I've always wondered about the apparent contradiction between an irrational number and the idea that you can find any finite length string in a truly random infinite sequence.
If pi is irrational, then it's decimal expansion is infinite (if it were not, then it could be expressed as a fraction and would not be irrational). This infinite expansion must be either random or non-random (because there ain't no third direction!).
If its non-random, then its a pattern, and can be expressed as a fraction, which means that pi is rational. But we've already said that its irrational. Contradiction.
If it is random, then somewhere inside the expansion, pi must repeat itself (because the sequence of numbers *must* be included in the infinite expansion). This means that pi is a pattern, and therefore rational. But we've already said that its irrational. Also a contradiction.
Did I miss something here? It looks like I've just proven that pi is rational. This conflicts with my 3rd-grade brainwashing. Help!
More importantly, Apple and Microsoft bundle in different ways. You can delete iTunes and use Audion or some other music player and listen to all the MP3's you want. You won't have access to the music store, because its a FEATURE of iTunes (hence "iTunes Music Store"). It's Apple's service, so its perfectly valid for them to only offer it to users of iTunes (support issues, etc).
The same is true for almost every Apple application. I can delete Mail, Safari, iCal, Appleworks, etc and use other applications and I wont' have any problem with the way my computer runs. Apple also doesn't pull any crap about changing your default browser on you. If you want IE to be your default browser on OS X, then it is!
Try removing IE from Windows and see what happens. Notice that all the microsoft programs seem to save to windows-only file types by default, DRM'ed up the ass. Microsoft's bundles are are a lot more air-tight than Apple's, who just says "here's a bunch of software. use it, doesn't use it, we don't care."
Now, the fact that using all of Apple's products together offers incredible features and (mostly) good interfaces is another story.
"It's not the lock manufacturer's fault you didn't lock it"
It is if the lock-maker shipped you the lock without a mechanism for inserting a key and actually locking it! Then the lock-maker expects you to find out that they've released a fix for it (but they don't send you a message that they've done so, they just post it on a board somewhere and expect you to find it).
Where have I seen this before...oh yes, Hitchhiker's Guide! "Don't whine to us that you haven't mastered interplanetary travel! The notice has been on the wall at Alpha Centauri for the last 40 years, so you had your chance to complain about us demolishing your planet to put a freeway through it!"
Its about time software companies got nailed for the crap they spit out. As a civil engineer, my career is on the line every time I select a frikkin' steel beam, and I am responsible for everything I do to the point where I can be sued out of existence. Software engineers should be held to exactly the same standard, especially when people's livelihoods are in the balance.
except perhaps to remove "bugs" in our genetics which allow for horrible diseases like parkinson and thousands of others
Fine, but where do you draw the line? Who decide what is a "bug" in the genetic code and what isn't? For instance, Hitler had many things to say about how to identify Jews (hair color, nose style, etc). What if it was decided that these things were "bugs"? Suddenly we have a race of blonde-haired, blue-eyed people.
And why stop there? If I'm not as strong as you are, then obviously I'm defective in some way...sounds like a genetic bug to me! You only got a 1390 on your SAT's? Definitely a product of lousy breeding!
As you can see, "fixing bugs" is a pandora's box that leads to horrible things like Windows Service Packs;-)
That's all well and good for you, but my family has no such leverage over me. Only a small segment of my family even lives on this side of the country. Half of that segment is retired, and the other half works for a family owned business that manufactures 3-ring binders (so they save me $5 a year. While I'm in school. And I graduate in three months. Big deal).
If my family members could provide me with useful favors like that, I'd definitely be more receptive to helping them out. But frankly, the two lawyers in my family weren't even willing to read my personal statement for law school admission when I emailed it to them. My mother doesn't own the advertising firm that she works for, so I can't get a deal if I ever have my own firm.
So in my family, it doesn't all come around, because there isn't anything for anyone to send back my way, with the possible exception of food.
And that whole "gift of life thing" only goes so far...
Why bother? With virtual PC 6, you can mount the VPC windows image in the same way that you mount external hard drives. Then you can use it the same way you would any other hard drive.
Or am I missing some advantage that networking offers over just plugging the thing in?
In unrelated news, CmdrTaco has begun offering a protection service to websites. Our reporters went undercover to get a piece of the top-secret sales pitch.
CmdrTaco: Its not a safe internet out there. You need protection. Website Owner: Protection from what? CmdrTaco: Oh, you know, denial of service, overloaded servers, stuff like that. Website Owner: And you can provide this protection? CmdrTaco: It won't come cheap... Website Owner: And what happens if we don't want your protection? CmdrTaco: Well, hey, if you don't want to be safe, that's your business, but who knows what kind of bad things could happen. Websites could go down in a minutes, who knows? I mean, look what happened to the last guys who didn't buy my protection service...
*CmdrTaco shows the website owner a smoking server and a slashdotted Amazon.com page*
First, Spam comes in a neat can. It's curved and low-to-the-ground. I like that. It's very appealing to purchase something and actually like the way it's packaged. I consider this a successful purchase.
Next, the can opens easily. Again: this is a good thing. The little pull-tab is nice.
It's important not to exaggerate when you're refuting an argument. In this case, exactly how many thousand of these Windows apps are useful, unique, and stable?
I've been using macs for 4 years, and in that time I've had my share of frustrations with hardware and software incompatibilities. My long-used Palm no longer worked in OS X as it did so effortlessly in windows.
Then I discovered Virtual PC. Suddenly, AutoCAD, Risa2D, MATLAB 6, GRE PowerPrep software, and a host of others were no longer a problem. With OS X, I could run MORE PROGRAMS THAN ANYONE ELSE. I can run Cocoa programs, Carbon programs, Classic programs, UNIX apps that are recompiled for PPC, and almost any windows app that wasn't a 3-D game. Sounds to me like my software selection is better, isn't it? Okay, so I have to pay $200 for a copy of VPC. How much would you pay to be able to run ANY consumer program on your computer, even with a slight performance hit?
An important thing I've learned as a mac user is how to get along well with what I've got. Its made me a more skilled computer user. When something isn't available for mac, I get online and look for a program that does a similar function. When a company won't write a driver for the mac, I buy a different product. Its not such a big deal, and I usually wind up with a better product by a company that cares enough to support it.
The reason mac zealots are always saying "there isn't anything you can do with your PC that I can't do with my mac" is because its almost entirely true. I may not be able to use your particular model of MP3 player, or your particular FTP software, or run the first version of SomeNewGame(TM), but I have my iPod, Transmit/Fetch/Interarchy, and the latest console system. And my frame rates don't make me feel like less of a man 8-)
Point of order..."Unobtainium" is already patented/trademarked/copyrighted/whatever by Oakley. Its the name of some chemical or alloy they use in their shades.
As much as I love Oakley's gear, I always laugh when I read it.
The name of the program escapes me right now, but when I interned at a large conglomerate the builds nuclear power plants (not named here, but how many are there?), we used this sweet 3-D model of THE ENTIRE PLANT to navigate, take virtual "pictures" to show where our project fit into the grand scheme, and also for placement of parts (like, say, walls).
My desktop needed a pretty hardcore video card for this, and it still chunked. When you have a model of something as complex as this, that includes all the piping, metal supports, reactor parts, hell even the valve controls were in there, you really need fast drawing to screen just to make it usable.
Slashdot Mirror
So how do I reach them from Los Angeles?
Actually, no. This is more up his alley. ;-)
I've always wondered about the apparent contradiction between an irrational number and the idea that you can find any finite length string in a truly random infinite sequence.
If pi is irrational, then it's decimal expansion is infinite (if it were not, then it could be expressed as a fraction and would not be irrational). This infinite expansion must be either random or non-random (because there ain't no third direction!).
If its non-random, then its a pattern, and can be expressed as a fraction, which means that pi is rational. But we've already said that its irrational. Contradiction.
If it is random, then somewhere inside the expansion, pi must repeat itself (because the sequence of numbers *must* be included in the infinite expansion). This means that pi is a pattern, and therefore rational. But we've already said that its irrational. Also a contradiction.
Did I miss something here? It looks like I've just proven that pi is rational. This conflicts with my 3rd-grade brainwashing. Help!
More importantly, Apple and Microsoft bundle in different ways. You can delete iTunes and use Audion or some other music player and listen to all the MP3's you want. You won't have access to the music store, because its a FEATURE of iTunes (hence "iTunes Music Store"). It's Apple's service, so its perfectly valid for them to only offer it to users of iTunes (support issues, etc).
The same is true for almost every Apple application. I can delete Mail, Safari, iCal, Appleworks, etc and use other applications and I wont' have any problem with the way my computer runs. Apple also doesn't pull any crap about changing your default browser on you. If you want IE to be your default browser on OS X, then it is!
Try removing IE from Windows and see what happens. Notice that all the microsoft programs seem to save to windows-only file types by default, DRM'ed up the ass. Microsoft's bundles are are a lot more air-tight than Apple's, who just says "here's a bunch of software. use it, doesn't use it, we don't care."
Now, the fact that using all of Apple's products together offers incredible features and (mostly) good interfaces is another story.
"It's not the lock manufacturer's fault you didn't lock it"
It is if the lock-maker shipped you the lock without a mechanism for inserting a key and actually locking it! Then the lock-maker expects you to find out that they've released a fix for it (but they don't send you a message that they've done so, they just post it on a board somewhere and expect you to find it).
Where have I seen this before...oh yes, Hitchhiker's Guide! "Don't whine to us that you haven't mastered interplanetary travel! The notice has been on the wall at Alpha Centauri for the last 40 years, so you had your chance to complain about us demolishing your planet to put a freeway through it!"
Its about time software companies got nailed for the crap they spit out. As a civil engineer, my career is on the line every time I select a frikkin' steel beam, and I am responsible for everything I do to the point where I can be sued out of existence. Software engineers should be held to exactly the same standard, especially when people's livelihoods are in the balance.
except perhaps to remove "bugs" in our genetics which allow for horrible diseases like parkinson and thousands of others
;-)
Fine, but where do you draw the line? Who decide what is a "bug" in the genetic code and what isn't? For instance, Hitler had many things to say about how to identify Jews (hair color, nose style, etc). What if it was decided that these things were "bugs"? Suddenly we have a race of blonde-haired, blue-eyed people.
And why stop there? If I'm not as strong as you are, then obviously I'm defective in some way...sounds like a genetic bug to me! You only got a 1390 on your SAT's? Definitely a product of lousy breeding!
As you can see, "fixing bugs" is a pandora's box that leads to horrible things like Windows Service Packs
That's all well and good for you, but my family has no such leverage over me. Only a small segment of my family even lives on this side of the country. Half of that segment is retired, and the other half works for a family owned business that manufactures 3-ring binders (so they save me $5 a year. While I'm in school. And I graduate in three months. Big deal).
If my family members could provide me with useful favors like that, I'd definitely be more receptive to helping them out. But frankly, the two lawyers in my family weren't even willing to read my personal statement for law school admission when I emailed it to them. My mother doesn't own the advertising firm that she works for, so I can't get a deal if I ever have my own firm.
So in my family, it doesn't all come around, because there isn't anything for anyone to send back my way, with the possible exception of food.
And that whole "gift of life thing" only goes so far...
Does it play MP3's?
My, how the tables have turned.
OK, just being sarcastic, let's hope we see 50 or so more of these
Hmmm...
::counts on fingers::
Apparently the US has 52 states now. Why wasn't THIS posted on Slashdot!?
Why bother? With virtual PC 6, you can mount the VPC windows image in the same way that you mount external hard drives. Then you can use it the same way you would any other hard drive.
Or am I missing some advantage that networking offers over just plugging the thing in?
That's easy... ...Aqua.
What?! They tell me its UNIX!
In unrelated news, CmdrTaco has begun offering a protection service to websites. Our reporters went undercover to get a piece of the top-secret sales pitch.
CmdrTaco: Its not a safe internet out there. You need protection.
Website Owner: Protection from what?
CmdrTaco: Oh, you know, denial of service, overloaded servers, stuff like that.
Website Owner: And you can provide this protection?
CmdrTaco: It won't come cheap...
Website Owner: And what happens if we don't want your protection?
CmdrTaco: Well, hey, if you don't want to be safe, that's your business, but who knows what kind of bad things could happen. Websites could go down in a minutes, who knows? I mean, look what happened to the last guys who didn't buy my protection service...
*CmdrTaco shows the website owner a smoking server and a slashdotted Amazon.com page*
Website Owner: Okay, okay! We'll pay!
Maybe someone close to you told them.
Like your...uh...doctor.
Actually, its because I took his spot.
Word up, G.
First, Spam comes in a neat can. It's curved and low-to-the-ground. I like that. It's very appealing to purchase something and actually like the way it's packaged. I consider this a successful purchase.
;-)
Next, the can opens easily. Again: this is a good thing. The little pull-tab is nice.
You're a mac user, aren't you?
Um...did you just patent jacking off to porn? Because I think I've got prior art on that one.
...until it plays MP3's!
It's important not to exaggerate when you're refuting an argument. In this case, exactly how many thousand of these Windows apps are useful, unique, and stable?
The argument goes both ways.
I've been using macs for 4 years, and in that time I've had my share of frustrations with hardware and software incompatibilities. My long-used Palm no longer worked in OS X as it did so effortlessly in windows.
Then I discovered Virtual PC. Suddenly, AutoCAD, Risa2D, MATLAB 6, GRE PowerPrep software, and a host of others were no longer a problem. With OS X, I could run MORE PROGRAMS THAN ANYONE ELSE. I can run Cocoa programs, Carbon programs, Classic programs, UNIX apps that are recompiled for PPC, and almost any windows app that wasn't a 3-D game. Sounds to me like my software selection is better, isn't it? Okay, so I have to pay $200 for a copy of VPC. How much would you pay to be able to run ANY consumer program on your computer, even with a slight performance hit?
An important thing I've learned as a mac user is how to get along well with what I've got. Its made me a more skilled computer user. When something isn't available for mac, I get online and look for a program that does a similar function. When a company won't write a driver for the mac, I buy a different product. Its not such a big deal, and I usually wind up with a better product by a company that cares enough to support it.
The reason mac zealots are always saying "there isn't anything you can do with your PC that I can't do with my mac" is because its almost entirely true. I may not be able to use your particular model of MP3 player, or your particular FTP software, or run the first version of SomeNewGame(TM), but I have my iPod, Transmit/Fetch/Interarchy, and the latest console system. And my frame rates don't make me feel like less of a man 8-)
Let me get this straight... ...you were only in ONE bar in New York at Age 22?!
Point of order..."Unobtainium" is already patented/trademarked/copyrighted/whatever by Oakley. Its the name of some chemical or alloy they use in their shades.
As much as I love Oakley's gear, I always laugh when I read it.
The name of the program escapes me right now, but when I interned at a large conglomerate the builds nuclear power plants (not named here, but how many are there?), we used this sweet 3-D model of THE ENTIRE PLANT to navigate, take virtual "pictures" to show where our project fit into the grand scheme, and also for placement of parts (like, say, walls).
My desktop needed a pretty hardcore video card for this, and it still chunked. When you have a model of something as complex as this, that includes all the piping, metal supports, reactor parts, hell even the valve controls were in there, you really need fast drawing to screen just to make it usable.
Now when I flame that my mac wipes its ass with intel chips, I won't be kidding!
God I love technology.
Yeah, but the spammer dies. Isn't that what's really important here?