You are forgetting the never-ending stream of annoying, worthless, tax-payer funded, left-wing drivel.
Ah, yes, what I refer to as "the truth." That's my favorite part of NPR. Quite the refreshing change from all that right-wing propaganda about how we have to destroy "Saaddam Huusayn" before he destroys us.
NPR is the only thing worth listening to on radio. If I can't get NPR, I switch to "off." I sure as hell am not going to pay XM $10/month for muzak.
I have AT&T cellular, and my SMS is unreliable. Messages can take 12 hours to arrive, and they can fail to arrive all together.
AT&T got me started on SMS with a "free for now..." package, then switched to one where incoming is free, and outgoing costs 10 cents each. So I adapted and basically never send a text message from my phone. However, it is handy that you can e-mail messages to an AT&T cell phone at 5055551234@mobile.att.net (i.e. insert appropriate phone number) for no cost. So I regularly e-mail my wife's cell phone from my desktop.
Isn't this kind of ideology exactly what let to the 'dot-com crash'. People invested lots of capital in companies that people enjoyed but weren't necessarily very profitable. I think google is the latest subject to this phenomenon. Although I could be,and hope that I am, wrong.
IIRC, in his keynote address to USENIX LISA 2002, Jim Reese, Google's Chief Operations Engineer, claimed that Google is profitable.
When a professor is first accepted to the faculty of a university, he/she must "publish or perish" for the first 5(+[?]) years. If you do not publish often enough in those first years, you are not retained.
That is done so that only productive researchers are retained. And it is not strictly volume: both the number and the quality of publications are measured. Some schools actually use citation counts: how often are your papers cited?
I personally think the requirements of universities should change so that we are not searching through a glut of papers,
It is not the university standards that are the problem, it is the standards of reviewers at journals and conferences that lead to the glut of papers. To improve the quality and decrease the quantity of research generated, 2/3 of journals and conferences should be shut down.
I suppose univeritiy policy could marginally affect this by having the university library summarily unsubscribe from 2/3 of the journals & conferences they receive.
I disagree with the author's basic assumption: that the purpose of science is to find a higher truth, for its own sake, and that benefits to humanity are merely tangential spinoffs. I think science's purpose should be to create things that will improve the human condition, especially in fields of inquiry such as biology, where the results of scientific research can have almost immediate, tangible results on people.
Science is the former: the search for knowledge for it's own sake. The latter (applying knowledge to make people's lives better) is known as "engineering."
Seriously, since you're the THIRD person posting this, *and* the site is performing fine, I assure you, down moderations are *extremely* necessary for your karma-whoring ass.
Except now the site is not responding, so take your sanctimonious attitude and moderate it. Your post was mostly useful to lead me to the actually useful post with a cached copy of the article:-)
For all the haughtiness in the article quote, biodiesel fuel is available in America. It is sold out of the pump at the corner gas station two blocks from my house. They charge approx. $1.80/gal. instead of the $1.40/gal. they charge for regular diesel.
Tablet PCs strike me as an opportunity for Linux to crack the desktop market. From what I've read of initial impressions of Tablet PCs, the thing that sucks the most is the crappy Microsoft inking software, that is neither easy to learn to write for (sucks worse than Graffiti) nor will it learn your writing style (sucks worse than Newton).
So, if an open source project were to arise that did a better job of writing recognition, it could be a "killer app" that gets more of the mainstream PC users interested in Linux desktops.
Caveat: no, I'm not going to do it. My research area is security, not HCI.
Optical Communications to Keep Bombs Away
on
Optical Cellphones
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
This kind of technology is particularly important to the Army for men in the field. The reason is that in the near future, any kind of broadcast RF will result in a bomb down your shorts in a big hurry: smart weapons will home in on any radio frequency they can find, and destroy it. Thus talking on the cell phone, walkie-talkie, whatever, will mean instant death to a soldier.
Thus the Army must have some kind of non-broadcast communications system. I have no direct knowledge of how they would do it, but it isn't hard to imagine. For example, suppose low-flying satelites broadcast a signal. Handsets on the ground listen for that signal, and then point a highly directional antenna (LASER, focussed RF or microwave, whatever) at the satelite, and then starts transmitting a narrow beam.
There is not enough economic motive to develop this for purely commercial purposes. But once it is developed for the military, the commercial benefits are there to deploy it. Directional signalling means much less interference, and therefore much less consumption of precious spectrum, and less need for those pesky and expensive cell towers.
Security vulnerabilities are discovered, become publicly known,
get exploited by attackers, and patches come out. When should one apply
security patches? Patch too soon, and you may suffer from instability
induced by bugs in the patches. Patch too late, and you get hacked
by attackers exploiting the vulnerability. We explore the factors affecting
when it is best to apply security patches, providing both mathematical models
of the factors affecting when to patch, and collecting empirical data to
give the model practical value. We conclude with a model that we hope will
help provide a formal foundation for when the practitioner should apply security
updates.
The "recycle your old SIMs" has a problem induced by the exponential growth of memory sizes. Following Moore's Law, memory doubles in capacity every 18 months. The mathematics of a pile of things that double every 18 months is that the current 18-month generation is larger than the entire pile of everything that came before it.
So while you can putz around and try to integrate a bunch of differently-timed old memory cards onto a single mobo, or you can just go spend $50 on a new stick for the same benefit. The choice is pretty clear.
There are countless people in the American animation world with adult stories they'd like to tell, but the only new work Cartoon Network is willing to fund is stuff about on the same intellectual and graphical level as South Park.
That's nice... South Park is the best animated American TV series in 20 years. It is far more "intellectual" than even the Simpsons. South Park is not about fart jokes: it is about sarcastically puncturing the hypocracy of modern society, punctuated with fart jokes:-)
So while your point about Adult Swim being unwilling to undertake new adult animation, you can get down off your high horse about South Park: it is far better than what most wanna-be's produce.
On the contrary, this is great progress for/. This is the first time that I recall/. actually breaking a story. Normally/. only reports that someone else has actually gone and published a story, and/. is acting only as a (very convenient) news clipping service.
But this is different:/. posted the story before anyone else posted anything (I just went and looked at a bunch of sources, and the story isn't out yet as of this writing). OMG:/. doing actual journalism!
You wish. For that matter, I wish, but it just isn't so. More likely scenario:
User: I want to be able to share my schedule contacts and project info.
admin: sure we can install exchange it will cost $$$$$$, ohh yea it also runs on Win2k.
User: Fine, whatever, just tell me when it's done and don't bug me with details.
admin: what about all of that mimlinda, in lisa and melissa and code red stuff?
User: Which part of 'don't bug me with details' was unclear? Just do it.
The open source/free software world desperately needs a drop-in replacement for Exchange, where "drop-in" means "will work with Outlook without having to explain stuff to Outlook users." There are open source functional replacements, and there are proprietary drop-in replacements, but no open source drop-in replacements.
For that matter, we could use an open source drop-in replacement for Outlook, where "drop-in" means "works with Exchange." I've heard that Evolution does it, but I've also heard that Evolution employs a proprietary module to get to the Exchange Calendaring functionality.
If I'm wrong here, I'd love to be corrected. Preferably with URLs pointing to code:-)
But because Tetris collapses complete levels, the state space stays small, even after many hundreds of pieces have been played. The state space to be considered when playing a piece is limited to:
the set of pieces on the board
the piece in play
the piece after that (if the game you're using displays that
The number of pieces you've previously played has no discernable impact, other than the state space of pieces left on the board.
Hmmm... ok. I do remember seeing a proof that packing arbitrary shapes of blocks optimally (the Tetris problem) was NP-hard many, many years ago, so this didn't look like news to me. But I've long since lost the reference.
In any case, NP-hard for Tetris still isn't that hard, because the N remains very small, no matter how you look at it.
How is it Nintendo et. al. can program an incredibly skilled Tetris AI, but scientists at MIT cannot?
"NP-hard" means that they have a proof that the computational complexity of tetris is exponential in the number of blocks to be placed. But since there are only 4 blocks in each piece, "exponential" is not that big, so the computer can easily compute an optimal placement without breaking a sweat. "NP-hard" does not mean that that the problem is unsolvable, or even particularly difficult to solve, just that you can't scale it up to a zillion blocks without having approximately 2^zillion compute cycles.
Well, duh. Tetris is based on bin packing, a classic NP-hard optimization problem. That's what makes it such a compelling game: you have to solve a really hard problem in real time.
Yes, time dialation approaches infinity as you approach the event horizon, so you can never actually enter a black hole, only mosey up to it:-)
What intrigues me about the globular cluster black hole (or a galactic black hole) is that the black hole can form around you, rather than you having to enter it. This gets you around the problem of infinite time dialation approaching the event horizon, as well as the hellacious hard radiation and gravitational tides that exist near black holes. So you could postulate fairly normal things like planets, cities, space ships, etc. being trapped inside a black hole that formed around them. Might be a spiffy basis for an SF novel, in the tradition of Dragon's Egg and Mission of Gravity.
So what is up here? Since when do black holes occupy so much space (I thought they were points)?
Black holes are not points. The edge of a black hole is the point at which the escape velocity (velocity required to escape the gravitational field of the object) exceeds the speed of light, and thus light can no longer escape from the object. This is called the "event horizon."
This would seem to imply that, in theory, a very large black hole could have rather low density inside the event horizon. It seems to me that a black hole could spontaneously form around a particularly dense cluster of stars if it was large enough and they all happened to clump together.
But my head starts to hurt thinking about what happens to physics when a region of normal space suddenly finds itself inside a black hole like that. I am definitely not a physicist, so I can't explain what goes on inside a black hole, or if my globular cluster black hole is even possible.
I guess because the CNN editors thought the line "Apparently, Jedi mind tricks didn't work" was cute enought to put on the air, and the AP article helpfully pointed to/.
I doubt any national TV stations other than TechTV read slashdot,...
I was just watching CNN Headline News on TV, and the woman reading the story on the guy busted for pirating AotC actually quoted and attributed the Slashdot story.
Slashdot Mirror
Ah, yes, what I refer to as "the truth." That's my favorite part of NPR. Quite the refreshing change from all that right-wing propaganda about how we have to destroy "Saaddam Huusayn" before he destroys us.
NPR is the only thing worth listening to on radio. If I can't get NPR, I switch to "off." I sure as hell am not going to pay XM $10/month for muzak.
Crispin
----
Crispin Cowan, Ph.D.
Chief Scientist, WireX Communications, Inc.
Immunix: Security Hardened Linux Distribution
Available for purchase
AT&T got me started on SMS with a "free for now ..." package, then switched to one where incoming is free, and outgoing costs 10 cents each. So I adapted and basically never send a text message from my phone. However, it is handy that you can e-mail messages to an AT&T cell phone at 5055551234@mobile.att.net (i.e. insert appropriate phone number) for no cost. So I regularly e-mail my wife's cell phone from my desktop.
Crispin
----
Crispin Cowan, Ph.D.
Chief Scientist, WireX Communications, Inc.
Immunix: Security Hardened Linux Distribution
Available for purchase
Crispin
----
Crispin Cowan, Ph.D.
Chief Scientist, WireX Communications, Inc.
Immunix: Security Hardened Linux Distribution
Available for purchase
I suppose univeritiy policy could marginally affect this by having the university library summarily unsubscribe from 2/3 of the journals & conferences they receive.
Be careful what you wish for; you might get it :-)
Crispin
----
Crispin Cowan, Ph.D.
Chief Scientist, WireX Communications, Inc.
Immunix: Security Hardened Linux Distribution
Available for purchase
Heard at a conference 10 years ago:
- Scientists build stuff in order to learn stuff.
- Engineers learn stuff in order to build stuff.
Crispin, who is a little of each----
Crispin Cowan, Ph.D.
Chief Scientist, WireX Communications, Inc.
Immunix: Security Hardened Linux Distribution
Available for purchase
Crispin
----
Crispin Cowan, Ph.D.
Chief Scientist, WireX Communications, Inc.
Immunix: Security Hardened Linux Distribution
Available for purchase
Kudos to Albina Fuel.
Crispin
----
Crispin Cowan, Ph.D.
Chief Scientist, WireX Communications, Inc.
Immunix: Security Hardened Linux Distribution
Available for purchase
So, if an open source project were to arise that did a better job of writing recognition, it could be a "killer app" that gets more of the mainstream PC users interested in Linux desktops.
Caveat: no, I'm not going to do it. My research area is security, not HCI.
Crispin
----
Crispin Cowan, Ph.D.
Chief Scientist, WireX Communications, Inc.
Immunix: Security Hardened Linux Distribution
Available for purchase
Thus the Army must have some kind of non-broadcast communications system. I have no direct knowledge of how they would do it, but it isn't hard to imagine. For example, suppose low-flying satelites broadcast a signal. Handsets on the ground listen for that signal, and then point a highly directional antenna (LASER, focussed RF or microwave, whatever) at the satelite, and then starts transmitting a narrow beam.
There is not enough economic motive to develop this for purely commercial purposes. But once it is developed for the military, the commercial benefits are there to deploy it. Directional signalling means much less interference, and therefore much less consumption of precious spectrum, and less need for those pesky and expensive cell towers.
Crispin
----
Crispin Cowan, Ph.D.
Chief Scientist, WireX Communications, Inc.
Immunix: Security Hardened Linux Distribution
Available for purchase
Timing the Application of Security Patches for Optimal Uptime
Steve Beattie, Seth Arnold, Crispin Cowan, Perry Wagle, and Chris Wright
WireX Communications, Inc. http://wirex.com
and
Adam Shostack
Informed Security http://www.informedsecurity.com Crispin
----
Crispin Cowan, Ph.D.
Chief Scientist, WireX Communications, Inc.
Immunix: Security Hardened Linux Distribution
Available for purchase
So while you can putz around and try to integrate a bunch of differently-timed old memory cards onto a single mobo, or you can just go spend $50 on a new stick for the same benefit. The choice is pretty clear.
Crispin
----
Crispin Cowan, Ph.D.
Chief Scientist, WireX Communications, Inc.
Immunix: Security Hardened Linux Distribution
Available for purchase
So while your point about Adult Swim being unwilling to undertake new adult animation, you can get down off your high horse about South Park: it is far better than what most wanna-be's produce.
Crispin
----
Crispin Cowan, Ph.D.
Chief Scientist, WireX Communications, Inc.
Immunix: Security Hardened Linux Distribution
Available for purchase
But this is different: /. posted the story before anyone else posted anything (I just went and looked at a bunch of sources, and the story isn't out yet as of this writing). OMG: /. doing actual journalism!
Must be a sign of the Apocalypse :-)
Crispin
----
Crispin Cowan, Ph.D.
Chief Scientist, WireX Communications, Inc.
Immunix: Security Hardened Linux Distribution
Available for purchase
- User: I want to be able to share my schedule contacts and project info.
- admin: sure we can install exchange it will cost $$$$$$, ohh yea it also runs on Win2k.
- User: Fine, whatever, just tell me when it's done and don't bug me with details.
- admin: what about all of that mimlinda, in lisa and melissa and code red stuff?
- User: Which part of 'don't bug me with details' was unclear? Just do it.
The open source/free software world desperately needs a drop-in replacement for Exchange, where "drop-in" means "will work with Outlook without having to explain stuff to Outlook users." There are open source functional replacements, and there are proprietary drop-in replacements, but no open source drop-in replacements.For that matter, we could use an open source drop-in replacement for Outlook, where "drop-in" means "works with Exchange." I've heard that Evolution does it, but I've also heard that Evolution employs a proprietary module to get to the Exchange Calendaring functionality.
If I'm wrong here, I'd love to be corrected. Preferably with URLs pointing to code :-)
Crispin
----
Crispin Cowan, Ph.D.
Chief Scientist, WireX Communications, Inc.
Immunix: Security Hardened Linux Distribution
Available for purchase
- the set of pieces on the board
- the piece in play
- the piece after that (if the game you're using displays that
The number of pieces you've previously played has no discernable impact, other than the state space of pieces left on the board.Crispin
In any case, NP-hard for Tetris still isn't that hard, because the N remains very small, no matter how you look at it.
Crispin
Crispin
----
Crispin Cowan, Ph.D.
Chief Scientist, WireX Communications, Inc.
Immunix: Security Hardened Linux Distribution
Available for purchase
Crispin
----
Crispin Cowan, Ph.D.
Chief Scientist, WireX Communications, Inc.
Immunix: Security Hardened Linux Distribution
Available for purchase
Crispin
----
Crispin Cowan, Ph.D.
Chief Scientist, WireX Communications, Inc.
Immunix: Security Hardened Linux Distribution
Available for purchase
What intrigues me about the globular cluster black hole (or a galactic black hole) is that the black hole can form around you, rather than you having to enter it. This gets you around the problem of infinite time dialation approaching the event horizon, as well as the hellacious hard radiation and gravitational tides that exist near black holes. So you could postulate fairly normal things like planets, cities, space ships, etc. being trapped inside a black hole that formed around them. Might be a spiffy basis for an SF novel, in the tradition of Dragon's Egg and Mission of Gravity.
Crispin
----
Crispin Cowan, Ph.D.
Chief Scientist, WireX Communications, Inc.
Immunix: Security Hardened Linux Distribution
Available for purchase
This would seem to imply that, in theory, a very large black hole could have rather low density inside the event horizon. It seems to me that a black hole could spontaneously form around a particularly dense cluster of stars if it was large enough and they all happened to clump together.
But my head starts to hurt thinking about what happens to physics when a region of normal space suddenly finds itself inside a black hole like that. I am definitely not a physicist, so I can't explain what goes on inside a black hole, or if my globular cluster black hole is even possible.
Crispin
----
Crispin Cowan, Ph.D.
Chief Scientist, WireX Communications, Inc.
Immunix: Security Hardened Linux Distribution
Available for purchase
Crispin
----
Crispin Cowan, Ph.D.
Chief Scientist, WireX Communications, Inc.
Immunix: Security Hardened Linux Distribution
Available for purchase
Crispin
----
Crispin Cowan, Ph.D.
Chief Scientist, WireX Communications, Inc.
Immunix: Security Hardened Linux Distribution
Available for purchase
Crispin
----
Crispin Cowan, Ph.D.
Chief Scientist, WireX Communications, Inc.
Immunix: Security Hardened Linux Distribution
Available for purchase
- Get a lightweight, 2-prong extension cord.
- Do not plug it in yet.
- Bare the ends, and wrap them around two medium-large nails.
- Insert the nails into the pickle.
- With all hands off the pickle and the bare metal, plug in the cord.
- Observe that the pickle glows around the contact points with the nails.
Caution:- Never tough the pickle or the bare metal while the cord is plugged in: shock hazard (duh
:-)
- Put the pickle on a non-conductive surface, e.g. sheet of wood.
- Consider doing it out doors, as it smokes and is smelly.
- Adult supervision required. You assume all risk.
Crispin----
Crispin Cowan, Ph.D.
Chief Scientist, WireX Communications, Inc.
Immunix: Security Hardened Linux Distribution
Available for purchase