What you'd want is some kind of fleet of aircraft/helicopters located at strategic points around the globe,
This already exists, more or less. Most countries have their own military, with aircraft and helicopters. What you propose would have to be a fleet every 500 miles or so, all the way around the planet. Helicopters are notoriously shortlegged. And quite often, they are the only thing that can get to the affected area. No runways exist, or are left after the disaster.
In this case, such a fleet would have been more useful for evacuation purposes. Seismographs recorded the earthquakes long before the tsunami hit populated areas.
Radio and telephone are far faster. And efforts were made in this case, to little effect.
No transport systems existed in those areas to get people out, but a first response system may have been able to get some out and deliver warnings to others. Enough that perhaps we'd be seeing death rates a tenth (or less) of those we actually have.
How many people can you evacuate via helicopter? 20 each? How many helicopters to evacuate 100,000 people in an hour?
1. The full extent wasn't (and still isn't) known.
2. Maybe the aussies actually had to load stuff on the ships. You know...stuff that people might need, like medical supplies, water, blankets. Does no good to send empty ships. 3. It takes quite a while for a carrier battle group (the Abraham Lincoln) to steam several thousand miles. Unless you know of another way to get helicopters and 15,000 navy people across a few thousand miles of open ocean.
It seems to me you're bitching just to be bitching.
Good theory, except for the 1500 miles of other peoples land between China and Ukraine.
And any military that relies solely on a paintjob for identification is toast anyway. Perhaps you've forgotten about radios, IFF, secure codes, and the like.
So? How is this relevant? It's still a strong competitor in the Office market.
Yes it is. And I hope it makes huge gains. But my comment speaks directly to the main article, 'The care and feeding of Open Source'. Where would OO.o be today without intial care and feeding from Sun?
OpenOffice only exists in its current state because of the good graces of Sun and StarOffice. Where would it be had Sun not built (read paid for) StarOffice first, then broke off OpenOffice?
True, some do get paid for their direct FOSS efforts. But that is by far the minority.
Let's take a current project. GIMP, for instance. A viable competitor/alternative to PaintshopPro (not Photoshop). Where could the GIMP today be if there could be a dedicated team of fulltime developers? i.e. people getting paid to create and update GIMP, and nothing more.
One of the reasons GIMP is gaining popularity is because it is free as in beer. Not because it is an especially 'good' or easy to use tool, but it costs nothing to use. (Don't get me wrong, GIMP is fantastic at what it does and how it was built). Most people don't actually care about the philosophy behind FOSS. GPL? Whazzat?
For a tool such as GIMP, selling hardware, support, and installation doesn't work. Those income generators work at the corporate level, not the personal level. So how could the GIMP team get paid for producing GIMP (or similar level tools/programs)? Is it possible to do?
How many FOSS tools could move off the '0.0.2 alpha' stage if there was a team of fulltime developers that could also actually eat while doing it?
On your second point, the opposite was true, the easiest proof of this I can show you is within the first 30 minutes of Moores Fahrenheit 9/11 documentary. The government knew who and how.
Uh huh. You need to put down Moore's crackpipe. I prefer information a little less psychotic and profitable, and a little more bipartisan.
And Aug 2001 was the very first time that any warnings about OBL and AQ had been presented to the president (whomever he was at the time)? No.
And what exactly was the presentation to Pres Bush in Aug 2001? Some group is planning on hijacking some aircraft on a particular date and flying them into buildings? Doubtful. More along the lines of "So and so is determined to strike in the US in the near future."
And if Clinton had followed up those same security warnings? Why is it always a failing on the part of Bush? It's not like the planning for this started only after Bush got elected. And its not like nothing ever happened before Bush got elected.
Can it be done? Sure. Various people have proven that the security system has holes in it. The trick is to make it as hard as possible, without stepping on too many toes. The other trick is defining the number of toes to be stepped on.
If you piloting a freighter, at latitude 38N, longitude 73W, going due west, 100 miles off the US coast, it can be pretty much assumed that you are not going anywhere but NYC or Baltimore. Not Sao Paulo. And as such, identify yourself.
Think of this as IFF and air traffic control for freighters. Doesn't a country have the right to know the identity of a large ship approaching its coastline?
If this... if that.... The government certainly has you singing to their tune with the war on terror. Si
Naa...we don't need better ID on airline passengers. Every hijacking has just resulted in landing somewhere, so we can storm the plane, and shoot or arrest them. Naa...we don't need better security inspections on passengers getting on a plane. No one would ever think of putting explosives in his shoes. Naa...we don't better security around public buildings. No one would ever think of blowing one of those up.
If terrorists were to attack, do you not think they would of done it by now?
They have. The Coast Guard, etc. is just trying to prevent the next one.
The currently installed SOSUS system does indeed track large magnetic and acoustic objects out in the Atlantic an elsewhere. However....this is sometihng different.
A passing ship will report to the buoy 'This is me'. That ID can be looked up in a database, of where it came from, who owns it, and what it (supposedly) carries. These new buoys extend that ID farther out.
As far as reusing the SOSUS buoys, a) what makes you think they are not still useful in their original role? and b) they are generally on the ocean floor to track subs. Not really useful for surface ships.
I guess you missed the part about: "and how are they doing it"
Somehow, someone seems to be able to track airliner cockpits with a laser for a few seconds. Logically, it can't be done with a cheapo handheld. So...how are they doing it? And who?
Regardless, having 32767 schedule changes in a month? Must track every flight in the world.
Each weather affected change could trigger possibly dozens of schedule changes in the system
The aircraft itself is out of place. That also affects the a/c it replaced, and the one it is replacing. The crew is now also out of position for their next flight(s). Maybe 10 potential changes after each flight. Pilot goes one way, copilot goes another, the stews disperse to other a/c altogether.
Everything is tracked on the schedule. A/C, aircrew, cargo, fuel. A couple of dozen changes in their system for each weather affected flight would not be out of the realm of possibility.
True. But they are also, being good capitalists, generating brand recognition among current future customers. Foisting off a bunch of worthless crap to the people in need (and the doctors, nurses, aid workers) would only serve to screw their name among those potential customers.
Isn't it possible that they actually did sport some worthwhile items?
And in this instance, J&J was not really trumpeting, but merely listed that on its website. I've not heard anything else. It took some looking to find it. And frankly, as long as aid actually does get to where it's needed, I don't care if they sing it from the mountaintops. (which they didn't)
If they don't give anything, they are assholes. If they do give, they may still be assholes. (they = companies, governments and individuals) So whats the response supposed to be to a tragedy like this? Send lots of product and money, but tell no one? Then they are accused of doing nothing. And the shareholders would notice a few million missing.
What do you want? A detailed, line item breakdown of what they did and sent? This was merely a blurb on their website. I'm sure if you wrote to their PR dept, they could tell you that.
Why are the big companies not offering financial aid?
Why do you think they aren't?
For instance:
"In response to floods that caused extensive damage and loss of life in the Philippines during December, 2004, Johnson & Johnson made a donation of two disaster relief modules and over 2,000 hygiene kits to partner organizations in that country. In addition, a donation was made by Johnson & Johnson to support the efforts of local disaster relief groups"
"In response to the powerful earthquake that rocked southeastern Iran on December 26, 2003, killing more than 30,000 people and leaving some 100,000 people homeless, Johnson & Johnson contributed product modules including sutures, casting & bracing materials and pain relief products."
"Johnson & Johnson has supplied ravaged areas with Disaster Relief Modules, containing much needed medical supplies. In 2002, these modules were sent to Afghanistan for earthquake relief, as well as to Kentucky for flood relief and to the Congo to aid recovery after a volcano eruption."
Slashdot Mirror
Wait, something broke? Why, I'm sure that Dell will support it.
Poor choice for an analogy. Dell may not support questions about your home installation, but they do sell them like that.
This already exists, more or less. Most countries have their own military, with aircraft and helicopters. What you propose would have to be a fleet every 500 miles or so, all the way around the planet. Helicopters are notoriously shortlegged. And quite often, they are the only thing that can get to the affected area. No runways exist, or are left after the disaster.
In this case, such a fleet would have been more useful for evacuation purposes. Seismographs recorded the earthquakes long before the tsunami hit populated areas.
Radio and telephone are far faster. And efforts were made in this case, to little effect.
No transport systems existed in those areas to get people out, but a first response system may have been able to get some out and deliver warnings to others. Enough that perhaps we'd be seeing death rates a tenth (or less) of those we actually have.
How many people can you evacuate via helicopter? 20 each? How many helicopters to evacuate 100,000 people in an hour?
"I'm OK, as well as the 500 other people in this hotel" is a lot better than 500 missing persons.
2. Maybe the aussies actually had to load stuff on the ships. You know...stuff that people might need, like medical supplies, water, blankets. Does no good to send empty ships.
3. It takes quite a while for a carrier battle group (the Abraham Lincoln) to steam several thousand miles. Unless you know of another way to get helicopters and 15,000 navy people across a few thousand miles of open ocean.
It seems to me you're bitching just to be bitching.
And any military that relies solely on a paintjob for identification is toast anyway. Perhaps you've forgotten about radios, IFF, secure codes, and the like.
Yes it is. And I hope it makes huge gains. But my comment speaks directly to the main article, 'The care and feeding of Open Source'.
Where would OO.o be today without intial care and feeding from Sun?
OpenOffice only exists in its current state because of the good graces of Sun and StarOffice. Where would it be had Sun not built (read paid for) StarOffice first, then broke off OpenOffice?
Let's take a current project. GIMP, for instance. A viable competitor/alternative to PaintshopPro (not Photoshop). Where could the GIMP today be if there could be a dedicated team of fulltime developers? i.e. people getting paid to create and update GIMP, and nothing more.
One of the reasons GIMP is gaining popularity is because it is free as in beer. Not because it is an especially 'good' or easy to use tool, but it costs nothing to use. (Don't get me wrong, GIMP is fantastic at what it does and how it was built). Most people don't actually care about the philosophy behind FOSS. GPL? Whazzat?
For a tool such as GIMP, selling hardware, support, and installation doesn't work. Those income generators work at the corporate level, not the personal level. So how could the GIMP team get paid for producing GIMP (or similar level tools/programs)? Is it possible to do?
How many FOSS tools could move off the '0.0.2 alpha' stage if there was a team of fulltime developers that could also actually eat while doing it?
Uh huh. You need to put down Moore's crackpipe. I prefer information a little less psychotic and profitable, and a little more bipartisan.
And what exactly was the presentation to Pres Bush in Aug 2001? Some group is planning on hijacking some aircraft on a particular date and flying them into buildings? Doubtful. More along the lines of "So and so is determined to strike in the US in the near future."
Why is it always a failing on the part of Bush? It's not like the planning for this started only after Bush got elected. And its not like nothing ever happened before Bush got elected.
Can it be done? Sure. Various people have proven that the security system has holes in it. The trick is to make it as hard as possible, without stepping on too many toes. The other trick is defining the number of toes to be stepped on.
Think of this as IFF and air traffic control for freighters. Doesn't a country have the right to know the identity of a large ship approaching its coastline?
And if the INS had been able to crosscheck with the FBI, CIA, and state DMV's, those 19 guys might have been found out earlier.
Inspecting the passengers, yeah, because it'll only be them, not any of the staff, there're angels.
Yes, of COURSE they're not checking the staff any closer. They are concentrating only on passengers. Right.
Security can't stop everything, it only limits the stupid people, not the determined ones
Exactly right. We have to be lucky every time, they only have to be lucky once.
But doing nothing lowers the bar on how lucky and determined they have to be.
Naa...we don't need better ID on airline passengers. Every hijacking has just resulted in landing somewhere, so we can storm the plane, and shoot or arrest them.
Naa...we don't need better security inspections on passengers getting on a plane. No one would ever think of putting explosives in his shoes.
Naa...we don't better security around public buildings. No one would ever think of blowing one of those up.
If terrorists were to attack, do you not think they would of done it by now?
They have. The Coast Guard, etc. is just trying to prevent the next one.
It was somewhat out of hand well before Nov 2000. It got really out of hand when a couple of buildings and 3000 people disappeared in September 2001.
A passing ship will report to the buoy 'This is me'. That ID can be looked up in a database, of where it came from, who owns it, and what it (supposedly) carries. These new buoys extend that ID farther out.
As far as reusing the SOSUS buoys, a) what makes you think they are not still useful in their original role? and b) they are generally on the ocean floor to track subs. Not really useful for surface ships.
Somehow, someone seems to be able to track airliner cockpits with a laser for a few seconds. Logically, it can't be done with a cheapo handheld. So...how are they doing it? And who?
Exactly.
It is being done. Who is doing it, and how are they doing it?
Each weather affected change could trigger possibly dozens of schedule changes in the system
The aircraft itself is out of place. That also affects the a/c it replaced, and the one it is replacing. The crew is now also out of position for their next flight(s). Maybe 10 potential changes after each flight. Pilot goes one way, copilot goes another, the stews disperse to other a/c altogether.
Everything is tracked on the schedule. A/C, aircrew, cargo, fuel. A couple of dozen changes in their system for each weather affected flight would not be out of the realm of possibility.
Isn't it possible that they actually did sport some worthwhile items?
And in this instance, J&J was not really trumpeting, but merely listed that on its website. I've not heard anything else. It took some looking to find it. And frankly, as long as aid actually does get to where it's needed, I don't care if they sing it from the mountaintops. (which they didn't)
If they don't give anything, they are assholes. If they do give, they may still be assholes. (they = companies, governments and individuals)
So whats the response supposed to be to a tragedy like this? Send lots of product and money, but tell no one? Then they are accused of doing nothing. And the shareholders would notice a few million missing.
What do you want? A detailed, line item breakdown of what they did and sent? This was merely a blurb on their website.
I'm sure if you wrote to their PR dept, they could tell you that.
This is not an international dick-waving contest to see who can 'contribute' the most. How about we just help them, OK?
Why do you think they aren't?
For instance:
"In response to floods that caused extensive damage and loss of life in the Philippines during December, 2004, Johnson & Johnson made a donation of two disaster relief modules and over 2,000 hygiene kits to partner organizations in that country. In addition, a donation was made by Johnson & Johnson to support the efforts of local disaster relief groups"
"In response to the powerful earthquake that rocked southeastern Iran on December 26, 2003, killing more than 30,000 people and leaving some 100,000 people homeless, Johnson & Johnson contributed product modules including sutures, casting & bracing materials and pain relief products."
"Johnson & Johnson has supplied ravaged areas with Disaster Relief Modules, containing much needed medical supplies. In 2002, these modules were sent to Afghanistan for earthquake relief, as well as to Kentucky for flood relief and to the Congo to aid recovery after a volcano eruption."
I was with you, right up until you said "being twins and decently good looks"
Not necessarily. 17 at the time, in the spring. She started college way early, then.
Lots of high school kids go to spring break
she's smart enough to sue
She, and her parents.