Re:And now for what (may have) REALLY happened. .
on
Latest Columbia News
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· Score: 1
You know it's fun to let the mind run wild and play "what if".
The most interesting thing I found by following these links is what Defense Secretary Cohen said about terrorists who are working on electromagnetic weapons that can trigger earthquakes and volcanos remotely.
I mean, did the guy forget his medication or does stuff like that exist?
I live right next to JSC. I spoke with a guy in the weather modeling section about a year ago at an open house event. He said that they are slowly moving in the direction of Linux, but that there is no reason to abandon their Unix boxes (he had an HP unix maxhine) at the present time as they tended to work fine and would for the forseeable future.
Everyone who charges for anything is involved in a commercial transaction - root word being commerce.
I think Apple realizes that you can be pro-commerce and not anti-open source. And, if you were honest, I think you would have to agree that they are following the letter and the spirit of the licenses they are utilizing.
You see Apple, unlike Microsoft, doesn't feel that this is a zero-sum game. We can share code, play to our strengths, have open architectures, make some money, and change the world.
Why isn't everyone all over IBM for it's adoption of Linux like they are over Apple?
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Richard A. Clarke, the top cyber-security adviser to President Bush, is confirming plans to resign from the White House, and he raised an ominous warning to colleagues about the destructive effects of future attacks on the Internet.
I need to check this out further, but a read over the press release shows no mention of Internet Radio.
I certainly support the bill * can I get an amen? * and I suppose you have to pick your battles, but doesn't Internet radio need a little fairness also?
I would like to see parity between Internet broadcasters and FM broadcasters regarding what is required of them by the RIAA. The RIAA doesn't want independent Internet radio stations to succeed and is imposing stifling reporting requirements (i.e. song, title, time played, listener's IP address, listener's blood type etc.) and exorbitant copyright compensation fees. As it stands now, independent Internet radio stations are dying.
I believe that radio will eventually be "broadcast" almost exclusively over IP networks with the wireless component being handled by ubiquitous, low-power, ultra-wide band radio in the city and satellite radio in the country. I think an explosion of music could happen if the RIAA would just get out of the way. Instead, they seek to hinder this explosion because it is not something they understand or feel that they can control.
I urge you to consider that "small and independent" radio is increasingly going to be an Internet phenomenon and we future station owners need your help.
Reading the majority opinion, it is obvious that the court had serious problems with Congress' copyright extensions, but felt they had to stick within their constitutional mandate - something they didn't feel compelled to do in 2000.
From the opinion:
In sum, we find that the CTEA is a rational enactment;
we are not at liberty to second-guess congressional deter-
minations and policy judgments of this order, however debatable or arguably unwise they may be.
We may lament the outcome of the ruling, but it is congress who started this snowball and this kind of shit isn't going to get any better until people start paying attention to and participating in the making of the laws. At this rate of social evolution, I think that will start happening in about 75-100 years.
We had multiple users with domain name issues yesterday on perfectly stable sites. I am asking is anyone can tell me if this could have anything to do with the subject of the story.
OK, this will probably mark me as a clueless newbie, but could this be remotely responsible for three separate issues of clients unable to resolve perfectly healthy domain names today and yesterday?
Pinging the sites from their machines returned an "unknown host".
It's called sleep-paralysis. I can either struggle fiercly or "give up" and sink back into sleep.
I have read that it is a)the body's normal block on neuro-muscular activity when sleeping not disengaging cleanly and b)the "soul" or "astral body" is slightly "out of phase" with the physical body. This being the first step in an OBE.
I also get the rapid, exponentially increasing buzzing sounds, but have never had an OBE and don't know if they are real or not.
As for the thrust of the article, just because these states can be induced, does that mean they aren't "real". I mean, what if moving the consciousness out of the body is just a matter of perception and is akin to flipping a switch? Just because there is a physical activator doesn't deny the experience. The fact that death occurs by physical means is no evidence against the continuation of a soul.
While far from inevitable, does anyone feel a sense of optimism that Unix(and variants) stands to eventually become the standard in computing?
Here's Why:
* Countries like China are probably very suspicious of running closed code like Windows and Office - I mean spying is a real thing. While open source seems to go against their nature, atleast they know what's inside. Also, the old communist mindset will come in handy - code for the Motherland!
* The developing areas of the world - Africa, India, South America etc. - are unable to pay the MS tax and are haven't been thoroughly brainwashed into thinking Bill is a genious. They need tools that work and that are inexpensive. They also want the quickest and cheapest path to an "information economy".
* IBM, Sun, Apple etc. are pushing their own Unix brands and Linux in an attempt to rest control of the direction of computing away from Microsoft. I think that they are starting to smell blood in the water. Sure, there is framgmentation in Windowing systems and sure IRIS, Solaris, OS X, Linux etc can't share binaries, but the differences are slight compared to interoperability with Windows by an order of magnitude.
* Schools in any country can't afford the MS tax - especially microsoft's new and improved licensing schemes. Standard Unix programming tools and environments have to be a pretty compelling petri dish for computer science students and young programming students.
Maybe it's wishful thinking, but big changes happen due to simultaneous forces pushing in the same direction. MS benefited greatly from an open X86 architecture and from the legitimacy of IBM and then from its eventual ubiquity I think Unix is now going to benefit from its open code, platform independence, the legitimacy of IBM, Sun, Apple etc., and its increasing ubiquity.
It seems to me that what is needed is not something that is designed to provoke an emotion i.e. fear,or convey danger. what is needed is an unambiguous way to say, "Hey, there's nuclear material here." Let future generations come up with their own responses. Maybe they can use the material. Maybe they will want to avoid it. Who knows?
How about scientific drawimgs that depict atomic structures, mathematical formulas that describe the fission process - something like that? I am not a nuclear scientist or a chemist, but surely there are images that can clearly convey that something is radioactive to anybody with enough science under there belt to consider drilling in the area? We wouldn't speak to aliens in Greek or Navaho - we would try mathematics as a presumably universal point of reference. Why not do the same here?
What about an Internet Radio station, for instance, that whishes to conform to the RIAA rules and pay the licensing fees for the music played?
If CD's can't be ripped, where will the source music come from. Are there digital versions of the songs that can be purchased from the record companies for "legitimate" purposes?
I would recommend building the towers exactly as they were (in appearance - not technically) to send a message that no one changes the NY skyline unless we want it changed.
OR
Some sort of massive skyscraping monument on the level of the statue of liberty or the eiffel tower.
For the thousands of exquisite moments I enjoyed while reading your books.
Douglas Adams' books resonated with me on a really interesting level that I haven't quite found anywhere else. His writing was the perfect blend of science, humor, and philosophy. Reading his books always left me with the feeling that there is something more to life than is immediately evident.
I will always carry with me the image of a red sofa bouncing around on a computer screen and the incredible multi-dimensional music he describes on the starship in Dirk Gently's HDA. Great stuff. The kind of moments that make life feel a little less lonely.
When we lose someone of great talent, I like to think that it's OK, because now they will help us all from the other side.
I, respectfully, suggest that you are missing the point.
The artists have a product to sell. Currently the only viable means of distributing that product is to sign away all their rights to a monopoly called the RIAA.
This is not about getting around paying the artists or the RIAA, this is about allowing someone to license the music from the RIAA at a fee rate comparable to the radio industry. It is easier for a traditional radio station to license music because there is somthing called a compulsory license - which means that the RIAA HAS to license the music.
I am looking into setting up a legitimate Internet-based radio station, and would like to be able to license the songs I play without jumping through hoops and paying out the nose.
Not to mention the fact, that the RIAA is letting greed get in the way of good music. Do you ever wonder why radio is so - well - sucky? It's because of all the restrictions placed on licensees - all designed to maximize CD sales. If the RIAA really wants CD sales to take off, they should establish a uniform licensing standard and get the fsck out of the way.
Yes, people enjoy seeing the bully stumble, but that isn't what this story is about. This is about the very important Web site of a major company being uinavailable for long periods of time.
BTW, can anyone out there try Macromedia.com. I can't reach it via browser, pings come back "unreachable from gateway 64.41.195.26", my ISP can't ping them (insync.net) and a third party ISP (exodus.net) can't reach them.
A clueless Macromedia person reached on the phone suggested that I restart my browser.
Re:What IT Is And Isn't
on
What is 'IT'?
·
· Score: 1
I doubt it... why would Bezos wonder if it will be legal to use it? My guess is a personal hovercraft type device...
I think the spirit of Bezos' comment was that it would require some shifting of current regulations. A motorized personal transport device sold in quantity would necessitate a rethinking of the design behind our public spaces and access ways.
So, while not explicitly illegal, a device like this would probably not work too well with our existing sidewalk and road system and would probably require new laws to legitimize it's use.
I am currently working with an MD designing a desktop/laptop/palm databse application used soley to record information during the exam, track patients, and generate legible reports.
This Doc, and I assume most others who work out of hospitals, has access to a text-based computer system that, among other things, allow him to check on lab results remotely.
He and I were discussing the fact that, while entering in data at the patients bedside is fairly easy, going back and entering lab results as they come in is a major drag.
Does anybody know anything about the computer capabilities at these medical labs and wether or not there is any history of these people allowing third party software vendors to access this information in a standard format like XML or text files? It seems to me that in order for desktop and Palm-based medical applications to be really useful, there needs to be some way for the application to dial into the lab and query the server for the latest lab results.
Of course, the security ramifications boggle the mind.
Do you need an asteroid?
on
Going Up?
·
· Score: 1
My understanding of this concept is as follows: You take a strand of material, and, starting from GEO, extend the strand in both directions until one end of the strand is touching the earth and the other end is sufficiently far enough into space that the centripedal force counteracts the force of gravity.
As far as I can tell, this scenarion doesn't require latching on to an asteroid. Now, it may be that the tether needs to extend a million miles into space to counteract the gravity.
The Coen brothers' new film, "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" for example, was transferred into digital...
I will always remember a shot in the lobby of the hotel in Barton Fink. The texture of the room was incredible. That scene has always been a constant reminder to me of the richness of film.
If the Coen brothers are exerimenting with digital, maybe there is something there.
Slashdot Mirror
You know it's fun to let the mind run wild and play "what if".
The most interesting thing I found by following these links is what Defense Secretary Cohen said about terrorists who are working on electromagnetic weapons that can trigger earthquakes and volcanos remotely.
I mean, did the guy forget his medication or does stuff like that exist?
I live right next to JSC. I spoke with a guy in the weather modeling section about a year ago at an open house event. He said that they are slowly moving in the direction of Linux, but that there is no reason to abandon their Unix boxes (he had an HP unix maxhine) at the present time as they tended to work fine and would for the forseeable future.
Everyone who charges for anything is involved in a commercial transaction - root word being commerce.
I think Apple realizes that you can be pro-commerce and not anti-open source. And, if you were honest, I think you would have to agree that they are following the letter and the spirit of the licenses they are utilizing.
You see Apple, unlike Microsoft, doesn't feel that this is a zero-sum game. We can share code, play to our strengths, have open architectures, make some money, and change the world.
Why isn't everyone all over IBM for it's adoption of Linux like they are over Apple?
From the NY times:
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Richard A. Clarke, the top cyber-security adviser to President Bush, is confirming plans to resign from the White House, and he raised an ominous warning to colleagues about the destructive effects of future attacks on the Internet.
I need to check this out further, but a read over the press release shows no mention of Internet Radio.
I certainly support the bill * can I get an amen? * and I suppose you have to pick your battles, but doesn't Internet radio need a little fairness also?
I would like to see parity between Internet broadcasters and FM broadcasters regarding what is required of them by the RIAA. The RIAA doesn't want independent Internet radio stations to succeed and is imposing stifling reporting requirements (i.e. song, title, time played, listener's IP address, listener's blood type etc.) and exorbitant copyright compensation fees. As it stands now, independent Internet radio stations are dying.
I believe that radio will eventually be "broadcast" almost exclusively over IP networks with the wireless component being handled by ubiquitous, low-power, ultra-wide band radio in the city and satellite radio in the country. I think an explosion of music could happen if the RIAA would just get out of the way. Instead, they seek to hinder this explosion because it is not something they understand or feel that they can control.
I urge you to consider that "small and independent" radio is increasingly going to be an Internet phenomenon and we future station owners need your help.
Thank You
I agree.
Reading the majority opinion, it is obvious that the court had serious problems with Congress' copyright extensions, but felt they had to stick within their constitutional mandate - something they didn't feel compelled to do in 2000.
From the opinion: In sum, we find that the CTEA is a rational enactment; we are not at liberty to second-guess congressional deter- minations and policy judgments of this order, however debatable or arguably unwise they may be.
We may lament the outcome of the ruling, but it is congress who started this snowball and this kind of shit isn't going to get any better until people start paying attention to and participating in the making of the laws. At this rate of social evolution, I think that will start happening in about 75-100 years.
I think that would be a copyright violation.
Excellent suggestion.
I changed mine to "/." directly after reading your post.
It has been stated that the performance hit is 10-15% when doing disk writes.
Wouldn't that preclude its use for video importing and editing where write time determines whether or not you drop frames?
I would love to have the benefits of Journaling, but I am afraid of losing video quality.
Why is this a troll?
We had multiple users with domain name issues yesterday on perfectly stable sites. I am asking is anyone can tell me if this could have anything to do with the subject of the story.
OK, this will probably mark me as a clueless newbie, but could this be remotely responsible for three separate issues of clients unable to resolve perfectly healthy domain names today and yesterday?
Pinging the sites from their machines returned an "unknown host".
Happens to me to.
It's called sleep-paralysis. I can either struggle fiercly or "give up" and sink back into sleep.
I have read that it is a)the body's normal block on neuro-muscular activity when sleeping not disengaging cleanly and b)the "soul" or "astral body" is slightly "out of phase" with the physical body. This being the first step in an OBE.
I also get the rapid, exponentially increasing buzzing sounds, but have never had an OBE and don't know if they are real or not.
As for the thrust of the article, just because these states can be induced, does that mean they aren't "real". I mean, what if moving the consciousness out of the body is just a matter of perception and is akin to flipping a switch? Just because there is a physical activator doesn't deny the experience. The fact that death occurs by physical means is no evidence against the continuation of a soul.
While far from inevitable, does anyone feel a sense of optimism that Unix(and variants) stands to eventually become the standard in computing?
Here's Why:
* Countries like China are probably very suspicious of running closed code like Windows and Office - I mean spying is a real thing. While open source seems to go against their nature, atleast they know what's inside. Also, the old communist mindset will come in handy - code for the Motherland!
* The developing areas of the world - Africa, India, South America etc. - are unable to pay the MS tax and are haven't been thoroughly brainwashed into thinking Bill is a genious. They need tools that work and that are inexpensive. They also want the quickest and cheapest path to an "information economy".
* IBM, Sun, Apple etc. are pushing their own Unix brands and Linux in an attempt to rest control of the direction of computing away from Microsoft. I think that they are starting to smell blood in the water. Sure, there is framgmentation in Windowing systems and sure IRIS, Solaris, OS X, Linux etc can't share binaries, but the differences are slight compared to interoperability with Windows by an order of magnitude.
* Schools in any country can't afford the MS tax - especially microsoft's new and improved licensing schemes. Standard Unix programming tools and environments have to be a pretty compelling petri dish for computer science students and young programming students.
Maybe it's wishful thinking, but big changes happen due to simultaneous forces pushing in the same direction. MS benefited greatly from an open X86 architecture and from the legitimacy of IBM and then from its eventual ubiquity I think Unix is now going to benefit from its open code, platform independence, the legitimacy of IBM, Sun, Apple etc., and its increasing ubiquity.
It seems to me that what is needed is not something that is designed to provoke an emotion i.e. fear,or convey danger. what is needed is an unambiguous way to say, "Hey, there's nuclear material here." Let future generations come up with their own responses. Maybe they can use the material. Maybe they will want to avoid it. Who knows?
How about scientific drawimgs that depict atomic structures, mathematical formulas that describe the fission process - something like that? I am not a nuclear scientist or a chemist, but surely there are images that can clearly convey that something is radioactive to anybody with enough science under there belt to consider drilling in the area? We wouldn't speak to aliens in Greek or Navaho - we would try mathematics as a presumably universal point of reference. Why not do the same here?
Much more simple solution:
.bin and.hqx files.
In Explorer preferences, uncheck the boes to automatically decode the
That way, stuffit expander will handle the decoding and will not automatically launch the resulting binary.
What about an Internet Radio station, for instance, that whishes to conform to the RIAA rules and pay the licensing fees for the music played?
If CD's can't be ripped, where will the source music come from. Are there digital versions of the songs that can be purchased from the record companies for "legitimate" purposes?
I've been thinking about this as well.
I would recommend building the towers exactly as they were (in appearance - not technically) to send a message that no one changes the NY skyline unless we want it changed.
OR
Some sort of massive skyscraping monument on the level of the statue of liberty or the eiffel tower.
For the thousands of exquisite moments I enjoyed while reading your books.
Douglas Adams' books resonated with me on a really interesting level that I haven't quite found anywhere else. His writing was the perfect blend of science, humor, and philosophy. Reading his books always left me with the feeling that there is something more to life than is immediately evident.
I will always carry with me the image of a red sofa bouncing around on a computer screen and the incredible multi-dimensional music he describes on the starship in Dirk Gently's HDA. Great stuff. The kind of moments that make life feel a little less lonely.
When we lose someone of great talent, I like to think that it's OK, because now they will help us all from the other side.
Cheers, Mr. Adams
I, respectfully, suggest that you are missing the point.
The artists have a product to sell. Currently the only viable means of distributing that product is to sign away all their rights to a monopoly called the RIAA.
This is not about getting around paying the artists or the RIAA, this is about allowing someone to license the music from the RIAA at a fee rate comparable to the radio industry. It is easier for a traditional radio station to license music because there is somthing called a compulsory license - which means that the RIAA HAS to license the music.
I am looking into setting up a legitimate Internet-based radio station, and would like to be able to license the songs I play without jumping through hoops and paying out the nose.
Not to mention the fact, that the RIAA is letting greed get in the way of good music. Do you ever wonder why radio is so - well - sucky? It's because of all the restrictions placed on licensees - all designed to maximize CD sales. If the RIAA really wants CD sales to take off, they should establish a uniform licensing standard and get the fsck out of the way.
Forgot to say that it has been this way for over 24 hours.
Yes, people enjoy seeing the bully stumble, but that isn't what this story is about. This is about the very important Web site of a major company being uinavailable for long periods of time.
BTW, can anyone out there try Macromedia.com. I can't reach it via browser, pings come back "unreachable from gateway 64.41.195.26", my ISP can't ping them (insync.net) and a third party ISP (exodus.net) can't reach them.
A clueless Macromedia person reached on the phone suggested that I restart my browser.
I doubt it... why would Bezos wonder if it will be legal to use it? My guess is a personal hovercraft type device...
I think the spirit of Bezos' comment was that it would require some shifting of current regulations. A motorized personal transport device sold in quantity would necessitate a rethinking of the design behind our public spaces and access ways. So, while not explicitly illegal, a device like this would probably not work too well with our existing sidewalk and road system and would probably require new laws to legitimize it's use.
I am currently working with an MD designing a desktop/laptop/palm databse application used soley to record information during the exam, track patients, and generate legible reports.
This Doc, and I assume most others who work out of hospitals, has access to a text-based computer system that, among other things, allow him to check on lab results remotely.
He and I were discussing the fact that, while entering in data at the patients bedside is fairly easy, going back and entering lab results as they come in is a major drag.
Does anybody know anything about the computer capabilities at these medical labs and wether or not there is any history of these people allowing third party software vendors to access this information in a standard format like XML or text files? It seems to me that in order for desktop and Palm-based medical applications to be really useful, there needs to be some way for the application to dial into the lab and query the server for the latest lab results.
Of course, the security ramifications boggle the mind.
My understanding of this concept is as follows: You take a strand of material, and, starting from GEO, extend the strand in both directions until one end of the strand is touching the earth and the other end is sufficiently far enough into space that the centripedal force counteracts the force of gravity.
As far as I can tell, this scenarion doesn't require latching on to an asteroid. Now, it may be that the tether needs to extend a million miles into space to counteract the gravity.
The Coen brothers' new film, "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" for example, was transferred into digital...
I will always remember a shot in the lobby of the hotel in Barton Fink. The texture of the room was incredible. That scene has always been a constant reminder to me of the richness of film.
If the Coen brothers are exerimenting with digital, maybe there is something there.