Excellent observation, and one that almost everybody tends to gloss over when discussing radioactivity. I like to remind people that carbon dating is a very specific use of the measurement of half-life and remaining volatility, something that's measured (in that isotope) in MILLIONS of years. Hell, humans are mildly radioactive - but the carbon based compounds that inhabit US, again, have half-lives so extensive that it's not worth measuring or talking about. Hey, enjoy THAT panic attack.
Plans and regulations changed because of the 'low-bid' mode the DOE, and every other government agency, operates under. The prime contractor for the operation of the Hanford site has changed at least a dozen times in the past 30 years. Granted, it might be because some of them didn't recognize what they were getting into, but still, it's impossible to develop a long term plan when to the DOE, long-term means a 5 year contract. Hanford is a very big deal - we're not talking about spent fuel pools here, where the bean counters know exactly what's stored in there. These containers are un-labeled, and the guys who had any clue what was in them are long gone. It's a mess, there's no arguing that, but just talking about it, which is what they've been doing for the past 30 years, isn't going to solve the problem.
That was the purpose of Savannah River. They were going to reprocess all the high-level waste into useful fuel for power generation. Unfortunately, what with the panicky regulations and excessive costs involved in anything that says 'nuclear', they've decided that the project won't be continued. The other issue is that while yes, some of the stuff we're talking about is still capable of generating heat, the majority of the decay is now harmful radiation. The heat generated is not on a level which permits it to be harnessed for any useful purpose. It would still suck to have it melt down, but after you shield it to the point where the harmful radiation is negated, you've absorbed all the heat with the shield.
This argument has been going on for years. On one hand, the DOE keeps changing the rules for vitrification, and processing, and keeps the shell game going at Hanford. On the other hand, they've shut down the Savannah River reclamation project, and mothballed Yucca Mountain. So, we keep kicking the can down the road, and in the meantime, the storage containers that currently exist at Hanford are getting older and more subject to decay and leakage. It's going to take another crisis for them to make a definitive plan - but I don't know why I expect anything less....
I wish I had mod points. Well, stated, Sir. The unfortunate fact, though, is that when you pull aside that curtain to reveal the Wizard, you recognize that in each case, it's the same wizard. Content production and delivery are controlled by a small handful of mega-corporations, and what's happening here is pretty much what everyone has begged for since time immemorial - a la carte programming! You want Disney? pay Disney. You want WB? pay WB. You want ESPN? pay ESPN. The advantage to cable service was that they handled all the accounts payable for the different content providers, then streamed it all on one wire. Yeah, you had to pay for shit you didn't wanna see, but how else were they going to fund 'The Curling Channel? Wait until some stuffed shirt at one of the big media companies realizes that they can fragment it even FURTHER. True 'a la carte' would be you paying $1.67 PER CHANNEL for the 30 different streams you want to subscribe to. Yes, that's 30 different bills a month. Hell, yes, cable starts to look good then, doesn't it? Be careful what you ask for.....
I have a Roku TV. The Roku UI provides a search function, which will tell me if the content I want is available on the popular streaming services, and for what price. When we decide we want to watch something, that's the first stop. If it's free on one of the services to which we subscribe (Netflix, Hulu, Prime), that's where we watch it. If it's not free, my next stop is usually the public library. I live in a mid-major city, so our library has copies of damn near everything you'd ever want to see. Sometimes it takes two whole days for the DVD package to be delivered to my local branch (1/4 mile away, closer than the nearest RedBox). As old as I am, I remember making the choice of 'do I pay for this at the theater or wait til it comes out on TV?' Most of the time, TV won out, so I'm patient enough to wait a few months for the latest and greatest movies to get to the library. I suppose if it were a dire need (HA!) I could fire up an instance of Kodi and stream it, but patience usually wins out.
Unless the laws of physics have been suspended in the last 40 years, I have vivid memory of the Apollo missions, when orbiting the Moon, 'going dark' while on the far side. Unless somebody has learned how to transmit radio waves through soil, I don't understand how a spacecraft on the dark side can send images or data. Is there a geosynchronous repeater somewhere that they're bouncing signals through?
Instead of arguing about the merits of Disney IP being in or out of the public domain, why not make the copyright law useful? In the case of a company who is still exploiting their rights (Disney, etc.) to IP created FOREVER ago, let's require that the copyright be RENEWABLE - for a fee, to maintain ownership of the IP. That way, abandonware, old images, stuff that people are no longer monetizing can become public domain the way the original law was intended, and the leeches, erm, copyright owners who have an interest in continued monetizing of a brand or trademark after say, 50 years, can renew that lease and continue the practice. It's a win-win - another revenue stream for the gub'mint and a way to make the law work correctly. To avoid the patent/copyright trolls, you'd need to prove that you were monetizing the brand or trademark in a way other than litigation, but I think it'd work.
The PBX at my place of employment takes care of the business calls. Business associates who have my cell phone number are already in my address book so I can identify them when they call, and I answer those. I have a relatively small family, and all of their phone numbers are ALSO in my address book, making caller ID work well for them, too. Unless it's Publisher's Clearinghouse calling me to figure out where to drop off that big check, anybody else is an unwanted call. Whether that's bill collectors, telemarketers, or politicos, if they're not in my book, they can talk to my voicemail. Furthermore, the majority of my interaction with my family members is through text messaging anyway, since those are 'auto-delayed' if I'm busy. If I'm in a meeting, and you call, I won't answer the phone, and if you don't leave a voicemail (the new definition of ghost-knocking - extremely rude) I will NOT call you back. If you text me with 'hey, got a minute' chances are you'll get a response as soon as I'm free. Eventually the bastards will all switch to SMS messaging. I'm already getting those, but again, it's auto-delayed, and I can immediately block the originating number if it's bullshit, so it's a one shot for them. In any case, telemarketing is going the way of the fax machine. It's a relic of a much older age that has reached it's saturation point, and it's just a matter of time before the industry either evolves or dies.
What Sigma 7 is referring to, is that if you know the solution already (the discovery of which requires that you complete at least the majority of the puzzles in the game) you can reach the end game in mere moments. I've demonstrated that exact process to my children when they became disillusioned with the puzzles - just to get the game over with.
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That said, I completed the original Myst game after about 2 weeks of exploring and figuring things out, then moved on to the sequels. It's an acquired taste, and not something that I would ever suggest to anybody who lives for Halo or GTA. I loved the mental challenges, and the backstory is also kinda neat. There are entire books (a trilogy) describing the world of Myst and its connections to present day. But, it's not for everybody.
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The folks at Ubisoft have released the 25th anniversary edition already, we've got it, and have played it (looks awesome on a 4k TV) but it's still the same game. You either love it or it drives you nutz.
I did this years ago when working for an ISP. Put together a BSD box as a gateway, configured it to maintain an always-on PPTP connection to my free-because-I-was-an-employee dialup account, put in a couple of network cards, configured the routing internally, and had 3 computers sharing one dialup connection. Yeah, it was horribly slow, but it was free, and at the time (new baby, crappy tech support job, etc.) that's what we could afford. I don't know that I'd go through the trouble just to download a program guide from Tivo, though....
The super intelligent are often burdened by seeing the suffering of others, and being unable to help, such that we sometimes end up giving all we have to try to help others. Even knowing we cannot save them. Be glad you don't have to live this way.
And today, of all days, I don't have mod points. This is the best mix of sarcasm, condescension, and vitriol I have read in a long time. I salute you, Sir/Madam!
We have the same practice. I subscribe to HBO only when GoT is on, I subscribe to the higher tier of PSVue only during baseball season, so I can get my regional sports network, etc. In thinking about it, though, we're probably one of the households they mean by 'nickel and dimed to death' - Amazon Prime, Netflix, PSVue, and hulu subscriptions, on top of $70 a month for 100mb down probably just about equals what I'd pay for cable. BUT - the 'dvr' function on PSVue allows me to watch 'recorded' shows anywhere, without a cable box. So I like this arrangement much better....
"Had this been a real alert, you would all be dead by now"
"Had this been a real alert, the sound you just heard would be followed by screaming, wailing, and the sounds of vehicles rapidly leaving the area"
"Had this been a real alert, do you really think we'd warn YOU?"
Yes. Unless you are locked inside your home with no connection to the outside world, 'THEY' are going to find out shit about you. Privacy is an illusion.
Sorry, out of mod points, but I agree 100%. Since time immemorial (or at least the ARPANet days) anything linked to, posted on, or traversing the public network was just that, PUBLIC. Any appearance of a guarantee of privacy for anything you type on a network-connected device just contributes to your delusion. If it's been typed on a keyboard, scanned via QR-code, or entered on a keypad somewhere, it's available to anyone who wants to go to the effort of obtaining it. Since privacy is now non-existent, instead of trying to legislate us back to where we were in 1980, make REAL regulations, with some kind of consequences, for the use of our information for purposes which (and I like the way you put that) are not essential to the service provision. Of course, we all know that's not going to happen, either....
The summary repeatedly calls this an 'experiment' - does that also indicate that at some point, these nameservers will be disabled / changed / removed in the guise of 'science'? Since TANSTAAFL, I find it difficult to believe that even Cloudflare (who makes buckets of money in other ways) is just going to give away this service forever. I know, THEY'RE GATHERING DATA - if you're that concerned about the crap you post on the internet, you either need to re-evaluate your exposure or just cut your ethernet cable entirely....
During my last replacement cycle I specifically purchased a Samsung J7 (S7 was the 'top of the line' at the time) BECAUSE the J7 has a replaceable battery and a plastic back cover. I'm just clumsy enough that a cell phone surrounded by breakable glass really didn't sound like a good idea, and I like having the option to service items which I feel competent to service on my own.
I recognize that there are numerous articles, videos, and the like which trivialize battery replacement on these devices, much the same as they trivialize replacing a shattered screen. I choose to make my life as easy as possible on my own.
The differences between the S7 and J7 are not significant to me (less GPS function, no IR remote, shit like that) and the phone has been perfectly suitable.
Disclaimer: I'm a 57 year old ham operator, so I'm not usually lured by the 'ooh shiny' of the latest technology anyway. Oh, and GET OFF MY LAWN!
4-prong telephone jack on the kitchen wall, with a 40-lb ITT phone that really RANG, and a home phone number that started with WEbster-3. AND you had to listen closely before dialing, because the folks across the street (on our party line) might be using the phone....
That's where the Roku shines - I can use their search function to look at all the available - legal - streams for a specific show or movie, sorted by how much they would cost me to watch. With the three services to which I subscribe, I can always find something, but sometimes some of the specific stuff (I said earlier that I'm OLD, I look for older TV shows and movies regularly) just isn't available on the normal services. That's when the Kodi box comes in handy, and I guess if somebody wants to bitch at me for watching a show that hasn't been on the air since the 70's, they can deal with me laughing at them.
I have several options when it comes to consuming video content: I have and external antenna on my home, a Roku device with Netflix and Amazon Prime accounts, Playstation Vue for 'cable' channels, a Plex server on my network, AND a 'Kodi box'. The Kodi system is my absolute LAST choice when it comes to finding something to watch. Yeah, there are all sorts of 'pirate-like' add ons for Kodi that will allow me to search for, select, and (maybe) stream content. The selection process is cumbersome, the streams are unreliable at best, and the entire 'pirate' system is a kludge which reminds me - showing my advanced age here - of what AOL did to IRC - put a fancy GUI in front of it, call it a proprietary spec, and 'dumb down' the userbase. The guys at TPB are laughing in their beer over the crap that's been foisted on people because nobody is willing to look under the hood and recognize what's going on. Yep - I can download the same content in minutes, throw it on the Plex server, and not have to worry about lag, bad streams, changing network conditions, or whatever. Bittorrent (in this usage) is no less illegal, and it's a hell of a lot more reliable. Not to mention that fully 95% of the content I want to watch is available to stream from LEGAL sources within 24-48 hours after it's released anyway....
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Excellent observation, and one that almost everybody tends to gloss over when discussing radioactivity. I like to remind people that carbon dating is a very specific use of the measurement of half-life and remaining volatility, something that's measured (in that isotope) in MILLIONS of years. Hell, humans are mildly radioactive - but the carbon based compounds that inhabit US, again, have half-lives so extensive that it's not worth measuring or talking about. Hey, enjoy THAT panic attack.
Looks like somebody forgot to use their tag
Plans and regulations changed because of the 'low-bid' mode the DOE, and every other government agency, operates under. The prime contractor for the operation of the Hanford site has changed at least a dozen times in the past 30 years. Granted, it might be because some of them didn't recognize what they were getting into, but still, it's impossible to develop a long term plan when to the DOE, long-term means a 5 year contract. Hanford is a very big deal - we're not talking about spent fuel pools here, where the bean counters know exactly what's stored in there. These containers are un-labeled, and the guys who had any clue what was in them are long gone. It's a mess, there's no arguing that, but just talking about it, which is what they've been doing for the past 30 years, isn't going to solve the problem.
That was the purpose of Savannah River. They were going to reprocess all the high-level waste into useful fuel for power generation. Unfortunately, what with the panicky regulations and excessive costs involved in anything that says 'nuclear', they've decided that the project won't be continued. The other issue is that while yes, some of the stuff we're talking about is still capable of generating heat, the majority of the decay is now harmful radiation. The heat generated is not on a level which permits it to be harnessed for any useful purpose. It would still suck to have it melt down, but after you shield it to the point where the harmful radiation is negated, you've absorbed all the heat with the shield.
This argument has been going on for years. On one hand, the DOE keeps changing the rules for vitrification, and processing, and keeps the shell game going at Hanford. On the other hand, they've shut down the Savannah River reclamation project, and mothballed Yucca Mountain. So, we keep kicking the can down the road, and in the meantime, the storage containers that currently exist at Hanford are getting older and more subject to decay and leakage. It's going to take another crisis for them to make a definitive plan - but I don't know why I expect anything less....
I wish I had mod points. Well, stated, Sir. The unfortunate fact, though, is that when you pull aside that curtain to reveal the Wizard, you recognize that in each case, it's the same wizard. Content production and delivery are controlled by a small handful of mega-corporations, and what's happening here is pretty much what everyone has begged for since time immemorial - a la carte programming! You want Disney? pay Disney. You want WB? pay WB. You want ESPN? pay ESPN. The advantage to cable service was that they handled all the accounts payable for the different content providers, then streamed it all on one wire. Yeah, you had to pay for shit you didn't wanna see, but how else were they going to fund 'The Curling Channel? Wait until some stuffed shirt at one of the big media companies realizes that they can fragment it even FURTHER. True 'a la carte' would be you paying $1.67 PER CHANNEL for the 30 different streams you want to subscribe to. Yes, that's 30 different bills a month. Hell, yes, cable starts to look good then, doesn't it? Be careful what you ask for.....
I have the antenna, I still need the DVR - where can I find this elusive OTA DVR for $35.
I have a Roku TV. The Roku UI provides a search function, which will tell me if the content I want is available on the popular streaming services, and for what price. When we decide we want to watch something, that's the first stop. If it's free on one of the services to which we subscribe (Netflix, Hulu, Prime), that's where we watch it. If it's not free, my next stop is usually the public library. I live in a mid-major city, so our library has copies of damn near everything you'd ever want to see. Sometimes it takes two whole days for the DVD package to be delivered to my local branch (1/4 mile away, closer than the nearest RedBox). As old as I am, I remember making the choice of 'do I pay for this at the theater or wait til it comes out on TV?' Most of the time, TV won out, so I'm patient enough to wait a few months for the latest and greatest movies to get to the library. I suppose if it were a dire need (HA!) I could fire up an instance of Kodi and stream it, but patience usually wins out.
Thank you
Unless the laws of physics have been suspended in the last 40 years, I have vivid memory of the Apollo missions, when orbiting the Moon, 'going dark' while on the far side. Unless somebody has learned how to transmit radio waves through soil, I don't understand how a spacecraft on the dark side can send images or data. Is there a geosynchronous repeater somewhere that they're bouncing signals through?
Instead of arguing about the merits of Disney IP being in or out of the public domain, why not make the copyright law useful? In the case of a company who is still exploiting their rights (Disney, etc.) to IP created FOREVER ago, let's require that the copyright be RENEWABLE - for a fee, to maintain ownership of the IP. That way, abandonware, old images, stuff that people are no longer monetizing can become public domain the way the original law was intended, and the leeches, erm, copyright owners who have an interest in continued monetizing of a brand or trademark after say, 50 years, can renew that lease and continue the practice. It's a win-win - another revenue stream for the gub'mint and a way to make the law work correctly. To avoid the patent/copyright trolls, you'd need to prove that you were monetizing the brand or trademark in a way other than litigation, but I think it'd work.
The PBX at my place of employment takes care of the business calls. Business associates who have my cell phone number are already in my address book so I can identify them when they call, and I answer those. I have a relatively small family, and all of their phone numbers are ALSO in my address book, making caller ID work well for them, too. Unless it's Publisher's Clearinghouse calling me to figure out where to drop off that big check, anybody else is an unwanted call. Whether that's bill collectors, telemarketers, or politicos, if they're not in my book, they can talk to my voicemail. Furthermore, the majority of my interaction with my family members is through text messaging anyway, since those are 'auto-delayed' if I'm busy. If I'm in a meeting, and you call, I won't answer the phone, and if you don't leave a voicemail (the new definition of ghost-knocking - extremely rude) I will NOT call you back. If you text me with 'hey, got a minute' chances are you'll get a response as soon as I'm free. Eventually the bastards will all switch to SMS messaging. I'm already getting those, but again, it's auto-delayed, and I can immediately block the originating number if it's bullshit, so it's a one shot for them. In any case, telemarketing is going the way of the fax machine. It's a relic of a much older age that has reached it's saturation point, and it's just a matter of time before the industry either evolves or dies.
What Sigma 7 is referring to, is that if you know the solution already (the discovery of which requires that you complete at least the majority of the puzzles in the game) you can reach the end game in mere moments. I've demonstrated that exact process to my children when they became disillusioned with the puzzles - just to get the game over with. - That said, I completed the original Myst game after about 2 weeks of exploring and figuring things out, then moved on to the sequels. It's an acquired taste, and not something that I would ever suggest to anybody who lives for Halo or GTA. I loved the mental challenges, and the backstory is also kinda neat. There are entire books (a trilogy) describing the world of Myst and its connections to present day. But, it's not for everybody. - The folks at Ubisoft have released the 25th anniversary edition already, we've got it, and have played it (looks awesome on a 4k TV) but it's still the same game. You either love it or it drives you nutz.
I did this years ago when working for an ISP. Put together a BSD box as a gateway, configured it to maintain an always-on PPTP connection to my free-because-I-was-an-employee dialup account, put in a couple of network cards, configured the routing internally, and had 3 computers sharing one dialup connection. Yeah, it was horribly slow, but it was free, and at the time (new baby, crappy tech support job, etc.) that's what we could afford. I don't know that I'd go through the trouble just to download a program guide from Tivo, though....
The super intelligent are often burdened by seeing the suffering of others, and being unable to help, such that we sometimes end up giving all we have to try to help others. Even knowing we cannot save them. Be glad you don't have to live this way.
And today, of all days, I don't have mod points. This is the best mix of sarcasm, condescension, and vitriol I have read in a long time. I salute you, Sir/Madam!
We have the same practice. I subscribe to HBO only when GoT is on, I subscribe to the higher tier of PSVue only during baseball season, so I can get my regional sports network, etc. In thinking about it, though, we're probably one of the households they mean by 'nickel and dimed to death' - Amazon Prime, Netflix, PSVue, and hulu subscriptions, on top of $70 a month for 100mb down probably just about equals what I'd pay for cable. BUT - the 'dvr' function on PSVue allows me to watch 'recorded' shows anywhere, without a cable box. So I like this arrangement much better....
"Had this been a real alert, you would all be dead by now" "Had this been a real alert, the sound you just heard would be followed by screaming, wailing, and the sounds of vehicles rapidly leaving the area" "Had this been a real alert, do you really think we'd warn YOU?"
I guess.... at least it keeps /. trolls from calling my house at all hours of the night
Yes. Unless you are locked inside your home with no connection to the outside world, 'THEY' are going to find out shit about you. Privacy is an illusion.
Sorry, out of mod points, but I agree 100%. Since time immemorial (or at least the ARPANet days) anything linked to, posted on, or traversing the public network was just that, PUBLIC. Any appearance of a guarantee of privacy for anything you type on a network-connected device just contributes to your delusion. If it's been typed on a keyboard, scanned via QR-code, or entered on a keypad somewhere, it's available to anyone who wants to go to the effort of obtaining it. Since privacy is now non-existent, instead of trying to legislate us back to where we were in 1980, make REAL regulations, with some kind of consequences, for the use of our information for purposes which (and I like the way you put that) are not essential to the service provision. Of course, we all know that's not going to happen, either....
The summary repeatedly calls this an 'experiment' - does that also indicate that at some point, these nameservers will be disabled / changed / removed in the guise of 'science'? Since TANSTAAFL, I find it difficult to believe that even Cloudflare (who makes buckets of money in other ways) is just going to give away this service forever. I know, THEY'RE GATHERING DATA - if you're that concerned about the crap you post on the internet, you either need to re-evaluate your exposure or just cut your ethernet cable entirely....
During my last replacement cycle I specifically purchased a Samsung J7 (S7 was the 'top of the line' at the time) BECAUSE the J7 has a replaceable battery and a plastic back cover. I'm just clumsy enough that a cell phone surrounded by breakable glass really didn't sound like a good idea, and I like having the option to service items which I feel competent to service on my own. I recognize that there are numerous articles, videos, and the like which trivialize battery replacement on these devices, much the same as they trivialize replacing a shattered screen. I choose to make my life as easy as possible on my own. The differences between the S7 and J7 are not significant to me (less GPS function, no IR remote, shit like that) and the phone has been perfectly suitable. Disclaimer: I'm a 57 year old ham operator, so I'm not usually lured by the 'ooh shiny' of the latest technology anyway. Oh, and GET OFF MY LAWN!
4-prong telephone jack on the kitchen wall, with a 40-lb ITT phone that really RANG, and a home phone number that started with WEbster-3. AND you had to listen closely before dialing, because the folks across the street (on our party line) might be using the phone....
That's where the Roku shines - I can use their search function to look at all the available - legal - streams for a specific show or movie, sorted by how much they would cost me to watch. With the three services to which I subscribe, I can always find something, but sometimes some of the specific stuff (I said earlier that I'm OLD, I look for older TV shows and movies regularly) just isn't available on the normal services. That's when the Kodi box comes in handy, and I guess if somebody wants to bitch at me for watching a show that hasn't been on the air since the 70's, they can deal with me laughing at them.
I have several options when it comes to consuming video content: I have and external antenna on my home, a Roku device with Netflix and Amazon Prime accounts, Playstation Vue for 'cable' channels, a Plex server on my network, AND a 'Kodi box'. The Kodi system is my absolute LAST choice when it comes to finding something to watch. Yeah, there are all sorts of 'pirate-like' add ons for Kodi that will allow me to search for, select, and (maybe) stream content. The selection process is cumbersome, the streams are unreliable at best, and the entire 'pirate' system is a kludge which reminds me - showing my advanced age here - of what AOL did to IRC - put a fancy GUI in front of it, call it a proprietary spec, and 'dumb down' the userbase. The guys at TPB are laughing in their beer over the crap that's been foisted on people because nobody is willing to look under the hood and recognize what's going on. Yep - I can download the same content in minutes, throw it on the Plex server, and not have to worry about lag, bad streams, changing network conditions, or whatever. Bittorrent (in this usage) is no less illegal, and it's a hell of a lot more reliable. Not to mention that fully 95% of the content I want to watch is available to stream from LEGAL sources within 24-48 hours after it's released anyway....