I thought it was a basic tenant in society that something that poses an immediate danger to the society be banned. There are limits to free speech and artistic expression, and once they start to violate the rights of others (or pose some potential harm) then those liberties are rightfully restricted.
Killing a cop is symbolic to making a statement against the authority that protects the welfare of the United States. Except for crazy anarchists, everyone would agree that cops are the ones that keep society from unhinging. True, they also hand out speeding tickets and can be general assholes, but without them, what would happen?
Now I am in general for the protection of civil liberties. However, the statement against authority is Un-American. I agree with this legislation, but unfortunately, it does not go far enough. Content such as that should be banned, including the retroactive games.
and at officemax, we had MaxAssurance, which we routinely told the customers the plan covered things it obviously didn't.
Let's put it this way. The companies (NWE and GE, among others) make an INCREDIBLE PROFIT off of these plans. If they make a profit, that's proof that these plans aren't worth the money.
Mathematically, there is an x% chance that whatever you will buy will have some sort of problem. If you multiple x% by the cost of the product, this is called the "expected value" in statistics. If they sell the plan for more than the expected value, they make money. Simple as that.
By the virtue that they are still in business, they are selling it for more than the expected value. Which means they are ripping you off.
We got a 10% commission at OfficeMax to sell these, and we would use any dirty trick to sell them. This has been reduced to 5%, I've heard, mostly because I think the customers are wising up. Most of what people tell you are covered in the plan aren't actually covered.
Staples has an Extended Service Plan, but I work in the CopyCenter so I don't really know anything. I just make copies and get paid $10/hr most of the time to do my Physics homework. Its a pretty nice deal, because the other copycenter associate is a hispanic who can't speak English, and I'm super-competent. This is an arrangement that will last a long time.
here is a poem i wrote whenever something like this happens, i find it useful to channel creative outlets.
world strife, politics, it gets too much. so i focus on music and poetry:
Its untitled, but I could call it "Saddam"
Saddam
Well the dawn was coming Heard him ringing on my bell He said, "My name is teacher Or that is what I call myself And I have a lesson That I must impart to you Its an old expression But I must insist its true"
Saddam, look around, find yourself some fun no use in sitting there hating everyone no man's an island, and his castle isn't home the nest is for nothing when the bird has flown
So I took a journey Threw my world into the sea With me went teacher Who found fun instead of me
Saddam, what's the plan, what was that you said Sun-tanned, drink in hand, lying there in bed I try to socialize but I can't seem to find What I've been searching for got something on my mind
Then the teacher told me It had been a lot of fun Thanked me for the ticket And all that I had done
Saddam, what's the plan, what was that you said Sun-tanned, drink in hand, lying there in bed I try to socialize but I can't seem to find What I've been looking for, got something on my mind --
I just heard some sad news on talk radio - Children's entertainer Fred Rogers was found dead in his Maine home this morning. There weren't any more details. I'm sure everyone in the Slashdot community will miss him - even if you didn't enjoy his work, there's no denying his contributions to the youth. Truly an American icon.
if you have no life - and you can PROVE it mathematically.
if you enjoy pain.
if you know vector calculus but you can't remember how to do long division.
if you chuckle whenever anyone says "centrifugal force."
if you've actually used every single function on your graphing calculator.
if when you look in a mirror, you see a physics major.
if it is sunny and 70 degrees outside, and you are working on a computer.
if you frequently whistle the theme song to "MacGyver."
if you always do homework on Friday nights.
if you know how to integrate a chicken and can take the derivative of water.
if you think in "math."
if you've calculated that the World Series actually diverges.
if you hesitate to look at something because you don't want to break down its wave function.
if you have a pet named after a scientist.
if you laugh at jokes about mathematicians.
if the Humane society has you arrested because you actually performed the Schrodinger's Cat experiment.
if you can translate English into Binary.
if you can't remember what's behind the door in the science building which says "Exit."
if you have to bring a jacket with you, in the middle of summer, because there's a wind-chill factor in the lab.
If you are completely addicted to caffeine.
if you avoid doing anything because you don't want to contribute to the eventual heat-death of the universe.
if you consider ANY non-science course "easy."
if when your professor asks you where your homework is, you claim to have accidentally determined its momentum so precisely, that according to Heisenberg it could be anywhere in the universe.
if the "fun" center of your brain has deteriorated from lack of use.
if you'll assume that a "horse" is a "sphere" in order to make the math easier.
if you understood more than five of these indicators.
if you make a hard copy of this list, and post it on your door.
If these indicators apply to you, there is good reason to suspect that you might be classified as a physics major. I hope this clears up any confusion.
"Since the owner of a system has no responsibility for the actions of a worm, or any malicious process, that runs without their knowledge, I submit that they also have no rights to the process. No responsibility means no rights.
So, if they have no rights to the process, there is no infringement against them when we neutralize it. If someone wants to claim that their rights were violated by our taking out the attacking process, then they should be held accountable for the actions of the process from its inception. They can't have it both ways. "
That, I think, is a good point. The solution, however, is not to make the counterattack legal, thus continuing to absolve people of responsibility, but to make the owners of the systems legally responsible for their failure to secure their systems. If your system is 0wn3d and used to launch a DDoS attack on AOL (or Slashdot, Kuro5hin, whoever), then AOL should have the right to sue you for damages. Your incompetence caused their loss.
You say you can't afford to pay? Tough. Should have thought of that before you put your insecure system online. You say it's the fault of the manufacturer for selling the insecure system in the first place? Take them to court. Too expensive? Well, if their system is too expensive to use, then people won't use it.
Re:Don't toss out those spray paint cans yet...
on
Palm Kills Off Graffiti
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
I'm way, way, way faster entering text with one of the various freeware Qwerty screen-based keyboards (VirtualKB is great) and am toying with moving directly to one of those silkscreen thingies you can put on the graffiti area to type Qwerty there.
Graffiti is definitely not all it's cracked up to be (at least for me) while I can write the graffitis fast enough, I find it extremely disconcerting to write characters on top of each other: it goes against many years of learned behaviour (handwriting) and for this reason I don't think it'll ever feel natural. I also read somewhere an article that was talking about exactly this phenomenon.
In my opinion there is no reason for graffiti/graffiti-like stuff to exist: for pdas use a Qwertyish keyboard (on screen or hardware) for tablet PCs just use standard handwriting recognition software.
If I were Google, I'd just delete them all together from the search database. Google is a PRIVATE CORPORATION and has the ability to include or exclude anyone they choose.
Firewire would be nice if more devices supported it. Unfortunately, Firewire is looking like SCSI, and USB is looking like IDE/ATA.
Sure, no one who knows what they are talking about would argue that USB is better, but they will say that USB comes with more computers, and is cheaper for device manufacturers because of it's compatibility modes. eg. You won't see a firewire mouse with a $1 tranciever that allows it to plug right into PS/2--or a Firewire to Parallel & Serial adapter.
I really think Firewire missed the boat on making it easy and cheap for device manufactuers to add Firewire support to their devices... USB obviously didn't.
Firewire's main advantage is it's speed (which still doesn't come close to Ethernet--which further narrows Firewire's market) over USB, but I suspect, if they don't do a better job enticing device makers, Firewire could just as well disappear in favor of USB everywhere.
Actually, I had a really good idea for a game for all those people who didn't like Myst. I'd call it Pyst (get it? as in "pissed") and it would be pretty much the same thing except nothing would work. Ahaha, if I ever did do that, I'd be a millionaire by now
It's not too hard. As others have pointed out, center of gravity means nothing, except that a lower center would tend to have less cross-sectional area (which is good). All you have to worry about is friction and weight.
Friction is the hard part, and you've got two kinds to deal with: Friction with the air, and friction between the wheels and their axles.
For wind resistance, just start slicing the car down as much as you feel you can without sacrificing strength, or capacity for added weight. Round off both ends of the block into something that looks reasonably aerodynamic - I used a bench-mounted belt sander. You want it low, and flat, so as to displace as little air as possible as it moves down the track. Using similar curves to a high-speed train will yield better results than mimicking an F14 or Lamborghini. That the resultant form is rather boring is not an accident.
Friction against paint is probably not a big deal. My finish was a hand-brushed yellow-and-black flame paint job, and was nowhere near smooth. But it certainly wouldn't hurt to make it as mirror-like as possible with careful painting and sanding, along with a coat of well-buffed wax.
One trick I used which I've never seen repeated: A small circle of electrical tape, placed over the outside of each wheel, to further reduce drag. They were cut with a ball peen hammer and a coin of appropriate diameter, and fit precisely. It should be flat or slightly convex, but not concave, when applied to the wheel. This will increase rotational inertia (==bad) somewhat, but it seems like a beneficial thing to do.
To reduce friction between wheel and axle, I first removed the burr on the supplied axles using progressively fine sandpaper - there were two axial burrs, along with one across the back of the head. I also removed burrs on the inside of the wheels, and slightly rounded the flat part near the middle, inside of the wheels where it can touch the body, to reduce contact area.
Use graphite on the wheels and bearings, and use it as much as a polish as you do a lubricant. Work it into the microscopic texture of the axles, the inside of the wheels, and the bearing surfaces between the axle and the body by whatever means you can find, and then add some more and roll the car around a bit.
I used feeler stock (thinner-than-hair bits of flat metal) to get each wheel to within a thousandth-or-so of an inch of being on the same plane, such that they'd all be in contact with the track surface. I don't know if this helped, but it seemed like a good idea.
At least, try to keep your axles as straight and square as possible with eachother and the body. You do not want any pressure on the points where the wheel contacts the body, or the head of the axle.
And adjust the axles so that there is as little play in them as possible. The wheel should not move appreciably side-to-side, nor should it forcably rub on any point. Slop here translates to lost energy. It may take several iterations of gentle tapping on the axle and even-more-gentle pulling on the wheel to get this right.
Weighting is a science. You want the car to be as heavy as it possibly can be. Remember that you won't be immediately disqualified for having a very slightly heavy car, and that you'll get at least a couple of chances to bring the weight down.
Drill holes in the bottom of the car, and pour lead into them. I used an antique balance I had at home and added weight until I measured it being just -over- specification, and so the lead was protruding slightly below the bottom of the car. This allowed me to use the official scales to tune the car at the event, removing a bit of lead with a file and re-weighing several times before nailing it precisely, while in the process filing the lead flat and reducing drag.
Place a strip or two of electrical tape over the lead, to further reduce drag and add the nth degree of tuning: If you file a bit of lead off and the car still measures.001g over, use a sharp knife and remove a sliver of tape to finish the tuning. You'd be amazed how much a bit of vinyl electrical tape can weigh...
If your track levels out toward the bottom, put the weight as far toward the back of the car as you can. You'll get a few more inches of "thrust" by doing this, vs. your front-weighted opponent.
The devil's in the details. When it's all done, handle the car as if it were full of nitroglycerine - don't even look at it funny, or all of the precarious work you've put into it will begin to undo itself. Never let others handle it, and absolutely never leave it unattended at the event. It's a finely-tuned, very delicate instrument, and is deserving of respect.
Slashdot Mirror
I thought it was a basic tenant in society that something that poses an immediate danger to the society be banned. There are limits to free speech and artistic expression, and once they start to violate the rights of others (or pose some potential harm) then those liberties are rightfully restricted.
Killing a cop is symbolic to making a statement against the authority that protects the welfare of the United States. Except for crazy anarchists, everyone would agree that cops are the ones that keep society from unhinging. True, they also hand out speeding tickets and can be general assholes, but without them, what would happen?
Now I am in general for the protection of civil liberties. However, the statement against authority is Un-American. I agree with this legislation, but unfortunately, it does not go far enough. Content such as that should be banned, including the retroactive games.
2+2 = 5 only for sufficiently large values of 2!
this is, in actuality, very very on-topic. Stupid moderators. ITS THE KEY YOU MORON.
http://evil.minions.com/~bifrost/cnnsucks.jpg
CNN reported that the space shuttle was traveling nearly 18 times the speed of light. We all laughed at this. Maybe this was true after all.
it was moving too fast!
http://evil.minions.com/~bifrost/cnnsucks.jpg.
and at officemax, we had MaxAssurance, which we routinely told the customers the plan covered things it obviously didn't.
Let's put it this way. The companies (NWE and GE, among others) make an INCREDIBLE PROFIT off of these plans. If they make a profit, that's proof that these plans aren't worth the money.
Mathematically, there is an x% chance that whatever you will buy will have some sort of problem. If you multiple x% by the cost of the product, this is called the "expected value" in statistics. If they sell the plan for more than the expected value, they make money. Simple as that.
By the virtue that they are still in business, they are selling it for more than the expected value. Which means they are ripping you off.
We got a 10% commission at OfficeMax to sell these, and we would use any dirty trick to sell them. This has been reduced to 5%, I've heard, mostly because I think the customers are wising up. Most of what people tell you are covered in the plan aren't actually covered.
Staples has an Extended Service Plan, but I work in the CopyCenter so I don't really know anything. I just make copies and get paid $10/hr most of the time to do my Physics homework. Its a pretty nice deal, because the other copycenter associate is a hispanic who can't speak English, and I'm super-competent. This is an arrangement that will last a long time.
here is a poem i wrote
whenever something like this happens, i find it useful to channel creative outlets.
world strife, politics, it gets too much. so i focus on music and poetry:
Its untitled, but I could call it "Saddam"
Saddam
Well the dawn was coming
Heard him ringing on my bell
He said, "My name is teacher
Or that is what I call myself
And I have a lesson
That I must impart to you
Its an old expression
But I must insist its true"
Saddam, look around, find yourself some fun
no use in sitting there hating everyone
no man's an island, and his castle isn't home
the nest is for nothing when the bird has flown
So I took a journey
Threw my world into the sea
With me went teacher
Who found fun instead of me
Saddam, what's the plan, what was that you said
Sun-tanned, drink in hand, lying there in bed
I try to socialize but I can't seem to find
What I've been searching for got something on my mind
Then the teacher told me
It had been a lot of fun
Thanked me for the ticket
And all that I had done
Saddam, what's the plan, what was that you said
Sun-tanned, drink in hand, lying there in bed
I try to socialize but I can't seem to find
What I've been looking for, got something on my mind
--
I hope enjoyed it
programmer by love
unemployed by dot-com bust
need change for dinner
.
.
.
.
5) Profit!
I just heard some sad news on talk radio - Children's entertainer Fred Rogers was found dead in his Maine home this morning. There weren't any more details. I'm sure everyone in the Slashdot community will miss him - even if you didn't enjoy his work, there's no denying his contributions to the youth. Truly an American icon.
YOU MIGHT BE A PHYSICS MAJOR...
if you have no life - and you can PROVE it mathematically.
if you enjoy pain.
if you know vector calculus but you can't remember how to do long division.
if you chuckle whenever anyone says "centrifugal force."
if you've actually used every single function on your graphing calculator.
if when you look in a mirror, you see a physics major.
if it is sunny and 70 degrees outside, and you are working on a computer.
if you frequently whistle the theme song to "MacGyver."
if you always do homework on Friday nights.
if you know how to integrate a chicken and can take the derivative of water.
if you think in "math."
if you've calculated that the World Series actually diverges.
if you hesitate to look at something because you don't want to break down its
wave function.
if you have a pet named after a scientist.
if you laugh at jokes about mathematicians.
if the Humane society has you arrested because you actually performed the
Schrodinger's Cat
experiment.
if you can translate English into Binary.
if you can't remember what's behind the door in the science building which says
"Exit."
if you have to bring a jacket with you, in the middle of summer, because
there's a wind-chill factor in
the lab.
If you are completely addicted to caffeine.
if you avoid doing anything because you don't want to contribute to the
eventual heat-death of the
universe.
if you consider ANY non-science course "easy."
if when your professor asks you where your homework is, you claim to have
accidentally determined
its momentum so precisely, that according to Heisenberg it could be anywhere in
the universe.
if the "fun" center of your brain has deteriorated from lack of use.
if you'll assume that a "horse" is a "sphere" in order to make the math easier.
if you understood more than five of these indicators.
if you make a hard copy of this list, and post it on your door.
If these indicators apply to you, there is good reason to suspect that you
might be classified as a
physics major. I hope this clears up any confusion.
My physics TA wears this shirt all the time:
2 + 2 = 5
(for sufficiently large values of 2)
And in the United States, the Patriots are watching the Superbowl?
How's it feel to not be able to repeat this year, Pats??
GO OAKLAND!
what is on madden's shirt?
http://state800.tripod.com/madden.gif
was he doing some pregaming with Rich "No Canon" Gannon?
1. DDoS
2. Have Fun
3. Profit!!!
Don't mod the above post down...or you'll be next.
You really should be watching Craig Kilbourne. Now HE'S PHUNNY!
you save Jesus!!
"Since the owner of a system has no responsibility for the actions of a worm, or any malicious process, that runs without their knowledge, I submit that they also have no rights to the process. No responsibility means no rights.
So, if they have no rights to the process, there is no infringement against them when we neutralize it. If someone wants to claim that their rights were violated by our taking out the attacking process, then they should be held accountable for the actions of the process from its inception. They can't have it both ways. "
That, I think, is a good point. The solution, however, is not to make the counterattack legal, thus continuing to absolve people of responsibility, but to make the owners of the systems legally responsible for their failure to secure their systems. If your system is 0wn3d and used to launch a DDoS attack on AOL (or Slashdot, Kuro5hin, whoever), then AOL should have the right to sue you for damages. Your incompetence caused their loss.
You say you can't afford to pay? Tough. Should have thought of that before you put your insecure system online. You say it's the fault of the manufacturer for selling the insecure system in the first place? Take them to court. Too expensive? Well, if their system is too expensive to use, then people won't use it.
I'm way, way, way faster entering text with one of the various freeware Qwerty screen-based keyboards (VirtualKB is great) and am toying with moving directly to one of those silkscreen thingies you can put on the graffiti area to type Qwerty there.
Graffiti is definitely not all it's cracked up to be (at least for me) while I can write the graffitis fast enough, I find it extremely disconcerting to write characters on top of each other: it goes against many years of learned behaviour (handwriting) and for this reason I don't think it'll ever feel natural. I also read somewhere an article that was talking about exactly this phenomenon.
In my opinion there is no reason for graffiti/graffiti-like stuff to exist: for pdas use a Qwertyish keyboard (on screen or hardware) for tablet PCs just use standard handwriting recognition software.
If I were Google, I'd just delete them all together from the search database. Google is a PRIVATE CORPORATION and has the ability to include or exclude anyone they choose.
Firewire would be nice if more devices supported it. Unfortunately, Firewire is looking like SCSI, and USB is looking like IDE/ATA.
Sure, no one who knows what they are talking about would argue that USB is better, but they will say that USB comes with more computers, and is cheaper for device manufacturers because of it's compatibility modes. eg. You won't see a firewire mouse with a $1 tranciever that allows it to plug right into PS/2--or a Firewire to Parallel & Serial adapter.
I really think Firewire missed the boat on making it easy and cheap for device manufactuers to add Firewire support to their devices... USB obviously didn't.
Firewire's main advantage is it's speed (which still doesn't come close to Ethernet--which further narrows Firewire's market) over USB, but I suspect, if they don't do a better job enticing device makers, Firewire could just as well disappear in favor of USB everywhere.
Actually, I had a really good idea for a game for all those people who didn't like Myst. I'd call it Pyst (get it? as in "pissed") and it would be pretty much the same thing except nothing would work. Ahaha, if I ever did do that, I'd be a millionaire by now
This reminds me of Jetblue - the airliner that has inflight DirecTV in every seat. Anyone else see DirecTV having a monopoly?
It's not too hard. As others have pointed out, center of gravity means nothing, except that a lower center would tend to have less cross-sectional area (which is good). All you have to worry about is friction and weight.
.001g over, use a sharp knife and remove a sliver of tape to finish the tuning. You'd be amazed how much a bit of vinyl electrical tape can weigh...
Friction is the hard part, and you've got two kinds to deal with: Friction with the air, and friction between the wheels and their axles.
For wind resistance, just start slicing the car down as much as you feel you can without sacrificing strength, or capacity for added weight. Round off both ends of the block into something that looks reasonably aerodynamic - I used a bench-mounted belt sander. You want it low, and flat, so as to displace as little air as possible as it moves down the track. Using similar curves to a high-speed train will yield better results than mimicking an F14 or Lamborghini. That the resultant form is rather boring is not an accident.
Friction against paint is probably not a big deal. My finish was a hand-brushed yellow-and-black flame paint job, and was nowhere near smooth. But it certainly wouldn't hurt to make it as mirror-like as possible with careful painting and sanding, along with a coat of well-buffed wax.
One trick I used which I've never seen repeated: A small circle of electrical tape, placed over the outside of each wheel, to further reduce drag. They were cut with a ball peen hammer and a coin of appropriate diameter, and fit precisely. It should be flat or slightly convex, but not concave, when applied to the wheel. This will increase rotational inertia (==bad) somewhat, but it seems like a beneficial thing to do.
To reduce friction between wheel and axle, I first removed the burr on the supplied axles using progressively fine sandpaper - there were two axial burrs, along with one across the back of the head. I also removed burrs on the inside of the wheels, and slightly rounded the flat part near the middle, inside of the wheels where it can touch the body, to reduce contact area.
Use graphite on the wheels and bearings, and use it as much as a polish as you do a lubricant. Work it into the microscopic texture of the axles, the inside of the wheels, and the bearing surfaces between the axle and the body by whatever means you can find, and then add some more and roll the car around a bit.
I used feeler stock (thinner-than-hair bits of flat metal) to get each wheel to within a thousandth-or-so of an inch of being on the same plane, such that they'd all be in contact with the track surface. I don't know if this helped, but it seemed like a good idea.
At least, try to keep your axles as straight and square as possible with eachother and the body. You do not want any pressure on the points where the wheel contacts the body, or the head of the axle.
And adjust the axles so that there is as little play in them as possible. The wheel should not move appreciably side-to-side, nor should it forcably rub on any point. Slop here translates to lost energy. It may take several iterations of gentle tapping on the axle and even-more-gentle pulling on the wheel to get this right.
Weighting is a science. You want the car to be as heavy as it possibly can be. Remember that you won't be immediately disqualified for having a very slightly heavy car, and that you'll get at least a couple of chances to bring the weight down.
Drill holes in the bottom of the car, and pour lead into them. I used an antique balance I had at home and added weight until I measured it being just -over- specification, and so the lead was protruding slightly below the bottom of the car. This allowed me to use the official scales to tune the car at the event, removing a bit of lead with a file and re-weighing several times before nailing it precisely, while in the process filing the lead flat and reducing drag.
Place a strip or two of electrical tape over the lead, to further reduce drag and add the nth degree of tuning: If you file a bit of lead off and the car still measures
If your track levels out toward the bottom, put the weight as far toward the back of the car as you can. You'll get a few more inches of "thrust" by doing this, vs. your front-weighted opponent.
The devil's in the details. When it's all done, handle the car as if it were full of nitroglycerine - don't even look at it funny, or all of the precarious work you've put into it will begin to undo itself. Never let others handle it, and absolutely never leave it unattended at the event. It's a finely-tuned, very delicate instrument, and is deserving of respect.