Bingo, there is some major over generalization going on in this article. The chemical reactions of bacteria to a chemical threat, even honed by millions of years of evolution, are not directly comparable to human reactions to information or threat. Even with billions of members a colony of bacteria has less chemical and informational content than a much smaller number of humans.
"Everyone knows the need to try to postpone important decisions until the last moment but apparently there are simple creatures that do it well and therefore can really teach us -- the bacteria," Really? And if postponing the decision has an impact on the possibility of implementing the selected solution? When a politician delays making a decision he can appear weak and indecisive which is certainly not a benefit - IF he has the data and can make the correct decision earlier. Similarly delaying one decision can have a direct impact on later decisions even when you don't know what those decisions are.
In defense of the article the true value could be in the calculations for weighing the probability of the optimum solution given perfect information that are derived from the bacteria. - a situation never to occur in human history but useful for reference and as a base for future theory.
Nothing. There are so many laws in the US that you probably broke one reading this. That means there is really only one law in the US: It's Don't p*ss off anyone with prosecutorial powers without having access to sufficient legal defense. The DA won't find a law to charge himself with breaking. If he has angered some other prosecutor it just might be used by that person to screw him IF he doesn't have access to a good defense team.
On the other hand if you say accidentally hit his car in the parking lot he just might charge you with reckless driving or leaving the scene of an accident even if you leave a note with your contact and insurance info. After all you did leave - technically by law you should have stayed there until he came out of his office to go home six hours later.
I bet there's something in the Sprint contract that lets them 'provide information to law enforcement officials in the case of an investigation' or something like it.
What rights the government doesn't take you can still give away.
Well, the government doesn't describe it as eligible for overtime, at least for police and dental assistant examples. I think it boils down to you get everything you can negotiate for.
http://www.opm.gov/flsa/table.asp
F-0083-06-01, 12/11/97, Police
* Call-back time
* Electronic devices
* On-call duty
* Pager
* > Standby time
Time in on-call status is not hours of work under FLSA
Pretty good experiment. Watch for: - condensation on one of the containers, - any amount that leaked out during filling and run down the container - the weight of the filled container is more than the others and it might an indentation on a mat or other soft surface under the container - if the container themselves are soft and the water makes one or more stretch or deform slightly - the container handled so it could be filled with water has noticeable fingerprints (particularly for styrofoam which might have indentations on the heavier container)
Some good points there. I'd also find out what kind of software the exhibit designers are likely to adopt into the exhibit. Some 'cool' software used in technology museums (face recognition, games, etc) is unstable, requires dedicated servers, specific environments and is a general nightmare.
I'd go with something more than a bluetooth mouse for the buttons. Hacking in an industrial use environment often results in continuous support calls.
Microcontrollers are a great way to go for any less complex exhibits if you have the option. They don't have the overhead of the full kiosk systems so they seem to be more stable and their minimal operating systems seem to make them resistant to standard attacks.
It would be great to replace the power packs of everything with them, but they are currently rated in nanoamps of output and microvolts of potential. Scaling them up (and making them cost less than $1 million for a AA cell) is the challenge and its a big one that will take a lot of work.
Shielding isn't a big problem incidentally.From other articles one of the popular nuclear sources is tritium which is used on gunsights and stairwell markings. Half life is pretty short and shielding level required is skin (i.e. don't eat it or breath it).
Let me know if you figure out a way patent the EULA and sue everyone who uses one. I'm sure the lawyers would love the recursion. It'd be like a perpetual money machine.
parts should be burned and sent to your creditors.
Its what I want to do. I'll have a checkbook burned too so if they call to collect a debt just tell them I'm in their lobby and ready to write a check.
Cost and the fact that lipos are entrenched now with chargers everywhere. Classic first to market issues - the first product kind of sucks but gets an install base and the later ones have trouble making it in. Search lithium ion or lithium polymer battery charger IC at Mouser and you'll get a thousand hits. No where near that for lithium iron.
Oh and you can't step up with the transformer because they're DC until you get to the speed controller and after that they're PWM 'alternating' (kind of) and only when operating at less than full power. RC cars run big amperages so even if you did use some kind of inverter the transformer would have to have some pretty thick wires and be pretty heavy. You might get away with some kind of boost circuit using caps and inductors but I think you run into the amperage issue again.
Apparently some of these guys pay as little as 20% which is how they can offer the returns they do. The problem is that when a regulator hears that you're ripping off a sick grandma who has trouble even understanding the forms they tend to pass laws. Some of these may invalidate existing agreements or put the companies creating them out of business. When the companies aren't there you run into all sorts of management issues - like the premiums not being paid, paperwork not being filed and payments not forwarded. I think Virginia has laws dictating at least 60% of the face value be paid (not sure on the % - search for viatical settlement for better info).
The other main risk is when the company simply can't find enough suckers as one company now being prosecuted for fraud in Texas found out. They found and took investors money but never bought the life settlements and burned through much of the cash. It could be they never intended to buy them, but I suspect if they could have found them they would have bought them as its a small amount to pay to keep the state off of your back - certainly less than they've lost from being put out of business.
Human behavior is the core of all economic thinking. It either directly or indirectly is the basis of every model and every theory. The problem might be that the behavior assumed is over simplified to 'greed and fear of risk' when it should include something more, but that's nothing new.
This doesn't mean the right thing to do is give up on modeling risk and simply give up and go back to simply letting the king (or the five year plan) decide what is worth funding. Venture capital and stock markets are capitalism's attempt to estimate what technologies and businesses are the most promising and most efficient. Is it wrong? Often. But its wrong less often than other methods.
So, is financial engineering really engineering? It depends how you define both the terms. Marketing guys that add 'engineering' to something to make it sound trustworthy are not, but I'd say that the forecasts financial analysts and economists make can be as legitimate in approach and method as the forecasts civil engineers make about traffic flow, water needs, sewage requirements and infrastructure development. Both are mathematical forecasts of what human behavior will be in the future and both can have good or bad underlying assumptions that drive results. Both can be right or wrong based on the math or the assumptions.
You need help for the business side or else someone is going to rip off your idea, make minor changes patent that and commercialize it right out from under you. Since you don't have any staff your the best option might be licensing to someone, but you'll need help to find the right someone. If you don't license you'll need way more people and a VC or other funding source to get it off the ground at any volume. The more revolutionary the product the more you need money to defend it.
SCORE would be a reasonable place to go. Stay well away from 'invention companies' or at least any that demand up front fees. By filing the patent you've started the clock so you are going to have to move fast. Expect to have two jobs for a while until funding comes through - one job makes money to pay the rent and the other is searching for the right way to harvest this technology.
The other option might be a partner - IF you know anyone you can trust from your other startups who can deliver the right expertise.
A quick technical question, could this provide position monitoring for indoor robots or rovers? There's not much in the market, what is there tends to be hacked together and/or expensive.
I don't know how the audio volume of this system compares with sonar systems (though the article's 220db and 160db from http://www.oceanmammalinst.org/mgpaper.html kind of gives clues and weakly suggest might be as much as 64x), but I suspect the people who oppose the use of sonar by the navy on the theory that it hurts whales are going to go nuts over this one.
There is no where near enough info to actually assess any kind of threat, but I'm sure the panic button will be hit anyway.
Perfectly appropriate for police as they did not immediately begin firing automatic weapons from their cars upon arriving in the general neighborhood and subsequently taze anyone who saw or said anything.
They just might be stupid enough to actually go for this one. Of course with the way things seem to work in the world one would eventually win and entirely consume the other. The RIAAAP would then probably sue everyone for copyrights on letters, numbers and bits.
Thanks I found http://blog.austinheap.com/2009/06/15/how-to-setup-a-proxy-for-iran-citizens-for-windows/ and will check out your recommendations, probably be set up tonight.
As for getting involved with a foreign nation being unhealthy for me, as long as its legal in the US, I'll do it. I'm not afraid of phantom threats or ideologically driven crazy people and I think I will enjoy doing something unreservedly good and possibly materially significant. If crazy people or a foreign government decide to come after me personally I will ask my country to help and defend me, but I know that may not be possible and I am ready to bear whatever the consequences are. If my ISP comes after me as a post below suggests - fine. Sit around and let an entire population be stifled under a totalitarian regime is not in my service agreement.
No. This stops now. I don't have any money, but I am glad to provide a proxy or whatever if anyone is so crazed that they will attack people across international lines just to silence their speech. I don't have family and I'm not afraid of whatever they think they can do. Such people are scum and not worth fearing.
I need help. I don't know the specific systems, steps and processes necessary to support these people. What do I do or where do I go to find out what to do?
Fire everyone, buy quickbooks is not an appropriate answer then?
Not to mention $40 million / 60k employees is $666 per employee - there's your problem. Its the payroll system of the Apocalypse (integer math only need apply).
Understood though I did get your original point and I agree with it. My post was not intended to target you, more to question the level to which being terrified by terrorism is justifiable. I don't think it is. You will not die from a terrorist act. Given you aren't in a military occupation that statement is 99.99%+ likely to be true.
Less than 30 years ago we were under much greater threat of widespread death and destruction during the cold war and everyone seemed to understand that giving away all their freedoms wasn't appropriate. Why should it be appropriate now when there is no reasonable scenario that approaches that level of danger and destruction?
Why are they exaggerating the threat? I think its best not to assume a conspiracy where simple laziness and greed can do the job. Fear is a useful tool for politics - it makes people pay attention.
Really? Most of us are justifiably afraid of terrorism? Some Americans are not cowards and are not willing to sacrifice the very living ideals that make the country special for the petty illusion of 'being safe.' 0.001% of the US population were killed when the towers fell. That is definitely a cause for seeking justice, might be a cause for preventative actions and could make some call for revenge, but fear? You have a better chance of dying in the bath.
Get real people. YOU ARE MORTAL SO YOU ARE GOING TO DIE. Make your life worth something instead of cowering from shadows. Prove that you're worth the soldiers' noble sacrifices and their exposure to real danger by shouldering just a little tiny bit of the burden. Fight fear and choose wisdom. Don't call for killing American freedom this way and don't support it when it happens.
Slashdot Mirror
Programmer 84k http://www.indeed.com/salary?q1=programmer&l1=new+york
Garbage man 77k http://www.indeed.com/salary?q1=garbage+man&l1=new+york
But the garbage man gets overtime and probably union benefits.
>better social prestige.
Only here.
Bingo, there is some major over generalization going on in this article. The chemical reactions of bacteria to a chemical threat, even honed by millions of years of evolution, are not directly comparable to human reactions to information or threat. Even with billions of members a colony of bacteria has less chemical and informational content than a much smaller number of humans.
"Everyone knows the need to try to postpone important decisions until the last moment but apparently there are simple creatures that do it well and therefore can really teach us -- the bacteria," Really? And if postponing the decision has an impact on the possibility of implementing the selected solution? When a politician delays making a decision he can appear weak and indecisive which is certainly not a benefit - IF he has the data and can make the correct decision earlier. Similarly delaying one decision can have a direct impact on later decisions even when you don't know what those decisions are.
In defense of the article the true value could be in the calculations for weighing the probability of the optimum solution given perfect information that are derived from the bacteria. - a situation never to occur in human history but useful for reference and as a base for future theory.
Nothing. There are so many laws in the US that you probably broke one reading this. That means there is really only one law in the US: It's Don't p*ss off anyone with prosecutorial powers without having access to sufficient legal defense. The DA won't find a law to charge himself with breaking. If he has angered some other prosecutor it just might be used by that person to screw him IF he doesn't have access to a good defense team.
On the other hand if you say accidentally hit his car in the parking lot he just might charge you with reckless driving or leaving the scene of an accident even if you leave a note with your contact and insurance info. After all you did leave - technically by law you should have stayed there until he came out of his office to go home six hours later.
I bet there's something in the Sprint contract that lets them 'provide information to law enforcement officials in the case of an investigation' or something like it.
What rights the government doesn't take you can still give away.
Well, the government doesn't describe it as eligible for overtime, at least for police and dental assistant examples. I think it boils down to you get everything you can negotiate for.
http://www.opm.gov/flsa/table.asp
F-0083-06-01, 12/11/97,
Police
* Call-back time
* Electronic devices
* On-call duty
* Pager
* > Standby time
Time in on-call status is not hours of work under FLSA
Pretty good experiment. Watch for:
- condensation on one of the containers,
- any amount that leaked out during filling and run down the container
- the weight of the filled container is more than the others and it might an indentation on a mat or other soft surface under the container
- if the container themselves are soft and the water makes one or more stretch or deform slightly
- the container handled so it could be filled with water has noticeable fingerprints (particularly for styrofoam which might have indentations on the heavier container)
Some good points there. I'd also find out what kind of software the exhibit designers are likely to adopt into the exhibit. Some 'cool' software used in technology museums (face recognition, games, etc) is unstable, requires dedicated servers, specific environments and is a general nightmare.
I'd go with something more than a bluetooth mouse for the buttons. Hacking in an industrial use environment often results in continuous support calls.
Microcontrollers are a great way to go for any less complex exhibits if you have the option. They don't have the overhead of the full kiosk systems so they seem to be more stable and their minimal operating systems seem to make them resistant to standard attacks.
It would be great to replace the power packs of everything with them, but they are currently rated in nanoamps of output and microvolts of potential. Scaling them up (and making them cost less than $1 million for a AA cell) is the challenge and its a big one that will take a lot of work.
Shielding isn't a big problem incidentally.From other articles one of the popular nuclear sources is tritium which is used on gunsights and stairwell markings. Half life is pretty short and shielding level required is skin (i.e. don't eat it or breath it).
Let me know if you figure out a way patent the EULA and sue everyone who uses one. I'm sure the lawyers would love the recursion. It'd be like a perpetual money machine.
parts should be burned and sent to your creditors.
Its what I want to do. I'll have a checkbook burned too so if they call to collect a debt just tell them I'm in their lobby and ready to write a check.
Cost and the fact that lipos are entrenched now with chargers everywhere. Classic first to market issues - the first product kind of sucks but gets an install base and the later ones have trouble making it in. Search lithium ion or lithium polymer battery charger IC at Mouser and you'll get a thousand hits. No where near that for lithium iron.
Oh and you can't step up with the transformer because they're DC until you get to the speed controller and after that they're PWM 'alternating' (kind of) and only when operating at less than full power. RC cars run big amperages so even if you did use some kind of inverter the transformer would have to have some pretty thick wires and be pretty heavy. You might get away with some kind of boost circuit using caps and inductors but I think you run into the amperage issue again.
Next:$150 trip to Mars
Come on MIT boys, pump up that balloon and add another handwarmer.
Apparently some of these guys pay as little as 20% which is how they can offer the returns they do. The problem is that when a regulator hears that you're ripping off a sick grandma who has trouble even understanding the forms they tend to pass laws. Some of these may invalidate existing agreements or put the companies creating them out of business. When the companies aren't there you run into all sorts of management issues - like the premiums not being paid, paperwork not being filed and payments not forwarded. I think Virginia has laws dictating at least 60% of the face value be paid (not sure on the % - search for viatical settlement for better info).
The other main risk is when the company simply can't find enough suckers as one company now being prosecuted for fraud in Texas found out. They found and took investors money but never bought the life settlements and burned through much of the cash. It could be they never intended to buy them, but I suspect if they could have found them they would have bought them as its a small amount to pay to keep the state off of your back - certainly less than they've lost from being put out of business.
Human behavior is the core of all economic thinking. It either directly or indirectly is the basis of every model and every theory. The problem might be that the behavior assumed is over simplified to 'greed and fear of risk' when it should include something more, but that's nothing new.
This doesn't mean the right thing to do is give up on modeling risk and simply give up and go back to simply letting the king (or the five year plan) decide what is worth funding. Venture capital and stock markets are capitalism's attempt to estimate what technologies and businesses are the most promising and most efficient. Is it wrong? Often. But its wrong less often than other methods.
So, is financial engineering really engineering? It depends how you define both the terms. Marketing guys that add 'engineering' to something to make it sound trustworthy are not, but I'd say that the forecasts financial analysts and economists make can be as legitimate in approach and method as the forecasts civil engineers make about traffic flow, water needs, sewage requirements and infrastructure development. Both are mathematical forecasts of what human behavior will be in the future and both can have good or bad underlying assumptions that drive results. Both can be right or wrong based on the math or the assumptions.
You need help for the business side or else someone is going to rip off your idea, make minor changes patent that and commercialize it right out from under you. Since you don't have any staff your the best option might be licensing to someone, but you'll need help to find the right someone. If you don't license you'll need way more people and a VC or other funding source to get it off the ground at any volume. The more revolutionary the product the more you need money to defend it.
SCORE would be a reasonable place to go. Stay well away from 'invention companies' or at least any that demand up front fees. By filing the patent you've started the clock so you are going to have to move fast. Expect to have two jobs for a while until funding comes through - one job makes money to pay the rent and the other is searching for the right way to harvest this technology.
The other option might be a partner - IF you know anyone you can trust from your other startups who can deliver the right expertise.
A quick technical question, could this provide position monitoring for indoor robots or rovers? There's not much in the market, what is there tends to be hacked together and/or expensive.
I don't know how the audio volume of this system compares with sonar systems (though the article's 220db and 160db from http://www.oceanmammalinst.org/mgpaper.html kind of gives clues and weakly suggest might be as much as 64x), but I suspect the people who oppose the use of sonar by the navy on the theory that it hurts whales are going to go nuts over this one.
There is no where near enough info to actually assess any kind of threat, but I'm sure the panic button will be hit anyway.
Perfectly appropriate for police as they did not immediately begin firing automatic weapons from their cars upon arriving in the general neighborhood and subsequently taze anyone who saw or said anything.
They just might be stupid enough to actually go for this one. Of course with the way things seem to work in the world one would eventually win and entirely consume the other. The RIAAAP would then probably sue everyone for copyrights on letters, numbers and bits.
Thanks I found http://blog.austinheap.com/2009/06/15/how-to-setup-a-proxy-for-iran-citizens-for-windows/ and will check out your recommendations, probably be set up tonight.
As for getting involved with a foreign nation being unhealthy for me, as long as its legal in the US, I'll do it. I'm not afraid of phantom threats or ideologically driven crazy people and I think I will enjoy doing something unreservedly good and possibly materially significant. If crazy people or a foreign government decide to come after me personally I will ask my country to help and defend me, but I know that may not be possible and I am ready to bear whatever the consequences are. If my ISP comes after me as a post below suggests - fine. Sit around and let an entire population be stifled under a totalitarian regime is not in my service agreement.
Thanks. I'll check them out - the handle's an old one, but might be even more appropriate shortly.
Fine. Tell me how to do it and I'll stick my neck out for you. I think its worth it. Again, how is it done?
No. This stops now.
I don't have any money, but I am glad to provide a proxy or whatever if anyone is so crazed that they will attack people across international lines just to silence their speech. I don't have family and I'm not afraid of whatever they think they can do. Such people are scum and not worth fearing.
I need help. I don't know the specific systems, steps and processes necessary to support these people. What do I do or where do I go to find out what to do?
Fire everyone, buy quickbooks is not an appropriate answer then?
Not to mention $40 million / 60k employees is $666 per employee - there's your problem. Its the payroll system of the Apocalypse (integer math only need apply).
Understood though I did get your original point and I agree with it. My post was not intended to target you, more to question the level to which being terrified by terrorism is justifiable. I don't think it is. You will not die from a terrorist act. Given you aren't in a military occupation that statement is 99.99%+ likely to be true.
Less than 30 years ago we were under much greater threat of widespread death and destruction during the cold war and everyone seemed to understand that giving away all their freedoms wasn't appropriate. Why should it be appropriate now when there is no reasonable scenario that approaches that level of danger and destruction?
Why are they exaggerating the threat? I think its best not to assume a conspiracy where simple laziness and greed can do the job. Fear is a useful tool for politics - it makes people pay attention.
Really? Most of us are justifiably afraid of terrorism? Some Americans are not cowards and are not willing to sacrifice the very living ideals that make the country special for the petty illusion of 'being safe.' 0.001% of the US population were killed when the towers fell. That is definitely a cause for seeking justice, might be a cause for preventative actions and could make some call for revenge, but fear? You have a better chance of dying in the bath.
Get real people. YOU ARE MORTAL SO YOU ARE GOING TO DIE. Make your life worth something instead of cowering from shadows. Prove that you're worth the soldiers' noble sacrifices and their exposure to real danger by shouldering just a little tiny bit of the burden. Fight fear and choose wisdom. Don't call for killing American freedom this way and don't support it when it happens.