Well, the first series was based on the Cold War in the 60's (replace Klingons with Russians). That is now 40 years ago!
Consider what would have been in a university bookstore 40 years compared to what is available now... computer science books were based on punched cards, programming languages were Fortran, and Cobol, electronic instruments were based on meters, large switches and twiddly dials. Today, computer science books are based on script programming, electronic instruments are based on GUI's, and new book sections include Genomics/Proteonics and Entrepeneurship.
You'll see that with all the 1950's sci-fi novels. They were full of doomsday scenerios of overcrowded cities, with space-travel by V2 shaped rockets being the only escape (with the dangers of landing on a planet already populated).
You've still got to get your launch rail transported and built, along with your power supply (nuclear reactor/solar panels). The launch rail would have to be anchored to the ground rock (if there is any) to make sure nothing works loose. And it would still have to project the vehicle up to at least 3600 miles/hour, which means it would have to be a few miles long. Using rockets is still the most efficient method.
That's the first question that anyone discussing the applications of these consoles should be asking. The PS1 worked with 16-bit fix point integers, the PS2 worked with floating point, but had precision errors with 32-bit floats, that prevented hierarchical model calculations.
For any serious scientific research, both 32-bit and 64-bit floating point units are designed to have extra precision that aren't immediately visible to the application. The idea of these is to prevent any precision errors from creeping into the final calculations results.
For consumer products, some chip designers may choose to discard these transistors in order to save power consumption and transistor real estate. After all, if they are discarding things like branch prediction, and intelligent caches, precision would have gone first.
The idea of rail-guns for launching vehicles came about because on other planets there wasn't enough atmosphere for aerodynamics to work or for jet engines to work. The relative vacuum and low gravity was an advantage for anything that didn't need to carry its own fuel. The rail gun would use electromagnetic fields to accelerate the vehicle to beyond escape velocity.
However, for Earth, you need a take off velocity of at least 7 miles/second (or 25,000 miles/hour). And that doesn't take into air friction. Assuming you could build such an aerodynamic capsule, you would need a considerable acceleration for a period of the launch phase.
To minimize the amount of energy you need to use, you'd want to travel straight up, and to generate enough energy you would probably have to burn gallons of hydrocarbons or run a whole chain of nuclear reactors. Since energy is most efficient when you use the least number of conversion stages, you really end up with a vertical rocket launch with solid or liquid fuel.
Yes, but they do allow online web sites to try and rip you off by keeping track of the previous items you have browsed. It really blows me away to see an airline try and charge me 1000+ pounds to fly between two UK cities (normal price 100 pounds).
Maybe we could have smart CD's where a small magnetic strip is stored on the transparent plastic bit at the centre of the disc. Then you could save some basic information such as the last track position on the disc.
There's a place for everything - here in the UK, the national papers usually give out a free DVD on a Sunday, and the DVD's contain a few movie trailers. For a newspaper, a movie trailer is a freebie I'll watch out of curiosity, but when I want to watch DVD it really feels rather patronising.
California has the Initiative Process which allows anyone to propose a solution to a problem that becomes state law.
Example: Because they had rapid growth in the 1950's - 1970's, property taxes were going through the roof, and people suddenly discovered they couldn't afford to remain in California, so instead of moving out, they supported Proposition 13 which capped the rate at which property taxes could increase.
Not forgetting external 2.5" USB hard disk drives - and you have 40 to 100 GBytes of untraceable storage space ready to be used at the Internet cafe of your choice.
But they should know already what the virus writers are looking for... things like receiving blocks of binary data containing the size and data of the block, and just reading the specified amount of data without any regard to the size of that existing buffer, or implementing script functionality that allows arbitary scripts to be downloaded, executed, wander through the filesystem and read/write arbitary files, or applications that use sockets as the default communication protocol between tasks. (Although in the latter case, no-one could really have anticipated that network drivers designed for office LAN's would be permanently exposed to the outside world through broadband connections).
I read that the Russians had the idea of flying planes underground through specially built tunnels. The "plane" wouldn't so take off, but the effect of custom built wings would cause the plane to be pulled towards the centreline of the tunnel, and the jet engines would make it travel around 500 miles/hour.
You find that your exclusive townhouse and neighbourhood only 5 minutes from the market has within hours, been moved 5 clicks North to make way for a new plaza, condos and hypermarket.
The problem is, these attackers will hide behind the IP address of some innocent individual. They are either going to set up a decoy web page, or log into the system of some company or home user, and launch an attack from there.
It's not going to do your reputation any good, when you're the one in the newspapers because some disabled kid got his computer owned then blasted away, and the repair shop/ISP traced the attack back to your house.
There's a similar situation going on in the UK. Apparently CD/games that total lss than 18 pounds can be bought VAT free from Jersey, since the island has a separate tax system from the UK and doesn't have any sales tax. Consequently, this trade is depriving the treasury of 80 million pounds, and may soon reach 200 million pounds.
What happened to all those crazy Internet radio stations that used to play short films by new directors?
I remember seeing this movie about a mental patient who met a couple of evangelists on the street, and kept winding one of them up by claiming to be the last angel. Eventually one of the evangelists gets mad, decks the guy and then the sky turns black.
well, according to the no2id FAQ : "Government ministers have almost unanimously ruled out the option for legal compulsion to carry a card, and indeed clause 15 (3) of the Bill specifically rules out any provision (within the ID cards Bill) for requiring people to carry the card at all times."
In which case, it no longer serves the purpose of being an ID card. Anything with a photograph; a driving license, company badge, or even bus pass will be used in its place.
So every member of the general public is going to be asked to pay 100-300 pounds in taxes or direct payments for something they won't be likely to need. I was once issued with a NI card - a simple credit card with my social security number on it, but I never had to use it for taxes or benefits, as I was always required to provide an existing government issued form/document along with photographic ID (ie. passport).
No-one has ever explained how such a card will prevent crimes such as benefit fraud, terrorism, shoplifting, burglary or muggings.
The justification for ID cards is that they will prevent fraud, while experts have testified that ID cards will become "the master key" for identity thieves.
There was once a science program which explored the variation in human physiques. They mentioned that on Earth, there was a limit of about 2 metres height for bipedal physiques due to the dangers of severe head injury simple due to tripping over and hitting something. Practical examples were people with thyroid problems. And having a thicker skull didn't really help because it just gave your head more momentum when falling.
If you have N times as much gravity, anything human would probably have to be 2/N metres, which doesn't really leave much room for height.
I guess dolphins, whales, crocodiles and alligators would probably be able to handle that amount of gravity.
32 threads in hardware on one chip is the same as 32 slow CPUs.
A human brain consists of around 100 billion neurons each running at a maximum speed of 500 Hz (a single neuron can depolarize and recharge within 0.002 seconds).
If that were the case, wouldn't we be better off having a few huge brain cells, rather than billions of small ones?
Either way, I've got that whole eccentric computer geek thing down. I was hired by a companya and told afterword that I was hired because I looked like "a hacker" and they wanted one around in case they "got hacked". Most people just ask my opinion about what computer to buy their kid. Sometimes the stereotype can work to your advantage.;)
That's been the attitude of several companies I've interviewed for in the South of England. Their logic goes as follows:
Some bright graduates dress eccentrically.
Therefore any eccentrically dressed graduates must be bright.
Therefore only employ graduates who dress eccentrically at the interview.
Slashdot Mirror
Well, the first series was based on the Cold War in the 60's (replace Klingons with Russians). That is now 40 years ago!
Consider what would have been in a university bookstore 40 years compared to what is available now... computer science books were based on punched cards, programming languages were Fortran, and Cobol, electronic instruments were based on meters, large switches and twiddly dials. Today, computer science books are based on script programming, electronic instruments are based on GUI's, and new book sections include Genomics/Proteonics and Entrepeneurship.
You'll see that with all the 1950's sci-fi novels. They were full of doomsday scenerios of overcrowded cities, with space-travel by V2 shaped rockets being the only escape (with the dangers of landing on a planet already populated).
You've still got to get your launch rail transported and built, along with your power supply (nuclear reactor/solar panels). The launch rail would have to be anchored to the ground rock (if there is any) to make sure nothing works loose. And it would still have to project the vehicle up to at least 3600 miles/hour, which means it would have to be a few miles long. Using rockets is still the most efficient method.
Not forgetting "happy slapping".
That's the first question that anyone discussing the applications of these consoles should be asking. The PS1 worked with 16-bit fix point integers, the PS2 worked with floating point, but had precision errors with 32-bit floats, that prevented hierarchical model calculations.
For any serious scientific research, both 32-bit and 64-bit floating point units are designed to have extra precision that aren't immediately visible to the application. The idea of these is to prevent any precision errors from creeping into the final calculations results.
For consumer products, some chip designers may choose to discard these transistors in order to save power consumption and transistor real estate.
After all, if they are discarding things like branch prediction, and intelligent caches, precision would have gone first.
The idea of rail-guns for launching vehicles came about because on other planets there wasn't enough atmosphere for aerodynamics to work or for jet engines to work. The relative vacuum and low gravity was an advantage for anything that didn't need to carry its own fuel. The rail gun would use electromagnetic fields to accelerate the vehicle to beyond escape velocity.
However, for Earth, you need a take off velocity of at least 7 miles/second (or 25,000 miles/hour). And that doesn't take into air friction. Assuming you could build such an aerodynamic capsule, you would need a considerable acceleration for a period of the launch phase.
To minimize the amount of energy you need to use, you'd want to travel straight up, and to generate enough energy you would probably have to burn gallons of hydrocarbons or run a whole chain of nuclear reactors. Since energy is most efficient when you use the least number of conversion stages, you really end up with a vertical rocket launch with solid or liquid fuel.
Yes, but they do allow online web sites to try and rip you off by keeping track of the previous items you have browsed. It really blows me away to see an airline try and charge me 1000+ pounds to fly between two UK cities (normal price 100 pounds).
Here's what I want to know: How do you work with raw rock, when there's no gravity?
They will do all the same things that they do when working underwater and underground.
Why do think astronauts train underwater?
If you need to transport stuff while keeping it contained, you can use an Archimedean screw, which oddly enough, can also be used as a drill bit.
Maybe we could have smart CD's where a small magnetic strip is stored on the transparent plastic bit at the centre of the disc. Then you could save some basic information such as the last track position on the disc.
There's a place for everything - here in the UK, the national papers usually give out a free DVD on a Sunday, and the DVD's contain a few movie trailers. For a newspaper, a movie trailer is a freebie I'll watch out of curiosity, but when I want to watch DVD it really feels rather patronising.
Do a google search on steganography.
Could be worse - Sky satellite TV calls their set-top units 'digiboxes'.
California has the Initiative Process which allows anyone to propose a solution to a problem that becomes state law.
Example: Because they had rapid growth in the 1950's - 1970's, property taxes were going through the roof, and people suddenly discovered they couldn't afford to remain in California, so instead of moving out, they supported Proposition 13 which capped the rate at which property taxes could increase.
Not forgetting external 2.5" USB hard disk drives - and you have 40 to 100 GBytes of untraceable storage space ready to be used at the Internet cafe of your choice.
But they should know already what the virus writers are looking for ... things like receiving blocks of binary data containing the size and data of the block, and just reading the specified amount of data without any regard to the size of that existing buffer, or implementing script functionality that allows arbitary scripts to be downloaded, executed, wander through the filesystem and read/write arbitary files, or applications that use sockets as the default communication protocol between tasks.
(Although in the latter case, no-one could really have anticipated that network drivers designed for office LAN's would be permanently exposed to the outside world through broadband connections).
Yes, that was the method described. The "trains" would have additional guide wings at the side, so the whole system would look like this.
I read that the Russians had the idea of flying planes underground through specially built tunnels. The "plane" wouldn't so take off, but the effect of custom built wings would cause the plane to be pulled towards the centreline of the tunnel, and the jet engines would make it travel around 500 miles/hour.
What's next? Virtual commodities trading?
Virtual eminent domain?
You find that your exclusive townhouse and neighbourhood only 5 minutes from the market has within hours, been moved 5 clicks North to make way for a new plaza, condos and hypermarket.
The problem is, these attackers will hide behind the IP address of some innocent individual. They are either going to set up a decoy web page, or log into the system of some company or home user, and launch an attack from there.
It's not going to do your reputation any good, when you're the one in the newspapers because some disabled kid got his computer owned then blasted away, and the repair shop/ISP traced the attack back to your house.
There's a similar situation going on in the UK. Apparently CD/games that total lss than 18 pounds can be bought VAT free from Jersey, since the island has a separate tax system from the UK and doesn't have any sales tax. Consequently, this trade is depriving the treasury of 80 million pounds, and may soon reach 200 million pounds.
What happened to all those crazy Internet radio stations that used to play short films by new directors?
I remember seeing this movie about a mental patient who met a couple of evangelists on the street, and kept winding one of them up by claiming to be the last angel. Eventually one of the evangelists gets mad, decks the guy and then the sky turns black.
well, according to the no2id FAQ : "Government ministers have almost unanimously ruled out the option for legal compulsion to carry a card, and indeed clause 15 (3) of the Bill specifically rules out any provision (within the ID cards Bill) for requiring people to carry the card at all times."
In which case, it no longer serves the purpose of being an ID card. Anything with a photograph; a driving license, company badge, or even bus pass will be used in its place.
So every member of the general public is going to be asked to pay 100-300 pounds in taxes or direct payments for something they won't be likely to need. I was once issued with a NI card - a simple credit card with my social security number on it, but I never had to use it for taxes or benefits, as I was always required to provide an existing government issued form/document along with photographic ID (ie. passport).
No-one has ever explained how such a card will prevent crimes such as benefit fraud, terrorism, shoplifting, burglary or muggings.
Because it creates a new crimes of simply not presenting your ID card.
Do a keyword search for the court case "Willcock vs. Muckle"
www.statewatch.org
Clarence Henry Willcock"
The justification for ID cards is that they will prevent fraud, while experts have testified that ID cards will become "the master key" for identity thieves.
There was once a science program which explored the variation in human physiques. They mentioned that on Earth, there was a limit of about 2 metres height for bipedal physiques due to the dangers of severe head injury simple due to tripping over and hitting something. Practical examples were people with thyroid problems. And having a thicker skull didn't really help because it just gave your head more momentum when falling.
If you have N times as much gravity, anything human would probably have to be 2/N metres, which doesn't really leave much room for height.
I guess dolphins, whales, crocodiles and alligators would probably be able to handle that amount of gravity.
32 threads in hardware on one chip is the same as 32 slow CPUs.
A human brain consists of around 100 billion neurons each running at a maximum speed of 500 Hz (a single neuron can depolarize and recharge within 0.002 seconds).
If that were the case, wouldn't we be better off having a few huge brain cells, rather than billions of small ones?
Source: How neurons work
Either way, I've got that whole eccentric computer geek thing down. I was hired by a companya and told afterword that I was hired because I looked like "a hacker" and they wanted one around in case they "got hacked". Most people just ask my opinion about what computer to buy their kid. Sometimes the stereotype can work to your advantage. ;)
That's been the attitude of several companies I've interviewed for in the South of England.
Their logic goes as follows:
Some bright graduates dress eccentrically.
Therefore any eccentrically dressed graduates must be bright.
Therefore only employ graduates who dress eccentrically at the interview.