As companies get bigger, they seek competitive advantages politically,
Yes, they do, and this is why it is imperative to keep the power to favor one business over another out of the hands of the political class.
Are you really this naive? As companies get bigger, they have more money to finance campaigns for politicians who can change any laws that try to keep this kind of power concentration from happening. Witness the deregulation of your banking industry, your media industry, your telecommunications industry.
No, even your vaunted Constitution is not safe. Enough lobbying, enough money spent, and enough votes are bought for an Amendment. Or votes are bought to buy off immunity from prosecution.
In short: if you trust in laws to keep your politicians from selling political favour, remember who makes the laws.
Mart
He missed the Delta Works
on
The Geek Atlas
·
· Score: 1
Call me a parochial Dutchman, but if you want a stunning display of science and engineering, the Delta Works and especially the Eastern Scheldt storm surge barrier should have been included. Their contribution to human knowledge and just plain awesomeness is easily on a par with the works of M.C. Escher.
And as an added bonus, if you're listing the Escher museum anyway, the Delta Works are just around the corner.
There is no longer an unstable/stable kernel branch difference. Essentially all new kernels are development versions. It is specifically up to the distribution vendors to pick stable kernels out of this continuous release stream.
And yet, the toadies of the media barons keep telling us that they deserve massive handouts to survive, because they are so important as a check on government with their objectivity.
Now, after the country split up, and various nationalistic leaders came to power in the new republics, and used their nationalism to start nice little civil wars, yes, that worked a lot less against racial hatred.
But I would say that that is a rather different kettle of fish.
[...] it's like internet trolling - it just gets people flustered and angry, and they do it for 'teh lulz'. It's pathetic. Nothing changes; nobody is going to be swayed by their infantile invective, [...]
Tell that to the Pakistani shopkeeper who gets a Molotov cocktail through his window.
The CLR/C# were covered by the ECMA spec, but any patents on them were unclearly licensed. ECMA only requires RAND, and the big criticism regarding Mono's implementation was that there were only informal assurances that Microsoft would license any applicable patents royalty-free.
The Community Promise, despite minor flaws, has fixed that criticism.
The nice thing about a paper map is size. If you are suddenly confronted with new data, like a new road, or construction obstructing your route, a look at the map can give you a nice general idea on how to navigate, because you can see your current position and your goal in one look.
However, there's two downsides:
It requires the capability to visualize how the map translates to your 3d surroundings. This is not something everyone can do from the outset, although it is a trainable skill (which reinforces the article's thrust).
It is worthless in terms of detailed (sub-10m) navigation decisions. So getting on your alternate route may be a pain (although skill in point 1 may help).
The best compromise, IMO, would be a satnav system fed with detailed topographical data, like the zoning information used in.nl (take a look at the Netherlands map in Openstreetmap, it is built from this data) or the Ordnance Survey in the UK, displayed on a large screen (10" minimum). That would give you both the good overview of a paper map, and detailed navigation.
Not even a recent TomTom is immune to failure. I live close to a small theater run by the local major production company for try-outs and experimental theater (basically an incubator), and we get plenty of visitors who are totally lost because TomTom keeps referring them to the main road instead of the parallel road 10 meters to the side.
Of course, had they turned off the default 3D look and switched to map view, they might have seen that TomTom's 'Turn left here' meant moving onto the parallel road first, but that goes back to the article's contention: that local knowledge (even, in this case, gained on the spot) is being eradicated by a slavish devotion to the GPS.
If, at a higher zoom level, a twisty road gets normalised to a straight line to a destination, it may as well be a straight line. The twists and turns are immaterial.
Just like a statistical plot: the individual data points may fluctuate, but if there is a clear trend (if the fluctuations are less than the confidence interval), the fluctuations become moot in doing analysis.
Erm. The doctrine of literal Word of God is unique to a bunch of fundamentalist Protestant crazies. Most of whom we Europeans managed to ship off to the colonies.
Erm. No. He is saying he is now splitting potentially dangerous code from the main project. That means that there was potentially dangerous code before, something which Miguel and his fanbois were disclaiming all along.
Of course, pointing out that he made a one-eighty is considered Flamebait these days. Sigh.
So Miguel is finally admitting there is potentially dodgy code in Mono? After all the invective he threw at people concerned about patents, I think it would behoove him to apologise, now that he is doing exactly what he was being criticised for not doing before.
Given Miguel's online temper tantrums and obvious unwillingness to concede being wrong, I hope you don't mind if I don't hold my breath.
No. Go read Axelrod's research again: mutual cooperation wins every time in iterated Prisoner's Dilemma scenarios. In one-off scenarios, defection is always the best option.
I have seen people on public transport carrying iPhones/iPod Touches holding them in such a way that they probably were watching video.
I suspect, however, that this is more of an excuse to show off their bling gadget in a desperate attempt to seem cool, than a legitimate use case. Especially given that other manufacturers (like Cowon) seem to be doing a lot more business selling media players primarily geared for music playback over their video-centric players.
Actually, you are. Bear with me, as it is not so far-fetched as it seems.
What you are explaining here is the very basis of some 3000 years of Western spiritual training, going back to the Appollonian mysteries of the Ancient Greeks: ghothi seauton - 'know thyself'; Appollo's motto.
It was picked up by mystics and philosophers along the way with the growth of Western civilisation, becoming a major part of Hermetic mysticism. This is the root of 'as above, so below', although that saying inverts the process as the Hermetics taught it. In order to know the universe, knowledge of the self was a major prerequisite. One of the explanations of the Philosopher's Stone is not that it is a physical thing, but a transformation of the individual, a purification that changes your view on the world, making it possible to see things that the untrained can't (metaphorically changing lead into gold).
On the religious side, these same teachings, that a clearer perception of the universe starts from within, is also found in the religious traditions, Jewish mysticism like Kabbalism, but also in the Gospels (the root of the teachings to be 'in this world, not of this world').
The last gasp of serious dissertation on this subject died with the Victorian occultists, as a good reading of Crowley will show you. Twentieth-century thought is not giving much thought on actual individual self-transformation, instead huddling in cheap and tawdry New Age egocentrism or religious dogmatism.
One doesn't have to set any store by the spiritual beliefs of the writers in those systems to see the practical side of it: knowledge of the Self is essential to seeing the techniques the world is using to suppress that same self. Advertising is quite open about its use of psychology to manipulate people, so self-knowledge will teach what buttons advertising is trying to push, and making it possible to learn how to consciously avoid getting those buttons pushed.
Slashdot Mirror
Are you really this naive? As companies get bigger, they have more money to finance campaigns for politicians who can change any laws that try to keep this kind of power concentration from happening. Witness the deregulation of your banking industry, your media industry, your telecommunications industry.
No, even your vaunted Constitution is not safe. Enough lobbying, enough money spent, and enough votes are bought for an Amendment. Or votes are bought to buy off immunity from prosecution.
In short: if you trust in laws to keep your politicians from selling political favour, remember who makes the laws.
Mart
Call me a parochial Dutchman, but if you want a stunning display of science and engineering, the Delta Works and especially the Eastern Scheldt storm surge barrier should have been included. Their contribution to human knowledge and just plain awesomeness is easily on a par with the works of M.C. Escher.
And as an added bonus, if you're listing the Escher museum anyway, the Delta Works are just around the corner.
Mart
I'm very sorry, but you are wrong.
There is no longer an unstable/stable kernel branch difference. Essentially all new kernels are development versions. It is specifically up to the distribution vendors to pick stable kernels out of this continuous release stream.
Mart
And yet, the toadies of the media barons keep telling us that they deserve massive handouts to survive, because they are so important as a check on government with their objectivity.
Mart
'Slightly more than half' is not quite the same as 'more than half', now is it?
Mart
Well yeah. It worked pretty well in Yugoslavia.
Now, after the country split up, and various nationalistic leaders came to power in the new republics, and used their nationalism to start nice little civil wars, yes, that worked a lot less against racial hatred.
But I would say that that is a rather different kettle of fish.
Mart
Tell that to the Pakistani shopkeeper who gets a Molotov cocktail through his window.
Mart
Learn some statistics.
Mart
Right. The fact that you classify 55% as 'more than half' shows exactly what a stupid moron you are.
Mart
Wow, you're right. There really are a lot more Mono applications nowadays. How did I ever live without them?
Good grief. More than half of that list is half-assed clones of existing C programs. They're proofs of concept, not applications.
Mart
I call bullshit. There are 4 major Mono applications in the Gnome distribution:
So care to enlighten me which other 8 applications get removed if you remove Mono?
Mart
The CLR/C# were covered by the ECMA spec, but any patents on them were unclearly licensed. ECMA only requires RAND, and the big criticism regarding Mono's implementation was that there were only informal assurances that Microsoft would license any applicable patents royalty-free.
The Community Promise, despite minor flaws, has fixed that criticism.
Mart
The nice thing about a paper map is size. If you are suddenly confronted with new data, like a new road, or construction obstructing your route, a look at the map can give you a nice general idea on how to navigate, because you can see your current position and your goal in one look.
However, there's two downsides:
The best compromise, IMO, would be a satnav system fed with detailed topographical data, like the zoning information used in .nl (take a look at the Netherlands map in Openstreetmap, it is built from this data) or the Ordnance Survey in the UK, displayed on a large screen (10" minimum). That would give you both the good overview of a paper map, and detailed navigation.
Mart
Not even a recent TomTom is immune to failure. I live close to a small theater run by the local major production company for try-outs and experimental theater (basically an incubator), and we get plenty of visitors who are totally lost because TomTom keeps referring them to the main road instead of the parallel road 10 meters to the side.
Of course, had they turned off the default 3D look and switched to map view, they might have seen that TomTom's 'Turn left here' meant moving onto the parallel road first, but that goes back to the article's contention: that local knowledge (even, in this case, gained on the spot) is being eradicated by a slavish devotion to the GPS.
Mart
If, at a higher zoom level, a twisty road gets normalised to a straight line to a destination, it may as well be a straight line. The twists and turns are immaterial.
Just like a statistical plot: the individual data points may fluctuate, but if there is a clear trend (if the fluctuations are less than the confidence interval), the fluctuations become moot in doing analysis.
Mart
Erm. The doctrine of literal Word of God is unique to a bunch of fundamentalist Protestant crazies. Most of whom we Europeans managed to ship off to the colonies.
Mart
Yeah well, too bad you're posting AC, because such reasoned statements are a far cry from what we got from Miguel.
Mart
No. Until now, the Miguel party line was that there was no reason to be worried, and if you said otherwise, you could expect invective.
Mart
Erm. No. He is saying he is now splitting potentially dangerous code from the main project. That means that there was potentially dangerous code before, something which Miguel and his fanbois were disclaiming all along.
Of course, pointing out that he made a one-eighty is considered Flamebait these days. Sigh.
So Miguel is finally admitting there is potentially dodgy code in Mono? After all the invective he threw at people concerned about patents, I think it would behoove him to apologise, now that he is doing exactly what he was being criticised for not doing before.
Given Miguel's online temper tantrums and obvious unwillingness to concede being wrong, I hope you don't mind if I don't hold my breath.
Mart
Yes. Stallman. Have you read his comments on Java lately?
Sheesh. The Stallman bashing gets really ridiculous at times.
Mart
No. Go read Axelrod's research again: mutual cooperation wins every time in iterated Prisoner's Dilemma scenarios. In one-off scenarios, defection is always the best option.
Mart
I have seen people on public transport carrying iPhones/iPod Touches holding them in such a way that they probably were watching video.
I suspect, however, that this is more of an excuse to show off their bling gadget in a desperate attempt to seem cool, than a legitimate use case. Especially given that other manufacturers (like Cowon) seem to be doing a lot more business selling media players primarily geared for music playback over their video-centric players.
Mart
Nope. The site has already picked its codec, so the P=1. If the site you were visiting were randomly chosen, then P=0.05 would have applied.
Mart
Actually, you are. Bear with me, as it is not so far-fetched as it seems.
What you are explaining here is the very basis of some 3000 years of Western spiritual training, going back to the Appollonian mysteries of the Ancient Greeks: ghothi seauton - 'know thyself'; Appollo's motto.
It was picked up by mystics and philosophers along the way with the growth of Western civilisation, becoming a major part of Hermetic mysticism. This is the root of 'as above, so below', although that saying inverts the process as the Hermetics taught it. In order to know the universe, knowledge of the self was a major prerequisite. One of the explanations of the Philosopher's Stone is not that it is a physical thing, but a transformation of the individual, a purification that changes your view on the world, making it possible to see things that the untrained can't (metaphorically changing lead into gold).
On the religious side, these same teachings, that a clearer perception of the universe starts from within, is also found in the religious traditions, Jewish mysticism like Kabbalism, but also in the Gospels (the root of the teachings to be 'in this world, not of this world').
The last gasp of serious dissertation on this subject died with the Victorian occultists, as a good reading of Crowley will show you. Twentieth-century thought is not giving much thought on actual individual self-transformation, instead huddling in cheap and tawdry New Age egocentrism or religious dogmatism.
One doesn't have to set any store by the spiritual beliefs of the writers in those systems to see the practical side of it: knowledge of the Self is essential to seeing the techniques the world is using to suppress that same self. Advertising is quite open about its use of psychology to manipulate people, so self-knowledge will teach what buttons advertising is trying to push, and making it possible to learn how to consciously avoid getting those buttons pushed.
Mart