Sweet! That's completely respectable for such a tiny and lightweight design. It's good enough to make maneuvering possible in tiny satellites, and perhaps make stationkeeping more efficient in moderate sized ones assuming it's reliable and has a good service life.
Specific Impulse. Discussing a new thruster without giving Isp is about as useful as announcing a "revolutionary networking technology" without giving a bits per second figure: interesting hack, but is it vaguely practical?
And what happened with iOS is going to happen again with MacOSX.
... Apple will continue making loads of money selling other people's software, and developers will mostly stay on board because the App Store is a much bigger market than you usually get to tap as an indie?
You say it like it's something that Apple somehow should regret. I don't like it, but it seems to be working out pretty well for them.
You can't fit more than 7.4 discrete IDs in a single transaction, but they're taking a statistical approach. If they can collect data from thousands of transactions within a dozen hops from you, it's plausible to correlate who you are and who you're transacting with. It might take a lot of data points to prove beyond a reasonable doubt, but far fewer to get a warrant signed.
No, if that's all they wanted the Swedes could have accepted the Ecuadorians' offer to interview Assange in the embassy.
And the Ecuador Embassy promised to not willingly break any UK laws while in Britain.
IANAL, but they probably aren't breaking any laws - they are allowing someone to apply for political asylum reside in their sovereign territory while he is being processed. That's why the UK is trying to pull this end run around international law.
No, the sex crime being "pressuring to continue when she wanted a condom, despite an implicit, but not explicit, 'no'". It's a lesser thing than what most of the world calls rape, but it's more than you suggest.
It's still certainly not an excuse to invade foreign soil.
Also note that they're threatening to raid the embassy for someone who's alleged crime isn't even treason - this is still over the dubious sex crime charges. It's amazing that that the UK is even considering setting this kind of precedent over a moderate criminal charge, just because he kind of embarrassed them.
It holds 8, but it also has 480 rounds in the cannon. Don't knock it - people thought missiles made guns obsolete (witness the F-4, originally designed with no guns), but cannon kills are still a notable minority.
The thing is you never really need to sustain a fight that long. It just takes a half dozen F-22s to go in and shoot the place up; then the 4th gen fighters move in, clean up anything that's left, and hold the territory while the F-22s fly off, reload, and go to capture more airspace. Of course, this is really done in a rotation, not all-in/all-out.
Cost of maintenance astronomical == piece of shit.
Perhaps it's a POS, but it's a POS that can maintain air superiority even when significantly outnumbered (by an order of magnitude) by ANY other aircraft, full stop.
It's not like there's a huge fleet of these things. There are 187. All the everyday stuff (escorting stray aircraft from restricted airspace, air support, shooting down bombers, air patrols) are handled by the thousands of F-15, F-16, and F/A-18 aircraft which will be in service for quite a while longer.
So:
Cost per hour of operation: Astronomical.
Total program cost: Not really that high, as a percentage of military spending - about one year's worth of the total military budget for a service life of decades. It's the same magnitude as each of the F-15, F-16, and F/A-18 programs.
Capability of completely dominating any air superiority battle for the forseeable future: Priceless.
That's certainly worth considering. Even where it is a problem, the creepers are clearly a very small minority. It's very likely that my perceived increase is due to better communication (the internet is efficient at spreading these stories), people beginning to object more publicly when it happens (I have no problem with that!), and perhaps even that the geek crowd has grown (making it ever more likely that there will be at least one incident at a gathering).
For someone who thinks that even "light verbal flirting" in a "large social setting" is inappropriate, I think that would be hard for that person.... Being able to stop unwanted attention and being able to stop giving unwanted attention are basic social skills, and are just a fact of life.
Think of it from the perspective of a gorgeous woman with large breasts. She's going to be getting wolf whistles and approaches constantly. It gets old, and I can absolutely see in a context like Readercon where she would want a standard where people will leave her alone so she can focus on literature.
I don't actually disagree with you - the facts of life are that big tits == constant attention, even after it gets seriously old, and there's not an objective line that can be drawn where people can dance freely yet not offend her. On the whole, the default social protocol isn't going to cater to what she wants, and while I sympathize, it's my opinion that other people's interests matter too.
But that just highlights my point: it would be very hard to get consensus on a global default protocol (she's reasonably going to object to what I want); and it would require a rather complex system to document the cases where greeting with a kiss is standard vs times where it's expected that everyone is supposed to keep their thoughts to themselves and save it for another time.
Unfortunately you really do need policies for this. Stabbing is a physical crime; sexual assault is more a social one with usually no physical evidence; and when people hear about it they tend to downplay it or imagine mitigating circumstances. That's not even unreasonable: it's much harder to know what the perpetrator's intentions were. The line between OK and not is much blurrier than a stabbing case - what's acceptable varies more based on context.
Some social events enjoy being flirty, and others want to be a strictly business affair; and to set expectations correctly and to better judge when something went over the line, a written policy is important.
To clarify: What I linked above is the Readercon incident (mentioned second in TFS). I do agree that the lifetime ban is harsh, but it IS a zero-tolerance policy, and it's born of trying to create a very comfortable con. Playing favorites on a zero tolerance policy certainly isn't just.
But I didn't, because of my own bad experiences at DEFCON, and those of people like KC, a journalist and student in San Francisco who wrote about attending DEFCON 19:
Nothing could have prepared me for the onslaught of bad behavior I experienced. Like the man who drunkenly tried to lick my shoulder tattoo. Like the man who grabbed my hips while I was waiting for a drink at the EFF party. Like the man who tried to get me to show him my tits so he could punch a hole in a card that, when filled, would net him a favor from one of the official security staff.
Or the experience of one of my friends, who prefers to remain anonymous. At a recent DEFCON, while leaning over to get her drink at the bar, someone slid his hand up all the way between her legs and grabbed her crotch.
The con's policy: "Readercon has always had a zero-tolerance harassment policy. Harassment of any kind — including physical assault, battery, deliberate intimidation, stalking, or unwelcome physical attentions — will not be tolerated at Readercon and will result in permanent suspension of membership."
Something like this might work well in highly social events where some flirting is generally appreciated by most but some people don't want to have to fight off continuous advances. I'm not sure that it'd work in more mainstream contexts where the norm is a conservative approach - it might not be able to achieve critical mass.
I like the idea though. I'm going to give it some thought.
We'll need to create a separate namespace from hankies. They're long since out of colors and collisions would be highly unfortunate.:)
We're talking about people sticking fingers where they shouldn't be in public, and in my secondhand experience literally whispering that he'd like to rape her if there weren't so many people around. Yes, really, in those words. That's not "confused about how to engage women" or "just ignorant of social etiquette"; it's ABSOLUTELY assault.
If this is all about some drunk kid asking someone to show your tits, well those kids are everywhere there is alcohol.
Sure, but this was reportedly an item on a scavenger hunt run by a member of the security staff. That crosses the line from stupid drunks to actual systematic harassment.
Unfortunately that's a hard thing to do: the protocol isn't universal. Some people feel that even light verbal flirting is inappropriate among strangers in a large social setting like a con, let alone actual contact. On the other side, there ARE people who want to be a public playing. Clearly no protocol is going to satisfy both of them.
So it's kind of dependent on the culture of a particular crowd. I attend some geeky events where greeting complete strangers with a hug is customary, though there's a very subtle pause with open arms to make sure they accept the invitation (the other person move INTO the hug). That's not mainstream social custom, but almost everyone in that crowd understands that nonverbal protocol.
Could we create a rather large wiki to try to document the standards of various subcultures? Would consensus be possible?
It's pretty clear that something has changed in geek culture over the last decade. But WHAT? Why is sexual assault a growing problem, to the point where the perpetrators are tolerated instead of ostracized the way they used to be?
... and it's not "sexual harassment". It's "sexual assault". I've been seeing considerably more of people being inappropriately aggressive, and not just in hacker cons. It's happening in sci fi cons too, and tech business cons, and plenty of other places. Sales conferences have always been bad, but it's new to see so much of this in geek culture.
I'm pretty sexually liberated (OK, I'm a fucking slut), but that doesn't mean free for all. No matter how much you think they want it, never assume they're interested unless they respond positively to some gentle verbal flirting... And if they don't, they're not interested, so please fuck off.
I know this sounds obvious to many, but I keep seeing rather horrifying examples of geeks completely failing to follow that basic protocol.
Slashdot Mirror
With apologies: No 7-row keyboard. No docking connector. Lame. :)
Sweet! That's completely respectable for such a tiny and lightweight design. It's good enough to make maneuvering possible in tiny satellites, and perhaps make stationkeeping more efficient in moderate sized ones assuming it's reliable and has a good service life.
Specific Impulse. Discussing a new thruster without giving Isp is about as useful as announcing a "revolutionary networking technology" without giving a bits per second figure: interesting hack, but is it vaguely practical?
And what happened with iOS is going to happen again with MacOSX.
... Apple will continue making loads of money selling other people's software, and developers will mostly stay on board because the App Store is a much bigger market than you usually get to tap as an indie?
You say it like it's something that Apple somehow should regret. I don't like it, but it seems to be working out pretty well for them.
you can never fit more than 7.4 at a time
You can't fit more than 7.4 discrete IDs in a single transaction, but they're taking a statistical approach. If they can collect data from thousands of transactions within a dozen hops from you, it's plausible to correlate who you are and who you're transacting with. It might take a lot of data points to prove beyond a reasonable doubt, but far fewer to get a warrant signed.
No, if that's all they wanted the Swedes could have accepted the Ecuadorians' offer to interview Assange in the embassy.
And the Ecuador Embassy promised to not willingly break any UK laws while in Britain.
IANAL, but they probably aren't breaking any laws - they are allowing someone to apply for political asylum reside in their sovereign territory while he is being processed. That's why the UK is trying to pull this end run around international law.
No, the sex crime being "pressuring to continue when she wanted a condom, despite an implicit, but not explicit, 'no'". It's a lesser thing than what most of the world calls rape, but it's more than you suggest.
It's still certainly not an excuse to invade foreign soil.
All of which is true - but none of this is normally grounds to go invade a foreign embassy.
... then hand them over to Argentina. Then send the Brits a diplomatic cable: "Fuck me? Well fuck you too."
Also note that they're threatening to raid the embassy for someone who's alleged crime isn't even treason - this is still over the dubious sex crime charges. It's amazing that that the UK is even considering setting this kind of precedent over a moderate criminal charge, just because he kind of embarrassed them.
Certainly, though they're doing well in war games, and the basic tradeoffs are pretty well understood.
It holds 8, but it also has 480 rounds in the cannon. Don't knock it - people thought missiles made guns obsolete (witness the F-4, originally designed with no guns), but cannon kills are still a notable minority.
The thing is you never really need to sustain a fight that long. It just takes a half dozen F-22s to go in and shoot the place up; then the 4th gen fighters move in, clean up anything that's left, and hold the territory while the F-22s fly off, reload, and go to capture more airspace. Of course, this is really done in a rotation, not all-in/all-out.
Cost of maintenance astronomical == piece of shit.
Perhaps it's a POS, but it's a POS that can maintain air superiority even when significantly outnumbered (by an order of magnitude) by ANY other aircraft, full stop.
It's not like there's a huge fleet of these things. There are 187. All the everyday stuff (escorting stray aircraft from restricted airspace, air support, shooting down bombers, air patrols) are handled by the thousands of F-15, F-16, and F/A-18 aircraft which will be in service for quite a while longer.
So:
Cost per hour of operation: Astronomical.
Total program cost: Not really that high, as a percentage of military spending - about one year's worth of the total military budget for a service life of decades. It's the same magnitude as each of the F-15, F-16, and F/A-18 programs.
Capability of completely dominating any air superiority battle for the forseeable future: Priceless.
That's certainly worth considering. Even where it is a problem, the creepers are clearly a very small minority. It's very likely that my perceived increase is due to better communication (the internet is efficient at spreading these stories), people beginning to object more publicly when it happens (I have no problem with that!), and perhaps even that the geek crowd has grown (making it ever more likely that there will be at least one incident at a gathering).
For someone who thinks that even "light verbal flirting" in a "large social setting" is inappropriate, I think that would be hard for that person. ... Being able to stop unwanted attention and being able to stop giving unwanted attention are basic social skills, and are just a fact of life.
Think of it from the perspective of a gorgeous woman with large breasts. She's going to be getting wolf whistles and approaches constantly. It gets old, and I can absolutely see in a context like Readercon where she would want a standard where people will leave her alone so she can focus on literature.
I don't actually disagree with you - the facts of life are that big tits == constant attention, even after it gets seriously old, and there's not an objective line that can be drawn where people can dance freely yet not offend her. On the whole, the default social protocol isn't going to cater to what she wants, and while I sympathize, it's my opinion that other people's interests matter too.
But that just highlights my point: it would be very hard to get consensus on a global default protocol (she's reasonably going to object to what I want); and it would require a rather complex system to document the cases where greeting with a kiss is standard vs times where it's expected that everyone is supposed to keep their thoughts to themselves and save it for another time.
You should read up on what assault means. The first two sentences on Wikipedia: "In law, assault is a crime which involves causing a victim to apprehend violence. The term is often confused with battery, which involves physical contact."
Saying "I'm gonna kill you" is assault. Saying "I'm gonna rape you" is sexual assault.
Aside from that, physical contact WAS made in both of my examples above.
Unfortunately you really do need policies for this. Stabbing is a physical crime; sexual assault is more a social one with usually no physical evidence; and when people hear about it they tend to downplay it or imagine mitigating circumstances. That's not even unreasonable: it's much harder to know what the perpetrator's intentions were. The line between OK and not is much blurrier than a stabbing case - what's acceptable varies more based on context.
Some social events enjoy being flirty, and others want to be a strictly business affair; and to set expectations correctly and to better judge when something went over the line, a written policy is important.
To clarify: What I linked above is the Readercon incident (mentioned second in TFS). I do agree that the lifetime ban is harsh, but it IS a zero-tolerance policy, and it's born of trying to create a very comfortable con. Playing favorites on a zero tolerance policy certainly isn't just.
The DEFCON crotch grabbing thing is completely separate. From the first link in TFS:
But I didn't, because of my own bad experiences at DEFCON, and those of people like KC, a journalist and student in San Francisco who wrote about attending DEFCON 19:
Nothing could have prepared me for the onslaught of bad behavior I experienced. Like the man who drunkenly tried to lick my shoulder tattoo. Like the man who grabbed my hips while I was waiting for a drink at the EFF party. Like the man who tried to get me to show him my tits so he could punch a hole in a card that, when filled, would net him a favor from one of the official security staff.
Or the experience of one of my friends, who prefers to remain anonymous. At a recent DEFCON, while leaning over to get her drink at the bar, someone slid his hand up all the way between her legs and grabbed her crotch.
I don't know if a lifetime ban is appropriate in this specific case because there is no article on what actually happened.
Article on what happened: http://glvalentine.livejournal.com/340623.html
The con's policy: "Readercon has always had a zero-tolerance harassment policy. Harassment of any kind — including physical assault, battery, deliberate intimidation, stalking, or unwelcome physical attentions — will not be tolerated at Readercon and will result in permanent suspension of membership."
Something like this might work well in highly social events where some flirting is generally appreciated by most but some people don't want to have to fight off continuous advances. I'm not sure that it'd work in more mainstream contexts where the norm is a conservative approach - it might not be able to achieve critical mass.
I like the idea though. I'm going to give it some thought.
We'll need to create a separate namespace from hankies. They're long since out of colors and collisions would be highly unfortunate. :)
We're talking about people sticking fingers where they shouldn't be in public, and in my secondhand experience literally whispering that he'd like to rape her if there weren't so many people around. Yes, really, in those words. That's not "confused about how to engage women" or "just ignorant of social etiquette"; it's ABSOLUTELY assault.
If this is all about some drunk kid asking someone to show your tits, well those kids are everywhere there is alcohol.
Sure, but this was reportedly an item on a scavenger hunt run by a member of the security staff. That crosses the line from stupid drunks to actual systematic harassment.
Where is the basic protocol Wiki?
Unfortunately that's a hard thing to do: the protocol isn't universal. Some people feel that even light verbal flirting is inappropriate among strangers in a large social setting like a con, let alone actual contact. On the other side, there ARE people who want to be a public playing. Clearly no protocol is going to satisfy both of them.
So it's kind of dependent on the culture of a particular crowd. I attend some geeky events where greeting complete strangers with a hug is customary, though there's a very subtle pause with open arms to make sure they accept the invitation (the other person move INTO the hug). That's not mainstream social custom, but almost everyone in that crowd understands that nonverbal protocol.
Could we create a rather large wiki to try to document the standards of various subcultures? Would consensus be possible?
It's pretty clear that something has changed in geek culture over the last decade. But WHAT? Why is sexual assault a growing problem, to the point where the perpetrators are tolerated instead of ostracized the way they used to be?
... and it's not "sexual harassment". It's "sexual assault". I've been seeing considerably more of people being inappropriately aggressive, and not just in hacker cons. It's happening in sci fi cons too, and tech business cons, and plenty of other places. Sales conferences have always been bad, but it's new to see so much of this in geek culture.
I'm pretty sexually liberated (OK, I'm a fucking slut), but that doesn't mean free for all. No matter how much you think they want it, never assume they're interested unless they respond positively to some gentle verbal flirting... And if they don't, they're not interested, so please fuck off.
I know this sounds obvious to many, but I keep seeing rather horrifying examples of geeks completely failing to follow that basic protocol.