Yeah you know all those women who used to make (still do in some cases) like $0.50 to every man's dollar? Yeah there's nothing wrong with that, after all they agreed to the job. And those black people that worked the fields for next to nothing? That's right, nothing wrong there, after all they agreed to those conditions right?
We may not be prosecuted (although I wouldn't put that out of the question, the police state being what it is these days, but that's another paranoid fantasy...) but think about where we Canadians get most of our media content and standards. The DMCA may not apply to us, but we'll still be stuck with the access controls on DVDs, TV recording, and whatever future creative rights-reducing technology they come up with. I'd argue the same for the rest of the world. No nation is an island any longer. We use the DVD players that are manufactured in Asia that adhere to U.S. specifications and that won't play DVDs in the country they were manufactured. Go figure.
I'm no activist, I just make a point of explaining to people why they should never buy a DVD player. Everyone I've talked to has understood the simple arguement that they shouldn't buy it because it supports price fixing, regardless of the other more subtle (but in the end more important) issues surrounding copyright law, etc. Explain to them that DVDs allow the media companies to release a movie in North America at $40, then 6 months later release it in Europe at $60, and then 3 months later release it in India at $20. Also explain that if you take a trip to Germany and buy a DVD you won't be able to play it when you get home. Or if you move to another zone you might as well throw out all of your DVD movies (just wait until this happens for other media! I know people that would stay in the same zone just so they don't have to replace their 1000's of discs).
I recently finished reading the widely popular book "The Elegant Universe" (here's an Amazon link) by Brian Greene. It starts with the simplest of Newtonian physics, heads over to Einstein and quantum mechanics and then takes a sharp left into string theory, and eventually m-theory. I'm just an amateur, but this book is very readable (someone else mentioned the ants on a garden hose analogy, which is used in this book) and understandable. It generally avoids the intricate math involved and concentrates on getting the reader to grasp the concepts rather than the details. It takes some perseverence to make it through the 400 or so pages, but I highly recommend it.
Mr J. Smith was quoted as saying, "Gosh, yessir, I did build the frame for the constitution, but I sure didn't think it was such a big deal, just a simple wooden frame with a little string to hang it on a wall... now I find everyone talking about The Framer like I wrote the thing..."
I've read some of the comments made and many seem to say, "Well, you end up wearing some corporation's name, so what can you do?" Well, I'm not an absolutist in any way, but one decision I made a few years ago (after spending far too much money on adolescent band t-shirts) was to stop wearing logos. Believe it or not, you can still shop at the Gap, or discount superstore, or whatever company your preference for style/value/price/quality dictates without sporting their corporate advertising. I have no clothes with logos. Like any other lifestyle decision (vegetarianism, whatever) you limit your choices because of your beliefs. I don't need people to notice me because of a word on my shirt. I just wanted to point out that like those other lifestyle choices, it is possible to live without being a walking billboard.
Perhaps this is flamebait, troll, whatever... From my own (admittedly limited) experience (McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada) universities are practically glorified high schools. Almost anyone willing to pay the tuition can get in and get a degree. It seems that universities are stuck in a growth pattern that requires ever-increasing funding resulting in an educational institution that is more like a corporation. Perhaps it's different at a prestigious school. Between professors who don't give a shit about their classes (not _all_, I didn't say _all_), teaching assistants that are unqualified to teach anything, having classes taught via VCR, and the other students who somehow made it through high school without fundamental skills, I felt ripped off. I don't think we can rely on universities to be the elite places of higher learning that most people still believe them to be. Am I on crack, or do other people feel this way?
What if these fictional nanobots infiltrate my body and slowly take over the functioning of my neurons, etc until there are no biological systems left. And assume that this happens seamlessly. Will I experience anything, or just my normal continuing existence? Now that I'm electronic can I will myself into a computer and not experience discontinuity? How does this compare to the idea that "a copy of me lives on forever while I die and rot" (paraphrase of another comment).
IANA (I am not anything), but the first thought that came to mind reading your comment is that you should think about the difference between long-range changes that form climate and the momentary, hourly, daily changes of weather.
I'm not knocking OSX in any way (in fact, I think it looks quite cute), but these quotes struck me as humourous...
Symmetric Multiprocessing Adds Booster Rockets to Your Computer
Apple is the first major computer company to make open source development a key part of its ongoing software strategy
And the state-of-the-art plumbing in Darwin actually ratchets up OpenGL's performance to a whole new level on Mac OS X, making it the ultimate PC platform for 3D games and graphics
to moderate this editorial as redundant? I wonder what will be the forum that replaces Slashdot as its content becomes more and more banal. Of course everyone would scream censorship, but perhaps CmdrTaco and Hemos should approve all posts before they go live. After all, this is (mostly) their baby isn't it? It seems that the quality of stories is falling at an alarming rate. I know, I know, if I don't like it, don't read it, right? Well, I hope it doesn't come to that.
Yes the body breathes in air (something like 70% nitrogen) and breathes out air (mostly nitrogen still). In this process the body removes oxygen from the air. However, I wouldn't call this process converting oxygen to carbon dioxide anymore than I'd call it converting oxygen into nitrogen. Am I off my rocker?
First of all, IANAC (I am not a chemist, for the acronym inference impaired), but I don't remember ever hearing of the human body performing this process. Sorry if I've burst your bubble yet again, but maybe you should have resolved something simpler than turning oxygen into carbon dioxide. Something like maintaining homeostasis perhaps. Or growing fingernails... Feel free to bash me over the head with pointy things if I've made a fool of myself... or maybe just laugh.
I could be wrong, but I think this project has everything to do with neutrinos and nothing to do with neutrons (pretty big difference)... although you are right about having to shield the detector... since neutrinos routinely fly right through the planet (and trillions through every square inch of you) every day it is a rare occurence that one gets stopped and detected. Hence the use of giant spheres of heavy water buried deep in the ground.
I think I disagree with the idea that it's easier to be a net elite than a member of the jet-set. I know for myself (and I'm only a yung'un) that I've spent a huge number of my waking hours reading, coding, learning, researching, debating,.... to end up with the amount of knowledge and experience I already have. I wouldn't say that it's easy to become a geek. It takes years of hard work and is a constant struggle to keep up with the times. Much like any other clique it takes hard work and some talent to become a member of the elite.
Isn't it getting a little silly to increase clock speeds by 50mhz? I mean we've got 300, 350, 400, 450, 500, 550... The percentage increase gets less and less each time. I hope they soon start jumping by 100. 600, 700, 800... That is enough of a difference to charge a premium for the higher end!
Slashdot Mirror
This is said tongue-in-cheek I hope.
Yeah you know all those women who used to make (still do in some cases) like $0.50 to every man's dollar? Yeah there's nothing wrong with that, after all they agreed to the job. And those black people that worked the fields for next to nothing? That's right, nothing wrong there, after all they agreed to those conditions right?
I'm no activist, I just make a point of explaining to people why they should never buy a DVD player. Everyone I've talked to has understood the simple arguement that they shouldn't buy it because it supports price fixing, regardless of the other more subtle (but in the end more important) issues surrounding copyright law, etc. Explain to them that DVDs allow the media companies to release a movie in North America at $40, then 6 months later release it in Europe at $60, and then 3 months later release it in India at $20. Also explain that if you take a trip to Germany and buy a DVD you won't be able to play it when you get home. Or if you move to another zone you might as well throw out all of your DVD movies (just wait until this happens for other media! I know people that would stay in the same zone just so they don't have to replace their 1000's of discs).
Just my CDN $0.02 x 1.4
Like reading Mr. Katz's articles and mentally substituting apostrophe's for question marks.
I recently finished reading the widely popular book "The Elegant Universe" (here's an Amazon link) by Brian Greene. It starts with the simplest of Newtonian physics, heads over to Einstein and quantum mechanics and then takes a sharp left into string theory, and eventually m-theory. I'm just an amateur, but this book is very readable (someone else mentioned the ants on a garden hose analogy, which is used in this book) and understandable. It generally avoids the intricate math involved and concentrates on getting the reader to grasp the concepts rather than the details. It takes some perseverence to make it through the 400 or so pages, but I highly recommend it.
Mr J. Smith was quoted as saying, "Gosh, yessir, I did build the frame for the constitution, but I sure didn't think it was such a big deal, just a simple wooden frame with a little string to hang it on a wall... now I find everyone talking about The Framer like I wrote the thing..."
I've read some of the comments made and many seem to say, "Well, you end up wearing some corporation's name, so what can you do?" Well, I'm not an absolutist in any way, but one decision I made a few years ago (after spending far too much money on adolescent band t-shirts) was to stop wearing logos. Believe it or not, you can still shop at the Gap, or discount superstore, or whatever company your preference for style/value/price/quality dictates without sporting their corporate advertising. I have no clothes with logos. Like any other lifestyle decision (vegetarianism, whatever) you limit your choices because of your beliefs. I don't need people to notice me because of a word on my shirt. I just wanted to point out that like those other lifestyle choices, it is possible to live without being a walking billboard.
Perhaps this is flamebait, troll, whatever... From my own (admittedly limited) experience (McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada) universities are practically glorified high schools. Almost anyone willing to pay the tuition can get in and get a degree. It seems that universities are stuck in a growth pattern that requires ever-increasing funding resulting in an educational institution that is more like a corporation. Perhaps it's different at a prestigious school. Between professors who don't give a shit about their classes (not _all_, I didn't say _all_), teaching assistants that are unqualified to teach anything, having classes taught via VCR, and the other students who somehow made it through high school without fundamental skills, I felt ripped off. I don't think we can rely on universities to be the elite places of higher learning that most people still believe them to be. Am I on crack, or do other people feel this way?
Just imagine a beowulf cluster of these things!?
Wow, it really is Scientific American. Down with metric!
What if these fictional nanobots infiltrate my body and slowly take over the functioning of my neurons, etc until there are no biological systems left. And assume that this happens seamlessly. Will I experience anything, or just my normal continuing existence? Now that I'm electronic can I will myself into a computer and not experience discontinuity? How does this compare to the idea that "a copy of me lives on forever while I die and rot" (paraphrase of another comment).
IANA (I am not anything), but the first thought that came to mind reading your comment is that you should think about the difference between long-range changes that form climate and the momentary, hourly, daily changes of weather.
to moderate this editorial as redundant? I wonder what will be the forum that replaces Slashdot as its content becomes more and more banal. Of course everyone would scream censorship, but perhaps CmdrTaco and Hemos should approve all posts before they go live. After all, this is (mostly) their baby isn't it? It seems that the quality of stories is falling at an alarming rate. I know, I know, if I don't like it, don't read it, right? Well, I hope it doesn't come to that.
I agree. I know what he meant. But there is nothing you can do to stop me from being a twit! 8^)
Happy New Year!
Yes the body breathes in air (something like 70% nitrogen) and breathes out air (mostly nitrogen still). In this process the body removes oxygen from the air. However, I wouldn't call this process converting oxygen to carbon dioxide anymore than I'd call it converting oxygen into nitrogen. Am I off my rocker?
First of all, IANAC (I am not a chemist, for the acronym inference impaired), but I don't remember ever hearing of the human body performing this process. Sorry if I've burst your bubble yet again, but maybe you should have resolved something simpler than turning oxygen into carbon dioxide. Something like maintaining homeostasis perhaps. Or growing fingernails... Feel free to bash me over the head with pointy things if I've made a fool of myself... or maybe just laugh.
Well I have Wallace Blue, my perky little 486 internet gateway, and then there's Warton and Emma the unfortunate PC's we beat on day in and day out.
I could be wrong, but I think this project has everything to do with neutrinos and nothing to do with neutrons (pretty big difference)... although you are right about having to shield the detector... since neutrinos routinely fly right through the planet (and trillions through every square inch of you) every day it is a rare occurence that one gets stopped and detected. Hence the use of giant spheres of heavy water buried deep in the ground.
I think I disagree with the idea that it's easier to be a net elite than a member of the jet-set. I know for myself (and I'm only a yung'un) that I've spent a huge number of my waking hours reading, coding, learning, researching, debating, .... to end up with the amount of knowledge and experience I already have. I wouldn't say that it's easy to become a geek. It takes years of hard work and is a constant struggle to keep up with the times. Much like any other clique it takes hard work and some talent to become a member of the elite.
superdoo
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Isn't it getting a little silly to increase clock speeds by 50mhz? I mean we've got 300, 350, 400, 450, 500, 550... The percentage increase gets less and less each time. I hope they soon start jumping by 100. 600, 700, 800... That is enough of a difference to charge a premium for the higher end!