Actually, the reason there are very few good wingsuit fliers is because very few people on this planet have the time, money, and passion to pursue the sport to this level. There are lots of BASE jumpers who would love to devote themselves to wingsuit BASE. However, to push yourself to the level of the best of the best takes years of practice, thousands of jumps, a LOT of patience, and incremental increases in the complexity/aggressiveness of your flying.
Plus, there are only a few places on this planet where one can become a world-class wingsuit BASE jumper. Nearly all the best wingsuit BASE jumpers are Norwegians, though there are a few places in the Swiss Alps where you can do some successful wingsuit BASE. I'm sure there are a few other places around the world, but they're likely far less accessible and likely not as ideal as the Norwegian fjords.
If you want to join the ranks of the best, you need to live near one of these spots, travel there weekly, spend hours hiking to the exit point, and be prepared to walk back down if the weather doesn't look good (and in Norway, bad weather is the rule, not the exception).
Lastly, there are a huge variety of reasons people die in BASE jumping. However, it's not just because people are bad at the sport. Sometimes shit just happens. Even the best of the best screw up one jump in 1000.
You're definitely right about some of those points. So-called "black" payrolls are still very common in Russia. Companies will often sign an official contract with an employee for, say, USD 200 per month, pay taxes on that USD 200, and then pay the employee a monthly cash "bonus" off the books of, say, USD 800.
However, this practice is getting much rarer (it was "the standard" three years ago, but is more the exception to the rule today) and is only an issue in small and some medium-sized enterprises. Most of these companies cheat on their taxes for two reasons:
1) They think they can get away with it (and most can, for a while)
2) They're cheap (and managed by people I wouldn't ever call professional businessmen)
In any substantial medium-sized or large enterprise, "white" salaries are the rule.
I'm not a professional on taxes, so I may be wrong about some of the following:
Unlike in the USA, Russians don't personally pay any of their taxes out of their own pocket. The 13% personal income tax is paid by the employer, and the employee never sees it. It's automatically deducted before salaries are distributed. Most Russians never even know that it's been paid.
Employers also pay an additional 14%-27% per employee depending on the employee's salary. The more the employee makes, the lower this percentage. As a result, in total an employer actually pays between 27% and 40% per employee. If I remember correctly, for an employee making, say, USD 800 per month, that figure works out to around 31%-32%.
Corporate gains and corporate profit tax are set at 24%, though there are some credits and lower tax rates available for companies working in specific industries or locations (for example government-sponsored tech parks, etc.).
VAT is levied at 18% for most sales, and 10% or 0% for some specific types of products (medicines, newspapers, magazines, children's goods, etc.). While a sales tax of 18% may seem insane to Americans, it's the standard rate in Europe.
In general, Russian taxes are actually quite simple. However, there's a very short history of tax precedent, so companies that adopt "aggressive" tax policies are regularly hit up with back tax claims (especially the telecoms industry, due to major reforms as of late).
In short, the basic tax rules are quite simple and tax rates aren't very high. However, when companies aggressively account, there are a lot of gray areas where a court still hasn't determined exactly when tax minimization transitions into tax avoidance and ultimately tax evasion.
P.S. Ernst & Young produce great English-language materials on doing business in Russia if you're interested. I'd start with this
Most of the Russians I know have no idea who Gary Kasparov is, or know of him only as a chess player. It actually isn't appropriate for me to call him a joke in Russia. Most Russians simply don't know who he is.
I am convinced that his actions in Russia are not targeted at Russians, but rather at the Western media. However, I don't have a solid "logical" basis to support this, and might be wrong. But when I hear the statements he makes and see the massive headlines he gets in the Western press (who seem anxious to bash Russian censorship at EVERY chance they get, when in fact I don't see the censorship they speak of), my gut feeling is that he's playing a choreographed part for a foreign audience.
Thanks for your insight and well thought out reply.
However, why do you think the acquisition of livejournal by a Russian company has a political motive? On the surface it seems like "good business". You said it yourself, livejournal _IS_ blogging for Russians.
I don't know the company SUP very well. Do you have any reason to believe it's in any way connected with individuals or companies who tow the Kremlin line? This information is easy enough to come by.
Also, I wouldn't say the internet in Russia is in a precarious state. To me it seems quite alive and free, and growing.
True, Russia's riches are largely attributable to hydrocarbons. Any administration in Russia would be getting rich off of oil right now. However, oil & gas are just a small part of the story, and they're what _made_ Russia rich, not what's keeping Russia rich (although they are making Russia _richer_).
I'm a Putin fan because he's doing an incredible job of not wasting or misspending all those riches. The vast majority of Russia's petrodollars have gone into funding the federal budget and anything left over is invested into a massive Stabilization Fund. The government is actively promoting diversification of the economy and development of additional sectors, and most importantly, they're being VERY CONSERVATIVE with what they do with that money.
The average Russian's salary is around USD 600 per month, and that's heavily skewed by the ungodly (by Russian standards) salaries seen in a few large cities like Moscow, St. Petersburg, Ekaterinburg, etc. A teacher, doctor, etc. in any provincial town is going to be making around USD 100 a month. Maybe a bit more, maybe less.
And yet the government is sitting on top of a stabilization fund in excess of USD 150 bn. The kneejerk reaction would be to increase spending and raise the salaries of all those doctors, lawyers, teachers, etc. who get paid so little.
And that's exactly the worst thing the government could do. An influx of cash like that would seriously hamper the country's economic development and drive inflation through the roof. Rather, the government is saving those assets for a rainy day (Russia has the third-largest international reserves in the world, behind China and Japan, and is a major creditor to its G8 peers, including the USA).
The government is nurturing development of additional industries, including metals & mining (Russia's a huge steel producer, and China next door is a HUGE consumer), its utilities sector (China's also set to become a huge electricity consumer), agriculture, industrial, chemicals, technology, retail, etc. Corporate taxes are low. Personal taxes are almost nonexistent (13% flat tax across the board! Hell Yeah!!!)
While at the moment the country is still threatened by Dutch Disease, as these other industries develop further, the chance that Russia's economy could be ruined by a downward spiral in oil prices will decrease. As it stands, the Russian budget will still be balanced even with oil at USD 40 per bbl (and it's currently just shy of USD 100 per bbl). In 2006, oil & gas represented just 6% of GDP, and the government hopes to have that number down to less than 4% by 2011.
So where's all this growth coming from? It's largely domestic, and it's NOT A RESULT OF HIGH OIL PRICES. In 2006, the vast majority of Russia's GDP growth came from non-tradable services and goods for the domestic market. We're talking about telecommunications services (cell phones), transportation (airlines), banking, etc. etc. etc. And the most promising thing, is that the entirety of the non-raw-materials economy is only just now getting started. Moscow itself is really approaching the same level of living as any major metropolis (note I say approaching - there's a lot in Moscow that's in need of a major overhaul. The streets are dirty, water and electric utilities will take 30 years to overhaul, etc.). Yet one-third of Russia's GDP is produced in Moscow and Moscow region, which are home to ONLY ONE-TENTH of Russia's population.
Personal incomes are rising quickly (18% per year), inflation is high but under control (9% in 2006, 11.5% in 2007), and the ruble is slowly but steadily appreciating (which is exactly what the government should try to do). In short, the economy is growing at a healthy rate, and business is developing on its own as fast as it can, but not because of some huge cash injection from the government that would be squandered.
Yes, there are problems with the limited Russian media. However, your definition of Russia as a harsh Big-brother nation run by the local mafia is overly simple and in most cases just flat out wrong.
The mafia don't run Russia any more. Russia is controlled and run by a few very rich corporations and individuals. The number of very rich corporations and individuals is growing on a daily basis.
Dissenting voices do get heard. The problem is that most Russians don't care to listen. Most Russians don't give a shit about politics.
Putin is doing wonders for the economy. Russia is one of the fastest developing countries on the planet, and will continue to grow that way for at least the next 5-10 years. The reason Russia is controlled by one party is because that one party is doing wonderful things for the average living standards of people across the country.
In another 4-8 years, Putin's power in the Russian government will have declined, and Russia will start to move towards a true, multi-party system as all those wealthy companies and individuals step in to fill the ex-Putin void. However, in the mean time there's no reason for Russia to change, and the vast majority of Russians will be much better off if the status quo is maintained for a couple years longer.
P.S. In Russia, Gary Kasparov is a joke. And 95% of what the New York Times writes about Russia is pure tripe.
PC Stats actually took this idea from me. I took the same processeor, unplugged the computer (to lower power consumption) and then stuck it in a freezer (to lower temperature). Wow! Also nil power consumption (the freezer uses some to keep it cool) and the temp is really low! Next I'm going to try this with my laptop because the bottom of it gets really hot!
Not a bad strategy, but it'd be much more efficient if you watercooled the CPU rather than aircooling it (which is what you effectively do when you put it in a freezer). Just take your case and place it in the bathtub (you can even soak in the bath with it if you want!). As far as lower power consumption goes, you'll notice a huge power spike for the first tenth of a second or so, but afterwards power consumption effectively drops to zero (along as your heart rate, if you're in the tub).
Perhaps instead of employing 500-600 hackers to deter a threat that they create to intimidate their own people they should consider giving their people some food so they don't starve to death.
Are you talking about North Korea or the United States?
Seriously though, I can think of over 50 countries that fit that bill, and many of them are most decidedly not third world/fringe states.
Great argument up until point 8. However, you can argue that deliberately causing children to starve to death serves some sort of greater purpose. For example, it could allow us to recognize the difference between pleasure and pain - if there were no pain, how would we be able to appreciate pleasure.
Personally, I'm a big fan of causing children to starve to death. The more the merrier. It just allows me to better appreciate my pleasure. Unless, of course, the child starving is my own. But I'm working on a great degree in Computer Science, so I shouldn't ever have to worry about feeding my family. Right?;*)
If you think what's going on in the yard when "Fluffy" gets barbequed is interesting, wait til you see what his webcame's server looks like after it gets slashdotted;)
True, one machine working at a meager speed of only 1 billion atoms per second would take a while to complete any substantial task. But here we have to think exponentially. For example, if you create one machine that makes a copy of itself, and then the copies copy themselves, in next to no time you've got a whole bunch of copies working away, building pieces of our final solution (pun?).
But of course, other than the idea of machines multiplying exponentially (which really gets my motor running), this is all rather boring. What's more important is the bragging rights you would have if you had a Beowulf Cluster of these things all cranking away working on the final solution, or something like that.
So, in summary, none of this will likely happy in my lifetime, but just the idea of a Beowulf Cluster of fabricators all working on my final solution (which as an earlier poster suggested would of course be a life-sized Natalie Portman) gives me all sorts of naughty thoughts.
* I don't normally resort to something as stupid as the above - I don't know what came over me. Please mod down.
Yeah, my mistake. I didn't realize my first statement gave that impression 'til after I'd already posted. Should have read the "Preview".
Still though, even if it's written by a foreigner, most reputable (read as "BIG") companies employ native English proofreaders who go through and correct errors just like these.
Not only does the article (and its accompanying graphics) have a ton of simple grammatical errors, but the sentence structure is not indicative of a native English speaker.
Choice phrases like "That's greater 1,000 times any State of the Art hard disk technology with 100 Gigabytes on one disk" and "The need for new storage technology is evident to only to those having backgrounds in data storage." cast a lot of doubt on the credibility of this source.
Actually, the only form of hydrogen storage efficient enough to be used for personal vehicles is as a solid in a metal hydride storage container. Other options, such as gas or liquid storage, are too bulky and heavy to be used in personal vehicles. Metal hydride storage is vastly more volume efficient.
The big plus to metal hydride storage, however, is that there is no way the stored hydrogen can explode. When the metal hydride is heated, it releases its hydrogen gradually...perfect for personal vehicles, but not good for massive attention-grabbing explosions like in the movies. If the metal hydride storage container is punctured, the hydrogen will seep out slowly, and the only way an explosion, or even combustion could occur, is if the hydrogen builds up over time in an enclosed space...not likely to happen in a vehicle cabin given the traditional location of fuel tanks on current vehicles.
I'm too lazy to find a proper paper about metal hydride storage, but you can read about it at http://www.ergenics.com/page2.htm. The current problem with metal hydride storage is that, while it's the most efficient hydrogen storage available right now, it's still not great...it's going to take several more years to bring the technology up to par and to bring the price down. The precious metals used in current metal hydrides aren't cheap as well. There is promise that carbon nanotube technology could drastically increase efficiency (I've heard rumors that carbon nanotubes could theoretically bring the efficiency from current 10% volume efficiencies to something like 70$). I won't hold my breath though...I'm sure it's decades off.
The fact that there's any executable code on the CD at all is disturbing enough. Even on enhanced CDs, there's clear enough indication that the CD contains software. But on these, you have no warning, no sticker, no EULA displayed prior to popping the CD into your computer and running their software.
Bandlink is betting that the average Joe won't care that software is being run on their computer, so long as by clicking "No" to the EULA, the software is never installed. On the other hand, I have no respect for the programmers at Bandlink, and don't trust their software to simply display an EULA, to be free of malicious code, or to avoid causing my CD-ROM to spray sparks, my hard drives to spin faster and faster til destruction, or my monitor to flash explicit Michael Jackson-esque kiddie porn before my sensitive eyes.
God forbid Bandlink ever hires a disgruntled employee who feels like fucking over his parent company.
The inevitable influence of programming language choice on sexual performance is, unfortunately, a reality that the medical and psychological communities have yet to recognize or even fully come to grips with. It is undeniable that any regular behavior (such as programming), which becomes so large a part of any slashdot reader's life, will have a tangible affect on sexual performance and stamina. And it is pitiful that the medical community has thus far failed to research programming's affect on both the male and female sexual drive.
At present, a multitude of medical questions revolve around the various aspects of programming, ranging from the blatant influence of language and platform choice, to the more mundane and subtle influences of development environment and debugger choices. Preliminary research has proven only that the more we try to solve the mystery of coding's influence on the human psyche and man's most primal urges, the more questions we uncover.
For instance, with researchers from Prague, Moscow, Buenos Aires, and various sites in the USA working in concert, irrefutable evidence has recently surfaced illustrating the drastic sexual differences between vi and Emacs programmers...with vi programmers tending to prefer a more simplistic, hands-on approach to sexual activity, and a general distaste for experimentation in the bedroom. Needless to say, missionary is the overwhelming favorite among vi users. Conversely, Emacites (as they've been lovingly called by researchers) tend to be more liberal and focused on the visual aspects of lovemaking. Studies have found them much more eager to pursue menage e'toiles and exotic sexual positions. Their only potential sexual drawback, however, is their insistence that size does matter, and that bigger is better.
The striking differences between open source and closed source programmers are also being explored. Among the questions posed to researchers:
Are closed source programmers more likely to charge money for sex, while open source programmers eager to give it away for free? Are debugger-reliant programmers more prone to STDs? The phrase "wrap it up, everytime." Is it being misinterpreted? Massive Yellow 5 intake as a potential male birth control? Sex as a possible treatment for carpal tunnel, in much the same way marijuana can lessen the pain of glaucoma?
Obviously, the irrefutable link between programming and sex will continue to be explored and explained in the upcoming years. One day soon we may see an age where programmers become the sexual icons of society, and where lovers moan recursive algorithms under their breaths in the throes of ecstacy. The future does look good.
Hey augros. Love your sig. Would have sent this to you directly, but your e-mail wasn't public. However, I must say that your sig doesn't seem entirely accurately. I think it's more like spitting in the wind.
If you don't go in just the right direction, your comments come back to haunt you (with interest).
But even hard drives are getting obsolete. Granted, no viable commercial alternatives exist right now (primarily because the consumers aren't demanding them right now), but the technology already exists for low-latency, high-bandwidth data storage and retrieval. Personally, I'm looking forward to crystal storage. Transfer speeds 1000 times current values and the ability to store 200+ gigs in a cubic centimeter of space...it beats the hell out of DVDs or other optical devices. And because there's no rotating platter(s), the seek time is only a fraction of what you have for conventional spin-based storage (i.e. CDs, DVDs, hard drives).
Of course, we won't see any of this stuff on the consumer market until there's a reasonable demand for it. Guess I'll be counting the days.
Ogg will never compete with the popularity of mp3s. Granted, Ogg is the superior format, from all accounts (including my own ears), you get marginally better and more original sound quality with the same bitrate from ogg than you get from mp3. However, ogg lacks the widespread support and popularity that mp3 has already achieved (and that future mpeg versions will capitalize on). The mp3 format is supported everywhere from Microsoft Windows (the default installation gives you Media Player, which plays mp3s) to portable devices to car cd players.
Expecting people to switch to ogg from mp3 for only minor space savings or marginally better sound for the same bitrate would be like expecting people to switch from VHS to Beta. And we all know what happened there. When the differences between standards are small, the quality of one versus the other is not nearly as important as public recognition, widespread support and popularity, and ease of use. Ogg will never compete with mp3 except in the recesses of audiophile and computer geek society, where hardcore techies will forever praise its superiority as the rest of the world passes them by. Not to say that's a bad thing.
Slashdot Mirror
Actually, the reason there are very few good wingsuit fliers is because very few people on this planet have the time, money, and passion to pursue the sport to this level. There are lots of BASE jumpers who would love to devote themselves to wingsuit BASE. However, to push yourself to the level of the best of the best takes years of practice, thousands of jumps, a LOT of patience, and incremental increases in the complexity/aggressiveness of your flying.
Plus, there are only a few places on this planet where one can become a world-class wingsuit BASE jumper. Nearly all the best wingsuit BASE jumpers are Norwegians, though there are a few places in the Swiss Alps where you can do some successful wingsuit BASE. I'm sure there are a few other places around the world, but they're likely far less accessible and likely not as ideal as the Norwegian fjords.
If you want to join the ranks of the best, you need to live near one of these spots, travel there weekly, spend hours hiking to the exit point, and be prepared to walk back down if the weather doesn't look good (and in Norway, bad weather is the rule, not the exception).
Lastly, there are a huge variety of reasons people die in BASE jumping. However, it's not just because people are bad at the sport. Sometimes shit just happens. Even the best of the best screw up one jump in 1000.
Good call.
You're definitely right about some of those points. So-called "black" payrolls are still very common in Russia. Companies will often sign an official contract with an employee for, say, USD 200 per month, pay taxes on that USD 200, and then pay the employee a monthly cash "bonus" off the books of, say, USD 800.
However, this practice is getting much rarer (it was "the standard" three years ago, but is more the exception to the rule today) and is only an issue in small and some medium-sized enterprises. Most of these companies cheat on their taxes for two reasons:
1) They think they can get away with it (and most can, for a while)
2) They're cheap (and managed by people I wouldn't ever call professional businessmen)
In any substantial medium-sized or large enterprise, "white" salaries are the rule.
I'm not a professional on taxes, so I may be wrong about some of the following:
Unlike in the USA, Russians don't personally pay any of their taxes out of their own pocket. The 13% personal income tax is paid by the employer, and the employee never sees it. It's automatically deducted before salaries are distributed. Most Russians never even know that it's been paid.
Employers also pay an additional 14%-27% per employee depending on the employee's salary. The more the employee makes, the lower this percentage. As a result, in total an employer actually pays between 27% and 40% per employee. If I remember correctly, for an employee making, say, USD 800 per month, that figure works out to around 31%-32%. Corporate gains and corporate profit tax are set at 24%, though there are some credits and lower tax rates available for companies working in specific industries or locations (for example government-sponsored tech parks, etc.).
VAT is levied at 18% for most sales, and 10% or 0% for some specific types of products (medicines, newspapers, magazines, children's goods, etc.). While a sales tax of 18% may seem insane to Americans, it's the standard rate in Europe.
In general, Russian taxes are actually quite simple. However, there's a very short history of tax precedent, so companies that adopt "aggressive" tax policies are regularly hit up with back tax claims (especially the telecoms industry, due to major reforms as of late).
In short, the basic tax rules are quite simple and tax rates aren't very high. However, when companies aggressively account, there are a lot of gray areas where a court still hasn't determined exactly when tax minimization transitions into tax avoidance and ultimately tax evasion.
P.S. Ernst & Young produce great English-language materials on doing business in Russia if you're interested. I'd start with this
Most of the Russians I know have no idea who Gary Kasparov is, or know of him only as a chess player. It actually isn't appropriate for me to call him a joke in Russia. Most Russians simply don't know who he is.
I am convinced that his actions in Russia are not targeted at Russians, but rather at the Western media. However, I don't have a solid "logical" basis to support this, and might be wrong. But when I hear the statements he makes and see the massive headlines he gets in the Western press (who seem anxious to bash Russian censorship at EVERY chance they get, when in fact I don't see the censorship they speak of), my gut feeling is that he's playing a choreographed part for a foreign audience.
Thanks for your insight and well thought out reply.
However, why do you think the acquisition of livejournal by a Russian company has a political motive? On the surface it seems like "good business". You said it yourself, livejournal _IS_ blogging for Russians.
I don't know the company SUP very well. Do you have any reason to believe it's in any way connected with individuals or companies who tow the Kremlin line? This information is easy enough to come by.
Also, I wouldn't say the internet in Russia is in a precarious state. To me it seems quite alive and free, and growing.
True, Russia's riches are largely attributable to hydrocarbons. Any administration in Russia would be getting rich off of oil right now. However, oil & gas are just a small part of the story, and they're what _made_ Russia rich, not what's keeping Russia rich (although they are making Russia _richer_).
I'm a Putin fan because he's doing an incredible job of not wasting or misspending all those riches. The vast majority of Russia's petrodollars have gone into funding the federal budget and anything left over is invested into a massive Stabilization Fund. The government is actively promoting diversification of the economy and development of additional sectors, and most importantly, they're being VERY CONSERVATIVE with what they do with that money.
The average Russian's salary is around USD 600 per month, and that's heavily skewed by the ungodly (by Russian standards) salaries seen in a few large cities like Moscow, St. Petersburg, Ekaterinburg, etc. A teacher, doctor, etc. in any provincial town is going to be making around USD 100 a month. Maybe a bit more, maybe less.
And yet the government is sitting on top of a stabilization fund in excess of USD 150 bn. The kneejerk reaction would be to increase spending and raise the salaries of all those doctors, lawyers, teachers, etc. who get paid so little.
And that's exactly the worst thing the government could do. An influx of cash like that would seriously hamper the country's economic development and drive inflation through the roof. Rather, the government is saving those assets for a rainy day (Russia has the third-largest international reserves in the world, behind China and Japan, and is a major creditor to its G8 peers, including the USA).
The government is nurturing development of additional industries, including metals & mining (Russia's a huge steel producer, and China next door is a HUGE consumer), its utilities sector (China's also set to become a huge electricity consumer), agriculture, industrial, chemicals, technology, retail, etc. Corporate taxes are low. Personal taxes are almost nonexistent (13% flat tax across the board! Hell Yeah!!!)
While at the moment the country is still threatened by Dutch Disease, as these other industries develop further, the chance that Russia's economy could be ruined by a downward spiral in oil prices will decrease. As it stands, the Russian budget will still be balanced even with oil at USD 40 per bbl (and it's currently just shy of USD 100 per bbl). In 2006, oil & gas represented just 6% of GDP, and the government hopes to have that number down to less than 4% by 2011.
So where's all this growth coming from? It's largely domestic, and it's NOT A RESULT OF HIGH OIL PRICES. In 2006, the vast majority of Russia's GDP growth came from non-tradable services and goods for the domestic market. We're talking about telecommunications services (cell phones), transportation (airlines), banking, etc. etc. etc. And the most promising thing, is that the entirety of the non-raw-materials economy is only just now getting started. Moscow itself is really approaching the same level of living as any major metropolis (note I say approaching - there's a lot in Moscow that's in need of a major overhaul. The streets are dirty, water and electric utilities will take 30 years to overhaul, etc.). Yet one-third of Russia's GDP is produced in Moscow and Moscow region, which are home to ONLY ONE-TENTH of Russia's population.
Personal incomes are rising quickly (18% per year), inflation is high but under control (9% in 2006, 11.5% in 2007), and the ruble is slowly but steadily appreciating (which is exactly what the government should try to do). In short, the economy is growing at a healthy rate, and business is developing on its own as fast as it can, but not because of some huge cash injection from the government that would be squandered.
Russia's got its problems. There are far t
I can tell you've never been to Russia.
I live there. It's cold.
Yes, there are problems with the limited Russian media. However, your definition of Russia as a harsh Big-brother nation run by the local mafia is overly simple and in most cases just flat out wrong.
The mafia don't run Russia any more. Russia is controlled and run by a few very rich corporations and individuals. The number of very rich corporations and individuals is growing on a daily basis.
Dissenting voices do get heard. The problem is that most Russians don't care to listen. Most Russians don't give a shit about politics.
Putin is doing wonders for the economy. Russia is one of the fastest developing countries on the planet, and will continue to grow that way for at least the next 5-10 years. The reason Russia is controlled by one party is because that one party is doing wonderful things for the average living standards of people across the country.
In another 4-8 years, Putin's power in the Russian government will have declined, and Russia will start to move towards a true, multi-party system as all those wealthy companies and individuals step in to fill the ex-Putin void. However, in the mean time there's no reason for Russia to change, and the vast majority of Russians will be much better off if the status quo is maintained for a couple years longer.
P.S. In Russia, Gary Kasparov is a joke. And 95% of what the New York Times writes about Russia is pure tripe.
Why is this post at the moment labeled (Score:4, Insightful)? Really, I'm not making this up!!!
You do realize the parent is joking, right?
PC Stats actually took this idea from me. I took the same processeor, unplugged the computer (to lower power consumption) and then stuck it in a freezer (to lower temperature). Wow! Also nil power consumption (the freezer uses some to keep it cool) and the temp is really low! Next I'm going to try this with my laptop because the bottom of it gets really hot!
Not a bad strategy, but it'd be much more efficient if you watercooled the CPU rather than aircooling it (which is what you effectively do when you put it in a freezer). Just take your case and place it in the bathtub (you can even soak in the bath with it if you want!). As far as lower power consumption goes, you'll notice a huge power spike for the first tenth of a second or so, but afterwards power consumption effectively drops to zero (along as your heart rate, if you're in the tub).
Just my $0.01999999974981
Perhaps instead of employing 500-600 hackers to deter a threat that they create to intimidate their own people they should consider giving their people some food so they don't starve to death.
Are you talking about North Korea or the United States?
Seriously though, I can think of over 50 countries that fit that bill, and many of them are most decidedly not third world/fringe states.
Great argument up until point 8. However, you can argue that deliberately causing children to starve to death serves some sort of greater purpose. For example, it could allow us to recognize the difference between pleasure and pain - if there were no pain, how would we be able to appreciate pleasure.
;*)
Personally, I'm a big fan of causing children to starve to death. The more the merrier. It just allows me to better appreciate my pleasure. Unless, of course, the child starving is my own. But I'm working on a great degree in Computer Science, so I shouldn't ever have to worry about feeding my family. Right?
If you think what's going on in the yard when "Fluffy" gets barbequed is interesting, wait til you see what his webcame's server looks like after it gets slashdotted ;)
True, one machine working at a meager speed of only 1 billion atoms per second would take a while to complete any substantial task. But here we have to think exponentially. For example, if you create one machine that makes a copy of itself, and then the copies copy themselves, in next to no time you've got a whole bunch of copies working away, building pieces of our final solution (pun?).
But of course, other than the idea of machines multiplying exponentially (which really gets my motor running), this is all rather boring. What's more important is the bragging rights you would have if you had a Beowulf Cluster of these things all cranking away working on the final solution, or something like that.
So, in summary, none of this will likely happy in my lifetime, but just the idea of a Beowulf Cluster of fabricators all working on my final solution (which as an earlier poster suggested would of course be a life-sized Natalie Portman) gives me all sorts of naughty thoughts.
* I don't normally resort to something as stupid as the above - I don't know what came over me. Please mod down.
Yeah, my mistake. I didn't realize my first statement gave that impression 'til after I'd already posted. Should have read the "Preview".
Still though, even if it's written by a foreigner, most reputable (read as "BIG") companies employ native English proofreaders who go through and correct errors just like these.
Not only does the article (and its accompanying graphics) have a ton of simple grammatical errors, but the sentence structure is not indicative of a native English speaker.
Choice phrases like "That's greater 1,000 times any State of the Art hard disk technology with 100 Gigabytes on one disk" and "The need for new storage technology is evident to only to those having backgrounds in data storage." cast a lot of doubt on the credibility of this source.
Actually, the only form of hydrogen storage efficient enough to be used for personal vehicles is as a solid in a metal hydride storage container. Other options, such as gas or liquid storage, are too bulky and heavy to be used in personal vehicles. Metal hydride storage is vastly more volume efficient.
The big plus to metal hydride storage, however, is that there is no way the stored hydrogen can explode. When the metal hydride is heated, it releases its hydrogen gradually...perfect for personal vehicles, but not good for massive attention-grabbing explosions like in the movies. If the metal hydride storage container is punctured, the hydrogen will seep out slowly, and the only way an explosion, or even combustion could occur, is if the hydrogen builds up over time in an enclosed space...not likely to happen in a vehicle cabin given the traditional location of fuel tanks on current vehicles.
I'm too lazy to find a proper paper about metal hydride storage, but you can read about it at http://www.ergenics.com/page2.htm. The current problem with metal hydride storage is that, while it's the most efficient hydrogen storage available right now, it's still not great...it's going to take several more years to bring the technology up to par and to bring the price down. The precious metals used in current metal hydrides aren't cheap as well. There is promise that carbon nanotube technology could drastically increase efficiency (I've heard rumors that carbon nanotubes could theoretically bring the efficiency from current 10% volume efficiencies to something like 70$). I won't hold my breath though...I'm sure it's decades off.
yup. And the message is 41,99999999 (ad finitum)
Damn!!! FDIV Bug strikes again. I suppose Intel processors could explain a lot of Marvin though.
An error occured while loading http://www.alwayson-network.com/comments.php?id=14 77_0_7_0_C:
Timeout on server
Connection was to www.alwayson-network.com at port 80
alwayson-network.com???
Not anymore!
Those servers who have not studied the slashdot effect are doomed to repeat it
The parallel idea sounds good, but it'd probably be much better to wire those vehicles in series.
Just my $0.01999999999947347
The fact that there's any executable code on the CD at all is disturbing enough. Even on enhanced CDs, there's clear enough indication that the CD contains software. But on these, you have no warning, no sticker, no EULA displayed prior to popping the CD into your computer and running their software.
Bandlink is betting that the average Joe won't care that software is being run on their computer, so long as by clicking "No" to the EULA, the software is never installed. On the other hand, I have no respect for the programmers at Bandlink, and don't trust their software to simply display an EULA, to be free of malicious code, or to avoid causing my CD-ROM to spray sparks, my hard drives to spin faster and faster til destruction, or my monitor to flash explicit Michael Jackson-esque kiddie porn before my sensitive eyes.
God forbid Bandlink ever hires a disgruntled employee who feels like fucking over his parent company.
That's not nanotechnology...that's a virus. We manufacture those now, too.
The inevitable influence of programming language choice on sexual performance is, unfortunately, a reality that the medical and psychological communities have yet to recognize or even fully come to grips with. It is undeniable that any regular behavior (such as programming), which becomes so large a part of any slashdot reader's life, will have a tangible affect on sexual performance and stamina. And it is pitiful that the medical community has thus far failed to research programming's affect on both the male and female sexual drive.
At present, a multitude of medical questions revolve around the various aspects of programming, ranging from the blatant influence of language and platform choice, to the more mundane and subtle influences of development environment and debugger choices. Preliminary research has proven only that the more we try to solve the mystery of coding's influence on the human psyche and man's most primal urges, the more questions we uncover.
For instance, with researchers from Prague, Moscow, Buenos Aires, and various sites in the USA working in concert, irrefutable evidence has recently surfaced illustrating the drastic sexual differences between vi and Emacs programmers...with vi programmers tending to prefer a more simplistic, hands-on approach to sexual activity, and a general distaste for experimentation in the bedroom. Needless to say, missionary is the overwhelming favorite among vi users. Conversely, Emacites (as they've been lovingly called by researchers) tend to be more liberal and focused on the visual aspects of lovemaking. Studies have found them much more eager to pursue menage e'toiles and exotic sexual positions. Their only potential sexual drawback, however, is their insistence that size does matter, and that bigger is better.
The striking differences between open source and closed source programmers are also being explored. Among the questions posed to researchers:
Are closed source programmers more likely to charge money for sex, while open source programmers eager to give it away for free?
Are debugger-reliant programmers more prone to STDs?
The phrase "wrap it up, everytime." Is it being misinterpreted?
Massive Yellow 5 intake as a potential male birth control?
Sex as a possible treatment for carpal tunnel, in much the same way marijuana can lessen the pain of glaucoma?
Obviously, the irrefutable link between programming and sex will continue to be explored and explained in the upcoming years. One day soon we may see an age where programmers become the sexual icons of society, and where lovers moan recursive algorithms under their breaths in the throes of ecstacy. The future does look good.
Hey augros. Love your sig. Would have sent this to you directly, but your e-mail wasn't public. However, I must say that your sig doesn't seem entirely accurately. I think it's more like spitting in the wind.
If you don't go in just the right direction, your comments come back to haunt you (with interest).
But even hard drives are getting obsolete. Granted, no viable commercial alternatives exist right now (primarily because the consumers aren't demanding them right now), but the technology already exists for low-latency, high-bandwidth data storage and retrieval. Personally, I'm looking forward to crystal storage. Transfer speeds 1000 times current values and the ability to store 200+ gigs in a cubic centimeter of space...it beats the hell out of DVDs or other optical devices. And because there's no rotating platter(s), the seek time is only a fraction of what you have for conventional spin-based storage (i.e. CDs, DVDs, hard drives).
Of course, we won't see any of this stuff on the consumer market until there's a reasonable demand for it. Guess I'll be counting the days.
Ogg will never compete with the popularity of mp3s. Granted, Ogg is the superior format, from all accounts (including my own ears), you get marginally better and more original sound quality with the same bitrate from ogg than you get from mp3. However, ogg lacks the widespread support and popularity that mp3 has already achieved (and that future mpeg versions will capitalize on). The mp3 format is supported everywhere from Microsoft Windows (the default installation gives you Media Player, which plays mp3s) to portable devices to car cd players.
Expecting people to switch to ogg from mp3 for only minor space savings or marginally better sound for the same bitrate would be like expecting people to switch from VHS to Beta. And we all know what happened there. When the differences between standards are small, the quality of one versus the other is not nearly as important as public recognition, widespread support and popularity, and ease of use. Ogg will never compete with mp3 except in the recesses of audiophile and computer geek society, where hardcore techies will forever praise its superiority as the rest of the world passes them by. Not to say that's a bad thing.