Depends on what you consider 'better'. From where I sit it isn't. Better quality, easier to damage. Doesn't degrade from use, harder to copy (legally or otherwise). Non-linear format, region encoding. All in all, they have taken away more, IMO then what they have given the consumer.
Anyone who *cares* about being able to copy their music around won't go for such a scheme, and those who don't are sheep who'll buy whatever comes out anyway.
The problem is most people are like sheep and do whatever they are told. Most people aren't like/. readers who have an opinion that isn't easily swayed. They want to be entertained and don't really care how much it costs. If the industry changes formats and stops producing the old one (ala vinyl) then consumers are up a creek. Fact is, they will just buy into the new format anyway (see DVD).
Just to spur some conversation, I offer my synopsis of the article.
Dieter Gruen has invented buckyball based diamonds that have the ability to conduct electricity when Nitrogen is in between the molecules. They are also extremely small and the combination of these features makes them ideal for MEMS (microelectromechanical structures). MEMS are currently used in mostly medical implementations including micro-drug injections and are silicon based. Silicon is easy to break and cannot withstand high tempurature applications such as a car engine. The use of diamond based MEMS would create as yet unrealized markets for medical and non-medical devices. Although the article didn't specifically mention it, MEMS are the key to most nanotechnology which is a big venture capital buzzword nowadays.
On topic: Something finally going right for the consumer. The only downside to the deletion of customer data is that it was probably already sold and re-sold so it's no that big a deal.
First, 1000 bills a year turns out to be 83 bills per month. Not likely. I have about 15.
If you read the whole post, you would notice that I also mentioned stamps and checks. We went through about 500 checks per year (that included grocery store/gas/restaurants/etc) and that cost about $50. This was reduce by using a Visa check card as well as online payments. Stamps were about $6.50 per month (that's $78 a year). As for late fees, let's just say that the wife had a heard time remembering what she had and had not paid. I took over the bills and setup autopay. Now we get an e-mail that says 'your bill is available' and we can download it for printing and filing.
Interest is a moot point unless you have enough capital to have a savings account that gets withdrawn from automatically into your checking when funds go down. My bank charges for that little 'service'. Not to mention savings account rates are about 3% now a days. Checking account interest at best is 1.5%. Not a whole lot of interest on an average monthly balance of $500.
It might be convinient, but I rather write the check every month than to deal with these kind of BS that might follow.
On the contrary, I have saved over $300 this year alone from not writing checks, sending letters and getting charged for late fees by using electronic funds transfer. I pay everything but the mortgage online because it is the biggest hit to my account and has the biggest grace period, I want to make sure the funds are there.
Most of the services that I use it for (utilities, car payment, credit cards) are very good about not charging fees or allowing me the flexibility to pay when I want. I can setup autopay but I don't have to. Most of the time, I set it to withdraw on the last day I can possibly make the payment.
To leave it out, leaves one open to creationist probability strawmen.
And what exactly are you trolling for here? Since you seen to discount creationism (or the belief in a creation) then do you also discount religion (belief in a supreme being) as a whole? As for evolution and it's definition, I don't worry about trifles.
Hydrogen is very stable with out O2. I see no reson why people can not just by canisters of H2, and plig them into the car like you do a propain tank.
Why not do one even better? If there was a way to safely store H2 in a medium that required no special containers or pressurization, would you buy it? Chrysler hopes so. Check this out. If I had a way to refuel it, I would already have one.
Perhaps the most important and certainly the "cleanest" storage method for H2.
Sodium Borohydride (soap).
Chrysler even made a minivan that uses it. It acts as the H2 storage medium and is easily 're-energized'. Think about it. No explosive H2 to mess with. You get in a wreck and the only thing that leaks out is soap and water. Clean streets!
If they are going to use electron spins to keep track of information, how are we to encapsulate the electrons, with other electrons? Didn't the article say that they affect all other electrons in the area?
The article said that the spin is coherent within the channel as long as the ferromagnet is switched in the correct way. It also said that the spin alignment had very short coherence outside the field. Depending on the material and mechanism anywhere from a few picoseconds to a few hundred nanoseconds. The reason for the decoherence is as you stated. Spin alignment is adversely affected by magnetic and electric fields. Since surrounding electrons give off such fields, you get really short spin alignment times.
Actually, the average life expectancy number is increasing mostly because of the drop in infant mortality rates. So the oldest people aren't necessarily going to get older. Instead, you will see more people making it to adulthood and therefore getting old.
What would cause increase in the age of the oldest people would be things like gene therapy, cleaner living conditions, less diseases and less stress. All these factors increase the likelyhood of dying younger.
My questions after reading the article on Cnet is: "Are the congressmen/women actually considering this?" Well, if the RIAA/MPAA has any real clout on the hill, then we will see just how far this will go. IIRC, the CHiPs were formed primarily becasue of the threat from cyberterrorism. Given today's political atmoshpere, I don't see anything anti terrorism getting changed soon.
Either you can peg the mechanism for producing two bodies in mutual orbit, or you can't.
Your example is all well and good for any given set of objects. Mine was for a specific case. One in which the inbound object's velocity vector is in line with the orbital vetor of another. They meet each other and get trapped together orbiting the Sun. Granted the probability is pretty slim, but that was the mental image I got when I read the parent post.
If you can't even appreciate the question (which I've been trying to explain here), you don't really have any business dismissing the whole issue with hand-waving.
No I understand the question, I just think it is a different one than the parent poster was trying to answer. As for hand-waving on issues, I try to see both the long and the short end of a problem. This one has a general formula (your example) that fits all cases, not a specific set of issues. I can explain foreign body intrusion that create KBO orbital pairs. I made a set of assumptions that didn't require any math junior-high level or not and produced a non-exact answer. Hypothetically, my theory is probable. Specifically, I would rather not spend the math on it, my ODE class is enough right now.
f you were saavy enough to download ad aware in first place, what is to stop you from reinstalling it and running it again once you've installed this product?
Better yet, who in their right mind would knowingly install something that was this spy intensive! I've used AdAware for six months and once I find a program that installs this crap, I never install it again. Someone should start a list of spyware laden apps so self-respecting computer users can ignore them.
What do you think should happen? That everything should keep bouncing off everything else forever?
I don't claim to have a model for the formation of the universe! But I do tend to believe in the the basic laws of it. In my estimation, the universe would be less chaotic shortly after it's formation (or at least further back in time for those anti-big bang theorists). That means that there would be less stuff in between the massive objects (stars/star systems/galaxies) and most of the matter would be concentrated in those areas. We can see evidence of universe expansion and therefore an increase in chaotic behavior. Also, the universe has a set amount of energy from beginning to end and energy cannot be destroyed. So it just keeps getting transfered from matter to light and back again. Some feel that all matter will become light and still others think it will be the opposite. Personally, I don't care as I will not be around when either happens.
Two bodies approach each other from "infinity", and somehow they lose enough energy and/or angular momentum in their encounter to wind up in mutual orbit. How's that?
IANAPE (I am not a physics expert), but I am an EE major. What popped into my head when I read the parent post is that two objects of similar orbits or trajectories attracted each other and then became a system. Imagine an interstellar object pointed at the Kuiper Belt. As it gets closer it's trajectory (modified by the gravity of the Sun) changes to match some KBO that is travelling at a similar velocity. They meet and trap each other. Granted there would have to be limits to the angle of attack, velocity and mass but it is certainly possible.
Our solar system works like clockwork. It got that way because everything that didn't look like clockwork was sliced off.
Interesting theory. So basically you think that the solar system began as a disorderly system and became more orderly. Isn't that contrary to the second law of thermodynamics? Entropy states that a system will only get more chaotic and less orderly. You may claim that the system in question is the universe and not the solar system but I disagree. I think it applies to any system. Furthermore, it seems more logical that interstellar objects would be attracted to the gravity well of our sun and thus more likely to add to the orbiting objects like the KBOs.
When I something like this happens, I just grab it from my proxy cache. Granted not everyone has this available, but it is nice to be root on a Squid box:)
Looks like the AC either had a stale browser open or pulled it from a cache too.
If the moon is receding, something is pulling it away; you can't "back calculate" that because it would be some kind of idiosyncratic effect. By default, the moon would simply spiral into the earth.
Well, if you consider that the Earth/Moon system is not the only gravity well in the solar system, you might come to the conclusion that the Sun and/or Jupiter and/or any other massive object might have a cumulative pulling effect. Because the orbits and masses of these objects is known, it would be relatively easy to calculate this effect.
And as I pointed out, you actually have a specific enumerated constitutional right on your side. Computer geeks don't have that.
As was previously mentioned, Computer Geeks and all Americans have the fourth, ninth and tenth amendments on their side. "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated . .." sounds like privacy protection to me. Since privacy in one of the hottest geek issues, we have quite a case, IMO.
I speak my conscience, but I vote for results. Consciences don't pass laws, elected officials do. And I realize that the majority of the population of this country does not share my beliefs.
I speak and vote my conscience. I wrote in McCain for President last election because I thought he was the best man for the job, hands down. I can't let myself get into a mental tug of war between voting what will matter and "throwing it away." When it all comes down to it, the only right thing to do for a voter in any country of any demopublic-like government is to vote the way they feel is right. Otherwise it is all a big game and that is *not* the way it should be. In fact, the only way to stop it from being a game is to get as many people as possible to actually vote their conscience. Then the person/people who actually represents the majority view will be able to make the laws that the people want. I won't even get started on strict constitutionalism or states vs. feds rights. The nutshell is that if people vote how they want (no games) then the system will more or less work.
So after reading the article, I still have a couple of questions: If it's tape, then won't it still break when my VCR or the tape gets old? Also, even though it's digital, it seems to me that the quality just won't be the same. Am I wrong?
Slashdot Mirror
YHBT YHL HAND.
Depends on what you consider 'better'. From where I sit it isn't. Better quality, easier to damage. Doesn't degrade from use, harder to copy (legally or otherwise). Non-linear format, region encoding. All in all, they have taken away more, IMO then what they have given the consumer.
The problem is most people are like sheep and do whatever they are told. Most people aren't like /. readers who have an opinion that isn't easily swayed. They want to be entertained and don't really care how much it costs. If the industry changes formats and stops producing the old one (ala vinyl) then consumers are up a creek. Fact is, they will just buy into the new format anyway (see DVD).
Just to spur some conversation, I offer my synopsis of the article.
Dieter Gruen has invented buckyball based diamonds that have the ability to conduct electricity when Nitrogen is in between the molecules. They are also extremely small and the combination of these features makes them ideal for MEMS (microelectromechanical structures). MEMS are currently used in mostly medical implementations including micro-drug injections and are silicon based. Silicon is easy to break and cannot withstand high tempurature applications such as a car engine. The use of diamond based MEMS would create as yet unrealized markets for medical and non-medical devices. Although the article didn't specifically mention it, MEMS are the key to most nanotechnology which is a big venture capital buzzword nowadays.
One freakin' reply in two hours? WTF?
On topic: Something finally going right for the consumer. The only downside to the deletion of customer data is that it was probably already sold and re-sold so it's no that big a deal.
First, 1000 bills a year turns out to be 83 bills per month. Not likely. I have about 15.
If you read the whole post, you would notice that I also mentioned stamps and checks. We went through about 500 checks per year (that included grocery store/gas/restaurants/etc) and that cost about $50. This was reduce by using a Visa check card as well as online payments. Stamps were about $6.50 per month (that's $78 a year). As for late fees, let's just say that the wife had a heard time remembering what she had and had not paid. I took over the bills and setup autopay. Now we get an e-mail that says 'your bill is available' and we can download it for printing and filing.
Interest is a moot point unless you have enough capital to have a savings account that gets withdrawn from automatically into your checking when funds go down. My bank charges for that little 'service'. Not to mention savings account rates are about 3% now a days. Checking account interest at best is 1.5%. Not a whole lot of interest on an average monthly balance of $500.
On the contrary, I have saved over $300 this year alone from not writing checks, sending letters and getting charged for late fees by using electronic funds transfer. I pay everything but the mortgage online because it is the biggest hit to my account and has the biggest grace period, I want to make sure the funds are there.
Most of the services that I use it for (utilities, car payment, credit cards) are very good about not charging fees or allowing me the flexibility to pay when I want. I can setup autopay but I don't have to. Most of the time, I set it to withdraw on the last day I can possibly make the payment.
And what exactly are you trolling for here? Since you seen to discount creationism (or the belief in a creation) then do you also discount religion (belief in a supreme being) as a whole? As for evolution and it's definition, I don't worry about trifles.
Why not do one even better? If there was a way to safely store H2 in a medium that required no special containers or pressurization, would you buy it? Chrysler hopes so. Check this out. If I had a way to refuel it, I would already have one.
Perhaps the most important and certainly the "cleanest" storage method for H2.
Sodium Borohydride (soap).
Chrysler even made a minivan that uses it. It acts as the H2 storage medium and is easily 're-energized'. Think about it. No explosive H2 to mess with. You get in a wreck and the only thing that leaks out is soap and water. Clean streets!
Actually you are correct. No more binary, but it will be 0, 1 and both 0 and 1 (superimposed).
The article said that the spin is coherent within the channel as long as the ferromagnet is switched in the correct way. It also said that the spin alignment had very short coherence outside the field. Depending on the material and mechanism anywhere from a few picoseconds to a few hundred nanoseconds. The reason for the decoherence is as you stated. Spin alignment is adversely affected by magnetic and electric fields. Since surrounding electrons give off such fields, you get really short spin alignment times.
Actually, the average life expectancy number is increasing mostly because of the drop in infant mortality rates. So the oldest people aren't necessarily going to get older. Instead, you will see more people making it to adulthood and therefore getting old.
What would cause increase in the age of the oldest people would be things like gene therapy, cleaner living conditions, less diseases and less stress. All these factors increase the likelyhood of dying younger.
My questions after reading the article on Cnet is: "Are the congressmen/women actually considering this?" Well, if the RIAA/MPAA has any real clout on the hill, then we will see just how far this will go. IIRC, the CHiPs were formed primarily becasue of the threat from cyberterrorism. Given today's political atmoshpere, I don't see anything anti terrorism getting changed soon.
Either you can peg the mechanism for producing two bodies in mutual orbit, or you can't.
Your example is all well and good for any given set of objects. Mine was for a specific case. One in which the inbound object's velocity vector is in line with the orbital vetor of another. They meet each other and get trapped together orbiting the Sun. Granted the probability is pretty slim, but that was the mental image I got when I read the parent post.
If you can't even appreciate the question (which I've been trying to explain here), you don't really have any business dismissing the whole issue with hand-waving.
No I understand the question, I just think it is a different one than the parent poster was trying to answer. As for hand-waving on issues, I try to see both the long and the short end of a problem. This one has a general formula (your example) that fits all cases, not a specific set of issues. I can explain foreign body intrusion that create KBO orbital pairs. I made a set of assumptions that didn't require any math junior-high level or not and produced a non-exact answer. Hypothetically, my theory is probable. Specifically, I would rather not spend the math on it, my ODE class is enough right now.
Google isn't as neat and clean, but the others rock. Thanks!
f you were saavy enough to download ad aware in first place, what is to stop you from reinstalling it and running it again once you've installed this product?
Better yet, who in their right mind would knowingly install something that was this spy intensive! I've used AdAware for six months and once I find a program that installs this crap, I never install it again. Someone should start a list of spyware laden apps so self-respecting computer users can ignore them.
What do you think should happen? That everything should keep bouncing off everything else forever?
I don't claim to have a model for the formation of the universe! But I do tend to believe in the the basic laws of it. In my estimation, the universe would be less chaotic shortly after it's formation (or at least further back in time for those anti-big bang theorists). That means that there would be less stuff in between the massive objects (stars/star systems/galaxies) and most of the matter would be concentrated in those areas. We can see evidence of universe expansion and therefore an increase in chaotic behavior. Also, the universe has a set amount of energy from beginning to end and energy cannot be destroyed. So it just keeps getting transfered from matter to light and back again. Some feel that all matter will become light and still others think it will be the opposite. Personally, I don't care as I will not be around when either happens.
Two bodies approach each other from "infinity", and somehow they lose enough energy and/or angular momentum in their encounter to wind up in mutual orbit. How's that?
IANAPE (I am not a physics expert), but I am an EE major. What popped into my head when I read the parent post is that two objects of similar orbits or trajectories attracted each other and then became a system. Imagine an interstellar object pointed at the Kuiper Belt. As it gets closer it's trajectory (modified by the gravity of the Sun) changes to match some KBO that is travelling at a similar velocity. They meet and trap each other. Granted there would have to be limits to the angle of attack, velocity and mass but it is certainly possible.
Our solar system works like clockwork. It got that way because everything that didn't look like clockwork was sliced off.
Interesting theory. So basically you think that the solar system began as a disorderly system and became more orderly. Isn't that contrary to the second law of thermodynamics? Entropy states that a system will only get more chaotic and less orderly. You may claim that the system in question is the universe and not the solar system but I disagree. I think it applies to any system. Furthermore, it seems more logical that interstellar objects would be attracted to the gravity well of our sun and thus more likely to add to the orbiting objects like the KBOs.
When I something like this happens, I just grab it from my proxy cache. Granted not everyone has this available, but it is nice to be root on a Squid box :)
Looks like the AC either had a stale browser open or pulled it from a cache too.If the moon is receding, something is pulling it away; you can't "back calculate" that because it would be some kind of idiosyncratic effect. By default, the moon would simply spiral into the earth.
Well, if you consider that the Earth/Moon system is not the only gravity well in the solar system, you might come to the conclusion that the Sun and/or Jupiter and/or any other massive object might have a cumulative pulling effect. Because the orbits and masses of these objects is known, it would be relatively easy to calculate this effect.
And as I pointed out, you actually have a specific enumerated constitutional right on your side. Computer geeks don't have that.
As was previously mentioned, Computer Geeks and all Americans have the fourth, ninth and tenth amendments on their side. "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated . . ." sounds like privacy protection to me. Since privacy in one of the hottest geek issues, we have quite a case, IMO.
I speak my conscience, but I vote for results. Consciences don't pass laws, elected officials do. And I realize that the majority of the population of this country does not share my beliefs.
I speak and vote my conscience. I wrote in McCain for President last election because I thought he was the best man for the job, hands down. I can't let myself get into a mental tug of war between voting what will matter and "throwing it away." When it all comes down to it, the only right thing to do for a voter in any country of any demopublic-like government is to vote the way they feel is right. Otherwise it is all a big game and that is *not* the way it should be. In fact, the only way to stop it from being a game is to get as many people as possible to actually vote their conscience. Then the person/people who actually represents the majority view will be able to make the laws that the people want. I won't even get started on strict constitutionalism or states vs. feds rights. The nutshell is that if people vote how they want (no games) then the system will more or less work.
So after reading the article, I still have a couple of questions: If it's tape, then won't it still break when my VCR or the tape gets old? Also, even though it's digital, it seems to me that the quality just won't be the same. Am I wrong?