Would also enable regenerative atmospheric reprocessing on board a closed-system vehicle, like a submarine or a deep-space spaceship.
Both would require something ELSE as the main power source, such as a fission or fusion reactor-- Thy CO2 reprocessing that this technology offers would be just to keep the air breathable.
(In the case of a deep space flight, the CO produced could be rapidly fed to algae to liberate the remaining oxygen, and to produce nutritious algae flakes for your breakfast in the morning. [sarcasm]"Yum!"[/sarcasm]. The issue then is one of power consumption and vehicle weight logistics; is it better to have the added weight of the re-processor and recycle, or just to carry that same weight in extra compressed atmosphere storage. In the case of a submarine, where weight is not such a pressing issue, but where surfacing for air might not be a good thing, being able to reprocess atmosphere on the fly to increase the window of covert activity would be highly attractive.)
Ahhh, but you DO report your capitol investments, AND any interest that was generated on those investments as part of income on the W-2 form.
It's the same place where you are SUPPOSED to report any gambling winnings, etc that you "earned" that year.
Anything over a few hundred dollars is considered important enough to get you a nasty IRS audit if you don't report, BTW. Somehow I doubt a multi-million dollar investment in a foriegn bank would net less than a few hundred dollars in interest.
Considering that it is almost garanteed that by now some portion of the circulated carbon contained inside that ear of corn grown in Iowa that I am about to eat was also once contained in a dinosaur turd, and at least one other human at some point in the carbon cycle, the issue of what source the nitrogen based fertilizer came from is rather moot when it comes to the "terrible" concept of eating something that is made of raw materials that were once inside another human being.
Take for instance, the number of breaths you take in a day. Each exhalation releases carbon atoms that were previously a part of your own body, due to the process of respiration. In addition to this, there are the CO2 and NH4 emissions from your fecal waste products at various waste processing centers. Plants absorb these to make sugars and protiens. Often, due to issues with people going "Eww, the dookie STINKIES! I don't want it in my back yard!" such treatment centers are placed on the far outskirts of civil centers... Within close proximity to... you guessed it-- farmland.
About the only real issue I would see would be the improper/incomplete denaturation of the greedy basards prior to their corporeal remains being used to make cheap nitrogen fertilizer and animal feed, and the resulting public health issues that this would induce. (Much like the sheep scrapie+Cattle feed debacle that caused the BSE epidemic in the UK.)
Otherwise, it just amounts to "Oh dear, I think that's ICKY!" and has no real or substantial merit to it at all. You are already eating what used to be human corpse or human feces pretty much every time you sit down to dinner anyway, regardless of shuch foibles.
Now, if you want to talk about the slippery slope aspect of killing and grinding up "Greedy" people, (Take for instance, the starvation of thousands of people in the Ukraine under Stalinist soviet russia for being "Greedy" farmers, who in reality were not "Greedy" in any stretch of the term, but were instead simply "undesirable") I am more than happy to talk turkey there. The question then, is if the proponent of such "repurposing" of the corporeal materials of said "Greedy people" can give a sufficiently exclusive definition of the word 'Greedy' that is at once accurate, concise, and immune to being exploited by the very people it is meant to recycle. Considering the difficulty inherent in that task, I doubt that they would be able to do so if asked. I know I sure as hell can't.
In closing, I fail to see how the source of raw materials impacts the edibility of the resulting product, assuming proper processing has been employed of course, but instead question if the selection process for such "creative biological recycling" is sufficiently stringent to prevent inappropriate designations and abuse.
Since I have no problems eating food right now with that knowledge, I do not believe I would have much more difficulty eating food that was actively fertilized with denatured human corpses, so long as those corpses are properly processed and sourced.
EG, I wouldnt see a problem with instuting say-- government mandated denaturation of human corpses into useful raw materials, instead of ceremonially sequestering them in iron boxes-- but do see a problem with doing the same with already living people, given the propensity of powerful people to find ways to exploit such systems for short-sighted, if not outright genocidal purposes.
This issue was already brought to bear by a university professor who made a very eloquent case for the DE-CSS algorithm and key to be treated as free speech.
While the case was lost, the judge did rule that object code and source code are forms of speech, so sharing the programs needed to crack the PS3 would naturally follow.
See my post above. A little VOIP software to make use of a 10$ bluetooth cellular handsfree dongle on the PS3, and the console magically becomes a telephone.
More accurate would be a how-to on how to read and recreate/reprogram the logic tables used by the ECM, so that the existing ECM can be repurposed/have its behavior changed.
Especially considering that the released information on the PS3 is not about how to alter hardware; Rather, it is about how to read software built into the hardware, and how to gain full control over that hardware and convince it that the software you are running on it is legitimate.
In short, this restraining order is like Ford issuing same against somebody researching proprietary ODBII protocol data, out of fear that it could be used to circumvent said rev limiter with a forged firmware "factory" update.
The argument should be that this falls squarely within the "enable compatibility" clause of legal reverse engineering, much like research into the allegorical ODB protocol would be, (allows creation of compatible 3rd party ODB based code readers and diagnostic tools for one thing, also allows new code tables to be pushed to the engine), and that the restraining order is further useless since this research was not strictly original, and the resulting information is widely publicised. (meaning it is a waste of the court's time and a frivelous and vindictive move by the plaintiff which should be dismissed.)
Isnt that the notorious "Making available"/"Facilitating" copyright infringement argument that has been struck down repeatedly (in the us anyway), just with a new twist?
"By releasing those keys, they COULD make it easy for pirates to redistribute copyrighted materials!"
That's like saying:
"By removing the memory stick from your phone and reading it in a computer, you COULD be trying to redistribute the downloaded app store content!"
Any "Technical" process is logically interchangeable with "releasing the signing keys", no matter how patently absurd.
Pedantically speaking, most homebrew for hacked consoles is GPL and thus 'free'.
"Free games" should not be construed to mean "Pirated commercial games."
The way I read that statement is as follows: "If you are willing to learn about how that console works, spend time trying to modify it so that you can write and your own software, perhaps you are deserving of the free games that others who have gone that route have made."
No-- not rocket science... (But I can work in that too. I am a proficient draftsman.)
I didn't imply it was a glamorous occupation-- just one that would be required by the colonization effort.
Most likely a colony ship would send smaller livestock, like sheep or goats. They weigh less, and can have at least 2 offspring per gestation. Sheep have the added bonus of producing useful fibers.
You shouldnt expect to get top-rate provisions right away; sheep and goats can literally live on lichen, which is one of the few organisms that might be farmable directly exposed in the martian environment. (There was research done on the ISS with growing lichen literally in the vacuum of space.)
Failing that, they get quite fat on pressed algae as well, which would be dual purpose with a bioreactor for industrial oil and oxygen production.
Lamb, mutton, cheese, and milk are a bit more palatable than freezedried lichen and algae chips, or so I am told.:D Also, people like to wear clothes, and cotton is VERY VERY resource hungry. That leaves synthetic fibers from cracked algae based oils and cellulose, and natural fibers like wool.
basically, it means I have practical experience raising and slaughtering livestock, know what to expect, how to treat most problems the animals may have, know how to properly provision and care for them, etc.
That kind of presupposition trades youth for experience, which would spell disaster for such a mission.
This is especially true if you need experienced horticultural experts, animal care specialists, and all the other "tools of the trade" types you would need to create a functioning colony.
If you just wanted to send scientists with a prefab 'Instant research lab in a crate" that they just assemble with a pneumatic torque gun, then yes-- your argument makes sense. However, that is now what is needed by a one-way trip colonization endeavor.
The people have to be experienced and resourceful. Things that best come with practical experience and age.
To be successful, the mission would have to incorporate both sets-- the young and vibrant-- as well as the older and more experienced.
I dont suggest sending invalids up mind-- There are very spry and healthy 60 year olds right now. Instead, I would suggest that all volunteers undergo a skills assessment and a physical, and if they pass both, they are included.
Amusingly, I do have a somewhat useful skillset for such an operation...
As far as geeks go, I am ordinary to sub par-- only knowing one programming language, and it being older then dirt-- but where I would shine would be in my other skillsets-- namely, I grew up in an agrarian environment, and am first-hand experienced with animal husbandry and ecological issues.
(No slashnerds. that does NOT mean I am into bestiality, so don't crack jokes.)
I also have experience operating agricultural equipment, like tractors, bailers, etc-- and have even performed service on same.
Now- to be blunt, I really do dislike nearly all other humans. If going to mars meant I could escape the bureaucratic mentality, even at the expense of never seeing a blue sky ever again, I would still go. I would very much like to work within a meritocracy. I know I would shine.
Who knows. Simply because one has sired offspring does not imply that they are or should be dependent upon one forever.
Which would be more selfish-- the middle aged to retired man who wants to use the autumn years of his life to accomplish something great, or the children who insist that "pops" stick around so they can dump their kids on him, and otherwise mooch?
Imagine a single white kid, in an otherwise totally colored demographic. These kids have been raised in isolation, and have never even heard the word racism.
The single white kid would realize it is physically different from its peers.
How does this kid explain the difference?
How do his peers explain why there is only one white kid?
This is how cultural superiority memes get started. In the above situation, the colored people would believe that being colored must be better, since everyone but one is colored-- The white kid must be some kind of mutant freak. Racism ensues.
Does the white kid, in contrast to the views of his peers, consider himself special, and more deserving of certain things because of his difference?
The root of racism is human nature coupled to the status quo. Every major group of humans that becomes successful will view itself as superior to its less successful neighbors. (Rights of conquest, "Bringing civilization", etc.) You can easily see this right now with the "We're number one!" bullshit being spread through the united states, and other such rhetorical drivel from other successful countries. It is patently obvious in the way such a disparaging demographic turns a blind eye toward the thousands of people killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the callous activities of Halliburton and friends.
It does not matter what color the neighbors are. The English were at war with the French for hundreds of years.
No group of humans is really more intelligent (in the averaged mean) than any other. There is no monopoly on intelligence, and likewise, there is no monopoly on elitism or hatred.
"Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it."
Slapping window dressing on history in a "1984 ministry of truth"-like fashion will NOT make people stop trying to find ways to make themselves feel superior to other people, nor will it stop them trying to find ways to justify abuse of others.
What it WOULD do is provide a huge boost to the conspiracy crazies, because this kind of thing would only be possible through a massive multinational conspiracy.
Personally, I feel it is more important and more valuable to honestly accept the human condition with all of its warts, since admitting and owning up to your problems is the first step in truly addressing and correcting them. In order to know where you are going, you have to know where you have been.
Market penetration is a valuable asset in and of itself though. It helps to make the console more attractive to game developers that are willing to sign the licensing agreement (and thus pay money to Sony.)
Also, it allows new blood in the game development front to cut their teeth, so to speak. Once they get a good bite into the home gamer market, those developers wont just go away when the PS4 comes out, and Sony would be more willing to give them an SDK. (We assume that the following is true, of course: 1) The game the 3rd party dev made for the ps3 is very good. 2) Sony previously denied supplying them with an SDK because of 'you need to be this high to play' requirements, a-la Wiiware.)
Sony realized this when they debuted the first playstation, which compared to the SDK requirements of other console venders, was much less painless to get, and also put less restrictions on content. Now that they are 'established' Sony has started pretending it can do no wrong, and the consumer base is showing its disdain.
Sony can learn one of two things from this experience:
1) Next time make sure IPK uses a REAL random number from a GOOD random number generator, and condemn the hobbyists and hackers. 2) Realize that attracting developers, even 2-bit ones, is the lifeblood of future console sales and that redacting features and locking out developers creates NEGATIVE incentive for their business model.
Sadly, the "No Compromises! We are $Company, and WE own the console, NOT you!" mentality pretty much prevents the impact of the much more valuable lesson #2 from sinking in when it comes to most companys like Sony.
What Sony needs to realize is that hardware hackers will *NEVER* go away. In fact, the MORE they try to lock down the system, the more aggressively the hardware hackers will attack it. The numbers speak for themselves, considering the now highly apparent facts about the PS3's security systems, and the amount of time it took for it to be totally broken. The removal of the OtherOS feature instigated an all-out assault on the console, where prior to it had a very profound "mollifying" effect on that same demographic.
From a consumer point of view, that last bit (Out-of-country commercial software houses producing unlicensed game titles for the console on pressed discs.) is a good thing.
As far as I know, the PS3 is the only current gen console that has had the master keys revealed like this, and thus the only console able to have this done on currently.
While sony might pitch a bitch about reduced revenue in their bank accounts over reduced license fee returns, it would open the doors on the PS3 to a whole horde of interesting games for the PS3 that would otherwise have never been released for it.
that is what made Playstation back in the day-- it was cheaper to develop for, and had more space available than the Nintendo and Pals' offerings, and subsequently, had WAAAAAAY more titles available on it. Being opened up like this might be the shot of "Go-go juice" that Sony has needed in its ailing console segment for the past 5 years now. (I wont say if that is a good or bad thing though.)
The doors will be blown wide open when the PSX Scene developers produce a solid dev-kit that doesnt need Sony's SDK. It means everyone and his brother developing a 2 bit game could create a "DLC" type executable (EG, a game that the console believes to be a properly signed DLC game title that it can run natively off the hard drive) and show it off to their friends with PS3s. It would also allow the creation of a "homebrew store", similar to the Wii's Homebrew Browser app.
What I am curious about, is what kind of legal attack Sony would use to insist that people not use the leaked master keys, and continue to license from them. If they were to lose in court on such a venture, you would see the PS3 get drenched in 3rd party titles.
One possible argument to lob here is that the issue of public surveylance has already been on the table for well over a decade, thanks to redlight cameras.
Redlight cameras are motion activated video feeds, and often catch much more than just redlight violations. The feeds they capture are able to be directly used as evidence. The areas being monitored are public intersections, which, if we believe the rhetoric behind "Public property", is jointly owned by all citizens of the area in question (City or state), and administered by the local government as a necessity. (Much like "national parks" are "Public lands") If the city administration and local police powers can install, and utilize this kind of surveylance, why can't the local citizenry?
More likely it is a real world instance of de-facto doublethink.
Where the original idea behind doublethink had the individual engaging in it be fully aware of the dischordant nature of the two systems being imposed, in this case it would appear that the internal dischord is resolved through pure ignorance of the existence of that dischord-- EG, the thought that police officers are part of the government never crosses their beady little talk-radio addled minds.
Bringing it up causes the dischord to appear. Since they view themselves as always being right (hence the superiority rhetoric), they view this sudden internal dischord as a sign that you are full of shit and a liar, and they promptly disregard the information you have provided them with, and willfully maintain their ignorance.
I agree with the GP-- Sunshine policies against law enforcement is a good remedy against the effects of corrupt people that are otherwise attracted to such vocations.
[note to slashdot moderation: This post is not meant to be partisan trolling. Rather, it is meant to point out the "Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos!" fallacy of the above post.]
Sureh, but then we would also be on the hunt for "ManBearPig" instead of Osama Bin-laden. (Wile simultaneously pushing Monsanto Corporation's biotoxic seeds on the rest of the world with wreckless abandon-- more than we already are anyway.)
Al Gore was/is every bit as bad of a candidate as was Bush Jr. was/is--
Or, have you already forgotten how much of a total douche Albert Gore has revealed himself to be, what with his two faced antics about being green while simultaneously harboring one of the most obscene carbon footprints owned by a single individual nationwide? Should we bring up his other hypocritical activities as well?
While GWB was without question bad for the US, and was considerably naive about foriegn policy, at least he wasn't batshit crazy like Albert Gore has revealed himself to be.
Then you also have the joys of Joe Lieberman. Don't tell me you have already forgotten about good ol' Joe and his rather vocal position on Julian Assange and Wikileaks? You know, how he's basically called for an illegal extradition and assasination job on a citizen of a foriegn country for a non-existant crime? Yeah. Sounds like a Jewish version of Dick Cheney to me. [at least I think he's Jewish anyway...] Just the kind of person I want on the presidential cabinet...
Long story short, We've had the choice between a giant used douche and a festering turd sandwich for our presidential candidates for the past 2 elections at the very least-- Probably more than that.
PLEASE don't delude yourself into thinking that "Everything would have been better if only $Candidate had been elected!"
When both parties nominate evil space mutants, it doesn't matter if you vote for Kang or Kodos. Both are equally as bad.
Make a list, check it twice, then go home and see who's naughty and nice.
I realize it's a shock to many in the slashdot community, but really, there are these things called "Notebooks"-- No, they do not contain ANY technology whatsoever! They are a bound tablet of lined paper, ready for you to store data on, using an old fashioned ball point pen, or graphite pencil! You can even use encryption if you want!
What you do, is write down the list of sources in your book, write down the page numbers in your book that cite those sources, and continue reading. When you get home to your landline internet, THEN you check the sources, and re-read the content.
[Oh noez! You had to WAIT to check the sources! It's the end of the world!]
Slashdot Mirror
Harvesting perhaps, but using I don't see as too much of an issue as long as you pelletize it first.
Pellet stoves and pellet heaters produce very little smell or smoke, and burn the fuel much more efficiently than say-- a fireplace.
(Can also utilize grass clippings and garden waste, once pressed into pellets.)
Would also enable regenerative atmospheric reprocessing on board a closed-system vehicle, like a submarine or a deep-space spaceship.
Both would require something ELSE as the main power source, such as a fission or fusion reactor-- Thy CO2 reprocessing that this technology offers would be just to keep the air breathable.
(In the case of a deep space flight, the CO produced could be rapidly fed to algae to liberate the remaining oxygen, and to produce nutritious algae flakes for your breakfast in the morning. [sarcasm]"Yum!"[/sarcasm]. The issue then is one of power consumption and vehicle weight logistics; is it better to have the added weight of the re-processor and recycle, or just to carry that same weight in extra compressed atmosphere storage. In the case of a submarine, where weight is not such a pressing issue, but where surfacing for air might not be a good thing, being able to reprocess atmosphere on the fly to increase the window of covert activity would be highly attractive.)
Ahhh, but you DO report your capitol investments, AND any interest that was generated on those investments as part of income on the W-2 form.
It's the same place where you are SUPPOSED to report any gambling winnings, etc that you "earned" that year.
Anything over a few hundred dollars is considered important enough to get you a nasty IRS audit if you don't report, BTW.
Somehow I doubt a multi-million dollar investment in a foriegn bank would net less than a few hundred dollars in interest.
Considering that it is almost garanteed that by now some portion of the circulated carbon contained inside that ear of corn grown in Iowa that I am about to eat was also once contained in a dinosaur turd, and at least one other human at some point in the carbon cycle, the issue of what source the nitrogen based fertilizer came from is rather moot when it comes to the "terrible" concept of eating something that is made of raw materials that were once inside another human being.
Take for instance, the number of breaths you take in a day. Each exhalation releases carbon atoms that were previously a part of your own body, due to the process of respiration. In addition to this, there are the CO2 and NH4 emissions from your fecal waste products at various waste processing centers. Plants absorb these to make sugars and protiens. Often, due to issues with people going "Eww, the dookie STINKIES! I don't want it in my back yard!" such treatment centers are placed on the far outskirts of civil centers... Within close proximity to... you guessed it-- farmland.
About the only real issue I would see would be the improper/incomplete denaturation of the greedy basards prior to their corporeal remains being used to make cheap nitrogen fertilizer and animal feed, and the resulting public health issues that this would induce. (Much like the sheep scrapie+Cattle feed debacle that caused the BSE epidemic in the UK.)
Otherwise, it just amounts to "Oh dear, I think that's ICKY!" and has no real or substantial merit to it at all. You are already eating what used to be human corpse or human feces pretty much every time you sit down to dinner anyway, regardless of shuch foibles.
Now, if you want to talk about the slippery slope aspect of killing and grinding up "Greedy" people, (Take for instance, the starvation of thousands of people in the Ukraine under Stalinist soviet russia for being "Greedy" farmers, who in reality were not "Greedy" in any stretch of the term, but were instead simply "undesirable") I am more than happy to talk turkey there. The question then, is if the proponent of such "repurposing" of the corporeal materials of said "Greedy people" can give a sufficiently exclusive definition of the word 'Greedy' that is at once accurate, concise, and immune to being exploited by the very people it is meant to recycle. Considering the difficulty inherent in that task, I doubt that they would be able to do so if asked. I know I sure as hell can't.
In closing, I fail to see how the source of raw materials impacts the edibility of the resulting product, assuming proper processing has been employed of course, but instead question if the selection process for such "creative biological recycling" is sufficiently stringent to prevent inappropriate designations and abuse.
Since I have no problems eating food right now with that knowledge, I do not believe I would have much more difficulty eating food that was actively fertilized with denatured human corpses, so long as those corpses are properly processed and sourced.
EG, I wouldnt see a problem with instuting say-- government mandated denaturation of human corpses into useful raw materials, instead of ceremonially sequestering them in iron boxes-- but do see a problem with doing the same with already living people, given the propensity of powerful people to find ways to exploit such systems for short-sighted, if not outright genocidal purposes.
This issue was already brought to bear by a university professor who made a very eloquent case for the DE-CSS algorithm and key to be treated as free speech.
While the case was lost, the judge did rule that object code and source code are forms of speech, so sharing the programs needed to crack the PS3 would naturally follow.
From the person behind the "Gallery of CSS descramblers"
See my post above. A little VOIP software to make use of a 10$ bluetooth cellular handsfree dongle on the PS3, and the console magically becomes a telephone.
Technically speaking, the PS3 *IS* a wireless communication device that is locked down to run proprietary software.
It has builtin bluetooth and WiFi. It's just some homebrew away from being a VERY large bluetooth VoIP phone.
More accurate would be a how-to on how to read and recreate/reprogram the logic tables used by the ECM, so that the existing ECM can be repurposed/have its behavior changed.
Especially considering that the released information on the PS3 is not about how to alter hardware; Rather, it is about how to read software built into the hardware, and how to gain full control over that hardware and convince it that the software you are running on it is legitimate.
In short, this restraining order is like Ford issuing same against somebody researching proprietary ODBII protocol data, out of fear that it could be used to circumvent said rev limiter with a forged firmware "factory" update.
The argument should be that this falls squarely within the "enable compatibility" clause of legal reverse engineering, much like research into the allegorical ODB protocol would be, (allows creation of compatible 3rd party ODB based code readers and diagnostic tools for one thing, also allows new code tables to be pushed to the engine), and that the restraining order is further useless since this research was not strictly original, and the resulting information is widely publicised. (meaning it is a waste of the court's time and a frivelous and vindictive move by the plaintiff which should be dismissed.)
Perhaps I have been subjected to one too many script kiddies, but the total paid out looks suspicious...
3,133.7?
Looks suspiciously like 'leet to me. Now I'm surprised they didnt pay "Over 9,000" instead.
Isnt that the notorious "Making available"/"Facilitating" copyright infringement argument that has been struck down repeatedly (in the us anyway), just with a new twist?
"By releasing those keys, they COULD make it easy for pirates to redistribute copyrighted materials!"
That's like saying:
"By removing the memory stick from your phone and reading it in a computer, you COULD be trying to redistribute the downloaded app store content!"
Any "Technical" process is logically interchangeable with "releasing the signing keys", no matter how patently absurd.
Pedantically speaking, most homebrew for hacked consoles is GPL and thus 'free'.
"Free games" should not be construed to mean "Pirated commercial games."
The way I read that statement is as follows: "If you are willing to learn about how that console works, spend time trying to modify it so that you can write and your own software, perhaps you are deserving of the free games that others who have gone that route have made."
No-- not rocket science... (But I can work in that too. I am a proficient draftsman.)
I didn't imply it was a glamorous occupation-- just one that would be required by the colonization effort.
Most likely a colony ship would send smaller livestock, like sheep or goats. They weigh less, and can have at least 2 offspring per gestation. Sheep have the added bonus of producing useful fibers.
You shouldnt expect to get top-rate provisions right away; sheep and goats can literally live on lichen, which is one of the few organisms that might be farmable directly exposed in the martian environment. (There was research done on the ISS with growing lichen literally in the vacuum of space.)
Failing that, they get quite fat on pressed algae as well, which would be dual purpose with a bioreactor for industrial oil and oxygen production.
Lamb, mutton, cheese, and milk are a bit more palatable than freezedried lichen and algae chips, or so I am told. :D Also, people like to wear clothes, and cotton is VERY VERY resource hungry. That leaves synthetic fibers from cracked algae based oils and cellulose, and natural fibers like wool.
Animal husbandry
Since you cant seem to be bothered to look it up.
basically, it means I have practical experience raising and slaughtering livestock, know what to expect, how to treat most problems the animals may have, know how to properly provision and care for them, etc.
Colonists have to eat you know.
That kind of presupposition trades youth for experience, which would spell disaster for such a mission.
This is especially true if you need experienced horticultural experts, animal care specialists, and all the other "tools of the trade" types you would need to create a functioning colony.
If you just wanted to send scientists with a prefab 'Instant research lab in a crate" that they just assemble with a pneumatic torque gun, then yes-- your argument makes sense. However, that is now what is needed by a one-way trip colonization endeavor.
The people have to be experienced and resourceful. Things that best come with practical experience and age.
To be successful, the mission would have to incorporate both sets-- the young and vibrant-- as well as the older and more experienced.
I dont suggest sending invalids up mind-- There are very spry and healthy 60 year olds right now. Instead, I would suggest that all volunteers undergo a skills assessment and a physical, and if they pass both, they are included.
Amusingly, I do have a somewhat useful skillset for such an operation...
As far as geeks go, I am ordinary to sub par-- only knowing one programming language, and it being older then dirt-- but where I would shine would be in my other skillsets-- namely, I grew up in an agrarian environment, and am first-hand experienced with animal husbandry and ecological issues.
(No slashnerds. that does NOT mean I am into bestiality, so don't crack jokes.)
I also have experience operating agricultural equipment, like tractors, bailers, etc-- and have even performed service on same.
Now- to be blunt, I really do dislike nearly all other humans. If going to mars meant I could escape the bureaucratic mentality, even at the expense of never seeing a blue sky ever again, I would still go. I would very much like to work within a meritocracy. I know I would shine.
Or, perhaps, his kids are grown?
Perhaps his kids rarely come visit anyway?
Who knows. Simply because one has sired offspring does not imply that they are or should be dependent upon one forever.
Which would be more selfish-- the middle aged to retired man who wants to use the autumn years of his life to accomplish something great, or the children who insist that "pops" stick around so they can dump their kids on him, and otherwise mooch?
That particular sword cuts both ways, you see.
Fun (but somewhat disturbing) fact--
Some species of dolphin have prehensile penises, and have been shown to pick up and manipulate objects using their genital slits.
(Star shoots over head while jingle plays)
"The more you know!"
Here's the deal:
Imagine a single white kid, in an otherwise totally colored demographic. These kids have been raised in isolation, and have never even heard the word racism.
The single white kid would realize it is physically different from its peers.
How does this kid explain the difference?
How do his peers explain why there is only one white kid?
This is how cultural superiority memes get started. In the above situation, the colored people would believe that being colored must be better, since everyone but one is colored-- The white kid must be some kind of mutant freak. Racism ensues.
Does the white kid, in contrast to the views of his peers, consider himself special, and more deserving of certain things because of his difference?
The root of racism is human nature coupled to the status quo. Every major group of humans that becomes successful will view itself as superior to its less successful neighbors. (Rights of conquest, "Bringing civilization", etc.) You can easily see this right now with the "We're number one!" bullshit being spread through the united states, and other such rhetorical drivel from other successful countries. It is patently obvious in the way such a disparaging demographic turns a blind eye toward the thousands of people killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the callous activities of Halliburton and friends.
It does not matter what color the neighbors are. The English were at war with the French for hundreds of years.
No group of humans is really more intelligent (in the averaged mean) than any other. There is no monopoly on intelligence, and likewise, there is no monopoly on elitism or hatred.
All of humanity is equally guilty.
WTF?
"Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it."
Slapping window dressing on history in a "1984 ministry of truth"-like fashion will NOT make people stop trying to find ways to make themselves feel superior to other people, nor will it stop them trying to find ways to justify abuse of others.
What it WOULD do is provide a huge boost to the conspiracy crazies, because this kind of thing would only be possible through a massive multinational conspiracy.
Personally, I feel it is more important and more valuable to honestly accept the human condition with all of its warts, since admitting and owning up to your problems is the first step in truly addressing and correcting them. In order to know where you are going, you have to know where you have been.
Market penetration is a valuable asset in and of itself though. It helps to make the console more attractive to game developers that are willing to sign the licensing agreement (and thus pay money to Sony.)
Also, it allows new blood in the game development front to cut their teeth, so to speak. Once they get a good bite into the home gamer market, those developers wont just go away when the PS4 comes out, and Sony would be more willing to give them an SDK. (We assume that the following is true, of course: 1) The game the 3rd party dev made for the ps3 is very good. 2) Sony previously denied supplying them with an SDK because of 'you need to be this high to play' requirements, a-la Wiiware.)
Sony realized this when they debuted the first playstation, which compared to the SDK requirements of other console venders, was much less painless to get, and also put less restrictions on content. Now that they are 'established' Sony has started pretending it can do no wrong, and the consumer base is showing its disdain.
Sony can learn one of two things from this experience:
1) Next time make sure IPK uses a REAL random number from a GOOD random number generator, and condemn the hobbyists and hackers.
2) Realize that attracting developers, even 2-bit ones, is the lifeblood of future console sales and that redacting features and locking out developers creates NEGATIVE incentive for their business model.
Sadly, the "No Compromises! We are $Company, and WE own the console, NOT you!" mentality pretty much prevents the impact of the much more valuable lesson #2 from sinking in when it comes to most companys like Sony.
What Sony needs to realize is that hardware hackers will *NEVER* go away. In fact, the MORE they try to lock down the system, the more aggressively the hardware hackers will attack it. The numbers speak for themselves, considering the now highly apparent facts about the PS3's security systems, and the amount of time it took for it to be totally broken. The removal of the OtherOS feature instigated an all-out assault on the console, where prior to it had a very profound "mollifying" effect on that same demographic.
From a consumer point of view, that last bit (Out-of-country commercial software houses producing unlicensed game titles for the console on pressed discs.) is a good thing.
As far as I know, the PS3 is the only current gen console that has had the master keys revealed like this, and thus the only console able to have this done on currently.
While sony might pitch a bitch about reduced revenue in their bank accounts over reduced license fee returns, it would open the doors on the PS3 to a whole horde of interesting games for the PS3 that would otherwise have never been released for it.
that is what made Playstation back in the day-- it was cheaper to develop for, and had more space available than the Nintendo and Pals' offerings, and subsequently, had WAAAAAAY more titles available on it. Being opened up like this might be the shot of "Go-go juice" that Sony has needed in its ailing console segment for the past 5 years now. (I wont say if that is a good or bad thing though.)
The doors will be blown wide open when the PSX Scene developers produce a solid dev-kit that doesnt need Sony's SDK. It means everyone and his brother developing a 2 bit game could create a "DLC" type executable (EG, a game that the console believes to be a properly signed DLC game title that it can run natively off the hard drive) and show it off to their friends with PS3s. It would also allow the creation of a "homebrew store", similar to the Wii's Homebrew Browser app.
What I am curious about, is what kind of legal attack Sony would use to insist that people not use the leaked master keys, and continue to license from them. If they were to lose in court on such a venture, you would see the PS3 get drenched in 3rd party titles.
I agree.
One possible argument to lob here is that the issue of public surveylance has already been on the table for well over a decade, thanks to redlight cameras.
Redlight cameras are motion activated video feeds, and often catch much more than just redlight violations. The feeds they capture are able to be directly used as evidence. The areas being monitored are public intersections, which, if we believe the rhetoric behind "Public property", is jointly owned by all citizens of the area in question (City or state), and administered by the local government as a necessity. (Much like "national parks" are "Public lands") If the city administration and local police powers can install, and utilize this kind of surveylance, why can't the local citizenry?
More likely it is a real world instance of de-facto doublethink.
Where the original idea behind doublethink had the individual engaging in it be fully aware of the dischordant nature of the two systems being imposed, in this case it would appear that the internal dischord is resolved through pure ignorance of the existence of that dischord-- EG, the thought that police officers are part of the government never crosses their beady little talk-radio addled minds.
Bringing it up causes the dischord to appear. Since they view themselves as always being right (hence the superiority rhetoric), they view this sudden internal dischord as a sign that you are full of shit and a liar, and they promptly disregard the information you have provided them with, and willfully maintain their ignorance.
I agree with the GP-- Sunshine policies against law enforcement is a good remedy against the effects of corrupt people that are otherwise attracted to such vocations.
[note to slashdot moderation: This post is not meant to be partisan trolling. Rather, it is meant to point out the "Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos!" fallacy of the above post.]
Sureh, but then we would also be on the hunt for "ManBearPig" instead of Osama Bin-laden. (Wile simultaneously pushing Monsanto Corporation's biotoxic seeds on the rest of the world with wreckless abandon-- more than we already are anyway.)
Al Gore was/is every bit as bad of a candidate as was Bush Jr. was/is--
Or, have you already forgotten how much of a total douche Albert Gore has revealed himself to be, what with his two faced antics about being green while simultaneously harboring one of the most obscene carbon footprints owned by a single individual nationwide? Should we bring up his other hypocritical activities as well?
While GWB was without question bad for the US, and was considerably naive about foriegn policy, at least he wasn't batshit crazy like Albert Gore has revealed himself to be.
Then you also have the joys of Joe Lieberman. Don't tell me you have already forgotten about good ol' Joe and his rather vocal position on Julian Assange and Wikileaks? You know, how he's basically called for an illegal extradition and assasination job on a citizen of a foriegn country for a non-existant crime? Yeah. Sounds like a Jewish version of Dick Cheney to me. [at least I think he's Jewish anyway...] Just the kind of person I want on the presidential cabinet...
Long story short, We've had the choice between a giant used douche and a festering turd sandwich for our presidential candidates for the past 2 elections at the very least-- Probably more than that.
PLEASE don't delude yourself into thinking that "Everything would have been better if only $Candidate had been elected!"
When both parties nominate evil space mutants, it doesn't matter if you vote for Kang or Kodos. Both are equally as bad.
Make a list, check it twice, then go home and see who's naughty and nice.
I realize it's a shock to many in the slashdot community, but really, there are these things called "Notebooks"-- No, they do not contain ANY technology whatsoever! They are a bound tablet of lined paper, ready for you to store data on, using an old fashioned ball point pen, or graphite pencil! You can even use encryption if you want!
What you do, is write down the list of sources in your book, write down the page numbers in your book that cite those sources, and continue reading. When you get home to your landline internet, THEN you check the sources, and re-read the content.
[Oh noez! You had to WAIT to check the sources! It's the end of the world!]