evacuating a circle 10000km around the impact site doesn't seem impossible
I doubt that. Take any location in the US and calculate the population within a 10000km diameter. Consider NOLA during/after Katrina (how many days did it take the DHS to bring water to the Super Dome?). I wish you were right, but your optimism seems to be fed exclusively by Hollywood. Sorry.
If we can see objects like this coming we should be able to evacuate the impact site ahead of time.
Hm... up to 70km you say - that's quite unlikely, results would be quite devastating, even if you were 8000km away from the impact site (but depending on quite a few parameters of the object/impact).
Give this a try, maybe you'll reconsider: http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/impacteffects/
Also, AFAIK the turbines shut down at wind speeds >25 m/s / ~55mph
Ah, found it here:Wind turbines start operating at wind speeds of 4 to 5 metres per second (around 10 miles an hour) and reach maximum power output at around 15 metres/second (around 33 miles per hour). At very high wind speeds, i.e. gale force winds, (25 metres/second, 50+ miles/hour) wind turbines shut down.
But that's beside the point! I like the post card analogy and use it frequently with non-tech people, but you're off by a few miles. It's not about "Everybody along the way handling your message can read it if they so choose", but about "Is it OK if the gov't and secret services do whatever they can - legal or illegal - to actually _go out and read every postcard sent_? Even if it were "only" postcards, where do you live when your country has the time, money, resources and intention to read every single one written and sent?!
Right, and (just see the replies) therefore it's not gonna happen. See, here at/. we have a lot of people that... let's just say we are a bit above average. Still, there's people like bonch with a low UID saying "If I want less smog, I'll move out of L.A." - basically, that means "I don't care a f\/ck."
It is this one planet we live on that we destroy and render inhabitable, and we don't have a backup. Still, stupidity and ignorance and lazyness and greed will keep us from doing the right thing, even if it is as easy as "Paint stuff white, it works!".
"In order to study the coolest places in the Universe the Herschel instruments must be cooled to just above absolute zero. A large cryostat surrounds the instruments maintaining an operational temperature of 1.7 K for a nominal mission lifetime of 4 years." ESA has some great info on their site.
Herschel is supposed to complete its mission in three years, Planck in only 15 months. After the helium supplies have evaporated, their missions end. They won't be repaired / serviced, because they are too far away to be easily reached with a shuttle. That's what local news here say.
Sorry to disturb you, but what you're saying is that a) they made the same mistake twice and b) it won't "grow up into something beautiful" until 5.5 - unless I misread that, in that case attribute that to significant amounts of excellent beer.
Still, looking at the way prior releases have matured is a valid point.
That's what I thought, too, and in the comment section you'll find a comment from Geoffrey A. Landis, scientist at the NASA John Glenn Research Center, stating:
Jeez - read the abstract. Its a calculation based on a theoretical model using some very speculative physics for which there is NO EVIDENCE WHATSOEVER. Really. Ignore it.
The main thing to keep in mind is, cosmic rays have energies vastly higher than the LHC. If the LHC could produce black holes, then there would be black holes floating around everywhere.
"Days after it got a federal bailout, American International Group Inc. spent $440,000 on a posh California retreat for its executives, complete with spa treatments, banquets and golf outings"
Since you claim this I assume that you tried the 1.0.0 already - I watched the promo vid, and it says the BBC is using the codec to handle HD content over their standard def infrastructure at very low latency (a few ms, if I remember correctly).
Nonetheless, this seems to be an interesting thing to keep an eye on, because the codec specs address good compression especially for very high bandwidths, which is going to be an important issue for movie post production/processing, HD content and the likes. The promo vid is well worth watching.
I was wondering where I could find some vids to check out quality vs. file sizes and found this index of demo files. Looks great in VLC, quite impressive even at lower bitrates.
The short answer is that we don't know for certain, but we're pretty sure we don't.
We haven't employed armies of lawyers to trawl through the tens of thousands of video compression techniques. That's not the way to invent a successful algorithm. Instead we've tried to use techniques of long standing in novel ways.
What will you do if you infringe patents?
Code round them, first and foremost. There are many alternative techniques to each of the technologies used within Dirac.
Dirac is relatively modular (which is one reason why it's a conventional hybrid codec rather than, say, 3D wavelets) so removing or adding tools was relatively easy, even though this may mean issuing a new version of the specification.
See how much money Hollywood hands out in this election campaign alone - do you think all they get in return is laws passed in favor of the industry? That no part of the mainstream media programming is influenced politically as part of a handshake deal? Good for you, then.
It's not so much about underlying meaning, but about the prevalence of certain recurring patterns and the ways they are presented. Those are popular and therefore likely to show up more often, so this is no surprise. Surprising is from what I see, that the fear/terror/threat scenario only offers one possible solution, which the tv shows always get "right" (do what is necessary at no matter what cost, not what is right or within the law since both are stretchable at will). This raises suspicion since you'd expect a certain amount of imagination on the side of the authors and thus different outcomes, but it all seems to be variations on the same theme. Also, don't underestimate the importance of Entertainment in our societies and the potential for abuse. "Pane et circenses", anyone?
Just because I'm paranoid does not mean I'm not being followed!
Well, um, yes... but then again, no! I see it as propaganda which serves to show the people what can (could) be done. It says: don't count on privacy laws or due process, we'll get you anyway. Live in fear, don't even think of wrongdoing and pray you'll never come across that one asshat abusing the information.
Repeat this over and over, show the reruns, and it'll sink in. And don't even get me started on 24, Sleeper Cell and the likes - the sheer amount of "terrorists are everywhere!" propaganda boggles the mind! If you watch it, watch closely for underlying messages and paradigms. It's brainwash, lowest rung and easy to see through. Poorly written most of the times, too.
We have made this military-industrial corporatist complex into a religion of sorts, and they have addicted us to it - our jobs count on it - and they've basically got our nuts in a vice. They've taken a whole lot already. You can bet they'll take more, and with the witless approval of between 40 and 60% of US citizens, too.
That's among the most insightful assessments of the situation I've read here, but I don't agree with the conclusion that precedes your appraisal:
There's nothing we can do.
There's a thing called 'history' - go read some of it, it has very interesting stories and might help you see what can be done given some determination and/or desperation... and sufficient amounts of unhappy people.
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. The U.S. Agriculture Departments mad cow disease-testing program is wholly inadequate and the agencys refusal to let processors do their own testing further undercuts the safety of American beef, a University of Illinois scholar writes.
AFAIK, the available tests are not reliable, partly due to the fact that the cows are too young to produce meaningful test results, but that might be outdated info.
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evacuating a circle 10000km around the impact site doesn't seem impossible
I doubt that. Take any location in the US and calculate the population within a 10000km diameter. Consider NOLA during/after Katrina (how many days did it take the DHS to bring water to the Super Dome?). I wish you were right, but your optimism seems to be fed exclusively by Hollywood. Sorry.
If we can see objects like this coming we should be able to evacuate the impact site ahead of time.
Hm... up to 70km you say - that's quite unlikely, results would be quite devastating, even if you were 8000km away from the impact site (but depending on quite a few parameters of the object/impact).
Give this a try, maybe you'll reconsider: http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/impacteffects/
Also, AFAIK the turbines shut down at wind speeds >25 m/s / ~55mph
Ah, found it here: Wind turbines start operating at wind speeds of 4 to 5 metres per second (around 10 miles an hour) and reach maximum power output at around 15 metres/second (around 33 miles per hour). At very high wind speeds, i.e. gale force winds, (25 metres/second, 50+ miles/hour) wind turbines shut down.
But that's beside the point! I like the post card analogy and use it frequently with non-tech people, but you're off by a few miles. It's not about "Everybody along the way handling your message can read it if they so choose", but about "Is it OK if the gov't and secret services do whatever they can - legal or illegal - to actually _go out and read every postcard sent_? Even if it were "only" postcards, where do you live when your country has the time, money, resources and intention to read every single one written and sent?!
Right, and (just see the replies) therefore it's not gonna happen. See, here at /. we have a lot of people that ... let's just say we are a bit above average. Still, there's people like bonch with a low UID saying "If I want less smog, I'll move out of L.A." - basically, that means "I don't care a f\/ck."
It is this one planet we live on that we destroy and render inhabitable, and we don't have a backup. Still, stupidity and ignorance and lazyness and greed will keep us from doing the right thing, even if it is as easy as "Paint stuff white, it works!".
"In order to study the coolest places in the Universe the Herschel instruments must be cooled to just above absolute zero. A large cryostat surrounds the instruments maintaining an operational temperature of 1.7 K for a nominal mission lifetime of 4 years." ESA has some great info on their site.
Herschel is supposed to complete its mission in three years, Planck in only 15 months. After the helium supplies have evaporated, their missions end. They won't be repaired / serviced, because they are too far away to be easily reached with a shuttle. That's what local news here say.
Just a wild guess.
Who trusts IPs, though?
Apparently, he needs some ".edu".
Sorry to disturb you, but what you're saying is that a) they made the same mistake twice and b) it won't "grow up into something beautiful" until 5.5 - unless I misread that, in that case attribute that to significant amounts of excellent beer.
Still, looking at the way prior releases have matured is a valid point.
Jeez - read the abstract. Its a calculation based on a theoretical model using some very speculative physics for which there is NO EVIDENCE WHATSOEVER. Really. Ignore it.
The main thing to keep in mind is, cosmic rays have energies vastly higher than the LHC. If the LHC could produce black holes, then there would be black holes floating around everywhere.
As if having a bunch of saccharine coursing through your veins is healthy.
It isn't and it might make you fat.
when it's off, no problem.
You might be on to something here, because now that you mention it: this solution seems to address all the pesky tech probs I had recently.
Watch as little television as possible - or none at all - and keep your kids away from it at all cost. It fucks up your brain.
"Days after it got a federal bailout, American International Group Inc. spent $440,000 on a posh California retreat for its executives, complete with spa treatments, banquets and golf outings"
This is not quite what you're looking for, but nice to play around with: Impact Effects Calculator.
Since you claim this I assume that you tried the 1.0.0 already - I watched the promo vid, and it says the BBC is using the codec to handle HD content over their standard def infrastructure at very low latency (a few ms, if I remember correctly).
Nonetheless, this seems to be an interesting thing to keep an eye on, because the codec specs address good compression especially for very high bandwidths, which is going to be an important issue for movie post production/processing, HD content and the likes. The promo vid is well worth watching.
I was wondering where I could find some vids to check out quality vs. file sizes and found this index of demo files. Looks great in VLC, quite impressive even at lower bitrates.
Read their site. From the FAQ:
Do you infringe any patents?
The short answer is that we don't know for certain, but we're pretty sure we don't.
We haven't employed armies of lawyers to trawl through the tens of thousands of video compression techniques. That's not the way to invent a successful algorithm. Instead we've tried to use techniques of long standing in novel ways.
What will you do if you infringe patents?
Code round them, first and foremost. There are many alternative techniques to each of the technologies used within Dirac.
Dirac is relatively modular (which is one reason why it's a conventional hybrid codec rather than, say, 3D wavelets) so removing or adding tools was relatively easy, even though this may mean issuing a new version of the specification.
Nah, that would be cheating.
It's not so much about underlying meaning, but about the prevalence of certain recurring patterns and the ways they are presented. Those are popular and therefore likely to show up more often, so this is no surprise. Surprising is from what I see, that the fear/terror/threat scenario only offers one possible solution, which the tv shows always get "right" (do what is necessary at no matter what cost, not what is right or within the law since both are stretchable at will). This raises suspicion since you'd expect a certain amount of imagination on the side of the authors and thus different outcomes, but it all seems to be variations on the same theme. Also, don't underestimate the importance of Entertainment in our societies and the potential for abuse. "Pane et circenses", anyone?
Just because I'm paranoid does not mean I'm not being followed!
It's fictional.
Well, um, yes... but then again, no! I see it as propaganda which serves to show the people what can (could) be done. It says: don't count on privacy laws or due process, we'll get you anyway. Live in fear, don't even think of wrongdoing and pray you'll never come across that one asshat abusing the information.
Repeat this over and over, show the reruns, and it'll sink in. And don't even get me started on 24, Sleeper Cell and the likes - the sheer amount of "terrorists are everywhere!" propaganda boggles the mind! If you watch it, watch closely for underlying messages and paradigms. It's brainwash, lowest rung and easy to see through. Poorly written most of the times, too.
We have made this military-industrial corporatist complex into a religion of sorts, and they have addicted us to it - our jobs count on it - and they've basically got our nuts in a vice. They've taken a whole lot already. You can bet they'll take more, and with the witless approval of between 40 and 60% of US citizens, too.
That's among the most insightful assessments of the situation I've read here, but I don't agree with the conclusion that precedes your appraisal:
There's nothing we can do.
There's a thing called 'history' - go read some of it, it has very interesting stories and might help you see what can be done given some determination and/or desperation... and sufficient amounts of unhappy people.
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. The U.S. Agriculture Departments mad cow disease-testing program is wholly inadequate and the agencys refusal to let processors do their own testing further undercuts the safety of American beef, a University of Illinois scholar writes.
AFAIK, the available tests are not reliable, partly due to the fact that the cows are too young to produce meaningful test results, but that might be outdated info.
wow, amazing...look at all the detail! thx for sharing!