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... by Jimi Hendrix.

FYI http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/06/Electric_ladyland_nude_front_and_back.jpg probably NSFW in USA and other perverted jurisdictions.

You don't understand, there are two kinds of copyright infringement.

The commercial one, in which benevolent publicly-traded corporations profit form the work of unpaid artists and the evil non-commercial kind, performed by individuals, which doesn't generate any profit at all.

The non commercial one is of course far more immoral and dangerous to society, and it should be punished to the full extent of the law (in this case $1,920,000 in statutory damages for sharing 24 songs).

Remember kids, when you download MP3s, you're downloading communism!

Actually, you're just demonstrating her point.

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Quantum_tunnelling

Quantum tunneling was first theoretically understood in 1927, and since then it's just been a matter of engineering to take advantage of it. I think her point was that if it's taken 80 years to develop discoveries experimentally evaluated using relatively primitive and low-energy techniques, how much longer is it going to take to every apply something which requires the LHC just to observe. I agree with her, both as a physicist, and as an engineer. There are intrinsic difficulties in applying physical principles which require energy densities which approach that found in the Big Bang.

I don't agree that it means we shouldn't do it, because inquiring minds want to know. However, I do agree that duplicating effort in an attempt to discover things a few months sooner is more about scientist/politician pride than about sane expenditures of resources. If the LHC is the better piece of equipment, then mothball the Tevatron since they're nominally collecting similar data, except that the LHC uses better equipment. All that matters, as there are unlikely to be any national security/interest in the results, is that everyone has access to the data.

That's the right attitude!

Well, according to NASA requirements, at 6'3" you are just under the limit. The maximum height for a Commander, Pilot or Mission specialist is 6'4", according to Wikipedia:

Commander and Pilot

        * A bachelor's degree in engineering, biological science, physical science or mathematics is required, although service in the United States Air Force can exempt this.
        * At least 1,000 hours flying time as pilot-in-command in jet aircraft. Experience as a test pilot is desirable.
        * Height must be 5 ft 4 in to 6 ft 4 in (1.63 to 1.93 m).
        * Distant visual acuity must be correctable to 20/20 in each eye
        * The refractive surgical procedures of the eye, PRK (Photorefractive keratectomy) and LASIK, are now allowed, providing at least 1 year has passed since the date of the procedure with no permanent adverse after effects. For those applicants under final consideration, an operative report on the surgical procedure will be requested.

Mission Specialist

        * A bachelor's degree in engineering, biological science, physical science or mathematics, as well as at least three years of related professional experience (graduate work or studies) and an advanced degree (master's degree = 1 year or a doctoral degree = 3 years)
        * Applicant's height must be 5 ft 2 in to 6 ft 4 in (1.57 to 1.93 m).

Given the choice between a brutal dictator or a corrupt politician who could just as easily become a brutal dictator were he in power, frankly I would choose to keep looking for the third option and stop creating a false dilemma.

What the heck are you babbling about? Do you have the slightest idea?

I believe he's babbling about this. Sandy Bridge will have DRM in it (though they don't call it that for some weird reason), and Sandy Bridge is directly related to Ivy Bridge, so therefore it could possibly inherit the DRM features of Sandy Bridge.

Disclaimer: I am a total n00b when it comes to discussing processor architectures, so I could be wrong about something.

There is no relation to the cracked keys, as it runs in the OtherOS mode. I.e. instead of Linux, you can run FreeBSD in OtherOS.

No, OtherOS was removed in firmware version 3.21, according to wikipedia:

The original PlayStation 3 also included the ability to install other operating systems, such as Linux. This was not included in the newer slim models and was removed from all older PlayStation 3 consoles with the release of firmware update 3.21 in April 2010. The functionality is now only available to users of original consoles who choose not to update their system software beyond version 3.15.

This is *NOT* related to the recent crypto break, as demonstrated by the release note stating

Supported hardware:Sony Playstation 3 Fat, firmware version 3.21

According to wikipedia:

The original PlayStation 3 also included the ability to install other operating systems, such as Linux. This was not included in the newer slim models and was removed from all older PlayStation 3 consoles with the release of firmware update 3.21 in April 2010. The functionality is now only available to users of original consoles who choose not to update their system software beyond version 3.15.

Really good point, only slightly let down by the fact that the Vikings came from Scandinavia, not Iceland.

Vikings may of come from Scandinavia, but one of the places they settled was Iceland. There is little evidence that there was anyone else there. Once settled in Iceland, did they lose the right to the "Vikings" brand? Did they sell it to Minnesota?

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Iceland

Kennesaw, Georgia

From that link: "Statistical analysis of the data over a longer period of time did not show any evidence that the law reduced the rate of home burglaries in Kennesaw." so it's more a viral meme than a fact. Forcing people to own a weapon would imo lead to more weapons nobody will miss and that end up in the wrong hands; kids or burglars (hey, every house has to have at least a gun to steal).

Kennesaw, Georgia

From that link: "Statistical analysis of the data over a longer period of time did not show any evidence that the law reduced the rate of home burglaries in Kennesaw." so it's more a viral meme than a fact. Forcing people to own a weapon would imo lead to more weapons nobody will miss and that end up in the wrong hands; kids or burglars (hey, every house has to have at least a gun to steal).

There's a town somewhere in the US (can't remember where and I don't care to google it) that enacted a statute requiring every adult to possess and carry a handgun. Crime dropped like a stone. No Western reenactments on record yet

Kennesaw, Georgia

I assume you also wouldn't send an email containing a picture of grandpa jones because that can be easily intercepted. Even if you encrypt it, one careless recipient could forward it without encryption.

There is a wonderful solution to your problem. =)

It's not a Ponzi scheme since there are viable alternatives for keeping the system solvent until the boomers are mostly dead. It's only a Ponzi scheme if it's impossible for it to be sustained. It isn't. You may not like the choices, but there are choices.

"A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation that pays returns to separate investors, not from any actual profit earned by the organization, but from their own money or money paid by subsequent investors." [source] Just saying...

Newsflash: We Brits left America over three hundred years ago, basically because we couldn't afford it. That's when the United States needed an armed militia. A home invasion is not likely I'm afraid, and you have this thing called the armed forces these days. Difficult to believe, I know.

When the GP said "home invasion" I don't think he was talking about being invaded by a foreign country. I think he meant criminals coming into your home to steal from, harm, or kill you. Of course, the invaders don't need a gun to accomplish this. I'm sure it happens in Britain as well.

Where's that xkcd reference when you need it...

You're talking about rubber hose cryptanalysis, and here you go.

I think somewhere in your argument was the idea that Canada was less free than Russia today.

How many reporters has the Canadian government killed?

Insightful indeed.

Wikipedia articles on drugs standardly have pointers to the Usually Reliable Sources - for instance, go look at Wikipedia article on Cipro

The casino's got to audit the code, so did the gaming commission.
[...]
Casino's swap the tables overnight retire popular ones, conceal, etc. In this case, the casino's jsut need to audit the code a bit better.

In this case, you just need to audit your plurals a bit better.

Your ideas intrigue me, and I would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

Go here. Don't watch the movie though, it sucked.

Solipsists of the world, unite!

As a youth, I used to play an old game called Sundog on my Atari ST. It was a space faring/trading game where part of your objective was to buy/steal/find the resources a new religious colony demanded.

One of the things I discovered were a series of glitches in the game that allowed me to skip the heavy trading of the game and make good money buying and selling 'inventory' items instead.

From memory, a bug in the shopkeeper interactions allowed me to buy the second item in the inventory for the price of the first item. In weapon stores, the first item was always a cheap healing dodad, while the second item was always a fairly hefty priced force shield.

So it started off with me getting cheap 'armor'. On top of this the shields had a set number of hits on them, and the 'glitched' copies, being uninitialized, effectively got an extra 'hit' out of them as the first hit set their 'remaining charges' to the max amount.

At first I used that and the fact that you could carry more than one shield to 'hunt' muggers in the streets, if you wandered around you could get 'lucky' and suddenly find yourself surrounded by a group of people demanding your cash. If you choose to fight and survived, you could loot them for their cash and weapons and then go sell those on the black market in the nearest burger joint. It was 'OK' money, but I then discovered a way to make it even faster.

You see, whenever I attempted to sell one of the 'uninitialized' shields I could never get more than the cost of those cheap health items. And while they sold at 'full' value when once they were initialized, each hit after that first one reduced their value. BUT what I discovered on accident was that you could SHOW the person you were selling to a fully charged 'legit' shield and once you and they were finished on haggling the price, you could give them any shield, regardless of it's remaining charges.

Weapon costs varied planet from planet, so what I'd do is fly to the cheapest planet I could find and fill my ship with 'knockoff' shields, then head for the most expensive planet and reap 100-200% profits.

My point is, I wasn't more than 12 when I found this out, on my own. There wasn't an internet back then, not for the public at least. This sort of glitch doesn't require insider knowledge, just someone with an idea of how these machines work and a willingness/ability to experiment on them.

Of course, that doesn't always pan out. I loved Sundog but the thing I remember most about it was that the novella/backstory for it indicated that the whole reason I was doing all this was to clear my dead uncles debts and even indicated specifically how much I owed. The final stage of the game involved an extremely well hidden city on a planet that was only reachable once you purchased top of the line parts for your ship. When I got stumped on that stage (because I didn't even know there WAS a city to find) I decided the final part of the game must be collecting that sum so I could officially pay off his debts. I'm sure you can imagine my frustration when a year later, after having collected what I think was over five times the amount, I finally bumped into the hidden city while exploring and finished the game in less than 10 min after that.

Advanced Placement. It's a program for American high school students to take college-level courses.

An armor piercing knowledge of statistics would be pretty cool though.

One previous example is Reagan-National airport in Washington, D.C., where runways 1/19 and 4/22 were originally 18/36 and 3/21.

I think you mean 1/19 used to be 36/18. If runway 1 became 18 and 19 became 36 that would be one hell of a magnatic drift. :-)

They're generally referred to by "lower number/higher number", so 18/36 did indeed become 1/19.

One previous example is Reagan-National airport in Washington, D.C., where runways 1/19 and 4/22 were originally 18/36 and 3/21.

I think you mean 1/19 used to be 36/18. If runway 1 became 18 and 19 became 36 that would be one hell of a magnatic drift. :-)

This has happened before, and it'll happen again.

Airport runway numbers are based off their magnetic headings with the last zero removed. So a runway that runs due south/north is 18/36 (i.e., it faces 180 degrees south and 360 degrees north - 0 isn't used). A runway that runs due east/west is 9/27. And so on. When there are parallel runways facing the same direction, the L, C, and R designations are used. A pair for parallel east/west runways are 9R/27L and 9L/27R.

So as the pole drifts this sometimes causes runways to have be renumbered. One previous example is Reagan-National airport in Washington, D.C., where runways 1/19 and 4/22 were originally 18/36 and 3/21.

When do I get my soma?

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Soma_(Brave_New_World)

Parents are worse. I know several otherwise very reasonable people who gets absolutely shitbrained whenever they are evaluating fictional threats to their child.

(personal anecdote disclaimer)

When we had our first son, I asked questions to evaluate potential threats of the real (not imagined) variety. As an example, some vaccines contain a mercury-based preservative called Thimerosol (though this is now being phased out in the US and several other countries). I decided that if there were any vaccination choices that would let me choose to NOT have a known neurotoxin introduced to my child's body, I'd take it. (Some may say, "oh, but the amount of mercury is so very, very tiny!" So is the amount of radiation from the airport scanners, but accumulated exposure still matters, right?)

There were no other options, so I decided to accept the vaccinations for my son because the benefits outweigh the apparent risks by several magnitude. It was a logical benefit-risk analysis of a concerned parent, not of a conspiracy theorist. I'm sure I'm not the only parent who asked level-headed questions and made the correct decision.

Ohh I thought they were trying to give us autism. Those autistic soldiers are just great.

They give soldiers the vaccine because there is still a chance it could be used as a biological weapon.

Smallpox still exists in both the US and Russia. Samples are kept at both the CDC and the Vector Institute in Russia (Their version of the CDC)

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Smallpox#Post-eradication

Emphasis mine.

Vaccination acts as a sort of firebreak or firewall in the spread of the disease, slowing or preventing further transmission of the disease to others.[3] Unvaccinated individuals are indirectly protected by vaccinated individuals, as the latter will not contract and transmit the disease between infected and susceptible individuals.[2] Hence, a public health policy of herd immunity may be used to reduce spread of an illness and provide a level of protection to a vulnerable, unvaccinated subgroup. Since only a small fraction of the population (or herd) can be left unvaccinated for this method to be effective, it is considered best left for those who cannot safely receive vaccines because of a medical condition such as an immune disorder or for organ transplant recipients.

The more people who opt out of vaccines, the greater the likelihood of these diseases making a comeback. That's why you've never seen the measles or the mumps.

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Herd_immunity

Keep in mind that Apple is a company that dictated what programming languages developers could use to develop software for one of its platforms. Do you realize how absurd that is? Do you realize how absolutely wrong it is?

No, in fact I don't realize that, maybe you can elaborate? How is this different from about *every freaking other* integrated consumer electronics product on the market? Can I program Java on WP7?

I can't find any references on anyone actually trying it, but IKVM.NET should let you run Java apps on WP7. J# would be an alternative solution, although it's not really Java.

Can I program C# on Android?

Well, not yet, that's what the MonoDroid project is working on. It looks like it is not ready yet.

Can I program Java on the Nintendo DS?

It does not look like anyone has tried it, but, gcj with ARM as the target should be able to compile Java code such that it will run on the Nintendo DS.

Can I program Visual Basic on Blackberry?

Hmmm... that sounds difficult. It looks like Blackberry uses J2ME which is rather limited and I am not aware of any free implementation of Visual Basic which could be hacked to output J2ME code.

You are intentionally ignoring the point, but the siblings have already covered that.

Keep in mind that Apple is a company that dictated what programming languages developers could use to develop software for one of its platforms. Do you realize how absurd that is? Do you realize how absolutely wrong it is?

No, in fact I don't realize that, maybe you can elaborate? How is this different from about *every freaking other* integrated consumer electronics product on the market? Can I program Java on WP7?

I can't find any references on anyone actually trying it, but IKVM.NET should let you run Java apps on WP7. J# would be an alternative solution, although it's not really Java.

Can I program C# on Android?

Well, not yet, that's what the MonoDroid project is working on. It looks like it is not ready yet.

Can I program Java on the Nintendo DS?

It does not look like anyone has tried it, but, gcj with ARM as the target should be able to compile Java code such that it will run on the Nintendo DS.

Can I program Visual Basic on Blackberry?

Hmmm... that sounds difficult. It looks like Blackberry uses J2ME which is rather limited and I am not aware of any free implementation of Visual Basic which could be hacked to output J2ME code.

You are intentionally ignoring the point, but the siblings have already covered that.

Keep in mind that Apple is a company that dictated what programming languages developers could use to develop software for one of its platforms. Do you realize how absurd that is? Do you realize how absolutely wrong it is?

No, in fact I don't realize that, maybe you can elaborate? How is this different from about *every freaking other* integrated consumer electronics product on the market? Can I program Java on WP7?

I can't find any references on anyone actually trying it, but IKVM.NET should let you run Java apps on WP7. J# would be an alternative solution, although it's not really Java.

Can I program C# on Android?

Well, not yet, that's what the MonoDroid project is working on. It looks like it is not ready yet.

Can I program Java on the Nintendo DS?

It does not look like anyone has tried it, but, gcj with ARM as the target should be able to compile Java code such that it will run on the Nintendo DS.

Can I program Visual Basic on Blackberry?

Hmmm... that sounds difficult. It looks like Blackberry uses J2ME which is rather limited and I am not aware of any free implementation of Visual Basic which could be hacked to output J2ME code.

You are intentionally ignoring the point, but the siblings have already covered that.

Keep in mind that Apple is a company that dictated what programming languages developers could use to develop software for one of its platforms. Do you realize how absurd that is? Do you realize how absolutely wrong it is?

No, in fact I don't realize that, maybe you can elaborate? How is this different from about *every freaking other* integrated consumer electronics product on the market? Can I program Java on WP7?

I can't find any references on anyone actually trying it, but IKVM.NET should let you run Java apps on WP7. J# would be an alternative solution, although it's not really Java.

Can I program C# on Android?

Well, not yet, that's what the MonoDroid project is working on. It looks like it is not ready yet.

Can I program Java on the Nintendo DS?

It does not look like anyone has tried it, but, gcj with ARM as the target should be able to compile Java code such that it will run on the Nintendo DS.

Can I program Visual Basic on Blackberry?

Hmmm... that sounds difficult. It looks like Blackberry uses J2ME which is rather limited and I am not aware of any free implementation of Visual Basic which could be hacked to output J2ME code.

You are intentionally ignoring the point, but the siblings have already covered that.

No to bullets. There is way too much chance of the pilot hitting the throttle to Mach 1.5+ and flying through their own cloud of < Mach 1 bullets they just fired. Any manoeuvring will be to aim their missiles at the opponent they just visually saw our the side, or to doge the Mach 3.5+ missiles coming their way that the on board electronic counter measures can't deal with at that speed.

... you, sir, fail physics. For so many reasons.
First off, Mach < 1 == subsonic. The only firearms that fire subsonic bullets today are exotic silenced weapons - even a lowly shotgun clocks in at slightly above Mach 1. Most rifles? Around Mach 3.
Then there's the fact that the bullets will carry the plane's velocity with them as well: v_bullet ~= v_plane + v_muzzle. Simple vector addition.

f. RONJA

Not governed by radio spectrum authorities, but still cable free.

On that note, I'm surprised RONJA hasn't even been mentioned yet.

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Zero_day_exploit

nuff said

No, it's not "nuff", there's much more to be said:
- Union Carbide
- United Fruit Company
- ITT
- Blackwater

nuff said

No, it's not "nuff", there's much more to be said:
- Union Carbide
- United Fruit Company
- ITT
- Blackwater

nuff said

No, it's not "nuff", there's much more to be said:
- Union Carbide
- United Fruit Company
- ITT
- Blackwater

nuff said

No, it's not "nuff", there's much more to be said:
- Union Carbide
- United Fruit Company
- ITT
- Blackwater

Not what you expect

-> "The reasons that we are is for 64 bit and ability to use more RAM."

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Windows_XP_Professional_x64_Edition

-> "We're also in the medical imaging sector so both of those means that our programs can handle more images a lot faster."

You do know that XP doesn't waste time trying to render windows with transparencies or other bullshit, right?

-> "Also, it's getting to be a pain to support some newer hardware in WinXP as the base install disk doesn't have the drivers needed to boot some of it. Some companies simply aren't supplying drivers for their hardware for WinXP at all so backing down the OS is not really an option."

Ok, this is an actual pragmatic reason why it makes sense to upgrade (like the "I need security updates" reason), but the issue is that you failed to address what was asked: "I'm still having a hard time understanding what technologies exist in 7 that don't in XP AND are something I ( or a business would need )."

The truth is (at least in your case, specifically) there doesn't seem to be any new relevant technologies in Vista/7 that you would really need (since there are 64-bit versions of Windows XP); like it has been stated before, you feel the need to upgrade because of the forced obsolescence imposed by Microsoft (by not supplying any more security updates) and the hardware manufacturers (by failing to provide working drivers for XP for new hardware).

Again, you could prove me wrong by pointing to a feature in Vista/7 that would actually be required by/useful to you (one that doesn't already exist in XP, mkay?).

Yep, I always see droves of Americans at his Galleries in Paris.
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/File:Galeries_Lafayette_inside.JPG

smartphone market (complete ownership with Android and WP7 fighting for the left over scraps)

lololololololololol

(TFA doesn't explain *why* they need more money -- more server farms?)

60-70% of the Wikimedia budget is personnel cost (and half of them are server/network admins or developers, the other half is legal/admin and fundraising). Then there's 10-20% bandwith/hosting, and Jimbo's travel costs and grants etc. You might be interested in page 21-24 of the proposed budget.

Yet another argument for viewing the site over a secure connection.

Besides, we haven't lost contact with the USS Flagg.

Your claim that Jimmy has been rewriting history is pretty much rubbish.

Sanger left the project in 2002, long before most of the most significant growth and development, and his own attempts to rewrite history long after his departure to reflect a greatly increased importance are trivially documented. Larry's self-promotion only began after he started seeking VC funding to build Wikipedia competitors— which he's had several more or less failed attempts.

Sure, Larry was around for the inception but he contributed almost nothing to the character, policies, or procedures that drove Wikipedia into exponential growth (having left several years before said exponential growth began). And if you're only looking to credit someone for the inception of a collaboratively developed free content encyclopedia, you ought to be giving Richard Stallman, of all people, at least equal billing because he was calling for this a long time before Jimmy and Larry were on the scene and he worked extensively with Jimmy early on (hammering out the licensing and such).

Really, a lot of people deserve credit equal to or even more than Jimmy for their early stewardship of the project. Larry, as one of Wikipedia's first quitters, is not really one of the most significant of them.