One advantage I can think of right away is for making hollow objects with a complex interior surface and lack of openings large enough for the tools of the CNC mill to reach into.
All income, assets and debts are reported to the Norwegian Tax Administration by your employer, your bank and so on and so forth. The Tax Agency compiles it, automatically fills in your forms, makes sure that all the usual and reported deductions are taken care of and send it out for you to verify and/or change as needed*. If you have no changes, you just nod, smile and put the document away. If you have changes you fill them in (on paper or on the internet) and send back to them. If you owe taxes they will inform you when sending out the documents - if they owe you money back, you'll get it after a month or two. Works pretty well - and off course it will never fly in the US.
But it does show that you can combine a complicated tax code with a system that is easy to use for the majority of people. Off course things gets a little more complicated if you're running a business, but not horrible much so.
*) If for instance you have unreported income, assets, debt or deductions.
So basically what you are saying that since it's a bad idea for the US to implement this, it's a bad idea for everyone? You know, different countries and cultures have different needs and priorities:)
Maybe it really is a bad and impractical idea for the US to implement a system like this, even if the US as a society really should look into ways to reduce their dependency on conventional cars - if nothing else than for the fact that the rising gas prices means the average american uses more and more of his disposable income on fuel. Perhaps your idea for a automated taxi cab system is just the right thing to do that, I don't know.
But perhaps flying trains is a great idea for Japan, since people there already uses public transport to a large degree for their every day travel? If they can shift more people faster using less energy and with a lower investment in infrastructure, more power to them. From their point of view, it's probably a much more sensible idea than a huge fleet of tiny robot taxies hogging up their roads.
Different strokes for different folks - just because an idea won't fly where you or I lives, it don't mean it's an bad idea.
For what I used to call mouse guestures - I don't know what to call them now that a mouse isn't involved any longer - a touch screen is great. Just wipe, swipe and pinch all you like and it works great and intuitively. For pushing buttons... not so great in my opinion, and even less if you don't get an immediate feedback (visual or auditory) telling you if the button press have been registered or not. And don't even get me started on the on-screen-keyboard thing... combining lack of tactile feedback with the joys of pushing your fingers into a non-yielding surface. It may be okay for some, but not for me...
While I can't speak for the other users of Tor, I have found it extremely useful and even vital for computer security in the location I am now: Sudan.
Let me explain: I'm working for the UN, and have brought my own laptop. I'm buying "wireless broadband" from a local ISP, who is anything but broad... but thats a different matter. Since I like keeping my computer safe, I need to download the latest patches for Flash and Java and so on and so forth... which is where the problem arises. You see... the US is currently boycotting Sudan, which means that if I go to Adobe's website with a Sudanese IP I can't download the patch I need...
Using Tor I can bypass this problem, for the small price of an even slower connection. I can also access other sites that block traffic from Sudan (which is a few) or which the Sudanese Government sensors (which is more than a few). Naturally I surf without Tor when I don't have to use it - my connection is slow enough as it is...
So at least for me - and many other in my situation - Tor is used to actually access things we couldn't otherwise reach.
That would imply guidance wings, which makes me think of a gyrojet-style weapon. But with enough miniaturization, maybe you could make a bullet that assymetrically shed parts of an outer layer by command from a directional antenna on the barrel or something?
A simpler option would be a bullet with a universal joint in the middle - by deflecting the rear end up-down and left-right enough force would be generated to alter the trajectory. At the speed and roll rate a rifle bullet travels wings would mostly just create drag...
Even so, I don't really see guided bullets become a reality for calibres less than 12.7mm - not only is smaller calibres less lethal on the rages where guided bullets makes sense, but you'll also run into the problem of the cost/benefit ratio.
Everything is base 10, and if you know what the basic unit of measurement is you can very easily figure out how to go between units simply by moving a decimal place.
Why do i want to go between units, except maybe inches/feet? I like being able to divide a foot into all sorts of weird ratios and still have whole numbers. One third? One quarter? One half? One sixth? No problem! Driving drywall screws every 16" into a 48" wide sheet of drywall? Try doing that in metric!
Seeing as how the studs in my house is 60 cm apart, driving drywall screws in every 60 cm in a 120 cm wide piece of drywall is a no-brainer. Or even every 40 cm, if you desire to have a stud-spacing closer to 16" for some reason - 40 goes into 120 just as nicely as 60 does.
What people making this argument don't realise is that if you change to metric, the size of lumber, drywall and so on and so forth changes too. Nice straw man, but nothing to do with reality.
Those of us who are old enough to remember a time before the GUI was the only show in town surely remember that "big" games almost always came with their own boot disk. Would it be so hard to go back to that, if the benefits were worth it? A DVD, or a flash drive, with a small Linux kernel, a library of drivers for the wide range of hardware out there and the game files - optimized for speed, with no loss of performance because a huge, bloated GUIed OS gets in your way. If the game developer uses an off-beat file system, it'll also prevent piracy!
Granted it'll also bring back the bad old days of cursing up a storm because the latest game didn't support your Gravis Ultrasound, but only the crappy SoundBlaster... and off course the game would have to include it's own TCP/IP stack if you want multiplayer... and a few gigs of drivers for the various motherboards, graphics adapters and so on and so forth that the casual gamer may or may not have - but at least you don't have to worry about a system put in place to simplify all that stuff getting in your way.
Which would be awesome, but it wouldn't convince any of the moonbats - all it would prove to them is that NASA paid the winning team to join the cover up...
Heck, most of them would refuse to believe it if you brought them to the moon and let them see the remains in person.
To be honest, "Earth orbit" can just as easily mean geostationary orbit as it can mean Low Earth Orbit... and once you are in a geostationary orbit you don't need much of an extra kick to get to the moon
Optical readers in the visible and invisible spectrum and software that can allow for edges that aren't razor straight? It's a reasonable guess.
As far as I know, all modern banknotes - except for the US dollars - works on the system that more valuable notes are physically larger than less valuable ones. Since the world outside the US has vending machines capable of accepting banknotes, it stands to reason the solution is trivial to implement - and I'm assuming it involves UV light for the fluorescent print, backlighting for the watermark and safety thread and so on. Most banknotes these days (for instance, the Norwegian notes) are packed full of safety features, some you won't find on older US bills still in circulation.
On a tangent, printing bank notes of different value on different size paper completely eliminates the problem of counterfeiters bleaching the bills and overprinting them as a higher denomination - that is a problem you'll only encounter with US dollars.
in america, we have this awesome thing where people are allowed to express their opinions whether you think they're batshit insane or not.
i'd rather not have someone else decide which opinions are worthy of expression, as someday it may be my opinion that isn't popular.
Funny thing is, we do so over here too (ref Article 100), without having the need for designated 'free speech zones' (rather, the whole country is one). We do however realize that allowing people to publicly promote hatred, unrest and in general stirring up a shit storm is a Bad Thing.
And while Norway grants you the right to mean whatever you like, that does not give you a charte blance to break the laws... and inciting hatred on basis of gender, ethnicity, religion or sexual preference is most assuredly illegal (fines and/or jail).
To put things into perspective: Neo-Nazis, Communists and other far out groups routinely apply for, and is granted, permission to demonstrate (a minor police matter, usually granted within the hour by the local police). The WBC would most likely be denied one, since having them demonstrate would most likely lead to a breach of the public peace - ie: the WBC breaking the law...
I could say that that is the problem with the US... however, I won't. Not in this case at least. The problem with the US in this case is that your police and court are too scared to deal with the idiots int he first place, since it's a "religion"... over here, the Westboro "Baptist Church" would have been labeled as a hate group, and been refused permission to demonstrate...
I'm sorry, but after changes in the FIA and FIM rules between 1963 - 64, the only thing it needs to qualify as a 'car' for the purpose of making a stab at the absolute land speed record is four wheels or more. Less than four wheels and it's a motorcycle.
Network denies that Until Nothing Remains depicts group as totalitarian and unethical
Why would they need to deny that? It's a documentary, that's the point.
The point of a properly done documentary is to show the facts so the viewers can come to their own conclusion - some things are obvious enought that they don't need to be pointed to with huge neon signs, nor be spoon feed to the audience.
The simple fact that the CoS is trying to stop a documentary that don't show them in a flattering light is enought to tell most potential viewers that the CoS has something to hide. One can only hope that the CoS try to use some of their common - but illegal - ways to try to battle the film, so the German courts can hand their ass to them on a platter, declare the "church" to be a criminal organisation and throw them out of the country.
A "churc" that requires legal waivers to be signed before taking part in their services are - to say the least - bizarre, and likely up to no good (even if the induviduals takeing part may not be up to any evil per see). In many ways the CoS operates as a secret society, where the members have to swear not to reveal what they learn to the people below them in the ranks... in some secret societies (such as Freemasons) this is to prevent the experience of going up in the system to be diluted, but in the case of the CoS it's because the 'truths' revealed are so retarted and childish that no one would believe them unless they were allready brainwashed to some degree and had a lot of time and money sunk into the organisaton allready.
Just because GCHQ came up with it before it was rediscovered in the public sphere does not mean that NSA was told - the best way of keeping something secret is simply not to tell anyone about it and I don't think the British would risk compromising their new 'high ground' in encryption by telling even an ally. During WWII very little was shared between the allies on their respective crypto-systems - they basically had to build a third system to communicate. Even of the how-to of breaking the opponients chippers were well guared secrets.
Going on a tangent, but it just occured to me how so many of the climate change deniers arguments echoes those of creationists. It would be interesting to know what the overlap between the two groups are - they certainly seems to share more than a few traits IMNSHO
I hope that he has to serve the full sentence, and doesn't get out on parole. Credit card fraud is not fun. I can only hope that more people convicted of credit card fraud receive sentences like this.
Yeah, blame the criminals for exploiting a system designed to dispense cash based solely on a 4 digit number; That makes sense. Credit card fraud wouldn't happen nearly to the degree it does if financial institutions had designed the system to be more resiliant to attack. And by more resiliant, I mean doing something other than coating the cash in BBQ sauce and waving it in front of the hungry and unemployed masses while chanting "Hell no, we won't upgrade!"
Oh wow, so I guess by your logic, I should not blame the person who broke into my car and stole just because the lock wasn't designed against simple lock-picking (it isn't hard to pick a lock.)
Blame the faults of the implementation of a technology, and absolve the criminal of his own personal and moral responsibility. Awesome display of stupidity.
This is often refered to as 'the poor victim mentality' over here, and seems to work from the basic premise that the criminal has become a criminal because society at large has failed him/her somehow... it's a lot of vawing hands and requests to ignore the man behind the curtain, but somehow the criminal commits crime as a plea for help. This is the same logic that lays behind blaming the rape victim for the fact that the rapist raped them - if they hadn't shown so much naked skin, the poor, misunderstood rapist would have been able to control himself...
I guess stealing at least 27.5 million US dollars (the amounth he has to reimburse the victims with) and setting up a online shop for selling credit card information is a very, very loud plea for help. Or possible a sign of a well developed sence of greed and a belief in that you couldn't be caught - if we were to blame the criminal, that is.
And off course the criminal is to blame. After all, most of us don't break the laws - even if we have the knowledge to do so. The ones who do break them break them willingly and with intent; most of them with a reasonable knowledge that what they are doing is wrong and will be punished.
Which is not to say that the credit card companies shouldn't try to improve the security of their cards. Over here most - if not all - banks and credit card companies will send you a code-dongle (BankID - use an online translater to read it if you don't speak Norwegian) that is considered safe - so safe in fact that the banks say they wont hold you responsible if your card is abused online. Downside is off course that it's only supported within Norway, so if I buy something from a non-norwegian online shop I still have to rely on the older, less secure solutions.
I too would prefer to share information for the good of humanity, but then I don't live of what I write*...
But Google should have gone for opt-in for living authors, or if the author can't be found, a statement saying they would like to get in touch with him/her so they can ask him/her to opt-in.
*)If you look around the internet you'll find most of what I written since school, available for the cost of having to endure it.
Bah - a friend of mine already own and flies his own Vampire jet.
Best part? I get to help maintain it for him, being a certified system technician and all.
Slashdot Mirror
One advantage I can think of right away is for making hollow objects with a complex interior surface and lack of openings large enough for the tools of the CNC mill to reach into.
All income, assets and debts are reported to the Norwegian Tax Administration by your employer, your bank and so on and so forth. The Tax Agency compiles it, automatically fills in your forms, makes sure that all the usual and reported deductions are taken care of and send it out for you to verify and/or change as needed*. If you have no changes, you just nod, smile and put the document away. If you have changes you fill them in (on paper or on the internet) and send back to them. If you owe taxes they will inform you when sending out the documents - if they owe you money back, you'll get it after a month or two. Works pretty well - and off course it will never fly in the US.
But it does show that you can combine a complicated tax code with a system that is easy to use for the majority of people. Off course things gets a little more complicated if you're running a business, but not horrible much so.
*) If for instance you have unreported income, assets, debt or deductions.
So basically what you are saying that since it's a bad idea for the US to implement this, it's a bad idea for everyone? You know, different countries and cultures have different needs and priorities :)
Maybe it really is a bad and impractical idea for the US to implement a system like this, even if the US as a society really should look into ways to reduce their dependency on conventional cars - if nothing else than for the fact that the rising gas prices means the average american uses more and more of his disposable income on fuel. Perhaps your idea for a automated taxi cab system is just the right thing to do that, I don't know.
But perhaps flying trains is a great idea for Japan, since people there already uses public transport to a large degree for their every day travel? If they can shift more people faster using less energy and with a lower investment in infrastructure, more power to them. From their point of view, it's probably a much more sensible idea than a huge fleet of tiny robot taxies hogging up their roads.
Different strokes for different folks - just because an idea won't fly where you or I lives, it don't mean it's an bad idea.
...the lack of tactile feedback.
For what I used to call mouse guestures - I don't know what to call them now that a mouse isn't involved any longer - a touch screen is great. Just wipe, swipe and pinch all you like and it works great and intuitively. For pushing buttons... not so great in my opinion, and even less if you don't get an immediate feedback (visual or auditory) telling you if the button press have been registered or not. And don't even get me started on the on-screen-keyboard thing... combining lack of tactile feedback with the joys of pushing your fingers into a non-yielding surface. It may be okay for some, but not for me...
While I can't speak for the other users of Tor, I have found it extremely useful and even vital for computer security in the location I am now: Sudan.
Let me explain: I'm working for the UN, and have brought my own laptop. I'm buying "wireless broadband" from a local ISP, who is anything but broad... but thats a different matter. Since I like keeping my computer safe, I need to download the latest patches for Flash and Java and so on and so forth... which is where the problem arises. You see... the US is currently boycotting Sudan, which means that if I go to Adobe's website with a Sudanese IP I can't download the patch I need...
Using Tor I can bypass this problem, for the small price of an even slower connection. I can also access other sites that block traffic from Sudan (which is a few) or which the Sudanese Government sensors (which is more than a few). Naturally I surf without Tor when I don't have to use it - my connection is slow enough as it is...
So at least for me - and many other in my situation - Tor is used to actually access things we couldn't otherwise reach.
That would imply guidance wings, which makes me think of a gyrojet-style weapon. But with enough miniaturization, maybe you could make a bullet that assymetrically shed parts of an outer layer by command from a directional antenna on the barrel or something?
A simpler option would be a bullet with a universal joint in the middle - by deflecting the rear end up-down and left-right enough force would be generated to alter the trajectory. At the speed and roll rate a rifle bullet travels wings would mostly just create drag...
Even so, I don't really see guided bullets become a reality for calibres less than 12.7mm - not only is smaller calibres less lethal on the rages where guided bullets makes sense, but you'll also run into the problem of the cost/benefit ratio.
Why do i want to go between units, except maybe inches/feet? I like being able to divide a foot into all sorts of weird ratios and still have whole numbers. One third? One quarter? One half? One sixth? No problem! Driving drywall screws every 16" into a 48" wide sheet of drywall? Try doing that in metric!
Seeing as how the studs in my house is 60 cm apart, driving drywall screws in every 60 cm in a 120 cm wide piece of drywall is a no-brainer. Or even every 40 cm, if you desire to have a stud-spacing closer to 16" for some reason - 40 goes into 120 just as nicely as 60 does.
What people making this argument don't realise is that if you change to metric, the size of lumber, drywall and so on and so forth changes too. Nice straw man, but nothing to do with reality.
Those of us who are old enough to remember a time before the GUI was the only show in town surely remember that "big" games almost always came with their own boot disk. Would it be so hard to go back to that, if the benefits were worth it? A DVD, or a flash drive, with a small Linux kernel, a library of drivers for the wide range of hardware out there and the game files - optimized for speed, with no loss of performance because a huge, bloated GUIed OS gets in your way. If the game developer uses an off-beat file system, it'll also prevent piracy!
Granted it'll also bring back the bad old days of cursing up a storm because the latest game didn't support your Gravis Ultrasound, but only the crappy SoundBlaster... and off course the game would have to include it's own TCP/IP stack if you want multiplayer... and a few gigs of drivers for the various motherboards, graphics adapters and so on and so forth that the casual gamer may or may not have - but at least you don't have to worry about a system put in place to simplify all that stuff getting in your way.
Which would be awesome, but it wouldn't convince any of the moonbats - all it would prove to them is that NASA paid the winning team to join the cover up... Heck, most of them would refuse to believe it if you brought them to the moon and let them see the remains in person.
To be honest, "Earth orbit" can just as easily mean geostationary orbit as it can mean Low Earth Orbit... and once you are in a geostationary orbit you don't need much of an extra kick to get to the moon
Optical readers in the visible and invisible spectrum and software that can allow for edges that aren't razor straight? It's a reasonable guess.
As far as I know, all modern banknotes - except for the US dollars - works on the system that more valuable notes are physically larger than less valuable ones. Since the world outside the US has vending machines capable of accepting banknotes, it stands to reason the solution is trivial to implement - and I'm assuming it involves UV light for the fluorescent print, backlighting for the watermark and safety thread and so on. Most banknotes these days (for instance, the Norwegian notes) are packed full of safety features, some you won't find on older US bills still in circulation.
On a tangent, printing bank notes of different value on different size paper completely eliminates the problem of counterfeiters bleaching the bills and overprinting them as a higher denomination - that is a problem you'll only encounter with US dollars.
in america, we have this awesome thing where people are allowed to express their opinions whether you think they're batshit insane or not.
i'd rather not have someone else decide which opinions are worthy of expression, as someday it may be my opinion that isn't popular.
Funny thing is, we do so over here too (ref Article 100), without having the need for designated 'free speech zones' (rather, the whole country is one). We do however realize that allowing people to publicly promote hatred, unrest and in general stirring up a shit storm is a Bad Thing.
And while Norway grants you the right to mean whatever you like, that does not give you a charte blance to break the laws... and inciting hatred on basis of gender, ethnicity, religion or sexual preference is most assuredly illegal (fines and/or jail).
To put things into perspective: Neo-Nazis, Communists and other far out groups routinely apply for, and is granted, permission to demonstrate (a minor police matter, usually granted within the hour by the local police). The WBC would most likely be denied one, since having them demonstrate would most likely lead to a breach of the public peace - ie: the WBC breaking the law...
Trolling is encouraged by the US legal system:
A trolls B
B hits A
A sues B for one million dollars.
I could say that that is the problem with the US... however, I won't. Not in this case at least. The problem with the US in this case is that your police and court are too scared to deal with the idiots int he first place, since it's a "religion"... over here, the Westboro "Baptist Church" would have been labeled as a hate group, and been refused permission to demonstrate...
'Hey, you'll be a criminal either way'
I'm sorry, but after changes in the FIA and FIM rules between 1963 - 64, the only thing it needs to qualify as a 'car' for the purpose of making a stab at the absolute land speed record is four wheels or more. Less than four wheels and it's a motorcycle.
There is however a seperate record for wheel driven cars.
Why would they need to deny that? It's a documentary, that's the point.
The point of a properly done documentary is to show the facts so the viewers can come to their own conclusion - some things are obvious enought that they don't need to be pointed to with huge neon signs, nor be spoon feed to the audience.
The simple fact that the CoS is trying to stop a documentary that don't show them in a flattering light is enought to tell most potential viewers that the CoS has something to hide. One can only hope that the CoS try to use some of their common - but illegal - ways to try to battle the film, so the German courts can hand their ass to them on a platter, declare the "church" to be a criminal organisation and throw them out of the country.
A "churc" that requires legal waivers to be signed before taking part in their services are - to say the least - bizarre, and likely up to no good (even if the induviduals takeing part may not be up to any evil per see). In many ways the CoS operates as a secret society, where the members have to swear not to reveal what they learn to the people below them in the ranks... in some secret societies (such as Freemasons) this is to prevent the experience of going up in the system to be diluted, but in the case of the CoS it's because the 'truths' revealed are so retarted and childish that no one would believe them unless they were allready brainwashed to some degree and had a lot of time and money sunk into the organisaton allready.
Just because GCHQ came up with it before it was rediscovered in the public sphere does not mean that NSA was told - the best way of keeping something secret is simply not to tell anyone about it and I don't think the British would risk compromising their new 'high ground' in encryption by telling even an ally. During WWII very little was shared between the allies on their respective crypto-systems - they basically had to build a third system to communicate. Even of the how-to of breaking the opponients chippers were well guared secrets.
Be sure to drink your Ovaltine.
Going on a tangent, but it just occured to me how so many of the climate change deniers arguments echoes those of creationists. It would be interesting to know what the overlap between the two groups are - they certainly seems to share more than a few traits IMNSHO
I hope that he has to serve the full sentence, and doesn't get out on parole. Credit card fraud is not fun. I can only hope that more people convicted of credit card fraud receive sentences like this.
Yeah, blame the criminals for exploiting a system designed to dispense cash based solely on a 4 digit number; That makes sense. Credit card fraud wouldn't happen nearly to the degree it does if financial institutions had designed the system to be more resiliant to attack. And by more resiliant, I mean doing something other than coating the cash in BBQ sauce and waving it in front of the hungry and unemployed masses while chanting "Hell no, we won't upgrade!"
Oh wow, so I guess by your logic, I should not blame the person who broke into my car and stole just because the lock wasn't designed against simple lock-picking (it isn't hard to pick a lock.)
Blame the faults of the implementation of a technology, and absolve the criminal of his own personal and moral responsibility. Awesome display of stupidity.
This is often refered to as 'the poor victim mentality' over here, and seems to work from the basic premise that the criminal has become a criminal because society at large has failed him/her somehow... it's a lot of vawing hands and requests to ignore the man behind the curtain, but somehow the criminal commits crime as a plea for help. This is the same logic that lays behind blaming the rape victim for the fact that the rapist raped them - if they hadn't shown so much naked skin, the poor, misunderstood rapist would have been able to control himself...
I guess stealing at least 27.5 million US dollars (the amounth he has to reimburse the victims with) and setting up a online shop for selling credit card information is a very, very loud plea for help. Or possible a sign of a well developed sence of greed and a belief in that you couldn't be caught - if we were to blame the criminal, that is.
And off course the criminal is to blame. After all, most of us don't break the laws - even if we have the knowledge to do so. The ones who do break them break them willingly and with intent; most of them with a reasonable knowledge that what they are doing is wrong and will be punished.
Which is not to say that the credit card companies shouldn't try to improve the security of their cards. Over here most - if not all - banks and credit card companies will send you a code-dongle (BankID - use an online translater to read it if you don't speak Norwegian) that is considered safe - so safe in fact that the banks say they wont hold you responsible if your card is abused online. Downside is off course that it's only supported within Norway, so if I buy something from a non-norwegian online shop I still have to rely on the older, less secure solutions.
No, they have just learnt how to submit stories to SlashDot.
I too would prefer to share information for the good of humanity, but then I don't live of what I write*...
But Google should have gone for opt-in for living authors, or if the author can't be found, a statement saying they would like to get in touch with him/her so they can ask him/her to opt-in.
*)If you look around the internet you'll find most of what I written since school, available for the cost of having to endure it.
Well, I needed a portable music player, so I bought an iPod.
I needed a new cellular phone, and I liked the look of the iPhone over the blackberry, so I bought an iPhone.
I needed a computer and I liked the iMac's all in one design, so I bought it (and dual boot OS X and XP).
Sorry, how have I been "fooled" into "thinking I need one"?
Well, have you bought one yet? I though we were discussing the iPad - not any other products Apple has made so far.
Because people - and not just the fanboys - buy into the iHype and are fooled into believing they need one.
Bah - a friend of mine already own and flies his own Vampire jet.
Best part? I get to help maintain it for him, being a certified system technician and all.