"There are several hardened versions of PDAs available. Failing the availability of hardened versions there are Rhino cases & what not."
Oh good, there are plenty of black rhinos in Kenya.
NASA just confirmed that the early launch video shows the tyvek covers (which keep moisture out of the RCS thrusters) falling off exactly like they were supposed to. They were supposed to fall off just as the vehicle cleared the tower. They were very lightweight (the same cloth-like stuff some FedEx envelopes are made of), detached at low speed, and were actually designed to parachute to the ground.
More significantly, it looks like the external tank did hit one of those vultures that MSNBC was talking about.
By my count, these are the current (or almost released) formats:
CD-ROM
CD-RAM
CD-R
CD-RW
DVD-ROM
DVD-R
DVD-RW
DVD-R DL
DVD-RW DL
DVD+R
DVD+RW
DVD+R DL
DVD+RW DL
To which we can add:
BD-ROM
BD-R
BD-RW
HD-DVD
HD-DVD-R
HD-DVD-RW
Re:Improved Audio As Well
on
Real Wood iPod
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· Score: 3, Informative
The wheel is not actually pressure sensitive (except when you push hard enough to make it click). The scrolling is detected using capacitance, which can probably be measured through the wood if the wood is thin enough.
I'm pretty sure that it has nothing to do with reference.
I actually figured the whole thing out after visiting both a Planetarium and a Bucky-Dome.
The first clue came at the planetarium. At the top of the dome was a small circle. If you visually estimated the size of the circle, you would assume it is 1-2 feet across. However, according to the planetarium guy, it is actually 6 feet across.
The second clue came at the Cinerama Dome. The dome, like all geodesics, is made up of identical hexagonal pieces. However, inside the dome, all the pieces look distorted and irregularly shaped.
The key here is that while both domes are semi-spherical, when you are in them, they both look like they are much wider than they are tall (sort of a squashed sphere shape). Your brain, for some reason, assumes that things directly above you are closer, and that things near the horizon are further, so the dome looks misshapen. With an improper mental image of distance, the tiles look distorted due to perspective, and the circle looks smaller because it is further than it appears.
Basically, what this means is that the moon is the correct size on the horizon, and this "bug" causes it to look too small when it is high in the sky.
And, if you think about it, this bug makes perfect sense. Most things your brain would see (think primitive man on the savanah here) that are straight ahead are going to be far away, or at least 10 meters or so away, so your brain adjusts accordingly. Similarly, most things you see when looking down are close, on the scale of a couple of meters, so your brain also adjusts from that. Most things you see looking up are the sky, and with no frame of reference, your brain assumes that looking up is just like looking down (after all, looking forwards is the same as looking backwards). Therefore, your brain associated things on the horizon as far, and therefore bigger than they appear, and things up or down as close, and smaller than they appear.
The new toolbar also duplicates Google Desktop's local search function, which it integrates with MSN search, and Google Deskbar. Fortunately, there is an option that allows the MSN bar to use google for its searching.
Well, sodium is non-toxic until it comes in contact with any living thing, where it will combine with water to form sodium hydroxide (aka Liquid Plummer). It's like the tree falling in the forest question, but in my book, sodium is toxic.
Woah, xbitlabs should check a chemistry textbook. The boiling point of water does get lower as the pressure gets lower (which is why it takes longer to cook pasta on top of a mountain).
They are actually different databases. The Google Maps images come from private sources such as AirPhotoUSA, while the TerraServer images come from the USGS's public domain "National Map" project (which takes images at higher resolutions than the private companies, but covers a smaller total area).
Re:Why is everyone so impressed with Google Maps?
on
Satellite Easter Eggs
·
· Score: 2, Informative
If you select the Urban Areas data, you get.25m resolution maps. Google, as far as I know, only goes down to 1m resolution.
Why is everyone so impressed with Google Maps?
on
Satellite Easter Eggs
·
· Score: 2, Informative
I don't really see the appeal of Google Maps Satellite imagery, since terraserver-usa.com has been offering color aerial photos that are four times the resolution, larger in size, and free of watermarks. Plus, unlike google, Terraserver-USA has a link that makes it easy to download large images.
Sure, Google Maps is great if you want your route overlayed on the images, but for finding easter eggs it's nothing special.
I mean, seriously, use some common sense. More 747s have crashed than space shuttles (yes, even after redesigns), but I bet you wouldn't think twice about flying on one. It's this kind of reactionist irrational thinking that has prevented real progress in the space program.
The main problem with BitTorrent is that files are loaded from the beginning of the file to the end of the file. Despite what you would like to think, most people close their BitTorrent client immediatly when their file is finished, meaning that there are very few people (I find usually less than 5%) who have the end of the file. This means that download speeds drop dramatically as you approach the end of a file, and many files end up sitting at 90% indefinately, because no one with the complete file still has their client open. If all BitTorrent clients download files non-linearly, this problem would be fixed, but it isn't the only problem with the protocol.
As the popularity of BitTorrent increases, more and more institutions (especially universities) have been forced to block the protocol from their networks. This means that many resources available only though BitTorrent are unavailable to a large fraction of academic and corporate users. Before you go and tell me to just change the ports to get around such filtering, most P2P blocking software looks at the packets themselves, and doesn't care which port they are on. If the protocol encrypted the packets so that they weren't identifyable, this problem could be avoided, but it doesn't.
Why anyone would go to the trouble of digging up my http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=98777& cid=8427936year old post on dust devils and then insert Star Wars spoilers into it is completely beyond me. Bonus points for remembering my post, but several thousand negative points for the plagarism and spoilers.
Slashdot Mirror
"There are several hardened versions of PDAs available. Failing the availability of hardened versions there are Rhino cases & what not." Oh good, there are plenty of black rhinos in Kenya.
You can see pictures of the TYVEK covers, as well as the bird, at http://spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts114/050726ima ges/
NASA just confirmed that the early launch video shows the tyvek covers (which keep moisture out of the RCS thrusters) falling off exactly like they were supposed to. They were supposed to fall off just as the vehicle cleared the tower. They were very lightweight (the same cloth-like stuff some FedEx envelopes are made of), detached at low speed, and were actually designed to parachute to the ground.
More significantly, it looks like the external tank did hit one of those vultures that MSNBC was talking about.
By my count, these are the current (or almost released) formats: CD-ROM CD-RAM CD-R CD-RW DVD-ROM DVD-R DVD-RW DVD-R DL DVD-RW DL DVD+R DVD+RW DVD+R DL DVD+RW DL To which we can add: BD-ROM BD-R BD-RW HD-DVD HD-DVD-R HD-DVD-RW
See http://www.synaptics.com/technology/cps.cfm or http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6450_7-5512416-1.html for more info.
I actually figured the whole thing out after visiting both a Planetarium and a Bucky-Dome.
The first clue came at the planetarium. At the top of the dome was a small circle. If you visually estimated the size of the circle, you would assume it is 1-2 feet across. However, according to the planetarium guy, it is actually 6 feet across.
The second clue came at the Cinerama Dome. The dome, like all geodesics, is made up of identical hexagonal pieces. However, inside the dome, all the pieces look distorted and irregularly shaped.
The key here is that while both domes are semi-spherical, when you are in them, they both look like they are much wider than they are tall (sort of a squashed sphere shape). Your brain, for some reason, assumes that things directly above you are closer, and that things near the horizon are further, so the dome looks misshapen. With an improper mental image of distance, the tiles look distorted due to perspective, and the circle looks smaller because it is further than it appears.
Basically, what this means is that the moon is the correct size on the horizon, and this "bug" causes it to look too small when it is high in the sky.
And, if you think about it, this bug makes perfect sense. Most things your brain would see (think primitive man on the savanah here) that are straight ahead are going to be far away, or at least 10 meters or so away, so your brain adjusts accordingly. Similarly, most things you see when looking down are close, on the scale of a couple of meters, so your brain also adjusts from that. Most things you see looking up are the sky, and with no frame of reference, your brain assumes that looking up is just like looking down (after all, looking forwards is the same as looking backwards). Therefore, your brain associated things on the horizon as far, and therefore bigger than they appear, and things up or down as close, and smaller than they appear.
I could've sworn I've seen this link here before.
Hmm, must've missed it (and, as you said, search is down).
The new toolbar also duplicates Google Desktop's local search function, which it integrates with MSN search, and Google Deskbar. Fortunately, there is an option that allows the MSN bar to use google for its searching.
Most large metropolitan areas are in color on Terraserver, and they are at approximately 4x the resolution of Google Maps.
Well, sodium is non-toxic until it comes in contact with any living thing, where it will combine with water to form sodium hydroxide (aka Liquid Plummer). It's like the tree falling in the forest question, but in my book, sodium is toxic.
Liquid metal rushign through the pipes.
Woah, xbitlabs should check a chemistry textbook. The boiling point of water does get lower as the pressure gets lower (which is why it takes longer to cook pasta on top of a mountain).
You do realize that the first link is to a thread that is over a year old, right?
Actually, Lucas doesn't. He's been taking a Star Wars tv series to the networks recently, and hopes to have it on the air by 2007.
They are actually different databases. The Google Maps images come from private sources such as AirPhotoUSA, while the TerraServer images come from the USGS's public domain "National Map" project (which takes images at higher resolutions than the private companies, but covers a smaller total area).
If you select the Urban Areas data, you get .25m resolution maps. Google, as far as I know, only goes down to 1m resolution.
Sure, Google Maps is great if you want your route overlayed on the images, but for finding easter eggs it's nothing special.
Oh no, what if someone breaks a nail?
According to tonight's episode, the PSP was actually created as an instrument of god. Therefore, god must intend for us to be able to download movies.
Actually, 1/48th of a second in the past.
Well, they would increase if anyone could actually download the program. The one from the Coral cache seems to be corrupted.
The main problem with BitTorrent is that files are loaded from the beginning of the file to the end of the file. Despite what you would like to think, most people close their BitTorrent client immediatly when their file is finished, meaning that there are very few people (I find usually less than 5%) who have the end of the file. This means that download speeds drop dramatically as you approach the end of a file, and many files end up sitting at 90% indefinately, because no one with the complete file still has their client open. If all BitTorrent clients download files non-linearly, this problem would be fixed, but it isn't the only problem with the protocol.
As the popularity of BitTorrent increases, more and more institutions (especially universities) have been forced to block the protocol from their networks. This means that many resources available only though BitTorrent are unavailable to a large fraction of academic and corporate users. Before you go and tell me to just change the ports to get around such filtering, most P2P blocking software looks at the packets themselves, and doesn't care which port they are on. If the protocol encrypted the packets so that they weren't identifyable, this problem could be avoided, but it doesn't.
"I am still able to log into my AOL account to check my mail" This implies that he is, in fact, a paying member.
Why anyone would go to the trouble of digging up my http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=98777& cid=8427936year old post on dust devils and then insert Star Wars spoilers into it is completely beyond me. Bonus points for remembering my post, but several thousand negative points for the plagarism and spoilers.