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Slashback: Heat, Thought, Time
It's the incredible edible, heavy-investment waffle double gainer! steevo.com writes: "Intel has decided to stay with Rambus. Say it ain't so! Details are at C-NET.
Time was when ... wilkinsm writes: "When I tuned my shortwave to 5 Mhz today, I learned that NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) is currently doing a open survey on the time and frequency user community. I encourage all of you unix admins that use the network time protocol to show your support and fill the online survey out."
Has the code been tossed out with the bathwater? nonAI writes: "The Israeli company, which promoted a competition against an AI, closed its gates, as reported by an Israeli economic magazine (sorry, babelfish doesn't help). That's the end for the Child Machine HAL."
Now imagine you know of a freewheeling, opinionated discussion board ... Wael Islam, a member and volunteer with IslamWay.com, writes with some words on the objections B'nai Brith Canada raised to postings on IslamWay's message boards.
"In IslamWay.com discussion board we've more than 4000 Member and at the time of the media attack there was more than 28,000 posts!! Bnai Brith didn't only take one of the posts, but even took a statement out of context to prove that IslamWay.com is a terrorist website! ...
... The discussion post was between two people who were fighting each others by words, one called the other one that you are a hypocrite, so the other one was very angry so he told him - I'm just giving the meaning- : Let's see who is the hypocrite, Come with me to Afghanistan and let's train ourselves there .. so the person meant that army exercises will be a way to prove who is the coward and who is the brave!"
The people who attacked IslamWay.com based on the Discussion Board post didn't clarify that it was mentioned in the discussion board, and they just said a post on IslamWay.com."
Of course, we could require that all public communications be approved in advance, licensed, and inoffensive.
Please resume watching your educational audio-visual materials. echoSpades writes: "I guess I wasn't the only one to be annoyed with Apple's DVD playback. Apple's website has a small text link to info about a class action suit against them: 'There is a proposed settlement of a class action lawsuit against Apple Computer, Inc. involving issues with DVD playback in earlier models of the Apple iMac DV, iMac DV SE and Power Mac G4 computers."
Ahh, class action lawsuits. As has been pointed out on numerous Mac-related web sites, the problems with Apple's software DVD player were fixed in later versions of the software (included with 9.0.4, 9.1, and 9.2)
This software was available as a free download. I believe it was even included with the Software Update control panel (so that with minimum user input, it would update itself), also as a free download.
So now Apple settles this lawsuit, and they have to provide the software for free (been there, done that, now they just have to provide the CD) and provide support on the update.
It seems that the only real winners in this lawsuit are the lawyers. Apparently they get a cut based on possible takers. So they figure there are 100,000 people effected by the bum software. They figure that 20,000 might take Apple up on their over-priced offers. They get a cut of those 20,000 people's purchases, even if they do not actually buy the items in question.
Strange...
Anyway, this just shows commercial software places "Do not 'Release early, release often.'" - you might get sued if it is too buggy, even if you provide free updates.
- (c) 2018 Hank Zimmerman
According to Rambus CFO Bob Eulau, the deal was less for the 'financial' implications, but rather was about the 'strategic' implications. Although the 'ole chipmonster gets complete access to Rambus' patents for fixed quarterly payments, Rambus gets the important longterm test of ...uh... not dying tomorrow as users realize that RDRAMs speed increase doesn't quite make up for the fact that one can purchase gigs of DDR SDRAM for the same price as megs of RDRAM. Oh well, there are always the lawsuits to support them... The company has spent millions pursuing patent infringement suits against three memory makers.
I read over (I must admit rather quickly) some stuff regarding the B'nai article. The IslamWay site made some rather slight attacks at Jews in thier response.
This leads me to two questions:
1) From all that we have seen on the news lately with Islamic scholars, Islam means peace and the Q'uran teaches that a Muslim should respect his Christian and Jewish brothers and love them since we all come from the same God. It goes back to Islam teaching that Abraham and Jesus were in the same vein as Muhammed as prophets. Why is then that there is such a thread of hate when it comes to Muslims and Jews? I understand the biblical aspect of the conflict (It goes back to Cain and Able if I remember my studies). But sitting that aside, why the hate?
2) Again, on the news, we keep hearing that true Islam does not teach Jihaad but the concept had to come from somewhere, correct? I can't find any unbiased reporting and I don't have a copy of the Quran here with me to check myself. If Jihaad is indeed mentioned in the Quran, what are the circumstances surrounding it and what are the justifications.
I understand that many Muslims are saying that Bin Laden has hijacked TRUE Islam but where did he get the ideas for Jihaad? Where did this all start? (not his hatred of the US but the concept of a holy war at all costs.
Further more, I've read all the passages about killing innocents and how it is forbidden but if a Jihaad is allowed does that bypass that rule?
I guess this is really a question for someone versed in Islamic apolegetics but it can't hurt to ask.
And no one post any bullshit condeming all religions and the typical comments we get on slashdot about religious people being sheep. It doesn't float.
"Fighting the underpants gnomes since 1998!" "Bruce Schneier knows the state of schroedinger's cat"
And GWB was the man who is quoted as saying that he thought he would concentrate on domestic affairs from now on. I guess foreign affairs implied too many "furriners with funny accents", and almost none of them had a lobby group.
Guess what Bushie baby, from now it's foreign affairs morning, foreign affairs noon and foreign night, except for a few panic-stricken moments that will involve domestic security!
By the way, would any Republicans reading this care to expound at length on the wisdom of airline de-regulation. Include in your discussion an explanation of how bankrupt airlines can compete fairly or at all. Include a paragraph on the security efforts that nearly bankrupt airlines are likely to be willing to pay for! Discuss the cost of bailing out bankrupt airlines and the tax increases that will be required. Oh well, there is a precedent for that isn't there?
In the Topaki Palace Museum in Istanbul is a letter from Mohammed to the head of the Egyptian Coptic Christians explaining (according to the translation posted with it) that those Christians could either (1) convert or (2) be killed. Since Muslim practice follows not just the Koran but also the examples from Mohammed's life (and from the example of the customs of the community around him), and since Mohammed seemed to offer genocide to the Coptic Christians in this instance ... well, I'm not a Jew or Christian either, but neither Moses nor Jesus is on record threatening genocide towards nonbelievers. Moses may have drowned an Egyptian army, but they were chasing him.
/. believes in pure evil that can't be explained, let us at least consider that there may be serious flaws in Islam, particularly concerning the evil that can be explained in its false founding prophet, who was an empire builder using religion as a cover, somewhat as Lenin, Mao and Pol Pot used Marx, all of whom managed to say some beautiful things. And Marx, like Mohammed, had a vision of an impossible paradise, that led people to die, and to act against others, in explainably evil ways.
Of course, we should recognize the Copts were not innocent in the eyes of Mohammed, since they failed to convert. Nor can we be.
Dan Rather was just on Letterman crying about how this isn't about Islam, but just "pure evil that can't be explained." Since I doubt anyone reading
They hate us because we have good lives here, now; not in a worker's utopia beyond the fall of capitalism, and not in a Muslim heaven beyond the end of life. We are not as harsh as their prophet; their choice is not to convert or be killed. But their choice is certainly to cease attacking us or be killed, because if they come after us they will find themselves like the army chasing Moses. Self-defense is not genocide. If they're there when the Red Sea closes, it's their own damn fault.
"with their freedom lost all virtue lose" - Milton
I think you fail to make a very important distinction here. The Canadian government knows about us, sure. They track our income, our movements, our spending, and so forth. Does this mean we have no freedoms? Of course not.
.357 without ever being suspected because no one knew I had it, sure. Can I smoke marijuana at home? Absolutely. Can I pay for sex? Sure. Hell, there are even legal ways to get that accomplished. Can I cheat on my wife? You bet.
People always seem to equate one with the other. One cannot have freedoms unless no one else knows about them. That seems rather silly to me. I don't care if the government knows where I go to school, where I work, where I like to have lunch. If they didn't have it in a database and they needed it, they could send a 'covert (female) agent' to chat me up on the bus, and I'd probably tell her whatever she wanted to know anyway. I can't cheat on my taxes, I can't murder someone with a (legal)
We have freedoms and then some. The government knows about us as much as it needs to to accomplish what it needs to do. If I get fired, they know enough to help me out until I can find a new job, by paying me what my old wage was. If I get sick, they know enough to find my doctor and get me the medical treatment I need without giving me drugs I'm allergic to.
The government keeps track of us, sure, but they manage every aspect of our lives, from public transportation to food safety to representing my interests around the world. If you can't trust them with a little statistical data, who can you trust? This is my criticism of American governments - so many Americans I talk to are proud of their country, their politics, their government, yet if you asked them, they'd express the same sentiments you do - the government wants to control our lives, or something.
Personally, I trust them, and I know they're accountable for what they do. Until they give me a reason to distrust them, then I won't. How could I?
--Dan
1. bin Laden is reported to be extremely wealthy.
2. bin Laden is the head of a very sophisticated terrorist organization with contacts all over the world.
3. bin Laden probably uses highly sophisticated communication equipment to keep in contact with his network
4. bin Laden has eluded caputure for the last 10 years.
5. bin Laden is the prime suspect in the greatest acts of terrorism in history.
and finally
6. bin Laden is using a public web site that even my grandmother could monitor to recruit members to his cause.
Point 6 doesn't quit fit.
The US has done a lot of bad things, but this is stupidly one-sided.
Starts in 1948, long after the Jews had been kicked out of their homeland in the first place (makes it look like they just came into a foreign land and took it)
"U.S. blocks Sadat's efforts to reach a peace agreement with Egypt." Completely forgetting Carter at Camp David. Of course, no mention of the peace deal with Arafat.
The dam? Hmmm, you deal with my enemy, should I keep giving you money?
About the airliner, let's just say there are a lot of questions out on that one that make it look like a provoked incident by Iran. The ship was threatened militarily from sea and air, putting it into defensive mode, and Iran sent that airliner straight at the ship it the middle of it all.
"U.S.-backed rebels in Afghanistan fire on civilian airliner," like we're responsible for a rebel with an itchy trigger finger on his Stinger. These people were fighting for their freedom, we helped.
"U.S. rejects any diplomatic settlement of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. (for example, rebuffing any attempt to link the two regional occupations, of Kuwait and of Palestine)" And why should we have accepted? They invaded and refused to get out, end of story. To fall to a tactic like that would be essentially giving into terrorism in that all someone has to do to get their way is invade a country and negotiate from there.
"Washington makes it known that the sanctions would remain as long as Saddam remains in power." Okay, let him stop his weapons program and cooperate fully and see what happens.
As my AI company, Webmind Inc. (formerly Intelligenesis) dissolved in April 2001, I can sympathize with the situation. We have also been in hibernation ever since -- a small team of us continuing the AI work without pay, and striving to line up new funding. (see goertzel.org/webmind.htm for more of the story). It's a hell of a shame that "real AI" efforts can't be consistently funded these days, either in academia or in industry. I'm happy Jason and his team aren't giving up the fight. AI really is achievable in the near future, all it takes is the persistence to work through the various technical problems and to test and teach patiently. And there are many different ways to get to real AI -- Jason has one, we Webminders have another. Eliezer Yudkowsky (www.singinst.org) may have another, I'm not sure yet.... Don't believe the mainstream AI community that real AI is decades or centuries away. This will only be true if the "conspiracy" to deny real AI R&D funding prevails ;-p
-- Ben Goertzel