Sure, if you were only interested in the first 20 minutes of flight. But if you wanted it to be stable for the whole flight or during portions of the flight (which lasted several hours) you would need to fly batteries with it.
In this case it probably wouldn't be feasible to run a gyro the entire time because it would simply require too large of a battery. But they could have flown batteries to spin it up a few times during flight, perhaps something like:
1) Spin it up initially using external power like you suggest. 2) When the balloon reached a certain height (maybe 100,000 ft), spin it up again. 3) As soon as the balloon starts falling spin it up again. This might not make much sense since you probably wouldn't have any attitude control software so you wouldn't know which orientation the camera would stabilize in (with one gyro it wouldn't fully stabilize it anyway). 4) Just before landing
While this would require a little programming, it's pretty simple to program a micro controller nowadays and the GPS unit can output its position in plain text via serial or serial over USB so it's trivial to decode and add the necessary logic to the micro controller to switch the gyro on and off.
My point wasn't the algorithm, just that it's trivial to do something better than just storing plain-text passwords.
To do it correctly I'd presume you would also need to first do some sort of dictionary check and length check on the password to make sure it isn't too weak. Or require that the password have a certain number of non a-z|A-Z characters.
Of course you then run into the issue of people forgetting passwords so you'd want a method to give them a new password, but in such a way that someone couldn't simply google the person and fill in the relevant details (the way Sarah Palin's e-mail account was hacked).
This is why I prefer sticking to just programming rather than being a DB admin.
A gyro would be mounted within the box. It wouldn't need to weigh more than a pound for something of that size.
If they were at the weight limit then they still could have hung the cube on something that can twist freely and attach something like a weather vane or ribbon to give it some passive stability with very little extra weight.
This reminds me of when I was hired to do some maintenance on a small fantasy racing team website. The website seemed pretty well implemented and the database seemed reasonable. I then took a look at the account info table and was horrified to find that everything was stored in plain text, passwords, real names, user names, CC numbers, addresses, etc. I'm not exactly a database/web guru, but come on! How hard is it to use md5() to store passwords?? And I don't like the idea of some random guy (me in this case) being entrusted with everyone's credit info. There has to be a better way.
I learned my lesson though. I will never pass my credit info to a small-time website. To think that a fairly large ISP would be this stupid in the year 2009 is mind boggling.
It's a shame they didn't put some gyros and a free mount to get better video. If you're going to bother buying a new HD video camera, fly from Japan to Canada and (presumably) help pay for this balloon launch it seems it would have been worth it to put at least one gyro on there. It would have added to the weight (both due to the gyro and due to the extra batteries needed to power it), but it would have dramatically improved the video quality.
(I'm not referring to expensive professional, bulky gyro mounts like http://www.camerasystems.com/rentals.htm -- any gyro would have been better than nothing -- heck, even a spindle mount with a wind vane on the styrofoam cube would have been a big improvement).
Seems like this still wouldn't be the best solution even for what SGI used to be commonly used for--CG. If you are running 3ds Max (or some other rendering software) it seems you would still be better off with a dozen cheap, independent rendering nodes than one of these things decked out. This is because the nodes do not need to communicate with each other (only between the slave and master nodes, and that's only at the start of rendering each frame and at the end of rendering a frame) so there is no need for a high-speed connection between all of the nodes or to run it under a single OS environment.
They apparently work with the OEMs to make custom versions of the Ubuntu distribution for each machine. If your laptop isn't on the list (or even if it is) you may have problems. It also uses proprietary code which prevents them from distributing it to others.
Sure, in running it would probably be pretty dumb to have the women compete directly against the men.
But in other sports I'm not so sure, like baseball, golf and billiards. For baseball, here's an example of what a girl can do: http://www.todaysbigthing.com/2008/06/24
Spend more time practicing my instruments (piano and sax). Spend more time doing my hobby of 3d modeling and animation. Spend more time with my GF. Spend more time outside.
Basically spend more time doing stuff that is fun rather than sleeping (during which not much happens...).
You don't need to stop a meteor. If you can spot it soon enough there are several techniques that could be used to change its trajectory so that it misses the Earth (such as putting a satellite near it that can tug it over time just using gravity, or by putting a coating on it that would alter the solar pressure on it and push it out of the way, etc).
Or you could leave everything to chance (or name your deity) but since we have the ability I definitely think we should give ourselves the chance to use it.
While there are certainly strong arguments for open-source software, it is not a fit-all solution.
For example, one of my big hobbies is doing 3d modeling and animation. Even though I'm not doing it for-profit, I use a closed, proprietary program (3ds Max). The simple reason is because I feel it is the best product for the job within my ability to afford and I can use it much more efficiently (and get a better result) than I could with any free or cheap alternative. Sure, there is an open-source alternative (Bender) but it simply does not stand up against 3ds Max. Without the deep pockets of a corporation with customers paying big $$ for the product it is virtually impossible to create such a complicated program using only volunteers, especially when the program needs to change substantially year to year just to keep up with the latest research and demands.
Another similar example, document creation, does work with open-source. I think this is true because many people do not demand much of their document software and that software can be relatively stable year to year and still be a useful product.
The other case of being able to create complex open source software that does need to change substantially year to year are sponsored by corporations and have very large appeal (like Qt and the Linux kernel). However, it's hard to imagine a major corporation spending much money on a complicated niche product like a 3d modeling/animation tool.
I'm not sure why you keep putting internet addiction in quotes. People can get addicted to anything, including playing games and surfing the web.
I had a roommate back in college who was so addicted to playing video games on his Sega that he skipped all of his classes and was operating on a 25-hr day for months until he finally dropped out of college (meaning he went to bed an hour and got up an hour later every day).
Obviously this particular addiction camp is insane, but there are other effective programs for dealing with all kinds of addictions and one could surely be made to help people like my old roommate.
I'd love to play keyboard hero. Of course I already know how to play so would be at a bit of an advantage compared to my friends, but it could help improve my sight reading and give me some music to play in a situation I usually wouldn't be playing in (something like a 'real' rock band, as opposed to playing solo 99% of the time).
If they ever made keyboard hero they'd probably use some sort of silly way of showing the notes rather than the real score which would be annoying. They'd probably also use a tiny toy keyboard and not allow MIDI input from a real 88-keyboard but I'd take whatever I can get if it isn't too expensive/lousy.
Heck, I work for a GPS company and don't rely on GPS for navigation (we do high-precision applications, not navigation so I don't feel too hypocritical about it). However, this isn't because I don't trust GPS but because I prefer to have a good situational awareness of where I am and where I'm going.
I have tried using GPS navigation in rental cars for fun but usually their directions aren't as good as Google maps directions and have led me down a dead-end street once late at night.
The best compromise I've seen so far between maintaining a good idea of what's going on and using GPS is Google maps on the G1. You simply map out your directions before you start driving and then you have the choice of enabling the GPS to see where you are on the route or leaving it disabled if you like. Either way you can still zoom in on the map, check street view, etc without needing to spread out a huge map (or having to print out directions before you take off).
Note: I wouldn't use this story as a justification for not using GPS. The Air Force likes to maintain a 95% reliability of the constellation remaining fully operational each year (meaning that in the lower 48 that you will get a good position fix virtually all the time). They are worried that in the future they can only estimate an 80% chance of the system staying fully operational. The system would still work even if they don't have 31 satellites working. The minimum number of satellites needed in the constellation to provide good position fixes virtually all the time is 24 (4 good satellites in 6 orbital planes). They have additional satellites up there that are either at their end of life or backup satellites that are ready to take the position of another that becomes disabled. See this PDF if you want all the details: http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/GPS/geninfo/2008SPSPerformanceStandardFINAL.pdf
If Orin Hatch was 100% correct (which he obviously isn't) then it would have an effect on the US's trading deficit, lowering it a tad if everyone paid the billions he thinks the US companies are owed.
A lower trading deficit usually strengthens the value of the dollar and should even reduce the national debt (although in this case not by a lot in comparison to the total debt).
It would theoretically also allow for more jobs in the US, although even if all this extra money was pouring in I'd wager that any new jobs would mainly be for cheap labor wealthy entertainers/executives employ (ie, most of this money would go to media companies who would in turn give the lion share to rich execs who would then have more money to pay for pool boy assistants and personal shoe-shiners...).
The speed of sound changes with pressure and temperature, unless you consider cruising altitude sea level. The speed of sound at FL35 is 660 mph (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_of_sound). 600 mph / 660 mph = 0.909. 660 mph * 0.78 = 514.8 mph (closer to 500 mph than 600 mph as I claimed). Happy now?
I was trained in aerospace engineering, not English, although in this case I blame dyslexia:P.
Just to pick a nick, that jet was not going anywhere near 600 mph during climb just 5 miles downrange from the airport. Usually once a jet reaches that speed they're at cruising altitude above the altitude at which almost any bird ever flies. Another nick is they usually cruise much closer to 500 mph, not 600 mph (the latter being about 91% of the speed of sound at cruising altitude, way too fast for any commercial airliner currently flying).
Still, even at the speed it was probably traveling at (perhaps 200-250 mph) it still would be difficult if not impossible to see the birds quickly enough to avoid them.
If there wasn't a problem with groping then why are there female-only cars? I have been to many places in the northern hemisphere and have never seen such a thing and have been on some pretty packed trains.
From what I know and you should know Japanese people abhor making a scene so even if a woman was groped she'd be reluctant to yell. I've also read an article about groping on trains that mentioned this. I think the only way you'd know for sure is to ask a number of Japanese women if they have ever been groped on a train and hope they answer honestly or check some statistics on it (several polls on this question have been done).
Yea, the only plus to the endless cutaways in Family Guy is that it led to a great parody episode by South Park. Now whenever they insert a really random cutaway bit I'll think to myself, "I guess those manatees were at it again."
Yea, the best affordable food my friends and I could find was fish and chips at a local pub that cost £7 I believe.
The worst was a chicken sandwich at some fast food joint (it wasn't an American company, probably a small local chain). They were so bad my two friends literally could not eat them. However, I was starving and was able to eat both mine and theirs but I had to admit it was the worst 'chicken' sandwich I'd ever forced my stomach to digest (it more or less tasted like nothing, nothing at all--even tofu has more flavour).
BTW, if you're ever in Dublin I found some great food there for cheap, especially gyros. For about €7 I bought the largest gyro I'd ever seen, some chips and a soda that was enough food for two people/meals.
There are girls that grope guys, but it's more unusual (if that ever happens to you while riding a train in Japan and you don't like it yell 'chijo'--female groper--if nothing else you'll get a few laughs).
The reasons I mentioned in another post for lower reports of rape were due to the society being more male dominated than in the west which to women more frequently not reporting rapes (it happens in the west too, but it happened even more often in the past in the west before women got more of an equal status to guys).
I had forgotten about this, but the police are under pressure to report low crime statistics and will go out of their way to artificially keep the statistics low (by reporting a murder as a death due to natural causes for example).
London is (currently) the financial capital of the world. A lot of people earn stupid amounts of money, relative to the same jobs in other industries. They have a lot of cash to wave around.
I don't know about that, I think many would argue that New York City was the financial leader of the world. Regardless, they are similar in that many people in New York City receive huge salaries and the cost of living there is high. Even so, when I went there I could find good Italian seafood for about $17 or $18, for one of the most expensive items on their menu, (about $22 after tax and tip) whereas when I went to London the least expensive meal I could find that wasn't fast food was about 10-12 pounds which, at the time, was about $18-$22. The difference was the food you get for 10-12 pounds in London is terrible, at least at the places I went to. A Londoner I talked to recommended several restaurants with good food but they all started at about 20 pounds for a meal.
I think it's a matter of realism to an extent. While you are certainly killing people in various games it doesn't feel as real as it would in a real murder.
For example, if there was some game where you played the role of a serial killer and it tried to walk you through the steps that a real serial killer would take (stalking, planning murders, etc) I think that would raise an enormous amount of controversy.
I think rape simulation games fall more into that category in which it more obviously is meant to simulate criminal behavior rather than simply play a game.
"Crowded trains are a favourite location for chikan and chijo, and a 2001 survey conducted in two Tokyo high-schools revealed that more than 70% of the students had been groped on them." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frotteurism
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Sure, if you were only interested in the first 20 minutes of flight. But if you wanted it to be stable for the whole flight or during portions of the flight (which lasted several hours) you would need to fly batteries with it.
In this case it probably wouldn't be feasible to run a gyro the entire time because it would simply require too large of a battery. But they could have flown batteries to spin it up a few times during flight, perhaps something like:
1) Spin it up initially using external power like you suggest.
2) When the balloon reached a certain height (maybe 100,000 ft), spin it up again.
3) As soon as the balloon starts falling spin it up again. This might not make much sense since you probably wouldn't have any attitude control software so you wouldn't know which orientation the camera would stabilize in (with one gyro it wouldn't fully stabilize it anyway).
4) Just before landing
While this would require a little programming, it's pretty simple to program a micro controller nowadays and the GPS unit can output its position in plain text via serial or serial over USB so it's trivial to decode and add the necessary logic to the micro controller to switch the gyro on and off.
My point wasn't the algorithm, just that it's trivial to do something better than just storing plain-text passwords.
To do it correctly I'd presume you would also need to first do some sort of dictionary check and length check on the password to make sure it isn't too weak. Or require that the password have a certain number of non a-z|A-Z characters.
Of course you then run into the issue of people forgetting passwords so you'd want a method to give them a new password, but in such a way that someone couldn't simply google the person and fill in the relevant details (the way Sarah Palin's e-mail account was hacked).
This is why I prefer sticking to just programming rather than being a DB admin.
A gyro would be mounted within the box. It wouldn't need to weigh more than a pound for something of that size.
If they were at the weight limit then they still could have hung the cube on something that can twist freely and attach something like a weather vane or ribbon to give it some passive stability with very little extra weight.
This reminds me of when I was hired to do some maintenance on a small fantasy racing team website. The website seemed pretty well implemented and the database seemed reasonable. I then took a look at the account info table and was horrified to find that everything was stored in plain text, passwords, real names, user names, CC numbers, addresses, etc. I'm not exactly a database/web guru, but come on! How hard is it to use md5() to store passwords?? And I don't like the idea of some random guy (me in this case) being entrusted with everyone's credit info. There has to be a better way.
I learned my lesson though. I will never pass my credit info to a small-time website. To think that a fairly large ISP would be this stupid in the year 2009 is mind boggling.
It's a shame they didn't put some gyros and a free mount to get better video. If you're going to bother buying a new HD video camera, fly from Japan to Canada and (presumably) help pay for this balloon launch it seems it would have been worth it to put at least one gyro on there. It would have added to the weight (both due to the gyro and due to the extra batteries needed to power it), but it would have dramatically improved the video quality.
(I'm not referring to expensive professional, bulky gyro mounts like http://www.camerasystems.com/rentals.htm -- any gyro would have been better than nothing -- heck, even a spindle mount with a wind vane on the styrofoam cube would have been a big improvement).
Seems like this still wouldn't be the best solution even for what SGI used to be commonly used for--CG. If you are running 3ds Max (or some other rendering software) it seems you would still be better off with a dozen cheap, independent rendering nodes than one of these things decked out. This is because the nodes do not need to communicate with each other (only between the slave and master nodes, and that's only at the start of rendering each frame and at the end of rendering a frame) so there is no need for a high-speed connection between all of the nodes or to run it under a single OS environment.
Still, hardly an ideal solution:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/HardwareSupport/Machines/Netbooks
They apparently work with the OEMs to make custom versions of the Ubuntu distribution for each machine. If your laptop isn't on the list (or even if it is) you may have problems. It also uses proprietary code which prevents them from distributing it to others.
Sure, in running it would probably be pretty dumb to have the women compete directly against the men.
But in other sports I'm not so sure, like baseball, golf and billiards. For baseball, here's an example of what a girl can do: http://www.todaysbigthing.com/2008/06/24
I know what I would do:
Spend more time practicing my instruments (piano and sax).
Spend more time doing my hobby of 3d modeling and animation.
Spend more time with my GF.
Spend more time outside.
Basically spend more time doing stuff that is fun rather than sleeping (during which not much happens...).
You don't need to stop a meteor. If you can spot it soon enough there are several techniques that could be used to change its trajectory so that it misses the Earth (such as putting a satellite near it that can tug it over time just using gravity, or by putting a coating on it that would alter the solar pressure on it and push it out of the way, etc).
Or you could leave everything to chance (or name your deity) but since we have the ability I definitely think we should give ourselves the chance to use it.
While there are certainly strong arguments for open-source software, it is not a fit-all solution.
For example, one of my big hobbies is doing 3d modeling and animation. Even though I'm not doing it for-profit, I use a closed, proprietary program (3ds Max). The simple reason is because I feel it is the best product for the job within my ability to afford and I can use it much more efficiently (and get a better result) than I could with any free or cheap alternative. Sure, there is an open-source alternative (Bender) but it simply does not stand up against 3ds Max. Without the deep pockets of a corporation with customers paying big $$ for the product it is virtually impossible to create such a complicated program using only volunteers, especially when the program needs to change substantially year to year just to keep up with the latest research and demands.
Another similar example, document creation, does work with open-source. I think this is true because many people do not demand much of their document software and that software can be relatively stable year to year and still be a useful product.
The other case of being able to create complex open source software that does need to change substantially year to year are sponsored by corporations and have very large appeal (like Qt and the Linux kernel). However, it's hard to imagine a major corporation spending much money on a complicated niche product like a 3d modeling/animation tool.
I'm not sure why you keep putting internet addiction in quotes. People can get addicted to anything, including playing games and surfing the web.
I had a roommate back in college who was so addicted to playing video games on his Sega that he skipped all of his classes and was operating on a 25-hr day for months until he finally dropped out of college (meaning he went to bed an hour and got up an hour later every day).
Obviously this particular addiction camp is insane, but there are other effective programs for dealing with all kinds of addictions and one could surely be made to help people like my old roommate.
I'd love to play keyboard hero. Of course I already know how to play so would be at a bit of an advantage compared to my friends, but it could help improve my sight reading and give me some music to play in a situation I usually wouldn't be playing in (something like a 'real' rock band, as opposed to playing solo 99% of the time).
If they ever made keyboard hero they'd probably use some sort of silly way of showing the notes rather than the real score which would be annoying. They'd probably also use a tiny toy keyboard and not allow MIDI input from a real 88-keyboard but I'd take whatever I can get if it isn't too expensive/lousy.
And yes I did once participate in such a thing.
Heck, I work for a GPS company and don't rely on GPS for navigation (we do high-precision applications, not navigation so I don't feel too hypocritical about it). However, this isn't because I don't trust GPS but because I prefer to have a good situational awareness of where I am and where I'm going.
I have tried using GPS navigation in rental cars for fun but usually their directions aren't as good as Google maps directions and have led me down a dead-end street once late at night.
The best compromise I've seen so far between maintaining a good idea of what's going on and using GPS is Google maps on the G1. You simply map out your directions before you start driving and then you have the choice of enabling the GPS to see where you are on the route or leaving it disabled if you like. Either way you can still zoom in on the map, check street view, etc without needing to spread out a huge map (or having to print out directions before you take off).
Note: I wouldn't use this story as a justification for not using GPS. The Air Force likes to maintain a 95% reliability of the constellation remaining fully operational each year (meaning that in the lower 48 that you will get a good position fix virtually all the time). They are worried that in the future they can only estimate an 80% chance of the system staying fully operational. The system would still work even if they don't have 31 satellites working. The minimum number of satellites needed in the constellation to provide good position fixes virtually all the time is 24 (4 good satellites in 6 orbital planes). They have additional satellites up there that are either at their end of life or backup satellites that are ready to take the position of another that becomes disabled. See this PDF if you want all the details: http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/GPS/geninfo/2008SPSPerformanceStandardFINAL.pdf
If Orin Hatch was 100% correct (which he obviously isn't) then it would have an effect on the US's trading deficit, lowering it a tad if everyone paid the billions he thinks the US companies are owed.
A lower trading deficit usually strengthens the value of the dollar and should even reduce the national debt (although in this case not by a lot in comparison to the total debt).
It would theoretically also allow for more jobs in the US, although even if all this extra money was pouring in I'd wager that any new jobs would mainly be for cheap labor wealthy entertainers/executives employ (ie, most of this money would go to media companies who would in turn give the lion share to rich execs who would then have more money to pay for pool boy assistants and personal shoe-shiners...).
The speed of sound changes with pressure and temperature, unless you consider cruising altitude sea level. The speed of sound at FL35 is 660 mph (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_of_sound). 600 mph / 660 mph = 0.909. 660 mph * 0.78 = 514.8 mph (closer to 500 mph than 600 mph as I claimed). Happy now?
I was trained in aerospace engineering, not English, although in this case I blame dyslexia :P.
Just to pick a nick, that jet was not going anywhere near 600 mph during climb just 5 miles downrange from the airport. Usually once a jet reaches that speed they're at cruising altitude above the altitude at which almost any bird ever flies. Another nick is they usually cruise much closer to 500 mph, not 600 mph (the latter being about 91% of the speed of sound at cruising altitude, way too fast for any commercial airliner currently flying).
Still, even at the speed it was probably traveling at (perhaps 200-250 mph) it still would be difficult if not impossible to see the birds quickly enough to avoid them.
If there wasn't a problem with groping then why are there female-only cars? I have been to many places in the northern hemisphere and have never seen such a thing and have been on some pretty packed trains.
From what I know and you should know Japanese people abhor making a scene so even if a woman was groped she'd be reluctant to yell. I've also read an article about groping on trains that mentioned this. I think the only way you'd know for sure is to ask a number of Japanese women if they have ever been groped on a train and hope they answer honestly or check some statistics on it (several polls on this question have been done).
As for the equality of women, check this article http://www.nwasianweekly.com/2009/28_13/pages/travel_japan.html (written just 3 months ago)
Yea, the only plus to the endless cutaways in Family Guy is that it led to a great parody episode by South Park. Now whenever they insert a really random cutaway bit I'll think to myself, "I guess those manatees were at it again."
Yea, the best affordable food my friends and I could find was fish and chips at a local pub that cost £7 I believe.
The worst was a chicken sandwich at some fast food joint (it wasn't an American company, probably a small local chain). They were so bad my two friends literally could not eat them. However, I was starving and was able to eat both mine and theirs but I had to admit it was the worst 'chicken' sandwich I'd ever forced my stomach to digest (it more or less tasted like nothing, nothing at all--even tofu has more flavour).
BTW, if you're ever in Dublin I found some great food there for cheap, especially gyros. For about €7 I bought the largest gyro I'd ever seen, some chips and a soda that was enough food for two people/meals.
There are girls that grope guys, but it's more unusual (if that ever happens to you while riding a train in Japan and you don't like it yell 'chijo'--female groper--if nothing else you'll get a few laughs).
The reasons I mentioned in another post for lower reports of rape were due to the society being more male dominated than in the west which to women more frequently not reporting rapes (it happens in the west too, but it happened even more often in the past in the west before women got more of an equal status to guys).
Another is the reason given here http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1260351&cid=28255169
I had forgotten about this, but the police are under pressure to report low crime statistics and will go out of their way to artificially keep the statistics low (by reporting a murder as a death due to natural causes for example).
London is (currently) the financial capital of the world. A lot of people earn stupid amounts of money, relative to the same jobs in other industries. They have a lot of cash to wave around.
I don't know about that, I think many would argue that New York City was the financial leader of the world. Regardless, they are similar in that many people in New York City receive huge salaries and the cost of living there is high. Even so, when I went there I could find good Italian seafood for about $17 or $18, for one of the most expensive items on their menu, (about $22 after tax and tip) whereas when I went to London the least expensive meal I could find that wasn't fast food was about 10-12 pounds which, at the time, was about $18-$22. The difference was the food you get for 10-12 pounds in London is terrible, at least at the places I went to. A Londoner I talked to recommended several restaurants with good food but they all started at about 20 pounds for a meal.
I think it's a matter of realism to an extent. While you are certainly killing people in various games it doesn't feel as real as it would in a real murder.
For example, if there was some game where you played the role of a serial killer and it tried to walk you through the steps that a real serial killer would take (stalking, planning murders, etc) I think that would raise an enormous amount of controversy.
I think rape simulation games fall more into that category in which it more obviously is meant to simulate criminal behavior rather than simply play a game.
Really? And you've lived in Japan before?
How about this:
"Crowded trains are a favourite location for chikan and chijo, and a 2001 survey conducted in two Tokyo high-schools revealed that more than 70% of the students had been groped on them."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frotteurism
who got their quote from this:
http://www.japanfortheuninvited.com/articles/train-groping.html