This is absolutely news for nerds. Please post stories like this one and fewer "Why Trump/Clinton are lizard people" stories.
On topic, what is the content of this 200tb proof? Is that just a text file where each character is a bit? How many libraries of congress is this proof?
Whatever the content, congrats to this team of mathematicians.
I have mod points right now. I could easily have downvoted this. BUT there are enough people who think you are insightful to mod you up and simply modding people DOES NOT add to the conversation.
If you disagree with a comment
Post.
A.
Reply.
Do NOT stifle discussion just because you disagree with someone. I've modded people up who I think are horribly wrong about something but they make a good point and are adding to the discussion in a meaningful and non-toxic way so they are free to hold different opinions.
I cannot say this strongly enough. DO NOT DOWNMOD JUST BECAUSE YOU DISAGREE! We need to be free to disagree with each other and hold opinions that differ from the norm so that we can talk about this stuff. If we just downmod people we disagree with this whole site becomes an echo chamber of whatever the predominate pre-held opinion is. We should never encourage people to mod IN ANY DIRECTION (up or down) simply because of agreement or the lack thereof. Mod based on the informative nature, the insightful nature, the funny nature, etc. of the post. NOT HOW MUCH IT COMPLIES WITH YOUR WORLDVIEW!
American living in Mozambique (country to the immediate east of S.A) here.
We didn't notice at all. I had no idea this had happened until I saw this story here on slashdot.
It's funny, Mozambique is FAR less developed than our neighbors to the west (South Africa). Enough so that I routinely make trips there to purchase cheaper/better goods than can be found here and/or to relax and find some comforts that are unavailable here. Yet our internet connection is MUCH faster, more reliable, and cheaper than anything I've seen there in S.A. We have plenty of failing infrastructure but, luckily, our internet fiber is holding up.
It's hard for me to believe what I'm reading from so many commenters on this article.
Can we pause for a minute and try a different perspective on this?
Imagine a group of Thai media personalities/scientists/NGO-Creators (this appears to be what most of these "experts" are) sitting around a table with video cameras on them discussing "Look at that big 'Mississippi river' running right down that big continent. How's about we build a bunch of hydroelectric damns along that thing and generate energy for ourselves. I mean, it's just sitting there."
Now imagine ANYONE taking them seriously.
WHY THE HELL DO PEOPLE ACROSS THE ENTIRE WORLD HAVE ANY RIGHT TO BE TALKING ABOUT USING LAND WITHIN SEVERAL DIFFERENT SOVEREIGN NATIONS FOR THEIR OWN PURPOSES AS IF IT'S JUST THERE FOR THE TAKING???
Now back to the actual situation. It's breathtaking how arrogant it is to talk about the Sahara as if Europe could just go in there and use up that land because "it's just sitting there". Would the Swiss be OK with someone from Chad talking about going into the Swiss Alps and just harvesting all that snow/ice to ship back to Chad all casual like they have every right to just go use that?
Seriously???
You don't talk about using up Canada's vast Yukon wilderness for wind turbines and sending all that energy off to China and then just say "It's politically complicated". IT'S SOMEONE ELSE'S FSKING LAND YOU HALFWIT. OF COURSE YOU CAN'T JUST GO BUILD YOUR OWN DAMNED INFRASTRUCTURE IN THE YUKON AND SEND ALL BENEFITS BACK TO YOUR OWN COUNTRY.
My GOD. Sometimes it looks like people don't realize that Africa actually has PEOPLE here who THINK, FEEL, SENSE LOSS, HAVE FAMILIES, TRADITIONS, FAITHS, HOPES, and actually wish there weren't crumudgeonly old men talking about their homelands as if it's just there for the taking as long as we bribe the local asshole who has the most guns.
For people who live with cancer, it's actually been found that's it's better to not use martial metaphors. For many cancer patients, the emotional journey is hard enough without feeling like they are "losing a battle" or "losing a fight" etc. with cancer. Even family members of those who've died with cancer often struggle with the emotions of feeling like someone "lost" or they "didn't fight hard enough". Living with cancer is not always something that has to be fought, especially brain cancer.
More on topic, Wes Craven was an artist and we will miss his art. Go well Mr. Craven.
I have a bit of experience in this area. I live in a developing country and house cancer patients in my home. When they are terminal and the hospital cannot help anymore I help them get back to their families (often 1000+ miles away) or offer them a comfortable place to die and bring families to them (resources permitting). The biggest thing that I've found that these families need is to know and be known by their dying father/mother/etc. before the end. The "life advice" is a nice part of that but when I can encourage and facilitate a father opening up to his son or daughter about his past, his failures, his thoughts, his pain, his love, his adventures, his first kiss, his best friends in grade-school, his favorite games of soccer in school, how he met his wife (the child's mother), and any number of other stories... THESE things are what the grown child treasures.
OP: I would advise making individual videos that each tell a story from your past. Talk about times you were disappointed. Talk about the humbling secrets that others cannot tell because no one else knew the story but you. If you list off your achievements it means little. Your wife and family members know those. Tell her about when you first learned about science and what joys it brought. Tell her how you felt when you started educating others and the way your heart flipped when you met your wife. Tell her how your almost dropped her when she was born because you were so emotional. Tell her that you knew so little about being a father that you put the diaper on wrong the first few times. Tell her about watching her grow and how frustrating and hard it was to be self-sacrificial for those years and how much it took out of you to do that. Tell her that she was worth so much more than the years you've been given to be self-sacrificial.
These stories and emotions will, I believe, be treasured far more than encouragement to pursue understanding differential equations, elliptic curve encryption, chemical biology, Linux kernel contributions, or any number of geeky things.
Well done for caring about how you leave your family. That is rare and you are to be commended for it. I like to tell my patients that they are not running out of time. They are running into eternity. You don't have to drag your feet in this. There will be tremendous pain and there will be devastating days and nights as your body weakens. You are running into eternity OP. I hope you run your race well.
I live in Mozambique. Check my posting history. This is my home. I'm an American but have lived here for about 5 years and don't have plans to go anywhere.
There are VERY LARGE CORPS that do massive scale farming here. These corps receive large subsidies from the government here, mostly because they negotiated freakishly one-sided deals many years ago when the government was a baby and prone to being taken advantage of. These corps get "free and unimproved seeds" from the government and it is important that those policies change so these large corps actually start having to buy their seed and so that they sell quality food to Mozambicans.
I work and spend every day with very poor Mozambicans. They do not buy their seed. By the way, the time frame on that co-operation policy was to do that by November 2012. Again, I am with poor, subsistence farmers in Mozambique every day. They are not buying expensive seeds and being locked into some expensive cycle. They harvest their crops, replant what they can from their crops, purchase from each other the seed they don't have from their own crops.
Also, it's worth noting that the report The Guardian is quoting from has a bullet point RIGHT BELOW the one you bolded and hyped. Here it is: Implement approved regulations governing seed proprietary laws which
promote private sector investment in seed production (basic and certified seed).
This is just to point out that the government here is thinking about making sure that proprietary seed DOESN'T lock poor farmers into some expensive cycle. I know it makes for a shocking story to pretend like things are black and white/good and evil but, at least here in Mozambique, there is more than just "ZOMG, THINK OF TEH POOR AFRICANS AND THEIR FARMS!"
Could this tech finally solve the "everyone would need a pilots license" problem of consumer level flying cars? Maybe cars could be developed that rely on the person inside the to drive on roads but as soon as liftoff is initiated an auto-pilot like this one DARPA is making could take over completely removing the human factor from the flying hunk of metal.
Not saying it's imminent but perhaps this is a step in the direction of ubiquitous personal flying vehicles that could solve a lot of transportation problems and get people/things to places "as the crow flies" instead of "as the wolf runs". It would just be an automated crow instead of a human one.
It bothers me too. In my opinion it's part of a subtle temptation and accidental attitude that is very common in humanitarian/NGO/missionary work.
Let me explain.
I am a missionary working in Sub-Saharan Africa trying to fill a hole in the medical care here. In a developing country there are expected and predictable shortcomings in the medical system and I find myself trying to help cancer patients where the State cannot. Now, the tempting mindset is to hope that the State never actually develops enough to do what I do, thus, I never find myself redundant and always feel needed and like I’m filling a purpose. That is, of course, a horrible thing to hope. Of course I hope my service is redundant soon and of course I hope that what I do won’t be needed soon. That would mean fewer people were suffering! That would be great! It would also mean I’m no longer needed and I could find myself and my family in some trouble looking for a new place to serve.
The “I hope the problem never goes away so I never find my cause pointless” mindset is what is likely going on here. Erin McElroy of the SF Anti-Eviction Mapping Project likely dedicates her (his?) entire life or, at minimum, most of his (her?) emotional energy on this project and so any progress Google and others make to help things get better means Erin is more and more redundant and less and less needed. That is a scary thing for someone who lives for a cause and therefore, while fighting for their cause, there is often a self-defeating hope that the cause never actually succeeds.
That’s just what I’ve noticed in the “I have a cause” field at least. YMMV.
Why the hell is this here? There have already been like 50 other stories about how important Snowden was/is and now/. feels it's important to post a ridiculously redundant story of their own that is JUST A BUNCH OF OTHER LINKS to other news sites? WTF/.?
You need to watch this: This video will hurt. Be prepared for your ears and head to start hurting when you turn it on.
This video is especially relevant to the issue at large. The "Nocebo effect" is real and creates real symptoms in people. We need to understand that people who have these symptoms are not simply making them up, THEY IN FACT HAVE NAUSEA/HEADACHES/TROUBLE-BREATHING/ETC. and we need to be compassionate to that.
This is a complex issue and one that requires patience and understanding. When people complain of health effects due to wifi, power cables, or other things they don't understand they should be taken seriously, despite the fact that these technologies have no scientific reason for causing those effects.
It looks like you don't understand what GP was asking (at best) or you don't understand the summary/primes.
I think the GP was asking if there are always less than 600 between primes. The answer to his question is "no". The higher you go the larger gaps can be between primes. There can be untold millions/billions/trillions etc. between two distinct primes. This proof shows not that there are never more than 600 between primes, but that there are an infinite number of pairs of primes that are separated by less than 600. The difference is small but important. There may be two primes separated by a vast number, yet the higher you go there will always be a pair of primes coming up that are separated by less than 600.
For example:
The numbers
2^57,885,161 - 1
and
2^43,112,609 - 1
are primes. They have 17,425,170 and 12,978,189 digits in them. They are the largest two primes we know of. They are separated by a bunch of numbers in between them, almost 5,000,000 DIGITS (note digits not numbers) and all the numbers between them are composites. HOWEVER, the next largest prime may simply be (2^57,885,161 1) + 600 because there will always be a chance that there is a prime coming up less than 600 away from the current highest prime.
This is getting closer and closer to proving the long held belief/hope that there are an infinite number of primes separated by only 2. NOT that EVERY prime is separated by 2 from every other prime. That would be obviously false. Simply that there are an infinite number of primes salted throughout all those impossibly high ones that are only 2 apart.
I'm an American and I live in a pretty undeveloped Southern African nation. I wonder how much of a profile the NSA is capable of building on me?
Upon arriving in the USA very recently my wife was flagged going through the mettle detector at IAD (she was carrying our 3 month old daughter so the TSA told her they had to do some extra checks since she had a baby in a sling, dafuq?). She spent the next 45 minutes getting checked, rechecked, patted down (enhanced pat down; under the waistband, hand up the legs until it meets "resistance", hands swiping breasts, etc.), having her carry-on bags checked and rechecked for bomb residue, all in the name of "You were carrying a baby in a sling".
I'm trying to be as honest and non-paranoid as possible in all of this. But these leaks from Snowden really do give rise to questions about how large my NSA profile has grown, simply because I live overseas.
You're absolutely right. I live in Mozambique and people in the DEEP bush (read: rural areas) who live in houses made of mud or grass have cell phones are able to do simple banking even on old candy bar phones. Here in the capitol of Maputo, in the last year, smart phone and tablet use has exploded. Mozambique has 3 cell networks that offer 3G connectivity and one is talking up their 4G transition for next year. I think the intuition of the touch screen is being proven here as people who were raised without running water or power are able to pick up and use a smartphone while the same person struggles to a comical degree trying to understand and use with any semblance of efficacy a laptop or desktop PC.
Oh... Mozambique is the 3rd least developed country IN THE WORLD according to the UNDP
So yeah, this Les Cotrell is just a guy wanting to sound smart by explaining things about Africa to people who know nothing about Africa. This happened long ago.
It's definitely something to be celebrated that we're nearing the mark of a viable vaccine. Unfortunately, the hardest hit areas by Malaria are not places where vaccine distribution is
Easy
Affordable by those who need it
I would love to see this vaccine become a reality but I'm not very hopeful that this would have a price tag that many African nations could afford to give out to their populations for free or, if not free, the pennies the average citizen could afford.
Mozambique, where I live and work, is VERY hard hit by Malaria but it's rural areas are very poor and the medicine distribution points in the CITIES struggle to keep vaccines refrigerated and properly handled. There is much development to be done in many of the nations who see high death rates from Malaria before we can use phrases like "allow us to do away with this disease". I do hope to see the disease done away with but let's not assume that with the development of the vaccine that that victory is imminent.
You don't know how right you are. This is REMARKABLY stupid and dangerous. The countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are developing and with development comes all the growing pains, not least of which is very very corrupt police. Police in South Africa and elsewhere on this continent can be very vindictive and outright murderous when upset about people disrespecting their authority. A few months ago a teenager from Mozambique was dragged to death behind a South African police car because the police who "randomly" stopped him felt disrespected. If the people on these lists know about this hack and their names being made public there is a very real and justified fear they now permanently live in. If they don't know about this hack (a bit more likely in a developing country with a not-so-exposed-to-the-internet underclass) they may be blissfully unaware of the danger they are in but that does not change the its depth.
Whoever released this info has very real blood on their hands. I don't give a damn about the title "Anonymous", the script kiddies who released this info are accessories to the horrible vindictive violence that will assuredly come, and the potential of the loss of life for many of the names released.
The stupidity of this move cannot be overstated. Be ashamed of yourselves "Anonymous". Be ashamed for your lack of disciplining your own.
OP Here.
Holy hell, that's a lot of assumptions about me! It's really not offensive and it kinda makes me laugh and I guess my submission doesn't really describe my entire situation so I can't really blame you. I would probably tend to agree with you about most cases of people who live overseas, especially doing NGO work.
An honest, "Thank you" for caring about my marriage and family.
I may be flattering myself but I really think my marriage is awesome. My wife and I love each other immensely and we support each other quite a bit in the work we do.
My basic situation is this: Work situation aside, we have our kids in bed by about 7:30 or 8 each night and after that we have very few entertainment options. We don't do this every single night but we often find ourselves watching a movie or TV show on DVD together. This works well and I have no complaints, it's just that our DVD collection has been watched enough that we are both looking for new entertainment options when we want to wind down together in the evenings. I'm just looking for ideas for how to spend 4-8 hours per week with my wife and engage her in what I find to be a rewarding and entertaining pastime; computer gaming. I have almost completely stopped computer gaming after getting married and it wasn't a hard decision to make. I gladly left those games behind when we got married and I don't begrudge the sacrifice at all. I'm not addicted to anything, she's not looking for more attention from me, I just want to do something new with her and I thought the Slashdot community might be a resource for finding out.
Submitter here.
Yes, it is very weird. I don't really hang out with other expats who have that mentality. I live here and I'm happy to be here. It's my home, my kids were born here, they are citizens of this country and I don't want to create an American bubble around myself and my family. I'm actually a missionary and, let me assure you, I spend a LOT of time with the culture I'm in. I'm not trying to avoid spending time with Mozambicans. I'm trying to find an interactive activity I can do with my wife in the evenings after our kids go down. We don't have many board games, we can't go out (they kids are asleep in the house) and we are often sitting around without many options for evening entertainment except movies or TV shows on DVD. I want to invite her to join something I really enjoy doing (computer gaming) and find a lot of value in. It's nothing to do with avoiding local culture or neglecting my kids (as other posters have assumed).
Slashdot Mirror
But we know you are Spartacus, and Spartacus is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I've ever known in my life.
Woah dude, we just met.
So sorry to see you go. I have only been on Slashdot for about 10 years and I'm disgusted by this story too.
Whipslash, please address how the editors royally screwed up by approving this story. A simple, "We're sorry for this" would go a long way.
Spartacus
This is absolutely news for nerds. Please post stories like this one and fewer "Why Trump/Clinton are lizard people" stories.
On topic, what is the content of this 200tb proof? Is that just a text file where each character is a bit? How many libraries of congress is this proof?
Whatever the content, congrats to this team of mathematicians.
NO NO NO NO NO NO NO
I have mod points right now. I could easily have downvoted this. BUT there are enough people who think you are insightful to mod you up and simply modding people DOES NOT add to the conversation.
If you disagree with a comment
Post. A. Reply.
Do NOT stifle discussion just because you disagree with someone. I've modded people up who I think are horribly wrong about something but they make a good point and are adding to the discussion in a meaningful and non-toxic way so they are free to hold different opinions.
I cannot say this strongly enough. DO NOT DOWNMOD JUST BECAUSE YOU DISAGREE! We need to be free to disagree with each other and hold opinions that differ from the norm so that we can talk about this stuff. If we just downmod people we disagree with this whole site becomes an echo chamber of whatever the predominate pre-held opinion is. We should never encourage people to mod IN ANY DIRECTION (up or down) simply because of agreement or the lack thereof. Mod based on the informative nature, the insightful nature, the funny nature, etc. of the post. NOT HOW MUCH IT COMPLIES WITH YOUR WORLDVIEW!
American living in Mozambique (country to the immediate east of S.A) here.
We didn't notice at all. I had no idea this had happened until I saw this story here on slashdot.
It's funny, Mozambique is FAR less developed than our neighbors to the west (South Africa). Enough so that I routinely make trips there to purchase cheaper/better goods than can be found here and/or to relax and find some comforts that are unavailable here. Yet our internet connection is MUCH faster, more reliable, and cheaper than anything I've seen there in S.A. We have plenty of failing infrastructure but, luckily, our internet fiber is holding up.
It's hard for me to believe what I'm reading from so many commenters on this article.
Can we pause for a minute and try a different perspective on this?
Imagine a group of Thai media personalities/scientists/NGO-Creators (this appears to be what most of these "experts" are) sitting around a table with video cameras on them discussing "Look at that big 'Mississippi river' running right down that big continent. How's about we build a bunch of hydroelectric damns along that thing and generate energy for ourselves. I mean, it's just sitting there."
Now imagine ANYONE taking them seriously.
WHY THE HELL DO PEOPLE ACROSS THE ENTIRE WORLD HAVE ANY RIGHT TO BE TALKING ABOUT USING LAND WITHIN SEVERAL DIFFERENT SOVEREIGN NATIONS FOR THEIR OWN PURPOSES AS IF IT'S JUST THERE FOR THE TAKING???
Now back to the actual situation. It's breathtaking how arrogant it is to talk about the Sahara as if Europe could just go in there and use up that land because "it's just sitting there". Would the Swiss be OK with someone from Chad talking about going into the Swiss Alps and just harvesting all that snow/ice to ship back to Chad all casual like they have every right to just go use that?
Seriously???
You don't talk about using up Canada's vast Yukon wilderness for wind turbines and sending all that energy off to China and then just say "It's politically complicated". IT'S SOMEONE ELSE'S FSKING LAND YOU HALFWIT. OF COURSE YOU CAN'T JUST GO BUILD YOUR OWN DAMNED INFRASTRUCTURE IN THE YUKON AND SEND ALL BENEFITS BACK TO YOUR OWN COUNTRY.
My GOD. Sometimes it looks like people don't realize that Africa actually has PEOPLE here who THINK, FEEL, SENSE LOSS, HAVE FAMILIES, TRADITIONS, FAITHS, HOPES, and actually wish there weren't crumudgeonly old men talking about their homelands as if it's just there for the taking as long as we bribe the local asshole who has the most guns.
died Sunday after a battle with brain cancer.
For people who live with cancer, it's actually been found that's it's better to not use martial metaphors. For many cancer patients, the emotional journey is hard enough without feeling like they are "losing a battle" or "losing a fight" etc. with cancer. Even family members of those who've died with cancer often struggle with the emotions of feeling like someone "lost" or they "didn't fight hard enough". Living with cancer is not always something that has to be fought, especially brain cancer.
More on topic, Wes Craven was an artist and we will miss his art. Go well Mr. Craven.
I schooled in Network Engineering (though haven't used that education for years now) and fully agree.
Wouldn't it sound weird if a structural architect asked for keys and combination numbers to every door and lock in a building he/she designed?
...people in Bangkok... ...that 2.5mm/year is still going to drown them very soon.
Sheesh, how short ARE people in China?
Burma Shave!
I'm wasting mod points to agree here.
I have a bit of experience in this area. I live in a developing country and house cancer patients in my home. When they are terminal and the hospital cannot help anymore I help them get back to their families (often 1000+ miles away) or offer them a comfortable place to die and bring families to them (resources permitting). The biggest thing that I've found that these families need is to know and be known by their dying father/mother/etc. before the end. The "life advice" is a nice part of that but when I can encourage and facilitate a father opening up to his son or daughter about his past, his failures, his thoughts, his pain, his love, his adventures, his first kiss, his best friends in grade-school, his favorite games of soccer in school, how he met his wife (the child's mother), and any number of other stories... THESE things are what the grown child treasures. OP: I would advise making individual videos that each tell a story from your past. Talk about times you were disappointed. Talk about the humbling secrets that others cannot tell because no one else knew the story but you. If you list off your achievements it means little. Your wife and family members know those. Tell her about when you first learned about science and what joys it brought. Tell her how you felt when you started educating others and the way your heart flipped when you met your wife. Tell her how your almost dropped her when she was born because you were so emotional. Tell her that you knew so little about being a father that you put the diaper on wrong the first few times. Tell her about watching her grow and how frustrating and hard it was to be self-sacrificial for those years and how much it took out of you to do that. Tell her that she was worth so much more than the years you've been given to be self-sacrificial.
These stories and emotions will, I believe, be treasured far more than encouragement to pursue understanding differential equations, elliptic curve encryption, chemical biology, Linux kernel contributions, or any number of geeky things.
Well done for caring about how you leave your family. That is rare and you are to be commended for it. I like to tell my patients that they are not running out of time. They are running into eternity. You don't have to drag your feet in this. There will be tremendous pain and there will be devastating days and nights as your body weakens. You are running into eternity OP. I hope you run your race well.
Spartacus
I'm on my phone. Can someone RTFA and tell me if this is good or bad news? TFS is unclear on the matter.
I live in Mozambique. Check my posting history. This is my home. I'm an American but have lived here for about 5 years and don't have plans to go anywhere.
There are VERY LARGE CORPS that do massive scale farming here. These corps receive large subsidies from the government here, mostly because they negotiated freakishly one-sided deals many years ago when the government was a baby and prone to being taken advantage of. These corps get "free and unimproved seeds" from the government and it is important that those policies change so these large corps actually start having to buy their seed and so that they sell quality food to Mozambicans.
I work and spend every day with very poor Mozambicans. They do not buy their seed. By the way, the time frame on that co-operation policy was to do that by November 2012. Again, I am with poor, subsistence farmers in Mozambique every day. They are not buying expensive seeds and being locked into some expensive cycle. They harvest their crops, replant what they can from their crops, purchase from each other the seed they don't have from their own crops.
Also, it's worth noting that the report The Guardian is quoting from has a bullet point RIGHT BELOW the one you bolded and hyped. Here it is: Implement approved regulations governing seed proprietary laws which promote private sector investment in seed production (basic and certified seed).
This is just to point out that the government here is thinking about making sure that proprietary seed DOESN'T lock poor farmers into some expensive cycle. I know it makes for a shocking story to pretend like things are black and white/good and evil but, at least here in Mozambique, there is more than just "ZOMG, THINK OF TEH POOR AFRICANS AND THEIR FARMS!"
Could this tech finally solve the "everyone would need a pilots license" problem of consumer level flying cars? Maybe cars could be developed that rely on the person inside the to drive on roads but as soon as liftoff is initiated an auto-pilot like this one DARPA is making could take over completely removing the human factor from the flying hunk of metal.
Not saying it's imminent but perhaps this is a step in the direction of ubiquitous personal flying vehicles that could solve a lot of transportation problems and get people/things to places "as the crow flies" instead of "as the wolf runs". It would just be an automated crow instead of a human one.
It bothers me too. In my opinion it's part of a subtle temptation and accidental attitude that is very common in humanitarian/NGO/missionary work.
Let me explain.
I am a missionary working in Sub-Saharan Africa trying to fill a hole in the medical care here. In a developing country there are expected and predictable shortcomings in the medical system and I find myself trying to help cancer patients where the State cannot. Now, the tempting mindset is to hope that the State never actually develops enough to do what I do, thus, I never find myself redundant and always feel needed and like I’m filling a purpose. That is, of course, a horrible thing to hope. Of course I hope my service is redundant soon and of course I hope that what I do won’t be needed soon. That would mean fewer people were suffering! That would be great! It would also mean I’m no longer needed and I could find myself and my family in some trouble looking for a new place to serve.
The “I hope the problem never goes away so I never find my cause pointless” mindset is what is likely going on here. Erin McElroy of the SF Anti-Eviction Mapping Project likely dedicates her (his?) entire life or, at minimum, most of his (her?) emotional energy on this project and so any progress Google and others make to help things get better means Erin is more and more redundant and less and less needed. That is a scary thing for someone who lives for a cause and therefore, while fighting for their cause, there is often a self-defeating hope that the cause never actually succeeds.
That’s just what I’ve noticed in the “I have a cause” field at least. YMMV.
Why the hell is this here? There have already been like 50 other stories about how important Snowden was/is and now /. feels it's important to post a ridiculously redundant story of their own that is JUST A BUNCH OF OTHER LINKS to other news sites? WTF /.?
Seriously...
wtf???
You need to watch this: This video will hurt. Be prepared for your ears and head to start hurting when you turn it on.
This video is especially relevant to the issue at large. The "Nocebo effect" is real and creates real symptoms in people. We need to understand that people who have these symptoms are not simply making them up, THEY IN FACT HAVE NAUSEA/HEADACHES/TROUBLE-BREATHING/ETC. and we need to be compassionate to that.
This is a complex issue and one that requires patience and understanding. When people complain of health effects due to wifi, power cables, or other things they don't understand they should be taken seriously, despite the fact that these technologies have no scientific reason for causing those effects.
It looks like you don't understand what GP was asking (at best) or you don't understand the summary/primes.
I think the GP was asking if there are always less than 600 between primes. The answer to his question is "no". The higher you go the larger gaps can be between primes. There can be untold millions/billions/trillions etc. between two distinct primes. This proof shows not that there are never more than 600 between primes, but that there are an infinite number of pairs of primes that are separated by less than 600. The difference is small but important. There may be two primes separated by a vast number, yet the higher you go there will always be a pair of primes coming up that are separated by less than 600.
For example:
The numbers
2^57,885,161 - 1
and
2^43,112,609 - 1
are primes. They have 17,425,170 and 12,978,189 digits in them. They are the largest two primes we know of. They are separated by a bunch of numbers in between them, almost 5,000,000 DIGITS (note digits not numbers) and all the numbers between them are composites. HOWEVER, the next largest prime may simply be (2^57,885,161 1) + 600 because there will always be a chance that there is a prime coming up less than 600 away from the current highest prime.
This is getting closer and closer to proving the long held belief/hope that there are an infinite number of primes separated by only 2. NOT that EVERY prime is separated by 2 from every other prime. That would be obviously false. Simply that there are an infinite number of primes salted throughout all those impossibly high ones that are only 2 apart.
I'm an American and I live in a pretty undeveloped Southern African nation. I wonder how much of a profile the NSA is capable of building on me?
Upon arriving in the USA very recently my wife was flagged going through the mettle detector at IAD (she was carrying our 3 month old daughter so the TSA told her they had to do some extra checks since she had a baby in a sling, dafuq?). She spent the next 45 minutes getting checked, rechecked, patted down (enhanced pat down; under the waistband, hand up the legs until it meets "resistance", hands swiping breasts, etc.), having her carry-on bags checked and rechecked for bomb residue, all in the name of "You were carrying a baby in a sling".
I'm trying to be as honest and non-paranoid as possible in all of this. But these leaks from Snowden really do give rise to questions about how large my NSA profile has grown, simply because I live overseas.
You're absolutely right. I live in Mozambique and people in the DEEP bush (read: rural areas) who live in houses made of mud or grass have cell phones are able to do simple banking even on old candy bar phones. Here in the capitol of Maputo, in the last year, smart phone and tablet use has exploded. Mozambique has 3 cell networks that offer 3G connectivity and one is talking up their 4G transition for next year. I think the intuition of the touch screen is being proven here as people who were raised without running water or power are able to pick up and use a smartphone while the same person struggles to a comical degree trying to understand and use with any semblance of efficacy a laptop or desktop PC.
Oh... Mozambique is the 3rd least developed country IN THE WORLD according to the UNDP
So yeah, this Les Cotrell is just a guy wanting to sound smart by explaining things about Africa to people who know nothing about Africa. This happened long ago.
Easy
Affordable by those who need it
I would love to see this vaccine become a reality but I'm not very hopeful that this would have a price tag that many African nations could afford to give out to their populations for free or, if not free, the pennies the average citizen could afford. Mozambique, where I live and work, is VERY hard hit by Malaria but it's rural areas are very poor and the medicine distribution points in the CITIES struggle to keep vaccines refrigerated and properly handled. There is much development to be done in many of the nations who see high death rates from Malaria before we can use phrases like "allow us to do away with this disease". I do hope to see the disease done away with but let's not assume that with the development of the vaccine that that victory is imminent.
You don't know how right you are. This is REMARKABLY stupid and dangerous. The countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are developing and with development comes all the growing pains, not least of which is very very corrupt police. Police in South Africa and elsewhere on this continent can be very vindictive and outright murderous when upset about people disrespecting their authority. A few months ago a teenager from Mozambique was dragged to death behind a South African police car because the police who "randomly" stopped him felt disrespected. If the people on these lists know about this hack and their names being made public there is a very real and justified fear they now permanently live in. If they don't know about this hack (a bit more likely in a developing country with a not-so-exposed-to-the-internet underclass) they may be blissfully unaware of the danger they are in but that does not change the its depth.
Whoever released this info has very real blood on their hands. I don't give a damn about the title "Anonymous", the script kiddies who released this info are accessories to the horrible vindictive violence that will assuredly come, and the potential of the loss of life for many of the names released.
The stupidity of this move cannot be overstated. Be ashamed of yourselves "Anonymous". Be ashamed for your lack of disciplining your own.
OP Here:
Thanks. This is the kind of situation I'm in, and your suggestions seem like good one's. I'll look into those.
OP Here.
Holy hell, that's a lot of assumptions about me! It's really not offensive and it kinda makes me laugh and I guess my submission doesn't really describe my entire situation so I can't really blame you. I would probably tend to agree with you about most cases of people who live overseas, especially doing NGO work.
An honest, "Thank you" for caring about my marriage and family.
I may be flattering myself but I really think my marriage is awesome. My wife and I love each other immensely and we support each other quite a bit in the work we do.
My basic situation is this: Work situation aside, we have our kids in bed by about 7:30 or 8 each night and after that we have very few entertainment options. We don't do this every single night but we often find ourselves watching a movie or TV show on DVD together. This works well and I have no complaints, it's just that our DVD collection has been watched enough that we are both looking for new entertainment options when we want to wind down together in the evenings. I'm just looking for ideas for how to spend 4-8 hours per week with my wife and engage her in what I find to be a rewarding and entertaining pastime; computer gaming. I have almost completely stopped computer gaming after getting married and it wasn't a hard decision to make. I gladly left those games behind when we got married and I don't begrudge the sacrifice at all. I'm not addicted to anything, she's not looking for more attention from me, I just want to do something new with her and I thought the Slashdot community might be a resource for finding out.
Submitter here.
Yes, it is very weird. I don't really hang out with other expats who have that mentality. I live here and I'm happy to be here. It's my home, my kids were born here, they are citizens of this country and I don't want to create an American bubble around myself and my family. I'm actually a missionary and, let me assure you, I spend a LOT of time with the culture I'm in. I'm not trying to avoid spending time with Mozambicans. I'm trying to find an interactive activity I can do with my wife in the evenings after our kids go down. We don't have many board games, we can't go out (they kids are asleep in the house) and we are often sitting around without many options for evening entertainment except movies or TV shows on DVD. I want to invite her to join something I really enjoy doing (computer gaming) and find a lot of value in. It's nothing to do with avoiding local culture or neglecting my kids (as other posters have assumed).