Are the/. trolls tools of Iraqi intelligence? Is the USDoD planning on bombing/. for supplying military assisstance to Iraq? Are those who mod down "Beowulf cluster" posts working for the CIA? Will Saddam also begin stockpiling nude statues of Natalie P*rtman? Will the Iraqis realize the military potential of hot grits?
Hubble actually does have the capability of imaging planets in the solar system. In fact, that's exactly what the WF/PC2 (Wide Field/Planetary Camera gen. 2) is for. There are some stunning images that Hubble has taken of several solar system bodies, including the Shoemaker-Levy 9 encounter with Jupiter.
>Maud'dib - doesn't mean 'messiah'. Maybe they were thinking of the Kwisatz Haderach?
They weren't saying "Muad'dib" in the street, they were saying "Mahdi", which does mean messiah (or something similar - any Islamic/.'ers care to comment?)
So they find a new species of bacteria, and they assume its alien? The only reasonable basis for such an assumption is if the bacterium displayed obviously alien charachteristics (e.g. silicon-based instead of carbon-based chemistry). This screams bad science, and I'll be surprised if we see this published in a peer-reviewed journal.
Re:I have read all of Dune, and also enjoy these..
on
Dune: House Harkonnen
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· Score: 1
No-ships? In the Dune prequels? According to the original series, no-[ships/chambers] were developed during the reign of the God-Emperor, long after Paul was dead. I was thinking of reading these, but now I know for certain that it would be a mistake.
Just a minor nit - GP hulls were impervious to everything except light and...
GRAVITY!
In the story Neutron Star, this exact weakness in exposed in explicit detail. Why do I remember this one short story? Thank my physics teacher who had us calculate the difference in g between the protagonists' head and feet.
Anyway, having a GP hull would do us no good for exploring a Neutron Star.
As a network engineer for a major broadband ISP, I can speak firsthand of the problems when "Joe User" connects. Granted, 99.99% have (and cause) no problems. However, that.01% are the cause of 99% of the security problems that we deal with. It's gotten to the point where I track new RedHat releases by when certain markets go offline due to misconfigured boxes, hax0rd machines, and the mass launching of DoS attacks from compromised machines. Just like any powerful tool (e.g. - a firearm) a certain amount of responsibility is required to use it safely. Just like you shouldn't buy a gun without making sure that it can be stored safely in a secure location (making it as difficult as possible for it to be used maliciously or irresponsibly), buying a broadband connection should require the consumer to think about how to secure and properly configure _any_ computer (Linux, Win[$num], Solaris, BeOS, whatever) that they will be hooking up.
I'm glad I'm not the only one to catch this flub. Disney mangling the classics is bad enough.When you make a reference like this, make sure you check that it's valid.
Re:Cloning for the Layman...
on
TigerCloning
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· Score: 1
Like what would Lincoln say if he were alive today?
I'm pretty sure he would say either, "Why is it so dark in here?" or, "Let me out! Let me OUT! LET ME OUT!!!"
Interesting how the personal choppers designed by a fictional sociopathic flower and a aerospace company with help from NASA seem to look very similar to one another.
Re:Sheesh - oxygen will kill you. So will air.
on
Caffeine Vault
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· Score: 1
>Breath plain old air at 300feet, and you will die.
Huh?
I've climbed a 14000+ft. mountainwith no ill effects. Are you maybe thinking of 300psi?
Frankenstein was the name of the doctor. The monster has no name. He is simply Frankenstein's monster. Please don't perpetuate the myth of the creature having a name.
Speaking as a network admin/engineer/monkey, this behaviour does not surprise me. Many times when we lose a T1 line, there's a problem getting the local telco (LEC) to respond in a timely manner. We can yell at the telco we actually bought the line from until we can't breathe, but we can do nothing to the local telcos except ask the main carrier to continue to escalate the issue with them. On the few occasions where we have directly contacted the LEC because of a problem isolated to their portion of the circuit, we've been rebuffed since we're not the main carrier company. This sort of behaviour is perfectly normal for a local telco. If I had to go with DSL, I'd either go with a company I worked for, or directly from the local telco to make service calls less of a problem.
Replace the SDRAM on these puppies with the NVORAM being developed by Ovonyx Technologies, as described in this Slashdot article from 5/24. That would solve the volatility problem and (IMHO) the problem of having to buy 8Gb of high-performance DIMMs.Granted, I'd rather see the tech using a standard HDD interface (SCSI, IDE, DMA/66, etc.) than being available only for swapfile.
I'm sitting here laughing myself silly reading about the "Standoff Hypersonic Missle with Attack Capability". This is a weapon that will have a range of >1000 nautical miles and be deliverable by land launch, conventional aircraft launch (B-52, F-15E, etc.), or by launch from the "Supersonic/Hypersonic Attack Aircraft". The official USAF acronym for the aircraft is "SHAAFT" (can ya dig it?). The missle is called "SHMAC". There is a line in the report that has just caused me to go into convulsions:
"In short, there will be no escaping the oncoming SHMAC."
I'm glad to see that the people working on this had some sense of humor. I'd like to see anyone talk about SHAAFT dropping a SHMAC on the enemy and keep a straight face.
At first, this looks like a silly idea, using directed photons to counteract gravity. But, as shown by Einstein's mass-energy equivalence equation (E=mc^2), but expanded to include an object's momentum (p):
(p^2 * c^2)-E^2=-m^2 * c^4
Then we solve it for mass:
-(SQRT((p^2 * c^2)-E^2)/c^4)=m
Shows that a highly energetic photon _can_ have some mass. The problem is that the energy need is so high that any really significant change in the local measure of (g) would take enormous amounts of energy, most likely needing a direct-conversion reactor to genereate any usable mass. To give some scale to this, the fission of a single U-235 nucleus gives off enough energy to set off a mousetrap. And remember, a fissioned nucleus is not completely consumed. Only a small fraction of the mass is converted into energy. For a device like this to work, we would need to generate more energy than has been produced throughout all of human civilisation.
Since I first saw him in that show, I've been thinking how perfect he would be as Hiro in a Snow Crash movie. As for the length of the book, I'd like to see it done as Lucas says Star Wars was done. Take one huge story, and break it up into managable chunks, making each chunk its own movie. The only problem is I can't really remember a point where things slow down enough to wait for the sequel...
Anyone else care to check in on actor choices and/or how to deal with the size without causing massive CRC errors in the story?
Speking as one of those lucky few techies who has to be "On-site, and fully capable of making rational decisions" (from the memo those of us working Dec. 31-Jan. 1 got) I would liek to say the following.
Just as a side note, "Benji" was closer to the original Starship Troopers than that crappo Space-Marine-90210 flick that Hollywood belched out. I live for the day that anyone else acquires the rights to the book and makes a decent movie which at least attempts to get it right.
Slashdot Mirror
Are the /. trolls tools of Iraqi intelligence? Is the USDoD planning on bombing /. for supplying military assisstance to Iraq? Are those who mod down "Beowulf cluster" posts working for the CIA? Will Saddam also begin stockpiling nude statues of Natalie P*rtman? Will the Iraqis realize the military potential of hot grits?
Hubble actually does have the capability of imaging planets in the solar system. In fact, that's exactly what the WF/PC2 (Wide Field/Planetary Camera gen. 2) is for. There are some stunning images that Hubble has taken of several solar system bodies, including the Shoemaker-Levy 9 encounter with Jupiter.
>Maud'dib - doesn't mean 'messiah'. Maybe they were thinking of the Kwisatz Haderach?
/.'ers care to comment?)
They weren't saying "Muad'dib" in the street, they were saying "Mahdi", which does mean messiah (or something similar - any Islamic
So they find a new species of bacteria, and they assume its alien? The only reasonable basis for such an assumption is if the bacterium displayed obviously alien charachteristics (e.g. silicon-based instead of carbon-based chemistry). This screams bad science, and I'll be surprised if we see this published in a peer-reviewed journal.
No-ships? In the Dune prequels? According to the original series, no-[ships/chambers] were developed during the reign of the God-Emperor, long after Paul was dead. I was thinking of reading these, but now I know for certain that it would be a mistake.
Just a minor nit - GP hulls were impervious to everything except light and...
GRAVITY!
In the story Neutron Star, this exact weakness in exposed in explicit detail. Why do I remember this one short story? Thank my physics teacher who had us calculate the difference in g between the protagonists' head and feet.
Anyway, having a GP hull would do us no good for exploring a Neutron Star.
As a network engineer for a major broadband ISP, I can speak firsthand of the problems when "Joe User" connects. Granted, 99.99% have (and cause) no problems. However, that .01% are the cause of 99% of the security problems that we deal with. It's gotten to the point where I track new RedHat releases by when certain markets go offline due to misconfigured boxes, hax0rd machines, and the mass launching of DoS attacks from compromised machines. Just like any powerful tool (e.g. - a firearm) a certain amount of responsibility is required to use it safely. Just like you shouldn't buy a gun without making sure that it can be stored safely in a secure location (making it as difficult as possible for it to be used maliciously or irresponsibly), buying a broadband connection should require the consumer to think about how to secure and properly configure _any_ computer (Linux, Win[$num], Solaris, BeOS, whatever) that they will be hooking up.
I'm glad I'm not the only one to catch this flub. Disney mangling the classics is bad enough.When you make a reference like this, make sure you check that it's valid.
Like what would Lincoln say if he were alive today?
I'm pretty sure he would say either, "Why is it so dark in here?" or, "Let me out! Let me OUT! LET ME OUT!!!"
I seem to recall a Bob the Angry Flower cartoon about this...
Ah! Here it is.
Interesting how the personal choppers designed by a fictional sociopathic flower and a aerospace company with help from NASA seem to look very similar to one another.
>Breath plain old air at 300feet, and you will die.
Huh?
I've climbed a 14000+ft. mountainwith no ill effects. Are you maybe thinking of 300psi?
From the last two paragraphs:
"Frankenstein was right when he told his doctor-creator that it was a sin to create things one doesn't take any responsibility for."
and
"'How dare you sport thus with life?' asks Frankenstein of his creator..."
He is clearly identifying the monster as Frankenstein. Just one of those minor things that really fscking bugs me.
Frankenstein was the name of the doctor. The monster has no name. He is simply Frankenstein's monster. Please don't perpetuate the myth of the creature having a name.
Here is the IETF working draft of the protocol. Lots of good info on the architecture of the protocol.
Speaking as a network admin/engineer/monkey, this behaviour does not surprise me. Many times when we lose a T1 line, there's a problem getting the local telco (LEC) to respond in a timely manner. We can yell at the telco we actually bought the line from until we can't breathe, but we can do nothing to the local telcos except ask the main carrier to continue to escalate the issue with them. On the few occasions where we have directly contacted the LEC because of a problem isolated to their portion of the circuit, we've been rebuffed since we're not the main carrier company. This sort of behaviour is perfectly normal for a local telco. If I had to go with DSL, I'd either go with a company I worked for, or directly from the local telco to make service calls less of a problem.
Replace the SDRAM on these puppies with the NVORAM being developed by Ovonyx Technologies, as described in this Slashdot article from 5/24. That would solve the volatility problem and (IMHO) the problem of having to buy 8Gb of high-performance DIMMs.Granted, I'd rather see the tech using a standard HDD interface (SCSI, IDE, DMA/66, etc.) than being available only for swapfile.
"In short, there will be no escaping the oncoming SHMAC."
I'm glad to see that the people working on this had some sense of humor. I'd like to see anyone talk about SHAAFT dropping a SHMAC on the enemy and keep a straight face.
Yes, but it would take an infinite amount of energy to counteract the mass-increasing effects of lightspeed, so we're right back where we started.
I'm really waaaaaay too tired to be posting right now, but that's the centrifugal effect, which acts counter to the centripital force.
(QUIBBLE_MODE=0)
At first, this looks like a silly idea, using directed photons to counteract gravity. But, as shown by Einstein's mass-energy equivalence equation (E=mc^2), but expanded to include an object's momentum (p):
(p^2 * c^2)-E^2=-m^2 * c^4
Then we solve it for mass:
-(SQRT((p^2 * c^2)-E^2)/c^4)=m
Shows that a highly energetic photon _can_ have some mass. The problem is that the energy need is so high that any really significant change in the local measure of (g) would take enormous amounts of energy, most likely needing a direct-conversion reactor to genereate any usable mass. To give some scale to this, the fission of a single U-235 nucleus gives off enough energy to set off a mousetrap. And remember, a fissioned nucleus is not completely consumed. Only a small fraction of the mass is converted into energy. For a device like this to work, we would need to generate more energy than has been produced throughout all of human civilisation.
Nice use of Bryce, tho...
Hiro - Christopher Judge (Teal'c on Stargate-SG1)
Since I first saw him in that show, I've been thinking how perfect he would be as Hiro in a Snow Crash movie. As for the length of the book, I'd like to see it done as Lucas says Star Wars was done. Take one huge story, and break it up into managable chunks, making each chunk its own movie. The only problem is I can't really remember a point where things slow down enough to wait for the sequel...
Anyone else care to check in on actor choices and/or how to deal with the size without causing massive CRC errors in the story?
It has begun - Current time across the international date line is 00:01, Jan 1, 2000.
Welcome to the New Year!
Wohoo!
Speking as one of those lucky few techies who has to be "On-site, and fully capable of making rational decisions" (from the memo those of us working Dec. 31-Jan. 1 got) I would liek to say the following.
Ahem.
THHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHPPPPPPPPPPPPPPT!
Cheers!
Just as a side note, "Benji" was closer to the original Starship Troopers than that crappo Space-Marine-90210 flick that Hollywood belched out. I live for the day that anyone else acquires the rights to the book and makes a decent movie which at least attempts to get it right.
I thought these cretins all committed seppuku when Segfault stopped accepting comments and write-in votes. Don't let it happen here!