Yes, but the house of lords is impotent. No it's bloody well not. Why do you think The Glorious Leader has been trying so hard to trim its claws? If the Commons want to pass a bill, and the Lords are opposed to it, then it's dead in the water at that point. It can be re-drafted a couple of times to get the engine spinning again, but unless the Lords are then brought round to the Commons' way of thinking, it's still dead.
What worries me is that Tony is trying to limit the long-term as well as the short-term usefulness of the Lords. Bearing in mind that, if Britain goes into the Euro, he'll almost certainly get the European Presidency, that'll give him the ability to force legislation through the British parliament via Brussels without the niggle of the Lords getting in the way.
Scary.
I'm not so worried about the desktop domination. It's the browser domination that's more interesting, and AOL's potential shift away from IE would clobber that. I think they can, and probably will, drop the home price of Windows through the floor at some point. Remember, most people get it "free" with a new PC anyway. The home price is likely an inflation to counter the "get what you pay for" mentality. They can still make buckets on the Office suite. What was that economical model? Commoditise your complements? If they make the desktop OS a pseudo-commodity, they can clean up on Office sales and still remain market leaders.
Ok. Got that. Next question: are Microsoft panicking? What is their next move? You can bet that they're not about to take a potential *massive* hit like AOL's shift lying down. Any ideas as to what their strategy for this might be?
You're forgetting the reflected IR that comes from them. The "heat" IR and light IR are at different ends of a spectrum, and the cameras respond best to the high-frequency stuff.
This IR is pretty close to optical. The response of a CCD chip isn't confined to visible wavelengths, and emissions close by in the IR spectrum get picked up.
To which the correct response would be that, while unable to vote, she would be able to attend and make her views known by her presence. Its very easy for an MP to wriggle out of doing something by saying that their hands are tied, but in this case the lack of a vote in the committee is not good enough.
OK, here's a pointed question: What are the necessary conditions for soliton creation and propagation? Do they apply to gravity waves? (I have a hunch that the answer is a very boring No, but imagine the fun)
I remember those, too, but there were definitely EM pulse weapons being discussed. The area of effect was something on the order of a mile in diameter.
Mine still would be, if the motherboard hadn't blown up at Christmas 8^( Was a PII350, 128MB, Win98. Now an Athlon 1600+XP, 256MB, WindowMaker+ROX. 8^)
Yes, but not 48 bits of information. Assuming that you're only getting the messages "We Won!" or "We Lost!", that's a *maximum* of 1 bit. Once you take into account the relative probability of hearing each message by that point in the war, you've actually got far less than one bit of information in the message "We Won!". By the time the allies were in Berlin, the actual amount of information had dropped to way below 0.0001 bits, given that by that time it would have been virtually impossible for them to lose, barring acts of fnord. So your figure of $13.35 billion becomes at the most $13.35 million. Still not a number to be sniffed at, admittedly, and it increases as you go backwards in time to a maximum value (to a blind observer, who doesn't take into account any differences between the two sides) of 1 bit of information in 1939.
Surely the value of information is always at least partially subjective? There's the example above somewhere of an EQ account, which presumably was sold to someone who had the intention of using it, rather than selling it. I doubt that the buyer's valuation of the information was based on any calculations of the value of the time that he/she could save by buying the account rather than building it up themselves - assuming an hourly rate for an IT professional who can afford to splurge on an EQ account, $1000 doesn't give nearly enough hours to build up the kind of account that would attract premium prices. It may, however, reflect the value of the time the seller put into it, although I doubt that, as well. Any estimates to the length of time needed? Any more than 200 hours, and we're into "Fries with that?" territory. Mind you, speaking as an impoverished student, that wouldn't surprise me...
The original concept of a web browser was to provide a unified interface to Internet resources.
No it wasn't. It was originally supposed to be an interface to HTML viewed over an HTTP interface - to which I say Good Riddance. Everything else came with (I think - someone more knowledgable may have an earlier reference) Netscape. I don't think NCSA Mosaic even had FTP access in its earliest incarnations.
I completely forgot my point. My point was that Microsoft and IBM aren't in an explicit conspiracy except as the primary gain generators in the feedback loop. The only reason it's them is because they're the market leaders.
No conspiracy, just the fluid nature of software. It always expands to fill the available container, which in this case is the tolerance of the user to the software being slow. New software puts pressure on this barrier as the developers get new hardware, and, at a certain pressure, the user gives in and buys a new!faster!better! computer. The developers will (unless they have other specific goals) create software that is at (or below) their tolerance limit on their machine, but now, knowing that the user has the faster machine, needs to buy an even more zippy box because, damnit, developers need the best, because a debug cycle must be slower than an end-user cycle, and it's the debug speed that the developer works to. Can you see the positive feedback loop coming? The effect of the feedback is increasing because hardware manufacturers aren't going to release new! hardware unless it's faster!better!, but I'm not entirely sure why it's exponential other than that it's a positive feedback system with all real poles that hasn't saturated yet, and that's what they do.
Is the difference between gravito-magnetic and gravito-electric the same as the difference between AC and DC, or between voltage and current? Which? Either? I've got very few QM qualifications, and I can't see this clearly explained anywhere, so could someone please enlighten me?
If you're into pie-in-the-sky application possibilities, imaging wireless communications, except because the wave interacts so weakly with matter, there is almost no interference from intervening matter or other radiation sources
But you've still got to deal with interfering sources.
Just had a thought - would a phased array make aiming the waves easier? Can't imagine it being much harder than arranging the phases of the exciting microwaves, and that's done for radar anyway.
Not only that. I remember some coverage about weaponry to be deployed in Kosovo - I can't remember of it actually was, or not, but the gist of the articles I read was this: Take one large microwave valve. Drop from an aircraft over a target (e.g. electricity substation) Chuck enough power through said valve while it's pointing downwards to completely destroy it. Ta-da! No more substation control systems.
The valves were, of course, designed to be efficiently one-shot, and I think the power actually came from a detonation (might have been a cap bank, though). There's a link here to something similar, but I don't remember this as being the same thing. By the way, from that link, does anyone here know what shape field would come out of an FCG? How directional would they be?
Slashdot Mirror
It's interesting to remember that the man who got the RIP act passed in the first place was Jack Straw, now the Foreign Minister...
Yes, but the house of lords is impotent.
No it's bloody well not. Why do you think The Glorious Leader has been trying so hard to trim its claws? If the Commons want to pass a bill, and the Lords are opposed to it, then it's dead in the water at that point. It can be re-drafted a couple of times to get the engine spinning again, but unless the Lords are then brought round to the Commons' way of thinking, it's still dead.
What worries me is that Tony is trying to limit the long-term as well as the short-term usefulness of the Lords. Bearing in mind that, if Britain goes into the Euro, he'll almost certainly get the European Presidency, that'll give him the ability to force legislation through the British parliament via Brussels without the niggle of the Lords getting in the way.
Scary.
I'm not so worried about the desktop domination. It's the browser domination that's more interesting, and AOL's potential shift away from IE would clobber that.
I think they can, and probably will, drop the home price of Windows through the floor at some point. Remember, most people get it "free" with a new PC anyway. The home price is likely an inflation to counter the "get what you pay for" mentality. They can still make buckets on the Office suite. What was that economical model? Commoditise your complements? If they make the desktop OS a pseudo-commodity, they can clean up on Office sales and still remain market leaders.
Anyone know if that's hit any stats yet? What percentage of AOL's user base is that?
Ok. Got that. Next question: are Microsoft panicking? What is their next move? You can bet that they're not about to take a potential *massive* hit like AOL's shift lying down. Any ideas as to what their strategy for this might be?
You're forgetting the reflected IR that comes from them. The "heat" IR and light IR are at different ends of a spectrum, and the cameras respond best to the high-frequency stuff.
This IR is pretty close to optical. The response of a CCD chip isn't confined to visible wavelengths, and emissions close by in the IR spectrum get picked up.
To which the correct response would be that, while unable to vote, she would be able to attend and make her views known by her presence. Its very easy for an MP to wriggle out of doing something by saying that their hands are tied, but in this case the lack of a vote in the committee is not good enough.
Everything you've just described can be done with a single camera.
Hearsay is only hearsay until everyone's saying it...
On a related note, the Spitfire's designer originally wanted to call it the Shrew...
OK, here's a pointed question:
What are the necessary conditions for soliton creation and propagation? Do they apply to gravity waves?
(I have a hunch that the answer is a very boring No, but imagine the fun)
I remember those, too, but there were definitely EM pulse weapons being discussed. The area of effect was something on the order of a mile in diameter.
Mine still would be, if the motherboard hadn't blown up at Christmas 8^(
Was a PII350, 128MB, Win98.
Now an Athlon 1600+XP, 256MB, WindowMaker+ROX.
8^)
48 bits of ASCII code
Yes, but not 48 bits of information. Assuming that you're only getting the messages "We Won!" or "We Lost!", that's a *maximum* of 1 bit. Once you take into account the relative probability of hearing each message by that point in the war, you've actually got far less than one bit of information in the message "We Won!". By the time the allies were in Berlin, the actual amount of information had dropped to way below 0.0001 bits, given that by that time it would have been virtually impossible for them to lose, barring acts of fnord. So your figure of $13.35 billion becomes at the most $13.35 million. Still not a number to be sniffed at, admittedly, and it increases as you go backwards in time to a maximum value (to a blind observer, who doesn't take into account any differences between the two sides) of 1 bit of information in 1939.
Surely the value of information is always at least partially subjective? There's the example above somewhere of an EQ account, which presumably was sold to someone who had the intention of using it, rather than selling it. I doubt that the buyer's valuation of the information was based on any calculations of the value of the time that he/she could save by buying the account rather than building it up themselves - assuming an hourly rate for an IT professional who can afford to splurge on an EQ account, $1000 doesn't give nearly enough hours to build up the kind of account that would attract premium prices. It may, however, reflect the value of the time the seller put into it, although I doubt that, as well. Any estimates to the length of time needed? Any more than 200 hours, and we're into "Fries with that?" territory. Mind you, speaking as an impoverished student, that wouldn't surprise me...
Seconded.
But then, Fudd wasn't playing a Valkyrie, was he?
I completely forgot my point. My point was that Microsoft and IBM aren't in an explicit conspiracy except as the primary gain generators in the feedback loop. The only reason it's them is because they're the market leaders.
No conspiracy, just the fluid nature of software. It always expands to fill the available container, which in this case is the tolerance of the user to the software being slow. New software puts pressure on this barrier as the developers get new hardware, and, at a certain pressure, the user gives in and buys a new!faster!better! computer. The developers will (unless they have other specific goals) create software that is at (or below) their tolerance limit on their machine, but now, knowing that the user has the faster machine, needs to buy an even more zippy box because, damnit, developers need the best, because a debug cycle must be slower than an end-user cycle, and it's the debug speed that the developer works to. Can you see the positive feedback loop coming?
The effect of the feedback is increasing because hardware manufacturers aren't going to release new! hardware unless it's faster!better!, but I'm not entirely sure why it's exponential other than that it's a positive feedback system with all real poles that hasn't saturated yet, and that's what they do.
From someone who knows:
Is the difference between gravito-magnetic and gravito-electric the same as the difference between AC and DC, or between voltage and current? Which? Either? I've got very few QM qualifications, and I can't see this clearly explained anywhere, so could someone please enlighten me?
More to the point, what's the gravitational equivalent of a Faraday cage?
I find that astonishing, since the effect comes from electrons which have a really tiny mass
Wasn't that directly measured at some point? Am I right in remembering blobs of oil floating about? Or have I just fried my brains a little too much?
Not only that. I remember some coverage about weaponry to be deployed in Kosovo - I can't remember of it actually was, or not, but the gist of the articles I read was this:
Take one large microwave valve.
Drop from an aircraft over a target (e.g. electricity substation)
Chuck enough power through said valve while it's pointing downwards to completely destroy it.
Ta-da! No more substation control systems.
The valves were, of course, designed to be efficiently one-shot, and I think the power actually came from a detonation (might have been a cap bank, though).
There's a link here to something similar, but I don't remember this as being the same thing.
By the way, from that link, does anyone here know what shape field would come out of an FCG? How directional would they be?