Malcolm Gladwell is one of the most fascinating contemporary writers I can think of... His articles have more in common with (good) documentary film than with 96% of the filler churned out for periodicals.
His articles in the New Yorker are worth the price of a subscription by themselves...
Space Imaging and EarthWatch will provide 1m panchromatic resolution of anywhere on the earth's surface, but the futility of imaging specific individuals is twofold...
Spatial resolution at >.10m is insufficient to determine gender of most individuals... (Graffen: 2001 [Remote Sensing Applications, St. John's Griffin, pub.]). And more importantly to all the big-brother-phobes is that the _temporal_ resolution of most polar orbiting satelites is around three weeks (commercial) or three days (HIGH priority military).
Even with off-nadir viewing capability (which Quickbird will almost certianly have) most RS satelites take around 80 minutes to orbit the earth and sweep 15 degrees at a time.
About 80% of the shots we get off here at the University are photogrammetrically unreliable because the sensor ranged too far oblique. Couple that with uncooperative cloud cover and darkness (if imaging in panchromatic) and you have a whole host of problems.
So as long as you keep your meth lab in the trunk of your car...
by the way, here's an example of what happens to people at 1m res.
http://www.spaceimaging.com/gallery/ioweek/archive/iow012401/iow012401.htm
the_Upsetter
Not to discount the possibility of government interferance, but there is already one commercial satelite operating (Ikonos 2) with 1m (panchromatic) resolution.
There is info at www.spaceimaging.com that details the relationship between the govt. and the operators of this platform... Pretty interesting. Aparantly space imaging is given pretty much a free run of available imaging possiblities with the govt. retaining the ability to shut the platform down (temporarily or permanently) in the event that natl. security is breached or threatend.
http://www.spaceimaging.com/aboutus/corpFAQ.htm
Slashdot Mirror
The Royalty Calculator
An amazing look at the way the recording industry stiffs its artists.
Perhaps... but I'd doubt it factors in to the point that I would post about it.
It just struck me as profoundly unfunny...
It just reminds me of two guys saying "Remember when that one guy said... that one thing... that was funny"... and it just becomes viewed as "funny."
Ah... now I know I've invested too much time talking about this.
Why was this modded to +5 funny?
Were the moderators just remembering how funny the episode was...? This kind of makes no sense
Not much funny in the actual post
...and a karma whoring followup link to Ad-Aware (recently updated to v. 5.7).
Malcolm Gladwell is one of the most fascinating contemporary writers I can think of... His articles have more in common with (good) documentary film than with 96% of the filler churned out for periodicals.
...
His articles in the New Yorker are worth the price of a subscription by themselves...
They are also available online...
He also wrote a wonderful book... "The Tipping Point" that offeres an epidemiological alternative to Dawkins' genetic/biological "memetics"
Fascinating reads... every single article.
(not to nit-pick)...
Satellite
Space Imaging and EarthWatch will provide 1m panchromatic resolution of anywhere on the earth's surface, but the futility of imaging specific individuals is twofold... Spatial resolution at >.10m is insufficient to determine gender of most individuals... (Graffen: 2001 [Remote Sensing Applications, St. John's Griffin, pub.]). And more importantly to all the big-brother-phobes is that the _temporal_ resolution of most polar orbiting satelites is around three weeks (commercial) or three days (HIGH priority military). Even with off-nadir viewing capability (which Quickbird will almost certianly have) most RS satelites take around 80 minutes to orbit the earth and sweep 15 degrees at a time. About 80% of the shots we get off here at the University are photogrammetrically unreliable because the sensor ranged too far oblique. Couple that with uncooperative cloud cover and darkness (if imaging in panchromatic) and you have a whole host of problems. So as long as you keep your meth lab in the trunk of your car... by the way, here's an example of what happens to people at 1m res. http://www.spaceimaging.com/gallery/ioweek/archive /iow012401/iow012401.htm
the_Upsetter
Not to discount the possibility of government interferance, but there is already one commercial satelite operating (Ikonos 2) with 1m (panchromatic) resolution. There is info at www.spaceimaging.com that details the relationship between the govt. and the operators of this platform... Pretty interesting. Aparantly space imaging is given pretty much a free run of available imaging possiblities with the govt. retaining the ability to shut the platform down (temporarily or permanently) in the event that natl. security is breached or threatend. http://www.spaceimaging.com/aboutus/corpFAQ.htm