Slashdot Mirror


The Year In Ideas

No_Weak_Heart writes "The New York Times Magazine (registration required) presents its annual compendium of ideas. The list ranges from acoustic keyboard eavesdropping to land-mine-detecting plants to water that isn't wet. What catches your fancy? And what do you think is missing?"

218 comments

  1. What's missing, is.. by Quickfry · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What's obviously missing is not having to register at nytimes! Come on guys, how hard of a concept is that?

    1. Re:What's missing, is.. by denis-The-menace · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I think Editors of Slashdot should not post stories that link to "must register" sites. A like to Google cache should be used instead.

      --
      Obama's legacy: (N)othing (S)ecure (A)nywhere and (T)error (S)imulation (A)dministration
    2. Re:What's missing, is.. by adeydas · · Score: 1

      i don't think nytimes will allow google to cache their 'registration required' pages...

    3. Re:What's missing, is.. by eMartin · · Score: 1

      If the original posters went through the trouble of registering, why should they go through extra trouble to keep you from having to do the same?

    4. Re:What's missing, is.. by drakethegreat · · Score: 0

      I doubt that Tim noticed, I'm guessing the author is new as well.

    5. Re:What's missing, is.. by leonmergen · · Score: 1

      Wasn't there some sort of blog link service of NYT so bloggers could link to their articles without having the visitors having to register ?

      --
      - Leon Mergen
      http://www.solatis.com
    6. Re:What's missing, is.. by Galvatron · · Score: 1

      Apparently Slashdot policy is that the only "registration required" site allowed is the NY Times, and that's only because it's been grandfathered in.

      --
      "The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than that of whether a submarine can swim" -EWD
    7. Re:What's missing, is.. by belmolis · · Score: 4, Informative

      Here's the New York Times link generator. Enter a regular URL and it returns a permanent, no-registration needed link. It's very handy, but certain sections are not supported.

    8. Re:What's missing, is.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wouldn't that require that the editors actually did some work?

    9. Re:What's missing, is.. by Reverberant · · Score: 0, Redundant

      This problem has been solved already: use the blog interface to generate a reg-free link.

      The other benefit of using this link generator is that (in theory) the link will never expire

    10. Re:What's missing, is.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      OH, please shut-up about the registration! As newspapers go, the NYT is at least worthy of registration. I share a login with I have no idea how many other people; it's enough for me that NYT doesn't lock obviously shared accounts. In the time it takes you to harp here about the mandatory login, you might have already authd or even created a new account.

    11. Re:What's missing, is.. by ceeam · · Score: 1

      Use Firefox? Google for BugMeNot.

    12. Re:What's missing, is.. by westlake · · Score: 1
      What's obviously missing is not having to register at nytimes! Come on guys, how hard of a concept is that?

      I have no objection to registration at a newspaper that I began reading when I was ten years old and costs $5+ locally for the Sunday edition, when you can find it.

    13. Re:What's missing, is.. by Xeo+024 · · Score: 3, Informative

      Hey, Slashdot editors, use this:
      http://nytimes.blogspace.com/genlink

      No more searching for google caches, fake logins, or *gasp* actually registering ;). Just copy and paste the NY Times URL and it'll come out with a partner URL (no need for registration, similar to Google News links).

    14. Re:What's missing, is.. by tonywong · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I don't understand what the big deal is with registering to view NYT articles. In all the time I've been registered, I've never been spammed or had my information sold to someone else.

      This organization is well respected and pays their writers and editors real money in order to give information that is timely and well researched. In return they are only asking for you to register for free. If you do not think this exchange is fair, do not register and do not look at the article. Sheesh.

      I'd bet a large portion of the do-not-register-and-bypass-the-system-hyporcrites- whining-because their-tinfoil-hats-are-too-tight are the same ones who post angry articles because the GPL has been violated. But now I'm just burning karma. Mod me down, but posts like this are not insightful.

    15. Re:What's missing, is.. by Erik+Hollensbe · · Score: 1

      The deal is - I got in and got advertisements anyways... If they're going to bombard me iwth ads (as more page space was taken by ads than navigation and article combined, in what I read), why should I give them any more relevant targetted marketing information? Do I get that when I buy the paper edition?

    16. Re:What's missing, is.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Mod me down, but posts like this are not insightful."

      Mod parent up: +1 Insightful

    17. Re:What's missing, is.. by abertoll · · Score: 1

      I agree... at least we should be given more information without registering, by another link, or by text in the story, etc.

      --
      "he drew his sword Ringil that glittered like ice... and he wounded Morgoth with seven wounds..."
    18. Re:What's missing, is.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe some of us don't like the NY Times very much, don't want to be associated with them, and certainly don't want to give them our personal information.

    19. Re:What's missing, is.. by nomadic · · Score: 1

      I think Editors of Slashdot should not post stories that link to "must register" sites.

      Why? People here take that maxim as a given, but I've never seen a convincing explanation for it.

    20. Re:What's missing, is.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Joining the NY Times website is very easy, the cookies allow you to transparently surf to and fro from story to story, ease up and take the time... I did it over a year ago and it is completely worth it. Posting complaints here takes just as much time and it's a great news organization.

      I'd rather not have to register myself, but once I did, I realized I was just dragging my feet about it, 'much ado about nothing.'

      Use a fake name/e-mail if you must...

    21. Re:What's missing, is.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or you can do what I'm sure a lot of people do. Just feed them bogus information. I've probably registered 50 times or more because I keep forgetting who I logged in as the last time. I also don't care about GPL, though I recognize its intent to defend against copright. Everything belongs in the public domain anyway. Discovery of an idea should not grant exclusivity to the discoverer. A true creator recognizes the creation above himself.

  2. missing ideas? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If I told you, my world domination plan would be at risk.

    1. Re:missing ideas? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm gonna pull your head off because I don't like your head.

  3. Ski Bike by BossMC · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I didn't RTFA, but I noticed my ski bike isn't on there. Neither is my shopping cart grocery trailer! Whats is this, a popularity contest?

    http://craig.backfire.ca/imgbrowse/ski-bike/

    1. Re:Ski Bike by YrWrstNtmr · · Score: 1
      This is supposed to be new stuff. A bike with skis is not new.

      Nice suspension, though.

    2. Re:Ski Bike by mrjb · · Score: 2, Interesting

      > I didn't RTFA, but I noticed my ski bike isn't on there

      You did NOT rfta but you DID notice your ski bike isnt there?

      Forget the ski bike! Tell us about your paranormal brain plugin invention!

      --
      Visit http://ringbreak.dnd.utwente.nl/~mrjb/growingbettersoftware to download your free copy of the book
    3. Re:Ski Bike by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ski bike looks great, but loose the breakes! :)

    4. Re:Ski Bike by KUHurdler · · Score: 1

      how exactly do you stop on that thing? ...besides with your face.

      --
      Fix Your Own TV - RiddledTV.com Avoid the Landfill
    5. Re:Ski Bike by BossMC · · Score: 1

      It's a perpetual motion machine... that's what's "new" about it.

    6. Re:Ski Bike by KUHurdler · · Score: 1

      In that case, I'm sure it will sell well. With no liability problems whatsoever.

      --
      Fix Your Own TV - RiddledTV.com Avoid the Landfill
  4. Username and password for accessing site by koreaman · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Username: stalin60
    Password: stalin

    courtesy of bugmenot.com

  5. You must admire the irony... by jarich · · Score: 4, Funny

    A list of new and innovative ideas hidden behind a required login.

    1. Re:You must admire the irony... by daniil · · Score: 1

      I wouldn't call them "new and innovative." First of all, they aren't even all that new. And just by looking on the list (non-reg, btw), you'll find that most of them are either of dubious value (Criminalizing Reckless Sex, Professional Amateurs, Psychopathic C.E.O.'s) or plain silly (The Best Way to Skip a Stone, The Car That Emotes).

      --
      Man is a slave because freedom is difficult, whereas slavery is easy.
    2. Re:You must admire the irony... by JPriest · · Score: 1

      You left out the best one: "The Employable Liberal Arts Major"

      --
      Saying Java is nice because it works on all OS's is like saying that anal sex is nice because it works on all genders.
    3. Re:You must admire the irony... by Dinosaur+Neil · · Score: 1

      Actually, I think that the Psychopathic CEO's study (and the associated test) might have a further application; politicians. Imagine a world where "subcriminal" nutjobs could be kept out of public office in stead of the reverse that seems to be happening these days...

      --
      "I'm a scientist! I don't think, I observe!" - Dr. Clayton Forrester
  6. Not having to register at nytimes! by IO+ERROR · · Score: 4, Informative
    --
    How am I supposed to fit a pithy, relevant quote into 120 characters?
    1. Re:Not having to register at nytimes! by DJStealth · · Score: 1

      If everyone used the same login/password, the NY Times may actually realize that keeping registration is a waste of time! Hopefully they may actually discover the world of registration free access as a result of this.

    2. Re:Not having to register at nytimes! by JPriest · · Score: 1

      It has been this way for as long as I have been visiting slashdot.

      --
      Saying Java is nice because it works on all OS's is like saying that anal sex is nice because it works on all genders.
    3. Re:Not having to register at nytimes! by drakethegreat · · Score: 0

      Very clever idea. Do they datamine or something anyways? I can't see the purpose in having a registration process to view news articles if its free.

    4. Re:Not having to register at nytimes! by IO+ERROR · · Score: 1

      I actually registered at nytimes years ago, and to date they haven't sent me a single message or sold the email address in question to anybody. So I'm not sure why they do it.

      --
      How am I supposed to fit a pithy, relevant quote into 120 characters?
    5. Re:Not having to register at nytimes! by Hatta · · Score: 1

      People keep recommending bugmenot, but I have never, not once, not today, not ever had it give me a working password. I find it easier to just plug the restricted url into google so I pick up the google referrer. Sure I have to do that for every page, but at least it works.

      --
      Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
    6. Re:Not having to register at nytimes! by IO+ERROR · · Score: 1
      Did you click the "This login doesn't work" button?

      For one site I had to try about 15 times before I got a working login, but I did, and it still works.

      --
      How am I supposed to fit a pithy, relevant quote into 120 characters?
    7. Re:Not having to register at nytimes! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ln: slash726
      pw: fuckfuck

    8. Re:Not having to register at nytimes! by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      I have tried to use bugmenot four times and failed twice. The two times first and third times I tried it, the couplet worked on the first try. The second and fourth times, I spent several minutes (at least ten minutes the first time) and quit in disgust.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    9. Re:Not having to register at nytimes! by nwbvt · · Score: 1
      No, knowing the NY Times they will probably just think they have one really dedicated reader.

      I've actually seen studies that try to use statistics coming from registration information where the researchers are surprised at the unusual results.

      --
      Mathematics is made of 50 percent formulas, 50 percent proofs, and 50 percent imagination.
  7. What is missing? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Flying cars.

    1. Re:What is missing? by linoleo · · Score: 1

      Here. Anything else?

      --
      Be faithful to your obsessions. Identify them and be faithful to them, let them guide you like a sleepwalker. JG Ballard
  8. Concur with the "no more registration required"... by TWX · · Score: 1

    ...and if one learns Dvorak and Qwerty keyboard methods, and switches back and forth between them, wouldn't that cause audio monitoring of the typist and/or keyboard to be inconclusive? Or more interesting yet, have multiple keyboards, so to never leave an audio bug knowing which keyboard one is using at any given point so that they can't develop a profile of a given piece of equipm$#@^&

    NO CARRIER

    --
    Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
  9. Virtual anti-vibration for vehicle display/video by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You don't have to mechanically compensate for vibration. You can just move the image electronically to counter the physical movement of the display. You'd be less likely to get car sick watching a video. Easier to read displays for driver.

  10. Re:Concur with the "no more registration required" by God_of_Belac · · Score: 2, Insightful

    You don't need to know the make and model of the keyboard to be able to decipher the keystrokes. As long as each key makes a slightly different sound, you can give each sound a number and it becomes a letter-substitution code. More complex because there are more keys, but really not all that hard. Now what's the relative frequency of e and ,?

  11. Worst idea: Employable Liberal Arts Major, The by daniil · · Score: 5, Funny

    The whole point of Liberal Arts education is to produce human beings incapable of doing something worthwhile, thus successfully eliminating them from the work pool (yay, more jobs for others). For decades, nay, centuries, this scheme has functioned flawlessly, keeping the World well oiled and working like a chronometer. And now, someone's trying to spoil it by teaching Liberal Arts majors Real World Stuff. I swear, if this is allowed to continue, you'll face the consequences pretty real soon.

    --
    Man is a slave because freedom is difficult, whereas slavery is easy.
    1. Re:Worst idea: Employable Liberal Arts Major, The by kfg · · Score: 2, Funny

      The whole point of Liberal Arts education is to produce human beings incapable of doing something worthwhile, thus successfully eliminating them from the work pool. . .

      Hey, all I can say is that I'm doing my part to hold up my end of the deal.

      KFG

    2. Re:Worst idea: Employable Liberal Arts Major, The by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Me too, but I don't yet actually have the degree, so I have the added attraction of living entirely on tax dollars. You can live off the government basically indefinitely if you go to school. In my defense, I also work for the school, a community college (and for peanuts) and have solved a lot of problems that had otherwise stumped the IT staff. Most of my talents are vastly underutilized, and like I said I get paid very little for my time, so rest assured that instead of hiring me full time, the school is getting more than its (and your) money's worth. :P

      Personally, I chose a liberal arts degree because I wanted to learn certain skills necessary to achieve several of my long-term goals, because a degree is basically necessary for the kind of work I want to do, and because every other degree required me to do something that I found to be pointless. These are all sure signs that I need to own and operate my own business, however trivial, because I have a problem with authority.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    3. Re:Worst idea: Employable Liberal Arts Major, The by kfg · · Score: 1

      . . .but I don't yet actually have the degree. . .

      This simply puts you on track to being the perfect liberal arts major.

      You can live off the government basically indefinitely if you go to school.

      Have you read Roger Zelazny's Doorways in the Sand? (although in this case he was living off of a trust fund. I know a guy who actually did this, and with the same conclusion as in the novel. The college eventually just gave him a "general studies" degree and graduated him against his will)

      I also work for the school, a community college (and for peanuts). . .

      Well, at least they feed you, eh?

      . . .and have solved a lot of problems that had otherwise stumped the IT staff.

      This sounds suspiciously like being usful. You'll have to work on that.

      These are all sure signs that I need to own and operate my own business. . .

      Think more along the lines of mind your own business, be creative and you'll come out ok, so long as your goal is to have a decent life by your own standards, rather than "get rich" (although even that's been known to happen to people mucking through).

      I have a problem with authority.

      I have no particular problem with authority, since I rarely even recognize any. This does, however, often seem to give them a problem with me.

      Even this is usually no problem for me, per se, since I don't make the mistake of ignoring the fact that some people, for whatever reason, have been invested with some sort of "authority" and I take that into account and simply stay out of their way.

      The problem is that authority likes to expand itself beyond the authority that it has been invested with. That's when things can get messy. The rules you can learn to live with or around. Rules being made up as they go along are tricky bastards.

      Tristan Jones refered to a class of people who do this as "Jetty Watchers." A jetty is built for boats to dock on. A man is assigned authority over the jetty, who then uses his authority to deny any boat the right to dock.

      You might want to read some Tristan Jones. A Welsh ex-merchant marine who ended up spending much of his life cruising in small sailboats, in large part because it was only way for a man of his temperment to fit into the world.

      KFG

  12. Quote from article... by criordan · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Worse, cows might be attracted to the weeds growing over mines, with disastrous consequences."

    I think it's pretty obvious we have a winner.

    --
    http://www.aaplblog.com/ - News about Apple Inc.
    1. Re:Quote from article... by John+Sullivan · · Score: 1

      Wow. Not only does it clear minefields, but it also cooks you a steak dinner while it works!

      --
      This is my World Wide Web of Whatever
    2. Re:Quote from article... by chialea · · Score: 1

      >"Worse, cows might be attracted to the weeds growing over mines, with disastrous consequences."

      Obligatory link: the "Unexploded Cow" game from CheapAss. Mad cows + Unexploded bombs = fun!

      http://www.cheapass.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?S cr een=PROD&Store_Code=CAG&Product_Code=CAG03 2

      Lea

    3. Re:Quote from article... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      your joke plays best, of course, when your audience is not an Afghan farmer

    4. Re:Quote from article... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > your joke plays best, of course, when your audience is not an Afghan farmer
      therefore (at least for you) his/her joke could not have played better.

      Likewise, this is particularly funny to those who have never lost loved ones at sea. (Especially in whaling).

    5. Re:Quote from article... by phyy-nx · · Score: 1
      Actually, france already figured this one out...

      "...either way, there's something magical about blowing up cows."

  13. Water that "isn't wet" is hardly water... by Sarcastic+Assassin · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Apparently, it's a "carbon-based molecule" with "fire-safety applications". Last time I checked, water only contained hydrogen and oxygen, not carbon.

    1. Re:Water that "isn't wet" is hardly water... by isny · · Score: 2, Informative

      Last I checked, that has already been invented. They call it "ice".

    2. Re:Water that "isn't wet" is hardly water... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's a carbon based molecule which has physical properties similar to that of water. but it isn't water. If you're being deliberately obtuse for comedic effect, you've failed the 'actually being funny' test.

      Geez, has the IQ of the average slashdot reader dropped sharply, or did you stumble in from AOL ?

    3. Re:Water that "isn't wet" is hardly water... by xanderwilson · · Score: 2, Funny

      Last time I checked, water only contained hydrogen and oxygen

      Obviously you don't have well water.

      Alex.

    4. Re:Water that "isn't wet" is hardly water... by cjameshuff · · Score: 1

      It's a fluorocarbon with one oxygen atom, four fluorine, and five carbon...NOVEC 1230, chemical formula: CF3CF2C(O)CF(CF3)2

      And not only is it not water, but it is wet...it just evaporates quickly. It's quite possible it doesn't wet common substances as well as water, but it will wet some of them. "Water that isn't wet" isn't remotely accurate.

    5. Re:Water that "isn't wet" is hardly water... by pjt33 · · Score: 2, Funny

      If you want some real dehydrated water I'm happy to sell you some at a low price...

    6. Re:Water that "isn't wet" is hardly water... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe not, but it sure is catchy.

    7. Re:Water that "isn't wet" is hardly water... by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      He obviously doesn't have municipal water either.

      I'll take well water over municipal water any day.

  14. Some interesting entries by Vvornth · · Score: 1

    I'd give that Ebay vigilante a cookie if I met him. And give me that Exoskeleton and I'll show you a superhero with freckles! Kimota!!

  15. Cockroach bomb shelters and buttered kitten power by Nine+Tenths+of+The+W · · Score: 4, Funny

    They're the only things that will survive a nuclear war, right? So why not build bomb shelters out of them?

    Secondly, given that anything buttered always lands butter side down, has anyone considered buttering a kitten's back? Caught between the duel imperatives of landing on it's feet and landing on the butter, it would rotate endlessly in the air. Stick on some magnets and voila, instant free energy

    --
    Slashdot: News for Nerds, Stuff that matters only to them
  16. Here's the idea of the year (NYT: hint hint nudge) by Rosco+P.+Coltrane · · Score: 1

    FACT: websites with free content that force readers to surrender their details end up collecting garbage information, and also annoy said readers who end up reading some other website with similar content.

    IDEA: uuh, like, stop the registration thing perhaps?

    --
    "A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
  17. Re:Concur with the "no more registration required" by Antique+Geekmeister · · Score: 1

    And if people changed passwords regularly, breaking into people's systems would be much more difficult. But neither is very likely.

  18. Re:Concur with the "no more registration required" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You can even use the time between strokes as a crude measure of distance between (unknown) keys, or as a hint as to what kind of stuff is being typed (c code will sound different from a memo, even if the keys are all the same) to improve your frequency analysis.

    If this method really works as claimed, the only way to make this really difficult (aside from scanning for & prohibiting the recording devices themselves) is to either engineer at great expense a uniform-sounding keyboard or, maybe, use one of those chorded keyboards.

    Is there a paper on this, btw? It's almaden, so I'd spse so. I have trouble believing that there is enough auditory information to distinguish every key, consistently within make/model. No way. They must use extra information, like digraph analysis or other context-based language-dependent statistics.

    If you have two microphones with tight foci (and you can compensate for the typists' hands), you can point one at the right hand end of the kybd and the other at the left, then use stereophonic analysis to get some more info. about where the keys are; if the mics are precise enough, this can do a lot. i.e., with location data alone, you can, say, reduce the candidates to {t,g,b,y,h,n,f,j,v,n,r,u} on a QWERTY 'board.

    Notably, that would work with a uniform sounding keyboard also (as long as it is a fullsize two-handed 'board), and may give you enough information for some things, e.g. reducing password space to a managable size for bruteforcing.

  19. I hope you're trying to be funny by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Letting techno-geeks rule the country is BAD. (Unfortunately, I include lawyers among that group; and they're the ones running things right now.) You want your country populated by people capable of seeing the big picture not just their little part of it. We need fewer people with employable skills and more people capable of actually thinking. It's a matter of training vs. education. I vote for more education and less trainable skills.

    1. Re:I hope you're trying to be funny by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We have the free market to do our critical thinking for us. The uninformed rantings of libertarians and Rand-fetishists have PROVEN its superiority to other, collectivist, philosophical schemes.

    2. Re:I hope you're trying to be funny by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As long as you think that education has little to do with those funny places called universities and a lot more to do with innate talent and personal experience, I agree.

    3. Re:I hope you're trying to be funny by Kymermosst · · Score: 1

      Letting techno-geeks rule the country is BAD. (Unfortunately, I include lawyers among that group; and they're the ones running things right now.) You want your country populated by people capable of seeing the big picture not just their little part of it. We need fewer people with employable skills and more people capable of actually thinking. It's a matter of training vs. education. I vote for more education and less trainable skills.

      The problem is, you then have people that do too much thinking, and not enough 'doing.'

      You've probably never been in charge of someone, given them a task to do, come back when it was supposed to be done and instead of seeing the result you get something that starts with this: "So I've been thinking about this ..."

      To which I reply with a simple "Do first, think later" ... unless it is the third or so time, in which case I reply with "You're fired."

      --
      "Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives" should be a convenience store, not a government agency.
    4. Re:I hope you're trying to be funny by khallow · · Score: 1
      Letting techno-geeks rule the country is BAD. (Unfortunately, I include lawyers among that group; and they're the ones running things right now.) You want your country populated by people capable of seeing the big picture not just their little part of it. We need fewer people with employable skills and more people capable of actually thinking. It's a matter of training vs. education. I vote for more education and less trainable skills.

      Hrmmm, clearly you haven't thought (nyuck nyuck nyuck) this through. Let the set of techno-geeks minus the lawyers rule the country. Problem solved. As a bonus you get both education and skills. And the fifty foot tall robot warriors bring a whole new meaning to the phrase "iron fist".

    5. Re:I hope you're trying to be funny by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As a liberal arts graduate with a math degree, I can proudly say that I do both, generally in your preferred order unless I can incorporate the thinking into the doing without ditching too much efficiency.

      It's nice to be in a field where the thinking results either in publications (if it is deep), some C/java code (if it is thorough) or a perl script to replace some future "doing" (if it's neither).

    6. Re:I hope you're trying to be funny by Kymermosst · · Score: 1

      As a liberal arts graduate with a math degree, I can proudly say that I do both, generally in your preferred order unless I can incorporate the thinking into the doing without ditching too much efficiency.

      It's nice to be in a field where the thinking results either in publications (if it is deep), some C/java code (if it is thorough) or a perl script to replace some future "doing" (if it's neither).


      That's true, and I am also in a liberal arts school seeking a CIS degree (with minors in Math and Geology), but the needs and workings of the world economy don't support the idea that everyone should receive a liberal arts degree.

      The chief problem I see with the liberal arts curriculum is that, for instance, my school doesn't touch anything with the word "engineering" in it. Thinking is one thing, being able to apply thought in a practical manner is another. I've also had to waste a lot of effort in art classes that I will never make use of. Good GPA boosters, however.

      Personally, I know people come out of liberal arts schools with the ability to both do and think, but I see a lot of my fellow students learning how to think (or what to think, depending on degree) but not learning how to do anything practical with that knowledge. I avoided a lot of this by spending my lower-division time in another school that emphasized skills as well.

      This is all reminding me one of my computer science teachers who knew theory to an amazing depth, yet needed help from a student when enabling video mirroring in MacOS X every few days in class. She taught MIPS assembler, too, but couldn't write a working program to save her life. Still, she was damn smart when it came to theory.

      --
      "Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives" should be a convenience store, not a government agency.
    7. Re:I hope you're trying to be funny by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Regarding your teacher: it gets worse. The CS professor (yes, singular) at my liberal arts college needed help changing his screensaver in Windows! Again, he really knows his theory and he's a 2-dan in Go.

      My liberal arts college had no requirements (which makes it either not liberal at all, or completely liberal depending on your viewpoint or your mood) so I specialized like crazy in mathematics, partly to compensate for the lack of a real CS program, partly due to innate interest and hunger for power, and partly due to the fact that I felt guilty about hating it so much in grade school.

      Part of why I'm not too worried about lack of practical skill is because I'm terrified by those whose lives are defined by it. One of my coworkers has a resume with 15 lines of "interests" including such things as "pattern detection", &c., but really only has one skill: programming decision trees (and, afaict, he does it poorly).

      I mentioned to him that he could change one of his algorithms from brute-force to gradient search for an exponential speed gain; he's hated me since (and he didn't change his algorithm, meaning I had to go and copy his work and change the algorithm so that I could do MY work in reasonable time).

      I would never exchange the intellectual honesty that a good liberal arts degree forces upon someone interested in practical arts. Even if no one else can recognize the benefits directly, I can detect when I can reason about things that others seem to use their emotions and gut reactions on. It really puzzles me, daily, what seems to be "enough" for the world economy, as you say, to accept someone - it certainly isn't technical merit and neither is it the ability to do "long-range" thinking and analysis. It's probably an intractable problem.

      I'm still a pretty slow programmer, all-in-all. That might never change. All my best with your education and future work.

    8. Re:I hope you're trying to be funny by daniil · · Score: 1

      Thinking is a drug, an addiction. Reasonable people can avoid getting addicted to it, while still "doing" it when necessary. Some are so frightened of the possibility of getting addicted that they simply refuse to think, and indulge in other addictions (like drugs or TV or Slashdot) instead.

      And then there are the people that are so addicted to thinking that they have no time for nothing else. They don't even have time to realize their thoughts. Some don't even have the time to properly think about their own thoughts.

      I belong in the last category. I do too much thinking. Only when i'm tired will i be able to "do" something (like, say, post this shit on Slashdot).

      --
      Man is a slave because freedom is difficult, whereas slavery is easy.
    9. Re:I hope you're trying to be funny by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're wrong. No one person is capable of having the knowledge and perspective needed to run anything like our country successfully. Thats why you have people with specific skills, training, and ideas around to help. Ever heard of meetings?

      Real success happens with people who can exercise their abilities to the fullest, which is why lots of specific targeted education and training is a good idea. You cant seriously sit here and tell me that some person who read shakespere a tad, drew on a canvas, learned some basic sciences, and then dabbled in some social sciences is going to be better qualified than someone with specific training and superiour skills in a specific area.

  20. Re:Concur with the "no more registration required" by TWX · · Score: 1

    If you don't use the keyboard enough to give them a large enough sampling to determine which sound corresponds to which key (which they'd have to figure out with a best guess method) then they might not be able to build a profile on a given piece of equipment.

    If you had many, many keyboards of the same manufacturer and model it'd be even more difficult, since the sounds would be so similar that they might not have an easy time telling keyboards apart, especially if you switched keyboards many times in the middle of a given session on the computer, and even worse if you switch keyboard layouts frequently too.

    You can't accurately number-letter substitute if you don't know which numbers correspond to given letters. Admittedly they could take the time, over a long enough period of time, to determine which is which if you never change out to newer keyboards, but it would make the problem significantly more complex than simple sound interpretation.

    --
    Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
  21. Exoskeleton strength by joshdick · · Score: 1

    I remember hearing about this this year. It looks like a great idea, but I have real doubts over how well it'll be implemented.

    Our troops don't even have the kevlar vests and armor plating they need. What makes us think they'll ever have a state-of-the-art exoskeleton?

    1. Re:Exoskeleton strength by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Our troops don't even have the kevlar vests and armor plating they need."

      Wrong. The kevlar vests and armour plating are in storage with the weapons of mass destruction.

    2. Re:Exoskeleton strength by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      armour, huh?

      Damned Brits - aren't you our (only) allies? And here you come in with your crazy European talk. "If you're going to have this bloody war, at least armor your troops." We don't need your advice - who saved your ass in the Vietnam War, huh?!

  22. teste teste by bushboy · · Score: 1

    open sesame

    --
    A slashdotting - you get the stick first and then the carrot !
  23. Re:Concur with the "no more registration required" by amorsen · · Score: 1

    Which threat is it that changing passwords frequently mitigates?

    --
    Finally! A year of moderation! Ready for 2019?
  24. Wal-Mart Sovereignty by joshdick · · Score: 1

    Let me be the first to welcome our new, low-price overlords.

  25. Re:Here's the idea of the year (NYT: hint hint nud by koreaman · · Score: 0

    NOTE TO MODS:

    this guy is trolling me, when I am genuinely trying to help people.

    -1:Troll shall be your moderation.

  26. Re:Concur with the "no more registration required" by ResidntGeek · · Score: 1

    In america, these, days? Probably, about the, same.

    --
    ResidntGeek
  27. Re:Cockroach bomb shelters and buttered kitten pow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The buttered slice of bread on the back of a cat: oldest joke ever!

  28. Re:How's this for a better idea by koreaman · · Score: 1

    Why should I be forced to install *both* when I only want *one*? A lot of people (myself included) have a secondary *slow* computer that also runs Linux. 1gb of hard disk space makes every meg precious.

  29. My dads invention is missing by matsh · · Score: 2, Interesting

    It is a hydraulic engine with which you can build motors of any size. Want to rotate the Pentagon? It is possible with the Hercules motor:

    http://www.indrives.com/frameset.html

    1. Re:My dads invention is missing by Dun+Malg · · Score: 1
      My dads invention is missing - It is a hydraulic engine with which you can build motors of any size. Want to rotate the Pentagon? It is possible with the Hercules motor

      Other than being a motor design that could move things that are so large they shouldn't be moved, what's the purpose of this? Like most such "ingenious" inventions, it has the distinct appearance of a solution in search of a problem.

      --
      If a job's not worth doing, it's not worth doing right.
    2. Re:My dads invention is missing by Animats · · Score: 2, Informative
      Wave cam hydraulic motors have been around for decades. The IBM RS-1 electrohydraulic robot from the 1980s used them. You can see the wave cam rail here, above the gripper. The cylinder block, with four cylinders controlled by Moog valves, is visible at the top of the picture. It's a nice linear motion device.

      The only new thing in the patent is that the wave cam comes in pieces, rather than being made as one big unit.

    3. Re:My dads invention is missing by AtillaTheKilla · · Score: 1

      Apparently, no hydraulic engines are needed. All you have to do is think really hard. (if, by any chance, you don't get it, search for one Mr. Abbie Hoffman)

    4. Re:My dads invention is missing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Want to rotate the Pentagon?

      I do, actually.

  30. keyboard eavesdropping by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why bother with the acoustics when you could monitor the EM radiation and pick it up farther away ( TEMPEST-style)?

    1. Re:keyboard eavesdropping by loadquo · · Score: 1

      An encrypted link between keyboard and box. Such as this.

  31. solar-powered flashlight... by Poonz · · Score: 1

    All I want to see if solar-powered flashlight...Greatest invention of all time...

    1. Re:solar-powered flashlight... by mr_snarf · · Score: 1

      If you want to see one, go and buy one... ? They are pretty common.

      --
      printf("Goodbye cruel world!\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b");
    2. Re:solar-powered flashlight... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Baygen make them. Care to share another bright idea?

      Perhaps the flyscreen door for submarines?

      Ashtrays for motorcycles?

      The glass drum kit?

      Concrete kites?

      Or the ultimate in disposable, the styrofoam bulldozer?

    3. Re:solar-powered flashlight... by dreadknought · · Score: 1

      This has already been invented. I invented it in 8th grade in 1999 for a project to make, get this, inventions. I came up with it as a joke idea because everybody makes jokes about "solar-powered flashlights". However, this flashlight actually had a purpose. I started out using dead batteries in it just as an easy way to complete the circuit, but soon realized that the flashlight actually charged the dead batteries during daylight hours, and therefore could be used during the night. Pure genious!

      --
      What you reap is what you sow
  32. A Cowboy Neil option of course! by antifoidulus · · Score: 2

    How can we have a list of anything without a Cowboy Neil optioin?

  33. Re:How's this for a better idea by RLiegh · · Score: 1

    1gb of hard disk space makes every meg precious.
    Then you won't want to use a desktop enviroment at all. In fact, you might want to consider using one of the BSD's instead; NetBSD would probably work great on such an old system.

  34. Re:Cockroach bomb shelters and buttered kitten pow by mr_snarf · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yes, many many people have considered and attempted to build the butter-cat core reactors. Currently more energy must be put into the system than can be drawn from it.

    As the core spins, the butter is flung outwards, causing the system to shut down quickly. Researchers have overcome this problem by cooling the system and containing the core inside a super-conductive bread 'bottle'. As any final year physics student will tell you, cold butter can not be spread onto bread, infact, it is repelled by it. By surrounding the core with high-intensity bread fields, the butter is pushed towards the centre of the reactor, sticking to the cat. Of course, this system requires large amounts of energy.

    Much research has gone into this technology, and scientists believe that they have a design that will produce more energy than is put into the system.

    Construction of the prototype is due to commence shortly, however it is an international effort. Currently progress has been halted because France and Japan are arguing over who should have the reactor on their soil. Supporters of the french claim that their skills in making french toast will allow for a higher quality core. On the other hand, Japan's extensive collection of 'hello kitty' products puts them at the forefront of feline technology.

    Where ever the prototype is constructed, this is an exciting time to be alive. Cheap, clean power is just around the corner.

    --
    printf("Goodbye cruel world!\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b");
  35. Land mines by t_allardyce · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I think that land-mine plant could have an extra benifit - if countries who refuse to sign land-mine bans continue to use them (COUGH USA COUGH) someone needs to fill a plane with these seeds and drop them everywhere they think land mines are being used - but not after the war, during the war! render them totally useless as a weapon by revealing their locations days after they have been set! Although the plant still seems a little creepy...

    --
    This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
    1. Re:Land mines by CosmeticLobotamy · · Score: 2, Funny

      That's a great idea. Then once you get the enemy to trust that the plants will tell them where the mines are, you swap out a batch of reactive plants with non-reactive plants and when they go strolling through recklesslly, blammo.

    2. Re:Land mines by t_allardyce · · Score: 1

      Which is exactly the sort of attitude that lets kids get their legs blown off - nice one! i feel we've gone around in a complete circle..

      --
      This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
    3. Re:Land mines by jjthe2 · · Score: 0

      The USA does not continue to use land mines. International export of land mines from the US was banned in 1992. Land mines are used to protect the Korean border, but new mines are not being layed.

    4. Re:Land mines by The+One+and+Only · · Score: 0, Troll

      Yeah! Then the Dear Leader can finally reunify Korea under his mighty army! Old people will no longer be able to use email, because they will be living under communism!

      --
      In Repressive Burma, it's not just your connection that dies. slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=314547&cid=20819199
    5. Re:Land mines by Nate+Eldredge · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Um, if the war is still on, this "someone" would likely have their plane shot down in short order.

    6. Re:Land mines by xtermin8 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It is specifically the use of landmines along the North/South Korean border that keeps the US from banning land-mines. If that situation is ever resolved, the land-mine issue can be revisited and negotiated. As things stand now, a plane flying along this border is not going to get very far.

    7. Re:Land mines by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      creepy as in Kudzu, or creepy as in Munster family?

    8. Re:Land mines by t_allardyce · · Score: 1

      Land mines are communism...

      --
      This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
    9. Re:Land mines by KD5YPT · · Score: 1

      Land mines aren't communism. They are anarchist. They'll happily blow up anything that they can get their trigger on.

      --
      In US, you can easily buy enough major firearms to wipe out your neighbourhood but a few little fireworks are banned.
    10. Re:Land mines by t_allardyce · · Score: 1

      no they're capitalist because your free to walk around them but you might just accidently touch one, and they're communist because infact they were all set up by one group of people and they all have equal explosive power. Then again they're pretty facist in any area they dominate and i guess its anarchy if your blown up torso lands on another mine and starts a chain reaction!

      --
      This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
    11. Re:Land mines by eraserewind · · Score: 1

      So what you are saying they are ok with not using landmines except in those places that they want to use landmines. Whoop-de-doo.

    12. Re:Land mines by LaCosaNostradamus · · Score: 1

      Although I depsise the Western Military Machine (i.e. America, Britain, France, etc.), I have to credit where it's due: the West has been improving land mines so that any field laid with it will probably not be the sorrow of the future like the old ones were. The old ones were incapable of shutting themselves off. The news ones have all kinds of shutdown criteria. It's only what we should expect from applying technology to this terrible weapon.

      Don't get me wrong. I think land mines are one of the 20th Century's worst widespread inventions (with the spreadsheet being Bad Widespread Invention #1). Their use should be so tightly controlled that they should be quite the rarity. But there are no real rules in war, even by the allegedly "civilized" nations (as America's behavior in Iraq more than demonstrates). So landmine use tends to expand since those damned things are so handy for terrorizing a populace and securing a border.

      --
      [You have a stable society when some nut guns down a schoolyard and the law doesn't change.]
    13. Re:Land mines by t_allardyce · · Score: 1

      Spreadsheets? obviously they've never saved your life in a 20-minute deadline situation...

      --
      This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
    14. Re:Land mines by LaCosaNostradamus · · Score: 1

      Have you considered the mechanisms that created the artificial emergency of that deadline in the first place? I think that behind it, you'd find another guy like you, fiddling with a spreadsheet.

      Spreadsheets are the grease under our skids in our race to the bottom. That's essentially what I'm saying.

      --
      [You have a stable society when some nut guns down a schoolyard and the law doesn't change.]
    15. Re:Land mines by t_allardyce · · Score: 1

      Last spreadsheet use was to learn about digital filters for an exam, could have used matlab but i was too damn lazy - thats what spreadsheets are about, lazyness, the common denominator, why spend days setting up accounting systems when you can spend minutes in excel? why do something today when you can do it tomorrow?

      --
      This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
    16. Re:Land mines by LaCosaNostradamus · · Score: 1

      Aha! Doing the most in the environment of expending the least effort. See what I mean? Spreadsheets train us to optimize, which leads to over-optimization.

      I work in IT. Laziness is the name of the game. Why else would we want to configure a computer remotely instead of going out and physically doing it? Leaves more time to read Slashdot.

      --
      [You have a stable society when some nut guns down a schoolyard and the law doesn't change.]
    17. Re:Land mines by anaesthetica · · Score: 1

      I'm Seoul will send its thanks once Dear Leader safely rolls across the DMZ and reunites his peninsula...

  36. Re:Mexicans really DO smell like fabric softener by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I believe what you meant to say in that Brownsville is border town filled with filthy Mexicans. That goes most most of Texas and Florida.

  37. Re:Concur with the "no more registration required" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sorry pal, once the scheme is caught onto, what's to stop them from piping the output of the microphones into several analysis modules? After all, when you touch type something on a Dvorak keyboard it produces gibberish if you assume you're on a normal keyboard.

    Whichever module gives valid output is the right one at the moment.

    As for several keyboards...same thing. If your typing is worth enough for someone to actually set up this equipment, it's worth enough for them to add a little more effort and processing power.

  38. Re:Concur with the "no more registration required" by chialea · · Score: 4, Interesting

    >You can even use the time between strokes as a crude measure of distance between (unknown) keys, or as a hint as to what kind of stuff is being typed (c code will sound different from a memo, even if the keys are all the same) to improve your frequency analysis

    My advisor (Dawn Song) has a paper (with other people, of course) about timing analysis of interactive ssh sessions. Basically, the upshot is that you can watch how long it is between packets that come out, and you get one packet per keystroke (iirc), so you can use this to learn about what they're typing. It's reasonably difficult, of course, but the microphone attack does gain extra information which the ssh attack does not.

    If you're interested, a pdf is at http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~dawnsong/papers/ssh-timing .pdf

    Lea

  39. Dambuster bombs by Mal-2 · · Score: 3, Informative

    "The Best Way to Skip a Stone" isn't silly. In fact, skipping stones was the basis of the concept of Dambuster bombs back in WW2.

    One rather bizarre note appears here . "If the bomb breaches the dam, code word is Nigger but if it does not breach, code word is Gonner."

    In any case, skipping objects off water is hardly a new area of research and does not belong on a list of things "new and innovative" as it is neither. But it is not at all silly.

    Mal-2

    --
    How is the Riemann zeta function like Trump rallies? Both have an endless number of trivial zeros.
    1. Re:Dambuster bombs by muzthe42nd · · Score: 0

      "Nigger" was the name of one of the pilot's dogs.

      --
      Pfft - Sorry, what?
    2. Re:Dambuster bombs by Lord_Dweomer · · Score: 1
      You know, I always have wondered if in the future we will someday be using the knowledge of skipping stones to figure out how to use the gravity wells of multiple planets to slingshot a spaceship around space.

      Sorry if that seems a little offtopic, but you have to admit, its a pretty cool idea.

      --
      Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
    3. Re:Dambuster bombs by BorgCopyeditor · · Score: 1

      As David Brent says, this was back "before racism was bad."

      --
      Shop as usual. And avoid panic buying.
  40. Re:Here's the idea of the year (NYT: hint hint nud by Kymermosst · · Score: 1

    FACT: websites with free content that force readers to surrender their details end up collecting garbage information, and also annoy said readers who end up reading some other website with similar content.

    IDEA: uuh, like, stop the registration thing perhaps?


    You seem to think that the content is free. You are mistaken.

    Just because the currency isn't green or made of metal doesn't mean it isn't a payment. The NYT wants a payment for viewing their content. That payment is your personal information.

    --
    "Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives" should be a convenience store, not a government agency.
  41. Water that isnt wet by mrjb · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Dehydrated water, surely. Comes in very small packages. Makes 4 gallons. To make ready to drink, just add water.

    --
    Visit http://ringbreak.dnd.utwente.nl/~mrjb/growingbettersoftware to download your free copy of the book
  42. A better idea by argoff · · Score: 1

    Get rid of patents. Seriously. Think about it, you want to talk about bringing zillions of unused ideas into the mainstream. There's the way. For every monopoly an inventor looses, all of a sudden he'll have access to millions of other ideas he could never have access to without a royality or liability. Companies could save billions of dollars on lawsuits and lawyer expenses. Ford could make parts that are compatable with GM - it would force industries to consolidate parts standards and save a ton on excessive waste that often ends up as junk that is environmantal waste.
    And it would force real commoditized competition which would likely increase quality and decrease prices.

    1. Re:A better idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Consider applying this to the drug industry: you don't have a monopoly so you can't make back the billions spent developing a drug because your competitor picks up your formula and starts selling it for pennies over cost. Result: all commercial research on drugs stop. Lots of patents are bad admittedly, but saying all patents are bad is naive.

    2. Re:A better idea by argoff · · Score: 1

      Consider applying this to the drug industry: you don't have a monopoly so you can't make back the billions spent developing a drug because your competitor picks up your formula and starts selling it for pennies over cost. Result: all commercial research on drugs stop. Lots of patents are bad admittedly, but saying all patents are bad is naive.

      That's not true. Maybe I don't have an incentive to build a billion $ car factory without a government monopoly either - but that doesn't mean one won't get built. and it's well known that most of the patent money made isn't spent on RnD, but marketing. And the truth is that if one researcher looses RnD money because he can't get a patent, but gains the collaberation of 10000 other experts in the field that he wouldn't have been able to get before because they don't half to keep things from each other anymore - then that is a net gain.

      The naievity comes from failing to understand that patents more like a government restriction on peoples freedoms on what they can do with inventions rather than that some kind of free market property right like they are often touted to be. Just because a bunch of prestigious people and government authorities call something a property doesn't mean that it is. That is as true today with patents as it was in 1850 with slaves.

  43. RFID tagging of humans by wrecked · · Score: 1
    I only skimmed the list, and I didn't see anything about RFID tags. Over the past year, there have been a number of stories regarding the use of RFID tags to track humans. I think that we're going to see an explosion of these devices in all aspects of our daily lives as RFID tags will be used to track our movements at work, at school, and while we travel.

    I know of many workers who are required to use these tags as part of their employer's worksite access policy, and although the employer is not supposed to use RFIDs for work performance purposes, the attendance of the workers is being tracked down to the second.

    These devices are being implemented so gradually that I don't think the implications have been fully thought through by the public.

    BTW, I was going to link a bunch of previous /. stories on the subject, but I don't know how the code works here; doesn't seem to work when I preview the submission and shows the text of the entire link. Anyway, just search this site for "RFID" for the most recent headlines.

    1. Re:RFID tagging of humans by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Okay, something weird happened there. Let's try this: Innovative Uses of RFID - wrecked

  44. Re:How's this for a better idea by Kymermosst · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Linux is fractured between two dominant desktop enviorments; which is hindering it's market penetration.

    No, the fact that one company already held 90% of the market share when Linux became viable as a desktop OS is hindering its market share. If your average Linux distro was 100% compatible with MS-Windows XP, Microsoft would disappear.

    So, therefore, why don't we merge gnome into kde so that we have one major desktop enviroment with two 'sub-desktops' (the original kde and gnome) that users can choose between?

    There already is a common denominator, and that is pure X11 programs. Besides, I don't like one of those two desktop environments, and I'd rather use nothing than a combined monstrosity of a desktop. If I wanted that, I'd use Windows.

    Don't be so quick to scoff, after emacs absorbed vi its' user base increased, and I think that with a little thought and planning the same could happen for linux, too.

    Since when did emacs absorb the vi userbase? I use vi every day, and haven't used emacs for... 8 years maybe. Is this some sort of joke? Emacs is a bloated overbuilt editor that takes too damn long to start up. (If it takes longer than about a second, it's too long.)

    My guess is that you are trying to reignite a KDE-vs-GNOME or VI-vs-EMACS flame war.

    --
    "Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives" should be a convenience store, not a government agency.
  45. Landmine plant by Peden · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Saw a Danish documentary on those landmine detecting plants. Funny enough they used the dehydrated water to "water" their plants. It was due to the seeds being so small that they could be carried away by the wind. On a different note, it seems as if the guys that developed the plants are having a hard time in getting the right clearances, some english chap that was in the documentary, working for the team as an observer, and link to the African country's government, ended up trying to wreck the whole projekt because he was afraid of genetically engineered plants.........(Note to guy, if your country is chock full of landmines, a few extra plants is not going to ruin your day)

  46. Re:Concur with the "no more registration required" by drinkypoo · · Score: 1
    Even a strong password can be cracked in time by brute force. By regularly changing the password you negate any benefits gained by a third party who might manage to access your password file. Every password scheme in common use today is susceptible to a brute force attack in those circumstances.

    Other than that, not much, because if someone is logging keystrokes they could conceivably use your data only seconds after you enter it.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  47. Re:Here's the idea of the year (NYT: hint hint nud by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    > FACT: websites with free content that force
    > readers to surrender their details end up
    > collecting garbage information, and also annoy
    > said readers who end up reading some other website
    > with similar content.

    > IDEA: uuh, like, stop the registration thing
    > perhaps?

    I don't really have a problem with it. It only takes 30 seconds to register and I have never received any spam from them.

    If you were the NY Times trying to sell advertizing so that you can provide the content on the net for free, wouldn't you want to have some information to attract high-end advertizers? Like it or not - that is how the newspapers (esp the NY Times) make their money.

    I'm sure they've weighed up the option of not having registration in lost readers vs. lost advertising revenue, and I suspect they know more about the trade offs than you.

    Give them fake information if you feel that way, you're getting to access articles you'd normally have to pay if you bought the physical newspaper.

  48. Re:How's this for a better idea by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

    GNOME and KDE will probably never merge. If they do, the result will be craptacular as it will end up with all the worst features of both and it won't matter if it has any of the best features of either. It would be better to add any "missing" functionality from one to the other and abandon the other, implementing a compatibility layer to support the other until those programs are superseded or transitioned to the other toolkit.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  49. Salt the earth by Mal-2 · · Score: 1

    Those planting the mines could easily till salts and/or herbicides into the soil at the same time. When nothing grows there, these plants won't work.

    On the positive side, this would prevent people from trying to farm or graze on the mined land.

    Mal-2

    --
    How is the Riemann zeta function like Trump rallies? Both have an endless number of trivial zeros.
    1. Re:Salt the earth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "On the positive side, this would prevent people from trying to farm or graze on the mined land."

      I wasn't aware that humans were grazing animals, but then I don't eat from smorgasboards (which I believe is the Swedish word for "communicable disease").

  50. Re:Concur with the "no more registration required" by Zorilla · · Score: 1

    If people changed their own passwords as often as people change the BugMeNot shared passwords just to piss others off, everything would be much more secure.

    --

    It would be cool if it didn't suck.
  51. The boss' idea by pherris · · Score: 1
    At a former place of employment I was in an office with numerous pieces of computer equipment. Overnight a capacitor in a UPS blew, created lots of smoke but the fire alarm didn't go off. Got into work the next day to find everything fine except one UPS and a nasty smell. The boss wasn't pleased that the alarms didn't go off and waxed on about how the company could've lost a lot of equipment. His solution: install an automatic halon fire extinguisher system in our office. And no, no one would install it.

    Worst. Idea. Ever.

    --
    "And a voice was screaming: 'Holy Jesus! What are these goddamn animals?'" - HST
    1. Re:The boss' idea by Too+many+errors,+bai · · Score: 1

      Isn't halon quite lethal? I seem to remember something about it, but I'm not sure.

    2. Re:The boss' idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It smothers the fire in a room by replacing the air in that room, a key ingredient for combustion, with Halon.

      So yeah, a side effect of that is that if you're in that room without a supply of air, you're in deep trouble.

    3. Re:The boss' idea by LaCosaNostradamus · · Score: 1

      Just toss a few price quotes at your boss. The price of a Halon recharge alone would turn his hair white (or whiter, if so already). Nothing like enormous contractor charges to shut moron management right the fuck up.

      --
      [You have a stable society when some nut guns down a schoolyard and the law doesn't change.]
    4. Re:The boss' idea by pherris · · Score: 1
      Isn't halon quite lethal?

      Yes it is. It basicly sucks all the O2 out of the area killing the fire and anyone in the room. This is why it was a bad idea. Halon systems can only be placed in specially built rooms and can never be used in an office space. My boss was a moron.

      --
      "And a voice was screaming: 'Holy Jesus! What are these goddamn animals?'" - HST
  52. Re:A better idea- Tax intellectual property by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Tax intellectual property the way we tax real property. If you don't value it enough to pay the tax, sell it or put it in the public domain.
    This would bring unused ideas into the mainstream.

  53. Re:How's this for a better idea by maharg · · Score: 1

    Oooh +5 Troll - nice one..

    --

    $ strings FTP.EXE | grep Copyright
    @(#) Copyright (c) 1983 The Regents of the University of California.
  54. Re:Cockroach bomb shelters and buttered kitten pow by Forbman · · Score: 2, Funny

    PeTA probably has plans about the cats to be used, as well as the poor cows that get milked for the butter.

    And it has to be butter. Oleo (margarine) has about half the effect that Butter has.

  55. Re:How's this for a better idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "My guess is that you are trying to reignite a KDE-vs-GNOME or VI-vs-EMACS flame war."

    Curses, my evil plans to divide and conquer the Linux community thwarted again! I would have got away with it, if not for those meddling kids!
    -Bill G.

  56. Re:Here's the idea of the year (NYT: hint hint nud by captwheeler · · Score: 1
    The NYT wants a payment for viewing their content. That payment is your personal information.

    They are not getting it though, and they still require a logon. They know the information is bad, but are still doing this for other reasons...

    My guess is that this has more to do with company politics then anything else. Once they've decided to try to restrict the information, people have a lose-lose situation. Argue that you should open it and your for giving away the product, argue that you should keep the logon and your for collecting useless information. Most people working in an office would simply ignore the issue and pretend everything is fine.

    --

    Thanks for putting on the feedbag. Thanks for going all out. Thanks for showing me your Swiss Army knife.

  57. Re:Concur with the "no more registration required" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Thanks, that's a nice paper; I'll have to read the Viterbi algorithms in more detail later though it's nice to see pure info. theory put to nefarious ends. =)

    The upshot of an empirical 50x reduction in workload for password-cracking from timing information alone is surprising and disturbing. However, even the rudimentary position info from a multi-microphone analysis should at least double that (in the case of a high-latency digraph it can give order information, e.g. tell OZ from ZO; otherwise, it will tell you where the flurry of keystrokes is occurring and possibly let you break up the HMM into one for each hand if you have a model for how humans type).

  58. Re:Concur with the "no more registration required" by amorsen · · Score: 1

    It's pretty much impossible to avoid brute force if the adversary has access to the encrypted password. I'm not worrying about that attack anymore; if people gain access to my shadow files I have larger problems.

    --
    Finally! A year of moderation! Ready for 2019?
  59. Re:Concur with the "no more registration required" by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

    Someone might be able to exploit a hole in a remotely accessible service that would allow them to get specific files from your system given full paths, but not otherwise get into your computer.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  60. Re:Concur with the "no more registration required" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Of course, no one has to memorize the new BugMeNot password, so this is a lot easier...

  61. What's missing, is..Motivation. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "I think Editors of Slashdot should not post stories that link to "must register" sites. A like to Google cache should be used instead."

    And I think that the original submitter could have done the work to providing a registration free link.

    But apparently we all are a bunch of lazy yahoos. But then an overdependence on the internet will do that to ya.

  62. huh? lawfare? by CaptainPinko · · Score: 1

    This article: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/12/magazine/12LAWFA RE.html I did not understand. While it seems like neo-con "we must let ourselves be bound by international laws and obligations" I couldn't really make heads or tails out of enough of it to know for sure.

    --
    Your CPU is not doing anything else, at least do something.
  63. Explanation of "water that isn't wet" by SirBruce · · Score: 2, Informative

    For those curious, it's not water that isn't wet. It's a water-like fire-supression substitute called Novec 1230. You may have seen it on some of the morning talk shows. It's a carbon-based liquid molecule that looks and feels a lot like water, but you can soak most electronic devices in it and they will still work. It puts out fires just as effectively, but it vaporizes quickly, drying 25 times faster than water. It's non-carcinogenic, it breaks down completely within 5 days and doesn't do any damage to the ozone layer. It's rapidly becoming adopted as the fire supression system of choice for many businesses. Bruce

  64. A few more ideas of 2004 by akuzi · · Score: 4, Informative

    I don't know if any of these are really new ideas but they seem to have come up a lot in 2004.
    - Affordable space tourism for the masses
    - Podcasting. ipod+time shifting+rss
    - The Seriousness of Fake news. It seems like even the mainstream news channels like CNN have started to incorporate comedians and irony in their shows. Jon Stewart interviews John Kerry, and the daily show book is a best seller. Many articles are written about why people are so turned off the real news channels.
    - Global Economic Crash imminent. The declining US dollar is at risk of being dumped by Asia and losing its status as world currency to the Euro - potentially trigger global economic crisis. Another scenario involves the 'peak oil' theory and the increasing price of oil.
    - Fighting Terrorism using Drug War tactics. An interview with John Kerry in the NY Times magazine reveiled that his view of terrorism as a problem you fight locally in a similar fashion to drug cartels and not as a global war fought at the level of nations.
    - Sex Slavery in America. A controversial piece of investigative journalism in the NY Times posited that sex slavery is widespread in the US.

    1. Re:A few more ideas of 2004 by BigBadaboom · · Score: 1

      Slate has a series of articles criticising that NYT sex-slavery story.

  65. Vernor Vinge's Powers by Jerf · · Score: 2, Interesting

    In the "A Fire Upon The Deep" universe, the Powers of the higher computational zones are hypothesized to be able to perform powerful computations on minimal data.

    The keyboard thing is a great example of that; with scanty data you can reverse engineer what keys are being tapped.

    I'd bet with a bit more work you wouldn't even need to calibrate the device, just collect a lot of keypresses, classify them blind, and apply known probability distributions to the data. With that you could get a high probability analysis of the keypresses. (After all, if the two most probable passwords are "thebeatles" or "theb]atles", which do you think it is?)

    A single picture or a short sound doesn't have a lot of data in it, but a long sound sample or video file has a lot of data in it. Expect this to be just the beginning.

  66. Re:Here's the idea of the year (NYT: hint hint nud by westlake · · Score: 2, Interesting
    FACT: websites with free content that force readers to surrender their details end up collecting garbage information, and also annoy said readers who end up reading some other website with similar content.

    The NYT has my real e-mail address and in return I find real NYT news content in my in-box each morning, something I want and need. I suspect that is true of most of those who register.

    The tinfoil hat market being what it is this days, I doubt the Times worries much about the Slashdot demographic.

  67. the year in patents by evilmousse · · Score: 4, Funny


    i bet the year in patents is a much longer list than the year in ideas.

  68. Prior art, grammar Nazism by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "This has already been invented. I invented it in 8th grade in 1999..."

    Sorry to burst your bubble, but you didn't invent a thing. I bought solar powered garden lights 12 years ago. Connecting a solar panel to a storage battery is not a new concept.

    And the correct spelling is "genius"; the noun form lacks the "o". "Ingenious" has an "o" because the suffix is modified to denote an adjective (like "grievous", "heinous", "specious").

    America, where declention is something done with the buttocks.

    1. Re:Prior art, grammar Nazism by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I bet that's not all you do with your buttocks.

  69. Land mines-Macteria Smorgasboard. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "I think that land-mine plant could have an extra benifit"

    Better would be explosives eating bacteria. Why send men, or machines searching for the land mine? When bacteria can find it, and eat it's "heart" out if you will. All that's left is some inert materials.

  70. Re:Cockroach bomb shelters and buttered kitten pow by Exatron · · Score: 2, Funny

    I can just imagine the plans that People for the Eating of Tasty Animals would have for cats and cows.

    --
    "I think so, Brain, but 'instant karma' always gets so lumpy." - Pinky
    "Decepticons FOREVER!!!" - Ravage
  71. Yes by daniil · · Score: 1

    I'm so sorry for having no sense of humour.

    --
    Man is a slave because freedom is difficult, whereas slavery is easy.
  72. Wather that isn't wet?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Another invention that gets piled with the
    screen doors for submarines, and the
    spaceship that only works underwater :>

  73. Re:Cockroach bomb shelters and buttered kitten pow by technos · · Score: 2, Funny

    Eh.. If PETA has a complaint about cat-butter reactors, we just need to remind them that the cat not need be living to have the desired effect as far as I know. Kill a couple dozen cats, they'll beg the scientists to return to the humane live cat reactors.

    --
    .sig: Now legally binding!
  74. Re:Cockroach bomb shelters and buttered kitten pow by solarrhino · · Score: 3, Funny
    Cheap, clean power is just around the corner.

    Clean? Obviously you have never replaced a litterbox. Buttered cats also have a tendency to toxic spills of hairballs, a tendency likely to be increased by buttering. And then there is the still unsolved problem of herding.

    In my opinion, the butter-cat core reactor will never be more than a footnote of science. Of course, while it will never achieve large scale production, it will certainly continue to be a very popular lab demonstration.

    --
    "Lord, grant that I may always be right, for Thou knowest that I am hard to turn" -- A Scots-Irish prayer
  75. Worst Idea - the psycho detector by solarrhino · · Score: 1
    In the article on Psychopathic C.E.O.'s, the author, Michael Steinberger, talks about the possibility of corporations using the B-Scan 360 to screen CEO candidates, and weed out the pyschos. Clearly, he had little contact with real world companies or CEOs. Obviously, at least some corporations would use the test to improve their odds of hiring one.

    ps: If you want to validate the test, corporations, see if you can get HP CEO Carly Fiorina to take it...

    --
    "Lord, grant that I may always be right, for Thou knowest that I am hard to turn" -- A Scots-Irish prayer
  76. Re:Cockroach bomb shelters and buttered kitten pow by macshit · · Score: 1

    Secondly, given that anything buttered always lands butter side down, has anyone considered buttering a kitten's back?

    My sister used to have kitten that hadn't learned to wash (from its mother or wherever kittens are supposed to learn that). In order to induce this poor stinky kitten to wash its fur, they resorted to buttering it.

    I don't think they tried flinging it in the air while buttered though (one can imagine the poor thing trying desperately to complete its washing, while spinning rapidly, before it hits the ground; talk about kitty stress!).

    --
    We live, as we dream -- alone....
  77. Two words: Paper Ballots by MarkusQ · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Two more words: Counted Honestly --MarkusQ

  78. Re:Concur with the "no more registration required" by KD5YPT · · Score: 1

    But if you are
    1. Willing to crack open the keyboard to install a mic.
    2. Install not one, but two high end mic.

    Won't it be much more easier just stick a bucket-brigade style monitor in the keyboard that actually read the data from keyboard to computer.

    --
    In US, you can easily buy enough major firearms to wipe out your neighbourhood but a few little fireworks are banned.
  79. umm i'd like to see them try by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    good luck using "acoustic keyboard eavesdropping" on my model m i've woken people up before just typing

  80. Re:Concur with the "no more registration required" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Who said anything about cracking open the keyboard, or even being in close proximity to it? ;-) Although it would probably be hard to conceal the requisite microphones externally, it is possible in some cases.

    I agree that this attack may not be the most practical, but assuming you are fortunate in target and have the budget of a government TLA, it has the amusing perk that NO amount of inspection of the computer itself would reveal it.

  81. "water that isn't wet" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ... so, in other words: ice?

  82. Re:Cockroach bomb shelters and buttered kitten pow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    This just in...

    Scientists have announced a major breakthrough in the cat's bread and butter problem. They have instead opted for a non-butter prototype that consists of duct-taping two cats together, back to back.

  83. Acoustic keyboard eavesdropping... by Lazyhound · · Score: 1

    ...is old as the hills. I read an article about this in, like, 1996. You can even do it from a few hundred meters away by bouncing a laser off a window.

  84. BugMeNot! by EqualSlash · · Score: 1


    Here's the Firefox Plugin

  85. Disturbing news under "presenteeism..." by catbear · · Score: 1
    "The bank Comerica, for instance, sponsored an in-house health study that determined that at least 10 percent of its workforce of 10,919 suffered from irritable bowel syndrome and that the condition reduced on-the-job productivity by approximately 20 percent."
    That's what they get for doing the health study right after "Free Taco Bell Monday."
  86. Registration? Pah! by deletedaccount · · Score: 1

    The New York Times Magazine (registration required)
    Another great use of bug me not!

  87. Space Quest! by ReKleSS · · Score: 1

    Am I the only one who is reminded of Space Quest 1? The packet of dehydrated water that could be used to kill a monster? bah.
    -ReK

    --
    md5sum -c reality.md5
    reality: FAILED
    md5sum: WARNING: 1 of 1 computed checksum did NOT match
  88. Re:Cockroach bomb shelters and buttered kitten pow by rark · · Score: 1

    Clean?

    Clearly, you don't have cats. Particularly ones that don't know what the litterbox is for!

  89. Re:Concur with the "no more registration required" by mforbes · · Score: 1

    Wouldn't a good counterattack be to have the computer reproduce random keystroke noises as you're working? (And come to think of it, even when you're not...)

    Treat it as a white noise solution, something like broadcasting static at a window to prevent outside mics listening in to the vibrations induced in the glass by a conversation insude.

    --

    Allegedly real newspaper headline from 1998:
    Man Struck by Lightning Faces Battery Charge

  90. Re:Cockroach bomb shelters and buttered kitten pow by mr_snarf · · Score: 1

    Compared to the failed dog-deadfish reactor, yes, very clean.

    --
    printf("Goodbye cruel world!\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b\b");
  91. Re:Mexicans really DO smell like fabric softener by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ". . . a filthy Mexican border town."

    Do you mean "a filthy, Mexican border town"? or "a filthy-Mexican border town"? There's a difference, asshole. Next time you try to offend, use punctuation.

  92. I have an idea . . . by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    why doesn't somebody invent a pill that will keep a womans snatch from ranking? Come on already!! What's taking so long?

  93. Re:How's this for a better idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Emacs is a bloated overbuilt editor that takes too damn long to start up. (If it takes longer than about a second, it's too long.)

    Interesting criterion.

    Do you have a web browser that starts up in under a second? An operating system that starts up in under 10 seconds?

    That'd be nice to have, but not if the price I'd have to pay is to get an interface that completely sucks.

    I use Xemacs most of the time, but when I want a quick editor, I use ed. For small jobs when I don't have an Xemacs window open, even vi is bloated and takes too long to start up. If it takes longer than about a quarter of a second, it's too long.

  94. Re:Concur with the "no more registration required" by TWX · · Score: 1

    Get several keyboards of the same model and find some way to randomly depress keys on these keyboards.

    Or just turn the stereo on and way up...

    --
    Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
  95. Re:Concur with the "no more registration required" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If anyone is interested in seeing the other sound-analysis attack referred on the article about this type of attack against keyboards, then the paper that explains it can be found at

    http://www.mind-security.com/papers/4

    Best regards,

    Filipe