the Brazilian national soccer team has been retroactively disqualified from the World Cup finals, after reports surfaced that they had the equivalent of twelve players on the field during the match, instead of the regular eleven.
Re:Age Explorer is a Elderly-discriminating Machin
on
Old Age Simulator
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· Score: 1
Your criticism is beside the point. When you're saying that not all elderly people suffer health problems, you are only stating the obvious. As if not everybody here would know that old people can still be in good shape...
From the article: "it helps designers of electrical appliances, cars and medical equipment, as well as hospital and home-care staff, to imagine what it can be like to be 70, and respond better to the needs of the elderly." The purpose of the suit is not to provide a certain perceived image of old-ageness throughout the general population; it was invented to assist designers, nurses, and the like, what sort of problems old and ailing people suffer everyday of their lives. It has great educational value in giving them an impression what difficulties they may face. I've worked in mobile care for a year, and believe me, getting in and out of a car's passenger seat is a major pain and effort for many elderly people.
Besides, how many of us really expect to be as fit as Sean Connery after spending half of our life behind a computer screen?
Does anyone have experience with getting a refund in Canada? I'm quite new to the country, so I don't know much about the justice system yet. Do small claims court operate similar to those in the US?
Reminds me of Arthur J. Clarke's "2010", where he introduces life forms, by far more complex than bacteria, living far below the eternal ice of Jupiter's moon Europa. These creatures thrive near volcanic fissures that provide the necessary warmth. And their metabolism is sulfur-based, if I recall correctly. Which leads me to a question for the microbiologists here: does sulfur-based life exist on earth? Do these deep-sea bacteria have a sulfur-based metabolism, or an oxigen-based one like us?
By bundling those for windows, people will have less reasons to switch to one of those free OSes. Of course, there are still reasons, but there is one less.
I disagree. The widespread availability of open source software in the Windows world can attract people to open source operating systems in the long run, but it's a two-step process:
Step 1: "Why do I have to dish out hundreds of dollars for Microsoft Office and its countless upgrades if OpenOffice.org works just as well? I'm gonna work exclusively with OpenOffice.org from now on!"
Step 2: "Wait a minute - all the applications I am using have been originally developed for Linux. This means on Linux they are supported at least as well as on Windows, and may be even better. I won't lose anything by switching to Linux completely, but I will save an additional few hundred dollars!"
The advantage is that such a two-step switchover to Linux can be performed without any (perceived) risk. The would-be windows converts can take their time getting used to open source applications without immediately giving up the (perceived) safety of their familiar Windows environment.
Altogether, this is probably a Good Thing.
there has been a relativistic version of the Schrodinger equation for as long as the classical version
Actually, the relativistic version is even slightly older. Schroedinger wrote it down first, but it had some weird problems with negative-energy states that he couldn't resolve. So he invented the non-relativistic version. It was Dirac who figured out that these negative-energy states are related to antimatter (and who was bold enough to postulate this "crazy" antimatter idea).
"UnitedLinux" is not a brand, but an attempt to create compatibility between the different participating distros. The SuSE Linux distribution you download from ftp.suse.com will be "UnitedLinux" certified. Although the UnitedLinux website itself talks about a "UnitedLinux distribution", this seems to be rather misleading IMHO. In practice, I guess it means that you can install any Conectiva RPM on your SuSE system without any problems, and that any SCO-trained system administrator can handle your machines running TurboLinux just as well.
The real question is, of course, with the Linux Standard Base around, why do we need an additional set of standards, driven by a handful of companies as opposed to an independent organisation? I don't know the answer, but I guess it's a good thing that UnitedLinux claims to be open, in the sense that any Linux distribution that chooses to adhere to their standards can join the group. But will we ever see RedHat become part of UnitedLinux? I have my doubts...
Let's compare two seemingly different issues: Guns and Software.
Thousands of people are killed with guns in America each year. Clearly guns are a huge threat to public safety in our cities. Should we restrict guns, or even outlaw them? Even mentioning this possibility infallibly generates huge outcries about "taking away our freedom", "constitutional right", and so on. The issue is one of freedom vs. safety. Freedom wins.
On the other hand, American corporations loose millions of dollars each year to illegal copying of software, music, movies etc. over the internet. Should we restrict the internet therefore? Now the issue is one of corporate profits vs. freedom. Profit wins.
The fact that America chooses freedom over safety in the first scenario, but chooses profit over freedom in the second scenario paints a very gruesome picture of our society:
Profit has highest priority, followed by freedom. Only then comes human life.
Money is more important than life.
Does anyone else think this is scary? I hope it's not just me.
The great thing about business or government or anywhere that isn't the users' home... "Use this computer. Or you're fired".
That's why I love working in a university research lab. The first question I was asked when starting work here: "Do you want Windows or Linux on your computer?"
These scenes, that were presented as new in the review, are already present in the theatrical version IIRC:
Saruman consulting the "eye of Sauron" which tells him to "build an army worthy of Mordor."
Frodo awakens after being stabbed by the blade of a Wraith. He is in a thicket surrounded by Troll statues.
As the Wraiths chase Arwen Undómiel, they stop at a river crossing. One of the wraiths calls out to her, demanding she give up the halfling. (not certain if the wraith call was in the original version)
they are going to create an artificial flicker similar to the flickering of a TV screen? Just great. Goodbye flicker-free digital cinema!
Besides, just how much do the producers think the videotaping of a movie off a theater screen will hurt their sales? If it's a movie I want to watch, I'd definitely not be content with watching a inferior-quality camcorder rip. The only occasion I can think of is where such a rip might prevent me from watching the movie is if the movie does not meet up to my expectations. Therefore, only the makers of awfully bad movies have to be afraid of this.
But then... 90% of Hollywood's movies are awfully bad. Okay, I understand now why they are concerned;)
The promoters of digital photography (particularly the advertisements) tend to focus almost exclusively on the number of pixels as a measure of picture quality. I guess this is partially because pixel number is so easy to quantify and compare. However, there are many more factors such as color reproduction, contrast ratio, and so on. There are two possible reasons why they are usually left out of the debate: 1) It is much harder to put a number on these criteria, or 2) digital cameras just do not perform very favorably in these categories. From what I've read and heard in the past, the contrast ratio of digital cameras is indeed much worse than that of analog film. This means black, contourless shadows and white, contourless bright spots in high contrast settings. Maybe that has changed in the recent month; can anyone who is in the know point me to some info on these issues?
Unfortunately I haven't had a chance myself to carefully compare the results of digital and analog photography for the same subject and light settings. Does anyone know where one can find such comparisons? What do the pro's here think about those two issues: color and contrast ratio?
Others feel that the world climate is changing for the worst, and we simply need to start protecting ourselves more. What do you think?
The single most important question is: how should we cope with the situation in the long run? And the statement above, in my view, reflects the core problem we are facing. Certainly the world climate is changing, and likely not for the better. But is "we simply need to start protecting ourselves more" really the best answer? The fact is, America is the only remaining super power, and everything that America does, will affect the world climate. Preemptive military strikes, assassinations of foreign dictators, increased hegemony, and all the proposed actions in this direction may indeed improve our security in the short run. But since we are (or want to be) the self-declared police of the world, should we not feel more responsible of what is going on in the world beyond our borders? Every military strike, every uncovered CIA operation will create more mistrust and aggression among other nations, and as a result will drive more people into the arms of terrorist organizations. Every military strike or diplomatic blunder today might give rise to another terror attack in ten or twenty years for now.
I think we have the responsibility towards future generations to try to find a permanent solution to the problems we are facing in our time. And this permanent solution must mean more openness and not more alienation.
Step 1: get a LCD panel (an old laptop will do) and pry open the panel frame.
Step 2: remove the front polarizing filter (a greyish-looking transparent film that is located in front of the liquid crystal layer).
Step 3: close the frame and fix it provisionally with duct tape or super glue.
Step 4: cut some lens-shaped pieces out of the polarizing filter you just removed. Find an old spectacles frame and insert the pieces. Make sure they have the same orientation as they had in the LCD panel.
Step 5: show off to your friends.
Background info: A LCD screen is made of four layers - the first being a neon tube (or something similar) that emits the actual light. That light then passes through the first polarizing filter, which transmits only light that is polarized, say, in the horizontal direction. The next layer contains the liquid crystals, which turn the polarization of the light by 90 degrees, if a voltage is applied, or leaves the polarization unaltered, if no voltage is applied. In the first case, the light will be blocked by the final polarizing layer (which you just removed), which again transmits only horizontally polarized light. If no voltage is applied, however, the light will pass the second layer unhindered, and will reach your eye. All you did (if you followed the above steps) is to move that layer from the screen to your eyeglasses.
Note: I am typing the above info out of my head, so there's no guarantee that all the details are correct. But the main idea sure is.
By the way, if you don't feel like taking apart your laptop, this works perfectly well with pocket calculators (I loved to take them apart as a kid!), Game Boys, PDAs etc.
I think you're missing a very important fact here: Algorithms as employed in the MP3 format were NOT patentable in many countries when MP3 first showed up and Fraunhofer's reference implementation was published.
I'm really glad that not that many countries have jumped that US "you can patent everything, including algorithms and IP" train even yet.
Can someone who's in the know comment on what this means for the user? Can, for example, SuSE, which is German-based, still offer a MP3 decoder with their distribution? Can they make it available for free download on their website? Could RedHat offer a non-US version of its distribution with a MP3 decoder included? Can RedHat set up a website that's not physically located in the US, where RedHat customers (of course only non-US-residents;) can download a decoder for their system?
the Canadian government also banned the possession of the human flu virus, after an independent study found that the economic losses due to the flu virus are a staggering $10 billion per year. People found carrying a flu virus in public are now required to pass it on to the authorities, or may face a week of house-arrest.
Slashdot Mirror
the Brazilian national soccer team has been retroactively disqualified from the World Cup finals, after reports surfaced that they had the equivalent of twelve players on the field during the match, instead of the regular eleven.
So will I! I only have to find a producer...
From the article: "it helps designers of electrical appliances, cars and medical equipment, as well as hospital and home-care staff, to imagine what it can be like to be 70, and respond better to the needs of the elderly." The purpose of the suit is not to provide a certain perceived image of old-ageness throughout the general population; it was invented to assist designers, nurses, and the like, what sort of problems old and ailing people suffer everyday of their lives. It has great educational value in giving them an impression what difficulties they may face. I've worked in mobile care for a year, and believe me, getting in and out of a car's passenger seat is a major pain and effort for many elderly people.
Besides, how many of us really expect to be as fit as Sean Connery after spending half of our life behind a computer screen?
Does anyone have experience with getting a refund in Canada? I'm quite new to the country, so I don't know much about the justice system yet. Do small claims court operate similar to those in the US?
Reminds me of Arthur J. Clarke's "2010", where he introduces life forms, by far more complex than bacteria, living far below the eternal ice of Jupiter's moon Europa. These creatures thrive near volcanic fissures that provide the necessary warmth. And their metabolism is sulfur-based, if I recall correctly. Which leads me to a question for the microbiologists here: does sulfur-based life exist on earth? Do these deep-sea bacteria have a sulfur-based metabolism, or an oxigen-based one like us?
I disagree. The widespread availability of open source software in the Windows world can attract people to open source operating systems in the long run, but it's a two-step process:
Step 1: "Why do I have to dish out hundreds of dollars for Microsoft Office and its countless upgrades if OpenOffice.org works just as well? I'm gonna work exclusively with OpenOffice.org from now on!"
Step 2: "Wait a minute - all the applications I am using have been originally developed for Linux. This means on Linux they are supported at least as well as on Windows, and may be even better. I won't lose anything by switching to Linux completely, but I will save an additional few hundred dollars!"
The advantage is that such a two-step switchover to Linux can be performed without any (perceived) risk. The would-be windows converts can take their time getting used to open source applications without immediately giving up the (perceived) safety of their familiar Windows environment. Altogether, this is probably a Good Thing.
Actually, the relativistic version is even slightly older. Schroedinger wrote it down first, but it had some weird problems with negative-energy states that he couldn't resolve. So he invented the non-relativistic version. It was Dirac who figured out that these negative-energy states are related to antimatter (and who was bold enough to postulate this "crazy" antimatter idea).
It's Emmy Noether and Lise Meitner. Not to be anal, but I regard spelling people's names correctly as a sign of respect. Even on Slashdot ;-)
The real question is, of course, with the Linux Standard Base around, why do we need an additional set of standards, driven by a handful of companies as opposed to an independent organisation? I don't know the answer, but I guess it's a good thing that UnitedLinux claims to be open, in the sense that any Linux distribution that chooses to adhere to their standards can join the group. But will we ever see RedHat become part of UnitedLinux? I have my doubts...
Remeber, it's the script kiddies that format your hard drive, not the malicious code!
But there would be fewer idiots running around on earth. It's a win-win situation!
Me too! I haven't used a computer in the last five years! And I urge all slashdot readers that are still using a computer to follow this example!
Thousands of people are killed with guns in America each year. Clearly guns are a huge threat to public safety in our cities. Should we restrict guns, or even outlaw them? Even mentioning this possibility infallibly generates huge outcries about "taking away our freedom", "constitutional right", and so on. The issue is one of freedom vs. safety. Freedom wins.
On the other hand, American corporations loose millions of dollars each year to illegal copying of software, music, movies etc. over the internet. Should we restrict the internet therefore? Now the issue is one of corporate profits vs. freedom. Profit wins.
The fact that America chooses freedom over safety in the first scenario, but chooses profit over freedom in the second scenario paints a very gruesome picture of our society:
Profit has highest priority, followed by freedom. Only then comes human life.
Money is more important than life.
Does anyone else think this is scary? I hope it's not just me.
That's why I love working in a university research lab. The first question I was asked when starting work here: "Do you want Windows or Linux on your computer?"
With a single difference: Lobbying is legal, corruption is not. Of course you could also say:
United States - the only country where corruption is legal!
Q: What will be the first Microsoft product that doesn't suck?
A: A robotic vacuum cleaner!
MUHAAHAAHAAHAAAA!!!!
Besides, just how much do the producers think the videotaping of a movie off a theater screen will hurt their sales? If it's a movie I want to watch, I'd definitely not be content with watching a inferior-quality camcorder rip. The only occasion I can think of is where such a rip might prevent me from watching the movie is if the movie does not meet up to my expectations. Therefore, only the makers of awfully bad movies have to be afraid of this.
But then... 90% of Hollywood's movies are awfully bad. Okay, I understand now why they are concerned ;)
Unfortunately I haven't had a chance myself to carefully compare the results of digital and analog photography for the same subject and light settings. Does anyone know where one can find such comparisons? What do the pro's here think about those two issues: color and contrast ratio?
The single most important question is: how should we cope with the situation in the long run? And the statement above, in my view, reflects the core problem we are facing. Certainly the world climate is changing, and likely not for the better. But is "we simply need to start protecting ourselves more" really the best answer? The fact is, America is the only remaining super power, and everything that America does, will affect the world climate. Preemptive military strikes, assassinations of foreign dictators, increased hegemony, and all the proposed actions in this direction may indeed improve our security in the short run. But since we are (or want to be) the self-declared police of the world, should we not feel more responsible of what is going on in the world beyond our borders? Every military strike, every uncovered CIA operation will create more mistrust and aggression among other nations, and as a result will drive more people into the arms of terrorist organizations. Every military strike or diplomatic blunder today might give rise to another terror attack in ten or twenty years for now. I think we have the responsibility towards future generations to try to find a permanent solution to the problems we are facing in our time. And this permanent solution must mean more openness and not more alienation.
Drive-by spamming.
Ugh...
And how are they going to do that? Isn't any fork of a GPL product automatically a GPL product?
Just wondering...
Background info: A LCD screen is made of four layers - the first being a neon tube (or something similar) that emits the actual light. That light then passes through the first polarizing filter, which transmits only light that is polarized, say, in the horizontal direction. The next layer contains the liquid crystals, which turn the polarization of the light by 90 degrees, if a voltage is applied, or leaves the polarization unaltered, if no voltage is applied. In the first case, the light will be blocked by the final polarizing layer (which you just removed), which again transmits only horizontally polarized light. If no voltage is applied, however, the light will pass the second layer unhindered, and will reach your eye. All you did (if you followed the above steps) is to move that layer from the screen to your eyeglasses.
Note: I am typing the above info out of my head, so there's no guarantee that all the details are correct. But the main idea sure is.
By the way, if you don't feel like taking apart your laptop, this works perfectly well with pocket calculators (I loved to take them apart as a kid!), Game Boys, PDAs etc.
Can someone who's in the know comment on what this means for the user? Can, for example, SuSE, which is German-based, still offer a MP3 decoder with their distribution? Can they make it available for free download on their website? Could RedHat offer a non-US version of its distribution with a MP3 decoder included? Can RedHat set up a website that's not physically located in the US, where RedHat customers (of course only non-US-residents ;) can download a decoder for their system?
the Canadian government also banned the possession of the human flu virus, after an independent study found that the economic losses due to the flu virus are a staggering $10 billion per year. People found carrying a flu virus in public are now required to pass it on to the authorities, or may face a week of house-arrest.