"This isn't funny. It's insightful. Faking a VOR is mind-numbingly simple, and an un-overrideable transmitter in the wrong place activated at the wrong time could be catastrophic."
Thankyou.
GPS can't be used as a primary navigation device because it's not accurate or reliable enough. GPS was designed for soldiers in the desert who can't map-read, not for landing planes with*. Galileo, when it's launched, will be accurate enough to land planes by (centimetre-accuracy), but it doesn't exist yet.
* If GPS fails, do you really want all of the planes in the area to crash simultaneously?
Even systems like ILS and MLS, which are nearly accurate enough to land with, need the pilot to land, because they're not actually accurate enough to entrust with a passenger plane. There's a reason the autopilot cut-off switch is so prominent (by the pilot's thumb on a helicopter; big red button in a plane), which is because the pilot is the failsafe. This is quite incompatible with a system which is acting against the instructions of the pilot.
As to the article's claim that navaids can be used as backup, this is quite simply dreamland. It really sticks out as the kind of statement made by someone who has no idea how such a system might be implemented, but wishes it were so. Even with good charts and a competant pilot, it's hard work to navigate by these things.
You can imagine the black box saying to the the city-detection unit, "well, we're somewhere between 060 and 070 degrees from cranfield, and about 3 miles plus or minus a bit from luton, and we've been flying north for 25 minutes since we last heard heathrow. I reckon we're... here!" (navaid computer points to a random spot on the map and sends aircraft in a climb away from an imaginary city...)
"It's just software, it should be easy". hilarious quote.
"Is this a call to deface Web sites, or generally screw over sysadmins who oftentimes are paid beans to being with? Shameful."
It looks much more like an attempt to get as many websites patched and backed-up as possible, before any real cracks happen. What better way to get people's attention than to create fear of a large imminent crack?
At Yahoo, the test has to be passed every time your account is locked. i.e. every time somebody does an automated attack on your password. i.e. every two days.
"In a similar vein...does ANYONE find that "context menu" key useful, the one to the right of the righthand windows key?"
Hmmm, It's on the right-hand side of the keyboard, it only works in MS-Windows.
To be using MS-Windows, you will have to be holding a mouse in your right hand...
So no, it's no use whatever, just like everything else that side of the keyboard. If you're typing (so you can reach it), then the mouse-cursor will be in some random place on the screen, and pressing the menu button will get a menu from wherever the mouse is, i.e. probably not the item you're interested in.
Unless of course, you happen to be using a keyboard with a touchpad (or a laptop), in which case you can't use menus reliably anyway...
"But the wide boy in his racer will wear false plates or register at a false address and leave you to pay the bills..."
Want a laugh? Walk past the citizen-monitoring cameras on the way into london holding a placard containing the number-place (license-plate) of your favourite friend;
"IRAQ could have been completely dealt with in 6 hours.. Simply carpet bomb the entire country and finish it with a few well placed nukes. kill every man/woman/child in the country and you win"
The United States could also have been dealt with in a similar way, and in a similar timeframe. There are plenty of nuclear ICBMs around, and they're not all american.
"If you don't need forward bases, you don't need allies. America becomes the uncontested ruler of the entire world. We retire into a "fortress America" that becomes more decadent, insular, despotic and xenophobic with every passing year."
Didn't Asimov write about that?
We want robots. Hundreds of thousands of robots. And our own planet.
"Okay this requires you to have your own domain name (at least it makes it easier)."
Of course, realising that you own the domain, I could send email to different usernames in the expectation that they'd get through, even to addresses which you can't filter such as postmaster@
"Impersonating a peace officer is a misdemeanor in most states. In California, see Penal Code section 538d. This might deter many people from attempting such a thing."
Unless of course, you happen not to be living in California.
"While I can purchase a book at Borders with a credit card, would I be pleased if that then gets sent over to Law Enforcement without a warrant or writ?"
Am I being paranoid, or are you being naive? When you go into Borders, or into a public library, most people here have every expectation that information about you will be sent to anybody (Law enforcement or no) without any warrant or writ.
It might not happen at all, and we can all be pleasantly surprised. But what are the chances of that?
"And if you don't give a rat's ass about Internet Free Speech, boycott Tom's Hardware because they suck"
Toms Hardware? People who can give a great review to graphics card X without ever mentioning that it'll run at 8fps on linux because there aren't any drivers for it? A site supposedly run by computer enthusiasts, yet they're reccommending WindowsXP? C'mon, get a real computer.
Perhaps I should split this paragraph over 8 pages with a 300x300 flashing advert on each. Now if only everyone could fit 100KiB of HTML on their 3-paragraph webpage (without graphics)...
"Do it the easy way: buy a $2.99 package of ethernet cable wall staples at Home Depot. Grab a hammer, and you can have cables routed all over your house within minutes."
Duct tape is your friend.
Build a student network, which consists of ethernet cable duct-taped down to the carpets/floor, and it even goes under doors.
C'mon, Exchange was replaced ages ago, that's what the Kroupware project was all about. The German government funded a replacement server (Kolab) which would replace MS-Exchange, and designed to work with both MS-Outlook ("legacy systems") and KMail (for additional functionality)
Slashdot Mirror
"This isn't funny. It's insightful. Faking a VOR is mind-numbingly simple, and an un-overrideable transmitter in the wrong place activated at the wrong time could be catastrophic."
Thankyou.
GPS can't be used as a primary navigation device because it's not accurate or reliable enough. GPS was designed for soldiers in the desert who can't map-read, not for landing planes with*. Galileo, when it's launched, will be accurate enough to land planes by (centimetre-accuracy), but it doesn't exist yet.
* If GPS fails, do you really want all of the planes in the area to crash simultaneously?
Even systems like ILS and MLS, which are nearly accurate enough to land with, need the pilot to land, because they're not actually accurate enough to entrust with a passenger plane. There's a reason the autopilot cut-off switch is so prominent (by the pilot's thumb on a helicopter; big red button in a plane), which is because the pilot is the failsafe. This is quite incompatible with a system which is acting against the instructions of the pilot.
As to the article's claim that navaids can be used as backup, this is quite simply dreamland. It really sticks out as the kind of statement made by someone who has no idea how such a system might be implemented, but wishes it were so. Even with good charts and a competant pilot, it's hard work to navigate by these things.
You can imagine the black box saying to the the city-detection unit, "well, we're somewhere between 060 and 070 degrees from cranfield, and about 3 miles plus or minus a bit from luton, and we've been flying north for 25 minutes since we last heard heathrow. I reckon we're... here!" (navaid computer points to a random spot on the map and sends aircraft in a climb away from an imaginary city...)
"It's just software, it should be easy". hilarious quote.
"What if the only way to avoid a mid-air collision is to bank into one of these "soft walls"?"
This is why pilots don't like the idea.
What if I setup my own NDB/DME and get it to transmit an identifier saying "new york". Then put it at the end of a runway...
"Is this a call to deface Web sites, or generally screw over sysadmins who oftentimes are paid beans to being with? Shameful."
It looks much more like an attempt to get as many websites patched and backed-up as possible, before any real cracks happen. What better way to get people's attention than to create fear of a large imminent crack?
"c) the turing test only has to be passed once"
At Yahoo, the test has to be passed every time your account is locked. i.e. every time somebody does an automated attack on your password. i.e. every two days.
"If you ever try to turn off images, you'll see that ALT tags are sadly lacking, making many sites impossible for blind to navigate..."
Not just blind. <block images from this server>
"Years ago, I told my Powermac 660AV "Computer, open window", and it shut down instead."
Happens all the time in Windows. I don't even have a microphone connected
"In a similar vein...does ANYONE find that "context menu" key useful, the one to the right of the righthand windows key?"
Hmmm, It's on the right-hand side of the keyboard, it only works in MS-Windows.
To be using MS-Windows, you will have to be holding a mouse in your right hand...
So no, it's no use whatever, just like everything else that side of the keyboard. If you're typing (so you can reach it), then the mouse-cursor will be in some random place on the screen, and pressing the menu button will get a menu from wherever the mouse is, i.e. probably not the item you're interested in.
Unless of course, you happen to be using a keyboard with a touchpad (or a laptop), in which case you can't use menus reliably anyway...
"But the wide boy in his racer will wear false plates or register at a false address and leave you to pay the bills..."
Want a laugh? Walk past the citizen-monitoring cameras on the way into london holding a placard containing the number-place (license-plate) of your favourite friend;
"Unless you're doing something illegal, as the old saying goes, you have very little to worry about."
Who gets to define illegal?
"What we need are the _[]x window buttons on the keyboard so that we can minimize, maxamize and close windows with 1 push of a keyboard button."
In Windows:
Alt-Space N
Alt-Space X
Alt-F4
"IRAQ could have been completely dealt with in 6 hours.. Simply carpet bomb the entire country and finish it with a few well placed nukes. kill every man/woman/child in the country and you win"
The United States could also have been dealt with in a similar way, and in a similar timeframe. There are plenty of nuclear ICBMs around, and they're not all american.
"If you don't need forward bases, you don't need allies. America becomes the uncontested ruler of the entire world. We retire into a "fortress America" that becomes more decadent, insular, despotic and xenophobic with every passing year."
Didn't Asimov write about that?
We want robots. Hundreds of thousands of robots. And our own planet.
"If one could own a television, and avoid the license fee by not watching BBC channels, then it would not be a tax."
You need a tuner which is incapable of tuning to BBC channels, a few lawyers, very thick skin, and a lot of patience.
"Just pray that they don't run into ET out there"
Surely if they're in space, they are E.T.?
"Okay this requires you to have your own domain name (at least it makes it easier)."
Of course, realising that you own the domain, I could send email to different usernames in the expectation that they'd get through, even to addresses which you can't filter such as postmaster@
"I'm wondering when cash transactions over a certain value would be outlawed altogether."
When your favourite currency becomes worthless, and a Barclaycard representative replaces the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the house of commons.
Ever tried to pay by gold?
Ever wondered why the serial numbers on cash are magnetic?
"Impersonating a peace officer is a misdemeanor in most states. In California, see Penal Code section 538d. This might deter many people from attempting such a thing."
Unless of course, you happen not to be living in California.
"While I can purchase a book at Borders with a credit card, would I be pleased if that then gets sent over to Law Enforcement without a warrant or writ?"
Am I being paranoid, or are you being naive? When you go into Borders, or into a public library, most people here have every expectation that information about you will be sent to anybody (Law enforcement or no) without any warrant or writ.
It might not happen at all, and we can all be pleasantly surprised. But what are the chances of that?
"And if you don't give a rat's ass about Internet Free Speech, boycott Tom's Hardware because they suck"
Toms Hardware? People who can give a great review to graphics card X without ever mentioning that it'll run at 8fps on linux because there aren't any drivers for it? A site supposedly run by computer enthusiasts, yet they're reccommending WindowsXP? C'mon, get a real computer.
Perhaps I should split this paragraph over 8 pages with a 300x300 flashing advert on each. Now if only everyone could fit 100KiB of HTML on their 3-paragraph webpage (without graphics)...
Besides, Dan's data is so much cooler.
"Do it the easy way: buy a $2.99 package of ethernet cable wall staples at Home Depot. Grab a hammer, and you can have cables routed all over your house within minutes."
Duct tape is your friend.
Build a student network, which consists of ethernet cable duct-taped down to the carpets/floor, and it even goes under doors.
C'mon, Exchange was replaced ages ago, that's what the Kroupware project was all about. The German government funded a replacement server (Kolab) which would replace MS-Exchange, and designed to work with both MS-Outlook ("legacy systems") and KMail (for additional functionality)
Here's the link
"Amusingly it took them about 30 seconds to get around to Freenet and how it might be worth investigating it."
Konspire2B
"We won't have LOTR 4 (the books run out)"
Not entirely true [back in The Shire], but the last chapter of the book isn't going to get filmed anytime soon.
"Dude, i have jsut spent the last 30 hours installing gentoo, xfree and kde. It may be simple to do, but it shouldnt take a lifetime to finish"
Download time or compilation time? Both seem to be problems for gentoo.
Are there any source distributions which come on CD, or are they all auto-download-and-compile?
"I can't wait until I start getting ASCII porn messages on my phone."
ASCII? You can send pictures by mobile phone.