AstroMage: Thanks for posting the link. I poked around the school's website but wasn't able to find the paper. I tried the CS Dept.'s index of papers by author (admittedly, only for Gabrilovich) and came up dry. After that, I simply submitted the story as-is. Maybe I should've tried in Google, too.;)
Were you familiar with the paper already or did you find it another way? Just curious.
My father passed on Sunday and we were going through all the family papers. We have lots of original documents from my family during the Civil War and earlier. My sister and I were thinking of donating them to a museum, so there would be no risk of their loss should my house get damaged (there's way too many documents to fit in my fire safe).
Before doing this, though, we were thinking of scanning/copying all the documents to keep copies for ourselves. In doing so, though, we could use some advice:
What special steps must we take in scanning 150+ year old documents, some very yellowed and fragile?
What is the best format in which to store them (assuming we want them easilly readble in 20+ years for our kids)?
What is the best media upon which to store the data (again, hoping for readability in 20+ years)? (I'm thinking online storage to allow easy conversion to the media of the moment, but I still want something to stash in the safe deposit box)
Does anyone have experience with digital preservation/resoration of archival documents? Should I just try cleaning it up in photoshop or should I find a pro to help out? Maybe I can make it a term of the donation to the museum/library, for that matter.
The guy never brought that up, but if people get up tight about just putting one in a harness, I can already hear the shouts of "Vivisection!!" coming from those same quarters.
(I am, of course, avoiding the word "implant" in a cosmetic surgery context... although dolphins are mammals, aren't they? I guess it would be possible *GRIN*)
I took some training last week and got to talking to a guy who works for the Navy on a program to use dolphins to search for underwater mines. 'Turns out that it's illegal to strap or harness anything to a marine mammal. The dolphins are trained to carry the sonar unit being developed in their mouth. It can let it go if they feel it's hampering or ensnaring them (the unit has slight posative bouyancy, so it'd float to the surface).
Now, the purpose for the "no harnesses" rule on marine mammals is that they can drown if they're entangled. While this is not needed for our land bound rat, we're gonna have to have similar standards for harnesses on any telemetered animal (assuming such the applications take off, of course). A well thought out set of guidelines at the start will save a lot of headaches in the long run. After all, having a wired rat get snared up in a pipe and starve to death because of a poorly designed harness is bad for the rat, bad for the mission, and bad politics all around.
The comment "obvious for decades" made me think of an alternative that would not involve actually slicing into a critter's brain. Since you're simply training a rat to respond to an external (well, kinda external) stimulus, couldn't you just stick headphones on his ears or LEDs into the periphery of goggles? Agreed, it won't placate those who feel the animals are being exploited by training them, but it'd make those quesy about cutting into the little fellas feel better.
Declare - It's a shame they DQ'd my favorite...
on
Nebula Award Winners
·
· Score: 2
One of the original nominees was Declare by Tim Powers. A fantastic book, combining Noah's Ark, the French Resistance, the British Secret Service, and ancient Arabian folklore in a breakneck action tale in Powers' trademark "Hard Fantasy" style.
Unfortuntely, Tim had had a limited edition of the book published in 2000 and was thus ruled ineligible by the SFWA.
I know for a fact from a class I took from Tim in September that he had high hopes for the Nebula.
It shows how much class he has that he accepted the decision graciously and stated that the rules were completely fair.
While all the nominees are great works, you really owe it to yourself to try to dig up a copy of Declare and read it for yourself.
'was a bit distracted to get back to you sooner and... oh my... I was going to say that we appreciate your comment and...um... I meant to say that we... gotta catch br-breath... I'd meant to just... no, don't spill that on the keyboard... We'd wanted to say thst your suggestion made... oh my!!
Look, I'll get back to you later when we're not, er, busy. (*GRINS SHEEPISHLY*) Thanks for the comment, though.
It must be asked: Given the lifespan of the average marriage, is making a ring out of a military grade substance (which will easily outlast the body upon which it is hung) an act of optimism or overkill?
In one of his stories, SF author Larry Niven proposed a beer mug that had a matter transporter in the bottom. Instead of calling the bartender, it automatically, silently refilled itself from the keg.
One of the narrator's comments was "A glass like that could destroy a man"
You know, while flipping through TV and seeing the daytime talks or seeing a trailer for the latest teen comedy at my local theatre, I gotta wonder if a Tunguska-type blast might not be a bad idea...
And in the interest of full disclosure, I come out with:
Str: 11
Int: 15
Wis: 15
Dex: 9
Con: 11
Chr: 15
A nice waste of a few minutes. Obviously flawed, though - assigning a 15 INT simply for a Masters Degree indicates you've never actually dealt with people in graduate school (*GRIN*).
Even back in my undergrad days, I always thought the concept of something compiling itself was just too damn weird. I undestand why it's an important milestone in the development of a compiler, but it still smacks of creation mythology - like the snake swallowing its own tail in Native American & Norse folklore or Athena (?) leaping full grown from Zeus'es forehead.
Then again, the fact that my compiler instructor had the last name of "Pagan" (I kid you not) probably didn't help...
...every square kilometre
of the globe was covered... the final map represents the Earth's actual tint and hue.
For the record, if I'd known NASA was working on this, I would've reseeded my lawn. I didn't think anyone but the neighbors would notice the dead patches. My apologies...
All right. You caught me. I confess. In high school, I just read the Cliff Notes to Tom Sawyer and relied on my hazy memory of a movie (Disney?) version (and that might not have had a "contest" per se, but there was a line to the effect of "I bet so and so can paint faster than you"). Amazing how much bluffing you can do and still pull a "B".
Thankfully, I later developed a taste for Mr. Clemens' work and read Huckleberry Finn and Innocents Abroad on my own, but never got back to Tom. As penance, I'll make a point of picking it up and reading the dead tree version .
That's one thing about/. You guys sure keep a man honest. Bluffing might cut it in high school, but not here! (*GRIN*).
Many posters have commented on how Google will essentially get free labor out of this (by having thousands of man hours expended for that $10K prize). The only thing that surprises me is that people think this is innovative/new/evil/dastardly or otherwise unique. Fact is, it's old hat.
I mean, how many contests have you seen on the back of a cereal box to "create a new slogan!" or "write an essay"? Just a cheap way to create some buzz and get your customers to write your advertising copy for you. Heck, the most blatant scams in memory are HBO's Project Greenlight (trolling for scripts - you don't even want to know what the Writers' Guild thought of this) and the Lego Film Contest (trolling for complete commercials).
Hardly new stuff. Remember Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer? There's a bit where he holds a "contest" to see which kid can whitewash the fence he's supposed to paint fastest. I'm sure that even as Twain wrote that bit, even he thought "I better be sure to give the fence painting thing a unique spin so it works. After all, it's an awfully old idea..."
Which comes to my orignal question; Not whether it's possible to geosynch a satellite around the moon, but whether there'd be enough tension on the cable to actually haul anything up and down.
I'm starting to wonder if it might be doable, but (as with any beanstalk) boils down to specifics about materials.
OK, I know it doesn't settle the gravity well issue, but what if you put one of these on the moon?
No transit time to Mars
Much lesser gravity, allowing for an easier proof of concept.
Like Mars, sparse population and less atmosphere would make it a safer place to experiment.
Of course, you'd actually need industry/population on the moon to make it worthwhile, but that issue is also present in the Mars beanstalk. Actually, when you think of it, the moon is an ideal place to run the (early) proof of concept...
Er, hold on. The moon is tidally locked with the Earth, isn't it? That won't generate a lot of certifical force, will it? There may be enough tension on the cable at one rotation a month to fight the moon's gravity, but it doesn't look too good...
Anyone want to correct me on this? I'd appreciate it.
As the other poster said - keep at it anyway. There's a lot more than that going on in the books than what I posted.
As to the (unintentional) spoiler... I read Red Mars so long ago that I honestly didn't think about it. I'd just figured either everyone had read it already or had never heard of it. So, apologies all around if it hosed you up.
Slashdot Mirror
Were you familiar with the paper already or did you find it another way? Just curious.
Before doing this, though, we were thinking of scanning/copying all the documents to keep copies for ourselves. In doing so, though, we could use some advice:
What special steps must we take in scanning 150+ year old documents, some very yellowed and fragile?
What is the best format in which to store them (assuming we want them easilly readble in 20+ years for our kids)?
What is the best media upon which to store the data (again, hoping for readability in 20+ years)? (I'm thinking online storage to allow easy conversion to the media of the moment, but I still want something to stash in the safe deposit box)
Does anyone have experience with digital preservation/resoration of archival documents? Should I just try cleaning it up in photoshop or should I find a pro to help out? Maybe I can make it a term of the donation to the museum/library, for that matter.
Thanks in andvance for your advice.
(I am, of course, avoiding the word "implant" in a cosmetic surgery context... although dolphins are mammals, aren't they? I guess it would be possible *GRIN*)
Now, the purpose for the "no harnesses" rule on marine mammals is that they can drown if they're entangled. While this is not needed for our land bound rat, we're gonna have to have similar standards for harnesses on any telemetered animal (assuming such the applications take off, of course). A well thought out set of guidelines at the start will save a lot of headaches in the long run. After all, having a wired rat get snared up in a pipe and starve to death because of a poorly designed harness is bad for the rat, bad for the mission, and bad politics all around.
The comment "obvious for decades" made me think of an alternative that would not involve actually slicing into a critter's brain. Since you're simply training a rat to respond to an external (well, kinda external) stimulus, couldn't you just stick headphones on his ears or LEDs into the periphery of goggles? Agreed, it won't placate those who feel the animals are being exploited by training them, but it'd make those quesy about cutting into the little fellas feel better.
Unfortuntely, Tim had had a limited edition of the book published in 2000 and was thus ruled ineligible by the SFWA. I know for a fact from a class I took from Tim in September that he had high hopes for the Nebula. It shows how much class he has that he accepted the decision graciously and stated that the rules were completely fair.
While all the nominees are great works, you really owe it to yourself to try to dig up a copy of Declare and read it for yourself.
Look, I'll get back to you later when we're not, er, busy. (*GRINS SHEEPISHLY*) Thanks for the comment, though.
It must be asked: Given the lifespan of the average marriage, is making a ring out of a military grade substance (which will easily outlast the body upon which it is hung) an act of optimism or overkill?
A few of them are comic themed (Kyrpton and Strontium) but there's a lot of other good ones there (Arsenic will give you the creeps).
Thanks for the laugh!!
One of the narrator's comments was "A glass like that could destroy a man"
(*SIGH*) If only that were a joke.
You know, while flipping through TV and seeing the daytime talks or seeing a trailer for the latest teen comedy at my local theatre, I gotta wonder if a Tunguska-type blast might not be a bad idea...
CmdrTaco, I'm all for it if the SPAMees pick which organ. (*WINCES*)
And in the interest of full disclosure, I come out with:
Str: 11
Int: 15
Wis: 15
Dex: 9
Con: 11
Chr: 15
A nice waste of a few minutes. Obviously flawed, though - assigning a 15 INT simply for a Masters Degree indicates you've never actually dealt with people in graduate school (*GRIN*).
Then again, the fact that my compiler instructor had the last name of "Pagan" (I kid you not) probably didn't help...
For the record, if I'd known NASA was working on this, I would've reseeded my lawn. I didn't think anyone but the neighbors would notice the dead patches. My apologies...
Thankfully, I later developed a taste for Mr. Clemens' work and read Huckleberry Finn and Innocents Abroad on my own, but never got back to Tom. As penance, I'll make a point of picking it up and reading the dead tree version .
That's one thing about /. You guys sure keep a man honest. Bluffing might cut it in high school, but not here! (*GRIN*).
Touche'!
I mean, how many contests have you seen on the back of a cereal box to "create a new slogan!" or "write an essay"? Just a cheap way to create some buzz and get your customers to write your advertising copy for you. Heck, the most blatant scams in memory are HBO's Project Greenlight (trolling for scripts - you don't even want to know what the Writers' Guild thought of this) and the Lego Film Contest (trolling for complete commercials).
Hardly new stuff. Remember Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer? There's a bit where he holds a "contest" to see which kid can whitewash the fence he's supposed to paint fastest. I'm sure that even as Twain wrote that bit, even he thought "I better be sure to give the fence painting thing a unique spin so it works. After all, it's an awfully old idea..."
I know it can't be the source to everything at GOOGLE, but still, does this reek of a security nightmare in the making.
LOL!! Don't think I'll change my sig, even though your version is more realistic.
I'm starting to wonder if it might be doable, but (as with any beanstalk) boils down to specifics about materials.
- No transit time to Mars
- Much lesser gravity, allowing for an easier proof of concept.
- Like Mars, sparse population and less atmosphere would make it a safer place to experiment.
Of course, you'd actually need industry/population on the moon to make it worthwhile, but that issue is also present in the Mars beanstalk. Actually, when you think of it, the moon is an ideal place to run the (early) proof of concept...Er, hold on. The moon is tidally locked with the Earth, isn't it? That won't generate a lot of certifical force, will it? There may be enough tension on the cable at one rotation a month to fight the moon's gravity, but it doesn't look too good...
Anyone want to correct me on this? I'd appreciate it.
As to the (unintentional) spoiler... I read Red Mars so long ago that I honestly didn't think about it. I'd just figured either everyone had read it already or had never heard of it. So, apologies all around if it hosed you up.