Notice that Target, Marshall Fields, and Toys R Us are all affiliated with Amazon.com's online presence. Does this mean that Amazon proper will also begin charging tax? If so, I'll resume purchasing my books at the local dealer.
It's good that airships are beginning to come back into favor. With the large selection of materials that have been developed in the years since we last seriously pursued dirgibles as a viable transportation option, producing a super-strong, super-light, fireproof dirgible should be no problem. I still await the day when I can purchase quarters on an airship, and tour the world in relaxed comfort. I'd like a large wardroom, but I'm realistic. So long as there are comfortable open spaces, I'd settle for a berth.
since you believe that you know how to fix the copyright system, I'll ask you a few questions. first, why only seven years? When someone produces a new product and puts in on the market, they should be able to enjoy copyright protection for a period of time long enough to be reasonably profitable, but not for so long that innovation is stagnated. Though seven years is short enough to prevent the latter, it is also so short as to be prohibitive to profit. Second, from what date do you intend to start counting these seven years? If I decided to reuse libraries from a product I wrote back in 1995, would the date be extended? If not, then what motivation would I have to produce a lasting product? A man needs to eat, and good will makes a poor bread. Though I support the rights of the individual, I also respect the rights of businessmen. I feel that corporations enjoy too many rights without the corresponding responsibilities, but I don't believe that the answer is to strip businesses of the right to profit from their innovation.
It's a matter of debate, but I personally think that Tolkien's style was very non-contemporary. He borrowed more from the works of teutonic myth both for ideas and for the way in which he expressed those ideas. To say that he reinvented modern fantasy/myth is inaccurate because the majority of modern fantasy writers do not approach their writing in the same style, and only borrow the most superficial elements, which were themselves borrowed from the myths of our various heritages.
This is of course what makes Tolkien's ideas so great. He didn't just write a story, he invented a culture and a religion. That said, I really don't enjoy reading any of Tolkien's novels. Inevitably, I find his prose style to be lacking, and I grow bored with the endless detail with which he describes even the most tedious subject. I do, however, respect the man's creations and the devotion to the world that he created.
I don't carry a cell phone regularly. I own one, but I don't like having yet another thing like that on my belt. However I'd like to integrate my watch and a palm, because I already carry my watch and it is unobtrusive. However, I don't like wrist-watches. If someone would release a PDA that looked like a pocket-watch, I'd buy it in a second.
Complete and utter. However vile and loathsome record companies might be, I do not believe that any one of their drones would say such a thing. It sounds like typical FUD/satire/what-not. Can anyone establish the veracity of this supposed email?
Let's think about this. As an engineer, one must identify likely problems and rate their potential magnitude so that he can decide which deserves his greatest attention. Which is the greater problem? Gravity failing or environmental systems failing? If the gravity systems were to fail, repair problems would be slightly exacerbated and the crew would be temporarily inconvenienced. If their life support crashed, they would die in a very short period of time. Obviously, it becomes more important to allocate energy to the life support than to generating gravity.
As to your assertion that the gravity might not require energy, we must consider the three ways in which we might currently generate artifical gravity. The first, involves using centripetal force to generate centrifugal force, and thus gravity. Also, we might employ some manner of electromagnetic system, similar to those used for levitation of organics, to generate a "downward" force. Likewise, magnetic boots could be used on a metallic deck to provide the illusion of gravity, but this gravity would be ineffective at combating any of the diseases associated with long-term dwelling in null gravity. Finally, one might place a source of super-dense material at a convenient place below all of the decks. There are problems with each of these systems though. There is no apparent rotation of the ship, and any such rotation along the long axis of the ship would fling people towards the walls, not the floor. An electromagnetic system would require energy, and a magnetic boot system would not be suitable for a long haul cargo vessel. The required material to generate earth-like gravity would need to be either extraordinarily dense, or there would need to be a lot of it. Since Fireflies are such small craft, the material would need to be very dense. Though such a system would operate without energy, it is very improbable. This leaves only as of yet undiscovered systems as potentials, and even those would likely require continuous power, as you are attempting to generate a force.
And so, in moments when emergency reserves of power are all that remain, it would be extremely foolish to deplete those reserves by generating gravity when that power could be used to keep them alive.
Technically, I have not broken the law by merely reading your signature, as your signature is part of an act of communication. Were I to then disseminate your signature, unencrypted, without your permission, I would be guilty as I would have circumvented encryption as a copyright protection measure. Natch?
You don't understand the state of affairs in modern mining. They don't dig down into the depths of the earth and recover some big gob of metal. They recover a very, very small amount of metal per cubic meter. Doing the same with plants eliminates the need for chemicals, such as in leech mining, and allows for a much more efficient recovery of those materials. They just harvest the plants and extract the materials. Much more efficient.
Neither. They're a private entity that has criminalized copyright violation. They should go to the police. The police should then conduct their own investigation, involving search orders based upon probable cause. Should the prosecutors find the need, they should be the ones to pursue justice. If Verizon decides to pursue the matter in a civil court, then they should be required to make a motion before a judge for the information, as is the case.
However, users of internet services should have the same expectations of privacy as users of telephone services. Though it is common for phone companies to reveal a list of ingoing and outgoing calls made by a consumer when a court order is obtained, it is entirely impossible for them to provide a record of the contents of those calls. Just because the ability exists to capture all of the specific information concerning internet use does not mean that that information should be made available. Courts should be required to get a wiretap order, and that order should not be retroactive.
The government, as they've been doing for many, many years. Unfortunately, piracy has become entirely too common place nowadays. That doesn't mean that the rights of the consumers should be sacrificed for those of the producers. A balance must be struck, and, unfortunately, both parties will probably feel abused.
The right to make personal copies should not be one of the rights given away in compromise. We must instead strictly define the boundary between fair use and piracy. Natch?
This isn't the encryption scheme mentioned previously, when Slashdot reported that a distributed project has almost "broken" the scheme, is it?
Re:Neuromancer vs. Snow Crash
on
0wnz0red
·
· Score: 1
"However, Snow Crash is not an accurate representation of Stephenson's prose style," should be written as "However, Snow Crash, as a whole, is not an accurate..."
This makes this line fit a bit more with what I was trying to say.
Re:Neuromancer vs. Snow Crash
on
0wnz0red
·
· Score: 1
It's interesting that you describe Stephenson's style of prose to be such. When I introduced Snow Crash to a few friends, I described his writing as casual and laidback. I thought it was a very interesting way to write. Compare Stephenson's style with that of Hemingway. Whose style is more aggressively and exhaustingly illiterate? I would say Hemingway, and yet Hemingway is considered to be one of the giants of literature.
However, Snow Crash is not an accurate representation of Stephenson's prose style. In fact, Stephenson's narration changes depending on who the main character is. It's entirely contextual. Even within Snow Crash, there are changes in narration that depend on the dominant character at the moment. Compare the narration in scenes where Hiro is dominant, verus when YT is dominant, and even when Fido is dominant. All three passages demonstrate a different style of prose. Stephenson's greatest trick is to make his narrations match the characters who would be making them. In cryptonomicon, the same style can be clearly seen as well. There are three primary styles of prose utilized: The extremely rigorous, mathematical jargon of Lawrence Pritchard Waterhouse; The coarse, casual Marine-speak fo Bobby Shaftoe; And the casual nerd-speak of Randall Lawrence Waterhouse.
I personally think that Stephenson is an excellent author whose works are not only enjoyable, but very well written. Most specifically, I enjoy the facts which are strewn throughout the book, and the interesting philosophical/technological concepts which underly each book. In The Big U, the focus is Jayne's bicamerality of the mind; In Snow Crash, it is the exploration of the Sumero-Babylonian gods as neurolinguistic hackers; In Cryptonomicon, Stephenson brings up the idea of representations (Or Archetypes as Jung might call them); And in Snow Crash, the distributed organic computing of the nanotech virus is the focus.
And yet, it would be a pointless endeavour to recreate the entire city from plan. Though some of those buildings are exceptionally beautiful, the vast majority are horribly designed. A city should adapt to suit its citizens, never otherwise. Architecture should be organic and evolutionary, and the failures of past should not be ressurected simply out of nostalgia.
I missed his point at first, as I believe you have. he does not care about the ability to destroy his property, nor does he desire the manufactures to make it easier for him to hack his property. His desire, I believe, is to protect that very right to hack, which is so quickly disappearing. Some may scoff, but the trend in software--of protecting intellectual property so greatly as to render any consumers impotent to hack--can very easily be caried over into the "physical" world. These laws, such as the DMCA, pose a serious threat to the hacking of other, non-computer items. This is the threat which hackers must take seriously.
Is Office really overpriced when the whole of the software market is considered? Macromedia Flash is $499.00, Adobe Photoshop is $609.00, and 3ds Max is $3495.00. Hell, Times New Roman, that ubiquitous font, costs $95.99. I fail to see how a quality word processor, a tool as specialized as any of these others, should not cost as much. Furthermore, I can't help but wonder what the response would be if Microsoft sold Office for 30 bucks. Wouldn't they then be criticized for using their monopoly powers to sell their product, at a loss, such that they could further dominate the word processing market?
The production of the music is labor-intensive, but the production of the resultant product is not labor-intensive. I must apologize immediately for ignoring the artist's labor, as it changes things considerably. If one considers this, then he must invariably conclude that production costs have increased, as you have claimed.
The only argument I can make in response is that most of these costs are secondary to the actual production of the albums, and as such, they should not be passed on to the consumer. In a perfect world, I should not be required to pay for a music video which I will never benefit from, and from which millions of non-paying consumers will. Furthermore, the costs of promotion should not be transferred to the consumer, especially when these promotions more often than not result in a profit for the production company.
You assume that supply remains constant while aggregate demand increases, and I do not believe this is so. In this situation, demand and supply have both increased. The capability to produce more CDs at a lower cost exists now, if we ignore secondary production costs, producing a classical increase in supply. In addition, CDs have become more mainstream increasing demand. If demand has increased at a rate greater than supply then one would expect a heightened equilibrium price. If demand has increased at a rate that is less than that of supply then the market clearing price should be lower. If both have increased equally, then the price should be equal to the price back in 1983, when adjusted for inflation.
There are only five siutations in which equilibrium cost would increase. Either supply and demand increase, with demand increasing more quickly than supply, demand increases and supply remains constant, demand increases but supply decreases, demand remains constant but supply decreases, or demand and supply both decrease, but supply at a greater rate. Only the first of these situations is plausible, but to prove it either way is beyond me. It is my opinion that supply has increased more than demand, but I can not prove this.
There is a major flaw in your reasoning. Though inflation is likely to cause the price to rise, the cost of production for anything always decreases over time, until such a point when demand begins to drastically decline. It's fundamental. Since demand has done nothing but increase, and since the technologies employed in the production of CDs have not decreased in efficiency, the actual cost of the albums should have decreased over time. In fact, it is very likely that it did. However, price has not followed trend, and has actually gone up at a rate greater than inflation.
Moreover, if you compare cost/length for albums, cassettes, and compact discs, you will discover that the proper ranking, when adjusted for inflation, is cassettes, then compact discs, and finally vinyl, from least to greatest.
Yet, if the majority continues to use Internet Explorer, those who do use Mozilla will consider their browser to be the one defying standards. Though we try and impose ideals on software and hwardware, the only true standards come about when the majority of users embrace a certain idea. In this case, Microsoft has the ability to establish "standards" because of superior market share.
Lain was a trip. My mind still tries to grapple with the series every once in a while. When I finished the series, I suggested it to all of my friends. Surprisingly, I still haven't seen Eva. I look forward to it.
Retroviruses are cute little viruses that write DNA from RNA using reverse transcriptase, an enzyme. These viruses possess the ability to write that DNA into pre-existing DNA and, in this manner, convert cells and such to their cause. HIV is a retrovirus. However, much more beneficial retroviruses exist. The ability to write DNA into cells allows these viruses to be used to modify live cells. Take this with a grain of salt: I've never been a very good Bio student.
The situation you suggest is not the same. One is discrimination and the other is a case of caveat emptor. In the former, case law allows for civil action when discrimination based on various attributes such as sex, gender, race, and such occur. In the latter, there is absolutely no precedence such that we can consider providing a good, with complete disclosure of inherent flaws in said good, to be an actionable offense.
Actually most cruise missiles use an inertial navigation system with terrain contour-matching updates and others use an inertial navigation system integrated with a multi-channel onboard GPS (AGM86B and AGM86C respectively). Furthermore, some guided bombs make use of an inertial/GPS system as well (GBU 31/32). So, while it certainly wouldn't cripple the military, a disruption of GPS would hamper them ever so slightly.
I was routinely cleaning up my computer's startup files when I noticed an entry for BDE set for startup. It's called the BDE auto-updater, and I disabled it because I was unaware of where it had come from. Good to know.
Slashdot Mirror
Notice that Target, Marshall Fields, and Toys R Us are all affiliated with Amazon.com's online presence. Does this mean that Amazon proper will also begin charging tax? If so, I'll resume purchasing my books at the local dealer.
It's good that airships are beginning to come back into favor. With the large selection of materials that have been developed in the years since we last seriously pursued dirgibles as a viable transportation option, producing a super-strong, super-light, fireproof dirgible should be no problem. I still await the day when I can purchase quarters on an airship, and tour the world in relaxed comfort. I'd like a large wardroom, but I'm realistic. So long as there are comfortable open spaces, I'd settle for a berth.
since you believe that you know how to fix the copyright system, I'll ask you a few questions. first, why only seven years? When someone produces a new product and puts in on the market, they should be able to enjoy copyright protection for a period of time long enough to be reasonably profitable, but not for so long that innovation is stagnated. Though seven years is short enough to prevent the latter, it is also so short as to be prohibitive to profit. Second, from what date do you intend to start counting these seven years? If I decided to reuse libraries from a product I wrote back in 1995, would the date be extended? If not, then what motivation would I have to produce a lasting product? A man needs to eat, and good will makes a poor bread. Though I support the rights of the individual, I also respect the rights of businessmen. I feel that corporations enjoy too many rights without the corresponding responsibilities, but I don't believe that the answer is to strip businesses of the right to profit from their innovation.
It's a matter of debate, but I personally think that Tolkien's style was very non-contemporary. He borrowed more from the works of teutonic myth both for ideas and for the way in which he expressed those ideas. To say that he reinvented modern fantasy/myth is inaccurate because the majority of modern fantasy writers do not approach their writing in the same style, and only borrow the most superficial elements, which were themselves borrowed from the myths of our various heritages.
This is of course what makes Tolkien's ideas so great. He didn't just write a story, he invented a culture and a religion. That said, I really don't enjoy reading any of Tolkien's novels. Inevitably, I find his prose style to be lacking, and I grow bored with the endless detail with which he describes even the most tedious subject. I do, however, respect the man's creations and the devotion to the world that he created.
I don't carry a cell phone regularly. I own one, but I don't like having yet another thing like that on my belt. However I'd like to integrate my watch and a palm, because I already carry my watch and it is unobtrusive. However, I don't like wrist-watches. If someone would release a PDA that looked like a pocket-watch, I'd buy it in a second.
Complete and utter. However vile and loathsome record companies might be, I do not believe that any one of their drones would say such a thing. It sounds like typical FUD/satire/what-not. Can anyone establish the veracity of this supposed email?
Let's think about this. As an engineer, one must identify likely problems and rate their potential magnitude so that he can decide which deserves his greatest attention. Which is the greater problem? Gravity failing or environmental systems failing? If the gravity systems were to fail, repair problems would be slightly exacerbated and the crew would be temporarily inconvenienced. If their life support crashed, they would die in a very short period of time. Obviously, it becomes more important to allocate energy to the life support than to generating gravity.
As to your assertion that the gravity might not require energy, we must consider the three ways in which we might currently generate artifical gravity. The first, involves using centripetal force to generate centrifugal force, and thus gravity. Also, we might employ some manner of electromagnetic system, similar to those used for levitation of organics, to generate a "downward" force. Likewise, magnetic boots could be used on a metallic deck to provide the illusion of gravity, but this gravity would be ineffective at combating any of the diseases associated with long-term dwelling in null gravity. Finally, one might place a source of super-dense material at a convenient place below all of the decks. There are problems with each of these systems though. There is no apparent rotation of the ship, and any such rotation along the long axis of the ship would fling people towards the walls, not the floor. An electromagnetic system would require energy, and a magnetic boot system would not be suitable for a long haul cargo vessel. The required material to generate earth-like gravity would need to be either extraordinarily dense, or there would need to be a lot of it. Since Fireflies are such small craft, the material would need to be very dense. Though such a system would operate without energy, it is very improbable. This leaves only as of yet undiscovered systems as potentials, and even those would likely require continuous power, as you are attempting to generate a force.
And so, in moments when emergency reserves of power are all that remain, it would be extremely foolish to deplete those reserves by generating gravity when that power could be used to keep them alive.
Technically, I have not broken the law by merely reading your signature, as your signature is part of an act of communication. Were I to then disseminate your signature, unencrypted, without your permission, I would be guilty as I would have circumvented encryption as a copyright protection measure. Natch?
You don't understand the state of affairs in modern mining. They don't dig down into the depths of the earth and recover some big gob of metal. They recover a very, very small amount of metal per cubic meter. Doing the same with plants eliminates the need for chemicals, such as in leech mining, and allows for a much more efficient recovery of those materials. They just harvest the plants and extract the materials. Much more efficient.
Neither. They're a private entity that has criminalized copyright violation. They should go to the police. The police should then conduct their own investigation, involving search orders based upon probable cause. Should the prosecutors find the need, they should be the ones to pursue justice. If Verizon decides to pursue the matter in a civil court, then they should be required to make a motion before a judge for the information, as is the case.
However, users of internet services should have the same expectations of privacy as users of telephone services. Though it is common for phone companies to reveal a list of ingoing and outgoing calls made by a consumer when a court order is obtained, it is entirely impossible for them to provide a record of the contents of those calls. Just because the ability exists to capture all of the specific information concerning internet use does not mean that that information should be made available. Courts should be required to get a wiretap order, and that order should not be retroactive.
The government, as they've been doing for many, many years. Unfortunately, piracy has become entirely too common place nowadays. That doesn't mean that the rights of the consumers should be sacrificed for those of the producers. A balance must be struck, and, unfortunately, both parties will probably feel abused.
The right to make personal copies should not be one of the rights given away in compromise. We must instead strictly define the boundary between fair use and piracy. Natch?
This isn't the encryption scheme mentioned previously, when Slashdot reported that a distributed project has almost "broken" the scheme, is it?
"However, Snow Crash is not an accurate representation of Stephenson's prose style," should be written as "However, Snow Crash, as a whole, is not an accurate..."
This makes this line fit a bit more with what I was trying to say.
It's interesting that you describe Stephenson's style of prose to be such. When I introduced Snow Crash to a few friends, I described his writing as casual and laidback. I thought it was a very interesting way to write. Compare Stephenson's style with that of Hemingway. Whose style is more aggressively and exhaustingly illiterate? I would say Hemingway, and yet Hemingway is considered to be one of the giants of literature.
However, Snow Crash is not an accurate representation of Stephenson's prose style. In fact, Stephenson's narration changes depending on who the main character is. It's entirely contextual. Even within Snow Crash, there are changes in narration that depend on the dominant character at the moment. Compare the narration in scenes where Hiro is dominant, verus when YT is dominant, and even when Fido is dominant. All three passages demonstrate a different style of prose. Stephenson's greatest trick is to make his narrations match the characters who would be making them. In cryptonomicon, the same style can be clearly seen as well. There are three primary styles of prose utilized: The extremely rigorous, mathematical jargon of Lawrence Pritchard Waterhouse; The coarse, casual Marine-speak fo Bobby Shaftoe; And the casual nerd-speak of Randall Lawrence Waterhouse.
I personally think that Stephenson is an excellent author whose works are not only enjoyable, but very well written. Most specifically, I enjoy the facts which are strewn throughout the book, and the interesting philosophical/technological concepts which underly each book. In The Big U, the focus is Jayne's bicamerality of the mind; In Snow Crash, it is the exploration of the Sumero-Babylonian gods as neurolinguistic hackers; In Cryptonomicon, Stephenson brings up the idea of representations (Or Archetypes as Jung might call them); And in Snow Crash, the distributed organic computing of the nanotech virus is the focus.
And yet, it would be a pointless endeavour to recreate the entire city from plan. Though some of those buildings are exceptionally beautiful, the vast majority are horribly designed. A city should adapt to suit its citizens, never otherwise. Architecture should be organic and evolutionary, and the failures of past should not be ressurected simply out of nostalgia.
I missed his point at first, as I believe you have. he does not care about the ability to destroy his property, nor does he desire the manufactures to make it easier for him to hack his property. His desire, I believe, is to protect that very right to hack, which is so quickly disappearing. Some may scoff, but the trend in software--of protecting intellectual property so greatly as to render any consumers impotent to hack--can very easily be caried over into the "physical" world. These laws, such as the DMCA, pose a serious threat to the hacking of other, non-computer items. This is the threat which hackers must take seriously.
Is Office really overpriced when the whole of the software market is considered? Macromedia Flash is $499.00, Adobe Photoshop is $609.00, and 3ds Max is $3495.00. Hell, Times New Roman, that ubiquitous font, costs $95.99. I fail to see how a quality word processor, a tool as specialized as any of these others, should not cost as much. Furthermore, I can't help but wonder what the response would be if Microsoft sold Office for 30 bucks. Wouldn't they then be criticized for using their monopoly powers to sell their product, at a loss, such that they could further dominate the word processing market?
The production of the music is labor-intensive, but the production of the resultant product is not labor-intensive. I must apologize immediately for ignoring the artist's labor, as it changes things considerably. If one considers this, then he must invariably conclude that production costs have increased, as you have claimed.
The only argument I can make in response is that most of these costs are secondary to the actual production of the albums, and as such, they should not be passed on to the consumer. In a perfect world, I should not be required to pay for a music video which I will never benefit from, and from which millions of non-paying consumers will. Furthermore, the costs of promotion should not be transferred to the consumer, especially when these promotions more often than not result in a profit for the production company.
You assume that supply remains constant while aggregate demand increases, and I do not believe this is so. In this situation, demand and supply have both increased. The capability to produce more CDs at a lower cost exists now, if we ignore secondary production costs, producing a classical increase in supply. In addition, CDs have become more mainstream increasing demand. If demand has increased at a rate greater than supply then one would expect a heightened equilibrium price. If demand has increased at a rate that is less than that of supply then the market clearing price should be lower. If both have increased equally, then the price should be equal to the price back in 1983, when adjusted for inflation.
There are only five siutations in which equilibrium cost would increase. Either supply and demand increase, with demand increasing more quickly than supply, demand increases and supply remains constant, demand increases but supply decreases, demand remains constant but supply decreases, or demand and supply both decrease, but supply at a greater rate. Only the first of these situations is plausible, but to prove it either way is beyond me. It is my opinion that supply has increased more than demand, but I can not prove this.
There is a major flaw in your reasoning. Though inflation is likely to cause the price to rise, the cost of production for anything always decreases over time, until such a point when demand begins to drastically decline. It's fundamental. Since demand has done nothing but increase, and since the technologies employed in the production of CDs have not decreased in efficiency, the actual cost of the albums should have decreased over time. In fact, it is very likely that it did. However, price has not followed trend, and has actually gone up at a rate greater than inflation.
Moreover, if you compare cost/length for albums, cassettes, and compact discs, you will discover that the proper ranking, when adjusted for inflation, is cassettes, then compact discs, and finally vinyl, from least to greatest.
Yet, if the majority continues to use Internet Explorer, those who do use Mozilla will consider their browser to be the one defying standards. Though we try and impose ideals on software and hwardware, the only true standards come about when the majority of users embrace a certain idea. In this case, Microsoft has the ability to establish "standards" because of superior market share.
Lain was a trip. My mind still tries to grapple with the series every once in a while. When I finished the series, I suggested it to all of my friends. Surprisingly, I still haven't seen Eva. I look forward to it.
Retroviruses are cute little viruses that write DNA from RNA using reverse transcriptase, an enzyme. These viruses possess the ability to write that DNA into pre-existing DNA and, in this manner, convert cells and such to their cause. HIV is a retrovirus. However, much more beneficial retroviruses exist. The ability to write DNA into cells allows these viruses to be used to modify live cells. Take this with a grain of salt: I've never been a very good Bio student.
The situation you suggest is not the same. One is discrimination and the other is a case of caveat emptor. In the former, case law allows for civil action when discrimination based on various attributes such as sex, gender, race, and such occur. In the latter, there is absolutely no precedence such that we can consider providing a good, with complete disclosure of inherent flaws in said good, to be an actionable offense.
Actually most cruise missiles use an inertial navigation system with terrain contour-matching updates and others use an inertial navigation system integrated with a multi-channel onboard GPS (AGM86B and AGM86C respectively). Furthermore, some guided bombs make use of an inertial/GPS system as well (GBU 31/32). So, while it certainly wouldn't cripple the military, a disruption of GPS would hamper them ever so slightly.
I was routinely cleaning up my computer's startup files when I noticed an entry for BDE set for startup. It's called the BDE auto-updater, and I disabled it because I was unaware of where it had come from. Good to know.