I've read Professor R.V. Jones "The Wizard War" (originally published in Britain as "Most Secret War"), and this reminds me very much of the story of the electronic warfare between England and Germany in WWII. This device reminds me very much of the cavity magnetron oscillator, sort of an "acoustic-frequency "magnetron"", not the best descriptor perhaps, but that's what immediately comes to my mind.
There is another, very serious, potential problem. There is a hypothesis that gamma rays from the Earth's uranium deposits provides the viability to basic cellular structure, by providing a tiny mutation, sort of a cellular "kick in the pants." If the hypothesis is correct, creating background radiation within the spacecraft to properly match Earth's would be non-trivial. I suspect there may be a lot of factors affecting humans in space for which we have barely scratched the surface, so there is a possiblilty that travelling in space may turn out to not really be viable for the human species. There is no guarantee that every potential problem for human space-travel will have a practical solution.
The entire concept of intellectual property (by which I include both patents and copyrights) exists precisely because "users want it" - ie, We-The-People grant the creator a limited monopoly to encourage that entity to do their thing
Actually, it's been my understanding that the entire concept was the result of Gutenberg's invention of the printing press, a "dangerous copy machine!".
Patents were issued to control this new press; "we don't want radicals to be able to have handbills printed" etc.
You had to have a license to print, and be a member of the Printers Guild, which effectuated the censorship.
Thus, the concept was invented solely for the purpose of censorship.
Now that we've got used to the idea of "Intellectual Property" after so many centuries, we are under the delusion that it's a reality.
How does an author who writes 8 hours a day make a living if he gives his stuff away?
I can only comment on the above, with one example; someone else may have others. A well-known author wrote about one experience he had, in which he posted one of his works online for free, after the normally expected decline in print sales over time.
What was unexpected was that the result of the free publication was a re-surge in popularity of the work, with the resulting new demand for print copies.
The article was explicit about the need for a business model to go with "free", not just giving away anything and everything.
by WindBourne (631190) Alter Relationship on Monday May 21, @04:10AM (#19205905) "Within my lifetime, copper is going to head towards being VERY valuable. It seems that it would benefit the countries to garbage dump any waste and then work on creating GOOD extraction approaches. The idea of paying to ship our electronic "waste" to other countries has to be one of the most ludicrous actions that the west takes. "
I have to agree; there seems to be some small scale progress in that direction in the U.S. I found this report, from the Department of Civil and Mineral Engineering at the University of Minnesota, on "Removal of Lead from Printed Circuit Board Scrap by Electrolysis-Chemical Precipitation Method"
A brief quote from the article:
"Printed circuit board scrap with external solder coating is classified as a hazardous waste by the EP Toxicity test because of lead ion release, and is shipped out of state to landfill sites at high cost."...
"In their manufacture, substantial amounts of the laminated boards become scrap which, according to one estimate, amounts to half a million to a million lbs per year in the Twin Cities area. Because of the lead content in the solder layer, printed circuit board scrap is classified as a hazardous waste. Therefore, the removal of lead would allow the scrap to be reclassified as non-hazardous waste."
This was a pilot project for metals recovery; if projects like this were to become more widespread, a lot more valuable metals could be recylced here in the U.S.
Years ago, I saw the characters on "Blake's 7" try to cross a minefield with similar characteristics; it had self-healing boundary sensors that re-spliced themselves when cut. Somewhat chilling to see such destructive concepts being perfected; certainly not unexpected.
If your going todo that, you might as well go full monte and create an activeX control that would format the harddrive and install linux... then it would be something useful...
Thats funny, but howabout something really practical that removes IE and installs Firefox, complete with an IE-icon'd shortcut! It could have a link that says "click here to fix IE security issues!"
First year was #1; the concept of zero was unknown in western civilization prior to the end of the Moorish wars in Spain, so the "Christian Calendar" began with the year one.
We discovered "zero" when translating a maths book found in one of the Arabic libraries in Spain, about something called "Algebra". The Arabic-fluent Spaniard read something like "the sum equals zero" and the priest translating into Latin asked what "zero" was. Reply was "zero's an empty space in a number"; Priest: "How do I show that?" Reply: "Make a hole".
I've just heard that violent behavior is one of the side effects to be expected in a significant percentage of those being treated with Ritalin; students today are widely dosed by the schools with Ritalin for alleged "attention deficit disorder".
Slashdot Mirror
I've read Professor R.V. Jones "The Wizard War" (originally published in Britain as "Most Secret War"), and this reminds me very much of the story of the electronic warfare between England and Germany in WWII. This device reminds me very much of the cavity magnetron oscillator, sort of an "acoustic-frequency "magnetron"", not the best descriptor perhaps, but that's what immediately comes to my mind.
There is another, very serious, potential problem. There is a hypothesis that gamma rays from the Earth's uranium deposits provides the viability to basic cellular structure, by providing a tiny mutation, sort of a cellular "kick in the pants." If the hypothesis is correct, creating background radiation within the spacecraft to properly match Earth's would be non-trivial. I suspect there may be a lot of factors affecting humans in space for which we have barely scratched the surface, so there is a possiblilty that travelling in space may turn out to not really be viable for the human species. There is no guarantee that every potential problem for human space-travel will have a practical solution.
Regards, John
The entire concept of intellectual property (by which I include both patents and copyrights) exists precisely because "users want it" - ie, We-The-People grant the creator a limited monopoly to encourage that entity to do their thing
Actually, it's been my understanding that the entire concept was the result of Gutenberg's invention of the printing press, a "dangerous copy machine!".
Patents were issued to control this new press; "we don't want radicals to be able to have handbills printed" etc.
You had to have a license to print, and be a member of the Printers Guild, which effectuated the censorship.
Thus, the concept was invented solely for the purpose of censorship.
Now that we've got used to the idea of "Intellectual Property" after so many centuries, we are under the delusion that it's a reality.
How does an author who writes 8 hours a day make a living if he gives his stuff away?
I can only comment on the above, with one example; someone else may have others. A well-known author wrote about one experience he had, in which he posted one of his works online for free, after the normally expected decline in print sales over time.
What was unexpected was that the result of the free publication was a re-surge in popularity of the work, with the resulting new demand for print copies.
The article was explicit about the need for a business model to go with "free", not just giving away anything and everything.
by WindBourne (631190) Alter Relationship on Monday May 21, @04:10AM (#19205905)
...
"Within my lifetime, copper is going to head towards being VERY valuable. It seems that it would benefit the countries to garbage dump any waste and then work on creating GOOD extraction approaches. The idea of paying to ship our electronic "waste" to other countries has to be one of the most ludicrous actions that the west takes.
"
I have to agree; there seems to be some small scale progress in that direction in the U.S. I found this report, from the Department of Civil and Mineral Engineering at the University of Minnesota, on "Removal of Lead from Printed Circuit Board Scrap by Electrolysis-Chemical Precipitation Method"
A brief quote from the article:
"Printed circuit board scrap with external solder coating is classified as a hazardous waste by the EP Toxicity test because of lead ion release, and is shipped out of state to landfill sites at high cost."
"In their manufacture, substantial amounts of the laminated boards become scrap which, according to one estimate, amounts to half a million to a million lbs per year in the Twin Cities area. Because of the lead content in the solder layer, printed circuit board scrap is classified as a hazardous waste. Therefore, the removal of lead would allow the scrap to be reclassified as non-hazardous waste."
This was a pilot project for metals recovery; if projects like this were to become more widespread, a lot more valuable metals could be recylced here in the U.S.
"How about 'Nosoft'"
How about "NoMicrosoft"!
Years ago, I saw the characters on "Blake's 7" try to cross a minefield with similar characteristics; it had self-healing boundary sensors that re-spliced themselves when cut. Somewhat chilling to see such destructive concepts being perfected; certainly not unexpected.
If your going todo that, you might as well go full monte and create an activeX control that would format the harddrive and install linux... then it would be something useful...
Thats funny, but howabout something really practical that removes IE and installs Firefox, complete with an IE-icon'd shortcut! It could have a link that says "click here to fix IE security issues!"
The bills in circulation today are "Federal Reserve Notes" not backed by gold or silver, but The Constitution of the United States of America says:
... make any Thing but ..."
"Section 10
No State shall
gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts;
Therefore ALL U.S. currency in circulation today is counterfeit. So, changing design and color won't stop the chief counterfeiters!
Here's an artist who made a full-size playable Lego harpsichord (complete with an mp3 file).
First year was #1; the concept of zero was unknown in western civilization prior to the end of the Moorish wars in Spain, so the "Christian Calendar" began with the year one.
We discovered "zero" when translating a maths book found in one of the Arabic libraries in Spain, about something called "Algebra". The Arabic-fluent Spaniard read something like "the sum equals zero" and the priest translating into Latin asked what "zero" was. Reply was "zero's an empty space in a number"; Priest: "How do I show that?" Reply: "Make a hole".
I've just heard that violent behavior is one of the side effects to be expected in a significant percentage of those being treated with Ritalin; students today are widely dosed by the schools with Ritalin for alleged "attention deficit disorder".