C'mon, the Special Ops guys in the movies don't bludgeon prople over the head, they snap their neck because it's much easier to kill someone that way.
(Still laughing and wiping tears from my eyes)
Ok, so let me get this straight:
a. Colombian mob... b. Russian mob... c. Iranian terrorist......henchmen are holding my...
a....family... b....parish... c....child's school bus......hostage in return for...
a....a fueled 747... b....14.3 gazillion dollars... c....the release of political prisoners......and I decide to go "lone wolf" against the wishes of...
a....the police chief... b....the commanding officer... c....my in-laws......and rescue them. So I sneak up on them by...
a....dropping through the ceiling on a rope with a hands-free mike... b....painting my face so I blend in with the wallpaper... c....tip-toeing......, come up behind the bad guys, and --
-- ready for this? --
Twist their heads as if to say, "Hey, look at that!" And they drop dead instantly! As if by magic! Messrs. Smith and Wesson had it all wrong! How my chiropracter manages to not kill all his patients is a matter for wild conjecture! It's quiet, effective, and guaranteed! And if you order "How To Knock Off Bad Guys" right now, we'll thrown in this BEAUTIFUL set to Ginsu knives! Be an Army of One! Operators are standing by, have your Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Diner's Club, Chevron, or library card ready!
Back in the day, I wrote my own BBS using Turbo Pascal 3.01b (the "b" signifying that I'd patched it myself so it would autoload the error messages file). I coded in support for XModem and YModem as built-in protocols. Then came ZModem and BiModem. I built in the configurable ability to fire off external utilities for file transfers, and suddenly my board was HOT! It had a message board, user logins, user access levels, operator chat, and a text RPG. If you lived in Fremont and remember the WarpBBS, that was mine. I was a BBS operator that rolled his own BBS. I was a GOD!!!
And then came the 'net. More and more the modem sat idle. The message board started going stale. No one wanted the latest DOS game, Windows app cracks, or lo-res monochrome pr0n. No longer did the 28.8 USRobotics Sportster modem twinkle in the night as bits rushed across the copper.
Then came the end. There had been no calls for days. My machine had become no more interesting to the outside world than a street lamp burning on someone else's block. As I stood there mourning my BBS's demise, I'd swear a tumbleweed blew across the screen...
I reached down and hit the power button. The Hercules amber monitor blacked, and the fans whined as they spun down. And then there was silence. A heavy silence that had not been found in that room for months.
What they're trying to do here is attack a competing distribution chain. This is the whole reason they hate MP3s in the first place.
This is just now occurring to you?
MP3s represent a method for unknown artists and styles to reach popular recognition. This is a threat to the music industry, because if that were to happen, they would have to find acts that were actually good on their own merits as opposed to mediocre copycats and sexbomb divas who only sound good because of their multi-million dollar production jobs.
but this tired old media bashing just won't protect Bush from responisbility for this gargantuan fuck up
Protect him from what? And investigation? The Dems, cowering behind their cushy jobs and fat bank accounts, aren't demanding an investigation and the Repubs sure aren't going to do it for them. Defeat at election time? Don't bet on it. The economy sucks and the tech sector is getting hit the hardest, but Bush will just keep on waving the flag and talking about how he whupped al-Qaeda, domestic policy be damned, and the same American spirit that put Schwarzengroper in office as a governor will put Bush back in office as a "war hero". Nevermind that the WMDs didn't exist at all and there was no tie between Iraq and al-Qaeda or 9/11. Nevermind that 2 high level CIA managers resigned in protest when Bush used the "intelligence" to lie to Congress. Nevermind what he's done to the environmental protections, peace treaties, and social services that former administrations put in place. He'll get elected because <hick>, gosh darn it, them dadgummed Muzzlims are in-sane and homo-side-al and we need someone as the Prez-uh-dent who, wrong or right, can kick ass and take names! YEEHAW!!</hick>
Zip Drives didn't catch on? Every single machine I have has one. And every customer I have has one. When other means can't get the bits reliably to the the desired destination, a ZIP drive is an easy way to get it there. There's no "burn" process involved, making it much easier to explain to clerks who are not, almost as a rule, any more computer savvy than they can get away with. The media is reusable and I don't have to worry about scratches. They take a considerable licking with no problems. Sure, magnets would present a problem, but they haven't so far in all the years I've been using Zip drives.
LaserDisc never made it big, true, and MiniDisc ended up in niche markets, but Zip drives rock.
I want to take this opportunity to thank George Bush for leaning on the DOJ to discard the break up of Microsoft in favor of a slap-on-the-wrist remedy in the anti-trust suit against M$. I know I'm all in favor of having Bill Gates control what software I can run on my PC.
Your sig is, "'War's Legitimate Object Is More Perfect Peace.' William Tecumseh Sherman" This from the same man that did his level best to burn down and utterly destroy Atlanta, including women, children, the elderly, etc. Oh sure, like this guy has the first idea of what a more perfect peace would be like.
I submit that you would do well to follow the footsteps and quote the words of more honorable people, sir.
Say it with me: ZIP Drive. Up to a gig of space on a single removable disk. A few bucks a shot and reusable.
Or try a CD/DVD burner for stuff that you need long term and don't want to keep on the hard drive.
But what you're talking about is just dumb. "I start emailing things to myself through the corporate mail server. When the mail server fills up, I start adding to my intranet HTTP pages. When all else fails..." When the mail server fills up? Intranet page storage until all else fails? D00d, you're part of the problem for everyone on your network. What you're doing is *not* a solution. You don't have to say it for it be obvious: you haven't explained what you're doing to anyone in your company that has the ability to fire you.
On the other hand, taking your "practices" as an example, one can quickly see why bouncing packets around a network as a means of short term storage is just dumb.
Amen, Brother! And the person that composes the bill should immediately be sainted, knighted, and win the all expenses paid vacation to Cancun.
I get at least 50 spam e-mails a day.
Woosy boy -- I get 700 to 1000 emails a day, of which about 4 to 7 are ones I actually want. You wanna talk about annoyed? If I ever overhear someone bragging about spamming, I'm going for their kneecaps -- POP, POP!
...so the beer companies can only imply you'll get laid by bikini models, but never actually say so...
Wha-? Wait a minute. You mean my six-pack a day of Budweiser isn't guaranteed to help me score with a bevy of bikini and hotpants clad super babes? This immense and usually sloshing gut I've developed and covered with a pizza-stained "Wassup?" tank top isn't a total babe magnet?
Rub the ball across the back end of a female mouse.
Put ball in mouse cage.
Wait 24 hours.
Take heavy, scratched up, dripping ball from cage.
Give worn out and smiling male mouse lot's of water.
You now have not only a semen sample, you've got the happiest male mouse in the lab and, if you're sick enough, the grossest palm-sized squirt gun in history.
This is easy. When an anti-spam or url-checking tool starts up, it should automatically look up Verisign's IP, and then any email host or url that comes up as Verisign is spam.
Too bad for Verisign that their emails will get screened out by every spam checker on the planet. Some people made bad choices.
If you think there's no need for a space race, you are highly underestimating China. They are plowing along with their space program as fast as they can. They are determined to reach Mars first with a manned mission. This is no secret. What I think underlies this tremendous thrust forward is the intent to "claim" Mars and put munitions there. The only real military build-up that will count will be the one on Mars. China will attempt to grab the only wide-open space there is and effectively colonialize it.
That's just my personal opinion, but one that I could easily back by pointing to China's recent history.
This topic is timely in my case. Today I got a message from AOL that my domain, tgrigsby.com, was banned from sending emails to anyone inside AOL. Apparently, www.comusnetorg.us was using my domain in the "Sender" of the spams they were sending. They would generate random user names and prepend them to the that domain. The domain in the emails was fiveaalive.biz, which was a junk domain registered by comusnetorg.us and which redirected to the comusnetorg.us website.
All to sell fools illegal, fake, or nonexistent prescription drugs.
I've contacted my ISP in the hopes that they can smooth the ruffled feathers at AOL. And now I'm pondering the wisdom of suing a company that, according to the whois record, is based in the UK.
I feel they owe me money for using my domain name. I've now been personally affected by their actions, and I'm PISSED. I'd like to sue for possession of every testicle in the company, delivered to me floating in a jar of pickle juice, but that seems a bit unrealistic, so I guess I'll have to go for money.
Are there any lawyers here that can comment on my chances?
Potter's team at the Laboratory for Neuroengineering... created the Hybrot, a machine controlled by rat neurons sealed in a patented dish spiked with micro-electrodes... The work could spawn an entirely new class of adaptable robot combatants. But there's a hitch: Potter won't take a penny from the military. Sure, the Department of Defense might crib from his published research, but Potter wants to grasp new knowledge without bloody hands.
Well, isn't that sweet?
Folks, the DOD is going to get this research sooner or later. If they pay for it, they get access to it first, and that's an advantage they are willing to pay for, but either way they'll get the technology sooner or later, regardless.
So would his hands truly be bloody? Or does he rest easier by fooling himself into believing that, if he just pretends he's not part of the problem, no one will blame him?
If he does the research using DARPA funds, but doesn't directly create a weapon, is he still a bad man? I would argue that he's not, that he is realistically taking advantage of a resource knowing full well that that non-warm-and-fuzzy, Big-Bird-less reality is that the DOD will serve its purpose, whether or not he delays them until he publishes.
Is it just me or did the pictures of the "conference" look more like a science fair project, complete with high school kids and the occasional assisting alumni building, displaying, and explaining the project to their teachers?
Is this site for real? Or did someone just put one over on all of/.?
Re:It's not the size. It's how you use it.
on
Goodbye, Galileo
·
· Score: 1
It was only that slow because some schmoe accidentally bumped the "turbo" button, slowing it from 10 MHz. This is the same guy that didn't take the little twisty wire off the high gain antenna when taking it out of the Radio Shack package and installing it....
Speaking of robots, why are we making more use of our robot technology to do the work of assembling modules on the space station, doing some of the scientific work onboard the station, etc.?
Also, why don't we have a flying 'bot checking the outside of the shuttle, or any other craft for that matter, once it's in space? Seems take-off is a fairly tramatic experience. Wouldn't you want to do a visual check of the outside to make sure everything is kosher before making the equally traumatic flight back home?
Also, cutting the line may be easier than using explosives. A sufficiently strong laser would do the job. Nanotubes absorb light so readily and have such a hard time dissipating heat that a camera flash will make certain types of nanotube explode. So it seems logical that a terrorist with a line of sight on the tallest man-made structure ever built will have an easy time picking it off.
I'm sure that the builder will have to coat the cables, if not the individual strands, with some kind of highly reflective substance, so perhaps they would use a small, light, cheap, homemade rocket fired at it to break the surface. Or, heck, just a high powered, high caliber rifle. Then follow that with a really strong laser mounted some distance away to create the cable killing explosion.
This of course assumes that you can get the thing built in the first place. Any terrorist halfway smarter than the rocks he flings will try to destroy it as it's being built.
we still need to develop the cheap carbon nanotube construction methods
I love it when I see references to the "space elevator". Don't you folks realize that the space elevator represents the greatest promise we'll never realize? The amount of material and effort involved in creating such a structure will be nothing compared to the expenditures that will have to be made to secure such a structure from attack. If you think the WTC was symbolic to enemies of the U.S.A., how symbolic will a space elevator be? How long will it be before someone tries to fly a Piper Cub loaded with explosives into the tower? In fact, I would dare to say that it might never complete construction. As of 9/11, our world changed forever, not just for those of us that find ourselves more vulnerable than we ever imagined in the face of such horrific determination to sacrifice oneself in order to kill others, but for those out there who saw the U.S. as untouchable and impenetrable. We are not safe, we are not untouchable, and any space elevator that reaches close enough to the ground for a terrorist to reach with a prop or jet propelled craft will be the #1 biggest and must coveted prize for those that would expend human lives to strike out at us.
The shuttle was the Model T of reusable craft. Now we should expect NASA to begin generating a variety of craft for a variety of purposes. Smaller craft to transport people only, cargo-only craft, true "18 wheeler" craft capable of transporting extremely large loads, perhaps even other craft, in its cargo bay, etc. We should not sit around and wait for a space elevator to solve all our problems. It may never happen.
Sorry, but it just looks stupid. 50 million Smiths watching gauntlet-style while Neo and (the original?) Smith duke it out. They both hit at the same time, "Rocky II" style, and knock each other back. Yawn. Trinity gets to do the in-the-air cartwheel while shooting, and does her float-up-Karate-Kid-kick, both stolen from the first Matrix. They apparently break up an S&M club, which I suppose is different, but in the middle of it Mr. Kung Fu gets 50 guns pointed at him inches from his face and he doesn't flinch. Yawn again. Oh, and there are explosions. Surprise.
There appear to be mountain sized crustaceans fighting on the side of the machines. That's kinda cool. And what do the humans have? Mech suits, a la "Alien II". Aerial acrobatics by the seekers counterpoint to the mysteriously super sexy smooch between Trinity (yowza) and Neo (Super Predictable Man) make for the only high point in the trailer.
I'm looking forward to seeing the Animatrix. But this looks like it's going to be a let down.
Now here're some ideas they could have used:
1. Smith turns out to be humananity's salvation simply because he's the one variable the Matrix didn't foresee.
2. The Oracle turns out to be another manifestation of the Matrix controller, and hence a bad guy in disguise.
3. Neo loses the fight against Smith and can't return to the Matrix, but it doesn't matter because now his powers weirdly extend into the real world -- which, as it turns out, is a Matrix-like construct that even the Matrix hasn't detected.
4. Or better yet, it has detected it and is trying in some fashion to subvert it, and that's why it wants Neo, recognizing in him a link to this uber-Matrix.
Slashdot Mirror
C'mon, the Special Ops guys in the movies don't bludgeon prople over the head, they snap their neck because it's much easier to kill someone that way.
...henchmen are holding my...
...family... ...parish... ...child's school bus... ...hostage in return for...
...a fueled 747... ...14.3 gazillion dollars... ...the release of political prisoners... ...and I decide to go "lone wolf" against the wishes of...
...the police chief... ...the commanding officer... ...my in-laws... ...and rescue them. So I sneak up on them by...
...dropping through the ceiling on a rope with a hands-free mike... ...painting my face so I blend in with the wallpaper... ...tip-toeing... ..., come up behind the bad guys, and --
(Still laughing and wiping tears from my eyes)
Ok, so let me get this straight:
a. Colombian mob...
b. Russian mob...
c. Iranian terrorist...
a.
b.
c.
a.
b.
c.
a.
b.
c.
a.
b.
c.
-- ready for this? --
Twist their heads as if to say, "Hey, look at that!" And they drop dead instantly! As if by magic! Messrs. Smith and Wesson had it all wrong! How my chiropracter manages to not kill all his patients is a matter for wild conjecture! It's quiet, effective, and guaranteed! And if you order "How To Knock Off Bad Guys" right now, we'll thrown in this BEAUTIFUL set to Ginsu knives! Be an Army of One! Operators are standing by, have your Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Diner's Club, Chevron, or library card ready!
Damn straight! ZModem RAWKED.
Let's reminisce, shall we?
Back in the day, I wrote my own BBS using Turbo Pascal 3.01b (the "b" signifying that I'd patched it myself so it would autoload the error messages file). I coded in support for XModem and YModem as built-in protocols. Then came ZModem and BiModem. I built in the configurable ability to fire off external utilities for file transfers, and suddenly my board was HOT! It had a message board, user logins, user access levels, operator chat, and a text RPG. If you lived in Fremont and remember the WarpBBS, that was mine. I was a BBS operator that rolled his own BBS. I was a GOD!!!
And then came the 'net. More and more the modem sat idle. The message board started going stale. No one wanted the latest DOS game, Windows app cracks, or lo-res monochrome pr0n. No longer did the 28.8 USRobotics Sportster modem twinkle in the night as bits rushed across the copper.
Then came the end. There had been no calls for days. My machine had become no more interesting to the outside world than a street lamp burning on someone else's block. As I stood there mourning my BBS's demise, I'd swear a tumbleweed blew across the screen...
I reached down and hit the power button. The Hercules amber monitor blacked, and the fans whined as they spun down. And then there was silence. A heavy silence that had not been found in that room for months.
Quietly, I wept.
What they're trying to do here is attack a competing distribution chain. This is the whole reason they hate MP3s in the first place.
This is just now occurring to you?
MP3s represent a method for unknown artists and styles to reach popular recognition. This is a threat to the music industry, because if that were to happen, they would have to find acts that were actually good on their own merits as opposed to mediocre copycats and sexbomb divas who only sound good because of their multi-million dollar production jobs.
"mediocre copycats" = the Boy Band du jour
"sexbomb divas" = Britney (no talent, great PR)
Hey, it's my opinion.
f(r)={You can't confuse e with a food product.}
Sure you can. Well, ok, it's not food exactly, but...
Oh, nevermind...
they do do MBA's in India
Yeah, I'd heard they crap 'em out so fast the country is overflowing with'em.
Sorry, I'm bored and it was an easy shot.... I'll just go back to scanning Monster.com now...
but this tired old media bashing just won't protect Bush from responisbility for this gargantuan fuck up
Protect him from what? And investigation? The Dems, cowering behind their cushy jobs and fat bank accounts, aren't demanding an investigation and the Repubs sure aren't going to do it for them. Defeat at election time? Don't bet on it. The economy sucks and the tech sector is getting hit the hardest, but Bush will just keep on waving the flag and talking about how he whupped al-Qaeda, domestic policy be damned, and the same American spirit that put Schwarzengroper in office as a governor will put Bush back in office as a "war hero". Nevermind that the WMDs didn't exist at all and there was no tie between Iraq and al-Qaeda or 9/11. Nevermind that 2 high level CIA managers resigned in protest when Bush used the "intelligence" to lie to Congress. Nevermind what he's done to the environmental protections, peace treaties, and social services that former administrations put in place. He'll get elected because <hick>, gosh darn it, them dadgummed Muzzlims are in-sane and homo-side-al and we need someone as the Prez-uh-dent who, wrong or right, can kick ass and take names! YEEHAW!!</hick>
Zip Drives didn't catch on? Every single machine I have has one. And every customer I have has one. When other means can't get the bits reliably to the the desired destination, a ZIP drive is an easy way to get it there. There's no "burn" process involved, making it much easier to explain to clerks who are not, almost as a rule, any more computer savvy than they can get away with. The media is reusable and I don't have to worry about scratches. They take a considerable licking with no problems. Sure, magnets would present a problem, but they haven't so far in all the years I've been using Zip drives.
LaserDisc never made it big, true, and MiniDisc ended up in niche markets, but Zip drives rock.
I want to take this opportunity to thank George Bush for leaning on the DOJ to discard the break up of Microsoft in favor of a slap-on-the-wrist remedy in the anti-trust suit against M$. I know I'm all in favor of having Bill Gates control what software I can run on my PC.
"D00d, you're getting a Microsoft Dell!"
Your sig is, "'War's Legitimate Object Is More Perfect Peace.' William Tecumseh Sherman" This from the same man that did his level best to burn down and utterly destroy Atlanta, including women, children, the elderly, etc. Oh sure, like this guy has the first idea of what a more perfect peace would be like.
I submit that you would do well to follow the footsteps and quote the words of more honorable people, sir.
Say it with me: ZIP Drive. Up to a gig of space on a single removable disk. A few bucks a shot and reusable.
Or try a CD/DVD burner for stuff that you need long term and don't want to keep on the hard drive.
But what you're talking about is just dumb. "I start emailing things to myself through the corporate mail server. When the mail server fills up, I start adding to my intranet HTTP pages. When all else fails..." When the mail server fills up? Intranet page storage until all else fails? D00d, you're part of the problem for everyone on your network. What you're doing is *not* a solution. You don't have to say it for it be obvious: you haven't explained what you're doing to anyone in your company that has the ability to fire you.
On the other hand, taking your "practices" as an example, one can quickly see why bouncing packets around a network as a means of short term storage is just dumb.
I'm waiting for the "Do Not Spam" list.
Amen, Brother! And the person that composes the bill should immediately be sainted, knighted, and win the all expenses paid vacation to Cancun.
I get at least 50 spam e-mails a day.
Woosy boy -- I get 700 to 1000 emails a day, of which about 4 to 7 are ones I actually want. You wanna talk about annoyed? If I ever overhear someone bragging about spamming, I'm going for their kneecaps -- POP, POP!
...so the beer companies can only imply you'll get laid by bikini models, but never actually say so...
Wha-? Wait a minute. You mean my six-pack a day of Budweiser isn't guaranteed to help me score with a bevy of bikini and hotpants clad super babes? This immense and usually sloshing gut I've developed and covered with a pizza-stained "Wassup?" tank top isn't a total babe magnet?
DAMN THOSE BEER COMPANIES! DAMN THEM TO HELL!
You now have not only a semen sample, you've got the happiest male mouse in the lab and, if you're sick enough, the grossest palm-sized squirt gun in history.
You're welcome.
This is easy. When an anti-spam or url-checking tool starts up, it should automatically look up Verisign's IP, and then any email host or url that comes up as Verisign is spam.
Too bad for Verisign that their emails will get screened out by every spam checker on the planet. Some people made bad choices.
If you think there's no need for a space race, you are highly underestimating China. They are plowing along with their space program as fast as they can. They are determined to reach Mars first with a manned mission. This is no secret. What I think underlies this tremendous thrust forward is the intent to "claim" Mars and put munitions there. The only real military build-up that will count will be the one on Mars. China will attempt to grab the only wide-open space there is and effectively colonialize it.
That's just my personal opinion, but one that I could easily back by pointing to China's recent history.
This topic is timely in my case. Today I got a message from AOL that my domain, tgrigsby.com, was banned from sending emails to anyone inside AOL. Apparently, www.comusnetorg.us was using my domain in the "Sender" of the spams they were sending. They would generate random user names and prepend them to the that domain. The domain in the emails was fiveaalive.biz, which was a junk domain registered by comusnetorg.us and which redirected to the comusnetorg.us website.
All to sell fools illegal, fake, or nonexistent prescription drugs.
I've contacted my ISP in the hopes that they can smooth the ruffled feathers at AOL. And now I'm pondering the wisdom of suing a company that, according to the whois record, is based in the UK.
I feel they owe me money for using my domain name. I've now been personally affected by their actions, and I'm PISSED. I'd like to sue for possession of every testicle in the company, delivered to me floating in a jar of pickle juice, but that seems a bit unrealistic, so I guess I'll have to go for money.
Are there any lawyers here that can comment on my chances?
Potter's team at the Laboratory for Neuroengineering... created the Hybrot, a machine controlled by rat neurons sealed in a patented dish spiked with micro-electrodes... The work could spawn an entirely new class of adaptable robot combatants. But there's a hitch: Potter won't take a penny from the military. Sure, the Department of Defense might crib from his published research, but Potter wants to grasp new knowledge without bloody hands.
Well, isn't that sweet?
Folks, the DOD is going to get this research sooner or later. If they pay for it, they get access to it first, and that's an advantage they are willing to pay for, but either way they'll get the technology sooner or later, regardless.
So would his hands truly be bloody? Or does he rest easier by fooling himself into believing that, if he just pretends he's not part of the problem, no one will blame him?
If he does the research using DARPA funds, but doesn't directly create a weapon, is he still a bad man? I would argue that he's not, that he is realistically taking advantage of a resource knowing full well that that non-warm-and-fuzzy, Big-Bird-less reality is that the DOD will serve its purpose, whether or not he delays them until he publishes.
Is it just me or did the pictures of the "conference" look more like a science fair project, complete with high school kids and the occasional assisting alumni building, displaying, and explaining the project to their teachers?
/.?
Is this site for real? Or did someone just put one over on all of
It was only that slow because some schmoe accidentally bumped the "turbo" button, slowing it from 10 MHz. This is the same guy that didn't take the little twisty wire off the high gain antenna when taking it out of the Radio Shack package and installing it....
Speaking of robots, why are we making more use of our robot technology to do the work of assembling modules on the space station, doing some of the scientific work onboard the station, etc.?
Also, why don't we have a flying 'bot checking the outside of the shuttle, or any other craft for that matter, once it's in space? Seems take-off is a fairly tramatic experience. Wouldn't you want to do a visual check of the outside to make sure everything is kosher before making the equally traumatic flight back home?
Makes sense to me.
Also, cutting the line may be easier than using explosives. A sufficiently strong laser would do the job. Nanotubes absorb light so readily and have such a hard time dissipating heat that a camera flash will make certain types of nanotube explode. So it seems logical that a terrorist with a line of sight on the tallest man-made structure ever built will have an easy time picking it off.
I'm sure that the builder will have to coat the cables, if not the individual strands, with some kind of highly reflective substance, so perhaps they would use a small, light, cheap, homemade rocket fired at it to break the surface. Or, heck, just a high powered, high caliber rifle. Then follow that with a really strong laser mounted some distance away to create the cable killing explosion.
I dunno, whaddayou guys think?
This of course assumes that you can get the thing built in the first place. Any terrorist halfway smarter than the rocks he flings will try to destroy it as it's being built.
we still need to develop the cheap carbon nanotube construction methods
I love it when I see references to the "space elevator". Don't you folks realize that the space elevator represents the greatest promise we'll never realize? The amount of material and effort involved in creating such a structure will be nothing compared to the expenditures that will have to be made to secure such a structure from attack. If you think the WTC was symbolic to enemies of the U.S.A., how symbolic will a space elevator be? How long will it be before someone tries to fly a Piper Cub loaded with explosives into the tower? In fact, I would dare to say that it might never complete construction. As of 9/11, our world changed forever, not just for those of us that find ourselves more vulnerable than we ever imagined in the face of such horrific determination to sacrifice oneself in order to kill others, but for those out there who saw the U.S. as untouchable and impenetrable. We are not safe, we are not untouchable, and any space elevator that reaches close enough to the ground for a terrorist to reach with a prop or jet propelled craft will be the #1 biggest and must coveted prize for those that would expend human lives to strike out at us.
The shuttle was the Model T of reusable craft. Now we should expect NASA to begin generating a variety of craft for a variety of purposes. Smaller craft to transport people only, cargo-only craft, true "18 wheeler" craft capable of transporting extremely large loads, perhaps even other craft, in its cargo bay, etc. We should not sit around and wait for a space elevator to solve all our problems. It may never happen.
Did you say, "Cluster?"
I don't think Cindy would approve.....
Ok, dammit, I'll admit it:
That trailer did NOT rock my world.
Sorry, but it just looks stupid. 50 million Smiths watching gauntlet-style while Neo and (the original?) Smith duke it out. They both hit at the same time, "Rocky II" style, and knock each other back. Yawn. Trinity gets to do the in-the-air cartwheel while shooting, and does her float-up-Karate-Kid-kick, both stolen from the first Matrix. They apparently break up an S&M club, which I suppose is different, but in the middle of it Mr. Kung Fu gets 50 guns pointed at him inches from his face and he doesn't flinch. Yawn again. Oh, and there are explosions. Surprise.
There appear to be mountain sized crustaceans fighting on the side of the machines. That's kinda cool. And what do the humans have? Mech suits, a la "Alien II". Aerial acrobatics by the seekers counterpoint to the mysteriously super sexy smooch between Trinity (yowza) and Neo (Super Predictable Man) make for the only high point in the trailer.
I'm looking forward to seeing the Animatrix. But this looks like it's going to be a let down.
Now here're some ideas they could have used:
1. Smith turns out to be humananity's salvation simply because he's the one variable the Matrix didn't foresee.
2. The Oracle turns out to be another manifestation of the Matrix controller, and hence a bad guy in disguise.
3. Neo loses the fight against Smith and can't return to the Matrix, but it doesn't matter because now his powers weirdly extend into the real world -- which, as it turns out, is a Matrix-like construct that even the Matrix hasn't detected.
4. Or better yet, it has detected it and is trying in some fashion to subvert it, and that's why it wants Neo, recognizing in him a link to this uber-Matrix.
Ok, yeah, it's late and I'm babbling.