There is nothing nerdier then a discussion of a fictional railroad you control via software.
Technically, it's not news for nerds. Don't get me wrong, I don't really mind topics such as these on Slashdot (although I do find them less interesting and very niche-y: there are thousands of 'nerdy' hobbies for which there are undoubtedly dedicated forums where these kinds of topics are much more appropriate).
I was mostly pointing out what I perceive to be hypocrisy when it comes to referring to the Slashdot tagline as the norm for which topics belong here.
I was half expecting to find an onslaught of 'This is not news for nerds or stuff that matters!'-comments, but apparently this classifies as the latter.
You can explicitly mark (parts of) the pool as being duplicated (copies=x), which gives you the checksumming capabilities (but reduces your max storage space, obviously): https://blogs.oracle.com/relli...
I have a server I use mainly for remote backups of my important data. It has a single 3GB disk for the data in a ZFS-pool with copies=2 for the entire pool. With deduplication disabled and regular snapshotting and scrubbing enabled, it gives me a good amount of security on the availability of my data.
(Yes, I am acutely aware that I should have installed at least one other disk, but I had already put the server in its remote location when I started to get into setting up ZFS. I'll get around to it some time)
The fact that we've had crappy storage systems in the past that mandated backups is no reason to state that it should always be like that.
A good file system(tm) should protect against the weaknesses of the underlying physical media, it should provide snapshots, it should provide (configurable) redundancy, and it should support geographically separated redundancy.
Especially the last one is very much a work in progress for the DIY-self-sufficeint-user, but we should and will get there in the very foreseeable future. Services like Amazon S3, Bittorrent Sync, technologies such as Tahoe-LAFS ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... ) and ZFS show the direction in which we're going. That direction is one in which (incremental) backups exist by default, disk failure is easily overcome and even a data center being blown up does not cause data loss.
Clinging to our old ways is safe and wise in many environments (better the devil you know), but considering it to be the norm for the future is just silly.
The most interesting bits: "When working properly, the innate immune mechanisms are rapidly mobilized in the region of a new infection. At the height of the response, invading microbes are overwhelmed, deactivated, and destroyed. Next, local debris is removed; the pro-inflammatory molecules, the activated complement, and the activated clotting factors are neutralized; and the production of new pro-inflammatory molecules stops. In other words, a typical inflammatory response has a rising phase leading to local activity; the local activity then automatically tapers off and ends.
The inflammatory response must be terminated because it is imprecise and it causes collateral damage: it injures or destroys nearby tissues as well as the invading microbes. Therefore, in a typical inflammatory reaction, when the local attack is over, the activated cells and molecules are neutralized by a wave of deactivation molecules.
[...]
Sepsis is an atypical inflammatory reaction in which the pro- and anti-inflammatory balance is off kilter, with the pro-inflammatory processes dominating.
A well-studied example is the amount of protein C in the blood. One of the anticoagulation pathways that normally keep the coagulation system under control depends on the availability of sufficient activated protein C. A characteristic of patients with sepsis is that they have an unusually low level of activated protein C in their circulation. This deficit allows the coagulation system to deposit fibrin widely, making it more likely that small clots will form throughout the vascular tree.
[...]
In certain cases of sepsis, there is an additional force contributing to the system-wide spread of inflammation. Molecules produced by some microbes accelerate the septic reaction, making it especially rapid and severe (Neviere, 2013a).
Classic examples are the bacterial toxins:
Endotoxin is a lipopolysaccharide in the cell wall of Gram-negative bacteria. When it gets into the circulation, endotoxin strongly activates the coagulation and complement systems throughout the body."
It seems that the magnetic beads with FcMBL would do very little with regard to low levels of protein C to prevent sepsis, but (helping) in taking care of the *toxins and the pathogens themselves is something that would help prevent sepsis and would aid in treating infections in general.
I think the best way to look at this is thus as an augment to (instead of an improvement of) the innate immune system, allowing it to properly deal with high-volume infections, especially when it is weakened. In RPG-terms, these magnetic beads give you +50 Immunity to pathogens;-)
Just a minor correction, FTA: "This is because it uses the Wyss Institute’s proprietary, pathogen-capturing agent, FcMBL, which binds all types of live and dead infectious microbes, including bacteria, fungi, viruses, and the toxins they release. FcMBL is a genetically engineered blood protein inspired by a naturally occurring human molecule called mannose-binding lectin (MBL), which is found in the innate immune system and binds to toxic invaders, marking them for capture by immune cells in the spleen." (my emphasis)
I think (or hope) he meant that/. sometimes auto-refreshes the page, even when you are still writing a comment. I've had this happen to me recently as well.
The only reason to choose Win7 over Win10 would be the contents of the license agreement, allowing Win7-users to sue Microsoft if the behavior of Win7 violates what they agreed to.
On a technical level it doesn't really matter. Given that most of the "I'm staying with Win7 to protect my privacy!"-people will probably install all updates anyway, it seems hardly likely that they will prevent Microsoft from having Win7 phoning home if Microsoft wants it to. That is, without enacting measures that are pretty much identical in both OSs, such as blocking Microsoft servers in the hosts-file.
I haven't dug into the legalese myself, but would like to see a comparison between the license agreements for Win7 and Win10 with regard to phoning home.
I thought that Gmail actually circumvented this with an image caching service, but when I (just) researched it, it doesn't (it only does proxying): "Also, no caching is performed server-side, every time I downloaded that URL, a request showed up on my server." ( https://filippo.io/how-the-new... )
"In some cases, senders may be able to know whether an individual has opened a message with unique image links. As always, Gmail scans every message for suspicious content and if Gmail considers a sender or message potentially suspicious, images won’t be displayed and you’ll be asked whether you want to see the images." ( https://support.google.com/mai... )
It would be better to just preload all (or at least a random subset) of the images for emails sent to the Gmail servers, thereby poisoning the information stream of spammers to the point of being useless. On the other hand, that means disregarding any caching directives and is perhaps too expensive, resource-wise.
Christ. You're the second kid that is incapable of anything but retarded schoolyard replies I've encountered on Slashdot this week. I know it's a free internet and everything, but please grow the fuck up before you speak here.
P.S. If you are actually mentally retarded, I am deeply sorry. I have wish your kind no harm or insult.
Also, don't forget that the 'in-place upgrade' entails downloading the entire new build and installing it, which is a far cry from upgrading just the changed components. Even the remarkably slow "We're setting up things for you" after logging in happened for every build.
I had to remove the 'old windows version' and 'temporary install files' on my 60GB SSD convertible every time I installed a new build, as they sucked up a good 9GB of precious disk space.
As I replied to your non-AC-sibling: "Right before the end (and reboot) of the fucking universe, after they've survived their civilization going to type IV, yes. That sounds more like a last resort than anything else."
Technically, they don't even become obsolete. No, they are 'fused' to the cosmic AC, as if said cosmic AC has any fucking use for them, especially given that even in the very last moment they still don't have a fucking clue and rely on the AC for answers. It's retarded.
I don't give a fuck about who wrote it. It's shit.
A) It is so incredibly unlikely that out of the millions of sperm from your father you would be selected - along with him and your mother and going on back to the point where it was incredibly unlikely that the first sentient life would arise, continuing on to the point the first multicellular life would arise and on more to the point the first life would come to exist that you nor any other person has the right to call anything "unlikely."
Looking back is not the same as looking ahead. It is incredibly likely that one of the millions of sperm would be selected. Which one is almost irrelevant. We're not sure yet, but we expect many of the other things you mention (excluding abiogenesis) to be quite likely in our universe.
My main point here is actually not that it is directly unlikely that humans will continue to exist, but that anorganic sentience is more likely to arise, thereby inevitably displacing humans, given enough time.
B) The story actually specifically includes individualism giving way to a hive mind
Right before the end (and reboot) of the fucking universe, after they've survived their civilization going to type IV, yes. That sounds more like a last resort than anything else.
C) Entropy can and will be reversed [...]
That is irrelevant to my position.
Just accept it. It's a mediocre shortsighted anthropocentrically arrogant crappy little story.
Or do you just genuinely miss having the rest of the world hate us?
I'm sorry, but we still do.
Drone strike executions, active secret lawless torture institutions, and the NSA and the public not giving a fuck about spying on allies give the rest of the world plenty of reason to dislike the US.
I always find it striking that in every damn SciFi universe, humans somehow always stay superrelevant. Not only does our little species still exist in a highly recognizable form, it even usually plays some central role in that universe (generally filled with other highly anthropomorphic entities with strikingly similar cultures).
It is a ridiculous unfounded extrapolation of our time. Predicting human(like entitie)s in the far future is like predicting flying horse carriages. No, individualism will become obsolete. Humans will be obsolete and 'emotion' and 'wonder' will be supplanted by pure rationalism executed by a non-organic singular or hive entity.
(also, don't get me started on a 'cosmic AC' in a heat dead universe)
Seriously, what the fuck is the use of this marketing bullshit in the summary?: "Mark Templin, Executive Vice President at Lexus International said: "Embarking on this project, we set out to push the boundaries of technology, design and innovation to make the impossible possible. With this project we call 'SLIDE', we collaborated with partners who share our passion for creating enjoyment out of motion. Even through combining our technology and expertise, we discovered making a hoverboard isn't an easy process. We've experienced the highs and lows and have overcome a few challenges, but through mutual determination we have created a demonstration of our philosophy in design and technology to create Amazing in Motion."
It tells us absolutely nothing about completely uninteresting shit in way too many words, which comprise 80% of the 'summary'. Seriously, what the fuck, Slashdot?
I bought an Epson All-in-one inkjet a couple of years ago. I've printed maybe 100 pages over its lifetime, yet have changed the cartridges twice. I bought a black original Epson cartridge recently (because apparently the ink in the previous cartridge had evaporated or something), only to find out that after a certain period the printer refuses to print anything if you don't replace your color cartridges as well.
That was the point when it became just a scanner with a document feeder (which was what I originally bought it for). Fuck it. When I need to print something, I go to a copy shop. That was what I ended up doing everytime I tried and miserably failed to print something on that ridiculous inkjet anyway.
Slashdot Mirror
There is nothing nerdier then a discussion of a fictional railroad you control via software.
Technically, it's not news for nerds. Don't get me wrong, I don't really mind topics such as these on Slashdot (although I do find them less interesting and very niche-y: there are thousands of 'nerdy' hobbies for which there are undoubtedly dedicated forums where these kinds of topics are much more appropriate).
I was mostly pointing out what I perceive to be hypocrisy when it comes to referring to the Slashdot tagline as the norm for which topics belong here.
I was half expecting to find an onslaught of 'This is not news for nerds or stuff that matters!'-comments, but apparently this classifies as the latter.
You can explicitly mark (parts of) the pool as being duplicated (copies=x), which gives you the checksumming capabilities (but reduces your max storage space, obviously):
https://blogs.oracle.com/relli...
I have a server I use mainly for remote backups of my important data. It has a single 3GB disk for the data in a ZFS-pool with copies=2 for the entire pool. With deduplication disabled and regular snapshotting and scrubbing enabled, it gives me a good amount of security on the availability of my data.
(Yes, I am acutely aware that I should have installed at least one other disk, but I had already put the server in its remote location when I started to get into setting up ZFS. I'll get around to it some time)
That's a terrible argument.
The fact that we've had crappy storage systems in the past that mandated backups is no reason to state that it should always be like that.
A good file system(tm) should protect against the weaknesses of the underlying physical media, it should provide snapshots, it should provide (configurable) redundancy, and it should support geographically separated redundancy.
Especially the last one is very much a work in progress for the DIY-self-sufficeint-user, but we should and will get there in the very foreseeable future. Services like Amazon S3, Bittorrent Sync, technologies such as Tahoe-LAFS ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... ) and ZFS show the direction in which we're going. That direction is one in which (incremental) backups exist by default, disk failure is easily overcome and even a data center being blown up does not cause data loss.
Clinging to our old ways is safe and wise in many environments (better the devil you know), but considering it to be the norm for the future is just silly.
I found the following description of the exact mechanism of sepsis very informative:
https://www.atrainceu.com/cour...
The most interesting bits:
"When working properly, the innate immune mechanisms are rapidly mobilized in the region of a new infection. At the height of the response, invading microbes are overwhelmed, deactivated, and destroyed. Next, local debris is removed; the pro-inflammatory molecules, the activated complement, and the activated clotting factors are neutralized; and the production of new pro-inflammatory molecules stops. In other words, a typical inflammatory response has a rising phase leading to local activity; the local activity then automatically tapers off and ends.
The inflammatory response must be terminated because it is imprecise and it causes collateral damage: it injures or destroys nearby tissues as well as the invading microbes. Therefore, in a typical inflammatory reaction, when the local attack is over, the activated cells and molecules are neutralized by a wave of deactivation molecules.
[...]
Sepsis is an atypical inflammatory reaction in which the pro- and anti-inflammatory balance is off kilter, with the pro-inflammatory processes dominating.
A well-studied example is the amount of protein C in the blood. One of the anticoagulation pathways that normally keep the coagulation system under control depends on the availability of sufficient activated protein C. A characteristic of patients with sepsis is that they have an unusually low level of activated protein C in their circulation. This deficit allows the coagulation system to deposit fibrin widely, making it more likely that small clots will form throughout the vascular tree.
[...]
In certain cases of sepsis, there is an additional force contributing to the system-wide spread of inflammation. Molecules produced by some microbes accelerate the septic reaction, making it especially rapid and severe (Neviere, 2013a).
Classic examples are the bacterial toxins:
Endotoxin is a lipopolysaccharide in the cell wall of Gram-negative bacteria. When it gets into the circulation, endotoxin strongly activates the coagulation and complement systems throughout the body."
It seems that the magnetic beads with FcMBL would do very little with regard to low levels of protein C to prevent sepsis, but (helping) in taking care of the *toxins and the pathogens themselves is something that would help prevent sepsis and would aid in treating infections in general.
I think the best way to look at this is thus as an augment to (instead of an improvement of) the innate immune system, allowing it to properly deal with high-volume infections, especially when it is weakened. In RPG-terms, these magnetic beads give you +50 Immunity to pathogens ;-)
I can't decide between +1 Insightful or +1 Funny. I guess +1 Idiocracy fits best here.
cellular debris
Just a minor correction, FTA:
"This is because it uses the Wyss Institute’s proprietary, pathogen-capturing agent, FcMBL, which binds all types of live and dead infectious microbes, including bacteria, fungi, viruses, and the toxins they release. FcMBL is a genetically engineered blood protein inspired by a naturally occurring human molecule called mannose-binding lectin (MBL), which is found in the innate immune system and binds to toxic invaders, marking them for capture by immune cells in the spleen." (my emphasis)
So it's the perfect name for it.
I think (or hope) he meant that /. sometimes auto-refreshes the page, even when you are still writing a comment. I've had this happen to me recently as well.
Who said there is a line?
We can draw a line, if we want. We can draw it anywhere we like.
Which, by the way, is exactly what neurons do. They take fuzzy input and draw an arbitrary line over it based on examples and feedback.
The only reason to choose Win7 over Win10 would be the contents of the license agreement, allowing Win7-users to sue Microsoft if the behavior of Win7 violates what they agreed to.
On a technical level it doesn't really matter. Given that most of the "I'm staying with Win7 to protect my privacy!"-people will probably install all updates anyway, it seems hardly likely that they will prevent Microsoft from having Win7 phoning home if Microsoft wants it to. That is, without enacting measures that are pretty much identical in both OSs, such as blocking Microsoft servers in the hosts-file.
I haven't dug into the legalese myself, but would like to see a comparison between the license agreements for Win7 and Win10 with regard to phoning home.
I thought that Gmail actually circumvented this with an image caching service, but when I (just) researched it, it doesn't (it only does proxying):
"Also, no caching is performed server-side, every time I downloaded that URL, a request showed up on my server." ( https://filippo.io/how-the-new... )
"In some cases, senders may be able to know whether an individual has opened a message with unique image links. As always, Gmail scans every message for suspicious content and if Gmail considers a sender or message potentially suspicious, images won’t be displayed and you’ll be asked whether you want to see the images." ( https://support.google.com/mai... )
It would be better to just preload all (or at least a random subset) of the images for emails sent to the Gmail servers, thereby poisoning the information stream of spammers to the point of being useless. On the other hand, that means disregarding any caching directives and is perhaps too expensive, resource-wise.
Christ. You're the second kid that is incapable of anything but retarded schoolyard replies I've encountered on Slashdot this week. I know it's a free internet and everything, but please grow the fuck up before you speak here.
P.S. If you are actually mentally retarded, I am deeply sorry. I have wish your kind no harm or insult.
Also, don't forget that the 'in-place upgrade' entails downloading the entire new build and installing it, which is a far cry from upgrading just the changed components. Even the remarkably slow "We're setting up things for you" after logging in happened for every build.
I had to remove the 'old windows version' and 'temporary install files' on my 60GB SSD convertible every time I installed a new build, as they sucked up a good 9GB of precious disk space.
Are you 8 years old?
Wow.. That wasn't even clever.
Hey, look, somebody shows my reasoning to be shit. Let me pretend he's a troll so I don't have to face reality.
As I replied to your non-AC-sibling: "Right before the end (and reboot) of the fucking universe, after they've survived their civilization going to type IV, yes. That sounds more like a last resort than anything else."
Technically, they don't even become obsolete. No, they are 'fused' to the cosmic AC, as if said cosmic AC has any fucking use for them, especially given that even in the very last moment they still don't have a fucking clue and rely on the AC for answers. It's retarded.
I don't give a fuck about who wrote it. It's shit.
A) It is so incredibly unlikely that out of the millions of sperm from your father you would be selected - along with him and your mother and going on back to the point where it was incredibly unlikely that the first sentient life would arise, continuing on to the point the first multicellular life would arise and on more to the point the first life would come to exist that you nor any other person has the right to call anything "unlikely."
Looking back is not the same as looking ahead. It is incredibly likely that one of the millions of sperm would be selected. Which one is almost irrelevant. We're not sure yet, but we expect many of the other things you mention (excluding abiogenesis) to be quite likely in our universe.
My main point here is actually not that it is directly unlikely that humans will continue to exist, but that anorganic sentience is more likely to arise, thereby inevitably displacing humans, given enough time.
B) The story actually specifically includes individualism giving way to a hive mind
Right before the end (and reboot) of the fucking universe, after they've survived their civilization going to type IV, yes. That sounds more like a last resort than anything else.
C) Entropy can and will be reversed [...]
That is irrelevant to my position.
Just accept it. It's a mediocre shortsighted anthropocentrically arrogant crappy little story.
Or do you just genuinely miss having the rest of the world hate us?
I'm sorry, but we still do.
Drone strike executions, active secret lawless torture institutions, and the NSA and the public not giving a fuck about spying on allies give the rest of the world plenty of reason to dislike the US.
What a terribly shortsighted story.
I always find it striking that in every damn SciFi universe, humans somehow always stay superrelevant. Not only does our little species still exist in a highly recognizable form, it even usually plays some central role in that universe (generally filled with other highly anthropomorphic entities with strikingly similar cultures).
It is a ridiculous unfounded extrapolation of our time. Predicting human(like entitie)s in the far future is like predicting flying horse carriages.
No, individualism will become obsolete. Humans will be obsolete and 'emotion' and 'wonder' will be supplanted by pure rationalism executed by a non-organic singular or hive entity.
(also, don't get me started on a 'cosmic AC' in a heat dead universe)
It sounds laughable, but a lot of accidents DO happen and they DO cause harm to people.
Almost exclusively to themselves, though.
Drunk people in public transportation are probably a bigger danger for the people around them than the same drunkards on bikes.
Seriously, what the fuck is the use of this marketing bullshit in the summary?:
"Mark Templin, Executive Vice President at Lexus International said: "Embarking on this project, we set out to push the boundaries of technology, design and innovation to make the impossible possible. With this project we call 'SLIDE', we collaborated with partners who share our passion for creating enjoyment out of motion. Even through combining our technology and expertise, we discovered making a hoverboard isn't an easy process. We've experienced the highs and lows and have overcome a few challenges, but through mutual determination we have created a demonstration of our philosophy in design and technology to create Amazing in Motion."
It tells us absolutely nothing about completely uninteresting shit in way too many words, which comprise 80% of the 'summary'.
Seriously, what the fuck, Slashdot?
They're actually not that expensive anymore (i.e. $100-$200 range):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...
I bought an Epson All-in-one inkjet a couple of years ago. I've printed maybe 100 pages over its lifetime, yet have changed the cartridges twice. I bought a black original Epson cartridge recently (because apparently the ink in the previous cartridge had evaporated or something), only to find out that after a certain period the printer refuses to print anything if you don't replace your color cartridges as well.
That was the point when it became just a scanner with a document feeder (which was what I originally bought it for). Fuck it. When I need to print something, I go to a copy shop. That was what I ended up doing everytime I tried and miserably failed to print something on that ridiculous inkjet anyway.
That is not how that works. At all.
You have at best a primary school level understanding of capitalism and economics in general.
You are veritably ridiculous.
You are arguing that there are lawyers that could ask 1 billion dollars yearly. 'Because they'd still be worth it'.