The best way to do this would be a variant of Ken Thompson's cc hack, published in ACM back in 1984. Basically the voting code would be pristine, but the compiler itself would be modified to add in "features" at compile time. The compiler also had hooks to add in the trojans while compiling pristine compiler code.
Both compiler and voting application code would appear pristine, with the the actual hack existing only in the compiled code.
It's also important to note that any (non-USSR) spacecraft with plutonium on it has all radioactive material securely encased and solidified into a form which won't vaporize. In the event that such a rocket explodes, the idea that we'd suddenly be covered by a radioactive cloud is simply absurd.
Re:I have to deal with this daily already :(
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Can you elaborate on your comment on livejournal communities? I'm active in a number of livejournal communities on topics like space exploration, neuroscience, and local activities, and I find them to be a great source of discussion and ideas. Sure, there's the occasional lame post asking for homework help or something, but in most discussions the signal-to-noise ratio is pretty good.
In any case, it's not like someone is forced to be a member of a particular community. If they think a particular community is lame, they just leave it.
A smoot is a unit of distance (or "length", as physical scientists say) used for measuring the Harvard Bridge. It is named after an MIT fraternity pledge at Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity, Oliver R. Smoot (class of 1962), who in October, 1958 was rolled head over heels by his fraternity brothers to measure the length of the bridge. The smoot is equal to his height (five feet and seven inches -- 1.70 m), and the bridge's length was measured to be "364.4 smoots and one ear". Everyone walking across the bridge today sees painted markings saying how many smoots they are from the Boston-side river bank. The marks are repainted each year by the incoming pledge class of Lambda Chi Alpha. They have become well-accepted by the public, to the point that they are sometimes used by police to indicate the location of accidents along the bridge.
This was only the beginning of Smoot's career in standards and measurement; he later became Chairman of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and President of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).
Isn't this already being done by the Mars Society's Mars Analog Research Station project? I'm kind of surprised that the Russians don't just collaborate with them.
For some reason this got me wondering: Would it be feasible to actually have a blimp as your home? I guess you could use photovoltaics for electricity, use satellite or wireless for bandwidth, and periodically dock for sewage, water, and food.
Maybe I just played too many Final Fantasy games as a kid, but living in a blimp seems hella cool.
Still, I think I like this style better than the standard slashdot book review, which has a sentence on the reviewer's impression, with the rest of the article summarizing the entire plot.
> If any of the governments of the world were thinking ahead though they would start investing very heavily in alternative power generation technology.
Like France, which gets 76% of its electricity from nuclear power?
Interestingly, John Bell back in the election of 1860 (the one which Lincoln won) only had 12.62% of the vote. Despite that, he still managed to get 39 (out of 303) electoral votes.
I skimmed through apple's store, and the powerbooks don't seem drastically faster than the iBooks (1.5 ghz versus 1 ghz, I think). Is there something besides the processors which makes them much faster?
I'm actually a vim guy. Any issues with using vim on iBooks?
Linux user considering buying an iBook
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I'm primarily used to running Linux on my desktop, but lately I've been considering buying a laptop. I've heard many good things about OS X, so I'm thinking of buying an iBook.
I have a question for people who've used both sorts of systems: Are there any features/characteristics of x86 Linux machines that are lacking on OS X machines?
>But in time, probably within our lifetimes, we will probably see the emergence of the space industry as part of the private sector, from tourism, to medicine, to other applications we have yet to think of.
You're assuming, of course, that the industry isn't legislated out of existence to protect us from ourselves.
Indeed. According to Wikipedia, the lower range for orbit is considered to be 350km. I'm guessing the quoted altitude is either a mix-up, or Rutan's planning on using something like an ion thruster to deliver continuous thrust.
According to RLV News (one of the more popular space news sites), there's a huge pent-up demand for cheap suborbital science experiments.
From the report: "One space scientist, who puts experiments on sounding rockets, responded to my specification of a one week turnaround and a $200k price tag with "I don't believe these numbers (either the turnaround or the cost). Similar promises were made about the space shuttle 30 years ago, and they turned out to be grossly overoptimistic."... Now that such performance has in fact been proven by the SpaceShipOne, these kinds of knee-jerk rejections will gradually be replaced by enthusiasm for the new vehicles. Substantially lower costs, rapid re-flight opportunities, safe return of payloads, and nearby operator monitoring will make them irresistible. Researchers working with sounding rockets in areas such as atmospheric sciences, magnetospherics, astronomy, microgravity, and remote sensing will want to use them. Also, those developing sensors and other equipment for orbital and deep space vehicles will want to carry out suborbital flight tests."
Rutan has received several offers from scientists and organizations who want to fly experiments on SpaceShipOne. He's turned them down, however, as he wants to focus on using SpaceShipOne as a development platform to perfect his next-generation space vehicle, which will be sold not only to Virgin Galactic, but to four or five other unannounced companies.
Interestingly, according to the BBC article: "Once its flight life is over, SpaceShipOne will be joining other notable ships of exploration at the Air and Space museum. Except for one piece. Rutan plans to pack up to 100g of SpaceShipOne to fly on the New Horizons' mission to Pluto - the first non-governmental launch into deep space."
As posted to an earlier story, below is a paste from this article. Note that unless they're using some sort of continuous propulsion system while in orbit, the 130km orbital altitude is probably a mix-up:
One-man version of SpaceShipOne may be next stage in development of space holidays
A one-person version of Scaled Composites' SpaceShipOne that reaches an orbit of 130km (81 miles) to rendezvous with an orbiting hotel may form the next stage of Burt Rutan's private manned spaceflight plans.
Speaking at a lecture organised by the Manx Festival of Aviation at the Royal Aeronautical Society in London, the aerospace designer detailed how such an orbital vehicle could be evolved from his existing three-man, suborbital 3,000kg (6,600lb) SpaceShipOne. The amount of spacecraft mass dedicated to fuel would be increased to achieve the greater altitude and speed required.
"We'd have a small cramped cabin for the orbital flight and you'd be in it for a long time. You'd want to go to a hotel [because of that] and for orbital tourism you'd want an altitude of 130km," says Rutan.
In his lecture, Rutan referred to plans by Robert Bigelow, founder of Bigelow Aerospace, to develop a space hotel based on NASA-originated inflatable habitat technology.
Before Rutan begins work on orbital flight technology, he will attempt to win the X-Prize, which requires two suborbital flights within two weeks carrying a mass equivalent to three people. Rutan's first flight is scheduled for 29 September and his second for 4 October. But before he flies for the second time, competing Canadian X-Prize team da Vinci Project is scheduled to try to reach space in its Wild Fire rocket on 2 October.
Another X-Prize team, Space Transportation, saw its Rubicon One rocket fail a flight test in Washington on 8 August seconds after launch. The engines of the $20,000 rocket failed after it reached an altitude of 1,000ft (305m). Rubicon One's remains crashed to Earth 61m from its launch site after its parachute system failed. It was carrying three dummies representing the pilot and passengers.
Just got this message Jeff Greason of XCOR Aerospace that the current legislation to assist the development of the suborbital spaceflight industry has been distorted by Senate staffers into something that will instead smother the industry in the cradle:
There is a last-minute move by some staffers in the Senate to heavily amend HR 3752. The amendments would completely change the charter of the office of commercial space transportation (AST), placing the safety of the crew and passengers on equal footing with the safety of the uninvolved public. Since that is well beyond present technology, it would effectively stop development of the industry in the U.S.. It is too late to fix the bill before the session adjourns, but not too late to stop it. If you or people you know have connections to any Senator, please ask them to put a "hold" on HR 3752. That prevents it from passing by unanimous consent. We may have less than 24 hours.
If the bill is "held" there may be opportunity to fix it in a post-election session -- but if not, we would still rather the bill die than pass with these poison-pill amendments.
Personally, I'm in favor of having the AST in charge of the safety of the uninvolved public on the ground, as the bill was originally worded. However, I think that the last-minute changes to have the same agency regulate the safety of crew and passengers (and require the corresponding mountains of paperwork) would be an excellent way to kill off the budding US space tourism industry.
There is a last-minute move by some staffers in the Senate to heavily amend HR 3752. The amendments would completely change the charter of the office of commercial space transportation (AST), placing the safety of the crew and passengers on equal footing with the safety of the uninvolved public. Since that is well beyond present technology, it would effectively stop development of the industry in the U.S.. It is too late to fix the bill before the session adjourns, but not too late to stop it. If you or people you know have connections to any Senator, please ask them to put a "hold" on HR 3752. That prevents it from passing by unanimous consent. We may have less than 24 hours.
If the bill is "held" there may be opportunity to fix it in a post-election session -- but if not, we would still rather the bill die than pass with these poison-pill amendments.
Consciousness is a very vague word which is used to describe a great many things. Visual consciousness (the sense of awareness that a particular object is in our visual field) is one thing that falls under this wide umbrella. Self-consciousness (which you're probably thinking of) is another.
Slashdot Mirror
Ack. I've mostly stayed away from those, but I can see what you mean.
The best way to do this would be a variant of Ken Thompson's cc hack, published in ACM back in 1984. Basically the voting code would be pristine, but the compiler itself would be modified to add in "features" at compile time. The compiler also had hooks to add in the trojans while compiling pristine compiler code.
Both compiler and voting application code would appear pristine, with the the actual hack existing only in the compiled code.
It's also important to note that any (non-USSR) spacecraft with plutonium on it has all radioactive material securely encased and solidified into a form which won't vaporize. In the event that such a rocket explodes, the idea that we'd suddenly be covered by a radioactive cloud is simply absurd.
Can you elaborate on your comment on livejournal communities? I'm active in a number of livejournal communities on topics like space exploration, neuroscience, and local activities, and I find them to be a great source of discussion and ideas. Sure, there's the occasional lame post asking for homework help or something, but in most discussions the signal-to-noise ratio is pretty good.
In any case, it's not like someone is forced to be a member of a particular community. If they think a particular community is lame, they just leave it.
Don't forget the Smoot:
A smoot is a unit of distance (or "length", as physical scientists say) used for measuring the Harvard Bridge. It is named after an MIT fraternity pledge at Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity, Oliver R. Smoot (class of 1962), who in October, 1958 was rolled head over heels by his fraternity brothers to measure the length of the bridge. The smoot is equal to his height (five feet and seven inches -- 1.70 m), and the bridge's length was measured to be "364.4 smoots and one ear". Everyone walking across the bridge today sees painted markings saying how many smoots they are from the Boston-side river bank. The marks are repainted each year by the incoming pledge class of Lambda Chi Alpha. They have become well-accepted by the public, to the point that they are sometimes used by police to indicate the location of accidents along the bridge.
This was only the beginning of Smoot's career in standards and measurement; he later became Chairman of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and President of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).
Isn't this already being done by the Mars Society's Mars Analog Research Station project? I'm kind of surprised that the Russians don't just collaborate with them.
For some reason this got me wondering: Would it be feasible to actually have a blimp as your home? I guess you could use photovoltaics for electricity, use satellite or wireless for bandwidth, and periodically dock for sewage, water, and food.
Maybe I just played too many Final Fantasy games as a kid, but living in a blimp seems hella cool.
It should be noted that Michael Badnarik also "ain't Bush."
I am a catgirl
Naked, young, and so supple
Please discipline me
Still, I think I like this style better than the standard slashdot book review, which has a sentence on the reviewer's impression, with the rest of the article summarizing the entire plot.
> If any of the governments of the world were thinking ahead though they would start investing very heavily in alternative power generation technology.
Like France, which gets 76% of its electricity from nuclear power?
>Note that the UN decalration says "Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person."
Doesn't the ability to read whatever one chooses fall under "liberty"?
Actually, in the UN declaration, what exactly is "liberty" referring to? It's one of those words with many different meanings.
Interestingly, John Bell back in the election of 1860 (the one which Lincoln won) only had 12.62% of the vote. Despite that, he still managed to get 39 (out of 303) electoral votes.
I skimmed through apple's store, and the powerbooks don't seem drastically faster than the iBooks (1.5 ghz versus 1 ghz, I think). Is there something besides the processors which makes them much faster?
I'm actually a vim guy. Any issues with using vim on iBooks?
I'm primarily used to running Linux on my desktop, but lately I've been considering buying a laptop. I've heard many good things about OS X, so I'm thinking of buying an iBook.
I have a question for people who've used both sorts of systems: Are there any features/characteristics of x86 Linux machines that are lacking on OS X machines?
Not that I'm complaining, but does anybody know why this may have been modded several times as "Funny"?
>But in time, probably within our lifetimes, we will probably see the emergence of the space industry as part of the private sector, from tourism, to medicine, to other applications we have yet to think of.
You're assuming, of course, that the industry isn't legislated out of existence to protect us from ourselves.
Indeed. According to Wikipedia, the lower range for orbit is considered to be 350km. I'm guessing the quoted altitude is either a mix-up, or Rutan's planning on using something like an ion thruster to deliver continuous thrust.
According to RLV News (one of the more popular space news sites), there's a huge pent-up demand for cheap suborbital science experiments.
... Now that such performance has in fact been proven by the SpaceShipOne, these kinds of knee-jerk rejections will gradually be replaced by enthusiasm for the new vehicles. Substantially lower costs, rapid re-flight opportunities, safe return of payloads, and nearby operator monitoring will make them irresistible. Researchers working with sounding rockets in areas such as atmospheric sciences, magnetospherics, astronomy, microgravity, and remote sensing will want to use them. Also, those developing sensors and other equipment for orbital and deep space vehicles will want to carry out suborbital flight tests."
From the report: "One space scientist, who puts experiments on sounding rockets, responded to my specification of a one week turnaround and a $200k price tag with "I don't believe these numbers (either the turnaround or the cost). Similar promises were made about the space shuttle 30 years ago, and they turned out to be grossly overoptimistic."
Rutan has received several offers from scientists and organizations who want to fly experiments on SpaceShipOne. He's turned them down, however, as he wants to focus on using SpaceShipOne as a development platform to perfect his next-generation space vehicle, which will be sold not only to Virgin Galactic, but to four or five other unannounced companies.
Interestingly, according to the BBC article: "Once its flight life is over, SpaceShipOne will be joining other notable ships of exploration at the Air and Space museum. Except for one piece. Rutan plans to pack up to 100g of SpaceShipOne to fly on the New Horizons' mission to Pluto - the first non-governmental launch into deep space."
As posted to an earlier story, below is a paste from this article. Note that unless they're using some sort of continuous propulsion system while in orbit, the 130km orbital altitude is probably a mix-up:
One-man version of SpaceShipOne may be next stage in development of space holidays
A one-person version of Scaled Composites' SpaceShipOne that reaches an orbit of 130km (81 miles) to rendezvous with an orbiting hotel may form the next stage of Burt Rutan's private manned spaceflight plans.
Speaking at a lecture organised by the Manx Festival of Aviation at the Royal Aeronautical Society in London, the aerospace designer detailed how such an orbital vehicle could be evolved from his existing three-man, suborbital 3,000kg (6,600lb) SpaceShipOne. The amount of spacecraft mass dedicated to fuel would be increased to achieve the greater altitude and speed required.
"We'd have a small cramped cabin for the orbital flight and you'd be in it for a long time. You'd want to go to a hotel [because of that] and for orbital tourism you'd want an altitude of 130km," says Rutan.
In his lecture, Rutan referred to plans by Robert Bigelow, founder of Bigelow Aerospace, to develop a space hotel based on NASA-originated inflatable habitat technology.
Before Rutan begins work on orbital flight technology, he will attempt to win the X-Prize, which requires two suborbital flights within two weeks carrying a mass equivalent to three people. Rutan's first flight is scheduled for 29 September and his second for 4 October. But before he flies for the second time, competing Canadian X-Prize team da Vinci Project is scheduled to try to reach space in its Wild Fire rocket on 2 October.
Another X-Prize team, Space Transportation, saw its Rubicon One rocket fail a flight test in Washington on 8 August seconds after launch. The engines of the $20,000 rocket failed after it reached an altitude of 1,000ft (305m). Rubicon One's remains crashed to Earth 61m from its launch site after its parachute system failed. It was carrying three dummies representing the pilot and passengers.
As seen on Transterrestrial Musings, spacepolitics.com, and RLV News:
Just got this message Jeff Greason of XCOR Aerospace that the current legislation to assist the development of the suborbital spaceflight industry has been distorted by Senate staffers into something that will instead smother the industry in the cradle:
There is a last-minute move by some staffers in the Senate to heavily amend HR 3752. The amendments would completely change the charter of the office of commercial space transportation (AST), placing the safety of the crew and passengers on equal footing with the safety of the uninvolved public. Since that is well beyond present technology, it would effectively stop development of the industry in the U.S.. It is too late to fix the bill before the session adjourns, but not too late to stop it. If you or people you know have connections to any Senator, please ask them to put a "hold" on HR 3752. That prevents it from passing by unanimous consent. We may have less than 24 hours.
If the bill is "held" there may be opportunity to fix it in a post-election session -- but if not, we would still rather the bill die than pass with these poison-pill amendments.
If your Senator is on the Commerce Committee, that's even better: http://commerce.senate.gov/about/membership.html
Personally, I'm in favor of having the AST in charge of the safety of the uninvolved public on the ground, as the bill was originally worded. However, I think that the last-minute changes to have the same agency regulate the safety of crew and passengers (and require the corresponding mountains of paperwork) would be an excellent way to kill off the budding US space tourism industry.
MSNBC has a more in-depth article on this.
As reported on several space-related news sites, including RLV News and Transterrestrial musings:
There is a last-minute move by some staffers in the Senate to heavily amend HR 3752. The amendments would completely change the charter of the office of commercial space transportation (AST), placing the safety of the crew and passengers on equal footing with the safety of the uninvolved public. Since that is well beyond present technology, it would effectively stop development of the industry in the U.S.. It is too late to fix the bill before the session adjourns, but not too late to stop it. If you or people you know have connections to any Senator, please ask them to put a "hold" on HR 3752. That prevents it from passing by unanimous consent. We may have less than 24 hours.
If the bill is "held" there may be opportunity to fix it in a post-election session -- but if not, we would still rather the bill die than pass with these poison-pill amendments.
I think SpaceShipOne is the first spacecraft to have a hybrid rocket motor. According to Wikipedia:
"These systems are superior to solid propulsion systems in the respects of safety, throttling, restartability, and environmental cleanliness.
Consciousness is a very vague word which is used to describe a great many things. Visual consciousness (the sense of awareness that a particular object is in our visual field) is one thing that falls under this wide umbrella. Self-consciousness (which you're probably thinking of) is another.