You've obviously never dealt with having to clean up your credit report. It is an awful experience. I had to go through it for my wife. Despite the laws, it is a "you are guilty until proven innocent" type ordeal. Not until you learn the laws that are on your side, anyway... and the CC companies sure don't volunteer them.
Between phone calls, ordering reports (for free), letter writing and recordkeeping, I spent over 40 hours taking care of a credit card theft from years ago. Do I get reimbursed for my time? heck no.
Bottom line: If someone is loose with my information, they can end up costing me a lot of time. There should be HUGE penalties for companies who let it fall into unauthorized hands.
If you post it, it becomes YOUR problem, not the credit card company's. There is a fraud protection limitation for electronic credit. However, it does NOT protect you from stupid acts like giving out your credit card information knowingly. There are plenty of cases where folks have tried this and ended up stuck with the bill.
So, bottom line: You realize your original statement is BS, and don't want to admit it. It is a big deal when your personal information gets lost by big brother...
I am not discounting any group's treatment. However, "Christians" beat the shit out of the Jews for centuries. Atheists beat the shit out of them in Russia in communist countries. Then the Nazi's took it to a whole new level.
Did the Europeans who colonized the United States treat native americans like cattle for a couple centuries? Yup. I am ashamed of that part of our heritage. But the length of time pales in comparison to the jews.
Not trying to downplay anything. Both are examples of the ugly side of mankind. My only point was that the Jewish focus on the Torah combined with their emphasis on education is what kept them alive. The very thing the original post in thethread was mocking.
And take a look at how messed up most American Indian civilizations are now. Drug use and alchoholism run rampant. Very little social stability. Did we as Americans do this. Yup. But worse has happened to the Jews. Yet culturally, they have remained very united. Love them or hate them, we all have a lot to learn from them.
Whether you believe it is the word of God or not, their "religious dogma" kept the jewish civilization alive, and the people united even after being forcibly removed from their homeland for centuries. How many civilizations can you say that about?
I am tired of seeing all these semi-VR Pacman games. What I want to see is an implementation of Dig-Dug. I am sure we can all come up with a few folks we'd like to drop a boulder or two on.
How would a 4000 square mile no-fly zone give HOURS of advanced notice? 4000 square miles is only about 62 miles by 62 miles. You'd be 31 miles from no-fly to space elevator.
Not that I am holding my breath on a space elevator or terrorists attacking it.
It would be violating the rules of thermodynamics as energy would be being created if my original thought model were correct.
As other have pointed out, with each reflection, the photons would be red shifted... that is the light itself loses a bit of energy with each reflection. The loss of energy equals the amount gained minus any "friction" in the system. If any "absorption" occurs, this would be part of the friction, not what drives the solar sail.
If absorption is what drove the system, the engineers would be using black bodies, not reflectors to build their sail.
16 percent of computer users are on Macs is not the same as computers are on 16% of all computers. For instance, someone can have more than one PC, correct?
And I still find the 16% really hard to believe, no matter which way it is intended to be represented.
Thanks for the explanation. I am aware thre is no "perfect" reflector or "perfectly" coherent light. They only exist in thought experiments. However, thought experiments are useful in finding the limitations of understanding. This is how I figured out I didn't really understand the concept of the solar sail.
Your explanation of the red-shift filled in the gap. What the problem boiled down to is "what energy decreases as the solar sail energy increases?"
No. There is no "absorption". The reflection of the light is what give it the push. And, no there isn't a 100% perfect reflector. However, theorietical thought experiments do allow for such things (think about Einstein's theories). If, in theory, I have broken the laws of thermodyncamics, there must be some other fllacy in my logic.
Okay, I understand that something can be pushed by light. This makes sense. Yet I came up with what I consider to be a paradox. Can someone find the hole in my logic and help me understand things better?
Okay... I have two solar sails with perfect reflecting ability. I place them so that they are facing away from each other. I turn on my handy-dandy perfectly unidirectional light source so it hits one of the sails square on.
Bounce! The light pushes the sail a bit. Light reflects to other sail. Bounce. The light pushes the sail a bit. Light reflects to other sial. Bounce.
I don't see how the light beam loses any energy in my model. Yet the sails definitely gain energy. Can someone show me the flaw in my logic?
Slashdot Mirror
You've obviously never dealt with having to clean up your credit report. It is an awful experience. I had to go through it for my wife. Despite the laws, it is a "you are guilty until proven innocent" type ordeal. Not until you learn the laws that are on your side, anyway... and the CC companies sure don't volunteer them.
Between phone calls, ordering reports (for free), letter writing and recordkeeping, I spent over 40 hours taking care of a credit card theft from years ago. Do I get reimbursed for my time? heck no.
Bottom line: If someone is loose with my information, they can end up costing me a lot of time. There should be HUGE penalties for companies who let it fall into unauthorized hands.
If you post it, it becomes YOUR problem, not the credit card company's. There is a fraud protection limitation for electronic credit. However, it does NOT protect you from stupid acts like giving out your credit card information knowingly. There are plenty of cases where folks have tried this and ended up stuck with the bill.
So, bottom line: You realize your original statement is BS, and don't want to admit it. It is a big deal when your personal information gets lost by big brother...
Good. Please post your Name, SSN, Income, family member's name, and all your credit card numbers.
Since you don't care if that information is leaked, you won't mind posting on slashdot, will you?
I am not discounting any group's treatment. However, "Christians" beat the shit out of the Jews for centuries. Atheists beat the shit out of them in Russia in communist countries. Then the Nazi's took it to a whole new level.
Did the Europeans who colonized the United States treat native americans like cattle for a couple centuries? Yup. I am ashamed of that part of our heritage. But the length of time pales in comparison to the jews.
Not trying to downplay anything. Both are examples of the ugly side of mankind. My only point was that the Jewish focus on the Torah combined with their emphasis on education is what kept them alive. The very thing the original post in thethread was mocking.
I have no idea what you said, but for some odd reason 'Riverdance' music is running through my head.
And take a look at how messed up most American Indian civilizations are now. Drug use and alchoholism run rampant. Very little social stability. Did we as Americans do this. Yup. But worse has happened to the Jews. Yet culturally, they have remained very united. Love them or hate them, we all have a lot to learn from them.
Whether you believe it is the word of God or not, their "religious dogma" kept the jewish civilization alive, and the people united even after being forcibly removed from their homeland for centuries. How many civilizations can you say that about?
I am tired of seeing all these semi-VR Pacman games. What I want to see is an implementation of Dig-Dug. I am sure we can all come up with a few folks we'd like to drop a boulder or two on.
Maybe if we trigger lightning storms over dense Slashdotters, we will get less absurd posts :)
How would a 4000 square mile no-fly zone give HOURS of advanced notice? 4000 square miles is only about 62 miles by 62 miles. You'd be 31 miles from no-fly to space elevator.
Not that I am holding my breath on a space elevator or terrorists attacking it.
It would be violating the rules of thermodynamics as energy would be being created if my original thought model were correct.
As other have pointed out, with each reflection, the photons would be red shifted... that is the light itself loses a bit of energy with each reflection. The loss of energy equals the amount gained minus any "friction" in the system. If any "absorption" occurs, this would be part of the friction, not what drives the solar sail.
If absorption is what drove the system, the engineers would be using black bodies, not reflectors to build their sail.
What's the cost of a paragraph break? :)
The result looks to the viewer like a 3D image composed of 100 million "volume pixels" or "voxels".
What is the dead pixel policy on that one?
16 percent of computer users are on Macs is not the same as computers are on 16% of all computers. For instance, someone can have more than one PC, correct?
And I still find the 16% really hard to believe, no matter which way it is intended to be represented.
No. This guy is 'Shut Up'!
Thanks for the explanation. I am aware thre is no "perfect" reflector or "perfectly" coherent light. They only exist in thought experiments. However, thought experiments are useful in finding the limitations of understanding. This is how I figured out I didn't really understand the concept of the solar sail.
Your explanation of the red-shift filled in the gap. What the problem boiled down to is "what energy decreases as the solar sail energy increases?"
Thanks!
No. There is no "absorption". The reflection of the light is what give it the push. And, no there isn't a 100% perfect reflector. However, theorietical thought experiments do allow for such things (think about Einstein's theories). If, in theory, I have broken the laws of thermodyncamics, there must be some other fllacy in my logic.
Okay, I understand that something can be pushed by light. This makes sense. Yet I came up with what I consider to be a paradox. Can someone find the hole in my logic and help me understand things better?
Okay... I have two solar sails with perfect reflecting ability. I place them so that they are facing away from each other. I turn on my handy-dandy perfectly unidirectional light source so it hits one of the sails square on.
Bounce! The light pushes the sail a bit. Light reflects to other sail. Bounce. The light pushes the sail a bit. Light reflects to other sial. Bounce.
I don't see how the light beam loses any energy in my model. Yet the sails definitely gain energy. Can someone show me the flaw in my logic?
Thanks!
Please type that out. Using "twenty-five million 'M's'" is mixing units. A real no-no.
I will check back in a few days to see what real roman numberals would look like...
Guy asked me for a quarter for a cup of coffee. So I bit him.
Shouldn't it be 'So I bit him twice'?
I'll trade you this Big Mac for your slashdot password....
My understanding is the INITIAL pairing required this, but subsequent pairings did not. Call me a skeptic, but I doubt it would really be that simple.
:) Maybe suggest spankings as an alternative correction measure?
(thank goodness for the 'Post Anonymously' option)
Does your mom make you do chores until you pay them off? You'd think once you hit 32, she'd stop doing that.
"Too many people are thinking of security instead of opportunity. They seem more afraid of life than death. -- James F. Byrnes"
:)
At bottom of Slashdot screen