A bright full moon here probably beats Titan's sun at high noon. For food production, think artificial lighting powered by fusion reactors (probably will have developed that by then).
I'm glad that the FCC won't be trying to extend their influence, but what is the basis of their decision?
Is it mainly technology (satellite vs. land-based), or is it that one is pay-based, and the other is free? This is important.
If it turns out that pay-based is the criterion, then would we start to see some land-based broadcasting systems encrypting their signals and then charging a subscription fee, in order to skirt FCC rules? Or would we start to see the FCC clamp down on any free satellite-based broadcasting companies?
If it's technology-based, what's to stop the FCC (other than Congress) from saying later on, "You know what? We got the satellite stuff too. STFU Howard Stern."
you only share 2^-8 of your genes with with your great^6 grandmother
While this may be true, this knowledge would not minimize the ick factor in "getting it on" with a great grandmere. Familial taboos are hard to overcome.
And at 22w, assuming 10 cents per kwh, this bulb would cost about $110 over its lifespan in electricity, as compared to roughly ten times the cost for a 200w bulb, or $1100 (for the same number of hours).
There have been times when TiVo has changed the channel on my TiVo so that it is on a channel with an infomercial in the morning. Other times, it's been left on a blank channel, making me wonder briefly if something broke overnight.
I've complained to TiVo about this, but I suppose the only way to influence them is if enough of us cancel our TiVo service in protest. They claim innocence, that the TiVo changes the channel just to get programming updates, and that it's a necessary annoyance of the service.
I suggested then, fine, just change the channel back after you're done. The phone drone on the line claimed this was not technically feasible.
My workaround: I set the TiVo to record 30 minutes of HLN every morning at 7:00, thus changing the channel to a non-infomercial channel every morning.
Despite this, I suspect that TiVo is going to fuck around enough eventually that I will just cancel the service, and that will be that.
they'll be outlawing the open ridicule of the RIAA and MPAA.
If this law gets passed, they'll still have to enforce it. And when they try, it will bring more light on these shennanigans by these groups (**AA) than they will be comfortable with.
Last thing they want is for 90% of people in the US to be aware of the DMCA, etc.
Very interesting analogy. But that's just information. No matter is expended, like ink in a typewriter.
I suppose at the elemental level there is no difference between one hydrogen atom (for instance) and another. (Don't know, definitely wading in the deep end now.) So if the spec for my body called for x number of hydrogen atoms in such and so an arrangement, so many helium atoms, etc., then, atom by atom there would be no difference.
But at least from a practical standpoint, the difference comes in, when you actually have to provide a mass of replacement atoms. Transmitting a 200 lb man requires at least 200 lbs of all the right elements prelocated at the destination.
So then, in the Star Trek scenario, do they send these elements down by shuttle first, or do they somehow cull the necessary particles from the local environment? If that were the case, they'd never be able to beam down to a mostly metallic world, or, into the vacuum of space. (Been done, I think, sorry, can't cite the ep.;))
If teleportation were simply a matter of disassembling your atoms, squirting them through a wormhole or some other space whatsis, and then reassembling them at the destination, then the most objection I'd have to the whole process would be the squeamishness of being "atomized."
Put another way, it's the difference between me FedEx'ing you a cup of my (not so) famous chili, and just emailing you the recipe.
quantum effects are used to make a particle disappear from point A and reappear at point B
OK, here's been my basic problem with most ideas of what teleportation would be like. The Star Trek notion is, you have a device which scans every atom in your body, like a 3D fax machine, destroys the original, and re-assembles you somewhere else. What I've never understood is, would that be with the "same" atoms, or atoms drawn from an elemental stock room, aka a rather goopy teleportation toner cartridge?
But, technical issues aside, I have a philosophical problem with allowing myself to be destroyed, atom by atom or otherwise, with even the most earnest promise that an exact copy of me will be built somewhere else. Even if the copy looked like me, thought like me, etc., it wouldn't be me. I'd insist on the copy being made first, and then I'd resist destruction like any normal living being.
On the other hand, the atoms which compose your body are being exchanged daily as part of natural processes. It may be that after a number of years, perhaps decades, there is no single atom which is the same. Yet you are still you. Your memories provide the continuity.
The problem is in the copying-destroying sequence of events. A baseball or an overnight letter is not copied and destroyed in the process of being physically moved.
True teleportation would have to somehow move objects from point A to point B, not copy and destroy.
Yeah, and when it does, they move on to greener, leaner, poorer (or richer, depending on your perspective) pastures. Like a farmer rotating his crops. Many people would call this exploitation, unless you're one of the gaunt-faced people finally finding employment. Others just call it the reality of a free market.
I'm sure there's a Ferengi law covering this. (And I'm sure somebody here might just tell me which one...)
you can always go to a used book store and buy it for $2USD
Didn't publishing companies in the US once try to eliminate the used book market? Or at least get a cut?
I can see how they hate having to compete with that. The local library has book sales every month, and you can pick up hardbacks, no more than 2-3 years old, for $2 each. And the retailers want $20-$30 new. What this hurts most is their reprint business.
That would have worked too. I just wanted anything that was not a Dell-branded Windows installation media, such as a recovery CD. A friend ordered a recovery CD set (from HP) which consisted of 8 CD's. Even without all the other problems already mentioned, that's a lot of CD swapping.
People who do the price comparison between buying a Dell, etc., and home-built, look at it something like this:
Dell computer + Windows XP = $400.
Home-built + Windows XP = {cost of hardware} + $300 = $700+.
Only problem is, that Dell Windows XP is not equivalent to the retail copy. It's not a full installation copy, only a crappy Recovery CD. (They don't even include it by default, you have to order it, and most people don't think that far ahead.) Also, it's probably only good for that particular model, so you can't move it to another PC. And it probably has some "value added" software (spyware) included.
Last time I almost bought a laptop from Dell, I made it a condition of sale that they include a full copy of Windows XP. The guy on the phone agreed to this, but I wanted that promise in writing. No "I don't remember you asking for that" after delivery. The promise in writing never came through, so I cancelled the order.
I used a recovery CD for an older HP Pavilion (a client's, not mine, I wouldn't own such a piece of trash), to re-install the box back to factory "fresh." No surprise, but some Wild Tangent (a known spyware maker) programs were included as part of the install. (Mini-rant: seems nobody sells computers with a Windows CD anymore, arrrghgh! Bastards!)
It's pretty bad if your grandmother downloads and installs some screensaver with this shit on it, but HP should not be doing this to its customers. Having to deal with a recovery CD is bad enough, without having to clean out the extra "value added" shit (aka sweetheart deals that make them mo money). HP is stabbing their customers in the back.
(Unrelated to this, kinda, but when I was ordering this recovery CD from the HP drone on the phone, I asked him the price. He said "between $20 and $40." So I said, "Can you be more specific?" He said, "I'll need the model number first." So I gave it to him and said "So what's the price?"
"Between $20 and $40, depending on the model number."
"I just gave you the model number! What's the price?"
"You need to order it first."
"Tell me the price first."
"You need to order it before I can tell you the price."
"You mean you can't, or won't, tell me the price?"
"Just order it, and if you don't like the price, I'll cancel the order."
"Fine. Whatever."
I ended up ordering it anyway, but I have never seen such a stupid system where you can't know the price until you order.)
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A bright full moon here probably beats Titan's sun at high noon. For food production, think artificial lighting powered by fusion reactors (probably will have developed that by then).
So that 24 years from now, it's chances of hitting us will be even better... because somebody couldn't keep their meters and feet in order.
The self-awareness of a fly has no bearing on my willingness to kill it. Eating shit, or composing a sonnet, makes no difference. Screw PETA.
(Oh, and I nominate Cmdr. Ryker to prosecute this case.)
Is it mainly technology (satellite vs. land-based), or is it that one is pay-based, and the other is free? This is important.
If it turns out that pay-based is the criterion, then would we start to see some land-based broadcasting systems encrypting their signals and then charging a subscription fee, in order to skirt FCC rules? Or would we start to see the FCC clamp down on any free satellite-based broadcasting companies?
If it's technology-based, what's to stop the FCC (other than Congress) from saying later on, "You know what? We got the satellite stuff too. STFU Howard Stern."
Just takes a few assholes to ruin a public resource. They're like the people who steal and/or vandalize phonebooks in the public phone booths.
Bring punch to the party, and somebody will want to piss in it.
Wasn't that the one where he states something like:
Those looking for meaning, will be disappointed.
Those looking for a plot... will be shot.
Because we all know we need plenty of dark fiber for re^D^Dsingularity.
Wrong. It also hurts my eyes.
Ow.
While this may be true, this knowledge would not minimize the ick factor in "getting it on" with a great grandmere. Familial taboos are hard to overcome.
Things are moving along nicely, talking about things. The chemistry is *incredible*.
Then you find out (I don't know, maybe the convo made a strange turn to genealogy) she's your great-great-great-great-great-great grandmother.
I mean, how many of us would recognize our great*n grandparents if we met them on the street?
Give your answer in at least 500 words, citing at least 3 examples. Extra credit for mapping the course of human history for the next 300 years.
Czar czars. So many czars, somebody's gotta keep track.
(They're going to hire a guy named Binks...)
Always a bride's maid, never a bride...
And at 22w, assuming 10 cents per kwh, this bulb would cost about $110 over its lifespan in electricity, as compared to roughly ten times the cost for a 200w bulb, or $1100 (for the same number of hours).
I've complained to TiVo about this, but I suppose the only way to influence them is if enough of us cancel our TiVo service in protest. They claim innocence, that the TiVo changes the channel just to get programming updates, and that it's a necessary annoyance of the service.
I suggested then, fine, just change the channel back after you're done. The phone drone on the line claimed this was not technically feasible.
My workaround: I set the TiVo to record 30 minutes of HLN every morning at 7:00, thus changing the channel to a non-infomercial channel every morning.
Despite this, I suspect that TiVo is going to fuck around enough eventually that I will just cancel the service, and that will be that.
If this law gets passed, they'll still have to enforce it. And when they try, it will bring more light on these shennanigans by these groups (**AA) than they will be comfortable with.
Last thing they want is for 90% of people in the US to be aware of the DMCA, etc.
I suppose at the elemental level there is no difference between one hydrogen atom (for instance) and another. (Don't know, definitely wading in the deep end now.) So if the spec for my body called for x number of hydrogen atoms in such and so an arrangement, so many helium atoms, etc., then, atom by atom there would be no difference.
But at least from a practical standpoint, the difference comes in, when you actually have to provide a mass of replacement atoms. Transmitting a 200 lb man requires at least 200 lbs of all the right elements prelocated at the destination.
So then, in the Star Trek scenario, do they send these elements down by shuttle first, or do they somehow cull the necessary particles from the local environment? If that were the case, they'd never be able to beam down to a mostly metallic world, or, into the vacuum of space. (Been done, I think, sorry, can't cite the ep. ;))
If teleportation were simply a matter of disassembling your atoms, squirting them through a wormhole or some other space whatsis, and then reassembling them at the destination, then the most objection I'd have to the whole process would be the squeamishness of being "atomized."
Put another way, it's the difference between me FedEx'ing you a cup of my (not so) famous chili, and just emailing you the recipe.
OK, here's been my basic problem with most ideas of what teleportation would be like. The Star Trek notion is, you have a device which scans every atom in your body, like a 3D fax machine, destroys the original, and re-assembles you somewhere else. What I've never understood is, would that be with the "same" atoms, or atoms drawn from an elemental stock room, aka a rather goopy teleportation toner cartridge?
But, technical issues aside, I have a philosophical problem with allowing myself to be destroyed, atom by atom or otherwise, with even the most earnest promise that an exact copy of me will be built somewhere else. Even if the copy looked like me, thought like me, etc., it wouldn't be me. I'd insist on the copy being made first, and then I'd resist destruction like any normal living being.
On the other hand, the atoms which compose your body are being exchanged daily as part of natural processes. It may be that after a number of years, perhaps decades, there is no single atom which is the same. Yet you are still you. Your memories provide the continuity.
The problem is in the copying-destroying sequence of events. A baseball or an overnight letter is not copied and destroyed in the process of being physically moved.
True teleportation would have to somehow move objects from point A to point B, not copy and destroy.
Yeah, and when it does, they move on to greener, leaner, poorer (or richer, depending on your perspective) pastures. Like a farmer rotating his crops. Many people would call this exploitation, unless you're one of the gaunt-faced people finally finding employment. Others just call it the reality of a free market.
I'm sure there's a Ferengi law covering this. (And I'm sure somebody here might just tell me which one...)
Didn't publishing companies in the US once try to eliminate the used book market? Or at least get a cut?
I can see how they hate having to compete with that. The local library has book sales every month, and you can pick up hardbacks, no more than 2-3 years old, for $2 each. And the retailers want $20-$30 new. What this hurts most is their reprint business.
That would have worked too. I just wanted anything that was not a Dell-branded Windows installation media, such as a recovery CD. A friend ordered a recovery CD set (from HP) which consisted of 8 CD's. Even without all the other problems already mentioned, that's a lot of CD swapping.
Dell computer + Windows XP = $400.
Home-built + Windows XP = {cost of hardware} + $300 = $700+.
Only problem is, that Dell Windows XP is not equivalent to the retail copy. It's not a full installation copy, only a crappy Recovery CD. (They don't even include it by default, you have to order it, and most people don't think that far ahead.) Also, it's probably only good for that particular model, so you can't move it to another PC. And it probably has some "value added" software (spyware) included.
Last time I almost bought a laptop from Dell, I made it a condition of sale that they include a full copy of Windows XP. The guy on the phone agreed to this, but I wanted that promise in writing. No "I don't remember you asking for that" after delivery. The promise in writing never came through, so I cancelled the order.
This is so they'll keep upgrading stuff, so it'll run "faster." If you're driving 60 down the road with the emergency brake on, don't release it...
It's pretty bad if your grandmother downloads and installs some screensaver with this shit on it, but HP should not be doing this to its customers. Having to deal with a recovery CD is bad enough, without having to clean out the extra "value added" shit (aka sweetheart deals that make them mo money). HP is stabbing their customers in the back.
(Unrelated to this, kinda, but when I was ordering this recovery CD from the HP drone on the phone, I asked him the price.
He said "between $20 and $40."
So I said, "Can you be more specific?"
He said, "I'll need the model number first."
So I gave it to him and said "So what's the price?"
"Between $20 and $40, depending on the model number."
"I just gave you the model number! What's the price?"
"You need to order it first."
"Tell me the price first."
"You need to order it before I can tell you the price."
"You mean you can't, or won't, tell me the price?"
"Just order it, and if you don't like the price, I'll cancel the order."
"Fine. Whatever."
I ended up ordering it anyway, but I have never seen such a stupid system where you can't know the price until you order.)
Oh, please, tell me that's not what it sounds like...