100 megaton would be about 7.3 on richter scale.
First intuition: large longitudinal component.
Enough of these nukes in one spot :) Nice one. It has some kind of indefinite circularity to it, doesn't it.
Comics of Marvano + Haldeman
on
The Forever War
·
· Score: 1
The Forever War as a graphic novel, is easy to get by in Dutch. Marvano is Belgian(Mark Van Oppem). I read they were long time friends. For what it's worth, across the ocean.
After that he started the Dallas Barr series, based on Haldeman's The Long Habit of Living. Dutch and french , don't know about English. 5 graphic novels. xlnt. I read that Marvano has stopped the series after a disagreement on contracts. With the publisher.
Distribution of the work: In the beginning they would discuss, after a while Marvano was on his own.
It's not exactly an idea that's running ahead of current technology. The hot virus of the moment is badtrans 2(badtrans@mm)which is a worm + trojan. The trojan part sends the keyboard log and uses mail.
The taliban were fighting the Northern alliance.
Until the last negotiation in august they were acceptable to the US, if only they would agree to US conditions, one of which was handing over Bin Laden.
I don't see what the afghan people have got to do with it. The northern alliance got air support, weapons and intelligence to conquer the taliban. To civilians the taliban are bad, but still better than a lot of the northern alliance. Now that the warlords are in control of the cities , It is going to take a lot of power to keep(start) them behaving decent on their own territory. More than a conference or a resolution.
there is an interesting difference in attitude between Japan and China in the last century and a half. In 1867 on Japan reversed it's attitude towards the west. It started developing as fast as possible,
absorbed all it could from the western world, and meanwhile retained a strong identity.
China rejected any form of western influence, afraid to be contaminated . Afraid that their own culture would be replaced. Railroads were something of the west and to be discouraged.
The fear of being sucked into one big bland anonymous monoculture is an old theme, apparently.
Bonus! why Einstein denounced the use of force
on
God's Debris
·
· Score: 1
It's fairly easy to see that he could not use forces. You can recreate the whole of electromagnetism from electrostatics and special relativity(it's been done, including radiation).
example: take two static charges. Electrostatics describes the forces. Now move backwards very fast:) - don't do this at home
now you have two ways to describe what happens
1. electrostatics + relativistic transformation of forces (they apply , whatever the nature of the force)
2. electromagnetism+ two charges flying away from you in parallel(leading to a magnetic field and a resulting extra force ).
Next step : do the same with mass and newtonian force.
You can try to create some mass-magnetic force and approximate the behaviour but you'll never make the calculations fit. The masses ruin it. You can't create a consistent "gravitymagnetic theory"
No, there is some sense to it.
on
God's Debris
·
· Score: 1
it makes sense, because of the equivalence of gravity and acceleration. So Einstein did make a connection between standing on the surface of the earth, with gravity, and standing on a hollow shell that is expanding outward. (if you recall the example of the elevator)
The hard part is understanding the mathematical universe where these two are equivalent. Einstein showed that you can consistently describe the dynamics without the use of forces.
So I would not say it is wrong. I do think it is somewhat "cheap" , also reasonably funny , and not much help in understanding.
what makes a religion last?
on
God's Debris
·
· Score: 1
It's a dilemma(well, not in an absolute sense). If you investigate the mechanisms that make a religion survive , truth is a weak mechanism. An institute is a strong mechanism. And rituals are the strongest . Take away the ritual, the repetition, the reminders, and a religion runs a big risk of atrophy. Rituals give continuity. Going to church every week, or praying 5 times a day.
You want to make a religion atrophy? convince people that the rituals , controlled and distorted by institutions, are not the essentials and can be easily skipped.
people are the television of God
on
God's Debris
·
· Score: 2, Funny
Excuse me, but Marx said that television is the opiate of the people. Yes, he was ahead of his time.
And John Lennon said that lsd should be the religion of the people.
Then Postman said television is the religion of the people.
Then Burroughs said lsd is better than television
Ventura just was trying to start a new thread.
Actually I prefer "consumerism is the religion of the people" .
Working to buy a bigger car than your neighbor sure makes life meaningful.
We have a few dozens of these Dell 7500, and the screens indeed have lots of problems. In our case the service is faster , but still a problem. Part of the problem here is they don't correct the model. They prefer investing in the next model.
But another part may run quite deep. Let's give it a try:
There is a reluctance to pay for service , while there is a willingness to pay for the technology.
Technology is overrated and will solve all. You can see it in the approach of terrorism too. People? we'll try some new surveillance servers and screens.
And war. With cobra helicopters that are as much a danger to those who fly them as to their targets. That's not a coincidence, it's a distorted set of priorities. Or maybe not from those who make them. These things do sell.
Not exactly the same, but overlapping.
Look at people buying video recorders. The more features the better. Then afterwards, only the kids can use the recorder. Who buys a recorder that does less, but is simple enough to actually get used? Who makes it? The blindness is similar.
You can see it in healthcare too(or general quality of life). How are we going to raise average health? why, by creating new drugs and new machines. That's not where the big difference will come from.
Who cares if his life is 10 years longer thanks to new nano machinery, if he has to spend it stuck away in an old man home, not being allowed to die. Or if he doesn't dare to go out of the door after dark. I bet you're already thinking how technology can help there. Well, it can. But it's a bad aim.
I think many companies don't offer expensive fast and good service because the market is too small.
And they are right most of the time.
And again, admittedly, technology can help here too.
Something tells me there are management books about this. Buy this laptop! Now even newer! and more technology too!
Hm, it's got my attention allright.
Any evidence I've seen that this military action (which is in compliance with the War Powers Act, btw, even as an undeclared war; Bush _has_ reported to Congress) is being driven by petrochemical interests is on far weaker ground than the evidence that Al Qaeda was responsible for the attacks in September.
Driving force suggests it makes decisions for you. That's not necessarily it. It is sth to take in account.
Considering that fundamentalist Islam is trying to get full control over the region from Afghanistan to Chechnya(with Pakistan as a main agent, not Afghanistan), there is the possibility of A very large fraction of world oil coming under their influence(how monolithic fundamentalist islam would be, i have doubts).
In terms of size, Islam terrorism in the US looks more like a bit of "spillover" of what's happening in Asia, and which US helped to create, while trying to undermine Russia. But by now, Russia is weakened enough.
If Bush starts a general war on terrorism, the enemy coincides well with competitors trying to control oil. This allows to use all kinds of political means, like boycots(eg Iran),and excuses for military interventions.
At the moment one can't conclude more than "it's something to take in account".
For one thing it explains the mini top in Europe . Why do France and Germany want to get involved so much?
BTW: US and UK took the initiative for the Caucasian Commonwealth(around the Caspian) already 5 years ago, and Chechnya seems to have been a more important partner than Russia, which was left out(Russia has a major oil pipeline through Chechnya).
geopolitics is a jungle. You want to survive in it then it's a reasonable choice to put some real mean guys up there.
Of course , then you should not be surprised if some day they screw you.
So you like some emergency brake.
Even in a state of war, I guess. And certainly in a condition of permanent terrorism.
Some people could say, yes, but normal ways are to brake constantly, but lightly. And in wartime that is difficult. Could be . Depends on the design. Just taking away all brakes does not sound good.
how far does "please don't brake now" get you?
It's not easy to design a guaranteed emergency brake.
There are also ways of dissenting without (yet) opposing.
I imagine it would be possible to create formalised forms of showing dissent. So at least you can say you disapprove of decisions but don't oppose them.
I agree with one thing, there are big benefits at stake, and England, Germany and France very much like to be part of the game. Italy being the sulking outsider.
Here is my homework:
The Caspian oil basin is a very important one.
Cheney , as CEO of Halliburton in 1998:"I cannot think of a time when we have had a region emerge as suddenly to become as strategically significant as the Caspian". Estimates have only been rising since.
but actually the whole of central asia is involved. I read that Wolfowitz is very much in favor of grabbing all of it and stripping Russia bare.
A big problem with the caspian and central asian resources is getting them out through a safe way. There are in several possible corridors.
- Iran is shortest, but boycotted in every possible way.
- The corridor to Turkey is difficult to secure.
- China is more than 2000 miles.
- The corridor to kosovo is an interesting issue, because the US has been very active in the Balkan conflicts, using NATO as a front, and secured the pipeline(see fort Bondsteel) and the public did not even notice what was going on. Macedonia is needed too in the plan, and underway. The US strategy in the Balkan deserves a lot of attention.
For one thing, the unrestrained free traffic of Afghan heroin through Kosovo increases financing of opposition in Russian border states like Chechnya.
- The Afghanistan-Pakistan corridor is best known for the Unocal line in construction, which has been interrupted in Afghanistan since i think 1998(that was the year they asked government for help).
But Afghanistan is also a starting point for moving north. Russian sources are afraid(well, to be honest , i only found one) that the US will try to drive a mass of refugees north, use it to destabilise the region and create an alibi to intervene with NATO. British and US diplomacy already requested Pakistan to keep the borders closed(I think, can't remember the source right now). I guess they did not need much pressing.
For this you need weak humanitarian aid inside Afghanistan.
The only mobile troops of Russia are being pinned down in Chechnya, and Bin Laden does not seem to have control there. Hoe much reason will US need to move north?
As is well known, not everyone thinks international approval is necessary.
If you feel like a very long google session, each time take 2 or 3 words at random from:
Halliburton, Brown and Root, AMBO,Bondsteel, Cheney, Carlyse, Bush , Caspian oil, Unocal, Macedonia, KLA, NLA, MPRI, KPC, OSCE,William Walker, Afghanistan, heroin, drugs, Oliver North, Vinnell Corporation, Dyncorp, soros.
That bang you just heard is from a surveillance server that just blew up:)
The web, real educational at times. And addictive too
Policy can often be even more powerful than law. See
Ashcroft policy . Ashcroft tells agencies to resist claims for use of 1st amendment. He will provide all the legal power to slow down, resist, obstruct claims.
In the long term, then, we also need to lessen the causes of Muslim grievances, even if it means facing up to our past mistakes. Aha, what's the budget for that?
a bit more general task maybe, make them less inclined to take to aggression against US. Improving the situation in Israel and Iraq would be one track of the several.
The long term, that's the part that is important but not urgent. that tends to be the part that never happens. A bit like public health: we know prevention would be best, but the only thing we come up with is after the fact fixing up.
But it's now that the budget is being made.
I'd like to see a significant part of the budget spent on something more long lasting than "war on terrorism". Not that the latter is a bad approach. It's just not enough.
It's worthwile to start thinking about what can be done. Come up with some ideas. Collect initiatives from organisations that claim they can make a difference.
Anyone?
Give me a first, how about a minute silence for the people who died in Iraq in the war, and after.
10. Then finally he tries to hit you, but he's too slow, and you're trained. "Cool it now, i'm just explaining something"
11. He tries again, too slow. "Hey!" you shout , and hit him in the face.
12. He tries again, you smack him about a bit, to make it clear that the lesson is finished.
13. then he waits till you turn your back, and kicks your butt.
14. Then you get outraged at this cowardly son of a bitch who hits people when they have their back turned, and he's been pushing you around far too long.
15. Then you beat him to pulp.
16. Then you go and tell your friends that some guy kicked you when your back was turned , and you gave him the treatment he deserved.
17. you explain that you should hit back when sb hits you, because otherwise they'll just sweep the floor with you.
18. agreement all around
So
1. when you're by far the strongest, you don't need to understand anything.
2. you can prove that your way of acting works
3. when you suddenly drop all defense you might be get beaten up bad.
4....and the other guys might get the idea of trying to kick back too.
5. so better keep at it.
It's not common knowledge but when the use of asbestos was stopped abruptly above 64th floor the afghan asbestos mining got into cashflow problems that they never recovered from. For this(and some other) reasons they did not take it too well.
Later on these people were very helpful to provide Bin Laden with the inside info they had on WTC and a nice fireproof system of connected hideouts in the deserted mines.
Ironic, isn't it.
Not in my short experience. The Russians i work or worked with have high standards for readability. Sometimes weak knowledge of english causes misunderstandings.
Once upon a time and once upon an office?
It must have been tried somewhere, maybe in Russia. And then they start sweating to get the bugs out.
The best way to make the code hard to decipher is to put a bad programmer on it. Although, in lisp...
No gradient (or too small). Or do these things have external parts? (Darn!)
Anyway, you need a gradient. Cold and wet weather is best.
If anyone is thinking to make the most expensive coat in the world: you have to lose a lot of heat to run the little heater. Well at least it's not as bad as the sunpowered pocketlight.
Slashdot Mirror
100 megaton would be about 7.3 on richter scale.
:) Nice one. It has some kind of indefinite circularity to it, doesn't it.
First intuition: large longitudinal component.
Enough of these nukes in one spot
The Forever War as a graphic novel, is easy to get by in Dutch. Marvano is Belgian(Mark Van Oppem). I read they were long time friends. For what it's worth, across the ocean.
After that he started the Dallas Barr series, based on Haldeman's The Long Habit of Living. Dutch and french , don't know about English. 5 graphic novels. xlnt. I read that Marvano has stopped the series after a disagreement on contracts. With the publisher.
Distribution of the work: In the beginning they would discuss, after a while Marvano was on his own.
It's not exactly an idea that's running ahead of current technology. The hot virus of the moment is badtrans 2(badtrans@mm)which is a worm + trojan. The trojan part sends the keyboard log and uses mail.
With the way information is amassed, do you think anyone will have time to look at it? It's stored to be queried later.
Good one. And it does not replicate, so it's not a virus :)
Apparently this is not the question that Symantec asked themselves. They offered cooperation, as far as i know. Now why could that be.
The TLA?
:)
I'd think, if you don't know the howto's , just copy the just use the pgp and mail editor on a separate machine, like your handheld.
The main reason why FBI spyware could work, and be ubiquitous is, paranoid people stand out. People don't like to stand out.
It makes them paranoid
And of course, the feeling that someone MAY be able to read everything you write really can have a strong censoring impact.
I wonder. Take Kaspersky antivirus. From what i hear, it's better. I don't see it starting to dominate the market.
This privacy issue is currently too marginal.
The taliban were fighting the Northern alliance.
Until the last negotiation in august they were acceptable to the US, if only they would agree to US conditions, one of which was handing over Bin Laden.
I don't see what the afghan people have got to do with it. The northern alliance got air support, weapons and intelligence to conquer the taliban. To civilians the taliban are bad, but still better than a lot of the northern alliance. Now that the warlords are in control of the cities , It is going to take a lot of power to keep(start) them behaving decent on their own territory. More than a conference or a resolution.
there is an interesting difference in attitude between Japan and China in the last century and a half. In 1867 on Japan reversed it's attitude towards the west. It started developing as fast as possible,
absorbed all it could from the western world, and meanwhile retained a strong identity.
China rejected any form of western influence, afraid to be contaminated . Afraid that their own culture would be replaced. Railroads were something of the west and to be discouraged.
The fear of being sucked into one big bland anonymous monoculture is an old theme, apparently.
It's fairly easy to see that he could not use forces. You can recreate the whole of electromagnetism from electrostatics and special relativity(it's been done, including radiation).
:) - don't do this at home
example: take two static charges. Electrostatics describes the forces. Now move backwards very fast
now you have two ways to describe what happens
1. electrostatics + relativistic transformation of forces (they apply , whatever the nature of the force)
2. electromagnetism+ two charges flying away from you in parallel(leading to a magnetic field and a resulting extra force ).
Next step : do the same with mass and newtonian force.
You can try to create some mass-magnetic force and approximate the behaviour but you'll never make the calculations fit. The masses ruin it. You can't create a consistent "gravitymagnetic theory"
it makes sense, because of the equivalence of gravity and acceleration. So Einstein did make a connection between standing on the surface of the earth, with gravity, and standing on a hollow shell that is expanding outward. (if you recall the example of the elevator)
The hard part is understanding the mathematical universe where these two are equivalent. Einstein showed that you can consistently describe the dynamics without the use of forces.
So I would not say it is wrong. I do think it is somewhat "cheap" , also reasonably funny , and not much help in understanding.
It's a dilemma(well, not in an absolute sense). If you investigate the mechanisms that make a religion survive , truth is a weak mechanism. An institute is a strong mechanism. And rituals are the strongest . Take away the ritual, the repetition, the reminders, and a religion runs a big risk of atrophy. Rituals give continuity. Going to church every week, or praying 5 times a day.
You want to make a religion atrophy? convince people that the rituals , controlled and distorted by institutions, are not the essentials and can be easily skipped.
Excuse me, but Marx said that television is the opiate of the people. Yes, he was ahead of his time.
And John Lennon said that lsd should be the religion of the people.
Then Postman said television is the religion of the people.
Then Burroughs said lsd is better than television
Ventura just was trying to start a new thread.
Actually I prefer "consumerism is the religion of the people" .
Working to buy a bigger car than your neighbor sure makes life meaningful.
Sarcastic? Who, me?
We have a few dozens of these Dell 7500, and the screens indeed have lots of problems. In our case the service is faster , but still a problem. Part of the problem here is they don't correct the model. They prefer investing in the next model.
But another part may run quite deep. Let's give it a try:
There is a reluctance to pay for service , while there is a willingness to pay for the technology.
Technology is overrated and will solve all. You can see it in the approach of terrorism too. People? we'll try some new surveillance servers and screens.
And war. With cobra helicopters that are as much a danger to those who fly them as to their targets. That's not a coincidence, it's a distorted set of priorities. Or maybe not from those who make them. These things do sell.
Not exactly the same, but overlapping.
Look at people buying video recorders. The more features the better. Then afterwards, only the kids can use the recorder. Who buys a recorder that does less, but is simple enough to actually get used? Who makes it? The blindness is similar.
You can see it in healthcare too(or general quality of life). How are we going to raise average health? why, by creating new drugs and new machines. That's not where the big difference will come from.
Who cares if his life is 10 years longer thanks to new nano machinery, if he has to spend it stuck away in an old man home, not being allowed to die. Or if he doesn't dare to go out of the door after dark. I bet you're already thinking how technology can help there. Well, it can. But it's a bad aim.
I think many companies don't offer expensive fast and good service because the market is too small.
And they are right most of the time.
And again, admittedly, technology can help here too.
Something tells me there are management books about this. Buy this laptop! Now even newer! and more technology too!
Hm, it's got my attention allright.
Any evidence I've seen that this military action (which is in compliance with the War Powers Act, btw, even as an undeclared war; Bush _has_ reported to Congress) is being driven by petrochemical interests is on far weaker ground than the evidence that Al Qaeda was responsible for the attacks in September.
Driving force suggests it makes decisions for you. That's not necessarily it. It is sth to take in account.
Considering that fundamentalist Islam is trying to get full control over the region from Afghanistan to Chechnya(with Pakistan as a main agent, not Afghanistan), there is the possibility of A very large fraction of world oil coming under their influence(how monolithic fundamentalist islam would be, i have doubts).
In terms of size, Islam terrorism in the US looks more like a bit of "spillover" of what's happening in Asia, and which US helped to create, while trying to undermine Russia. But by now, Russia is weakened enough.
If Bush starts a general war on terrorism, the enemy coincides well with competitors trying to control oil. This allows to use all kinds of political means, like boycots(eg Iran),and excuses for military interventions.
At the moment one can't conclude more than "it's something to take in account".
For one thing it explains the mini top in Europe . Why do France and Germany want to get involved so much?
BTW: US and UK took the initiative for the Caucasian Commonwealth(around the Caspian) already 5 years ago, and Chechnya seems to have been a more important partner than Russia, which was left out(Russia has a major oil pipeline through Chechnya).
Let me put it this way.
geopolitics is a jungle. You want to survive in it then it's a reasonable choice to put some real mean guys up there.
Of course , then you should not be surprised if some day they screw you.
So you like some emergency brake.
Even in a state of war, I guess. And certainly in a condition of permanent terrorism.
Some people could say, yes, but normal ways are to brake constantly, but lightly. And in wartime that is difficult. Could be . Depends on the design. Just taking away all brakes does not sound good.
how far does "please don't brake now" get you?
It's not easy to design a guaranteed emergency brake.
There are also ways of dissenting without (yet) opposing.
I imagine it would be possible to create formalised forms of showing dissent. So at least you can say you disapprove of decisions but don't oppose them.
anyone know what mixed metaphors are?
I agree with one thing, there are big benefits at stake, and England, Germany and France very much like to be part of the game. Italy being the sulking outsider.
,Bondsteel, Cheney, Carlyse, Bush , Caspian oil, Unocal, Macedonia, KLA, NLA, MPRI, KPC, OSCE,William Walker, Afghanistan, heroin, drugs, Oliver North, Vinnell Corporation, Dyncorp, soros.
:)
Here is my homework :
The Caspian oil basin is a very important one.
Cheney , as CEO of Halliburton in 1998:"I cannot think of a time when we have had a region emerge as suddenly to become as strategically significant as the Caspian". Estimates have only been rising since.
but actually the whole of central asia is involved. I read that Wolfowitz is very much in favor of grabbing all of it and stripping Russia bare.
A big problem with the caspian and central asian resources is getting them out through a safe way. There are in several possible corridors.
- Iran is shortest, but boycotted in every possible way.
- The corridor to Turkey is difficult to secure.
- China is more than 2000 miles.
- The corridor to kosovo is an interesting issue, because the US has been very active in the Balkan conflicts, using NATO as a front, and secured the pipeline(see fort Bondsteel) and the public did not even notice what was going on. Macedonia is needed too in the plan, and underway. The US strategy in the Balkan deserves a lot of attention.
For one thing, the unrestrained free traffic of Afghan heroin through Kosovo increases financing of opposition in Russian border states like Chechnya.
- The Afghanistan-Pakistan corridor is best known for the Unocal line in construction, which has been interrupted in Afghanistan since i think 1998(that was the year they asked government for help).
But Afghanistan is also a starting point for moving north. Russian sources are afraid(well, to be honest , i only found one) that the US will try to drive a mass of refugees north, use it to destabilise the region and create an alibi to intervene with NATO. British and US diplomacy already requested Pakistan to keep the borders closed(I think, can't remember the source right now). I guess they did not need much pressing.
For this you need weak humanitarian aid inside Afghanistan.
The only mobile troops of Russia are being pinned down in Chechnya, and Bin Laden does not seem to have control there. Hoe much reason will US need to move north?
As is well known, not everyone thinks international approval is necessary.
If you feel like a very long google session, each time take 2 or 3 words at random from:
Halliburton, Brown and Root, AMBO
That bang you just heard is from a surveillance server that just blew up
The web, real educational at times. And addictive too
Policy can often be even more powerful than law. See
Ashcroft policy . Ashcroft tells agencies to resist claims for use of 1st amendment. He will provide all the legal power to slow down, resist, obstruct claims.
In the long term, then, we also need to lessen the causes of Muslim grievances, even if it means facing up to our past mistakes.
Aha, what's the budget for that?
a bit more general task maybe, make them less inclined to take to aggression against US. Improving the situation in Israel and Iraq would be one track of the several.
The long term, that's the part that is important but not urgent. that tends to be the part that never happens. A bit like public health: we know prevention would be best, but the only thing we come up with is after the fact fixing up.
But it's now that the budget is being made.
I'd like to see a significant part of the budget spent on something more long lasting than "war on terrorism". Not that the latter is a bad approach. It's just not enough.
It's worthwile to start thinking about what can be done. Come up with some ideas. Collect initiatives from organisations that claim they can make a difference.
Anyone?
Give me a first, how about a minute silence for the people who died in Iraq in the war, and after.
10. Then finally he tries to hit you, but he's too slow, and you're trained. "Cool it now, i'm just explaining something"
...and the other guys might get the idea of trying to kick back too.
11. He tries again, too slow. "Hey!" you shout , and hit him in the face.
12. He tries again, you smack him about a bit, to make it clear that the lesson is finished.
13. then he waits till you turn your back, and kicks your butt.
14. Then you get outraged at this cowardly son of a bitch who hits people when they have their back turned, and he's been pushing you around far too long.
15. Then you beat him to pulp.
16. Then you go and tell your friends that some guy kicked you when your back was turned , and you gave him the treatment he deserved.
17. you explain that you should hit back when sb hits you, because otherwise they'll just sweep the floor with you.
18. agreement all around
So
1. when you're by far the strongest, you don't need to understand anything.
2. you can prove that your way of acting works
3. when you suddenly drop all defense you might be get beaten up bad.
4.
5. so better keep at it.
There's a moral here, but i forgot what it was.
Any resemblance with actual facts is purely coincidental :)
It's not common knowledge but when the use of asbestos was stopped abruptly above 64th floor the afghan asbestos mining got into cashflow problems that they never recovered from. For this(and some other) reasons they did not take it too well.
Later on these people were very helpful to provide Bin Laden with the inside info they had on WTC and a nice fireproof system of connected hideouts in the deserted mines.
Ironic, isn't it.
Not in my short experience. The Russians i work or worked with have high standards for readability. Sometimes weak knowledge of english causes misunderstandings.
Once upon a time and once upon an office?
It must have been tried somewhere, maybe in Russia. And then they start sweating to get the bugs out.
The best way to make the code hard to decipher is to put a bad programmer on it. Although, in lisp...
No gradient (or too small). Or do these things have external parts? (Darn!)
Anyway, you need a gradient. Cold and wet weather is best.
If anyone is thinking to make the most expensive coat in the world: you have to lose a lot of heat to run the little heater. Well at least it's not as bad as the sunpowered pocketlight.