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The PS3 has an added Cell processor, nVidia GPU, RAM, wireless card, etc and sells for $500-600. So either Sony are going to make an obscene amount of profit on the stand-alone player or they're going to lose some money on the PS3. My bet is probably a bit of both.

is a line from the excellent geek thriller Pi. You can listen to it here, at the end of the sample of "We got the gun".

As Enoch Powell discovered, cultural references will inevitably be misinterpreted by those who don't recognize them.

Thanks!

"We're scared to go to New Hampshire," he said. "They have gun racks on their motorcycles. They don't want anyone telling them what to do." [cite]

Enough people enjoy gardening that I'm hestitant to agree that it's a waste of time. It could well be a waste of money, however.

Buyers of this item should also consider purchasing the Kenwood TT756SL 2 slice toaster and radio. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000AANXG8/ref=no sim/002-8287001-2609612?n=284507

Dude, that was the Temple of Elemental Evil.

For those of you in search of voice recognition ware that has already "been developed" you should check out Dragon NaturallySpeaking. I got it for my boss who's paralyzed from the neck down and it works beautifully, making his life easier. Training only took 15 minutes and the accuracy is impressive. It comes with a headset mic but I recommend splurging on the Plantronics CS50-USB wireless headset.

The real question is whether that morality is accurate.

I'm not going to say this statement is wrong, but I don't know if it's right.

...Do you mean to say that you lack the information required to evaluate its truth?

I cannot see how the example you give of Newton's laws relates.

Science is another matter. Studies are not infallible and require expert judgement to assess. Expert judgement in a field can only come with many years of study, and our knowledge is so vast that one person cannot possibly hope to gain expert judgement in any thing more than a select few (mostly very specific) fields.

Sorry for being so dense, but I think I finally understand the importance of belief.

If you don't mind sharing, what do you believe that would be?

I have been struggling to write a document describing "Why I Am A Christian"

I have their book "Wicked Cool Shell Scripts" it's not the best reference, and it's not the most complete. On the other hand, it's perfect for examples, some basic idea of shell scripting, and is very well written. It was also quite inexpensive, when compared to the other books on the shelf at the time.

If this book is on par with that, I'd personally have no trouble buying it - despite that I'm not particularly fond of perl.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1593270127/sr=8-2 /qid=1151524691/ref=pd_bbs_2/002-0411526-9137664?i e=UTF8

Yup, he's an excellent writer, and he's been cranking them out for quite a while. I've got his "Practical C Programming" book; it was written in 1991 but is still quite handy. Kind of like John Levine's lex/yacc book; classic stuff. Rereading that book shows pretty clearly that domain specific languages have been around for quite a while - although maybe they're a bit easier to write nowadays.

More like "straight out of The Great Gatsby..." You know, with the eyes and all.

I recommend reading The Truth Machine

Suggest away, it isn't going to make you any more right. As I pointed out, the magna carta may have been a big deal in England, but it was in no way applicable to the rest of Europe. So it does not have the same characteristics, and resembles them in as much as it is written on paper with ink.

Nope, you blundered and are trying to mislead your way out of it. Let me quote you here directly: "and exist only by way of a sovereign's decision to limit their own power". A sovereign. How else is one supposed to interpret that?

But isn't that exactly what you were saying with regard to the EU? Not to mention that what I said is perfectly valid, every government does have these powers and will operate in exactly this way. This top down bottom up assumption of rights is a large mound of twaddle. I don't know who modded this up, but its either a very clever troll or someone who is honestly mislead. In any case I call this a win, since I got to use the word twaddle in a conversation.

Also, consider constructive comments, rather than condescending ones. Your arguments are founded on your misunderstanding of the English language, rife with ad hominen and straw man. While you may not be able to solve the latter, you can at least be nice.

All it needs is for a really mad scientist to get involved, and then we will have... Sunstrike!

I read this book as a teenager and had all but forgotten it. I thought it was fun back then, in a "Flash Gordon" kinda way, but if the reviews are any guide it does not stand up well today.

If you guys really want to know about gun statistics and I mean ALL of the statistics not just the ones the liberal media chooses to look at, read this book: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0895261146/sr=8-2 /qid=1151439719/ref=pd_bbs_2/103-7021289-8079008?i e=UTF8

Furthermore, if you'd rather buy Ultraviolet than Serenity, Apollo 13 or Bourne Supremacy then, well, I pity your taste.

Curiously, none of your films feature Milla Jovovich. Now I have to question *your* taste.

FYI, 5th Element is also Blu-Ray. I think we have a winner!

This sounds sci-fi becoming real sci. John Scalzi's recent books, Old Man's War and The Ghost Brigades, feature weapons that are uniquely tied to their owners such that no body else can fire them. I'm sure many other sci-fi books have similar types of weapons. Now they just need to come up with the shape-changing nanobot ammunition.

This sounds sci-fi becoming real sci. John Scalzi's recent books, Old Man's War and The Ghost Brigades, feature weapons that are uniquely tied to their owners such that no body else can fire them. I'm sure many other sci-fi books have similar types of weapons. Now they just need to come up with the shape-changing nanobot ammunition.

Actually, someone did that!! One author has about 8 books where he puts together the RFC's. See: Big Book of IPsec RFCs: Internet Security Architecture http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0124558399/qid=11 51423374/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_3/103-1855961-0175038?s=b ooks&v=glance&n=283155 Big Book of IP Telephony RFCs http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0124 558550/qid=1151423446/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_3/103-185596 1-0175038?v=glance&s=books Big Book of Multiprotocol Label Switching RFCs http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0124558534/qid=11 51423446/sr=1-5/ref=sr_1_5/103-1855961-0175038?s=b ooks&v=glance&n=283155 He has many others. I think he would have printed more but ran out of RFC's :) Karen

Actually, someone did that!! One author has about 8 books where he puts together the RFC's. See: Big Book of IPsec RFCs: Internet Security Architecture http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0124558399/qid=11 51423374/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_3/103-1855961-0175038?s=b ooks&v=glance&n=283155 Big Book of IP Telephony RFCs http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0124 558550/qid=1151423446/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_3/103-185596 1-0175038?v=glance&s=books Big Book of Multiprotocol Label Switching RFCs http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0124558534/qid=11 51423446/sr=1-5/ref=sr_1_5/103-1855961-0175038?s=b ooks&v=glance&n=283155 He has many others. I think he would have printed more but ran out of RFC's :) Karen

Actually, someone did that!! One author has about 8 books where he puts together the RFC's. See: Big Book of IPsec RFCs: Internet Security Architecture http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0124558399/qid=11 51423374/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_3/103-1855961-0175038?s=b ooks&v=glance&n=283155 Big Book of IP Telephony RFCs http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0124 558550/qid=1151423446/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_3/103-185596 1-0175038?v=glance&s=books Big Book of Multiprotocol Label Switching RFCs http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0124558534/qid=11 51423446/sr=1-5/ref=sr_1_5/103-1855961-0175038?s=b ooks&v=glance&n=283155 He has many others. I think he would have printed more but ran out of RFC's :) Karen

HD-DVD and BluRay will both be dead

Ultraviolet Blu Ray DVD - I just about fell off my chair when I saw the advertisement for this movie and that it was available in Blu Ray DVD. DVD wars over? No, they are just beginning it seems, with Blu Ray making the first shot. And hey, for $20 bucks, thats comparable to a regular DVD, so if they want to use the disc as a loss leader, so you have to get the player, then it just might take off, but I think most people are pissed off of having to upgrade their entire collection for a 3rd time, and that is what I think might be hindering adoption of any new technology.

I thought the same thing while watching some news report about child porn on television recently. A cop was sitting at his computer doing some clicking as he viewed child porn (obviously the camera didn't show the screen), and he talked about his war against distributors. Something just wasn't right about the way he talked about child porn, almost as if it took effort to disparage it and I got the sneaking suspicion that he had been compromised by it in some way. It made me wonder how much of a risk there is of a police officer developing an addiction to the matter he's sworn to defend against, a la Philip K. Dick's A Scanner Darkly One wonders why cops are allowed to work on this on their own, seems to me it would make much more sense to allow people access to the material only in teams, perhaps mixed-gender.

i am quite shocked how many people recommended drinking - or even worse, self-medication - as a relaxing strategy. while it is probably tempting (very simple), that's a very dangerous route to take and will likely make your current problems worse. the other common recommendation seemed to be "stop caring". again, probably not the healthiest thing to do. what about "learn accepting the way things are and work from there".

while you may eventually need some professional help, my recommendation is some reading: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1401307787. see if this strategy helps you become a calmer person. there's certainly no one-size-fits-all solution and you may have to find a psychiatrist to help you. most universities here (canada) offer psyciatric service or other forms of counseling to their students.

How is there time to submit well-formulated arguments about MARKETS on slashdot? For more of my opinion, just follow my link. I write about this stuff almost every day. For better formulated arguments, go hit The Mises Institute or check out Dr. DiLorenzo's latest book, How Capitalism Saved America.

DRM isn't dangerous... DRM is simply encryption, and encryption isn't bad. I don't think anyone here wants encryption restricted in any way. Everyone has the right to encrypt any data in any way they want, period!

I agree with your point of view, but let's talk semantics for a moment. I'm sure none of us anti-DRM folks are against the technology of encryption. For our own personal use, that's some great power--who here doesn't use OpenSSH or kerberos? I have two examples off the top of my head, but the list goes on and on.

However, DRM specifically means "digital rights management," and its name explicitly links the technology to copyright law. Now, if you see where I'm going with this, already we're talking government enforcement. :-/

DRM is also a technology whose primary purpose is to aid software developers to limit the functionality of their clients' systems. They will say "I'll give you a piece of software that claims to allow you to enjoy your music, but it's rigged to stop you from listening to it when we don't think you should be able to."

You raise the point, "Well, I can just decrypt the thing and nobody is infringing on my personal freedoms." Ouch, well... even if technically you are not violating copyright law, for those of us in the United States of America, there is that little thing called the DMCA. The mere circumvention of DRM and other copyright enforcement methods has been made illegal, even if one is not actually violating copyright in doing so. Only in a few explicitly stated scenarios are you allowed to circumvent copyright protection.

Granted, I'm not the most educated person on these issues. I recommend picking up some books written by Lawrence Lessig, such as Free Culture.

Anyhow, my main response to you is this: DRM is not encryption itself, but is a larger mechanism that makes use of encryption at some point. Also, many governments do already have laws regarding how you may not use encryption. I don't like such laws myself, but you should be aware that those of us who are against DRM are asking for something a little different than outlawing the use of encryption.

If you think for a second that that the US government is any less corrupt than that of Russia you have made a horrible mistake.

At least in the modern era US regional officials don't pay skinheads to beat the crap out of people who were here first just for having concerts in their own language, and deny exit visas to people trying to travel abroad.

For a really horrifying view of the treatment of minorities in an ostensibly democratic nation, see Rein Taagepera's The Finno-Ugric Republics and the Russian State (Routledge, 1999). Being a Navajo or Zuni right now is infinitely preferable to being a member of an indigenous population in Russia. So yes, the U.S. is less corrupt in this respect.

Asteroid belt mining is a staple of SF - is there a real commercial incentive today or do we have to wait till ol' Mother Earth runs out of diggable dirt-based useful stuff first?

Probably the latter. Chairmen who have to answer to shareholders will choose short-term small profits over long-term huge profits everytime. And asteroid belt mining really is a long-term deal. Besides, weren't Larry Niven's belters all crazy aloof separatists? I don't think any corporation wants its miners to declare independence from headquarters.

FWIW, Michael Flynn in his future history starting with Firestar has the human race mining asteroids that come near Earth's orbit first. Slimmer pickings, perhaps, but they are easy to get to, and if you're keeping track of local asteroids for profit, you also have a better early-warning system for one coming close enough to possibly impact the Earth.

When I first began traveling to China 8 years ago (and China, by the way, is full of wonderful people, though I differ with their government on many issues) I reflected that China was becoming more like America, and America was becoming more like China. For example, in America, we have the defacto suspension of habeas corpus, the accelerating gap between the haves and the have nots (and the have mores, as Bush likes to call his base), the increasing surveillance of ordinary citizens and the recording of their activities, and the expanded secrecy of government (Cheney's office will not even tell reporters who works there, let alone what their job descriptions are) which puts us square on a path towards Chinese-style government, where a constitution has only existed for a few years, and the rule of law is still a long way off.

A friend of mine recently viewed some factories in Shenzhen similar to the ones in this article, though smaller and producing different products. He got to talk to the people in charge of the factory and found out that the tax laws are such that the factory was only meant to operate about ten years. After that, the tax subsidies fade out. Then they will build new factories under new tax subsidies somewhere further west where wages can even be lower. And what about the workers laid off from the present factories? - well, who cares?

When I first began traveling to China 8 years ago (and China, by the way, is full of wonderful people, though I differ with their government on many issues) I reflected that China was becoming more like America, and America was becoming more like China. For example, in America, we have the defacto suspension of habeas corpus, the accelerating gap between the haves and the have nots (and the have mores, as Bush likes to call his base), the increasing surveillance of ordinary citizens and the recording of their activities, and the expanded secrecy of government (Cheney's office will not even tell reporters who works there, let alone what their job descriptions are) which puts us square on a path towards Chinese-style government, where a constitution has only existed for a few years, and the rule of law is still a long way off.

A friend of mine recently viewed some factories in Shenzhen similar to the ones in this article, though smaller and producing different products. He got to talk to the people in charge of the factory and found out that the tax laws are such that the factory was only meant to operate about ten years. After that, the tax subsidies fade out. Then they will build new factories under new tax subsidies somewhere further west where wages can even be lower. And what about the workers laid off from the present factories? - well, who cares?

If only the radio industry could begin to realize that people do *NOT* like to listen to the same 7 songs over and over again throughout the day with the occasional "older" song thrown in to attempt to trick everyone.

Whenever I listen to a radio, I listen to Studio Brussel.
stream Program scheme Playlist

However, as I mostly listen to my radio in the car, I got fed up with the talking all the time, so instead I listen to audiobooks instead. Buy the CDs, burn them to mp3 and play them. A ncie one is LotR

For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much - the wheel, New York, wars and so on - whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man - for precisely the same reasons.

An argument could be made that as we're neotenic by evolutionary design it's "only natural" that psychologically we exhibit overextended developmental immaturity.

Our sense of humour is based on broken symmetry. Frame Analysis: An Essay on the Organization of Experience by Erving Goffman was an early effort to set out the myriad markers we use to establish a contextual frame and the wit we employ to break that frame for various reasons, humour not least among them.

Our relatively oversized brain is conjectured to be an outgrowth of our intricate social relationships. Our fetishes and rituals have come under scrutiny by dint of recorded history and cultural cross fertilization. In the vein of familiarity breeds contempt it may be that we've simply come to more easily poke fun at ourselves.

The Marx brothers said it best: Groucho:"I wouldn't want to join any club that would have me as a member"; and Karl: "Moi, je ne suis pas marxiste."

It may be that those who are now seen as relatively immature are those whose lives most correspond with the material wealth that permited playful immaturity. I suggest that Freud's concept of polymorphous perversity can be extended from sexuallity to all aspects of our lives as a description of our ability to transcend our basic nature.

Just forty years ago Larry Niven, in his first book of Known Space, World of Ptaavs (now collected in the Three Books of Known Space omnibus) had dolphins talking with humans and handling tools by means of various technological implants linked to the nervous system. It seemed to be taken for granted that dolphins were self-aware and just as intelligent as human beings, they just couldn't tell us so.

Now, however, that idea is totally gone from speculative fiction. What research has been done in the last few decades that has removed hope that dolphins are really as smart as we once thought?

Better yet, skip the R-rated version, and see the uncensored DVD http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0007Y08IS/103-70 16884-6984646?v=glance&n=130 - the R-rated version is tame. I saw the uncensored one Friday, and it was actually watchable. The R-rated one lost my interest quickly.

Yeah, but where is the original "Hair" soundtrack from the mid 70's? Or, an original "Fiddler on the Roof"?

I've got Hair on LP but I don't own a turntable anymore

Yeah, but where is the original "Hair" soundtrack from the mid 70's? Or, an original "Fiddler on the Roof"?

I've got Hair on LP but I don't own a turntable anymore

Lisa Randall is 10x the physicist of Kaku, if not moreso.

Looks like his book doesn't come out until September 30. You can, however, check out his blog with the same title, Not Even Wrong.

My theory is that computing and humanity interrelate: in an environment where Latin is taught alongside math, your users and developers are sharper and more humane.

Why Latin? It's really no different than any other language, it doesn't make you more intelligent or allow you to express concepts any other language can't. All human languages are functionally equal, and while some might have ideas encoded in single lexical units (although please don't believe that myth about Eskimos and snow), all languages can express all concepts through circumlocutions. And if you want to say that Latin is teaches the learner something special about structure due to its synthetic nature, Russian or any other Slavonic language (or half of the languages worldwide) would do just the same.

Latin is vital for two things, one being able to read Roman literature or works in fields influenced by Latin-speaking culture such as law, or in understanding the genetic affiliation of languages in the Indo-European language family. Otherwise, it's nothing special and shouldn't be taught to anyone as just a matter of course.

It's getting worse. See if you local library has a copy of Why nothing works for an explanation of why that is so. It's a little old, but seems explain things nicely.

Now anyone with a one time at band camp story can post video footage to the Internet. What great things MySpace has brought.

MS has a discontinued line of products from Access Point/Routers to wireless adapters (PCCard, PCI, USB). The MN-700(?) Router was similar in hardware to the very popular Linksys WRT54G and other's that used Linux firmware, but, the MS version used a Windows CE based firmware.

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2003/sep0 3/09-162004WirelessBBNPR.mspx
(Search for Windows CE)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000BZO58/103-98 06359-4205425?v=glance&n=172282

Back in the archaic era of the 1960's, a well-known troublemaker named Saul Alinsky wrote a book entitle "Rules for Radicals". It was full of fun suggestions for community organizing. His point was that political organizing should be fun to those being organized, and should break the rules in unexpected ways for the folks in power.

It can still be found on Amazon used:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0679721134/sr=8-1 /qid=1151087597/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-4090430-9772802?_ encoding=UTF8

Back in the archaic era of the 1960's, a well-known troublemaker named Saul Alinsky wrote a book entitle "Rules for Radicals". It was full of fun suggestions for community organizing. His point was that political organizing should be fun to those being organized, and should break the rules in unexpected ways for the folks in power.

It can still be found on Amazon used:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0679721134/sr=8-1 /qid=1151087597/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-4090430-9772802?_ encoding=UTF8

Everquest Titanium contains the first 10 expansions (that is everything except the most recent, Prophecy of Ro) for $19.99. Buy it in stores or digital download. Same price. Buy that + $29.99 and for $50.00 you are ready to go.

This looks like the same article as the one in their print edition, and they also left out the Amazon Web Services. Personally I'd trust amazon with my data before any of these organizations, and the amazon service looks like it's way cheaper. This is typical of the sloppy reporting I regularly see in PC world.

I actually get the print edition of PC world for free, and I'm not sure it's even worth that. Occasionally, they have worthwhile articles, but so many of them seem to be half-assed, badly researched, or just woefully incomplete. Besides this review, I saw another article where someone wrote in asking which bit-rate to encode their mp3s at. IIRC, their answer was that 160kbps was a reasonable compromise, which is an ok answer, but they completely ignored the option of VBR, and gave their answer as if CBR was the only way to encode mp3s. Anyone with even passing familiarity with this issue, knows that VBR blows CBR out of the water. Unless you need compatibility with some very old piece of hardware, there are very few good reasons to even consider not using VBR.

While I applaud it, I remember the resurrection of Ren & Stimpy and how it just wasn't quite the same anymore. The making of a popular series can often rest on the frenzy of creating the episodes and the chemistry of those at work on it. Add an interruption, time for other projects and influences, what will become of pulling the team back together? Will it be the same, or will it be like, "well, Bender saying, 'bite my shiny metal asee' doesn't totally suck, but it's just, you know, different now."

Other news in the It's About Time Department:
In other good news, finally on DVD, Yellowbeard! Arr! July 27 for USA & Canada or July 10 for UK No word yet on extras, like Group Madness, the documentary of making of the film.

AWS S3 doesn't have the best interface, but it is cheap ($0.15/GB/yr), fast, and reliable. And they'll XSLT transform your XML for you on the fly.

Reminds me of a scene in The Turing Option where the main character has to physically make a trip to an out of country data dump to retrieve some bad mojo. This leads to a question of where the posts data dumps are located? Which jurisdictions do they fall under and therefore what laws?
And relatedly when gigabit connections become common sometime in the future you could keep your mp3's or divx movies in a dump and not notice any latency accessing them when the net isn't down ( ;) ).