"Anyway, it will be a long time before you couldn't tell the difference. And when lab-diamonds can be made with arbitrary colour, size, and crystal strucuture, the easy way to tell the difference is the LACK of any natural imperfections."
Then the highest quality "natural" diamonds would be indistinguishable from manufactured diamonds, then, right? So if I bring in my auntie's flawless 2Ct diamond to be assessed, and it's too perfect, it will be branded "synthetic"? I don't think so.
"Artificial diamonds tend to be produced in labs where they are all produced similarly, without much variety in (or any good way to control) the colour."
That sentence is self contradictory. If manufactured diamonds are all produced similarly, without much variety in color, doesn't that mean that there _is_ control over the color? Add a dopant and instead of making a colorless diamond, it will be _any shade_ of blue, yellow, or green or even pink. We already know how to dope crystals while growing them, it's what makes semiconductors and the computer on your desk possible.
Indeed, fine control over process is what makes diamond films and windows possible. Point to any "imperfection" needed to be a "natural" and I put it to you that it can, and will, be done.
It's no longer "cutting edge" science (pun intended). It's more of an engineering task these days, to make diamonds.
"mt. washington is worse; but does it have all the required industry infrastructure in a nearby region that would make scientific research feasible? no point going up there if you can't overnight fedex yourself something from a lab nearby.."
First off, I was disputing the point the OP said about North Dakota having the "worst weather in the contiguous 48", which it doesn't, by far. And secondly, Mount Washington isn't exactly remote. Due to a freak of geology, it's a relatively high peak surrounded by much lower mountains while also being subjected to one of the most common storm tracks in North America. So you have "The World's Worst Weather" within driving range of every halfwit who wants to "go climb a mountain"
The "problem" with Mount Washington is that it's very accessible, - which is why it's so heavily travelled and drives the park rangers nuts. It's only 160 miles from Boston driving highway all the way. As for logistics, there's a _road_ that goes up all the way to the top. If you ever need to weather test something within the driving range of a major university, Mount Washington is your baby.
Falls: 41 Hypothermia: 29 "Natural Causes" i.e., heart attacks and other distress: 17 Avalanches: 11 Aircraft deaths: 10 Rail (ALL) related: 9 Falling ice: 5 Slideboards: 4 (Prohibited after 1919) "Carriages" horse-drawn and auto: 2 Disappearances: 1 (on original page) Murder: 1 (on original page -since 2002-) 2 falls, one hypothermia.
I don't know about you but I count hypothermia being second to falls. That doesn't seem like "very few" to me. Very few to me comes under "slideboards" "carriages" and murders.
Er, "artificial" diamonds are just as real as "real" diamonds. It's a face-centered cubic carbon crystal lattice whether transported up from the mantle by geological forces or manufactured.
DeBeers will give you all sorts of fud saying that they will eventually have a process for telling the difference between the two, but they won't. Ever.
Goddamn, the moderators were on crack. However, I am meta-moderating, and bitchslapping the SOB who has never heard of dear Arlo, Alice, Fasha the dog, and the 27 8 by 10 color glossy photographs (and a paragraph on the back of each one sayin' what each one was).
Pffft! North Dakota weather is positively TEMPERATE compared to the place that has a sign that reads:
US Forest Service
STOP
THE AREA AHEAD HAS THE WORST WEATHER IN AMERICA. MANY HAVE DIED THERE FROM EXPOSURE, EVEN IN THE SUMMER. TURN BACK NOW IF THE WEATHER IS BAD.
Mount Washington has hurricane force winds and sub-freezing temperatures _every month of the year_. The highest wind speed over land ever recorded was measured from the summit at 231MPH before the anemometer was destroyed. The number of days of hurricane force winds average 110 days/year. In January, that means every 3 out of 4 days.
"I'm still trying to findout why in the hell they are so expensive... I'd have one right now if it was around 18,000"
Because in the British Car Tradition, the frames and other bits are hand built/low volume machined and hand assembled. That's why. No mass production there.
Someone back there mentioned fuel efficiency: it'd be more efficient on the highway than your Civic if not driven by an arsehole.
"It's pretty cool, but I'd rather have a bike, personally."
I have a bike. My argument was that if I was going to blow the thousands on a so-called green car (which really only just moves the pollution back to the generating facility, most likely meaning you're burning dead dinosaurs anyway), which is almost as expensive as the Ariel, I'd take the Ariel and the horsepower of a 4 banger Honda engine. TYVM.
I do have a bicycle, btw. Cannondale 800 Flat Bar. Egg beaters. Ksyrium Elite wheels. Brooks Pro saddle. Zoom Zoom. I'd probably be dead without it.
Its engine is the Honda 2.0 litre Vtec engine. Fast _and_ economical (It's a 4 banger, after all). If I was to blow an equivalent wad of cash on an impractical car like that mentioned in TFA that has half its value in the silly _battery pack_, I'd much rather spend it on something _fun_ and impractical.
And it's not a good name. I'd hate to be his neighbor. Are you suggesting that Westchester county ask for vigilante^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H volunteer network scanners? How about we ask that your neighbors check to see if you're violating any of the "laws of nature" in your bedroom?
The ability of OS/2 to run Windows applications decimated the number of OS/2 developers (and the way IBM treated developers was the other reason), because why write for two platforms when you can write for just one?
"Could Novell/Oracle really afford to have the thousands of enthusiests jump ship?"
I did. I did when Novell made noises that they were going to stop supporting KDE on SuSE. I still haven't seen <b>any</b> reason to go back. This latest development made it crystal clear to me that I should plan on not ever going back. With Oracle in the mix, there will be even more cooks to spoil the broth, and this Novell/SuSE broth has become pretty nasty as it is.
Heh. I'm not sure if that's a record for me using the f-bomb.
"Proper education about water quality would increase demand for water filtration and hygene, still sound like a bad idea?"
No not at all but the point is that giving everyone microcomputers is going to solve the world's problems is, from my POV, naive at best and horribly more expensive than educational programs in the native language over SW radio.
BTW, one of the worst problems is _getting_ potable water. Indeed, in Bangladesh, getting water without arsenic is almost an exercise in futility for many due to the geology of the area. Education programs, that get people to filter water through 3 or 4 layers of cloth to filter out the majority of the parasites go a long way.
I don't think the other poster would make it to two weeks on stream water, though, before gastroenteritis hit him.
Who needs computers to teach literacy? Last I checked, books were still required for reading classes. Not everything in the world is On The Internets(tm), and I might wager that the bulk of literary wealth out there will probably _never_ be digitized, because of "intellectual property rights."
Right now, we've got a paradox in the US. We throw tons of money at education, put computers in classrooms, yet have problems with getting kids to read. Literacy has nothing to do with technology. Go read some Emerson.
"You know, for someone who likes to mock people for being uninformed, you sure get a lot of facts wrong."
Oh to hell with it.
Flame on:
If people like you would actually even listen to the fucking BBC World Service (and even that is a big fucking filter), read a few books, and possibly even travel to some of the countries we're talking about, maybe you'd have half a clue. If one has no electricity or fucking clean water, then a fucking computer is the fucking farthest from your fucking mind and that maybe other issues, like food preservation, medication storage - IF YOU HAVE ACCESS to a fucking doctor, and being able to fill your rice bowl with some protein are probably on the top of your priorities.
But no. _You_ live in your own little insulated fucking world surrounded by the _wealth_ of things like bloody MP3 players (I don't have one! Horrors! and my phone doesn't have a camera! Oh what the fuck shall I ever do!), and think that you'll solve the world's problems if you'll just fucking give everyone microcomputers! Wow! How the fuck did the modern world FUCKING EXIST before FUCKING 1976 if microcomputers are so fucking important? Eh? I tell you what. Go without your fucking computer for two weeks. See if you're still alive. Then get your computer back and try going 2 weeks without clean water. Go ahead, get water out of the fucking stream near you with no filtering. See if you can tough it out for 2 weeks drinking water from a stream and not getting sick.
"Now, teachers will be assisted by those computers, so they will be able to educate much more children than without."
Prove it. Show me any study that has shown that computers in the classroom improve literacy. People become literate by reading and writing. The more one does of both, the more one becomes literate. People don't need computers for this, and quite frankly, have done quite well without computers for millennia. In the United States, we have no shortage of computers, yet we have a pretty bad literacy problem here.
To butcher Betty Freidan: Literacy needs computers like a fish needs a bicycle.
" Maybe it was cool to you, but most kids in your class thought it was lame"
No, actually most kids in my school _did not have computers_ at all! Like I said, you weren't there. You're not old enough to witness the transformation from _not_ having computers to _having_ them. Even the lowest powered machine, something on the order of a Kaypro luggable (talk about rugged!) suitcase computer can give culture shock.
"but solving this other problem would be even better!"
It would! Give them teachers, books, literacy, and a stable society and the rest will take care of itself. You'll then _get_ electricity for things like refrigeration (ooh!) for food and drugs, and to be able to power, of all things, computers.
"It will have much longer range transmission than regular WiFi"
It will? Where does it say that? It takes electricity to drive radio waves, there, and the more distance needed to communicate, the more power you need.
"The laptop is going to be distributed for free by governments and NGOs"
Slashdot Mirror
"Anyway, it will be a long time before you couldn't tell the difference. And when lab-diamonds can be made with arbitrary colour, size, and crystal strucuture, the easy way to tell the difference is the LACK of any natural imperfections."
Then the highest quality "natural" diamonds would be indistinguishable from manufactured diamonds, then, right? So if I bring in my auntie's flawless 2Ct diamond to be assessed, and it's too perfect, it will be branded "synthetic"? I don't think so.
"Artificial diamonds tend to be produced in labs where they are all produced similarly, without much variety in (or any good way to control) the colour."
That sentence is self contradictory. If manufactured diamonds are all produced similarly, without much variety in color, doesn't that mean that there _is_ control over the color? Add a dopant and instead of making a colorless diamond, it will be _any shade_ of blue, yellow, or green or even pink. We already know how to dope crystals while growing them, it's what makes semiconductors and the computer on your desk possible.
Indeed, fine control over process is what makes diamond films and windows possible. Point to any "imperfection" needed to be a "natural" and I put it to you that it can, and will, be done.
It's no longer "cutting edge" science (pun intended). It's more of an engineering task these days, to make diamonds.
--
BMO
"mt. washington is worse; but does it have all the required industry infrastructure in a nearby region that would make scientific research feasible? no point going up there if you can't overnight fedex yourself something from a lab nearby .."
First off, I was disputing the point the OP said about North Dakota having the "worst weather in the contiguous 48", which it doesn't, by far. And secondly, Mount Washington isn't exactly remote. Due to a freak of geology, it's a relatively high peak surrounded by much lower mountains while also being subjected to one of the most common storm tracks in North America. So you have "The World's Worst Weather" within driving range of every halfwit who wants to "go climb a mountain"
The "problem" with Mount Washington is that it's very accessible, - which is why it's so heavily travelled and drives the park rangers nuts. It's only 160 miles from Boston driving highway all the way. As for logistics, there's a _road_ that goes up all the way to the top. If you ever need to weather test something within the driving range of a major university, Mount Washington is your baby.
--
BMO
"very few are from exposure (hypothermia)"
i ving.php
Really?
(This one has the same data, roughly, but it's organized better for counting)
http://www.mountwashington.org/about/visitor/surv
Falls: 41
Hypothermia: 29
"Natural Causes" i.e., heart attacks and other distress: 17
Avalanches: 11
Aircraft deaths: 10
Rail (ALL) related: 9
Falling ice: 5
Slideboards: 4 (Prohibited after 1919)
"Carriages" horse-drawn and auto: 2
Disappearances: 1
(on original page) Murder: 1
(on original page -since 2002-) 2 falls, one hypothermia.
I don't know about you but I count hypothermia being second to falls. That doesn't seem like "very few" to me. Very few to me comes under "slideboards" "carriages" and murders.
--
BMO
Er, "artificial" diamonds are just as real as "real" diamonds. It's a face-centered cubic carbon crystal lattice whether transported up from the mantle by geological forces or manufactured.
DeBeers will give you all sorts of fud saying that they will eventually have a process for telling the difference between the two, but they won't. Ever.
--
BMO
Goddamn, the moderators were on crack. However, I am meta-moderating, and bitchslapping the SOB who has never heard of dear Arlo, Alice, Fasha the dog, and the 27 8 by 10 color glossy photographs (and a paragraph on the back of each one sayin' what each one was).
--
BMO
US Forest Service
STOP
THE AREA AHEAD HAS THE WORST WEATHER IN AMERICA. MANY HAVE DIED THERE FROM EXPOSURE, EVEN IN THE SUMMER. TURN BACK NOW IF THE WEATHER IS BAD.
Mount Washington has hurricane force winds and sub-freezing temperatures _every month of the year_. The highest wind speed over land ever recorded was measured from the summit at 231MPH before the anemometer was destroyed. The number of days of hurricane force winds average 110 days/year. In January, that means every 3 out of 4 days.
Deaths: http://www.mountwashington.com/deaths/index.html
North Dakota doesn't even come close.
--
BMO
TFA Said: "The goal is to build a humanoid 2-year-old child"
You said: Not a bad goal at all
Apparently you've never been around a 2-year old.
--
BMO
AI is bogus.
--
BMO
"I'm still trying to findout why in the hell they are so expensive... I'd have one right now if it was around 18,000"
Because in the British Car Tradition, the frames and other bits are hand built/low volume machined and hand assembled. That's why. No mass production there.
Someone back there mentioned fuel efficiency: it'd be more efficient on the highway than your Civic if not driven by an arsehole.
--
BMO
"It's pretty cool, but I'd rather have a bike, personally."
I have a bike. My argument was that if I was going to blow the thousands on a so-called green car (which really only just moves the pollution back to the generating facility, most likely meaning you're burning dead dinosaurs anyway), which is almost as expensive as the Ariel, I'd take the Ariel and the horsepower of a 4 banger Honda engine. TYVM.
I do have a bicycle, btw. Cannondale 800 Flat Bar. Egg beaters. Ksyrium Elite wheels. Brooks Pro saddle. Zoom Zoom. I'd probably be dead without it.
--
BMO
It's funny how your post and mine were 1 minute apart...
Now, think of this idea:
http://www.emhartcontest.com/ (full article published in NASA Tech Briefs magazine, dead tree edition)
First Prize winner. An equivalent 2.4 litre engine weighs 35 pounds. Vroom Vroom.
http://www.angellabsllc.com/
--
BMO
http://www.arielmotor.co.uk/04/frames.htm
Its engine is the Honda 2.0 litre Vtec engine. Fast _and_ economical (It's a 4 banger, after all). If I was to blow an equivalent wad of cash on an impractical car like that mentioned in TFA that has half its value in the silly _battery pack_, I'd much rather spend it on something _fun_ and impractical.
--
BMO
There's a name for that kind of guy...
"Busybody"
And it's not a good name. I'd hate to be his neighbor. Are you suggesting that Westchester county ask for vigilante^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H volunteer network scanners? How about we ask that your neighbors check to see if you're violating any of the "laws of nature" in your bedroom?
--
BMO
What's hilarious is that as I read it, I can hear Groucho Marx's voice. He wrote like he talked.
From Burbank to Africa...freakin' priceless.
omfg. bookmarked.
--
BMO
Hasn't _anyone_ learned from the OS/2 lesson?
If Apple really does this, put a fork in 'em.
The ability of OS/2 to run Windows applications decimated the number of OS/2 developers (and the way IBM treated developers was the other reason), because why write for two platforms when you can write for just one?
--
BMO
"Could Novell/Oracle really afford to have the thousands of enthusiests jump ship?"
I did. I did when Novell made noises that they were going to stop supporting KDE on SuSE. I still haven't seen <b>any</b> reason to go back. This latest development made it crystal clear to me that I should plan on not ever going back. With Oracle in the mix, there will be even more cooks to spoil the broth, and this Novell/SuSE broth has become pretty nasty as it is.
--
BMO
All Hat
No Cattle.
--
BMO
The highest rated one was the Japanese wooden attache' case?
Why not get one made in the US with custom carving?
http://www.gerstnerusa.com/attache/attache.htm
Now, that's art.
--
BMO
"Connor: Well, that certainly illustrates the diversity of the word."
"Dude, don't say pigfucker in front of Jesus"
-Stan
--
BMO
"ooOOOoo the anger"
Heh. I'm not sure if that's a record for me using the f-bomb.
"Proper education about water quality would increase demand for water filtration and hygene, still sound like a bad idea?"
No not at all but the point is that giving everyone microcomputers is going to solve the world's problems is, from my POV, naive at best and horribly more expensive than educational programs in the native language over SW radio.
BTW, one of the worst problems is _getting_ potable water. Indeed, in Bangladesh, getting water without arsenic is almost an exercise in futility for many due to the geology of the area. Education programs, that get people to filter water through 3 or 4 layers of cloth to filter out the majority of the parasites go a long way.
I don't think the other poster would make it to two weeks on stream water, though, before gastroenteritis hit him.
--
BMO
Prove it?
k ids/
+ Chicago&btnG=Google+Search
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/03/21/how_dumb_
And not only do computers not help, but they have become a boondoggle.
Google about the Chicago E-Rate fraud.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=E-Rate+fraud
You got something to counter that?
--
BMO
Nice out of context snip there, Sunshine.
Who needs computers to teach literacy? Last I checked, books were still required for reading classes. Not everything in the world is On The Internets(tm), and I might wager that the bulk of literary wealth out there will probably _never_ be digitized, because of "intellectual property rights."
Right now, we've got a paradox in the US. We throw tons of money at education, put computers in classrooms, yet have problems with getting kids to read. Literacy has nothing to do with technology. Go read some Emerson.
--
BMO
"You know, for someone who likes to mock people for being uninformed, you sure get a lot of facts wrong."
Oh to hell with it.
Flame on:
If people like you would actually even listen to the fucking BBC World Service (and even that is a big fucking filter), read a few books, and possibly even travel to some of the countries we're talking about, maybe you'd have half a clue. If one has no electricity or fucking clean water, then a fucking computer is the fucking farthest from your fucking mind and that maybe other issues, like food preservation, medication storage - IF YOU HAVE ACCESS to a fucking doctor, and being able to fill your rice bowl with some protein are probably on the top of your priorities.
But no. _You_ live in your own little insulated fucking world surrounded by the _wealth_ of things like bloody MP3 players (I don't have one! Horrors! and my phone doesn't have a camera! Oh what the fuck shall I ever do!), and think that you'll solve the world's problems if you'll just fucking give everyone microcomputers! Wow! How the fuck did the modern world FUCKING EXIST before FUCKING 1976 if microcomputers are so fucking important? Eh? I tell you what. Go without your fucking computer for two weeks. See if you're still alive. Then get your computer back and try going 2 weeks without clean water. Go ahead, get water out of the fucking stream near you with no filtering. See if you can tough it out for 2 weeks drinking water from a stream and not getting sick.
Flame off.
--
BMO
"Now, teachers will be assisted by those computers, so they will be able to educate much more children than without."
Prove it. Show me any study that has shown that computers in the classroom improve literacy. People become literate by reading and writing. The more one does of both, the more one becomes literate. People don't need computers for this, and quite frankly, have done quite well without computers for millennia. In the United States, we have no shortage of computers, yet we have a pretty bad literacy problem here.
To butcher Betty Freidan: Literacy needs computers like a fish needs a bicycle.
--
BMO
" Maybe it was cool to you, but most kids in your class thought it was lame"
3 62304-2355308?v=glance&n=283155
No, actually most kids in my school _did not have computers_ at all! Like I said, you weren't there. You're not old enough to witness the transformation from _not_ having computers to _having_ them. Even the lowest powered machine, something on the order of a Kaypro luggable (talk about rugged!) suitcase computer can give culture shock.
"but solving this other problem would be even better!"
It would! Give them teachers, books, literacy, and a stable society and the rest will take care of itself. You'll then _get_ electricity for things like refrigeration (ooh!) for food and drugs, and to be able to power, of all things, computers.
"It will have much longer range transmission than regular WiFi"
It will? Where does it say that? It takes electricity to drive radio waves, there, and the more distance needed to communicate, the more power you need.
"The laptop is going to be distributed for free by governments and NGOs"
Hahahahahah!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1401352014/102-7
Read that. Then get back to me when you have a clue.
--
BMO