I had a 6502 system with BASIC in ROM and a machine code monitor. The idea is to copy a page (256 bytes) from the BASIC ROM to the video card address space. This puts random characters into one quarter of the screen. Then bubble sort the 256 bytes. It took about one second.
For extra difficulty do it again with the full 1K of video. Thats harder with the 6502 because you have to use vectors in RAM for the addresses. So reads and writes are a two step operation, as is incrementing the address. You have to test for carry. But the result was spectacular.
Also our Atmosphere and Biosphere seem to regulate each other. It is possible that aquatic life had to get established early, otherwise we might have been left with something like Venus. I have read that shellfish play an important part in keeping carbon out of the atmosphere and locking it away in rocks.
Sure, its getting better all the time. Consider building a factory which can build other machines, and take instructions from earth via radio. The seed package could mass just a few grams. It could be accelerated to (say) 10% of the speed of light by a laser riding light sail. Once at its destination it uses local materials to bootstrap increasingly larger factories. Finally you get a machine which can make human beings, by assembling the cells directly. Human personalities are transmitted to the factory through the network. We now have interstellar teleportation at the speed of light.
Not my idea. Greg Egan uses these ideas in many of his books, and I don't think there is a problem with feasibility, within the next couple of hundred years. Consider how far we have come in one hundred years.
Yes there are many ways to play that game. The alien probes might all be 1 millimeter wide, because that is all that is needed. We might not be equipped to recognize the aliens. They could be here right now, not really hiding, just not something we would recognize. A bit like humans studying trees. The trees don't know we exist.
If data shows that the number of planets which could support life like ours is high then another factor must be pushed down, because we aren't getting any visitors, and we aren't getting any communications from other species. My bet is that the vast majority of those planets have run away from having a habitual environment by turning into planets like Venus or Mars. We are lucky that our CO2 is locked up in limestone, not free in the atmosphere.
In fact it is the only technological device she doesn't constantly complain about. The way it is going she will get a new phone of the same type when this one comes off contract.
My take is that their main products: windows, office and the associated development tools have been done. There is no need for further development. This happens to all products in the end. They reach maturity and the profits to be made from innovation dry up. Pretty much since XP proved itself Microsoft have been looking for ways to sell new versions but a lot of the "improvements" looked like a case of breaking it so we can fix it again and keep getting paid.
To have military expenditure approved there has to be at least a pretense that the money is spent at home. You can't just give it away, even though, as you point out, it would be more productive that way.
Yes, but what if with the act of time travel with motivation you also create an alternate reality where the titanic didn't sink or abe lincoln survived? Is there some rule where you must be attached to your original timeline?
Maybe it works this way: bad shit is happening around me all the time and there is absolutely nothing I can do about it. Bike riders are failing to wear helmets; my employer is buying ClearCase; my wife intends to buy a French car. I know that bad things are going to happen yet I am not a time traveler. Mostly my knowledge of the future has no impact on what actually happens in the real world.
I ran opera for a while and it had this nice preview feature where it would give you a thumbnail of frequently visited sites. I stopped using it because there are some places I go to which I don't want to appear, even as thumbnails, when there are people around who might take an interest. Some of them have really crappy eyesight, which is a godsend, but I don't like relying on things like that.
The father of a Marine whose funeral was picketed by the Westboro Baptist Church says an order to pay the protesters’ legal costs in a civil claim is nothing less than a “slap in the face.”
For a long time the system where I work blocked games.slashdot.org because it had games in the name. They don't block general news sites but some sites are banned on the grounds of "Entertainment". They have a process where you can argue for sites to be permitted but frankly I would just go outside the office and use the free wifi on my eee 701. Its easier and more likely to succeed.
Slashdot Mirror
I had a 6502 system with BASIC in ROM and a machine code monitor. The idea is to copy a page (256 bytes) from the BASIC ROM to the video card address space. This puts random characters into one quarter of the screen. Then bubble sort the 256 bytes. It took about one second.
For extra difficulty do it again with the full 1K of video. Thats harder with the 6502 because you have to use vectors in RAM for the addresses. So reads and writes are a two step operation, as is incrementing the address. You have to test for carry. But the result was spectacular.
But kudos for the ringworld reference
Also our Atmosphere and Biosphere seem to regulate each other. It is possible that aquatic life had to get established early, otherwise we might have been left with something like Venus. I have read that shellfish play an important part in keeping carbon out of the atmosphere and locking it away in rocks.
Oh for the days of BASIC in ROM when peek and poke were the go.
I find scripts written by other people to be hard to read and because I don't write perl this includes all perl scripts.
Is interstellar space travel feasable?
Sure, its getting better all the time. Consider building a factory which can build other machines, and take instructions from earth via radio. The seed package could mass just a few grams. It could be accelerated to (say) 10% of the speed of light by a laser riding light sail. Once at its destination it uses local materials to bootstrap increasingly larger factories. Finally you get a machine which can make human beings, by assembling the cells directly. Human personalities are transmitted to the factory through the network. We now have interstellar teleportation at the speed of light.
Not my idea. Greg Egan uses these ideas in many of his books, and I don't think there is a problem with feasibility, within the next couple of hundred years. Consider how far we have come in one hundred years.
we aren't getting any visitors, and we aren't getting any communications from other species
How sure are you?
So what can you tell me? (cue x files theme)
Yes there are many ways to play that game. The alien probes might all be 1 millimeter wide, because that is all that is needed. We might not be equipped to recognize the aliens. They could be here right now, not really hiding, just not something we would recognize. A bit like humans studying trees. The trees don't know we exist.
If data shows that the number of planets which could support life like ours is high then another factor must be pushed down, because we aren't getting any visitors, and we aren't getting any communications from other species. My bet is that the vast majority of those planets have run away from having a habitual environment by turning into planets like Venus or Mars. We are lucky that our CO2 is locked up in limestone, not free in the atmosphere.
Gentlemen, prepare your terraforming equipment...
In fact it is the only technological device she doesn't constantly complain about. The way it is going she will get a new phone of the same type when this one comes off contract.
My take is that their main products: windows, office and the associated development tools have been done. There is no need for further development. This happens to all products in the end. They reach maturity and the profits to be made from innovation dry up. Pretty much since XP proved itself Microsoft have been looking for ways to sell new versions but a lot of the "improvements" looked like a case of breaking it so we can fix it again and keep getting paid.
To have military expenditure approved there has to be at least a pretense that the money is spent at home. You can't just give it away, even though, as you point out, it would be more productive that way.
Maybe the source is in charge of backups. Or maybe the only way to take work home is to copy the "Classified Documents" directory on to their laptop.
There is a lot of money in those poppies...
Yes, but what if with the act of time travel with motivation you also create an alternate reality where the titanic didn't sink or abe lincoln survived? Is there some rule where you must be attached to your original timeline?
Maybe it works this way: bad shit is happening around me all the time and there is absolutely nothing I can do about it. Bike riders are failing to wear helmets; my employer is buying ClearCase; my wife intends to buy a French car. I know that bad things are going to happen yet I am not a time traveler. Mostly my knowledge of the future has no impact on what actually happens in the real world.
I ran opera for a while and it had this nice preview feature where it would give you a thumbnail of frequently visited sites. I stopped using it because there are some places I go to which I don't want to appear, even as thumbnails, when there are people around who might take an interest. Some of them have really crappy eyesight, which is a godsend, but I don't like relying on things like that.
Oh hi there Hans how's it going?
Well good but up the page:
The father of a Marine whose funeral was picketed by the Westboro Baptist Church says an order to pay the protesters’ legal costs in a civil claim is nothing less than a “slap in the face.”
Trolling is encouraged by the US legal system:
A trolls B
B hits A
A sues B for one million dollars.
We need more diversity in parliament.
True
Mine doesn't make me happy at all.
The question is which direction do we go? Do we want the liberals in? They might be worse.
Paralyse them by stacking the senate with minor parties. I plan to put liberal and labour at the bottom of the senate ticket.
For a long time the system where I work blocked games.slashdot.org because it had games in the name. They don't block general news sites but some sites are banned on the grounds of "Entertainment". They have a process where you can argue for sites to be permitted but frankly I would just go outside the office and use the free wifi on my eee 701. Its easier and more likely to succeed.
Its a real party if you can vote for them. If I get a chance here in Victoria I will put them ahead of Labour.