but c'mon, the British weather sucks--how long before these little "microlight" planes get knocked out of the sky by wind, attacked by birds, or grounded due to foul weather?
Actually, theoretically never. Not to give you an RTFA, but the craft hovers at an altitude of about 12 miles -- well into the stratosphere. The stratosphere begins at about 15km (9mi) from the Earth's surface and is composed of less dense, relatively stable air. I say relatively because there is a lot of lateral mixing but nothing quite as turbulent as what we experience on the surface. The highest clouds form not far from the tropopause (cirrus, stratocumulus, et al), so weather and harsh winds would have no effect on the craft at all.
The mis-diagnosis of ADD is often a problem. IANAD, but ADD is very frequently just a convenient acronym that we apply to a host of symptoms we can't otherwise explain. Labelling the problem doesn't make the problem easier to solve in this case because the way the brain works under such exceptional circumstances is not entirely understood.
If you want a little perspective, consider the following. When I was little, around the second grade, I was very much the kind of kid who would be separated from the rest of the group, wildly sketching, doodling, making noises, et cetera. This was perceived as a focus problem (it's true that I wasn't focused at all), and within a very short period of time, all of the teachers were bandying about labels like ADD, Tourettes, and various other mental disorders as if they were all authorities on the subject. I remember quite clearly being taken to the local Children's Hospital for a series of evaluative tests, including an electroencephalogram.
Note that I very probably displayed almost all of the traits commonly associated with ADD. I can't remember much from that time period except for the events surrounding this little investigation into my mind that the school faculty felt necessary to launch. Why? It was rather traumatic for me. The strongest memory of the time was my rejoinder to my parents' explanation of our hospital visit: "There's nothing wrong with me!"
It turns out that I was right. They found nothing. To my credit (I suppose, since I don't put much faith in these measurements) I was rated at a highly above average intelligence. I'm seventeen now, and while I've been described as a rather eccentric individual (you can laugh at that), I'm doing quite well. What my grade school teachers thought (very adamantly, actually) was ADD had in fact been nothing more than a socially detached child's attempts to entertain his very, very bored and lonely mind. To this day, I put extremely little stock into the idea of "fitting in." That is for people insecure with their identities, in my humble opinion.
I was never diagnosed with anything, thanks to my parents, who fought against labelling me with a tenacity that I'm inclined to admire. My advice to you, from having been in the position of the child, is not to allow your daughter to be labelled. It constrains the possibilities within the boundaries of a very narrow and ultimately rather misunderstood set of definitions. What helped me was intellectual challenge and a few very good friends. Never underestimate the value of those things.
You lose the right to say this once you start invading their territory. The threat to these animals only begins to become "important" once it affects us personally.
Try to remember: while we humans have the blessing of choice, they (the predators) don't.
If linux were (pretend for a moment, I know it's hard) more expensive than Windows in terms of operating and management costs, what I'd realli like to know is whether or not it would still hold its own. I'd be willing to bet in favor of Linux, since it obviously has the advantage in security/stability/etc... but there's the real challenge: take away the price factor and you'll see the real winner.
I can remember what I can reasonably guess to be very far back, to the time when I was perhaps around two. But the deeper into my memory I try to recall, the harder it is to come up with any sort of sense as to when these memories took place.
It's sort of like opening up a directory that you archived within a filesystem that didn't support timestamps (?!) and then you upgraded somewhere later on... you know the files are old, but you can't tell exactly when they were made. Maybe this is only my brain; I can't really say I've heard of this happening to anyone else. Just an odd observation for you to chew on.
I feel compelled to lay to rest all of these posts about people going deaf from these refrigerators...
Thankfully, even if the fridge cracks open the vast sounds generated within will not escape because the intense noise can only be generated in the pressurised gas locked inside the cooling system.
Think about it for a moment. To generate the 120 dB in front of the speakers at a rock concert, you need some serious wattage. Those are powerful blasters, my friends. Also realize that the Decibel scale is logarithmic, meaning that the amount of "sonic energy" or volume -- whatever you want to call it -- between say 20 and 30 dB is a lot less than the amount between 120 and 130 dB. We're talking about a difference between 120 and 173 dB, which is, as the article points out, "tens of thousands of times more intense than any rock concert." I'm not a physicist or anything, but I'd assume that's why the sounds generated in the cooling unit work within a highly pressurized atmosphere -- so the sounds can (1) be created more efficiently and (2) carry through the gas properly. Open the unit into normal air and I don't believe it works anymore -- the atmosphere is too thin to produce those kinds of levels. On top of that, the unit is probably insulated in a vacuum anyhow, so as to prevent sound from escaping.
You won't go deaf. Your animals won't go crazy. The most you'll probably ever hear is a soft hum.
The very instant Microsoft shows any interest in it, open it up and give it away to the public. Better that it's in the hands of everybody than have it become the proprietary software of a corporate megalith.
This is the second/. article in as many days that seems to contain a reference to television's The Inbisible Man. The other, of course, is the one about the Diabetes-Monitoring Tattoo. My point is, how far are we from synthesizing a material that can bend light to the point that no matter what direction it hits it from will be refracted around the surface to the other side (effectively producing a "straight line" like the photoreceptor concept)?
This is why we have LAN parties... we've known this fact to be true already; when you get ten geeks together in a garage with a tub of caffeine and enough powerhouse computer systems to keep them happy all night long, guess what happens?
I think that this only illustrates how insanely hard organizations like the MPAA and RIAA are getting hit by the actions of p2p file-sharers. I use p2p methods myself, and I don't agree with the allegations that such sharing methods impair the profits of the recording industry... It is sometimes difficult to remember that we *are* in a digital era, and things less tangible (i.e. files) are being given priority over things more cumbersome (i.e. CD's). Take a look at recent innovations like the iPod, various CD/MP3 player combo devices, and other digital media players. You'll soon see the real reason the MPAA and RIAA are hurting: everyone _else_ is buying in, and they don't want to be left behind.
But you've got to wonder: do they really have enough sense in them to successfully DoS someone?
I'd rather waste my time trying to smart-up the crawling little obscenities that sent the SPAM in the first place, claiming (groundless) threats of filing a lawsuit, etc... Besides... how many of us can actually get a new address (other than Hotmail) on a whim? I know I can't... at least not until my linux mail server is running under the domain name I just purchased....
Slashdot Mirror
Actually, theoretically never. Not to give you an RTFA, but the craft hovers at an altitude of about 12 miles -- well into the stratosphere. The stratosphere begins at about 15km (9mi) from the Earth's surface and is composed of less dense, relatively stable air. I say relatively because there is a lot of lateral mixing but nothing quite as turbulent as what we experience on the surface. The highest clouds form not far from the tropopause (cirrus, stratocumulus, et al), so weather and harsh winds would have no effect on the craft at all.
If you want a little perspective, consider the following. When I was little, around the second grade, I was very much the kind of kid who would be separated from the rest of the group, wildly sketching, doodling, making noises, et cetera. This was perceived as a focus problem (it's true that I wasn't focused at all), and within a very short period of time, all of the teachers were bandying about labels like ADD, Tourettes, and various other mental disorders as if they were all authorities on the subject. I remember quite clearly being taken to the local Children's Hospital for a series of evaluative tests, including an electroencephalogram.
Note that I very probably displayed almost all of the traits commonly associated with ADD. I can't remember much from that time period except for the events surrounding this little investigation into my mind that the school faculty felt necessary to launch. Why? It was rather traumatic for me. The strongest memory of the time was my rejoinder to my parents' explanation of our hospital visit: "There's nothing wrong with me!"
It turns out that I was right. They found nothing. To my credit (I suppose, since I don't put much faith in these measurements) I was rated at a highly above average intelligence. I'm seventeen now, and while I've been described as a rather eccentric individual (you can laugh at that), I'm doing quite well. What my grade school teachers thought (very adamantly, actually) was ADD had in fact been nothing more than a socially detached child's attempts to entertain his very, very bored and lonely mind. To this day, I put extremely little stock into the idea of "fitting in." That is for people insecure with their identities, in my humble opinion.
I was never diagnosed with anything, thanks to my parents, who fought against labelling me with a tenacity that I'm inclined to admire. My advice to you, from having been in the position of the child, is not to allow your daughter to be labelled. It constrains the possibilities within the boundaries of a very narrow and ultimately rather misunderstood set of definitions. What helped me was intellectual challenge and a few very good friends. Never underestimate the value of those things.
You lose the right to say this once you start invading their territory. The threat to these animals only begins to become "important" once it affects us personally. Try to remember: while we humans have the blessing of choice, they (the predators) don't.
If linux were (pretend for a moment, I know it's hard) more expensive than Windows in terms of operating and management costs, what I'd realli like to know is whether or not it would still hold its own. I'd be willing to bet in favor of Linux, since it obviously has the advantage in security/stability/etc... but there's the real challenge: take away the price factor and you'll see the real winner.
I can remember what I can reasonably guess to be very far back, to the time when I was perhaps around two. But the deeper into my memory I try to recall, the harder it is to come up with any sort of sense as to when these memories took place.
It's sort of like opening up a directory that you archived within a filesystem that didn't support timestamps (?!) and then you upgraded somewhere later on... you know the files are old, but you can't tell exactly when they were made. Maybe this is only my brain; I can't really say I've heard of this happening to anyone else. Just an odd observation for you to chew on.
I feel compelled to lay to rest all of these posts about people going deaf from these refrigerators...
Thankfully, even if the fridge cracks open the vast sounds generated within will not escape because the intense noise can only be generated in the pressurised gas locked inside the cooling system.
Think about it for a moment. To generate the 120 dB in front of the speakers at a rock concert, you need some serious wattage. Those are powerful blasters, my friends. Also realize that the Decibel scale is logarithmic, meaning that the amount of "sonic energy" or volume -- whatever you want to call it -- between say 20 and 30 dB is a lot less than the amount between 120 and 130 dB. We're talking about a difference between 120 and 173 dB, which is, as the article points out, "tens of thousands of times more intense than any rock concert." I'm not a physicist or anything, but I'd assume that's why the sounds generated in the cooling unit work within a highly pressurized atmosphere -- so the sounds can (1) be created more efficiently and (2) carry through the gas properly. Open the unit into normal air and I don't believe it works anymore -- the atmosphere is too thin to produce those kinds of levels. On top of that, the unit is probably insulated in a vacuum anyhow, so as to prevent sound from escaping.
You won't go deaf. Your animals won't go crazy. The most you'll probably ever hear is a soft hum.
The very instant Microsoft shows any interest in it, open it up and give it away to the public. Better that it's in the hands of everybody than have it become the proprietary software of a corporate megalith.
This is the second /. article in as many days that seems to contain a reference to television's The Inbisible Man. The other, of course, is the one about the Diabetes-Monitoring Tattoo. My point is, how far are we from synthesizing a material that can bend light to the point that no matter what direction it hits it from will be refracted around the surface to the other side (effectively producing a "straight line" like the photoreceptor concept)?
The idea of internet-wired appliances has been done before. Lawn Sprinkler, Anyone?
This is why we have LAN parties... we've known this fact to be true already; when you get ten geeks together in a garage with a tub of caffeine and enough powerhouse computer systems to keep them happy all night long, guess what happens?
I think that this only illustrates how insanely hard organizations like the MPAA and RIAA are getting hit by the actions of p2p file-sharers. I use p2p methods myself, and I don't agree with the allegations that such sharing methods impair the profits of the recording industry... It is sometimes difficult to remember that we *are* in a digital era, and things less tangible (i.e. files) are being given priority over things more cumbersome (i.e. CD's). Take a look at recent innovations like the iPod, various CD/MP3 player combo devices, and other digital media players. You'll soon see the real reason the MPAA and RIAA are hurting: everyone _else_ is buying in, and they don't want to be left behind. But you've got to wonder: do they really have enough sense in them to successfully DoS someone?
I'd rather waste my time trying to smart-up the crawling little obscenities that sent the SPAM in the first place, claiming (groundless) threats of filing a lawsuit, etc... Besides... how many of us can actually get a new address (other than Hotmail) on a whim? I know I can't... at least not until my linux mail server is running under the domain name I just purchased....