I guess this is the difference between the US and Canada, isn't it?
Election Official: Put an X in the circle.
Canadians: Okay. *scratch scratch*
Americans: What do you mean by X and circle? What if I'm given a pen with disappearing ink?
If there's an X in the circle, which is a white circle on a black background, your vote counts. If there's anything else, your vote doesn't count. If you can't do it yourself, you can get someone to help you.
The way we do election oversight is that the party in power counts the ballots but is supervised by the opposition. Or maybe it's the party in power supervises the counting, which is done by the opposition. I can't quite remember. This way, we know that everyone has a vested interest, but the two sides cancel each other out.
Wait a minute - that's a pretty good idea. What if you folks got together and screwed the election results such that Nader won? Everybody would know that the whole system was rigged and exploitable if that was the result. Even Ralph would wonder what the hell happened. I'm not saying vote for Nader; I'm saying make the machines vote for Nader.
(I'm not going to vote in November; I'm not from the US.)
Where the hell do you live? What kind of work do you do? 30 miles is a long bike ride. I found that about 20km is as much as I want to do on the way to work. (That takes about an hour.) I guess I'm lucky. I found work about a mile way from home and I live five minutes (walking) from a grocery store. When I move at the end of the month, I'm about 2.5 miles away from work and spitting distance to a grocery store.
My view's not optimistic; it's pragmatistic. It requires people to make serious sacrifices and lifestyle changes. It means a redesign of communities so you can live near your work and shop where you live. I don't think people are ready for the changes or willing to make the sacrifices required.
Tomorrow's cars will be the same cars as today's cars. They'll just put in a few more gadets so you'll think you have to have a new one.
Realistically, your next car should be your feet or a bicycle. Walk to get your groceries. Bike to work. Get fitter. Live longer. Pollute less. Get big things delivered. Talk to your neighbours. Smile at strangers.
Uh, there's a bit of a difference in scope. I realize that with both, it's hard to check your email and the recipient doesn't generally appreciate what you're doing.
Apart from that, spam doesn't really hurt anyone physically, does it? Yes, it's a royal pain in the ass and it gives you a headache, but it's not the "Oh, hey, I've got a hatchet in my spleen!" kind of hurting.
Ten years ago, you didn't give a shit if your email came through, did you? You can live without it. You can't live without not being murdered. Thinking that spamming is on the same scale as murder is ridiculous. It's the kind of argument that means our lawmakers aren't going to take us seriously. Think more, sensationalize less.
I don't think they'd actually use the farmland, since that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. If you generate the power in the middle of nowhere, then you have to transmit it.
On the other hand, if you generate it where it's required, you don't have to transmit it over long distances. For example, if you put the turbines on top of tall buildings in a city, the buildings can use that power and reduce the load on the grid.
There's a skyscraper being built that uses three turbines to provide most or all of its power. I can't remember, since I read about it a few years ago. (It might be as realistic as a space elevator, but this is/. - who cares about facts when you can just pull stuff out of your root?)
I was watching from my window when I saw a guy breaking into my shed. I called the police.
"I'm sorry, sir, but we don't have any cars available to check it out."
I couldn't believe it. I was calling to tell them that I was witnessing a crime in progress, and they couldn't be bothered to come arrest the guy.
I waited for one minute and called again.
"Hi, I called to tell you that someone was breaking into my shed. Don't worry, I shot him."
Two minutes later, four police cars and an ambulance pulled up to my house, catching the guy red-handed. The lieutenant in charge was pretty upset.
"I thought you said you shot him!"
"I thought you said there weren't any cars available!"
There's not really anything you can do, except park in the garage. There's one thing the cops tell you to do - keep your car showroom clean. That means nothing inside. Someone will smash your window to get an empty pop can. They'll steal quarters from the tool booth bin, or anything else.
If you're tired of paying for repairs, keep it clean and keep it unlocked. They can't break in if it's already open.
What's more important than how our countries are governed?
Yes, this is a forum for geeks. Being a nerd means that we've got skills and talents that most people just don't have. The time of the quiet dork sitting in his or her office with his or her head in the sand are OVER. It's time to get out and make a difference and make that difference. Otherwise, it's High School all over again. You can't let dumb fucks with a loud voice tread on us. We can't just sit back and let the dummies in office get away with whatever they want. Get up, get mobilized, and get involved.
How can you be an IT professional if your field gets outsourced to India?
Does your dad know about his new DVD recording home theater not being able to record HDTV like his VCR?
Does your veteran grandfather know that the US is spending billions ressurecting the Star Wars program, even though it's been shown that nobody's going to attack anyone with ICBMs?
Does your drinking buddy know about the RIAA lawsuits, and how they spend fortunes bribing politicians to change copyright law to let them sue people into the ground?
Even if you agree that jobs should be offshored, you shouldn't be able to record TV, we should have a missile defence shield, and mp3s are illegal, do you know about the politics involved? Do your friends, family, and co-workers?
I read once that if someone you know doesn't want to vote, it's okay to hit them because then it's self defence.
It's a shame, but we're governed by politics, nerds or not.
If we use any nuclear reactors anywhere, then we'll all get cancer when it explodes like every reactor does! We've had those two - Chernoybl and three mile island, and there's still mutants there waiting to eat people! It would be nice to have extra arms, but not if I could only eat brains!
We have to keep using coal and gas because those are safe and have no bad effects on the environment at all!
Plus, the terrorists will steal all the uranium and use it to make dirty bombs! It doesn't matter that it's a totally different kind of uranium! They will use their secret terrorist powers to make it into the right kind! If we build even one nuclear plant, then the terrorists will have won!
Anyway, back to reality. People panic whenever they hear the word "nuclear", but don't give a crap about greenhouse gases. It's very strange. I would have no problems whatsoever living next to a nuclear plant. It's not perfect, but it's better than any alternative that I've ever seen. It's cleaner than fossil fuels, has less environmental impact than hydroelectric, and is way more reliable than wind / solar power.
IEEE Spectrum had an article a few years ago about how there aren't any more nuclear engineers being trained. I guess they're all in China now. Hopefully with free trade, we'll be able to get little household reactors at Suck-Mart in a few years.
Some jurisdictions do allow Software Engineering. APEG-BC (The Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia) lets Software Engineers register. UVic (University of Victoria) grants a four-year B.Eng in Software Engineering. Other universities in BC offer the same degree. I didn't go to these other places, so I don't have any details on them.
Other places in Canada offer B.Eng degrees in Software. I'm sure that there are accredited institutions in other countries that provide Software Engineering degrees. (B.Eng, not B.Sc)
Now, those NSE and MSCE guys are a different story.;)
The thing about space travel is that it would take a very long time to get anywhere. Most of that time would be boring, stupid little tasks like talking to the AI so it doesn't go crazy or making sure that the thing that never breaks isn't broken. That's what the movie was trying to convey - it takes a long time to get anywhere, and there aren't fantastic space fights to get to Europa. There's nothing out there to impede our progress except that we don't really want to go.
Imagine the first people to fly to Europa. It would be exciting for the first, say, month. After that, you'd start to get bored and wig out.
"What's on the scanner / out the window?"
"Uh, nothing. Same as yesterday."
"Ah. Want to play cards / Doom3 / on the holodeck?"
The only difference between AM and X-Ray is the frequency. There are various property differences, such as penetration and refelectivity, but generally, it's the same stuff.
Quantum mechanics shows that introducing energy into a system can cause the electrons to "jump" out of the normal band and into the conduction band. I'd suggest that according to QM, any energy can be ionizing radiation. Since I'm not going to get any points for this post anyway, that's good enough for the peanut gallery here.
We don't know what's causing all the tumours. As you say, they want to take a closer look to find that cause. Maybe it will be pollution from the swamp, or death rays from Mars, or maybe even the AM broadcasts. We don't know, but we should find out. It's a better use of funding than [generic flamebait reason].
Perhaps people are scared to take a good look because they don't want to think about how much damage all that naked surfing's been doing to their offspring.
I don't use a cellphone, but that's because I never have to call anyone, not because I'm afraid of baearain tmourus
The SWIPE calculator will tell you what a company will get for selling your information. I'm not sure who is buying, but you can make 20-30 USD from each person's records.
Beyond that, "they" can use a compromised box to send out more spam, and enough people buy to make it profitable. The same goes with ad servers and adbots on your machine. Eventually, you'll find an ad that's interesting. Slashdot wouldn't have ads if some of us didn't click them, would they? Ads also keep google afloat - if they didn't rake in the dough from google ads, then the program would have been discontinued.
To put it another way - if they weren't making money, they wouldn't do it.
You can turn it off, but you have to tell it that you already have a hardware firewall. It fights, but you can indeed turn it off. (I did it here at work.) You have to go into the control panel option "Security Center" and switch it off. Switching off by right-clicking on the little systray icon will not work.
Of course, I have to ask, why are you using Windows? Shouldn't you have switched to *nix years ago? (I'm kidding; I use Win2000.)
It was taught using Macs, and I found out that if you access the menu, it stops the clock. You could type the testing strings and get 100% accuracy with stupidly fast times. I think I got 1400 words per minute.
I never really learned to touch-type, but I don't require the skill. I'm an Electrical Engineer, and I'm programming in some other windows right now. Slashdot is slowing my productivity WAY more than my typing method. (I can type most action words very quickly, thanks to Sierra On-Line and MUDding.)
Slashdot Mirror
I guess this is the difference between the US and Canada, isn't it?
Election Official: Put an X in the circle.
Canadians: Okay. *scratch scratch*
Americans: What do you mean by X and circle? What if I'm given a pen with disappearing ink?
If there's an X in the circle, which is a white circle on a black background, your vote counts. If there's anything else, your vote doesn't count. If you can't do it yourself, you can get someone to help you.
The way we do election oversight is that the party in power counts the ballots but is supervised by the opposition. Or maybe it's the party in power supervises the counting, which is done by the opposition. I can't quite remember. This way, we know that everyone has a vested interest, but the two sides cancel each other out.
You mark an X or your vote doesn't count. It's a built-in safety mechanism.
We believe that if you're too intoxicated, stupid, or incompetent to mark a clear X in a circle, then you shouldn't be voting.
Wait a minute - that's a pretty good idea. What if you folks got together and screwed the election results such that Nader won? Everybody would know that the whole system was rigged and exploitable if that was the result. Even Ralph would wonder what the hell happened. I'm not saying vote for Nader; I'm saying make the machines vote for Nader.
(I'm not going to vote in November; I'm not from the US.)
Where the hell do you live? What kind of work do you do? 30 miles is a long bike ride. I found that about 20km is as much as I want to do on the way to work. (That takes about an hour.) I guess I'm lucky. I found work about a mile way from home and I live five minutes (walking) from a grocery store. When I move at the end of the month, I'm about 2.5 miles away from work and spitting distance to a grocery store.
My view's not optimistic; it's pragmatistic. It requires people to make serious sacrifices and lifestyle changes. It means a redesign of communities so you can live near your work and shop where you live. I don't think people are ready for the changes or willing to make the sacrifices required.
Tomorrow's cars will be the same cars as today's cars. They'll just put in a few more gadets so you'll think you have to have a new one.
Realistically, your next car should be your feet or a bicycle. Walk to get your groceries. Bike to work. Get fitter. Live longer. Pollute less. Get big things delivered. Talk to your neighbours. Smile at strangers.
Yes, I would like to know more about these joggers.
Uh, there's a bit of a difference in scope. I realize that with both, it's hard to check your email and the recipient doesn't generally appreciate what you're doing.
Apart from that, spam doesn't really hurt anyone physically, does it? Yes, it's a royal pain in the ass and it gives you a headache, but it's not the "Oh, hey, I've got a hatchet in my spleen!" kind of hurting.
Ten years ago, you didn't give a shit if your email came through, did you? You can live without it. You can't live without not being murdered. Thinking that spamming is on the same scale as murder is ridiculous. It's the kind of argument that means our lawmakers aren't going to take us seriously. Think more, sensationalize less.
The correct response would have been:
"Hey, how's it going? Crazy meeting this morning, huh?"
He would have been too embarrassed to admit that he didn't remember you.
I don't think they'd actually use the farmland, since that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. If you generate the power in the middle of nowhere, then you have to transmit it.
/. - who cares about facts when you can just pull stuff out of your root?)
On the other hand, if you generate it where it's required, you don't have to transmit it over long distances. For example, if you put the turbines on top of tall buildings in a city, the buildings can use that power and reduce the load on the grid.
There's a skyscraper being built that uses three turbines to provide most or all of its power. I can't remember, since I read about it a few years ago. (It might be as realistic as a space elevator, but this is
I was watching from my window when I saw a guy breaking into my shed. I called the police.
"I'm sorry, sir, but we don't have any cars available to check it out."
I couldn't believe it. I was calling to tell them that I was witnessing a crime in progress, and they couldn't be bothered to come arrest the guy.
I waited for one minute and called again.
"Hi, I called to tell you that someone was breaking into my shed. Don't worry, I shot him."
Two minutes later, four police cars and an ambulance pulled up to my house, catching the guy red-handed. The lieutenant in charge was pretty upset.
"I thought you said you shot him!"
"I thought you said there weren't any cars available!"
There's not really anything you can do, except park in the garage. There's one thing the cops tell you to do - keep your car showroom clean. That means nothing inside. Someone will smash your window to get an empty pop can. They'll steal quarters from the tool booth bin, or anything else.
If you're tired of paying for repairs, keep it clean and keep it unlocked. They can't break in if it's already open.
All you've got to do is back everything up, use the Pinesol yourself and say, "Oops, sorry boss, looks like we'll have to do that upgrade after all."
You get new servers, fresh scent, and no moving expenses.
What's more important than how our countries are governed?
Yes, this is a forum for geeks. Being a nerd means that we've got skills and talents that most people just don't have. The time of the quiet dork sitting in his or her office with his or her head in the sand are OVER. It's time to get out and make a difference and make that difference. Otherwise, it's High School all over again. You can't let dumb fucks with a loud voice tread on us. We can't just sit back and let the dummies in office get away with whatever they want. Get up, get mobilized, and get involved.
How can you be an IT professional if your field gets outsourced to India?
Does your dad know about his new DVD recording home theater not being able to record HDTV like his VCR?
Does your veteran grandfather know that the US is spending billions ressurecting the Star Wars program, even though it's been shown that nobody's going to attack anyone with ICBMs?
Does your drinking buddy know about the RIAA lawsuits, and how they spend fortunes bribing politicians to change copyright law to let them sue people into the ground?
Even if you agree that jobs should be offshored, you shouldn't be able to record TV, we should have a missile defence shield, and mp3s are illegal, do you know about the politics involved? Do your friends, family, and co-workers?
I read once that if someone you know doesn't want to vote, it's okay to hit them because then it's self defence.
It's a shame, but we're governed by politics, nerds or not.
If you overclock it, does that mean your mp3s all start to sound ike Alvin and the Chipmunks?
Wait - what happens to the Chipmunk mp3s?
If we use any nuclear reactors anywhere, then we'll all get cancer when it explodes like every reactor does! We've had those two - Chernoybl and three mile island, and there's still mutants there waiting to eat people! It would be nice to have extra arms, but not if I could only eat brains!
We have to keep using coal and gas because those are safe and have no bad effects on the environment at all!
Plus, the terrorists will steal all the uranium and use it to make dirty bombs! It doesn't matter that it's a totally different kind of uranium! They will use their secret terrorist powers to make it into the right kind! If we build even one nuclear plant, then the terrorists will have won!
Anyway, back to reality. People panic whenever they hear the word "nuclear", but don't give a crap about greenhouse gases. It's very strange. I would have no problems whatsoever living next to a nuclear plant. It's not perfect, but it's better than any alternative that I've ever seen. It's cleaner than fossil fuels, has less environmental impact than hydroelectric, and is way more reliable than wind / solar power.
IEEE Spectrum had an article a few years ago about how there aren't any more nuclear engineers being trained. I guess they're all in China now. Hopefully with free trade, we'll be able to get little household reactors at Suck-Mart in a few years.
I am also an EE.
;)
Some jurisdictions do allow Software Engineering. APEG-BC (The Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia) lets Software Engineers register. UVic (University of Victoria) grants a four-year B.Eng in Software Engineering. Other universities in BC offer the same degree. I didn't go to these other places, so I don't have any details on them.
Other places in Canada offer B.Eng degrees in Software. I'm sure that there are accredited institutions in other countries that provide Software Engineering degrees. (B.Eng, not B.Sc)
Now, those NSE and MSCE guys are a different story.
Longhorn will automatically render the Slashdot IT page in a better colour. It might even get people to switch from Linux to Windows.
The thing about space travel is that it would take a very long time to get anywhere. Most of that time would be boring, stupid little tasks like talking to the AI so it doesn't go crazy or making sure that the thing that never breaks isn't broken. That's what the movie was trying to convey - it takes a long time to get anywhere, and there aren't fantastic space fights to get to Europa. There's nothing out there to impede our progress except that we don't really want to go.
Imagine the first people to fly to Europa. It would be exciting for the first, say, month. After that, you'd start to get bored and wig out.
"What's on the scanner / out the window?"
"Uh, nothing. Same as yesterday."
"Ah. Want to play cards / Doom3 / on the holodeck?"
Nothing exciting happens, and that's the point.
With the AK, wouldn't you, technically, be playing a FPS, but with better graphics and sound?
Careful, you're playing hardcore mode.
The only difference between AM and X-Ray is the frequency. There are various property differences, such as penetration and refelectivity, but generally, it's the same stuff.
Quantum mechanics shows that introducing energy into a system can cause the electrons to "jump" out of the normal band and into the conduction band. I'd suggest that according to QM, any energy can be ionizing radiation. Since I'm not going to get any points for this post anyway, that's good enough for the peanut gallery here.
We don't know what's causing all the tumours. As you say, they want to take a closer look to find that cause. Maybe it will be pollution from the swamp, or death rays from Mars, or maybe even the AM broadcasts. We don't know, but we should find out. It's a better use of funding than [generic flamebait reason].
Perhaps people are scared to take a good look because they don't want to think about how much damage all that naked surfing's been doing to their offspring.
I don't use a cellphone, but that's because I never have to call anyone, not because I'm afraid of baearain tmourus
They can get money for your information.
The SWIPE calculator will tell you what a company will get for selling your information. I'm not sure who is buying, but you can make 20-30 USD from each person's records.
Beyond that, "they" can use a compromised box to send out more spam, and enough people buy to make it profitable. The same goes with ad servers and adbots on your machine. Eventually, you'll find an ad that's interesting. Slashdot wouldn't have ads if some of us didn't click them, would they? Ads also keep google afloat - if they didn't rake in the dough from google ads, then the program would have been discontinued.
To put it another way - if they weren't making money, they wouldn't do it.
It's not supposed to fly. It's supposed to play chess. RTA.
That's the best ST idea I've ever heard. Brilliant!
I always suspected that that show was fixed.
You can turn it off, but you have to tell it that you already have a hardware firewall. It fights, but you can indeed turn it off. (I did it here at work.) You have to go into the control panel option "Security Center" and switch it off. Switching off by right-clicking on the little systray icon will not work.
Of course, I have to ask, why are you using Windows? Shouldn't you have switched to *nix years ago? (I'm kidding; I use Win2000.)
It was taught using Macs, and I found out that if you access the menu, it stops the clock. You could type the testing strings and get 100% accuracy with stupidly fast times. I think I got 1400 words per minute.
I never really learned to touch-type, but I don't require the skill. I'm an Electrical Engineer, and I'm programming in some other windows right now. Slashdot is slowing my productivity WAY more than my typing method. (I can type most action words very quickly, thanks to Sierra On-Line and MUDding.)