Please provide a source for this. What do you mean by "health care plans"? Are you saying that the NHS will not provide dialysis for certain patients, or that private health insurance will not? There's a big difference.
In any case, I suspect that, because you can't spell "Britain", you're not very informed about it.
This is actually an interesting discovery, but the BBC News story doesn't do it justice. There's a better explanation on the New Scientist's website, and the original paper is available here.
This is yet another scary development in the long-running UK ID card saga. If any non-UK residents are interested, the current state of play is that legislation will probably soon be passed to force all UK residents to get biometric ID cards by 2008(ish).
These cards will cost us all up to £93 ($150+) each, with profits from the scheme going to private companies. Everyone's personal details will be stored in one huge database, which can be accessed by a variety of government agencies. A recent trial of the biometric technology used in the cards showed that it was quite ineffective. The Government is nevertheless convincing the electorate that this is a good idea by playing on the fear of identity theft (which the cards won't help prevent) and fear of illegal immigrants.
There's a good (as ever) article about ID cards at The Register.
I'm sorry, but I have to disagree. While there are, of course, many bad teachers, there are also many who encourage creative thinking and reward originality.
"P=NP?" and many other important problems in theoretical computer science are also perfect examples of problems that could be solved by someone working on their own, without even needing much input from a university. The reason that they haven't been solved so far is that they're hard - not because teachers have been "trampling creative geniuses down into the mud".
Scientists (usually) do science because they want to discover new, exciting and creative things - not because they want to suppress independent thought.
I'm also kind of amused by your claim that you'd have achieved as much as George Dantzig if you hadn't given in to all that "social conditioning" thrust upon you.
The sources I could find don't appear to back up your claim. According to MSNBC:
bin Laden, along with a small group of Islamic militants from Egypt, Pakistan, Lebanon, Syria and Palestinian refugee camps all over the Middle East, became the "reliable" partners of the CIA in its war against Moscow.
According to an analyst quoted by the BBC, "he received security training from the CIA itself". And with regard to the "Afghan Arabs", the Guardian says
Others point out that the military contribution of the 'Arabs', as the overseas volunteers were known, was relatively small. 'The fighting was done by the Afghans and most of them went back to their fields when Kabul fell to the mujahideen,' said Kamaal Khan, a Pakistani defence analyst. 'Ironically, the bulk of American aid went to the least effective fighters, who turned most strongly to bite the hand that fed them.'
In fact, it would be very surprising if it turns out to be NP-complete, as it is in NP intersect co-NP. Also, no efficient quantum algorithms are known for NP-complete problems, and it is generally suspected that quantum computers won't be able to solve them efficiently. For example, see this semi-technical paper.
You had better get that right in your undergrad thesis;)
In the UK, it appears that, having had the government's draconian ID card plans rejected (for the time being), they're planning to start the biometric-isation process early, by adding compulsory fingerprints to our passports. However, it also appears that this doesn't need democratic consent - they can just do it whenever they feel like. Oh, and bury it halfway through a busy election campaign too.
I probably HBT, but anyway - your "waste of time" statement is just not true. Many, many articles on Wikipedia are excellent: informative, detailed, and well-written. In particular, I often have occasion to look up information about mathematical topics, and have usually found the maths articles to be highly useful.
For example, compare the Wikipedia entry for "Lie group" with the Mathworld entry. There are many other pages of a similar, or higher, level of quality.
Of course, you have to take everything on Wikipedia with a pinch of salt - but that applies to every online resource! And, in fact, every source of information in the world.
Symbian phones hardly have crappy security. They are targeted by "virus" authors because they are the only popular open smartphone OS around.
Incidentally, there is basically no way that an open OS can protect against this sort of thing. If the user has the ability to install applications, the user has the ability to install viruses. There are two obvious ways to stop trojans like this spreading over Bluetooth:
1. Disallow the reception of applications over Bluetooth. But then how would users get legitimate applications from their PCs to their phones?
2. Only allow "signed" applications to use Bluetooth. But then small third-party developers would find it difficult to develop and market their software without it getting "signed" (at probable expense). And what about freeware?
In any case, Symbian are changing their security model to try to combat threats like this one, no matter how based on FUD it is.
One of the many nice things about Gmail is that, whenever you receive one of these dodgy phishing e-mails, it puts a big red banner above it saying "Danger! This may not be from whom you think it is", or words to that effect.
I'm not sure if anyone will read this warning, but it seems like a step in the right direction. And one interesting way in which webmail can provide a feature that's not feasible for normal e-mail clients.
There have been no algorithms devised for quantum computers so far that can solve NP-Complete problems like the Travelling Salesman Problem in polynomial time.
It *is* possible to achieve a square-root speed-up on essentially any problem in NP using Grover's algorithm, but it has also been shown that this is the best that can be achieved without exploiting the structure of these problems in some way as yet unknown.
It would be a major advance if anyone did come up with such an algorithm, and in fact (I think) most people believe it's not possible. Incidentally, resolving this question either way would not imply that P = NP or P != NP.
The grandparent poster was completely right. The implied meaning of "if (!ptr)" is "if ptr is not valid". The fact that NULL is equivalent to "not valid" is essentially irrelevant to understanding the statement.
The key aspect - and the interesting thing - about coding style is that you are writing something for other humans to read. Everything you write contains hints to those humans about what you mean. Saying "a == NULL" is subtly different to saying "!a".
Being able to read programs and pick up stuff like that is possibly something that takes a long time to learn, but (imho) it's very important. Code written by true experts is fascinating because of the way that they make the meaning of what they're writing clear.
This is why (again imho) programming is an art, not a science.
Incidentally - pointers are not references to data. They are data like anything else. Unless you understand this, pointers to pointers are fairly meaningless. Always remember: in C, everything is a bunch of bytes.
...are "still under development". Considering the difficulty of getting hold of licenses for either of these two OSes as a small developer, don't hold your breath.
I'll be interested to see how this competes with Nokia's Communicators. It doesn't seem to offer any new features, so it might have to compete on price.
'Syria's ambassador in the US denied that the common front was an alliance against Washington. "We are not the enemies of the United States, and we do not want to be drawn into such an enmity," Imad Moustapha told CNN.'
OK, nobody else has posted a serious response to this. The original poster was making a Dungeons and Dragons joke in poor taste. There is no such thing (AFAIK) as a "level n mental handicap". He's saying that his brother is highly mentally handicapped.
...you don't live in the UK, where we will soon have one nationwide database storing compulsory information (including a variety of biometrics) on everyone in the country.
Luckily, the system will be implemented by one of the fine private companies who have had such success in the past with government IT projects, so there won't be any worries about security or confidentiality. (That was sarcasm.)
Actually, they can to a certain extent - at least, they can integrate MSN search into their desktop search tool, and all their apps. "It looks like you're searching for something. Would you like to use MSN to search the Internet?".
Also, I personally think that they don't really want to be in the search engine market - they just don't want to risk Google's brand becoming predominant over theirs...
Possibly rip-off is a bit strong. To be precise, what I mean is that they have taken (some of) the content on Wikipedia, which is provided for free by a large number of volunteers, and they're making money off it. Of course, they're perfectly within their rights to do so, but it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
Wikipedia doesn't copy the content of previous encyclopedia sites. This does.
Slashdot Mirror
Please provide a source for this. What do you mean by "health care plans"? Are you saying that the NHS will not provide dialysis for certain patients, or that private health insurance will not? There's a big difference.
In any case, I suspect that, because you can't spell "Britain", you're not very informed about it.
"You should be [m]arked for death. I question your roots. I question your patriotism. I question the purpose of your existence."
Are you seriously saying that people who are unpatriotic or who don't come from the right place should be killed?
This is actually an interesting discovery, but the BBC News story doesn't do it justice. There's a better explanation on the New Scientist's website, and the original paper is available here.
This is yet another scary development in the long-running UK ID card saga. If any non-UK residents are interested, the current state of play is that legislation will probably soon be passed to force all UK residents to get biometric ID cards by 2008(ish).
These cards will cost us all up to £93 ($150+) each, with profits from the scheme going to private companies. Everyone's personal details will be stored in one huge database, which can be accessed by a variety of government agencies. A recent trial of the biometric technology used in the cards showed that it was quite ineffective. The Government is nevertheless convincing the electorate that this is a good idea by playing on the fear of identity theft (which the cards won't help prevent) and fear of illegal immigrants.
There's a good (as ever) article about ID cards at The Register.
I'm sorry, but I have to disagree. While there are, of course, many bad teachers, there are also many who encourage creative thinking and reward originality.
"P=NP?" and many other important problems in theoretical computer science are also perfect examples of problems that could be solved by someone working on their own, without even needing much input from a university. The reason that they haven't been solved so far is that they're hard - not because teachers have been "trampling creative geniuses down into the mud".
Scientists (usually) do science because they want to discover new, exciting and creative things - not because they want to suppress independent thought.
I'm also kind of amused by your claim that you'd have achieved as much as George Dantzig if you hadn't given in to all that "social conditioning" thrust upon you.
According to an analyst quoted by the BBC, "he received security training from the CIA itself". And with regard to the "Afghan Arabs", the Guardian says
Yes, you're right, I was being lazy. You win.
Yes, but FACTORING isn't. They're different problems.
In fact, it would be very surprising if it turns out to be NP-complete, as it is in NP intersect co-NP. Also, no efficient quantum algorithms are known for NP-complete problems, and it is generally suspected that quantum computers won't be able to solve them efficiently. For example, see this semi-technical paper.
;)
You had better get that right in your undergrad thesis
Indeed - they already steal fingers to steal cars... ID is much more valuable.
In the UK, it appears that, having had the government's draconian ID card plans rejected (for the time being), they're planning to start the biometric-isation process early, by adding compulsory fingerprints to our passports. However, it also appears that this doesn't need democratic consent - they can just do it whenever they feel like. Oh, and bury it halfway through a busy election campaign too.
These fingerprints will, you guessed it, be stored on a gigantic database that the police can consult whenever they feel like.
May I suggest that anyone in the UK who finds these plans... disturbing... lets someone know about it.
I probably HBT, but anyway - your "waste of time" statement is just not true. Many, many articles on Wikipedia are excellent: informative, detailed, and well-written. In particular, I often have occasion to look up information about mathematical topics, and have usually found the maths articles to be highly useful.
For example, compare the Wikipedia entry for "Lie group" with the Mathworld entry. There are many other pages of a similar, or higher, level of quality.
Of course, you have to take everything on Wikipedia with a pinch of salt - but that applies to every online resource! And, in fact, every source of information in the world.
Symbian phones hardly have crappy security. They are targeted by "virus" authors because they are the only popular open smartphone OS around.
Incidentally, there is basically no way that an open OS can protect against this sort of thing. If the user has the ability to install applications, the user has the ability to install viruses. There are two obvious ways to stop trojans like this spreading over Bluetooth:
1. Disallow the reception of applications over Bluetooth. But then how would users get legitimate applications from their PCs to their phones?
2. Only allow "signed" applications to use Bluetooth. But then small third-party developers would find it difficult to develop and market their software without it getting "signed" (at probable expense). And what about freeware?
In any case, Symbian are changing their security model to try to combat threats like this one, no matter how based on FUD it is.
One of the many nice things about Gmail is that, whenever you receive one of these dodgy phishing e-mails, it puts a big red banner above it saying "Danger! This may not be from whom you think it is", or words to that effect.
I'm not sure if anyone will read this warning, but it seems like a step in the right direction. And one interesting way in which webmail can provide a feature that's not feasible for normal e-mail clients.
There have been no algorithms devised for quantum computers so far that can solve NP-Complete problems like the Travelling Salesman Problem in polynomial time.
It *is* possible to achieve a square-root speed-up on essentially any problem in NP using Grover's algorithm, but it has also been shown that this is the best that can be achieved without exploiting the structure of these problems in some way as yet unknown.
It would be a major advance if anyone did come up with such an algorithm, and in fact (I think) most people believe it's not possible. Incidentally, resolving this question either way would not imply that P = NP or P != NP.
The grandparent poster was completely right. The implied meaning of "if (!ptr)" is "if ptr is not valid". The fact that NULL is equivalent to "not valid" is essentially irrelevant to understanding the statement.
The key aspect - and the interesting thing - about coding style is that you are writing something for other humans to read. Everything you write contains hints to those humans about what you mean. Saying "a == NULL" is subtly different to saying "!a".
Being able to read programs and pick up stuff like that is possibly something that takes a long time to learn, but (imho) it's very important. Code written by true experts is fascinating because of the way that they make the meaning of what they're writing clear.
This is why (again imho) programming is an art, not a science.
Incidentally - pointers are not references to data. They are data like anything else. Unless you understand this, pointers to pointers are fairly meaningless. Always remember: in C, everything is a bunch of bytes.
I don't know where I'd picked up the impression that Microsoft didn't like to hand out CE licences, but it was obviously wrong!
...are "still under development". Considering the difficulty of getting hold of licenses for either of these two OSes as a small developer, don't hold your breath.
I'll be interested to see how this competes with Nokia's Communicators. It doesn't seem to offer any new features, so it might have to compete on price.
In fact, what's happened is that Iran has unilaterally declared that it will back Syria against the US. Syria is noticeably unenthusiastic.
From the BBC article:
'Syria's ambassador in the US denied that the common front was an alliance against Washington. "We are not the enemies of the United States, and we do not want to be drawn into such an enmity," Imad Moustapha told CNN.'
True; however, the key aspect is that it's run by the monarchy, and not by religious leaders.
OK, nobody else has posted a serious response to this. The original poster was making a Dungeons and Dragons joke in poor taste. There is no such thing (AFAIK) as a "level n mental handicap". He's saying that his brother is highly mentally handicapped.
...you don't live in the UK, where we will soon have one nationwide database storing compulsory information (including a variety of biometrics) on everyone in the country.
Luckily, the system will be implemented by one of the fine private companies who have had such success in the past with government IT projects, so there won't be any worries about security or confidentiality. (That was sarcasm.)
Just one comment: the regime in Saudi Arabia isn't theocratic, it's secular. That's why bin Laden hates it so much.
Actually, they can to a certain extent - at least, they can integrate MSN search into their desktop search tool, and all their apps. "It looks like you're searching for something. Would you like to use MSN to search the Internet?".
Also, I personally think that they don't really want to be in the search engine market - they just don't want to risk Google's brand becoming predominant over theirs...
Possibly rip-off is a bit strong. To be precise, what I mean is that they have taken (some of) the content on Wikipedia, which is provided for free by a large number of volunteers, and they're making money off it. Of course, they're perfectly within their rights to do so, but it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
Wikipedia doesn't copy the content of previous encyclopedia sites. This does.