Yes, you would need to close the loop by transmitting position/velocity packets to a central server - this could be done easily with a small data channel on a cellphone system.
I think the OnStar satellite system has too much latency, but that might be another option.
> Don't they have cameras on most freeways? You'd think > they got have a computer analyze the video to determine > car speed, traffic, etc.
They do. At least in my city they have camera-analysis, ultrasonic, and magnetic loop traffic sensors. The last 5 years I have noticed the system has actually started to work (as compared to when they first put these in back in the 1980s), but IMHO a GPS system would be better (and/or a very good supplement) and would automatically give updates on alternate routes (and many more routes) than the fixed sensors.
With so many cars having GPS' factory-installed since 2000 I have wondered myself why this hasn't already been done in the US; thousands of cars uploading position reports and velocities during rushhour would provide much better information than the notoriously unreliable traffic sensors.
Probably issues of payment for the cell phone charges and privacy.
> Really, it's Microsoft's drive to appeal to the least common > denominator. Dumb end-users aren't likely to notice a speed > decrease in their network throughput -- not even a significant one.
Even the least-experienced end user (and I would avoid the word "dumb" here because very few people have any desire to obtain detailed technical knowledge in order to use the end-product of technology) is likely to have a high-speed network, often quite extensive, in his home. And to depend on it for various functions including games, video delivery, and possibly telephone service. So I have to disagree with you: this was VERY likely to be noticed across-the-board.
That looks more like a commercial machine to me. Does anyone see anything that marks it as a military version? Military equipment usually comes with manuals labeled "Machine, Cypher, Field, Mark 5.4.3.12.a" not "Enigma".
> he idea that we MUST send a group of people consisting of both > men and women is the result of our ultra PC (that's politically > correct, not, personal computer/.ers) social climate anyway.
See the sailing ship navies, the Greek legions, etc etc for examples of why sending a single-sex crew would not change the dynamics nor prevent the problem.
(This idea is not mine, but I can't remember where I first saw it)
The problem with a Mars expedition is not getting there; it is getting there with enough fuel to return the crew to Earth. Solution? Don't return. Rather than sending the young and healthy, send the old and reasonably healthy: men and women in the 60+ age range who are in reasonably good physical shape and who volunteer for a one-way mission. They are told from the outset that they have x years supplies; that more will be sent if possible; and that if the impulse engine is invented someone will come pick them up. Otherwise they should reserve some time early on after landing to locate a suitable site for a cometary and chip out some tombstones, then get to work exploring and naming things after themselves.
This wouldn't automatically solve the sex problem given today's "more active seniors", but people of that age have less urgent sex drives and are generally better able to negotiate/handle the emotional and interpersonal situations as well.
> So a web site has a problem with their > ISP. So friggin' what? Pick a different ISP.
Cryptome IS watched by various intelligence, counterintelligence, and law enforcement agencies. Young posted a funny exchange he had once with the "duty officer of the day" at a TLA; the guy told him that a certain document had been released accidently; could it please be withdrawn? Young of course said no, so the guy then said "I guess it is too late for this conversation not to be posted too?" - making it clear that he knew very well how Young runs Cryptome.
So it may be very difficult for him to find another ISP. Maybe one related to Qwest will take him on, but they ISP has to know they WILL come under additional law enforcement pressure just as a result of hosting that site.
> If you want to see the oldest computer gear simply go to a > hospital, insurance company or doctors offices. These places > hate to spend money on IT and let old gear sit in place for > almost ever.
Except that this article shows why that might be: true critical systems need to be reliable and understandable. Systems that have been in production for many many years often meet those requirements. That is why you often see 3270 green screen applications in large medical offices, and DOS or (old, pre-lawsuit) SCO Unix(tm) or MS-DOS applications in small offices: not because no one wants shiny new toys but because they have been beaten to death for 20 years (or more) and they either work or have known, predictable bugs.
Compare that to the referenced "upgrade" project. The same thing happened to a former employer of mine when they tried to "big bang" their mainframe apps to Windows client/server for Y2K: they couldn't invoice for 7 months. Good thing they had a _large_ line of credit...
The 3rd-to-last issue of the original print Byte had an excellent article about this. They talked to IBM's Director of the OS/nnnn operating systems; he explained how the code in the CPU scheduler had been refined from 1960 to 1980 - at which point it was locked, and will probably never be changed again in human history. Now, that code is written in S/360 machine language and should no doubt be considered "obsolete" - but they aren't going to "upgrade" it.
> Kodak has priced these printers to be > profitable on the printer sale alone.
And the paper. Kodak make a very nice line of inkjet photo paper which comes in that nicely recognizable yellow box with the red logo - and a price to match. They could easily make their profit on the brand if their more cost-effective printers induce people to buy their photo paper.
That guy was actually the best test writer and overall course designer that I have ever had among all the academic (through a masters) teachers and corporate trainers I have encountered. When you finished his course you received exactly the grade you deserved according to the formal definitions of the grades; as you indicate one didn't receive an A in that class unless one actually _understood_ the material [for the record I was in the B+ group;-( - which was a correct evalution]. Not surprisingly it also turned out to be one of the most useful classes I ever took as well.
> Can't we just give the processes weapons and > let them decide which follows?
That is actually the kind of question that my Operations Research professor (who also did a lot of work in CPU simulation and performance estimating) used to throw onto final exams as the "separate the B+ from the A" question. If your answer was interesting enough he would send you over to one of his Masters candidates to see if it could be taken any further. So I wouldn't count your suggestion out from the start!
Does anyone have any information on whether or not Track-Me-Not (which runs random searches against the big engines at random intervals) helps to confuse the trackers or not?
> ut I haven't yet seen a (proven) solution for > the latter*[nuclear waste] > Until we're there, nuclear just doesn't seem > as viable as coal (sad tho' that may be)
Of course, coal burning generates radioactive waste as well. The concentration is small but the volumes are very large.
Per the article, geoscientists only have detailed large-scale measurements for the last 17 years (which would roughtly correspond to the increasing availability of reasonably-priced GPS and comm units I should think). So how do they know that activity is increasing (or decreasing) on any kind of historical scale?
Historically e-mail systems were never designed for intensive archiving and ad-hoc searching across the database. In fact, even the current generation of systems require bolt-on archivers to meet the new federal evidence requirements. And I talk to people every day at very large entities that are still using Outlook Express, local mailbox storage, and have no usable archiving system.
Suggesting that the inability to search e-mail in legacy systems is "destruction of evidence" is more than a bit silly in my personal opinion.
> I'm sure Bill Gates was young, hungry, > honest, and loved at one point,
In fact, for many years Microsoft was seen in the same light as Google is today: as a savior from the iron-fisted "data processing overlords". It wasn't until the 1992-1994 timeframe that information professionals started thinking that Microsoft might have other designs. Now Microsoft is viewed as the iron-fisted overlord, and Google the savior...
> The recording industry aren't 'stealing' rights. They > are creating goofball contracts that people seem to > be perfectly willing to follow.
They also spend a lot of effort destroying alternative distribution models through various means, legislative and otherwise. If they are so confident of their contracts, why do they also destroy any possible competition?
Linus seems to assume that since he (and Linux(tm)) have never experienced a directed, concerted attack (other than the SCO lawsuit) that he (and Linux) will never experience such an attack. Whereas I think that the major media and communications organizations were caught off-guard, first by the Internet itself and then by Linux, and required some time to gather their forces and develop a strategy.
With the _Democrats_ in the Senate now introducting/additional/ DRM legislation, I strongly suspect that the strategy is in place and rolling. And that free communication in general, and Linux specifically, are going to come under very heavy attack over the next 4 years.
So I must respectfully disagree with Mr. Torvalds.
> So why don't you just sell me the extra service > that I need then?
Because no non-IT business unit will accept the invoice from the IT Dept for such a service; they can't believe the burdened cost for integrating a non-standard configuration. It _can't_ be that high.
Next step: outsourcing. _Much_ lower contract price: HA! Teach those (former) in-house IT dudes to over-bill our division!
Then come the outsourcer's changes orders, work requests, and non-standard configuration charges, and invoices for overtime and extra techs. But the true cost can't be admitted, so the costs are buried...
> Remeber though is a workstation is infected 99% of > the time it is IT's fault. Work machines need > to be locked down unless a user demonstrates > the clue not to do this.
Except that the people with the malware infections are often the very same ones screaming that the inflexible, locked-down configuration is stopping them from getting their job done. Bit of a dilemma, eh?
> I worked for one company that sent us to training > on basic and advanced Windows, Outlook, and Word > (the 3 programs we used); each session lasted the > better part of a day and was not cheap;
Again a good idea. I implemented similar programs in 1987, 1992, and 1997. Again, this is _2006_. I am dealing with organizations now where people have been through/three/ cycles of such training (usually out-of-house, then in-house with professional trainer, then in-house with business unit trainer) and still refuse to exercise basic business application and data management skills. I particularly enjoyed one of the most obstructionist and "IT faulting" such persons; I found him on a hobbyist bulletin board providing detailed technical support for a very complex and unfriendly piece of software vital to the custom sewing hobby. Even when taxed with this he claimed he could not figure out how to use Outlook and it was the "IT Dept's" fault.
That's the most extreme example I have encountered, but the general pattern is similar. This is 2006 dudes. Grade school kids today are expected to move from Mac to Windows to Linux machines and software (whichever was cheapest during the last budget cycle - our school district has 5 OS' in some classrooms) without blinking, and they do so with essentially zero training. But people being _paid_ are OK not understanding basic business duties after 5 years and three _paid_ training cycles?
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Yes, you would need to close the loop by transmitting position/velocity packets to a central server - this could be done easily with a small data channel on a cellphone system.
I think the OnStar satellite system has too much latency, but that might be another option.
sPh
> Don't they have cameras on most freeways? You'd think
> they got have a computer analyze the video to determine
> car speed, traffic, etc.
They do. At least in my city they have camera-analysis, ultrasonic, and magnetic loop traffic sensors. The last 5 years I have noticed the system has actually started to work (as compared to when they first put these in back in the 1980s), but IMHO a GPS system would be better (and/or a very good supplement) and would automatically give updates on alternate routes (and many more routes) than the fixed sensors.
sPh
With so many cars having GPS' factory-installed since 2000 I have wondered myself why this hasn't already been done in the US; thousands of cars uploading position reports and velocities during rushhour would provide much better information than the notoriously unreliable traffic sensors.
Probably issues of payment for the cell phone charges and privacy.
sPh
> Really, it's Microsoft's drive to appeal to the least common
> denominator. Dumb end-users aren't likely to notice a speed
> decrease in their network throughput -- not even a significant one.
Even the least-experienced end user (and I would avoid the word "dumb" here because very few people have any desire to obtain detailed technical knowledge in order to use the end-product of technology) is likely to have a high-speed network, often quite extensive, in his home. And to depend on it for various functions including games, video delivery, and possibly telephone service. So I have to disagree with you: this was VERY likely to be noticed across-the-board.
sPh
Looks as if there was another way to crash his server...
sPh
That looks more like a commercial machine to me. Does anyone see anything that marks it as a military version? Military equipment usually comes with manuals labeled "Machine, Cypher, Field, Mark 5.4.3.12.a" not "Enigma".
sPh
Hmmm - $25k just about pays for one license for Mathematica. Perhaps he could offer that as an option.
sPh
> he idea that we MUST send a group of people consisting of both /.ers) social climate anyway.
> men and women is the result of our ultra PC (that's politically
> correct, not, personal computer
See the sailing ship navies, the Greek legions, etc etc for examples of why sending a single-sex crew would not change the dynamics nor prevent the problem.
sPh
(This idea is not mine, but I can't remember where I first saw it)
The problem with a Mars expedition is not getting there; it is getting there with enough fuel to return the crew to Earth. Solution? Don't return. Rather than sending the young and healthy, send the old and reasonably healthy: men and women in the 60+ age range who are in reasonably good physical shape and who volunteer for a one-way mission. They are told from the outset that they have x years supplies; that more will be sent if possible; and that if the impulse engine is invented someone will come pick them up. Otherwise they should reserve some time early on after landing to locate a suitable site for a cometary and chip out some tombstones, then get to work exploring and naming things after themselves.
This wouldn't automatically solve the sex problem given today's "more active seniors", but people of that age have less urgent sex drives and are generally better able to negotiate/handle the emotional and interpersonal situations as well.
sPh
> So a web site has a problem with their
> ISP. So friggin' what? Pick a different ISP.
Cryptome IS watched by various intelligence, counterintelligence, and law enforcement agencies. Young posted a funny exchange he had once with the "duty officer of the day" at a TLA; the guy told him that a certain document had been released accidently; could it please be withdrawn? Young of course said no, so the guy then said "I guess it is too late for this conversation not to be posted too?" - making it clear that he knew very well how Young runs Cryptome.
So it may be very difficult for him to find another ISP. Maybe one related to Qwest will take him on, but they ISP has to know they WILL come under additional law enforcement pressure just as a result of hosting that site.
sPh
> If you want to see the oldest computer gear simply go to a
> hospital, insurance company or doctors offices. These places
> hate to spend money on IT and let old gear sit in place for
> almost ever.
Except that this article shows why that might be: true critical systems need to be reliable and understandable. Systems that have been in production for many many years often meet those requirements. That is why you often see 3270 green screen applications in large medical offices, and DOS or (old, pre-lawsuit) SCO Unix(tm) or MS-DOS applications in small offices: not because no one wants shiny new toys but because they have been beaten to death for 20 years (or more) and they either work or have known, predictable bugs.
Compare that to the referenced "upgrade" project. The same thing happened to a former employer of mine when they tried to "big bang" their mainframe apps to Windows client/server for Y2K: they couldn't invoice for 7 months. Good thing they had a _large_ line of credit...
The 3rd-to-last issue of the original print Byte had an excellent article about this. They talked to IBM's Director of the OS/nnnn operating systems; he explained how the code in the CPU scheduler had been refined from 1960 to 1980 - at which point it was locked, and will probably never be changed again in human history. Now, that code is written in S/360 machine language and should no doubt be considered "obsolete" - but they aren't going to "upgrade" it.
sPh
> Kodak has priced these printers to be
> profitable on the printer sale alone.
And the paper. Kodak make a very nice line of inkjet photo paper which comes in that nicely recognizable yellow box with the red logo - and a price to match. They could easily make their profit on the brand if their more cost-effective printers induce people to buy their photo paper.
sPh
That guy was actually the best test writer and overall course designer that I have ever had among all the academic (through a masters) teachers and corporate trainers I have encountered. When you finished his course you received exactly the grade you deserved according to the formal definitions of the grades; as you indicate one didn't receive an A in that class unless one actually _understood_ the material [for the record I was in the B+ group ;-( - which was a correct evalution]. Not surprisingly it also turned out to be one of the most useful classes I ever took as well.
sPh
> Can't we just give the processes weapons and
> let them decide which follows?
That is actually the kind of question that my Operations Research professor (who also did a lot of work in CPU simulation and performance estimating) used to throw onto final exams as the "separate the B+ from the A" question. If your answer was interesting enough he would send you over to one of his Masters candidates to see if it could be taken any further. So I wouldn't count your suggestion out from the start!
sPh
Does anyone have any information on whether or not Track-Me-Not (which runs random searches against the big engines at random intervals) helps to confuse the trackers or not?
sPh
> ut I haven't yet seen a (proven) solution for
> the latter*[nuclear waste]
> Until we're there, nuclear just doesn't seem
> as viable as coal (sad tho' that may be)
Of course, coal burning generates radioactive waste as well. The concentration is small but the volumes are very large.
sPh
Which could be perfectly normal - maybe the thing "breathes" on a 7-year (average) cycle.
sPh
Per the article, geoscientists only have detailed large-scale measurements for the last 17 years (which would roughtly correspond to the increasing availability of reasonably-priced GPS and comm units I should think). So how do they know that activity is increasing (or decreasing) on any kind of historical scale?
sPh
Historically e-mail systems were never designed for intensive archiving and ad-hoc searching across the database. In fact, even the current generation of systems require bolt-on archivers to meet the new federal evidence requirements. And I talk to people every day at very large entities that are still using Outlook Express, local mailbox storage, and have no usable archiving system.
Suggesting that the inability to search e-mail in legacy systems is "destruction of evidence" is more than a bit silly in my personal opinion.
sPh
> I'm sure Bill Gates was young, hungry,
> honest, and loved at one point,
In fact, for many years Microsoft was seen in the same light as Google is today: as a savior from the iron-fisted "data processing overlords". It wasn't until the 1992-1994 timeframe that information professionals started thinking that Microsoft might have other designs. Now Microsoft is viewed as the iron-fisted overlord, and Google the savior...
I think The Who have a song about this.
sPh
> The recording industry aren't 'stealing' rights. They
> are creating goofball contracts that people seem to
> be perfectly willing to follow.
They also spend a lot of effort destroying alternative distribution models through various means, legislative and otherwise. If they are so confident of their contracts, why do they also destroy any possible competition?
sPh
Linus seems to assume that since he (and Linux(tm)) have never experienced a directed, concerted attack (other than the SCO lawsuit) that he (and Linux) will never experience such an attack. Whereas I think that the major media and communications organizations were caught off-guard, first by the Internet itself and then by Linux, and required some time to gather their forces and develop a strategy.
/additional/ DRM legislation, I strongly suspect that the strategy is in place and rolling. And that free communication in general, and Linux specifically, are going to come under very heavy attack over the next 4 years.
With the _Democrats_ in the Senate now introducting
So I must respectfully disagree with Mr. Torvalds.
sPh
> So why don't you just sell me the extra service
> that I need then?
Because no non-IT business unit will accept the invoice from the IT Dept for such a service; they can't believe the burdened cost for integrating a non-standard configuration. It _can't_ be that high.
Next step: outsourcing. _Much_ lower contract price: HA! Teach those (former) in-house IT dudes to over-bill our division!
Then come the outsourcer's changes orders, work requests, and non-standard configuration charges, and invoices for overtime and extra techs. But the true cost can't be admitted, so the costs are buried...
sPh
> Remeber though is a workstation is infected 99% of
> the time it is IT's fault. Work machines need
> to be locked down unless a user demonstrates
> the clue not to do this.
Except that the people with the malware infections are often the very same ones screaming that the inflexible, locked-down configuration is stopping them from getting their job done. Bit of a dilemma, eh?
sPh
> I worked for one company that sent us to training
/three/ cycles of such training (usually out-of-house, then in-house with professional trainer, then in-house with business unit trainer) and still refuse to exercise basic business application and data management skills. I particularly enjoyed one of the most obstructionist and "IT faulting" such persons; I found him on a hobbyist bulletin board providing detailed technical support for a very complex and unfriendly piece of software vital to the custom sewing hobby. Even when taxed with this he claimed he could not figure out how to use Outlook and it was the "IT Dept's" fault.
> on basic and advanced Windows, Outlook, and Word
> (the 3 programs we used); each session lasted the
> better part of a day and was not cheap;
Again a good idea. I implemented similar programs in 1987, 1992, and 1997. Again, this is _2006_. I am dealing with organizations now where people have been through
That's the most extreme example I have encountered, but the general pattern is similar. This is 2006 dudes. Grade school kids today are expected to move from Mac to Windows to Linux machines and software (whichever was cheapest during the last budget cycle - our school district has 5 OS' in some classrooms) without blinking, and they do so with essentially zero training. But people being _paid_ are OK not understanding basic business duties after 5 years and three _paid_ training cycles?
sPh