Seems to me like any sort of heavy weapon is going to be a long-range weapon, and the mean free path in a forest is pretty short.
Don't get me wrong, I'm no expert on armored warfare doctrine, and there may well be a place for a system like this...but my suspicion is that a much much smaller (say, man sized) powered walker would be far more useful and flexible than one the size of a tank.
Assuming, of course, that it can be made to be FAST. Slow things die on modern battlefields, unless they're REALLY good at hiding.
There's not a lot in the way of terrain that can't be negotiated by a tracked vehicle. Yes, there are some steep slopes that are tough to climb, but frequently those are covered with trees. Hard to drive a tank through trees.
Modern MBTs have a speed of 30+mph over broken terrain. Outside of Mechwarrior, no legged vehicle of anything like the mass of an MBT comes near that speed.
Legged battle machines seem like a cool idea, but I don't see the advantage that outweighs their fragility.
1) When HP, being an entity almost infinitely more powerful than me, takes action, it is slim comfort to me if parts of that entity disagree with the action. I don't give a crap whether there's a "conscience of the company" in there saying that what they're doing is wrong...they're still doing it. The HP corporation is responsible for the HP corporation's actions. Morally, legally, and ethically, IT IS a single entity. That's the way the corps wanted it. They don't get to change their tune when it's inconvenient to their PR campaign.
(Fortunately, in this case, they got stung, and they backpedaled...but true in dozens of other cases even this week)
2) The thing that scares me about the DMCA is that, in this narrow sense, it is ILLEGAL to bitch about faulty hardware. The problem is that under the law, HP DOES have a case against SNOsoft. Just because they're not pressing it doesn't mean that the law is fundamentally broken. Note that the UCITA's shrink-wrap enforcement codicils could be used similarly.
There is no excuse for irresponsible behavior from corps, and there is no excuse for bad legislation. I want to see a corporate death penalty, and I want it to be a lot harder to get corp-friendly legislation bought. I mean passed.
Re:Let's Get Back Our Access to the Courts
on
Copyright as Cudgel
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· Score: 1
You think they don't? Explain jury consultants to me, then.
A well-paid lawyer becomes a well-paid lawyer by demonstrating his/her ability to make the jury believe what the lawyer wants them to believe. Period.
Re:How to take care of the situation you describe
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Copyright as Cudgel
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· Score: 1
Yep. And then I want the IRS asking question about how an eight year old girl got $2M to throw around, and I want to see some people go to jail for election fraud.
Not the little girl, of course. Somebody should just give her a lolly and a teddy bear.
In a related story, Robert E. Lee recently had his citizenship restored to him. No shit.
Yikes. Were he alive today I'm sure he'd rather die than accept it.
Bet you a dollar you are wrong. General Lee was torn about whether he should serve his state, Virginia, or his country, the United States of America. I think that his country's recognition of his integrity, despite the fact that he "betrayed" the Union, would have warmed his heart.
The man agonized about his decision, but he followed his conscience. I don't agree with the decision he made, but I admire his fortitude in making the call and sticking to it.
I think you're wrong. I remember the release of Office 6.2, where there was almost an armed revolt in the Mac camp when MS just ported the crappy Windows Office to Mac. Everybody refused to buy it in droves.
The current Mac office succeeds for two reasons.
1) it's the only viable option 2) Microsoft surrendered to just about every user demand. They took a step back, and re-engineered Office from the ground up to work like a Mac app. They did a very very very good job.
I think when there is an equally polished opportunity, it will be widely accepted in the Mac community, once it wins its spurs.
I'm curious. What does the "Republican Party" "stand for" that you do not like?
I'm not trolling...I really would be interested in your view. See, I contend that the only difference between the Republicans and the Democrats is who they want to give more of my money to. I'm curious for your perspective.
So everybody has to subscribe to YOUR idea of what a treehouse should or shouldn't be? What makes YOU so wise and puissant?
It's a cool treehouse. Any kid with an imagination is going to be able to make up whatever stories they want to about why their treehouse looks the way it does. Lighten up.
And all four people who are doing color prepress will let you take their Radius 20" color-matched CRTs out of their cold, dead hands.
(yes, that's an exaggeration...I know that's a huge market, particularly for the Mac...but those people aren't going to be buying new monitors. The ones they have are going to keep working for a decade.)
The rest of the population of Earth would be thrilled to get back some desk space. And lower power requirements. And make less waste heat.
Are there users who still need CRTs? You betcha. Good thing nobody's talking about not making them anymore.
I for one am glad that Apple has returned to profitability by raising the bar, design wise, instead of just shitting out the cheapest products they can swindle somebody into buying.
It might not be "good business", but it makes for the best damn computers on the market.
Well, I happen to believe that Radical Edward simply doesn't translate into English. I think she/needs/ that weird culture-shock thing in order to be funny. When I saw the dub, I just thought she was creepy.
Of course, the beautiful thing about DVD is that we can BOTH be happy. 'Slong as we don't watch the movie together.
It would be difficult to really "get" what Cowboy Bebop is about by only watching one episode. The series has a very definite direction. The first episodes are pretty light and funny, and start introducing the characters. As the show proceeds, you really get to delve into what makes these people tick, and some of it is pretty heavy stuff.
So, fair enough, I can totally understand why you wouldn't catch what the fuss was about after only one random episode. I'd encourage you to go rent the first DVD and start from the beginning...you'll have a much better experience.
And as far as there being a big deal about anime in general, I'd suggest to you that you not think of "anime" as a genre unto itself. There are good movies and TV shows that happen to be animated, and there's also a bunch of crap out there.
No, silly monkey, the economists only take a dim view when the government gives INDIVIDUALS incentive for dishonest behaviour. If you're a corporation, and you have purchased your quota of congresscritters, the thinktanks will just shake their heads sadly and say that you were a victim of circumstance, and isn't it just too bad that you were put in a position to cheat just to stay ahead, and here's an enormous pile of money to cry yourself to sleep over.
Your restraint is appreciated, and I do not construe this as a personal attack.
I download music because the sort of music I want to buy is not readily available. (I don't like buying stuff on the Internet...call me a retro-grouch, but that's my opinion. : ) When I find a group or an album I like, I DO typically purchase it when I can locate it. This has driven about six or seven album purchases in the last eight months alone. If I download a track and don't like it, I delete it. If I buy the album, I typically delete the tracks I downloaded and re-rip it myself. (Surely you are not going to argue that that is unethical!)
I don't believe that my actions are illegal. I believe they fall under fair use. I participate in an underground, non-commercial exchange of music that is not readily available. I also borrow CDs from friends, and yes I do occasionally burn a copy. You might argue that this is a bit shakier from an ethical perspective, but I don't believe that it is significantly so.
Am I harming artists? Well, if I download a track and I don't like it, I guess I've theoretically deprived that artist of the $.50 that s/he would have made on the album had I bought it. I don't believe that my actions are unethical, since I was denied the opportunity to listen to their music through authorized sources. In other words, even if you wish to argue that my actions ARE illegal, you then have to convince me how my actions are unethical. And then you'll have to convince me how my actions are MORE unethical than the record label, whose contract practices are the next thing to indentured servitude. Even if I were to concede that the artist/label were "entitled" to my purchase money, the fact that the label commands the overwhelming majority of that money makes me feel that I can apply pressure to the system I believe is unethical. If enough people do this, the system will change.
There are probably good compromise solutions. I'd really like to see more artists giving away MP3's on their own web sites, and letting me buy CD's direct from them. That would be the best possible scenario.
I'd also like a system where I can pay a reasonable monthly fee and have access to a decent library of music, downloadable with no restrictions. I am not willing to pay more for that than I would for, say, a premium cable TV channel, nor am I willing to make a long-term commitment to that service. If it were reasonably priced (like, say 7-10 bucks a month) and very unrestricted, and compensated the ARTIST (not the label) with a large fraction of my money, it would be quite attractive to me. Emusic is getting there, and several of my friends use it happily.
CDs are simply too expensive for me to experiment with. I think it's absurd to charge $15for an album that's been on the shelf for years (like, say, Information Society's Hack, which I bought the other day at a used CD store after I was unable to find it new for a reasonable price), and I think it's almost as absurd to charge $18-20 for a new album.
The record industry cartel has been operating in a vacuum too long. They won't change on their own, and legislators don't seem to want to encourage them to change, so it is up to the public to force them to do so.
No doubt. I had the pleasure of speaking with the chief test pilot of the ATF program, Paul Metz (who was mentioned briefly in the article) at a chapter meeting of AIAA. He talked about how the flight test program was structured, and the performance of the F-22. He also had the opportunity to fly the Northrop YF-23, but when I asked him to compare the two, he declined. Pointedly. : )
He's gone on to be the director of flight test ops for the F-35. Lucky sod. Who do I have to kill to get his job?
The flight controls are run by totally different hardware. It's the sensor and weapons systems that are at issue here.
Typically, when aero geeks talk about avionics, we're not talking about the flight control systems, even though those systems are now "aviation electronics".
Is this bad? Yes. Does it need to be fixed? You betcha. But don't worry about the planes not being able to keep the pointy end into the wind. That part seems to be working fine.
As an aside, the little anecdote about the test pilot intentionally making RADICAL configuration changes in-flight (moving fuel around, opening weapon bay doors, and wacky control inputs) producing only an easily-recoverable spin is a testament to the airplane's superb design. I mean, you do stupid things in ANY airplane and it'll bite you. The sign of a really GOOD airplane is that it then forgives you and doesn't splatter you all over the terrain.
Slashdot Mirror
Seems to me like any sort of heavy weapon is going to be a long-range weapon, and the mean free path in a forest is pretty short.
Don't get me wrong, I'm no expert on armored warfare doctrine, and there may well be a place for a system like this...but my suspicion is that a much much smaller (say, man sized) powered walker would be far more useful and flexible than one the size of a tank.
Assuming, of course, that it can be made to be FAST. Slow things die on modern battlefields, unless they're REALLY good at hiding.
Major problem is...trees.
There's not a lot in the way of terrain that can't be negotiated by a tracked vehicle. Yes, there are some steep slopes that are tough to climb, but frequently those are covered with trees. Hard to drive a tank through trees.
Modern MBTs have a speed of 30+mph over broken terrain. Outside of Mechwarrior, no legged vehicle of anything like the mass of an MBT comes near that speed.
Legged battle machines seem like a cool idea, but I don't see the advantage that outweighs their fragility.
1) When HP, being an entity almost infinitely more powerful than me, takes action, it is slim comfort to me if parts of that entity disagree with the action. I don't give a crap whether there's a "conscience of the company" in there saying that what they're doing is wrong...they're still doing it. The HP corporation is responsible for the HP corporation's actions. Morally, legally, and ethically, IT IS a single entity. That's the way the corps wanted it. They don't get to change their tune when it's inconvenient to their PR campaign.
(Fortunately, in this case, they got stung, and they backpedaled...but true in dozens of other cases even this week)
2) The thing that scares me about the DMCA is that, in this narrow sense, it is ILLEGAL to bitch about faulty hardware. The problem is that under the law, HP DOES have a case against SNOsoft. Just because they're not pressing it doesn't mean that the law is fundamentally broken. Note that the UCITA's shrink-wrap enforcement codicils could be used similarly.
There is no excuse for irresponsible behavior from corps, and there is no excuse for bad legislation. I want to see a corporate death penalty, and I want it to be a lot harder to get corp-friendly legislation bought. I mean passed.
You think they don't? Explain jury consultants to me, then.
A well-paid lawyer becomes a well-paid lawyer by demonstrating his/her ability to make the jury believe what the lawyer wants them to believe. Period.
Yep. And then I want the IRS asking question about how an eight year old girl got $2M to throw around, and I want to see some people go to jail for election fraud.
Not the little girl, of course. Somebody should just give her a lolly and a teddy bear.
The man agonized about his decision, but he followed his conscience. I don't agree with the decision he made, but I admire his fortitude in making the call and sticking to it.
That was funny. : )
I don't care about personalized advertising. I want LESS ADVERTISING.
Um, it's only required if you want to stick the phone in a body cavity, and believe me, THAT IS optional.
I think you're wrong. I remember the release of Office 6.2, where there was almost an armed revolt in the Mac camp when MS just ported the crappy Windows Office to Mac. Everybody refused to buy it in droves.
The current Mac office succeeds for two reasons.
1) it's the only viable option
2) Microsoft surrendered to just about every user demand. They took a step back, and re-engineered Office from the ground up to work like a Mac app. They did a very very very good job.
I think when there is an equally polished opportunity, it will be widely accepted in the Mac community, once it wins its spurs.
I'm curious. What does the "Republican Party" "stand for" that you do not like?
I'm not trolling...I really would be interested in your view. See, I contend that the only difference between the Republicans and the Democrats is who they want to give more of my money to. I'm curious for your perspective.
So everybody has to subscribe to YOUR idea of what a treehouse should or shouldn't be? What makes YOU so wise and puissant?
It's a cool treehouse. Any kid with an imagination is going to be able to make up whatever stories they want to about why their treehouse looks the way it does. Lighten up.
I'm lucky. My mom's a computer badass. (Hi Mom!)
And all four people who are doing color prepress will let you take their Radius 20" color-matched CRTs out of their cold, dead hands.
(yes, that's an exaggeration...I know that's a huge market, particularly for the Mac...but those people aren't going to be buying new monitors. The ones they have are going to keep working for a decade.)
The rest of the population of Earth would be thrilled to get back some desk space. And lower power requirements. And make less waste heat.
Are there users who still need CRTs? You betcha. Good thing nobody's talking about not making them anymore.
I for one am glad that Apple has returned to profitability by raising the bar, design wise, instead of just shitting out the cheapest products they can swindle somebody into buying.
It might not be "good business", but it makes for the best damn computers on the market.
Dude, Paulina Porizkova was FINE. I still have happy memories... : )
Hell, it's terrorism! Quick, somebody get Tom Ridge on the phone! The Italians are coming! /me hangs two lanterns in the church bell tower
Now those are nice boobies. It should be a crime to do surgery to nice boobies like those.
Screw the whales...let's save the nice boobies!
Well, I happen to believe that Radical Edward simply doesn't translate into English. I think she /needs/ that weird culture-shock thing in order to be funny. When I saw the dub, I just thought she was creepy.
Of course, the beautiful thing about DVD is that we can BOTH be happy. 'Slong as we don't watch the movie together.
It would be difficult to really "get" what Cowboy Bebop is about by only watching one episode. The series has a very definite direction. The first episodes are pretty light and funny, and start introducing the characters. As the show proceeds, you really get to delve into what makes these people tick, and some of it is pretty heavy stuff.
So, fair enough, I can totally understand why you wouldn't catch what the fuss was about after only one random episode. I'd encourage you to go rent the first DVD and start from the beginning...you'll have a much better experience.
And as far as there being a big deal about anime in general, I'd suggest to you that you not think of "anime" as a genre unto itself. There are good movies and TV shows that happen to be animated, and there's also a bunch of crap out there.
Anime is a medium, not a genre.
No, silly monkey, the economists only take a dim view when the government gives INDIVIDUALS incentive for dishonest behaviour. If you're a corporation, and you have purchased your quota of congresscritters, the thinktanks will just shake their heads sadly and say that you were a victim of circumstance, and isn't it just too bad that you were put in a position to cheat just to stay ahead, and here's an enormous pile of money to cry yourself to sleep over.
We the People my left buttcheek...
Your restraint is appreciated, and I do not construe this as a personal attack.
I download music because the sort of music I want to buy is not readily available. (I don't like buying stuff on the Internet...call me a retro-grouch, but that's my opinion. : ) When I find a group or an album I like, I DO typically purchase it when I can locate it. This has driven about six or seven album purchases in the last eight months alone. If I download a track and don't like it, I delete it. If I buy the album, I typically delete the tracks I downloaded and re-rip it myself. (Surely you are not going to argue that that is unethical!)
I don't believe that my actions are illegal. I believe they fall under fair use. I participate in an underground, non-commercial exchange of music that is not readily available. I also borrow CDs from friends, and yes I do occasionally burn a copy. You might argue that this is a bit shakier from an ethical perspective, but I don't believe that it is significantly so.
Am I harming artists? Well, if I download a track and I don't like it, I guess I've theoretically deprived that artist of the $.50 that s/he would have made on the album had I bought it. I don't believe that my actions are unethical, since I was denied the opportunity to listen to their music through authorized sources. In other words, even if you wish to argue that my actions ARE illegal, you then have to convince me how my actions are unethical. And then you'll have to convince me how my actions are MORE unethical than the record label, whose contract practices are the next thing to indentured servitude. Even if I were to concede that the artist/label were "entitled" to my purchase money, the fact that the label commands the overwhelming majority of that money makes me feel that I can apply pressure to the system I believe is unethical. If enough people do this, the system will change.
There are probably good compromise solutions. I'd really like to see more artists giving away MP3's on their own web sites, and letting me buy CD's direct from them. That would be the best possible scenario.
I'd also like a system where I can pay a reasonable monthly fee and have access to a decent library of music, downloadable with no restrictions. I am not willing to pay more for that than I would for, say, a premium cable TV channel, nor am I willing to make a long-term commitment to that service. If it were reasonably priced (like, say 7-10 bucks a month) and very unrestricted, and compensated the ARTIST (not the label) with a large fraction of my money, it would be quite attractive to me. Emusic is getting there, and several of my friends use it happily.
CDs are simply too expensive for me to experiment with. I think it's absurd to charge $15for an album that's been on the shelf for years (like, say, Information Society's Hack, which I bought the other day at a used CD store after I was unable to find it new for a reasonable price), and I think it's almost as absurd to charge $18-20 for a new album.
The record industry cartel has been operating in a vacuum too long. They won't change on their own, and legislators don't seem to want to encourage them to change, so it is up to the public to force them to do so.
No doubt. I had the pleasure of speaking with the chief test pilot of the ATF program, Paul Metz (who was mentioned briefly in the article) at a chapter meeting of AIAA. He talked about how the flight test program was structured, and the performance of the F-22. He also had the opportunity to fly the Northrop YF-23, but when I asked him to compare the two, he declined. Pointedly. : )
He's gone on to be the director of flight test ops for the F-35. Lucky sod. Who do I have to kill to get his job?
Thanks for the info. For a disc that big, that's a pretty good clip. Holy angular momentum, Batman!
The flight controls are run by totally different hardware. It's the sensor and weapons systems that are at issue here.
Typically, when aero geeks talk about avionics, we're not talking about the flight control systems, even though those systems are now "aviation electronics".
Is this bad? Yes. Does it need to be fixed? You betcha. But don't worry about the planes not being able to keep the pointy end into the wind. That part seems to be working fine.
As an aside, the little anecdote about the test pilot intentionally making RADICAL configuration changes in-flight (moving fuel around, opening weapon bay doors, and wacky control inputs) producing only an easily-recoverable spin is a testament to the airplane's superb design. I mean, you do stupid things in ANY airplane and it'll bite you. The sign of a really GOOD airplane is that it then forgives you and doesn't splatter you all over the terrain.