The weight and the distibution of weight (i.e. balancing) are important characteristics of a blade.
A heavier blade will be better at cutting, and easier to block blows with, because it has a lot of momentum of it's own. A light one will be better suited to pierce and parry, because it will be easier to move and aim.
Therefor, I hope they will follow the characteristics of historical swords in this respect. I expect them to do so, for their aim to cut a normal sword will be near impossible if it's too light.
...asking myself the question: is pentium.cx taken?
Actually, this is a good question. cx in roman numerals translates to 110 in arabic numerals. It may be a bit early, but with intel's naming scheme, we may reach that this lifetime. And then you'd have a great domain name:)
Oh, and how is that? Do they jave products that are called that?
You cannot have a trademark on something you don't have. That doesn't mean you can name your next processor hexium, for it would certainly confusion. And that's not allowed...
That's not true. I used to work with their products, and have earned MCSD/partly MCSE certification. In one of the exams (cannot remember which one) they asked which system was best for a particular task. The right answer was some Novell product.
Microsoft is a company like many others. They use whatever they can, and whatever they (think they) can get away with to make money. Contrary to the popular notion here, MS has some good products. The reason for that is that it's a way to make money.
Why not burn mini-coasters in your desktop? Then you can spend the money you saved on bottles of beer. There's nothing more anoying than not having a bottle of beer to put on a freshly burned coaster.
The job of the distributed should be to look for these things.
I think you're missing a point here. It's good when organisations like RedHat and Debian commit themselves to checking the code. They are not required to do that. The job of a distributer isn't reviewing code or checking for bugs. That's the programmers job.
In the case of open source, everyone can be a programmer. So every user has equal responsibility. The point the original poster made, that programs that work aren't checked, is very valid. I don't think it's feasable(sp?) tho, to check all your software personally. It ain't a perfect world.
It's easy to blame distros, but if you want to do that, why not use commercial products? You are not required to use open source.
I think the biggest challenge for any artificial intelligence is still to fool humans into believing they are human (the opposite is quite common)
In the forseeable future, that's a thing that will probably happen. Also, the presentation of the web will change, just like it has changed before. Greater data-speeds and improved hardware will make things like VR common.
When it happens, these AI-machines can and will be used in the entertainment industry. Croupiers in virtual casinos, virtual girls for pr0n, stand-up comedians that only exist in cyberspace.
I don't know if that's far fetched, but it will allow you to combine web and ai, and at the same time give you a social angle.
Dinosaurs and crocodiles have the same ancestor. But crocodiles branched from the dinosaurs' evolutionary line way before this line ever produced dinosaurs.
It's very probable that dinosaurs developed warm blood (if they did) after these lines had branched.
It's also possible that this trait only occurred in some dinosaurs, because one branch developed it, and the rest didn't.
It's hard to say where in the evolution warmbloodedness first occurred. As it seems, somewhere between this dinosaur and the common ancestor of dinosaurs and crocodiles.
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Nice, but King was beaten by Shakespeare
on
King's New eBook
·
· Score: 2
While it is nice that Stephen King releases his new book electronically, many classical works have been available at the Gutenberg project for a couple of years now.
A large number of e-texts, which will cost you literally _years_ to read. And they're all free and legal...
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Love boat had this about 15 years ago
on
Date Pagers
·
· Score: 2
I don't think this can be called news.
The TV-series 'Love Boat' had a similar device at least 15 years ago. There were two variations: one for men and one for women. It had only 3 settings too: friendship, relationship or sex. Which is all you basically need.
They won't be able. Sony still owns some of the patents on CD's. If microsoft goes too far, they can theoretically revoke ms' right to use CD-roms. Imagine that.
Microsoft knows that. So I don't think there's a strategy aimed at driving out their opponents. I think they will try expand the console market, with a box that has a bit more functionality than their competitors and predecessors. Eg, a console that primarily plays games, but which can also be used to access internet pages, or which can be used for video conferencing. I'm sure they can think up a lot of things.
My suspicion is that is alresy the case with the upcomming X box. I think the reason for waiting so long is that it has some functionality which requires a lot of bandwith, which they calculated to be available by fall 2001, or shortly thereafter.
Do you really think so? Then please consider the following scenarios:
1. The government defines the LPL (Law Programming Language). They describe it in a way normal laws are described nowadays. The definitions of the language become unwieldy, thus the language itself becomes unwieldy. Net result: lawyers won't touch it, because it deals with matters programmers are supposed to understand. Programmers won't touch it for it's written in legalese, and there's lawyers to deal with that. IMHO, anything the government gives out, with supposedly good intentions, is overly complex and/or not thought about well enough.
2. Third parties define LPL's (Law Programming Languages). Imagine that. A clever bureau comes with LPL1.0. Then MS comes with MS-LPL (buys LPL1.0). Borland-LPL is issued. All with their own little design flaws, so v1.1, v1.2 , v2.0 and v2.51 are soon issued. Laws are issued under every brand and version of these LPL's. Imagine that in court. You need a lawyer who understands all these LPL's on top of the already complex laws. You need every judge to understand them. This, to me, doesn't seen feasible.
Plus, in both cases, normal citizens will hardly be able to understand the law. No matter how clearly and rigid you define your language.
Wow. I really like these drives going faster and faster. I can't wait till they break the light barrier. Imagine a harddisk that spins faster than the speed of light. Due to time dilation, your requested data will arrive before you even requested it! That would be a solution to a lot of problems. Of course, there's the problem that it's impossible for matter to go faster than the speed of light, but hey, one has got to fantasize, right?
As stated, it hasn't held up against 'peer review' yet. That is a direct result from pursuing the patent. Anything published, cannot be patented. They have to postpone publishing until the patent is officially pending.
The fact that they filed a patent, may indicate that the scientists themselves believe it's important. However may not mean that we're even close to hydrogen fueled machines. That's what was also said of nuclear fusion some years ago. It always takes much longer than expected.
Who moderated this as 'insightful'? I'd rather not call it that. I think shortsighted would be a better qualification, esp. since I doubt that the author has even tried one. But alas, moderation doesn't have that option.
The palm computing platform is largely graphics-based. I think navigation is helped a lot by color. It also opens the way to new and improved functionality. The website mentions a GPS system, and I think that a color display of maps is way better than a 16 gray tones one. I'm sure there are more examples.
Of course, battery life may be improved by keeping it to b/w screens. Those use less power, on average. But, right now my palm lasts about 1 - 2 weeks with one set of fully recharged NiCads. It's claimed that the built in rechargeable battery will last about 2 weeks. So that's okay.
The only drawback that I can think of, is that the battery is built in. That means easy recharging in the cradle, and no fiddling with batteries. But rechargeable batteries wear out rather fast, even modern ones. That leaves some questions to be considered. Can the battery be replaced? Can a replacement be obtained at a reasonable cost? If not, the new models should be considered disposable, which woulnd't be good.
Right now I'm fully content with my palm IIIx (with some added mem, I admit). I don't think that I'll consider buying one of the new models at this moment. But, given that it'll break down some day, I'd really consider them over the old one.
That's exactly why picture quality on a television is better than a computer screen. Because tv-screens are so crude, they 'blend' together pixels, creating a smoother picture. Ordinary television has a resolution of about 600x400, in computer terms, yet it looks more realistic.
This is because your brains do something similar: images are picked up in pixels (a limited number of light sensitive cells) and combined into an image. The individual pixels aren't important, but the overall image is. So your brain doesn't process the individual cells. It rather combines the signals from clusters of cells, with some cells physically located together, participating in different signals. Several of these signal channels (nerves) interact together.
So, the quality of screens depends on your definition of quality. Do you think it's better if it's more realistic, or better if you can put smaller elements on it, whether you can discern them or not? I think it's not a set criterium, but rather dictated by purpose and circumstances.
Slashdot Mirror
The weight and the distibution of weight (i.e. balancing) are important characteristics of a blade.
A heavier blade will be better at cutting, and easier to block blows with, because it has a lot of momentum of it's own. A light one will be better suited to pierce and parry, because it will be easier to move and aim.
Therefor, I hope they will follow the characteristics of historical swords in this respect. I expect them to do so, for their aim to cut a normal sword will be near impossible if it's too light.
----------------------------------------------
...asking myself the question: is pentium.cx taken?
:)
Actually, this is a good question. cx in roman numerals translates to 110 in arabic numerals. It may be a bit early, but with intel's naming scheme, we may reach that this lifetime. And then you'd have a great domain name
----------------------------------------------
Oh, and how is that? Do they jave products that are called that?
You cannot have a trademark on something you don't have. That doesn't mean you can name your next processor hexium, for it would certainly confusion. And that's not allowed...
----------------------------------------------
That's not true. I used to work with their products, and have earned MCSD/partly MCSE certification. In one of the exams (cannot remember which one) they asked which system was best for a particular task. The right answer was some Novell product.
Microsoft is a company like many others. They use whatever they can, and whatever they (think they) can get away with to make money. Contrary to the popular notion here, MS has some good products. The reason for that is that it's a way to make money.
----------------------------------------------
Hey! Hello world is _very_ useful. Which programmer hasn't used it to learn the beginning of a new programming language? Now?
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Why not burn mini-coasters in your desktop? Then you can spend the money you saved on bottles of beer. There's nothing more anoying than not having a bottle of beer to put on a freshly burned coaster.
----------------------------------------------
The job of the distributed should be to look for these things.
I think you're missing a point here. It's good when organisations like RedHat and Debian commit themselves to checking the code. They are not required to do that. The job of a distributer isn't reviewing code or checking for bugs. That's the programmers job.
In the case of open source, everyone can be a programmer. So every user has equal responsibility. The point the original poster made, that programs that work aren't checked, is very valid. I don't think it's feasable(sp?) tho, to check all your software personally. It ain't a perfect world.
It's easy to blame distros, but if you want to do that, why not use commercial products? You are not required to use open source.
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It's not only processors. IBM is also leading in some other fields, most notably HDD technology.
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I think the biggest challenge for any artificial intelligence is still to fool humans into believing they are human (the opposite is quite common)
In the forseeable future, that's a thing that will probably happen. Also, the presentation of the web will change, just like it has changed before. Greater data-speeds and improved hardware will make things like VR common.
When it happens, these AI-machines can and will be used in the entertainment industry. Croupiers in virtual casinos, virtual girls for pr0n, stand-up comedians that only exist in cyberspace.
I don't know if that's far fetched, but it will allow you to combine web and ai, and at the same time give you a social angle.
----------------------------------------------
Dinosaurs and crocodiles have the same ancestor. But crocodiles branched from the dinosaurs' evolutionary line way before this line ever produced dinosaurs.
It's very probable that dinosaurs developed warm blood (if they did) after these lines had branched.
It's also possible that this trait only occurred in some dinosaurs, because one branch developed it, and the rest didn't.
It's hard to say where in the evolution warmbloodedness first occurred. As it seems, somewhere between this dinosaur and the common ancestor of dinosaurs and crocodiles.
----------------------------------------------
While it is nice that Stephen King releases his new book electronically, many classical works have been available at the Gutenberg project for a couple of years now.
A large number of e-texts, which will cost you literally _years_ to read. And they're all free and legal...
----------------------------------------------
I don't think this can be called news.
The TV-series 'Love Boat' had a similar device at least 15 years ago. There were two variations: one for men and one for women. It had only 3 settings too: friendship, relationship or sex. Which is all you basically need.
----------------------------------------------
They won't be able. Sony still owns some of the patents on CD's. If microsoft goes too far, they can theoretically revoke ms' right to use CD-roms. Imagine that.
Microsoft knows that. So I don't think there's a strategy aimed at driving out their opponents. I think they will try expand the console market, with a box that has a bit more functionality than their competitors and predecessors. Eg, a console that primarily plays games, but which can also be used to access internet pages, or which can be used for video conferencing. I'm sure they can think up a lot of things.
My suspicion is that is alresy the case with the upcomming X box. I think the reason for waiting so long is that it has some functionality which requires a lot of bandwith, which they calculated to be available by fall 2001, or shortly thereafter.
----------------------------------------------
On a different note, what also strikes me is that only capitols (small and large) are used in the To Edgar part. Maybe this is a clue?
I suspect that the author started coding using uppercase letters first, and when he ran out of uppercase he switched to lowercase or smallcaps.
Maybe we can indeed use it.
Furthermore I propose, should we solve this thing together here, to donate the $2500 to the Gutenberg project. It only seems fitting.
----------------------------------------------
Do you really think so? Then please consider the following scenarios:
1. The government defines the LPL (Law Programming Language). They describe it in a way normal laws are described nowadays. The definitions of the language become unwieldy, thus the language itself becomes unwieldy. Net result: lawyers won't touch it, because it deals with matters programmers are supposed to understand. Programmers won't touch it for it's written in legalese, and there's lawyers to deal with that. IMHO, anything the government gives out, with supposedly good intentions, is overly complex and/or not thought about well enough.
2. Third parties define LPL's (Law Programming Languages). Imagine that. A clever bureau comes with LPL1.0. Then MS comes with MS-LPL (buys LPL1.0). Borland-LPL is issued. All with their own little design flaws, so v1.1, v1.2 , v2.0 and v2.51 are soon issued. Laws are issued under every brand and version of these LPL's. Imagine that in court. You need a lawyer who understands all these LPL's on top of the already complex laws. You need every judge to understand them. This, to me, doesn't seen feasible.
Plus, in both cases, normal citizens will hardly be able to understand the law. No matter how clearly and rigid you define your language.
----------------------------------------------
No slashdot effect, just a typo in the link. You can find it here.
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info is here
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Here in the Netherlands, it runs in Rotterdam, in the Imax theatre. As far a I know, it runs for another month or so.
From a friend who went to see it last month I understood it's quite impressive. And he usually doesn't like classical music.
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Wow. I really like these drives going faster and faster. I can't wait till they break the light barrier. Imagine a harddisk that spins faster than the speed of light. Due to time dilation, your requested data will arrive before you even requested it! That would be a solution to a lot of problems. Of course, there's the problem that it's impossible for matter to go faster than the speed of light, but hey, one has got to fantasize, right?
----------------------------------------------
As stated, it hasn't held up against 'peer review' yet. That is a direct result from pursuing the patent. Anything published, cannot be patented. They have to postpone publishing until the patent is officially pending.
The fact that they filed a patent, may indicate that the scientists themselves believe it's important. However may not mean that we're even close to hydrogen fueled machines. That's what was also said of nuclear fusion some years ago. It always takes much longer than expected.
----------------------------------------------
Who moderated this as 'insightful'? I'd rather not call it that. I think shortsighted would be a better qualification, esp. since I doubt that the author has even tried one. But alas, moderation doesn't have that option.
The palm computing platform is largely graphics-based. I think navigation is helped a lot by color. It also opens the way to new and improved functionality. The website mentions a GPS system, and I think that a color display of maps is way better than a 16 gray tones one. I'm sure there are more examples.
Of course, battery life may be improved by keeping it to b/w screens. Those use less power, on average. But, right now my palm lasts about 1 - 2 weeks with one set of fully recharged NiCads. It's claimed that the built in rechargeable battery will last about 2 weeks. So that's okay.
The only drawback that I can think of, is that the battery is built in. That means easy recharging in the cradle, and no fiddling with batteries. But rechargeable batteries wear out rather fast, even modern ones. That leaves some questions to be considered. Can the battery be replaced? Can a replacement be obtained at a reasonable cost? If not, the new models should be considered disposable, which woulnd't be good.
Right now I'm fully content with my palm IIIx (with some added mem, I admit). I don't think that I'll consider buying one of the new models at this moment. But, given that it'll break down some day, I'd really consider them over the old one.
----------------------------------------------
messing is a yellow metal to. It's not an element, but it is metal...
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Does CD-R media suffer from this same flaw (of having the data layer exposed to scratches)? I don't have any handy to check with
Definately. Even more so than audio cd's. Therefor, it's a good idea to invest in a cd labeler.
However some CD-R media have a protective coating (I always use Verbatim, which have such a coating)
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Once you get over ~40x CD-ROMs, you start to run up against IDE transfer limitations
That's not true for UDMA drives, which can handle 33mb/s
single speed cd = 150kb/s
40speed = 150x40 = 6000 kb/s =~ 6 mb/ s
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That's exactly why picture quality on a television is better than a computer screen. Because tv-screens are so crude, they 'blend' together pixels, creating a smoother picture. Ordinary television has a resolution of about 600x400, in computer terms, yet it looks more realistic.
This is because your brains do something similar: images are picked up in pixels (a limited number of light sensitive cells) and combined into an image. The individual pixels aren't important, but the overall image is. So your brain doesn't process the individual cells. It rather combines the signals from clusters of cells, with some cells physically located together, participating in different signals. Several of these signal channels (nerves) interact together.
So, the quality of screens depends on your definition of quality. Do you think it's better if it's more realistic, or better if you can put smaller elements on it, whether you can discern them or not? I think it's not a set criterium, but rather dictated by purpose and circumstances.
----------------------------------------------