. ..and now costs the UK economy £1.3bn a year, . . . .
. . . If, as noted in another post, only 10% of this crime is attributed to on-line activities, then we're talking a paltry £1.3 million a year.
I thought a billion in Britain was 10e12 instead of 10e9 like in the United States. If so,
then 10% of 1.3 billion is 130,000 million. Even if it's the smaller value, it's still 130
million, which is one hundred times the amount you cited.
By the way, I don't believe 1,300,000,000,000 pounds is supportable, so they must've meant
1,300,000,000. Was I supposed to use periods instead of commas? I never know when to
misspell "color," either.
The "article" (which looks like a PR release from the company) imples
the lock is more secure since there is no keyhole. What's to prevent me from
recording the sounds and replaying them (possibly through another BullKey
device)? This seems much easier than imaging my keys and producing a duplicate
(the analogous attack against a typical lock).
If it was something other than sound it might be harder. In fact,
if it sent a 20,000 volt electric pulse it would probably work on
even nonconductive doors, and it could double as a taser!
" Further, the compounds appear to have few limits on how they are delivered to patients. Although early indications are for application of CSAs with an ointment or cream, pills or injections may also be developed - if the compound gets to market. "
this actually makes perfect sense considering the economics and regulatory hurdles of FDA clinical trials. *
for a topical NDA (New Drug Application), the costs of a full trial is in the range of 5K-10K per patient. for NDAs that are injected or ingested, the costs are an order of magnitude higher.
Sounds like they ought to investigate smoking as the delivery system. Imagine how profitable cigarettes that cure AIDs, smallpox, and drug-resistant TB would be....
"Winston cures good, like a cigarette should."
If it works on lung cancer, I'd say it's a no-brainer!
Afterall, I never get spam mail in my snail mail where it costs like $.40 to send.
It only costs forty cents for you to send it. Bulk senders get a price break for presorting, barcoding, and so on. I don't know how big it is, but the general principle
is, the more you want to get it, the more it cost someone to send it.
No files attached to e-mail!!! Thats what ftp is for. You want to give someone a file, send them a link to your ftp server. Is anyone else annoyed that e-mail is now synomymous with file transfers??
I'm also annoyed that these new-fangled "compilers" and "assemblers" make it easy for the unwashed
masses to produce their own software. A real man just uses "cat>a.out". It's easy enough to work around bytes that can't be produced by a real keyboard.
Personally I don't care much about bees, but they are cold blooded anyways and they are way too small to fit anything inside it after all...
Not exactly cold blooded--they do practice thermoregulation on a per-hive basis. When it's hot, they ventilate (by using some bees as stationary fans), and when it's cold, they form a bee ball.
Sorry not to find a geekier site than "Ask Dr. Universe" . . . .
If we're going to make a 0.81% BAC illegal (and punish it with major fines), should we not also have the same punishments for driving while having the sniffles, or while being 51?
First a note: you meant "0.081%."
I've often said that it would be more realistic to implement a performance
standard for drivers. "If your reaction time is slower than X, you can't drive;
if you can't demonstrate good judgement in a yearly driving safety quiz, you
can't drive; if you can't demonstrate a knowlege of basic physics you can't drive,
etc." However, you will never see this done, because 2/3 of the drivers
on the road would have to quit driving. Likewise, the 35,000 US traffic deaths every
year could be reduced to less than a thousand by implementing and enforcing
a universal ten mile per hour speed limit. Heck, even fifteen MPH would be
pretty damned safe.
It is much easier to sell an ineffective--but "fair"--solution to
the voters, especially when there are a bunch of emotional pressure groups (e.g., "MADD moms")
that are practiced in applying the stupid peoples' syllogism ("We must do something. X is something.
Therefore, we must do X.") watching.
Except that a squid's eye (a fucking squid's eye for fuck's sake, that thing's only fit for being deep fried!) doesn't have the various mamalian eye issues...
Squids and octopus have very complex and specialized eyes. What "mamaliam" "eye issues"
are you thinking of?
It seems like there's no way eBay could not be a huge outlet for
stolen goods. It used to be you had to find a fence. Now you can just
sell it to someone three states away and the chances of its being traced
are zero. I can't imagine how some of the cell phone batteries and
so forth could be sold for the prices they go for without being hot.
So how should law enforcement deal with this? You can't check a serial
number unless someone lists it, and I don't see local departments paying
staff to surf looking for the 0.001% of listings that represent stuff
from their jurisdiction (which they can't identify anyway). And
many commodities (e.g., cell phone batteries) probably have no identifying
marks anyway.
That's 52 times the distance between the sun and the earth (1 AE = 91 million miles) which places that object at a distance of 4.7Billion miles from the sun.
When I was a kid in the 60s, the Sun was 93 million miles from the earth . . .
[checks out window] . . . and it still is. That makes it more like 4.8 billion miles, which
you can quickly check by Googling on "52 AU to miles".
And if that makes you feel insignificant, consider that the Sun and the other stars
in the galaxy are orbiting around its center, which is tens of thousands of light years
away.
For me to enter The Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs. Everyone
should have a Lisp book, and this one presents many insights about programming and data
representation. I wish I'd had a copy when I was an undergrad.
If there are many users, the birthday paradox
guarantees that you'll have problems with people with
equal weights, since most people's weight varies over a range of five or ten
pounds. We could safely assume it's at the high end when you sit down, I suppose.
I'd have assumed that this was a good application for those rectal
scanners I read about in Dr. Fun. I couldn't find a reference--sorry.
I worked at a company where one of the managers decided to move on. She was near the top, worked hard and was quite professional. Her mistake was in giving three months notice so they could work out a graceful exit.
The "problem," if that's the right word, is that people predict the behavior of
other people using themselves as a model. Creepus Maximus, H.R. Director for
Suckco LLP, says to himself "I've been bilking the company whenever I could for the last seven years.
If I wasn't worried about my job, imagine what I could do! Yoicks! I'd better call
security to escort Ms. Ghandi out of the building!"
Luckily for Mr. Maximus, most of his worker units don't think the
same way as him, or the typical IT resignation would be announced by the complete erasure of all
systems and delivery of all backup tapes to the competition. And his credit cards would be
maxed out.
[...] I've been under the impression that the real problem with biodiesel was A) older fuel lines may be degraded more quickly by biodiesel, and B) producing enough to fuel the world's fuel needs was a big issue.
I have a friend in Minnesota who has been using biodiesel from a co-op for a few months. It was
supposed to be blended with "real" diesel in a mix that was good down to -20 F. Unfortunately,
they seem to have messed up their computations, because it gelled up at +20 F and left him
and his two diesels (a VW and a Volvo) in walk-mode. He's done with biodiesel until spring.
At least biodiesel seems to be a net energy gain, unlike alcohol (which is really popular with Minnesota farmers and hence with the legislature).
I know this is a little different when talking about computer security, but just as the Romans couldn't even imagine in their wildest dreams a B2 bomber, let alone how it could possible get past their impenetrable wall, we can't conceive of the technology that could be used to "infect" our computers.
Perhaps we shouldn't be so quick to intuit the inner thoughts of ancient Romans. It seems that
anyone that sees birds, insects, and bats flying could imagine people flying too. In fact, my kids could probably come up with at least one legend the Romans would have been familiar with that involves flying humans.
Anyway, this case is a little different--the previous poster noted that there's logical fallacy
involved: two steps, each of which has to happen before the other. That's a little more
concrete than "I can't imagine a giant flying machine." It's more like "I can't imagine how
two things could each happen before the other in the same place."
These companies want a binary layer so they can build binary drivers.
I keep hearing everyone say that, but it doesn't sound that hard to distribute
binary-only drivers anyway. You just write wrappers for the kernel interfaces
you want to use and distribute their source along with your binary-only driver. Users
recompile the wrappers and link the whole fershlugginer mess to get a "new"
binary-only module.
Now that that's out of the way, is there still a reason we can't have a stable
kernel ABI? I don't see that there is any way to make the "your module is a derived
work" argument that really makes sense in this case. But of course, legal
phantasy should be left to legal minds, and mine isn't one (thankfully).
Copyrights are particualrly evil because they have the effect of stealing away our culture and giving it to hollywood.
You're forgetting that if the author isn't protected from theft, he/she will be less inclined to produce the culture that's being "stolen." Creation takes work and that work needs to be compensated otherwise it'll cease. Slavery arises when a man is required to work for nothing which from the jist of your post, is exactly what you think creators should be paid. After all, it costs them nothing to duplicate their work so why pay them?
You couldn't be more right. If Steamboat Willie weren't protected by copyright in perpetuity, Walt Disney wouldn't produce any more cartoons. Of course, he's been dead for years.
Inventors get seventeen years (actually it varies) of protection. Is there a reason that authors need "lifetime plus 75 years"? I have only the greatest respect for authors (with some exceptions...) but I think the transistor, antibiotics, and the airplane have more of an impact on my life than Gore Vidal and Dave Barry.
Many of the works that are currently on the shelves will NEVER go into the public domain. And there is one thing authors need more than anything else--people that love reading. A large free corpus is a good way to build that.
I once tried to include literature citations in the entry for Julius Caesar, they were promptly deleted and someone re-entered demonstrably false information.
Demonstrably false? Did you demonstrate that it was false then?
In my humble universe, including citations is how you demonstrate something. Including an authoritative link, as you mention later, is a poor second for real citations. Of course, it is harder to check on, since you have to get ahold of the works cited.
In fact, that is mostly why it's more authoritative, and that's what people are arguing about--the strength of Wikipedia is its weakness: Joe Thimblemind can discard Steven Hawkings edits because he "knows" that Hawking just a character on the Simpsons. And Steven isn't going to waste his limited time and energy in an editing war with Joe, who has a lot of time left over after he gets done with his job at McDonald's.
I'm not discarding my Britannica yet, but Wikipedia is a great place to find some pointers for
further study. Or to settle a quick bet with low stakes. Maybe some day they'll figure out a
good system to allow it to be more authoritative. I don't think it will happen with the present
system.
The bigger problem to my eyes is they're planning on tucking it hell and gone inside a mountain so no one will steal or vandalize it. For a monument that is intended as a statement of hope for the future, that strikes me as counter productive. "Umm, we built this thing for you kids whom we've never met but we figure you're not trustworthy enough to let you know where it is."
The idea, according to the article, is not that people won't know where it is--just that
it's hard enough to get to that it won't become so familiar that people no longer care about it.
Seems reasonable to me. Now it is possible people will forget where it is....
I use his
software every day, and while he's . . . enthusiastic . . . in a way that
I am not, he's a lot closer to a hero than most anyone else I can think
of in our field. It's clear he could have been rich if he'd wanted to be,
but he's pursued his beliefs instead.
McD is not the same all over the world and as a bit of a traveller I have had a lot of fun sampling the local McD.
That's what I like about traveling--I get to try different McDonalds' around the world.
Reminds me of a customer that visited us once. He said he always liked to hit all the
Penny's stores in the area if he got to travel. To this day I'm not sure he wasn't
jerking our chains.
Like most, the first book of his I read was Ender's Game. It isn't a bad book. But it isn't great, either. Everything in it has been done before, by better writers.
I wasn't that impressed by the novel. However, it was a fantastic short story. I think that
was one reason I didn't like the novel-length version--it felt like the same short story inflated
with enough novel gas to take up the necessesary space. Which was Just Sad.
I think I have to take issue with the claim that it was all done before, though. I can't remember
an earlier story with the "kid directs a successful war without knowing it" gimmick. And it was
a great gimmick, at least based on my initial reaction to it.
Of course, I haven't read every science fiction story published prior to 1975, but I did read
several metric assloads of them.
But eventually, the world (be it earth or all planets we might make habitable) will be filled with immortal people, unable to procreate because there is no more room nor resources for more people. They will be doomed to either continue living with the same people eternally, kill each other, or commit suicide. No thanks.
Okay. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.
The biggest difference I think we'll see (other than immense wars over reproductive rights)
from "immortality" will be that all remaining old people will be extremely cautious. Things
that we regard as reasonable risks because of our lifespans will be thought of as reckless to
the point of irresponsibility. Like what? Like driving in a car, walking down the street,
and taking a shower.
So the folks like Dr. Lex (quoted above) will not have to worry about being around, because
within a few normal lifetimes their willingness to risk life and limb will cull them from
the population, leaving only the ones that think watching the tube all day is a rich and full
life.
I kind of hope I'm not around if that happens either....
Presumably their cost is about $100. Why not sell it to us 'wealthy' Western nations for $150 or so? We get a neat inexpensive laptop, they get $50 to fuel their production/distribution mechanism.
Presumably nothing would be a faster way to get the industry against the project than to start undercutting current laptops by 70 to 90 percent. This unit could easily do everything that I
need a laptop to do (since I'm not a gamer), and so I wouldn't get another Powerbook when mine
wore out.
I'm sure they get a large part of their funding from industry.
Slashdot Mirror
If it was something other than sound it might be harder. In fact, if it sent a 20,000 volt electric pulse it would probably work on even nonconductive doors, and it could double as a taser!
"Winston cures good, like a cigarette should."
If it works on lung cancer, I'd say it's a no-brainer!
In other words, "no."
As for being too small, here's a link to a report about them killing attacking hornets by surrounding them and raising the temperature to around 45 C (that's 113 in bee degrees, which coincidentally happens to be the same as degrees F).
It is much easier to sell an ineffective--but "fair"--solution to the voters, especially when there are a bunch of emotional pressure groups (e.g., "MADD moms") that are practiced in applying the stupid peoples' syllogism ("We must do something. X is something. Therefore, we must do X.") watching.
So how should law enforcement deal with this? You can't check a serial number unless someone lists it, and I don't see local departments paying staff to surf looking for the 0.001% of listings that represent stuff from their jurisdiction (which they can't identify anyway). And many commodities (e.g., cell phone batteries) probably have no identifying marks anyway.
It is a puzzlement.
And if that makes you feel insignificant, consider that the Sun and the other stars in the galaxy are orbiting around its center, which is tens of thousands of light years away.
For me to enter The Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs. Everyone should have a Lisp book, and this one presents many insights about programming and data representation. I wish I'd had a copy when I was an undergrad.
I'd have assumed that this was a good application for those rectal scanners I read about in Dr. Fun. I couldn't find a reference--sorry.
Also, the heads require air to fly.
Luckily for Mr. Maximus, most of his worker units don't think the same way as him, or the typical IT resignation would be announced by the complete erasure of all systems and delivery of all backup tapes to the competition. And his credit cards would be maxed out.
At least biodiesel seems to be a net energy gain, unlike alcohol (which is really popular with Minnesota farmers and hence with the legislature).
Anyway, this case is a little different--the previous poster noted that there's logical fallacy involved: two steps, each of which has to happen before the other. That's a little more concrete than "I can't imagine a giant flying machine." It's more like "I can't imagine how two things could each happen before the other in the same place."
Come to think of it, it's exactly like that.
Now that that's out of the way, is there still a reason we can't have a stable kernel ABI? I don't see that there is any way to make the "your module is a derived work" argument that really makes sense in this case. But of course, legal phantasy should be left to legal minds, and mine isn't one (thankfully).
Inventors get seventeen years (actually it varies) of protection. Is there a reason that authors need "lifetime plus 75 years"? I have only the greatest respect for authors (with some exceptions...) but I think the transistor, antibiotics, and the airplane have more of an impact on my life than Gore Vidal and Dave Barry.
Many of the works that are currently on the shelves will NEVER go into the public domain. And there is one thing authors need more than anything else--people that love reading. A large free corpus is a good way to build that.
In fact, that is mostly why it's more authoritative, and that's what people are arguing about--the strength of Wikipedia is its weakness: Joe Thimblemind can discard Steven Hawkings edits because he "knows" that Hawking just a character on the Simpsons. And Steven isn't going to waste his limited time and energy in an editing war with Joe, who has a lot of time left over after he gets done with his job at McDonald's.
I'm not discarding my Britannica yet, but Wikipedia is a great place to find some pointers for further study. Or to settle a quick bet with low stakes. Maybe some day they'll figure out a good system to allow it to be more authoritative. I don't think it will happen with the present system.
Reminds me of a customer that visited us once. He said he always liked to hit all the Penny's stores in the area if he got to travel. To this day I'm not sure he wasn't jerking our chains.
I think I have to take issue with the claim that it was all done before, though. I can't remember an earlier story with the "kid directs a successful war without knowing it" gimmick. And it was a great gimmick, at least based on my initial reaction to it. Of course, I haven't read every science fiction story published prior to 1975, but I did read several metric assloads of them.
The biggest difference I think we'll see (other than immense wars over reproductive rights) from "immortality" will be that all remaining old people will be extremely cautious. Things that we regard as reasonable risks because of our lifespans will be thought of as reckless to the point of irresponsibility. Like what? Like driving in a car, walking down the street, and taking a shower.
So the folks like Dr. Lex (quoted above) will not have to worry about being around, because within a few normal lifetimes their willingness to risk life and limb will cull them from the population, leaving only the ones that think watching the tube all day is a rich and full life.
I kind of hope I'm not around if that happens either....
I'm sure they get a large part of their funding from industry.