If you can understand pounds and ounces or ounces and gallons
Most people don't even understand these. Furthermore, most people (who aren't cooks) don't understand the difference between dry measurements and wet measurements (f'ing imperial measurements). Some cooks don't even understand why you shouldn't use a measuring cup without flat edges (like a common pyrex cup - which is for liquids) to measure dry ingredients. They then wonder why things don't come out right.
In reality, I think it is a combination of laziness and apathy for most people. I am a professional software developer - I have coded in a ton of languages, and have wrote my own scripting language interpreters (nothing I am really proud of). But that doesn't mean I neglect learning about auto related stuff when it comes to repairing and maintaining my trucks. That doesn't mean I neglect learning how to properly set the "heat" (current) on an arc welder before I strike an arc with the "stinger". That doesn't mean I neglect learning how to read the color code for resistors or how to read a schematic (or draw one) when I use my soldering iron to build a robot.
I learn - constantly - every day is a new learning oppourtunity, and more often than not, contains a new learning experience. What I have yet to truely understand, except on the most broad level, is why there are so many people who go through life refusing to learn basic (and not so basic) things. I wonder how these people manage, how they are able to simply go through life without dying. To be honest, the fact that this is possible is a true wonder of our age (even if it does lead to a lot of hardship and anguish for others).
I know you are trying to be funny, and I know it is from Office Space, but it always made me wonder that these guys were supposed to be "computer geeks" - and they couldn't figure out "PC Load Letter". On older HP LaserJet printers, this was a common error. If you couldn't figure it out, I am sure it was written somewhere in the manual for the printer. Even so, all you had to do was think what "PC" means (I would hope you could figure out what "Load Letter" means - load more "Letter" - or 8.5 x 11 - paper) - likely it means "Paper Cartridge" or "Print Cartridge" - ie, the paper tray where the paper is put. I am not saying it isn't somewhat cryptic - but if a printer isn't printing, and it is giving you an error telling you to load something, wouldn't your first thought be "out of paper"? Now, of course, if they were in Britain, I could understand (although I wonder if the LaserJet gave the error as "PC Load A4", or whatever the common "letter size" paper is there)...
I develop software, and I see the complaint of polish and rebuttals similar to yours - and I wonder...
Why don't the developers care? When I develop an application or modify one to suit my needs, I take every step I can to make sure that it is the best possible application in every area. I make the UI as functional as possible, I try to make things very intuitive from a user standpoint (not my developer standpoint), if needed, I add helpful comments and such (popup help "tip" dialogs and tooltips) - I try to comment all my code very clearly (so that others and myself can understand it later), and I try to create some form of good documentation on how to install and use it. I also listen to my feedback, if I have any, and from time to time, I will update the project as time and needs demand (and update all the other stuff, like documentation, too).
For me, it is a pride thing - I am proud to be a software developer, I am proud to be able to make a computer "sing and dance". I want my software to be the best it can be within the limits of my abilities and time. I try to study other "bad examples" to figure out what is hated, and what to do better. I listen to users when they say they don't like this, or that could be improved, etc - and I try to incorporate those changes in if possible. Sometimes, during the course of development, I will think of something new that may make life easier for users (but wouldn't necessarily be needed *right now*) and I add it in, rather than glossing over it.
In a way, it seems like there are software developers out there who are the equivalent of car modders (ricers) who slap on a coffee can exhaust and a cheap intake, plus some cheesy wheel covers and body molding, and say "done!" - versus the car modders (racers) who take the time to do it all right, all the way down to paint, chrome, color scheme under the hood, full on real engine mods, computer work, etc - then polish the whole thing for show and looks - and what is under the hood is real, not some fake bunk that just "looks good"...
Then again, you do see more ricers than racers on the road, so maybe I *am* in a minority...
Not like a CAVE - but yes, there has been a system built before very similar to this one (except it used rear-projection on the outside of the sphere for a much more "natural" usage.
Alas, it has the same problems as this new offering (inertia, curvature, etc) - coupled with the greater problem of not only needing to build a large sphere, but also making it transluscent enough to back-project onto!!!
Unless you have a large room for this, I wouldn't suggest going this route - constructing a 3DOF mechanical gimbal system is not an easy thing to do. It isn't impossible, but it will be difficult, expensive, and big. Furthermore, battery power will not cut it - even if you eliminate the PC powersupply and wire batteries directly, you will be lucky to get an hour or so of running time, if that - which may be OK, but remember - in between sessions you have to wait a long time to charge them back up. These reasons (and others) are why you never see such a system made by large aircraft simulator companies.
These companies instead utilize simpler hydraulic-actuated motion platform systems, which are basically a platform held up by multiple hydraulic cylinders, and upon this platform is mounted the simulator cockpit (sometimes installed inside a large back-projected sphere, as well). For a homebrew system, you will probably not want to mess around with hydraulics. They tend to be messy and corrosive, not something I would want in my house. I would instead look into using larger pneumatic cylinders. These have a drawback in that they tend to be "springy", but they should work out OK. You will also need to set up a position feedback system to these cylinders (and oscillation dampening, etc) so that the platform moves exactly how/where you want it to move.
If you want to find out how to do all of this, there are a few people out there who have done exactly what you are aiming to do - interfacing and building a full flight simulator with motion using a PC - on the internet. Most of them have pictures and details of their system on their websites. You might also look into how various real-world simulators look and work - the history behind aircraft simulation is fascinating, to say the least - it is the birthplace of modern simulation and VR.
Another interesting bit of kit is something called the Rock and Ride - it is basically a two-axis (roll and pitch) gaming chair that you sit in and mount your monitor on. Something like this could be built very cheaply (way cheaper than various asking prices I have seen - plus, I don't think the company that made it is in business anymore).
Before you complain that none of these systems allow full spherical movement, remember that these type systems are similar to what is used commercially. Commercial developers (I am thinking corporations like Honeywell, Rockwell and McDonald-Douglas) decided on motion platform systems not only because of the engineering reasons, but also because they found through testing that full spherical movement wasn't necessary - in a simulation, if you get the physical movement right and in time with the movement of the display, your brain fills in the rest - tilt the cockpit back steeply while performing a loop, and it will feel like a loop! Of course, keep in mind that just like any other simulation, simulator sickness is a very real thing. If you add in a motion platform of any kind, it becomes even more acute of a problem. If your motion doesn't match what is being seen on screen (or in an HMD) - prepare to BARF!!!
Good luck on your project, it is a very ambitious one, certainly!
Two-dimensional "conveyor belt" systems have been created. A few in Japan, and a few here in the US. One of the most interesting ones was created for DARPA's Dismounted Soldier project (a large project aimed at providing training for soldiers via virtual and real environments, using standard training with "live" equipment, coupled with trainees in virtual worlds using the internet or private network links).
In this system, imagine two wide "belts", overlapping each other at right angles. Now, imagine that the belts are composed of numerous small roller segments oriented longitudinally along the length of the belt. The rollers are free to rotate. Now, when you walk with the direction of the belt (like a treadmill), the belt under your feet moves like it should. The rollers it is connected to transmit the movement information to the computer. Now, when you walk on that same belt perpendicular to the belts direction of travel, a couple of things happen: first, the rollers which make up the belt you are standing on rotate. They are pressing against the belt underneath that belt, and it moves instead of the belt you are walking on.
Walk in any direction, and the movement vector is translated into varying motion of the belts below your feet. IIRC, the individual using the system is held in place by some flexible bungee-cord like restraint system (has to be this way, because the user is either in a CAVE-like room, or is wearing a full-immersion HMD, and likely has his hands on a weapon simulcrum). I read on this system that it could also have special "traction" motors on the belts as well as hydraulics mounted at the corners to simulate walking up a hill or over various terrain (within certain limits, of course). All in all, a very ingenious solution to the problem of natural walking within a virtual environment (actually, the Dismounted Soldier project has come up with several interesting devices for VR usage - look it up!)...
In a perfect world they'd be running servers with free Linux and free bandwidth and no ads so everyone could P2P all day...
You know, all I really want is to be a real peer on the internet. I will pay for the bandwidth, but I won't be raped for it. I wish I could get SpeakEasy where I live, but I can't - they are an ISP who truely understands what the internet is and why it grew like it has: because all nodes on the network are peers to one another.
Broadband service, while excellent from the point of view from using a modem, lacks this peering ability in most AUPs. I think it is a shame that I cannot get this ability without paying out the wazoo from my provider (Cox Communications, unfortunately - if I wanted the "business class" service, they insist that they charge the hookup fee, though there is nothing more that they do except change some modem provisioning settings on their end - I can see the extra expense for the monthly service, but a hookup fee where nobody comes out? What kind of scam is that?)...
It should be mentioned that as far as books on AI are concerned, On Intelligence is a "light read". If you want a contrast, read GEB or Minsky's Society of Mind (and honestly, even these two books aren't ultra-heavy - there are some real brain smashers out there).
This is not to say that On Intelligence is not a good book, nor to say you shouldn't read it if you are interested in AI. It is an excellent book that introduces many interesting ideas and concepts, and it should be read if you have any interest in the subject at all...
Hmm - that is something I haven't thought about, thanks for that, AC! Of course, you would never want to take a handful of playa dust and apply it to your body, unless you like having "playa foot" on other "sensitive" regions of your body, but I think this goes without saying...
My first burn was in 2003 - late to the game, but better late than never. We got there late, I think it was a Monday evening, set up camp, then passed out (our caravan had been driving everywhere it seemed - went to the Mushroom Festival that weekend in Telluride before cutting across to NV).
The next morning I woke up, we had a bit of breakfast, and my friend came up to me asking if I could help fix a car - an art car. He had been around some nearby camps, and one of the camps was having problems. He told them I might be able to help. So I agreed and we went over to the camp...
To make the story short, my first morning on the playa was spent dinking around on some neon-fur covered Volkswagon, fixing the fuel pump wiring. A couple of hours later (near lunchtime), it is about done - and out of nowhere I get offered (and gladly accept) a wonderful ham sandwitch, with lettuce and tomato I might add, for my trouble and help.
There I am, out in the middle of nowhere and everywhere at once, tribal beats, whiteouts, sun, naked people, and a fur covered vehicle - enjoying a very well made ham sandwitch. I felt the love, and I knew...
What I do know is that I was surprised when I first went - when you reek (I had to assume I did) of BO, when you smell so much burning stuff in the air (food, fuel, and "other stuff"), when everyone around you smells the same (or weirder) - you quickly stop smelling it. Same thing with the nakedness - when so many people around you are nude, and nobody cares, it is all cool. No problems, no issues - it just "is". Burningman for me was a glimpse into a world of sanity when the rest of the world is insane. From the outside, the festival might make no sense, might seem like the very opposite of what outsiders describe as sanity in the "real world". It isn't, it is exactly the opposite. What we live in here, in this supposed "real world", is a true dystopian nightmare. Burningman is an event that happens once a year to restore a measure of sanity (to its participants) in an insane world. I can't say it is "fun and flowers" - it is most definitely not that. But it is a damn sight more honest than what we experience "out here".
One day, go online and attempt to make sense of your state's law. Look up something random, like traffic laws or such - something you would think would be simple and straightforward - and prepared to be amazed...or horrified.
The fact is, the way the law is set up (and I doubt this is an American-only problem - I bet it is a human-centric problem) - no one person can hope to understand it in its entirety, yet all of us are expected to follow and know it all (ignorance is not an excuse). Interestingly enough, despite this oft-quoted maxim, we have a plurality of specialist lawyers, and nowhere near as many general practice lawyers - simply because no one lawyer can know all of the law (federal, state, county, city - and all the interactions and exceptions) and how it works for thier geographic area of practice. If you go to a lawyer who specializes in accidental injury law, and ask him about trademark issues, he will look at you with a blank. You might get a referral to a friend or someone he knows, but most likely you will be shown the door. Judges are no better. More than a few have stated that they don't understand all of the law, but instead rely on the lawyers to help them understand. Unfortunately, the lawyers don't understand, do they? If the lawyers and judges don't understand, how can the people begin to understand? How can the members of law enforcement understand? How can the legislature (who supposedly writes all of this law) understand?
If know one understands, then how can "ignorance of the law" not be an excuse? What kind of fucked up logic is this?
Perhaps it relates to the size of the engine vs. the size of the vehicle, which would make my point unfair to some people. I drive a 4-banger Ranger, and switching the A/C on is like strapping a trailer on the hitch. The engine has to work a lot harder to keep the A/C running, etc - and my fuel economy suffers a lot as a result. Now, perhaps if I had a six or eight cylinder engine, things would be different in that the A/C would have a negligable effect - but then, I would be using more gas to run the engine anyhow...
Re:How about information about your car's health?
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VW Goes USB
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Fortunately, rotors on a Ranger are a cheap item (if you do it yourself - no, not cheaper than simply changing the pads, but not expensive, either). Yeah - modern brake pads squeak, not much can be done about it (apply more pad squeal "grease", I guess).I just check my pads every six months or so, and when they get to about 1/4" wear or less, I replace them (cheap enough to do). I try to do all the work I can on my vehicles myself - otherwise I have learned you can get shafted bad. Anything beyond a certain level of my experience (or in some cases, hassle or tool availability), I take it to a shop I have had good work at done before. The basics, though, I take of myself, and I check my vehicle periodically otherwise (I once recently found a bubble on the sidewall of one of my tires when I did my daily "tire check" before leaving for work - got a free tire from the dealer on that one).
Have you seen the crap being given to grade-school students today? I am not sure whether to call it crap or not, but the first time I saw it, I wasn't sure what to think. Initially, it looked like something off of an IQ test.
A friend of mine's children were having trouble with their math homework, and she, not being a math whiz, was having trouble with this. She called me up, and asked me to help. At first, when I heard the problems, I was like "WTH?" - because her son was in the the 4th grade (albeit in some advanced math program), and this stuff looked like some test in a Mensa book. Once I saw what was going on, I saw what was being done - what I don't understand is why don't they just use what is standard...
You see, the math being taught to her son was the equivalent to simple algebra - but it didn't look like it at all. Take this "fictional" problem (the problems looked like this, but this isn't an actual problem - although it might be able to be worked out - it is here for illustrative purposes only): Circle plus square equals triangle, triangle minus square equals circle, circle times three equals triangle (imagine the appropriate symbols and shapes on a page). Find the values for circle, square and triangle (for the purposes of the problem, circle, square, and triangle must be numbers between 0 and 9).
Now, at first this baffled me - but then I saw that they could have (and more importantly, should have) used standard symbols like x, y, and z to represent the geometric shapes instead. Furthermore, they could have taught the rules of algebra in how to manipulate and solve for x, y, and z - like you learn in algebra. Strangely, I tried to show this to her son, and he couldn't get it - he was telling me that all they (his teachers) showed was plugging in numbers until they fit. Huh?
Here they were, teaching something akin to algebra, using trial and error to fit numbers in. It makes me wonder, given the complexity of the problem being shown - if the actual learning exercise did involve algebraic formula to solve, and was supposed to be taught this way - but the teacher either couldn't get her fourth grade class to understand this, or she didn't understand it herself! I will probably never know the answer, but it would seem to make sense to me to teach the kids to use the standard symbols (of letters and such) that they will be using once they move on to real algebraic notation in middle and high school - rather than substituting in symbols that are more "fluffy" for kids.
In fact, in the latter half of the 19th century and the early part of the 20th, this is exactly what they did - I have an old math "textbook" written for grade schoolers (and not "advanced placement" kids, either) which teaches not only algebra, but geometry and a bit of calculus as well. It doesn't take much to realize that today's children (in America, at least) are getting the short end of the proverbial stick when it comes to their education...
Two IR sensors placed on either side of the TV. On the controller, is an IR output LED (just like a TV remote), with a "beam" focused so that the light dropoff from the center is fairly fast (that is, you have an IR bright spot where the controller is pointing, and a glow that drops off fast surrounding it). The two sensors measure distance from the screen and left/right distance. A dual axis electrolytic tilt sensor handles both up/down pointing, as well as "roll". All data from the controller is sent to the system by modulating the IR output (just like a TV remote). That's the only way I can see this thing working without it getting really expensive really quickly. If there were a third IR sensor, so that it was a triangle of sensors, better 3D positioning could happen, but for a game system use, all it would really do is add cost.
It's too bad they couldn't have come up with a cheap 6DOF 3D magnetic tracker system - but such a thing is overkill for a system that relies on a 2D television screen for the output, and would probably cost too much to implement anyhow (that, and Polhemus and Ascension have those patents locked up good as well). For the system Nintendo is showing, what I outlined above is probably damn close to the truth...
I see many posts about how there is so much flip-flop over the years over global warming...or is it cooling...or warming again - you get the point. This is the truth - we don't know for certain. We don't know if this is all something caused or helped along by mankind, or whether it is a natural thing, or a mixture of both.
The fact is, we are talking about changes that are happening on a scale near geological time - possibly processes that take 10,000+ years to occur. Now, I wouldn't rule out the possibility that mankind hasn't done something. Considering everything that we do on an industrial and personal scale - the amount of stuff we use, the amount of garbage we produce, what happens to that garbage (some of it buried, some of it blows around, some of it is recycled), the stored carbon (from so-called "fossil fuels" and other such sources) we release into the atmosphere, the pavement we put down, the light at night we put out - on and on - we can't be having zero impact on the planet. We ultimately must be having some impact. How large that is, we don't know.
Ultimately, we are running a huge experiment here, for which we have no other precedent to compare to. It is akin to when they were planning on setting off the first nuclear bomb test - some thought (obviously erringly) that the entire atmosphere of the planet would ignite. Of course, there was more data prior to the blast that seemed to indicate this wouldn't occur, at least on a planet-wide scale - but it did worry some people. The same thing is happenning here, but we barely have any precursor knowledge and measurements, especially for the time scale we are looking at. Most of the data has to be studied from ice-core samples and other such means to go back in geological time to see what is possibly happenning. Even so, it isn't possible to compare the last 200 or so years on such a fast time scale - the period of the industrial and post-industrial revolution is but a blip on the radar. The output of this on-going period isn't a blip, but whether it matters or not - we don't know.
A wise man once said something akin to "The planet will be ok - it is the humans who are f*cked" (IIRC, George Carlin) - so, we should be looking out for ourselves, but ultimately if we screw this chance up, we only get it once. Personally, I would think that if given the choice between: a) letting the experiment run without changing things, and if we die because of it, meh? and b) lets fix a lot of our pollution and other impact issues, so that if we are wrong, the worst thing we have done is make the environment a better place to live in... - one would think b) would be the best choice a supposedly rational, thinking species should make (that, and figure out how to get off this rock and on towards others so that the next 100km asteroid doesn't wipe us out). Unfortunately, we are also selfish and greedy a-holes who would rather go for option a) as the short-term gains are greater (who cares about the future, right?).
Only time will tell what we should have done - let's hope we are correct, whatever it turns out to be our answer...
True, true - all of the cars I have now, or have worked on, were 1997 or earlier. All of them were "American" models as well (in quotes because I know some of them weren't made here). Of all of it, I find doing the transmission fluid to be the most pain. Not because it is necessarily difficult, but because it seems no matter what you do, you end up with the biggest mess to clean up on the planet. Of the other things, on all of my vehicles all are relatively simple to do, everything out in the open (though getting to the plugs on the passenger side of the engine in my Bronco is a real pain - and one of the plugs on my 4-banger Ranger is a pickle, too). BTW - what kind of car do you have that is that much of a headache to work on? I can't imagine that much work to change plugs (though I can imagine how and why it could be like this). The water pump change sounds as bad as changing the timing belt on a Neon I used to have (for that, you have to remove one of the motor mounts on the engine - which requires jacking the engine up and down so that the bolts which hold the mount clear the body so you can remove/install them completely - the motor mount has to be removed to get the timing belt cover off)...
It really comes down to chance in the end, plus whether the engine is an interference engine or not. Not all engines are (though I would think, the smaller the car and low-profile the engine, the better the chance). I have only personally seen one engine that this happened to, and there wasn't any damage (it was my wife's car, and she even try turning the engine over, too). She must have got lucky. Yes, the springs could cause the lobes to ride around, but when I was messing with the head from her car, I was really surprised (never did a head job on a car before) just how stiff it was to turn the camshaft due the the springs - rotate - SNAP! - rotate - SNAP!. To this day I wish I had actually changed the belt instead of it failing (ultimately, we got rid of the car because of likely other problems, but to this day I wonder if the problem started out with the problem that led to the belt breaking), as I liked the car overall...
I will "get used to it", as you say, when I see the personal and private information of some high ranking government officials announced to the world (that, or they get their credit and life f'd up so bad from identity theft) - and they simply go "meh, what can be done?" and they bear it like all of us.
Fat lot of that ever happenning. If that ever happenned, shit would change so fast it would make your head spin. Actually, I wonder if it hasn't already happenned, but to preserve status-quo for those with the power, they just hunted down the forger and had him/her killed and dumped in the ocean.
The problem isn't so much privacy or lack of privacy - it is privacy or lack of privacy only for the vast majority of people, but for those at "the top" of the ladder, they don't get bothered. This isn't right, this isn't how a democratic representative government is supposed to behave (if that is what we are anymore - something tells me that is a sham being fed to the public piecemeal to keep them happy, and we are actually in a corporate oligarchy that has taken over quietly using the government as a puppet regime and figurehead for the populace)...
About 10+ years ago, I signed up with a company called CheckFree to allow me to do electronic bill payments. When I signed up, I was already paranoid, so I didn't give them my SSN, just a fake one. I had to give my check account # and all of that, but they didn't need a real SSN.
Time passed, and a few years ago Quicken bought them up, and rolled their system into Quicken's bill payment system. My stuff continued to work just fine, I was happy with the service. Time passed, and I was trying to find a way to do my bills online while maintaining an electronic transaction register without requiring double entry (bad, bad thing - can cause massive problems if you screw up) - and I wanted to use this system under Linux. I looked into various products, the closest "best" product being GNUCash - but they still don't have the EFT section done (and likely never will - banks, for some reason, are loathe to help them set this up, but have no problem with large companies doing it). So, I stuck with Quicken, and it was the one reason I still had a Windows system running.
Time passed, and recently I had to get a new checking account for reasons I won't go into here - suffice to say, it was a necessary thing I had to do. I got the new account, but then when I went to set it up in Quicken, the whole process fell over. Some of my bills didn't get paid (Quicken initially covered them), I went through a long process with them. After about two weeks, here is what I found out:
They were assumming that the ID they had on file for me was my SSN. It wasn't. They queried the bank for the account number I gave them, sent the ID number as my SSN to the bank to verify, and of course, it didn't match, so the whole thing was denied. After a few rounds of this, with them scratching their heads, I finally heard from someone who was very suspicious of what was happenning - they were required by some section of the PATRIOT Act for me to give them my SSN. Mind you, this was during the same time period that many companies (like the school in the article) were have credit card accounts stolen and other ID information stolen. I told them I wasn't going to give it to them, and I had never given it to them - because oh-so-long ago I had foreseen this very situation happenning, and I was going to do everything I could to prevent it from happenning to me (for this reason, my health insurance company doesn't have my real SSN, either - and I use different IDs between my dentist and my doctor).
Furthermore, I couldn't understand why they all of a sudden didn't trust my info when I could clearly show my old account was something I had with them for so long, working just fine. I guess customer loyalty means nothing anymore - what a sad situation that is. They pleaded and wheedled with me to just give them the ID, that was all they needed...
I told them to go to hell and closed my account - I value my privacy on my ID too much. Of course, with your revelation, they probably had the means to get it anyhow (I, of course, had to give my SSN out to get my mortgage at my current address) - so how in the hell is it supposed to be secure, I don't know, if anyone with access to those systems can get it with an address. I hate this world, this world without privacy for only some (but if you have enough money and power, no one can bother you) - but couple that with the ability for nearly anyone with the time and patience to do it, and they can assume your identity and fuck your life up for years - how is this supposed to be a good thing? Grrr...
Anyhow, I am no longer with Quicken, no longer with Checkfree - I do things the old fashioned way with a checkbook and stamps. I still use my Quicken software as a check/transaction register - but one day that will be phased out and I can drop kick Windows to the curb (well, maybe I will keep it around for some game playing or something). You know something, though? It is actually better this way...
I would like to see someone create something akin to a "gargoyle" setup - wherein one wore a clip-on mount, lipstick tube camera attached to glasses, or possibly a wearable monocle HMD, coupled with an omni-mic and headset boom mic through a small passive mixer, with the video and audio going into a small wearable computer recording it all.
This is all easily possible today, Steve Mann has shown the way, but I haven't heard of anybody in the video blogging community doing this. Even more spectacular would be if instead of recording directly to the wearable, if it was all recorded, mixed, and streamed via (illegally auto-tapped and legal, depending on the area) 802.11 across the net to a cam server of some sort - you could have a cheap and instant roving IP cameraman/reporter set up, able to go anywhere and report on anything, provided an 802.11 link was found. At the same time, it could record to the hard drive when the link is dropped or such, but the implications for indymedia coverage would be huge. We could actually have a good source for demonstration and other coverage that couldn't be destroyed by police action - indymedia reporters would have nearly the same freedom as regular remote camera news-crews do today, without the expense (albeit, without the quality either).
Imagine wearing such a thing, broadcasting live the latest happenning in your local area, as it happens - for anyone on the internet to see. Imagine if your server capturing all of this auto-inserted paid-for advertisements, to offset you bandwidth bill and maybe also provide a little (or a lot!) of coin on the side. Basically - everyone could become an independent news (or other) broadcaster - provided they could set up the advertising deals and such.
It would be an interesting thing to do, to say the least...
Well, good luck on that. I can see all of that lasting, with the exception of the pump, though they might have improved those as well. I would think the transmission fluid (not the diff - those rarely need changing/flushing - but it is good to check and do it now and again, of course) would need changing, along with the filter, as part of regular maintenance, plus the belts and hoses (if it has a chain, chains rarely break, and typically only stretch then jump - knocking the engine out of time - but if it is a belt, well - maybe a good enough belt could last that long, I have seen a standard belt last a long time). Seems too risky to me, especially for stuff that is easy to replace and cheap to do so by anyone handy enough with a few tools (I can understand things like rings, bearings and other hard parts and hard to get to components).
Yes, it does - but generally the engine keeps turning for a little while (crankshaft, flywheel and pistons), but the cam/valvetrain stops dead. If it is an interference engine, the pistons can come up and hit the valves that remain in a fully open position, bending or breaking them. Depending on the engine, this can be anywhere from one to four cylinders left like this, though for larger engines a few rotations would have to be made for this to really happen to all the open cylinders, which isn't likely. What is likely, though, is the driver, knowing something is wrong, but not knowing what, will try to turn the engine over again - further damaging the rest of the valves that are left open. And of course, if it is a chain (which rarely breaks - but it does happen) - very interesting damage can occur. In the end, no matter what, a very expensive fix...
Slashdot Mirror
Most people don't even understand these. Furthermore, most people (who aren't cooks) don't understand the difference between dry measurements and wet measurements (f'ing imperial measurements). Some cooks don't even understand why you shouldn't use a measuring cup without flat edges (like a common pyrex cup - which is for liquids) to measure dry ingredients. They then wonder why things don't come out right.
In reality, I think it is a combination of laziness and apathy for most people. I am a professional software developer - I have coded in a ton of languages, and have wrote my own scripting language interpreters (nothing I am really proud of). But that doesn't mean I neglect learning about auto related stuff when it comes to repairing and maintaining my trucks. That doesn't mean I neglect learning how to properly set the "heat" (current) on an arc welder before I strike an arc with the "stinger". That doesn't mean I neglect learning how to read the color code for resistors or how to read a schematic (or draw one) when I use my soldering iron to build a robot.
I learn - constantly - every day is a new learning oppourtunity, and more often than not, contains a new learning experience. What I have yet to truely understand, except on the most broad level, is why there are so many people who go through life refusing to learn basic (and not so basic) things. I wonder how these people manage, how they are able to simply go through life without dying. To be honest, the fact that this is possible is a true wonder of our age (even if it does lead to a lot of hardship and anguish for others).
I know you are trying to be funny, and I know it is from Office Space, but it always made me wonder that these guys were supposed to be "computer geeks" - and they couldn't figure out "PC Load Letter". On older HP LaserJet printers, this was a common error. If you couldn't figure it out, I am sure it was written somewhere in the manual for the printer. Even so, all you had to do was think what "PC" means (I would hope you could figure out what "Load Letter" means - load more "Letter" - or 8.5 x 11 - paper) - likely it means "Paper Cartridge" or "Print Cartridge" - ie, the paper tray where the paper is put. I am not saying it isn't somewhat cryptic - but if a printer isn't printing, and it is giving you an error telling you to load something, wouldn't your first thought be "out of paper"? Now, of course, if they were in Britain, I could understand (although I wonder if the LaserJet gave the error as "PC Load A4", or whatever the common "letter size" paper is there)...
Why don't the developers care? When I develop an application or modify one to suit my needs, I take every step I can to make sure that it is the best possible application in every area. I make the UI as functional as possible, I try to make things very intuitive from a user standpoint (not my developer standpoint), if needed, I add helpful comments and such (popup help "tip" dialogs and tooltips) - I try to comment all my code very clearly (so that others and myself can understand it later), and I try to create some form of good documentation on how to install and use it. I also listen to my feedback, if I have any, and from time to time, I will update the project as time and needs demand (and update all the other stuff, like documentation, too).
For me, it is a pride thing - I am proud to be a software developer, I am proud to be able to make a computer "sing and dance". I want my software to be the best it can be within the limits of my abilities and time. I try to study other "bad examples" to figure out what is hated, and what to do better. I listen to users when they say they don't like this, or that could be improved, etc - and I try to incorporate those changes in if possible. Sometimes, during the course of development, I will think of something new that may make life easier for users (but wouldn't necessarily be needed *right now*) and I add it in, rather than glossing over it.
In a way, it seems like there are software developers out there who are the equivalent of car modders (ricers) who slap on a coffee can exhaust and a cheap intake, plus some cheesy wheel covers and body molding, and say "done!" - versus the car modders (racers) who take the time to do it all right, all the way down to paint, chrome, color scheme under the hood, full on real engine mods, computer work, etc - then polish the whole thing for show and looks - and what is under the hood is real, not some fake bunk that just "looks good"...
Then again, you do see more ricers than racers on the road, so maybe I *am* in a minority...
CyberSphere
Alas, it has the same problems as this new offering (inertia, curvature, etc) - coupled with the greater problem of not only needing to build a large sphere, but also making it transluscent enough to back-project onto!!!
These companies instead utilize simpler hydraulic-actuated motion platform systems, which are basically a platform held up by multiple hydraulic cylinders, and upon this platform is mounted the simulator cockpit (sometimes installed inside a large back-projected sphere, as well). For a homebrew system, you will probably not want to mess around with hydraulics. They tend to be messy and corrosive, not something I would want in my house. I would instead look into using larger pneumatic cylinders. These have a drawback in that they tend to be "springy", but they should work out OK. You will also need to set up a position feedback system to these cylinders (and oscillation dampening, etc) so that the platform moves exactly how/where you want it to move.
If you want to find out how to do all of this, there are a few people out there who have done exactly what you are aiming to do - interfacing and building a full flight simulator with motion using a PC - on the internet. Most of them have pictures and details of their system on their websites. You might also look into how various real-world simulators look and work - the history behind aircraft simulation is fascinating, to say the least - it is the birthplace of modern simulation and VR.
Another interesting bit of kit is something called the Rock and Ride - it is basically a two-axis (roll and pitch) gaming chair that you sit in and mount your monitor on. Something like this could be built very cheaply (way cheaper than various asking prices I have seen - plus, I don't think the company that made it is in business anymore).
Also check out Omniscience Futureneering's Joyrider simulator - basically a very homebrew version of the "Rock and Ride".
Before you complain that none of these systems allow full spherical movement, remember that these type systems are similar to what is used commercially. Commercial developers (I am thinking corporations like Honeywell, Rockwell and McDonald-Douglas) decided on motion platform systems not only because of the engineering reasons, but also because they found through testing that full spherical movement wasn't necessary - in a simulation, if you get the physical movement right and in time with the movement of the display, your brain fills in the rest - tilt the cockpit back steeply while performing a loop, and it will feel like a loop! Of course, keep in mind that just like any other simulation, simulator sickness is a very real thing. If you add in a motion platform of any kind, it becomes even more acute of a problem. If your motion doesn't match what is being seen on screen (or in an HMD) - prepare to BARF!!!
Good luck on your project, it is a very ambitious one, certainly!
In this system, imagine two wide "belts", overlapping each other at right angles. Now, imagine that the belts are composed of numerous small roller segments oriented longitudinally along the length of the belt. The rollers are free to rotate. Now, when you walk with the direction of the belt (like a treadmill), the belt under your feet moves like it should. The rollers it is connected to transmit the movement information to the computer. Now, when you walk on that same belt perpendicular to the belts direction of travel, a couple of things happen: first, the rollers which make up the belt you are standing on rotate. They are pressing against the belt underneath that belt, and it moves instead of the belt you are walking on.
Walk in any direction, and the movement vector is translated into varying motion of the belts below your feet. IIRC, the individual using the system is held in place by some flexible bungee-cord like restraint system (has to be this way, because the user is either in a CAVE-like room, or is wearing a full-immersion HMD, and likely has his hands on a weapon simulcrum). I read on this system that it could also have special "traction" motors on the belts as well as hydraulics mounted at the corners to simulate walking up a hill or over various terrain (within certain limits, of course). All in all, a very ingenious solution to the problem of natural walking within a virtual environment (actually, the Dismounted Soldier project has come up with several interesting devices for VR usage - look it up!)...
You know, all I really want is to be a real peer on the internet. I will pay for the bandwidth, but I won't be raped for it. I wish I could get SpeakEasy where I live, but I can't - they are an ISP who truely understands what the internet is and why it grew like it has: because all nodes on the network are peers to one another.
Broadband service, while excellent from the point of view from using a modem, lacks this peering ability in most AUPs. I think it is a shame that I cannot get this ability without paying out the wazoo from my provider (Cox Communications, unfortunately - if I wanted the "business class" service, they insist that they charge the hookup fee, though there is nothing more that they do except change some modem provisioning settings on their end - I can see the extra expense for the monthly service, but a hookup fee where nobody comes out? What kind of scam is that?)...
This is not to say that On Intelligence is not a good book, nor to say you shouldn't read it if you are interested in AI. It is an excellent book that introduces many interesting ideas and concepts, and it should be read if you have any interest in the subject at all...
Hmm - that is something I haven't thought about, thanks for that, AC! Of course, you would never want to take a handful of playa dust and apply it to your body, unless you like having "playa foot" on other "sensitive" regions of your body, but I think this goes without saying...
The next morning I woke up, we had a bit of breakfast, and my friend came up to me asking if I could help fix a car - an art car. He had been around some nearby camps, and one of the camps was having problems. He told them I might be able to help. So I agreed and we went over to the camp...
To make the story short, my first morning on the playa was spent dinking around on some neon-fur covered Volkswagon, fixing the fuel pump wiring. A couple of hours later (near lunchtime), it is about done - and out of nowhere I get offered (and gladly accept) a wonderful ham sandwitch, with lettuce and tomato I might add, for my trouble and help.
There I am, out in the middle of nowhere and everywhere at once, tribal beats, whiteouts, sun, naked people, and a fur covered vehicle - enjoying a very well made ham sandwitch. I felt the love, and I knew...
...I was home.
What I do know is that I was surprised when I first went - when you reek (I had to assume I did) of BO, when you smell so much burning stuff in the air (food, fuel, and "other stuff"), when everyone around you smells the same (or weirder) - you quickly stop smelling it. Same thing with the nakedness - when so many people around you are nude, and nobody cares, it is all cool. No problems, no issues - it just "is". Burningman for me was a glimpse into a world of sanity when the rest of the world is insane. From the outside, the festival might make no sense, might seem like the very opposite of what outsiders describe as sanity in the "real world". It isn't, it is exactly the opposite. What we live in here, in this supposed "real world", is a true dystopian nightmare. Burningman is an event that happens once a year to restore a measure of sanity (to its participants) in an insane world. I can't say it is "fun and flowers" - it is most definitely not that. But it is a damn sight more honest than what we experience "out here".
One day, go online and attempt to make sense of your state's law. Look up something random, like traffic laws or such - something you would think would be simple and straightforward - and prepared to be amazed...or horrified.
The fact is, the way the law is set up (and I doubt this is an American-only problem - I bet it is a human-centric problem) - no one person can hope to understand it in its entirety, yet all of us are expected to follow and know it all (ignorance is not an excuse). Interestingly enough, despite this oft-quoted maxim, we have a plurality of specialist lawyers, and nowhere near as many general practice lawyers - simply because no one lawyer can know all of the law (federal, state, county, city - and all the interactions and exceptions) and how it works for thier geographic area of practice. If you go to a lawyer who specializes in accidental injury law, and ask him about trademark issues, he will look at you with a blank. You might get a referral to a friend or someone he knows, but most likely you will be shown the door. Judges are no better. More than a few have stated that they don't understand all of the law, but instead rely on the lawyers to help them understand. Unfortunately, the lawyers don't understand, do they? If the lawyers and judges don't understand, how can the people begin to understand? How can the members of law enforcement understand? How can the legislature (who supposedly writes all of this law) understand?
If know one understands, then how can "ignorance of the law" not be an excuse? What kind of fucked up logic is this?
Perhaps it relates to the size of the engine vs. the size of the vehicle, which would make my point unfair to some people. I drive a 4-banger Ranger, and switching the A/C on is like strapping a trailer on the hitch. The engine has to work a lot harder to keep the A/C running, etc - and my fuel economy suffers a lot as a result. Now, perhaps if I had a six or eight cylinder engine, things would be different in that the A/C would have a negligable effect - but then, I would be using more gas to run the engine anyhow...
Fortunately, rotors on a Ranger are a cheap item (if you do it yourself - no, not cheaper than simply changing the pads, but not expensive, either). Yeah - modern brake pads squeak, not much can be done about it (apply more pad squeal "grease", I guess).I just check my pads every six months or so, and when they get to about 1/4" wear or less, I replace them (cheap enough to do). I try to do all the work I can on my vehicles myself - otherwise I have learned you can get shafted bad. Anything beyond a certain level of my experience (or in some cases, hassle or tool availability), I take it to a shop I have had good work at done before. The basics, though, I take of myself, and I check my vehicle periodically otherwise (I once recently found a bubble on the sidewall of one of my tires when I did my daily "tire check" before leaving for work - got a free tire from the dealer on that one).
A friend of mine's children were having trouble with their math homework, and she, not being a math whiz, was having trouble with this. She called me up, and asked me to help. At first, when I heard the problems, I was like "WTH?" - because her son was in the the 4th grade (albeit in some advanced math program), and this stuff looked like some test in a Mensa book. Once I saw what was going on, I saw what was being done - what I don't understand is why don't they just use what is standard...
You see, the math being taught to her son was the equivalent to simple algebra - but it didn't look like it at all. Take this "fictional" problem (the problems looked like this, but this isn't an actual problem - although it might be able to be worked out - it is here for illustrative purposes only): Circle plus square equals triangle, triangle minus square equals circle, circle times three equals triangle (imagine the appropriate symbols and shapes on a page). Find the values for circle, square and triangle (for the purposes of the problem, circle, square, and triangle must be numbers between 0 and 9).
Now, at first this baffled me - but then I saw that they could have (and more importantly, should have) used standard symbols like x, y, and z to represent the geometric shapes instead. Furthermore, they could have taught the rules of algebra in how to manipulate and solve for x, y, and z - like you learn in algebra. Strangely, I tried to show this to her son, and he couldn't get it - he was telling me that all they (his teachers) showed was plugging in numbers until they fit. Huh?
Here they were, teaching something akin to algebra, using trial and error to fit numbers in. It makes me wonder, given the complexity of the problem being shown - if the actual learning exercise did involve algebraic formula to solve, and was supposed to be taught this way - but the teacher either couldn't get her fourth grade class to understand this, or she didn't understand it herself! I will probably never know the answer, but it would seem to make sense to me to teach the kids to use the standard symbols (of letters and such) that they will be using once they move on to real algebraic notation in middle and high school - rather than substituting in symbols that are more "fluffy" for kids.
In fact, in the latter half of the 19th century and the early part of the 20th, this is exactly what they did - I have an old math "textbook" written for grade schoolers (and not "advanced placement" kids, either) which teaches not only algebra, but geometry and a bit of calculus as well. It doesn't take much to realize that today's children (in America, at least) are getting the short end of the proverbial stick when it comes to their education...
It's too bad they couldn't have come up with a cheap 6DOF 3D magnetic tracker system - but such a thing is overkill for a system that relies on a 2D television screen for the output, and would probably cost too much to implement anyhow (that, and Polhemus and Ascension have those patents locked up good as well). For the system Nintendo is showing, what I outlined above is probably damn close to the truth...
The fact is, we are talking about changes that are happening on a scale near geological time - possibly processes that take 10,000+ years to occur. Now, I wouldn't rule out the possibility that mankind hasn't done something. Considering everything that we do on an industrial and personal scale - the amount of stuff we use, the amount of garbage we produce, what happens to that garbage (some of it buried, some of it blows around, some of it is recycled), the stored carbon (from so-called "fossil fuels" and other such sources) we release into the atmosphere, the pavement we put down, the light at night we put out - on and on - we can't be having zero impact on the planet. We ultimately must be having some impact. How large that is, we don't know.
Ultimately, we are running a huge experiment here, for which we have no other precedent to compare to. It is akin to when they were planning on setting off the first nuclear bomb test - some thought (obviously erringly) that the entire atmosphere of the planet would ignite. Of course, there was more data prior to the blast that seemed to indicate this wouldn't occur, at least on a planet-wide scale - but it did worry some people. The same thing is happenning here, but we barely have any precursor knowledge and measurements, especially for the time scale we are looking at. Most of the data has to be studied from ice-core samples and other such means to go back in geological time to see what is possibly happenning. Even so, it isn't possible to compare the last 200 or so years on such a fast time scale - the period of the industrial and post-industrial revolution is but a blip on the radar. The output of this on-going period isn't a blip, but whether it matters or not - we don't know.
A wise man once said something akin to "The planet will be ok - it is the humans who are f*cked" (IIRC, George Carlin) - so, we should be looking out for ourselves, but ultimately if we screw this chance up, we only get it once. Personally, I would think that if given the choice between: a) letting the experiment run without changing things, and if we die because of it, meh? and b) lets fix a lot of our pollution and other impact issues, so that if we are wrong, the worst thing we have done is make the environment a better place to live in... - one would think b) would be the best choice a supposedly rational, thinking species should make (that, and figure out how to get off this rock and on towards others so that the next 100km asteroid doesn't wipe us out). Unfortunately, we are also selfish and greedy a-holes who would rather go for option a) as the short-term gains are greater (who cares about the future, right?).
Only time will tell what we should have done - let's hope we are correct, whatever it turns out to be our answer...
True, true - all of the cars I have now, or have worked on, were 1997 or earlier. All of them were "American" models as well (in quotes because I know some of them weren't made here). Of all of it, I find doing the transmission fluid to be the most pain. Not because it is necessarily difficult, but because it seems no matter what you do, you end up with the biggest mess to clean up on the planet. Of the other things, on all of my vehicles all are relatively simple to do, everything out in the open (though getting to the plugs on the passenger side of the engine in my Bronco is a real pain - and one of the plugs on my 4-banger Ranger is a pickle, too). BTW - what kind of car do you have that is that much of a headache to work on? I can't imagine that much work to change plugs (though I can imagine how and why it could be like this). The water pump change sounds as bad as changing the timing belt on a Neon I used to have (for that, you have to remove one of the motor mounts on the engine - which requires jacking the engine up and down so that the bolts which hold the mount clear the body so you can remove/install them completely - the motor mount has to be removed to get the timing belt cover off)...
It really comes down to chance in the end, plus whether the engine is an interference engine or not. Not all engines are (though I would think, the smaller the car and low-profile the engine, the better the chance). I have only personally seen one engine that this happened to, and there wasn't any damage (it was my wife's car, and she even try turning the engine over, too). She must have got lucky. Yes, the springs could cause the lobes to ride around, but when I was messing with the head from her car, I was really surprised (never did a head job on a car before) just how stiff it was to turn the camshaft due the the springs - rotate - SNAP! - rotate - SNAP!. To this day I wish I had actually changed the belt instead of it failing (ultimately, we got rid of the car because of likely other problems, but to this day I wonder if the problem started out with the problem that led to the belt breaking), as I liked the car overall...
Fat lot of that ever happenning. If that ever happenned, shit would change so fast it would make your head spin. Actually, I wonder if it hasn't already happenned, but to preserve status-quo for those with the power, they just hunted down the forger and had him/her killed and dumped in the ocean.
The problem isn't so much privacy or lack of privacy - it is privacy or lack of privacy only for the vast majority of people, but for those at "the top" of the ladder, they don't get bothered. This isn't right, this isn't how a democratic representative government is supposed to behave (if that is what we are anymore - something tells me that is a sham being fed to the public piecemeal to keep them happy, and we are actually in a corporate oligarchy that has taken over quietly using the government as a puppet regime and figurehead for the populace)...
Time passed, and a few years ago Quicken bought them up, and rolled their system into Quicken's bill payment system. My stuff continued to work just fine, I was happy with the service. Time passed, and I was trying to find a way to do my bills online while maintaining an electronic transaction register without requiring double entry (bad, bad thing - can cause massive problems if you screw up) - and I wanted to use this system under Linux. I looked into various products, the closest "best" product being GNUCash - but they still don't have the EFT section done (and likely never will - banks, for some reason, are loathe to help them set this up, but have no problem with large companies doing it). So, I stuck with Quicken, and it was the one reason I still had a Windows system running.
Time passed, and recently I had to get a new checking account for reasons I won't go into here - suffice to say, it was a necessary thing I had to do. I got the new account, but then when I went to set it up in Quicken, the whole process fell over. Some of my bills didn't get paid (Quicken initially covered them), I went through a long process with them. After about two weeks, here is what I found out:
They were assumming that the ID they had on file for me was my SSN. It wasn't. They queried the bank for the account number I gave them, sent the ID number as my SSN to the bank to verify, and of course, it didn't match, so the whole thing was denied. After a few rounds of this, with them scratching their heads, I finally heard from someone who was very suspicious of what was happenning - they were required by some section of the PATRIOT Act for me to give them my SSN. Mind you, this was during the same time period that many companies (like the school in the article) were have credit card accounts stolen and other ID information stolen. I told them I wasn't going to give it to them, and I had never given it to them - because oh-so-long ago I had foreseen this very situation happenning, and I was going to do everything I could to prevent it from happenning to me (for this reason, my health insurance company doesn't have my real SSN, either - and I use different IDs between my dentist and my doctor).
Furthermore, I couldn't understand why they all of a sudden didn't trust my info when I could clearly show my old account was something I had with them for so long, working just fine. I guess customer loyalty means nothing anymore - what a sad situation that is. They pleaded and wheedled with me to just give them the ID, that was all they needed...
I told them to go to hell and closed my account - I value my privacy on my ID too much. Of course, with your revelation, they probably had the means to get it anyhow (I, of course, had to give my SSN out to get my mortgage at my current address) - so how in the hell is it supposed to be secure, I don't know, if anyone with access to those systems can get it with an address. I hate this world, this world without privacy for only some (but if you have enough money and power, no one can bother you) - but couple that with the ability for nearly anyone with the time and patience to do it, and they can assume your identity and fuck your life up for years - how is this supposed to be a good thing? Grrr...
Anyhow, I am no longer with Quicken, no longer with Checkfree - I do things the old fashioned way with a checkbook and stamps. I still use my Quicken software as a check/transaction register - but one day that will be phased out and I can drop kick Windows to the curb (well, maybe I will keep it around for some game playing or something). You know something, though? It is actually better this way...
If price was no object...
This is all easily possible today, Steve Mann has shown the way, but I haven't heard of anybody in the video blogging community doing this. Even more spectacular would be if instead of recording directly to the wearable, if it was all recorded, mixed, and streamed via (illegally auto-tapped and legal, depending on the area) 802.11 across the net to a cam server of some sort - you could have a cheap and instant roving IP cameraman/reporter set up, able to go anywhere and report on anything, provided an 802.11 link was found. At the same time, it could record to the hard drive when the link is dropped or such, but the implications for indymedia coverage would be huge. We could actually have a good source for demonstration and other coverage that couldn't be destroyed by police action - indymedia reporters would have nearly the same freedom as regular remote camera news-crews do today, without the expense (albeit, without the quality either).
Imagine wearing such a thing, broadcasting live the latest happenning in your local area, as it happens - for anyone on the internet to see. Imagine if your server capturing all of this auto-inserted paid-for advertisements, to offset you bandwidth bill and maybe also provide a little (or a lot!) of coin on the side. Basically - everyone could become an independent news (or other) broadcaster - provided they could set up the advertising deals and such.
It would be an interesting thing to do, to say the least...
Well, good luck on that. I can see all of that lasting, with the exception of the pump, though they might have improved those as well. I would think the transmission fluid (not the diff - those rarely need changing/flushing - but it is good to check and do it now and again, of course) would need changing, along with the filter, as part of regular maintenance, plus the belts and hoses (if it has a chain, chains rarely break, and typically only stretch then jump - knocking the engine out of time - but if it is a belt, well - maybe a good enough belt could last that long, I have seen a standard belt last a long time). Seems too risky to me, especially for stuff that is easy to replace and cheap to do so by anyone handy enough with a few tools (I can understand things like rings, bearings and other hard parts and hard to get to components).
Yes, it does - but generally the engine keeps turning for a little while (crankshaft, flywheel and pistons), but the cam/valvetrain stops dead. If it is an interference engine, the pistons can come up and hit the valves that remain in a fully open position, bending or breaking them. Depending on the engine, this can be anywhere from one to four cylinders left like this, though for larger engines a few rotations would have to be made for this to really happen to all the open cylinders, which isn't likely. What is likely, though, is the driver, knowing something is wrong, but not knowing what, will try to turn the engine over again - further damaging the rest of the valves that are left open. And of course, if it is a chain (which rarely breaks - but it does happen) - very interesting damage can occur. In the end, no matter what, a very expensive fix...