See other posts I've made here. I went to a body modification guy who does these, it was a quick procedure, basically healed in a week. Once the swelling went down, I was able to feel more stuff. The things I feel most often are electric ranges, microwaves, security scanners at stores, and wall warts.
Subdermal magnets are pretty weak compared to the magnets you'd find in, e.g., a hard disk head. Speaking from experience, they certainly aren't strong to wipe a credit card, so I double they'd be a threat to any practical device.
The magnets that they use are coated pretty well. Mine are actually flat little magnets that are used in magnetic stirrers in chemistry labs. They're made to be as inert as possible.
In the first generation, the guy who did them coated them with silicone that would rub off. It would cause the skin around the magnet to blacken once that happened. Once I found out that they fixed that problem, I jumped on it.
Of course, if I ever need an MRI, I'll need them taken out.
It's pretty sweet. I've got one in my right thumb and index finger. I feel a buzz whenever there's a strong enough alternating field nearby, and a tug whenever I pass my hand near strong static magnets. I'll be walking down the street and feel sensors to detect the presence of cars, and I can feel the brakes in subway cars. Nothing particularly practical, but I figure I may get a couple of seconds warning before the shockwave if I ever feel an EMP.
In terms of strength, I can basically pick up staples. Anything heavier falls off. Other magnets I can drag around on the table pretty easily, though it's uncomfortable to have them actually contact my fingers.
In particular, it's worth noting that the entire case file for all issued patents is publicly available (http://portal.uspto.gov/external/portal/pair). For this patent, you can see exactly what the Examiner thought made the patent allowable over the prior art.
Go to the Public PAIR website, put in the patent number, and then click on the "Image File Wrapper" tab. The document you're looking for is the Notice of Allowance. In this particular case, this is what the Examiner thought was allowable over the prior art:
"Regarding independent claims 32 and 43 the prior art of record fails to disclose or suggest the combination of claimed provisions of:
a bookmark element; wherein the bookmark element includes an identifier attribute that associates a start bookmark with an end bookmark element wherein two bookmark elements are used in book marking a portion of the document; wherein each of the two bookmark elements include an opening tag and an ending tag;
a document properties element;
a text element that contains text of the document; wherein all of the text of the document is stored within text elements such that only the text of the document is contained between start text tags and end text tags; wherein there are no intervening tags between each of the start text tags and each of the corresponding end text tags and wherein each of the start text tags do not include formatting information for the text between each of the start text tags and the end text tags;
a text run element that includes the formatting information for the text within text elements;"
A quick glance tells me the patent was rejected three times, so the enterprising individual can easily read the rejections and Microsoft's responses. If you think you can find some references that cover all of those elements, and you've got some cash handy, you can file what's called an "Ex Parte Reexamination" that will put the patent back in question.
My first thought on reading the headline was that someone dressed in a pirate suit had managed to get inside and was forcing researchers to walk the plank.
The way I heard that the AI for the battle scene was programmed was such that every one of the creatures had a slightly different set of paramaters, with the same goal of maximizing damage, while minimizing casualties.
On the first run, every single one of the thousands of little AIs decided that the best way to minimize casualties was to turn and run away.
Actually, WallsRSolid is a friend of mine. The university in question is Carnegie Mellon. Microsoft really was here last week, and the reaction to them really was, in all truth an honesty, a positive one.
I've been absolutely astounded on the number of people in this discussion who have completely blown off the topic. Microsoft does produce some quality products, and they are very attractive as employers (the purpose of the visit was one of recruitment), despite all of the Evil Empire BS that flies around.
Well, this could never be the only line of defense. Applying patches regularly and maintaining sane security guidelines could never be obviated by an automated system. Think of this as just another level of intrusion detection software. The methods used to stop intrusions from happening in the first, and those to mop up afterward, would remain unchanged.
Keep in mind that the sysadmin can see quite well what the user is doing. The point of this is just to raise a flag if someone does something outside of their daily pattern, not to mark them for inquisition. All the sysadmin has to do is look at the log and say, "Ah, he's just trying to figure out how to filter his email" and dismiss it, whereas trying to get acquainted with an unfamiliar system and all of its configuration files would be extremely obvious.
There are/were some people working on something like this here at CMU. They had posted up bunch of the raw data that they had collected (basically just shell histories with each command run being assigned to a number, and then plotted as number of command (for instance, the 40th command the user entered) against the number value of the command). The results were extremely regular, and in many cases, downright periodic. People are far more predictable than they would like to think.
The article claims that now that Microsoft has won against the government, it's next big challenger will be Linux.
That's a joke.
The people who think that Linux will rise up to crush the oppressor are either delusional or horribly misinformed.
While Linux has made, and will continue to make inroads due to its technical superiority, Microsoft still has the lion's share of market share, and an absolutely enormous amount of money.
Really, to think of Microsoft and the Linux community as fighting for supremacy is like imagining a battle between a human and an ant colony. The human may not be able to destroy the ant colony (or may get one colony, while many others remain in the yard), due to its diffuse nature, but the human will never be seriously threatened by it.
If they were serious about what they were doing, they should have contacted the people who have influence over the systems they compromised. Making their findings public may achieve the same effect in the way of getting the systems fixed, but the end result is a lot of unpleasantness all around. In short, it was a wholly unprofessional way to act.
Slashdot Mirror
hi5! :D
A week or two. Turn on a microwave--that should do it. Or go into a bookstore--you'll feel the scanners at the door.
I live in NYC, where there are all kinds of things hidden behind walls and under the sidewalk. Maybe you're just in an area deficient in weirdness?
Ayup. My superpower might not be anything to write home about, but it's what I've got!
See other posts I've made here. I went to a body modification guy who does these, it was a quick procedure, basically healed in a week. Once the swelling went down, I was able to feel more stuff. The things I feel most often are electric ranges, microwaves, security scanners at stores, and wall warts.
Because it was there:Mountains::Because it was awesome:Subdermal mangets
I like having senses other people don't. It doesn't give me any practical advantage, but it's neat.
Speaking as a guy with magnets in his fingertips, you're wrong. They're nowhere near strong enough to cause trouble.
Only if the fields are changing. RTFMAXWELLEQUATIONS.
Subdermal magnets are pretty weak compared to the magnets you'd find in, e.g., a hard disk head. Speaking from experience, they certainly aren't strong to wipe a credit card, so I double they'd be a threat to any practical device.
The magnets that they use are coated pretty well. Mine are actually flat little magnets that are used in magnetic stirrers in chemistry labs. They're made to be as inert as possible.
In the first generation, the guy who did them coated them with silicone that would rub off. It would cause the skin around the magnet to blacken once that happened. Once I found out that they fixed that problem, I jumped on it.
Of course, if I ever need an MRI, I'll need them taken out.
It's pretty sweet. I've got one in my right thumb and index finger. I feel a buzz whenever there's a strong enough alternating field nearby, and a tug whenever I pass my hand near strong static magnets. I'll be walking down the street and feel sensors to detect the presence of cars, and I can feel the brakes in subway cars. Nothing particularly practical, but I figure I may get a couple of seconds warning before the shockwave if I ever feel an EMP.
In terms of strength, I can basically pick up staples. Anything heavier falls off. Other magnets I can drag around on the table pretty easily, though it's uncomfortable to have them actually contact my fingers.
In particular, it's worth noting that the entire case file for all issued patents is publicly available (http://portal.uspto.gov/external/portal/pair). For this patent, you can see exactly what the Examiner thought made the patent allowable over the prior art.
Go to the Public PAIR website, put in the patent number, and then click on the "Image File Wrapper" tab. The document you're looking for is the Notice of Allowance. In this particular case, this is what the Examiner thought was allowable over the prior art:
"Regarding independent claims 32 and 43 the prior art of record fails to disclose or suggest the combination of claimed provisions of:
a bookmark element; wherein the bookmark element includes an identifier attribute that associates a start bookmark with an end bookmark element wherein two bookmark elements are used in book marking a portion of the document; wherein each of the two bookmark elements include an opening tag and an ending tag;
a document properties element;
a text element that contains text of the document; wherein all of the text of the document is stored within text elements such that only the text of the document is contained between start text tags and end text tags; wherein there are no intervening tags between each of the start text tags and each of the corresponding end text tags and wherein each of the start text tags do not include formatting information for the text between each of the start text tags and the end text tags;
a text run element that includes the formatting information for the text within text elements;"
A quick glance tells me the patent was rejected three times, so the enterprising individual can easily read the rejections and Microsoft's responses. If you think you can find some references that cover all of those elements, and you've got some cash handy, you can file what's called an "Ex Parte Reexamination" that will put the patent back in question.
My first thought on reading the headline was that someone dressed in a pirate suit had managed to get inside and was forcing researchers to walk the plank.
"Arr, I'll supercollide ye!"
In Maine? Neat. I went there for a few summers (driving from Albany, NY). It's a great camp.
If you read the text under the picture, you'll see the following text:
Dark ellipses have been cut away where bright local stars dominate the sky.
There are enormously bright objects there that interfere, so they get cut out.
I found archives of old Slashdot stories and resubmitted them.
The way I heard that the AI for the battle scene was programmed was such that every one of the creatures had a slightly different set of paramaters, with the same goal of maximizing damage, while minimizing casualties.
On the first run, every single one of the thousands of little AIs decided that the best way to minimize casualties was to turn and run away.
When I first saw the title of the article, my first thought was that it had to do with genetic engineering.
Actually, WallsRSolid is a friend of mine. The university in question is Carnegie Mellon. Microsoft really was here last week, and the reaction to them really was, in all truth an honesty, a positive one.
I've been absolutely astounded on the number of people in this discussion who have completely blown off the topic. Microsoft does produce some quality products, and they are very attractive as employers (the purpose of the visit was one of recruitment), despite all of the Evil Empire BS that flies around.
Well, this could never be the only line of defense. Applying patches regularly and maintaining sane security guidelines could never be obviated by an automated system. Think of this as just another level of intrusion detection software. The methods used to stop intrusions from happening in the first, and those to mop up afterward, would remain unchanged.
Keep in mind that the sysadmin can see quite well what the user is doing. The point of this is just to raise a flag if someone does something outside of their daily pattern, not to mark them for inquisition.
All the sysadmin has to do is look at the log and say, "Ah, he's just trying to figure out how to filter his email" and dismiss it, whereas trying to get acquainted with an unfamiliar system and all of its configuration files would be extremely obvious.
There are/were some people working on something like this here at CMU. They had posted up bunch of the raw data that they had collected (basically just shell histories with each command run being assigned to a number, and then plotted as number of command (for instance, the 40th command the user entered) against the number value of the command). The results were extremely regular, and in many cases, downright periodic. People are far more predictable than they would like to think.
Look! My car can go from 0 to 60 in 2.75 seconds!
--
http://ragnar.nilmop.com
The article claims that now that Microsoft has won against the government, it's next big challenger will be Linux.
That's a joke.
The people who think that Linux will rise up to crush the oppressor are either delusional or horribly misinformed.
While Linux has made, and will continue to make inroads due to its technical superiority, Microsoft still has the lion's share of market share, and an absolutely enormous amount of money.
Really, to think of Microsoft and the Linux community as fighting for supremacy is like imagining a battle between a human and an ant colony. The human may not be able to destroy the ant colony (or may get one colony, while many others remain in the yard), due to its diffuse nature, but the human will never be seriously threatened by it.
--
http://ragnar.nilmop.com
If they were serious about what they were doing, they should have contacted the people who have influence over the systems they compromised. Making their findings public may achieve the same effect in the way of getting the systems fixed, but the end result is a lot of unpleasantness all around. In short, it was a wholly unprofessional way to act.
So we can spend more and more on special effects, and less and less on those useless "plots" and "storylines"...