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As a review of the sordid history of the election from some reputable source such as This One will remind you, the recounts were stopped by order of the US Supreme Court in response to legal action sponsored by Bush et al, and Florida selected it's electors based on the original, suspect totals.

The remaining thousands of votes were thus never actually recounted properly. If they had been, it could easily have been either candidate's race.

In my opinion, when the margin of victory in any state is less than the margin of error in your polling, it is negligent in the extreme to claim that either side is a valid victor. Of course, if more states followed a process of proportionally selecting electors, rather than the prevalent all-or-nothing system, this wouldn't be nearly as much of an issue...

Where do you get that 75% number from? Have a look here. Penn State's state appropriate made up about 28% of their operating budget in 2002-2003, while student tuition makes up around 66%. PSU, like the University of Pittsburgh, is not state owned or operated but rather "state-related". Basically, the state related universities in PA are private entities which are given some state appropriation each year - but the bulk of the cost of education is picked up by the students (or their parents). The amount of the state appropriation each year has gone down as well, resulting in significant tuition increases.

I highly doubt giving the students free access to music is going to harm them academically, so what exactly is the big deal? The taxpayers aren't paying for this anyway, it is coming right out of the student's fees - which aren't being raised and also cover things like software, network access, student activities, transportation and the like. These things all benefit the student body as the whole and add to the overall university experience.

OK, on one hand you've got a point... especially seeing as how this comes on the heels of the largest tuition increase at PSU in over 20 years.

Then again, lets look at the numbers. Napster charges $9.95 a month for unlimited streaming. The deal is only for the 13,000 or so students in the dorms. So that's around $130,000 a month, not including any discounts the University is getting. So for the 8 months of regular sessions we're looking at around $1 million dollars (again not including discounts) to keep the kids streaming. Penn State's operating budget for 2000-2001 was over $2 billion dollars, so that million bucks or so is really only a drop in the bucket. At my school we got "free" buss passes and "free" software all paid for through liscensing agreements negotiated by the unversity, so why not "free" music as well, especially if it helps the university avoid hassles from the RIAA?

Not "proof", but ever is.

Here is an article ,originally publushed in The Observer, that makes a good case for U.S. involvement in the Venezuelan Coup D'etat that overthrew the Chavez Presidency.

It is fair to note that the article is accurate in it's disparaging remarks about both Otto Reich and Elliot Abrams.

The similarity between the ecconomic and historical events leading to the April Coup (US interference with trade, propaganda published by White House spokesmen in the US media, and demands that the democraticly elected President of Venezuela step down) are very similar to the events that occurred before the assassination of Allende in Chile.

This may not be the acual smoking gun, but this is.

US military personel and Intelligence Officers have been getting very upset when ordered to take part in poorly planned exercises that don't match ideals they joined up to defend.

two down. I may have to take a break soon, I do have a life you know.

Actually, it's probably more likely they are referencing the folk tale of the Three Billy Goats Gruff.

His articles like this one are very easy to understand even if you just had some advanced high school mathematics.

It is not rocket science. It is most certainly not on par with Einstein's early work on special relativity.

Granted having a Masters in Physics you may dismiss me as brainwashed by Academia. But IMHO his articles are anything but earth-shattering. Frankly I found them a waste of time.

Furthermore, it's obvious that physical objects do indeed move through exact points in space by merely observing the following:
Let's assume that our ability to measure an object's position is limited to "delta", and that we measure an object's position at position A= 0 meters +/- delta, and also again at position C= 2 meters +/- delta. Although our ability to actually measure the object's position at point B= 1 meter is limited by +/- delta, it is quite clear that the object did in actual fact have to pass through a position corresponding to precisely 1 meter whether we were able to measure it or not, simply because the body must pass through all intermediate positions in going from point A to point C.

-- Ron

Furthermore, it's obvious that physical objects do indeed move through exact points in space by merely observing the following:
Let's assume that our ability to measure an object's position is limited to "delta", and that we measure an object's position at position A= 0 meters +/- delta, and also again at position C= 2 meters +/- delta. Although our ability to actually measure the object's position at point B= 1 meter is limited by +/- delta, it is quite clear that the object did in actual fact have to pass through a position corresponding to precisely 1 meter whether we were able to measure it or not, simply because the body must pass through all intermediate positions in going from point A to point C.

-- Ron

No paradigm is disappearing here. The paper referred to is not online but I just read his shorter paper Zeno's Paradoxes - A Timely Solution which deals with the same subject matter specifically as it relates the those famous paradoxes. Unfortunately, it's incoherent bullshit. Lynd's theory looks like nothing more than philosophical rambling, and it doesn't appear to solve anything that hasn't already been solved by more rigorous means. The whole thing falls apart as soon as you admit other solutions for Zeno. And there are other solutions. The solution I favour is given by an upper limit to the granularity of time, eg the Planck Time. If it is not possible to measure an interval shorter than the Planck Time, then Zeno's analysis cannot constitute an infinite series and thus the paradox is resolved.

http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/archive/00001197/0 2/Zeno's_Paradoxes_-_A_Timely_Solution.pdf

• It's written in MS Word.
• /.esque spelling ("Zeno would of known...")

Link is: "http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/archive/00001197/ 02/Zeno's_Paradoxes_-_A_Timely_Solution.pdf"

Read the article, please. The article refers to this paper: "Time and Classical and Quantum Mechanics: Indeterminacy vs. Discontinuity"

You linked to a follow-up paper that focuses on Lynds's so-called solution to Zeno's paradoxes. By the way, what is the point of linking to the Google cache when the original PDF is still available?

Here is the paper (in PDF format)

No need to wait. Here is his follow-up paper, which focuses on Lynds's so-called resolution to Zeno's paradoxes.

Since my first post which was a joke got moderated troll, i will help the moderators out by posting the quite obvious links one gets when they type the name peter lynds into google.



The source that everyone keeps getting this article from is a self published online journal, meaning noone has read it or reviewed it, the author just submitted it himself.


There is a certain anti intellectualism that runs through slashdot sometimes that i find disturbing.

I will concede that it might, just might be legit, but the markers are all there for a hoax.

As I read it, this is exactly what he is trying to get across.

Another paper of note, also written by Peter Lynds, is Zeno's Paradoxes - A Timely Solution (PDF - Google HTML Cache) where some of these of these issues are discussed in further detail.

What is being contradicted is the notion of there being certainty with regards to an object's position in time. In fact, he goes further to suggest there is no certainty with regards to any instantaneous physical values or magnitudes. To quote, "..once granted indeterminacy in precise relative position of a body in relative motion, also means indeterminacy in all precise physical magnitudes, including gravity, this also applies to the very structure of space-time, the dynamic framework in which all intertial, spatial, and temporal judgements of relative position are based."

I am certainly no physicist, but I definitely get the sense he is on to something here. If in fact it is taken for granted that determined physical magnitudes exist, this paper may actually be changing some assumptions we have about the universe we live in.

pdf

Excellent suggestion. About 45 minutes from Pittsburgh, Fallingwater is probably the coolest house ever built.

Pittsburgh is not a typical tourist destination, but if you walk around the Carnegie Mellon campus you will probably see a robot or three rolling around the campus. Pretty common occurrence there. Lots of pickup Ultimate Frisbee and soccer games to be had.

The Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh are awesome. Check out the Natural History Museum, and the Carnegie Science Center (great place for kids) as is the Carnegie Library.

But you definitely should check out the Andy Warhol Museum while here. I have never seen anything quite like it.

The University of Pittsburgh's Cathedral of Learning was the home of Gozar the Gozarian (remember Ghostbusters?)

Thanks for posting this. These are great points, and though they apply only in the US, it's likely other areas have similar interpretations.

I still have an issue with classifying a downloader as an infringer ("Napster users who download files containing copyrighted music violate plaintiffs' reproduction rights."). I believe the 9th Circuit made this statement without a true finding of fact, only to point out that there was some form of infringement occurring (which is all that was needed to continue with the finding against Napster). The downloader may have requested a copy and was provided a copy through the service, the actual duplication and retransmission occurred entirely on the sending side. The downloader has no knowledge that the work is being duplicated illegally, and while that doesn't matter in classifying the act as infringing, it makes it nearly impossible to find him guilty of it without additional work (e.g. a C&D letter).

So while existing precedent might support a statement saying a downloader infringes merely by receiving a copy (or retaining that copy in memory or storing it on disk), I still feel there's enough room for challenge here.

On your last point, the net to ram to disk not being copying, you again have to overcome the findings in MAI and Southeastern cases, both of which arrived at precisely the same analysis in the context of loading a program from disk into ram for execution.

This too is troubling. The MAI case did seem to indicate that simply moving a copyrighted work from disk to RAM was copying and could be regulated by copyright law (see pages 8 and 9). In these cases, though, both copies were required to be "sufficiently permanent or stable to permit it to be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated for a period of more than transitory duration." If the act of receiving a copy online can be demonstrated not to be an act of copying, this definition still wouldn't qualify a work being written from RAM to disk as copying either, since the version in RAM is transient and not sufficiently permanent or stable that it can be used. It's simply buffered there until it can be written to disk and cannot be otherwise used or accessed. It is completely transient as it passes through the network, into RAM and onto disk. The first and only copy the recipient is given is the copy that arrives on his/her disk.

I could still see an argument, however, that since the "fixation" occurs entirely on the downloader's PC, that the downloader is still very much responsible for creating the copy (even though the downloader does not have possession of the original, unless the "data stream" can be considered the original), and thus is the one infringing the copyright.

This might require a court challenge to settle, I'm afraid. Though I certainly concede now that things may not have been as clear as I originally thought or indicated in my first posts.

Does your company sell derivative securities or need someone to optimize portfolios? If so, I'll be graduating in a year. Check our my resume

What I find more interesting is that NO ONE has said anything about Nicola Tesla. While I don't think he invisioned microwaves, he DID invision, and bascially PREDICT electricity without wires, and spend a good deal of his life working toward this. His ideas were both out of time(r) and often wrong, but his foresight was amazing.

Once again, he has been redeamed in his belief that it could be done. While some of his claims are a bit overstated, the majority of his work was so advanced, he deserves the name "man out of time", which is also an excellent book about him by Margaret Cheney.

If you haven't read enough or really know who Nicola Tesla is, here are some misc. links about him, including his patents. (Not to be confused with the very excellent band named Tesla.)

Enjoy the links, at least until they are slashdotted.

If you check, a lot of people who write open source software are with .edu domain.
The reality of the US Universities can be seen here - my university (very bad - you get at most 30% of anything that you develop), or here - across the street from us (a bit better - 50%).

The bottom line is that it absolutely doesn't pay off to be innovative and creative for profit there.

On the other hand, if there is a very rigid patent system, ideas never get into the public domain and every new product has a defacto tax built into it. The inflationary pressure would be incredible. Copyrights behave a little bit differently than patents in this scenario. An extensive protection period for copyrights provides an incentive for "monopolistic stagnation"1. Similarly, copyrights can be used as a form of censorship or to limit access by competitors. The effect can be rather chilling--no Project Gutenberg, information controlled by one source for extended periods of time, etc.

In the case of Mexico, or any country that follows a similar path, I think the business climate would eventually detoriate. There would be a high price of entry for new businesses and established businesses would feel less pressure to compete. Even foreign companies would have difficulty in entering.

An interesting read on copyrights can be found in the article by Lydia Pallas Loren. Maybe my argument is full of holes.

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1COMPUTER ASSOCIATES INTERNATIONAL, INC. v. ALTAI, INC., 982 F.2d 693 (HTML)

Click here to learn more about ParticleGirl.

Nikola Tesla proposed this around 1890 or so.

• http://www.space.com/news/eu_gps_020326.html.
  
• http://www.ucis.pitt.edu/cwes/EUC/EUC_Research/Pol itics_of_Galileo/politics_of_galileo.html
  
• http://www.galileosworld.com/galileosworld/
  
• http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2002/8673.htm
  
• GPS http://ifen1.bauv.unibw-muenchen.de/Lehre/External /SpaceTech/GPS.pdf.
  

These links are from a file I have of info on Galileo. Hopefully no link rot.

It's about freakin' time that OS X was brought up to speed. Finally gives a chance for Dungeon Master Java to be played on OS X. hurrah hurrah.

New Lives for Old Bones. Man, I loved this game back on my ST, and now I'm thrilled to have it back at my fingertips.

I guess the comment from the author of Dungeon Master Java was pretty interesting, where he released his code but warned the public "There is one big problem, though: it's UGLY. I mean really really really really really really UGLY." So at least programmers with a conciousness might push themself a little harder writing good code, just because they feel the eventiual eyes of the public on their code.

Maybe he is reading Slashdot and can reply to my questions.

Thank you very much.

I also just now compiled GSL since this was the first I've heard of it. It looks like I'll be using it for my current project on fast American swaption pricing.

It makes good eating, even if it's a little strange

I tried the first one, and the paper doesn't mix too well, but once the eggs soak through, it cooks up well... not too flavorful. It's more of a filler like Tofu.

"The operation was legal under U.S. law."

for reference

On the other hand, the United States is not in a declared state of war against anybody, so it is a bit tenuous to justify labelling arbitrary people the US does not like as "legitimate enemy target". If they were legitimate enemy targets I would expect that we should identify them and declare war and our stated intentions against them to get coverage under international law ("excersized in self defense"). Assassination does not sound very defensive...it sounds very offensive.

i'm working on it right now. it's slower than dirt :). i emailed the guy and asked for a tar ball. when it's done it will be here:
http://sage.che.pitt.edu/~harrold/tmp/shuttle/www. pdrap.org/photo_albums/columbia_disaster/

it's going to be a while though.

Why don't you ask him? His email address is chirdon_at_pitt.edu. He works as a Systems Analyst for the University of Pittsburgh.

Indeed, and here are some tasty recipes. Thanks Hormel!

Nikola Tesla used to sleep two hours a night, as reported in a biography (Nikola Tesla: Prodigal Genius). It is about keeping the mind occupied.

I live in Geneva and I'd object to that! ;-)

I think that you should start with countries that signed the convention but are ignoring it... hmmm... the USA?

memo

second

link

The real physics[PDF] behind pool. This is much more stimulating than the "physics link" posted in the story.

And whereas, the endeavors of the legislature to obviate objections to the said laws by lowering the duties and by other alterations conducive to the convenience of those whom they immediately affect (though they have given satisfaction in other quarters), and the endeavors of the executive officers to conciliate a compliance with the laws by explanations, by forbearance, and even by particular accommodations founded on the suggestion of local considerations, have been disappointed of their effect by the machinations of persons whose industry to excite resistance has increased with every appearance of a disposition among the people to relax in their opposition and to acquiesce in the laws, insomuch that many persons in the said western parts of Pennsylvania have at length been hardy enough to perpetrate acts, which I am advised amount to treason, being overt acts of levying war against the United States, the said persons having on the 16th and 17th of July last past proceeded in arms (on the second day amounting to several hundreds) to the house of John Neville, inspector of the revenue for the fourth survey of the district of Pennsylvania; having repeatedly attacked the said house with the persons therein, wounding some of them; having seized David Lenox, marshal of the district of Pennsylvania, who previous thereto had been fired upon while in the execution of his duty by a party of armed men, detaining him for some time prisoner, till, for the preservation of his life and the obtaining of his liberty, he found it necessary to enter into stipulations to forbear the execution of certain official duties touching processes issuing out of a court of the United States; and having finally obliged the said inspector of the revenue and the said marshal from considerations of personal safety to fly from that part of the country, in order, by a circuitous route, to proceed to the seat of government, avowing as the motives of these outrageous proceedings an intention to prevent by force of arms the execution of the said laws, to oblige the said inspector of the revenue to renounce his said office, to withstand by open violence the lawful authority of the government of the United States, and to compel thereby an alteration in the measures of the legislature and a repeal of the laws aforesaid;

I'd say: get a bed of nails. The bed of nails is probably the demo that hurts the most of the things I do, but it is not dangerous. It doesn't hurt just lying there, but then you put some brick s on you chest, and you get someone in the audience to break them with a sledgehammer. But it looks absolutely astonishing.

Check out David Willey's homepage. There's not much info on how to do things, but he does all kinds of weird things, and he's the guy who organized these firewalking record events.

I'd say: get a bed of nails. The bed of nails is probably the demo that hurts the most of the things I do, but it is not dangerous. It doesn't hurt just lying there, but then you put some brick s on you chest, and you get someone in the audience to break them with a sledgehammer. But it looks absolutely astonishing.

Check out David Willey's homepage. There's not much info on how to do things, but he does all kinds of weird things, and he's the guy who organized these firewalking record events.

Can't the courts decide if a law follows the spirit of the constitution, so to speak? Yes, constitutionally Congress has the right to pass things like the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act... but do you think preserving the copyright for a cartoon mouse created by a man who is long since dead is what our founding fathers had in mind? Copyright laws were created both to give the author/artist incentive to create new works *and* to ensure at some point new works could be created based on older stuff.

This is exactly how disney became so popular, by using the work of authors that had gone into the public domain! Snow White, Cinderella, The Little Mermaid are just a few examples of older works that Disney has used.

Now Disney, and other huge corporations like Sony etc. are trying to make sure that no one else can do what they have done. This, to me at least (I am not a Supreme Court Justice) goes against the spirit of the constitution. From the SFGate Story:The original decision made more than 200 years ago to limit the length of copyrights was deliberate and carefully considered. The goal, which was expressed at the time in letters written by Thomas Jefferson and others, was to allow newcomers to build on and improve works produced by others, but only after the original creators of those works were compensated fairly for their efforts. The reason: Human progress builds upon itself."

These companies are trying to stop progress, and trying to stop other from doing to them what they did to the brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Anderson, and Victor Hugo.

Tesla experimented with wireless power through pulses in the ground. From http://www.neuronet.pitt.edu/~bogdan/tesla/bio.htm

"In Colorado Springs, Colo., where he stayed from May 1899 until early 1900, Tesla made what he regarded as his most important discovery-- terrestrial stationary waves. By this discovery he proved that the Earth could be used as a conductor and would be as responsive as a tuning fork to electrical vibrations of a certain frequency. He also lighted 200 lamps without wires from a distance of 25 miles (40 kilometres) and created man-made lightning, producing flashes measuring 135 feet (41 metres)."

That's why he stopped doing wireless power experiments, he was producing gigantic lightning bolts coming off of grounded metal objects like signs and fire hydrants.

dear lord people give this poor man a break.

here's a mirror of the faq. i hope it helps.

If you are interested in the picture on the website, here is an additional photograph of Tesla himself in the same pose, only his coil is giant-sized, and the arcs fill a warehouse. He is sitting reading a book under the giant coil with the million-volt sparks fly overhead.

Note that for this photo to work, it had to be reexposed several times for all the lightning forks to be catptured (and he sat at the end).

Picture of Tesla under his giant active coil

The noise genereated from the coil in the photo could be heard 10 miles away.

dont worry too much about being gentle once this gets done:

mirror in progress