I like the idea of laser propulsion http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_propulsion/. For example, how about the Heat Exchanger (HX) variant, where your rocket is just a big water tank with a nozzle on the bottom and a payload on top. You shine ground based lasers on the water tank (or dedicated heat exchanger) and the water heats up, squirts out the bottom, and you're off to the races.
It's nice because you leave all the complicated stuff on the ground, and if you use many lasers in parallel, an individual failure or two won't scratch the launch.
"Kuang Grade Mark Eleven was filling the grid between itself and the T-A ice with hypnotically intricate traceries of rainbow, lattices fine as snow crystal on a winter window."
Yeah, but wouldn't it be pretty to watch? Probably not from the business end, I guess...
... if the dissenting states voted with their feet? Made some kind of a committment to Open Source for their internal systems and tried (at least STARTED as a feint to scare MS) to wean themselves off of MS software?
I bet that would scare MS more than the lawsuit has. And the exercise of doing so could be quite instructive to the states and the OpenSource movement as well.
What do you mean by 28 years of impulse? Are you implying that Pioneer 10 was thrusting for all that time? It wasn't. It only had one big boost at the start and a couple of gravity slingshots (Jupiter, Saturn, and one of Uranus or Neptune, I think). Other than that, it's been coasting the entire time.
The ZX81 did have 8 bit characters, and in black and white too. The display file was organized in a really freaky way to save space. Each line was stored as variable length and was terminated by the Z80 Halt instruction. The display was something like 20x22, so after a clear screen the display consisted of 20 bytes. Each write to the screen grew the display as needed.
They used the halt instruction because the ZX81 generated the display by having the CPU execute the display. Resistors in series with the CPU data bus (!) allowed the SCL chip to force a no-op into the CPU after it had successfully latched the display file byte for output to video. At the end of each display line the SCL chip let the CPU see the halt, and it would then sit and wait till an interrupt hit and the CPU began executing the next line of display.
The CPU only got to execute your code during the vertical retrace period, which is why slow mode was so slow.
My Red Hat box does serious work... file server, media center, home automation controller. No GUI required or desired. I telnet to it from my game machine (oops, Win98 box). van dyke CRT rules!
Just wanted to add my voice to the chorus... don't forget the command line -- I believe that it's the most powerful UI that we've come up with yet.
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Some good SF has some similar roots...
One example that I like is Charles Stross' Laundry series, which starts with this story: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Atrocity_Archives
Along the lines of this classic by Larry Niven... http://www.rawbw.com/~svw/superman.html
Absolutely. I read it when I was in my early teens, and it left a mark.
I like the idea of laser propulsion http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_propulsion/. For example, how about the Heat Exchanger (HX) variant, where your rocket is just a big water tank with a nozzle on the bottom and a payload on top. You shine ground based lasers on the water tank (or dedicated heat exchanger) and the water heats up, squirts out the bottom, and you're off to the races.
It's nice because you leave all the complicated stuff on the ground, and if you use many lasers in parallel, an individual failure or two won't scratch the launch.
I am reminded of what I believe to be an old Chinese proverb: "Man who say it cannot be done should not get in way of man doing it."
Speed of light is 299,792,458 metres per second, not km per second.
I just read this before Christmas and I agree, it's a skillfully done blend of alternate history, ancient terrors, and freaky tech.
Sometimes aircraft just run out of fuel. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimli_Glider
The short story is "The Feeling of Power" by Asimov.
"Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of tapes hurtling down the highway"
- Tannenbaum
"Kuang Grade Mark Eleven was filling the grid between itself and the T-A ice with hypnotically intricate traceries of rainbow, lattices fine as snow crystal on a winter window."
Yeah, but wouldn't it be pretty to watch? Probably not from the business end, I guess...
Check out http://www.kidsprogramminglanguage.com/, it's a pretty full featured language + IDE that hides many annoying OS details.
You mean like these guys?
Mandatory reading. I enjoyed Every. Goddamned. Word.
I've got that book. Pretty damn good for the time it was written, and probably worth at read, even today.
You mean something like this?
http://pizazz.info/pizazz.mov
Ah, but they couldn't do that because then the keys would be FROWNING, not SMILING like they are with the existing layout. :)
a great short story by Vernor Vinge called "True Names". Worth checking out
... if the dissenting states voted with their feet? Made some kind of a committment to Open Source for their internal systems and tried (at least STARTED as a feint to scare MS) to wean themselves off of MS software?
I bet that would scare MS more than the lawsuit has. And the exercise of doing so could be quite instructive to the states and the OpenSource movement as well.
I think it would be beneficial all round.
What do you mean by 28 years of impulse? Are you implying that Pioneer 10 was thrusting for all that time? It wasn't. It only had one big boost at the start and a couple of gravity slingshots (Jupiter, Saturn, and one of Uranus or Neptune, I think). Other than that, it's been coasting the entire time.
Regards, your friendly neighbourhood cranq
They used the halt instruction because the ZX81 generated the display by having the CPU execute the display. Resistors in series with the CPU data bus (!) allowed the SCL chip to force a no-op into the CPU after it had successfully latched the display file byte for output to video. At the end of each display line the SCL chip let the CPU see the halt, and it would then sit and wait till an interrupt hit and the CPU began executing the next line of display.
The CPU only got to execute your code during the vertical retrace period, which is why slow mode was so slow.
Regards, your friendly neighbourhood cranq
Jee
Sus
Kee
Rist
That was insanely funny. Don't bail before you see the Matrix bit, I damn near spit beer out my nose!
Regards, your friendly neighbourhood cranq
Bizarre cooking TV show. Check out their fan site here or the official site here.
Regards, your friendly neighbourhood cranq
Sorry, nothing to contribute. Just wanted to say that your comment caused me to laugh so hard that I'm wiping Coke off my screen right now.
They should send an Iron Chef to Europa to see what he could put together from the native flora and fauna!
Regards, your friendly neighbourhood cranq
We're down to 30 or so packages in a minimal install.
<monty burns voice> Excellent! </monty burns voice>
My Red Hat box does serious work... file server, media center, home automation controller. No GUI required or desired. I telnet to it from my game machine (oops, Win98 box). van dyke CRT rules!
Just wanted to add my voice to the chorus... don't forget the command line -- I believe that it's the most powerful UI that we've come up with yet.
Regards, your friendly neighbourhood cranq