2) Sometimes I need british spelling and sometimes I need American spellings
Since it works on probabilities, I presume it can be told that where it might expect an "s" to follow, there's an equal chance of an "s" or a "z", etc.
3) Can I add words to the dictionary?
I refer you to the "how does it work?" section, where they say it can accept an example file, and learn from it.
As for acronyms, that's an interesting one, but if you use them regularly it will learn.
I didn't realise they'd made Unbearable Lightness into a film. I've only read (half) the book.
More to the point, I'm *exactly* the same about ballet. Can't stand it. Although I would probably have stayed awake during the premiere of Rite of Spring:)
Hmmmm. Maybe a psychological investigation into a link between the liking of "really good" films and a dislike of ballet could be a thesis for someone out there.....
I always assumed that 'piracy' in this sense came from the old pirate radio stations (which usually ran from ships in international waters, hence 'piracy'): these stations basically 'stole' a radio frequency (i.e. they didn't pay for a licence) and didn't pay royalties for the music they played.
I agree that if you download a copyrighted MP3 or copy a copyrighted CD, you aren't *actually* stealing anything (it's copyright infringement, which is kind of different). But I presume the term piracy has stuck because of the etymology:
"Pirate" == "Doing something illegal on the High Seas" == "Transmitting unlicenced music on the high seas" == "Doing something illegal involving music".
Very interesting. Although seeing as IMDb has Steven Soderbergh as the director, I presume this is an oldish interview.
Personally, I forgive Tarkowsky for introducing the dying father for the single reason of the last, heart-rending shot of the house with the rain on the inside.
Hmmm. I saw Stalker again the other day. He likes his rain, that Tarkowsky...:)
Yeah, but luckily Solaris doesn't have any long and boring scenes. Just long and interesting ones:)
Although I suppose it depends on your tastes, of course. But calling someone an "idiot" because they like to be challenged rather than spoon-fed doesn't quite cut it....
I know Tarkovsky isn't to *everyone's* tastes, but he had some amazing techniques. Highlights include:
* Very long shots (as in, not the fast cutting you get these days where the average shot length is about 3 seconds). It really adds to the mood of the film, makes you feel like you're part of it.
* The driving scene builds from being a road with a few cars to an immense cacophony of noise, light, etc. It definitely has a point.
* A lot of highly thought-provoking dialogue (something that's rather lacking in most films).
* His autobiography is called "Sculpting in Time", which ought to give you some idea of what he's trying to *do* with his films.
And to answer the poster below, maybe Lem didn't like the film, but I bet he wouldn't like some brash American remake either. I'm sorry, but at least Tarkovsky turned the novel (or ideas contained therein) into something worth watching and learning from, rather than a sloppy piece of entertainment-action.
You're one of the SpamAssassin developers? Then let me say a great big THANK YOU!
I installed spamd about 3 weeks ago (calling spamc from procmail), with my users opting in to have their spam filtered. Works like a dream. They're all very impressed.
Wow! That would be *so* good for those "going out to fix the friend's/relative's computer" trips, where I usually take about 5 CDs with me to get all the updates/utils on.
Well... To change the topic slightly, look at it this way:
The Apple iPod can be split between music and data. So you could, in theory, put your absolute favourite music on it, and leave the rest of the space for a system folder (and some utilities).
Apples can boot from Firewire drives.
The new Apple XServe has, on the front, a FireWire port.
So any responsible sysadmin that has to look after an XServe _needs_ an iPod as an *ahem* emergency recovery disk.
Given that the Unix way is to have a "boot floppy" and a "fixit floppy", I'll go with Apple on this one:) Sounds like a "floppy replacement" to me!
The answer's in your question: "math as in mathematics". Yes, mathematic*s*. So whereas Americans simplified it to an abbreviation (math), we in the rest of the English-speaking world kept the final "s". I think our way makes more sense...
Oh yeah, and if it wasn't for mathematicians, physicists wouldn't actually be able to do anything. Or at least, most things. Think of it as a symbiotic relationship.
Re:Whaaaa? Re:So let me get this straight.
on
Wolframania
·
· Score: 2
Hang on, hang on....
Newton: yes, he did a lot of maths, but (for instance) his notation for calculus was so clumsy that everyone ended up using Leibniz' notation.
Einstein: he came up with the concepts, everyone else did the maths. Surely you know the old cliche of 'even Einstein flunked maths at school'...
Yes, there are a few exceptions. But generally physicists have been good at concepts and working through the mathematics, and mathematicians have been good at inventing new and useful techniques (often centuries before they're needed by physicists).
As a mathematician, I have to say that although most of the physicists I know are capable of using maths, they rarely understand mathematical beauty and truth, which is essential to be able to come up with new theories and branches of the subject. Of course, for my part, I'm not so good at 'seeing' the physical explanation behind a mathematical equation (e.g. differential equations that describe heat flow through a sheet of metal).
That all said, S Wolfram appears to be a genius of some sort, so it wouldn't surprise me if he had both mathematical insight *and* physical insight.
Ooo, I'll keep an eye out for it. I wonder if the gunfight contravenes any of the "bullet laws" mentioned on the original site...
Re:The Force violates conservation of momentum
on
Physics in the Movies
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
In 2001, Kubrick uses the "no sound in a vacuum" fact to amazing effect. The 2 scenes that stand out in my mind are when Dave picks up the body using the pod's claws (you really get the sense of weightlessness from the silence) and again a few minutes later when Dave comes in through the emergency airlock: the explosion, him thrashing about, etc are all silent until the airlock finally closes, at which point you get the rush of air and the tension can ebb away.
OK, so some people think 2001 is *way* too boring and slow to count as entertainment. But for me it shows that if you want the sound of an explosion, put the camera somewhere where it can be heard, don't just cheat and dub the effect on afterwards! I want to feel like I'm *in* the film, not just watching it...
Well, quite a lot, but very low damage and *extremely* rare (I should think a lot are System 7-only). The de facto Mac AV app used to be the freeware "Disinfectant", but the maintainer gave that up a few years back 'cos he couldn't keep up with all the Word Macro virii.... that gives you a rough idea of the scale.
Pretty much the only new virus since Disinfectant was discontinued was the AutoStart QuickTime worm, which would get on to CDs and use the Mac's "QT Autostart" function to run itself when you inserted the CD (workaround: turn off "QT Autostart" in the relevant Control Panel). Several major-ish companies' software CDs were infected! However, it did little damage, and things soon blew over.
There was an attempt at an Applescript virus a year or 2 back (http://www.macintouch.com/simpsonsvirus.html), but nothing came of that either.
My point is that a pianist will play differently on different pianos. So if you take his/her performance on one piano and transcribe it (no matter how accurately) onto a different piano, you *won't* get the same performance since you won't hear the nuances the pianist is getting from the piano they're physically sitting at.
But the pianist will be responding to the touch and feel of the piano (s)he's actually playing: I know, I'm a pianist. So unless they have an *identical* piano, in *identical* humidity, etc (which is impossible, given the subtleties a really good piano contains), they can't possibly have a 100% accurate reproduction.
The question is, is it accurate *enough* for this purpose? I would claim "no", but I've never seen the system in action.
Indeed. I'd have thought that the (20? 25 minute?) Mini car-chase sequence in The Italian Job might have rivalled that. Not because it was complicated as such, but because they deliberately screwed up all the traffic signals (without the authorities telling anyone), brought Turin to a halt, and then had to find a way of filming dramatic car-chase shots in the middle of a lot of annoyed Italians.
Certainly one of the most entertaining sequences ever. And Turin didn't even get the payback they wanted: since the city was basically a Fiat factory (is that right? I get muddled when it comes to cars), they wanted the film to use Fiats, but Minis were just, well, cooler:)
You have a fair point, at least apart from the last sentence (I like the Commonwealth as an entity, but not the way it came about by us systematically nicking countries, then grudgingly giving them back). But it gives me the shudders to think of there being more US, especially if it approaches planet-size.
It's the end of a long day, I don't have enough brain left to form a cohesive argument. Suffice to say, I think a lot of America's problems spring, directly or indirectly, from her vast power. So more of it is probably bad.
I also can't help hoping that someone might do things a bit better if they started from scratch, rather than starting as part of the US. The US had some good ideas (I wish we could have a separate church and state), but a lot of them kind of went bad (I would claim that, practically, church and state are more closely tied in America than in the UK). There are better examples, I'm sure, but I'm tired. *Yawn*
I see so few posts from the US that read like yours, it's refreshing. Thanks:)
That was a horrible article, it made me (a Brit) shudder. America needs to be careful: she's already pissed off plenty of countries, many more are currently mildly annoyed. I think for the sake of US national security (if nothing else), perhaps, err, don't claim sovereignty over the moon/mars just yet...
Girlfriend/wife goes to bed. Boyfriend/husband stays up and watches pr0n (without girl's knowledge). Next day, watching telly together, ads for "the hottest new sex channel" come up.
Man in trouble.
Just a random example. I'm sure there are many other less-morally-dubious ones:)
So, given that hours==time and year==time, and "hours"="years"/8760 we have that
530,000kWh/year = 60kW.
So enough to power 1000 light bulbs. Or 20 3-bar electric fires. Not bad:)
Re:Why /.?
on
Project Eden
·
· Score: 2, Informative
It opened more than a year ago... I went there last August (it had been open for some time then) and found that it was fantastic.
I know some people complain that "it isn't finished yet", but it never will be in a sense. Certainly a lot of the plants were mature enough to give a sense of the places they're meant to emulate.
Oh, and BTW, they grow tonnes of hemp. Albeit the de-interesting-ingrediented type:)
Slashdot Mirror
1) I am a terrible speller.
:P
Maybe this'll help you fix it...
2) Sometimes I need british spelling and sometimes I need American spellings
Since it works on probabilities, I presume it can be told that where it might expect an "s" to follow, there's an equal chance of an "s" or a "z", etc.
3) Can I add words to the dictionary?
I refer you to the "how does it work?" section, where they say it can accept an example file, and learn from it.
As for acronyms, that's an interesting one, but if you use them regularly it will learn.
I didn't realise they'd made Unbearable Lightness into a film. I've only read (half) the book.
:)
More to the point, I'm *exactly* the same about ballet. Can't stand it. Although I would probably have stayed awake during the premiere of Rite of Spring
Hmmmm. Maybe a psychological investigation into a link between the liking of "really good" films and a dislike of ballet could be a thesis for someone out there.....
I always assumed that 'piracy' in this sense came from the old pirate radio stations (which usually ran from ships in international waters, hence 'piracy'): these stations basically 'stole' a radio frequency (i.e. they didn't pay for a licence) and didn't pay royalties for the music they played.
I agree that if you download a copyrighted MP3 or copy a copyrighted CD, you aren't *actually* stealing anything (it's copyright infringement, which is kind of different). But I presume the term piracy has stuck because of the etymology:
"Pirate" == "Doing something illegal on the High Seas" == "Transmitting unlicenced music on the high seas" == "Doing something illegal involving music".
Very interesting. Although seeing as IMDb has Steven Soderbergh as the director, I presume this is an oldish interview.
:)
Personally, I forgive Tarkowsky for introducing the dying father for the single reason of the last, heart-rending shot of the house with the rain on the inside.
Hmmm. I saw Stalker again the other day. He likes his rain, that Tarkowsky...
Yeah, but luckily Solaris doesn't have any long and boring scenes. Just long and interesting ones :)
Although I suppose it depends on your tastes, of course. But calling someone an "idiot" because they like to be challenged rather than spoon-fed doesn't quite cut it....
I know Tarkovsky isn't to *everyone's* tastes, but he had some amazing techniques. Highlights include:
* Very long shots (as in, not the fast cutting you get these days where the average shot length is about 3 seconds). It really adds to the mood of the film, makes you feel like you're part of it.
* The driving scene builds from being a road with a few cars to an immense cacophony of noise, light, etc. It definitely has a point.
* A lot of highly thought-provoking dialogue (something that's rather lacking in most films).
* His autobiography is called "Sculpting in Time", which ought to give you some idea of what he's trying to *do* with his films.
And to answer the poster below, maybe Lem didn't like the film, but I bet he wouldn't like some brash American remake either. I'm sorry, but at least Tarkovsky turned the novel (or ideas contained therein) into something worth watching and learning from, rather than a sloppy piece of entertainment-action.
'spose I'd better stop ranting now...
You're one of the SpamAssassin developers? Then let me say a great big THANK YOU!
I installed spamd about 3 weeks ago (calling spamc from procmail), with my users opting in to have their spam filtered. Works like a dream. They're all very impressed.
:)
Wow! That would be *so* good for those "going out to fix the friend's/relative's computer" trips, where I usually take about 5 CDs with me to get all the updates/utils on.
:)
Hmmmm. My birthday's coming up
Well... To change the topic slightly, look at it this way:
:) Sounds like a "floppy replacement" to me!
The Apple iPod can be split between music and data. So you could, in theory, put your absolute favourite music on it, and leave the rest of the space for a system folder (and some utilities).
Apples can boot from Firewire drives.
The new Apple XServe has, on the front, a FireWire port.
So any responsible sysadmin that has to look after an XServe _needs_ an iPod as an *ahem* emergency recovery disk.
Given that the Unix way is to have a "boot floppy" and a "fixit floppy", I'll go with Apple on this one
*Sigh*...
The answer's in your question: "math as in mathematics". Yes, mathematic*s*. So whereas Americans simplified it to an abbreviation (math), we in the rest of the English-speaking world kept the final "s". I think our way makes more sense...
Oh yeah, and if it wasn't for mathematicians, physicists wouldn't actually be able to do anything. Or at least, most things. Think of it as a symbiotic relationship.
Hang on, hang on....
Newton: yes, he did a lot of maths, but (for instance) his notation for calculus was so clumsy that everyone ended up using Leibniz' notation.
Einstein: he came up with the concepts, everyone else did the maths. Surely you know the old cliche of 'even Einstein flunked maths at school'...
Yes, there are a few exceptions. But generally physicists have been good at concepts and working through the mathematics, and mathematicians have been good at inventing new and useful techniques (often centuries before they're needed by physicists).
As a mathematician, I have to say that although most of the physicists I know are capable of using maths, they rarely understand mathematical beauty and truth, which is essential to be able to come up with new theories and branches of the subject. Of course, for my part, I'm not so good at 'seeing' the physical explanation behind a mathematical equation (e.g. differential equations that describe heat flow through a sheet of metal).
That all said, S Wolfram appears to be a genius of some sort, so it wouldn't surprise me if he had both mathematical insight *and* physical insight.
Ooo, I'll keep an eye out for it. I wonder if the gunfight contravenes any of the "bullet laws" mentioned on the original site...
In 2001, Kubrick uses the "no sound in a vacuum" fact to amazing effect. The 2 scenes that stand out in my mind are when Dave picks up the body using the pod's claws (you really get the sense of weightlessness from the silence) and again a few minutes later when Dave comes in through the emergency airlock: the explosion, him thrashing about, etc are all silent until the airlock finally closes, at which point you get the rush of air and the tension can ebb away.
OK, so some people think 2001 is *way* too boring and slow to count as entertainment. But for me it shows that if you want the sound of an explosion, put the camera somewhere where it can be heard, don't just cheat and dub the effect on afterwards! I want to feel like I'm *in* the film, not just watching it...
Boo Woo! Moof!
:)
I was really upset (well, quite upset) at the demise of Clarus... hope he's still there in the final release
Well, quite a lot, but very low damage and *extremely* rare (I should think a lot are System 7-only). The de facto Mac AV app used to be the freeware "Disinfectant", but the maintainer gave that up a few years back 'cos he couldn't keep up with all the Word Macro virii.... that gives you a rough idea of the scale.
Pretty much the only new virus since Disinfectant was discontinued was the AutoStart QuickTime worm, which would get on to CDs and use the Mac's "QT Autostart" function to run itself when you inserted the CD (workaround: turn off "QT Autostart" in the relevant Control Panel). Several major-ish companies' software CDs were infected! However, it did little damage, and things soon blew over.
There was an attempt at an Applescript virus a year or 2 back (http://www.macintouch.com/simpsonsvirus.html), but nothing came of that either.
My point is that a pianist will play differently on different pianos. So if you take his/her performance on one piano and transcribe it (no matter how accurately) onto a different piano, you *won't* get the same performance since you won't hear the nuances the pianist is getting from the piano they're physically sitting at.
But the pianist will be responding to the touch and feel of the piano (s)he's actually playing: I know, I'm a pianist. So unless they have an *identical* piano, in *identical* humidity, etc (which is impossible, given the subtleties a really good piano contains), they can't possibly have a 100% accurate reproduction.
The question is, is it accurate *enough* for this purpose? I would claim "no", but I've never seen the system in action.
Indeed. I'd have thought that the (20? 25 minute?) Mini car-chase sequence in The Italian Job might have rivalled that. Not because it was complicated as such, but because they deliberately screwed up all the traffic signals (without the authorities telling anyone), brought Turin to a halt, and then had to find a way of filming dramatic car-chase shots in the middle of a lot of annoyed Italians.
:)
Certainly one of the most entertaining sequences ever. And Turin didn't even get the payback they wanted: since the city was basically a Fiat factory (is that right? I get muddled when it comes to cars), they wanted the film to use Fiats, but Minis were just, well, cooler
You have a fair point, at least apart from the last sentence (I like the Commonwealth as an entity, but not the way it came about by us systematically nicking countries, then grudgingly giving them back). But it gives me the shudders to think of there being more US, especially if it approaches planet-size.
It's the end of a long day, I don't have enough brain left to form a cohesive argument. Suffice to say, I think a lot of America's problems spring, directly or indirectly, from her vast power. So more of it is probably bad.
I also can't help hoping that someone might do things a bit better if they started from scratch, rather than starting as part of the US. The US had some good ideas (I wish we could have a separate church and state), but a lot of them kind of went bad (I would claim that, practically, church and state are more closely tied in America than in the UK). There are better examples, I'm sure, but I'm tired. *Yawn*
I see so few posts from the US that read like yours, it's refreshing. Thanks :)
That was a horrible article, it made me (a Brit) shudder. America needs to be careful: she's already pissed off plenty of countries, many more are currently mildly annoyed. I think for the sake of US national security (if nothing else), perhaps, err, don't claim sovereignty over the moon/mars just yet...
This is *not* a troll, just opinion.
OK, just to take a (slightly) extreme example...
:)
Girlfriend/wife goes to bed. Boyfriend/husband stays up and watches pr0n (without girl's knowledge). Next day, watching telly together, ads for "the hottest new sex channel" come up.
Man in trouble.
Just a random example. I'm sure there are many other less-morally-dubious ones
So, given that hours==time and year==time, and "hours"="years"/8760 we have that
:)
530,000kWh/year = 60kW.
So enough to power 1000 light bulbs. Or 20 3-bar electric fires. Not bad
It opened more than a year ago... I went there last August (it had been open for some time then) and found that it was fantastic.
:)
I know some people complain that "it isn't finished yet", but it never will be in a sense. Certainly a lot of the plants were mature enough to give a sense of the places they're meant to emulate.
Oh, and BTW, they grow tonnes of hemp. Albeit the de-interesting-ingrediented type
We need a new mod category:
"-1: Too much information"
It's how I first learnt a load of *nix skills, by putting NetBSD on an old Mac. My best wishes to the team...