Because MONEY is what puts food on the table and puts your kids through college. Money is what puts gas in your car and pays your mortgage.
No. YOU put food on the table. You make the kids. You put them through school.
You might use money to do that... but money itself DOESN'T DO A DAMN THING.
Values come from human beings. If I value my life, I will put food on the table and continue to eat. If I value my kids, I'll do whatever it takes to put them through school.
Western Society has its head so far up its ass that people like you are making such conclusions about money... which in and of itself is USELESS. Its only when some human being puts a value on it that its worth anything at all...
Funny thing about human beings, is that they are a primary source of arbitrary 'certainties' in this universe. Funny how they forget just how arbitrary those things are at times. I guess all it takes for someone to assume something is certain is to forget how arbitrary it really is...
There are other ways to put food on the table. Join a commune/kibbutz. They're around. Get your kids through education: educate them at home. Some kids, taught this way, do far better than anything money could have ever provided.
Its only participation in modern American/Western culture that requires the use of money for all things, but in fact... there's a fuck of a lot of very valuable things you can do in this world, and some of it requires no money at all. Funny that...
The "Life" question will be pretty significant if its answered in the affirmative.
Remember, Earth is supposed to be a Garden of Eden. Like it or not, but a lot of human policy is driven by Christians who would rather not have to deal with the reality of the universe...
Answering this question will transform culture in big, big ways.
I've been on the 'net since the early 80's, been involved with some big ISP startup moments in the 90's, and I've noticed that peoples 'net-sphere' grows rapidly when they first get on the 'net, and then consequently stabilizes.
What do I mean by net-sphere? The list of sites one visits daily, or regularly, for news/updates, etc. Apart from google queries, one rarely goes outside this net-sphere...
For example, I visit a list of 5 sites daily. And when I'm done with those sites, I rarely visit any others, willingly, unless I happen to randomly come across something new that interests me.
It frustrates me to know end, knowing as I do at the end of my '5 site browse session' that there are probably at least 7 or 8 other sites out there which would interest me, and which would hold my interest, and which I would add to my list of 'net-sphere' sites... only how do I find them?
It'd be nice to have a site where I could go, plug in my 5 favourite (most-visited) sites, and get a list of recommendations for other sites to peruse/visit. I know sites like that exist... but how do I find them?
Search engines only solve the search for things you know you want to look for... but that leaves maybe 85% of the problem unsolved. "Search Engines" need to evolved more into "Recommendation Engines".
I'd happily subscribe to a list of 'cool sites to look out for', if I could, say, plug in answers to a ton of questions about the things I like, and if that service was smart enough to find me sites that were really interesting to me, I'd use it more often.
Content isn't the problem. Finding the content is still a problem, google-success aside. (Hey, I like google, but search engines don't fill the entire need...)
If anyone has recommendations for cool, regularly (daily) updated sites on the subject of technology, music, music technology, gadgets, meeting real nerd chicks online, and travel tips for Europe, I'd sure like to know them.:) Short of asking my friends and associates what their favourite daily-sites are, I don't know any other way to find the cool stuff...
hold on... i'm no expert on this, so it could all be wrong. but i've heard that all missions must have insurance... for the very reason that if something goes wrong, taxpayers don't have to keep fronting the bill to pay the rest of the program costs.
i.e. its insured so that, in case of failure or problems, taxpayers don't have to pay for it...
Yes, I work for Access, R&D. No, there are no freebies. If you've got something we want, maybe I can arrange a trade, but as I type this I'm already looking directly at a shelf full of prototypes and hacks from people who've sent us stuff to play with, and I've already stretched my trade budget, so it better be interesting...:)
The MER's rated (read: warrantied, thus, insured) lifetime is less than the duration of time the solar panels will last, anyway.
I imagine that spending a few hundred thousand bucks on devices designed to keep the panels clean, when in fact the MER's operational lifetime is determined by how long NASA can afford to keep paying the insurance premiums, would've been considered an expensive over-run... and in the eyes of some government auditors, a waste of taxpayer money.
I understand that there's an engineering solution. I bet that the solar panels are not considered a problem because the insurance will run out, anyway...
... I agree with the assertion that computers are not musical enough! The nice way to do that is make musical instruments which use computer technology, but make the musical instrument Goal the Primary Objective... so that the computer part becomes transparent. Some very nice mfr's have done work in this regard... (I consider my QY700 to be one freakin' nice musical computer, but then its a computer designed for music and nothing else, so...)
Hey, don't pick on MIDI. It may be 'an expensive networking protocol', but when was the last time you saw multiple-hundreds of -different computer^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hmusical instrument- designs able to communicate, effectively, with each other?
On my desk, I have 3 devices, from competing mfr's, which are perfectly able to communicate with each other effectively and efficiently, in order to build a track (QY700, Indigo2, Machinedrum, in case you're wondering)... in my 19" rack, I have 4 other devices (A5000, FS1R, rack-xl, Chameleon) and they're all communicating just fine.
Together, the whole system makes up a -bitchen- musical instrument. All because of MIDI.
So, back off a little. MIDI has accomplished a lot more than it has been a detriment for...
You're right though, that MIDI has a usability problem. This does not mean that we should replace this working protocol with Some Other New Thing.
What we need is better MIDI instruments, and better computer software for dealing with MIDI... and thats not hard to do.
they're not looking for electronics. they're looking for things that are packaged in a way to explode.
a power transformer, being designed not to explode, oddly enough models things which are designed to explode in structure and design.
you know, the only reason people think 'security people are idiots' is because they (security people) are a) suscpicious of you, and b) inconvenient at a time you think you're supposed to be being 'serviced'.
yeah. i feel that way too. even though for a significant part of my adolescent life i felt somewhat inspired by the 'magic' of the star was universe, now i don't.
instead, its just a movie designed to visually entertain, and thats about all it will do for me... the plot is pretty much irrelevant, as is the case for any 'major' movie from hollywood these days.
you should never take propagandists too seriously.
Yes, anecdotal. No, I'm not fucking kidding you. You're being an idiot for making such blanket assessments about the security industry on the basis of "what you've heard in the news". Look it up. (Hint: Based on casual observations or indications rather than rigorous or scientific analysis)
Your assessment that security people are stupid is based on anecdotal evidence - i.e. NON-SCIENTIFIC
Were it non-anecdotal, you would include, along with your 'counter-view', the observation that, in fact, countless thousands and thousands of 'potential battery-bomb incidents' actually get correctly assessed as being non-threatening.
You would include the hundreds and thousands of times when cameras and film are actually put through the machine, and do actually survive. It might surprise you, but technology has changed. There are safe scanning machines on the market, and in active use, pretty much everywhere.
Your system of logic is flawed, and derived from a society driven by controversy and conflict, tabloid-idealized notions. That is not the way life actually is...
And in fact, yes, I do happen to know quite a few travelling photographers, many of them businessmen (as I am myself), and I have also filled 4 passports in my life, in my travels. So yes, in fact, I do have a lot of experience in this matter and I do know what I'm talking about.
Anecdotal evidence at best. Answer me this question smartie:
How many thousands and millions of times did Airport Security Personnel accurately spot and identify a battery/electronic posession of a passenger and determine that it was in fact safe?
Just because you've 'heard of this in the news' doesn't mean that your analytical powers are sufficient to accurately determine reality in a scenario you've had no direct experience with. You're not looking at the entire scene here: count the success as well as the failure and then compare.
Personally, I've known quite a few very intelligent security people, and had no problems with them whatsoever.
Your two anecdotes prove your argument, though. Sharp...
Remember, these are the people who insist on everything going through an x-ray machine, even materials that are highly sensitive to rays and easily damaged, because they know best and because the machines are "harmless".
"I'll ignore the fact that most 'x-ray machines' installed at major airports are in fact far more than 'x-ray devices' and do more than just 'x-ray' things, and imply that because those passengers (such as myself) are so smart, they're bringing super-sensitive materials with them through the airport security screeners, who are all sooooo stoooopid..."
You think there isn't already a protective coating on those solar panels? What if, in fact, the life of the solar panels is already twice what it should be, due to some substance?
That's the problem with you dialectic materialist types... always analysing reactions, not cause.
batteries are a known quantum in the world of travel security. scanners are designed to know what they are and how they're used.
contrary to popular belief, batteries do not look like explosive devices.
this diy-playing-card-battery-charger might raise a few eyebrows for its 'concealment' factor, but then, you don't have to use a playing-card box. you could just as easily use something else that actually looks like a plastic case designed for carrying batteries.
this is a clever hack, anyway. the schematics are where the value is - whats the bet it won't be long before you can get these plastic cases in the akihabra back-streets, selling as 'cheap firewire-device rechargers' or whatever...
Films that can be peeled... implies they are sticking... so what is the mechanism by which the film is sticking to the arrays and providing a seal? Is it electrostatic charge, like it is with saran wrap, or is it chemistry? mechanics?
i imagine this is just too complicated a problem to solve, in light of the fact that other components of the rover - such as the battery - have a limited shelf-life, anyway...
Put the solar array on a vibrator, tilt the rover slightly, and give the solar panel array 15 minutes of shaking at some appropriate Hertz... oila, dust is shaken off.
Slashdot Mirror
Because MONEY is what puts food on the table and puts your kids through college. Money is what puts gas in your car and pays your mortgage.
... which in and of itself is USELESS. Its only when some human being puts a value on it that its worth anything at all ...
... there's a fuck of a lot of very valuable things you can do in this world, and some of it requires no money at all. Funny that ...
No. YOU put food on the table. You make the kids. You put them through school.
You might use money to do that... but money itself DOESN'T DO A DAMN THING.
Values come from human beings. If I value my life, I will put food on the table and continue to eat. If I value my kids, I'll do whatever it takes to put them through school.
Western Society has its head so far up its ass that people like you are making such conclusions about money
Funny thing about human beings, is that they are a primary source of arbitrary 'certainties' in this universe. Funny how they forget just how arbitrary those things are at times. I guess all it takes for someone to assume something is certain is to forget how arbitrary it really is...
There are other ways to put food on the table. Join a commune/kibbutz. They're around. Get your kids through education: educate them at home. Some kids, taught this way, do far better than anything money could have ever provided.
Its only participation in modern American/Western culture that requires the use of money for all things, but in fact
It doesn't "lower peoples standards for what to expect from software", it raises it.
From now on, software had better be good. Sobering fact, isn't it?
True, that also would have a significant impact on the roles of Christianity over the millenia, then, wouldn't it ...
Frankly, I don't worship any God, but if there is a Martian one I'd sure like to know its name.
The "Life" question will be pretty significant if its answered in the affirmative.
Remember, Earth is supposed to be a Garden of Eden. Like it or not, but a lot of human policy is driven by Christians who would rather not have to deal with the reality of the universe...
Answering this question will transform culture in big, big ways.
Its not "not discovered here", its "news media organizations not heavily biased over there" ...
Slight difference, I know, but get it right. The Media is quite often the enemy of Science, and The People.
Anyone know where the images of this 'pasta-like' object are? I'd sure like to see that!!!
I've been on the 'net since the early 80's, been involved with some big ISP startup moments in the 90's, and I've noticed that peoples 'net-sphere' grows rapidly when they first get on the 'net, and then consequently stabilizes.
...
... but how do I find them?
... but that leaves maybe 85% of the problem unsolved. "Search Engines" need to evolved more into "Recommendation Engines".
:) Short of asking my friends and associates what their favourite daily-sites are, I don't know any other way to find the cool stuff ...
What do I mean by net-sphere? The list of sites one visits daily, or regularly, for news/updates, etc. Apart from google queries, one rarely goes outside this net-sphere
For example, I visit a list of 5 sites daily. And when I'm done with those sites, I rarely visit any others, willingly, unless I happen to randomly come across something new that interests me.
It frustrates me to know end, knowing as I do at the end of my '5 site browse session' that there are probably at least 7 or 8 other sites out there which would interest me, and which would hold my interest, and which I would add to my list of 'net-sphere' sites... only how do I find them?
It'd be nice to have a site where I could go, plug in my 5 favourite (most-visited) sites, and get a list of recommendations for other sites to peruse/visit. I know sites like that exist
Search engines only solve the search for things you know you want to look for
I'd happily subscribe to a list of 'cool sites to look out for', if I could, say, plug in answers to a ton of questions about the things I like, and if that service was smart enough to find me sites that were really interesting to me, I'd use it more often.
Content isn't the problem. Finding the content is still a problem, google-success aside. (Hey, I like google, but search engines don't fill the entire need...)
If anyone has recommendations for cool, regularly (daily) updated sites on the subject of technology, music, music technology, gadgets, meeting real nerd chicks online, and travel tips for Europe, I'd sure like to know them.
I know how insurance works. I'm telling you, the MER program pays insurance.
hold on ... i'm no expert on this, so it could all be wrong. but i've heard that all missions must have insurance ... for the very reason that if something goes wrong, taxpayers don't have to keep fronting the bill to pay the rest of the program costs.
i.e. its insured so that, in case of failure or problems, taxpayers don't have to pay for it...
Yes, I work for Access, R&D. No, there are no freebies. If you've got something we want, maybe I can arrange a trade, but as I type this I'm already looking directly at a shelf full of prototypes and hacks from people who've sent us stuff to play with, and I've already stretched my trade budget, so it better be interesting ... :)
The MER's rated (read: warrantied, thus, insured) lifetime is less than the duration of time the solar panels will last, anyway.
... and in the eyes of some government auditors, a waste of taxpayer money.
...
I imagine that spending a few hundred thousand bucks on devices designed to keep the panels clean, when in fact the MER's operational lifetime is determined by how long NASA can afford to keep paying the insurance premiums, would've been considered an expensive over-run
I understand that there's an engineering solution. I bet that the solar panels are not considered a problem because the insurance will run out, anyway
... I agree with the assertion that computers are not musical enough! The nice way to do that is make musical instruments which use computer technology, but make the musical instrument Goal the Primary Objective ... so that the computer part becomes transparent. Some very nice mfr's have done work in this regard ... (I consider my QY700 to be one freakin' nice musical computer, but then its a computer designed for music and nothing else, so ...)
Hey, don't pick on MIDI. It may be 'an expensive networking protocol', but when was the last time you saw multiple-hundreds of -different computer^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hmusical instrument- designs able to communicate, effectively, with each other?
... and thats not hard to do.
...)
On my desk, I have 3 devices, from competing mfr's, which are perfectly able to communicate with each other effectively and efficiently, in order to build a track (QY700, Indigo2, Machinedrum, in case you're wondering)... in my 19" rack, I have 4 other devices (A5000, FS1R, rack-xl, Chameleon) and they're all communicating just fine.
Together, the whole system makes up a -bitchen- musical instrument. All because of MIDI.
So, back off a little. MIDI has accomplished a lot more than it has been a detriment for...
You're right though, that MIDI has a usability problem. This does not mean that we should replace this working protocol with Some Other New Thing.
What we need is better MIDI instruments, and better computer software for dealing with MIDI
(Disclaimer: I work for a synthesizer company with an interest in MIDI
Some computer nerds are pretty girls.
Those don't care.
(I want one!!)
they're not looking for electronics. they're looking for things that are packaged in a way to explode.
a power transformer, being designed not to explode, oddly enough models things which are designed to explode in structure and design.
you know, the only reason people think 'security people are idiots' is because they (security people) are a) suscpicious of you, and b) inconvenient at a time you think you're supposed to be being 'serviced'.
yeah. i feel that way too. even though for a significant part of my adolescent life i felt somewhat inspired by the 'magic' of the star was universe, now i don't.
... the plot is pretty much irrelevant, as is the case for any 'major' movie from hollywood these days.
instead, its just a movie designed to visually entertain, and thats about all it will do for me
you should never take propagandists too seriously.
Anecdotal? Are you fucking kidding me?
Yes, anecdotal. No, I'm not fucking kidding you. You're being an idiot for making such blanket assessments about the security industry on the basis of "what you've heard in the news". Look it up. (Hint: Based on casual observations or indications rather than rigorous or scientific analysis)
Your assessment that security people are stupid is based on anecdotal evidence - i.e. NON-SCIENTIFIC
Were it non-anecdotal, you would include, along with your 'counter-view', the observation that, in fact, countless thousands and thousands of 'potential battery-bomb incidents' actually get correctly assessed as being non-threatening.
You would include the hundreds and thousands of times when cameras and film are actually put through the machine, and do actually survive. It might surprise you, but technology has changed. There are safe scanning machines on the market, and in active use, pretty much everywhere.
Your system of logic is flawed, and derived from a society driven by controversy and conflict, tabloid-idealized notions. That is not the way life actually is...
And in fact, yes, I do happen to know quite a few travelling photographers, many of them businessmen (as I am myself), and I have also filled 4 passports in my life, in my travels. So yes, in fact, I do have a lot of experience in this matter and I do know what I'm talking about.
Your ideal is flawed.
Anecdotal evidence at best. Answer me this question smartie:
..."
How many thousands and millions of times did Airport Security Personnel accurately spot and identify a battery/electronic posession of a passenger and determine that it was in fact safe?
Just because you've 'heard of this in the news' doesn't mean that your analytical powers are sufficient to accurately determine reality in a scenario you've had no direct experience with. You're not looking at the entire scene here: count the success as well as the failure and then compare.
Personally, I've known quite a few very intelligent security people, and had no problems with them whatsoever.
Your two anecdotes prove your argument, though. Sharp...
Remember, these are the people who insist on everything going through an x-ray machine, even materials that are highly sensitive to rays and easily damaged, because they know best and because the machines are "harmless".
"I'll ignore the fact that most 'x-ray machines' installed at major airports are in fact far more than 'x-ray devices' and do more than just 'x-ray' things, and imply that because those passengers (such as myself) are so smart, they're bringing super-sensitive materials with them through the airport security screeners, who are all sooooo stoooopid
You think there isn't already a protective coating on those solar panels? What if, in fact, the life of the solar panels is already twice what it should be, due to some substance?
... always analysing reactions, not cause.
That's the problem with you dialectic materialist types
batteries are a known quantum in the world of travel security. scanners are designed to know what they are and how they're used.
...
contrary to popular belief, batteries do not look like explosive devices.
this diy-playing-card-battery-charger might raise a few eyebrows for its 'concealment' factor, but then, you don't have to use a playing-card box. you could just as easily use something else that actually looks like a plastic case designed for carrying batteries.
this is a clever hack, anyway. the schematics are where the value is - whats the bet it won't be long before you can get these plastic cases in the akihabra back-streets, selling as 'cheap firewire-device rechargers' or whatever
This article is how to build your own Belkin battery pack for cheap.
...
Naughty naughty, you didn't read the article did you
films that can be peeled off
... implies they are sticking ... so what is the mechanism by which the film is sticking to the arrays and providing a seal? Is it electrostatic charge, like it is with saran wrap, or is it chemistry? mechanics?
...
Films that can be peeled
i imagine this is just too complicated a problem to solve, in light of the fact that other components of the rover - such as the battery - have a limited shelf-life, anyway
Umm... whatever dust is stuck to the rover, has a charge and is using it to stick to the rover.
Put the solar array on a vibrator, tilt the rover slightly, and give the solar panel array 15 minutes of shaking at some appropriate Hertz... oila, dust is shaken off.
... with hooks to proprietary data command sets instructing custom chips onboard to do things ... that you can't ... do ... on other PDA's ...