Combustion is the combination of a substance with oxygen, by definition. Since mars has almost no oxygen around, there's not much chance of any burning at all. Your match would spark, but it wouldn't burn because there's no O2 to fuel it.
It's the same reason why Jupiter (a big ball of hydrogen (and some other gasses) with tremendous electrical storms beneath the "surface") hasn't exploded lately. H2 combines swell with 02, but if there's no 02 around, no fire.
"All these worlds are yours, except Europa. Attempt no landings there."
Life on Europa, as intriguing as it seems, hasn't been around long and won't be around longer. Almost all the heat out there is caused by volcanic activity on the moon; as its not very big, chances are that heat won't last very long.
Atomic mass rarely has much direct effect on the structure and chemical properties of an element. For example, Radon (symbol RN) has a higher atomic mass than lead, but it's a gas.
After a quick glance at the periodic table, we see that element 118 lines up right underneath Radon, in that pesky Noble Gas column. So even if it were possible to create macroscopic quantities, it would most likely have the same sort of properties as the other noble gasses (helium, neon, argon, &c.); that is, it would be a gas at STP.
Gases typically make very poor bullets of any sort. Unless you consider flamethrowers (but since noble gasses are highly un-reactive, this is pretty much right out, too.)
Brought to me by the Duane Adams Energy Center, just north of Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Nuclear power is still the cleanest and most reliable sorce of energy available, except for hydroelectric. But hydroelectric is for wimps. Give me cerenkov blue-glow over Hoover dam any day.
Of course, I don't subscribe to Seti@home either. After all, my processor cycles are Mine, not anyone else's. I'll use them as a darn well see fit.
NTSC and PAL both use vertical sync rates in the 50-60 Hz range, but the overwhelming majority of signal is going to be in the horizontal sync (525 lines for PAL, 480 for NTSC, a total of around 28Khz, far out of human hearing range) because the horizontal line information is over 95% of the total signal information.
However, that doesn't mean the VBI (vertical blanking interval) would be inaudible; just that it would be low in level and have strange tonal characteristics atypical of 60 cycle sine-wave hum due to EMI/ground loop troubles.
Because of impedance mis-matches between the audio and video lines, there would probably be some severe issues with signal amplitude, too.
But now I'm curious to try it, just to see what NTSC sounds like. Buggardly Slashdot!
When I was in high school, I played electric guitar in the second-string jazz band. Of course, since we were the second-string band, we got the crappy equipment and I ended up having to plug into a massive refrigerator-sized, 1950's vintage tube amplifier which had no ground prong on the plug and a plate reverb that sounded like ocean waves crashing on the shore if you bumped into the cabinet.
But, note. No ground prong. Typically, in that sort of layout, the strings and most of the metal stuff in the guitar are connected to ground to reduce stray hum from lamps, fans, nearby transformers, &c, but since the amp wasn't grounded, it hummed something fierce if I got near anything electric. The director's solution: "Stand far away from electrical things."
But worse than that, somewhere inside the amp there was a leak from the power rail to the signal ground so if I stood on the ground, I got shocked by the amplifier. The director's solution: "Sit on this wooden stool."
And then there was a concert where they put a microphone directly in front of the amp, and I got lots of pretty blue arcs when I accidentally bumped the grounded mic chassis with the tuning heads on the guitar. The director's solution: "Yeah, so?"
The moral of the story: Don't go cutting ground lines unless you really, really, really know what you're doing. The results can be painful, injurious, deadly, or any combination of all 3.
Bit is the general term for a binary digit. Tera is the SI standard prefix for 10^12. So, it follows that a terabit is 10^12 bits.
In other words, a lot of information. In this context, terabit can be pretty much assumed to mean terabit per second, as a measure of bandwidth. To put it in perspective, the fastest and busiest servers around feel good about claiming terabits per day transferred.
The US doesn't have anything equivalent to the BBC. There aren't any government run television stations here; it's all run by private enterprise.
The PBS (Public Broadcast System) is sponsored by government grants, but it's all educational and informative TV, with the occasional comedy on-loan from the BBC. "Are you Being Served?" is hilarious.
iCE was around long before the iMac was even a glint in Apple's jolly eyes. Mind you, I was never much into the BBS scene, but from what I recall, there was iCE before there was Netscape.
In the days of yore, back when compuers were a thing of the future, and the Second World War was raging, fighter pilots would stamp pictures of enemy planes (and boats) on the side of their aircraft, with a line through them. Each one was worn with pride.
I think slashdot needs the same sort of thing. A page dedicated to all those servers which have been crushed by the dreaded Slashdot Effect. And maybe an official "I've been slashdotted" gif to put on your page if you manage to recover afterwards.
But seriously, every time I've visited ice.org it's been abysmally slow. Probably not the best bandwidth for a group serving out large, high quality images.
One more thing: if any of you old-skool ANSI guru's still has PyroView hanging around, let me know. I heard it's still one of the best viewers around.
the stories you are owned by CmdrTaco on Thursday June 03, @09: 08AM EDT from the UK ISP are owned by CmdrTaco on Thursday June 03, @10: on Moon near the DVD for H2O on Moon Posted
I especially liked the "you are owned by CmdrTaco" bit. In a sense, I suppose its true. p.
Simple. You provide a standard carrier signal, then modulate the amplitude of said carrier in proportion to an audio signal. AM radio.
Or, you can break an image into scanlines and modulate the frequency of the carrier to represent the brightness of the line as an analog wave. Throw in colorburst signal on a different carrier during the sync period, and you have NTSC. (for all you non-video geeks, that's the American standard for Television.) PAL and SECAM follow subtly different rules, but the basic idea has been the same ever since Philo T. Farnsworth's Image Orthicon Eye.
I suppose it depends on what you mean by data. If you mean computer data, it's pretty impractical to use analog signals to represent digital data. Which isn't to say it can't be done. For example, you could use a DAC to convert bits to a voltage level, then use an ADC to convert back. Analog data is much more succeptible to interference, though. If I send a digital signal, the reciever knows for certain that its either going to be 1 or 0. But if I'm transmitting analog data and my roommate turns on the vaccuum cleaner, there's no way for the recipient to know whether that 60 Hz hum is me or a stray EMI field.
I, for one, can't wait to see Opera released for Linux. I've used the product under Windows, and it just wipes the floor with IE & NS as far as speed, reliability, and memory footprint.
Of course, it won't be free, which might turn off a lot of open source fanatics. but you can bet IE won't be free (free like speech, not like beer), either. I remember seeing IE for Solaris crash more than a few IPC's in my day.. Hopefully Opera and TrollTech (who's actually doing the port) know what they're doing.
If they do a decent job with it, I'll shell out the $35 for Opera.
There's a clock on the wall of my office that has the standard 1-12 setup, but all the numbers are written in binary. Makes for some odd looks when I tell people "Oh, it's about 100:101".
Unfortunately, I have no idea where it came from or how long its been here since it has been here far longer than I have. So my post isn't very useful as far as acquiring one's own. I suppose making one wouldn't be hard, though.
If you see a post as bandwidth-wasting, and you reply to it bemoaning that it wastes bandwidth... This could go on forever.
But, as a case in point, my admittedly bandwidth wasting post elicited a response, meaning someone thought it was more than a waste of bandwidth.
Besides which, Outlook sucks enough to make informing others about how much it sucks enough of a public service to warrant the bandwidth waste.
I have a better idea. Let's go back and forth for a couple dozen posts debating whether or not Linux needs childish supporters, too. That would be quite a useful thread.
At the bottom of the page, the disclaimer says that all comments belong to their posters. That doesn't say anything about their usefulness or value for any particular purpose.
..or does this look an awful lot like the Windows 95 "Device Manager" screen?
I think it does. Sure, it makes it more accessible to the win95 crowd, but at what point do we have to start worrying about "look and feel" copyrights? I think that can of worms might be a potential backdoor for Microsoft to start taking out Linux developers with legal threats, one at a time. Lothar looks like the device manager. Lyx looks like MSWord. xs looks like Excel. aXe looks like Notepad. Sure, it wouldn't stand up in court, but who among us has the raw lawyer capacity to match the MS Legal Department (tm)?
Or maybe I'm just being overly paranoid.
Another point, I saw someone else make a comment in the direction that a console-only utility would be more useful for the original install process; I think that should be more important than a user friendly GUI to play with. Personally, I already know what's inside my box, so "cd/usr/src/linux; make xconfig" works for me.
"What is mind? No matter. What is matter? Never mind." --Homer Simpson
To anyone interested in AI and such, I recommend Goedel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas Hofstadler. An intriguing and highly challenging book on minds and machines in the spirit of Lewis Carrol.
To say that Photoshop is even in the same realm as the GIMP is A) an insult to the GIMP, and B) and indicator of just how little you know about the GIMP.
Slashdot Mirror
It's the same reason why Jupiter (a big ball of hydrogen (and some other gasses) with tremendous electrical storms beneath the "surface") hasn't exploded lately. H2 combines swell with 02, but if there's no 02 around, no fire.
"All these worlds are yours, except Europa. Attempt no landings there."
Life on Europa, as intriguing as it seems, hasn't been around long and won't be around longer. Almost all the heat out there is caused by volcanic activity on the moon; as its not very big, chances are that heat won't last very long.
After a quick glance at the periodic table, we see that element 118 lines up right underneath Radon, in that pesky Noble Gas column. So even if it were possible to create macroscopic quantities, it would most likely have the same sort of properties as the other noble gasses (helium, neon, argon, &c.); that is, it would be a gas at STP.
Gases typically make very poor bullets of any sort. Unless you consider flamethrowers (but since noble gasses are highly un-reactive, this is pretty much right out, too.)
Nuclear power is still the cleanest and most reliable sorce of energy available, except for hydroelectric. But hydroelectric is for wimps. Give me cerenkov blue-glow over Hoover dam any day.
Of course, I don't subscribe to Seti@home either. After all, my processor cycles are Mine, not anyone else's. I'll use them as a darn well see fit.
However, that doesn't mean the VBI (vertical blanking interval) would be inaudible; just that it would be low in level and have strange tonal characteristics atypical of 60 cycle sine-wave hum due to EMI/ground loop troubles.
Because of impedance mis-matches between the audio and video lines, there would probably be some severe issues with signal amplitude, too.
But now I'm curious to try it, just to see what NTSC sounds like. Buggardly Slashdot!
But, note. No ground prong. Typically, in that sort of layout, the strings and most of the metal stuff in the guitar are connected to ground to reduce stray hum from lamps, fans, nearby transformers, &c, but since the amp wasn't grounded, it hummed something fierce if I got near anything electric. The director's solution: "Stand far away from electrical things."
But worse than that, somewhere inside the amp there was a leak from the power rail to the signal ground so if I stood on the ground, I got shocked by the amplifier. The director's solution: "Sit on this wooden stool."
And then there was a concert where they put a microphone directly in front of the amp, and I got lots of pretty blue arcs when I accidentally bumped the grounded mic chassis with the tuning heads on the guitar. The director's solution: "Yeah, so?"
The moral of the story: Don't go cutting ground lines unless you really, really, really know what you're doing. The results can be painful, injurious, deadly, or any combination of all 3.
In other words, a lot of information. In this context, terabit can be pretty much assumed to mean terabit per second, as a measure of bandwidth. To put it in perspective, the fastest and busiest servers around feel good about claiming terabits per day transferred.
The PBS (Public Broadcast System) is sponsored by government grants, but it's all educational and informative TV, with the occasional comedy on-loan from the BBC. "Are you Being Served?" is hilarious.
So, in that case iMac is a nod to iCE.
I think slashdot needs the same sort of thing. A page dedicated to all those servers which have been crushed by the dreaded Slashdot Effect. And maybe an official "I've been slashdotted" gif to put on your page if you manage to recover afterwards.
But seriously, every time I've visited ice.org it's been abysmally slow. Probably not the best bandwidth for a group serving out large, high quality images.
One more thing: if any of you old-skool ANSI guru's still has PyroView hanging around, let me know. I heard it's still one of the best viewers around.
the stories
you are owned by
CmdrTaco on Thursday June 03, @09:
08AM EDT from the UK ISP
are owned
by CmdrTaco on
Thursday
June 03, @10:
on Moon near the DVD for H2O on
Moon Posted
I especially liked the "you are owned by CmdrTaco" bit. In a sense, I suppose its true. p.
This whole MP3 thing is getting too controversial to trust.
Or, you can break an image into scanlines and modulate the frequency of the carrier to represent the brightness of the line as an analog wave. Throw in colorburst signal on a different carrier during the sync period, and you have NTSC. (for all you non-video geeks, that's the American standard for Television.) PAL and SECAM follow subtly different rules, but the basic idea has been the same ever since Philo T. Farnsworth's Image Orthicon Eye.
I suppose it depends on what you mean by data. If you mean computer data, it's pretty impractical to use analog signals to represent digital data. Which isn't to say it can't be done. For example, you could use a DAC to convert bits to a voltage level, then use an ADC to convert back. Analog data is much more succeptible to interference, though. If I send a digital signal, the reciever knows for certain that its either going to be 1 or 0. But if I'm transmitting analog data and my roommate turns on the vaccuum cleaner, there's no way for the recipient to know whether that 60 Hz hum is me or a stray EMI field.
Of course, it won't be free, which might turn off a lot of open source fanatics. but you can bet IE won't be free (free like speech, not like beer), either. I remember seeing IE for Solaris crash more than a few IPC's in my day.. Hopefully Opera and TrollTech (who's actually doing the port) know what they're doing.
If they do a decent job with it, I'll shell out the $35 for Opera.
Unfortunately, I have no idea where it came from or how long its been here since it has been here far longer than I have. So my post isn't very useful as far as acquiring one's own. I suppose making one wouldn't be hard, though.
But, as a case in point, my admittedly bandwidth wasting post elicited a response, meaning someone thought it was more than a waste of bandwidth.
Besides which, Outlook sucks enough to make informing others about how much it sucks enough of a public service to warrant the bandwidth waste.
I have a better idea. Let's go back and forth for a couple dozen posts debating whether or not Linux needs childish supporters, too. That would be quite a useful thread.
At the bottom of the page, the disclaimer says that all comments belong to their posters. That doesn't say anything about their usefulness or value for any particular purpose.
And that's not just zealous fervor. Sure, Linux has some problems. But come on, Outlook really sucks!
I think it does. Sure, it makes it more accessible to the win95 crowd, but at what point do we have to start worrying about "look and feel" copyrights? I think that can of worms might be a potential backdoor for Microsoft to start taking out Linux developers with legal threats, one at a time. Lothar looks like the device manager. Lyx looks like MSWord. xs looks like Excel. aXe looks like Notepad. Sure, it wouldn't stand up in court, but who among us has the raw lawyer capacity to match the MS Legal Department (tm)?
Or maybe I'm just being overly paranoid.
Another point, I saw someone else make a comment in the direction that a console-only utility would be more useful for the original install process; I think that should be more important than a user friendly GUI to play with. Personally, I already know what's inside my box, so "cd /usr/src/linux; make xconfig" works for me.
Leapfrog, the mediocre.
--Homer Simpson
To anyone interested in AI and such, I recommend Goedel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas Hofstadler. An intriguing and highly challenging book on minds and machines in the spirit of Lewis Carrol.
Lucky Strikes, unfiltered sticks 'o' doom for me, thanks.
< /flamebait >