It's far easier for astronomers to identify black holes by how nearby objects behave--especially by observing their orbits, and the gravitational lensing effects.
I suspect you're thinking about black hole evaporation? It's a real phenomenon, at least theoretically, but the energy radiated in this manner from a typically-sized black hole is way less than the background radiation of the universe, so the mass/energy of the singularity continues to grow.
Incidentally, the evaporation phenomenon is also why you don't have to worry about the LHC ever producing a black hole that destroys the earth--any black hole it could create would radiate to nothing almost instantly.
The extreme precision offered by optical clocks is already providing record measurements of possible changes in the fundamental "constants" of nature...
Hang on. Those bits of matter we're using to determine potential changes to physical constants are governed by physical constants. If every 1-meter rod in the world suddenly became a 1.0001-meter rod while we weren't looking, how would we know?
My original point was that movie files will not play effectively on existing iPod hardware, because the battery won't be able to handle the combination of current file formats and storage methods. I certainly do not think that all innovation has stopped and that we will never have a handheld media player capable of playing feature-length movies--but the iPod as we know it is not that device.
"It is mathematically impossible to create a program compressing without loss
*all* files by at least one bit."
My point was that eventually there's a point where compression can't do any more. We'll probably never see a compression algorithm that shrinks a full-length movie to 4MB while maintaining its original quality, for example.
Agree. It's like this: playing a movie file on a HDD-based system requires reading from the HD almost constantly for the entire length of the film. Playing a music file does not; with a sufficient amount of flash storage, the system can read the music data from the HD, send it to flash, power down the HD and play the file from flash.
Playing movie files will not work with iPod hardware until we get nuclear batteries, 100% lossless compression (see also perpetual motion) or unless you never unplug it from AC power. Or unless you don't mind watching 15 minutes of your favorite movie, then having to recharge, then watching the next 15 minutes, then having to recharge, then...
that there's been a new director for every film so far is that J.K. Rowling is so difficult to work with. She doesn't want to give away what will happen in future books (for example, which major characters will die), so it's much more difficult for the directors to do some intelligent story/character development.
My roommate was addicted ("No, I just like it a lot! I swear!") to a MMORPG a few years ago and learned that you could sell your character on eBay. He worked some numbers and figured out that if he kept leveling up at his current rate, then within XX weeks he could get to an attractively high level and acquire enough good items to sell at $XX, and he would effectively get $1 an hour for failing grades, failing relationships, failing sleep patterns, and failing personal hygiene.
It occurs to me that following Moore's law as an "industry standard," so to speak, would be a good profit source--as a chip manufacturer, you don't want to put forth your absolute best product prematurely and then developmentally stagnate for the next ten years; you need to pace yourself and drop your products gradually, at gradually increasing quality levels. Moore's law would be a useful measuring stick against which to consistently increase quality without going in too much too fast.
said it all: "2004 was truly a banner year... how many years can we have that contain UT2004, Doom 3, Painkiller, and Half-Life 2?" (here)
Not to mention LOTR: Battle for Middle-earth, Katamari Damacy, Prince of Persia... It's hard to expect anything even close to 2004's precedent again. I'll probably be recycling 2004 for a long, long time.
The no-late-fee policy only applies necessarily to corporately owned stores; the privately owned ones are not required by Blockbuster Inc. to honor the new system. Mind you, some are, but it is voluntary on the part of the respective owners.
Slashdot Mirror
1%ers have way cooler hobbies than I do.
It's far easier for astronomers to identify black holes by how nearby objects behave--especially by observing their orbits, and the gravitational lensing effects.
I suspect you're thinking about black hole evaporation? It's a real phenomenon, at least theoretically, but the energy radiated in this manner from a typically-sized black hole is way less than the background radiation of the universe, so the mass/energy of the singularity continues to grow.
Incidentally, the evaporation phenomenon is also why you don't have to worry about the LHC ever producing a black hole that destroys the earth--any black hole it could create would radiate to nothing almost instantly.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-replicating_machine
...though the lack of variety in the materials at hand would hamper the effort a bit. still, fun to dream.
the most interesting theory i've heard regarding this is that you'll have a portal gun in episode 3.
the possibilities, they would be endless.
The extreme precision offered by optical clocks is already providing record measurements of possible changes in the fundamental "constants" of nature ...
Hang on. Those bits of matter we're using to determine potential changes to physical constants are governed by physical constants. If every 1-meter rod in the world suddenly became a 1.0001-meter rod while we weren't looking, how would we know?
it seems i may have underestimated you.
...we have evidence to suggest that a primary goal of the attackers was accessing the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists.
cui bono?
maybe google is testing the waters prior to its gPod launch. (i'd hit it.)
call it FUD, but I guess we'll all see in time :)
indeed. what happens when google executes order 66?
We don't disagree. Seriously.
My original point was that movie files will not play effectively on existing iPod hardware, because the battery won't be able to handle the combination of current file formats and storage methods. I certainly do not think that all innovation has stopped and that we will never have a handheld media player capable of playing feature-length movies--but the iPod as we know it is not that device.
"It is mathematically impossible to create a program compressing without loss *all* files by at least one bit."
My point was that eventually there's a point where compression can't do any more. We'll probably never see a compression algorithm that shrinks a full-length movie to 4MB while maintaining its original quality, for example.
Agree. It's like this: playing a movie file on a HDD-based system requires reading from the HD almost constantly for the entire length of the film. Playing a music file does not; with a sufficient amount of flash storage, the system can read the music data from the HD, send it to flash, power down the HD and play the file from flash.
...
Playing movie files will not work with iPod hardware until we get nuclear batteries, 100% lossless compression (see also perpetual motion) or unless you never unplug it from AC power. Or unless you don't mind watching 15 minutes of your favorite movie, then having to recharge, then watching the next 15 minutes, then having to recharge, then
whoops, oversight. Chris Columbus directed both the first two films. -matt.
that there's been a new director for every film so far is that J.K. Rowling is so difficult to work with. She doesn't want to give away what will happen in future books (for example, which major characters will die), so it's much more difficult for the directors to do some intelligent story/character development.
My roommate was addicted ("No, I just like it a lot! I swear!") to a MMORPG a few years ago and learned that you could sell your character on eBay. He worked some numbers and figured out that if he kept leveling up at his current rate, then within XX weeks he could get to an attractively high level and acquire enough good items to sell at $XX, and he would effectively get $1 an hour for failing grades, failing relationships, failing sleep patterns, and failing personal hygiene.
Amazingly, he decided not to bother.
If the Internet does not constitute 'public communication,' what possibly can?
- there is a lot of money to be made.
- there is a high cost of market entry for producers.
- there are big margins.
Oligopolies thrive in these conditions.At least be open to the idea. It was conjecture in the first place.
It occurs to me that following Moore's law as an "industry standard," so to speak, would be a good profit source--as a chip manufacturer, you don't want to put forth your absolute best product prematurely and then developmentally stagnate for the next ten years; you need to pace yourself and drop your products gradually, at gradually increasing quality levels. Moore's law would be a useful measuring stick against which to consistently increase quality without going in too much too fast.
I wish I could mod the Wikipedia article up.
said it all: "2004 was truly a banner year ... how many years can we have that contain UT2004, Doom 3, Painkiller, and Half-Life 2?" (here)
... It's hard to expect anything even close to 2004's precedent again. I'll probably be recycling 2004 for a long, long time.
Not to mention LOTR: Battle for Middle-earth, Katamari Damacy, Prince of Persia
Will the current administration please repeat after me:
The United States was never meant to have transparent citizenship. The United States was meant to have transparent government.
What happened?
I think I read this on /. a while back--perhaps it's someone's sig:
You know your god is man-made when he hates all the same people you do.
how to make a parody of a Star Wars film:
1. Make a film in the Star Wars universe.
2. Hire good actors, and give them good direction.
3. Profit. Fear no copyright infringement.
-matt.
The no-late-fee policy only applies necessarily to corporately owned stores; the privately owned ones are not required by Blockbuster Inc. to honor the new system. Mind you, some are, but it is voluntary on the part of the respective owners.