How long will it be before it gets exploited for food, or whatever, to the brink of extinction? I'm sure they'll end up in some Japanese supermarket. Can't have a form of life just doing it's thing on this world now can we?
Ok, so they read the code. They have no idea what it means though. Sort of like someone getting your hands on a book with a totally foreign language except this is worse, large chunks of it are gibberish (or seem to be).
I don't see why this is something to get excited about. I'll wait until they understand what it MEANS.
I don't see your average consumer wanting (or even understanding what one is) a firewall/web server/etc, most of them just want to write letters to Aunt Ethel and download digital camera snaps.
A chainsaw may be more powerful than a fork but if all I want to do is eat dinner which one would you want to use?
>And they noted that there are some standard apps
>not aviable for linux, well anyone doesn't know this?
Yes, all those people who made M$ a multibillion dollar company. Most people in this country don't know who the vice president is and you are assuming they know the details of software compatibility for Linux? Linux advocates and dedicated users need to see the world from outside of their little shells if they want the world to accept it.
Tolkien's academic interest was old Germanic and Norse languages, thus his natural interest in Norse and German legends. Wagner's "Der Ring Des Nibelungen" also influenced him. He stated himself that one of his desires was to create an Anglo-Saxon mythological epic just as the Norse had their own great epics.
One thing to note in all of his LOTR sagas is the lack of any clear religion in it. There is one scene where elves are seen praying but that is the only one (that I'm aware of). It always struck me as odd that for a time and place where the divine was seemingly so close the world (having immortals and Maia among them) that there weren't any displays or even acknowledgements of divine power. Where were the temples to Eru or even simple prayers? Strange for a writer who was such a devout Catholic, especially in such a grand morality play as LOFR.
Something to consider when the inevitable version X of whatever software you are using comes out. If all it does is offer a few more bells and whistles why bother upgrading? More and more people are starting to see through this software industry b.s. and not automatically upgrading.
I'd go one step further and only pay for the songs I like. At $20+ for a CD of mostly filler I know I'm paying for countless expense accounts and executive bonuses, not the artists. I've become VERY picky about what cds I buy nowadays. It disgusts me to know I'm paying $20+ for a CD that prob costs $5 to make and support the artists themselves. Everytime the RCAA whines about file sharing it rings hollow as I think of how they turn around and screw the artists and the paying consumers. Its time to get rid of these middlemen.
I'm surprised the record industry hasn't tried to ban used CD sales.
One thing about TLoR that bothered me was the almost complete lack of religion and spirituality in the books. How can a world were not only is magic real but quasi-deities such as Gandalf (an Istari) can wander the world for 2000 yrs and then come back from the dead after fighting the Balrog yet no one talks of divine power? Even the immortal elves remember ancient acts of the gods yet no one seems to give them any more consideration than they make an interesting story.
Every human society has created some sort of spiritual framework for the world. Tolkien seems to have completely regected this.
It should also block people who are half-asleep, weave in and out of traffic, never signal, tailgate, use cellphones while driving, insist on looking at the passenger side when talking, drive 20+ mph over the speed limit, run red lights, drive in the breakdown lane, blast car stereos (usually crappy hip-hop), and idiots who cause grid-lock.
You are right! Things like state sponsored internet development, roads, schools, social security, national parks, defense...all socialist evils! Now we're seeing evem more control over our lives via the state (thanks Mr Ashcroft!), I thought only commie countries did that?
Does the American ideal of freedom also carry with it the American ideal that you have no intrinsic worth beyond your fincancial means?
Actually the greatest evil in the world is political absolutists. "Reality Master" needs to get a grip on reality and read less Ayn Rand.
Technocracy? Didn't the Simpsons have an episode similar to that? I certainly don't want the "Comic Book Guy" running my government.
And be careful about calling everyone else an idiot. Everyone on the road thinks they know how to drive and that all the others are incompetent, if that is the case then why are there so many accidents?
Unfortunately there is no way to tell an idiot from a non-idiot by looking. All those idiots also tend to get very pissed off when they are stepped on (i.e. Russian Revolution). Lots of people called "geniuses" have made the world a more miserable place.
It always struck me as ridiculous how people mistake technological development for human development. People haven't developed since Homo Sapiens originated, everything else since then has been a veneer of culture and government. The same impulses that drove the ancient Sumerians are the same ones that drove the Vikings, Americans, WWI Europe, etc. The scale and the ability to organize changes but the same fears, desires, and behaviors that have driven humanity for millennia remain. Technology itself isn't the point, why we use it and why we have it is.
The net wasn't going to miraculously rewire the depths of the human brain or alter our DNA. We've already seen this technology in the form of the printing press and how it developed. Humanity reacted to it like any other technology, it is interesting but only truly matters as far as it effects our day-to-day preexisting motivations. Instead of communicating via voice or phone we email. Instead of looking something up in the library we do a web search. If we feel someone is an authority we listen to them (i.e. CNN). If an issue matters to us we pay attention and associate with like minded folks otherwise we ignore it, just like before.
If you get only one thing from studying history it should be how history repeats itself and how what we think is a unique period in time is not. Everything just goes in cycles, round and round...
FOX, our news is now 100% shame free!
on
Battlefield Lasers
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· Score: 1
Ok, so corporate welfare is good and personal welfare is bad? Good, glad the politicos straightened me out on that.
The end of the Cold War must've been the worst thing that ever happened to the military-industrial complex. No wonder within months of the end of the Soviet Union the president was talking about "rogue nations" (i.e. anyone who dares oppose us). You can't lavish $ on Raytheon, Pratt & Whitney, etc without a boogie man to keep the voters blind with paranoia. It is no surprise that most of the top military staff and government staff end up as consultants and board members of these very same companies when they leave the government. We need a law forbidding them from working for any defense contractor for X years after leaving their government job (sort of like a non-compete contract).
If the target is made highly reflective (anti-stealth!?) then the beam must be either extremely strong to apply a massive pulse to a small area or able to apply energy to the target for a certain minimum period of time. Extremely fast pulses that compress the energy into a very brief but powerful pulse probably wouldn't work as the plasma generated by the high temperatures would absoarb any further energy from the pulse before the plasma could disperse, thus acting like a kind of insulating layer. You'd end up pitting the target at best.
Since a massive pulse precludes any current mobile technology one could imagine then the 2nd route would have to be taken. The target has one VERY easy countermeasure in addition to being reflective, SPIN. Having the missile rotate is easy and will cause the beam to distribute it's energy over a large area. Artillery shells already do this (spin) and the explosives used in munitions require a shock and not just heat to detonate.
Another defense would be a layer of ablation material that simply burns off thus absoarbing the energy of the beam long enough for the target to survive. Something with a high heat capacity and high melting point (ceramics?) would be good for that.
I don't see this research producing a kill device, maybe a blinding one though. Optical detectors (CCDs) in guided munitions can be pretty easily fried if you can aim the beam that well, of course that would be more of a threat to a hi-tech dependent military than a 3rd world army.
If this thing ever proved to even work never mind be practical they'd have to turn around and immediately devise countermeasures for it. A device that was reasonably portable and not terribly expensive to make/use would be immediately copied. The US military's current strategy of knocking out air defenses with cruise and HARM missiles and then attacking from the air at will would be seriously compromised.
At the very least a strong enough and accurate beam could "blind" optically guided munitions.
Maybe they should just leave the genie in the bottle.
Putting him on a pedestal?
on
This is IT?
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· Score: 1
I didn't know that owning your own island and being (supposedly) self-educated automatically makes your product wonderful. How about just looking at the idea, ok?
Of course there will be niche uses for this, there are for almost any product. But you miss basic human nature, people prefer to sit than stand and people won't expose themselves to unpleasant weather if they can avoid it. Think grandma will feel comfortable bouncing around outdoors on 2 wheels when she could be sitting in her motorized chair with no chance of falling? Doubt it.
As for how safe it is, if the average person truly put safety ahead of convenience they wouldn't need laws telling them to wear a seatbelt. They just don't care.
Re:Gimme a break people!
on
This is IT?
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· Score: 1
"1. PEOPLE ARE LAZY. PERIOD."
And that is why people will stay in their cars. They already have a way to get to the train station 3 miles away, plus they have their radio, cell phone, drink holder and other clutter to keep them happy. You also have a nice metal box with windows around you to keep out the outside world, especially all those annoying people begging at traffic lights.
This thing is a solution for a non-problem as far as the average person is concerned. Most people don't care that they aren't getting exercise or are polluting the air.
I don't see the elderly using something like this either as long as they have to stand straight up in it and it gives even the impression that you could fall off of it and break a hip.
The real solution to sprawl and congestion isn't a scooter but better growth laws, denser housing instead of suburban cookie-cutter developments, an acceptance on limits on private property development (good luck), and an abandonment of car worship and endless road funding for better public transportation.
Re:They just demoed it on ABC / Good Morning Ameri
on
This is IT?
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· Score: 1
Yah, that's all great but will it be the world shaking product its been hyped to be? Doubtful...People don't even bother to walk a few feet to go to a nearby convinience store never mind ride a scooter in less than perfect weather. How about carrying loads? I don't see people lining up to carry their shopping in backpacks so they can use this thing. What if you have young kids? How many moms would be willing to have their 6 yr old scoot around the city even if they are next to them? What about the liability issues when 2 people slam into each other at top speed for a combined speed of ~24mph?
Look at bikes, they don't take a whole lot of effort to get around most places but there is rarely a decent place to lock them up and you take your life in your own hands in the city. Carrying anything bigger than a rucksack requires getting in your car.
I see this, in it's present form, only being popular with techie types and the gung-ho altera crowd.
Re:Yeah, they WOULD have to build a city for it...
on
This is IT?
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· Score: 1
Of course the government could start making roads with actual sidewalks and safe bike lanes for those people who want to walk/ride. God forbid anyone should walk to get out of their car. If it weren't for the car I don't know what the dept of transportation would do with itself.
Slashdot Mirror
Does your boss just make your paycheck out to "rent"?
This is also evidence that ancient life forms were the first to say "Rain!? Damn weather!"
How long will it be before it gets exploited for food, or whatever, to the brink of extinction? I'm sure they'll end up in some Japanese supermarket. Can't have a form of life just doing it's thing on this world now can we?
Ok, so they read the code. They have no idea what it means though. Sort of like someone getting your hands on a book with a totally foreign language except this is worse, large chunks of it are gibberish (or seem to be).
I don't see why this is something to get excited about. I'll wait until they understand what it MEANS.
I don't see your average consumer wanting (or even understanding what one is) a firewall/web server/etc, most of them just want to write letters to Aunt Ethel and download digital camera snaps.
A chainsaw may be more powerful than a fork but if all I want to do is eat dinner which one would you want to use?
>And they noted that there are some standard apps
>not aviable for linux, well anyone doesn't know this?
Yes, all those people who made M$ a multibillion dollar company. Most people in this country don't know who the vice president is and you are assuming they know the details of software compatibility for Linux? Linux advocates and dedicated users need to see the world from outside of their little shells if they want the world to accept it.
Tolkien's academic interest was old Germanic and Norse languages, thus his natural interest in Norse and German legends. Wagner's "Der Ring Des Nibelungen" also influenced him. He stated himself that one of his desires was to create an Anglo-Saxon mythological epic just as the Norse had their own great epics.
One thing to note in all of his LOTR sagas is the lack of any clear religion in it. There is one scene where elves are seen praying but that is the only one (that I'm aware of). It always struck me as odd that for a time and place where the divine was seemingly so close the world (having immortals and Maia among them) that there weren't any displays or even acknowledgements of divine power. Where were the temples to Eru or even simple prayers? Strange for a writer who was such a devout Catholic, especially in such a grand morality play as LOFR.
One look at the screenshots and the gameplay and I can see why it was never released.
Something to consider when the inevitable version X of whatever software you are using comes out. If all it does is offer a few more bells and whistles why bother upgrading? More and more people are starting to see through this software industry b.s. and not automatically upgrading.
I'd go one step further and only pay for the songs I like. At $20+ for a CD of mostly filler I know I'm paying for countless expense accounts and executive bonuses, not the artists. I've become VERY picky about what cds I buy nowadays. It disgusts me to know I'm paying $20+ for a CD that prob costs $5 to make and support the artists themselves. Everytime the RCAA whines about file sharing it rings hollow as I think of how they turn around and screw the artists and the paying consumers. Its time to get rid of these middlemen.
I'm surprised the record industry hasn't tried to ban used CD sales.
One thing about TLoR that bothered me was the almost complete lack of religion and spirituality in the books. How can a world were not only is magic real but quasi-deities such as Gandalf (an Istari) can wander the world for 2000 yrs and then come back from the dead after fighting the Balrog yet no one talks of divine power? Even the immortal elves remember ancient acts of the gods yet no one seems to give them any more consideration than they make an interesting story.
Every human society has created some sort of spiritual framework for the world. Tolkien seems to have completely regected this.
Real men use octal
It should also block people who are half-asleep, weave in and out of traffic, never signal, tailgate, use cellphones while driving, insist on looking at the passenger side when talking, drive 20+ mph over the speed limit, run red lights, drive in the breakdown lane, blast car stereos (usually crappy hip-hop), and idiots who cause grid-lock.
If a thief could afford a tow truck (ever see the prices on those things?) they wouldn't have to be stealing cars for a living now would they?
You are right! Things like state sponsored internet development, roads, schools, social security, national parks, defense...all socialist evils! Now we're seeing evem more control over our lives via the state (thanks Mr Ashcroft!), I thought only commie countries did that?
Does the American ideal of freedom also carry with it the American ideal that you have no intrinsic worth beyond your fincancial means?
Actually the greatest evil in the world is political absolutists. "Reality Master" needs to get a grip on reality and read less Ayn Rand.
Technocracy? Didn't the Simpsons have an episode similar to that? I certainly don't want the "Comic Book Guy" running my government.
And be careful about calling everyone else an idiot. Everyone on the road thinks they know how to drive and that all the others are incompetent, if that is the case then why are there so many accidents?
Unfortunately there is no way to tell an idiot from a non-idiot by looking. All those idiots also tend to get very pissed off when they are stepped on (i.e. Russian Revolution). Lots of people called "geniuses" have made the world a more miserable place.
It always struck me as ridiculous how people mistake technological development for human development. People haven't developed since Homo Sapiens originated, everything else since then has been a veneer of culture and government. The same impulses that drove the ancient Sumerians are the same ones that drove the Vikings, Americans, WWI Europe, etc. The scale and the ability to organize changes but the same fears, desires, and behaviors that have driven humanity for millennia remain. Technology itself isn't the point, why we use it and why we have it is.
The net wasn't going to miraculously rewire the depths of the human brain or alter our DNA. We've already seen this technology in the form of the printing press and how it developed. Humanity reacted to it like any other technology, it is interesting but only truly matters as far as it effects our day-to-day preexisting motivations. Instead of communicating via voice or phone we email. Instead of looking something up in the library we do a web search. If we feel someone is an authority we listen to them (i.e. CNN). If an issue matters to us we pay attention and associate with like minded folks otherwise we ignore it, just like before.
If you get only one thing from studying history it should be how history repeats itself and how what we think is a unique period in time is not. Everything just goes in cycles, round and round...
Never in history has such a wide variety of porn been so freely available to so many in such vast amounts!
...or have them make noise in space.
Ok, so corporate welfare is good and personal welfare is bad? Good, glad the politicos straightened me out on that.
The end of the Cold War must've been the worst thing that ever happened to the military-industrial complex. No wonder within months of the end of the Soviet Union the president was talking about "rogue nations" (i.e. anyone who dares oppose us). You can't lavish $ on Raytheon, Pratt & Whitney, etc without a boogie man to keep the voters blind with paranoia. It is no surprise that most of the top military staff and government staff end up as consultants and board members of these very same companies when they leave the government. We need a law forbidding them from working for any defense contractor for X years after leaving their government job (sort of like a non-compete contract).
If the target is made highly reflective (anti-stealth!?) then the beam must be either extremely strong to apply a massive pulse to a small area or able to apply energy to the target for a certain minimum period of time. Extremely fast pulses that compress the energy into a very brief but powerful pulse probably wouldn't work as the plasma generated by the high temperatures would absoarb any further energy from the pulse before the plasma could disperse, thus acting like a kind of insulating layer. You'd end up pitting the target at best.
Since a massive pulse precludes any current mobile technology one could imagine then the 2nd route would have to be taken. The target has one VERY easy countermeasure in addition to being reflective, SPIN. Having the missile rotate is easy and will cause the beam to distribute it's energy over a large area. Artillery shells already do this (spin) and the explosives used in munitions require a shock and not just heat to detonate.
Another defense would be a layer of ablation material that simply burns off thus absoarbing the energy of the beam long enough for the target to survive. Something with a high heat capacity and high melting point (ceramics?) would be good for that.
I don't see this research producing a kill device, maybe a blinding one though. Optical detectors (CCDs) in guided munitions can be pretty easily fried if you can aim the beam that well, of course that would be more of a threat to a hi-tech dependent military than a 3rd world army.
If this thing ever proved to even work never mind be practical they'd have to turn around and immediately devise countermeasures for it. A device that was reasonably portable and not terribly expensive to make/use would be immediately copied. The US military's current strategy of knocking out air defenses with cruise and HARM missiles and then attacking from the air at will would be seriously compromised.
At the very least a strong enough and accurate beam could "blind" optically guided munitions.
Maybe they should just leave the genie in the bottle.
I didn't know that owning your own island and being (supposedly) self-educated automatically makes your product wonderful. How about just looking at the idea, ok?
Of course there will be niche uses for this, there are for almost any product. But you miss basic human nature, people prefer to sit than stand and people won't expose themselves to unpleasant weather if they can avoid it. Think grandma will feel comfortable bouncing around outdoors on 2 wheels when she could be sitting in her motorized chair with no chance of falling? Doubt it.
As for how safe it is, if the average person truly put safety ahead of convenience they wouldn't need laws telling them to wear a seatbelt. They just don't care.
"1. PEOPLE ARE LAZY. PERIOD."
And that is why people will stay in their cars. They already have a way to get to the train station 3 miles away, plus they have their radio, cell phone, drink holder and other clutter to keep them happy. You also have a nice metal box with windows around you to keep out the outside world, especially all those annoying people begging at traffic lights.
This thing is a solution for a non-problem as far as the average person is concerned. Most people don't care that they aren't getting exercise or are polluting the air.
I don't see the elderly using something like this either as long as they have to stand straight up in it and it gives even the impression that you could fall off of it and break a hip.
The real solution to sprawl and congestion isn't a scooter but better growth laws, denser housing instead of suburban cookie-cutter developments, an acceptance on limits on private property development (good luck), and an abandonment of car worship and endless road funding for better public transportation.
Yah, that's all great but will it be the world shaking product its been hyped to be? Doubtful...People don't even bother to walk a few feet to go to a nearby convinience store never mind ride a scooter in less than perfect weather. How about carrying loads? I don't see people lining up to carry their shopping in backpacks so they can use this thing. What if you have young kids? How many moms would be willing to have their 6 yr old scoot around the city even if they are next to them? What about the liability issues when 2 people slam into each other at top speed for a combined speed of ~24mph?
Look at bikes, they don't take a whole lot of effort to get around most places but there is rarely a decent place to lock them up and you take your life in your own hands in the city. Carrying anything bigger than a rucksack requires getting in your car.
I see this, in it's present form, only being popular with techie types and the gung-ho altera crowd.
Of course the government could start making roads with actual sidewalks and safe bike lanes for those people who want to walk/ride. God forbid anyone should walk to get out of their car. If it weren't for the car I don't know what the dept of transportation would do with itself.