a processor for performing control functions and processing data;
a display for outputting data received from said processor and for receiving input from a user of said computer system via a graphical user interface; and
a plurality of theme engines each capable of rendering a theme by drawing an object on said graphical user interface, wherein a selected one of said theme engines is commanded to draw said object based upon a theme selection coordinated by said processor.
It is possible for an expert witness to be quite a bit partial, especially if the testimony involves some sort of statistical analysis.
In statistics, tests of the odds of something strange happening vs the usual (the null hypothesis) are called significance tests. Significance tests generate numbers called P-values that represent the probability of the strange event happening, given that the normal event is really the normal event.
I think, in the American legal system, P-values that are significant at an alpha-level of 0.05 or less (essentially meaning that P is less than 0.05, which designates that the event will happen less than 5% of the time) can be considered substantial evidence for or against something, since the probability is 'too small to be due to chance'.
However, there are problems with imposing a cutoff of 0.050000. If I've been hired for one side or another, and I want my results to come out one way or the other, I can sometimes swing it. Either by rounding (0.04901 becomes 0.05, therefore significant), or not rounding (0.049999 is NOT significant), I can sway the results to one side. This is considered very bad statistical practice, but I'm sure it's done nevertheless.
This is just one example of how results can be swayed. Since so much of the science involved in court decisions is not exact (if we had exact numbers, we'd know whodunnit) there is much room for rounding or using alternate significance levels etc...
Anyway, in relation to this story, it may be a good idea to have expert court-appointed witnesses or impartial ones to avoid biases like this (and I'm sure there are others).
if we could just squeeze a few extra watts (like 44.9 more) out of this Solar-Powered Safari Hat then not only would we have a solution to our power problem, but we'd also have some really stylish headwear. I can see it now: the 10-gallon solar-hats!
I think what more programmers/hackers need to learn is algorithims. I don't mean they need to memorize search/sort/join algorithims (although they can if they want), but they need to get comfortable with writing out ALL the algorithims and function/control diagrams and data structures for a program before they write a single line of C or whatever they're using.
I learned this myself a year or so ago, and since then all my programs have been [more] neat and tidy.
This has got to be a new record: only 2 comments had been posted and the site was already trashed...
Then again, maybe it wasn't the/. effect... the Quarter Shrinker itself could have concievable trashed their server, since it's mostly made of metal...?
This really isn't an accurate experiment, for two reasons:
The adults are going to know something's up when a little girl comes up to them with two barbie dolls and asks them which one they prefer, this may be the reason for the 50-50 split.
My preference in barbie dolls doesn't necessarily reflect my racial preferences. Just because I pick a white barbie doll in a lavender dress over a black barbie doll doesn't mean that I don't like black people, it just means that I (a) like the lavender dress, (b) I find white women more attractive than black women (which has nothing to do with racial preference), or (c) I'm only 8 years old (in the case of the children) and I have no preference in women. (b+c applies mostly to guys, but the article didn't specify).
Regardless, I still don't think the project should have been yanked, not only because it destroys the child's self esteem, but also because it promotes the "if we ignore it, it will go away" mentality, which is wrong.
Except for the texture artists... (?) everyone is a programmer. Now the engine designer is a bit more of a programmer than the level editor, but everyone is in a way.
Now the real question is: are webmasters programmers (HTML?)?
You can't really expect the/. people et al to post reasons for outages... do most major sites do that? NO!!!
When Yahoo got ddos'ed last year and was down for over a day, did they post anything about it? That's just not something respectable sites do, and believe it or not, slashdot is, at least IMHO, a pretty respectable website.
Everybody just calm down, get yourselves some valium, and pull the golf clubs out of your asses.
Actually, Theo may be in the right about 'immediately enforcing' trademark violations... Xerox and Kleenex are two famous examples of corporations who didn't immediately enforce their trademarks and ended up losing them by a clause in trademark law dealing with 'name dilusion'.
This is why Coke runs around suing everyone like crazy for using their name places it shouldn't be... not because they really think skript_kiddie666's webpage is going to cause problems, but because if they don't keep on top of it they could lose their multi-billion dollar brand.
Fuel Miscalculation Leads to Disaster
NEAR scientists burned too much fuel on the NEAR space probe, causing it to form a black hole and suck up Eros, the other 20-ish moons of Jupiter, and then Jupiter itself in a freak accident...
Every company will have a carboard spinner on the wall with every employee's name on it... each week the owner will spin the arrow, the first person picked gets to be CEO for the week, 2nd COO, 3rd CFO, 4th CIO etc... the last person gets to be the janitor.
Salaries will be determined by dice... roll two dice and multiply output by $10,000.
Stock prices really will use a 'random walk' model
Potential bidders for a contract will play 'duck, duck, goose' for the job... oh wait... that's competitive. Better go with a lucky 8-ball.
There was an article in US News or Newsweek or something a few months ago about how we as a society have gone overboard in shielding kids from reality and reducing competition in schools.
I'm currently a high school student, my current school isn't too bad but my old school went way too far. At one point they considered abolishing the honor roll because the 20-30% of students who didn't make it felt left out. They also decided to do away with tryouts for teams, and instead used a lottery system if more people tried out than they could take. I believe we went from 2nd in our league to last after they implemented this... oh well.
If anyone knows what article I'm talking about that'd be nice, I couldn't find it for the life of me.
The patent itself may not be frivilous... but isn't the concept of attaching sensors to a fan a little frivilous in itself. It make make the cadillac of CPU fans... but mine does just fine thank you.
I guess if the sensors were to see if the fan was movign at all would make sense, but if you really need to know exactly how many RPM's your CPU fans are pushing, you need a life.
If you use 'make KERNEL_DIR=whatever -jX' where X is a number larger than 1 (I used 6 on my SMP machine), you can make the poster generation process go much faster (mine took 3.5 hours instead of 12).
Nope. The four sockets consist of two normal ATA-33 IDE channels, and then another two ATA-66 with a seperate on-board controller... I suppose you could do IDE software RAID if you wanted but it's not HW RAID...
Slashdot Mirror
Seems a little bit un-original to me...
I hope it doesn't hit New Zealand, 'cause that could push them clear to the bottom of the ocean...
In statistics, tests of the odds of something strange happening vs the usual (the null hypothesis) are called significance tests. Significance tests generate numbers called P-values that represent the probability of the strange event happening, given that the normal event is really the normal event.
I think, in the American legal system, P-values that are significant at an alpha-level of 0.05 or less (essentially meaning that P is less than 0.05, which designates that the event will happen less than 5% of the time) can be considered substantial evidence for or against something, since the probability is 'too small to be due to chance'.
However, there are problems with imposing a cutoff of 0.050000. If I've been hired for one side or another, and I want my results to come out one way or the other, I can sometimes swing it. Either by rounding (0.04901 becomes 0.05, therefore significant), or not rounding (0.049999 is NOT significant), I can sway the results to one side. This is considered very bad statistical practice, but I'm sure it's done nevertheless.
This is just one example of how results can be swayed. Since so much of the science involved in court decisions is not exact (if we had exact numbers, we'd know whodunnit) there is much room for rounding or using alternate significance levels etc...
Anyway, in relation to this story, it may be a good idea to have expert court-appointed witnesses or impartial ones to avoid biases like this (and I'm sure there are others).
I learned this myself a year or so ago, and since then all my programs have been [more] neat and tidy.
Then again, maybe it wasn't the /. effect... the Quarter Shrinker itself could have concievable trashed their server, since it's mostly made of metal...?
- The adults are going to know something's up when a little girl comes up to them with two barbie dolls and asks them which one they prefer, this may be the reason for the 50-50 split.
- My preference in barbie dolls doesn't necessarily reflect my racial preferences. Just because I pick a white barbie doll in a lavender dress over a black barbie doll doesn't mean that I don't like black people, it just means that I (a) like the lavender dress, (b) I find white women more attractive than black women (which has nothing to do with racial preference), or (c) I'm only 8 years old (in the case of the children) and I have no preference in women. (b+c applies mostly to guys, but the article didn't specify).
Regardless, I still don't think the project should have been yanked, not only because it destroys the child's self esteem, but also because it promotes the "if we ignore it, it will go away" mentality, which is wrong.Now the real question is: are webmasters programmers (HTML?)?
When Yahoo got ddos'ed last year and was down for over a day, did they post anything about it? That's just not something respectable sites do, and believe it or not, slashdot is, at least IMHO, a pretty respectable website.
Everybody just calm down, get yourselves some valium, and pull the golf clubs out of your asses.
This is why Coke runs around suing everyone like crazy for using their name places it shouldn't be... not because they really think skript_kiddie666's webpage is going to cause problems, but because if they don't keep on top of it they could lose their multi-billion dollar brand.
Fuel Miscalculation Leads to Disaster
NEAR scientists burned too much fuel on the NEAR space probe, causing it to form a black hole and suck up Eros, the other 20-ish moons of Jupiter, and then Jupiter itself in a freak accident...
NASA hasn't wasted any money on failed Mars expeditions, plus or minus several billion dollars...
(The one person who voted no also voted yes to last week's poll: 'Are leather culottes in style?')
I'm currently a high school student, my current school isn't too bad but my old school went way too far. At one point they considered abolishing the honor roll because the 20-30% of students who didn't make it felt left out. They also decided to do away with tryouts for teams, and instead used a lottery system if more people tried out than they could take. I believe we went from 2nd in our league to last after they implemented this... oh well.
If anyone knows what article I'm talking about that'd be nice, I couldn't find it for the life of me.
Ok, fine... that was one of those 'open mouth, insert foot' comments...
I guess if the sensors were to see if the fan was movign at all would make sense, but if you really need to know exactly how many RPM's your CPU fans are pushing, you need a life.
So maybe if every linux user on the planet contributed $10 we could get enough money and... oh wait... never mind.
Good... just what we need... another distraction for America's already shitty drivers.