Actually, as I recall (from one of the books), it was a 1 x 4 x 9 x 16 x 25 x 36 x... slab. It was just that the perceptions of our simian ancestors were limited to three dimensions.
I wish I'd found this topic before it had picked up 1000+ replies, but in case anyone is still reading, here's my "you can't say that":
Natalie Maines, lead singer of the Dixie Chicks, throws out an off-the-cuff quip while on tour in England. She said, "Just so you know, we're ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas." Country radio stations, especially the corporate soundalikes, pull the Chicks' "Travelin' Soldier" -- a song about war and sacrifice in the Vietnam era.
Of course, this leaves people with the impression that country listeners are uneducated rednecks with a shotgun in the truck window and truck balls hanging from the bumper. That's not the case... not all country fans steamrollered their CDs, and those that did probably bought more (the album's 4x platinum). But it's hard to listen if the radio doesn't play something... so as long as Clear Channel & co. treat their listeners like fools, the Chicks won't get play.
Meanwhile, with a dozen Americans a week dying in Iraq (and my cousin serving in Tikrit to boot), I can't say I'm terribly proud of the Texan in the White House, myself.
Re:Link me to them...
on
RFID Casino Chips
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Thats why I play Poker when I gamble in vegas. Low limit tables ($2 $4) usuaully have beginners or drunks.
Good point... for all my ranting about mathematics, I still like to play the ponies on occasion, for the same reason. There is a large enough mass of people who play based on the horses' names, random numbers, or the color of the jockey's silks to overcome the house and state's cut.
In fact, I could be accused of not having a dog in this fight... I've never been to a casino! The closest I've come was playing Video Poker in a Shreveport truck stop (put in two quarters, lost one hand, won two quarters on the next, cashed out). Who knows, I may go in, be seduced by das blinkenlichts, and join the other beginners at your table...
Re:Link me to them...
on
RFID Casino Chips
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
This isn't a privacy issue. If you think you have one spec of anonymity or privacy in a casino, you're nuckin futs.
Excellent point that sums up the whole thing. After all, the entire point of a casino is to prey on peoples' willing suspension of disbelief.
How can anyone who walks in and puts their cash on the table think that the casino companies aren't going to fleece them from the moment they enter? That those ridiculously overdone venues with their flashing neon lights just built themselves out of the Nevada desert?
On the other side of the roulette wheel, you have people who *do* think they can beat the house... the people who buy lottery tickets at home in blissful ignorance of the laws of mathematics.
Neither of these groups is going to care about RFID. One group knows that they're entering a fantasy world, and the other wouldn't believe you if you told them.
there aren't any fossil fuels on a planet devoid of fossils
Perhaps he's working on the Russian theory that asteroid and comet impacts buried hydrocarbons under the earth's crust? If that theory pans out, then Mars may have even more oil than the Earth, since it hasn't had its near-surface deposits eroded away by liquid water (at least not for a billion years or so).
If that theory is extended, you've got the possibility of huge oil deposits on all the rocky planets and moons -- with the possible exception of our own moon, due to its unique method of formation. That makes Mars especially attractive, since Venus and Mercury have the disadvantage of being hot enough to melt your drilling equipment.
Giant space-based refinery ships bringing petrochemicals to an oil-starved Earth... sounds familiar, doesn't it?
To workaround, deselect "Check for publisher's certificate revocation" under the Advanced setting for IE
I've done it... I'd noticed some short hangs, too.
But I wonder, what was this option intended to accomplish? How often does company X register a certificate, then revoke it at some future date?
I can't see any danger I'll be causing myself -- I rely on a site's reputation more than the security certificate details, anyway. Any "gotcha!s" I should watch for?
What do we know about that star and its surroundings? Is it likely to have inhabitable planets...
As cool as it is to find a star that's a twin to ours, it's incredibly unlikely that we'll find a planet even remotely similar to Earth.
For one thing, the article notes that 18 Sco is 4.2 billion years old, while Sol is 4.5 billion years old. If everything else were exactly equal, it would be like stepping back 300 million years back in time. A quick Google finds that one of the more complex forms of life found 300e6 years ago on this planet was the Velvet Worm -- not a species known for its technology.
But even that is unlikely, given the Earth's unusual formation. This planet has an unusual mix of minerals on its crust, plus plate tectonics to keep them mixed, and an iron core that's magnetic enough to keep out the sun's ionizing radiation. Plus, a moon big enough to stir up the oceans, and a tilt to generate asymmetrical solar heating... and all that apparently due to a one-in-a-million collision between a proto-Earth and a Mars-sized planet not long after Sol formed.
I can't find the quote, but someone calculated the odds of finding another sentient species as tiny. It's not that it doesn't develop elsewhere in the galaxy... there are billions of chances, so surely more than one came up all 7s. It's just that the distances are so vast, and the chances of favorable development so small, that entire civilizations (or species) could rise and fall by the time their transmissions reach another civilization's satellite dishes.
But still, at less than 50 light years, it would only take a few hundred years to get there and back. Are the generation ships ready yet?
You know those "Buy Here, Pay Here" lots you pass on the way to work every morning? Those are cash cows, that border on usury.
In fact, they're just one part of the larger "second-class economy". Many Slashdotters may have never known this economy, and take it for granted that everyone does their business at banks, credit unions, and the like. Take a drive across the tracks, and find out about some of the major players:
* Pawn Shops. They loan money at rates that make your 21% credit card rate look like free money. Open all night, and they don't ask what you need the money for, or even whether you'll come back for your wife's wedding ring. Cash America, a publicly traded company, makes money hand over fist.
* Check Cashing Joints. You don't have a bank account, but McDonald's pays by check. No problem, just go down to the local Ace Cash Express. You give them a check, they give you 95% or so of it back in cash.
* "Cost-Plus" Grocery Stores. When it's not your money, it's hard to care about where it goes. "Cost-Plus" stores prey on this blind spot with a bizarre pricing scheme. All products are priced super low, but a surcharge of 5%, 10% or more is tacked on at the end. Targeted at people who don't have good math skills and are using their public aid debit cards.
* And then there's the car dealerships, already mentioned, that specialize in arranging financing that you can't afford, so they can sell the same car over and over. Another poster pointed out that they don't always live up to their "Buy Here Pay Here" slogan, but find outrageous APR financing through their vulture financing contacts. There's enough money here, though, that some national chains are showing interest.
I'd look for this legal (but underground) economy to get some scrutiny with these new powers. It would be a good way to launder money (for whatever reason, not limited to terrorism). What would be better, though, would be to start regulating the entire sector out of existence, and move real banking into the reach of those who live paycheck-to-paycheck.
Wasn't there one where they got a section added to a bill by slipping a piece of paper in the bill just before it was read? I recall the speaker saying something like "Well, it must be ok, it's got a paperclip." Or was that a different cartoon -- Family Guy? King of the Hill?
FBI Files and COPS tend not to show you cases where the perpetrator outwitted... the police
One of my favorite episodes of COPS takes place right here in Dallas. The officers see a suspicious vehicle -- a car with its window missing and steering wheel busted. They turn on the lights, the perp guns it and takes off.
Typically, there are two outcomes: the cops catch up, or the perp gets to the highway or otherwise makes it too dangerous to catch him. This guy looked like he was heading directly for option 1, going around in circles in a neighborhood just south of downtown.
But somehow, he pulled a fast one. After the second time they rolled across a vacant lot, the car just disappeared. The cops spent a while poking around a couple of apartment complexes before deciding they'd lost him.
My favorite COPS episode, though, has got to be this one.
The moderator which marked that informative should be carefully shot...
Unfortunately, M2 only gave me the post and the moderation, not the missile coordinates of the moderator. But I did click on the "Unfair" radio button *very* hard.
I wish M2 included a "candidate for RTBL" option, but that would just give the Slashdot conspiracy theorists a handle to hold on to when complaining about never getting M1.
Julie Townsend copes by wearing two watches: one on her left wrist set to Earth time, a second, specially modified, on her right running on Mars time.
"There are some things I only know in Mars time," said Townsend, a mission avionics engineer.
Time to write another note to the folks at ThinkGeek: please add the Mars Watch to your Gadgets:: Watches lineup! I want a Mars Watch!
And please, be sure to have it modelled by Ms. Townsend. For me, she's a great role model for my daughters. For the rest of Slashdot: she's a girl geek! Cool!
It's a very short drive (as the missile flies) due North of a major commercial center, but the skies are amazingly dark. It's as though there were no industry at all -- at least, not the kind that requires nighttime illumination.
I think my white blood cells are concerned right now that I have a cold. Something matters to them, and I doubt that they have an idea of the importance of their role in my little "universe"
Who was it that asked, "Am I taking my mitochondra for a walk, or are my mitochondria taking me for a walk?" (Tried Googling, no luck... Google is not my friend today.)
However, the quality of life for those early sailors was much lower to begin with. Many of them would actually put on weight during the voyage because they had better nutrition on the ships.
I heard the author of a book on Captain Cook's voyages discuss the conditions. There were a couple of advantages that are not likely to be repeated in any modern voyage of discovery:
* Unlimited supply of strong beer. With no way to desalinate water, and no way to keep non-alcoholic beverages from going bad, beer was the beverage of choice.
* Curious female natives. 'nuff said.
Those factors, combined with the crushing poverty of Merry Olde Englande, made it worthwhile for adventurous souls, despite:
* The Lash, an effective answer to the question "What do you do with a drunken sailor?"
* The Comfort Seat, the maritime equivalent of the outhouse. Basically, a plank hung over the side with a hole in the end. Comfort Seat + Beer = Man Overboard (and no way to get 'im back).
* The Native Men, who are ready to step in (with deadly force) when Native Women + Beer = Bad Behavior.
Let's face it... Star Trek would have been a lot more boring without the green-skinned women.
Amazon.com is definetly the business model to follow. In the past 5 years they have been experiencing true booms in business.
I'll agree that Amazon.com is a business model to follow, if you don't mind a model like this:
1. Get open-ended financing 2. Sell everything at a loss 3. ??? 4. Profit!
Now, I'm obviously not an expert, but my Googling only finds a couple of quarters where Amazon turned a profit, and the latest news is that the company's losses were almost $40 million over the last 9 months -- and that was considered a Good Thing because it was a 75% drop in losses.
When I was in Junior Achievement, they told us that successful companies made "larger profits," not "smaller losses." Amazon may not be going anywhere anytime soon, but treading water (even if you're the size of a battleship) hardly seems like a "success".
FedEx is mentioned in the original question. I thought it was interesting that they just bought Kinkos (the copy company, not the clown) for 2.4 gigabucks.
It would be easy for FedEx to sit on its laurels and continue to scrape more bucks out of the traditional shipping market. This purchase, while risky, shows that they've got management that can think outside the box. Granted, UPS is a step ahead with their UPS Store locations (formerly Mail Boxes Etc.). But as several articles have already pointed out (see Google News), FedEx may now be positioned to remain relevant even if the traditional "send a document for $10 bucks" business model goes away.
Back to the poster's original question, "which internet business models they believe are going to succeed?" If I knew, I would be rich, but it's clear that the winners will be those with the smarts to extend their "business models" like the FedEx example -- as opposed to either too-slow companies like Commodore (Atari, too), or all-you-can-eat monsters like Tyco.
From the article:...the Quadrantid meteor shower, because it appears to come from somewhere in the direction of the constellation once known as Quadrans Murales, but now officially named Bootes, the Hunter.
Rad:...and located just below the left paw of the constellation known as Toonces, the Driving Cat.
I once had a cat named Bootes. She never had kittens, but came into season about every three weeks. Obviously, she was a favorite of the local tomcats.
Back to astronomy, though: shouldn't the Quadrantids be renamed? If they come from the constellation Bootes, then they should obviously be called...
In case you're wondering what it looks like http://www.voynich.nu/
Hey, with a URL like Voynich dot Nu, I thought it would be a collection of those "naked nymphs". I've been duped!
On the other hand, maybe I should be glad there weren't any nymphes nus. That would be more like a Satyr, which is disturbingly similar to a certain Slashdot-related goat. Des nymphes nues, would be much preferable, though with my luck, there would be a tub involved [shudder]...
I suspect that "perch" and "bass" are colloquial names, not neccesarily scientific terms.
From the article:
Scientists hope to significantly reduce the carp population in the Murray-Darling by mid-century, to allow native species of Macquarie perch and Australian bass to regenerate.
Slashdot moderators must still be on a holiday turducken hangover.
Mx. Moderator: please note the following:
* Article Title: "Measuring Pollution In Humans" The parent has twisted the grammar of the article title in a very funny way. Compare: "Measuring Polution In g/ml" vs. "Measuring Pollution In Humans". Get it?
* Self-referential Comment Text: "As somebody who claims to have followed the link..." This is a reference to Slashdotters who post without reading the article. I'm *sure* none of the moderators this week have failed to RTFA, right?
* Blindingly obvious humor: "And don't get me started on the problems every time bell bottoms get back into fashion." This is an obvious humorous reference, because we all know that bell bottoms never went out of style.
Sure strained silicon is great, but the real advance was the world's smallest colander.
I am *so* glad I wasn't the only one who thought of that sort of "straining". I read the article and *still* had to take a beating with a cluestick before I figured out that they were talking about the other meaning of "strain". I guess I was thinking about upcoming Christmas dinner.
On a side note, I figured infinitesimal colander would be close to a Googlewhack, but instead it brought up yet another bizarre collection of Googlecrap fake links. "If the unempirical hot wire foam cutter runs some gantry at an infinitesimal colander, then another hand baggage plagues."WTF?
Slashdot Mirror
Well, that and a 1x4x9 ebon slab
Actually, as I recall (from one of the books), it was a 1 x 4 x 9 x 16 x 25 x 36 x... slab. It was just that the perceptions of our simian ancestors were limited to three dimensions.
I wish I'd found this topic before it had picked up 1000+ replies, but in case anyone is still reading, here's my "you can't say that":
Natalie Maines, lead singer of the Dixie Chicks, throws out an off-the-cuff quip while on tour in England. She said, "Just so you know, we're ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas." Country radio stations, especially the corporate soundalikes, pull the Chicks' "Travelin' Soldier" -- a song about war and sacrifice in the Vietnam era.
Of course, this leaves people with the impression that country listeners are uneducated rednecks with a shotgun in the truck window and truck balls hanging from the bumper. That's not the case... not all country fans steamrollered their CDs, and those that did probably bought more (the album's 4x platinum). But it's hard to listen if the radio doesn't play something... so as long as Clear Channel & co. treat their listeners like fools, the Chicks won't get play.
Meanwhile, with a dozen Americans a week dying in Iraq (and my cousin serving in Tikrit to boot), I can't say I'm terribly proud of the Texan in the White House, myself.
Thats why I play Poker when I gamble in vegas. Low limit tables ($2 $4) usuaully have beginners or drunks.
Good point... for all my ranting about mathematics, I still like to play the ponies on occasion, for the same reason. There is a large enough mass of people who play based on the horses' names, random numbers, or the color of the jockey's silks to overcome the house and state's cut.
In fact, I could be accused of not having a dog in this fight... I've never been to a casino! The closest I've come was playing Video Poker in a Shreveport truck stop (put in two quarters, lost one hand, won two quarters on the next, cashed out). Who knows, I may go in, be seduced by das blinkenlichts, and join the other beginners at your table...
This isn't a privacy issue. If you think you have one spec of anonymity or privacy in a casino, you're nuckin futs.
Excellent point that sums up the whole thing. After all, the entire point of a casino is to prey on peoples' willing suspension of disbelief.
How can anyone who walks in and puts their cash on the table think that the casino companies aren't going to fleece them from the moment they enter? That those ridiculously overdone venues with their flashing neon lights just built themselves out of the Nevada desert?
On the other side of the roulette wheel, you have people who *do* think they can beat the house... the people who buy lottery tickets at home in blissful ignorance of the laws of mathematics.
Neither of these groups is going to care about RFID. One group knows that they're entering a fantasy world, and the other wouldn't believe you if you told them.
there aren't any fossil fuels on a planet devoid of fossils
Perhaps he's working on the Russian theory that asteroid and comet impacts buried hydrocarbons under the earth's crust? If that theory pans out, then Mars may have even more oil than the Earth, since it hasn't had its near-surface deposits eroded away by liquid water (at least not for a billion years or so).
If that theory is extended, you've got the possibility of huge oil deposits on all the rocky planets and moons -- with the possible exception of our own moon, due to its unique method of formation. That makes Mars especially attractive, since Venus and Mercury have the disadvantage of being hot enough to melt your drilling equipment.
Giant space-based refinery ships bringing petrochemicals to an oil-starved Earth... sounds familiar, doesn't it?
To workaround, deselect "Check for publisher's certificate revocation" under the Advanced setting for IE
I've done it... I'd noticed some short hangs, too.
But I wonder, what was this option intended to accomplish? How often does company X register a certificate, then revoke it at some future date?
I can't see any danger I'll be causing myself -- I rely on a site's reputation more than the security certificate details, anyway. Any "gotcha!s" I should watch for?
What do we know about that star and its surroundings? Is it likely to have inhabitable planets...
As cool as it is to find a star that's a twin to ours, it's incredibly unlikely that we'll find a planet even remotely similar to Earth.
For one thing, the article notes that 18 Sco is 4.2 billion years old, while Sol is 4.5 billion years old. If everything else were exactly equal, it would be like stepping back 300 million years back in time. A quick Google finds that one of the more complex forms of life found 300e6 years ago on this planet was the Velvet Worm -- not a species known for its technology.
But even that is unlikely, given the Earth's unusual formation. This planet has an unusual mix of minerals on its crust, plus plate tectonics to keep them mixed, and an iron core that's magnetic enough to keep out the sun's ionizing radiation. Plus, a moon big enough to stir up the oceans, and a tilt to generate asymmetrical solar heating... and all that apparently due to a one-in-a-million collision between a proto-Earth and a Mars-sized planet not long after Sol formed.
I can't find the quote, but someone calculated the odds of finding another sentient species as tiny. It's not that it doesn't develop elsewhere in the galaxy... there are billions of chances, so surely more than one came up all 7s. It's just that the distances are so vast, and the chances of favorable development so small, that entire civilizations (or species) could rise and fall by the time their transmissions reach another civilization's satellite dishes.
But still, at less than 50 light years, it would only take a few hundred years to get there and back. Are the generation ships ready yet?
...even the geekiest telescope guy might have a chance at finding a girlfriend.
Finding, perhaps, but keeping?
Pretty N. Korean girl: "Oh, darling, what a romantic night, with all the stars..."
Telescope boy: "Stars? You mean the clouds cleared out? Gotta go... I'll see you in the morning, 'k?"
I wonder how they got that picture showing the view of earth from 10M ly away.
From a camera 10 million light-years away, of course!
Silly boy.
You know those "Buy Here, Pay Here" lots you pass on the way to work every morning? Those are cash cows, that border on usury.
In fact, they're just one part of the larger "second-class economy". Many Slashdotters may have never known this economy, and take it for granted that everyone does their business at banks, credit unions, and the like. Take a drive across the tracks, and find out about some of the major players:
* Pawn Shops. They loan money at rates that make your 21% credit card rate look like free money. Open all night, and they don't ask what you need the money for, or even whether you'll come back for your wife's wedding ring. Cash America, a publicly traded company, makes money hand over fist.
* Check Cashing Joints. You don't have a bank account, but McDonald's pays by check. No problem, just go down to the local Ace Cash Express. You give them a check, they give you 95% or so of it back in cash.
* "Cost-Plus" Grocery Stores. When it's not your money, it's hard to care about where it goes. "Cost-Plus" stores prey on this blind spot with a bizarre pricing scheme. All products are priced super low, but a surcharge of 5%, 10% or more is tacked on at the end. Targeted at people who don't have good math skills and are using their public aid debit cards.
* And then there's the car dealerships, already mentioned, that specialize in arranging financing that you can't afford, so they can sell the same car over and over. Another poster pointed out that they don't always live up to their "Buy Here Pay Here" slogan, but find outrageous APR financing through their vulture financing contacts. There's enough money here, though, that some national chains are showing interest.
I'd look for this legal (but underground) economy to get some scrutiny with these new powers. It would be a good way to launder money (for whatever reason, not limited to terrorism). What would be better, though, would be to start regulating the entire sector out of existence, and move real banking into the reach of those who live paycheck-to-paycheck.
For my money I would have quoted School House Rock, not Legally Blonde 2. Bad move there.
I tried looking for a Simpsons episode, but all I could find was Mr. Lisa Goes To Washington.
Wasn't there one where they got a section added to a bill by slipping a piece of paper in the bill just before it was read? I recall the speaker saying something like "Well, it must be ok, it's got a paperclip." Or was that a different cartoon -- Family Guy? King of the Hill?
FBI Files and COPS tend not to show you cases where the perpetrator outwitted ... the police
One of my favorite episodes of COPS takes place right here in Dallas. The officers see a suspicious vehicle -- a car with its window missing and steering wheel busted. They turn on the lights, the perp guns it and takes off.
Typically, there are two outcomes: the cops catch up, or the perp gets to the highway or otherwise makes it too dangerous to catch him. This guy looked like he was heading directly for option 1, going around in circles in a neighborhood just south of downtown.
But somehow, he pulled a fast one. After the second time they rolled across a vacant lot, the car just disappeared. The cops spent a while poking around a couple of apartment complexes before deciding they'd lost him.
My favorite COPS episode, though, has got to be this one.
The moderator which marked that informative should be carefully shot...
Unfortunately, M2 only gave me the post and the moderation, not the missile coordinates of the moderator. But I did click on the "Unfair" radio button *very* hard.
I wish M2 included a "candidate for RTBL" option, but that would just give the Slashdot conspiracy theorists a handle to hold on to when complaining about never getting M1.
Julie Townsend copes by wearing two watches: one on her left wrist set to Earth time, a second, specially modified, on her right running on Mars time.
:: Watches lineup! I want a Mars Watch!
"There are some things I only know in Mars time," said Townsend, a mission avionics engineer.
Time to write another note to the folks at ThinkGeek: please add the Mars Watch to your Gadgets
And please, be sure to have it modelled by Ms. Townsend. For me, she's a great role model for my daughters. For the rest of Slashdot: she's a girl geek! Cool!
Is there a usable spot for a large telescope in the US or Canada that isn't affected by light pollution?
Not in North America, but all the light pollution maps show a great location in Asia.
It's a very short drive (as the missile flies) due North of a major commercial center, but the skies are amazingly dark. It's as though there were no industry at all -- at least, not the kind that requires nighttime illumination.
There are even reasonably high mountains, complete with pre-existing infrastructure. And during the astronomers' free time, there's a nearby "Treasure House of Wildlife!"
After all, our entire planet is but a miniscule speck of dust in the cosmos. Why should we let a little treaty matter stand in the way of discovery?
I think my white blood cells are concerned right now that I have a cold. Something matters to them, and I doubt that they have an idea of the importance of their role in my little "universe"
Who was it that asked, "Am I taking my mitochondra for a walk, or are my mitochondria taking me for a walk?" (Tried Googling, no luck... Google is not my friend today.)
However, the quality of life for those early sailors was much lower to begin with. Many of them would actually put on weight during the voyage because they had better nutrition on the ships.
I heard the author of a book on Captain Cook's voyages discuss the conditions. There were a couple of advantages that are not likely to be repeated in any modern voyage of discovery:
* Unlimited supply of strong beer. With no way to desalinate water, and no way to keep non-alcoholic beverages from going bad, beer was the beverage of choice.
* Curious female natives. 'nuff said.
Those factors, combined with the crushing poverty of Merry Olde Englande, made it worthwhile for adventurous souls, despite:
* The Lash, an effective answer to the question "What do you do with a drunken sailor?"
* The Comfort Seat, the maritime equivalent of the outhouse. Basically, a plank hung over the side with a hole in the end. Comfort Seat + Beer = Man Overboard (and no way to get 'im back).
* The Native Men, who are ready to step in (with deadly force) when Native Women + Beer = Bad Behavior.
Let's face it... Star Trek would have been a lot more boring without the green-skinned women.
Amazon.com is definetly the business model to follow. In the past 5 years they have been experiencing true booms in business.
I'll agree that Amazon.com is a business model to follow, if you don't mind a model like this:
1. Get open-ended financing
2. Sell everything at a loss
3. ???
4. Profit!
Now, I'm obviously not an expert, but my Googling only finds a couple of quarters where Amazon turned a profit, and the latest news is that the company's losses were almost $40 million over the last 9 months -- and that was considered a Good Thing because it was a 75% drop in losses.
When I was in Junior Achievement, they told us that successful companies made "larger profits," not "smaller losses." Amazon may not be going anywhere anytime soon, but treading water (even if you're the size of a battleship) hardly seems like a "success".
FedEx is mentioned in the original question. I thought it was interesting that they just bought Kinkos (the copy company, not the clown) for 2.4 gigabucks.
It would be easy for FedEx to sit on its laurels and continue to scrape more bucks out of the traditional shipping market. This purchase, while risky, shows that they've got management that can think outside the box. Granted, UPS is a step ahead with their UPS Store locations (formerly Mail Boxes Etc.). But as several articles have already pointed out (see Google News), FedEx may now be positioned to remain relevant even if the traditional "send a document for $10 bucks" business model goes away.
Back to the poster's original question, "which internet business models they believe are going to succeed?" If I knew, I would be rich, but it's clear that the winners will be those with the smarts to extend their "business models" like the FedEx example -- as opposed to either too-slow companies like Commodore (Atari, too), or all-you-can-eat monsters like Tyco.
From the article: ...the Quadrantid meteor shower, because it appears to come from somewhere in the direction of the constellation once known as Quadrans Murales, but now officially named Bootes, the Hunter.
...and located just below the left paw of the constellation known as Toonces, the Driving Cat.
Rad:
I once had a cat named Bootes. She never had kittens, but came into season about every three weeks. Obviously, she was a favorite of the local tomcats.
Back to astronomy, though: shouldn't the Quadrantids be renamed? If they come from the constellation Bootes, then they should obviously be called...
wait for it...
the Booty Shower!
In case you're wondering what it looks like
http://www.voynich.nu/
Hey, with a URL like Voynich dot Nu, I thought it would be a collection of those "naked nymphs". I've been duped!
On the other hand, maybe I should be glad there weren't any nymphes nus. That would be more like a Satyr, which is disturbingly similar to a certain Slashdot-related goat. Des nymphes nues, would be much preferable, though with my luck, there would be a tub involved [shudder]...
"perch and bass" are not native in Australia.
I suspect that "perch" and "bass" are colloquial names, not neccesarily scientific terms.
From the article:
Scientists hope to significantly reduce the carp population in the Murray-Darling by mid-century, to allow native species of Macquarie perch and Australian bass to regenerate.
Macquarie perch: native
Australian bass: native
Your +5 comment: Score: -1, Wrong
Moderation +2
20% Insightful
30% Overrated
30% Underrated
Slashdot moderators must still be on a holiday turducken hangover.
Mx. Moderator: please note the following:
* Article Title: "Measuring Pollution In Humans"
The parent has twisted the grammar of the article title in a very funny way. Compare: "Measuring Polution In g/ml" vs. "Measuring Pollution In Humans". Get it?
* Self-referential Comment Text: "As somebody who claims to have followed the link..."
This is a reference to Slashdotters who post without reading the article. I'm *sure* none of the moderators this week have failed to RTFA, right?
* Blindingly obvious humor: "And don't get me started on the problems every time bell bottoms get back into fashion."
This is an obvious humorous reference, because we all know that bell bottoms never went out of style.
I know, if you have to explain the joke...
but I do have a Mint TRS-80 Model 3 if you want it
Is that "want" as in, "Want it bad enough to pay me ONE MILLION DOLLARS," or as in, "Want it bad enough to [pick it up | pay shipping]"?
(You can get hold of me at the address munged on my site)
Sure strained silicon is great, but the real advance was the world's smallest colander.
I am *so* glad I wasn't the only one who thought of that sort of "straining". I read the article and *still* had to take a beating with a cluestick before I figured out that they were talking about the other meaning of "strain". I guess I was thinking about upcoming Christmas dinner.
On a side note, I figured infinitesimal colander would be close to a Googlewhack, but instead it brought up yet another bizarre collection of Googlecrap fake links. "If the unempirical hot wire foam cutter runs some gantry at an infinitesimal colander, then another hand baggage plagues." WTF?