hmmmm . . . could someone please help me resolve this. I had come to believe over the years that the terms 'Telemarketers' and 'bad security' were, in fact, synonymous - and had nothing in common except for the bottom line item - $$$$$
Hmmmm . . . OK, so it's NOT the premium job everybody dreams of - it STILL pays a (sub) standard wage, and it DOES provide some extra income - and it CAN supplement a retirement income for someone that is bored stiff. Get a grip - even slave-wagers can provide extra help for the terminally unemployable retired community. I am NOT advocating this type of employment as a general standard of living, but it DOES provide some of us (disabled, retired, bored, looking for some extra income) with a bit of extra help and a bit of challenge in our lifestyle.
I actually saw this done - as a wee lad of 10(ish). My father and an uncle were settling in for an evening of Vodka and tipsy/drunken fun. Something was said that irritated my aunt. She quietly, out of sight of the 2 'grown' men, poured out the Vodka and refilled the 2 bottles with water. We set around and burst into laughter all evening as Dad and Uncle Buddy got totally pissed on 'water' and orange juice - - - rofl.
THIS issue is the primary one I really want to see categorized - - - Do the 'moderate' drinkers have a less stressful life style because they occasionally consume a bit of alcohol _vs_ the teetotallers that don't drink at all (for whatever reason) and the related stresses of the teetotallers lifestyle of FORCED exclusion of relaxing lifestyle issues.
Basically, is the occasional drinker more likely to have a better life-orientation due to the 'tolerant' attitude . . . and thus have a less stressful life than the Abstentionist attitude and lifestyle of the teetotaller ?
Can anyone point to any studies that correlate the effects of a relaxed attitude towards life vs the restrictive attitude of the teetotallers and the stress incurred by their restrictive outlook ? ? ?
There HAS to be some link between a 'relaxed' attitude and a 'restrictive, totally intolerant' attitude when comparing lifestyles and heart-related issues . . . just about everyone knows that restrictive life regimes DO tend to over-tax the heart with stress-related hormonal damage compared to the 'easy going' lifestyles that just let the pressures and stresses wash over them without getting bent out of shape !
Here's tipping (toasting) one to the easy-goers living longer (and better) than the induced highly over-stressed teetotallers ! ! ! Hell, even if the occasional imbibers don't actually live longer, they really DO live better without the stresses of structuring their life to TOTALLY exclude certain activities - and the worries, pressures, internal stresses, etc. induced by their intolerant and restrictive outlooks.
hmmmmm . Interesting. I specifically indicated that a 'bogus' PO would got through like nothing was wrong ! ! ! WITH a bogus PO, BOS, BOL, then the payment would by pretty much rubber stamped - paid and 'gone with the wind'. Perhaps a few less Bud lites, or a more in-depth reading - slowly and out loud, might make my point more obvious. Mr (or Ms) Hognoxious as a sig pretty much begs for a 'troll' stamp - but I'll ignore the obvious and assume the best - - - PLEASE be a bit more polite and reasonable - and at least take the effort to elucidate the factors of your rebuttal.
Have a good day, as I intend to have one myself and ignore the tone of your post.
It all boils down to the individual(s) actually cutting the checks - - - and they are often in their position simply because they are the lower-class personnel dealing with the day-to-day issues of responding to and acting upon the billing / payment section of the company. No corporate business is going to put a a 'premium salary' individual behind a desk to deal with the day-to-day issues of paying 'legitimately' billed services or 'legitimate' looking bills for services or materials. Provide a legitimate looking invoice, and the rest is a cake-walk.
Granted, these individuals have over-sight managers, but the managers' coverage is pretty much an 'after-the-fact' issue, and the disbursement of the funds has already occurred, with no way to stop the transaction, even with too-late-to-matter action(s) by the division manager. The ONLY time a 'manager' gets involved is when a billing request is blatantly bogus, or when it goes above a certain established minimum-level valuation - - - which in large companies can approach-or-exceed the hundred-thou$and dollar level.
Bottom Line - the work-a-day clerk that cuts the check is relatively easy to spoof - with the proper looking documents, and any oversight / validation action is going to be too late to stop the actual fund$ transfer. Their only recourse, then, is to TRY and present evidence that the billing was a scam, and then attempt to recover the already-disbursed funds - generally a near futile action even when the company can provide legal evidence to the authorities - - - and even then, to wait for a long time (years, and years) for the legal system to respond - - - many times too late to actually get their hands on the funds that have been disbursed - - - and then 'disappeared' by the scammers.
Lets look at a relatively modern concept - - - ASYMMETRIC WARFARE This fits the definition better than anything else has over the last couple of decades. Grab a couple of dozen 'drones' at less than $300 each, and cause the expenditure of multi-million dollar munitions to be used for EACH of them !
SOMEONE needs to fall back on the simpler, but reliable, method of using laser-tagged bazooka-style munitions to 'down' these drones.
The Viet Nam era shoulder fired rocket launchers would be ideal for this type of coverage, and there has to be a lot of these old(er) munitions stockpiled somewhere. Just because they were vulnerable to local-fire when used against tanks does NOT mean they were useless - just that they were inappropriate for that type of mission. Pull them out of mothballs, and re-task them for THIS type of mission. Even at a few thousand dollars each, they are virtually worthless sitting buried in a munitions warehouse - but could easily be re-purposed for these types of missions - essentially using already-paid-for materials, AND freeing up storage space and logistic accountability costs. Use the Patriot targeting systems, link to the shoulder-launched warheads for target acquisition, and blow the quad- / hex- / octo-copters out of the sky.
Point of Fact - historically (at least over the last few decades), these 'protection' issues being implemented by 'The Donald' and his 'regulators' won't be seen as savings by the ISP's, but will be touted as 'added premiums' and they will actually ADD to the cost of your service under the guise of 'extra service' elements itemized on your bill - basically another tag-line item charge to your monthly tithe to the monopolized and protected tele-com providers in the USA.
Jeez, if it only WERE a tithe, which is only 10% of your income (wonder if this is based on gross, or after-tax).
OK, so this is a bit of flame-bait - - - prove me wrong or shut up and suck-it-up.
I'm Karma-rich right now, so do your worst - - - but t least make it interesting -grin-
Good Grief, Charlie Brown, a REAL spring chicken. I remember MY first hard drive - a monstrous 5 MegaByte beast for a measly $150, which was half the price of the next cheapest drive on the market. Now, THAT was back in the days . . . when GMR (giant magneto-resistive heads) stood for 'Get Moving, Redneck!', a cops' final warning to shove off. and prices were expressed in cents per KILObyte.
However, the woolly mammoth had sadly slipped away the previous year.
Seems like the primary point of this battery tech is getting slam-dunked by the mobile phone and personal device power crowd. It's NOT a matter of energy density (although that is a moderately important issue), but the LONGEVITY / RECHARGE CYCLES of this battery tech. Hell, even if it is 10 times the size of current lithium tech batteries, the fact that it can survive for a DECADE of charge / discharge cycles makes it a REAL plus in the 'load levelling' supplemental power arena, especially since they won't be stressed to full discharge / recharge on a daily basis - - - which SHOULD effectively extend the useful lifespan to several decades. It's not a question of how much power you can pack into a given volume, it's HOW LONG the battery can perform before needing replacement - - - and this tech really seems to be a contender for bulk power storage for dealing with peak demand power usage - with a very long life cycle. Please get off the volumetric power rants, and look at the feasibility of using this type of battery, even if it takes up a lot (relatively) of space, and consider it's application as a serious long-term power load leveling technology. Consider, also, that it is much smaller than compressed air, elevated water, or molten salt storage systems, and appears to offer much lower maintenance / support expense, since it is basically an electrical cell that probably only requires a reasonable thermal environment.
Yeah, I've made some assumptions - that may be way off base - but at least I'm NOT trying to cram this LONG-TERM, HIGH-RECYCLE, ELECTRICAL STORAGE technology into a miniaturized application (phones, laptops, watches, etc.) that it was never intended for.
OUCH ! I hate to be the 'fear monger' here, but with CRISPR genetic modification, the changes are incorporated into the germ-line of that species, and will be passed down from generation - to - generation. This is the actual plan for the project, and it is being introduced into MAMMALS. Well, humans are also mammals, and similar enough to mice that the mouse line of mammals is very often used as the initial test-bed for medical research targeted at humans. How long will it take this CRISPR modification to jump species-lines, either from virus-aided transfer, or through some form of deliberate weaponization processes?
Damn, I'm kinda' glad that I'm over 70, and hopefully won't be around when (IF) this extinction-level event happens. Granted, it will take multiple generations to spread throughout the global population, but a 'kill-switch' function, or even a more elegant technique involving a basic 'count-down' trigger that self-terminates after a certain number of generation transfers (similar to, and based on, the process of telomere shrinkage with each reproductive cycle), COULD be incorporated into the process in order to limit run-away disasters if the genetic alteration does get loose, or manages to cross species lines.
I shudder to think of the implications of this research being developed to the point that it could target ANY species, and then the inevitable acquisition of the techniques by radicalized, medically-competent , scientists with either deep-pocket private backers, or state-sponsored support.
One geographic transfer / escpe process that pops to mind is a bird, or other long distance traveller, that dumps fecal matter contaminated with this gene-line altering process still active in the biological waste, which then gets eaten by another scavenger (a REALLY HUNGRY individual), and . . . boom - - - the CRISPER agent is suddenly introduced into a population outside of the targeted area, and could very well move from a geo-bound area (like islands) to a wide-open continental arena.
OK, so this is a '. . . sky is falling' scenario, but EVERY precaution needs to be considered - and planned for - when introducing a process that is deliberately designed for total species-line extermination, and there is just no way that ALL escape options will ever be able to be covered with 100% reliability.
lol - been there, done that. My niece brought home some of these 'guests' from school, and we bought the local family pharmacy out of RID to clean the house (and us) - - - NOT a fun day.
Good Grief. Talk about a bit of over-simplification - - - article quote - probably evaporated off the moon while it was being formed in a violent collision or soon afterward, while its surface was still incredibly hot.
There WASN'T any MOON surface to evaporate from - it was the multi-quadrillion PIECES that got thermally blasted, and lost all of their volatiles.
Because the major mass-locus was earth, the free-floating material preferentially 'gravitated' here, leaving the particulate residue to accumulate into our moon, with the majority of it's material probably being from the crustal region of the earth and the colliding planetoid (Theia).
With the earth being more massive, and presumably less heated by the collision, the lighter materials would eventually either be 'lost in space' or captured by earth, while the nascent moon cloud, still in it's infancy and HOT, and in FRAGMENTS, continued to out-gas. Even with thermal equivalence of the two bodies, the higher gravitational tug of earth would have preferentially attracted - and kept - the lighter volatiles blown off by the collision. (Yep, I'm agreeing with the author, except on the point of "the moon's surface").
OK, so I'm knit-picking, but please keep your presentation straight, as there was NOT any definable 'surface' of the moon at that period, just a LOT of really hot pieces that thermally expelled all low-temp volatiles as they circled earth and eventually coalesced into our moon.
Still, overall, a very good piece, and worthy of inclusion under the 'real science' category of slashdot's potpourri - unfortunately a small and decreasing category of material on this site.
This HAS to be the best thing ever - all I will have to do is make sure there is nobody behind me and I can get my car to propel itself forward with NO FUEL EXPENDITURE - - - better than any application of 'flux capacitors'. Just imagine, with nothing behind you, your mileage will go off the chart, since it won't require any fuel or engine usage to get you moving into the vast frontiers of ANY spatial locale, and all without ANY requirement for fuel ! ! ! Hell of a revolution in the physics arena, since you can travel anywhere, with no fuel or engine - - - AS LONG AS THERE IS NOTHING BEHIND YOU - - - _ROFLMAO_
Sorry, but this really tickled my warped sense of humor, and I just HAD to plop this post into the slashdot (ces)pool to see how many others got a good, beer-twisted, mind-boggling laugh out of it !
cheers, chug a few more, and take a dive off the deep end !
I was in my teens, living with my foster family in California. We were returning from a grocery shopping trip when the news broke on the radio. My foster father, who personally knew Gus Grissom and Ed White, broke into tears and had to pull over and stop the car. Despite his earlier warnings to his supervisors about the hazards of testing with atmospheric pressure pure oxygen environments, the tests continued - as he was 'only' a field engineer for NASA. Was really a sad day, with many tears and spiteful comments about the lack of real leadership qualities in the top bureaucracy of NASA at that time. Sadly, even though there were SOME changes, and even some GOOD changes, they didn't last long, and we were soon back in the same 'good old boy' network of leadership that does nothing for the program unless it pins a feather on the cap of a supervisor somewhere in the bureaucratic hierarchy. Continuing this sad tale, we saw the loss of a launch because of faulty O-ring design caused by small, but significant, warpage from the weight of the vehicle resting on its side during the O-ring installation. This issue had already been seen to be marginal - with one after-launch diagnostic showing that the booster was within seconds of burning through - with the tragic results that happened when a later booster DID burn through. And then, there was the loss during re-entry from another vehicle because of icing issues - even though NASA had a waiver to continue using freon for de-icing which would have eliminated this problem, but changed to a different, less effective, but MORE Politically Correct compound. Granted, the actual icing issue didn't cause the loss, but the ice build-up and the impact of the ice-chunk DID result in another senseless, tragic loss. Really gotta' love the bureaucrats, since they prove that normal humans can overcome even the worst of humanities faults and self-centered stupidity, and STILL succeed in the efforts to expand our frontiers.
Kinda' reminds me of the 'PC correct' idiot in purchasing that order bio-friendly cat litter for the packing of nuclear material - that caused the loss of the only long-term storage facility in the US because it ruptured - which WOULDN'T have happened if the idiot had just continued to use plain clay litter.
Actually, the US is ruled by the LAWyers, but I do have to agree with the last sentence (pun intended).
VERY occasionally, some Chinese corporate head is offered to the masses with a leadlined hole through the cranium, not necessarily as a deterrent to the 'bad things' he did, but as a warning to not be left holding the bag when all the other corporation's lead officers have made it to their bunkers.
I have to say that the only fundamental difference between China and the US is the enormous amount of funding dumped into lawyer's laps to keep up the illusion (and the LAWS) of a corporation being an entity, entitled to the same rights as a PERSON - and nobody is going to throw a corporation into jail. Plus there are laws on the books that (mostly) prevent 'killing' a corporation, either (especially) through execution or by destroying the 'entity' with financial penalties. Even when this does occasionally happen, the board, president, and all stockholders are held non-liable beyond the capital assets of the 'entity'.
Thanks. I needed a swift kick in the crotch to remind me of the hate mongers / trollers still allowed to post freely. Please learn to be civil, or go home and kick the dog. At least I don't get vindictive about disagreeing posts - but then again - I don't really give a shit about those that tout their attitudes as gospel.
Remember, a closed attitude and a closed mind does nothing except gather cobwebs.
OK . Have it your way. I'm tired of trying to be agreeable with you about YOUR specific issue(s), while attempting to point out the root causes embedded in the full spectrum of geo-political issues covering NOT just singular issues, but the fundamental problems that genuinely worry so much of the American voting public (read - those that are paying attention to the global situation and it's ramifications). "Re:Another brick in the wall" is starting to feel like another brick to the head. You have good intentions, and have focused on good items of concern, but the only way to address these limited problems is to go after the PTB (Powers That Be) that have allowed these situations to continue to exist.
Enjoy your holidays - and be thankful that you are in a country that ALLOWS you to enjoy these superficial pleasures, while, at the same time, is resorting to the same types of social controls that permit this government to do as they damned well please to everyone else in the world.
Misquoted, but essentially the same thing - - - Those that surrender their rights for security, deserve neither.
AGAIN, DUH! Aren't the issues you mention the very issues that the '2-party system' (the establishment) is so totally involved in . . . that they can't get around to actually doing the job they were elected for - - - like building roads, border protection (uh, isn't this a TRUMP WALL item?), post office (not a federal department for many years, but an independent agency losing money as fast as, or faster than, any other federal agency?). As far as leaving issues to the states, how do you figure ANYTHING ranging across the individual state's actions as 'cohesive', other than being bound by federal legislation to remain in the 'union'? Sorry, do NOT want to start a flame war - but I would like to get clarification on these points before I begin considering anything you post as valid.
NOW, under this totally politically biased issue - we go back to the 'good old days' of hidden, smoke-filled rooms with absolutely NO visibility (to the PEOPLE) of the actions taken in the hallowed halls of our grand democracy - a SUPPOSEDLY OPEN AND TRANSPARENT body of people dealing with our country's legislative processes - where the decisions being made are too 'sensitive' or too 'critical' to be made public can be taken - - - in OUR NAME - - - to determine the laws and actions enacted into our nation's legal system. WHAT are these idiots foaming at the mouth about ? Does it have something to do with the fact that C-Span can be redacted / edited / censored so as to withhold from the American People what is actually happening in OUR government, BUT real-life phone-videos actually show WHAT IS REALLY HAPPENING? The REALITIES of the legislative process is now being by-passed so as to CONCEAL what is actually happening in our legislative bodies by making personal phone-video documentation a CRIMINAL OFFENSE - punishable by fines that threaten the livelihood of those trying to actually SHOW WHAT IS GOING ON ! OK, so we all know (or at least those that follow these issues) that any legislation that gets passed is basically a compromise whereby all parties are equally disgusted and disappointed with the resulting bill - at least LET US KNOW WHY THIS IS THE RESULT ! ! ! Hell, we are the culpable, gullible, and generally emotionally driven individuals that put these power-mongers in office, but at least we SHOULD be able to see what is being done, how it is being done, and what compromises are being made to get any type of legislation passed that affect's our country. Jeez, even I know that there are some (ok, maybe a lot of) issues that ARE critically sensitive, and shouldn't be made public - as in national defense and anti-terrorism issues, but the day-to-day procedures of our government have no business being hidden from the public. Every year that goes by, with the political back-stabbing and corruption, reinforces my long-held belief that ANYBODY that WANTS to be in politics should automatically be disqualified - and our political arena should be staffed in the same way that juries are selected - - - if you want in, then GO HOME - but if you are (reluctantly) persuaded to serve, then do your duty as you would if you were drafted into the military for a given term - and then get the hell out. Is it any wonder that the "NONE OF THE ABOVE" candidate - Pres-elect Donald Trump - beat out the establishment in this year's national election ?
LOL - THANK YOU ! ! ! I didn't think about that bit of righteous (in)action - and totally fitting for the legislators that aGREED to this.
Sad part would be that the rest of the country would have to take in these sniveling cretins (the legislators - NOT the population) as 'disadvantaged' and 'catastrophically dislocated' welfare burdens.
It's a shame that the legislative bodies would be provided luxury accommodations and relocation benefits, while the real victims (the populous) would be dumped into Katrina-like 'temporary' shelters that many of the actual Katrina victims are STILL living in - years after their ordeal of just surviving the disaster.
Still, I have to temper my pity for those poor souls, as THEY are the ones that put their legislative body in power over their lives.
Slashdot Mirror
hmmmm . . . could someone please help me resolve this.
I had come to believe over the years that the terms 'Telemarketers' and 'bad security' were, in fact, synonymous - and had nothing in common except for the bottom line item - $$$$$
cheers . . .
Hmmmm . . . OK, so it's NOT the premium job everybody dreams of - it STILL pays a (sub) standard wage, and it DOES provide some extra income - and it CAN supplement a retirement income for someone that is bored stiff.
Get a grip - even slave-wagers can provide extra help for the terminally unemployable retired community.
I am NOT advocating this type of employment as a general standard of living, but it DOES provide some of us (disabled, retired, bored, looking for some extra income) with a bit of extra help and a bit of challenge in our lifestyle.
I actually saw this done - as a wee lad of 10(ish). My father and an uncle were settling in for an evening of Vodka and tipsy/drunken fun. Something was said that irritated my aunt. She quietly, out of sight of the 2 'grown' men, poured out the Vodka and refilled the 2 bottles with water. We set around and burst into laughter all evening as Dad and Uncle Buddy got totally pissed on 'water' and orange juice - - - rofl.
BINGO! (or YAHTZEE! if you prefer)
THIS issue is the primary one I really want to see categorized - - - Do the 'moderate' drinkers have a less stressful life style because they occasionally consume a bit of alcohol _vs_ the teetotallers that don't drink at all (for whatever reason) and the related stresses of the teetotallers lifestyle of FORCED exclusion of relaxing lifestyle issues.
Basically, is the occasional drinker more likely to have a better life-orientation due to the 'tolerant' attitude . . . and thus have a less stressful life than the Abstentionist attitude and lifestyle of the teetotaller ?
Can anyone point to any studies that correlate the effects of a relaxed attitude towards life vs the restrictive attitude of the teetotallers and the stress incurred by their restrictive outlook ? ? ?
There HAS to be some link between a 'relaxed' attitude and a 'restrictive, totally intolerant' attitude when comparing lifestyles and heart-related issues . . . just about everyone knows that restrictive life regimes DO tend to over-tax the heart with stress-related hormonal damage compared to the 'easy going' lifestyles that just let the pressures and stresses wash over them without getting bent out of shape !
Here's tipping (toasting) one to the easy-goers living longer (and better) than the induced highly over-stressed teetotallers ! ! !
Hell, even if the occasional imbibers don't actually live longer, they really DO live better without the stresses of structuring their life to TOTALLY exclude certain activities - and the worries, pressures, internal stresses, etc. induced by their intolerant and restrictive outlooks.
cheers . . .
hmmmmm . Interesting. I specifically indicated that a 'bogus' PO would got through like nothing was wrong ! ! !
WITH a bogus PO, BOS, BOL, then the payment would by pretty much rubber stamped - paid and 'gone with the wind'.
Perhaps a few less Bud lites, or a more in-depth reading - slowly and out loud, might make my point more obvious.
Mr (or Ms) Hognoxious as a sig pretty much begs for a 'troll' stamp - but I'll ignore the obvious and assume the best - - -
PLEASE be a bit more polite and reasonable - and at least take the effort to elucidate the factors of your rebuttal.
Have a good day, as I intend to have one myself and ignore the tone of your post.
It all boils down to the individual(s) actually cutting the checks - - - and they are often in their position simply because they are the lower-class personnel dealing with the day-to-day issues of responding to and acting upon the billing / payment section of the company. No corporate business is going to put a a 'premium salary' individual behind a desk to deal with the day-to-day issues of paying 'legitimately' billed services or 'legitimate' looking bills for services or materials. Provide a legitimate looking invoice, and the rest is a cake-walk.
Granted, these individuals have over-sight managers, but the managers' coverage is pretty much an 'after-the-fact' issue, and the disbursement of the funds has already occurred, with no way to stop the transaction, even with too-late-to-matter action(s) by the division manager. The ONLY time a 'manager' gets involved is when a billing request is blatantly bogus, or when it goes above a certain established minimum-level valuation - - - which in large companies can approach-or-exceed the hundred-thou$and dollar level.
Bottom Line - the work-a-day clerk that cuts the check is relatively easy to spoof - with the proper looking documents, and any oversight / validation action is going to be too late to stop the actual fund$ transfer. Their only recourse, then, is to TRY and present evidence that the billing was a scam, and then attempt to recover the already-disbursed funds - generally a near futile action even when the company can provide legal evidence to the authorities - - - and even then, to wait for a long time (years, and years) for the legal system to respond - - - many times too late to actually get their hands on the funds that have been disbursed - - - and then 'disappeared' by the scammers.
Lets look at a relatively modern concept - - - ASYMMETRIC WARFARE
This fits the definition better than anything else has over the last couple of decades.
Grab a couple of dozen 'drones' at less than $300 each, and cause the expenditure of multi-million dollar munitions to be used for EACH of them !
SOMEONE needs to fall back on the simpler, but reliable, method of using laser-tagged bazooka-style munitions to 'down' these drones.
The Viet Nam era shoulder fired rocket launchers would be ideal for this type of coverage, and there has to be a lot of these old(er) munitions stockpiled somewhere. Just because they were vulnerable to local-fire when used against tanks does NOT mean they were useless - just that they were inappropriate for that type of mission. Pull them out of mothballs, and re-task them for THIS type of mission.
Even at a few thousand dollars each, they are virtually worthless sitting buried in a munitions warehouse - but could easily be re-purposed for these types of missions - essentially using already-paid-for materials, AND freeing up storage space and logistic accountability costs.
Use the Patriot targeting systems, link to the shoulder-launched warheads for target acquisition, and blow the quad- / hex- / octo-copters out of the sky.
. . . and we go directly from sweet tea to sweet pee.
Now THAT's science.
minor correction :
"That's called INseminary school, and apparently, what happens there, stays there."
Well, it might be just possible that it may present its' lingering after-effect in 9 months -lol-
Point of Fact - historically (at least over the last few decades), these 'protection' issues being implemented by 'The Donald' and his 'regulators' won't be seen as savings by the ISP's, but will be touted as 'added premiums' and they will actually ADD to the cost of your service under the guise of 'extra service' elements itemized on your bill - basically another tag-line item charge to your monthly tithe to the monopolized and protected tele-com providers in the USA.
Jeez, if it only WERE a tithe, which is only 10% of your income (wonder if this is based on gross, or after-tax).
OK, so this is a bit of flame-bait - - - prove me wrong or shut up and suck-it-up.
I'm Karma-rich right now, so do your worst - - - but t least make it interesting -grin-
Good Grief, Charlie Brown, a REAL spring chicken.
I remember MY first hard drive - a monstrous 5 MegaByte beast for a measly $150, which was half the price of the next cheapest drive on the market.
Now, THAT was back in the days . . .
when GMR (giant magneto-resistive heads) stood for 'Get Moving, Redneck!', a cops' final warning to shove off.
and prices were expressed in cents per KILObyte.
However, the woolly mammoth had sadly slipped away the previous year.
Seems like the primary point of this battery tech is getting slam-dunked by the mobile phone and personal device power crowd. It's NOT a matter of energy density (although that is a moderately important issue), but the LONGEVITY / RECHARGE CYCLES of this battery tech.
Hell, even if it is 10 times the size of current lithium tech batteries, the fact that it can survive for a DECADE of charge / discharge cycles makes it a REAL plus in the 'load levelling' supplemental power arena, especially since they won't be stressed to full discharge / recharge on a daily basis - - - which SHOULD effectively extend the useful lifespan to several decades.
It's not a question of how much power you can pack into a given volume, it's HOW LONG the battery can perform before needing replacement - - - and this tech really seems to be a contender for bulk power storage for dealing with peak demand power usage - with a very long life cycle.
Please get off the volumetric power rants, and look at the feasibility of using this type of battery, even if it takes up a lot (relatively) of space, and consider it's application as a serious long-term power load leveling technology.
Consider, also, that it is much smaller than compressed air, elevated water, or molten salt storage systems, and appears to offer much lower maintenance / support expense, since it is basically an electrical cell that probably only requires a reasonable thermal environment.
Yeah, I've made some assumptions - that may be way off base - but at least I'm NOT trying to cram this LONG-TERM, HIGH-RECYCLE, ELECTRICAL STORAGE technology into a miniaturized application (phones, laptops, watches, etc.) that it was never intended for.
OUCH ! I hate to be the 'fear monger' here, but with CRISPR genetic modification, the changes are incorporated into the germ-line of that species, and will be passed down from generation - to - generation. This is the actual plan for the project, and it is being introduced into MAMMALS. Well, humans are also mammals, and similar enough to mice that the mouse line of mammals is very often used as the initial test-bed for medical research targeted at humans. How long will it take this CRISPR modification to jump species-lines, either from virus-aided transfer, or through some form of deliberate weaponization processes?
Damn, I'm kinda' glad that I'm over 70, and hopefully won't be around when (IF) this extinction-level event happens. Granted, it will take multiple generations to spread throughout the global population, but a 'kill-switch' function, or even a more elegant technique involving a basic 'count-down' trigger that self-terminates after a certain number of generation transfers (similar to, and based on, the process of telomere shrinkage with each reproductive cycle), COULD be incorporated into the process in order to limit run-away disasters if the genetic alteration does get loose, or manages to cross species lines.
I shudder to think of the implications of this research being developed to the point that it could target ANY species, and then the inevitable acquisition of the techniques by radicalized, medically-competent , scientists with either deep-pocket private backers, or state-sponsored support.
One geographic transfer / escpe process that pops to mind is a bird, or other long distance traveller, that dumps fecal matter contaminated with this gene-line altering process still active in the biological waste, which then gets eaten by another scavenger (a REALLY HUNGRY individual), and . . . boom - - - the CRISPER agent is suddenly introduced into a population outside of the targeted area, and could very well move from a geo-bound area (like islands) to a wide-open continental arena.
OK, so this is a '. . . sky is falling' scenario, but EVERY precaution needs to be considered - and planned for - when introducing a process that is deliberately designed for total species-line extermination, and there is just no way that ALL escape options will ever be able to be covered with 100% reliability.
Enjoy your nightmares ! ! !
lol - been there, done that. My niece brought home some of these 'guests' from school, and we bought the local family pharmacy out of RID to clean the house (and us) - - - NOT a fun day.
Good Grief. Talk about a bit of over-simplification - - -
article quote - probably evaporated off the moon while it was being formed in a violent collision or soon afterward, while its surface was still incredibly hot.
There WASN'T any MOON surface to evaporate from - it was the multi-quadrillion PIECES that got thermally blasted, and lost all of their volatiles.
Because the major mass-locus was earth, the free-floating material preferentially 'gravitated' here, leaving the particulate residue to accumulate into our moon, with the majority of it's material probably being from the crustal region of the earth and the colliding planetoid (Theia).
With the earth being more massive, and presumably less heated by the collision, the lighter materials would eventually either be 'lost in space' or captured by earth, while the nascent moon cloud, still in it's infancy and HOT, and in FRAGMENTS, continued to out-gas. Even with thermal equivalence of the two bodies, the higher gravitational tug of earth would have preferentially attracted - and kept - the lighter volatiles blown off by the collision. (Yep, I'm agreeing with the author, except on the point of "the moon's surface").
OK, so I'm knit-picking, but please keep your presentation straight, as there was NOT any definable 'surface' of the moon at that period, just a LOT of really hot pieces that thermally expelled all low-temp volatiles as they circled earth and eventually coalesced into our moon.
Still, overall, a very good piece, and worthy of inclusion under the 'real science' category of slashdot's potpourri - unfortunately a small and decreasing category of material on this site.
cheers . . .
This HAS to be the best thing ever - all I will have to do is make sure there is nobody behind me and I can get my car to propel itself forward with NO FUEL EXPENDITURE - - - better than any application of 'flux capacitors'.
Just imagine, with nothing behind you, your mileage will go off the chart, since it won't require any fuel or engine usage to get you moving into the vast frontiers of ANY spatial locale, and all without ANY requirement for fuel ! ! !
Hell of a revolution in the physics arena, since you can travel anywhere, with no fuel or engine - - - AS LONG AS THERE IS NOTHING BEHIND YOU - - - _ROFLMAO_
Sorry, but this really tickled my warped sense of humor, and I just HAD to plop this post into the slashdot (ces)pool to see how many others got a good, beer-twisted, mind-boggling laugh out of it !
cheers, chug a few more, and take a dive off the deep end !
Don't forget Moscow, Texas - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
I was in my teens, living with my foster family in California. We were returning from a grocery shopping trip when the news broke on the radio. My foster father, who personally knew Gus Grissom and Ed White, broke into tears and had to pull over and stop the car.
Despite his earlier warnings to his supervisors about the hazards of testing with atmospheric pressure pure oxygen environments, the tests continued - as he was 'only' a field engineer for NASA.
Was really a sad day, with many tears and spiteful comments about the lack of real leadership qualities in the top bureaucracy of NASA at that time.
Sadly, even though there were SOME changes, and even some GOOD changes, they didn't last long, and we were soon back in the same 'good old boy' network of leadership that does nothing for the program unless it pins a feather on the cap of a supervisor somewhere in the bureaucratic hierarchy.
Continuing this sad tale, we saw the loss of a launch because of faulty O-ring design caused by small, but significant, warpage from the weight of the vehicle resting on its side during the O-ring installation. This issue had already been seen to be marginal - with one after-launch diagnostic showing that the booster was within seconds of burning through - with the tragic results that happened when a later booster DID burn through.
And then, there was the loss during re-entry from another vehicle because of icing issues - even though NASA had a waiver to continue using freon for de-icing which would have eliminated this problem, but changed to a different, less effective, but MORE Politically Correct compound. Granted, the actual icing issue didn't cause the loss, but the ice build-up and the impact of the ice-chunk DID result in another senseless, tragic loss.
Really gotta' love the bureaucrats, since they prove that normal humans can overcome even the worst of humanities faults and self-centered stupidity, and STILL succeed in the efforts to expand our frontiers.
Kinda' reminds me of the 'PC correct' idiot in purchasing that order bio-friendly cat litter for the packing of nuclear material - that caused the loss of the only long-term storage facility in the US because it ruptured - which WOULDN'T have happened if the idiot had just continued to use plain clay litter.
Actually, the US is ruled by the LAWyers, but I do have to agree with the last sentence (pun intended).
VERY occasionally, some Chinese corporate head is offered to the masses with a leadlined hole through the cranium, not necessarily as a deterrent to the 'bad things' he did, but as a warning to not be left holding the bag when all the other corporation's lead officers have made it to their bunkers.
I have to say that the only fundamental difference between China and the US is the enormous amount of funding dumped into lawyer's laps to keep up the illusion (and the LAWS) of a corporation being an entity, entitled to the same rights as a PERSON - and nobody is going to throw a corporation into jail. Plus there are laws on the books that (mostly) prevent 'killing' a corporation, either (especially) through execution or by destroying the 'entity' with financial penalties. Even when this does occasionally happen, the board, president, and all stockholders are held non-liable beyond the capital assets of the 'entity'.
Thanks. I needed a swift kick in the crotch to remind me of the hate mongers / trollers still allowed to post freely.
Please learn to be civil, or go home and kick the dog.
At least I don't get vindictive about disagreeing posts - but then again - I don't really give a shit about those that tout their attitudes as gospel.
Remember, a closed attitude and a closed mind does nothing except gather cobwebs.
Have a Happy Holiday Season.
OK . Have it your way. I'm tired of trying to be agreeable with you about YOUR specific issue(s), while attempting to point out the root causes embedded in the full spectrum of geo-political issues covering NOT just singular issues, but the fundamental problems that genuinely worry so much of the American voting public (read - those that are paying attention to the global situation and it's ramifications).
"Re:Another brick in the wall" is starting to feel like another brick to the head.
You have good intentions, and have focused on good items of concern, but the only way to address these limited problems is to go after the PTB (Powers That Be) that have allowed these situations to continue to exist.
Enjoy your holidays - and be thankful that you are in a country that ALLOWS you to enjoy these superficial pleasures, while, at the same time, is resorting to the same types of social controls that permit this government to do as they damned well please to everyone else in the world.
Misquoted, but essentially the same thing - - - Those that surrender their rights for security, deserve neither.
I'm finished with this thread . . . . .
AGAIN, DUH! Aren't the issues you mention the very issues that the '2-party system' (the establishment) is so totally involved in . . . that they can't get around to actually doing the job they were elected for - - - like building roads, border protection (uh, isn't this a TRUMP WALL item?), post office (not a federal department for many years, but an independent agency losing money as fast as, or faster than, any other federal agency?).
As far as leaving issues to the states, how do you figure ANYTHING ranging across the individual state's actions as 'cohesive', other than being bound by federal legislation to remain in the 'union'?
Sorry, do NOT want to start a flame war - but I would like to get clarification on these points before I begin considering anything you post as valid.
NOW, under this totally politically biased issue - we go back to the 'good old days' of hidden, smoke-filled rooms with absolutely NO visibility (to the PEOPLE) of the actions taken in the hallowed halls of our grand democracy - a SUPPOSEDLY OPEN AND TRANSPARENT body of people dealing with our country's legislative processes - where the decisions being made are too 'sensitive' or too 'critical' to be made public can be taken - - - in OUR NAME - - - to determine the laws and actions enacted into our nation's legal system.
WHAT are these idiots foaming at the mouth about ? Does it have something to do with the fact that C-Span can be redacted / edited / censored so as to withhold from the American People what is actually happening in OUR government, BUT real-life phone-videos actually show WHAT IS REALLY HAPPENING? The REALITIES of the legislative process is now being by-passed so as to CONCEAL what is actually happening in our legislative bodies by making personal phone-video documentation a CRIMINAL OFFENSE - punishable by fines that threaten the livelihood of those trying to actually SHOW WHAT IS GOING ON !
OK, so we all know (or at least those that follow these issues) that any legislation that gets passed is basically a compromise whereby all parties are equally disgusted and disappointed with the resulting bill - at least LET US KNOW WHY THIS IS THE RESULT ! ! !
Hell, we are the culpable, gullible, and generally emotionally driven individuals that put these power-mongers in office, but at least we SHOULD be able to see what is being done, how it is being done, and what compromises are being made to get any type of legislation passed that affect's our country.
Jeez, even I know that there are some (ok, maybe a lot of) issues that ARE critically sensitive, and shouldn't be made public - as in national defense and anti-terrorism issues, but the day-to-day procedures of our government have no business being hidden from the public.
Every year that goes by, with the political back-stabbing and corruption, reinforces my long-held belief that ANYBODY that WANTS to be in politics should automatically be disqualified - and our political arena should be staffed in the same way that juries are selected - - - if you want in, then GO HOME - but if you are (reluctantly) persuaded to serve, then do your duty as you would if you were drafted into the military for a given term - and then get the hell out.
Is it any wonder that the "NONE OF THE ABOVE" candidate - Pres-elect Donald Trump - beat out the establishment in this year's national election ?
LOL - THANK YOU ! ! ! I didn't think about that bit of righteous (in)action - and totally fitting for the legislators that aGREED to this.
Sad part would be that the rest of the country would have to take in these sniveling cretins (the legislators - NOT the population) as 'disadvantaged' and 'catastrophically dislocated' welfare burdens.
It's a shame that the legislative bodies would be provided luxury accommodations and relocation benefits, while the real victims (the populous) would be dumped into Katrina-like 'temporary' shelters that many of the actual Katrina victims are STILL living in - years after their ordeal of just surviving the disaster.
Still, I have to temper my pity for those poor souls, as THEY are the ones that put their legislative body in power over their lives.
HUH ! REALLY ! ON SLASHDOT ???
Jeez, where've YOU been vegetating the last half-dozen years ? ? ?