So, is it coincidence that one of the major routers on the 'net is named MAE WEST? Or did somebody come up with this a long time ago and leave the inside joke for others to get years later? Sounds like an Andy Kauffman job to me...
That's because, if we're not careful, it will get to the 1984 worst case scenario. If you think there aren't some people who will do whatever it takes to keep you from doing something that they find offensive, even if it doesn't directly affect them, then you've been living on a high mountain with an exiled Tibetan monk for way too long. I'm not saying that there's an active conspiracy out there to strip us of rights (though it wouldn't suprise me), but that people are generally afraid of anything they don't understand and way too easily manipulated. If they aren't stopped here, where will they be stopped? And will it be too late?
Re:Does anyone else see something wrong with that?
on
Skydriving
·
· Score: 2
Your comment and your sig fit perfectly together. Pick two and discard them.:)
Excuse me, sir. Seeing as how the V.P. is such a V.I.P., shouldn't we keep the P.C. on the Q.T.? 'Cause of the leaks to the V.C. he could end up M.I.A., and then we'd all be put out in K.P.
The metal case around a hard drive works as a magnetic shield. Since it's nonferrous, the magnetic field can't get through. Which is why the incredibly powerful magnets inside the hard drive can't be detected outside the case. Ever noticed how you can put a floppy drive on top of a hard drive and have it work just fine?
The only thing in your computer that's sensitive to the sort of magnetic field a magnetic screwdriver has in it is the hard drive. Which is conveniently enough encased in a shield of pure metal through which a magnetic field cannot penetrate, and contains within it magnets quite a bit stronger than anything you're likely to find in a screwdriver. Now that nobody uses floppies for anything permanent anymore (you are backing up your floppies before you mod me down, aren't you?), the paranoia about magnets that we all learned in the early nineties is not as justifiable.
Floppies, Zip discs, and your monitor are the only things in your computer that would possibly react strangely to a magnetized screwdriver.
Re:Correction: Coulomb is not an unit of current
on
Electric Armor
·
· Score: 2
If there's a potential difference across a resistor, current will flow. The ratio of potential difference to resistance is what determines maximum current. True, if no current is available, then no flow will occur. But if any current is available, up to the max determined by the voltage and resistance, it will flow.
Re:Correction: Coulomb is not an unit of current
on
Electric Armor
·
· Score: 2
amps is how much force they have to use to get where they are going...
Not a flame, but a correction. Amps is simply how many of those electrons are going.
Think of a coloumb as a gallon of water, and a wire as a riverbed. Voltage is the slope of the riverbed, and amperage is how much water is moving through it.
This model breaks down when you try to add components like inductors (they resist a change in current) to the mix, but it's good for a layman.
So you pay to skip the ad even after you've watched it once already? The current tv/vcr model allows you to skip any ads you want, once you're done recording the show. Not that I'm saying it would be viable to do things this way, but I don't think John Public would be willing to pay a penny each time they skipped the same ad at the same place in the same program.
Put simply: You're doing something in a game of cards that gives you an unfair advantage so that you can win more money.
What's "fair?" Obviously, in your mind, "fair" is acting like a sheep and refusing to exercise any free will. The rules of blackjack say absolutely nothing about keeping track of the cards. If they really wanted to avoid this, they'd just shuffle after every hand.
The "using your brain to win" is not cheating. Your brain didn't physically place the bet, so that logic is flawed.
So anything your brain comes up with but can't implement without the help of your body is something you shouldn't take advantage of? The computer you're reading this on wasn't invented by accident, buddy, and it was brought to the market in order to enrich the inventors. By your logic, you shouldn't be using it because it gives an "unfair" advantage to the persons whose mental acuity made it possible.
You're making the argument that if one person is able to outwit another person, it's not fair. Perhaps we should all lower ourselves to the level of the most disadvantaged person on Earth so that he won't be at a disadvantage anymore.
Your argument is the argument of a person who can't compete effectively, and so seeks to eliminate the competition by legislature or other, non-rational, means. Quit your whining and get on with your life.
Slight problem, and if I were the counsel for the defense, this is what I'd use:
Since e-mail spam can be made virtually untraceable (bounce it through a Chinese relay or some other such nastiness), it can't be proven that the porn site sent or arranged to have sent the e-mail.
It would also be fairly risky to actually bring about such a suit...you'd be saying in court that you're not exercising due diligence in monitoring your child's online activities. Which person do you think the Health Department would go after? The nebulous entity with enough lawyers to ensure they don't get shut down and who might not be at blame at all? Or the parents who admitted under oath that they allowed their kids to see pornographic spam and don't have nearly the resources to combat the Department?
Also, the evidence criteria for taking a kid away from his parents is the lowest in the nation--the prosecution just must prove that the danger exists. In order to get the porn people in trouble, they must prove beyond a shadow of a doubt.
IANAL, but I have had experience with these issues.
You don't give away the right to redistribute by publishing something, unless you explicitly state this. The copyright laws applies on the Internet, just as they do with printed media.
But, by making it available online for free, you allow anybody to download it and keep a copy. Sucks, but that's kinda what the purpose of the internet is.
I'd answer that truthfully, but I'd lose karma. Plus, I wouldn't want it installed on me. Tell the insurance company director to shove it up his own...
Communication: Getting power is pretty easy, but what about returning data? You could use the same spinning wire-on-ring system, but I think it would limit the communications bandwidth.
Unless you've got a uart or something similar on the spinning arm, the laser (or rather the component that receives the laser light) is only sending a bit of information at a time anyway. Look at the ribbon that connects a laser assembly to the main board on any cd player today. Only 4 traces. Power, Power Ground, Signal, and Signal Ground. 4 wire rings is done with phone cords today, so why can't it be done with this?
That said, I think a spinning mirror (e.g. supermarket scanners) would be a lot simpler and still get the job done.
How 'bout crashing into something of the same mass but opposite velocity? You come to a complete stop, and so does it.
With regard to getting rear ended...it depends on how fast the car is going and various other factors, but to give you an idea, here are a couple of pictures from a 45 mph rear ending. I was stationary at the beginning of this, the other driver was a moron.
My seat was twisted about 30 degrees on the Y axis and my headrest was twisted about 45 degrees on the X axis. I suffered pretty major spinal injuries from this wreck. Just think how fun it would have been if the back of the car hadn't crumpled so much.
My car's original position was behind the white car in the second picture. The crumpling of my car gave the rest of the car time enough to accelerate and not snap my neck like a twig. That was a good car.
Cars don't withstand head-on collisions for a reason. They crumple to soften the blow for passengers. Here's why:
Let's take a 60 mph head-on collision with something massive enough that it doesn't move when the car hits it. Assuming that the car doesn't deform at all, the passengers will have to go from 60 mph to 0 in the distance of about an inch (liberal estimate for seat belt play and expansion).
'scuse me while I whip this [physics book] out:
v^2 = v0^2 + 2*a (x - x0)
Solve for a:
(v0^2-v^2)/(2*(x-x0))
v0 = 60 mph -> 26.8224 m/s v = 0 mph -> 0 m/s x = 0 in -> 0 m x0 = i in ->.0254 m
(26.8224 m/s ^ 2 - 0) / (2*(0 m -.0254 m) = -14162 m/s^2
(14162 m/s^2) / (9.8 m/s^2) = 1445 G's.
If you were unlucky enough to be in this car, you wouldn't just die. You would splash. I friend of mine just informed me that the tensile strength of a seatbelt is 15 tons, and a 150 lb person would exert 108 tons on the seatbelt and splash into the dashboard or steering wheel.
Moral of the story: if they ever do make a car that stiff, don't ever get in it.
Slashdot Mirror
So, is it coincidence that one of the major routers on the 'net is named MAE WEST? Or did somebody come up with this a long time ago and leave the inside joke for others to get years later? Sounds like an Andy Kauffman job to me...
Knock knock.
Who's there?
Knock knock.
Who's there?
Knock knock.
Who's there, dammit?
Knock knock.
Who the hell is it?
Philip Glass.
More than three is a waste. After all, you've only got two hands and one mouth.
Unless it's video games.
*ducks*
That's because, if we're not careful, it will get to the 1984 worst case scenario. If you think there aren't some people who will do whatever it takes to keep you from doing something that they find offensive, even if it doesn't directly affect them, then you've been living on a high mountain with an exiled Tibetan monk for way too long. I'm not saying that there's an active conspiracy out there to strip us of rights (though it wouldn't suprise me), but that people are generally afraid of anything they don't understand and way too easily manipulated. If they aren't stopped here, where will they be stopped? And will it be too late?
Your comment and your sig fit perfectly together. Pick two and discard them. :)
Excuse me, sir. Seeing as how the V.P. is such a V.I.P., shouldn't we keep the P.C. on the Q.T.? 'Cause of the leaks to the V.C. he could end up M.I.A., and then we'd all be put out in K.P.
Just to clarify:
The metal case around a hard drive works as a magnetic shield. Since it's nonferrous, the magnetic field can't get through. Which is why the incredibly powerful magnets inside the hard drive can't be detected outside the case. Ever noticed how you can put a floppy drive on top of a hard drive and have it work just fine?
The only thing in your computer that's sensitive to the sort of magnetic field a magnetic screwdriver has in it is the hard drive. Which is conveniently enough encased in a shield of pure metal through which a magnetic field cannot penetrate, and contains within it magnets quite a bit stronger than anything you're likely to find in a screwdriver. Now that nobody uses floppies for anything permanent anymore (you are backing up your floppies before you mod me down, aren't you?), the paranoia about magnets that we all learned in the early nineties is not as justifiable.
Floppies, Zip discs, and your monitor are the only things in your computer that would possibly react strangely to a magnetized screwdriver.
If there's a potential difference across a resistor, current will flow. The ratio of potential difference to resistance is what determines maximum current. True, if no current is available, then no flow will occur. But if any current is available, up to the max determined by the voltage and resistance, it will flow.
amps is how much force they have to use to get where they are going...
Not a flame, but a correction. Amps is simply how many of those electrons are going.
Think of a coloumb as a gallon of water, and a wire as a riverbed. Voltage is the slope of the riverbed, and amperage is how much water is moving through it.
This model breaks down when you try to add components like inductors (they resist a change in current) to the mix, but it's good for a layman.
So you pay to skip the ad even after you've watched it once already? The current tv/vcr model allows you to skip any ads you want, once you're done recording the show. Not that I'm saying it would be viable to do things this way, but I don't think John Public would be willing to pay a penny each time they skipped the same ad at the same place in the same program.
I know mine always refers to me as a "diamond in the rough..."
Used to think it was cute. Kinda creepy, now.
Put simply: You're doing something in a game of cards that gives you an unfair advantage so that you can win more money.
What's "fair?" Obviously, in your mind, "fair" is acting like a sheep and refusing to exercise any free will. The rules of blackjack say absolutely nothing about keeping track of the cards. If they really wanted to avoid this, they'd just shuffle after every hand.
The "using your brain to win" is not cheating. Your brain didn't physically place the bet, so that logic is flawed.
So anything your brain comes up with but can't implement without the help of your body is something you shouldn't take advantage of? The computer you're reading this on wasn't invented by accident, buddy, and it was brought to the market in order to enrich the inventors. By your logic, you shouldn't be using it because it gives an "unfair" advantage to the persons whose mental acuity made it possible.
You're making the argument that if one person is able to outwit another person, it's not fair. Perhaps we should all lower ourselves to the level of the most disadvantaged person on Earth so that he won't be at a disadvantage anymore.
Your argument is the argument of a person who can't compete effectively, and so seeks to eliminate the competition by legislature or other, non-rational, means. Quit your whining and get on with your life.
And if you could use it to tell what she really wanted, you'd be heralded as the savior of mankind.
Slight problem, and if I were the counsel for the defense, this is what I'd use:
Since e-mail spam can be made virtually untraceable (bounce it through a Chinese relay or some other such nastiness), it can't be proven that the porn site sent or arranged to have sent the e-mail.
It would also be fairly risky to actually bring about such a suit...you'd be saying in court that you're not exercising due diligence in monitoring your child's online activities. Which person do you think the Health Department would go after? The nebulous entity with enough lawyers to ensure they don't get shut down and who might not be at blame at all? Or the parents who admitted under oath that they allowed their kids to see pornographic spam and don't have nearly the resources to combat the Department?
Also, the evidence criteria for taking a kid away from his parents is the lowest in the nation--the prosecution just must prove that the danger exists. In order to get the porn people in trouble, they must prove beyond a shadow of a doubt.
IANAL, but I have had experience with these issues.
You don't give away the right to redistribute by publishing something, unless you explicitly state this. The copyright laws applies on the Internet, just as they do with printed media.
But, by making it available online for free, you allow anybody to download it and keep a copy. Sucks, but that's kinda what the purpose of the internet is.
Don't like it? Have a clue.
I usually drive quite wrecklessly.
In fact, I've only (as the driver) been in one wreck in my life.
And the guy who hit me was a reckless driver.
I'd answer that truthfully, but I'd lose karma. Plus, I wouldn't want it installed on me. Tell the insurance company director to shove it up his own...
Karma. Forgot. Nevermind.
you could simply take pride in a job well done.
I had a door that did that once. Never stopped talking about it, in fact. I couldn't stand it. Sold it to a robot company. The rest is history.
s/or/and/
At least 40-50 pages OR at least 30 recipes.
Communication: Getting power is pretty easy, but what about returning data? You could use the same spinning wire-on-ring system, but I think it would limit the communications bandwidth.
Unless you've got a uart or something similar on the spinning arm, the laser (or rather the component that receives the laser light) is only sending a bit of information at a time anyway. Look at the ribbon that connects a laser assembly to the main board on any cd player today. Only 4 traces. Power, Power Ground, Signal, and Signal Ground. 4 wire rings is done with phone cords today, so why can't it be done with this?
That said, I think a spinning mirror (e.g. supermarket scanners) would be a lot simpler and still get the job done.
How 'bout crashing into something of the same mass but opposite velocity? You come to a complete stop, and so does it.
With regard to getting rear ended...it depends on how fast the car is going and various other factors, but to give you an idea, here are a couple of pictures from a 45 mph rear ending. I was stationary at the beginning of this, the other driver was a moron.
Pic 1
Pic 2
My seat was twisted about 30 degrees on the Y axis and my headrest was twisted about 45 degrees on the X axis. I suffered pretty major spinal injuries from this wreck. Just think how fun it would have been if the back of the car hadn't crumpled so much.
My car's original position was behind the white car in the second picture. The crumpling of my car gave the rest of the car time enough to accelerate and not snap my neck like a twig. That was a good car.
Cars don't withstand head-on collisions for a reason. They crumple to soften the blow for passengers. Here's why:
.0254 m
.0254 m) = -14162 m/s^2
Let's take a 60 mph head-on collision with something massive enough that it doesn't move when the car hits it. Assuming that the car doesn't deform at all, the passengers will have to go from 60 mph to 0 in the distance of about an inch (liberal estimate for seat belt play and expansion).
'scuse me while I whip this [physics book] out:
v^2 = v0^2 + 2*a (x - x0)
Solve for a:
(v0^2-v^2)/(2*(x-x0))
v0 = 60 mph -> 26.8224 m/s
v = 0 mph -> 0 m/s
x = 0 in -> 0 m
x0 = i in ->
(26.8224 m/s ^ 2 - 0) / (2*(0 m -
(14162 m/s^2) / (9.8 m/s^2) = 1445 G's.
If you were unlucky enough to be in this car, you wouldn't just die. You would splash. I friend of mine just informed me that the tensile strength of a seatbelt is 15 tons, and a 150 lb person would exert 108 tons on the seatbelt and splash into the dashboard or steering wheel.
Moral of the story: if they ever do make a car that stiff, don't ever get in it.