Why is the surveillance done only by "a private nonprofit group?" In a truly transparent society such an array of cameras would be accessible by anyone, not just a select few.
Arthur Clarke always gets credit for the concept, but Charles Sheffield wrote The Web Between Worlds the same year (1979). I haven't read Clarke's book, but TWbW is a pretty engaging novel of how such a space elevator might be built.
I have an 8" disk from the IBM Displaywriter system that my mom used in 1981. I'd love to see what's on it -- I'm pretty sure it contains some embarrassingly bad stuff I wrote for high school.
So anyone can make a recording of the on-duty government employee who's changing the launch codes for the nukes? Or the state-paid lawer who's talking with a client? Or the government doctor who is reviewing someone's medical records?
I agree with the sentiment of what you're advocating, but surely some things should be kept secret.
Why is a discussion about a scientific debate under the "On Faith" section of the Washington Post?
It sounds like a "science-only Presidential debate" is code for "asking the Presidential candidates whether or not they accept the Theory of Evolution."
After we abandon it, some scrappy Chinese folks will move in and take ownership. Similar to a
scenario suggested by Gibson and Sterling, but with slightly different players.
I'd be OK with police surveillance cameras pointed at me (in public) if I could
(a) access those same cameras on my PC or cell phone. If they're pointed at public places, why shouldn't I be able to use them to see if a particular place looks safe?
and
(b) have similar surveillance cameras pointed at the police. I don't want to thwart their undercover operations or anything like that, but I want to be sure that they're not beating up prisoners for fun in the jailhouse.
That pesky Apocalypse always seems to be, oddly, both inevitable and just around the corner, time and time and time again.
It's getting closer. It'll be here Real Soon Now. Yep, real soon. Start panicking. Here it comes. It's almost upon us. Get ready. The end is nigh. The sky is falling. Say your prayers. It's too late for us all. Nothing we can do. Wait for it. Any moment now....
Tim O'Reilly touched on this topic in his EclipseCon 2005 keynote address. One of the things he pointed out is that a company can make money by creating a unique set of data, instead of a unique set of software. For example, the maps that power MapQuest, et. al., come from a company called Navteq. Amazon adds value by collecting user data and using to show you popular books related to the one you just bought. Companies like Digital Envoy provide mappings of IP addresses to geographic locations. There's no doubt that the open source community could create free software to drive yet another online map, bookstore, or ad engine to target specific geographic regions, but they'd be hard pressed to come up with the data required to populate them. Similarly (pointed out Tim) imagine if Google released their search engine source code tomorrow. What would you do with it? Without a way to administer the monster array of cheap servers that Google has, there's no way you could compete with them. Google's secret sauce is not their software to rank search results -- it's that they've actually gone and done it for all those zillions of web pages and made that data available for you to use.
Hey, we don't need 11 prominent people to come up with ideas. Everyday folks do just fine. Check out whynot.net for a variety of clever solutions just waiting to be implemented.
Tim Powers writes more modern and historical fantasy than traditional science fiction, but his books kick ass (in an erudite fashion, you understand). I suggest starting with Last Call or The Anubis Gates. His latest, Declare, is pretty solid, too.
The Web Between Worlds
on
Going Up?
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· Score: 2, Informative
Charles Sheffield's novel _The Web Between Worlds_ is a fictional account of the construction of such a "beanstalk." It's strong on the science and is a pretty good read.
Since "al Qaeda" translates as "the base", I guess the XP easter egg is "al your Qaeda are belong to us". Or, given recent events, it might be more appropriate to say, "al your Qaeda are belong to U.S."
Slashdot Mirror
Maybe some plucky squatters will take it over.
Why is the surveillance done only by "a private nonprofit group?" In a truly transparent society such an array of cameras would be accessible by anyone, not just a select few.
We feel good when we help others?
"You just stay the hell away from me, ALAS. I won't be your patsy. I won't be your vector."
I've always been a fan of NO CARRIER. It's obscure and makes a good internet meme.
Wait, we're supposed to trust the findings from SCAM Research Labs?
Personally, I'm waiting to get a job at Secure Computing's Over-The-Counter Hardware Research Lab.
Arthur Clarke always gets credit for the concept, but Charles Sheffield wrote The Web Between Worlds the same year (1979). I haven't read Clarke's book, but TWbW is a pretty engaging novel of how such a space elevator might be built.
I have an 8" disk from the IBM Displaywriter system that my mom used in 1981. I'd love to see what's on it -- I'm pretty sure it contains some embarrassingly bad stuff I wrote for high school.
Now you 5.25-inch kids get off my lawn.
Paging Mr. Gibson, Mr. William Gibson....
Now we know where Cthulhu stands on the issue of net neutrality.
So anyone can make a recording of the on-duty government employee who's changing the launch codes for the nukes? Or the state-paid lawer who's talking with a client? Or the government doctor who is reviewing someone's medical records?
I agree with the sentiment of what you're advocating, but surely some things should be kept secret.
The Transparent Society
Why is a discussion about a scientific debate under the "On Faith" section of the Washington Post?
It sounds like a "science-only Presidential debate" is code for "asking the Presidential candidates whether or not they accept the Theory of Evolution."
After we abandon it, some scrappy Chinese folks will move in and take ownership. Similar to a scenario suggested by Gibson and Sterling, but with slightly different players.
Does anyone have any details on this beyond "virtually everything is threatened?"
I'd be OK with police surveillance cameras pointed at me (in public) if I could
(a) access those same cameras on my PC or cell phone. If they're pointed at public places, why shouldn't I be able to use them to see if a particular place looks safe?
and
(b) have similar surveillance cameras pointed at the police. I don't want to thwart their undercover operations or anything like that, but I want to be sure that they're not beating up prisoners for fun in the jailhouse.
And in response Google will be teaming up with Amazon.com.
That pesky Apocalypse always seems to be, oddly, both inevitable and just around the corner, time and time and time again.
It's getting closer. It'll be here Real Soon Now. Yep, real soon. Start panicking. Here it comes. It's almost upon us. Get ready. The end is nigh. The sky is falling. Say your prayers. It's too late for us all. Nothing we can do. Wait for it. Any moment now....
Tim O'Reilly touched on this topic in his EclipseCon 2005 keynote address. One of the things he pointed out is that a company can make money by creating a unique set of data, instead of a unique set of software. For example, the maps that power MapQuest, et. al., come from a company called Navteq. Amazon adds value by collecting user data and using to show you popular books related to the one you just bought. Companies like Digital Envoy provide mappings of IP addresses to geographic locations. There's no doubt that the open source community could create free software to drive yet another online map, bookstore, or ad engine to target specific geographic regions, but they'd be hard pressed to come up with the data required to populate them. Similarly (pointed out Tim) imagine if Google released their search engine source code tomorrow. What would you do with it? Without a way to administer the monster array of cheap servers that Google has, there's no way you could compete with them. Google's secret sauce is not their software to rank search results -- it's that they've actually gone and done it for all those zillions of web pages and made that data available for you to use.
Does anyone play board and card games socially anymore?
Hey, we don't need 11 prominent people to come up with ideas. Everyday folks do just fine. Check out whynot.net for a variety of clever solutions just waiting to be implemented.
The same year that Clarke published his novel, Charles Sheffield published "the other space elevator novel," The Web Between Worlds. You can read the first few chapters at Baen Books' web site.
Tim Powers writes more modern and historical fantasy than traditional science fiction, but his books kick ass (in an erudite fashion, you understand). I suggest starting with Last Call or The Anubis Gates. His latest, Declare, is pretty solid, too.
Charles Sheffield's novel _The Web Between Worlds_ is a fictional account of the construction of such a "beanstalk." It's strong on the science and is a pretty good read.
I'd like to see a good all-around qmail book. O'Reilly was going to publish one a couple of years ago, but bagged out.
Since "al Qaeda" translates as "the base", I guess the XP easter egg is "al your Qaeda are belong to us". Or, given recent events, it might be more appropriate to say, "al your Qaeda are belong to U.S."