I mean, I know it's damn rare to find something of this scale, and created this way. But the actual contents, fossil imprints, and little bits of critter... ignoring the scale, are they (relatively) common to find, or are these rare finds being lost to the march of industry? Did you find a buried school lab of Apple ]['s, or a functional Enigma machine complete with users manual and an old, grey-bearded knight who will explain it all as long as you don't go beyond the seal in the greatroom?
Actually, I know how you feel... last year I made my once-daily visit to Slashdot, and saw the movie I'm working on had made the front page... it's a weird, yet great, feeling.:)
On more serious notes... it sounds like you only had a short time to explore this find. Did the mining company keep mining? Is this the kind of thing that (would have/should have/could have) been preserved as a historic artifact? Why wasn't it? Because it's too big, or the coal is too valuable, or it's something you can look at and then be done with and not have to preserve much of?
I thought peat bogs had aquatic creatures in them still. Shouldn't you have expected to find some sort of prehistoric salamanders or something trapped in there?
And because I'm a little unclear on the actual process... did you actually find organic (or formerly organic) material, or just the imprints thereof? I know this isn't bugs-in-amber kind of stuff, but what's the actual state of the items you found?
*sigh* CmdrTaco, close the doors, put up the sign, slashdot is now officially closed.
CleverNickName, time to end the charade... everyone deserves to know you're actually William (fucking) Shatner just pretending to be WW. Please let Wil out of your basement, his mother misses him.
Would all editors who are actually bots step forward? We have a betting pool going.
Rob, it's time to admit you never actually got married, and are still a virgin. Yes, yes, most of us bought it with the "Will you marry me" post, but after last years "OMG Ponies!"... well, let's just say that ruined any image of you as a heterosexual male.
Thanks everyone, for many fine years of uninformed and biased internet discussion. I know it was only a matter of time till an actual expert showed up, but still, I'm a little sad to see it all end. I'm not sure how I'll get my next chapter of the scientology books... but at least now I can safely view "the poisoned post" without forever losing my mod rights.
So long, and thanks for all the fish. RIP/. (Netcraft confirms it) 1997 - 2007
(PS: Thanks for the excellent, informative post, and congratulations on your find!):D
Nah, they're safe, Congress just passed a new law. In order for us to invade a place, the President has to find it on a map first (with Karl Rove safely sealed in carbonite, to ensure no cheating).
funny, must be a generation gap thing - when I was young my Dad told me the RIAA ate children my size and used their bones to make soup, and that if I didn't shut my mouth and clean my room that the RIAA would come for me. Steve Jobs, is that you?
Exactly.:) That's a big part of why I'm over here, and not over there. Canadian contractors pay much less, and Americans really do seem more interested in your politics and connections rather than your abilities. Even for consultant work that doesn't require travel (and thusly nationality or security clearance isn't a concern), I've seen the bias, when friends of mine apply for the same job and the right-winger gets it. It seems the best thing you can do for your career is make a moderate donation to the Republican Party, and make sure your name is right there on the books.
One of my questions would be. Who out there is still hiring, what are the wages like, and who here on slashdot would be willing to sign up?
I would. I'm socially liberal, Canadian, a Buddhist, and I try to live as a pacifist... so I might not fit in with the gun-nut rednecks, but despite the danger and the possibility I might have to defend my own life, I'd love to go over and do something constructive, something REAL, not just the 9-5, where's-my-stapler bullshit that we have over here. The money doesn't hurt, but mostly it's the chance to be involved in something that could change millions of peoples lives for the better.
Of course, the high wages help too... it's just a question of finding someone who'll hire our particular skillset.
Malware writers will write malware for the latest OS? And they'll try and find ways around the blocks? And in the millions of lines of code, they'll find a weakness and succeed? Holy shit, I never would have guessed!!
Seriously, sometimes when I read Slashdot, a small part of my brain cries out in pain, and then is silent forever.
It would have been faster to Google for "MILF" than to write that comment in. Why does this remind me of the old Starcraft forum days, when we'd occasionally shout "Hey, push Alt+F2 to enable stereo sound, Alt+F3 to switch to low-cpu mode, or Alt+F4 to run faster!" and watch a whole string of people disconnect.
I just can't put my finger on it... oh, hang on, my boss wants to talk to me...
"OK, my ASCII art ability is non-existent, so just imagine in this space the classic Slashdot "joke/arrow over stick figure/you" response."
Joke: -> You: O /|\ / \
Keep a copy in your notepad, change posting type to code, and enjoy as appropriate. Also, reread the GP until you can sense the sarcasm. Your powers are weak, young padawan... HTH, HAND
You're right, of course, and everyone keeps overlooking reprocessing. The problem seems to be capitalist in nature, because I doubt the mighty Uranium Mining Conglomerate has enough power to hold back this technology, but somebody sure is. There is, technically, no reason (that I know of) that we should even be digging for more right now... use what we have, reprocess, and use again, until it's nothing left but an inert carbon rod. Then we put it in the back of a car, parade it around town, yelling "Hail the Rod!", we get a new one, and we start all over again.
The Administration seems to enjoy yelling "proliferation!", but I don't think that's all of it. Whether it's that existing US industry is getting some kickback for continuing requiring radioactive material, whether they don't want to pay to upgrade, whether the nuclear manufacturing industry is behind the times and will get blown out by European manufacturers if this becomes popular... maybe the petrochem industry realizes that this could make electric cars a reality, or maybe they realize the cars already will be soon, and maintaining a stranglehold is the only way they can keep the money coming... I really don't know. But whatever is holding it up is hurting all of us.
I agree, the US uses proliferation in an inappropriate way, both to maintain the status quo and ensure burgeoning profits for their non-nuclear industries. However, a big finger from the rest of the industrialized world to the US, and the threat of an emerging european market for nuclear reactors, would quickly change their mind.
As for the accidents... 3 mile island, no fatalities, no injuries, no serious radiation leakage, and the site is still used today. Chernobyl... safetys disabled, untrained techs running tests they shouldn't have been running, with low staff and unmaintained equipment, using a design of reactor that simply isn't used anymore... hardly a valid argument against current nuclear power. (And I used to be one of the ones to go "Look, Chernobyl, do you want another one of those?!). Current designs are the exact opposite of Chernobyl... if something fails, then things physically fall into a safety mode, no input required. With the old soviet design, if the rod controls failed, you were screwed. Not anymore. Plus, these days techs are smart enough not to disable the safeties.:)
So, really, 3 Mile is the only comperable accident, and it was handled pretty well, all things considered. Compare that to accidents at coal or gas plants, or what would happen if a dam gave way (which will eventually happen, those things are getting on 50 years old).
I used to be solidly anti-nuclear, but after I educated myself and weighed the pro's and con's, I realized that it's the way to go. One plant, with it's few tonnes of radioactive waste that can be reprocessed several times and then securely stored away even though it's not an immediate mortal threat, can produce as much energy as many ugly, smelly, waste-by-the-megaton, coal plants.
Really, it is the appropriate mid-range solution. Hydro plants are very good (the one in Quebec is amazingly huge), but you're limited in where you can have them. I don't agree with man-made lakes feeding Dam hydro, and tidal/wind are a ways off yet... nuclear is the way to go to get rid of gas and coal plants, that are doing more to mess up our environment than one glowing bar lost in Homers shirt ever could.
And a floating plant? It's not like it's riding on an inner tube, where one errant bb pellet is going to take the whole thing down. It doesn't exactly fill me with joy to consider it, but at the same time, it does have aspects that make sense, and if it'll get some more strip mines closed, I'm all for it.
Funnily enough, something like MANTIS is what I had in mind, I just couldn't remember the name of it.:)
As for Spread Spectrum... frankly, I've always had my doubts about it, even though I understand (at least, from a laypersons POV) the concepts behind how it works and how it hides activity... but I've still always thought that it wouldn't be entirely hard to have a wide-band scanning device that looks for bouts of "noise" that all happen to come from the same physical location in a short period of time, and indicates when/where they correlate.
For the actual project... I agree, they do have to start somewhere, and I also know how resistant people are to change, and I also understand (to a degree) how military contractors can bodge the system up. All the same, after 15 years you'd think they'd have something that seems a little less Alpha-release. And it does sound like some pencil-pusher somewhere went "let's put a can opener on this thing. That'll be useful. And pac-man in case they're bored! And electrodes to attach to their genitals in case we have to motivate them!"... I think it's got what we geeks love to call "Featuritis". It needs to be pared down to what's going to improve the soldiers fighting ability, and use THAT as your 1-st and 2-nd gen to work out equipment bugs and make it lighter and sturdier. Features come second. Functionality comes first. Someone forgot that.
I've been eagerly waiting for a Russia - Alaska (or Russia - Canada) link for a long time... it'll create unbelievable economic prosperity in eastern russia, where it's desperately needed... and it'll cut down on transportation costs and pollution for all the crap we ship from china, russia, india, etc. Once it's in place and the high-speed rail link is set up, it'll be more efficient to send all the goods through that link, instead of large, wasteful, polluting, cargo ships. It'll add a pipeline for access to eastern oilfields. And it'll add electrical links for when they make use of their tidal or wind power.
There are challenges, for sure... changing permafrost, moving plates, and a helluva lot of water in the way... but this could be one of the most important projects of this century. I really hope it avoids the arrows of Big Shipping and Alaska Oil, and gets off the ground (or under it, as the case may be).
Of course customers lie. I lie sometimes. It's because I've come to expect a craptacular level of service from the CSR, and most often when I come straight across with my problem, their script takes me away from my problem.
I call SanDisk because my memory stick just stopped working, I need RMA, and I mention I'm hoping (foolishly) there's a way to recover the data. What do they try to get me to do? Reformat the drive. "Uh, it's not listed in My Computer, it's in Device Manager as 'Unknown Device'"... "Ummm, ok, well, go into this "Device Manager" and right click and choose "Format Drive"... "Also, wouldn't Format Drive lose all my data that is the sole reason I'm calling?"... "Forget the data, let's just RMA this sucker"... "Sorry sir, to properly help you I need to follow the steps listed for me...*sigh* after enough back and forth to hurt my brain, they still don't get it. I say goodbye and hang up. I call back. I say "My plug thingamajiggy broke off when I pulled the stick out. It's still stuck in the machine. What do I do?". Poof, RMA.
I call Linksys because their wireless repeater won't accept any subnet mask except 255.255.255.0. He won't help me until I can tell him the exact model of the WAP... even though I'm calling about the repeater. I can't access the WAP, it's in a ceiling, and it's working fine too...half an hour of back and forth (and refusing to escalate me), I hang up. I go to my office, look up a picture of the model sticker, go back to the repeater, call back, lie about having the model, lie as he tells me to completely reprogram the WAP, lie as he tells me to put it back to our config, and THEN he tells me "Ohhhh, yes, we know there's a problem with that".
I call Telus for help because I'm configuring a networked security system on a separate DSL line, and it would be easier to get get them to tell me their default gateway than to find a computer, hook it up, and find it that way. But it deviates from their script, so they tell me that there's no such thing as a "Default gateway" and it must be a custom setting on my device and they don't support it. Then they consult with someone else to confirm that "default gateway" is a foreign term. Then they consult with a Tier 2 and confidently tell me it must be 192.168.0.1. Then he goes, figures out how to type IPCONFIG, and tells me what HIS default gateway is. If I could have thought of a lie to get around the script and just get him to tell me the damn number, I would have done it. Instead, I was on hold so long after the last round that I just went, found a laptop, burned a knoppix CD, booted it up, and got my info.
It's for these reasons, and many, many others, that I find myself more and more lying to get the results I need. If I don't know what I want, I'll of course follow along, but if I know what I want and it's painfully obvious, sometimes it's just easier to play the game and be done with it.
The problem with this system is that it just plain misses the point.
Let's start off with the interface. Why is it hanging in front of half your face? If I'm being shot at, my first concern is going to be shooting back accurately, and if that damn thing gets in my way it's going off and not coming back till after everything is done. The preferred option should have been a full width half-visor, similar to a hockey visor. See-through (probably slightly tinted), non shiny, not-in-the-way, but if you want data displayed on it, you can use it as a projection surface. Build the projection hardware into the helmet. You don't need much, because really, you don't need full-colour 30FPS. Now, I do believe everyone should have an earpiece and short-range transmitting microphone built into the helmet as well. That just makes sense. Video... yes, let's wirelessly link video from your gun into a projection on your helmet. But let's not go adding stuff just for fun. Change up the scope, take it from optical to digital, and in filters for night-scope, infra, etc, display it on a nice small TFT at the back of the scope, and wirelessly send it to the helmet. Now your gun is still mostly the same, but you have this extra functionality without more shit hanging from your kit. Wires... why the hell does this thing have wires everywhere? They're a hazard waiting for an excuse to fuck you up. The only possible visible wire should be power from the body-mounted battery pack to the helmet. Everything else should be built in surface connections on your armour. A full-function controller on your forearm, powered by a surface pad connection on your jacket, is really the only other thing that should be out. And while we're at it... is the M16 really the gun of choice for urban combat? The feedback I've had from people who've been over there has been that it's simply too big, too long, for the majority of what they do. It's great to be able to sniper some sucker from 500ft, but when all you want to do is crawl under the jeep, shoot the guy on the corner, then sneak around the corner and shoot the other guys, it's just too long. Let's switch up to a shorter, stockier gun (but with the same ammo, otherwise it's a nightmare). That guy in Israel demo'd the Amazing Folding Gun last year, that's a perfect bet. No need to expose yourself, you can do new and nifty things with it, and having the screen on the back end of the gun means that can be your one main place for information. Power it with contact pads on your gloves, so no wires between you and the gun. And speaking of information... this is the one part that worries me. You're taking these soldiers, who have to keep their location 100% secret or they die, and sticking a transmitter on them. It doesn't matter if it's encrypted, or if it goes up to a satellite or connects to AOL and uses a Buddy List to update everyone on where you are... it's still putting out power, and it's not gonna take long before someone goes "Hey, I don't need to know what is being sent out, I just have to get a scanner to see if there's any signals being radiated, and from where". Broadcasting your location probably isn't the best idea, it's just a matter of time until it gets you killed. So what extra EQ do we have here? A visor, small LED projection system, and a mike... maybe an extra kilo? Probably not even. Weight penalties from changes to the gunsight are offset by the new model. Extra weight for the folding stock and screen. 2 kilos, max, but worth it for the functionality. Running all this shouldn't take much, hell, the new Palms have enough processing power. And with such little equipment, batteries suddenly became a whole lot lighter. Now you have a much more effective soldier, in audio communication on demand, and he isn't burdened by 17 pounds of crap that looked cool in 1999.
The focus of this project should have been "Improving the soldier", not "Improving the middle-level managers ability to micromanage". Give the soldier more info, easy communications, better visuals (night,
Yes, well, in the U.S. at least we'll probably have to wait until we can get in that new President and Congress we ordered. The current ones are malfunctioning and in need of replacement. Personally, I'm waiting for a forcefully inserted firmware update....
PDFDownload: "Don't use it because sometimes it crashes our system". Bah. I use PDFDownload all the time, and I like it. The Adobe plugin is a bloated piece of crap, but now I have some warning going to a PDF link and some choice of what to do with it. And it's never crashed my system.
Scribefire: "Don't use it because we don't understand why you'd use it". Bah. I've used Scribefire and it's predecessor for a while, and I like it. Yes, I could just log in to livejournal or whatever, but it's easier to just hit F8, type in whatever thought has occured to me or whatever link I've found, and be done with it. Less clicks = more use. And, as we all know, the "blogosphere" needs more short, random thoughts posted.
Some of the others had merit to be there, but mostly this just seemed like a hackneyed list of "This is what we don't like for our random reasons". Much less informative, enjoyable, or useful, than their 20-best list.
But the argument isn't (usually) "Oh, it's unsafe"... notwithstanding that a drunk 22 year old will likely have the same result as a drunk 20 year old. The argument advanced is usually maturity level. "Young kids aren't responsible enough to drink".
Frankly, you're taking an 18 year old, signing him up, giving him the 6 or 8 weeks of basic training, and then sending him to Iraq with a loaded M16. While M16s are much more dangerous than a bottle of beer, I'd personally be much more concerned with the 18 year old pointing an automatic weapon at me, than the 21 year old pointing a beer bottle at me.
If you feel someone is responsible enough to kill in the name of his country, then you have to feel that he's responsible enough to have a beer. Or, if you feel kids under 21 can't handle a bit of alcohol, then why do you feel it's OK to give them a gun? Or, if alcohol is so dangerous, why is it that once you hit 21 you can be stone drunk every day for the rest of your life, and no-one will really care? If it's dangerous, shouldn't it be regulated?
Because, the point of WoW isn't enjoying the game. The point of WoW is to get to UltraMegaSuperSayan level, with the coolest epics ever. Then start a new character and do it all again.
If the point of the game was to enjoy the game, then bots wouldn't be a problem. But they designed a game that requires countless days of mindless repetitive tasks to advance. So this isn't getting a chess computer to play against another chess computer... this is using a KIX script on your network to do your regular tasks every startup. It's saving mindless actions in an automated manner.
Slashdot Mirror
Hey, here's another odd question. How rare is it?
I mean, I know it's damn rare to find something of this scale, and created this way. But the actual contents, fossil imprints, and little bits of critter... ignoring the scale, are they (relatively) common to find, or are these rare finds being lost to the march of industry? Did you find a buried school lab of Apple ]['s, or a functional Enigma machine complete with users manual and an old, grey-bearded knight who will explain it all as long as you don't go beyond the seal in the greatroom?
Actually, I know how you feel... last year I made my once-daily visit to Slashdot, and saw the movie I'm working on had made the front page... it's a weird, yet great, feeling. :)
On more serious notes... it sounds like you only had a short time to explore this find. Did the mining company keep mining? Is this the kind of thing that (would have/should have/could have) been preserved as a historic artifact? Why wasn't it? Because it's too big, or the coal is too valuable, or it's something you can look at and then be done with and not have to preserve much of?
I thought peat bogs had aquatic creatures in them still. Shouldn't you have expected to find some sort of prehistoric salamanders or something trapped in there?
And because I'm a little unclear on the actual process... did you actually find organic (or formerly organic) material, or just the imprints thereof? I know this isn't bugs-in-amber kind of stuff, but what's the actual state of the items you found?
Aw crap, an actual expert showed up ...
/.
:D
*sigh* CmdrTaco, close the doors, put up the sign, slashdot is now officially closed.
CleverNickName, time to end the charade... everyone deserves to know you're actually William (fucking) Shatner just pretending to be WW. Please let Wil out of your basement, his mother misses him.
Would all editors who are actually bots step forward? We have a betting pool going.
Rob, it's time to admit you never actually got married, and are still a virgin. Yes, yes, most of us bought it with the "Will you marry me" post, but after last years "OMG Ponies!"... well, let's just say that ruined any image of you as a heterosexual male.
Thanks everyone, for many fine years of uninformed and biased internet discussion. I know it was only a matter of time till an actual expert showed up, but still, I'm a little sad to see it all end. I'm not sure how I'll get my next chapter of the scientology books... but at least now I can safely view "the poisoned post" without forever losing my mod rights.
So long, and thanks for all the fish.
RIP
(Netcraft confirms it)
1997 - 2007
(PS: Thanks for the excellent, informative post, and congratulations on your find!)
Nah, they're safe, Congress just passed a new law. In order for us to invade a place, the President has to find it on a map first (with Karl Rove safely sealed in carbonite, to ensure no cheating).
Exactly. :) That's a big part of why I'm over here, and not over there. Canadian contractors pay much less, and Americans really do seem more interested in your politics and connections rather than your abilities. Even for consultant work that doesn't require travel (and thusly nationality or security clearance isn't a concern), I've seen the bias, when friends of mine apply for the same job and the right-winger gets it. It seems the best thing you can do for your career is make a moderate donation to the Republican Party, and make sure your name is right there on the books.
Damn you Slashdot and your chocolate stories, I now have a huge craving for a big box of Leonidas.
;)
I knew Slashdotters were a little weird, but... you have a craving for a big box of the lead character from "The 300"??
Damn... just... damn....
One of my questions would be. Who out there is still hiring, what are the wages like, and who here on slashdot would be willing to sign up?
I would. I'm socially liberal, Canadian, a Buddhist, and I try to live as a pacifist... so I might not fit in with the gun-nut rednecks, but despite the danger and the possibility I might have to defend my own life, I'd love to go over and do something constructive, something REAL, not just the 9-5, where's-my-stapler bullshit that we have over here. The money doesn't hurt, but mostly it's the chance to be involved in something that could change millions of peoples lives for the better.
Of course, the high wages help too... it's just a question of finding someone who'll hire our particular skillset.
From the "No fucking shit, sherlock" file...
Malware writers will write malware for the latest OS? And they'll try and find ways around the blocks? And in the millions of lines of code, they'll find a weakness and succeed? Holy shit, I never would have guessed!!
Seriously, sometimes when I read Slashdot, a small part of my brain cries out in pain, and then is silent forever.
I just can't put my finger on it... oh, hang on, my boss wants to talk to me...
"OK, my ASCII art ability is non-existent, so just imagine in this space the classic Slashdot "joke/arrow over stick figure/you" response."
/|\
Joke: ->
You: O
/ \
Keep a copy in your notepad, change posting type to code, and enjoy as appropriate.
Also, reread the GP until you can sense the sarcasm. Your powers are weak, young padawan...
HTH, HAND
Somebody mod this guy insightful.
You're right, of course, and everyone keeps overlooking reprocessing. The problem seems to be capitalist in nature, because I doubt the mighty Uranium Mining Conglomerate has enough power to hold back this technology, but somebody sure is. There is, technically, no reason (that I know of) that we should even be digging for more right now... use what we have, reprocess, and use again, until it's nothing left but an inert carbon rod. Then we put it in the back of a car, parade it around town, yelling "Hail the Rod!", we get a new one, and we start all over again.
The Administration seems to enjoy yelling "proliferation!", but I don't think that's all of it. Whether it's that existing US industry is getting some kickback for continuing requiring radioactive material, whether they don't want to pay to upgrade, whether the nuclear manufacturing industry is behind the times and will get blown out by European manufacturers if this becomes popular... maybe the petrochem industry realizes that this could make electric cars a reality, or maybe they realize the cars already will be soon, and maintaining a stranglehold is the only way they can keep the money coming... I really don't know. But whatever is holding it up is hurting all of us.
I agree, the US uses proliferation in an inappropriate way, both to maintain the status quo and ensure burgeoning profits for their non-nuclear industries. However, a big finger from the rest of the industrialized world to the US, and the threat of an emerging european market for nuclear reactors, would quickly change their mind.
:)
As for the accidents... 3 mile island, no fatalities, no injuries, no serious radiation leakage, and the site is still used today.
Chernobyl... safetys disabled, untrained techs running tests they shouldn't have been running, with low staff and unmaintained equipment, using a design of reactor that simply isn't used anymore... hardly a valid argument against current nuclear power. (And I used to be one of the ones to go "Look, Chernobyl, do you want another one of those?!). Current designs are the exact opposite of Chernobyl... if something fails, then things physically fall into a safety mode, no input required. With the old soviet design, if the rod controls failed, you were screwed. Not anymore. Plus, these days techs are smart enough not to disable the safeties.
So, really, 3 Mile is the only comperable accident, and it was handled pretty well, all things considered. Compare that to accidents at coal or gas plants, or what would happen if a dam gave way (which will eventually happen, those things are getting on 50 years old).
I used to be solidly anti-nuclear, but after I educated myself and weighed the pro's and con's, I realized that it's the way to go. One plant, with it's few tonnes of radioactive waste that can be reprocessed several times and then securely stored away even though it's not an immediate mortal threat, can produce as much energy as many ugly, smelly, waste-by-the-megaton, coal plants.
Really, it is the appropriate mid-range solution. Hydro plants are very good (the one in Quebec is amazingly huge), but you're limited in where you can have them. I don't agree with man-made lakes feeding Dam hydro, and tidal/wind are a ways off yet... nuclear is the way to go to get rid of gas and coal plants, that are doing more to mess up our environment than one glowing bar lost in Homers shirt ever could.
And a floating plant? It's not like it's riding on an inner tube, where one errant bb pellet is going to take the whole thing down. It doesn't exactly fill me with joy to consider it, but at the same time, it does have aspects that make sense, and if it'll get some more strip mines closed, I'm all for it.
Funnily enough, something like MANTIS is what I had in mind, I just couldn't remember the name of it. :)
As for Spread Spectrum... frankly, I've always had my doubts about it, even though I understand (at least, from a laypersons POV) the concepts behind how it works and how it hides activity... but I've still always thought that it wouldn't be entirely hard to have a wide-band scanning device that looks for bouts of "noise" that all happen to come from the same physical location in a short period of time, and indicates when/where they correlate.
For the actual project... I agree, they do have to start somewhere, and I also know how resistant people are to change, and I also understand (to a degree) how military contractors can bodge the system up. All the same, after 15 years you'd think they'd have something that seems a little less Alpha-release. And it does sound like some pencil-pusher somewhere went "let's put a can opener on this thing. That'll be useful. And pac-man in case they're bored! And electrodes to attach to their genitals in case we have to motivate them!"... I think it's got what we geeks love to call "Featuritis". It needs to be pared down to what's going to improve the soldiers fighting ability, and use THAT as your 1-st and 2-nd gen to work out equipment bugs and make it lighter and sturdier.
Features come second. Functionality comes first. Someone forgot that.
I've been eagerly waiting for a Russia - Alaska (or Russia - Canada) link for a long time... it'll create unbelievable economic prosperity in eastern russia, where it's desperately needed... and it'll cut down on transportation costs and pollution for all the crap we ship from china, russia, india, etc. Once it's in place and the high-speed rail link is set up, it'll be more efficient to send all the goods through that link, instead of large, wasteful, polluting, cargo ships. It'll add a pipeline for access to eastern oilfields. And it'll add electrical links for when they make use of their tidal or wind power.
There are challenges, for sure... changing permafrost, moving plates, and a helluva lot of water in the way... but this could be one of the most important projects of this century. I really hope it avoids the arrows of Big Shipping and Alaska Oil, and gets off the ground (or under it, as the case may be).
Of course customers lie. I lie sometimes. It's because I've come to expect a craptacular level of service from the CSR, and most often when I come straight across with my problem, their script takes me away from my problem.
... "Forget the data, let's just RMA this sucker"... "Sorry sir, to properly help you I need to follow the steps listed for me ...*sigh* after enough back and forth to hurt my brain, they still don't get it. I say goodbye and hang up. I call back. I say "My plug thingamajiggy broke off when I pulled the stick out. It's still stuck in the machine. What do I do?". Poof, RMA.
I call SanDisk because my memory stick just stopped working, I need RMA, and I mention I'm hoping (foolishly) there's a way to recover the data. What do they try to get me to do? Reformat the drive. "Uh, it's not listed in My Computer, it's in Device Manager as 'Unknown Device'"... "Ummm, ok, well, go into this "Device Manager" and right click and choose "Format Drive"... "Also, wouldn't Format Drive lose all my data that is the sole reason I'm calling?"
I call Linksys because their wireless repeater won't accept any subnet mask except 255.255.255.0. He won't help me until I can tell him the exact model of the WAP... even though I'm calling about the repeater. I can't access the WAP, it's in a ceiling, and it's working fine too...half an hour of back and forth (and refusing to escalate me), I hang up. I go to my office, look up a picture of the model sticker, go back to the repeater, call back, lie about having the model, lie as he tells me to completely reprogram the WAP, lie as he tells me to put it back to our config, and THEN he tells me "Ohhhh, yes, we know there's a problem with that".
I call Telus for help because I'm configuring a networked security system on a separate DSL line, and it would be easier to get get them to tell me their default gateway than to find a computer, hook it up, and find it that way. But it deviates from their script, so they tell me that there's no such thing as a "Default gateway" and it must be a custom setting on my device and they don't support it. Then they consult with someone else to confirm that "default gateway" is a foreign term. Then they consult with a Tier 2 and confidently tell me it must be 192.168.0.1. Then he goes, figures out how to type IPCONFIG, and tells me what HIS default gateway is. If I could have thought of a lie to get around the script and just get him to tell me the damn number, I would have done it. Instead, I was on hold so long after the last round that I just went, found a laptop, burned a knoppix CD, booted it up, and got my info.
It's for these reasons, and many, many others, that I find myself more and more lying to get the results I need. If I don't know what I want, I'll of course follow along, but if I know what I want and it's painfully obvious, sometimes it's just easier to play the game and be done with it.
+1 "Proof I actually watched the movie and just didn't do the Cliffs Notes like all the other losers"
The problem with this system is that it just plain misses the point.
Let's start off with the interface. Why is it hanging in front of half your face? If I'm being shot at, my first concern is going to be shooting back accurately, and if that damn thing gets in my way it's going off and not coming back till after everything is done.
The preferred option should have been a full width half-visor, similar to a hockey visor. See-through (probably slightly tinted), non shiny, not-in-the-way, but if you want data displayed on it, you can use it as a projection surface. Build the projection hardware into the helmet. You don't need much, because really, you don't need full-colour 30FPS.
Now, I do believe everyone should have an earpiece and short-range transmitting microphone built into the helmet as well. That just makes sense.
Video... yes, let's wirelessly link video from your gun into a projection on your helmet. But let's not go adding stuff just for fun. Change up the scope, take it from optical to digital, and in filters for night-scope, infra, etc, display it on a nice small TFT at the back of the scope, and wirelessly send it to the helmet. Now your gun is still mostly the same, but you have this extra functionality without more shit hanging from your kit.
Wires... why the hell does this thing have wires everywhere? They're a hazard waiting for an excuse to fuck you up. The only possible visible wire should be power from the body-mounted battery pack to the helmet. Everything else should be built in surface connections on your armour. A full-function controller on your forearm, powered by a surface pad connection on your jacket, is really the only other thing that should be out.
And while we're at it... is the M16 really the gun of choice for urban combat? The feedback I've had from people who've been over there has been that it's simply too big, too long, for the majority of what they do. It's great to be able to sniper some sucker from 500ft, but when all you want to do is crawl under the jeep, shoot the guy on the corner, then sneak around the corner and shoot the other guys, it's just too long. Let's switch up to a shorter, stockier gun (but with the same ammo, otherwise it's a nightmare). That guy in Israel demo'd the Amazing Folding Gun last year, that's a perfect bet. No need to expose yourself, you can do new and nifty things with it, and having the screen on the back end of the gun means that can be your one main place for information. Power it with contact pads on your gloves, so no wires between you and the gun.
And speaking of information... this is the one part that worries me. You're taking these soldiers, who have to keep their location 100% secret or they die, and sticking a transmitter on them. It doesn't matter if it's encrypted, or if it goes up to a satellite or connects to AOL and uses a Buddy List to update everyone on where you are... it's still putting out power, and it's not gonna take long before someone goes "Hey, I don't need to know what is being sent out, I just have to get a scanner to see if there's any signals being radiated, and from where". Broadcasting your location probably isn't the best idea, it's just a matter of time until it gets you killed.
So what extra EQ do we have here? A visor, small LED projection system, and a mike... maybe an extra kilo? Probably not even. Weight penalties from changes to the gunsight are offset by the new model. Extra weight for the folding stock and screen. 2 kilos, max, but worth it for the functionality. Running all this shouldn't take much, hell, the new Palms have enough processing power. And with such little equipment, batteries suddenly became a whole lot lighter. Now you have a much more effective soldier, in audio communication on demand, and he isn't burdened by 17 pounds of crap that looked cool in 1999.
The focus of this project should have been "Improving the soldier", not "Improving the middle-level managers ability to micromanage". Give the soldier more info, easy communications, better visuals (night,
It's much more unusual for a Slashdotter to have actually gotten a woman...
Two that I don't believe should be on there:
PDFDownload: "Don't use it because sometimes it crashes our system". Bah. I use PDFDownload all the time, and I like it. The Adobe plugin is a bloated piece of crap, but now I have some warning going to a PDF link and some choice of what to do with it. And it's never crashed my system.
Scribefire: "Don't use it because we don't understand why you'd use it". Bah. I've used Scribefire and it's predecessor for a while, and I like it. Yes, I could just log in to livejournal or whatever, but it's easier to just hit F8, type in whatever thought has occured to me or whatever link I've found, and be done with it. Less clicks = more use. And, as we all know, the "blogosphere" needs more short, random thoughts posted.
Some of the others had merit to be there, but mostly this just seemed like a hackneyed list of "This is what we don't like for our random reasons". Much less informative, enjoyable, or useful, than their 20-best list.
But the argument isn't (usually) "Oh, it's unsafe"... notwithstanding that a drunk 22 year old will likely have the same result as a drunk 20 year old. The argument advanced is usually maturity level. "Young kids aren't responsible enough to drink".
Frankly, you're taking an 18 year old, signing him up, giving him the 6 or 8 weeks of basic training, and then sending him to Iraq with a loaded M16. While M16s are much more dangerous than a bottle of beer, I'd personally be much more concerned with the 18 year old pointing an automatic weapon at me, than the 21 year old pointing a beer bottle at me.
If you feel someone is responsible enough to kill in the name of his country, then you have to feel that he's responsible enough to have a beer. Or, if you feel kids under 21 can't handle a bit of alcohol, then why do you feel it's OK to give them a gun? Or, if alcohol is so dangerous, why is it that once you hit 21 you can be stone drunk every day for the rest of your life, and no-one will really care? If it's dangerous, shouldn't it be regulated?
Because, the point of WoW isn't enjoying the game. The point of WoW is to get to UltraMegaSuperSayan level, with the coolest epics ever. Then start a new character and do it all again.
If the point of the game was to enjoy the game, then bots wouldn't be a problem. But they designed a game that requires countless days of mindless repetitive tasks to advance. So this isn't getting a chess computer to play against another chess computer... this is using a KIX script on your network to do your regular tasks every startup. It's saving mindless actions in an automated manner.