I should add, for anyone crazy enough to want to read the forums, here's a link: Clicky, it can get quite confusing at times, the regulars were well on their way to inventing a new language (not to mention para-religions at times), but there's definitely some fascinating posts as well, and every frame immortalised in order, with an enforced (by how fast you read) gap to replicate the way it felt when it was going.
It was for lack of better terminology, an entirely new way of doing a webcomic. Usually XKCD updates 3 times a week, with a new URL for each one (and very rarely do stories continue across updates), Time updated every 30 minutes at the same URL, initially with minute variations, which lots of the regular viewers missed for quite a while. The complete lack of dialogue for the first 100 or so frames meant that people were being challenged to create their own backstory. The story itself also got grander in scope as it progressed, with subtle hints towards the setting being given. That it went for months, and over 3000 frames (which when viewed are effectively a stop-motion movie), is also unprecedented to my knowledge. It also managed to spawn a thread which managed to stay on-topic for over 50000 posts, (as well as a whole pile of jargon within that thread.)
It isn't the greatest story ever told, but the method of presentation (particularly the enforced wait between frames which leads to great speculation), subtle hints which rely on not insignificant prior knowledge (the time-period was placed by a particularly beautiful, and accurate, rendering of the night sky which was presented over a period of days), make it unique.
Exactly my thoughts on reading the article, the guy would have to be living under a rock to not realise what the compartment was likely to be used for, which under California's law (although he wasn't tried there it would appear) made him an accomplice. It's not unreasonable that he received a jail sentence for his work, ignorance of the law (a key point of the article) does not grant immunity to the law. However, a two and a half decade sentence is most definitely a case of over-zealous sentencing. A 10 year sentence, with possibility of parole at 5 or 6 would be harsh, but fair. 24 years without parole (and more than double the sentence given to the actual main perpetrators in the drug ring) is simply a case of finding a good scapegoat for a campaign of being "Tough on Law and Order". Who was up for election?
That'd be because the majority of pharmaceuticals are covered under the Pharmaceutical Benefit System, ie, subsidised by the government as part of free and universal health care. I'm sure that if the Australian government didn't do that, we'd get an especially large "fuck you" from the pharma companies as well.
As far as media goes, I'm hopeful that something might come of this, it's one thing on physical products (where at least you can put it down to "shipping"), but when buying the exact same software, (or even the same song), costs at least 100% more, then there is no other explanation than price gouging. Particularly galling when most of these countries don't pay much Australian tax on their Australian profits either.
I don't doubt the science behind the concept, and your point about debris being able to puncture the exterior no matter what is a good one. I'm curious about the potential psychological impact of the module. Even if it's completely irrational (and the FA says non-rigid exteriors are better able to withstand a micrometeor), I can't help but feel that if I was up in the ISS, I'd want a solid metal wall, rather than an inflatable fabric one.
Having said that, being able to more than double the size, and presumably living space, of the ISS would probably do a great deal of good psychologically. Not to mention the fact that people who choose to go on missions to the ISS must have a certain amount of crazy to begin with, so probably wont care in the same way an ordinary mortal such as myself would.
The next question of course is how to get it up there? It's about 10x more than the maximum payload of either the Dragon or Soyuz rockets...
You're right, I'm not a scientist, and as such I know how much land an ox can plow in a day! How could the rest of the world be so silly? The only reason that the metric system hasn't been implemented in the US is laziness masquerading as self-entitlement "How dare you take this away from me! This is our history!" Hell, I'm a well educated person, and I had to google ox to find out exactly what one is in relation to a cow. (Trained for farm work apparently, often a castrated male)
As cool as this is, I don't see it solving the real issue with solar panels - the expense of retrofitting them to a house/office tower. You'll still need to invest in all the inverters etc, and probably a professional electrician (assuming you like your building not on fire) to use these in any large-scale application, even if they do allow a few more locations to be used.
Of course, I'd still love to just whack a couple on my packpack to charge my laptop while at uni...
While you're correct in the second half of your comment, you are ignoring the very good reasons that are driving our search for a room-temperature superconductor. Without doing the calculations, I very much doubt that there is enough fuel on Earth to lift the entire population into a near-Earth orbit, not to mention the massive amounts of infrastructure required to keep them there, (and breathing).
Therefore, a superconductor which would allow us to eliminate the massive amounts of wastage in our electrical infrastructure is certainly useful. Conveniently, most of Earth is at a "room temperature" or similar, making it a far less arbitrary concept. In terms of effect on everyday life, I like to think that in the long run it'll be beneficial, hopefully removing some of the lack of resources which drives most conflicts. Of course, most of human history is against me on that one, technological leaps like these tend to trigger conflicts in the short term, before providing net benefit to the populations, hopefully we survive the next one.
Just as important as it being built, is that there are sufficient protocols and resources in place to ensure that: a) It continues to operate for a long period of time and b) The information transmitted can be quickly and efficiently analysed and distributed.
The South African bid consists of the telescope scattered across several countries, all of them far less politically stable than Australia and New Zealand, an issue which could potentially cause problems later. In addition, Australia and New Zealand are both well-industrialised, providing both a strong economic base to support the program, and also reducing the likelihood that 10 years from now there will be a massive centre of EM interference next to some of the dishes.
While I'd prefer the South African bid to none at all, I think that the Aus/NZ bid is the better option. And I'm hoping the judges don't vote against it simply as a political manoeuvre. Having said that, I'm both West Australian and Not-An-Astronomer, so I am biased, and also not fully informed of any scientific advantages/disadvantages to the bids.
The radio-based device will pick up electromagnetic waves occurring when the crypto libraries inside the smartphone are used,
, but I can't see how it could actually be detecting anything inside the smartphone as the waves emitted by the little electrons zipping around are hardly going to be detected, not to mention identifying those particular disturbances amongst everything else would be impossible. Is it actually detecting the stuff as the cellphone transmits/receives if then? I'm far from an expert in this, so any explanation would be great.
'We don't have an obligation to solve America's problems. Our only obligation is making the best product possible.'"
Correct, you don't have an obligation to solve America's problems, you do however have an obligation to ensure fair working conditions and above-starvation wages for your workers. I wonder whether those 8000 workers who were raised from the company dormitories were paid overtime rates? And how much of their wage is docked for the "privelege" of living in said dormitories. Globalisation of manufacturing is a necessary and logical step forward, but it does need to be accompanied by fair working conditions, a matter on which Apple's manufacturers have a poor record.
I feel safe in saying that in most countries, if you're at risk of having a seizure, then your license is automatically suspended. However, driving is rarely a physically demanding activity, and there is no reason why a severe asthmatic, a paraplegic, or an excessively sweaty person cannot drive, even if they cannot then "walk a short distance with breaking sweat". Considering that we regularly allow people with raised levels of visual and cognitive impairment to drive home from the pub, there is no reason why those whose physical disability impacts to no extent of their ability to control a car should not be allowed to drive.
That's based on the incorrect assumption that the businesses will attempt to match the customer base demographics. Regardless of whether the business has 10% handicapped or 50% handicapped patrons, if they fill their parking areas regularly, the best option for them economically will be to have no handicapped bays. At their smallest a handicapped bay will take up a space equivalent to 1.5 regular bays, and will often be larger. Therefore, if they regularly run out of parking, then a way for the business to increase revenue would be to remove all disabled bays, and replace them with regular bays, thus increasing customer numbers. Sure, they'll lose a demographic, but they'll be replaced with other customers who'd normally bypass the store due to parking. Heck, depending on competition they may not even lose any business, if they're the only store offering a certain commodity, they'll retain the handicapped business, but they'll be forced to go outside peak times in order to get spaces that meet their needs.
Economically, in most cases the best situation for a store is no handicapped bays, which is why government regulation is necessary.
Speaking as a citizen of a country with universal health care, there is a very good argument for governments enforcing seat belt use here. In the event of a crash, a seat belt significantly reduces the risk of serious injury, and hence the cost to the tax payer to provide medical care. This is true even in the case of privately insured individuals, as most of the major trauma centres are government run, and the insurance companies pay only part of the cost
Even in a country such as the US, without free universal health care, there is still a strong economic argument for enforcing seatbelt use. If as a result of a serious crash, you suffer long term injury or death, then there will be a decrease in your productivity (especially in the latter case). Therefore, a decrease in production, and reduced tax levels, hurting both the individual, and the capacity of the government to provide services. While I'm not familiar with the US social security system, I suspect an accident resulting in permanent disability would also provide added costs in that fashion.
... but he couldn't teach kindergartners the concept of load bearing supports.
I like the idea, and I applaud the encouragement of sciences etc in school but kindergarten, really?
Doesn't this mean that Amazon has backed up every single Kindle? Presumably if you tried hard enough after losing your Kindle you could get all your books back...
Or slightly windy. Well, that leaves us about 3 days a year. However, I think these guys have probably worked out a way to get around all that, I certainly hope they have. A high powered laser would be able to burn through most of that stuff, so I doubt it's a problem.
Especially since the #1 show "American Politics" got a whole new set of writers but has still managed to get even dumber than ever... ludicrous plots, inane dialog, stories so far-fetched no one would ever believe them in real life...
You realise that was a live coverage of the election campaign?:p
A spot on the lens that conveniently is moving across the lens at exactly the right speed to keep pace with another object on Jupiter? It may not be an impact mark, but it is the result of something, and appeared in only a few days.
Sounds good, and very likely is, but how much energy is lost in generating the vacuum required to give these lights the extra efficiency? The chances are the light is still more efficient even after taking in the production process.Besides, they look so damn cool! That is awesome
I'm sure they enjoyed what they did, but if you have given most of your life to a cause, then you'll want some form of recognition for it. These people received no such public recognition, while many people in similar fields have, so it is understandable that they are upset by the lack of recognition.
.
As for the British Government hiding this work, they likely believed that by revealing it at the time they were endangering the staff of the facillity, as well as the country as a whole.
From memory veins run parallel to arteries, so it would not be hard to scan both at the same time. The advantage of veins is that they have a slower rate of blood flow, this means that the magnetic force is more likely to be able to hold the 'bot in position.
Slashdot Mirror
I should add, for anyone crazy enough to want to read the forums, here's a link: Clicky, it can get quite confusing at times, the regulars were well on their way to inventing a new language (not to mention para-religions at times), but there's definitely some fascinating posts as well, and every frame immortalised in order, with an enforced (by how fast you read) gap to replicate the way it felt when it was going.
It was for lack of better terminology, an entirely new way of doing a webcomic. Usually XKCD updates 3 times a week, with a new URL for each one (and very rarely do stories continue across updates), Time updated every 30 minutes at the same URL, initially with minute variations, which lots of the regular viewers missed for quite a while. The complete lack of dialogue for the first 100 or so frames meant that people were being challenged to create their own backstory. The story itself also got grander in scope as it progressed, with subtle hints towards the setting being given. That it went for months, and over 3000 frames (which when viewed are effectively a stop-motion movie), is also unprecedented to my knowledge. It also managed to spawn a thread which managed to stay on-topic for over 50000 posts, (as well as a whole pile of jargon within that thread.)
It isn't the greatest story ever told, but the method of presentation (particularly the enforced wait between frames which leads to great speculation), subtle hints which rely on not insignificant prior knowledge (the time-period was placed by a particularly beautiful, and accurate, rendering of the night sky which was presented over a period of days), make it unique.
Exactly my thoughts on reading the article, the guy would have to be living under a rock to not realise what the compartment was likely to be used for, which under California's law (although he wasn't tried there it would appear) made him an accomplice. It's not unreasonable that he received a jail sentence for his work, ignorance of the law (a key point of the article) does not grant immunity to the law. However, a two and a half decade sentence is most definitely a case of over-zealous sentencing. A 10 year sentence, with possibility of parole at 5 or 6 would be harsh, but fair. 24 years without parole (and more than double the sentence given to the actual main perpetrators in the drug ring) is simply a case of finding a good scapegoat for a campaign of being "Tough on Law and Order". Who was up for election?
That'd be because the majority of pharmaceuticals are covered under the Pharmaceutical Benefit System, ie, subsidised by the government as part of free and universal health care. I'm sure that if the Australian government didn't do that, we'd get an especially large "fuck you" from the pharma companies as well.
As far as media goes, I'm hopeful that something might come of this, it's one thing on physical products (where at least you can put it down to "shipping"), but when buying the exact same software, (or even the same song), costs at least 100% more, then there is no other explanation than price gouging. Particularly galling when most of these countries don't pay much Australian tax on their Australian profits either.
I don't doubt the science behind the concept, and your point about debris being able to puncture the exterior no matter what is a good one. I'm curious about the potential psychological impact of the module. Even if it's completely irrational (and the FA says non-rigid exteriors are better able to withstand a micrometeor), I can't help but feel that if I was up in the ISS, I'd want a solid metal wall, rather than an inflatable fabric one.
Having said that, being able to more than double the size, and presumably living space, of the ISS would probably do a great deal of good psychologically. Not to mention the fact that people who choose to go on missions to the ISS must have a certain amount of crazy to begin with, so probably wont care in the same way an ordinary mortal such as myself would.
The next question of course is how to get it up there? It's about 10x more than the maximum payload of either the Dragon or Soyuz rockets...
You're right, I'm not a scientist, and as such I know how much land an ox can plow in a day! How could the rest of the world be so silly? The only reason that the metric system hasn't been implemented in the US is laziness masquerading as self-entitlement "How dare you take this away from me! This is our history!" Hell, I'm a well educated person, and I had to google ox to find out exactly what one is in relation to a cow. (Trained for farm work apparently, often a castrated male)
As cool as this is, I don't see it solving the real issue with solar panels - the expense of retrofitting them to a house/office tower. You'll still need to invest in all the inverters etc, and probably a professional electrician (assuming you like your building not on fire) to use these in any large-scale application, even if they do allow a few more locations to be used. Of course, I'd still love to just whack a couple on my packpack to charge my laptop while at uni...
While you're correct in the second half of your comment, you are ignoring the very good reasons that are driving our search for a room-temperature superconductor. Without doing the calculations, I very much doubt that there is enough fuel on Earth to lift the entire population into a near-Earth orbit, not to mention the massive amounts of infrastructure required to keep them there, (and breathing).
Therefore, a superconductor which would allow us to eliminate the massive amounts of wastage in our electrical infrastructure is certainly useful. Conveniently, most of Earth is at a "room temperature" or similar, making it a far less arbitrary concept. In terms of effect on everyday life, I like to think that in the long run it'll be beneficial, hopefully removing some of the lack of resources which drives most conflicts. Of course, most of human history is against me on that one, technological leaps like these tend to trigger conflicts in the short term, before providing net benefit to the populations, hopefully we survive the next one.
Yes and no.
Just as important as it being built, is that there are sufficient protocols and resources in place to ensure that: a) It continues to operate for a long period of time and b) The information transmitted can be quickly and efficiently analysed and distributed.
The South African bid consists of the telescope scattered across several countries, all of them far less politically stable than Australia and New Zealand, an issue which could potentially cause problems later. In addition, Australia and New Zealand are both well-industrialised, providing both a strong economic base to support the program, and also reducing the likelihood that 10 years from now there will be a massive centre of EM interference next to some of the dishes.
While I'd prefer the South African bid to none at all, I think that the Aus/NZ bid is the better option. And I'm hoping the judges don't vote against it simply as a political manoeuvre. Having said that, I'm both West Australian and Not-An-Astronomer, so I am biased, and also not fully informed of any scientific advantages/disadvantages to the bids.
The radio-based device will pick up electromagnetic waves occurring when the crypto libraries inside the smartphone are used,
, but I can't see how it could actually be detecting anything inside the smartphone as the waves emitted by the little electrons zipping around are hardly going to be detected, not to mention identifying those particular disturbances amongst everything else would be impossible. Is it actually detecting the stuff as the cellphone transmits/receives if then? I'm far from an expert in this, so any explanation would be great.
'We don't have an obligation to solve America's problems. Our only obligation is making the best product possible.'"
Correct, you don't have an obligation to solve America's problems, you do however have an obligation to ensure fair working conditions and above-starvation wages for your workers. I wonder whether those 8000 workers who were raised from the company dormitories were paid overtime rates? And how much of their wage is docked for the "privelege" of living in said dormitories. Globalisation of manufacturing is a necessary and logical step forward, but it does need to be accompanied by fair working conditions, a matter on which Apple's manufacturers have a poor record.
I feel safe in saying that in most countries, if you're at risk of having a seizure, then your license is automatically suspended. However, driving is rarely a physically demanding activity, and there is no reason why a severe asthmatic, a paraplegic, or an excessively sweaty person cannot drive, even if they cannot then "walk a short distance with breaking sweat". Considering that we regularly allow people with raised levels of visual and cognitive impairment to drive home from the pub, there is no reason why those whose physical disability impacts to no extent of their ability to control a car should not be allowed to drive.
That's based on the incorrect assumption that the businesses will attempt to match the customer base demographics. Regardless of whether the business has 10% handicapped or 50% handicapped patrons, if they fill their parking areas regularly, the best option for them economically will be to have no handicapped bays. At their smallest a handicapped bay will take up a space equivalent to 1.5 regular bays, and will often be larger. Therefore, if they regularly run out of parking, then a way for the business to increase revenue would be to remove all disabled bays, and replace them with regular bays, thus increasing customer numbers. Sure, they'll lose a demographic, but they'll be replaced with other customers who'd normally bypass the store due to parking. Heck, depending on competition they may not even lose any business, if they're the only store offering a certain commodity, they'll retain the handicapped business, but they'll be forced to go outside peak times in order to get spaces that meet their needs.
Economically, in most cases the best situation for a store is no handicapped bays, which is why government regulation is necessary.
Speaking as a citizen of a country with universal health care, there is a very good argument for governments enforcing seat belt use here. In the event of a crash, a seat belt significantly reduces the risk of serious injury, and hence the cost to the tax payer to provide medical care. This is true even in the case of privately insured individuals, as most of the major trauma centres are government run, and the insurance companies pay only part of the cost
Even in a country such as the US, without free universal health care, there is still a strong economic argument for enforcing seatbelt use. If as a result of a serious crash, you suffer long term injury or death, then there will be a decrease in your productivity (especially in the latter case). Therefore, a decrease in production, and reduced tax levels, hurting both the individual, and the capacity of the government to provide services. While I'm not familiar with the US social security system, I suspect an accident resulting in permanent disability would also provide added costs in that fashion.
... but he couldn't teach kindergartners the concept of load bearing supports. I like the idea, and I applaud the encouragement of sciences etc in school but kindergarten, really?
Read the bit where it says "including annotations" that shows that they've got a back-up of all the data stored on the kindle.
Doesn't this mean that Amazon has backed up every single Kindle? Presumably if you tried hard enough after losing your Kindle you could get all your books back...
Or slightly windy. Well, that leaves us about 3 days a year. However, I think these guys have probably worked out a way to get around all that, I certainly hope they have. A high powered laser would be able to burn through most of that stuff, so I doubt it's a problem.
Well, everyone knows that if you ignore a problem, it'll go away, so I'm going to believe the few billion years bit.
And there goes Apple's monopoly. I can't say this is a bad thing, it gives users another option, without severely damaging Apple.
Especially since the #1 show "American Politics" got a whole new set of writers but has still managed to get even dumber than ever... ludicrous plots, inane dialog, stories so far-fetched no one would ever believe them in real life...
You realise that was a live coverage of the election campaign? :p
A spot on the lens that conveniently is moving across the lens at exactly the right speed to keep pace with another object on Jupiter? It may not be an impact mark, but it is the result of something, and appeared in only a few days.
Sounds good, and very likely is, but how much energy is lost in generating the vacuum required to give these lights the extra efficiency? The chances are the light is still more efficient even after taking in the production process.Besides, they look so damn cool! That is awesome
I'm sure they enjoyed what they did, but if you have given most of your life to a cause, then you'll want some form of recognition for it. These people received no such public recognition, while many people in similar fields have, so it is understandable that they are upset by the lack of recognition.
.
As for the British Government hiding this work, they likely believed that by revealing it at the time they were endangering the staff of the facillity, as well as the country as a whole.
From memory veins run parallel to arteries, so it would not be hard to scan both at the same time. The advantage of veins is that they have a slower rate of blood flow, this means that the magnetic force is more likely to be able to hold the 'bot in position.