The problem is more basic than that, really. Average citizens won't know what to make of this until it's something that affects their day-to-day lives (unless you're Insane Clown Posse, in which case you reprise an earlier work over the news). I'm no physicist, but I am a science-fiction fan and reader, so I have some idea how important this development is if it's true, but the rank-and-file person-on-the-street? Not so much, until they can, for instance, buy an electric car that goes 10000 miles on a single charge and have the performance of a Formula-1 race car.
While there have been recent developments in using aluminum for high-performance racing bike frames that has brought it closer to the weight and performance characteristics of the current state of carbon-fiber frames, it's not quite there yet. That being said when it comes time that I want a newer bike, it's a toss-up whether I'll go with a used high-end CF bike (a Cervelo S2, for instance) or a new aluminum bike.
Of course the Holy Grail of racing bikes will be if they ever develop structural aerogel to the point where you can make a durable, ultra-lightweight frame from that. UCI be damned, you could have a bike with a frame that weighs ounces instead of pounds.
I don't get why they'd use an opto-mechanical drive for this. Why not use SSD's instead? Yes I know TFA said they're looking into using "low power flash". SSD's can be completely powered down when not in use, are a COTS solution, would require little if any software development to use, and, in the case that someone else presented of a user deleting their account, the space used could be easily recovered to use for other data. I'd have to say that the Blu-ray idea is just a proof-of-concept more than a production-level solution.
Mod idea up. Snowden may have opened a gigantic, planet-sized can of worms, but it was a festering, nasty-ass can of worms that needed opening. The one spark of non-cynicism that remains alive within me cheers on people like Snowden, and gives me hope that the human race can be saved from a descent into global fascism.
Beyond racecars, it could be useful to industries like prosthetics
Carbon-fiber bicycle frames are very labor-intensive to manufacture which is a major reason why they're so expensive. This technology could bring the price down to the cost of an aluminum frame, or maybe even lower.
Snowden uncovered crimes being committed on a daily basis against the citizens of the United States, and knowing that his own chain of command was just as guilty and would silence him (probably permanently) he took it upon himself to make these crimes known to the world, and did so at the ultimate personal risk: His life. Don't sit there and tell me that at some point, they considered sending someone after him to kill him. Regardless he's now an exile. If you ask me, he deserves a medal for what he did, but I'd be just as happy if they left the man alone.
I remember the first time I saw a Macintosh. I was in my late teens, very much a young techie, and visiting what few computers stores there were at the time was a treat for me, I'd maybe get an opportunity to play with some of the new, cutting-edge stuff I could only dream about affording. At the time I was using Z80-based systems running CP/M, so there were no fancy bitmapped graphics for me, only a text terminal with ASCII/ANSI character sets. I'd heard about this "Macintosh" thing, and happened upon one, and sat and played with it for a few minutes. I found the "graphical user interface" to be "cute", but somewhat useless. After poking around with it for a few minutes, I thought to myself "well, this graphical thing is cute and clever, but let's get a look under the hood at the real operating system" and attempted to find a way to exit to the command line I expected was underlying this frilly graphical thing on the screen. Imagine my surprise (and to a lesser degree, horror!) when I discovered that this frilly, almost childish-looking graphical thing on the screen was in fact the operating system itself! I shook my head and blinked in disbelief and walked away, disbelieving that anyone could ever do anything useful with such a machine. To this day I've never owned an Apple product, but I guess I do have to admit that they were on to something big with the Mac.
..and no, Mac fans, I am not trolling you, and this is not flame-bait either, this is a true story, so spare me the hate, OK?
Yeah, well, there are probably still plenty of 70 year old grandmothers out there who are still using AOL, but that doesn't in any way shape or form mean that AOL is still a viable business model or that AOL is popular, it just means that 70 year old grandmothers are unlikely to change their habits and jump ship to the next trendy thing.
I'll be happy when Failbook is dead and gone (or at least irrelevant), it's nothing but a cancer.
Here's a couple definitions that might be enlightening how this sort of thing can happen:
Pornographic: "obscene writings, drawings, photographs, or the like, especially those having little or no artistic merit."
Obscene: "1. offensive to morality or decency; indecent; depraved: obscene language."
I suppose I could see some government official in some Islamic country incorrectly defining a website promoting Western religion as 'pornographic', based on the above.
While I personally find most organized religion in this the 21st Century to be an obscenity, I'm sure it's just a dumb mistake that those sites are listed as 'pornography'.
On the other hand I could use this opportunity to show an example of how internet censorship could easily be abused:
'Mistakenly' list web site as obscene
Someone hacks said website, inserts pornographic content in a non-so-well-hidden place
Oh look! Upon reviewing the site, it is pornograhic! How awful!
Censoring of said website is set in concrete
..yeah, I know, sounds kind of thin, but in the dystopian Internet of the not-so-far-distant future that we're potentially heading towards, political abuses of the system would yield such nonsense as this. Of course that's assuming that the death of Net Neutrality is allowed to stand, reverting it back to a series of walled gardens with pay-walls separating them, or that ISPs don't all start charging us by the byte for basic connectivity ala-cellphone data plans, essentially pricing Internet service out of the reach of the masses again (which would be, in my opinion, an extinction-level event for the Internet), or that the United Nations doesn't somehow seize ultimate power over the Internet in general, imposing rediculous rules on every nation regardless of their culture or laws, or any number of other rediculous fates for the Internet, that is.
You're missing the point: I don't have that money to spend right now if it's sitting uselessly in the gas tank. Apparently you've never been on a tight budget and/or are independently wealthy. Want to give me a few thousand extra you have lying around? Would come in handy to keep me from becoming homeless in the next two months!
The amount of power you posess is directly proportional to how much it corrupts you. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. No one who posesses power ever willingly relinquishes it.
The NSA (and the rest of the intellgence community, for that matter) appear to have taken lessons from organizations like the Catholic church, and organized religion in general: If you can keep people in a constant state of fear, their higher cognitive abilities are, for all intents and purposes, turned off, and they naturally turn towards leadership for "answers" to keep them "safe". With religion, it's the fear of the Devil and of Eternity in Hell that keeps the masses in a state of fear. With the U.S. government and the intelligence community, those roles are played by "terrorists" and by "the destruction of America".
By some means (or perhaps any means necessary), the populace of the U.S. needs to take the power back. All these "threats to the U.S. and it's citizens" have, for the most part, always been there, and will always be there -- they've just been leveraged by people with power who, like all people with power, do whatever they can to maintain that power, and to increase their power towards Absolute by whatever means necessary.
I believe that taking the power back from these power-mongering types can still be accomplished through peaceful means, but only if the bulk of the citizenry of the U.S. continues to wake up and fully realize what's been going on. Assange, Snowden, and their ilk have given the first wake-up jolts, it's now up to the rest of America to decide if they want to become fully conscious, get up, get dressed, and start cleaning house, or if they want to just roll over and go back to sleep.
Why should I spend $70 to fill a tank completely when it's going to sit there most of the time and not be driven until I really need it, when I could be buying food or paying a bill with the extra $60 I'll have in my pocket from not buying more fuel than I need for the next week or two?
The answer is pretty obvious: Gasoline prices have skyrocketed. Not a teenager anymore by far, I don't ever buy more than 5 gallons at a time, unless I know I'm going somewhere far enough away that I know I'll need more. I'll ride my motorcycle as much as I can because it's less expensive to operate overall, but for the most part I'll stay at home as much as I can.
Additionally, there didn't used to be such an abbreviation as "NEET", but now I hear it all the time. More kids are staying home longer (even into their late twenties, much to the dismay of their parents) or even coming back home (much more to the dismay of their parents) because they're just not making it out in the world. Unless supplied with a vehicle and money for fuel by their cash-strapped parents, they're not driving anywhere.
It seems to me that the Age of the Automobile, as a lifestyle, is coming to an end. Gasoline is never going to be under a dollar a gallon ever again. Will it be resurrected as the Age of the Electric Automobile (or some other alternative fuel source? Mr. Fusion, anyone?) or will we all be riding bicycles or using public transportation or some other non-personal transportation option? Are we all destined to become herd animals? Sad.
I can't speak for anyone else, but once upon a time I used to repair arcade games, in a working arcade, and you either learn to tune everything around you out (except the kids that try to steal the pinballs from the pinball machine you're working on, and that try to steal your tools, that is) or you go completely bonkers. I'd have to say than less than 5% of any brand I've had shoved in my face has made it into my long-term memory, so memo to advertisers: It's really not working.
He can 'believe' anything he wants.. in the privacy of his own home, or at his church. But when he's sitting in his official Senate chair doing official Senate business, he needs to leave his God and all that comes with it at the door. Sounds like this Dan Patrick character needs to be booted out of office.
You and another commenter in this thread are missing the point, and you're also probably not old enough to be lecturing me on how broadcast radio used to work, considering I was a teenager in the early 80's when all you had for recorded music in your car was cassette tapes. We didn't have to pay to listen to the radio. I don't really care what you say, you're not representative of 100% of everyone alive today who listens to music, and I'm not the only one out there who is unwilling to pay to listen to "streaming services" on the internet. I find the idea moronic, in fact, and it's not like I haven't listened to them in the past, so you can't say I don't know what I'm talking about, either. I'd much rather listen to my own music, that I own copies of, that I can listen to as many times as I want and not pay another red cent, and again I am not the only person out there who feels this way. I'd venture a guess that there are more people like me than the industry wants everyone else to believe, too. They'd love it if the iPod Generation would toss their PMPs in the trash and pay, pay, pay every day to listen to the same stuff. No, thank you.
To this guy, http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=4677163&cid=45982029 : There are radio stations, then there are Radio Stations. They're not all the same. Sounds to me like you were/are in a market dominated by Top-10 stations, who have shitty program managers who insist their DJs play the same box of records over and over again every hour, as you described. There are radio stations out there still that aren't programmed that way and are fairly decent to listen to. Also, presets, do you have them!? I've always gone back and forth between a selection of stations in my market, dodging commericals and untalented on-air talent that set my teeth on edge, that's always been that way. Lately if you haven't noticed there are stations popping up that don't even have DJs, and some of them are halfway decent. Of course not everyone likes all the same things and you sound like you've never liked broadcast radio, so to each his own, I'm not going to pass judgement on you for that (so long as you do me the same courtesy), all I'm saying is maybe the market(s) you've been living in just sucks for radio.
I remember back in the day you could get numerous channels of streaming music service 100% free. It worked reliably in your home, car, or even just walking around. You'd hear brand-new music just released, and you could even make requests to hear something specific, and it was all totally free. It was called broadcast radio. Of course we still have that but it's a shadow of it's former self (thanks Internet!).
When I first starting seeing Shoutcast and other Internet music streaming services, they were free, and I thought it was pretty cool because I could actually get more diversity with fewer (if any!) commercials than over-the-air radio. Then of course the music "industry" made their unfunny dick move and ruined it for everyone. Yeah, nah, fuck the RIAA and fuck subscription streaming music services. I'll still stick with broadcast radio when I'm out driving around, and music from my own collection the rest of the time.
I second this sentiment. Where I live, there's Comcast, or there's essentially nothing. The only other in-home option I'd have would be to get landline phone service and an analog modem, and enjoy 1990's style dialup at a maximum of 28.8kbps (yes, no 56k, even), and I'd pay total more than I'm paying Comcast for 8mbps cable modem access.
Many people either use a cellphone or use VOIP in some form or another. It's time to declare internet service providers a Public Utility and be done with it. You can't even effectively get a job anymore unless you have access to the internet! Even your cellphone is useless without the internet! How many people still pay their gas and electric bills through snail mail? Not many, I'll bet you. It's time!
Slashdot Mirror
99.999% of "the people"
The problem is more basic than that, really. Average citizens won't know what to make of this until it's something that affects their day-to-day lives (unless you're Insane Clown Posse, in which case you reprise an earlier work over the news). I'm no physicist, but I am a science-fiction fan and reader, so I have some idea how important this development is if it's true, but the rank-and-file person-on-the-street? Not so much, until they can, for instance, buy an electric car that goes 10000 miles on a single charge and have the performance of a Formula-1 race car.
You a very funny guy, I kill you last.
While there have been recent developments in using aluminum for high-performance racing bike frames that has brought it closer to the weight and performance characteristics of the current state of carbon-fiber frames, it's not quite there yet. That being said when it comes time that I want a newer bike, it's a toss-up whether I'll go with a used high-end CF bike (a Cervelo S2, for instance) or a new aluminum bike.
Of course the Holy Grail of racing bikes will be if they ever develop structural aerogel to the point where you can make a durable, ultra-lightweight frame from that. UCI be damned, you could have a bike with a frame that weighs ounces instead of pounds.
I don't get why they'd use an opto-mechanical drive for this. Why not use SSD's instead? Yes I know TFA said they're looking into using "low power flash". SSD's can be completely powered down when not in use, are a COTS solution, would require little if any software development to use, and, in the case that someone else presented of a user deleting their account, the space used could be easily recovered to use for other data. I'd have to say that the Blu-ray idea is just a proof-of-concept more than a production-level solution.
Mod idea up. Snowden may have opened a gigantic, planet-sized can of worms, but it was a festering, nasty-ass can of worms that needed opening. The one spark of non-cynicism that remains alive within me cheers on people like Snowden, and gives me hope that the human race can be saved from a descent into global fascism.
Beyond racecars, it could be useful to industries like prosthetics
Carbon-fiber bicycle frames are very labor-intensive to manufacture which is a major reason why they're so expensive. This technology could bring the price down to the cost of an aluminum frame, or maybe even lower.
Snowden uncovered crimes being committed on a daily basis against the citizens of the United States, and knowing that his own chain of command was just as guilty and would silence him (probably permanently) he took it upon himself to make these crimes known to the world, and did so at the ultimate personal risk: His life. Don't sit there and tell me that at some point, they considered sending someone after him to kill him. Regardless he's now an exile. If you ask me, he deserves a medal for what he did, but I'd be just as happy if they left the man alone.
I remember the first time I saw a Macintosh. I was in my late teens, very much a young techie, and visiting what few computers stores there were at the time was a treat for me, I'd maybe get an opportunity to play with some of the new, cutting-edge stuff I could only dream about affording. At the time I was using Z80-based systems running CP/M, so there were no fancy bitmapped graphics for me, only a text terminal with ASCII/ANSI character sets. I'd heard about this "Macintosh" thing, and happened upon one, and sat and played with it for a few minutes. I found the "graphical user interface" to be "cute", but somewhat useless. After poking around with it for a few minutes, I thought to myself "well, this graphical thing is cute and clever, but let's get a look under the hood at the real operating system" and attempted to find a way to exit to the command line I expected was underlying this frilly graphical thing on the screen. Imagine my surprise (and to a lesser degree, horror!) when I discovered that this frilly, almost childish-looking graphical thing on the screen was in fact the operating system itself! I shook my head and blinked in disbelief and walked away, disbelieving that anyone could ever do anything useful with such a machine. To this day I've never owned an Apple product, but I guess I do have to admit that they were on to something big with the Mac.
..and no, Mac fans, I am not trolling you, and this is not flame-bait either, this is a true story, so spare me the hate, OK?
Yeah, well, there are probably still plenty of 70 year old grandmothers out there who are still using AOL, but that doesn't in any way shape or form mean that AOL is still a viable business model or that AOL is popular, it just means that 70 year old grandmothers are unlikely to change their habits and jump ship to the next trendy thing.
I'll be happy when Failbook is dead and gone (or at least irrelevant), it's nothing but a cancer.
Here's a couple definitions that might be enlightening how this sort of thing can happen:
Pornographic:
"obscene writings, drawings, photographs, or the like, especially those having little or no artistic merit."
Obscene:
"1. offensive to morality or decency; indecent; depraved: obscene language."
I suppose I could see some government official in some Islamic country incorrectly defining a website promoting Western religion as 'pornographic', based on the above.
On the other hand I could use this opportunity to show an example of how internet censorship could easily be abused:
..yeah, I know, sounds kind of thin, but in the dystopian Internet of the not-so-far-distant future that we're potentially heading towards, political abuses of the system would yield such nonsense as this. Of course that's assuming that the death of Net Neutrality is allowed to stand, reverting it back to a series of walled gardens with pay-walls separating them, or that ISPs don't all start charging us by the byte for basic connectivity ala-cellphone data plans, essentially pricing Internet service out of the reach of the masses again (which would be, in my opinion, an extinction-level event for the Internet), or that the United Nations doesn't somehow seize ultimate power over the Internet in general, imposing rediculous rules on every nation regardless of their culture or laws, or any number of other rediculous fates for the Internet, that is.
If things keep going in the direction they've been going lately, pretty soon there won't be a reason to have internet access anymore.
You're missing the point: I don't have that money to spend right now if it's sitting uselessly in the gas tank. Apparently you've never been on a tight budget and/or are independently wealthy. Want to give me a few thousand extra you have lying around? Would come in handy to keep me from becoming homeless in the next two months!
The amount of power you posess is directly proportional to how much it corrupts you. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. No one who posesses power ever willingly relinquishes it.
The NSA (and the rest of the intellgence community, for that matter) appear to have taken lessons from organizations like the Catholic church, and organized religion in general: If you can keep people in a constant state of fear, their higher cognitive abilities are, for all intents and purposes, turned off, and they naturally turn towards leadership for "answers" to keep them "safe". With religion, it's the fear of the Devil and of Eternity in Hell that keeps the masses in a state of fear. With the U.S. government and the intelligence community, those roles are played by "terrorists" and by "the destruction of America".
By some means (or perhaps any means necessary), the populace of the U.S. needs to take the power back. All these "threats to the U.S. and it's citizens" have, for the most part, always been there, and will always be there -- they've just been leveraged by people with power who, like all people with power, do whatever they can to maintain that power, and to increase their power towards Absolute by whatever means necessary.
I believe that taking the power back from these power-mongering types can still be accomplished through peaceful means, but only if the bulk of the citizenry of the U.S. continues to wake up and fully realize what's been going on. Assange, Snowden, and their ilk have given the first wake-up jolts, it's now up to the rest of America to decide if they want to become fully conscious, get up, get dressed, and start cleaning house, or if they want to just roll over and go back to sleep.
If this was done by all ISPs, it would pretty much kill the Internet for everyone.
Why should I spend $70 to fill a tank completely when it's going to sit there most of the time and not be driven until I really need it, when I could be buying food or paying a bill with the extra $60 I'll have in my pocket from not buying more fuel than I need for the next week or two?
The answer is pretty obvious: Gasoline prices have skyrocketed. Not a teenager anymore by far, I don't ever buy more than 5 gallons at a time, unless I know I'm going somewhere far enough away that I know I'll need more. I'll ride my motorcycle as much as I can because it's less expensive to operate overall, but for the most part I'll stay at home as much as I can.
Additionally, there didn't used to be such an abbreviation as "NEET", but now I hear it all the time. More kids are staying home longer (even into their late twenties, much to the dismay of their parents) or even coming back home (much more to the dismay of their parents) because they're just not making it out in the world. Unless supplied with a vehicle and money for fuel by their cash-strapped parents, they're not driving anywhere.
It seems to me that the Age of the Automobile, as a lifestyle, is coming to an end. Gasoline is never going to be under a dollar a gallon ever again. Will it be resurrected as the Age of the Electric Automobile (or some other alternative fuel source? Mr. Fusion, anyone?) or will we all be riding bicycles or using public transportation or some other non-personal transportation option? Are we all destined to become herd animals? Sad.
I can't speak for anyone else, but once upon a time I used to repair arcade games, in a working arcade, and you either learn to tune everything around you out (except the kids that try to steal the pinballs from the pinball machine you're working on, and that try to steal your tools, that is) or you go completely bonkers. I'd have to say than less than 5% of any brand I've had shoved in my face has made it into my long-term memory, so memo to advertisers: It's really not working.
I've never spent a single penny on anything that was advertised through a webpage that threw an ad up at me. Just try bypassing that!
He can 'believe' anything he wants.. in the privacy of his own home, or at his church. But when he's sitting in his official Senate chair doing official Senate business, he needs to leave his God and all that comes with it at the door. Sounds like this Dan Patrick character needs to be booted out of office.
You and another commenter in this thread are missing the point, and you're also probably not old enough to be lecturing me on how broadcast radio used to work, considering I was a teenager in the early 80's when all you had for recorded music in your car was cassette tapes. We didn't have to pay to listen to the radio. I don't really care what you say, you're not representative of 100% of everyone alive today who listens to music, and I'm not the only one out there who is unwilling to pay to listen to "streaming services" on the internet. I find the idea moronic, in fact, and it's not like I haven't listened to them in the past, so you can't say I don't know what I'm talking about, either. I'd much rather listen to my own music, that I own copies of, that I can listen to as many times as I want and not pay another red cent, and again I am not the only person out there who feels this way. I'd venture a guess that there are more people like me than the industry wants everyone else to believe, too. They'd love it if the iPod Generation would toss their PMPs in the trash and pay, pay, pay every day to listen to the same stuff. No, thank you.
To this guy, http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=4677163&cid=45982029 : There are radio stations, then there are Radio Stations. They're not all the same. Sounds to me like you were/are in a market dominated by Top-10 stations, who have shitty program managers who insist their DJs play the same box of records over and over again every hour, as you described. There are radio stations out there still that aren't programmed that way and are fairly decent to listen to. Also, presets, do you have them!? I've always gone back and forth between a selection of stations in my market, dodging commericals and untalented on-air talent that set my teeth on edge, that's always been that way. Lately if you haven't noticed there are stations popping up that don't even have DJs, and some of them are halfway decent. Of course not everyone likes all the same things and you sound like you've never liked broadcast radio, so to each his own, I'm not going to pass judgement on you for that (so long as you do me the same courtesy), all I'm saying is maybe the market(s) you've been living in just sucks for radio.
Does the NSA collect multimedia SMS messages as well as straight text? If so let's start a goatse-sending campaign.
I remember back in the day you could get numerous channels of streaming music service 100% free. It worked reliably in your home, car, or even just walking around. You'd hear brand-new music just released, and you could even make requests to hear something specific, and it was all totally free. It was called broadcast radio. Of course we still have that but it's a shadow of it's former self (thanks Internet!).
When I first starting seeing Shoutcast and other Internet music streaming services, they were free, and I thought it was pretty cool because I could actually get more diversity with fewer (if any!) commercials than over-the-air radio. Then of course the music "industry" made their unfunny dick move and ruined it for everyone. Yeah, nah, fuck the RIAA and fuck subscription streaming music services. I'll still stick with broadcast radio when I'm out driving around, and music from my own collection the rest of the time.
"Shaving the bee"
Is that what the kids are calling it these days?
I second this sentiment. Where I live, there's Comcast, or there's essentially nothing. The only other in-home option I'd have would be to get landline phone service and an analog modem, and enjoy 1990's style dialup at a maximum of 28.8kbps (yes, no 56k, even), and I'd pay total more than I'm paying Comcast for 8mbps cable modem access.
Many people either use a cellphone or use VOIP in some form or another. It's time to declare internet service providers a Public Utility and be done with it. You can't even effectively get a job anymore unless you have access to the internet! Even your cellphone is useless without the internet! How many people still pay their gas and electric bills through snail mail? Not many, I'll bet you. It's time!