tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post7021154120575085442..comments2024-03-29T00:39:31.629-07:00Comments on CONTRARY BRIN: The Decline -- and Future -- of ManufacturingDavid Brinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comBlogger55125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-59588709046201679632010-11-18T18:31:46.374-08:002010-11-18T18:31:46.374-08:00how do we know that the galaxy is composed of matt...<i>how do we know that the galaxy is composed of matter?</i><br /><br />Off-hand, I don't know the definitive answer (or even if there is one). However, a substantial region of anti-matter would be continually encountering matter at some sort of boundary, and the characteristic annihilation energies would be a dead giveaway. (M31 shows a spike at 0.511MeV? Hmmm!)<br />One of Niven's 'Known Space' stories involves an anti-matter star system passing through the galaxy: the Outsiders had pointed it out as the most interesting system *without* saying why. The intrepid explorers had to figure it out for themselves!<br /><br />Closer to home, check out the 3-D <a href="http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00002781/" rel="nofollow">snow storm around comet Hartley-2</a>.<br /><br />(Certain authorities may address the dungeon dimensions on achieving their daily word target. ;-)Tony Fiskhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14578160528746657971noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-39445299274288265992010-11-18T13:20:48.683-08:002010-11-18T13:20:48.683-08:00So scientists have managed to capture an antimatte...So <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/11/101118-antimatter-trapped-engines-bombs-nature-science-cern/" rel="nofollow">scientists have managed to capture an antimatter particle.</a> One step closer to M/AM reactors and warp drive...<br /><br />That, or a Vatican take-over plot...Ilithi Dragonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10300247936272572280noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-51882874425025089932010-11-18T12:46:07.079-08:002010-11-18T12:46:07.079-08:00What if money lending for interest were banned ent...What if money lending for interest were banned entirely? <br /><br />This is not a new idea - many religious traditions declare it to be evil, and their respective theocracies banned it. Could it be those old guys knew what they were talking about? <br /><br />Lending with sharing of risks and rewards is generally allowed/encouraged in those religious traditions. I suspect that leads to lending only within a network of strong trust. You trust persons A, B and C and they tell you that they trust D, so you are willing to take a share of the risk of investing with D. And of course, you could lend to a trusted person, knowing that he will in turn lend to others he trusts.<br /><br />But I haven't seen much about the social/economic consequences. E.g., what does that do to those on the outside of those trust networks? <br /><br />Wouldn't it limit opportunity to the "trusted" rich and powerful, with at best trickle-down lending to those at the bottom? And of course, those at the bottom are better left there, as a useful pool of labor - trust them enough to employ them, but not enough to lend them money to become independent?<br /><br />Or does the system simply recognize that the poor are generally much less skilled in handling and investing for profit, and their reduced opportunity under that system reflects that truth? As soon as they learn to handle money better, they can get in on the network of trust too. (Catch 22...)<br /><br />So - is lending for interest truly bad for a society - or is that an idea inspired by the self-interest of those with money who are smart enough to set rules to help them avoid getting TOO greedy. <br /><br />Are the poor who borrow money and can't pay it back (such as those who got to live in nice houses they couldn't really afford) worse off for taking advantage of greedy lenders' loans?<br /><br />Either way - it would seem like it'd be better if our educational system concentrated less on getting (most) kids ready to be intellectuals, and more on preparing them to get into business for themselves.TwinBeamnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-65369745728416679742010-11-18T11:54:40.670-08:002010-11-18T11:54:40.670-08:00Or ... turning down the political lamp and turning...Or ... turning down the political lamp and turning up the geeky science lamp ... this amused me, but is the math right?<br /><i><br />"....in a Newtonian world where there is no speed limit.... take four particles of equal mass and arrange them in two binary pairs orbiting within two planes that are parallel and with zero total angular momentum. Now introduce a fifth much lighter particle that oscillates back and forth along the perpendicular through the mass centres of the two binary pairs. The particles will expand to infinite size in a finite time..." </i><br /><a href="http://plus.maths.org/content/outer-space-twos-company-threes-crowd" rel="nofollow">Full Article Here</a>rewinnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14008105385364113371noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-30751951769977514642010-11-18T09:01:15.155-08:002010-11-18T09:01:15.155-08:00What can be said about the attempt to block renewa...What can be said about the attempt to block renewal of <br /><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101116/ap_on_go_co/us_us_russia_nuclear" rel="nofollow">Ronald Reagan's plan to inspect Russia's nukes</a>?rewinnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14008105385364113371noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-31139418360806723082010-11-18T08:18:53.872-08:002010-11-18T08:18:53.872-08:00The fun part of science is we have probabilities, ...The fun part of science is we have probabilities, many approaching certainty, but still probability. An antimatter star anywhere near us seems unlikely, but in another galaxy, who knows?Tim H.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-45767370823503298722010-11-18T04:55:20.647-08:002010-11-18T04:55:20.647-08:00Scientists have successfully captured for a short ...<a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2010/1118/1224283626658.html" rel="nofollow">Scientists have successfully captured for a short period of time anti-atoms</a>. I must admit a little bit of curiosity: how do we <i>know</i> that the galaxy is composed of matter? Would the light from an anti-matter galaxy be different somehow from that of a matter galaxy? It's believed they possess the same mass as regular matter... so how do we <i>know</i> what is matter in the universe... and what is not?<br /><br />Rob H., just a tiny bit curiousAcacia H.https://www.blogger.com/profile/07678539067303911329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-64158348184974578262010-11-17T23:50:18.530-08:002010-11-17T23:50:18.530-08:00David,
Considering your recent comment that you t...David,<br /><br />Considering your recent comment that you think endosymbionts evolving into organelles has happened repeatedly, you might be interested in a possible example of this process happening today.<br /><br />http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carsonella_ruddiiIanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01739671401151990700noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-67100416298936984102010-11-17T18:25:04.767-08:002010-11-17T18:25:04.767-08:00I always felt that he got the bum's rush there...I always felt that he got the bum's rush there. And he should have tried for his pound of flesh without a drop of blood. If you're very careful you can pull the epidermis off of someone without causing bleeding. Depending on whether you go for merely dead skin or for living tissue as well, it can be just mildly irritating to actually rather painful.<br /><br />Stripping him of his religion was adding insult to injury. <br /><br />Rob H.Acacia H.https://www.blogger.com/profile/07678539067303911329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-73094955973201772892010-11-17T17:14:30.339-08:002010-11-17T17:14:30.339-08:00...The moral being to adopt haemophobic lending pr......The moral being to adopt haemophobic lending practices.<br /><br />pardse: an fictional paradise, modelled on Madagascar without the ai-ai. (Speaking of which, there's movement in the north: does the <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/world/i-can-beat-obama-in-2012-says-palin-20101118-17y8q.html" rel="nofollow">ice girl</a> cometh?)Tony Fiskhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14578160528746657971noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-61641040301724469262010-11-17T16:35:41.518-08:002010-11-17T16:35:41.518-08:00The micro-credit concept was a good way out of the...The micro-credit concept was a good way out of the poverty trap, but it seems to be turning into a micro-sub-prime.<br /><br />One begins to see why Shakespeare was so down on money-lenders. (if you must have your pound of flesh, then spill not a drop of blood)Tony Fiskhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14578160528746657971noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-58096638732790440792010-11-17T16:06:03.421-08:002010-11-17T16:06:03.421-08:00India's micro-credit sector may collapse<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/18/world/asia/18micro.html?_r=1&hp" rel="nofollow">India's micro-credit sector may collapse</a>TwinBeamnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-18280442413992916442010-11-17T16:03:24.552-08:002010-11-17T16:03:24.552-08:00What do you guys make of this "classified&quo...What do you guys make of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vyi-zM3n37g&feature=player_embedded" rel="nofollow">this "classified" bill?</a>Ilithi Dragonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10300247936272572280noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-75053460152157372322010-11-17T04:35:11.593-08:002010-11-17T04:35:11.593-08:00Impressive. Most impressive.
When you weigh aroun...Impressive. Most impressive.<br /><br />When you weigh around 8 tonnes, the surf had *better* be up!Tony Fiskhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14578160528746657971noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-78715881300444284052010-11-17T03:06:11.747-08:002010-11-17T03:06:11.747-08:00Killer whales were caught on camera surfing. The o...<a href="http://www.grindtv.com/surf/blog/22111/new+zealand+orcas+join+surfers+in+search+for+the+perfect+wave/" rel="nofollow">Killer whales were caught on camera surfing</a>. The only thing I have to wonder is: did they learn to do this on their own? Or did they see humans do this, wonder what was up, and decide to emulate it and learn it was fun? <br /><br />Damn spectacular pictures though. <br /><br />Rob H.Acacia H.https://www.blogger.com/profile/07678539067303911329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-42723545179355737402010-11-16T11:14:56.095-08:002010-11-16T11:14:56.095-08:00oops
http://www.zawya.com/story.cfm/sidGN_1103201...oops<br /><br />http://www.zawya.com/story.cfm/sidGN_11032010_120349/The%20Billionaires%20Club?cc&pass=1<br /><br />http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Saudi_billionaires<br /><br />http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_richest_royals<br /><br /><br />http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Arabs_by_net_worthDavid Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-39390292939462776722010-11-16T11:10:55.508-08:002010-11-16T11:10:55.508-08:00Gonna cache this info here, in case I need it late...Gonna cache this info here, in case I need it later. On another list, a fellow provided this background material:<br /><br /><i>==<br /><br />I agree that some foreign billionaires in the middle east may want feudalism<br />and maybe the idiot Prince Charles and people like him.<br /><br />http://www.zawya. com/story. cfm/sidGN_ 11032010_ 120349/The% 20Billionaires% 20Club<br /><br />http://en.wikipedia .org/wiki/ List_of_Saudi_ billionaires<br /><br />http://en.wikipedia .org/wiki/ List_of_the_ richest_royals<br /><br />http://en.wikipedia .org/wiki/ List_of_Arabs_ by_net_worth<br /><br />http://en.wikipedia .org/wiki/ List_of_richest_ American_ politicians<br /></i>David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-66926304650828782312010-11-16T10:26:43.913-08:002010-11-16T10:26:43.913-08:00I find the spacetime cloak to be a little fantasti...I find the spacetime cloak to be a little fantastical...<br /><br />That aside, though, it wouldn't work for thievery because the stretched pre-theft light would be red-shifted, while the accelerated post-theft light would be blue-shifted.Ilithi Dragonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10300247936272572280noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-86936207459125568542010-11-16T08:32:43.488-08:002010-11-16T08:32:43.488-08:00Space-Time invisibility, from the link: "A s...Space-Time invisibility, from the link: "A safecracker would be able, for a brief time, to enter a scene, open the safe, remove its contents, close the door and exit the scene, while the record of a surveillance camera apparently showed that the safe door was closed all the time," according to their paper.<br /><br />Uh - this needed a scientific paper? I see this gimmick used all the time in "heist" movies! <br /><br />They're just saying it could be done in a more elaborately convoluted way, without touching the camera.TwinBeamnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-1498384373614764302010-11-15T20:58:23.385-08:002010-11-15T20:58:23.385-08:00...and in news just to hand:
The falcon heeds the......and in news just to hand:<br /><br />The falcon heeds the falconer!:<br /><br /><i>1500 grains retrieved from the Hayabusa return sample capsule 'are of extra-terrestrial origin'</i> <br />- <a href="http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00002775/" rel="nofollow">Link</a>Tony Fiskhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14578160528746657971noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-83899248620181906592010-11-15T20:22:06.774-08:002010-11-15T20:22:06.774-08:00You've heard of invisibility cloaks: metamate...You've heard of invisibility cloaks: metamaterials that bend light around an object, effectively hiding it in space?<br />Now they're looking to do the same trick, <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/11/16/3067650.htm" rel="nofollow">in time</a>!<br /><br />urelith: rocky formation made from frozen urea.Tony Fiskhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14578160528746657971noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-84155722754825400782010-11-15T17:59:47.334-08:002010-11-15T17:59:47.334-08:00I liked Tinkerer, but the wordiness and pitch put ...I liked Tinkerer, but the wordiness and pitch put me in mind of those little evangelical comic book tracts. <br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chick_tract" rel="nofollow">"Chick Tracts"</a><br /><br />(Ergo, I liked those too...?)TwinBeamnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-68677657889402433562010-11-15T12:54:33.808-08:002010-11-15T12:54:33.808-08:00Agree with Tacitus on the 'templates'. I t...Agree with Tacitus on the 'templates'. I think the guy he tagged as Peter Lorre was actually Udo Kier, a favorite modern-day character actor of mine. <br /><br />The arab prince was clearly Alexander Siddig from 'Deep Space 9', who should be EVERY arab prince, really. (He was great in 'Syriana').Nyctotherionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02094904210772895432noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-79818343343328735972010-11-15T10:13:07.816-08:002010-11-15T10:13:07.816-08:00I think Dr. Pournelle was pleasantly surprised by ...I think Dr. Pournelle was pleasantly surprised by the iPhone showing up so early. And my daughter & stepson were exposed to computers early, but it was 8-bit Atari & PCs at first, younger children will be computer literate differently, and think anyone who used a command line did so while fending off mastodons... ;)Tim H.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-63999395482589876392010-11-15T09:32:50.236-08:002010-11-15T09:32:50.236-08:00The world is at her fingertips and to her it's...<i>The world is at her fingertips and to her it's totally normal. I have no idea how this will shape her expectations as she grows.</i><br /><br />This puts me in mind of a scene in Niven and Pournelle's <i>The Mote In God's Eye</i>, in which Sally Fowler is trying to recall the exact wording of a conversation she had with her Motie aboard the embassy ship. She knows the data is filed somewhere in the <i>Lenin</i>'s database, but can't recall the exact tags - so she scrawls a few things on the screen of her pocket computer, and it hunts down the data for her.<br /><br />This doesn't really count as prophecy of smartphones or iPads, though, as the novel was set during the 31st Century...Jonathan S.noreply@blogger.com