I shouldn't be adding fuel to the flamebait, but I'm going to respond anyway.
"politically icky embryo route" - why dont you say the truth.. the ending of one human life for the possibilty to help another - no this is not a troll
There's an inherent assumption in this statement which is incorrect. You've assumed that the embryos used for stem cell research would have otherwise grown to be human. That's not necessarily the case. Imagine a woman has her ovaries removed, and donates them to science rather than having them disposed of. No kids are coming out of those eggs. Now, add a guy that donates to research for the same purposes.
While some people see this as a destruction of life, others might see that the only reason the embryo exists is because of the research. There is no ending of a potential life -- because the embryo's existence came out of research only. Without the research project, it would be biohazardous waste and nothing else.
Thus, 'politically icky' is far closer to the "truth" than anything you've said -- because that's exactly what this problem is -- it's a battle of belief.
It doesn't focus much on the technology used, but the point that adults have stem cells within them, and scientist can now obtain them without going the politically icky embryo route.
Surprisingly, Treebeard was my least favorite ent stylistically speaking. Although he's really the only Ent we got to see in depth -- I thought some of the others looked cooler. I liked the more gnarled Ents better -- their faces looked more interesting.
Unrealistic isn't the right word -- and it could be construed as Muppets crossed with plants, but don't think Muppet show Muppets...think more like the really good Muppets in Labyrinth. The cool ones. I think it's not really a measure of realism, but of expectations -- what do you expect a tree to look like once it has eyes and a face? I thought they did a great job.
Having a true fan-based audience was great [saw it in Boston at 12:01] -- it really made it all the better to have people cheering, but knowing when to stop so they wouldn't miss Gimli's next wise-ass remark.
the guy who did the acting for Gollum should definalty win Best Supported Actor from the Oscars
No kidding -- Gollum, even for some of the noticable CG-ness, was completely amazing.
I think that the article itself is making a huge leap here, and it's not one I'm about to believe.
They noticed in a citation database that misprints in references are fairly common, and that a lot of the mistakes are identical. This suggests that many scientists take short cuts, simply copying a reference from someone else's paper rather than reading the original source.
They go even further...
The pattern suggests that 45 scientists, who might well have read the paper, made an error when they cited it. Then 151 others copied their misprints without reading the original. So for at least 77 per cent of the 196 misprinted citations, no one read the paper.
Copying the reference format from a paper does not mean that the scientist has not read the original. When writing my papers [research conferences, not just assignments] I'd often grab citations out of papers that were in the proper conference format. I had the paper in my hands -- but sometimes the citation information gets separated from the paper, and you need to rely on someone else's citation. That doesn't mean I didn't read the paper, nor does it mean that I was using another author's interpretation of the original work. It's an absurd leap.
While I do believe that authors do skimp on what they've read and what they just pretend to have read, I'm not sure that using typos in references is the best way to determine the degree to which this occurs. What it *does* show is that people are clearly lazy when it comes to references, and many will copy a reference without checking to see if it's correct. I'd be interested to see if they've looked into lesser known papers -- a popular paper is more likely to withstand an error, since everyone knows what it is anyway...
Re:Changing the licenses and refunds..
on
Windows Refund Day II
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· Score: 5, Interesting
as its paid up front from the OEM to Microsoft it blurs how refunds can be obtained. Its like car insurance, you have it, you pay for it up front, the fact that you don't have a car crash doesn't mean that you can say it wasn't used and ask for a refund.
But there's a flaw in your logic. In your situation, you still owned and were capable of using the car. Imagine you sold the car and bought a bike. You don't still have to pay car insurance, and insurers are generally required to give you a refund -- prorated for the time that the car was in your possession.
The same should also be required for Microsoft -- even if it meands removing the OS at purchase time to avoid the situation altogether.
Personally, I think it would be much easier to move to a service model -- but the cost can't come at purchase time. It has to come at activation time. If the first thing you do is reformat, there's no service charge at all.
Buying a cell phone requires research -- most importantly 'do I have coverage in the areas I'll be in?'
It's a relatively well known fact that Sprint PCS seems to work great in the major metro areas on the East Coast (I have a couple of friends with it, so this isn't personal experience...but I can hear them when they call...) As long as you're within 15 miles of a city, PCS is great. Don't even think about going out of that range, though.
That's why I *didn't* get Sprint PCS. While it works well in Boston, it doesn't work so well out where I work. It works well at my parent's house outside NYC, but my sister is too far out.
It's the all important research-before-you-buy. Verizon's the *only* carrier that can make it through 5 stories of brick into my apartment...and knowing they work where I need them to is why I picked 'em.
It's just really too bad you can't take a phone for a test drive...I would really like to take a phone into my apartment, on the drive to work, and on the drive to my parents before purchasing it. I hate locking myself into a contract that can't provide what I need.
The market rewards abstractions because they help create high level tools that get products on the market faster.
Agreed, but I think it's important to note that without the understanding of where the abstraction came from, the high-level tools can be a bane rather than a help.
I write C++ every day. Most of the time, I get to think in C++ abstraction land, which works fine. However, on days where the memory leaks, the buffer overflows, or the seg faults show up, it's not my abstraction knowledge of C++ that solves the problem. It's the lower level, assembly based, page swapping, memory layout understanding that does the debugging.
I'm glad I don't have to write Assembly. It's fun as a novelty, but a pain in the butt for me to get something done. However, I'm not sure I could code as well without the underlying knowledge of what was happening under the abstraction. It's just too useful when something goes wrong...
There are 250 Million blank CDRs and tapes bought and used this year for copying music in comparison to 213 Million prerecorded audio media.
I'm always curious to find out how they get stats like this. Where do they get the 250 million blank CDRs and tapes number? Sales alone is rather inaccurate, as it fails to account for data and photo CDs, as well as what *could* be considered legitimate backup CDs.
But obviously, all CDRs that are purchased are for the sole purpose of piracy...
Re:The original idea of All Hallow's Eve...
on
Howl-o-ween
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· Score: 2
You'll have to wait until February to see a holiday that was truely concocted by merchandisers to sell thing (namely cards and flowers)
Actually, that's not entirely true. St Valentine's Day came from pre-Christian Roman culture with the feast of Lupercalia (a fertility ritual), celebrated on the night of the 14th through the 15th of February.
I'm curious about how Tomb Raider *the game* is sexist
I'm not sure that the game is necessarily sexist, but the sex appeal is clearly what's driving the game. If you're in to girls with big breasts, then Tomb Raider has an added appeal. If you aren't, it doesn't really detract from the game, but it sure as hell doesn't add to it.
Thus, for the hetero-female gamer, what's the point of Tomb Raider? Unless you're in to the digital cleavage, there are better games out there.
as seen in most cities, is an interstate BYPASS. BTW, part of this project included building the bypass.
Not quite. Not at all, in fact. Boston's bypass is I95 (also known as Route 128) which has no mention in the Big Dig Project Probably due to the fact that construction on the bypass was mostly finished in the early 60's. Now, the Mass Pike gets money from the CA/T Project, but it's not a bypass - it's a spur straight into the city.
Furthermore, while I see the gripe with spending money to put it underground - fact is, the road needed more lanes. If you've ever driven on it, you realize that when it goes past the North End and Fanueil Hall, there *is* no more room for expansion without massive demolition (which would trash some taller buldings and historical landmarks, and that just wouldn't be happening)
I don't think they could *ever* build the Inner Belt. At the point where Rt. 2 merges from 4 to 2 lanes (where the original belt was supposed to go) you've got to deal with Belmont, Arlington, and Cambridge. There's enough money and politically active people in those communities alone to prevent it from happening.
I93 runs from Northern NH straight through Boston to I95. It is also currently a parking lot for most of the day/night. Funding the Big Dig is quite akin to what *will* happen to the Atlanta Connector within the next few years. Interstates that run through major cities get enormous amounts of trucking and car travel. They need upkeep.
a decent chunk (>$13Bil) of FEDERAL tax dollars has gone to pay for the "Big Dig" boondoggle in Boston.
That's likely due to the fact that the road involved is Interstate 93, which is grossly incapable of handling the current traffic loads through downtown Boston. The fact that it's an Interstate means that the Federal Government funds a portion of the construction.
I'd recommend a general objective, instead of customization per company. Use the cover letter for that
I'm not quite sure how relevant this is in today's market -- if you are sending in a resume electronically or submitting via a career fair, cover letters are generally not accepted. Period. In these situations, if you have expectations of the type of job you want, it's important to use part of the resume to tell the recruiter/company exactly what you're looking for.
A flaming AC comment is not telling of the cause nor the political involvement of Indymedia. This issue, however, is politically charged, and one ought to know the implications before donating time or money. If you agree, go for it, if you don't -- then dont. Just make an educated decision.
From the article:
"Project to ship a container of 230 refurbished computers to Ecuador to extend the technical capacity of civil society and the anti-globalization movement leading up to the anti-FTAA protests in early November. If successful this will be the first stage in an ongoing project to send large numbers of computers to social movements in the global south through indymedia."
Now, for those of you that want to make up your own minds, here's the FTAA Official website and here's Global Exchange's take on the situation. A Google search for FTAA turns up many links, but pro and con, and should provide enough information for the interested.
One of the best ways to start is to get a bound notebook and start writing everything down in ink, NOT pencil. Cut and paste (literally) other pertinent info, and have the bottoms of each page signed by 2 people who arent family, but are fairly knowledgable about what they're witnessing... dates are important too.
Someone ought to mod this up -- this is what companies do with lab notebooks to deal with patent work, because not only do you have to show that it's novel, you have a certain time frame in which you need to do the work [it can also stand up in court as to who actually has done the work first]
In most places I've worked, it's also common practice to do work on only one side of the page, fill each page as much as possible, and date anything that is cut and pasted in before it is signed.
Excusing my utter lack of knowledge of the porn industry -- isn't that something that gets a lot of cash flow coming in from consumers? I don't think it's the kind of earning that is advertising based...but I don't know...
My point wasn't that you can't make money online, but that advertising isn't really going to support it...
Looking at the latest trends, one thing seems to be very clear. Online business models which rely on advertising as their sole source of income generally fail. The sites/portals/whatever you want to call them that succeed tend to do one of three things:
Have a parent company which is willing to fund them at a loss to maintain web presence (like NFL.com)
Have multiple sources of income (a la Yahoo!)
Have such specialized services/content, people are willing to pay for it(like an ISP)
I can't think of a single site/service which is based on advertising alone and is actually *making* money. Banner ads just don't cut it anymore.
I think this is just about the coolest thing ever -- the Boston Globe recently ran an article about this too, which has some of Buffett's comments about the label. I really like the point that he makes: artists are responsible for their own careers. Mailboat isn't going to spend any money on promotion or touring, that's all up to the artist. It takes the risk out of the running the label -- they aren't going to front any money to help you succeed, they're just going to print the CDs. For anyone with a following, this is clearly the way to go -- I'll be interested to see if no-name bands can succeed as well though, because the label won't play games with the radio.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, once stated that the record business is the only industry in which the bank still owns the house after the mortgage is paid.
I never thought of it like this before, but that's really what happens. What's worse - there's nothing more frustrating than a band changing labels -- the old label still owns all the band's old music, which unfortunately means that they take some pretty good stuff and stick it in a basement somewhere. This is where Janis Ian's suggestion of letting artist re-release their out-of-print stuff would really be of use. Of course, that would require the RIAA to give up some control...
I think the point that hasn't come across yet is that while the Patriot Act doesn't really present the government with new and unyielding power, it does weaken the check-and-balance system in place for its existing power. The provisions of wiretapping and surveillance are a pretty clear example of this. Yes, the government has always had the power to do this, but the requirements for doing so have been reduced. Another example is student data -- data which was formerly held in strict confidence is now readily available for surveillance use.
The powers haven't changed, but the ability to use them has. I can now be wiretapped without reasonable suspect (section 206) -- while this power was available to the government in 1986, a warrant was needed. With 206 in place, there is no such need. This appears to be a violation of the 4th Amendment - not because the government has gained any new power...they've just got a new way to use it.
...I really do, but so long as that little IE icon is sitting on the Windows boxes that ship, I'm not sure Mozilla will gain enough foothold to beat down Microsoft. Not yet, anyway.
I think that in order for it to really drive the nail in the coffin, it's going to need a niche market. Incredibly good functionality really isn't enough to make the average user go out of their way to get it. The future is likely in the ability to discover the niche application that makes it undeniably more useful -- then all it has to do is hang on for a couple of years (which is harder than it sounds...)
Slashdot Mirror
"politically icky embryo route" - why dont you say the truth .. the ending of one human life for the possibilty to help another - no this is not a troll
There's an inherent assumption in this statement which is incorrect. You've assumed that the embryos used for stem cell research would have otherwise grown to be human. That's not necessarily the case. Imagine a woman has her ovaries removed, and donates them to science rather than having them disposed of. No kids are coming out of those eggs. Now, add a guy that donates to research for the same purposes.
While some people see this as a destruction of life, others might see that the only reason the embryo exists is because of the research. There is no ending of a potential life -- because the embryo's existence came out of research only. Without the research project, it would be biohazardous waste and nothing else.
Thus, 'politically icky' is far closer to the "truth" than anything you've said -- because that's exactly what this problem is -- it's a battle of belief.
It doesn't focus much on the technology used, but the point that adults have stem cells within them, and scientist can now obtain them without going the politically icky embryo route.
Unrealistic isn't the right word -- and it could be construed as Muppets crossed with plants, but don't think Muppet show Muppets...think more like the really good Muppets in Labyrinth. The cool ones. I think it's not really a measure of realism, but of expectations -- what do you expect a tree to look like once it has eyes and a face? I thought they did a great job.
Having a true fan-based audience was great [saw it in Boston at 12:01] -- it really made it all the better to have people cheering, but knowing when to stop so they wouldn't miss Gimli's next wise-ass remark.
the guy who did the acting for Gollum should definalty win Best Supported Actor from the Oscars
No kidding -- Gollum, even for some of the noticable CG-ness, was completely amazing.
I think that the article itself is making a huge leap here, and it's not one I'm about to believe.
They go even further... Copying the reference format from a paper does not mean that the scientist has not read the original. When writing my papers [research conferences, not just assignments] I'd often grab citations out of papers that were in the proper conference format. I had the paper in my hands -- but sometimes the citation information gets separated from the paper, and you need to rely on someone else's citation. That doesn't mean I didn't read the paper, nor does it mean that I was using another author's interpretation of the original work. It's an absurd leap.While I do believe that authors do skimp on what they've read and what they just pretend to have read, I'm not sure that using typos in references is the best way to determine the degree to which this occurs. What it *does* show is that people are clearly lazy when it comes to references, and many will copy a reference without checking to see if it's correct. I'd be interested to see if they've looked into lesser known papers -- a popular paper is more likely to withstand an error, since everyone knows what it is anyway...
But there's a flaw in your logic. In your situation, you still owned and were capable of using the car. Imagine you sold the car and bought a bike. You don't still have to pay car insurance, and insurers are generally required to give you a refund -- prorated for the time that the car was in your possession.
The same should also be required for Microsoft -- even if it meands removing the OS at purchase time to avoid the situation altogether.
Personally, I think it would be much easier to move to a service model -- but the cost can't come at purchase time. It has to come at activation time. If the first thing you do is reformat, there's no service charge at all.
It's a relatively well known fact that Sprint PCS seems to work great in the major metro areas on the East Coast (I have a couple of friends with it, so this isn't personal experience...but I can hear them when they call...) As long as you're within 15 miles of a city, PCS is great. Don't even think about going out of that range, though.
That's why I *didn't* get Sprint PCS. While it works well in Boston, it doesn't work so well out where I work. It works well at my parent's house outside NYC, but my sister is too far out.
It's the all important research-before-you-buy. Verizon's the *only* carrier that can make it through 5 stories of brick into my apartment...and knowing they work where I need them to is why I picked 'em.
It's just really too bad you can't take a phone for a test drive...I would really like to take a phone into my apartment, on the drive to work, and on the drive to my parents before purchasing it. I hate locking myself into a contract that can't provide what I need.
Agreed, but I think it's important to note that without the understanding of where the abstraction came from, the high-level tools can be a bane rather than a help.
I write C++ every day. Most of the time, I get to think in C++ abstraction land, which works fine. However, on days where the memory leaks, the buffer overflows, or the seg faults show up, it's not my abstraction knowledge of C++ that solves the problem. It's the lower level, assembly based, page swapping, memory layout understanding that does the debugging.
I'm glad I don't have to write Assembly. It's fun as a novelty, but a pain in the butt for me to get something done. However, I'm not sure I could code as well without the underlying knowledge of what was happening under the abstraction. It's just too useful when something goes wrong...
I'm always curious to find out how they get stats like this. Where do they get the 250 million blank CDRs and tapes number? Sales alone is rather inaccurate, as it fails to account for data and photo CDs, as well as what *could* be considered legitimate backup CDs.
But obviously, all CDRs that are purchased are for the sole purpose of piracy...
Actually, that's not entirely true. St Valentine's Day came from pre-Christian Roman culture with the feast of Lupercalia (a fertility ritual), celebrated on the night of the 14th through the 15th of February.
I'm not sure that the game is necessarily sexist, but the sex appeal is clearly what's driving the game. If you're in to girls with big breasts, then Tomb Raider has an added appeal. If you aren't, it doesn't really detract from the game, but it sure as hell doesn't add to it.
Thus, for the hetero-female gamer, what's the point of Tomb Raider? Unless you're in to the digital cleavage, there are better games out there.
Not quite. Not at all, in fact. Boston's bypass is I95 (also known as Route 128) which has no mention in the Big Dig Project Probably due to the fact that construction on the bypass was mostly finished in the early 60's. Now, the Mass Pike gets money from the CA/T Project, but it's not a bypass - it's a spur straight into the city.
Furthermore, while I see the gripe with spending money to put it underground - fact is, the road needed more lanes. If you've ever driven on it, you realize that when it goes past the North End and Fanueil Hall, there *is* no more room for expansion without massive demolition (which would trash some taller buldings and historical landmarks, and that just wouldn't be happening)
I don't think they could *ever* build the Inner Belt. At the point where Rt. 2 merges from 4 to 2 lanes (where the original belt was supposed to go) you've got to deal with Belmont, Arlington, and Cambridge. There's enough money and politically active people in those communities alone to prevent it from happening.
I93 runs from Northern NH straight through Boston to I95. It is also currently a parking lot for most of the day/night. Funding the Big Dig is quite akin to what *will* happen to the Atlanta Connector within the next few years. Interstates that run through major cities get enormous amounts of trucking and car travel. They need upkeep.
That's likely due to the fact that the road involved is Interstate 93, which is grossly incapable of handling the current traffic loads through downtown Boston. The fact that it's an Interstate means that the Federal Government funds a portion of the construction.
I'm not quite sure how relevant this is in today's market -- if you are sending in a resume electronically or submitting via a career fair, cover letters are generally not accepted. Period. In these situations, if you have expectations of the type of job you want, it's important to use part of the resume to tell the recruiter/company exactly what you're looking for.
From the article:
Now, for those of you that want to make up your own minds, here's the FTAA Official website and here's Global Exchange's take on the situation. A Google search for FTAA turns up many links, but pro and con, and should provide enough information for the interested.
Someone ought to mod this up -- this is what companies do with lab notebooks to deal with patent work, because not only do you have to show that it's novel, you have a certain time frame in which you need to do the work [it can also stand up in court as to who actually has done the work first]
In most places I've worked, it's also common practice to do work on only one side of the page, fill each page as much as possible, and date anything that is cut and pasted in before it is signed.
Ah. (note to self, must read sigs)
Excusing my utter lack of knowledge of the porn industry -- isn't that something that gets a lot of cash flow coming in from consumers? I don't think it's the kind of earning that is advertising based...but I don't know...
My point wasn't that you can't make money online, but that advertising isn't really going to support it...
combination of:
- (since VA is putting money out)
- (advertisement + those who choose to subscribe)
and is- Have a parent company which is willing to fund them at a loss to maintain web presence (like NFL.com)
- Have multiple sources of income (a la Yahoo!)
- Have such specialized services/content, people are willing to pay for it(like an ISP)
I can't think of a single site/service which is based on advertising alone and is actually *making* money. Banner ads just don't cut it anymore.I think this is just about the coolest thing ever -- the Boston Globe recently ran an article about this too, which has some of Buffett's comments about the label. I really like the point that he makes: artists are responsible for their own careers. Mailboat isn't going to spend any money on promotion or touring, that's all up to the artist. It takes the risk out of the running the label -- they aren't going to front any money to help you succeed, they're just going to print the CDs. For anyone with a following, this is clearly the way to go -- I'll be interested to see if no-name bands can succeed as well though, because the label won't play games with the radio.
I never thought of it like this before, but that's really what happens. What's worse - there's nothing more frustrating than a band changing labels -- the old label still owns all the band's old music, which unfortunately means that they take some pretty good stuff and stick it in a basement somewhere. This is where Janis Ian's suggestion of letting artist re-release their out-of-print stuff would really be of use. Of course, that would require the RIAA to give up some control...
I think the point that hasn't come across yet is that while the Patriot Act doesn't really present the government with new and unyielding power, it does weaken the check-and-balance system in place for its existing power. The provisions of wiretapping and surveillance are a pretty clear example of this. Yes, the government has always had the power to do this, but the requirements for doing so have been reduced. Another example is student data -- data which was formerly held in strict confidence is now readily available for surveillance use.
The powers haven't changed, but the ability to use them has. I can now be wiretapped without reasonable suspect (section 206) -- while this power was available to the government in 1986, a warrant was needed. With 206 in place, there is no such need. This appears to be a violation of the 4th Amendment - not because the government has gained any new power...they've just got a new way to use it.
I think that in order for it to really drive the nail in the coffin, it's going to need a niche market. Incredibly good functionality really isn't enough to make the average user go out of their way to get it. The future is likely in the ability to discover the niche application that makes it undeniably more useful -- then all it has to do is hang on for a couple of years (which is harder than it sounds...)