tracked. Violate the terms of use and you lose your.bob access.
In other words, a fully privatized portion of the internet. A nightmare to some, but to others - "Access to all media? No spam? $39.95 a month? Where do I sign?"
Other TLDs could set up other ecologies..ftw might only allow services that are fully encrypted and anonymous, for example.
Is there anything that would prevent TLD owners from doing this?
Ooka Tadasuke (1677 - 1752) was a Japanese samurai in the service of the Tokugawa shogunate. During the reign of Tokugawa Yoshimune, as a magistrate (machi bugyo) of Edo, his roles included chief of police, judge and jury, and Yamada Magistrate (Yamada-bugyo) prior to his tenure as South Magistrate (Minami Machi-bugyo) of Edo. With the title Echizen no Kami (Governor of Echizen or Lord of the Echizen), he is often known as Ooka Echizen. He was highly respected as an incorruptible judge. In addition, he established the first fire brigade made up of commoners, and the Koishikawa Yojosho (a city hospital). Later, he advanced to the position of jisha bugyo, and subsequently became daimyo of the Nishi-Ohira Domain.
One of the most famous stories is called "The Case of the Stolen Smell" where he heard the case of a paranoid innkeeper who accused a poor student of literally stealing the fumes of his cooking by eating when the innkeeper was cooking to flavour his dull food. Although his colleagues advised Ooka to throw the case out as ridiculous, he decided to hear the case. The judge resolved the matter by ordering the student to pass the money he had in one hand to his other and ruling that the price of the smell of food is the sound of money.
Why is the government in charge of what time it is? Is there a law on the books? If the majority of people ignore DST - or even better, adopt UTC as their clock - it'd wind up becoming official eventually.
If we can get people to type with their thumbs, we can get them to adopt UTC.
But then again, when will we know when to check the batteries of our smoke detectors?
That was admittedly just a quip on my part. But if a group of very smart people globally sat around their computers and started openly designing a space vehicle, and created on paper a working design (i.e. the CAD software says it's good to go) could the feds step in?
(You know what happens now, right? Someone's gonna post a link beginning with "Well, actually...")
Nice One! Although the press release says this time around it carried a "payload mass simulator" which I'm guessing means "nothing we're gonna sweat over getting blowed up" - no satellites or Scotty's ashes or such.
Now if they can get a second Falcon 1 into orbit...
Sean Kennedy's great sci-fi radio novella Tales From The Afternow follows your basic wanderer-traversing-the-post-apocalypse-wastelands story line. But it's not the apocalypse part of the story that makes your hair stand on end.
Before the apocalypse the major media conglomerates created a joint discount card. Use your discount card and you get 75% off retail. See a $10 movie for $2.50. Buy a $20 DVD for $5. MP3s, books, magazines, paintings, it applies to nearly all media.
Of course everyone signed up. Two years later the card becomes a legal requirement. Want to see a movie? Download music? Watch TV? Get a book from the library? You need your card, otherwise you're locked out. If you commit piracy, your license is revoked and you're cut off from all media.
In the totalitarian post-apocalypse world, the license is required for anything involving information, and any unregulated use of information is illegal. Private ownership of a microphone or a camera is illegal. Speaking English requires the license. "There used to be a time people could sing openly without being worried about licensing. There used to be a time when you'd be able to a read a book or tell a story. Of course the books are gone. And you can still lose your license by telling stories.
Its dangerous business being creative."
Over the weekend put it all in a big box, haul it over to the curb, and put a "free" sign on it. Then apply the many suggestions above to whatever is left over.
When she was filming the 1936 Olympics (Olympia) she took aerial photographs by attaching cameras to balloons. The lesson for filmmakers today? If you can't risk flying people, use a drone. (Caveat: a number of the balloons crashed. But I like to think nowadays we could achieve better results.)
"Yes, your Majesty, this cloak renders the wearer completely invisible. The only people that can tell you are wearing the cloak are those of noble birth, like yourself, or the intellectually gifted, such as science reporters and graduate students. Commoners like myself are completely fooled! Here, try it on. Your Majesty? Where are you?! I can hear your voice, but.."
One of recurring issues with the invisible man though experiment is that a truly invisible man cannot see. Since the light passes right through him - or in this version, around him - his eyes cannot absorb the light, so his brain can't perceive it. So for invisible camouflage to work, you'd have to keep your eyes exposed, or work out some tricky sure-to-break-down-under-combat-conditions fiberoptic camera wired to the cloak. Nice big binocular lenses that let you see for miles are probably out of the question.
As God is my witness, as God is my witness they're not going to lick me! I'm going to live through this and when it's all over, I'll produce shareholder return. If I have to lie, steal, cheat or kill. As God is my witness, I'll produce shareholder return!
Slashdot Mirror
Particularly female anatomy. Who better than another female to work such things out?
It's important dammit!
I was recently looking into getting a pager for a elderly relative of mine. Still gets around OK but can't be bothered to carry the super-simple cell phone we purchased and set up for her (not to mention on and charged.) Plus she's been known to leave her landline phone off the hook once in awhile.
I figure a pager would work for all the reasons listed before - small enough to fit in her purse, loud as hell, battery lasts for months. (And as we're the only ones who'd be paging her, she know who it's from.)
I guess I'll look into Skytel - do they have a consumer-level pricing option? Any other recommendations out there?
Excellent name - simple and straightforward. They should have a contest for naming the next model. Put me down for "Amazing Freaking Ginormous Wonderscope"
The job will start off solely focused on the big picture, but after about six months...
Setting: CxO's office - White House basement level
Biden (in doorway): Knock, knock! Hey Steve-o! You in the middle of anything?
CxO (not looking up from PC): Uh, yeah.
Biden: Sorry! This is completely my bad. It'll just take two minutes. We're starting a meeting in the big conference room and can't get the other guys on the video. I know you showed me how before, but could you...
CxO: (voiceover: Dumb f***!) (sighs) Uh, yeah, sure, be there in a sec.
Biden (does a double pistol finger point): Owe you another one, big guy! (exits)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Wozniak
Check the resume. He's got the vision thing and the technical chops. Plus he's stepped in educational technology issues, which is a very big deal.
Fortunately or unfortunately depending on your POV we've long moved past the point where we get a few million people together, put guns in their hands, and tell them "Here! Point these at the bad guys and shoot!"
Today's military is made up almost entirely of specialists. Training specialists cost money - lots of money. The government doesn't want to waste thousands of dollars and hours on training a soldier that's going to bail at the first opportunity. That's why the current military offers so many incentives, which are just a fraction of all the other costs.
If the military could openly draft civilians for five or more years at a stretch, it probably would. Some would say it already does.
Check out this excellent book on 21st century warfare to learn more.
http://www.democracynow.org/pages/election2008
Democracy Now! will be doing a special five-hour broadcast on November 4th from 07:00PM - 12:00AM ET to bring you the 2008 election results as they come in.
The program will include live coverage of the results as the polls close, on-the-ground reports from across the country, reactions from across the globe, and running in-depth analysis and commentary from a wide range of guests you won't get anywhere else.
On November 5th, the morning after, Democracy Now! expands to a two-hour broadcast from 08:00AM - 10:00AM ET to provide complete coverage of the election outcome.
Please contact your local radio or TV station for local listings. There will also be a live video and audio stream of the show on our homepage at democracynow.org.
Just a thought experiment. Suppose you set up a TLD - .bob for instance. Users can set up domains for web sites, e-mail, FTP etc. within .bob just like any other domain, but the rules of using it are different from the rest of the web. Such as -
.bob account holders can access .bob sites. No one else can get in, not even google. .bob sites cannot be accessed anonymously, but .bob sites must guarantee privacy - your usage can't be shared with anyone else.
.bob e-mail addresses or chat names must be linked to an actual person. .bob users can only send/receive e-mails or IM to other .bob addresses. Nothing outside .bob is allowed in. .bob access
.bob account comes with a license with nearly all known media companies. (www.timewarner.bob, for instance.) For a monthly fee you can access any media they have digitized - books, news, film, music, games, software, etc. It's DRMed out the wazoo, of course. All usage is tracked. Violate the terms of use and you lose your .bob access.
.ftw might only allow services that are fully encrypted and anonymous, for example.
Web -
- Only other
-
E-mail and IM -
- No anonymous addresses or accounts.
-
- Spam is not allowed. At all. You spam, you lose your
Content -
- Your
In other words, a fully privatized portion of the internet. A nightmare to some, but to others - "Access to all media? No spam? $39.95 a month? Where do I sign?"
Other TLDs could set up other ecologies.
Is there anything that would prevent TLD owners from doing this?
Thus spake Wikipedia -
Ooka Tadasuke (1677 - 1752) was a Japanese samurai in the service of the Tokugawa shogunate. During the reign of Tokugawa Yoshimune, as a magistrate (machi bugyo) of Edo, his roles included chief of police, judge and jury, and Yamada Magistrate (Yamada-bugyo) prior to his tenure as South Magistrate (Minami Machi-bugyo) of Edo. With the title Echizen no Kami (Governor of Echizen or Lord of the Echizen), he is often known as Ooka Echizen. He was highly respected as an incorruptible judge. In addition, he established the first fire brigade made up of commoners, and the Koishikawa Yojosho (a city hospital). Later, he advanced to the position of jisha bugyo, and subsequently became daimyo of the Nishi-Ohira Domain.
One of the most famous stories is called "The Case of the Stolen Smell" where he heard the case of a paranoid innkeeper who accused a poor student of literally stealing the fumes of his cooking by eating when the innkeeper was cooking to flavour his dull food. Although his colleagues advised Ooka to throw the case out as ridiculous, he decided to hear the case. The judge resolved the matter by ordering the student to pass the money he had in one hand to his other and ruling that the price of the smell of food is the sound of money.
Why is the government in charge of what time it is? Is there a law on the books? If the majority of people ignore DST - or even better, adopt UTC as their clock - it'd wind up becoming official eventually.
If we can get people to type with their thumbs, we can get them to adopt UTC.
But then again, when will we know when to check the batteries of our smoke detectors?
Aren't all theorems supposed to be true? Isn't this like saying "ATM machine"?
That was admittedly just a quip on my part. But if a group of very smart people globally sat around their computers and started openly designing a space vehicle, and created on paper a working design (i.e. the CAD software says it's good to go) could the feds step in?
(You know what happens now, right? Someone's gonna post a link beginning with "Well, actually...")
Nice One! Although the press release says this time around it carried a "payload mass simulator" which I'm guessing means "nothing we're gonna sweat over getting blowed up" - no satellites or Scotty's ashes or such.
Now if they can get a second Falcon 1 into orbit...
Next step - open-source space vehicles!
...to the site of the crash.
I'll bet he beats the paramedics there by a good twenty minutes.
...to the Endeavour crater.
- Yes indeed, if it's a fast rover.
- Fast rover? You've never heard of the Opportunity?
- No, should I have?
In the UK "pants" is the term used for underwear.
It is also slang for rubbish (that's "crap" for Americans.)
This doesn't speak well for the state of British underwear, but whatever.
Sean Kennedy's great sci-fi radio novella Tales From The Afternow follows your basic wanderer-traversing-the-post-apocalypse-wastelands story line. But it's not the apocalypse part of the story that makes your hair stand on end.
Before the apocalypse the major media conglomerates created a joint discount card. Use your discount card and you get 75% off retail. See a $10 movie for $2.50. Buy a $20 DVD for $5. MP3s, books, magazines, paintings, it applies to nearly all media.
Of course everyone signed up. Two years later the card becomes a legal requirement. Want to see a movie? Download music? Watch TV? Get a book from the library? You need your card, otherwise you're locked out. If you commit piracy, your license is revoked and you're cut off from all media.
In the totalitarian post-apocalypse world, the license is required for anything involving information, and any unregulated use of information is illegal. Private ownership of a microphone or a camera is illegal. Speaking English requires the license. "There used to be a time people could sing openly without being worried about licensing. There used to be a time when you'd be able to a read a book or tell a story. Of course the books are gone. And you can still lose your license by telling stories. Its dangerous business being creative."
Just sayin'.
Not to down play the achievement.
Now when you have a realistic looking virtual actor that works like this:
Character: Dorothy
Dialogue: Oh Auntie Em! There's no place like home!
Emotion: Overjoyed
Then we've got something.
You son of a... you hacked my eyes! Where are you!?
http://gothamist.com/2008/08/11/youtube_bows_to_olympic_committee_p.php
Just to give credit where it is due. (Gothamist is cited in the Firehose.)
Cheers!
Over the weekend put it all in a big box, haul it over to the curb, and put a "free" sign on it. Then apply the many suggestions above to whatever is left over.
When she was filming the 1936 Olympics (Olympia) she took aerial photographs by attaching cameras to balloons. The lesson for filmmakers today? If you can't risk flying people, use a drone. (Caveat: a number of the balloons crashed. But I like to think nowadays we could achieve better results.)
"Yes, your Majesty, this cloak renders the wearer completely invisible. The only people that can tell you are wearing the cloak are those of noble birth, like yourself, or the intellectually gifted, such as science reporters and graduate students. Commoners like myself are completely fooled! Here, try it on. Your Majesty? Where are you?! I can hear your voice, but.."
One of recurring issues with the invisible man though experiment is that a truly invisible man cannot see. Since the light passes right through him - or in this version, around him - his eyes cannot absorb the light, so his brain can't perceive it. So for invisible camouflage to work, you'd have to keep your eyes exposed, or work out some tricky sure-to-break-down-under-combat-conditions fiberoptic camera wired to the cloak. Nice big binocular lenses that let you see for miles are probably out of the question.
As God is my witness, as God is my witness they're not going to lick me! I'm going to live through this and when it's all over, I'll produce shareholder return. If I have to lie, steal, cheat or kill. As God is my witness, I'll produce shareholder return!