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I only buy DRM-free music. Luckily, there are various sources, including:

• Jamendo
• eMusic
• Amazon MP3 (WHY can't I use this from Canada?! C'mon Amazon, get your act together.)
• Magnatune
• iTunes Plus

Yes, and in Wikipedia, it is not.

Actually, it is. The only difference is that community rules lead to pressure, and the collective author ends up writing highly structured, linked documents -- most of the time.

And where's the evidence that "actually being paid" makes these articles better?

Anecdotal evidence on my part. A simple example: I've found The Rails Way to actually be a better reference -- not tutorial, but reference -- than the API docs and Google combined.

Of course, as a user, I'd rather have a publicly available, free resource, and heavily structured if it's to be a reference. Despite this, the sheer quality of that book, and the occasional sparseness of online documentation (especially concerning best practices), made it worthwhile to pay for.

Only difference with Knol is, I'd get it for free.

I find two dissenting articles much less useful than one homogenized compromise.

Sometimes. Sometimes, the homogenized compromise is simply wrong. Often, Wikipedia doesn't manage that -- you still have the two dissenting articles, but it's a lot harder to tell them apart (you have to dig through the edit history).

When I want to do an analysis, I just go to the primary literature.

Knol could be that primary literature.

But I don't think it is.

It's been out for exactly one day. What did Wikipedia have after 24 hours?

I am predicting that Knol will have some better articles than Wikipedia. But honestly, neither of us knows yet.

Because people have an interest in communicating their view of the world.

That sounds more Knol than Wikipedia -- Knol is all about a personal point of view. Wikipedia only helps you "communicate your view of the world" if that view is from a neutral perspective.

Furthermore, Wikipedia is not for original research, which is why you see all those [Citation needed] stickers.

I think Knol just misses the point of Wikipedia and why it has become so successful.

Because you've bought into the Slashdot meme that Knol is meant to be a replacement for Wikipedia. I'm not sure it is.

But I'll argue it could easily become a replacement for O'Reilly.

Bored of the Rings

It has been previously reported that cell phones have RF leakage that travels right up the corded headset. So instead of the antenna being near the side-back of your head, it goes right into your ear.

The truly paranoid use air tubes.

I don't understand why they're trying to shape it after a dragonfly- There are more efficient ways of getting around the air than flapping wings.

Flapping wings can be more efficient at low Reynolds number configurations, like small insects or micro UAVs.

Evolution, of course, already worked out the Reynolds number configurations for soaring, near-fixed wing flight (large birds of prey) versus mostly flapping flight (flies).

Correct me if I'm wrong but I think that's a Chinese ripoff of this:

http://www.amazon.com/Sourcing-Network-Sales-4031-DragonFly/dp/B000NI60PS/ref=pd_sbs_t_njs_1

I actually don't mind the purely mathematical or purely algorithmic patents. Phil Katz patented some efficient string matching algorithms that became a well-known compression program. He was a pioneer who pushed the field of CS. If Burrows and Wheeler wanted to patent their algorithm and license it as a compression technology, then awesome. And if the Fraunhofer institute found an efficient lossy way of compressing DCT using psychoacoustic modeling and licensed it, that's good for everyone.

The problem with software patents are with the system itself:
1) They are too long. You could renew a software patent for a period of time that is actually longer than the home computer has even existed. That's not reasonable.
2) The patents on things that are NOT algorithmic. Like adding "over a network" to regular everyday things and claiming that is patentable. Running an auction ...over the internet or running an escrow service...over the internet or even buying something from a catalog...in a particular number of mouse clicks Those are not patentable. Those are absurd.

This foolishness is a recent development too. I doubt anyone has a patent on ordering from a mail order catalog...with a particular number of pen strokes . But for some brain-dead reason, adding "network" or "internet" makes it non-obvious.

http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&keywords=wowwee%20flytech&search-type=best&tag=coffeeresearch102885-20&index=blended&link_code=qs

The link above shows several Wowee flying toys, yes they have flying fairies too. The dragonfly got me cause it was flying with flapping wings. They do not come with cameras, but they claim to hover and fly for longer times than the one in the article.

You can get a RC Dragonfly toy today. http://www.amazon.com/Discovery-Exclusive-Radio-Control-DragonFly/dp/B000QMYSDM It may not be as small or come with a camara, but it does look cool.

Oz

Probably it's hard work to put everything together but I like modern versions of old religious text, for example, new film adaptation of the Qur'an http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001D0I4VS/

If a council issued a statement on something, doesn't mean that it was a new belief, or a newly-settled belief. It may have been the universal belief of Christians back to the apostles. There may have been no camps on the matter. The early council statements often were the first time that Christians gathered to articulate a belief for the first time, or to clarify an articulation. But that doesn't mean there were two kinds of Christians up until the council met, and the other was suppressed afterward.

You're wrong. Most of the councils/synods that issued a doctrinal statement did so because of doctrinal controversy within the church.

So, don't blithely assume that there were all these camps that you're talking about, just from the fact that a council met and talked about a question. If you do want to say that there were these camps, don't say it unless you actually know--who were they, and why do you think they existed? And why do you think that they are part of original Christianity?

They are too many to mention them all. Have you heard of nestorians and monophysites? You obviously need to do some reading - The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine might be a good start.

To my knowledge, that Jesus was divine--not a mere human--is possibly the least controversial of all theological questions within Christianity

The most controversial and divisive issue was the doctrine of the person of Jesus Christ - the god-man union - according to Pelikan (author of the above mentioned book).

"Sounds similar to N.T. Wright's take on the end of Mark. He suggests that the abrupt ending is meant to put the onus back on the reader/listener: "Christ is risen: now over to you. What are you going to do about it?""

Well, the preferred method in these cases is decapitation or destruction of the brain, followed by burning of the remains. More details can be found in this reference manual.

I would recommend to anyone interested in the history of the Bible as a document to read the book "Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why". Available at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Misquoting-Jesus-Story-Behind-Changed/dp/0060738170/ref=pd_ys_iyr49

If I recall correctly, the number of differences between all the earlier versions of the Biblical texts we *have* is greater than the number of words in the Bible... The reasons for the changes are many and varied, which fall into a number of broad categories, which are covered in the book.

It's a fascinating story for anyone interested in this subject -- believer or non-believer.

    -- Bill

Reminds me of A Canticle for Leibowitz, a post-apocalyptic book that won the Hugo in 1961. In the book, an order of monks worship the scraps of knowledge (a shopping list, circuit diagrams they don't understand, etc) that remain after most knowledge/books/scientists were burned in the "Great Simplification" to prevent another nuclear war from ever occurring. Great book, written in a humorous tone, and still very relevant - I recommend it.

Well, I'll assume that the trolls won't actually READ the Bible, but they might read this Cliff's Notes version: Don't Know Much About The Bible

I'm sorry, I shouldn't have implied that the BFA debris alone caused all that damage.

Via JGreely's reply, see this article concerning a similar event at Camp Pendleton, where the BFA shattered without damaging the barrel so badly that the gun couldn't fire. He also refers to reports in Hatcher indicating that in tests, "partial obstructions were often blown clear, damaging the muzzle rather than the breech".

You're right, the circumstances are very suspicious, and I suspect the French army is as prone to cover-up as any other, but it seems at least plausible that this was a huge blunder, not a deliberate massacre.

In any event, though, the point is that at least two of the fundamental rules of gun safety were violated in this incident:
  * All guns are always loaded (taking blanks as "not really loaded"), and
  * Don't point a gun at anything you aren't willing to destroy.

The gun described in the opening article is designed to encourage violations of the same rules. No good and very bad.

GWT and Eclipse actually work very well together.

I agree that the online documentation and examples for GWT are rather lacking, but there are some good books on GWT. My favorite is "Google Web Toolkit Applications" by Ryan Dewsbury. (Ryan is the same person who made the games mentioned in the original posting.)

http://www.amazon.com/Google-Toolkit-Applications-Ryan-Dewsbury/dp/0321501969/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=IBGT0TU3E4AB2&colid=1C5O2JP17MKXW

If your son is a fan of computer games then Game Maker is a great place to start.

It combines a gentle introduction to programming logic with a high reward component from creating his own graphic computer games - games that can look and play as good as anything on the casual game market.

An interested teen with this Game Maker book, The Game Maker's Apprentice, and help from a programming mentor can get a solid introduction to a complete development process, including aspects like weaving sound and graphic assets together to create a complete software package - aspects of development that often aren't covered at an introductory level.

The Game Maker's Apprentice is structured as a series of projects, starting with the most basic and gradually increasing in complexity to cover rudimentary AI concepts by the end. The projects are fun, with clear direction and plenty of opportunity to play and explore beyond the specified project.

The "series of projects" structure can also help you out as you teach too. You'll have the insight to see what's new with each project, what ideas to help emphasize, and they'll serve as guideposts to give an idea what level of concepts are being taught at each point along the way.

Have you not seen Read Or Die ? The Paper Master is able to do all things.

A game is definitely the way to go. Kids play games on the computer so they naturally know that programming is required to make a game. A Tetris clone made with a simple C library will really start him on the right track. My intro programming class in college (good old CS150) used C - How To Program but I didn't realize how much it cost ($110!). You can get a used earlier edition for cheap or maybe you could find it at a library.

One of my favorite quotes I heard when in college (I know not from whom):
"No one goes into programming with the dream of making the next great spreadsheet. They go in to make the next great game."

...to write games... after all, what else is there to do with computers? Game programming is how the commodore 64 generation got into computers, and it is still a powerful draw for game addicted kids.

Try this book to start:

http://www.amazon.com/Game-Makers-Apprentice-Development-Technology/dp/1590596153

There isn't any "programming" until the later chapters, but my 12 year old nephew loves the book! It gently guides them into the whole aspect of programming, which is great for those who are experienced using computers, but no.t much else (i.e. most of young America). After finishing this book, there are other books that can guide him into more advanced game programming.

Agreed, Python is the way to go for teenagers. The book Python for the Absolute Beginner is a great text to begin with.

C++ primer plus by stephen prata.

http://www.amazon.com/Primer-Plus-5th-Stephen-Prata/dp/0672326973/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1216718603&sr=8-1

It is one of the best ways to learn programming from absolutely knowing nothing! Because it explains in very accurate, precise and simple language that is very well expressed.
This is where I learned to program years ago, and I'd challenge anyone to find a better place to bring an absolute know nothing about programming into the fold.

It explains all the simple functions and whatnot for console programming, etc, if he can't dig that then he's not fit to program, the book makes C++ as easy as something as python, or the old visual basic.

The old visual basic 6 is not a BAD place to start if you can find some good programming books, because the old VB gave "immediate" results that kids often look for.

Ever read The Anubis Gates? I did years ago, and reading now about grounding through the heel to protect against these modern magics suddenly gives me shivers of deja vu...

Cheers,

Is it irrational to hate somebody who rapes and murders your wife/gf/S.O.?

No?

Then hatred is not, necessarily, irrational.

If your answer was "yes", BTW, then your wife/gf/S.O. is apparently no more than a piece of meat to you; a replaceable sack of flesh, bone, and blood. For the rest of us, such people have deep meaning -- and those individuals, acting in whatever capacity they may (of their own whim, or on behalf of a government, or whatever) who take that loved one away from us, are taking away that thing - that human being - who means so much to us.

That person who gives us our hope and happiness; these, in turn, contribute to good physical and mental health.

These are hardly irrational factors. Nor are they rationalizations for the seemingly-irrational: study after study shows the obvious: that such close personal relationships tend to improve our health.

And to have somebody take them away from us -- is that not deserving of outright hatred? That it is so undesirable for such a thing to happen that one should feel very strongly -- perhaps, unfortunately, even violently if necessary -- opposed to it? I should think so. I should *hope* so!

Emotion *can* be rational -- but you have to find the basic instinctual, evolutionary reason(s) from which the emotion derives, and not simply assume the response is not grounded by a reason (now, the *degree* to which the emotional response exists relative to the stimulus may be unreasonable. But that's a different question)... (Marvin Minsky also views emotion as simply a *different* form of rationality.)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00005RHQZ/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&seller=
http://ioquake3.org/

Practically the same thing.

true, for the very young, you might want to stick with non interconnecting alphabet/number covered blocks, and teach the child their numbers and letters by Playing With the child... http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000067NXE

ah well. there are a ton of toys for kids, and edubuntu has a nice collection of FOSS tools for kids old enough to use a mouse on up!.

But based on the production clips it seems like the director is really trying to be true to the story and look of the comic, so as long as they don't change the ending I don't see that it could be THAT horrible,

Considering that my major complaint of Watchmen is the ending, I think changing it could only help. See my review at the Amazon listing for Watchmen , but basically I felt Moore could have created a much more refreshing plot than having the supervillian ultimately explain his whole scheme in dialogue to the heroes before doing them in, like the James Bond trope. I liked so much of the series, which really did move the comic tradition forward, but the last book was a letdown.

Sadly, Poitier came along right at the time that black actors were actually starting to get roles that stepped out of the buck/coon/minstrel/mammy* stereotypes. He was pretty much the first "proud black man" actor and got stuck there for life. He could have had a huge range of roles but everyone liked him so much as the proud black man that's pretty much all he ever got offered again. He's an icon, but his talent was never really allowed to be seen.

http://www.amazon.com/Toms-Coons-Mulattoes-Mammies-Bucks/dp/082641267X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1216662864&sr=8-1

Or indeed, mention of anyone, anywhere actually using "cloud computing".

Yeah, no one is actually using Amazon's EC2.

I heard it was actually an attack of tiny bubbles that did him in, to save the rest of the world from one more reincarnation of this affront to humanity!

Mal-2

I like to be Knee Deep in the Dead.

This reminds me of the Unix Hater's Handbook from the 90's. It's available for download.

You answered your own question, "nights don't last as long in space and clouds are more sparse up there too".

Funny coincidence, I had just finished re-reading this book when I saw this article. The Nevada desert you mention is in the dark about half of the time, exactly when people in the US need electricity for their lights. And what about Europe? The Far East? OK, use the Sahara and the deserts in Asia, but you'd still need a lot of power transmission and storage capacity.

Remember, if we knew how to *store* electricity, we would have practical electric cars by now, and laptop computers would have more than a few hours battery capacity. There's a strong economical incentive to develop electricity storage systems, but it's still very far from being a practical reality, therefore solar power is necessarily just a supplement to other sources of energy.

I think Dr. O'Neill's mistake was to assume the time needed for development would be so short. However, if you read his book, you'll see it all makes sense from an engineering point of view. All the objections in the thread to which you replied have been answered in his book, it's not science fiction at all, just future technological development.

.. asking a bunch of passionate amateurs, I usually go take the advice of someone I know has years of experience in the field and hopefully has editors that I can trust.
http://www.amazon.com/Coding-Standards-Guidelines-Practices-Depth/dp/0321113586
If both Herb and Andrei got it wrong, then I who am I to try and get it right?
I suppose you didn't specify which language you are using. So it's possible that nothing in this book (or a similar book) will be valuable to you. However, I highly doubt that. Much of the advice is valuable cross-language. My advice would be to not worry about the small things that just annoy the programmers and make sure your standard covers the big, important ones.

Maybe all the other scientists just don't understand the 'problem'.. because you don't know how something works (even with full documentation) doesn't mean it is impossible..

You're quite right. I don't know the details of this specific case, but generally speaking, replication isn't as simple as it may seem. Even given full documentation and information, there is often an element of intangible know-how that goes along with an experiment - "tacit knowledge." I'd suggest reading the chapter on the TEA laser in H.M. Collin's Changing Order for anyone interested in learning about the difficulties involved in replication.

I am in the middle of reading Cape Wind, BBS, 2007 which is about trying to put a wind farm in Nantucket Sound. The location is perfect for a wind farm, and the need in NE for clean cheap power is high. But when all the backyards are owned by millionaires, it makes for an extreme NIMBY makeover.

I am finding the book to be a fascinating but horrifying read as to the lengths people will go to subvert the political process to protect what they believe is their right to quietly enjoy a public owned location. A typical example was adding a last minute rider to an Iraq war finance bill specifically aimed at blocking this one project. I'm not pro-war, but even I found tactics like this to be underhanded.

I have been getting interested in wind power from an engineering perspective, but reading this book has been a real eye opener as to how the political process is probably more important than the actual mechanics and cost/benefit/profit analysis. I'd recommend it to anyone as a good read, and while I don't understand the "anti" viewpoint all that well, this book gives some interesting lessons.

BTW I linked to Aaazon, but screw them - I got my copy from my local library!

I recommend you read a book like Sense and Nonsense About Crime and Drugs. Our justice system is biased from the top down. For an example, the percentage of black and white drug users is exactly the same; last I read around 13%. However, a minority is more likely to be searched during routine police encounters by the police, more likely to be arrested, more likely to be tried, more likely to be convicted, and more likely to be sentenced to jail time. So, we go from equivalent percentages of black and white drug users to a wildly overrepresented percentage of black inmates on drug offenses; last I read 58%. Also consider that law enforcement often takes a "containment" approach to drug enforcement. To paraphrase a Chris Rock joke, if a 14 year old can score weed you think the cops don't know where the drug dealers are, too?

Amazon's Music Store - DRM free, high quality MP3's cheaper than iTunes prices http://www.amazon.com/MP3-Music-Download/b?ie=UTF8&node=163856011

The German occupation of Belgium set the pattern for what was to come. The Rape of Belgium: The Untold Story of World War 1

The Zimmermann Telegram was authentic:

January 16, 1917

On the first of February, we intend to begin unrestricted submarine warfare. In spite of this, it is our intention to endeavor to keep the United States of America neutral.

In the event of this not succeeding, we propose an alliance on the following basis with Mexico: That we shall make war together and make peace together. We shall give generous financial support, and an understanding on our part that Mexico is to reconquer the lost territory in New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona. The details of settlement are left to you.

You are instructed to inform the President [of Mexico] of the above in the greatest confidence as soon as it is certain that there will be an outbreak of war with the United States and suggest that the President, on his own initiative, invite Japan to immediate adherence with this plan; at the same time, offer to mediate between Japan and ourselves.

Please call to the attention of the President that the ruthless employment of our submarines now offers the prospect of compelling England to make peace in a few months.

There is much of interest here - not least the talk of an alliance with Japan.

The historical background:

April 22, 1915

The German Embassy publishes this warning which will appear below a New York Times marine add posting Lusitania's schedule:

NOTICE!

> TRAVELLERS intending to embark on the Atlantic voyage are reminded that a state of war exists between Germany and her allies and Great Britain and her allies; that the zone of war includes the waters adjacent to the British Isles; that, in accordance with formal notice given by the Imperial German Government, vessels flying the flag of Great Britain, or any of her allies, are liable to destruction in those waters and that travellers sailing in the war zone on the ships of Great Britain or her allies do so at their own risk.

IMPERIAL GERMAN EMBASSY

May 7, 1915 Luistania torpedoed without warning. 1200 die.
August 1915 A Bavarian metal worker stamps out 500 or so back-dated commemorative medallions of the sinking -- which British propagandists will replicate in the hundreds of thousands for sale through British wartime charities.
August 27, 1915 The Kaiser restricts attacks on large passenger vessels.
September 18, 1915 Unrestricted submarine warfare ends

"The burden of proof is on you to back up your bullshit, and I'm a calling you on it. Quote some laws here, if you can."

I'll do you one better:

I'll point you at a book on the matter:

http://www.amazon.com/Netlaw-Your-Rights-Online-World/dp/0078820774

And I'll quote from here:

http://www.rbs2.com/email.htm

The executive summary of what I've been talking about and what you've been talking out your ass about:

"Reading e-mail that is stored on a computer is not an "interception" under 18 U.S.C. 2510, et seq., because an interception must be contemporaneous with the transmission of the message between different locations. Steve Jackson Games v. U.S. Secret Service, 816 F.Supp. 432, 442 (W.D.Tex. 1993), aff'd, 36 F.3d 457, 460 (5thCir. 1994). This holding has been accepted in several subsequent cases, including Wesley College v. Pitts, 974 F.Supp. 375, 384-390 (D.Del. 1997); U.S. v. Moriarty, 962 F.Supp. 217, 221 (D.Mass. 1997); Bohach v. City of Reno, 932 F.Supp. 1232, 1235-36 (D.Nev. 1996)."

--
BMO - Not a lawyer, but dammit I can read for myself.

2006? Try 2000 - and that book references studies done years earlier on the issue. (My copy is buried somewhere, else I'd go check the bibliography.)

I don't know if this is where you got the figure, but the 10,000 hours estimate comes up in the book This Is Your Brain On Music. There's a chapter somewhere in the middle on what it takes to be a great musician. The author states that, as a general average, it takes about 10,000 hours to become an expert at anything. I think he also stressed that this is more or less a ballpark figure. Some people take longer, some fewer.

People have already mentioned The Phantom, but I think The American, by Mark Verheiden, is an even better example.

Comic starts out with The American, a Captain America-like hero, coming in to break up a terrorist attack (or something like that). A bystander sees him screw up and get killed. But that night, there he is taking a bow for the evening news.

So the bystander starts digging into what's going on, and strikes conspiracy pretty quickly. Turns out there have been hundreds of different guys playing the role of The American over the last 50 years. And the government doesn't want that getting out.

And hey, it's still in print!

The Dread Pirate Batman?

I'd have modded you insightful or informative...

Batman WAS a pirate:

http://www.amazon.com/Legends-Batman-Pirate-Two-Face/dp/B000MI42AO

Gregory Benford discussed the "warning future generations" issue a good number of years ago. Even gave a GoH speech on it at the 1999 Worldcon (Melbourne).

Might look up Deep Time: How Humanity Communicates Across Millennia.

Wow. It's not like Gregory Benford addressed this same problem back in 2000 or anything. Nope. This is a brand-new problem that nobody's thought about before.

Agreed. While some people fret about modern society approaching the dystopia of 1984 , I think it's scary that technology has moved to the point where government could easily do even more to hold citizens down. Orwell didn't foresee electronic tracking devices that could follow you wherever you go. In the book, the protagonist got a break from the telescreen for a few hours by walking down to a remote place. Now, even this means of privacy isn't guaranteed.

42,642 people died in 2006 in the USA from vehicle crashes. If requiring a GPS in every vehicle would help reduce this number, and also protect citizens from the occasional police harassment, why not? And for those not fond of the government knowing so much about them, do like I do - ride a bicycle to work! Of course, maybe GPSing bicycles is the future too...

"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." - Jefferson

This is the price of freedom, and it does not necessarily mean wars or protests.

One part of being free means people the means and opportunity to place themselves and others in mortal danger, and at times may accidentally do so.

P.S., I also think child safety/toy safety laws need to be toned down considerably too. Maybe then our kids wouldn't live under this delusion of immortality.

Agreed. While some people fret about modern society approaching the dystopia of 1984 , I think it's scary that technology has moved to the point where government could easily do even more to hold citizens down. Orwell didn't foresee electronic tracking devices that could follow you wherever you go. In the book, the protagonist got a break from the telescreen for a few hours by walking down to a remote place. Now, even this means of privacy isn't guaranteed.

42,642 people died in 2006 in the USA from vehicle crashes. If requiring a GPS in every vehicle would help reduce this number, and also protect citizens from the occasional police harassment, why not? And for those not fond of the government knowing so much about them, do like I do - ride a bicycle to work! Of course, maybe GPSing bicycles is the future too...

Agreed. While some people fret about modern society approaching the dystopia of 1984 , I think it's scary that technology has moved to the point where government could easily do even more to hold citizens down. Orwell didn't foresee electronic tracking devices that could follow you wherever you go. In the book, the protagonist got a break from the telescreen for a few hours by walking down to a remote place. Now, even this means of privacy isn't guaranteed.