Dean Kamen http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Kamen has taken the path you suggest Stark should take. Robotic arms for veterans, water purification with no consumables, mobile dialysis, insulin pumps, and wheelchairs that can climb stairs. A true Hero!
But, look at what happened when Flanvention II fell through. By all reports, the Browncoat Backup Bash was better than Flanvention II ever would have been.
I'll second the comment above that points out that this just shows Serenity has a fanatical fan-base. That is what make the whole Firefly/Serenity phenomenon worthy of note. Star Wars (ep IV) was a cultural phenomenon that has echoed through scifi movies ever since. I suspect that 20 years from now, Firefly/Serenity will be seen to have redefined how scifi fandom works.
I'm listening to "This American Life" on my Treo 600 using The Core Pocket Media Player. If a phone call comes through, the podcast will pause and switch to phone automatically. Let's say my wife calls looking for a phone number. I'll be able to open my contacts while talking about her day and give her the phone number.
If she want's something I have to Google, I'll need to call her back after using the Treo's browser. After I'm done, I switch back to TCPMP and start back up the podcast right where it stopped. TCPMP also runs video. I have to downconvert AVIs to 160x160 with low-bitrate audio, but it means I can watch Colbert while walking to my car.
You are the authorities. You see an encrypted file (E) on my hard drive and demand to know how to decrypt it.
"Look in the Steve Miller Band's Greatest Hits CD case on the shelf in my study. There, you'll find a DVD with the one-time pad I used to XOR my zip file." This has P' on it.
If they do that, they'll recover A which will unzip nicely to the innocent files.
What they don't know is that there's another DVD with P on it in a ziploc baggie hidden in the bottom of an almost-full paint can in the garage.
There's nothing to ever suggest that there are two ways to decrypt E.
Let M be the message you want to make secure. Encrypt M with *your favorite crypto system* to produce M'. Insert decryption key after N bytes (memorized this number) to make M''. Create a zip file (A) of some innocent files so that it is the same size as M''. Create a one-time pad (P) XOR M'' with P to create E (doubly encrypted). XOR E with A to create P'. Save E on your hard drive. Burn P and P' to CDs. Store them in separate secure locations.
If asked, give the authorities P'. They'll only get the innocent files.
Just think of how many bags of sugar are on store shelves in the hopes of a sale for $0.79. The cost to make a product available to your target market via brick-and-mortar distribution is ridiculous! How many Treo700p units were necessary in order to have them sit on Sprintel shelves across the country? How many of those will be sold before another two generations makes them obsolete?
The reality is different for digital content. Negligible storage and duplication costs mean that advertising is the only marginal cost. And even that is undergoing reinvention. Just a few weeks ago, I had never heard of Jonathan Coulton (http://www.jonathancoulton.com/). I heard RE: Your Brains while listening to part 2 of How to Succeed in Evil: Cheap Labor (http://succeedinevil.com/?p=47) and got hooked. A few YouTube videos and streamed songs from JoCo's website and I was gladly throwing $50 through PayPal to get all of his songs.
Eventually, the cost savings will allow physical items (like the Treo 700p) to be handled the same way. The cost of return shipments will be dwarfed by the savings in pushing the shiny boxes through retail distribution and the increased.
Before I get too rabid, I'm not predicting the death of retail. I'm predicting the explosion of online purchasing and the death of scarcity in digital content. The dinosaurs clinging to DRM and Special Extended Widescreen Collectors' Edition DVDs will be swept away by artists producing high-quality (in both technical and artistic senses) downloadable content for a twentieth of the price.
Let M be the message you want to make secure. Encrypt M with *your favorite crypto system* to produce M'. Insert decryption key after N bytes (memorized this number) to make M''. Create a zip file (A) of some innocent files so that it is the same size as M''. Create a one-time pad (P) XOR M'' with P to create E (doubly encrypted). XOR E with A to create P'. Save E on your hard drive. Burn P and P' to CDs. Store them in separate secure locations.
If asked, give the authorities P'. They'll only get the innocent files.
This is off-topic, but this comment sparked an idea for Mars:
Why not have the first manned mission to Mars exclude a manned landing -- instead, drop a bunch of robots onto the surface that could be controlled remotely by humans in orbit. This way, you don't need to worry about all the problems with another launch. The robots could be used to construct habitat/mining/fabrication facilities.
After several missions (with more robo-payloads) a manned landing would have resources on-site.
The first problem I see with this is getting all the landings to the same location.
A biologist, a physicist, and a mathematician are sitting at an outdoor cafe discussing the architecture of the empty building across the street. While they're talking, two people walk into the building. Then, a few minutes later, three people walk out.
The biologist says, "They reproduced!"
The physicist says, "There must be an error in our measurements."
The mathematician says, "If one person goes in, it will be empty again!"
For a humorous take on the patent business, look forward to a new game from Cheapass Games this month.
From the site:
New Game Coming in August: U.S. Patent Number One Congratulations, you've invented a time machine. But you're not the first person to think of it, and you won't be the last. What really matters is who gets to the Patent Office first. And with a time machine, "first" means "first"!
I took a look at the e-gold website. Definitely interesting. I'll need to do some more investigation (seeing if there are external ratings and modeling the pricing so I can see what kind of profit level their shooting for), but I may eventually go for it. It seems like a reasonably easy way to invest in precious metals directly while gaining some functionality.
I do worry that it may not scale well. Up to a point, a large user base will only lower costs, but once e-gold rises to the level of major player in the metals market (which may happen if everybody had an account), it could screw itself by having it's own transactions affect the market.
Anyway, enough rambling about e-gold. The most interesting thing I found there was Flying Rat! This is a filtered e-mail account that requires the sender of a piece of e-mail to pay you to read their e-mail! So spammers would have to shell out big bucks to get their ads read! It only looks practical if the e-gold accounts become common, but WOW!
---
We've secretly replaced this mathematician's value of pi with 355/113.
Let's see if he notices!
This makes me wonder about bazaar-style design models. I've been observing the Debian system for the last couple of months and it seems amazingly well structured for a completely volunteer effort.
I agree that typical open source design models could yet mature into something capable of developing trusted systems, but can anyone give examples where this has already covered some ground?
Damon
--- We've secretly replaced this mathematicians value of pi with 355/113. Let's see if he notices!
I can second the recommendation of the Cryptome docs. Most of the docs related to this lawsuit are at their section on their DVD-DeCSS section. However, one interesting item is squirreled away here. After having read many of the transcripts, I've gained quite a bit of respect for Judge Kaplan in the case. Garbus hasn't impressed me. He's mostly come off as evasive and ill-prepared.
Damon
Work as if you don't need the money, Love as if you've never been hurt, and Dance as if no one's watching.
Does anyone else see a similarity between this and the RIAA/mp3 war? In each case, you have an entrenched old-school industry trying to use stale tactics (lawsuits, etc.) to shut down the subversive new-school methods. In both cases, even though their might is formidible, it seems obvious to me that their doomed in the long run. They don't "get it" because they're so stuck in their traditional thought prices^H^H^H^H^H^H processes.
You know what kinda scares me? That Microsoft or the RIAA will "get it." Let me paint you a picture:
MS Linux: Microsoft produces their own distro.
No, not their old "embrace and extend" strategy. In this scenario, Darth Bill repents and returns to the good side of the Source. Microsoft mines their proprietary code and programmers skills and begin a truly killer development cycle. They were already leaning towards "rentable apps." Selling the service for their own distro would be pretty similar.
Think about it. They have the dinero and organizational structure to make serious progress on the areas that many "community" distros are struggling with (GUI for lusers, etc). They're experts at making things look attractive to customers. Red Hat has a few years on them, but once Microsoft got up to speed, they could quickly catch up. They could leverage their vendor relationships and brand name ("Your customers want Linux? We can give you MS Linux!").
I know it's hard to avoid thinking that this would just be a ploy and MS would pull a bait-and-switch later, but I'm afraid that they wouldn't. If they can remake their corporate image at the same time by "playing nice," the may not be doomed as we might hope.
I'm not pro-MS. I'm not flamebait-ing. I'm 95% sure that MS is too stuck in their mindset to ever go this route, but I can't help but wonder about the possibility.
Damon
Work as if you don't need the money, Love as if you've never been hurt, and Dance as if no one's watching.
Slashdot Mirror
I visit http://www.electoral-vote.com/ every day.
Dean Kamen http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Kamen has taken the path you suggest Stark should take. Robotic arms for veterans, water purification with no consumables, mobile dialysis, insulin pumps, and wheelchairs that can climb stairs. A true Hero!
But, look at what happened when Flanvention II fell through. By all reports, the Browncoat Backup Bash was better than Flanvention II ever would have been.
I'll second the comment above that points out that this just shows Serenity has a fanatical fan-base. That is what make the whole Firefly/Serenity phenomenon worthy of note. Star Wars (ep IV) was a cultural phenomenon that has echoed through scifi movies ever since. I suspect that 20 years from now, Firefly/Serenity will be seen to have redefined how scifi fandom works.
Me? I'm a proud Browncoat.
I'm listening to "This American Life" on my Treo 600 using The Core Pocket Media Player. If a phone call comes through, the podcast will pause and switch to phone automatically. Let's say my wife calls looking for a phone number. I'll be able to open my contacts while talking about her day and give her the phone number.
If she want's something I have to Google, I'll need to call her back after using the Treo's browser. After I'm done, I switch back to TCPMP and start back up the podcast right where it stopped. TCPMP also runs video. I have to downconvert AVIs to 160x160 with low-bitrate audio, but it means I can watch Colbert while walking to my car.
I love my Treo.
There are *two* pads.
You are the authorities. You see an encrypted file (E) on my hard drive and demand to know how to decrypt it.
"Look in the Steve Miller Band's Greatest Hits CD case on the shelf in my study. There, you'll find a DVD with the one-time pad I used to XOR my zip file." This has P' on it.
If they do that, they'll recover A which will unzip nicely to the innocent files.
What they don't know is that there's another DVD with P on it in a ziploc baggie hidden in the bottom of an almost-full paint can in the garage.
There's nothing to ever suggest that there are two ways to decrypt E.
Better yet:
Let M be the message you want to make secure.
Encrypt M with *your favorite crypto system* to produce M'.
Insert decryption key after N bytes (memorized this number) to make M''.
Create a zip file (A) of some innocent files so that it is the same size as M''.
Create a one-time pad (P)
XOR M'' with P to create E (doubly encrypted).
XOR E with A to create P'.
Save E on your hard drive.
Burn P and P' to CDs.
Store them in separate secure locations.
If asked, give the authorities P'. They'll only get the innocent files.
Just think of how many bags of sugar are on store shelves in the hopes of a sale for $0.79. The cost to make a product available to your target market via brick-and-mortar distribution is ridiculous! How many Treo700p units were necessary in order to have them sit on Sprintel shelves across the country? How many of those will be sold before another two generations makes them obsolete?
The reality is different for digital content. Negligible storage and duplication costs mean that advertising is the only marginal cost. And even that is undergoing reinvention. Just a few weeks ago, I had never heard of Jonathan Coulton (http://www.jonathancoulton.com/). I heard RE: Your Brains while listening to part 2 of How to Succeed in Evil: Cheap Labor (http://succeedinevil.com/?p=47) and got hooked. A few YouTube videos and streamed songs from JoCo's website and I was gladly throwing $50 through PayPal to get all of his songs.
Eventually, the cost savings will allow physical items (like the Treo 700p) to be handled the same way. The cost of return shipments will be dwarfed by the savings in pushing the shiny boxes through retail distribution and the increased.
Before I get too rabid, I'm not predicting the death of retail. I'm predicting the explosion of online purchasing and the death of scarcity in digital content. The dinosaurs clinging to DRM and Special Extended Widescreen Collectors' Edition DVDs will be swept away by artists producing high-quality (in both technical and artistic senses) downloadable content for a twentieth of the price.
And also integrate it with the Nav software on my Prius!
The crazy part is that they PRESUME you're eating meat. What if you are a vegetarian?
But... but... but, Honey!
The kids won't need to go to college!
With this, they can go to the Jedi Acadamy!
If asked, give the authorities P'. They'll only get the innocent files.
Thank you for using affect and effect correctly!
In the same sentence even!
This is off-topic, but this comment sparked an idea for Mars:
Why not have the first manned mission to Mars exclude a manned landing -- instead, drop a bunch of robots onto the surface that could be controlled remotely by humans in orbit. This way, you don't need to worry about all the problems with another launch. The robots could be used to construct habitat/mining/fabrication facilities.
After several missions (with more robo-payloads) a manned landing would have resources on-site.
The first problem I see with this is getting all the landings to the same location.
Damon
A biologist, a physicist, and a mathematician are sitting at an outdoor cafe discussing the architecture of the empty building across the street. While they're talking, two people walk into the building. Then, a few minutes later, three people walk out.
The biologist says, "They reproduced!"
The physicist says, "There must be an error in our measurements."
The mathematician says, "If one person goes in, it will be empty again!"
Thank you for a clear, insightful explanation. These gems are what keeps me reading slashdot.
From the site:
New Game Coming in August: U.S. Patent Number One Congratulations, you've invented a time machine. But you're not the first person to think of it, and you won't be the last. What really matters is who gets to the Patent Office first. And with a time machine, "first" means "first"!
The team has tested its invention in zero gravity on Earth
I want to know where they found zero-g on Earth!
---
We've secretly replaced this mathematician's value of pi with 355/113.
Let's see if he notices!
Anyone using "XXXXX" for their root password is a fool. At least use "XxXxX"
---
We've secretly replaced this mathematician's value of pi with 355/113.
Let's see if he notices!
I took a look at the e-gold website. Definitely interesting. I'll need to do some more investigation (seeing if there are external ratings and modeling the pricing so I can see what kind of profit level their shooting for), but I may eventually go for it. It seems like a reasonably easy way to invest in precious metals directly while gaining some functionality.
I do worry that it may not scale well. Up to a point, a large user base will only lower costs, but once e-gold rises to the level of major player in the metals market (which may happen if everybody had an account), it could screw itself by having it's own transactions affect the market.
Anyway, enough rambling about e-gold. The most interesting thing I found there was Flying Rat! This is a filtered e-mail account that requires the sender of a piece of e-mail to pay you to read their e-mail! So spammers would have to shell out big bucks to get their ads read! It only looks practical if the e-gold accounts become common, but WOW!
---
We've secretly replaced this mathematician's value of pi with 355/113.
Let's see if he notices!
Let's change the example, seeing how the current one is provocative:
Posit 1: Quortle believes that hurums are worthless.
Posit 2: Quortle believes that screnaws are not hurums.
Observation: Quortle pays highly for screnaws.
Quortle is not being hypocritical! If Posit 2 were:
Posit 2': Quortle believes that all screnaws are hurums.
then Quortle would by hypocritical.
I must say, this has been one successful troll: I'm a lurker, not a poster.
Damon
---
We've secretly replaced this mathematicians value of pi with 355/113.
Let's see if he notices!
This makes me wonder about bazaar-style design models. I've been observing the Debian system for the last couple of months and it seems amazingly well structured for a completely volunteer effort.
I agree that typical open source design models could yet mature into something capable of developing trusted systems, but can anyone give examples where this has already covered some ground?
Damon
---
We've secretly replaced this mathematicians value of pi with 355/113.
Let's see if he notices!
I can second the recommendation of the Cryptome docs. Most of the docs related to this lawsuit are at their section on their DVD-DeCSS section. However, one interesting item is squirreled away here.
After having read many of the transcripts, I've gained quite a bit of respect for Judge Kaplan in the case. Garbus hasn't impressed me. He's mostly come off as evasive and ill-prepared.
Damon
Work as if you don't need the money,
Love as if you've never been hurt, and
Dance as if no one's watching.
no stupid. micro$hit is forbidden from entering UNIX space by their contracts with SCO.
I didn't know that! That actually makes me feel more relieved!
Damon
Work as if you don't need the money,
Love as if you've never been hurt, and
Dance as if no one's watching.
Does anyone else see a similarity between this and the RIAA/mp3 war? In each case, you have an entrenched old-school industry trying to use stale tactics (lawsuits, etc.) to shut down the subversive new-school methods. In both cases, even though their might is formidible, it seems obvious to me that their doomed in the long run. They don't "get it" because they're so stuck in their traditional thought prices^H^H^H^H^H^H processes.
You know what kinda scares me? That Microsoft or the RIAA will "get it." Let me paint you a picture:
MS Linux: Microsoft produces their own distro.
No, not their old "embrace and extend" strategy. In this scenario, Darth Bill repents and returns to the good side of the Source. Microsoft mines their proprietary code and programmers skills and begin a truly killer development cycle. They were already leaning towards "rentable apps." Selling the service for their own distro would be pretty similar.
Think about it. They have the dinero and organizational structure to make serious progress on the areas that many "community" distros are struggling with (GUI for lusers, etc). They're experts at making things look attractive to customers. Red Hat has a few years on them, but once Microsoft got up to speed, they could quickly catch up. They could leverage their vendor relationships and brand name ("Your customers want Linux? We can give you MS Linux!").
I know it's hard to avoid thinking that this would just be a ploy and MS would pull a bait-and-switch later, but I'm afraid that they wouldn't. If they can remake their corporate image at the same time by "playing nice," the may not be doomed as we might hope.
I'm not pro-MS. I'm not flamebait-ing. I'm 95% sure that MS is too stuck in their mindset to ever go this route, but I can't help but wonder about the possibility.
Damon
Work as if you don't need the money,
Love as if you've never been hurt, and
Dance as if no one's watching.