I was just watching the SpaceShipOne docu-drama on the discovery channel the other day and I was re-living when I saw it live via the internet. It was huge that a private industry broke the space barrier.
The Xprize was for a fairly small amount of money considering the scope and possible payoff of the project. Now that NASA wants to offer billions to private industries consider one of the biggest advantages - many more people will have a serious go at the projects. So more minds are out there working to consider novel options (like Ratan's "feather" wing) or other such outside the box thinking - as opposed to a few mega-corps. Kinda like open source but this could actually make money:D
So congress can piss away money on every half-baked social program but when it comes to space travel they want results? Sigh...
My mind is just spinning at the implications of this flight - and the fact that I was able to watch it live, via the internet. With live video from Spaceship 1 no less. I think I have a better understanding of how people felt in '69 w/Armstrong.
I know this submission is geared towards windows users but I use Gotmail - it's a perl script that logs into hotmail and forwards your messages to another account or saves them locally. All from the command line.
TNG baby... we're getting closer to two of the Coolest Technologies Ever. Replicators and the Holodeck -
Replicator:
Today, we know how to create microchip circuits and experimental nanometer-scale objects by "drawing" them on a surface with a beam of atoms. We can also suspend single atoms or small numbers of atoms within a trap made of electromagnetic fields, and experiment on them. That's as close as the replicator is to reality. Making solid matter from a pattern as the replicator appears to do, is pretty far beyond present physics.
Nader said Democrats should blame themselves if they are unable to beat President Bush because they are not focusing on the real issues that people care about. He cited as examples universal health care, creating a living family wage and ending the war in Iraq.
``If the Democrats cannot landslide the worst Republican administration in the 20th century they better look at themselves,'' said Nader.
It'll just open up a whole market for a(nother) payment vendor solution - I know there are already other online payment merchants out there but if they become the defacto standard for porn (there's a little bit on the internet these days I hear) then paypal might just be making a BIG ($$) mistake.
However, lying about it over and over and over again, _does_ matter.
I heard a lot of democrats saying that during the clinton impeachment too... oh wait, no I didn't.
At least W wasn't under oath;)
And while we're on the subject of hypocrisy, how many of you guys screaming (not parent post) but Kerry served in Nam voted for Dole because of his service compared to clinton? Sigh...
I quoted from this in the last/. topic about this signal - I'd like to hear what he has to say about this article from New Scientist which says:
The relatively rapid drift of the signal is also puzzling for other reasons. A planet would have to be rotating nearly 40 times faster than Earth to have produced the observed drift; a transmitter on Earth would produce a signal with a drift of about 1.5 hertz per second.
What is more, if telescopes are observing a signal that is drifting in frequency, then each time they look for it they should most likely encounter it at a slightly different frequency. But in the case of SHGb02+14a, every observation has first been made at 1420 megahertz, before it starts drifting. "It just boggles my mind," Korpela says.
I can understand they don't want to say there's aliens YET but come on - something weird is there...
I sent in this article - very cool read and makes me wish for FTL travel!
New Scientist is reporting that the signal "also happens to be the best candidate yet for a contact by intelligent aliens in the nearly six-year history of the SETI@home project, which uses programs running as screensavers on millions of personal computers worldwide to sift through signals picked up by the Arecibo telescope...*snip*
...There are other oddities. For instance, the signal's frequency is drifting by between eight to 37 hertz per second. "The signal is moving rapidly in frequency and you would expect that to happen if you are looking at a transmitter on a planet that's rotating very rapidly and where the civilisation is not correcting the transmission for the motion of the planet," Korpela says.
I have wireless ISP access (~3 mbs, nothing great) and have been using Vonage for over a year. I now forget I have it which to me is the litmus test for a replacement technology.
What's not to like? No more evil phone company, added features and a BIG savings.
I just don't see how the old school bells are going to survive, and frankly I don't care.
snippet from Wikipedia's listing for the Shenzhou - lots more in the link!
Design
Like the Soyuz, the Shenzhou consists of three modules; a forward "orbital" module, a reentry capsule in the middle, and an aft service module. This division is based on the principle of minimizing the amount of material to be returned to Earth. Anything placed in the orbital or service modules does not require heat shielding, and this greatly increases the space available to the spacecraft without increasing weight as much as it would if those modules were also able to withstand reentry.
The orbital module contains space for experiments, crew-serviced or operated equipment, and in-orbit habitation. The reentry capsule contains seating for the crew, and is the only portion of the Shenzhou which returns to Earth's surface. The aft service module contains life support and other equipment required for the functioning of the Shenzhou. Two pairs of solar panels, one pair on the service module and the other pair on the orbital module, have a total area of over 40 square metres, indicating average electrical power over 1.5 kW (three times that of Soyuz and greater than that of the original Mir base module).
Unlike the Soyuz, the orbital module was equipped with its own propulsion, solar power, and control systems, allowing autonomous flight. In the future the orbital modules could also be left behind on a Chinese space station as additional station modules. In the unmanned test flights launched so far, the orbital module of each Shenzhou was left functioning in orbit for several days after the reentry capsule's return.
Re:New Scientist recently covered this as well
on
A New Face For Robotics
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
I swear I previewed first! Anyways - the link (and I ) are wrong - here is the correct address:
"Most people doing social robots believe that human faces will turn people off and will disturb them. I think that's ridiculous," Hanson said. "The human face is perhaps the most natural paradigm for us to interact with."
Most experts disagree. They cite one of the principles of social robotics, the so-called "Uncanny Valley" theory.
First described by pioneering Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori, the theory goes like this: humans have a positive psychological reaction to robots that look somewhat like humans. But if a robot is made to look very realistic but somehow isn't quite right (it has an odd smile, or it doesn't blink, for example) it seems grotesque instead of comforting.
# Fedora Core, development branch (2.6.1)
# Mandrake Linux 10.0-beta2 (2.6.2rc3)
# Debian unstable, not the default kernel (2.6.0)
# Gentoo unstable, not the default kernel (2.6.2)
# Arch Linux 0.6 (development), not the default kernel (2.6.2)
# Sorcerer, not the default kernel (2.6.2)
# Conectiva Linux 10-TP2 (2.6.1)
# Magic Linux 1.2pre5, a Chinese desktop distribution (2.6.0)
# Berry Linux 0.36, a Japanese live CD (2.6.2rc3)
# Bluewall Linux 1.0, a minimalist distribution (2.6.0)
# JoLinux 1.0, a Slackware-based Brazilian desktop distribution (2.6.0)
# knoppiXMAME 1.2, a bootable arcade machine emulator (2.6.1)
# LinuxNetwosix 1.0, a specialist live CD for security operations (2.6.1)
# Shark Linux 1.06-beta2, a minimalist distribution for AMD-64, in early development (2.6.1)
Slashdot Mirror
I was just watching the SpaceShipOne docu-drama on the discovery channel the other day and I was re-living when I saw it live via the internet. It was huge that a private industry broke the space barrier.
:D
The Xprize was for a fairly small amount of money considering the scope and possible payoff of the project. Now that NASA wants to offer billions to private industries consider one of the biggest advantages - many more people will have a serious go at the projects. So more minds are out there working to consider novel options (like Ratan's "feather" wing) or other such outside the box thinking - as opposed to a few mega-corps. Kinda like open source but this could actually make money
So congress can piss away money on every half-baked social program but when it comes to space travel they want results? Sigh...
Weekend At Burnsies script
HOMER Ow, ow! I hate getting stitches in my eyes! Stupid crows.
DR. HIBBERT Don't feel bad for the crows, Homer. They weren't trying to blind you, they were just trying to drink your sweet, sweet eye juices.
HOMER (calmly) Hmm, fascinating. Say, Doctor, can you do something about my (hysterical) SEARING PAIN!?
DR. HIBBERT Well, there is medication, although it is a little... controversial.
HOMER Does it go in the butt?
DR. HIBBERT I'm talking about medicinal marijuana. Prescription pot. Texas THC.
HOMER Look man, I don't do drugs.
DR. HIBBERT Homer, for your eyes, the best tonic is chronic. You're not afraid, are you?
all those pixels and not one nipple! What a waste...
but it is old news, from 10/10/2003:
On the stand of a multimedia-oriented Linux distribution called dyne:bolic, operating system author and maintainer Jaromil -- the moniker he prefers to be known by -- was demonstrating a hacked Xbox that can be used to offload processing tasks from a mixed cluster of PCs and Xboxes.
www.findory.com
My mind is just spinning at the implications of this flight - and the fact that I was able to watch it live, via the internet. With live video from Spaceship 1 no less. I think I have a better understanding of how people felt in '69 w/Armstrong.
I know this submission is geared towards windows users but I use Gotmail - it's a perl script that logs into hotmail and forwards your messages to another account or saves them locally. All from the command line.
Nongnu.org
TNG baby... we're getting closer to two of the Coolest Technologies Ever. Replicators and the Holodeck -
Replicator:
Today, we know how to create microchip circuits and experimental nanometer-scale objects by "drawing" them on a surface with a beam of atoms. We can also suspend single atoms or small numbers of atoms within a trap made of electromagnetic fields, and experiment on them. That's as close as the replicator is to reality. Making solid matter from a pattern as the replicator appears to do, is pretty far beyond present physics.
science of star trek
this sums it up nicely from the candiate himself:
Nader said Democrats should blame themselves if they are unable to beat President Bush because they are not focusing on the real issues that people care about. He cited as examples universal health care, creating a living family wage and ending the war in Iraq.
``If the Democrats cannot landslide the worst Republican administration in the 20th century they better look at themselves,'' said Nader.
ABQjournal
marketing doesn't care about the 1000's of own3d boxen?
...why am I not concerned about M$'s SECURITY being cracked in short order?
It'll just open up a whole market for a(nother) payment vendor solution - I know there are already other online payment merchants out there but if they become the defacto standard for porn (there's a little bit on the internet these days I hear) then paypal might just be making a BIG ($$) mistake.
fine with me... I don't care for them anyway.
However, lying about it over and over and over again, _does_ matter.
;)
I heard a lot of democrats saying that during the clinton impeachment too... oh wait, no I didn't.
At least W wasn't under oath
And while we're on the subject of hypocrisy, how many of you guys screaming (not parent post) but Kerry served in Nam voted for Dole because of his service compared to clinton? Sigh...
I quoted from this in the last /. topic about this signal - I'd like to hear what he has to say about this article from New Scientist which says:
The relatively rapid drift of the signal is also puzzling for other reasons. A planet would have to be rotating nearly 40 times faster than Earth to have produced the observed drift; a transmitter on Earth would produce a signal with a drift of about 1.5 hertz per second. What is more, if telescopes are observing a signal that is drifting in frequency, then each time they look for it they should most likely encounter it at a slightly different frequency. But in the case of SHGb02+14a, every observation has first been made at 1420 megahertz, before it starts drifting. "It just boggles my mind," Korpela says.
I can understand they don't want to say there's aliens YET but come on - something weird is there...
I sent in this article - very cool read and makes me wish for FTL travel!
...There are other oddities. For instance, the signal's frequency is drifting by between eight to 37 hertz per second. "The signal is moving rapidly in frequency and you would expect that to happen if you are looking at a transmitter on a planet that's rotating very rapidly and where the civilisation is not correcting the transmission for the motion of the planet," Korpela says.
New Scientist is reporting that the signal "also happens to be the best candidate yet for a contact by intelligent aliens in the nearly six-year history of the SETI@home project, which uses programs running as screensavers on millions of personal computers worldwide to sift through signals picked up by the Arecibo telescope...*snip*
Hey in case you missed it here are the medal totals - it's a shame really that the US dominated again, maybe next year your country can do better?
United States 35 39 29 103
Russia 27 27 38 92
China 32 17 14 63
Australia 17 16 16 49
Germany 14 16 18 48
Japan 16 9 12 37
france 11 9 13 33
Italy 10 11 11 32
South Korea 9 12 9 30
hey in case you stopped looking here's how the aussies and china are DOMINATING in terms of gold these days:
United States 29 35 27 91
Russia 17 23 31 71
China 28 17 13 58
Germany 14 15 18 47
Australia 17 13 16 46
Sorry little man, it must be the gangster rap?
If you get a PVR from Dish Network (they now carry Sirrus) you can already grab digital music... does that mean I should be wary of a subpoena now?
I usually just pause the station for 50 or 60 mins before I listen and then just FF through the songs I don't like. I don't feel like a criminal
I have wireless ISP access (~3 mbs, nothing great) and have been using Vonage for over a year. I now forget I have it which to me is the litmus test for a replacement technology.
What's not to like? No more evil phone company, added features and a BIG savings.
I just don't see how the old school bells are going to survive, and frankly I don't care.
aahhh the beauty of the internet... stupid claims can come back and bite you in the ass.
still feel aussies and china are dominating in terms of GOLD??
http://sports.yahoo.com/oly/medals
Gold Silver Bronze
Total
United States 14 11 10 35
China 14 9 6 29
Russia 3 8 10 21
Australia 7 5 7 19
hope it doesn't upset you too much.
and posted on the web - like this site
snippet from Wikipedia's listing for the Shenzhou - lots more in the link!
Design
Like the Soyuz, the Shenzhou consists of three modules; a forward "orbital" module, a reentry capsule in the middle, and an aft service module. This division is based on the principle of minimizing the amount of material to be returned to Earth. Anything placed in the orbital or service modules does not require heat shielding, and this greatly increases the space available to the spacecraft without increasing weight as much as it would if those modules were also able to withstand reentry.
The orbital module contains space for experiments, crew-serviced or operated equipment, and in-orbit habitation. The reentry capsule contains seating for the crew, and is the only portion of the Shenzhou which returns to Earth's surface. The aft service module contains life support and other equipment required for the functioning of the Shenzhou. Two pairs of solar panels, one pair on the service module and the other pair on the orbital module, have a total area of over 40 square metres, indicating average electrical power over 1.5 kW (three times that of Soyuz and greater than that of the original Mir base module).
Unlike the Soyuz, the orbital module was equipped with its own propulsion, solar power, and control systems, allowing autonomous flight. In the future the orbital modules could also be left behind on a Chinese space station as additional station modules. In the unmanned test flights launched so far, the orbital module of each Shenzhou was left functioning in orbit for several days after the reentry capsule's return.
I swear I previewed first! Anyways - the link (and I ) are wrong - here is the correct address:
from the Houston Chronicle Burning question Should robots look human?
full text here: Follow that human
"Most people doing social robots believe that human faces will turn people off and will disturb them. I think that's ridiculous," Hanson said. "The human face is perhaps the most natural paradigm for us to interact with."
Most experts disagree. They cite one of the principles of social robotics, the so-called "Uncanny Valley" theory.
First described by pioneering Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori, the theory goes like this: humans have a positive psychological reaction to robots that look somewhat like humans. But if a robot is made to look very realistic but somehow isn't quite right (it has an odd smile, or it doesn't blink, for example) it seems grotesque instead of comforting.
Distrowatch weekly has a list of distros that contain the 2.6 kernel:
# Fedora Core, development branch (2.6.1)
# Mandrake Linux 10.0-beta2 (2.6.2rc3)
# Debian unstable, not the default kernel (2.6.0)
# Gentoo unstable, not the default kernel (2.6.2)
# Arch Linux 0.6 (development), not the default kernel (2.6.2)
# Sorcerer, not the default kernel (2.6.2)
# Conectiva Linux 10-TP2 (2.6.1)
# Magic Linux 1.2pre5, a Chinese desktop distribution (2.6.0)
# Berry Linux 0.36, a Japanese live CD (2.6.2rc3)
# Bluewall Linux 1.0, a minimalist distribution (2.6.0)
# JoLinux 1.0, a Slackware-based Brazilian desktop distribution (2.6.0)
# knoppiXMAME 1.2, a bootable arcade machine emulator (2.6.1)
# LinuxNetwosix 1.0, a specialist live CD for security operations (2.6.1)
# Shark Linux 1.06-beta2, a minimalist distribution for AMD-64, in early development (2.6.1)