They don't know exactly where it will intersect Earth's orbit, but they do know, within an hour or two when it will cross our path. At that time of day (or night, whatever) the Pacific Ocean will be more or less facing the direction the asteroid's coming from. Given the size of the Pacific it's reasonably likely that if the asteroid does hit Earth, it'll be somewhere there.
Scientists may also have an idea of the latitude or longitude it will hit, narrowing the window further.
Terminal guidance, to correct for any unknowns that perturb the tragectory while in flight.
You're right -- these things will need to have some sort of self correcting behaviour, because otherwise they will be damned inaccurate. The projectile pops up under insane acceleration to around 95 miles, then screams back down to earth at a similar speed. It's been a few years since I did any physics or maths, but it seems to me that given the length of the trajectory the gun would have to be extraordinarily precise to hit its target, and that's not counting the no-so-insignificant fact of several layers of atmosphere. What would the effect of a slight breeze 10 miles up be?
If the gun can only do this ten times per day I think the target might be able to make evasive action in the meantime.
The next question would be, how would it adjust its own course?
Providing for one's minor children and/or dependent spouse is a noble and admirable goal, which should be supported by keeping copyrights valid for some term after the creator's death if he has dependents... but not a term so long that every person who even knew the creator is dead before it expires.
I agree with this completely. I knew someone who took a year off work in order to research and write a book. He had enough put away to care for his family for the year, and his job was left open for him if the book didn't take off. He finished a draft of the book and sent a copy to a publishing company for comment... then had a heart attack and died. It turned out that that draft was the only copy in existence. The electronic copy sat on a nicely encrypted hard drive in his laptop.
If copyright expired at death his family would have been left with a little bit of life insurance and potentially nothing else. The publisher would have had a great deal --- an edited version of the draft for publication would probably count as a derivative work and thus they would own the copyright on the book, with no need to pay the author.
As it happened, the publishing company were great. They published the book and promised the author's widow a double royalty cheque for the first five years after publication.
Funnily enough, Phil Ruddock is a member of Amnesty International, and will frequently be seen wearing his membership badge. AI really aren't that happy about it all.
Remember, though, that metamoderators are subject to the same groupthink as everyone else. Quite a few times when moderating I've modded posts up because they are genuinely insightful --- well thought out, argued properly, backed up by solid evidence, and presenting a side to the argument no one in the last hundred posts has managed --- yet I'll completely disagree with them. This is what moderation is all about --- rewarding good comments, even if you disagree with them.
It really is frustrating when a MM bitchslaps me because of it. If I'd modded the post '+1 Correct' I'd probably deserve it, but folk should do a little work when MMing to judge if a mod is fair or not.
I don't know if anyone else has seen this, but I have memory issues with FF if two conditions are met:
1) The browser has been open for several days (this isn't always necessary, but it seems to make the problem more obvious); and
2) I run memory intensive apps on my computer -- eg edit a 100 MB image in the GIMP or run an apt-get upgrade.
If I do these things, FF slows to an unbearable crawl. Shutting it down and refiring fixes all. (BTW I'm running Debian Sid, 256 MB Ram and a Gig or so of swap.)
It's compulsory if you're on the electoral roll, but it's quite legal to not be on the electoral roll.
I'm not so sure about this. AFAIK it's not mandatory to be enrolled for Federal elections, but it is mandatory to be registered for most State elections (and there's only one register). Once you're registered you can't deregister, and if you're registered you have to vote, whether it's Federal, State or even some local Councils.
Pick any day of the year where someone isn't working and let me know when that is.
In Australia there are a number of polling booths at strategic locations during the week before the election so people who can't vote on Saturday (work, travel, religious issues, sleeping in etc) still have an opportunity. As well as that you have the option of casting a postal vote, although that must be applied for some time before the election.
I bet that his company is also doing work for American companies.
Maybe, maybe not. The UK company itself may be contracting for a USA company. They might (but probably not!) be contracting for an Indian company.
And if not his company there are lots of other indian companies that are, so why help them out when they are stealing our jobs.
Ah, there's your point. He's Indian, therefore he's ripping me off. Even if he's not doing it to me personally, he's guilty by fact of his employment in India.
Of course, he's just doing his job. Blame US companies and the politicians who let outsourcing happen if you can't get work in your field.
Maybe he should be outsourcing to us to solve his problems.
True. Actually, looking at the question he could probably outsource to his twelve year old nephew for even less. This article is a good example for PHBs looking to outsource---it's a lot easier to verify that staff in your own building are competent than someone on the other side of the world who doesn't even seem to have the infrastructure necessary to get the work done.
This one really gets Native Tasmanians going. True, there don't seem to be any left of non-mixed descent, but horny white sealers made damned sure the race didn't die out completely. There are still quite a few Tasmanian Aborigines in Tasmania today, and they get really upset when they get told they don't exist.
Slashdot Mirror
They don't know exactly where it will intersect Earth's orbit, but they do know, within an hour or two when it will cross our path. At that time of day (or night, whatever) the Pacific Ocean will be more or less facing the direction the asteroid's coming from. Given the size of the Pacific it's reasonably likely that if the asteroid does hit Earth, it'll be somewhere there.
Scientists may also have an idea of the latitude or longitude it will hit, narrowing the window further.
Terminal guidance, to correct for any unknowns that perturb the tragectory while in flight.
You're right -- these things will need to have some sort of self correcting behaviour, because otherwise they will be damned inaccurate. The projectile pops up under insane acceleration to around 95 miles, then screams back down to earth at a similar speed. It's been a few years since I did any physics or maths, but it seems to me that given the length of the trajectory the gun would have to be extraordinarily precise to hit its target, and that's not counting the no-so-insignificant fact of several layers of atmosphere. What would the effect of a slight breeze 10 miles up be?
If the gun can only do this ten times per day I think the target might be able to make evasive action in the meantime.
The next question would be, how would it adjust its own course?
I'm still trying to figure out what an 'experimental animal' is.
Providing for one's minor children and/or dependent spouse is a noble and admirable goal, which should be supported by keeping copyrights valid for some term after the creator's death if he has dependents... but not a term so long that every person who even knew the creator is dead before it expires.
I agree with this completely. I knew someone who took a year off work in order to research and write a book. He had enough put away to care for his family for the year, and his job was left open for him if the book didn't take off. He finished a draft of the book and sent a copy to a publishing company for comment... then had a heart attack and died. It turned out that that draft was the only copy in existence. The electronic copy sat on a nicely encrypted hard drive in his laptop.
If copyright expired at death his family would have been left with a little bit of life insurance and potentially nothing else. The publisher would have had a great deal --- an edited version of the draft for publication would probably count as a derivative work and thus they would own the copyright on the book, with no need to pay the author.
As it happened, the publishing company were great. They published the book and promised the author's widow a double royalty cheque for the first five years after publication.
Funnily enough, Phil Ruddock is a member of Amnesty International, and will frequently be seen wearing his membership badge. AI really aren't that happy about it all.
that the conspiracy theorists may not be the ones that most people would expect.
So... what you're saying is that it's the conspiracy theorists who did it? Of course, it's so clear now!
1996 called and wants its rewriting of the news back.
None.
Oh crap...
Dude, do you know what alliteration is?
Remember, though, that metamoderators are subject to the same groupthink as everyone else. Quite a few times when moderating I've modded posts up because they are genuinely insightful --- well thought out, argued properly, backed up by solid evidence, and presenting a side to the argument no one in the last hundred posts has managed --- yet I'll completely disagree with them. This is what moderation is all about --- rewarding good comments, even if you disagree with them.
/. gets it's editors!
It really is frustrating when a MM bitchslaps me because of it. If I'd modded the post '+1 Correct' I'd probably deserve it, but folk should do a little work when MMing to judge if a mod is fair or not.
Then again, maybe that's how
I don't know if anyone else has seen this, but I have memory issues with FF if two conditions are met:
1) The browser has been open for several days (this isn't always necessary, but it seems to make the problem more obvious); and
2) I run memory intensive apps on my computer -- eg edit a 100 MB image in the GIMP or run an apt-get upgrade.
If I do these things, FF slows to an unbearable crawl. Shutting it down and refiring fixes all. (BTW I'm running Debian Sid, 256 MB Ram and a Gig or so of swap.)
It's compulsory if you're on the electoral roll, but it's quite legal to not be on the electoral roll.
I'm not so sure about this. AFAIK it's not mandatory to be enrolled for Federal elections, but it is mandatory to be registered for most State elections (and there's only one register). Once you're registered you can't deregister, and if you're registered you have to vote, whether it's Federal, State or even some local Councils.
Pick any day of the year where someone isn't working and let me know when that is.
In Australia there are a number of polling booths at strategic locations during the week before the election so people who can't vote on Saturday (work, travel, religious issues, sleeping in etc) still have an opportunity. As well as that you have the option of casting a postal vote, although that must be applied for some time before the election.
I bet that his company is also doing work for American companies.
Maybe, maybe not. The UK company itself may be contracting for a USA company. They might (but probably not!) be contracting for an Indian company.
And if not his company there are lots of other indian companies that are, so why help them out when they are stealing our jobs.
Ah, there's your point. He's Indian, therefore he's ripping me off. Even if he's not doing it to me personally, he's guilty by fact of his employment in India.
Of course, he's just doing his job. Blame US companies and the politicians who let outsourcing happen if you can't get work in your field.
Maybe he should be outsourcing to us to solve his problems.
True. Actually, looking at the question he could probably outsource to his twelve year old nephew for even less. This article is a good example for PHBs looking to outsource---it's a lot easier to verify that staff in your own building are competent than someone on the other side of the world who doesn't even seem to have the infrastructure necessary to get the work done.
How is an Indian doing work for a UK company taking jobs away from the US? If anyone should be annoyed, it's the British.
True. I always wondered when we'd get to see the Tribute Edition of the Crocodile Hunter. I never seriously thought it would be this soon.
Perhaps this story would be more appropriately entitled...
In Soviet Cyberspace, Slashdot pays you!
The form asks where you are on census mnight, and it also asks your usual address.
They even have people hunting around outside for those living on the street to make sure they don't get missed either.
...And so on in the same vein. Okay, it doesn't ask for your IP address, but it still asks a bit!
No, the GP was right. God doesn't have to equal religion.
Funny you say that. I'm a preacher (not CoE though) and I use Emacs for writing my sermons.
I always thought of August 2 as my wife's birthday.
Oh, crap...
Truganini was the last Tasmanian.
This one really gets Native Tasmanians going. True, there don't seem to be any left of non-mixed descent, but horny white sealers made damned sure the race didn't die out completely. There are still quite a few Tasmanian Aborigines in Tasmania today, and they get really upset when they get told they don't exist.
A good argument for matrilinealism!
And I never said I was one of them, so no defensiveness intended!
No, just the angry, belligerent, and or annoying ones.