There is a shortage of bandwidth. So instead of applying free market principles and auctioning bandwidth to the highest bidder, ISP's seek out the socialist solution and ration the bandwidth between everyone.
Auctioning the bandwidth would bring in more capital, which could allow for expansion of the infrastructure. But that takes work, effort. Why bother maintaining the building when all you have to do is collect the monthly rent, right?
Would it be feasible to craft and inject into one of these comets something akin to a fertilized human egg which can replicate as if it were a bacterium
Stop right there.
Fertilized human eggs are not bacteria, and do not replicate like bacteria.
Using data from recent comet-probing space missions, British scientists are reporting today that the odds of life starting on Earth rather than inside a comet are one trillion trillion (10 to the power of 24) to one against.
I find it amazing that, despite the fact we are the only place in the known universe where life exists and NO life has been found anywhere else (only a single dubious fossil of a bacterium which may or may not have originated off-world), they can postulate that the odds are so very much in favor of life having originated elsewhere.
I'd say the "Overwhelming evidence" is stacked in favor of this being yet another crackpot theory.
Every single f****n programmer knows by now that if you plan for a certain maximum limit, you multiply that number by a factor of 10,000, then raise it to the fourth power and add a few billion just to be sure.
Which explains why a mouse driver needs to be 500MB.
Since when was a UN resolution worth more than the paper it was written on?
Since no one (cough America) listens to the UN anymore. This is hardly the UN's fault. Just like the league of nations, it has no power to enforce its mandates. Blame the countries that refused to empower the UN.
Unavailable due to scheduled maintenance. Heheheh. Also, why is lying always the first reaction? Scheduled my ass. I'm getting fed up of this. Lies everywhere.
Rural areas don't drive the American economy, and particularly high-speed Internet at the home is not a driving economic force, mostly it's useful for pirating movies. How is lower-quality broadband out in the middle of Bumfuck, Iowa, hurting the American economy?
OK everyone in rural areas stop working, and let's see what happens when kamapuaa realizes that his food is not grown in the supermarket. Rural areas DO drive the economy - just not the part YOU think is important.
First I need to state that I agree entirely with your post. That said, however:
The electric company provided me with a contract that specifies exact voltage tolerance limits. This contract also states that they will make their "best attempt" at providing power for a reasonable time (99% of the month, or something), and are not responsible for interruptions in emergency/disaster situations. Guess who has to pay for my refrigerator motor/electronics if suddenly the electric company decides that instead of 110 V today, they'll send me 170V. Or 50V.
I don't belong to a "bread club" at the grocery store that guaranteed me a loaf of bread any time I wanted.
The municipal water/roads are governed by regulations and engineered to ensure the availability/efficient use of these public resources. If everyone gets on the road at once, you'll soon see a lot of traffic police turn up to try and fix the mess.
However with broadband companies - only recently have their "Terms of Service" started to acknowledge that you probably won't be getting the bandwidth they advertise MOST of the time (oh sorry guys we meant "PEAK") and are still very unclear and arbitrary as to who/what they decide is not important to YOU and therefore worthy of "throttling". They have hidden milestones/triggers like download limits, etc. which will intentionally degrade your service if you cross these thresholds. When they change the terms of service apparently they feel they can do it without a) notifying you and b) your approval. There is just too much underhand going on in this "industry" and frankly they deserve to be regulated much more than they are.
I don't disagree that they need to maximize the efficiency of their network and ensure they can provide service smoothly to everyone. However if I am sold a service on bandwidth, give me the damned bandwidth. If you find I'm casuing a problem with my usage, then let's talk. Maybe I'm willing to pay a little more. However just blacklisting file sharing programs like bit-torrent is silly.
Since when do you plan to drive in an atmosphere without oxygen?
Ok granted not every car explodes Hollywood style in an accident, but the Ford Pinto proved that gasoline can also be pretty dangerous - as it is both volatile and highly inflammable.
I still think that you can build storage containers safe enough to withstand any collision without rupture.
You, sir, are 100% correct. I should know, I was married to one. WAS being the key term here.
These evangelical Christians are so full of greed, hate and envy, it used to make me sick to even talk to them. Despite being an atheist, I kept remembering that passage in the New Testament that says something like "you can tell a tree by the kind of fruit it produces"...
Live, and let live. Internet porn can only do something to you if you go looking for it. And the most it will do is help relieve some tension. Now of course if you're so fucked in the head that you think you're going to go to "Hell" forever if you so much as touch your genitals, then YOU are the one who deserves to be locked up.
Slashdot Mirror
We are
tl;dr
(too long, didn't read)
There is a shortage of bandwidth. So instead of applying free market principles and auctioning bandwidth to the highest bidder, ISP's seek out the socialist solution and ration the bandwidth between everyone.
Auctioning the bandwidth would bring in more capital, which could allow for expansion of the infrastructure. But that takes work, effort. Why bother maintaining the building when all you have to do is collect the monthly rent, right?
About the same volume as an 850 ft^2 house with 8 foot ceilings.
Plus the great advantage is that you can use the floor-space AND the ceiling space... ?
Evolution can act on any self-replicating structure
Provided the self replicator does not make "perfect" copies.
a million to one they said.
I get all my science from 70's prog rock concept albums based on HG Wells novels...
You should try Terry Pratchett.
A million to one, eh? But it might just work...
Bullshit like this shouldn't be on the front page, let alone using Einstein's image.
Why not? After all, ALL cranks claim that a) Einstein was wrong and/or b) they are better than Einstein.
What's the error estimate on that trillion-trillion number? Real scientists give error bounds.
I'll tell you. The error is plus or minus about twice the trillion-trillion number...
Would it be feasible to craft and inject into one of these comets something akin to a fertilized human egg which can replicate as if it were a bacterium
Stop right there.
Fertilized human eggs are not bacteria, and do not replicate like bacteria.
Using data from recent comet-probing space missions, British scientists are reporting today that the odds of life starting on Earth rather than inside a comet are one trillion trillion (10 to the power of 24) to one against.
I find it amazing that, despite the fact we are the only place in the known universe where life exists and NO life has been found anywhere else (only a single dubious fossil of a bacterium which may or may not have originated off-world), they can postulate that the odds are so very much in favor of life having originated elsewhere.
I'd say the "Overwhelming evidence" is stacked in favor of this being yet another crackpot theory.
Do you think it's a coincidence that this news breaks just after Rove's resignation? I don't think so!!!
New conspiracy in 5 minutes.
How exactly did Microsoft cause this?
:)
(looking at the URL in my Firefox browser) Yep. This is slashdot.
WHO ELSE is to blame other than Microsoft?
Of course it seems like I ticked off a paid shill. Tough.
they're going to get us in our games.
No they won't. Because I won't buy them.
Take an HD-DVD, decode it, play it back.
However if you live in the US, you are now a criminal if you did that. Courtesy Microsoft. "How much time do you want to serve today? (tm)"
Every single f****n programmer knows by now that if you plan for a certain maximum limit, you multiply that number by a factor of 10,000, then raise it to the fourth power and add a few billion just to be sure.
Which explains why a mouse driver needs to be 500MB.
Optimus Prime?
The sooner everything uses encryption, the sooner this type of idiocy will be impossible.
No, you just wait - they'll start blacklisting and throttling traffic that comes/goes to specific high-volume IP's, despite the content.
It's a united front against their users who want to pay for "unlimited access" and actually receive same.
If I recall correctly the UK, unlike other countries, is full of laws that severely punish those who engage in false or misleading advertising.
Since when was a UN resolution worth more than the paper it was written on?
Since no one (cough America) listens to the UN anymore. This is hardly the UN's fault. Just like the league of nations, it has no power to enforce its mandates. Blame the countries that refused to empower the UN.
Unavailable due to scheduled maintenance. Heheheh. Also, why is lying always the first reaction? Scheduled my ass. I'm getting fed up of this. Lies everywhere.
Rural areas don't drive the American economy, and particularly high-speed Internet at the home is not a driving economic force, mostly it's useful for pirating movies. How is lower-quality broadband out in the middle of Bumfuck, Iowa, hurting the American economy?
OK everyone in rural areas stop working, and let's see what happens when kamapuaa realizes that his food is not grown in the supermarket. Rural areas DO drive the economy - just not the part YOU think is important.
First I need to state that I agree entirely with your post. That said, however:
The electric company provided me with a contract that specifies exact voltage tolerance limits. This contract also states that they will make their "best attempt" at providing power for a reasonable time (99% of the month, or something), and are not responsible for interruptions in emergency/disaster situations. Guess who has to pay for my refrigerator motor/electronics if suddenly the electric company decides that instead of 110 V today, they'll send me 170V. Or 50V.
I don't belong to a "bread club" at the grocery store that guaranteed me a loaf of bread any time I wanted.
The municipal water/roads are governed by regulations and engineered to ensure the availability/efficient use of these public resources. If everyone gets on the road at once, you'll soon see a lot of traffic police turn up to try and fix the mess.
However with broadband companies - only recently have their "Terms of Service" started to acknowledge that you probably won't be getting the bandwidth they advertise MOST of the time (oh sorry guys we meant "PEAK") and are still very unclear and arbitrary as to who/what they decide is not important to YOU and therefore worthy of "throttling". They have hidden milestones/triggers like download limits, etc. which will intentionally degrade your service if you cross these thresholds. When they change the terms of service apparently they feel they can do it without a) notifying you and b) your approval. There is just too much underhand going on in this "industry" and frankly they deserve to be regulated much more than they are.
I don't disagree that they need to maximize the efficiency of their network and ensure they can provide service smoothly to everyone. However if I am sold a service on bandwidth, give me the damned bandwidth. If you find I'm casuing a problem with my usage, then let's talk. Maybe I'm willing to pay a little more. However just blacklisting file sharing programs like bit-torrent is silly.
Since when do you plan to drive in an atmosphere without oxygen?
Ok granted not every car explodes Hollywood style in an accident, but the Ford Pinto proved that gasoline can also be pretty dangerous - as it is both volatile and highly inflammable.
I still think that you can build storage containers safe enough to withstand any collision without rupture.
Not to mention a hydrogen-oxygen tank would be incredibly dangerous. You're just one spark away from a violent explosion.
Unlike gasoline, you mean?
It's just a question of engineering it right.
Damn, where are my mod points when I need them?
You, sir, are 100% correct. I should know, I was married to one. WAS being the key term here.
These evangelical Christians are so full of greed, hate and envy, it used to make me sick to even talk to them. Despite being an atheist, I kept remembering that passage in the New Testament that says something like "you can tell a tree by the kind of fruit it produces"...
Live, and let live. Internet porn can only do something to you if you go looking for it. And the most it will do is help relieve some tension. Now of course if you're so fucked in the head that you think you're going to go to "Hell" forever if you so much as touch your genitals, then YOU are the one who deserves to be locked up.
It's the non-consentual sex they should be worried about.
Come on. Everyone knows that if you yell "surprise!" just before, then it's ok.