"On a more serious note, if you are shooting a laser at a device that contains explosives within it, you need much less power to detonate it (or at least seriously damage its detonation mechanism) than to shoot down an airliner. SAM missiles are not built like tanks, especially the shoulder-fired variety, so the idea, in principle, does not sound that dangerous to me."
So you think that an airliner full of jet fuel, even in the wings, is *not* full of explosives?
Sounds like this is meant to destroy a wide variety of weapons, some of which are pretty heavily shielded (artillery rounds), requiring plenty of power... "Northrop described Skyguard as capable of destroying rockets, mortars, artillery shells, unmanned aerial vehicles, short-range ballistic missiles, as well as cruise missiles. Against shoulder-fired missiles, which are relatively easy to heat with a laser and destroy, the protective shield would extend to a 20-kilometer radius, Wildt said."
"Nevertheless, the idea another slashdotter has posted about putting countermeasures on the airplanes, sounds much cheaper and safe than the laser thing. As far as I know, the Israelis are already using this in El Al planes, and I heard stories about them actually having to use this (and being successful)."
Most of those on-airplane counter-measures are things that attempt to blind the missile tracking sensor by shining lasers at it, or systems that detect a thread and drop chaff or flares to distract it away from the plane. I don't think they are normally powerful enough to actually damage the incoming missile, unless they are lucky enough to damage a sensitive sensor.
Of course, if you are defending against an ICBM or major incoming high-explosive rocket, you *really* want to destroy it, since diverting it to miss you by a little bit is pretty pointless with a nuke... as they say "Close only counts in horseshoes, hand grenades and nuclear warfare."
So, how many people here immediately though of the Terminator movies when they read this and heard the SkyGuard name?;-) How many looked it up on IMDB to see what the name was there to see if it matched?;-) (close enough to SkyNet)
Myfamily.com has some nice features for a quick setup like this. It's not free, but it's quick, easy, and inexpensive and all you do is pick your settings.
http://www.myfamily.com/
We're actually using it for a collaboration and scheduling space for a church worship team. (musicians & media creation)
jw
I had said: "I also noticed if I clicked on a result link, went to that site, then hit back to return to the results, they were gone. Perhaps it's a mozilla thing, but that sure won't fly for me. Class that as a must-fix bug."
That's not happening now, so perhaps it was my user error. never mind.
"Why are none of the 'links' on the page actual links? If you use Javascript links like that, middle-click to open in new window/tab doesn't work."
That ticked me off immediately when I first tried the site in mozilla too.
Oddly, while middle-mouse-click won't open the links in another tab, if you right-click and select "open link in new tab" it WILL work. Weird.
I'll tell you, if mozilla won't work right with it, especially for popping results to another tab easily, there is no way I'll switch from google. That's a major UI issue to me.
I also noticed if I clicked on a result link, went to that site, then hit back to return to the results, they were gone. Perhaps it's a mozilla thing, but that sure won't fly for me. Class that as a must-fix bug.
plus we obviously haven't discovered every rock that's out there in orbit, so we don't know what other masses might come close enough to it to perturb its orbit enough to make it miss - or hit...
There are some dangerous possibilities here. For one, I'd imagine this would be the 2nd pill used for 'date-rape drugs'... the first to get someone into bed in compliant fashion, and this to 'erase' or haze their memory enough that there'd be little chance of later prosecution.
Or there could be many uses where it might damage memories that would be used by a victim and the police to find or prosecute someone. (criminals might start carrying a gun and a bottle of pills)
Seems like it'd be far more dangerous than helpful, in the bigger picture of probably abuses.
" The New Scientist says that software capable of recognising emotions just by looking at photographs could lead to PCs that adjust their response depending on the user's mood."
heck mine already do respond that way... I want them to stop... the more pissed off I get at their problems, the more problems they offer me...;-(
whoever thought... that the words 'copyright' and 'intelligent' and 'design' would ever show up in the same sentence.
our present copyright and patent systems obviously have nothing to do with intelligence or design, and they certainly weren't designed by a beneficient being... though they might easily have been designed and given to us by an evil one.;-)
I'd like to know what's so hard about covering something with a lot of simple sensors, then programming the array with simple commands to move away. Looks like it only has 2 axes of motion too. Sounds like an undergrad (or high school) science project to me.
His politics are left? based on that article you referenced?
Out of curiosity, what was it specifically that you disagreed with about that article? (no, I'm not claiming I agree or not, just curious what got you so mad from that one)
As you are compiling all this information, presumably keeping in on your hard drive of your pc/mac/whatever, consider the risk of putting a nice identity-theft-motherload together where it might get copied if your machine is hacked.
Considering how many security holes and other compromises we are subject to these days, (even with good anti-virus, firewalls, etc) it's probably better to keep that information on some offline storage media. That way, when you get hacked, there is less chance someone will capture all your 'life documents' in one easy fell swoop.
I have been compiling just-in-case info too, but I keep it on CD, flash or an external-usb-harddrive that is only connected to my PC when I'm working on those files.
saitoh wrote:... "While the odds of an EMP type disaster killing the drive (especially if stashed in a safe place) are slim, so are the odds of a nuclear disaster I guess."
Frankly all these discussions involving nuke strikes miss an important point - if there is a nuke strike we're going to have other personal and societal problems so severe that not having your paperwork is probably going to be completely moot.
... assuming of course that we even survived the thing in the first place...
a friend of mine knew a guy who used to carefully backup his work data files onto a 5 1/4 floppy disk every day... then he'd stick it to the side of his file cabinet with a magnet strip.
the really sad part was, he was an engineer, who *really* should have known better;-(
(for you youngsters, 5 1/4 floppy disks were these square disks used in the old days that stored data magnetically, so a magnet would erase them, see the problem?;-)
... and make *sure* your family members know about your survival kit, including where it's kept and how to use and access the data on your CD/flash-drive/whatever. You don't want it to be useless to your family just because you aren't handy with the passwords and so forth to access it.
Remember also to provide some other way to get the passwords if it's pw-locked. Under a stressful situation, what are the odds that you or your family will remember it?
It's hard to compare performance effectively with different operating systems on the two machines.
In general though, I think most people would admit that historically Apple mac hardware has been priced pretty high compared to equivalent PC hardware. Probably mostly because Apple has had a stranglehold on compatible hardware and hadn't generally let OEMs compete with them. (ie: a monopoly = set your own prices & margins)
and just to forestall any flames, no, I have no interest in joining an extended conversation on historical apple vs pc priceing, but thanks anyway;-)
... and because everyone *expects* to pay more for Apple hardware anyway, so why bother getting a good price from AMD for your CPUs... it's not like any mac users are going to complain about over-expensive hardware with the overpriced intel cpus... they're used to getting shafted.;-)
(a happy AMD CPU user for many years... with money still left in my wallet...)
I didn't say it was free, obviously the initial costs for equipment are quite high, but so is a coal plant. Incremental costs might be lower though, and it's not using up a scarce resource.
how about using solar power for the electricity generation to separate out the hydrogen. put some arrays in nice hot, inhospitable places and they could cleanly generate H2 all day long.
sure solar arrays aren't that efficient, but the source is free and going to 'waste' if not captured anyway...
... and it's non-polluting... which sure beats nuclear, oil/coal, etc.
Or use similar energy sources, such as wave-action plants or dam-based hydro-electric plants. Energy is around us, in the sunlight, water movement, etc. If we have an efficient way to store and transport it, then why use dirty sources that will run out?
(Who here has read the scifi series where 'shipstones' are an invention? I can't recall the series or author, but the inventor there realized that the problem of energy wasn't that there wasn't enough, but that there wasn't a good enough way to store and transport it to where it was needed. He invented a super-efficient 'battery' and changed the world... Charge them up with solar arrays, microwave transmission from solar array satellites, whatever, no hurry. yes, I know it's fiction, but the concept of the importance of the 'form' of energy storage being critical is probably valid)
Slashdot Mirror
"On a more serious note, if you are shooting a laser at a device that contains explosives within it, you need much less power to detonate it (or at least seriously damage its detonation mechanism) than to shoot down an airliner. SAM missiles are not built like tanks, especially the shoulder-fired variety, so the idea, in principle, does not sound that dangerous to me."
So you think that an airliner full of jet fuel, even in the wings, is *not* full of explosives?
Sounds like this is meant to destroy a wide variety of weapons, some of which are pretty heavily shielded (artillery rounds), requiring plenty of power... "Northrop described Skyguard as capable of destroying rockets, mortars, artillery shells, unmanned aerial vehicles, short-range ballistic missiles, as well as cruise missiles. Against shoulder-fired missiles, which are relatively easy to heat with a laser and destroy, the protective shield would extend to a 20-kilometer radius, Wildt said."
"Nevertheless, the idea another slashdotter has posted about putting countermeasures on the airplanes, sounds much cheaper and safe than the laser thing. As far as I know, the Israelis are already using this in El Al planes, and I heard stories about them actually having to use this (and being successful)."
Most of those on-airplane counter-measures are things that attempt to blind the missile tracking sensor by shining lasers at it, or systems that detect a thread and drop chaff or flares to distract it away from the plane. I don't think they are normally powerful enough to actually damage the incoming missile, unless they are lucky enough to damage a sensitive sensor.
Of course, if you are defending against an ICBM or major incoming high-explosive rocket, you *really* want to destroy it, since diverting it to miss you by a little bit is pretty pointless with a nuke... as they say "Close only counts in horseshoes, hand grenades and nuclear warfare."
So, how many people here immediately though of the Terminator movies when they read this and heard the SkyGuard name? ;-) How many looked it up on IMDB to see what the name was there to see if it matched? ;-) (close enough to SkyNet)
Myfamily.com has some nice features for a quick setup like this. It's not free, but it's quick, easy, and inexpensive and all you do is pick your settings. http://www.myfamily.com/ We're actually using it for a collaboration and scheduling space for a church worship team. (musicians & media creation) jw
that's really too bad. I'm a pc user and it sounds like a fantastic program.
That's not happening now, so perhaps it was my user error. never mind.
That ticked me off immediately when I first tried the site in mozilla too.
Oddly, while middle-mouse-click won't open the links in another tab, if you right-click and select "open link in new tab" it WILL work. Weird.
I'll tell you, if mozilla won't work right with it, especially for popping results to another tab easily, there is no way I'll switch from google. That's a major UI issue to me.
I also noticed if I clicked on a result link, went to that site, then hit back to return to the results, they were gone. Perhaps it's a mozilla thing, but that sure won't fly for me. Class that as a must-fix bug.
plus we obviously haven't discovered every rock that's out there in orbit, so we don't know what other masses might come close enough to it to perturb its orbit enough to make it miss - or hit...
Or do we tie the SDI system to the baggage screener system now? Lasers from space zap your luggage! cool! ;-)
They use magnetized missiles whose polarity is opposite that of the iron curtain... duh! ;-)
Or there could be many uses where it might damage memories that would be used by a victim and the police to find or prosecute someone. (criminals might start carrying a gun and a bottle of pills)
Seems like it'd be far more dangerous than helpful, in the bigger picture of probably abuses.
heck mine already do respond that way... I want them to stop... the more pissed off I get at their problems, the more problems they offer me... ;-(
our present copyright and patent systems obviously have nothing to do with intelligence or design, and they certainly weren't designed by a beneficient being... though they might easily have been designed and given to us by an evil one. ;-)
I'd like to know what's so hard about covering something with a lot of simple sensors, then programming the array with simple commands to move away. Looks like it only has 2 axes of motion too. Sounds like an undergrad (or high school) science project to me.
Out of curiosity, what was it specifically that you disagreed with about that article? (no, I'm not claiming I agree or not, just curious what got you so mad from that one)
Considering how many security holes and other compromises we are subject to these days, (even with good anti-virus, firewalls, etc) it's probably better to keep that information on some offline storage media. That way, when you get hacked, there is less chance someone will capture all your 'life documents' in one easy fell swoop.
I have been compiling just-in-case info too, but I keep it on CD, flash or an external-usb-harddrive that is only connected to my PC when I'm working on those files.
frankly it's *way* too coffin-shaped.
IMO, it looks like you are prepackaged for burial.
besides, my wife would never go for it unless it came with matching dressers and bedside tables ;-)
Frankly all these discussions involving nuke strikes miss an important point - if there is a nuke strike we're going to have other personal and societal problems so severe that not having your paperwork is probably going to be completely moot.
... assuming of course that we even survived the thing in the first place...
the really sad part was, he was an engineer, who *really* should have known better ;-(
(for you youngsters, 5 1/4 floppy disks were these square disks used in the old days that stored data magnetically, so a magnet would erase them, see the problem? ;-)
Remember also to provide some other way to get the passwords if it's pw-locked. Under a stressful situation, what are the odds that you or your family will remember it?
idiot. it's the line to the bait/hook that he's caught on.
In general though, I think most people would admit that historically Apple mac hardware has been priced pretty high compared to equivalent PC hardware. Probably mostly because Apple has had a stranglehold on compatible hardware and hadn't generally let OEMs compete with them. (ie: a monopoly = set your own prices & margins)
and just to forestall any flames, no, I have no interest in joining an extended conversation on historical apple vs pc priceing, but thanks anyway ;-)
(a happy AMD CPU user for many years... with money still left in my wallet...)
I didn't say it was free, obviously the initial costs for equipment are quite high, but so is a coal plant. Incremental costs might be lower though, and it's not using up a scarce resource.
sure solar arrays aren't that efficient, but the source is free and going to 'waste' if not captured anyway...
... and it's non-polluting... which sure beats nuclear, oil/coal, etc.
Or use similar energy sources, such as wave-action plants or dam-based hydro-electric plants. Energy is around us, in the sunlight, water movement, etc. If we have an efficient way to store and transport it, then why use dirty sources that will run out?
(Who here has read the scifi series where 'shipstones' are an invention? I can't recall the series or author, but the inventor there realized that the problem of energy wasn't that there wasn't enough, but that there wasn't a good enough way to store and transport it to where it was needed. He invented a super-efficient 'battery' and changed the world... Charge them up with solar arrays, microwave transmission from solar array satellites, whatever, no hurry. yes, I know it's fiction, but the concept of the importance of the 'form' of energy storage being critical is probably valid)
That tyrannosaurus is a whole lot less scary when he's got downy yellow feathers... at least up to the point where he eats you anyway...
maybe he had it backwards... perhaps he went to being every bully's wettest dream and every high school girl's worst nightmare... ;-)