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User: mblase

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  1. An edge? on Nokia Takes Control of Symbian · · Score: 3, Insightful

    does Linux now have an edge?

    Only if it's a superior OS in terms of compatability, usability, and cutting-edge features. Please remember that on the whole, consumers don't care which phone is more open from a codebase perspective, only whether it supports the features they want.

  2. Re:Sad news ... Stephen King dead at 56 on The Golden Ratio · · Score: -1, Troll

    http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&edition=us&q=ste phen+king&btnG=Search+News -- really? Who reported it?

  3. Re:The Da Vinci Code on The Golden Ratio · · Score: 1

    Da Vinci played a small part in all this fun Phi stuff, and evidence of it can be found in his paintings.

    He was far from the first, and I don't just mean Aristotle. The ancient Egyptians believed that this "sacred ratio" was important enough to embed in their art and constructions. Many Egyptian temples employ rectangluar archways designed according to the Golden Ratio (phi).

    At the Great Pyramid of Giza, the ratio of the length of one side of the base to the perpendicular height of the pyramid is about 2/phi, making the slant height of the pyramid side proportionately equal to phi. The result is that each side of the pyramid is a Golden Triangle.

  4. universal math? on The Golden Ratio · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The idea that mathematics is a human construction and probably holds no water in another civilization that grew up on the other side of the universe makes a lot of sense to me.

    Yes and no. Mathematics is just a way of modelling things abstractly. Even things like counting from one to ten is a model for concrete objects, and provides a way of, say, making sure the number of cows you have today is the same as the number of cows you had yesterday. At the higher level, mathematics lets you model shapes, motion, acceleration, and gravitational collapse of entire stars.

    The most common types of mathematics we use include decimal arithmetic (trading with money), algebra (solving for unknown quantities), and geometry (simplifying the world into abstract shapes). Hundreds of other branches of mathematics exist to model different things in different ways, and none of them are "right" -- they all are optimized for particular problem-solving.

    With that in mind, I find it inconceivable that advanced civilizations on other planets would not have some kind of mathematics, and at least share the natural numbers with us (not necessarily base ten, though). If all you're doing is raising food for your family, then even arithmetic may be more than you need to bother with. But anything that involves abstract problem-solving, measurement, and/or exchange of goods for trade is going to need some kind of math. The models they use may bear no resemblance to the ones we use, but that doesn't mean it's not math.

  5. Am I missing something? on Two Blanks Against the Trend · · Score: 2, Insightful

    We are giving them the chance to make 2 legal copies for private use with "official blanks".

    How is this more 'helpful' than, say, simply enclosing two additional CDs with the album already recorded onto it, thereby saving their fans the trouble of duping the CD when the CD-R already has the album's label glued onto it?

  6. Elitist, perhaps? on Learning Computer Science via Assembly Language · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Perhaps it's time that computer science curriculums start teaching assembly language first.

    Yeah, as a mathematics major I've often felt that number theory is glanced over far too often in high schools. Kids really ought to learn why 1+1=2 and how to strictly define multiplication of integers before getting into such oversimplifications of mathematics as the Pythagorean Theorem.

    I think the submitter is proceeding from a false assumption. Anyone who's really pursuing a BS in Computer Science (from a reputable school, anyway) is probably going to get a course in assembly language whether they like it or not, and anyone who hasn't earned a BS shouldn't be calling themselves a "computer scientist."

  7. about time! on Analog Approach to Displaying Data · · Score: 1

    ...Stock Market trends, weather forecasts, traffic on your commute...

    I'm glad they invented this! I was so tired of visiting weather web sites, installing stuff in my menu bar, just to display the current temperature and barometric pressure. Now I can just plug this gizmo into my computer and have it display whether the temperature and pressure are going up or down!

    I saw something like this at my grandparents' house once. I never could figure out where they got the internet subscription.

  8. Re:Give it up on Leaked X-Box 2 Specs Include PPC CPU · · Score: 3, Funny

    Why dosen't Microsoft give it up and admit to all the Xbox players that they're gaming on a PC? Or in the case of the Xbox2, a Mac. :)

    It's worse than that. Microsoft is trying to keep it under wraps that they'll be using Mandrake Linux PPC for the underlying OS.

  9. Yahoo supports this? on Microsoft, Yahoo Investigate Spam Solution · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Yahoo! Mail already has a spam filter engine, and it's ridiculously effective for a freemail provider. I rarely use my Yahoo account, but still tend to check it daily for email that should go to my new email addy and doesn't.

    On a typical day, Yahoo! Mail will have around 100 new spam messages for me, and only two to six of them will make it to my inbox. After a quick setup a month or two ago, I can now check them all with one click and have them identified and deleted as spam with a second click.

    While I understand Yahoo! wanting to lessen the burden on their filtering software by supporting postage, I think the sheer cost of such postage would eliminate Yahoo! Mail as a free service and wipe out most of its users in the process. I honestly can't imagine why they would want to use it instead of their already very effective spam traps.

  10. links x links on Wikipedia Reaches 200,000 Articles · · Score: 4, Informative
  11. There's more than one out there on Wikipedia Reaches 200,000 Articles · · Score: 4, Informative
    Wikipedia, Everything2 and h2g2 all have different approaches to the same goal -- a web-based user-updated encyclopedia. As near as I can tell (not being a participant in all three), here are the main differences:
    • Wiki is very strongly fact-based, aiming to imitate a paper encyclopedia as much as possible. E2 and h2g2 are more open and have at last as much pop-culture content as they do factual stuff.
    • Wiki and h2g2 only allow one article per title, while E2 allows multiple writeups per title (but only one writeup per title per person). h2g2 doesn't have the update/revert structure in place that Wiki does. By allowing multiple writeups, there's no way for a troll to replace good content with bad even for a short time.
    • h2g2 and E2 both rely on editors with special powers, albeit in somewhat different ways. Wiki basically allows anyone to be an editor, while h2g2 requires editor approval to post an article and E2 requires editor approval to keep it posted.
    • E2 and h2g2 both have strong communities, with E2 mainly depending on real-time chat and h2g2 on message forums.
    • E2 allows and even encourages original creative content -- stories, poems, and opinionated reviews -- as much as it does factual content of any sort. h2g2 culture practically requires a creative (read: Douglas Adams-like) personal touch on submitted articles.
  12. Re:Save Disney on Pixar Drops Disney To Find a New Studio Partner · · Score: 1

    Nah, he'd just subcontract the inbetween work to cheaper studios in Korea and China. That's what most of the Japanese studios have been doing for the past 10 years or so.

    It's interesting to note that Disney's animation dept. no longer works exclusively out of the USA. They have very large animation studios in both France and Japan; Piglet's Big Movie (their third Pooh motion picture) and many of their television cartoons are animated entirely in Japan.

  13. Re:Too Many No-Talent Recordings on Gabriel and Eno Start Digital Music Artist Union · · Score: 1

    It is the reason that the music industry and record business exists as it does in its present form. Primarily as a filter for junk music.

    This is irony, right?

  14. Re:Backhoes don't respect biometric hand prints on Fort N.O.C.'s Security in Obscurity · · Score: 3, Funny

    A hacker or botched OS patch could hose the thing.

    I think we can be reasonably certain that VeriSign (a) only runs as much of an OS on their root server as is absolutely necessary, and (b) only patches it when it's thoroughly tested and approved by people who know what they're working on.

    The way you talk, it's like you think the employees use the server for gathering Unreal Tournament games after hours or something.

  15. Re:Gimme a dman break on The Software Monoculture · · Score: 1

    Comparing the potato famine and MSBlast is a fucking joke

    Only if you can defend the contrary. Arguments, please?

  16. We're not biased on The Software Monoculture · · Score: 1

    "There is a difference between biodiversity and computer diversity," said Scott Charney, chief security strategist for the company.

    Yeah, there is: biodiversity actually exists.

  17. Would you *want* to send such people? on One-Way Ticket to Mars? · · Score: 1

    A one-way ticket to Mars would involve a lengthy trip, a difficult landing, scientific expertise upon arrival, and a slow and possibly painful death shortly thereafter. Obviously, NASA can only send volunteers for such a mission.

    That being the case, would you *really* trust a multi-billion dollar mission to another planet to someone who'd *want* to subject themselves to that? All they get out of it is fame after death, and possibly a lot of money for family members back on Earth. Meanwhile, all their scientific research and exploration is tainted by the knowledge that they're a few days away from an unnecessary grave.

    Imagine an entire radio exploration being broadcast to the people of Earth by Eeyore the donkey and Marvin the Paranoid Android, and you'll see what I'm getting at.

  18. Re:Not a disease on Neural Feedback Training as Therapy for ADHD? · · Score: 1

    You may want to look into Strattera, as it lacks the addictive properties of other ADHD drugs. My only noticable side-effect on it has been a focused mind - something I've coveted for a long time.

    I recently heard about Strattera, too, and intend to ask my doctor about it myself. As far as I know, it's the only medication for AD/HD that's not a stimulant (or a controlled substance, which Ritalin is). It's one of those drugs that takes several days to build up in your system -- the advantage is that you don't suffer the daily peaks and valleys as Ritalin kicks in and wears off, but if it's not for you and you need to come off of it, it will likewise take several days to completely leave your system.

  19. FWIW, free with a new Mac on Apple Justifies iLife Price Tag · · Score: 1

    Like the Panther OS, iLife '04 is free with all new Macs starting Friday. In that regard, iLife is as much an incentive to buy a new SuperDrive-equipped G5 as it is to spend cash on formerly-free software.

    It's starting to work, too. My mom recently got a 1.8GHz G5 tower for $1,799 (discounted since it was replaced with the dual 1.8GHz), and my current G4 Mac is SuperDrive-less.

  20. I don't get $49 worth on Apple Justifies iLife Price Tag · · Score: 1

    One of the small-print notices I found on Apple's site is that both iDVD and GarageBand require a DVD-ROM to install them. Since I don't have one of those, I can only install iPhoto 4 and iMovie 4 on my Mac (I've already got iTunes 4 as a free download).

    This is mildly annoying, since I'd love to be able to work on iDVD projects and take them to another Mac to burn them, and my daughter would have a huge amount of fun fiddling with GarageBand. As it is, I'd be getting two out of four apps worth -- which may still be worth $49 in many people's minds, but I still feel cheated.

  21. Re:I want my math coprocessor on Matrix-Style Brain Interface Closer To Reality · · Score: 1

    Don't forget ram doubler. I would love to store memories.

    Like in Johnny Mnemonic ? (Which, ironically, is one movie I would most definitely like to forget.)

  22. Re:Isn't he right? on Microsoft Unhappy With HP's iTunes Decision · · Score: 1

    Correct me if I'm wrong, but you can only listen to iTunes content on an iPod.

    Incorrect. You can also listen to it in iTunes. (And the aforementioned CD burns.)

  23. Re:Don't forget... on Lego to Stop Producing Mindstorms · · Score: 1

    "Lego" is in fact a Latin word, but it means "I read".

    More tellingly, it's also English kid slang for "Mine!"

  24. Re:Classic ad updated, too! on Rumors of iPod mini, 100 Million Songs, Xserve G5 All True · · Score: 5, Funny

    They updated the classic 1984 commercial for it's 20th anniversary. The girl is now wearing iPod...

    This is George Lucas' doing, isn't it?

  25. Re:Mixed response on Rumors of iPod mini, 100 Million Songs, Xserve G5 All True · · Score: 5, Informative

    My guesses: no import of other formats, and it will support any hardware that can be connected by USB.

    It's worth noting that Garage Band seems to be a miniaturized version of Apple's $199 Soundtrack application, which may have the features you need.