"sooner or later a successful crypto-system to prevent all non-permitted use of materials will be developed, complete with tamper-proof hardware in your PC, and then where will we be?"
Let's not forget the momentum and juggernautish tendencies of human institutions once they are put in place. Until business decides that they don't need to see that college degree for admission to the interview club, then people will continue to head on out the door to Drink Tech.
A slight variations on this might be to invent a satellite that attaches itself to enemy (or competing corporate satellites) and slows it down enough to take it out of orbit.
Because a large satellite might be detectable, how bout a series of tiny sticky satellites that just add mass to an enemy satellite. Of course, my physics training (very little) doesn't tell me how many sticky's it would take to alter the orbit.
Shoot, if you really want to take a tangent, why not modify the technology from a satellite to a weapon police departments could use to stop speeding motorists.
Ok, Ok, I'm really getting off-topic now. But the idea is pretty interesting I think.
If you simply make an image filter based on colors, you'll never get a filter that blocks much of anything correctly.
In our work with imaging technologies & the food processing industry, we are constantly trying to identify good product (fries, beans, carrots, etc) from junk & background. What we find is that even with the same cameras, same background lighting, etc, we still see degradations and fluctuations in pictures due to minor changes in product color, background lighting fluctuations & dimming, cameras getting dirty, etc. Spotting a defect with a very controlled set of variables is still tough.
Now, take all the cameras of the world that are taking those naughty pictures and all the variations of film, developing, shutter speed, lighting, skin color, etc. Endless variants. I could take a picture of the same naked person in the same position with the same lighting with 5 cameras and get 5 different shades of skin color.
What would really be needed is shape detection & proportional layout analysis of those nasty shapes. But then, given the large number of shapes & proportions of people's giggle-bits, I still doubt you could get to a solution that's even moderately effective in stopping the undesired and passing the desired.
Instead of some fun little token, they ought to make Easter Eggs something useful...
Like say I find an Easter Egg in Word, I should be rewarded by being able to remove some useless piece of functionality that's making my system go slower!
When sponsorship becomes a necessary support structure of academia, then these kinds of things are bound to happen.
Anywhere a large corporation can eliminate the competition it will. Academia is not insulated from this.
It really is up to the academic institutions themselves to set the boundaries on sponsorship. Not unlike how PBS & NPR limit corporate "advertising" to a 5 second blurb.
Bill Gates and his MS mother board a small raft and set sale on Puget Sound destined for British Columbia to escape the oppressive DOJ regime in the US. Midway through the voyage, the raft capsizes, killing MS.
Bill washes up on a Vancouver beach where he is immediately taken in by his long-lost Canadian relatives. Meanwhile angry DOJ in the US officials demand his return.
After months of legal rangling, climaxing in a raid by Canadian authorities on the home of Bill's Candian relatives. Little Bill is kidnapped out of his closet at gunpoint screming and delivered to DOJ officials. A nation is stunned.
Bill and his DOJ family have a happy reunion, while Bill's Canadian relatives petition outside the Royal Mounted Police demanding Bill's immediate return.
An appeal is filed, but the court decides in favor of the DOJ. In spite of this, Bill & his DOJ family are stuck in a two-bedroom ranch style home in eastern BC awaiting final appeals......
Let's just imagine a totally automated restaurant with big mechanical robotic arms dispensing food, taking money and roughing up those customers that act in an un-McDonald's way.... Now let's imagine one of the big mechanical arms sparking a little over the 42 gallon vat of french fry oil.... Hmmmmm... Maybe I'm old fashioned, but that just doesn't sound like a pleasant dining experience.
Speaking of the Post and some of the other big media that have picked this up.... I find it ironic that these news organizations which are often owned and controlled by a single entity (Turner, Murdoch, etc) are at all reporting on a censorship issue. IMHO, these guys are pretty censored themselves and the groups that speak out against Big Media are often small tabloids with a limited circulation. Thus they don't get exposure to make them a viable threat... Whereas/. is, by its very nature of being on the internet, and of course by its fine content, has developed a vast following. Therefore, I would conclude that had/. not had the public exposure that it does, MS wouldn't have bothered to even mess with it....Just goes to show how far/. has come. (As if we all didn't already know this)... Perhaps the established media in this country should start taking a closer look at the/.'s of the cyber-world as better sources of information & as an example of how a discussion forum can be run to better not only the technological community, but the world community....Instead of just constantly berating the net for being a virtual den of iniquity..... Have I made any valid points here. Probably not, but I'm going to post anyway..:)
It's refreshing to be put in touch with this link and reminded that freedom of information still comes as a priority amongst some people. After reading about the LOC's little issue, this gives me hope.
Yes, Mr. Billington's reasons for the Library's not wanting to digitize were pretty lame... And yes, it smacks of elitism...But we're just being soap box critics posting here (like I am now:o) Because the Library is a 'public' institution, we do have the means, via our representation in Congress, to effect changes in their policies. For example, if I want to get ahold of quote by William Henry Harrison from his inagural address on why he wasn't wearing a hat during his speech, I should be hollaring at Joe Congressman instead of posting here. Of course, I'm not sure how much good that would do. And I'm not sure why the guy wouldn't wear a hat on a cold DC afternoon....
I'd like to backup what Anonymous Coward (love that handle) wrote. Background - I was a salaried employee writing software for a firm on one side of the country and lived on the other side of the country . The only requirement was that I keep in touch & make a trip to the home office once every month or so for a couple days. (fyi - my employer was small ( 25) so I guess even the small guys do it too) - The obvious benefits don't need to be repeated.. no commute, concentration... yada yada. But the biggest downside I found was that I got lonely. Plain and simple. I found that I missed tossing ideas around on a white board and yelling over the cube walls for an answer to a question. I didn't expect those little things would make that much difference, but I found they did. Also, my code is better when I have a peer at my side often... Would I do it again? Sure, but I'd try to make sure that the office was much closer.
I think the onus is on the over-worked employee to take charge of his/her hours. If someone feels they are overworked, spend too much time at home doing office work, or feel they spend too much time away from home, then its time to move on or change your hours or position.... From my own experience , I found that changing my workplace perceptions was the best thing I've done. I haven't been happier in years. I made a deliberate move out of the management fast track and into a family-friendly company. My last job expected me to work 50 hrs minimum. Was even told that by the boss. My current boss asks for 40, but knows it sometimes isn't possible. My company allows us to take sick time (unlimited) to do family activities.... Now there was a price to pay, I did have to take a salary cut (not as hard as it seems) and I had to readjust my thinking to forget the "corporate mentality." Neither was simple, but in just 6 months I could do it. And be happy about it.
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bored
He'll probably land in my backyard. If he does, does that mean he'll get squatter rights to my property?
Let's not forget the momentum and juggernautish tendencies of human institutions once they are put in place. Until business decides that they don't need to see that college degree for admission to the interview club, then people will continue to head on out the door to Drink Tech.
Because a large satellite might be detectable, how bout a series of tiny sticky satellites that just add mass to an enemy satellite. Of course, my physics training (very little) doesn't tell me how many sticky's it would take to alter the orbit.
Shoot, if you really want to take a tangent, why not modify the technology from a satellite to a weapon police departments could use to stop speeding motorists.
Ok, Ok, I'm really getting off-topic now. But the idea is pretty interesting I think.
In our work with imaging technologies & the food processing industry, we are constantly trying to identify good product (fries, beans, carrots, etc) from junk & background. What we find is that even with the same cameras, same background lighting, etc, we still see degradations and fluctuations in pictures due to minor changes in product color, background lighting fluctuations & dimming, cameras getting dirty, etc. Spotting a defect with a very controlled set of variables is still tough.
Now, take all the cameras of the world that are taking those naughty pictures and all the variations of film, developing, shutter speed, lighting, skin color, etc. Endless variants. I could take a picture of the same naked person in the same position with the same lighting with 5 cameras and get 5 different shades of skin color.
What would really be needed is shape detection & proportional layout analysis of those nasty shapes. But then, given the large number of shapes & proportions of people's giggle-bits, I still doubt you could get to a solution that's even moderately effective in stopping the undesired and passing the desired.
I'd make a lego politician... I'm sure it'd get at least 14% in New Hampshire.
Like say I find an Easter Egg in Word, I should be rewarded by being able to remove some useless piece of functionality that's making my system go slower!
Anywhere a large corporation can eliminate the competition it will. Academia is not insulated from this.
It really is up to the academic institutions themselves to set the boundaries on sponsorship. Not unlike how PBS & NPR limit corporate "advertising" to a 5 second blurb.
Bill Gates and his MS mother board a small raft and set sale on Puget Sound destined for British Columbia to escape the oppressive DOJ regime in the US. Midway through the voyage, the raft capsizes, killing MS.
Bill washes up on a Vancouver beach where he is immediately taken in by his long-lost Canadian relatives. Meanwhile angry DOJ in the US officials demand his return.
After months of legal rangling, climaxing in a raid by Canadian authorities on the home of Bill's Candian relatives. Little Bill is kidnapped out of his closet at gunpoint screming and delivered to DOJ officials. A nation is stunned.
Bill and his DOJ family have a happy reunion, while Bill's Canadian relatives petition outside the Royal Mounted Police demanding Bill's immediate return.
An appeal is filed, but the court decides in favor of the DOJ. In spite of this, Bill & his DOJ family are stuck in a two-bedroom ranch style home in eastern BC awaiting final appeals......
Maybe NBC should get on the ball and send Matt Lauer there.... Geez.
Let's just imagine a totally automated restaurant with big mechanical robotic arms dispensing food, taking money and roughing up those customers that act in an un-McDonald's way.... Now let's imagine one of the big mechanical arms sparking a little over the 42 gallon vat of french fry oil.... Hmmmmm... Maybe I'm old fashioned, but that just doesn't sound like a pleasant dining experience.
Speaking of the Post and some of the other big media that have picked this up.... I find it ironic that these news organizations which are often owned and controlled by a single entity (Turner, Murdoch, etc) are at all reporting on a censorship issue. IMHO, these guys are pretty censored themselves and the groups that speak out against Big Media are often small tabloids with a limited circulation. Thus they don't get exposure to make them a viable threat... Whereas /. is, by its very nature of being on the internet, and of course by its fine content, has developed a vast following. Therefore, I would conclude that had /. not had the public exposure that it does, MS wouldn't have bothered to even mess with it... .Just goes to show how far /. has come. (As if we all didn't already know this)... Perhaps the established media in this country should start taking a closer look at the /.'s of the cyber-world as better sources of information & as an example of how a discussion forum can be run to better not only the technological community, but the world community....Instead of just constantly berating the net for being a virtual den of iniquity..... Have I made any valid points here. Probably not, but I'm going to post anyway.. :)
It's refreshing to be put in touch with this link and reminded that freedom of information still comes as a priority amongst some people. After reading about the LOC's little issue, this gives me hope.
Yes, Mr. Billington's reasons for the Library's not wanting to digitize were pretty lame... And yes, it smacks of elitism...But we're just being soap box critics posting here (like I am now :o) Because the Library is a 'public' institution, we do have the means, via our representation in Congress, to effect changes in their policies. For example, if I want to get ahold of quote by William Henry Harrison from his inagural address on why he wasn't wearing a hat during his speech, I should be hollaring at Joe Congressman instead of posting here. Of course, I'm not sure how much good that would do. And I'm not sure why the guy wouldn't wear a hat on a cold DC afternoon....
I'd like to backup what Anonymous Coward (love that handle) wrote. Background - I was a salaried employee writing software for a firm on one side of the country and lived on the other side of the country . The only requirement was that I keep in touch & make a trip to the home office once every month or so for a couple days. (fyi - my employer was small ( 25) so I guess even the small guys do it too) - The obvious benefits don't need to be repeated.. no commute, concentration... yada yada. But the biggest downside I found was that I got lonely. Plain and simple. I found that I missed tossing ideas around on a white board and yelling over the cube walls for an answer to a question. I didn't expect those little things would make that much difference, but I found they did. Also, my code is better when I have a peer at my side often... Would I do it again? Sure, but I'd try to make sure that the office was much closer.
You guys would've gotten to 20,000 already if there hadn't been so many quickies in the server room!
I think the onus is on the over-worked employee to take charge of his/her hours. If someone feels they are overworked, spend too much time at home doing office work, or feel they spend too much time away from home, then its time to move on or change your hours or position.... From my own experience , I found that changing my workplace perceptions was the best thing I've done. I haven't been happier in years. I made a deliberate move out of the management fast track and into a family-friendly company. My last job expected me to work 50 hrs minimum. Was even told that by the boss. My current boss asks for 40, but knows it sometimes isn't possible. My company allows us to take sick time (unlimited) to do family activities.... Now there was a price to pay, I did have to take a salary cut (not as hard as it seems) and I had to readjust my thinking to forget the "corporate mentality." Neither was simple, but in just 6 months I could do it. And be happy about it.
Since I'm pretty cash-strapped and can't afford the book, could someone fill me in on what the story is behind the Sonnets? thx much