We want to demonstrate that a device can sail or propel itself dead downwind faster than the wind. We decide to use a treadmill. We assume a tailwind of 10mph and so we set the treadmill at 10mph and we leave it flat - no incline required. We leave the electric fan turned off because, at 10mph, there is no apparent wind. We put out miraculous model on the treadmill and hold it there with our finger so it neither moves forward or backward. It's wheels are turning and they're geared to the model's propeller. We remove our restraining finger. Does the device accelerate forward on the treadmill? That's the experiment I want to see. I know the result and I am offering long odds to all comers!
Another way to demonstrate the perpetual motion nature of this is to ask what the theoretically maximum multiplier of the downwind speed is. Downwind 10mph, what 's the limit of the vehicle's speed? No limit according to the reasoning presented!
Also, those who say that one can sail a boat directly downwind faster than the wind by not proceeding directly but at an angle are WRONG. A floating baloon still get's to the directly downwind point before you no matter how you tack. You tack a modern sailboat because it is quicker to do that and gybe to get to a point directly downwind than trying to do it directly but that's still not quicker than the balloon.
The revolutionary claim is that a vehicle powered only by the wind can travel downwind faster than the wind. When they put the model on the treadmill and it fights it's way uphill it is NOT going faster than the wind. There still is a tailwind from the vehicle's perspective. So, I know not if the feat is possible, I just know that it is not demonstrated by the model on the treadmill. Interesting claim, bad experiment.
"His thinking was that while relativity prevents faster-than-light travel relative to the fabric of spacetime, it places no restriction on the speed at which regions of spacetime may move relative to each other."
This is not the first flying car. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerocar for perhaps the most successful example. Several examples were made and flown. One still flies.
1000 hours? Not true. Even a Piper Tomahawk is 10,000 hours.
Also, that the thing won't take off without the mandatory maintenance is hardly a problem. Most of us manage to fill up with gas before we run out. Most of us will manage to get the maintenance done before the hours run out.
Turing proved: All computers are, at best, equivalent to the Turing Machine. Essentially: Other than the amount of RAM and the speed of execution all computers are equivalent. So the program is all, and the particular computer irrelevant.
Ten years or so ago I bought an advance-purchase ticket to attend the London Boat Show. I arrived early. Together with many other overly-keen boat geeks, I was marshalled by an official into an ever-growing queue of advance-purchase ticket holders awaiting the opening of the gates. The queue was kept 30 yards off to one side to allow access to the ticket booths for those buying their tickets on the day. The many gates duly opened but our queue was kept in line and stationary by the uniformed official. Others were arriving, buying their tickets, and gaining immediate admission. One or two from our queue tried to make a break for it but were bullied sternly back into line by the queue-fascist. I refused to be shuffled back into line and caused the official to run around barking as if he were a sheep dog trying to gather a stray as I marched purposefully towards the gate. Realising I was a lost cause he returned to marshalling the line. I turned before passing through the gates to offer encouragement to others to disobey authority. I was surprised to be met by the hostile stares of the still-imprisoned.
I have a dictionary. And it does not support what you say. Further, you put words in my mouth: I am not supporting one over the other, corporate rights exist and rightfully so.
Problems with the way this is being reported here: Such a mishmash of terminology. It is far from obvious that the legal system will inevitable find its understanding of technology becoming less over time. This is an example of the law catching on pretty quick. Also civil rights do not automatically trump corporate rights, whatever is meant by that, nor should they.
What we have here, in this Slashdot story, is a misunderstanding of the legal issues much more serious that the judge's initial screw up, forced on him by procedural issues. I think the law does a fairly good job of catching up with technology.
[Comment re Slashdot moderation - how can the parent be modded "funny"?]
The infinite length of the tape does not only apply to simple Univeral Turing machines such as the one just proven to be one. The world's most powerful super computer is not a Universal Turing Machine unless it has infinite memory. Memory = RAM, disk etc. Or tape!
Recently in the US it has become illegal to melt down the coinage. Reason: The metal content of the coins has become more valuable than the face value of the coin. What with the continuing rise in commodity prices (or the return of inflation (or the imminent collapse in the value of some currencies)) the primary reason for this microchipping of coins and notes (and this Canadian experiment) might just be authentication of the currency. As reported elsewhere: http://www.prisonplanet.com/022904rfidtagsexplode. html & http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20011219S0016
I used the apt-get method to upgrade from 6.06 following instructions available here https://help.ubuntu.com/community/EdgyUpgrades exactly - no problem. And *everything* still works. Dell Latitude D400 40GB 512MB.
If you add a few business units which do not have a monopolistic market share to a business which does, then the monopolistic part of the business still enjoys a monopoly.
Still today it is practically impossible in most places to buy a new PC without a Microsoft operating system. Apple? There is no real hardware choice accompanying a Mac purchase - certainly bang per buck Apple hw is expensive - and so Apple is not really a competitor as far as the average computer user is concerned.
Microsoft is still a monopoly on the desktop for all practical purposes.
The elevator has to climb the rope/ribbon. Even at 100km/hr that's 200hrs to geostationary orbit. Too slow to make passing through the Van Allen radiation belts survivable by humans.
Dodging freak weather is an issue which requires a mobile base station to manoevre the base of the cable. Similar mechanism is required to dodge space junk and meteorites.
Oscillations in the cable must be damped.
Cost per kg lifted is cheap ONLY if the initial capital cost is ignored.
This is just a few of the many gotchas. But this romantic pipe dream has grabbed the imagination of many who are prepared to (i) understate the problems and (ii) understate the cost. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_elevator
My next laptop will not have a CD reader/writer. E.g. To load a new O/S I'll download the bootable image onto a USB key. Or netboot. My music CDs are never taken out of their cases anymore. Same will happen to my DVDs, sometime. So all that off-line media which is only machine-readable will go. The article is wrong.
But paper? I carry a notebook and pen and will do so for a long time to come. No PDA for me. The article is right.
I don't understand: You post to Slashdot but had not explored Ubuntu's simple menu system? On the same window select the modem (ppp0 ?) as the the default.
Slashdot Mirror
We want to demonstrate that a device can sail or propel itself dead downwind faster than the wind. We decide to use a treadmill. We assume a tailwind of 10mph and so we set the treadmill at 10mph and we leave it flat - no incline required. We leave the electric fan turned off because, at 10mph, there is no apparent wind. We put out miraculous model on the treadmill and hold it there with our finger so it neither moves forward or backward. It's wheels are turning and they're geared to the model's propeller. We remove our restraining finger. Does the device accelerate forward on the treadmill? That's the experiment I want to see. I know the result and I am offering long odds to all comers!
Another way to demonstrate the perpetual motion nature of this is to ask what the theoretically maximum multiplier of the downwind speed is. Downwind 10mph, what 's the limit of the vehicle's speed? No limit according to the reasoning presented!
Also, those who say that one can sail a boat directly downwind faster than the wind by not proceeding directly but at an angle are WRONG. A floating baloon still get's to the directly downwind point before you no matter how you tack. You tack a modern sailboat because it is quicker to do that and gybe to get to a point directly downwind than trying to do it directly but that's still not quicker than the balloon.
The revolutionary claim is that a vehicle powered only by the wind can travel downwind faster than the wind. When they put the model on the treadmill and it fights it's way uphill it is NOT going faster than the wind. There still is a tailwind from the vehicle's perspective. So, I know not if the feat is possible, I just know that it is not demonstrated by the model on the treadmill. Interesting claim, bad experiment.
"His thinking was that while relativity prevents faster-than-light travel relative to the fabric of spacetime, it places no restriction on the speed at which regions of spacetime may move relative to each other."
There is no fabric, see Michelson Morley http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelson-Morley_experiment
And oh yes there is a restriction!
Please remind us next year again, as 134 is a highly significant number for me.
This is not the first flying car. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerocar for perhaps the most successful example. Several examples were made and flown. One still flies.
Well, either that or they would drive a foreign car.
1000 hours? Not true. Even a Piper Tomahawk is 10,000 hours.
Also, that the thing won't take off without the mandatory maintenance is hardly a problem. Most of us manage to fill up with gas before we run out. Most of us will manage to get the maintenance done before the hours run out.
Turing proved: All computers are, at best, equivalent to the Turing Machine. Essentially: Other than the amount of RAM and the speed of execution all computers are equivalent. So the program is all, and the particular computer irrelevant.
Ten years or so ago I bought an advance-purchase ticket to attend the London Boat Show. I arrived early. Together with many other overly-keen boat geeks, I was marshalled by an official into an ever-growing queue of advance-purchase ticket holders awaiting the opening of the gates. The queue was kept 30 yards off to one side to allow access to the ticket booths for those buying their tickets on the day. The many gates duly opened but our queue was kept in line and stationary by the uniformed official. Others were arriving, buying their tickets, and gaining immediate admission. One or two from our queue tried to make a break for it but were bullied sternly back into line by the queue-fascist. I refused to be shuffled back into line and caused the official to run around barking as if he were a sheep dog trying to gather a stray as I marched purposefully towards the gate. Realising I was a lost cause he returned to marshalling the line. I turned before passing through the gates to offer encouragement to others to disobey authority. I was surprised to be met by the hostile stares of the still-imprisoned.
It's snakeoil.
Again you put words in my mouth. Have your rant, if you like, but argue honestly. Have you looked fascism up in the dictionary yet?
I have a dictionary. And it does not support what you say. Further, you put words in my mouth: I am not supporting one over the other, corporate rights exist and rightfully so.
Problems with the way this is being reported here: Such a mishmash of terminology. It is far from obvious that the legal system will inevitable find its understanding of technology becoming less over time. This is an example of the law catching on pretty quick. Also civil rights do not automatically trump corporate rights, whatever is meant by that, nor should they.
What we have here, in this Slashdot story, is a misunderstanding of the legal issues much more serious that the judge's initial screw up, forced on him by procedural issues. I think the law does a fairly good job of catching up with technology.
[Comment re Slashdot moderation - how can the parent be modded "funny"?]
The infinite length of the tape does not only apply to simple Univeral Turing machines such as the one just proven to be one. The world's most powerful super computer is not a Universal Turing Machine unless it has infinite memory. Memory = RAM, disk etc. Or tape!
This is a good example of why Ubuntu was necessary.
We've patented that. Please apply to http://www.we-dont-do-anything.com/ for a license.
Recently in the US it has become illegal to melt down the coinage. Reason: The metal content of the coins has become more valuable than the face value of the coin. What with the continuing rise in commodity prices (or the return of inflation (or the imminent collapse in the value of some currencies)) the primary reason for this microchipping of coins and notes (and this Canadian experiment) might just be authentication of the currency. As reported elsewhere: http://www.prisonplanet.com/022904rfidtagsexplode. html & http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20011219S0016
Of course, there are surveillance "benefits" too.
I used the apt-get method to upgrade from 6.06 following instructions available here https://help.ubuntu.com/community/EdgyUpgrades exactly - no problem. And *everything* still works. Dell Latitude D400 40GB 512MB.
If you add a few business units which do not have a monopolistic market share to a business which does, then the monopolistic part of the business still enjoys a monopoly.
Still today it is practically impossible in most places to buy a new PC without a Microsoft operating system. Apple? There is no real hardware choice accompanying a Mac purchase - certainly bang per buck Apple hw is expensive - and so Apple is not really a competitor as far as the average computer user is concerned.
Microsoft is still a monopoly on the desktop for all practical purposes.
The elevator has to climb the rope/ribbon. Even at 100km/hr that's 200hrs to geostationary orbit. Too slow to make passing through the Van Allen radiation belts survivable by humans.
Dodging freak weather is an issue which requires a mobile base station to manoevre the base of the cable. Similar mechanism is required to dodge space junk and meteorites.
Oscillations in the cable must be damped.
Cost per kg lifted is cheap ONLY if the initial capital cost is ignored.
This is just a few of the many gotchas. But this romantic pipe dream has grabbed the imagination of many who are prepared to (i) understate the problems and (ii) understate the cost. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_elevator
My next laptop will not have a CD reader/writer. E.g. To load a new O/S I'll download the bootable image onto a USB key. Or netboot. My music CDs are never taken out of their cases anymore. Same will happen to my DVDs, sometime. So all that off-line media which is only machine-readable will go. The article is wrong.
But paper? I carry a notebook and pen and will do so for a long time to come. No PDA for me. The article is right.
mod parent down - criticism unfair - it's on the simple menu system
I don't understand: You post to Slashdot but had not explored Ubuntu's simple menu system? On the same window select the modem (ppp0 ?) as the the default.
System -> Admin -> Network settings. Select "modem".
As it says at the top of the article, "Updated: 06-19-2005".