I'd be sceptical about any claims in this piece about "highly classified documents"... surely this is something the guys in grey suits would love to see as it gives them the perfect ammunition to enact all kinds of new and exciting laws. Buying a router? register with your local cop shop. Using an IP address? register with your local cop shop... Here in NZ we're getting new laws to deal with criminals using technology because apparently it's going to be a big issue one day. One day. I asked how many crimes were committed using text messaging or email and the answer is: none. Not one. Which begs the question: why are these laws necessary yet? It's not like govts have a good track record on being pro-active when it comes to legislation so why this time? I know I'm preaching to the choir here... well, some of you anyway.
It's simple: in Japan, Europe, Australia, New Zealand etc... you only pay to call someone, not to receive a call. I understand most Americans are reluctant to give out their cellphone numbers because you pay to receive calls as well. This is stupid. Also, the US has a large culture of pager use that just hasn't taken off anywhere else in the world. We have cellphones with SMS capability to do the same thing. Forget combining the two products - they're already combined.
There are five stages to owning a mobile phone: This presumes you've got one to make use of it, not to just so you can say you have one. 1: Buy the phone. Many people think this is the only thing they have to do. It's not. 2: Carry the damned thing with you everywhere. Most fall over at this point because they do things like only carry the phone to work or whatever - if it's not with you AT ALL TIMES then people won't get used to reaching you on it. This stage is tricky because you carry it everywhere even when it doesn't ring, and it won't for ages until: 3: Don't be afraid to give out your number to everyone. EVERYONE. Once you've done this you'll actually start receiving calls - it's only at this point you'll be seeing the benefit of having the phone. 4: Don't be afraid to MAKE calls on your phone. The more you use it the more you'll be contacted on your phone.
The award is "best in show" and that says to me that it's not the best game of the year or even best game but the best thing at the show... that which most people talked about and wanted to see, which it probably was.
to quote: "The buzz generated by this early show made Doom III the indisputable 'must see' of E3 2002"
of course, the stupid statement then does call it the best 'game of show' dammit... just ignore that bit.
it's a Russell Hobbs coffee grinder but the book is so funny I read it from cover to cover... "count to five when grinding.. better to do so in your head or people will think you're a bit odd..." or something like that. bloody good.
disclaimer: IANAL and IANAA (I am not an American) and am asking ONLY to find out how it works, not to imply anything at all about anyone's legal system.
Right.
First - do US courts award costs against companies? Here in New Zealand judges will regularly force whoever brings stupid/frivolous law suits to pay the costs of whoever was forced to defend themselves against such practices.
Second - isn't there some kind of lawyer's association/bar or something that could be of help here? Surely the lawyer that drafted these letters realises they're basically commiting fraud - demanding money with menaces or something similar?
Good point well made - you do need to consider running multiple servers for redundany and a blended environment, with both fat and thin client gives you the best of both worlds: run the graphic-intensive stuff on the fat and email etc on the thin... can all be done on your existing hardware...
It depends on what kind of apps you're running but have you considered dumping client/server entirely and opting for thin client (or server-based computing, whatever they call it these days) instead? TCO is much less and so long as the apps aren't highly graphical you can cheerfully run all you need using the machines you've already got. Citrix MetaFrame would be a good starting point (disclaimer: I'm not an employee, I've just done a TCO white paper and thin client came out heaps cheaper than client/server based architecture).
Well the NEO site seems to be having a few technical hitches... so much for JPL pointing us in the right direction:
but New Scientist comes to the rescue... pointing out the whole story days before CNN had it: .. if only we could harness the power of the slashdot effect for good...
The Infoworld story quoted is from December 2000 and is about a different Flash worm entirely... This new Flash virus is quite different and isn't in the wild yet.
Stand down, nothing to see here, move along...
THIS IS NOT FLAMEBAIT MORONS
on
Battlefield Lasers
·
· Score: 0, Flamebait
I don't know the poster but what he says makes sense... I have a funny feeling it's been marked down as flamebait simply because it casts the US military in what could be perceived to be a bad light and that's a big fat no-no at the moment.
Friedly fire, and the blocking of it, are important issues for any soldier regardless of which side they're on.
These FF casualties seem so outrageous because of the way the US fights wars these days - from a safe distance. We see very few actual casualties caused by the other side because the US is so careful with its soldiers, but that makes the relatively few casualties we do see seem so high.
Can you imagine invading a country, any country 30 years ago and having fewer than 10 combat deaths on one side for the thousands on the other? It wouldn't/couldn't have happened.
Being able to shoot down errant bombs would be a great boon, however I don't think this system would cope with that any more than a ground2air missile would today but it's NOT flamebait to suggest it.
Sounds like Bruce enjoyed working on Jack (filmed in New Zealand by the way!)because of the freedom to be creative. How is it that so many actors/writers/creator types say this - isn't creativity the core of their jobs? Why do the bosses hire creative people and then expect them to be well, dull?
I guess it's similar in any job - hands up all those who got hired to do one thing and then get stopped doing that by their bosses? Maybe it's a nerd thing.
Thank crap for that... my connection was down and I couldn't post John Brunner! John Brunner! like I wanted.
Every so often I get out my (battered) copy of Shockwave Rider and marvel at how accurate it is - issues of privacy (or lack of) in an age where we as a people are stronger because of technology but are poorer as individuals because of its pseudo-omnipotent power of observation. Astonishing insight coming from the mid 70s.
Favourite quote (misquoted here I'm sure)
"First came the leg race, then came the arms race, next comes the brain race and if we survive that finally we'll have the human race".
I seem to remember reading something along those lines as well...
I do know that Terry Pratchett has included in his will (well, his literary will - apparently you need one of those) that NOBODY is to finish anything he's half way through and any unfinished work is NOT to be published (literally over his dead body)which I think is fair enough... Writing is an odd business and I don't imagine each chapter is carefully crafted and honed before the author moves on to the next... it would be a rough draft/first walk through kind of thing.
Mind you, it could give great insight into the workings of a writer... I'd pay for that I think.
First: distributed computing achieving something great. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for SETI, I've got it running on both my machines... but being able to advance science be it math or cancer research or whatever is astonishingly cool.
Second: it's entertaining to think we can prove our intelligence to another species by sending them proof that we've cracked a prime... If they're astonishingly more advanced than us they'll look at it as being quaint and if they're not they'll look at it as something they can't understand. How would we react if something landed that proclaimed how smart the sender was?
Of course, if they're "looking" at the wrong frequency or in the wrong band they won't see it at all... so many assumptions... so little time.
I hate to mention it because it runs WinCE but what about a Hewlett-Packard Jornada sub notebook. You don't need speed, so you're in... and you want battery life uber alles, and that's what this wee puppy does... days of battery life, not hours. Smaller than average so if you get carpal you could be in trouble but otherwise I found I could just (JUST) touchtype on the damned thing...
but if power's your issue, check it out.
I'm a journalist working for IDGNet in New Zealand. We IT writers do come in for a lot of crap because of our seemingly loose ethical standards. We accept vendor-paid trips to conferences and events, lunches to "discuss" important issues (like desert), toys to "review" often on long-term basis and so on. Business reporters have a duty to report the truth in an unbiased manner and they often list their investments/involvements with the companies they write about. It IT we tend to miss out that step and not reveal our prejudices and that's wrong. But at the same time I know a lot of reporters who are very principled - more so than some of the plonkers we interview and write about. We dig the dirt out as and where we can - I remember being told it's a journalist's duty to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted. Don't know if it's true but we are required to be skeptical about as much as we possibly can, to view it from that other angle to see if what we're being told (and sold) stacks up... It's not as simple as reading the press release and calling the people listed and asking them to repeat what they've already said - leave that to TV thanks... online journalism has a long way to go before people will trust it implicitly but then so does newspaper, radio and TV journalism. I think we virtual reporters have the best job in the world - I get paid to play with things and keep up to date on something I care about.. it's fantastic. But there are dangers out there and this rant does point them out quite nicely.
Be skeptical - it's all that stands between us and the PR crap.
I know the reporter who wrote the story and this is the un-subbed version... She's added in this paragraph instead
Quantum computing uses the properties of quantum physics to perform calculations. The basic unit of computation used is the qubit, or quantum bit. Unlike classical bits the qubit is not just 0 to 1 but is in a superposition of both. In other words, it is both on and off at the same time.
While the classical digital byte can store any number between 0 and 255 using all of its eight bits, it can only represent one of those numbers at a time. But a qubyte can be all of the numbers between 0 and 255 simultaneously.
This allows much more information to be stored on a quantum bit than a classical bit, and allows massively parallel processing on a quantum scale. One calculation can give the answer for all the numbers on the byte at the same time, according to an explanation posted on the MIT Web site. In other words, for each clock cycle a quantum computer could perform 256 calculations in the same time a digital computer can perform just one.
CNN have the older version up... the correction should be along shortly.
BBC TV has a show called Meet the Ancestors that showed a blacksmith in Britain doing just this - making a sword the old way with much folding and beating and so on. When he was done the blade was left with an amazing sheen to it, just like oil on water as described in the Chicago Tribune piece. More on the TV show here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/archaeology /i ndex.shtml
Personally I'm more keen on finding out about the way the Japanese made their blades - Miyamoto Musashi and his ilk... I'm no sword nerd but crikey! they were gorgeous.
Terry Pratchett (he of the Discworld books)has clearly said this will NOT happen to him - he has appointed a "literary executor" to basically wipe his harddrive the moment he pops his clogs. I heard him answer a question on this (for some reason) at a book signing and he said nobody would be finishing off any book he'd started... or publishing the half a book if there was such a thing.
The whole thing is a: bizarre and b: stupid but seems to be a byproduct of the whole copyright/trade mark law. If you don't defend your copyright vigorously you lose the rights to it. YoYo lost, as an example, and so companies are seriously keen on defending names like Jeep, Walkman and so on. I guess some just go toooooo far... Spike Lee had trouble with Malcolm X because all the merchandising (of Malcolm X fer crying out loud) had a giant X on it and nothing else. You can't TM a letter...
Slashdot Mirror
I'd be sceptical about any claims in this piece about "highly classified documents"... surely this is something the guys in grey suits would love to see as it gives them the perfect ammunition to enact all kinds of new and exciting laws. Buying a router? register with your local cop shop. Using an IP address? register with your local cop shop... Here in NZ we're getting new laws to deal with criminals using technology because apparently it's going to be a big issue one day. One day. I asked how many crimes were committed using text messaging or email and the answer is: none. Not one. Which begs the question: why are these laws necessary yet? It's not like govts have a good track record on being pro-active when it comes to legislation so why this time? ... well, some of you anyway.
I know I'm preaching to the choir here
It's simple: in Japan, Europe, Australia, New Zealand etc... you only pay to call someone, not to receive a call. I understand most Americans are reluctant to give out their cellphone numbers because you pay to receive calls as well.
This is stupid.
Also, the US has a large culture of pager use that just hasn't taken off anywhere else in the world. We have cellphones with SMS capability to do the same thing. Forget combining the two products - they're already combined.
There are five stages to owning a mobile phone: This presumes you've got one to make use of it, not to just so you can say you have one.
1: Buy the phone. Many people think this is the only thing they have to do. It's not.
2: Carry the damned thing with you everywhere. Most fall over at this point because they do things like only carry the phone to work or whatever - if it's not with you AT ALL TIMES then people won't get used to reaching you on it. This stage is tricky because you carry it everywhere even when it doesn't ring, and it won't for ages until:
3: Don't be afraid to give out your number to everyone. EVERYONE. Once you've done this you'll actually start receiving calls - it's only at this point you'll be seeing the benefit of having the phone.
4: Don't be afraid to MAKE calls on your phone. The more you use it the more you'll be contacted on your phone.
and now I read further I see they do actually give it a separate best game award...
stupid stupid... moronic...
go about your business, nothing to see here.
The award is "best in show" and that says to me that it's not the best game of the year or even best game but the best thing at the show... that which most people talked about and wanted to see, which it probably was.
to quote:
"The buzz generated by this early show made Doom III the indisputable 'must see' of E3 2002"
of course, the stupid statement then does call it the best 'game of show' dammit... just ignore that bit.
it's a Russell Hobbs coffee grinder but the book is so funny I read it from cover to cover ... "count to five when grinding.. better to do so in your head or people will think you're a bit odd..." or something like that. bloody good.
disclaimer: IANAL and IANAA (I am not an American) and am asking ONLY to find out how it works, not to imply anything at all about anyone's legal system.
Right.
First - do US courts award costs against companies? Here in New Zealand judges will regularly force whoever brings stupid/frivolous law suits to pay the costs of whoever was forced to defend themselves against such practices.
Second - isn't there some kind of lawyer's association/bar or something that could be of help here? Surely the lawyer that drafted these letters realises they're basically commiting fraud - demanding money with menaces or something similar?
Good point well made - you do need to consider running multiple servers for redundany and a blended environment, with both fat and thin client gives you the best of both worlds: run the graphic-intensive stuff on the fat and email etc on the thin ... can all be done on your existing hardware...
It depends on what kind of apps you're running but have you considered dumping client/server entirely and opting for thin client (or server-based computing, whatever they call it these days) instead? TCO is much less and so long as the apps aren't highly graphical you can cheerfully run all you need using the machines you've already got. Citrix MetaFrame would be a good starting point (disclaimer: I'm not an employee, I've just done a TCO white paper and thin client came out heaps cheaper than client/server based architecture).
dunno what happened there... something ate my links!i d=ns999 92052
New Scientist story here:
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?
JPL near earth orbit site here: but for the lack of anything actually on the site...
http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/ca_home.html
Well the NEO site seems to be having a few technical hitches... so much for JPL pointing us in the right direction:
but New Scientist comes to the rescue... pointing out the whole story days before CNN had it:
..
if only we could harness the power of the slashdot effect for good...
dammit, you're all right.
glad I didn't carve THAT on the moon though...
The Tick can NEVER be cancelled because the Tick is INDESTRUCTABLE!
all I can say is: grip too tight. Must... Break... Free...
I always go to buy his books but then get intimidated by how "intelligent" and "interesting" they seem.
So I bought Dan Simmons instead.
The Infoworld story quoted is from December 2000 and is about a different Flash worm entirely ... This new Flash virus is quite different and isn't in the wild yet.
Stand down, nothing to see here, move along...
I don't know the poster but what he says makes sense... I have a funny feeling it's been marked down as flamebait simply because it casts the US military in what could be perceived to be a bad light and that's a big fat no-no at the moment.
Friedly fire, and the blocking of it, are important issues for any soldier regardless of which side they're on.
These FF casualties seem so outrageous because of the way the US fights wars these days - from a safe distance. We see very few actual casualties caused by the other side because the US is so careful with its soldiers, but that makes the relatively few casualties we do see seem so high.
Can you imagine invading a country, any country 30 years ago and having fewer than 10 combat deaths on one side for the thousands on the other? It wouldn't/couldn't have happened.
Being able to shoot down errant bombs would be a great boon, however I don't think this system would cope with that any more than a ground2air missile would today but it's NOT flamebait to suggest it.
Sounds like Bruce enjoyed working on Jack (filmed in New Zealand by the way!)because of the freedom to be creative. How is it that so many actors/writers/creator types say this - isn't creativity the core of their jobs? Why do the bosses hire creative people and then expect them to be well, dull?
I guess it's similar in any job - hands up all those who got hired to do one thing and then get stopped doing that by their bosses? Maybe it's a nerd thing.
Thank crap for that ... my connection was down and I couldn't post John Brunner! John Brunner! like I wanted.
Every so often I get out my (battered) copy of Shockwave Rider and marvel at how accurate it is - issues of privacy (or lack of) in an age where we as a people are stronger because of technology but are poorer as individuals because of its pseudo-omnipotent power of observation. Astonishing insight coming from the mid 70s.
Favourite quote (misquoted here I'm sure)
"First came the leg race, then came the arms race, next comes the brain race and if we survive that finally we'll have the human race".
I seem to remember reading something along those lines as well...
I do know that Terry Pratchett has included in his will (well, his literary will - apparently you need one of those) that NOBODY is to finish anything he's half way through and any unfinished work is NOT to be published (literally over his dead body)which I think is fair enough... Writing is an odd business and I don't imagine each chapter is carefully crafted and honed before the author moves on to the next... it would be a rough draft/first walk through kind of thing.
Mind you, it could give great insight into the workings of a writer... I'd pay for that I think.
First: distributed computing achieving something great. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for SETI, I've got it running on both my machines ... but being able to advance science be it math or cancer research or whatever is astonishingly cool.
... If they're astonishingly more advanced than us they'll look at it as being quaint and if they're not they'll look at it as something they can't understand. How would we react if something landed that proclaimed how smart the sender was?
Second: it's entertaining to think we can prove our intelligence to another species by sending them proof that we've cracked a prime
Of course, if they're "looking" at the wrong frequency or in the wrong band they won't see it at all... so many assumptions... so little time.
I hate to mention it because it runs WinCE but what about a Hewlett-Packard Jornada sub notebook. You don't need speed, so you're in... and you want battery life uber alles, and that's what this wee puppy does... days of battery life, not hours. Smaller than average so if you get carpal you could be in trouble but otherwise I found I could just (JUST) touchtype on the damned thing...
but if power's your issue, check it out.
I'm a journalist working for IDGNet in New Zealand. We IT writers do come in for a lot of crap because of our seemingly loose ethical standards. We accept vendor-paid trips to conferences and events, lunches to "discuss" important issues (like desert), toys to "review" often on long-term basis and so on. Business reporters have a duty to report the truth in an unbiased manner and they often list their investments/involvements with the companies they write about. It IT we tend to miss out that step and not reveal our prejudices and that's wrong. But at the same time I know a lot of reporters who are very principled - more so than some of the plonkers we interview and write about. We dig the dirt out as and where we can - I remember being told it's a journalist's duty to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted. Don't know if it's true but we are required to be skeptical about as much as we possibly can, to view it from that other angle to see if what we're being told (and sold) stacks up... It's not as simple as reading the press release and calling the people listed and asking them to repeat what they've already said - leave that to TV thanks... online journalism has a long way to go before people will trust it implicitly but then so does newspaper, radio and TV journalism. I think we virtual reporters have the best job in the world - I get paid to play with things and keep up to date on something I care about.. it's fantastic. But there are dangers out there and this rant does point them out quite nicely.
Be skeptical - it's all that stands between us and the PR crap.
I know the reporter who wrote the story and this is the un-subbed version... She's added in this paragraph instead
Quantum computing uses the properties of quantum physics to perform calculations. The basic unit of computation used is the qubit, or quantum bit. Unlike classical bits the qubit is not just 0 to 1 but is in a superposition of both. In other words, it is both on and off at the same time.
While the classical digital byte can store any number between 0 and 255 using all of its eight bits, it can only represent one of those numbers at a time. But a qubyte can be all of the numbers between 0 and 255 simultaneously.
This allows much more information to be stored on a quantum bit than a classical bit, and allows massively parallel processing on a quantum scale. One calculation can give the answer for all the numbers on the byte at the same time, according to an explanation posted on the MIT Web site. In other words, for each clock cycle a quantum computer could perform 256 calculations in the same time a digital computer can perform just one.
CNN have the older version up... the correction should be along shortly.
BBC TV has a show called Meet the Ancestors that showed a blacksmith in Britain doing just this - making a sword the old way with much folding and beating and so on. When he was done the blade was left with an amazing sheen to it, just like oil on water as described in the Chicago Tribune piece. More on the TV show here:y /i ndex.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/archaeolog
Personally I'm more keen on finding out about the way the Japanese made their blades - Miyamoto Musashi and his ilk... I'm no sword nerd but crikey! they were gorgeous.
Terry Pratchett (he of the Discworld books)has clearly said this will NOT happen to him - he has appointed a "literary executor" to basically wipe his harddrive the moment he pops his clogs. I heard him answer a question on this (for some reason) at a book signing and he said nobody would be finishing off any book he'd started... or publishing the half a book if there was such a thing.
Me either but it's a good letter don't you think?
The whole thing is a: bizarre and b: stupid but seems to be a byproduct of the whole copyright/trade mark law. If you don't defend your copyright vigorously you lose the rights to it. YoYo lost, as an example, and so companies are seriously keen on defending names like Jeep, Walkman and so on. I guess some just go toooooo far... Spike Lee had trouble with Malcolm X because all the merchandising (of Malcolm X fer crying out loud) had a giant X on it and nothing else. You can't TM a letter...