I don't ever foresee it getting "cheap" again though, not until we've got a better alternative...I'm old enough that "cheap" means a dollar a gallon, and we haven't seen that in a long time.
Not that long ago. It was slightly below that here in (high-priced) southern California in early 2002.
"Stand by" in Windows is actually quite a good option. Most PCs take 5-10 seconds max to come out of it, yet only use a few watts while sleeping.
That's nice if that actually works. While that has worked on all notebook computers I remember using, the only desktop computers I've ever used where standby / sleep worked right are Macs.
Either the computer won't come out of standby at all (all computers at work that I've tried do this), or they crash when coming out of standby, or the (hard wired) ethernet port takes the better part of a minute before it's working again.
2.) Right now, the vehicles we have that are designed for quick takeoff, orbit, and re-entry carry rather more destructive cargo. Maybe FedEx doesn't want the Russians mistaking one of their rockets filled with Barney DVDs for a nuclear attack and triggering World War III.
"When it absolutely, positively, has to be there first."
I remember some recent show (either CSI: New York or one of the Law and Orders) where they were going through someone's digital pictures. They noticed one picture was unusually large and concluded there was something hidden in it with steganography. Naturally they then found it right away.
My understanding is that the way to hide data in a picture is to store it in the least significant bit of each pixel. Therefore it won't change the size of the original picture at all.
This reminds me: Long ago, someone at a UNIX user group meeting told us about how he had the email address uucp@aol.com for a while. He said he got some pretty strange email.
So, what you end up with are movies which are mostly pretty good, but have some questionable content which may or may not fit with the rest of the story or the intended audience in one small scene just to get the more mature rating.
Not that it (IMHO) is a blatant example of this, but this reminded me of something I've heard about Star Wars over the years. The story is that the severed arm in the cantina fight scene was added so that the movie wouldn't end up rated G.
Does anyone here know if this is true, or urban legend? The IMDB "Trivia" link alludes to this, but isn't specific.
Speaking of movie references, that
gelatin exploit sounds like something out of the movie
Gattaca. Except IIRC his defeated a pinprick blood checker as well.
I've always had the same "problem" with passwords and phone numbers. I can't remember my mother's phone number, but sit me down at a phone and I'll dial her up without thinking about it.
I'm much the same. I think I "remember" phone numbers primarily by the pattern formed by entering the sequence on a keypad.
To quote a phone number I almost have to watch myself dial it. Even worse is remembering my own phone number. I don't exactly call it often.
They pitched a lot longer, too. A while back the sportscasters were talking about former Angels pitcher Nolan Ryan was known for pitching over 200 pitches per game.
As the sportscasters said, the pitching coach would be fired nowdays.
When I'm in the office, I'm always irritated by people who use the speakerphone instead of just picking it up and talking to whoever it is.
My favorite countermeasure to this is to get some female friends of yours to leave that guy obscene voicemail messages periodically. (Even better if he's married.)
Accounts receivable, Mina speaking.
Please hold...
Accounts receivable, Mina speaking.
Please hold...
Accounts receivable, Mina speaking.
Please hold...
Accounts receivable, Mina speaking.
Please hold...
I didn't like the summary of votes which you confirm before submitting your ballot. There was only about 10 characters per entry, so everything was abbreviated, but (this time at least) it was sufficient. Also, everything was in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS, which is a pet peeve of mine.
And let's hope that the Air Force doesn't unduly influence the design again, by insisting it be an airplane.
Early in the space shuttle's design phase, it had two goals. To build the space station, and to become the sole launch vehicle used in the US.
The Air Force was told that meant they'd also have to launch everything on the space shuttle, so they insisted on their own requirements. They insisted its payload capability (both size and weight) be enough to launch their biggest spy satelites and several hundred miles of cross-range landing capability.
The cross range requirement was so that they could launch into a polar orbit from Vandenberg AFB, deploy a satellite, and land back at Vandenberg, all in one orbit. Without the cross-range capability, the space shuttle would end up in the ocean half way between California and Hawaii.
They never got to attempt such a mission. After Challenger was destroyed, the Air Force was relieved of the space shuttle requirement, and they were happy go back to launching on expendable launch vehicles.
I like the way the book Science Made Stupid put it. In the "building your own back yard nuclear reactor" project, one memorable instruction was
Now you'll need to make the control rods. The pros use graphite, but potting soil will do.
Aircraft contrail effect?
on
Global Dimming
·
· Score: 1
An interesting study I read about a couple years ago aimed to measure the effect of aircraft contrails on the weather. They collected USA weather measurements on the days after September 11th when only a few government planes were flying, and compared them to shortly before or after.
They found that in some areas the contrails reduced the daytime high temperatures by 10 degrees F or so. The effect of course varied from place to place, depending on how common contrails are there in the first place.
I wonder how much these observations explain the global dimming.
One of the Mouse Tales books has a great story about one slow day on the It's a Small World ride where a large group of teenagers who decided to go on (and heckle, probably) the "kiddie ride".
After going through once, they all shouted out "Let us go again! Let us go again!" The emplo -- oops, I mean cast member -- smiled and sent them through the ride again. Then when they came back around, sent them through a third time without being asked.
Apparently, after listening to that music for 45 minutes, they were screaming "Please let us off!"
Yes, but Executive Decision is also the first film in a long time that stars Segal, but where he's not producing.
He was only in the early part of the movie. I'd consider him supporting cast, with the star being Kurt Russell.
As for Segal, I'd actually like to see Under Seige 2 again; but only the first minute of it, to see that close-up view of a space shuttle launch on the big screen.:-)
Slashdot Mirror
I recall using a JOVIAL compiler in the 1980s. My favorite message was:
COMPILE COMPLETE: NONE OF THE ERRORS WERE DETECTED.
Virus checking....
Complete. All viruses functioning normally.
Either the computer won't come out of standby at all (all computers at work that I've tried do this), or they crash when coming out of standby, or the (hard wired) ethernet port takes the better part of a minute before it's working again.
After reading the "Worst Feature ..." article title, when I saw the vacuum cleaner icon, I thought it was most appropriate, if inadvertent.
I remember some recent show (either CSI: New York or one of the Law and Orders) where they were going through someone's digital pictures. They noticed one picture was unusually large and concluded there was something hidden in it with steganography. Naturally they then found it right away. My understanding is that the way to hide data in a picture is to store it in the least significant bit of each pixel. Therefore it won't change the size of the original picture at all.
This reminds me: Long ago, someone at a UNIX user group meeting told us about how he had the email address uucp@aol.com for a while. He said he got some pretty strange email.
Likewise:
Why did they call it a Pentium?
Because when they added 100 to 486 they got 585.999348.
Watch out for flying saucers, though. Especially the little ones. They're hard to hit and they shoot back.
Does anyone here know if this is true, or urban legend? The IMDB "Trivia" link alludes to this, but isn't specific.
CSI: Deep Space Nine
Speaking of movie references, that gelatin exploit sounds like something out of the movie Gattaca. Except IIRC his defeated a pinprick blood checker as well.
To quote a phone number I almost have to watch myself dial it. Even worse is remembering my own phone number. I don't exactly call it often.
As the sportscasters said, the pitching coach would be fired nowdays.
I didn't like the summary of votes which you confirm before submitting your ballot. There was only about 10 characters per entry, so everything was abbreviated, but (this time at least) it was sufficient. Also, everything was in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS, which is a pet peeve of mine.
The Air Force was told that meant they'd also have to launch everything on the space shuttle, so they insisted on their own requirements. They insisted its payload capability (both size and weight) be enough to launch their biggest spy satelites and several hundred miles of cross-range landing capability.
The cross range requirement was so that they could launch into a polar orbit from Vandenberg AFB, deploy a satellite, and land back at Vandenberg, all in one orbit. Without the cross-range capability, the space shuttle would end up in the ocean half way between California and Hawaii.
They never got to attempt such a mission. After Challenger was destroyed, the Air Force was relieved of the space shuttle requirement, and they were happy go back to launching on expendable launch vehicles.
They found that in some areas the contrails reduced the daytime high temperatures by 10 degrees F or so. The effect of course varied from place to place, depending on how common contrails are there in the first place.
I wonder how much these observations explain the global dimming.
"Hurry back... Hurry back... Be sure to bring your death certificate..."
After going through once, they all shouted out "Let us go again! Let us go again!" The emplo -- oops, I mean cast member -- smiled and sent them through the ride again. Then when they came back around, sent them through a third time without being asked.
Apparently, after listening to that music for 45 minutes, they were screaming "Please let us off!"
As for Segal, I'd actually like to see Under Seige 2 again; but only the first minute of it, to see that close-up view of a space shuttle launch on the big screen. :-)