A much neater thing to do (in my opinion), would be to put a tilted camera on the outside of spinning ring. Then, try to keep the sat in one position as you take a 360 degree spin around something of interest on the ground.
Constantly moving mechanics (for years and years on end) have not proven to be very reliable. Check out the problems with Landsat 7. The new direction seems to be "push broom" sensors, which are multiple sensors arranged in a one- or two-dimensional array, and each having its own band, rather than one or two sensors fed by moving mechanics. How many computers are brought down by power switches, fans, and HD failures?
If you're at work before the milkman comes (no, don't go there) and still at work at 4:45, while the boss left for an off-site at 11:00 at the golf course, you have a larger problem than a need for hi-res satellite data.
I don't know how this qualifies as a first though, the original spy satellites from the 50's were stereoscopic.
Agreed, it only qualifies as a first if you count the resolution and have a strict definition of "satellite". SRTM data has been available for some time. There seem to be many people who are ignorant about the data resources (many free) we already have and are willing to claim an improvement as a "first".
The emotional appeals to the jury can't be canceled out by bribes. As of yet, Microsoft doesn't have any human blood on their hands, and if they do at some point in the future, their legal luck will change.
Figuratively speaking, Microsoft has the blood, sweat, and tears of millions of people on their hands. If that blood ever became literal, then, as usual, the best lawyers will get the best judgement, and MS can afford the best of the best. In the US, the courts dispense jurisprudence, not justice.
I doubt the court will be impressed with what is written on page 87 of a EULA that the driver supposedly agreed to by turning the ignition key.
Are we both talking about the same Microsoft that bought off the DOJ? The same Microsoft that was convicted of monopolistic abuses but was still allowed to compete, and was even preferred, for federal contracts because of a presidential order rescinding a previous Executive Order? The Microsoft that has way more pull with the government and courts than Ford or Firestone? The Microsoft that has paid the gang of 500+ to believe that DRM is good for the country? That Microsoft?
Re:"Merge onto I-5 HAL" "Sorry Dave, I can't do th
on
Cars that Can't Crash?
·
· Score: 1
Computers are faster than you are.
But they aren't nearly as smart or adaptable. When the computerized ignition in a Dodge Diplomat (or most any other car) has problems but still isn't completely dead, it will go into "limp home mode", which is barely functional. A guy in a Model T Ford with a hand-advance ignition would be able to beat you in a race. The old points and centrifugal advance ignition wasn't a bad solution for non-racing vehicles. It was simple, cheap, effective and reliable.
US auto companies only started using computerized ignitions to game the EPA emission tests cheaply, since the tests were done at certain RPMs, usually idle and a low range with no load, and the programmable ignitions could be made to do strange, emission-reducing things at certain known parameters. A toaster doesn't need a CPU, but Microsoft wishes you would ask for one so they could sell another license. After all, they are inspired by your need to make toast and will create software to assist you.
Re:"Merge onto I-5 HAL" "Sorry Dave, I can't do th
on
Cars that Can't Crash?
·
· Score: 1
The computer control stuff is what allows cars to be as good as they are today.
Maybe you'd better define "today". The late 70's Dodge Diplomat / Chrysler Cordova's computerized ignition system couldn't live in the heat of an engine compartment. Within a few years, you couldn't get a new or used replacement. Around the same time there was a BMW or Mercedes that had problems with its ignition control module. The service routine was to whack the under-dash region of the module with a heavy mallet, which would usually reseat the offending controller. Computerization isn't the answer to every problem.
The problem is, even if this decreases crashes by 99%, the first time the technology does fail and there is a crash, think of the law suits...
Read the EULA. Forget the lawsuits. You should not have used the software for any critical application and agreed to indemnify the maker by starting the car.
What's the big deal? We've had loads of humans with sheep's brains for quite a while. Turnabout is fair play. Let's see the shearers try to pull the wool over those sheep's eyes. (What the heck is the plural possessive of sheep anyway, and does anyone else care?)
To go one further, I think it's about time this nation drops all the "Wars" on drugs, terrorism, etc., and start a new, single, all encompassing "War on Ignorance".
That would require the detainment of all members of Congress who don't read proposed legislation (all of them) in some detention camp and effectively deprive the country of "leadership". . . Okay, let's do it.
Electricity is simple to generate once you've read the included textbook.
That would have to be a pretty good battery to give them the time to copy the plans for a generator, transformer, voltage regulator, and self-limiting charger along with directions for building all the components required. And, of course, they'd have to know they needed those things. I think the book wins.
Still, just seeing the thing would have been immensely interesting to some of the scientists active in 1805, e.g. Faraday, Ohm, Avagadro, Ampere, Coulomb.
While it would have been interesting, it still would have had no effect. What would they have done with a device that was beyond the instruments they had to investigate it? What would people of that era learn from an integrated circuit, or an LCD?
As a company that makes windows software, we would go absolutely nuts if Microsoft decied to use different versions of TCP/IP on different sub-versions of their software.
As a company that develops Windows software, you will bend over and do whatever they tell you to do.
If you're buying a $500 camera, I think you can afford $100. From there you can convert to any useful format.
But then you still don't have access to the original data. With a film camera, you have the original negative, and no company can place conditions on it. What is so special and different about digital photographs that the owner loses complete control over his/her property?
The MPAA considers piracy to be a "cost" that they wish to control, to assist their bottom line.
The MPAA, like the RIAA, knows that "piracy" costs are fictional numbers based on wishes, hopeful short-term trends, bad logic, ignoring the economy, and whatever else they can dump before paid-for congresscritters to justify new legislation to further their stranglehold on the market. The *AA have now bypassed normal market forces and are using the U.S. legislature to guarantee their profit and success. It is a total bastardization of the process. People rightly feared the military-industrial complex, but it appears the legislative-entertainment complex is far more dangerous to our individual rights and freedom. Mickey Mouse is no longer the cute character I saw as a child - now he has a hand in my pocket and a bodyguard of lawyers to make sure I don't complain.
But while the cops are running after the murderers, armed robbers and rapists, who's left to watch out for the children?!
There are still more cops left to deal with the children. Personally, after seeing the tape on TV, I think they should have handcuffed the mother instead, jailed her, tried her for child endangerment, and forced her to take parenting classes.
if you don't read DDJ, or its a 'mainstreamed business journal', what sort of programmer-tech literature/magazines do you read?
MSDN. What else could he possibly need to keep up with leading edge technology, security, and OS developments? After all, it's purely about programming and has nothing to do with "mainstreamed business".
One of the best technical programming journals there is.
The editorials by Jon Erickson alone are worth the price of admission. DDJ is a magazine that knows what's happening in the computing world -- well as long as you ignore Pournelle's column anyway.
A chick can code? WOW! She must be THE BEST CODER IN THE WORLD THEN!
Aww, grow up, Junior. It's no secret that most coders are male, but the female coders I've worked with are every bit as good as their male counterparts, and in some cases better -- they have to be in order to be taken seriously by boneheads like you and not get burned out.
One that has really impressed me has a great knack for for identifying flaws during design and code reviews. She then defuses the inevitable heated defense from the male programmer with a calm, "Well, maybe you're right." A week later, the male programmer will suddenly discover a new approach that removes the flaw, and it's his idea. She never says, "I told you so," either. She does her best to get a solid final product without any grandstanding -- a real professional. If only the same could be said for the young males in the department.
Verity Stob writes the funniest, wittiest stuff on programming I have ever seen. She obvioulsy knows what she's talking about.
Agreed. Her pseudo-biblical tales about the descendants of Borland and the Microsofties was some of the funniest (computer-related) stuff I've ever read.
Why does the government need to be involved with this on any level?
Um, because the government is the arbitrator of the social compact that is society? Government codifies and applies the collective rules we live by. For example the "government" has no intrinsic interest in whether two people are married or whether that affects their taxes. It is the codified interests of the society that make it a government issue. Unfortunately, we now seem to have entered an era where the lawmakers are divorced and insulated from mainstream society.
Slashdot Mirror
A much neater thing to do (in my opinion), would be to put a tilted camera on the outside of spinning ring. Then, try to keep the sat in one position as you take a 360 degree spin around something of interest on the ground.
Constantly moving mechanics (for years and years on end) have not proven to be very reliable. Check out the problems with Landsat 7. The new direction seems to be "push broom" sensors, which are multiple sensors arranged in a one- or two-dimensional array, and each having its own band, rather than one or two sensors fed by moving mechanics. How many computers are brought down by power switches, fans, and HD failures?
If you're at work before the milkman comes (no, don't go there) and still at work at 4:45, while the boss left for an off-site at 11:00 at the golf course, you have a larger problem than a need for hi-res satellite data.
I don't know how this qualifies as a first though, the original spy satellites from the 50's were stereoscopic.
Agreed, it only qualifies as a first if you count the resolution and have a strict definition of "satellite". SRTM data has been available for some time. There seem to be many people who are ignorant about the data resources (many free) we already have and are willing to claim an improvement as a "first".
The emotional appeals to the jury can't be canceled out by bribes. As of yet, Microsoft doesn't have any human blood on their hands, and if they do at some point in the future, their legal luck will change.
Figuratively speaking, Microsoft has the blood, sweat, and tears of millions of people on their hands. If that blood ever became literal, then, as usual, the best lawyers will get the best judgement, and MS can afford the best of the best. In the US, the courts dispense jurisprudence, not justice.
I doubt the court will be impressed with what is written on page 87 of a EULA that the driver supposedly agreed to by turning the ignition key.
Are we both talking about the same Microsoft that bought off the DOJ? The same Microsoft that was convicted of monopolistic abuses but was still allowed to compete, and was even preferred, for federal contracts because of a presidential order rescinding a previous Executive Order? The Microsoft that has way more pull with the government and courts than Ford or Firestone? The Microsoft that has paid the gang of 500+ to believe that DRM is good for the country? That Microsoft?
Computers are faster than you are.
But they aren't nearly as smart or adaptable. When the computerized ignition in a Dodge Diplomat (or most any other car) has problems but still isn't completely dead, it will go into "limp home mode", which is barely functional. A guy in a Model T Ford with a hand-advance ignition would be able to beat you in a race. The old points and centrifugal advance ignition wasn't a bad solution for non-racing vehicles. It was simple, cheap, effective and reliable.
US auto companies only started using computerized ignitions to game the EPA emission tests cheaply, since the tests were done at certain RPMs, usually idle and a low range with no load, and the programmable ignitions could be made to do strange, emission-reducing things at certain known parameters. A toaster doesn't need a CPU, but Microsoft wishes you would ask for one so they could sell another license. After all, they are inspired by your need to make toast and will create software to assist you.
The computer control stuff is what allows cars to be as good as they are today.
Maybe you'd better define "today". The late 70's Dodge Diplomat / Chrysler Cordova's computerized ignition system couldn't live in the heat of an engine compartment. Within a few years, you couldn't get a new or used replacement. Around the same time there was a BMW or Mercedes that had problems with its ignition control module. The service routine was to whack the under-dash region of the module with a heavy mallet, which would usually reseat the offending controller. Computerization isn't the answer to every problem.
The problem is, even if this decreases crashes by 99%, the first time the technology does fail and there is a crash, think of the law suits...
Read the EULA. Forget the lawsuits. You should not have used the software for any critical application and agreed to indemnify the maker by starting the car.
So, a bit like Michael Jackson then?
Well put -- especially since he owns a Beatles porfolio which should be public domain by now, in addition to his other problem.
But sheep with human brains?
What's the big deal? We've had loads of humans with sheep's brains for quite a while. Turnabout is fair play. Let's see the shearers try to pull the wool over those sheep's eyes. (What the heck is the plural possessive of sheep anyway, and does anyone else care?)
To go one further, I think it's about time this nation drops all the "Wars" on drugs, terrorism, etc., and start a new, single, all encompassing "War on Ignorance".
That would require the detainment of all members of Congress who don't read proposed legislation (all of them) in some detention camp and effectively deprive the country of "leadership". . . Okay, let's do it.
Electricity is simple to generate once you've read the included textbook.
That would have to be a pretty good battery to give them the time to copy the plans for a generator, transformer, voltage regulator, and self-limiting charger along with directions for building all the components required. And, of course, they'd have to know they needed those things. I think the book wins.
Still, just seeing the thing would have been immensely interesting to some of the scientists active in 1805, e.g. Faraday, Ohm, Avagadro, Ampere, Coulomb.
While it would have been interesting, it still would have had no effect. What would they have done with a device that was beyond the instruments they had to investigate it? What would people of that era learn from an integrated circuit, or an LCD?
As a company that makes windows software, we would go absolutely nuts if Microsoft decied to use different versions of TCP/IP on different sub-versions of their software.
As a company that develops Windows software, you will bend over and do whatever they tell you to do.
For this story, it really would have been more appropriate to copy all the material and link to a .torrent.
If you're buying a $500 camera, I think you can afford $100. From there you can convert to any useful format.
But then you still don't have access to the original data. With a film camera, you have the original negative, and no company can place conditions on it. What is so special and different about digital photographs that the owner loses complete control over his/her property?
The MPAA considers piracy to be a "cost" that they wish to control, to assist their bottom line.
The MPAA, like the RIAA, knows that "piracy" costs are fictional numbers based on wishes, hopeful short-term trends, bad logic, ignoring the economy, and whatever else they can dump before paid-for congresscritters to justify new legislation to further their stranglehold on the market. The *AA have now bypassed normal market forces and are using the U.S. legislature to guarantee their profit and success. It is a total bastardization of the process. People rightly feared the military-industrial complex, but it appears the legislative-entertainment complex is far more dangerous to our individual rights and freedom. Mickey Mouse is no longer the cute character I saw as a child - now he has a hand in my pocket and a bodyguard of lawyers to make sure I don't complain.
But while the cops are running after the murderers, armed robbers and rapists, who's left to watch out for the children?!
There are still more cops left to deal with the children. Personally, after seeing the tape on TV, I think they should have handcuffed the mother instead, jailed her, tried her for child endangerment, and forced her to take parenting classes.
if you don't read DDJ, or its a 'mainstreamed business journal', what sort of programmer-tech literature/magazines do you read?
MSDN. What else could he possibly need to keep up with leading edge technology, security, and OS developments? After all, it's purely about programming and has nothing to do with "mainstreamed business".
Yes, of course, and HAND has a special meaning (and relationship) in your case. :)
One of the best technical programming journals there is.
The editorials by Jon Erickson alone are worth the price of admission. DDJ is a magazine that knows what's happening in the computing world -- well as long as you ignore Pournelle's column anyway.
A chick can code? WOW! She must be THE BEST CODER IN THE WORLD THEN!
Aww, grow up, Junior. It's no secret that most coders are male, but the female coders I've worked with are every bit as good as their male counterparts, and in some cases better -- they have to be in order to be taken seriously by boneheads like you and not get burned out.
One that has really impressed me has a great knack for for identifying flaws during design and code reviews. She then defuses the inevitable heated defense from the male programmer with a calm, "Well, maybe you're right." A week later, the male programmer will suddenly discover a new approach that removes the flaw, and it's his idea. She never says, "I told you so," either. She does her best to get a solid final product without any grandstanding -- a real professional. If only the same could be said for the young males in the department.
Verity Stob writes the funniest, wittiest stuff on programming I have ever seen. She obvioulsy knows what she's talking about.
Agreed. Her pseudo-biblical tales about the descendants of Borland and the Microsofties was some of the funniest (computer-related) stuff I've ever read.
Gotta admit, the dotdotdot article does seem to ring a few bells.
It is currently Slashdotted. Ha, that'll teach 'em! Dotdot that. :)
Why does the government need to be involved with this on any level?
Um, because the government is the arbitrator of the social compact that is society? Government codifies and applies the collective rules we live by. For example the "government" has no intrinsic interest in whether two people are married or whether that affects their taxes. It is the codified interests of the society that make it a government issue. Unfortunately, we now seem to have entered an era where the lawmakers are divorced and insulated from mainstream society.