Severity isn't the only issue. If your automobile was faulty in a way that caused it to safely pull over to the side of the road but it wouldn't restart for half an hour, you'd still see recalls for lost time and money.
The danger here isn't just that it feeds a lot of lawyers, and isn't making software manufacturer produce less buggy code -- that's something that's been needed for a long time.
The danger is that someone like MS says "OK, we'll accept liability, but only if it's our software, running on our operating system, with no additional code on the system that we didn't install, and only on hardware we approve of, and we end up with even more of a monopoly.
Actually, the government was there first. They set out rules that broadcasters must agree into in exchange for access to a limited resource (the airwaves).
It's the broadcasters that are breaking the rules, in that the ratio of program time to advertising time is changing in a manner that is evading the rules.
Note that there are additional rules, regarding when "adult" programming can be offered, how much local public service time the broadcasters must provide, amount of children's programming, etc., all of which the broadcasters have attempted to weasel out of from time to time.
This is really a side issue, but the distributors are getting power over the content based on product ads as well.
For example, assume Miramax signs a deal with Coors such that all characters in a film are shown drinking Coors in the US version of the film, but signs a different deal for the Asian distribution so that the characters are shown drinking Kirin. They simply digitally edit the masters for each region.
While that example was fictional, there have been independant films that have been modified by the distributor because the filmmaker use the "wrong" product when making the movie.
You forget that when MS ships IE 7 (or whatever) and resets everyone's home page to its portal with Faster(tm), Better(tm) search, a lot of people (i.e., non-geeks) will just use it.
I spoke to someone the other day who didn't use Google because he thought he just needed "something simple" not as "sophisticated" as Google is. I explained to him that in this case, the "sophistication" wasn't a question of the number of features, a la MS Word, but a question of quality.
Remember that as more people us the net, the net becomes more like TV, and to make money on TV, you don't necessarily go for the most sophisticed audience. Making money has always been a MS priority.
Russell is an anthropologist by training and her understanding of what it means to encounter a truly alien society and the consequences of that are profound and impactful.
I had read that and had high hopes for the book, but personally, I found it quite disappointing. While it does some a couple of good characters and the seeds of some very interesting ideas, about 2/3 of the book is spent not on the alien society, but on the process of choosing the crew (rather unbelievable), who's pining after who on board the ship (dull), and issue of getting the main character to talk about his experience.
The aliens take up a relatively small part of the book and the story eventually hinges on what I thought were rather improbable practices anyway.
I just submitted the same story, it will probably get rejected, so here's some more links:
The Washington Post is reporting that the Slammer worm crashed the computerized display panel which monitors the most crucial safety indicators (coolant systems, core temperature sensors, and external radiation sensors) at Ohio's Davis-Besse nuclear power plant in January. No serious problems occured, primarily because the plant has been offline for more than 1-1/2 years. Davis-Besse is run by FirstEnergy, which many people feel may bear much of the responsibility for last weeks power blackout.
While it's true that such simple messages and "Fr1st p0st" equivalents can't be mapped, they can easily be filtered out as noise, since there's no content anyway.
However, if you're posting reviews to Amazon or ePinions your text is likely to have analyzable content.
I know someone who has done this type of analysis and discovered people who reply to their own posts in dicussion boards under different IDs to make it look like they had some kind of consensus. When confronted with the analysis, they admitted the ruse.
Indeed, what often happens with deregulation is that you get a lot of people who see how they can make a quick buck and who cares what happens down the road. One mechanism that could be used is to force companies that participate in these utility industries is to require a very large bond to be put up against future problems and upgrades. They now have a stake in the future. If they cut corners too much, they lose their bond, and so they're economically forced to consider the consequences of their actions.
The other issue is that the "intersection points" need to be addressed in a similar manner. Otherwise you get the situation we have now in the DSL market where the customer gets caught between the CLECs and ILECs.
Apparently, after Boies tangled with Microsoft, they hired some major voudou priestess to hex him good. First there was the Gore recount fiasco, now this.
I have to disagree. If the auto manufacturers decide to add a new foot switch that you have to step on while pressing the horn in order to enable the wipers, it's not MY fault.
The other thing that people need to remember about computer systems, is that unlike a lot of mechanical systems, there's not physical analogue to support your understanding of the concepts. It's all built on metaphors (desk top, fle cabinet, etc.) and both the customers understanding of the metaphor and the implementation can be a bit fuzzy.
As long as that abstraction exists, there's always going to be a learning curve, and it's always going to cause some level of confusion.
I take it you aren't a touch typist. A touch typist doesn't look at the keys. It slows you down. A simple soft click that you've "made" the key is far better if your goal is to type quickly.
Indeed, but tactile is not the only possible form. Auditory feedback and visual feedback both work, though for touch-typing speeds, visual isn't acceptable...too slow.
I've used a projection-keyboard system (non-holographic). It takes some getting used to but it's pretty amazing. Expect to see it in cell phones/PDAs within the next 2-3 years.
the Koran, is still pure. It's written in a living language that has never been lost.
Not necessarily. For one thing, the meaning of words change over time. For example, "barbarian" originally meant foreigner. It took on the meaning of vulgar invaders.
For another, there are those who suggest that some of the original language of the Koran was based on Aramaic, rather than Arabic, and this suggests some radically different translations of key passages.
It's also about cost to repair. For a desktop machine that's easy to get into, easy to swap parts, very standardized, I wouldn't worry so much.
Laptops are a little more trouble, so you're looking at a higher bill if something breaks.
Also consider the cost of being without. If the laptop is your sole machine, it may be helpful to have a fast and efficient repair mechanism available.
Data point. I've never had an extended warranty on a desktop box. I did however buy it for my Cinema display...and yes, I have used it.
Google does have a tendency to skew results towards shopping, though.
Well, in the example they used, they did a search for "flowers" and complained they got florist shops. However, if you're really doing research, and do a more specific search (say on "tulips") you don't get that same bias. Rule 1, be specific.
Their complaint about skewing is somewhat valid, but it helps to understand the nature of the web. It lives and breathes computers. So if you search "apple fruit" you get much better results, even better than "apple -computer". Rule 2, disambiguate.
Their complain about books is also valid, but this is an artifact of publishing and IP law. One that may be starting to crumble, given Amazon's recent announcement about offering book search. Rule 3, when there's a real market hole, look for the opportunity for profit.
IE's stranglehold on the web, and nose-thumbing at W3C standards...is a brief glimpse into the future of IE. Think about it. IE is only standards-compliant because it had to be. As a late-comer to the party, it had to dance to the band that was playing.
Now that IE is installed automatically on 97% of desktops, they can bring in an all new band, and don't be surprised if it doesn't play the old top 100 "standards."
They've admitted that the next generation browser "has to" be a part of the OS. That has got to be because they are planning features that start coupling the Internet with the OS. And yes, the Linux crowd and the Mac crowd will scream bloody murder, but who's going to hear them above the 97% saying, "Hey, this is cool."
One of the ways that browsers could have been open to more innovation is better UI widgetry. But, we have text boxes, buttons, pull-down menus and not much else because that's what you get with HTML.
There's really no way to get desktop features like drag and drop (and don't say DHTML & Javascript...it sucks.)
If Java had been tightly integrated into the browsers, the way we expected when it first came out, then we'd have all the power of a good programming language available, and you'd see pages be able to re-form themselves into applications.
Go the the bank's page, you have a banking app. Go to a music site, you've got a sample player and purchase app. Etc.
Yes, it would have started out slowly, but with good libraries and JAR caching, the commonly needed stuff would be on everyone's machine with no need to download lots of stuff for each application. A missed opportunity.
...that the movie looks really lame. I mean really, it's derivative second-tier Disney. (Judging from the trailer, anyway.) The dialog is dreary, the character styling seem ripped off from Aladdin, and we have the requisite "big names" as voice "stars" to lure in the masses. So it's 3D instead of 2D. Big whoop.
Slashdot Mirror
Severity isn't the only issue. If your automobile was faulty in a way that caused it to safely pull over to the side of the road but it wouldn't restart for half an hour, you'd still see recalls for lost time and money.
The danger here isn't just that it feeds a lot of lawyers, and isn't making software manufacturer produce less buggy code -- that's something that's been needed for a long time.
The danger is that someone like MS says "OK, we'll accept liability, but only if it's our software, running on our operating system, with no additional code on the system that we didn't install, and only on hardware we approve of, and we end up with even more of a monopoly.
Actually, the government was there first. They set out rules that broadcasters must agree into in exchange for access to a limited resource (the airwaves).
It's the broadcasters that are breaking the rules, in that the ratio of program time to advertising time is changing in a manner that is evading the rules.
Note that there are additional rules, regarding when "adult" programming can be offered, how much local public service time the broadcasters must provide, amount of children's programming, etc., all of which the broadcasters have attempted to weasel out of from time to time.
This is really a side issue, but the distributors are getting power over the content based on product ads as well.
For example, assume Miramax signs a deal with Coors such that all characters in a film are shown drinking Coors in the US version of the film, but signs a different deal for the Asian distribution so that the characters are shown drinking Kirin. They simply digitally edit the masters for each region.
While that example was fictional, there have been independant films that have been modified by the distributor because the filmmaker use the "wrong" product when making the movie.
You forget that when MS ships IE 7 (or whatever) and resets everyone's home page to its portal with Faster(tm), Better(tm) search, a lot of people (i.e., non-geeks) will just use it.
I spoke to someone the other day who didn't use Google because he thought he just needed "something simple" not as "sophisticated" as Google is. I explained to him that in this case, the "sophistication" wasn't a question of the number of features, a la MS Word, but a question of quality.
Remember that as more people us the net, the net becomes more like TV, and to make money on TV, you don't necessarily go for the most sophisticed audience. Making money has always been a MS priority.
Russell is an anthropologist by training and her understanding of what it means to encounter a truly alien society and the consequences of that are profound and impactful.
I had read that and had high hopes for the book, but personally, I found it quite disappointing. While it does some a couple of good characters and the seeds of some very interesting ideas, about 2/3 of the book is spent not on the alien society, but on the process of choosing the crew (rather unbelievable), who's pining after who on board the ship (dull), and issue of getting the main character to talk about his experience.
The aliens take up a relatively small part of the book and the story eventually hinges on what I thought were rather improbable practices anyway.
No. Davis-Besse was off-line, and has been for about 20 months.
I just submitted the same story, it will probably get rejected, so here's some more links:
The Washington Post is reporting that the Slammer worm crashed the computerized display panel which monitors the most crucial safety indicators (coolant systems, core temperature sensors, and external radiation sensors) at Ohio's Davis-Besse nuclear power plant in January. No serious problems occured, primarily because the plant has been offline for more than 1-1/2 years.
Davis-Besse is run by FirstEnergy, which many people feel may bear much of the responsibility for last weeks power blackout.
While it's true that such simple messages and "Fr1st p0st" equivalents can't be mapped, they can easily be filtered out as noise, since there's no content anyway.
However, if you're posting reviews to Amazon or ePinions your text is likely to have analyzable content.
I know someone who has done this type of analysis and discovered people who reply to their own posts in dicussion boards under different IDs to make it look like they had some kind of consensus. When confronted with the analysis, they admitted the ruse.
you need to take care of the infrastructure
Indeed, what often happens with deregulation is that you get a lot of people who see how they can make a quick buck and who cares what happens down the road. One mechanism that could be used is to force companies that participate in these utility industries is to require a very large bond to be put up against future problems and upgrades. They now have a stake in the future. If they cut corners too much, they lose their bond, and so they're economically forced to consider the consequences of their actions.
The other issue is that the "intersection points" need to be addressed in a similar manner. Otherwise you get the situation we have now in the DSL market where the customer gets caught between the CLECs and ILECs.
Apparently, after Boies tangled with Microsoft, they hired some major voudou priestess to hex him good. First there was the Gore recount fiasco, now this.
I have to disagree. If the auto manufacturers decide to add a new foot switch that you have to step on while pressing the horn in order to enable the wipers, it's not MY fault.
The other thing that people need to remember about computer systems, is that unlike a lot of mechanical systems, there's not physical analogue to support your understanding of the concepts. It's all built on metaphors (desk top, fle cabinet, etc.) and both the customers understanding of the metaphor and the implementation can be a bit fuzzy.
As long as that abstraction exists, there's always going to be a learning curve, and it's always going to cause some level of confusion.
How about this one. Not only is it same size, weight, and price, but it supports an FM tuner and FM recording as well, which the Gateway does not.
It also supports the Mac, which I don't expect the Gateway to do, either.
I take it you aren't a touch typist. A touch typist doesn't look at the keys. It slows you down. A simple soft click that you've "made" the key is far better if your goal is to type quickly.
It replaces physical keyboards where they can't exist, also. Here's another company that does projection keyboards.
They've also done testing on usability. Touch typists can adapt and achieve about 60% of their electro-mechanical keyboard speeds.
you would expect some type of feedback
Indeed, but tactile is not the only possible form. Auditory feedback and visual feedback both work, though for touch-typing speeds, visual isn't acceptable...too slow.
I've used a projection-keyboard system (non-holographic). It takes some getting used to but it's pretty amazing. Expect to see it in cell phones/PDAs within the next 2-3 years.
A little googling shows this:
Susan Mudgett aka little gator
Said nickname doesn't appear to show up in relation to Barbara at all.
Real AFUistas do their own research.
the Koran, is still pure. It's written in a living language that has never been lost.
Not necessarily. For one thing, the meaning of words change over time. For example, "barbarian" originally meant foreigner. It took on the meaning of vulgar invaders.
For another, there are those who suggest that some of the original language of the Koran was based on Aramaic, rather than Arabic, and this suggests some radically different translations of key passages.
Like so many great reformers, he was put to death.
Funny you should mention that, and not the irony of it all. He was put to death for translating the Bible into English.
(You could argue that it was for disobeying authority, etc., but the creation of the English language Bible is what got him into hot water.)
It's also about cost to repair. For a desktop machine that's easy to get into, easy to swap parts, very standardized, I wouldn't worry so much.
Laptops are a little more trouble, so you're looking at a higher bill if something breaks.
Also consider the cost of being without. If the laptop is your sole machine, it may be helpful to have a fast and efficient repair mechanism available.
Data point. I've never had an extended warranty on a desktop box. I did however buy it for my Cinema display...and yes, I have used it.
Google does have a tendency to skew results towards shopping, though.
Well, in the example they used, they did a search for "flowers" and complained they got florist shops. However, if you're really doing research, and do a more specific search (say on "tulips") you don't get that same bias. Rule 1, be specific.
Their complaint about skewing is somewhat valid, but it helps to understand the nature of the web. It lives and breathes computers. So if you search "apple fruit" you get much better results, even better than "apple -computer". Rule 2, disambiguate.
Their complain about books is also valid, but this is an artifact of publishing and IP law. One that may be starting to crumble, given Amazon's recent announcement about offering book search. Rule 3, when there's a real market hole, look for the opportunity for profit.
IE's stranglehold on the web, and nose-thumbing at W3C standards...is a brief glimpse into the future of IE. Think about it. IE is only standards-compliant because it had to be. As a late-comer to the party, it had to dance to the band that was playing.
Now that IE is installed automatically on 97% of desktops, they can bring in an all new band, and don't be surprised if it doesn't play the old top 100 "standards."
They've admitted that the next generation browser "has to" be a part of the OS. That has got to be because they are planning features that start coupling the Internet with the OS. And yes, the Linux crowd and the Mac crowd will scream bloody murder, but who's going to hear them above the 97% saying, "Hey, this is cool."
males and females DO differ genetically
It has been noted that the difference between the XX and XY chromosomes in the human males and females amounts to about 3% of genetic material.
Note also that in general the human species only differs about 3% from chimpanzies.
From this some have inferred that a human male is more similar to a male chimpanzee than to a human female.
I know this it's considered declasse to whine about this, but it would be nice to have a little editorial consistancy.
... and other weird stuff (articles,science) (rejected)
2003-06-20 23:53:29 Finding Nemo
That's two and a half weeks ago, for those who take the word 'news' seriously.
One of the ways that browsers could have been open to more innovation is better UI widgetry. But, we have text boxes, buttons, pull-down menus and not much else because that's what you get with HTML.
There's really no way to get desktop features like drag and drop (and don't say DHTML & Javascript...it sucks.)
If Java had been tightly integrated into the browsers, the way we expected when it first came out, then we'd have all the power of a good programming language available, and you'd see pages be able to re-form themselves into applications.
Go the the bank's page, you have a banking app. Go to a music site, you've got a sample player and purchase app. Etc.
Yes, it would have started out slowly, but with good libraries and JAR caching, the commonly needed stuff would be on everyone's machine with no need to download lots of stuff for each application. A missed opportunity.
...that the movie looks really lame. I mean really, it's derivative second-tier Disney. (Judging from the trailer, anyway.) The dialog is dreary, the character styling seem ripped off from Aladdin, and we have the requisite "big names" as voice "stars" to lure in the masses. So it's 3D instead of 2D. Big whoop.