actually, i just thought of something. If you used a beam splitter, like was used in that article a few weeks back about HDR video, you could run 2 35mm cameras off of one lens, and have a crew dedicated to swapping reels. when one camera gets close to the end of the film, fire up the second, stop the first, change the film, and be ready for the swap back.
of course there is no reason to go to all that trouble now that there is digital.
actually, if you look at the side effects of a lot of the drugs on the market, and consider how freakishly unrelated many of side effects are to the actual problem being treated, a dental hygiene product causing Priapism does not seem that outlandish at all.
That, and to the parent: thanks, you nearly made me spew chocolate milk on my computer. well played.
In all honesty, This amazes me, the fact that we have reached a point where we understand enough about both the brain, and computer hardware, that we are able to use hardware to correct problems of this detail and magnitude. Going from totally blind to being able to read a clock has to be an amazing experience.
Ok, i worked for a guy from mexico for a few years, and one day asked him what the heck the deal with chupacabra's was. He laughed, and explained to me that years ago, there was this big thing going on in the news in Mexico, detailing some government corruption scandal. It was at this time, that the Chupacabra legend appeared. All of a sudden, all the news reports where about these mysterious 'Goat Suckers' and the government corruption was quietly swept under the rug. Basically, it was a distraction manufactured by the government to draw attention away from the issue at hand.
you make an excellent point. He was not out to prove that 'HE' could make a telegraph using sticks and rocks as tools, he was proving that 'Someone', with the proper knowledge, Could make a telegraph with sticks and rocks as tools. All said, the process was something of a limited practical demonstration of a thought exercise, and when viewed in that light, is a remarkable statement to the ingenuity of humanity.
agreed. I realized instantly that his tools for making fire where inadequate at best. First thing was his spindle stick was far to short, making the whole apparatus awkward to work with. Secondly, he appeared to be boring straight into the middle of the base board, which 'may' work, but you're far better off with a notch in the board and boring at the tip of the V with a small amount of very fine loose tinder placed in the notch, this allows air to reach the 'hot dust' and ignite a coal, which can then ignite the tinder, which translates to fire.
of course, all this sounds well and good on paper, and putting it into practice always requires refinement of the idea based on materials at hand and other random factors. That all said, he was not working the problem and eliminating problem areas in his fire process.
You missed the whole point of the project. It was not a 'if civilization collapsed' exercise, it was a 'this is what could have been done at any given time in history' exercise. He was demonstrating, that with the proper knowledge, the tools don't really matter.
Sure, he failed to start a fire the 'old' way, but to be fair, he was doing it totally wrong, if he'd had a little better instruction, and some practice, I'm sure the fire would have come about just fine.
The main point is, using a rock and some sticks, he managed to manufacture a small electric cell in less than a day. Electricity is the core component of a telegraph, without electricity, the rest of a telegraph infrastructure is simply copper wire laying around serving no purpose. Considering that the extraction/refining of copper was a key waypoint in the process of making the battery, it is automatically assumed for the rest of the project's hypotheses.
I agree that a demonstration of the actual making of a working telegraph system using medieval tools would be interesting, but I am still properly impressed with his demonstration of his hypotheses, which was, as I said, "with the proper knowledge, the tools are irrelevant."
Thats what scares me. Fiberglass insulation was invented to replace 'dangerous' asbestos insulation, and of course, its just as harmful. Can you say 'failure to recognize the problem' ?
Oh, aditionally, on the actual 'google earth' not the website version, at least by default, when zoomed in, the source of the data you are looking at is listed at the bottom of the screen. Texas for example, when zoomed in to a particular degree, is provided by the Texas Orthoimagery Program (high altitude photography for those to lazy to google). Most of the closer data is provided that way, be it USGS data, or independent state programs.
hilariously enough, most of the pictures of google earth (at least, originally, and still partially true today) are "Non satellite imagery". They are high altitude Aerial survey pictures. Taken from around 20 thousand feet, done by the USGS starting around 1987, I know for a fact that google started out with these, and only in more recent years has bought satellite data.
info about the USGS aerial surveys. http://egsc.usgs.gov/isb/pubs/booklets/aerial/aerial.html
you must have missed the article we had a few months ago about the farmer that finally won his case against Monstanto. It included links to some *VERY* compelling evidence that GP's stance on Monstanto is not hot air and scare mongering.
let me quantify that, budget cuts considering inflation. where other departments of the governments have seen large increases to compensate for inflation, NASA's budget has not been increased enough to offset inflation.
I'm with you on this one. For the most part, Humanity survived thousands of years without cell phones and text messaging, And I don't get the people that panic every time there cell loses signal for a few minutes. I enjoy a few days of peace without cell service, out away from it all.
Slashdot Mirror
actually, i just thought of something. If you used a beam splitter, like was used in that article a few weeks back about HDR video, you could run 2 35mm cameras off of one lens, and have a crew dedicated to swapping reels. when one camera gets close to the end of the film, fire up the second, stop the first, change the film, and be ready for the swap back.
of course there is no reason to go to all that trouble now that there is digital.
Your wish is my command.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Ark
Filmed in one take. The ultimate in Long Shots.
actually, if you look at the side effects of a lot of the drugs on the market, and consider how freakishly unrelated many of side effects are to the actual problem being treated, a dental hygiene product causing Priapism does not seem that outlandish at all.
That, and to the parent: thanks, you nearly made me spew chocolate milk on my computer. well played.
yeah, but do you really want to go down the street sucking on a big huge pickle?
.....Well Duh.
Honestly, how is this newsworthy? it has been covered many many times, and is more or less obvious to begin with.
In all honesty, This amazes me, the fact that we have reached a point where we understand enough about both the brain, and computer hardware, that we are able to use hardware to correct problems of this detail and magnitude. Going from totally blind to being able to read a clock has to be an amazing experience.
Well played. I seriously laughed out loud when I read your post. thank you for brightening my day.
Ok, i worked for a guy from mexico for a few years, and one day asked him what the heck the deal with chupacabra's was. He laughed, and explained to me that years ago, there was this big thing going on in the news in Mexico, detailing some government corruption scandal. It was at this time, that the Chupacabra legend appeared. All of a sudden, all the news reports where about these mysterious 'Goat Suckers' and the government corruption was quietly swept under the rug. Basically, it was a distraction manufactured by the government to draw attention away from the issue at hand.
Of course, if you read the actual article the response to the headline becomes 'no they're not'
that was my first question. all the materials listed in the summary could logically be found in a basic space probe.
i love that game.
minecraft reference?
you make an excellent point. He was not out to prove that 'HE' could make a telegraph using sticks and rocks as tools, he was proving that 'Someone', with the proper knowledge, Could make a telegraph with sticks and rocks as tools. All said, the process was something of a limited practical demonstration of a thought exercise, and when viewed in that light, is a remarkable statement to the ingenuity of humanity.
agreed.
I realized instantly that his tools for making fire where inadequate at best.
First thing was his spindle stick was far to short, making the whole apparatus awkward to work with. Secondly, he appeared to be boring straight into the middle of the base board, which 'may' work, but you're far better off with a notch in the board and boring at the tip of the V with a small amount of very fine loose tinder placed in the notch, this allows air to reach the 'hot dust' and ignite a coal, which can then ignite the tinder, which translates to fire.
of course, all this sounds well and good on paper, and putting it into practice always requires refinement of the idea based on materials at hand and other random factors. That all said, he was not working the problem and eliminating problem areas in his fire process.
You missed the whole point of the project. It was not a 'if civilization collapsed' exercise, it was a 'this is what could have been done at any given time in history' exercise. He was demonstrating, that with the proper knowledge, the tools don't really matter.
Sure, he failed to start a fire the 'old' way, but to be fair, he was doing it totally wrong, if he'd had a little better instruction, and some practice, I'm sure the fire would have come about just fine.
The main point is, using a rock and some sticks, he managed to manufacture a small electric cell in less than a day. Electricity is the core component of a telegraph, without electricity, the rest of a telegraph infrastructure is simply copper wire laying around serving no purpose. Considering that the extraction/refining of copper was a key waypoint in the process of making the battery, it is automatically assumed for the rest of the project's hypotheses.
I agree that a demonstration of the actual making of a working telegraph system using medieval tools would be interesting, but I am still properly impressed with his demonstration of his hypotheses, which was, as I said, "with the proper knowledge, the tools are irrelevant."
Thats what scares me. Fiberglass insulation was invented to replace 'dangerous' asbestos insulation, and of course, its just as harmful. Can you say 'failure to recognize the problem' ?
Oh, aditionally, on the actual 'google earth' not the website version, at least by default, when zoomed in, the source of the data you are looking at is listed at the bottom of the screen. Texas for example, when zoomed in to a particular degree, is provided by the Texas Orthoimagery Program (high altitude photography for those to lazy to google). Most of the closer data is provided that way, be it USGS data, or independent state programs.
hilariously enough, most of the pictures of google earth (at least, originally, and still partially true today) are "Non satellite imagery". They are high altitude Aerial survey pictures. Taken from around 20 thousand feet, done by the USGS starting around 1987, I know for a fact that google started out with these, and only in more recent years has bought satellite data.
info about the USGS aerial surveys. http://egsc.usgs.gov/isb/pubs/booklets/aerial/aerial.html
you must have missed the article we had a few months ago about the farmer that finally won his case against Monstanto. It included links to some *VERY* compelling evidence that GP's stance on Monstanto is not hot air and scare mongering.
I just want you to know something. I hate you.
let me quantify that, budget cuts considering inflation. where other departments of the governments have seen large increases to compensate for inflation, NASA's budget has not been increased enough to offset inflation.
example: the 2007 national budget was about $2.784 trillion. At $16.143 billion, spending on NASA accounts for 0.58% of this.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/898/1
And we all know that NASA has suffered budget cuts since '07, so yeah, less than a half a percent of the budget goes to them.
The Citizens of the United States Spend more on Cell Phones each year than the total budget for NASA. Its no wonder we've not been anywhere cool.
I loathe people like that. There should be hefty fines, and organized public mocking of people who pull that kind of crap.
I'm with you on this one. For the most part, Humanity survived thousands of years without cell phones and text messaging, And I don't get the people that panic every time there cell loses signal for a few minutes. I enjoy a few days of peace without cell service, out away from it all.