The question was never: is there really global warming. It was instead what is the cause? Is this a bad thing? Can we change it?

Why are marketing teams slinging out buzz words like Nano and cube all the time. When they are not even close to being scientifically accurate.

The dimensions are 10mm x 10mm x 30mm. I guess Rectangular Sail doesn't have the same ring to it.

Its not Nano either. That would mean... 10^-9 meters

What if they start putting nano-machines in space, cubed nano machines? It should be called a Deci-Satellite (10^-1). That way the magnitude is accurate (1 decimeter ~ .328 feet)

What would make more sense is if Ubuntu would give you an option of how a kilo or kibi byte is represented. I for one don't see the new standard as a problem if it clears up confusion. Just Call it KibiByte (for 1024 bytes). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilobyte

JEDEC was originally a memory standard. 2^10=1024; however knowing the SI of kilo meaning 1000 this is ambiguous. So a new standard was adopted: the KibiByte or KiB. A KibiByte is the new name for 1024 bytes.

The lingo has changed, hardrive makers have been using this for a while (they put kB on their products and it just means 1000 Bytes). I wish they put the words 1 TiB on Hardrives (then we would have as much space as we thought we bought).

When you give computers to the public they usually get abused. In my experience computer lab, and library computers are more messed up than any computer I have at home.

But yes, assuming they treated them like you and me, I think it would be a great idea. It would give us peace of mind, and decrease cyber crime.

Correction: Even the beams being put into bridges are bendable concrete because they are stronger and lighter than metal.

More on that Bendable concrete: "Essentially, the fibers create many microcracks with a very specific width, rather than a few very large cracks (as in conventional concrete.) This allows ECC to deform without catastrophic failure" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bendable_concrete

But before Bendable concrete this is how things were done: There are 3 kinds of forces, Tension, Compression, and Torsion (twisting motion).

Concrete is not "stronger" than steel, it is simply better in compression than steel (it can support more weight). If concrete is in tension beyond the limit, it will break (suddenly and without warning). Concrete is reinforced with steel because the steel complements it. Steel shows signs of fatigue before it breaks when over its limit. Also with changing temperatures, both steel and concrete expand and contract at similar ratios.

I once thought that it would be cool to have a virtual world where we could all build things and destroy things. Like a virtual "playground" or "sandbox". It seems like corporation's idea of a virtual playground is one where you have to pay significant sums for your virtual toys. I think that is wrong. I dream of a day when you can have an open source virtual playground, where the users design the worlds, items and their own appearances. Where cool costumes and items are free and shared. I'm not saying that the experience would be about appearances though. I think an ideal virtual world would combine the ability to jot down ideas and store them in a manner that we are used to. Or to run physics simulations in a virtual setting that looks and behaves like our own world. Add to that the ability to fly, make objects that are not effected by gravity, and physical (artistic) impossibilities. If you have seen the movie the Matrix I'm sure you understand the beauty of having virtual worlds. In a virtual world your perceived success is much greater than in real life. Also resources in a virtual world should be very cheap. Everything is software. We have the technology to make a virtual world look graphically realistic. The only thing left to do is make an input device that allows movements of any finger, arm, leg, back, neck...etc. Virtual worlds will become the next great idea space (a place where people can make their ideas and dreams real). In the future it would make more sense to teach an Artificial Intelligence inside a virtual world than in the real world (as an AI in the real world could cause no real harm if it run amok in a virtual world).

Surrogates are a logical next step after internet bandwidths increase. We have the technology.

Very well written: girlintraining The only way we can have true improvement (quality of life): is to increase lifespans and build a better human brain. There are so many bad incentives designed into the human mind. We do things that are bad for us, we do them a lot. We eat junk food when we know we shouldn't. We prefer to entertain ourselves with movies, tv shows and games. These things have no functional value. I think of the resources squandered on the creation of faster and faster gaming rigs, all for people to have that dopamine rush.

Would it be any different if we had electrodes hooked up to our brains in that same area? We seek immediate gratification rather than the long term reward. The greatest underminer of democracy, and capitalism is the human mind. Capitalism would work better if there weren't so many greedy people. You have a democracy for long enough and it boils down to group think decisions and mob rule. With each successive generation the society becomes dumbed down.

On the opposite spectrum we have poor people who don't work who think they are entitled what higher classes work for. Mean while the middle class (the Engineers, Doctors, Architects, Programmers, Fire Fighters) gets squeezed with additional taxes.

In theory a benevolent leader would be ideal, in theory communism would work. These things will never work, can never work with humans with such short lifespans, brains with bad incentives and illogical tendencies.

Just imagine what the world would be like if people were born unselfish, were logical (not just some people, but all people). I'm not encouraging a Gattaca style future either. I think people should be able to change their tendencies and lifespan even after they are born. Maybe even some kind of "soul transfer" (moving whatever part of us to another, that makes me me and you you).

~Wouldn't these contacts be a little blurry, it is so close to your peripheral vision.

Unless... you were scanning from a boot CD.

The British Defense Ministry has reported 205 laptops missing since 1997 -- most of which contained classified information. That's an average of 51 lost laptops per year. The latest was reported missing on Monday. This one reportedly contained data about new weapons systems. Its owner left it in the back of a taxi. To combat this spate of missing-in-action machines, the Defense Ministry plans to outfit their absent-minded workers with secret-agent-style briefcases that protect national secrets by automatically destroying the contents of lost laptops' hard drives. Thieves have been blamed for some of the laptop losses, but the majority of the missing machines were simply mislaid by tipsy or distracted agents. Read More http://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/2001/04/43088#ixzz0iGiAjJpW

Personally I think prevention is the best solution. You'll never get Malware, if you never connect to the internet and never install anything.

In Mythbusters they proved you could infact find the needle in the haystack http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MythBusters_(2004_season)#Needle_in_a_Haystack

To go to the Moon again makes sense. We need to make a Moon Base. A permanent Moon Base. To go to Mars and back would be expensive. And a bit silly at this point. If we plan to go to Mars in a manned mission it makes more sense to go when we can establish a permanent colony. If we really want to live on Mars we need to: 1) put a biosphere in the Artic first. That way we can fix any problems that we didn't anticipate (shortages of supplies, accidents, etc). 2) put a biosphere on the Moon. And make it a permanent settlement, expand it and make it into a lauch site for rockets. Have entire generations live on the Moon: schools, businesses, colonies. 3) The end goal would be to put a biosphere on Mars The biggest hurdles to get over will be: Creating a biosphere that can scale, and keep it running with the only inputs being energy and the raw materials available on Mars. What will power a permanent Mars base? Fission? Fuel Cell? Solar? Wind? What will build the cities in Mars? Self replicating robots? A couple large but efficient builder robots? Or will they be like the Earth movers we already use? How do we cost effectively get that much stuff into orbit to build the giant rocket to get to Mars? We could mine asteroids and build rockets in space or on the Moon. I think it makes the most sense to start with a space colony (in space or the Moon) outside the Earth, and from their population and resources move on to Mars. Starting from Earth and going directly to Mars would require such a big rocket to start with (or many smaller rockets that would have to be assembled in space). A space elevator would be possible for the Moon already (and maybe for Mars). Earth->Mars is impractical (like a Saturn V except Bigger) Earth->Moon is doable (with a very big rocket) Earth->Moon->Mars would be much easier with a Moon Base A Moon Base would be a significant investment (assuming a one time cost, it could provide a growing population that could hopefully scale) There are of course political problems that could arise if the colony wanted to become an independent entity and wanted to claim Mars for itself. As it is the Moonists would be the ones who would go to Mars. Moon->Earth is easy (with minimal thrust) Mars->Earth could be done (it has less gravity than Earth, it might be possible to construct a space elevator for Mars)