I don't care for word processors much either. Have you tried a text editor such as VIM or EMACS? Ktouch, a touch typing tutor for KDE, has helped me. Good ergonomics makes typing easier too. http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/etools/computerworkstations/
Do you remember that survey of interests you probably filled out? Did you fully read your Terms of Service? Mail providers generally have clauses that allow them, their partners, partners of partners, etcetera... to send you mail. They make money on advertising this way. Buried somewhere deep in the TOS, you agreed to it.
I was hoping Comcast would make BitTorrent the killer app for popular adaptation of IPsec. There is a solution to the problem of TCP packet forgery. We should be using it. With BitTorrent there is even a suitable trusted central authority for key exchange; everyone trusts the tracker. Keys could be transitory (per swarm) or permanent (if desired) for registered users.
Redirecting an asteroid on an Earth impacting trajectory was discussed in depth quite a few years ago in Scientific American magazine. There are a variety of ways to deal with such an asteroid, depending on size, composition, and how advanced the warning is.
There are two main responses: redirection and pulverization. If the asteroid is structurally week and small it can be pulverized so that the pieces will burn up on atmospheric entry. This has the advantage that it can be done with little advance warning. One novel proposal involved a 3 dimensional mesh built around tungsten nodes. It would be compact for launch yet still spread out and stay grouped together for a long distance strike.
Redirection is necessary for large or durable asteroids. Spin would make it difficult to have a vehicle in contact with it redirect it over time. Reliable redirection would require delivery of multiple kinetic payloads over time. Each payload strike would have the danger of fracturing the asteroid; widening the potential Earth-impact damage.
Focused, reflected, solar energy has been proposed to redirect ice based asteroids with much advanced warning. Even X-ray cannons have be proposed, along with other laser based solutions. A thermonuclear device ignited adjacent to an asteroid would vaporize a layer off its exposed surface, redirecting the asteroid. This would even be effective against iron-ore asteroids. There is also less likelihood of fracture than kinetic impact. Close asteroids can be acted upon multiple times for faster redirection.
A nuclear solution has the advantages of being effective at long range and at ranges to close for the other listed methods to be effective. It is less likely to cause fracturing and would work against any material composition.
Reliable long range detection would allow other methods to be effective, but thermonuclear warheads are a mature technology, would be effective at short range and we do not have to station them in space ahead of use.
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I don't care for word processors much either. Have you tried a text editor such as VIM or EMACS? Ktouch, a touch typing tutor for KDE, has helped me. Good ergonomics makes typing easier too. http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/etools/computerworkstations/
Do you remember that survey of interests you probably filled out? Did you fully read your Terms of Service? Mail providers generally have clauses that allow them, their partners, partners of partners, etcetera ... to send you mail. They make money on advertising this way. Buried somewhere deep in the TOS, you agreed to it.
I was hoping Comcast would make BitTorrent the killer app for popular adaptation of IPsec. There is a solution to the problem of TCP packet forgery. We should be using it. With BitTorrent there is even a suitable trusted central authority for key exchange; everyone trusts the tracker. Keys could be transitory (per swarm) or permanent (if desired) for registered users.
Redirecting an asteroid on an Earth impacting trajectory was discussed in depth quite a few years ago in Scientific American magazine. There are a variety of ways to deal with such an asteroid, depending on size, composition, and how advanced the warning is.
There are two main responses: redirection and pulverization. If the asteroid is structurally week and small it can be pulverized so that the pieces will burn up on atmospheric entry. This has the advantage that it can be done with little advance warning. One novel proposal involved a 3 dimensional mesh built around tungsten nodes. It would be compact for launch yet still spread out and stay grouped together for a long distance strike.
Redirection is necessary for large or durable asteroids. Spin would make it difficult to have a vehicle in contact with it redirect it over time. Reliable redirection would require delivery of multiple kinetic payloads over time. Each payload strike would have the danger of fracturing the asteroid; widening the potential Earth-impact damage.
Focused, reflected, solar energy has been proposed to redirect ice based asteroids with much advanced warning. Even X-ray cannons have be proposed, along with other laser based solutions. A thermonuclear device ignited adjacent to an asteroid would vaporize a layer off its exposed surface, redirecting the asteroid. This would even be effective against iron-ore asteroids. There is also less likelihood of fracture than kinetic impact. Close asteroids can be acted upon multiple times for faster redirection.
A nuclear solution has the advantages of being effective at long range and at ranges to close for the other listed methods to be effective. It is less likely to cause fracturing and would work against any material composition.
Reliable long range detection would allow other methods to be effective, but thermonuclear warheads are a mature technology, would be effective at short range and we do not have to station them in space ahead of use.