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  1. Re:The Usefulness of HST on O'Keefe Under Fire for Hubble, ISS Decisions · · Score: 1
    the new telescope cannot be fixed

    Which makes it just like every other scientific satellite and probe with the exception of HST.

    It's proven cheaper to build a completely new satellite and launch it than it is to have a repairable satellite. Repairing means having to build the satellite in such a way that an astronaut can get to the components, and change them, which means: 1) Larger. A component which is designed to be replaced has to be accessable, which means you can't pack them together so well. Everyone knows it's harder to repair & upgrade laptops than desktops, because the laptops are built to be as small as possible. 2) Heavier. Same reason. 3) In a possibly less useful orbit. JWST couldn't do what it's going to do in HST's orbit. It would be too warm, and too prone to tidal variations. 4) Sometimes not repairable after all. HST's mirror was never replaced, it's got the original, misbuilt one. It's simply too big & difficult to replace the mirror. The cost of getting astronauts up there is so huge, that added to the expense of 1 & 2, that means that it would actually be cheaper to have launched a series of HST's, than to repair & upgrade the HST.

  2. Re:Ignorant Americans on Super Tuesday Not So Super For Electronic Voting · · Score: 1

    Don't be too upset. Most Canadians would have to look up Bill Graham too.

  3. Re:About sendmail.cf on Postfix · · Score: 1
    how many of those things are required

    Perhaps the question should be how many of those things are required nowadays?

    Back in 1989, being able to translate DecMail addresses to RFC822 was a very useful feature. Nowadays, it's so arcane I doubt if anyone who reads this has actually done it. But sendmail still can.

  4. Re:Shaking it up? on Space Station Slowly Falling Apart? · · Score: 1
    Is it just me or... does that kinda imply that the microgravity research is basically impossible on the ISS?

    Yes. It's a big white elephant.

  5. Re:disasters - controversial on Columbia Disaster Anniversary · · Score: 1

    Unfortunatly, NASA has been down this road before. After Apollo 1, and after Challenger they got stirred up and started a process of change. But after a few years, the same old bad habits came back. Presuming that because they got away with something last time, they would get away with it again. Not considering safety in obvious ways. Ignoring the input of those who raise red flags. NASA is a sick organization and needs to be terminated.

  6. Re:Nasa won't learn on Columbia's Final Minutes in Detail · · Score: 1
    Yes it does require major changes of kinetic energy to change the orbit incliation. It actually takes less fuel to raise or lower the orbit, once you get into any orbit.

    It doesn't really make much difference if you have multiple burns or a single one, it's going to require the same amount of energy either way.

    There is a spacedaily link talking about this exact subject. It would take about 3000 m/s of DV to put HST into the ISS's orbital inclination, while only a few hundred to lower it.

    Orbital mechanics is not something where the 'obvious' is what's true. In fact, it's usually the exact opposite.

  7. Re:Nasa won't learn on Columbia's Final Minutes in Detail · · Score: 1

    No they don't. Progresses are basically custom made when required. The Soyuz from the ISS has the same problem about different orbits, except more so, and finally, there aren't any dockings possible between either Progress or the Soyuz and the shuttle.

  8. Re:No Disrespect intended. on Columbia's Final Minutes in Detail · · Score: 1

    This is NASA's third fatal space accident, and in each case the conculsion from the investigation has had basically the same wording: NASA was doing things which were risky, but considered not risky because they'd got away with them in the past, not listening to those who were trying to make others aware of the risk, and pushing deadlines ahead of safety. In each case major changes have been made, and about 1 generation later, the same problems have come back.

  9. Re:What Happens on Genetically Modified Flower Detects Landmines · · Score: 3, Funny
    The alternative is to further engineer the flowers to look or smell unpleasant, so kids will leave them alone.

    That works for girls, but makes the flowers more attractive to boys, for purposes of torturing the girls.

  10. Re:You win, don't pay on "DVD-Jon" Demands Compensation · · Score: 1

    I don't know anywhere which has automatic loser pays. In the UK the judge decides if costs should be awarded, and against who. In many trials, that means that both sides have to pay their own legal fees. In some cases, even the winner has to pay the losers fees. This is when the judge is basically saying 'you had a legal case, but you shouldn't have taken it this far', for example when the other side was willing to settle.

  11. Re:interesting on Machine Vision Patents Thrown Out · · Score: 1

    "Happy Birthday" is another example of a song which has become part of the culture, yet is still under copyright. The tune was written in 1893, and the words first published in 1924.

  12. Re:Way too much history behind this on Machine Vision Patents Thrown Out · · Score: 1

    Edison actually lost his patents on the lightbulb, because of Swan's prior art in Britan, and William Sawyer in the US.

  13. Re:Patents help. on All Encompassing Patents · · Score: 2, Insightful

    But the auto parts patent doesn't prevent you from making your own part which does the same thing but in a slightly different way, or even the same thing but in a totally different way.

  14. Re:Great. on Arrest in Caridi FBI Investigation · · Score: 1
    Going to the movies is more expensive, nowadays, partly because of rampant piracy.

    That's an assumption, not a fact. Since the movie industry's figures about profit are notoriously manipulated, with multi-million dollar movies offically not making a profit, then I don't see how anyone could possibly know if copyright infringement actually increases the cost of movies.

  15. Re:while on that subject...countries fight about r on Wal*Mart continues push for RFID adoption · · Score: 1

    Free trade is only sometimes "Good for America". America putting up protectionism for soft wood or steel = free trade is bad. America not being allowed to sell GMO food to countries who don't allow it = free trade is good.

  16. Re:The most annoying thing... on Spirit Rover Communications Error · · Score: 1

    And if we send more probes with the identical design, we'll get better at discovering what the problems are and fixing them. Everytime you do something unique you're going to create new problems for you to fix.

  17. Re:The most annoying thing... on Spirit Rover Communications Error · · Score: 2, Informative

    The exception was caught properly, unfortunatly the action on catching the exception was to shutdown the system. This made sense when the software was designed, because the signals were impossible for Arianne 4 to produce, and therefore there was obviously something seriously wrong. If you don't know what's wrong, then the best thing to do is get out of the loop and let your backup take over, and if it's something which is local to you, then the flight can continue. If it's the sensors, well you're already doomed. Arianne 5 is bigger, so can produce more oomf in the sensors, so the signals were actual instead of bogus, but it still didn't know what to do with them.

  18. Re:How Ridiculous! on Justin Frankel On AOL, Subverting The Status Quo · · Score: 1
    This couldn't be more wrong. What ten (or twenty or whatever) websites get the most traffic today

    But these websites are very prone to replacement. google meant nothing 5 years ago, but now it's one of the top hitting sites. Any popular website is prone to being replaced if a better site comes along, and the speed of that replacement will be porportional to the improvement of the new site.

  19. Re:Why fusion when there's solar? on Mine The Moon For Helium-3 · · Score: 1

    Isn't there a rather major problem in that 2 weeks out of 4 there isn't a direct path between where the sunlight is hitting the moon and the earth?

  20. Re:Is there REALLY anything wrong with Fission pow on Mine The Moon For Helium-3 · · Score: 1
    The cost of something to an insurance company is the risk of something happening, multiplied by the cost if that something does happen. So if you have a 10% probability of a car crash causing $100 of damage, then that's going to have a cost of $10. You have 10 similar policies, and you've covered your $100 of damage.

    The potential cost of a nuclear accident is so astronomical that even with a very low risk of it actually happening, that they would have to charge very high premiums in order to cover the risk.

  21. Re:Would it surprise anyone... on The State of IPv6 · · Score: 1

    Actually the US does have a large number of troups 'on the ground'. According to this link, the US has a total of 1.4 million "total uniformed, paid manpower organized into combat and support units". This makes it second only to China and India, both of who obviously have huge populations to draw from.

  22. Re:This another area the US could get left behind. on The State of IPv6 · · Score: 1

    Comparing any entire country isn't really very useful. Every country has cities and rurual areas. If you've got a country like Canada, then is most of the population within relativly small physical areas, and the rest of the county is almost unpopulated. A country like France has small unpopulated areas, and the rest of the country with quite evenly spread population.

  23. Re:Reality check indeed!! on Forbes Sympathizes with Poor, Abused Fax.com · · Score: 1
    There *is* only one side. The side The Law is on.

    Well, that's just about the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard on Slashdot.

    It's the Judge Dredd argument.

  24. Re:Excuse me: Ben Affleck AND Jason Lee played ... on Oscar Screener Leak Traced · · Score: 1

    Kevin Smith movies usually have actors playing more than one roll. I think it's because he had to do with with Clerks to save money, and he likes playing with the audience.

  25. Re:Rounded 50p? on Photoshop CS Adds Banknote Image Detection, Blocking? · · Score: 1

    Yeah, but the rolling isn't why you want an odd number of sides, but the constant maximum width.