:D You got it in one! This ex-airline pilot has her toes curled up in horror at the number of probable problems . . . At high speeds . . . With no-where to go! The Russians have spend many years trying to master this technology, no doubt because of the promise, but their efforts have produced prodigiously expensive-to-run, and amazingly complex, devices. Now mouldering. Given current computing speeds there is the probablity that stability augmentation will be up to the task of constraining the suggested mass in the tight confines of the concrete channel - but Ooo Aaah! The potential for dramatic failures! Save resources. Teach people to fly -- themselves. Grow us a decent pair of wings, and it's all good! ?

Resistive touch screen! Where to I sign up! I have and stick with an old Palm Treo 650, and use MobileWrite for hand-drawn text input (think shorthand, Palm text input on steroids), and will be lost when it goes, if HP can't move on with the platform and produce a replacement. I can take notes at a lecture without taking my eye off the presentation, flick to a graphics app and do a quick (and tight) sketch of what is being presented, and have wonderfully precise input using my converted_bamboo_knitting_needle stylus which is longer that the plastic standard, so I only have to use micro hand movements. At 3am I'll reach for it to do engineering idea draughts (think graphics shorthand). Capacitive input better? Why? Are your fingers about 1mm at the tip, or is grabbing a 'stylus' (retracted biro, any firm pointed object, fingernail) too difficult? Not for me, kids. If Andoid can duplicate this usability, I'm in. (And my Touch 4 will go further back on the shelf, except when I need it's super-thin form factor to match an outfit :) ) But yes, a low quality resistive screen would be a pain; probably similar to a capacitive screen :D

Every note I have read to date (I soon gave up - too boring) seemed just honest opinions, reasonably honestly expressed. Could this be the start of something new in Intl. relationships, perhaps? Honesty? Oh! Don't be so stupid, you foolish old woman, you. Radical, but.

So what state did you grow up in? Or need I ask?

Where to start? Get Lovellock up to speed, for a start. I'm an ex radio tech, and the CO2 curve is that of a full blown runaway positive feedback. Why? We can only guess. 'Science' has started too late to gather the data in time. You got any ideas? Didn't think so. I've been banging on in Oz for about 2 years now that, as the +ve reaction will go terminal by about 2016-2017, and given the graph's slope, the *only* possible way to reduce emissions to below what the planet can absorb is political extremism. 'We' need to introduce Facist government techniques universally, probably for 25-30 years, at least until 'we' can be trusted to not ramp the shit back up again. Fat chance. So like the characters in Neville Shutes 'On the Beach', I have given up trying to 'save the planet', and am now starting to ramp up my consumption to the general excessive levels practiced by most Australians. (The Yanks are way down the scale.) Enjoy what time is left to all but the bugs that reside in asbestos mines. They may have a faint chance of adjusting to the temps coming to a future just ahead of you. Unless we *all* swerve. In unison. All 6 billion of we planetary pathogens in our once pretty Petrie dish. Likely? Nup. Byeeeee.

Actually just one year too early. As was usual then, and probably still now (I stay regressively in Office vX) the year after the release of Win the Mac version of the latest Office release came with a Mac version of clippie in Excel. That little ol' Mac 128 with legs can still raise a smile if I leave it out to play. I'll never forget the first time it sat down, bored with entertaining itself by turning into a Rubic's Cube and solving itself, and nodded off, 'head' in lap, being totally ignored - until the sudden loud noise of something being dropped cause work to stop and my confused look around, to eventual discover the little Mac flat on it's back on screen, fast asleep. ROFL squared. Done with great humour, and very responsive to your style of work as to what it things it got up to. But then, I guess I'm officially an ancient these days. Someone did knew how to code in that dept. And yes, 'he' would offer contextual help, albeit not always of any great use. p.s. sorry about the blob of text - it's so long since I've done one, that I've forgotten how to do a hard return on the Mac keyboard.

Hear hear. Combine Palm Graffiti and MobileWrite, a clean Notepad page in my Treo, and any trusty stylus, and I'm taking (error laden) shorthand and following the lecture tightly, heads up.. The only improvement possible in my eyes would be a built-in telephoto camera to grab the odd diagram as it flashes by. You would then have the perfect personal recording device. Used my Treo for years (sans camera_sigh) with great success & recall. Retyping the faux-shorthand (while deciphering the errors) locks the text into the synapses. Ancient learning skill. Effective. Palm good because it has a high definition resistive touch screen, as against low definition capacitive sensing on most other devices.

Gee! I better stop doing that in most of my emails, done in the interests of the conservation of scarce electrons. Bah! Typical US extravagance.

Yeeeeeeeesssssss!

Been trying to get this done in Oz for four years +.

Well done the US of A.

Well, Utah at least.

Mmmm

From the originating (1) report: "Caracas has 96 murders per 100,000 inhabitants, and New Orleans registers 95 my emphasis, said the Mexican non-governmental organization, which based its figures on media reports and an FBI report for the United States"

Fastinating how the CNA* herd charge all over reality.#

* CNA = Central North America

# Actually; depressing. I so understand various non-CNA people's anger towards them.

I think the current Russian proposals show a better & more wide ranging analysis of the task. But who am I to comment on such vast potentials and tecnicalities. Have a quiet read of http://www.russianspaceweb.com/maks2009/index.htm, and recall that almost the entire low earth orbit achievements for the last 10-15 years have been enabled by the Russian engineer's pragmatism, and auto docking/manual reversion enabled supply vehicles. Yes a lot of heavy lifting has been done by the shuttle, but lots of small bricks can do the same job, and probably more cheaply. If only we could somehow just give the world's engineers a measured bucket of finance, and say âCan you do this for us?â(TM) Then step back. Hard for politicians to do. Personally I believe the engineers (EU, Russian, USSR, & US of A) have been doing some stunning work for years, on such very tight budgets, with their developed, and developing robotics, to marvellous effect. Thanks gals ân guys. Way to go, as far as Iâ(TM)m concerned. Totally productive; flaws only hurt budgets, no-oneâ(TM)s bodies; stunning returns to date. (And please - >someone tell me how to insert a line spacing Return at this xyz blog! Please?)

I'd delete _usually_, but not necessarily regarding the contractors. . . I was on a jury a while back, on a case brought by the Feds, and their boof-headed NSW public school boy damaged_by_too_many_rugby_tackles statements and behaviour in court was remarked on, and joked about, by all on the jury. The three ex-military men on the jury said they would have stood the Fed reps down and charged them with wilful incompetence if they had been under their command! And don't get me started on who should be charged in the Mr McKinnon case. I should have had him thanked him for bringing the security flaws to light, and given him a pat on the back! I guess it proves that attack is still the best means of defence, if your neck may be on the line.

I refer you to a post of mine 10 (or so) years back, where (where? errmmm) I suggested the Clayser Printer in a data longevity discussion, in which 4,000 year old clay tablets featured. You would load the Clayser with fine clay & water, which the printer mixes on demand & rolls out into a fine sheet. It burns data to the surface, and finally bakes the clay to Babylonian hardness. Sure, the tablets may be a little brittle, but there is a storage opportunity, surely, for an enterprising young entrepreneur?