Given that the original video game CPUs were in the 1-2 MEGA hertz range, and modern CPUs (including Arduino) run in the GIGA hertz range (500-1000 times the clock speed), I would be surprised if you couldn't emulate the old video game hardware, even with sloppily written code.
Hell, you should just about be able to emulate that hardware with Java and CLR interpreters on modern CPUs.
My understanding of the fifth is that it only applies to information that can't be collected under a warrant.
For example, if you have a lockbox with incriminating documentation, and the police can provide sufficient evidence for a warrant, you can be required to unlock the box. However, you can still plead the fifth if a lawyer is asking about your "intentions" for the contents of the incriminating box.
So I think there is a valid question of whether the FBI had the right to force the lock on "the box" of encryption if they didn't have a warrant already. That's like the police breaking and entering to seize evidence; it would be thrown out in court because it wasn't collected properly.
They have to have evidence of a crime before they can get a warrant. But once they have a warrant, they have the right to open "the box" of encryption.
I believe that also means they have the right to demand the keys to the box: your passwords.
Prepaid used to work as you described, but unless you are "grandfathered" with such a plan, they're no longer running that way. My folks have a plan they've been on for about five or six years. As long as they top up before their credit runs out, they remain grandfathered. Typically a $50 card lasts them for about four months.
"Green Lantern" was one of the most poorly done of the crop of super hero movies released to date. The use of effects was capricious and downright silly. I realize the original comic wasn't much better, but at least it had the excuse of being original and thereby not having thought through all the possible powers of the ring.
They're also going to have a tough time replacing the cast of the original with equally compelling actors and actresses. I can't think of anyone in the current crop of "stars" who could replace Ford's character.
I agree that DNA swabs are the same as fingerprints.
I've been fingerprinted many times as part of my job requirements. Those prints are on record, even though I wasn't detained, much less arrested. I'd have no more problem with providing a DNA swab than the prints.
But where DNA samples are different is when it comes to things like medical insurance. Having access to a fingerprint stolen from a database doesn't give insurance companies ammunition to do anything; but DNA information could lead to rejection of insurance coverage because one has "bad genes."
I don't think it's a particularly big step for the police to further conclude that blood testing for drugs and alcohol is just part of "due process" and doesn't require charges any more, either. And that does worry me because I'm a medical cannabis user, and would not appreciate having such tests on my records.
Most of the noise in my old P4 based system is from the power supply and the video card. Not that I game any more, but you need 3D acceleration to run the latest and greatest desktops under Linux.
The lower power draw of Haswell and the more-than-adequate 3D support would fit my needs just about perfectly. That 10% performance boost that the article snears at would mean the machine would only run roughly 16 times as fast as my current box.
I think I could live with that. A quiet, low-power system that just does what I need: encode and play back videos, run database software, Eclipse, and day to day browsing/email.
Unfortunately most of the problems he suggests need solving involve the government bureaucracy rather heavily. That means that you can't just create an application in your spare time that would solve the problem; you have to support it with a huge raft of paperwork and test cases to prove to the government that it works. That doesn't take effort; it takes money, money that that those willing to do the work rarely have.
Take his example of disability processing for veterans. It's clear that this area could benefit from the latest in OCR technology to convert the hand-written forms into computer-readable text. Even better would be to convert the forms to online applications that can be printed out for one's records, but which are submitted electronically.
Once that's done, there is all sorts of interesting work that can be done to parse the data entered into those forms to categorize and sort the applications based on the type of disability being suffered so they can be prioritized.
In short, it's an area where there is tremendous opportunities for improvement.
But improving things would put hundreds if not thousands of government workers out of work. More importantly, it would mean those benefits become due now instead of in the form of back pay nine months later.
It's cruel, but I don't think the government wants the possible improvements. It rocks the boat of The System too much.
It's not that FLOSS is too early; it's that society is too late in North America.
In many jurisdictions, one can survive quite comfortably on the funds provided by the state. You only need a minimal income to buy yourself the occasional perk. Even here in Saskatchewan, Canada, I am living ok on my government disability (the migraines and bi-polar got to be too much for employers to deal with.)
But I don't have a fancy life. I don't own a house or a car. I moved to a smaller town where I have high speed and access to the medical services, groceries, dentists, and so-on that I need, but little else.
So now I can work on my pet project at my leisure, instead of being forced to try to make money off it now. It will probably never earn a dime. But it's fun, challenging, and keeps me occupied.
So maybe scratch that. It's not that society doesn't support FLOSS; it's that people expect too much out of life.
You are not supposed to be able to patent discoveries. Genetic sequences already exist unless you're doing genetic engineering. Therefore you should not be able to patent any genetics found in nature, because you haven't created a God-damned thing.
They may have been excellent individual programmers capable of producing works of art on their own, but the mindset for working in a team environment is completely different from that required for individual project work.
However, I blame not the developers, but the project management team for failing to realize that even the brightest people in the world need to be organized and have to structure their code properly to be effective. Far too often management takes the attitude that if they just hire "the best" and let them loose, miracles will happen.
Well, they don't.
In fact there is an entire book written about such management mistakes, in particular the fact that the more people you add to a project, the more effort and time it takes in total to complete. A little known text called "The Mythical Man-Month."
Over the years I've ended up making significant use of the math I learned in university.
Array and vector mathematics for graphics and 3D modelling.
Statistics for the financial industry, simulations, and supply chain programming.
Calculus for physics modelling, sound wave propagation calculations, and a host of other things.
Set theory for in-depth understanding and use of RDBMS servers.
But if you don't know the mathematics that can provide elegant and efficient solutions, feel free to implement a hodge podge of crap code like I've run into time and again over the years.
More importantly, Facebook has money and the bullies are probably broke. It's also highly likely that the bullies are kids, and can't be sued because they're under legal age.
So the parents are going for whatever money they can get.
Shame on them. Begging for blood money from an organization that's not at fault.
Now that's an article that doesn't slashvertise Disney's new show. It's informative, focuses on the Lego company instead of Disney, and was an enjoyable read.
Slashdot Mirror
Given that the original video game CPUs were in the 1-2 MEGA hertz range, and modern CPUs (including Arduino) run in the GIGA hertz range (500-1000 times the clock speed), I would be surprised if you couldn't emulate the old video game hardware, even with sloppily written code.
Hell, you should just about be able to emulate that hardware with Java and CLR interpreters on modern CPUs.
But there are still wingnuts who claim they can detect the radiation as far as California, that all tuna in the oceans are radioactive, etc.
The blinding stupidity of the human race and it's gullability for what they read/see on the internet will never cease to amaze me.
My understanding of the fifth is that it only applies to information that can't be collected under a warrant.
For example, if you have a lockbox with incriminating documentation, and the police can provide sufficient evidence for a warrant, you can be required to unlock the box. However, you can still plead the fifth if a lawyer is asking about your "intentions" for the contents of the incriminating box.
So I think there is a valid question of whether the FBI had the right to force the lock on "the box" of encryption if they didn't have a warrant already. That's like the police breaking and entering to seize evidence; it would be thrown out in court because it wasn't collected properly.
They have to have evidence of a crime before they can get a warrant. But once they have a warrant, they have the right to open "the box" of encryption.
I believe that also means they have the right to demand the keys to the box: your passwords.
Prepaid used to work as you described, but unless you are "grandfathered" with such a plan, they're no longer running that way. My folks have a plan they've been on for about five or six years. As long as they top up before their credit runs out, they remain grandfathered. Typically a $50 card lasts them for about four months.
"Green Lantern" was one of the most poorly done of the crop of super hero movies released to date. The use of effects was capricious and downright silly. I realize the original comic wasn't much better, but at least it had the excuse of being original and thereby not having thought through all the possible powers of the ring.
They're also going to have a tough time replacing the cast of the original with equally compelling actors and actresses. I can't think of anyone in the current crop of "stars" who could replace Ford's character.
I agree that DNA swabs are the same as fingerprints.
I've been fingerprinted many times as part of my job requirements. Those prints are on record, even though I wasn't detained, much less arrested. I'd have no more problem with providing a DNA swab than the prints.
But where DNA samples are different is when it comes to things like medical insurance. Having access to a fingerprint stolen from a database doesn't give insurance companies ammunition to do anything; but DNA information could lead to rejection of insurance coverage because one has "bad genes."
I don't think it's a particularly big step for the police to further conclude that blood testing for drugs and alcohol is just part of "due process" and doesn't require charges any more, either. And that does worry me because I'm a medical cannabis user, and would not appreciate having such tests on my records.
Most of the noise in my old P4 based system is from the power supply and the video card. Not that I game any more, but you need 3D acceleration to run the latest and greatest desktops under Linux.
The lower power draw of Haswell and the more-than-adequate 3D support would fit my needs just about perfectly. That 10% performance boost that the article snears at would mean the machine would only run roughly 16 times as fast as my current box.
I think I could live with that. A quiet, low-power system that just does what I need: encode and play back videos, run database software, Eclipse, and day to day browsing/email.
Unfortunately most of the problems he suggests need solving involve the government bureaucracy rather heavily. That means that you can't just create an application in your spare time that would solve the problem; you have to support it with a huge raft of paperwork and test cases to prove to the government that it works. That doesn't take effort; it takes money, money that that those willing to do the work rarely have.
Take his example of disability processing for veterans. It's clear that this area could benefit from the latest in OCR technology to convert the hand-written forms into computer-readable text. Even better would be to convert the forms to online applications that can be printed out for one's records, but which are submitted electronically.
Once that's done, there is all sorts of interesting work that can be done to parse the data entered into those forms to categorize and sort the applications based on the type of disability being suffered so they can be prioritized.
In short, it's an area where there is tremendous opportunities for improvement.
But improving things would put hundreds if not thousands of government workers out of work. More importantly, it would mean those benefits become due now instead of in the form of back pay nine months later.
It's cruel, but I don't think the government wants the possible improvements. It rocks the boat of The System too much.
It's not that FLOSS is too early; it's that society is too late in North America.
In many jurisdictions, one can survive quite comfortably on the funds provided by the state. You only need a minimal income to buy yourself the occasional perk. Even here in Saskatchewan, Canada, I am living ok on my government disability (the migraines and bi-polar got to be too much for employers to deal with.)
But I don't have a fancy life. I don't own a house or a car. I moved to a smaller town where I have high speed and access to the medical services, groceries, dentists, and so-on that I need, but little else.
So now I can work on my pet project at my leisure, instead of being forced to try to make money off it now. It will probably never earn a dime. But it's fun, challenging, and keeps me occupied.
So maybe scratch that. It's not that society doesn't support FLOSS; it's that people expect too much out of life.
You are not supposed to be able to patent discoveries. Genetic sequences already exist unless you're doing genetic engineering. Therefore you should not be able to patent any genetics found in nature, because you haven't created a God-damned thing.
They may have been excellent individual programmers capable of producing works of art on their own, but the mindset for working in a team environment is completely different from that required for individual project work.
However, I blame not the developers, but the project management team for failing to realize that even the brightest people in the world need to be organized and have to structure their code properly to be effective. Far too often management takes the attitude that if they just hire "the best" and let them loose, miracles will happen.
Well, they don't.
In fact there is an entire book written about such management mistakes, in particular the fact that the more people you add to a project, the more effort and time it takes in total to complete. A little known text called "The Mythical Man-Month."
Perhaps you've heard of it?
If you haven't, you definitely need to read it.
Over the years I've ended up making significant use of the math I learned in university.
Array and vector mathematics for graphics and 3D modelling.
Statistics for the financial industry, simulations, and supply chain programming.
Calculus for physics modelling, sound wave propagation calculations, and a host of other things.
Set theory for in-depth understanding and use of RDBMS servers.
But if you don't know the mathematics that can provide elegant and efficient solutions, feel free to implement a hodge podge of crap code like I've run into time and again over the years.
No, I am not trolling.
I genuinely believe that weapons should be "locked" to their owner.
I believe it's spelled "doofie". :P
I can't just rape and pillage every site I want for javascript snippets and samples. I have to read the license for the code first.
Just think how much easier it would be if everything were GPL'd. Then nobody would own anything. Or get paid.
(Yes, I release my code under GPLv3 and LGPL, but that's because I want to, not because I expect everyone else to!)
Because {..} takes a lot less typing than begin..end.
If people wanted to type excess verbiage, they'd stick with COBOL.
More importantly, Facebook has money and the bullies are probably broke. It's also highly likely that the bullies are kids, and can't be sued because they're under legal age.
So the parents are going for whatever money they can get.
Shame on them. Begging for blood money from an organization that's not at fault.
Pretty, Egotistical Tits & Ass.
<SARCASM>They'd never do that to further their agenda.</SARCASM>
That is NOT true in many jurisdictions. You have to get people's permission before you take pictures of them.
Even Google had to blur out people in their StreetView footage.
Glass doesn't do that.
You're missing the most important reason "Linux won't count":
It's far cheaper than commercial unixes used to be.
When the price of commercial software is sufficiently high, OSS is worth the "risk" to a corporation.
Furthermore, most companies are not modifying software like Linux -- they're just running it. That's why they don't care.
One could always just shut it off!
Seriously. If you're at home, why do you need to play with a smartphone?
Now that's an article that doesn't slashvertise Disney's new show. It's informative, focuses on the Lego company instead of Disney, and was an enjoyable read.
It was the plug for the new show that had me thinking "slashvertisement".
How much did Disney pay for this blatant slashvertisement?