Wait, is 5 the best or is 5 the worst? Can't they just say "Be slightly nervous today", "Maintain a constant irrational fear of death today", or "Shit your pants every time you hear a car backfire today"?
Or how about the best one: "Treat today just like every other day because any terrorist attacks in the works are COMPLETELY outside of your control"?
Thanks for the well-articulated response. My original point still stands, however . . . to state it more clearly:
the 1% of non-killing-people applications of handguns are used to justify the other 99%
the 1% of non-piracy applications of KaZaa are used to justify the other 99%
the 1% of non-DRM-related applications of TCPA will be used to justify the other 99%.
Everyone I know that's involved in "sports shooting" also considers it to be practice for that mythical day that the evil man breaks in and tries to kill the whole family. And finally, with the minor exception of non-lethal weapons, police officers are trained to shoot to kill (specifically to shoot at the center of the body mass). There's none of this "shooting in the leg" going on, at least not on purpose.
Handguns are made for killing people. All opinions aside, that's a basic fact. Handguns are a tool designed for killing, and specifically for killing people. Arguing that they have some other practical use is just silly.
In fact, I'm pretty sure that the continental US is too wide for coast-to-coast power sharing (that is, power generated in, say, New York, can only be "shipped" as far west as Indiana, or so).
In many parts of the world, you could reach twenty countries at that distance.
If I don't want commercials, I have to pay for a premium channel, and that usually costs a premium.
Then you still get commercials anyway . . . "Minority Report" was loaded with ads, and "Matrix 2" has a 10-minute Cadillac ad right in the middle . . . Advertising just sucks, in all of its insidious forms.
Translating between computer languages is a much, much easier problem. There are already many utilities that do a bang-up job of this.
And I doubt their software would have any success . . . computer languages rely very heavily on perfect and exact "punctuation", whereas in human languages it's not nearly as important.
If they offered me the same money (and one of those Linux NetworX clusters) I could have a superior system in a month, although (as stated above) it would require more than one known language.
Bitching on Slashdot about it is not likely to get your ideas implemented. Contacting the researchers and asking to get involved may (assuming you're in some way qualified and not just totally full of shit, that is).
The problem is hard, not impossible. Eventually machines will be as good as humans, then better. A machine could have all of this cross-cultural knowledge you talk about, not just a subset from one person's experience.
These are the same arguments made by Luddites and the like during every major technological revolution. Humanity will always find something to keep it busy, and quality of life will improve for everyone beyond your imagination.
Holding back technology just to keep enough menial jobs around for everyone is very short-sighted.
Getting rid of teachers and giving jobs to those who love to teach (similar to computer geeks to enjoy to do computer stuff, for free...). That'd cut down on bad teachers.
This is completely naive. The best teachers are leaving to do other things because the pay is so abysmally low. Schools are having trouble finding ANY teachers right now.
If you measure intelligence as an integer, yes . . . but if you consider it as a continuum (i.e. real numbers), no two people would have the same IQ. But, of course, it takes somebody with above average intelligence to figure that out:P
if there is water in the line, the upper channels can get cut out because the higher frequencies run along the outside of the line.
What?! Does this come right before "and if the line gets cut, you have to tape it up with electrical tape real quick so you don't spill electrons all over the yard"?
While you're there, stop by Celebration, Florida. A planned community built by Disney . . . it's enough to give almost anyone a case of the screaming heebie-jeebies.
While you're in DC, go to the basement of the American History museum. They have a walk through the history of technology, all the way from mechanical adders through modern computer and communications technology. They've got one of each of many many types of computers . . . most of ENIAC, an entire UNIVAC, lots and lots more . . . all the way up to the live SGI server that runs the museum's web page. A geek can easily spend half a day there.
Too bad the Archives building is currently "Closed for Renovation". I keep expecting them to put up a sign "Closed for Revision" . . .
Re:Dean for President
on
Saving the Net
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· Score: 3, Informative
One thing you're neglecting is that President Bush's money also comes from a huge number of small donations. A lot of them are "bundled" into a lump sum by lobby groups and corporations, but they are comprised of individual donations.
This is simply not true. The Republican Party leans heavily on large donations from individuals. These individuals generally are in the financial "upper crust", and generally benefit financially from a Republican administration (massive tax cuts, etc.).
The Republican Party is geared towards saving people money. This is the key issue for Republican politics, regardless of all the morality bullshit they spew. If you're greedy, you vote Republican, whether it's for an end to the estate tax or a $300 tax refund loan.
Slashdot Mirror
I think you really need to cut down on the sleep, man . . . 16 hours/night is a little extreme.
Or how about the best one: "Treat today just like every other day because any terrorist attacks in the works are COMPLETELY outside of your control"?
- the 1% of non-killing-people applications of handguns are used to justify the other 99%
- the 1% of non-piracy applications of KaZaa are used to justify the other 99%
- the 1% of non-DRM-related applications of TCPA will be used to justify the other 99%.
Everyone I know that's involved in "sports shooting" also considers it to be practice for that mythical day that the evil man breaks in and tries to kill the whole family. And finally, with the minor exception of non-lethal weapons, police officers are trained to shoot to kill (specifically to shoot at the center of the body mass). There's none of this "shooting in the leg" going on, at least not on purpose.Handguns are made for killing people. All opinions aside, that's a basic fact. Handguns are a tool designed for killing, and specifically for killing people. Arguing that they have some other practical use is just silly.
Riiiight, and KaZaa can be used for things other than piracy, and handguns can be used for things other than shooting people . . .
Corollary 1: "No one ever wants to hear anyone else's cell phone conversation."
In many parts of the world, you could reach twenty countries at that distance.
Then you still get commercials anyway . . . "Minority Report" was loaded with ads, and "Matrix 2" has a 10-minute Cadillac ad right in the middle . . . Advertising just sucks, in all of its insidious forms.
Let's see, this is Slashdot . . . so it must have been during dinner.
- life expectancy, the ability to survive certain diseases, "miracle" drugs, other medical technology
- communications: the ability to communicate easily to anywhere in the world, from anywhere in the world, instantly, practically for nothing
- information: the ability to read about and understand anything at all, instantly
- the education level of the general populace
- the ability to travel vast distances quickly and comfortably
Go back another 50 years and the list gets longer and more dramatic. Go back 1000 years and the world was a completely different place.And I doubt their software would have any success . . . computer languages rely very heavily on perfect and exact "punctuation", whereas in human languages it's not nearly as important.
Bitching on Slashdot about it is not likely to get your ideas implemented. Contacting the researchers and asking to get involved may (assuming you're in some way qualified and not just totally full of shit, that is).
The problem is hard, not impossible. Eventually machines will be as good as humans, then better. A machine could have all of this cross-cultural knowledge you talk about, not just a subset from one person's experience.
Thank you for the SCO fix. The lack of SCO articles today was giving me the shakes.
Holding back technology just to keep enough menial jobs around for everyone is very short-sighted.
This is completely naive. The best teachers are leaving to do other things because the pay is so abysmally low. Schools are having trouble finding ANY teachers right now.
You can do that today at the corner of 7th and 11th.
Except that the "average" as defined in terms of IQ is standardized to 100 as the median, not the mean.
If you measure intelligence as an integer, yes . . . but if you consider it as a continuum (i.e. real numbers), no two people would have the same IQ. But, of course, it takes somebody with above average intelligence to figure that out :P
What?! Does this come right before "and if the line gets cut, you have to tape it up with electrical tape real quick so you don't spill electrons all over the yard"?
While you're there, stop by Celebration, Florida. A planned community built by Disney . . . it's enough to give almost anyone a case of the screaming heebie-jeebies.
While you're in DC, go to the basement of the American History museum. They have a walk through the history of technology, all the way from mechanical adders through modern computer and communications technology. They've got one of each of many many types of computers . . . most of ENIAC, an entire UNIVAC, lots and lots more . . . all the way up to the live SGI server that runs the museum's web page. A geek can easily spend half a day there.
Too bad the Archives building is currently "Closed for Renovation". I keep expecting them to put up a sign "Closed for Revision" . . .
This is simply not true. The Republican Party leans heavily on large donations from individuals. These individuals generally are in the financial "upper crust", and generally benefit financially from a Republican administration (massive tax cuts, etc.).
The Republican Party is geared towards saving people money. This is the key issue for Republican politics, regardless of all the morality bullshit they spew. If you're greedy, you vote Republican, whether it's for an end to the estate tax or a $300 tax refund loan.
This is obviously a paid advertisement disguised as an article, anyway.