Not as much catching up as you may think. He hasn't put out a new strip in over a year. There is always reading the archive, but I would kill (sodomize?) for new Spacemoose strips.
Or even better, an SGI Power Series IRIS 4D/30 VGX. The size of a 2 drawer filing cabinet and weighs about 240 lbs. And may or may not boot, depending on the flaky PROM.
I believe it is only about 9 years old, not quite vintage by the definitions I've seen here.
One counter to this is that hydrogen, because of it's lower energy density, needs to be stored under pressure to give you any kind of range. One pinhole leak (hydrogen does weird things to steel, this happens a lot) and you have a small jet of hydrogen. Any source of ignition, and you have an invisible jet of flame. Not nice. (Yes, I am aware that there are carbon and metal matrix hydrogen storage schemes that require lower pressures, but I believe they are still above atmospheric.)
Also, generating hydrogen at home (with electolysis I presume, from your reference to hydro bills) is very ineffiecient from an energy usage point of view. Hydrocarbon reforming is more energy efficient (if you have a place to recover the heat to) by produces lots of CO2.
I am aware of a lot of work being done on hydrogen infrastructure and distribution, but much of what I have seen makes me think that it is a way larger technical challenge than fuel cells. A fuel cell is an artifact, artifacts are pretty easy for a reductionist technical mind to deal with. Systems, especially systems with numerous interactions with human beings, are hard.
Just to play devil's advocate for a moment (what the heck, the Nomex underwear is back from the cleaners), your argument is predicated on a particular view of what it means to be Canadian. My view of what it means to be Canadian is slightly different, that it is the lack of homogenization of our immigrant population that makes our nation unique. I mean, you go back far enough we are all pretty much immigrants.
Would I like to see more pride in Canada? Of course. Would I like to live in the U.S. version 2.0? Not likely.
I seem to be in a rather small minority on/., but I am not a computer type at all. I'm an engineer with some geek tendencies, but I can't program my way out of a wet paper bag.
I have been thinking a lot about initiatives like this lately. Having developed a fairly deep toolkit of skills (water treatment, energy optimization) and a huge karmic deficit (I work in the oil industry), I am looking for a way to apply my skills in a more socially beneficial way.
What really has been my impediment to pursuing a second or third world opportunity is a fairly strong disagreement with the over-riding faith in technology that seems to underly many of these initiatives. To me, it reeks of cultural imperialism that what was good for our society (in my case N. American) will be the way out of hunger and suffering for those around the world.
To be honest, I am skeptical that the modern technological life seen in much of N. America is anything to be envied. As we become further immersed in mediated experiences, we lose our need for community. And community is one thing I have seen in pre-industrial (for lack of a better term) nations in spades.
Maybe initiatives such as Geekcorps address this need for community for the relative few who become involved. And hopefully those who do will bring back a different outlook on what they can do for their own society.
Finally, if anyone knows of any similar initiatives for those of us who deal in atoms rather than bits, let me know.
Could you please pull your head out of your ass and stop with the Alberta stereotypes. I've lived in 5 provinces, and have met racist rednecks in every one of them, including the apparent centre of the universe, Toronto.
OK, here is a thought problem for any astronomy buffs. How would a gas planet orbiting so close to a star be different from Jupiter et al? The one with the 3 day period must be experiencing a much larger gravitational pull and much higher temperature as well. It must be stable if they found it, but it is pretty wild stuff for a layman such as myself to think about.
Try some of the "sections", the bastard step-children of slashdot. My favourite hangout is science. If it doesn't make the main page, you can expect 10 comments on good, nerd stories. Oh well, makes for a high S/N ratio if nothing else.
What would be really interesting to know is what is the current highest user number. I suppose I could get a new username and find out, but that seems like kinda a waste.
As you seem to have a healthy fascination with social imapcts of technology (although I would argue that there is more to technology than just computers, contrary to what I often see asserted in your articles), what authors do you see as having important things to say about technology and society?
Because it doesn't have anything to do with Transmeta or IP.:) OK, that was rather cynical.
But seriously, it is so sad that this article, by virtue of being relegated to the Science page, gets one comment in two days. That being said, I am making a point of reading the Science page now before I read the main Slashdot page. There has been some great stuff here.
As for RNA computing, I find it to be a rather interesting approach to a certain class of problems. I wonder if things like crypto breaking would be possible. Have a test tube with an RNA strand for every possible key. Add your enzyme, and presto. Of course, synthesizing the RNA "keyspace" might be a little difficult. (But hey, I have exactly one credit in biochemistry, what do I know?)
Ah yes, the first computer I ever bought was an all-in-one. I thought it was going to really catch on at the time, in 1987. It was an IBM PS/2 with an 8086 (8 MHz??), 14" monitor, 3.5 floppy and a 20 MB HD. I remember clearly springing an extra $200 or something to upgrade the RAM from 512K to 640K. My parents sold it at a garage sale while I was at school, otherwise it would have made a great aquarium. Or a dedicated file server for my HP48.:)
I am really beginning to believe that governments in general stopped acting in the best interest of people a long time ago. There is an interesting theory that most government policy is for the facilitation of technology rather than promoting justice and reciprocity for the people. The legislation in question is a prime example of this.
Some background. Let's define technology as a way or a method of doing x. This differs from the common conception of technology as artifact, but it is easier to recognize a method as having an ethical slant as opposed to an artifact which is often seen as being ethically neutral. Using my oversimplified view of "the Internet", the method is allowing one-to-one and one-to-many communication via a standard set of protocols.
Much is made of "internet years", that one month on the internet is equal to one year in the real world. Things are moving that fast. I am deeply skeptical of this notion in that there is still a human element to the equation. Realistically, I don't believe people can adapt that fast. If you look at the history of technology, there is a definite progression of how a technology is enculturated. Look at other revolutionary technologies of our era: the car, the telephone, electricity. None of these technologies really took off until governments stepped in and facilitated their widespread use. Historically, we have absolved our technological decision making to government, and to a lesser extent to a culture of experts. Is it any wonder the odd piece of unpopular legislation is generated? Politically, we don't care about the ethical considerations. We want widespread adoption, right now!
Technology has become culture. Technology now drives culture, rather than culture driving technology. We adapt to technology, rather than technology being our servant. How can we expect truly just implementations of new technologies until we become more proactive in judging what is right and what is wrong about a technology?
I agree old tech would be great. MY personal ultimate "old tech" gift, an original Enigma machine. I've wanted a slide rule for forever. Or old brass nautical navigation instruments, sextants and the like.
Actually it's the Eternity puzzle. I bought it when I was in London recently. Without a doubt it is the most mind-bendingly difficult puzzle I have ever seen. Not that that's a bad thing.:)
Here is the best reference I have found on some mathematical attempts to solve it.
Personally, with the little bit of math background I have it looks like it may be unsolvable. But it is fun to try.
There is actually an interesting writeup on this question in a book called "The Man Who Loved Only Numbers" by Paul Hoffman. It is a biography of a mathematician named Paul Erdos who actually contributed to a proof of why this is so. A highly recommended read about a life that was only about math.
Here is an item describing a tariff structure that the Canadian copyright board has come up with for the distribution of some music over the internet. It applies only to servers physically located in Canada and has some interesting things to say about the role of ISP's.
Drat, I was just going to try this on my 6100 Dos Compatible this weekend. Ah well, nice to have some time freed up to play in the snow. Although there is always mkLinux...
Am I the only one who thinks that the title of this article (with the exclamation point of course) would be a great name for the worlds first Broadway musical about intellectual property.
I second that motion. (The patent section bit, not the poop bit.) Patents, copyrights, IP, whatever is a nice cohesive subject a la YRO. And the discussion is getting repetitive.
A decent IP lawyer could make a cottage industry of all the prior art pointed out on/., although I have no idea how much money could be made from this. Just thinking out loud here, what about a distributed legal support model. There are obviously some very knowledgeable individuals commenting on what is wrong with many of the internet related patents presented on/., I wonder if that knowledge could be organized into putting together the documentation necessary for challenging these patents. Taking care of much of the leg work out of an altruistic sense of community might make it possible to fight these fairly cost effectively.
Everyone says something should be done about this, anyone want to take the first step?
Slashdot Mirror
Not as much catching up as you may think. He hasn't put out a new strip in over a year. There is always reading the archive, but I would kill (sodomize?) for new Spacemoose strips.
Or even better, an SGI Power Series IRIS 4D/30 VGX. The size of a 2 drawer filing cabinet and weighs about 240 lbs. And may or may not boot, depending on the flaky PROM.
I believe it is only about 9 years old, not quite vintage by the definitions I've seen here.
One counter to this is that hydrogen, because of it's lower energy density, needs to be stored under pressure to give you any kind of range. One pinhole leak (hydrogen does weird things to steel, this happens a lot) and you have a small jet of hydrogen. Any source of ignition, and you have an invisible jet of flame. Not nice. (Yes, I am aware that there are carbon and metal matrix hydrogen storage schemes that require lower pressures, but I believe they are still above atmospheric.)
Also, generating hydrogen at home (with electolysis I presume, from your reference to hydro bills) is very ineffiecient from an energy usage point of view. Hydrocarbon reforming is more energy efficient (if you have a place to recover the heat to) by produces lots of CO2.
I am aware of a lot of work being done on hydrogen infrastructure and distribution, but much of what I have seen makes me think that it is a way larger technical challenge than fuel cells. A fuel cell is an artifact, artifacts are pretty easy for a reductionist technical mind to deal with. Systems, especially systems with numerous interactions with human beings, are hard.
Just to play devil's advocate for a moment (what the heck, the Nomex underwear is back from the cleaners), your argument is predicated on a particular view of what it means to be Canadian. My view of what it means to be Canadian is slightly different, that it is the lack of homogenization of our immigrant population that makes our nation unique. I mean, you go back far enough we are all pretty much immigrants.
Would I like to see more pride in Canada? Of course. Would I like to live in the U.S. version 2.0? Not likely.
Gee, no mention of how the Bronfmans really made their money. Bootlegging!!! Here is an interesting link. Freaking hypocrites!
I seem to be in a rather small minority on /., but I am not a computer type at all. I'm an engineer with some geek tendencies, but I can't program my way out of a wet paper bag.
I have been thinking a lot about initiatives like this lately. Having developed a fairly deep toolkit of skills (water treatment, energy optimization) and a huge karmic deficit (I work in the oil industry), I am looking for a way to apply my skills in a more socially beneficial way.
What really has been my impediment to pursuing a second or third world opportunity is a fairly strong disagreement with the over-riding faith in technology that seems to underly many of these initiatives. To me, it reeks of cultural imperialism that what was good for our society (in my case N. American) will be the way out of hunger and suffering for those around the world.
To be honest, I am skeptical that the modern technological life seen in much of N. America is anything to be envied. As we become further immersed in mediated experiences, we lose our need for community. And community is one thing I have seen in pre-industrial (for lack of a better term) nations in spades.
Maybe initiatives such as Geekcorps address this need for community for the relative few who become involved. And hopefully those who do will bring back a different outlook on what they can do for their own society.
Finally, if anyone knows of any similar initiatives for those of us who deal in atoms rather than bits, let me know.
Could you please pull your head out of your ass and stop with the Alberta stereotypes. I've lived in 5 provinces, and have met racist rednecks in every one of them, including the apparent centre of the universe, Toronto.
OK, here is a thought problem for any astronomy buffs. How would a gas planet orbiting so close to a star be different from Jupiter et al? The one with the 3 day period must be experiencing a much larger gravitational pull and much higher temperature as well. It must be stable if they found it, but it is pretty wild stuff for a layman such as myself to think about.
Yeah, the SGI 404 pages are real amusing..... until you've gotten about 10 of them trying to find something in that disaster of a site.
;-)
Of course, I'm trying to get a 8 year old IRIS 4D/310 VGX going, so I am used to disappointment.
Try some of the "sections", the bastard step-children of slashdot. My favourite hangout is science. If it doesn't make the main page, you can expect 10 comments on good, nerd stories. Oh well, makes for a high S/N ratio if nothing else.
What would be really interesting to know is what is the current highest user number. I suppose I could get a new username and find out, but that seems like kinda a waste.
The project homepage is here. Mirrored here.
As you seem to have a healthy fascination with social imapcts of technology (although I would argue that there is more to technology than just computers, contrary to what I often see asserted in your articles), what authors do you see as having important things to say about technology and society?
Because it doesn't have anything to do with Transmeta or IP. :) OK, that was rather cynical.
But seriously, it is so sad that this article, by virtue of being relegated to the Science page, gets one comment in two days. That being said, I am making a point of reading the Science page now before I read the main Slashdot page. There has been some great stuff here.
As for RNA computing, I find it to be a rather interesting approach to a certain class of problems. I wonder if things like crypto breaking would be possible. Have a test tube with an RNA strand for every possible key. Add your enzyme, and presto. Of course, synthesizing the RNA "keyspace" might be a little difficult. (But hey, I have exactly one credit in biochemistry, what do I know?)
Ah yes, the first computer I ever bought was an all-in-one. I thought it was going to really catch on at the time, in 1987. It was an IBM PS/2 with an 8086 (8 MHz??), 14" monitor, 3.5 floppy and a 20 MB HD. I remember clearly springing an extra $200 or something to upgrade the RAM from 512K to 640K. My parents sold it at a garage sale while I was at school, otherwise it would have made a great aquarium. Or a dedicated file server for my HP48. :)
The Ship??? Now I've seen everything at Slashdot. (I can see it out my front window. Definitely the best pub in Calgary by far.)
:)
Call me a newbie, but I didn't realize Calgary was such a hotbed of Open Source development. How can I not give it a try. Wish me luck
Persecuting??? I hope Mr. Carmack gets a smile from that typo.
I am really beginning to believe that governments in general stopped acting in the best interest of people a long time ago. There is an interesting theory that most government policy is for the facilitation of technology rather than promoting justice and reciprocity for the people. The legislation in question is a prime example of this.
Some background. Let's define technology as a way or a method of doing x. This differs from the common conception of technology as artifact, but it is easier to recognize a method as having an ethical slant as opposed to an artifact which is often seen as being ethically neutral. Using my oversimplified view of "the Internet", the method is allowing one-to-one and one-to-many communication via a standard set of protocols.
Much is made of "internet years", that one month on the internet is equal to one year in the real world. Things are moving that fast. I am deeply skeptical of this notion in that there is still a human element to the equation. Realistically, I don't believe people can adapt that fast. If you look at the history of technology, there is a definite progression of how a technology is enculturated. Look at other revolutionary technologies of our era: the car, the telephone, electricity. None of these technologies really took off until governments stepped in and facilitated their widespread use. Historically, we have absolved our technological decision making to government, and to a lesser extent to a culture of experts. Is it any wonder the odd piece of unpopular legislation is generated? Politically, we don't care about the ethical considerations. We want widespread adoption, right now!
Technology has become culture. Technology now drives culture, rather than culture driving technology. We adapt to technology, rather than technology being our servant. How can we expect truly just implementations of new technologies until we become more proactive in judging what is right and what is wrong about a technology?
I agree old tech would be great. MY personal ultimate "old tech" gift, an original Enigma machine. I've wanted a slide rule for forever. Or old brass nautical navigation instruments, sextants and the like.
Just my 2 cents, Canadian.
Actually it's the Eternity puzzle. I bought it when I was in London recently. Without a doubt it is the most mind-bendingly difficult puzzle I have ever seen. Not that that's a bad thing. :)
Here is the best reference I have found on some mathematical attempts to solve it.
Personally, with the little bit of math background I have it looks like it may be unsolvable. But it is fun to try.
There is actually an interesting writeup on this question in a book called "The Man Who Loved Only Numbers" by Paul Hoffman. It is a biography of a mathematician named Paul Erdos who actually contributed to a proof of why this is so. A highly recommended read about a life that was only about math.
Here is an item describing a tariff structure that the Canadian copyright board has come up with for the distribution of some music over the internet. It applies only to servers physically located in Canada and has some interesting things to say about the role of ISP's.
Drat, I was just going to try this on my 6100 Dos Compatible this weekend. Ah well, nice to have some time freed up to play in the snow. Although there is always mkLinux...
I was hoping for something a lot more like this. Except with CowboyNeal instead of a cat.
Am I the only one who thinks that the title of this article (with the exclamation point of course) would be a great name for the worlds first Broadway musical about intellectual property.
I second that motion. (The patent section bit, not the poop bit.) Patents, copyrights, IP, whatever is a nice cohesive subject a la YRO. And the discussion is getting repetitive.
/., although I have no idea how much money could be made from this. Just thinking out loud here, what about a distributed legal support model. There are obviously some very knowledgeable individuals commenting on what is wrong with many of the internet related patents presented on /., I wonder if that knowledge could be organized into putting together the documentation necessary for challenging these patents. Taking care of much of the leg work out of an altruistic sense of community might make it possible to fight these fairly cost effectively.
A decent IP lawyer could make a cottage industry of all the prior art pointed out on
Everyone says something should be done about this, anyone want to take the first step?