I had some problems with my sewage pipes (got crushed when they repaved my street), but the lines didn't show up on the maps that WSSC (DC area water authority) had.
One of the guys walked around, and pinpointed the water coming into the house, using dousing rods similar to what you describe, but he had the copper wire inside a tube. (I'm not sure if it was metal or plastic, as it was night time... they spent hours trying to find it). Although he still could've influenced the wires (tipping to a direction so the wire 'fell' inwards), he couldn't have spun it with his hands directly.
He never did find the line w/ dousing, as it was 4feet _below_ the incoming water line, which also explained why it didn't show on the map.
However -- although it might've been an act, the person really had no reason to try to deceive me. He was trying to do his job and find the line, and I would think if it didn't have _some_ sort of a success rate, he wouldn't even be trying it. I'm not going to say that all dowsing is real, but I'm not going to say it's all fake based on your one example.
Take the stylus, and tap it against the microphone. The guy congratulated me for how loud I shouted, and I didn't look like an idiot on the plane. (and it's not even very loud to you... just to the microphone)
It met the government's definition of super computer at the time. (1.5Gflops... well, technically, 1500MTOPS).
The designation is part of the "Dual-Use" restrictions on exports (basically, things which could be used for both military and non-military applications).
The 1Gflop threshold was set as the necessary processing power to calculate balistic trajectories for missile systems.
I can't find the documentation, but my understanding is that the current threshold is 190Gflop (since Jan 2002).
Besides the more plasmids that was mentioned in the article, you could add a few gameplay modes and/or achievements to get people to play it more.
eg, a speed game (beat the game in (x) time); change it so death backs up to the last time you passed a chamber; beat the game without any deaths; beat the game w/out using any weapon other than the wrench (which makes it VERY difficult to take down a big daddy if you're trying to play w/ no deaths), play w/out the research camera bonuses; play w/out the ability to hack.
Now, would I pay for this? Probably not. (I say 'probably' as there might be something _really_ cool that they come up with, but I don't know what it would be... not the things I mentioned)
I'm not a solar physicist, and to the best of my knowledge, it doesn't significantly directly affect weather, unless you count the Aurora Borealis. In fact, they're not even sure sunspot numbers are a good predictor of solar activity.
What solar activity does, however, is things like screw up GPS and other systems that depend on radio signals, kill satellites, and damage the power grid. It can also affect flights that go over the poles, as they try to avoid those routes during high activity.
If it's being scanned from the front, how well will it pick up children in the back seat? Especially rear-facing car seats. Or sleeping, and lying down.
If it were a human cop pulling you over, you can just tell him to look in the back seat. If they're scanning and sending tickets automatically, I see a potential problem.
I first heard the analogy at a NOAA presentation on 'Space Weather'. The speaker (can't remember his name) compared CMEs to hurricanes, and flares to tornados. So, it might work in the context that both CMEs and flares are solar events but are different types of events, just as hurricanes and tornados are wind events but are not the same thing. Now, flares tend to be more highly localized but more energy dense (just as tornados are vs. hurricanes). I don't think the analogy works without that context, however.
As for exactly _what_ a CME is... well, I've asked some of the scientists that I work with*, and it's well over my head, but my understanding is that there's still some ambiguity over exactly what they're caused by, and that's the point of the STEREO mission. (understand what causes them, so they can better predict when one's going to happen, and potentially hit the Earth or spacecraft)
* I'm a sysadmin/programmer attached to both the Solar Data Analysis Center and the STEREO Science Center, so 'that I work with' includes scientists actively involved with the STEREO project.
The biggest one I know of is the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, which is still being designed. They're pushing for a 3.2 Gpixel camera. Basically, it's an array of 201 16Mp CCDs.
I was talking to one of the folks dealing with their data infrastructure back in April -- they're expecting 6 petabytes of data per year, and are likely going to have to reformat and reprocess on the fly, rather than store processed and formatted data.
So, if we assume the 1cm^3 device generates up to 4 Watts, that's 111.648 Calories / day.
That is significant when compared to the 2000 Calorie recommended by the FDA, but it might not be as siginificant when compared to the trademen, military or athletes whose bodies use much more energy in the course of the day.
Now, I don't know for sure that they'll actually insert devices this large (if they're working towards 0.5V, this would be 8A) Personally, I'm more worried about how the human body would react to the device -- would you have to supress immune response you use it? If it's in the blood, would you have issues with fatty plaque buildup?
I've seen the most screwups when checking out of grocery stores.
Of course, in thoses cases, it's typically in the store's favor, it seems, but there have been times when the price rung up is a few cents less than what it said on the shelves. (of course, the last one I actually noticed was in the stores's favor, not mine, and I wasn't willing to wait around for a price check)
From the article you linked to, the very last item mentioned is 'Privacy Manager'. My brother had it (or something remarkably similar... he said it was from the phone company, not a device) for a few years, before he just went and got his number un-listed.
The only time he ever had a problem was when he was waiting for a call from our step-father, who it seems had problems with his cell phone, and was trying to call from a pay phone, and kept getting blocked... but he wasn't presented with the prompt to enter the code. (and of course, we were supposed to be picking him up from the airport, and he had changed flights, so it caused a bit of a problem).
And I know the incident happened more than 5 years ago, so it's been available for some time. (as I remember being slowed down at the security gate for carrying 3 knives, 2 cell phones and a PDA, but as I wasn't arrested, it must've been before Sept 2001)
I haven't seen the book, so I don't know what history is presented in it, but the increased levels of naughtiness didn't start 'til mid/late 2000, when Fark got mentioned in Playboy.
Disclaimer : I used to be an admin (Joe) on Fark from 1999 'till about May 2000.
That's funny -- I'm in the middle of the pack in progammer salaries, and my brother, an auto mechanic (Ford Senior Master Mechanic -- basically certified to work on anything but the hybrids) and a college dropout but has consistently made more than I have for the last decade. (hell, he was making 2x what I was, 'till I switched companies a few months ago).
The thing is, for some mechanics, they don't get paid by the hour. Well, they do, but not the number of hours they work -- the number of hours the estimator gave. So, it's not uncommon for my brother to get paid for 80hrs in a week. He's good at diagnosing, and getting cars fixed and back out the door. He typically works 2 stalls at once, so as he's waiting for parts for one or for fluids to drain, he can work on the other. Yes, he has to work on Saturdays once a month -- but he's never gotten paged at 2am for a downed mail server, and there's no chance of him getting outsourced as they need people near where the cars break, not 1/2 way across the globe.
The problem is, he's come to realize that there aren't too many old mechanics -- their backs go out after a while. I'm guessing that someone who's been in IT for 20 years might not be in the best shape for bending over an engine block all day.
Personally, if I were to look at the automotive side of things, I'd look at getting certified on Hybrids -- I don't know what it'd take, but it's my understanding that there aren't that many folks who are rated to work on 'em, so it might be a useful opening.... oh -- and when a component of an electrical system fails -- someone has to pull it out. And those little diagnostic computers aren't nearly as useful as you think they are. (One dealership had me keep one for a few weeks, while they tried to diagnose a random stalling problem... I'd have taken it to my brother, but I lived 600 miles away at the time)
I've always wondered... when they said 'CAN' in 'CAN-SPAM', which definition of 'can' are they trying for?
can1
1. to be able to; have the ability, power, or skill to
2. to know how to: He can play chess, although he's not particularly good at it.
3. to have the power or means to: A dictator can impose his will on the people.
4. to have the right or qualifications to: He can change whatever he wishes in the script.
5. may; have permission to: Can I speak to you for a moment?
6. to have the possibility: A coin can land on either side.
can2
10. to preserve by sealing in a can, jar, etc.
11. Slang. to dismiss; fire.
12. Slang. to throw (something) away.
13. Slang. to put a stop to: Can that noise!
14. to record, as on film or tape.
This isn't news -- at least not to those of us who deal with data.
The typical procedure is to do a media refresh (ie, copy it) every few years, and to check for damage. There are concepts like LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keeps Stuff Safe), so those joking about BitTorrent aren't that far off, but it's a little more structured than that.
Dan Cohen gave a talk recently on "Can Today's Scientific Data Be Preserved? The Specter of a 'Digital Dark Age'", which touched on not only the issue of media failure, but also the loss of the knowledge to extract the encoded information. (much like the 'lost languages' that we don't understand now, how do we make sure that future generations have the necessary hardware and software to get the data back out?)
What's disapointing is just how fast the media is failing. Vendors give a 'mean time to failure' estimate that's based on perfect storage, and that they have no real ways of testing (because, well, if you say it's 40 years, are we going to have to wait 40 years before using it?). Even if you're duplicating your tapes, what happens when all of the copies were put on the same potentially bad batch of tapes?
Quite likely, we're going to lose data. And some of it's going to be because we no longer have copies of the data. The rest is going to be lost because there's so much crap being saved that doesn't need to be that we can't find stuff that still has value in the future.
Many people forget this, but when WoW first came out, people were up in arms about their Terms of Service. Specifically, the ownership clauses:
2. Ownership
All rights and title in and to the Program and the Service (including without limitation any user accounts, titles, computer code, themes, objects, characters, character names, stories, dialogue, catch phrases, locations, concepts, artwork, animations, sounds, musical compositions, audio-visual effects, methods of operation, moral rights, any related documentation, "applets" incorporated into the Program, transcripts of the chat rooms, character profile information, recordings of games played on the Program, and the Program client and server software) are owned by Blizzard or its licensors. The Program and the Service are protected by United States and international laws. The Program and the Service may contain certain licensed materials, and Blizzard's licensors may enforce their rights in the event of any violation of this Agreement.
8. Ownership/Selling of the Account or Virtual Items.
Blizzard does not recognize the transfer of Accounts. You may not purchase, sell, gift or trade any Account, or offer to purchase, sell, gift or trade any Account, and any such attempt shall be null and void. Blizzard owns, has licensed, or otherwise has rights to all of the content that appears in the Program. You agree that you have no right or title in or to any such content, including the virtual goods or currency appearing or originating in the Game, or any other attributes associated with the Account or stored on the Service. Blizzard does not recognize any virtual property transfers executed outside of the Game or the purported sale, gift or trade in the "real world" of anything related to the Game. Accordingly, you may not sell items for "real" money or otherwise exchange items for value outside of the Game.
So, Blizzard owns your account. You own nothing, therefore, they'd have no reason to track sales. Now, a company like Linden, on the other hand, wouldn't have that loophole.
The "Code of Conduct for Users of Computing Systems" (basically an AUP) at the university I went to for undergrad had the following clause:
Enforcement: Computer activity may be monitored by authorized individuals for purposes of maintaining system performance and security. In instances when individuals are suspected of abuse of computer usage, the contents of user files may also be inspected upon the approval of an individual authorized by the Vice President for the area with jurisdiction over the computer system in which the files reside, or their delegate.
Odds are the user was acting under _some_ sort of an AUP, and it might have a similar clause.
(which basically means the user signed some of their rights away by using the systems at the university)
Stuff will show up mid-week, but they don't release 'till Sunday. Make sure you're there in the first hour on Sunday morning, and I've been able to get one. I've actually done it multiple times to get 'em for people. (this last time, they didn't sell out from the initial people lined up, and we picked up an extra one for my friend's niece).
(I'm in the DC metro area, so it's possible you need to be there before stores open in some areas... but call ahead, ask them how many they have, and how fast they've been selling out, and you can try to figure out which one's best to stake out in you area)
What's hot in my area (washington metro)? security. And based on some of the crap being pushed on us, it takes very little experience or understanding of the system to force functionally useless requirements on us. (HSPD12, anyone?)
You then also have to look at not just region, but industry -- informatics is becoming more significant in some industries, but not in others.
Then there's issues with the size of the company -- specialization may be good for large companies with a massive IT workforce, but it's not desired in smaller companies with a small IT staff.
From the sounds of things, you need to look into systems analysis -- and review your organization, and your network of contacts. What's good advice for one person is most likely not what's good for anyone else.
Slashdot Mirror
I had some problems with my sewage pipes (got crushed when they repaved my street), but the lines didn't show up on the maps that WSSC (DC area water authority) had.
... they spent hours trying to find it). Although he still could've influenced the wires (tipping to a direction so the wire 'fell' inwards), he couldn't have spun it with his hands directly.
One of the guys walked around, and pinpointed the water coming into the house, using dousing rods similar to what you describe, but he had the copper wire inside a tube. (I'm not sure if it was metal or plastic, as it was night time
He never did find the line w/ dousing, as it was 4feet _below_ the incoming water line, which also explained why it didn't show on the map.
However -- although it might've been an act, the person really had no reason to try to deceive me. He was trying to do his job and find the line, and I would think if it didn't have _some_ sort of a success rate, he wouldn't even be trying it. I'm not going to say that all dowsing is real, but I'm not going to say it's all fake based on your one example.
Take the stylus, and tap it against the microphone. The guy congratulated me for how loud I shouted, and I didn't look like an idiot on the plane. (and it's not even very loud to you ... just to the microphone)
It met the government's definition of super computer at the time. (1.5Gflops ... well, technically, 1500MTOPS).
The designation is part of the "Dual-Use" restrictions on exports (basically, things which could be used for both military and non-military applications).
The 1Gflop threshold was set as the necessary processing power to calculate balistic trajectories for missile systems.
I can't find the documentation, but my understanding is that the current threshold is 190Gflop (since Jan 2002).
Besides the more plasmids that was mentioned in the article, you could add a few gameplay modes and/or achievements to get people to play it more.
... not the things I mentioned)
eg, a speed game (beat the game in (x) time); change it so death backs up to the last time you passed a chamber; beat the game without any deaths; beat the game w/out using any weapon other than the wrench (which makes it VERY difficult to take down a big daddy if you're trying to play w/ no deaths), play w/out the research camera bonuses; play w/out the ability to hack.
Now, would I pay for this? Probably not. (I say 'probably' as there might be something _really_ cool that they come up with, but I don't know what it would be
I'm not a solar physicist, and to the best of my knowledge, it doesn't significantly directly affect weather, unless you count the Aurora Borealis. In fact, they're not even sure sunspot numbers are a good predictor of solar activity.
What solar activity does, however, is things like screw up GPS and other systems that depend on radio signals, kill satellites, and damage the power grid. It can also affect flights that go over the poles, as they try to avoid those routes during high activity.
If it's being scanned from the front, how well will it pick up children in the back seat? Especially rear-facing car seats. Or sleeping, and lying down.
If it were a human cop pulling you over, you can just tell him to look in the back seat. If they're scanning and sending tickets automatically, I see a potential problem.
I first heard the analogy at a NOAA presentation on 'Space Weather'. The speaker (can't remember his name) compared CMEs to hurricanes, and flares to tornados. So, it might work in the context that both CMEs and flares are solar events but are different types of events, just as hurricanes and tornados are wind events but are not the same thing. Now, flares tend to be more highly localized but more energy dense (just as tornados are vs. hurricanes). I don't think the analogy works without that context, however.
... well, I've asked some of the scientists that I work with*, and it's well over my head, but my understanding is that there's still some ambiguity over exactly what they're caused by, and that's the point of the STEREO mission. (understand what causes them, so they can better predict when one's going to happen, and potentially hit the Earth or spacecraft)
As for exactly _what_ a CME is
* I'm a sysadmin/programmer attached to both the Solar Data Analysis Center and the STEREO Science Center, so 'that I work with' includes scientists actively involved with the STEREO project.
The biggest one I know of is the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, which is still being designed. They're pushing for a 3.2 Gpixel camera. Basically, it's an array of 201 16Mp CCDs.
I was talking to one of the folks dealing with their data infrastructure back in April -- they're expecting 6 petabytes of data per year, and are likely going to have to reformat and reprocess on the fly, rather than store processed and formatted data.
Looks to be word for word from the older article:
... the first time.
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/issue/30/25
Although, I did find it amusing
That makes much more sense. The one from tech.co.uk talks about floating, which would make it useless for the applications mentioned.
('street furniture' => 'bus stops') ie. vertical, not horizontal mounting
Calories = 1.163 watt-hours
So, if we assume the 1cm^3 device generates up to 4 Watts, that's 111.648 Calories / day.
That is significant when compared to the 2000 Calorie recommended by the FDA, but it might not be as siginificant when compared to the trademen, military or athletes whose bodies use much more energy in the course of the day.
Now, I don't know for sure that they'll actually insert devices this large (if they're working towards 0.5V, this would be 8A) Personally, I'm more worried about how the human body would react to the device -- would you have to supress immune response you use it? If it's in the blood, would you have issues with fatty plaque buildup?
I've seen the most screwups when checking out of grocery stores.
Of course, in thoses cases, it's typically in the store's favor, it seems, but there have been times when the price rung up is a few cents less than what it said on the shelves. (of course, the last one I actually noticed was in the stores's favor, not mine, and I wasn't willing to wait around for a price check)
From the article you linked to, the very last item mentioned is 'Privacy Manager'. My brother had it (or something remarkably similar ... he said it was from the phone company, not a device) for a few years, before he just went and got his number un-listed.
... but he wasn't presented with the prompt to enter the code. (and of course, we were supposed to be picking him up from the airport, and he had changed flights, so it caused a bit of a problem).
The only time he ever had a problem was when he was waiting for a call from our step-father, who it seems had problems with his cell phone, and was trying to call from a pay phone, and kept getting blocked
And I know the incident happened more than 5 years ago, so it's been available for some time. (as I remember being slowed down at the security gate for carrying 3 knives, 2 cell phones and a PDA, but as I wasn't arrested, it must've been before Sept 2001)
... as a sequel to RoboSport.
(of course, a FPS would completely screw up that game)
Now, if they could figure out how to make a FPS out of Marble Drop, I'd be scared.
'Transacted' does not mean sold.
... but I have never bought anything from Nintendo online.
I've 'transacted' the opera browser and 'everyone votes' so far
So, when you take people like me into consideration, it might not be that great of news.
The old days of naughtiness?
You forget then, about the days pre-naughtiness.
I haven't seen the book, so I don't know what history is presented in it, but the increased levels of naughtiness didn't start 'til mid/late 2000, when Fark got mentioned in Playboy.
Disclaimer : I used to be an admin (Joe) on Fark from 1999 'till about May 2000.
That's funny -- I'm in the middle of the pack in progammer salaries, and my brother, an auto mechanic (Ford Senior Master Mechanic -- basically certified to work on anything but the hybrids) and a college dropout but has consistently made more than I have for the last decade. (hell, he was making 2x what I was, 'till I switched companies a few months ago).
... oh -- and when a component of an electrical system fails -- someone has to pull it out. And those little diagnostic computers aren't nearly as useful as you think they are. (One dealership had me keep one for a few weeks, while they tried to diagnose a random stalling problem ... I'd have taken it to my brother, but I lived 600 miles away at the time)
The thing is, for some mechanics, they don't get paid by the hour. Well, they do, but not the number of hours they work -- the number of hours the estimator gave. So, it's not uncommon for my brother to get paid for 80hrs in a week. He's good at diagnosing, and getting cars fixed and back out the door. He typically works 2 stalls at once, so as he's waiting for parts for one or for fluids to drain, he can work on the other. Yes, he has to work on Saturdays once a month -- but he's never gotten paged at 2am for a downed mail server, and there's no chance of him getting outsourced as they need people near where the cars break, not 1/2 way across the globe.
The problem is, he's come to realize that there aren't too many old mechanics -- their backs go out after a while. I'm guessing that someone who's been in IT for 20 years might not be in the best shape for bending over an engine block all day.
Personally, if I were to look at the automotive side of things, I'd look at getting certified on Hybrids -- I don't know what it'd take, but it's my understanding that there aren't that many folks who are rated to work on 'em, so it might be a useful opening.
I've always wondered ... when they said 'CAN' in 'CAN-SPAM', which definition of 'can' are they trying for?
can1 1. to be able to; have the ability, power, or skill to 2. to know how to: He can play chess, although he's not particularly good at it. 3. to have the power or means to: A dictator can impose his will on the people. 4. to have the right or qualifications to: He can change whatever he wishes in the script. 5. may; have permission to: Can I speak to you for a moment? 6. to have the possibility: A coin can land on either side. can2 10. to preserve by sealing in a can, jar, etc. 11. Slang. to dismiss; fire. 12. Slang. to throw (something) away. 13. Slang. to put a stop to: Can that noise! 14. to record, as on film or tape.This isn't news -- at least not to those of us who deal with data.
The typical procedure is to do a media refresh (ie, copy it) every few years, and to check for damage. There are concepts like LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keeps Stuff Safe), so those joking about BitTorrent aren't that far off, but it's a little more structured than that.
Dan Cohen gave a talk recently on "Can Today's Scientific Data Be Preserved? The Specter of a 'Digital Dark Age'", which touched on not only the issue of media failure, but also the loss of the knowledge to extract the encoded information. (much like the 'lost languages' that we don't understand now, how do we make sure that future generations have the necessary hardware and software to get the data back out?)
What's disapointing is just how fast the media is failing. Vendors give a 'mean time to failure' estimate that's based on perfect storage, and that they have no real ways of testing (because, well, if you say it's 40 years, are we going to have to wait 40 years before using it?). Even if you're duplicating your tapes, what happens when all of the copies were put on the same potentially bad batch of tapes?
Quite likely, we're going to lose data. And some of it's going to be because we no longer have copies of the data. The rest is going to be lost because there's so much crap being saved that doesn't need to be that we can't find stuff that still has value in the future.
So, Blizzard owns your account. You own nothing, therefore, they'd have no reason to track sales. Now, a company like Linden, on the other hand, wouldn't have that loophole.
How can you tell the first one apart from any of the other levels of Donkey Kong? That sure looks like the sixth level to me.
(which basically means the user signed some of their rights away by using the systems at the university)
It was brought up as a thread in How To Get Rid of the Cubicle?.
And I only know this because I answered this exact question in that discussion.
Even the bundles are going within a day or two.
... but call ahead, ask them how many they have, and how fast they've been selling out, and you can try to figure out which one's best to stake out in you area)
My suggestion, if you want a Wii, is to watch the Target tracker at crayz.org.
Stuff will show up mid-week, but they don't release 'till Sunday. Make sure you're there in the first hour on Sunday morning, and I've been able to get one. I've actually done it multiple times to get 'em for people. (this last time, they didn't sell out from the initial people lined up, and we picked up an extra one for my friend's niece).
(I'm in the DC metro area, so it's possible you need to be there before stores open in some areas
What's hot in my area (washington metro)? security. And based on some of the crap being pushed on us, it takes very little experience or understanding of the system to force functionally useless requirements on us. (HSPD12, anyone?)
You then also have to look at not just region, but industry -- informatics is becoming more significant in some industries, but not in others.
Then there's issues with the size of the company -- specialization may be good for large companies with a massive IT workforce, but it's not desired in smaller companies with a small IT staff.
From the sounds of things, you need to look into systems analysis -- and review your organization, and your network of contacts. What's good advice for one person is most likely not what's good for anyone else.