Summary Gamma radiation dose rates were measured at several locations in and around the U.S. Capitol and U.S. Library of Congress buildings in Washington, D.C. A qualified radiation surveyor used a Bicron MicroRem meter for measuring. Dose rates inside the Capitol building and outside the Thomas Jefferson Building were measured at 30 microrem per hour. This dose rate: (1) exceeds local background radiation dose rates; (2) is up to 550 percent greater than the typical dose rate "at the fence line" around nuclear power plants; (3) is about 13,000 times greater than the average individual dose rate from worldwide nuclear power production; (4) is about 13,000 times greater than ongoing worldwide exposures to radiation from the Chernobyl accident; and (5) exceeds the dose rate associated with the radiation protection standards proposed for the Yucca Mountain high-level nuclear waste facility. The measured level of radiation is associated with up to a 0.5 percent increase in cancer risk, according to U.S. EPA risk assessment methods.
Yes, read that again. The pedestal for the statue of Roger Williams (Rotunda/Senate Chamber Hallway, U.S. Capitol) gives off about 30 microrem per hour... more than the proposed standards for radiation at the perimeter of Yucca Mountain. Just to put it in perspective.
Thermobaric not hyperbaric...
on
The Drone War
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· Score: 2, Informative
Quoth Katz: "The Predator spy plane and other unmanned drones and gunships (along with satellites, thermal imaging devices, X-ray scanners, etc.) not only search for the enemy, but fire guided missiles, drop powerful oxygen-sucking hyperbaric bombs, and guide bomb strikes from afar."
The BLU-82 Commando Vault (also known as the Daisy Cutter) is a 15,000 lb. thermobaric bomb, not "hyperbaric" as he calls it (although I suppose it makes sense in the way he uses it). And they certainly aren't dropped from unmanned planes. They are pushed out on skids from the back of Special Operations C-130s (or perhaps AC-130s).
For more on the Daisy Cutter and other thermobaric weapons, check the following links:
How is that pronounced? If you're Dutch, Flemish, Indonesian, Surinamer or South-African, it's pronounced like you think it should be. Otherwise, you could pronounce it like "Reign Dahl", "Rain Doll", "Rhine Dahl". We're not picky. As long as you make it sound different from "Region Deal".
Why did you choose this name? Because we were both fed up with people mutilating the pronunciation of the names "Daemen" and "Rijmen". (There are two messages in this answer.)
Can't you give it another name? (Propose it as a tweak!) Dutch is a wonderful language. Currently we are debating about the names "Herfstvrucht", "Angstschreeuw" and "Koeieuier". Other suggestions are welcome of course. Derek Brown, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, proposes "bob".
"Sorry, price information not yet available, as product remains unknown.
Do you have any wild ideas about the Ginger mystery? Visit our Ginger Discussion Board and add your opinions."
Something to keep your eye on...
Good but not modular enough (KMail)
on
Five Years of KDE
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· Score: 2, Insightful
I'm not sure if "modular" is the right word, but here is my gripe:
I installed KDE2 for the first time a few weeks ago and I love it. It's a great desktop and everyone who helped in its development deserves thanks. But when I decided that I wanted to upgrade KMail so I could have the new IMAP functionality, I found out that I can't upgrade just KMail. I would have to upgrade my entire KDE2 installation, which is no easy task for those of us who are new to it.
At least I have broadband. Imagine the poor guys on dialup that have to download all of KDE just to upgrade the mail client.
So for now I'm using Balsa which seems to get the job done. But I miss KMail... other than lacking IMAP support, the version I have is great (easy filtering, nice GUI, etc.).
And yes, you could claim that you just need to upgrade the knetwork package. But that requires other ones which require other ones. Following the dependency trail you end up installing the whole KDE system again. Don't you think you should allow upgrades of individual components?
Re:link for the amazon.com/red cross fund
on
More On Tragedy
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· Score: 1
I have been tracking the average donation (total/donations) and it has been slowly increasing from 24.98 early yesterday morning to about 32.23 as of 9:30 AM EST today. The increase has been steady. I'm not sure if there is anything notable about that, but I found it to be interesting.
If you can't donate blood, please donate financially.
Word of the Day: Sisyphean
on
Dorm Storm?
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· Score: 1
I guess I'm not the only one who gets the M-W word of the day... for those who don't here is the one he used in the submission:
Sisyphean \sih-suh-FEE-un\ (adjective): of, relating to, or suggestive of the labors of Sisyphus;
specifically : requiring continual and often ineffective effort
Great word. Impress your friends and use it today!
UpcomingMovies.com has the full scoop, saying it won't be out until 2003. They make note that there are currenty eleven plot/premise possibilities, so it could be just about anything. And as for a writer:
"(2/6/01) By way of the fan site, HarrisonFordOnline comes the news that the New York Times reports that Steven Gaghan (Traffic, Rules of Engagement) is now in talks to write, which means M. Night is out."
Of course Spielberg will direct. As for Lucas producing, Upcomingmovies says:
"Producer Note: George Lucas has been part of the Indy process for all three of the previous films, and would surely need/want to be part of the 4th film as well. This is noteworthy, as he's already quite busy with another project: Star Wars. (6/22/00) If things work out, Lucas would have a gap in 2002 where he could produce this movie in between filming of Episode II and Episode III."
"
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
Note that it says "Congress" and not "No one". The 1st Amendment protects from federal restrictions, NOT necessarily from state restrictions. It has been fought back and forth in the Supreme Court whether or not this applies to states.
And you are incorrect in your definition of federalism. Federalism is: "The distribution of power in an organization (as a government) between a central authority and the constituent units". It is established in the 10th Amendment by saying "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." And it is exactly the ideas of federalism that caused the 1st Amendment to be written as it is.
Try reading it sometime. You would be suprised how few people have.
I know it is almost tendy to recount your "I had to fight for 2 YEARS to get DSL" story... blah blah blah. Yes, it can be hard to get connected, but that isn't always the case.
I signed up with Verizon DSL (768 down/128 up) in October 2001. In about 25 days I had a working connection, and to date I would estimate the downtime as virtually zero (maybe an hour or two in 6 months). My connection speeds are usually in the 700 - 800 kbps range during the day, going up as high as 870 kbps during off-peak hours. Upload speeds are consistently in the 130 kbps range. Packet loss is zero. Latency is decent enough that I can play (and serve) UT games without problems. I couldn't be happier.
But you must consider that my apartment is on one side of the block, and on the other side is the CO. Distance means a lot with DSL, and (if the houses weren't there) an athetically inclined person could throw a baseball from my window and hit the CO.
Also, I am using a local ISP with great bandwidth. I pay a little bit more than if I had gone with Verizon as my ISP, but I welcome the chance to support the few remaining independent ISPs.
So that is my experience (a great one!). When people are knocking DSL, remember that not everyone has had a bad time with it.
"There is nothing more yielding than water, yet when acting on the solid and strong, its gentleness and fluidity have no equal in any thing. The weak can overcome the strong, and the supple overcome the hard. Although this is known far and wide, few put it into practice in their lives."
If the GPL is such an evil license with "viral aspects", then don't use it. No one is forcing Microsoft to release their code under the GPL. No one is forcing Microsoft to incorporate GPL'd code. Why are they, all of a sudden, terrified of the open source movement?
My guess is that someone at Microsoft read up on his Chinese philosphy, thought of OSS/Linux, and promptly shit his pants.
For the 100th time: Bluetooth and 802.11 are not competing technologies. They each have separate and complimentary uses.
But... Bluetooth and the upcoming IEEE 802.11B (note the B) are going to go head to head. It doesn't have the cool name or logo, but it does have the backing of both IEEE and Intel. You may hate Intel, but they have a lot of weight to throw around.
I must admit that I was really excited about the Bluetooth standard, but I would always choose an IEEE standard over an industry consortium. I'm still ticked off that USB has gained wide acceptance.
For the 100th time: Bluetooth and 802.11 are not competing technologies. They each have separate and complimentary uses.
But... Bluetooth and the upcoming IEEE 802.11B (note the B) are going to go head to head. It doesn't have the cool name or logo, but it does have the backing of both IEEE and Intel. You may hate Intel, but they have a lot of weight to throw around.
I must admit that I was really excited about the Bluetooth standard, but I would always choose an IEEE standard over an industry consortium. I'm still ticked off that USB has gained wide acceptance.
I'm sure this won't be popular with the Slashdot collective, but here is in simple terms for you:
1) It is AOL's service and network.
2) They can do with it as they please.
Want to complain like Taco? Please see 1 and 2 above.
You may not like it, but the fact is that is how it is. Contribute to Jabber or something to make a viable alternative. Don't just cry foul when a company doesn't give everything away for free.
DVD Decryption 3 Pack: The DVD 3 Pack includes OpenDVD, Got DeCSS, and Perl DVD Decryption (qrpff). Show your disapproval of the DVD CCA while helping to support the EFF by sporting a wearable/washable "circumvention device". $42.00 ($10/shirt is donated to EFF)
The way to make a difference is to educate people. Check out the shirts at Copyleft.net. I know my shirts have struck up many conversations on DeCSS and the whole issue of DMCA vs. Free Speech.
qrpff: the famous perl implementation on a shirt. This is by far the best DeCSS shirt I have seen. Check it out.
If you check out the press release, they list all kinds of SD Card accessories. Wireless ethernet, wireless modems, cameras, GPS, etc... MP3 players are noticably absent (although mp3 storage devices are listed).
And SD Cards are not as obscenely proprietary as the Sony Memory Stick... at least it's a group of companies, rather than the Sony "I will make my own standard" approach. Also... Palms support both SD Cards and MMC.
Still no word on screen resolution... I assume if they aren't touting 320x320, that means they are still at 160x160. Of course, that is all PalmOS 4.0 can handle is 160x160, anything higher (e.g. Sony Clie) uses some sort of pixel doubling or something.
I emailed OmniSky last week to ask if they have support for the Palm505 yet. They said that they were not ready to announce any new support yet. But made it sound like they would. The link above lists Minstrel modems (the ones OmniSky uses) available in April 2001. So I assume shortly after the m505 hits shelves OmniSky will have full support. That gives users a full TCP/IP stack (afaik), modem for $199 with rebate, unlimited service for $39.95/month.
The new vibrating/silent/audible alarms being built in is a nice touch.
And it appears that applications will be able to be run directly off the SD Cards. That's a good thing too.
Personally, I would like to order one, they sound great... but I'm just unsure of the life of this thing. If Palm is going to release a 320x320 device with a StrongARM processor next year, I may just wait. But for now, I'm planning on buying one when they hit store shelves.
This may be redundant, but here is another blurb and the correct links for your BlueTooth enjoyment....
Hoping to entice developers to begin coding applications for the impending wireless connectivity technology, Bluetooth(TM) IBM has set the ball rolling for Linux, by releasing the BlueDrekar protocol stack for Linux, and by open-sourcing a driver for the HCI UART transport layer. In a three-part blitz, IBM released an article on developerWorks, a downloadable tecknology on alphaWorks, and an open source code from Research.
Personally I can't wait for the new Palms with Bluetooth end of 2000 or beginning of 2001. No more fiddling with IrDA... just get within 100 ft of the base. A bluetooth access point + a modem and you have wireless internet from your Palm (when in range of an access point).
"Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated." -- The American Crisis (1780) by Thomas Paine
Slashdot Mirror
Excellent idea! I've been thinking about picking up a OS X machine to play with... having a book like this would be great!
Yes, read that again. The pedestal for the statue of Roger Williams (Rotunda/Senate Chamber Hallway, U.S. Capitol) gives off about 30 microrem per hour... more than the proposed standards for radiation at the perimeter of Yucca Mountain. Just to put it in perspective.
The BLU-82 Commando Vault (also known as the Daisy Cutter) is a 15,000 lb. thermobaric bomb, not "hyperbaric" as he calls it (although I suppose it makes sense in the way he uses it). And they certainly aren't dropped from unmanned planes. They are pushed out on skids from the back of Special Operations C-130s (or perhaps AC-130s).
For more on the Daisy Cutter and other thermobaric weapons, check the following links:
Also notable: The bomb used in the beginning of Outbreak (1995) was a fuel air explosive similar to the Daisy Cutter.
Something to keep your eye on...
I'm not sure if "modular" is the right word, but here is my gripe:
I installed KDE2 for the first time a few weeks ago and I love it. It's a great desktop and everyone who helped in its development deserves thanks. But when I decided that I wanted to upgrade KMail so I could have the new IMAP functionality, I found out that I can't upgrade just KMail. I would have to upgrade my entire KDE2 installation, which is no easy task for those of us who are new to it.
At least I have broadband. Imagine the poor guys on dialup that have to download all of KDE just to upgrade the mail client.
So for now I'm using Balsa which seems to get the job done. But I miss KMail... other than lacking IMAP support, the version I have is great (easy filtering, nice GUI, etc.).
And yes, you could claim that you just need to upgrade the knetwork package. But that requires other ones which require other ones. Following the dependency trail you end up installing the whole KDE system again. Don't you think you should allow upgrades of individual components?
I have been tracking the average donation (total/donations) and it has been slowly increasing from 24.98 early yesterday morning to about 32.23 as of 9:30 AM EST today. The increase has been steady. I'm not sure if there is anything notable about that, but I found it to be interesting.
Perhaps someone should point this out to the FBI.
http://s1.amazon.com/exec/varzea/paypage/PKAXFNQH
If you can't donate blood, please donate financially.
Great word. Impress your friends and use it today!
And how is the steam generated? There is no such thing as "zero emissions"... you simply move the point of emission and change the pollutants.
And you are incorrect in your definition of federalism. Federalism is: "The distribution of power in an organization (as a government) between a central authority and the constituent units". It is established in the 10th Amendment by saying "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." And it is exactly the ideas of federalism that caused the 1st Amendment to be written as it is.
Try reading it sometime. You would be suprised how few people have.
Just my two cents.
Whoops... I meant October 2000 (not 2001 as stated). Rumors of my owning of a time machine are greatly exaggerated.
I signed up with Verizon DSL (768 down/128 up) in October 2001. In about 25 days I had a working connection, and to date I would estimate the downtime as virtually zero (maybe an hour or two in 6 months). My connection speeds are usually in the 700 - 800 kbps range during the day, going up as high as 870 kbps during off-peak hours. Upload speeds are consistently in the 130 kbps range. Packet loss is zero. Latency is decent enough that I can play (and serve) UT games without problems. I couldn't be happier.
But you must consider that my apartment is on one side of the block, and on the other side is the CO. Distance means a lot with DSL, and (if the houses weren't there) an athetically inclined person could throw a baseball from my window and hit the CO.
Also, I am using a local ISP with great bandwidth. I pay a little bit more than if I had gone with Verizon as my ISP, but I welcome the chance to support the few remaining independent ISPs.
So that is my experience (a great one!). When people are knocking DSL, remember that not everyone has had a bad time with it.
My guess is that someone at Microsoft read up on his Chinese philosphy, thought of OSS/Linux, and promptly shit his pants.
But... Bluetooth and the upcoming IEEE 802.11B (note the B) are going to go head to head. It doesn't have the cool name or logo, but it does have the backing of both IEEE and Intel. You may hate Intel, but they have a lot of weight to throw around.
I must admit that I was really excited about the Bluetooth standard, but I would always choose an IEEE standard over an industry consortium. I'm still ticked off that USB has gained wide acceptance.
Unrelated but worth noting: There is some chance of interference between bluetooth and 802.11.
But... Bluetooth and the upcoming IEEE 802.11B (note the B) are going to go head to head. It doesn't have the cool name or logo, but it does have the backing of both IEEE and Intel. You may hate Intel, but they have a lot of weight to throw around.
I must admit that I was really excited about the Bluetooth standard, but I would always choose an IEEE standard over an industry consortium. I'm still ticked off that USB has gained wide acceptance.
Unrelated but worth noting: There is some chance of interference between bluetooth and 802.11.
You may not like it, but the fact is that is how it is. Contribute to Jabber or something to make a viable alternative. Don't just cry foul when a company doesn't give everything away for free.
- qrpff: the famous perl implementation on a shirt. This is by far the best DeCSS shirt I have seen. Check it out.
- OpenDVD: Pretty cool shirt.
- Got DeCSS: Still one of my favorites. Only available in forest green for some reason. I own one, its a nice green.
Pick up a shirt, wear it and educate those around you. But remember, first educate yourself at OpenDVD.org.Coding is not a crime.
Still no word on screen resolution... I assume if they aren't touting 320x320, that means they are still at 160x160. Of course, that is all PalmOS 4.0 can handle is 160x160, anything higher (e.g. Sony Clie) uses some sort of pixel doubling or something.
I emailed OmniSky last week to ask if they have support for the Palm505 yet. They said that they were not ready to announce any new support yet. But made it sound like they would. The link above lists Minstrel modems (the ones OmniSky uses) available in April 2001. So I assume shortly after the m505 hits shelves OmniSky will have full support. That gives users a full TCP/IP stack (afaik), modem for $199 with rebate, unlimited service for $39.95/month.
The new vibrating/silent/audible alarms being built in is a nice touch.
And it appears that applications will be able to be run directly off the SD Cards. That's a good thing too.
Personally, I would like to order one, they sound great... but I'm just unsure of the life of this thing. If Palm is going to release a 320x320 device with a StrongARM processor next year, I may just wait. But for now, I'm planning on buying one when they hit store shelves.
Also, check out the kick ass TDK Bluetooth devices.
"Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated." -- The American Crisis (1780) by Thomas Paine