Okay, let's see.
One airplane has 60 windows (meaning 60 rows), 6 seats per row for 300-400 seats, and we might guess that a typical flight is 2/3 full, so you might estimate 200 people per flight. I see about 25 routes, and we might guess that there are 2 flights per route per day, so that would be about 10000 people flying JetBlue per day.
Now, there are about 350 days in a year, so that makes 3 500 000 flights per year.
So yeah, order of magnitude, 5 million flights is probably 1 or 2 years' worth of data.
Ummm... there were licensing problems that kept it from being on the Debian site, and bandwidth problems that kept me from getting it from the Sun site. I was on a very droppy Lithuanian connection, that -- at the time I had time to do installs -- was advertised at 128 kbaud, and was running at 0.5 - 3 kbaud due to overused bandwidth.
All of which may be part of the reason that this contest may not be a good choice for me to enter.
But as for programming, I'm pretty good with C and Assembly. I've written Binary Spatial Partitioning programs from scratch, in C first, and then Assembly to get it to run fast on a 12 MHz machine. My skills aren't so much in coding as algorithms, though: I understand a ton of different algorithms. Related to that: another, better reason not to get into the coding contest: I make typos, and it takes me a while to find them. However, that's probably more due to the fact that I haven't had a lot of time to program these last 5 years.
Oh yes... my main problem with learning C++, Java, and so on has been not having books that categorize the functions. Those books are how I learn best, but money's been too much of a problem to be able to afford them.
... the difference between a problem that is Object Oriented in nature as opposed to NotObjectOriented.
Also, does this contest heavily advantage those who know all 4 languages?
As far as it goes with me, I can program C, but I get real uncomfortable, real fast, with C++, have never done C#, have done only the most basic Visual Basic (MS Word stuff), and never got JAVA going. For JAVA it's been a problem installing the compiler from Sun -- somehow, it never installed correctly. For the others, it was always a problem of too little money, and good enough morals not to steal the compilers, even when I really really really wanted the compilers and couldn't afford them.
So anyhow, I don't read these languages real well, but I could probably read C or JAVA okay in a pinch, enough to identify obvious algorithmic errors. Which all means this probably isn't for me.
Is it possible to have code written ahead of time? I mean, it says "ideas must be your own." But if you've put together a large library of useful functions that you've coded yourself (fourier transform; heap sort; Wheeler-Burrows transform; entropic compression; and so on), could you grab those code sections, and throw them in?
FROM DR CHARLES PIEDO AUDITING AND ACCOUNTING UNIT. FOREIGN REMITTANCE DEPT. INTERNATIONAL BANK OF AFRICA TEL 228 0-5-5-1-5-2 LOME - TOGO
ATTN: JOHN SMITH
I am DR CHARLES PIEDO, the director in charge of auditing and accounting section of international bank of Africa Lome-Togo in west Africa with due respect and regards. I have decided to contact you on a business transaction that will be very beneficial to both of us at the end of the transaction.
During our investigation and audting in this bank, my department came across a very huge sum of money belonging to a deceased person who died on November 1997 in a plane crash and the fund has been dormant in his account with this bank without any claim of the fund in our custody either from his family or relation before our discovery to this development.
Although personally, I kept this information secret within myself and partner to enable the whole plans and idea be pofitable and successful during the time of execution. The said amount was USD$14m (fourtheen million united states dorllars). As it may intrest you to know, I got your impressive information through my good friend who works with chamber of commerce on foriegn business relations here in Lome-Togo. It is him who recommended your person to me to be viable and capable to champion a business of such magnitude without any problem. Meanwhile all the whole arrangement to put claim over this fund as the bonafide next of kin to the deceased, get the required approval and transfer this money to a foriegn account has been put in place and directives and needed information will be relayed to you as soon as you indicate your intrest and willingness to assist us and also benefit your self to this great business opportunity.
Back to top
In fact I could have done this deal alone but because of my position in this country as a civil servant, we are not allowed to operate a foriegn account and would eventually raise an eye brow on my side during the time of transfer because I work in this bank. This is the actual reason why it will require a second party or fellow who will forward claims as the next of kin with affidavit of trust of Oath to the bank and also present a foriegn account where he will need the money to be re-transfered into on his request as it may be after due verification and clarification by designation bank account.
I will not fail to inform you that this transaction is 100% risk free. On smoth conclusion of this transaction, you will be entitiled to 30% of the total sum as gratification, while 10% will be set aside to take care of expenses that may arise during the time of transfer and also telephone bills, while 60% will be for me and my partners. Please,you have been adviced to keep top secret as we are still in service and intend to retire from service after we conclude this deal with you. I will be monitoring the whole situation here in this bank until you confirm the money in your account. And ask us to come down to your country for subsequent sharing of the fund according to percentages previously indicated and further investment, either in your country or any country you advice us to invest in.All other necessary information will be sent to you when I hear from you.I suggest you get back to me as soon as possible stating your wish in this deal.
(1) Basic similar to Applesoft, but with native-language lookup tables. Instead of "GR" for "Graphics", you can have "PI" for "pirstiniai"
(2) C compiler.
(3) Assembler/Disassembler a la DOS Debug.
(4) Two ports: USB and Infrared, for file exchange, I/O, and so on.
(5) Solar power blanket. Hang it outside your wall for the power, if you need it.
(6) SRAM (no HDD).
(7) Substitutable mapped ASCII codes. That is, the computer allows you to map a Win98-equivalent character set's specific country codes into a single-byte pseudo ASCII code.
(8) Takes C cells, has slow processor speed, long life, B/W graphics only (okay, maybe 16 grays).
(9) Reboot without wiping the "disk" memory
(10) Possibility of interfacing with the USB keychain Ram-pseudo-disks.
My thought and feeling on this is that the Basic (like Applesoft) can help a person learn the basics of programming -- therefore, it must be in a local language. However, since the commands will be stored as ASCII bytecode, you can transmit the code from one languaged computer to another.
Next, the IR file exchange will make it easy for two friends to swap programs. That's going to help a program base grow.
The Assembler/Disassembler combo will help people who want to write in Basic, but have just a bit of code in assembler. They'll be able to learn the byte code that they need.
The USB will allow printers to take output from these things; will allow cheap USB keyboards; and indeed will even allow such things as internet connectivity. That means that they can plug into a network, and upload/download email.
Since the thing is going to be as slow as molassas in order to minimize power consumption, you don't want a lot of graphics; rather, you want efficient code. But that being the case, it makes sense to have the OS hard coded in the ROM.
I don't think it is a pump and dump. However, I posted something similar to this, asking for correction or confirmation on a previous SCO item, and never got an answer. So I'm going to post again. Anyone have details? Am I right or wrong? -----------
(1) Microsoft funded the initial lawsuit by licensing SCO's code to no known purpose. (2) Almost nobody except for one trading firm is buying SCO stock. That one trading firm has in its board of director's Melinda Gates. (3) That one firm is buying up stock as fast as it can, and the rate of sale is determined by the options exercised by the management. That is, management is selling off stock *only* as fast as they create new stock. (4) Technically, this hurts the shareholders of the stock, by stripping them of percentage ownership, transferring the new percentage to the new buyers (Microsoft-directed trading company), and transferring the profits to SCO directors... but... (5) Aside from this Microsoft-directed Trading company, the only owners are SCO, so nobody will complain, and (6) The amount of money that the SCO directors are paid is a direct function of the price that they can hold, which has a lot to do with the ridiculous claims that they make. (7) SCO -- isn't that based in Nevada? If so, then their personal liability is almost nil for anything they do as a director of the company.
In other words, this isn't a pump and dump scheme, if I am understanding this correctly. This is a legalized version of libel, being run by Microsoft.
My only problem is that I'm not sure that I'm correct. Is there anyone in the know who can correct any of my impressions? Like Commander Data's maker, I'm often wrong, and well could be wrong here.
Follow me here, and please, someone, correct me if and where I'm wrong, because this is my current impression, but it is only an impression:
(1) Microsoft funded the initial lawsuit by licensing SCO's code to no known purpose. (2) Almost nobody except for one trading firm is buying SCO stock. That one trading firm has in its board of director's Melinda Gates. (3) That one firm is buying up stock as fast as it can, and the rate of sale is determined by the options exercised by the management. That is, management is selling off stock *only* as fast as they create new stock. (4) Technically, this hurts the shareholders of the stock, by stripping them of percentage ownership, transferring the new percentage to the new buyers (Microsoft-directed trading company), and transferring the profits to SCO directors... but... (5) Aside from this Microsoft-directed Trading company, the only owners are SCO, so nobody will complain, and (6) The amount of money that the SCO directors are paid is a direct function of the price that they can hold, which has a lot to do with the ridiculous claims that they make. (7) SCO -- isn't that based in Nevada? If so, then their personal liability is almost nil for anything they do as a director of the company.
In other words, this isn't a pump and dump scheme, if I am understanding this correctly. This is a legalized version of libel, being run by Microsoft.
My only problem is that I'm not sure that I'm correct. Is there anyone in the know who can correct any of my impressions? Like Commander Data's maker, I'm often wrong, and well could be wrong here.
This one's easy: fill-in-the-blank forms
on
SCO Volleys to Red Hat
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Okay, almost every lawyer office still has typewriters. Why? Because the county clerk's office has these forms, and it isn't easy to scan and then type in the forms, and have them available, later, for use.
Nor can you just type out the same thing, because the clerks look at it and say "well, I don't know, but this looks like it might not be exactly right..." when what they really mean is "it isn't exactly the same as what I'm used to seeing."
It isn't a case of missing brain cells, either. It's a problem of accountability, responsibility, and empowerment. Typical government sort of problem, if you understand.
So here's the software that the lawyers would really like:
(1) The lawyer gets a document. He goes to his computer and types in the title. The computer checks its database (based on county and state) to see if it already has it, and lets him select a preexisting document if he has it.
(2) He sees that it's a new one. He puts it on his computer, and hits "scan/analyze".
(3) The computer uses whitespace to determine the limits of characters, and then correllation between each character to determine what characters are which, all automatically. It also identifies point size. The computer then comes up with its own prediction in PDF format, and then uploads the scanned JPEG form plus the PDF prediction to a *PAID BY SUBSCRIPTION* website (if the lawyer has so paid), for visual correctness checking and correction. Note that this can also take advantage of comparison with a preexisting database. Note also that all borders, shading, and such should be correctly predicted as well.
(4) All blanks within the form automatically get a text entry box. These are fields.
(5) As of that point, the lawyer can simply type in what he wants for each field. The computer defaults to the same text size as the document, but in a different, sans serif font (such as courier).
(6) The computer stores his entered information in a database list, and can reconstruct the combined PDF at will, and print/save it. Database info is stored according to document, page no., client, relevant date(s), opponent, government purview, and so on.
... is that when a person or organization is wrong, and defends itself, or passes the buck, or excuses itself, or goes on the counterattack, or even if their face locks up in a mask to hide their true feelings, then you know that they have not learned their lesson, and the error/offense is going to happen again.
I can think of at least one reason that people *don't* belong in space.
Explosive decompression.
All kidding aside, I went through school to be an aerospace engineer, and let me tell you that space does not give me hope. What gives me hope is the Bible, nothing more or less. Space is just one more area for us to screw up, one more place for tyranny, one more level for evil people to put their foot on the weak, or stand afar off, while they destroy the lives of people they can't even see.
Quite honestly, if we don't get our act together, I hope we don't get into space. I have enough confidence in other lifeforms forming in other star systems, that I'd rather see space colonized by a species that was good to each other (may that be us).
Which is why it comes back down to the Bible as my source of hope.
Now, here are *my* top ten reasons to go into space:
(1) To come down again. (2) To see what it looks like. (3) To conduct the Tree Falling and Nobody Around to Hear it experiment. (Note: this can be a very small tree.) (4) To see what stars look like. (5) To keep us Safe From Terrorism (6) For our kids to bring dinosaur-killer asteroids back to earth as souveniers. (7) To attract Ferengi traders to help boost our economy. (8) To justify a budget for NASA (9) To spend NASA's budget (10) To justify higher taxes: See #8-9.
... there is something to the blood-brain barrier leakage that keeps getting mentioned in these news articles. Of course, we won't know, if the research doesn't get done.
Seriously speaking, I have a kid, and in biological-related technology, I try to stay at least a generation behind the times whereever possible.
That means that if there is an old standby drug and a newly patented drug that work equally well, I'm going to ask for the old standby. On the other hand, if what we have for our old standby is known to be bad, then I'm going to either decide if we can live with the problem, or go with the new, less tested drug.
Simply put, the third world has huge IMF debts to pay, high taxes, and laws giving the world's telecoms monopoly power. So phones were pretty expensive. However, the cell phones have allowed this to be bypassed in some cases: in such countries, cell-phone use has skyrocketed.
That's no joke. Since a vehicle is rather like a wave box, the microwaves inside public transportation (autobuses, trains) would probably be greater than for a person just holding it up to their ear.
However, having read the article on Google, I would like to preemptively say to those people who work for cell phone companies: THIS IS NOT FUD. When the companies actively squash research to find out whether such a thing is safe, it implies that the companies know ahead of time what the results will be, and that the results will be detrimental.
So before you start saying "FUD FUD FUD" like the last 3-4 articles on cell phones this year, look at the articles that are available on Google news.
You say the cable is actually pulling up. Okay, I buy that. However, once the cable breaks, the part under the break is going to go *down*, because its average orbital velocity is going to be less than that required to pull it up.
So if it breaks, the part above is going to pull up, the the part below is going to fall down.
Now, the next question is where it's likely to break. If it's breaking due to terrorist attack (a la 9-11) , then I think the effects will be minimal, except that you're going to get a burning ribbon whipping through the atmosphere in circles. First, it will pull up, and start moving with the sun, but faster (E to W). Then, due to wind currents, that's going to pull *back* on the ribbon from its expected orbital position, resulting in a rotation towards the earth, but a higher altitude. As this happens, it's going to break several more times, and start to pull farther out.
Yet this process is going to result in an elliptic orbit, since it's going to represent several unit impulses. Further, the rotation is going to bring the much larger top into the lower position. Add to that the effect of wind currents as it whips through the atmosphere, and it'll be tumbling slightly as the formerly top part of the ribbon slices into the atmosphere at high mach speeds.
At that point, it breaks again, resulting in it bouncing up again, but in an even more eliptical orbit... you see, this gets to be a bit of a mess. A very expensive mess, because it's going to be completely unusable when it's all done.
For thise reason, I still say that it is far better to use nanotube technology and pyrimiding construction techniques to build super-high launch pads, than to use normal rockets to launch materials for a ribbon elevator.
At least, if you build these up as high as you can, you can (1) have a much smaller ribbon (2) have a self-supporting structure below the broken section (3) more quickly and cheaply rebuild broken elevator ribbons.
I know that there is an impression that a butterfly can change the predictions; that is due to a failure in our ability to model partial differential equations, combined with instability in local weather patterns.
That said, (1) We've come up with some major advances in our numeric PDE solutions and (2) Climate is not the same as local weather. Climate is quite possible stable, whereas local weather is instable.
Or in other words, we didn't get an ice age last year because my parrot squawked 3 years ago.
Just out of wondering, but wouldn't this be a good use for Kazaa? Those computers with good internet connections might serve far better as communications hubs than as brute force processors.
... Can anyone tell me what the mass of this cable will be, and either, how we're going to get the carbon to the geosynchronous point, or alternatively how much rocket fuel it'll take us to launch all this carbon up to the geosynchronous point?
Just a thought here... maybe we want to be doing our first construction upwards for a super-high, wide-base rocketry launch tower, instead of starting in space. That way, we could minimize the amount of fuel we spend building the thing.
Sorry, I know it seems stupid, but sometimes thinking gets in the way of the reality we want. Still, it might be worthwhile to think this thing through before we beg... aaw, what the hey, let's just do it. If Arnold Schwarzenegger can ignore any significant facts, so can we.
OSS is simple to recompile and reinstall. As new technologies (like JAVA) are introduced, a person starts to think "I need to update my browser". Guess what? It's free. Update it when you want. New version has JAVA, integrated.
Or have you forgotten Bush Sr, Reagan, *, Nixon, Kennedy, Johnson, Eisenhower et al?
*(sorry, I can't name Carter or Ford in this list)
Is there any way that you can honestly say one party is different from the other? I mean, Bush has called up Schwarzeneggar of the Oui scandal, to get the California bandwagon rolling, and who does Schwarzeneggar get as his second major supporter, but the matriarch of the Kennedy clan?
By all means, go ahead and pull the lever for "Antiterrorism Party #2" if "Antiterrorism Party #1" doesn't suit your tastes, but I'd judge my vote on more than whether I liked polkadot ties or stripes.
Slashdot Mirror
Now, there are about 350 days in a year, so that makes 3 500 000 flights per year.
So yeah, order of magnitude, 5 million flights is probably 1 or 2 years' worth of data.
Just a thought: you go to a museum, you set up an easel in front of "Sunflowers", and you paint what you see. Illegal? No.
This is a standard learning technique, and it's called a "free copy".
The forms are similar, but the paintings are quite different.
All of which may be part of the reason that this contest may not be a good choice for me to enter.
But as for programming, I'm pretty good with C and Assembly. I've written Binary Spatial Partitioning programs from scratch, in C first, and then Assembly to get it to run fast on a 12 MHz machine. My skills aren't so much in coding as algorithms, though: I understand a ton of different algorithms. Related to that: another, better reason not to get into the coding contest: I make typos, and it takes me a while to find them. However, that's probably more due to the fact that I haven't had a lot of time to program these last 5 years.
Oh yes... my main problem with learning C++, Java, and so on has been not having books that categorize the functions. Those books are how I learn best, but money's been too much of a problem to be able to afford them.
Also, does this contest heavily advantage those who know all 4 languages?
As far as it goes with me, I can program C, but I get real uncomfortable, real fast, with C++, have never done C#, have done only the most basic Visual Basic (MS Word stuff), and never got JAVA going. For JAVA it's been a problem installing the compiler from Sun -- somehow, it never installed correctly. For the others, it was always a problem of too little money, and good enough morals not to steal the compilers, even when I really really really wanted the compilers and couldn't afford them. So anyhow, I don't read these languages real well, but I could probably read C or JAVA okay in a pinch, enough to identify obvious algorithmic errors. Which all means this probably isn't for me.
Is it possible to have code written ahead of time? I mean, it says "ideas must be your own." But if you've put together a large library of useful functions that you've coded yourself (fourier transform; heap sort; Wheeler-Burrows transform; entropic compression; and so on), could you grab those code sections, and throw them in?
Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2001 02:41:27 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: TREAT AS URGENT CONFIDENTIAL
FROM DR CHARLES PIEDO
AUDITING AND ACCOUNTING UNIT.
FOREIGN REMITTANCE DEPT.
INTERNATIONAL BANK OF AFRICA
TEL 228 0-5-5-1-5-2
LOME - TOGO
ATTN: JOHN SMITH
I am DR CHARLES PIEDO, the director in charge of auditing and accounting section of international bank of Africa Lome-Togo in west Africa with due respect and regards. I have decided to contact you on a business transaction that will be very beneficial to both of us at the end of the transaction.
During our investigation and audting in this bank, my department came across a very huge sum of money belonging to a deceased person who died on November 1997 in a plane crash and the fund has been dormant in his account with this bank without any claim of the fund in our custody either from his family or relation before our discovery to this development.
Although personally, I kept this information secret within myself and partner to enable the whole plans and idea be pofitable and successful during the time of execution. The said amount was USD$14m (fourtheen million united states dorllars). As it may intrest you to know, I got your impressive information through my good friend who works with chamber of commerce on foriegn business relations here in Lome-Togo. It is him who recommended your person to me to be viable and capable to champion a business of such magnitude without any problem. Meanwhile all the whole arrangement to put claim over this fund as the bonafide next of kin to the deceased, get the required approval and transfer this money to a foriegn account has been put in place and directives and needed information will be relayed to you as soon as you indicate your intrest and willingness to assist us and also benefit your self to this great business opportunity.
Back to top
In fact I could have done this deal alone but because of my position in this country as a civil servant, we are not allowed to operate a foriegn account and would eventually raise an eye brow on my side during the time of transfer because I work in this bank. This is the actual reason why it will require a second party or fellow who will forward claims as the next of kin with affidavit of trust of Oath to the bank and also present a foriegn account where he will need the money to be re-transfered into on his request as it may be after due verification and clarification by designation bank account.
I will not fail to inform you that this transaction is 100% risk free. On smoth conclusion of this transaction, you will be entitiled to 30% of the total sum as gratification, while 10% will be set aside to take care of expenses that may arise during the time of transfer and also telephone bills, while 60% will be for me and my partners. Please,you have been adviced to keep top secret as we are still in service and intend to retire from service after we conclude this deal with you. I will be monitoring the whole situation here in this bank until you confirm the money in your account. And ask us to come down to your country for subsequent sharing of the fund according to percentages previously indicated and further investment, either in your country or any country you advice us to invest in.All other necessary information will be sent to you when I hear from you.I suggest you get back to me as soon as possible stating your wish in this deal.
Yours faithfully,
Dr CHARLES PIEDO
... it looks like buying an umbrella for your notebook computer should be enough.
Category 5? Humph.
Okay, here's my list:
(1) Basic similar to Applesoft, but with native-language lookup tables. Instead of "GR" for "Graphics", you can have "PI" for "pirstiniai"
(2) C compiler.
(3) Assembler/Disassembler a la DOS Debug.
(4) Two ports: USB and Infrared, for file exchange, I/O, and so on.
(5) Solar power blanket. Hang it outside your wall for the power, if you need it.
(6) SRAM (no HDD).
(7) Substitutable mapped ASCII codes. That is, the computer allows you to map a Win98-equivalent character set's specific country codes into a single-byte pseudo ASCII code.
(8) Takes C cells, has slow processor speed, long life, B/W graphics only (okay, maybe 16 grays).
(9) Reboot without wiping the "disk" memory
(10) Possibility of interfacing with the USB keychain Ram-pseudo-disks.
My thought and feeling on this is that the Basic (like Applesoft) can help a person learn the basics of programming -- therefore, it must be in a local language. However, since the commands will be stored as ASCII bytecode, you can transmit the code from one languaged computer to another.
Next, the IR file exchange will make it easy for two friends to swap programs. That's going to help a program base grow.
The Assembler/Disassembler combo will help people who want to write in Basic, but have just a bit of code in assembler. They'll be able to learn the byte code that they need.
The USB will allow printers to take output from these things; will allow cheap USB keyboards; and indeed will even allow such things as internet connectivity. That means that they can plug into a network, and upload/download email.
Since the thing is going to be as slow as molassas in order to minimize power consumption, you don't want a lot of graphics; rather, you want efficient code. But that being the case, it makes sense to have the OS hard coded in the ROM.
I don't think it is a pump and dump. However, I posted something similar to this, asking for correction or confirmation on a previous SCO item, and never got an answer. So I'm going to post again. Anyone have details? Am I right or wrong?
-----------
(1) Microsoft funded the initial lawsuit by licensing SCO's code to no known purpose.
(2) Almost nobody except for one trading firm is buying SCO stock. That one trading firm has in its board of director's Melinda Gates.
(3) That one firm is buying up stock as fast as it can, and the rate of sale is determined by the options exercised by the management. That is, management is selling off stock *only* as fast as they create new stock.
(4) Technically, this hurts the shareholders of the stock, by stripping them of percentage ownership, transferring the new percentage to the new buyers (Microsoft-directed trading company), and transferring the profits to SCO directors... but...
(5) Aside from this Microsoft-directed Trading company, the only owners are SCO, so nobody will complain, and
(6) The amount of money that the SCO directors are paid is a direct function of the price that they can hold, which has a lot to do with the ridiculous claims that they make.
(7) SCO -- isn't that based in Nevada? If so, then their personal liability is almost nil for anything they do as a director of the company.
In other words, this isn't a pump and dump scheme, if I am understanding this correctly. This is a legalized version of libel, being run by Microsoft.
My only problem is that I'm not sure that I'm correct. Is there anyone in the know who can correct any of my impressions? Like Commander Data's maker, I'm often wrong, and well could be wrong here.
Follow me here, and please, someone, correct me if and where I'm wrong, because this is my current impression, but it is only an impression:
(1) Microsoft funded the initial lawsuit by licensing SCO's code to no known purpose.
(2) Almost nobody except for one trading firm is buying SCO stock. That one trading firm has in its board of director's Melinda Gates.
(3) That one firm is buying up stock as fast as it can, and the rate of sale is determined by the options exercised by the management. That is, management is selling off stock *only* as fast as they create new stock.
(4) Technically, this hurts the shareholders of the stock, by stripping them of percentage ownership, transferring the new percentage to the new buyers (Microsoft-directed trading company), and transferring the profits to SCO directors... but...
(5) Aside from this Microsoft-directed Trading company, the only owners are SCO, so nobody will complain, and
(6) The amount of money that the SCO directors are paid is a direct function of the price that they can hold, which has a lot to do with the ridiculous claims that they make.
(7) SCO -- isn't that based in Nevada? If so, then their personal liability is almost nil for anything they do as a director of the company.
In other words, this isn't a pump and dump scheme, if I am understanding this correctly. This is a legalized version of libel, being run by Microsoft.
My only problem is that I'm not sure that I'm correct. Is there anyone in the know who can correct any of my impressions? Like Commander Data's maker, I'm often wrong, and well could be wrong here.
Okay, almost every lawyer office still has typewriters. Why? Because the county clerk's office has these forms, and it isn't easy to scan and then type in the forms, and have them available, later, for use.
Nor can you just type out the same thing, because the clerks look at it and say "well, I don't know, but this looks like it might not be exactly right..." when what they really mean is "it isn't exactly the same as what I'm used to seeing."
It isn't a case of missing brain cells, either. It's a problem of accountability, responsibility, and empowerment. Typical government sort of problem, if you understand.
So here's the software that the lawyers would really like:
(1) The lawyer gets a document. He goes to his computer and types in the title. The computer checks its database (based on county and state) to see if it already has it, and lets him select a preexisting document if he has it.
(2) He sees that it's a new one. He puts it on his computer, and hits "scan/analyze".
(3) The computer uses whitespace to determine the limits of characters, and then correllation between each character to determine what characters are which, all automatically. It also identifies point size. The computer then comes up with its own prediction in PDF format, and then uploads the scanned JPEG form plus the PDF prediction to a *PAID BY SUBSCRIPTION* website (if the lawyer has so paid), for visual correctness checking and correction. Note that this can also take advantage of comparison with a preexisting database. Note also that all borders, shading, and such should be correctly predicted as well.
(4) All blanks within the form automatically get a text entry box. These are fields.
(5) As of that point, the lawyer can simply type in what he wants for each field. The computer defaults to the same text size as the document, but in a different, sans serif font (such as courier).
(6) The computer stores his entered information in a database list, and can reconstruct the combined PDF at will, and print/save it. Database info is stored according to document, page no., client, relevant date(s), opponent, government purview, and so on.
... is that when a person or organization is wrong, and defends itself, or passes the buck, or excuses itself, or goes on the counterattack, or even if their face locks up in a mask to hide their true feelings, then you know that they have not learned their lesson, and the error/offense is going to happen again.
... can XBOX Live also upgrade the EULA you agreed to, without your permission?
Not sure, but I thought that the bends *was* termed "explosive decompression", because the nitrogen bubbles explode outward. But I could be wrong.
I guess there's a reasonably good analysis here.
I can think of at least one reason that people *don't* belong in space.
Explosive decompression.
All kidding aside, I went through school to be an aerospace engineer, and let me tell you that space does not give me hope. What gives me hope is the Bible, nothing more or less. Space is just one more area for us to screw up, one more place for tyranny, one more level for evil people to put their foot on the weak, or stand afar off, while they destroy the lives of people they can't even see.
Quite honestly, if we don't get our act together, I hope we don't get into space. I have enough confidence in other lifeforms forming in other star systems, that I'd rather see space colonized by a species that was good to each other (may that be us).
Which is why it comes back down to the Bible as my source of hope.
Now, here are *my* top ten reasons to go into space:
(1) To come down again.
(2) To see what it looks like.
(3) To conduct the Tree Falling and Nobody Around to Hear it experiment. (Note: this can be a very small tree.)
(4) To see what stars look like.
(5) To keep us Safe From Terrorism
(6) For our kids to bring dinosaur-killer asteroids back to earth as souveniers.
(7) To attract Ferengi traders to help boost our economy.
(8) To justify a budget for NASA
(9) To spend NASA's budget
(10) To justify higher taxes: See #8-9.
... there is something to the blood-brain barrier leakage that keeps getting mentioned in these news articles. Of course, we won't know, if the research doesn't get done.
Seriously speaking, I have a kid, and in biological-related technology, I try to stay at least a generation behind the times whereever possible.
That means that if there is an old standby drug and a newly patented drug that work equally well, I'm going to ask for the old standby. On the other hand, if what we have for our old standby is known to be bad, then I'm going to either decide if we can live with the problem, or go with the new, less tested drug.
But the same goes for such stuff as Wi-Fi.
Simply put, the third world has huge IMF debts to pay, high taxes, and laws giving the world's telecoms monopoly power. So phones were pretty expensive. However, the cell phones have allowed this to be bypassed in some cases: in such countries, cell-phone use has skyrocketed.
That's no joke. Since a vehicle is rather like a wave box, the microwaves inside public transportation (autobuses, trains) would probably be greater than for a person just holding it up to their ear.
However, having read the article on Google, I would like to preemptively say to those people who work for cell phone companies: THIS IS NOT FUD. When the companies actively squash research to find out whether such a thing is safe, it implies that the companies know ahead of time what the results will be, and that the results will be detrimental.
So before you start saying "FUD FUD FUD" like the last 3-4 articles on cell phones this year, look at the articles that are available on Google news.
You say the cable is actually pulling up. Okay, I buy that. However, once the cable breaks, the part under the break is going to go *down*, because its average orbital velocity is going to be less than that required to pull it up.
So if it breaks, the part above is going to pull up, the the part below is going to fall down.
Now, the next question is where it's likely to break. If it's breaking due to terrorist attack (a la 9-11) , then I think the effects will be minimal, except that you're going to get a burning ribbon whipping through the atmosphere in circles. First, it will pull up, and start moving with the sun, but faster (E to W). Then, due to wind currents, that's going to pull *back* on the ribbon from its expected orbital position, resulting in a rotation towards the earth, but a higher altitude. As this happens, it's going to break several more times, and start to pull farther out.
Yet this process is going to result in an elliptic orbit, since it's going to represent several unit impulses. Further, the rotation is going to bring the much larger top into the lower position. Add to that the effect of wind currents as it whips through the atmosphere, and it'll be tumbling slightly as the formerly top part of the ribbon slices into the atmosphere at high mach speeds.
At that point, it breaks again, resulting in it bouncing up again, but in an even more eliptical orbit... you see, this gets to be a bit of a mess. A very expensive mess, because it's going to be completely unusable when it's all done.
For thise reason, I still say that it is far better to use nanotube technology and pyrimiding construction techniques to build super-high launch pads, than to use normal rockets to launch materials for a ribbon elevator.
At least, if you build these up as high as you can, you can (1) have a much smaller ribbon (2) have a self-supporting structure below the broken section (3) more quickly and cheaply rebuild broken elevator ribbons.
I know that there is an impression that a butterfly can change the predictions; that is due to a failure in our ability to model partial differential equations, combined with instability in local weather patterns.
That said, (1) We've come up with some major advances in our numeric PDE solutions and (2) Climate is not the same as local weather. Climate is quite possible stable, whereas local weather is instable.
Or in other words, we didn't get an ice age last year because my parrot squawked 3 years ago.
Just out of wondering, but wouldn't this be a good use for Kazaa? Those computers with good internet connections might serve far better as communications hubs than as brute force processors.
... Can anyone tell me what the mass of this cable will be, and either, how we're going to get the carbon to the geosynchronous point, or alternatively how much rocket fuel it'll take us to launch all this carbon up to the geosynchronous point?
Just a thought here... maybe we want to be doing our first construction upwards for a super-high, wide-base rocketry launch tower, instead of starting in space. That way, we could minimize the amount of fuel we spend building the thing.
Sorry, I know it seems stupid, but sometimes thinking gets in the way of the reality we want. Still, it might be worthwhile to think this thing through before we beg... aaw, what the hey, let's just do it. If Arnold Schwarzenegger can ignore any significant facts, so can we.
OSS is simple to recompile and reinstall. As new technologies (like JAVA) are introduced, a person starts to think "I need to update my browser". Guess what? It's free. Update it when you want. New version has JAVA, integrated.
*(sorry, I can't name Carter or Ford in this list)
Is there any way that you can honestly say one party is different from the other? I mean, Bush has called up Schwarzeneggar of the Oui scandal, to get the California bandwagon rolling, and who does Schwarzeneggar get as his second major supporter, but the matriarch of the Kennedy clan?
By all means, go ahead and pull the lever for "Antiterrorism Party #2" if "Antiterrorism Party #1" doesn't suit your tastes, but I'd judge my vote on more than whether I liked polkadot ties or stripes.