Well, if 99% of alleys were filled with drug pushers, and 99% of the people who used the alleys were drug pushers, then yes, i'd be supporting shutting down alleys.
Isn't this trying to cure a symptom instead of curing the disease?
I bet 99% of car accidents happen while at least one person is driving. So should we making driving illegal?
from the sql lite page it looks like multiple users can select silmultaneously but only write to the database one at a time.
I don't see this as a problem, because at least I see SQLite as more of a portable pre-packaged data structure, rather than a traditional multi-user database. I haven't had a chance to use it yet myself, but I look forward to using it in stand-along applications where I need good data structure and the ability to filter and search for specific data. I'm a fair hand with MySQL, so having all of this wrapped up into a SQL-compatible package is exactly what I need.
It means I get to concentrate on what I find more exciting about programming -- rather then spend a load of my time on file structure and data processing.
...and may affect whether technology companies can be held liable for their customers' behavior
This upsets me every time I think about it! Here are some parallels we're not likely to hear about:
gun companies held responsible for crimes committed by their customers
governments / political figures held responsible for crimes committed by their citizens
schools held responsible for their students' ignorance
universities held responsible for their graduates' lack of employability
oil companies held responsible for the damage they do to the environment
Comparing copyright violation to gun problems and other violent crime, American education problems, economic problems, and environmental problems is like comparing a noisy neighbor to a breaking-and-entering. It's pointless to start at the bottom level of importance, because that would assume that more important circumstances would be treated either the same or even harsher.
You can shoot somebody for breaking and entering if you are protecting yourself or your family from bodily harm. But you can't shoot a kid for rolling your house. Saying that tech companies can be held responsible for the copyright violation of their customers, but can't hold a gun company responsible for a 6 six year old shooting another 6 year old with their product.... Well, that's like saying you can shoot a kid rolling your house, but not somebody that broke in and is raping your wife.
Is a varying multipler new or has that been done in processors before? The multiplier is listed as "14-16"! In low-speed (3.2Ghz - 3.4Ghz) I see that is uses 16 multiplier. But in the AnandTech overclocking test they got it up towards 3.7Ghz and it was using a 14 multiplier. A shame, because in that test, the FSB was over 1Ghz! At a 16 multiplier would have resulted in speeds close to 4.2Ghz.
2 pack; 97% pure micronized silver 75-80% silver content by weight (from CompUSA's website, regarding said silver compound)
Wouldn't it be funny if CompUSA responded with:
"Our product is advertised correctly. Before micronization, the silver that was used was rated at 97% percent pure. The silver was then put through our micronization process and added to a substrate to create our product compound."
When asked what substrate was used
"The substrate is a a type of aerogel."
Well that would explain why the compound is 70%-80% silver by weight!
Ah yes, Gateway, that's who I was trying to think of! Yes, you got it right on the nose here. I could have sworn it was 121-key though instead of 124-key. My how my memory grows holes....
So far I have yet to see a keyboard truely optimized for programmers
I used to have one of the old (I think it was Compaq) 121-key keyboards. It was fully programmable and remappable, but didn't need any software to do it, it was all on the keyboard. It included a set of remapping and macro-creating keys, and an entire second set of all twleve function keys along one side, for easy access to your favorite macros and key combinations, without having to remap any of your normal keys, and no stupid media keys.
It was one hell of a keyboard. One tip though: it does not, I repeat not, stand up to hot, sweetened tea. I've been in keyboard hell for four years now because of a mug of earl grey. (Compaq, or whoever it was, stopped making them a long time ago)
I'd love to switch over to DVORAK but I'll never be able to. The problem for me is that I am a big user of keyboard shortcuts -- which are many times chosen for very ergonomic reasons. For instance, having Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V, and Ctrl-X for copy, paste, and cut, all in a little row in the easiest spot to combine with Ctrl, is very useful and ergonomically friendly.
And while some of the better software can allow you to completely remap your keyboard shortcuts, many don't. And system-wide shortcuts are even harder to change, probably impossible on some systems.
I've got to hand it to SCO. This is one of the most elaborate pump-n-dump schemes I've seen. The only thing missing is SCO using a virus to distribute spam about SCO's stock prices....
Oh wait, there's goes my email alert. I spoke too soon.
The problem with homonyms is that you can't just say that word B sounds like word A. By definition, that also means that word A sounds like word B. It's called symmetric property, Mr. Gates, and you learned about that in pre-algebra class!
If the tables were turned and Mike Row had the money and the lawyers and Microsoft didn't, Mike would have the same (questionable) legal grounds for suing Microsoft. And if he was as stupid as Microsoft about these things, he might try suing other companies with 'micro' in their names. Watch our, MicroCenter!
Sound stupid? Of course it does. So does what Microsoft is trying to do.
Well technically, no. He did write a new OS. He wrote it in Minix, and wrote it to be compatible with Minix. And he did write Linux because he saw that Minix was lacking in a few areas. But Linus did create everything from scratch.
If you haven't yet, read Just For Fun, it's a great semi-autobiography.
What turned into an impossibility wasn't AI itself, but most of the wildeyed pie-in-the-sky promises that usually result when money's involved. There were some successes with AI (some still going strong, and AI is still part of a programmers toolkit),
Yes, I agree. What turned into an impossibility was the 'buzzword' version of AI -- not the reality of it (the theory/technique/use). When people think of AI they think of Data (Star Trek), or an Asimov robot, or heck, even "Bender" from Futurama.
So I think that no, we haven't learned from the past. Yes, AI is still being developed and used in everything from games to screensaver, but until the reality can be matched up with the expectation, "AI" does those fancy market-speak labels. Otherwise any product (or investor presentation) that tries to use AI as a buzzword will end up hurting.
So you'd work on a desktop computer and the user interactive bits would run locally, harder parts would flow back to a big CPU in the basement, and the really hard parts could flow back to a city supercomputer, in a CPU equivalent of the power grid.
But Average Joe doesn't need anywhere near that. He doesn't even need all of the power his current desktop has. This is the whole principle behind SETI@home, etc. This would be great for researchers or hard-core computer users like 3d designers or cad engineers.
But until Average Joe needs it, it won't be anywhere near the equivalent of the powergrid. But for those hard-core users, perhaps something like Internet2 will spring up and connect those that really need it.
A decade ago I don't know if anyone seriously believed that home computers would be running at multiple Ghz. If I recall 1995, a 50Mhz computer was hot stuff, with 8Mb of RAM if you were lucky. Lately I've been looking at prices on a 3.0Ghz computer with 4Gb of RAM. That just wasn't in my vocabulary back then!
The reason why it's so hard to name is because everybody is scared of the phrase "Artificial Intelligence." (read: everybody == investors) 'AI' used to be one of those buzzwords like 'convergence' but no longer. After a while it turned into this impossibility and the term 'AI' turned into a serious no-no when you make a presentation to an investor.
But that's just what all of these sound like! "Darwinian reference architectures" sounds like a system that learns using a genetic algorithm. "autonomous" and "organic" are even more descriptive. But everybody is just dancing around the real issue so they don't scare off anybody.
...and I wonder why your website requires Flash to view it.
Because I'm a flash developer, that's my 'portfolio' page, and I need to impress clients.:)
No flash here: http://www.birnamlabs.com (the side biz I have not much time for anymore) or here: http://www.luxfx.com (blog)
You're absolutely right, traditional 'social' activity requires too much 'social protocol.' Think about how much energy is wasted by people in trying to maintain a superficial look, and wasted in the struggle with peer pressure.
Even in human cliques there is the position that can really only be described as 'alpha male' and in traditional socializing to much effort is spent in competing or maintaining this position. So many poor decisions have been made as a result of these social protocols. Sad!
I agree with the study -- but you do have to consider chat rooms, discussion boards, etc. to be socializing. And I do think they are, but it's a new type of socializing.
I am an introvert. I'm happy to be an introvert. I hate going places with lots of people, and I tend to be the quiet one if I'm ever in a group of people. But I do a lot of discussion boards. The amazing thing is that online socializing does not mess with my introversion. I'm comfortable submitting comments to discussion boards where I wouldn't be comfortable speaking out at a get-together.
So maybe the stereotype is right AND the study's results are right. Maybe it is our definition of being social that is being put under the microscope.
Yes, but books make for better bedtime reading than websites. 1. the laptop gets *really* hot, and 2. I don't care if I fall asleep and a book falls off the bed.
Also, my friend's porphyria is a really rare and strange disease which means she is akin to a vampire. She has the EP variety. Only approximately 300 more like her in the US.
Is this different than Xeroderma Pigmentosum? That's the condition I am more familiar with. (The children in The Others are afflicted with Xeroderma Pigmentosum. There was also a very touching story on NPR several years ago about a night-camp for children with Xeroderma Pigmentosum, since they couldn't go to daycamp. That was the only time I have ever heard an NPR reporter actually break down in tears.
The only place flourescents are all right are some industrial / woodshop-ish applications, where you're not reading stuff off a monitor, or looking at fine detail all day
(incidental fact) In many woodshops, you are definately looking at fine detail, frequently measuring to 1/64 of an inch or so. The reason why woodshops like flourescent lights is because with wide area lights like that, the shadows are reduced. It's much easier to work in three dimensions without strong shadows that might confuse perception.
Unlike PS which actually has (or used to have) a limitation on the number of layers
I ran into that problem quite often. You never start a project thinking, "boy, I think I'll use more than 100 layers in file!" but it ended up happening quite often. I was so happy when they removed that limitation in PS....
Ok, so I'm very glad to hear it wasn't a problem with GIMP itself. Now if I can only get similarly easy fixed for my other issues.....
Slashdot Mirror
Well, if 99% of alleys were filled with drug pushers, and 99% of the people who used the alleys were drug pushers, then yes, i'd be supporting shutting down alleys.
Isn't this trying to cure a symptom instead of curing the disease?
I bet 99% of car accidents happen while at least one person is driving. So should we making driving illegal?
from the sql lite page it looks like multiple users can select silmultaneously but only write to the database one at a time.
I don't see this as a problem, because at least I see SQLite as more of a portable pre-packaged data structure, rather than a traditional multi-user database. I haven't had a chance to use it yet myself, but I look forward to using it in stand-along applications where I need good data structure and the ability to filter and search for specific data. I'm a fair hand with MySQL, so having all of this wrapped up into a SQL-compatible package is exactly what I need.
It means I get to concentrate on what I find more exciting about programming -- rather then spend a load of my time on file structure and data processing.
So the varying multiplier is only on the engineering sample? That makes sense.... Thanks!
This upsets me every time I think about it! Here are some parallels we're not likely to hear about:
Comparing copyright violation to gun problems and other violent crime, American education problems, economic problems, and environmental problems is like comparing a noisy neighbor to a breaking-and-entering. It's pointless to start at the bottom level of importance, because that would assume that more important circumstances would be treated either the same or even harsher.
You can shoot somebody for breaking and entering if you are protecting yourself or your family from bodily harm. But you can't shoot a kid for rolling your house. Saying that tech companies can be held responsible for the copyright violation of their customers, but can't hold a gun company responsible for a 6 six year old shooting another 6 year old with their product.... Well, that's like saying you can shoot a kid rolling your house, but not somebody that broke in and is raping your wife.
Is a varying multipler new or has that been done in processors before? The multiplier is listed as "14-16"! In low-speed (3.2Ghz - 3.4Ghz) I see that is uses 16 multiplier. But in the AnandTech overclocking test they got it up towards 3.7Ghz and it was using a 14 multiplier. A shame, because in that test, the FSB was over 1Ghz! At a 16 multiplier would have resulted in speeds close to 4.2Ghz.
Can somebody fill me in on what's going on?
2 pack; 97% pure micronized silver
75-80% silver content by weight
(from CompUSA's website, regarding said silver compound)
Wouldn't it be funny if CompUSA responded with:
"Our product is advertised correctly. Before micronization, the silver that was used was rated at 97% percent pure. The silver was then put through our micronization process and added to a substrate to create our product compound."
When asked what substrate was used
"The substrate is a a type of aerogel."
Well that would explain why the compound is 70%-80% silver by weight!
Ah yes, Gateway, that's who I was trying to think of! Yes, you got it right on the nose here. I could have sworn it was 121-key though instead of 124-key. My how my memory grows holes....
So far I have yet to see a keyboard truely optimized for programmers
I used to have one of the old (I think it was Compaq) 121-key keyboards. It was fully programmable and remappable, but didn't need any software to do it, it was all on the keyboard. It included a set of remapping and macro-creating keys, and an entire second set of all twleve function keys along one side, for easy access to your favorite macros and key combinations, without having to remap any of your normal keys, and no stupid media keys.
It was one hell of a keyboard. One tip though: it does not, I repeat not, stand up to hot, sweetened tea. I've been in keyboard hell for four years now because of a mug of earl grey. (Compaq, or whoever it was, stopped making them a long time ago)
I'd love to switch over to DVORAK but I'll never be able to. The problem for me is that I am a big user of keyboard shortcuts -- which are many times chosen for very ergonomic reasons. For instance, having Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V, and Ctrl-X for copy, paste, and cut, all in a little row in the easiest spot to combine with Ctrl, is very useful and ergonomically friendly.
And while some of the better software can allow you to completely remap your keyboard shortcuts, many don't. And system-wide shortcuts are even harder to change, probably impossible on some systems.
I can also attest that sweetened hot tea will successfully kill a keyboard.
I really liked my old 121-key, but a tall mug of earl grey later and *poof*....
I've got to hand it to SCO. This is one of the most elaborate pump-n-dump schemes I've seen. The only thing missing is SCO using a virus to distribute spam about SCO's stock prices....
Oh wait, there's goes my email alert. I spoke too soon.
the executive was really talking to the garbage can all night. This is why alcohol should not be served at company functions
No no no, this is exactly why alcohol should be served at company functions. What, you attend company functions without a camcorder?!
The problem with homonyms is that you can't just say that word B sounds like word A. By definition, that also means that word A sounds like word B. It's called symmetric property, Mr. Gates, and you learned about that in pre-algebra class!
If the tables were turned and Mike Row had the money and the lawyers and Microsoft didn't, Mike would have the same (questionable) legal grounds for suing Microsoft. And if he was as stupid as Microsoft about these things, he might try suing other companies with 'micro' in their names. Watch our, MicroCenter!
Sound stupid? Of course it does. So does what Microsoft is trying to do.
Well technically, no. He did write a new OS. He wrote it in Minix, and wrote it to be compatible with Minix. And he did write Linux because he saw that Minix was lacking in a few areas. But Linus did create everything from scratch.
If you haven't yet, read Just For Fun, it's a great semi-autobiography.
What turned into an impossibility wasn't AI itself, but most of the wildeyed pie-in-the-sky promises that usually result when money's involved. There were some successes with AI (some still going strong, and AI is still part of a programmers toolkit),
Yes, I agree. What turned into an impossibility was the 'buzzword' version of AI -- not the reality of it (the theory/technique/use). When people think of AI they think of Data (Star Trek), or an Asimov robot, or heck, even "Bender" from Futurama.
So I think that no, we haven't learned from the past. Yes, AI is still being developed and used in everything from games to screensaver, but until the reality can be matched up with the expectation, "AI" does those fancy market-speak labels. Otherwise any product (or investor presentation) that tries to use AI as a buzzword will end up hurting.
So you'd work on a desktop computer and the user interactive bits would run locally, harder parts would flow back to a big CPU in the basement, and the really hard parts could flow back to a city supercomputer, in a CPU equivalent of the power grid.
But Average Joe doesn't need anywhere near that. He doesn't even need all of the power his current desktop has. This is the whole principle behind SETI@home, etc. This would be great for researchers or hard-core computer users like 3d designers or cad engineers.
But until Average Joe needs it, it won't be anywhere near the equivalent of the powergrid. But for those hard-core users, perhaps something like Internet2 will spring up and connect those that really need it.
A decade ago I don't know if anyone seriously believed that home computers would be running at multiple Ghz. If I recall 1995, a 50Mhz computer was hot stuff, with 8Mb of RAM if you were lucky. Lately I've been looking at prices on a 3.0Ghz computer with 4Gb of RAM. That just wasn't in my vocabulary back then!
The reason why it's so hard to name is because everybody is scared of the phrase "Artificial Intelligence." (read: everybody == investors) 'AI' used to be one of those buzzwords like 'convergence' but no longer. After a while it turned into this impossibility and the term 'AI' turned into a serious no-no when you make a presentation to an investor.
But that's just what all of these sound like! "Darwinian reference architectures" sounds like a system that learns using a genetic algorithm. "autonomous" and "organic" are even more descriptive. But everybody is just dancing around the real issue so they don't scare off anybody.
...and I wonder why your website requires Flash to view it.
:)
Because I'm a flash developer, that's my 'portfolio' page, and I need to impress clients.
No flash here: http://www.birnamlabs.com (the side biz I have not much time for anymore)
or here: http://www.luxfx.com (blog)
You're absolutely right, traditional 'social' activity requires too much 'social protocol.' Think about how much energy is wasted by people in trying to maintain a superficial look, and wasted in the struggle with peer pressure.
Even in human cliques there is the position that can really only be described as 'alpha male' and in traditional socializing to much effort is spent in competing or maintaining this position. So many poor decisions have been made as a result of these social protocols. Sad!
I agree with the study -- but you do have to consider chat rooms, discussion boards, etc. to be socializing. And I do think they are, but it's a new type of socializing.
I am an introvert. I'm happy to be an introvert. I hate going places with lots of people, and I tend to be the quiet one if I'm ever in a group of people. But I do a lot of discussion boards. The amazing thing is that online socializing does not mess with my introversion. I'm comfortable submitting comments to discussion boards where I wouldn't be comfortable speaking out at a get-together.
So maybe the stereotype is right AND the study's results are right. Maybe it is our definition of being social that is being put under the microscope.
Well now we know what SCO is up to. They are claiming copyright on all the space characters in Linux code! That's how they can fit it all in 60 pages.
Yes, but books make for better bedtime reading than websites. 1. the laptop gets *really* hot, and 2. I don't care if I fall asleep and a book falls off the bed.
Also, my friend's porphyria is a really rare and strange disease which means she is akin to a vampire. She has the EP variety. Only approximately 300 more like her in the US.
Is this different than Xeroderma Pigmentosum? That's the condition I am more familiar with. (The children in The Others are afflicted with Xeroderma Pigmentosum. There was also a very touching story on NPR several years ago about a night-camp for children with Xeroderma Pigmentosum, since they couldn't go to daycamp. That was the only time I have ever heard an NPR reporter actually break down in tears.
The only place flourescents are all right are some industrial / woodshop-ish applications, where you're not reading stuff off a monitor, or looking at fine detail all day
(incidental fact)
In many woodshops, you are definately looking at fine detail, frequently measuring to 1/64 of an inch or so. The reason why woodshops like flourescent lights is because with wide area lights like that, the shadows are reduced. It's much easier to work in three dimensions without strong shadows that might confuse perception.
Are you suggesting that someone geek enough to do that to their apartment knows about cooking?
Unlike PS which actually has (or used to have) a limitation on the number of layers
I ran into that problem quite often. You never start a project thinking, "boy, I think I'll use more than 100 layers in file!" but it ended up happening quite often. I was so happy when they removed that limitation in PS....
Ok, so I'm very glad to hear it wasn't a problem with GIMP itself. Now if I can only get similarly easy fixed for my other issues.....