I feel like a traitor to mankind just for being able to list four celebrity "news" shows by name. I understand - I think I need an extra shower tonight in order to cleanse myself of the feeling I got after realizing that I could name off four semi-current celebrity "news" stories...
the guy had it coming Maybe CNN didn't break any laws or even firing standards. But, now that the corporate world has seen a couple of these cases come up, clear guidance should be provided to employees regarding expected behavior outside work.
It was made clear to me early on what I could say outside work, to whom, and under what circumstances. And the consequences were made clear - Most everything is just fine but, some circumstances can result in training/formal counseling, some can result in firing, and some can result in civil/criminal charges up to and including large fines and very lengthy jail terms. I can walk away at any time, but choose to honor their rules.
In any case, after reading that blog post, I'm never, ever watching one second of CNN again.. Sure, you talk big. But let's just see where you turn next time you want an update on Paris Hilton's brother's DUI, Britney Spears's sister's pregnancy, Britney's zany exploits and custody issues, or Lindsay Lohan's latest wreck (car or box-office - your pick)?
Actually, if we're referring to one of the "Chinamen" that we're worried about knowing details on our spy satellites, the correct term would be "Chinese person", not "American".
you'd have to launch it from the Earth's surface at a similar speed Not quite. That would be true if you were trying to throw or shoot the object into space, but not if was propelled along the way. I could leave the earth's surface at 10 km/hr and reach space assuming that I could somehow use thrust to maintain constant velocity.
That gives me 23% not 6.6%. Anybody have any more insight into this? From the source cited in Wikipedia:
1. At least eight photons are required to store one molecule of CO2 which means 1665 kJ of light energy are required to store 477 kJ in the plant. Max efficiency is 0.286 or 28.6 %
2. Only light in the range 400-700 nm can be used. This amounts to 43% of total solar incident radiation.
3. Canopy limits absorption to 80 %
4. Respiration required for translocation and biosynthesis requires about 33% of the energy stored which leaves 67%
The overall efficiency is then.286x.43x.8x.67 =.066 or 6.6% So, the Wikipedia editor left out an important part of the equation. Ops! As a side note, asking "Can anybody shed some more light on this?" instead of "Anybody have any more insight into this?" would have earned you a cheesy pun point.
Care to reference some of those 'facts', such as the need to send astronauts up to fix the registry, satellites running windows, and the satellites getting infected from a user browsing the internet through it...? I can back that up. U.S. spy satellites are the BEST for surfing the internet through! Mind you, it's not easy to get an account - But that just makes them less trafficked. Since we all know that secret spy satellites use the internet for communications, it's just a matter of logging on and whoosh - Lighting fast porn.
Of course, now that AC has pointed out the dangers, I will be very careful not to corrupt our spy network with any nasty viruses. I would hate for an astronaut to have to fly up with a CD and re-install Vista just because I got sloppy.
Also, Dude, chinaman is not the preferred nomenclature. Asian-American, please. My speculation is that, if you were to refer to the average Chinese person as an "Asian-American", he would be confused at a minimum and possibly upset.
I'm just thinking it'd be less expensive and technically easier (considering cost and difficulty of tracking debris) to just meet the satellite & fix it or remove the secrets. My understanding is that the current plan is to meet the satellite and "remove" the secrets. Actually recovering anything would be cost-prohibitive.
Nice cheap clean burnup, or expensive messy shooting? Wrong debate. One big chunk crashing to earth possibly containing identifiable highly classified hardware, or many little chunks hopefully containing nothing recognizable. I actually give them the benefit of the doubt that, if they thought it would burn up cleanly, they would let it.
Then you'd have a big lump of explosives rolling around in space, and no control over it. That on reentry would explode right? Most high-explosive doesn't explode when exposed to heat. It needs a good shock to get going (primary explosive - typically a blasting cap or primercord). But, it would probably burn just fine.
C. To show that we can, prevent other people from knocking out our own satellites. How does it do that? We would demonstrate our ability to respond in kind, but not actually interfere.
Or target practice? Don't underestimate the value of target practice. Shooting down a satellite is no simple matter. The Chinese engineers decided that they couldn't just hit one with a missile, so they sent up a missile capable of firing a separate payload once it got close enough. I'm sure the US would love an excuse to try out a satellite killer. And, since it's been made clear what a hazard this thing could be if it falls to earth, they can try out their new toy AND protect the planet from their defunct satellite.
How many songs inserted the word "love" in to them? How many songs copy I-IV-V progressions? Right - First, let's pull the copyrights off of any piece of music with the word "love" or a I-IV-V progression. And how many books feature people falling in love? Let's pull copyright off of any book containing a love story. Any how many movies have somebody getting shot? Let's pull copyright off of any movie with violence. And how many pieces of software allocate memory to store data? Let's pull copyright off of any software with a malloc().
I only see one problem... If authors aren't paid to write, we'll see a lot fewer books... If producers/directors/actors/etc aren't paid to distribute movies, we'll see a lot fewer movies. If software companies aren't paid to distribute software, we'll see a lot less new software.
I get paid for my time. Are you sure? I have no idea what you do, but I suspect that most of the/. crowd does not get paid for their time. Sure, it seems like it - You put in x hours and receive y compensation. But, for many of us, the reason we're getting paid is that we're contributing to the development of products that can be sold by our employers. If you work in the service industry or law enforcement or the military - You're being paid for your time (there are better examples, but I'm too lazy to brain storm...) If you're designing a product or doing anything to support others who design a product, you're being paid [hourly/salary] for what you produce.
Just curious - Are you suggesting a salary model for musicians? That would be pretty damned novel, but I'm curious if you actually have a model thought out. Who pays their salary? How does their employer make $$$?
OK, this is slightly off-topic and a self-reply, but I feel the need to post it in self defense. I just finished listening to Tiger Army's latest album. I paid nothing for it and have listened to it several times. At the same time, I have a ticket for the show they did in Albuquerque last Thursday that I did not attend. I knew when I bought the ticket (only $13) that I wouldn't be able to attend due to work conflicts. They still sold out at the door, so they got my $$ plus $$ from whoever filled my vacancy. I realize that I may sound self-righteous announcing this perhaps bizarre behavior of mine, but I feel obligated to express that I actually believe this stuff and try to compensate the artists I enjoy in the most efficient way manageable.
I'm an engineer also. My designs that secure patents win me a $50 bonus (before taxes). However, that's the deal I signed when I hired on. If I wanted to work on my own, I could own those patents outright. I won't argue against our "rights and wrongs" being "societal norms", but I try to structure my morals around what benefits us as a society. If there were no profitable copyrights/patents, I'm convinced that there would be a sharp decrease in the production of new technology and art (modern music included).
Most of the world is motivated by $$. If the only way to get paid was to grind out physical product, most of us would be working production lines. Those of us that are paid to innovate would be an endangered species if our ideas could be reproduced without consequence by those who had contributed nothing to them. Even though my patentable ideas net me only a $50 bonus, I would lose my salary if my company couldn't profit from my inventions. Why would they pay me to innovate if they earned no advantage from my innovation?
Short of communism, can you suggest a scheme in which we could eliminate copyrights and patents and still somehow encourage invention and innovation to the same degree that we have today?
harvesting anything from the moon (He3) seems inherintly[sic] dangerous given the whole mass/gravity thing I seem to remember a book dealing with the subject... Something about the mining the moon... And about a harsh mistress... And some groovy polygamy... If I could remember, I'd recommend it.
Are you surprised they are using satellites, or surprised they are admitting to it? The latter. We know that there are satellites with some damned good (tax-payer funded) cameras above us. But, admitting that they take pictures while over our own country, that's new.
Is anyone here surprised...I mean, anybody ??? Yes - The government is admitting to using spy satellites on its own citizens. I find that very surprising.
You really don't know it's wrong. Would you be more comfortable with "Copying music feels wrong"? Artists deserve to be compensated for their work. I agree that illegally copying music isn't always immoral, but you'd have to be pretty convincing to persuade me that it's never immoral - If you're telling yourself that stealing music is part of your personal stand against the RIAA, I think that you're probably deluding yourself. Hopefully you at least endorse your bands of choice through concerts or merchandising if you refuse to pay for their CDs/MP3s. Does that make me one of your "sheeple"?
Another nice quote from the same band that seems appropriate here - From Dogs of War:
Discovery is to be disowned. How do you think that would jive in MS 101?
Slashdot Mirror
It was made clear to me early on what I could say outside work, to whom, and under what circumstances. And the consequences were made clear - Most everything is just fine but, some circumstances can result in training/formal counseling, some can result in firing, and some can result in civil/criminal charges up to and including large fines and very lengthy jail terms. I can walk away at any time, but choose to honor their rules.
Actually, if we're referring to one of the "Chinamen" that we're worried about knowing details on our spy satellites, the correct term would be "Chinese person", not "American".
2. Only light in the range 400-700 nm can be used. This amounts to 43% of total solar incident radiation.
3. Canopy limits absorption to 80 %
4. Respiration required for translocation and biosynthesis requires about 33% of the energy stored which leaves 67%
The overall efficiency is then
Actually, I was wondering if we could hook it up to another robot and finally answer the question, "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?"
Of course, now that AC has pointed out the dangers, I will be very careful not to corrupt our spy network with any nasty viruses. I would hate for an astronaut to have to fly up with a CD and re-install Vista just because I got sloppy.
I only see one problem... If authors aren't paid to write, we'll see a lot fewer books... If producers/directors/actors/etc aren't paid to distribute movies, we'll see a lot fewer movies. If software companies aren't paid to distribute software, we'll see a lot less new software.
Maybe I just need to go back and check my math...
Just curious - Are you suggesting a salary model for musicians? That would be pretty damned novel, but I'm curious if you actually have a model thought out. Who pays their salary? How does their employer make $$$?
OK, this is slightly off-topic and a self-reply, but I feel the need to post it in self defense. I just finished listening to Tiger Army's latest album. I paid nothing for it and have listened to it several times. At the same time, I have a ticket for the show they did in Albuquerque last Thursday that I did not attend. I knew when I bought the ticket (only $13) that I wouldn't be able to attend due to work conflicts. They still sold out at the door, so they got my $$ plus $$ from whoever filled my vacancy. I realize that I may sound self-righteous announcing this perhaps bizarre behavior of mine, but I feel obligated to express that I actually believe this stuff and try to compensate the artists I enjoy in the most efficient way manageable.
Cheers.
I'm an engineer also. My designs that secure patents win me a $50 bonus (before taxes). However, that's the deal I signed when I hired on. If I wanted to work on my own, I could own those patents outright. I won't argue against our "rights and wrongs" being "societal norms", but I try to structure my morals around what benefits us as a society. If there were no profitable copyrights/patents, I'm convinced that there would be a sharp decrease in the production of new technology and art (modern music included).
Most of the world is motivated by $$. If the only way to get paid was to grind out physical product, most of us would be working production lines. Those of us that are paid to innovate would be an endangered species if our ideas could be reproduced without consequence by those who had contributed nothing to them. Even though my patentable ideas net me only a $50 bonus, I would lose my salary if my company couldn't profit from my inventions. Why would they pay me to innovate if they earned no advantage from my innovation?
Short of communism, can you suggest a scheme in which we could eliminate copyrights and patents and still somehow encourage invention and innovation to the same degree that we have today?
I can suggest at least one use for Helium-3. Just ask out friends over in South Carolina. From what I hear, they play with it all the time.