I'd agree that an american civil war is unlikely at this time, but you've already had one. Or two, depending how you want to define civil war. America is also somewhat polarised, although nowhere near as much as it was in the 1861 war, so the prospects of another civil war are not as farfetched you make them out to be (however, the chances are still exceedingly slim).
Granted, you're always going to be able to reverse engineer a comprimised host. The issue is that it doesn't matter - the aim is to make it take long enough that the return on investment is made, then the bad guys win.
While I agree somewhat with your points, it's easier to leave a piece of machinery behind on an extraction if there's limited room than something alive.
As well:
1. Training takes time, and is a serial process. Making more steel mules can be parallelised, and done in places you cannot train a live mule.
2. You can pack and transport a steel mule far easier than a live one (for instance, you can just leave the damn thing in the shipping container until you need it, and not have to worry about constant feeding, exercise and care and attention).
3. It's easier to fix a shot up steel mule than a real one. Cheaper too.
4. If you want to make it quiet, you just turn the damn thing off, and it won't move. Not the same for a steel mule.
It's not so much reaching somewhere, it's being able to actually hit what you're aiming for. Granted, with nukes this is less of an issue, but firing off a nuke and watching it vapourise some wilderness in Utah isn't going to help your cause anytime soon.
I have the same issue, except that i've installed the Session Saver extension, which allows you to reload all the tabs you had open at the time of the crash. You might want to give it a try.
they should - that's what service packs are for. the problem is that critical updates force you to download/install/reboot only that update.
if a person's downloading updates, there isn't a "look microsoft, i want to bloody update my machine all the way". in this case, microsoft needs to first get the machine in a safe condition (like sp2 w/xp did with regard to viruses and worms), then allow the user to download the rest. sure, it'd be nicer if there was a ginourmous megapatch, but downloading locally then patching/rebooting/patching until it's all down.
an issue that bugs me is that there is all that user interaction required. the user has to sit at the computer, go to windows update, wait for the scan, tick a box, then wait and watch it download, install, reboot - and then have to go over all that again. sheesh, that's what computers were designed to do - take on the load of automation so that humans wouldn't have to do it themselves!
It's a pain in the ass, that's what it is. Why can't i tick a box "download all updates available for your computer and install them" and have it download everything? even if it has to take multiple reboots, it means that you can just walk away and let it go. instead, you download an exclusive update. install it. reboot. go back to the site. site goes "ooh, let's scan you and see what updates you need". you then select the next exclusive update. it downloads. installs. you reboot. rinse and repeat ad nauseam.
the inconveince factor skyrockets when you're on dialup or on slow broadband, and want to have uptodate directx and other goodies.
add to the wonderfulness, there are updates only selectable *after* you've installed the prerequisite update.
It's a good thing the united states government is as pure as the driven snow. I mean, imagine trying to exert influence over a foreign power.
As for an increasing reliance on foreign materials and oil - sheesh, you'd think that a smart government would somehow try and reduce that. It's a good thing that the party in power has thought all this through and is trying to reduce the US' reliance on foreign oil, for example.
Or holding someone you hold dear hostage. Or a couple of hours with a $torture_instrument_of_choice. Or blackmail and/or bribery.
Re:Is your friend Hitler?
on
Why We Fight
·
· Score: 1
I'm sure at this point the next person to reply needs to call someone a Nazi. I'm just not sure who it's going to be - i'm calling a timeout on this thread until i can work it out.
1 The USSR fielded and tested satellite killers in the 70s so the ability to take out a satellite is not new.
Relevant to my point, but not a good counter example. It's always been possible. It's never been practical. Making the impractical practical is one definition of technological advancement. Furthermore, you ignore the strategic implications. If the Soviets attacked our satellites, it would be an act of war. They could not engage in an act of war without risking it going nuclear. However, if you had a missile defense systme you believed in that could also destroy satellites, you could believe it possible to deny the other side the ability to counterattack, either by conventional means (by hampering their communications) or by nuclear strike. You'd be foolish to believe so, but it's foolish to predicate your defense on either the competence or incompetence of your enemy.
Uhm, the US has had anti-satellite capability for a long long time - IIRC, they were launched from fighters, F-14s I think. Due to various treaties I think they were put in storage.
Most of the machines running seti are windows and linux machines, which are safe - everyone knows only Apple laptops are AlienOS Compatible. So what if the apple users start acting weirdly - it's not like anyone is going to notice the difference.
when you've got machine guns and rpgs being used on the streets, then it's time to call the army in. the majority of police will never be able to deal with that sort of armed criminality.
as to your last point, the response teams are already armed to deal with low level gun violence, and the brits have army units like the SAS to deal with the really heavily armed criminals.
you're telling me a moon has enough gravity to hold onto an atmosphere? particularily moon which are out of the way and thus not attractive enough for intensive terraforming?
uh, he did. travelling from planet to planet in less than a month, moons with breathable atmosphere - some fairly large changes to the mass/force equations to be able to work in something interesting.
i'd agree that firefly/serenity (hereafter fs) is scifi. however, they *do* mess with einsteinin space - they zip around in a system that has heaps of planets, on one planet one week and on another the next (which either involves some incredible accel/decel, or nullification of the laws of physics regarding mass). They also land on moons that have a breathable atmosphere.
okay, i just wrote that, and it's incredibly nitpicky. bah
Slashdot Mirror
I'd agree that an american civil war is unlikely at this time, but you've already had one. Or two, depending how you want to define civil war. America is also somewhat polarised, although nowhere near as much as it was in the 1861 war, so the prospects of another civil war are not as farfetched you make them out to be (however, the chances are still exceedingly slim).
Granted, you're always going to be able to reverse engineer a comprimised host. The issue is that it doesn't matter - the aim is to make it take long enough that the return on investment is made, then the bad guys win.
While I agree somewhat with your points, it's easier to leave a piece of machinery behind on an extraction if there's limited room than something alive.
As well:
1. Training takes time, and is a serial process. Making more steel mules can be parallelised, and done in places you cannot train a live mule.
2. You can pack and transport a steel mule far easier than a live one (for instance, you can just leave the damn thing in the shipping container until you need it, and not have to worry about constant feeding, exercise and care and attention).
3. It's easier to fix a shot up steel mule than a real one. Cheaper too.
4. If you want to make it quiet, you just turn the damn thing off, and it won't move. Not the same for a steel mule.
You can fake an email, but you're unlikely to be able to fake conversations, where both sides have copies and backups of the emails.
It's not so much reaching somewhere, it's being able to actually hit what you're aiming for. Granted, with nukes this is less of an issue, but firing off a nuke and watching it vapourise some wilderness in Utah isn't going to help your cause anytime soon.
Yeah, percentage of GDP is a great indicator of strength, seeing as Jordan tops the list, and their military is world class, bar none. *rolleyes*
Been there, done that, found out my other chip had errors on it. verily cried that day, i did.
I have the same issue, except that i've installed the Session Saver extension, which allows you to reload all the tabs you had open at the time of the crash. You might want to give it a try.
agreed and agreed. i have no idea why it updates at the slow rate it does.
they should - that's what service packs are for. the problem is that critical updates force you to download/install/reboot only that update.
if a person's downloading updates, there isn't a "look microsoft, i want to bloody update my machine all the way". in this case, microsoft needs to first get the machine in a safe condition (like sp2 w/xp did with regard to viruses and worms), then allow the user to download the rest. sure, it'd be nicer if there was a ginourmous megapatch, but downloading locally then patching/rebooting/patching until it's all down.
an issue that bugs me is that there is all that user interaction required. the user has to sit at the computer, go to windows update, wait for the scan, tick a box, then wait and watch it download, install, reboot - and then have to go over all that again. sheesh, that's what computers were designed to do - take on the load of automation so that humans wouldn't have to do it themselves!
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?Fa milyId=049C9DBE-3B8E-4F30-8245-9E368D3CDB5A&displa ylang=en
googled "service pack 2 windows xp network install"
It's a pain in the ass, that's what it is. Why can't i tick a box "download all updates available for your computer and install them" and have it download everything? even if it has to take multiple reboots, it means that you can just walk away and let it go. instead, you download an exclusive update. install it. reboot. go back to the site. site goes "ooh, let's scan you and see what updates you need". you then select the next exclusive update. it downloads. installs. you reboot. rinse and repeat ad nauseam.
the inconveince factor skyrockets when you're on dialup or on slow broadband, and want to have uptodate directx and other goodies.
add to the wonderfulness, there are updates only selectable *after* you've installed the prerequisite update.
It's a good thing the united states government is as pure as the driven snow. I mean, imagine trying to exert influence over a foreign power.
As for an increasing reliance on foreign materials and oil - sheesh, you'd think that a smart government would somehow try and reduce that. It's a good thing that the party in power has thought all this through and is trying to reduce the US' reliance on foreign oil, for example.
Or holding someone you hold dear hostage. Or a couple of hours with a $torture_instrument_of_choice. Or blackmail and/or bribery.
I'm sure at this point the next person to reply needs to call someone a Nazi. I'm just not sure who it's going to be - i'm calling a timeout on this thread until i can work it out.
hell no. AI == stock market, here i come.
I believe you are missing the point.
1 The USSR fielded and tested satellite killers in the 70s so the ability to take out a satellite is not new. Relevant to my point, but not a good counter example. It's always been possible. It's never been practical. Making the impractical practical is one definition of technological advancement. Furthermore, you ignore the strategic implications. If the Soviets attacked our satellites, it would be an act of war. They could not engage in an act of war without risking it going nuclear. However, if you had a missile defense systme you believed in that could also destroy satellites, you could believe it possible to deny the other side the ability to counterattack, either by conventional means (by hampering their communications) or by nuclear strike. You'd be foolish to believe so, but it's foolish to predicate your defense on either the competence or incompetence of your enemy.
Uhm, the US has had anti-satellite capability for a long long time - IIRC, they were launched from fighters, F-14s I think. Due to various treaties I think they were put in storage.
Most of the machines running seti are windows and linux machines, which are safe - everyone knows only Apple laptops are AlienOS Compatible. So what if the apple users start acting weirdly - it's not like anyone is going to notice the difference.
The biggest "choke point" in this case is Google. I would just *love* to see the RIAA and MPAA go after google.
obviously, you'd rather the government did this sort of thing in private, without informing the public of what they were doing?
when you've got machine guns and rpgs being used on the streets, then it's time to call the army in. the majority of police will never be able to deal with that sort of armed criminality.
as to your last point, the response teams are already armed to deal with low level gun violence, and the brits have army units like the SAS to deal with the really heavily armed criminals.
Same reasons that the USS Cole managed to get bombed:
Restrictive rules of engagement, lack of preknowledge of an attack, innovative attack vectors, organisational delay.
Happened at Pearl Harbour, happened to the japanese with Doolittle's raid on japan, happened to IBM with the ibm pc clones.
you're telling me a moon has enough gravity to hold onto an atmosphere? particularily moon which are out of the way and thus not attractive enough for intensive terraforming?
uh, he did. travelling from planet to planet in less than a month, moons with breathable atmosphere - some fairly large changes to the mass/force equations to be able to work in something interesting.
i'd agree that firefly/serenity (hereafter fs) is scifi. however, they *do* mess with einsteinin space - they zip around in a system that has heaps of planets, on one planet one week and on another the next (which either involves some incredible accel/decel, or nullification of the laws of physics regarding mass). They also land on moons that have a breathable atmosphere.
okay, i just wrote that, and it's incredibly nitpicky. bah