Slashdot Mirror


User: MichaelSmith

MichaelSmith's activity in the archive.

Stories
0
Comments
11,670
First seen
Last seen
Profile
(view on slashdot.org)

Comments · 11,670

  1. Re:How do they work? on Space Elevator Challenge · · Score: 1

    The Fountains of Paradise by Arthur C Clarke is well worth reading. He describes in detail a space elevator project in a future (and slightly modified) Sri Lanka.

  2. Re:How do they work? on Space Elevator Challenge · · Score: 4, Informative
    How does a space elevator work?

    If you attach a weight to a rope and spin it around your head the inertia of the weight will keep the rope tight. Because the Earth rotates, a large mass a long way out in space should be able to keep a line tight. The bottom end would be attached to the Earth, preferabley close to the equator. A station close to Geosynchronous orbit will be in microgravity. The weight at the end of the cable will experience rotational pseudo gravity. Objects dropped from this point will enter solar orbit.

  3. Re:X-Prize on Space Elevator Challenge · · Score: 2, Insightful
    Well it seems that this will be won next year :)

    Maybe so, but I don't see anything here which will realistically form a part of a real space elevator system. Its a bit like building a railroad but starting out with model trains.

  4. Re:What a load of sensationalist FUD! on Will Stallman Kill the "Linux Revolution?" · · Score: 1
    "He and a band of anarchist acolytes long have waged war on the commercial software industry"

    The commercial software I work on at my day job is developed entirely with GNU and free software tools.

  5. The real solution on Why Apple Failed in the 90s · · Score: 1
    The real solution to Apple's problem was stumbled onto by a fortunate accident.

    Any bets on what the fortunate accident was?

  6. Re:Mac OS X vs. Ubuntu on Pros and Cons of Switching From Windows To Mac · · Score: 1
    I can't say I can ever had this clock problem, though it doesn't mean it doesn't exist. When I installed, it asked me what timezone I was in and configured it appropriately. What were you using to reset the clock that had you typing things into the command-line with sudo? Also, I've never experienced nor heard of anyone experiencing sudo "not working". What exactly happened when it was "not working"? Can you reproduce the issue or submit a bug report about it?

    I think sudo keeps track of the time because it lets you use it multiple times after you enter your password once. The GUI clock thing will use sudo to give you root to be able to set the clock. Presumably sudo got upset about the clock changing and refused to work for a while.

  7. Re:Zune sounds like a curse word in Hebrew on A Hands-On Zune Review · · Score: 1
    Zune sounds very much like ziyun which is a Hebrew curse word for f***

    What would you say about the Friends of the Zoo?

  8. Re:when Sun, SGI, DEC, and IBM built their own chi on Microsoft Developing Console Chips · · Score: 2, Interesting

    It occurs to me that the DRM in the XBOX starts at the hardware level. So if MSFT wants to really lock down their systems making their own hardware would be a good place to start.

  9. Re:The rules of evolution... on Slashback: IceWeasel, Online Gambling, GPU Folding, Evolution · · Score: 1
    The rules of evolution (from Darwin) are such that all species eventually split into seperate species. It's arrogant to suppose that humans are immune!

    When that happens we will have exactly the situation we have now, there will be us and them

    At the moment we are H Sapiens while they are the other ape species.

    When the time comes we may not even consider them to be intelligent.

  10. Re:I'm not convinced by extraterrestrial argument on Strange Bacteria Sustains Itself Without Sunlight · · Score: 2, Interesting
    However once the mechanisms of life are up and running THEN things can adapt to extreme enviroments because they have a number of pre existing mechanisms that be mutated to do allow this

    I don't see how bacteria could adapt to live 2.5km below the ground. If they are surface organisms which get subducted then they should be killed almost immediately and will wind up in the mantle in any case.

  11. Re:No ice? Deliver it. on No Ice on the Moon · · Score: 2, Interesting
    It'd be a real bummer if this research proves true, because having water readily available on the moon would be a help in our (looong-term) future plans.

    Thomas Gold used radar studies to show that the surface of the moon was made entirely of soft dust which an astronaut would sink right through. And he was right. The top millimetre of the moon (which is all the radar could see) really is like that.

    A highly oblique illumination of the lunar south pole from 4000000km away can not prove that there is no ice on the moon. Ground penetrating radar from orbit or the surface will prove that to a certain depth.

    Its worth noting that the control samples which apollo astronauts took from under the LM descent stage failed to show any volatiles at all, despite the fact that they had been gardened by the engine exhaust. There could be water on the moon and we wouldn't see signs of it elsewhere.

  12. Doesn't prove much on No Ice on the Moon · · Score: 1
    The team found that a particular radar signature called the circular polarisation ratio - which in the Clementine experiment was taken to indicate thick deposits of ice - could also be created by echoes from the rough terrain and walls of impact craters.

    So all this proves is that the Clementine experiment may not have detected ice after all. There is nothing in this experiment which would have directly measured ice if it had been present.

  13. Re:On a serious note, .... on Human Species May Split In Two · · Score: 1
    If modern society were to fail tomorrow, western civilization would fall a *very* long way before beginning the tiresome climb back up the technology curve

    I think you are wrong about this. Pretty much everywhere you look the humans around you know how to do a lot ofthings. I am sure that if I surveyed the 400 or so people who my street I would find people with working knowledge in practically any field (medicine, engineering, biology, agriculture, etc).

    Even if your society is cut down to a few thousand adults you should have enough depth in your knowledge base to get things back on track fairly quickly.

    This idea was pushed by George Turner in his book Beloved Son which is set in a post holocaust world.

  14. Re:That's nothing on Kansas Soil Yields Massive Meteorite · · Score: 1
    How it failed to make a crater I don't understand.

    Since it landed over 80,000 years ago any crater may have eroded away. The meteorite may well have bounced right out of the crater it made. Lots of similar objects on the moon were found beside, not inside, their craters.

    On Earth natural erosion will flatten a small crater out in a few hundred years.

  15. Re:Some background on meteorites on Kansas Soil Yields Massive Meteorite · · Score: 1
    If you've roof gutters try running a magnet over the accumulated sediment in the bottom of them, much of the metallic material collected thus is likely recently extraterrestrial in origin.

    Thanks for the tip. I will give it a go.

    Reminds me of my previous house which was on open land, no trees or hills around. One night I stepped out the front door and something really heavy slammed on to the steel roof just above me. The next day I had a look and there was a small rock in the gutter, about the right size to hold in your hand.

    Many meteors arrive at ground level at terminal velocity but of course there were plenty of kids around that area with slingshots looking to give somebody a scare and I think that is the most likely explanation.

  16. Re:Ungrateful Bitching on Firefox 2.0 RC3 Released · · Score: 0, Redundant
    I'm just waiting for drag-and-drop tabs so I can reorder my tab

    I have that now in 1.5.0.5

  17. Re:Impound all cars on Backyard Rocketeers Keep the Solid Fuel Burning · · Score: 1
    sort of the way coal mine dust, grain elevator dust and natural gas leak explosions do

    I have often wondered about using toner (ie, from a laser printer) for the same purpose.

  18. Re:Different languages on Adult .IE Domain Names Banned As Immoral · · Score: 1
    "sex" is the Swedish word for "six"

    What a coincidence. Sex is also the New Zealand word for six.

  19. Re:I don't get get it. on 911 Call Tracking Site Stirs Concern · · Score: 1
    I just don't see why this needs to be available to the public in real time

    I used to work for the local road authority. We published real time information on traffic accidents so that people could avoid dangerous and congested roads.

  20. Re:Unsure what to make of this on 911 Call Tracking Site Stirs Concern · · Score: 1, Insightful
    They're afraid of terrorists attacking a fire?

    It might be possible to wait for many of the emergency vehicles to be on one side of the city and then start a fire on the other side of the city.

  21. Re:Inconvienient? on 911 Call Tracking Site Stirs Concern · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Come on, does anyone really think that making the information a tiny bit harder to get is going to discourage real terrorists?

    My ex girlfriend had this side gate on her house which was hard to open but not locked. He housemate insisted that I put a lock on it so I did. Didn't bother me because I always just stepped over the gate rather than trying to open the bloody thing. She sees a potential thief as being like herself but I think the thief is going to be more like me, ie, able to step over a 1 metre high gate.

    The people who want this site changed have never heard of OCR. They just don't want to explain to their even less tech savvy boss that there is no way to make this information secure without not releasing it.

  22. Re:yes, it may or not be... on North Korea Air Sample Shows Radiation · · Score: 1
    I think that "total" economic sanctions would be effective.

    I wonder if you could undermine a government by bombing them with something which the people really need. How about canned food? Fly aircraft over N Korean towns and cities and drop food from the sky. Do it year after year and over time the hold which the Government has over the people will weaken.

    Call it an aid program. You would have to use military aircraft with defensive systems on board because they would obviously be shot at, but it would help if you could do it under UN colours.

    Maybe you could back it up with free WiFi access beamed down from UAV's.

    It sounds expensive but I bet it would be much cheaper than another war.

  23. Re:Luggage? on Airport To Tag Passengers With RFID · · Score: 4, Funny
    Perhaps they should invest some of this energy into tracking luggage?

    Thats the idea. Passengers and luggage will be merged. You bring along an extra suitcase and they seal you inside at the check in counter.

  24. Re:Any trojans cause concern on Targeted Trojan Attacks Causing Concern · · Score: 2, Insightful
    Also, I'm as competent as most /. users, so I was shocked I got virused twice because I'm careful, especially at work.

    Almost certainly another machine on your network is spreading the infection. You did something about it because you are on the lookout for these problems. I suggest you use your position to bypass the IT people. Go straight to the top and get the boss to knock some heads together in the IT department. This problem is more serious than the immediate issue on your PC.

  25. Re:Any trojans cause concern on Targeted Trojan Attacks Causing Concern · · Score: 1
    I've never understood how people who claim to be "competent" get viruses, trojans, and other malware.

    Chances are its another machine on his network spreading exploits around the place.