Oh wow, I wish I had mod points. This is exactly the kind of post I read slashdot for.
Thx. I always wonder whether my posts get read by any people or not. It's good to hear that effort is not wasted.
I, too, read Slashdot for the good Comments, specifically the detailed or highly insightful ones... voices I would not hear otherwise.
(You can find this also in some FARK threads, although the lack of a mod system means that you have to sift through everything chronologically to find that occasional Comment "from a guy who was there during the ********* event", or "from readers with deep knowledge in a very specific hobby or interest".)
Shouldn't this violate the Law of Conservation of Energy? Or is this literally the achievement of what would have normally been thought of as an asymptote to infinity, where no energy can be extracted from this closed system and it's perpetuating on merely perfect conservation of the energy that was introduced into the system when it was established?
It's perpetual motion, yes. But, it costs a lot of energy to keep it in that state.
Even within the time crystal, it is a zero-sum game, in the sense that no "excess" energy could be harvested from it.
Hexagonal lattice in NaCl?! NaCl forms a cubic lattice!
Yes I'm a crystallographer!
A cube looks like a hexagon, looking down the long diagonal.
The NaCl structure is two interpenetrating FCC lattices of A and X, offset by {1/4, 0, 0} relative to the NaCl cubic unit cell (but by {1/2, 0, 0} relatively between the FCC sub-cells. In space-group symmetry notation, it is F m 3-bar m, in terms of its fundamental (that is most-basically-expressible, reduced unit cell).
In the same manner that an FCC atomic arrangement could be expressed as having a hexagonal unit cell, with it not being the fundamental cell, but instead a multiple formula-unit cell – a supercell – one could do the same with NaCl. I've not had my coffee, but intuitively a supercell double-sized this one could similarly be used to define the crystal structure of NaCl. Not optimal, but possible. Look in the front-matter section of your Space-Groups tome to look up the matrix conversion to transform the atomic positions from one fundamental lattice-type to another.
Put more simply, while HEXAGONAL is ABABAB stacking, FCC is ABCABC stacking of close-packed layers of atoms.
I read the linked article (which is a summary of the real report). It's not my field.
How is what they describe anything other than just a stable oscillator? It consumes energy, since to run it requires regular (although perhaps not periodic?) pulses of light.
The stable oscillation (in time) is not physical, but rather an oscillation of subatomic particle (electron?) spin-flipping.
That is, it's not a 10-atom-long little guitar string oscillating at its (the object's) resonant frequency, with all other frequencies somehow quenched. (This was actually my first thought, too.) But, the linked Nature News article goes on to make it clear this is not a phonon-ralated nor atomic-motion-related phenomenon. Note where that first-described experiment describes the ytterbium atoms as being in a ground (non-vibrating) state.
As for the diamond-defect experiment, I am still digesting that one. Can a quantum physicist chime in to address the diamonds?
Shouldn't the headline be "Microsoft fails to fix exploit for months"?
Technically, yes, you are correct.
But if this were applied in reality, there would be so many news articles of the same name – each tranche covering yet another un-patched MS exploit, that it would become impossible to follow any individual one.
There are just so many of these things. . . We need a way of telling one from another.
Putin most definitely does not want another Cold War.
That must explain why he invaded Ukraine.
They have some things to fix first. But let's at least leave the door open...
Even if he has the purest of intentions, returning Snowden would make the US less stable.
Crimea was for access to the Black Sea, so they could run a direct oil pipeline to Western Europe without incurring fees and such from Ukraine. Putin wants profits for Gazprom. A war would result in things that prevent that, so I don't think that he wants a big war, such as Cold War II. Russia is rich with oil, and they want access to the markets.
And I wasn't speaking about "pure intentions". I can't read minds. As HornWumps corrected me below, Geopolitics is poker, not chess. And it's definitely not charity.
They have exclusive contracts with so many venues that an artist cannot find a place to perform that does not have a "Ticketmaster-only" contract for shows. Ticketbastards run an obscene, monopolistic racket.
... At least they flagged a potential reliability problem with GPS *before* they were launched.... Unfortunately, (or fortunately) space is hard...
It is fortunate for the failure analysts. When a satellite is nearing launch and there is an issue with some part – that is when the money hose opens wide, and the USAF SMC's failure analysis lab (an FFRDC) is called upon, the money just gushes. They throw every analysis technique at the thing, whether it is appropriate or not. And they punish employees who solve the problem too quickly. I have personally been commanded to, "Go back and keep working on it for a couple of more weeks." That's just one example.
You see, at a failure analysis lab supporting anything DOD, Program fuck-ups are very good for business. The managers tell basically all employees to drop their current work and just bathe in that sweet, sweet FA "root-cause failure analysis" money. No matter whether your technique can help – just do something with it.
It is the craziest thing I have seen in my career. Space is expensive because it is expensive. This FA aspect is a nutty drain on the US Federal budget.
If they do this, it wouldn't be to "curry favor" with Trump, it would be a move to further destabilize the US. As a result of multiple factors (including Russian interference) we have a the most unpopular president in a century who is extremely divisive. Returning Snowden would be a move to stoke those flames and cause more unrest. There are many reasons for doing this but ultimately, a less stable US is better for their own nation.
Yes. Geopolitics is a chess game.
But also, Putin has stated that "there is only one superpower" in the world. Also that Russia wants to be a nation that works and trades with other nations. Putin most definitely does not want another Cold War.
They have some things to fix first. But let's at least leave the door open...
He wasn't trying to go to Russia, he got stuck there. It was an accident.
More to the point, we stuck him there. After his travel documents were revoked, he couldn't go anywhere else. He is precisely where we apparently wanted him.
EXACTLY. The US took away any other options for him, and effectively pushed him into having to choose Russia, a non-extradition country.
What Snowden does there, I have no idea. Nor do I care – because the US forced him to go there. It is bad for US security, almost undoubtedly, but the US government created the stupid situation, and we US citizens might pay some price for it, thanks to our own government's departmental overreach for power.
The checks and balances are not working. But how do we reform them?
It's fine to have a national intelligence service.
It's not fine to turn it inward on its own population, Stasi style.
It's not fine to use "parallel construction" and have the government lie about the nature of evidence it presents against people.
The NSA violated the highest law of the land on a vast scale, as a matter of policy, and thus has lost its legitimacy as a public institution. That fact needed to be made clear to the people.
Yes, yes, yes! NSA internal-US shenanigans are Stasi-style. "Parallel Construction" is a crime. The NSA should be gutted, abandoned, and a new organization with the actual, core task be re-created. And not populated by ex-NSA management.
I'd mod up, but this thread is closed for mods, but I just wanted to emphasize your concise statement.
Can I remind you of some of my other predictions.... namely 6 eyes, Russia added to 5 eyes on excuse of fighting ISIS? Or Iran attacked to force them over to Russia, giving Russia effective control of the region.... that one is also in progress.
Yes because, well, they are neighbors after all. Only 50 miles of land separates them at their closest point. They also share a sea.
Neutrons don't usually cause double strand breaks in DNA. Alpha particles are much more trouble; then betas, then high energy gamma, then lowly neutrons! Also, Viewing the nuclear cross sections can be done with the even more powerful tool JANIS https://www.oecd-nea.org/janis...
Alphas are indeed much more trouble. But also, alphas can be blocked by a piece of paper, while neutrons just keep on sailing through for a good while. My point is that alphas are not a problem in the real world unless you ingest or inhale an alpha-emitter––that is the only way they can cause serious trouble – be being inside you and wrecking whatever cellular matter they are sitting next to.
... A $17,000 fine may cut into profits a bit, but it is hardly punitive. At $5,000 a pop, that starts to be enough to discourage the behavior. But even then the venture appears, if not wildly profitable, still better than having the units sit empty.
Good observation on the nuisance-level penalty.
But I disagree that it is better than having units sit empty. In either case, the unit is off of the market for long-term rentals (>1 year). The function of short-term accommodations is fulfilled by the hotel/motel industry –which can only be built where zoned to allow for it.
... Nobody gives a shit who's living next door in large cities. You would probably only notice that someone in your apartment megacomplex died because after a few months in Summer it starts to smell funny.
Nonsense. Condo homeowners' associations work to keep the property values up – by law – so they order maintenance & repairs, and hire & track services such as janitorial, gardening, and so on. Many in the community take their turn on the HOA Board every few years, depending. This keeps things stable for the community.
Now imagine one owner starts renting out their unit to vacationing groups of frat boys every weekend. I might not know my neighbors' hobby (actually I do), but the HOA Board will be hearing from me, and that same neighbor will be hearing from the HOA Board, which functions as an intermediary.
Short-term rentals are against zoning laws, HOA rules & regs, and the very concept of having a home in a "community".
And in many ways closer to Jules Verne's Paris in the Twentieth Century.
It was spot-on with people's absorption with their smartphones and tablets. And living in "micro-spaces". And the demise of literature in libraries. And technology-worship.
If you learn how to escape the effects of being an individual among a group of co-equals, then I and many philosophers, political scientists, and people in general will be delighted to hear it.
I don't have an answer to that problem, but that's not the problem private associations answer. Private associations, rather, ensure that you are at least an individual among co-equals, as opposed to an individual subject to arbitrary outside force.
Fair enough. You seem to be saying, effectively, that the US (for example) has strayed far from the "... all men having been created equal..." part of the US Constitution. Yes. Yes we have.
The US is a (doubly) Representative Republic which is likely on the cusp of diving sharply into fascism, towards which we leaned anyway. All this "free market" and "the market is the most important thing" and "growth must be sustained" are all in essence statements used frequently to justify political actions – self-serving or segment-serving ones – which are at-root fascist in holding the markets as more important than the people.
Unless you have the time and skill to generate your own utilities (water, electricity, telephone, internet) – and to home-school your children, then you NEED to have a governing power of some kind.
That "governing power" can be a simple private corporation or association. That means that the people making the decisions are the owners on the one hand, and the customers on the other.
HOA's have plenty of politics going on in them. . . to the point of some individuals trying to exert monopoly-like influence to their own personal ends. Strong President + weak res-of-board invites abuse. It happens all the time.
Give anyone or any sub-group power, and they will be in a position to abuse it – unless a system of checks and balances are put in place.
It is basic human nature. If you learn how to escape the effects of being an individual among a group of co-equals, then I and many philosophers, political scientists, and people in general will be delighted to hear it.
If you transfer functions to government, they become subject to politics. So, public utilities may be forced to use coal, public schools may be forced to teach creationism, etc. You don't like that? Don't transfer these functions to the government.
Please read a high-school level Civics book, Tea Party troll.
Unless you have the time and skill to generate your own utilities (water, electricity, telephone, internet) – and to home-school your children, then you NEED to have a governing power of some kind. There is your traditional "Government," but alternatively also a private provider (profit-motivated), or a neighborhood association (AKA government). Unless you are the king and own everything, that is how it is everywhere on this planet.
So how does this work? Is a domestic consumer is given an electron which has passed through a wind generator, there is going to be hell to pay, but a different pool of electrons must be used to export power from the state.
And sure, with a mix of energy sources, local consumption can be less than generation from coal.
True, electrons are not fungible in the sense that money is – at least according to quantum mechanics. But in this application, the energy transmitted by the AC current of electrons in the power lines makes the point moot.
And anyways, selling energy to another state at location B, but that was generated at location A, is not technologically feasible. And so, we are back to treating things in the aggregate if this bill passes. It won't.
Slashdot Mirror
Why, all it takes to outwit them there government revenuers, I mean regulators, is just a email alias. Hell, even I cun unnderstand tha-ut.
Seriously, an email alias was his cover? Geesh!
Oh wow, I wish I had mod points. This is exactly the kind of post I read slashdot for.
Thx. I always wonder whether my posts get read by any people or not. It's good to hear that effort is not wasted.
I, too, read Slashdot for the good Comments, specifically the detailed or highly insightful ones... voices I would not hear otherwise.
(You can find this also in some FARK threads, although the lack of a mod system means that you have to sift through everything chronologically to find that occasional Comment "from a guy who was there during the ********* event", or "from readers with deep knowledge in a very specific hobby or interest".)
Shouldn't this violate the Law of Conservation of Energy? Or is this literally the achievement of what would have normally been thought of as an asymptote to infinity, where no energy can be extracted from this closed system and it's perpetuating on merely perfect conservation of the energy that was introduced into the system when it was established?
It's perpetual motion, yes. But, it costs a lot of energy to keep it in that state.
Even within the time crystal, it is a zero-sum game, in the sense that no "excess" energy could be harvested from it.
So, don't go running to the Patent Office.
Hexagonal lattice in NaCl?! NaCl forms a cubic lattice!
Yes I'm a crystallographer!
A cube looks like a hexagon, looking down the long diagonal.
The NaCl structure is two interpenetrating FCC lattices of A and X, offset by {1/4, 0, 0} relative to the NaCl cubic unit cell (but by {1/2, 0, 0} relatively between the FCC sub-cells. In space-group symmetry notation, it is F m 3-bar m, in terms of its fundamental (that is most-basically-expressible, reduced unit cell).
In the same manner that an FCC atomic arrangement could be expressed as having a hexagonal unit cell, with it not being the fundamental cell, but instead a multiple formula-unit cell – a supercell – one could do the same with NaCl. I've not had my coffee, but intuitively a supercell double-sized this one could similarly be used to define the crystal structure of NaCl. Not optimal, but possible. Look in the front-matter section of your Space-Groups tome to look up the matrix conversion to transform the atomic positions from one fundamental lattice-type to another.
Put more simply, while HEXAGONAL is ABABAB stacking, FCC is ABCABC stacking of close-packed layers of atoms.
Yes, I am also a crystallographer.
I read the linked article (which is a summary of the real report). It's not my field.
How is what they describe anything other than just a stable oscillator? It consumes energy, since to run it requires regular (although perhaps not periodic?) pulses of light.
The stable oscillation (in time) is not physical, but rather an oscillation of subatomic particle (electron?) spin-flipping.
That is, it's not a 10-atom-long little guitar string oscillating at its (the object's) resonant frequency, with all other frequencies somehow quenched. (This was actually my first thought, too.) But, the linked Nature News article goes on to make it clear this is not a phonon-ralated nor atomic-motion-related phenomenon. Note where that first-described experiment describes the ytterbium atoms as being in a ground (non-vibrating) state.
As for the diamond-defect experiment, I am still digesting that one. Can a quantum physicist chime in to address the diamonds?
Here's what I've made:
1. A system to monitor local aircraft noise (Decibel meter + receiver for aircraft transponders + some integration software)
Very cool and useful. Have you posted or shared the code and/or parts list anywhere on the net?
What was the total component price?
Calibration?
Shouldn't the headline be "Microsoft fails to fix exploit for months"?
Technically, yes, you are correct.
But if this were applied in reality, there would be so many news articles of the same name – each tranche covering yet another un-patched MS exploit, that it would become impossible to follow any individual one.
There are just so many of these things. . . We need a way of telling one from another.
Putin most definitely does not want another Cold War.
That must explain why he invaded Ukraine.
They have some things to fix first. But let's at least leave the door open...
Even if he has the purest of intentions, returning Snowden would make the US less stable.
Crimea was for access to the Black Sea, so they could run a direct oil pipeline to Western Europe without incurring fees and such from Ukraine. Putin wants profits for Gazprom. A war would result in things that prevent that, so I don't think that he wants a big war, such as Cold War II. Russia is rich with oil, and they want access to the markets.
And I wasn't speaking about "pure intentions". I can't read minds. As HornWumps corrected me below, Geopolitics is poker, not chess. And it's definitely not charity.
Ticketbastards.
They have exclusive contracts with so many venues that an artist cannot find a place to perform that does not have a "Ticketmaster-only" contract for shows. Ticketbastards run an obscene, monopolistic racket.
... At least they flagged a potential reliability problem with GPS *before* they were launched. ... Unfortunately, (or fortunately) space is hard...
It is fortunate for the failure analysts. When a satellite is nearing launch and there is an issue with some part – that is when the money hose opens wide, and the USAF SMC's failure analysis lab (an FFRDC) is called upon, the money just gushes. They throw every analysis technique at the thing, whether it is appropriate or not. And they punish employees who solve the problem too quickly. I have personally been commanded to, "Go back and keep working on it for a couple of more weeks." That's just one example.
You see, at a failure analysis lab supporting anything DOD, Program fuck-ups are very good for business. The managers tell basically all employees to drop their current work and just bathe in that sweet, sweet FA "root-cause failure analysis" money. No matter whether your technique can help – just do something with it.
It is the craziest thing I have seen in my career. Space is expensive because it is expensive. This FA aspect is a nutty drain on the US Federal budget.
If they do this, it wouldn't be to "curry favor" with Trump, it would be a move to further destabilize the US. As a result of multiple factors (including Russian interference) we have a the most unpopular president in a century who is extremely divisive. Returning Snowden would be a move to stoke those flames and cause more unrest. There are many reasons for doing this but ultimately, a less stable US is better for their own nation.
Yes. Geopolitics is a chess game.
But also, Putin has stated that "there is only one superpower" in the world. Also that Russia wants to be a nation that works and trades with other nations. Putin most definitely does not want another Cold War.
They have some things to fix first. But let's at least leave the door open...
He wasn't trying to go to Russia, he got stuck there. It was an accident.
More to the point, we stuck him there. After his travel documents were revoked, he couldn't go anywhere else. He is precisely where we apparently wanted him.
EXACTLY. The US took away any other options for him, and effectively pushed him into having to choose Russia, a non-extradition country.
What Snowden does there, I have no idea. Nor do I care – because the US forced him to go there. It is bad for US security, almost undoubtedly, but the US government created the stupid situation, and we US citizens might pay some price for it, thanks to our own government's departmental overreach for power.
The checks and balances are not working. But how do we reform them?
It's fine to have a national intelligence service.
It's not fine to turn it inward on its own population, Stasi style.
It's not fine to use "parallel construction" and have the government lie about the nature of evidence it presents against people.
The NSA violated the highest law of the land on a vast scale, as a matter of policy, and thus has lost its legitimacy as a public institution. That fact needed to be made clear to the people.
Yes, yes, yes! NSA internal-US shenanigans are Stasi-style. "Parallel Construction" is a crime. The NSA should be gutted, abandoned, and a new organization with the actual, core task be re-created. And not populated by ex-NSA management.
I'd mod up, but this thread is closed for mods, but I just wanted to emphasize your concise statement.
Can I remind you of some of my other predictions.... namely 6 eyes, Russia added to 5 eyes on excuse of fighting ISIS? Or Iran attacked to force them over to Russia, giving Russia effective control of the region.... that one is also in progress.
Yes because, well, they are neighbors after all. Only 50 miles of land separates them at their closest point. They also share a sea.
Slashdot could benefit from adding another negative modifier showing negative intent – in addition to the Troll modifier.
I suggest Misinformation, or FUD, or perhaps FAKE NEWS.
Such a modifier would have been useful for the post above.
Neutrons don't usually cause double strand breaks in DNA. Alpha particles are much more trouble; then betas, then high energy gamma, then lowly neutrons!
Also,
Viewing the nuclear cross sections can be done with the even more powerful tool JANIS
https://www.oecd-nea.org/janis...
Alphas are indeed much more trouble. But also, alphas can be blocked by a piece of paper, while neutrons just keep on sailing through for a good while. My point is that alphas are not a problem in the real world unless you ingest or inhale an alpha-emitter––that is the only way they can cause serious trouble – be being inside you and wrecking whatever cellular matter they are sitting next to.
oh, don't be so cynical. i'm sure a good chunk of it went to hookers and coke.
I, unfortunately, RT whole FA.
"He started getting thin after visiting Ibiza." That means that he discovered cocaine.
So, yes, sir, he discovered blow. And paying to be blown.
... A $17,000 fine may cut into profits a bit, but it is hardly punitive. At $5,000 a pop, that starts to be enough to discourage the behavior. But even then the venture appears, if not wildly profitable, still better than having the units sit empty.
Good observation on the nuisance-level penalty.
But I disagree that it is better than having units sit empty. In either case, the unit is off of the market for long-term rentals (>1 year). The function of short-term accommodations is fulfilled by the hotel/motel industry –which can only be built where zoned to allow for it.
... Nobody gives a shit who's living next door in large cities. You would probably only notice that someone in your apartment megacomplex died because after a few months in Summer it starts to smell funny.
Nonsense. Condo homeowners' associations work to keep the property values up – by law – so they order maintenance & repairs, and hire & track services such as janitorial, gardening, and so on. Many in the community take their turn on the HOA Board every few years, depending. This keeps things stable for the community.
Now imagine one owner starts renting out their unit to vacationing groups of frat boys every weekend. I might not know my neighbors' hobby (actually I do), but the HOA Board will be hearing from me, and that same neighbor will be hearing from the HOA Board, which functions as an intermediary.
Short-term rentals are against zoning laws, HOA rules & regs, and the very concept of having a home in a "community".
Ironic really, since the USA is more like Brave New World than Nineteen Eighty Four
And in many ways closer to Jules Verne's Paris in the Twentieth Century.
It was spot-on with people's absorption with their smartphones and tablets. And living in "micro-spaces". And the demise of literature in libraries. And technology-worship.
I don't have an answer to that problem, but that's not the problem private associations answer. Private associations, rather, ensure that you are at least an individual among co-equals, as opposed to an individual subject to arbitrary outside force.
Fair enough. You seem to be saying, effectively, that the US (for example) has strayed far from the "... all men having been created equal ..." part of the US Constitution. Yes. Yes we have.
The US is a (doubly) Representative Republic which is likely on the cusp of diving sharply into fascism, towards which we leaned anyway. All this "free market" and "the market is the most important thing" and "growth must be sustained" are all in essence statements used frequently to justify political actions – self-serving or segment-serving ones – which are at-root fascist in holding the markets as more important than the people.
That "governing power" can be a simple private corporation or association. That means that the people making the decisions are the owners on the one hand, and the customers on the other.
HOA's have plenty of politics going on in them. . . to the point of some individuals trying to exert monopoly-like influence to their own personal ends. Strong President + weak res-of-board invites abuse. It happens all the time.
Give anyone or any sub-group power, and they will be in a position to abuse it – unless a system of checks and balances are put in place.
It is basic human nature. If you learn how to escape the effects of being an individual among a group of co-equals, then I and many philosophers, political scientists, and people in general will be delighted to hear it.
If you transfer functions to government, they become subject to politics. So, public utilities may be forced to use coal, public schools may be forced to teach creationism, etc. You don't like that? Don't transfer these functions to the government.
Please read a high-school level Civics book, Tea Party troll.
Unless you have the time and skill to generate your own utilities (water, electricity, telephone, internet) – and to home-school your children, then you NEED to have a governing power of some kind. There is your traditional "Government," but alternatively also a private provider (profit-motivated), or a neighborhood association (AKA government). Unless you are the king and own everything, that is how it is everywhere on this planet.
Or more accurately, a backlash against subsidies - $10 per megawatt hour.
Or perhaps, a subsidy for coal, oil, gas, nuke, and geothermal energy at the cost of solar and wind energy.
So how does this work? Is a domestic consumer is given an electron which has passed through a wind generator, there is going to be hell to pay, but a different pool of electrons must be used to export power from the state.
And sure, with a mix of energy sources, local consumption can be less than generation from coal.
True, electrons are not fungible in the sense that money is – at least according to quantum mechanics. But in this application, the energy transmitted by the AC current of electrons in the power lines makes the point moot.
And anyways, selling energy to another state at location B, but that was generated at location A, is not technologically feasible. And so, we are back to treating things in the aggregate if this bill passes. It won't.