Cerebral Stasis

The problem with the Martian atmosphere isn't that there is not enough carbon dioxide (the atmosphere is, in fact, 95.32% carbon dioxide, so, in theory, plants would thrive there), but instead that the atmosphere is too thin (.7 kPa - .9 kPa, compared to Earth's 100kPa) for the planet to have enough pressure to support life, which also affects how much heat is trapped from the sun. As a result, the average temperature of mars is -63 C, which is obviously far too cold for plant life. So, in short, there won't be any way for Mars to be colonized outside of some kind of bubble or something, unless some Star Trek-like terraforming processes are invented (won't happen in our lifetime, nor probably in five lifetimes to come). Furthermore, if you can believe the source, Martian soil has been found to be highly toxic, so not only would one need atmosphere and water, but soil as well. Kind of a barebones package, isn't it? Facts taken from here and here.

I never got into The Simpsons, myself, and I love the plots/humor/characters of Futurama. There are some jokes there that are absolutely brilliant, but I find every episode at least midly amusing.

I would never pay such a huge price just to advertise my website on a cluttered billboard-image that would only show one in a hundred times (unless I bought space on every billboard image, and there are over a hundred of them). It's just so cluttered that trying to focus on one ad out of the jumble gives me a headache. The website should be billboardchaos.comOn the other hand, it was a genious plan for the student to come up with to fund his college education. I'm just surprised that there are people stupid enough to spend good money on something so expensive and, chances are, unused as that for advertising.

I have to disagree. I've never considered Google to be "focused on the almighty dollar", although they undoubtedly are. I think that they offer lots of quality free services, which is more than one can say for Microsoft.

They don't really have a choice but to jam in as many fancy special effects as possible. As movies have become an older technology, it seems the amount of plot and story that goes into making a movie have some quality has steadily dropped as well (maybe not linearly), and as a result, movie companies must make their movies prettier and more groundbreaking in order to continue to impress their audiences. There is less and less that one can make a movie about that is original, and people tire of the same old stuff over and over again. I expect that the movie industry will last for many decades to come, but there will eventually be a point at which movies won't be interesting enough for an audience unless they become more like games (or holo-novels, as in the case of Star Trek). For me, it's already coming closer and closer to that point.

No, they are not "attacking" MSN Messenger; they are simply offering an alternative, which is their right as a business. For example, if I started a new computer company and began selling commercially-manufatured computers, similar to those of Gateway, Dell, and Compaq (except that they would work, of course), I wouldn't necessary be "attacking" any of those computer companies. I would simply be competing. Business (when done honestly/lawfully, anyway) is a race; not a war.

This thread was originally about how, if a human mission goes to Mars, they will need to grow their own foods in order to sustain themselves throughout the entire stay, since one can only pack so much dehydrated food into a suitcase.Serverph, according to said treaty that was signed by all major world powers, he does, in fact, have every right to claim ownership of all extraterrestrial bodies, and has legally done so. He is selling plots of moons and planets that are, in fact, real estate. It's no joke or hoax, although it seems silly. He had announced that, if any country had a problem with him owning the solar system, they could take it up with him. Here it is, years later, and no country has yet filed any complaints about his "business." I'm considering buying a plot of land for my father for his birthday. He's always wanted to have a farm, but chances are he won't get one in his lifetime, so it's kind of a"thought that counts" thing, since his "farmland" obviously won't be farmable in either of our lifetimes. On the other hand, if one buys some shares to a planet or satellite (moon), it could actually be worth some real money in the unforeseeable future (to one's decendants, for example).As I said, it's the thought that counts.

The idea isn't for it to just be "cool"; the idea is for portability (for PDAs and such). Although, considering how inaccurate it currently is, a roll-up keyboard would be a much more productive purchase at the moment.

You are correct, Realthor - NASA did lose contact with the rover Spirit, as can be read here, but that was over a year ago, and, from what I have heard, it has since regained contact and is now functional again. As for it falling in a crater or hitting a boulder, I haven't heard anything about that so far. Notice from jlhaslip: editted as reported

Actually, Dennis Hope claims ownership of Mars (as well as all other lunar and planetary bodies in our solar system, in accordance with the Outer Space Treaty, from which he exploited a loophole and now supposedly owns everything outside of Earth - read more here), but if you can't decide upon a present to your parents for their birthday, you could buy them a few acres of fertile farmland on Martian soil at this website that they can legally call their own. Atmosphere sold seperately.

I think I've read articles about this myself, and have also gotten quite hyped up about the idea of a holographic computer and all that good science fiction stuff. However, one must realize that light cannot reflect off of air - the projector would either have to be blowing out something to reflect the image, or you would have to be in a room that was either filled with dust or full of airborn particles. I wouldn't want to have a screen that I would have to refill with microscopic pellets in order to view something. It's not hard to imagine this virtual keyboard being buggy, since it would have to use lasers directed from a mostly horizontal angle to detect which key was being pressed. One could block the readout by putting one's finger in the way, thus having it register the press of an incorrect key. Besides, I like the feel of physical keys under my fingers - it would be tough to get used to feeling nothing but desk while tapping away (just put your fingers on a table and try it).

As was said, judging from both the price and the people who use them, Macs are meant to be used commercially for professional video editing and special effects rendering. They're really not meant to be personal computers.

I have to agree with the gamers here. Intel, from what I've been told (never used AMD, myself), is better for gaming, whether it be due to their processor builds themselves, or due to game optimization for certain Intel chips. Since I don't run servers or anything like that, I've never had a reason to try anything besides Intel, and I don't plan to, either, since it's walys worked very well for me (although the Intel CPU fans are weak and loud).

I have to agree with the gamers here. Intel, from what I've been told (never used AMD, myself), is better for gaming, whether it be due to their processor builds themselves, or due to game optimization for certain Intel chips. Since I don't run servers or anything like that, I've never had a reason to try anything besides Intel, and I don't plan to, either, since it's walys worked very well for me (although the Intel CPU fans are weak and loud).

I think it's a shame. How can one now make humorous parodies of their logo, such as "Idiot Inside" or "Intel Outside"? I guess we'll just have to torment some other company.

I'm assuming it probably is. I'm pretty sure that it is at least the equal of the latest 64-bit processor, and combining that with the Mac's style of data transmission that creates fewer pipelines, it probably is the most powerful commertially-made PC out there. A shame that Macs can't get a taste of a real computer game. Aside from video editing/rendering, it sounds like an excellent gaming PC.

To your earlier comment about laser printers creating heat, laser printers use lasers hundreds of times more powerful than any laser that would be used in an optical chip. Also, silicon circuits, holding electricity and passing it along by conductivity, allows for some energy to escape in the form of heat, thus causing the chips to become warm. An optical chip, however, wouldn't lose near as much energy to heat (most wasted energy would instead be lost as light), but if the lasers, packed together, did create quite a bit of heat, I doubt it would be much more than any of today's silicon processors.As for the speed of computing, there will always be programs that can push the limits of a processor. As was said, though, one could always upgrade a computer by simply giving the processor more and more cores, thus breaking down the task and increasing the overall efficiency/speed.

I just hope that we won't find ourselves in a situtation the requires us to have an HD-DVD player for all movies from certain publisher companies, while other publisher companies will require one to have a Blu-Ray disk player. If neither side backs down, it just may happen.

It doesn't "shrink" anything, nor does it defy gravity. Although the process isn't explained in the article, what is put in is simply ground up. As has been said, t is will be a good way to decrease the decay time of many materials by increasing the overall surface area.

Yes, but, if I'm not mistaken, I think the whole point of it being able to fly is to prevent one from being able to roll over, hit the snooze, and go back to sleep. Therefore the ability to fast-recharge, or even a snooze button itself, would seem to be a contradicting addition to the device.

The article implies that it does more than just hover. Whether or not this is true has yet to be seen.As I said, batteries are heavy, and a rotor that small can only generate so much lift. The clock would have to be very light in order to be able to fly. A battery that lasted more than ten minutes or so would probably be too heavy for the clock to lift, so I'd put the limit at around fifteen minutes, max (realize that is just is a guess). I don't think it would really be necessary for it to go much longer. If you are such a deep sleeper that a noisy, squaking thing flying around your room for fifteen minutes doesn't wake you, I doubt fourty-five more minutes would help.

It all depends on the power of the lasers. Since there would be so many lasers in such a small space, it's possible that quite a bit of heat would be generated, but if the lasers were very low-power (which would be most likely, for efficiency and economic reasons), it may not produce much heat at all. For example, laser pointers don't produce any detectable heat, and the lasers used in an optical chip would be thousands of times smaller and much weaker. In any case, optical circuits wouldn't have the same reaction to heat that silicon circuits do, since light isn't noteworthily affected by heat. The only danger would be if the chip itself would melt, but since the idea has come this far, I'm pretty sure that potential problem would have already been pondered and solved.

You don't have to worry, Sunny. I'm pretty sure that Mac will come out with some kind of iPod Gamer within a year or so. They may even try to enter the portable gaming war (against the PSP and the Nintendo DS).

We all know it's true. One must admit, it is a very catchy song. Notice from BuffaloHELP: Warning. Enter at your own will. Contains expletive words.

I have a feeling that Mac is going to throw a fit over this. They haven't hesitated to start lawsuits with product modders in the past, so I have a feeling that they will be quick to start a fight over the possibility of one using a cheap iPod for video and thus not having to buy the expensive iPod Video. It's not hard to see how it could potentially be considered illegal, or at least be considered bending the law a bit.