Bad analogy. The elasticity and friction of the tires cancel out any effect of the impact. These effects don't exist for an asteroid.
A better analogy would be a bowling ball on a lane with one pin. There's a tiny pebble halfway down the lane. How does a 1g pebble deflect a 12 pound bowling ball? By getting run over. If the lane was 100 miles long, a grain of salt would have a significant effect on where the ball ends up.
I think this is a bad analogy too. If a bowling ball runs over a pebble, the ball will be deflected. However, the pebble will be pushing against the earth and could not be deflected downward. Assuming that the pebble remained stationary during the collision and the pebble did not sink downward into the ground, the situation would not be an impact of a 12 pound bowling ball vs a 1 gram pebble. It would be a 12 pound bowling ball pushing into the earth. The effects would be negligible. If the pebble did move, the results would not be accurate because the pebble could not move in the direction in which most of the force would push (downward into the floor). You also claim that the tires cancel out the effect of the bullet. However, the satellite is not completely solid. It would be crushed on impact at some of the energy that would deflect the asteroid would be absorbed. Is this not similar to the tires?
Could a satellite potentially deflect the asteroid? Yes, if one even hits it. Will it even hit a satellite much and will it cause it to hit the earth, I don't know.
I went to a large and well known engineering school to obtain a CS degree. Because it is a school known for engineering and tech, many well known and large companies came to the job fairs (which were fairly frequent) looking for good CS students for entry positions and/or internships. I am not saying these companies would not go to a liberal arts school, because I do not know if they would or not. However, they would go to a tech or engineering university and expect to find potential employees. If both schools are well known, then that well help in finding starting a career. However if one is well known for producing tech and engineering degrees, then the employer will assume you are better prepared for your job. Also, my school helped students find jobs. Students could drop off copies of their resume with the adviser and they would pass the resumes along to companies that came to the school to look for students trying to start careers. Ask the schools if they have any assistance to find jobs and how many/what type of companies participate in such methods of finding employment. This is not critical to finding a job (especially if you are looking for job closer to home at a small company), but it is a nice option to have.
Tech schools may also have program that provide special training for careers both inside and outside the class room. My university had clubs that dealt with robotics, linux/OSS, etc. My university also had a program that matched students from various disciplines (CS, electrical engineering, etc) to work in teams for non-profit organizations in the community while getting credit to apply towards your degree. This is something of interest to employers because it shows you can work with people outside your field to complete a goal.
Another way the "where" is important is the quality of education. This applies to all schools--not just liberal arts vs. tech schools. When I talk with people that obtained CS degrees from local colleges, I find that my education was much more comprehensive and complete. Some people never learned some things that I would consider fairly important or helpful. Though in this instance, I am comparing apples and oranges... these people went to small colleges and I went to a large university. However you did say the CS program at the L.A. school was small. This may or may not create a similar situation.
When the media and politicians were going mad over the hanging chads on ballots in Florida during the Bush vs Gore presidential election, many people were making jokes and were annoyed with the seemingly childish manner the situation was being handled. What is going to happen during the upcoming presidential election? At least with the Florida recount, the ballots could be double checked. With electronic voting, parties will argue over what part of the print-out is correct: the totals or the individual counts. I can almost imagine what the final result will be... everyone saying screw the votes and have the future of America being decided by a McCain vs. Obama paper/rock/scissors contest.
I do agree with you that as computers become more powerful, the demand for more powerful systems will decrease, if current software development methods stay the same. However, I do not believe that the decrease will be as obvious as you imply.
I can also think of a couple of things that could counter the decrease in demand for more powerful systems. First, AMD and Intel do not want to let the other get an unbeatable edge over the other. Even if people do not want a more powerful system, Intel will continue to innovate to prevent AMD from surpassing them and AMD will do the same in regards to Intel. If one company gained an obvious advantage over the other, that company would get all of the contracts with the computer manufacturers.
Second, as other hardware becomes faster, cpu speeds will become more obvious. Right now, one of the biggest bottlenecks in your computer is the hard drive. However, as hd's switch to solid state and other I/O devices gain speed, the bottlenecks caused by the cpu and related hardware will become more obvious.
Finally, I think there a Slashdot article a while ago discussing ray tracing and the benefits of multi core cpu's. I believe the article stated that by using cpu's to handle raytracing, one could see a linear correlation between the number of cores and the performance. In other words, 16 cores would have 8 times the performance of a dual core cpu rendering the same scene with ray tracing methods. If future games start using raytracing to render scenes then the power of 16 cores could become very useful.
Of course they should put ads up if they need the money. I do recommend that the ads remain relatively unobtrusive like those found on google. Second, if they are worried about their image, they could apply a lot of the money they earn (as it sounds like they could make a lot) towards things such as scholarships, charities, and grants. Giving away both money and information will definitely keep their visitors happy, provided the user doesn't have to put up with a lot of obtrusive ads.
Somebody else on slashdot posted this link http://www.badastronomy.com/bablog/2008/03/03/wr-104-a-nearby-gamma-ray-burst/ Read it if you are going to read the slashdot article. I am not sure how reliable the information is, but it seems to have a lot more data than the slashdot article has. The slashdot article is just you typical sensationalized crap saying "we are looking down the barrel of a gun." We don't know if it is pointed directly at us or not. We do not know how much matter is between the star and earth. If there is a lot of matter, then a lot of energy will be absorbed by it. We aren't even certain how far away it is (even though the article says 8000 light years). This is a binary star.... what happens if the other star goes super nova before this one creates a gamma ray burst? Will it change WR 104's aim? There are too many unknowns this article is just news media trying to promote itself by predicting doomsday.
If the students in public school science classes are taught alternatives to evolution, then I have no problem--provided they are scientific theories that have evidence to back them. By presenting different ideas, people will challenge and test the theories. Scientific progress is made by creating ideas and theories and either proving/disproving the ideas. However, the theories taught must be truly scientific theories and not ideas such as Intelligent Design, which is little more than people stating ideas related to creationism in a manner that is meant to sound scientific.
The article has a quote:
On the day the state board voted, Stemberger called adding the phrase "scientific theory" a "meaningless and impotent change." I disagree with that statement. That phrase could actually prove useful to those challenging unscientific ideas being taught in science classes. If the law states that they can teach scientific theories, then those challenging what is being taught can simply ask, "what scientific evidence exists to support the idea? Can we use the scientific method to test it?"
So I can make hydrogen while driving. At an efficiency of perhaps 96%. So, 100 units of energy in resulting in 96 units of energy in the form of hydrogen. Those 96 units then pwoer the car.
Why wouldn't I cut the middle step out and simply use 100% of the energy to make the wheels go round and round? This is a guess and I may be completely wrong. I would say a large part of it deals with the form the 100 units of energy has and how well it stores.
Lets say you use batteries. I don't think you will get 100% efficiency charging the batteries from a plug in the wall. Then you have to deal with many heavy batteries to power a vehicle a long distance, or stop for longer periods to recharge the batteries. Furthermore, some batteries do not hold their charge for extended periods of time.
A tank of hydrogen could be stored for a long period of time without losing the any fuel that would power the vehicle. One could stop at a gas station and refuel the vehicles tanks with hydrogen instead of waiting to recharge batteries. Hydrogen could be produced relatively cheaply in the united states using water and electrical power. This could place the price of hydrogen lower than gasoline at the gas station.
Our current system using gasoline may be more convenient for now, but it produces more problems with pollution and is expensive. By increasing the efficiency of hydrogen production, then we are getting a potential power source that is cheap and lowers pollution.
He wasn't describing them as "engineering failures." He was describing them as annoying or troublesome when used for his purposes. There is a big difference.
I think the person that said that MinWin is smaller than vista by an order of magnitude needs to rethink their description or check their numbers. The article says that Vista Ultimate requires 15GB to install (I am not sure if it is saying 15GB is only needed during the installation process or it needs that much after installation). However, the article also states that MinWin is based on 25MB of data. The article does not say how large an entire installation of MinWin will be. However the article phrases things in a way that leads me to believe they were only speaking of the base of MinWin when stating that it is smaller than vista by an order of magnitude. The differences is more than an mere order of magnitude.
While this may not be true for media such as movies and music, I once read an interesting article on copy protection on software (or more specifically, games). Most software made for the average consumer makes the most money when it is still considered new or modern. Look at PC games. When they first arrive, they are 50-60 dollars. However, 9 months later, they are 20-25. Wait even longer an they are in the bargain bin for 5-10 dollars. The original manufacturer is not making any money from that. The game manufacturers know that the copy protection will not be permanent. To try and make one that protects the software and is still usable by the general public would be, for the most part, futile. However, if the copy protection protects the software long enough for the profit to be made before it is cracked, then its job was accomplished and it was not futile. The same concept applies to other software that updates is produced by companies that frequently produce new versions. If the copy protection can last for profit to be made on the current version before the next version arrives, then the copy protection was not futile.
On the other hand, copy protection on things such as hd-dvd was futile. The idea that a copy protection method would hold the entire life of a group of products on a standard that expected to be used for many years is foolish. The copy protection on HD-DVD was cracked before it even became common in most homes.
Copy protection is not futile when used in the correct circumstances. However, it can be a waste of money and futile under other circumstances.
-My $0.02
In a nutshell, Jazz is to team performance what Eclipse is to personal performance... In other words, it is cool in theory, but is actually far more trouble than its worth.
The question is, was money being thrown at a moral issue to solve it or was it being thrown at it to appear moral and family-oriented for the upcoming elections?
What does your comment have to do with anything? This story takes place in Australia. Not the US. I suspect this is more of an attempt of politicians trying to be seen as moral and family oriented during an election year than it is about actually banning porn in any way. Also don't compare prohibition to trying to stop teenagers from looking at porn. To my understanding (which I admit could be wrong), the software is installed by the parents and it is not obligatory. The filter is not stopping adults from looking at porn and I doubt the mafia is going to gain a lot of power by giving teenagers porn in a speakeasy.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22304224-421, 00.html
The summary: A 16 year old student wanted porn. He got it in 30 minutes. The government tried to fix the filter. The 16 year old student wanted more porn. He got more in 40 minutes. 16 year old says the porn filter is waste of money.
If things such as national parks require US citizens to have passports or the Real ID to enter, then I assume that foreign travelers would need passports or similar paperwork to do the same in our national facilities. If the 'foreign terrorist' that our media and public seem to fear so much can occasionally come in to our country without our knowledge using their passports and paperwork (whether they are legit or fake is irrelevant to this), and then, they access access out national facilities (that we are 'protecting' with the Real ID) with the same paperwork, how are we protected. It seems we are limiting our privacy and not that of the foreign terrorist. True, this may do something to prevent domestic terrorism of sorts, but how, I don't see at the moment. A person does not need to enter a government facility to cause terror and damage to it. The Oklahoma city bombing is an example of this. As much as I wish there was, a simple way to prevent terrorism will not ever exist. We can do things to help prevent it, but I do not see how this does enough to justify 14 billion dollars and more invasion of privacy.
Someday, keyboards and computer mice will be remembered only as medieval-style torture devices for the wrists. All work -- emails, spreadsheets, and Google searches -- will be performed by mind control. He is foolish in assuming that everyone's mind functions 'normal' enough to have necessary control. A large percentage of people have some type of mental problems. A person that has epilepsy, even relatively minor partial-seizures that only affect part of the brain will disrupt thought and control enough that mental interfaces to the computer would become useless. If a person has other disorders (such as certain types of schizophrenia) that affect the way the brain functions control could become extremely limited. Then finally, you have the people that have had some sort of brain trauma. There are cases in which a person's brain has adapted to carry out functions in different parts of the brain when a particular part was damaged. If the brain functions in a fundamentally different way, the controls will be useless. In other words, physical controls such as the mouse and keyboard (or other physical devices that replace them on future computers) will not ever disappear.
Slashdot Mirror
Could a satellite potentially deflect the asteroid? Yes, if one even hits it. Will it even hit a satellite much and will it cause it to hit the earth, I don't know.
I went to a large and well known engineering school to obtain a CS degree. Because it is a school known for engineering and tech, many well known and large companies came to the job fairs (which were fairly frequent) looking for good CS students for entry positions and/or internships. I am not saying these companies would not go to a liberal arts school, because I do not know if they would or not. However, they would go to a tech or engineering university and expect to find potential employees. If both schools are well known, then that well help in finding starting a career. However if one is well known for producing tech and engineering degrees, then the employer will assume you are better prepared for your job. Also, my school helped students find jobs. Students could drop off copies of their resume with the adviser and they would pass the resumes along to companies that came to the school to look for students trying to start careers. Ask the schools if they have any assistance to find jobs and how many/what type of companies participate in such methods of finding employment. This is not critical to finding a job (especially if you are looking for job closer to home at a small company), but it is a nice option to have.
Tech schools may also have program that provide special training for careers both inside and outside the class room. My university had clubs that dealt with robotics, linux/OSS, etc. My university also had a program that matched students from various disciplines (CS, electrical engineering, etc) to work in teams for non-profit organizations in the community while getting credit to apply towards your degree. This is something of interest to employers because it shows you can work with people outside your field to complete a goal.
Another way the "where" is important is the quality of education. This applies to all schools--not just liberal arts vs. tech schools. When I talk with people that obtained CS degrees from local colleges, I find that my education was much more comprehensive and complete. Some people never learned some things that I would consider fairly important or helpful. Though in this instance, I am comparing apples and oranges... these people went to small colleges and I went to a large university. However you did say the CS program at the L.A. school was small. This may or may not create a similar situation.
My $0.02
When the media and politicians were going mad over the hanging chads on ballots in Florida during the Bush vs Gore presidential election, many people were making jokes and were annoyed with the seemingly childish manner the situation was being handled. What is going to happen during the upcoming presidential election? At least with the Florida recount, the ballots could be double checked. With electronic voting, parties will argue over what part of the print-out is correct: the totals or the individual counts. I can almost imagine what the final result will be... everyone saying screw the votes and have the future of America being decided by a McCain vs. Obama paper/rock/scissors contest.
On a related note: http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20080406
I do agree with you that as computers become more powerful, the demand for more powerful systems will decrease, if current software development methods stay the same. However, I do not believe that the decrease will be as obvious as you imply. I can also think of a couple of things that could counter the decrease in demand for more powerful systems. First, AMD and Intel do not want to let the other get an unbeatable edge over the other. Even if people do not want a more powerful system, Intel will continue to innovate to prevent AMD from surpassing them and AMD will do the same in regards to Intel. If one company gained an obvious advantage over the other, that company would get all of the contracts with the computer manufacturers. Second, as other hardware becomes faster, cpu speeds will become more obvious. Right now, one of the biggest bottlenecks in your computer is the hard drive. However, as hd's switch to solid state and other I/O devices gain speed, the bottlenecks caused by the cpu and related hardware will become more obvious. Finally, I think there a Slashdot article a while ago discussing ray tracing and the benefits of multi core cpu's. I believe the article stated that by using cpu's to handle raytracing, one could see a linear correlation between the number of cores and the performance. In other words, 16 cores would have 8 times the performance of a dual core cpu rendering the same scene with ray tracing methods. If future games start using raytracing to render scenes then the power of 16 cores could become very useful.
I am sure you are not the only one on Slashdot that likes Vista. But this Slashdot.... you can't actually admit that you like it.
Of course they should put ads up if they need the money. I do recommend that the ads remain relatively unobtrusive like those found on google. Second, if they are worried about their image, they could apply a lot of the money they earn (as it sounds like they could make a lot) towards things such as scholarships, charities, and grants. Giving away both money and information will definitely keep their visitors happy, provided the user doesn't have to put up with a lot of obtrusive ads.
No, they don't mean studying. They mean hiding your notes in your memory so the prof can't see your cheat-sheet.
Somebody else on slashdot posted this link http://www.badastronomy.com/bablog/2008/03/03/wr-104-a-nearby-gamma-ray-burst/ Read it if you are going to read the slashdot article. I am not sure how reliable the information is, but it seems to have a lot more data than the slashdot article has. The slashdot article is just you typical sensationalized crap saying "we are looking down the barrel of a gun." We don't know if it is pointed directly at us or not. We do not know how much matter is between the star and earth. If there is a lot of matter, then a lot of energy will be absorbed by it. We aren't even certain how far away it is (even though the article says 8000 light years). This is a binary star.... what happens if the other star goes super nova before this one creates a gamma ray burst? Will it change WR 104's aim? There are too many unknowns this article is just news media trying to promote itself by predicting doomsday.
The article has a quote:
On the day the state board voted, Stemberger called adding the phrase "scientific theory" a "meaningless and impotent change." I disagree with that statement. That phrase could actually prove useful to those challenging unscientific ideas being taught in science classes. If the law states that they can teach scientific theories, then those challenging what is being taught can simply ask, "what scientific evidence exists to support the idea? Can we use the scientific method to test it?"Lets say you use batteries. I don't think you will get 100% efficiency charging the batteries from a plug in the wall. Then you have to deal with many heavy batteries to power a vehicle a long distance, or stop for longer periods to recharge the batteries. Furthermore, some batteries do not hold their charge for extended periods of time.
A tank of hydrogen could be stored for a long period of time without losing the any fuel that would power the vehicle. One could stop at a gas station and refuel the vehicles tanks with hydrogen instead of waiting to recharge batteries. Hydrogen could be produced relatively cheaply in the united states using water and electrical power. This could place the price of hydrogen lower than gasoline at the gas station.
Our current system using gasoline may be more convenient for now, but it produces more problems with pollution and is expensive. By increasing the efficiency of hydrogen production, then we are getting a potential power source that is cheap and lowers pollution.
Simple. Microsoft has money.
Geeks untangling ethernet cables is not new.
He wasn't describing them as "engineering failures." He was describing them as annoying or troublesome when used for his purposes. There is a big difference.
I think the person that said that MinWin is smaller than vista by an order of magnitude needs to rethink their description or check their numbers. The article says that Vista Ultimate requires 15GB to install (I am not sure if it is saying 15GB is only needed during the installation process or it needs that much after installation). However, the article also states that MinWin is based on 25MB of data. The article does not say how large an entire installation of MinWin will be. However the article phrases things in a way that leads me to believe they were only speaking of the base of MinWin when stating that it is smaller than vista by an order of magnitude. The differences is more than an mere order of magnitude.
...and three time the bugs, security holes and opportunities to divert from standards.
While this may not be true for media such as movies and music, I once read an interesting article on copy protection on software (or more specifically, games). Most software made for the average consumer makes the most money when it is still considered new or modern. Look at PC games. When they first arrive, they are 50-60 dollars. However, 9 months later, they are 20-25. Wait even longer an they are in the bargain bin for 5-10 dollars. The original manufacturer is not making any money from that. The game manufacturers know that the copy protection will not be permanent. To try and make one that protects the software and is still usable by the general public would be, for the most part, futile. However, if the copy protection protects the software long enough for the profit to be made before it is cracked, then its job was accomplished and it was not futile. The same concept applies to other software that updates is produced by companies that frequently produce new versions. If the copy protection can last for profit to be made on the current version before the next version arrives, then the copy protection was not futile. On the other hand, copy protection on things such as hd-dvd was futile. The idea that a copy protection method would hold the entire life of a group of products on a standard that expected to be used for many years is foolish. The copy protection on HD-DVD was cracked before it even became common in most homes. Copy protection is not futile when used in the correct circumstances. However, it can be a waste of money and futile under other circumstances. -My $0.02
The question is, was money being thrown at a moral issue to solve it or was it being thrown at it to appear moral and family-oriented for the upcoming elections?
What does your comment have to do with anything? This story takes place in Australia. Not the US. I suspect this is more of an attempt of politicians trying to be seen as moral and family oriented during an election year than it is about actually banning porn in any way. Also don't compare prohibition to trying to stop teenagers from looking at porn. To my understanding (which I admit could be wrong), the software is installed by the parents and it is not obligatory. The filter is not stopping adults from looking at porn and I doubt the mafia is going to gain a lot of power by giving teenagers porn in a speakeasy.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22304224-421, 00.html
The summary: A 16 year old student wanted porn. He got it in 30 minutes. The government tried to fix the filter. The 16 year old student wanted more porn. He got more in 40 minutes. 16 year old says the porn filter is waste of money.
If things such as national parks require US citizens to have passports or the Real ID to enter, then I assume that foreign travelers would need passports or similar paperwork to do the same in our national facilities. If the 'foreign terrorist' that our media and public seem to fear so much can occasionally come in to our country without our knowledge using their passports and paperwork (whether they are legit or fake is irrelevant to this), and then, they access access out national facilities (that we are 'protecting' with the Real ID) with the same paperwork, how are we protected. It seems we are limiting our privacy and not that of the foreign terrorist. True, this may do something to prevent domestic terrorism of sorts, but how, I don't see at the moment. A person does not need to enter a government facility to cause terror and damage to it. The Oklahoma city bombing is an example of this. As much as I wish there was, a simple way to prevent terrorism will not ever exist. We can do things to help prevent it, but I do not see how this does enough to justify 14 billion dollars and more invasion of privacy.
Nah... I think you are just happy to see me.
-My two pennies.