> The Ansari-X-Prize contest demonstrates clearly that it's time for the US to outsource our world-domination weapons engineering to commercial corporations.
Have John Carmack produce world-domination weapons? Sounds like an excellent idea.:)
> This sounds more like a way to funnel money to people studying robotics than a way to save the Hubble.
Both are good things, IMHO.
> An interesting thing to do would be to see which companies are supposed to develop these robotics and what connections they have to the administration.
Are there actually any robotics companies affiliated with the Bush Administration? I'm under the impression that, with the exception of iRobot, robotics work of this nature is still mostly the domain of academic and national research laboratories.
Additionally, as mentioned in another comment, Armadillo already considers themselves out of the running for the X Prize. It isn't the X Prize which is responsible for the haphazardness of Carmack's approach (which I happen to like), it's just the way he does things.
> Still, the fact that it's not used as a joke, and the fact that it got a 1 rating (while, inexplicably, all those repeat jokes get modded to the stratosphere these days) lends an air of authenticity to the claim, lacadasical though the research may be.
Actually, it's likely that comment was probably posted before the rating system came about, seeing as all the other comments on the story are also Score 1.
The linked article (in the parent story) about California's SUV ban is really interesting. Basically, thousands of miles of streets in California, including most of the streets in Pasadena, Santa Monica, and Beverly Hills, have ordinances prohibiting vehicles over 3 tons, in order to prevent road damage. Many popular SUVs are over this limit, including the Ram 1500, Hummer, Land Rover, and Yukon.
I wonder if we'll actually see these laws being enforced. Where does one call to report the license plate of a too-large truck driving on a street it isn't suppoesd to?
Thankfully there's groups like the Public Library of Science. Hopefully they'll become more used and recognized in the future.
Re:Planetary settlements probably never happen
on
Lawyers In Space...
·
· Score: 1
For the remainder of human history, it will be impossible for a settlement to exist without relying on Earth? That's a might big claim, considering that the future (presumably) is a very long time.
Yes, of course a private enterprise won't invest to create a facility on the moon or mars in one big jump. However, there are many smaller, more reasonable investment steps that can lead us there.
As an example, think of private suborbital spaceflights (already happening), then transcontinental suborbital spaceflights, then orbital tourism, then space hotels, then space manufacturing, then long-term space habitats, then in-orbit spacecraft construction, and so on. There's of course many smaller investment steps I've left out, but I'm sure you get the idea.
The hormone which is released after sex is called oxytocin. I can't find a good reference on its sleep-inducing effects (though its mentioned in several places), but here's a start.
As a reminder, Mark Shuttleworth is the Internet entrepreneur who was the second space tourist. It's really quite cool to see him taking an interest in helping Mozilla.
Much the same with me. I had been a TV addict until I went to college, where my room didn't have a TV. My roommate eventually got a TV, but by that time I had been weaned off.
Now I don't watch any television at all, with the exception of occasionally watching the Daily Show on a TV in a nearby rec house. I think my quality of life has been much improved after losing the addiction.
I recently purchased a Treo 600 (combination Palm and cell phone) and love it. It actually takes up less pocket space than the Palm Vx I replaced it with, and I've come to use it almost as a wireless laptop replacement. I don't use the built-in camera too often, although it has occasionally been useful for taking and emailing photos to people while on the road.
Your mileage may vary, but integration has been quite good for me.
On the topic of the neural basis of consciousness, there's a very interesting demo on this page. In the video, try looking in the middle of the three yellow dots, surrounded by the swirling cloud of blue dots.
After doing this for a bit, the yellow dots start blinking in and out of consciousness -- it's really quite a startling effect. Incidentally, the demo is on the site for a book titled The Quest for Consciousness: A Neurobiological Approach, by Christof Koch, a close collaborator of the late Francis Crick.
Huh? He passed away last night, and it wasn't in most news sources until today. I suppose it could have been a little faster, but the turnaround time still seems reasonable.
(FYI, I'm the guy who submitted the article, at around 3pm Pacific time)
The SQL databases can be downloaded here, and the current revisions are 633MB, small enough to be put on a single CD. Anybody is more than welcome to use one of the existing scripts to convert this to static HTML, then print out the results.
Anyone care to calculate how many sheets of paper this would take, and how much time?
If you're concerned about compression speed, you may want to take a look at LZO. It's got incredibly fast compression, and even faster decompression. I think it was even used on the Mars Rovers.
Slashdot Mirror
Reminds me a little of Dirty Pretty Things. Very good movie, btw, with that cute girl from Amelie.
> The Ansari-X-Prize contest demonstrates clearly that it's time for the US to outsource our world-domination weapons engineering to commercial
:)
corporations.
Have John Carmack produce world-domination weapons? Sounds like an excellent idea.
> This sounds more like a way to funnel money to people studying robotics than a way to save the Hubble.
Both are good things, IMHO.
> An interesting thing to do would be to see which companies are supposed to develop these robotics and what connections they have to the administration.
Are there actually any robotics companies affiliated with the Bush Administration? I'm under the impression that, with the exception of iRobot, robotics work of this nature is still mostly the domain of academic and national research laboratories.
Additionally, as mentioned in another comment, Armadillo already considers themselves out of the running for the X Prize. It isn't the X Prize which is responsible for the haphazardness of Carmack's approach (which I happen to like), it's just the way he does things.
Check out the pic of the dummy head detached from its body from this article.
Poor, poor dummy.
> Still, the fact that it's not used as a joke, and the fact that it got a 1 rating (while, inexplicably, all those repeat jokes get modded to the stratosphere these days) lends an air of authenticity to the claim, lacadasical though the research may be.
Actually, it's likely that comment was probably posted before the rating system came about, seeing as all the other comments on the story are also Score 1.
> You can also have some fun with the .tga and have like 2 flashlights or give it a wide/narrow shape, etc.
Or have a Hello Kitty flashlight. It's the perfect way to illuminate hideous demons!
Assuming I read things correctly, the 3 ton limit on many roads is indeed reliant on the gross weight. Likewise for the SUV-related tax benefits.
How are they supposed to be able to shift the election results towards their favoured candidate if there's a paper trail?
The linked article (in the parent story) about California's SUV ban is really interesting. Basically, thousands of miles of streets in California, including most of the streets in Pasadena, Santa Monica, and Beverly Hills, have ordinances prohibiting vehicles over 3 tons, in order to prevent road damage. Many popular SUVs are over this limit, including the Ram 1500, Hummer, Land Rover, and Yukon.
I wonder if we'll actually see these laws being enforced. Where does one call to report the license plate of a too-large truck driving on a street it isn't suppoesd to?
Did anyone save a mirror before they were yanked?
Thankfully there's groups like the Public Library of Science. Hopefully they'll become more used and recognized in the future.
For the remainder of human history, it will be impossible for a settlement to exist without relying on Earth? That's a might big claim, considering that the future (presumably) is a very long time.
Yes, of course a private enterprise won't invest to create a facility on the moon or mars in one big jump. However, there are many smaller, more reasonable investment steps that can lead us there.
As an example, think of private suborbital spaceflights (already happening), then transcontinental suborbital spaceflights, then orbital tourism, then space hotels, then space manufacturing, then long-term space habitats, then in-orbit spacecraft construction, and so on. There's of course many smaller investment steps I've left out, but I'm sure you get the idea.
The hormone which is released after sex is called oxytocin. I can't find a good reference on its sleep-inducing effects (though its mentioned in several places), but here's a start.
As a reminder, Mark Shuttleworth is the Internet entrepreneur who was the second space tourist. It's really quite cool to see him taking an interest in helping Mozilla.
Much the same with me. I had been a TV addict until I went to college, where my room didn't have a TV. My roommate eventually got a TV, but by that time I had been weaned off.
Now I don't watch any television at all, with the exception of occasionally watching the Daily Show on a TV in a nearby rec house. I think my quality of life has been much improved after losing the addiction.
I recently purchased a Treo 600 (combination Palm and cell phone) and love it. It actually takes up less pocket space than the Palm Vx I replaced it with, and I've come to use it almost as a wireless laptop replacement. I don't use the built-in camera too often, although it has occasionally been useful for taking and emailing photos to people while on the road.
Your mileage may vary, but integration has been quite good for me.
On the topic of the neural basis of consciousness, there's a very interesting demo on this page. In the video, try looking in the middle of the three yellow dots, surrounded by the swirling cloud of blue dots.
After doing this for a bit, the yellow dots start blinking in and out of consciousness -- it's really quite a startling effect. Incidentally, the demo is on the site for a book titled The Quest for Consciousness: A Neurobiological Approach, by Christof Koch, a close collaborator of the late Francis Crick.
I don't know too much about molecular biology, but this abstract looked interesting:
Four-stranded DNA structure stabilized by a novel G:C:A:T tetrad
Huh? He passed away last night, and it wasn't in most news sources until today. I suppose it could have been a little faster, but the turnaround time still seems reasonable.
(FYI, I'm the guy who submitted the article, at around 3pm Pacific time)
>Give me a folding device with screens on both halves so I can hold it in my hand and "flip pages" instead of just scrolling text.
Here's an idea: an eBook reader for the new dual-screen GameBoy.
After all, if the government doesn't protect and care for our children, who will?
The SQL databases can be downloaded here, and the current revisions are 633MB, small enough to be put on a single CD. Anybody is more than welcome to use one of the existing scripts to convert this to static HTML, then print out the results.
Anyone care to calculate how many sheets of paper this would take, and how much time?
If you're concerned about compression speed, you may want to take a look at LZO. It's got incredibly fast compression, and even faster decompression. I think it was even used on the Mars Rovers.