I understand the methodology (well, as much as can be deduced from a press release...) of the measurement, but could other factors cause apparent--or real--shifts in relative velocity? For example: mini planets, large asteroids, or lopsided planets could cause variation in the gravitational force exerted on Cassini and said object, altering the relative velocity of the probe. Someone enlighten me!
At Group L, Stoffel oversees six first-rate programmers, a managerial
challenge roughly comparable to herding cats.
-- The Washington Post Magazine, June 9, 1985
and
"If the King's English was good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for
me!"
-- "Ma" Ferguson, Governor of Texas (circa 1920)
I know, don't flame me, it's a Unix game from way back.
I made two changes, so I don't know if it was one, the other, or both: avoidance of direct contact with cleaning chemicals (gloves rock!) and reducing meat/dairy in my diet. This is my own experience and not the result of some study.
Since I'm writing this now, the only web link would be the auto-generated link to this CID.
I bet you drank sugary drinks as a child, didn't you? Our bodies have evolved to digest normal quantities of natural sugars (fructose in fruits, lactose in mother's milk, glucose in fruits/vegetables/grains, etc...) found in their natural state. True, there is some genetic predisposition, but re-read my initial post to see that I didn't say that every case is strictly lifestyle-related.
No, I don't. I used to, but grew tired of the myriad unpleasant side effects and successor diseases. Now that I have become aware of how my body feels as a result of healthy food and exercise, I never want to go back.
You bring up a good point, though. Most people would do it. Most people would take a pill for their ulcer, then develop stomach cancer years later due to the lowered stomach acid levels caused by the ulcer meds. It's an endless cycle ('til death/yada) that causes everyone's health insurance premiums to go up. I haven't been to a doctor in two years (never happened before...), but no insurance company is offering me any discounts for living healthy. Hmmm....disease must be profitable, huh?
Do you know your dad's Blood Type? I bet it's "B". A majority of meat-and-potatoes dieters who resist heart disease are type B. Not that blood type is a causal factor (see "Eat Right for Your Type" by D'Adamo for interesting correlations...), but the Blood Type is probably correlated to your father's good health. It's true that there is a combination of nature and nurture at work; my post was just to point out that unhealthy lifestyles, which have become fashionable, are the cause behind these epidemics. The media, and maybe some of the researchers, can't make money by saying "Hey fatass--put down that chocolate dipped donut!", but they can make tons of money advertising expensive genetic treatments.
The discovery could shed light on why some people are more likely to develop common diseases such as diabetes, obesity or eczema
because of their genes.
It's a sad commentary on "civilized" society that three lifestyle-related diseases are presented in a sentence that places the blame on essentially defective genes. Diabetes, now reaching epidemic proportions in adults and children, is nearly always caused by a poor diet. Obesity is caused by poor diet and lack of exercise. As a former sufferer of eczema, I proved for myself that a lifestyle change could cure it. By converse, my lifestyle caused it.
I'm not finding fault with the researchers or trying to cause a ruckus in general, but don't be surprised if these discoveries lead to a society where no one is aware that these (and other) diseases are a result of lifestyle, and every one is lined up at the doctor's office to shell out large sums of $$$ to have their "defective" genes fixed. Remember also that these diseases strain the bodily systems (or cause "imbalance" in non-allotropic medical parlance), and lead to other diseases, causing a potentially endless cycle ending only in bankruptcy/non-insurability/death...
Suppose an exploit was written that would cause every unpatched XP box (9X% of them, I guess...) to load kiddee pr0n into the RAM/HD. Could Micro$oft be found guilty of distributing kiddee pr0n and be closed down, its owners/officers jailed?
Maybe someone else has already thought of the same thing. What would the ramifications be? M$ has survived anti-trust action; its sheer size has served to prevent any class-action lawsuits for manufacturing incomplete, defective products. All empires must fall, though. Tick, tick, tick,...
Microsoft does focus a lot of effort towards securing their products. Unfortunately the effort is more reactive than proactive. It's a basic flaw in the capitalist model that allows the Marketing and Accounting people to determine release dates--instead of the Developers. The attitude can be paraphrased like this: "As long as the app fires up, it can be released. We'll let the customers be beta testers."
If they were in the car business insted of the O/S business, a lot of people would be dead or mangled.
I went outside a little while ago and didn't see any bright flashes. I was looking northward too (from Florida). Are you sure this wasn't made up, like the lunar landings?
I got a BSOD the other day and managed to scrawl this down before rebooting my hung box:
Infidel! Illegal operation (under Islamic Law) performed in shariah32.dll: 0xDEADBEEF. Press any key to bring about the wrath of Allah, or press ctrl + alt + del to kill the infidel process. Don't forget to kill Christians and Jews daily.
I thought it was a prank at first, or some weird virus. Also I remember a story a few days ago on/. about XP clustering (couldn't find it, though). Maybe al-Qaeda is using all XP customers to form a giant cluster to plan the next attack, or calculate the 1st day of Ramadan in the year 207348598145, or something...
It sounds like high time for some good ol' mob action. I would join in, but don't feel like being labelled a terrorist for supporting the rights of American citizens to control the products they own.
Can we finally rid the world of the middleman now? We have:
A limitless supply of artists
A limitless supply of music fans
Ubiquitous medium (satellite radio)
Music sharing services (Morpheus, etc...) and payment services (PayPal, etc...) that can be improved to be secure and can be coordinated to allow music fans to pay a fair price (read: far less than $17 per CD) directly to the artists.
A corrupt, outdated system in which the artist gets screwed at the time the contract is signed, the fan gets screwed at the checkout counter, and the industry's trade association lobbies for (and receives) absurd laws with draconian penalties that ensure a limitless profit stream for its minions
Someone please stop the RIAA before they ask their cronies (the gummint) to pass laws making it illegal to hum tunes to ourselves?
Republican Presidential candidate Jenna Bush finally responded to the controversy surrounding her supposed gaming habit in the early 2000's. Unnamed sources, all claiming to be former college friends, have stated that Ms. Bush was an all-night gamer, playing Quake III, Tribes, and other games popular among the youth at the time. Since then, gaming has become strictly prohibited and all users, manufacturers, and distributors of these games have faced enormous fines and prison sentences.
While not explicitly confessing to game use during her college years, Bush said "when I was young and irresponsible, I was young and irresponsible".
Miguel Jesus deNaranja, currently serving a 75-year sentence for game distribution at Microsoft Maximum Security Detention Center near Austin, expressed outrage towards this statement by the President--his former classmate and supposed gaming partner. "I can't believe she is being such a hypocrite about this. She used to frag my brown ass all night long back in the day." Bush denies deNaranja's statements and claims to have never met him.
Seriously though, MDMA was successfully used for over a decade in psychiatric settings to help introverted individuals and couples break out of their respective shells. Within a half hour of ingestion, ego defenses will melt away and you will have a room full of chatty nerds (don't blame me, it sounds like that's what you're asking for here). Just be sure to have plenty of water, some comfy couches, and some multivitamin + amino acid tablets for afterwards to ease the infamous hangovers. Don't forget to have a lot of condoms on hand in case these people try to do something about their minor office crushes. Ahem.
Skip the lollipops, vapo-rub, and glow sticks. Only rave kids and cops believe that these things are good accessories for MDMA.
You are speaking of two different things. Patents are designed to protect the inventor (as your quote from Ms. Bowles implies), but you go on to criticize the/. community for pointing out that patents shouldn't be awarded when the "innovation" is obvious or follows prior art.
Patents are actually the tools used by Microsoft and others to stomp on everyone they feel like. They--unlike the inventor--have an army of lawyers who know the weaknesses of the Examination process at the P.T.O.
Your assertion about the cause of innovation is 100% erroneous. I don't recall hearing of Leonardo DaVinci's numerous patents, nor the numerous patents awarded to the ancient Egyptians for "a process of stacking 20,000+ lb blocks of stone in the sand to form a giant pyramid", or the ancient Mayans for "a device which indicates the vernal equinox by allowing the sun's rays to illuminate a wall". Innovation is the direct result of human will, which our patent system appears to be smothering by allowing Megacorps to hoard patents for everything under the sun.
SONICblue's technology also allows users to specify personal preferences about which shows to record. For instance, the user may instruct the ReplayTV to record the last three episodes of a show, record shows featuring a given actor, or shows with specific words in their title. The products have the ability to scan all channels to find the desired show.
So it has an advanced search feature and a somewhat interactive selection stage. Don't most software packages have the same features? There is nothing novel about these features; only the physical setting has changed (from the PC to the PVR). I think the U.S.P.T.O. has been infiltrated or something...
I have the same problem with this author that I have with Gene Roddenberry: why must intelligent species on other planets be anthropomorphic?
The author's assumption is that the intelligent and man-like beings are sending coded messages via radio waves in hopes of finding other intelligent beings. This is fine, but consider that the author is framing his arguments in Mathematics, and more importantly, base-10 numbers. Look at your hands: there should be ten fingers. That is the origin of our numbering system. Our system of mathematics and our discipline of deductive logic is a product of the organization of the human nervous system. Simply put, the author and his compatriots have painted themselves into a corner and assumed away most of the problem.
I propose that intelligent beings in other solar systems are not anthropomorphic, do not have ten fingers, do not count in base ten, and probably do not even share this concept of "numbers" anyway. Keep crunching transforms for SETI, but don't assume you are speaking the same language as THEM.
Slashdot Mirror
I understand the methodology (well, as much as can be deduced from a press release...) of the measurement, but could other factors cause apparent--or real--shifts in relative velocity? For example: mini planets, large asteroids, or lopsided planets could cause variation in the gravitational force exerted on Cassini and said object, altering the relative velocity of the probe. Someone enlighten me!
/usr/games/fortune. Today I got these gems:
and I know, don't flame me, it's a Unix game from way back.I made two changes, so I don't know if it was one, the other, or both: avoidance of direct contact with cleaning chemicals (gloves rock!) and reducing meat/dairy in my diet. This is my own experience and not the result of some study. Since I'm writing this now, the only web link would be the auto-generated link to this CID.
I bet you drank sugary drinks as a child, didn't you? Our bodies have evolved to digest normal quantities of natural sugars (fructose in fruits, lactose in mother's milk, glucose in fruits/vegetables/grains, etc...) found in their natural state. True, there is some genetic predisposition, but re-read my initial post to see that I didn't say that every case is strictly lifestyle-related.
No, I don't. I used to, but grew tired of the myriad unpleasant side effects and successor diseases. Now that I have become aware of how my body feels as a result of healthy food and exercise, I never want to go back.
You bring up a good point, though. Most people would do it. Most people would take a pill for their ulcer, then develop stomach cancer years later due to the lowered stomach acid levels caused by the ulcer meds. It's an endless cycle ('til death/yada) that causes everyone's health insurance premiums to go up. I haven't been to a doctor in two years (never happened before...), but no insurance company is offering me any discounts for living healthy. Hmmm....disease must be profitable, huh?
Do you know your dad's Blood Type? I bet it's "B". A majority of meat-and-potatoes dieters who resist heart disease are type B. Not that blood type is a causal factor (see "Eat Right for Your Type" by D'Adamo for interesting correlations...), but the Blood Type is probably correlated to your father's good health. It's true that there is a combination of nature and nurture at work; my post was just to point out that unhealthy lifestyles, which have become fashionable, are the cause behind these epidemics. The media, and maybe some of the researchers, can't make money by saying "Hey fatass--put down that chocolate dipped donut!", but they can make tons of money advertising expensive genetic treatments.
It's a sad commentary on "civilized" society that three lifestyle-related diseases are presented in a sentence that places the blame on essentially defective genes. Diabetes, now reaching epidemic proportions in adults and children, is nearly always caused by a poor diet. Obesity is caused by poor diet and lack of exercise. As a former sufferer of eczema, I proved for myself that a lifestyle change could cure it. By converse, my lifestyle caused it.
I'm not finding fault with the researchers or trying to cause a ruckus in general, but don't be surprised if these discoveries lead to a society where no one is aware that these (and other) diseases are a result of lifestyle, and every one is lined up at the doctor's office to shell out large sums of $$$ to have their "defective" genes fixed. Remember also that these diseases strain the bodily systems (or cause "imbalance" in non-allotropic medical parlance), and lead to other diseases, causing a potentially endless cycle ending only in bankruptcy/non-insurability/death...
Your post made me conceive this hypo:
Maybe someone else has already thought of the same thing. What would the ramifications be? M$ has survived anti-trust action; its sheer size has served to prevent any class-action lawsuits for manufacturing incomplete, defective products. All empires must fall, though. Tick, tick, tick,..."My server got rooted, and all I got was assurance from Howard Schmidt that we have a special obligation to improve security"
I think Howard Schmidt went to the Ari Fleischer school of question dodging and graduated with highest honors. Damn, there goes my karma--again!
Microsoft does focus a lot of effort towards securing their products. Unfortunately the effort is more reactive than proactive. It's a basic flaw in the capitalist model that allows the Marketing and Accounting people to determine release dates--instead of the Developers. The attitude can be paraphrased like this: "As long as the app fires up, it can be released. We'll let the customers be beta testers."
If they were in the car business insted of the O/S business, a lot of people would be dead or mangled.
What kind of fool risks life and limb to inscribe a high dome in a fictitious language? For crying out loud, haven't these people heard of sex?
There goes my karma, but a man's gotta take a stand!
I went outside a little while ago and didn't see any bright flashes. I was looking northward too (from Florida). Are you sure this wasn't made up, like the lunar landings?
Sounds like a good, cynical business model--very fragile yet expensive products target-marketed to savvy techies with high disposable incomes.
I got a BSOD the other day and managed to scrawl this down before rebooting my hung box:
I thought it was a prank at first, or some weird virus. Also I remember a story a few days ago onIt sounds like high time for some good ol' mob action. I would join in, but don't feel like being labelled a terrorist for supporting the rights of American citizens to control the products they own.
From your man Friday, of course!
Can we finally rid the world of the middleman now? We have:
Someone please stop the RIAA before they ask their cronies (the gummint) to pass laws making it illegal to hum tunes to ourselves?
Fox News wants us to believe that the Lunar landings were faked, and that the government has lasers which can shoot down ordnance from space? Hmmm....
July 1, 2024
Republican Presidential candidate Jenna Bush finally responded to the controversy surrounding her supposed gaming habit in the early 2000's. Unnamed sources, all claiming to be former college friends, have stated that Ms. Bush was an all-night gamer, playing Quake III, Tribes, and other games popular among the youth at the time. Since then, gaming has become strictly prohibited and all users, manufacturers, and distributors of these games have faced enormous fines and prison sentences.
While not explicitly confessing to game use during her college years, Bush said "when I was young and irresponsible, I was young and irresponsible".
Miguel Jesus deNaranja, currently serving a 75-year sentence for game distribution at Microsoft Maximum Security Detention Center near Austin, expressed outrage towards this statement by the President--his former classmate and supposed gaming partner. "I can't believe she is being such a hypocrite about this. She used to frag my brown ass all night long back in the day." Bush denies deNaranja's statements and claims to have never met him.
--You said X-Mas party, right? Heh heh.
Seriously though, MDMA was successfully used for over a decade in psychiatric settings to help introverted individuals and couples break out of their respective shells. Within a half hour of ingestion, ego defenses will melt away and you will have a room full of chatty nerds (don't blame me, it sounds like that's what you're asking for here). Just be sure to have plenty of water, some comfy couches, and some multivitamin + amino acid tablets for afterwards to ease the infamous hangovers. Don't forget to have a lot of condoms on hand in case these people try to do something about their minor office crushes. Ahem.
Skip the lollipops, vapo-rub, and glow sticks. Only rave kids and cops believe that these things are good accessories for MDMA.
You are speaking of two different things. Patents are designed to protect the inventor (as your quote from Ms. Bowles implies), but you go on to criticize the /. community for pointing out that patents shouldn't be awarded when the "innovation" is obvious or follows prior art.
Patents are actually the tools used by Microsoft and others to stomp on everyone they feel like. They--unlike the inventor--have an army of lawyers who know the weaknesses of the Examination process at the P.T.O.
Your assertion about the cause of innovation is 100% erroneous. I don't recall hearing of Leonardo DaVinci's numerous patents, nor the numerous patents awarded to the ancient Egyptians for "a process of stacking 20,000+ lb blocks of stone in the sand to form a giant pyramid", or the ancient Mayans for "a device which indicates the vernal equinox by allowing the sun's rays to illuminate a wall". Innovation is the direct result of human will, which our patent system appears to be smothering by allowing Megacorps to hoard patents for everything under the sun.
So it has an advanced search feature and a somewhat interactive selection stage. Don't most software packages have the same features? There is nothing novel about these features; only the physical setting has changed (from the PC to the PVR). I think the U.S.P.T.O. has been infiltrated or something...
I have the same problem with this author that I have with Gene Roddenberry: why must intelligent species on other planets be anthropomorphic?
The author's assumption is that the intelligent and man-like beings are sending coded messages via radio waves in hopes of finding other intelligent beings. This is fine, but consider that the author is framing his arguments in Mathematics, and more importantly, base-10 numbers. Look at your hands: there should be ten fingers. That is the origin of our numbering system. Our system of mathematics and our discipline of deductive logic is a product of the organization of the human nervous system. Simply put, the author and his compatriots have painted themselves into a corner and assumed away most of the problem.
I propose that intelligent beings in other solar systems are not anthropomorphic, do not have ten fingers, do not count in base ten, and probably do not even share this concept of "numbers" anyway. Keep crunching transforms for SETI, but don't assume you are speaking the same language as THEM.