Adam Roberts would be proud. This sounds like his latest novel, "Gradisil", where the spacecraft 'push' against Earth's magnetic field to lift up to orbit.
Awesome book. Read it!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gradisil
Would a material with negative refractive index be of any use in dissipating some of the energy in any anti-laser armour? Also, might it be possible to leech this incoming energy for you own ends?
What is at issue here is not privacy, you are ofcourse free to not use this service, but a willingness to divulge information useless to ourselves for Free Stuff(tm).
I am actually pro-transperancy for all levels of government, down to and including citizens. What is most concerning about the current crop of intrusive corporate and governmental systems is not their level of intrusion but their level of oversight. Meaning that with every measure of intrusion there should be an equal and opposite measure of intrusion into the governing system.
Peer review on all social scales if you will.
The concept is very similar to Iain M. Banks' Culture, where the last bastion of privacy is your conscious thought process. (For the sake of simplicity we'll ignore Meatfucker).
People are always willing to surrender personal information for personal gain. Is this really a suprise? If you're really that worried about giving up your invaluable viewing habits maybe you should create some online auction space and atleast extract maximum gain from the process by selling to the highest bidder?
It's all very well rolling out a several new delivery systems, but what's the point when in the end the bottleneck will be the content. We already see content duplicated across cable channels, news services just switching out the talking head on Reuters or Bloomberg content. I just hope these companies put some of their development money into producing some decent shows...
a. Would a corporation (MS) work with the feds to allow this software a backdoor to bypass security and be easily automatically installed on the system?
You don't need a return craft you just need a rail-gun and a collection point in earth orbit.
http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/space/2004/10/mining_moon/
[EXT. The SHOPKEEP is ranting on the footpath of HIGHSTREET BLVD]
SK: Gaze into my well curtained windows! Feast your eyes on my glisteing wares! But not too closely!
HAPLESS CONSUMER: W00t! Check out those shiney trinkets!
[SK cracks HP over the head with something dense and blunt.]
HP: Ouch! That hurt! What was that for?!
SK: You were going to remember my goods for subliminal interjection in future purchasing decisions!
HP: That really hurt!!
GWB: Can I go now Shopkeep?
SK: You still here? Look! Oil! Right, now if you'd like to step into my place of business here we can start the transaction. Would you mind putting this blindfold on? Thanks. Now we have a 'break it and you buy it' policy, mind the foot-shaped step there. If I could just have your credit card? No worries, I'll just take it out of your pocket for you...
Slashdot Mirror
Adam Roberts would be proud. This sounds like his latest novel, "Gradisil", where the spacecraft 'push' against Earth's magnetic field to lift up to orbit.
Awesome book. Read it! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gradisil
Bah!
These results are just a blip on the radar.
Would a material with negative refractive index be of any use in dissipating some of the energy in any anti-laser armour? Also, might it be possible to leech this incoming energy for you own ends?
Get back to me when my vindaloo can fetch some beer.
Whilst this parent-post is nationalistic trolling at its finest, I feel I must respond to its shiny tinfoil-plating.
Australian Governmental privacy legislation http://www.privacy.gov.au/act/ is amongst the most strigent in the world.
What is at issue here is not privacy, you are ofcourse free to not use this service, but a willingness to divulge information useless to ourselves for Free Stuff(tm).
I am actually pro-transperancy for all levels of government, down to and including citizens. What is most concerning about the current crop of intrusive corporate and governmental systems is not their level of intrusion but their level of oversight. Meaning that with every measure of intrusion there should be an equal and opposite measure of intrusion into the governing system.
Peer review on all social scales if you will.
The concept is very similar to Iain M. Banks' Culture, where the last bastion of privacy is your conscious thought process. (For the sake of simplicity we'll ignore Meatfucker).
People are always willing to surrender personal information for personal gain. Is this really a suprise? If you're really that worried about giving up your invaluable viewing habits maybe you should create some online auction space and atleast extract maximum gain from the process by selling to the highest bidder?
...but does it run linux?
I can't wait until it's combined with this tech from Iatia http://www.iatia.com.au/investors/press/2004-09-23 .asp
The last one viewing reality in the visible spectrum is a loser!
The soultion is basically to upload our consciousness into machines and bugger off.
Simple really.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0061 057983/qid=1113285006/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl 14/104-1964798-7291147?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
Stephen Baxter covered this in his book "Ring" part of the Xeelee Sequence./ 104-4455168-7991125
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0061056944
It's all very well rolling out a several new delivery systems, but what's the point when in the end the bottleneck will be the content. We already see content duplicated across cable channels, news services just switching out the talking head on Reuters or Bloomberg content. I just hope these companies put some of their development money into producing some decent shows...
How NSA access was built into Windows http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/5/5263/1.html
You don't need a return craft you just need a rail-gun and a collection point in earth orbit. http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/space/2004 /10/mining_moon/
If you think that's bad you should check out slashdot.com.au
[EXT. The SHOPKEEP is ranting on the footpath of HIGHSTREET BLVD]
SK: Gaze into my well curtained windows! Feast your eyes on my glisteing wares! But not too closely!
HAPLESS CONSUMER: W00t! Check out those shiney trinkets!
[SK cracks HP over the head with something dense and blunt.]
HP: Ouch! That hurt! What was that for?!
SK: You were going to remember my goods for subliminal interjection in future purchasing decisions!
HP: That really hurt!!
GWB: Can I go now Shopkeep?
SK: You still here? Look! Oil! Right, now if you'd like to step into my place of business here we can start the transaction. Would you mind putting this blindfold on? Thanks. Now we have a 'break it and you buy it' policy, mind the foot-shaped step there. If I could just have your credit card? No worries, I'll just take it out of your pocket for you...