My friend wants you to play her birthday
on
Ask mc chris
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· Score: 1
Are you going to be coming to Vancouver? My friend wants you to play the Lotus Long weekend. I think some of our minions in the US may already have approached you about this (YO! ECHS-FIVE! SUP, G?).
Please come to Vancouver. The girls are just gagging for some of that Heshesque magic.
Perfectionism is a problem because it often leads to "paralysis by analysis" where any solution proposed is not seen as optimal so nothing ever gets done.
There is an interesting feature of people who seek to maximize through making a best choice: the more intelligent/aware you are, the more choices you will have to evaluate. Probably there are many choices you don't have the time to properly evaluate, so even if there is one that meets your objective needs ("good enough"), you will always be anxious that you did not spend enough time finding the better one that is still out there, somewhere.
And any choice you do make will have drawbacks compared to ones you didn't make... so your satisfaction with ANY choice is reduced in proportion to the number of choices available (past a certain threshold number of choices where "more" is just "more" and not "better").
In any case, I prefer the writer's (or maybe editor's) credo: "Don't get it right. Get it written."
While I agree wholeheartedly with your title (Communism is not equal to Socialism), you are quite wrong otherwise. I will also address a misconception in one of the child posts.
First, Communism is a form of Capitalism. The reason this probably sounds strange to the average person is because they have stopped thinking of Free Market Capitalism as a form of Capitalism, and think of it as the ONLY form.
Communism is State Capitalism. An economy of administrators and workers, hierarchical, with central control of economic planning, distribution, and consumption. In the "free world" these functions are less centralized, and we elect semi-democratic governments to oversee administration of the economy.
But really, at the heart of things, "Free Markets" and "Communism" are not incompatible. If you don't believe me, consider a factory worker or teacher in one economy being moved to the other. What adjustments must be made for them to be productive in their new environment? Hardly any (aside from cultural, that is). Their job complexes (their tasks, duties, and relationships to co-workers and bosses) are structured in very similar ways.
In a Socialist society, however, they would have to involve themselves in all sorts of domains that workers are not expected to participate in within a Capitalist framework. They would have to contribute to the management of their workplace, share work in a fair way with their peers, become politically active in order to help set strategic goals, and contribute to economic planning somehow.
A Capitalist society sees society as a resource to be sued to maximize economic processes. A Socialist society would see economic activity as a means to achieve social end.
A friend of mine has a friend who was running lots of host machines (web servers, irc, file sharing, etc.) in a kind of ghetto set-up in Calgary. One day, everyone sitting in irc saw the connection drop, all the stuff being served was gone. No web site, no streaming audio, no irc.
The servers were all sitting on a shelf... you know, the kind you use those brackets that screw into the wall, and put some board on top? I will leave it to your imagination to figure out what the technical problem was that day.
When I see things like this course being offered, and things like this story, I no longer belive that what is right matters, it's all about the money or just being plain annoying to as many people as possible.
You are just coming to this realization now? Wake up and smell the stock options, man. It's been that way for at least 30 years.
Not representative of normal intuitive decisions
on
Blink
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· Score: 1
Perhaps true in the past, but less so now. And much less so when you can Google for information while you are talking with friends in a restaurant without having to stop paying attention to the conversation. Once network technology is intuitive and pervasive (ie: practical wearables) making intuitive decisions by checking trusted sources will only take a few minutes, possibly only matter of seconds once it matures.
Isn't that what cybernetics is about? Self-guiding systems using communication and feedback-control?
All we need now is to invent technology that makes it easier for people to be philisophical, so we can improve the models from which we derive our strategic goals.
...the overwhelming majority of the Internet is the babbling of depraved lunatics
Or the gross generalizations of people who consider themselves smarter than everyone else and don't need to back up their inane pronouncements with anything like facts. I am sure it keeps you warm at night "knowing" you are sane and everyone else is crazy.
As someone who hopes to become both rich and powerful someday, I hope that doesn't happen. Fortunately, as most Americans at least share my ambitions, I doubt it will happen in my lifetime.
You have conveniently pointed out the flaw in your own argument. If most Americans want to become rich, then most Americans are kidding themselves. Only a statistically insignificant amount will go from rags to riches (and being a millionaire isn't rich anymore... that's just upper middle class). So mostly everyone who thinks they are going to become rich is delusional. But I'm sure you consider yourself vastly more capable and intelligent than the others, so of course you wouldn't be just another victim of wishful thinking.
It's interesting that so many Americans accept being dominated for the benefit of the rich, because they fantasize about winning the lottery and dominating the poor in turn. Ah, the American Dream: Having more than the guy next to you and keeping a gun under your pillow in case he tries to take it.
I mean to say, Apple Computers should buy Apple Records (the one the Beatles started, the one that sued them a couple of times) so they can start publishing and marketing for indie labels and individual artists. I think they would do pretty well, and they could take or leave the big companies' stuff.
The only reason the big music guys want total control over distribution is so they can guarantee a return on the monstrous investment in marketing that their hit-based model demands. Niches are totally beyond their business logic, but a service like iTunes could really clean up with a diverse and deep library.
I heard a story once about techs looking for a server and finding it running underneath a sink in the men's room, not having been rebooted in years (2 or 3 I think). The reason was that the men's room was adjacent to the server room, and they had no more room in the server room, so they just poked a hole through the wall to run the wires. And then, of course, forgot about it.
Last time I read the article, it said that the new Hi-MD technology could double the available storage capacity of old MiniDiscs.
For the record, I am hella glad that Sony is doing this. I have always said the form factor was perfect, that they just needed to make "The MiniDisc DVD" to create a winner. Software crippling sucks, but there are ALWAYS workarounds for the motivated.
More like 12. Unless you are counting that period where they were the "Evil Empire" that required Star Wars in the first place. *That* would have been 20 years ago.
"Serious" DJs don't like digital toys? I will have to inform Richie Hawtin of this breaking development.
Personally, I am getting sick of the "Analog v. Digital" holy war. And all the people who stick with the party line of "if 1200's and vinyl were good enough in my day, they're good enough for you". Fine. I like them too. I cut my teeth on Denon CD mixers, but the vinyl is definitely "cooler". Too bad it isn't about how cool you look, but about how good you sound.
If DJ A can make a better sound than DJ B, I couldn't care less how he does it. If DJ A plays off of hardrive, and DJ B uses reel-to-reel, a Moog, and the rarest vinyl on the face of the planet, that is nice: extra points for difficulty. Now, how does it sound?
Any REAL audio geek would be happy to see digital devices that make it easier and easier to play with audio. And 90% of the people I know who own 1200s would say the same thing. Whether or not any one piece of gear is "revolutionary" or not is beside the point.
More fun for more people is a good thing. The more people out there making new music, the better. Quit being such a snob.
Here are some other facts in the case that you may be unaware of:
1.) For years, McDonald's were aware they had a problem with the way they make their coffee -- that their coffee was served much hotter than the industry standard by at least 20 degrees. In fact, they knew its coffee sometimes caused serious injuries -- more than 700 incidents of scalding coffee burns in the past decade have been settled by the Corporation. Yet they never so much as consulted a burn expert regarding the issue. It has been said that serving coffee this hot reduces the amount of coffee a restaurant has to make in a day and optimizes taste. Therefore, they make more money.
2.) A McDonald's quality assurance manager testified in the case that the Corporation was aware of the risk of serving dangerously hot coffee and had no plans to either turn down the heat or to post warning about the possibility of severe burns, even though most customers wouldn't think it was possible.
3.) The woman, an 81-year old former department store clerk who had never before filed suit against anyone, said she wouldn't have brought the lawsuit against McDonald's had the Corporation not dismissed her request for compensation for medical bills. Her injuries were serious -- third degree burns on her groin, thighs and buttocks that required skin grafts and a seven-day hospital stay. In all, she was burned over six percent of her body.
4.) The woman was sitting in the passenger seat of a car driven by her grandson. They went through a drive through, then he pulled to a stop out of the way of the next car behind them so she could open the coffee. It was then, in a stopped car, that the coffee spilled. One myth of this case is that she was driving the car and tried to open the coffee while the car was moving. And, finally,
5.) A report in Liability Week, September 29, 1997, indicated that Kathleen Gilliam, 73, suffered first degree burns when a cup of coffee spilled onto her lap. Reports also indicate that McDonald's consistently keeps its coffee at 185 degrees, still approximately 20 degrees or more hotter than at other restaurants. Third degree burns occur at this temperature in just two to seven seconds, requiring skin grafting, debridement and whirlpool treatments that cost tens of thousands of dollars and result in permanent disfigurement, extreme pain and disability to the victims for many months, and in some cases, years.
Yeah, so let's all have a big Libertarian weep-fest for poor old Mickey Dee's. They are obviously the victims here.
No, dumbass, if you had ever read the judges comments from the "coffee lawsuit", you would know he slammed McDonalds for SYSTEMATICALLY serving coffee at temperatures it KNEW were causing customers sever burns. They ignored the problem, soemthing went wrong, and they lost in court because they were too stupid to turn down the heat on their coffee. Poor McDonalds.
The REAL tragedy is that this case is used as an example of frivilous lawsuits, and it is by and large gobbled up by rubes like you.
Vancouver should not be lagging.
on
MIT Roofnet
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· Score: 1
There has GOT to be enough geeks around the Lower Mainland to do this.
telling them that there aren't only bad worms, but also good worms, wouldn't necessarily help
But it would be more accurate. I think that education is a big part of the process in this case. Maybe you have little dorm/floor tech reps who help everyone set up their machine and work with other reps to address school-wide issues. (There's that anarchist in me, again.)
However, I don't think it's right to write an anti-worm that gets into a system through a security vulnerability and runs without the user's consent and/or knowledge. And, IANAL nor American, but I'm pretty sure it's against the law, too. That should be enough reasons why anti-virus companies haven't cought on to this.
I think you missed the point: the anti-worm is deployed like a worm, but it is WELCOMED by the infectee. It is like inviting a little "angel" to come live on your system, as opposed to a "demon" who is up to no good. They may talk the same language, but they become like community helpers.
You (of course) give them cute names and they become part of the local folklore. T-shirts. Stickers. Etc. So while it may be a worm, it is a nice worm. A kinder, gentler worm. Our worm.
Trust is the only issue.
Bzzzzzzzzt! Wrong. They never will, because the RIAA is NOT going to target anybody who can mount an effective defence, therefore the issue will never get TO the courts for them to decide ANYTHING.
At least, if everything goes according to the RIAA's plan...
Have you been asleep? The point is not to win in court on the merits of the case. The point is to force the poor schmucks whose names they pick from a hat to give up.
I believe they normally attach a settlement document to the letter telling them they are going to lose everything they own in court costs defending themselves. Unless the EFF does something about it.
How will this help in terms of delivering Quality of Service to different classes of customers? I am guessing that using "IP" will make it easier to balance the needs of high v. low level service agreements. Which means higher prices for their services, which = more money.
So they might save money in terms of maintaining infrastructure, and also make more money from better control of their product.
It was my understanding that there is more than enough organic chemistry in comets to seed the early earth with the necessary components. Or at least, it would be a significant fraction, since the early earth would have had a lot of collisions from interplanetary debris. We find lots of interesting chemicals in asteroids and comets.
I guess the question is to what extent did this seeding speed the development of life: would the chemistry have developed without a steady rain of complex molecules from the heavens?
(puts you in the mind of early myths of a Sky God impregnating an Earth Godess)
Nice one! Have you read Schrodinger's Kittens? It goes through the various ways to look at quantum weirdness, and proposes a novel idea: that light paths actually allow "choices" to be made by particles in a non-temporal way.
That is, any space-time event will be sensitive to future events, and will "choose" its quantum state based on information that flows BACKWARDS in time to it via photons. This allows for a continuous-probability universe that is nonetheless "discrete" and "real".
Or something like that. I am a layman, after all...
Slashdot Mirror
Are you going to be coming to Vancouver? My friend wants you to play the Lotus Long weekend. I think some of our minions in the US may already have approached you about this (YO! ECHS-FIVE! SUP, G?).
Please come to Vancouver. The girls are just gagging for some of that Heshesque magic.
*makes a big "L" with his fingers and smacks it to his forehead*
ah-duuuhhhhhh...
Use the InterWeb much?
Perfectionism is a problem because it often leads to "paralysis by analysis" where any solution proposed is not seen as optimal so nothing ever gets done.
There is an interesting feature of people who seek to maximize through making a best choice: the more intelligent/aware you are, the more choices you will have to evaluate. Probably there are many choices you don't have the time to properly evaluate, so even if there is one that meets your objective needs ("good enough"), you will always be anxious that you did not spend enough time finding the better one that is still out there, somewhere.
And any choice you do make will have drawbacks compared to ones you didn't make... so your satisfaction with ANY choice is reduced in proportion to the number of choices available (past a certain threshold number of choices where "more" is just "more" and not "better").
In any case, I prefer the writer's (or maybe editor's) credo: "Don't get it right. Get it written."
While I agree wholeheartedly with your title (Communism is not equal to Socialism), you are quite wrong otherwise. I will also address a misconception in one of the child posts.
First, Communism is a form of Capitalism. The reason this probably sounds strange to the average person is because they have stopped thinking of Free Market Capitalism as a form of Capitalism, and think of it as the ONLY form.
Communism is State Capitalism. An economy of administrators and workers, hierarchical, with central control of economic planning, distribution, and consumption. In the "free world" these functions are less centralized, and we elect semi-democratic governments to oversee administration of the economy.
But really, at the heart of things, "Free Markets" and "Communism" are not incompatible. If you don't believe me, consider a factory worker or teacher in one economy being moved to the other. What adjustments must be made for them to be productive in their new environment? Hardly any (aside from cultural, that is). Their job complexes (their tasks, duties, and relationships to co-workers and bosses) are structured in very similar ways.
In a Socialist society, however, they would have to involve themselves in all sorts of domains that workers are not expected to participate in within a Capitalist framework. They would have to contribute to the management of their workplace, share work in a fair way with their peers, become politically active in order to help set strategic goals, and contribute to economic planning somehow.
A Capitalist society sees society as a resource to be sued to maximize economic processes. A Socialist society would see economic activity as a means to achieve social end.
A friend of mine has a friend who was running lots of host machines (web servers, irc, file sharing, etc.) in a kind of ghetto set-up in Calgary. One day, everyone sitting in irc saw the connection drop, all the stuff being served was gone. No web site, no streaming audio, no irc.
:)
The servers were all sitting on a shelf... you know, the kind you use those brackets that screw into the wall, and put some board on top? I will leave it to your imagination to figure out what the technical problem was that day.
Talk about servers crashing!
You are just coming to this realization now? Wake up and smell the stock options, man. It's been that way for at least 30 years.
Perhaps true in the past, but less so now. And much less so when you can Google for information while you are talking with friends in a restaurant without having to stop paying attention to the conversation. Once network technology is intuitive and pervasive (ie: practical wearables) making intuitive decisions by checking trusted sources will only take a few minutes, possibly only matter of seconds once it matures.
Isn't that what cybernetics is about? Self-guiding systems using communication and feedback-control?
All we need now is to invent technology that makes it easier for people to be philisophical, so we can improve the models from which we derive our strategic goals.
Or the gross generalizations of people who consider themselves smarter than everyone else and don't need to back up their inane pronouncements with anything like facts. I am sure it keeps you warm at night "knowing" you are sane and everyone else is crazy.
As someone who hopes to become both rich and powerful someday, I hope that doesn't happen. Fortunately, as most Americans at least share my ambitions, I doubt it will happen in my lifetime.
You have conveniently pointed out the flaw in your own argument. If most Americans want to become rich, then most Americans are kidding themselves. Only a statistically insignificant amount will go from rags to riches (and being a millionaire isn't rich anymore... that's just upper middle class). So mostly everyone who thinks they are going to become rich is delusional. But I'm sure you consider yourself vastly more capable and intelligent than the others, so of course you wouldn't be just another victim of wishful thinking.
It's interesting that so many Americans accept being dominated for the benefit of the rich, because they fantasize about winning the lottery and dominating the poor in turn. Ah, the American Dream: Having more than the guy next to you and keeping a gun under your pillow in case he tries to take it.
OMG! I never saw her pic before in my life! She is a hot as she sounds!
Thank god for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and edgy, sexy-voiced female DJs who love electronic noisecore. :)
I mean to say, Apple Computers should buy Apple Records (the one the Beatles started, the one that sued them a couple of times) so they can start publishing and marketing for indie labels and individual artists. I think they would do pretty well, and they could take or leave the big companies' stuff.
The only reason the big music guys want total control over distribution is so they can guarantee a return on the monstrous investment in marketing that their hit-based model demands. Niches are totally beyond their business logic, but a service like iTunes could really clean up with a diverse and deep library.
I heard a story once about techs looking for a server and finding it running underneath a sink in the men's room, not having been rebooted in years (2 or 3 I think). The reason was that the men's room was adjacent to the server room, and they had no more room in the server room, so they just poked a hole through the wall to run the wires. And then, of course, forgot about it.
Sorry, it wasn't in the article. It was in the pdf. And it is 305MB, not 300. With old discs. You can believe me or read the damned thing yourself.
I have been a Sony whore since 1986. Don't talk to me about learning lesssons, smartass.
For the record, I am hella glad that Sony is doing this. I have always said the form factor was perfect, that they just needed to make "The MiniDisc DVD" to create a winner. Software crippling sucks, but there are ALWAYS workarounds for the motivated.
Yes, IAASW... I am a Sony Whore.
More like 12. Unless you are counting that period where they were the "Evil Empire" that required Star Wars in the first place. *That* would have been 20 years ago.
Now with 10% less minor anal leakage.
Weren't we supposed to be using computers built on Gallium Arsenide by now?
"Serious" DJs don't like digital toys? I will have to inform Richie Hawtin of this breaking development.
Personally, I am getting sick of the "Analog v. Digital" holy war. And all the people who stick with the party line of "if 1200's and vinyl were good enough in my day, they're good enough for you". Fine. I like them too. I cut my teeth on Denon CD mixers, but the vinyl is definitely "cooler". Too bad it isn't about how cool you look, but about how good you sound.
If DJ A can make a better sound than DJ B, I couldn't care less how he does it. If DJ A plays off of hardrive, and DJ B uses reel-to-reel, a Moog, and the rarest vinyl on the face of the planet, that is nice: extra points for difficulty. Now, how does it sound?
Any REAL audio geek would be happy to see digital devices that make it easier and easier to play with audio. And 90% of the people I know who own 1200s would say the same thing. Whether or not any one piece of gear is "revolutionary" or not is beside the point.
More fun for more people is a good thing. The more people out there making new music, the better. Quit being such a snob.
Is the US the home of the frivilous lawsuit? Yes.
r ants139.html ]
Is the lady who successfully sued McDonalds for serving her coffee it KNEW was too hot to be safe an example? No.
[from http://www.fortunecity.com/westwood/vivienne/438/
Here are some other facts in the case that you may be unaware of:
1.) For years, McDonald's were aware they had a problem with the way they make their coffee -- that their coffee was served much hotter than the industry standard by at least 20 degrees. In fact, they knew its coffee sometimes caused serious injuries -- more than 700 incidents of scalding coffee burns in the past decade have been settled by the Corporation. Yet they never so much as consulted a burn expert regarding the issue. It has been said that serving coffee this hot reduces the amount of coffee a restaurant has to make in a day and optimizes taste. Therefore, they make more money.
2.) A McDonald's quality assurance manager testified in the case that the Corporation was aware of the risk of serving dangerously hot coffee and had no plans to either turn down the heat or to post warning about the possibility of severe burns, even though most customers wouldn't think it was possible.
3.) The woman, an 81-year old former department store clerk who had never before filed suit against anyone, said she wouldn't have brought the lawsuit against McDonald's had the Corporation not dismissed her request for compensation for medical bills. Her injuries were serious -- third degree burns on her groin, thighs and buttocks that required skin grafts and a seven-day hospital stay. In all, she was burned over six percent of her body.
4.) The woman was sitting in the passenger seat of a car driven by her grandson. They went through a drive through, then he pulled to a stop out of the way of the next car behind them so she could open the coffee. It was then, in a stopped car, that the coffee spilled. One myth of this case is that she was driving the car and tried to open the coffee while the car was moving. And, finally,
5.) A report in Liability Week, September 29, 1997, indicated that Kathleen Gilliam, 73, suffered first degree burns when a cup of coffee spilled onto her lap. Reports also indicate that McDonald's consistently keeps its coffee at 185 degrees, still approximately 20 degrees or more hotter than at other restaurants. Third degree burns occur at this temperature in just two to seven seconds, requiring skin grafting, debridement and whirlpool treatments that cost tens of thousands of dollars and result in permanent disfigurement, extreme pain and disability to the victims for many months, and in some cases, years.
Yeah, so let's all have a big Libertarian weep-fest for poor old Mickey Dee's. They are obviously the victims here.
No, dumbass, if you had ever read the judges comments from the "coffee lawsuit", you would know he slammed McDonalds for SYSTEMATICALLY serving coffee at temperatures it KNEW were causing customers sever burns. They ignored the problem, soemthing went wrong, and they lost in court because they were too stupid to turn down the heat on their coffee. Poor McDonalds.
The REAL tragedy is that this case is used as an example of frivilous lawsuits, and it is by and large gobbled up by rubes like you.
There has GOT to be enough geeks around the Lower Mainland to do this.
telling them that there aren't only bad worms, but also good worms, wouldn't necessarily help But it would be more accurate. I think that education is a big part of the process in this case. Maybe you have little dorm/floor tech reps who help everyone set up their machine and work with other reps to address school-wide issues. (There's that anarchist in me, again.) However, I don't think it's right to write an anti-worm that gets into a system through a security vulnerability and runs without the user's consent and/or knowledge. And, IANAL nor American, but I'm pretty sure it's against the law, too. That should be enough reasons why anti-virus companies haven't cought on to this. I think you missed the point: the anti-worm is deployed like a worm, but it is WELCOMED by the infectee. It is like inviting a little "angel" to come live on your system, as opposed to a "demon" who is up to no good. They may talk the same language, but they become like community helpers. You (of course) give them cute names and they become part of the local folklore. T-shirts. Stickers. Etc. So while it may be a worm, it is a nice worm. A kinder, gentler worm. Our worm. Trust is the only issue.
"Although the courts would have to decide that."
Bzzzzzzzzt! Wrong. They never will, because the RIAA is NOT going to target anybody who can mount an effective defence, therefore the issue will never get TO the courts for them to decide ANYTHING.
At least, if everything goes according to the RIAA's plan...
Have you been asleep? The point is not to win in court on the merits of the case. The point is to force the poor schmucks whose names they pick from a hat to give up.
I believe they normally attach a settlement document to the letter telling them they are going to lose everything they own in court costs defending themselves. Unless the EFF does something about it.
How will this help in terms of delivering Quality of Service to different classes of customers? I am guessing that using "IP" will make it easier to balance the needs of high v. low level service agreements. Which means higher prices for their services, which = more money.
So they might save money in terms of maintaining infrastructure, and also make more money from better control of their product.
It was my understanding that there is more than enough organic chemistry in comets to seed the early earth with the necessary components. Or at least, it would be a significant fraction, since the early earth would have had a lot of collisions from interplanetary debris. We find lots of interesting chemicals in asteroids and comets.
I guess the question is to what extent did this seeding speed the development of life: would the chemistry have developed without a steady rain of complex molecules from the heavens?
(puts you in the mind of early myths of a Sky God impregnating an Earth Godess)
Nice one! Have you read Schrodinger's Kittens? It goes through the various ways to look at quantum weirdness, and proposes a novel idea: that light paths actually allow "choices" to be made by particles in a non-temporal way.
That is, any space-time event will be sensitive to future events, and will "choose" its quantum state based on information that flows BACKWARDS in time to it via photons. This allows for a continuous-probability universe that is nonetheless "discrete" and "real".
Or something like that. I am a layman, after all...