Nape is also an outstanding way to stop enemy troops from overrunning your position, and to destroy troops without blowing up things like the bridgehead they are sitting on.
"If you're only judging by the inhumanity of it, then you can't beat a knife."
I'd take bleeding out over a fatal or severe dose of Blister Agent!
"So this technology is 5-10 years away? Kinda like how fusion is always 20 years away?"
But VC funding could be much sooner, especially if one sees it on a Slashvertisement! In 5-10 years the company may be forgotten, but the folks who made a buck from it regardless of outcome will remember it fondly.;)
"My real laptop is FedEX shipped past you. Next day air from the nearest station in canada to my hotel or destination."
That end-runs the hassle of carrying the thing (and its acessories), makes it less likely to get stolen, and would seem to be smart practice even if there were no TSA. I'll add that to my list of EEEjustifications!
"I am not allowed to show the files on my laptop to the customs agents due to HIPAA regulations. So I guess either I refuse, and go to jail, or allow them to look at it, and then go to jail once I set foot inside the U.S."
Carry a copy of the applicable HIPAA reg, inform them, and hand them the laptop if so ordered. You aren't "showing" them anything. They chose to take the information. I'd insist on a written statement that they did so before handing it to them.
"I think allot of this depends on the margins.. Meaning, on the low end, the vendor is forced to try to go for volume at the expense of individual product margins."
Asus could do massive volume of each design by keeping it available and gradually dropping the price. Upscaling features and prices is normal enough, but the tooling for the first versions is paid for. They could keep spitting them out and secure the market by flooding it.
That now that OLPC is no longer a threat that all of the other vendors of small low cost laptops will simply stop offering them... Just a thought...:) Asus is doing very well with its flagship offering. The people who don't get it right may stop offering small lappies, but at last there is a small, uncrippled (unlike I-Openers etc) flash drive computer in a very convenient form-factor. OLPC may die out, but their business model isn't our problem. Asus proved that running a real desktop OS in that package is what consumers want as opposed to deliberately crippled equipment running crippled operating systems. Crippling gives "product differentiation", but it still leaves a gap. Asus just exploited that gap.
"All in all this is just the price you pay for exploiting cheap labor in a country that has been a bitter adversary for the last 60 years."
At this point the adversary relationship is our choice, and as China becomes more powerful we should consider its functional value rather than our post-Colonial nostalgia for White power in Asia. We have a mutual cultural enemy in Islam, and far more interests in common than otherwise. (Tibet is functionally expendable. It needs us but we don't need Tibet.) Time to quit hatin' on the "Heathen Chinee". China never invaded the West and forced it to trade in opium, nor did China support any Kuomintang equivalents here. The screwing has been quite one-sided. No wonder they are pissed!
"There is simply no reason we shouldn't have luxury RV zeppelins by now."
They don't stay above the weather all the time, and given the helium shortage wasting such a valuable gas on airships is questionable at best. They are also SLOW. Good luck trying to sell the idea though.
"More or less a pork project as there's lots of money to be made in contracting and such for maintenance to keep them flying."
Most maintenance is done by blue-suiters so that small number of aircraft isn't especially lucrative. A lot of F-117 parts originate from other aircraft (it was cheaper that way) and aren't special.
USAF leadership also tried to kill the A-10, but it survived despite them. Not all the calls they make are good or selfless...
If the AF had succeeded in killing the 117 program before having Raptors available, that would have helped leverage more Raptors. The AF = fighter pilots, and is fighter-centric. That's fine because air dominance is their job, but IMO it would make sense for the Army to tell the USAF to stuff the Key West agreement and run its own UAVs, COIN aircraft and tactical airlift. Note Secretary Gates expressing his frustrations on the news!
I'm a proud veteran AF maintainer, but I didn't drink the corporate Koolaid.:)
"In a day and age where aircraft from the 1950's are still flying and in active service, to see something like the F-117 come and go so quickly has to be a sign of major design limitations from the first day of use."
You are forgetting that fighter/attack aircraft lifecycles are much shorter than airlift/tanker lifecycles. There isn't a technology "race" with airlifters and tankers, or heavy strategic bombers like the B-52. Fighter/attack systems are obsoleted much more quickly.
Another factor in retiring the 117 is that the Air Force is _desperate_ for money to replace aging aircraft it should have replaced years ago. That means dumping lots of support people such as personnellists, retiring every system they can, and focusing on priority number one which is total air dominance. Offing the 117 frees up the many people supporting it to shift to the Raptor.
If you or someone else would post a tutorial on doing that, other OLPC users could sort out theirs with less worry about breaking them.
It's a given computers are going to break, and the geeks-to-be using OLPCs need all the help they can get. Of course not all OLPC users will repair their own gear, but we can be sure that some of them will rebuild them from parts just as many of us learned to do.
"My idea is is lead up to the release with a blog posting articles and links that the type of person who'd like my software would find interesting, then one day announcing my software."
Lose the vain foreplay and just release the software when it's ready.
If it's any good, the blog won't have mattered because the sort of person who will want the software will hear about it from peers. You can use P2P to spread it afterwards.
"They may be able to see more of your data than your friends or network members can -- and you also expose your friends' data when you add the application"
They don't see any of MY data, because I don't use Facebook. It's a simple choice between vanity or privacy.
"But the chances of someone wanting your stuff that badly are probably nil, and if they are willing to kill your dogs to get your stuff, they'll probably kill you too."
The dogs are helpful there too. All they need do is bark, and any sensible homeowner has firearms ready to hand.
When my pit bulls finally passed from old age, we went with a pair of cocker spaniels. They are hyper (never get just one, they need constant play), alert to intruders, and let us know when anyone is near the edge of our property.
Slashdot Mirror
Depends on what you build into it. Tinfoil Hat Linux has some interesting ideas:
http://tinfoilhat.shmoo.com/readme.txt
Instead of a floppy, one might use a multisession LiveCD.
"I still think Napalm (or Mark 77 Firebombs if you want to avoid the Geneva Convention); rules the day when it comes to inhuman active weapon"
Napalm is not, repeat NOT, illegal under the Geneva Convention! Certain uses of "incendiary weapons" are prohibited:
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/policy/int/convention_conventional-wpns_prot-iii.htm
Nape is also an outstanding way to stop enemy troops from overrunning your position, and to destroy troops without blowing up things like the bridgehead they are sitting on.
"If you're only judging by the inhumanity of it, then you can't beat a knife."
I'd take bleeding out over a fatal or severe dose of Blister Agent!
"And when it comes to cans, just bag them and take them with you to the supermarket,"
Aluminum scrap pays well. Check with commercial recyclers in your area before
giving away aluminum.
"So this technology is 5-10 years away? Kinda like how fusion is always 20 years away?"
;)
But VC funding could be much sooner, especially if one sees it on a Slashvertisement!
In 5-10 years the company may be forgotten, but the folks who made a buck from it
regardless of outcome will remember it fondly.
"My real laptop is FedEX shipped past you. Next day air from the nearest station in canada to my hotel or destination."
That end-runs the hassle of carrying the thing (and its acessories), makes it less likely to get stolen, and would seem to be smart practice even if there were no TSA. I'll add that to my list of EEEjustifications!
"I am not allowed to show the files on my laptop to the customs agents due to HIPAA regulations. So I guess either I refuse, and go to jail, or allow them to look at it, and then go to jail once I set foot inside the U.S."
Carry a copy of the applicable HIPAA reg, inform them, and hand them the laptop if so ordered. You aren't "showing" them anything. They chose to take the information. I'd insist on a written statement that they did so before handing it to them.
"I think allot of this depends on the margins.. Meaning, on the low end, the vendor is forced to try to go for volume at the expense of individual product margins."
Asus could do massive volume of each design by keeping it available and gradually dropping the price. Upscaling features and prices is normal enough, but the tooling for the first versions is paid for. They could keep spitting them out and secure the market by flooding it.
The people who don't get it right may stop offering small lappies, but at last there is a small, uncrippled (unlike I-Openers etc) flash drive computer in a very convenient form-factor.
OLPC may die out, but their business model isn't our problem. Asus proved that running a real desktop OS in that package is what consumers want as opposed to deliberately crippled equipment running crippled operating systems. Crippling gives "product differentiation", but it still leaves a gap. Asus just exploited that gap.
"All in all this is just the price you pay for exploiting cheap labor in a country that has been a bitter adversary for the last 60 years."
At this point the adversary relationship is our choice, and as China becomes more powerful we should consider its functional value rather than our post-Colonial nostalgia for White power in Asia. We have a mutual cultural enemy in Islam, and far more interests in common than otherwise. (Tibet is functionally expendable. It needs us but we don't need Tibet.)
Time to quit hatin' on the "Heathen Chinee". China never invaded the West and forced it to trade in opium, nor did China support any Kuomintang equivalents here. The screwing has been quite one-sided. No wonder they are pissed!
"My lack of knowledge is the one thing keeping that at bay for now."
Install Linux on ONE of those boxes, and use the others to surf for info if you have problems with the Linux install. Want knowledge? Learn by doing.
"There is simply no reason we shouldn't have luxury RV zeppelins by now."
They don't stay above the weather all the time, and given the helium shortage wasting such a valuable gas on airships is questionable at best. They are also SLOW.
Good luck trying to sell the idea though.
"More or less a pork project as there's lots of money to be made in contracting and such for maintenance to keep them flying."
:)
Most maintenance is done by blue-suiters so that small number of aircraft isn't especially lucrative. A lot of F-117 parts originate from other aircraft (it was cheaper that way) and aren't special.
USAF leadership also tried to kill the A-10, but it survived despite them. Not all the calls they make are good or selfless...
If the AF had succeeded in killing the 117 program before having Raptors available, that would have helped leverage more Raptors. The AF = fighter pilots, and is fighter-centric. That's fine because air dominance is their job, but IMO it would make sense for the Army to tell the USAF to stuff the Key West agreement and run its own UAVs, COIN aircraft and tactical airlift. Note Secretary Gates expressing his frustrations on the news!
I'm a proud veteran AF maintainer, but I didn't drink the corporate Koolaid.
"Someone needs to get the morons at NASA a dose of reality. America's Army FPS game works because many people like to shoot imaginary people."
Grand Theft Shuttle?
Your analogies intrigue me. I would like to subscribe to your newsletter.
"In a day and age where aircraft from the 1950's are still flying and in active service, to see something like the F-117 come and go so quickly has to be a sign of major design limitations from the first day of use."
You are forgetting that fighter/attack aircraft lifecycles are much shorter than airlift/tanker lifecycles. There isn't a technology "race" with airlifters and tankers, or heavy strategic bombers like the B-52. Fighter/attack systems are obsoleted much more quickly.
Another factor in retiring the 117 is that the Air Force is _desperate_ for money to replace aging aircraft it should have replaced years ago. That means dumping lots of support people such as personnellists, retiring every system they can, and focusing on priority number one which is total air dominance. Offing the 117 frees up the many people supporting it to shift to the Raptor.
"They're not very rational. They'll probably demand you release the sample from its captivity."
They have the teeth and digestive systems of omnivores, yet object to one of the results of millions of years of evolution, that we eat meat.
Thank you for responding as predicted, APK!
If you or someone else would post a tutorial on doing that, other OLPC users could sort out theirs with less worry about breaking them.
It's a given computers are going to break, and the geeks-to-be using OLPCs need all the help they can get. Of course not all OLPC users will repair their own gear, but we can be sure that some of them will rebuild them from parts just as many of us learned to do.
"It's the geeks playing with their new OLPCs and not cleaning the cheeto/mountain dew residue off their fingers that's causing this."
Yeah! It's just Cheetos (fapfapfap), really, (fapitafpitafapita) and (UNF!!!) Dew.
Whew.
Cheeep a$& k3ybord....
"My idea is is lead up to the release with a blog posting articles and links that the type of person who'd like my software would find interesting, then one day announcing my software."
Lose the vain foreplay and just release the software when it's ready.
If it's any good, the blog won't have mattered because the sort of person who will want the software will hear about it from peers. You can use P2P to spread it afterwards.
"They may be able to see more of your data than your friends or network members can -- and you also expose your friends' data when you add the application"
They don't see any of MY data, because I don't use Facebook.
It's a simple choice between vanity or privacy.
"It still exists?"
It exists to sell Office, kind of like herpes sells acyclovir...
"But the chances of someone wanting your stuff that badly are probably nil, and if they are willing to kill your dogs to get your stuff, they'll probably kill you too."
The dogs are helpful there too. All they need do is bark, and any sensible homeowner has firearms ready to hand.
When my pit bulls finally passed from old age, we went with a pair of cocker spaniels. They are hyper (never get just one, they need constant play), alert to intruders, and let us know when anyone is near the edge of our property.
One may so hope!
The bomb lift trucks used to load missiles are actually simple, stable, easy to use, and precise.
http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=981
http://musee.1wing.free.fr/VHC/VHC%20023.htm
OTOH, changing truck tires sucks, as does changing track. Mechy strength would be useful there.