This incident popped in my head when I first read this article, too. An interesting difference about this situation is that, in the case of SJ, the Secret Service seemed to be acting on its own against against a game company; this time, the FBI and the judicial system appear to be acting on behalf of a game company.
Just goes to show you: we geeks are finally taking over the system.:-D
Privatization is a huge step in the evolution of any technology. Commercialization of the web is an obvious example of this: the growth of the Internet and Internet-related technologies after it was accessible by the common citizen is orders of magnitude greater than it was before. People are excited here 1) the same type of growth should soon be evidenced in the field of aerospace, and 2) the technology will soon be accessible to the common person.
Oh, and I dispute the claim that the aviation technology is not that different. The craft's "feathered" mode of gliding will provide a much safer means of atmospheric re-entry than any previous reusable spacecraft has had, and its on-board avionics are exceptionally advanced.
Talk of hypersonic flight and trips from "San Francisco to London in under two hours" is nothing new. Over a decade ago, the late NASA/DOD National Aerospace Plane project (NASP) promised to deliver a craft capable of suborbital, hypersonic flight for use in both military and commercial transport, but was cancelled in 1993 due to technical issues and cost overruns.
Maybe HyperSoar can deliver where NASP failed, maybe not. But I'll wait until the project produces a working prototype before I get my hopes up; as the Economist article points out, "HyperSoar is little more than an idea".
Sure, recent events between China and Taiwan have escalated recently, but it's not like affairs between the two countries have been all sunshine and light over the past half-century. Any company that is dependent upon trade from either country and is only worried *now* about hostilities erupting between the two nations should have done a little bit more homework on current events in the region before setting up shop.
This is yet another of a long list of examples of how businesses can be myopic when it comes to any factor beyond "the bottom line".
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Clearly, the TSA person in question was an typical U.S. citizen. ;-)
In addition, I'd argue that most true scripting languages are interpreted rather than compiled, so executable size may not be an applicable metric.
I once had to work in Newark.
Beat that.
This incident popped in my head when I first read this article, too. An interesting difference about this situation is that, in the case of SJ, the Secret Service seemed to be acting on its own against against a game company; this time, the FBI and the judicial system appear to be acting on behalf of a game company. Just goes to show you: we geeks are finally taking over the system. :-D
Privatization is a huge step in the evolution of any technology. Commercialization of the web is an obvious example of this: the growth of the Internet and Internet-related technologies after it was accessible by the common citizen is orders of magnitude greater than it was before. People are excited here 1) the same type of growth should soon be evidenced in the field of aerospace, and 2) the technology will soon be accessible to the common person. Oh, and I dispute the claim that the aviation technology is not that different. The craft's "feathered" mode of gliding will provide a much safer means of atmospheric re-entry than any previous reusable spacecraft has had, and its on-board avionics are exceptionally advanced.
Talk of hypersonic flight and trips from "San Francisco to London in under two hours" is nothing new. Over a decade ago, the late NASA/DOD National Aerospace Plane project (NASP) promised to deliver a craft capable of suborbital, hypersonic flight for use in both military and commercial transport, but was cancelled in 1993 due to technical issues and cost overruns. Maybe HyperSoar can deliver where NASP failed, maybe not. But I'll wait until the project produces a working prototype before I get my hopes up; as the Economist article points out, "HyperSoar is little more than an idea".
Sure, recent events between China and Taiwan have escalated recently, but it's not like affairs between the two countries have been all sunshine and light over the past half-century. Any company that is dependent upon trade from either country and is only worried *now* about hostilities erupting between the two nations should have done a little bit more homework on current events in the region before setting up shop. This is yet another of a long list of examples of how businesses can be myopic when it comes to any factor beyond "the bottom line".