I am told that Germany is the major non-US market for Hollywood.
And as Norm MacDonald once pointed out on Saturday Night Live's "news" segment, Germans love David Hasselhoff - and what could be more Hollywood than his Bay Watch?
In fact, it could be that the reason that earth occasionally swaps poles, is that the planets are really bits used in computing some cosmic calculation. Maybe the cosmos is already prototype of one of these devices.
Lots of us bitch and moan about these ridiculous patents and lots of us bitch and moan about how corporations are taking over the internet that used to "belong to us."
However, if these silly patents hold up and are enforced, perhaps it will slow over-commercialization of the internet as companies are forced to re-implment their infringing services.
It may also hurt those companies that hold some of these patents. By restricting the use of their "technology", the technology may fall into disuse.
If Jon Postel had patented the SMTP protocol, would internet email be ubiquitous today, or would several incompatible systems have proliferated instead?
A sales flyer in my Sunday paper advertises several Sony MP3 players with the line "Download music from the internet!" OK, so I exaggerated a little - Sony probably didn't write the ad, but they are well aware that they can make tons of money from MP3's - that's why they're making MP3 players.
For Sony to sue MP3.com is a little like the guy who kills his parents then asks the judge for mercy because he's an orphan.
IBM has a public gallery space in their NYC office. At one time there was some display of historical computers (made by IBM, of course.) You may want to contact them.
Let's see--cell phones might cause brain cancer. Unshielded cases are
generally located under the desk, so that means... I don't think I want to risk getting cancer THERE.:-O
I wouldn't sweat it - the radiation is inversely proportional to the square of the distance. So while the cell phone pressed against your head - about an inch from your brain - might be a worry, an unshielded PC is dozens of inches away from your 'nads.
For equal signal strengths at the source, twenty-four inches away is 1/576th the strength of one inch away.
If you're still worried, get some tin-foil underpants...
Vector graphics are great for producing scalable "cartoon-like" images, but what about photos? I thought I read once that fractal compression of an image allowed it to be reproduced at arbitrary scales (with an upper limit of its original resolution, of course.) I wonder if wavelet compression has a similar property. Does anyone know?
Incidentally, I think Kodak was once promoting an image file format/server software combo that would provide several levels of resolution, depending on what the client asked for. AFAIK, it didn't take off.
Funny you should bring up the Simpsons, since last night I saw a rerun of the Homer^3 episode, where Homer enters a 3-d world.
His comment, while standing around picking his nose, is "Boy, this sure looks expensive."
It's also a little ironic that you mentioned South Park. While that show was originally done with about as low-tech as you can get (cutting out construction paper, I heard,) it's now rendered on expensive machines with fancy software.
Does anyone remember Ralph Bakshi's animation from the 70's? Some of them were "Fritz The Cat", "American Pop", and "Wizards". One of his techniques (used to great effect in "American Pop") was to shoot live actors, then trace over their images for his animation. It was sort of a low-tech motion-capture, but it gave the movies a very warm, mature feel.
So Fox Animation Studios failed. That sucks for them, but then again, their movies sucked for us.
I work in a situation where we code on Unix all day, yet our PCs run Win95.
I feel your pain.
Before I switched to using XFree86 on Linux, I used a program called Ewan to connect to Unix machines. It appears to still be available. I liked it lots more than the Windows Telnet client, but I don't know how well it compares to any of the other programs mentioned. There's lots of links on Google matching "ewan telnet" so I didn't bother putting a link in this post.
This sounds like Abbott's "Flatland" meets Goedel's incompleteness theorem. Goedel's theorem states, roughly, that within an axiomatic system (satisfying some criteria that I've forgotten), there are statements that can be constructed which are true or false, but which cannot be proved to be so by those axioms.
It would be hard to apply this theorem to our observed universe, however, since we don't really know the set of axioms that determines the universe...
Can anyone whose math/logic is less rusty than mine elaborate?
You probably know about SETI At Home, which lets people volunteer spare CPU time to processing radio-telescope data, in a (so far vain) attempt to find extra-terrestrial intelligence. Is there a similar way that we can help process some of the data that you gather?
As a simple example, one could compute the differences between a sequence of pictures of the same portion of the sky, looking for anomalies like giant asterioids on their way to wiping us all out.
Here's a scenario I'm imagining: Joe Blow has insurance (through his job, say) and goes for a checkup, which includes some genetic screening. The test reveals a good chance of getting some condition that will be expensive to treat.
Later, Joe quits his job to go freelance, say, and has to buy his own insurance. Since the results of the earlier test are part of his record, no insurance company will take him, except at exorbitant rates which he can't afford.
Slashdot Mirror
And as Norm MacDonald once pointed out on Saturday Night Live's "news" segment, Germans love David Hasselhoff - and what could be more Hollywood than his Bay Watch?
LSD, from what I've heard.
What would a Beowulf cluster of these look like?
However, if these silly patents hold up and are enforced, perhaps it will slow over-commercialization of the internet as companies are forced to re-implment their infringing services.
It may also hurt those companies that hold some of these patents. By restricting the use of their "technology", the technology may fall into disuse.
If Jon Postel had patented the SMTP protocol, would internet email be ubiquitous today, or would several incompatible systems have proliferated instead?
I would consider inviting ESR to give the talk, as he has been giving this talk for years now.
Imagine dropping a textbook on the floor. You pick it up, find your page, and continue reading. Now imagine dropping your laptop...
For Sony to sue MP3.com is a little like the guy who kills his parents then asks the judge for mercy because he's an orphan.
IBM has a public gallery space in their NYC office. At one time there was some display of historical computers (made by IBM, of course.) You may want to contact them.
You're right - I should have said 'anonymnity,' which is different from 'privacy.'
much as some glasses guarantee that the wearer won't get anyone pregnant anytime soon
Heh. A friend in grad school used to call Birkenstock sandals "birth control shoes" for that reason...
Forget technology; what will rob you of your privacy is looking like a freak in a suit like this.
Those puppies will run hot enough that Intel had better get them out before the Spring thaw...
I wouldn't sweat it - the radiation is inversely proportional to the square of the distance. So while the cell phone pressed against your head - about an inch from your brain - might be a worry, an unshielded PC is dozens of inches away from your 'nads.
For equal signal strengths at the source, twenty-four inches away is 1/576th the strength of one inch away.
If you're still worried, get some tin-foil underpants...
Incidentally, I think Kodak was once promoting an image file format/server software combo that would provide several levels of resolution, depending on what the client asked for. AFAIK, it didn't take off.
cssmyass.com/org/net - up for grabs...
Another issue is that sometimes the Supreme Court decides not to hear an appeal, letting the lower court decision stand.
His comment, while standing around picking his nose, is "Boy, this sure looks expensive."
It's also a little ironic that you mentioned South Park. While that show was originally done with about as low-tech as you can get (cutting out construction paper, I heard,) it's now rendered on expensive machines with fancy software.
Does anyone remember Ralph Bakshi's animation from the 70's? Some of them were "Fritz The Cat", "American Pop", and "Wizards". One of his techniques (used to great effect in "American Pop") was to shoot live actors, then trace over their images for his animation. It was sort of a low-tech motion-capture, but it gave the movies a very warm, mature feel.
So Fox Animation Studios failed. That sucks for them, but then again, their movies sucked for us.
We have a phallo-centric/obsessed society over here. Up means on, down means off...
I feel your pain.
Before I switched to using XFree86 on Linux, I used a program called Ewan to connect to Unix machines. It appears to still be available. I liked it lots more than the Windows Telnet client, but I don't know how well it compares to any of the other programs mentioned. There's lots of links on Google matching "ewan telnet" so I didn't bother putting a link in this post.
It's probably too late for most readers, but I just saw the following update on CNN, in which NASA denies that the astronauts were ever in danger.
If NASA switches its astronauts to low-fat, low-salt crackers, then maybe their life functions won't be jeopardized.
It would be hard to apply this theorem to our observed universe, however, since we don't really know the set of axioms that determines the universe...
Can anyone whose math/logic is less rusty than mine elaborate?
As a simple example, one could compute the differences between a sequence of pictures of the same portion of the sky, looking for anomalies like giant asterioids on their way to wiping us all out.
I think the BFT-9000 is next...
Sounds like "Lost in Space" meets "Sanford and Son" - now there's a remake I'd pay $9.50 to see at the multiplex!
Later, Joe quits his job to go freelance, say, and has to buy his own insurance. Since the results of the earlier test are part of his record, no insurance company will take him, except at exorbitant rates which he can't afford.
I don't see that as a chicken and egg scenario.