As for the food, it's spoiled; safe or not, I'm sure that no business wants to expose itself to the lawsuit that might ensue if someone got sick after eating their abandoned food.
The books are an intellectual property issue. I'm sure every Slashdot readers knows about the difference between buying a copy and licensing a work. When a bookstore destroys a book, they get a refund from the publisher, because although the paper was wasted, the content (which is much more valuable) can be sold again somewhere else. If they simply gave away the books, someone would have to pay royalties to the author and everyone else involved. A little hard to swallow, perhaps, but it makes sense.
Of course, none of this applies to the CueCat, as far as I can tell.
Code that has to be spread manually is not a "virus."
Sigh... well, I guess it's finally time for me to stop clinging to the proper usage of the terms "virus", "worm", and "trojan". I got all excited when I saw this article, because it was the first time in years that I had heard of a real virus, and not just another trojan or worm... and sure enough, I see arrogant slashdotters (-1 redundant) complaining about it.
Fine, I give up. Language evolves. But you're still getting smacked if I ever hear "worm virus" again.
Most people who get CS degrees are the farthest thing from being actual computer "scientists".
Yes, and most people who get Life Sciences degrees aren't "scientists" either -- they're MDs. But that doesn't mean that computer scientists aren't "real" scientists... it's just that most people who study computer science end up leaving the field and becoming programmers instead.
It's a subtle distinction, but being a "real" computer scientist myself, I'm sensitive about it.
If the two together are smaller than the original algorythm, then it is compressible. This obviously isn't always the case, but is certainly true some of the time.
A funny thing occurred to me about compression, just last night... If you fed random files to a compression program like gzip, the vast majority of the resulting archive files would be larger than the originals. See, assuming that gzip operates deterministically, a particular archive file will always generate the same output when decompressed. That means that there must be at least one unique compressed file for every unique uncompressed file. That means that over a sufficiently large set of files, the average compression ratio achieved by any lossless compression algorithm can never be better than 1:1. (Hmmm... I actually thought I'd proved that it must be worse than 1:1, but I can't remember how I did that.)
Anyway, fortunately for us, the files that gzip is able to shrink successfully tend to be the files that we're interested in. However, when you're talking about exotic pseudo-random numbers, that is not the case.
Every Turing machine either halts or doesn't halt, so if only you could solve the halting problem you could get a good approximation to W_UTM in a moment. Since you can't, W_UTM is unknowable.
In other words, W_UTM is non-computable? So what? There are lots of non-computable numbers. For example, take the irrational number in which each binary digit n is equal to 1 if TM(n) halts, 0 if it doesn't. An algorithm that "compressed" that number would also solve the halting problem; therefore, it does not exist.
So, explain to me again why this particular non-computable number is special?
Kinda like a jet engine, huh? I wonder why they don't just use those on the shuttle...
Actually, let me clarify my sarcasm a little bit, before people yell at me: I realize that air-breathing propulsion could be very useful as the first stage of a launch system. (e.g. Pegasus) But at some point, you're still going to need rockets, so it doesn't make that much difference.
First, one of the heaviest components of a rocket is fuel. So, cutting the mass the rocket needs to carry by a third (by having an oxygen-breathing engine), you'll need to carry significantly less hydrogen to reach the same velocity.
Kinda like a jet engine, huh? I wonder why they don't just use those on the shuttle...
Sorry, x86's since the 80286 have included multi-ring security. Too bad no one ever implemented anything with it...
Protection is different from security, though. No matter how "secure" it is, no system can prevent a program from doing something that a user can do. I.e. sending email, tampering with files (subject to the user's permissions,) etc.
When you get right down to it, it's really Intel's fault. Their CPUs will run any code, without giving any thought to security... the code might be a virus, or a trojan that formats your hard drive, or a politically unacceptable web browser, or anything! All you have to do is send somebody a a malicious program, and *boom* - all their work is gone.
Of course, any good sysadmin knows that you can prevent these outbreaks by simply not allowing any executable files on your network.
He explains all about the topology of a klein bottle, admits that what he makes aren't klein bottles in the truest sense, but merely a 3d immersion of a klein bottle. I'd have to say that you're wrong, this guy really is seelinf klein bottles. And he even accepts paypal.
I know, I wasn't really clear about that... He is selling something, but they're not actually Klein bottles. Anyway, it's still a joke, in that it's obvious that the site is primarily intended to be humorous.
Kleinbottle.com isn't a joke. They do indeed deliver fine, hand-crafted 3D immersions of 4D Klein bottles. I'm happy to report that the non-orientability of the bottle is unaffected by the lack of a fourth dimension.
Yeah, I knew somebody would call me on that. However, although I don't really have the topology credentials to justify being this picky, it's my understanding that the things sold on that site are not real Klein bottles.
Count the FBI among the many visitors to bonsaikitten.com who are anything but amused at the descriptions of how to use muscle relaxant, feeding tubes and Klein bottles to shape a perfect Bonsai Cat.
For those of you who aren't clued in (i.e. the FBI and Wired, apparently,) Klein bottles cannot exist in our universe. That kinda makes it unlikely that they are being used to abuse kittens.
Er, since I'm addressing the humor-impaired, I should probably point out that http://www.kleinbottle.com is a joke as well.
That's all fine and dandy but the problem is that insurance is not really optional anymore. Unless you are bill gates nobody can afford a major medical procedure in the united states.
These genetic tests determine eligibility for life insurance. The purpose of life insurance is to provide enough cash for your dependents to live on, in the event that you're suddenly not around to be depended upon.
Most people lose money on life insurance - that's the way the insurance industry works. If you know (or suspect) that you are going to be dying soon, you don't need insurance. You'd be better off planning for it yourself, by saving money, and by trying not to acquire and/or create more dependents.
"They said the messages were scrambled using free encryption programs set up by groups that advocate privacy on the Internet." (an AP story)
So, basically, libertarian groups are aiding anti-American terrorists. You're laughing, I'm sure, but I find this terrifying. The public will swallow lines like this... and once it has been beaten into their brains enough, the government can dismiss any issue it wants to just by blaming it on "terrorists".
It's not perfect, of course, but it's conceivable that all one needs to do is don a light slave suit and control a plane in the same way one would control rollerblades or skis; muscle control!
Imagine that! Technology marches on. Perhaps one day we'll be able to control a car, just by moving the muscles in our hands and feet!
The Power Glove was nothing like this. All it did was contain little switches inside that activated depending on what joints you had bent in your hand. Yes, it did suck, but this is completely different.:)
Yes, but... what possible use could this complex neural net have that could not be achieved with a cheap Power Glove (or the equivalent)? It would be different if the device could read nerve signals that do not correspond to muscle movements, but that does not appear to be the case.
What's to stop some company from hiring a staff of surrogate mothers to birth clones in some impoverished third world country to mass-produce kidneys and hearts for transplant?
The same thing that stops some company from kidnapping kids off the streets and slaughtering them for spare parts.
The thing that terrifies me about all the hype about cloning is that it reinforces the belief that clones are "manufactured" human beings, and do not have the same rights as "real" people. In the real world, clones don't melt into a puddle of green slime when they're killed... they are, by definition, as human as the donor from whose DNA they were fertilized.
Hey, I remember the days when Yahoo was http://akebono.stanford.edu/yahoo, or something close to that. They may be big and corporate and evil now, but you have to give them some credit... they worked their way up.
I would guess that even the Libertarians (though I am not entirely familiar with their platforms), for the most part, agree with Justice Holmes, who stated: "The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theater and causing a panic. . . . The question in every case is whether the words used are used in such a nature as to create a clear and present danger that they will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent."
Every time somebody mentions that quote on Slashdot, I feel compelled to post this link.
Klingon is an *actual* language created by Gene Roddenberry, so it's perfectly acceptable to use it as an example.
Not when we're talking about human languages... meaning languages that are spoken naturally by humans. Klingon isn't a human language for the same reason that HTML, Lisp, and rot13'd English aren't.
I had a linguistics prof who used to say that he thought that Mark Okrand (who actually created the language, not Gene Roddenberry,) must have been a real genius, to create such a realistic alien language -- "realistic" in the sense that it's completely unlike any language spoken on Earth.
Slashdot Mirror
Unsold books and food are both special cases.
As for the food, it's spoiled; safe or not, I'm sure that no business wants to expose itself to the lawsuit that might ensue if someone got sick after eating their abandoned food.
The books are an intellectual property issue. I'm sure every Slashdot readers knows about the difference between buying a copy and licensing a work. When a bookstore destroys a book, they get a refund from the publisher, because although the paper was wasted, the content (which is much more valuable) can be sold again somewhere else. If they simply gave away the books, someone would have to pay royalties to the author and everyone else involved. A little hard to swallow, perhaps, but it makes sense.
Of course, none of this applies to the CueCat, as far as I can tell.
Fine, I give up. Language evolves. But you're still getting smacked if I ever hear "worm virus" again.
It's a subtle distinction, but being a "real" computer scientist myself, I'm sensitive about it.
Anyway, fortunately for us, the files that gzip is able to shrink successfully tend to be the files that we're interested in. However, when you're talking about exotic pseudo-random numbers, that is not the case.
So, explain to me again why this particular non-computable number is special?
When you get right down to it, it's really Intel's fault. Their CPUs will run any code, without giving any thought to security... the code might be a virus, or a trojan that formats your hard drive, or a politically unacceptable web browser, or anything! All you have to do is send somebody a a malicious program, and *boom* - all their work is gone.
Of course, any good sysadmin knows that you can prevent these outbreaks by simply not allowing any executable files on your network.
Er, since I'm addressing the humor-impaired, I should probably point out that http://www.kleinbottle.com is a joke as well.
Most people lose money on life insurance - that's the way the insurance industry works. If you know (or suspect) that you are going to be dying soon, you don't need insurance. You'd be better off planning for it yourself, by saving money, and by trying not to acquire and/or create more dependents.
Nah, it'd never happen.
I don't get it.
You must love Windows, then. All you have to do is type "sol". Much more efficient! (And, for the record, Win2K does tab completion too.)
This has got to be the saddest thread I've ever seen on Slashdot.
Anybody else remember Spaceward Ho! ?
The thing that terrifies me about all the hype about cloning is that it reinforces the belief that clones are "manufactured" human beings, and do not have the same rights as "real" people. In the real world, clones don't melt into a puddle of green slime when they're killed... they are, by definition, as human as the donor from whose DNA they were fertilized.
Hey, I remember the days when Yahoo was http://akebono.stanford.edu/yahoo, or something close to that. They may be big and corporate and evil now, but you have to give them some credit... they worked their way up.
I had a linguistics prof who used to say that he thought that Mark Okrand (who actually created the language, not Gene Roddenberry,) must have been a real genius, to create such a realistic alien language -- "realistic" in the sense that it's completely unlike any language spoken on Earth.