It is possible that you may have seen one, there is a big Lockheed Martin presence in Fort Worth. You said it disappeared off to the west. Hmm, Ft Worth is south west of Denton. All of the 'desert bases' mentioned would be to the west. As for the size and distances, other posters have valid points about perspective and geometry.
If Lockheed Martin is hiring to build the JSF here in DFW doesn't it stand to chance that perhaps all of those people out there with clearances may have been working on some other classified aircraft.
They call them security clearances for a reason. The general publice has no need to know about classified military operations now do they? Whether or not you agress with this mindset, that is what would be used to 'keep that many people quiet' in such an operation.
Of course, I firmly believe someone should watch the watchers.
Nah, I'd rather see them all wired to a shocking system like the one depicted on the Simpsons. Basically, any member can shock any other member. Of course, you probably couldn't hold the study in California, it would drain the power grid too much.
If someone were to download a copy of a song that they didn't own, they may be profiting though. There was an exchange of goods. Now whether downloading a song that you had rights to would constitute an exchange is interesting. The good being exchanged would be the actual ripping and encoding of the song. Perhaps that could be a violation. It may be that I have a CD and I have the right to make unlimited copies of the CD that I own. If I download a copy that someone else has made. I am not necessarily exercising my right, but piggybacking on someone else's exercise of those free use rights. There may be a distinction.
Re:Metallica proved this foolish/encryption?
on
RIAA to Sue You Now
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· Score: 1
Hey, if it's encrypted, wouldn't decryption of the material be a violation of the DMCA? Yeah, I own the copyright to any packet generated by my computer. Any measures taken to discover the contents of the packet are a violation of my protections under the DMCA. I wonder if that would work.
Don't produce the receipts, make them come to court and produce the physical CDs. Heck, even borrow them for the court appearance. Well, I guess you'd have to have them 'gifted' to you so they would be yours and you wouldn't be perjuring yourself by claiming ownership and free use rights.
I wonder if you could be compelled to surrender the password, it should be protected by the 5th Amendment. Just try to compel me to incriminate myself.
Actually another issue to consider is the fact that many government employees are members of a union which has a great deal of power in deciding what gets put onto a desktop.
Don't you mean the score? Heck, the only thing I can recall about the Attack of the Clones score is how reminiscent it was of the other Star Wars movies.
The dialog, often criticized, is high handed and often awkward. I attribute much of what many people found out of place and pretentious about the dialog acceptable given that these were the ruling class - the elite of the Republic. I got the feeling that Lucas was trying to generate a courtly love sort of theme with Anakin and Amidala. Lancelot caused the collapse of Camelot through a tryst with Guinevere and the same thing is happening here. The language is part of the story that reflects this. Also, all of the characters have lived strict and regimented lives. Anyone who is raised to rule a planet in there teens is not going to speak in a casual manner. There lives are built upon protocol and intricacies. It could be - and I think I may be stretching it here - that Lucas is trying to portray the characters as somewhat removed from the common person. The pageantry and costumes serve as a visual means of doing so but the pretentious speech is a verbal method of achieving the same. I did find myself amused by a few of the lines - the same Obi-Wan quote. Then the Star Trek dig - Yoda, "Target the nearest Federation starship."
The characters - the main characters at least - were generally flat and unsympathetic. The whiny, barely-contained Anakin was in no way sympathetic. Except perhaps for the scene on Tatooine with his mother. Other than that, he is yet another whiny Skywalker from Tatooine who yearns for more yet is restrained by the male authority figure in his life. Amidala, co-dependence is the only explanation of why this gifted woman would become smitten with a self proclaimed mass murderer. Anyone who cares for 'the people' and duty the way she is presented would be horrified by Anakin's actions on Tatooine. Perhaps she could sympathize with his loss but the retribution he exacts should be appalling. Yet she shrugs the proclamation off. Perhaps it was the cool way in which Anakin made his announcement, C3-P0 displayed more emotion.
The supporting characters were much more compelling. Obi-Wan was well handled - calm, centered and confident; everything a Jedi Master should be. Jango Fett, intruging, mysterious and dangerous. The wild west handling of the blaster pistols added a bit of flair to the action that seemed otherwise dull in comparison to other movies. Except for the green flash of Force-driven fury that is Yoda. Mace Windu exudes that same calm efficiency as Obi-Wan, perhaps moreso. His performance in the stadium is chilling in its brutal effectiveness. I admit I would have loved to have seen a Jules Windu type hipness to his character.
The script itself came across as preachy. It seems that Mr. Lucas has a disdain for politicians and holds them in no high regard. The polarized vision of good versus evil in the film is too simplistic. It is frustrating the way the script makes so many of the villians pawns of Darth Sidious. I would have found Count Dooku a much more compelling villian if he were not a servant of the Dark Side but rather a Jedi that saw the corruption in the Senate and was taking action to save what he cherishes from a corrupt force independent of a Jedi Council that would be pawns of the same corruption that rules the Senate.
One observation I had during the movie was that I feel that Yoda may know more than he lets on. Of course he knows a great deal, he's the Jedi Master. I got the impression that perhaps he has a notion of the coming slaughter of the Jedi, perhaps he is even willing to allow or facilitate it. I doubt Lucas would tread down that path, but the idea intrigues me. Especially considering some of the things Yoda says in E2 and the inordinate amount of attention he focuses on young Skywalker. Then there is that one little fact of him being the only Jedi to survive the eradication of the order - other than Obi Wan. I always found it odd that the eradication of the Jedi was so complete, some should have been able to flee to the Outer Rim or beyond.
All in all, it was an okay movie. Some of the faults others found with it were acceptable when viewed in a different context. The fact that the main characters did not inspire any great feeling was a great lack. Yes the special effects were great, but the action felt a bit flat. The light-sabre duels were pretty bland except for Yoda's. The battle scenes were also weak and illogical. Please someone tell me how a Jedi Master is qualified to serve as a field general in charge of thousands of infantry. Doubtful they teach that at the Jedi temple, the force seems more of a solitary exercise.
Basically, it was a popcorn, matinee movie that was sanitized and boiled to get a PG rating.
I was unable to see the movie on a digital projector but settled with seeing it on analog. I was watching the movie paying particular attention to the sharpness of the images. I seemed to notice that on the analog version, the flesh and blood actors seemed much more out of focus than the CGI images. This may have been an improperly adjusted projector, but it did seem that the actors - especially the whiny Anakin - where out of focus. Maybe Anakin was out of focus on purpose?
Is it just me or does anyone else want to see the 3rd episode just to see all those arrogant, light-saber wielding fanatics wiped out. Unfortunately Anakin gets to live, that is the greatest injustice of the series. The least likable character - yeah he surpassed JarJar in my mind - is the focal point of this series.
The rules only partially represent what the Jedi in the movie are capable of and Yoda pulled some Force tricks from under his robes that there are definitely no rules for. Of course, the rules were written using the existing body of work as a frame of reference and so show a great lack of imagination in actual application of the Force.
Er, since when has ANY Linux developer wanted to emulate MICROSOFT?!?!
Look at the GNOME development team. Can you say Miguel? I thought you could. He has stated, and at times I agree, that Microsoft has some good technology. The fact that they cram it down the user's throat with a firehose is a different matter.
I think that Linux has a strong case for the business desktop, which will be around for many years. There are too many business functions that the PC performs right now that one cannot perform on an embedded device. There was (still is?) a market for single purpose word processors. Try finding one now. As long as business produces documents, the generic beige-cased PC running Linux is and will continue to be a good candidate for the job.
The home PC isn't going away either. Running a household generates many documents like running a business does. However, there is a recreational use of PCs in the home and this is one area where Linux is way behind Windows and Mac. The next war will be content creation and control. Sure there is software to rip and burn your cd's. But more advanced media production and use is lagging. It can be a chore to get your system to use media files. The software and ease of in this area is abysmal in Linux. Right now, I could build a Tivo-like device using a Windows OS with off the shelf products with relative ease. Doing the same thing with Linux is major undertaking. Apple is now pushing digital content creation in their new iMacs. Microsoft is using the XBox to leverage their way into the digital media world. The Mac OS and I believe Windows XP both have tools for content creation. This is a major battlefield for Linux. The software to perform these tasks needs to be there and easy to use. The drivers for the hardware need to be readily available - obviously this would depend on the vendors of hardware supportin Linux or releasing specifications.
The current media marketing industries are attempting to keep alive in a world where rapid distribution of digital commodities makes their business models nearly obsolete. We all know of the Napster and CSS messes. Microsoft is pushing their proprietary formats. The media industries want closed formats. Linux is pushing open formats. The media computer will be the one that decides which formats win in the end. That is one area where Linux needs to focus. The use and creation of digital content must be simple. Most people are intimidated by their VCRs. Do you really think that they'd find Linux easy to use to create digital content? The PC is moving into new roles in the home. It is moving from the home office desk to the entertainment center. Is Linux going to do the same?
Re:So it's OK it a suqat on uninhabited land, too?
on
Make Way for Fiber
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· Score: 1
Patent for digitizing satellite broadcast and distributing using network media
This patent describes a method for the reception of satellite feeds and the subsequent transfer of the video information contained in the broadcast into a digital medium suitable for display and distribution using standard computer hardware. This patent also covers the creation of 'channels' dedicated to informing computer users in the 'channel' of the location and availability of said converted broadcasts. Additionally, the users of these 'channels' are further enabled trade converted broadcasts among themselves. The creation of an online database is part of this patent. The database will contain a list of all of the currently available titles and the URLs of these titles. This database will be copyright the patent holder.
I found a comment in one of the articles about AOL/Time Warner providing many services and seeking to provide phone service an interesting one. It would mean that the Bells have a competitor in AOL/TW, one with actual cable.
I know many here loath AOL for the easy access to the internet they provide to the masses but it serves a niche. Their slogan, "So easy (simple) to use, no wonder it's #1" is pretty much right on. Many people can't be bothered to program their VCRs much less go through a great deal of hassle to obtain what is still a luxury to most, internet access. If there were a single point of service that provided all your telecom needs: television, digital radio, high speed internet access, voice service, and it were simple to use. People would use it, especially if it were cost competitve. Right now I pay almost $50 a month for a phone that serves the main purpose of allowing telemarketers to call me, add another $40 to $50 for cable and that's a $100 per month for two services. I currently don't pay for cable so I don't know what the rates are and I haven't ever subscribed to digital television but something tells me that amount would increase.
AOL and ATT are attempting to position themselves to be that sole provider. Good, that means there will be some sort of competition. Currently there is little competition at the local level, sure there are a small number of Bell companies providing service, but the local one has a monopoly. Since any competitors will be forced by the almost natural monopoly the cable companies have to use the existing infrastructure, their service will suffer. Who do you think the cable companies are going to service first, their customers or a competitors?
I do find it interesting that we are starting this century in a similar manner to the last one. There were huge monopolies for the economic engines of the time then, and there are burgeoning monopolies for the current economic engines now. I guess we didn't learn the last time. Monopolies aren't all bad. When they are used to extort higher prices and shoddy goods or service on the consumer, that's when they are a problem.
I did forget that alcohol can damage some components of the engine. Rubber gaskets and hoses being very vulnerable. But thos can be replaced rather easily.
I have been looking into alternative fuels lately. Most modern gasoline internal combustion engines can be modified to run off of alcohol. They can be made to possibly run even more efficiently. It would require rejetting the carb and possibly adjusting the timing. Another thing to do would be to replace the fuel filters when switching and after running on alcohol for a time as alcohol is a great cleanser and you wouldn't want a bunch of gunk getting into your engine. With a few modifications any gasoline engine can be made to burn alcohol.
As for biodiesel, the only change one would have to make is a new filter when changing and after a bit of running as with the gasoline/alcohol switch for similar reasons. Other than that, a diesel engine should run off of biodiesel with no modification.
Slashdot Mirror
Hmmm, perhaps this will appease you Vanishing Votes.
The patent included a source code implementation, 375 pages on microfiche.
Hmmm, cloaking and fisheye view were both in Aliens Vs Predator. How revolutionary.
It is possible that you may have seen one, there is a big Lockheed Martin presence in Fort Worth. You said it disappeared off to the west. Hmm, Ft Worth is south west of Denton. All of the 'desert bases' mentioned would be to the west. As for the size and distances, other posters have valid points about perspective and geometry.
If Lockheed Martin is hiring to build the JSF here in DFW doesn't it stand to chance that perhaps all of those people out there with clearances may have been working on some other classified aircraft.
They call them security clearances for a reason. The general publice has no need to know about classified military operations now do they? Whether or not you agress with this mindset, that is what would be used to 'keep that many people quiet' in such an operation.
Of course, I firmly believe someone should watch the watchers.
Why do you assume that Fundamentalism is associated with violence?
Who did what for freedom?
Nah, I'd rather see them all wired to a shocking system like the one depicted on the Simpsons. Basically, any member can shock any other member. Of course, you probably couldn't hold the study in California, it would drain the power grid too much.
If someone were to download a copy of a song that they didn't own, they may be profiting though. There was an exchange of goods. Now whether downloading a song that you had rights to would constitute an exchange is interesting. The good being exchanged would be the actual ripping and encoding of the song. Perhaps that could be a violation. It may be that I have a CD and I have the right to make unlimited copies of the CD that I own. If I download a copy that someone else has made. I am not necessarily exercising my right, but piggybacking on someone else's exercise of those free use rights. There may be a distinction.
Hey, if it's encrypted, wouldn't decryption of the material be a violation of the DMCA? Yeah, I own the copyright to any packet generated by my computer. Any measures taken to discover the contents of the packet are a violation of my protections under the DMCA. I wonder if that would work.
Don't produce the receipts, make them come to court and produce the physical CDs. Heck, even borrow them for the court appearance. Well, I guess you'd have to have them 'gifted' to you so they would be yours and you wouldn't be perjuring yourself by claiming ownership and free use rights.
I wonder if you could be compelled to surrender the password, it should be protected by the 5th Amendment. Just try to compel me to incriminate myself.
Actually another issue to consider is the fact that many government employees are members of a union which has a great deal of power in deciding what gets put onto a desktop.
Don't you mean the score? Heck, the only thing I can recall about the Attack of the Clones score is how reminiscent it was of the other Star Wars movies.
The dialog, often criticized, is high handed and often awkward. I attribute much of what many people found out of place and pretentious about the dialog acceptable given that these were the ruling class - the elite of the Republic. I got the feeling that Lucas was trying to generate a courtly love sort of theme with Anakin and Amidala. Lancelot caused the collapse of Camelot through a tryst with Guinevere and the same thing is happening here. The language is part of the story that reflects this. Also, all of the characters have lived strict and regimented lives. Anyone who is raised to rule a planet in there teens is not going to speak in a casual manner. There lives are built upon protocol and intricacies. It could be - and I think I may be stretching it here - that Lucas is trying to portray the characters as somewhat removed from the common person. The pageantry and costumes serve as a visual means of doing so but the pretentious speech is a verbal method of achieving the same. I did find myself amused by a few of the lines - the same Obi-Wan quote. Then the Star Trek dig - Yoda, "Target the nearest Federation starship."
The characters - the main characters at least - were generally flat and unsympathetic. The whiny, barely-contained Anakin was in no way sympathetic. Except perhaps for the scene on Tatooine with his mother. Other than that, he is yet another whiny Skywalker from Tatooine who yearns for more yet is restrained by the male authority figure in his life. Amidala, co-dependence is the only explanation of why this gifted woman would become smitten with a self proclaimed mass murderer. Anyone who cares for 'the people' and duty the way she is presented would be horrified by Anakin's actions on Tatooine. Perhaps she could sympathize with his loss but the retribution he exacts should be appalling. Yet she shrugs the proclamation off. Perhaps it was the cool way in which Anakin made his announcement, C3-P0 displayed more emotion.
The supporting characters were much more compelling. Obi-Wan was well handled - calm, centered and confident; everything a Jedi Master should be. Jango Fett, intruging, mysterious and dangerous. The wild west handling of the blaster pistols added a bit of flair to the action that seemed otherwise dull in comparison to other movies. Except for the green flash of Force-driven fury that is Yoda. Mace Windu exudes that same calm efficiency as Obi-Wan, perhaps moreso. His performance in the stadium is chilling in its brutal effectiveness. I admit I would have loved to have seen a Jules Windu type hipness to his character.
The script itself came across as preachy. It seems that Mr. Lucas has a disdain for politicians and holds them in no high regard. The polarized vision of good versus evil in the film is too simplistic. It is frustrating the way the script makes so many of the villians pawns of Darth Sidious. I would have found Count Dooku a much more compelling villian if he were not a servant of the Dark Side but rather a Jedi that saw the corruption in the Senate and was taking action to save what he cherishes from a corrupt force independent of a Jedi Council that would be pawns of the same corruption that rules the Senate.
One observation I had during the movie was that I feel that Yoda may know more than he lets on. Of course he knows a great deal, he's the Jedi Master. I got the impression that perhaps he has a notion of the coming slaughter of the Jedi, perhaps he is even willing to allow or facilitate it. I doubt Lucas would tread down that path, but the idea intrigues me. Especially considering some of the things Yoda says in E2 and the inordinate amount of attention he focuses on young Skywalker. Then there is that one little fact of him being the only Jedi to survive the eradication of the order - other than Obi Wan. I always found it odd that the eradication of the Jedi was so complete, some should have been able to flee to the Outer Rim or beyond.
All in all, it was an okay movie. Some of the faults others found with it were acceptable when viewed in a different context. The fact that the main characters did not inspire any great feeling was a great lack. Yes the special effects were great, but the action felt a bit flat. The light-sabre duels were pretty bland except for Yoda's. The battle scenes were also weak and illogical. Please someone tell me how a Jedi Master is qualified to serve as a field general in charge of thousands of infantry. Doubtful they teach that at the Jedi temple, the force seems more of a solitary exercise.
Basically, it was a popcorn, matinee movie that was sanitized and boiled to get a PG rating.
I was unable to see the movie on a digital projector but settled with seeing it on analog. I was watching the movie paying particular attention to the sharpness of the images. I seemed to notice that on the analog version, the flesh and blood actors seemed much more out of focus than the CGI images. This may have been an improperly adjusted projector, but it did seem that the actors - especially the whiny Anakin - where out of focus. Maybe Anakin was out of focus on purpose?
Is it just me or does anyone else want to see the 3rd episode just to see all those arrogant, light-saber wielding fanatics wiped out. Unfortunately Anakin gets to live, that is the greatest injustice of the series. The least likable character - yeah he surpassed JarJar in my mind - is the focal point of this series.
The rules only partially represent what the Jedi in the movie are capable of and Yoda pulled some Force tricks from under his robes that there are definitely no rules for. Of course, the rules were written using the existing body of work as a frame of reference and so show a great lack of imagination in actual application of the Force.
Er, since when has ANY Linux developer wanted to emulate MICROSOFT?!?!
Look at the GNOME development team. Can you say Miguel? I thought you could. He has stated, and at times I agree, that Microsoft has some good technology. The fact that they cram it down the user's throat with a firehose is a different matter.
I think that Linux has a strong case for the business desktop, which will be around for many years. There are too many business functions that the PC performs right now that one cannot perform on an embedded device. There was (still is?) a market for single purpose word processors. Try finding one now. As long as business produces documents, the generic beige-cased PC running Linux is and will continue to be a good candidate for the job.
The home PC isn't going away either. Running a household generates many documents like running a business does. However, there is a recreational use of PCs in the home and this is one area where Linux is way behind Windows and Mac. The next war will be content creation and control. Sure there is software to rip and burn your cd's. But more advanced media production and use is lagging. It can be a chore to get your system to use media files. The software and ease of in this area is abysmal in Linux. Right now, I could build a Tivo-like device using a Windows OS with off the shelf products with relative ease. Doing the same thing with Linux is major undertaking. Apple is now pushing digital content creation in their new iMacs. Microsoft is using the XBox to leverage their way into the digital media world. The Mac OS and I believe Windows XP both have tools for content creation. This is a major battlefield for Linux. The software to perform these tasks needs to be there and easy to use. The drivers for the hardware need to be readily available - obviously this would depend on the vendors of hardware supportin Linux or releasing specifications.
The current media marketing industries are attempting to keep alive in a world where rapid distribution of digital commodities makes their business models nearly obsolete. We all know of the Napster and CSS messes. Microsoft is pushing their proprietary formats. The media industries want closed formats. Linux is pushing open formats. The media computer will be the one that decides which formats win in the end. That is one area where Linux needs to focus. The use and creation of digital content must be simple. Most people are intimidated by their VCRs. Do you really think that they'd find Linux easy to use to create digital content? The PC is moving into new roles in the home. It is moving from the home office desk to the entertainment center. Is Linux going to do the same?
Did the native peoples believe in land ownership?
Patent for digitizing satellite broadcast and distributing using network media
This patent describes a method for the reception of satellite feeds and the subsequent transfer of the video information contained in the broadcast into a digital medium suitable for display and distribution using standard computer hardware. This patent also covers the creation of 'channels' dedicated to informing computer users in the 'channel' of the location and availability of said converted broadcasts. Additionally, the users of these 'channels' are further enabled trade converted broadcasts among themselves. The creation of an online database is part of this patent. The database will contain a list of all of the currently available titles and the URLs of these titles. This database will be copyright the patent holder.
I found a comment in one of the articles about AOL/Time Warner providing many services and seeking to provide phone service an interesting one. It would mean that the Bells have a competitor in AOL/TW, one with actual cable.
I know many here loath AOL for the easy access to the internet they provide to the masses but it serves a niche. Their slogan, "So easy (simple) to use, no wonder it's #1" is pretty much right on. Many people can't be bothered to program their VCRs much less go through a great deal of hassle to obtain what is still a luxury to most, internet access. If there were a single point of service that provided all your telecom needs: television, digital radio, high speed internet access, voice service, and it were simple to use. People would use it, especially if it were cost competitve. Right now I pay almost $50 a month for a phone that serves the main purpose of allowing telemarketers to call me, add another $40 to $50 for cable and that's a $100 per month for two services. I currently don't pay for cable so I don't know what the rates are and I haven't ever subscribed to digital television but something tells me that amount would increase.
AOL and ATT are attempting to position themselves to be that sole provider. Good, that means there will be some sort of competition. Currently there is little competition at the local level, sure there are a small number of Bell companies providing service, but the local one has a monopoly. Since any competitors will be forced by the almost natural monopoly the cable companies have to use the existing infrastructure, their service will suffer. Who do you think the cable companies are going to service first, their customers or a competitors?
I do find it interesting that we are starting this century in a similar manner to the last one. There were huge monopolies for the economic engines of the time then, and there are burgeoning monopolies for the current economic engines now. I guess we didn't learn the last time. Monopolies aren't all bad. When they are used to extort higher prices and shoddy goods or service on the consumer, that's when they are a problem.
I did forget that alcohol can damage some components of the engine. Rubber gaskets and hoses being very vulnerable. But thos can be replaced rather easily.
What about the many other uses for the other parts of a hemp plant? Cloth, paper, rope?
I have been looking into alternative fuels lately. Most modern gasoline internal combustion engines can be modified to run off of alcohol. They can be made to possibly run even more efficiently. It would require rejetting the carb and possibly adjusting the timing. Another thing to do would be to replace the fuel filters when switching and after running on alcohol for a time as alcohol is a great cleanser and you wouldn't want a bunch of gunk getting into your engine. With a few modifications any gasoline engine can be made to burn alcohol.
As for biodiesel, the only change one would have to make is a new filter when changing and after a bit of running as with the gasoline/alcohol switch for similar reasons. Other than that, a diesel engine should run off of biodiesel with no modification.
Kuro5hin had this article on hemp biodiesel a while ago. Another great site is Journey to Forever
Yes there is. He is broke, Monsanto has the loonies.