Yet these same materials happen to exist in your backyard...
I hate to break it to ya, but at least one of the byproducts of nuclear power (Plutonium) isn't around in your backyard (or if it is, you're in trouble). It also happens to be one of the most toxic substances we know of (ok, inhaling pure cesium is probably pretty bad as well), and that's before we consider that it's radioactive. Nasty stuff.
Anyway, I have a very hard time swallowing "safest options on the planet."
What happens if the US descends into anarchy as a result of a stock market crash 100 years from now? Still safe? We've still got to deal with the stuff. And keep guards on the storage sites.
What happens if there is a plage in 2300? We're still paying for those guards on the storage sites, right?
We're gonna have the capital on hand to refurbish the storage containers in a thousand years? Have we made provisions for this?
Burning coal can only cause so much cancer before we run out of the stuff to burn. Nuclear waste is still gonna be dangerous tens of thousands of years from now. Over its entire history, I'll say nuclear is probably more dangerous.
Anyway, changing our lifestyle would be good for us.
This fits in with Bush's disregard for the dangers of Nuclear Power (which are there, however big one thinks they are), and even demonstrates he has a basic understanding that oil won't last forever. Of course, conservation would never cross his mind - we must find a way to consume more:-/ Sorry - too easy to rant here!
It does a lot of things:
1. We have control over all this wonderful nuclear stuff.
The U.S. is one of the biggest consumers of these useless products
Back when I was looking for a 3 lb laptop, I discovered that the US is actually not that big a purchaser of "cool" electronic devices. In Japan, if you want to display your financial superiority, you buy cool electronic toys - ultra-light laptops, bleeding-edge handhelds, and yes, silly robot-dogs. In the US, you buy a big car (er...SUV these days, I guess - or hybrid if you're that type), a big house, or whatever else it is we buy. (we collectively here - I'm still looking for my perfect laptop:( )
Anyway, I respectably disagree with one of your assertions.
Also, I think the Aibo was one of the top-of-the-line luxury products. I think Sony needs to find another bleeding-edge product to replace it, though - while I can appreciate dropping the line if it's not profitable, Sony needs to keep on coming out with new stuff or they're not going to be able to compete (the earlier comment about cheaper competitors in Korea, etc was spot on).
Ok, now that I can read it (:-p ), I must say, the 2nd one you've got there isn't exactly pronouncable. FWIW. Considering we're transcribing a badly typed bit of l33t-spe4k to cyrillic, I guess that's rather minor...:)
Anyone care to guess which would require more delta v, deorbiting a satelite or moving it to a "designated rubbish pile"?
I'll take a guess and say deorbiting is cheaper.
Why? Because you can you use very basic, very slow ways to brake it's orbit - such as painting it the right colour so that it will reflect sunlight and get pushed closer to the earth. (Think of plans to move that asteriod that might his us in 70 years) We don't have to deorbit it *now*, just eventually.
I can see the argument about keeping it out of the gravity well, tho:) If we could just dump it on the moon...
Just like corporations are responsible for cleaning up really bad pollution sites - that's worked so well! Oh, wait...the superfund is primarily taxpayed-funded, and many of the sites are still dirty! Oh, what a surprise!
Maybe if you required commercial endeavors to put a giant amount of $$$ in escrow when they put up a satellite that might work...
Besides, there's no international law court that can fine a corportation. Yeah, a corp based out of Afghanistan launched some garbage up from their site in China, and then closed down the site there. I'm sure we'll have no problem getting a fine slapped on them in Afghanistan. Let's be serious here.
...you're probably right. *I*, however, would dearly love to see the US Govt. gets its services cut because of the stupididity that patents are in this country!
It's scary to read a sci-fi book about the future where someone can download several gig of public information...and realize that our "IP" laws don't allow that sort of thing...
Anyway, I raise a toast to NTP, wish them great luck, and hope the Blackberries stop working here - we need a real wake-up call!
Now let us talk about one of my secondary concerns: spelling and grammar. Let me be clear. As you are probably well aware, I don't think these are as important as the things I mentioned above. I want a Slashdot story to be focused, directing your attention to the URL in question. It needs to be not to long, not to short. Links should be clear. Spelling and Grammar are secondary issues. [emphasis mine]
Nice! Very well done - I really like that way of making your point! It was intentional, right?
Many users routinely email me to complain about such errors. I'm usually fairly flexible on these matters. If the error is blazingly bad, I will often correct it. Of course some users like to email me to tell me how much Slashdot sucks, how fat and lazy I am, and how the most terrible thing in the history of Slashdot is the fact that the 4th story down contains the word 'to' when it ought to contain the word 'too'. That missing 'o' is the greatest travesty on-line today! It's hard to take that seriously. Especially when people are rude.
How about if we laugh at it and admit we do it to? Err...too?:-D
What kind of questions are you so sick of answering because you hear them every week?
It's broke - fix it!
I think that's the wrong approach - it's like asking a calc TA what questions he got asked most during the term. How do I do problem #3 isn't terribly useful to put in a book - next year they'll have to know how to do problem #4. So it goes with computers. Many questions can be "answered" without giving any real insight to the end reader/user. Be careful - you have to teach basics:)
That said...
I remember having to go through contortions to explain the concept of a "file" and "directory" to my mom. Just how technical *do* you get? "Any file is just a bunch of data" can be a bit confusing...
If it's flash (as many claim), then you have your answer: no flash.
If it's not flash (doesn't *have* to be), then just disable the ability of the browser to play it automatically:
Tools->Options->Downloads->File Types box. Remove anything that makes sound:-) Granted, you'll break other things (I'm thinking movies - make those play by something with seperate volume control), but you won't get sound!
For each word w you create a "context vector" vw of length 2N.
You mean of rank or size 2N, not length, right? Should I trust that this gives an accurate "measure" or "distance?" [goes to drag out his analysis books]
Now, imagine if that was a full-sized galaxy, and we could see what it really looks like! It's a pity we didn't develop in a dwarf galaxy, with a nice big spiral galaxy filling half the night sky - that'd be sweet!
4) It can carry a payload of 320,000 pounds in a detachable cargo bay measuring 150x40x15 feet (volume of 90,000 cubic feet).
Daaammnnn...
Exactly.
Airships would be **really** awesome if it weren't for all the drawbacks and the fact that road/rail transport is so heavily subsides (in the US/Europe, respectively). If this can move at a decent clip, then it'll certainly start getting traffic! Huge amounts of stuff gets shipped via boat, and it's sloooooow. If you want to go faster then that, you don't have much choice. But a fast airship...now there's a real option.
My only question is regarding the cargo vs. lift - if it's at full cargo capacity, does the extra required lift come from additional thrust, requiring more engine power?
Waves depend on things like wind and tides to work. Winds change with the weather, and tides change all the time (at least tides are regular). Whereas it's *always* possible to get a 20degree heat gradient.
Besides, if you put your heatsinks below the surface of the water, you don't have to worry so much about storms and such.
True. What we need is something like Trantor - use the (negative) heat gradient from deep in the earth instead of the gradient in the oceans. Of course, we'll have to do more research drilling, but we're already getting close to the mantle!
That information is a trade secret. It's also been patented. You'll never see what goes into them unless you work for one of the big food companies.
Anytime you see either "natural flavours" or "artificial flavours" (or flavors, if you insist), it's a chemical that smells/tastes like whatever it is you're supposed to be smelling/tasting. (The difference between natural and artificial is that "natural" is from some living matter and sells better - the chemicals are identical) Go look in a supermarket and see all the ingredients with "flavor"s. They are all chemicals that are very precisely measured by the companies that produce them.
Slashdot Mirror
Anyway, I have a very hard time swallowing "safest options on the planet."
What happens if the US descends into anarchy as a result of a stock market crash 100 years from now? Still safe? We've still got to deal with the stuff. And keep guards on the storage sites.
What happens if there is a plage in 2300? We're still paying for those guards on the storage sites, right?
We're gonna have the capital on hand to refurbish the storage containers in a thousand years? Have we made provisions for this?
Burning coal can only cause so much cancer before we run out of the stuff to burn. Nuclear waste is still gonna be dangerous tens of thousands of years from now. Over its entire history, I'll say nuclear is probably more dangerous.
Anyway, changing our lifestyle would be good for us.
--LWM
It's got a silent "y" not a "u".
--LWM
This fits in with Bush's disregard for the dangers of Nuclear Power (which are there, however big one thinks they are), and even demonstrates he has a basic understanding that oil won't last forever. Of course, conservation would never cross his mind - we must find a way to consume more :-/ Sorry - too easy to rant here!
It does a lot of things:
1. We have control over all this wonderful nuclear stuff.
2. Encourages more Nuculear power.
3. Reduces our dependence on foreign oil.
4. Hey - we're recyling!
--LWM
Anyway, I respectably disagree with one of your assertions.
Also, I think the Aibo was one of the top-of-the-line luxury products. I think Sony needs to find another bleeding-edge product to replace it, though - while I can appreciate dropping the line if it's not profitable, Sony needs to keep on coming out with new stuff or they're not going to be able to compete (the earlier comment about cheaper competitors in Korea, etc was spot on).
--LWM
Ok, now that I can read it ( :-p ), I must say, the 2nd one you've got there isn't exactly pronouncable. FWIW. Considering we're transcribing a badly typed bit of l33t-spe4k to cyrillic, I guess that's rather minor... :)
--LWM
What character encoding are you using? You're not ...using the Windows character encoding are you? This is /.!!!
--LWM
PS - any russian haxor is gonna be able to type "p0wnd" juuuust fine.
Why? Because you can you use very basic, very slow ways to brake it's orbit - such as painting it the right colour so that it will reflect sunlight and get pushed closer to the earth. (Think of plans to move that asteriod that might his us in 70 years) We don't have to deorbit it *now*, just eventually.
I can see the argument about keeping it out of the gravity well, tho
--LWM
Just like corporations are responsible for cleaning up really bad pollution sites - that's worked so well! Oh, wait...the superfund is primarily taxpayed-funded, and many of the sites are still dirty! Oh, what a surprise!
Maybe if you required commercial endeavors to put a giant amount of $$$ in escrow when they put up a satellite that might work...
Besides, there's no international law court that can fine a corportation. Yeah, a corp based out of Afghanistan launched some garbage up from their site in China, and then closed down the site there. I'm sure we'll have no problem getting a fine slapped on them in Afghanistan. Let's be serious here.
--LWM
My installation of Firefox isn't blocking it :-(
Stupid firefox, I'm gonna get a *real* web browser, like Lynx - Lynx wouldn't show me the banner ad!!
--LWM
PS My god, it's ugly! We've come a long way! Not sure if that's good or bad...
...you're probably right. *I*, however, would dearly love to see the US Govt. gets its services cut because of the stupididity that patents are in this country!
It's scary to read a sci-fi book about the future where someone can download several gig of public information...and realize that our "IP" laws don't allow that sort of thing...
Anyway, I raise a toast to NTP, wish them great luck, and hope the Blackberries stop working here - we need a real wake-up call!
--LWM
But what about people who don't have damaged skin? I wanna see pictures of those ppl next to the first ones!
;-)
If you tell me everyone has such damage, I'm not gonna be impressed
--LWM
--LWM
I think that's the wrong approach - it's like asking a calc TA what questions he got asked most during the term. How do I do problem #3 isn't terribly useful to put in a book - next year they'll have to know how to do problem #4. So it goes with computers. Many questions can be "answered" without giving any real insight to the end reader/user. Be careful - you have to teach basics
That said...
I remember having to go through contortions to explain the concept of a "file" and "directory" to my mom. Just how technical *do* you get? "Any file is just a bunch of data" can be a bit confusing...
--LWM
This seems pretty straightforward to me...
:-) Granted, you'll break other things (I'm thinking movies - make those play by something with seperate volume control), but you won't get sound!
:)
If it's flash (as many claim), then you have your answer: no flash.
If it's not flash (doesn't *have* to be), then just disable the ability of the browser to play it automatically:
Tools->Options->Downloads->File Types box. Remove anything that makes sound
HTH and that I'm not missing anything
--LWM
For each word w you create a "context vector" vw of length 2N.
You mean of rank or size 2N, not length, right? Should I trust that this gives an accurate "measure" or "distance?" [goes to drag out his analysis books]
--LWM
Now, imagine if that was a full-sized galaxy, and we could see what it really looks like! It's a pity we didn't develop in a dwarf galaxy, with a nice big spiral galaxy filling half the night sky - that'd be sweet!
--LWM
For god's sake, please mod the parent up. I'd never read the release notes, but I read /. So I'm much more likely to read here that
I need to uninstall my old version before installing 1.5
and not f*ck up my installation.
--LWM
Caffeine is a poor substitute for sleep. And if you get enough sleep, you have really weird dreams...
--LWM
Airships would be **really** awesome if it weren't for all the drawbacks and the fact that road/rail transport is so heavily subsides (in the US/Europe, respectively). If this can move at a decent clip, then it'll certainly start getting traffic! Huge amounts of stuff gets shipped via boat, and it's sloooooow. If you want to go faster then that, you don't have much choice. But a fast airship...now there's a real option.
My only question is regarding the cargo vs. lift - if it's at full cargo capacity, does the extra required lift come from additional thrust, requiring more engine power?
--LWM
--LWM
Waves depend on things like wind and tides to work. Winds change with the weather, and tides change all the time (at least tides are regular). Whereas it's *always* possible to get a 20degree heat gradient.
Besides, if you put your heatsinks below the surface of the water, you don't have to worry so much about storms and such.
--LWM
True. What we need is something like Trantor - use the (negative) heat gradient from deep in the earth instead of the gradient in the oceans. Of course, we'll have to do more research drilling, but we're already getting close to the mantle!
--LWM
ps - no "think of the earthworms", please.
This is a celebration annoucement!
--LWM
That information is a trade secret. It's also been patented. You'll never see what goes into them unless you work for one of the big food companies.
:-) Remember - eat organic!
Anytime you see either "natural flavours" or "artificial flavours" (or flavors, if you insist), it's a chemical that smells/tastes like whatever it is you're supposed to be smelling/tasting. (The difference between natural and artificial is that "natural" is from some living matter and sells better - the chemicals are identical) Go look in a supermarket and see all the ingredients with "flavor"s. They are all chemicals that are very precisely measured by the companies that produce them.
Yum yum
--LWM