"Japan's IKAROS spacecraft has already successfully deployed the first solar sail in space, but today it made the only first that really matters: it successfully captured the sun's rays with its 278.709 square meter-sail and used the energy to speed its way through space. Each photon of light exerts 0.090718474 grams of pressure on the 278.709 square meter-sail, and the steady stream of solar exposure has succeeded in propelling the nearly 317.514659 kilogram-drone."
The link you provided shows that cars use more BTUs per passenger mile than anything but two light rail systems. Other mass transit systems (bus, jet, commuter train, etc.) all beat the automobile. Usually one provides links to buttress one's argument, or am I just too old-fashioned? (already know the answer...)
It'll be interesting to see if management abandons the policy of plunking Flash cookies on our computers when a new day comes. Every click on a discussion sets another one. Let's hope today was not just a convenient way to sneak them in from now on.
Please, Slashdot, drop the Flash cookies when the joke is over.
Do you mean you don't have an account and always post AC? Out of luck if so, but if you log in, go to Help/Preferences, choose Authors from the menu and uncheck any editor whose articles you no longer want to see.
I'm definitely not new here, and it amuses me that so many people get worked up over the editor's handiwork. I read the articles for the comments. Many thoughtful conversations emerge from seemingly trivial subjects, so maybe just try to enjoy the stream of prose that sometimes informs, entertains, reeks, or makes you laugh? Or go on to the next item. Spring is here, maybe take a walk in the sunshine.:^)
The problem I see with content creators using this new canvas is that it subtracts from the freedom of the reader's imagination. In other words, it replaces an idea (a story) with a specific representation of that idea, which is rather like having a book author at your side jabbing you periodically to see if you 'get' it.
"Stop poking me, Mr. Dawkins! I'm just using 'Goddamit' as an interjection."
Too late for lose/loose. It seems to be viral, perhaps intentionally to drive boomers nuts. Also on the 'endangered' list: affect/effect; their/there/they're; dissent/descent; and the biggie-- your/you're. The cracks first started years ago when traffic crossings started omitting the apostrophe in "DONT WALK" signs decades ago. I knew things were pointing downhill even then. Never saw a mixup of sales and sails, tho.
The brackets designate that the word actually appeared in lower case, but is being quoted as if it began the sentence. If you examine The Fine Article, you'd notice that the summary is paraphrasing the bracketed text, and using brackets is the accepted way of informing the reader that such editing has taken place. (This is my understanding, and if incorrect someone please pipe up.) I hope this clears up the confusion.
People who correct other's grammar, usage, or spelling should be more careful than to place a quotation mark after a period, at least in American English. http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/quotes.asp
Maybe we all need to take ourselves less seriously.:^)
I have FlashBlock, but that doesn't stop sites from using Flash cookies, whether or not a flash movie is even played.
If you use Firefox, upgrade to version 3.5+ and install Better Privacy and you can blow away these nasties (each one can be up to 100kb binary data by default, with no expiration, ever), which btw are OS- and browser-independent. You will be shocked at the baggage they've saddled you with till now...
Top 3 addins for privacy: Better Privacy, AdBlock Plus, and NoScript, hands down imo.
False dichotomy? "a source of ideas that could be developed for the real world" != fortune telling. Fortune telling is saying what will happen no matter what, and the former could be called 'brainstorming' exotic solutions to real problems.
Out of morbid curiosity, I googled the first paragraph, and got 294 hits, meaning it almost certainly was not composed by the troll who posted it. It is a copy/paste from any number of racist sites. I wish slashcode would allow minimizing any particular comment by clicking the subject line, but leave the thread below intact...
there's another fundamental problem with many Bank websites. They only work in IE.
As an Ubuntu user, my bank (FCU, actually) just sprung this "Windows/Mac only" policy lately. I've complained loudly to Member Services to no avail. They even said blankly that my "Lynux" system would no longer be able to access Online Banking because they were "beefing up security"!?!
I have CrossOver Office installed and it is simple to open IE8 and do my banking, but when I pointed out this flaw in their thinking, they had no comment.
Another point: I live in a rural area and have banked at this location for 15 years. I like all the tellers and ordinary staff. Changing banks would be a real hassle and there's no guarantee the new institution might not do the same thing...
He has more to worry about from targeted attacks than phishing attempts.
Unfortunately, this quote from him doesn't inspire confidence:
"Far too little attention has been paid to cyber threats and their consequences," Mueller said. "Intruders are reaching into our networks every day looking for valuable information. Unfortunately they're finding it. "
It would seem that he is resigned to the situation rather than seeking a remedy for it...
I'm no expert, but isn't our "planet" really a binary system, since the Moon contributes so much to the habitability of the Earth by stabilizing our rotational axis?
I realize the precision needed to detect the tiny wobble of an exoplanet is beyond our present capacity, but shouldn't our search planning include factors like the above (if they don't already)? I'd greatly appreciate an informed opinion on this.
A second possibility is that the planet hasn't been in its current position very long, Hellier said. Wasp-18b could have spiraled inward to its current position over millions of years. It may have been bumped out of its original orbit by another planet, for example.
"However, that does not solve the problem," Hellier said, because the planet's lifetime should still be very short and it would be very unlikely for his team to find it where it did.
What if people who feel the need to text while driving are provided with a "heads-up" keyboard display on their windshields like fighter pilots have? Entering text could be a simulation of "shooting" the desired virtual key via buttons on the steering wheel.
Not practical at the moment, I'll admit, but it would be easier than prying the devices out of folks' hands. Think of all the fun that could be had by blasting away at the idiot in front of you. Stress reliever?
Disclaimer: I do not own a cell phone and behoove all drivers to concentrate on that task.
A GPS recorded speed of 100mph, into a 50mph headwind = 150 mph airspeed.
Have you thought this out? Why would flying into a headwind speed up the plane? Just sayin'...
repaired Hubble Telescope may come in handy here
on
Black Hole Swallows Star
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
from the last paragraph of tfa:
Gaensicke hopes one of Hubble's new cameras, the Wide Field Camera 3, which was installed on the last space shuttle mission to visit the telescope, could reveal more about the object's origins. The camera may be able to spot a host galaxy around the object that was too faint to see with other instruments.
As our instrumentation improves, we'll probably have many more head-scratching discoveries...
Slashdot Mirror
"Japan's IKAROS spacecraft has already successfully deployed the first solar sail in space, but today it made the only first that really matters: it successfully captured the sun's rays with its 278.709 square meter-sail and used the energy to speed its way through space. Each photon of light exerts 0.090718474 grams of pressure on the 278.709 square meter-sail, and the steady stream of solar exposure has succeeded in propelling the nearly 317.514659 kilogram-drone."
Better?
Point taken. My haste to post has embarrassed me enough down the years... Thanks for the kind response.
Oops. Didn't see the Average Car. My mistake.
The link you provided shows that cars use more BTUs per passenger mile than anything but two light rail systems. Other mass transit systems (bus, jet, commuter train, etc.) all beat the automobile. Usually one provides links to buttress one's argument, or am I just too old-fashioned? (already know the answer...)
Hesitant grate watts peach wreck ignitions oft where kin dew ferrous?
It'll be interesting to see if management abandons the policy of plunking Flash cookies on our computers when a new day comes. Every click on a discussion sets another one. Let's hope today was not just a convenient way to sneak them in from now on.
Please, Slashdot, drop the Flash cookies when the joke is over.
I'm not a regular commenter
Do you mean you don't have an account and always post AC? Out of luck if so, but if you log in, go to Help/Preferences, choose Authors from the menu and uncheck any editor whose articles you no longer want to see.
I'm definitely not new here, and it amuses me that so many people get worked up over the editor's handiwork. I read the articles for the comments. Many thoughtful conversations emerge from seemingly trivial subjects, so maybe just try to enjoy the stream of prose that sometimes informs, entertains, reeks, or makes you laugh? Or go on to the next item. Spring is here, maybe take a walk in the sunshine. :^)
The problem I see with content creators using this new canvas is that it subtracts from the freedom of the reader's imagination. In other words, it replaces an idea (a story) with a specific representation of that idea, which is rather like having a book author at your side jabbing you periodically to see if you 'get' it.
"Stop poking me, Mr. Dawkins! I'm just using 'Goddamit' as an interjection."
Too late for lose/loose. It seems to be viral, perhaps intentionally to drive boomers nuts. Also on the 'endangered' list: affect/effect; their/there/they're; dissent/descent; and the biggie-- your/you're.
The cracks first started years ago when traffic crossings started omitting the apostrophe in "DONT WALK" signs decades ago. I knew things were pointing downhill even then.
Never saw a mixup of sales and sails, tho.
The brackets designate that the word actually appeared in lower case, but is being quoted as if it began the sentence. If you examine The Fine Article, you'd notice that the summary is paraphrasing the bracketed text, and using brackets is the accepted way of informing the reader that such editing has taken place. (This is my understanding, and if incorrect someone please pipe up.)
I hope this clears up the confusion.
People who correct other's grammar, usage, or spelling should be more careful than to place a quotation mark after a period, at least in American English.
http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/quotes.asp
Maybe we all need to take ourselves less seriously. :^)
I have FlashBlock, but that doesn't stop sites from using Flash cookies, whether or not a flash movie is even played.
If you use Firefox, upgrade to version 3.5+ and install Better Privacy and you can blow away these nasties (each one can be up to 100kb binary data by default, with no expiration, ever), which btw are OS- and browser-independent. You will be shocked at the baggage they've saddled you with till now...
Top 3 addins for privacy: Better Privacy, AdBlock Plus, and NoScript, hands down imo.
False dichotomy? "a source of ideas that could be developed for the real world" != fortune telling.
Fortune telling is saying what will happen no matter what, and the former could be called 'brainstorming' exotic solutions to real problems.
And if we assume a density greater than one spammer per 314.2 sq. km., we get more bang for the buck...
Out of morbid curiosity, I googled the first paragraph, and got 294 hits, meaning it almost certainly was not composed by the troll who posted it. It is a copy/paste from any number of racist sites. I wish slashcode would allow minimizing any particular comment by clicking the subject line, but leave the thread below intact...
there's another fundamental problem with many Bank websites. They only work in IE.
As an Ubuntu user, my bank (FCU, actually) just sprung this "Windows/Mac only" policy lately. I've complained loudly to Member Services to no avail. They even said blankly that my "Lynux" system would no longer be able to access Online Banking because they were "beefing up security"!?!
I have CrossOver Office installed and it is simple to open IE8 and do my banking, but when I pointed out this flaw in their thinking, they had no comment.
Another point: I live in a rural area and have banked at this location for 15 years. I like all the tellers and ordinary staff. Changing banks would be a real hassle and there's no guarantee the new institution might not do the same thing...
He has more to worry about from targeted attacks than phishing attempts.
Unfortunately, this quote from him doesn't inspire confidence:
"Far too little attention has been paid to cyber threats and their consequences," Mueller said. "Intruders are reaching into our networks every day looking for valuable information. Unfortunately they're finding it. "
It would seem that he is resigned to the situation rather than seeking a remedy for it...
Indeed, the first comment following FTA:
Just reorient the lettering of the circular table to improve readability. No need to rotate it.
Rate this comment: 12345
(Reply)
I was hoping someone would start a technical discussion of dependencies...
I'm no expert, but isn't our "planet" really a binary system, since the Moon contributes so much to the habitability of the Earth by stabilizing our rotational axis?
I realize the precision needed to detect the tiny wobble of an exoplanet is beyond our present capacity, but shouldn't our search planning include factors like the above (if they don't already)? I'd greatly appreciate an informed opinion on this.
from TFA:
A second possibility is that the planet hasn't been in its current position very long, Hellier said. Wasp-18b could have spiraled inward to its current position over millions of years. It may have been bumped out of its original orbit by another planet, for example.
"However, that does not solve the problem," Hellier said, because the planet's lifetime should still be very short and it would be very unlikely for his team to find it where it did.
hth
This is from the same page at The Telegraph, UK:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/6049924/Zombies-would-most-likely-wipe-out-humanity-if-they-really-existed-claim-scientists.html
How much credibility does this site actually have?
What if people who feel the need to text while driving are provided with a "heads-up" keyboard display on their windshields like fighter pilots have? Entering text could be a simulation of "shooting" the desired virtual key via buttons on the steering wheel.
Not practical at the moment, I'll admit, but it would be easier than prying the devices out of folks' hands. Think of all the fun that could be had by blasting away at the idiot in front of you. Stress reliever?
Disclaimer: I do not own a cell phone and behoove all drivers to concentrate on that task.
A GPS recorded speed of 100mph, into a 50mph headwind = 150 mph airspeed.
Have you thought this out? Why would flying into a headwind speed up the plane?
Just sayin'...
from the last paragraph of tfa:
Gaensicke hopes one of Hubble's new cameras, the Wide Field Camera 3, which was installed on the last space shuttle mission to visit the telescope, could reveal more about the object's origins. The camera may be able to spot a host galaxy around the object that was too faint to see with other instruments.
As our instrumentation improves, we'll probably have many more head-scratching discoveries...