As another poster has pointed out, officially the name is derived thus:
MESSENGER stands for MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging.
I was looking at this information and thought that it was a rather contrived name - kind of like the laws that the US Congress passes (PATRIOT Act, etc...)
And then it occurred to me, they probably called it Messenger because in Greek mythology, Mercury was the messenger of the Gods. Or I could be completely wrong...
If I remember correctly, the Chinese moon shot has been put on ice, simply due to the massive financial costs involved. I read about it in the French newspaper Libération: http://www.liberation.fr/page.php?Article=207147. The article is now subscription only, but the headline says it all: Espace. L'exploration du satellite de la Terre est abandonnée pour raisons financières. (The exploration of the earth's satellite is abdandoned due to financial reasons.)
Personally, I think it's a shame that the Chinese are not interested at the moment. I would like to relive the drama of a Moon attempt in my lifetime. Plus all the tinfoil hat moon conspiracists can check to see if the Chinese find an American flag on the moon;)
I've never heard a sonic boom... so I'm not really sure how loud they are, but a co-worker described it as "pretty much sounds like thunder".
Is that really a big problem? It seems kind of dumb to me to ban supersonic flight over cities.
There are certainly very important military implications to being able to go supersonic without a boom. If you have a plane capable of going supersonic, but is indistinguishable from noise on radar thanks to stealth technology, a sonic boom is one thing that could give you away in enemy territory. If you can't be heard on the ground, or easily seen on radar, that makes your mission that much easier.
But in some situations, detecting a signal could mean it is too late. The person could already have sent/received information they shouldn't have. So for a place where security is critical, jamming all the time might be worth the power wasted.
A detector will tell you that a phone is being used in a restricted area, but it won't help you find it that easily - especially if there are several in a room.
The easiest solution for something like an exam room is a cellphone jammer. In saying that, this will only remedy exchange of information via cellphone. It will not prevent people from using their phones as calculators or as notebooks. So if you want to ensure that there is absolutely no cheating in an exam where no calculators are allowed, I would suggest an EMP grenade:)
I haven't taken exams for many years, but I know several people that rely on mobile phones for critical reasons (e.g. being in touch for health reasons, contact with kids on public transport, etc.) that would make them reluctant to give them up for the duration of a typical exam. How is this issue currently handled in academic environments
I am currently at university, and for the last couple of years, there has been a massive "crackdown" on cellphones in exams. If a phone is found on you at any point in the exam you will be escorted out and have to face a disciplinary hearing - which will probably end up in you being expelled for cheating. This applies even if your phone is turned off. I'm fairly sure you'd even get in trouble for having a phone with no battery:)
Our exam procedure requires that bags be placed at the front of the room. If you have a phone in there and it rings, the bag will be taken out, and the owner will have to go to the exam centre to claim it. Upon claiming the bag, "appropriate action" will be taken against you by the chief examiner.
So in this environment, I do not see any room for ANY cellphone usage at all, no matter how good the reasons for it. This is my university, YMMV.
It's not just everytime you get a call or text message. Sometimes I hear that sound even though I don't receive a call or a message. It might have something to do with the phone changing from one cell tower to another or something, or simply being polled by the cellular operator.
I mean, what's the point of throwing people up in space station compared to what you can get with an orbital telescope?
Apples and oranges, I'm afraid. It is true that people on the ISS cannot reproduce the valuable data that Hubble provides about distant stars and planets. However, the people on the ISS are capable of carrying out other forms of research that may be just as valuable. For instance, placing people on the ISS allows us to learn about the effects of living in space. This kind of experiment is essential when it comes to thinking about very long missions to Mars and other planets. Not to mention all sorts of other space-based experiments that may not be feasible without a human to monitor them.
The great thing about Windows 2000 is that it DOESN'T have the junk that Windows Xp is laden with. Windows Xp is basically the stability of Win2K + more junk. For power users and corporates alike, who needs the basic firewall, cd burner, fisher-price visual interface (that only slows the GUI down)? I'm sure I've left a ton of other things out, MSN Messenger for instance...
If Windows 2000 SP5 contains all the security fixes that Windows 2000 has in common with Xp, I'll be content. When Windows 2000 is EOLed, that will be the opportune moment for me to jump to linux for good.
The competition: Internet Explorer, Netscape, Lynx, and Safari.
I'd say it's already pretty much covered... (love my FireFox)
You forget Opera. Granted that Opera is not free, but it's a big competitor for FireFox both in terms of innovation (tabbed browsing, mouse gestures etc...) and the sheer number of platforms supported.
Slashdot Mirror
This is the MD5 sum from WinBeta. (Found at neowin.net)
WindowsXP-KB835935-SP2-ENU.exe 59A98F181FE383907E520A391D75B5A7
As another poster has pointed out, officially the name is derived thus: MESSENGER stands for MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging. I was looking at this information and thought that it was a rather contrived name - kind of like the laws that the US Congress passes (PATRIOT Act, etc...) And then it occurred to me, they probably called it Messenger because in Greek mythology, Mercury was the messenger of the Gods. Or I could be completely wrong...
If I remember correctly, the Chinese moon shot has been put on ice, simply due to the massive financial costs involved. I read about it in the French newspaper Libération: http://www.liberation.fr/page.php?Article=207147. The article is now subscription only, but the headline says it all: Espace. L'exploration du satellite de la Terre est abandonnée pour raisons financières. (The exploration of the earth's satellite is abdandoned due to financial reasons.)
;)
Personally, I think it's a shame that the Chinese are not interested at the moment. I would like to relive the drama of a Moon attempt in my lifetime. Plus all the tinfoil hat moon conspiracists can check to see if the Chinese find an American flag on the moon
I've never heard a sonic boom... so I'm not really sure how loud they are, but a co-worker described it as "pretty much sounds like thunder".
Is that really a big problem? It seems kind of dumb to me to ban supersonic flight over cities.
There are certainly very important military implications to being able to go supersonic without a boom. If you have a plane capable of going supersonic, but is indistinguishable from noise on radar thanks to stealth technology, a sonic boom is one thing that could give you away in enemy territory. If you can't be heard on the ground, or easily seen on radar, that makes your mission that much easier.
but how do you pronounce this guys name?
:)
Siva = See-Va (Va Rhymes with "far")
Vaidhyanathan = Vai (rhymes with "Y") - dya (rhymes with "dubya") - Na (rhymes with "far") - than (sounds like "thun")
Hope that helps, it's not easy to do this textually
But in some situations, detecting a signal could mean it is too late. The person could already have sent/received information they shouldn't have. So for a place where security is critical, jamming all the time might be worth the power wasted.
A detector will tell you that a phone is being used in a restricted area, but it won't help you find it that easily - especially if there are several in a room. The easiest solution for something like an exam room is a cellphone jammer. In saying that, this will only remedy exchange of information via cellphone. It will not prevent people from using their phones as calculators or as notebooks. So if you want to ensure that there is absolutely no cheating in an exam where no calculators are allowed, I would suggest an EMP grenade :)
I haven't taken exams for many years, but I know several people that rely on mobile phones for critical reasons (e.g. being in touch for health reasons, contact with kids on public transport, etc.) that would make them reluctant to give them up for the duration of a typical exam. How is this issue currently handled in academic environments I am currently at university, and for the last couple of years, there has been a massive "crackdown" on cellphones in exams. If a phone is found on you at any point in the exam you will be escorted out and have to face a disciplinary hearing - which will probably end up in you being expelled for cheating. This applies even if your phone is turned off. I'm fairly sure you'd even get in trouble for having a phone with no battery :)
Our exam procedure requires that bags be placed at the front of the room. If you have a phone in there and it rings, the bag will be taken out, and the owner will have to go to the exam centre to claim it. Upon claiming the bag, "appropriate action" will be taken against you by the chief examiner.
So in this environment, I do not see any room for ANY cellphone usage at all, no matter how good the reasons for it. This is my university, YMMV.
I'm DEAF, you insensitive clod!!!!!
It's not just everytime you get a call or text message. Sometimes I hear that sound even though I don't receive a call or a message. It might have something to do with the phone changing from one cell tower to another or something, or simply being polled by the cellular operator.
For a minute there I thought Napster had struck a deal with GNU!
I mean, what's the point of throwing people up in space station compared to what you can get with an orbital telescope?
Apples and oranges, I'm afraid. It is true that people on the ISS cannot reproduce the valuable data that Hubble provides about distant stars and planets. However, the people on the ISS are capable of carrying out other forms of research that may be just as valuable. For instance, placing people on the ISS allows us to learn about the effects of living in space. This kind of experiment is essential when it comes to thinking about very long missions to Mars and other planets. Not to mention all sorts of other space-based experiments that may not be feasible without a human to monitor them.
The great thing about Windows 2000 is that it DOESN'T have the junk that Windows Xp is laden with. Windows Xp is basically the stability of Win2K + more junk. For power users and corporates alike, who needs the basic firewall, cd burner, fisher-price visual interface (that only slows the GUI down)? I'm sure I've left a ton of other things out, MSN Messenger for instance...
If Windows 2000 SP5 contains all the security fixes that Windows 2000 has in common with Xp, I'll be content. When Windows 2000 is EOLed, that will be the opportune moment for me to jump to linux for good.
That's an interesting point actually. Nuclear paranoia is what got Nuclear Resonance Imaging renamed to Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI.)
You forget Opera. Granted that Opera is not free, but it's a big competitor for FireFox both in terms of innovation (tabbed browsing, mouse gestures etc...) and the sheer number of platforms supported.
Yes I am an Opera fan