Wonderful bubble-gum for the mind. Pre-teens will probably groove on the antics of Slippery Jim deGriz, Harry Harison's Stainless Steel Rat...
From the original publisher's blurb:...We must be as stealthy as rats in the wainscoting of their society. It was easier in the old days, of course, and society had more rats when the rules were looser, just as old wooden buildings have more rats than concrete buildings. But there are rats in the building now as well. Now that society is all ferrocrete and stainless steel there are fewer gaps in the joints. It takes a very smart rat indeed to find these openings. Only a stainless steel rat can be at home in this environment...
You can paint this thing as either Big Brother, or this is a device that connects you to a buddy who wants to keep you safe and help you graduate. The term "Big Brother" is so entrenched that people are completely missing the irony of this statement. "Big Brother" probably originated as that "buddy who wants to keep you safe" and then became the villain icon of 1984.
The first game I remember was playing "Hunt the Wumpus" on a terminal in my Dad's office. "Hangman" and an early version of "StarTrek" were close seconds.
I also recall playing life using an early version of the mouse in one hand and a funny "piano keyboard" sort of thing on the other. That was at an "open house" of some sort.
Hopefully some wise guy will say "that their first computer game was placing bets on how long the Bombes would take to finish a message."
I ran this by my wife who is a professional musician with perfect pitch and a degree in music.
She says that the recording is in E-flat minor, but that organs at the time would have been in a different tuning standard, roughly one-half step different than the current standard.
E-flat minor is a very rare key for that time-period (like it wasn't used until Bach) but if you move the snippet a half step, it would have been E minor, a very common key during that period.
Furthermore, there are intervals in the snippet that weren't in common use in that time period. I couldn't keep my wife's interest long enough to determine if those intervals made more sense if the entire thing was 1/2 a step down.
Anyhow, my wife's summary: "very pretty, but probably not from DaVinci's time."
LineGrunt
PS I may have the exact note names and directions wrong as I'm _not_ a professional musician with perfect pitch... Musicians have their own undecypherable 'geek-speak.'
"CHRIS KNIGHT: These girls are not used to geniuses. You might impress them.
CORNELL: I don't see how.
CHRIS: Let me put this another way. Given the type of people you are and the environment you're in, you guys have to admit the strong probability that this may be the only chance you'll ever get in your entire lives to have sex."
Because businesses function on making money, not just fulfilling "needs."
Undersea cables are hideously expensive and the company putting one in _needs_ to have a reasonable chance of recouping those costs.
While Africa may "need" internet, the fact that companies aren't already in a race to provide Africa with internet is a de-facto signal that multiple companies don't think they have a business case to provide it.
I need a "Ferrari" but the business community isn't in a hurry to provide ME with one either.
(Although some people are clearly mistaking the signals coming from the ISS with the SatSuit too).
So it is likely that the suit is still on the air, but radiating a lot lower signal than they planned.
I'm still planning on trying to hear it the next two passes here. 11 degrees and 72 degrees. Don't have fancy az/el antennas, but I've worked the ISS and AO-27 from here so I should stand a chance.
The very idea that non-technical management can override or disregard technical advice provided by professionals in their specialist technical area is a complete travesty.
Bacteria aren't the only bad things that can be in surface water in the field.
How about heavy metals? How about viri?
The portable water filters available to backpackers have the microfiltration to stop bacteria and cysts, but need some other method to stop viri. (boil, chlorine, iodine)
How does this technology cope with a water source contaminated with Hep-A, B, C, AIDS,etc viri???
Slashdot Mirror
Come on.
Software engineers seldom get the chicks.
You think software TESTERs are going to do any better?
Colleges offer majors to address a market. How big is the market of high school juniors slavering to become testers?
How about ZERO?
I notice that you have posted illicit audio copies of my copy-written creation of the universe.
Please remove them immediately, as specified by the provisions of the DMCA...
If you fail to do so, legal penalties, up to and including extreme smiting may be incurred.
Sincerely yours,
God (Esq)
"Cash is king."
Get ready to write a big check to Mr. Kepler...
From the original publisher's blurb: ...We must be as stealthy as rats in the wainscoting of their society. It was easier in the old days, of course, and society had more rats when the rules were looser, just as old wooden buildings have more rats than concrete buildings. But there are rats in the building now as well. Now that society is all ferrocrete and stainless steel there are fewer gaps in the joints. It takes a very smart rat indeed to find these openings. Only a stainless steel rat can be at home in this environment...
There is a significant difference between "dying" and "being killed."
As in "the death was ruled a suicide after the victim died from three self-inflicted gunshots to the head."
The first game I remember was playing "Hunt the Wumpus" on a terminal in my Dad's office. "Hangman" and an early version of "StarTrek" were close seconds.
I also recall playing life using an early version of the mouse in one hand and a funny "piano keyboard" sort of thing on the other. That was at an "open house" of some sort.
Hopefully some wise guy will say "that their first computer game was placing bets on how long the Bombes would take to finish a message."
I ran this by my wife who is a professional musician with perfect pitch and a degree in music.
She says that the recording is in E-flat minor, but that organs at the time would have been in a different tuning standard, roughly one-half step different than the current standard.
E-flat minor is a very rare key for that time-period (like it wasn't used until Bach) but if you move the snippet a half step, it would have been E minor, a very common key during that period.
Furthermore, there are intervals in the snippet that weren't in common use in that time period. I couldn't keep my wife's interest long enough to determine if those intervals made more sense if the entire thing was 1/2 a step down.
Anyhow, my wife's summary: "very pretty, but probably not from DaVinci's time."
LineGrunt
PS I may have the exact note names and directions wrong as I'm _not_ a professional musician with perfect pitch... Musicians have their own undecypherable 'geek-speak.'
"CHRIS KNIGHT:
These girls are not used to geniuses. You might impress them.
CORNELL:
I don't see how.
CHRIS:
Let me put this another way. Given the type of people you are and the environment you're in, you guys have to admit the strong probability that this may be the only chance you'll ever get in your entire lives to have sex."
Why not Africa?
Because businesses function on making money, not just fulfilling "needs."
Undersea cables are hideously expensive and the company putting one in _needs_ to have a reasonable chance of recouping those costs.
While Africa may "need" internet, the fact that companies aren't already in a race to provide Africa with internet is a de-facto signal that multiple companies don't think they have a business case to provide it.
I need a "Ferrari" but the business community isn't in a hurry to provide ME with one either.
Oh COOL!
When do we get the zombies?
And are they slow or fast?
The Clancy book with the flashlight is Debt of Honor actually.
Uses it to take down people and blind airplane pilots.
LineGrunt
"If you haven't done anything wrong, what do you have to worry about?"
The four boxes of Freedom:
Soap Box,
Ballot Box,
Jury Box,
Cartridge Box.
Use in that order.
We're between Soap and Ballot Box at the moment. Depending on how the elections go, we MAY get some of these guys to the Jury Box stage.
LG
I saw this and had to painfully laugh.
The subject of space garbage collection was the subject of the 1970's sit com "Quark."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quark_(TV_series)
LG
"United Galaxies Sanitation Patrol Cruiser"
Gee...
NASA wants to end the Hubble Mission.
Public demands that it stay on-line.
NASA says that "Hubble is saved."
Main "pretty picture" instrument dies...
Hmmm...
See
2 3/2226257
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/06/
for previous discussion.
LineGrunt
People ARE reporting very weak contacts.
(Although some people are clearly mistaking the signals coming from the ISS with the SatSuit too).
So it is likely that the suit is still on the air, but radiating a lot lower signal than they planned.
I'm still planning on trying to hear it the next two passes here. 11 degrees and 72 degrees. Don't have fancy az/el antennas, but I've worked the ISS and AO-27 from here so I should stand a chance.
Grunts away!
Oh grow up.
It happens all the time.
Ever heard of "The Golden Rule?"
He who has the gold, makes the rules...
Sheesh!
"natural gas heaters that heat up water on-demand... [are] not available to everyone, especially those in rural areas."
That's BS.
People in rural areas use PROPANE rather than natural gas. And our propane powered Takagi tankless water heater does JUST FINE.
I believe Walt Disney can demonstrate prior art via the Herbie the Lovebug series of movies...
Duh!
LG
Bacteria aren't the only bad things that can be in surface water in the field.
How about heavy metals?
How about viri?
The portable water filters available to backpackers have the microfiltration to stop bacteria and cysts, but need some other method to stop viri. (boil, chlorine, iodine)
How does this technology cope with a water source contaminated with Hep-A, B, C, AIDS,etc viri???
There it is "Final Frontier" by Diane Carey.
Used copy ordered. (Such a geek!)