Actually I think this was probably a direct reference to the the TAM conference panel on the future of space travel. Phil was the moderator there rather than a panelist (who the hell made that choice?). I was really hoping Phil would get to speak more in that panel, but even when audience members specifically asked for his response as well he never really got a chance to respond.
Hi, Phil. I saw the video of the TAMS panel on the future of space exploration that you moderated. Whose dim-whited idea was it to make you a moderator and not a panelist?
Just think about it... Microsoft has probably made the biggest improvement to their software in two decades... You can now reboot far faster than ever before! Just think about the time saved per week for your average Windows user!
I'm sure that's about as valid as other unusual laws that are, in theory, still on the books--can't play hopscotch on a Sunday, can't dress a donkey in a sundress in rainy weather, etc.
And of course he's been watching Game of Thrones... he even said that in his blog post!
(Off topic: This is probably the best book adaptation to film/tv I've ever seen, well beyond even Lord of the Rings or the Sci-Fi mini series version of Dune and Children of Dune. Those have been my yardsticks to measure other adaptations by for a while now. I do think that people who haven't read the books are at a serious disadvantage, though, as too much background is missing due to time constraints.)
Of course law enforcement wants yet another invasion on the public's rights!
If law enforcement had its way every person would have a surgically attached collar with GPS, microphones and cameras, and tampering it would trigger explosives (which could also be set off remotely at any time--without a judge's order, of course--by any LEO).
That's why you're better off building fully self contained permanently habitable stationary colonies every couple months along the path. As a bonus, you'll probably end up with something like a trillion times earths surface area as permanently habitable stations. On the down side that is going to take a heck of a lot of material. I
Not just materials to build, but materials to sustain. Perhaps if the stations were built on planets (habitable or not) then this would be feasible. Without it you'd just have a massive string of floating space stations that need a constant stream of resources, no matter how sustainable they try to be.
One major project 'section' I notice missing from their site is the crew. They cover the goal of reaching a star within a human lifetime, but I didn't see anything about it being multi-generation. Sending out a bunch of 20 year olds on a 50 year mission seems to leave little time for serious research at the destination planet, assuming they all even live that long.
I'm all for making some attempts at interstellar travel, but it almost has to be designed with a sustaining colony in mind. That means enough crew that, after accounting for typical numbers of deaths, birth defects, etc, can produce a genetically viable long-term colony.
There are a few problems though that human society has to get past, particularly from the typical American view-point:
- One-way trip; we are sending the entire crew to their deaths, whether they procreate or not, never to return to earth. - Planned breeding. With a small population the exact pairings must be planned out in advance to prevent genetic problems. IVF or even the old turkey baster may be sufficient to get around the social aspects of actual intercourse. This will also likely mean multiple children by different fathers. - Forced careers/labor. With each generation--particularly if the are born and raised into adulthood while still on board a ship--most will need to fill certain highly skilled roles. I can imagine this would harken back to older times where parents passed on their specific skills to their children.
There is also the issue of what if they arrive at the target planet and discover it really isn't habitable? There probably need to be contingency plans to make the trip to the next possible candidate. This is something that they could be actively looking for during the trip itself.
After a colony is established and a couple generations (with very large families) then the majority of the above can go away and begin to turn into a typical human society.
Since the article actually includes fantasy stuff as well as sci-fi...
People who haven't read the Game of Thrones books but watch the new series starting this Sunday are going to get a very different viewpoint on this issue. George R.R. Martin isn't afraid to fully flesh out characters then kill them shortly after. So many major characters die so often that it is almost cliche, but they rarely come back afterward.
I saw the teaser video for it and I'm looking forward to it too.
I'm just afraid they may completely destroy the books like what happened to the Sword of Truth series. "Legend of the Seeker" was a true abomination, and utterly destroyed the entire plotline of the books.
This gives me yet another reason to say "never again" to AT&T--as if I really needed more reasons. Their service sucks, their customer service sucks, and their billing service is criminal. I can only hope that one of these days some of those assholes will start ending up in jail over their crooked billing practices.
I won't believe it until it actually ships from Amazon. They had a publishing date set years ago, I think they even put it up for pre-order...everything sounded like the book was done and at the printers. Now we find out it STILL isn't really finished?
What's really a shame is I'm just wrapping up re-reading the previous four books in anticipation of the new TV series. We can probably thank that for him finally (hopefully) getting this book finished. The teaser preview for the series sounds good. Hopefully they won't completely and utterly destroy it like they did the Sword of Truth series.
I've usually seen this method referred to as hydraulic cracking or breaking, and mainly because of oil or gas trapped in large thin layers of shale. This has really only started becoming popular since oil prices are high enough now to make it worth the additional cost.
This is done all over Texas these days, and haven't heard of any seismic issues from it (at least not in south Texas, other posters above say it has happened in north Texas). I would imagine the area in Arkansas has to be pretty unstable to begin with. Despite what the article says, I thought Arkansas was part of the New Madrid fault system?
Yeah, and I never looked into HIPAA enough to realize until now that it included protecting the patient's right to access, not just privacy. Good ammo for my next visit.
Me: "Could you email me a copy of my (digital) xrays?" Them: "Sorry, that would be a HIPAA violation." Me: "Could you copy them to my flash drive then?" Them: "Sorry, that would be a HIPAA violation." Me: "Okay fine, could you print me a copy?" Them: "Sorry, we can't print from this system. We set it up that way to save the rainforests."...
I've probably watched twenty of their wretched made-for-TV movies, unable to believe there wasn't ONE that had redeeming value - I was wrong.
I wouldn't quite call them "made-for-TV movies", but some of their mini-series works were pretty good. I think their Dune and Children of Dune beat the original movie version easily. Their Riverworld mini-series didn't stick to the original books very well, but they were good.
When they started showing crap like wrestling, ghost hunters and changed their name to that insipid SyFy I knew they were gone for good.
Let's also not forget the tragedy of Babylon 5. They said they were canceling at season 4, so the creators had to rush the show's plot, then they decided afterward to renew a 5th season, so they had to make up new crap completely outside the realm of the original planned plot line.
Pretty much the same here. I'd been on BBSes for a few years at this point, and had an email address via one of them for a while. By 94 I'd say I'd spent far more time on Usenet than the web though since the web could barely be considered even infantile at that point.
In 1994 I was in high school, and I spent the summers of 1994 and 1995 teaching elementary and middle school teachers in my district how to browse the web and use email*. Many of our schools had just obtained net access and newer computers capable of more than just Mavis Beacon and Wordperfect for DOS.
Oddly enough the biggest issue I had in all that time was with the more 'senior' teachers almost all suffering from severe arthritis. Many couldn't grip a mouse well enough to use it effectively, particularly trying to negotiate two mouse buttons. No wonder I could never read what they had written on the blackboards!
*Yep, I worked (for pay) for my own school district while in high school. It definitely helped me pay for a lot of the miscellaneous expenses as I moved away for college (particularly upgrading my computer).
The response by AT&T reminds me of almost every episode of Kitchen Nightmares. Gordon goes in, finds out the food is shit, and the owners always respond "but the customers all tell us the food is great!" (to which Gordon usually responds "What customers?").
Economically speaking, you have profited from the copying.
Let's say a CD is set at a market value of $12 and you have $50.
Instead of buying that CD you instead download the songs from that CD.
You now have $50 cash and $12 worth of music for a total of $62 of value. You are now effectively $12 richer than you were since you have the music and you retained the $12.
If you bought the CD you would have $12 worth of music and $38 in cash for a total of $50 of value.
According to RIAA's own games, you are paying for a license for the music. It is not transferable and constitutes no ownership, thus it has no value.
The problem with applying copyright law to individuals that aren't engaged in piracy (actually selling the duplicated items) is that you can not prove a loss. Just because someone recorded a copy of a song isn't evidence that they would have bought the song if they hadn't had a way to just make a copy. No guaranteed purchase, no loss.
Slashdot Mirror
Well, time for a new web host. No way will I continue to support them.
Actually I think this was probably a direct reference to the the TAM conference panel on the future of space travel. Phil was the moderator there rather than a panelist (who the hell made that choice?). I was really hoping Phil would get to speak more in that panel, but even when audience members specifically asked for his response as well he never really got a chance to respond.
Sorry, TAM panel, not TAMS!
Hi, Phil. I saw the video of the TAMS panel on the future of space exploration that you moderated. Whose dim-whited idea was it to make you a moderator and not a panelist?
Once you go Green, do you ever go back?
Just think about it... Microsoft has probably made the biggest improvement to their software in two decades... You can now reboot far faster than ever before! Just think about the time saved per week for your average Windows user!
I'm sure that's about as valid as other unusual laws that are, in theory, still on the books--can't play hopscotch on a Sunday, can't dress a donkey in a sundress in rainy weather, etc.
And of course he's been watching Game of Thrones... he even said that in his blog post!
(Off topic: This is probably the best book adaptation to film/tv I've ever seen, well beyond even Lord of the Rings or the Sci-Fi mini series version of Dune and Children of Dune. Those have been my yardsticks to measure other adaptations by for a while now. I do think that people who haven't read the books are at a serious disadvantage, though, as too much background is missing due to time constraints.)
Yeah, I'm a bit surprised. I think I submitted it less than three hours ago, too.
Of course law enforcement wants yet another invasion on the public's rights!
If law enforcement had its way every person would have a surgically attached collar with GPS, microphones and cameras, and tampering it would trigger explosives (which could also be set off remotely at any time--without a judge's order, of course--by any LEO).
Then again, it worked for the Barast...
That's why you're better off building fully self contained permanently habitable stationary colonies every couple months along the path. As a bonus, you'll probably end up with something like a trillion times earths surface area as permanently habitable stations. On the down side that is going to take a heck of a lot of material. I
Not just materials to build, but materials to sustain. Perhaps if the stations were built on planets (habitable or not) then this would be feasible. Without it you'd just have a massive string of floating space stations that need a constant stream of resources, no matter how sustainable they try to be.
Icarus does not plan for a human crew. It's all robotic.
Hmm I guess I missed that part. I saw the comment about completing within a human lifetime and went with the assumption from that point.
Either way, a manned mission and colony is really the path for us to take.
One major project 'section' I notice missing from their site is the crew. They cover the goal of reaching a star within a human lifetime, but I didn't see anything about it being multi-generation. Sending out a bunch of 20 year olds on a 50 year mission seems to leave little time for serious research at the destination planet, assuming they all even live that long.
I'm all for making some attempts at interstellar travel, but it almost has to be designed with a sustaining colony in mind. That means enough crew that, after accounting for typical numbers of deaths, birth defects, etc, can produce a genetically viable long-term colony.
There are a few problems though that human society has to get past, particularly from the typical American view-point:
- One-way trip; we are sending the entire crew to their deaths, whether they procreate or not, never to return to earth.
- Planned breeding. With a small population the exact pairings must be planned out in advance to prevent genetic problems. IVF or even the old turkey baster may be sufficient to get around the social aspects of actual intercourse. This will also likely mean multiple children by different fathers.
- Forced careers/labor. With each generation--particularly if the are born and raised into adulthood while still on board a ship--most will need to fill certain highly skilled roles. I can imagine this would harken back to older times where parents passed on their specific skills to their children.
There is also the issue of what if they arrive at the target planet and discover it really isn't habitable? There probably need to be contingency plans to make the trip to the next possible candidate. This is something that they could be actively looking for during the trip itself.
After a colony is established and a couple generations (with very large families) then the majority of the above can go away and begin to turn into a typical human society.
Since the article actually includes fantasy stuff as well as sci-fi...
People who haven't read the Game of Thrones books but watch the new series starting this Sunday are going to get a very different viewpoint on this issue. George R.R. Martin isn't afraid to fully flesh out characters then kill them shortly after. So many major characters die so often that it is almost cliche, but they rarely come back afterward.
I saw the teaser video for it and I'm looking forward to it too.
I'm just afraid they may completely destroy the books like what happened to the Sword of Truth series. "Legend of the Seeker" was a true abomination, and utterly destroyed the entire plotline of the books.
This gives me yet another reason to say "never again" to AT&T--as if I really needed more reasons. Their service sucks, their customer service sucks, and their billing service is criminal. I can only hope that one of these days some of those assholes will start ending up in jail over their crooked billing practices.
I won't believe it until it actually ships from Amazon. They had a publishing date set years ago, I think they even put it up for pre-order...everything sounded like the book was done and at the printers. Now we find out it STILL isn't really finished?
What's really a shame is I'm just wrapping up re-reading the previous four books in anticipation of the new TV series. We can probably thank that for him finally (hopefully) getting this book finished. The teaser preview for the series sounds good. Hopefully they won't completely and utterly destroy it like they did the Sword of Truth series.
I've usually seen this method referred to as hydraulic cracking or breaking, and mainly because of oil or gas trapped in large thin layers of shale. This has really only started becoming popular since oil prices are high enough now to make it worth the additional cost.
This is done all over Texas these days, and haven't heard of any seismic issues from it (at least not in south Texas, other posters above say it has happened in north Texas). I would imagine the area in Arkansas has to be pretty unstable to begin with. Despite what the article says, I thought Arkansas was part of the New Madrid fault system?
Yeah, and I never looked into HIPAA enough to realize until now that it included protecting the patient's right to access, not just privacy. Good ammo for my next visit.
Me: "Could you email me a copy of my (digital) xrays?" ...
Them: "Sorry, that would be a HIPAA violation."
Me: "Could you copy them to my flash drive then?"
Them: "Sorry, that would be a HIPAA violation."
Me: "Okay fine, could you print me a copy?"
Them: "Sorry, we can't print from this system. We set it up that way to save the rainforests."
I've probably watched twenty of their wretched made-for-TV movies, unable to believe there wasn't ONE that had redeeming value - I was wrong.
I wouldn't quite call them "made-for-TV movies", but some of their mini-series works were pretty good. I think their Dune and Children of Dune beat the original movie version easily. Their Riverworld mini-series didn't stick to the original books very well, but they were good.
When they started showing crap like wrestling, ghost hunters and changed their name to that insipid SyFy I knew they were gone for good.
Let's also not forget the tragedy of Babylon 5. They said they were canceling at season 4, so the creators had to rush the show's plot, then they decided afterward to renew a 5th season, so they had to make up new crap completely outside the realm of the original planned plot line.
Pretty much the same here. I'd been on BBSes for a few years at this point, and had an email address via one of them for a while. By 94 I'd say I'd spent far more time on Usenet than the web though since the web could barely be considered even infantile at that point.
In 1994 I was in high school, and I spent the summers of 1994 and 1995 teaching elementary and middle school teachers in my district how to browse the web and use email*. Many of our schools had just obtained net access and newer computers capable of more than just Mavis Beacon and Wordperfect for DOS.
Oddly enough the biggest issue I had in all that time was with the more 'senior' teachers almost all suffering from severe arthritis. Many couldn't grip a mouse well enough to use it effectively, particularly trying to negotiate two mouse buttons. No wonder I could never read what they had written on the blackboards!
*Yep, I worked (for pay) for my own school district while in high school. It definitely helped me pay for a lot of the miscellaneous expenses as I moved away for college (particularly upgrading my computer).
The response by AT&T reminds me of almost every episode of Kitchen Nightmares. Gordon goes in, finds out the food is shit, and the owners always respond "but the customers all tell us the food is great!" (to which Gordon usually responds "What customers?").
Economically speaking, you have profited from the copying.
Let's say a CD is set at a market value of $12 and you have $50.
Instead of buying that CD you instead download the songs from that CD.
You now have $50 cash and $12 worth of music for a total of $62 of value. You are now effectively $12 richer than you were since you have the music and you retained the $12.
If you bought the CD you would have $12 worth of music and $38 in cash for a total of $50 of value.
According to RIAA's own games, you are paying for a license for the music. It is not transferable and constitutes no ownership, thus it has no value.
The problem with applying copyright law to individuals that aren't engaged in piracy (actually selling the duplicated items) is that you can not prove a loss. Just because someone recorded a copy of a song isn't evidence that they would have bought the song if they hadn't had a way to just make a copy. No guaranteed purchase, no loss.