I appreciate that this guy is a really smart physicist, thus I'm sure he's got the math right on the effect of changing the albedo of structures.
However, I seriously question the environmental economics of this. It seems that this needs a very well-scoped Cost Benefit Analysis.
We are talking about replacing or altering a vast surface area of global structures. This alone has a massive environmental impact - even just in the trucks needed to transport materials alone. Not to mention the retooling of factories, mining or manufacturing new materials and disposing of waste products, as well as disposing of the old surfaces and excess stock of the same. Not to mention also that shifting to whiter concrete roads, for example, will significantly increase noise pollution, and may result in the need for more salt/grit use in Winter (a serious environmental impact), as well as a higher risk of accidents from glare, reduced ability to see ice patches, etc.
Obviously this would take generations to complete, even in the US with a huge amount of money and resources at its disposal, even if there was a massive construction program that started right now.
It would take far, far longer in countries like India or China. It may never happen in Africa, or take many centuries. Surely the time taken for the deferred benefit of making these changes to kick in, would barely offset the significant short-run environmental impact of making those changes long-run, if at all. The carbon issues are far greater in developing countries, they cannot afford to make these changes, some developing countries are vast in geographic size and population, with a large number of structures. They carbon impact will increase, while not being able to afford to offset it by utilizing this method. For it to work fully and effectively the world world's structures need to be painted white. There really aren't that many in the US compared with other nations.
The environmental costs listed above are probably only the tip of the iceberg, just off the top of my head without thinking too hard. With a fully-scoped Cost Benefit Analysis there will be many, many additional costs to those listed here. He's really only examined the benefit. I do not believe the benefit exceeds the cost in this case.
Surely there is a quicker, better way to achieve the same benefit.
I'm torn. Part of me detests censorship and state interference, my belief is that people can make up their own minds as to what's harmful.
On the other hand, since the US Gambling ban the whole World has seen a dramatic reduction in the most obnoxious flashing gif adverts since punch the monkey.
Do I hate censorship or annoying flashing ads more...? Honestly I really don't know...
The advantage of a Czar is that it's much more fun to overthrow them than a king. Just ask Lenin.
I think in this case the parallels with the excess and oppression of imperial Czars, and the ruling of the Internet, will be quite apt.
Of course it's just as likely that this new Czar will be just as effective as other previous government Czars. The Drugs Czar for example. Since being appointed in 1982 we can congratulate the holders of that office as having done a great job. There is now no drug problem whatsoever, as everyone knows.
how come the government is allowed to dump its old stuff in the sea and the rest of us have to pay for disposal
Assuming the wikipedia article on the ship is true, then the ship is currently owned by bankers and not the government.
I can't help thinking though the ancient tradition of the captain going down with the ship should be applied here, since the captains will be bankers. There's no better place for bankers than Davy Jones Locker.
For those of you who think we should regulate prostitution, go read the Wikipedia article about Amsterdam and prostitution. It's a cesspool of human trafficking from 2nd/3rd world countries- tantamount to slavery.
Firstly, the last place anyone should go for real facts on something is Wikipedia.
Secondly, the situation in Amsterdam isn't as bad as you nor Wikipedia claims it to be (NGO's distort facts for funding).
Thirdly, even if that were true, there's plenty of other countries were legalized prostitution works extremely well, Germany, Switzerland etc.
Fourthly, organized crime is involved in prostitution everywhere, by legalizing it you are on the first step to reducing the problem of organized crime.
Fifthly, "Erotic Services" are not actually illegal -- it depends on what that service is, and how transactions occur. Phone sex, webcam sex services for example are "erotic services" and wholly legal.
Just because organized crime is involved in prostitution, doesn't mean that a legalized system can't be properly run to reduce that. See Prohibition for an example of how making something illegal leads to a black market and organized crime -- legalizing it reduces that problem.
Its Wikipedia approach to spying shows how Soviet-style secrecy is facing a new challenge from the Internet's power to unite a disparate community of busybodies
Wikipedia: a disparate community of busybodies. Yep, pretty much the best definition I've heard.
But lets hope the quality of these citizen intelligence officers is vastly superior to the average wikipedian. Using wikipedia-based information might get you a fail mark, a libel suit, minor injuries, or a variety of other personal problems. However, using poor intelligence information might get us all nuked, or start a major war. (citation: see Iran, Weapons of Mass destruction, intelligence failure thereof)
Or can the police kick down your door, seize whatever they want and when the court deems their actions as illegal they just say "Oops, our bad."?
The thing I find curious, is that the press and the more hysterical government representatives (in most western countries) are so keen and quick to blame violence on TV and in computer games as being the cause of violence in society. We know that this isn't the case of course.
However, no-one seems to be quite so quick to suggest that shows like "24" have a negative influence over Police and Security Services behavior.
It seems that black ops, and seize it now -- find a crime and apologize later, is a more common occurrence then ever before -- again, in several countries.
Does TV influence cop behavior? Probably not any more than TV violence affects society -- but how come it never gets mentioned? I know why, of course, but it's interesting to raise the point I think.
There is something called due process. He got none.
While that is true... He really would have got much more sympathy, even on/., if he had the brains to write:
"the network manager had been contacted by MediaSentry and emailed one of the generic copyright infringement emails as a result of me (allegedly) downloading Angels and Demons."
Honestly, students today... what is education coming to? Seems too easy to get into Uni these days. Innocent until proven guilty, but if you are admitting your guilt, then there's a good chance you are. He would have had a reasonable grounds for fighting this if he'd denied any wrong doing and shifted the burden of proof. Not very smart not to.
And note that he is the senior partner in his own law firm.
Maybe he had to start his own law firm because no-one would hire him. Having his own firm isn't exactly an indication of anything other than he has the money to pay for an office and a phone line.
Maybe he wrote his own Wikipedia article too, it's far from the first time that happened. Anyway, I hardly think Wikipedia is the best place to start looking for info on someone who could get you a long prison sentence if they screw up. It's probably the last place to look actually.
If you are using Panasonic HDV with P2 cards it doesn't transfer the data fast on OSX. It's (sadly) much, much faster on Windows. Speed is essential for Doc footage and P2, as there will be hours of it, and cards are very expensive. You WILL run into workflow problems with OSX unless you have stacks of cards and a full-time online editor. (You'll likely still run into some workflow probs with Windows too.)
If you are using tapes (and you probably should), then OSX and Final Cut will be your best option. Try also Circus Ponies Notebook as a means of scheduling. Or Celtx (free and open source) is also very good for a lot of projects. Never used it for a doc, but it should work well.
Yes but camera-shake isn't really a special effect. (and the whole article, and most comments are confusing Visual Effects with Special Effects here -- not the same thing at all).
Camera-shake, or rapid-cut handheld-style camera work is a directorial tool (often one a cinematographer will resist), and a directorial cliché too. "Oh a fight scene, lets do it handheld", the hack-director will say. It's done to death. It's a way of covering up a lack of preparation, story-boarding, choreography, unfit unskilled actors and cuts to stunt performers. Not to mention a lack of imagination. It's just lazy filmmaking.
While I do agree that Government has no business intervening in the running of Craigslist. And I do believe that genuine sex workers have a right to advertise their services, Craigslist protestations are not from a position of strength.
Ever visited a Craigslist site that's not in the US? Try it now. There is not one single genuine ad on any of them. There's literally thousands of scams on any foreign Craigslist site. Craigslist absolutely fails to control its sites.
Prositutes, Dommes and other sex workers are making a genuine living, and many of them are honest, but that's not the majority of ads on Craigslist. It's premium rate phone scams, ID thieving fake Dating sites and webcam operators, and Nigerian scammers.
When Craigslist makes an effort to genuinely clean up its site, people might take its protestations seriously.
There is absolutely no point whatsoever in visiting any Craigslist site that's not in the US. They would be better just to take down all foreign sites. All of them.
I'm more curious to understand why Bragg's considered "noted". Didn't he have a one hit wonder sometime back in the early 80's? I assume than no-one in the UK over the age of 20, and no-one in any other country, has ever heard of him.
Unless of course you mean noted as a sock-puppet of the Labour Regime. That, he most certainly is.
I think it's likely that IE's market share will decrease in the short term. Doubtless there will come an equilibrium point where all browsers have reached their natural market share. Also, MS has the resources to make IE a good browser if they want to. (pretty much all they have to do is cut it loose from Windows, make it standards compliant, and kill ActiveX forever).
I'm not convinced Firefox will make significant gains going forward, unless they can address some of the significant problems with browser -- no multi-threading, memory hog, and pretty much sucks on a Mac.
Chrome is set to make a huge dent in everyone's market once it becomes a rounded finished product, and there's a decent extension library.
Razors will have 100 blades by 2050 according to current growth rates.
Could be, but could also be that what will happen is that by the time they get to ten blades or so, they'll introduce the revolutionary technology of the new single blade razor, complete with marketing hype to ridicule the fact that you need ten blades to shave, when one works better and more effectively.
Of course, the price of the new single blade razor will be roughly similar to the 10 blade one -- if not slightly more expensive. Rather than one tenth of the price like it should be.
The best use for the single blade razor however, would be to cut the throat of every marketing droid in existence -- sadly, few of them will suffer that fate.
Your not wrong. Add in also that is only the demographic that uses Twitter that's coming up in the results too. And that' a lot of teenagers and the shallow and dumb. Not exactly a cross-section of the population.
It's astonishing that Twitter doesn't make money. Lets face it, the Twats are dumb enough to be sold anything.
I don't think the reviewer is a cop. But I do think the reviewer is a paid-up member of the UK LieBore Party. Or a Guardian Journalist (much the same thing).
It is a terrible review. Totally biased in favour of Government and anti-privacy. He's basically bloated full of security-theatre koolaid.
If he's British, he must be the last man standing that supports the Government right now. Maybe they paid him with expenses money.
Slashdot Mirror
Take your shining paws off me, you damn dazzling ape!
I appreciate that this guy is a really smart physicist, thus I'm sure he's got the math right on the effect of changing the albedo of structures.
However, I seriously question the environmental economics of this. It seems that this needs a very well-scoped Cost Benefit Analysis.
We are talking about replacing or altering a vast surface area of global structures. This alone has a massive environmental impact - even just in the trucks needed to transport materials alone. Not to mention the retooling of factories, mining or manufacturing new materials and disposing of waste products, as well as disposing of the old surfaces and excess stock of the same. Not to mention also that shifting to whiter concrete roads, for example, will significantly increase noise pollution, and may result in the need for more salt/grit use in Winter (a serious environmental impact), as well as a higher risk of accidents from glare, reduced ability to see ice patches, etc.
Obviously this would take generations to complete, even in the US with a huge amount of money and resources at its disposal, even if there was a massive construction program that started right now.
It would take far, far longer in countries like India or China. It may never happen in Africa, or take many centuries. Surely the time taken for the deferred benefit of making these changes to kick in, would barely offset the significant short-run environmental impact of making those changes long-run, if at all. The carbon issues are far greater in developing countries, they cannot afford to make these changes, some developing countries are vast in geographic size and population, with a large number of structures. They carbon impact will increase, while not being able to afford to offset it by utilizing this method. For it to work fully and effectively the world world's structures need to be painted white. There really aren't that many in the US compared with other nations.
The environmental costs listed above are probably only the tip of the iceberg, just off the top of my head without thinking too hard. With a fully-scoped Cost Benefit Analysis there will be many, many additional costs to those listed here. He's really only examined the benefit. I do not believe the benefit exceeds the cost in this case.
Surely there is a quicker, better way to achieve the same benefit.
I'm torn. Part of me detests censorship and state interference, my belief is that people can make up their own minds as to what's harmful.
On the other hand, since the US Gambling ban the whole World has seen a dramatic reduction in the most obnoxious flashing gif adverts since punch the monkey.
Do I hate censorship or annoying flashing ads more...? Honestly I really don't know...
The advantage of a Czar is that it's much more fun to overthrow them than a king. Just ask Lenin.
I think in this case the parallels with the excess and oppression of imperial Czars, and the ruling of the Internet, will be quite apt.
Of course it's just as likely that this new Czar will be just as effective as other previous government Czars. The Drugs Czar for example. Since being appointed in 1982 we can congratulate the holders of that office as having done a great job. There is now no drug problem whatsoever, as everyone knows.
Assuming the wikipedia article on the ship is true, then the ship is currently owned by bankers and not the government.
I can't help thinking though the ancient tradition of the captain going down with the ship should be applied here, since the captains will be bankers. There's no better place for bankers than Davy Jones Locker.
Firstly, the last place anyone should go for real facts on something is Wikipedia.
Secondly, the situation in Amsterdam isn't as bad as you nor Wikipedia claims it to be (NGO's distort facts for funding).
Thirdly, even if that were true, there's plenty of other countries were legalized prostitution works extremely well, Germany, Switzerland etc.
Fourthly, organized crime is involved in prostitution everywhere, by legalizing it you are on the first step to reducing the problem of organized crime.
Fifthly, "Erotic Services" are not actually illegal -- it depends on what that service is, and how transactions occur. Phone sex, webcam sex services for example are "erotic services" and wholly legal.
Just because organized crime is involved in prostitution, doesn't mean that a legalized system can't be properly run to reduce that. See Prohibition for an example of how making something illegal leads to a black market and organized crime -- legalizing it reduces that problem.
Wikipedia: a disparate community of busybodies. Yep, pretty much the best definition I've heard.
But lets hope the quality of these citizen intelligence officers is vastly superior to the average wikipedian. Using wikipedia-based information might get you a fail mark, a libel suit, minor injuries, or a variety of other personal problems. However, using poor intelligence information might get us all nuked, or start a major war. (citation: see Iran, Weapons of Mass destruction, intelligence failure thereof)
The thing I find curious, is that the press and the more hysterical government representatives (in most western countries) are so keen and quick to blame violence on TV and in computer games as being the cause of violence in society. We know that this isn't the case of course.
However, no-one seems to be quite so quick to suggest that shows like "24" have a negative influence over Police and Security Services behavior.
It seems that black ops, and seize it now -- find a crime and apologize later, is a more common occurrence then ever before -- again, in several countries.
Does TV influence cop behavior? Probably not any more than TV violence affects society -- but how come it never gets mentioned? I know why, of course, but it's interesting to raise the point I think.
Now... does that not sound like a challenge? I bet it CAN be done!
While that is true... He really would have got much more sympathy, even on /., if he had the brains to write:
"the network manager had been contacted by MediaSentry and emailed one of the generic copyright infringement emails as a result of me (allegedly) downloading Angels and Demons."
Honestly, students today... what is education coming to? Seems too easy to get into Uni these days. Innocent until proven guilty, but if you are admitting your guilt, then there's a good chance you are. He would have had a reasonable grounds for fighting this if he'd denied any wrong doing and shifted the burden of proof. Not very smart not to.
Please put down your weapon. You have 20 seconds to comply...
Maybe he had to start his own law firm because no-one would hire him. Having his own firm isn't exactly an indication of anything other than he has the money to pay for an office and a phone line.
Maybe he wrote his own Wikipedia article too, it's far from the first time that happened. Anyway, I hardly think Wikipedia is the best place to start looking for info on someone who could get you a long prison sentence if they screw up. It's probably the last place to look actually.
One day -- likely -- Google will have an anatomical map of the human body online. You know what this means...?
Google anal probe. Maybe they could call it the g-Oatse?
If you are using Panasonic HDV with P2 cards it doesn't transfer the data fast on OSX. It's (sadly) much, much faster on Windows. Speed is essential for Doc footage and P2, as there will be hours of it, and cards are very expensive. You WILL run into workflow problems with OSX unless you have stacks of cards and a full-time online editor. (You'll likely still run into some workflow probs with Windows too.)
If you are using tapes (and you probably should), then OSX and Final Cut will be your best option. Try also Circus Ponies Notebook as a means of scheduling. Or Celtx (free and open source) is also very good for a lot of projects. Never used it for a doc, but it should work well.
People here (and TFA) seem to be confusing Visual Effects (cgi etc) with Special Effects. Not the same thing at all.
Yes but camera-shake isn't really a special effect. (and the whole article, and most comments are confusing Visual Effects with Special Effects here -- not the same thing at all).
Camera-shake, or rapid-cut handheld-style camera work is a directorial tool (often one a cinematographer will resist), and a directorial cliché too. "Oh a fight scene, lets do it handheld", the hack-director will say. It's done to death. It's a way of covering up a lack of preparation, story-boarding, choreography, unfit unskilled actors and cuts to stunt performers. Not to mention a lack of imagination. It's just lazy filmmaking.
While I do agree that Government has no business intervening in the running of Craigslist. And I do believe that genuine sex workers have a right to advertise their services, Craigslist protestations are not from a position of strength.
Ever visited a Craigslist site that's not in the US? Try it now. There is not one single genuine ad on any of them. There's literally thousands of scams on any foreign Craigslist site. Craigslist absolutely fails to control its sites.
Prositutes, Dommes and other sex workers are making a genuine living, and many of them are honest, but that's not the majority of ads on Craigslist. It's premium rate phone scams, ID thieving fake Dating sites and webcam operators, and Nigerian scammers.
When Craigslist makes an effort to genuinely clean up its site, people might take its protestations seriously.
There is absolutely no point whatsoever in visiting any Craigslist site that's not in the US. They would be better just to take down all foreign sites. All of them.
I'm more curious to understand why Bragg's considered "noted". Didn't he have a one hit wonder sometime back in the early 80's? I assume than no-one in the UK over the age of 20, and no-one in any other country, has ever heard of him.
Unless of course you mean noted as a sock-puppet of the Labour Regime. That, he most certainly is.
a job for the Dharma Initiative...
While what you say is true, it's kind of sad that people tend to first think of what military uses technology can be put to.
It's not like someone thinks, for example, what a great kids toy you could make with this tech.
Any small wonder we have wars? Rather than have a LOT more fun.
I think it's likely that IE's market share will decrease in the short term. Doubtless there will come an equilibrium point where all browsers have reached their natural market share. Also, MS has the resources to make IE a good browser if they want to. (pretty much all they have to do is cut it loose from Windows, make it standards compliant, and kill ActiveX forever).
I'm not convinced Firefox will make significant gains going forward, unless they can address some of the significant problems with browser -- no multi-threading, memory hog, and pretty much sucks on a Mac.
Chrome is set to make a huge dent in everyone's market once it becomes a rounded finished product, and there's a decent extension library.
Could be, but could also be that what will happen is that by the time they get to ten blades or so, they'll introduce the revolutionary technology of the new single blade razor, complete with marketing hype to ridicule the fact that you need ten blades to shave, when one works better and more effectively.
Of course, the price of the new single blade razor will be roughly similar to the 10 blade one -- if not slightly more expensive. Rather than one tenth of the price like it should be.
The best use for the single blade razor however, would be to cut the throat of every marketing droid in existence -- sadly, few of them will suffer that fate.
Innocent until proven guilty.
Your not wrong. Add in also that is only the demographic that uses Twitter that's coming up in the results too. And that' a lot of teenagers and the shallow and dumb. Not exactly a cross-section of the population.
It's astonishing that Twitter doesn't make money. Lets face it, the Twats are dumb enough to be sold anything.
I don't think the reviewer is a cop. But I do think the reviewer is a paid-up member of the UK LieBore Party. Or a Guardian Journalist (much the same thing).
It is a terrible review. Totally biased in favour of Government and anti-privacy. He's basically bloated full of security-theatre koolaid.
If he's British, he must be the last man standing that supports the Government right now. Maybe they paid him with expenses money.