Wouldn't it have been easier to hook the camera to his odometer, instead of the speedometer?
Hey, maybe you could rig it to take a photo every time your speed drops below 50 mph. You might get some exciting pictures of stoplights, motels, convenience stores, etc.
Private Joker: "Does this mean that Ann-Margret isn't coming, sir?"
Cheers, IT
GPG user-friendliness is *essential* to security
on
Can GnuPG Deliver?
·
· Score: 2
Many, if not most, Linux apps are by-geeks-for-geeks, and there's nothing wrong with that. Can't configure sendmail? RTFM. HOWEVER, GPG is an exception. Why? Because your security is only as good as that of the person you're communicating with. GPG is useless if you have mastered its arcane commands, but none of the people you know can encrypt or decrypt messages.
GPG is different because, unlike most software, it's not something you use by yourself. Crypto is something you must use in concert with other people, and not just other geeks, but possibly your boss, clients, family, etc. This isn't just by-us-for-us: for once, it MATTERS what other people think of the software. Therefore, an easy-to-use interface is not just a matter of aesthetics, it's an essential feature -- and since it's the only way to facilitate widespread adoption of crypto, anything else is a security hole.
A lot of people posting here seem to be worried about interception of credit card/debit info -- as though Speedpass watches would simply beam out your account number into the open, where anyone with a scanner could pick up your info. Problems like this are easily solved with cryptography -- choose your favorite authentication protocol. Instead of sensitive account data, the watches more likely beam out a unique identification number linked to a public key directory (for authentication) and credit/debit card numbers.
Of course, none of this matters if your entire watch gets stolen, which is a far more serious security matter.
To quote from the late, great Calvin & Hobbes: "Verbing weirds language." Posts like this pose the danger of illiterating Slashdot readers if they are allowed to continue.
If you honestly believe human beings aren't "struggling for existence" I invite you to crawl out of your easy chair and visit any third-world country out there for a month. Then let's see you come back and spout off that nonsense.
Okay, since you've taken me out of context and called me an elitist troll, I have to defend myself. Here's what I really said:
Humans are not presently in a "struggle for existence" -- most people can survive and procreate without much trouble, irrespective of their genetics. (Those who do struggle mostly do so because of political, social, and economic factors, not genetic disadvantages.)
Of course people are struggling to survive in the Third World, but genes have nothing to do with it. They are struggling, on the whole, because they live in countries with little economic infrastructure, and/or bloody tribal wars, and/or corrupt dictators who steal all of the natural resources (e.g. oil). It's not because they don't run fast enough, or aren't strong enough, or don't have perfect vision or cognitive skills. I can't think of any genetic mutation (short of X-Men-like super powers) that would give someone a real advantage in an environment where people are killed so brutally and virtually at random.
According to Darwin himself, natural selection only occurs when there is a "struggle for existence." If there is a scarcity of resources (or other obstacle) that makes it impossible for every member of a species to survive, those with certain "fitter" genetic traits will have a distinct advantage. On the other hand, if nearly every member can survive and reproduce as it is, there is no reason for those traits to be favored.
Humans are not presently in a "struggle for existence" -- most people can survive and procreate without much trouble, irrespective of their genetics. (Those who do struggle mostly do so because of political, social, and economic factors, not genetic disadvantages.) However, this could change quite quickly if some massively disruptive event (drought, famine, epidemic, intergalactic war, etc.) were to make it difficult for humans to survive without superior genetics.
In fact, Stephen Jay Gould's theory of Punctuated Equilibrium suggests that most species evolve this way: long periods of stasis, occasionally "punctuated" by rapid change over a small number of generations.
Of course we know that Lindows is not officially connected with Microsoft... but remember, 99.9% of the public (and even most IT majors, according to that article from a couple days back) thinks that Linux is made by a company of the same name. Most people outside the Linux community would be confused into thinking that Lindows is either:
a) Microsoft's version of Linux
b) Linux for Microsoft Windows
c) Microsoft Windows for Linux
or some other permutation thereof that implies an official connection with/endorsement by Microsoft.
Just imagine if someone creates alt.history.usenet_archive that would contain the archive of all usenet messages (including alt.history.usenet_archive, (including alt.history.usenet_archive, (including alt.history.usenet_archive, (including alt.history.usenet_archive...))))...
There's an easy solution: just create an archive of all archives that do not contain themselves. Oh wait... stupid set theory.
The Gauss integers (denoted Z[i]) are a neat example of an alternative ring that has interesting implications for ordinary number theory. A Gauss integer is a complex number a+bi for which a and b are both integers.
Not all integer primes are Gauss primes: for example, 5 is a prime in the integers, but in the Gauss integers 5 = (2+i)(2-i). In fact, you can show that a prime p is also a Gauss prime if and only if p=3 mod 4, and otherwise p is the product of 2 complex conjugate Gauss primes (a+bi)(a-bi). This relates to the fact in normal number theory that any 1 mod 4 prime is expressible as the sum of 2 squares.
Anyone have any better ideas for names... perhaps famous sketchers or draftsmen for Killustrator, famous authors for kword, famouse painters for kpaint, and so on...
This is a great idea -- not only because it bypasses the whole trademark issue, but because it's coherent, clever, and marketable. Moreover, it would differentiate Linux apps from their Windows counterparts (if only the developers could do the same with the interfaces, many of which are blatant MS knockoffs). In short, it would give the Linux platform a sorely needed shot of brand identity. I suggest:
Killustrator -> DaVinci (possibly the most famous draftsman of all time)
Kword -> Virgil
Kpaint -> Monet (a good choice to differentiate paint from illustrator -- the guy would never use a vector program to save his life)
Sadly, your ignorance is showing. This symbolic reading of the text for its "true meaning" is very anti- and pre- "deconstructionist." It's a throwback to 19th century critical style.
Would you call a Joycean scholar "ignorant" for analyzing the allusions and references in Ulysses? Perhaps you would prefer that he focus on the homoerotic undertones and relate this to the cultural climate of Dublin at the turn of the century. The problem with your critique is that it presupposes a single "correct" kind of criticism. Different kinds of criticism have different uses, but all of them are meaningless if a book's literal and symbolic meanings are lost on the reader. Therefore, books like A Triple Allegory do have a place in critical discourse.
Tivo is obviously not patenting what they're doing, but how they're doing it. Everyone knows that VCRs have done roughly the same thing as Tivo for years -- but the innovative ways in which Tivo can do these things have revolutionized video playback, causing many a Slashdotter to go out and buy one (or want to).
The parser and event buffer decouple the CPU from having to parse the MPEG stream and from the real time nature of the data streams which allows for slower CPU and bus speeds and translate to lower system costs.
Did your mother think of that? I have a feeling that if Slashdot had been around when the mechanical adding machine had been invented, we would have been snickering about the abacus being prior art on the "adding two numbers" patent.
Unless you want to use a network card, SCSI card, IDE controller, sound card, CD or DVD drive, floppy drive, internal hard drive, external hard drive, modem, external FPU, RAM, or that light on the front of the case that tells you when you're accessing the hard drive (that isn't supported anyway).
I'm sure that this is intended to be humor, but the fact that it's been modded up at least once as "Interesting" means that some people are bound to be confused. Half of the stuff on that list either relies on age-old standards (hence requiring only a generic driver) or has nothing to do with the specific OS (the RAM and das blinkenlights come to mind).
While I think that the "NO MEAT" anagram probably takes it too far, there is reason to believe that the Monolith might symbolize a Trojan Horse. Anyone who has read 3001: The Final Odyssey might remember that the monolith was ultimately destroyed by introducing a Trojan Horse (the computer program variety) into its system. A lot of people are saying that the author is reading too far into 2001 -- but given the fact that "Odyssey" is included in the title, not to mention the "Bowman" name and the plot parallels, it's perfectly reasonable to draw Odyssean parallels. Writers don't do these things by accident, folks.
Cheers,
IT
When I saw that Katz was doing the review ...
on
Review: Memento
·
· Score: 2
I asked myself: "I wonder how many sentences it will take before he uses the word interactive?" Congrats, Jon: it's a new record!
Napster traffic has fallen by 60% since it instituted it's (er, the labels') name-blocking scheme.
That's it! Just switch its and it's in all of your mp3 file names. The RIAA will never know what hit them!
Example: Well, Ms. Rosen, we did block the R.E.M. song "It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)," but you can't honestly expect us to block "Its the End of the World as We Know It"... Well, ma'am, it's is a contraction of "it is," not a possessive pronoun for chrissakes!
They aren't really in competition: science relies on the repeatable experiment as its' basis, and religion relies on articles of faith as its' basis. It's not that they're incompatible, it's that they're asking totally different questions.
Scientists say that life evolved slowly over billions of years. Christian Fundamentalists say that living things were created whole, in a week, some 6000 years ago. (Yes, that means they deny the existence of dinosaurs, too.) I'd call that incompatible.
All the DNA evidence in the world can't disprove "scientific creationism." In fact, nothing can disprove scientific creationism. It's unfalsifiable, and therefore there's nothing "scientific" about it. A creationist could simply say that God chose to create us with DNA containing similar components from other living things. And who are we to question His choice? Maybe these virtually identical strands of DNA are God's creative signature -- his way of demonstrating that all life is connected to its Creator. I don't believe it, but hey, you can't disprove it.
Maybe the goatse.cx and penis bird images are really encrypted terrorist communications! To be honest, I'd feel a lot better about that than if they were really there for their own sake. Yeesh.
Slashdot Mirror
Wouldn't it have been easier to hook the camera to his odometer, instead of the speedometer?
Hey, maybe you could rig it to take a photo every time your speed drops below 50 mph. You might get some exciting pictures of stoplights, motels, convenience stores, etc.
Cheers,
IT
Private Joker: "Does this mean that Ann-Margret isn't coming, sir?"
Cheers,
IT
Many, if not most, Linux apps are by-geeks-for-geeks, and there's nothing wrong with that. Can't configure sendmail? RTFM. HOWEVER, GPG is an exception. Why? Because your security is only as good as that of the person you're communicating with. GPG is useless if you have mastered its arcane commands, but none of the people you know can encrypt or decrypt messages.
GPG is different because, unlike most software, it's not something you use by yourself. Crypto is something you must use in concert with other people, and not just other geeks, but possibly your boss, clients, family, etc. This isn't just by-us-for-us: for once, it MATTERS what other people think of the software. Therefore, an easy-to-use interface is not just a matter of aesthetics, it's an essential feature -- and since it's the only way to facilitate widespread adoption of crypto, anything else is a security hole.
Cheers,
IT
A lot of people posting here seem to be worried about interception of credit card/debit info -- as though Speedpass watches would simply beam out your account number into the open, where anyone with a scanner could pick up your info. Problems like this are easily solved with cryptography -- choose your favorite authentication protocol. Instead of sensitive account data, the watches more likely beam out a unique identification number linked to a public key directory (for authentication) and credit/debit card numbers.
Of course, none of this matters if your entire watch gets stolen, which is a far more serious security matter.
Cheers,
IT
To quote from the late, great Calvin & Hobbes: "Verbing weirds language." Posts like this pose the danger of illiterating Slashdot readers if they are allowed to continue.
Cheers,
IT
If you honestly believe human beings aren't "struggling for existence" I invite you to crawl out of your easy chair and visit any third-world country out there for a month. Then let's see you come back and spout off that nonsense.
Okay, since you've taken me out of context and called me an elitist troll, I have to defend myself. Here's what I really said:
Humans are not presently in a "struggle for existence" -- most people can survive and procreate without much trouble, irrespective of their genetics. (Those who do struggle mostly do so because of political, social, and economic factors, not genetic disadvantages.)
Of course people are struggling to survive in the Third World, but genes have nothing to do with it. They are struggling, on the whole, because they live in countries with little economic infrastructure, and/or bloody tribal wars, and/or corrupt dictators who steal all of the natural resources (e.g. oil). It's not because they don't run fast enough, or aren't strong enough, or don't have perfect vision or cognitive skills. I can't think of any genetic mutation (short of X-Men-like super powers) that would give someone a real advantage in an environment where people are killed so brutally and virtually at random.
-IT
According to Darwin himself, natural selection only occurs when there is a "struggle for existence." If there is a scarcity of resources (or other obstacle) that makes it impossible for every member of a species to survive, those with certain "fitter" genetic traits will have a distinct advantage. On the other hand, if nearly every member can survive and reproduce as it is, there is no reason for those traits to be favored.
Humans are not presently in a "struggle for existence" -- most people can survive and procreate without much trouble, irrespective of their genetics. (Those who do struggle mostly do so because of political, social, and economic factors, not genetic disadvantages.) However, this could change quite quickly if some massively disruptive event (drought, famine, epidemic, intergalactic war, etc.) were to make it difficult for humans to survive without superior genetics.
In fact, Stephen Jay Gould's theory of Punctuated Equilibrium suggests that most species evolve this way: long periods of stasis, occasionally "punctuated" by rapid change over a small number of generations.
Cheers,
IT
Of course we know that Lindows is not officially connected with Microsoft ... but remember, 99.9% of the public (and even most IT majors, according to that article from a couple days back) thinks that Linux is made by a company of the same name. Most people outside the Linux community would be confused into thinking that Lindows is either:
a) Microsoft's version of Linux
b) Linux for Microsoft Windows
c) Microsoft Windows for Linux
or some other permutation thereof that implies an official connection with/endorsement by Microsoft.
Cheers,
IT
pot = kettle = black
Cheers,
IT
Just imagine if someone creates alt.history.usenet_archive that would contain the archive of all usenet messages (including alt.history.usenet_archive, (including alt.history.usenet_archive, (including alt.history.usenet_archive, (including alt.history.usenet_archive ...)))) ...
... stupid set theory.
There's an easy solution: just create an archive of all archives that do not contain themselves. Oh wait
Cheers,
IT
It appears that this is the first message mentioning slashdot.org.
This one is the first post by Rob Malda.
First mention of Jeff "Hemos" Bates.
First mention of CowboyNeal (is it the same guy?).
Awww, you guys...
Cheers,
IT
The Gauss integers (denoted Z[i]) are a neat example of an alternative ring that has interesting implications for ordinary number theory. A Gauss integer is a complex number a+bi for which a and b are both integers.
Not all integer primes are Gauss primes: for example, 5 is a prime in the integers, but in the Gauss integers 5 = (2+i)(2-i). In fact, you can show that a prime p is also a Gauss prime if and only if p=3 mod 4, and otherwise p is the product of 2 complex conjugate Gauss primes (a+bi)(a-bi). This relates to the fact in normal number theory that any 1 mod 4 prime is expressible as the sum of 2 squares.
Cheers,
IT
Can I use it to play Rad Racer?
"I love the Power Glove. It's so bad." -from The Wizard, starring Fred Savage.
Cheers,
IT
Dear God, what are they? Some kind of proprietary software company??? Next I bet you're going to tell me that the license has restrictions in it!
Cheers,
IT
Anyone have any better ideas for names ... perhaps famous sketchers or draftsmen for Killustrator, famous authors for kword, famouse painters for kpaint, and so on...
This is a great idea -- not only because it bypasses the whole trademark issue, but because it's coherent, clever, and marketable. Moreover, it would differentiate Linux apps from their Windows counterparts (if only the developers could do the same with the interfaces, many of which are blatant MS knockoffs). In short, it would give the Linux platform a sorely needed shot of brand identity. I suggest:
Killustrator -> DaVinci (possibly the most famous draftsman of all time)
Kword -> Virgil
Kpaint -> Monet (a good choice to differentiate paint from illustrator -- the guy would never use a vector program to save his life)
Cheers,
IT
Sadly, your ignorance is showing. This symbolic reading of the text for its "true meaning" is very anti- and pre- "deconstructionist." It's a throwback to 19th century critical style.
Would you call a Joycean scholar "ignorant" for analyzing the allusions and references in Ulysses? Perhaps you would prefer that he focus on the homoerotic undertones and relate this to the cultural climate of Dublin at the turn of the century. The problem with your critique is that it presupposes a single "correct" kind of criticism. Different kinds of criticism have different uses, but all of them are meaningless if a book's literal and symbolic meanings are lost on the reader. Therefore, books like A Triple Allegory do have a place in critical discourse.
Cheers,
IT
Tivo is obviously not patenting what they're doing, but how they're doing it. Everyone knows that VCRs have done roughly the same thing as Tivo for years -- but the innovative ways in which Tivo can do these things have revolutionized video playback, causing many a Slashdotter to go out and buy one (or want to).
The parser and event buffer decouple the CPU from having to parse the MPEG stream and from the real time nature of the data streams which allows for slower CPU and bus speeds and translate to lower system costs.
Did your mother think of that? I have a feeling that if Slashdot had been around when the mechanical adding machine had been invented, we would have been snickering about the abacus being prior art on the "adding two numbers" patent.
Cheers,
IT
Unless you want to use a network card, SCSI card, IDE controller, sound card, CD or DVD drive, floppy drive, internal hard drive, external hard drive, modem, external FPU, RAM, or that light on the front of the case that tells you when you're accessing the hard drive (that isn't supported anyway).
I'm sure that this is intended to be humor, but the fact that it's been modded up at least once as "Interesting" means that some people are bound to be confused. Half of the stuff on that list either relies on age-old standards (hence requiring only a generic driver) or has nothing to do with the specific OS (the RAM and das blinkenlights come to mind).
Cheers,
IT
WARNING: 3001 SPOILER BELOW.
While I think that the "NO MEAT" anagram probably takes it too far, there is reason to believe that the Monolith might symbolize a Trojan Horse. Anyone who has read 3001: The Final Odyssey might remember that the monolith was ultimately destroyed by introducing a Trojan Horse (the computer program variety) into its system. A lot of people are saying that the author is reading too far into 2001 -- but given the fact that "Odyssey" is included in the title, not to mention the "Bowman" name and the plot parallels, it's perfectly reasonable to draw Odyssean parallels. Writers don't do these things by accident, folks.
Cheers,
IT
I asked myself: "I wonder how many sentences it will take before he uses the word interactive?" Congrats, Jon: it's a new record!
Cheers,
IT
10. If you use Open Source software and you're 18 years old, you don't have to join the army.
9. Nobody ever bombed a Linux box.
8. Linus vs. Bill is a more exciting match than Sharon vs. Arafat.
7. "Linux" vs. "GNU/Linux" debate slightly less violent than "Israel" vs. "Palestine" conflict.
6. I'll take "The Free Software Song" over "Yerushalaim Shel Zahav" any day of the week.
5. There are no penguins in Jerusalem.
4. If you go on a Beer Hike in a remote area of Israel, you might get shot.
3. Ten Commandments aren't GPLed.
2. Jolt and Ramen noodles are cheaper than falafel.
And the number one reason why Open Source is better than Jerusalem:
1. Two words: Bruce Perens.
Cheers,
IT
Napster traffic has fallen by 60% since it instituted it's (er, the labels') name-blocking scheme.
... Well, ma'am, it's is a contraction of "it is," not a possessive pronoun for chrissakes!
That's it! Just switch its and it's in all of your mp3 file names. The RIAA will never know what hit them!
Example: Well, Ms. Rosen, we did block the R.E.M. song "It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)," but you can't honestly expect us to block "Its the End of the World as We Know It"
Also, try having fun with two, too, and to.
Cheers,
IT
They aren't really in competition: science relies on the repeatable experiment as its' basis, and religion relies on articles of faith as its' basis. It's not that they're incompatible, it's that they're asking totally different questions.
Scientists say that life evolved slowly over billions of years. Christian Fundamentalists say that living things were created whole, in a week, some 6000 years ago. (Yes, that means they deny the existence of dinosaurs, too.) I'd call that incompatible.
Cheers,
IT
All the DNA evidence in the world can't disprove "scientific creationism." In fact, nothing can disprove scientific creationism. It's unfalsifiable, and therefore there's nothing "scientific" about it. A creationist could simply say that God chose to create us with DNA containing similar components from other living things. And who are we to question His choice? Maybe these virtually identical strands of DNA are God's creative signature -- his way of demonstrating that all life is connected to its Creator. I don't believe it, but hey, you can't disprove it.
Cheers,
IT
Maybe the goatse.cx and penis bird images are really encrypted terrorist communications! To be honest, I'd feel a lot better about that than if they were really there for their own sake. Yeesh.
Cheers,
IT