Like they aren't planning to do that with Windows XP? Once they release that turkey, I bet you real money that alternative OS's will hit the mainstream big time...
Re:Linux on Titanic? Yep!
on
Linux in 3D
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· Score: 1
However, the original question was "I've heard that Titanic was rendered entirely in linux"...
The fact that it was rendered on seperate platforms does indeed mean that they didn't render it entirely in Linux...
Re:Linux on Titanic? Nope... (sorta)
on
Linux in 3D
·
· Score: 2
A quick correction (quoted from Time):
Digital Domain; "Titanic": 300 SGI machines running IRIX, 200 DEC Alphas, 160 running Linux, 40 running NT. One hundred SGIs are desktops used for modeling, etc., while the others are all file servers of some kind.
Linux on Titanic? Nope...
on
Linux in 3D
·
· Score: 1
It was done on SGI machines, running Silicon Graphics' proprietary Unix variant: Irix... Possibly it could run Linux apps and vice versa, but eh, if you can afford a top of the line SGI workstation, why be a piker when it comes to the software that runs on it (other than to prove you can)?
People using older SGI boxen are the exception to the previous statement
The one sad thing is, that most of us 30 or younger missed out on the computer hobbyist scene... The best we can manage is a little hardware modification, or overclocking... Gone are the days when you could take a conventional CPU, and with a massive project board and a whole lot of patience, build a completely unique computer from the wirewraps up...
You cannot even design a CPU on your own nowadays, too much to invest in fabrication, and forget about building custom boards either, the materials and tooling required costs several thousand dollars, a bit much on a low budget (which technically Apple was founded on)...
It's a pity, really, because of the fact that so many good ideas in hardware development are stillborn, without a chance to exist in hardware form (unless you're willing to sell out that idea to a major corporation that will not only own that idea, but you as well)...
So really, while software remains open, hardware has essentially been put under lock and key for eternity...
While your point is well made, your data is off... A meteor the size of a soccer ball (assuming that's the version of the term 'football' that you're using) would not nessesarily level a house, unless your house is a bedroom, kitchen and bathroom taking up less than an acre of land, approximately 3x2 meters, in other words, a shack...
A meteor the size of a car would NOT level a city, at best it would level a city block (the Germans were pummeling England with their missile equivilents, equal in explosive force, but London's still standng)...
A meteor the size of a house would not level the planet, meteor crater in Arizona was created by just such an impact, and the planet's still here...
Move each one down a notch and you're closer to the facts, a meteor the size of a small city would level the planet, a meteor the size of a house would level a city, while a meteor the size of a car most certainly would level a house...
The easiest way to detect undetected asteroids, is by detecting the ones that haven't been detected before... Since optical means are the only ones available for cateloging that're currently used, that leaves an awful lot to be desired...
Consider how long it took to determine how many moons Saturn and Jupiter had, using optical means... If we used that method for predicting an earth path crossing asteroid, then we'd be watching 1/2 the population die, our walls would be shaking on the remaining half of the planet as most of us go "Huh? Wha'?"
Actually the fact that they could drop a probe onto Eros and maintain functionality brings an interesting idea to mind:
While the best method we have of cataloging asteroids is currently by using optical telescopes (a tedious and slow method for tracking their movement as well), why not make a series of miniprobes that will land on every asteroid as they're detected, so that their movements could be tracked with radio telescopes instead?
The benefits could be two-fold, one being that it would be easier to tell undetected asteroids apart from tagged ones, second being that any changes in path could be easily detected...
For those saying "What'll it cost?", well, what would it cost to rebuild after a smaller asteroid decimates several hundred square miles? Or worst, what would it cost to rebuild after a large one hits? A few hundred million to billion in disposable probes designed as a radio collar for stray asteroids beats trillions in damage if one slips through undetected...
Actually the Russians speak English fairly well, and the Americans speak Russian fairly well to boot (both sides have to speak the language, due to the different shuttle flights, not everyone visiting the station is Berlitz trained)...
However, what would have been a more condescending and nationalistic joke would have been this:
Included in the DVD movie collection was "Moscow on the Hudson", "Red Heat", "Little Nikita", "Gorky Park", "Dr. Strangelove", "Red Scorpion", "The Beast", "Failsafe", and last but not least, "The Day After"...
That's the one, sorry, I sometimes get my terminology confuzzled...
Now on the other hand, there IS a damnned nifty motor from a company making jetboards (surfboards with built in propulsion), is about 3x6x8 inches in size, and can manage around 10-15 HP... When you're talking that size, you can snap 'em onto rollerblades (whoops, already been done)...
There is a flaw in the reasoning that smaller motors=efficiency... In the case of those used for folding scooters and whatnot, those are single cylinder, single stroke engines... VERY inefficient... They run fast and hard, which makes them practical for lawn mowers and chainsaws, but due to the nature of the engine, they dump huge amounts of hydrocarbons into the air (partially ejected with the exhaust, which is also not filtered by catalytic convertors or condensors)... The only true solution is to use two stroke engines, which cost more, and are too large to be practical in something like this...
I would suggest checking out www.corbinmotors.com... they have some very adequate (albeit goofy looking) alternative energy vehicles, from an electric single seater car that can cruise up to one day on a single charge, at freeway speeds, through a more powerful gas powered model that uses a 1600 cc v-twin engine...
Of course, don't forget that they've been making bibles for kids for decades now, bible comics, Chick tracts, and our old favorite, "Davey and Goliath"... Even frigging PEANUTS had biblical messages strewn throughout, spouted by the mutated mongoloid, Linus (not Torvalds)...
Biblical infiltration of kids' media is oft times far more insidious than video game marketing... You buy Quake, you KNOW something's head is going to be blown off... But look at the average cable channel lineup between 5 and 7 (when most kids are getting up for school), and what do you see? Cartoons? Yeah, for the terminally brain dead Barney and Tellietubby sect... But beyond that, you see no less than 5 (and as many as 10)seperate channels all running Christian broadcasting...
Used to be (showing my age again - sometime around the early to mid 80's) the other way around, where if you were searching for it, you'd find bible thumpers on perhaps one channel, and one of the fringe channels to boot... Otherwise, the cooler old cartoons would be on, or news... 5AM used to be prime Rocky and Bullwinkle and Robotech viewing time...
Something like that can be abused as well, what if the man or woman wants a divorce after being infected with the parasite? They would, in essense, be rendered sterile as a result... On the flip side, it isn't likely any men would want to experiment with a bacterium that could possibly threaten their precious gonads...
They've experimented with different birth control drugs for men, such as one that simply prevents the protective protein coating of spermatozoa from forming... When exposed to the acidic environment of the vagina, they'd die much more rapidly, and if they survived long enough to reach an egg, the protein shell wouldn't be there to facilitate cellular fusion...
While the women loved the idea, the men screamed bloody murder and buried the news on this medication... Doesn't matter that it's non hormonal in action, doesn't matter that it has no genetic side effects...
A use for the bacteriological strain such as the one listed could only be viable if it was introduced discreetly, nobody would willingly sign up for it, and nobody would take it as an over the counter drug...
The people responsible for filing and recording copyrighted material, possessing full copies of said copyrighted materials, and making said copyrighted materials available for attorneys researching copyright infringement cases, is known as the LIBRARY of Congress, right? The copies of material they distribute are similarly unprofitable...
For that matter, why not close down the patent office as well? They make their patent information readily available, leaving everything open for RE experts to come up with their own exclusive patented products...
Technically by their very nature, the US patent office AND Library of Congress are in violation of the DMCA to boot...
Actually, up until 1991, when the Mac IIci was released, there were no Macs with audio recording hardware or microphones... That was largely due to Apple Records threatening Apple Computers... Apple agreed with Apple not to sue, as long as Apple stuck to the computer industry, and refused to make recording equipment... Up until 1991, Apple sold a recording dongle that connected to the Mac, for an exhorbitant amount of money (around $200-$300), which was basically a simple encoder and a microphone...
Confusing ain't it?
Well, along the way, they determined that 8 bit recording wasn't a violation, because even the most basic professional digital recording hardware at the time was 16-24 bit, which meant anything that could be recorded on a Mac had no way in hell of being considered as a "marketable" recording... So after the Mac IIcx, they decided that adding barebones recording hardware was acceptable...
Eventually Apple Records gave up on chasing the lawsuit bandwagon, and so, from 1994 through present, Apple went into designing better sound hardware for their platforms...
As for the Sosume sound, I believe that was incorporated into the Mac sound scheme for over a decade now, but was created by Apple as a joke on Apple Records'lawsuits after the fact...
Amusing concept, that a name is lawsuit worthy or even patentable (since we're technically talking a trademark)...
While I'm currently a PC user, I did do some work with Macs and whatnot, and find it ironic, considering that Apple Records tried suing Apple Computers on similar claims (only relaxing their claims when Apple) at the time, promised to make their equipment crippled so that recording music would be unviable without non-Apple hardware... Hence the reason why Macs prior to 1990 required seperate audio recording hardware, and only in the last someodd 5 years were finally allowed to record in 16 bit audio...
Organic does not mean alive per se... Organic simply means that they are composed of carbon based compounds... For example, we've been using organically powered lighting for over a century now, you know them best as carbon arc lamps... These use a stick of solid carbon to generate a spark... We've used organic writing implements as well, such as pencils (graphite) and pens (many inks use finely powdered carbon for pigment)... These are just basic examples, but undoubtably you can see that neither of these are alive per se...
In other cases, much of the ideas of "grown" circuitry involve living matter in the manufacturing process, but not in the operational process... Some bacteria emit corrosive waste products that are used to etch circuitry, others can be used to eat patterns into circuitry... This qualifies as organic manufacturing as well, but the end product is no more alive than your toaster is now...
Clone the body, but not the mind... Find the genome responsible for producing brain matter, and remove it... Let everything else form, but keep the body on life support until it reaches sufficient maturity for organ harvesting...
Without a brain to offer a sentience, without a mind to protest, there is no ethical debate... Period...
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A beowulf cluster of these?
But seriously, that's essentially what the bot's control system sounds like...
So when will we see something like this on Battlebots?
Like they aren't planning to do that with Windows XP? Once they release that turkey, I bet you real money that alternative OS's will hit the mainstream big time...
However, the original question was "I've heard that Titanic was rendered entirely in linux"...
The fact that it was rendered on seperate platforms does indeed mean that they didn't render it entirely in Linux...
A quick correction (quoted from Time):
Digital Domain; "Titanic": 300 SGI machines running IRIX, 200 DEC Alphas, 160 running Linux, 40 running NT. One hundred SGIs are desktops used for modeling, etc., while the others are all file servers of some kind.
It was done on SGI machines, running Silicon Graphics' proprietary Unix variant: Irix... Possibly it could run Linux apps and vice versa, but eh, if you can afford a top of the line SGI workstation, why be a piker when it comes to the software that runs on it (other than to prove you can)?
People using older SGI boxen are the exception to the previous statement
The one sad thing is, that most of us 30 or younger missed out on the computer hobbyist scene... The best we can manage is a little hardware modification, or overclocking... Gone are the days when you could take a conventional CPU, and with a massive project board and a whole lot of patience, build a completely unique computer from the wirewraps up...
You cannot even design a CPU on your own nowadays, too much to invest in fabrication, and forget about building custom boards either, the materials and tooling required costs several thousand dollars, a bit much on a low budget (which technically Apple was founded on)...
It's a pity, really, because of the fact that so many good ideas in hardware development are stillborn, without a chance to exist in hardware form (unless you're willing to sell out that idea to a major corporation that will not only own that idea, but you as well)...
So really, while software remains open, hardware has essentially been put under lock and key for eternity...
While your point is well made, your data is off... A meteor the size of a soccer ball (assuming that's the version of the term 'football' that you're using) would not nessesarily level a house, unless your house is a bedroom, kitchen and bathroom taking up less than an acre of land, approximately 3x2 meters, in other words, a shack...
A meteor the size of a car would NOT level a city, at best it would level a city block (the Germans were pummeling England with their missile equivilents, equal in explosive force, but London's still standng)...
A meteor the size of a house would not level the planet, meteor crater in Arizona was created by just such an impact, and the planet's still here...
Move each one down a notch and you're closer to the facts, a meteor the size of a small city would level the planet, a meteor the size of a house would level a city, while a meteor the size of a car most certainly would level a house...
The easiest way to detect undetected asteroids, is by detecting the ones that haven't been detected before... Since optical means are the only ones available for cateloging that're currently used, that leaves an awful lot to be desired...
Consider how long it took to determine how many moons Saturn and Jupiter had, using optical means... If we used that method for predicting an earth path crossing asteroid, then we'd be watching 1/2 the population die, our walls would be shaking on the remaining half of the planet as most of us go "Huh? Wha'?"
Actually the fact that they could drop a probe onto Eros and maintain functionality brings an interesting idea to mind:
While the best method we have of cataloging asteroids is currently by using optical telescopes (a tedious and slow method for tracking their movement as well), why not make a series of miniprobes that will land on every asteroid as they're detected, so that their movements could be tracked with radio telescopes instead?
The benefits could be two-fold, one being that it would be easier to tell undetected asteroids apart from tagged ones, second being that any changes in path could be easily detected...
For those saying "What'll it cost?", well, what would it cost to rebuild after a smaller asteroid decimates several hundred square miles? Or worst, what would it cost to rebuild after a large one hits? A few hundred million to billion in disposable probes designed as a radio collar for stray asteroids beats trillions in damage if one slips through undetected...
All you gotta do is hack the roms for "Lunar Lander", and you could play it on MAME!
Actually the Russians speak English fairly well, and the Americans speak Russian fairly well to boot (both sides have to speak the language, due to the different shuttle flights, not everyone visiting the station is Berlitz trained)...
However, what would have been a more condescending and nationalistic joke would have been this:
Included in the DVD movie collection was "Moscow on the Hudson", "Red Heat", "Little Nikita", "Gorky Park", "Dr. Strangelove", "Red Scorpion", "The Beast", "Failsafe", and last but not least, "The Day After"...
That's the one, sorry, I sometimes get my terminology confuzzled...
Now on the other hand, there IS a damnned nifty motor from a company making jetboards (surfboards with built in propulsion), is about 3x6x8 inches in size, and can manage around 10-15 HP... When you're talking that size, you can snap 'em onto rollerblades (whoops, already been done)...
There is a flaw in the reasoning that smaller motors=efficiency... In the case of those used for folding scooters and whatnot, those are single cylinder, single stroke engines... VERY inefficient... They run fast and hard, which makes them practical for lawn mowers and chainsaws, but due to the nature of the engine, they dump huge amounts of hydrocarbons into the air (partially ejected with the exhaust, which is also not filtered by catalytic convertors or condensors)... The only true solution is to use two stroke engines, which cost more, and are too large to be practical in something like this...
I would suggest checking out www.corbinmotors.com... they have some very adequate (albeit goofy looking) alternative energy vehicles, from an electric single seater car that can cruise up to one day on a single charge, at freeway speeds, through a more powerful gas powered model that uses a 1600 cc v-twin engine...
Of course, don't forget that they've been making bibles for kids for decades now, bible comics, Chick tracts, and our old favorite, "Davey and Goliath"... Even frigging PEANUTS had biblical messages strewn throughout, spouted by the mutated mongoloid, Linus (not Torvalds)...
Biblical infiltration of kids' media is oft times far more insidious than video game marketing... You buy Quake, you KNOW something's head is going to be blown off... But look at the average cable channel lineup between 5 and 7 (when most kids are getting up for school), and what do you see? Cartoons? Yeah, for the terminally brain dead Barney and Tellietubby sect... But beyond that, you see no less than 5 (and as many as 10)seperate channels all running Christian broadcasting...
Used to be (showing my age again - sometime around the early to mid 80's) the other way around, where if you were searching for it, you'd find bible thumpers on perhaps one channel, and one of the fringe channels to boot... Otherwise, the cooler old cartoons would be on, or news... 5AM used to be prime Rocky and Bullwinkle and Robotech viewing time...
Something like that can be abused as well, what if the man or woman wants a divorce after being infected with the parasite? They would, in essense, be rendered sterile as a result... On the flip side, it isn't likely any men would want to experiment with a bacterium that could possibly threaten their precious gonads...
They've experimented with different birth control drugs for men, such as one that simply prevents the protective protein coating of spermatozoa from forming... When exposed to the acidic environment of the vagina, they'd die much more rapidly, and if they survived long enough to reach an egg, the protein shell wouldn't be there to facilitate cellular fusion...
While the women loved the idea, the men screamed bloody murder and buried the news on this medication... Doesn't matter that it's non hormonal in action, doesn't matter that it has no genetic side effects...
A use for the bacteriological strain such as the one listed could only be viable if it was introduced discreetly, nobody would willingly sign up for it, and nobody would take it as an over the counter drug...
The people responsible for filing and recording copyrighted material, possessing full copies of said copyrighted materials, and making said copyrighted materials available for attorneys researching copyright infringement cases, is known as the LIBRARY of Congress, right? The copies of material they distribute are similarly unprofitable...
For that matter, why not close down the patent office as well? They make their patent information readily available, leaving everything open for RE experts to come up with their own exclusive patented products...
Technically by their very nature, the US patent office AND Library of Congress are in violation of the DMCA to boot...
Actually, up until 1991, when the Mac IIci was released, there were no Macs with audio recording hardware or microphones... That was largely due to Apple Records threatening Apple Computers... Apple agreed with Apple not to sue, as long as Apple stuck to the computer industry, and refused to make recording equipment... Up until 1991, Apple sold a recording dongle that connected to the Mac, for an exhorbitant amount of money (around $200-$300), which was basically a simple encoder and a microphone...
Confusing ain't it?
Well, along the way, they determined that 8 bit recording wasn't a violation, because even the most basic professional digital recording hardware at the time was 16-24 bit, which meant anything that could be recorded on a Mac had no way in hell of being considered as a "marketable" recording... So after the Mac IIcx, they decided that adding barebones recording hardware was acceptable...
Eventually Apple Records gave up on chasing the lawsuit bandwagon, and so, from 1994 through present, Apple went into designing better sound hardware for their platforms...
As for the Sosume sound, I believe that was incorporated into the Mac sound scheme for over a decade now, but was created by Apple as a joke on Apple Records'lawsuits after the fact...
Amusing concept, that a name is lawsuit worthy or even patentable (since we're technically talking a trademark)...
While I'm currently a PC user, I did do some work with Macs and whatnot, and find it ironic, considering that Apple Records tried suing Apple Computers on similar claims (only relaxing their claims when Apple) at the time, promised to make their equipment crippled so that recording music would be unviable without non-Apple hardware... Hence the reason why Macs prior to 1990 required seperate audio recording hardware, and only in the last someodd 5 years were finally allowed to record in 16 bit audio...
George Dubbya's little *snurf* habit? ;)
Organic does not mean alive per se... Organic simply means that they are composed of carbon based compounds... For example, we've been using organically powered lighting for over a century now, you know them best as carbon arc lamps... These use a stick of solid carbon to generate a spark... We've used organic writing implements as well, such as pencils (graphite) and pens (many inks use finely powdered carbon for pigment)... These are just basic examples, but undoubtably you can see that neither of these are alive per se...
In other cases, much of the ideas of "grown" circuitry involve living matter in the manufacturing process, but not in the operational process... Some bacteria emit corrosive waste products that are used to etch circuitry, others can be used to eat patterns into circuitry... This qualifies as organic manufacturing as well, but the end product is no more alive than your toaster is now...
Clone the body, but not the mind... Find the genome responsible for producing brain matter, and remove it... Let everything else form, but keep the body on life support until it reaches sufficient maturity for organ harvesting...
Without a brain to offer a sentience, without a mind to protest, there is no ethical debate... Period...
Just remove everything! It's the best thing since the pocket fisherman! And now, our host, Ron Popeil!
Duck season! Fire! *KAPOOM!!!*
Aibo Vs. K-9 from Dr. Who... Or R2-D2 Vs the Daleks... Or Twiki Vs the Cybermen! Yeah!
(I see a future Celebrity Deathmatch in the works)
Yeah! When I saw ads for Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan, I thought "Those must be like E.T.! Lets go see it!"...