Gosh, both stupid and racist and further confirming the stereotype of stupid and racist people, posting anonymously.
Did you just say:
So if we're looking at the reality of what's likely here, we appear to have a choice between Bush-style military action against a nation nearly our size, or Obama-style military action in smaller, more carefully chosen venues
So I'm assuming you're American right? (believe it or not, the internet is used by people in other countries too! Would you believe it?!) Looking at the US's rather handy CIA world factbook you'll find the following facts :
USA Population : 313,847,465 (July 2012 est.)
USA GDP : $15.29 trillion (2011 est.)
USA Area : 9,826,675 sq km
Iran Population : 78,868,711 (July 2012 est.)
Iran GDP : $1.003 trillion (2011 est.)
Iran Area : 1,648,195 sq km
So on people, economy and size, the US is between three and fifteen times larger than Iran - nowhere like "nearly our size". Secondly, blowing up suspected militants and people nearby is NOT "carefully chosen venues".
Go back to school (or perhaps stay in school?), read some books and learn something about the wider world and maybe about how people work. Then come back when you understand why the following video clip is very funny indeed :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTpe_5JYufE
In the type of warfare he prosecutes -- drones mean fewer deaths of our service people.
You know I think it's also bad that police officers put themselves in danger to protect the public. How about you use the same drones to attack suspected violent offenders on home ground too and help avoid the danger they present to the police?
What's that you say? You're not happy? You think it wasn't fair to blow up the dude who might have been a murderer as while he wasn't a nice person, you weren't sure if he actually killed anyone or not? And you're angry the missile killed some his friends, family and children that were at the bowling alley at the same time? Oh I understand - you think that they should have been afforded due process and rights because they were your people not someone that doesn't share your language?
Let's get something straight : drone attacks may keep some military personnel safe in the very near term but they're constantly indescriminately killing people. In the past years in pakistan they've killed somewhere between 400 and 800 people, of which around 160 were children. How would you be feeling if another country had flown drones into your country and been killing those numbers of people?
Don't you think that if those peoples surviving family, friends and neighbors didn't previously think that western powers deserved a good kicking, the wanton and unashamed murders by drones will have changed their minds? If one of the angry relatives pulled off something even half as awful as the WTC attacks, would you still say the drones saved "your people" successfully?
Are you not paying attention, or are you just plain stupid?
If you're interested in the process for the craic of the engineering rather than just being a NES fanboy, you could learn a lot from learning the history of the game "Elite" which pushed hardware and software boundaries phenomenally. In fact I'd be curious if anyone could come up with a more impressive game on that front. The best account I've read is in the book Backroom Boys (abridged but good version of the Elite chapter in the link) which I can heartily recommend not just for the chapter on elite but the rest is fascinating too.
So. Rather than have the pistol in line with the row at one side, how about having it in the middle halving the dis-advantage at the extreme(s). Even better, have the pistol central but step back 10 - 20 foot or so and that reduces the differential even further. Seems more practical and a lot more inexpensive than a super dooper electronic system.
I've worked out a balance where I work (self employed) in software engineering most of the year and then take of 6-8 weeks during the summer to work on the UK festival circuit (doing allsorts but generally stage-management and production). This is great as you actually get to do something totally different and re-focus for a bit. Not to mention that it's actually *sociable* - yes, I'm a bit socially retarded but I do actually like interacting with other people! Plus there's lots of music. I still try to do some exercise the rest of the year on a regular basis but taking out chunks of time to be outdoors doing something totally different is definitely good for the soul...
I just recently "repaired" my daughter's T30 -- open one door, replace battery, open a different door, replace hard drive, install OS, done.
I thought it was only the evil manufacturers that insisted on wiping the machine and putting a new OS on when all you wanted to replace was the battery... Daughter can't have been too happy!:-D
Actually, I've bought a broken classic Dualit toaster from ebay and replaced the damaged elements. They're superb bits of kit but I'd never spend £150 on a new one.
Absolutely seconded. It's amazing what people believe. For example, in the the middle ages people used to believe that treating pussy wounds with bread with a blue mould would help. Such poppycock would be a preposterous basis (sic) for medicine.
Should they get involved assessing medical devices against hackers? Maybe. But first how about getting them involved in assessing medical devices in general? Ok, so medical devices from the FDA's standpoint encompass everything from simple mechanical gizmos all the way up to complex microprocessor based devices. So, specifically in regard to the "computer" type devices, you know the FDA doesn't really "asses" them at all in general. Their requirements are for the manufacturers to "use industry best practice" in their development process and to have a QA system that shows they're adhering to whatever process they've settled on.
The FDA doesn't exactly assess any code or designs. In fact most devices get approved via a 510(k). In theory this is a process to show that the device is safe. However there's a huge get-out : if you submit your device as a "substantial equivalent" of a device that is currently legally marketed then you bypass onerous testing... In fact you don't really need to prove much if there's already something similar for sale. This has a daisy chain possibility too - if you can prove a chain of equivalency back to a device that was legally on sale in the 70's when the act came in to being that was never proven to be safe in the first place, yes you can use a 510(k) to sell one today... This sort of made sense back in the 70's, and for mechanical devices where there's not so much variation but for the complexity of software and hardware, personally it scares the crap out of me.
A slight diversion but in summary : Worry about the basic functionality being verifiable safe in normal operation before getting excited about people causing problems outside of normal operation...
Some light reading for the interested. The IOM brief about the 510(k) process :
http://iom.edu/~/media/Files/Report%20Files/2011/Medical-Devices-and-the-Publics-Health-The-FDA-510k-Clearance-Process-at-35- Years/510k%20Clearance%20Process%202011%20Report%20Brief.pdf
IEEE reporting on how FDA approved defibrillators can be useless yet not made any safer by the FDA's procedures :
http://spectrum.ieee.org/biomedical/devices/the-shocking-truth-about-defibrillators/0
Surely if it's genuine "criminality" then hands up, fair cop and time to stop NOW? As an individual you don't get the option to turn round and say "sure I'll stop robbing banks in a year or so once I've had time to re-organise my life and finances and arrange a different stream of income"...?! One rule for us...
A days handover for five years worth of running systems seems foolish. If it was me I'd have ideally arranged one to two weeks overlap so the new guy can shadow you and go through a few cycles of standard stuff in progress...
If it takes your HR 15 minutes to get back to normal you really MUST start doing a lot more exercise...
My sums : Assuming you're doing "moderate" exercise at 150 bpm and your resting HR is not brilliant at 80bpm, thats a recovery rate of about 5bpm per minute. If it doesn't drop more than 12bpm per minute after ceasing exercise that puts you at an increased risk of death :
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM199910283411804
Your insurance that you have by law though only needs to cover third parties, and hence has no reliance on the area you live in at all
Ok, so what's your relative risk of damaging a third party (person, vehicle or property) if you live in central london vs the highlands of scotland? You think the two are equivalent?!
Those models would most likely become obsolete without ever being used.
1) The nuclear power plants designs don't change significantly over their decades long lifespans. The robot is a tool. If it's designed to do the job in the first place, it's ability to do so does not become obsolete any more than the power plant itself does (or other proper tech such as the space shuttle or 747's over their lifespans). Newer tech may become available that improves on the old but if it can do the job, it can do the job. Don't think with a (modern) consumer electronics mindset!.
With nuclear accidents being extremely rare there is no point in designing robots specifically for them
2) Just because a situation is extremely rare doesn't mean you shouldn't plan to handle it. Consider : Flight control systems, vaccines, stock market crashes. You need to plan because the consequences of not planning are severe. Risk Assessment Fundamentals : Risk = Severity x Exposure x Probability.
3) Do you really want to be at the wrong end of the "exceedingly rare" incidence of these failing? If you were there you'd damn well want a robot. Read any first person accounts from people involved in the Chernobyl cleanup and then state in honesty that there's "no point".
In some countries (including the USA) it's an offence to mail a counterfeit item back to the seller. See :
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/01/04/paypal_destroys_violin/
Nice idea, but seriously, don't take any tech of value to a festival it'll only get nicked... On the other hand build yourself a proper van [travelvans.co.uk] with solar charging facilities and go to festies in it instead!
Wallace said he sold close to 24,000 bottles in his last few months of business at $6.50 a pop.
At its height, Polar Pure was bringing in about $100,000 a year,
So...? With my basic maths that makes a turnover of $156,000 in a "few months". If we take that to be four months - that's $468,000. I tried to work out what materials costs would be - iodine crystal is $8 per ounce (http://www.justice.gov/ndic/pubs1/1467/index.htm) but couldnt find out how much is in the bottle... making max 20% turnover as profit seems a bit tight (we're assuming this is less than 100K this year). Most people operate on significantly higher margins.
On another note, 100K US = around 65K UK - I don't think that many people I know would bitch about this as a yearly income and don't earn close to that! Certainly wouldn't class it as "hard up" or struggling as in TFA. Of course they said it's less now though...
In the UK, if you're a driver, you're compelled to have third party insurance in case you cause damage. If you're a professional you generally want to have professional indemnity for similar reasons. Shouldn't companies engaging in risky practices such as these be forced to have appropriate cover in case they cause a massive earthquake as a pre-requisite for doing so?
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Gosh, both stupid and racist and further confirming the stereotype of stupid and racist people, posting anonymously.
Did you just say :
So I'm assuming you're American right? (believe it or not, the internet is used by people in other countries too! Would you believe it?!) Looking at the US's rather handy CIA world factbook you'll find the following facts :
USA Population : 313,847,465 (July 2012 est.)
USA GDP : $15.29 trillion (2011 est.)
USA Area : 9,826,675 sq km
Iran Population : 78,868,711 (July 2012 est.)
Iran GDP : $1.003 trillion (2011 est.)
Iran Area : 1,648,195 sq km
So on people, economy and size, the US is between three and fifteen times larger than Iran - nowhere like "nearly our size". Secondly, blowing up suspected militants and people nearby is NOT "carefully chosen venues".
Go back to school (or perhaps stay in school?), read some books and learn something about the wider world and maybe about how people work. Then come back when you understand why the following video clip is very funny indeed :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTpe_5JYufE
You know I think it's also bad that police officers put themselves in danger to protect the public. How about you use the same drones to attack suspected violent offenders on home ground too and help avoid the danger they present to the police?
What's that you say? You're not happy? You think it wasn't fair to blow up the dude who might have been a murderer as while he wasn't a nice person, you weren't sure if he actually killed anyone or not? And you're angry the missile killed some his friends, family and children that were at the bowling alley at the same time? Oh I understand - you think that they should have been afforded due process and rights because they were your people not someone that doesn't share your language?
Let's get something straight : drone attacks may keep some military personnel safe in the very near term but they're constantly indescriminately killing people. In the past years in pakistan they've killed somewhere between 400 and 800 people, of which around 160 were children. How would you be feeling if another country had flown drones into your country and been killing those numbers of people?
Don't you think that if those peoples surviving family, friends and neighbors didn't previously think that western powers deserved a good kicking, the wanton and unashamed murders by drones will have changed their minds? If one of the angry relatives pulled off something even half as awful as the WTC attacks, would you still say the drones saved "your people" successfully?
Are you not paying attention, or are you just plain stupid?
If you're interested in the process for the craic of the engineering rather than just being a NES fanboy, you could learn a lot from learning the history of the game "Elite" which pushed hardware and software boundaries phenomenally. In fact I'd be curious if anyone could come up with a more impressive game on that front. The best account I've read is in the book Backroom Boys (abridged but good version of the Elite chapter in the link) which I can heartily recommend not just for the chapter on elite but the rest is fascinating too.
So. Rather than have the pistol in line with the row at one side, how about having it in the middle halving the dis-advantage at the extreme(s). Even better, have the pistol central but step back 10 - 20 foot or so and that reduces the differential even further. Seems more practical and a lot more inexpensive than a super dooper electronic system.
I've worked out a balance where I work (self employed) in software engineering most of the year and then take of 6-8 weeks during the summer to work on the UK festival circuit (doing allsorts but generally stage-management and production). This is great as you actually get to do something totally different and re-focus for a bit. Not to mention that it's actually *sociable* - yes, I'm a bit socially retarded but I do actually like interacting with other people! Plus there's lots of music. I still try to do some exercise the rest of the year on a regular basis but taking out chunks of time to be outdoors doing something totally different is definitely good for the soul...
~Pev
And why is everyone excited and asking why it hasn't been done before?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_T220/T221_LCD_monitors
I thought it was only the evil manufacturers that insisted on wiping the machine and putting a new OS on when all you wanted to replace was the battery... Daughter can't have been too happy! :-D
Actually, I've bought a broken classic Dualit toaster from ebay and replaced the damaged elements. They're superb bits of kit but I'd never spend £150 on a new one.
Er... Is it really that hard to train up some good people in six years? Surely the last remaining world super-power could manage that?
What a great way to generate a new wordlist...
Wont waste as much? Most ketchup fans will be pouring on twice as much now they don't have to be so patient!
Why is no one discussing water park slides?!
Absolutely seconded. It's amazing what people believe. For example, in the the middle ages people used to believe that treating pussy wounds with bread with a blue mould would help. Such poppycock would be a preposterous basis (sic) for medicine.
Actually, the 10,000 hour rule can be applied to anything you want to get good at :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outliers_(book)
Should they get involved assessing medical devices against hackers? Maybe. But first how about getting them involved in assessing medical devices in general? Ok, so medical devices from the FDA's standpoint encompass everything from simple mechanical gizmos all the way up to complex microprocessor based devices. So, specifically in regard to the "computer" type devices, you know the FDA doesn't really "asses" them at all in general. Their requirements are for the manufacturers to "use industry best practice" in their development process and to have a QA system that shows they're adhering to whatever process they've settled on.
The FDA doesn't exactly assess any code or designs. In fact most devices get approved via a 510(k). In theory this is a process to show that the device is safe. However there's a huge get-out : if you submit your device as a "substantial equivalent" of a device that is currently legally marketed then you bypass onerous testing... In fact you don't really need to prove much if there's already something similar for sale. This has a daisy chain possibility too - if you can prove a chain of equivalency back to a device that was legally on sale in the 70's when the act came in to being that was never proven to be safe in the first place, yes you can use a 510(k) to sell one today... This sort of made sense back in the 70's, and for mechanical devices where there's not so much variation but for the complexity of software and hardware, personally it scares the crap out of me.
A slight diversion but in summary : Worry about the basic functionality being verifiable safe in normal operation before getting excited about people causing problems outside of normal operation...
Some light reading for the interested. The IOM brief about the 510(k) process :
http://iom.edu/~/media/Files/Report%20Files/2011/Medical-Devices-and-the-Publics-Health-The-FDA-510k-Clearance-Process-at-35- Years/510k%20Clearance%20Process%202011%20Report%20Brief.pdf
IEEE reporting on how FDA approved defibrillators can be useless yet not made any safer by the FDA's procedures :
http://spectrum.ieee.org/biomedical/devices/the-shocking-truth-about-defibrillators/0
Surely if it's genuine "criminality" then hands up, fair cop and time to stop NOW? As an individual you don't get the option to turn round and say "sure I'll stop robbing banks in a year or so once I've had time to re-organise my life and finances and arrange a different stream of income" ...?! One rule for us...
A days handover for five years worth of running systems seems foolish. If it was me I'd have ideally arranged one to two weeks overlap so the new guy can shadow you and go through a few cycles of standard stuff in progress...
Do you not mean re-education centre?
If it takes your HR 15 minutes to get back to normal you really MUST start doing a lot more exercise...
My sums : Assuming you're doing "moderate" exercise at 150 bpm and your resting HR is not brilliant at 80bpm, thats a recovery rate of about 5bpm per minute. If it doesn't drop more than 12bpm per minute after ceasing exercise that puts you at an increased risk of death :
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM199910283411804
Intervals are an excellent way to improve this...
Ok, so what's your relative risk of damaging a third party (person, vehicle or property) if you live in central london vs the highlands of scotland? You think the two are equivalent?!
I can poke a few holes in your argument there... :
1) The nuclear power plants designs don't change significantly over their decades long lifespans. The robot is a tool. If it's designed to do the job in the first place, it's ability to do so does not become obsolete any more than the power plant itself does (or other proper tech such as the space shuttle or 747's over their lifespans). Newer tech may become available that improves on the old but if it can do the job, it can do the job. Don't think with a (modern) consumer electronics mindset!.
2) Just because a situation is extremely rare doesn't mean you shouldn't plan to handle it. Consider : Flight control systems, vaccines, stock market crashes. You need to plan because the consequences of not planning are severe. Risk Assessment Fundamentals : Risk = Severity x Exposure x Probability.
3) Do you really want to be at the wrong end of the "exceedingly rare" incidence of these failing? If you were there you'd damn well want a robot. Read any first person accounts from people involved in the Chernobyl cleanup and then state in honesty that there's "no point".
In some countries (including the USA) it's an offence to mail a counterfeit item back to the seller. See :
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/01/04/paypal_destroys_violin/
~Pev
Nice idea, but seriously, don't take any tech of value to a festival it'll only get nicked... On the other hand build yourself a proper van [travelvans.co.uk] with solar charging facilities and go to festies in it instead!
Well, not sure from TFA :
So...? With my basic maths that makes a turnover of $156,000 in a "few months". If we take that to be four months - that's $468,000. I tried to work out what materials costs would be - iodine crystal is $8 per ounce (http://www.justice.gov/ndic/pubs1/1467/index.htm) but couldnt find out how much is in the bottle... making max 20% turnover as profit seems a bit tight (we're assuming this is less than 100K this year). Most people operate on significantly higher margins.
On another note, 100K US = around 65K UK - I don't think that many people I know would bitch about this as a yearly income and don't earn close to that! Certainly wouldn't class it as "hard up" or struggling as in TFA. Of course they said it's less now though...
In the UK, if you're a driver, you're compelled to have third party insurance in case you cause damage. If you're a professional you generally want to have professional indemnity for similar reasons. Shouldn't companies engaging in risky practices such as these be forced to have appropriate cover in case they cause a massive earthquake as a pre-requisite for doing so?