I'm just happy you give up so much of your own time and effort to do it. I can't imagine having to sort through all the submissions you get; they seem to get more complicated every year...
I was scanning this discussion just to see if someone was going to ask this question, as I was wondering myself. Feynman was such a fly in the ointment, though, that I won't be surprised if the new committee doesn't have a Feynman.
Their choice of the RIAA as #1 is absolutely moronic!
Repeat after me. The RIAA's goal is to MAKE MONEY. Whether they win court cases, or lose court cases, or stop downloads, or increase downloads, is totally irrelevant.
They said it themselves in the article. Their sales are UP this year.
Do the words "laughing all the way to the bank" come to mind?
One thing that I think makes good science fiction -- when humanity itself is like a character in the book. And changes and grows like a well-written character should. Arthur C. Clarke was best at this.
The most amazing of geek jokes
on
Science Askew
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· Score: 1
Some people seem to think they're talking about Elvis's new full-length CD. They're not. This is a one-off giveaway in the newspaper. And he may know nothing about it.
However, he has come out against the free trading of his music. To wit:
''If you're a carpenter and you make a chair, and then somebody comes around your workshop and takes the chair away, you call the police. There isn't any gray area. It's just stealing.
''Why should it be any different with music?'' he asks. ''If music is all free, then why not go and make up your own songs? Music isn't just in the air. Somebody has to determine the order in which these tones and rhythms are played and arranged and recorded. The woolly idea that music should be for free is ridiculous.''
So maybe he did sanction the protection on this giveaway. And maybe this confusion about whether his full-length release is protected will hurt sales of it. But maybe he didn't. Remember, there are free songs on it. And I highly doubt he was responsible for the doublespeak about DRM on it.
I worked there for a few years, ending in 1994. It was amazing to see the "technology" in use in the firing room:
The computer screens all used ASCII graphics, and eight colors, including the infamous cyan. (Aside: does anyone who isn't in computer science even know what cyan is?)
You really don't think of multiple shift keys (e.g. Ctrl-, Alt-, Meta-, etc.) as a new technology, but it's something that hadn't been thought up yet at the time they installed the firing room computers. So what you see is, they had multiple different-function keyboards stacked on top of each other, so as to be able to invoke multiple commands.
The printer was amazing -- it used mimeograph fluid and produced wet -- soaking wet -- purplish printouts. You had to wait several minutes for them to dry.
As laughable as it seems to see the old tech in use, it is important to remember that there is a considerable amount of time, money, and lives at stake on these launches -- so much so that nightmares were not uncommon among the people working in this environment. As such, it is a extremely dangerous process to change out any of the hardware or software in use. So much can be lost during the inevitable process of working the kinks out of a new system.
Car and Driver -- or some similar magazine -- once did a report on the crawler they use to transport the shuttle. It had things like "Mileage: 0.0000034 miles/gallon. Turning radius: 1000 ft". I'd love to see it again. Anyone ever come across it?
I used to work down at the space center, and got to see this beast roll slowly by a few times. Quite amazing. The pathway gets a new layer of coral rock gravel each time (I think), and after the launch platform goes by, there's nothing left but sand...
I can't believe someone would hold such a ridiculous point of view. You would fight ignorance and dishonesty with ignorance and dishonesty. That is the recipe for bringing back the Dark Ages.
However much mileage the forces of darkness might get from parading around the mistakes that scientists find in their own work, it is far worse when THEY discover mistakes that we've been hiding.
If anyone thinks I'm exagerating, I suggest they go and read Starplex, which sucks the farts out of dead cats. After reading that piece of crap I swore off Sawyer novels forever.
"The Terminal Experiment" did it for me. This guy should be forced to relinquish his sfwriter.com domain to someone who can actually write...
I'm a little befuddled by the tack that free music advocates are taking against the RIAA -- denying that song swapping will cause a decline in CD sales.
Of course it will cause a decline. It may not have yet, but the CD's days are numbered. Why? They're an obsolete technology. They're clunky. They require packing and shipping. They hold a limited amount of music. They're prone to loss and scratches. If you think song swapping won't accelerate the decline in sales, you're fooling yourselves.
The record companies see the writing on the wall, and are trying to milk as much money out of CD sales before their collapse. Of course they're going to whine about everything that can even be perceived as a drop in sales; it's just part and parcel of doing everything they can do to receive court decisions sympathetic to their financial interests.
Wireless Free Mendocino has been instrumental in defeating attempts to bring cell phone and a high-speed Internet service to the town's 1,000-odd residents.
It's the January 2002 issue. Go to www.sciam.com and click on the Current Issue -- you'll see this article synopsis. You can't tell from the title here that it talks about "punishment" like the/. article, but it does.
The Economics of Fair Play
BY KARL SIGMUND, ERNST FEHR AND MARTIN A. NOWAK
Biology and economics may explain why we value fairness over rational selfishness.
Slashdot Mirror
The other great example is Swordfish, when Hugh Jackman hacks into a computer system in 60 seconds, at gunpoint, with a woman giving him head.
I think you're thinking of Sword Swallower, starring Hugh G. Rection.
Oh, and any idea when the next contest will take place?
I'm just happy you give up so much of your own time and effort to do it. I can't imagine having to sort through all the submissions you get; they seem to get more complicated every year...
I was scanning this discussion just to see if someone was going to ask this question, as I was wondering myself. Feynman was such a fly in the ointment, though, that I won't be surprised if the new committee doesn't have a Feynman.
I can already envision guys on the subway bonking their palm pilots into my head as they try to move down to read the next line of text.
Their choice of the RIAA as #1 is absolutely moronic!
Repeat after me. The RIAA's goal is to MAKE MONEY. Whether they win court cases, or lose court cases, or stop downloads, or increase downloads, is totally irrelevant.
They said it themselves in the article. Their sales are UP this year.
Do the words "laughing all the way to the bank" come to mind?
One thing that I think makes good science fiction -- when humanity itself is like a character in the book. And changes and grows like a well-written character should. Arthur C. Clarke was best at this.
It's amazing, because it's true...
Q. Why do geeks confuse Christmas and Halloween?
A. Because OCT 31 == DEC 25.
Isn't it amazing how "Unabomber target" has come to imply a certain level of prestige?
There's a "Holy See Plus Plus" joke here somewhere.
However, he has come out against the free trading of his music. To wit:
So maybe he did sanction the protection on this giveaway. And maybe this confusion about whether his full-length release is protected will hurt sales of it. But maybe he didn't. Remember, there are free songs on it. And I highly doubt he was responsible for the doublespeak about DRM on it.
By the way, I used to host his web page.
The computer screens all used ASCII graphics, and eight colors, including the infamous cyan. (Aside: does anyone who isn't in computer science even know what cyan is?)
You really don't think of multiple shift keys (e.g. Ctrl-, Alt-, Meta-, etc.) as a new technology, but it's something that hadn't been thought up yet at the time they installed the firing room computers. So what you see is, they had multiple different-function keyboards stacked on top of each other, so as to be able to invoke multiple commands.
The printer was amazing -- it used mimeograph fluid and produced wet -- soaking wet -- purplish printouts. You had to wait several minutes for them to dry.
As laughable as it seems to see the old tech in use, it is important to remember that there is a considerable amount of time, money, and lives at stake on these launches -- so much so that nightmares were not uncommon among the people working in this environment. As such, it is a extremely dangerous process to change out any of the hardware or software in use. So much can be lost during the inevitable process of working the kinks out of a new system.
So if it's open source, can I just take one of the entries already submitted, enhance it a little bit, and resubmit it?
Women who are pregnant, or think they may be pregnant, shouldn not touch LIAP.
Car and Driver -- or some similar magazine -- once did a report on the crawler they use to transport the shuttle. It had things like "Mileage: 0.0000034 miles/gallon. Turning radius: 1000 ft". I'd love to see it again. Anyone ever come across it?
I used to work down at the space center, and got to see this beast roll slowly by a few times. Quite amazing. The pathway gets a new layer of coral rock gravel each time (I think), and after the launch platform goes by, there's nothing left but sand...
Depends on your budget. Can you afford a thousand monkeys?
I can't believe someone would hold such a ridiculous point of view. You would fight ignorance and dishonesty with ignorance and dishonesty. That is the recipe for bringing back the Dark Ages.
However much mileage the forces of darkness might get from parading around the mistakes that scientists find in their own work, it is far worse when THEY discover mistakes that we've been hiding.
"The Terminal Experiment" did it for me. This guy should be forced to relinquish his sfwriter.com domain to someone who can actually write...
On that page they say that AOL has a keyword for "Cancel". In the article they say they have no such keyword. Which is right?
I was going to rate this posting, but I couldn't find "Evil" in the dropdown.
I'm a little befuddled by the tack that free music advocates are taking against the RIAA -- denying that song swapping will cause a decline in CD sales.
Of course it will cause a decline. It may not have yet, but the CD's days are numbered. Why? They're an obsolete technology. They're clunky. They require packing and shipping. They hold a limited amount of music. They're prone to loss and scratches. If you think song swapping won't accelerate the decline in sales, you're fooling yourselves.
The record companies see the writing on the wall, and are trying to milk as much money out of CD sales before their collapse. Of course they're going to whine about everything that can even be perceived as a drop in sales; it's just part and parcel of doing everything they can do to receive court decisions sympathetic to their financial interests.
Orson Scott Card's essay said it best. Managing programmers is analagous to beekeeping:
http://www.csn.ul.ie/~caolan/Texts/orson.html
That hyphen is entirely superfluous.