We have thousands of years to send humans for entertainment, while we can more quickly send generations of robots for the same money. Resources are finite, and we need robots on Terra too.
Let countries other than the US send humans for vanity reasons. The world is rich and doesn't need US leadership. It matters that humanity get the tech, not necessarily that US oligarchs get the tech first.
While I'm going to get a amateur license (former Comm/Nav troop and I enjoyed the Comm bit) it's worth mentioning that a cheap CB radio will also work during a disaster for local comms and can be used to monitor truck traffic etc. Useful if you need to drive out of the mess and don't want to fight a traffic jam.
"you have to wonder if it s just a question of money keeping us down, or if it s also a risk avoidance mentality."
Wait to send meat passengers until robots are perfected. Development of remote-manned systems can proceed faster, and as space is permanently and utterly hostile to human life we wil require robots to do almost everything outside the areas we will live in anyway. No an option, so sending meat first is not just silly but counterproductive as a use of resources if you wan to send meat later.
Human passengers have unwittingly become an obstacle to effective space exploration.
Of course that XP machine never needs to connect to the internet.
BTW you can ditch the direct PC-to-parallel port connection if you ever wish to. These little units work a treat and tech support was outstanding. (A card in my buds Fanuc had malfunctioned and they helped him isolate that problem though it had nothing to do with their unit.)
There are plenty of parallel and serial port cards to adapt later desktops.
You can run XP etc in a VM for security if you have a machine you want to connect to the internet, then copy the code to be transferred to a shared folder on the more secure OS for transfer however you wish.
If you have any CNC gear that still uses floppies, the cheap Gotek USB adapters are plug-and-play replacements. I fitted one to my buds EZ Trak and it works flawlessly.
Many of the mentally ill aren't locked up as was good custom in times past because it's not legal to do so.
There being no meaninigful cure for crazy, the only to control the loons is to drug them into a stupor and sometimes restrain them. That's not workable when they aren't incarcerated, like it or not.
That leaves the streets, jails, and prison. The old way, they disappeared into the system to live out their lives, and were often buried on the grounds. Now they are dumped into the incarceration system where they are worse off, but the public can pretend it's for the sake of their rights.
When your taxes pay for things such as (unclassified) equipment manuals and training guides, they are free to reproduce both in the DoD world and by the public.
If your taxes paid for development of FOSS software solutions, DoD, the rest of the government you also pay for, and the public wouldn't be paying even more for vendor lock.
Paying for the development and maintenance of software is fine, but vendor lock is less fine.
"I'm absolute miffed by the number of comments, already, on this story where the commented doesn't know the difference between software and firmware and doesn't understand why that would void a devices warranty."
Slashdot is no longer a tech site and has not been for some time. It was bound to happen and there's too much profit involved to change it back.
What is needed is a replacement for Slashdot for techies. The promise that such a site can be grown to profitability and the tech audience abandoned later is legitimate reason to create it.
If using GPS then holding your phone ties up the use of a limb and is dangerous. Put the thing in a dash mount so it's naturally in the area you scan as you drive. It's legal having navigation aids mounted there (It's also legal having a laptop in your field of vision if it's a navaid. I use a cheap BU-353 (supposedly works with Linux too, but I've not tried it yet) USB GPS receiver with MapPoint on an old Thinkpad in a RAM mount (same as the coppers have, RAM and Gamber Johnson make nice gear and they have mounts for your car too.) Large, easy-to-scan display and works a treat. For the amount of time people spend in their vehicles, it's silly not to get quality gear mounts and integrate your nav and comm systems.
Handheld gear is distracting and excellent solutions are readily available.
Fine, now use science to prove your God exists. Prove it now or drop your Superstition. NOW. If you can't support your Sky Fairie myth with facts, fuck off. Because of that neither you or your beliefs do not deserve respect, because to propagate Superstition is toxic.
Prove your Deity, and I'll recant then kiss her/his/it's Noodly Appendage. If you cannot prove your deity, how dare you believe in it?
It's not a matter of science and religion being anything, it's just you have made the deliberate choice to suspend critical thinking in order to believe in both. That doesn't merit respect, only scorn.
JAPAN and any countries threatened by Chinese hegemony need nukes.
If you are serious about defending yourself you are willing to exterminate your attackers and eliminate the threat even if deterrence fails. If you are going to be erased there is every reason to ensure few enemy humans survive to plague the postwar world.
China is huge enough to withstand a nuclear exchange, so to deter it one needs many nuclear weapons. Mao knew this, and had no problem expending as many peasants as necessary to win. He won using that strategy and unified China. Chinese leaders value own-side life very little (human wave attacks during the Korean War are an example) because they know its easily replaced. Their record proves it.
Hiding under the nuclear skirts of the US isn't enough, because the US would be idiotic to suicide for Asia. Japan is enormously wealthy and can afford its own weapons.
Too bad we got in the way of Nippon solving the Chinese problem the last time. Tiny Japan was never the threat China will become.
"Not to mention that "penetrated by enemy operatives" sounds more like a movie synopsis rather than a rational approach to international diplomacy."
Such penetration was commonplace during the Cold War and no reason exists to believe it would stop since there is much to be gained from knowledge. International diplomacy should logically embrace the idea that there are "no friends or enemies, only interests" because it's really a bunch of different mobs cutting deals while vying for advantage.
"Except that this hurts US businesses because now there will be more incentive for other nations (even friendly nations) to use something other than our products."
Other nations are still screwed since no one is trustworthy. They can either buy from nations they don't mind monitoring them, buy from outright adversaries, or not give a shit and buy from the lowest bidder. They can also cut secret deals to share intel and benefit from monitoring. I highly doubt the spying was news to leadership, but it being made public requires some gesture be made.
If other nations avoid US software, fine and better for most Americans since software diversity and competition are good. I lose nothing if other nations stop buying Microsoft software. I gain if they have the foresight (Munich, cough, cough) to embrace Open and Free alternatives. If they make more hardware, the market gains by competition and diversity. I get more choice. I win.
If US companies want to assure potential customers their products are safe, they may submit them for audit. Perhaps the EU should have an Open software and hardware security audit process as a start.
We are still suffering from when the Invisible Hand of those who got rich off the housing bubble crushed our collective Invisible Testicles.
Trusting business to be patriotic is like trusting any other mob (including government) not to be a mob. People are ALL evil motherfuckers which means that any social framework must allow for MUTUAL RESTRAINT to somewhat level the playing field. Any system which presumes virtue is literally not sane.
"You are right, and meanwhile China is pushing solar power all the way and if the US does not move fast China will be the winner (again) and the US will be the loser."
Like we "lost" the ability to produce PCs the average consumer could not afford, but are now ubiquitous because their production and the pollution that goes with it was offshored? Cry me a river.
My computer is made in China, my phone is made in China, and if I can buy solar panels which serve me as well as the many Chinese electronic products I've purchased I don't care that they aren't enriching a few American CEOs plus a microscopic-and-shrinking US production force by being "assembled" in CONUS.
I win when I can buy quality I want at the price I want, not when industrialist fucktards who (cue George Carlin voice) "don't give a fuck about me" make more money by using a "Buy Amurrican" sales pitch. I don't want their shit and if they die I am amused.
Plenty of countries don't make all the equipment they use. Of course, plenty of countries don't loot their citizens to fund perpetual globalist wars to enrich the plutocracy. When I blindly "Buy American" I specifically fund the class who rules and oppresses this country and fucks over a goodly number of other people.
I don't care about that any more with the narrow exceptions of companies who care for their workers and customers, such as Lincoln Electric who manufacture welders.
It's reasonable to expect every intelligence agency to spy on anyone they can.
Perhaps as regards governments the hypocrisy should be dropped, and caught spies simply traded for other caught spies as was Cold War custom. Business IS business, and trusting anyone, even "allies" (whatever that means) can be childish especially if they are penetrated by enemy operatives.
How much we wish to restrain internal spying is another matter.
I wasn't suggesting mandatory vegetarianism, just more command emphasis on a varied diet.
I got to see military fattification in person from the 1981 to 2007.
What changed? The national diet. We used to be able to maintain a reasonably thin force with near-zero PT. Diet changes trashed that idea.
If you don't want hamplanet troops today, there are two mutually supporting ways to get a fit force.
Those are better diet, because diet can easily nullify exercise, and effective PT with careful emphasis on cardio and strength training while avoiding very expensive personnel injuries.
"Then they'd form companies to provide the service of executive management. "The lowest-paid employee at our company makes $1 million, so I can make $20 million!"
Your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
I'd love a diesel hybrid, especially a truck (can you say "jobsite power"?), but the reason we don't have cars with electric motors in each wheel is the unpleasant things which happen to wheels.
Putting complex parts outboard where they'll get a water (or in the Rust Belt, salty water and urea in winter) bath isn't great for longevity. Cables would wear and short, especially on the front wheels. Multiple motors would be very expensive and at the size needed could not be very robust.
No shit, especially if the electric service for that business is already at capacity. Many panels aren't near where a car would charge, adding further to the cost. If power enters the back of a structure and the parking spaces are in front, which is common, only low wattage lines for lighting may be available up front.
If the parking spaces are beyond a sidewalk, add demolition, concrete repair and underground conduit to the bill.
This was solved long ago for motorcyclists who ride at a much faster pace than pedalists. Align the mount so you can glance down at it. RAM make nice ones. If your phone display is too small that a glance won't do, dedicated GPS are cheap enough.
Review your route before leaving. If your route is complicated and in an unfamiliar area, print a paper map and toss it in a ziploc bag. If I go anywhere I need a GPS I do this in case the GPS fails.
The US military got fatter along with the rest of the nation. It wouldn't be a bad idea to have similar dietary changes at chow halls to spread awareness. Chow has gotten much better in recent decades, as have MREs (some of which are vegetarian), but there's still room for improvement.
Slashdot Mirror
The article is so bad it can be considered a troll.
How dare this shit get by the editors, even on Farkdot.
We have thousands of years to send humans for entertainment, while we can more quickly send generations of robots for the same money. Resources are finite, and we need robots on Terra too.
Let countries other than the US send humans for vanity reasons. The world is rich and doesn't need US leadership. It matters that humanity get the tech, not necessarily that US oligarchs get the tech first.
While I'm going to get a amateur license (former Comm/Nav troop and I enjoyed the Comm bit) it's worth mentioning that a cheap CB radio will also work during a disaster for local comms and can be used to monitor truck traffic etc. Useful if you need to drive out of the mess and don't want to fight a traffic jam.
"you have to wonder if it s just a question of money keeping us down, or if it s also a risk avoidance mentality."
Wait to send meat passengers until robots are perfected. Development of remote-manned systems can proceed faster, and as space is permanently and utterly hostile to human life we wil require robots to do almost everything outside the areas we will live in anyway. No an option, so sending meat first is not just silly but counterproductive as a use of resources if you wan to send meat later.
Human passengers have unwittingly become an obstacle to effective space exploration.
I agree as I support my buds CNC equipment.
Of course that XP machine never needs to connect to the internet.
BTW you can ditch the direct PC-to-parallel port connection if you ever wish to. These little units work a treat and tech support was outstanding. (A card in my buds Fanuc had malfunctioned and they helped him isolate that problem though it had nothing to do with their unit.)
http://www.highlanddnc.com/
"parallel port which doesn't even exists anymore"
There are plenty of parallel and serial port cards to adapt later desktops.
You can run XP etc in a VM for security if you have a machine you want to connect to the internet, then copy the code to be transferred to a shared folder on the more secure OS for transfer however you wish.
If you have any CNC gear that still uses floppies, the cheap Gotek USB adapters are plug-and-play replacements. I fitted one to my buds EZ Trak and it works flawlessly.
Many of the mentally ill aren't locked up as was good custom in times past because it's not legal to do so.
There being no meaninigful cure for crazy, the only to control the loons is to drug them into a stupor and sometimes restrain them. That's not workable when they aren't incarcerated, like it or not.
That leaves the streets, jails, and prison. The old way, they disappeared into the system to live out their lives, and were often buried on the grounds. Now they are dumped into the incarceration system where they are worse off, but the public can pretend it's for the sake of their rights.
Fear of Communism in its heyday was certainly quite rational. Let's not forget how the Soviet Union and China rolled at the time.
The problem was that the public were even more simple-minded then than they are now so Tailgunner Joe had a field day for a while.
Pay private industry to develop the open source software, just as anyone else in the market is free to do.
There is no obligation to vendor lock.
When your taxes pay for things such as (unclassified) equipment manuals and training guides, they are free to reproduce both in the DoD world and by the public.
If your taxes paid for development of FOSS software solutions, DoD, the rest of the government you also pay for, and the public wouldn't be paying even more for vendor lock.
Paying for the development and maintenance of software is fine, but vendor lock is less fine.
"I'm absolute miffed by the number of comments, already, on this story where the commented doesn't know the difference between software and firmware and doesn't understand why that would void a devices warranty."
Slashdot is no longer a tech site and has not been for some time. It was bound to happen and there's too much profit involved to change it back.
What is needed is a replacement for Slashdot for techies. The promise that such a site can be grown to profitability and the tech audience abandoned later is legitimate reason to create it.
Scenes come and go. All is transient.
If using GPS then holding your phone ties up the use of a limb and is dangerous. Put the thing in a dash mount so it's naturally in the area you scan as you drive. It's legal having navigation aids mounted there (It's also legal having a laptop in your field of vision if it's a navaid. I use a cheap BU-353 (supposedly works with Linux too, but I've not tried it yet) USB GPS receiver with MapPoint on an old Thinkpad in a RAM mount (same as the coppers have, RAM and Gamber Johnson make nice gear and they have mounts for your car too.) Large, easy-to-scan display and works a treat.
For the amount of time people spend in their vehicles, it's silly not to get quality gear mounts and integrate your nav and comm systems.
Handheld gear is distracting and excellent solutions are readily available.
Fine, now use science to prove your God exists. Prove it now or drop your Superstition. NOW. If you can't support your Sky Fairie myth with facts, fuck off. Because of that neither you or your beliefs do not deserve respect, because to propagate Superstition is toxic.
Prove your Deity, and I'll recant then kiss her/his/it's Noodly Appendage. If you cannot prove your deity, how dare you believe in it?
It's not a matter of science and religion being anything, it's just you have made the deliberate choice to suspend critical thinking in order to believe in both. That doesn't merit respect, only scorn.
JAPAN and any countries threatened by Chinese hegemony need nukes.
If you are serious about defending yourself you are willing to exterminate your attackers and eliminate the threat even if deterrence fails. If you are going to be erased there is every reason to ensure few enemy humans survive to plague the postwar world.
China is huge enough to withstand a nuclear exchange, so to deter it one needs many nuclear weapons. Mao knew this, and had no problem expending as many peasants as necessary to win. He won using that strategy and unified China. Chinese leaders value own-side life very little (human wave attacks during the Korean War are an example) because they know its easily replaced. Their record proves it.
Hiding under the nuclear skirts of the US isn't enough, because the US would be idiotic to suicide for Asia. Japan is enormously wealthy and can afford its own weapons.
Too bad we got in the way of Nippon solving the Chinese problem the last time. Tiny Japan was never the threat China will become.
That would deny other NATO nations the advantages of similar espionage. Not smart on their part.
"Not to mention that "penetrated by enemy operatives" sounds more like a movie synopsis rather than a rational approach to international diplomacy."
Such penetration was commonplace during the Cold War and no reason exists to believe it would stop since there is much to be gained from knowledge. International diplomacy should logically embrace the idea that there are "no friends or enemies, only interests" because it's really a bunch of different mobs cutting deals while vying for advantage.
"Except that this hurts US businesses because now there will be more incentive for other nations (even friendly nations) to use something other than our products."
Other nations are still screwed since no one is trustworthy. They can either buy from nations they don't mind monitoring them, buy from outright adversaries, or not give a shit and buy from the lowest bidder. They can also cut secret deals to share intel and benefit from monitoring. I highly doubt the spying was news to leadership, but it being made public requires some gesture be made.
If other nations avoid US software, fine and better for most Americans since software diversity and competition are good. I lose nothing if other nations stop buying Microsoft software. I gain if they have the foresight (Munich, cough, cough) to embrace Open and Free alternatives. If they make more hardware, the market gains by competition and diversity. I get more choice. I win.
If US companies want to assure potential customers their products are safe, they may submit them for audit. Perhaps the EU should have an Open software and hardware security audit process as a start.
"(an "Invisible Hand" if you will)"
We are still suffering from when the Invisible Hand of those who got rich off the housing bubble crushed our collective Invisible Testicles.
Trusting business to be patriotic is like trusting any other mob (including government) not to be a mob. People are ALL evil motherfuckers which means that any social framework must allow for MUTUAL RESTRAINT to somewhat level the playing field. Any system which presumes virtue is literally not sane.
"You are right, and meanwhile China is pushing solar power all the way and if the US does not move fast China will be the winner (again) and the US will be the loser."
Like we "lost" the ability to produce PCs the average consumer could not afford, but are now ubiquitous because their production and the pollution that goes with it was offshored? Cry me a river.
My computer is made in China, my phone is made in China, and if I can buy solar panels which serve me as well as the many Chinese electronic products I've purchased I don't care that they aren't enriching a few American CEOs plus a microscopic-and-shrinking US production force by being "assembled" in CONUS.
I win when I can buy quality I want at the price I want, not when industrialist fucktards who (cue George Carlin voice) "don't give a fuck about me" make more money by using a "Buy Amurrican" sales pitch. I don't want their shit and if they die I am amused.
Plenty of countries don't make all the equipment they use. Of course, plenty of countries don't loot their citizens to fund perpetual globalist wars to enrich the plutocracy. When I blindly "Buy American" I specifically fund the class who rules and oppresses this country and fucks over a goodly number of other people.
I don't care about that any more with the narrow exceptions of companies who care for their workers and customers, such as Lincoln Electric who manufacture welders.
It's reasonable to expect every intelligence agency to spy on anyone they can.
Perhaps as regards governments the hypocrisy should be dropped, and caught spies simply traded for other caught spies as was Cold War custom. Business IS business, and trusting anyone, even "allies" (whatever that means) can be childish especially if they are penetrated by enemy operatives.
How much we wish to restrain internal spying is another matter.
That would be a neat drivetrain for something the size of the old VW Caddy pickups, and with driven rear wheels offer better performance loaded.
I wasn't suggesting mandatory vegetarianism, just more command emphasis on a varied diet.
I got to see military fattification in person from the 1981 to 2007.
What changed? The national diet. We used to be able to maintain a reasonably thin force with near-zero PT. Diet changes trashed that idea.
If you don't want hamplanet troops today, there are two mutually supporting ways to get a fit force.
Those are better diet, because diet can easily nullify exercise, and effective PT with careful emphasis on cardio and strength training while avoiding very expensive personnel injuries.
"Then they'd form companies to provide the service of executive management. "The lowest-paid employee at our company makes $1 million, so I can make $20 million!"
Your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
I'd love a diesel hybrid, especially a truck (can you say "jobsite power"?), but the reason we don't have cars with electric motors in each wheel is the unpleasant things which happen to wheels.
Putting complex parts outboard where they'll get a water (or in the Rust Belt, salty water and urea in winter) bath isn't great for longevity. Cables would wear and short, especially on the front wheels. Multiple motors would be very expensive and at the size needed could not be very robust.
No shit, especially if the electric service for that business is already at capacity. Many panels aren't near where a car would charge, adding further to the cost. If power enters the back of a structure and the parking spaces are in front, which is common, only low wattage lines for lighting may be available up front.
If the parking spaces are beyond a sidewalk, add demolition, concrete repair and underground conduit to the bill.
This was solved long ago for motorcyclists who ride at a much faster pace than pedalists.
Align the mount so you can glance down at it. RAM make nice ones.
If your phone display is too small that a glance won't do, dedicated GPS are cheap enough.
Review your route before leaving. If your route is complicated and in an unfamiliar area, print a paper map and toss it in a ziploc bag. If I go anywhere I need a GPS I do this in case the GPS fails.
Healthier troops.
The US military got fatter along with the rest of the nation. It wouldn't be a bad idea to have similar dietary changes at chow halls to spread awareness. Chow has gotten much better in recent decades, as have MREs (some of which are vegetarian), but there's still room for improvement.