Re:Pressure, not temperature, range
on
Ice Lake on Mars
·
· Score: 1
It's a combination of pressure and temperature. Consider: It's highly unlikely that there will be any sublimation going on at zero pressure and 1,000,000 degrees C as you can't have frozen water at that temperature, no matter what the pressure is.
If you bought this game for your son or daughter under the age of seventeen, then you should have known this.
Yes, but the original rating was M for Mature, meaning anyone under 17 had to have a parent or guardian's permission to have the game. This means it was legal for Rockstar Games to sell the game to minors with permission. However, for explicit sexual content you must be 18 or older. By the description (I haven't seen it myself) it would probably be classified as pornography, making it illegal to sell to minors (it would no longer be up to a permissive guardian). Originally selling the game with an M rating when in fact it could be classified as pornography could actually be a rather serious issue for Rockstar Games.
Sublimnate is the word that describes the phase change from solid to gas without going through the liquid phase. This applies to all substances. There is usually a temperature range where a solid will sublimnate straight to a gas instead on melt then boil. Carbon dioxide (as well as most substances that we normally consider a gas) just happens to not have a liquid range at any temperature under low pressure (Earth atmosphere or below). Water, on the other hand, has a distince sublimation temperature range and a distinct liquid range in Earth normal (and Mars normal) pressure conditions.
You probably have water sublimating in your very own house, in fact. We call it freezer burn.
Re:Why is this important?
on
Ice Lake on Mars
·
· Score: 2, Informative
Likewise if humans were going to set up a permanent presence on Mars, they'd probably want to do it near the equator, where the cold wouldn't be so devastating.
Hmm, I would think that a difference of 50 degrees (-50 C vs. -100 C) would not be as much of a problem as being near to vs. far away from your life sustaining ice supply. Which is why everyone has been thinking that the first base should be at the south pole. However, craters like this would certainly expand the possibilities and make a base near the equator more practical...
With, technically it could be done today. Practically speaking, it will probably take 30 plus years.
Without, hundreds if not thousands of years. And by that time we (as a continually developing technological species) will probably outgrow the need for a planet to live on (or destroy ourselves first)...
Nice pictures. I think the article has one thing wrong, though. It should be possible for the ice to sublimate away above -103 F on Mars. Unless, of course this particular crater never gets that hot...
Heh, nothing like learning something new. I've been reading up on it and I think what I've seen in the past is a note in a patent pending where something is not shown because of the trade secret claim. Here is the explanation I found on one site under "Comparing patents and trade secrets":
"If the only patent being sought is a United States patent, then the decision to give up trade secrets to obtain a patent is not, at present, an irreversible one. The reason for this is that a U.S. patent application is kept secret by the U.S. Patent Office until such time as a patent issues. At any point prior to payment of the issue fee, an applicant could is permitted to abandon the patent application, in which case it would remain secret thereafter.
One should keep in mind, however, that the U.S. Patent Office has announced its plans to start a program of publishing patent applications 18 months after filing, thus coming into harmony with the majority of countries having patent systems. This change, if implemented, puts the U.S. applicant in the same position as applicants in other countries, having to make a decision whether to seek a patent or rely on trade secret protection.
At such time as the patent issues, it reveals to the public any and all trade secrets that are contained within it.[...]"
So, you are right that once the patent is issued, the trade secret status would be lost. However, it's also true (at least for the moment) that the trade secret status must be preserved until the patent is issued, at least in the US. (this description, by the way, is from 1993, so it may already be out of date.)
Interesting. Maybe a patent should require a real product available in a reasonable period of time, at a price within the bounds of the general market or the patent holder would lose the patent. Heh, I like that idea.
Patents that include trade secrets can be covered, too. The first level review process would need to exclude the trade secret information. The research would still be valid up to a point. Then the patent office would have to take over for a more thorough review.
Would need to address abuse of the system by applicants claiming a trade secret simply to keep their patent application details hidden a bit longer...
A fundamental change will be required to deal with the ever increasing volume of patent applications. I would suggest some form of first level open community review is needed for a first round of patent research and possible elimination based on prior art (you know, as in the Bazaar part of The Cathedral and the Bazaar)...that, and of course outlaw patents on ideas implemented purely by software.
Of course, to have a public review of a patent application the applicant would need protection against someone stealing the idea before the patent was issued.
Totally inaccurate introduction
on
IE7 Bugs and Reviews
·
· Score: 5, Informative
The Slashdot introduction says "This is not IE 6 with a few features borrowed from the competition, but rather a clear step in the evolution of user-centric design."
I'm sorry but that is about as wrong as it can be. Every single "new" feature mentioned in the article is already present in every other browser that I know of as a built-in feature or an add-on. This refresh of IE is clearly borrowed from the competition. Unless IE7 includes more changes than what was mentioned in the article, it will still be behind the day it comes out in Vista/Longhorn.
This is Gramps again...a number of people have pointed out the inclusion of new functionality in the basic IM program and you (yes, YOU) have been chosen to host my response (cause you sound like a young whippersnapper to me)...
Just because they have borrowed some ideas from other technologies doesn't mean that IM, i.e. instant messaging, is the same as email. Instant messaging with the capability of storing and forwarding messages to people who were not online at the time the message was created is basically an IM and rudamentary email program combined. It's a cool idea but then again it's no longer instant (or interactive), is it...
It's just a tabbed dialog box revisited, moving the tabs to the side of the window and stretching them out to the height of the page. Looks nice but they will still have a problem if there are too many tabs needed...
IM is for conversation, email is for documentation.
IM is for communication in real-time, email is for communication any time.
IM is for communication with someone online, email is for communication with someone online or offline.
IM is for temporary messaging, email is for permanent messaging.
IM is for instant messaging, email is for persistent messaging.
As a group, teens have more time to sit and chat than adults, hence the preference for IMing friends. IM is just the electronic equivalent of hanging out at the mall.
The only way it would work as a process is if every foreigner dutifully keeps their document during their whole stay in the US. What if you lose your paper? Any penalty? And exactly what does the RFID chip accomplish? Everyone still has to check in and check out. So it makes it more convenience for the border patrol? If you are a terrorist, are you going to carry an RFID chip just to make the border patrol's job easier? Why not steal someone else's chip? Does the process compare the RFID data with their other papers? If not, it doesn't matter what chip you have as long as you have one. And this program costs $500,000 annually per criminal that has been nabbed to date? Wow.
Plant an RFID chip in every person and track their movements over their entire life so that it's easier to identify them once they die. Makes sense to me...
Actually, this would be ok as long as the chip DIDN'T respond until you died...but I don't think it is possible to engineer that requirement with today's technology. Besides that, if you get blown up the chip is only going to identify the body part where it resides. Of course, if it resides in a critical body part and that part is no longer attached to the rest of you body then it would probably be safe to assume you were dead...
I followed your instructions for the www.mandrivalinux.com site and they work. However...it is interesting to note I have been searching the www.mandriva.com site. So, www.mandrivalinux.com vs. www.mandriva.com
The www.mandriva.com is the main site (I assume) and there is no link that I can find to the free versions. The www.mandrivalinux.com site is the old Mandrake site, and it looks like they are moving everything to the other site (slowly to be sure). Is the issue that they are simply in a transition, or are they deliberately allowing the free version to fall off the site?
Regardless, the buy first then try is prevalent throughout their site. Even the support knowledge base requires a club membership (which is not free). On the support forums, you can browse the entries manually but to search the forums you (again) have to have a club membership.
I'll add to my own post here: Apparently the free download version is called "Download Edition". Regardless, searching for "Download Edition" turns up no links.
Starting from the www.mandriva.com page, searching turns up 19 links (mostly FAQs) that mention the free download edition but provide no links. Then from the main page, clicking on "Mandriva Club" then "Downloads" you get to two links that look promising but are not...
The link "Download Mandriva Linux Distributions" gives a web page where every link leads back to buying a version of Mandriva or joining the Mandriva Club (for no less than $66 annually).
The link "Mirrors / Mirrors-list" leads you to a different page with the same link issue as the first. The only difference is that the "Download Edition" is mentioned but no link is provided.
After searching their web site for a good while, as far as I can tell you cannot find the link to the free download by searching. It is out there but if you don't already know where it is you can't find it.
Easy enough to say without proof. Show me the clicks required to find the free version from their main page. A person looking to try Mandriva only sees "Buy now!" plastered everywhere. Even searching doesn't bring it up. To add insult to injury, they even try to get you to buy the free version. Searching for "limited" and "download", I quote from the web site: "If you like keeping one release ahead of the crowd, you've reached your nirvana!
Mandriva Club members have privileged access to the newest system from Mandriva, including some bonuses. Learn what club members get and why you should subscribe right now! Subscribe to Mandriva Club | Purchase Limited Edition 2005"
Slashdot Mirror
It's a combination of pressure and temperature. Consider: It's highly unlikely that there will be any sublimation going on at zero pressure and 1,000,000 degrees C as you can't have frozen water at that temperature, no matter what the pressure is.
If you bought this game for your son or daughter under the age of seventeen, then you should have known this.
Yes, but the original rating was M for Mature, meaning anyone under 17 had to have a parent or guardian's permission to have the game. This means it was legal for Rockstar Games to sell the game to minors with permission. However, for explicit sexual content you must be 18 or older. By the description (I haven't seen it myself) it would probably be classified as pornography, making it illegal to sell to minors (it would no longer be up to a permissive guardian). Originally selling the game with an M rating when in fact it could be classified as pornography could actually be a rather serious issue for Rockstar Games.
Nice link.
Sublimnate is the word that describes the phase change from solid to gas without going through the liquid phase. This applies to all substances. There is usually a temperature range where a solid will sublimnate straight to a gas instead on melt then boil. Carbon dioxide (as well as most substances that we normally consider a gas) just happens to not have a liquid range at any temperature under low pressure (Earth atmosphere or below). Water, on the other hand, has a distince sublimation temperature range and a distinct liquid range in Earth normal (and Mars normal) pressure conditions.
You probably have water sublimating in your very own house, in fact. We call it freezer burn.
Likewise if humans were going to set up a permanent presence on Mars, they'd probably want to do it near the equator, where the cold wouldn't be so devastating.
Hmm, I would think that a difference of 50 degrees (-50 C vs. -100 C) would not be as much of a problem as being near to vs. far away from your life sustaining ice supply. Which is why everyone has been thinking that the first base should be at the south pole. However, craters like this would certainly expand the possibilities and make a base near the equator more practical...
With or without self supplied life support?
With, technically it could be done today. Practically speaking, it will probably take 30 plus years.
Without, hundreds if not thousands of years. And by that time we (as a continually developing technological species) will probably outgrow the need for a planet to live on (or destroy ourselves first)...
Nice pictures. I think the article has one thing wrong, though. It should be possible for the ice to sublimate away above -103 F on Mars. Unless, of course this particular crater never gets that hot...
Heh, nothing like learning something new. I've been reading up on it and I think what I've seen in the past is a note in a patent pending where something is not shown because of the trade secret claim. Here is the explanation I found on one site under "Comparing patents and trade secrets":
"If the only patent being sought is a United States patent, then the decision to give up trade secrets to obtain a patent is not, at present, an irreversible one. The reason for this is that a U.S. patent application is kept secret by the U.S. Patent Office until such time as a patent issues. At any point prior to payment of the issue fee, an applicant could is permitted to abandon the patent application, in which case it would remain secret thereafter.
One should keep in mind, however, that the U.S. Patent Office has announced its plans to start a program of publishing patent applications 18 months after filing, thus coming into harmony with the majority of countries having patent systems. This change, if implemented, puts the U.S. applicant in the same position as applicants in other countries, having to make a decision whether to seek a patent or rely on trade secret protection.
At such time as the patent issues, it reveals to the public any and all trade secrets that are contained within it.[...]"
So, you are right that once the patent is issued, the trade secret status would be lost. However, it's also true (at least for the moment) that the trade secret status must be preserved until the patent is issued, at least in the US. (this description, by the way, is from 1993, so it may already be out of date.)
You are a victim of the Slashdot good ol boy's club...been there myself.
Yes, but there are patents issued which have trade secrets attached (and the trade secret is not revealed), right? Anyway, I think it's possible...
Interesting. Maybe a patent should require a real product available in a reasonable period of time, at a price within the bounds of the general market or the patent holder would lose the patent. Heh, I like that idea.
Patents that include trade secrets can be covered, too. The first level review process would need to exclude the trade secret information. The research would still be valid up to a point. Then the patent office would have to take over for a more thorough review.
Would need to address abuse of the system by applicants claiming a trade secret simply to keep their patent application details hidden a bit longer...
A fundamental change will be required to deal with the ever increasing volume of patent applications. I would suggest some form of first level open community review is needed for a first round of patent research and possible elimination based on prior art (you know, as in the Bazaar part of The Cathedral and the Bazaar)...that, and of course outlaw patents on ideas implemented purely by software.
Of course, to have a public review of a patent application the applicant would need protection against someone stealing the idea before the patent was issued.
The Slashdot introduction says "This is not IE 6 with a few features borrowed from the competition, but rather a clear step in the evolution of user-centric design."
I'm sorry but that is about as wrong as it can be. Every single "new" feature mentioned in the article is already present in every other browser that I know of as a built-in feature or an add-on. This refresh of IE is clearly borrowed from the competition. Unless IE7 includes more changes than what was mentioned in the article, it will still be behind the day it comes out in Vista/Longhorn.
New stuff? Oh, you mean new to IE...
Geek oxymoron...girl friend...
This is Gramps again...a number of people have pointed out the inclusion of new functionality in the basic IM program and you (yes, YOU) have been chosen to host my response (cause you sound like a young whippersnapper to me)...
Just because they have borrowed some ideas from other technologies doesn't mean that IM, i.e. instant messaging, is the same as email. Instant messaging with the capability of storing and forwarding messages to people who were not online at the time the message was created is basically an IM and rudamentary email program combined. It's a cool idea but then again it's no longer instant (or interactive), is it...
It's just a tabbed dialog box revisited, moving the tabs to the side of the window and stretching them out to the height of the page. Looks nice but they will still have a problem if there are too many tabs needed...
IM is for conversation, email is for documentation.
IM is for communication in real-time, email is for communication any time.
IM is for communication with someone online, email is for communication with someone online or offline.
IM is for temporary messaging, email is for permanent messaging.
IM is for instant messaging, email is for persistent messaging.
As a group, teens have more time to sit and chat than adults, hence the preference for IMing friends. IM is just the electronic equivalent of hanging out at the mall.
Barcode, across your forehead...
The only way it would work as a process is if every foreigner dutifully keeps their document during their whole stay in the US. What if you lose your paper? Any penalty? And exactly what does the RFID chip accomplish? Everyone still has to check in and check out. So it makes it more convenience for the border patrol? If you are a terrorist, are you going to carry an RFID chip just to make the border patrol's job easier? Why not steal someone else's chip? Does the process compare the RFID data with their other papers? If not, it doesn't matter what chip you have as long as you have one. And this program costs $500,000 annually per criminal that has been nabbed to date? Wow.
Plant an RFID chip in every person and track their movements over their entire life so that it's easier to identify them once they die. Makes sense to me...
Actually, this would be ok as long as the chip DIDN'T respond until you died...but I don't think it is possible to engineer that requirement with today's technology. Besides that, if you get blown up the chip is only going to identify the body part where it resides. Of course, if it resides in a critical body part and that part is no longer attached to the rest of you body then it would probably be safe to assume you were dead...
I followed your instructions for the www.mandrivalinux.com site and they work. However...it is interesting to note I have been searching the www.mandriva.com site. So, www.mandrivalinux.com vs. www.mandriva.com
The www.mandriva.com is the main site (I assume) and there is no link that I can find to the free versions. The www.mandrivalinux.com site is the old Mandrake site, and it looks like they are moving everything to the other site (slowly to be sure). Is the issue that they are simply in a transition, or are they deliberately allowing the free version to fall off the site?
Regardless, the buy first then try is prevalent throughout their site. Even the support knowledge base requires a club membership (which is not free). On the support forums, you can browse the entries manually but to search the forums you (again) have to have a club membership.
I'll add to my own post here: Apparently the free download version is called "Download Edition". Regardless, searching for "Download Edition" turns up no links.
Starting from the www.mandriva.com page, searching turns up 19 links (mostly FAQs) that mention the free download edition but provide no links. Then from the main page, clicking on "Mandriva Club" then "Downloads" you get to two links that look promising but are not...
The link "Download Mandriva Linux Distributions" gives a web page where every link leads back to buying a version of Mandriva or joining the Mandriva Club (for no less than $66 annually).
The link "Mirrors / Mirrors-list" leads you to a different page with the same link issue as the first. The only difference is that the "Download Edition" is mentioned but no link is provided.
After searching their web site for a good while, as far as I can tell you cannot find the link to the free download by searching. It is out there but if you don't already know where it is you can't find it.
Easy enough to say without proof. Show me the clicks required to find the free version from their main page. A person looking to try Mandriva only sees "Buy now!" plastered everywhere. Even searching doesn't bring it up. To add insult to injury, they even try to get you to buy the free version. Searching for "limited" and "download", I quote from the web site: "If you like keeping one release ahead of the crowd, you've reached your nirvana! Mandriva Club members have privileged access to the newest system from Mandriva, including some bonuses. Learn what club members get and why you should subscribe right now! Subscribe to Mandriva Club | Purchase Limited Edition 2005"