Most people don't like having their phone calls monitored by the government. Could you imagine the impact of having telepaths among us? No one would want a telepath around. I doubt they would live long, or they'd be exploited by the government. If you have telepathic abilities, keep your mouth shut (you don't need it anyway).
From a practical standpoint, telepathy probably only works at close distances, like hearing and vision. It's hard enough picking out a conversation in a crowded room full of talking people. Could you imagine what it would be like to hear the thoughts of everyone on earth? Since we already have external means of communication at close distance (5 senses), what is the benefit of having one more? I doubt that telepathy exists, but if it did exist, but only at close distances, then the internet experiment is doomed to failure.
Hmmm... Halibut are large fish that can weight over 500 lbs. They exist in depths up to 500 ft. I've gone deep see fishing before at depths at 300 ft, but afterwards my friend bought a 400ft anchor and caught a 200lb. Because of their size, I imagine the large ones would require as much oxygen as a human. How many liters per minute do you think they need at depths of 300-500 ft? Not even close to 9000liters that you estimate for shorter depths. You need to research the science behind your claims before stating them so recklessly.
It seems like most people here are concerned about desktops. Which distro is the best if you want to colocate a web/mail server with a database backend? I really don't care at all about KDE and GNOME.
What about the rights of the individual to NOT ANSWER or to HANG UP on telemarketers. What about the right of the individual to block the intrusion in the first place? I never never never answer my phone when it says "Out of area". Should marketers have the right to turn on your TV set any time of the day so they can share their ads with you?!?!? According to your twisted view of things, it sounds like they should. The cost of productivity due to telemarketer interruptions is so high that we should be allowed to sue for damages. Give me a break. Since when do rights allow others to encroach upon another individual or his property against his will?
The last episode would be perfect for an appearance on Mystery Science Theatre 3000. It was the worst piece of crap I've ever seen. Half way through I started making comments and ad lib dialog and my wife and I were cracking up -- the only way we could enjoy the show. WHAT A DISAPPOINTMENT. The writers must have been let go before the script was written.
2 hours long, most of it a secret trial, which was meaningless. A secret truth, which he held back until he finally asked Sculley, "Are you sure you want to know?"... like it would destroy her mind or something. It was just a date of the alien invasion. Lots of useless, meaninless pseudo-philosophy that was completely out of context.
The show was just hot air. Very very very lame.
If nothing else, the final episode will at least keep us from missing the show.
If you write software to launch Nuclear arms, is that considered harm? If you write it for your country (USA) is it a good thing (for defense)? If you write it for some other country (for its defense), is it considered harm to the USA?
I understand that if you write a virus, you're intentionally causing harm to someone else's computer, but what if you were hired by your government to do so?
You could be hired by your government to pick up a rifle and shoot someone in the head during a war.
The "good guys" commit all kinds of harmful acts in the name of "good". The 911 attacks were terrible, but how much worse was the bombing of Hiroshima? The winner always gets to say whether an act was good or bad. We can rationalize all we want, but humans are terribly biased and have a history of causing harm for so-called "just causes". I don't think we're (as a race) intelligent enough to judge.
I've heard several reports that we may be on the upward curve of an earthy cycle towards another ice age. This article mentions that the Antarctic ice sheet is actually getting thicker and colder.
Creating yet another challenge for global climate change modelers to consider, scientists report that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is not thinning as previously believed, but is instead growing thicker. This finding, suggest Ian Joughin of the California Institute of Technology and Slawek Tulaczyk of the University of California--Santa Cruz, may indicate an end to the Holocene retreat of the region's Ross Ice Streams.
Although previously reported analyses of ice thickness indicate a long-term, ice-thinning trend, those results, the two scientists explain, were based on limited, in situ measurements of ice flow velocity. In contrast, Joughin and Tulaczyk's analysis takes advantage of the much-expanded database available from ice-flow velocity measurements obtained using Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar.
The new data, which provide the best assessment yet of the mass balance of the Ross Ice Streams, indicate the ice sheet is growing by 26.8 gigatons annually, in contrast to older estimates that there has been an ice mass shrinkage of 20.9 gigatons annually. The researchers say that stagnation of some of the region's ice stream flows is the primary contributor to the ice buildup.
There are, however, numerous uncertainties. Most notably, the ice flow in the region of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is extremely complex, and the data that have been obtained so far do not suggest clearly how the ice sheet will evolve over the next few centuries. Although the thickening could in fact be a decadal-scale fluctuation, Joughin and Tulaczyk contend that current thermodynamic models and data suggest ice stream flow could continue to slow, and possibly even stagnate, leading to further ice buildup. (Science 2002, 295, 476-480).
A MirCorp press statement says that not all hope is lost. If they get the money together, the Russians may not dump the station.
p.s. anyone know why my anchor tag didn't work?
And remember, a photon is not really a particle, but a wave. Physicists just treat it like a particle in certain cases so they can describe it in terms of mathematics that better fit the case.
Waves don't require extra dimensions to exhibit the "interference phenomena" that you mention.
Good point. It's very rare to see a government like that of Switzerland that actually encourages its people to use encryption, especially businesses. If only our (USA) government cared about its citizens as much...
If you buy into the hype and rhetoric that the government only has the best interests of its citizens in mind, then I can see why you feel that way. Read your history. And if you think humans are more enlightened-evolved-modern-whatever in the year 2000 than in the past, what evidence do you have to support such delusions?
I agree it's difficult to imagine beyond that which we know, and that's mainly my point. Each time humans discover a new technology, such as electromagnetic waves, we assume that our advancement is near complete, and that surely other civilizations should use, or exist within the limits of, the same technology. Within the span of our existance, we discovered electromagnetic waves just a minute ago. Surely there is much more to learn.
We have such limited views, based on our existance within 3-D space and 1-D time that we don't even know if we're really limited, except from hints of indirect observations in the quantum world, and other clues that appear like particle pairs appearing in a vacuum from "nothing".
Imagine what it would be like to be a 2-D creature, like an amoeba but intelligent. It could only infer the existance of 3-D and depend on mathematics to "visualize" a dimension that can't be observed, and possibly manipulate objects within the extra dimension only after becoming much more intelligent than we humans are today.
Electromagnetic waves, including radio waves, may just be an artifact that we experience based on our 4-D ability to observe the natural world. Instead of a sphere, maybe we only have the ability to see a circle... or just a point... or maybe the vibrations of a more base medium that is affected by the passing of the sphere, without knowledge that the sphere even exists.
Remember, we were able to observe light long before electromagnetic waves. Our concept of light is just an artifact of the true nature of electromagnetic waves. Would it make sense to use a film projector to project a greetings movie into space? Aliens may find it equally stupid to proprogate radio waves into space.
Also, we are limited by our relatively constant inertia through time. If other civilizations don't share this limit, then the propogation of waves through time might be meaningless.
In the end, I think we humans have no idea what "reality" truely is, so these examples I've given are also meaningless, BUT I think we can accept the fact that "reality" is so far from even our wildest imagination that we can't assume that alien beings also hear and see the way we do.
(Of course, I'm only human so what do I know.);^)
not the particle or "point". You're exactly right that the quantum world is so different than the macro world that most of the mental energies spent on the subject are wasted in translating abstract concepts between the two worlds. We humans have a lot to learn.
You're assuming that alien civilizations even know about radio waves. If they evolved with the ability to observe the "true quantum-wave reality" of our existence, then they might not be aware of the "radio waves" that appear as artifacts of some more fundamental medium. As far as we know, our precious "radio waves" are meaningless to other beings that may exist beyond our limited 4 dimensions.
First of all, it's copyright, not copywrite. IANAL, but if the code is the same, then it would infringe on the copyright of the code. If the web layout design is patented, and the design is the same, then it would infringe on the patent. If they didn't patent their design, then anyone can write code to look exactly the same, and there is no infringement.
Humans are arrogant creatures! Each generation wrongly assumes superiority over previous generations, and small innovations delude us into believing that we are extremely advanced.
When humans learned to talk, they took to the mountaintops and cried out to the heavens. If heavenly beings exist, then surely they must hear. Just yesterday, we learned to communicate via electromagnetic waves, and now we assume these waves are fundamental and advanced. If other civilizations exist, then surely they must hear and have the ability to respond. Heh.
Before electromagnetic waves, we had knowledge of light. Little did we know it was just an artifact of electromagnetic waves. Electromagnetic waves could very well be an artifact of another more fundamental medium in space-time. We understand so little about the quantum world, space-time, and the nature of the universe. Just as it's ignorant to assume that all alien creatures will have eyes, and the ability to see with light, we also can't assume that all creatures will be able to observe and manipulate electromagnetic waves. It is possible that electromagnetic waves are meaningless to other forms of life, even those far more advanced than ours.
We have such myopia. We believed the earth was flat, that it was the center of the universe, and we still believe that our physical experience, based on light, sound, electromagnetism, etc. is central to the existence of all creatures. Wake up humans and smell the coffee! We've got a long way to go before we can truly consider ourselves advanced. Thousands of years from now, humans will without a doubt look back and see us as cavemen. Most likely, we would not understand truly intelligent beings from another world, even if they tried to communicate. I imagine it might be like us humans trying to communicate to the insect world.
Slashdot Mirror
Most people don't like having their phone calls monitored by the government. Could you imagine the impact of having telepaths among us? No one would want a telepath around. I doubt they would live long, or they'd be exploited by the government. If you have telepathic abilities, keep your mouth shut (you don't need it anyway).
From a practical standpoint, telepathy probably only works at close distances, like hearing and vision. It's hard enough picking out a conversation in a crowded room full of talking people. Could you imagine what it would be like to hear the thoughts of everyone on earth? Since we already have external means of communication at close distance (5 senses), what is the benefit of having one more? I doubt that telepathy exists, but if it did exist, but only at close distances, then the internet experiment is doomed to failure.
Hmmm... Halibut are large fish that can weight over 500 lbs. They exist in depths up to 500 ft. I've gone deep see fishing before at depths at 300 ft, but afterwards my friend bought a 400ft anchor and caught a 200lb. Because of their size, I imagine the large ones would require as much oxygen as a human. How many liters per minute do you think they need at depths of 300-500 ft? Not even close to 9000liters that you estimate for shorter depths. You need to research the science behind your claims before stating them so recklessly.
Anyone know a product that will allow members of my family view email from OE or from the web (using my own servers)?
It seems like most people here are concerned about desktops. Which distro is the best if you want to colocate a web/mail server with a database backend? I really don't care at all about KDE and GNOME.
What about the rights of the individual to NOT ANSWER or to HANG UP on telemarketers. What about the right of the individual to block the intrusion in the first place? I never never never answer my phone when it says "Out of area". Should marketers have the right to turn on your TV set any time of the day so they can share their ads with you?!?!? According to your twisted view of things, it sounds like they should. The cost of productivity due to telemarketer interruptions is so high that we should be allowed to sue for damages. Give me a break. Since when do rights allow others to encroach upon another individual or his property against his will?
then they'll be come a novelty. Competing products will enter the market and the price will come down.
The last episode would be perfect for an appearance on Mystery Science Theatre 3000. It was the worst piece of crap I've ever seen. Half way through I started making comments and ad lib dialog and my wife and I were cracking up -- the only way we could enjoy the show. WHAT A DISAPPOINTMENT. The writers must have been let go before the script was written.
... like it would destroy her mind or something. It was just a date of the alien invasion. Lots of useless, meaninless pseudo-philosophy that was completely out of context.
2 hours long, most of it a secret trial, which was meaningless. A secret truth, which he held back until he finally asked Sculley, "Are you sure you want to know?"
The show was just hot air. Very very very lame.
If nothing else, the final episode will at least keep us from missing the show.
Of course, we all have to make moral decisions on our own, but I don't think that we can swear an oath and be held to a universal standard.
If you write software to launch Nuclear arms, is that considered harm? If you write it for your country (USA) is it a good thing (for defense)? If you write it for some other country (for its defense), is it considered harm to the USA?
I understand that if you write a virus, you're intentionally causing harm to someone else's computer, but what if you were hired by your government to do so?
You could be hired by your government to pick up a rifle and shoot someone in the head during a war.
The "good guys" commit all kinds of harmful acts in the name of "good". The 911 attacks were terrible, but how much worse was the bombing of Hiroshima? The winner always gets to say whether an act was good or bad. We can rationalize all we want, but humans are terribly biased and have a history of causing harm for so-called "just causes". I don't think we're (as a race) intelligent enough to judge.
A memory card is required only for the Japanese version of the console. The US version released on October 26 does not require a memory card at all.
that's why I thought my anchor tag wasn't working...
A MirCorp press statement says that not all hope is lost. If they get the money together, the Russians may not dump the station. p.s. anyone know why my anchor tag didn't work?
And remember, a photon is not really a particle, but a wave. Physicists just treat it like a particle in certain cases so they can describe it in terms of mathematics that better fit the case.
Waves don't require extra dimensions to exhibit the "interference phenomena" that you mention.
Good point. It's very rare to see a government like that of Switzerland that actually encourages its people to use encryption, especially businesses. If only our (USA) government cared about its citizens as much...
If you buy into the hype and rhetoric that the government only has the best interests of its citizens in mind, then I can see why you feel that way. Read your history. And if you think humans are more enlightened-evolved-modern-whatever in the year 2000 than in the past, what evidence do you have to support such delusions?
I agree it's difficult to imagine beyond that which we know, and that's mainly my point. Each time humans discover a new technology, such as electromagnetic waves, we assume that our advancement is near complete, and that surely other civilizations should use, or exist within the limits of, the same technology. Within the span of our existance, we discovered electromagnetic waves just a minute ago. Surely there is much more to learn. We have such limited views, based on our existance within 3-D space and 1-D time that we don't even know if we're really limited, except from hints of indirect observations in the quantum world, and other clues that appear like particle pairs appearing in a vacuum from "nothing". Imagine what it would be like to be a 2-D creature, like an amoeba but intelligent. It could only infer the existance of 3-D and depend on mathematics to "visualize" a dimension that can't be observed, and possibly manipulate objects within the extra dimension only after becoming much more intelligent than we humans are today. Electromagnetic waves, including radio waves, may just be an artifact that we experience based on our 4-D ability to observe the natural world. Instead of a sphere, maybe we only have the ability to see a circle... or just a point... or maybe the vibrations of a more base medium that is affected by the passing of the sphere, without knowledge that the sphere even exists. Remember, we were able to observe light long before electromagnetic waves. Our concept of light is just an artifact of the true nature of electromagnetic waves. Would it make sense to use a film projector to project a greetings movie into space? Aliens may find it equally stupid to proprogate radio waves into space. Also, we are limited by our relatively constant inertia through time. If other civilizations don't share this limit, then the propogation of waves through time might be meaningless. In the end, I think we humans have no idea what "reality" truely is, so these examples I've given are also meaningless, BUT I think we can accept the fact that "reality" is so far from even our wildest imagination that we can't assume that alien beings also hear and see the way we do. (Of course, I'm only human so what do I know.) ;^)
not the particle or "point". You're exactly right that the quantum world is so different than the macro world that most of the mental energies spent on the subject are wasted in translating abstract concepts between the two worlds. We humans have a lot to learn.
You're assuming that alien civilizations even know about radio waves. If they evolved with the ability to observe the "true quantum-wave reality" of our existence, then they might not be aware of the "radio waves" that appear as artifacts of some more fundamental medium. As far as we know, our precious "radio waves" are meaningless to other beings that may exist beyond our limited 4 dimensions.
First of all, it's copyright, not copywrite. IANAL, but if the code is the same, then it would infringe on the copyright of the code. If the web layout design is patented, and the design is the same, then it would infringe on the patent. If they didn't patent their design, then anyone can write code to look exactly the same, and there is no infringement.
Humans are arrogant creatures! Each generation wrongly assumes superiority over previous generations, and small innovations delude us into believing that we are extremely advanced.
When humans learned to talk, they took to the mountaintops and cried out to the heavens. If heavenly beings exist, then surely they must hear. Just yesterday, we learned to communicate via electromagnetic waves, and now we assume these waves are fundamental and advanced. If other civilizations exist, then surely they must hear and have the ability to respond. Heh.
Before electromagnetic waves, we had knowledge of light. Little did we know it was just an artifact of electromagnetic waves. Electromagnetic waves could very well be an artifact of another more fundamental medium in space-time. We understand so little about the quantum world, space-time, and the nature of the universe. Just as it's ignorant to assume that all alien creatures will have eyes, and the ability to see with light, we also can't assume that all creatures will be able to observe and manipulate electromagnetic waves. It is possible that electromagnetic waves are meaningless to other forms of life, even those far more advanced than ours.
We have such myopia. We believed the earth was flat, that it was the center of the universe, and we still believe that our physical experience, based on light, sound, electromagnetism, etc. is central to the existence of all creatures. Wake up humans and smell the coffee! We've got a long way to go before we can truly consider ourselves advanced. Thousands of years from now, humans will without a doubt look back and see us as cavemen. Most likely, we would not understand truly intelligent beings from another world, even if they tried to communicate. I imagine it might be like us humans trying to communicate to the insect world.