Slashdot Mirror

brilanon writes "Good news! On Sept 4, critterdrug, the a-life lab for the twenty-teens, was updated to make generating a species almost trivial. A new video shows semi-random artificial animals gaining neurons and synapses as they compete to draw a gradient on an animated shared canvas which constitutes 1024 frames spread through time. The canvas is a 10-megabyte digital background for the lossy neural nets that populate the world. What you get are cellular automata run by psychic neural nets that are bound by the rules of a survival contest with physics. Features implementations of telepathy, Rupert Sheldrake's morphic fields and five types of drugs. The key assignments have changed since critterding; check the changelog on the web page for the new ones. Happy hacking!"

brilanon writes "Telepathic-critterdrug is a controversial fork of the open source artificial-life sim Critterding, a physics sandbox where blocky creatures evolve neural nets in a survival contest. What we've done is to give these animals an extra retina which is shared with the whole population. It's extended through time like a movie and they can write to it for communication or pleasure. Since this introduces the possibility of the creation of art, we decided to give them a selection of narcotics, stimulants and psychedelics. This is not in Critterding. The end result is a high-color cellular automaton running on a substrate that thinks and evolves, and may actually produce hallucinations in the user."

Z4rd0Z writes "Russian Cosmonauts at the International Space Station today heard a loud drumlike noise for the second time since November. The sound seemed to be coming from the same place as before. In February a space walk to find the source of the sound was cut short."

Slashback with a followup on the perpetual motion DeLorean, a word on RIAA bank-account-jacking, a reminder about the fast-tracked vote on software patents in the EU, the real meaning of "high speed USB" and more. Read on below for the details.

Now even less than a week ... mpawlo writes "As reported by Greplaw, although I am still looking for further confirmation, it seems like the EU vote on software patentability has been moved from the late fall to June 30, 2003. Yes, that is in one (1) week. If you have more information and another source - please comment on this news item."

Mikael writes: "Personally, I find it somewhat disturbing from a democracy perspective that this proposal seems to be fast-tracked in the middle of the summer, when most Europeans want to focus on whether they should have strawberry or vanilla ice cream. In Sweden, we also got our Swedish version of the DMCA this week. I guess the ice cream will have to wait."

DoSthAboutIt points out that "A 'Petition for a Free Europe without Software Patents' has gained more than 150000 signatures. Among the supporters are more than 2000 company owners and chief executives and 25000 developpers and engineers from all sectors of the European information and telecommunication industries, as well as more than 2000 scientists and 180 lawyers. Companies like Siemens, IBM, Alcatel and Nokia lead the list of those whose researchers and developpers want to protect programming freedom and copyright property against what they see as a 'patent landgrab.' The whole article can be found here, including some statistics like signatories by country"

The story of Peng. mantispraying writes "Looks like the college student who settled with the the RIAA for $12,000, his entire life savings, has recouped all of his money thanks to a very generous file sharing community. Also, the search engine he created that got him in trouble is back online, for demonstration purposes only, of course."

Reader T points out that while one of the students who lost his life savings to RIAA has made it back through PayPal donations, "the other, Dan Peng, is still short about $12,000. Brother, can you spare a dime?"

I'd prefer the garrote and the stick, but hey. Mark Ferguson writes: "I attended the FTC spam forum. It seems I was on their call list :-) I parlayed that into getting several others on the panels as well. While there I spoke with bulk emailers and other industry folks. Some people defined Confirmed OPT-IN to mean you sending a confirmation that the email address was subscribed so they were doing double, confirmed OPT-IN.

My heads spins.

What I figured from what I learned was these folks truly refused to accept real definitions the Service Providers have been using for years so I decided to do a site for just this. ... Anyway, reboot, aka Andrew Cockrell myself and another built The Carrot and the Stick to explain email, define the best practices and to get people to abide by them.

Thoughts, comments and/or suggestions?"

Sooner or later, that DeLorean's going to land someone in jail. hackwrench writes "According to channel WSMV news, Alternate Energy Inventor Carl Tilley's compound was raided. Tilley was previously mentioned on Slashdot here."

Tilley had announced the then-upcoming demonstration of his perpetual-motion DeLorean.

My nanodots can fit inside your nanodots! Rocky Rawstern writes "I recently had the distinct pleasure to interview one of my favorite authors, Wil McCarthy. Upon completing three of his latest books - two sci-fi and one work of non-fiction - I realized that others would probably enjoy his ponderings as much as I. The questions for this interview stem from my own interest in programmable matter, and the awe-inspiring possibilities raised by Wil in his book Hacking Matter."

How to succeed (not necessarily) in business. jameshowison writes "A few months ago Ask Slashdot published Kevin Crowston's question on what makes open source software successful ... well the results are in and the paper typed. We ran the responses through a funky content analyser (called Grad Students). The metrics that academics and the industry have used for years simply don't work for OSS.

More and more it seems that we'll need to survey the number of job offers developers get and the size of the community to get at this one ..."

You sound very familiar to me. Interested Observer writes "Thanks to a slashdot article discussing false positives using Soundex I thought if Soundex can be used for something as important as "no-fly" lists then certainly we should be able to get some entertainment value out of it! See if your Soundex last name-counterparts show up in a Google News search."

A member of the USB-IF Administration writes to dispel the confusion raised by the seeming conflict between many USB products' labels and their actual data-transfer speeds:

"The source of confusion derives from the fact that USB specification revision numbers and data-transfer rates are often being used in place of the logo on consumer packaging, a purpose for which they were not originally intended. The USB-IF's recommended nomenclature for consumers is 'USB' for slower speed products (1.5 Mb/s and 12Mb/s) and "Hi-Speed USB" for high-speed products (480Mb/s), as signified in the USB logos that were introduced in late 2000. In short, consumers wishing to be certain they are getting the performance they paid for in their USB products can use the logo for clarification.

The USB-IF's naming and packaging recommendations for low- or full-speed USB products, as listed at the website http://www.usb.org/developers/packaging, state that such products can carry only the basic version of the USB logo, which simply states "Certified USB." We state clearly that manufacturers should avoid using terminology such as USB 2.0 Full Speed, Full Speed USB or USB 2.0. These formal recommendations were published to the USB-IF membership and posted on the website in August 2002.

The USB-IF is a nonprofit industry organization. We do not and cannot control how manufacturers label their products. We do work continuously with system and peripheral manufacturers, striving to provide consistency in the use of this nomenclature and the logos. The logo indicates that a product's performance against and conformance with the standard have been tested, and that the product has passed the USB compliance program.

Anyone having questions about the performance of a product should contact the manufacturer for clarification.

For a brief Q & A on this topic, please visit our website at http://www.usb.org/info/usb_nomenclature."

bullshizzle writes "The longest running Public Access UNIX System (SDF, running BSD) est. 1989 had their services terminated abruptly by NWLink because of a DDoS attack. Termination was carried out immediately without prior notification, which violates their contract (page1, page2). Complaints can be filed to the Washington State Attorney General's Office by filling out this simple form conveniently located online. You can follow the story at lonestar.org." While still bad, I've been corrected - SDF was *not* the longest running public access Unix - ArborNet (Located right here in my town) has been around for at least a number more years.

howardjp writes: "Ian Stewart has penned a fabulous sequel to Edwin A. Abbot's classic geometric classic, Flatland. Mr. Stewart's sequel, Flatterland, discusses the geometric advances over the preceding one hundred years and how these advances have applied in the real world. From the simplest plane geometry to passing through a wormhole, Flatterland describes the mathematics in simple and easily digestible terms." Read the rest of James' review below.

Flatterland: Like Flatland Only More So author Ian Stewart pages 294 publisher Perseus Publishing rating 8 reviewer James Howard ISBN 0-7382-0442-0 summary A one dimensional line living in a two dimensional world issuddenly thrust into three dimensional space, fractal worlds,and hyperbolicplanes.

Flatterland begins one hundred years after Flatland's end. A. Square's great-great-granddaughter, Victoria Line has found A. Square's ancient text, Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions. After causing some trouble with her family, Victoria reads the text and signals the third dimension. She is soon greeted by the Space Hopper, who soon teaches her about three and dimensions, fractal space, perspective, hyperbolic space, topology, time travel, wormholes, and everything else relating to geometry.

Flatland was written to warm the public up to a more complex space than the three dimensions they normally perceived. Shortly after the start of the new century, Albert Einstein proved the relationship between time and space adding a forth dimension. Flatterland is not written the same way. Rather than warming the reader up to physical possibilities, Mr. Stewart pedanticly explains the Universe as it is known today. In those areas where science has no answer, Flatterland simply says there is none and offers several possible answers.

Mr. Stewart went to great lengths to demonstrate Victoria's naivity. All names from the book are spelled as one part and even names are combined. Albert Einstein becomes Albereinstein and Felix Klein becomes Felixklien. Even planet Earth becomes Planiturth whose inhabitants are Planiturthians. First cute, by the end of the book, the nomenclature becomes dreadful and deciphering names can be difficult when the original is unknown to the reader.

Missing most from Flatterland, though, is the social satire. Flatland endlessly mocks Victorian society. The role of women was questioned along with evolutionary theories. Flatland was more of a social satire than it was a text on geometry. Flatterland's social satire is weak and confused. In Mr. Stewart's introduction, Flatland has evolved into a sixties-like era, but modern technology from the nineties has also arrived. What little social criticism there is in Flatterland addresses the women's movement. Unfortunately, the style and discourse would have been more appropriate forty years ago.

These flaws aside, Flatterland's discussion of mathematics and science is amazing. The simplicity of the breadth of material makes Flatterland helpful aid in study. The personification of mathematical concepts includes a five-sided figure with five ninety degree angles from the hyperbolic plane called a squarrel. Viewed from inside the hyperbolic plane, Victoria is confused to see a creature with the wrong measure of angles for five sides until the Space Hopper patiently explains. The personification also includes a cow whose tail flips and joins its nose named Moobius. Victoria takes to washing one side of Moobius only to discover that Moobius has only one side.

Through the Space Hopper, Mr. Stewart explains complex mathematical concepts with explicit detail but very simply and often several times from several angles to ensure the reader understands the topic. Additionally, the book includes ample diagrams from simple grapefruit stacking problems to visions of wormholes. The images are most helpful when discussing perspective.

Ideally, Flatterland would embody the mathematics, science, satire, creativity of Flatland. However, Flatterland usually sacrifices satire and creativity for science and mathematics. The book is still an exceptional read and well worth the time. It does not tarnish the reputation of Flatland, but it is not destined to become the classic that its predecessor is."

You can purchase this book at Fatbrain.

howardjp writes: "Ian Stewart has penned a fabulous sequel to Edwin A. Abbot's classic geometric classic, Flatland. Mr. Stewart's sequel, Flatterland, discusses the geometric advances over the preceding one hundred years and how these advances have applied in the real world. From the simplest plane geometry to passing through a wormhole, Flatterland describes the mathematics in simple and easily digestible terms." Read the rest of James' review below.

Flatterland: Like Flatland Only More So author Ian Stewart pages 294 publisher Perseus Publishing rating 8 reviewer James Howard ISBN 0-7382-0442-0 summary A one dimensional line living in a two dimensional world issuddenly thrust into three dimensional space, fractal worlds,and hyperbolicplanes.

Flatterland begins one hundred years after Flatland's end. A. Square's great-great-granddaughter, Victoria Line has found A. Square's ancient text, Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions. After causing some trouble with her family, Victoria reads the text and signals the third dimension. She is soon greeted by the Space Hopper, who soon teaches her about three and dimensions, fractal space, perspective, hyperbolic space, topology, time travel, wormholes, and everything else relating to geometry.

Flatland was written to warm the public up to a more complex space than the three dimensions they normally perceived. Shortly after the start of the new century, Albert Einstein proved the relationship between time and space adding a forth dimension. Flatterland is not written the same way. Rather than warming the reader up to physical possibilities, Mr. Stewart pedanticly explains the Universe as it is known today. In those areas where science has no answer, Flatterland simply says there is none and offers several possible answers.

Mr. Stewart went to great lengths to demonstrate Victoria's naivity. All names from the book are spelled as one part and even names are combined. Albert Einstein becomes Albereinstein and Felix Klein becomes Felixklien. Even planet Earth becomes Planiturth whose inhabitants are Planiturthians. First cute, by the end of the book, the nomenclature becomes dreadful and deciphering names can be difficult when the original is unknown to the reader.

Missing most from Flatterland, though, is the social satire. Flatland endlessly mocks Victorian society. The role of women was questioned along with evolutionary theories. Flatland was more of a social satire than it was a text on geometry. Flatterland's social satire is weak and confused. In Mr. Stewart's introduction, Flatland has evolved into a sixties-like era, but modern technology from the nineties has also arrived. What little social criticism there is in Flatterland addresses the women's movement. Unfortunately, the style and discourse would have been more appropriate forty years ago.

These flaws aside, Flatterland's discussion of mathematics and science is amazing. The simplicity of the breadth of material makes Flatterland helpful aid in study. The personification of mathematical concepts includes a five-sided figure with five ninety degree angles from the hyperbolic plane called a squarrel. Viewed from inside the hyperbolic plane, Victoria is confused to see a creature with the wrong measure of angles for five sides until the Space Hopper patiently explains. The personification also includes a cow whose tail flips and joins its nose named Moobius. Victoria takes to washing one side of Moobius only to discover that Moobius has only one side.

Through the Space Hopper, Mr. Stewart explains complex mathematical concepts with explicit detail but very simply and often several times from several angles to ensure the reader understands the topic. Additionally, the book includes ample diagrams from simple grapefruit stacking problems to visions of wormholes. The images are most helpful when discussing perspective.

Ideally, Flatterland would embody the mathematics, science, satire, creativity of Flatland. However, Flatterland usually sacrifices satire and creativity for science and mathematics. The book is still an exceptional read and well worth the time. It does not tarnish the reputation of Flatland, but it is not destined to become the classic that its predecessor is."

You can purchase this book at Fatbrain.

styles writes: "According to this article, two young men have been accused of gaining unauthorized access to third party computer systems. "The charges are the first under a Michigan law which makes the unauthorized alteration, damage or use of a computer system a felony." I have been a user on m-net (one of the two systems compromised) for a year and some change, and the fact that someone went and took the machine down for at least a month (more? I forget...), and that someone also hacked sshd to steal my password just kills me." And this raises the ever-sticky question of determining who is harmed, how much -- and then the stickier issue of what to do about the first. (Use your judgement in interpreting the source of this news, too.)

[Updated 19:00 GMT by timothy] As several readers have pointed out in comments, and as reader Conan Ford e-mailed, if that funny address sets your nose twitching suspiciously, note that http://www.ag.state.mi.us/AGWebSite/press_release/pr10189.htm does get you to the same place.

Greg Kau is looking for answers to this particular question: "I am building a small group of low-powered computers. I would like to use the IDT C6 Winchip *despite* its low FPU and, uh, suggestive name. I am curious as to the "compatibility" of the C6 Winchip with Linux and BeOS. Has anyone tried this configuration out? The IDT site claims that Linux has been extensively tested with the C6, but I would just like to know first hand if anyone has tried compiling the kernel, etc... on the C6. Also if anyone has run BeOS on it, I would be grateful if you would comment on your experiences."