I like how they spin it with "Oh, they didn't see how it could work because it doesn't expel propellant", when the actual objection was "It breaks the laws of physics, specifically conservation of momentum."
Also many of the objections were things like "according to results, it either works when it's completely broken, the test is faulty, or you're lying", and "Didn't we already debunk this with the almost identical cannae drive?"
This just seems rather like a "Oh Yeah?" to the objections, rather than actually disproving any of the accusations made. Especially considering that this is the second time this lab has come forward saying "Yeah guys we've totally proved it works cop that aye", and their reaction when told the first time that they most certainly didn't, which amounted to denial and excuses.
Which should come as no surprise, since these team leader for these tests is Harold “Sonny” White, who has been pushing impossible crank ideas about FTL drives and alternate methods of propulsion for YEARS. White and his team are more interested in proving that the engine works, rather than finding out if it works - a small difference in terminology, but an enormous gulf between the two in practice.
Some of you might recall I used to host a radio show with a bloke called Max. Well, he just did a segment on Sky in the UK. It's worth the watch and read - though I freely admit to some bias.
From what I saw last week it looked more like a code editor and not an IDE. Which begged the question "why?" but it's interesting to finally see MS follow through with their plan.
From what I saw last week it looked more like a code editor and not an IDE. Which begged the question "why?" but it's interesting to finally see MS follow through with their plan.
The "why" is easy. When a company is the underdog, it goes open source, when it is dominating it becomes closed. Google is becoming slightly less open due to becoming dominant with search, Android and browser share. Also trying to get as many Android, iOS and any other type of developers using their platform to make an application which is universal will only help them get traction. Their new CEO Satya Nadella understand the current situation.
They will likely buy Cyanogen later on and start releasing Nokia phones for the Android platform so they have some hardware income other than the immensely popular Surface Pro.
It's crazy I haven't seen two iPads at University this year while every fourth person now has a Surface Pro 2 or 3. And for good reason, it's the only tablet with a proper OS that doesn't handle you with kid gloves and you can install an ad blocker. Windows Phone on the other hand requires all the manoeuvring done at Build to get at what Steve Ballmer was trying to do with Windows 8 and the release of Windows Phone.
Well I fully understand their move to open source but I meant why on the product itself. They're getting their brand out there for sure but it just looked like something that Linux and Mac users wouldn't really be too interested in. I guess I don't know what it's specific features are exactly but on the surface it just seemed like something developers on that platform wouldn't really care about. I could be wrong though.
I cannot express to you how world shaking this is. Never in my sentient life has there been anything but a Conservative stranglehold here. And now after decades of people moving into the province and raising their families here, we've built up enough young, politically active urban voters to actually make a difference. Recent Tory fuck-ups -- so immense that it made even old white men raise their eyebrows -- definitely didn't help their chances either.
The only thing I worry about now is that the official opposition is the Wildrose Party, which is essentially our Tea Party. A new leftist government is great, but having the two most popular parties be the extreme left and extreme right is really telling of the political polarization in the world at large right now. At least most of the Wildrose supporters are out in the sticks where they don't really have as much impact, but still.
Well I fully understand their move to open source but I meant why on the product itself. They're getting their brand out there for sure but it just looked like something that Linux and Mac users wouldn't really be too interested in. I guess I don't know what it's specific features are exactly but on the surface it just seemed like something developers on that platform wouldn't really care about. I could be wrong though.
I misunderstood your first comment then, my assumption with the Visual Basic thing was just trying to make it as ubiquitous as Office. i.e. Everyone uses is therefore you use it and Microsoft will have a team giving it the same amount of support as say Microsoft Word.
However this is kind of hard to get at since nearly every developer or even student I know like their own specific IDE or text editor. If there was just one superior IDE that supports all the languages and programs with a good interface, it could entice people in.
Last time I used Visual Studio, it was incredibly handy to write in C# but it became a chore to set-up for Python or Java so I moved to Notepad++. In this manner Visual Studio will attempt to compete with Sublime Text, Notepad++, VIM clones, Eclipse, X-code etc.
If you don't want to read the whole article, here's a list:
- It still breaks the laws of physics.
- They accounted for one variable(by testing in a vacuum) but none of the others that could have produced the thrust effects, nor the potential instrumentation errors that could have produced the effects.
- The only source that it worked in a vacuum is a forum post from February, with no real details attached.
- Everybody who has looked at the data on this project and isn't part of the Eagleworks team has refused to publish them. Apparently, this is not uncommon for Eagleworks. Even arXiv.org, a pre-print open-access server that physicists often use, turned them down.
- Quantum vacuum virtual plasma, to the best of our knowledge, doesn't actually exist, let alone provide a plausible explanation.
- They keep claiming to be a NASA lab, when in reality they get 50K a year in funding and work out of Johnson, but their work is completely unsanctioned, unsupervised, and unsupported by NASA, who also appear to want little to do with them.
- Even researchers in the same fringe field don't bother with papers from White and Eagleworks, and essentially think that they're a bunch of complete crackpots.
I read that they had done rigorous double/triple/quadruple verifying because of the sheer unlikelihood (or impossibility) that it could actually work? Is that basically all BS then? Seems like you're saying yeah, it is.
Frankly I don't have much respect for WIRED after seeing firsthand how poorly they can research a story.
Maybe it's just politically expedient for NASA to have a breakthrough and that's the root of all this? It'd be nice to have another space race in place of the War on Terror/DHS/TSA as an economy driver... :P (Oh wait, you did say that NASA is keeping their distance from these guys who are barely subcontractors. Still.. let's have another space race please!)
It's not hard to believe it's all BS and I believe that these guys probably really do have a crackpot reputation, but a tiny part of me says that ANY science-shaking breakthrough like this would naturally be met with mostly nay-saying and just maybe...
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A game inspired by the Star Wars flight sims of yore. It's very, very early, but I hope it works out.
Also many of the objections were things like "according to results, it either works when it's completely broken, the test is faulty, or you're lying", and "Didn't we already debunk this with the almost identical cannae drive?"
This just seems rather like a "Oh Yeah?" to the objections, rather than actually disproving any of the accusations made. Especially considering that this is the second time this lab has come forward saying "Yeah guys we've totally proved it works cop that aye", and their reaction when told the first time that they most certainly didn't, which amounted to denial and excuses.
Which should come as no surprise, since these team leader for these tests is Harold “Sonny” White, who has been pushing impossible crank ideas about FTL drives and alternate methods of propulsion for YEARS. White and his team are more interested in proving that the engine works, rather than finding out if it works - a small difference in terminology, but an enormous gulf between the two in practice.
In other news, We're also hosting the World Science Festival for the next six years(Brisbane, not Max and I).
Watch this link for Easter egg.
Found this recently from the internet deeps, most likely seen by all but still pretty funny.
This is probably one of the coolest things I've learned in a good while
EDIT: Same for .NET (It's open-source, too!)
When a company is the underdog, it goes open source, when it is dominating it becomes closed.
Google is becoming slightly less open due to becoming dominant with search, Android and browser share.
Also trying to get as many Android, iOS and any other type of developers using their platform to make an application which is universal will only help them get traction.
Their new CEO Satya Nadella understand the current situation.
They will likely buy Cyanogen later on and start releasing Nokia phones for the Android platform so they have some hardware income other than the immensely popular Surface Pro.
It's crazy I haven't seen two iPads at University this year while every fourth person now has a Surface Pro 2 or 3. And for good reason, it's the only tablet with a proper OS that doesn't handle you with kid gloves and you can install an ad blocker. Windows Phone on the other hand requires all the manoeuvring done at Build to get at what Steve Ballmer was trying to do with Windows 8 and the release of Windows Phone.
This is blowing my mind.
I cannot express to you how world shaking this is. Never in my sentient life has there been anything but a Conservative stranglehold here. And now after decades of people moving into the province and raising their families here, we've built up enough young, politically active urban voters to actually make a difference. Recent Tory fuck-ups -- so immense that it made even old white men raise their eyebrows -- definitely didn't help their chances either.
The only thing I worry about now is that the official opposition is the Wildrose Party, which is essentially our Tea Party. A new leftist government is great, but having the two most popular parties be the extreme left and extreme right is really telling of the political polarization in the world at large right now. At least most of the Wildrose supporters are out in the sticks where they don't really have as much impact, but still.
However this is kind of hard to get at since nearly every developer or even student I know like their own specific IDE or text editor. If there was just one superior IDE that supports all the languages and programs with a good interface, it could entice people in.
Last time I used Visual Studio, it was incredibly handy to write in C# but it became a chore to set-up for Python or Java so I moved to Notepad++.
In this manner Visual Studio will attempt to compete with Sublime Text, Notepad++, VIM clones, Eclipse, X-code etc.
If you don't want to read the whole article, here's a list:
- It still breaks the laws of physics.
- They accounted for one variable(by testing in a vacuum) but none of the others that could have produced the thrust effects, nor the potential instrumentation errors that could have produced the effects.
- The only source that it worked in a vacuum is a forum post from February, with no real details attached.
- Everybody who has looked at the data on this project and isn't part of the Eagleworks team has refused to publish them. Apparently, this is not uncommon for Eagleworks. Even arXiv.org, a pre-print open-access server that physicists often use, turned them down.
- Quantum vacuum virtual plasma, to the best of our knowledge, doesn't actually exist, let alone provide a plausible explanation.
- They keep claiming to be a NASA lab, when in reality they get 50K a year in funding and work out of Johnson, but their work is completely unsanctioned, unsupervised, and unsupported by NASA, who also appear to want little to do with them.
- Even researchers in the same fringe field don't bother with papers from White and Eagleworks, and essentially think that they're a bunch of complete crackpots.
Frankly I don't have much respect for WIRED after seeing firsthand how poorly they can research a story.
Maybe it's just politically expedient for NASA to have a breakthrough and that's the root of all this? It'd be nice to have another space race in place of the War on Terror/DHS/TSA as an economy driver... :P (Oh wait, you did say that NASA is keeping their distance from these guys who are barely subcontractors. Still.. let's have another space race please!)
It's not hard to believe it's all BS and I believe that these guys probably really do have a crackpot reputation, but a tiny part of me says that ANY science-shaking breakthrough like this would naturally be met with mostly nay-saying and just maybe...