They can't prevent a space tourist from snapping a few pictures while aboard SpaceShip One, now could they? Not that SpaceShip One is anywhere near operational, the point is, I think we're progressing to where U.S. government satellite information gathering is irrelevant. If the government won't provide the imagery, a myriad of other governments and agencies will for a price and natural competition will drive that price down.
the purpose of written communication is to COMMUNICATE. If you spell a word differently from a dictionary, but you get your meaning across, where is the harm?
Exactly so! And I might add that in the case of inane misspellings and abbreviations, when they do NOT communicate, will be misunderstood, or worse, cause the reader to give up on the entire posting. Such usage will attrophy and whither. Literal apoptosis.
Step 1. Read parent posting Step 2. Consider this (from the article): Will this company be successful and become another Google? First, graphical data mining has never been a big hit. And second, there are lots of competitors in the business intelligence sector, including at least Business Objects, Cognos, Hyperion and MicroStrategy. So make your bets and wait for the next multibillion-dollar IPO. Step 3. Conclude: Nothing to see here, move along.
That idea is not bad, but how are we going to resurect antiquated paper punch technology? I think a better idea would be to use Lottery printers. You know lottery printers have got to be reasonably secure right? (Because there are big sums of money involved.) 1. A voter can use paper and pencil to vote 2. gets a receipt with an encrypted barcode printed on it so it remains secret 3. Later, if there is a recount a concerned voter can verify whether or not his vote is registered and counted by the system by running his receipt through the reader at a convenience store or type in the code at a website.
Lottery hardware and systems offer a current solution to most of the voting issues. Just need a little hacking.
You've got a point there. Many don't realize that once magnets get to be a certain strength they get dangerous--even something comfortable enough to otherwise carry around for curiousity value. Imagine this embarrasing scenario: You carry around a neodymium magnet around in your jeans pocket and wander into the subway and brush up against the steel turnstile and CLANK! There you are!
I have somewhere, a five-ring binder that has a PC-board cover (three pieces, front, back and spine with metal hinges) The PC board used was recycled, but never had components soldered to it. My guess is it was a memoryboard for an old mini-computer.
It may not be too prevalent in electric motors, but there's a demon that lives in power transmissions, especially where shafts are involved. It's called tortional vibration. It's a close relative to harmonic vibration of the type that tears poorly designed bridges down in heavy winds. Automotive companies are able to tweak a design until all or most of the tortional vibration is ironed out, then they mass produce. Building a one-off unit, you'll have to resolve these issues, as they may crop up, on your own.
a jet engine would just add too much noise pollution!
That's one key flaw. If you notice, it usually requires a lot of noise keeping an powered aircraft aloft. Noise eminating from on high, because it meets fewer obstacles, carries much farther than noise eminating from vehicles on the ground. So if aircraft, such as these, become popular, I think our cities and suburbs are going to become too noisy for comfortable habitation.
Heh,
Thing is, this is going to be a law enforcment windfall. A certain segment of low-intelligence script-kiddie (This dude comes to mind) is going to say "that's rad!" and thousands of these idiots are going to be ogling their way into the "crowbar hotel" for an extended stay.
OK, I'll grant you that it's mostly pseudoscience. I like the approach though. Because high-energy fusion is perpetually 20-30 years away, why not examine the problem from different angles so long as we don't abandon the mainstream research?
Well, my take on cold fusion is that it's somewhat improbable, but it's fun to dream. Currently, many researchers claim to have semi-succesfully fused deuterium resulting in helium and heat energy, but no or little gamma radiation. Semi-succesful meaning the reactions haven't been sustained or have been troublesome to reproduce. For googling, there's an acronym I ran across re Cold Fusion: LENR (Low-Energy Nuclear Reaction). Check out LENR-CANR.org. LENR in a nutshell: If you bring two hydrogen or deuterium atoms close enough together, they will fuse into helium and release energy in the form of heat and gamma radiation. The problem is the atoms have a strong repulsion to each other. Rather than the high-energy approach LENR researchers are looking at less intensive ways of achieving this. Sort of like working smarter, not harder. Perhaps the solution in the end is a hybridization of the two approaches?
If you really want to lose some Karma fast, just post a conservative viewpoint on a hot button political issue. That post, along with several other posts of yours, will be modded -1 Overrated continuously.
Hmm, I don't think that well-defended conservative viewpoints get down-modded. However, moronic conservative viewpoints definitely get nailed.
Give me 1.6 billion dollars, a copy of photoshop and a computer and I'll crank out incredible images! Tell you what, I'm a bargain, I'll do it for half!
It's just like grocery store member cards, you start using them, you save right? Wrong, initially, maybe, but now, by using them, you're paying what you would have paid before the program existed and if you don't use the card you're hosed.
Same thing with this: You start out saving money, prices creep back up to normal. Those that refuse to submit to the program are hosed.
...as long as they're ready to fly again, the administration would be eager to get them back in space
Well, it's not as though we've got a huge stable of shuttles ready to be deployed. We've only got two left Discovery and Atlantis, and there's no way we'll build any more like them, I'd wager. And, I'd also wager that NASA has essentially lost the ability to build any new launch vehicles because of the attrition of layoffs and retirements of skilled people to pull it off. (There haven't been any new designs seen to completion since the shuttles. I'm purposely excluding the ISS because it's not a launch vehicle.)
This does raise an interesting point, I think. NVIDIA seems to have let the cat out of the bag. A display card that can coordinate with another display card, perhaps doubling performance. Why buy next year's card that doubles your performance when you can buy last year's card and add it to your existing duplicate card for way less than paying the premium for the bleeding edge?
"only" 1GB? that's hardly impressive. Try fitting that in a few kb of ROM, like a real product would be, and i'd be impressed....
Why? Does it sound like they are developing a commercial product to you?
"Step right up folks. Get your UAVs here! We even have small ones for your little johnny!"
Or better yet! I'm crayzzeee edie and I'm selling these UAVs for crayzzeee prices! (Makes maniacle grin and revs chainsaw)
Forking is not the only issue I see. What if IBM were to be bought out. Yes, by none other than Microsoft. Then where would their "no intent" promises go?
What I'd like to see, is the ability to reserve IP for public use. How about a GPL patent? I think that would rock!
You often hear geeks lamenting the difficulty in achieving speeds that approach or exceed the speed of light. What people don't realize is that if you wanted to accellerate a spacecraft that didn't weigh very much, say a ton, to anywhere near the speed of light, it would take more energy than the sum of the earth generates in a day or week. Even if the spacecraft and occupants were composed of 100% fissile uranium, you'd still have trouble getting close to the speed of light. e=mc^2.
I wonder if this could lead to new treatments of spinal injuries? Say you could place a chip intervening between a severed spinal cord. Instead of having to physically attach all those millions of nerve endings, you could have the chip do it by proximity, and carry the signals on past the gap.
Slashdot Mirror
I heard that there were some previous recordings of Douglas Adams that will be used. He actually has a role in this one. Anyone know more?
BTM
They can't prevent a space tourist from snapping a few pictures while aboard SpaceShip One, now could they? Not that SpaceShip One is anywhere near operational, the point is, I think we're progressing to where U.S. government satellite information gathering is irrelevant. If the government won't provide the imagery, a myriad of other governments and agencies will for a price and natural competition will drive that price down.
BTM
the purpose of written communication is to COMMUNICATE. If you spell a word differently from a dictionary, but you get your meaning across, where is the harm?
Exactly so! And I might add that in the case of inane misspellings and abbreviations, when they do NOT communicate, will be misunderstood, or worse, cause the reader to give up on the entire posting. Such usage will attrophy and whither. Literal apoptosis.
BTM
When people take shortcuts and use stupid abbreviations, that signifies that the written language is evolving.
As pedants, it's our role to resist this change at all costs!
BTM
Step 1. Read parent posting
Step 2. Consider this (from the article):
Will this company be successful and become another Google? First, graphical data mining has never been a big hit. And second, there are lots of competitors in the business intelligence sector, including at least Business Objects, Cognos, Hyperion and MicroStrategy. So make your bets and wait for the next multibillion-dollar IPO.
Step 3. Conclude: Nothing to see here, move along.
BTM
That idea is not bad, but how are we going to resurect antiquated paper punch technology? I think a better idea would be to use Lottery printers. You know lottery printers have got to be reasonably secure right? (Because there are big sums of money involved.)
1. A voter can use paper and pencil to vote
2. gets a receipt with an encrypted barcode printed on it so it remains secret
3. Later, if there is a recount a concerned voter can verify whether or not his vote is registered and counted by the system by running his receipt through the reader at a convenience store or type in the code at a website.
Lottery hardware and systems offer a current solution to most of the voting issues. Just need a little hacking.
BTM
...looks a whole lot more intelligent now that people have started speculating on the meaning of job postings :\
I think that Sig I saw was correct after all: The earth's intelligence if finite yet the population is growing.
BTM
You've got a point there. Many don't realize that once magnets get to be a certain strength they get dangerous--even something comfortable enough to otherwise carry around for curiousity value. Imagine this embarrasing scenario: You carry around a neodymium magnet around in your jeans pocket and wander into the subway and brush up against the steel turnstile and CLANK! There you are!
BTM
I have somewhere, a five-ring binder that has a PC-board cover (three pieces, front, back and spine with metal hinges) The PC board used was recycled, but never had components soldered to it. My guess is it was a memoryboard for an old mini-computer.
BTM
It may not be too prevalent in electric motors, but there's a demon that lives in power transmissions, especially where shafts are involved. It's called tortional vibration. It's a close relative to harmonic vibration of the type that tears poorly designed bridges down in heavy winds. Automotive companies are able to tweak a design until all or most of the tortional vibration is ironed out, then they mass produce. Building a one-off unit, you'll have to resolve these issues, as they may crop up, on your own.
BTM
a jet engine would just add too much noise pollution!
That's one key flaw. If you notice, it usually requires a lot of noise keeping an powered aircraft aloft. Noise eminating from on high, because it meets fewer obstacles, carries much farther than noise eminating from vehicles on the ground. So if aircraft, such as these, become popular, I think our cities and suburbs are going to become too noisy for comfortable habitation.
BTM
That's right! Using Jabber can allow you to postpone dealing with these issues of control until later on.
Say, wasn't this on Seinfeld?
BTM
Heh, Thing is, this is going to be a law enforcment windfall. A certain segment of low-intelligence script-kiddie (This dude comes to mind) is going to say "that's rad!" and thousands of these idiots are going to be ogling their way into the "crowbar hotel" for an extended stay.
BTM
OK, I'll grant you that it's mostly pseudoscience. I like the approach though. Because high-energy fusion is perpetually 20-30 years away, why not examine the problem from different angles so long as we don't abandon the mainstream research?
BTM
Well, my take on cold fusion is that it's somewhat improbable, but it's fun to dream. Currently, many researchers claim to have semi-succesfully fused deuterium resulting in helium and heat energy, but no or little gamma radiation. Semi-succesful meaning the reactions haven't been sustained or have been troublesome to reproduce. For googling, there's an acronym I ran across re Cold Fusion: LENR (Low-Energy Nuclear Reaction). Check out LENR-CANR.org. LENR in a nutshell: If you bring two hydrogen or deuterium atoms close enough together, they will fuse into helium and release energy in the form of heat and gamma radiation. The problem is the atoms have a strong repulsion to each other. Rather than the high-energy approach LENR researchers are looking at less intensive ways of achieving this. Sort of like working smarter, not harder. Perhaps the solution in the end is a hybridization of the two approaches?
BTM
If you really want to lose some Karma fast, just post a conservative viewpoint on a hot button political issue. That post, along with several other posts of yours, will be modded -1 Overrated continuously.
Hmm, I don't think that well-defended conservative viewpoints get down-modded. However, moronic conservative viewpoints definitely get nailed.
BTM
Give me 1.6 billion dollars, a copy of photoshop and a computer and I'll crank out incredible images! Tell you what, I'm a bargain, I'll do it for half!
BTM
It's just like grocery store member cards, you start using them, you save right? Wrong, initially, maybe, but now, by using them, you're paying what you would have paid before the program existed and if you don't use the card you're hosed.
Same thing with this: You start out saving money, prices creep back up to normal. Those that refuse to submit to the program are hosed.
BTM
...as long as they're ready to fly again, the administration would be eager to get them back in space
Well, it's not as though we've got a huge stable of shuttles ready to be deployed. We've only got two left Discovery and Atlantis, and there's no way we'll build any more like them, I'd wager. And, I'd also wager that NASA has essentially lost the ability to build any new launch vehicles because of the attrition of layoffs and retirements of skilled people to pull it off. (There haven't been any new designs seen to completion since the shuttles. I'm purposely excluding the ISS because it's not a launch vehicle.)
BTM
Make it a reality series! I know I'd watch them prepare and fix it.
Yeah, I second that. Make it like Junkyard Wars or something.
BTM
This does raise an interesting point, I think. NVIDIA seems to have let the cat out of the bag. A display card that can coordinate with another display card, perhaps doubling performance. Why buy next year's card that doubles your performance when you can buy last year's card and add it to your existing duplicate card for way less than paying the premium for the bleeding edge?
BTM
"only" 1GB? that's hardly impressive. Try fitting that in a few kb of ROM, like a real product would be, and i'd be impressed....
Why? Does it sound like they are developing a commercial product to you?
"Step right up folks. Get your UAVs here! We even have small ones for your little johnny!"
Or better yet! I'm crayzzeee edie and I'm selling these UAVs for crayzzeee prices! (Makes maniacle grin and revs chainsaw)
BTM
Forking is not the only issue I see. What if IBM were to be bought out. Yes, by none other than Microsoft. Then where would their "no intent" promises go?
What I'd like to see, is the ability to reserve IP for public use. How about a GPL patent? I think that would rock!
BTM
You often hear geeks lamenting the difficulty in achieving speeds that approach or exceed the speed of light. What people don't realize is that if you wanted to accellerate a spacecraft that didn't weigh very much, say a ton, to anywhere near the speed of light, it would take more energy than the sum of the earth generates in a day or week. Even if the spacecraft and occupants were composed of 100% fissile uranium, you'd still have trouble getting close to the speed of light. e=mc^2.
BTM
I wonder if this could lead to new treatments of spinal injuries? Say you could place a chip intervening between a severed spinal cord. Instead of having to physically attach all those millions of nerve endings, you could have the chip do it by proximity, and carry the signals on past the gap.
BTM