Are there any myths that you will not attempt to bust? If so, are the resons personal, political or technical (including safety)?
Love the show by the way, pretty much everyone I talk to seem to as well.
Yes, we aussies don't get Hurricanes. We are safe from your terrorist Huricane threats.
Then again, technically, neither do you Americans. The proper name for a Hurricane (according to Wikipedia is a Tropical Cyclone, which is what we call them in Australia. And Just like you don't get "Hurricanes" in your northern states, we don't gey Cyclones in South of our country.
Severe storms, however, can effect any area, no matter where you are.
You make the assumption that the hydrogen is to be used in a fuel cell and not just combusted like petroleum (this would likely make the transition smoother because we can already do internal combustion - allowances would just have to be made for the fuel)
Do what I do, just read what was supposed to be there and move on with your life. If you freak about every typo on slashdot you are going to give yourself a heart attack!
These "Barges of salt" you plan to dump in the event of a change in sea salinity, where do you plan to get this salt from?
I live in Port Hedland, Western Australia. One of the major exports here is salt from Dampier Salt Co. They make great big piles of the stuff and then shove it into ships and send it to where it is they send it.
Bear with me, I am coming to a point, I promise!
Where do they get this salt? They dig big, long, shallow pits. Then they fill them with sea water which they then let evaporate and collect the salt that is left behind.
I think you will find that most salt is collected this way.
"I'm more than willing to give up good money to have a physical disc . . . that I can re-rip should I lose my files."
Thats nice for you americans - you are allowed to rip them to any format you choose to listen to the music in. In Australia, where I live, we are not even supposed to do that. We don't have that sort of proviso in our copyright laws.
I am first to admit I have downloaded (or aquired from others who have) quite a few songs (actually a large part of my collection is 10+ years old in terms of when the song was released). From some of these downloads, I made the decision to purchase the bands album/single. From many others I haven't. I no longer download pirated music, but not because the big bad ARIA (the aussie RIAA) tell me not to.
I do however, still infringe on copyright by Australian definitions. I rip my CD's to a digital form for storing and playing on my computer. I also make Mix CD's. I do this mostly so that the original CD can stay safe in its cover away somewhere where I can get to it if my burnt copys of the CD and the digital form of the songs get corrupted.
I do this with impunity, because I believe the rights of the individual outweigh the rights of a corporation (discarding the fact that a corperation can be legaly defined as having the same rights, but can pick and choose what rights and responsablities apply to them - but I digress). I almost hope that some ARIA or RIAA goon tries to sue me, because I will go to court and challenge the laws, with the hope that people will take a long hard look at the debacle that this has become.
Society and the Law Profession need to sit down and figure this stuff out. Copyright is a joke as it stands and Corporations are walking all over people because they have all the rights of an individual, without the responsabilities. </rant>
My father worked for this company (he was a diesel mechanic). They have been doing all sorts of innovative stuff for decades. They are also a very diverse company. My father mostly worked for the oil drilling/exploration side of the company, but they also do electronics. They are trying to puch smartcards (like a credit card with a chip that is a replacement for notes and coins) in China (which is a facinating idea - I mean imagine the cost of producing currency for that many people!).
I am not sure of the reliability of my source on the following information, but I had heard that some of the founders of Intel either worked for Schlumberger or for one of the companies that they aquired (looks like they dropped the ball on that one!).
I think I should have put a disclaimer in my post: I was playing devil's advocate. I didn't agree with what happened.
I just enjoy taking the other side sometimes - to put arguments to people that only see one side of things. On the plus side, I find it easier to relate to people because I can see both sides of the argument.
I also find cooking enjoyable, relaxing even. I only picked on those subjects because the average geek stereotype, which I accept doesn't describe all geeks, would likely be least proficient at.
It is good that you had teachers that accepted that they didn't know everything better than you did - people like that are actually hard to find.
Basically, overall, it comes down to everyone has had different experiences, because for some strange reason everyone is different.
Just so you know, in general, teachers do not have the authority to suspend. Suspensions and the associated lengths are determined by Deputies and the Principal. This means that the school's administrators were just as clueless as the teacher.
I also don't think that the teacher had a control issue, they were just put into a situation where they were out of their league. If the average geek was put in front of a class and asked to teach cooking or sewing, they would likely be a little on edge too.
FWIW: IANA teacher - I am a techie in an Australian High School.
Oh wait, it gets better!
Didn't you see where people might not have every last detail on the counterfeit form and still have to pay.
So either way, Microsoft gets money. What is the bet that there is some obscure little thing that almost nobody will be able to remember/find/discver that will make them have to pay.
So you have fraud+copyright infringement+more sales+etc
At least that is what the pessimist in me says
Green moon cheese?
obviously you haven't been looking at Google Moon at max magnification - the moon cheese is yellow. Obviously the mould makes it appear grey from farther away or something!:P
___________________
Laugh - coz crying ain't gonna get you anywhere
I call bullshit. The most a criminal could do was coerse you to put your hand into the scanner.
almost immediately after a body part is separated from the host, it begins to shrink, dry out and go cold. I also believe the veins that this thing is supposed to monitor would contract faster than the outside too.
IANA Doctor, but I have heard this debate before (actually IIRC it was about the movie Demolition Man, but I digress). The thing I would be worried would be someone hacking the hardware to give a false positive to allow unauthorised access.
I used to have to use bometrics to clock on at the place I worked. They had us do 2 fingers so that if you hurt one, you could still use the scanner. Although, to be fair it was a fingerprint scanner.
Like I said before I would be more worried about someone placing a device which "sniffed" the digitised signature that the scanner produced as it was being sent to the database to authenticate. I would assume that you could fool the scanner by substituting your scanned sig with the one that you recorded and gaining access with someone else's biometric info
Of course this would almost definately require access to the internals of the scanner for a period of time, without being detected. If they could do that, there would almost definately be an easier way in.
Ummm, what rock have you been living under? OO.org has better file compatability than any version of M$ Office I have seen.
You can use the exact same tactic if you have problems: ask to save to a word97.doc - but I have never had issues with opening the latest format of office douments except for stuff that uses VBA scripting.
Actually, there is at least one place that we can go after we hit the wall with silicon.
Diamond (which is simply carbon in a specific configuration) has better thermaldynamic properties than silicone (which is the main limiting factor in processors today) and, from memory, is a better semiconductor.
There is much research going on to create artificial diamonds to reduce the costs associated with these so called rare and precious gems.
So basically, processors as we know them (well, almost) may be with us for a while yet, just made from a different substance.
- Engie the Techie
Disclamer: I took most of this information from a magazine article about a year back and I am working purely from memory. Also, this is NOT FACT, this is mostly MY OPINION, which is neither right or wrong nor better or worse than anyone else's opinion - it is just my opinion.
I totally agree with you. I too with the Australian Federal Government would grow a pair - and I LIVE in Australia!
The sad thing is, we NEED the US to like us, purely for military reasons. With such low population density, especially on the northern coastline closest to potential enemies (I am not saying that Indonesia would ever invade us, but that is the direction most potential aggressors would approach from).
This has lead the Oz government to suck up in ways that make some ausies weep, for example the Free Trade Agreement. If this goes ahead as it is, the IT industry in oz could potentially be in serious trouble, not to mentions citizens rights as we inherit the DMCA as part of the bargain.
I would have to agree with the 'turning honest customers into pirates' comment. I have never had to go through a M$ telephone activation of XP (although I had nighmares with Office 2000 activation, which ironicly drove me to use pirated Office XP instead as it was easier), as we usually just activate through the internet.
Windows 98 however, is another matter. The fact is that CD's and bits of paper, even books, can get lost or accidentally discarded. In all honesty, does M$ expect these people to go out and buy a whole new OS when this happens. I know that legally they say yes, but, c'mon these guys are just like you and me when you get down to it.
And for all thos M$ bashers out there: Linux is not yet a viable alternative to the desktop for non-power users. It is getting there, but you still need a *NIX experianced person around if you get into trouble or to do something as relatively simple as install drivers for stuff.
Flame me all you like for that, but linux is still only for PC enthusiasts. Most people don't want to have to go to the command line to do things, and sometimes that is necessary, even for simple things in *nix.
Douglas Adams wrote "The Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy" series. In this series, the Earth was an organic computer designed to answer the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything.
The answer was 42. That was a bit of DA humour for you.
Personally, I was extremely saddend to hear of his death. I am glad that he, and his wacky homour, have been stamped on a piece of the heavens (not literally of course), lest he be forgotten.
Oh. My. GOD!!!
That would be a dream come true for me. I am only a lowly student at the moment, but I do really enjoy cooking something myself. At the moment what I end up doing is cooking a couple of extra big meals so I get leftovers and nuking them.
This might not be the ideal situation for most tho, so perhaps a REALLY GOOD CANTEEN (has anyone heard about the Google employees canteen?)! It is surprising how much more you feel like doing things when you know that a really good meal/snack is close at hand should the need arise.
Showers have been mentioned, but there has been a lack (well, maybe in low ranked comments) of mention of good toilets. Everyone will have to use them, so make sure they are clean, asthetic and can handle the numbers of staff - I mean with all the caffine that will be consumed, there will be alot of toilet breaks!
'Footfall' isnt the only fictional referenct to a 'Thor'-like project.
'Sharuq' by Bill Keith has (ironically in 2011 i think - life imitating art?) the Japanese using a satelite that fires depleted uranium rods on an area to destroy a target. Bill's answer was to move the bulk of your naval assets underwater.
The only real problem I have with these satellite-based technologies is the potential for sabotage. I mean, what if some loony terrorist group hacked one of these sats and managed to rain metal on a city?
Slashdot Mirror
Are there any myths that you will not attempt to bust? If so, are the resons personal, political or technical (including safety)? Love the show by the way, pretty much everyone I talk to seem to as well.
I agree completely - never attribute to malace that which could be explained with stupidity.
Yes, we aussies don't get Hurricanes. We are safe from your terrorist Huricane threats.
Then again, technically, neither do you Americans. The proper name for a Hurricane (according to Wikipedia is a Tropical Cyclone, which is what we call them in Australia. And Just like you don't get "Hurricanes" in your northern states, we don't gey Cyclones in South of our country.
Severe storms, however, can effect any area, no matter where you are.
You make the assumption that the hydrogen is to be used in a fuel cell and not just combusted like petroleum (this would likely make the transition smoother because we can already do internal combustion - allowances would just have to be made for the fuel)
even better, almost all cash registers have the abbilty enter a "multilply by" number. just scan 1 item once and put all of them in the bag.
of course I only ever see them do that when I buy 30 packs of coke (I stock a vending machine where i work).
Do what I do, just read what was supposed to be there and move on with your life. If you freak about every typo on slashdot you are going to give yourself a heart attack!
These "Barges of salt" you plan to dump in the event of a change in sea salinity, where do you plan to get this salt from?
I live in Port Hedland, Western Australia. One of the major exports here is salt from Dampier Salt Co. They make great big piles of the stuff and then shove it into ships and send it to where it is they send it.
Bear with me, I am coming to a point, I promise!
Where do they get this salt? They dig big, long, shallow pits. Then they fill them with sea water which they then let evaporate and collect the salt that is left behind.
I think you will find that most salt is collected this way.
Thats nice for you americans - you are allowed to rip them to any format you choose to listen to the music in. In Australia, where I live, we are not even supposed to do that. We don't have that sort of proviso in our copyright laws.
I am first to admit I have downloaded (or aquired from others who have) quite a few songs (actually a large part of my collection is 10+ years old in terms of when the song was released). From some of these downloads, I made the decision to purchase the bands album/single. From many others I haven't. I no longer download pirated music, but not because the big bad ARIA (the aussie RIAA) tell me not to.
I do however, still infringe on copyright by Australian definitions. I rip my CD's to a digital form for storing and playing on my computer. I also make Mix CD's. I do this mostly so that the original CD can stay safe in its cover away somewhere where I can get to it if my burnt copys of the CD and the digital form of the songs get corrupted.
I do this with impunity, because I believe the rights of the individual outweigh the rights of a corporation (discarding the fact that a corperation can be legaly defined as having the same rights, but can pick and choose what rights and responsablities apply to them - but I digress). I almost hope that some ARIA or RIAA goon tries to sue me, because I will go to court and challenge the laws, with the hope that people will take a long hard look at the debacle that this has become.
Society and the Law Profession need to sit down and figure this stuff out. Copyright is a joke as it stands and Corporations are walking all over people because they have all the rights of an individual, without the responsabilities. </rant>
My father worked for this company (he was a diesel mechanic). They have been doing all sorts of innovative stuff for decades. They are also a very diverse company. My father mostly worked for the oil drilling/exploration side of the company, but they also do electronics. They are trying to puch smartcards (like a credit card with a chip that is a replacement for notes and coins) in China (which is a facinating idea - I mean imagine the cost of producing currency for that many people!).
I am not sure of the reliability of my source on the following information, but I had heard that some of the founders of Intel either worked for Schlumberger or for one of the companies that they aquired (looks like they dropped the ball on that one!).
I think I should have put a disclaimer in my post: I was playing devil's advocate. I didn't agree with what happened.
I just enjoy taking the other side sometimes - to put arguments to people that only see one side of things. On the plus side, I find it easier to relate to people because I can see both sides of the argument.
I also find cooking enjoyable, relaxing even. I only picked on those subjects because the average geek stereotype, which I accept doesn't describe all geeks, would likely be least proficient at.
It is good that you had teachers that accepted that they didn't know everything better than you did - people like that are actually hard to find.
Basically, overall, it comes down to everyone has had different experiences, because for some strange reason everyone is different.
Just so you know, in general, teachers do not have the authority to suspend. Suspensions and the associated lengths are determined by Deputies and the Principal. This means that the school's administrators were just as clueless as the teacher.
I also don't think that the teacher had a control issue, they were just put into a situation where they were out of their league. If the average geek was put in front of a class and asked to teach cooking or sewing, they would likely be a little on edge too.
FWIW: IANA teacher - I am a techie in an Australian High School.
Oh wait, it gets better! Didn't you see where people might not have every last detail on the counterfeit form and still have to pay. So either way, Microsoft gets money. What is the bet that there is some obscure little thing that almost nobody will be able to remember/find/discver that will make them have to pay. So you have fraud+copyright infringement+more sales+etc At least that is what the pessimist in me says
Green moon cheese? obviously you haven't been looking at Google Moon at max magnification - the moon cheese is yellow. Obviously the mould makes it appear grey from farther away or something! :P
___________________
Laugh - coz crying ain't gonna get you anywhere
I call bullshit. The most a criminal could do was coerse you to put your hand into the scanner.
almost immediately after a body part is separated from the host, it begins to shrink, dry out and go cold. I also believe the veins that this thing is supposed to monitor would contract faster than the outside too.
IANA Doctor, but I have heard this debate before (actually IIRC it was about the movie Demolition Man, but I digress). The thing I would be worried would be someone hacking the hardware to give a false positive to allow unauthorised access.
I used to have to use bometrics to clock on at the place I worked. They had us do 2 fingers so that if you hurt one, you could still use the scanner. Although, to be fair it was a fingerprint scanner.
Like I said before I would be more worried about someone placing a device which "sniffed" the digitised signature that the scanner produced as it was being sent to the database to authenticate. I would assume that you could fool the scanner by substituting your scanned sig with the one that you recorded and gaining access with someone else's biometric info
Of course this would almost definately require access to the internals of the scanner for a period of time, without being detected. If they could do that, there would almost definately be an easier way in.
Ummm, what rock have you been living under? OO.org has better file compatability than any version of M$ Office I have seen.
.doc - but I have never had issues with opening the latest format of office douments except for stuff that uses VBA scripting.
You can use the exact same tactic if you have problems: ask to save to a word97
Actually, there is at least one place that we can go after we hit the wall with silicon.
Diamond (which is simply carbon in a specific configuration) has better thermaldynamic properties than silicone (which is the main limiting factor in processors today) and, from memory, is a better semiconductor.
There is much research going on to create artificial diamonds to reduce the costs associated with these so called rare and precious gems.
So basically, processors as we know them (well, almost) may be with us for a while yet, just made from a different substance.
- Engie the Techie
Disclamer: I took most of this information from a magazine article about a year back and I am working purely from memory. Also, this is NOT FACT, this is mostly MY OPINION, which is neither right or wrong nor better or worse than anyone else's opinion - it is just my opinion.
I totally agree with you. I too with the Australian Federal Government would grow a pair - and I LIVE in Australia!
The sad thing is, we NEED the US to like us, purely for military reasons. With such low population density, especially on the northern coastline closest to potential enemies (I am not saying that Indonesia would ever invade us, but that is the direction most potential aggressors would approach from).
This has lead the Oz government to suck up in ways that make some ausies weep, for example the Free Trade Agreement. If this goes ahead as it is, the IT industry in oz could potentially be in serious trouble, not to mentions citizens rights as we inherit the DMCA as part of the bargain.
A cat5-o-nine-tails perhaps?
I would have to agree with the 'turning honest customers into pirates' comment. I have never had to go through a M$ telephone activation of XP (although I had nighmares with Office 2000 activation, which ironicly drove me to use pirated Office XP instead as it was easier), as we usually just activate through the internet. Windows 98 however, is another matter. The fact is that CD's and bits of paper, even books, can get lost or accidentally discarded. In all honesty, does M$ expect these people to go out and buy a whole new OS when this happens. I know that legally they say yes, but, c'mon these guys are just like you and me when you get down to it. And for all thos M$ bashers out there: Linux is not yet a viable alternative to the desktop for non-power users. It is getting there, but you still need a *NIX experianced person around if you get into trouble or to do something as relatively simple as install drivers for stuff. Flame me all you like for that, but linux is still only for PC enthusiasts. Most people don't want to have to go to the command line to do things, and sometimes that is necessary, even for simple things in *nix.
Douglas Adams wrote "The Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy" series. In this series, the Earth was an organic computer designed to answer the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything.
The answer was 42. That was a bit of DA humour for you.
Personally, I was extremely saddend to hear of his death. I am glad that he, and his wacky homour, have been stamped on a piece of the heavens (not literally of course), lest he be forgotten.
Oh. My. GOD!!! That would be a dream come true for me. I am only a lowly student at the moment, but I do really enjoy cooking something myself. At the moment what I end up doing is cooking a couple of extra big meals so I get leftovers and nuking them. This might not be the ideal situation for most tho, so perhaps a REALLY GOOD CANTEEN (has anyone heard about the Google employees canteen?)! It is surprising how much more you feel like doing things when you know that a really good meal/snack is close at hand should the need arise. Showers have been mentioned, but there has been a lack (well, maybe in low ranked comments) of mention of good toilets. Everyone will have to use them, so make sure they are clean, asthetic and can handle the numbers of staff - I mean with all the caffine that will be consumed, there will be alot of toilet breaks!
'Footfall' isnt the only fictional referenct to a 'Thor'-like project.
'Sharuq' by Bill Keith has (ironically in 2011 i think - life imitating art?) the Japanese using a satelite that fires depleted uranium rods on an area to destroy a target. Bill's answer was to move the bulk of your naval assets underwater.
The only real problem I have with these satellite-based technologies is the potential for sabotage. I mean, what if some loony terrorist group hacked one of these sats and managed to rain metal on a city?