I doubt that retinal scanners will ever be a popular technology. First off you have to wear some sort of doohicky which blocks normal vision and is uncomfortable and jsut plain dorky. Next, you have a laser drawing on your eye.
The one I used was mono-chrome, and the experience was a lot like looking through a keyhole at a crappy LED display. I used it for about a minute tops, and immediately after taking it off, I experienced a terrible headache and massive disorientation. I was disoriented for about half and hour and had the headache for longer.
How much does the AC adapter weigh?
on
OQO Examined
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· Score: 1
The AC adapter for this thing is probably nearly the same size as the computer, and it probably weighs more... And what good is a computer with a 2 hour rechargeable battery life? [sure it might last 6 hours if you arent using it,but then, um..why would you have it on?]
Many of the people in the poker rooms work for the house. Ostensibly they are they to fill the table, but really, they are there to cheat you blind. Also there are unaffiliatedsyndicates who are also there to cheat you.
How does cheating in poker take place? Fancy card mechanics? No, mainly because that can be detected. They use more subtle tactics, mostly just nickel and diming you to see what they can get away with, then press it. Sometimes its just simple stuff like moving seats so you pay the 'vig' an extra time. Other times its misreading the cards and hoping nobody notices.
And then there is simple collusion between players. If two players agree not to bet against each other, and have a signalling mechanism for who has the better hand, their odds are increased dramatically. A simple way to think about it is that they don't both lose to your winning hands. There are lots of ways to signal, nothing fancy needed. Just fiddle with a stack of chips cutting it to match the cards; anybody who plays much will assure you that regualar players can manipulate chips anyway they want without looking.
The bottom line is, if you are not a shark, you are a mark. Even if you are a shark, you might still be victim of bigger sharks. Not a smart game to get involved with.
I saw a fully functional solar car today. It was all terrain, homeostatic and self-replicating, environmentally friendly to boot! It is sometimes called a horse.
The idea that we are going to meet our energy requirements via agriculture output is to essentially put us back to pre-industrial age. It is based on ecomomics of scarcity, which is not only an unpleasant idea, it is also not likely to happen.
There is no energy crisis. There is only environmental hand-wringing.
There are a couple of ways are going to make energy on a large scale in the future, and its not going to be based on recycling! We will first move to non-oil fossil fuel economy (which we largely are now), and then, to nuclear and extra-terrestrial solar. This will happen purely based on the fact that consumers wont tolerate less. When lifestyles start to suffer because of true power shortages, to a noticeable degree, the kid gloves will come off and "hard" decisions will be made.
The best possible answer, barring actually finding the holy grail, is quoted in the article. "Lord Lichfield's grandmother believed it stood for the opening letters of a line of verse: "Out of your own sweet vale Alicia vanish vanity 'twixt deity and man." based on a poem by Anna Seward.
How would it be possible to come up with a better explanation? This woman was of the family and is in the best possition to know. Think about it: what type of answer could satisfy such a short "code" better?
Its like reading Nostradamus: you will find patterns if you look hard enough.
I've been to "mycenae" and it turns out they know diddly about the place, except for some mad german came in and found some mummies. He called one of the mummies "Agamemnon". This is tanatamount to saying you found Darth Vaders grave. Ridiculous.
This is wrong on many levels. On the most pedantic level, a human cannot simulate a Turing machine because he does not have infinite memory. Also, it does not follow that anything that can simulate a Turing machine can be simulated by a turing machine. Searles chinese rooms explains this perfectly--there is only syntax in a computer, no content. Humans have content, data (semantics) independent from structure. Next, rand() cannot be used to simulate quantum mechanics because rand() uses hidden variables. Again this gets to content: the world is made up of things that have their own identity independent from structure.
The Zoetrope predates this example of moving pictures by quite a bit. It is an animation device invented in 1834 by William George Horner. Maybe you've seen one before: a cylinder with pictures inside and slits that you look through as you spin it.
The last thing the police need is to have special training on how to ensure privacy. They are overworked, underpaid and already at risk for ethics problems because of the opacity of the legal system. As a taxpayer and citizen I dont want the police to spend one moment on "privacy issues". I dont want one bit of worry or doubt in their head about it. They should be free to do their jobs in the open free from harassment from privacy nuts. They have a hard job as it is, and do not need more bureaucratic shackles second guessing their every move. In general, the police and government should have no secrets from the people. The hard truth being in the open is what keeps the system from becoming overly corrupt. The lesson should be dont shoot yourself on camera if you dont want people to see it,not that the police should be sensitive the feelings of some whacks parents.
Americans give out prints all the time..
on
Speculating About Gmail
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· Score: 2, Insightful
Americans already give their fingerprints out for ATM and debit/credit cards today. The vast majority of Americans have no qualms about recording their fingerprints if they believe it will add to their own security. Another thing freedome advocates like you miss is that most people dont care if their information gets out, because, they have nothing to hide and they have nothing to lose.
Of course this is actually an advertisement for a specific software package. But whats funny is that the story undercuts itself: It explains that people are wasting their time doing detailed future predictions with spreadsheets. Then it goes on to push this particular product as a way of doing detailed future predictions using statistics. But they never make the case that making predictions is good anyway, while they do provide evidence that its a waste of time!
I dont know anyone who uses their spreadsheets for doing any kind of predictions. Everyone I know uses it just like the old-fashioned pen-and-paper..spreadsheet! Its a way of accounting for the here-and-now. How many businessmen don't understand their business prospects better than a garbage-in-garbage out number crunching computer?
Howard Stern was removed from the airwaves indirectly by the FCC. However, he has no recourse because technically, he was removed by the Clearchannel, a commercial entity.
Same thing here: there will be no law banning you from flying, its just that the airlines will agree to comply with "standards" and won't let you board. Thus, you will have no legal recourse constitutional or otherwise.
This is the insidious nature of the changes happening in America which seem to inexorbly lead to a facscists nazi-style state that will have end badly.
Microsoft Visual C's code generator is custom tweaked by Intel. It knows everything there is to know about proper pipelining and memory and register optimization and generates diabolically good code.
The GCC compiler is probably better in many way such as compliance to standards, but there is no way it can compete with the chipmaker's proprietary knowledge.
The meaning of the word avatar is exactly the same as the philosophy behind virtual reality is identical to hindu myths ideas of nested realities. The only thing that makes this the sci-fi version different is that it is applied to a computer reality. The word morph is the root of the english "Methamorphosis" which is the meaning of morph.
The word "Morph" is Greek. Claiming it is a recently invented science fiction term is ludicrous. As is the word "Avatar", which is a sanskrit word for the embodiement of Vishnu.
It took me two seconds to find this information on dictionary.com. It baffles me how a site claiming to be affiliated to the OED could make such errors.
The author says he did the 'research' but on what is what I want to know. Take a look at my research. It says that the video game industry is growing at 11.7% compounding growth. Thats exponential.
The RP in MMPORG means Role Playing ala Dungeons and Dragons. Thus, the focus is on character development, not first person shooter style twitch. RPGs are based on a dice game, and is really about mathematics. The people with powerful characters are the ones who can do math, not the once with a cable modem in the same town as the server.
Slashdot Mirror
I doubt that retinal scanners will ever be a popular technology. First off you have to wear some sort of doohicky which blocks normal vision and is uncomfortable and jsut plain dorky.
Next, you have a laser drawing on your eye.
The one I used was mono-chrome, and the experience was a lot like looking through a keyhole at a crappy LED display. I used it for about a minute tops, and immediately after taking it off, I experienced a terrible headache and massive disorientation. I was disoriented for about half and hour and had the headache for longer.
The AC adapter for this thing is probably nearly the same size as the computer, and it probably weighs more...
And what good is a computer with a 2 hour rechargeable battery life? [sure it might last 6 hours if you arent using it,but then, um..why would you have it on?]
Many of the people in the poker rooms work for the house. Ostensibly they are they to fill the table, but really, they are there to cheat you blind. Also there are unaffiliatedsyndicates who are also there to cheat you.
How does cheating in poker take place? Fancy card mechanics? No, mainly because that can be detected. They use more subtle tactics, mostly just nickel and diming you to see what they can get away with, then press it. Sometimes its just simple stuff like moving seats so you pay the 'vig' an extra time. Other times its misreading the cards and hoping nobody notices.
And then there is simple collusion between players. If two players agree not to bet against each other, and have a signalling mechanism for who has the better hand, their odds are increased dramatically. A simple way to think about it is that they don't both lose to your winning hands. There are lots of ways to signal, nothing fancy needed. Just fiddle with a stack of chips cutting it to match the cards; anybody who plays much will assure you that regualar players can manipulate chips anyway they want without looking.
The bottom line is, if you are not a shark, you are a mark. Even if you are a shark, you might still be victim of bigger sharks. Not a smart game to get involved with.
I face this all the time, almost word for word. Drives me NUTS.
I saw a fully functional solar car today. It was all terrain, homeostatic and self-replicating, environmentally friendly to boot!
It is sometimes called a horse.
The idea that we are going to meet our energy requirements via agriculture output is to essentially put us back to pre-industrial age. It is based on ecomomics of scarcity, which is not only an unpleasant idea, it is also not likely to happen.
There is no energy crisis. There is only environmental hand-wringing.
There are a couple of ways are going to make energy on a large scale in the future, and its not going to be based on recycling! We will first move to non-oil fossil fuel economy (which we largely are now), and then, to nuclear and extra-terrestrial solar. This will happen purely based on the fact that consumers wont tolerate less. When lifestyles start to suffer because of true power shortages, to a noticeable degree, the kid gloves will come off and "hard" decisions will be made.
$30.00 -> $42.02
The best possible answer, barring actually finding the holy grail, is quoted in the article.
"Lord Lichfield's grandmother believed it stood for the opening letters of a line of verse: "Out of your own sweet vale Alicia vanish vanity 'twixt deity and man." based on a poem by Anna Seward.
How would it be possible to come up with a better explanation? This woman was of the family and is in the best possition to know. Think about it: what type of answer could satisfy such a short "code" better?
Its like reading Nostradamus: you will find patterns if you look hard enough.
This is a version of the Many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics first expressed Hugh Everett in 1957.
The article is very flawed, but don't let that reflect on David Deutsch who is very smart unlike the article.
I've been to "mycenae" and it turns out they know diddly about the place, except for some mad german came in and found some mummies. He called one of the mummies "Agamemnon". This is tanatamount to saying you found Darth Vaders grave. Ridiculous.
Oh come on, this paper is a joke. Mixing up hubbles constant with conciousness and moores law you conclude the end of civilization?
Wake up!
This is wrong on many levels. On the most pedantic level, a human cannot simulate a Turing machine because he does not have infinite memory.
Also, it does not follow that anything that can simulate a Turing machine can be simulated by a turing machine. Searles chinese rooms explains this perfectly--there is only syntax in a computer, no content. Humans have content, data (semantics) independent from structure.
Next, rand() cannot be used to simulate quantum mechanics because rand() uses hidden variables. Again this gets to content: the world is made up of things that have their own identity independent from structure.
The Zoetrope predates this example of moving pictures by quite a bit. It is an animation device invented in 1834 by William George Horner. Maybe you've seen one before: a cylinder with pictures inside and slits that you look through as you spin it.
The last thing the police need is to have special training on how to ensure privacy. They are overworked, underpaid and already at risk for ethics problems because of the opacity of the legal system.
As a taxpayer and citizen I dont want the police to spend one moment on "privacy issues". I dont want one bit of worry or doubt in their head about it. They should be free to do their jobs in the open free from harassment from privacy nuts. They have a hard job as it is, and do not need more bureaucratic shackles second guessing their every move.
In general, the police and government should have no secrets from the people. The hard truth being in the open is what keeps the system from becoming overly corrupt.
The lesson should be dont shoot yourself on camera if you dont want people to see it,not that the police should be sensitive the feelings of some whacks parents.
Americans already give their fingerprints out for ATM and debit/credit cards today. The vast majority of Americans have no qualms about recording their fingerprints if they believe it will add to their own security.
Another thing freedome advocates like you miss is that most people dont care if their information gets out, because, they have nothing to hide and they have nothing to lose.
Rolex award laureates year 2000
Of course this is actually an advertisement for a specific software package. But whats funny is that the story undercuts itself: It explains that people are wasting their time doing detailed future predictions with spreadsheets. Then it goes on to push this particular product as a way of doing detailed future predictions using statistics. But they never make the case that making predictions is good anyway, while they do provide evidence that its a waste of time!
I dont know anyone who uses their spreadsheets for doing any kind of predictions. Everyone I know uses it just like the old-fashioned pen-and-paper..spreadsheet! Its a way of accounting for the here-and-now. How many businessmen don't understand their business prospects better than a garbage-in-garbage out number crunching computer?
Confusing things like:
:index | newOC addLast: (oc at: index)].
3 + 4 * 5 " ==> 35 (not 23) "
and
(3 / 4) == ( 3 / 4) "==> false"
give pause for concern.
But the example code snippet for the curious @ dispatch operator uncommented and unexplained takes the cake:
"
oc@(OrderedCollection traits) copyFrom: start to: end
[| newOC |
end start ifTrue: [^ oc newEmpty].
newOC: (oc traits newSize: end + 1 - start).
start to: end do: [|
newOC
].
"
How could someone argue with a straight face that this gobblygook is progress in programming languages?
What is the advantage of electronic voting except its more expensive, more complex, and more vulnerable to manipulation.
Any sort of voting machine, chads, or plastic doohickies just add to complexity. The old fashioned pen and paper method works fine.
If it ain't broke, dont fix.
Howard Stern was removed from the airwaves indirectly by the FCC. However, he has no recourse because technically, he was removed by the Clearchannel, a commercial entity.
Same thing here: there will be no law banning you from flying, its just that the airlines will agree to comply with "standards" and won't let you board. Thus, you will have no legal recourse constitutional or otherwise.
This is the insidious nature of the changes happening in America which seem to inexorbly lead to a facscists nazi-style state that will have end badly.
Microsoft Visual C's code generator is custom tweaked by Intel. It knows everything there is to know about proper pipelining and memory and register optimization and generates diabolically good code.
The GCC compiler is probably better in many way such as compliance to standards, but there is no way it can compete with the chipmaker's proprietary knowledge.
The meaning of the word avatar is exactly the same as the philosophy behind virtual reality is identical to hindu myths ideas of nested realities. The only thing that makes this the sci-fi version different is that it is applied to a computer reality.
The word morph is the root of the english "Methamorphosis" which is the meaning of morph.
The word "Morph" is Greek. Claiming it is a recently invented science fiction term is ludicrous. As is the word "Avatar", which is a sanskrit word for the embodiement of Vishnu.
It took me two seconds to find this information on dictionary.com. It baffles me how a site claiming to be affiliated to the OED could make such errors.
The author says he did the 'research' but on what is what I want to know.
Take a look at my research. It says that the video game industry is growing at 11.7% compounding growth. Thats exponential.
So, he's just plain wrong.
The RP in MMPORG means Role Playing ala Dungeons and Dragons. Thus, the focus is on character development, not first person shooter style twitch. RPGs are based on a dice game, and is really about mathematics. The people with powerful characters are the ones who can do math, not the once with a cable modem in the same town as the server.
Really there are only 10 of us, all with dupe accounts. Move along.