Yes, but nobody did is or is likely to ever build DIRECT. I was sad myself when Constellation was chosen over DIRECT but unless I missed a really big announcement today DIRECT is as dead as it ever was. Don't think DIRECT will be chosen in 2015 according to Obama's plan of choosing a heavy lifter in that year. Nothing is 'planned to be planned' that far in advance unless it is really not expected to be done at all but merely hot air to keep people from complaining. Even if there really is a heavy lifter chosen in 2015 they didn't chose DIRECT last time and any advantage that might remain now to re-using Shuttle booster design will be gone by then with the shuttle infrastructure long since torn down.
This is not such a different age. When did people go to the moon? During the Vietnam War! The space program wasn't born in some rosy age of good times and free money which is somehow different from today. We did it then and we can still accomplish great things if we put a little effort towards doing so. The money required to fund a space program may be astronomical compared to our own personal budgets but it is nothing compared to the GNP or the national debt. We will always have war, we will always have debt, diseases to cure, pollution and all sorts of other problems. History proves we can still go new places, accomplish new things in spite of this.
I for one am not a crazy Dr. Strangelove type wanting to see the Earth blown up. I think a nuclear war or environmental disaster making Earth unlivable for humans is possible. But that doesn't mean I think it definitely will happen (at least in the next billion years) and it certainly doesn't mean I want it to happen. Neither is it the reason I want us to have a strong space program.
I for one am not proud of my labor generating tax dollars being used for the Iraq war and bankers' golden parachutes. I'm a bit more optimistic that the Afghan war will result in something better than before but that doesn't make up for the other two. I would be proud to see that money being used to expand mankind's reach to other worlds. I realize the other three things will take the majority of my tax dollars whether I like it or not but it is never too late to set a little of the money aside for something good.
You wrote: 'The trillions of dollars that space enthusiasts believe could and should be spent on the glorious future in space and its endless possibilities for the betterment of humanity don't exist anymore.'
I don't think anyone is asking for Trillions of dollars for the space program. It doesn't require Trillions of dollars to achieve progress there. Trillions of dollars are what the wars and the bankers are getting. Financing a strong space program would not remove a noticeable amount of money from these misadventures.
You also wrote: 'Space-cadets love to talk about the need to venture beyond the moon in order to save humanity from a soon-to-be dying Earth.'
Maybe. Life as we know it on Earth certainly could end soon and quickly due to nuclear bombs. We don't know for sure just how far climate change can/will go, that might be able to end it too albeit slower. That isn't really the point though. Even if we have a billion years to go before the Earth ends (when the sun engulfs it) we still want to venture out. It's just the next place to go. What's left driving progress on Earth? It's not making bigger or more cities, that just screws with the environment. It's not exploring new continents.. We've been to all of them and populated the ones worth doing so.
By nuclear war or by environmental disaster the public has been told the sky is falling since the 50s. We are all used to hearing that, space exploration friend/foe alike. While protecting the species is one reason to go into space I don't think it's the real main reason most space proponents talk about the end of the world. It's just an easy reason to explain to a public which is really only interested in their own personal little worlds and the sexual escapades of their favorite celebrities. What we really want is to see some sort of progress but try explaining that one...
Finally, you wrote: 'We live in a different age now. This is the era of limits. Understand this and we will all prosper in new and unexpected ways.'
I think I've already written enough about those 'limits'. How about the prospering? What do you even mean by that? Are you just talking about food to eat and roofs over our heads? I think that is about as far as most can see who support canceling the space program. My family will have that. I will do whatever it takes to ensure it whether it means working extra jobs or heading for the hills to grow
Mars colony? I doubt it. No doubt IF humanity keeps trying one day we will have that but I think at this stage we could pull off a lunar colony. Or... we could sink all our resources just in getting to Mars to plant a flag and then our grandchildren can watch as yet another generation pisses it's days away in LEO like ours has.
Constellation had a heavy lifter and plans to go to the moon. The cheaper alternatives end at the ISS. Is that the whole point of the space program now? Astronauts just sit in a can and look at the planet they just left for a while and then come back down? Choose a heavy lifter in 2015? Come on, that's just punting it to the next administration with no real plans to go anywhere.
No, private companies are only selling tickets to LEO. There is a big difference between running circles around the world we have been on since pre-history and actually exploring another one.
Emacs Forever and Apple Sucks!! Friends don't let friends use IE!!
No, this is not really a troll, just pointing out why this is not the FIRST nerd war.
Who keeps the officers accountable? One person's word alone doesn't prove anything. I don't care that it is a police officer, they are people just like the rest of us. They have bad days, prejudices, just don't like some people etc...
"And while some institutions are emphasizing the value of teamwork in their curricula"
I think my university could have emphasized teamwork more. I came out with the ability to code whatever was needed in a few languages or to pick up new ones fairly quickly but working on a project with others was a definite gap in my abilities. I only had one project where I had ever done that and it was a very negative and lopsided experience. Understanding another person's code and adjusting between different styles when coming into existing projects with existing teams is much harder imho than just completing some programming exercise from scratch and alone. I am much better at this now but still find myself struggling in that area daily.
How refreshing. Why don't more employers use coding tests? Actually programming something and talking sharp in an interview are such different skills; I really doubt they even use the same part of the brain. I think too many people get hired on interviewing skills alone and I doubt it's just this field. Good interviewing skills should get one a great position in sales but that's about it.
i know exactly what you mean and can relate to this in my own household. However, bills like that come from making that same rationalization many times regarding many little inconsequential things. I'm guessing, as in my own wife's closet there is probably a closet full of shoes and other clothing which rarely gets used!:-)
Buying one or a few items of small cost (relative to debt level) which also happen to be items that come with great payback is just good investment.
We too have credit card debt. We also bought a duplex a couple years back. We rent out the old house as well as the second half of the duplex. Of course we could be just paying one mortgage on a single occupancy house. We could be paying off the cards faster. Some day maybe we will sell one for our daughter's college money. Or maybe we will keep them both after they are paid off, let a management company take over and just receive our cut through our retirement years. If we just put the money toward the debt we would still have debt but no future.
Having a real manned space program brings us new technologies, gives us something to be proud of and inspires the next generation to actually do something with their lives. It's not really the same thing as yet another pair of shoes.
This is sounding more like the watch Dick Tracy's kid or grandkid would wear one day with all those data capabilities. More Dick Tracyesque voice only 2-way radio watches have been available for a while now. I remember seeing a 2-meter transceiver built into a watch in the late 90s. I wish I knew who built/sold it. The place I saw it is out of business now. There are also plenty of FRS wristwatches on EBay.
Woops, should have RTFA first, thought this was like previous articles where SSIDs and MAC addresses where the sole issue. I still don't care as it still says un-secured networks and that is a risk one takes if they chose not to secure their networks. I also don't care if people were just ignorant about it because they chose to use technology but not try to understand it.
This is just SSIDs and MAC Addresses right? I'm sorry but if you believe that your SSID and/or MAC address are private, personal information then you don't really understand what WiFi is or how it works. If having your SSID makes it easier for someone to do anything negative to you, steal your bandwidth, spy on actual personal information, etc... then you didn't configure your router correctly. The only thing this information is useful for is estimating where you are when either your device does not include GPS or for one reason or another you cannot receive a decent GPS signal.
Beating up Google for using a record of MAC addresses and SSIDs to bring better location data to map software is counterproductive and Luddite. Anyone who agrees with Germany on this should turn in their geek card and their router. If Google is forced to stop this in Germany then I guess I don't care because I live, work and drive a long way from Germany. If well meaning but ignorant people take up this cause and cause Google to lose this data in the US then I am going to be pissed.
It's so sad that some people think this way. The space program is not stopping the country from getting into the black. The money required to pay off all the debt and solve the counties problems is orders of magnitude greater than the money required to properly fund the space program to do great things. Complaining that we shouldn't be spending money on a space program is like complaining that some kid playing on the beach shouldn't remove a bucket full of water from the great lakes because global warming has lowered water levels. It is ridiculous.
Poverty will exist so long as mankind is mankind. There will always be good, hard working poor people so long as there is greed. There will be lazy poor people so long as there are people who are neither motivated to better their lives or crafty enough to cheat. There will be disease so long as there is life. There will be natural disasters so long as we live on a planet. To wait for humanity to solve all it's problems before expanding into the universe is to wait for extinction.
Why is the Blackberry brand being used as a synonym for wireless messaging? There are certainly much better examples out there! If some brand has to achieve Kleenex like status in the wireless messaging market please, not Blackberry! Actually, as a programmer in a company which has to deal with interfacing Blackberries I can tell you they are buggy and they suck! Our customers only buy them because they are cheap.
It's not just that the tendancy to worship someone. There's that that tendancy to choose a devil as well. It's human nature to always find a good vs evil struggle in something.
Tesla and Edison both contributed greatly to the technological world we enjoy today. Yes, Tesla was a little insane. Yes, Edison was a businessman. Yes, they didn't like each other. They still both made great contributions.
Without them progress would have been delayed. Someone would no doubt have made their discoveries but it would have been some time later. I couldn't say if it would be a long or short time but given most major inventions and discoveries in history have at least a little controversy as to who was actually first my bets are on shorter. Still, the other discoveries and inventions which built on there's would also be delayed. We would probably be living in a world equivalent to 1 to 3 decades in the past.
I agree it is rather lax that they allow personal equipment on their network.
However, the poster's issue was the computer at home. They want to touch that.
I would suggest just bringing the IT dept a computer. I'm thinking punish them a bit. Dust off an old 486sx w/ Win95. Search your friend's closets and basements if you have to. Tell them this IS your personal home computer. It's only email, you don't use the computer or the net for much beyond that so you haven't spent the money to upgrade in a while.
Then just sit back and enjoy their frustration.
In all but the smaller towns phone they already do! It's a big heavy book. After using it to find your address one simply has to throw it through the back window and then let themselves in!
Why? What would anyone gain from this? Your MAC address isn't important. It doesn't identify anything about you. The only time it matters is if you are stupid enough to not use encryption and instead rely on MAC address filtering to keep intruders out. That is a bad idea because it is always possible for anyone to listen for your MAC address and then simply set their own address to be the same as yours. Then they are in. Thus one shouldn't be relying on their MAC address for security therefore it doesn't matter if Google has it!
The only effect of people randomizing their SSIDs is less accurate Google Maps. It doesn't make anyone more secure or private.
This wouldn't work without recording MAC addresses. Google is using the information for determining location. That means it needs something which is unique to a specific area. How unique are SSIDs? Default SSIDs would be useless. So, from your location you can see a network named Linksys. Ok, that limits your possible location on the planet to a list of what? A million?
So, you actually changed your SSID, good for you. How many Smith's House or Go Away networks are out there?
First, this isn't really personal data. It's something you are BROADCASTING. If you use wireless you are sending a signal out over the public air waves. It doesn't magically stop at the border of your yard, it goes out over the public street, your neighbors yards, etc... Do you have a right to control what happens to something you have already sent out into public spaces? Do you think you actually know how far your signal travels? Someone with a better antenna than that crappy one built into your netbook can pick it up a lot farther than you can. Distance will also vary from day to day based on atmospheric conditions, the solar cycle and voodoo. There is nothing private about an SSID or a WiFi MAC address. If you are paranoid then buy some CAT5 or 6 and STFU.
The only way this information could hurt you is if you are relying on MAC filtering to keep people out. If so then it is YOUR OWN STUPID FAULT if someone gets on your network. (and for some reason it seems like the majority of people who claim to be tech savy that I know do this). If you want to keep your network to yourself then enable WPA. That's it! Stop Whining! Anybody can pick up your MAC to use for spoofing later. What difference does it make if Google has already done it. See that jogger going by, is that a WiFi enabled cellphone in his pocket?
On the other hand. It should not be required that you keep your network to yourself. It's YOUR NETWORK. If someone does leave a network open it could be because they chose to. I know people who do this. I've known people who set up Neighborhood LANs with forum pages like a modern version of a local BBS. I'm sure they would love to see Google help inform their neighbors about it. Honestly, if someone wants to share their internet access I don't think they should be stopped either.
In today's paranoid environment it might not be the best idea to share internet access since someone might use it for something illegal but that is really too bad. It's not like the people who are up to no good won't just find another way. I can't imagine a better defense against government censorship and ISP non-net-neutrality than a nice big interconnected mesh network owned and operated by the individual users. Someone cataloging local WiFi information is a nice step towards that future.
Slashdot Mirror
Yes, but nobody did is or is likely to ever build DIRECT. I was sad myself when Constellation was chosen over DIRECT but unless I missed a really big announcement today DIRECT is as dead as it ever was. Don't think DIRECT will be chosen in 2015 according to Obama's plan of choosing a heavy lifter in that year. Nothing is 'planned to be planned' that far in advance unless it is really not expected to be done at all but merely hot air to keep people from complaining. Even if there really is a heavy lifter chosen in 2015 they didn't chose DIRECT last time and any advantage that might remain now to re-using Shuttle booster design will be gone by then with the shuttle infrastructure long since torn down.
This is not such a different age. When did people go to the moon? During the Vietnam War! The space program wasn't born in some rosy age of good times and free money which is somehow different from today. We did it then and we can still accomplish great things if we put a little effort towards doing so. The money required to fund a space program may be astronomical compared to our own personal budgets but it is nothing compared to the GNP or the national debt. We will always have war, we will always have debt, diseases to cure, pollution and all sorts of other problems. History proves we can still go new places, accomplish new things in spite of this.
I for one am not a crazy Dr. Strangelove type wanting to see the Earth blown up. I think a nuclear war or environmental disaster making Earth unlivable for humans is possible. But that doesn't mean I think it definitely will happen (at least in the next billion years) and it certainly doesn't mean I want it to happen. Neither is it the reason I want us to have a strong space program.
I for one am not proud of my labor generating tax dollars being used for the Iraq war and bankers' golden parachutes. I'm a bit more optimistic that the Afghan war will result in something better than before but that doesn't make up for the other two. I would be proud to see that money being used to expand mankind's reach to other worlds. I realize the other three things will take the majority of my tax dollars whether I like it or not but it is never too late to set a little of the money aside for something good.
You wrote: 'The trillions of dollars that space enthusiasts believe could and should be spent on the glorious future in space and its endless possibilities for the betterment of humanity don't exist anymore.'
I don't think anyone is asking for Trillions of dollars for the space program. It doesn't require Trillions of dollars to achieve progress there. Trillions of dollars are what the wars and the bankers are getting. Financing a strong space program would not remove a noticeable amount of money from these misadventures.
You also wrote: 'Space-cadets love to talk about the need to venture beyond the moon in order to save humanity from a soon-to-be dying Earth.'
Maybe. Life as we know it on Earth certainly could end soon and quickly due to nuclear bombs. We don't know for sure just how far climate change can/will go, that might be able to end it too albeit slower. That isn't really the point though. Even if we have a billion years to go before the Earth ends (when the sun engulfs it) we still want to venture out. It's just the next place to go. What's left driving progress on Earth? It's not making bigger or more cities, that just screws with the environment. It's not exploring new continents.. We've been to all of them and populated the ones worth doing so.
By nuclear war or by environmental disaster the public has been told the sky is falling since the 50s. We are all used to hearing that, space exploration friend/foe alike. While protecting the species is one reason to go into space I don't think it's the real main reason most space proponents talk about the end of the world. It's just an easy reason to explain to a public which is really only interested in their own personal little worlds and the sexual escapades of their favorite celebrities. What we really want is to see some sort of progress but try explaining that one...
Finally, you wrote: 'We live in a different age now. This is the era of limits. Understand this and we will all prosper in new and unexpected ways.'
I think I've already written enough about those 'limits'. How about the prospering? What do you even mean by that? Are you just talking about food to eat and roofs over our heads? I think that is about as far as most can see who support canceling the space program. My family will have that. I will do whatever it takes to ensure it whether it means working extra jobs or heading for the hills to grow
Mars colony? I doubt it. No doubt IF humanity keeps trying one day we will have that but I think at this stage we could pull off a lunar colony. Or... we could sink all our resources just in getting to Mars to plant a flag and then our grandchildren can watch as yet another generation pisses it's days away in LEO like ours has.
Constellation had a heavy lifter and plans to go to the moon. The cheaper alternatives end at the ISS. Is that the whole point of the space program now? Astronauts just sit in a can and look at the planet they just left for a while and then come back down? Choose a heavy lifter in 2015? Come on, that's just punting it to the next administration with no real plans to go anywhere.
No, private companies are only selling tickets to LEO. There is a big difference between running circles around the world we have been on since pre-history and actually exploring another one.
Emacs Forever and Apple Sucks!! Friends don't let friends use IE!! No, this is not really a troll, just pointing out why this is not the FIRST nerd war.
No, the cop's estimate was actually lower than the radar. And... his certification to use the radar in the first place was questionable.
I take it you have never driven in south east michigan?
Two problems with this
How often are the officers re-certified?
Who keeps the officers accountable? One person's word alone doesn't prove anything. I don't care that it is a police officer, they are people just like the rest of us. They have bad days, prejudices, just don't like some people etc...
"And while some institutions are emphasizing the value of teamwork in their curricula"
I think my university could have emphasized teamwork more. I came out with the ability to code whatever was needed in a few languages or to pick up new ones fairly quickly but working on a project with others was a definite gap in my abilities. I only had one project where I had ever done that and it was a very negative and lopsided experience. Understanding another person's code and adjusting between different styles when coming into existing projects with existing teams is much harder imho than just completing some programming exercise from scratch and alone. I am much better at this now but still find myself struggling in that area daily.
Microsoft isn't selling NT4 anymore. I doubt they teach much which they can't make money off of.
How refreshing. Why don't more employers use coding tests? Actually programming something and talking sharp in an interview are such different skills; I really doubt they even use the same part of the brain. I think too many people get hired on interviewing skills alone and I doubt it's just this field. Good interviewing skills should get one a great position in sales but that's about it.
It does?
i know exactly what you mean and can relate to this in my own household. However, bills like that come from making that same rationalization many times regarding many little inconsequential things. I'm guessing, as in my own wife's closet there is probably a closet full of shoes and other clothing which rarely gets used! :-)
Buying one or a few items of small cost (relative to debt level) which also happen to be items that come with great payback is just good investment.
We too have credit card debt. We also bought a duplex a couple years back. We rent out the old house as well as the second half of the duplex. Of course we could be just paying one mortgage on a single occupancy house. We could be paying off the cards faster. Some day maybe we will sell one for our daughter's college money. Or maybe we will keep them both after they are paid off, let a management company take over and just receive our cut through our retirement years. If we just put the money toward the debt we would still have debt but no future.
Having a real manned space program brings us new technologies, gives us something to be proud of and inspires the next generation to actually do something with their lives. It's not really the same thing as yet another pair of shoes.
This is sounding more like the watch Dick Tracy's kid or grandkid would wear one day with all those data capabilities. More Dick Tracyesque voice only 2-way radio watches have been available for a while now. I remember seeing a 2-meter transceiver built into a watch in the late 90s. I wish I knew who built/sold it. The place I saw it is out of business now. There are also plenty of FRS wristwatches on EBay.
Woops, should have RTFA first, thought this was like previous articles where SSIDs and MAC addresses where the sole issue. I still don't care as it still says un-secured networks and that is a risk one takes if they chose not to secure their networks. I also don't care if people were just ignorant about it because they chose to use technology but not try to understand it.
This is just SSIDs and MAC Addresses right? I'm sorry but if you believe that your SSID and/or MAC address are private, personal information then you don't really understand what WiFi is or how it works. If having your SSID makes it easier for someone to do anything negative to you, steal your bandwidth, spy on actual personal information, etc... then you didn't configure your router correctly. The only thing this information is useful for is estimating where you are when either your device does not include GPS or for one reason or another you cannot receive a decent GPS signal.
Beating up Google for using a record of MAC addresses and SSIDs to bring better location data to map software is counterproductive and Luddite. Anyone who agrees with Germany on this should turn in their geek card and their router. If Google is forced to stop this in Germany then I guess I don't care because I live, work and drive a long way from Germany. If well meaning but ignorant people take up this cause and cause Google to lose this data in the US then I am going to be pissed.
It's so sad that some people think this way. The space program is not stopping the country from getting into the black. The money required to pay off all the debt and solve the counties problems is orders of magnitude greater than the money required to properly fund the space program to do great things. Complaining that we shouldn't be spending money on a space program is like complaining that some kid playing on the beach shouldn't remove a bucket full of water from the great lakes because global warming has lowered water levels. It is ridiculous.
Poverty will exist so long as mankind is mankind. There will always be good, hard working poor people so long as there is greed. There will be lazy poor people so long as there are people who are neither motivated to better their lives or crafty enough to cheat. There will be disease so long as there is life. There will be natural disasters so long as we live on a planet. To wait for humanity to solve all it's problems before expanding into the universe is to wait for extinction.
Why is the Blackberry brand being used as a synonym for wireless messaging? There are certainly much better examples out there! If some brand has to achieve Kleenex like status in the wireless messaging market please, not Blackberry! Actually, as a programmer in a company which has to deal with interfacing Blackberries I can tell you they are buggy and they suck! Our customers only buy them because they are cheap.
It's not just that the tendancy to worship someone. There's that that tendancy to choose a devil as well. It's human nature to always find a good vs evil struggle in something. Tesla and Edison both contributed greatly to the technological world we enjoy today. Yes, Tesla was a little insane. Yes, Edison was a businessman. Yes, they didn't like each other. They still both made great contributions. Without them progress would have been delayed. Someone would no doubt have made their discoveries but it would have been some time later. I couldn't say if it would be a long or short time but given most major inventions and discoveries in history have at least a little controversy as to who was actually first my bets are on shorter. Still, the other discoveries and inventions which built on there's would also be delayed. We would probably be living in a world equivalent to 1 to 3 decades in the past.
I agree it is rather lax that they allow personal equipment on their network. However, the poster's issue was the computer at home. They want to touch that. I would suggest just bringing the IT dept a computer. I'm thinking punish them a bit. Dust off an old 486sx w/ Win95. Search your friend's closets and basements if you have to. Tell them this IS your personal home computer. It's only email, you don't use the computer or the net for much beyond that so you haven't spent the money to upgrade in a while. Then just sit back and enjoy their frustration.
In all but the smaller towns phone they already do! It's a big heavy book. After using it to find your address one simply has to throw it through the back window and then let themselves in!
So long and thanks for all the beer!
Why? What would anyone gain from this? Your MAC address isn't important. It doesn't identify anything about you. The only time it matters is if you are stupid enough to not use encryption and instead rely on MAC address filtering to keep intruders out. That is a bad idea because it is always possible for anyone to listen for your MAC address and then simply set their own address to be the same as yours. Then they are in. Thus one shouldn't be relying on their MAC address for security therefore it doesn't matter if Google has it! The only effect of people randomizing their SSIDs is less accurate Google Maps. It doesn't make anyone more secure or private.
This wouldn't work without recording MAC addresses. Google is using the information for determining location. That means it needs something which is unique to a specific area. How unique are SSIDs? Default SSIDs would be useless. So, from your location you can see a network named Linksys. Ok, that limits your possible location on the planet to a list of what? A million? So, you actually changed your SSID, good for you. How many Smith's House or Go Away networks are out there?
First, this isn't really personal data. It's something you are BROADCASTING. If you use wireless you are sending a signal out over the public air waves. It doesn't magically stop at the border of your yard, it goes out over the public street, your neighbors yards, etc... Do you have a right to control what happens to something you have already sent out into public spaces? Do you think you actually know how far your signal travels? Someone with a better antenna than that crappy one built into your netbook can pick it up a lot farther than you can. Distance will also vary from day to day based on atmospheric conditions, the solar cycle and voodoo. There is nothing private about an SSID or a WiFi MAC address. If you are paranoid then buy some CAT5 or 6 and STFU.
The only way this information could hurt you is if you are relying on MAC filtering to keep people out. If so then it is YOUR OWN STUPID FAULT if someone gets on your network. (and for some reason it seems like the majority of people who claim to be tech savy that I know do this). If you want to keep your network to yourself then enable WPA. That's it! Stop Whining! Anybody can pick up your MAC to use for spoofing later. What difference does it make if Google has already done it. See that jogger going by, is that a WiFi enabled cellphone in his pocket?
On the other hand. It should not be required that you keep your network to yourself. It's YOUR NETWORK. If someone does leave a network open it could be because they chose to. I know people who do this. I've known people who set up Neighborhood LANs with forum pages like a modern version of a local BBS. I'm sure they would love to see Google help inform their neighbors about it. Honestly, if someone wants to share their internet access I don't think they should be stopped either.
In today's paranoid environment it might not be the best idea to share internet access since someone might use it for something illegal but that is really too bad. It's not like the people who are up to no good won't just find another way. I can't imagine a better defense against government censorship and ISP non-net-neutrality than a nice big interconnected mesh network owned and operated by the individual users. Someone cataloging local WiFi information is a nice step towards that future.