I've already voiced my opinion to my representatives, in unambiguous terms. IMO its criminal to allow a national treasure like that to die for lack of a few million to service it.
Pre-Columbia most people would have agreed with
you. Now, to service Hubble with the shuttle would
violating the acident review board's recommendations. I for one do not want to see
7 more shuttle meat comets.
I think Mr. Gates is stating what he would like
the future of video to become rather than what it
actually will be. He desperately wants to insert
Micro$oft software between you and your favorite
movie. You don't need him to run you rcurrent DVD
but you might in his murky world of on demand
TV. Microsoft desperately needs a new avenue of
growth. Problem is nobody is suckered by Micro$oft's
vile tactics anymore. There will be a successor
to DVD. Don't expect Microsoft to play a leading
role.
What a shame it would be to spend all that money putting Hubble up there and then not servicing it because of budget cuts. That would be like spending $20,000 on a new car and then deciding a few years later that you can't afford to take it in for an oil change. It's already up there, they might as well service it.
Hubble is in the 14th year of a 10 year
mission. The decision to service hubble is no different than deciding to put a new engine in an
old car with 200,000 miles, with the added twist
that there is a 1 in 50 chance that a 7 person crew would die doing it. The reason NASA
O'Keefe has decided not to service Hubble with the
shuttle is that it is judged to be unsafe given
the Columbia review board's recommendations.
Namely, the shuttle should have access to the
safe haven of the ISS if it is to keep flying.
This story adds nothing new to the debate.
Hubble's replacement is on the way. Perhaps
its leisurely schedule of the James Webb
Telescope can be accelerated.
The more you learn about what we did, the more annoyed you get with it.
After 3 1/2 years of total war fighting a very
determined enemy no one should be surprised it
ended with standoff nuclear attacks. Consider
Japanese resistance at Iwo Jima or Okinawa. There
was no precedence for Japanese surrender at
any time during the war. The 1,000,000 man U.S. invasion force was greatful
events happened the way they did.
You must be some highschool kid with
all summer to screw around. I can't
think of a worse example of machine learning or
AI. I'm glad Firefox has some text completion
features, but what else are you going to do?
How about a "brower buddy" to hover around
Firefox and make obnoxious suggestions, a la Clippy?
I would suggest you get involved with the Mozilla
project directly if you want to contribute.
Unless you are already a programming god (which
I doubt), you are wasting our time
What a dumb idea! Disintegrate a potentially
deadly asteroid so the earth can be showered by the debris instead. Hope there aren't any big chunks!
Since it is likely any large asteroid collision
will be detected years in advance a very slight
course correction using a chemical rocket would
suffice. If bombarding an asteroid with a
projectile has scientific merit, great. But don't
pretend the activity has any relevance to asteroid
hazard avoidance.
How often to people give heated feedback to, for example, Mozilla/Firefox? I personally find the browser to slow and clunky in many ways, which is why I use IE and a popup blocker (Google Toolbar) rather than Mozilla, for sheer speed.
Only 18 months ago Mozilla was considered a poster child for a failed free software project.
It was ridiculed frequently on this forum for being slow, buggy, etc... Then along comes Firefox. How
short the collective memory is! The Mozilla
developers fought through it all. They deserve
our highest esteeme.
And even if these efforts all fail, there are plenty of relatively cheap launchers available today, most notably the russian proton [ilslaunch.com] and the zenit sea launch [sea-launch.com].
Both Russian launchers have experienced failures recently.
More likely candidates for economical, reliable
heavy lift launchers are derivitives of the
Atlas V and Delta IV.
The enemies of freedom are alive and well. The
same disfunctional government agencies (FBI, CIA, State Department) who dropped the ball on 9/11 are now using that tragedy to seize more
power than they merit. 9/11 would have been prevented if the
movements and activities of visitors on student
VISA's, particularly islamists from the middle east, had been given even cursory scutany. The gross harassment of ordinary citizens allowed by the Patriot Act is an absurd overreaction.
I have no wish to anger anyone. I meant to use the term GNU/Linux to refer
to the GNU system I run which happens to use
the Linux kernel. Read about the issue
here. I hope you will use the term GNU/Linux too.
Funny. Micro$oft fought tooth and nail to avoid
being broken up into pieces after being found
guilty of anti-trust violations. It would have
been the best thing for the value of existing
assets and future innovation.
Expect to see Micro$oft creating its own
spinoffs soon.
I built my first GNU/Linux PC this spring. It worked out surprisingly well. Here is my advice:
Familiarize yourself with PC components. I read Anandtech for several months until I felt
comfortable enough to place a complete order
for components that should work together.
Get all of the tools you will need and a good
workspace, including ESD grounding before you start assembling. I used a souveneir smock from my last job and an ESD wristband. I looked funny but
it is worth it because it is easy to wreck memory.
Read the instructions. Assemble slowly
and precisely. (It was still scary clamping the
heat sink to the CPU!)
Check your power and wiring connections 5x before powering up.
There is no need to install your hard drives
of CD/DVD drives to see that your BIOS comes up.
Get good cables. Stock ribbon cables block
airflow and lead to case clutter.
Be patient getting to know your machine. It took a couple of weeks to get Linux kernel drivers
just right on Gentoo.
My company pays for broadband. But you have
to sign an agreement allowing your machine to be searched at anytime. Don't want to be spreading
around those trade secrets I guess. Since they
are anxious to trample my privacy and they don't
support GNU/Linux, I have no interest.
I made the same point a month or two ago when
the Space Telescope Institute released Deep Field
2 the day after Aministrator O'Keefe scrapped the
shuttle servicing mission. I was flamed off of the
board and modded to flamebait. I think you are
right on. Hubble has considerable scientific
merit left, but the mission is turning into a big dog and pony show.
Next to the earth, Titan may be the most
chemically complex body in the solar system.
It remains to be seen if it geologically complex.
I have a feeling the real show will start tomorrow
with the first Titan flyby. Cassini should be able
to see/detect liquid hydrocarbons if they are
there with IR imaging, IR spectrascopy and radar.
A major world is about to be revealed
with some of the best instruments ever flown.
the new generation of American boosters still being developed, and demand for reliable launching rockets building up around the world, the prospect of having a huge already-constructed supply of giant boosters built by the most experienced and reliable rocket engineers on earth has been embraced around the world.'
The new generation of American boosters have already been
developed and are 100% successful. Both the Delta IV and Atlas V have flown several missions with complete success. A heavy lift version of the Delta IV is scheduled to launch in September.
It will be the most powerful unmanned launcher
in the world.
The Russian Sea Launch launch vehicle (Zenit 3), specifically its Block DM upper stage has failed
yet again, leaving another satellite in a low transfer orbit. So much for the most experienced
and reliable rocket engineers on earth.
Your arguments are specious and lack clarity. Anyone claiming to be "l33t" probably isn't.
You offer no argument, just a nebulous assertion.
It is about as good as "he doesn't get it.."
Judging from the heat of your response the
argument had an affect. I quoted "l33t" in sarcasm only. You are
obtuse as well pompous.
The linux landscape is changing, its going mainstream, and there are a lot linux users who don't like that. I must humbly suggest to such people that you cannot do anything about it, and you should therefore either accept the reality or start moving to another system where you can feel more "l33t".
I used to ignore the morons who used to go around
omninously saying "you will be assimilated" several years ago
when Windows was at its zenith. Now that it is in decline, I ignore
your "reality" too. The glory of the GNU/Linux system is that it is pretty immune from software fads like Java and.Net. Will they take GNU/Linux
over? Not until someone writes
a kernel and system stack using them (which will be never). You can run them alright. They might
even have their place for some applications.
More power to those who
contribute to their free software implementations.
But at the end of the day, I can install as many
or as few packages as I want on my Gentoo system,
and be happily oblivious to the progress Mono
is making on replicating Microsoft's terrible
software, bug for bug.
I can hack C and Lisp without having to bloat my machine with the latest virtual programming environment du jour. Try that with Windoze. I still feel l33t.
Slashdot Mirror
I've already voiced my opinion to my representatives, in unambiguous terms. IMO its criminal to allow a national treasure like that to die for lack of a few million to service it.
Pre-Columbia most people would have agreed with you. Now, to service Hubble with the shuttle would violating the acident review board's recommendations. I for one do not want to see 7 more shuttle meat comets.
I think Mr. Gates is stating what he would like the future of video to become rather than what it actually will be. He desperately wants to insert Micro$oft software between you and your favorite movie. You don't need him to run you rcurrent DVD but you might in his murky world of on demand TV. Microsoft desperately needs a new avenue of growth. Problem is nobody is suckered by Micro$oft's vile tactics anymore. There will be a successor to DVD. Don't expect Microsoft to play a leading role.
What a shame it would be to spend all that money putting Hubble up there and then not servicing it because of budget cuts. That would be like spending $20,000 on a new car and then deciding a few years later that you can't afford to take it in for an oil change. It's already up there, they might as well service it.
Hubble is in the 14th year of a 10 year mission. The decision to service hubble is no different than deciding to put a new engine in an old car with 200,000 miles, with the added twist that there is a 1 in 50 chance that a 7 person crew would die doing it. The reason NASA O'Keefe has decided not to service Hubble with the shuttle is that it is judged to be unsafe given the Columbia review board's recommendations. Namely, the shuttle should have access to the safe haven of the ISS if it is to keep flying. This story adds nothing new to the debate. Hubble's replacement is on the way. Perhaps its leisurely schedule of the James Webb Telescope can be accelerated.
The more you learn about what we did, the more annoyed you get with it.
After 3 1/2 years of total war fighting a very determined enemy no one should be surprised it ended with standoff nuclear attacks. Consider Japanese resistance at Iwo Jima or Okinawa. There was no precedence for Japanese surrender at any time during the war. The 1,000,000 man U.S. invasion force was greatful events happened the way they did.
You must be some highschool kid with all summer to screw around. I can't think of a worse example of machine learning or AI. I'm glad Firefox has some text completion features, but what else are you going to do? How about a "brower buddy" to hover around Firefox and make obnoxious suggestions, a la Clippy? I would suggest you get involved with the Mozilla project directly if you want to contribute. Unless you are already a programming god (which I doubt), you are wasting our time
What a dumb idea! Disintegrate a potentially deadly asteroid so the earth can be showered by the debris instead. Hope there aren't any big chunks! Since it is likely any large asteroid collision will be detected years in advance a very slight course correction using a chemical rocket would suffice. If bombarding an asteroid with a projectile has scientific merit, great. But don't pretend the activity has any relevance to asteroid hazard avoidance.
in which we learned that no human ever saw the face of a Romulan during the Romulan Wars?
This is easily explained. All of the witnesses of who saw the Romulans were wearing read shirts.
Personally, I hate M$ and IE. I use Gentoo/XFCE4/Firefox at home
Same with me, except I ditched XFCE4 because it look/works like shit. Use WindowMaker!
I think I would be a waste of money for NASA to build a Mars GPS. The Europeans would not be satisfied with it and would want to build their own.
How often to people give heated feedback to, for example, Mozilla/Firefox? I personally find the browser to slow and clunky in many ways, which is why I use IE and a popup blocker (Google Toolbar) rather than Mozilla, for sheer speed.
Only 18 months ago Mozilla was considered a poster child for a failed free software project. It was ridiculed frequently on this forum for being slow, buggy, etc... Then along comes Firefox. How short the collective memory is! The Mozilla developers fought through it all. They deserve our highest esteeme.
And even if these efforts all fail, there are plenty of relatively cheap launchers available today, most notably the russian proton [ilslaunch.com] and the zenit sea launch [sea-launch.com].
Both Russian launchers have experienced failures recently. More likely candidates for economical, reliable heavy lift launchers are derivitives of the Atlas V and Delta IV.
The enemies of freedom are alive and well. The same disfunctional government agencies (FBI, CIA, State Department) who dropped the ball on 9/11 are now using that tragedy to seize more power than they merit. 9/11 would have been prevented if the movements and activities of visitors on student VISA's, particularly islamists from the middle east, had been given even cursory scutany. The gross harassment of ordinary citizens allowed by the Patriot Act is an absurd overreaction.
I have no wish to anger anyone. I meant to use the term GNU/Linux to refer to the GNU system I run which happens to use the Linux kernel. Read about the issue here. I hope you will use the term GNU/Linux too.
Funny. Micro$oft fought tooth and nail to avoid being broken up into pieces after being found guilty of anti-trust violations. It would have been the best thing for the value of existing assets and future innovation. Expect to see Micro$oft creating its own spinoffs soon.
I built my first GNU/Linux PC this spring. It worked out surprisingly well. Here is my advice:
My company pays for broadband. But you have to sign an agreement allowing your machine to be searched at anytime. Don't want to be spreading around those trade secrets I guess. Since they are anxious to trample my privacy and they don't support GNU/Linux, I have no interest.
Here is one
I made the same point a month or two ago when the Space Telescope Institute released Deep Field 2 the day after Aministrator O'Keefe scrapped the shuttle servicing mission. I was flamed off of the board and modded to flamebait. I think you are right on. Hubble has considerable scientific merit left, but the mission is turning into a big dog and pony show.
Next to the earth, Titan may be the most chemically complex body in the solar system. It remains to be seen if it geologically complex. I have a feeling the real show will start tomorrow with the first Titan flyby. Cassini should be able to see/detect liquid hydrocarbons if they are there with IR imaging, IR spectrascopy and radar. A major world is about to be revealed with some of the best instruments ever flown.
The Block DM upper stage that failed is made in Russia.
the new generation of American boosters still being developed, and demand for reliable launching rockets building up around the world, the prospect of having a huge already-constructed supply of giant boosters built by the most experienced and reliable rocket engineers on earth has been embraced around the world.'
The new generation of American boosters have already been developed and are 100% successful. Both the Delta IV and Atlas V have flown several missions with complete success. A heavy lift version of the Delta IV is scheduled to launch in September. It will be the most powerful unmanned launcher in the world.
The Russian Sea Launch launch vehicle (Zenit 3), specifically its Block DM upper stage has failed yet again, leaving another satellite in a low transfer orbit. So much for the most experienced and reliable rocket engineers on earth.
Your arguments are specious and lack clarity. Anyone claiming to be "l33t" probably isn't.
You offer no argument, just a nebulous assertion. It is about as good as "he doesn't get it.." Judging from the heat of your response the argument had an affect. I quoted "l33t" in sarcasm only. You are obtuse as well pompous.
The linux landscape is changing, its going mainstream, and there are a lot linux users who don't like that. I must humbly suggest to such people that you cannot do anything about it, and you should therefore either accept the reality or start moving to another system where you can feel more "l33t".
I used to ignore the morons who used to go around omninously saying "you will be assimilated" several years ago when Windows was at its zenith. Now that it is in decline, I ignore your "reality" too. The glory of the GNU/Linux system is that it is pretty immune from software fads like Java and .Net. Will they take GNU/Linux
over? Not until someone writes
a kernel and system stack using them (which will be never). You can run them alright. They might
even have their place for some applications.
More power to those who
contribute to their free software implementations.
But at the end of the day, I can install as many
or as few packages as I want on my Gentoo system,
and be happily oblivious to the progress Mono
is making on replicating Microsoft's terrible
software, bug for bug.
I can hack C and Lisp without having to bloat my machine with the latest virtual programming environment du jour. Try that with Windoze. I still feel l33t.
12. Portability is for canoes.
And system software.
Portable free software is in the process of dismantling his company. You would think he would acknowledge that.
Enrapture the customers
He means to say "capture the customers."