Not necesarily. If you have not signed a non-disclosure agreement, you aren't bound by the various laws involved. Reporters have been able to release classified documents(such as the pentagon papers) in the past, and not faced any official sanctions. Of course, a smart reporter would be careful about doing that, as pissing off the wrong people could get laws passed to restrict it more.
The idiot that allowed it to so easily be leaked, on the other hand, is very likely going to lose their clearance, and there job even if there is an equivalent open position that does not require a clearance. They *probably* won't be prosecuted unless evidence arises that they meant this to happen, but their current job is gone.
Not having to send in a working model, is there anything to stop someone coming up with a new, plausible idea, write out an application, and get patents for stuff that really hasn't been invented yet, wait for someone to *actually* invent it, and bilk the guy for money?
Perhaps we don't need a way to protect the planet?
Each of these mass extinctions, a select group has surived. The genetic tendencies needed to survive a gamma ray burst would have been the ones to survive this event(1), and its possible, though not certain, that those tendencies have not been overridden by adaptations needed to survive more current issues.
So, while taking a hit like this again would certainly be bad, there is a very good chance that it would not be nearly as devastating to the biosphere as it was the first time around.
Unfortunately, if they don't patent it, someone who sees what Google does will patent it, and try to get money out of Google.
While Googles prior art would be a solid defense, it would still be a fair amount of money and time to fight the frivolous claim. As long as the attacker makes sure to ask for less than the court case would cost, theres a decent chance Google would settle just to make them go away.
If Google has it patented, however, the potential attacker won't be able to get a patent to attack Google with. And on the off chance the patent office screws up and issues a duplicate patent, Google would be much more likely to get the case dismissed if they can wave an actual patent, rather than simply internal records, in the judges face. That substantially lowers the financial and time investment to fight a claim, when you can expect a dismissal in the event of a truly frivolous claim.
If I were to come up wiht a brilliantly innovative algorithm, I'd patent it. I'd also immediately turn around and license it for use with Open Source software- probably would declare it royalty free for any OSI approved license.
These days, you *need* to patent your algorithms or you can get screwed hard by the system. It's like the Cold War and MAD... if you don't have it, you'll get destroyed, so you need to ensure you can destroy your opponent too.
They are part of the Deparement of Defense, their primary mission, as is the primary mission of all other parts of the DoD, is to provide for the national security of the United States via military operations, or the support thereof.
Cutting back other things to focus on the primary mission is exactly what they should do.
If you are going to criticize this move, criticize it based on the DARPA mission. If you think the extra stuff they did was important enough to be funded by the feds, contact your congresscritters and tell them you think an agency should be stood up to fund such research.
Theres a good chance they won't raise enough money, and a chance that even if they do the studio won't be interested or they won't find anyone to air it.
They are out there to make oodles of money for their shareholders, and so long as they stay within the law they are required to focus on that as their primary goal.
That said, this is still good. In fact, with that in mind, it may be even better on a practical level than pure altruism. IBM started over 100 years ago(albeit under a different name) building electrical census counters. You don't stay in business that long without continuously recruiting good people, and those good people tend to hire other good people. If IBM, probably the oldest continuously active IT company in the world, can make money off of open source, thats going to get noticed. A big move like this, presuming they are useful patents, will get a lot of attention, much more so than simply supporting an existing and popular third party OS. This isn't saying "open source exists and we can't ignore it or we'll lose money"... This is saying you can *make* money off open source, as opposed to simply limiting your losses.
Microkernels still have a performance disadvantage and some greater complexity in designing. They certainly have advantages, but they aren't clearly superior on the whole.
The best approach for the real world seems to be a hybrid design, either adding monolithic elements to a micokernel design, such as in OSX and NT, or adding some microkernel concepts to a monolithic kernel, such as the module system added to Linux. Either approach will have some of the key benefits of a microkernel design without sacrificing much, if any, of the performance of a monolithic kernel.
A well stocked bunker on the other side of the planet, with solid walls and gates to keep out looters and invading armies(can you imagine the wars that woudl take place under the dust cloud?), with modern food preservation and generation technologies, you could hold out for several generations, it wouldn't be comfortable, but a core group opposite the impact could probably survive any impact short of one big enough to kill even the deep ocean critters, and eventually they'd be able to repopulate the earth. This does, of course, assume adequate warning.
There is a big difference between FAFSA and this. This is collecting and tracking EVERYONE in college. FAFSA is necesary information to run a specific program, its not just collecting data to look through.
"There is no way you can have convincing, emotional exchanges if you tell the actors to act against blue screen..."
In most movies that meld live action and CGI characters, there is a live actor that plays the part during the filming, giving the actors someone to play off against. Andy Serkis as Gollum was especially notable- he wasn't just providing the voice, if you saw some of the behind the scenes videos, you'd see how he actually played Gollum- they could have made do with a rubber suit if they didn't have the tech for CGI, and with the way Serkis moved and talked, it probably wouldn't ahve been all that bad if they had done that.
Done right, using CGI for a major character(as opposed to one of teeming millions in an epic battle scene) is nothing more than a high tech approach to costuming.
"Is there a big secret no-one's telling me that will make this all easy? "
There is a simple trick to math, that sounds bleeding obvious, but it took me years to truly figure out- once I did, it all became really easy.
Math is really easy. Just learn the process, apply it, and you will always get the right answer. You say you have no problem with the logical processes- well thats all math is.
The big secret is that there isn't a big secret. Unless you've forgotten your addition and multiplication tables, or operator precedence and association rules, then going through the process will *always* lead to the correct answer. IF you've forgotten any of those, just brush up on them and you will be set for pretty much any math you run across in normal life(and those things form the basis for even the most advanced base-10 math).
Or the fact that you just don't see jeeps in the military anymore, they were replaced mostly by hummers, a few replaced by civilian light trucks, and a few by John Deer Gators.
I spent five years in the Marine Corps, and a year in the Army National Guard, and the only jeeps I saw were old rusting hulks, often cut up for scrap metal, shoved off in a corner of the motor pool parking lot.
So I'd write it off as shoddy research as well, but not for the reason the grandparent did. You can't replace the jeep because the damn thing already has been replaced.
I imagine the machines would be calibrated to the specific vehicle installed in, to avoid problems like that.
Either that or there would be a reference chart for various vehicle types and driving conditions, and what normal readings would be for those vehicles under those conditions.
Even drug tests, you don't automatically fail for having some of the chemical in your urine- there are minimal levels required to count as positive, to weed out false positives and to account for accidental or secondhand exposure. I'm sure this system would have a similar threshold concept implemented, to weed out false positives and the random bad luck situations where driving techniques, that are normally bad, become the only way to avoid a fiery death.
I'm not saying I'm comfortable with such a system(at least not until I can get a human readable display of the data it records, at the very least), but I don't think the specific concerns you raise are much to worry about.
He's not so much an idiot, as simply not interested in how some things work until he absolutely needs to know it. When it comes to combat tactics, he's absolutely brilliant- Even Bra'tac listens to O'Neills tactical decisions, and he's been a warrior since before O'Neills father was even born.
He's quite an intelligent person, he's just focused his brainpower in non-scientific areas, leaving him ill-prepared to understand advanced physics and the like.
Slashdot Mirror
Two objects of different weights striking the ground at the same time violated the laws of physics only about 500 years ago.
http://www.theforce.net/swtc/
Not necesarily. If you have not signed a non-disclosure agreement, you aren't bound by the various laws involved. Reporters have been able to release classified documents(such as the pentagon papers) in the past, and not faced any official sanctions. Of course, a smart reporter would be careful about doing that, as pissing off the wrong people could get laws passed to restrict it more.
The idiot that allowed it to so easily be leaked, on the other hand, is very likely going to lose their clearance, and there job even if there is an equivalent open position that does not require a clearance. They *probably* won't be prosecuted unless evidence arises that they meant this to happen, but their current job is gone.
Not having to send in a working model, is there anything to stop someone coming up with a new, plausible idea, write out an application, and get patents for stuff that really hasn't been invented yet, wait for someone to *actually* invent it, and bilk the guy for money?
Ok, things look good... all three dns servers reporting a TTL...
Cool... yet another Unix command I can use... thank god for Services For Unix(or Cygwin if you prefer that) so it can be done on Windows too...
How would I check my ISPs DNS servers for this?
Perhaps we don't need a way to protect the planet?
Each of these mass extinctions, a select group has surived. The genetic tendencies needed to survive a gamma ray burst would have been the ones to survive this event(1), and its possible, though not certain, that those tendencies have not been overridden by adaptations needed to survive more current issues.
So, while taking a hit like this again would certainly be bad, there is a very good chance that it would not be nearly as devastating to the biosphere as it was the first time around.
(1)- Assuming they are right that it was a GRB
So no, the GP was not technically wrong.
[bad pun alert]Only relatively wrong.[/bad pun alert]
And then use it to blow up a sun when the bad guys are breating down your neck.
Unfortunately, if they don't patent it, someone who sees what Google does will patent it, and try to get money out of Google.
While Googles prior art would be a solid defense, it would still be a fair amount of money and time to fight the frivolous claim. As long as the attacker makes sure to ask for less than the court case would cost, theres a decent chance Google would settle just to make them go away.
If Google has it patented, however, the potential attacker won't be able to get a patent to attack Google with. And on the off chance the patent office screws up and issues a duplicate patent, Google would be much more likely to get the case dismissed if they can wave an actual patent, rather than simply internal records, in the judges face. That substantially lowers the financial and time investment to fight a claim, when you can expect a dismissal in the event of a truly frivolous claim.
If I were to come up wiht a brilliantly innovative algorithm, I'd patent it. I'd also immediately turn around and license it for use with Open Source software- probably would declare it royalty free for any OSI approved license.
These days, you *need* to patent your algorithms or you can get screwed hard by the system. It's like the Cold War and MAD... if you don't have it, you'll get destroyed, so you need to ensure you can destroy your opponent too.
They are part of the Deparement of Defense, their primary mission, as is the primary mission of all other parts of the DoD, is to provide for the national security of the United States via military operations, or the support thereof.
Cutting back other things to focus on the primary mission is exactly what they should do.
If you are going to criticize this move, criticize it based on the DARPA mission. If you think the extra stuff they did was important enough to be funded by the feds, contact your congresscritters and tell them you think an agency should be stood up to fund such research.
http://www.waytostatetheobvious.com
What happens to the money?
Theres a good chance they won't raise enough money, and a chance that even if they do the studio won't be interested or they won't find anyone to air it.
If such a thing comes to pass, what happens then?
Perhaps that shows that an elephant is capable of deeper thought and emotion than previously believed?
They are out there to make oodles of money for their shareholders, and so long as they stay within the law they are required to focus on that as their primary goal.
That said, this is still good. In fact, with that in mind, it may be even better on a practical level than pure altruism. IBM started over 100 years ago(albeit under a different name) building electrical census counters. You don't stay in business that long without continuously recruiting good people, and those good people tend to hire other good people. If IBM, probably the oldest continuously active IT company in the world, can make money off of open source, thats going to get noticed. A big move like this, presuming they are useful patents, will get a lot of attention, much more so than simply supporting an existing and popular third party OS. This isn't saying "open source exists and we can't ignore it or we'll lose money"... This is saying you can *make* money off open source, as opposed to simply limiting your losses.
Microkernels still have a performance disadvantage and some greater complexity in designing. They certainly have advantages, but they aren't clearly superior on the whole.
The best approach for the real world seems to be a hybrid design, either adding monolithic elements to a micokernel design, such as in OSX and NT, or adding some microkernel concepts to a monolithic kernel, such as the module system added to Linux. Either approach will have some of the key benefits of a microkernel design without sacrificing much, if any, of the performance of a monolithic kernel.
But, thankfully, the countries with the most to lose also had the most resources to deal with the problem.
A well stocked bunker on the other side of the planet, with solid walls and gates to keep out looters and invading armies(can you imagine the wars that woudl take place under the dust cloud?), with modern food preservation and generation technologies, you could hold out for several generations, it wouldn't be comfortable, but a core group opposite the impact could probably survive any impact short of one big enough to kill even the deep ocean critters, and eventually they'd be able to repopulate the earth. This does, of course, assume adequate warning.
There is a big difference between FAFSA and this. This is collecting and tracking EVERYONE in college. FAFSA is necesary information to run a specific program, its not just collecting data to look through.
"There is no way you can have convincing, emotional exchanges if you tell the actors to act against blue screen..."
In most movies that meld live action and CGI characters, there is a live actor that plays the part during the filming, giving the actors someone to play off against. Andy Serkis as Gollum was especially notable- he wasn't just providing the voice, if you saw some of the behind the scenes videos, you'd see how he actually played Gollum- they could have made do with a rubber suit if they didn't have the tech for CGI, and with the way Serkis moved and talked, it probably wouldn't ahve been all that bad if they had done that.
Done right, using CGI for a major character(as opposed to one of teeming millions in an epic battle scene) is nothing more than a high tech approach to costuming.
"Is there a big secret no-one's telling me that will make this all easy? "
There is a simple trick to math, that sounds bleeding obvious, but it took me years to truly figure out- once I did, it all became really easy.
Math is really easy. Just learn the process, apply it, and you will always get the right answer. You say you have no problem with the logical processes- well thats all math is.
The big secret is that there isn't a big secret. Unless you've forgotten your addition and multiplication tables, or operator precedence and association rules, then going through the process will *always* lead to the correct answer. IF you've forgotten any of those, just brush up on them and you will be set for pretty much any math you run across in normal life(and those things form the basis for even the most advanced base-10 math).
Or the fact that you just don't see jeeps in the military anymore, they were replaced mostly by hummers, a few replaced by civilian light trucks, and a few by John Deer Gators.
I spent five years in the Marine Corps, and a year in the Army National Guard, and the only jeeps I saw were old rusting hulks, often cut up for scrap metal, shoved off in a corner of the motor pool parking lot.
So I'd write it off as shoddy research as well, but not for the reason the grandparent did. You can't replace the jeep because the damn thing already has been replaced.
I imagine the machines would be calibrated to the specific vehicle installed in, to avoid problems like that.
Either that or there would be a reference chart for various vehicle types and driving conditions, and what normal readings would be for those vehicles under those conditions.
Even drug tests, you don't automatically fail for having some of the chemical in your urine- there are minimal levels required to count as positive, to weed out false positives and to account for accidental or secondhand exposure. I'm sure this system would have a similar threshold concept implemented, to weed out false positives and the random bad luck situations where driving techniques, that are normally bad, become the only way to avoid a fiery death.
I'm not saying I'm comfortable with such a system(at least not until I can get a human readable display of the data it records, at the very least), but I don't think the specific concerns you raise are much to worry about.
"Building your own cyclotron? Thats easy. What you have to do is build a linear accelerator"- Steve Urkel
He's not so much an idiot, as simply not interested in how some things work until he absolutely needs to know it. When it comes to combat tactics, he's absolutely brilliant- Even Bra'tac listens to O'Neills tactical decisions, and he's been a warrior since before O'Neills father was even born.
He's quite an intelligent person, he's just focused his brainpower in non-scientific areas, leaving him ill-prepared to understand advanced physics and the like.