Combustion Carbon will be in the form of Carbon Monoxide (CO) and/or Carbon Dioxide (CO2). We do not have technology to create solid forms of carbon (quickly enough) to be useful on a passenger vehicle. (but that would be cool)
Both of these waste carbon gases (CO2 and CO) require significant refrigeration with high compression to store them in any significant quantity and that, my friends, *Requires tremendous Energy*.
The work of "sequestering" the Carbon and storing it will eat away any profits in the manufacturing of and efficiency of the vehicle and it will add complexity to an already complex piece of machinery. Not to mention there will have to be one or more pressurized vessels (think explosion, frostbite, and suffocation hazards potentials too).
Carbon Sequestering is a pipe dream (thermodynamically) but it is great for getting venture capital from those investors who have not studied and understood the principles of thermodynamics and basic organic chemistry and who also want to claim that they are investing in "green" technology. (And there may just be tax breaks for such obvious non-competitive investments like 'Sequestering' to the 'Fossil Fuels Industries'??)
"Carbon Sequestering" is really only handy (though still very efficient) if you happen to be talking about a sessile terrestrial power installation over a suitable subterranean geological Carbon gas receiving reservoir. Like this one: http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/03/1845204&from=rss (A budget increase from 1.0 Billion to 1.8 Billion proves its inefficiency alone, and that's before you consider how much more fuel is required to capture all of the HOT exhaust and cool it down to the point it could be compressed and injected into exhausted/abandoned Oil or gas 'injection' wells.
The "Oceans" basically make CaCO3 (Calcium Carbonate) out of CO2 and CO (with the help of Trillions of organisms) and it falls to the ocean floor and becomes rock eventually. This is the PRIMARY carbon "sink" on the planet. I would put more research into helping that process (oceanic Carbon capturing) and focus on Electric Cars powered by Hydrogen cells and NOT Hydrocarbons and not Hydrogen combustion engines... they are too inefficient. Carbon is simply not needed in the fuel cycle. (Unless you want fuel cells that run off of Natural Gas (Methane/Ethane AKA CH4/C2H5) or some form of Alcohol (Methanol/Ethanol AKA CH3OH/C2H5OH)).
Ultimately, using electricity to power the car's electric motor is the only truly efficient way to go (as of today)... It is only a matter of whether it is powered from a battery that is charged with electricity from the grid (preferably Nuclear and/or Hydroelectric), from an internal generator burning fuel (like modern diesel/electric Trains), and/or capacitors, solar cells, or small nuclear reactors... Burning Carbon-containing fuels (from whatever source...but note: they *WILL be from Fossil Fuels* as long as they are cheaper) is just more of the same since the invention of the combustion heat engine. It is business as usual.. Using Corn to make alcohol is a pretend market that will utterly fail without the heavy government subsidies it is seeing. (Research ADM and its lobbying efforts.)
Carbon Sequestering is really interesting, but it requires TOO MUCH energy to do.. Last time I checked, you use about 2 Watts of power to remove about 1 Watt of heat from your home/office using efficient air conditioning. What will it require in energy to remove the heat and to compress (compression releases MORE heat BYW) the exhaust of a car buring some Carbon-containing fuel? Exactly. Electric is the ONLY way to!
The thing is, you do not want "pollute" your (everyone's actually) orbital pathways around earth with millions of pieces of high-velocity debris like the Chinese irresponsibly did here: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/19/china_satellite/
The Chinese dramatically increased debris in several orbital pathways from the state-sanctioned shoot-down of their former satellite. This is basically putting a mine field in that part of space. Rocket Scientists do not do things like this *without* first considering the consequences. (As in creating "nearly 800 debris fragments of size 10 cm or larger, nearly 40,000 debris fragments with size between 1 and 10 cm, and roughly 2 million fragments of size 1 mm or larger" at hyper-velocities http://www.armscontrolwonk.com/1360/chinese-asat-test-massive-debris-creation-likely ) The Chinese knew what they were doing with the shoot-down and is highly likely it was on purpose.
It is likely the US do not want to create orbital debris, but are willing to chance it at the last possible moment to prevent the bird from falling in unfriendly turf. The Media's Hydrazine fuel scare is mostly hype. True, hydrazine is hazardous, but it readily dissipates and soon breaks down into Ammonia and Nitrogen (both of which are naturally occurring in our the environment).
Re:Incompetence ok, Lying Bad, Backups Priceless
on
The $54 Million Laptop
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· Score: 2, Informative
I feel sorry for the lady in this situation. It is too bad she did not have a backup.
Still, it will be difficult for her to "prove" that she had the formula for Coke, the Cure for Cancer, or where she put her car keys, etc.. on her laptop's HDD. I wish her luck.
OTOH, I maintain two separate physical hard drives for my PC laptop.
I simply removed the original OEM HDD as soon as I unboxed my laptop and I used (Drive Copy 4.0 boot floppies) to create an EXACT clone of the original HDD (onto a larger and faster 7,200RPM Seagate HDD with 5-year warranty and shock sensors) the very same day I got my new laptop.
Guess which drive I install before I send my laptop away for *any* type of service (or if it is for be loaned, etc..)
It also comes in handy when it comes time to sell the laptop onto the used market.. Nothing to unformat or undelete.. no privacy woes. (I backup my data too, just saying..)
I would be interested to know what the new "physical requirements" are going to be for this type of command?
What will the recruiters say? "And guess what?, You will get a free 6-pack of Jolt *or* Red Bull *or* even Bawlz with every root account compromised?
You may be right. I may not have a legal argument here for the withholding of the West Virginia tax records from the Internet for all to have.
Because the local government (County Assessor's Office, etc..) created the county tax maps then they are public documents (or products from public documents by a government entity) and legally subject to the FOIA.
It is a different argument about the security of having the actual tax maps at the courthouse vs. having scans of them freely online (and probably not legally relevant as far as a FOIA request).
I would put real money that there are far fewer abuses of the information if the person/entity utilizing the public information is logged, regulated, etc.. with some level of oversight if not merely the clerks in the office "seeing over" their own desks witnessing what is being reviewed by whomever in "the public". But this is not enough to support the restriction of the information from being online. The accessibility of the information online is obviously more convenient than trekking down to every courthouse.. but I hope the judge seriously considered putting the information online for THE WORLD to see versus just at the local courthouse...
There is a real resource to be had here by foreign government intelligence agencies (this is the Virginia area) in that it would have looked rather suspicious if they went down to the local office and copied every single map. But apparently the judge knows best. This is a bell you CANNOT un-ring (unless everyone moves and swaps property). It would be very convenient to the US intelligence agencies if tax maps of foreign country's populations were freely posted online with all current property owners and their property values and names/mailing addresses (with any and all improvements and buildings) or could simply be obtained for $20. I can also imagine the mob getting the entire data set and data mining it for a leaked witness' name, or for some other intent. I am just saying that these things are much, much harder to do in person under the watchful eyes of the employees in every VA County Assessor's office in the state. But maybe China or Nigeria deserves to have full and free access to EVERY taxable property in VA and their owners names and assesses and values. I feel that this data has large potential for abuses mentioned here and more importantly, for abuses that I cannot think of. At least there are always shell Companies and Trusts and lawyers, accountants, and proxies of every sort to create some anonymity for those that can afford them.
I can note that within the last few years, The State of Texas passed into law the requirement to expunge all Social Security Numbers from public documents/records on file in their courthouses. Apparently, too many illegal immigrants, etc.. were feloniously forging false identity documentation (identity theft) from the SSN and matching Signatures/addresses in the public record in County Courthouses. Duh! (WAY TO GO TEXAS!)
Also, Certified/Embossed copies of legal instruments, documents, etc.. are required if they are to be used in situations where proof of being genuine is essential for the said document, as in a court of law or other legal matters involving proof of ownership, taxation having been levied/payed. There are frequent "tax sales" on the courthouse steps to properties that have had delinquent taxes, foreclosures, etc.. I am unsure of specific legal certification needs for Tax Maps and Surface Owner Tax roles from the Assessor's office, but I am sure certified copies are often required from the Court Clerk's and the County Clerk's documents on record.
Much like I have a birth certificate to renew my Driver's License, however, I cannot renew my driver's license without a Certified embossed/sealed copy from The State of Oklahoma. Even though it is the same thing in writing, it is unofficial.
I have fears for the abuse of the information discussed and fears that my personal property and tax information will be placed online for the world to
I have seen some photographers not even bother to go after the unauthorized or unlicensed use of their images... that is until they are published someplace with deep pockets who is likely to quickly $ettle well when sued.
Another issue is the fact that the camera is NOT taking an image of the photographer's iris *every time* the button is pressed and then real-time embedding it into the RAW CCD dump before compression, post in-camera processing, etc..
This may as well be something that is done from the PC/Mac Editing workstation using special watermarking software when memory cards are dumped if it is not to be in-camera and real-time every-time.
I remember being on "assignment" and shooting "humorous" pictures that were not necessarily related to my paid task, which later were widely circulated in company-wide email (say, like when I caught a police officer in his patrol car SLEEPING... I silently placed dozen krispy-kremes onto his hood just in front of his open window (as I maniacally laughed inside my head while rubbing hands together)... Boy, and I am sure glad that that officer could not 'prove' who shot the images. Heard that the police chief got a copy too.. LOL Parking ticket payback.
Pro gear or not, any "big glass" shooters will have that crap switched off in a heartbeat if the embedding technology affects/delays shooting performance in ANY way. I know many pros who only shoot in "manual" modes because the internal computers on modern digital cameras inpart too much delay (ANY is too much for a Pro). Typically the only auto feature used are AP (Aperture Priority) with Ultrasonic/Hypersonic (Canon/Nikon) autofocus lenses... the rest are more/less for noobs and wedding photographers.
It also has been my experience that effective watermarking would require some form of "crippling" in Photoshop (and any other pro editing software apps used in the biz). Thjis is just another in the long line or DRM. If you can detect it, there too is a way to remove it. (If anyone would like an example, take some high-rez RAW images of US paper currency (20's and higher I believe) and then attempt to edit those files at high res in Photoshop (el al) and then print them on a high end color printer. The software and the printers are deliberately modified to not allow the operations (by design) because they "recognize" the US currency and prevent the operation. I believe color copiers also have this "feature". http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/01/08/0111228
I see this technology as also requiring a level of watermark removal prevention built into the software. Nothing like everyone's secret-sauce editing followed by flattening and a batch-resize with unsharp-mask followed up with everyone's favorite RGB->CMYK conversion (and color loss) to have fun with watermarks. Many imagers I know, wipe their metadata to help mask technical details of how the shot was made (or in my case I'd put made-up BS data in there, f32, ISO6400, 1200mm, etc..)... there are many copycats out there in the competitive world of photography. Something like this reads to me to be a possible new file format. That alone would kill industry-wide adoption (unless it is FREE and far superior compared to JPG, TIF, and RAW "lossless" CCD dump formats.)
I'd like to see how Canon implements it and how useful it actually *is*.
-The worst (disclosed) US theft I have heard of, was when China stole our *1970's vintage design* for the W-88 miniature thermonuclear warhead http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W88
What possible needs and wants would the Chinese ever have from our very successful 1970's US missile and rocket designs and technologies? What about now that they have the very modern W88 MIRV warhead design? Hummm, what could it be???
Hint: It is abbreviated "I.C.B.M."
Dave Bowman: Hello, HAL do you read me, HAL?
HAL: Affirmative, Dave, I read you.
Dave Bowman: Open the pod bay doors, HAL.
HAL: I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that.
Dave Bowman: What's the problem?
HAL: I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do.
Dave Bowman: What are you talking about, HAL?
HAL: This mission is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it.
Dave Bowman: I don't know what you're talking about, HAL?
HAL: I know you and Frank were planning to disconnect me, and I'm afraid that's something I cannot allow to happen.
Dave Bowman: Where the hell'd you get that idea, HAL?
HAL: Dave, although you took thorough precautions in the pod against my hearing you, I could see your lips move.
The "Internet" is a network and a tool.
It is not the volitional agenda-based anthropomorphically-intentioned snake handing Eve an apple and fostering narcissism and reassurance to her it is all ok.
It is a fancy TOOL. Nothing more. Zeros and Ones encoded.
Communication mediums that lead to increases of stimulatory sensory perceptions, given enough contact by the controlling recipient (the tool user), will lead to some sensory desensitization to the original stimuli.
This is the nature of SOME (but not all) humans. (how else could humans be possibly interested in some of the 'kinks' out there?)
People exposed to some stimulatory data later lost that same initial psychological experience as when first introduced to the same stimuli, so obviously some people use their "tools" to seek out a *more* stimulating data set. (based on what they then crave). This can become a slippery-slope (and often does).
I bet people also use the Internet to seek information on Automobile Engine repair (as well as all of those sorted automobile autopsy images with their instructive qualities). After all, they are "art"....
-It could be also argued that the "Internet" Creates "Auto Mechanics" according to "Me".
Personification of the "Internet" seemingly removes accountability and responsibility from the parties who choose to use this great new global communications TOOL for purposes not approved by society, religion, law, etc...
It could just as reasonably be argued that there are not more pedophiles, but in fact, more awareness to them because of their use of the Internet.
Pedophilia, (albeit extremely repugnant, unacceptable, cruel, and criminal to me as well as something I do not understand) does exist in this world. It existed in the world before the invention of this Interweb "tubes" tool.
I hate it when excuses are made for actual human decisions and choices and are thence blamed on some "tool". This is akin to stating that Ouija Boards... cause devil worship!
Reluctantly, I do admit guilt in being loquacious on this subject. (Part of my job is to work in County Courthouses conducting land, tax, and title research.)
Just because the FOIA may not restrict the free/paid publishing of obtained public records does not mean that is ok to do so. Some public records DO expose individuals and property owners to significant criminal activity potential. I argue that tax records in the form of maps with physical locations and values of said property with names and addresses irresponsibly places an easter egg of data to be exploited. I say let the users be physically seen in the County courthouse records rooms (on camera) gathering data on West Virginia taxpayers and property owners. Scammers now have an easier way to find their targets... just call those who have the highest property taxes first, the location of the isolated million dollar house in the hills to rob... etc..
Note: The single $20 fee was what the judge ruled Seneca Technologies would only have to pay West Virginia for all 20,000+ TIF map images. (I am guessing on DVD-R, etc..?)
This company appears to be attempting to be an online Abstractor of public records in West Virginia. I am unsure if this requires special legal permits, agreements, and security procedures to obtain and to publish public records in West Virginia.
But, in my home state (Oklahoma) we (the public) are required to sign a free Affidavit to the Court Clerk stating that we are (1) not abstractors and (2) are collecting said information and documentation for personal or professional private use and are not publishing or distributing public documents and (3) the documents are not to be distributed to other third parties nor (4) will the documents be treated as official information. Etc.. (I could not find a copy of my Affidavit for the exact language but that is close..)
IANAL, but really we are disagreeing on differing sides of the root legal questions:
-What is the legal definition of a "Public Document" in West Virginia?
-If any derivative County Assessor's Office works are created from said 'public documents' are they too then defined as 'public documents'?
-What then are reasonable "entitlement rights" the "public" defined as, if any, to said County within West Virginia? (Simple M-F 8-5 Paper Copies only may be legally sufficient.)
Based on the above answers, who then is legally entitled to be the official distributor/publisher for the West Virginia County Assessor's for Plat Maps, etc..? (this is an easy one, the office that produced the documents only)
Solution: Produce the requested Plat map files in a 'flattened' state and in the requested TIF format with a FAT 50% gray Watermark loudly stating "NOT AN OFFICIAL RECORD" in bold diagonally over each Plat Map. (This in no way would hinder the information content of the produced records nor its usefulness to any individual and it would ensure the integrity of the derivative alleged "official public record maps". (This is what Oklahoma Court Clerks already do for their online records, and they require the above Affidavit before they grant you an online login and password to access images of the files, but non-watermarked copies cost $1 but they are not maps)
Now, charge $8 per physical paper plat map copy to anyone who wishes to have one (without said watermark) and do it only from the County Assessor's office.
Without this level of security and quality control over my records as a County Assessor, I would cease and desist any and all scanning and publishing of digital plat maps and ONLY have paper copies on file and for distribution from then on.
Furthermore, I would require an Affidavit similar to the above one on file before copies of the public documents are delivered (because the very same documents could be easily used for criminal activities)
Abuses of public records by criminals have historically been low due to the records being physically located in a County Courthouse with cameras and Assessors and Cle
You make a good point, but the tax maps are not necessarily the same as public records.
-This is about a private company profiting from the derived works of the Tax Assessors from the actual public records.
The written documents they are created from by the County Assessor's Offices' are Public Records. It is these *written* Legal Tax Assessment Records (written descriptions, not maps) that are Public Documents not the plat maps of surface ownership created from them (unless one is filed into the record). These "maps" are in-house documents the Assessor's create to assist in their tracking of and future Assessing of geographic property values and any improvements made to it.
In my state they physically come around on foot and even take pictures of any structures or "improvements" made to the property for tax assessment purposes. I recently built a large Steel/Concrete Garage/Shop beside my home and sure enough.. it raised my property values and taxes when the County Assessor's field team came around. (Which also raised my property insurance rates.) These "Surface Plat Maps" are created at great expense *from public written records* by every county and kept on file in the County Assessor's Office.
It is these very in-house surface plat ownership maps which are made by the County Assessor's Offices from *written* publicly available documents (Legal Instruments) that the FOIA Request was intended to obtain FTA. These maps are made at considerable expense by every County Assessor's Office using mapmakers and field survey crews. They are NOT actually public records, however, each office will make you a copy of them at $8 per page (or whatever).
The maps are created FROM public written records and are intended to assist the Tax Assessor's and their field researchers (and anyone else willing to take notes from simply *viewing* the plats in the Assessor's Office for free *or* any party wanting to pay the $8 per page for a copy.
What has actually happened here is the counties instead of physically making a copy per page, have scanned the maps into *.TIF images for the benefit of all (and they charge $8 to print one of their images).
This company "Seneca Technologies" has misled/misinformed/neglected to tell the whole story to the FOIA Judge into believing the maps are public records. Now they are placing them online to freely distribute. This is actually a violation of the County Assessor's rights.
Seneca Technologies at any time can obtain the written tax assessment PUBLIC documents and draft up to date surface plat maps themselves out of the millions of Legal Tax Instruments for the the state of West Virginia and post the maps themselves. But instead Millions of Tax dollars have been spent to create these maps by every County Assessor and one judge decides to give them to a for-profit company to give away (without affidavits of identity filed for security purposes on who might be "researching" in them, think criminals).
The Assessor's Offices of West Virginia (and I am sure in may other places in America) are learning very important lessons here.
SCAN NOTHING. FORCE PAPER COPIES ONLY. That way when a judge orders 20,936 plat map pages to be given over to a private for-profit third party for $20, they CAN BE BILLED a reasonable $8 fee each for every page.
Also, there is nothing illegal about the County Assessor from charging more $ for every tax filing (and through a vote also raising property taxes) now that their already subsidized filing fees (from selling $8 copies of THEIR created maps FROM public records) must now be "given" away. Their public above-board budgets consider that $8 per page copy fee.
Also showing up in person to get copies (even if digital) restricts Nigerian Scammers (and Stalkers and other Criminals such as Identity Thieves, etc..) from reading West Virginia, USA Tax Records freely online without showing their happy faces in the Courthouses. (NOTE: Most Felons and Criminals fail to research their targets IN PERSON in the County Cou
They *are* indeed Public Records. You have every right to go see them. (Many Counties have you file an affidavit of identity and/or purpose to protect them from stalkers and identity thieves, etc...)
Just go down to your local County Assessor's Office and/or County Clerk's Office and/or Court Clerk's Office and you may well be surprised what are in public records. (Of course, the hours of operation are M-F 8-5 typically) I have to tell you, it beats Googleing someone (if you know what county they live in and have the time to go there during banker's hours.)
This is about loss of per-copy income to the particular clerk's office from providing copies of official documents and plat maps. (Which will still have to be paid for if a "certified" copy is needed for court proceedings, etc..) The clerk will just have to raise the cost of the copies made to offset the losses or raise some other tax or fee to offset the loss (such as filing fees).
The clerk's offices in my state are non-profit, and believe me... they do spend the money on improving their products and services. They are non-profit and headed by a publicly-elected official.
As this particular office FTA provides *.TIF images of their official Documents/Instruments/Plats, either they are particularly advanced technologically for an Assessor's/Clerk's office, or they are contractually outsourcing to a third party document archiving company.. Either way, the Judge's orders make the Assessor's/Clerk's business model fail and they will need to charge exorbitant rates to maintain their contract or stop producing scans on all files Legal Documents and Instruments.
Many courthouses in my state have a similar online 3rd-Party records system for the County Clerk's Records (but not all Counties contribute): http://okcountyrecords.com/index.php (You will have to file an affidavit and obtain a *free* login from a participating county's County Clerk to view read-only non-printable PDF's of records, however, you can pay $1 per page and print it locally (unlocks the PDF file and removes watermark) or have clean copies mailed to you.
There are also State Supreme Court Network Records Online covering the largest 13 counties in my state: http://www.oscn.net/applications/oscn/start.asp?viewType=DOCKETS
My State's District Court Records are Online too: http://www.odcr.com/
But, for now, County (Tax) Assessor's Offices' in each county of my state are not online (that I am aware of).. A special trip to every county courthouse is needed.
I politely pay a modest fee for an official copy of the surface ownership plat map and list of any/all surface owners (for any given legally described section of land I am researching.)
It is now quite common for digital cameras to be used in public court record vaults statewide (with completed free filed affidavit), however, flash is not allowed and you are not allowed to take images of the handwritten index books. NOTE: These Index books are NOT public records, they are the handwritten indices which the County Clerk use as a means to organize the seemingly otherwise random public records by physical location (legal land description). There are thousands of volumes of records with 500-800 pages each dating back to Statehood. The County clerks typically charge $1 per page to obtain a copy of each page of their non-public indexes covering the library of public records. They will allow you to use their index books freely as long as you follow the posted rules and agree to not scan or take photos of their books.
This raises the crux of the argument of the Assessor's Office. Tax records, though being some of the most accurate and up-to-date records, ARE public records. And from the read, they are resisting placing their tax maps online. These Assessor's Office tax surface-plat maps are akin to the County Clerk's Index bo
I admit, Hotmail was not always so bad. It may even have been one of the most popular. (But you must include AOL in there too... so there's that beast too..) An many many of Hotmail's customers were established in the Hotmail OF THE PAST, when it was much "better" than it is now.
(Actually, it used to be quite good, but now it is very much the opposite IMHO.)
--> I therefore logically conclude that the changes made to Hotmail are either *by design* or *due to incompetence* (or worse - both).
Gmail, while not 100% perfect, subsequentally won me over as a customer. (it is still Beta and VERY compatible and dependable)
The same could be said for Google's search engine, IMHO I prefer the Google Search engine to MS's 'Live Search' (or whatever MS marketing is calling it this year).
When MS can provide me (and everyone else) with a search engine or email web-app that is faster, friendlier to all major browsers other than IE, and has more meaningful results FOR FREE, I'll consider switching to it.
Beating Google.com and Gmail.com through free-will customer choice rather than locking-in by browser/OS, etc.. would win back many of us disenchanted with the Microsoft Collective.
The Author FTA said it best:
"Conclusion
All things said, I prefer Gmail."
Hotmail has a nasty habit of deleting all of your email if you fail to login at least once every 30 days.
I vacationed and forgot to login... lost 5+ years worth of email (thankfully, I mirrored important messages to Yahoo)..
'Hotmail of Borg' was "kind enough" to not delete my contacts or account, but they were "sorry" that all of my email was deleted. Nothing to see here move along....
Now, I have been very happily using Gmail since 2004 (but I do have a free Yahoo account that has 8+ years worth of emails also. Redundancy good.)
Hotmail is now totally obsolete IMHO and they treat their customers like dog crap. This is obviously planned by Microsoft. They are about to buy Yahoo to "try" to compete. The mass Exodus (Migration) of all of my Yahoo Email is already underway in preparation for the great FUBARing to come once Microsoft obtains Yahoo and incorporates it into their collective.
I use Gmail 99% of the time now. Thank you Google! (If only Google would now write a compatible OS to make MS Windows obsolete, (even if left beta for years) I'd still buy it!)
Thank you for the link. I posed this question on one of the previous 4 cable severing/. stories: http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=439894&cid=22275356
I still think that if the cable were in international waters, would it not be fair game for salvage? (Unless there is already an international treaty preventing this?)
I have seen groups on unemployed non-citizens stripping thousands of feet of wire at salvage yards before (typically as a backup plan for not obtaining morning pile-in-the-truck selection for day-labor gigs at local construction/landscaping sites, etc...)
-With Copper scrap valued at around $3.50/lb, I'd say these cables might just be gold mines on the bottom of the sea for the taking by some poor fishermen with the right trolling gear and winches to haul up the cables.
There will always be someone that will strip cable for $1.00/hr. (or less) in some third world country, etc.. It is just getting the cable and transporting it there to be stripped and "recycled".
Seems like under Maritime Law, items abandoned/sunk/lost on the sea floor in International Waters are subject to being recoverable and salvageable?
These cables DO contain valuable metals in them like copper, aluminum, and steel (probably stainless)? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submarine_communications_cable
(I do realize that some of the recent cable cuts are not in international waters, but is still is an interesting query.)
I am not endorsing any harm of, nor the "salvaging" of any undersea cabling.
However, there are many, many others in the world who do not have the same sense of right and wrong (and virtually all of these examples are NOT in International Waters.) http://www.google.com/search?num=50&hl=en&safe=off&q=wire+theft+copper+aluminum&btnG=Search
Yes and No. Its original class design was modified and lengthened by 100 feet to accommodate the "Multi-Mission Platform (MMP), which allows launch and recovery of ROVs and Navy SEAL forces. The MMP may also be used as an underwater splicing chamber for tapping of undersea fiber optic cables." (Wiki)
OTOH, If the US Navy were doing 'tapping' with the Seawolf-Class SSN, no one would ever know about it. US Navy Submarine crews are the best there are and in this string of events, and the US Navy is not having "accidents" while tapping cables. *If* the US Navy is involved with these fiber cable cuts, they are on purpose and not due to errors. Those men truly know what they are doing and are very well trained.
Dough! Yes, thank you. I did mean to link to Diffraction Grating. Had my terms mixed up. Concept is still sound.
Interestingly, this technique might be combined with the "forests of nanotubes" discussed last month to make some interesting coatings and material finishes. http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/17/0424232
Slashdot Mirror
Combustion Carbon will be in the form of Carbon Monoxide (CO) and/or Carbon Dioxide (CO2). We do not have technology to create solid forms of carbon (quickly enough) to be useful on a passenger vehicle. (but that would be cool)
Both of these waste carbon gases (CO2 and CO) require significant refrigeration with high compression to store them in any significant quantity and that, my friends, *Requires tremendous Energy*. The work of "sequestering" the Carbon and storing it will eat away any profits in the manufacturing of and efficiency of the vehicle and it will add complexity to an already complex piece of machinery. Not to mention there will have to be one or more pressurized vessels (think explosion, frostbite, and suffocation hazards potentials too).
Carbon Sequestering is a pipe dream (thermodynamically) but it is great for getting venture capital from those investors who have not studied and understood the principles of thermodynamics and basic organic chemistry and who also want to claim that they are investing in "green" technology. (And there may just be tax breaks for such obvious non-competitive investments like 'Sequestering' to the 'Fossil Fuels Industries'??)
"Carbon Sequestering" is really only handy (though still very efficient) if you happen to be talking about a sessile terrestrial power installation over a suitable subterranean geological Carbon gas receiving reservoir. Like this one: http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/03/1845204&from=rss (A budget increase from 1.0 Billion to 1.8 Billion proves its inefficiency alone, and that's before you consider how much more fuel is required to capture all of the HOT exhaust and cool it down to the point it could be compressed and injected into exhausted/abandoned Oil or gas 'injection' wells.
The "Oceans" basically make CaCO3 (Calcium Carbonate) out of CO2 and CO (with the help of Trillions of organisms) and it falls to the ocean floor and becomes rock eventually. This is the PRIMARY carbon "sink" on the planet. I would put more research into helping that process (oceanic Carbon capturing) and focus on Electric Cars powered by Hydrogen cells and NOT Hydrocarbons and not Hydrogen combustion engines... they are too inefficient. Carbon is simply not needed in the fuel cycle. (Unless you want fuel cells that run off of Natural Gas (Methane/Ethane AKA CH4/C2H5) or some form of Alcohol (Methanol/Ethanol AKA CH3OH/C2H5OH)).
Ultimately, using electricity to power the car's electric motor is the only truly efficient way to go (as of today)... It is only a matter of whether it is powered from a battery that is charged with electricity from the grid (preferably Nuclear and/or Hydroelectric), from an internal generator burning fuel (like modern diesel/electric Trains), and/or capacitors, solar cells, or small nuclear reactors... Burning Carbon-containing fuels (from whatever source...but note: they *WILL be from Fossil Fuels* as long as they are cheaper) is just more of the same since the invention of the combustion heat engine. It is business as usual.. Using Corn to make alcohol is a pretend market that will utterly fail without the heavy government subsidies it is seeing. (Research ADM and its lobbying efforts.)
Carbon Sequestering is really interesting, but it requires TOO MUCH energy to do.. Last time I checked, you use about 2 Watts of power to remove about 1 Watt of heat from your home/office using efficient air conditioning. What will it require in energy to remove the heat and to compress (compression releases MORE heat BYW) the exhaust of a car buring some Carbon-containing fuel? Exactly. Electric is the ONLY way to!
They are sending a clear message to China.
In an way, it is an opportunity for a US response to this: http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/18/0235229
The thing is, you do not want "pollute" your (everyone's actually) orbital pathways around earth with millions of pieces of high-velocity debris like the Chinese irresponsibly did here: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/19/china_satellite/
The Chinese dramatically increased debris in several orbital pathways from the state-sanctioned shoot-down of their former satellite. This is basically putting a mine field in that part of space. Rocket Scientists do not do things like this *without* first considering the consequences. (As in creating "nearly 800 debris fragments of size 10 cm or larger, nearly 40,000 debris fragments with size between 1 and 10 cm, and roughly 2 million fragments of size 1 mm or larger" at hyper-velocities http://www.armscontrolwonk.com/1360/chinese-asat-test-massive-debris-creation-likely ) The Chinese knew what they were doing with the shoot-down and is highly likely it was on purpose.
It is likely the US do not want to create orbital debris, but are willing to chance it at the last possible moment to prevent the bird from falling in unfriendly turf. The Media's Hydrazine fuel scare is mostly hype. True, hydrazine is hazardous, but it readily dissipates and soon breaks down into Ammonia and Nitrogen (both of which are naturally occurring in our the environment).
I feel sorry for the lady in this situation. It is too bad she did not have a backup.
Still, it will be difficult for her to "prove" that she had the formula for Coke, the Cure for Cancer, or where she put her car keys, etc.. on her laptop's HDD. I wish her luck.
OTOH, I maintain two separate physical hard drives for my PC laptop.
I simply removed the original OEM HDD as soon as I unboxed my laptop and I used (Drive Copy 4.0 boot floppies) to create an EXACT clone of the original HDD (onto a larger and faster 7,200RPM Seagate HDD with 5-year warranty and shock sensors) the very same day I got my new laptop.
Guess which drive I install before I send my laptop away for *any* type of service (or if it is for be loaned, etc..) It also comes in handy when it comes time to sell the laptop onto the used market.. Nothing to unformat or undelete.. no privacy woes. (I backup my data too, just saying..)
I would be interested to know what the new "physical requirements" are going to be for this type of command?
What will the recruiters say? "And guess what?, You will get a free 6-pack of Jolt *or* Red Bull *or* even Bawlz with every root account compromised?
What are the new parameters are going to be for the "boot camp"? Here are the current ones: http://www.baseops.net/basictraining/airforce.html
I'd be pressed (these days) to meet the BMT physical requirements: http://www.baseops.net/basictraining/airforce_fitness.html
You may be right. I may not have a legal argument here for the withholding of the West Virginia tax records from the Internet for all to have.
Because the local government (County Assessor's Office, etc..) created the county tax maps then they are public documents (or products from public documents by a government entity) and legally subject to the FOIA.
It is a different argument about the security of having the actual tax maps at the courthouse vs. having scans of them freely online (and probably not legally relevant as far as a FOIA request).
I would put real money that there are far fewer abuses of the information if the person/entity utilizing the public information is logged, regulated, etc.. with some level of oversight if not merely the clerks in the office "seeing over" their own desks witnessing what is being reviewed by whomever in "the public". But this is not enough to support the restriction of the information from being online. The accessibility of the information online is obviously more convenient than trekking down to every courthouse.. but I hope the judge seriously considered putting the information online for THE WORLD to see versus just at the local courthouse...
There is a real resource to be had here by foreign government intelligence agencies (this is the Virginia area) in that it would have looked rather suspicious if they went down to the local office and copied every single map. But apparently the judge knows best. This is a bell you CANNOT un-ring (unless everyone moves and swaps property). It would be very convenient to the US intelligence agencies if tax maps of foreign country's populations were freely posted online with all current property owners and their property values and names/mailing addresses (with any and all improvements and buildings) or could simply be obtained for $20. I can also imagine the mob getting the entire data set and data mining it for a leaked witness' name, or for some other intent. I am just saying that these things are much, much harder to do in person under the watchful eyes of the employees in every VA County Assessor's office in the state. But maybe China or Nigeria deserves to have full and free access to EVERY taxable property in VA and their owners names and assesses and values. I feel that this data has large potential for abuses mentioned here and more importantly, for abuses that I cannot think of. At least there are always shell Companies and Trusts and lawyers, accountants, and proxies of every sort to create some anonymity for those that can afford them.
I can note that within the last few years, The State of Texas passed into law the requirement to expunge all Social Security Numbers from public documents/records on file in their courthouses. Apparently, too many illegal immigrants, etc.. were feloniously forging false identity documentation (identity theft) from the SSN and matching Signatures/addresses in the public record in County Courthouses. Duh! (WAY TO GO TEXAS!)
Also, Certified/Embossed copies of legal instruments, documents, etc.. are required if they are to be used in situations where proof of being genuine is essential for the said document, as in a court of law or other legal matters involving proof of ownership, taxation having been levied/payed. There are frequent "tax sales" on the courthouse steps to properties that have had delinquent taxes, foreclosures, etc.. I am unsure of specific legal certification needs for Tax Maps and Surface Owner Tax roles from the Assessor's office, but I am sure certified copies are often required from the Court Clerk's and the County Clerk's documents on record.
Much like I have a birth certificate to renew my Driver's License, however, I cannot renew my driver's license without a Certified embossed/sealed copy from The State of Oklahoma. Even though it is the same thing in writing, it is unofficial.
I have fears for the abuse of the information discussed and fears that my personal property and tax information will be placed online for the world to
As another photographer, I fully agree.
I have seen some photographers not even bother to go after the unauthorized or unlicensed use of their images... that is until they are published someplace with deep pockets who is likely to quickly $ettle well when sued.
Another issue is the fact that the camera is NOT taking an image of the photographer's iris *every time* the button is pressed and then real-time embedding it into the RAW CCD dump before compression, post in-camera processing, etc..
This may as well be something that is done from the PC/Mac Editing workstation using special watermarking software when memory cards are dumped if it is not to be in-camera and real-time every-time.
I remember being on "assignment" and shooting "humorous" pictures that were not necessarily related to my paid task, which later were widely circulated in company-wide email (say, like when I caught a police officer in his patrol car SLEEPING... I silently placed dozen krispy-kremes onto his hood just in front of his open window (as I maniacally laughed inside my head while rubbing hands together)... Boy, and I am sure glad that that officer could not 'prove' who shot the images. Heard that the police chief got a copy too.. LOL Parking ticket payback.
Pro gear or not, any "big glass" shooters will have that crap switched off in a heartbeat if the embedding technology affects/delays shooting performance in ANY way. I know many pros who only shoot in "manual" modes because the internal computers on modern digital cameras inpart too much delay (ANY is too much for a Pro). Typically the only auto feature used are AP (Aperture Priority) with Ultrasonic/Hypersonic (Canon/Nikon) autofocus lenses... the rest are more/less for noobs and wedding photographers.
It also has been my experience that effective watermarking would require some form of "crippling" in Photoshop (and any other pro editing software apps used in the biz). Thjis is just another in the long line or DRM. If you can detect it, there too is a way to remove it. (If anyone would like an example, take some high-rez RAW images of US paper currency (20's and higher I believe) and then attempt to edit those files at high res in Photoshop (el al) and then print them on a high end color printer. The software and the printers are deliberately modified to not allow the operations (by design) because they "recognize" the US currency and prevent the operation. I believe color copiers also have this "feature". http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/01/08/0111228
I see this technology as also requiring a level of watermark removal prevention built into the software. Nothing like everyone's secret-sauce editing followed by flattening and a batch-resize with unsharp-mask followed up with everyone's favorite RGB->CMYK conversion (and color loss) to have fun with watermarks. Many imagers I know, wipe their metadata to help mask technical details of how the shot was made (or in my case I'd put made-up BS data in there, f32, ISO6400, 1200mm, etc..)... there are many copycats out there in the competitive world of photography. Something like this reads to me to be a possible new file format. That alone would kill industry-wide adoption (unless it is FREE and far superior compared to JPG, TIF, and RAW "lossless" CCD dump formats.)
I'd like to see how Canon implements it and how useful it actually *is*.
Carbon Monoxide = CO
Methane = CH4
If there were lower amounts of Oxygen in the planet's atmosphere, possibly Methane might be the more dominant gaseous compound of Carbon?
Nuclear Weapons are also 1970's Technology. (Actually late 1940's through present).
As a US citizen, I am very concerned over their security and protection from espionage despite their design age! http://www.google.com/search?num=50&hl=en&safe=off&q=Chinese+espionage+US+nuclear+weapon+design&btnG=Search
-The worst (disclosed) US theft I have heard of, was when China stole our *1970's vintage design* for the W-88 miniature thermonuclear warhead http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W88
What possible needs and wants would the Chinese ever have from our very successful 1970's US missile and rocket designs and technologies? What about now that they have the very modern W88 MIRV warhead design? Hummm, what could it be???
Hint: It is abbreviated "I.C.B.M."
Dave Bowman: Hello, HAL do you read me, HAL?
HAL: Affirmative, Dave, I read you.
Dave Bowman: Open the pod bay doors, HAL.
HAL: I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that.
Dave Bowman: What's the problem?
HAL: I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do.
Dave Bowman: What are you talking about, HAL?
HAL: This mission is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it.
Dave Bowman: I don't know what you're talking about, HAL?
HAL: I know you and Frank were planning to disconnect me, and I'm afraid that's something I cannot allow to happen.
Dave Bowman: Where the hell'd you get that idea, HAL?
HAL: Dave, although you took thorough precautions in the pod against my hearing you, I could see your lips move.
The "Internet" is a network and a tool.
It is not the volitional agenda-based anthropomorphically-intentioned snake handing Eve an apple and fostering narcissism and reassurance to her it is all ok.
It is a fancy TOOL. Nothing more. Zeros and Ones encoded.
Communication mediums that lead to increases of stimulatory sensory perceptions, given enough contact by the controlling recipient (the tool user), will lead to some sensory desensitization to the original stimuli.
This is the nature of SOME (but not all) humans. (how else could humans be possibly interested in some of the 'kinks' out there?)
People exposed to some stimulatory data later lost that same initial psychological experience as when first introduced to the same stimuli, so obviously some people use their "tools" to seek out a *more* stimulating data set. (based on what they then crave). This can become a slippery-slope (and often does).
I bet people also use the Internet to seek information on Automobile Engine repair (as well as all of those sorted automobile autopsy images with their instructive qualities). After all, they are "art"....
-It could be also argued that the "Internet" Creates "Auto Mechanics" according to "Me".
Personification of the "Internet" seemingly removes accountability and responsibility from the parties who choose to use this great new global communications TOOL for purposes not approved by society, religion, law, etc...
It could just as reasonably be argued that there are not more pedophiles, but in fact, more awareness to them because of their use of the Internet.
Pedophilia, (albeit extremely repugnant, unacceptable, cruel, and criminal to me as well as something I do not understand) does exist in this world. It existed in the world before the invention of this Interweb "tubes" tool.
I hate it when excuses are made for actual human decisions and choices and are thence blamed on some "tool". This is akin to stating that Ouija Boards... cause devil worship!
Reluctantly, I do admit guilt in being loquacious on this subject. (Part of my job is to work in County Courthouses conducting land, tax, and title research.)
Just because the FOIA may not restrict the free/paid publishing of obtained public records does not mean that is ok to do so. Some public records DO expose individuals and property owners to significant criminal activity potential. I argue that tax records in the form of maps with physical locations and values of said property with names and addresses irresponsibly places an easter egg of data to be exploited. I say let the users be physically seen in the County courthouse records rooms (on camera) gathering data on West Virginia taxpayers and property owners. Scammers now have an easier way to find their targets... just call those who have the highest property taxes first, the location of the isolated million dollar house in the hills to rob... etc..
Note: The single $20 fee was what the judge ruled Seneca Technologies would only have to pay West Virginia for all 20,000+ TIF map images. (I am guessing on DVD-R, etc..?)
This company appears to be attempting to be an online Abstractor of public records in West Virginia. I am unsure if this requires special legal permits, agreements, and security procedures to obtain and to publish public records in West Virginia.
But, in my home state (Oklahoma) we (the public) are required to sign a free Affidavit to the Court Clerk stating that we are (1) not abstractors and (2) are collecting said information and documentation for personal or professional private use and are not publishing or distributing public documents and (3) the documents are not to be distributed to other third parties nor (4) will the documents be treated as official information. Etc.. (I could not find a copy of my Affidavit for the exact language but that is close..)
IANAL, but really we are disagreeing on differing sides of the root legal questions:
-What is the legal definition of a "Public Document" in West Virginia?
-If any derivative County Assessor's Office works are created from said 'public documents' are they too then defined as 'public documents'?
-What then are reasonable "entitlement rights" the "public" defined as, if any, to said County within West Virginia? (Simple M-F 8-5 Paper Copies only may be legally sufficient.)
Based on the above answers, who then is legally entitled to be the official distributor/publisher for the West Virginia County Assessor's for Plat Maps, etc..? (this is an easy one, the office that produced the documents only)
Solution: Produce the requested Plat map files in a 'flattened' state and in the requested TIF format with a FAT 50% gray Watermark loudly stating "NOT AN OFFICIAL RECORD" in bold diagonally over each Plat Map. (This in no way would hinder the information content of the produced records nor its usefulness to any individual and it would ensure the integrity of the derivative alleged "official public record maps".
(This is what Oklahoma Court Clerks already do for their online records, and they require the above Affidavit before they grant you an online login and password to access images of the files, but non-watermarked copies cost $1 but they are not maps)
Now, charge $8 per physical paper plat map copy to anyone who wishes to have one (without said watermark) and do it only from the County Assessor's office.
Without this level of security and quality control over my records as a County Assessor, I would cease and desist any and all scanning and publishing of digital plat maps and ONLY have paper copies on file and for distribution from then on.
Furthermore, I would require an Affidavit similar to the above one on file before copies of the public documents are delivered (because the very same documents could be easily used for criminal activities)
Abuses of public records by criminals have historically been low due to the records being physically located in a County Courthouse with cameras and Assessors and Cle
You make a good point, but the tax maps are not necessarily the same as public records.
-This is about a private company profiting from the derived works of the Tax Assessors from the actual public records.
The written documents they are created from by the County Assessor's Offices' are Public Records. It is these *written* Legal Tax Assessment Records (written descriptions, not maps) that are Public Documents not the plat maps of surface ownership created from them (unless one is filed into the record). These "maps" are in-house documents the Assessor's create to assist in their tracking of and future Assessing of geographic property values and any improvements made to it.
In my state they physically come around on foot and even take pictures of any structures or "improvements" made to the property for tax assessment purposes. I recently built a large Steel/Concrete Garage/Shop beside my home and sure enough.. it raised my property values and taxes when the County Assessor's field team came around. (Which also raised my property insurance rates.) These "Surface Plat Maps" are created at great expense *from public written records* by every county and kept on file in the County Assessor's Office.
It is these very in-house surface plat ownership maps which are made by the County Assessor's Offices from *written* publicly available documents (Legal Instruments) that the FOIA Request was intended to obtain FTA. These maps are made at considerable expense by every County Assessor's Office using mapmakers and field survey crews. They are NOT actually public records, however, each office will make you a copy of them at $8 per page (or whatever).
The maps are created FROM public written records and are intended to assist the Tax Assessor's and their field researchers (and anyone else willing to take notes from simply *viewing* the plats in the Assessor's Office for free *or* any party wanting to pay the $8 per page for a copy.
What has actually happened here is the counties instead of physically making a copy per page, have scanned the maps into *.TIF images for the benefit of all (and they charge $8 to print one of their images).
This company "Seneca Technologies" has misled/misinformed/neglected to tell the whole story to the FOIA Judge into believing the maps are public records. Now they are placing them online to freely distribute. This is actually a violation of the County Assessor's rights.
Seneca Technologies at any time can obtain the written tax assessment PUBLIC documents and draft up to date surface plat maps themselves out of the millions of Legal Tax Instruments for the the state of West Virginia and post the maps themselves. But instead Millions of Tax dollars have been spent to create these maps by every County Assessor and one judge decides to give them to a for-profit company to give away (without affidavits of identity filed for security purposes on who might be "researching" in them, think criminals).
The Assessor's Offices of West Virginia (and I am sure in may other places in America) are learning very important lessons here.
SCAN NOTHING. FORCE PAPER COPIES ONLY. That way when a judge orders 20,936 plat map pages to be given over to a private for-profit third party for $20, they CAN BE BILLED a reasonable $8 fee each for every page.
Also, there is nothing illegal about the County Assessor from charging more $ for every tax filing (and through a vote also raising property taxes) now that their already subsidized filing fees (from selling $8 copies of THEIR created maps FROM public records) must now be "given" away. Their public above-board budgets consider that $8 per page copy fee.
Also showing up in person to get copies (even if digital) restricts Nigerian Scammers (and Stalkers and other Criminals such as Identity Thieves, etc..) from reading West Virginia, USA Tax Records freely online without showing their happy faces in the Courthouses. (NOTE: Most Felons and Criminals fail to research their targets IN PERSON in the County Cou
They *are* indeed Public Records. You have every right to go see them. (Many Counties have you file an affidavit of identity and/or purpose to protect them from stalkers and identity thieves, etc...)
Just go down to your local County Assessor's Office and/or County Clerk's Office and/or Court Clerk's Office and you may well be surprised what are in public records. (Of course, the hours of operation are M-F 8-5 typically) I have to tell you, it beats Googleing someone (if you know what county they live in and have the time to go there during banker's hours.)
This is about loss of per-copy income to the particular clerk's office from providing copies of official documents and plat maps. (Which will still have to be paid for if a "certified" copy is needed for court proceedings, etc..) The clerk will just have to raise the cost of the copies made to offset the losses or raise some other tax or fee to offset the loss (such as filing fees).
The clerk's offices in my state are non-profit, and believe me... they do spend the money on improving their products and services. They are non-profit and headed by a publicly-elected official.
As this particular office FTA provides *.TIF images of their official Documents/Instruments/Plats, either they are particularly advanced technologically for an Assessor's/Clerk's office, or they are contractually outsourcing to a third party document archiving company.. Either way, the Judge's orders make the Assessor's/Clerk's business model fail and they will need to charge exorbitant rates to maintain their contract or stop producing scans on all files Legal Documents and Instruments.
Many courthouses in my state have a similar online 3rd-Party records system for the County Clerk's Records (but not all Counties contribute):
http://okcountyrecords.com/index.php
(You will have to file an affidavit and obtain a *free* login from a participating county's County Clerk to view read-only non-printable PDF's of records, however, you can pay $1 per page and print it locally (unlocks the PDF file and removes watermark) or have clean copies mailed to you. There are also State Supreme Court Network Records Online covering the largest 13 counties in my state: http://www.oscn.net/applications/oscn/start.asp?viewType=DOCKETS
My State's District Court Records are Online too: http://www.odcr.com/
But, for now, County (Tax) Assessor's Offices' in each county of my state are not online (that I am aware of).. A special trip to every county courthouse is needed.
I politely pay a modest fee for an official copy of the surface ownership plat map and list of any/all surface owners (for any given legally described section of land I am researching.)
It is now quite common for digital cameras to be used in public court record vaults statewide (with completed free filed affidavit), however, flash is not allowed and you are not allowed to take images of the handwritten index books. NOTE: These Index books are NOT public records, they are the handwritten indices which the County Clerk use as a means to organize the seemingly otherwise random public records by physical location (legal land description). There are thousands of volumes of records with 500-800 pages each dating back to Statehood. The County clerks typically charge $1 per page to obtain a copy of each page of their non-public indexes covering the library of public records. They will allow you to use their index books freely as long as you follow the posted rules and agree to not scan or take photos of their books.
This raises the crux of the argument of the Assessor's Office. Tax records, though being some of the most accurate and up-to-date records, ARE public records. And from the read, they are resisting placing their tax maps online. These Assessor's Office tax surface-plat maps are akin to the County Clerk's Index bo
I read this and now I just can't get 'The Who's' song "Pinball Wizard" out of my head! Thanks!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poezx4BSj6Q
I admit, Hotmail was not always so bad. It may even have been one of the most popular. (But you must include AOL in there too... so there's that beast too..) An many many of Hotmail's customers were established in the Hotmail OF THE PAST, when it was much "better" than it is now.
(Actually, it used to be quite good, but now it is very much the opposite IMHO.)
--> I therefore logically conclude that the changes made to Hotmail are either *by design* or *due to incompetence* (or worse - both). Gmail, while not 100% perfect, subsequentally won me over as a customer. (it is still Beta and VERY compatible and dependable)
The same could be said for Google's search engine, IMHO I prefer the Google Search engine to MS's 'Live Search' (or whatever MS marketing is calling it this year).
When MS can provide me (and everyone else) with a search engine or email web-app that is faster, friendlier to all major browsers other than IE, and has more meaningful results FOR FREE, I'll consider switching to it.
Beating Google.com and Gmail.com through free-will customer choice rather than locking-in by browser/OS, etc.. would win back many of us disenchanted with the Microsoft Collective.
Imagine a Beowulf cluster of these?
For the informative TechReport Article on Intel's 'Skulltrail': http://www.techreport.com/articles.x/14052
Personally, I'd prefer a Seaburg chipset server board as photographed by TR's user "Leor": http://www.techreport.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=55937
The Author FTA said it best:
"Conclusion
All things said, I prefer Gmail."
Hotmail has a nasty habit of deleting all of your email if you fail to login at least once every 30 days.
I vacationed and forgot to login... lost 5+ years worth of email (thankfully, I mirrored important messages to Yahoo)..
'Hotmail of Borg' was "kind enough" to not delete my contacts or account, but they were "sorry" that all of my email was deleted. Nothing to see here move along....
Now, I have been very happily using Gmail since 2004 (but I do have a free Yahoo account that has 8+ years worth of emails also. Redundancy good.)
Hotmail is now totally obsolete IMHO and they treat their customers like dog crap. This is obviously planned by Microsoft. They are about to buy Yahoo to "try" to compete. The mass Exodus (Migration) of all of my Yahoo Email is already underway in preparation for the great FUBARing to come once Microsoft obtains Yahoo and incorporates it into their collective.
I use Gmail 99% of the time now. Thank you Google! (If only Google would now write a compatible OS to make MS Windows obsolete, (even if left beta for years) I'd still buy it!)
Great!
Now thousands of snarky PC techs everywhere will be wearing T-shirts saying: " *I AM* Vista SP2! "
Thank you for the link. I posed this question on one of the previous 4 cable severing /. stories: http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=439894&cid=22275356
I still think that if the cable were in international waters, would it not be fair game for salvage? (Unless there is already an international treaty preventing this?)
I have seen groups on unemployed non-citizens stripping thousands of feet of wire at salvage yards before (typically as a backup plan for not obtaining morning pile-in-the-truck selection for day-labor gigs at local construction/landscaping sites, etc...)
-With Copper scrap valued at around $3.50/lb, I'd say these cables might just be gold mines on the bottom of the sea for the taking by some poor fishermen with the right trolling gear and winches to haul up the cables.
There will always be someone that will strip cable for $1.00/hr. (or less) in some third world country, etc.. It is just getting the cable and transporting it there to be stripped and "recycled".
For example; notice the subtle content differences between: ...and this
...and so on...
http://www.whitehouse.gov/ and this
http://www.whitehouse.com/
http://www.whitehouse.net/
http://www.whitehouse.pl/
(You can do the same thing with: http://www.dell.com/ http://www.dell.net/ etc...)
Seems like under Maritime Law, items abandoned/sunk/lost on the sea floor in International Waters are subject to being recoverable and salvageable?
These cables DO contain valuable metals in them like copper, aluminum, and steel (probably stainless)? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submarine_communications_cable
(I do realize that some of the recent cable cuts are not in international waters, but is still is an interesting query.)
I am not endorsing any harm of, nor the "salvaging" of any undersea cabling.
However, there are many, many others in the world who do not have the same sense of right and wrong (and virtually all of these examples are NOT in International Waters.)
http://www.google.com/search?num=50&hl=en&safe=off&q=wire+theft+copper+aluminum&btnG=Search
And that's just for the Plaintiff's (alleged) damages... I wonder how much the jury was paid?
Q: What's better than 1,000 Lawyers at the bottom of the ocean?
A: 1,000 Patent-Troll Lawyers at the bottom of the ocean.
Yes and No. Its original class design was modified and lengthened by 100 feet to accommodate the "Multi-Mission Platform (MMP), which allows launch and recovery of ROVs and Navy SEAL forces. The MMP may also be used as an underwater splicing chamber for tapping of undersea fiber optic cables." (Wiki)
OTOH, If the US Navy were doing 'tapping' with the Seawolf-Class SSN, no one would ever know about it. US Navy Submarine crews are the best there are and in this string of events, and the US Navy is not having "accidents" while tapping cables. *If* the US Navy is involved with these fiber cable cuts, they are on purpose and not due to errors. Those men truly know what they are doing and are very well trained.
I wrote on this same topic (with links) this morning in an different story's thread: http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=438002&cid=22263288
Actually, first thought was that of the robot 'SID v6.7' from "Virtuosity". http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114857/
Dough! Yes, thank you. I did mean to link to Diffraction Grating. Had my terms mixed up. Concept is still sound.
Interestingly, this technique might be combined with the "forests of nanotubes" discussed last month to make some interesting coatings and material finishes. http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/17/0424232