When I was taking electronics engineering courses there were examples given of what was obvious and therefore could not be patented. After the invention of the bipolar transistor, the common circuit configurations (common collector, common emitter, and common base) could not be patented because that had already been done with tubes (common anode, common cathode, and common gate). In the same way, the configurations for FETs (common source, common drain, and common gate) could not be patented either. Replacing one triode (three terminal device) with another was not novel.
So either something has changed since then or software and business patents are following a different set of inadequate rules. Replacing something already done without computer automation with software is not in itself novel.
I have looked for such software on Windows since the time I used the Intel HX chipset which supported ECC and never found it. I would assume that companies selling server hardware for Windows supply such a program but I have not seen it there either except for the DEC Alpha.
I use m0n0wall which is minimal FreeBSD with PHP scripting, web server, and XML configuration on an ancient Pentium 60 to do exactly what they are trying to sell in this router.
There was some question about whether inbound traffic shaping would have any effect compared to outbound traffic shaping when I set it up. I found in my tests that it was almost as effective because throttling inbound IP steams even on the local network side has the effect of emptying the inbound buffers of the internet side devices and especially the modem at the other end of the connection. The difference is of course that the IP steams get throttled AFTER they initially start unlike outgoing steams so while it is not quite as effective, it is still well worth doing if you want the lowest possible latency.
Internally, small offline switching power supplies take the 120 volts AC, voltage double it, and rectify it to 340 volts DC. That makes it easy to make dual input power supplies that also accept 240 volts AC which can be directly rectified to 340 volts DC. All of them should accept 340 volts DC with no problem.
The larger power supplies have power factor correction of various types and designs. They should also have no problem with high voltage DC but it would be implementation dependent.
340 volts DC is not something I would want floating around in the same way 120 volts AC is available but as other posters have pointed out, there already exists a 48 volt telecom infrastructure that was designed pretty much for this very problem. Unfortunately, 48 volts DC does not mesh well with 120V/240V AC so dual purpose power supplies are unlikely.
Most of these small systems have internal switching regulators anyway and depending on the design should run anywhere from say 8 to 12 Volts. If they are labled as using AC instead of DC, they have an internal bridge rectifier preceeding the voltage regulator and can almost certainly run on 1.4 x the listed votage in DC although there are exceptions where they need to generate a negative voltage for things like RS-232. Older external modems generally have this problem.
Designing all small devices to use one standard input voltage is definately possible. 12V DC would probably be the best choice although 48V DC might be better except for cost.
Why are you Americans putting up with this crap? Governments have been violently overthrown for less than what the current administration has done.
The problems in American government are not only endemic to the US but exist in other nations as well. The decline is just more apparent here because the US has been at the forefront of national power, both economic and military, for so long.
Everybody stands to gain if things were fixed but only those who move to change things pay the price. It is a prisoner's dilemma on a large scale.
Common answer: "Because corporations have a stranglehold on our government. It doesn't really matter who gets elected."
Yes, but you still have some kind of pseudo-democracy.
Consider our election process: for the most part we vote using plurality which is known to be a very poor system for either generating consensus or selecting among candidates compared to other systems like approval voting. One of the results is that individual votes are actually worth less then otherwise because the candidates you may vote for are chosen ahead of time either directly or because of strategic voting. The votes being worth less make the initial selection of candidates worth more and this is were large interests use their influence. It does not matter substantively which of the two parties is voted into office as long as no other party is.
From the descriptions provided in one of his other books, Iceland of that time does not have all the characteristics I would associate with feudalism. In particular, "The chieftain, unlike a feudal lord, had no claim over his thingman's land. The thingman was free to switch his allegiance to any chieftain willing to have him." - The Machinery of Freedom. Given the erosion of the 4th amendment and criminal cases brought against property, that makes the US seem more feudal then Iceland of that time since citizens only own property at the sufferance of the State and no longer as a Right.
With the exception of the EQ roleplay server, most high end items are no drop and can not be dropped or traded anyway. Tradeable high quality items however do exist and could fetch a fair price if a bot was able to transfer them assuming the item in question was not made no drop by use an augmentation. Most items like this are lore so any one character can only have one in his possesion at a time which would place limits on scaleablity. Coin can no longer be dropped in the game and has to be transfered directly.
Odd. In "Law's Order" the chapter discussing Iceland says they had self rule between the time they emigrated to escape King Harald Haarfagr after he united Norway and the time of the violence of the Sturlung period. That would be between roughly the 10th century and the 13 Century. They lasted 333 years before voting to turn the country over to the king of Norway.
The Iceland of this time was given as an example of a government system with legislative and judicial but no executive branch. The lone executive employee presided at the legislature and recited the entire law code publicly once over the course of his 3 year term. From what I remember (I can't seem to find the specific reference), if the law speaker forgot or left out a piece of the law, that part was essentially revoked unless the legislature happened to pass it again.
I have often though that the Consitution should have placed a absolute limit on the length of laws passed by Congress. If the law was important enough, Congress could pass it again. If it is too complicated to discuss, it is probably too complicated to enforce fairly and such a rule may have worked better then the 10th amendment at limiting the scope of federal power which is basically unchecked at this point.
Old Mustangs at least simply will not allow you to lock the doors when closing them. They have to be locked from the inside after closing or with the key outside. It is definitely not as convenient but neither is locking your keys inside.
My favorite is still Cosmic Encounters but it is in it's third edition now which pales in comparison to the earlier two. Originally introduced by Eon, I am unclear why Mayfair and later Hasbro had to release simplified versions although to be fair the second edition from Mayfair does have a lot less ambiguity in the rules.
The earlier two editions can still be found second hand.
Merchants of Venus may also be worth looking into if you can find it and the various current train boardgames are fun as well.
The film stock was made from nitrocellulose which is only related to nitroglycerin in that they are both nitrated compounds with the explosive properties that a lot of nitrates have. Nitrocellulose is also the main ingredient for cordite and smokeless powder both of which are not particularly explosive and are used as propellants. All of these materials are certainly worthy of caution though safe when handled correctly.
I do not know if they still are made this way but ping pong balls used to be made of nitrocellulose. It was also used to replace ivory in pool balls although I am unclear now if this was because of a shortage do to World War I or restrictions on elephant hunting. Nitrocellulose was essentially one of the first useful plastics along with Bakelite despite it's flammable nature.
A TO-220 package regulator can dissipate about 2 watts with no heat sink safely at an ambient temperature of 25C. Let's say with their dinky heat sink it can dissipate 7 watts for simplicity although it is probably half that.
They are dropping 12 volts down to 5 volts so the voltage across the regulator is 7 volts. 7 volts at 7 watts is 1 amp. Since the output is 5 volts they have 5 watts of regulated power available before the regulator overheats and shuts down.
The regulator in this case is actually putting out more thermal energy then the CPUs . ..
Good point. And one that I would like the average Randian Libertarian/.er to explain.
If you set up a system that can regulate business through the use of force outside of contract and private property law, do you really expect businesses AND individuals not to take advantage of it for their own ends to the detriment of others? Why not eat your cake and have it to look at since we made it possible.
Social Security spends less on administration than most private retirement plans.
Does that include the "excess" Social Security funds that were spent by congress? Granted they were not used for administration but they are gone none the less. If a private company had used their employee retirement funds for capitol improvements, I would expect heads to roll.
At that point in time the research did not require cells that would be suitable for use in humans. The cell lines were NOT useless for the research that was being done at the time and there was every expectation that new uncontaminated cell lines could be created and used in the future. Only at this point now several years later have they gotten to doing useful human trials and research where uncontaminated cell lines would be required.
My theory is that Bush or those advising him knew about this very problem and passed the executive order anyway knowing that these cell lines would become near useless in the future. By doing so, he was able to simultaneously satisfy those who wanted all the research banned for whatever reason and not look like a complete luddite to others.
It will be just deserts if Bush comes down with a disease that could have been treated with the research he has essentially forbidden. Some other recent presidents come to mind as having been in this situation.
It WAS brought up when Bush made his executive order and after the order there was nothing to be done. New cell lines could not be used in federally funded research so there was no way to correct the problem of animal contamination. It has just taken until now for the problem to become serious enough to warrent this much attention.
To paraphrase Vernor Vinge, the question is not, "Do we recognize the rights of a computer that is as intelligent and self aware as we are?" The question is, "Do we recongize the rights of a computer that is MORE intelligent and self aware then we are?" By that time, the question will be moot.
The question about who cut down the last tree on Easter Island reminded me of the game theory that applies to that kind of problem.
If there are no recognised property rights on the resources over a given area, any individual has the option of harvesting or allowing someone else to harvest any particular tree. He has no way to "save" the tree for later. Even though it is better for the population at large if the trees are not killed off thus allowing more trees to be grown, it is worse for any one particular individual. This is the Prisoner's Delema on a very large scale.
With resources like migrating animals, it is much more difficult to manage because they are not static and move from place to place greatly complicating the situation.
There are many cases in the U.S. and other places where an established set of rules for managing resources as private property (water, trees, even big game in Africa) were replaced through government force by those who want a "fair share" only to eradicate the resource entirely. This is of course the Tragedy of the Commons.
Genome by Matt Ridley had the section on the genetics involved with allergic reactions and an observation by someone in the field that people who had tapeworm infections did not have allergies. Follow up reseach showed that introducing a parasitic infection significantly reduced allergic reactions where they were normally present.
I ran across the article discussing the breeding of a harmless parasite for medical use in combating allergies in a news story on the net. I think it was some type of worm normally found in pigs which makes sense from the cross species view.
From what I have read and studied, the original poster is correct; allergies are caused by an inappropriate reaction of the immune system.
There was recent news about a parasitic worm they were breeding which when introduced to the human body, caused the part of the immune system which cause allergies to consentrate on it instead.
In one of my genetics books they talk about it from the evolutionary perspective with the theory that modern man has allergy problems because the rate of parasitic infection is much lower. It was not that the genes had changed significantly. It was the environment and specifically the lack of parasites which changed while the human body was still prepaired to fight them.
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When I was taking electronics engineering courses there were examples given of what was obvious and therefore could not be patented. After the invention of the bipolar transistor, the common circuit configurations (common collector, common emitter, and common base) could not be patented because that had already been done with tubes (common anode, common cathode, and common gate). In the same way, the configurations for FETs (common source, common drain, and common gate) could not be patented either. Replacing one triode (three terminal device) with another was not novel.
So either something has changed since then or software and business patents are following a different set of inadequate rules. Replacing something already done without computer automation with software is not in itself novel.
I have looked for such software on Windows since the time I used the Intel HX chipset which supported ECC and never found it. I would assume that companies selling server hardware for Windows supply such a program but I have not seen it there either except for the DEC Alpha.
I use m0n0wall which is minimal FreeBSD with PHP scripting, web server, and XML configuration on an ancient Pentium 60 to do exactly what they are trying to sell in this router.
There was some question about whether inbound traffic shaping would have any effect compared to outbound traffic shaping when I set it up. I found in my tests that it was almost as effective because throttling inbound IP steams even on the local network side has the effect of emptying the inbound buffers of the internet side devices and especially the modem at the other end of the connection. The difference is of course that the IP steams get throttled AFTER they initially start unlike outgoing steams so while it is not quite as effective, it is still well worth doing if you want the lowest possible latency.
Internally, small offline switching power supplies take the 120 volts AC, voltage double it, and rectify it to 340 volts DC. That makes it easy to make dual input power supplies that also accept 240 volts AC which can be directly rectified to 340 volts DC. All of them should accept 340 volts DC with no problem.
The larger power supplies have power factor correction of various types and designs. They should also have no problem with high voltage DC but it would be implementation dependent.
340 volts DC is not something I would want floating around in the same way 120 volts AC is available but as other posters have pointed out, there already exists a 48 volt telecom infrastructure that was designed pretty much for this very problem. Unfortunately, 48 volts DC does not mesh well with 120V/240V AC so dual purpose power supplies are unlikely.
Most of these small systems have internal switching regulators anyway and depending on the design should run anywhere from say 8 to 12 Volts. If they are labled as using AC instead of DC, they have an internal bridge rectifier preceeding the voltage regulator and can almost certainly run on 1.4 x the listed votage in DC although there are exceptions where they need to generate a negative voltage for things like RS-232. Older external modems generally have this problem.
Designing all small devices to use one standard input voltage is definately possible. 12V DC would probably be the best choice although 48V DC might be better except for cost.
Why are you Americans putting up with this crap? Governments have been violently overthrown for less than what the current administration has done.
The problems in American government are not only endemic to the US but exist in other nations as well. The decline is just more apparent here because the US has been at the forefront of national power, both economic and military, for so long.
Everybody stands to gain if things were fixed but only those who move to change things pay the price. It is a prisoner's dilemma on a large scale.
Common answer: "Because corporations have a stranglehold on our government. It doesn't really matter who gets elected."
Yes, but you still have some kind of pseudo-democracy.
Consider our election process: for the most part we vote using plurality which is known to be a very poor system for either generating consensus or selecting among candidates compared to other systems like approval voting. One of the results is that individual votes are actually worth less then otherwise because the candidates you may vote for are chosen ahead of time either directly or because of strategic voting. The votes being worth less make the initial selection of candidates worth more and this is were large interests use their influence. It does not matter substantively which of the two parties is voted into office as long as no other party is.
Since I did not cite materials from "Law and Order" but from "Law's Order" written by David Friedman I am unclear if you meant to disparage it.
t ml. Iceland is discussed in chapter 17.
Friedman provides footnotes online and from appearances the whole book at http://www.daviddfriedman.com/laws_order/index.sh
From the descriptions provided in one of his other books, Iceland of that time does not have all the characteristics I would associate with feudalism. In particular, "The chieftain, unlike a feudal lord, had no claim over his thingman's land. The thingman was free to switch his allegiance to any chieftain willing to have him." - The Machinery of Freedom. Given the erosion of the 4th amendment and criminal cases brought against property, that makes the US seem more feudal then Iceland of that time since citizens only own property at the sufferance of the State and no longer as a Right.
With the exception of the EQ roleplay server, most high end items are no drop and can not be dropped or traded anyway. Tradeable high quality items however do exist and could fetch a fair price if a bot was able to transfer them assuming the item in question was not made no drop by use an augmentation. Most items like this are lore so any one character can only have one in his possesion at a time which would place limits on scaleablity. Coin can no longer be dropped in the game and has to be transfered directly.
Odd. In "Law's Order" the chapter discussing Iceland says they had self rule between the time they emigrated to escape King Harald Haarfagr after he united Norway and the time of the violence of the Sturlung period. That would be between roughly the 10th century and the 13 Century. They lasted 333 years before voting to turn the country over to the king of Norway.
The Iceland of this time was given as an example of a government system with legislative and judicial but no executive branch. The lone executive employee presided at the legislature and recited the entire law code publicly once over the course of his 3 year term. From what I remember (I can't seem to find the specific reference), if the law speaker forgot or left out a piece of the law, that part was essentially revoked unless the legislature happened to pass it again.
I have often though that the Consitution should have placed a absolute limit on the length of laws passed by Congress. If the law was important enough, Congress could pass it again. If it is too complicated to discuss, it is probably too complicated to enforce fairly and such a rule may have worked better then the 10th amendment at limiting the scope of federal power which is basically unchecked at this point.
Old Mustangs at least simply will not allow you to lock the doors when closing them. They have to be locked from the inside after closing or with the key outside. It is definitely not as convenient but neither is locking your keys inside.
My favorite is still Cosmic Encounters but it is in it's third edition now which pales in comparison to the earlier two. Originally introduced by Eon, I am unclear why Mayfair and later Hasbro had to release simplified versions although to be fair the second edition from Mayfair does have a lot less ambiguity in the rules.
The earlier two editions can still be found second hand.
Merchants of Venus may also be worth looking into if you can find it and the various current train boardgames are fun as well.
The film stock was made from nitrocellulose which is only related to nitroglycerin in that they are both nitrated compounds with the explosive properties that a lot of nitrates have. Nitrocellulose is also the main ingredient for cordite and smokeless powder both of which are not particularly explosive and are used as propellants. All of these materials are certainly worthy of caution though safe when handled correctly.
I do not know if they still are made this way but ping pong balls used to be made of nitrocellulose. It was also used to replace ivory in pool balls although I am unclear now if this was because of a shortage do to World War I or restrictions on elephant hunting. Nitrocellulose was essentially one of the first useful plastics along with Bakelite despite it's flammable nature.
I do not know how I made such a simple mistake.
If we ever should meet, I owe you lunch.
I noticed the same thing.
.
A TO-220 package regulator can dissipate about 2 watts with no heat sink safely at an ambient temperature of 25C. Let's say with their dinky heat sink it can dissipate 7 watts for simplicity although it is probably half that.
They are dropping 12 volts down to 5 volts so the voltage across the regulator is 7 volts. 7 volts at 7 watts is 1 amp. Since the output is 5 volts they have 5 watts of regulated power available before the regulator overheats and shuts down.
The regulator in this case is actually putting out more thermal energy then the CPUs . .
Good point. And one that I would like the average Randian Libertarian /.er to explain.
If you set up a system that can regulate business through the use of force outside of contract and private property law, do you really expect businesses AND individuals not to take advantage of it for their own ends to the detriment of others? Why not eat your cake and have it to look at since we made it possible.
Social Security spends less on administration than most private retirement plans.
Does that include the "excess" Social Security funds that were spent by congress? Granted they were not used for administration but they are gone none the less. If a private company had used their employee retirement funds for capitol improvements, I would expect heads to roll.
It does not look like FARK's link to the Dynamite Monkey is hosted anymore. It is too good to miss:
M onkey.jpg
http://www.banishedsouls.org/635850d13f/Dynamite_
The "use tax" is so little enforced (from being inherently unenforceable) that it simply creates criminals,
Maybe that is the objective. To paraphrase Rand, the State has more power over criminals.
Sandwich some goo between layers of kevlar that hardens on exposure to air.
Exposure to what air?
At that point in time the research did not require cells that would be suitable for use in humans. The cell lines were NOT useless for the research that was being done at the time and there was every expectation that new uncontaminated cell lines could be created and used in the future. Only at this point now several years later have they gotten to doing useful human trials and research where uncontaminated cell lines would be required.
My theory is that Bush or those advising him knew about this very problem and passed the executive order anyway knowing that these cell lines would become near useless in the future. By doing so, he was able to simultaneously satisfy those who wanted all the research banned for whatever reason and not look like a complete luddite to others.
It will be just deserts if Bush comes down with a disease that could have been treated with the research he has essentially forbidden. Some other recent presidents come to mind as having been in this situation.
It WAS brought up when Bush made his executive order and after the order there was nothing to be done. New cell lines could not be used in federally funded research so there was no way to correct the problem of animal contamination. It has just taken until now for the problem to become serious enough to warrent this much attention.
To paraphrase Vernor Vinge, the question is not, "Do we recognize the rights of a computer that is as intelligent and self aware as we are?" The question is, "Do we recongize the rights of a computer that is MORE intelligent and self aware then we are?" By that time, the question will be moot.
The question about who cut down the last tree on Easter Island reminded me of the game theory that applies to that kind of problem.
If there are no recognised property rights on the resources over a given area, any individual has the option of harvesting or allowing someone else to harvest any particular tree. He has no way to "save" the tree for later. Even though it is better for the population at large if the trees are not killed off thus allowing more trees to be grown, it is worse for any one particular individual. This is the Prisoner's Delema on a very large scale.
With resources like migrating animals, it is much more difficult to manage because they are not static and move from place to place greatly complicating the situation.
There are many cases in the U.S. and other places where an established set of rules for managing resources as private property (water, trees, even big game in Africa) were replaced through government force by those who want a "fair share" only to eradicate the resource entirely. This is of course the Tragedy of the Commons.
Genome by Matt Ridley had the section on the genetics involved with allergic reactions and an observation by someone in the field that people who had tapeworm infections did not have allergies. Follow up reseach showed that introducing a parasitic infection significantly reduced allergic reactions where they were normally present.
I ran across the article discussing the breeding of a harmless parasite for medical use in combating allergies in a news story on the net. I think it was some type of worm normally found in pigs which makes sense from the cross species view.
From what I have read and studied, the original poster is correct; allergies are caused by an inappropriate reaction of the immune system.
There was recent news about a parasitic worm they were breeding which when introduced to the human body, caused the part of the immune system which cause allergies to consentrate on it instead.
In one of my genetics books they talk about it from the evolutionary perspective with the theory that modern man has allergy problems because the rate of parasitic infection is much lower. It was not that the genes had changed significantly. It was the environment and specifically the lack of parasites which changed while the human body was still prepaired to fight them.