Dr. Tommy Flowers, the inventor of Colossus, did work for the Post Office, but in the Research Laboratory. This was the equivalent of working at AT&T's Bell Labs.
This does not make Colossus any less impressive, but saying that Dr. Flowers was _just_ a post office employee is like saying Einstein was _just_ a patent clerk. --
3. You may copy and distribute the Program (or a work based on it, under Section 2) in object code or executable form under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above provided that you also do
one of the following:
a) Accompany it with the complete corresponding machine-readable source code, which must be distributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium customarily used for software interchange; or,
b) Accompany it with a written offer, valid for at least three years, to give any third party, for a charge no more than your cost of physically performing source distribution, a complete machine-readable copy of the corresponding source code, to be distributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium customarily used for software interchange; or,
c) Accompany it with the information you received as to the offer to distribute corresponding source code. (This alternative is allowed only for noncommercial distribution and only if you received the program in object code or executable form with such an offer, in accord with Subsection b above.)
Cars kill a lot of people. But people understand and accept the risks when they purchase and drive a car. There are substantial regulations pertaining to auto safety, which also gives the manufacturers some protection from liability. But in the end, if a company knows of a significant safety problem relative to other vehicles in the same class and does not correct it, they are potentially liable. --
As if CDs had a proper copyprotection scheme, and even if they did, wouldn't hold.
[I think they actually have one]
Some CD-ROM's have copy protection schemes. This is especially common with game console CD-ROMs like the Sega Saturn. Even so, this is fairly weak since most CD readers can make a direct digital copy of any readable CD, which you can then write to a CD-R. I don't know of any audio cd's that have copy protection, although you need to be able to rip the digital samples off the CD (some CD readers used to interface directly with the sound card).
In the end CD audio copy protection is a moot point, since most CD audio is made into MP3s and if one can play a CD on a computer one can make an MP3.
DVD copy protection is a bit more clever, but they also have the problem that anything that can be displayed on a computer can be converted into another digital form.
Plaintiffs' expert, a scholar in thermodynamics applied to human skin burns, testified that liquids, at 180 degrees, will cause a full thickness burn to human skin in two to seven seconds. Other testimony showed that as the temperature decreases toward 155 degrees, the extent of the burn relative to that temperature decreases exponentially. Thus, if Liebeck's spill had involved coffee at 155 degrees, the liquid would have cooled and given her time to avoid a serious burn.
All she asked for was payment of the medical fees. McDonalds refused. They got slapped. The Jury awarded punitive (that means punishment) because McDonalds had been warned and sued many times and had made no changes. The award was about 1 day's coffee receipts for McDonalds and was reduced on appeal. --
I'd be careful about giving legal opinions if you're not a lawyer (I'd be even more careful if you are a lawyer). The facts as I understand them is that common carrier status for websites is a somewhat murky subject. The Digital Millenium Copyright Act makes the limits to liability much more explicit, but also requires that a service like Slashdot remove materials that they know about and which are objectionable. --
It is not sufficient to link to the source on another FTP server, UNLESS you can gaurantee in writing to the customer that the source used to build the GPLed binary will be available for 3 years. In practice this means that you use your own servers because you probably did some non-standard tweaking, and unless you have an agreement with another to host your source for you, you can't gaurantee your customer access to the source for 3 years.
It will likely be much easier for you to offer source CD's on request. You are permitted to charge reasonable duplication fees, which could be from $2-$50 depending on your cost structure. --
You are arguing for pragmatism. That is to say, in order to get anything done, we accept our senses as an objective reality. This is true enough, and, although it may surprise you, I tend to agree. It is important to keep in mind that we have made this compromise. It keeps us humble.
If we reject the validity of our senses, then we must reject with it all of our knowledge, and return to the state of infants. No rational person is willing to do that.
I have to disagree with you here. I think you'll find that many Hindu and Buddhist individuals believe that the ultimate truth is to be able to recognize the illusion. I am hard pressed to call these individuals fools or infantile, since the most compassionate, wise and contented people I have met have been Buddhist monks. --
But the validity of the senses is axiomatic. Any attempt to argue that one cannot trust one's senses is self-contradictory, since all of our knowledge comes from our senses, and so without them, you know nothing and nothing you say can be trusted.
How can we trust our senses? The best one can say is that our senses are consistent. If we see an object and touch it, the two senses are consistent. But there are many well known illusions, optical illusions being the most obvious, which show our senses to be self contradictory. Therefore we can't trust our senses completely.
In a more formal sense, assume that senses only show us an objective reality. Then our senses tell us that we can induce inconsistent sensations by activating certain parts of the human brain with electrical signals. This is a contradiction, therefore our assumption was false. Senses do not always represent an objective reality. --
Re:all the digits are prefect squares too.
on
Happy Odd Day!
·
· Score: 2
If I had written: Give me a minute... dang no bullets.
Then it would have been more obvious. I don't know if it would have been any funnier though. --
Re:Errgggh!! I'm so tired...
on
Happy Odd Day!
·
· Score: 2
There is a physical basis for the atomic number. It's the number of protons in the nucleus. Your analogy would be better served by atomic weight, which is a truly arbitrary number. --
All that I remember and observe is mediated by my conciousness. The only thing which I am willing to assume, in true Cartesian fashion, is the existence of that conciousness itself.
The only way I can prove that the world didn't come into existance an instant ago is prove that I existed more than an instant ago. My conciousness, however, is an instantaneous process. I need to use my memory to construct such a proof.
If I assume that my memory is valid, then I remember instances that my memory has been false. Therefore I can't trust my memory to be valid.
Since my memory is not necessarily valid, and all my observations are suspect, I can't prove that I existed an instant ago. Therefore I can't prove that anything existed an instant ago. --
It is impossible to disprove the proposition: The entire universe sprang into being an infitesimal amount of time ago by the will of an omnipotent God.
Similarily there is no way to disprove the existence of God in general. There is simply no axiomatic or observational structure that can be trusted. The best one can do is to show that the observable world is completely consistent with scientific theories and therefore there are no mysteries which require explanation by supernatural forces. This is of course a daunting task, which requires a complete explanation of conciousness, among other things.
In the end, as long as there is death there will be believers in God. --
Re:Zero: even or odd? ... an answer
on
Happy Odd Day!
·
· Score: 2
Slashdot Mirror
Dr. Tommy Flowers, the inventor of Colossus, did work for the Post Office, but in the Research Laboratory. This was the equivalent of working at AT&T's Bell Labs.
This does not make Colossus any less impressive, but saying that Dr. Flowers was _just_ a post office employee is like saying Einstein was _just_ a patent clerk.
--
Eunice also merits a special mention in the Perl configuration script:
"Congratulations. You aren't running Eunice."
--
The Navajo code-talkers invented a code for words that aren't in the Navajo vocabulary. Here's a dictionary
--
[Emphasis added]
--
Cars kill a lot of people. But people understand and accept the risks when they purchase and drive a car. There are substantial regulations pertaining to auto safety, which also gives the manufacturers some protection from liability. But in the end, if a company knows of a significant safety problem relative to other vehicles in the same class and does not correct it, they are potentially liable.
--
As if CDs had a proper copyprotection scheme, and even if they did, wouldn't hold.
[I think they actually have one]
Some CD-ROM's have copy protection schemes. This is especially common with game console CD-ROMs like the Sega Saturn. Even so, this is fairly weak since most CD readers can make a direct digital copy of any readable CD, which you can then write to a CD-R. I don't know of any audio cd's that have copy protection, although you need to be able to rip the digital samples off the CD (some CD readers used to interface directly with the sound card).
In the end CD audio copy protection is a moot point, since most CD audio is made into MP3s and if one can play a CD on a computer one can make an MP3.
DVD copy protection is a bit more clever, but they also have the problem that anything that can be displayed on a computer can be converted into another digital form.
--
It may not hold up, but it is based on an internal MS study, so it's more than just a guess or conjecture.
--
She was wearing sweatpants (which I believe is still legal in some states). Read the facts before mouthing off.
--
--
All she asked for was payment of the medical fees. McDonalds refused. They got slapped. The Jury awarded punitive (that means punishment) because McDonalds had been warned and sued many times and had made no changes. The award was about 1 day's coffee receipts for McDonalds and was reduced on appeal.
--
#include
I'd be careful about giving legal opinions if you're not a lawyer (I'd be even more careful if you are a lawyer). The facts as I understand them is that common carrier status for websites is a somewhat murky subject. The Digital Millenium Copyright Act makes the limits to liability much more explicit, but also requires that a service like Slashdot remove materials that they know about and which are objectionable.
--
It is not sufficient to link to the source on another FTP server, UNLESS you can gaurantee in writing to the customer that the source used to build the GPLed binary will be available for 3 years. In practice this means that you use your own servers because you probably did some non-standard tweaking, and unless you have an agreement with another to host your source for you, you can't gaurantee your customer access to the source for 3 years.
It will likely be much easier for you to offer source CD's on request. You are permitted to charge reasonable duplication fees, which could be from $2-$50 depending on your cost structure.
--
You are arguing for pragmatism. That is to say, in order to get anything done, we accept our senses as an objective reality. This is true enough, and, although it may surprise you, I tend to agree. It is important to keep in mind that we have made this compromise. It keeps us humble.
If we reject the validity of our senses, then we must reject with it all of our knowledge, and return to the state of infants. No rational person is willing to do that.
I have to disagree with you here. I think you'll find that many Hindu and Buddhist individuals believe that the ultimate truth is to be able to recognize the illusion. I am hard pressed to call these individuals fools or infantile, since the most compassionate, wise and contented people I have met have been Buddhist monks.
--
But the validity of the senses is axiomatic. Any attempt to argue that one cannot trust one's senses is self-contradictory, since all of our knowledge comes from our senses, and so without them, you know nothing and nothing you say can be trusted.
How can we trust our senses? The best one can say is that our senses are consistent. If we see an object and touch it, the two senses are consistent. But there are many well known illusions, optical illusions being the most obvious, which show our senses to be self contradictory. Therefore we can't trust our senses completely.
In a more formal sense, assume that senses only show us an objective reality. Then our senses tell us that we can induce inconsistent sensations by activating certain parts of the human brain with electrical signals. This is a contradiction, therefore our assumption was false. Senses do not always represent an objective reality.
--
If I had written: ... dang no bullets.
Give me a minute
Then it would have been more obvious. I don't know if it would have been any funnier though.
--
There is a physical basis for the atomic number. It's the number of protons in the nucleus. Your analogy would be better served by atomic weight, which is a truly arbitrary number.
--
All that I remember and observe is mediated by my conciousness. The only thing which I am willing to assume, in true Cartesian fashion, is the existence of that conciousness itself.
The only way I can prove that the world didn't come into existance an instant ago is prove that I existed more than an instant ago. My conciousness, however, is an instantaneous process. I need to use my memory to construct such a proof.
If I assume that my memory is valid, then I remember instances that my memory has been false. Therefore I can't trust my memory to be valid.
Since my memory is not necessarily valid, and all my observations are suspect, I can't prove that I existed an instant ago. Therefore I can't prove that anything existed an instant ago.
--
"Spell my Name With an S" perhaps? (or whatever the name of that Asimov story was).
--
It is impossible to disprove the proposition:
The entire universe sprang into being an infitesimal amount of time ago by the will of an omnipotent God.
Similarily there is no way to disprove the existence of God in general. There is simply no axiomatic or observational structure that can be trusted. The best one can do is to show that the observable world is completely consistent with scientific theories and therefore there are no mysteries which require explanation by supernatural forces. This is of course a daunting task, which requires a complete explanation of conciousness, among other things.
In the end, as long as there is death there will be believers in God.
--
http://www.treasure-troves.com/ math/EvenNumber.html is a good math dictionary and agrees that zero is even.
--
Give me a minute....
--
I wouldn't ask any primary school teacher. I remember primary school teachers that were rather iffy about negative numbers.
--
You're wrong.
--
It's worse than you think, we need multi-variable calculus to even hope to keep the planets in orbit.
--
[7:24pm] mcope@orion (~): factor 11595919111999
11595919111999
11595919111999
It's prime
--