As a result of an overwhelming lack of requests, and with research help from that renown scientific journal SPY magazine (January, 1990) - I am pleased to present the annual scientific inquiry into Santa Claus.
1) No known species of reindeer can fly. BUT there are 300,000
species of living organisms yet to be classified, and while most of
these are insects and germs, this does not COMPLETELY rule out flying
reindeer which only Santa has ever seen.
2) There are 2 billion children (persons under 18) in the world. BUT
since Santa doesn't (appear) to handle the Muslim, Hindu, Jewish and
Buddhist cihldren, that reduces the workload to to 15% of the total -
378 million according to Population Reference Bureau. At an average
(census) rate of 3.5 children per household, that's 91.8 million
homes. One presumes there's at least one good child in each.
3) Santa has 31 hours of Christmas to work with, thanks to the
different time zones and the rotation of the earth, assuming he travels
east to west (which seemes logical). This works out to 822.6 visits
per second. This is to say that for each Christian household with good
children, Santa has 1/1000th of a second to park, hop out of the
sleigh, jump down the chimney, fill the stockings, distribute the
remaining presents under the tree, eat whatever snacks have been left,
get back up the chimney, get back into the sleigh and move on to the
next house. Assuming that each of these 91.8 million stops are evenly
distributed around the earth (which, of course, we know to be false but
for the purposes of our calculations we will accept), we are now
talking about...78 miles per household, a total trip of 75-1/2 million
miles, not counting stops to do what most of us must do at least once
every 31 hours, plus feeding and etc.
This means that Santa's sleigh is moving at 650 miles per second, 3,000
times the speed of sound. For purposes of comparison, the fastest man-
made vehicle on earth, the Ulysses space probe, moves at a poky 27.4
miles per second - a conventional reindeer can run, tops, 15 miles per
hour.
4) The payload on the sleigh adds another interesting element.
Assuming that each child gets nothing more than a medium-sized lego set
(2 pounds), the sleigh is carrying 321,300 tons, not counting Santa,
who is invariably described as overweight. On land, conventional
reindeer can pull no more than 300 pounds. Even granting that "flying
reindeer" (see point #1) could pull TEN TIMES the normal amount, we
cannot do the job with eight, or even nine. We need 214,200 reindeer.
This increases the payload - not even counting the weight of the sleigh
- to 353,430 tons. Again, for comparison - this is four times the
weight of the Queen Elizabeth.
5) 353,000 tons travelling at 650 miles per second creates enourmous
air resistance - this will heat the reindeer up in the same fashion as
spacecrafts re-entering the earth's atmosphere. The lead pair of
reindeer will absorb 14.3 QUINTILLION joules of energy. Per second.
Each. In short, they will burst into flame almost instantaneously,
exposing the reindeer behind them, and create deafening sonic booms in
their wake. The entire reindeer team will be vaporized within 4.26
thousandths of a second. Santa, meanwhile, will be subjected to
centrifugal forces 17,500.06 times greater than gravity. A 250-pound
Santa (which seems ludicrously slim) would be pinned to the back of his
sleigh by 4,315,015 pounds of force.
IN CONCLUSION - If Santa ever DID deliver presents on Christmas Eve,
he's dead now.
There are idiots on both sides of the aisle. Why would this moron's political alignment be relevant to anyone unless they felt the need to re-enforce their biased opinion of republicans?
I remember hearing this story from some senior engineers I worked with about 20 years ago. I'm pretty sure that it's true.
They were all working hard down at Cape Canaveral getting ready to launch a satellite (an old HS-376). The boss came by and asked how things were going and one of the guys said that they were stuck on a problem and needed some parts. The boss eagerly got involved because this was something that he knew he could handle. They sent him to Radio Shack (Titusville) and had him ask for some polarized resistors. He took it in stride and did not get too upset when he came back (red faced) without them. It must have been very humbling for him.
When I read this story, I thought of Lear Siegler, Inc. -- the manufacturer of the old ADM series computer terminals. I haven't seen one of those for over 25 years....
Actually it's slightly more secure only because SS7 is a simple protocol compared to SIP (tunneled of course). It's also more secure in that a non-authorized person (like a private investigator) could not tap a VoIP connection without gaining entry to the premises. A POTS connection can be tapped by anybody who can access your line (anywhere). Comcast's VoIP likely uses similar technology to Vonage and so is probably just as secure.
Part of the APA says that SCO has to actively market Unix system V software. If IBM wins and assumes the responsibilities of the contract, then they would also have to actively market it. There is a clause that says Novell will take back its rights if the product isn't actively marketed.
I realize that the parent post is supposed to be a joke, but the paper indicates that the thrust measurements were not done in vacuum. The heating of the water vapor in the air would likely be significant (since the microwave oven magnetron frequency was chosen to be that of the resonant frequency of H2O). The resulting steam might propel the 'engine' and skew any measured thrust results.
Sorry for being so skeptical. Also, the efficiency of this thing at its theroetical limit is something like 0.03%. Any spacecraft using it had better have a BIG on-board nuclear power source (RTG).
You may not have realized this, but when the stolen laptop posts the local IP to the tracking server, the tracking server will ALSO LOG THE SOURCE IP. This way you get both.
Since the advent of "shadow passwords" (we're talking unix here), unprivileged users no longer have access to the hashed passwords in/etc/passwd. Most networked computers use some kind of directory service and it's not always implemented in a secure way. Sometimes all it takes is something like "ypcat passwd" to recover the hashes.
Yes, you could convert a 241k 8" floppy disk (IBM 3740) into a double sided disk by simply using a hole punch in the right place. Then you could store stuff on the other side. You would have a "flippy" instead of a floppy.) Those were the days.....
I think you're assuming a lot here. This is a sales pitch not an uncorrected BER spec. I'm willing to bet that the quoted "success" rate is the END-TO-END rate after all retransmissions and corrections.
Having never heard of it, I checked the website. The first thing I noticed is that the software development kit (which includes the protocols) costs a hundred bucks. The X10 protocols are widely known and lots of software (both free and otherwise) has already been developed. If these guys expect to make a dent in that market, they'll need to re-think their pricing structure.
GSM seems far worse in terms of causing interference to nearby amplified speakers than CDMA. I recently switched (2 years ago) from CDMA to GSM and suddenly everything I own is spewing buzzing sounds when my phone is nearby. This happens on amplified subwoofers, PC speakers, POTS telephones, and car stereos.
I think you misunderstood. If your server refuses to ever accept the message, then it is "bounced" by default. A spam filter that is integrated with the MTA can do this; if a message appears to be spam, a 55x reject message is sent. The source
If all the mail servers were to bounce messages that they considered spam, then all the improperly classified (non-spam) mail would be returned to the sender and they would know it wasn't delivered. Sending it into a black hole creates a reliability problem.
The big problem with the whole concept of "pay" e-mail is figuring out who to pay. All the folks who carry the message are already being paid (by both the ISP and the consumer). Where should the money go? Maybe it should go to the receipient of the e-mail...
Congratulations are in order Taco. I don't think I've ever read a more inflammatory summary here. It's so over the top that it's almost unintelligible.
The subject is intended to be a joke. Do you really believe that Bush (or his administration) is directly responsible for the torture and murder of Iraqi prisoners (or should I call them terrorists, criminals, "the enemy", etc.)? I could understand the argument that says we wouldn't be there if it weren't for bush, but that is not direct responsibility.
If you were a world leader, how would you deal with another government that seems by all accounts to be developing WMD, refuses UN inspections, and has a history of invading its weaker neighbor countries? Do you just ignore it and hope it goes away? Do you go to the UN (which has been documented to be corrupt)? Please tell me your solution.
Nice argument. If the newspaper was really doing a "service", then why didn't it provide the information it obtained to the CIA *ONLY* so they could fix the problem and minimize the damage? Instead, substantial damage has been done by publishing what amounts to classified information.
I hate to feed the troll but Ollie sold spare parts for all the existing US hardware the Iranians had. Policy at the time was to keep Iran balanced with Iraq so neither side would win the war that was going on between them.
The money from the parts sale went to (indirectly) fund the contras in Nicaragua. The contras were trying to topple the communist government there.
All in all I'd say it was a pretty good deal (except for the fact that Congress made it illegal to aid the contras and Ollie did it anyway and the lied about it).
Slashdot Mirror
IS THERE A SANTA CLAUS?
As a result of an overwhelming lack of requests, and with research help
from that renown scientific journal SPY magazine (January, 1990) - I am
pleased to present the annual scientific inquiry into Santa Claus.
1) No known species of reindeer can fly. BUT there are 300,000
species of living organisms yet to be classified, and while most of
these are insects and germs, this does not COMPLETELY rule out flying
reindeer which only Santa has ever seen.
2) There are 2 billion children (persons under 18) in the world. BUT
since Santa doesn't (appear) to handle the Muslim, Hindu, Jewish and
Buddhist cihldren, that reduces the workload to to 15% of the total -
378 million according to Population Reference Bureau. At an average
(census) rate of 3.5 children per household, that's 91.8 million
homes. One presumes there's at least one good child in each.
3) Santa has 31 hours of Christmas to work with, thanks to the
different time zones and the rotation of the earth, assuming he travels
east to west (which seemes logical). This works out to 822.6 visits
per second. This is to say that for each Christian household with good
children, Santa has 1/1000th of a second to park, hop out of the
sleigh, jump down the chimney, fill the stockings, distribute the
remaining presents under the tree, eat whatever snacks have been left,
get back up the chimney, get back into the sleigh and move on to the
next house. Assuming that each of these 91.8 million stops are evenly
distributed around the earth (which, of course, we know to be false but
for the purposes of our calculations we will accept), we are now
talking about...78 miles per household, a total trip of 75-1/2 million
miles, not counting stops to do what most of us must do at least once
every 31 hours, plus feeding and etc.
This means that Santa's sleigh is moving at 650 miles per second, 3,000
times the speed of sound. For purposes of comparison, the fastest man-
made vehicle on earth, the Ulysses space probe, moves at a poky 27.4
miles per second - a conventional reindeer can run, tops, 15 miles per
hour.
4) The payload on the sleigh adds another interesting element.
Assuming that each child gets nothing more than a medium-sized lego set
(2 pounds), the sleigh is carrying 321,300 tons, not counting Santa,
who is invariably described as overweight. On land, conventional
reindeer can pull no more than 300 pounds. Even granting that "flying
reindeer" (see point #1) could pull TEN TIMES the normal amount, we
cannot do the job with eight, or even nine. We need 214,200 reindeer.
This increases the payload - not even counting the weight of the sleigh
- to 353,430 tons. Again, for comparison - this is four times the
weight of the Queen Elizabeth.
5) 353,000 tons travelling at 650 miles per second creates enourmous
air resistance - this will heat the reindeer up in the same fashion as
spacecrafts re-entering the earth's atmosphere. The lead pair of
reindeer will absorb 14.3 QUINTILLION joules of energy. Per second.
Each. In short, they will burst into flame almost instantaneously,
exposing the reindeer behind them, and create deafening sonic booms in
their wake. The entire reindeer team will be vaporized within 4.26
thousandths of a second. Santa, meanwhile, will be subjected to
centrifugal forces 17,500.06 times greater than gravity. A 250-pound
Santa (which seems ludicrously slim) would be pinned to the back of his
sleigh by 4,315,015 pounds of force.
IN CONCLUSION - If Santa ever DID deliver presents on Christmas Eve,
he's dead now.
There are idiots on both sides of the aisle. Why would this moron's political alignment be relevant to anyone unless they felt the need to re-enforce their biased opinion of republicans?
I remember hearing this story from some senior engineers I worked with about 20 years ago. I'm pretty sure that it's true.
They were all working hard down at Cape Canaveral getting ready to launch a satellite (an old HS-376). The boss came by and asked how things were going and one of the guys said that they were stuck on a problem and needed some parts. The boss eagerly got involved because this was something that he knew he could handle. They sent him to Radio Shack (Titusville) and had him ask for some polarized resistors. He took it in stride and did not get too upset when he came back (red faced) without them. It must have been very humbling for him.
JSL
When I read this story, I thought of Lear Siegler, Inc. -- the manufacturer of the old ADM series computer terminals. I haven't seen one of those for over 25 years....
See here.
Actually it's slightly more secure only because SS7 is a simple protocol compared to SIP (tunneled of course). It's also more secure in that a non-authorized person (like a private investigator) could not tap a VoIP connection without gaining entry to the premises. A POTS connection can be tapped by anybody who can access your line (anywhere). Comcast's VoIP likely uses similar technology to Vonage and so is probably just as secure.
Part of the APA says that SCO has to actively market Unix system V software. If IBM wins and assumes the responsibilities of the contract, then they would also have to actively market it. There is a clause that says Novell will take back its rights if the product isn't actively marketed.
I'm surprised nobody has yet mentioned this.
I realize that the parent post is supposed to be a joke, but the paper indicates that the thrust measurements were not done in vacuum. The heating of the water vapor in the air would likely be significant (since the microwave oven magnetron frequency was chosen to be that of the resonant frequency of H2O). The resulting steam might propel the 'engine' and skew any measured thrust results.
Sorry for being so skeptical. Also, the efficiency of this thing at its theroetical limit is something like 0.03%. Any spacecraft using it had better have a BIG on-board nuclear power source (RTG).
You may not have realized this, but when the stolen laptop posts the local IP to the tracking server, the tracking server will ALSO LOG THE SOURCE IP. This way you get both.
--
Sigs cause cancer
July 20th, 1969 was the first manned lunar landing. To me, this is a more significant anniversary than Viking.
Since the advent of "shadow passwords" (we're talking unix here), unprivileged users no longer have access to the hashed passwords in /etc/passwd. Most networked computers use some kind of directory service and it's not always implemented in a secure way. Sometimes all it takes is something like "ypcat passwd" to recover the hashes.
Yes, you could convert a 241k 8" floppy disk (IBM 3740) into a double sided disk by simply using a hole punch in the right place. Then you could store stuff on the other side. You would have a "flippy" instead of a floppy.) Those were the days.....
Reminds me of this.
Not only that but there was a remake of it in 1988.
I think you're assuming a lot here. This is a sales pitch not an uncorrected BER spec. I'm willing to bet that the quoted "success" rate is the END-TO-END rate after all retransmissions and corrections.
JSL
Having never heard of it, I checked the website. The first thing I noticed is that the software development kit (which includes the protocols) costs a hundred bucks. The X10 protocols are widely known and lots of software (both free and otherwise) has already been developed. If these guys expect to make a dent in that market, they'll need to re-think their pricing structure.
GSM seems far worse in terms of causing interference to nearby amplified speakers than CDMA. I recently switched (2 years ago) from CDMA to GSM and suddenly everything I own is spewing buzzing sounds when my phone is nearby. This happens on amplified subwoofers, PC speakers, POTS telephones, and car stereos.
I think you misunderstood. If your server refuses to ever accept the message, then it is "bounced" by default. A spam filter that is integrated with the MTA can do this; if a message appears to be spam, a 55x reject message is sent. The source
If all the mail servers were to bounce messages that they considered spam, then all the improperly classified (non-spam) mail would be returned to the sender and they would know it wasn't delivered. Sending it into a black hole creates a reliability problem.
The big problem with the whole concept of "pay" e-mail is figuring out who to pay. All the folks who carry the message are already being paid (by both the ISP and the consumer). Where should the money go? Maybe it should go to the receipient of the e-mail...
Congratulations are in order Taco. I don't think I've ever read a more inflammatory summary here. It's so over the top that it's almost unintelligible.
The subject is intended to be a joke. Do you really believe that Bush (or his administration) is directly responsible for the torture and murder of Iraqi prisoners (or should I call them terrorists, criminals, "the enemy", etc.)? I could understand the argument that says we wouldn't be there if it weren't for bush, but that is not direct responsibility.
If you were a world leader, how would you deal with another government that seems by all accounts to be developing WMD, refuses UN inspections, and has a history of invading its weaker neighbor countries? Do you just ignore it and hope it goes away? Do you go to the UN (which has been documented to be corrupt)? Please tell me your solution.
10^20
Nice argument. If the newspaper was really doing a "service", then why didn't it provide the information it obtained to the CIA *ONLY* so they could fix the problem and minimize the damage? Instead, substantial damage has been done by publishing what amounts to classified information.
I hate to feed the troll but Ollie sold spare parts for all the existing US hardware the Iranians had. Policy at the time was to keep Iran balanced with Iraq so neither side would win the war that was going on between them.
The money from the parts sale went to (indirectly) fund the contras in Nicaragua. The contras were trying to topple the communist government there.
All in all I'd say it was a pretty good deal (except for the fact that Congress made it illegal to aid the contras and Ollie did it anyway and the lied about it).