The patent is for technology which transmits data through the magnetic fields surrounding power lines, NOT through the power line itself. From what I could glean on the Net, the physicist who invented this took a new approach and completely bypassed the problems of transformers and filters and everything else which affects the actual electric signal.
Not being a physicist myself, I can't evaluate the technology. Apparently, others on slashdot are physicists who are intimately familiar with magnetic fields/microwave interactions over the power grid and should call this guy up and let him know his idea is daft.
Of course, the whole thing could be a scam, but what I've seen is consistent and doesn't contradict what I do know about physics.
This article goes over a lot of fairly well known concerns with genetic engineering. These issues are being thought about by a lot of people. Meanwhile, the Human Genome Project continues along with a lot of other research into genetic engineering. At this point, we see lots of possibilities for this technology, some good, some bad. While it's important to look ahead and think about how to use this technology, there isn't any way to really predict what genetic engineering will really be used for and how well it will work. A couple of times in this article, Katz mentions that there isn't any political debate about what's going on. I don't see how that matters. The last thing I'd want would be to have a bunch of politicians or the "public" trying to run research labs. Society as a whole will figure out what to do with any new technology. There will be mistakes and bad things will happen. But it will get figured out and there isn't really any way to figure it out and avoid all the pitfalls without diving in and working on it. I'm sure that we can all construct all kinds of horrible scenarios and horrible abuses for any kind of technology. Big deal... what's important is how the technology will help. Believe it or not, most people aren't evil and a lot of politicians really are sincerely trying to help. That goes for CEOs, too. Again, you can find examples of politicians and large companies doing bad things but they also do good things.
So, it's good to debate the uses of new technology, but instead of writing a long article with no real content, Katz could have accomplished the same thing by just saying, "Let's debate genetic engineering..." and saved everyone a lot of time.
Bolie IV
Re:OK, I'll complain about some too
on
Dumb Laws
·
· Score: 1
Even modern disk brakes can overheat and fail. This is mostly a problem in the mountains which is why many mountain roads warn you to shift into low gear while going downhill. Drum brakes had more of a problem, it's true, but coasting downhill could quickly get you going fast enough that you couldn't safely get back into gear and sudden hard braking could cause you to lose control.
Bolie IV
Re:Dumbest Quebec law: colour of margarine
on
Dumb Laws
·
· Score: 1
I have heard that in the United States something similar was done. Margarine was almost brown in most places. That has evidently changed, though, as now margerine is almost indistinguishable from butter.
Laws against leaving cars running aren't so stupid. I know some places are passing laws against leaving trucks idling for longer than so many minutes when making deliveries and are banning drive throughs. All of this is to reduce pollution.
Leaving an unattended vehicle running is dangerous and should also probably be illegal.
Bolie IV
Re:oral sex angers the christian god!
on
Dumb Laws
·
· Score: 1
The old law doesn't apply to Gentiles with a very few exceptions (four, I believe). Just read Acts, in the new Testament.
If you read the Gospels, you'll see that Jesus was against a strict interpretation of the law and for following the spirit.
Bolie IV
Re:Some of these aren't so dumb!
on
Dumb Laws
·
· Score: 1
In Germany, it's illegal to turn right on a red light. I didn't find this a very difficult rule to follow (even though it's legal in Texas, where I'm from). The time you wait at a red light isn't really going to make much of a difference and it is safer to not have people turn into a flow of traffic. Of course, I did feel silly sometimes late at night sitting at a light wanting to turn right with no traffic in sight...
Wal-Mart stores would shut down and go away if no one shopped at them. If a Wal-Mart opened in Bangladesh, it would most likely hire people in Bangladesh to work at it. It would also most likely require local materials and laborers to build it. Wal-Mart also does not generally take money away from people. It generally only gets money when people go there and buy things they want. Often, Wal-Mart has lower prices than local mom-and-pop shops which allows people to buy more. The down side is that mom-and-pop shops are friendlier and more flexible, but that's a choice that people make when they shop at Wal-Mart.
When you demonize Wal-Mart, don't forget to include the consumers without whom it would be out of business.
Wow... this is one of the most blatant examples of Internet/geek community arrogance I've seen. I've worked as a sysadmin and as an engineer and I know quite a number of people in quite a number of fields and I have not noticed that any one particular group is generally more intelligent than any other. I certainly haven't noticed that people on the Internet are particularly intelligent.
Right now, I'm working at an engineering company with a number of engineers who range in age, experience, and familiarity with the Internet. While many of the intelligent ones have figured out how to use computers to help them engineer, many of them aren't particularly interested in computers or the Internet.
The engineering work we do requires a lot of problem solving, spatial visualisation, and understanding of physical stresses and fluid flows. It's not easy and requires a certain kind of thinking that many people can't do.
The auto industry is currently spending a lot of money and has many talented people working on ways to make cars more efficient. If they could charge $100,000 for a car, they could already build them. They are limited by government regulations, the market, and physics. Automotive engineers aren't a bunch of morons stumbling around in the dark waiting for some Internet guru to point out the solution to their problems. While many people think that there is some big conspiracy between auto companies and oil companies to keep gas prices up and sell big cars, any auto company would love to develop technology which reduced their dependency on gas and gave them an edge over the others.
I love computers and the Internet and think that a lot of the research being done is really cool. I just want to point out that there are plenty of smart people who are doing other things, some using computers, some not.
This is not intended to be inflammatory but is a response to an attitude I've seen more and more frequently.
In the case of Microsoft or any other monopolistic company, the prices they charge are higher than the free market (efficient) price.
Companies don't generally price goods and services based on the cost. They price based on the market. As long as the price they can charge in the market will cover their unit costs, then they'll sell product or services.
Piracy doesn't directly increase the PRICE but it does increase the COST. The response can be a price increase, exiting the market, etc... depending on how much the cost increase is.
Putting a dollar value on software piracy is tricky, though. You can't just count the number of illegal copies around and multiply that by the price. You have to take into account the fact that some number of illegal users wouldn't use the product at all.
Of course you'll be believing the studies because eye-witness accounts are notorious inaccurate. I can't count the times I've been told Urban Legends as though they happened to the person telling them to me... or their sister or brother.
Glad to see another sensible person online...
(If you read a lot of the testimonials posted here, you'll not that many of the typists weren't skilled before they learned Dvorak)
Actually, an athiest is one who believes in a lack of God. I've checked a number of dictionaries and all agree. The only people I can find who consistently disagree with this are so-called athiests. An agnostic, from what I can find in dictionaries, is one who believes that the existence of God is unknowable.
Driver license data is already digitally stored in databases. The only change would be having the number in an easily computer scanned format. My Texas driver's license already has a magnetic barcode. I'm not sure what's on it and no one has actually used it for anything, yet, but I'd bet it at least has my driver's license number on it. Hell, if the whole thing was stored magnetically, then someone who found my wallet wouldn't know who I was unless they had a scanner... hmmm....
Bolie IV
Re:BWP is a turning point
on
Lo-Tech Cinema
·
· Score: 1
Last I checked I can't drive anywhere or watch a TV show without seeing a BWP ad. So they're not relying on the Internet... there's a huge non-Internet ad campaign. As far as Internet ad campaigns go, check out www.starwars.com as an example. Just about every movie released in the recent past has had a significant web presence.
Heh... in the UK you have laws which require you to pass over all your encryption keys if asked by the government with a jail term if you fail to... that doesn't sound much better.
You apparently missed the part where the federal government ONLY has the rights enumerated in the Constitution. It has NO OTHER rights, period. This is pretty basic. Not only that, but the Constitution explicitly protects citizens from unreasonable search and seizure. The government CAN do things with a warrant (due process), that it can't do just at will. Of course, people within the government may bypass the rules...
This is silly. No one steals an idea, they only steal either credit for the idea or they steal the compensation for the idea. When someone violates intellectual property, the court does not return the idea, it grants money to compensate for lost revenue of the patent or copyright holder and/or revenue gained by the IP right violator. Pointing out that the idea itself can't be "stolen" or "returned" is pointless and only allows you to point out an absurdity that is irrelevant to the discussion.
In fact, it is not illegal to know a patented idea. It is only illegal to use it in certain, specific ways.
One big fallacy I see in a lot of arguments against IP is that the idea itself is the property. It is not. IP is only about the actual use of the idea.
Programming and Engineering are actually quite similar. As an engineer who has worked with programmers and worked in MIS, I can say that the level of creativity required is very similar. Engineer has its share of drudge work where you spend most of your time essentially following building codes and whatever but many engineers, especially in design and R&D are solving problems that have never been solved before. This requires creativity as often there is not one simple, technical solution. Engineers have to come up with elegant, efficient, safe, cheap solutions, something which is not easy and which does not lend itself to simple techniques. A good engineering solution doesn't just do the job, it does it efficiently and elegantly. Very often, the better design looks good, too. This is very similar to a programmer tackling a new program.
Whether licensing is a good or bad thing, it isn't really any different for mechanical, civil, electrical, or software engineers. The point of licensing in Texas (where I work) is to insure that an engineer is a good knowledge of the basics and has demonstrated through work that he can do the job. It tells you that this engineer has a relevant education (or lots of experience) and has worked as an engineer for a certain length of time. Again, the costs and benefits of licensing apply across the board. Programming is not fundamentally different, even though often the culture is different. As someone else said, give it time... most engineering disciplines have been around for hundreds of years while programming is still very new by comparison.
Slashdot Mirror
Did you even bother to read any of the articles?
The patent is for technology which transmits data
through the magnetic fields surrounding power
lines, NOT through the power line itself. From
what I could glean on the Net, the physicist who
invented this took a new approach and completely
bypassed the problems of transformers and filters
and everything else which affects the actual
electric signal.
Not being a physicist myself, I can't evaluate
the technology. Apparently, others on slashdot
are physicists who are intimately familiar with
magnetic fields/microwave interactions over the
power grid and should call this guy up and let
him know his idea is daft.
Of course, the whole thing could be a scam,
but what I've seen is consistent and doesn't
contradict what I do know about physics.
Bolie IV
I'm not impressed.
This article goes over a lot of fairly well known concerns with genetic engineering. These issues are being thought about by a lot of people. Meanwhile, the Human Genome Project continues along with a lot of other research into genetic engineering. At this point, we see lots of possibilities for this technology, some good, some bad. While it's important to look ahead and think about how to use this technology, there isn't any way to really predict what genetic engineering will really be used for and how well it will work. A couple of times in this article, Katz mentions that there isn't any political debate about what's going on. I don't see how that matters. The last thing I'd want would be to have a bunch of politicians or the "public" trying to run research labs. Society as a whole will figure out what to do with any new technology. There will be mistakes and bad things will happen. But it will get figured out and there isn't really any way to figure it out and avoid all the pitfalls without diving in and working on it. I'm sure that we can all construct all kinds of horrible scenarios and horrible abuses for any kind of technology. Big deal... what's important is how the technology will help. Believe it or not, most people aren't evil and a lot of politicians really are sincerely trying to help. That goes for CEOs, too. Again, you can find examples of politicians and large companies doing bad things but they also do good things.
So, it's good to debate the uses of new technology, but instead of writing a long article with no real content, Katz could have accomplished the same thing by just saying, "Let's debate genetic engineering..." and saved everyone a lot of time.
Bolie IV
Even modern disk brakes can overheat and fail. This is mostly a problem in the mountains which is why many mountain roads warn you to shift into low gear while going downhill. Drum brakes had more of a problem, it's true, but coasting downhill could quickly get you going fast enough that you couldn't safely get back into gear and sudden hard braking could cause you to lose control.
Bolie IV
I have heard that in the United States something similar was done. Margarine was almost brown in most places. That has evidently changed, though, as now margerine is almost indistinguishable from butter.
Bolie IV
Laws against leaving cars running aren't so stupid. I know some places are passing laws against leaving trucks idling for longer than so many minutes when making deliveries and are banning drive throughs. All of this is to reduce pollution.
Leaving an unattended vehicle running is dangerous and should also probably be illegal.
Bolie IV
The old law doesn't apply to Gentiles with a very
few exceptions (four, I believe). Just read Acts,
in the new Testament.
If you read the Gospels, you'll see that Jesus was
against a strict interpretation of the law and for
following the spirit.
Bolie IV
In Germany, it's illegal to turn right on a red
light. I didn't find this a very difficult rule
to follow (even though it's legal in Texas, where
I'm from). The time you wait at a red light isn't
really going to make much of a difference and it
is safer to not have people turn into a flow of
traffic. Of course, I did feel silly sometimes
late at night sitting at a light wanting to turn
right with no traffic in sight...
Bolie IV
I love the old Wal-Mart is evil...
Wal-Mart stores would shut down and go away
if no one shopped at them. If a Wal-Mart
opened in Bangladesh, it would most likely
hire people in Bangladesh to work at it. It
would also most likely require local materials
and laborers to build it. Wal-Mart also does
not generally take money away from people.
It generally only gets money when people go
there and buy things they want. Often, Wal-Mart
has lower prices than local mom-and-pop shops
which allows people to buy more. The down side
is that mom-and-pop shops are friendlier and
more flexible, but that's a choice that people
make when they shop at Wal-Mart.
When you demonize Wal-Mart, don't forget to
include the consumers without whom it would
be out of business.
Bolie IV
Wow... this is one of the most blatant examples of Internet/geek community arrogance I've seen. I've worked as a sysadmin and as an engineer and I know quite a number of people in quite a number of fields and I have not noticed that any one particular group is generally more intelligent than any other. I certainly haven't noticed that people on the Internet are particularly intelligent.
Right now, I'm working at an engineering company with a number of engineers who range in age, experience, and familiarity with the Internet. While many of the intelligent ones have figured out how to use computers to help them engineer, many of them aren't particularly interested in computers or the Internet.
The engineering work we do requires a lot of problem solving, spatial visualisation, and understanding of physical stresses and fluid flows. It's not easy and requires a certain kind of thinking that many people can't do.
The auto industry is currently spending a lot of money and has many talented people working on ways to make cars more efficient. If they could charge $100,000 for a car, they could already build them. They are limited by government regulations, the market, and physics. Automotive engineers aren't a bunch of morons stumbling around in the dark waiting for some Internet guru to point out the solution to their problems. While many people think that there is some big conspiracy between auto companies and oil companies to keep gas prices up and sell big cars, any auto company would love to develop technology which reduced their dependency on gas and gave them an edge over the others.
I love computers and the Internet and think that a lot of the research being done is really cool. I just want to point out that there are plenty of smart people who are doing other things, some using computers, some not.
This is not intended to be inflammatory but is a response to an attitude I've seen more and more frequently.
In the case of Microsoft or any other monopolistic
company, the prices they charge are higher than
the free market (efficient) price.
Companies don't generally price goods and services
based on the cost. They price based on the
market. As long as the price they can charge in
the market will cover their unit costs, then
they'll sell product or services.
Piracy doesn't directly increase the PRICE but it
does increase the COST. The response can be a
price increase, exiting the market, etc...
depending on how much the cost increase is.
Putting a dollar value on software piracy is
tricky, though. You can't just count the number
of illegal copies around and multiply that by
the price. You have to take into account the
fact that some number of illegal users wouldn't
use the product at all.
Bolie IV
Of course you'll be believing the studies because
eye-witness accounts are notorious inaccurate.
I can't count the times I've been told Urban
Legends as though they happened to the person
telling them to me... or their sister or brother.
Glad to see another sensible person online...
(If you read a lot of the testimonials posted
here, you'll not that many of the typists weren't
skilled before they learned Dvorak)
Bolie IV
Actually, an athiest is one who believes in a
lack of God. I've checked a number of
dictionaries and all agree. The only people I
can find who consistently disagree with this
are so-called athiests. An agnostic, from what
I can find in dictionaries, is one who believes
that the existence of God is unknowable.
Bolie IV
Driver license data is already digitally
stored in databases. The only change would
be having the number in an easily computer
scanned format. My Texas driver's license
already has a magnetic barcode. I'm not
sure what's on it and no one has actually
used it for anything, yet, but I'd bet it
at least has my driver's license number on
it. Hell, if the whole thing was stored
magnetically, then someone who found my
wallet wouldn't know who I was unless they
had a scanner... hmmm....
Bolie IV
Last I checked I can't drive anywhere or watch
a TV show without seeing a BWP ad. So they're
not relying on the Internet... there's a huge
non-Internet ad campaign. As far as Internet
ad campaigns go, check out www.starwars.com as
an example. Just about every movie released in
the recent past has had a significant web
presence.
Bolie IV
Heh... in the UK you have laws which require
you to pass over all your encryption keys if
asked by the government with a jail term if
you fail to... that doesn't sound much better.
Bolie IV
You apparently missed the part where the federal
government ONLY has the rights enumerated in the
Constitution. It has NO OTHER rights, period.
This is pretty basic. Not only that, but the
Constitution explicitly protects citizens from
unreasonable search and seizure. The government
CAN do things with a warrant (due process),
that it can't do just at will. Of course, people
within the government may bypass the rules...
Bolie IV
This is silly. No one steals an idea, they
only steal either credit for the idea or
they steal the compensation for the idea.
When someone violates intellectual property,
the court does not return the idea, it grants
money to compensate for lost revenue of the
patent or copyright holder and/or revenue
gained by the IP right violator. Pointing
out that the idea itself can't be "stolen"
or "returned" is pointless and only allows
you to point out an absurdity that is
irrelevant to the discussion.
In fact, it is not illegal to know a patented
idea. It is only illegal to use it in certain,
specific ways.
One big fallacy I see in a lot of arguments
against IP is that the idea itself is the
property. It is not. IP is only about the
actual use of the idea.
Bolie IV
Programming and Engineering are actually quite
similar. As an engineer who has worked with
programmers and worked in MIS, I can say that
the level of creativity required is very similar.
Engineer has its share of drudge work where you
spend most of your time essentially following
building codes and whatever but many engineers,
especially in design and R&D are solving problems
that have never been solved before. This
requires creativity as often there is not one
simple, technical solution. Engineers have to
come up with elegant, efficient, safe, cheap
solutions, something which is not easy and which
does not lend itself to simple techniques. A
good engineering solution doesn't just do the
job, it does it efficiently and elegantly.
Very often, the better design looks good, too.
This is very similar to a programmer tackling
a new program.
Whether licensing is a good or bad thing, it
isn't really any different for mechanical, civil,
electrical, or software engineers. The point
of licensing in Texas (where I work) is to
insure that an engineer is a good knowledge of
the basics and has demonstrated through work
that he can do the job. It tells you that this
engineer has a relevant education (or lots of
experience) and has worked as an engineer for
a certain length of time. Again, the costs and
benefits of licensing apply across the board.
Programming is not fundamentally different,
even though often the culture is different.
As someone else said, give it time... most
engineering disciplines have been around for
hundreds of years while programming is still
very new by comparison.
Bolie IV