I too am completely amazed that the Voyager is still sending back useful data after all these years.
Sometimes I wonder how much further ahead humanity would be if we built everything with the need to have it last decades before becoming nonfunctional, then I realize that with the rate technology has advanced, that is just not possible. Not to mention that we would have a totally different world economy if people weren't continually replacing perfectly functional items, from clothing to electronics to vehicles. So much of the global economy is dependent on people buying more things.
Are you implying that there is no case for a good optical zoom? Or maybe you think manual focus or aperature/shutter priority are useless on a point and shoot camera? Do you want to be tied to MMC cards or do you want to be able to use SD cards? Maybe AA batteries rather than a L-Ion pack is better because you expect to be away from a charger for long periods of time.
Saying skip all the features is ridiculous, there are features that may not be beneficial to you, but saying skip all the features is not a good way to look at buying cameras.
If you don't think you will get really serious about photography, then skip the DSLRs.
Once DLSRs are out of the picture you have to decide what kind of optical zoom you are looking for. Up to about 10x optical zoom can be had on a reasonably compact camera, anyting over that you are likely getting into the mega-zoom class of cameras that are quite deep because of the monster lenses on them. I have a Panasonic Lumix FZ-18 with a 18x optical zoom and find that the camera really is just a bit too big to carry around all the time.
If you want some of the more custom controls, such as manual focus, you will be looking at the higher end of the Nikon Coolpix range, or the Canon PowerShots. I personally have been looking at the Nikon Coolpix P7100, and while it is not a small camera, it is also not a huge camera, but it has a great feature set and a slightly larger sensor than the pocket sized cameras.
All of that to say that you really need to decide what features you are interested in first, then you can start doing full research. I found Digital Photography Review to be a good reference.
The twice-a-day is from BCHydro's web site.
"Smart meters are active for an average of one minute per day.
Residential smart meters are active for a total average of one minute per day, which includes the relay of information that may be required for data transmission and coordination between meters. In fact, the exposure to radio frequency from a smart meter – over its entire 20-year life span – is equal to a single 30 minute cell phone call."
BC Hydro FAQ
Does that mean that the Kessel Run is a measure of time?
If so then running it in less than 12 parsecs may not be impressive as it would be setting the upper bound on the distance covered in a given amount of time.
There is obviously the accident risk, even if it pales in comparison to the lives lost coal mining.
Risk = frequency * impact
Nuclear accidents are very rare compared to coal accidents. The impact thus far has been relatively low, but the potential impact is very very high. A bad coal disaster might kill a few hundred people. A bad nuclear disaster might kill a lot more....
Very true, also, the number of nuclear plants in the world pales in comparison to the number of coal powered plants/mines. As the number of nuclear reactors increases the likelyhood of a high impact accident increases.
I am looking at a wireless speakers/distributed sound set up and think I may just have to save up the money and go with some of the Sonos devices. Nothing else, excepte maybe SqueezeBox, seems to be as versatile.
According to BC Hydro, the new smart meters we are getting only broadcast twice a day with each broadcast being less than 30 sec. I have no reason to not believe them, and have not had any wireless device issues in the 4 months since my neighbor hood got the smart meters. I suspect there are a lot of different models with a lot of different broadcast patterns and levels which makes this article way to general to be of any true use.
I didn't even notice the lack of nuclear power in the list until you mentioned it. Since the article failed to mention it, what would you put down as the negatives for nuclear, just so everyone gets fair representation. There is obviously the accident risk, even if it pales in comparison to the lives lost coal mining. It takes a lot of concrete to build a reactor. I imagine a lot of rare / difficult to refine materials are used in the construction of a reactor as well.
That is one of the truely odd things I find about American politics. How does anything even pretend to get accomplished when half of each presidential term is spent trying to get re-elected.
I agree that they can appear to be openly hostile to customers, however at least they are open about it. Most companies try to make you think you matter while they try to get every last penny out of your pocket.
Have you tried Brother's printers. They work pretty well, are reasonably priced and have Linux drivers that work. I have been using their Laser printer for the past 3 years now and it has never disappointed me.
I have heard many people say this about Brother Printers. My experience is different. I have a 10 yr old Laser Printer, HL1030 I believe, that I have had nothing but trouble with under Linux. I had the drivers working correctly once for about 6 months, but since I most use Windows now haven't bothered with it recently.
That being said, the hardware itself is fantastic, and if their Linux support has improved then definitely try them.
Yes, because the best way for kids to search for porn is to use the words 'breast' and 'penis'. Give the kids more credit than that, they grew up with computers and are probably capable of getting to porn using only a mouse if you start them on the Google home page.
The best math class I ever took in university was Linear Algebra. The teacher did not allow calculators of any kind. He figured that if you can't do the basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division that is required of linear algebra on paper or in your head, you had no place taking a University level math class. Oh, and he also didn't try to make it too easy, there were still decimals involved, though he tended to limit matrix size to 4x4 for the exams.
I never thought I would find someone else that was taught Modula-II in their introductory CS course. It really is a decent language for introducing a lot of concepts.
I would hope this technology would be smart enough to push results based on whether it is a work related task or a recreational task.
It would also be quite interesting to see what Google could predict. I feel my searches are quite varied. However Google probably won't get this chance with me, as I rarely ever search while logged into a Google account.
I'll have to look this up. I took an undergrad engineering elective in Error Coding and found it to be one of the most fascinating subjects I have been exposed to. The mathematics behind it really are amazing.
Slashdot Mirror
I too am completely amazed that the Voyager is still sending back useful data after all these years.
Sometimes I wonder how much further ahead humanity would be if we built everything with the need to have it last decades before becoming nonfunctional, then I realize that with the rate technology has advanced, that is just not possible. Not to mention that we would have a totally different world economy if people weren't continually replacing perfectly functional items, from clothing to electronics to vehicles. So much of the global economy is dependent on people buying more things.
It is almost like these data centers are designed to server data to remote computers.
Are you implying that there is no case for a good optical zoom? Or maybe you think manual focus or aperature/shutter priority are useless on a point and shoot camera? Do you want to be tied to MMC cards or do you want to be able to use SD cards? Maybe AA batteries rather than a L-Ion pack is better because you expect to be away from a charger for long periods of time.
Saying skip all the features is ridiculous, there are features that may not be beneficial to you, but saying skip all the features is not a good way to look at buying cameras.
If you don't think you will get really serious about photography, then skip the DSLRs.
Once DLSRs are out of the picture you have to decide what kind of optical zoom you are looking for. Up to about 10x optical zoom can be had on a reasonably compact camera, anyting over that you are likely getting into the mega-zoom class of cameras that are quite deep because of the monster lenses on them. I have a Panasonic Lumix FZ-18 with a 18x optical zoom and find that the camera really is just a bit too big to carry around all the time.
If you want some of the more custom controls, such as manual focus, you will be looking at the higher end of the Nikon Coolpix range, or the Canon PowerShots. I personally have been looking at the Nikon Coolpix P7100, and while it is not a small camera, it is also not a huge camera, but it has a great feature set and a slightly larger sensor than the pocket sized cameras.
All of that to say that you really need to decide what features you are interested in first, then you can start doing full research. I found Digital Photography Review to be a good reference.
The twice-a-day is from BCHydro's web site. "Smart meters are active for an average of one minute per day. Residential smart meters are active for a total average of one minute per day, which includes the relay of information that may be required for data transmission and coordination between meters. In fact, the exposure to radio frequency from a smart meter – over its entire 20-year life span – is equal to a single 30 minute cell phone call." BC Hydro FAQ
Does that mean that the Kessel Run is a measure of time?
If so then running it in less than 12 parsecs may not be impressive as it would be setting the upper bound on the distance covered in a given amount of time.
There is obviously the accident risk, even if it pales in comparison to the lives lost coal mining.
Risk = frequency * impact
Nuclear accidents are very rare compared to coal accidents. The impact thus far has been relatively low, but the potential impact is very very high. A bad coal disaster might kill a few hundred people. A bad nuclear disaster might kill a lot more....
Very true, also, the number of nuclear plants in the world pales in comparison to the number of coal powered plants/mines. As the number of nuclear reactors increases the likelyhood of a high impact accident increases.
I am looking at a wireless speakers/distributed sound set up and think I may just have to save up the money and go with some of the Sonos devices. Nothing else, excepte maybe SqueezeBox, seems to be as versatile.
According to BC Hydro, the new smart meters we are getting only broadcast twice a day with each broadcast being less than 30 sec. I have no reason to not believe them, and have not had any wireless device issues in the 4 months since my neighbor hood got the smart meters. I suspect there are a lot of different models with a lot of different broadcast patterns and levels which makes this article way to general to be of any true use.
I didn't even notice the lack of nuclear power in the list until you mentioned it. Since the article failed to mention it, what would you put down as the negatives for nuclear, just so everyone gets fair representation. There is obviously the accident risk, even if it pales in comparison to the lives lost coal mining. It takes a lot of concrete to build a reactor. I imagine a lot of rare / difficult to refine materials are used in the construction of a reactor as well.
That is one of the truely odd things I find about American politics. How does anything even pretend to get accomplished when half of each presidential term is spent trying to get re-elected.
I agree that they can appear to be openly hostile to customers, however at least they are open about it. Most companies try to make you think you matter while they try to get every last penny out of your pocket.
The most relaxing music I have ever heard is probably the soundtrack to the PSN network game "Flower".
Have you tried Brother's printers. They work pretty well, are reasonably priced and have Linux drivers that work. I have been using their Laser printer for the past 3 years now and it has never disappointed me.
I have heard many people say this about Brother Printers. My experience is different. I have a 10 yr old Laser Printer, HL1030 I believe, that I have had nothing but trouble with under Linux. I had the drivers working correctly once for about 6 months, but since I most use Windows now haven't bothered with it recently.
That being said, the hardware itself is fantastic, and if their Linux support has improved then definitely try them.
Yes, because the best way for kids to search for porn is to use the words 'breast' and 'penis'. Give the kids more credit than that, they grew up with computers and are probably capable of getting to porn using only a mouse if you start them on the Google home page.
The best math class I ever took in university was Linear Algebra. The teacher did not allow calculators of any kind. He figured that if you can't do the basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division that is required of linear algebra on paper or in your head, you had no place taking a University level math class. Oh, and he also didn't try to make it too easy, there were still decimals involved, though he tended to limit matrix size to 4x4 for the exams.
Adults are children who ideally have the money to buy bigger toys.
I thought Google Buzz was for rewarding people who commit to living in the castle forever.
I never thought I would find someone else that was taught Modula-II in their introductory CS course. It really is a decent language for introducing a lot of concepts.
Where are my mod points when I need them!!
This is my view as well. UBB is a great option as long as the rates are reasonable and the datat caps revisited on a yearly basis.
Exactly. I also don't want 'bugs in Python' appearing in my after work image and video searches.
I would hope this technology would be smart enough to push results based on whether it is a work related task or a recreational task.
It would also be quite interesting to see what Google could predict. I feel my searches are quite varied. However Google probably won't get this chance with me, as I rarely ever search while logged into a Google account.
They wouldn't stay all night if you just paid them after the act was done.
The Sony Vaio Z Series laptops actually come with 2 SSD's in RAID 0, and this is the standard option.
I'll have to look this up. I took an undergrad engineering elective in Error Coding and found it to be one of the most fascinating subjects I have been exposed to. The mathematics behind it really are amazing.