Every finite string (including any finite number of repetitions of any finite string) must be in the part you have not yet discovered. The string consisting of all the digits you have so far discovered is a finite string. QED.
> Frankly, I'm not sure I agree what he did constitutes a crime.
I'm quite certain it was not a crime. Stupid, grounds for dismissal, yes. But not a crime. I also doubt that a private employer would have been able to get him prosecuted.
In a word, yes. Could you do it? It's a very, very difficult technical feat, one that required hardware powers and software abilities far beyond those of mortal men.
Actually one of the remarkable things about it is that, while certainly not an ordinary desktop computer, the hardware used was not all that remarkable.
Though I suppose that even though pi has infinite digits, it does have a start. So the existence of a message near the beginning would not have the same implications as being able to find one anywhere.
Since pi has an infinite number of digits we are always "near the beginning" no matter how many digits we generate.
Surely there should be, by now, a server out there somewhere continuously calculating and serving up additional digits of pi? The Web site art is obvious, of course.
The thing is, people *AREN'T* anonymous online, unless there is some magical ISP out there who isn't requiring a social security number and credit card (or similar identification processes) to create and bill service and accounts.
I've never heard of an ISP requiring a SSN. My current provider does not have a credit card number from me: I pay by check. I could get dialup accounts from at least two local providers that would also accept checks and one of them has its home office near enough that I could drive over every month and pay cash. None of them require any ID. They just want money (though the DSL provider obviously knows where I live).
I highly doubt that. I assume we're talking about a globally unique identification of a single individual.
Governments want that but Google doesn't need it. They just want a profile of you that lets them target ads and a way to link that profile to most of your appearences on the Web. The profile can contain errors as long as they don't materially affect ad targeting and it doesn't really matter if they miss some of your online activity as long as they catch most of it. They can easily tolerate a fairly large error rate in their database and, unlike government, they don't mind much if a few individuals hide from them.
I think that last point is important. The individuals government is most interested in are those who are most likely to try to hide from it. Google doesn't really care if a few of us hide from it or even manage to pollute its database with erroneous information about us.
Just because you don't have a Facebook profile doesn't mean that people can't upload compromising pictures of you to Facebook.
First they'd have to acquire them.
There may be photos of me on the Web (my image is no more private than is that of anyone else) but they are certainly few and far between and would be very difficult to link to me.
Slashdot Mirror
> I reject your assertion...
Every finite string (including any finite number of repetitions of any finite string) must be in the part you have not yet discovered. The string consisting of all the digits you have so far discovered is a finite string. QED.
> Frankly, I'm not sure I agree what he did constitutes a crime.
I'm quite certain it was not a crime. Stupid, grounds for dismissal, yes. But not a crime. I also doubt that a private employer would have been able to get him prosecuted.
1) Never take a government job.
2) Stay out of California.
Actually one of the remarkable things about it is that, while certainly not an ordinary desktop computer, the hardware used was not all that remarkable.
Listen, kid. 20MB hard drives used to cost thousands of dollars. Fancy desktop computers had dual floppies.
> Such things add a curiosity to the number - will it ever end...
No.
> ...or ever repeat?
Yes. It includes every string, including itself.
Since pi has an infinite number of digits we are always "near the beginning" no matter how many digits we generate.
Mod parent up. Every possible message must necessarily be there.
Surely there should be, by now, a server out there somewhere continuously calculating and serving up additional digits of pi? The Web site art is obvious, of course.
> What's the point of slipping a freeze date?
To get the rc bug count down to a manageable level and to complete complex package transitions such as major library upgrades.
> Is debian any more up-to-date these days?
Since Ubuntu is derived from Debian, Debian necessarily has always been more "up-to-date" than Ubuntu.
Supposed by who?
Note the bit about "Linux architectures." Squeeze will include GNU/kFreeBSD: Debian running on top of a FreeBSD kernel.
Then there are the people who will drive off a dock in their new Volvos because the GPS told them there was a bridge there...
I've never heard of an ISP requiring a SSN. My current provider does not have a credit card number from me: I pay by check. I could get dialup accounts from at least two local providers that would also accept checks and one of them has its home office near enough that I could drive over every month and pay cash. None of them require any ID. They just want money (though the DSL provider obviously knows where I live).
> They already do attach your name to every click.
No they don't.
> Use noscript sometime
I always use NoScript, as well as Privoxy and cookie blocking. Which is why they don't.
> Doesn't matter why he wants the information.
It does because "who you are" doesn't mean the same thing to him as it does to government or other criminals.
> 'By 2020, nobody shall be seriously injured or killed in a new Volvo.'
Might happen if, by 2020, nobody shall be in a new Volvo at all.
Governments want that but Google doesn't need it. They just want a profile of you that lets them target ads and a way to link that profile to most of your appearences on the Web. The profile can contain errors as long as they don't materially affect ad targeting and it doesn't really matter if they miss some of your online activity as long as they catch most of it. They can easily tolerate a fairly large error rate in their database and, unlike government, they don't mind much if a few individuals hide from them.
I think that last point is important. The individuals government is most interested in are those who are most likely to try to hide from it. Google doesn't really care if a few of us hide from it or even manage to pollute its database with erroneous information about us.
It is one of the reasons they will give.
Anti-Social Behavior Order . Governments consider it their business to deal with all behavior.
First they'd have to acquire them.
There may be photos of me on the Web (my image is no more private than is that of anyone else) but they are certainly few and far between and would be very difficult to link to me.
No I don't.
> Dude, you rope it off when loading. Duh.
With about a hundred sailors hanging onto the rope. The US Navy tried that. There's a film.
Decadent luxury, ginormous machines, horrific fires, spectacular crashes, acts of heroism and all in the past: what could be finer?
> If we get fusion power up and running, we'll have all the helium we'll need.
Not by several orders of magnitude.