The savings will cover the cost of about 5 days of war in Iraq.
An Excellent point. Let's go a little furhter: why waste a large orbiting mass? Perhaps NASA can arrange to de-orbit it into a terrorist training camp or something. That should save us the cost of a cruse missile or two.
Big companies like this do not collaborate to make things easier on consumers. They collaborate to make money.
Very insightful, and true. Perhapsy that is why so many consumers collaborate to make things easier for themselves and don't worry about if it hurts Big companies. (Bit torrent, for example.)
It's even easier than that, since not only does a pirate have to just beat one scheme, they only have to modify a single device to make perfect copies of a album/movie/whatever that will run on unmodded devices.
The article was a little vague on this point, but aren't Phisher scams where you pretend to be a slightly paranoid ex-chess geinus hiding out in Japan?
First thought: Wait, Apple would pay to be on slashdot? Even when the news is positive, half the posts are cheapshots at the story's subject, paranoid rantings, and trolls. And those are the people who play nice...
Second Thought: One school of thought is that there is no such thing as bad press. A famous quote is, 'I don't care what you print about me, just spell my name right'. Knowing this place, there is a good chance someone would misspell Appel.
Another thought... How would people react to dangers if they could live for centuries? Suddenly, you're not risking the experiences of 10 or 20 or 50 years of life. You're risking the experiences of 100 or 200 or 500 years of life. Ouch. One might well think twice before pushing some of the boundaries in those cases.
Or, perhaps, it would make the risk all that more enticing. Who really thinks about losing 20 years of life in an accident vs. 60 years? Do old people engage in increasingly dangerous activities because they have less to live for? Provided that science keeps us young enough physically, people will always do fun, dumb, and dangerous things.
if you're living 50, or even 500 years longer, a longer work period should be a given.
This is an important point. I have seen previous statement from this guy, and he seems to think that it will be possible to not just extend lifespans, but to do it in such a way that people aren't bedridden and decrepid. If you are healthy, why not work another 500 years? Provided you like your job, anyway.
Me, I'm planning on making a killing on long term investments...
..The university of California's Congitive Sciences Department is proved that us men is less gooder at non-mathematicall skills of communication and writting and speling by thirteen percent of the survey that was done.
I just want to mention that ad-blockers only function now because ads are delivered from external servers.
It would be trivial to alter the delivery method to pass the ads into the host server, and embed them in the requested document. They are simple to block now because the reliy on flash, external ad servers, or popups.
Ethan Preston, the lawyer that is linked to in the article above, mentions that the harvesters are forced to 'click through' a license agreement that has legal ramifications if broken. While this is a neat trick to put the screws to spammers, isn't it a bad idea in the grand scheme of things, as it lends more credibility to the 'click through' agreements that are packaged with software? If this were taken to court and upheld as valid, it could be used as a precedent.
Now, admitidly, there is an important difference in that in one case you cannot read the agreement before buying the product, but the overall premise that such agreements can be legally binding would be the same. Also, since this is a tactic that has been developed to target harvesters, who the developers know will not be able to read or comprehend the agreement, wouldn't that invalidate the agreement. Simply: If I trick you into agreeing to a legal contract, is it any good in court?
Also, as a side note, it would fall victim to all the same problems as EULAS. For example, if I was an evil spammer, I could probably get out of the clause by hiring a 17 year old to run the harvester for me, since a minor cannot enter into a legal contract, it would be no good.
Internally at Microsoft everybody runs Windows 2003 Advanced Server on every workstation, installs every possible product, hands around the source to everything possible to anybody who asks, and never asks for a dime.
How is that communisim? How many software comapnies can you name where they internally sell their employees productivity tools required to do work? That would be just plain stupid. Your statement holds no water.
However, since we are playing silly logic games, and I have established that it would be stupid to charge you employees for the tools they need to work for you, I can call Mr.Gates and Anti-Stupist. Therefore, anyone who is holds contrary views would have to be a pro-stupidist, or a stupid. Ergo, *NIX people are stupid. QED
Hehehehe, your are correct on the second point, I was in a rush, and typed fission when I meant fusion. However, your first point isn't quite correct. (a correction to the correction, whee!)
A black hole is a mass that has been compacted beyond it's Schwarzschild radius. This value is an expression of mass to radius. However, a star will become a black whole based off of it's mass alone. Sufficient mass is needed to cause gravatational collapse. Once that starts to occur, and it crosses the limiting radius, it will then be a black hole, event horizon and all. Mass alone gets it there.
Here is an interesting thought: You speak of the energy needed to 'push' the sun's radius accross the critical radius. I would speculate that this energy would be about.4 solar masses worth of energy as converted using E=MC^2. (1 solar mass of 'mass' +.4 solar masses of energy pressing inward ~= limit of what has to eventually become a black hole) I didn't break out the slide ruler to check the math, but it makes sense. Of course, stellar evolution is complicated, and you might just end up with a Type II supernova that destroys the solar system...
I took my laptop (What can I say, I'm a consultant, I feel naked without my laptop).
What kind of computer nerd lets other people have root/admin/controll of their computer? While your step brother may be a nice guy, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
I am considerably less trollish and paranoid about other people using my computers than all my fellow hyper-nerd friends, but even I wouldn't let someone install software on my machines.
Several other posts have danced around the question a little bit, without answering it directly. It's a good question.
While these stars are big, filling a large volume of space, the article doesn't mention their mass. This is the ultimate determinant of what becomes a black hole and what doesn't.
Stars have gravity trying to pull everything into the center off it's mass. In physics pressure is basically equal to temapture, so as all the mass is squezed together, it heats up and begins nuclear fission. This creates a lot of heat, and the star's mass tries to expand. Gravity and pressure find a happy meidum and that is how the star ends up a particular size.
As the star burns it's fuel, it has to get hotter or it will stop 'burning', due to the way nuclear fusion works. Eventually it will burn up its fuel and prssure will not balance gravity, and the whole star will collapse. If it is really heavy, say several times the mass of the sun, it will probably collapse into a black hole. If it is slightly heavier than our sun, it might end up as a very dense neutron star. Otherwise, it will end up as a white dwarf, a small star that is somewhat like a ember left over after a campfire. If a star is really massive it can also explode in a supernova to lose some weight and avoid becomming a black whole.
As I mentioned, the article doesn't say what the mass of the star is, but it's probably a safe bet that is above the black hole limit. When it finishes burining its fuel, it will likely go supernova and/or become a black hole.
I still think you are being a little reactionary. While I don't support the current perversion of the good IP laws that were created by our founding fathers, control of the media these days is a lot harder than it was in 1933. Every time a company tries to 'tame' the Internet, all they do is make some bad press for themselves. a Good lord, I have a hard time believing that the federal government could run a cubscout bake sale without getting taken to the cleansers. Just forget about a gradual erosion of freedoms by government Facists. Now, if you were to make a comment about the threats of coporate interests subverting the democratic process, that would be something I could see as a legitimate concern.
One other thing, you previously mentioned Eastern Europe and the Soviet system, and the above post is describing a proto-fascist type movement. While both can be totalitarian in nature, they are radically different. In fact, historically, they loved to shoot each other every chance they got. Am going to be arrested by brownshirts or the Bolsheviks for trading the latest ripped Britteny album?
I was reading the parent's quote that we are telling China to put more people in prison for IP violation. At the same time, the US has been pressuring China over human right issues. I guess the message we are sending them is something akin to, 'Throw more people in jail, but be nice to them, too.'
Totalitarianism has a very recognizable feel, even in the very beginning, before you can barely feel its grip, you can smell it's breath long before it starts to squeeze.
Right, because the rise of Totalitarianism in Eastern Europe didn't have anything to do with the Red Army 'liberating' Eastern Europe at the end of WW2. The Russians really quietly infiltrated and subverted Eastern Europe's governments with repressive IP laws before taking over.
Wake up and smell the napalm. Totalitarianism isn't subtile. It is based off of brutal, repressive force. Just because you don't like the laws that are being passed governing IP, don't compare them to Soviet Russia. It trivializes the real evils that were perpertrated by the Soviet government, and it makes people think you are some sort of nutjob, rather than listen to your valid comments about the rationality of enforcing IP violations with criminal penalties.
> Yes. In Japan the population is expected to do just that.
How is this a suprise? Japan has pioneered things like Bukake, used school girls panty vending machines, and hentai tentacle pr0n. If I was a Japanese woman, I wouldn't get within 20 meters of a Japanese man, either.
Have you looked at moving the conditionals into precompiler directives? You could set a single flag (#DEFINE CUSTOMER ) and then include sections of code as needed. The program would actually only contain code that was going to be used.
Slashdot Mirror
The savings will cover the cost of about 5 days of war in Iraq.
An Excellent point. Let's go a little furhter: why waste a large orbiting mass? Perhaps NASA can arrange to de-orbit it into a terrorist training camp or something. That should save us the cost of a cruse missile or two.
Big companies like this do not collaborate to make things easier on consumers. They collaborate to make money.
Very insightful, and true. Perhapsy that is why so many consumers collaborate to make things easier for themselves and don't worry about if it hurts Big companies. (Bit torrent, for example.)
It's even easier than that, since not only does a pirate have to just beat one scheme, they only have to modify a single device to make perfect copies of a album/movie/whatever that will run on unmodded devices.
I sure hope so. I'd hate to have an emergency skin graft and get some elbow skin on my forehead...
The article was a little vague on this point, but aren't Phisher scams where you pretend to be a slightly paranoid ex-chess geinus hiding out in Japan?
You are probably correct, but think of the upside: We won't have to read anymore stupid stories about all the COBALT programmers dying off...
May we'll even get on Slashdot, for free!
First thought: Wait, Apple would pay to be on slashdot? Even when the news is positive, half the posts are cheapshots at the story's subject, paranoid rantings, and trolls. And those are the people who play nice...
Second Thought: One school of thought is that there is no such thing as bad press. A famous quote is, 'I don't care what you print about me, just spell my name right'. Knowing this place, there is a good chance someone would misspell Appel.
Oh, Crap.
Another thought... How would people react to dangers if they could live for centuries? Suddenly, you're not risking the experiences of 10 or 20 or 50 years of life. You're risking the experiences of 100 or 200 or 500 years of life. Ouch. One might well think twice before pushing some of the boundaries in those cases.
Or, perhaps, it would make the risk all that more enticing. Who really thinks about losing 20 years of life in an accident vs. 60 years? Do old people engage in increasingly dangerous activities because they have less to live for? Provided that science keeps us young enough physically, people will always do fun, dumb, and dangerous things.
if you're living 50, or even 500 years longer, a longer work period should be a given.
This is an important point. I have seen previous statement from this guy, and he seems to think that it will be possible to not just extend lifespans, but to do it in such a way that people aren't bedridden and decrepid. If you are healthy, why not work another 500 years? Provided you like your job, anyway.
Me, I'm planning on making a killing on long term investments...
..The university of California's Congitive Sciences Department is proved that us men is less gooder at non-mathematicall skills of communication and writting and speling by thirteen percent of the survey that was done.
I just want to mention that ad-blockers only function now because ads are delivered from external servers.
It would be trivial to alter the delivery method to pass the ads into the host server, and embed them in the requested document. They are simple to block now because the reliy on flash, external ad servers, or popups.
Ethan Preston, the lawyer that is linked to in the article above, mentions that the harvesters are forced to 'click through' a license agreement that has legal ramifications if broken. While this is a neat trick to put the screws to spammers, isn't it a bad idea in the grand scheme of things, as it lends more credibility to the 'click through' agreements that are packaged with software? If this were taken to court and upheld as valid, it could be used as a precedent.
Now, admitidly, there is an important difference in that in one case you cannot read the agreement before buying the product, but the overall premise that such agreements can be legally binding would be the same. Also, since this is a tactic that has been developed to target harvesters, who the developers know will not be able to read or comprehend the agreement, wouldn't that invalidate the agreement. Simply: If I trick you into agreeing to a legal contract, is it any good in court?
Also, as a side note, it would fall victim to all the same problems as EULAS. For example, if I was an evil spammer, I could probably get out of the clause by hiring a 17 year old to run the harvester for me, since a minor cannot enter into a legal contract, it would be no good.
HA! That wasn't a misspelling, it was a TYPO!
Internally at Microsoft everybody runs Windows 2003 Advanced Server on every workstation, installs every possible product, hands around the source to everything possible to anybody who asks, and never asks for a dime.
How is that communisim? How many software comapnies can you name where they internally sell their employees productivity tools required to do work? That would be just plain stupid. Your statement holds no water.
However, since we are playing silly logic games, and I have established that it would be stupid to charge you employees for the tools they need to work for you, I can call Mr.Gates and Anti-Stupist. Therefore, anyone who is holds contrary views would have to be a pro-stupidist, or a stupid. Ergo, *NIX people are stupid. QED
Ok, now that was much better, it was a witty retort.
...but you are still a wase of carbon.
I forgot how teenagers think.
hehehe, Teenagers think?
Hehehehe, your are correct on the second point, I was in a rush, and typed fission when I meant fusion. However, your first point isn't quite correct. (a correction to the correction, whee!)
.4 solar masses worth of energy as converted using E=MC^2. (1 solar mass of 'mass' + .4 solar masses of energy pressing inward ~= limit of what has to eventually become a black hole) I didn't break out the slide ruler to check the math, but it makes sense. Of course, stellar evolution is complicated, and you might just end up with a Type II supernova that destroys the solar system...
A black hole is a mass that has been compacted beyond it's Schwarzschild radius. This value is an expression of mass to radius. However, a star will become a black whole based off of it's mass alone. Sufficient mass is needed to cause gravatational collapse. Once that starts to occur, and it crosses the limiting radius, it will then be a black hole, event horizon and all. Mass alone gets it there.
Here is an interesting thought: You speak of the energy needed to 'push' the sun's radius accross the critical radius. I would speculate that this energy would be about
Hmmm, lets, see...non-insightful reply, criticizing and not really even witty or ammusing...what is the correct reply?
Oh, yeah, Fuck off, you whining bitch. You are a waste of perfectly good carbon.
I took my laptop (What can I say, I'm a consultant, I feel naked without my laptop).
What kind of computer nerd lets other people have root/admin/controll of their computer? While your step brother may be a nice guy, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
I am considerably less trollish and paranoid about other people using my computers than all my fellow hyper-nerd friends, but even I wouldn't let someone install software on my machines.
Several other posts have danced around the question a little bit, without answering it directly. It's a good question.
While these stars are big, filling a large volume of space, the article doesn't mention their mass. This is the ultimate determinant of what becomes a black hole and what doesn't.
Stars have gravity trying to pull everything into the center off it's mass. In physics pressure is basically equal to temapture, so as all the mass is squezed together, it heats up and begins nuclear fission. This creates a lot of heat, and the star's mass tries to expand. Gravity and pressure find a happy meidum and that is how the star ends up a particular size.
As the star burns it's fuel, it has to get hotter or it will stop 'burning', due to the way nuclear fusion works. Eventually it will burn up its fuel and prssure will not balance gravity, and the whole star will collapse. If it is really heavy, say several times the mass of the sun, it will probably collapse into a black hole. If it is slightly heavier than our sun, it might end up as a very dense neutron star. Otherwise, it will end up as a white dwarf, a small star that is somewhat like a ember left over after a campfire. If a star is really massive it can also explode in a supernova to lose some weight and avoid becomming a black whole.
As I mentioned, the article doesn't say what the mass of the star is, but it's probably a safe bet that is above the black hole limit. When it finishes burining its fuel, it will likely go supernova and/or become a black hole.
I still think you are being a little reactionary. While I don't support the current perversion of the good IP laws that were created by our founding fathers, control of the media these days is a lot harder than it was in 1933. Every time a company tries to 'tame' the Internet, all they do is make some bad press for themselves. a Good lord, I have a hard time believing that the federal government could run a cubscout bake sale without getting taken to the cleansers. Just forget about a gradual erosion of freedoms by government Facists. Now, if you were to make a comment about the threats of coporate interests subverting the democratic process, that would be something I could see as a legitimate concern.
One other thing, you previously mentioned Eastern Europe and the Soviet system, and the above post is describing a proto-fascist type movement. While both can be totalitarian in nature, they are radically different. In fact, historically, they loved to shoot each other every chance they got. Am going to be arrested by brownshirts or the Bolsheviks for trading the latest ripped Britteny album?
I was reading the parent's quote that we are telling China to put more people in prison for IP violation. At the same time, the US has been pressuring China over human right issues. I guess the message we are sending them is something akin to, 'Throw more people in jail, but be nice to them, too.'
Totalitarianism has a very recognizable feel, even in the very beginning, before you can barely feel its grip, you can smell it's breath long before it starts to squeeze.
Right, because the rise of Totalitarianism in Eastern Europe didn't have anything to do with the Red Army 'liberating' Eastern Europe at the end of WW2. The Russians really quietly infiltrated and subverted Eastern Europe's governments with repressive IP laws before taking over.
Wake up and smell the napalm. Totalitarianism isn't subtile. It is based off of brutal, repressive force. Just because you don't like the laws that are being passed governing IP, don't compare them to Soviet Russia. It trivializes the real evils that were perpertrated by the Soviet government, and it makes people think you are some sort of nutjob, rather than listen to your valid comments about the rationality of enforcing IP violations with criminal penalties.
>> The population is always decreasing.
> Yes. In Japan the population is expected to do just that.
How is this a suprise? Japan has pioneered things like Bukake, used school girls panty vending machines, and hentai tentacle pr0n. If I was a Japanese woman, I wouldn't get within 20 meters of a Japanese man, either.
Have you looked at moving the conditionals into precompiler directives? You could set a single flag (#DEFINE CUSTOMER ) and then include sections of code as needed. The program would actually only contain code that was going to be used.