Is there any source of information that can guide a prospective car purchaser towards models that have less lock-in via secret code antics rather than more lock-in? If not, what starting points exist as far as defining terminology and offering ideas as to how to even quantify such lock-in?
I'm thankful the grandparent found that link, and I'm thankful it was +5 so I could see it no matter what.
Totally agreed!:)
What exactly is wrong with gaining karma from doing something that benefits the readers of slashdot?
I'm not one of those who uses the term myself, but I've always supposed that those who do fall into two camps: (1) the mindless zombies who just like mouthing off, and (2) people who genuinely feel that karma on/. should solely reflect the quality of original contribution and analytical thought, rather than the frequency with which a person inserts a link or mirror. I think I basically agree, though I thoroughly disagree with the consequent practice of name calling; the real solution - if there is one - would be for the/. editors to come up with a separate way to reward that kind of contribution, like temporary privilege escalation the likes of which paid subscribers enjoy, or something like that.
Twin primes are pairs of primes where both p and p + 2 are prime.
Even rarer are those pairs of primes known as the "conjoined twin" primes: those of the form p and p+1. Not many examples are known, but perhaps an infinite number are waiting to be discovered.
Ah, got it on the math, thanks for the clarification.
I do wonder about that 200,000 cars per hour number. Doing a bit more math: 200,000 cars passing a single point on a four-lane road per hour means that 50,000 cars drive through a single lane in that time. Assuming a car is 10 feet long, and that the cars are separated by one car length each (which seems rather tight, it's supposed to ideally be one car length per every ten miles per hour), we get that cars are moving through that point in the single lane at a rate of (50,000 * (10 + 10)feet)/hour, or at a rate of 189 miles per hour (which would make the 10 foot separation even more inappropos).
5 minutes times 200,000 vehicles is 11 days of time
Hmmm... where'd the number 200,000 come from? And, what logic suggests that 11 days is 5 minutes times 200,000? When I multiply it out, I get that 5 minutes times 200,000 is 694 days.
My number one use...
on
Directed Sound
·
· Score: 0, Funny
... of this technology: a continuous looping tape focused on the neighbors' barking dog saying "Bad dog! Sit!"
I don't get why this article, and much discussion following it, are focusing on the effect of the alleged patent on the Gimp. Jpeg is simply one of many file formats the Gimp reads and writes; the heart and sould of the Gimp is not any given file format, it's the painting tools. Was the Gimp mentioned simply because it's the only way someone can think of to frame the issue in terms of some kind of open source??
Steve Jobs said, 'The iPod already works with the No. 1 music service in the world, and the iTunes Music Store works with the No. 1 digital-music player in the world. The No. 2s are so far behind already. Why would we want to work with No. 2?'
That's always been the problem with Steve: absolutely no self esteem.;)
" I just had a guy in the class with me (on
another team) ask me how to check that the
last four letters of a string are.xml in Java."
That's easy, please allow me to enlighten y'all as to the most optimal way to achieve this. Lie back and learn, youngsters. Just compile and execute the following tiny code snippet, and success is yours. This code takes nice advantage of some of java's more powerful features, like exception handling and code flow. Can't believe such a small amount of code gets the job done? Disbelieve not!! (Note: due to the heavily optimized nature of the code and its use of industry standard best-practice coding patterns, it may only be possible for advanced java veterans to understand fully; please do not attempt mods to the code if you are not fully versed.)
bool endsInXML( String inString ) {
Char[] theCapitalXMLChars = { 'X', 'M', 'L' };//we need both cases to catch any combination thereof
Char[] theLowerCaseChars = new Char[ theCapitalXMLChars.length ] + ( 'a' - 'A' );
for( int i = 0; i theCapitalXMLChars.length; ++i )
{
theLowerCaseChars[ i ] = theCapitalXMLChars[ i ];
}
try
{
verifyTrailingChar( '.', 3, inString );
for( int i = 0; i theCapitalXMLChars.length; ++i )
{
try
{
verifyTrailingChar( theCapitalXMLChars[ i ], theCapitalXMLChars.length - 1 - i, inString );
}
catch( UnexpectedCharException e )
{
verifyTrailingChar( theLowerCaseChars[ i ], theCapitalXMLChars.length - 1 - i, inString );
}
}
}
catch( UnexpectedCharException e )
{
return false;
}
return true; }
class UnexpectedCharException extends Exception {
public UnexpectedCharException() {} }/*
* Here's the real heart of this code. This tight little routine
* is the workhorse that does all the down and dirty stuff. I first
* hacked together a prototype of this kind of concept during my
* PhD comp sci years... but rather than patenting it, I released
* it to the world as prior art (power to the people!!!)
*/ void verifyTrailingChar( Char inChar, int inTailOffset, String inString ) {
int theIndex = inString.length();
Char theCharToCheck;
while( true )
{
Char[] theStringChars = inString.getChars();
if( inTailOffset == 0 )
{
theCharToCheck = theStringChar[ inTailOffset ];
break;
}
--inTailOffset;
}
if( theCharToCheck != inChar )
throw new UnexpectedCharException(); }
"AAC is perceived favourably by the music industry because of its... history of use by legitimate, paid download organisations such as Apple."
Such a long history it has been. It might even be over a year long, this history. And yes, tons of corporations offer AAC for download; why, I can name them all, let's get started: (1) Apple (2) uh, um, erm... ya know, I'm needed in the basement. Bye.
ps - this is not a mockery of the parent post, who was simply quoting; it is a mockery of those who are being quoted.
"Mozilla 1.7 size and performance have improved dramatically with this release. When compared to Mozilla 1.6, Mozilla 1.7 Beta is 7% faster at startup, is 8% faster at window open time, has 9% faster pageloading times, and is 5% smaller in binary size."
It would seem that the definition of "dramatic" just got marginalized. Personally I'd think of a 2x performance increase as dramatic. 1.1x is what I'd term "laudable".
This would only be fair from a moral point of view if:...[various conditions]...[and] UCE were considered illegal in the jurisdiction of the website owners
On this last condition I disagree. Don't confuse legality with morality.
And for good reason, imagine you write something that rounds up instead of down in the hundredths place for some output
... and the program goes nuts and you suddenly have hundreds of thousands of dollars in your account that you can't explain, and you're probably headed to Federal PMITA prison, and to top it all off you find out that Lumberg f*cked her. THAT's when you need insurance my friend.
There's been a steady stream of research lasting well over a decade that conclusively indicates that coffee is (a) bad for you, and (b) does not have silver linings that begin to compensate for its detriments. The only mitigating factor is one's subjective assessment of the experience of drinking coffee... which is valid, i.e. I think should be taken into account by any given person, but which crosses the line from "medical fact" to "psychosomatic rumor".
Dr Trombetti says she hates the stuff herself - but points to a welter of scientific evidence to back her case.
Hmmm... a "welter" is a "chaotic, jumbled mess" according to webster. Personally I've always preferred my scientific evidence presented in an orderly fashion. Even more, I like double-blind random scientific studies, but they're not even hinted at in this article.
Coffee contains tannin and antioxidants, which are good for the heart and arteries, she says.
It can relieve headaches.
It is good for the liver - and can help prevent cirrhosis and gallstones.
And the caffeine in coffee can reduce the risk of asthma attacks - and help improve circulation within the heart.
I'm sorry to break it to "doctor" Trombetti but these are claims, not evidence. See above comment regarding the absence of scientific studies.
There is no denying that coffee is not for everyone.
If you drink too much it can increase nervousness, and cause rapid heartbeat and trembling hands.
Ah, here's the interjected token fact to try to induce readers into a feeling that facts are being recited throughout. Sorry, no sale.
Fact: Coffee may be good for you, it may be bad for you. Fact: Scientifically speaking, this article does nothing to change the preponderance of evidence supporting the latter.
also discovered a serious vulnerability in two of the four spyware programs they looked for.
I don't get it. Isn't this like saying that two out of four strains of ebola have been found to be susceptible to anthrax? At the point that you have foreign code surreptitiously executing on your machine (aka spyware), you are compromised.
Yes, because only 50% of us vote but 100% of us bitch
Actually, 37% of the non-voters are too cynical to bitch, feeling that their bitching would not be listened to and would simply amount to a waste of time. It's important to motivate these people and tell them that their bitching really counts, and that if they just clam up then they'll have squandered their only rights in a democratic society. (Other than actually voting.)
we're not "giving up" these freedoms, they're being taken from us.
How many large-scale protests/demonstrations occurred when the laws were being passed?... The people bear some responsibility
Touche... I agree. But note that the government has taken to passing horrific legislation (like Patriot II) by simply fragmenting it and submarining it in other bills; so the government is actively taking steps to prevent an honest debate from taking place.
Further, there were some large scale demonstrations when the war was commencing, but the administration simply dismissed them. People can march all they want, but ultimately the only leverage that the people have is the vote. Which is why I make the point that if the people vote to retain the current administration with full knowledge of what has happened, then it will seem somewhat fair to say that they're giving their freedoms away.
But I agree with your point. What surprises me is that even though the vote itself is now being thrown into question via proprietary voting machines that have no public accountability, people still don't seem alarmed by and large. People on forums like slashdot do, but people on the street aren't talking about it. They may or may not have leverage to effect change by marching, but if they don't even care enough to talk and say that it's wrong, well, bye bye sheep.
Wasn't that one of their goals? Kill the feeling of safety, security, and common sense to the point that we give up what makes our country the "land of the free?"
Yes... though we're not "giving up" these freedoms, they're being taken from us. By Bush, Ashcroft, and the congress. If Bush gets re-elected, THEN the phrase "giving up" will truly apply.
Slashdot Mirror
Is there any source of information that can guide a prospective car purchaser towards models that have less lock-in via secret code antics rather than more lock-in? If not, what starting points exist as far as defining terminology and offering ideas as to how to even quantify such lock-in?
Totally agreed! :)
What exactly is wrong with gaining karma from doing something that benefits the readers of slashdot?
I'm not one of those who uses the term myself, but I've always supposed that those who do fall into two camps: (1) the mindless zombies who just like mouthing off, and (2) people who genuinely feel that karma on /. should solely reflect the quality of original contribution and analytical thought, rather than the frequency with which a person inserts a link or mirror. I think I basically agree, though I thoroughly disagree with the consequent practice of name calling; the real solution - if there is one - would be for the /. editors to come up with a separate way to reward that kind of contribution, like temporary privilege escalation the likes of which paid subscribers enjoy, or something like that.
Even rarer are those pairs of primes known as the "conjoined twin" primes: those of the form p and p+1. Not many examples are known, but perhaps an infinite number are waiting to be discovered.
As a leval 3 vegan, *I'm* sick of the anti-banana sentiment that results in these rats being rewarded with them as food. Where's the bananas' parade?
I do wonder about that 200,000 cars per hour number. Doing a bit more math: 200,000 cars passing a single point on a four-lane road per hour means that 50,000 cars drive through a single lane in that time. Assuming a car is 10 feet long, and that the cars are separated by one car length each (which seems rather tight, it's supposed to ideally be one car length per every ten miles per hour), we get that cars are moving through that point in the single lane at a rate of (50,000 * (10 + 10)feet)/hour, or at a rate of 189 miles per hour (which would make the 10 foot separation even more inappropos).
Hmmm... where'd the number 200,000 come from? And, what logic suggests that 11 days is 5 minutes times 200,000? When I multiply it out, I get that 5 minutes times 200,000 is 694 days.
... of this technology: a continuous looping tape focused on the neighbors' barking dog saying "Bad dog! Sit!"
I don't get why this article, and much discussion following it, are focusing on the effect of the alleged patent on the Gimp. Jpeg is simply one of many file formats the Gimp reads and writes; the heart and sould of the Gimp is not any given file format, it's the painting tools. Was the Gimp mentioned simply because it's the only way someone can think of to frame the issue in terms of some kind of open source??
How about "Double-D"? *That* will bring out the programmers in hordes.
That's always been the problem with Steve: absolutely no self esteem. ;)
It's George Bush's insistence on saying "newkyalur".
This might be the first time I've seen a product described simultaneously as "industrial strength" and "pre-alpha".
" I just had a guy in the class with me (on .xml in Java."
//we need both cases to catch any combination thereof
/*
another team) ask me how to check that the
last four letters of a string are
That's easy, please allow me to enlighten y'all as to the most optimal way to achieve this. Lie back and learn, youngsters. Just compile and execute the following tiny code snippet, and success is yours. This code takes nice advantage of some of java's more powerful features, like exception handling and code flow. Can't believe such a small amount of code gets the job done? Disbelieve not!! (Note: due to the heavily optimized nature of the code and its use of industry standard best-practice coding patterns, it may only be possible for advanced java veterans to understand fully; please do not attempt mods to the code if you are not fully versed.)
bool endsInXML( String inString )
{
Char[] theCapitalXMLChars = { 'X', 'M', 'L' };
Char[] theLowerCaseChars = new Char[ theCapitalXMLChars.length ] + ( 'a' - 'A' );
for( int i = 0; i theCapitalXMLChars.length; ++i )
{
theLowerCaseChars[ i ] = theCapitalXMLChars[ i ];
}
try
{
verifyTrailingChar( '.', 3, inString );
for( int i = 0; i theCapitalXMLChars.length; ++i )
{
try
{
verifyTrailingChar( theCapitalXMLChars[ i ], theCapitalXMLChars.length - 1 - i, inString );
}
catch( UnexpectedCharException e )
{
verifyTrailingChar( theLowerCaseChars[ i ], theCapitalXMLChars.length - 1 - i, inString );
}
}
}
catch( UnexpectedCharException e )
{
return false;
}
return true;
}
class UnexpectedCharException extends Exception
{
public UnexpectedCharException() {}
}
* Here's the real heart of this code. This tight little routine
* is the workhorse that does all the down and dirty stuff. I first
* hacked together a prototype of this kind of concept during my
* PhD comp sci years... but rather than patenting it, I released
* it to the world as prior art (power to the people!!!)
*/
void verifyTrailingChar( Char inChar, int inTailOffset, String inString )
{
int theIndex = inString.length();
Char theCharToCheck;
while( true )
{
Char[] theStringChars = inString.getChars();
if( inTailOffset == 0 )
{
theCharToCheck = theStringChar[ inTailOffset ];
break;
}
--inTailOffset;
}
if( theCharToCheck != inChar )
throw new UnexpectedCharException();
}
Wouldn't the same logic apply to Linux? If not, why not?
Such a long history it has been. It might even be over a year long, this history. And yes, tons of corporations offer AAC for download; why, I can name them all, let's get started: (1) Apple (2) uh, um, erm... ya know, I'm needed in the basement. Bye.
ps - this is not a mockery of the parent post, who was simply quoting; it is a mockery of those who are being quoted.
It would seem that the definition of "dramatic" just got marginalized. Personally I'd think of a 2x performance increase as dramatic. 1.1x is what I'd term "laudable".
On this last condition I disagree. Don't confuse legality with morality.
Dr Trombetti says she hates the stuff herself - but points to a welter of scientific evidence to back her case.
Hmmm... a "welter" is a "chaotic, jumbled mess" according to webster. Personally I've always preferred my scientific evidence presented in an orderly fashion. Even more, I like double-blind random scientific studies, but they're not even hinted at in this article.
Coffee contains tannin and antioxidants, which are good for the heart and arteries, she says. It can relieve headaches. It is good for the liver - and can help prevent cirrhosis and gallstones. And the caffeine in coffee can reduce the risk of asthma attacks - and help improve circulation within the heart.
I'm sorry to break it to "doctor" Trombetti but these are claims, not evidence. See above comment regarding the absence of scientific studies.
There is no denying that coffee is not for everyone. If you drink too much it can increase nervousness, and cause rapid heartbeat and trembling hands.
Ah, here's the interjected token fact to try to induce readers into a feeling that facts are being recited throughout. Sorry, no sale.
Fact: Coffee may be good for you, it may be bad for you. Fact: Scientifically speaking, this article does nothing to change the preponderance of evidence supporting the latter.
Oh no, not *another* awful movie with JLo and Ben Affleck... I guess those slick movie execs just never learn!
I don't get it. Isn't this like saying that two out of four strains of ebola have been found to be susceptible to anthrax? At the point that you have foreign code surreptitiously executing on your machine (aka spyware), you are compromised.
Actually, 37% of the non-voters are too cynical to bitch, feeling that their bitching would not be listened to and would simply amount to a waste of time. It's important to motivate these people and tell them that their bitching really counts, and that if they just clam up then they'll have squandered their only rights in a democratic society. (Other than actually voting.)
Touche... I agree. But note that the government has taken to passing horrific legislation (like Patriot II) by simply fragmenting it and submarining it in other bills; so the government is actively taking steps to prevent an honest debate from taking place.
Further, there were some large scale demonstrations when the war was commencing, but the administration simply dismissed them. People can march all they want, but ultimately the only leverage that the people have is the vote. Which is why I make the point that if the people vote to retain the current administration with full knowledge of what has happened, then it will seem somewhat fair to say that they're giving their freedoms away.
But I agree with your point. What surprises me is that even though the vote itself is now being thrown into question via proprietary voting machines that have no public accountability, people still don't seem alarmed by and large. People on forums like slashdot do, but people on the street aren't talking about it. They may or may not have leverage to effect change by marching, but if they don't even care enough to talk and say that it's wrong, well, bye bye sheep.
Yes... though we're not "giving up" these freedoms, they're being taken from us. By Bush, Ashcroft, and the congress. If Bush gets re-elected, THEN the phrase "giving up" will truly apply.