In computer science, Brute Force, sometimes called the Naive Method, is a term used to refer to the simplest, most intuitive, most spontaneous, and usually most inefficient methods of accomplishing a task.
This is exactly what a genetic algorhthem is not. If you have a million numbers brute force would be to go from the first to the last in order. Using a genetic algorhythem provides a shortcut though Design Space wherein you need to try far fewer combinations in order to come to a successful result.
When it comes time to order pizza, co-organizer Chris Hecker calls out: "Okay guys--how hungry are you, on a scale of 0 to 1?" After tallying the empty bellies and desired slices, someone does the math and asks "Can we order 6.75 pizzas?"
So what's the point? To make people look even more stupid that they do on a segway?
to the tremendous hype that was built around it. There was one good fallout from all the hype though. People started to think of alternatives. That I believe is the true value of the Segway and now the "MegWay"
If Lindows lost to MS, then Megway is certainly going to be sued by (and lose to) the Segway guys.
It's very similar to the Segway, certainly in the same market, and it's name only differs by one letter. Surely Segway's lawyers won't be happy.
Did anyone even read the article? Newsflash (with annoying scolling subtitle): Its a spoof.
"It is a very powerful machine," Professor Galluzzi said. So powerful that although they have made a full-scale "production model", they have not dared test it. "It could run into something and do serious damage," he said.
But the electron, proton, and neutron all have measured amounts of spin (angular momentum) and magnetic moment. These features can only exist because the particles have a finite, non-zero size. So, a self-contradiction of the common theory is evident: On one hand, the particles are said to be point-like; on the other hand, they are known to have a finite size (needed to have a spin, magnetic moment and the distribution of charge referenced in the next paragraph). This inconsistency in modern science is incompatible with a Judeo-Christian world view of consistency where expediency is rejected and contradictions are never allowed.
It will then become more difficult to support ethical relativism, and to argue that truth and values are not objective, absolute, eternal, and/or rationally based.
This paragraph scares me. Can someone explain to me their link between new physical theories and new ethical theories?
I have to disagree. It's not because Quicktime on anything other than the Mac eats ass, it's because Quicktime just plain eats ass.
You stated that but then went on to prove why you don't like Quicktime for Windows. Quicktime for Mac no longer has any non-standard GUI elements. Ironically, this was done not by changing anything about Quicktime but by slowly changing everything else to match.:D
Suffice it to say though that Quicktime on Panther really isn't bad at all. Windows Media on Mac is just as good though and you are right that Apple dropped the ball on Quicktime for Windows, but I don't think that it happens quite as often as you think.:-P
(I once attended a delightful talk he gave where, among other things, he gave sartorial advice to open source developers, urging them to avoid formal suits at presentations to CEO's as a way to give off the auras of foreign dignitaries unused to local customs).
Main Entry: sartorial Pronunciation: sar-'tOr-E-&l, s&(r)-, -'tor- Function: adjective Etymology: Medieval Latin sartor Date: 1823 : of or relating to a tailor or tailored clothes; broadly : of or relating to clothes
Why even use lossy codecs anymore?
on
Ogg Vorbis 1.0
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· Score: 0
Hard drives are approaching 200 gigs. Processors are so fast we don't know what to do with them. Internet bandwidth and broadband is at an all time high. And yet, people are still using lossy codecs...why?
When you have 200 gigs of space its not like you are going to run out any time soon. I personally have more than 250 albums, and 5000 songs sitting on my hard drive right now -- nearly all lossless. How much do they take up? About 50 gigs, but I have another 150 or so left to spare. And sure transfering them over the internet takes a bit longer, but it is well worth it for the improved sound.
Some say they can't hear the difference. Some said the same thing about CD's verses cassettes. Likely you have a poor pair of speakers, or in some cases a poor set of ears. Or maybe you don't care, thats a valid reason. But if you don't fall into those catagories I'd recommend moving to lossless compressed codecs. Compression for lossless tracks has come down to about double a 320 mp3, which is pretty darn good.
Check out Monkey's Audio or FLAC, two of the best, -- your ears will thank you.
(now all I need is a iTunes-compatible OS X port...anyone?)
Here is Google's cache of that article on Metric Time. I can't believe nobody posted it earlier, as it was one of the first to turn up on a Google search. I found it in less than five quintodays.;)
Good Concept, Poor Program, And An Alternative
on
The Napsterization of TV
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
The concept of a digital video recorder that records anything, anytime, is a great idea.
SnapStream is a bad implementation. The streaming aspects of SnapStream are good but it is weak on the codec and programming guide end. It has a programmign guide, but it is far from complete, but the nail it its coffin is that it does not allow the use of third party codecs and its CGI-based interface is slow to say the least.
There is where ShowShifter comes in (www.showshifter.com). ShowShifter allows for the use of third party compression codecs. With my 950mhz AMD Processor, I can compress to DivX in realtime with about 30% processor utilization. Whith my processor I can't compress the audio in realtime with DivX, but if I'd like to archive the show I simply compress the audio later inside ShowShifter. But for those with slower processors ShowShifter can capture in a light compression codec and then recompress when it has time.
A one hour CD at excellant quality (which is indistiguishable on a television, and barly noticable on a PC) can fit on a CD. I know more people than me are doing such things as when I miss an episode of a show I like to watch, it can often be found on eDonkey (www.eDonkey2000.com). Alot of sci-fi shows are up as the people who are recording these things are the same type who enjoy sci-fi, but as the technology spreads I'm sure it will become more diverse.
The Napsterization of television has already begun.
Here is the short version: Evolution is impossible to stop.
I can't believe a Professor at a reputable institution would even argue such a thing (though note the article never says the man arguing that evolution has ceased in the Western world is a Biology professor).
All that is needed for evolution to occur is differential success in reproduction (and even without that neutral evolution can occur, as evolution is merely the change in the frequency of alleles in a population). The professor mentions that AIDs resistence in Africa allows for increased reproductive success and thus he can understand that evolution may be occuring in Africa, but in the Western world, of course not, we are above that here. Not that it occured to him that the Western world also has pathogens, albiet different ones, that also effect reproductive success.
One of the scientists at the end of the article mentions brain size as something that has changed over the past 10,000 years, but I could name a few more. For example 10,000 years ago most people could not consume milk over the age of 4 or 5. The ability to digest lactose products cropped up in the Western world around then and spread as the additional food source increased the inclusive fitness of offspring. Still today, because the adaptation began in Europe, people with European blood are much more lactose-tolerant then people from, say, China.
Quotes like this one are very misleading: "Now, children's chances of reaching the age of 25 have reached 98 per cent. Nothing is changing. We have reached stagnation." This quote implies that evolution is about survival, and we often hear the trite phase "survival of the fittest" when talking about the subject (note, Darwin never even used that term). But evolution is not about survival, it is about reproductive success. I can live to 100 but if I have no children it does nothing to increase my share in the gene pool. Conversely a man who lives to 30 but has two kids has bested me in that regard, and will have a larger share of the gene pool. Survival is only part of the story.
Today we have different selection pressures on us than our ancestors did, but selection pressures remain, and will remain, nomatter how the Western world may want to believe we are somehow above and apart from the natural world.
Imagine a world where complicated computer networks need little or no interaction with humans: a world where computers can update and maintain their own systems, shield themselves from misfortune caused by human error and acts of nature, and fiercely protect themselves against attacks by computer crackers.
Is it just me or does that sound like a frightening world to live in?
"But HyperCard might be in danger of going the way of the dinosaur. With the launch of Mac OS X, unless HyperCard is 'carbonized,' it could be the beginning of the end."
Simple answer. Open source it! Anything with enough support to form a user group has enough support to form a programming group about as well, and if the Apple folks don't want to bother to carbonize it I'm sure others will.
$2k for that? You've got to be kidding. I bought a device that does nearly the same thing for $350. Both Sony and Vandum make these things (respectivly called Tripad's or Clio's).
In my experiance most people (or at least me) use laptops mostly for note-taking and internet functions. It just isn't practical pricewise and functionwise to carry around a portable desktop (I'd also add physical strain...I can barely lift some of Dell's laptops!)
This is where the tablet PC comes in handy. You don't need a tablet PC to run the newest 3D gismos, you need it to take notes. It makes sense that you could save alot of money and get all the needed functionality out of a thin solution.
The great thing is if you want the power of your home computer you plug it into an ethernet jack and use Terminal Server (for windows) or Terminal X (for linux)...yes linux does run on these things.
Not to mention that the computer looks like it is held together by some sort of fabric-like case, which seems very poor fited for the job. The flip top Tripad/Clio seems to do what it needs to just better.
I won't even get into the false claim it is the first tablet PC.
Even if the game is good, who will buy it once word leaks that MARIO IS A MURDERER! And even if the leaks are contained no game could live up to the precedent of excellence set by The Mario Super Show.
Anyone else remember: "Appliance I Can't Do Without"? As a refesher the options were:
TiVo
Computer
Microwave
Vacuum
Refrigerator
CowboyNeal
Television
Home Stereo
Most people seemed to think if you had a computer with the right video card, processor cooling device, speakers, and such you could do it all. But there was always the problem of the vacuum. I seem to recall a number of people simply said they had no need for a vacuum (scary!). This guy obviously took the problem to heart, and what a great solution! He even picked the perfect computer because as we all know:
Slashdot Mirror
And who edited and posted it with the submitter's obviously erronous comment? ;)
Another case of "When in doubt, use brute force"?"
No, Taco, No.
From the 'brute force' entry in Wikipedia:
In computer science, Brute Force, sometimes called the Naive Method, is a term used to refer to the simplest, most intuitive, most spontaneous, and usually most inefficient methods of accomplishing a task.
This is exactly what a genetic algorhthem is not. If you have a million numbers brute force would be to go from the first to the last in order. Using a genetic algorhythem provides a shortcut though Design Space wherein you need to try far fewer combinations in order to come to a successful result.
C'mon Taco, of all people, you should know this!
No.
My interpretation, the "Many-Copenhagen" interpretation, states that all the parallel universes are carbon-copies of Copenhagen.
Some of your replies:
So what's the point? To make people look even more stupid that they do on a segway?
to the tremendous hype that was built around it. There was one good fallout from all the hype though. People started to think of alternatives. That I believe is the true value of the Segway and now the "MegWay"
If Lindows lost to MS, then Megway is certainly going to be sued by (and lose to) the Segway guys.
It's very similar to the Segway, certainly in the same market, and it's name only differs by one letter. Surely Segway's lawyers won't be happy.
Did anyone even read the article? Newsflash (with annoying scolling subtitle): Its a spoof.
"It is a very powerful machine," Professor Galluzzi said. So powerful that although they have made a full-scale "production model", they have not dared test it. "It could run into something and do serious damage," he said.
Did they consider testing it outside perhaps?
But the electron, proton, and neutron all have measured amounts of spin (angular momentum) and magnetic moment. These features can only exist because the particles have a finite, non-zero size. So, a self-contradiction of the common theory is evident: On one hand, the particles are said to be point-like; on the other hand, they are known to have a finite size (needed to have a spin, magnetic moment and the distribution of charge referenced in the next paragraph). This inconsistency in modern science is incompatible with a Judeo-Christian world view of consistency where expediency is rejected and contradictions are never allowed.
Judeo-Christian world view? What?
It will then become more difficult to support ethical relativism, and to argue that truth and values are not objective, absolute, eternal, and/or rationally based.
This paragraph scares me. Can someone explain to me their link between new physical theories and new ethical theories?
You stated that but then went on to prove why you don't like Quicktime for Windows. Quicktime for Mac no longer has any non-standard GUI elements. Ironically, this was done not by changing anything about Quicktime but by slowly changing everything else to match. :D
Suffice it to say though that Quicktime on Panther really isn't bad at all. Windows Media on Mac is just as good though and you are right that Apple dropped the ball on Quicktime for Windows, but I don't think that it happens quite as often as you think. :-P
(I once attended a delightful talk he gave where, among other things, he gave sartorial advice to open source developers, urging them to avoid formal suits at presentations to CEO's as a way to give off the auras of foreign dignitaries unused to local customs).
Main Entry: sartorial
Pronunciation: sar-'tOr-E-&l, s&(r)-, -'tor-
Function: adjective
Etymology: Medieval Latin sartor
Date: 1823
: of or relating to a tailor or tailored clothes; broadly : of or relating to clothes
I, for one, welcome our chess-computer overlords.
When you have 200 gigs of space its not like you are going to run out any time soon. I personally have more than 250 albums, and 5000 songs sitting on my hard drive right now -- nearly all lossless. How much do they take up? About 50 gigs, but I have another 150 or so left to spare. And sure transfering them over the internet takes a bit longer, but it is well worth it for the improved sound.
Some say they can't hear the difference. Some said the same thing about CD's verses cassettes. Likely you have a poor pair of speakers, or in some cases a poor set of ears. Or maybe you don't care, thats a valid reason. But if you don't fall into those catagories I'd recommend moving to lossless compressed codecs. Compression for lossless tracks has come down to about double a 320 mp3, which is pretty darn good.
Check out Monkey's Audio or FLAC, two of the best, -- your ears will thank you.
(now all I need is a iTunes-compatible OS X port...anyone?)
http://216.239.51.100/search?q=cache:-6x_4SGDzHgC: zapatopi.net/metrictime.html+METRIC+TIME=en=UTF-8
The Solution: http://www.dragonstudios.com/ or http://www.e-league.com/walkthru/walkthrough_for_n ew_players.htm
The concept of a digital video recorder that records anything, anytime, is a great idea.
SnapStream is a bad implementation. The streaming aspects of SnapStream are good but it is weak on the codec and programming guide end. It has a programmign guide, but it is far from complete, but the nail it its coffin is that it does not allow the use of third party codecs and its CGI-based interface is slow to say the least.
There is where ShowShifter comes in (www.showshifter.com). ShowShifter allows for the use of third party compression codecs. With my 950mhz AMD Processor, I can compress to DivX in realtime with about 30% processor utilization. Whith my processor I can't compress the audio in realtime with DivX, but if I'd like to archive the show I simply compress the audio later inside ShowShifter. But for those with slower processors ShowShifter can capture in a light compression codec and then recompress when it has time.
A one hour CD at excellant quality (which is indistiguishable on a television, and barly noticable on a PC) can fit on a CD. I know more people than me are doing such things as when I miss an episode of a show I like to watch, it can often be found on eDonkey (www.eDonkey2000.com). Alot of sci-fi shows are up as the people who are recording these things are the same type who enjoy sci-fi, but as the technology spreads I'm sure it will become more diverse.
The Napsterization of television has already begun.
Here is the short version: Evolution is impossible to stop.
I can't believe a Professor at a reputable institution would even argue such a thing (though note the article never says the man arguing that evolution has ceased in the Western world is a Biology professor).
All that is needed for evolution to occur is differential success in reproduction (and even without that neutral evolution can occur, as evolution is merely the change in the frequency of alleles in a population). The professor mentions that AIDs resistence in Africa allows for increased reproductive success and thus he can understand that evolution may be occuring in Africa, but in the Western world, of course not, we are above that here. Not that it occured to him that the Western world also has pathogens, albiet different ones, that also effect reproductive success.
One of the scientists at the end of the article mentions brain size as something that has changed over the past 10,000 years, but I could name a few more. For example 10,000 years ago most people could not consume milk over the age of 4 or 5. The ability to digest lactose products cropped up in the Western world around then and spread as the additional food source increased the inclusive fitness of offspring. Still today, because the adaptation began in Europe, people with European blood are much more lactose-tolerant then people from, say, China.
Quotes like this one are very misleading: "Now, children's chances of reaching the age of 25 have reached 98 per cent. Nothing is changing. We have reached stagnation." This quote implies that evolution is about survival, and we often hear the trite phase "survival of the fittest" when talking about the subject (note, Darwin never even used that term). But evolution is not about survival, it is about reproductive success. I can live to 100 but if I have no children it does nothing to increase my share in the gene pool. Conversely a man who lives to 30 but has two kids has bested me in that regard, and will have a larger share of the gene pool. Survival is only part of the story.
Today we have different selection pressures on us than our ancestors did, but selection pressures remain, and will remain, nomatter how the Western world may want to believe we are somehow above and apart from the natural world.
Acctually they are in the EU and the UN. Read their FAQ.
This is the biggest image of it:
http://nmp.jpl.nasa.gov/ds1/img/borrelly_1.jpg
Yes, you are.
Yes, you are.
Imagine a world where complicated computer networks need little or no interaction with humans: a world where computers can update and maintain their own systems, shield themselves from misfortune caused by human error and acts of nature, and fiercely protect themselves against attacks by computer crackers.
Is it just me or does that sound like a frightening world to live in?
Let me not forget to mention that:
;)
ASPL IS NOT OPEN SOURCE
"But HyperCard might be in danger of going the way of the dinosaur. With the launch of Mac OS X, unless HyperCard is 'carbonized,' it could be the beginning of the end."
Simple answer. Open source it! Anything with enough support to form a user group has enough support to form a programming group about as well, and if the Apple folks don't want to bother to carbonize it I'm sure others will.
$2k for that? You've got to be kidding. I bought a device that does nearly the same thing for $350. Both Sony and Vandum make these things (respectivly called Tripad's or Clio's).
In my experiance most people (or at least me) use laptops mostly for note-taking and internet functions. It just isn't practical pricewise and functionwise to carry around a portable desktop (I'd also add physical strain...I can barely lift some of Dell's laptops!)
This is where the tablet PC comes in handy. You don't need a tablet PC to run the newest 3D gismos, you need it to take notes. It makes sense that you could save alot of money and get all the needed functionality out of a thin solution.
The great thing is if you want the power of your home computer you plug it into an ethernet jack and use Terminal Server (for windows) or Terminal X (for linux)...yes linux does run on these things.
Not to mention that the computer looks like it is held together by some sort of fabric-like case, which seems very poor fited for the job. The flip top Tripad/Clio seems to do what it needs to just better.
I won't even get into the false claim it is the first tablet PC.
Even if the game is good, who will buy it once word leaks that MARIO IS A MURDERER! And even if the leaks are contained no game could live up to the precedent of excellence set by The Mario Super Show.
P.S. -- The hedgehog is already dead.
I think this harkens back to a Slashdot poll.
Anyone else remember: "Appliance I Can't Do Without"? As a refesher the options were:
TiVo
Computer
Microwave
Vacuum
Refrigerator
CowboyNeal
Television
Home Stereo
Most people seemed to think if you had a computer with the right video card, processor cooling device, speakers, and such you could do it all. But there was always the problem of the vacuum. I seem to recall a number of people simply said they had no need for a vacuum (scary!). This guy obviously took the problem to heart, and what a great solution! He even picked the perfect computer because as we all know:
Mac's suck!!!