Say that seizure or compulsory licensing is automatically triggered when a product is withdrawn from sale. If a vendor really wants to make a product unavailable then they will simply raise its price to an astronomical level. Nobody can afford it (or justify buying it) but it is still technically available. Do we now extend the seizure/compulsory licensing to situations where a price rises more than a given percentage in a given period?
That's like saying that male authors are inherently incapable of doing an adequate job of properly presenting female characters in books. It may be true for many male authors, but I can't believe that's true for all of them.
Just because the article author believes (rightly or wrongly) that it hasn't been done yet, doesn't mean that men are inherently incapable of doing it.
The author indicates that one of his problems is the noise from hard drives, even after decoupling them from the case using rubber mounts. Water cooling isn't going to fix that. He was trying for a solution that addresses all sources of sound, and isn't affected by upgrading or replacing the computer.
In TRON, Ed Dillinger (David Warner) had a large, black glass desk in his office. The keyboard was a glowing projection on the desk surface from inside the desk. It was very cool, but I had exactly the same thoughts about tactile feedback that many people are expressing here.
This obviously depends on the definition of "ordinary" and "the art". If "the art" is programming and "ordinary" is some kind of average ability, then when you factor in the number of people who can knock up a dodgy Excel macro then this obviously lowers the average to the point that a whole load of things won't be obvious.
On the other had, if "ordinary" means someone who has had a college education in the field (which seems to be a reasonable definition), and "the art" is AI, and then it does seem qualify as obvious.
This sounds remarkably like "The Grammar of Cookery" by Philip Harben - an excellent primer to how cookery works. From memory (the book is at home and I'm not) it too devotes separate chapters to how different things react to different methods of cooking (e.g. in meat roasting it explains that meat juices are forced to the surface of the meat where they are dried off by a blast of hot air). The introduction also explains that it doesn't cover the new method of cooking by radio waves, which is as yet unproven!
It's not on Amazon, although some of his other books are (more on.co.uk than.com) - listed as out of print.
I'll look foward to getting a copy and seeing if cooking has changed in the last 35 years!;-)
As an atom hits the BEC, it is absorbed into the collective state but still exists as a vibration. The vibration travels through the BEC but can escape as an atom once more.
So basically it's a quantum Executive Toy, right?:-) "The Bose-Einstein Condensate Simulator" sounds much cooler that "Cats Cradle" or whatever the doohicky with the swinging ball-bearings is called.
Peter.
Good timing for Palladium
on
Cyber-Attacks?
·
· Score: 2, Redundant
Of course, once all computer systems are run on Microsoft's forthcoming Palladium system then such attacks will be completely impossible. Obviously the correct response to this potential threat is to outlaw any OS that does not have Palladium security.
Microsoft could set up a Micropayments Program which authors could join for a small fee (smaller than MyServices.Net, one hopes). Microsoft could also keep a percententage for themselves, say 10%. Ker-ching!
Microsoft would have your credit card details, so it could debit you once monthly for all your surfing, and credit the authors once monthly. Because all the microdebits and microcredits are accumulated into larger monthly debits and credits we're not talking about lots of itty bitty credit card transactions.
Authors who want to be paid would probably sign up to the system in droves, leading in turn to a larger uptake of Passport.
One problem - common to any micropayment scheme - would be ensuring that users get value - think of micropayments crossed with infinite pop-up ads!
Well, I have a cablemodem and my ISP's Terms and Conditions clearly state that I'm not allowed to share my connection. This was probably because some neighbours string network cable between adjoining houses, but it's just as applicable for wireless.
You are responsible for what happens on your connection. If somebody uses your connection for something nasty (accessing illegal material, etc) then you could be in trouble.
I've been dying to go wireless, but I need to be sure that I *can* keep it secure.
Freely shared wireless networks are a lovely ideal, but be careful you don't get burned. Check your ISPs Terms and Conditions.
When I was at school (say about 17) I spent every break in the computer lab, and thought I was enjoying myself, but I wasn't really stretching myself - I was more in the habit of going and tinkering than actually getting on and doing something fun.
About this time I started getting pain in the back of my hands down over my fingers. I found it hard to hold a pen or type. It was painful, it was real. It wasn't happening 100% of the time - it came and went, but bouts could last all day.
Then one day, when my hands had been fine all morning, I went to the computer lab for break. At the exact instant I passed through the door of the lab, pain shot down the back of both hands. I stopped, stunned, looked down at my hands and said "You b*st*rds". For the pain to have happened at that point it could only be stress. The pain went and didn't come back until years later - at which point I realised I was stressed out and (while not typing less) took steps to organise myself and remove stress - hey presto the pain went away.
So it is painful. It is real. It can be crippling. And I am prepared to believe that for many people it's not psychological. But for me - and I'm sure many others - it is.
I've heard that "a writer writes, always" (OK, I heard it on "Throw Momma from the Train") but it's a good cure for me when I'm blocked. If I'm getting analysis paralysis then I find that just diving in is a good way to get unblocked, find out some of the non-obvious issues, and THEN go back and design the solution properly.
To be honest, once I've dived in and actually got some code written that's usually enough to shift my block. The last six months (since I figured this out) have been my most productive for years.
Remember the film "The Blob"? Wasn't this how it all got started? The scientists/military decided it would be cool to throw a lot of microbes etc in a small satellite/probe/rocket and see what exposure to space did to them?
Mind you, seeing how no Astronaut has yet come back large, strong and scaly or with the ability to stretch like elastic, flame on, or go invisible I reckon we're pretty safe.
I saw a documentary a year or so ago which said that Grissom died in the fire on the Apollo 1 because the hatch could not be opened fast enough to save them.
The hatch had been redesigned just before the incident so that it would take at least 15 seconds (or something like that) to open, thus preventing the possibility of the hatch being opened accidentally, or by a panicked crew member before they could be restrained.
The tragic irony was that Grissom had insisted on the redesign himself. He was a great man and a sad loss.
What's the betting that Jar Jar matures and becomes a Jedi, only to be killed off dramatically toward the end of the third film? And we'll be sorry to see it happen!
The 'reclining' picture immediately reminded me of Bill Bixby about to be zapped into the Incredible Hulk! Now THERE'S an association you want in your advertising - the ultimate industrial accident!
I saw an article recently (on Wired, I think, but I can't find it) how somebody had figured a way to transfer whole movies over the modem in an hour or two. You pick the film and it's securely transmitted.
They should get together with the Replay people - the replay box sounds like the ideal device to store and play the movie.
Slashdot Mirror
OK, I'll bite.
Say that seizure or compulsory licensing is automatically triggered when a product is withdrawn from sale. If a vendor really wants to make a product unavailable then they will simply raise its price to an astronomical level. Nobody can afford it (or justify buying it) but it is still technically available. Do we now extend the seizure/compulsory licensing to situations where a price rises more than a given percentage in a given period?
Build a three-sided pyramid.
That's like saying that male authors are inherently incapable of doing an adequate job of properly presenting female characters in books. It may be true for many male authors, but I can't believe that's true for all of them.
Just because the article author believes (rightly or wrongly) that it hasn't been done yet, doesn't mean that men are inherently incapable of doing it.
The author indicates that one of his problems is the noise from hard drives, even after decoupling them from the case using rubber mounts. Water cooling isn't going to fix that. He was trying for a solution that addresses all sources of sound, and isn't affected by upgrading or replacing the computer.
As in "Vita Severn". So - they're expecting it to be assassainated? By SCO?
Where's Spider Jerusalem when you need him? Probably out slaughtering mutant dogs...
She will probably be able to buy something better at the same price, or roughly equivalent at a cheaper price, once she is there.
In TRON, Ed Dillinger (David Warner) had a large, black glass desk in his office. The keyboard was a glowing projection on the desk surface from inside the desk. It was very cool, but I had exactly the same thoughts about tactile feedback that many people are expressing here.
Peter.
While you're at it, if you've got three large servers you can call them Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar, and collectively "The Magi".
And major system problems can henceforth be named/numbered after the Angels. "Uh oh - the Second Angel has attacked."
OK, OK, I've just been watching Neon Genesis Evangelion. I'll go and lie down now...
This obviously depends on the definition of "ordinary" and "the art". If "the art" is programming and "ordinary" is some kind of average ability, then when you factor in the number of people who can knock up a dodgy Excel macro then this obviously lowers the average to the point that a whole load of things won't be obvious.
On the other had, if "ordinary" means someone who has had a college education in the field (which seems to be a reasonable definition), and "the art" is AI, and then it does seem qualify as obvious.
I remembered the name and looked it up on the web. Here's the URL: http://www.yatoopartoo.com/.
Here's a good close-up of the machine.
And here's the window.
I'd love to see one of these at London Waterloo station.
- Peter.
It's not on Amazon, although some of his other books are (more on .co.uk than .com) - listed as out of print.
I'll look foward to getting a copy and seeing if cooking has changed in the last 35 years! ;-)
As an atom hits the BEC, it is absorbed into the collective state but still exists as a vibration. The vibration travels through the BEC but can escape as an atom once more.
So basically it's a quantum Executive Toy, right? :-)
Peter."The Bose-Einstein Condensate Simulator" sounds much cooler that "Cats Cradle" or whatever the doohicky with the swinging ball-bearings is called.
Of course, once all computer systems are run on Microsoft's forthcoming Palladium system then such attacks will be completely impossible. Obviously the correct response to this potential threat is to outlaw any OS that does not have Palladium security.
This could be the killer app for Passport.
Microsoft could set up a Micropayments Program which authors could join for a small fee (smaller than MyServices.Net, one hopes). Microsoft could also keep a percententage for themselves, say 10%. Ker-ching!
Microsoft would have your credit card details, so it could debit you once monthly for all your surfing, and credit the authors once monthly. Because all the microdebits and microcredits are accumulated into larger monthly debits and credits we're not talking about lots of itty bitty credit card transactions.
Authors who want to be paid would probably sign up to the system in droves, leading in turn to a larger uptake of Passport.
One problem - common to any micropayment scheme - would be ensuring that users get value - think of micropayments crossed with infinite pop-up ads!
Peter.
Well, I have a cablemodem and my ISP's Terms and Conditions clearly state that I'm not allowed to share my connection. This was probably because some neighbours string network cable between adjoining houses, but it's just as applicable for wireless.
You are responsible for what happens on your connection. If somebody uses your connection for something nasty (accessing illegal material, etc) then you could be in trouble.
I've been dying to go wireless, but I need to be sure that I *can* keep it secure.
Freely shared wireless networks are a lovely ideal, but be careful you don't get burned. Check your ISPs Terms and Conditions.
Paranoid Pete.
When I was at school (say about 17) I spent every break in the computer lab, and thought I was enjoying myself, but I wasn't really stretching myself - I was more in the habit of going and tinkering than actually getting on and doing something fun.
About this time I started getting pain in the back of my hands down over my fingers. I found it hard to hold a pen or type. It was painful, it was real. It wasn't happening 100% of the time - it came and went, but bouts could last all day.
Then one day, when my hands had been fine all morning, I went to the computer lab for break. At the exact instant I passed through the door of the lab, pain shot down the back of both hands. I stopped, stunned, looked down at my hands and said "You b*st*rds". For the pain to have happened at that point it could only be stress. The pain went and didn't come back until years later - at which point I realised I was stressed out and (while not typing less) took steps to organise myself and remove stress - hey presto the pain went away.
So it is painful. It is real. It can be crippling. And I am prepared to believe that for many people it's not psychological. But for me - and I'm sure many others - it is.
Peter.
(Now 29, very busy Software Engineer, RSI-free).
I've heard that "a writer writes, always" (OK, I heard it on "Throw Momma from the Train") but it's a good cure for me when I'm blocked. If I'm getting analysis paralysis then I find that just diving in is a good way to get unblocked, find out some of the non-obvious issues, and THEN go back and design the solution properly.
To be honest, once I've dived in and actually got some code written that's usually enough to shift my block. The last six months (since I figured this out) have been my most productive for years.
Remember the film "The Blob"? Wasn't this how it all got started? The scientists/military decided it would be cool to throw a lot of microbes etc in a small satellite/probe/rocket and see what exposure to space did to them?
Mind you, seeing how no Astronaut has yet come back large, strong and scaly or with the ability to stretch like elastic, flame on, or go invisible I reckon we're pretty safe.
Of course, IANAS (I Am Not A Scientist).
I saw a documentary a year or so ago which said that Grissom died in the fire on the Apollo 1 because the hatch could not be opened fast enough to save them.
The hatch had been redesigned just before the incident so that it would take at least 15 seconds (or something like that) to open, thus preventing the possibility of the hatch being opened accidentally, or by a panicked crew member before they could be restrained.
The tragic irony was that Grissom had insisted on the redesign himself. He was a great man and a sad loss.
What's the betting that Jar Jar matures and becomes a Jedi, only to be killed off dramatically toward the end of the third film? And we'll be sorry to see it happen!
The 'reclining' picture immediately reminded me of Bill Bixby about to be zapped into the Incredible Hulk! Now THERE'S an association you want in your advertising - the ultimate industrial accident!
I saw an article recently (on Wired, I think, but I can't find it) how somebody had figured a way to transfer whole movies over the modem in an hour or two. You pick the film and it's securely transmitted.
They should get together with the Replay people - the replay box sounds like the ideal device to store and play the movie.
PTDC
I think both sites make the point in their FAQs that if you put a VCR between the box and the TV then you can transfer stuff from memory to tape.
True it's not ideal, and transfer would take as long as the programme's duration, but you're not restricted.
PTDC