> Although any system using just symmetric ciphers would be immune from this reduction in work effort.
No. If you can non-deterministically guess the right symmetric key, checking it works is polynomial. (It isn't always possible to do the "check it works" step (e.g. for a one time pad), but for systems where a brute force search works at the moment, or would work in principle if the key wasn't so large it was impractical, it is).
> 842! will do exactly what you just claimed was 842 calculations. I doubt anyone could even TYPE the numbers 1-842 with no spaces or enter keys, etcetera on a computer keyboard in under 15 seconds
It was five keys on the calculator I had in school. "8" "4" "2" "function shift" "factorial". My calculator would have then displayed an overflow error, but I expect any calculator capable of handling 842! will have a factorial function built in. Or rather an adequately accurate approximation to it - it doesn't actually have to do all those integer multiplications.
http://www.rskey.org/gamma.htm
> You'll still need a good light source to illuminate the screen.
Yes, but it doesn't need to be accurately focused. Think of the difference between using an overhead projector and a flipchart. The flipchart is easier to move around, set up, and use.
And the discussion here also includes flexible displays that do glow (e.g. http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=24536&cid=2664 108) (which might well be better for home cinema use).
> The use of the MIPP in employee screening is a nightmare.
Oh yes.
I used to work somewhere that wanted all the employees tested "because it would help managers understand their teams better". Originally it was strictly voluntary with results known only to testee and their manager, but it didn't work out that way.
Anyway, I was only able to ask the people administering the test a few questions. "These numbers - where are the error bars?" "I don't understand the question." A bit of explanation later - "So, every result here except two is close enough to the axis that repeating the test could give an answer in the opposite quadrant, within the repeatability estimates you've just given?" "Um, yes" <nervous laughter>. "I know quite a few people here are role-playing gamers. It would be interesting to give some of them 16 copies of the test and see if they can get one into each combination." "Yes, it would" <more nervous laughter, hasty change of subject to supposed team building exercise>.
> "Do politicians count as paying customers?" Four have been flown. All four were major supporters of NASA.
How much of their own money were they supporting it with? (I think spending taxpayers' money on space is a good thing (within limits), and having politicians as representatives of the taxpayers getting rides to see it being spent isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I don't think they are in the same class as "paying customers" paying with their own money).
Re:Readability the big win
on
Electronic Paper
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
> Who wants a floppy display?
Anyone who doesn't have permanent room for a rigid one the size they want. Most home cinema projection screens roll up. Now you don't need the projecter.
On a smaller scale, you can fit a large laptop sized screen in your pocket with your Palm sized device.
> Fried egg.
Or possibly scrambled. Maybe boiled as an option.
> Hash Browns
Not in an English breakfast. Not one without strong American influences anyway.
> Fried bread
and toast.
> Probably some other stuff as well
Fried (or possibly large grilled) mushrooms. Black pudding (blood sausage). (Or possibly white pudding, but that's less common).
Why doesn't "Plain Old Text" handle < and > without needing me to type < and >? I suppose I should have previewed. Anyway, that should be "we tried here" and "really we have to allow for "
> Some guy had put in this change, commented it as "for performance improvement", then commented it out with an extra comment explaining that it was taken out because it didn't work.
Surely a clearer technique would be to replace the "improvement" with a comment saying "we tried here, but it didn't work", and use the revision control system (CVS, RCS, etc.) for anyone who wants to look at the exact details?
(I find the opposite case is more common - think something can be removed, find why it was needed, add a comment saying "this might seem redundant, but really we have to allow for ".)
Re:Why can't anyone see the implications of this?
on
This is IT?
·
· Score: 1
> With an "IT", you will be able to stick it at the back of the lecture room in a safe place.
You're joking, or there was more room at the back of your lecture rooms than mine. Actually the one person who can afford an IT might find room for it, but as a general bike replacement - no. Not unless they rip out all the benches and you stand on your IT for the lecture. And IT doesn't even have the stair climbing feature, so you have to carry it up to the back (at least in some rooms).
> An "IT" looks like it will take up far less space than a bike as well
No smaller than a folded Brompton. Brompton's are relatively expensive (and don't turn up cheap in the police auctions), but still vastly cheaper than IT.
> An "IT" would be great for going to the new computer lab near the M11 if you live on the other side of the city as well
What, the one with bike routes there?
> bikes are annoying
So are (some) pedestrians and motorists. What makes you think IT users are going to be any better? They're going to be faster and heavier than pedestrians, but without any idea of being a vehicle at all. Cyclists who know what they're doing won't have anything to gain, so it will only be the ones on the pavement (sidewalk) who would use this.
Luckily with it costing $3000 I don't have to worry too much about them cluttering the place up.
If you want a small slow gimmicky transport method that you can take into the lecture theatre, why not just use a micro-scooter?
I know people who can't use a bike for medical reasons, but I can't see IT helping them that much. The only really good thing I see about IT is that it might make the wheelchair cheaper. That really does have clear advantages over a conventional wheelchair.
> He lives in London. Now, I'm not a brit, but I'm pretty sure he can't walk down to his corner gun store and pick up a nice shiny pistol.
On the bright side, nor can the muggers. (Yes, they're criminals, so don't have to follow the rules, but there are fewer guns around. Which is part of why the police don't routinely need them either. I realize introducing UK gun control laws into the US wouldn't result in a UK-like pattern of gun use.)
> Compare it side-by-side with a similarly priced rear-projection
I've compared rear projection with (smaller) direct view TVs. I'm not sure whether to buy the direct view now, or wait for plasma prices to drop further.
One of the silliest movies I have ever seen was about Swedish ninjas. (No, that's not the silly bit. Not the _really_ silly bit anyway).
The sequence "good guys enter a large room, bad guys each let off an entire (finite, even reasonably sized) magazine of submachinegun fire in the vague direction of the good guys without hitting them once, good guys then fire one shot or throw one throwing star per bad guy and all the bad guys are dead" was repeated about five times.
Re:Why can't anyone see the implications of this?
on
This is IT?
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
> Think of college campuses where cars are hard to manage
I live in a university city (Cambridge (UK, not Ma.)) where students aren't generally allowed to keep cars, and staff permits for most car pars are extremely limited.
Most students have bikes. Very very few (if any) of them have $3000 bikes. Few of them have $300 bikes. And a bike is lighter, faster, easier to carry loads on, simpler to maintain, and there are lots of existing bike racks (with no power for recharging batteries).
> Ok, so he didn't invent the nuclear sub, merely the self-contained sub that could stay at sea, indeed underwater, for extended periods of time without having to refuel
Well, there's the minor detail that the only practical way to split the seawater to get the sodium he uses to generate electricity is with electrolysis. Either the Nautilus has greater than 100% efficiency, or there is another power plant Nemo is keeping quiet about.
Even if this isn't a nuclear plant (making Nemo truly ahead of his time) that doesn't stop the Nautilus being a potential inspiration to nuclear sub designers.
> Left is up/down wibble, Right is left/right wibble (or it might be the other way around).
No, it's at 45 degrees to that. If the disk is horizontal, the encoding axes are X, not +. The groove is V-shaped, and one wall is left channel, the other wall is right channel. So when both channels are in phase the groove is straight but goes up and down (gets wider and narrower); when they are out of phase it goes left and right, staying the same depth.
http://directory.google.com/Top/Arts/Literature/ Au thors/V/Verne,_Jules/Works/Twenty_Thousand_Leagues _Under_the_Sea/ only seems to have English translations.
"Electricity?" I cried in surprise.
"Yes, Sir."
"Nevertheless, Captain, you possess an extreme rapidity of movement, which does not agree well with the power of electricity. Until now, its dynamic force has remained under restraint, and has only been able to produce a small amount of power."
"Professor," said Captain Nemo, "my electricity is not everybody's. You know what sea water is composed of. In a thousand grams are found 96 1/2
per cent of water, and about 2 2/3 per cent of chloride of sodium; then, in a smaller quantity, chlorides of magnesium and of potassium, bromide of magnesium, sulphate of magnesia, sulphate and carbonate of lime. You see, then, that chloride of sodium forms a large part of it. So it is this sodium that I extract from sea water, and of which I compose my ingredients, I owe all to the ocean; it produces electricity, and electricity gives heat, light, motion, and, in a word, life to the Nautilus."
> As usual, the rest of the media has already been trumped by the porn industry
Yes, but you can't make a whole rugby ball out of transparent perspex, nor make people play rugby inside a CAT scanner[1], so this is more of a technical challenge.
[1] http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/319/7225/1596
"Magnetic resonance imaging of male and female genitals during coitus and female sexual arousal"
> Ice hockey borrowed its name from the older sport, same as water polo or table tennis or squash raquets borrowed their names from older sports.
> If you go outside of North America and start talking about hockey, people will assume you are talking about "field hockey"".
Yep - I played hockey at school, but if the pitch was frozen we went on a run instead.
(And squash raquets is normally known as just "squash" here, though it is descended from rackets (http://www.rackets-online.co.uk/history.asp?keyfl d=1)).
> > So why does virus break the us -> ii rule
> Because it's ius -> ii, and "virus" does not end with "i". Virii would be the plural of "virius".
Exactly. "virii" is an attempt to look smart or educated, and it doesn't work. It's like arguing that the plural of "octopus" ought to be "octopi" because that's the way Latin works, when "octopus" has a Greek root not a Latin one.
(And yes, if enough people abuse or misspell a word, it will get into the dictionaries with the new meaning or spelling. But people saying "because it follows the Latin rules" will still be wrong).
> it'll be interesting to see how much development increases
On the core OS, not much.
http://www.atheos.cx/contribute.php
"I don't accept changes or patches to the core OS but I will happily accept patches to existing device drivers, new device drivers, utilities, applications and plugins of most types.
I want to keep the development of the kernel, native FS, GUI, desktop manager, and maybe a few other system components to my self"
Slashdot Mirror
> I don't suppose anyone remembers Amiga Power magazine.
. ht m
http://amiga.emugaming.com/amigapower.html
http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/ap2/
http://freespace.virgin.net/adam.keyte/complete
> If you can point to a real page about a particular satellite DVR product
http://www.garysargent.co.uk/tivo/TIVOvsSKY.htm
Quoting the relevent bit hits the lameness filter. Fuck knows why.
> Although any system using just symmetric ciphers would be immune from this reduction in work effort.
No. If you can non-deterministically guess the right symmetric key, checking it works is polynomial. (It isn't always possible to do the "check it works" step (e.g. for a one time pad), but for systems where a brute force search works at the moment, or would work in principle if the key wasn't so large it was impractical, it is).
> 842! will do exactly what you just claimed was 842 calculations. I doubt anyone could even TYPE the numbers 1-842 with no spaces or enter keys, etcetera on a computer keyboard in under 15 seconds
It was five keys on the calculator I had in school. "8" "4" "2" "function shift" "factorial". My calculator would have then displayed an overflow error, but I expect any calculator capable of handling 842! will have a factorial function built in. Or rather an adequately accurate approximation to it - it doesn't actually have to do all those integer multiplications.
http://www.rskey.org/gamma.htm
> It would be much safer if you turned the driver around, had him facing the rear of the vehicle.
8 .h tml
Do we get the rest of the cool SPV features with that?
http://members.tripod.com/chris_bishop_ca/page2
> You'll still need a good light source to illuminate the screen.
4 108) (which might well be better for home cinema use).
Yes, but it doesn't need to be accurately focused. Think of the difference between using an overhead projector and a flipchart. The flipchart is easier to move around, set up, and use.
And the discussion here also includes flexible displays that do glow (e.g. http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=24536&cid=266
> The use of the MIPP in employee screening is a nightmare.
Oh yes.
I used to work somewhere that wanted all the employees tested "because it would help managers understand their teams better". Originally it was strictly voluntary with results known only to testee and their manager, but it didn't work out that way.
Anyway, I was only able to ask the people administering the test a few questions. "These numbers - where are the error bars?" "I don't understand the question." A bit of explanation later - "So, every result here except two is close enough to the axis that repeating the test could give an answer in the opposite quadrant, within the repeatability estimates you've just given?" "Um, yes" <nervous laughter>. "I know quite a few people here are role-playing gamers. It would be interesting to give some of them 16 copies of the test and see if they can get one into each combination." "Yes, it would" <more nervous laughter, hasty change of subject to supposed team building exercise>.
> "Do politicians count as paying customers?" Four have been flown. All four were major supporters of NASA.
How much of their own money were they supporting it with? (I think spending taxpayers' money on space is a good thing (within limits), and having politicians as representatives of the taxpayers getting rides to see it being spent isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I don't think they are in the same class as "paying customers" paying with their own money).
> Who wants a floppy display?
Anyone who doesn't have permanent room for a rigid one the size they want. Most home cinema projection screens roll up. Now you don't need the projecter.
On a smaller scale, you can fit a large laptop sized screen in your pocket with your Palm sized device.
> Fried egg.
Or possibly scrambled. Maybe boiled as an option.
> Hash Browns
Not in an English breakfast. Not one without strong American influences anyway.
> Fried bread
and toast.
> Probably some other stuff as well
Fried (or possibly large grilled) mushrooms. Black pudding (blood sausage). (Or possibly white pudding, but that's less common).
Why doesn't "Plain Old Text" handle < and > without needing me to type < and >? I suppose I should have previewed. Anyway, that should be "we tried here" and "really we have to allow for "
> Some guy had put in this change, commented it as "for performance improvement", then commented it out with an extra comment explaining that it was taken out because it didn't work.
Surely a clearer technique would be to replace the "improvement" with a comment saying "we tried here, but it didn't work", and use the revision control system (CVS, RCS, etc.) for anyone who wants to look at the exact details?
(I find the opposite case is more common - think something can be removed, find why it was needed, add a comment saying "this might seem redundant, but really we have to allow for ".)
> With an "IT", you will be able to stick it at the back of the lecture room in a safe place.
You're joking, or there was more room at the back of your lecture rooms than mine. Actually the one person who can afford an IT might find room for it, but as a general bike replacement - no. Not unless they rip out all the benches and you stand on your IT for the lecture. And IT doesn't even have the stair climbing feature, so you have to carry it up to the back (at least in some rooms).
> An "IT" looks like it will take up far less space than a bike as well
No smaller than a folded Brompton. Brompton's are relatively expensive (and don't turn up cheap in the police auctions), but still vastly cheaper than IT.
> An "IT" would be great for going to the new computer lab near the M11 if you live on the other side of the city as well
What, the one with bike routes there?
> bikes are annoying
So are (some) pedestrians and motorists. What makes you think IT users are going to be any better? They're going to be faster and heavier than pedestrians, but without any idea of being a vehicle at all. Cyclists who know what they're doing won't have anything to gain, so it will only be the ones on the pavement (sidewalk) who would use this.
Luckily with it costing $3000 I don't have to worry too much about them cluttering the place up.
If you want a small slow gimmicky transport method that you can take into the lecture theatre, why not just use a micro-scooter?
I know people who can't use a bike for medical reasons, but I can't see IT helping them that much. The only really good thing I see about IT is that it might make the wheelchair cheaper. That really does have clear advantages over a conventional wheelchair.
> He lives in London. Now, I'm not a brit, but I'm pretty sure he can't walk down to his corner gun store and pick up a nice shiny pistol.
On the bright side, nor can the muggers. (Yes, they're criminals, so don't have to follow the rules, but there are fewer guns around. Which is part of why the police don't routinely need them either. I realize introducing UK gun control laws into the US wouldn't result in a UK-like pattern of gun use.)
> Compare it side-by-side with a similarly priced rear-projection
I've compared rear projection with (smaller) direct view TVs. I'm not sure whether to buy the direct view now, or wait for plasma prices to drop further.
One of the silliest movies I have ever seen was about Swedish ninjas. (No, that's not the silly bit. Not the _really_ silly bit anyway).
The sequence "good guys enter a large room, bad guys each let off an entire (finite, even reasonably sized) magazine of submachinegun fire in the vague direction of the good guys without hitting them once, good guys then fire one shot or throw one throwing star per bad guy and all the bad guys are dead" was repeated about five times.
> Think of college campuses where cars are hard to manage
I live in a university city (Cambridge (UK, not Ma.)) where students aren't generally allowed to keep cars, and staff permits for most car pars are extremely limited.
Most students have bikes. Very very few (if any) of them have $3000 bikes. Few of them have $300 bikes. And a bike is lighter, faster, easier to carry loads on, simpler to maintain, and there are lots of existing bike racks (with no power for recharging batteries).
> Ok, so he didn't invent the nuclear sub, merely the self-contained sub that could stay at sea, indeed underwater, for extended periods of time without having to refuel
Well, there's the minor detail that the only practical way to split the seawater to get the sodium he uses to generate electricity is with electrolysis. Either the Nautilus has greater than 100% efficiency, or there is another power plant Nemo is keeping quiet about.
Even if this isn't a nuclear plant (making Nemo truly ahead of his time) that doesn't stop the Nautilus being a potential inspiration to nuclear sub designers.
> Left is up/down wibble, Right is left/right wibble (or it might be the other way around).
No, it's at 45 degrees to that. If the disk is horizontal, the encoding axes are X, not +. The groove is V-shaped, and one wall is left channel, the other wall is right channel. So when both channels are in phase the groove is straight but goes up and down (gets wider and narrower); when they are out of phase it goes left and right, staying the same depth.
> I don't have the text online
/ Au thors/V/Verne,_Jules/Works/Twenty_Thousand_Leagues _Under_the_Sea/ only seems to have English translations.
http://directory.google.com/Top/Arts/Literature
"Electricity?" I cried in surprise.
"Yes, Sir."
"Nevertheless, Captain, you possess an extreme rapidity of movement, which does not agree well with the power of electricity. Until now, its dynamic force has remained under restraint, and has only been able to produce a small amount of power."
"Professor," said Captain Nemo, "my electricity is not everybody's. You know what sea water is composed of. In a thousand grams are found 96 1/2
per cent of water, and about 2 2/3 per cent of chloride of sodium; then, in a smaller quantity, chlorides of magnesium and of potassium, bromide of magnesium, sulphate of magnesia, sulphate and carbonate of lime. You see, then, that chloride of sodium forms a large part of it. So it is this sodium that I extract from sea water, and of which I compose my ingredients, I owe all to the ocean; it produces electricity, and electricity gives heat, light, motion, and, in a word, life to the Nautilus."
> As usual, the rest of the media has already been trumped by the porn industry
Yes, but you can't make a whole rugby ball out of transparent perspex, nor make people play rugby inside a CAT scanner[1], so this is more of a technical challenge.
[1] http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/319/7225/1596
"Magnetic resonance imaging of male and female genitals during coitus and female sexual arousal"
> Ice hockey borrowed its name from the older sport, same as water polo or table tennis or squash raquets borrowed their names from older sports.
l d=1)).
> If you go outside of North America and start talking about hockey, people will assume you are talking about "field hockey"".
Yep - I played hockey at school, but if the pitch was frozen we went on a run instead.
(And squash raquets is normally known as just "squash" here, though it is descended from rackets (http://www.rackets-online.co.uk/history.asp?keyf
> > So why does virus break the us -> ii rule
> Because it's ius -> ii, and "virus" does not end with "i". Virii would be the plural of "virius".
Exactly. "virii" is an attempt to look smart or educated, and it doesn't work. It's like arguing that the plural of "octopus" ought to be "octopi" because that's the way Latin works, when "octopus" has a Greek root not a Latin one.
(And yes, if enough people abuse or misspell a word, it will get into the dictionaries with the new meaning or spelling. But people saying "because it follows the Latin rules" will still be wrong).
> english speaking programmers borrowed a word
"Virus" was already an english word (with plural "viruses") when programmers started using it as a metaphor based on the medical/biological usage.
> it'll be interesting to see how much development increases
On the core OS, not much.
http://www.atheos.cx/contribute.php
"I don't accept changes or patches to the core OS but I will happily accept patches to existing device drivers, new device drivers, utilities, applications and plugins of most types.
I want to keep the development of the kernel, native FS, GUI, desktop manager, and maybe a few other system components to my self"