Not that I think it will really make any difference, but thanks for posting that.
The whole political debate seems to have become nothing but ad hominems, and presenting opinions as facts.
Sometimes I tell people they should phrase their opinions as such, and they often say "Why should I? Everything I write is my opinion, that should be obvious".
I've argued on other forums about this (there are a few "unofficial" world polls which show basically the same results) with people who argue in precisely that mode.
"Oh sure, let's just conform to what the world wants us to be." "Let's let the world walk all over us."
I pointed out to these people that their argument was a strawman, setting up only two possibilities, completely ignoring world opinion or completely caving to it. There's this thing called middle ground in between.
Typical responses to that, "There's no middle ground when TERRORISTS are involved." *sigh*
As oil shifts from a buyer's market to a seller's market, prices won't just creep up, they will skyrocket.
There AREN'T any "new sources of energy" with anywhere close to the Energy Profit, abundancy, or ease of transport as oil. Hydrogen is a net energy loser. Biofuel barely breaks even. Solar is still too expensive. Wind is promising but you can't fertilize crops or drive your car with it.
The fact is, we need ***cheap*** oil to power a transition to alternative energy. As oil becomes way more expensive, economic growth will catastrophically reverse. Oil is central to everything in modern civilization, and there is no magic bullet solution waiting in the wings once oil shifts from an abundant to a scarce resource.
Do you have any idea how oil-dependant modern agriculture is, thanks to the "Green Revolution"? Do you realize that most of the world's 6 billion people could not be fed without cheap oil being used for fertilizers, pesticides, farm equipment, transportation, etc?
Yes, of course we will adjust. But that adjustment is quite likely to be mass starvation and the collapse of industrial civilization as we know it. I hope I'm wrong... but I've been researching this stuff for months and there's very little silver lining on this particular cloud.
I think people that love to trot out the old "Java has no pointers" line have no grasp of the language whatsoever. Of COURSE Java has pointers. WTF do they think a "NullPointerException" refers to?
The fact is, EVERYTHING (except primitives) in Java is a pointer. Everything is a reference. What they really mean to say is that Java has no direct memory access. Which is an acceptable tradeoff for robust, secure, and fault-tolerant memory management in high-level applications.
Saturn's missing ring spokes. "scientists are already puzzling over the noticeable absence of the ghostly spoke-like dark markings in the rings first seen by Voyager on its approach to the planet 23 years ago"
Oxygen on Venus "An unexpected sign of atomic oxygen has been found in spectroscopic data of Venus' atmosphere. This comes as a major surprise since data from earlier studies had shown molecular oxygen, O2 and ozone, but not single oxygen atoms.
It wasn't just a weak trace of atomic oxygen either. The data shows a green line nearly as intense as the glow from Earth's atmosphere, even after taking that effect into account in the ground based data.
"I certainly trust those data," stated Dr. Crisp. "Something weird is going on in the upper atmosphere of Venus."
The first bottom line is that we just don't know what's going on."
Hot Io Temperatures "In its chilly corner of the universe, Io needs to release its inner heat, just as a cup of hot coffee cools by releasing steam. Scientists have known for a while that Io is the solar system's most volcanically active planetary body. Yet scientists were surprised by the extreme temperatures.
"Given Io's intense vulcanism, we expect extreme differentiation," McEwen says. "The evidence suggests we're seeing heavy magma erupt to the surface. How do we explain that? It's harder for dense material to rise through a low-density crust, although this has occurred on Earth's moon. Perhaps some process mixes the crust back into Io's interior, so the crust has a higher density."
On Earth, the tectonic plates move slowly around the surface, forming new crust at mid-ocean ridges, for example, and recycling oceanic crust into the hot mantle where two plates collide, one diving under the other. Scientists don't know yet how to explain what's happening on Io."
I am interested in your explanation about precipitative heating, but I don't see any information on it. A quick google for "precipitative heating" "gas giants" returns zero results. I have to say I still find it hard to believe that denser elements sinking would cause greater energy radiation than the entire planet is receiving from the Sun though, or that this process is still going strong after billions of years.
Puzzling Seasons and Signs of Wind Found on Pluto "Seasonal change on Pluto is causing the planet to warm up even as it moves away from the Sun, according to two studies that also detected the first firm signs of weather on the tiny planet.
In a deeper analysis of data first announced in October, researchers now say Pluto's atmospheric pressure doubled since 1988. They say the average global temperature must have climbed, too, by about 2 degrees Fahrenheit (1 degree Celsius)."
"This is a very complex process, and we just don't know what is causing these effects" on Pluto's surface, Elliot said."
---------------
So it still appears to me, regardless of Hoagland's wild rantings, that there are indeed large scale planetary phenomena going on in the solar system which scientists are at a loss to adequately explain. The bottom line is that we seem to have a rather limited understanding of planetary climate change.
Subsequently, I am concerned that similar rapid and global change coul
It's not a question of whether this activity is "unusual" or not though (perhaps "insane" was a poor choice of word)
It's just that we're seeing some RAPID and PLANETWIDE changes... Mars is rapidly losing its ice caps and had a 3 month global storm. What if something similar happens on Earth? I just think it's something worth thinking about.
I have read a great deal of his stuff, and his critics too. I am not talking about his THEORIES though, I am talking about his OBSERVATIONS, specifically concerning the planets in the solar system.
Lists a large number of rather extraordinary changes that EVERY PLANET in the solar system has gone through in the last couple decades.
Personally I find it rather alarming. Massive oxygen appearing on Venus? Io hotter than Mercury? Radical new weather patterns on Neptune, and even Pluto? The gas giants radiating vastly more energy than they receive from the Sun?
Is this guy onto something big, or is he delusional?
"I understand that memory uses more battery juice than the HDD itself."
Where'd you get that idea?
Common sense would seem to indicate that spinning a metal platter at high speed and physically moving read/write heads, will take more energy than shuttling some electrons around.
For a real world indicator, look up the specs for any device that supports Compact Flash II (which means it will also support a microdrive), and check out the battery life. Microdrive operation always offers significantly less battery life. I can't imagine a laptop HDD being more efficient.
"The only trap such a story holds, is how to create a threat with someone so powerful and not have a plot device, etc to save the day in the end (I believe that is called a McGuffan or something)."
That's called a Deus Ex Machina, when an improbable plot device suddenly shows up and resolves everything. It means "God from the Machine", from ancient Greek drama where they would sometimes bring an elaborate prop device on stage (the machine) to represent a god.
A McGuffin is a story hook. It's the teaser they show you before the opening credits to get you interested in the rest of the show. It's the mysterious glowing box being smuggled onto the ship. Or the silent stranger with the giant scar across his face and a haunted expression. Or the naked alien running through walls, or whatever.
"you might deflect the beam to the nearest highly charged thundercloud"
Um, considering the range of the portable model is only 9 feet... I think if you're that close to a thunderhead, you're probably in big trouble anyway.;)
"But "spraying" the crowd would almost certainly mean aiming between shoulder and crotch level. This means that if there are children in the crowd, a significant fraction are likely to be hit in the eyes - with a very high risk of death as a result."
A valid concern to be sure.
However, is there some reason they couldn't fire this at foot/knee level and still get effective results? I understand why you aim for center of mass when using bullets (vital organs, and better chance of hitting), but why would you need to do that for a stun-beam weapon that you can sweep across a range of movement?
Yes, the USB host sounds awesome. Hopefully they'll be some editing software for it eventually too. Imagine a Photoshop Light on this thing for quick contrast, sharpening, etc?
On my GP32, even with the backlight on it can easily play a full movie on a pair of AAs. If you turn the backlight off the battery time lasts 3-4 times longer.
I have a GP32 with exactly the same screen... 3.5", 320x240, and it is PERFECT.
3.5" is nice and big, but JUST small enough so you can still fit the unit into a breast pocket. Widescreen movies look just fine on it. (If I wanted a bigger movie watching unit, I'd buy one of those portable DVD players)
320x240 is perfect because that's essentially TV resolution (and 256 colour VGA), so it will work great with stuff ported over meant for TV or VGA output. (Imagine an SNES emulator on this thing, or Doom?:))
Anyway my point is, this isn't a dedicated movie player, it's a pocket-sized multipurpose entertainment system. From my experience with my GP32, I would say a 3.5" 320x240 screen is ideal for that.
(BTW, my GP32 can play MP3/Ogg, DivX/XviD, Doom and many other PC ports, plus a plethora of emulators from Atari and C64 through SNES, TG16, and Genesis. And all for $150. You might want to check em out.:D Biggest difference: GP32 has no hard drive, only 128MB SMCs:P)
"The control panels on both sides with the screen sandwiched in-between looks somewhat awkward."
Awkward? Why? The sides are where your hands go when you hold it, much like a game controller.
Actually I'm hoping this turns into a great game platform.. it has the controls and the horsepower for it. And 320x240 resolution is PERFECT for porting console emulators and old 256 colour VGA games.:D
Wow.. that guy's incredible! Thin film photovoltaics, NiMH, the phase change used in CD/DVD RWs, solid hydrogen storage, and it says one of his pet projects is a cognitive computer!
Well, hemp has a lot of other uses too. Nature's strongest grown fibre, an excellent source of paper pulp, in addition to plastics and oils.
Hemp was the #1 traded commodity in the 1800s.
To quote a 1938 article by Popular Mechanics: "Hemp is the standard fiber of the world. It has great tensile strength and durability...and can be used to produce 25,000 products, ranging from dynamite to Cellophane. [...] The connection of Hemp as a crop and Marijuana seems to be exaggerated. If federal regulations can be drawn to protect the public without preventing the legitimate culture of Hemp, this crop can add immeasurably to American agriculture and industry."
The real question is, why was hemp banned because of marijuana? They didn't ban the crops needed to produce alcohol during prohibition, right?
Many believe it was due to deliberate actions by industrial giants to squash a potential competitor to wood, cotton, oil, etc. After all, the overblown paranoia about "demon weed" and "reefer madness" was whipped up right after a means to mechanically mass-process hemp was developed, which would've turned hemp into a huge industry.
Slashdot Mirror
Not that I think it will really make any difference, but thanks for posting that.
The whole political debate seems to have become nothing but ad hominems, and presenting opinions as facts.
Sometimes I tell people they should phrase their opinions as such, and they often say "Why should I? Everything I write is my opinion, that should be obvious".
No kidding.
I've argued on other forums about this (there are a few "unofficial" world polls which show basically the same results) with people who argue in precisely that mode.
"Oh sure, let's just conform to what the world wants us to be."
"Let's let the world walk all over us."
I pointed out to these people that their argument was a strawman, setting up only two possibilities, completely ignoring world opinion or completely caving to it. There's this thing called middle ground in between.
Typical responses to that, "There's no middle ground when TERRORISTS are involved." *sigh*
It's not that simple.
As oil shifts from a buyer's market to a seller's market, prices won't just creep up, they will skyrocket.
There AREN'T any "new sources of energy" with anywhere close to the Energy Profit, abundancy, or ease of transport as oil. Hydrogen is a net energy loser. Biofuel barely breaks even. Solar is still too expensive. Wind is promising but you can't fertilize crops or drive your car with it.
The fact is, we need ***cheap*** oil to power a transition to alternative energy. As oil becomes way more expensive, economic growth will catastrophically reverse. Oil is central to everything in modern civilization, and there is no magic bullet solution waiting in the wings once oil shifts from an abundant to a scarce resource.
Do you have any idea how oil-dependant modern agriculture is, thanks to the "Green Revolution"? Do you realize that most of the world's 6 billion people could not be fed without cheap oil being used for fertilizers, pesticides, farm equipment, transportation, etc?
Yes, of course we will adjust. But that adjustment is quite likely to be mass starvation and the collapse of industrial civilization as we know it. I hope I'm wrong... but I've been researching this stuff for months and there's very little silver lining on this particular cloud.
I think people that love to trot out the old "Java has no pointers" line have no grasp of the language whatsoever. Of COURSE Java has pointers. WTF do they think a "NullPointerException" refers to?
The fact is, EVERYTHING (except primitives) in Java is a pointer. Everything is a reference. What they really mean to say is that Java has no direct memory access. Which is an acceptable tradeoff for robust, secure, and fault-tolerant memory management in high-level applications.
"This is a slick move to get people excited for the DVDs." ;)
Judging by the cynical majority of posts here, I'd say it's working wonders.
Thank you for taking the time for your response.
Saturn's missing ring spokes.
"scientists are already puzzling over the noticeable absence of the ghostly spoke-like dark markings in the rings first seen by Voyager on its approach to the planet 23 years ago"
Oxygen on Venus
"An unexpected sign of atomic oxygen has been found in spectroscopic data of Venus' atmosphere. This comes as a major surprise since data from earlier studies had shown molecular oxygen, O2 and ozone, but not single oxygen atoms.
It wasn't just a weak trace of atomic oxygen either. The data shows a green line nearly as intense as the glow from Earth's atmosphere, even after taking that effect into account in the ground based data.
"I certainly trust those data," stated Dr. Crisp. "Something weird is going on in the upper atmosphere of Venus."
The first bottom line is that we just don't know what's going on."
Hot Io Temperatures
"In its chilly corner of the universe, Io needs to release its inner heat, just as a cup of hot coffee cools by releasing steam. Scientists have known for a while that Io is the solar system's most volcanically active planetary body. Yet scientists were surprised by the extreme temperatures.
"Given Io's intense vulcanism, we expect extreme differentiation," McEwen says. "The evidence suggests we're seeing heavy magma erupt to the surface. How do we explain that? It's harder for dense material to rise through a low-density crust, although this has occurred on Earth's moon. Perhaps some process mixes the crust back into Io's interior, so the crust has a higher density."
On Earth, the tectonic plates move slowly around the surface, forming new crust at mid-ocean ridges, for example, and recycling oceanic crust into the hot mantle where two plates collide, one diving under the other. Scientists don't know yet how to explain what's happening on Io."
I am interested in your explanation about precipitative heating, but I don't see any information on it. A quick google for "precipitative heating" "gas giants" returns zero results. I have to say I still find it hard to believe that denser elements sinking would cause greater energy radiation than the entire planet is receiving from the Sun though, or that this process is still going strong after billions of years.
Puzzling Seasons and Signs of Wind Found on Pluto
"Seasonal change on Pluto is causing the planet to warm up even as it moves away from the Sun, according to two studies that also detected the first firm signs of weather on the tiny planet.
In a deeper analysis of data first announced in October, researchers now say Pluto's atmospheric pressure doubled since 1988. They say the average global temperature must have climbed, too, by about 2 degrees Fahrenheit (1 degree Celsius)."
Pluto is undergoing global warming, researchers find
"Pluto is undergoing global warming, as evidenced by a three-fold increase in the planet's atmospheric pressure during the past 14 years
"This is a very complex process, and we just don't know what is causing these effects" on Pluto's surface, Elliot said."
---------------
So it still appears to me, regardless of Hoagland's wild rantings, that there are indeed large scale planetary phenomena going on in the solar system which scientists are at a loss to adequately explain. The bottom line is that we seem to have a rather limited understanding of planetary climate change.
Subsequently, I am concerned that similar rapid and global change coul
It's not a question of whether this activity is "unusual" or not though (perhaps "insane" was a poor choice of word)
It's just that we're seeing some RAPID and PLANETWIDE changes... Mars is rapidly losing its ice caps and had a 3 month global storm. What if something similar happens on Earth? I just think it's something worth thinking about.
I have read a great deal of his stuff, and his critics too. I am not talking about his THEORIES though, I am talking about his OBSERVATIONS, specifically concerning the planets in the solar system.
I checked into a few of his planetary findings (including Saturn's now missing ring spokes), and they checked out as advertised. Mars' ice caps are dissapearing rapidly, and had a 3 month long global dust storm a few years back. Solar activity is insane.. more sunspots in the last 40 years than the previous 1150. There's stuff like this described for every single planet. I haven't checked them ALL out myself yet, but the claims have been disturbingly true so far...
The last time Saturn was visited, it had these "spokes" visible in the rings. Now, they're nowhere to be seen.
2 004_Interplanetary_Part_2/InterplanetaryDayAfter-P art2.htm
This report: http://www.enterprisemission.com/_articles/05-27-
Lists a large number of rather extraordinary changes that EVERY PLANET in the solar system has gone through in the last couple decades.
Personally I find it rather alarming. Massive oxygen appearing on Venus? Io hotter than Mercury? Radical new weather patterns on Neptune, and even Pluto? The gas giants radiating vastly more energy than they receive from the Sun?
Is this guy onto something big, or is he delusional?
Removable media is where its at for me.
I want a device that runs on AA's, and supports Compact Flash II. I finally found one: NEX ia Plus
Ordered it yesterday. (From Taiwan)
"I understand that memory uses more battery juice than the HDD itself."
Where'd you get that idea?
Common sense would seem to indicate that spinning a metal platter at high speed and physically moving read/write heads, will take more energy than shuttling some electrons around.
For a real world indicator, look up the specs for any device that supports Compact Flash II (which means it will also support a microdrive), and check out the battery life. Microdrive operation always offers significantly less battery life. I can't imagine a laptop HDD being more efficient.
"I'd wager this thread will get about 1200 posts...any takers?"
;)
3000+ and counting.
Well if you sweep it, you're going to hit both legs.
;)
Two numb legs is a pretty immobile person.
"The only trap such a story holds, is how to create a threat with someone so powerful and not have a plot device, etc to save the day in the end (I believe that is called a McGuffan or something)."
That's called a Deus Ex Machina, when an improbable plot device suddenly shows up and resolves everything. It means "God from the Machine", from ancient Greek drama where they would sometimes bring an elaborate prop device on stage (the machine) to represent a god.
A McGuffin is a story hook. It's the teaser they show you before the opening credits to get you interested in the rest of the show. It's the mysterious glowing box being smuggled onto the ship. Or the silent stranger with the giant scar across his face and a haunted expression. Or the naked alien running through walls, or whatever.
About as good as a non-literal joke on Slashdot ;P
"you might deflect the beam to the nearest highly charged thundercloud"
;)
Um, considering the range of the portable model is only 9 feet... I think if you're that close to a thunderhead, you're probably in big trouble anyway.
IANAMeteorologist
"But "spraying" the crowd would almost certainly mean aiming between shoulder and crotch level. This means that if there are children in the crowd, a significant fraction are likely to be hit in the eyes - with a very high risk of death as a result."
A valid concern to be sure.
However, is there some reason they couldn't fire this at foot/knee level and still get effective results? I understand why you aim for center of mass when using bullets (vital organs, and better chance of hitting), but why would you need to do that for a stun-beam weapon that you can sweep across a range of movement?
LUXURY!
;)
My system's so old that modern CPUs have more capacity in SINGLE REGISTERS than all my disk storage combined! Uphill! Both ways!
Yes, the USB host sounds awesome. Hopefully they'll be some editing software for it eventually too. Imagine a Photoshop Light on this thing for quick contrast, sharpening, etc?
On my GP32, even with the backlight on it can easily play a full movie on a pair of AAs. If you turn the backlight off the battery time lasts 3-4 times longer.
If it can handle MPEG4 playback and realtime audio compression, I bet it could handle Quake 1 at least. :)
;)
Q3 might be a while...
I have a GP32 with exactly the same screen... 3.5", 320x240, and it is PERFECT.
:))
:D Biggest difference: GP32 has no hard drive, only 128MB SMCs :P)
3.5" is nice and big, but JUST small enough so you can still fit the unit into a breast pocket. Widescreen movies look just fine on it. (If I wanted a bigger movie watching unit, I'd buy one of those portable DVD players)
320x240 is perfect because that's essentially TV resolution (and 256 colour VGA), so it will work great with stuff ported over meant for TV or VGA output. (Imagine an SNES emulator on this thing, or Doom?
Anyway my point is, this isn't a dedicated movie player, it's a pocket-sized multipurpose entertainment system. From my experience with my GP32, I would say a 3.5" 320x240 screen is ideal for that.
(BTW, my GP32 can play MP3/Ogg, DivX/XviD, Doom and many other PC ports, plus a plethora of emulators from Atari and C64 through SNES, TG16, and Genesis. And all for $150. You might want to check em out.
"The control panels on both sides with the screen sandwiched in-between looks somewhat awkward."
:D
Awkward? Why? The sides are where your hands go when you hold it, much like a game controller.
Actually I'm hoping this turns into a great game platform.. it has the controls and the horsepower for it. And 320x240 resolution is PERFECT for porting console emulators and old 256 colour VGA games.
Tell you what, go find some software that composes random music, and run that through Milkdrop or Geiss.
;P
Now THAT would be computer generated art, about a billion times more amazing than this, give or take an order of magnitude.
Wow.. that guy's incredible! Thin film photovoltaics, NiMH, the phase change used in CD/DVD RWs, solid hydrogen storage, and it says one of his pet projects is a cognitive computer!
Well, hemp has a lot of other uses too. Nature's strongest grown fibre, an excellent source of paper pulp, in addition to plastics and oils.
Hemp was the #1 traded commodity in the 1800s.
To quote a 1938 article by Popular Mechanics: "Hemp is the standard fiber of the world. It has great tensile strength and durability...and can be used to produce 25,000 products, ranging from dynamite to Cellophane. [...] The connection of Hemp as a crop and Marijuana seems to be exaggerated. If federal regulations can be drawn to protect the public without preventing the legitimate culture of Hemp, this crop can add immeasurably to American agriculture and industry."
The real question is, why was hemp banned because of marijuana? They didn't ban the crops needed to produce alcohol during prohibition, right?
Many believe it was due to deliberate actions by industrial giants to squash a potential competitor to wood, cotton, oil, etc. After all, the overblown paranoia about "demon weed" and "reefer madness" was whipped up right after a means to mechanically mass-process hemp was developed, which would've turned hemp into a huge industry.