You see people trotting down a runway with bird cages on their heads, all kinds of awful colors mixed together, and various body parts showing that maybe shouldn't be showing. Half a year later, the shops are actually selling normal clothes in the general average color of the ones you were shown on the show, with a few accents of the other colors, and no longer showing all those body parts.
Airplanes are exactly the same.
I think they'll probably refuse to sell it, then.
But you could still ask for 3.5 times as much as you normally would, and get at least the same income you wanted in the first place.
Damn, where are thos mod points when you need 'em!
Although I suppose you really could send catholic priests as long as there are no minors on board. The church even admitted fairly recently that the planets revolve around the sun, so there can be no religious objections to the trip anymore either.
What if, instead of being all afraid of "o my god, they might have sex", you embrace the issue and actually send people who are very open about sex, maybe couples who are used to partner swapping and foursomes etc.
No stress, no "cheating" (since it's not), sex is just something you do, like a sport. It wouldn't be hard to find people like that. Of course you should still avoid zero-G pregnancy, but contraceptives or sterilization are not exactly rocket science.
On top of that, as an added bonus, video feeds from the mission can serve to provide funding for several further missions!
It would probably be safest to simply allow sex, since it's going to happen anyway, you might as well regulate it to make sure it does not go out of control. Married couples are probably the best bet, even though nothing's for certain. I think that the likelihood of divorce probably decreases when you bear the responsibility of causing a Mars mission to fail.
To avoid accidental pregnancy, simply sterilize the men, it's a simple procedure.
Then, if the goal is to colonize Mars and actually have pregnancies there, transport the frozen semen of the husbands to inseminate their wives, along with frozen semen from other men to use with some of the female offspring to avoid incest.
There, all problems solved!
Yep, as someone just pointed out, Gizmodo has a story about "Kickback", an application that allows you to pirate any app in the app store, with or without protective system calls. It hasn't been released yet, for some reason they're waiting until February 20. I'm sure someone else will come along and release something similar well before then. (Three... two... one...)
Apple's recommended piracy checks consist of calling certain system routines to check the validity of the receipt. How hard do you think it's going to be to intercept those calls? I can see an automated cracking application appearing in three... two... one...
That's why I personally did not even bother trying for my own brick game Colibricks. I just hope enough honest people are going to download it. If they can dig into an application bundle to replace a file, they will certainly be able to download the latest automated app cracking application which I'm actually surprised hasn't arrived yet.
Maybe this was intentional: first loads of people who don't normally buy games, will jump on this opportunity to get a free game. Then there will be a software update and when they unwittingly click "OK", the game will update and not work anymore. "But I love playing that game, and now it does not work anymore! Where's my credit card?"
I always love it when approximate numbers are translated to high precision numbers in different units:-)
300 meters is 984 feet, which they rounded to 980...
Actually, with all these comments about parking lots, I hadn't noticed that the article is talking about a system for a whole city. In that case, it's actually a very good idea. Lots of streets with parking spaces in short supply, just look at your smart phone and it will immediately tell you which spot everybody is racing to:-)
Although maybe a realtime sattellite image would be even simpler, now that would be space tech:-)
Seriously, this would be such an incredibly simple, cheap and useful solution: For every large open parking lot, put a webcam on a roof or nearby antenna. When you arrive at the parking lot, a quick look on your smartphone will immediately show you where the open spots are. No need for sensors (which are expensive, will fail regularly, and may not detect small and/or incorrectly parked vehicles, motorcycles,...), no complicated connections with underground coax cables, no expensive maintenance. Just one webcam, connected to some small server which is connected to the internet.
Of course indoor parking lots would be more difficult, sensors are probably a better bet there. But then you can use much simpler detectors, for example optical ones mounted on the roof.
I'm all for a single kind of connector for all kinds of devices, but... try plugging a micro USB into your phone or gps using only one hand in the dark. Now try the same with a round plug. I much prefer the latter. Micro USB seems to be much more difficult to insert, but maybe it's just me.
Oh no, that poor guy. Now EVERYBODY in the whole world is going to use his name to register with a fake identity on registration-only websites, for illegal copies of software, as virus signatures, etc... A new meme has just been born.
I wish people would indeed finally go back to making appliances with stripped down or even no operating systems. But that's definitely not the trend, nowadays. Gone are the days where you could power on your VCR and start playing a tape right away. Nowadays, a push of the power button on a DVD player is a signal to start booting up the hypervisor, which then loads several operating systems, because all the programmers just wanted to use the libraries they were familiar with but happened to run on different operating systems. OK, I'm exaggerating right now (I hope), but I'm afraid I will actually be right in a few years. All I know is that it takes 30 seconds for my DVD player to finish saying "Welcome". Even if I only pressed the Eject button to get a disc out.
Very few appliance manufacturers write code anymore. Or actually connect things in efficient ways. They just slap existing stuff together to get it out to market quickly. Need a function? Find a library that has it. Include the library, call the function. Problem solved.
- Let's make a toaster that ejects bread when it's brown.
- We need a color sensor, then.
- OK, found one. But it only has drivers for Windows.
- Fine, our toaster needs to run Windows, then. What's the next problem?
Don't tell me, that toaster actually exists, right?
NOOOO! Please no mandatory beeping noises on reversing cars! There's enough noise already. And they don't even work. Not long ago I found myself behind a reversing truck and actually only realising after several seconds "o, yeah, that's right, that annoying ubiquitous noise means the truck is reversing, maybe I should get out of the way".
And some cars have two rear fog lights instead of just one, giving the impression that they are braking all the time. The third light certainly helps there.
And which is more deadly? It doesn't have to be a cliff, by the way. Spinning into the opposite lane will be just as efficient at killing you.
The most important effect of anti-lock brakes is that it's easier to change direction and avoid hitting the car in front of you while continuing to brake. Before anti-lock brakes, people would just screech into the car in front of them with the steering wheel turned but not having any effect. Of course they could have just released the brakes for a second, but most did not.
I don't mind driving a car without anti-lock brakes, but I'm glad the other morons have them.
That's quite amazing, they want to avoid accidents caused by drivers operating their GPS, so... they add a complicated key sequence to make it more difficult. So determined drivers that want to operate their GPS, will be even MORE distracted! Because let's face it, if someone decided to make it more difficult for me to do something they think is dangerous for me to do, that only makes me more likely to want to do it anyway. It actually gives a satisfying feeling to be able to sort of say "sudo change destination".
O, and another thing, a driver (who knows his car) instructing his passenger (who does not know) on how to press the keys in exactly the right order, how is that for safety? So even those drivers who normally ARE careful and let their passenger operate the GPS, now become dangerously distracted.
Slashdot Mirror
You see people trotting down a runway with bird cages on their heads, all kinds of awful colors mixed together, and various body parts showing that maybe shouldn't be showing. Half a year later, the shops are actually selling normal clothes in the general average color of the ones you were shown on the show, with a few accents of the other colors, and no longer showing all those body parts.
Airplanes are exactly the same.
I bet Ryanair has already pre-ordered a hundred of them.
I think they'll probably refuse to sell it, then. But you could still ask for 3.5 times as much as you normally would, and get at least the same income you wanted in the first place.
And you bait the nerds by making them think they get to go with the swingers?
Damn, where are thos mod points when you need 'em!
Although I suppose you really could send catholic priests as long as there are no minors on board. The church even admitted fairly recently that the planets revolve around the sun, so there can be no religious objections to the trip anymore either.
What if, instead of being all afraid of "o my god, they might have sex", you embrace the issue and actually send people who are very open about sex, maybe couples who are used to partner swapping and foursomes etc.
No stress, no "cheating" (since it's not), sex is just something you do, like a sport. It wouldn't be hard to find people like that. Of course you should still avoid zero-G pregnancy, but contraceptives or sterilization are not exactly rocket science.
On top of that, as an added bonus, video feeds from the mission can serve to provide funding for several further missions!
It would probably be safest to simply allow sex, since it's going to happen anyway, you might as well regulate it to make sure it does not go out of control. Married couples are probably the best bet, even though nothing's for certain. I think that the likelihood of divorce probably decreases when you bear the responsibility of causing a Mars mission to fail.
To avoid accidental pregnancy, simply sterilize the men, it's a simple procedure.
Then, if the goal is to colonize Mars and actually have pregnancies there, transport the frozen semen of the husbands to inseminate their wives, along with frozen semen from other men to use with some of the female offspring to avoid incest.
There, all problems solved!
Yep, as someone just pointed out, Gizmodo has a story about "Kickback", an application that allows you to pirate any app in the app store, with or without protective system calls. It hasn't been released yet, for some reason they're waiting until February 20. I'm sure someone else will come along and release something similar well before then. (Three... two... one...)
Apple's recommended piracy checks consist of calling certain system routines to check the validity of the receipt. How hard do you think it's going to be to intercept those calls? I can see an automated cracking application appearing in three... two... one...
That's why I personally did not even bother trying for my own brick game Colibricks. I just hope enough honest people are going to download it. If they can dig into an application bundle to replace a file, they will certainly be able to download the latest automated app cracking application which I'm actually surprised hasn't arrived yet.
Maybe this was intentional: first loads of people who don't normally buy games, will jump on this opportunity to get a free game. Then there will be a software update and when they unwittingly click "OK", the game will update and not work anymore. "But I love playing that game, and now it does not work anymore! Where's my credit card?"
The shadows are all wrong.
I always love it when approximate numbers are translated to high precision numbers in different units :-)
300 meters is 984 feet, which they rounded to 980...
They used space technology to fly to San Francisco and then copy the system in Toulouse.
Actually, with all these comments about parking lots, I hadn't noticed that the article is talking about a system for a whole city. In that case, it's actually a very good idea. Lots of streets with parking spaces in short supply, just look at your smart phone and it will immediately tell you which spot everybody is racing to :-)
Although maybe a realtime sattellite image would be even simpler, now that would be space tech :-)
Seriously, this would be such an incredibly simple, cheap and useful solution: For every large open parking lot, put a webcam on a roof or nearby antenna. When you arrive at the parking lot, a quick look on your smartphone will immediately show you where the open spots are. No need for sensors (which are expensive, will fail regularly, and may not detect small and/or incorrectly parked vehicles, motorcycles,...), no complicated connections with underground coax cables, no expensive maintenance. Just one webcam, connected to some small server which is connected to the internet.
Of course indoor parking lots would be more difficult, sensors are probably a better bet there. But then you can use much simpler detectors, for example optical ones mounted on the roof.
Steering the car :-)
I'm all for a single kind of connector for all kinds of devices, but... try plugging a micro USB into your phone or gps using only one hand in the dark. Now try the same with a round plug. I much prefer the latter. Micro USB seems to be much more difficult to insert, but maybe it's just me.
Then imagine getting the death penalty. But execution is postponed for 20 years or so...
Oh no, that poor guy. Now EVERYBODY in the whole world is going to use his name to register with a fake identity on registration-only websites, for illegal copies of software, as virus signatures, etc... A new meme has just been born.
I wish people would indeed finally go back to making appliances with stripped down or even no operating systems. But that's definitely not the trend, nowadays. Gone are the days where you could power on your VCR and start playing a tape right away. Nowadays, a push of the power button on a DVD player is a signal to start booting up the hypervisor, which then loads several operating systems, because all the programmers just wanted to use the libraries they were familiar with but happened to run on different operating systems. OK, I'm exaggerating right now (I hope), but I'm afraid I will actually be right in a few years. All I know is that it takes 30 seconds for my DVD player to finish saying "Welcome". Even if I only pressed the Eject button to get a disc out.
Very few appliance manufacturers write code anymore. Or actually connect things in efficient ways. They just slap existing stuff together to get it out to market quickly. Need a function? Find a library that has it. Include the library, call the function. Problem solved.
- Let's make a toaster that ejects bread when it's brown.
- We need a color sensor, then.
- OK, found one. But it only has drivers for Windows.
- Fine, our toaster needs to run Windows, then. What's the next problem?
Don't tell me, that toaster actually exists, right?
NOOOO! Please no mandatory beeping noises on reversing cars! There's enough noise already. And they don't even work. Not long ago I found myself behind a reversing truck and actually only realising after several seconds "o, yeah, that's right, that annoying ubiquitous noise means the truck is reversing, maybe I should get out of the way".
And some cars have two rear fog lights instead of just one, giving the impression that they are braking all the time. The third light certainly helps there.
Funny thing is that in Belgium those third brake lights used to be forbidden until one day they became mandatory. Go figure...
And which is more deadly? It doesn't have to be a cliff, by the way. Spinning into the opposite lane will be just as efficient at killing you.
The most important effect of anti-lock brakes is that it's easier to change direction and avoid hitting the car in front of you while continuing to brake. Before anti-lock brakes, people would just screech into the car in front of them with the steering wheel turned but not having any effect. Of course they could have just released the brakes for a second, but most did not.
I don't mind driving a car without anti-lock brakes, but I'm glad the other morons have them.
That's quite amazing, they want to avoid accidents caused by drivers operating their GPS, so... they add a complicated key sequence to make it more difficult. So determined drivers that want to operate their GPS, will be even MORE distracted! Because let's face it, if someone decided to make it more difficult for me to do something they think is dangerous for me to do, that only makes me more likely to want to do it anyway. It actually gives a satisfying feeling to be able to sort of say "sudo change destination".
O, and another thing, a driver (who knows his car) instructing his passenger (who does not know) on how to press the keys in exactly the right order, how is that for safety? So even those drivers who normally ARE careful and let their passenger operate the GPS, now become dangerously distracted.