I once toyed with a story idea where some of the locals of a planet used rail guns against visitors from other systems. [Sort of like hillbilly geeks vs revenuers]
The bottom line on these is that for dumb payloads the first shot or two will likely hit depending proper leading of the target. but dodging the shots is relatively easy, since even with projectiles going at ten miles per second, shooting at target one hundred miles up means that the target is at least ten seconds away. This is plenty of time for alarms and manual menuvering. (Take evasive action Sulu!) This depends on detecting the characteristic magnetic flux from a rail gun shot at the time the shot is fired. a little dicey, but not that impractical.
Given atmospheric turbulence, etc. We should probably have something like a rapid fire rail gun to be really effective - something like machine gun speed.
I can see the black budget people working on this now.
I do not see that the big companies would go for this. After all, all of this source data has basically been collected for free, or been traded for something where they can pass of the cost to someone else (free dial ups, etc)
Now they would have to pay for it.
Maybe they would accept it, if it were forced on them, but otherwise there are alot of interests pushing for continuing the free ride.
Somone was worried about "tidal effect on the earth from an asteroid"
For comparision, let's look at the moon.
The moon in fact moves the earth in orbit every month. If you accurately measure and plot out the path of the earth in space, you see a long, lazy, low amplitude sine wave along the the earth's path. This is because of the gravitational pull of the moon. Now you do not see any horrendous disasters because of this.
All that is required is for a large asteroid, about 100 km (62 miles) across, to fly past the Earth transferring some of its orbital energy to our planet. The asteroid would then move out to encounter Jupiter where it would acquire more energy that it could impart to the Earth on
a subsequent encounter.
Note that the moon is slightly larger, about 20 times (?) the diameter of the proposed asteroid, meaning it is 8000 times as massive. Roughly. so the gravitaional pull would be slight.
The main problem I see is that we do not have experience in precision navigation of larger planetary masses.
Security concerns aside I'd *love* to have one of these guys to play with with a micro-camera/mic/xmitter combo. Drive it under the door and into your boss's office *while* you're working!
The flip side of this is that the boss could also to this to you.
Talk about the proverbial "fly on the wall"!
[but as always, flies are vulnerable to things like hairspray clogging up the wings, and messing up the bugs eyes.]
I think that HTML has its place in the email world, whether we like it or not. At work our help desk has to respond to emails from other internal departments where they are having trouble with something. And anyone who's tried to help out a friend who doesn't know too much about computers should realize that its incredibly hard to use the phone or even a text email to convey how to do things.
The uses I can think of are SPAM - and teenage entertainment.
As far as advertising goes, it would be better so send a person to the legitimate company webpage. Then we can contact the service provider, and get their account cancelled.
As far as teenage entertainment, I suppose there is no accounting for tastes, and I can tolerate occasional emails with fluttering hearts and excessive cuteness from my little sister. (it's family after all)
In a business context, there is a need to get sales types more clued in. I have heard more war stories of sales types getting sent full fize presentation files as attachments in email while on the road on a flaky dial-up, never mind the clients that receive a flash website in their email. There has to be a better solution for that kind of stuff.
2cpu.com seems to have some small site maitenance issues, but there is still alot of stuff there.
What I am interested in is some info on some older multi processor boards, just so that I can get the last bit of milage from some older cpus I have kicking around.
But then I remember advice I used to give some retail customers, half in jest:
Remember, if you can buy it here at (mass market store), technically it is obsolete already.
But then, some people love living on the trailing edge of technology.
This section ties back to the Slashdot Ethics discussion a few days back, etc.:
In general, there are two legitimate arguments for using reverse engineering: to integrate a system smoothly with other systems and to ensure that the system does not do damage to the environments in which it operates, says Frank Prince, senior analyst for infrastructure security and management at Forrester Research, a Cambridge, Mass., technology consulting firm.
On the flip side, companies often make another argument for using reverse engineering -- an illegitimate argument,Prince believes.
"They think if they can figure out how it does what it does, they may be able to make a better or cheaper or faster version and make some money without incurring all of the costs of the initial development," he says. "How you feel about any of these arguments depends on which side of them you stand on and what you stand to gain or lose. Once
again, we end up in a battle over profiting from effort and taking responsibility for your creations."
As I mentioned before:
"The problem is that the common rules for ethics are flawed. There are weaknesses in the common rules for ethics because while they promote various virtues, they also promote weakness in the face of unethical behavior by others.
This is a problem, and opens a can of worms."
The chaos of the digital age leaves us grasping at straws. People are not following any specific set of rules beyond momentary personal convenience, which ultimately has lead to police states, burned out enviroments, fished-out oceans, etc etc etc.
In Reverse engineering, the same potential is there, but we are seeing it at another level, in another arena. It is a symptom of a larger situation.
Bottom Line, we need to get our shit together and work this out before it gets truely screwed up in the legal system (I know it already is screwed up, but it is not thoroughly entrenched yet)
OT: slashdot and culture
on
The Pledge
·
· Score: 3
we seem to be worried about the culture, in terms of things like rights, freedom, the free flow of technology. What is overlooked is that little things not directly related to the geek community form the backdrop for these issues.
Movies and Music and other arts can promote and create aand change the social climate we live in. Things like social dysfunction can be promoted, accidently or otherwise.
Geeks are protrayed as criminal hackers, for example. Or the general population is examined in depth for the essence of True Evil, while downplaying the inherent complexity ordinary lives have, and downplaying the presence of the natural good that people also have. This can lead to things like the alienation and separtion documented in HELLMOUTH.
So little things like the movie reviews can have a deeper meaning.
More than mere entertainment when viewed in the context of the broader culture in which we live, and the ends that we struggle for, outside the context of the corporate "Lab Rat" management philosophies.
The main problem I see is the fight between "being what is commonly said for being ethical" and the unethical "customers from hell" that we all sometimes deal with.
The problem is that the common rules for ethics are flawed. There are weaknesses in the common rules for ethics because while they promote various virtues, they also promote weakness in the face of unethical behavior by others.
This is a problem, and opens a can of worms.
After all, we have all known customers from hell, and have tried various ways to deal with them. The failure to deal with them to make them "happy" justifies the screw-over. This is part of the road to hell.
Of course, there are also the pointy haired boss types, etc. who look just for the fast buck. The various monsters of the business world, the vampires, the zombies, the ghouls.
So what is needed is something of a code or principles of common sense that that allow us the freedom to be ethical and also allow ourselves to protect ourselves.
I am sure that if I were to offer something, there would be many cynical critics who would say how trite or contrived.
According to Wolfe, Sonicblue will support ReplayTV's plans to license its technology to cable providers and other companies. But ReplayTV will eventually come out again with a digital
video recorder, he said. Wolfe wouldn't comment further, saying plans were in the early stages.
"We haven't even launched a product group within the company yet," he said."
hmmmm - I wonder how the media moguls will mess with this. There have been a number of articles here and elsewhere trecently about digital coding to prevent recording of specified media events, etc.
Remember, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean that they are NOT out to get you.
I have said this before, so to briefly repeat myself:
We need to be able to make it profitable to track down, bill, and collect money from spammers to cover costs. Right now it is entirely way too cost free for them to stop. They will stop when there is no longer any advantadge to this.
The solution I've proposed in the paste is to licence them, make enforcement of the license a federal/central goverment matter.
the licensing is so that they are "tagged" AND can be easily identified. Sort of like a Tax ID number, etc. ISPs and users can use this number to bill them since the data is a public record. make the cost higher than common mail.
Point being that if there is a profit in tracking down spammers, and it is very costly to send spam, then it will stop.
1) most speed limits are intended for ALL vehicles. Note that this includes Trucks, lorries, etc. Many of which handle uncomfortably if you exceed the speed limit. This is easily confirmed with a large rental truck on an extended curve, etc.
2) As a result of #1, driving cars at the speed limit actually feels obviously a safe speed (no doubts about this), and in fact sedate, and, pokey, lazy, etc.
3)As a result, the world of mouth will get out, and people will avoid buying the cars if at all possible. The used car market will get a shot in the arm.
4)And what about those fine folks with jaguars, etc.? I can see the salesman explaining how it can do zero to 60 in under 7 seconds, but the driver will never get to go faster than that. This is certain to kill off the sports car market.
The end result is that it will kill of alot of fine british industries.
It looks like Britain is being used as a test case for a controlled society. It is a very delicate balance between exercising enough control to actually improve the conditions of life, and social engineering for the benefits of those seeking to skim the cream off the top. Someone always wants some extra cream.
and of course, there are those crazy anachists on that nasty internet. Too many free thinkers there, y'know.
Culture Building is a game where everyone wins. An excellent example of this is the open source movement.
Properly done, it is a game where everyone one wins. It breaks down when it moves away from that.
Certain education and non-traditional therapies move in this direction as well. Unfortunately, many educators, politicians, and social science types got into a game of "my government funding" or "my special interest group".
Culture building requires some sort of artistic sense, and a dream for some sort of future. A man without a future to look forward to is dead. Imagine a culture made of such men.
for that matter, take a look at the last book review.
The Dreams of Science Fiction are based on lies, and therefore *what*?
Technically, any fiction, anything invented, is, in a certain sense, a lie of sorts.
so do we now get all moral about this an decry this sort of lying?
maybe I read it too fast, or something.
But this type of creative thinking, these so called "lies" are the things from which we build our future. It gives us something to work towards.
Let's see - - - we look around and see an imperfect world. And so we create a story of a better world. We should say well that is all a lie and therefore we shouldn't even bother?
maybe I'm getting it wrong here, but it smells like a certain kind of FUD going on here, in the guise of being *so* intellectual.
I'm starting to wonder if being certain kinds of "intellectual" is just an excuse to FUD around.
This link
to an old story on New Scientist is somewhat relevant, on the basis of tracking people. It looks like people can patent ideas they read about in fiction. We might want to get there first.
Here is a snippet from that article
Are writers entitled to profit from their novel ideas? Evidently not, if you take the example of US Patent 5 878 155, issued on 2 March to a certain Thomas Heeter of Houston, Texas. It covers a scheme for writing invisible symbols on people that can be used to verify their identity when they use credit or debit cards.
The idea is a bit odd, and the patent's citation of an episode of the X-Files TV series in which aliens etched bar codes on the teeth of human abductees is even odder. But what really caught my eye was that Heeter's patent comes very close to an idea I suggested--not at all seriously--in a science-fiction story titled The Number of the Beast that was published in 1994.
I thought my story should trump his patent. It was published in June 1994, more than two years before Heeter filed his application on 5 September 1996. Publication of an idea more than a year before a patent filing makes it "prior art", which voids applications under the American patent system. However, when I called the US Patent and Trademark Office, I found that this only works for nonfiction. Science fiction is a different matter. A patent examiner said the patent must describe some way of building the invention. Patents on wrist radios are being issued today although comic-strip hero Dick Tracy wore one over 40 years ago, because the technology wasn't available earlier.
I would be more annoyed if my idea had been serious. But that twist of patent law still isn't fair. Fictional inventions take real skill and some prove truly prescient. Besides, patent royalties would be a welcome supplement to the paltry pay that goes with science-fiction writing.
Thank you very much, I looked for it quickly, but did not find it. You did.
Again, Thank you, Anonymous Coward!
- - -
"Contrary to popular myth, Microsoft doesn't hate everything about open source. While Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) officials publicly vacillate between declaring Linux either the most hyped operating system or the biggest threat to Windows, in reality, the company has learned some powerful lessons from its open-source competitors."
etc.
The summary at the Register is fairly on the money.
Microsoft redefines 'open source' - look, don't
touch
By: Andrew Orlowski in New York
Posted: 01/02/2001 at 18:24 GMT
Remember the gag about how many Microsoft programmers it takes to change a light bulb? The answer's none: Redmond simply redefines darkness.
As a variation, try this one - how does Microsoft make Windows open source? It doesn't: it redefines free software - software that gives the user the right to change the source code, as software that
doesn't give the user the right to change the source code.
In a slightly whimsical interview with ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley, Microsoft's Doug Miller says the company has been opening up its Windows source code, with the intention to "make this (source code) available to many hundreds of customers" Mary Jo puts the number at less than a hundred.
But it turns out, this isn't software libre at all. End users can't modify the source code, giving the statement the air of something that was
dreamt up in a hurry. Microsoft has like most other major OS vendors, provided Windows source code to academic institutions for years: taking its cue from Sun Microsystems which worked
academic modifications back into the old, Berkeley based SunOS successfully. But enthusiasm has waned more recently, as it did for Sun, because Microsoft increasingly viewed the exercise as a free bug fix. And lo, here's Miller expressing the hope that Microsoft customers "who find a bug... would contact Microsoft for tweaks".
Miller admits that very few customers want to see the source code - shock! - and so presumably even fewer want to find Windows bugs and pay for the privilege twice over: once for the source code
license, and secondly for the company time.
And remember that not even Microsoft's biggest OEM customers and OS rivals wanted the responsibility of picking their way through the Windows source code. That suggestion was touted around the
industry last spring by the AntiTrust Department as a suggested remedy against Microsoft. They received no takers. So if HP, IBM and Compaq don't want to fix Microsoft's Windows bugs, why would
Marks and Spencer?
Mind you, I support linux, etc., but this had a certain humor
It is not perfect, but it is not bad.
- - -
SLASHDOT SAYS MICROSOFT HAS NO FUTURE, SO MICROSOFT INDUSTRY WILL STOP NOW
Despite Gains in Market Share, Microsoft Firms To Call It Quits
Redmond, Wash. -- Chastened Microsoft executives pledged to stop their "crazy dreaming" and disband their efforts Wednesday after an executive from SlashDot proclaimed Windows was doomed, and openly questioned whether the operating system should exist.
The executive, Slashdot manager Commander Taco, told a reporter for Wired "Microsoft is not leading anything, it is failing to provide an operating system," adding that, ""Hype does not sustain a business," and, "the recent security problems with Microsoft... really call into question whether Microsoft should be used at all."
The startling reprimand from SlashDot sent shockwaves throughout the Microsoft industry, which was doubly disappointed because it had been steadily gaining share on Microsoft 's operating systems.
"When I read what Cammander Taco said, it was like I'd been blindsided, like a doctor told me I had six months to live," recalled Bill Gates, CEO of Microsoft. "We recently exceeded earnings expectations, and figured to be profitable for years to come, but it looks like we were wrong."
Other Microsoft allied firms, public and private, said they would follow Bill Gate's example and liquidate. "If we don't have Slashdot 's blessing, then what's the point?" said a shaky anonymous employee
Columnists have denounced as "absurd" allegations that Linux might be utilizing its infamous FUD tactics to spread Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt about an opponent in an effort to steal market share. "That would be deceitful," he replied, "and Linux Advocates have stated repeatedly that they do not lie or cheat or mislead."
When it was pointed out that many people lie about their honesty, Commander Taco grew defensive. "Maybe some people do cheat, but then, most people tell the truth, just like Linux developers have had to do, over and over again!"
At Microsoft community site ZDNet, which will be closing despite its remarkable growth and popularity, columnists grew introspective. "Somebody said to me that Linix was guilty of hypocrisy because it gave away it's source code for free to eliminate competition from the operating system market, but this is a totally different situation," said Anchor Desk's David Coursey. "We're talking about Microsoft , for God's sake, not a bunch of utopian, open source geeks like them."
"No, we all have to take this for what it is," he added, "the cold, hard truth. Damn their probity."
Reached at his office, Microsoft 's Bill Gates said he didn't enjoy delivering the sobering news, and prayed his opponents would be able to find peace. "Revealing that Microsoft is full of errors, shouldn't be used, and has no place in the software world was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do," confessed Gates, who appeared to be holding back tears. "I can only hope that one day, they will see I was doing this to save them years of wasted effort."
If you don't have tickets, can you get them at the door or just "walk in". Come one man, information should be free and a documentary does contain information;) Just kidding. I am on NY on business and REALLY want to see this, where is this placed located? please reply if you have any more info on this? Thanks
AMC is a commercial chain - Here is the information you asked for. (and more)
Revolution O.S. will be sneak-previewed Thursday night at Manhattan's AMC Empire 25 Theater, at 8:30.
Those attending LinuxWorld this week can pick up tickets at the OSDN booth (#3000) in the dot-org pavilion.
So where is it exactly?
AMC Empire 25
234 West 42nd Street
New York, NY 10036
(212)398-3939
Subway: A, C, E to 42nd St -
Port Authority; N, R, S, 1, 1, 3, 7, 9 to 42nd Str
I guess the subway directions make perfect sense if you live in NYC
The first public screening of the film will be at the SXSWFilm Festival in Austin, Texas, on March 12. Moore said people who would like to see the film should feel free to call "and pester" film distributors such as Miramax, Lions Gate in Los Angeles, and Cowboy Booking International in New York. "If enough people say they want to see the film, maybe they will distribute it," Moore said.
Revolution O.S. will be sneak-previewed Thursday night at Manhattan's AMC Empire 25 Theater, at 8:30. Those attending LinuxWorld this week can pick up tickets at the OSDN booth (#3000)
in the dot-org pavilion.
Glancing Quickly over the the press release, I am hopeful that the court will take this into consideration, and finally have an attack of good sense.
One of my more paranoid friends pointed out to me the Federalist Society, on the basis that it is an association of judges with their own agenda, and that it is a conservative agenda. If you check out their website, it is quite the sedate affair.
This is contrasted with the very unsedate anti-federalist sites like this one, which are all a hoot, and read *every* thing the federal government does as a con, a gype, and a fake..
However there is a point here which is well made, given broader evidence by our experiences of the past few months.
There are many judges that tend to lean one way or another. Judges do NOT live in a vacuum. Commercial interests, via their lawyers and bean counters, are out for the maximum number of beans in the pot.
Aside from the obvious joke on the effects of eating too many beans (combined with lawyers, etc.), I would want to know more of the possible conflicts of interests of the judge(s) involved. You can bet that the corporate interests choose a judge that they thought would be the most sympathetic to their cause. They would be stupid to do anything else
2001-01-30 17:11:54 Holographic Data Storage (articles,tech) (rejected)
I supply (again) the links to the Lucent site, complete with the original press release of 30 Jan 2000 with all the links including the movies, and everything else
Next time I'll remember to use smaller words in the submission.
sometimes people don't get it even if you supply pictures.
Hello? Is anyone listening? This is like something out of some scary science fiction movie. I can't see how it's good to remove the humanity from mining - or from anything for that matter. It might be miners now, but the next thing it will be your job - cleaners, etc. will all be redundant. We need these jobs. Otherwise what will people do - there are a lot of people out there who aren't intelligent enough to be computer programmers or whatever, so then what? Next thing we'll probably have to introduce eugenics to create the perfect breed of people to remove this. Either that, or due to the high levels of unemployment crime will rise. That is why crime has risen in the last 30 years - young, stupid men can no longer find employment, and so they are alienated from society. The problem's bad enough now, but just think what it will be like in the future.
We need to create our own future where human creativity is encouraged and enhanced. Where education gives people the tools to live in a changing world.
If this is not done, then you probably have the right to run in fear from technology. Run to the hills, and be the last free man on earth, hiding in terror in the caves
Or you can help make and create the world that avoids the terrors that you see.
If you do not take control of your future, then your future will be out of your control. Help create a future that is better then the one you see.
Slashdot Mirror
The bottom line on these is that for dumb payloads the first shot or two will likely hit depending proper leading of the target. but dodging the shots is relatively easy, since even with projectiles going at ten miles per second, shooting at target one hundred miles up means that the target is at least ten seconds away. This is plenty of time for alarms and manual menuvering. (Take evasive action Sulu!) This depends on detecting the characteristic magnetic flux from a rail gun shot at the time the shot is fired. a little dicey, but not that impractical.
Given atmospheric turbulence, etc. We should probably have something like a rapid fire rail gun to be really effective - something like machine gun speed.
I can see the black budget people working on this now.
Now they would have to pay for it.
Maybe they would accept it, if it were forced on them, but otherwise there are alot of interests pushing for continuing the free ride.
For comparision, let's look at the moon.
The moon in fact moves the earth in orbit every month. If you accurately measure and plot out the path of the earth in space, you see a long, lazy, low amplitude sine wave along the the earth's path. This is because of the gravitational pull of the moon. Now you do not see any horrendous disasters because of this.
All that is required is for a large asteroid, about 100 km (62 miles) across, to fly past the Earth transferring some of its orbital energy to our planet. The asteroid would then move out to encounter Jupiter where it would acquire more energy that it could impart to the Earth on a subsequent encounter.
Note that the moon is slightly larger, about 20 times (?) the diameter of the proposed asteroid, meaning it is 8000 times as massive. Roughly. so the gravitaional pull would be slight.
The main problem I see is that we do not have experience in precision navigation of larger planetary masses.
Security concerns aside I'd *love* to have one of these guys to play with with a micro-camera/mic/xmitter combo. Drive it under the door and into your boss's office *while* you're working!
The flip side of this is that the boss could also to this to you.
Talk about the proverbial "fly on the wall"!
[but as always, flies are vulnerable to things like hairspray clogging up the wings, and messing up the bugs eyes.]
The uses I can think of are SPAM - and teenage entertainment.
As far as advertising goes, it would be better so send a person to the legitimate company webpage. Then we can contact the service provider, and get their account cancelled.
As far as teenage entertainment, I suppose there is no accounting for tastes, and I can tolerate occasional emails with fluttering hearts and excessive cuteness from my little sister. (it's family after all)
In a business context, there is a need to get sales types more clued in. I have heard more war stories of sales types getting sent full fize presentation files as attachments in email while on the road on a flaky dial-up, never mind the clients that receive a flash website in their email. There has to be a better solution for that kind of stuff.
What I am interested in is some info on some older multi processor boards, just so that I can get the last bit of milage from some older cpus I have kicking around.
But then I remember advice I used to give some retail customers, half in jest:
Remember, if you can buy it here at (mass market store), technically it is obsolete already.
But then, some people love living on the trailing edge of technology.
"The problem is that the common rules for ethics are flawed. There are weaknesses in the common rules for ethics because while they promote various virtues, they also promote weakness in the face of unethical behavior by others.
This is a problem, and opens a can of worms."
The chaos of the digital age leaves us grasping at straws. People are not following any specific set of rules beyond momentary personal convenience, which ultimately has lead to police states, burned out enviroments, fished-out oceans, etc etc etc.
In Reverse engineering, the same potential is there, but we are seeing it at another level, in another arena. It is a symptom of a larger situation.
Bottom Line, we need to get our shit together and work this out before it gets truely screwed up in the legal system (I know it already is screwed up, but it is not thoroughly entrenched yet)
Movies and Music and other arts can promote and create aand change the social climate we live in. Things like social dysfunction can be promoted, accidently or otherwise.
Geeks are protrayed as criminal hackers, for example. Or the general population is examined in depth for the essence of True Evil, while downplaying the inherent complexity ordinary lives have, and downplaying the presence of the natural good that people also have. This can lead to things like the alienation and separtion documented in HELLMOUTH.
So little things like the movie reviews can have a deeper meaning.
More than mere entertainment when viewed in the context of the broader culture in which we live, and the ends that we struggle for, outside the context of the corporate "Lab Rat" management philosophies.
The problem is that the common rules for ethics are flawed. There are weaknesses in the common rules for ethics because while they promote various virtues, they also promote weakness in the face of unethical behavior by others.
This is a problem, and opens a can of worms.
After all, we have all known customers from hell, and have tried various ways to deal with them. The failure to deal with them to make them "happy" justifies the screw-over. This is part of the road to hell.
Of course, there are also the pointy haired boss types, etc. who look just for the fast buck. The various monsters of the business world, the vampires, the zombies, the ghouls.
So what is needed is something of a code or principles of common sense that that allow us the freedom to be ethical and also allow ourselves to protect ourselves.
I am sure that if I were to offer something, there would be many cynical critics who would say how trite or contrived.
So let's see what the community has to say first.
hmmmm - I wonder how the media moguls will mess with this. There have been a number of articles here and elsewhere trecently about digital coding to prevent recording of specified media events, etc.
Remember, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean that they are NOT out to get you.
We need to be able to make it profitable to track down, bill, and collect money from spammers to cover costs. Right now it is entirely way too cost free for them to stop. They will stop when there is no longer any advantadge to this.
The solution I've proposed in the paste is to licence them, make enforcement of the license a federal/central goverment matter.
the licensing is so that they are "tagged" AND can be easily identified. Sort of like a Tax ID number, etc. ISPs and users can use this number to bill them since the data is a public record. make the cost higher than common mail.
Point being that if there is a profit in tracking down spammers, and it is very costly to send spam, then it will stop.
We got to hurt them in the pocket book
Bull. I'd rather drive a sports car than an unsporty car at or under any speed limit. Am I alone?
no accounting for taste, but I do not like crippleware in cars. I can see it: "Officer, I tried to speed up to get out of the way, but i couldn't!"
But to think of it, I would not mind a test on commercial vehicles first, like those big rig truckers. they can be dangerous!
2) As a result of #1, driving cars at the speed limit actually feels obviously a safe speed (no doubts about this), and in fact sedate, and, pokey, lazy, etc.
3)As a result, the world of mouth will get out, and people will avoid buying the cars if at all possible. The used car market will get a shot in the arm.
4)And what about those fine folks with jaguars, etc.? I can see the salesman explaining how it can do zero to 60 in under 7 seconds, but the driver will never get to go faster than that. This is certain to kill off the sports car market.
The end result is that it will kill of alot of fine british industries.
It looks like Britain is being used as a test case for a controlled society. It is a very delicate balance between exercising enough control to actually improve the conditions of life, and social engineering for the benefits of those seeking to skim the cream off the top. Someone always wants some extra cream.
and of course, there are those crazy anachists on that nasty internet. Too many free thinkers there, y'know.
Properly done, it is a game where everyone one wins. It breaks down when it moves away from that.
Certain education and non-traditional therapies move in this direction as well. Unfortunately, many educators, politicians, and social science types got into a game of "my government funding" or "my special interest group".
Culture building requires some sort of artistic sense, and a dream for some sort of future. A man without a future to look forward to is dead. Imagine a culture made of such men.
for that matter, take a look at the last book review.
It is very interesting in this context.
The Dreams of Science Fiction are based on lies, and therefore *what*?
Technically, any fiction, anything invented, is, in a certain sense, a lie of sorts.
so do we now get all moral about this an decry this sort of lying?
maybe I read it too fast, or something.
But this type of creative thinking, these so called "lies" are the things from which we build our future. It gives us something to work towards.
Let's see - - - we look around and see an imperfect world. And so we create a story of a better world. We should say well that is all a lie and therefore we shouldn't even bother?
maybe I'm getting it wrong here, but it smells like a certain kind of FUD going on here, in the guise of being *so* intellectual.
I'm starting to wonder if being certain kinds of "intellectual" is just an excuse to FUD around.
Here is a snippet from that article
Are writers entitled to profit from their novel ideas? Evidently not, if you take the example of US Patent 5 878 155, issued on 2 March to a certain Thomas Heeter of Houston, Texas. It covers a scheme for writing invisible symbols on people that can be used to verify their identity when they use credit or debit cards.
The idea is a bit odd, and the patent's citation of an episode of the X-Files TV series in which aliens etched bar codes on the teeth of human abductees is even odder. But what really caught my eye was that Heeter's patent comes very close to an idea I suggested--not at all seriously--in a science-fiction story titled The Number of the Beast that was published in 1994.
I thought my story should trump his patent. It was published in June 1994, more than two years before Heeter filed his application on 5 September 1996. Publication of an idea more than a year before a patent filing makes it "prior art", which voids applications under the American patent system. However, when I called the US Patent and Trademark Office, I found that this only works for nonfiction. Science fiction is a different matter. A patent examiner said the patent must describe some way of building the invention. Patents on wrist radios are being issued today although comic-strip hero Dick Tracy wore one over 40 years ago, because the technology wasn't available earlier.
I would be more annoyed if my idea had been serious. But that twist of patent law still isn't fair. Fictional inventions take real skill and some prove truly prescient. Besides, patent royalties would be a welcome supplement to the paltry pay that goes with science-fiction writing.
Re:Microsoft redefines Open Source (Score:0)
by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 01, @09:03PM EST (#127)
Link to interview with ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley
Thank you very much, I looked for it quickly, but did not find it. You did.
Again, Thank you, Anonymous Coward!
- - -
"Contrary to popular myth, Microsoft doesn't hate everything about open source. While Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) officials publicly vacillate between declaring Linux either the most hyped operating system or the biggest threat to Windows, in reality, the company has learned some powerful lessons from its open-source competitors."
etc.
The summary at the Register is fairly on the money.
Microsoft redefines 'open source' - look, don't touch
By: Andrew Orlowski in New York Posted: 01/02/2001 at 18:24 GMT
Remember the gag about how many Microsoft programmers it takes to change a light bulb? The answer's none: Redmond simply redefines darkness.
As a variation, try this one - how does Microsoft make Windows open source? It doesn't: it redefines free software - software that gives the user the right to change the source code, as software that doesn't give the user the right to change the source code.
In a slightly whimsical interview with ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley, Microsoft's Doug Miller says the company has been opening up its Windows source code, with the intention to "make this (source code) available to many hundreds of customers" Mary Jo puts the number at less than a hundred.
But it turns out, this isn't software libre at all. End users can't modify the source code, giving the statement the air of something that was dreamt up in a hurry. Microsoft has like most other major OS vendors, provided Windows source code to academic institutions for years: taking its cue from Sun Microsystems which worked academic modifications back into the old, Berkeley based SunOS successfully. But enthusiasm has waned more recently, as it did for Sun, because Microsoft increasingly viewed the exercise as a free bug fix. And lo, here's Miller expressing the hope that Microsoft customers "who find a bug... would contact Microsoft for tweaks".
Miller admits that very few customers want to see the source code - shock! - and so presumably even fewer want to find Windows bugs and pay for the privilege twice over: once for the source code license, and secondly for the company time.
And remember that not even Microsoft's biggest OEM customers and OS rivals wanted the responsibility of picking their way through the Windows source code. That suggestion was touted around the industry last spring by the AntiTrust Department as a suggested remedy against Microsoft. They received no takers. So if HP, IBM and Compaq don't want to fix Microsoft's Windows bugs, why would Marks and Spencer?
Mind you, I support linux, etc., but this had a certain humor
It is not perfect, but it is not bad.
- - -
SLASHDOT SAYS MICROSOFT HAS NO FUTURE, SO MICROSOFT INDUSTRY WILL STOP NOW
Despite Gains in Market Share, Microsoft Firms To Call It Quits
Redmond, Wash. -- Chastened Microsoft executives pledged to stop their "crazy dreaming" and disband their efforts Wednesday after an executive from SlashDot proclaimed Windows was doomed, and openly questioned whether the operating system should exist.
The executive, Slashdot manager Commander Taco, told a reporter for Wired "Microsoft is not leading anything, it is failing to provide an operating system," adding that, ""Hype does not sustain a business," and, "the recent security problems with Microsoft ... really call into question whether Microsoft should be used at all."
The startling reprimand from SlashDot sent shockwaves throughout the Microsoft industry, which was doubly disappointed because it had been steadily gaining share on Microsoft 's operating systems.
"When I read what Cammander Taco said, it was like I'd been blindsided, like a doctor told me I had six months to live," recalled Bill Gates, CEO of Microsoft. "We recently exceeded earnings expectations, and figured to be profitable for years to come, but it looks like we were wrong."
Other Microsoft allied firms, public and private, said they would follow Bill Gate's example and liquidate. "If we don't have Slashdot 's blessing, then what's the point?" said a shaky anonymous employee
Columnists have denounced as "absurd" allegations that Linux might be utilizing its infamous FUD tactics to spread Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt about an opponent in an effort to steal market share. "That would be deceitful," he replied, "and Linux Advocates have stated repeatedly that they do not lie or cheat or mislead."
When it was pointed out that many people lie about their honesty, Commander Taco grew defensive. "Maybe some people do cheat, but then, most people tell the truth, just like Linux developers have had to do, over and over again!"
At Microsoft community site ZDNet, which will be closing despite its remarkable growth and popularity, columnists grew introspective. "Somebody said to me that Linix was guilty of hypocrisy because it gave away it's source code for free to eliminate competition from the operating system market, but this is a totally different situation," said Anchor Desk's David Coursey. "We're talking about Microsoft , for God's sake, not a bunch of utopian, open source geeks like them."
"No, we all have to take this for what it is," he added, "the cold, hard truth. Damn their probity."
Reached at his office, Microsoft 's Bill Gates said he didn't enjoy delivering the sobering news, and prayed his opponents would be able to find peace. "Revealing that Microsoft is full of errors, shouldn't be used, and has no place in the software world was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do," confessed Gates, who appeared to be holding back tears. "I can only hope that one day, they will see I was doing this to save them years of wasted effort."
AMC is a commercial chain - Here is the information you asked for. (and more)
As seen at amctheaters.com
(To Recap) If you are in NYC, then:
Revolution O.S. will be sneak-previewed Thursday night at Manhattan's AMC Empire 25 Theater, at 8:30.
Those attending LinuxWorld this week can pick up tickets at the OSDN booth (#3000) in the dot-org pavilion.
So where is it exactly?
AMC Empire 25
234 West 42nd Street
New York, NY 10036
(212)398-3939
Subway: A, C, E to 42nd St -
Port Authority; N, R, S, 1, 1, 3, 7, 9 to 42nd Str
I guess the subway directions make perfect sense if you live in NYC
The first public screening of the film will be at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas, on March 12. Moore said people who would like to see the film should feel free to call "and pester" film distributors such as Miramax, Lions Gate in Los Angeles, and Cowboy Booking International in New York. "If enough people say they want to see the film, maybe they will distribute it," Moore said.
Revolution O.S. will be sneak-previewed Thursday night at Manhattan's AMC Empire 25 Theater, at 8:30. Those attending LinuxWorld this week can pick up tickets at the OSDN booth (#3000) in the dot-org pavilion.
I imagine it will be quite a party!
That way the news item will have dropped off the front page at slashdot, and I'll have access to an extra phat pipe for the iso image.
(Living in an dsl desert is not my idea of fun!)
One of my more paranoid friends pointed out to me the Federalist Society, on the basis that it is an association of judges with their own agenda, and that it is a conservative agenda. If you check out their website, it is quite the sedate affair.
This is contrasted with the very unsedate anti-federalist sites like this one, which are all a hoot, and read *every* thing the federal government does as a con, a gype, and a fake..
However there is a point here which is well made, given broader evidence by our experiences of the past few months.
There are many judges that tend to lean one way or another. Judges do NOT live in a vacuum. Commercial interests, via their lawyers and bean counters, are out for the maximum number of beans in the pot.
Aside from the obvious joke on the effects of eating too many beans (combined with lawyers, etc.), I would want to know more of the possible conflicts of interests of the judge(s) involved. You can bet that the corporate interests choose a judge that they thought would be the most sympathetic to their cause. They would be stupid to do anything else
2001-01-30 17:11:54 Holographic Data Storage (articles,tech) (rejected)
I supply (again) the links to the Lucent site, complete with the original press release of 30 Jan 2000 with all the links including the movies, and everything else
Next time I'll remember to use smaller words in the submission.
sometimes people don't get it even if you supply pictures.
We need to create our own future where human creativity is encouraged and enhanced. Where education gives people the tools to live in a changing world.
If this is not done, then you probably have the right to run in fear from technology. Run to the hills, and be the last free man on earth, hiding in terror in the caves
Or you can help make and create the world that avoids the terrors that you see.
If you do not take control of your future, then your future will be out of your control. Help create a future that is better then the one you see.