Well it's just a wee-bit difficult to try and prove/disprove in the laboratory a theory that works on the scale of billions and billions of times smaller then the known world of quantum mechanics. Until we can find some way to find traces of strings, it's just theoritical physics and not experimental.
One hope is that if strings exist, they would have left impressions behind from the big bang, similiar to the microwave background radiation. If we can find such evidence it would strongly support the theory.
Re:I know this isn't a book review, but...
on
100 Years of Einstein
·
· Score: 4, Informative
Yes, string theory requires some assumptions to be made for their models to work. However, with these assumptions they do a remarkable job of representing the world of quantum physics and relativity. Nothing else we have even comes close.
And you also have to keep in mind that these theories are extremely oversimplified. We do not possess the power or knowledge to understand the equations in their full form. This was very similar to Einstein's field equations when he first discovered them; I have a feeling in time we will start to grasp the ideas better. Witten himeself claimed that some cynics dubbed his new M-theory for "murky theory" since our understanding of it is so primitive.
Re:I know this isn't a book review, but...
on
100 Years of Einstein
·
· Score: 4, Informative
I have the book as well, excellent read. I first saw the NOVA special on PBS and watched it over and over and over again. Fascinating stuff.
But yes, Einstein's later years were spend on trying to develop a GUT/TOE (Grand Unified Theory/Theory of Everything), basically a way to combine the smooth gentle macroscopic world of space-time in relativity and the extremely chaotic unpredictible microscopic view of quantum physics. String theory is the closest thing we have to accomplishing that goal, and with geniuses like Ed Witten working on it, I think we stand a good chance of actually discovering/creating such a theory given enough time.
I digress, but I have to state... the PBS specials are very useful and well put together. Brian Greene does an excellent job hosting the show. I espcially like the part where they first mention Ed, one string theorist says something like "we all think we're pretty smart, and he [Ed Witten] is so much smarter." It's amazing how much raw intelligence you need to really comprehend the underlying mathematical principles behind string theory.
I did not know that either. Amazon's description of "The Other Wind" seems to be quite interesting... Now it looks like I'll have to pick up a copy of both of them.
Aha! That's what I thought. I read "A Wizard of Earthsea" about 10 years ago and don't have a copy lying around, but when I watched it I thought they had it backwards.
And yes, for the most part it was pretty disappointing. Hollywood's flair sneaked it's way in there far too much. Fuckers. Way to ruin a wonderful work.
I loved Le Guin's Earthsea trilogy, read them many years ago and loved every second of it. In fact, I think it was my first exposure to a fantasy genre book. I would have to say they are comparible to LOTR as well - my only wish is that they were longer (the books themselves), I would have loved to read more about Ged's adventures.
One of the things I love about Le Guin's fantasy world is that is there is significant character development (over longer periods of time), it's more of a long-term biography almost, than just a story about a particular quest. You can see how Ged ages, matures and learns new things. I also enjoy her approach to magic - most fantasy-style worlds (books/games/etc) prevent wizards and such from learning too powerful spells until they are able to - you can't learn it until you are advanced enough. In her world, any magic-user can cast almost any spell - allowing for the possibility for things to get out of control (ie: when Ged summons the gebbeth). I know it's a minor detail, but to me this seems more believable; I can envision a more realistic world based upon those rules.
I was talking about Earthsea with my friend, and he mentioned a fantasy author by the name of Terry Brooks, can anyone suggest any of his books to start out on?
However, I did watch the miniseries. I "walked" into it expecting it to be significantly altered, which it was. I watched it just trying to enjoy being able to see parts of the story on film, not actually attempting to take in the whole story from the film. I think I was pretty successful - I definately picked up on small things that I did not focus much on from the story, but then again I also noticed things that were completely different. All-in-all I don't think it was too bad, having read the books previously. I would recommend anyone to read the books first before watching the miniseries however.
I'd definately recommend reading the books; they are far superior to the miniseries. While it was nice to see the story (more or less) on film, from what I remember it was altered a significant amount - more than just the race/color of the characters. There was definately a fair amount of Hollywood throw into it, and as Le Guin stated, "It's full of scenes from the story, arranged differently, in an entirely different plot." I first read the original book of the series "A Wizard of Earthsea" back in middle school (~10 years ago) and I thought it was a fantastic story. There was a substancial amount of storyline from her second book "The Tombs of Atuan" thrown in SciFi's miniseries.
As for the race, I personally don't recall it having to do that much with the storyline. It was definately mentioned several times throughout the story, but I didn't feel too much emphasis was placed on it. Perhaps because I was not focused on those details.
Regardless, the books make for excellent reading. I just recently discovered there is a fourth book in the Earthsea series, "Tehanu". From what I've read, it's a story about Ged and the young priestess who escapes at the end of "The Tombs of Atuan", but much later on in life. I'm not so sure if it's the normal "epic" quest-like story that I loved about the first three, however I think it's worth a read.
My question is... How do they catch you? If you're on a laptop in a car, wardriving (and illegial hacking) - what evidence would they have? At best they'll get a MAC address which doesn't amount too a whole lot.
Now if you're stupid and keep coming back with the same wireless NIC, then you're asking to get caught. Any takers?
I knew going into it that there would be much to learn and that if I stuck to it, I would be able to take some excellent images.
I agree with you completely, I'm talking about the average consumer. However, most people new to the technology would be frusterated having to learn all of the details first, people such as yourself are not the norm, IMHO.
I'm curious, how long did it take you to learn to use the SLR?
This article was focused on a single point pretty much, SLR or non-SLR.
The way I see it is - if you're looking to get a digital camera and you don't even know what SLR is, don't get one. It's designed for advanced and more knowledgable photographers.
That being said, I own a Canon A80 which I am quite happy with. Also, a good book on digital photography which I also own is Complete Digital Photography 2nd Ed
I've used Pegasus Mail before. One of my profs back in college (who was an former NSA employee) suggested it during a discussion once in his network security class.
It's nice - very powerful... but I'm not a big fan of the UI. I know it's customizable to a certain degree but I like the "look & feel" of Thunderbird better. Granted that by itself is not the best of reasons to pick one application over another, but in my case Thunderbird works very well. I encountered a few glitches & bugs along the way (namely the autodownload messages every XX minutes stopping to work), but I was able to fix them all, with some time and research.
Still, I agree with the parent-post. Check out both Pegasus and Thunderbird - they are both very nice e-mail clients.
Anyone else wondering what changes were between 1.0PR and 1.0? Their release notes say nothing - not much of a changelog. I'd assume that someone posted info on this somewhere in the forums, I'm just curious if anyone knows.
Actually, it's the Libertarians that want small government. Reduce the bloat, make it smaller cheaper and more efficient (all while improving our civil liberties & privacy).
The two major political parties in the US are (generall) all in favor of big government - it keeps them in control.
Never used Mathematica, and not sure if they're related, but a MathCAD and MatLab replacement would be great. Havn't tested their comptability under Wine yet, it'd be interesting to see if they worked.
That's has been my complaint/annoyance about FFXI as well - leveling takes *forever*. It's fun to play the game, but you really need blocks of hours straight in order to play.
I think my biggest complaint about WoW was that it didn't seem like a *real* RPG. The spells seemed watered down and focused more on action-style playing than a true RPG. I like knowing exactly how much damage my spells do, I like taking turns in fighting and thinking about what action I will perform next.
I was a *HUGE* fan of the Dragon Warrior series, and loved many FF games as well (3 and 11 my fav's). Maybe I'll give it a shot, I almost feel like I'm wasting my time on FFXI cause I really don't have the time to put into it that I want. But then again I don't want my FFXI guide to go to waste either.:)
I havn't played WoW yet, but I've seen a friend of mine play - overall I'm not that impressed. I play FFXI and find that much more enjoyable, although WoW certainly is much easier from the looks of it.
I think my biggest gripe is the Warcraft theme itself - it was never an RPG, they took the RTS game and turned it into an RPG. Sometimes this works, and I'm sure there are a lot of things that are great about WoW. But I never liked Warcraft to begin with, so I really don't find the game particularly appealing.
However, one instance where a game changed styles (RTS to FPS/RTS) and I happened to love was C&C Renegade. Now that was a damn cool game. I should play it again now that I think about it...
Anyway, any other FFXI players play WoW for a decent amount of time? I'd be very interested to hear your comparisons.
Re:pffft ... FPS on a console
on
Halo 2 Released
·
· Score: 1
You know what - I always said the same thing. I hated all FPS on console systems. Halo was the first and only game I've thought otherwise on. As much as we all dislike MS, I have to give them credit. I can't wait to see what Halo 2 is like.
I'll be voting for him here in NJ. I didn't feel it was worth my effort last election (1st Presidental one I could vote in) to vote, so I didn't. I'll be proud to vote Libertarian this election.
Yes, I realize that it is comparing OS's as a whole, in which case Linux would definately be more modular.
Technically speaking, the name Linux refers to the kernel only, the entire operating system would be called GNU/Linux. This would then imply calling "Linux" non-monolithic would be a false statement.
Just wanted to point that out to those who are not aware of the differences between the OS as a whole and the kernel itself.
Anyone else notice that their school had incorrect information? Funny, I never knew NJIT didn't host personal websites, I guess that makes my website null and void under the DMCA... oh wait, I mean they just had misrepresented data.
The reports of NJIT lacking a wireless network are greatly exaggerated.
I also recall we were the top #1 wired school in the nation my frosh year or so ('99), but now not even given a rating despite a massive upgrade of equipment.
I hate to say it, but at first glance the article looks dead wrong. The linux kernel is monolithic by design, however it also incorporates modular (dynamic loading) drivers.
Granted, the general population reading this article won't know the difference, but it still seems misleading. At least they do expose the truth, just hidden well: "The Linux kernel supports modular drivers, but it is essentially a monolithic kernel where services in the kernel are interdependent."
If you knew the differences between SCSI and ATA then you would realize you are talking out of your ass.
The interface itself has zero to do with heat and power consumption, however SCSI drives almost always generate substantially more heat than compared to an ATA drive. Back in the old days of SCSI-2 (50-pin, pre Fast-Wide SCSI) every Cheetah drive ran hot enough to burn yourself at operating temperature. Yes, I've had burns on my hands from them before. Mind you this was operating temperature with the case OFF.
They don't get that hot anymore, but still warmer than ATA drives. I do not run mine without active cooling.
Now I wonder what makes all this heat? Oh right, extra power consumption. It all makes sense now.
Slashdot Mirror
Well it's just a wee-bit difficult to try and prove/disprove in the laboratory a theory that works on the scale of billions and billions of times smaller then the known world of quantum mechanics. Until we can find some way to find traces of strings, it's just theoritical physics and not experimental.
One hope is that if strings exist, they would have left impressions behind from the big bang, similiar to the microwave background radiation. If we can find such evidence it would strongly support the theory.
Yes, string theory requires some assumptions to be made for their models to work. However, with these assumptions they do a remarkable job of representing the world of quantum physics and relativity. Nothing else we have even comes close.
And you also have to keep in mind that these theories are extremely oversimplified. We do not possess the power or knowledge to understand the equations in their full form. This was very similar to Einstein's field equations when he first discovered them; I have a feeling in time we will start to grasp the ideas better. Witten himeself claimed that some cynics dubbed his new M-theory for "murky theory" since our understanding of it is so primitive.
I have the book as well, excellent read. I first saw the NOVA special on PBS and watched it over and over and over again. Fascinating stuff.
But yes, Einstein's later years were spend on trying to develop a GUT/TOE (Grand Unified Theory/Theory of Everything), basically a way to combine the smooth gentle macroscopic world of space-time in relativity and the extremely chaotic unpredictible microscopic view of quantum physics. String theory is the closest thing we have to accomplishing that goal, and with geniuses like Ed Witten working on it, I think we stand a good chance of actually discovering/creating such a theory given enough time.
I digress, but I have to state... the PBS specials are very useful and well put together. Brian Greene does an excellent job hosting the show. I espcially like the part where they first mention Ed, one string theorist says something like "we all think we're pretty smart, and he [Ed Witten] is so much smarter." It's amazing how much raw intelligence you need to really comprehend the underlying mathematical principles behind string theory.
You'd be surprized to know what technology the government really has. My guess is they probably had that capability for about 10-15 years now.
I did not know that either. Amazon's description of "The Other Wind" seems to be quite interesting... Now it looks like I'll have to pick up a copy of both of them.
Thanks for the info.
Was that in "Tehanu"? I read the first three and don't recall reading much about that, but it was some time ago.
Actually he's described as having reddish-brown skin. I recall nothing about Ogion being black.
Aha! That's what I thought. I read "A Wizard of Earthsea" about 10 years ago and don't have a copy lying around, but when I watched it I thought they had it backwards.
And yes, for the most part it was pretty disappointing. Hollywood's flair sneaked it's way in there far too much. Fuckers. Way to ruin a wonderful work.
I loved Le Guin's Earthsea trilogy, read them many years ago and loved every second of it. In fact, I think it was my first exposure to a fantasy genre book. I would have to say they are comparible to LOTR as well - my only wish is that they were longer (the books themselves), I would have loved to read more about Ged's adventures.
One of the things I love about Le Guin's fantasy world is that is there is significant character development (over longer periods of time), it's more of a long-term biography almost, than just a story about a particular quest. You can see how Ged ages, matures and learns new things. I also enjoy her approach to magic - most fantasy-style worlds (books/games/etc) prevent wizards and such from learning too powerful spells until they are able to - you can't learn it until you are advanced enough. In her world, any magic-user can cast almost any spell - allowing for the possibility for things to get out of control (ie: when Ged summons the gebbeth). I know it's a minor detail, but to me this seems more believable; I can envision a more realistic world based upon those rules.
I was talking about Earthsea with my friend, and he mentioned a fantasy author by the name of Terry Brooks, can anyone suggest any of his books to start out on?
However, I did watch the miniseries. I "walked" into it expecting it to be significantly altered, which it was. I watched it just trying to enjoy being able to see parts of the story on film, not actually attempting to take in the whole story from the film. I think I was pretty successful - I definately picked up on small things that I did not focus much on from the story, but then again I also noticed things that were completely different. All-in-all I don't think it was too bad, having read the books previously. I would recommend anyone to read the books first before watching the miniseries however.
I'd definately recommend reading the books; they are far superior to the miniseries. While it was nice to see the story (more or less) on film, from what I remember it was altered a significant amount - more than just the race/color of the characters. There was definately a fair amount of Hollywood throw into it, and as Le Guin stated, "It's full of scenes from the story, arranged differently, in an entirely different plot." I first read the original book of the series "A Wizard of Earthsea" back in middle school (~10 years ago) and I thought it was a fantastic story. There was a substancial amount of storyline from her second book "The Tombs of Atuan" thrown in SciFi's miniseries.
As for the race, I personally don't recall it having to do that much with the storyline. It was definately mentioned several times throughout the story, but I didn't feel too much emphasis was placed on it. Perhaps because I was not focused on those details.
Regardless, the books make for excellent reading. I just recently discovered there is a fourth book in the Earthsea series, "Tehanu". From what I've read, it's a story about Ged and the young priestess who escapes at the end of "The Tombs of Atuan", but much later on in life. I'm not so sure if it's the normal "epic" quest-like story that I loved about the first three, however I think it's worth a read.
My question is... How do they catch you? If you're on a laptop in a car, wardriving (and illegial hacking) - what evidence would they have? At best they'll get a MAC address which doesn't amount too a whole lot.
Now if you're stupid and keep coming back with the same wireless NIC, then you're asking to get caught. Any takers?
I'm curious, how long did it take you to learn to use the SLR?
This article was focused on a single point pretty much, SLR or non-SLR.
The way I see it is - if you're looking to get a digital camera and you don't even know what SLR is, don't get one. It's designed for advanced and more knowledgable photographers.
That being said, I own a Canon A80 which I am quite happy with. Also, a good book on digital photography which I also own is Complete Digital Photography 2nd Ed
I've used Pegasus Mail before. One of my profs back in college (who was an former NSA employee) suggested it during a discussion once in his network security class.
It's nice - very powerful... but I'm not a big fan of the UI. I know it's customizable to a certain degree but I like the "look & feel" of Thunderbird better. Granted that by itself is not the best of reasons to pick one application over another, but in my case Thunderbird works very well. I encountered a few glitches & bugs along the way (namely the autodownload messages every XX minutes stopping to work), but I was able to fix them all, with some time and research.
Still, I agree with the parent-post. Check out both Pegasus and Thunderbird - they are both very nice e-mail clients.
Anyone else wondering what changes were between 1.0PR and 1.0? Their release notes say nothing - not much of a changelog. I'd assume that someone posted info on this somewhere in the forums, I'm just curious if anyone knows.
Actually, it's the Libertarians that want small government. Reduce the bloat, make it smaller cheaper and more efficient (all while improving our civil liberties & privacy).
The two major political parties in the US are (generall) all in favor of big government - it keeps them in control.
Never used Mathematica, and not sure if they're related, but a MathCAD and MatLab replacement would be great. Havn't tested their comptability under Wine yet, it'd be interesting to see if they worked.
How about start focusing more on Thunderbird? There are a lot of bugs that need fixing, in my experience, many more so than Firefox.
Thanks for the response.
:)
That's has been my complaint/annoyance about FFXI as well - leveling takes *forever*. It's fun to play the game, but you really need blocks of hours straight in order to play.
I think my biggest complaint about WoW was that it didn't seem like a *real* RPG. The spells seemed watered down and focused more on action-style playing than a true RPG. I like knowing exactly how much damage my spells do, I like taking turns in fighting and thinking about what action I will perform next.
I was a *HUGE* fan of the Dragon Warrior series, and loved many FF games as well (3 and 11 my fav's). Maybe I'll give it a shot, I almost feel like I'm wasting my time on FFXI cause I really don't have the time to put into it that I want. But then again I don't want my FFXI guide to go to waste either.
I havn't played WoW yet, but I've seen a friend of mine play - overall I'm not that impressed. I play FFXI and find that much more enjoyable, although WoW certainly is much easier from the looks of it.
I think my biggest gripe is the Warcraft theme itself - it was never an RPG, they took the RTS game and turned it into an RPG. Sometimes this works, and I'm sure there are a lot of things that are great about WoW. But I never liked Warcraft to begin with, so I really don't find the game particularly appealing.
However, one instance where a game changed styles (RTS to FPS/RTS) and I happened to love was C&C Renegade. Now that was a damn cool game. I should play it again now that I think about it...
Anyway, any other FFXI players play WoW for a decent amount of time? I'd be very interested to hear your comparisons.
You know what - I always said the same thing. I hated all FPS on console systems. Halo was the first and only game I've thought otherwise on. As much as we all dislike MS, I have to give them credit. I can't wait to see what Halo 2 is like.
I'll be voting for him here in NJ. I didn't feel it was worth my effort last election (1st Presidental one I could vote in) to vote, so I didn't. I'll be proud to vote Libertarian this election.
Yes, I realize that it is comparing OS's as a whole, in which case Linux would definately be more modular.
Technically speaking, the name Linux refers to the kernel only, the entire operating system would be called GNU/Linux. This would then imply calling "Linux" non-monolithic would be a false statement.
Just wanted to point that out to those who are not aware of the differences between the OS as a whole and the kernel itself.
Anyone else notice that their school had incorrect information? Funny, I never knew NJIT didn't host personal websites, I guess that makes my website null and void under the DMCA... oh wait, I mean they just had misrepresented data.
The reports of NJIT lacking a wireless network are greatly exaggerated.
I also recall we were the top #1 wired school in the nation my frosh year or so ('99), but now not even given a rating despite a massive upgrade of equipment.
I hate to say it, but at first glance the article looks dead wrong. The linux kernel is monolithic by design, however it also incorporates modular (dynamic loading) drivers.
Granted, the general population reading this article won't know the difference, but it still seems misleading. At least they do expose the truth, just hidden well: "The Linux kernel supports modular drivers, but it is essentially a monolithic kernel where services in the kernel are interdependent."
An AC trolling? OK, I'll bite...
If you knew the differences between SCSI and ATA then you would realize you are talking out of your ass.
The interface itself has zero to do with heat and power consumption, however SCSI drives almost always generate substantially more heat than compared to an ATA drive. Back in the old days of SCSI-2 (50-pin, pre Fast-Wide SCSI) every Cheetah drive ran hot enough to burn yourself at operating temperature. Yes, I've had burns on my hands from them before. Mind you this was operating temperature with the case OFF.
They don't get that hot anymore, but still warmer than ATA drives. I do not run mine without active cooling.
Now I wonder what makes all this heat? Oh right, extra power consumption. It all makes sense now.