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Slashback: Squashing, N'Synch, Yopy
Waitaminute, what happens there between the "lead" stage and the "gold" stage again? HomerSimpson writes: "Recently on /. I read of a compression scheme reported to provide huge gains for the compression of random data. New Scientist reports, however, that the claims are unlikely at best."
Perhaps we can watch some other bands be slaughtered instead? eruditorium writes: "Apparently, the negative public reaction to n'sync's appearence in episode 2 has caused lucas to drop their cameo. See it here on Scifi Wire." san1701 links to another similar posting about this important issue at TheForce.Net.
On-again, off-again is not good for electronic projects. cd_Csc writes: "CNET is reporting on Samsung's newest Windows CE based PDA and mentioned (as a side note) that, 'A Samsung representative also confirmed the cancellation of Yopy, the company's planned Linux-based PDA.'"
Update: 01/11 02:41 GMT by T : Looks like it's not quite that simple: Bill Kendrick writes "LinuxDevices.com caught wind of today's Slashback regarding the Yopy PDA's demise.
Well, fortunately for Yopy fans, they got the real scoop directly from G.Mate..." Thanks for the quick response, Bill, and sorry for spreading false information.
Imagine explaining to your kids what VCRs were. jimmcq writes: "Slashdot previously ran a story asking about Hacking the New Replay TV Units. There have been several recent breakthroughs to allow a PC to emulate a Replay 4000 so that video can be shared in both directions. The source code has been released under the GPL. There are also several variations including a java version and an Apache/PHP Server."
Not bad considering Star Wars producer Rick McCallum is quoted as saying he and Lucas are not influenced by the internet...
*cough pigeon hole cough*
Idiot.
Go Kathryn Thurber!
It's not like they were going to be in the whole movie. I think if Lucas had just done it and not let anyone tell the press, it would end up being one of those cool 'trivia' entries at IMDb:
"* 30 seconds into the first scene, the boy-band N*Sync can bee seen to the right of the transport. 5 seconds later, they are blown to bits."
Oh well. I mean, I hate all those processed-pop bands, but it would have been cool in retrospect if it had been done tounge in cheek. I mean, after all, 'Attack of the clones' and boy bands? Who can't see the irony?
It was not, then why stop at 100:1 compression? If the compression scheme was able to compress ramdom data at this ratio, then why not feeding it with its own output and get 10000:1 the second time, and do that a few more times?
PPA -- the girl next door.
-- I feel better now. Thanks for asking.
To follow up, key-producing functions like MD5 are only useful for creating placeholders for the real information you're trying to store.
What, you were actually serious? This isnt magic mystical land, you know! You can't bend the laws of information theory and discrete math just because you've "got a really cool idea."
Go Kathryn Thurber!
Lucas is such a known control freak, I *highly* doubt that he got rid of the cameo (if he did) because of public uproar. Supposedly, he put in the cameo because his daughter is major fan on N'Sync.
I don't understand what the big deal was anyway. It's not as if they were singing the theme song or something. If you don't like their music, grow up and deal with it.
Not to mention that I bet 98% of the whiners have never even listened to one of their albums.
Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
No, sorry, it won't work.
Basically, each side will have a copy of every potential message, and you simply want to choose that message from a list.
That'll work if your message list is relatively small. But if your potential message is anything, well, then that list will be rather (ahem) large. And that's where your scheme breaks down.
Just do a thought experiment with 2^65536 different messages. That's not unreasonable. Go from there.
How much longer is VA software going to last before they drag /. down with them? All that's left of them is Sourceforge and what they acquired from andover.net, which seemed to be doing well on its own. Hosting bandwith hogging open source projects while advertizing to one of the most advertizing hostile demographics can't last forever.
I'm sure this will be a very unpopular view, but personally I think N'Sync got the shaft on this one, and it's apparently all because of insecure, immature Star Wars fanboys.
So George Lucas has a 14 year old daughter, and he thought he'd shut her up by giving N'Sync 3 seconds of screen time. Big fucking deal. It's not like this affects the integrity of the film in any way, shape, or form. It was a fucking cameo for God's sake, and a very short one at that. Rich and famous people get cameo's in movies and TV all the time. 99% of you wouldn't have even noticed it until the DVD came out, and you found the exact time refrence on the Internet.
I don't listen to N'Sync or anything like it, but I've never understood why anyone would hate them. Christ, they're a band. It's not like pop music should be taken as a personal affront by anyone. No one is making you listen to it. N'Sync isn't running around the country raping your girlfriends and daughters. What, are you so insecure you can't stand it that some boy band is more popular with teenage girls than you are?
You don't think N'Sync aren't big-time Star Wars fans? You don't think they weren't psyched to get this? Any of you people would be thrilled by an opportunity like this. Basically what this comes down to is petty jealosy, pure and simple. N'Sync is already rich and famous, why should they be so lucky. How dare they bespoil my movie, those bastards. Grow up, all you lamer fanboys who bitched and moaned about this. Don't you have better things to worry about besides who get's blown up by blaster fire in a movie?
It hurts when I pee.
I'm going try and not sound too snide here, but I'm not sure I can help it. It's a simple fact that you cannot develop a lossless compression algorithm which will compress all inputs to smaller outputs. Period.
.gz or the lack thereof is included in the output of the program.
People sometimes ask if college is worthwhile for studying CS. One good thing about it is that you learn not to try and design impossible compression algorithms. This isn't like P=NP, or any other hard CS problem which isn't completely answered. Or like the speed of light being absolute, which may or not be true. You simply can't design an algorithm which will make all inputs smaller, and have it be reversable.
For those of you who have not had any 101 level CS classes, here's why. If all outputs from your algorithm are smaller than the inputs, then you have fewer possible outputs than inputs. If this is the case, there have to be multiple inputs which compress to the same output. When it comes time to decompress the output, you will have no way of knowing which input was used to generate the output. Hence your algorithm will not be able to properly decompress the output.
Compression algorithms work because they are designed to make the typical file smaller, while compressing the uncommon inputs into larger outputs. Usually the common files have lots of redundancy in them, which makes it fairly easy to design compression algorithms, especially for readable text.
Actually, most good compression programs cheat a little bit. If they detect that the output is going to be larger than the input, they don't compress the file at all. Which means that all outputs are one bit larger than the output file size, because one bit of information is stored in the fact that the program did or did not compress the file. Logically, that
Now lossy compression is a whole different story. You can compress as much as you want, based upon how much loss you think is acceptable. I could easily design a lossy image compression scheme that compressed all pictures down to a single bit, but some folks might find that simply calling pictures 'light' and 'dark' is a little too lossy to be useful. But the important fact is that in any lossy compression scheme, there are multiple inputs which map to single outputs. And that's fine because you don't care if you get the exact file back when you decompress the output.
Yes. My sources indicate that a wookie will rip his arms off.
Whose arms shall the wookie rip off: Jar-Jar Bites or George "This-space-for-rent-or-product-placement" Lucas?
Jar-Jar is an enormously annoying figure to adults, beloved of children, and therefore killing him in a bloody mass of dismembered limbs, although satisfying to the adults, would make the movie traumatic for the young-uns.
If the wookie was to tear off George's arms, it'd be some measure of justice for Episode 1, Jar-Jar, etc. and it could be done in a backroom so no kiddies need be traumatized. And the adults would still be satisfied.
The great story of good and evil and redemption evolved in the middle 3 movies (Ep IV-VI) with Campbellian overtones is being sold down the river by a man whose vision has lost its way in favour of a big paycheck. There were a lot of worthwhile Mythic elements amidst the entertainment of the original movies, and the story had a certain power. Jar-Jar the rastafarian doppelganger and even fancy high-kicking Darth Maul (of few words, and a cheesy death) can't conceal the deeper emptiness in Episode 1, which is about to be (by all appearances) surpassed in its vaccuity by Episode 2: Attack of the Clowns.
George... how could you? How did they ever get to you man....?
-- Mal: "Well they tell you: never hit a man with a closed fist. But it is, on occasion, hilarious."
Good riddance to you, dimwit. One less numbskull in my way when I watch the movies. And by the way, their first muppet was in the original movie. Did you ever see it? And Jar-jar wasn't a muppet, he was computer-generated.
"Because of Jar Jar Binks, I have not seen Phantom Menace, and don't intend to."
Jesus Christ, you people whine a lot. It's only a fricken movie. You have no financial stake in it. And it's not like you go to them because it will impress your friends. If you like the story, go see it, otherwise go see Scream 54, or some animated Disney softcore porn. Go beat off at home to one of those t&a flicks at Blockbuster. Just stop acting like George Lucas has to make the movie you always dreamed of, just because you may have seen a couple of his previous movies.
"Compression algorithms work because they are designed to make the typical file smaller, while compressing the uncommon inputs into larger outputs."
The trick is to convert seemingly random/uncommon
data into less-random data. Finding equations
which do the trick takes much processing power.
For once Hollywood (or Lucas at least) actually listened!
Two wrongs don't make a right. The subtle reason why N'Sync being in the film is wrong is that it is product placement, like having the wookie sip a Pepsi. Removing them due to fan protest is the wrong reason. If Lucas was the 'artist' we'd like to think our best filmmakers are, fan opinion would not be a reason to change an artistic decision. Consider: N'Sync now has sufficient cause to consider George Lucas a whore. (I say this at known risk of being downmodded, but please think about it before calling this flamebait.) That's irony!
I survived the Dick Cheney Presidency 7 to 9 AM 7-21-07
The majority gets what the majority wants.
That should read "everybody gets what the majority wants."
And in America (but spreading) majority==most money. Still, the good old days when majority==most armaments can be found here and there...
This sig left unintentionally blank.
Seems like our democracy is more like 1 wolf and 3 sheep, and its still lamb chops for supper...
Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known. -- Carl Sagan
Oh, settle down. If you actually read your own link you would notice that SourceForge disabled the download because the file size was unreasonable. Would you sacrifice d/l rates for all of sf.net just so people can transfer 200GB/day worth of Simply GNUStep?
Besides, one of the SF guys posted a solution that would allow them to distribute the load.
I completely agree with your post. I suggest, however that you move from hate to a more enlightened perspective- why hate idiots when you can laugh at them from a distance??? Both are perfectly futile as objective outlooks, but the seconds leads to lower blood pressure and fewer strokes/heart attacks/psychotic episodes.
:P
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IMUHO the truly funny thing about all of this is that anyone who understands classical science fiction understands that the relationship between Star Wars and SF is exactly the same as the relationship between N*sync and the thousands of excellent, non-manufactured musicians performing in bars and clubs across the world.
People who crave epic fantasy productions** (in the Campbellian sense****) have no modern epic fantasy productions to enjoy. Therefore they become excited by the most trite and pitiful semblance thereof, provided it is well advertised. I.E. Star Wars becomes the biggest smash hit in hollywood history, and people who should know better still worship it 23 years later. Mel Brooks understood it in 1987, yet the collective slashdot audience does not (even today, even with his help).
People who crave beautiful, passionate, exciting music** have no (readily apparent) beautiful modern music to enjoy. Therefore they become excited by the most trite and pitiful semblance thereof, provided it is well advertised. I.E. N*sync becomes becomes the biggest smash hit in music history, while Derek Dick, the greatest lyricist in the world, holds an estate sale to feed his wife and daughter. Weird Al understood it well before 1985, yet the vast majority of targets*^*^* do not (even today, even with his help).
It's hilarious.
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The original SW was vain, insipid, proselytizing, and fscking annoying- a symptom of a diseased culture- if for no other reason than that there is no better alternative. With all the incredible pieces of art which have been produced in that field, in the seminal literature which both defines and accompanies humanity as we progress towards our destiny, a story about a white trash farmer's son who blows up a space station is the best we can hope for??? At least the Good Guys(tm) win.
Star Wars was successful because 1) it was (fairly) well done (especially in comparison with other sf films of the time) 2) it was advertised like no other film in history and 3)Lucas understood enough about human nature to know what appealed to the people he was trying to sell to. EXACTLY the same reasons N*synch are successful. The reason you don't remember it is because your parents were the victims, not yourselves. Or, perhaps, because the advertising that was targetted at you was successful, while N*sync advertising is not successful b/c it is not targetted at you.
David Brin, back before the trolls drove him from slashdot, had an incredible post about this exact subject. Too bad I don't have time to try to find it...
6 prophecies:
[1] In 10 years, current N*sync fans will not be fans of (insert 2012 boy band name here). They will have children, and say that fans of (insert 2012 boy band name here) are vain, insipid, proselytizing, and fscking annoying. The reason they are fans of N*sync today is that the advertisements for N*sync(2002) are targetted towards them, while the advertisements for N*sync(2012) will be targetted at their children.
[2]You will pay to take your children to see Star wars Episode VII- and it will suck just as badly as I-VI. People who think Star Wars Episode I was awesome will agree that it sucks.
[3]Your children will love it. They will also have N*Sync(2012) posters above their beds.
[4]You won't understand your children's POV, and your children will think "parents just don't uderstand...".
[5]Lucasfilms/"Free Lance Entertainment" (lol) will laugh all the way to the bank
[6]Rev. Neh Scudder will still think 1-5 are hilarious.
Rev. Neh
First Prophet
**all people, as in, symptomatic of human nature. Endemic. See any Joseph Campbell book for details.
****either Joseph or John
*^*^* {that select portion of western civilization which has sufficient disposable income to purchase large quantities of compact disks, i.e. 14 year old girls}
... and there is no doubt, that one day he will be
where the eye of his telescope has already been
I can't quite grasp what you might have against the Kyoto accord. The US government, who you appear to be supporting here, was the main group (along with Russia) that insisted on people being able to sell their green points; and then it still turned it down.
The accord gave the majority of points to those countries who needed them the most, so the relative populations and levels of industrialisation were taken into account. The accord was fairly tough on America because that was what was needed. America was doing a great deal of the damage. Underdeveloped countries were given more points than most (relatively) because most of the currently successful economies had to go through some form of none-too environmentally friendly industrial revolution in order to generate the money to become developed.
So, that leaves the US, one of the richest countries in the world, who do a great deal if not most of the damage to the environment, and yet who won't sign the accord because it might be bad for business. The Kyoto accord may not be perfect but it is the best stab the world has had so far at actually doing something to at least decelerate the destruction of the planet. I would have thought that the ordinary American public would at least have the decency to be ashamed of their leaders for taking this stance.. apparently not.
I did spend about 2 months in America a year ago, and apart from being amazed at the incredibly low fuel prices, which people then were complaining were at an all time high, I found the media to be very self contained and insular, offering roughly the one viewpoint on most issues. People might debate, but rarely was any form of challenging tone adopted, and even then it was from the point of view only of the broadcaster, and the viewing audience were more or less ignored till it was time to say goodbye. Even if you don't agree with me about the accord I would invite you to be a bit more careful when forming opinions. Question every source. Slashdot readers more than most should appreciate that.