Well, considering you can do that exact sort of thing in Java, Python, Perl 6, and probably most other conventional 'pure' object-oriented languages (Java isn't 'pure', in the strict sense, but it tries), I repeat, educate yourself!:) Experimenting with other languages and programming paradigms can really open your eyes to new development methods and techniques. It also gives you a larger number of tools, which means you'll do a better job picking the right one for a given task.
How is that write-only? I've never used Ruby, and I know exactly what that means. Anyone with even a little background in Smalltalk, Python, or Lisp should be able to figure that out.
Perhaps you just need to further educate yourself?
So... wait 20 or more years so we can send a manned mission. Or complete the mission in 3 years using today's technology at significantly less expense.
Are the Hubble optics still broken, or did someone deliberately add all that tacky lense flare to those pics?
Those are diffraction patterns and they're caused by the presence of spider supports in the telescope. Any reflector will exhibit the same behaviour (as the secondary is typically mounted in a spider, unless you're lucky enough to have a Schmidt-Cassegrain or similar design, which uses a front corrector plate that also supports the secondary).
It's basically true-color. I just asked the guy who put the mosaic together and he used some IR and UV filters so it isn't strictly exactly "true" color in that sense, but it is calibrated so all of the colors are balanced to their correct values so that should be what your eye would see. (I think that that should make sense.) Mind you, the colors were not calibrated to research-grade tolerance since it's a diminishing return, so don't take everything as 100% accurate. (And yes, there are lens flares and probably other optics effects in the image.)
Additionally, the version of the image most people see (and, I think, the one present in the list) has been contrast-enhanced to increase detail in the rings. 'course, the original is still breathtaking...
Well, assuming the other poster was using a reflector, it's probably not a good one-to-one comparison, as refractors will provide a sharper image at a given aperture, which is why they're favourable for planetary observation (where their inherent problems with chromatic aberation are less of an issue).
Reflectors, OTOH, allow for much larger apertures, making them favourable for deepsky observation.
If you could make out atmospheric bands on Jupiter, then you could easily make out the rings of Saturn or the phases of Venus. And with a nebula filter (and even without), you should have no trouble eeking out many deep sky objects. There are quite a few nebulae (such as those in Orion) and clusters (both open and globular) that are brighter than magnitude 6 and should be reachable under fairly light-polluted skies. Not to mention various double stars that can be split with a 5". Heck, the moon, an object easily taken for granted, is quite beautiful to behold in a powerful telescope.
Personally, I think beginner astronomers just expect too much. A nebula in your telescope is not going to look like a Hubble snapshot. It'll be dim, bluish, and probably require averted vision to really see. This can be disappointing if one is expecting a bright, colourful vista. But if you enjoy the process of discovery, and can appreciate these things for what they are, even a dim bluish smudge against a sea of black can be quite breathtaking.
Did you know that you can see the Saturn rings with a 4"?
Absolutely. In fact, if the seeing is good, you can even make out the Encke Gap. Not to mention detail you can make out in the atmospheres of both Saturn and Jupiter. Oh, and the phases of Venus. And a ton of deepsky objects, too (there are some lovely nebulae and globular clusters well within reach of a 4" reflector, even under light-polluted skies. Objects like the Wild Duck Cluster or Hercules Cluster are really quite breathtaking, especially after spending 20 minutes starhopping trying to track them down).
Really, a decent 4" reflector coupled with a pair of lenses, which can be had for a few hundred bucks, can withstand many many nights of observing before a larger instrument becomes necessary.
Two words: Viewing angle. The fact that my TV can look like shite if I decided to lay down on the couch pretty well kills any rear-projection technology for me.
Personally, when I go large screen, it'll be a front-projector in my basement. Who the hell needs 50+" in their livingroom??
Well, given that OLED is actually deployed in a variety of small-scale commercial devices, it's not really vapourware, is it? Is it TV-grade? No. But the technology exists and is deployed, so I really don't think it qualifies.
Neither do we, at least this year. It's actually quite a political gaff... it took at least a month for them to plow the residential streets... though, that's not normally a *really* big deal, since it usually falls and then packs down. Unfortunately, this year, we followed up a -30C cold snap and foot after foot of snow with unseasonably warm temperatures, which made the roads *really* fun. I had to push the car out a couple times (not to mention the odd truck in our neighbourhood). However, it was never undrivable.
And I suppose you drive your fwd car through un-snowplowed streets and driveways?
Umm... yes? Or do you think that, somehow, our municipality magically cleared all that snow immediately after it fell? In fact, it took nearly a month for them to finally get to the residential streets, at which point we had a good 4-6" of hardpack on the roads (it was actually a descent the street to the sidewalk).
I suppose if you somehow get 3 feet all in one dump in a very short span of time, you might have problems (normally it takes a couple days for that much snow to come down, during which time cars are regularly driving ruts in the snow), but unless you have 3 feet of clearance, a 4WD will get stuck in those conditions, too.
Does anyone know if the diesel *is* low sulphur in Canada? Right now I'm spending about 90 cents a liter, so I can't see why it would be so expensive if not...
According to Wikipedia, ULSD was phased in on October 15, 2006. So, it *should* be available at the pump now.
4WD lets you pull out and get to your family if they need something
Oh please, you don't need a truck for this. I live in Edmonton, Canada (53rd parallel). We got hit by around 3-4 feet of snow in a fairly short span, and our FWD Honda sedan did just fine. The idea that you need 4WD in such weather is flat out silly (actually, tragic... people in 4WD often don't realize that improved acceleration != improved breaking or improved handling, and subsequently find themselved rolled over in a ditched or mashed into someone's rear-end).
a) The republican party claims to be the party of morality and "family values". b) There's been a rash of republican political gaffs in the last few months which, in the face of 'a', are really pretty funny.
So laugh, ffs. 'cuz, lets face it... it really is funny.
To you. Meanwhile, to a vast majority of the rest of the english speaking world, it means something different. The language has changed. Get over it and move on.
Please remember that the english language changes with time. While proscriptive pedants like to point out how the phrase "begging the question" was previously used, that's hardly relevant today.
Nah, what you really want are a pair of canalphones. Personally, I have a pair of Shure's which were a godsend on my last flight, when I got to experience two cowboy-types behind me spending a full hour talking loud enough for half the cabin to hear them...
the worst of what I use is the included VersaMail email client
Oh dude, do yourself a favour and get Snapper or Chattermail. Both are far superior products (I happen to favour the former, but the fact that the Chatter will do IDLE mode IMAP is appealing for some).
Slashdot Mirror
Well, considering you can do that exact sort of thing in Java, Python, Perl 6, and probably most other conventional 'pure' object-oriented languages (Java isn't 'pure', in the strict sense, but it tries), I repeat, educate yourself! :) Experimenting with other languages and programming paradigms can really open your eyes to new development methods and techniques. It also gives you a larger number of tools, which means you'll do a better job picking the right one for a given task.
How is that write-only? I've never used Ruby, and I know exactly what that means. Anyone with even a little background in Smalltalk, Python, or Lisp should be able to figure that out.
Perhaps you just need to further educate yourself?
So... wait 20 or more years so we can send a manned mission. Or complete the mission in 3 years using today's technology at significantly less expense.
Yeah. Great plan.
You bastard. Now I'm *never* gonna get anything done...
Are the Hubble optics still broken, or did someone deliberately add all that tacky lense flare to those pics?
Those are diffraction patterns and they're caused by the presence of spider supports in the telescope. Any reflector will exhibit the same behaviour (as the secondary is typically mounted in a spider, unless you're lucky enough to have a Schmidt-Cassegrain or similar design, which uses a front corrector plate that also supports the secondary).
It's basically true-color. I just asked the guy who put the mosaic together and he used some IR and UV filters so it isn't strictly exactly "true" color in that sense, but it is calibrated so all of the colors are balanced to their correct values so that should be what your eye would see. (I think that that should make sense.) Mind you, the colors were not calibrated to research-grade tolerance since it's a diminishing return, so don't take everything as 100% accurate. (And yes, there are lens flares and probably other optics effects in the image.)
Additionally, the version of the image most people see (and, I think, the one present in the list) has been contrast-enhanced to increase detail in the rings. 'course, the original is still breathtaking...
Really, if all web2.0 is about ad supported services, then we are truly heading for a bust
You *do* realize that's what TV is all about, right?
Well, assuming the other poster was using a reflector, it's probably not a good one-to-one comparison, as refractors will provide a sharper image at a given aperture, which is why they're favourable for planetary observation (where their inherent problems with chromatic aberation are less of an issue).
Reflectors, OTOH, allow for much larger apertures, making them favourable for deepsky observation.
If you could make out atmospheric bands on Jupiter, then you could easily make out the rings of Saturn or the phases of Venus. And with a nebula filter (and even without), you should have no trouble eeking out many deep sky objects. There are quite a few nebulae (such as those in Orion) and clusters (both open and globular) that are brighter than magnitude 6 and should be reachable under fairly light-polluted skies. Not to mention various double stars that can be split with a 5". Heck, the moon, an object easily taken for granted, is quite beautiful to behold in a powerful telescope.
Personally, I think beginner astronomers just expect too much. A nebula in your telescope is not going to look like a Hubble snapshot. It'll be dim, bluish, and probably require averted vision to really see. This can be disappointing if one is expecting a bright, colourful vista. But if you enjoy the process of discovery, and can appreciate these things for what they are, even a dim bluish smudge against a sea of black can be quite breathtaking.
Did you know that you can see the Saturn rings with a 4"?
Absolutely. In fact, if the seeing is good, you can even make out the Encke Gap. Not to mention detail you can make out in the atmospheres of both Saturn and Jupiter. Oh, and the phases of Venus. And a ton of deepsky objects, too (there are some lovely nebulae and globular clusters well within reach of a 4" reflector, even under light-polluted skies. Objects like the Wild Duck Cluster or Hercules Cluster are really quite breathtaking, especially after spending 20 minutes starhopping trying to track them down).
Really, a decent 4" reflector coupled with a pair of lenses, which can be had for a few hundred bucks, can withstand many many nights of observing before a larger instrument becomes necessary.
Two words: Viewing angle. The fact that my TV can look like shite if I decided to lay down on the couch pretty well kills any rear-projection technology for me.
Personally, when I go large screen, it'll be a front-projector in my basement. Who the hell needs 50+" in their livingroom??
Well, given that OLED is actually deployed in a variety of small-scale commercial devices, it's not really vapourware, is it? Is it TV-grade? No. But the technology exists and is deployed, so I really don't think it qualifies.
We don't get that kind of service where I live.
Neither do we, at least this year. It's actually quite a political gaff... it took at least a month for them to plow the residential streets... though, that's not normally a *really* big deal, since it usually falls and then packs down. Unfortunately, this year, we followed up a -30C cold snap and foot after foot of snow with unseasonably warm temperatures, which made the roads *really* fun. I had to push the car out a couple times (not to mention the odd truck in our neighbourhood). However, it was never undrivable.
And I suppose you drive your fwd car through un-snowplowed streets and driveways?
Umm... yes? Or do you think that, somehow, our municipality magically cleared all that snow immediately after it fell? In fact, it took nearly a month for them to finally get to the residential streets, at which point we had a good 4-6" of hardpack on the roads (it was actually a descent the street to the sidewalk).
I suppose if you somehow get 3 feet all in one dump in a very short span of time, you might have problems (normally it takes a couple days for that much snow to come down, during which time cars are regularly driving ruts in the snow), but unless you have 3 feet of clearance, a 4WD will get stuck in those conditions, too.
Does anyone know if the diesel *is* low sulphur in Canada? Right now I'm spending about 90 cents a liter, so I can't see why it would be so expensive if not...
According to Wikipedia, ULSD was phased in on October 15, 2006. So, it *should* be available at the pump now.
No cold weather starting problems, either, even when I lived in central new york, where the temperature was regularly in the single digits.
Yeah, come back to me when it hits -20F or so...
4WD lets you pull out and get to your family if they need something
Oh please, you don't need a truck for this. I live in Edmonton, Canada (53rd parallel). We got hit by around 3-4 feet of snow in a fairly short span, and our FWD Honda sedan did just fine. The idea that you need 4WD in such weather is flat out silly (actually, tragic... people in 4WD often don't realize that improved acceleration != improved breaking or improved handling, and subsequently find themselved rolled over in a ditched or mashed into someone's rear-end).
It's simple:
a) The republican party claims to be the party of morality and "family values".
b) There's been a rash of republican political gaffs in the last few months which, in the face of 'a', are really pretty funny.
So laugh, ffs. 'cuz, lets face it... it really is funny.
Begging the question is a logical fallacy
To you. Meanwhile, to a vast majority of the rest of the english speaking world, it means something different. The language has changed. Get over it and move on.
Please remember that the english language changes with time. While proscriptive pedants like to point out how the phrase "begging the question" was previously used, that's hardly relevant today.
Nah, what you really want are a pair of canalphones. Personally, I have a pair of Shure's which were a godsend on my last flight, when I got to experience two cowboy-types behind me spending a full hour talking loud enough for half the cabin to hear them...
Well, a co-worker of mine's PC speakers make a bunch of noise when his phone is about to ring. When there's no sound is being played on the computer.
the worst of what I use is the included VersaMail email client
Oh dude, do yourself a favour and get Snapper or Chattermail. Both are far superior products (I happen to favour the former, but the fact that the Chatter will do IDLE mode IMAP is appealing for some).
Once again Microsoft instead of recognizing a bug decides unplanned behavior is trying to treat it like a feature.
Actually, what's sad is that this *really was a feature*! A bug implies unintended behaviour. But clearly, they *meant* it to work this way.
I believe you mean a Russian version of whack-a-mole.