How would multiple autonomous vans compare to an HGV for palletised/boxed freight? With the cost of multiple drivers gone, it seems like you could ship one or 2 pallets (or 4-8 pallets in a larger van?) per cheaper-to-maintain, easier-to-accommodate and more flexible vans. Platooning might (?) make multiple vans to the same destination as cheap in fuel as a large multi-axle delivery vehicle.
They'll never (in my lifetime at least) be fully autonomous like I am, because then they would be responsible for accidents and by that time we'd have to have courts and prisons for robots. They'll be autonomous at the "do what my owner says at a supervisory level". I expect what many cars will do when they're fine-detail autonomous is "go out and earn me money". It'll be the next BuyToLet. Wealthy people will buy self-driving cars that less wealthy people will rent. The cars won't need parking space - it'll be cheaper to drive around or 'hide' during quiet times. They'll book their own servicing and valet visits.
The cars won't be our overlords; the wealthy people who own our transport and accommodation will be. 'Carlords' competing with each other for our transport coin can only be a good thing - I can't see how they'll be able to monopolise supply like they have with accommodation.
I'm writing a search engine 'just because' and I considered replying to your comment with an URL for it that would return a text/plain result. But what would anybody want in it that would be better than an XML (which I assume - in that annoying, couldn't-be-arsed-to-check-my-facts way - is already available from the search engine giants) result which could be post-processed for plain text?
It's not an idle question - I was just about to start editing code, but then I couldn't see the point. Maybe they couldn't either. It would be child's play to provide text/plain search results, I just can't imagine (in the few minutes I tried) how they would be used.
But doesn't this mean that those of us who bought our nVidia video cards more than (video hardware shelf life) years ago are going to have to put up with less-than-stellar video drivers? I use an ATI Mobility (that always reminded me of little electric carts for very old people) X1300 on Ubuntu and it has been a bloodbath. ATI no longer support it in their proprietary driver (which was good when it worked), so for a while the laptop I do all my work on (it never leaves my desk, battery died, lid hinge gone, but hey, Core2Duo, 2 Monitors, input devices on USB, it's good enough) was trailing behind all the other machines here. 3D games are becoming a distant memory now that I don't have the proprietary driver. The ati driver is great for work, but doesn't seem to cut the mustard for play at all.
After the X1300, I tried to make sure than any new PCs that we bought which needed better video adapters came with nVidia equipment. Will the same thing now happen to nVidia users on slightly older kit?
This is the comment I was looking for. I think it's a great idea. Give Linus the Economics prize, Stallman the Peace prize, the Chemistry prize could go to whoever wrote Cheese... I'm not sure about Physiology. I'm sure I was fitter before I started coding so much. Next year could be the year of Linux on the Nobel Prizes!
Isn't the real problem with this the fact that it would be capturing solar radiation that would not otherwise intersect with the planet's atmosphere? Given the concerns about warming, isn't adding another input... insane? Don't get me wrong - I'm all for this, as long as they build the giant solar-powered fan and heat sink in space to go with it.
Isn't the easiest way to deal with the underlying problem (fraudulent asylum applications) just to not offer asylum?
I've often thought asylum is counter-productive for the countries where abuse occurs. How is rebellion against oppression encouraged by the option to run away?
I'm all for immigration. I voted with my genes, as many of my family have, for diversity. I currently live (for the last 4 years, hopefully for only one or two more) in a toilet of a country where everything is owned by the political party in power. They kill people and hold sham trials where nobody important is ever in the dock. The dock (and jail) is full of opposition politicians. My neighbours all ask me to help them get into the UK.
By all means - if someone wants to come and join a society, let them. If they want to run away from one, I think they should be turned back with a citizen activism handbook and best wishes for the future.
My 70RM (USD20) / month 512kbit/s has recently started to frequently exceed the local threshhold for broadband. For the previous 2 years, the line was completely dead for several days per month. This is the kind of 'competition' US ISPs are presumably focussing on.
I read once - or maybe imagined it - that some research showed that the optic nerve was very sensitive to anything in the field of vision that looked like eyes. There was a description of an experiment to do with circles and dots on flashcards and timed responses I think - I've had a quick search, but can find nothing, does anybody recognise that description? I also think I recall the suggestion that this was evolutionarily beneficial, as it gave advance warning when a predator or enemy was watching you.
Human women have two comparatively large (even more noticeable on the Internet), round breasts with dots in the middle. Your eyes point at these things before you even realise that they're there. Why is that? My explanation is that it's an evolutionary adaptation that takes advantage of the eye's 'eye detection' mechanism. Human breasts are large fake eyes that confer additional fitness on the possessor by causing males to look at them before they look at females with less apparent 'eyes'.
After working on a hexapod project some time ago, I thought the way to go would be to start with lying down on the floor. My 15 month old son can run much faster than this - in short bursts. Then he wipes out spectacularly, picks himself up (or waits for me to do it) and does it again.
I think a great part of the reason for these things running the way they do is an effort to avoid them expensively decking out. I'd really like to see some less shiny robots put in a few impressive strides, crash spectacularly and get up again. I think HRP could get up from a lying position, but it wasn't quick, if I remember right.
When I added the article to a hobby project I've been working on, it choked the page indexer. Not only was MJ dead, but the HEAD was missing, and still is:
So a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, I did a PhD on crystalline computation - something like artificial neural networks, but no plasticity at all. It was very low level, but I always wondered about the plasticity / memory issue. A human brain is a very complex organ. If plasticity was the only medium for memory, it would have to be instantaneous. As I recall, there's no suggestion that very short-term memory involves plasticity. The issue with '5 minutes ago' - is that capacity, or just a good adaptation or behaviour, given the availability of some more reliable medium?
I haven't looked at the topic for a while, so if anybody has some interesting references for plasticity / memory - particularly memory performance in the absence or impairment of plasticity, I'd be grateful at least until the new tab opens!
I imagine (RTFA? GTFO!) the solar collector won't often be casting a shadow on the Earth. That means it's collecting solar energy that the Earth wouldn't. The energy transmitted to Earth will eventually cause something to warm up, won't it? Isn't this a problem for any kind of 'extra terrestrial energy' idea that isn't direct sunlight or its ancient effect?
I think 'significant' might be hard to judge. If space solar makes a significant contribution to Earth's energy, I think it might make a significant contribution to the temperature of something terrestrial. Otherwise, I think it's a great idea. If the heating issue were really a problem, you could always run pipes up the side of the space elevator and dump the heat into the moon.
Apparently there's a lot of interest in the forums on a 'lite' version that will only have 2 wheels, can carry the same number of passengers, just as much load, and you can run it off body fat. That project also has its own forks.
I've used that version and it's pretty good. Sometimes you have to get your hands dirty to keep it running at its best, but that's half the joy, isn't it? You know what users are like though - they just want effortless bloat, so I suspect it won't catch on.
I'd never done anything with Google Maps other than look for my house on it - until recently. Too few people are wondering why so few people are in the dock for the murder of Altantuya Shaariibuu. I read one blogger asking where and when a photo of her was taken, and it seems like detailed overhead imagery is exactly what concerned citizens need:
As a citizen (temporarily living overseas) of the United Kingdom of Cameras and Background Checks, I would be almost happy to have my life captured by cameras, if the data was completely public.
Since there are no longer any discs in these disks, I thought we might go back to yesteryear for RAVEAC: Redundant Array of Very Expensive Aluminium Castings. But then, if there are no moving parts, then there's no need for that Expensive Aluminium Casting is there? How about RAVEO: Redundant Array of Very Expensive Oblongs?
...yeah, like the experience of hypo- and hyper-thermia.
I worked for one of the UK's largest software companies once, during which time they moved into a refurbished mill building. The ceiling was more than ten metres up, and corrugated steel. It was February, and there were lots of projects approaching deadlines. They bought us duvets, sleeping bags and fingerless mitts. You get into the sleeping bag, then sit on your chair - the wheels are complete bastards, when you're in a mummy-style sleeping bag - then throw the duvet on top and 'start clicking'. If you didn't drink your tea as soon as it came, it froze in the cup. They did eventually fit an insulated false ceiling. I think I bought a new car with my overtime payments. They tried heating the space, but they spent a small fortune on heaters and people got sick from having one side of their body toasted while the other side froze.
Now I live in a 3-bed house in Malaysia, only a stone's throw from the equator. The thermometer by my desk tells me it's 31C, but there are no clouds today, so the humidity is low enough that sweating works. It's not lunchtime yet, so the house is still comparatively cool. After lunch, I'll put the aircon on in the study (where me and my wife work) on. It's set for 27C, which with a slow ceiling fan is good enough. Any cooler, and we lose all enthusiasm for walking the kids to school, or doing household chores in the rest of the house (which isn't air-conditioned - aside from the bedrooms).
A few months ago I had a search engine running on several servers in the study, and we used about a GW hour per month. Since it was moved out, we use about 600 kW hours per month - mostly aircon, instant water heaters for showers (no hot water plumbing), and boiling water for drinking / cooking. We have one server that runs full-time. We bought the previous one new from "Lucky Fortune Computer Supplies" and it was noisy and hot, so I put it on a power meter and it used 200W. I took the power meter new server shopping and got something cheap from Dell that uses 50W - that's a 100kW hours per month better off. Electric supply is dirt cheap here, but less power is always cheaper.
Couldn't the thing be made like a big air-tight tube? That way, you could suck all the air out above the payload, then open the base of the tube. Woosh!
PC and Mac, between them, a bucket. "I'm a PC", "I'm a Mac". Voice says "what's in the bucket". PC says nothing. Mac says quietly "...it's Linux". Voice says "is that it? Is that all Linux does?" Camera shakes, gopher runs on and throws something into the bucket. "Iyum GNU" says the bucket, over a ghostly voice saying "Linux". "We can't make an ad out of this people!" - gopher runs on again, empties pockets, bits of string, bogeys, blu-tack, nails, gaffer tape into bucket. Bucket says "Ahhhh... I am open source and we are legion" in a scary voice. PC and Mac look scared. Pat Volkerding appears (as if by magic) and taps the bucket with a wand. Swirl! A tron light cycle with the Slackware logo on the side appears out of the bucket, Pat jumps on and Pyoon - disappears on a band of light. A guy in a Space suit comes in and taps the bucket with his wand and Swirl, and a beautiful (maybe with a deep tan?) blonde with an Ubuntu sash and a promising look in her eye should appear, and they skip off arm in arm. PC stares, agape, and Mac looks on disapprovingly. Gopher guy rushes on again and shouts into the bucket "Hey Linux, gimme an Ubuntu!". Nothing happens. PC taps him on the shoulder and says "you don't want her, try me, only 500 bucks". Gopher guy backs away in disgust. Mac says "you could always 'go large', amigo, only a kilo". Gopher guy cringes. Bucket swirls with light. Some red headwear appears, with a handsome, if slightly effeminate guy underneath. "I could sssave you sssome sscentsss'. Gopher guys shows some lower teeth. Bucket swirls some more and lots of attractive people, wearing sashes and t-shirts with distro names on, appear out of the bucket, chorusing "we're all free - where are we going?". Gopher guy does the Wizard of Oz dance off set, arm-in-arm with the distros, laughing his head off, to some Mardi Gras-style music.
Slashdot Mirror
How would multiple autonomous vans compare to an HGV for palletised/boxed freight? With the cost of multiple drivers gone, it seems like you could ship one or 2 pallets (or 4-8 pallets in a larger van?) per cheaper-to-maintain, easier-to-accommodate and more flexible vans. Platooning might (?) make multiple vans to the same destination as cheap in fuel as a large multi-axle delivery vehicle.
They'll never (in my lifetime at least) be fully autonomous like I am, because then they would be responsible for accidents and by that time we'd have to have courts and prisons for robots. They'll be autonomous at the "do what my owner says at a supervisory level". I expect what many cars will do when they're fine-detail autonomous is "go out and earn me money". It'll be the next BuyToLet. Wealthy people will buy self-driving cars that less wealthy people will rent. The cars won't need parking space - it'll be cheaper to drive around or 'hide' during quiet times. They'll book their own servicing and valet visits.
The cars won't be our overlords; the wealthy people who own our transport and accommodation will be. 'Carlords' competing with each other for our transport coin can only be a good thing - I can't see how they'll be able to monopolise supply like they have with accommodation.
And I always thought porn sites should be made to register as companies in the Cook Islands
I'm writing a search engine 'just because' and I considered replying to your comment with an URL for it that would return a text/plain result. But what would anybody want in it that would be better than an XML (which I assume - in that annoying, couldn't-be-arsed-to-check-my-facts way - is already available from the search engine giants) result which could be post-processed for plain text?
It's not an idle question - I was just about to start editing code, but then I couldn't see the point. Maybe they couldn't either. It would be child's play to provide text/plain search results, I just can't imagine (in the few minutes I tried) how they would be used.
But doesn't this mean that those of us who bought our nVidia video cards more than (video hardware shelf life) years ago are going to have to put up with less-than-stellar video drivers? I use an ATI Mobility (that always reminded me of little electric carts for very old people) X1300 on Ubuntu and it has been a bloodbath. ATI no longer support it in their proprietary driver (which was good when it worked), so for a while the laptop I do all my work on (it never leaves my desk, battery died, lid hinge gone, but hey, Core2Duo, 2 Monitors, input devices on USB, it's good enough) was trailing behind all the other machines here. 3D games are becoming a distant memory now that I don't have the proprietary driver. The ati driver is great for work, but doesn't seem to cut the mustard for play at all.
After the X1300, I tried to make sure than any new PCs that we bought which needed better video adapters came with nVidia equipment. Will the same thing now happen to nVidia users on slightly older kit?
This is the comment I was looking for. I think it's a great idea. Give Linus the Economics prize, Stallman the Peace prize, the Chemistry prize could go to whoever wrote Cheese... I'm not sure about Physiology. I'm sure I was fitter before I started coding so much. Next year could be the year of Linux on the Nobel Prizes!
Isn't the real problem with this the fact that it would be capturing solar radiation that would not otherwise intersect with the planet's atmosphere? Given the concerns about warming, isn't adding another input ... insane? Don't get me wrong - I'm all for this, as long as they build the giant solar-powered fan and heat sink in space to go with it.
Isn't the easiest way to deal with the underlying problem (fraudulent asylum applications) just to not offer asylum?
I've often thought asylum is counter-productive for the countries where abuse occurs. How is rebellion against oppression encouraged by the option to run away?
I'm all for immigration. I voted with my genes, as many of my family have, for diversity. I currently live (for the last 4 years, hopefully for only one or two more) in a toilet of a country where everything is owned by the political party in power. They kill people and hold sham trials where nobody important is ever in the dock. The dock (and jail) is full of opposition politicians. My neighbours all ask me to help them get into the UK.
By all means - if someone wants to come and join a society, let them. If they want to run away from one, I think they should be turned back with a citizen activism handbook and best wishes for the future.
No la, Malaysia has its own definition - it's broadband if it's > 56kbit/s
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_in_malaysia
My 70RM (USD20) / month 512kbit/s has recently started to frequently exceed the local threshhold for broadband. For the previous 2 years, the line was completely dead for several days per month. This is the kind of 'competition' US ISPs are presumably focussing on.
I read once - or maybe imagined it - that some research showed that the optic nerve was very sensitive to anything in the field of vision that looked like eyes. There was a description of an experiment to do with circles and dots on flashcards and timed responses I think - I've had a quick search, but can find nothing, does anybody recognise that description? I also think I recall the suggestion that this was evolutionarily beneficial, as it gave advance warning when a predator or enemy was watching you.
Human women have two comparatively large (even more noticeable on the Internet), round breasts with dots in the middle. Your eyes point at these things before you even realise that they're there. Why is that? My explanation is that it's an evolutionary adaptation that takes advantage of the eye's 'eye detection' mechanism. Human breasts are large fake eyes that confer additional fitness on the possessor by causing males to look at them before they look at females with less apparent 'eyes'.
Original research. You read it here first.
After working on a hexapod project some time ago, I thought the way to go would be to start with lying down on the floor. My 15 month old son can run much faster than this - in short bursts. Then he wipes out spectacularly, picks himself up (or waits for me to do it) and does it again.
I think a great part of the reason for these things running the way they do is an effort to avoid them expensively decking out. I'd really like to see some less shiny robots put in a few impressive strides, crash spectacularly and get up again. I think HRP could get up from a lying position, but it wasn't quick, if I remember right.
They're called seedometers
When I added the article to a hobby project I've been working on, it choked the page indexer. Not only was MJ dead, but the HEAD was missing, and still is:
http://blog.lolyco.com/sean/2009/06/26/la-times-reports-michael-jackson-dead-head-missing/
So a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, I did a PhD on crystalline computation - something like artificial neural networks, but no plasticity at all. It was very low level, but I always wondered about the plasticity / memory issue. A human brain is a very complex organ. If plasticity was the only medium for memory, it would have to be instantaneous. As I recall, there's no suggestion that very short-term memory involves plasticity. The issue with '5 minutes ago' - is that capacity, or just a good adaptation or behaviour, given the availability of some more reliable medium?
I haven't looked at the topic for a while, so if anybody has some interesting references for plasticity / memory - particularly memory performance in the absence or impairment of plasticity, I'd be grateful at least until the new tab opens!
I imagine (RTFA? GTFO!) the solar collector won't often be casting a shadow on the Earth. That means it's collecting solar energy that the Earth wouldn't. The energy transmitted to Earth will eventually cause something to warm up, won't it? Isn't this a problem for any kind of 'extra terrestrial energy' idea that isn't direct sunlight or its ancient effect?
I think 'significant' might be hard to judge. If space solar makes a significant contribution to Earth's energy, I think it might make a significant contribution to the temperature of something terrestrial. Otherwise, I think it's a great idea. If the heating issue were really a problem, you could always run pipes up the side of the space elevator and dump the heat into the moon.
Apparently there's a lot of interest in the forums on a 'lite' version that will only have 2 wheels, can carry the same number of passengers, just as much load, and you can run it off body fat. That project also has its own forks.
I've used that version and it's pretty good. Sometimes you have to get your hands dirty to keep it running at its best, but that's half the joy, isn't it? You know what users are like though - they just want effortless bloat, so I suspect it won't catch on.
"You're only supposed to blow the bloody socks off!"
I still think I hit my peak of productivity on VAX/VMS, writing DIBOL in EVE (the Extensible/Easy Vax Editor) on a VT320.
I'd never done anything with Google Maps other than look for my house on it - until recently. Too few people are wondering why so few people are in the dock for the murder of Altantuya Shaariibuu. I read one blogger asking where and when a photo of her was taken, and it seems like detailed overhead imagery is exactly what concerned citizens need:
http://isono.my/2009/03/where-in-the-world-was-altantuya/
As a citizen (temporarily living overseas) of the United Kingdom of Cameras and Background Checks, I would be almost happy to have my life captured by cameras, if the data was completely public.
Since there are no longer any discs in these disks, I thought we might go back to yesteryear for RAVEAC: Redundant Array of Very Expensive Aluminium Castings. But then, if there are no moving parts, then there's no need for that Expensive Aluminium Casting is there? How about RAVEO: Redundant Array of Very Expensive Oblongs?
You said something unpopular about AI. It's a good job there's no -1 sceptic modpoint, or I wouldn't even have seen your comment.
As far as I can see, AI has reached the point of being as smart as a snail that's really, really good at chess.
...if I've offended any snail slashdot readers, I apologise profusely.
...yeah, like the experience of hypo- and hyper-thermia.
I worked for one of the UK's largest software companies once, during which time they moved into a refurbished mill building. The ceiling was more than ten metres up, and corrugated steel. It was February, and there were lots of projects approaching deadlines. They bought us duvets, sleeping bags and fingerless mitts. You get into the sleeping bag, then sit on your chair - the wheels are complete bastards, when you're in a mummy-style sleeping bag - then throw the duvet on top and 'start clicking'. If you didn't drink your tea as soon as it came, it froze in the cup. They did eventually fit an insulated false ceiling. I think I bought a new car with my overtime payments. They tried heating the space, but they spent a small fortune on heaters and people got sick from having one side of their body toasted while the other side froze.
Now I live in a 3-bed house in Malaysia, only a stone's throw from the equator. The thermometer by my desk tells me it's 31C, but there are no clouds today, so the humidity is low enough that sweating works. It's not lunchtime yet, so the house is still comparatively cool. After lunch, I'll put the aircon on in the study (where me and my wife work) on. It's set for 27C, which with a slow ceiling fan is good enough. Any cooler, and we lose all enthusiasm for walking the kids to school, or doing household chores in the rest of the house (which isn't air-conditioned - aside from the bedrooms).
A few months ago I had a search engine running on several servers in the study, and we used about a GW hour per month. Since it was moved out, we use about 600 kW hours per month - mostly aircon, instant water heaters for showers (no hot water plumbing), and boiling water for drinking / cooking. We have one server that runs full-time. We bought the previous one new from "Lucky Fortune Computer Supplies" and it was noisy and hot, so I put it on a power meter and it used 200W. I took the power meter new server shopping and got something cheap from Dell that uses 50W - that's a 100kW hours per month better off. Electric supply is dirt cheap here, but less power is always cheaper.
Couldn't the thing be made like a big air-tight tube? That way, you could suck all the air out above the payload, then open the base of the tube. Woosh!
You mean you don't have the back of your PC pointed towards you, just in case?
How about...
PC and Mac, between them, a bucket. "I'm a PC", "I'm a Mac". Voice says "what's in the bucket". PC says nothing. Mac says quietly "...it's Linux". Voice says "is that it? Is that all Linux does?" Camera shakes, gopher runs on and throws something into the bucket. "Iyum GNU" says the bucket, over a ghostly voice saying "Linux". "We can't make an ad out of this people!" - gopher runs on again, empties pockets, bits of string, bogeys, blu-tack, nails, gaffer tape into bucket. Bucket says "Ahhhh... I am open source and we are legion" in a scary voice. PC and Mac look scared. Pat Volkerding appears (as if by magic) and taps the bucket with a wand. Swirl! A tron light cycle with the Slackware logo on the side appears out of the bucket, Pat jumps on and Pyoon - disappears on a band of light. A guy in a Space suit comes in and taps the bucket with his wand and Swirl, and a beautiful (maybe with a deep tan?) blonde with an Ubuntu sash and a promising look in her eye should appear, and they skip off arm in arm. PC stares, agape, and Mac looks on disapprovingly. Gopher guy rushes on again and shouts into the bucket "Hey Linux, gimme an Ubuntu!". Nothing happens. PC taps him on the shoulder and says "you don't want her, try me, only 500 bucks". Gopher guy backs away in disgust. Mac says "you could always 'go large', amigo, only a kilo". Gopher guy cringes. Bucket swirls with light. Some red headwear appears, with a handsome, if slightly effeminate guy underneath. "I could sssave you sssome sscentsss'. Gopher guys shows some lower teeth. Bucket swirls some more and lots of attractive people, wearing sashes and t-shirts with distro names on, appear out of the bucket, chorusing "we're all free - where are we going?". Gopher guy does the Wizard of Oz dance off set, arm-in-arm with the distros, laughing his head off, to some Mardi Gras-style music.
It's a first cut, let me know, ok?