I mostly agree with you, but I've had a few notable exceptions.
For instance, I wanted to buy the board game "Ticket To Ride". Turn off ad-block, and go do a google-search for it. The ads are along the lines of "Ticket to Ride, $32!", "Buy Ticket to Ride, $25!", and "$17 off Ticket to Ride!".
...Unfortunately, all of these websites were an inferior deal to what I found at thoughthammer.com, but the principle is there. I was happy to see ads for a product I was interested in.
Perhaps I undervalue my security and privacy, but I keep hoping for an increase in the targeted advertising I experience.
I don't want to refinance my house. I don't want to find relationships online. I don't want to find old classmates. I don't want to earn money by signing up for free trials. Even though I don't want these things, I see these ads a lot.
I like videogames and boardgames. I like anime. I like paintball. I like cooking. I already go out of my way to learn about new products and discounts in these areas.
I would love to surrender information about my interests in order to replace the ads I don't care about with ads that I do care about.
Say the USA borrows trillions of dollars from China and after a while goes bankrupt and can't repay them.
That seems more like a bigger problem for China than the USA.
China is in the process of becoming a world superpower, including an effective military. You may recall that in Nov 2007 a previously undetected chinese submarine surfaced within striking range of a US Naval exercise. (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-492804/The-uninvited-guest-Chinese-sub-pops-middle-U-S-Navy-exercise-leaving-military-chiefs-red-faced.html). No hostile actions taken, but it appears that they could have done so if they wished.
I'm not saying that the US is about to go to war with china, and I'm not saying that it would lose if it did.
But I am saying that you should still be worried about the US placing itself in a position where it may later be forced to piss off a fellow world superpower.
"Oh, yeah, what are you gonna do? Release the dogs? Or the bees? Or the dogs with bees in their mouth and when they bark, they shoot bees at you?"
--Homer Simpson
Cooling of semiconductor hot-spots has developed into a demanding task. In recent years the high power density of microchips has increased rapidly, thereby increasing temperature and temperature non -uniformity on die and across chips. The drive for extremely low thermal resistance if further accelerated by the trend towards smaller system enclosures which has made the cooling task even more difficult.
This gives the cooling companies a new challenge. To create cooling devices that is reliable, efficient and compact. Danamics does all of those.
Then click Pump:
Electromagnetic pumps have been used for decades and have been seen in a variety of applications. From space crafts and satellites, on nuclear-driven surface warships and submarines and also in land based nuclear reactors and industrial applications. In space, at sea, at land and now also as a key element for hot spot cooling.
An electromagnetic pump has several advantages over typical mechanical pump designs. It contains no moving parts, shafts, seals, etc., emits no noise or vibration, has unlimited MTBF and suffers no performance degrading over time.
Typically electromagnetic pumps have had the drawback of a high current requirement. The Danamics patent pending multi-string electromagnetic pump eliminates this limitation and delivers a high flow with minimal current input. Due to the small size and power requirements, the multi-string pump makes a liquid metal cooler suitable for use in smaller applications such as home computers, workstations and even laptops.
Then click Liquid Metal:
The liquid metal is a key component in Danamics cooling systems. Liquid metal has two major advantages when cooling high power density heat sources:
Firstly it has superior thermo physical properties that decrease temperature - and temperature nonâ"uniformity - on die and across chips.
Secondly the electrical properties of the liquid metal enables efficient, reliable and ultra compact electromagnetic pumping without the use of moving parts, shafts, seals, etc.
Then click Benefits:
Liquid Metal has numerous key advantages compared to competing technologies, such as water-cooling or traditional air cooling. The most important ones are:
Ultimate performance
Danamics LM10 is the worldâ(TM)s best performing air-cooler. By utilizing the unique properties of liquid metal, the cooler has the lowest thermal resistance of any air-cooler in the market. The cooling capabilities exceeds most watercoolers in a single device.
Easy mounting
Compared to competing solutions, the Danamics LM10 is a true all-in-one product. There are no external housings, large reservoirs or bulky radiators. With liquid metal cooling you have true performance in a compact, self-contained unit. This makes mounting a breeze and the Danamics LM10 cooler can be mounted in minutes.
No moving parts
The superior liquid metal brings another advantage besides its efficiency. The properties of liquid metal make the use of an electromagnetic pump possible. Danamicsâ(TM) patent pending multi-string pump delivers high flow combined with a very low power-draw of less than 1W.
No noise and no vibration
Compared to watercooling pumps, the electromagnetic pump used in Danamics LM10 cooler has numerous benefits. It is hermetically sealed and has no moving parts, which means that no noise or vibration is added to the system from the electromagnetic pump. Also the pump is orientation independent, which ensures maximum flexibility for users and system integrators.
Innovative technology
Danamics LM10 is built from the ground up using innovative technology. The combination of liquid metal and an electromagnetic pump is all new in commercial cooling devices, bringing
There is a mod for Half-Life 2 where you use the Wii-Remote to control your character. I've never actually played the thing, so I can't speak for how well it works, but I understand that he uses motion controls to throw grenades and swing the crowbar.
The guy's home page seems to be down, though. It's normally found here: http://wii.hl2world.com/
The obvious answer is that he uses public restrooms. Saves all those tedious ownership costs, in exchange for a long walk and the small chance of contracting an exotic disease.
(Adapted from an awesome post from many years ago on Gamespy.com)
STOP BUILDING THE METAL GEAR
By Solid Snake
Hello. My name is Snake. You probably know me from the first time I destroyed Metal Gear. Or, you may remember me from the second time I destroyed Metal Gear. Or, the third and fourth times I destroyed Metal Gear. Perhaps, instead, you may be familiar with me as we eagerly await the fifth time I'm going to destroy Metal Gear, due for release in June 2008.
Sometimes people ask me -- a renowned Soldier of Fortune and virtually invisible stealth operative -- how we can best keep the increasingly global threat of terrorism at bay. Time and time again the united governments find themselves at the mercy of elite squads of terrorists who, often during sweeps week, hijack indestructible robots armed with nuclear strike capability and -- for reasons that even I can't fathom -- one lone operative (me) always has to stop them against all odds. Well, I have an answer to your little terrorist problem, Mr. four-star general and united world government military advisers.
STOP BUILDING THE METAL GEAR!
For heaven's sake, it seems like every couple of years some pathetic spongecakes in suits are sitting around a conference table and one of them says, "Hey, let's build the Metal Gear again." Then they say, "Certainly those pesky terrorists won't attempt to hijack the Metal Gear this time." Then when all the hell and the hurting happens, they're not the ones strapped to a table getting electrocuted by some pony-tailed punk who looks like Colonel Sanders.
I mean it. Certainly we can figure out something else to do with giant robots aside from using them as mobile platforms for 20 megaton nuclear warheads, although offhand I can't think of anything. Why do we need giant robots at all? Why can't we all just raise dogs, like I do when I'm not silently killing people from behind? I like dogs. Dogs are always happy to see you. They jump up and lick your face. Rarely do they don invisible Predator-esque stealth outfits and gang up on you in an elevator. Hardly ever have I seen a group of dogs pre-meditate a global holocaust by assaulting a giant robot stronghold. Primarily they spend their time smelling one anothers' butts.
In Conclusion, I cannot stress enough the problems associated with giant robots. One minute they're secure on a military compound quietly protecting the free world, the next thing you know there's a floating bald dude in a gasmask convincing your girlfriend to blow her own brains out. I'm drawing the line! Next time you jackholes build the stupid Metal Gear, I'm not going to save your asses. I'm gonna hang out in Alaska, munchin' cheetos on a bearskin rug while some husky licks my face.
You hear that, DARPA chief? The next time you build a Metal Gear, you, your advisors, and your giant robot can collectively suck my stealthy ass. Just try to find me! Hah hah!
I'm not quite sure if this is a positive comment, or a negative comment wrapped in positive sounding sarcasm. I'm responding as though it were the latter.
Your comment assumes that losing power to the facility is a catastrophe. I say it's not, if it's unmanned.
Yeah, your cooling setup is unpowered, but so are your heat sources.
I bet you could put a set of stilts into the ground, and build a computing environment wrapped around the stilts. Lower the equipment into the water when it's running, and raise it when it needs to be maintained.
If I recall the consensus was that anything you can hack together in software has a good chance of failing. Plus, honestly, do you really want to have tons of personal information waiting to go out any day that you forget to push the 'I'm not dead' button before you fall asleep?
Go get a safe deposit box, fill it with stuff, and leave the key with a lawyer.
On one notable mission, a group of Iraqi fighters surrendered to the [UAV] as it flew over their heads. Marines were directed to their position, where they then captured the fighters.
ConsoleClassix.com is a site which maintains a warehouse full of old game cartridges. They have a client which allows you to browse their library, check out a copy of the cartridge online, and play it in an emulator. They will only allow one person to play the game for every copy of the game they have in their warehouse.
They claim that this approach means they are not pirating the ROMs, since they have a 1:1 ratio of ROMs to physical cartridges.
I don't work for them, but I think the idea is really interesting.
(I recite the above information from the legal manifesto which used to be on their website. I can't find it now, so I don't know if their approach has changed.)
I'm not sure that using GPS to locate the ruined corpse of your beloved pet would really be that satisfying. Actually, if I could reclaim/reuse the chip without too much gore, the emotional closure of a decent burial could be worth it.
Plus the fact that I have a chance to reach my pet before they die.
PNGs are perfectly acceptable. IE6 isn't. (I am not the original AC).
Developing a commercial website which is problematic for 25% of its potential visitors is stupid and unacceptable. Come off of your Microsoft bashing mountaintop and face reality.
Whoever modded you insightful should have chosen Funny instead.
Hany Farid, a professor of computer science at Dartmouth College...says that "for tampering, there's no silver button." Silver button? What the heck is a silver button?
I'm assuming he was trying to say silver bullet. Do we blame the professor, or the journalist?
Seeing an article about high-reliability facial recognition has made me remember an idea that I've been kicking around.
It's my understanding that when you steal from a store, they ban you from ever returning to the store. I have always assumed that this ban is meaningless because they just don't have the resources to make sure that you don't come back.
But if they really could reliably keep you out of the store forever, would that alone be enough to keep people from shoplifting? A lifetime ban from WalMart would be devastating for my day-to-day routine - where would I buy light bulbs and cat food?
If you believed in hell, commonly defined as the abode of a force seeking your unhappiness where sinners suffer eternal punishment, you'd really prefer to go there?
Slashdot Mirror
I mostly agree with you, but I've had a few notable exceptions.
...Unfortunately, all of these websites were an inferior deal to what I found at thoughthammer.com, but the principle is there. I was happy to see ads for a product I was interested in.
For instance, I wanted to buy the board game "Ticket To Ride". Turn off ad-block, and go do a google-search for it. The ads are along the lines of "Ticket to Ride, $32!", "Buy Ticket to Ride, $25!", and "$17 off Ticket to Ride!".
Perhaps I undervalue my security and privacy, but I keep hoping for an increase in the targeted advertising I experience.
I don't want to refinance my house. I don't want to find relationships online. I don't want to find old classmates. I don't want to earn money by signing up for free trials. Even though I don't want these things, I see these ads a lot.
I like videogames and boardgames. I like anime. I like paintball. I like cooking. I already go out of my way to learn about new products and discounts in these areas.
I would love to surrender information about my interests in order to replace the ads I don't care about with ads that I do care about.
Say the USA borrows trillions of dollars from China and after a while goes bankrupt and can't repay them. That seems more like a bigger problem for China than the USA.
China is in the process of becoming a world superpower, including an effective military. You may recall that in Nov 2007 a previously undetected chinese submarine surfaced within striking range of a US Naval exercise. (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-492804/The-uninvited-guest-Chinese-sub-pops-middle-U-S-Navy-exercise-leaving-military-chiefs-red-faced.html). No hostile actions taken, but it appears that they could have done so if they wished.
I'm not saying that the US is about to go to war with china, and I'm not saying that it would lose if it did.
But I am saying that you should still be worried about the US placing itself in a position where it may later be forced to piss off a fellow world superpower.
"Oh, yeah, what are you gonna do? Release the dogs? Or the bees? Or the dogs with bees in their mouth and when they bark, they shoot bees at you?" --Homer Simpson
Who has a Wikipedia account with editing rights? Anybody? Anobody? Bueller? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_weapons_in_Star_Trek#Bat.27leth
That would be you. And every other single person on the face of the planet with an internet connection. They don't even make you log in first.
You do know that posting a comment negates any mods you do under this story, right?
Click on Technology. Then click background:
Cooling of semiconductor hot-spots has developed into a demanding task. In recent years the high power density of microchips has increased rapidly, thereby increasing temperature and temperature non -uniformity on die and across chips. The drive for extremely low thermal resistance if further accelerated by the trend towards smaller system enclosures which has made the cooling task even more difficult. This gives the cooling companies a new challenge. To create cooling devices that is reliable, efficient and compact. Danamics does all of those.
Then click Pump:
Electromagnetic pumps have been used for decades and have been seen in a variety of applications. From space crafts and satellites, on nuclear-driven surface warships and submarines and also in land based nuclear reactors and industrial applications. In space, at sea, at land and now also as a key element for hot spot cooling. An electromagnetic pump has several advantages over typical mechanical pump designs. It contains no moving parts, shafts, seals, etc., emits no noise or vibration, has unlimited MTBF and suffers no performance degrading over time. Typically electromagnetic pumps have had the drawback of a high current requirement. The Danamics patent pending multi-string electromagnetic pump eliminates this limitation and delivers a high flow with minimal current input. Due to the small size and power requirements, the multi-string pump makes a liquid metal cooler suitable for use in smaller applications such as home computers, workstations and even laptops.
Then click Liquid Metal:
The liquid metal is a key component in Danamics cooling systems. Liquid metal has two major advantages when cooling high power density heat sources: Firstly it has superior thermo physical properties that decrease temperature - and temperature nonâ"uniformity - on die and across chips. Secondly the electrical properties of the liquid metal enables efficient, reliable and ultra compact electromagnetic pumping without the use of moving parts, shafts, seals, etc.
Then click Benefits:
Liquid Metal has numerous key advantages compared to competing technologies, such as water-cooling or traditional air cooling. The most important ones are: Ultimate performance Danamics LM10 is the worldâ(TM)s best performing air-cooler. By utilizing the unique properties of liquid metal, the cooler has the lowest thermal resistance of any air-cooler in the market. The cooling capabilities exceeds most watercoolers in a single device. Easy mounting Compared to competing solutions, the Danamics LM10 is a true all-in-one product. There are no external housings, large reservoirs or bulky radiators. With liquid metal cooling you have true performance in a compact, self-contained unit. This makes mounting a breeze and the Danamics LM10 cooler can be mounted in minutes. No moving parts The superior liquid metal brings another advantage besides its efficiency. The properties of liquid metal make the use of an electromagnetic pump possible. Danamicsâ(TM) patent pending multi-string pump delivers high flow combined with a very low power-draw of less than 1W. No noise and no vibration Compared to watercooling pumps, the electromagnetic pump used in Danamics LM10 cooler has numerous benefits. It is hermetically sealed and has no moving parts, which means that no noise or vibration is added to the system from the electromagnetic pump. Also the pump is orientation independent, which ensures maximum flexibility for users and system integrators. Innovative technology Danamics LM10 is built from the ground up using innovative technology. The combination of liquid metal and an electromagnetic pump is all new in commercial cooling devices, bringing
There is a mod for Half-Life 2 where you use the Wii-Remote to control your character. I've never actually played the thing, so I can't speak for how well it works, but I understand that he uses motion controls to throw grenades and swing the crowbar.
The guy's home page seems to be down, though. It's normally found here: http://wii.hl2world.com/
Here is an alternate: http://www.moddb.com/mods/8775/half-life-2-wiimote-mod
Here is a YouTube video of the thing in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFa-Dusew0U
(Mod points! Where are my mod points?!)
The obvious answer is that he uses public restrooms. Saves all those tedious ownership costs, in exchange for a long walk and the small chance of contracting an exotic disease.
(Adapted from an awesome post from many years ago on Gamespy.com)
STOP BUILDING THE METAL GEAR
By Solid Snake
Hello. My name is Snake. You probably know me from the first time I destroyed Metal Gear. Or, you may remember me from the second time I destroyed Metal Gear. Or, the third and fourth times I destroyed Metal Gear. Perhaps, instead, you may be familiar with me as we eagerly await the fifth time I'm going to destroy Metal Gear, due for release in June 2008.
Sometimes people ask me -- a renowned Soldier of Fortune and virtually invisible stealth operative -- how we can best keep the increasingly global threat of terrorism at bay. Time and time again the united governments find themselves at the mercy of elite squads of terrorists who, often during sweeps week, hijack indestructible robots armed with nuclear strike capability and -- for reasons that even I can't fathom -- one lone operative (me) always has to stop them against all odds. Well, I have an answer to your little terrorist problem, Mr. four-star general and united world government military advisers.
STOP BUILDING THE METAL GEAR!
For heaven's sake, it seems like every couple of years some pathetic spongecakes in suits are sitting around a conference table and one of them says, "Hey, let's build the Metal Gear again." Then they say, "Certainly those pesky terrorists won't attempt to hijack the Metal Gear this time." Then when all the hell and the hurting happens, they're not the ones strapped to a table getting electrocuted by some pony-tailed punk who looks like Colonel Sanders.
I mean it. Certainly we can figure out something else to do with giant robots aside from using them as mobile platforms for 20 megaton nuclear warheads, although offhand I can't think of anything. Why do we need giant robots at all? Why can't we all just raise dogs, like I do when I'm not silently killing people from behind? I like dogs. Dogs are always happy to see you. They jump up and lick your face. Rarely do they don invisible Predator-esque stealth outfits and gang up on you in an elevator. Hardly ever have I seen a group of dogs pre-meditate a global holocaust by assaulting a giant robot stronghold. Primarily they spend their time smelling one anothers' butts.
In Conclusion, I cannot stress enough the problems associated with giant robots. One minute they're secure on a military compound quietly protecting the free world, the next thing you know there's a floating bald dude in a gasmask convincing your girlfriend to blow her own brains out. I'm drawing the line! Next time you jackholes build the stupid Metal Gear, I'm not going to save your asses. I'm gonna hang out in Alaska, munchin' cheetos on a bearskin rug while some husky licks my face.
You hear that, DARPA chief? The next time you build a Metal Gear, you, your advisors, and your giant robot can collectively suck my stealthy ass. Just try to find me! Hah hah!
Thank you for your time.
-Snake, Solid.
Mod parent up!
I'm not quite sure if this is a positive comment, or a negative comment wrapped in positive sounding sarcasm. I'm responding as though it were the latter.
Your comment assumes that losing power to the facility is a catastrophe. I say it's not, if it's unmanned.
Yeah, your cooling setup is unpowered, but so are your heat sources.
I bet you could put a set of stilts into the ground, and build a computing environment wrapped around the stilts. Lower the equipment into the water when it's running, and raise it when it needs to be maintained.
There were a few previous ask slashdots on this:
http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/10/0014220
http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/23/2334218
If I recall the consensus was that anything you can hack together in software has a good chance of failing. Plus, honestly, do you really want to have tons of personal information waiting to go out any day that you forget to push the 'I'm not dead' button before you fall asleep?
Go get a safe deposit box, fill it with stuff, and leave the key with a lawyer.
On one notable mission, a group of Iraqi fighters surrendered to the [UAV] as it flew over their heads. Marines were directed to their position, where they then captured the fighters.
Ahhh ha ha. Suckers.
ConsoleClassix.com is a site which maintains a warehouse full of old game cartridges. They have a client which allows you to browse their library, check out a copy of the cartridge online, and play it in an emulator. They will only allow one person to play the game for every copy of the game they have in their warehouse.
They claim that this approach means they are not pirating the ROMs, since they have a 1:1 ratio of ROMs to physical cartridges.
I don't work for them, but I think the idea is really interesting.
(I recite the above information from the legal manifesto which used to be on their website. I can't find it now, so I don't know if their approach has changed.)
Dude, you just made the former owner of that busted startup cry. You should feel ashamed.
While the rest of us laugh.
Plus the fact that I have a chance to reach my pet before they die.
When I glanced over the summary, I thought that said a petawatt taser.
Thought to myself...ouch.
Developing a commercial website which is problematic for 25% of its potential visitors is stupid and unacceptable. Come off of your Microsoft bashing mountaintop and face reality.
Whoever modded you insightful should have chosen Funny instead.
I'm assuming he was trying to say silver bullet. Do we blame the professor, or the journalist?
Seeing an article about high-reliability facial recognition has made me remember an idea that I've been kicking around.
It's my understanding that when you steal from a store, they ban you from ever returning to the store. I have always assumed that this ban is meaningless because they just don't have the resources to make sure that you don't come back.
But if they really could reliably keep you out of the store forever, would that alone be enough to keep people from shoplifting? A lifetime ban from WalMart would be devastating for my day-to-day routine - where would I buy light bulbs and cat food?
If you believed in hell, commonly defined as the abode of a force seeking your unhappiness where sinners suffer eternal punishment, you'd really prefer to go there?
Or was that sarcasm?
It worked great in Katamari Damacy. On behalf of the royal family of the cosmos, I request that you never clean your room again.
So what keeps you from getting a subtle identifying mark (barcode, watermark, whatever) placed on your individually printed ballot?
And then what keeps someone from paying off those who voted as instructed, or beating the hell out of someone who didn't vote as instructed?