Wow, this stuff sounds really cool... however, one of my questions was on modularity/upgradeability... You mention that demolishing your house (and let's hope it never needs it) is going to be painful/expensive. I wonder how difficult/expensive/realistic it would be to try to add a new window once the concrete had hardened. Is it even possible?
You bring up the question about subdivision construction. One of my lines of thought on this question is what will happen (based on homes in the U.S. where I live) to subdivisions in 75 years. I know that many of the subdivisions where I live are "disposable" in the sense that the structures are not designed to last for 75 years. So what happens in 100 years? Do entire subdivisions get razed?
There is a real and disturbing reality facing many of the subdivisions that were built between 1950 and 1970. Entire subdivisions are getting old enough where they will need significant amounts of work in the near term future. Will individual homes be razed so that larger plots emerge? Will homes be razed and new, equally "temporary" homes be built atop the same plots?
My friend and I theorized about creating a house in a cliff face. The house would be dug (excavated?) into the rock, and shaped to your needs.
I used to live in San Francisco and noticed that the houses that were built atop bedrock (e.g., atop Nob Hill) seemed to have survived earthquakes fairly well.
Along with this, I suspect (and IANAArchitect) that the brownstone style, where homes are built immediately next to one another, might provide additional physical/structural support.
I very much like the "conduit" suggestion of yours.
Thanks... I commented somewhere else about the option of using a large floor/ceiling molding to hide wiring and provide continued access to wiring. My undergrad dorm had done something similar with nice looking moldings (a 4x4 inch volume) that were removeable.
Step 4: Don't build the electric and etc into the walls. Design the house so that everything is retrofit, i.e. bolted onto the surface. That way you can always strip it out and replace it later. Note that you can't do this with plumbing, but no plan is perfect. Go for PVC pipes there; at least they won't rust.
Actualy, I had considered moldings that would run across the ceiling and/or floor. This would be a nice looking addition (aesthetics). If you made them 4x4 inch square, there should be enough space to run wiring inside and attach plates to the surface (somewhat easily).
If you were really energetic... I suspect one could assume the existance of a straight edge and a string. With the right markings on the ring, I think you could turn it into a make-shift sextant. Hang the ring from a string, use the straight edge to line up points in the sky, etc. The small diameter of the ring would probably make it almost useless, but it would be a neat story. If you added a magnet, it could serve as a neat multi-purpose device.
Some info I found a while back whie looking into the same topic: Rsbep (Reed-Solomon and Burst Error Protection). Looks like the current version is 0.0.4 with the caveat "it still gives occasional bit-errors, especially in Long-Play mode or with damaged tapes." The code is doubly FEC'ing data, which seems odd, but supposedly/should increases the integrity of the data.
I recall hearing many years ago about changes in the trees (maples and birches, I believe) near Chernobyl after the accident there. If memory serves, the trees underwent some abberant type of polyploidy resulting in their leaves increasing in size up to 300%. The result were trees with enormous leaves.
A quick google search of chernobyl polyploidy tree brings up a handful of good bibliographic links. I am not a biologist (nor do I have access to all of the references). I do suspect that there is a great deal of additional related information on the effects of the continued radiation on the environment.
Just saw a similar article come through the BBC. To quote: "Microsoft researchers are working on ways to create a 'back-up brain' that will do a much better job of containing and cataloguing every picture you take, document you write or conversation you record." The program is called MyLifeBits.
It seems that plates that can sustain such a large charge/current on the outside of a vehicle might interfere with radio transmissions. I realize that antennae could address this problem, but then the antennae would become a fairly obvious target. Is this a good assumption?
Well, For one thing nobody records at that resolution. As another reply stated, DV is 720x480.
While I agree that most people do not record at this resolution, there are some people who would like to be able to do so. I am in contact with several research projects through work where people use video as a data source. The video is data, just like readings from a sensor or output from a file. Compression is undesirable because it modifies the video signal.
I think your back of the envelope calculations about bandwidth are correct, however. The groups with whom I work are trying to determine ways to address the massive bandwidth requirements. There is some thought of using ultra-fast networks (fiber out of the camera), distributed storage (for the huge file sizes), and then off-line editing to get eliminate/compress video time spaces that are not interesting. MPEG2 and MPEG4 seem to be popular/potential options for compression and DV is another option for a more COTS solutions (as some cameras have fire-wire interfaces). I have seen some discussion of DV in the comments already.
Some of the areas where high speed video is useful include investigations where physical anamolies need to induced in real time (physical structures such as architectural loads, specific points on automotive chassis, specific points on aeronautical joints, etc.) where it is not possible to slow down vibrations or reduce loads so that physical deformations can be analyzed/simulated in real time. Note, this type of work is almost always done in conjunction with computational simulations. It is quite easy to slow down the computational visualizations. However, if you want to compare the simulation to the real object, there has to be a way to slow down the real event. (I guess this is a bit obvious).
While the experiment sounds interesting, I have this weird feeling that the IRBs might have a few issues with this type of experiment if they were run in the United States (and by experiment, I mean controlled study run through a university). Now, the weird feeling stems from the fact that one would potentially have to answer a few questions about using human beings as unaware subjects.
I am not saying that there are a not great deal of potential positives form this type of "experiment" as well. I just want to point out that there might be some ethical issues. I am sure there are some simple arguements that can point out the cost to implement the hole in the wall system vs. the cost to feed/educate/clothe a number of children. (The counter arguement states that if a single child is able to rise out of poverty due to the exposure to technology, the purely economic analysis states that the experiment was a win...)
The groaning aside, it is again amazing that kids will figure out how to use stuff. It does not seem to matter who the kids are or what the stuff is, they seem to figure out how to use it.
I spoke with a friend a while back about some work with multiple plane 3D display units a while back. Using Google, I found a few people that have multiple (arbitrary?) layers of depth using lasers. Yes, this is different than LCD and functionally more difficult, but interesting nonetheless.
The idea is to send multiple beams into a glass cube. When beams interesct, they flouresce. By controling the way the beams enter the cube, one can create a volumetric display. There is an article here about some work done by some Stanford folks, and a somewhat related presentation here from some Berkeley folks.
(also searching, I found the there was an article about Actual Depth here on/. a while back.)
Linux Media Labs is another group that is providing video hardware that runs under Linux. I have seen motion JPEG work very successfully in a research environment (Internet2) and I know that the test machines are being deployed. You can find out more about the test machines that I am talking about via Google.
"U.S. District Judge Philip M. Pro had allowed the Las Vegas business to use e-mail to serve legal documents because no physical address could be found."
As no physical address was available, this seems like a not so absurd option. However, what if they had a mailing address and the folks just did not want to be bothered to walk over and serve the docs in person? What are the conditions under which email is appropriate?
Markle is a philanthropic organization that did some work with Maxis quite a few years ago to develope SimHealth. The purpose of the project (as I recall) was to show policymakers the complexity of the environment in which their decisions would be executed. From their website (towards the bottom of the page):
Markle worked with Maxis and Thinking Tools in 1993 to produce SimHealth, a computer-based simulation of health care policy in the United States.
I agree that the individual games and the specific examples might seem strange... but think of how strange the concept of a flight simulator (for a real pilot, not for your PC) seemed 25 years ago. Researchers have been spending a great deal of energy attempting to simulate the interactions of a complex world, with a great deal of success. It will only be a matter of time before we have believable (and probabalistically accurate) simulations of some real life situations. (Note that believable is different than predictive, I am attempting to separate the possible outcomes in a simulation separate from what actually happens.)
There has been some serious academic work done by many researchers into this field. I was lucky enough to be able to see Duncan Watts present his research in the Small-World phenomena a few years ago. While his talk starts out with a mention of the Kevin Bacon game, it continues into more serious areas, including the way the neural network of the worm C. elegans conforms to the small-world predictions and the connectivity of power grids. The implications into computer networks should be worth at least a few moments of thought to all of us.
I believe that this all stems from work done by NASA's Blue Marble project.
If you go to the site, they have some great, high-resolution images of the earth during the day, night, by hemisphere, etc. A great source for desktops or just browsing for fun.
I saw a quick demo of a multi-noded briQ (by Terrasoft Solutions) at SC2001 a few months ago and was very impressed. The ability to leverage the power of the PPC in vast numbers (and in a very small form factor) was incredible. I wonder how these would do in a head to head competition?
They offer a 4-8 node tower running 500 MHz G3 or G4 CPUs and drawing "roughly 240 watts per 8 nodes (less than a dual-processor Pentium-based system)." Quite impressive.
Good literature is a great thing. A fairly obvious statement, really, but worth saying every once in a while.
That said, I have had an ongoing discussion with my circle of friends. The quick summary is: How do the Tolkien books compare with Lewis' Narnia books and more recently, Rowling's Potter books. Now, before you jump and defend/attack, the question is in reference to the way the stories are constructed. I have learned a great deal talking this out with my friends. It would be interesting to see what you all have to think.
That said, Beowulf is a very interesting book to add into the mix. Beowulf, being one of the older stories known to exist from Europe, has proven its worth by sheer existance today. I also think that it is interesting to note that several other pieces of literature have based directly from it. Grendle, by John Gardner, is a great retelling of the Beowulf story. A great read for those of you familiar with Beowulf.
So, another question to ask in light of all of the views posted already, what literature has been created directly based on the LoTR books. (Or, do modern copyright laws just make this a moot point...)
(Also, see "Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead" by Tom Stoppard if you like re-tellings...)
In today's agreement, Dmitry will be required to testify for the government and ElcomSoft expects him to testify for their case as well. The story Dmitry has to tell is exactly the same regardless of which side calls him to testify. Dmitry's story has not changed since that day in July, when the FBI arrested him in Las Vegas, and he is quite happy to tell his story again and again, if need be.
- from the planetpdf article
To say that he is going to testify "against" his employer seems to be a bit much. The various articles say that he will testify and that it is unsure which side will call him first.
Additional reading...
on
Emergence
·
· Score: 4, Informative
If you are looking at some additional texts in the area, Dr. John Holland has written two books. (Holland is also a MacArthur award winner, which places him in some fairly good company.)
- Emergence : From Chaos to Order (Helix Books)
- Hidden Order : How Adaptation Builds Complexity
I thought/. reviewed one of the books earlier, but a quick search did not find anything. As I recall, Emergence is the earlier book of the two and is much more technical. Hidden Order is more topical and discusses concepts as opposed to technical details... but it has been a few years since I read either.
Just some info for those who might want another angle on a similar subject.
I prob should have mentioned that OC192 is essentially 10Gbps in my earlier post. This means that Internet2 will be equiv (in terms of backbone speed) to GEANT in the near term. (You can read the PR about the Internet2 upgrade if you are interested.
There is a great deal of activity here in the US w.r.t. the transfer of large amounts of data via advanced networks. Internet2 is working with the International Physics community from the US side. The HENP Networking Working Group (High Energy and Nuclear Physics). Additionally, there is work with with the National Earthquake Engineering Simulation Grid. NEES is going to be collecting similar amounts of information from earthquake simulation experiments.
Some of the most interesting work is being done by those involved with the End to End Performance Initiative. These folks are trying to figure out what it takes to support the data transfer rates that will soon be necessary.
It continues to amaze me that it is now possible to use a network to transfer data to a disk/array faster than the disk/array can process it. I believe that many have pointed out that hardware (in terms of Moore's law and data acquisition/processing) has is not keeping up with the rate of data creation. But that is prob a bit obvious to most of us.
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Wow, this stuff sounds really cool... however, one of my questions was on modularity/upgradeability... You mention that demolishing your house (and let's hope it never needs it) is going to be painful/expensive. I wonder how difficult/expensive/realistic it would be to try to add a new window once the concrete had hardened. Is it even possible?
You bring up the question about subdivision construction. One of my lines of thought on this question is what will happen (based on homes in the U.S. where I live) to subdivisions in 75 years. I know that many of the subdivisions where I live are "disposable" in the sense that the structures are not designed to last for 75 years. So what happens in 100 years? Do entire subdivisions get razed?
There is a real and disturbing reality facing many of the subdivisions that were built between 1950 and 1970. Entire subdivisions are getting old enough where they will need significant amounts of work in the near term future. Will individual homes be razed so that larger plots emerge? Will homes be razed and new, equally "temporary" homes be built atop the same plots?
My friend and I theorized about creating a house in a cliff face. The house would be dug (excavated?) into the rock, and shaped to your needs.
I used to live in San Francisco and noticed that the houses that were built atop bedrock (e.g., atop Nob Hill) seemed to have survived earthquakes fairly well.
Along with this, I suspect (and IANAArchitect) that the brownstone style, where homes are built immediately next to one another, might provide additional physical/structural support.
I very much like the "conduit" suggestion of yours.
Thanks... I commented somewhere else about the option of using a large floor/ceiling molding to hide wiring and provide continued access to wiring. My undergrad dorm had done something similar with nice looking moldings (a 4x4 inch volume) that were removeable.
Step 4: Don't build the electric and etc into the walls. Design the house so that everything is retrofit, i.e. bolted onto the surface. That way you can always strip it out and replace it later. Note that you can't do this with plumbing, but no plan is perfect. Go for PVC pipes there; at least they won't rust.
Actualy, I had considered moldings that would run across the ceiling and/or floor. This would be a nice looking addition (aesthetics). If you made them 4x4 inch square, there should be enough space to run wiring inside and attach plates to the surface (somewhat easily).
Just a thought...
If you were really energetic... I suspect one could assume the existance of a straight edge and a string. With the right markings on the ring, I think you could turn it into a make-shift sextant. Hang the ring from a string, use the straight edge to line up points in the sky, etc. The small diameter of the ring would probably make it almost useless, but it would be a neat story. If you added a magnet, it could serve as a neat multi-purpose device.
Granted, I do not know too much about sextants.
Plus, you get the really awful pun...
Some info I found a while back whie looking into the same topic:
Rsbep (Reed-Solomon and Burst Error Protection).
Looks like the current version is 0.0.4 with the caveat "it still gives occasional bit-errors, especially in Long-Play mode or with damaged tapes." The code is doubly FEC'ing data, which seems odd, but supposedly/should increases the integrity of the data.
Just some info...
I recall hearing many years ago about changes in the trees (maples and birches, I believe) near Chernobyl after the accident there. If memory serves, the trees underwent some abberant type of polyploidy resulting in their leaves increasing in size up to 300%. The result were trees with enormous leaves.
A quick google search of chernobyl polyploidy tree brings up a handful of good bibliographic links. I am not a biologist (nor do I have access to all of the references). I do suspect that there is a great deal of additional related information on the effects of the continued radiation on the environment.
It seems that plates that can sustain such a large charge/current on the outside of a vehicle might interfere with radio transmissions. I realize that antennae could address this problem, but then the antennae would become a fairly obvious target. Is this a good assumption?
While I agree that most people do not record at this resolution, there are some people who would like to be able to do so. I am in contact with several research projects through work where people use video as a data source. The video is data, just like readings from a sensor or output from a file. Compression is undesirable because it modifies the video signal.
I think your back of the envelope calculations about bandwidth are correct, however. The groups with whom I work are trying to determine ways to address the massive bandwidth requirements. There is some thought of using ultra-fast networks (fiber out of the camera), distributed storage (for the huge file sizes), and then off-line editing to get eliminate/compress video time spaces that are not interesting. MPEG2 and MPEG4 seem to be popular/potential options for compression and DV is another option for a more COTS solutions (as some cameras have fire-wire interfaces). I have seen some discussion of DV in the comments already.
Some of the areas where high speed video is useful include investigations where physical anamolies need to induced in real time (physical structures such as architectural loads, specific points on automotive chassis, specific points on aeronautical joints, etc.) where it is not possible to slow down vibrations or reduce loads so that physical deformations can be analyzed/simulated in real time. Note, this type of work is almost always done in conjunction with computational simulations. It is quite easy to slow down the computational visualizations. However, if you want to compare the simulation to the real object, there has to be a way to slow down the real event. (I guess this is a bit obvious).
While the experiment sounds interesting, I have this weird feeling that the IRBs might have a few issues with this type of experiment if they were run in the United States (and by experiment, I mean controlled study run through a university). Now, the weird feeling stems from the fact that one would potentially have to answer a few questions about using human beings as unaware subjects.
I am not saying that there are a not great deal of potential positives form this type of "experiment" as well. I just want to point out that there might be some ethical issues. I am sure there are some simple arguements that can point out the cost to implement the hole in the wall system vs. the cost to feed/educate/clothe a number of children. (The counter arguement states that if a single child is able to rise out of poverty due to the exposure to technology, the purely economic analysis states that the experiment was a win...)
The groaning aside, it is again amazing that kids will figure out how to use stuff. It does not seem to matter who the kids are or what the stuff is, they seem to figure out how to use it.
I spoke with a friend a while back about some work with multiple plane 3D display units a while back. Using Google, I found a few people that have multiple (arbitrary?) layers of depth using lasers. Yes, this is different than LCD and functionally more difficult, but interesting nonetheless.
/. a while back.)
The idea is to send multiple beams into a glass cube. When beams interesct, they flouresce. By controling the way the beams enter the cube, one can create a volumetric display. There is an article here about some work done by some Stanford folks, and a somewhat related presentation here from some Berkeley folks.
(also searching, I found the there was an article about Actual Depth here on
Linux Media Labs is another group that is providing video hardware that runs under Linux. I have seen motion JPEG work very successfully in a research environment (Internet2) and I know that the test machines are being deployed. You can find out more about the test machines that I am talking about via
Google.
Check out the work being done by the GGF Security Infrastructure team, the GGF Certificate Policy Group, and the Internet2/MACE Shibboleth projects for a start on security work and research in the GRID realms.
"U.S. District Judge Philip M. Pro had allowed the Las Vegas business to use e-mail to serve legal documents because no physical address could be found."
As no physical address was available, this seems like a not so absurd option. However, what if they had a mailing address and the folks just did not want to be bothered to walk over and serve the docs in person? What are the conditions under which email is appropriate?
Markle is a philanthropic organization that did some work with Maxis quite a few years ago to develope SimHealth. The purpose of the project (as I recall) was to show policymakers the complexity of the environment in which their decisions would be executed. From their website (towards the bottom of the page):
I agree that the individual games and the specific examples might seem strange... but think of how strange the concept of a flight simulator (for a real pilot, not for your PC) seemed 25 years ago. Researchers have been spending a great deal of energy attempting to simulate the interactions of a complex world, with a great deal of success. It will only be a matter of time before we have believable (and probabalistically accurate) simulations of some real life situations. (Note that believable is different than predictive, I am attempting to separate the possible outcomes in a simulation separate from what actually happens.)
There has been some serious academic work done by many researchers into this field. I was lucky enough to be able to see Duncan Watts present his research in the Small-World phenomena a few years ago. While his talk starts out with a mention of the Kevin Bacon game, it continues into more serious areas, including the way the neural network of the worm C. elegans conforms to the small-world predictions and the connectivity of power grids. The implications into computer networks should be worth at least a few moments of thought to all of us.
I believe that this all stems from work done by NASA's
Blue Marble project.
If you go to the site, they have some great, high-resolution images of the earth during the day, night, by hemisphere, etc. A great source for desktops or just browsing for fun.
I saw a quick demo of a multi-noded briQ (by Terrasoft Solutions) at SC2001 a few months ago and was very impressed. The ability to leverage the power of the PPC in vast numbers (and in a very small form factor) was incredible. I wonder how these would do in a head to head competition?
They offer a 4-8 node tower running 500 MHz G3 or G4 CPUs and drawing "roughly 240 watts per 8 nodes (less than a dual-processor Pentium-based system)." Quite impressive.
Good literature is a great thing. A fairly obvious statement, really, but worth saying every once in a while.
That said, I have had an ongoing discussion with my circle of friends. The quick summary is: How do the Tolkien books compare with Lewis' Narnia books and more recently, Rowling's Potter books. Now, before you jump and defend/attack, the question is in reference to the way the stories are constructed. I have learned a great deal talking this out with my friends. It would be interesting to see what you all have to think.
That said, Beowulf is a very interesting book to add into the mix. Beowulf, being one of the older stories known to exist from Europe, has proven its worth by sheer existance today. I also think that it is interesting to note that several other pieces of literature have based directly from it. Grendle, by John Gardner, is a great retelling of the Beowulf story. A great read for those of you familiar with Beowulf.
So, another question to ask in light of all of the views posted already, what literature has been created directly based on the LoTR books. (Or, do modern copyright laws just make this a moot point...)
(Also, see "Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead" by Tom Stoppard if you like re-tellings...)
In today's agreement, Dmitry will be required to testify for the government and ElcomSoft expects him to testify for their case as well. The story Dmitry has to tell is exactly the same regardless of which side calls him to testify. Dmitry's story has not changed since that day in July, when the FBI arrested him in Las Vegas, and he is quite happy to tell his story again and again, if need be.
- from the planetpdf article
To say that he is going to testify "against" his employer seems to be a bit much. The various articles say that he will testify and that it is unsure which side will call him first.
If you are looking at some additional texts in the area, Dr. John Holland has written two books. (Holland is also a MacArthur award winner, which places him in some fairly good company.)
- Emergence : From Chaos to Order (Helix Books)
- Hidden Order : How Adaptation Builds Complexity
I thought /. reviewed one of the books earlier, but a quick search did not find anything. As I recall, Emergence is the earlier book of the two and is much more technical. Hidden Order is more topical and discusses concepts as opposed to technical details... but it has been a few years since I read either.
Just some info for those who might want another angle on a similar subject.
I prob should have mentioned that OC192 is essentially 10Gbps in my earlier post. This means that Internet2 will be equiv (in terms of backbone speed) to GEANT in the near term. (You can read the PR about the Internet2 upgrade if you are interested.
Plus, the Internet2 backbone is moving to OC192 in the near term. Saturate that...
There is a great deal of activity here in the US w.r.t. the transfer of large amounts of data via advanced networks. Internet2 is working with the International Physics community from the US side. The HENP Networking Working Group (High Energy and Nuclear Physics). Additionally, there is work with with the National Earthquake Engineering Simulation Grid. NEES is going to be collecting similar amounts of information from earthquake simulation experiments.
Some of the most interesting work is being done by those involved with the End to End Performance Initiative. These folks are trying to figure out what it takes to support the data transfer rates that will soon be necessary.
It continues to amaze me that it is now possible to use a network to transfer data to a disk/array faster than the disk/array can process it. I believe that many have pointed out that hardware (in terms of Moore's law and data acquisition/processing) has is not keeping up with the rate of data creation. But that is prob a bit obvious to most of us.