You British players are always online early morning when I am up way too late! (Sorry it is a complete inference that you are British) Anyway the reason some gamers play late night also is due to available bandwidth - playing during peak hours is not as much fun! (I guess the same applies early morning?)
When Washington, D.C., tested an open-source electronic voting system intended for armed-forces members last year, a team of University of Michigan computer scientists hacked in and altered votes.
Each time a vote was cast, the hackers left a "calling card" on the screen, played the Michigan fight song and secretly changed the latest vote — until election officials shut down the site after two days.
"This obviously doesn't go a long way in building public confidence," Election Trust Managing Partner John Bodin said of the incident. But that shouldn't tarnish a "trusted" industry leader like Scytl, he said.
On another note: Here is a Berkeley paper that looked at a voting system by Scytl used in Florida: http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/~daw/papers/scytl-odbp.pdf They we're mixed in their findings (jump to the conclusion if your just browsing...)
I know fraud happens with paper, I know this saves money, but I'm still skeptical.
From the FAQ after the second link in TFA:
Q: How does the King CD eVoting platform provide end-to-end online balloting security? A: Secured by Scytl USA, this solution provides end-to-end security. Votes are encrypted and digitally signed by voters in the voters' voting devices (e.g., PCs) before they are cast. The private key to decrypt the votes is divided in shares which are distributed to the King CD Electoral Board (community stakeholders) before the election begins. The private key is destroyed in this process and do not exist during the election. At the end of the election, the King CD Electoral Board members have to meet to reconstruct the private key and decrypt the votes.
Encryption is a good start... really I have mixed feelings about this too. Any thoughts on this encryption anyone? - I would love to hear from someone with industry experience.
Your going to have to use some sort of "wrapper" class for that, but if that were "stored" in a 8 byte value on a continuous non-truncating basis (bear with me), after the maximum value, well it may be negative none the less...after multiple "overflows".
Just donate 20.00 and if your feeling bold, interpret that "20" as a hexadecimal value.
you could start a flame war that your great-great-grandchildren would have to finish
Oh that still happens now... metaphorically. Hell if religion was a flame war, that is, then [(great-)^N]great-grandchildrenN is an element of {n | n an element of Z+}, our era, is still continuing it!
Buzzwords, we hate them and love them for all their hype and overzealous implications.
Yet more and more we are seeing today buzzconcepts as almost a duality: autonomous vehicles, self-healing compounds, nano-particle super virus fighter robot simulations, cloud-computing [insert addition here], etc. These are all very relevant concepts and require a large convergence of many scientific disciplines, but why can't we just enjoy these studies and speculate ourselves (or at least a bit less in the headline)?
Today, when reading headlines, I feel as if I am headed downtown in my car passing largely lit fast-food signs: encouraging further participation in science is great but forming application-based "bridges" as a justification for the science is flawed thinking. Now I am not (entirely) naive here, I understand (somewhat) how research grants are given, but looking for specifics in observation can cause one to miss the obvious.
No the world is not going to end for me and I understand I am crabby way beyond my age, but when reading many of these articles today I cannot help but conclude that the author would consider the topic he/she is working on boring had he/she not heard of the potential world-changing applications.
Now about the article, for those who have not read it yet but look to the comments first: it is good read, do it. (funny, I know reading) But honestly on Slashdot I did not need to be dazzled with some sensationalist headline... come to think of it this would have sufficed: --- Ants build Steiner Trees "When building a network from scratch, Argentine ants tend to connect their nests in the way that, while more inconvenient for individual ants, requires the minimum amount of trail and investments of ant pheromones. Researchers studying 'supercolonies' of the ants found them building networks that closely resembled the mathematical shortest path — a Steiner tree. The article states that individual "nodes were controlled individually and not by a central control unit." This may prove useful in fields such as self organizing sensors and network nodes." --- Sorry for that rant but did they really think that...
‘supercolonies’ of Argentine ants with 500, 1000 or 2000 workers
...would be of any help in modeling autonomous Chicago traffic? I think not.
The best was the first comment at the bottom which really says and/or reinforces what I think a lot of/. readers are thinking:
Ms. Munroe,
I graduated last year. While your students may not have always liked you, as evidenced in comments above, I didn't really mind you. This may be because I only had homeroom with you, or because I was a kid who was never in much trouble in high school. Personally, I don’t think you were the most hated teacher in the school; possibly not even in the English Department.
More than anything, I think it's sad you ended up here. It doesn't surprise me that you blogged from a school computer. I mean that as no slight to you; many people use work computers for personal business. However, I’d have hoped you’d be smarter than to post things you should know any respectable institution would fire you for, CB included.
This being said, what you posted is a disgrace. Everyone is entitled to his or her opinion, and no one respects the right of free speech more than I. However, I was shocked when I saw you posted these sentiments on the Internet. Like I said before, I thought you were smarter than that. I understand some of your comments. Yes, kids are lazy. Nearly everyone slacked off in high school, from the top of our class right down to the kids who barely graduated. I understand many people are difficult to deal with at times; throughout life, everyone must deal with people they dislike. But I agree with Jeff, it was your job to put up with us. Jeff, if you read this, overall (perhaps with a few exceptions) I thought you summed up very well what many of us are thinking.
You may not have liked your job, Ms. Munroe, and I ensure you that you are not alone. But the fact is, this is the career you chose. You have a duty to teach to the best of your ability. What saddens me, and I believe most parents, the most, is your comment about wanting kids to just leave after class. This disgusts me. I remember one individual (I was in either 11th or 12th grade) who stayed after 2nd block into homeroom everyday. Obviously, he was the exception. He annoyed me as much as you and everyone in our homeroom. But to kids like me, and others who would occasionally stay late to ask questions, I find this extremely disheartening. You should never discourage anyone's desire to learn, especially as a teacher, when your job is to educate students to the best of your ability. This isn’t a choice. If you don’t like it, quit. There are many others willing to take your place.
Fortunately, despite your lack of willingness to perform even the minimum duties associated with your job, let alone go the extra mile, students at East still receive a remarkable education. Though you put your students down, many drama queens, lazy kids, potheads, and kids going to “bangers” will grow up to be very successful. Trust me, I’m friends with many of these kids even now, and I know that regardless of their flaws, they will be able to hold a steady job.
Regardless of your comments or any feelings you may have about your students, in my opinion, you should be fired simply for your use of the English language. Spelling words such as “belligerent” wrong does not reflect highly upon an English teacher. Taking into consideration the fact that you clearly do not want to be here, I would grant your wish and you’d be given the “pink slip” promptly, before the first bell rings at 7:25 tomorrow morning.
Honestly, I’m surprised it has taken this long to find this blog. I’d consider yourself lucky. I’m sorry for the rest of East’s faculty; overall I think they did a great job. I know I was well-educated, and came out of high school prepared for a great college, tha
Sorry for quoting your posting title to start, but I'd like to add to what you've already touched on here...
Internet switches are far easier and cheaper to produce and with the advent of IPv6, it will be economically feasible for an ISP to provide multiple addresses for a single residence. In this way buying a wireless switch will be much more plausible and cheaper for the user. I.E. something like this:
Step 1: Refuse to support upcoming IPv6 standards. Step 2: Prolong purchasing of IPv4 routers and similar devices when addresses are in short supply. Step 3: Continued profit.
We all know that this business model will not last forever and I am certain Cisco does also - they are not a bunch of idiots. But in the same sense, with few ISP's showing an active desire to switch to IPv6 (not talking internet backbone Akamai, Level 3, etc) and a continued profit from IPv4 routers, there is really little incentive other than ethics to support the new standards. (And common sense which is a rare commodity)
It'll take years for people to start caring about this much. By that time, the current product line will be swapped out for new gear.
My thoughts exactly...plus when we finally make the switch, it will be the Cash-For-Clunker-Routers - think of all that potential profit! Shoot... they may even be able to buy futures on their resistance to a natural internet progression. (jokes)
(I really hate playing the devil's advocate, but the market and laws must create an incentive, we know how "morals" work...)
Although your comment is a bit further down, this is the first one that I see addressing the core of the issue. Will Google ever be taken offline? - no. The fundamental problem does not lie with the MPAA's [business] goals, but rather the way they seek to promote their stance and agenda. Props to you peterofoz, this is not a national security issue and never will be...this is how what we should be telling our [ignorant] politicians and the court system. (Now the MPAA themselves may be a national security "issue" but that is a whole other ballgame...)
You probably haven't done much statistical or scientific work, but it's quite common to propose models that cannot be solved analytically.
I've done a fair bit for my young age (but I'm sure I have much to learn). As for these models you speak of... yes that is quite common.
Honestly, it is about the underlying assumptions I have an issue with... see my other replies to other comments because I really hate to troll... (just thought you deserved a reply)
My problem is the foundation of the model. Sure I can show something is statistically accurate, but that does not make my model any more correct if the underlying assumptions are crazy. I mean without proper identification of said "gene", this is very speculative. If this study is taken in the light that there may be a gene or some other underlying cause not yet known, more productive follow-up research could be done. The research itself may be good but the conclusions drawn may need to be revisited. (However my assumption could be flawed also as there seems to be a damn pay-wall.)
How do you think scientists can predict what will happen? Magic?
...and fairy dust, large explosions, and general mysticism. (Mostly I like to imagine the large explosives...)
Nah, the potentially faulty assumptions are what gets to me. I can back many ideas with a statistical model, but not all my opinions are correct. Something I learned in statistics also... correlation does not imply causation, especially if the underlying assumptions may be flawed. I think this paper shows that more research could be done, but to base any sort of judgment from this study alone would be absurd.
You sir, will be upset in life rather often.
I flinch often when watching the news... ah it sends chills down my back!
Where are you that you think that's true? Are you sure?
I don't live there, but in the state of New Jersey for example this is illegal. Actually I was quite surprised when I found out this information myself. Here is a website that highlights the "keep right laws" that I speak of... apparently there are many variations on this law.
(Also I am awful at grammar... it pains me to see mistakes I cannot fix.)
Certainly there are instances which warrant caution and exceptions from the posting I meant as a humorous musing... however I do believe going under or at the speed limit in some cities or multiple lane highways can be quite dangerous: having drivers pass me at 15 mph or more because I am going 5 under is certainly not safe.
Driving is a game of "balance" and my posting was more along the lines of a hyperbole. --Thanks
Yes I said it, this should have never made the front page:
Religious people nowadays have more children on average than their secular counterparts. This paper uses a simple model to explore the evolutionary implications of this difference. It assumes that fertility is determined entirely by culture, whereas subjective predisposition towards religion is influenced by genetic endowment. People who carry a certain ‘religiosity’ gene are more likely than average to become or remain religious. The paper considers the effect of religious defections and exogamy on the religious and genetic composition of society. Defections reduce the ultimate share of the population with religious allegiance and slow down the spread of the religiosity gene. However, provided the fertility differential persists, and people with a religious allegiance mate mainly with people like themselves, the religiosity gene will eventually predominate despite a high rate of defection. This is an example of ‘cultural hitch-hiking’, whereby a gene spreads because it is able to hitch a ride with a high-fitness cultural practice. The theoretical arguments are supported by numerical simulations. link to abstract
I am all for keeping an open mind but after reading that last sentence, I suspect the paper is quite ridiculous and may actually be a funny read.
You beat me to it. But seriously I've considered installing a megaphone before just to do just that. Preferably I would have buttons with prerecorded messages in a modular steering wheel horn attachment:
"The light is green moron!"
"If your going slower than the right hand lane, your breaking the law and causing our blood pressure to rise"
"Your turning signal has been on for the past 5 blocks...Stop lying"
For the tailgater: "You are welcome to tailgate me but I gotta warn you, I tend to slam on my breaks unexpectedly and sue religiously"
"It is ok to make a right turn on red at this traffic light!"
"I am speeding up, I suggest you do the same unless you want to get hit..."
(There are so many more I could put here!)
Actually I think I will go buy/make one now, so tempting... Either that or an LED sign above my front bumper that can produce text messages would be nice.
...As many other have pointed out, the lego sculpture is quite lame.
But what I find hilarious are the children's faces staring at his creation: they look confused. I mean what the hell did he build? I am just pissed I cannot buy bulk lego bags of identical bricks for a reasonable price: hell I would still play with them as an adult!
Slashdot Mirror
favourite
You British players are always online early morning when I am up way too late! (Sorry it is a complete inference that you are British)
Anyway the reason some gamers play late night also is due to available bandwidth - playing during peak hours is not as much fun! (I guess the same applies early morning?)
From the article:
When Washington, D.C., tested an open-source electronic voting system intended for armed-forces members last year, a team of University of Michigan computer scientists hacked in and altered votes.
Each time a vote was cast, the hackers left a "calling card" on the screen, played the Michigan fight song and secretly changed the latest vote — until election officials shut down the site after two days.
"This obviously doesn't go a long way in building public confidence," Election Trust Managing Partner John Bodin said of the incident. But that shouldn't tarnish a "trusted" industry leader like Scytl, he said.
On another note:
Here is a Berkeley paper that looked at a voting system by Scytl used in Florida: http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/~daw/papers/scytl-odbp.pdf
They we're mixed in their findings (jump to the conclusion if your just browsing...)
I know fraud happens with paper, I know this saves money, but I'm still skeptical.
From the FAQ after the second link in TFA:
Q: How does the King CD eVoting platform provide end-to-end online balloting security?
A: Secured by Scytl USA, this solution provides end-to-end security. Votes are encrypted and
digitally signed by voters in the voters' voting devices (e.g., PCs) before they are cast. The private
key to decrypt the votes is divided in shares which are distributed to the King CD Electoral Board
(community stakeholders) before the election begins. The private key is destroyed in this process
and do not exist during the election. At the end of the election, the King CD Electoral Board
members have to meet to reconstruct the private key and decrypt the votes.
Encryption is a good start... really I have mixed feelings about this too. Any thoughts on this encryption anyone? - I would love to hear from someone with industry experience.
46DCEAD317FE45D80923EB97E4956410D4CDB2C2
Your going to have to use some sort of "wrapper" class for that, but if that were "stored" in a 8 byte value on a continuous non-truncating basis (bear with me), after the maximum value, well it may be negative none the less...after multiple "overflows".
Just donate 20.00 and if your feeling bold, interpret that "20" as a hexadecimal value.
(Cheers, your joke was funny.)
you could start a flame war that your great-great-grandchildren would have to finish
Oh that still happens now... metaphorically. Hell if religion was a flame war, that is, then [(great-)^N]great-grandchildren N is an element of {n | n an element of Z+}, our era, is still continuing it!
Buzzwords, we hate them and love them for all their hype and overzealous implications.
Yet more and more we are seeing today buzzconcepts as almost a duality: autonomous vehicles, self-healing compounds, nano-particle super virus fighter robot simulations, cloud-computing [insert addition here], etc. These are all very relevant concepts and require a large convergence of many scientific disciplines, but why can't we just enjoy these studies and speculate ourselves (or at least a bit less in the headline)?
Today, when reading headlines, I feel as if I am headed downtown in my car passing largely lit fast-food signs: encouraging further participation in science is great but forming application-based "bridges" as a justification for the science is flawed thinking. Now I am not (entirely) naive here, I understand (somewhat) how research grants are given, but looking for specifics in observation can cause one to miss the obvious.
No the world is not going to end for me and I understand I am crabby way beyond my age, but when reading many of these articles today I cannot help but conclude that the author would consider the topic he/she is working on boring had he/she not heard of the potential world-changing applications.
Now about the article, for those who have not read it yet but look to the comments first: it is good read, do it. (funny, I know reading) But honestly on Slashdot I did not need to be dazzled with some sensationalist headline... come to think of it this would have sufficed:
---
Ants build Steiner Trees
"When building a network from scratch, Argentine ants tend to connect their nests in the way that, while more inconvenient for individual ants, requires the minimum amount of trail and investments of ant pheromones. Researchers studying 'supercolonies' of the ants found them building networks that closely resembled the mathematical shortest path — a Steiner tree. The article states that individual "nodes were controlled individually and not by a central control unit." This may prove useful in fields such as self organizing sensors and network nodes."
---
Sorry for that rant but did they really think that...
‘supercolonies’ of Argentine ants with 500, 1000 or 2000 workers
...would be of any help in modeling autonomous Chicago traffic?
I think not.
Have a nice day. /endrant
My little sister told better tales when I was younger.
Now that is one dungeon that could take a while...
The best was the first comment at the bottom which really says and/or reinforces what I think a lot of /. readers are thinking:
Ms. Munroe,
I graduated last year. While your students may not have always liked you, as evidenced in comments above, I didn't really mind you. This may be because I only had homeroom with you, or because I was a kid who was never in much trouble in high school. Personally, I don’t think you were the most hated teacher in the school; possibly not even in the English Department.
More than anything, I think it's sad you ended up here. It doesn't surprise me that you blogged from a school computer. I mean that as no slight to you; many people use work computers for personal business. However, I’d have hoped you’d be smarter than to post things you should know any respectable institution would fire you for, CB included.
This being said, what you posted is a disgrace. Everyone is entitled to his or her opinion, and no one respects the right of free speech more than I. However, I was shocked when I saw you posted these sentiments on the Internet. Like I said before, I thought you were smarter than that. I understand some of your comments. Yes, kids are lazy. Nearly everyone slacked off in high school, from the top of our class right down to the kids who barely graduated. I understand many people are difficult to deal with at times; throughout life, everyone must deal with people they dislike. But I agree with Jeff, it was your job to put up with us. Jeff, if you read this, overall (perhaps with a few exceptions) I thought you summed up very well what many of us are thinking.
You may not have liked your job, Ms. Munroe, and I ensure you that you are not alone. But the fact is, this is the career you chose. You have a duty to teach to the best of your ability. What saddens me, and I believe most parents, the most, is your comment about wanting kids to just leave after class. This disgusts me. I remember one individual (I was in either 11th or 12th grade) who stayed after 2nd block into homeroom everyday. Obviously, he was the exception. He annoyed me as much as you and everyone in our homeroom. But to kids like me, and others who would occasionally stay late to ask questions, I find this extremely disheartening. You should never discourage anyone's desire to learn, especially as a teacher, when your job is to educate students to the best of your ability. This isn’t a choice. If you don’t like it, quit. There are many others willing to take your place.
Fortunately, despite your lack of willingness to perform even the minimum duties associated with your job, let alone go the extra mile, students at East still receive a remarkable education. Though you put your students down, many drama queens, lazy kids, potheads, and kids going to “bangers” will grow up to be very successful. Trust me, I’m friends with many of these kids even now, and I know that regardless of their flaws, they will be able to hold a steady job.
Regardless of your comments or any feelings you may have about your students, in my opinion, you should be fired simply for your use of the English language. Spelling words such as “belligerent” wrong does not reflect highly upon an English teacher. Taking into consideration the fact that you clearly do not want to be here, I would grant your wish and you’d be given the “pink slip” promptly, before the first bell rings at 7:25 tomorrow morning.
Honestly, I’m surprised it has taken this long to find this blog. I’d consider yourself lucky. I’m sorry for the rest of East’s faculty; overall I think they did a great job. I know I was well-educated, and came out of high school prepared for a great college, tha
I don't think they care.
Sorry for quoting your posting title to start, but I'd like to add to what you've already touched on here...
Internet switches are far easier and cheaper to produce and with the advent of IPv6, it will be economically feasible for an ISP to provide multiple addresses for a single residence. In this way buying a wireless switch will be much more plausible and cheaper for the user. I.E. something like this:
Step 1: Refuse to support upcoming IPv6 standards.
Step 2: Prolong purchasing of IPv4 routers and similar devices when addresses are in short supply.
Step 3: Continued profit.
We all know that this business model will not last forever and I am certain Cisco does also - they are not a bunch of idiots. But in the same sense, with few ISP's showing an active desire to switch to IPv6 (not talking internet backbone Akamai, Level 3, etc) and a continued profit from IPv4 routers, there is really little incentive other than ethics to support the new standards. (And common sense which is a rare commodity)
It'll take years for people to start caring about this much. By that time, the current product line will be swapped out for new gear.
My thoughts exactly...plus when we finally make the switch, it will be the Cash-For-Clunker-Routers - think of all that potential profit! Shoot... they may even be able to buy futures on their resistance to a natural internet progression. (jokes)
(I really hate playing the devil's advocate, but the market and laws must create an incentive, we know how "morals" work...)
Although your comment is a bit further down, this is the first one that I see addressing the core of the issue. Will Google ever be taken offline? - no. The fundamental problem does not lie with the MPAA's [business] goals, but rather the way they seek to promote their stance and agenda. Props to you peterofoz, this is not a national security issue and never will be...this is how what we should be telling our [ignorant] politicians and the court system. (Now the MPAA themselves may be a national security "issue" but that is a whole other ballgame...)
In other news, I still dislike EA games.
You probably haven't done much statistical or scientific work, but it's quite common to propose models that cannot be solved analytically.
I've done a fair bit for my young age (but I'm sure I have much to learn). As for these models you speak of... yes that is quite common.
Honestly, it is about the underlying assumptions I have an issue with... see my other replies to other comments because I really hate to troll... (just thought you deserved a reply)
My point exactly.
My problem is the foundation of the model. Sure I can show something is statistically accurate, but that does not make my model any more correct if the underlying assumptions are crazy. I mean without proper identification of said "gene", this is very speculative. If this study is taken in the light that there may be a gene or some other underlying cause not yet known, more productive follow-up research could be done. The research itself may be good but the conclusions drawn may need to be revisited. (However my assumption could be flawed also as there seems to be a damn pay-wall.)
How do you think scientists can predict what will happen? Magic?
...and fairy dust, large explosions, and general mysticism. (Mostly I like to imagine the large explosives...)
Nah, the potentially faulty assumptions are what gets to me. I can back many ideas with a statistical model, but not all my opinions are correct. Something I learned in statistics also... correlation does not imply causation, especially if the underlying assumptions may be flawed. I think this paper shows that more research could be done, but to base any sort of judgment from this study alone would be absurd.
You sir, will be upset in life rather often.
I flinch often when watching the news... ah it sends chills down my back!
Where are you that you think that's true? Are you sure?
I don't live there, but in the state of New Jersey for example this is illegal. Actually I was quite surprised when I found out this information myself. Here is a website that highlights the "keep right laws" that I speak of... apparently there are many variations on this law.
(Also I am awful at grammar... it pains me to see mistakes I cannot fix.)
Certainly there are instances which warrant caution and exceptions from the posting I meant as a humorous musing... however I do believe going under or at the speed limit in some cities or multiple lane highways can be quite dangerous: having drivers pass me at 15 mph or more because I am going 5 under is certainly not safe.
Driving is a game of "balance" and my posting was more along the lines of a hyperbole. --Thanks
You American?
Why yes you nailed it. (Your comment seemed spot on...)
Yes I said it, this should have never made the front page:
Religious people nowadays have more children on average than their secular counterparts. This paper uses a simple model to explore the evolutionary implications of this difference. It assumes that fertility is determined entirely by culture, whereas subjective predisposition towards religion is influenced by genetic endowment. People who carry a certain ‘religiosity’ gene are more likely than average to become or remain religious. The paper considers the effect of religious defections and exogamy on the religious and genetic composition of society. Defections reduce the ultimate share of the population with religious allegiance and slow down the spread of the religiosity gene. However, provided the fertility differential persists, and people with a religious allegiance mate mainly with people like themselves, the religiosity gene will eventually predominate despite a high rate of defection. This is an example of ‘cultural hitch-hiking’, whereby a gene spreads because it is able to hitch a ride with a high-fitness cultural practice. The theoretical arguments are supported by numerical simulations.
link to abstract
I am all for keeping an open mind but after reading that last sentence, I suspect the paper is quite ridiculous and may actually be a funny read.
You beat me to it. But seriously I've considered installing a megaphone before just to do just that. Preferably I would have buttons with prerecorded messages in a modular steering wheel horn attachment:
Actually I think I will go buy/make one now, so tempting... Either that or an LED sign above my front bumper that can produce text messages would be nice.
Wanna start one? They are so much fun...
...As many other have pointed out, the lego sculpture is quite lame.
But what I find hilarious are the children's faces staring at his creation: they look confused. I mean what the hell did he build? I am just pissed I cannot buy bulk lego bags of identical bricks for a reasonable price: hell I would still play with them as an adult!
If my ISP is actually selling me a 76Kbps connection that bursts to 768Kbps, make them sell it that way.
This times a 1000. +insightful here!
The question is, can I make money selling Betelgeuse supernova insurance to the general public?
There is no doubt in my mind you could pull it off.
Haha nice typo. Funny.