Which can be used to make fuel *on Mars*, for the return trip you mentioned. So you only actually need enough fuel to get there. If you plan things right, you can use Martian Atmosphere to make fuel for the return trip...
If you haven't read it, find Zubrin's "The Case For Mars". It might give you an interest in Mars as a *realistic* human endeavour.
The moon is just as far, from a resource and expenses standpoint, as Mars is.
If we can go to the moon, we can just as easily go to Mars - and during certain times of the year, it's even *easier* to get to Mars than it is to the moon, because of the timing of things.
Also, getting there is only half the problem. Stopping and landing is a big deal - and guess what: it's easier to stop on Mars (aerobraking) than it is on the Moon (retro rockets, burning precious fuel).
There's nothing on the moon worth the effort. Mars has *lots* to offer. We should go there first...
And the code is really easy to get into, so if there's some itch you need scratched, Audacity is a good place to start.
Also good is Ardour, which in my opinion has a *much* greater chance of becoming the professional workstation tool that we're all looking for - there's a lot of development occurring on it, and it's already made some serious headway:
http://ardour.sourceforge.net/
Personally, I'd advise your friend to look a bit closer at the Mac way right now, and try to put bias aside. Pursue the Linux side too, if you like, but keep a very close eye on the OSX way of life...
Mac OS X is an *excellent* operating system for professional media work, and there are some extremely exciting things on the horizon for OSX - which I can't talk about due to NDA's, alas, but I will say this: getting ready now for the release of some kickass Audio tools on OS X for June/July release next year is probably a *very* wise thing.
The advantage to this, also, is that any OSS Linux apps that are available now, may (fairly easily) be ported to OS X pretty soon...
I propose that in response to Microsoft's usurping of the dot, we counter-respond with an acquisition of the asterisk.
Thus, instead of using.NET, or The Net, or 'net, or Net, we all start using *Net.
That way we can pretty much cover all bases, since everyone knows that * is a wildcard - the All-unifying Infinite Eternal Symbol of All.
All those in favor, say "*me"...
In other news ...
on
IgNobel Awards
·
· Score: -1, Offtopic
michael, renowned slashdot meme-pimp, recently discovered a stash of CRACK underneath his bed. When asked about the quality of this controlled and highly illegal substance, his response was simply: "no!!! BAD MONKEY!!! MINE!"
Authorities believe this is a sign of the impending appocalypse, and due to the nature of their Iron Mountain bunker, could not be reached for further comment.
Dude, it's underground. It could be in Iceland for all I care - that is some *private* mad-scientist lab space...
The only problem with the place is that it's not nearly as secret as it once was. I'd pay twice what the going price for this thing is, if only it *wasn't* plastered all over EBay. It's a bit hard to make plans to rule the known universe when everyone and their dog is coming by just to see "that mad rocket guy that lives in a bunker in Kansas".
Of course, there's always price-of-admission revenue for signed photo's. Oh, and I suppose there'd be a plentiful supply of fresh human brain matter to plunder for the "MegaBrain Computer" experiment.
From the FAQ:
Q: Porting Unix software to Mac OS X, one thing that is often sorely missed (especially in cryptographic tools) is/dev/random, a system-level entropy provider. Adding a decent/dev/random would be a Good Thing.
A: Although/dev/random is not in the latest Darwin binary release, it is now in the kernel sources available in the Darwin CVS repository. It took us a bit of time to release it because we wanted to be sure of its quality. Check it out and enjoy!
So does this mean that OS 10.1 has a/dev/random now, and I can chuck away the entropy daemon I've been using?
Like, on how extremist politicians foment the fires of war with their 'moral' agenda's to 'counter the scourge'.
It's not scientists that create wars, or manufacture enemies. It's politicians like George Bush and Osama Bin Laden (yes, he's a politician in every sense of the word).
Scientists are just straw men, held up to burn, when a little push is needed to foment peoples ire...
You can buy the rubberized grit in large rolls at your local Home Depot. Cut a single piece to size, remove adhesive, stick it on.
Or, you can get it in spray-cans - takes a lot more work to prep the case for application, but it'll be a nicer job.
Re:We're already *in* hell.
on
More On Tragedy
·
· Score: 2, Flamebait
The charade that I'm living? What frigging charade? Freedom? Peace? A place to raise my daughter?
This so-called Peace and Freedom you cling to takes an *extremely* big machine to maintain.
That paper cup you use for 10 minutes before casting to the winds took a *lot* of industry to find its way into your hands. A *LOT*. The kind of machine that allows that sort of wanton waste, is a very, very inefficient and deadly machine in and of itself.
That machine steals freedom and peace, and redistributes it elsewhere (to its own people), in order to perpetuate the charade that "modern western America is the place to live".
American corporations, together with its government, have all-too-often raped and pillaged other nations in order to serve the interests of "American People", and it's time that stopped.
You *CAN* live the life you want to live, but you're going to have to be a lot more responsible for the people you've trampled along the way, first.
Take more tangible responsibility for the crimes of your nation. Don't resort to backlash, anger, and more violence.
I don't advocate terrorism as a means of bringing this issue to the limelight, but I do advocate the notion that 'normal Americans' need to have a good, close, honest look at what exactly it is about America that would bring someone to commit this attrocious act.
On the one hand, you can glibly say that it's "evil" that brought those planes and the buildings together in final, firey, destructive passion.
That'd certainly justify any knee-jerk action - everyone knows that anything 'evil' is bad and must be destroyed.
But this sort of response, borne from anger, that most Americans seem to have a passion for right now, is the true evil. Consider the *whole*, not just your own side of it.
You could also take the view that what happened in New York could also have been done out of frustration over what America represents to a goodly portion of the world: an imperialist machine which uses *force* (and the threat of force) as a means to govern in regions where it has no right to meddle at all.
America has *no right* to meddle in the lives of the members of other countries, yet for it's own interests it does - on a daily, calculated, statistically traceable and viewable basis. The utmost arrogance of all, is that of an American citizen, living a cushy life, with *no* tangible concept of just how expensive that life is to other nations...
Think about it before you call for more blood, angry American. To not consider this, would be an act of sheer stupidity.
Blood is blood, wherever it came from, and more need not be spilled for the sake of your own stupidity.
Dunno about upgrading it (well, a tiBook with 1gig of RAM and OS X is pretty much as sweet a platform for my work as I'll ever need), but I've been designing a new cover for the screenlid that protects things a bit better.
I'm going to coat the entire outside surfaces of my tiBook with the same material that's used in industrial-strength warehouse floors - gripping material - basically, rubberized grit.
That way, it'll be a *lot* better protected than the existing metal exterior, which is sexy at first, but over time rapidly deteriorates as life goes by... if you're getting a tiBook, get used to having to keep it clean. It loves grime.
I'll probably customize the logo too, while I'm at it. As much as I love Apple, I hate being a walking billboard for them, so I'm going to cut a smaller logo template as part of my modification, and use the LCD-backlight shining through the Apple logo as a light source for my own design - maybe with coloring, too, we'll see how things progress.
If anyone's done anything like this already, followup with details. I'd love to know of others that are wililng to modify their tiBooks in kind...
It is your arrogance that assumes that death has not been presented to me in the same way that you are facing. I have faced death, in ways I hope you can only ever imagine.
Attack me personally, if you wish - but ignore the understanding of the world that lays behind my commentary at your own peril.
I can understand you're upset. You've never had to deal with something like this before, in the safety and comfort of your metropolis. I'm sure your daily runs to Starbucks will resume, once it's all cleaned up for you. Perhaps, over the next cup o' bean, you'll give pause to think about just what sort of charade it is you're living, and what it takes to keep it there.
You think you're the first person on the planet to have to walk across body parts to get to sanctity? What, exactly, do you think the American war machine produces, exactly?
Fried chicken?
Its denizens must realize that the way of life outside the gates of The New Babylon is a *very* different way indeed. A very different way.
Mark my words, America is the New Babylon, and its towers are falling... the only way to keep them up is to tackle the real problem at hand: your fear of their fall.
On the contrary, I'm suggesting we learn absolutely *everything* we can from this experience.
What other way is there to live ones life, after all?
I'm not saying don't take precautions. I'm just saying: we should not retaliate with further violence.
That will solve *nothing*. Well, actually, it might make for good politics - kill a few bad guys, lick our wounds, build a memorial with grass, make a tv-movie, blah blah blah, fell good about ourselves, etc.
But, functionally, it is not a solution to the problem here, which is that two entirely different groups of humans - people who live on and share the same planet and resources - are trying to control each other using violence.
That's really the problem: control.
The best way to solve this control problem: do nothing to make control easy for the opponent.
You understimate the spiritual,philosophical, and intellectual *strength* of the terrorist groups involved - many of which have far higher moral and ethical codes by which they have *lived an entire life*, than your average American politician.
To do nothing, as a politician, in the face of this terrorist act, would be the *ultimate* response.
Too blind to see that, perhaps, by your own hatred and lack of understanding for cultures and mores not your own...
What can be done? Nothing.
on
More On Tragedy
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
The only effective weapon against terrorism is to do absolutely nothing.
Make any change at all in response, and you are instantly losing. Pandering to the desired effect, which is 'change'.
Say what you will about the loss of life, and the human tragedy of it, but the fact remains: humans die, whether at the hands of other humans, or by their own doing.
Yes, it's horrific the way things went down in New York yesterday. Terrible, and we all suffered through it (thanks to live action television) with those souls in the street and in the buildings and planes.
Americans fear death. Everything they do - their entire culture - is designed to prolong the inevitable.
It is this nations biggest weakness.
Responding to this form of terrorism with anything less than an utterly peaceful view is to let the terrorists win.
Killing terrorists in retaliation won't work - they've already demonstrated they're not afraid of death - something that most Americans can not truly admit.
Face it. In this particular case, America is not the superpower, since those who do not fear death have the mightiest weapon of all.
However, we should of course expect a typically American reaction. Bombing of specific targets. Categorically standard propagation of information by American news/propaganda corporations. Political jousting and hustling. Conspiracy, subterfuge, irresolution.
Made for TV movies will be on the airwaves by June...
It was the fireball that created the most damage to both buildings. As long as the plane was *in* and the gas was on fire, the building was going to come down... like a bundle of sticks, tied together, burned in the middle...
D) Clustering -- er, no. Not unless you're just goofing around. Kind of money invested in building a cluster, you don't go pick up a $50 clone of Windows to run it!
You think small, cheap, affordable clustering technology is only useful to businesses that have money?
That's pretty snobby. EXPAND YOUR WORLDVIEW, monkey!
I'd rather live in a world where people knew how to deal with information/misinformation and didn't have to *rely* on special interests (press/etc) to make conclusions...
Slashdot Mirror
Sorta like the 'light my fart' pictures that those morons in high school were always trying to take.
Blue flames abound, but we were always puzzled by the one guy who produced green flames. Never did figure out how.
What Mars has to offer: an atmosphere.
Which can be used to make fuel *on Mars*, for the return trip you mentioned. So you only actually need enough fuel to get there. If you plan things right, you can use Martian Atmosphere to make fuel for the return trip...
If you haven't read it, find Zubrin's "The Case For Mars". It might give you an interest in Mars as a *realistic* human endeavour.
Mars is completely within our reach.
The moon is just as far, from a resource and expenses standpoint, as Mars is.
If we can go to the moon, we can just as easily go to Mars - and during certain times of the year, it's even *easier* to get to Mars than it is to the moon, because of the timing of things.
Also, getting there is only half the problem. Stopping and landing is a big deal - and guess what: it's easier to stop on Mars (aerobraking) than it is on the Moon (retro rockets, burning precious fuel).
There's nothing on the moon worth the effort. Mars has *lots* to offer. We should go there first...
And the code is really easy to get into, so if there's some itch you need scratched, Audacity is a good place to start.
...
Also good is Ardour, which in my opinion has a *much* greater chance of becoming the professional workstation tool that we're all looking for - there's a lot of development occurring on it, and it's already made some serious headway:
http://ardour.sourceforge.net/
Personally, I'd advise your friend to look a bit closer at the Mac way right now, and try to put bias aside. Pursue the Linux side too, if you like, but keep a very close eye on the OSX way of life...
Mac OS X is an *excellent* operating system for professional media work, and there are some extremely exciting things on the horizon for OSX - which I can't talk about due to NDA's, alas, but I will say this: getting ready now for the release of some kickass Audio tools on OS X for June/July release next year is probably a *very* wise thing.
The advantage to this, also, is that any OSS Linux apps that are available now, may (fairly easily) be ported to OS X pretty soon
... well, at least that's been the case in the United States of Microsoft.
I propose that in response to Microsoft's usurping of the dot, we counter-respond with an acquisition of the asterisk.
.NET, or The Net, or 'net, or Net, we all start using *Net.
Thus, instead of using
That way we can pretty much cover all bases, since everyone knows that * is a wildcard - the All-unifying Infinite Eternal Symbol of All.
All those in favor, say "*me"...
michael, renowned slashdot meme-pimp, recently discovered a stash of CRACK underneath his bed. When asked about the quality of this controlled and highly illegal substance, his response was simply: "no!!! BAD MONKEY!!! MINE!"
Authorities believe this is a sign of the impending appocalypse, and due to the nature of their Iron Mountain bunker, could not be reached for further comment.
Dude, it's underground. It could be in Iceland for all I care - that is some *private* mad-scientist lab space...
...
The only problem with the place is that it's not nearly as secret as it once was. I'd pay twice what the going price for this thing is, if only it *wasn't* plastered all over EBay. It's a bit hard to make plans to rule the known universe when everyone and their dog is coming by just to see "that mad rocket guy that lives in a bunker in Kansas".
Of course, there's always price-of-admission revenue for signed photo's. Oh, and I suppose there'd be a plentiful supply of fresh human brain matter to plunder for the "MegaBrain Computer" experiment.
Well, off to feed the kitty
Whoa, someone's trying to crash a blimp into the Sears tower!
... Sheesh. This is getting boring.
*BOOOOIIIINNNGGGGGG*
Well, there he goes again...
*BBBBOOOOIIIINNGGGG*
And again
Change the channel.
Interesting stuff. Power supply, optical and processing capabilities, sensory systems, all in a 1.2mm package.
Massively manufactured, at large scales could make for some very interesting deployment opportunities...
Of course, the nefarious applications for this sort of thing are pretty obvious.
And yet, that still shouldn't be a reason not to develop this technology.
From the FAQ:
/dev/random, a system-level entropy provider. Adding a decent /dev/random would be a Good Thing.
/dev/random is not in the latest Darwin binary release, it is now in the kernel sources available in the Darwin CVS repository. It took us a bit of time to release it because we wanted to be sure of its quality. Check it out and enjoy!
/dev/random now, and I can chuck away the entropy daemon I've been using?
Q: Porting Unix software to Mac OS X, one thing that is often sorely missed (especially in cryptographic tools) is
A: Although
So does this mean that OS 10.1 has a
Anyone (early 10.1 users) know the answer?
Let's see that report.
Like, on how extremist politicians foment the fires of war with their 'moral' agenda's to 'counter the scourge'.
It's not scientists that create wars, or manufacture enemies. It's politicians like George Bush and Osama Bin Laden (yes, he's a politician in every sense of the word).
Scientists are just straw men, held up to burn, when a little push is needed to foment peoples ire...
Unlike some people, my mores are not dissuaded by acts of cowardice and terror.
2 days since I posted the response that began this thread, I see now that America is giving in to its own weaknesses.
Stupid, uneducated men are calling for blood.
More blood.
Can you not see the ridiculous nature of this scenario?
WE ALL LIVE ON THIS PLANET TOGETHER, IRRESPECTIVE OF OUR INDIVIDUAL CULTURAL BARRIERS.
You can buy the rubberized grit in large rolls at your local Home Depot. Cut a single piece to size, remove adhesive, stick it on.
Or, you can get it in spray-cans - takes a lot more work to prep the case for application, but it'll be a nicer job.
The charade that I'm living? What frigging charade? Freedom? Peace? A place to raise my daughter?
...
This so-called Peace and Freedom you cling to takes an *extremely* big machine to maintain.
That paper cup you use for 10 minutes before casting to the winds took a *lot* of industry to find its way into your hands. A *LOT*. The kind of machine that allows that sort of wanton waste, is a very, very inefficient and deadly machine in and of itself.
That machine steals freedom and peace, and redistributes it elsewhere (to its own people), in order to perpetuate the charade that "modern western America is the place to live".
American corporations, together with its government, have all-too-often raped and pillaged other nations in order to serve the interests of "American People", and it's time that stopped.
You *CAN* live the life you want to live, but you're going to have to be a lot more responsible for the people you've trampled along the way, first.
Take more tangible responsibility for the crimes of your nation. Don't resort to backlash, anger, and more violence.
I don't advocate terrorism as a means of bringing this issue to the limelight, but I do advocate the notion that 'normal Americans' need to have a good, close, honest look at what exactly it is about America that would bring someone to commit this attrocious act.
On the one hand, you can glibly say that it's "evil" that brought those planes and the buildings together in final, firey, destructive passion.
That'd certainly justify any knee-jerk action - everyone knows that anything 'evil' is bad and must be destroyed.
But this sort of response, borne from anger, that most Americans seem to have a passion for right now, is the true evil. Consider the *whole*, not just your own side of it.
You could also take the view that what happened in New York could also have been done out of frustration over what America represents to a goodly portion of the world: an imperialist machine which uses *force* (and the threat of force) as a means to govern in regions where it has no right to meddle at all.
America has *no right* to meddle in the lives of the members of other countries, yet for it's own interests it does - on a daily, calculated, statistically traceable and viewable basis. The utmost arrogance of all, is that of an American citizen, living a cushy life, with *no* tangible concept of just how expensive that life is to other nations
Think about it before you call for more blood, angry American. To not consider this, would be an act of sheer stupidity.
Blood is blood, wherever it came from, and more need not be spilled for the sake of your own stupidity.
Dunno about upgrading it (well, a tiBook with 1gig of RAM and OS X is pretty much as sweet a platform for my work as I'll ever need), but I've been designing a new cover for the screenlid that protects things a bit better.
...
I'm going to coat the entire outside surfaces of my tiBook with the same material that's used in industrial-strength warehouse floors - gripping material - basically, rubberized grit.
That way, it'll be a *lot* better protected than the existing metal exterior, which is sexy at first, but over time rapidly deteriorates as life goes by... if you're getting a tiBook, get used to having to keep it clean. It loves grime.
I'll probably customize the logo too, while I'm at it. As much as I love Apple, I hate being a walking billboard for them, so I'm going to cut a smaller logo template as part of my modification, and use the LCD-backlight shining through the Apple logo as a light source for my own design - maybe with coloring, too, we'll see how things progress.
If anyone's done anything like this already, followup with details. I'd love to know of others that are wililng to modify their tiBooks in kind
It is your arrogance that assumes that death has not been presented to me in the same way that you are facing. I have faced death, in ways I hope you can only ever imagine.
Attack me personally, if you wish - but ignore the understanding of the world that lays behind my commentary at your own peril.
I can understand you're upset. You've never had to deal with something like this before, in the safety and comfort of your metropolis. I'm sure your daily runs to Starbucks will resume, once it's all cleaned up for you. Perhaps, over the next cup o' bean, you'll give pause to think about just what sort of charade it is you're living, and what it takes to keep it there.
You think you're the first person on the planet to have to walk across body parts to get to sanctity? What, exactly, do you think the American war machine produces, exactly?
Fried chicken?
Its denizens must realize that the way of life outside the gates of The New Babylon is a *very* different way indeed. A very different way.
Mark my words, America is the New Babylon, and its towers are falling
so, the world trade center is burned to the ground like a bundle of sticks.
...
(literally - from an engineering standpoint, the 'bundle of sticks tied together' that was the WTC infrastructure was undone with a simple burn)
and all that's left is stones.
oh, and a whole lotta name calling
On the contrary, I'm suggesting we learn absolutely *everything* we can from this experience.
What other way is there to live ones life, after all?
I'm not saying don't take precautions. I'm just saying: we should not retaliate with further violence.
That will solve *nothing*. Well, actually, it might make for good politics - kill a few bad guys, lick our wounds, build a memorial with grass, make a tv-movie, blah blah blah, fell good about ourselves, etc.
But, functionally, it is not a solution to the problem here, which is that two entirely different groups of humans - people who live on and share the same planet and resources - are trying to control each other using violence.
That's really the problem: control.
The best way to solve this control problem: do nothing to make control easy for the opponent.
You understimate the spiritual,philosophical, and intellectual *strength* of the terrorist groups involved - many of which have far higher moral and ethical codes by which they have *lived an entire life*, than your average American politician.
...
To do nothing, as a politician, in the face of this terrorist act, would be the *ultimate* response.
Too blind to see that, perhaps, by your own hatred and lack of understanding for cultures and mores not your own
The only effective weapon against terrorism is to do absolutely nothing.
...
Make any change at all in response, and you are instantly losing. Pandering to the desired effect, which is 'change'.
Say what you will about the loss of life, and the human tragedy of it, but the fact remains: humans die, whether at the hands of other humans, or by their own doing.
Yes, it's horrific the way things went down in New York yesterday. Terrible, and we all suffered through it (thanks to live action television) with those souls in the street and in the buildings and planes.
Americans fear death. Everything they do - their entire culture - is designed to prolong the inevitable.
It is this nations biggest weakness.
Responding to this form of terrorism with anything less than an utterly peaceful view is to let the terrorists win.
Killing terrorists in retaliation won't work - they've already demonstrated they're not afraid of death - something that most Americans can not truly admit.
Face it. In this particular case, America is not the superpower, since those who do not fear death have the mightiest weapon of all.
However, we should of course expect a typically American reaction. Bombing of specific targets. Categorically standard propagation of information by American news/propaganda corporations. Political jousting and hustling. Conspiracy, subterfuge, irresolution.
Made for TV movies will be on the airwaves by June
It was the fireball that created the most damage to both buildings. As long as the plane was *in* and the gas was on fire, the building was going to come down ... like a bundle of sticks, tied together, burned in the middle...
D) Clustering -- er, no. Not unless you're just goofing around. Kind of money invested in building a cluster, you don't go pick up a $50 clone of Windows to run it!
You think small, cheap, affordable clustering technology is only useful to businesses that have money?
That's pretty snobby. EXPAND YOUR WORLDVIEW, monkey!
I'd rather live in a world where people knew how to deal with information/misinformation and didn't have to *rely* on special interests (press/etc) to make conclusions ...
Who, after all, have been reduced to similar standards, recently ...