This post reminded me of the last Tom Baker Dr. Who episode, in which the Doctor traveled to the planet Logopolis to fix the Chamelion circuit in the Tardis. It's basically a planet entirely populated by "humananoid" computers, who constantly calculate complex mathematical computations in a vast distributed environment. Their calculations supposedly helped to hold the framework of space/time together. The Master threw a wrench into the works by strategically killing off specific Logopolis citizens, thereby weakening the space/time continuum. Seems clear to me that either the Logopolians hadn't thought enough about error checking/correction, or that the Master truly was a master of distributed networks.
First things first: I still suck at DDR. Not as much as I used to, but yes, I got no riddim (sic).
What I noticed in the process of going from inept to bad, is that when I first started playing I was jumping all over the place. However, after actually watching other folks play, I realized that better players try to minimize their movements...things like the now obvious "leave your feet on a pad after hitting it".
Perhaps it's different as you actually progress into higher skill levels, but I'm wondering if in general better players actually get less excercise than crappy players, because they know the routines, know the shortcuts, etc.
I recall a story on something similar a few years back. A University of Florida MAV research project that had little carbon fiber versions of these, with an integrated video camera. The camera feed went into a land based computer which did image processing, calculating the location of the horizon, therefore giving the computer an effective artificial horizon to work with. With this data, the computer sent rc signals back to the plane, basically providing it with wing leveling capabilities. Researchers could provide bank, pitch and power inputs, and the wing leveler would respond appropriately.
It was a very cool project, and they had lots of video demos...unfortunately it just seemed to drop off the face of the earth. My thoughts were that it had been coopted by the military for something like this.
Being able to make cell calls from the air will be really great for general aviation. Currently there are nifty devices that allow you to patch your cell phone into the intercom system in the airplane, allowing you to make calls via your headsets. However, these are sold with the disclaimer that they are only for use on the ground. It'd sure be nice to be able to call your friends/family from 20 minutes out for a ride from the airport.
Of course, being legally allowed to make calls from altitude is one thing...having this work technically is another. I've heard that digital towers are much better than analog WRT comms at altitude. Indeed, an instructor of mine did ground communication via text messaging while flying students...e.g. "how's weather...lesson still on?". That worked pretty well, whereas voice calls were sketchy (yes, I've tried them).
Actually, do you realize that the numbers on this page changed last night, within the span of a few hours (don't have an archive of this, but I have seen screenshots of both before and after). The actual number of Kerry voters, for both male and female voters polled actually went down, which is impossible. The only way this could happen is if the numbers were fudged to make the exit polls more closly match the Diebold numbers.
"I am here to support the man I believe has the most faith. I think it is more important than ever that the next president be a guy that I think truly, and I believe in my heart, is making his decisions and basing that on being led by God," Baldwin said.
I voted for Reagan in 1980 in the Weekly Reader poll, horrifying my parents. And it's not that my parents didn't talk politics around me...in fact just the opposite. I believe my reasoning for choosing Reagan was that Jimmy Carter's picture made him look ill. What can you expect from a 6 year old.
I wouldn't be so quick to make the statement that kids would always vote their parents choice. And I'd have to say that I'm so incredibly thankful that kids can't actually vote. We have enough uninformed voters in this country as it is...
It's been a few years since I've read it, but I'd recommend the book Great Apes by Will Self. It's a world-turned-on-end story, in which the protagonist wakes up one morning to discover that apes are now (and have always been) the dominant species in the world. And indeed, he is himself an ape, although he continues to think of himself as human, which makes for some interesting twists on perception of social norms (the main forms of communication involve gestures, social hierarchy rules of play and sexuality have more of a basis in ape behavior, etc.)
While I had a few problems with some of the elements in the book, it was quite an interesting read, and ties in nicely with this discussion.
Hovering in place takes energy. Think of hot air balloons...they move along with the wind, so to the pilot and passengers there's no apparent wind. Actually, all aircraft experience this phenomenon...even 747's. Therefore, in order to hover in place to capture the energy of wind blowing across the turbine, you'd have to use energy. And, I'm pretty sure you'll use more energy than you'd generate.
I'd think a program like this would offer a great opportunity for high school AP physics/math classes to get some hands on experience with the nitty-gritty details of orbital flight. You could setup a stepped curriculum of increasingly challenging missions/milestones, encourage teamwork to solve the problems, etc. I wouldâ(TM)ve loved something like this back in the dayâ¦
Oh yes, and Iâ(TM)ve been running Orbiter on and off for the past couple of years. Very steep learning curve, but itâ(TM)s well worth it. Iâ(TM)ve spent hours tinkeringâ¦trying to get really good at establishing precise orbits, finding the ISS, docking (unsuccessfully).
Finally, WRT WINEâ¦I did try it (a while ago), and it seemed to work like most of the other semi successful games Iâ(TM)ve triedâ¦i.e. it kinda worked, but was missing some functionality. Oh, FWIW, I was using WINEX 3.0.
I'm still not convinced that nuclear represents a viable, long term cost-effective solution. While the KWH metered cost of nuclear may appear to be competive, it seems to me that these costs are possibly artificially supported by direct taxpayer funds.
One of the reports I've seen in a number of locations (yeah yeah...can't really trust the web) estimates that the actual cost per KWH is something in the order of $.09, when you factor in these extra taxpayer costs. It's a Greenpeace study, so certainly biased...but I'd like to see other similar studies which analyze the actual costs involved.
WRT reuse of spent waste...that would certainly seem like a good thing. I've seen posts indicating that legislation against this was due to Carter. However, what are the reasons for the continued ban?
Um....what about the immense "hidden" costs of nuclear? The assertion from nuclear industry insiders in the article seems to indicate that all the rad waste generated by all the worlds power plants could fit in a basketball court sized, 2 story building. If so, then why did us taxpayers get stuck with a $58 billion basketball court called Yucca Mountain? I know government can be innefficient, but...
I'd really just like to hear proponets of nuclear energy production talk about all the costs involved in generation, vs competing technologies.
Slashdot Mirror
This post reminded me of the last Tom Baker Dr. Who episode, in which the Doctor traveled to the planet Logopolis to fix the Chamelion circuit in the Tardis. It's basically a planet entirely populated by "humananoid" computers, who constantly calculate complex mathematical computations in a vast distributed environment. Their calculations supposedly helped to hold the framework of space/time together. The Master threw a wrench into the works by strategically killing off specific Logopolis citizens, thereby weakening the space/time continuum. Seems clear to me that either the Logopolians hadn't thought enough about error checking/correction, or that the Master truly was a master of distributed networks.
Maybe some day this will come true:r -640.mov
http://www.maxmomirror.com/mirror/robot/Pete_Mise
First things first: I still suck at DDR. Not as much as I used to, but yes, I got no riddim (sic).
What I noticed in the process of going from inept to bad, is that when I first started playing I was jumping all over the place. However, after actually watching other folks play, I realized that better players try to minimize their movements...things like the now obvious "leave your feet on a pad after hitting it".
Perhaps it's different as you actually progress into higher skill levels, but I'm wondering if in general better players actually get less excercise than crappy players, because they know the routines, know the shortcuts, etc.
I recall a story on something similar a few years back. A University of Florida MAV research project that had little carbon fiber versions of these, with an integrated video camera. The camera feed went into a land based computer which did image processing, calculating the location of the horizon, therefore giving the computer an effective artificial horizon to work with. With this data, the computer sent rc signals back to the plane, basically providing it with wing leveling capabilities. Researchers could provide bank, pitch and power inputs, and the wing leveler would respond appropriately.
It was a very cool project, and they had lots of video demos...unfortunately it just seemed to drop off the face of the earth. My thoughts were that it had been coopted by the military for something like this.
Anyway, here's the original URL. If anyone has any followup info on this story, speak up!
http://aeroweb.aero.ufl.edu/microav
Being able to make cell calls from the air will be really great for general aviation. Currently there are nifty devices that allow you to patch your cell phone into the intercom system in the airplane, allowing you to make calls via your headsets. However, these are sold with the disclaimer that they are only for use on the ground. It'd sure be nice to be able to call your friends/family from 20 minutes out for a ride from the airport.
Of course, being legally allowed to make calls from altitude is one thing...having this work technically is another. I've heard that digital towers are much better than analog WRT comms at altitude. Indeed, an instructor of mine did ground communication via text messaging while flying students...e.g. "how's weather...lesson still on?". That worked pretty well, whereas voice calls were sketchy (yes, I've tried them).
Actually, do you realize that the numbers on this page changed last night, within the span of a few hours (don't have an archive of this, but I have seen screenshots of both before and after). The actual number of Kerry voters, for both male and female voters polled actually went down, which is impossible. The only way this could happen is if the numbers were fudged to make the exit polls more closly match the Diebold numbers.
Actually, please take Stephen Baldwin instead,
"I am here to support the man I believe has the most faith. I think it is more important than ever that the next president be a guy that I think truly, and I believe in my heart, is making his decisions and basing that on being led by God," Baldwin said.
Give me a freakin' break!
I voted for Reagan in 1980 in the Weekly Reader poll, horrifying my parents. And it's not that my parents didn't talk politics around me...in fact just the opposite. I believe my reasoning for choosing Reagan was that Jimmy Carter's picture made him look ill. What can you expect from a 6 year old.
I wouldn't be so quick to make the statement that kids would always vote their parents choice. And I'd have to say that I'm so incredibly thankful that kids can't actually vote. We have enough uninformed voters in this country as it is...
It's been a few years since I've read it, but I'd recommend the book Great Apes by Will Self. It's a world-turned-on-end story, in which the protagonist wakes up one morning to discover that apes are now (and have always been) the dominant species in the world. And indeed, he is himself an ape, although he continues to think of himself as human, which makes for some interesting twists on perception of social norms (the main forms of communication involve gestures, social hierarchy rules of play and sexuality have more of a basis in ape behavior, etc.)
While I had a few problems with some of the elements in the book, it was quite an interesting read, and ties in nicely with this discussion.
Hovering in place takes energy. Think of hot air balloons...they move along with the wind, so to the pilot and passengers there's no apparent wind. Actually, all aircraft experience this phenomenon...even 747's. Therefore, in order to hover in place to capture the energy of wind blowing across the turbine, you'd have to use energy. And, I'm pretty sure you'll use more energy than you'd generate.
I'd think a program like this would offer a great opportunity for high school AP physics/math classes to get some hands on experience with the nitty-gritty details of orbital flight. You could setup a stepped curriculum of increasingly challenging missions/milestones, encourage teamwork to solve the problems, etc. I wouldâ(TM)ve loved something like this back in the dayâ¦
:(
Oh yes, and Iâ(TM)ve been running Orbiter on and off for the past couple of years. Very steep learning curve, but itâ(TM)s well worth it. Iâ(TM)ve spent hours tinkeringâ¦trying to get really good at establishing precise orbits, finding the ISS, docking (unsuccessfully).
Finally, WRT WINEâ¦I did try it (a while ago), and it seemed to work like most of the other semi successful games Iâ(TM)ve triedâ¦i.e. it kinda worked, but was missing some functionality. Oh, FWIW, I was using WINEX 3.0.
no sig
Er....I thought Yucca was being actively pushed by Bush/Cheney, not knee jerk enivronmental wackos.
Also, if it's so easy to block radiation, why has there been so many failures in the past to properly do so at existing waste sites?
I'm still not convinced that nuclear represents a viable, long term cost-effective solution. While the KWH metered cost of nuclear may appear to be competive, it seems to me that these costs are possibly artificially supported by direct taxpayer funds.
One of the reports I've seen in a number of locations (yeah yeah...can't really trust the web) estimates that the actual cost per KWH is something in the order of $.09, when you factor in these extra taxpayer costs. It's a Greenpeace study, so certainly biased...but I'd like to see other similar studies which analyze the actual costs involved.
WRT reuse of spent waste...that would certainly seem like a good thing. I've seen posts indicating that legislation against this was due to Carter. However, what are the reasons for the continued ban?
Um....what about the immense "hidden" costs of nuclear? The assertion from nuclear industry insiders in the article seems to indicate that all the rad waste generated by all the worlds power plants could fit in a basketball court sized, 2 story building. If so, then why did us taxpayers get stuck with a $58 billion basketball court called Yucca Mountain? I know government can be innefficient, but...
I'd really just like to hear proponets of nuclear energy production talk about all the costs involved in generation, vs competing technologies.