Nothing personal, but I really get sick of people claiming that science is a faith.
*Good* science is a continually self-correcting way of looking at the world. Good science doesn't tell us "what happened", instead, it gives us a model that fits observable data. It doesn't claim "truth".
Scientists who claim to tell you "how the watch works on the inside" (if you think of the universe as a watch that we can't open) are not practicing good science. Good scientists would give you a model that fits the data (how the hands seem to move) as a plausible model, while understanding that the model itself could be totally wrong. There could be little Elves in the watch that make it work--we will probably never know. But as long as the model accounts for any observable, and the model is self consistent, the model works.
According to Webster's, faith is "unquestioning belief", exactly the opposite of good science. Good scientists constantly question their model. New ways of thinking appear on the scene when some observable that either doesn't fit or isn't accounted for in the current model is found. And when the new model is proposed, good scientists try their damnedest to shoot holes in it. *If* it survives the scrutiny of scientists, it may either be adopted or included in another model.
Trying to understand "Truth" is outside the realm of science. Giving a *plausible* explanation that can be used to predict future events is the work of science.
The existence of a god or gods is outside that realm. Look at the hypothesis: There exists an entity, all knowing and all powerful, that is undetectable, and is responsible for the events in everyday life by exerting invisible "force". It isn't testable. But that doesn't mean it isn't true, it means it is beyond experiment, and thus beyond science.
Not only this, but the God hypothesis doesn't explain any observables that aren't explained in a more simple manner by other hypotheses. So most scientists don't spend much time on it, unless they have a personal reason to believe it (in which case they are looking for facts to fit a hypothesis, rather than a hypothesis to fit the data, and are practicing bad science).
To practice good science, keep an open mind to possibilities, understand that the explanations we use are plausible models only (so don't get attached to them), and most importantly, demand hard *proof* for explanations. If it is untestable, it is outside of the power of science to support or refute.
Sorry, nothing personal, but such claims need to be answered. Please don't confuse good science with bad science and faith.
"Um, what was I saying/doing, again? Damn, I can't remember."
I just plain can't code when I'm on anything. My brain just seems to drop all state information after about 3 seconds or so. But I don't take things to help me code. I take them to relax after coding.:) Can't hack all of the time.
and they'll be coding AI in RNA. So then you're RNA will become self aware and travel back in time to kill your mother.
Dooms day is on the way baby.;)
Seriously though, this is pretty spiffy stuff. Seems like they are going about it the wrong way, however. Making strands with all of the possible solutions, then eliminating the incorrect doesn't seem like it would ever lend itself to general purpose computing. Seems like it would be better to find a way to produce only correct solutions.
You are right in that/. doesn't generate much original content, but that in no way means that it is safe for corporate, heavy-handed editors.
All they have to do is not to link to stories that show them in a negative light, and link to the ones that do. It isn't direct lying, but it qualifies as witholding the full truth. I don't have time to wade through hundreds of other news sites looking for stories. But then again, on the other hand, it is true that/. hasn't been the highest on the editorial responsibility meter. This just means that what little trust I had in it has been reduced yet again.
After the death of digital music distribution, the main channel for 'theft' of music becomes the humming of the melody by someone who has paid the per-use fee enough times on a SuperEncryptedWindowsOnlyDeathDisc to learn the tune. This allows someone who doesn't use SuperEncryptedWindowsOnlyDeathDiskDistrobution to hear hear a song.
To combat this horribly, anti-capitalistic 'theft', the industry proposes SAHI compliant Vocal Cord constrictors. This allows the consumer to be choked to death if he or she hums the melody of a song in the vicinity of someone who doesn't own a humming license for a song. This is, as the industry has us believe, true empowerment of the consumer and protection of the artist's rights.
;) Or as an AC put it so well: ---- All the technological advances of mankind are simply steps on the road to completely replace women. This is because of the deep rage that has long existed in the male collective unconscious, over the fact that so many women won't put out. Soon will come the day when, when a woman pouts that "I have a headache", the male response will be "Who cares?". Because we won't need them anymore. Automated cleaning, realistic sex dolls/robots, and mindless female clones to produce eggs to reproduce the race along with artifical wombs... the female will no longer be needed. No, this isn't advocating rounding them up or anything -- they can do whatever they want. It's just soon -- perhaps within our lifetimes, my brothers! -- we'll be able to do what WE want as well, without pandering to some woman's whim. Ah, the days of glory will soon be upon us... ---- Hehe. But I guess that isn't what you ment. (Don't take it too hard, ladies. It is a joke.)
The Multigazillion dollar Incredibly-Stupid-Shit-That-Passes-For-Product Cartels have tricked people into thinking advertising is really content. They're not just cramming it down peoples thoats this time, they've actually tricked them into liking it.
This is a disturbing trend. It reminds me of the/. story where Altavista was thinking of replacing the first hit of every search with a advert link disguised as a real hit.
I've done redhat installs with every version since 5.0, and I must say the new GUI install in 6.1 has some functionality I would like to see in the curses install: when doing a full custom install, it gives a description of packages; after you are done selecting packages and you have calculated missing dependencies, it does a much better job of handling changes (I remember foobaring things in the curses install and having to reselect all of the packages).
But it comes down to this: you do an install (or upgrade) for a particular version on a machine but once. So who cares?
of all the whiners and complainers that have called Rob dirty names. That sh!t got reall old. Now the source is here, and you can all play with it.
On a side not, slashcode.org looks great. Maybe Rob should think about giving/. a new look.:) Maybe make it user themeable with xml. Something like slashdot.themes.org could be put up to hold cool themes. I guess that just means I read/. to much--I want it to match the rest of my desktop.
there is some way to get a gnome and/or front end to compile, and it will use your gtk theme, but when I followed the instructions at http://www.mozilla.org/ports/gtk/ , I couldn't get it to compile.
I really hate the new look of mozilla, and it sucks to have to make Yet Another Application Specific Theme To Match My GTK Theme. *shrug*
As Thomas Jefferson told us, "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance." Overquoted, but none the less true. But most people don't care. Their freedoms are being taken from them silently, while they are too wrapped up in day to day life to notice the persistant, gradual changes.
So how do you get them to notice they are being stripped of freedom? You project the current trend into the future--show them an exageration of what it could be like if they don't take a stand for themselves (by making changes in their state government in this case). Hopefully it will scare them. If juvenile rants help wake up even one college student, to convince him or her to start making changes now, then I am not going to keep my mouth shut because someone wants me to be sentimental about their past or wants me to hold their experience as something sacred. It isn't worth it.
PHOENIX-Under a bill proposed this week by Rep. Jean McGrath, R-Glendale, students living in university residence halls would be forced to work in labor camps every day, instead of attending class.
When asked to comment, Rep. McGrath told reporters, "Since college students are such a burden on the state of Arizona, I thought we could get some use out of them." When the reporter informed her that students payed tuition to go to college, she replied "What? What is tuition? We get nothing out of them when they just go to class everyday. We have to put them to work."
As for her inspiration for the bill, McGrath sites attending college in a Nazi Concentration Camp. She said when she was a student at Aussenlager Langenstein-Zwieberge in the late 1940's, students had "plenty of forced labor" outside of their dorm rooms, which she described as "gas chambers." She also said gas chambers underwent a "white glove" inspection each week, but now, no one cares how students maintain the state's property.
Answer: After a few people who thought they were invulnerable get burned, more people will start checking the GnuPG/PGP signature on downloaded files. More people will begin signing them as well. A lot of people who weren't as worried about security all of the sudden will be. And people will start thinking before make && make install
It can't kill us, and what doesn't kill us only makes us stronger.
Security is a responsibility we must take seriously. And 90% happens between the ears of the admin.
Slashdot Mirror
YOU FUCKING BSD ASS SUCKING MODERATORS.
YOU FUCKING BSD ASS SUCKING MODERATORS
Nothing personal, but I really get sick of people claiming that science is a faith.
*Good* science is a continually self-correcting way of looking at the world. Good science doesn't tell us "what happened", instead, it gives us a model that fits
observable data. It doesn't claim "truth".
Scientists who claim to tell you "how the watch works on the inside" (if you think of the universe as a watch that we can't open) are not practicing good science.
Good scientists would give you a model that fits the data (how the hands seem to move) as a plausible model, while understanding that the model itself could be
totally wrong. There could be little Elves in the watch that make it work--we will probably never know. But as long as the model accounts for any observable, and
the model is self consistent, the model works.
According to Webster's, faith is "unquestioning belief", exactly the opposite of good science. Good scientists constantly question their model. New ways of
thinking appear on the scene when some observable that either doesn't fit or isn't accounted for in the current model is found. And when the new model is
proposed, good scientists try their damnedest to shoot holes in it. *If* it survives the scrutiny of scientists, it may either be adopted or included in another
model.
Trying to understand "Truth" is outside the realm of science. Giving a *plausible* explanation that can be used to predict future events is the work of science.
The existence of a god or gods is outside that realm. Look at the hypothesis: There exists an entity, all knowing and all powerful, that is undetectable, and is
responsible for the events in everyday life by exerting invisible "force". It isn't testable. But that doesn't mean it isn't true, it means it is beyond
experiment, and thus beyond science.
Not only this, but the God hypothesis doesn't explain any observables that aren't explained in a more simple manner by other hypotheses. So most scientists don't
spend much time on it, unless they have a personal reason to believe it (in which case they are looking for facts to fit a hypothesis, rather than a hypothesis to
fit the data, and are practicing bad science).
To practice good science, keep an open mind to possibilities, understand that the explanations we use are plausible models only (so don't get attached to them),
and most importantly, demand hard *proof* for explanations. If it is untestable, it is outside of the power of science to support or refute.
Sorry, nothing personal, but such claims need to be answered. Please don't confuse good science with bad science and faith.
to run quake4.
;) Now all of my machines are out of date, and I won't be able to play any new games at all.
Great.
I didn't see any, but I didn't dig too deep.
Screenshots Looks kinda sweet.
Suggestions? ;)
Weed and acid don't help me code, that's for sure.
My response:
:) Can't hack all of the time.
c) medium
"Um, what was I saying/doing, again? Damn, I can't remember."
I just plain can't code when I'm on anything. My brain just seems to drop all state information after about 3 seconds or so. But I don't take things to help me code. I take them to relax after coding.
and they'll be coding AI in RNA. So then you're RNA will become self aware and travel back in time to kill your mother.
;)
Dooms day is on the way baby.
Seriously though, this is pretty spiffy stuff. Seems like they are going about it the wrong way, however. Making strands with all of the possible solutions, then eliminating the incorrect doesn't seem like it would ever lend itself to general purpose computing. Seems like it would be better to find a way to produce only correct solutions.
Anybody have any more info on this stuff?
You are right in that /. doesn't generate much original content, but that in no way means that it is safe for corporate, heavy-handed editors.
/. hasn't been the highest on the editorial responsibility meter. This just means that what little trust I had in it has been reduced yet again.
All they have to do is not to link to stories that show them in a negative light, and link to the ones that do. It isn't direct lying, but it qualifies as witholding the full truth. I don't have time to wade through hundreds of other news sites looking for stories. But then again, on the other hand, it is true that
But at least we still have the discussion forum.
Secure Analog Humming Initiative.
After the death of digital music distribution, the main channel for 'theft' of music becomes the humming of the melody by someone who has paid the per-use fee enough times on a SuperEncryptedWindowsOnlyDeathDisc to learn the tune. This allows someone who doesn't use SuperEncryptedWindowsOnlyDeathDiskDistrobution to hear hear a song.
To combat this horribly, anti-capitalistic 'theft', the industry proposes SAHI compliant Vocal Cord constrictors. This allows the consumer to be choked to death if he or she hums the melody of a song in the vicinity of someone who doesn't own a humming license for a song. This is, as the industry has us believe, true empowerment of the consumer and protection of the artist's rights.
Someone please kill me.
that little ball lightning becomes a real big freakin ball lightning.
D'oh. Sorry. It just slipped out.
;) Or as an AC put it so well:
----
All the technological advances of mankind are simply steps on the road
to completely replace women. This is because of the deep rage that has
long existed in the male collective unconscious, over the fact that so
many women won't put out.
Soon will come the day when, when a woman pouts that "I have a
headache", the male response will be "Who cares?". Because we won't
need them anymore. Automated cleaning, realistic sex dolls/robots, and
mindless female clones to produce eggs to reproduce the race along
with artifical wombs... the female will no longer be needed. No, this
isn't advocating rounding them up or anything -- they can do whatever
they want. It's just soon -- perhaps within our lifetimes, my
brothers! -- we'll be able to do what WE want as well, without
pandering to some woman's whim.
Ah, the days of glory will soon be upon us...
----
Hehe. But I guess that isn't what you ment.
(Don't take it too hard, ladies. It is a joke.)
Wow. I'm never putting a .sig on anything else again. ;)
That's crazy. Why would you ever want to do that? Now, I update my packages as needed, but that isn't anything but ./configure && make && make install.
The Multigazillion dollar Incredibly-Stupid-Shit-That-Passes-For-Product Cartels have tricked people into thinking advertising is really content. They're not just cramming it down peoples thoats this time, they've actually tricked them into liking it.
/. story where Altavista was thinking of replacing the first hit of every search with a advert link disguised as a real hit.
This is a disturbing trend. It reminds me of the
Buy more plastic trinkets! Consume! Die!
I've done redhat installs with every version since 5.0, and I must say the new GUI install in 6.1 has some functionality I would like to see in the curses install: when doing a full custom install, it gives a description of packages; after you are done selecting packages and you have calculated missing dependencies, it does a much better job of handling changes (I remember foobaring things in the curses install and having to reselect all of the packages).
But it comes down to this: you do an install (or upgrade) for a particular version on a machine but once. So who cares?
of all the whiners and complainers that have called Rob dirty names. That sh!t got reall old. Now the source is here, and you can all play with it.
/. a new look. :) Maybe make it user themeable with xml. Something like slashdot.themes.org could be put up to hold cool themes. I guess that just means I read /. to much--I want it to match the rest of my desktop.
On a side not, slashcode.org looks great. Maybe Rob should think about giving
there is some way to get a gnome and/or front end to compile, and it will use your gtk theme, but when I followed the instructions at http://www.mozilla.org/ports/gtk/ , I couldn't get it to compile.
I really hate the new look of mozilla, and it sucks to have to make Yet Another Application Specific Theme To Match My GTK Theme. *shrug*
Good lord, I'd be sick in a heartbeat if I didn't.
Hehehe. Looks like he had a great time. :) Good for him.
As Thomas Jefferson told us, "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance." Overquoted, but none the less true. But most people don't care. Their freedoms are being taken from them silently, while they are too wrapped up in day to day life to notice the persistant, gradual changes.
So how do you get them to notice they are being stripped of freedom? You project the current trend into the future--show them an exageration of what it could be like if they don't take a stand for themselves (by making changes in their state government in this case). Hopefully it will scare them. If juvenile rants help wake up even one college student, to convince him or her to start making changes now, then I am not going to keep my mouth shut because someone wants me to be sentimental about their past or wants me to hold their experience as something sacred. It isn't worth it.
PHOENIX-Under a bill proposed this week by Rep. Jean McGrath,
R-Glendale, students living in university residence halls would be
forced to work in labor camps every day, instead of attending class.
When asked to comment, Rep. McGrath told reporters, "Since college
students are such a burden on the state of Arizona, I thought we could
get some use out of them." When the reporter informed her that
students payed tuition to go to college, she replied "What? What is
tuition? We get nothing out of them when they just go to class
everyday. We have to put them to work."
As for her inspiration for the bill, McGrath sites attending college
in a Nazi Concentration Camp. She said when she was a student at
Aussenlager Langenstein-Zwieberge in the late 1940's, students had
"plenty of forced labor" outside of their dorm rooms, which she
described as "gas chambers." She also said gas chambers underwent a
"white glove" inspection each week, but now, no one cares how students
maintain the state's property.
--
I feel for you geeks in AZ.
Yep, I'm happy if they come. Why you ask?
Answer:
After a few people who thought they were invulnerable get burned, more people will start checking the GnuPG/PGP signature on downloaded files. More people will begin signing them as well. A lot of people who weren't as worried about security all of the sudden will be. And people will start thinking before make && make install
It can't kill us, and what doesn't kill us only makes us stronger.
Security is a responsibility we must take seriously. And 90% happens between the ears of the admin.
I guess there is something to be hopeful about.
:)