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I want to offer an alternative, as proposed by Victor Raskin at Purdue. I speak for neither Sergei Nirenburg nor Victor (who does enough talking for himself).

While this idea for more thorough, concise, and accurate searches is a good one, I would question whether embedding semantic tags into web pages is the way to go.

As outlined in Ontological Smenatics, there is an automated system of semantic processing already underway. Basically, it takes a text, then runs it through a parser, which looks up meanings in a lexicon, then reduces whatever translation it comes up with to a text-meaning representation (TMR), by pushing the concepts from the lexicon through an ontology / onomasticon / world-knowledge library. The TMR is basically the "pulp" of the semantics of the article, web page, book, or whatever it's been fed. It just contains the ideas, the things involved, and other relevant concepts, stripped of all other linguistic information.

TMR is great, becuase the TMR can be used then, by reversing the process and using the lexicon of another language, to translate a text from one language to another.

However, it seems to me that with the bits and pieces of the TMR stored in a search engine's index, this could be a huge boon for the search engine.

Instead of just trying to match keywords, by parsing the TMR of web pages and by parsing TMR of search strings, you no longer search for keywords, but keyconcepts.

The advantage to semantic searches / indexes by this implementation is manifold:

-Searches (and the web as a whole) will gain the richness Mr. Berners-Lee is advocating.

-Web authors will not be able to lie in their semantic tags, or otherwise misinform spiders what the page is about (remember tags?)

-No extra work is required in the actual construct of the web or *ML standards. The TMR is only generated and stored by the sites / processes that need it.

-Others?

Just an alternative solution, for fun :)

I want to offer an alternative, as proposed by Victor Raskin at Purdue. I speak for neither Sergei Nirenburg nor Victor (who does enough talking for himself).

While this idea for more thorough, concise, and accurate searches is a good one, I would question whether embedding semantic tags into web pages is the way to go.

As outlined in Ontological Smenatics, there is an automated system of semantic processing already underway. Basically, it takes a text, then runs it through a parser, which looks up meanings in a lexicon, then reduces whatever translation it comes up with to a text-meaning representation (TMR), by pushing the concepts from the lexicon through an ontology / onomasticon / world-knowledge library. The TMR is basically the "pulp" of the semantics of the article, web page, book, or whatever it's been fed. It just contains the ideas, the things involved, and other relevant concepts, stripped of all other linguistic information.

TMR is great, becuase the TMR can be used then, by reversing the process and using the lexicon of another language, to translate a text from one language to another.

However, it seems to me that with the bits and pieces of the TMR stored in a search engine's index, this could be a huge boon for the search engine.

Instead of just trying to match keywords, by parsing the TMR of web pages and by parsing TMR of search strings, you no longer search for keywords, but keyconcepts.

The advantage to semantic searches / indexes by this implementation is manifold:

-Searches (and the web as a whole) will gain the richness Mr. Berners-Lee is advocating.

-Web authors will not be able to lie in their semantic tags, or otherwise misinform spiders what the page is about (remember tags?)

-No extra work is required in the actual construct of the web or *ML standards. The TMR is only generated and stored by the sites / processes that need it.

-Others?

Just an alternative solution, for fun :)

Here at Purdue we use acmaint to syncronize accounts and passwords between many different systems, including unix accounts, Active Directory accounts, email accounts, and any departmental accounts that you may have. For instance, I have accounts for the Unix computers, Macintosh labs (auths against Unix I believe), the main Purdue.edu Active Directory structure, Department of Statistics, email services, School of Technology, and the Computer Science department. My password is synced among all of them by this service. Check out http://directory.purdue.edu/MAIL-HUB/ed/fields/acm aint_explain.html for a little more info on it.

I go all over for my political blogging...

For crazy news from the Left, I like DailyKos; it's most blog-o-riffic.

For crazy news from the Right, even though it isn't really a blog, Drudge Report.

In dealing with legal / technical slants on political issues, it's hard to top Larry Lessig's blog.

I like To Be Determined, becuase it's my blog ;) But there's always witty political content there, both locally and globally, that interests me!

And finally, for a news for nerds and stuff that matters , it's hard to top Slashdot!

Instruction first, then quiz.

Instruction first, then quiz.

Instead of simply being a pompous ass, try giving instruction.

But expecting /. editors to recall that would be like expecting them to get effect and affect correct.

Here's an affect/effect primer with which they can practice.

Life is much simpler in Indiana, where Pi=3.2 (almost)

Why not try this or even this

He's got some of my favourite quotations of all time, too.

Gene Spafford, another computer security expert, likened hacker break-ins to "being pecked to death by ducks."

More at http://www.cerias.purdue.edu/homes/tripunit/spaf-a nalogies.html

The first link on the chap's homepage is entitled "apology for the proof of the Riemann Hypothesis".

Yeah, I skimmed his paper, and noticed that as well. Apparently, "apology" in this context means a proof that has not yet been subjected to peer review, but which the author is deeply convinced is correct. Pasting some output from a dict apology, it seems:

1. Something said or written in defense or justification of
what appears to others wrong, or of what may be liable to
disapprobation; justification; as, Tertullian's Apology
for Christianity.

[....]

Usage: An apology, in the original sense of the word, was a
pleading off from some charge or imputation, by
explaining and defending one's principles or conduct.
It therefore amounted to a vindication. One who offers
an apology, admits himself to have been, at least
apparently, in the wrong, but brings forward some
palliating circumstance, or tenders a frank
acknowledgment, by way of reparation. [....]

[....]

2: a formal written defense of something you believe in
strongly [syn: {apologia}]

Clearly, de Branges is using the term in this sense.

It doesn't really matter though, because if you actually read his paper, the first third is all incomprehensible background nonsense about the nature of the problem, while the last third is all incomprehensible arrogant nonsense about what he wants to do with his prize money. The actual meat of the paper is buried somewhere in the middle, but it's like that's all just an afterthought to the guy's mad ravings about his place in history and his imminent wealth.

He couldn't be more different than the person that seems to have solved the Poincare conjecture. Where Perelman is silent behind a paper that seems to concretely prove not just the problem at hand, but a whole broader class of problems, de Branges has this ridiculous paper that goes on and on about what a big shot he is, while stomping around his university like a little tinpot Napoleon. I'm no math whiz, but hot air isn't always hard to recognize...

This is all very interesting and I like the way Perelman has gone about working out this whole genius and fame, and money. I wonder what if movie stars ever found out or the RIAA or the music industry, they might license him. Interestingly there was also a breakthrough in the Riemann Hypothesis, I wonder if anyone has ever heard of Louis de Branges de Bourcia at Purdue and his paper on the Riemann Hypothesis . The person who posted the news article did not tell use what Poincaré Conjecture is? Well this is slashdot not, mathdot :) { Just Kidding Dawgs, aite } . Anyway Perelman has a very ascetic way about him, maybe he sees beyond the materialsitic, and media oriented consuermism. Anyway interesting it is to see someone who sees beyond himself. Just because google news bot picked this up don't make it that great of a post. It was known for the last 6 months that Perelman and colleagues had been working on this. PS ::- buying != happiness Saw this at NYC Penn Station {not a good sign}

It is not that de Branges is unqualified: he settled Bieberbach's Conjecture. Interestingly, much of the validation of de Branges work on Bieberbach's Conjecture was done by a team at the Steklov Institute, referred to in the MathWorld link in the article.

I already have a 10Gbit link to my home.

The Space House: Good in space, good in Europe, good at the South pole, AND good at the bottom of the sea!

Cricket page

It says If a batsman gets out without scoring any runs, he is said to be out for a duck.

Does breaking the duck means not being skunked, finally getting some scores on the board?

Well, SiC has a wide range for bandgap, 2.2 to 3.25 eV, which is much less stable vs. temperature than Si. This is one of its "problems" for ICs. The other is the difficulty in making large wafers. The huge benefit of its large bandgap is long minority carrier lifetimes....think standard RAM cells that can hold their charge for hundreds of years. The real focus these days for SiC has been discrete power devices since they can function with a much higher junction temperature than silicon devices. Several of my friends from Purdue were in Dr. Cooper's group working with this stuff. Hope that helps a bit. If you want to know more, head here.

The word is spelt as "bulletin"

I'm sorry, did you mean "spelled" instead of spelt? :)

For those interested in the use of the apostrophe in all its gory details

I work for a large and very dominate bio-medical company. One of our products is flow-cytometers. They are used in looking at the relative size, complexity and antibodies a cell possesses. They use lasers, Photo Multiplier tubes,fairly complex electronics and reagents to do this.

Most of the data and techniques that are used are shared by our customers at Purdue

Of course universities are more likely to share data than our pharmaceutical customers but that is to be expected and they do share some data mainly in regards to techniques. Our customers have also started forming user groups and organizing conferences. Because of this format stem cell research, mapping of the human genome, and progress fighting aids and cancer has quickened. I am pretty excited to be a part of it all we even have some custom products that allow our customers to look at bacteria!(much smaller than cells).

What is even more exciting is that our latest generation of instruments are being purchased by people who have never used them before(yay profit!) and are in completely different fields. I always make sure to point them to purdue so even more data can be shared.

Over all I am very optimistic about these developments. In the next 5-10 years I would not be surprised to see major develpments if not cures in all immune system related fields.

Does anyone else remember the TV adds for "Control Data Institute?" I rember seeing them watching afternoon TV as a kid in the 70s. (CDI adds ran between the "Meet Chuck" mechanic school ads and the DeVry ads.) CDI was on offshoot of Control Data to teach programmers in a trade school environment.

The plumber/electrician analogy is very apt. You wouldn't hire an electrical engineer to do the work of an electrician. An engineer may understand and specify an electrical system on paper, but it takes the equally important skill set of the electrican to get installed efficiently and properly. The problem is that many employers inappropriately focus on BSCS degrees for all IT jobs, probably because there are a lack of real quality "programming" curricula out there. (As a side note, while I'd probably agree some of the best IT people pick up the knowledge on their own without getting a technology degree, I would argue that there may not be enough of that type of people around...)

My alma matter, Purdue has addressed this situation with two programs. One is a Conventional BSCS program in the School of Science, the other is a rigerous Computer Technology program in the School of Technology.

--zawada

Does anyone else remember the TV adds for "Control Data Institute?" I rember seeing them watching afternoon TV as a kid in the 70s. (CDI adds ran between the "Meet Chuck" mechanic school ads and the DeVry ads.) CDI was on offshoot of Control Data to teach programmers in a trade school environment.

The plumber/electrician analogy is very apt. You wouldn't hire an electrical engineer to do the work of an electrician. An engineer may understand and specify an electrical system on paper, but it takes the equally important skill set of the electrican to get installed efficiently and properly. The problem is that many employers inappropriately focus on BSCS degrees for all IT jobs, probably because there are a lack of real quality "programming" curricula out there. (As a side note, while I'd probably agree some of the best IT people pick up the knowledge on their own without getting a technology degree, I would argue that there may not be enough of that type of people around...)

My alma matter, Purdue has addressed this situation with two programs. One is a Conventional BSCS program in the School of Science, the other is a rigerous Computer Technology program in the School of Technology.

--zawada

Does anyone else remember the TV adds for "Control Data Institute?" I rember seeing them watching afternoon TV as a kid in the 70s. (CDI adds ran between the "Meet Chuck" mechanic school ads and the DeVry ads.) CDI was on offshoot of Control Data to teach programmers in a trade school environment.

The plumber/electrician analogy is very apt. You wouldn't hire an electrical engineer to do the work of an electrician. An engineer may understand and specify an electrical system on paper, but it takes the equally important skill set of the electrican to get installed efficiently and properly. The problem is that many employers inappropriately focus on BSCS degrees for all IT jobs, probably because there are a lack of real quality "programming" curricula out there. (As a side note, while I'd probably agree some of the best IT people pick up the knowledge on their own without getting a technology degree, I would argue that there may not be enough of that type of people around...)

My alma matter, Purdue has addressed this situation with two programs. One is a Conventional BSCS program in the School of Science, the other is a rigerous Computer Technology program in the School of Technology.

--zawada

Does anyone else remember the TV adds for "Control Data Institute?" I rember seeing them watching afternoon TV as a kid in the 70s. (CDI adds ran between the "Meet Chuck" mechanic school ads and the DeVry ads.) CDI was on offshoot of Control Data to teach programmers in a trade school environment.

The plumber/electrician analogy is very apt. You wouldn't hire an electrical engineer to do the work of an electrician. An engineer may understand and specify an electrical system on paper, but it takes the equally important skill set of the electrican to get installed efficiently and properly. The problem is that many employers inappropriately focus on BSCS degrees for all IT jobs, probably because there are a lack of real quality "programming" curricula out there. (As a side note, while I'd probably agree some of the best IT people pick up the knowledge on their own without getting a technology degree, I would argue that there may not be enough of that type of people around...)

My alma matter, Purdue has addressed this situation with two programs. One is a Conventional BSCS program in the School of Science, the other is a rigerous Computer Technology program in the School of Technology.

--zawada

Very cool stuff.

Very cool stuff.

Very cool stuff.

I dont think you get it. This is supposed to be aligned via software making it about 126487612834687913x easier. I mean even 4 doesnt seem bad but what if you had 24?

THAT'S NOT WHAT THE TECHNOLOGY DEMO IS FOR. They're running the demo for the US Department of Homeland Security. The Homeland Security people aren't interested in the fact that they can align the displays. They're interested in the fact that they're doing it using encrypted scalable imaging.

The fact that they have a bunch of calibrated displays is not interesting. The fact that they're using CKMSS and encrypted video is interesting.

I had a lot of fun working with this stuff and seeing my work displayed on it, because I work as a java developer in the Purdue Homeland Security Institute, but to be frank, these things were just used for an "oooo, pretty" factor. I suppose a large screen can be used in some kind of remote sensing, but it's not really necessary. One complaint that I had about this event was that we need to worry less about the "pretty" factor and more about the engines driving the simulations. The visualizations are always nice, but they aren't always needed.

I compressed the video, its now watchable on my modest pc. Quality is relative among the three. You can find it here:

Halo 2 Trailer High Quality [8.28 MB]
Halo 2 Trailer Medium Quality [3.87 MB]
Halo 2 Trailer Low Quality [1.24 MB]

You can see the ilovebees thingy quite clearly in the medium and high quality ones. Not so in the low quality one.
PS: Sorry if this is already posted in this topic, didnt see any.

I compressed the video, its now watchable on my modest pc. Quality is relative among the three. You can find it here:

Halo 2 Trailer High Quality [8.28 MB]
Halo 2 Trailer Medium Quality [3.87 MB]
Halo 2 Trailer Low Quality [1.24 MB]

You can see the ilovebees thingy quite clearly in the medium and high quality ones. Not so in the low quality one.
PS: Sorry if this is already posted in this topic, didnt see any.

I compressed the video, its now watchable on my modest pc. Quality is relative among the three. You can find it here:

Halo 2 Trailer High Quality [8.28 MB]
Halo 2 Trailer Medium Quality [3.87 MB]
Halo 2 Trailer Low Quality [1.24 MB]

You can see the ilovebees thingy quite clearly in the medium and high quality ones. Not so in the low quality one.
PS: Sorry if this is already posted in this topic, didnt see any.

I compressed the video, its now watchable on my modest pc. Quality is relative among the three. You can find it here:

Halo 2 Trailer High Quality [8.28 MB]
Halo 2 Trailer Medium Quality [3.87 MB]
Halo 2 Trailer Low Quality [1.24 MB]

You can see the ilovebees thingy quite clearly in the medium and high quality ones. Not so in the low quality one.

I compressed the video, its now watchable on my modest pc. Quality is relative among the three. You can find it here:

Halo 2 Trailer High Quality [8.28 MB]
Halo 2 Trailer Medium Quality [3.87 MB]
Halo 2 Trailer Low Quality [1.24 MB]

You can see the ilovebees thingy quite clearly in the medium and high quality ones. Not so in the low quality one.

I compressed the video, its now watchable on my modest pc. Quality is relative among the three. You can find it here:

Halo 2 Trailer High Quality [8.28 MB]
Halo 2 Trailer Medium Quality [3.87 MB]
Halo 2 Trailer Low Quality [1.24 MB]

You can see the ilovebees thingy quite clearly in the medium and high quality ones. Not so in the low quality one.

You could always change it to "Chixie Dicks" and get some of that hot tranny revenue.

"Hot Tranny"? Hot Transmissions? Hot Transylvania? Oh, I get it... it's "hot" to put the Cl- ions on opposite sides of your trans isomers. Silly me.

Ok, back to reality... before the Chicks got big, they would perform free shows at festivals like Dallas' Artfest. At an early '90s show, one of the more offbeat booths was run by a bunch that called themselves the "Chicksie Dicks". As I recall, though, they were (wannabe) musicians, not anime character designers...

Prof. Gene Spafford, who runs the CERIAS computer security institute at Purdue University, once said that Microsoft has, and I quote, "...world class security people. Unfortunately, marketing rules that company".

I've heard several other developer friends tell me that the quality of MS developers has always impressed them, that they've got really bright people working for them. One friend, who is now a Java developer, told me that Microsoft was one of the two toughest interviews he had after college. These accounts are not coming from two-week MCSE's that code in VB. These guys have computer science degrees, and are dedicated Unix/Linux users. So their comments made an impression on me. I've also heard these things elsewhere.

So simply saying "they're idiots" doesn't quite ring true. Spaf also said that the main differnce between Windows and Mac products was that Apple has a culture where, to rip off Ford here, quality is job one. He reiterated the power of the marketing corps at MS then, hinting at the pressures Marketing puts on the developers to get new and sometimes weird/useless features into the products, all with rediculous deadlines. That's the difference. Leadership from the top down. Not "idiots" in the software ranks.

Here is just one place that shows it is proper usage in the English language. Try the very first example. Commas should be used to seperate two complete sentences when they are joined with a conjunction.

The real question with the example was whether or not both sentences were intended to be complete. The writer started "I know..." which may have been addressing the latter half of the statement. However, the latter half of the statement was complete on its own, so the comma dictates intent. The comma served to cause confusion, so I recommended a semicolon. That should be easy enough.

I've had no problems throwing cds 75m, when there wasn't a lot of wind. I was throwing like a hammer frisbee throw.

Antlr is simply the java port of what was originally called the Purdue Compiler Construction Tool Set

And I fail to understand where you've come up with the idea that webstart ties you down with some licensing restrictions.

I'm no fan of Java3d either (I much prefer the opengl bindings), but please get your facts straight... or at least cite your sources.

Funny, because the apostrophe is also used to form possesives in nouns. Make sure you're correct when you correct someone else.

What you describe here is also a good part of the rationale behind TCP wrappers.

3 recent Michael stories, with corrections in bold and comments, ellipsis in (brackets):

schnarff writes "Space.com has obtained a sneak preview of the Moon-To-Mars commission report, which will be officially released ON June THE 16TH. The report calls for THE spinning off OF NASA centers as FFRDCs, establishing an independent cost estimation bureau, and (otherwise) streamlining NASA's bureaucracy."

Mz6 writes "Microsoft has launched its 'Get The Facts' road show (--); the tech equivalent of a political battle bus (--); to tour the country and convince the wavering that Redmond is (as) at least AS cheap and (as) secure as its (o)Open(-)(s)Source rival. (and to spread the word that Windows is better than Linux. REDUNDANT) Nick McGrath, Microsoft's head of platform strategy(CAPITALISE), described the campaign as "(')a reality check we're bringing out(')"(PROPER QUOTATION MARKS WILL DISTINGUISH ACTUAL QUOTES FROM 'IRONIC' QUOTES), aiming to tackle the 'myths'(SEE?) surrounding Linux. Microsoft's road show will be in Edinburgh on June THE 17TH, IN Manchester on June THE 29TH and IN Newport on July THE 7TH."

ctwxman writes "For most of the United States (sorry West Coast), this is the season for lightning. It is as powerful as it is spectacular to look at. It is destructive too - by itSelf or (through)DUE TO the hail, straight line winds and tornadoes that often accompany it(REVISE WHOLE SENTENCE). (As someone who forecasts the weather) As a weather forecaster, I'm often asked about lightning. As you might imagine, there's plenty to (see)READ about lightning on the Internet. The conditions necessary and a little bit of the physics behind lightning are explained by Jeff Haby, a meteorologist (one of my professors actually) at Mississippi State University (REVISE SENTENCE). Once forecasters get a handle on what's going on, they put the word out through the Storm Prediction Center.(REVISE SENTENCE) Regular outlooks are issued by SPC for severe storms. Once those storms rear their ugly heads(CLICHE), they're followed with mesoscale discussions looking at the active areas. The Storm Prediction Center is also the place where Severe Thunderstorm and Tornado Watches are issued and storm related damage reports are compiled. Lots of hobbyists like to track lightning strikes on their own, and there's equipment available to do just that. Getting hit by lightning is never fun, though not always fatal. National Geographic chronicled an amazing story of a lightning strike, and rescue, on Grand Teton."

NOTE: The latter is one of the worst Slashdot story summaries I have ever, brow furrowed, attempted to read. It should have been revised, tightened up and resubmitted. That is, after all, the function of an Editor is it not? The final sentences read poorly, and do not flow logically from subject to subject. A number of the hyperlinks should have been discarded or revised into a single sentence. It is not the fault of the author, it is the editor's job, and it is not being done.

Michael, if you're reading this, there are many very fine adult education courses to fill in the gaps in your education. It isn't difficult to read through submissions and spell check them before you post them. This would improve the reading experience of a huge number of people. Please sort it out.

Michael, I shall continue to analyse your performance, and I might begin posting "translations" early in comments if the situation does not improve.

"The ruin of the chateau de Bourcia overlooks a fertile valley surrounded by wooded hills. The site is ideal for a mathematical research institute. The restoration of the chateau for that purpose would be an appropriate use of the million dollars offered for a proof of the Riemann hypothesis."

How curious. Did he actually publish a possible Riemann hypothesis proof, or is it only a day dream of a mathematician about how to spend a million dollars? This dude is strange.

Robert

Hm. It appears that I did not notice that the real proof is in fact here.

From, http://www.math.purdue.edu/ftp_pub/branges/apology .pdf :

"The ruin of the chateau de Bourcia overlooks a fertile valley surrounded by wooded hills. The site is ideal for a mathematical research institute. The restoration of the chateau for that purpose would be an appropriate use of the million dollars offered for a proof of the Riemann hypothesis."

I guess when you work with numbers as big as he does one million is no big deal. :-)

The paper is called, Apology for the proof of the Riemann hypothesis (in pdf format). To find the apology you have to read through to page 4 where he talks briefly about the problems that the solution of a celebrated problem creates for others who weren't expecting it. Basically the title is, "a form of Mathematical smack talk" (to quote a co-worker).

Most of the paper appears to be history, and the results leading up to his proof. Only a few pages at the end make up the actual new proof, so the novel material is far shorter than 23 pages.

I wouldn't be surprised if there is a fairly final verdict on his proof very quickly. This is not like Wiles' proof of Fermat that was very long and nobody had the background to understand. This proof looks reasonably short and straightforward.

Cheers,
Ben Tilly

Ha! They've already found an error in the proof! All that he posted was his apology! :-)

Apology for the proof of the Riemann hypothesis (in pdf format).

"We humbly apologize for the complete illegibility of this proof. The mathematician responsible has been sacked."