stop complaining about a problem that doesn't exist
OK, let's talk about problems that DO exist. Enterprise sucks. Not because it disregards the continuity of the ST universe, but because it is badly written. The plots are boring and formulaic, even by ST standards. The characters have all the personality of cardboard cutouts. The acting is wooden. It's just bad TV.
The question is not whether McCarthy was right or wrong about the fact that the USSR was conducting espionage against the USA -- that was an undisputed fact then and now. The fact that some of the people he accused of being communists were in fact Soviet agents was not remarkable, it was just a shotgun effect -- he accused so many people of being communists that he was bound to find a few spies by random chance if nothing else.
The ends do not justify the means -- if you use evil to fight evil, you become evil.
Here in the U.S., the spy Brian Regan used library computers to shop around secrets to Libya and Iraq
And yet somehow the FBI was able to catch computer-savvy spies like Regan and Robert Hanssen WITHOUT needing the additional unconstitutional powers granted by the PATRIOT Act.
If you want to be scared, just imagine what Joe McCarthy or J Edgar Hoover would have been able with the PATRIOT act. Time and again the government has demonstrated that it cannot be trusted with the powers it already has, and requires MORE oversight and controls, not less.
To allow the police, fbi, cia, etc.. do to their job without cutting through 10 miles of red tape
Obeying the Constitutionally mandated requirement that they go before a judge, present probable cause, and obtain a warrant explicitly listing what they're looking for, hardly constitutes "10 miles of red tape", regardless of any propeganda you've heard to the contrary.
According to a US Marshall I know, it usually takes less than 10 minutes to get a judge to issue a warrant -- in most cases, the majority of judges
will issue the warrent without question.
Myself, as an innocent, I want them to be able to get lots of data on me and see that I'm innocent
If you honestly beleive that, you are a deluded fool. Does the question "Are you now, or have you ever been, a member of the Communist party?" ring any bells? Read up on Joseph McCarthy and the actions of the House Un-American Activities Comittee (HUAC), and how many innocent people had their lives destroyed by being blacklisted as a Communist. Imagine what McCarthy would have done if he had the ability to pull up a list of everyone who had ever checked out a copy The Communist Manifesto from the library or bought a copy at a bookstore.
Money is not enough. You have to have knowledge and intelligence. These do not mix well with religious fundamentalism.
Unfortunately, evidence suggests that this is false. While I'll admit that many (even most) fundimentalists you'll meet are drooling morons, there are plenty of ones who are very intelligent and well educated (other than their obviously deficient bullshit detection skills).
Studying theology (or mythology) requires genuine scholarship (which in turn requires intelligence), regardless of the validity of the religion being studied or if the person believes in the tenants of the religion they are studying. Remember that many of the 9/11 hijackers were college-educated, holding degrees in engineering and science.
Also, what is this BS of people breaking house rules just because they want their law passed?
Congress's procedural rules are just that -- rules, not regulations or laws. Acticle I Section 5 of the Constitution expicitly grants Congress the power to govern it's own procedures:
Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly Behaviour, and, with the Concurrence of two thirds, expel a Member.
And people do listen to him everyday waiting for him to "say something colorful" so they can complain to the FCC.
Some people need to pull their heads out of their asses and get a fucking life. If you think Howard Stern is an offensive foul-mouthed prick, that's fine, but remember that no one is forcing you to listen to him.
America is being hijacked by extremists. Extremists who believe that the public does not have the right to choose what is decent and turn off the goddam radio if they choose so. We don't need government telling us what is decent. We don't need the goverment to act like our parents, shielding us from "bad things". I am a grown man and I can decide for myself thank you.
It helps the parents in raising their children the way they want/should be
As a parent, I call bullshit. I neither need nor want your (or the government's) "help" in deciding what TV shows are appropriate for my children to watch, what music is appropriate for them to listen to, what books are appropriate for them to read, or what religion it is appropriate for them to practice.
Raise your own fucking children, leave mine the hell alone.
After some particularly nasty movie ran these men couldn't think or talk of anything else for about a week.
Gee, could that possibly be caused by the fact that they're LOCKED IN FUCKING CAGES and have nothing better to talk about or do with their time? Have you considered the possibility that convicted sex offenders are mentally aberrant individuals and that their behavior, attitudes, and conduct is not representitive of normal, healthy society?
What dictionary would that be? The definition you cite is a valid but simplistic and non-technical one. We talk about "parasites" and "symbiotes" as if they are binary states, but that is not true. There are parasites which can help their hosts in some way and symbiotes which can harm their hosts.
So, substitute chimps for mice. Or, if you don't want to piss off the animal rights wackjobs, use lawyers instead.
Even if you do plan to test on larger animals later, it's a good ideal to do your first round of experiments with mice simply due to the cost factor. Once you've gotten your initial set of data, you can repeat the experiment with pigs or chimps, both of which are much closer to humans in in size and physiology.
Have it ever occured to you that the creators of that "cool movie" actually know what they are doing much better than you do
"Larry, are you pondering what I'm pondering?"
"I think so, Andy, but where are we going to find a pigmy marmoset, duct tape, and lime jello at this time of night?"
"No, you pervert, I meant that we should make mind-numbingly bad sequel to The Matrix, and then make a seqel to that one that's even worse, and then sit back while geeks with no taste line up to throw money at us.
"Well, Andy, Lucas got away with it, so we should be able to too... but I still think we should get the marmoset."
Yeah, I think they know what they're doing. And laughing all the way to the bank.
And that the reason you don't like Matrix 2 and Matrix 3 is because you either are too stupid to understand them or too stupid to have your own opinion?
Or, perhaps, you are too stupid, deluded, or testosterone-poisoned to recognize a steaming pile of shit when you step in it.
Re:From the specs...
on
Broadband Blimps
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· Score: 2, Insightful
If you have one GPS (say at center of mass), you know where your GPS reciever within the limits of the unit's precision. Multiple units (say 2 each at the extreme ends of the X, Y, and Z axes) will give you your exact location, altitude, and orientation. Furthermore, because you know the exact distance between the units, your overall precision is improved.
I'd also point out that there is this concept called "redundancy" which is pretty popular among engineers who build fault-tolerant systems. Look into it.
Re:Nice technology
on
Broadband Blimps
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· Score: 2, Interesting
You are confusing LEO (Low Earth Orbit) and GEO (Geosynchronus Earth Orbit). A satellite in LEO is from 200 - 250 miles altitude, whereas GEO is at 22,241 miles altitude. That's 2 orders of magnitude difference.
Geosynchronus orbit means that the satellite orbits the Earth once every 24 hours, so that it stays stationary with respect to the Earth's surface. Lower orbits have a much shorter period, meaning that to maintain continuous coverage over a fixed point you need a whole bunch of sattelites. Also, because the orbit is so much lower, LEO satellites tend to have faster rates of orbital decay, so they don't stay up as long as satellites in GEO.
LEO satellite constellations have very small but measurable latencies (a few ms)-- GPS is based on this. However, the latency is no worst than a terrestial link of the same distance. Latency is a very big issue for GEO satellites -- round trip time is at least 250ms.
There's always NewEgg. Competitive prices, outstanding customer service, fast delivery, and they're very good about telling you up front if something is non-returnable.
Slashdot Mirror
stop complaining about a problem that doesn't exist OK, let's talk about problems that DO exist. Enterprise sucks. Not because it disregards the continuity of the ST universe, but because it is badly written. The plots are boring and formulaic, even by ST standards. The characters have all the personality of cardboard cutouts. The acting is wooden. It's just bad TV.
The ends do not justify the means -- if you use evil to fight evil, you become evil.
If you want to be scared, just imagine what Joe McCarthy or J Edgar Hoover would have been able with the PATRIOT act. Time and again the government has demonstrated that it cannot be trusted with the powers it already has, and requires MORE oversight and controls, not less.
According to a US Marshall I know, it usually takes less than 10 minutes to get a judge to issue a warrant -- in most cases, the majority of judges will issue the warrent without question.
If you honestly beleive that, you are a deluded fool. Does the question "Are you now, or have you ever been, a member of the Communist party?" ring any bells? Read up on Joseph McCarthy and the actions of the House Un-American Activities Comittee (HUAC), and how many innocent people had their lives destroyed by being blacklisted as a Communist. Imagine what McCarthy would have done if he had the ability to pull up a list of everyone who had ever checked out a copy The Communist Manifesto from the library or bought a copy at a bookstore.Studying theology (or mythology) requires genuine scholarship (which in turn requires intelligence), regardless of the validity of the religion being studied or if the person believes in the tenants of the religion they are studying. Remember that many of the 9/11 hijackers were college-educated, holding degrees in engineering and science.
Like *nix, VMS is user-friendly: it's just very selective on who it's friends are.
Raise your own fucking children, leave mine the hell alone.
Now, if you tie someone up and force them to watch Gigli on endless repeat, that would be sadistic.
It's interesting to see that some of us never matured past the fourth grade.
Even if you do plan to test on larger animals later, it's a good ideal to do your first round of experiments with mice simply due to the cost factor. Once you've gotten your initial set of data, you can repeat the experiment with pigs or chimps, both of which are much closer to humans in in size and physiology.
I got all excited thinking there was going to be an article about DIY piezoelectric devices
"I think so, Andy, but where are we going to find a pigmy marmoset, duct tape, and lime jello at this time of night?"
"No, you pervert, I meant that we should make mind-numbingly bad sequel to The Matrix, and then make a seqel to that one that's even worse, and then sit back while geeks with no taste line up to throw money at us.
"Well, Andy, Lucas got away with it, so we should be able to too... but I still think we should get the marmoset."
Yeah, I think they know what they're doing. And laughing all the way to the bank.
Or, perhaps, you are too stupid, deluded, or testosterone-poisoned to recognize a steaming pile of shit when you step in it.I'd also point out that there is this concept called "redundancy" which is pretty popular among engineers who build fault-tolerant systems. Look into it.
Geosynchronus orbit means that the satellite orbits the Earth once every 24 hours, so that it stays stationary with respect to the Earth's surface. Lower orbits have a much shorter period, meaning that to maintain continuous coverage over a fixed point you need a whole bunch of sattelites. Also, because the orbit is so much lower, LEO satellites tend to have faster rates of orbital decay, so they don't stay up as long as satellites in GEO.
LEO satellite constellations have very small but measurable latencies (a few ms)-- GPS is based on this. However, the latency is no worst than a terrestial link of the same distance. Latency is a very big issue for GEO satellites -- round trip time is at least 250ms.