someday my job wont be possible without good case law forcing defendants to give up encryption keys.
Your job is decrypting hard drives? If it's anything other than that specifically, how 'bout going the old-fashioned route of, you know, gathering evidence? It might be more work than having the accused testify against themselves, but that's what the framers of the Constitution decided that you have to do.
I'm not anti-police in any way. By best friend was a cop before he and his wife moved to another city, and my brother in law is a prison guard. I like law enforcement. What I don't like, though, is when certain cops decide that their desire to deliver the justice they think is appropriate is more important than the accused's right to due process. I think that's a direct attack on the Constitution - and transitively on America and her citizens - and is far worse than the crime they're likely investigating.
I don't mean to pick on you in particular or doubt your goodwill or dedication to the rule of law. I just don't like the path your logic leads down and would hope that you would reconsider its conclusions.
I hate measuring consumption instead of mileage. Calculating range is easier when using distance per quantity: multiply the quantity left by the constant and there you go.
Also, mileage lends itself to handier values; as cars improve, the mileage numbers grow and occupy a higher range of values. With consumption, values asymptotically approach zero. Comparing 100mpg with 80mpg is easier for most people (and probably quicker for all people) than comparing 2.35L/100km with 2.94L/100km. If you start getting into very high efficiencies, it's the difference between comparing 500:600mpg and.470:.392L/100km. While both are mathematically similar, the former is more intuitive for most people.
OK, I have a suggestion: use whatever synonym for "free" is currently used to describe all other ad-supported media (hey, there you go: ad-supported). We have free TV, free radio, free newspapers, and free websites. Apply the term from the first three to the last.
Because it's meaningless and redundant. There truly is no such thing as a free lunch; somebody pays for it. Every transfer of resources costs somebody. Over the millennia, we've come to call that "free" for the person receiving the resources, no matter the true cost to whomever's paying. There's no need to rehash this just because the web is involved.
On the OSS side, you see a lot of optimization happen because many developers are working with limited resources and aren't in a position (or have the desire) to go out and buy a faster computer to make some chunk of code run faster.
Actually, I think you see a lot of optimization simply because the machines are used different. Windows users tend to use one application at a time. Don't believe me? Watch sometime and see people close Outlook so that they can get into Word. I know this ventures on flamebait, but I suspect that's a lesson learned from the old highly unstable days where people defensively finished one task before they dared start another.
Compare with Unix systems (including OS X and Linux) where people are used to leaving their apps running for days/weeks/months at a time, and where users will lynch you if the screensaver you wrote eats all their RAM and kills their month-old console session.
I truly believe the optimization isn't because the code will be running on smaller systems, but because it will be expected to occupy a smaller slice of a big system.
Try connecting a 10-button mouse, configuring each button to do something different (and useful), and tell me how long it takes you in OS X vs. Ubuntu.
Ubuntu: dick around with imwheel until you get it working.
OS X: buy SteerMouse.
That's actually an excellent way to illustrate the difference in attitudes driving both systems.
We're pretty dumb as far as spacefaring species go, but we're able to puzzle together mysteries like Incan knot writing which may as well be alien artifacts. I suspect that the equivalent of our technology after a few thousand years of Moore's Law magic would make short work of figuring out that a strong, persistent stream of RF from a particular planet is a signal and how to make sense of it.
Fortunately for them, we're also broadcasting all sorts of learning channels that should fill in a lot of the blanks.
Very true. But even if they did, would it sound inherently bad to someone who had no idea of our morality and values?
Hitler: We must exterminate the Jews! They are destroying our society!
Kodos: Wow. Whatever Jews are, they sure are causing that guy a lot of grief. Wonder if he gets it under control?
Since only a small fraction of news on both sides of the issue was televised, ET might not have enough context even to know that we thought it was bad (although they'd know that at least some other factions didn't like him and his plans, even if they didn't really understand all the reasons).
Aliens powerful enough to matter would probably think of us like harmless bugs or small animals: sure, they take up some space, but they aren't worth the effort.
I'm not so sure about that. Bugs are basically no closer to getting off the planet than they were two billion years ago, but man is busy launching things up into space and looking for Higgs bosons and coping with Moore's Law and it's implications. Basically, humans are at the knee of an exponential knowledge growth curve and bugs are pretty much on a constant line.
Are we smart and powerful enough to bother aliens today? Nah. But if we keep accelerating like this, we will be.
Perhaps someone more versed in science could tell us whether that or Hitler's speech at the 1936 Olympics is easier to detect from space.
I've heard that mentioned a lot, that maybe they'll see our Hitler broadcasts and immediately loathe us.
Why?
We think he was horrible, but why would we believe for an instant that an alien might think the same? Maybe some of the powers-that-be up there are scratching their chitinous chins thoughtfully, impressed that we have such men.
This was a downtown health station, total cost $20.
Oh, bullshit. Your total out-of-pocket expense that day was $20, but I assure you that taxes picked up the rest of the tab, and not the Good Health Fairies.
You can argue about whether socialized healthcare is more or less fair than private systems, but you absolutely cannot say that it's free.
The problem was that I was made responsible for the thing, to the point that they flew me to DC for a week-long training course on installation and initial configuration. I was catching grief for not having it running, which is what caused the VP-round-trip escalation.
Best Buy just sent us an apology letter for sending us a C & D letter just because we blogged about the Improv Everywhere shirts
I'm actually kind of pleasantly surprised by the second letter. They flat-out admit that they messed up and apologize for it. That's almost unheard of these days. Congratulations on a happy resolution.
Oh, and to the jackass who modded you "flamebait": WTF were you thinking?
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Your job is decrypting hard drives? If it's anything other than that specifically, how 'bout going the old-fashioned route of, you know, gathering evidence? It might be more work than having the accused testify against themselves, but that's what the framers of the Constitution decided that you have to do.
I'm not anti-police in any way. By best friend was a cop before he and his wife moved to another city, and my brother in law is a prison guard. I like law enforcement. What I don't like, though, is when certain cops decide that their desire to deliver the justice they think is appropriate is more important than the accused's right to due process. I think that's a direct attack on the Constitution - and transitively on America and her citizens - and is far worse than the crime they're likely investigating.
I don't mean to pick on you in particular or doubt your goodwill or dedication to the rule of law. I just don't like the path your logic leads down and would hope that you would reconsider its conclusions.
No they're not. The biggest question when dealing with them should be whether the assault charges are leveled by the police department or PETA.
I hate measuring consumption instead of mileage. Calculating range is easier when using distance per quantity: multiply the quantity left by the constant and there you go.
Also, mileage lends itself to handier values; as cars improve, the mileage numbers grow and occupy a higher range of values. With consumption, values asymptotically approach zero. Comparing 100mpg with 80mpg is easier for most people (and probably quicker for all people) than comparing 2.35L/100km with 2.94L/100km. If you start getting into very high efficiencies, it's the difference between comparing 500:600mpg and .470:.392L/100km. While both are mathematically similar, the former is more intuitive for most people.
You can skip the middleman: Go to Google. Type "35mpg in L/100km". Read the answer. Google is your friend!
It's also changed the definition of "American made". We haul the kids around in our Indiana-built Toyota minivan.
$160 / $4/g = 40 gallons * 18mpg = 720 miles per day commuting?
Yeah, I'd say you need a different job. Preferably one that doesn't involve math.
Compare and contrast with Firewire?
OK, I have a suggestion: use whatever synonym for "free" is currently used to describe all other ad-supported media (hey, there you go: ad-supported). We have free TV, free radio, free newspapers, and free websites. Apply the term from the first three to the last.
They're annoying. You can be free and annoying, though.
Because it's meaningless and redundant. There truly is no such thing as a free lunch; somebody pays for it. Every transfer of resources costs somebody. Over the millennia, we've come to call that "free" for the person receiving the resources, no matter the true cost to whomever's paying. There's no need to rehash this just because the web is involved.
How about... Oh! I know! "Free".
Actually, I think you see a lot of optimization simply because the machines are used different. Windows users tend to use one application at a time. Don't believe me? Watch sometime and see people close Outlook so that they can get into Word. I know this ventures on flamebait, but I suspect that's a lesson learned from the old highly unstable days where people defensively finished one task before they dared start another.
Compare with Unix systems (including OS X and Linux) where people are used to leaving their apps running for days/weeks/months at a time, and where users will lynch you if the screensaver you wrote eats all their RAM and kills their month-old console session.
I truly believe the optimization isn't because the code will be running on smaller systems, but because it will be expected to occupy a smaller slice of a big system.
While I otherwise agree with you, Xerox did in fact sell such systems.
Ubuntu: dick around with imwheel until you get it working.
OS X: buy SteerMouse.
That's actually an excellent way to illustrate the difference in attitudes driving both systems.
We're pretty dumb as far as spacefaring species go, but we're able to puzzle together mysteries like Incan knot writing which may as well be alien artifacts. I suspect that the equivalent of our technology after a few thousand years of Moore's Law magic would make short work of figuring out that a strong, persistent stream of RF from a particular planet is a signal and how to make sense of it.
Fortunately for them, we're also broadcasting all sorts of learning channels that should fill in a lot of the blanks.
You couldn't. I could barely boot it on my 400MHZ/128MB iMac, let alone run apps.
Hmmm. Last time I checked, those things weren't powered by fission. :-)
Very true. But even if they did, would it sound inherently bad to someone who had no idea of our morality and values?
Hitler: We must exterminate the Jews! They are destroying our society!
Kodos: Wow. Whatever Jews are, they sure are causing that guy a lot of grief. Wonder if he gets it under control?
Since only a small fraction of news on both sides of the issue was televised, ET might not have enough context even to know that we thought it was bad (although they'd know that at least some other factions didn't like him and his plans, even if they didn't really understand all the reasons).
I'm not so sure about that. Bugs are basically no closer to getting off the planet than they were two billion years ago, but man is busy launching things up into space and looking for Higgs bosons and coping with Moore's Law and it's implications. Basically, humans are at the knee of an exponential knowledge growth curve and bugs are pretty much on a constant line.
Are we smart and powerful enough to bother aliens today? Nah. But if we keep accelerating like this, we will be.
Massive? Possibly not.
If so, where?If you set your threshold a little lower, Africa.
I've heard that mentioned a lot, that maybe they'll see our Hitler broadcasts and immediately loathe us.
Why?
We think he was horrible, but why would we believe for an instant that an alien might think the same? Maybe some of the powers-that-be up there are scratching their chitinous chins thoughtfully, impressed that we have such men.
Oh, bullshit. Your total out-of-pocket expense that day was $20, but I assure you that taxes picked up the rest of the tab, and not the Good Health Fairies.
You can argue about whether socialized healthcare is more or less fair than private systems, but you absolutely cannot say that it's free.
Nah. The infringement will just get more and more obscure until everyone tires of it. Queue "Tie A Yellow Ribbon (remix w/ L'il Gassy)".
The problem was that I was made responsible for the thing, to the point that they flew me to DC for a week-long training course on installation and initial configuration. I was catching grief for not having it running, which is what caused the VP-round-trip escalation.
The DBA was just a jerk. :-)
I'm actually kind of pleasantly surprised by the second letter. They flat-out admit that they messed up and apologize for it. That's almost unheard of these days. Congratulations on a happy resolution.
Oh, and to the jackass who modded you "flamebait": WTF were you thinking?