Good points. May I quote Wikipedia on Pegasus http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pegasus_rocket: The single biggest cause of traditional launch delays is weather. Carriage to 40,000 feet takes the booster above the troposphere, into the stratosphere. Conventional weather is limited to the troposphere, and crosswinds are much gentler at 40,000 feet. Thus the Pegasus is largely immune to weather-induced delays, and their associated costs, once at altitude. (Bad weather is still avoided during takeoff, ascent, and the transit to the staging point).
Air launching reduces range costs. No blastproof pad, blockhouse, or associated equipment is needed. This permits takeoff from a wide variety of sites, generally limited by the support and preparation requirements of the payload. The travel range of the aircraft allows launches at the equator, which increases performance and is a requirement for some mission orbits. Launching over oceans also reduces insurance costs, which are not small for a vehicle filled with what are essentially explosives.
Launch at altitude allows a larger, more efficient, yet cheaper first-stage nozzle. Its expansion ratio can be designed for low ambient air pressures, without risking flow separation and flight instability during low-altitude flight. The extra diameter of the high-altitude nozzle would be difficult to gimbal. But with reduced crosswinds, the fins can provide sufficient first-stage steering. This allows a fixed nozzle, which saves cost and weight versus a hot joint.
So much of the cost per pound of getting something into orbit is the ridiculous waste of energy used by going straight up. Rutan has the right idea: Fly your payload as high as you can and then to an air launch. Low earth orbit ranges from 160 - 2000 km. The space station is at just less than 350 kms above earth. Wasting tons of fuel to go the first couple of kilometres is beyond me.
Secondly, an air launch allows for far safer escape. You are already at some velocity and height. If the thing doesn't blow up (a distinct possibility), you can still jettison the capsule and re-enter or parachute down. On a launch pad, you're right on top of the fireball with nowhere to go but up.
Bottom line: it's time to reign in manned spaceflight and support the Rise of the Machines. Explore the solar system with them and let them set up the Moon and Mars for us. When they are both terraformed, comfy and warm, that would be the time for the Machines to harvest us and take us there.
The time has come to create an open source automobile. This work could be from the ground up to design each component in a GPL'd CAD platform. University students could them 'hone' each part much as software gets debugged. Verson 1.0 would be a completely GPL'd car. Version 2.0 would refine the materials used so as to make it green. Version 3.0 would be when the manufacturing process was included in the design and refined to minimize resource and power usage.
What bunk!! A couple of years ago, when I was an unemployed douche-pail [You're STILL a douche-pail! - Ed.], I contributed tons of work online, was involved in many forums and conceived of and created all sorts of GPL'd works. I did a lot of proselytizing through my local LUG (Linux User Group). I pitch open source software to school boards and set others up with it. All of this was because I had time on my hands and wanted to feel as though I was a contributing member of society. I think the only part of the argument that might hold water would be that some unfortunate souls will not be able to afford basic internet connectivity - hence limiting their ability to contribute.
It is long overdue for the IOC (which is a corporation 'owned' by a European Cabal of self-serving Blue-Bloods) to be formally taken over and overseen by the UN. May I suggest that the governing body only be comprised of former (and current) Olympians - elected by former Olympians? With a revenue source of the magnitude of the Olympics, the UN might get close to supporting itself while at the same time offering a true 'World Games' run by, for and of athletes of the world.
On another note (and probably under the world's radar), Canada is having it's very own Federal election October 14th. This issue will make interesting cannon-fodder for candidate meetings. [FYI - Canadians do not use chads and get election results with 24hrs of the vote! - Ed.]
I have long advocated that EVERY O/S should have a far more involved hardware discovery process on install that actually makes optimal use of:
- The processor
-The buss
- Hard Drive Capacity
- I/O configurations etc. etc.
and ties it directly to optimize, tweak and re-compile the kernel (depending on the processor (P3, Opteron, Dual Core etc.)). This way, it would more closely match the processor and the other hardware in the box.
It's sort of a combination of Gentoo (optimal compile) and Knoppix - excellent detection.
Realistically, how often do we change processors and other hardware? Why should WE have to tweak the kernel? The BIOS should also have a flag that talks to the O/S on boot to note any changes and update the kernel with a re-compile should the user change hardware in the box.
Lastly, the O/S should also be able to look at the processes running and re-configure itself on the fly to be optimized for various purposes: Gamer, General Purpose, Web Server, Data Server etc. etc. as it determines what sort of I/O is taking place in conjunction with which executables are most commonly running.
I use a bunch of machines all over the place (mostly for development/personal interest). I use old machines, dial-up, new machines, servers - having browser sync was a god-send. It was great to be able to reference everything regardless of architecture and O/S. I agree that there are concerns about what Google would/could reveal to legislative bodies, but that's only because they are so huge that other factors come into play. Maybe this is their way of extricating themselves (somewhat) from the liabilities associated with having that much info about a person's real interests. That said, I feel that I was never 'targeted' as a result of their handling of my data, nor was there ever any 'push' marketing as a result. I think that's where you draw the line between good corporate citizen and spammer. I hope that someone who has the time can re-incorporate it into FireFox 3.x
With all the excitement, we're not giving enough time to that venerable, quality product: MS Works. For just $39.95 USD, you, too, can have an office suite that is compatible with absolutely EVERY document format. Simply install Works, create your document and cut and paste it into whatever document/spreadsheet software you use. Voilà!! It just Works!!
Now if MS would just announce that all versions of Works could meet a Microsoft standard (of any type - especially other versions of Works), the European High Court would be doing cartwheels in the streets...
..did this when he sold DOS/Win3.1 to IBM. Negroponte is now doing it with Hard(vapour)ware: building his 'empire' on the backs of give one, get one lemmings and what minions and plebes he has left. Is he going to use the same roll-out and support team that he used for the XO?
Forget the fact that each third world country involved could have the ability to put an entire localized grade school to high school curriculum in each machine.
XO's were/are interactive. Let's cripple them, install MS and give out empty readers to people with little or no connectivity!!
I donated to the buy one, get one. Since I received my XO, there has been exactly one (1) software upgrade, the deployment of 10's of thousands of units in third world countries has been supported by one(1) person, seriously skilled members of the team have left and now this - the Microsoft sellout.
Ok, I'll bite. C'mon! Get on board with the real Negroponte - let's all become self-aggrandizing douche pails who sell out while shafting both the donors and, of course, the very reason that the program exists - the poor. Screw them all!! I want to become a greedy sleaze-ball too. Where do I go and how much blood do I require to sign up??
As a pinball addict, it was only the fact that pinball was vanishing everywhere that caused me to come off this nefarious drug.
Bringing up this painful topic about a device that almost ruined my entire life is pure torture!
I learned pinball in the basement of my fraternity house with a game called 'Royal Flush'. It was a simple game and the 'old guys' showed us how to really work the thing. After that, it was 'Target Alpha' - another simple game that really taught precision and dexterity. The end result was a very good understanding of what the limits were - and how far you could push a game.
Nothing, but nothing compares to being able to get absolute control of a machine and master it to the point where you can play all night on a roll of quarters. The problem was that I ended up doing just that. I'd find myself at 3:00 in the morning thinking "just one more game..."
A couple of years ago, I was on a road trip with my 16 year old son and we took a break at a truck stop that had two great machines: Terminator 3 and Playboy. Two hours later, my son (who never new of my addiction) looked at me in complete disbelief and said: "Dad, I realize that you have four free games but, for the last time, we HAVE to go!!"
To me, today's video games just never give you that 'feel'. There is
a) no sensory feedback loop and
b) you only win levels, not games.
That's what kept me hooked for so long. That said, I hope Mr. Stern is recognized as a 'dealer' and does hard time for continuing to 'push' this very, very addictive and questionably ilicit product!!
Mother earth is up against the toughest problem ever faced: the fact that females are 'programmed' to want to procreate. This most basic of instincts - coupled with deep, deep yearnings makes it impossible for us to put any realistic check on population growth.
Base in OpenOffice has always been a disappointment - sadly sidelined as an 'afterthought', base lurches along..
Enter MySQL - combine it with OpenOffice and you finally have a real, integrated database that MS Office can't match. All we need now is a RAD front end for the consumer...
I am one of the many, many thousands who donated to OLPC through the G1G1 program. That was back in November. For my donation, I have received exactly ONE email.
The program is way behind it's production schedule. Chief Technology Officer Mary Lou Jepsen has left the project. Intel has raped OLPC's network of connections of influential 3rd world decision-makers in order to flog their lesser product. Today, Bill Gates takes the hopes, good will, dreams and incredible hard work of all of us in the open source world and, in one fell swoop, lays everything to waste. This is one of the most demoralizing news stories that I have ever read. I'm not going to sit still for this. Please join me in the following:
Introducing: POLPC: Personal One Laptop Per Child.
Here's how it works:
Donors: call your credit card company and notify them that you have either a) not received what your XO laptop and you want to stop the donation to OLPC or b) sent your laptop back and request a complete refund. Don't take no for an answer.
Now, we have to take that 'donated' money and turn it into good.
1.Buy a cheap, used laptop, install Ubuntu and test it fully. (Google your local LUG (Linux User Group) if you need help - I guarantee that they will help you out if you tell them what you are doing.)
2a. Talk to friends, neighbours and acquaintances - find for people traveling to third world countries that you trust or...
2b. Next time you fly, talk to airline personnel who are traveling regularly to third world countries. Ask them to participate in POLPC.
3. Give them the laptop and ask them to donate it to a school as part of their trip abroad.
Let's keep the spirit of the project going, but take the money away from this lunatic organization that is unraveling at a prodigious rate and do our own job of helping the innocents of the world with complete control.
If you have a better idea, I'm open to suggestions because I'm so traumatized by the lunacy that is going on at OLPC that I'm not thinking straight. We must stop this madness.
With regards to memory usage, when you consider the impact of going from some 40+ Meg of RAM to some 18+ Meg of RAM, that will use a lot less energy which equals an enormous saving of electricity which is... well, you wouldn't be reading slashdot if you were dumb.
Kudos to all those who have toiled and slaved over this project for making it the best and, in doing so, adding a hidden benefit of making computing more green.
My whole approach to my friends was not to chastise their choice of hardware/software - it was to get them off something risky that did not run and onto something far more stable and secure. Also, in the spirit of Open Source, I wanted to show them that people care about other people - so I spent a bit of time helping them. The OSX part of the comment was, of course, meant in jest.
Egad!! You're right! I'm such a noob to have not known what a few Wrotten Apples would do to my karma! My original post was deemed: a) Flamebait and b) Troll. I was just writing from an actual experience - not anything else. Your incisive response is both gracious and informative. Thank you for enhancing the discussion so eloquently.
Friend's wife has a new Dell laptop w/ 1Gig RAM, dual processor etc. etc. Windoze has bogged to a halt with malware etc. so I went to install a better operating system. I thought to myself: Newbie needs = simple, intuitive OS = OSX. Strangely, OSX would not install. Ubuntu was up, running and configured in 45 mins.
There you have it: validated, quantitative and qualitative proof that OSX does not work.
..that Google also bids on the Canadian spectrum too. The monopolistic wireless carriers up here have formed a vicious cartel that has us paying a fortune in fees. Let's hope that Google brings some competition to the equation.
It blows me away that a taxi driver in the Dominican Republic can afford a cell phone while hauling in $10 per day whereas a business user up here pays around that amount DAILY to simply use their phone.
Slashdot Mirror
Air launching reduces range costs. No blastproof pad, blockhouse, or associated equipment is needed. This permits takeoff from a wide variety of sites, generally limited by the support and preparation requirements of the payload. The travel range of the aircraft allows launches at the equator, which increases performance and is a requirement for some mission orbits. Launching over oceans also reduces insurance costs, which are not small for a vehicle filled with what are essentially explosives.
Launch at altitude allows a larger, more efficient, yet cheaper first-stage nozzle. Its expansion ratio can be designed for low ambient air pressures, without risking flow separation and flight instability during low-altitude flight. The extra diameter of the high-altitude nozzle would be difficult to gimbal. But with reduced crosswinds, the fins can provide sufficient first-stage steering. This allows a fixed nozzle, which saves cost and weight versus a hot joint.
Secondly, an air launch allows for far safer escape. You are already at some velocity and height. If the thing doesn't blow up (a distinct possibility), you can still jettison the capsule and re-enter or parachute down. On a launch pad, you're right on top of the fireball with nowhere to go but up.
Bottom line: it's time to reign in manned spaceflight and support the Rise of the Machines. Explore the solar system with them and let them set up the Moon and Mars for us. When they are both terraformed, comfy and warm, that would be the time for the Machines to harvest us and take us there.
The time has come to create an open source automobile. This work could be from the ground up to design each component in a GPL'd CAD platform. University students could them 'hone' each part much as software gets debugged. Verson 1.0 would be a completely GPL'd car. Version 2.0 would refine the materials used so as to make it green. Version 3.0 would be when the manufacturing process was included in the design and refined to minimize resource and power usage.
What bunk!! A couple of years ago, when I was an unemployed douche-pail [You're STILL a douche-pail! - Ed.], I contributed tons of work online, was involved in many forums and conceived of and created all sorts of GPL'd works. I did a lot of proselytizing through my local LUG (Linux User Group). I pitch open source software to school boards and set others up with it. All of this was because I had time on my hands and wanted to feel as though I was a contributing member of society. I think the only part of the argument that might hold water would be that some unfortunate souls will not be able to afford basic internet connectivity - hence limiting their ability to contribute.
Switch entirely over to open source and see piracy eliminated forever.
...just got fed up with the terrible spelling.
On another note (and probably under the world's radar), Canada is having it's very own Federal election October 14th. This issue will make interesting cannon-fodder for candidate meetings. [FYI - Canadians do not use chads and get election results with 24hrs of the vote! - Ed.]
- The processor
-The buss
- Hard Drive Capacity
- I/O configurations etc. etc.
and ties it directly to optimize, tweak and re-compile the kernel (depending on the processor (P3, Opteron, Dual Core etc.)). This way, it would more closely match the processor and the other hardware in the box.
It's sort of a combination of Gentoo (optimal compile) and Knoppix - excellent detection.
Realistically, how often do we change processors and other hardware? Why should WE have to tweak the kernel? The BIOS should also have a flag that talks to the O/S on boot to note any changes and update the kernel with a re-compile should the user change hardware in the box.
Lastly, the O/S should also be able to look at the processes running and re-configure itself on the fly to be optimized for various purposes: Gamer, General Purpose, Web Server, Data Server etc. etc. as it determines what sort of I/O is taking place in conjunction with which executables are most commonly running.
I use a bunch of machines all over the place (mostly for development/personal interest). I use old machines, dial-up, new machines, servers - having browser sync was a god-send. It was great to be able to reference everything regardless of architecture and O/S. I agree that there are concerns about what Google would/could reveal to legislative bodies, but that's only because they are so huge that other factors come into play. Maybe this is their way of extricating themselves (somewhat) from the liabilities associated with having that much info about a person's real interests. That said, I feel that I was never 'targeted' as a result of their handling of my data, nor was there ever any 'push' marketing as a result. I think that's where you draw the line between good corporate citizen and spammer. I hope that someone who has the time can re-incorporate it into FireFox 3.x
...Gates' perfection of vapour-ware when he sold DOS before it was created. I think that THAT was the high point.
Now if MS would just announce that all versions of Works could meet a Microsoft standard (of any type - especially other versions of Works), the European High Court would be doing cartwheels in the streets...
Forget the fact that each third world country involved could have the ability to put an entire localized grade school to high school curriculum in each machine.
XO's were/are interactive. Let's cripple them, install MS and give out empty readers to people with little or no connectivity!!
Ok, I'll bite. C'mon! Get on board with the real Negroponte - let's all become self-aggrandizing douche pails who sell out while shafting both the donors and, of course, the very reason that the program exists - the poor. Screw them all!! I want to become a greedy sleaze-ball too. Where do I go and how much blood do I require to sign up??
Bringing up this painful topic about a device that almost ruined my entire life is pure torture!
I learned pinball in the basement of my fraternity house with a game called 'Royal Flush'. It was a simple game and the 'old guys' showed us how to really work the thing. After that, it was 'Target Alpha' - another simple game that really taught precision and dexterity. The end result was a very good understanding of what the limits were - and how far you could push a game.
Nothing, but nothing compares to being able to get absolute control of a machine and master it to the point where you can play all night on a roll of quarters. The problem was that I ended up doing just that. I'd find myself at 3:00 in the morning thinking "just one more game..."
A couple of years ago, I was on a road trip with my 16 year old son and we took a break at a truck stop that had two great machines: Terminator 3 and Playboy. Two hours later, my son (who never new of my addiction) looked at me in complete disbelief and said: "Dad, I realize that you have four free games but, for the last time, we HAVE to go!!"
To me, today's video games just never give you that 'feel'. There is
a) no sensory feedback loop and
b) you only win levels, not games.
That's what kept me hooked for so long. That said, I hope Mr. Stern is recognized as a 'dealer' and does hard time for continuing to 'push' this very, very addictive and questionably ilicit product!!
GEGL looks as though it could bring the GIMP to production-ready usability (without PANTONE support).
We are doomed.
Here's a simple solution (in 10 parts):
create two vaccines. One for women that
a) causes instant, permanent, reversible contraception
b) makes women crave gratuitous sex
c) removes cattiness
d) ends obesity
e) makes women lose interest in shopping
One for men that
a) causes instant, permanent, reversible contraception
b) makes men actually listen
c) gives men a nice sized dick
d) ends obesity
e) makes men lose interest in competing
Now, get to it, Einstein!
Enter MySQL - combine it with OpenOffice and you finally have a real, integrated database that MS Office can't match. All we need now is a RAD front end for the consumer...
The program is way behind it's production schedule. Chief Technology Officer Mary Lou Jepsen has left the project. Intel has raped OLPC's network of connections of influential 3rd world decision-makers in order to flog their lesser product. Today, Bill Gates takes the hopes, good will, dreams and incredible hard work of all of us in the open source world and, in one fell swoop, lays everything to waste. This is one of the most demoralizing news stories that I have ever read. I'm not going to sit still for this. Please join me in the following:
Introducing: POLPC: Personal One Laptop Per Child.
Here's how it works:
Donors: call your credit card company and notify them that you have either a) not received what your XO laptop and you want to stop the donation to OLPC or b) sent your laptop back and request a complete refund. Don't take no for an answer.
Now, we have to take that 'donated' money and turn it into good.
1.Buy a cheap, used laptop, install Ubuntu and test it fully. (Google your local LUG (Linux User Group) if you need help - I guarantee that they will help you out if you tell them what you are doing.)
2a. Talk to friends, neighbours and acquaintances - find for people traveling to third world countries that you trust or...
2b. Next time you fly, talk to airline personnel who are traveling regularly to third world countries. Ask them to participate in POLPC.
3. Give them the laptop and ask them to donate it to a school as part of their trip abroad.
Let's keep the spirit of the project going, but take the money away from this lunatic organization that is unraveling at a prodigious rate and do our own job of helping the innocents of the world with complete control.
If you have a better idea, I'm open to suggestions because I'm so traumatized by the lunacy that is going on at OLPC that I'm not thinking straight. We must stop this madness.
Kudos to all those who have toiled and slaved over this project for making it the best and, in doing so, adding a hidden benefit of making computing more green.
My whole approach to my friends was not to chastise their choice of hardware/software - it was to get them off something risky that did not run and onto something far more stable and secure. Also, in the spirit of Open Source, I wanted to show them that people care about other people - so I spent a bit of time helping them. The OSX part of the comment was, of course, meant in jest.
Egad!! You're right! I'm such a noob to have not known what a few Wrotten Apples would do to my karma! My original post was deemed: a) Flamebait and b) Troll. I was just writing from an actual experience - not anything else. Your incisive response is both gracious and informative. Thank you for enhancing the discussion so eloquently.
There you have it: validated, quantitative and qualitative proof that OSX does not work.
It blows me away that a taxi driver in the Dominican Republic can afford a cell phone while hauling in $10 per day whereas a business user up here pays around that amount DAILY to simply use their phone.
...and change the license to GPL. The rest you can do yourself.