From what I understand, we still don't fully understand how flapping wings fully work. Until recently, calculations on the lift provided by bees wings showed that they should crash and burn. I think, though, that without flapping-winged animals, we could have gotten there by studying fish, whose flexible bodies have far better propulsion than any of our fixed-shape vehicles nowadays.
Anyway, more on-topic, I love the fact that they're so small - NASA could put a few thousand in a single payload, and even if 90% fail, we'd be able to closely map a *lot* of Mars' surface. I was thinking, though, that a better design might be something more grasshopper-like? In the low gravity and pressure, you'd think this would make more sense than trying to design something to fly, and take less energy than constant wing movement.
I was just addressing the assertion that Linux isn't good at desktops. I wasn't saying anything about user migration, which is the larger obstacle to mainstream use.
With the self-righting nature of these things, that might be dangerous - like one of those bottom-heavy rubber clowns that just keep coming back for more.
*get punched*
*swing*
*slow*
*swing back*
OW!
Why is everyone trying to shoehorn Linux into something it's bad at?
This just plain isn't true. The basic structure of Linux is so versatile that it can be used anywhere for anything. Perhaps the user interface leaves something to be desired for the completely clueless, but my parents and grandparents could be given a Redhat 7.2 CD and be running it by the next day, no problem.
Windows architecture isn't what makes it clueless-friendly, it's the pretty picture they put overtop. It would be trivial to make KOffice always point to a "My Documents" folder in the user's home. To steal an example from a previous poster, is it any harder to have a sticky-note that says
K-Menu -> StarOffice -> Word
To Save : File (up at the top) -> save than the windows equivalent?
If that's all people want from a system, I don't think that it's anything that Linux can't handle. No, it's no better than Windows for these applications, but it *is* cost-effective, which was one of the main thrusts of th article.
So now we know why *you* use Linux, but those last two didn't really address the points of the parent. Recent-game lovers aren't going to switch, and people who want to view all websites as they were meant to be seen won't switch.
Re:Segway is irrelevant to American cities
on
This is IT?
·
· Score: 1
I don't have a car, and there's a shopping centre about 15 minutes from my house. If I need milk/whatever, it looks like the Segway'd be the best way to get there. Not at 3k, of course, but I'd expect that price to come down if it becomes established.
Re:Segway is irrelevant to American cities
on
This is IT?
·
· Score: 1
It looks perfect for me. I'm in Ottawa, and live a 20 minute walk from school and 40 minutes from work when I'm working. Public transportation is decent but not great. This would be perfect for me. If these things become common, they'd be great for kids going to school, a short trip to the store - anything involving a few km. Maybe I'm one of those "certain industries and age groups" you mentioned, but I'd love one.
Even if someone comes up behind you and "bops you on the head", how are they going to get past the fingerprint identification next time they want to start it up?
If crime becomes a problem, there are plenty of ways to combat it.
Genetic engineering is still in its infancy. There is very little understanding of all the implications, and mistakes will be made. The thing is, though - we should allow them to be made. How else will we eventually get the desert-growing veggies that can feed thousands of people? The genetic cures for incurable diseases? Genetics is still in an "alchemy" stage, and it's expected that things will blow up, but with a lot of trial-and-error, I'm sure it will become at viable science within our lifetimes.
Re:You don't need to guess:
on
Hacker U.
·
· Score: 1
Nope - no property is damaged. I'd say the original analogy is pretty much correct. Merely "breaking into" a system is just wandering around it, seeing what's around. It doesn't matter if you just opened a door or went through the ducts - there was no damage.
What you say may be true, but this article is definitely front-page material in terms of a good read. I'm happier for having read it, so who cares what the motives behind it were?
I can't help but be impressed that they've been able to consistently follow this pattern for 9 movies. I'm sure after first contact, people said "They must have learned their lesson now - Insurrection will be great" It's not often that you can consistently rate a movie before it comes out.
Slightly offtopic, but this phrase is important in just about any open-sourcing. I've got a friend who's a great marketer - he instinctively understands how to reach his audience and he's good at what he does. When I mentioned open-source *anything* to him, he pretty gave me the above quote. People will not believe that they can get something for nothing. If they have a choice between grabbing free research off the internet, and paying $5 for that same paper, they will immediately place more importance on the $5 copy. One way to increase the public's view of open source may - ironically - be to charge a higher price for it.
These sorts of suits are a waste of time and money for everyone. There's only so much court time available every year, and people who waste that time while important cases are on waiting lists should have to pay for their gross misuse of social resources.
I'm sure they'd have little trouble creating two if they can manage one. They might be a little inbred a few years down the line, but...meh.
Looking at the genes of the (IIRC) cheetah, some biologists think that at one point they were down to a population of one pregnant female, and they turned out okay.
I really liked the series once they brought in the Cro-mags. Instead of just "we're in a reality...now we're in another reality", there was actually some continuity. So I started watching it.
In the 5 episodes I saw before I realized it was a futile effort, there was *one* that included any sort of continuous plot. What a pointless effort <sigh>
The song's terrible, but I love the actual opening sequence. The nebulas/stars/going-to-warp had been overdone.
Anyway, back on topic - I'm not a "casual" TV watcher. I'll make time for a few good shows a week, and watch them religiously. I don't like the idea of shows that are supposed to be at least partly "drama" that don't have a continuous storyline. Making Andromeda more episodic may make it more popular, which is what they want, but you'll lose the people who tune in *every* week. What's the point if you can just catch it on rerun without losing anything?
Now, I'd never heard of a "clinostat" before reading the article, so I could be missing something. From a google search it seems to just be a device that rotates, so that the fertilization technique won't have a constant force in a constant direction - but *will* always be under one full G of gravity. Is this really comparable to zero-g development?
Re:Microsoft can't be to happy about this...
on
XBox Netplay Already
·
· Score: 1
don't you think that it might be a good thing for them
Not really - not even on the games front unless people are buying only MS games. It's like selling Windows instead of only licensing it...eventually everyone who wants one will have one, and there'll be little else to sell. Subscriptions are the only way to make customers keep providing you with money.
If RedHat were actually called upon to do this thing, I wouldn't be surprised to see an "educational" distribution show up, that required a lot less knowledge of the behind-the-scenes stuff...I mean, you can already configure RedHat to start in KDE with fully-functional internet, office suite, etc. It wouldn't take much to remove the more complicated bits from the desktop and menus (system config stuff) so that that sort of thing would have to be done through the command-line. Add in a a couple of tools to create easy-to-use menus, and RedHat would be able to look just as dumbed-down as the common educational systems you see today.
As others have mentioned, it's a great chance to learn about computing, because it helps to know about the guts.
As for educational programs - I don't recall my elementary school having anything more educational than the "Mr Potato Head" in every KMenu. Or maybe an emulator can be set up for the older educational programs at little cost.
Slashdot Mirror
From what I understand, we still don't fully understand how flapping wings fully work. Until recently, calculations on the lift provided by bees wings showed that they should crash and burn. I think, though, that without flapping-winged animals, we could have gotten there by studying fish, whose flexible bodies have far better propulsion than any of our fixed-shape vehicles nowadays.
Anyway, more on-topic, I love the fact that they're so small - NASA could put a few thousand in a single payload, and even if 90% fail, we'd be able to closely map a *lot* of Mars' surface. I was thinking, though, that a better design might be something more grasshopper-like? In the low gravity and pressure, you'd think this would make more sense than trying to design something to fly, and take less energy than constant wing movement.
I was just addressing the assertion that Linux isn't good at desktops. I wasn't saying anything about user migration, which is the larger obstacle to mainstream use.
With the self-righting nature of these things, that might be dangerous - like one of those bottom-heavy rubber clowns that just keep coming back for more.
*get punched*
*swing*
*slow*
*swing back*
OW!
Why is everyone trying to shoehorn Linux into something it's bad at?
This just plain isn't true. The basic structure of Linux is so versatile that it can be used anywhere for anything. Perhaps the user interface leaves something to be desired for the completely clueless, but my parents and grandparents could be given a Redhat 7.2 CD and be running it by the next day, no problem.
Windows architecture isn't what makes it clueless-friendly, it's the pretty picture they put overtop. It would be trivial to make KOffice always point to a "My Documents" folder in the user's home. To steal an example from a previous poster, is it any harder to have a sticky-note that says
K-Menu -> StarOffice -> Word
To Save : File (up at the top) -> save
than the windows equivalent?
If that's all people want from a system, I don't think that it's anything that Linux can't handle. No, it's no better than Windows for these applications, but it *is* cost-effective, which was one of the main thrusts of th article.
So now we know why *you* use Linux, but those last two didn't really address the points of the parent. Recent-game lovers aren't going to switch, and people who want to view all websites as they were meant to be seen won't switch.
I don't have a car, and there's a shopping centre about 15 minutes from my house. If I need milk/whatever, it looks like the Segway'd be the best way to get there. Not at 3k, of course, but I'd expect that price to come down if it becomes established.
It looks perfect for me. I'm in Ottawa, and live a 20 minute walk from school and 40 minutes from work when I'm working. Public transportation is decent but not great. This would be perfect for me. If these things become common, they'd be great for kids going to school, a short trip to the store - anything involving a few km. Maybe I'm one of those "certain industries and age groups" you mentioned, but I'd love one.
Even if someone comes up behind you and "bops you on the head", how are they going to get past the fingerprint identification next time they want to start it up?
If crime becomes a problem, there are plenty of ways to combat it.
Genetic engineering is still in its infancy. There is very little understanding of all the implications, and mistakes will be made. The thing is, though - we should allow them to be made. How else will we eventually get the desert-growing veggies that can feed thousands of people? The genetic cures for incurable diseases? Genetics is still in an "alchemy" stage, and it's expected that things will blow up, but with a lot of trial-and-error, I'm sure it will become at viable science within our lifetimes.
Nope - no property is damaged. I'd say the original analogy is pretty much correct. Merely "breaking into" a system is just wandering around it, seeing what's around. It doesn't matter if you just opened a door or went through the ducts - there was no damage.
What you say may be true, but this article is definitely front-page material in terms of a good read. I'm happier for having read it, so who cares what the motives behind it were?
I can't help but be impressed that they've been able to consistently follow this pattern for 9 movies. I'm sure after first contact, people said "They must have learned their lesson now - Insurrection will be great" It's not often that you can consistently rate a movie before it comes out.
Open source publishing devalues what they do
Slightly offtopic, but this phrase is important in just about any open-sourcing. I've got a friend who's a great marketer - he instinctively understands how to reach his audience and he's good at what he does. When I mentioned open-source *anything* to him, he pretty gave me the above quote. People will not believe that they can get something for nothing. If they have a choice between grabbing free research off the internet, and paying $5 for that same paper, they will immediately place more importance on the $5 copy. One way to increase the public's view of open source may - ironically - be to charge a higher price for it.
These sorts of suits are a waste of time and money for everyone. There's only so much court time available every year, and people who waste that time while important cases are on waiting lists should have to pay for their gross misuse of social resources.
If "humans-with-guns" is part of a larger cycle, I think that it can be argued that genetic manipulation can be consider part of the same cycle.
I'm sure they'd have little trouble creating two if they can manage one. They might be a little inbred a few years down the line, but...meh.
Looking at the genes of the (IIRC) cheetah, some biologists think that at one point they were down to a population of one pregnant female, and they turned out okay.
I really liked the series once they brought in the Cro-mags. Instead of just "we're in a reality...now we're in another reality", there was actually some continuity. So I started watching it.
In the 5 episodes I saw before I realized it was a futile effort, there was *one* that included any sort of continuous plot. What a pointless effort <sigh>
The song's terrible, but I love the actual opening sequence. The nebulas/stars/going-to-warp had been overdone.
Anyway, back on topic - I'm not a "casual" TV watcher. I'll make time for a few good shows a week, and watch them religiously. I don't like the idea of shows that are supposed to be at least partly "drama" that don't have a continuous storyline. Making Andromeda more episodic may make it more popular, which is what they want, but you'll lose the people who tune in *every* week. What's the point if you can just catch it on rerun without losing anything?
Now, I'd never heard of a "clinostat" before reading the article, so I could be missing something. From a google search it seems to just be a device that rotates, so that the fertilization technique won't have a constant force in a constant direction - but *will* always be under one full G of gravity. Is this really comparable to zero-g development?
don't you think that it might be a good thing for them
Not really - not even on the games front unless people are buying only MS games. It's like selling Windows instead of only licensing it...eventually everyone who wants one will have one, and there'll be little else to sell. Subscriptions are the only way to make customers keep providing you with money.
What I *can't* understand though is all of the hatred developing countries seem to have for this bastion of freedom.
I'm in. Wanna start a dist? :-)
If RedHat were actually called upon to do this thing, I wouldn't be surprised to see an "educational" distribution show up, that required a lot less knowledge of the behind-the-scenes stuff...I mean, you can already configure RedHat to start in KDE with fully-functional internet, office suite, etc. It wouldn't take much to remove the more complicated bits from the desktop and menus (system config stuff) so that that sort of thing would have to be done through the command-line. Add in a a couple of tools to create easy-to-use menus, and RedHat would be able to look just as dumbed-down as the common educational systems you see today.
As others have mentioned, it's a great chance to learn about computing, because it helps to know about the guts.
As for educational programs - I don't recall my elementary school having anything more educational than the "Mr Potato Head" in every KMenu. Or maybe an emulator can be set up for the older educational programs at little cost.
A free taco for everyone in America, I believe (USA, or the two continents of America, I wonder?)