As a 5-digit Slashdot user. . ..I'm amused. Slashdot wasn't originally a Thing, either (and honestly, no longer as much of a thing as it was in the days of Peak Slashdot).Gab is still in beta and has a waitlist. . .
. ..and they've uniformly complained about the glacial pace of promotions there (and the senior people are camping in their positions as long as they can), the tendency of No Such Agency to pigeonhole them in their niches. . . . and the fact that the pay is crap, even for contractors.
However, couldn't hire any of them, they also were demanding Silicon Valley Rockstar salaries for Federal Contract positions in DC Metro . . .
Actually, as I'm told, several UK Governments in succession decided to bring in tons of people who don't speak English, and then failed to require that they learn the national tongue. And while Google Maps is pretty good. . . it can glitch, and can have trouble deciphering vague descriptions. . . .
There is a lightyear's worth of difference between a London Cab and an Uber. London Cabbies are required to have an encyclopedic knowledge of the geography of London: not just the roads, but where every possible venue is. . .
. . . but as an initial point, what's wrong with requiring drivers in ENGLAND to show mastery of ENGLISH ??
But secondly, that's actually a minor hurdle, compared to the "knowledge" required to pass the legendarily hard London Cab Drive License Test.
Specifically:
To achieve the required standard to be licensed as an “All London” taxi driver you will need a thorough knowledge, primarily, of the area within a six-mile radius of Charing Cross. You will need to know: all the streets; housing estates; parks and open spaces; government offices and departments; financial and commercial centres; diplomatic premises; town halls; registry offices; hospitals; places of worship; sports stadiums and leisure centres; airline offices; stations; hotels; clubs; theatres; cinemas; museums; art galleries; schools; colleges and universities; police stations and headquarters buildings; civil, criminal and coroner’s courts; prisons; and places of interest to tourists. In fact, anywhere a taxi passenger might ask to be taken.
To continue the story, several of us asked "why". And compared the data we got, from the data we were EXPECTED to get (and 20 years of previous classes got. . . )
The difference was more sodium and aluminum in the mineral profiles we found. These were all Feldspars, our results all tended towards orthoclase feldspars, rather than the actual plagioclase feldspars, which have higher calcium content.
So the question became, if there was more aluminum and sodium than expected, and the sample hadn't changed, then the mounting matrix (i.e. the generic office rubber cement) had to be the change. We sent the old, dried-up jar, and the current jar. They found a slightly higher concentration of salt, and metallic aluminum contamination. No clue on how the Chem Department did the analysis, but I know the graduating Chem majors got handed the project as an exercise. . .
And that's the rest of the story. Or, in the short version, Science, Bitches! (grin)
Techniques are not materials. We only found out about the change of ingredient vendor AFTER the Chemistry Department found traces of metallic aluminum in the cement. We then queried the producer of the cement, and they told us that, based on the lot number on the jar, that was with the new ingredient vendor.
20+ years, same brand of rubber cement, new jar every year or two.
. . . or that an unknown and unrecognized variable is at play.
Mind you, this goes back 40 years, but in my undergrad days, we were required to do a needle powder mount of a ground mineral, and use it in an x-ray diffractometry device. in order to identify the mineral by diffraction patterns.
The year my class did it, we were **all** off by about 5-6% from the reference shots, made years earlier (the sample sources remained the same). Turns out the manufacturer of the adhesive we used for the powder mounts (it was office-type rubber cement) had undergone a minor formula change, they had a new source of one ingredient, which had some metal dust contamination.
We had students doing the same experiment for 20 years previously, used identical techniques, and we STILL got different results. And we wouldn't have figured it out, if one of the TAs recalled that she had to get a new jar of rubber cement, the old one had solidified. . . . and it still took comparative chemical analyses of two different needle mounts of the same sample, but different years, to identify the difference.
I beg to differ. That's where I met my wife, 20 years ago. I have a number of friends who met their spouse online. I even know a couple who met online BEFORE the Net, on CompuServe.
There are real women, and real men, on the net. But you generally need to be a decent person to connect with them . . . .
No such thing as "artificial gravity". What you're referring to is centripetal acceleration. And it's not cheap: the ISS is designed to function in a microgravity environment, and is built as lightly as possible. to minimize launch mass, and thus, lift costs.
Designing a station utilizing centripetal acceleration would require much stronger materials, and specific designs for load-bearing structures. Currently, the only load the ISS currently has to deal with, is caused by pressurization of the interior environment. . .
Well, assuming you know the shape of the original pottery, or better still, have a whole piece or enough to reconstruct: simply MEASURE the orientation, then use paleomagnetic detection techniques to measure the remnant field. Then compare the observed field orientation against the physical orientation of the sample
. . . . back in my Geophysics days (early 1980s), we already knew that the current planetary magnetic field was in decline, and we were approaching a pole reversal "real soon now" (in Geologic timeframe, not human timeframe. . ).
Heck, we were routinely measuring fossilized magnetic remnant fields in far older rocks, not just strength, but orientation as well. And finding the proper orientation of the sample was always difficult, generally required microscopic examination of a thin slice of the sample. The advantage of pottery for recent sampling, is that it is far easier to determine the orientation of the sample. . .
Slashdot Mirror
. . . . Verizon has been promising to expand FIOS to my area. For 10 years. And hasn't expanded coverage area ANYWHERE near me for 8 years.
And for some obscure reason, their expansion stopped right at the border of Comcast, Charter, and Time-Warner coverage areas.
Funny, that. . . .but, of course, nothing will ever be proven. . .
. . . . irony, indeed, from a nation with a well-established formal hacking infrastructure, both military and corporate. . .
So, which birds are a species of sed ? We've already discussed those related to awk. . . .
The NBA Players Union could not be reached for comment, but a spokesman was heard to mutter "White Bots can't jump. . . "
The enemy of my enemy is my enemy's enemy. No more. No less.
- Maxim 29:, The Seventy Maxims of Maximally Effective Mercenaries
Best Picture of 2016, 4 nominees on the board, survey says ????
(evil grin)
As has Elvis
Don't give them ideas.
. . . . they'll take err jerbs ???
(sorry, couldn't resist. . .)
As a 5-digit Slashdot user. . . .I'm amused. Slashdot wasn't originally a Thing, either (and honestly, no longer as much of a thing as it was in the days of Peak Slashdot).Gab is still in beta and has a waitlist. . .
. . .and they've uniformly complained about the glacial pace of promotions there (and the senior people are camping in their positions as long as they can), the tendency of No Such Agency to pigeonhole them in their niches. . . . and the fact that the pay is crap, even for contractors.
However, couldn't hire any of them, they also were demanding Silicon Valley Rockstar salaries for Federal Contract positions in DC Metro . . .
. . . . more users to Gab, where the only filters on what you see, are the ones **you** set on your own account
. . . .running against an established Congressman (Stephen Lynch) who has been in Congress for 16 years, who has routinely been winning elections by 70%+ for years.
Wu's only real "in" here, is that Lynch is considered moderate. No idea on how that particular congressional district trends. . .
Actually, as I'm told, several UK Governments in succession decided to bring in tons of people who don't speak English, and then failed to require that they learn the national tongue. And while Google Maps is pretty good. . . it can glitch, and can have trouble deciphering vague descriptions. . . .
There is a lightyear's worth of difference between a London Cab and an Uber. London Cabbies are required to have an encyclopedic knowledge of the geography of London: not just the roads, but where every possible venue is. . .
. . . but as an initial point, what's wrong with requiring drivers in ENGLAND to show mastery of ENGLISH ??
But secondly, that's actually a minor hurdle, compared to the "knowledge" required to pass the legendarily hard London Cab Drive License Test.
Specifically:
To achieve the required standard to be licensed as an “All London” taxi driver you will need a thorough knowledge, primarily, of the area within a six-mile radius of Charing Cross. You will need to know: all the streets; housing estates; parks and open spaces; government offices and departments; financial and commercial centres; diplomatic premises; town halls; registry offices; hospitals; places of worship; sports stadiums and leisure centres; airline offices; stations; hotels; clubs; theatres; cinemas; museums; art galleries; schools; colleges and universities; police stations and headquarters buildings; civil, criminal and coroner’s courts; prisons; and places of interest to tourists. In fact, anywhere a taxi passenger might ask to be taken.
To continue the story, several of us asked "why". And compared the data we got, from the data we were EXPECTED to get (and 20 years of previous classes got. . . )
The difference was more sodium and aluminum in the mineral profiles we found. These were all Feldspars, our results all tended towards orthoclase feldspars, rather than the actual plagioclase feldspars, which have higher calcium content.
So the question became, if there was more aluminum and sodium than expected, and the sample hadn't changed, then the mounting matrix (i.e. the generic office rubber cement) had to be the change. We sent the old, dried-up jar, and the current jar. They found a slightly higher concentration of salt, and metallic aluminum contamination. No clue on how the Chem Department did the analysis, but I know the graduating Chem majors got handed the project as an exercise. . .
And that's the rest of the story. Or, in the short version, Science, Bitches! (grin)
Indeed. Carbon Credits are, effectively, the return of the selling of Indulgences. It's just the Church of Gaia, not the Catholic Church
Techniques are not materials. We only found out about the change of ingredient vendor AFTER the Chemistry Department found traces of metallic aluminum in the cement. We then queried the producer of the cement, and they told us that, based on the lot number on the jar, that was with the new ingredient vendor.
20+ years, same brand of rubber cement, new jar every year or two.
. . . or that an unknown and unrecognized variable is at play.
Mind you, this goes back 40 years, but in my undergrad days, we were required to do a needle powder mount of a ground mineral, and use it in an x-ray diffractometry device. in order to identify the mineral by diffraction patterns.
The year my class did it, we were **all** off by about 5-6% from the reference shots, made years earlier (the sample sources remained the same). Turns out the manufacturer of the adhesive we used for the powder mounts (it was office-type rubber cement) had undergone a minor formula change, they had a new source of one ingredient, which had some metal dust contamination.
We had students doing the same experiment for 20 years previously, used identical techniques, and we STILL got different results. And we wouldn't have figured it out, if one of the TAs recalled that she had to get a new jar of rubber cement, the old one had solidified. . . . and it still took comparative chemical analyses of two different needle mounts of the same sample, but different years, to identify the difference.
I beg to differ. That's where I met my wife, 20 years ago. I have a number of friends who met their spouse online. I even know a couple who met online BEFORE the Net, on CompuServe.
There are real women, and real men, on the net. But you generally need to be a decent person to connect with them . . . .
No such thing as "artificial gravity". What you're referring to is centripetal acceleration. And it's not cheap: the ISS is designed to function in a microgravity environment, and is built as lightly as possible. to minimize launch mass, and thus, lift costs.
Designing a station utilizing centripetal acceleration would require much stronger materials, and specific designs for load-bearing structures. Currently, the only load the ISS currently has to deal with, is caused by pressurization of the interior environment. . .
All they really need is the alcohol: they've got Tang. Instant "Orbital Screwdriver". . . .
Well, assuming you know the shape of the original pottery, or better still, have a whole piece or enough to reconstruct: simply MEASURE the orientation, then use paleomagnetic detection techniques to measure the remnant field. Then compare the observed field orientation against the physical orientation of the sample
. . . . back in my Geophysics days (early 1980s), we already knew that the current planetary magnetic field was in decline, and we were approaching a pole reversal "real soon now" (in Geologic timeframe, not human timeframe. . ).
Heck, we were routinely measuring fossilized magnetic remnant fields in far older rocks, not just strength, but orientation as well. And finding the proper orientation of the sample was always difficult, generally required microscopic examination of a thin slice of the sample. The advantage of pottery for recent sampling, is that it is far easier to determine the orientation of the sample. . .