I can see where your coming from. I guess if the car had a tire blowout..."Clippy" would pop-up and say would you like to buy som Trojan-brand tires to prevent blowouts.
For the reasons mentioned above they wanted to minimize the risk of an electrical fire on board the ISS. I used to work at Lockheed Martin as a programmer on the ISS - ECLSS (Environmental Control and Life Support System) software. Our software could simulate de-pressurization and pressurization of all the modules on the ISS as well as electrical loads and fires. I can assure you after the mishaps that Mir encountered they thought through the design carefully. The gyros and all power sources are all possible fire ignition triggers on-board a closed module full of O2.
You are so right. I find it hard to believe that people think we faked the moon landings in the late 60's and early 70's. I know the lunar landings were very important to the US space program. I still find it hard to believe that they would try and fake it. Sure there are plenty of people that believe they did. I worked as a contractor at NASA - JSC in Houston and can tell you they would have had a hard time getting everyone (all members of the Apollo team/contractors) to just play along with that large of a hoax. I have seen pictures on the web (likely photo-shopped and doctored) that show certain anomolies with the landings. However, when it is all said and done the US where the first to land men on the moon, conduct scientific research on the lunar surface and return rock samples/men back to Earth.
I wish the Chinese the best of luck in their endeavor. I am sure there are a lot of hard working people in China with the same dreams of doing what the US did over 30 years ago. NASA and the US may wake up and understand that the world will move ahead with manned exploration of the lunar surface whether they are in the race or not.
I definately think that we should pursue exploring the lunar surface again with a manned mission and then move onto Mars by 2030.
I have to agree. MTV is about ratings with the 18-25 crowd. That is fine by me. I haven't watched MTV myself since Alternative Rock started in about 1989. If you are an old fogey (over 30) like myself then you can always tune in to VH-1 for 70's,80's and 90's artists. There you can relive all the heartaches, drug addiction comeback stories and the poorly directed/acted music videos. But one theme rings through and that is originality. Remember back in the day when you had to be able to play an instrument and sing. I do. Now it is all about urban rap and drudging along with a sythesized, sampled and altered song that have already been released. Mixed down voices and harmonies that blend like Coffee and Jack Daniels at 4am. Where is the originality in that?
Now MTV will be littering the Web with paid downloads for the likes of Brittany Spears, Justin Timerlake, Emenim and others. I can't wait.
Dammit all, Metallica look at what you started!
At least on Napster you could get thsi stuff for free.
Of course Kazaa and others will remain popular they are sharing more than music (software, movies etc) on these P2P apps. The thing that worries me is that they will open up a legal door for all P2P to eventually be shut down. The RIAA lawsuit as a whole is ridiculous as they loose more money to blackmarket sale of music than they ever would on a P2P network. Who would want share any of the current top 40 music anyway? We are innundated with it daily on tv and radio.
I am a former Software Developer for a NASA contractor. In 2000, I left this job due to inpending cuts by the agency. I saw many talented developers, engineers and scientists do the same thing. NASA seems to cut the budget like this about every 10 years (once a decade). They are attempting to shift a lot of the day to day operations over to contractors and alleviate the need for in-house staff to handle the load. Unfortunately, with a reduced technical staff and unapproachable executive style directors they have let launch safety slip on the Shuttle once again. I am sad at the loss of the astronauts onboard this doomed craft and pray for the famlies that have lost more than NASA can repay.
I am a flight simulator junkie and this must be the Holy Grail of all home flight simulator cockpits. Just beat the/. effect to see it. There is nothing on the market I have seen that could come close to what this guy has done. Very cool. Now if I could just win the lottery I would make one for a Jet Fighter.
Hopefully he will never sell this neat homemade cockpit but if he did maybe the CIA could buy it and post it on Ebay for sale. What better way to track down the remaining Al Qaeda terrorists wanting some simulated stick time in an airliner. Osama you are high bidder and win a one way ticket to the federal pen and hopefully a lethal injection as a bonus prize.
Not too seem cruel but why would we spend money on tracking the homeless if they are off the grid and non-taxpayers. I know of several private organizations that help the homeless and I see no reason to spend any taxpayer funds on such a worthless endeavor.
On a comical note do they need to reverify the inventory of bumsicles up North ever winter. Joking of course.
I could see where this is an ethical problem. The casino could just as easily use the MindPlay system to put the odds even more in their favor. They could then use wireless earpiece radios to inform Pit Bosses of a dealer with a loosing streak and rotate him out of play. This gives them even more of an edge. I have seen Pit Bosses in Vegas monitor the tables closely where the players reactions to winning hands mean that a dealer and 4 - deck stack need to be refreshed. By marking the cards where only the house software can read it means they even have a higher chance of winning on the average.
To the poster that recommended glasses to read the special ink. Why not just invent some type of X-Ray Specs and read right through the cards. James Bond did this in "The World is Not Enough". Come on Q, I promise not to look through girls clothes just give me the glasses. Yeah Right 007, I believe you!
I can see it now in the Senior Video Games Obituaries column of your local paper.
-Frogger dies at the age of 20 after trying to cross the road one to many times.
Frogger was run over today for the last time by a virtual Kentworth diesel on a simulated interstate highway. The virtual AI controlled trucker said he just couldn't stop in time when the green pixelated monstrocity leapt in front of his crudely rendered uncontrollable vehicle. The accident was determined to be caused by poor eyesite and coordination on Frogger's part due his advanced age.
-Pac-Man Assasinated by the Ghosts Blinky,Pinky,Inky and Clyde!
Sad news today as elder video game character "Pac-Man" was assasinated in a hostile takeover by the ghosts of the Atari labs. His platform of eating dots was extremely unpopular with the Ghost Party's platform of wandering around the maze aimlessly thus leading to the assasination. Pac-Man was determined at his time of death to be lost in the simply rendered maze. One witnesses said, "In his younger days he would had eluded these same ghosts many times but due to his advanced age he had forgotten the layout of the maze and just couldn't escape their clutches".
Pac Man is survived by his wife Ms. Pac Man and son Pac Man Jr.
I know for a fact that NASCAR and other racing organizations use RC Choppers with a video link to record racing footage up close. They basically have a small video camera mounted on the chopper and fly it close to the edge of the track to get close up camera shots of the cars on the banked section of the oval. Gives a neat birds eye prespective to racing for the viewer at home.
I will try and check out the videos from the article once the/. effect has subsided.
Well at least the RIAA lawyers will have work the the the next 2,000 years.
In my opinion there is no logical way they can sue everyone file sharing songs around the world. The courts would be so blocked up from these frivilous lawsuits that no real trials could be heard. To be fair they would have to raid everone's cassette tape collection from the 70's/80's and sue people that made taped copies of albums and CDs then gave them away to friends.
The RIAA and it's fleet of lawyers are insanely greedy. If only the artist got their fair share of what a song grosses then maybe they would get more sympathy.
I can see it now. After it signals the wait staff over 10 times/hr to refill your pint, it logs onto the internet and signs you up for AA meetings, calls the tipsy tow program to haul off your car home from the bar, calls a cab to bring you home and if you refuse to take a ride from the cabbie and you won't cooperate with the tipsey tow then it immediately snatches your keys away from you to prevent you from driving.
I have had small items like Walkmans, Cell Phones and PDAs checked by airport security at checkpoints before. I think they are generally looking for explosive devices etc. I wonder if there is a list of device frequencies that are verbotten on airliners? This would have to be a frequently updated list of devices for the airport security and in-flight personnel to keep track of. Seems like the communications, fly-by-wire and navigation devices would be restricted to a limited bandwidth. I know it is common practice at RC Aircraft Model flying fields to limit who has what frequency. Otherwise there would be lots of little craters in the ground when someones controls get overridden by another radio.
The President of the United States does not have the time or interest to read every single email that comes into the Inbox. Every Federal Government Official and even some State and Local Officials have staff that handles those types of communications. I mean look at some the posts on/.'s comments. If these seem weird to you imagine what the President receives on a daily basis. Probably enough Spam and crackpot email to circle the earth 10 times over. Personally I think the email should be filtered and scanned for threats vs. legitimate gripes. I am sure the FBI and CIA have full access to what comes in on those email submission forms.
I am not sure if you could turn this into a spectator sport like NASCAR and Formula 1. It would be a neat concept to get corporate sponsors and televise the various test and launches on say Tech TV or Discovery Channel. I am sure the Budweiser, Miller, Tide, Insert Car Maker Name Here or Insert Petroleum Company Name Here corporate crowd would front the money if where to be broadcast to a wide audience. I would watch weekly to see who was in the lead in terms of progress towards a manned launch.
Finally, some interesting reality TV with meaning.
I agree NASA's budget is always on the chopping block. It's priority is low on the Totem pole compared to the government's spending on other projects. It would be nice to return to the glory days of the Apollo missions and have our Astronauts be the first human visitors to Mars. Unfortunately, the first manned Mars mission may be many years off given our Budget defecit, the economy and current world affairs in the Middle East.
ELO (1976) The planet Earth from way up there is beautiful and blue
And floating softly through a rainbow,
But when you touch down things look different here.
Slashdot Mirror
I can see where your coming from. I guess if the car had a tire blowout..."Clippy" would pop-up and say would you like to buy som Trojan-brand tires to prevent blowouts.
That is sad news. He had some tragedies in his life for sure. His acting skills will be missed. "He could have been a contender."
For the reasons mentioned above they wanted to minimize the risk of an electrical fire on board the ISS. I used to work at Lockheed Martin as a programmer on the ISS - ECLSS (Environmental Control and Life Support System) software. Our software could simulate de-pressurization and pressurization of all the modules on the ISS as well as electrical loads and fires. I can assure you after the mishaps that Mir encountered they thought through the design carefully. The gyros and all power sources are all possible fire ignition triggers on-board a closed module full of O2.
Bock...Bock...Bock... Peck.... Peck.... Peck.... [Crowing] So what did your calculations prove.
No Dissassemble! No Dissassemble! LOL! Man, that is an 80's flashback if ther ever was one.
You are so right. I find it hard to believe that people think we faked the moon landings in the late 60's and early 70's. I know the lunar landings were very important to the US space program. I still find it hard to believe that they would try and fake it. Sure there are plenty of people that believe they did. I worked as a contractor at NASA - JSC in Houston and can tell you they would have had a hard time getting everyone (all members of the Apollo team/contractors) to just play along with that large of a hoax. I have seen pictures on the web (likely photo-shopped and doctored) that show certain anomolies with the landings. However, when it is all said and done the US where the first to land men on the moon, conduct scientific research on the lunar surface and return rock samples/men back to Earth.
I wish the Chinese the best of luck in their endeavor. I am sure there are a lot of hard working people in China with the same dreams of doing what the US did over 30 years ago. NASA and the US may wake up and understand that the world will move ahead with manned exploration of the lunar surface whether they are in the race or not. I definately think that we should pursue exploring the lunar surface again with a manned mission and then move onto Mars by 2030.
I have to agree. MTV is about ratings with the 18-25 crowd. That is fine by me. I haven't watched MTV myself since Alternative Rock started in about 1989. If you are an old fogey (over 30) like myself then you can always tune in to VH-1 for 70's,80's and 90's artists. There you can relive all the heartaches, drug addiction comeback stories and the poorly directed/acted music videos. But one theme rings through and that is originality. Remember back in the day when you had to be able to play an instrument and sing. I do. Now it is all about urban rap and drudging along with a sythesized, sampled and altered song that have already been released. Mixed down voices and harmonies that blend like Coffee and Jack Daniels at 4am. Where is the originality in that? Now MTV will be littering the Web with paid downloads for the likes of Brittany Spears, Justin Timerlake, Emenim and others. I can't wait. Dammit all, Metallica look at what you started! At least on Napster you could get thsi stuff for free.
Of course Kazaa and others will remain popular they are sharing more than music (software, movies etc) on these P2P apps. The thing that worries me is that they will open up a legal door for all P2P to eventually be shut down. The RIAA lawsuit as a whole is ridiculous as they loose more money to blackmarket sale of music than they ever would on a P2P network. Who would want share any of the current top 40 music anyway? We are innundated with it daily on tv and radio.
You are right on target with this statement. It probably has been that way though since the US government started hiring contractors.
I am a former Software Developer for a NASA contractor. In 2000, I left this job due to inpending cuts by the agency. I saw many talented developers, engineers and scientists do the same thing. NASA seems to cut the budget like this about every 10 years (once a decade). They are attempting to shift a lot of the day to day operations over to contractors and alleviate the need for in-house staff to handle the load. Unfortunately, with a reduced technical staff and unapproachable executive style directors they have let launch safety slip on the Shuttle once again. I am sad at the loss of the astronauts onboard this doomed craft and pray for the famlies that have lost more than NASA can repay.
Time to get out the broom and clean the house.
Oh I agree with you completely. Reality TV that everyone would pay to see.
I am a flight simulator junkie and this must be the Holy Grail of all home flight simulator cockpits. Just beat the /. effect to see it. There is nothing on the market I have seen that could come close to what this guy has done. Very cool. Now if I could just win the lottery I would make one for a Jet Fighter.
Hopefully he will never sell this neat homemade cockpit but if he did maybe the CIA could buy it and post it on Ebay for sale. What better way to track down the remaining Al Qaeda terrorists wanting some simulated stick time in an airliner. Osama you are high bidder and win a one way ticket to the federal pen and hopefully a lethal injection as a bonus prize.
Not too seem cruel but why would we spend money on tracking the homeless if they are off the grid and non-taxpayers. I know of several private organizations that help the homeless and I see no reason to spend any taxpayer funds on such a worthless endeavor.
On a comical note do they need to reverify the inventory of bumsicles up North ever winter. Joking of course.
As you probably guessed I am a Republican.
I could see where this is an ethical problem. The casino could just as easily use the MindPlay system to put the odds even more in their favor. They could then use wireless earpiece radios to inform Pit Bosses of a dealer with a loosing streak and rotate him out of play. This gives them even more of an edge. I have seen Pit Bosses in Vegas monitor the tables closely where the players reactions to winning hands mean that a dealer and 4 - deck stack need to be refreshed. By marking the cards where only the house software can read it means they even have a higher chance of winning on the average.
To the poster that recommended glasses to read the special ink. Why not just invent some type of X-Ray Specs and read right through the cards. James Bond did this in "The World is Not Enough". Come on Q, I promise not to look through girls clothes just give me the glasses. Yeah Right 007, I believe you!
I can see it now in the Senior Video Games Obituaries column of your local paper.
-Frogger dies at the age of 20 after trying to cross the road one to many times.
Frogger was run over today for the last time by a virtual Kentworth diesel on a simulated interstate highway. The virtual AI controlled trucker said he just couldn't stop in time when the green pixelated monstrocity leapt in front of his crudely rendered uncontrollable vehicle. The accident was determined to be caused by poor eyesite and coordination on Frogger's part due his advanced age.
-Pac-Man Assasinated by the Ghosts Blinky,Pinky,Inky and Clyde!
Sad news today as elder video game character "Pac-Man" was assasinated in a hostile takeover by the ghosts of the Atari labs. His platform of eating dots was extremely unpopular with the Ghost Party's platform of wandering around the maze aimlessly thus leading to the assasination. Pac-Man was determined at his time of death to be lost in the simply rendered maze. One witnesses said, "In his younger days he would had eluded these same ghosts many times but due to his advanced age he had forgotten the layout of the maze and just couldn't escape their clutches".
Pac Man is survived by his wife Ms. Pac Man and son Pac Man Jr.
Ahhh you'll not get me Lucky Whisky. I buried it next to me Lucky Charms!
I know for a fact that NASCAR and other racing organizations use RC Choppers with a video link to record racing footage up close. They basically have a small video camera mounted on the chopper and fly it close to the edge of the track to get close up camera shots of the cars on the banked section of the oval. Gives a neat birds eye prespective to racing for the viewer at home. I will try and check out the videos from the article once the /. effect has subsided.
Well at least the RIAA lawyers will have work the the the next 2,000 years.
In my opinion there is no logical way they can sue everyone file sharing songs around the world. The courts would be so blocked up from these frivilous lawsuits that no real trials could be heard. To be fair they would have to raid everone's cassette tape collection from the 70's/80's and sue people that made taped copies of albums and CDs then gave them away to friends.
The RIAA and it's fleet of lawyers are insanely greedy. If only the artist got their fair share of what a song grosses then maybe they would get more sympathy.
I can see it now. After it signals the wait staff over 10 times/hr to refill your pint, it logs onto the internet and signs you up for AA meetings, calls the tipsy tow program to haul off your car home from the bar, calls a cab to bring you home and if you refuse to take a ride from the cabbie and you won't cooperate with the tipsey tow then it immediately snatches your keys away from you to prevent you from driving.
Does that mean any Microsoft product will set it off? Anything directly related to Enron would definately blow a fuse.
I have had small items like Walkmans, Cell Phones and PDAs checked by airport security at checkpoints before. I think they are generally looking for explosive devices etc. I wonder if there is a list of device frequencies that are verbotten on airliners? This would have to be a frequently updated list of devices for the airport security and in-flight personnel to keep track of. Seems like the communications, fly-by-wire and navigation devices would be restricted to a limited bandwidth. I know it is common practice at RC Aircraft Model flying fields to limit who has what frequency. Otherwise there would be lots of little craters in the ground when someones controls get overridden by another radio.
The President of the United States does not have the time or interest to read every single email that comes into the Inbox. Every Federal Government Official and even some State and Local Officials have staff that handles those types of communications. I mean look at some the posts on /.'s comments. If these seem weird to you imagine what the President receives on a daily basis. Probably enough Spam and crackpot email to circle the earth 10 times over. Personally I think the email should be filtered and scanned for threats vs. legitimate gripes. I am sure the FBI and CIA have full access to what comes in on those email submission forms.
I am not sure if you could turn this into a spectator sport like NASCAR and Formula 1. It would be a neat concept to get corporate sponsors and televise the various test and launches on say Tech TV or Discovery Channel. I am sure the Budweiser, Miller, Tide, Insert Car Maker Name Here or Insert Petroleum Company Name Here corporate crowd would front the money if where to be broadcast to a wide audience. I would watch weekly to see who was in the lead in terms of progress towards a manned launch.
Finally, some interesting reality TV with meaning.
Ohhh The Humanity! Smoke everwhere and the Robot Balloon is in flames. Oh this terrible ladies and gentlemen.... Heh!
I agree NASA's budget is always on the chopping block. It's priority is low on the Totem pole compared to the government's spending on other projects. It would be nice to return to the glory days of the Apollo missions and have our Astronauts be the first human visitors to Mars. Unfortunately, the first manned Mars mission may be many years off given our Budget defecit, the economy and current world affairs in the Middle East.
ELO (1976) The planet Earth from way up there is beautiful and blue And floating softly through a rainbow, But when you touch down things look different here.