Believe it or not, the first railgun was developed during World War 2! It was designed to act as an anti-aircraft weapon that couldn't be spotted by muzzle flashes (and thus attacked from the air).
Unfortunately the muzzle velocity never reached what the military concidered a pratical level, but imagine if it had! Railguns used in World War II? What a concept!
The problem is, this ignores selective reporting. Why are we looking at this particular point of data? Because our attention is already drawn to the statistical clumping around sunspots. We assume there is going to be something found there, because of such things as tree-growth rings and whatnot. If the clump had to do with people's heights varying every ten years, our clump-seeking brains would have been drawn the fact to our attention. Our compluation of the significance level tacitly excludes many other factors that DO NOT clump.
The human brain filters vast quantities of data, seeking things that appear unusual, and only then does it send out a conscious signal: "Wow! Look at that!" The wider we case our pattern-seeking net, the more likely it is to catch a clump.
People used to think that a woman's cycle corrsponded with the phases of the moon, because they were roughly 28 days. However, they are NOT exactly 28 days, and a Gibbon has a much shorter period while a mountain gorilla has a longer one.
People look for and expect to find patterns (even such things as the shape of the pyramids in Giza having astronomical relevence in their proportions. We expect to find patterns, and we find them, but that doesn't mean it's significant. It might just be a statistical clump.
What the heck does that really mean, anyways? Anyone can take statistics and make them mean what they want them to mean. People who believe the Earth is hollow or flat, people who believe in routine alien abductions of brain dead farmer for anal probing pleasure, people who deny the holocost all use statistics to prove themselves correct.
"There's lies, Damned lies, and Statistics" - Mark Twain
When I took a History of Science course in university, we eventually got to Darwin, and here's how he described evolution. But first of all, I hope you guys know what the Red-Green Show is. If you don't, hopefully you'll still get the idea.
People tend to think of the human body to be like something built by Bob Vila. When there is a percieved need (a new table for the house, for example), it is done from scratch, it is something crafted, measured, and precicely built from an expert resevoir of knowledge. This is not the case. It is much more like Red-Green, where the Handyman has a percieved need, and instead he looks around in his room full of junk and figures out what he can duct-tape together to make a passable subsitute.
So it surprises me little that the DNA is such a mess, we're just duct taping together all the useful junk in our geneitc code.
After all, what do most people appear to demand in the computer market? Top notch 3D graphics. State-of-the-art this-and-that. So something that is old school, like, say, television on the PC, is not addressed.
Is this because it's concidered somehow 'passe', or could it simply be that people assume there isn't anything to fix?
It seems that we keep pushing to expand the bounderies of technology, without concidering that there is older stuff that can use a tweek now and then. So who's fault is that?
Someone earlier floated the idea of this being a good thing. That the private industry is more capable and better suited for pushing mankind fully into space.
I do not disagree.
The only problem is that right now, there isn't a good enough REASON to go into space. The only reason business will go there is because there is profit to be made. I don't think Zero-G manufacturing is going to be reason enough, concidering the immense ammount of capital that has to be paid up front.
The really big businesses have the resources, but not the guts to expand into space. Smaller companies have the guts, but not the resources.
Perhaps, despite their mismanagement, we still need NASA. For the simple reason that they need to slowly push us forward until an economic space-boom becomes viable, at which time you won't be able to keep private industry rooted to the ground any more.
Mettle may have got us to the Moon, but Money is what will get us to Mars...
You seem to forget that only applies to a small portion of the population. Most people don't have a clue about how to circumvent this-or-that. People are sheep, and while there will always be an underground capable of cracking whatever the industry throws at us, this will not be commonly available or used outside that community.
Like I said, people are sheep, and the problem is that most of them won't ask questions when this kind of control is implimented. They'll just go along with it with barely a grumble.
There is only one thing I don't understand. When EXACTLY does Solid Snake sneak in to save Kenneth Baker, the DARPA Chief?
Or maybe I'm playing video games too much...:)
This reminds me of an idea I had kicking around
on
CPRM Smokescreen
·
· Score: 4
I could see some other possibilties here. Imagine this technology extending into all out trade war territory. You'd have HDs that would only allow certain kinds of data on your system (ie Microsquish) and block out non-sanctioned competitors (ie Linux).
You start allowing this kind of control, and it seems like they could eventually start running your life in an indirect manner.
What if they got these things to "tattle" on you as well, if you tried to circumvent it?
I remember seeing some of that "synthetic cartilage" way back when on That's Incredable (remember that show anyone?).
They described what the problem was in some athletes whose knee cartilage would eventually wear away, with very painful results. It showed this rubber-like insert that would be put in to replace it. I thought that was pretty neat, but then, that's because it seemed like one step closer to the 6 million dollar man to me:)
I wonder if this could be used to replicate anything else in the human body?
These days, everyone wants to claim the rights to anything even loosely associated with their products. Sometimes it seems like you can't do anything without stepping on someone's toes.
Remember TSR? At one point they tried to copyright the word "Nazi" because of one of their games! Granted, they lost, but imagine if they hadn't!
The metal band Metallica (now of Napster fame, or infamy) has recently started suing people making just about anything (including purfume) with the name Metallica in it.
In that case, however, I do see a bit of a point. They're afraid the name is going to get overused and become a generic name for metal bands. Believe it or not, both the words Refridgerator and Zipper were registered trademarks, but eventually it just became generic terms for everyday items.
But today, it seems like EVERYTHING is trademarked.
Does anyone REALLY believe that this money generated is actually going to the recording artists?
I would think we'd be lucky if half the money even went to the industry in general, and I really doubt any of that will find its way to the actual artists whom this tax is supposed to be helping.
That last message is so far down the line, I bet nobody will ever see it again:) But I was just wondering about a few things...
I'm not sure if I follow the arguements here. Would you concider a Proto-Human to be human? A prototype vehicle is something that predates the production model, with lots of bugs and kinks left to work out.
Proto implies "just before", so Proto-Anime would mean it's a show that happened just before it could be concidered Anime (and good point previously about Anime being a medium, not a genre. It's a medium like print literature, graphic novels or movies are mediums).
Macross is not, to me, proto-anime. But I certainly won't put my foot in my mouth and say it was the first, either. My knowledge of Anime and Manga is about 1% that of your basic expert.
Proto-anime would have to be something which is animated, and almost, but not quite, captures that "anime" feel.
Or, to use a literature analogy. People tend to call William Gibson the "Father of Cyberpunk". While Philip K. Dick (author of what is now called "Blade Runner" and "Total Recall") is often called the "Grandfather of Cyberpunk". Philip K. Dick would be proto-cyberpunk, while Gibson is not.
I could be wrong, but it's worth concidering.
Finally, a question. Someone mentioned using interpolation to fix the crappy animation of Macross. How hard would that be?
Why exactly would Robotech be called Proto-Anime? If anything it DEFINED the genre.
Back in an age where Transformers, G.I. Joe and Thundercats were all I had to look forward to after school, you can imagine just how amazed I was to see Robotech for the first time. Believe it or not, it sent me down a different path, and totally changed the way I saw animation.
Personally, I'd like to see a remake of Macross someday. The quasi-realistic militaristic bent of this space opera is not something I've seen duplicated since. The military in this feels like it could be our own, just in the future, everything else is set so far ahead that it's not even the same civilizations being dealt with.
On a side note: Remember how inadequate the animation was, compared to today anyways? How hard would it be to take something like this, and somehow use a computer to turn it from 10-15 frames a second to 25-30? Couldn't you just somehow invent a way to take two existing frames and fill in the logical gap between them? Turn that cheap animation into good animation!
Anyone here ever read Maxim? I used to, for the first year it was pretty good. But shortly thereafter, it became deluged with advertising. Most magazines have!
A typical issue doesn't have its first real article until page 20 or 25! All these are are caltrops trying to trip me up as I try to find the articles I actually want to read.
Looks like the internet may head that same way.
"Your article will reappear in: (insert countdown). Please feel free to support our advertisers."
I can imagine ads that scroll down and follow you as you read, moving around to try and catch your attention.
Somewhere in this world is a happy symbiosis waiting to be found, a blanance of effective advertising for things that users might actually give a damn about and the freedom to ignore them if we chose. But that balance won't be found in the likes of the "Internet Advertising Bureau"
When televsion first came out (well, I wasn't born yet, either, but go along with me on this). Television was envisioned to be a source of information and entertainment, free for the masses?
Yeah, that lasted all of two seconds.
Problem is, this is a capitalist society. Money makes the world go round. The all mighty buck rules, and another half dozen similar sayings that get the point across.
We may find ways around advertising online (with said programs to block banners ect...), just as we can find ways to avoid commercials on TV (change the channel, use a VCR programed not to tape commercials). But advertisers will always find a way around that (putting product placements within TV or movies, for example).
Personally, I've completely tuned myself out from commercials (buy Coke), and they don't affect me whatsoever (no, buy Pepsi). So I say we should just accept advertising on the internet, not try to block it, and just tune ourselves out. It worked for me! (buy Jolt) That way we can avoid this micropayment issue altogether.
Concidering that the website was not made on school grounds, perhaps the question should be: "What if the pamphlets had been handed just outside of school property?"
However, concidering that the school has access to the internet, and therefore any student could go to this website while in the school (until it was blocked that is). Maybe handing out pamphlets in the halls until they were draged by the ear to the Assistant Principal's office is analgous after all...
What if this kid ran off a ton of photocopies of this same parody in the form of a newsletter? Would anyone be complaining if they clamped down on this aspect of freedom of expression?
Part of me thinks there wouldn't have been a problem, because somehow handing out pamphlets making fun of the principal within the school itself is seen as more of an attack on the principal's authority. But since it's online it's "discrete" and should be left alone? I don't know...
It seems odd to me, because I think at this point in history we're sometimes MORE sensitive about online censorship rights than hardcopy freedom of speech.
Where have we seen this before? We have a system that works just find (music industry, CDs, ect), and someone invents something superior in some fundamental way (in this case, more convenient), and we act surprised when pressure comes to try and squash it.
This isn't the first time this has happened.
Big Oil has, up until recently, been against alternative power sources. Only now that it's becomming abundantly clear that the oil supply isn't going to last another 50-80 years do we see their tunes change. Now we find companies like BP having an increasing interest in developing solar power technology. Why? They know their number is up and are changing to fit with the times so they can survive.
Look at the Industrial Revolution. It challenged a working, established system that worked just fine, because it was more efficent and cheaper. People didn't take this lying down, though. Anyone who's seen Star Trek 6 remembers the analogy made by that hot vulcan chick: "They threw their wooden shoes, or sabo, into the machinery. Thus: sabotage."
Sorry for the Trek reference, but it's true, and it gets my point across here. This is just a number crunching form of sabotage. Of course the industry is going to put whatever spin and outright lies it can get away with in order to keep their jobs and keep themselves out of trouble. It's human nature.
Just ask Bill Clinton: "I did NOT have sexual relations, with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky.":)
Haven't you ever gone to a supermarket, and they're selling samples of this-and-that near the produce section?
Guess what, those people don't usually work for the supermarket, but for the product being sold. Same idea, different venue.
I found this out when I accidentally asked one of them where I could find a product, and she sheepishly explained she didn't work at the store itself, and didn't have a clue.
This instance at the computer store is a very sleezy, but understandable extension of that very same practice.
While a daily journal of Joe Blow's Average Life is about as interesting as... well, Joe Blow's Average Life, that doesn't mean that we don't all have our moments.
Take me, for example. I'm about as Joe Blow as you get... (er, except my name is Noah). Yeah, I aspire to be a writer and artist, but right now I'm a video store clerk working for minimum wage. Who would want to read MY journal?
However, last summer, I threw away my old life and decided to bike across Canada (second largest country in the world, eh?). I took a handheld computer with me (PSION 5) which I used to write a daily journal, keep my maps, and interviews with strangers along the way, as well as access to the internet.
The entire trip took about four months. Now THAT is a journal I think people might be interested in reading. I didn't know about or have access to what we're talking about, so I had to suffice myself with emailing my friends and family on a semi-regular basis (whenever I could use a phone jack).
But now it's back to Jow Blow Average Life, for the time being, anyways. Maybe next year I'll bike to Mexico...
Slashdot Mirror
Believe it or not, the first railgun was developed during World War 2! It was designed to act as an anti-aircraft weapon that couldn't be spotted by muzzle flashes (and thus attacked from the air).
Unfortunately the muzzle velocity never reached what the military concidered a pratical level, but imagine if it had! Railguns used in World War II? What a concept!
The problem is, this ignores selective reporting. Why are we looking at this particular point of data? Because our attention is already drawn to the statistical clumping around sunspots. We assume there is going to be something found there, because of such things as tree-growth rings and whatnot. If the clump had to do with people's heights varying every ten years, our clump-seeking brains would have been drawn the fact to our attention. Our compluation of the significance level tacitly excludes many other factors that DO NOT clump.
The human brain filters vast quantities of data, seeking things that appear unusual, and only then does it send out a conscious signal: "Wow! Look at that!" The wider we case our pattern-seeking net, the more likely it is to catch a clump.
People used to think that a woman's cycle corrsponded with the phases of the moon, because they were roughly 28 days. However, they are NOT exactly 28 days, and a Gibbon has a much shorter period while a mountain gorilla has a longer one.
People look for and expect to find patterns (even such things as the shape of the pyramids in Giza having astronomical relevence in their proportions. We expect to find patterns, and we find them, but that doesn't mean it's significant. It might just be a statistical clump.
What the heck does that really mean, anyways? Anyone can take statistics and make them mean what they want them to mean. People who believe the Earth is hollow or flat, people who believe in routine alien abductions of brain dead farmer for anal probing pleasure, people who deny the holocost all use statistics to prove themselves correct.
"There's lies, Damned lies, and Statistics" - Mark Twain
When I say "here's how he described evolution" I meant my teacher, not Darwin :) Bob Vila isn't THAT old...
This doesn't really surprise me, and here's why.
When I took a History of Science course in university, we eventually got to Darwin, and here's how he described evolution. But first of all, I hope you guys know what the Red-Green Show is. If you don't, hopefully you'll still get the idea.
People tend to think of the human body to be like something built by Bob Vila. When there is a percieved need (a new table for the house, for example), it is done from scratch, it is something crafted, measured, and precicely built from an expert resevoir of knowledge. This is not the case. It is much more like Red-Green, where the Handyman has a percieved need, and instead he looks around in his room full of junk and figures out what he can duct-tape together to make a passable subsitute.
So it surprises me little that the DNA is such a mess, we're just duct taping together all the useful junk in our geneitc code.
After all, what do most people appear to demand in the computer market? Top notch 3D graphics. State-of-the-art this-and-that. So something that is old school, like, say, television on the PC, is not addressed.
Is this because it's concidered somehow 'passe', or could it simply be that people assume there isn't anything to fix?
It seems that we keep pushing to expand the bounderies of technology, without concidering that there is older stuff that can use a tweek now and then. So who's fault is that?
Someone earlier floated the idea of this being a good thing. That the private industry is more capable and better suited for pushing mankind fully into space.
I do not disagree.
The only problem is that right now, there isn't a good enough REASON to go into space. The only reason business will go there is because there is profit to be made. I don't think Zero-G manufacturing is going to be reason enough, concidering the immense ammount of capital that has to be paid up front.
The really big businesses have the resources, but not the guts to expand into space. Smaller companies have the guts, but not the resources.
Perhaps, despite their mismanagement, we still need NASA. For the simple reason that they need to slowly push us forward until an economic space-boom becomes viable, at which time you won't be able to keep private industry rooted to the ground any more.
Mettle may have got us to the Moon, but Money is what will get us to Mars...
You seem to forget that only applies to a small portion of the population. Most people don't have a clue about how to circumvent this-or-that. People are sheep, and while there will always be an underground capable of cracking whatever the industry throws at us, this will not be commonly available or used outside that community.
Like I said, people are sheep, and the problem is that most of them won't ask questions when this kind of control is implimented. They'll just go along with it with barely a grumble.
There is only one thing I don't understand. When EXACTLY does Solid Snake sneak in to save Kenneth Baker, the DARPA Chief?
:)
Or maybe I'm playing video games too much...
I could see some other possibilties here. Imagine this technology extending into all out trade war territory. You'd have HDs that would only allow certain kinds of data on your system (ie Microsquish) and block out non-sanctioned competitors (ie Linux).
You start allowing this kind of control, and it seems like they could eventually start running your life in an indirect manner.
What if they got these things to "tattle" on you as well, if you tried to circumvent it?
Just a few random thoughts to chew on...
I remember seeing some of that "synthetic cartilage" way back when on That's Incredable (remember that show anyone?).
:)
They described what the problem was in some athletes whose knee cartilage would eventually wear away, with very painful results. It showed this rubber-like insert that would be put in to replace it. I thought that was pretty neat, but then, that's because it seemed like one step closer to the 6 million dollar man to me
I wonder if this could be used to replicate anything else in the human body?
These days, everyone wants to claim the rights to anything even loosely associated with their products. Sometimes it seems like you can't do anything without stepping on someone's toes.
Remember TSR? At one point they tried to copyright the word "Nazi" because of one of their games! Granted, they lost, but imagine if they hadn't!
The metal band Metallica (now of Napster fame, or infamy) has recently started suing people making just about anything (including purfume) with the name Metallica in it.
In that case, however, I do see a bit of a point. They're afraid the name is going to get overused and become a generic name for metal bands. Believe it or not, both the words Refridgerator and Zipper were registered trademarks, but eventually it just became generic terms for everyday items.
But today, it seems like EVERYTHING is trademarked.
Does anyone REALLY believe that this money generated is actually going to the recording artists?
I would think we'd be lucky if half the money even went to the industry in general, and I really doubt any of that will find its way to the actual artists whom this tax is supposed to be helping.
Pass the backbacon and touque.
There's always those sites that believe the Apollo program was a hoax.
;)
Have a laugh, they're everywhere. But here's one I found promoting a book on the subject...
http://www.primeline-america.com/moon-ldg/
Oh well, If God didn't make idiots, we wouldn't be able to tell who the smart ones are
That last message is so far down the line, I bet nobody will ever see it again :) But I was just wondering about a few things...
I'm not sure if I follow the arguements here. Would you concider a Proto-Human to be human? A prototype vehicle is something that predates the production model, with lots of bugs and kinks left to work out.
Proto implies "just before", so Proto-Anime would mean it's a show that happened just before it could be concidered Anime (and good point previously about Anime being a medium, not a genre. It's a medium like print literature, graphic novels or movies are mediums).
Macross is not, to me, proto-anime. But I certainly won't put my foot in my mouth and say it was the first, either. My knowledge of Anime and Manga is about 1% that of your basic expert.
Proto-anime would have to be something which is animated, and almost, but not quite, captures that "anime" feel.
Or, to use a literature analogy. People tend to call William Gibson the "Father of Cyberpunk". While Philip K. Dick (author of what is now called "Blade Runner" and "Total Recall") is often called the "Grandfather of Cyberpunk". Philip K. Dick would be proto-cyberpunk, while Gibson is not.
I could be wrong, but it's worth concidering.
Finally, a question. Someone mentioned using interpolation to fix the crappy animation of Macross. How hard would that be?
Why exactly would Robotech be called Proto-Anime? If anything it DEFINED the genre.
Back in an age where Transformers, G.I. Joe and Thundercats were all I had to look forward to after school, you can imagine just how amazed I was to see Robotech for the first time. Believe it or not, it sent me down a different path, and totally changed the way I saw animation.
Personally, I'd like to see a remake of Macross someday. The quasi-realistic militaristic bent of this space opera is not something I've seen duplicated since. The military in this feels like it could be our own, just in the future, everything else is set so far ahead that it's not even the same civilizations being dealt with.
On a side note: Remember how inadequate the animation was, compared to today anyways? How hard would it be to take something like this, and somehow use a computer to turn it from 10-15 frames a second to 25-30? Couldn't you just somehow invent a way to take two existing frames and fill in the logical gap between them? Turn that cheap animation into good animation!
Anyone here ever read Maxim? I used to, for the first year it was pretty good. But shortly thereafter, it became deluged with advertising. Most magazines have!
A typical issue doesn't have its first real article until page 20 or 25! All these are are caltrops trying to trip me up as I try to find the articles I actually want to read.
Looks like the internet may head that same way.
"Your article will reappear in: (insert countdown). Please feel free to support our advertisers."
I can imagine ads that scroll down and follow you as you read, moving around to try and catch your attention.
Somewhere in this world is a happy symbiosis waiting to be found, a blanance of effective advertising for things that users might actually give a damn about and the freedom to ignore them if we chose. But that balance won't be found in the likes of the "Internet Advertising Bureau"
That comment was supposed to be a joke... okay, not that funny, but still a joke.
I agree with your point, however.
(buy Jolt)
When televsion first came out (well, I wasn't born yet, either, but go along with me on this). Television was envisioned to be a source of information and entertainment, free for the masses?
Yeah, that lasted all of two seconds.
Problem is, this is a capitalist society. Money makes the world go round. The all mighty buck rules, and another half dozen similar sayings that get the point across.
We may find ways around advertising online (with said programs to block banners ect...), just as we can find ways to avoid commercials on TV (change the channel, use a VCR programed not to tape commercials). But advertisers will always find a way around that (putting product placements within TV or movies, for example).
Personally, I've completely tuned myself out from commercials (buy Coke), and they don't affect me whatsoever (no, buy Pepsi). So I say we should just accept advertising on the internet, not try to block it, and just tune ourselves out. It worked for me! (buy Jolt) That way we can avoid this micropayment issue altogether.
Concidering that the website was not made on school grounds, perhaps the question should be: "What if the pamphlets had been handed just outside of school property?"
However, concidering that the school has access to the internet, and therefore any student could go to this website while in the school (until it was blocked that is). Maybe handing out pamphlets in the halls until they were draged by the ear to the Assistant Principal's office is analgous after all...
What if this kid ran off a ton of photocopies of this same parody in the form of a newsletter? Would anyone be complaining if they clamped down on this aspect of freedom of expression?
Part of me thinks there wouldn't have been a problem, because somehow handing out pamphlets making fun of the principal within the school itself is seen as more of an attack on the principal's authority. But since it's online it's "discrete" and should be left alone? I don't know...
It seems odd to me, because I think at this point in history we're sometimes MORE sensitive about online censorship rights than hardcopy freedom of speech.
Where have we seen this before? We have a system that works just find (music industry, CDs, ect), and someone invents something superior in some fundamental way (in this case, more convenient), and we act surprised when pressure comes to try and squash it.
:)
This isn't the first time this has happened.
Big Oil has, up until recently, been against alternative power sources. Only now that it's becomming abundantly clear that the oil supply isn't going to last another 50-80 years do we see their tunes change. Now we find companies like BP having an increasing interest in developing solar power technology. Why? They know their number is up and are changing to fit with the times so they can survive.
Look at the Industrial Revolution. It challenged a working, established system that worked just fine, because it was more efficent and cheaper. People didn't take this lying down, though. Anyone who's seen Star Trek 6 remembers the analogy made by that hot vulcan chick: "They threw their wooden shoes, or sabo, into the machinery. Thus: sabotage."
Sorry for the Trek reference, but it's true, and it gets my point across here. This is just a number crunching form of sabotage. Of course the industry is going to put whatever spin and outright lies it can get away with in order to keep their jobs and keep themselves out of trouble. It's human nature.
Just ask Bill Clinton: "I did NOT have sexual relations, with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky."
Haven't you ever gone to a supermarket, and they're selling samples of this-and-that near the produce section?
Guess what, those people don't usually work for the supermarket, but for the product being sold. Same idea, different venue.
I found this out when I accidentally asked one of them where I could find a product, and she sheepishly explained she didn't work at the store itself, and didn't have a clue.
This instance at the computer store is a very sleezy, but understandable extension of that very same practice.
I think if Dolphins could read this /. they would say something along the lines of "Oh God, not another fish comment!"
:)
While a daily journal of Joe Blow's Average Life is about as interesting as... well, Joe Blow's Average Life, that doesn't mean that we don't all have our moments.
Take me, for example. I'm about as Joe Blow as you get... (er, except my name is Noah). Yeah, I aspire to be a writer and artist, but right now I'm a video store clerk working for minimum wage. Who would want to read MY journal?
However, last summer, I threw away my old life and decided to bike across Canada (second largest country in the world, eh?). I took a handheld computer with me (PSION 5) which I used to write a daily journal, keep my maps, and interviews with strangers along the way, as well as access to the internet.
The entire trip took about four months. Now THAT is a journal I think people might be interested in reading. I didn't know about or have access to what we're talking about, so I had to suffice myself with emailing my friends and family on a semi-regular basis (whenever I could use a phone jack).
But now it's back to Jow Blow Average Life, for the time being, anyways. Maybe next year I'll bike to Mexico...