1. Make a list of known space rocks of suitable size and composition.
2. Sort list by amount of delta-v required to have each candidate impact on Mars.
3. Pick one of the candidates with the lowest delta-v requirements.
4. Apply necessary delta-v.
.. what? We're talking about a plan to create a planet-sized magnetic shield. If we assume we can do that, then moving a few space rocks shouldn't be too hard?
Wasn't that also suggested at some point? Putting a shield, possibly in the form of a large solar power plant, at Venus' L1 Lagrange point to cool off the planet until the CO2 can be siphoned (and shipped to Mars?).
The idea is to start a positive feedback loop - heat up the planet to release currently frozen volatiles (CO2, etc), which in turn will increase the temperature even more.
Over a period of time, the dynamics of this process will be exponential, until it becomes self-limiting (i.e. most of the volatiles have been released into the atmosphere and further temperature increases will not lead to more of them being released.)
If the US really took control of the NK missiles the best options would have been to let the weapons have a roughly normal path during the tests (so that NK doesn't suspect anything),
In fact, the path in this case shouldn't have been roughly normal, but right on target. Nothing like a potential opponent who believes that everything is going just fine when in fact his operations are completely undermined.
Might look a bit weird, but having only two conditional instructions after each if statement allows the use of the ITT instruction on ARMv7m instead of having to use a branch and the associated pipeline refill.
That saves one swap operation compared to bubble sort, but has a more complex control flow in step 1 since there are three possible outcomes when finding the smallest of 3 items.
Depending on the architecture (features like register count, conditional execution and the cost of branching influence this), it may be faster than bubble sort:
1. If item1 < item2, swap them.
2. if item2 < item3, swap them.
3. if item1 < item2, swap them.
Actually, Bubblesort can be the best sorting algorithm,
It can also be competitive if the number of elements to be sorted is small (say, three), or if you're not interested in a completely sorted list, but in the median value.
Having just evaluated bit counting methods as part of my Ph.D. dissertation,
Personally, I like the mask and add/subtract method. Even if it's just because at a first glance, it'll get a lot of "WTF?!" reactions, until you think it through and convince yourself that yes, it actually counts set bits.
Not a fan of lookup tables, since my targets have memory in kBs and even a 256-byte table eats up a lot of that.
None of the things you listed could be used tactically against a specific enemy area.
That's just a matter of coming up with a creative delivery vector.
* The destructive power of a nuclear bomb without the radioactive fallout?
Appealing, yes. However, since you're probably not planning to return to Earth after dropping a couple of destructive rocks on it, why should you worry about any fallout?
Such an action would probably be used to maintain the monopoly on space colonization. "We're up here, you're down there, and you're not going anywhere."
* The tactical accuracy of an ICBM, without having to actually build, maintain, fuel and guide rockets?
I would think that maintaining infrastructure on the moon is much more effort than maintaining a bunch of ICBMs.
* A warhead which is *immune* to all modern missile defense systems?
It takes a few days to arrive. It should be comparatively easy to build a defense system. (heck, you could nuke the thing somewhere in transit; that should ensure it misses any precious military facilities when it strikes).
Also, by the time we have the technology to build stuff on the moon, defense technology will have advanced beyond the current state.
that there would be adequate safety precautions in place.
I believe the since-deleted tweet was not about accidents, but deliberate attacks. As in "stop taxing us or we'll start dropping rocks on you". Or possibly the scenario from a certain Heinlein novel... but I believe that the conflict will be more about taxes and less about representation.
If you're making six figures and have to borrow money if your salary is one month late, there's definitely part of the problem on your side. You should have three months worth of living expenses saved up and ready to use for just such a case.
But... yeah. I'm now making twice of what I expected to make back in university, and I still feel I'm unable to save substantial amounts (~$1000/month). Something's wrong here.
You get credit for taxes paid to other countries for income earned in said countries. In the realm of middle class wages this means an extra bit of paperwork
Unfortunately, that "extra bit of paperwork" can prove to be somewhere between "quite a bit" and "impossible to do it correctly without expensive professional help".
First, it is not easy to find professional help with US taxes outside the US. The people who provide such services usually do so for corporations and affluent individuals and price their services accordingly. In the real of middle class wages, that means you're going to pay a significant part of your income if you need such help.
Second, the taxation treaties that are meant to prevent double taxation are worded in a way that makes them hard (up to impossible) to understand for someone without legal training.
Third, taxation can have quite a few quirks, for example how securities and their earnings are taxed (I believe the US taxes 'virtual' profits, while other countries may tax realized profits - and the financial institutions there only provide a report of those. Good luck figuring out the figures you need to report to the IRS.)
If you're a US citizen living abroad, make $15k (fifteen k) per year *and* have to file US taxes, you have two choices - do the paperwork yourself (no chance to get it right) and hope for the best, or pay a significant chunk of your meagre income to a professional, if you can find one.
Then move to a nice tax free area of the world and mail the IRS a photocopy of your middle finger every april? Sounds fair.
That's pretty much how the world does it (except for the "mail something to the tax authorities" part - if you're not a resident, you don't have to mail anything to the tax authorities, because you're not liable to pay any taxes), with the exception of two countries, one of them being some third-world place that most people won't find on a map.
It is a mistake to assume that anyone who is susceptible to rhetoric is 'uneducated'. Rhetoric and persuasion exploit the time gap which it takes for knowledge and reason to kick in, for one thing.
Slashdot Mirror
1. Make a list of known space rocks of suitable size and composition.
2. Sort list by amount of delta-v required to have each candidate impact on Mars.
3. Pick one of the candidates with the lowest delta-v requirements.
4. Apply necessary delta-v.
Dropping a few space rocks on Mars might work better and add even more volatiles to the planet.
Wasn't that also suggested at some point? Putting a shield, possibly in the form of a large solar power plant, at Venus' L1 Lagrange point to cool off the planet until the CO2 can be siphoned (and shipped to Mars?).
The idea is to start a positive feedback loop - heat up the planet to release currently frozen volatiles (CO2, etc), which in turn will increase the temperature even more.
Over a period of time, the dynamics of this process will be exponential, until it becomes self-limiting (i.e. most of the volatiles have been released into the atmosphere and further temperature increases will not lead to more of them being released.)
And the situation is back to the current state.
In fact, the path in this case shouldn't have been roughly normal, but right on target. Nothing like a potential opponent who believes that everything is going just fine when in fact his operations are completely undermined.
Depending on the architecture (features like register count, conditional execution and the cost of branching influence this), it may be faster than bubble sort:
1. If item1 < item2, swap them.
2. if item2 < item3, swap them.
3. if item1 < item2, swap them.
It can also be competitive if the number of elements to be sorted is small (say, three), or if you're not interested in a completely sorted list, but in the median value.
Personally, I like the mask and add/subtract method. Even if it's just because at a first glance, it'll get a lot of "WTF?!" reactions, until you think it through and convince yourself that yes, it actually counts set bits.
Not a fan of lookup tables, since my targets have memory in kBs and even a 256-byte table eats up a lot of that.
What if you only want to sort five or seven values and want an algorithm that's understandable even for non-programmer folks?
That's just a matter of coming up with a creative delivery vector.
* The destructive power of a nuclear bomb without the radioactive fallout?
Appealing, yes. However, since you're probably not planning to return to Earth after dropping a couple of destructive rocks on it, why should you worry about any fallout?
Such an action would probably be used to maintain the monopoly on space colonization. "We're up here, you're down there, and you're not going anywhere."
* The tactical accuracy of an ICBM, without having to actually build, maintain, fuel and guide rockets?
I would think that maintaining infrastructure on the moon is much more effort than maintaining a bunch of ICBMs.
* A warhead which is *immune* to all modern missile defense systems?
It takes a few days to arrive. It should be comparatively easy to build a defense system. (heck, you could nuke the thing somewhere in transit; that should ensure it misses any precious military facilities when it strikes).
Also, by the time we have the technology to build stuff on the moon, defense technology will have advanced beyond the current state.
Two words:
Shock & awe.
I believe the since-deleted tweet was not about accidents, but deliberate attacks. As in "stop taxing us or we'll start dropping rocks on you". Or possibly the scenario from a certain Heinlein novel ... but I believe that the conflict will be more about taxes and less about representation.
Any genetics company could unleash killer microbes on Earth.
Agricultural companies could cause mass starvation if they wanted to.
Any company running nuclear power plants could contaminate large areas.
Any company manufacturing or using explosives could build bombs.
What's the problem with dropping a few rocks?
Well, as long as the non-chicken animal content is zero percent ...
But ... yeah. I'm now making twice of what I expected to make back in university, and I still feel I'm unable to save substantial amounts (~$1000/month). Something's wrong here.
... their research is not reproducible and therefore useless.
And 25% is not a YUUGE number if you think big enough. It's just a few percent. What harm can that do?
Unfortunately, that "extra bit of paperwork" can prove to be somewhere between "quite a bit" and "impossible to do it correctly without expensive professional help".
First, it is not easy to find professional help with US taxes outside the US. The people who provide such services usually do so for corporations and affluent individuals and price their services accordingly. In the real of middle class wages, that means you're going to pay a significant part of your income if you need such help.
Second, the taxation treaties that are meant to prevent double taxation are worded in a way that makes them hard (up to impossible) to understand for someone without legal training.
Third, taxation can have quite a few quirks, for example how securities and their earnings are taxed (I believe the US taxes 'virtual' profits, while other countries may tax realized profits - and the financial institutions there only provide a report of those. Good luck figuring out the figures you need to report to the IRS.)
If you're a US citizen living abroad, make $15k (fifteen k) per year *and* have to file US taxes, you have two choices - do the paperwork yourself (no chance to get it right) and hope for the best, or pay a significant chunk of your meagre income to a professional, if you can find one.
Then move to a nice tax free area of the world and mail the IRS a photocopy of your middle finger every april? Sounds fair.
That's pretty much how the world does it (except for the "mail something to the tax authorities" part - if you're not a resident, you don't have to mail anything to the tax authorities, because you're not liable to pay any taxes), with the exception of two countries, one of them being some third-world place that most people won't find on a map.
Notable exception: Tax laws.
Actually, they're based on both - residency OR US citizensip makes you liable to pay income taxes.
It's not just citizens, but also anyone with a permanent residence permit (Green Card).
The US is one of two countries that does that, the other one is some third world country that most people will struggle to name or find on a map.
And why? I believe it has to do with the US civil war. It's long over, of course, but the laws stuck around.
They'll consider them treasure troves of information alright. Information on how bloody stupid the people who created these things were.
It's certainly bigger than Earth.
And most importantly, do they name everything super (something)?
Of course not. To them, their planet is normal Earth, and they call our planet sub-Earth. Or dwarf Earth.
It is a mistake to assume that anyone who is susceptible to rhetoric is 'uneducated'. Rhetoric and persuasion exploit the time gap which it takes for knowledge and reason to kick in, for one thing.