Why does everyone keep insisting that it wasn't a 'fair' contest? People say that the fact that Watson doesn't have to read the clues, or that he doesn't have a reaction time in 'clicking' the button. Isn't that the point of this contest, that Watson is a computer?
Perhaps the fact that everyone is trying to make Watson as human as possible, by 'dumbing' him(?) down, is a clue as to just how advanced the computer has become.
Assuming that at least a few students of the Louisiana public school system have a head for critical thinking and sound reasoning, what are they to do when the 'teacher' tests them on their 'science' learnings? If the teacher tests the students and the students use their critical thinking and reasoning to conclude that the material is not correct, will they be failed? And if this starts happening wouldn't that be some proof that creationism has no place in the science curriculum?
In fact, I would love to be a student in one of the proposed 'critical thinking and creationism' classes. I wonder if the instructor would be able to hold their ground when students have questions. I wonder if the instructor would be able to demonstrate 'critical thinking' of their own for the benefit of the students, or if it would turn into 'Just Have Faith! It is because that's what it is!'.
Since when is knowing and following the law testing the limit? The way I have interpreted your response it sounds like you are upset at the guy because he actually knew the laws, which we are responsible for knowing. Ignorance is no excuse, something police officers will tell you anytime you are caught speeding, even though you aren't aware of the legal speed limit. I really don't think the guy is an idiot. I believe he is living in a world full of idiots that will do their best at every opportunity to 'teach him a lesson' for standing up for what is right.
As for inconveniencing the several parties, it wasn't the man's fault. The fault lies with the parties that were in the wrong. Blame them, not the man who was inconvenienced. To address the issue of damages, they are not to benefit the victim, but they are the only way of showing the responsible parties (the corporation and the state) that what they did was wrong. There are no other penalties that will bring about their attention as much as a large amount of money being taken from them.
It's all well and good to make a stand over some minor civil rights infraction, but it's bad form to tie up dedicated emergency resources to do it. I understand that he could have used the non-emergency number, and probably should have. What I don't understand is what exactly makes something a minor civil rights infraction. I would hate to live with the mindset that it is somehow my duty as a citizen (utter garbage) to deal with unspecified minor civil rights infractions. I feel a little sorry that you feel the way you do. I also am a little angry that people with that mindset are out there making the people with power convinced they can pull that crap without any consequences.
Perhaps the irony is lost on you. Let me explain. Slashdot caters to many interests, one of them being WoW. You must realize this, what with all the posts about Apple, Microsoft, various *nix updates, and all that science crap. Those must be a waste of space too. The irony comes in when you post saying how dumb something is, when in actuality you really do care enough about it to waste your time and mine by posting inane comments.
To bring this post back to something useful, I am a fan of WoW. I have the day off tomorrow, and was planning on playing most of the day before my week of 12 hour work days resumes. This mildy upsets me, but perhaps I will take the day and do something a little more productive. I could defrag my hard drive, or perhaps call my mom.
Whether you or right-wing, left-wing, centrist, committed voter or not the debates are useful and they are apparently making an impact.
The fact that you mention right-wing, left-wing, centrist, just goes to show the problem. I am not right-wing, i am not left-wing, and I am not centrist. I am a libertarian, and am not being allowed to have my party candidate participate in a national debate setting. People treat anyone that is not Republican or Democrat like they are some political radical. That's simply not true. The fact that alternative parties are able to be purposely and knowingly excluded shows just how much America needs an alternative to be in power.
But 60 percent of "Daily Show" viewers answered all six questions correctly.
Just 42 percent of those who read a newspaper four days a week aced the test. Only 40 percent of those who watch network news four days a week got every answer right.
Seems like that means something along the lines of "Daily Show Viewers are smarter". Granted, it's network news, not Cable 'news' which Fox would be (mis)labeled as.
Your argument seems a little bit off. You can replace 'gun' with 'Ferrari' and your argument falls apart. In Maine, Ferrari's are very rare occurances, and tend to draw a lot of suspicion from the police. A citizen who is perfectly following the law can be stopped and harassed by the police for 'driving recklessly' or whatnot.
The point I am going for is that people should not have restrictions placed on their rights. I realize that carrying a firearm is a little different from driving a Ferrari, but would probably provoke the same amount of attention in Maine.
If the poster has a legal right to carry around a revolver on his hip in plain sight, he should be allowed to. This action will definitely cause attention, and most likely it will result in harassment by the authorities.
How exactly is a Constitutionally provided right 'Making life hell for regular people'?
I totally agree, he should totally have to justify his reasoning for wanting to know about those steam tunnels. It's not like a physics student could ever want to know how something works. I mean, that is just preposterous.
Obviously, it is up to us to tell him whether his quest for knowledge is valid or not.
What really makes me wonder is whether or not a governmental agency would actually tell the public about a projected earth impact. To me, it seems like there is much to lose, and little to gain, from telling the greater public about such an event. I am all for disclosure of information and the like, but I am just not sure how a government would react if they were to find out that Earth would be impacted by a large object in something as short as 50 years or so.
I remember reading about NASA contemplating some sort of 'blower' device be installed on the rovers. It was cancelled as it would have added more complexity and weight to the system. NASA determined it would be cheaper just to increase the dimensions of the solar panels, thus providing more juice for when they start to get dusty.
There aren't many details in the articles, but I think it would be safe to assume that they are not providing 'internet' access. They are most likely just providing a localized set of web pages with all the stats and such.
Even after charging the $7.95 per day fee, I doubt they could afford to pay for the connection needed to make it worthwhile for patrons to consider it a decent service.
I used to use Webcrawler exclusively for all my search and homepage needs. Then I noticed Google, which was still very much in its infancy. I switched to Google as I was still using an old 14.4 modem, and Webcrawler was becoming a bit more bloated than I liked. Even though I now have broadband I am very happy that both Webcrawler and Google have maintained a function over form attitude.
Perhaps the set designers, grips, make-up artists, etc, could all make a bit more if the big names stars weren't payed outrageuously. Arnold was payed around $30 million for his recent role in T3. Perhaps if they had skimped a bit and only paid him $29 million, the 'real people' could get paid more.
Seems like the MPAA is just a tad gluttonous these days.
LoJack
This tracking technology has been available in the states for some time. It actually uses the police radio networks directly, unlike the on*Star systems.
Slashdot Mirror
Why does everyone keep insisting that it wasn't a 'fair' contest? People say that the fact that Watson doesn't have to read the clues, or that he doesn't have a reaction time in 'clicking' the button. Isn't that the point of this contest, that Watson is a computer?
Perhaps the fact that everyone is trying to make Watson as human as possible, by 'dumbing' him(?) down, is a clue as to just how advanced the computer has become.
No, a Newton is not a cookie. It is fruit and cake.
Assuming that at least a few students of the Louisiana public school system have a head for critical thinking and sound reasoning, what are they to do when the 'teacher' tests them on their 'science' learnings? If the teacher tests the students and the students use their critical thinking and reasoning to conclude that the material is not correct, will they be failed? And if this starts happening wouldn't that be some proof that creationism has no place in the science curriculum?
In fact, I would love to be a student in one of the proposed 'critical thinking and creationism' classes. I wonder if the instructor would be able to hold their ground when students have questions. I wonder if the instructor would be able to demonstrate 'critical thinking' of their own for the benefit of the students, or if it would turn into 'Just Have Faith! It is because that's what it is!'.
Since when is knowing and following the law testing the limit? The way I have interpreted your response it sounds like you are upset at the guy because he actually knew the laws, which we are responsible for knowing. Ignorance is no excuse, something police officers will tell you anytime you are caught speeding, even though you aren't aware of the legal speed limit. I really don't think the guy is an idiot. I believe he is living in a world full of idiots that will do their best at every opportunity to 'teach him a lesson' for standing up for what is right.
As for inconveniencing the several parties, it wasn't the man's fault. The fault lies with the parties that were in the wrong. Blame them, not the man who was inconvenienced. To address the issue of damages, they are not to benefit the victim, but they are the only way of showing the responsible parties (the corporation and the state) that what they did was wrong. There are no other penalties that will bring about their attention as much as a large amount of money being taken from them.
Perhaps the irony is lost on you. Let me explain.
Slashdot caters to many interests, one of them being WoW. You must realize this, what with all the posts about Apple, Microsoft, various *nix updates, and all that science crap. Those must be a waste of space too. The irony comes in when you post saying how dumb something is, when in actuality you really do care enough about it to waste your time and mine by posting inane comments.
To bring this post back to something useful, I am a fan of WoW. I have the day off tomorrow, and was planning on playing most of the day before my week of 12 hour work days resumes. This mildy upsets me, but perhaps I will take the day and do something a little more productive. I could defrag my hard drive, or perhaps call my mom.
Whether you or right-wing, left-wing, centrist, committed voter or not the debates are useful and they are apparently making an impact.
The fact that you mention right-wing, left-wing, centrist, just goes to show the problem. I am not right-wing, i am not left-wing, and I am not centrist. I am a libertarian, and am not being allowed to have my party candidate participate in a national debate setting. People treat anyone that is not Republican or Democrat like they are some political radical. That's simply not true. The fact that alternative parties are able to be purposely and knowingly excluded shows just how much America needs an alternative to be in power.
Sure, this dog walks on its hind legs. It still doesn't really impress me all that much. I've been doing the very same thing for about 22 years.
Now, if the dog was on Letterman's stupid pet tricks, then I would be impressed.
Your argument seems a little bit off. You can replace 'gun' with 'Ferrari' and your argument falls apart. In Maine, Ferrari's are very rare occurances, and tend to draw a lot of suspicion from the police. A citizen who is perfectly following the law can be stopped and harassed by the police for 'driving recklessly' or whatnot.
The point I am going for is that people should not have restrictions placed on their rights. I realize that carrying a firearm is a little different from driving a Ferrari, but would probably provoke the same amount of attention in Maine.
If the poster has a legal right to carry around a revolver on his hip in plain sight, he should be allowed to. This action will definitely cause attention, and most likely it will result in harassment by the authorities.
How exactly is a Constitutionally provided right 'Making life hell for regular people'?
I totally agree, he should totally have to justify his reasoning for wanting to know about those steam tunnels. It's not like a physics student could ever want to know how something works. I mean, that is just preposterous.
Obviously, it is up to us to tell him whether his quest for knowledge is valid or not.
What really makes me wonder is whether or not a governmental agency would actually tell the public about a projected earth impact. To me, it seems like there is much to lose, and little to gain, from telling the greater public about such an event. I am all for disclosure of information and the like, but I am just not sure how a government would react if they were to find out that Earth would be impacted by a large object in something as short as 50 years or so.
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/04/04/142321 0&tid=
I remember reading about NASA contemplating some sort of 'blower' device be installed on the rovers. It was cancelled as it would have added more complexity and weight to the system. NASA determined it would be cheaper just to increase the dimensions of the solar panels, thus providing more juice for when they start to get dusty.
There aren't many details in the articles, but I think it would be safe to assume that they are not providing 'internet' access. They are most likely just providing a localized set of web pages with all the stats and such.
Even after charging the $7.95 per day fee, I doubt they could afford to pay for the connection needed to make it worthwhile for patrons to consider it a decent service.
I used to use Webcrawler exclusively for all my search and homepage needs. Then I noticed Google, which was still very much in its infancy. I switched to Google as I was still using an old 14.4 modem, and Webcrawler was becoming a bit more bloated than I liked. Even though I now have broadband I am very happy that both Webcrawler and Google have maintained a function over form attitude.
...when my house is surrounded by fairly tall trees
Burninate.
Perhaps the set designers, grips, make-up artists, etc, could all make a bit more if the big names stars weren't payed outrageuously. Arnold was payed around $30 million for his recent role in T3. Perhaps if they had skimped a bit and only paid him $29 million, the 'real people' could get paid more.
Seems like the MPAA is just a tad gluttonous these days.
... to getting a computer virus.
LoJack
This tracking technology has been available in the states for some time. It actually uses the police radio networks directly, unlike the on*Star systems.