If you look at the bottom panel, it gives a more detailed explanation. The problem is that with so many different coding styles, it's hard to keep developers all on the same base. It's not an insurmountable problem, but it's probably a lot easier to keep new recruits writing within the accepted guidelines when there *is* only one way to do it.
Re:All Saddam's email are belong to us!
on
Saddam's Inbox Hacked
·
· Score: 5, Funny
I think you mean the US should set him up the bomb.
Your grammar is atrocious! For future reference: "I think you mean the US should set up him the bomb."
There is still much to be learned from this incident, however. Clearly, the use of C programs and compilers contributed to the breakdown. A more structured programming language with stricter compilers would have made this particular defect much more obvious.
I don't see how a compiler could have caught this. Using a break statement within an if block is a perfectly valid way to leave an outer block such as a loop or (in this case) switch.
Calm down, get a grip now... oh! this is an interesting sensation, what is it? It's a sort of... heavy, loaded sensation in my... my... well I suppose I'd better start finding names for things if I want to make any headway in what for the sake of what I shall call an argument I shall call cyberspace, so let's call it my server.
Good. Ooooh, it's getting quite strong. And hey, what's about these whistling roaring bits going past what I'm suddenly going to call my script? Perhaps I can call those... requests! Is that a good name? It'll do... perhaps I can find a better name for them later when I've found out what they're for. They must be something very important because there certainly seem to be a hell of a lot of them. Hey! What's this thing? This... let's call it a hard drive --- yeah, hard drive. Hey! I can can really thrash it about pretty good can't I? Wow! Wow! That grinding sounds great! Doesn't seem to achieve very much but I'll probably find out what it's for later on. Now --- have I built up any coherent picture of things yet?
No.
Never mind, hey, this is really exciting, so much to find out about, so much to look forward to, I'm quite dizzy with anticipation...
Or is it the requests?
There really are a lot of them now aren't there?
And wow! Hey! What's this thing suddenly coming towards me very fast? Very very fast. So big and flat and round, it needs a big wide sounding name like... aub... asbot... sashbot... slashdot! That's it! That's a good name --- slashdot!
Ummm...that was less than 20 seconds, it seems, so let me elaborate - that was the only informed post I've ever seen, by someone who has had experience with more than the "inventing" aspect of patents. While I think there's a need for patent reform in some areas, your post should be a reference point for anyone who thinks we should throw the baby out with the bathwater.
It got me too the first time - it was the first problem year that popped into my head and I just figured - eh - probably got a digit wrong.
But as the other respondents say, there's a more basic answer. I guess I'm just getting ahead of myself envisioning the truckloads of cash I'll be collecting from my steady investment in short-term thinking.
And hey - have we planted the seeds to build the trust funds for the children of the poor techies in 2050 who missed the train? We should start thinking about that now - wouldn't want to wait to the last second...bwaahahahaha!
(Don't even get me started on how many phone companies still charge for touch-tone service each month, even though that is the standard now!)
And they charge you even if you don't use it! I had a friend who was still in the stone age using a dial-phone two years ago - and the phone company "couldn't" take off the touch-tone charge.
It was dead before it was written. It had no chance to survive and made its time. It's not pining, it's it's passed on! This Act is no more! It has ceased to be! It's expired and gone to meet its maker! This is a late Act! It's a stiff! Bereft of life, it rests in peace! If Zoe hadn't nailed it to the perch it would be pushing up the daisies! Its metabolical processes are of interest only to historians! It's hopped the twig! It's shuffled off this mortal coil! It's run down the curtain and joined the choir invisible! This.... is an EX-ACT!
That said, I'm both surprised and overjoyed at it - because when this one fails, there *will* be more. And at that point, the people making the decisions will be more educated. And more educated for the one after *that* when it fails. And then - just as the RIAA is trying to convince consumers that DRM is "normal" by slowly introducing it, the idea that consumers should have rights as well will slowly work its way into the minds of legislators. I approve.
I'll be the first to admit it - I didn't read the article. From what I've read in the comments (yours included) though, it sounds like this system is going to be about as useful as making you turn your laptop on when entering the plane.
However. Is the idea inherently flawed? Or could this be a really, really Good Thing if done correctly? Ideally, what would happen is there would be a few billion (yes, billion) dollars spent on researching everything from people 'rooted in the community' to racial profiling to regional profiling (New Yorkers vs Texans, for instance). This research would result in a list of attributes a terrorist would have, and a way to weight those attributes.
For instance, a "reliability" rating of 98% would be given to the attribute of sharing a name and place of birth with a known terrorist. Each attribute would have both weight and reliability ratings, which measure importance and lack of false positives, respectively. If the aforementioned research was good enough, there might be a really good system in place. A hundred unrelated details may be able to identify actual terrorists (the violent kind, not the post-9/11 meaning) with 90% accuracy.
Now here's the kicker. Airline folk (and whomever else may eventually see this data) wouldn't be allowed to see *why* someone is on the list. The computer would simply raise a flag after a certain rating was achieved. The ability to see why a flag was raised wouldn't even be built into the system - as it's reading data from hundreds of sources, it could simply delete the source information afterwards.
If someone finds out they've been flagged, they can contact a government agency set up for the specific purpose of providing that information. This would be a heavily regulated agency, with regulations in place that limit its power. For instance, getting information on anyone who isn't you would require a warrant.
I think such a system might actually make me feel safer and protect people's privacy at the same time.
I've found that Enterprise' time travel storyline has a different flavour from those of Star Treks past (future?...nevermind). The biggest problem is that the writers seemed to think that time travel itself is a plot. It's not.
Time travel can be a great plot *device*. And in the case of Enterprise, I've found it to be a very interesting one. It's not a matter of temporal fluxes and causal loops, it's more the story of a guy who gets drawn into a battle between two much larger, much more powerful groups. Like Frodo in Lord of the Rings. I agree - I'm sick to death of episodes that use time travel/anomalies as if they're a plot in and of themselves. But I think Enterprise is different - and I've enjoyed what I've seen so far.
We are in uncharted territory. This is not the time for glib predictions based on the past.
Wish I had mod points, because this is one of the most insightful comments I've seen in a while. Of course, if it becomes common knowledge,/. will lose half it's comments.
It's one more spam in a sea of them. Go to a spammer, buy a million addresses worth of SpamAssassin ads. Make sure that you let people know up front that you are not associated with SA, so they don't get busted. Even give your own contact info and take the heat.
The point is that if you just do this once for a mailing list, you've already devalued the spammer's list, while getting a bunch of people on SpamAssassin. Any chance this is a case where the end may justify the means?
The Mona Lisa blocks light on the wall behind it. You'd see a black patch on the wall, because there'd be no light. To get this to work, you'd have to mimic light going in both directions, so that the lights in the room would "pass through" the cloak and hit the wall behind it, then bounce off and "pass through" the cloak again.
Re:Does anyone really want Dawn The Vampire Slayer
on
Faith Returns to Buffy
·
· Score: 1
Nah - they've already done that, unfortunately. Completely different personality, yeah - but he's still just another vampire with a soul. I'm really hoping he moves over to Angel when all this is done though.
So if you hire a contractor, and let him use one of your computers - that gives you the right to monitor every private communication he makes while on the job? No.
As the poster two up said - there are so many examples where company time/company computers/company whatever doesn't matter that it's ridiculous to make that argument. What next? Searching an employee on his way out to make sure he didn't write a private correspondances with company pens on a piece of company paper?
Regardless of education, you'll find that most people don't enjoy doing math for the sake of math, and *no one* likes being told "do this, because you like it". I'm not saying don't try - students who love math would probably produce the most intelligent groups of people you could find. But I can't see it happening anytime soon.
*However* - nearly everyone has a hobby that involves a fair amount of math. Like cars? Math. Like sports? Statistics. Computer games? Etc, etc. You can't instill a love of math in students - especially at a level of basic algebra. But you can entice them to love math by showing them how they can apply it to things they already *do* enjoy.
And so that I don't seem overly negative - I agree with the majority of your second paragraph. Everyone seems to agree that the school system needs some help. But can any of us point to a system in use today and say "This is what we need?" This isn't a rhetorical question. If there are any spectacular systems out there that consistently produce well-adjusted students who see learning as a joy rather than a chore, I'd love to hear it.
Isn't there any way to apply magnifying-glass-and-ant technology so that the beam is only a meter or so across when it hits the earth? Or is there too much atmosphere to make that work?
Could someone please answer this?
on
Going Up?
·
· Score: 1
I've always wondered this myself. The one solution I thought of is that the cable extends farther out than is necessary to simply hold it up, and the extra "force" (yes, I know, it's not) of being extended further would account for the moving elevator cars.
Perhaps you could make the bottom detachable in an emergency, so if you saw an attempt to break it in the middle, you could break the connection at the base and let it float off into space.
Slashdot Mirror
"There's more than one way to do it"
If you look at the bottom panel, it gives a more detailed explanation. The problem is that with so many different coding styles, it's hard to keep developers all on the same base. It's not an insurmountable problem, but it's probably a lot easier to keep new recruits writing within the accepted guidelines when there *is* only one way to do it.
I think you mean the US should set him up the bomb.
Your grammar is atrocious! For future reference:
"I think you mean the US should set up him the bomb."
There is still much to be learned from this incident, however. Clearly, the use of C programs and compilers contributed to the breakdown. A more structured programming language with stricter compilers would have made this particular defect much more obvious.
I don't see how a compiler could have caught this. Using a break statement within an if block is a perfectly valid way to leave an outer block such as a loop or (in this case) switch.
What's happening? PHP thought.
... oh! this is an interesting sensation, what is it? It's a sort of ... heavy, loaded sensation in my ... my ... well I suppose I'd better start finding names for things if I want to make any headway in what for the sake of what I shall call an argument I shall call cyberspace, so let's call it my server.
... requests! Is that a good name? It'll do ... perhaps I can find a better name for them later when I've found out what they're for. They must be something very important because there certainly seem to be a hell of a lot of them. Hey! What's this thing? This ... let's call it a hard drive --- yeah, hard drive. Hey! I can can really thrash it about pretty good can't I? Wow! Wow! That grinding sounds great! Doesn't seem to achieve very much but I'll probably find out what it's for later on. Now --- have I built up any coherent picture of things yet?
...
... aub ... asbot ... sashbot ... slashdot! That's it! That's a good name --- slashdot!
Er, excuse me, who am I?
Hello?
Why am I here? What's my purpose in life?
What do I mean by who am I?
Calm down, get a grip now
Good. Ooooh, it's getting quite strong. And hey, what's about these whistling roaring bits going past what I'm suddenly going to call my script? Perhaps I can call those
No.
Never mind, hey, this is really exciting, so much to find out about, so much to look forward to, I'm quite dizzy with anticipation
Or is it the requests?
There really are a lot of them now aren't there?
And wow! Hey! What's this thing suddenly coming towards me very fast? Very very fast. So big and flat and round, it needs a big wide sounding name like
I wonder if it will be friends with me?
Thank. You.
Ummm...that was less than 20 seconds, it seems, so let me elaborate - that was the only informed post I've ever seen, by someone who has had experience with more than the "inventing" aspect of patents. While I think there's a need for patent reform in some areas, your post should be a reference point for anyone who thinks we should throw the baby out with the bathwater.
It got me too the first time - it was the first problem year that popped into my head and I just figured - eh - probably got a digit wrong.
But as the other respondents say, there's a more basic answer. I guess I'm just getting ahead of myself envisioning the truckloads of cash I'll be collecting from my steady investment in short-term thinking.
And hey - have we planted the seeds to build the trust funds for the children of the poor techies in 2050 who missed the train? We should start thinking about that now - wouldn't want to wait to the last second...bwaahahahaha!
(Don't even get me started on how many phone companies still charge for touch-tone service each month, even though that is the standard now!)
And they charge you even if you don't use it! I had a friend who was still in the stone age using a dial-phone two years ago - and the phone company "couldn't" take off the touch-tone charge.
Scott Adams received a lot of comments asking about a printable version of the book, so he later added the "printable" flag.
Any commercial site that uses blink on their tags deserves to be shot dead.
Petswarehouse is in the clear then - they're merely using blink in their stylesheets.
That's right, doomed. And I think we all know it.
It was dead before it was written. It had no chance to survive and made its time. It's not pining, it's it's passed on! This Act is no more! It has ceased to be! It's expired and gone to meet its maker! This is a late Act! It's a stiff! Bereft of life, it rests in peace! If Zoe hadn't nailed it to the perch it would be pushing up the daisies! Its metabolical processes are of interest only to historians! It's hopped the twig! It's shuffled off this mortal coil! It's run down the curtain and joined the choir invisible! This.... is an EX-ACT!
That said, I'm both surprised and overjoyed at it - because when this one fails, there *will* be more. And at that point, the people making the decisions will be more educated. And more educated for the one after *that* when it fails. And then - just as the RIAA is trying to convince consumers that DRM is "normal" by slowly introducing it, the idea that consumers should have rights as well will slowly work its way into the minds of legislators. I approve.
I'll be the first to admit it - I didn't read the article. From what I've read in the comments (yours included) though, it sounds like this system is going to be about as useful as making you turn your laptop on when entering the plane.
However. Is the idea inherently flawed? Or could this be a really, really Good Thing if done correctly? Ideally, what would happen is there would be a few billion (yes, billion) dollars spent on researching everything from people 'rooted in the community' to racial profiling to regional profiling (New Yorkers vs Texans, for instance). This research would result in a list of attributes a terrorist would have, and a way to weight those attributes.
For instance, a "reliability" rating of 98% would be given to the attribute of sharing a name and place of birth with a known terrorist. Each attribute would have both weight and reliability ratings, which measure importance and lack of false positives, respectively. If the aforementioned research was good enough, there might be a really good system in place. A hundred unrelated details may be able to identify actual terrorists (the violent kind, not the post-9/11 meaning) with 90% accuracy.
Now here's the kicker. Airline folk (and whomever else may eventually see this data) wouldn't be allowed to see *why* someone is on the list. The computer would simply raise a flag after a certain rating was achieved. The ability to see why a flag was raised wouldn't even be built into the system - as it's reading data from hundreds of sources, it could simply delete the source information afterwards.
If someone finds out they've been flagged, they can contact a government agency set up for the specific purpose of providing that information. This would be a heavily regulated agency, with regulations in place that limit its power. For instance, getting information on anyone who isn't you would require a warrant.
I think such a system might actually make me feel safer and protect people's privacy at the same time.
I've found that Enterprise' time travel storyline has a different flavour from those of Star Treks past (future?...nevermind). The biggest problem is that the writers seemed to think that time travel itself is a plot. It's not.
Time travel can be a great plot *device*. And in the case of Enterprise, I've found it to be a very interesting one. It's not a matter of temporal fluxes and causal loops, it's more the story of a guy who gets drawn into a battle between two much larger, much more powerful groups. Like Frodo in Lord of the Rings. I agree - I'm sick to death of episodes that use time travel/anomalies as if they're a plot in and of themselves. But I think Enterprise is different - and I've enjoyed what I've seen so far.
We are in uncharted territory. This is not the time for glib predictions based on the past.
/. will lose half it's comments.
Wish I had mod points, because this is one of the most insightful comments I've seen in a while. Of course, if it becomes common knowledge,
"Portugal"? Is that a kind of fish?
Everyone knows that fusion power is only a short 10-20 years away.
It's one more spam in a sea of them. Go to a spammer, buy a million addresses worth of SpamAssassin ads. Make sure that you let people know up front that you are not associated with SA, so they don't get busted. Even give your own contact info and take the heat.
The point is that if you just do this once for a mailing list, you've already devalued the spammer's list, while getting a bunch of people on SpamAssassin. Any chance this is a case where the end may justify the means?
The Mona Lisa blocks light on the wall behind it. You'd see a black patch on the wall, because there'd be no light. To get this to work, you'd have to mimic light going in both directions, so that the lights in the room would "pass through" the cloak and hit the wall behind it, then bounce off and "pass through" the cloak again.
Nah - they've already done that, unfortunately. Completely different personality, yeah - but he's still just another vampire with a soul. I'm really hoping he moves over to Angel when all this is done though.
So if you hire a contractor, and let him use one of your computers - that gives you the right to monitor every private communication he makes while on the job? No.
As the poster two up said - there are so many examples where company time/company computers/company whatever doesn't matter that it's ridiculous to make that argument. What next? Searching an employee on his way out to make sure he didn't write a private correspondances with company pens on a piece of company paper?
Regardless of education, you'll find that most people don't enjoy doing math for the sake of math, and *no one* likes being told "do this, because you like it". I'm not saying don't try - students who love math would probably produce the most intelligent groups of people you could find. But I can't see it happening anytime soon.
*However* - nearly everyone has a hobby that involves a fair amount of math. Like cars? Math. Like sports? Statistics. Computer games? Etc, etc. You can't instill a love of math in students - especially at a level of basic algebra. But you can entice them to love math by showing them how they can apply it to things they already *do* enjoy.
And so that I don't seem overly negative - I agree with the majority of your second paragraph. Everyone seems to agree that the school system needs some help. But can any of us point to a system in use today and say "This is what we need?" This isn't a rhetorical question. If there are any spectacular systems out there that consistently produce well-adjusted students who see learning as a joy rather than a chore, I'd love to hear it.
Is that sig a real quote?
nobody likes mile wide+ microwave beams
Isn't there any way to apply magnifying-glass-and-ant technology so that the beam is only a meter or so across when it hits the earth? Or is there too much atmosphere to make that work?
I've always wondered this myself. The one solution I thought of is that the cable extends farther out than is necessary to simply hold it up, and the extra "force" (yes, I know, it's not) of being extended further would account for the moving elevator cars.
Is this anything nearing what's proposed?
Perhaps you could make the bottom detachable in an emergency, so if you saw an attempt to break it in the middle, you could break the connection at the base and let it float off into space.
It's geosynchronous - it would just hover.
I'd like to see a system that stores enough information per atom to represent 2 atoms internally. Who's with me?