True. I have yet to understand why ClearChannel can get away with almost a complete monopoly of the radio business. I bet you if you looked up every major radio station in your area, (assuming you live in the US) you will find that the vast majority of them are run by this one company. They have openly admitted they play a very strictly regulated playlist on their stations, driven by sales, not by listener demand, or the search for new music. They are generally limited to a very small list of songs as well, both as a means of "playing it safe", playing only songs they think everyone wants to listen to (thereby not taking risks on new music) and as a means of keeping their royalty fees down. It's a sad state of affairs, but unless you have satellite radio, you're stuck with pretty bland choices.
You know, I thought about it, and it hit me: What would happen if the music industry (at least the Big Guys) collapsed? Well, aside from Best Buy having a lot more floor space, not a whole lot. Big artists would be forced to adopt more modern means of distributing their music, without a giant, bloodsucking middleman. Recording studios would be hit rather hard, but I think that's coming anyway, with the increasing influx of commercial-level products and software that can be bought for next to nothing (comparatively speaking) and produce professional results. The CD would find continuing life in sales at local shows, but would die as a retail product. Touring bands (again, adapting to the modern age) would need to hire their own publicity people to get butts in the seats at local venues, instead of letting the record company do it for them, but would probably be able to afford it, as the record companies normally take the majority of a tour's gross anyway.
There would be some implosions in the current model that would on the surface appear to negatively impact the artist and consumer. While the artist would spend more promoting on their own, distributing on their own, recording on their own, they would likely be letting go of a static percentage similar or likely less than they do now to industry giants.
The state of DRM would change, as there would be no more litigation funded by record companies (leaving the MPAA to twist in the wind without a partner in crime) and less funding toward P2P obfuscating and software rootkit technologies. The online download would become the primary medium of the industry, and while I agree there is a need for some copy protection, to prevent widespread distribution, without a monolithic industry behind it, less invasive alternatives may finally see the light of day.
Personally, I wouldn't say I've been actively boycotting Big Music, but I guess you could say I have been, subconsciously. I haven't bought a CD in probably 10 years. I do support larger artists through iTunes and Amazon's DRM-free initiative. I also spend WAY more time and money on local/touring artists on a face-to-face level. Local artists, I buy tickets to shows, help promote (street team style), buy merchandise when it moves me, and basically just stay active in the scene, cross genre whenever possible. Touring artists, I will buy a ticket to a show, avoiding Ticketmaster at all costs, buying their CDs and merch in person, where they generally get a larger cut of the sales.
I'm all for the collapse of the industry. It appears to be the only means of innovation, and it will right a lot of wrongs currently out there. Unfortunately, the best way to do this still seems to be choking their sales as much as possible, usually by illegal downloads and bootlegs. I hate to see the artists suffer, but it is definitely causing a positive effect, as more and more artists are breaking away from Big Music to go it alone. Sometimes the best way to change a law is to break it. We shall see.
No offense, but you're just wrong.
As you mentioned, radio and light are all part of the same EM spectrum. It is true that a typical optical device (like a telescope) which is set up to survey the entire visible spectrum would not be able to pick out a pinpoint laser ouput from a millin miles away. No chance in hell. However, in laser communications, the receiver is not a telescope, but a more specialized instrument, surveying a very limited band of the spectrum. White or UV light seen from a star would not be seen, similar to how our eyes do not pick up infrared. You are somewhat correct about the focus of a light beam spreading out over time, but laser mechanics work a bit differently, and the spread is a matter that can be calculated through a little math.
I figured as much, but I thought I read somewhere that it was in smoe kind of legally murky territory, and was looking for clarification of both sides of the issue. Doesn't sound like there are 2 sides. Oh well.
I've been looking for a place to ask this lately...
Given what this guy is saying (the MPAA drone), what is the legality of ripping Netflix movies because you "don't have time to watch them right away"?
This is, of course, a completely hypothetical question...
Generally, public organizations, i.e.- government bodies, have to go through a fairly lengthy process in order to buy goods on a large scale. They need to put out a Request For Papers, so they may fairly consider all possible bidders or vendors on a project, and then allow each bidder/vendor to competitively bid for the project. I didn't RTFA, but based on the summary treatment, my guess would be that they are suing on grounds of improper practice in this regard. It doesn't really have anything to do with MA possibly thinking Diebold is crap. Diebold can easily claim that they were not given the opportunity to bid on the project. Oftentimes, especially on Slashdot, there is a notice of an initial lawsuit, which makes all the headlines, but the case is thrown out soon after, or there is no followthrough by the plaintiff. (This is Jack Thompson's signature move). There is a reasonable possibility that this is one of those suits, filed in order to make a headline, but as soon as the evidence is considered, the suit will be dropped. Conversely, Diebold may in fact not have been properly considered for the project, thus they may have a legitimate claim. MA doesn't get to exclude them initially based on their past history. They can exclude them further down the line, but usually, if it is based on a prejudice of past experience, they have to be creative about it. Unfortunately, the way government bidding works, if a company that makes a product that is widely know to be crap, is listed as the lowest bidder on the project, they can still sometimes be selected based on bidding price and promised delivery time. It's a funky way of doing business, but it also allows oversight into the process because they are using tax dollars. Most people look at this model, and scream Haliburton, but I am pretty sure that does not apply, due to the way those contracts are handled, being in a different country, etc..
I concur. The question the submitter asked in point of fact, should have been titled about optical content, not digital. Digital content is fine. Storing sensitive data on tape is as far as I am aware, still the industry standard. Storing sensitive data on DVD or CD is just a bad idea, unless you are looking to have a backup of the backup sitting next to your office computer for easy reference. A disc should never be a primary backup.
Also, you need to find another archiving company if you are getting tapes back that have been subject flooding. Additionaly, most of this argument is moot, since every major IT department I have ever worked with makes backups that are rotated regularly. In the event of older data that must be archived indefinitely, I believe tapes still have the edge on untouched longevity. I.e.- A tape and a DVD are sitting next to each other (in their respective protective casings) in a vault. Absent of a fire or an EMP, I believe I am correct in that the data will survive longer on the tape than on the DVD.
A lot of archiving companies do all of this as their standard practice, making you not liable in the event of a problem. Blue Mountain seems to be the gold standard around here. Are they a national company, or do they only do the midwest?
You, my friend, are ideally suited to be a wireless network engineer in Nigeria. From personal experience, I can tell you that they could care less about the science behind it. If they're not getting a signal, they just keep daisy-chaining amplifiers until they do. I'd hate to be a bird flying through Abuja(capital city). I always get the image of a duck flying through and coming out the other side as thanksgiving dinner.
Depending on what frequency they were going for (I'm not up on NZ regs) transceivers can be found, as much as any broadcast/wireless parts, as scrap items in may places. I used to work at a wireless company here in the states, and transceiver arms were thrown out or given away with little care. It is conceivable that, given the ingenuity they showed in coming up with the wok idea in the first place, that they might have made the dish using spare parts.
The dish really is a variable item. One could use a barbecue grill, if they were so inclined, (yes, you'd have to bend it to a reasonably concave shape, put that wouldn't be very difficult). As long as the "dish" relays the signal back to the transceiver/receiver (you simply make a triangle, determining at what angle the reflection of the signal from the dish will hit the antenna, make sure the dish has a linear curve to that angle/height... Remember making fire with a magnifying glass? Very similar principle), you could use any non-porous, reflective material.
The only thing you would really have to buy new would be the coax RF cable (I say new because we are talking about weather treated cable, and if it has been lying outside unattached, you risk getting water inside the cable) and the (r)TNC connectors (depending on the connections... again, not sure how they do things in NZ)
I agree with the posters above though. The expensive part of the equation is still the rackmounted hardware needed to tx/rx. That, sadly, cannot be made out of spare parts. Those suckers are expensive.
Depending on local laws though, and depending on the amount of bandwidth they would need, it could be conceivable, if they REALLY wanted to save money, to make a wireless link using, say, 802.11N protocols, versus commercial microwave freqs. If they went that way, then, THEN they would be pinching pennies. (or quid... WTF ever) I would estimate that the whole rig mentioned above might cost around $500 (US) for both ends. Though I honestly couldn't tell you how they would convert their tv signal (more than just what you see on air) to a computer network protocol. I imagine they could think of something though.
We should also consider the evolution of the sport since its birth. Back in the day, leather helmets were worn, with minimal padding. This was in the days long before super agents and scouts were hand picking the biggest, meanest ogres they could find. Long before the days where a bone shattering hit was expected on every tackle. Give me the best runningback from the early days of football, and I'll laugh my ass off as he gets trampled to death 10 out of 10 times by the most mediocre backfielder in the NFL.
The modern American football pad set evolved from intense competition, where everyone was looking for a better edge. However, it is my opinion that the inception of hard plactic components that spurred our current suit of armor look. Would you rather get speared in the gut by a guy wearing a thick, soft leather helmet, or a guy wearing a bulletproof shell on his head? Thus it became necessary to wear hard plastic shoulders as well as elbow, knee and girdle pads.
As far as the purists accross the pond mocking American football, I say, if you hadn't spent the majority of the 20th century without 2 nickels to rub together, your rugby would have evolved similarly. If rugby was a billion dollar industry like American football, you would be importing only the most ferocious animals alive to play the game. Competition would spur the need for stronger, lighter protection, and eventually, the only difference between American football and rugby would be that nifty little gay pride celebration you chaps call a scrum.
I know you're kidding, but it underscores the point Cerf is trying to make. In standard TCP/IP, any download is a 2 way conversation, with the receiving party verifying all packets. A mutation of the current UDP model would do just as you say, where you would get long streams of unverified data from one source to another, with a simple acknowledgment packet at the end. The problem lies in possible transmission errors, of which there are many. If they go optical, (which I can't even fathom, but I suppose I don't know everything about optical open space comms) the slightest piece of debris in the signal path will cause packet corruption (making fault tolerance a central concern). If they go RF, well, there's a metric butt load of natural RF interference in space. That satellite is gonna need some big rabbit ears to pick up a whole stream without problems.
Ok, I know I get an A for effort and an F for sense of humor, but I wanted to cover the issue. sue me.
SUSE 10.2 is my preferred flavor of Linux, and with all that is currently going on, I feel guilty for liking it as much as I do. I see it as a potential windows alternative down the line, once XP is sufficiently outdated, if 10.x keeps improving, cause I'm sure as hell not pissing money away on Vista. Now I feel like I'm being sucked back to the Microsoft teet even as I make plans to break away.
This thread is a day old, and thus, this post will probably not be read, however, This is sort of the crux of my conlfict with this idea. Now, someone pointed out that there are an infinite amount of numbers between any 2 real numbers, (look a few threads up). This is a good point that helps to explain the idea that an area that I can physically occupy and has verifiable coordinates can be infinite (of which I'm still not that sure footed about - math is subtly different than reality, even if it can help explain it). However, when you say that theories exist that the Universe has a specific shape, it sort of derails that theory to me. To me, a very simple, very logical conclusion is that if an object has a shape, it has dimensions. If it has dimensions, it has a beginning and an end. How can the universe be infinite if it has a beginning and an end? That sort of defies the definition of infinite. I'm still having a hard time grasping the idea that there is infinite/limitless space above my head, and infinite/limitless matter filling it. It just doesn't seem logical to me, most likely because everything I have ever come into contact with has had a finite quality. (not to speak of religion... I'm glad this conversation hasn't gone that way... that will merely cloud the water). So, I suppose I can accept that as we sit here trying to define the universe in it's measureable size, we lack the frame of reference needed to do so, because we have never encountered absolutes in frame of measurement. We can theorize that there is no end to the universe, that I can transmogrify into a photon and pick a direction and travel that direction forever (another sticky term...), but we can't verify or quanitify that. It bothers me that there are no theories (that I know of) that can really answer this, but it seems we have reached the limit of physics as we know it. Short of the intervention of a higher power or alien race, I don't think a more viable explanation could ever be offered. I'm going to go home now and let my head explode. I've been thinking about this way too much.
You'll have to bear with me. I'm a musician, not a scientist. Does the current Big Bang theory say that the universe was contained in a single point, and then expanded? Or is it all the matter in the universe? Because if all the universe was contained in a speck, where would I be if I were standing next to that speck? Get me?
Let's hear it for Slashdot, and the wonders of free science lessons.
I understand what you are trying to say. Space as an intangible object is not a hard idea to grasp. But the universe seems to me as not an extension of space, but as something located in space. So what is beyond the geographical boundary of the universe? More space? What is that called?
Yeah, I feel a migraine coming on. So, it seems to me as though you are using infinite as a term to define "beyond measure". Sort of like "infinitesmal" which is more about too small to measure, versus actually being "infinitely small".
This is how I respond to your post. Under the above assumption, a billion years ago, the universe was 1(infinity) (as in 1*infinity) and now it's (using a random number) 42(infinity). If the universe is currently (and highly theoritcally) measured as 42(infinity), and you were to blow up a bubble around the universe to make it 43(infinity), where would it be?
Seems it's not directly listed as Hackers 2, (it is AKA, if you read down) but simply as Takedown. The story of Kevin Mitnick. There is a reason you have not heard of this movie.
OK. Been meaning to have this conversation with someone in the know, but I'll have to make do with slashdotters (I keed, I keed!)
I understand what you are saying, mostly. But, define this concept of infinite space. To me, anything that exists 3 dimensionally must have physical measurements, and thusly, a point in which it ceases to geographically exist. Saying the universie is infinite seems (respectfully, I'm not trying to troll here) like trying to finish that science paper early so you can go to sleep. Plus, the theory that the universe is expanding, to me, immediately brings to mind that it is going from a smaller size to a larger size, in which case, the previous argument begs more attention. I always try to imagine, or ask myself, what is beyond the universe.
That's usually about the point I go crosseyed, say to hell with it, and go play video games.
Son of a BITCH! How did I miss Antitrust?!? I'm going to hanf my head in shame for the rest of the day. By the way, I'm already kicking myself for excluding anime from the list, as most large budget anime movies seem to have this as a universal theme (Take Ghost in the Shell, though the romantic subplot is a little different... the series leads me to believe the Major is a lesbian in love with her repair-woman). Oh well. Didn't have time to make a concise list. That's the curse of Slashdot. You can make a hurried post that will make it to the upper area of the thread, or you can spend your time making a well-thought out post, and see it wallow in obscurity at post #1990999 in the thread.
Congratulations! You have accurately defined the plot for the following movies: Wargames Hackers Hackers 2 (yeah they made one, believe it or not) The Lawnmower Man The Net Sneakers (Good movie, but still makes the list) Johnny Mnemonic Swordfish Tron
I concur. Join a WoW guild run when they successfully bring down a boss for the first time, after weeks of trying. You, my friend will see hear more emotion on Vent than you know what to do with.
Post non-AC next time. Believe it or not, you have something valid to say.
I would be willing to lay down money, matter of fact, I might, if they're taking bets on such a thing in Vegas, that Apple is just waiting for the not-quite-as-technical-as/. public gets a hold of Vista and cries out a collective WTF. I would be sitting on the king of all ad campaigns. This, to me, seems like the first time MS has shown it's underbelly, and Apple is sitting in a strong enough position to grab a MUCH larger market share, (maybe not majority, but a lot closer) if they are smart about it. Something to the effect of "here is what sucks about Vista. We have addressed all that with the latest OSX. Come buy a Mac... You'll find that after you've spent $500 on Vista, you're no longer saving money buying a PC over a Mac." But, you know, with some parketing pizzaz. Get that Justin kid back on camera and drive the point home like your life depended on it.
My opinion? Screw em both. SUSE strikes me as OSX without the pricetag. That's what I'll be sticking to. I'll be keeping XP around to run WoW. That's pretty much my OS lineup for the next 5 years...
Slashdot Mirror
True. I have yet to understand why ClearChannel can get away with almost a complete monopoly of the radio business. I bet you if you looked up every major radio station in your area, (assuming you live in the US) you will find that the vast majority of them are run by this one company. They have openly admitted they play a very strictly regulated playlist on their stations, driven by sales, not by listener demand, or the search for new music. They are generally limited to a very small list of songs as well, both as a means of "playing it safe", playing only songs they think everyone wants to listen to (thereby not taking risks on new music) and as a means of keeping their royalty fees down. It's a sad state of affairs, but unless you have satellite radio, you're stuck with pretty bland choices.
You know, I thought about it, and it hit me: What would happen if the music industry (at least the Big Guys) collapsed? Well, aside from Best Buy having a lot more floor space, not a whole lot. Big artists would be forced to adopt more modern means of distributing their music, without a giant, bloodsucking middleman. Recording studios would be hit rather hard, but I think that's coming anyway, with the increasing influx of commercial-level products and software that can be bought for next to nothing (comparatively speaking) and produce professional results. The CD would find continuing life in sales at local shows, but would die as a retail product. Touring bands (again, adapting to the modern age) would need to hire their own publicity people to get butts in the seats at local venues, instead of letting the record company do it for them, but would probably be able to afford it, as the record companies normally take the majority of a tour's gross anyway.
There would be some implosions in the current model that would on the surface appear to negatively impact the artist and consumer. While the artist would spend more promoting on their own, distributing on their own, recording on their own, they would likely be letting go of a static percentage similar or likely less than they do now to industry giants.
The state of DRM would change, as there would be no more litigation funded by record companies (leaving the MPAA to twist in the wind without a partner in crime) and less funding toward P2P obfuscating and software rootkit technologies. The online download would become the primary medium of the industry, and while I agree there is a need for some copy protection, to prevent widespread distribution, without a monolithic industry behind it, less invasive alternatives may finally see the light of day.
Personally, I wouldn't say I've been actively boycotting Big Music, but I guess you could say I have been, subconsciously. I haven't bought a CD in probably 10 years. I do support larger artists through iTunes and Amazon's DRM-free initiative. I also spend WAY more time and money on local/touring artists on a face-to-face level. Local artists, I buy tickets to shows, help promote (street team style), buy merchandise when it moves me, and basically just stay active in the scene, cross genre whenever possible. Touring artists, I will buy a ticket to a show, avoiding Ticketmaster at all costs, buying their CDs and merch in person, where they generally get a larger cut of the sales.
I'm all for the collapse of the industry. It appears to be the only means of innovation, and it will right a lot of wrongs currently out there. Unfortunately, the best way to do this still seems to be choking their sales as much as possible, usually by illegal downloads and bootlegs. I hate to see the artists suffer, but it is definitely causing a positive effect, as more and more artists are breaking away from Big Music to go it alone. Sometimes the best way to change a law is to break it. We shall see.
No offense, but you're just wrong.
As you mentioned, radio and light are all part of the same EM spectrum. It is true that a typical optical device (like a telescope) which is set up to survey the entire visible spectrum would not be able to pick out a pinpoint laser ouput from a millin miles away. No chance in hell. However, in laser communications, the receiver is not a telescope, but a more specialized instrument, surveying a very limited band of the spectrum. White or UV light seen from a star would not be seen, similar to how our eyes do not pick up infrared. You are somewhat correct about the focus of a light beam spreading out over time, but laser mechanics work a bit differently, and the spread is a matter that can be calculated through a little math.
I figured as much, but I thought I read somewhere that it was in smoe kind of legally murky territory, and was looking for clarification of both sides of the issue. Doesn't sound like there are 2 sides. Oh well.
I've been looking for a place to ask this lately...
Given what this guy is saying (the MPAA drone), what is the legality of ripping Netflix movies because you "don't have time to watch them right away"?
This is, of course, a completely hypothetical question...
Generally, public organizations, i.e.- government bodies, have to go through a fairly lengthy process in order to buy goods on a large scale. They need to put out a Request For Papers, so they may fairly consider all possible bidders or vendors on a project, and then allow each bidder/vendor to competitively bid for the project. I didn't RTFA, but based on the summary treatment, my guess would be that they are suing on grounds of improper practice in this regard. It doesn't really have anything to do with MA possibly thinking Diebold is crap. Diebold can easily claim that they were not given the opportunity to bid on the project. Oftentimes, especially on Slashdot, there is a notice of an initial lawsuit, which makes all the headlines, but the case is thrown out soon after, or there is no followthrough by the plaintiff. (This is Jack Thompson's signature move). There is a reasonable possibility that this is one of those suits, filed in order to make a headline, but as soon as the evidence is considered, the suit will be dropped. Conversely, Diebold may in fact not have been properly considered for the project, thus they may have a legitimate claim. MA doesn't get to exclude them initially based on their past history. They can exclude them further down the line, but usually, if it is based on a prejudice of past experience, they have to be creative about it. Unfortunately, the way government bidding works, if a company that makes a product that is widely know to be crap, is listed as the lowest bidder on the project, they can still sometimes be selected based on bidding price and promised delivery time. It's a funky way of doing business, but it also allows oversight into the process because they are using tax dollars. Most people look at this model, and scream Haliburton, but I am pretty sure that does not apply, due to the way those contracts are handled, being in a different country, etc..
I concur. The question the submitter asked in point of fact, should have been titled about optical content, not digital. Digital content is fine. Storing sensitive data on tape is as far as I am aware, still the industry standard. Storing sensitive data on DVD or CD is just a bad idea, unless you are looking to have a backup of the backup sitting next to your office computer for easy reference. A disc should never be a primary backup.
Also, you need to find another archiving company if you are getting tapes back that have been subject flooding. Additionaly, most of this argument is moot, since every major IT department I have ever worked with makes backups that are rotated regularly. In the event of older data that must be archived indefinitely, I believe tapes still have the edge on untouched longevity. I.e.- A tape and a DVD are sitting next to each other (in their respective protective casings) in a vault. Absent of a fire or an EMP, I believe I am correct in that the data will survive longer on the tape than on the DVD.
A lot of archiving companies do all of this as their standard practice, making you not liable in the event of a problem. Blue Mountain seems to be the gold standard around here. Are they a national company, or do they only do the midwest?
You, my friend, are ideally suited to be a wireless network engineer in Nigeria. From personal experience, I can tell you that they could care less about the science behind it. If they're not getting a signal, they just keep daisy-chaining amplifiers until they do. I'd hate to be a bird flying through Abuja(capital city). I always get the image of a duck flying through and coming out the other side as thanksgiving dinner.
Depending on what frequency they were going for (I'm not up on NZ regs) transceivers can be found, as much as any broadcast/wireless parts, as scrap items in may places. I used to work at a wireless company here in the states, and transceiver arms were thrown out or given away with little care. It is conceivable that, given the ingenuity they showed in coming up with the wok idea in the first place, that they might have made the dish using spare parts.
The dish really is a variable item. One could use a barbecue grill, if they were so inclined, (yes, you'd have to bend it to a reasonably concave shape, put that wouldn't be very difficult). As long as the "dish" relays the signal back to the transceiver/receiver (you simply make a triangle, determining at what angle the reflection of the signal from the dish will hit the antenna, make sure the dish has a linear curve to that angle/height... Remember making fire with a magnifying glass? Very similar principle), you could use any non-porous, reflective material.
The only thing you would really have to buy new would be the coax RF cable (I say new because we are talking about weather treated cable, and if it has been lying outside unattached, you risk getting water inside the cable) and the (r)TNC connectors (depending on the connections... again, not sure how they do things in NZ)
I agree with the posters above though. The expensive part of the equation is still the rackmounted hardware needed to tx/rx. That, sadly, cannot be made out of spare parts. Those suckers are expensive.
Depending on local laws though, and depending on the amount of bandwidth they would need, it could be conceivable, if they REALLY wanted to save money, to make a wireless link using, say, 802.11N protocols, versus commercial microwave freqs. If they went that way, then, THEN they would be pinching pennies. (or quid... WTF ever) I would estimate that the whole rig mentioned above might cost around $500 (US) for both ends. Though I honestly couldn't tell you how they would convert their tv signal (more than just what you see on air) to a computer network protocol. I imagine they could think of something though.
We should also consider the evolution of the sport since its birth. Back in the day, leather helmets were worn, with minimal padding. This was in the days long before super agents and scouts were hand picking the biggest, meanest ogres they could find. Long before the days where a bone shattering hit was expected on every tackle. Give me the best runningback from the early days of football, and I'll laugh my ass off as he gets trampled to death 10 out of 10 times by the most mediocre backfielder in the NFL.
The modern American football pad set evolved from intense competition, where everyone was looking for a better edge. However, it is my opinion that the inception of hard plactic components that spurred our current suit of armor look. Would you rather get speared in the gut by a guy wearing a thick, soft leather helmet, or a guy wearing a bulletproof shell on his head? Thus it became necessary to wear hard plastic shoulders as well as elbow, knee and girdle pads.
As far as the purists accross the pond mocking American football, I say, if you hadn't spent the majority of the 20th century without 2 nickels to rub together, your rugby would have evolved similarly. If rugby was a billion dollar industry like American football, you would be importing only the most ferocious animals alive to play the game. Competition would spur the need for stronger, lighter protection, and eventually, the only difference between American football and rugby would be that nifty little gay pride celebration you chaps call a scrum.
I know you're kidding, but it underscores the point Cerf is trying to make. In standard TCP/IP, any download is a 2 way conversation, with the receiving party verifying all packets. A mutation of the current UDP model would do just as you say, where you would get long streams of unverified data from one source to another, with a simple acknowledgment packet at the end. The problem lies in possible transmission errors, of which there are many. If they go optical, (which I can't even fathom, but I suppose I don't know everything about optical open space comms) the slightest piece of debris in the signal path will cause packet corruption (making fault tolerance a central concern). If they go RF, well, there's a metric butt load of natural RF interference in space. That satellite is gonna need some big rabbit ears to pick up a whole stream without problems.
Ok, I know I get an A for effort and an F for sense of humor, but I wanted to cover the issue. sue me.
SUSE 10.2 is my preferred flavor of Linux, and with all that is currently going on, I feel guilty for liking it as much as I do. I see it as a potential windows alternative down the line, once XP is sufficiently outdated, if 10.x keeps improving, cause I'm sure as hell not pissing money away on Vista. Now I feel like I'm being sucked back to the Microsoft teet even as I make plans to break away.
This thread is a day old, and thus, this post will probably not be read, however,
This is sort of the crux of my conlfict with this idea. Now, someone pointed out that there are an infinite amount of numbers between any 2 real numbers, (look a few threads up). This is a good point that helps to explain the idea that an area that I can physically occupy and has verifiable coordinates can be infinite (of which I'm still not that sure footed about - math is subtly different than reality, even if it can help explain it). However, when you say that theories exist that the Universe has a specific shape, it sort of derails that theory to me. To me, a very simple, very logical conclusion is that if an object has a shape, it has dimensions. If it has dimensions, it has a beginning and an end. How can the universe be infinite if it has a beginning and an end? That sort of defies the definition of infinite. I'm still having a hard time grasping the idea that there is infinite/limitless space above my head, and infinite/limitless matter filling it. It just doesn't seem logical to me, most likely because everything I have ever come into contact with has had a finite quality. (not to speak of religion... I'm glad this conversation hasn't gone that way... that will merely cloud the water). So, I suppose I can accept that as we sit here trying to define the universe in it's measureable size, we lack the frame of reference needed to do so, because we have never encountered absolutes in frame of measurement. We can theorize that there is no end to the universe, that I can transmogrify into a photon and pick a direction and travel that direction forever (another sticky term...), but we can't verify or quanitify that. It bothers me that there are no theories (that I know of) that can really answer this, but it seems we have reached the limit of physics as we know it. Short of the intervention of a higher power or alien race, I don't think a more viable explanation could ever be offered.
I'm going to go home now and let my head explode. I've been thinking about this way too much.
That is an awefully expensive way to cook up a batch of General Tso's "chicken"...
You'll have to bear with me. I'm a musician, not a scientist. Does the current Big Bang theory say that the universe was contained in a single point, and then expanded? Or is it all the matter in the universe? Because if all the universe was contained in a speck, where would I be if I were standing next to that speck? Get me?
Let's hear it for Slashdot, and the wonders of free science lessons.
I understand what you are trying to say. Space as an intangible object is not a hard idea to grasp. But the universe seems to me as not an extension of space, but as something located in space. So what is beyond the geographical boundary of the universe? More space? What is that called?
Yeah, I feel a migraine coming on. So, it seems to me as though you are using infinite as a term to define "beyond measure". Sort of like "infinitesmal" which is more about too small to measure, versus actually being "infinitely small".
This is how I respond to your post. Under the above assumption, a billion years ago, the universe was 1(infinity) (as in 1*infinity) and now it's (using a random number) 42(infinity). If the universe is currently (and highly theoritcally) measured as 42(infinity), and you were to blow up a bubble around the universe to make it 43(infinity), where would it be?
Pierce Brosnan as a computer scientist? I thought I was on acid...
Seems it's not directly listed as Hackers 2, (it is AKA, if you read down) but simply as Takedown. The story of Kevin Mitnick. There is a reason you have not heard of this movie.
OK. Been meaning to have this conversation with someone in the know, but I'll have to make do with slashdotters (I keed, I keed!)
I understand what you are saying, mostly. But, define this concept of infinite space. To me, anything that exists 3 dimensionally must have physical measurements, and thusly, a point in which it ceases to geographically exist. Saying the universie is infinite seems (respectfully, I'm not trying to troll here) like trying to finish that science paper early so you can go to sleep. Plus, the theory that the universe is expanding, to me, immediately brings to mind that it is going from a smaller size to a larger size, in which case, the previous argument begs more attention. I always try to imagine, or ask myself, what is beyond the universe.
That's usually about the point I go crosseyed, say to hell with it, and go play video games.
Son of a BITCH! How did I miss Antitrust?!? I'm going to hanf my head in shame for the rest of the day.
By the way, I'm already kicking myself for excluding anime from the list, as most large budget anime movies seem to have this as a universal theme (Take Ghost in the Shell, though the romantic subplot is a little different... the series leads me to believe the Major is a lesbian in love with her repair-woman). Oh well. Didn't have time to make a concise list. That's the curse of Slashdot. You can make a hurried post that will make it to the upper area of the thread, or you can spend your time making a well-thought out post, and see it wallow in obscurity at post #1990999 in the thread.
Congratulations! You have accurately defined the plot for the following movies:
Wargames
Hackers
Hackers 2 (yeah they made one, believe it or not)
The Lawnmower Man
The Net
Sneakers (Good movie, but still makes the list)
Johnny Mnemonic
Swordfish
Tron
Anyone see a pattern here?
I concur. Join a WoW guild run when they successfully bring down a boss for the first time, after weeks of trying. You, my friend will see hear more emotion on Vent than you know what to do with.
Post non-AC next time. Believe it or not, you have something valid to say.
/. public gets a hold of Vista and cries out a collective WTF. I would be sitting on the king of all ad campaigns. This, to me, seems like the first time MS has shown it's underbelly, and Apple is sitting in a strong enough position to grab a MUCH larger market share, (maybe not majority, but a lot closer) if they are smart about it. Something to the effect of "here is what sucks about Vista. We have addressed all that with the latest OSX. Come buy a Mac... You'll find that after you've spent $500 on Vista, you're no longer saving money buying a PC over a Mac." But, you know, with some parketing pizzaz. Get that Justin kid back on camera and drive the point home like your life depended on it.
I would be willing to lay down money, matter of fact, I might, if they're taking bets on such a thing in Vegas, that Apple is just waiting for the not-quite-as-technical-as
My opinion? Screw em both. SUSE strikes me as OSX without the pricetag. That's what I'll be sticking to. I'll be keeping XP around to run WoW. That's pretty much my OS lineup for the next 5 years...
I don't mean to nitpick, but did you note the magazine? It's whole subject matter revolves around VARs. That's Value Added Reseller