Another belated movie plot threat response. Specifically, The Bourne Ultimatum, in which Bourne arrives at London's Waterloo station and immediately purchases a pre-paid cellphone to give to his journalist contact. If he had to show a passport to buy that phone... he could have been delayed by a couple of seconds, while he decided which of his fake passports to use. Gee.
There's a fuller list here. Whole blocks are unallocated, held by IANA. I know that, in the case of Compaq, it didn't have its own range originally, but acquired 16.x.x.x with DEC. That was absorbed by HP (15.x.x.x) and is still used internally.
There is already at least one commercial product for live sync between machines: DoubleTake. It's not designed for public use over the Internet, though, more for replication between data centers.
I'm currently taking part in the Dropbox beta test, and this looks like it's designed for normal users. It basically does what you describe - sends only the changed parts of files, replicates them between multiple machines, and keeps multiple file versions on their servers (so you can revert to an older version of a file). Have a look at the video on the website - describes it better than words. Files and transfers are encrypted, though they don't seem to do anything fancy with public key encryption.
I don't know if you got that from Wikipedia, but if you did, it's an over-simplification of the linked ESA article. That talks about the solar wind stripping water molecules away before disassociation, not molecular hydrogen.
H2 molecules don't actually need any extra help to escape the atmospheres of Venus or Earth: even at the low temperatures of the very upper atmospheres of those planets, a statistically significant fraction of the molecules have a velocity that exceeds the escape velocity. Over long periods of time, almost all unbonded H2 simply wanders off in to space. This is something you examine if you take a statistical thermodynamics course; it also explains why the Moon has almost no atmosphere, Mars a very thin atmossphere, and why the "gas giants" hang on to all that gaseous hydrogen and helium.
Besides, there is still plenty of hydrogen on Venus: in the sulphuric acid (H2SO4) already discussed. 8) Now, how do we convert sulphuric acid to water... is there any Copper on Venus?
I've just finished my first year at university here in Ireland, and none of the twelve courses I've done actually required me to buy a textbook. Most of the lecturers provided outline notes in PDF, varying in quality. Even where there were no notes, there was no textbook either: it was then down to me and my note-taking. We were also advised to read some books that the lecturer knew were in the Library, but not one course followed a published textbook.
I have already downloaded some textbooks e.g. on Calculus, but t.b.h. between the lectures, notes, and the Library, I'm facing an information overload already, and am struggling to translate that in to knowledge. Unlike a previous poster, I don't have a photographic memory, and remembering detailed procedures is a problem. (We had only a couple of lectures on Differential Equations, then were expected to solve them under exam conditions... not gonna happen, no matter how many textbooks I had, but there was thankfully enough other Calculus in my head to let me pass that course.)
The way MS progresses in different people, it can mean that years pass before any significant disability occurs. In the most common form, Relapsing-Remitting (RR), the relapses are like getting real old real quick, with long periods of relative normality in-between. I thought that the portrayal of MS on "The West Wing" was pretty good: it only rarely got in Prez. Bartlett's way, though he had a dramatic relapse on that last trip to China.
I've known I have MS for about 2-1/2 years now, though it was probably bubbling under for at least 5 years before that. Apart from one relapse so far, when I turned in to a grumpy old man for a week and had to work from home, the best word to describe it is "annoying". I've been fortunate with the timing, since I got in on a trial of an oral MS drug (no injections!), and that wheelchair is looking a long, long way off. 8)
In the last few years, I think some people are getting the message to some degree, but it's carrying over in to a kneejerk skepticism. There's a lot of fakery around on the internet, so people are finding it safer to dismiss something straight away.
For example, this video shows a street performer doing some tricks with a crystal ball. My reaction: "cool!". The reaction of other commenters on YouTube: "FAKE!".
So, here's the question: does my "cool!" mean that I absolutely believe it is real - that is, have I been taken in? No, I haven't, and here's why not: it doesn't matter. If it's faked using CGI, I'll survive, because its authenticity doesn't affect me either way. The "FAKE!"-ers, on the other hand, don't seem to have a sense of proportion about it. I don't think the street performer himself is looking at the comments in this case, but it's possible, and shouting "FAKE!" at him is pointless. The originator of the video already knows whether it's real or not, and the rest of us aren't going to spend any time worrying about it. It can become insulting.
Of course, there are situations where scepticism can save your life or your sanity. Religious claims are a classic example: they come with baggage that you are expected to carry with you for the rest of your life. If you accept them completely and do as your priest/mullah/preacher orders you to, they will cost you time, money, friends, and critical thinking skills. In extreme cases, e.g. suicide bombers or refusal of medical care, they can cost you your life. Such claims mandate the highest levels of scepticism and "due diligence": is there more to it than "it's true because we tell you it's true"?
So that's my point: keep a sense of proportion about the whole scepticism thing. How critical is it that you be right or wrong every time, and can you justify the hassle of actively distrusting everyone and everything? If your wife/girlfriend/mother asks "does my bum look big in this", scepticism is not going to do you any good, so just say "no"!
Careful now - too many snorts, and you lose the power to differentiate. Before you know it, you'll be inviting some irrational number around to Laplace for a Root...
As long as you're not that obnoxious old guy who won't stop talking about how long he worked before coming back to get a degree, or how he lived in Europe for 5 years, or how he's super-successful and shouldn't even be taking this course. Or the old guy who either constantly sucks up to the professor or shows no because the prof. is younger than him.
Curses! I've been rumbled! Still, I only talk about work if asked, and I've been in Europe for 17 years now, and still am (Ireland). You're right about mature students rarely taking Engineering, there are about 3 of us in the whole university. The rest take the "soft" subjects, but I suspect some of them wish they hadn't. Studying James Joyce in Dublin can be compared to studying Electrical Engineering at MIT - you are in for a rough ride...
All this moaning about 1st year students... but do you mean the start of 1st year, or the end of 1st year? If you expect new students to do rigorous research as soon as they arrive, you'd better nail the requirements down. I'm nearing the end of my 1st year as an Engineering student, and while only one of my subjects has required original research so far, the lecturer gave us explicit written instructions on Harvard-style citation, acceptable sources, and the requirements for the presentation.
From my reasonable levels of spelling and grammar, you've probably guessed that I'm a mature student; this was a group assignment, so this old fart ended up as a slave-driver to a bunch of kiddies. None of them had actually read the requirements, far less thought about how to follow them, so... several hours later, there are several young students who HATE me, but I think that will change when they see the marks at the end of semester. =8-)
Actually, MAPI (Mail API) is the old Microsoft standard for mail-related communication between Windows applications. I remember using it in Windows 3, long before IMAP was widely adopted. It was later extended to MAPI/RPC for communication with Exchange servers. This is one case where anti-Microsoft paranoia isn't justified...
Another way I like to put that idea is: I'm not an expert on car crashes, but I can still assert that I don't want to be in one. The visible results of theism are sufficient reason for me to avoid it - without needing a reason that would satisfy a professional theologian.
One important point about Dawkins has been overlooked: for years he wrote primarily about biology, with the issues of religion taking a back seat. I get the impression that The God Delusion and the surrounding debates are almost a retirement project for him, a decision to "push the boat out" and have a little fun with something not strictly scientific. His title at Oxford is Charles Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science, and it is IMHO logical to start the promotion of science by attacking anti-scientific beliefs such as "Intelligent Design". Plus, he wrote his book after the Dover School Board case, which was reported widely in the UK, and was an eye-opener about just how nuts things had gotten in the USA.
Um... Apple threatened legal action against the makers of the original Podcast aggregator (iPodder), and they had to change their name (to Juice Receiver). No, Podcasting is not just a hyperlink to an audio file, it refers to the distribution of audio & video by RSS. It's just a name. It didn't start with Apple, they were latecomers to the party, and it's not tied to the iPod, either.
I've been listening for 3+ years now, currently using PodcastReady and their cross-platform mypodder client, which runs directly off any device that looks like a disk, including most MP3 players. (iPod? What's an iPod?) These are some pretty broad sidelines there...
I'm nearing the end of my 1st year as an Engineering student, and I will turn 40 on the Friday before exams start. There are definite pros and cons to being a mature Engineering student:
Cons:
- Motivation. As already noted, a degree course contains a lot that is unnecessary. The first semester stretched my patience a tad, all the stuff that I know I will never use in my major, or afterwards. (It's getting better.)
- Solitude. There are three (3) mature Engineering students in the whole university, including yours truly. The others are all doing Arts-related degrees. Considering that my university is trying to encourage mature students, perhaps my entry wasn't all that competitive. 8-!
Pros:
- Attitude. I'm older than some of my lecturers, and fairly immune to bullying. I haven't even noticed any, so far.
- Experience. I've already seen a lot of Engineering in action, even if it wasn't my job. It's not all abstract theory to me.
- Reading Comprehension;
- Spelling & Grammar;
- Common Sense. (e.g. no killing of brain cells before exams.)
In a group assignment recently, the professor gave us a detailed requirements document, in addition to a basic description of the topics. Of my group, I was the only one who actually read the document, concluded that the assignment was - partly - a test of our ability to follow instructions, cite sources, design a presentation to meet the requirements, and present it. I ended up as a slave-master, pushing people to research and write material, and explaining to them that Presenting is not simply about reading a bunch of words dumped on to a PowerPoint slide. I fixed the presentation to make it readable - 10pt yellow text on white doesn't project well - and got complaints that I'd changed it...
... that's what I was told when I was investigating a particular degree course in Structural Engineering & Architecture. The university created that course in response to feedback from civil engineering firms, who wished their Structural Engineers had some more "soft" skills. I'm nearing the end of my 1st year on this course, and along with modules on the History and Theory of Architecture, there's a class on creative design, fast prototyping & other presentation and design skills.
Basically, I'm told, employers want their Engineers to be able to Communicate with people who are not, y'know, Engineers. I'm a mature student who decided to nip his mid-life crisis in the bud, so we'll see if I'm employable after this...
Hopefully "they" also leave some normal text entry system behind: not just for the times when voice commands will cause annoyance (meetings, lectures, church etc.), but for those of us with various forms of vocal impairment. I have a voice box like a rusty old engine: you wouldn't want to hear me first thing in the morning, if you could, but when I'm warmed up, it over-revs somewhat. =8-/
That's software, a separate issue. If I get one of these, all it has to do is emulate a mouse, then I will want to use it with e.g. Dasher, on top of a Tablet PC interface.
Why would anyone care whether it's Sony or not? Because Sony has a history of pushing their own versions of standards, hoping to monopolise the market. MiniDisc, Memory Stick, SDDS, "Universal Media Disc"... and root-kits on audio CDs. If they've won this format war, it means their strategy has worked this time - but the war only started because Sony wanted this - it was not inevitable.
Fibres in the m range are nothing new - that's where optical fibre lives, with the long-range fibres below 10 m. This story is about fibres in the nanometre range, a thousandth the diameter of optical fibre.
I wonder how strong the fibre is, and how long it will be before it gets turned in to a weapon? Attach it to a stick, hang a weight on the other end, and whoops! there goes my head, rolling down the stairs.
Use Torrents to distribute large files across the corporate network:
- administrator sets up a torrent tracker server, and a torrent client on each PC;
- administrator seeds the file; each client that needs the file downloads it, getting faster as more peers come online;
- it needs some admin tools to keep the clients going: cleanup of old files if disk gets too full. (Feature request? Tracker could tell client which of its hosted files are least in demand?)
Any electronic device more than a couple of years old WILL have lead in it: it's in the solder holding the components on the board. It's only in the last couple of years that it's been outlawed in Europe under WEEE. The consequences of this for long-term reliability remain to be seen.
OK, I am one of those, though I would hesitate to call myself a fanboy. (Pentax hasn't done everything I wish, or as well as I would like.)
SLR photography (film or digital) tends to encourage brand loyalty, because of the modular nature of the system. You're not just buying a camera body, you're also buying lenses and other accessories with a longer lifecycle. Even when a shiny new camera body comes out, people are loath to change brands, which would mean selling all their lenses too.
Pentax were slow to the digital SLR market, and did things a little differently to their main competitors (Canon & Nikon);
they did not try to compete with Canon in the press/action area, sticking to the amateur/artistic market;
they lagged in the "megapixel race"*, sticking with 6 megapixels until late 2006, when the K10D was released;
they used less sharpening on JPEG images, compared to the others, so they were labeled "soft" on default settings;
they have made lens compatibility a priority, so you can attach a K-mount lens from the 1970s to the new K10D, as long as you learn to focus manually.
On photography sites such as DPReview (a new Amazon acquisition), the DSLR market is generally considered to be a two-horse race, with Canon's & Nikon's huge marketing budgets meaning they could send reviewers on press junkets, and get cameras into reviewer hands more quickly. Other makers are treated with lower priority, which leads to some well-documented irritation.
The result, on forums, is a classic Clash of the Fanboys: Canon users like the high frame rates (on some models) and the highly-sharpened and saturated JPEGs. Pentax users had a lot to be fanboys about when the K10D was released, thanks to price, ergonomics, lens compatibility and weatherproof construction. Canon sell far more than Pentax, of course, and Pentax is in some corporate difficulty, leading to deliberately-antagonistic "Pentax is dying" statements. Meanwhile, Pentax users are as mad as hell at the preponderance of C&N gear in camera stores, and the fact that some reviewers just ignore the whole brand, regardless of a camera's merits. Each side uses "Fanboy" as an insult, while Nikon users generally stay out of the battles if they can (or so it seems to me).
Fanboys, eh? 8)
* megapixel race: the marketing-led drive to squeeze more megapixels on to a digital camera sensor - ignoring the fact that the size of individual pixels has a huge impact on image quality esp. noise performance, and the defining role played by the lens in image quality. The result is a range of 10 megapixel compact cameras that produce poor quality images in good lighting conditions, never mind in low light e.g. indoors. The pictures are fine for the web, if you shrink them to a small fraction of their original size...
Assuming you've taken care of the basics described by previous posters (foundations, structure, flood-proofing), you have a chance to take a more integrated approach to low-power lighting: lots of white LEDs, or even multi-colour LEDs with colour control. Having a blue day? Turn a knob. 8)
I don't know about you, but I have a lot of power supplies powering various devices, and I've wondered about a central DC supply and wiring; I have more 5V devices than any others, but also a few 12V, and two laptops that run on 18V. The 5V and 12V could come from a large PC PSU, or more than one ganged together, with fuses or breakers. You can install the PSU(s) high and dry, and the DC poses no shock risk: just be sure to use wire and connectors rated for the high currents involved.
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Another belated movie plot threat response. Specifically, The Bourne Ultimatum, in which Bourne arrives at London's Waterloo station and immediately purchases a pre-paid cellphone to give to his journalist contact. If he had to show a passport to buy that phone... he could have been delayed by a couple of seconds, while he decided which of his fake passports to use. Gee.
There's a fuller list here. Whole blocks are unallocated, held by IANA. I know that, in the case of Compaq, it didn't have its own range originally, but acquired 16.x.x.x with DEC. That was absorbed by HP (15.x.x.x) and is still used internally.
There is already at least one commercial product for live sync between machines: DoubleTake. It's not designed for public use over the Internet, though, more for replication between data centers. I'm currently taking part in the Dropbox beta test, and this looks like it's designed for normal users. It basically does what you describe - sends only the changed parts of files, replicates them between multiple machines, and keeps multiple file versions on their servers (so you can revert to an older version of a file). Have a look at the video on the website - describes it better than words. Files and transfers are encrypted, though they don't seem to do anything fancy with public key encryption.
I don't know if you got that from Wikipedia, but if you did, it's an over-simplification of the linked ESA article. That talks about the solar wind stripping water molecules away before disassociation, not molecular hydrogen.
H2 molecules don't actually need any extra help to escape the atmospheres of Venus or Earth: even at the low temperatures of the very upper atmospheres of those planets, a statistically significant fraction of the molecules have a velocity that exceeds the escape velocity. Over long periods of time, almost all unbonded H2 simply wanders off in to space. This is something you examine if you take a statistical thermodynamics course; it also explains why the Moon has almost no atmosphere, Mars a very thin atmossphere, and why the "gas giants" hang on to all that gaseous hydrogen and helium.
Besides, there is still plenty of hydrogen on Venus: in the sulphuric acid (H2SO4) already discussed. 8) Now, how do we convert sulphuric acid to water... is there any Copper on Venus?
I've just finished my first year at university here in Ireland, and none of the twelve courses I've done actually required me to buy a textbook. Most of the lecturers provided outline notes in PDF, varying in quality. Even where there were no notes, there was no textbook either: it was then down to me and my note-taking. We were also advised to read some books that the lecturer knew were in the Library, but not one course followed a published textbook.
I have already downloaded some textbooks e.g. on Calculus, but t.b.h. between the lectures, notes, and the Library, I'm facing an information overload already, and am struggling to translate that in to knowledge. Unlike a previous poster, I don't have a photographic memory, and remembering detailed procedures is a problem. (We had only a couple of lectures on Differential Equations, then were expected to solve them under exam conditions... not gonna happen, no matter how many textbooks I had, but there was thankfully enough other Calculus in my head to let me pass that course.)
The way MS progresses in different people, it can mean that years pass before any significant disability occurs. In the most common form, Relapsing-Remitting (RR), the relapses are like getting real old real quick, with long periods of relative normality in-between. I thought that the portrayal of MS on "The West Wing" was pretty good: it only rarely got in Prez. Bartlett's way, though he had a dramatic relapse on that last trip to China.
I've known I have MS for about 2-1/2 years now, though it was probably bubbling under for at least 5 years before that. Apart from one relapse so far, when I turned in to a grumpy old man for a week and had to work from home, the best word to describe it is "annoying". I've been fortunate with the timing, since I got in on a trial of an oral MS drug (no injections!), and that wheelchair is looking a long, long way off. 8)
In the last few years, I think some people are getting the message to some degree, but it's carrying over in to a kneejerk skepticism. There's a lot of fakery around on the internet, so people are finding it safer to dismiss something straight away.
For example, this video shows a street performer doing some tricks with a crystal ball. My reaction: "cool!". The reaction of other commenters on YouTube: "FAKE!".
So, here's the question: does my "cool!" mean that I absolutely believe it is real - that is, have I been taken in? No, I haven't, and here's why not: it doesn't matter. If it's faked using CGI, I'll survive, because its authenticity doesn't affect me either way. The "FAKE!"-ers, on the other hand, don't seem to have a sense of proportion about it. I don't think the street performer himself is looking at the comments in this case, but it's possible, and shouting "FAKE!" at him is pointless. The originator of the video already knows whether it's real or not, and the rest of us aren't going to spend any time worrying about it. It can become insulting.
Of course, there are situations where scepticism can save your life or your sanity. Religious claims are a classic example: they come with baggage that you are expected to carry with you for the rest of your life. If you accept them completely and do as your priest/mullah/preacher orders you to, they will cost you time, money, friends, and critical thinking skills. In extreme cases, e.g. suicide bombers or refusal of medical care, they can cost you your life. Such claims mandate the highest levels of scepticism and "due diligence": is there more to it than "it's true because we tell you it's true"?
So that's my point: keep a sense of proportion about the whole scepticism thing. How critical is it that you be right or wrong every time, and can you justify the hassle of actively distrusting everyone and everything? If your wife/girlfriend/mother asks "does my bum look big in this", scepticism is not going to do you any good, so just say "no"!
Careful now - too many snorts, and you lose the power to differentiate. Before you know it, you'll be inviting some irrational number around to Laplace for a Root...
Curses! I've been rumbled! Still, I only talk about work if asked, and I've been in Europe for 17 years now, and still am (Ireland). You're right about mature students rarely taking Engineering, there are about 3 of us in the whole university. The rest take the "soft" subjects, but I suspect some of them wish they hadn't. Studying James Joyce in Dublin can be compared to studying Electrical Engineering at MIT - you are in for a rough ride...
All this moaning about 1st year students... but do you mean the start of 1st year, or the end of 1st year? If you expect new students to do rigorous research as soon as they arrive, you'd better nail the requirements down. I'm nearing the end of my 1st year as an Engineering student, and while only one of my subjects has required original research so far, the lecturer gave us explicit written instructions on Harvard-style citation, acceptable sources, and the requirements for the presentation.
From my reasonable levels of spelling and grammar, you've probably guessed that I'm a mature student; this was a group assignment, so this old fart ended up as a slave-driver to a bunch of kiddies. None of them had actually read the requirements, far less thought about how to follow them, so... several hours later, there are several young students who HATE me, but I think that will change when they see the marks at the end of semester. =8-)
Actually, MAPI (Mail API) is the old Microsoft standard for mail-related communication between Windows applications. I remember using it in Windows 3, long before IMAP was widely adopted. It was later extended to MAPI/RPC for communication with Exchange servers. This is one case where anti-Microsoft paranoia isn't justified...
Another way I like to put that idea is: I'm not an expert on car crashes, but I can still assert that I don't want to be in one. The visible results of theism are sufficient reason for me to avoid it - without needing a reason that would satisfy a professional theologian.
One important point about Dawkins has been overlooked: for years he wrote primarily about biology, with the issues of religion taking a back seat. I get the impression that The God Delusion and the surrounding debates are almost a retirement project for him, a decision to "push the boat out" and have a little fun with something not strictly scientific. His title at Oxford is Charles Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science, and it is IMHO logical to start the promotion of science by attacking anti-scientific beliefs such as "Intelligent Design". Plus, he wrote his book after the Dover School Board case, which was reported widely in the UK, and was an eye-opener about just how nuts things had gotten in the USA.
Um... Apple threatened legal action against the makers of the original Podcast aggregator (iPodder), and they had to change their name (to Juice Receiver). No, Podcasting is not just a hyperlink to an audio file, it refers to the distribution of audio & video by RSS. It's just a name. It didn't start with Apple, they were latecomers to the party, and it's not tied to the iPod, either.
I've been listening for 3+ years now, currently using PodcastReady and their cross-platform mypodder client, which runs directly off any device that looks like a disk, including most MP3 players. (iPod? What's an iPod?) These are some pretty broad sidelines there...
I'm nearing the end of my 1st year as an Engineering student, and I will turn 40 on the Friday before exams start. There are definite pros and cons to being a mature Engineering student:
Cons:
- Motivation. As already noted, a degree course contains a lot that is unnecessary. The first semester stretched my patience a tad, all the stuff that I know I will never use in my major, or afterwards. (It's getting better.)
- Solitude. There are three (3) mature Engineering students in the whole university, including yours truly. The others are all doing Arts-related degrees. Considering that my university is trying to encourage mature students, perhaps my entry wasn't all that competitive. 8-!
Pros:
- Attitude. I'm older than some of my lecturers, and fairly immune to bullying. I haven't even noticed any, so far.
- Experience. I've already seen a lot of Engineering in action, even if it wasn't my job. It's not all abstract theory to me.
- Reading Comprehension;
- Spelling & Grammar;
- Common Sense. (e.g. no killing of brain cells before exams.)
In a group assignment recently, the professor gave us a detailed requirements document, in addition to a basic description of the topics. Of my group, I was the only one who actually read the document, concluded that the assignment was - partly - a test of our ability to follow instructions, cite sources, design a presentation to meet the requirements, and present it. I ended up as a slave-master, pushing people to research and write material, and explaining to them that Presenting is not simply about reading a bunch of words dumped on to a PowerPoint slide. I fixed the presentation to make it readable - 10pt yellow text on white doesn't project well - and got complaints that I'd changed it...
... that's what I was told when I was investigating a particular degree course in Structural Engineering & Architecture. The university created that course in response to feedback from civil engineering firms, who wished their Structural Engineers had some more "soft" skills. I'm nearing the end of my 1st year on this course, and along with modules on the History and Theory of Architecture, there's a class on creative design, fast prototyping & other presentation and design skills.
Basically, I'm told, employers want their Engineers to be able to Communicate with people who are not, y'know, Engineers. I'm a mature student who decided to nip his mid-life crisis in the bud, so we'll see if I'm employable after this...
Hopefully "they" also leave some normal text entry system behind: not just for the times when voice commands will cause annoyance (meetings, lectures, church etc.), but for those of us with various forms of vocal impairment. I have a voice box like a rusty old engine: you wouldn't want to hear me first thing in the morning, if you could, but when I'm warmed up, it over-revs somewhat. =8-/
With that in mind, I'm looking forward to Richard Dawkins' next book, which will be focused on Evolution: "Only A Theory?"
That's software, a separate issue. If I get one of these, all it has to do is emulate a mouse, then I will want to use it with e.g. Dasher, on top of a Tablet PC interface.
Why would anyone care whether it's Sony or not? Because Sony has a history of pushing their own versions of standards, hoping to monopolise the market. MiniDisc, Memory Stick, SDDS, "Universal Media Disc"... and root-kits on audio CDs. If they've won this format war, it means their strategy has worked this time - but the war only started because Sony wanted this - it was not inevitable.
Fibres in the m range are nothing new - that's where optical fibre lives, with the long-range fibres below 10 m. This story is about fibres in the nanometre range, a thousandth the diameter of optical fibre.
I wonder how strong the fibre is, and how long it will be before it gets turned in to a weapon? Attach it to a stick, hang a weight on the other end, and whoops! there goes my head, rolling down the stairs.
Use Torrents to distribute large files across the corporate network: - administrator sets up a torrent tracker server, and a torrent client on each PC; - administrator seeds the file; each client that needs the file downloads it, getting faster as more peers come online; - it needs some admin tools to keep the clients going: cleanup of old files if disk gets too full. (Feature request? Tracker could tell client which of its hosted files are least in demand?)
Oh, like we didn't see that one coming... still, it's got some way to go before it's as big as Wales' head - Prince Charles of Wales, that is.
Any electronic device more than a couple of years old WILL have lead in it: it's in the solder holding the components on the board. It's only in the last couple of years that it's been outlawed in Europe under WEEE. The consequences of this for long-term reliability remain to be seen.
OK, I am one of those, though I would hesitate to call myself a fanboy. (Pentax hasn't done everything I wish, or as well as I would like.)
SLR photography (film or digital) tends to encourage brand loyalty, because of the modular nature of the system. You're not just buying a camera body, you're also buying lenses and other accessories with a longer lifecycle. Even when a shiny new camera body comes out, people are loath to change brands, which would mean selling all their lenses too.
Pentax were slow to the digital SLR market, and did things a little differently to their main competitors (Canon & Nikon);
On photography sites such as DPReview (a new Amazon acquisition), the DSLR market is generally considered to be a two-horse race, with Canon's & Nikon's huge marketing budgets meaning they could send reviewers on press junkets, and get cameras into reviewer hands more quickly. Other makers are treated with lower priority, which leads to some well-documented irritation.
The result, on forums, is a classic Clash of the Fanboys: Canon users like the high frame rates (on some models) and the highly-sharpened and saturated JPEGs. Pentax users had a lot to be fanboys about when the K10D was released, thanks to price, ergonomics, lens compatibility and weatherproof construction. Canon sell far more than Pentax, of course, and Pentax is in some corporate difficulty, leading to deliberately-antagonistic "Pentax is dying" statements. Meanwhile, Pentax users are as mad as hell at the preponderance of C&N gear in camera stores, and the fact that some reviewers just ignore the whole brand, regardless of a camera's merits. Each side uses "Fanboy" as an insult, while Nikon users generally stay out of the battles if they can (or so it seems to me).
Fanboys, eh? 8)
* megapixel race: the marketing-led drive to squeeze more megapixels on to a digital camera sensor - ignoring the fact that the size of individual pixels has a huge impact on image quality esp. noise performance, and the defining role played by the lens in image quality. The result is a range of 10 megapixel compact cameras that produce poor quality images in good lighting conditions, never mind in low light e.g. indoors. The pictures are fine for the web, if you shrink them to a small fraction of their original size...
Assuming you've taken care of the basics described by previous posters (foundations, structure, flood-proofing), you have a chance to take a more integrated approach to low-power lighting: lots of white LEDs, or even multi-colour LEDs with colour control. Having a blue day? Turn a knob. 8)
I don't know about you, but I have a lot of power supplies powering various devices, and I've wondered about a central DC supply and wiring; I have more 5V devices than any others, but also a few 12V, and two laptops that run on 18V. The 5V and 12V could come from a large PC PSU, or more than one ganged together, with fuses or breakers. You can install the PSU(s) high and dry, and the DC poses no shock risk: just be sure to use wire and connectors rated for the high currents involved.