As mentioned, patents are more difficult and expensive to obtain than copyrights. This means that the little guy who cannot afford a patent is not going to be allowed any protection at all!
As it happens, my ISP is, among other things, in the mobile-radio-communications business, and has a large radio tower. This was struck by lightning a few months ago, and it took them a few days to repair all the systems that were grounded/connected to it. Ever since, I too have experienced a major reduction in spam, but did not know the reason. Their Web site had advertised a free spam-filtering service which I could never get to work, and I thought maybe they had finally fixed it. But perhaps the downtime was the actual cause.
I'm pretty sure the original description of the Shuttle was to be a kind of "space truck", for both transport and servicing missions. To say it is too unsafe to use for its intended purpose just underscores the incompetence of whatever committee it was that bollixed the design. Get rid of them, and post a big sign in EVERY meeting room that (A) describes the debacle, and (B) recommend that it never, ever happen again. (Now, if only somebody in those meeting rooms actually paid attention to the sign....)
What with Mac these days being a Unix workalike, and with Linux being a Unix workalike, then isn't support for Mac almost the same as support for Linux? AND with Linux beginning to take desktop space away from Windows, a move away from Mac/Linux becomes the same as restricting oneself to a shrinking market share! (Of course, if some fundamental misunderstanding was written into the preceding, I'm sure someone will let me know, heh.)
Part of the problem is that with a single viewpoint, we cannot know how far from the camera the bright spot was really located. I think its intersection with the light pole is a visual coincidence, and that it is IN FRONT of the pole. Part of my reason for thinking this has to do with the so-called "smoke", which looks to me more like a side view of a supersonic shock wave. Part of that "smoke" is clearly in front of the base of the light pole. So, the distance between the camera and the pole should be inspected, for impact evidence.
I'm sure this counts as heresy or worse, but if it works...?
Microsoft has a stand-alone "Word Viewer" program for at least reading.doc files. Since Open Office has the goal of creating compatible files, it seems to me that this program should be able to at least partly fit your need.
In reviewing the previous posts, I see some concerns about a bloodbath. But remember this quote by Thomas Jefferson: "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots & tyrants."
I'll make up a quote to go with it: "Those who rig elections obviously 'wish to not live' in a democracy. Perhaps their wish should be granted." Yet that means either Democracy will die, or election-riggers will die. IT ALSO DOES NOT AUTOMATICALLY MEAN that various elected officials participated in the vote-rigging. The political parties are big enough that a right wing can do something without the moderate wing knowing about it. Sure, the uninformed will be happy to benefit from the results, but that does not mean they were active conspirators.
So, please be sure that the U.S. ONLY gets rid of actual vote-rigging ringleaders. The poor monkeys who did the dirty work should be forgiven as fast as they identify the ringleaders. Like Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda, if the head is not chopped off, it will grow another body, and try again.
OK, then I guess the key question is, What Frequency do those fluorescent ballasts run at? Because that's the frequency we want to shield. I wouldn't be surprised if it is more than 60Hz (yet that would be my first guess, especially for older-model straight-tube fluorescents), but I would be surprised if it was more than, say, 250Khz, even for the newer incandescent-replacement devices, with convoluted glass tubing.
Maybe all the guy needs is a Faraday Cage surrounding himself and his recording system....
Regarding the near field, that's something I didn't know. But what about the fact that chicken wire and window-screen wire is often made of steel? Your post implies a copper mesh. Magnetic fields don't usually pass through a surrounding layer of iron/steel, and steel, while not as good a conductor as copper, is nevertheless conductive enough to ground induced milliamps. Or am I missing something else?
Get some wire mesh and surround each light fixture with it, and "ground" the mesh. The size of the mesh-holes will depend on the frequency of the interference (higher freq -> smaller mesh). Chicken wire is fine for some things (60-cycle AC hum) and window-screen mesh might be needed for others (but associated with lessened lighting, alas). If you can find mesh with holes as large as those in a microwave-oven door, that will probably be more than small-enough. (Of course, if this is really a good idea, then I expect some comment from some expert who KNOWS exactly what size of mesh is sufficient.:)
I'd say this rule applies to everything, not just people. Of course, some things have longer runs at being famous than others (painting: Mona Lisa), but all end up being neglected by something else, newly famous.
They say that a great many problems in the world are caused by lack of communications. According to the article, when the fighting first broke out, all the systems including (must have not been working well) communications broke down completely. This version of "The Silent Treatment" did not go over well, and so communications companies were able to form and function and not be bothered by the combatants. As a result, GOOD communications has apparently (finally?) given the political enemies opportunities to talk out differences. Quote from article: "Somalia's previous governments have kept taxes low and hopes this will continue under the regime due to start work in the coming months." COOL!
The science fiction writer David Brin wrote about these things years ago. First there was an "ANALOG" fact article (sorry don't recall which issue", and then there was one of his "Uplift War" books. Look up "cursorial hunting" sometime. No Wiki for it yet, apparently (but I bet there will be one shortly!). It means the prey is chased until it keels over from exhaustion first. Humans are the best cursorial hunters around, with possibly highest percentage of total body mass in their legs and leg muscles (including buttocks) of any land critter, ever.
Well, the Web page was intended to be an introduction, not a technical description. If you want to know more about how the "key" file is used to select primes pseudorandomly (8300 bytes --> approximately 1000 primes minimum -- AFTER which they are used to generate pseudorandom numbers), read the HalfBakery page, or download the.zip and study the "cryption.c" source code file.
Regarding your points 1. and 2., you can pick any key file you want off the Web, and just tell the recipient the filename -- maybe an.MP3 -- in a casual conversation (FIRST time and other random occasions; after that you mostly just encrypt the name of the next key file in your current secret transmission), and if the recipient has the downloaded the same "Primary Cryption" program suite/version as yourself, then he/she will indeed be able to locally generate the exact same library of prime numbers as yourself. The library is simply ALL primes that fit in 32 bits, after all (203,280,221 of them); it only exists so that the encryption process can obtain a thousand (or thousands) Nth primes more quickly than generating them on the fly.
And now to toot a small horn
on
Intro to Encryption
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Over at SourceForge is a relatively new Project called Primary Cryption. Working code (for Win32/WINE) has already been released. The source code includes hundreds of lines of commentary about encryption, C programming tricks, and other stuff that you might find interesting. The logo may be of interest, too. Some discussions about it have been started at the HalfBakery and at sci.crypt.research Oh, and if you want to put some effort into figuring out how easy (or tough) it is to break the proposed encryption scheme, feel free! I'd like to know. Thanks!
From the name, if the name really describes the patent, then I'd say NO, because you can't get much more "prior" than the Turing Machine, in the way of "prior art".
PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO THE U.S. CONSTITUTION:
"Because the process of voting lies at the very heart of the process by which this Nation fairly conducts itself, the Definition of "treason" is herewith Amended so that in addition to its original meaning, it shall also include any Acts intended to interfere with the True Will of Voters."
Then we can execute the guys ripping up voter registration forms, or causing long lines, or creating confusing ballots, or stuffing ballot boxes, or hacking the counting/recording/reporting process. Good riddance!
Apparently you missed the part where I wrote "seal it thoroughly". I AM aware of the potential for trouble, and know that the seal needs to be so thick as to be earthquake proof. Also, you might have noticed that the type of hole I linked is usually located pretty far from significant populations. AND, at least in the US, most such holes are located in rather-low-rainfall areas.
"(d) We don't even know how the hell to deal with the solid waste we're producing from nuclear plants now, let alone if we ramped it up."
Dealing with radwaste is simple. Just take a big hole in the ground, cover and seal it thoroughly, and start filling it with radwaste. THEN add a low-temperature-difference power generation system, like OTEC. Remember all those thousands of years they claim you have to keep radwaste sequestered? It's actually lots less; after about 600 years, the radiation diminishes to the normal background level. Anyway, such a waste pile would give us MORE POWER for all those years, AND because people will need to maintain the power plant, people will always be there to warn others of the danger.
Back in the 1970s a little game came out called Master Mind. It's still available today, uses a plastic board and colored pegs. Great game -- except that if the person who creates a puzzle for you to solve makes a mistake in handing out clues, it is very upsetting.
So the first significant program I wrote (BASIC) was Master Mind. Keyboard input, graphical output, clue algorithm, etc. Took me about a week, but back then I was just a beginner. NEVER makes a mistaking handing out clues!
As years go by and I learn more languages, I usually turn to Master Mind as something significant to write. Clipper, C, Delphi, and Javascript.
I like that last one because just viewing the page means you have loaded the program. Save the page and you can play the game offline. (Ok, so the output of that version isn't graphical. Feel free to improve as you like.)
I wonder if instead of just examining the historical record, they also took one additional factor into account.
Physicists modelling the history of the Sun say that its overall brightness (read: activity level) has increased by about 30% since being born. This is related to the buildup of helium "ash" (from fusion of hydrogen) in its core. Furthermore, the trend is expected to continue -- quite slowly, of course. Nevertheless, any forcast that the current activity can be expected to decrease in the next few years -- or even decades -- might be rather "off" if that factor is not taken into account....
Slashdot Mirror
As mentioned, patents are more difficult and expensive to obtain than copyrights. This means that the little guy who cannot afford a patent is not going to be allowed any protection at all!
As it happens, my ISP is, among other things, in the mobile-radio-communications business, and has a large radio tower. This was struck by lightning a few months ago, and it took them a few days to repair all the systems that were grounded/connected to it. Ever since, I too have experienced a major reduction in spam, but did not know the reason. Their Web site had advertised a free spam-filtering service which I could never get to work, and I thought maybe they had finally fixed it. But perhaps the downtime was the actual cause.
I'm pretty sure the original description of the Shuttle was to be a kind of "space truck", for both transport and servicing missions. To say it is too unsafe to use for its intended purpose just underscores the incompetence of whatever committee it was that bollixed the design. Get rid of them, and post a big sign in EVERY meeting room that (A) describes the debacle, and (B) recommend that it never, ever happen again. (Now, if only somebody in those meeting rooms actually paid attention to the sign....)
What??? No POSIX-compliant GUI??? Isn't anyone planning thinking of standards here??? (heh heh heh)
What with Mac these days being a Unix workalike, and with Linux being a Unix workalike, then isn't support for Mac almost the same as support for Linux? AND with Linux beginning to take desktop space away from Windows, a move away from Mac/Linux becomes the same as restricting oneself to a shrinking market share! (Of course, if some fundamental misunderstanding was written into the preceding, I'm sure someone will let me know, heh.)
Part of the problem is that with a single viewpoint, we cannot know how far from the camera the bright spot was really located. I think its intersection with the light pole is a visual coincidence, and that it is IN FRONT of the pole. Part of my reason for thinking this has to do with the so-called "smoke", which looks to me more like a side view of a supersonic shock wave. Part of that "smoke" is clearly in front of the base of the light pole. So, the distance between the camera and the pole should be inspected, for impact evidence.
I'm sure this counts as heresy or worse, but if it works...?
.doc files. Since Open Office has the goal of creating compatible files, it seems to me that this program should be able to at least partly fit your need.
Microsoft has a stand-alone "Word Viewer" program for at least reading
In reviewing the previous posts, I see some concerns about a bloodbath. But remember this quote by Thomas Jefferson: "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots & tyrants."
I'll make up a quote to go with it: "Those who rig elections obviously 'wish to not live' in a democracy. Perhaps their wish should be granted." Yet that means either Democracy will die, or election-riggers will die. IT ALSO DOES NOT AUTOMATICALLY MEAN that various elected officials participated in the vote-rigging. The political parties are big enough that a right wing can do something without the moderate wing knowing about it. Sure, the uninformed will be happy to benefit from the results, but that does not mean they were active conspirators.
So, please be sure that the U.S. ONLY gets rid of actual vote-rigging ringleaders. The poor monkeys who did the dirty work should be forgiven as fast as they identify the ringleaders. Like Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda, if the head is not chopped off, it will grow another body, and try again.
OK, then I guess the key question is, What Frequency do those fluorescent ballasts run at? Because that's the frequency we want to shield. I wouldn't be surprised if it is more than 60Hz (yet that would be my first guess, especially for older-model straight-tube fluorescents), but I would be surprised if it was more than, say, 250Khz, even for the newer incandescent-replacement devices, with convoluted glass tubing.
Maybe all the guy needs is a Faraday Cage surrounding himself and his recording system....
Regarding the near field, that's something I didn't know. But what about the fact that chicken wire and window-screen wire is often made of steel? Your post implies a copper mesh. Magnetic fields don't usually pass through a surrounding layer of iron/steel, and steel, while not as good a conductor as copper, is nevertheless conductive enough to ground induced milliamps. Or am I missing something else?
Get some wire mesh and surround each light fixture with it, and "ground" the mesh. The size of the mesh-holes will depend on the frequency of the interference (higher freq -> smaller mesh). Chicken wire is fine for some things (60-cycle AC hum) and window-screen mesh might be needed for others (but associated with lessened lighting, alas). If you can find mesh with holes as large as those in a microwave-oven door, that will probably be more than small-enough. (Of course, if this is really a good idea, then I expect some comment from some expert who KNOWS exactly what size of mesh is sufficient. :)
I'd say this rule applies to everything, not just people. Of course, some things have longer runs at being famous than others (painting: Mona Lisa), but all end up being neglected by something else, newly famous.
They say that a great many problems in the world are caused by lack of communications. According to the article, when the fighting first broke out, all the systems including (must have not been working well) communications broke down completely. This version of "The Silent Treatment" did not go over well, and so communications companies were able to form and function and not be bothered by the combatants. As a result, GOOD communications has apparently (finally?) given the political enemies opportunities to talk out differences. Quote from article: "Somalia's previous governments have kept taxes low and hopes this will continue under the regime due to start work in the coming months." COOL!
The science fiction writer David Brin wrote about these things years ago. First there was an "ANALOG" fact article (sorry don't recall which issue", and then there was one of his "Uplift War" books. Look up "cursorial hunting" sometime. No Wiki for it yet, apparently (but I bet there will be one shortly!). It means the prey is chased until it keels over from exhaustion first. Humans are the best cursorial hunters around, with possibly highest percentage of total body mass in their legs and leg muscles (including buttocks) of any land critter, ever.
Well, the Web page was intended to be an introduction, not a technical description. If you want to know more about how the "key" file is used to select primes pseudorandomly (8300 bytes --> approximately 1000 primes minimum -- AFTER which they are used to generate pseudorandom numbers), read the HalfBakery page, or download the .zip and study the "cryption.c" source code file.
.MP3 -- in a casual conversation (FIRST time and other random occasions; after that you mostly just encrypt the name of the next key file in your current secret transmission), and if the recipient has the downloaded the same "Primary Cryption" program suite/version as yourself, then he/she will indeed be able to locally generate the exact same library of prime numbers as yourself. The library is simply ALL primes that fit in 32 bits, after all (203,280,221 of them); it only exists so that the encryption process can obtain a thousand (or thousands) Nth primes more quickly than generating them on the fly.
Regarding your points 1. and 2., you can pick any key file you want off the Web, and just tell the recipient the filename -- maybe an
Over at SourceForge is a relatively new Project called Primary Cryption. Working code (for Win32/WINE) has already been released. The source code includes hundreds of lines of commentary about encryption, C programming tricks, and other stuff that you might find interesting. The logo may be of interest, too. Some discussions about it have been started at the HalfBakery and at sci.crypt.research Oh, and if you want to put some effort into figuring out how easy (or tough) it is to break the proposed encryption scheme, feel free! I'd like to know. Thanks!
From the name, if the name really describes the patent, then I'd say NO, because you can't get much more "prior" than the Turing Machine, in the way of "prior art".
link
The algorithm still needs to be proved. Everything you need to know about the proposal is here.
PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO THE U.S. CONSTITUTION: "Because the process of voting lies at the very heart of the process by which this Nation fairly conducts itself, the Definition of "treason" is herewith Amended so that in addition to its original meaning, it shall also include any Acts intended to interfere with the True Will of Voters."
Then we can execute the guys ripping up voter registration forms, or causing long lines, or creating confusing ballots, or stuffing ballot boxes, or hacking the counting/recording/reporting process. Good riddance!
Apparently you missed the part where I wrote "seal it thoroughly". I AM aware of the potential for trouble, and know that the seal needs to be so thick as to be earthquake proof. Also, you might have noticed that the type of hole I linked is usually located pretty far from significant populations. AND, at least in the US, most such holes are located in rather-low-rainfall areas.
"(d) We don't even know how the hell to deal with the solid waste we're producing from nuclear plants now, let alone if we ramped it up."
Dealing with radwaste is simple. Just take a big hole in the ground, cover and seal it thoroughly, and start filling it with radwaste. THEN add a low-temperature-difference power generation system, like OTEC. Remember all those thousands of years they claim you have to keep radwaste sequestered? It's actually lots less; after about 600 years, the radiation diminishes to the normal background level. Anyway, such a waste pile would give us MORE POWER for all those years, AND because people will need to maintain the power plant, people will always be there to warn others of the danger.
Not SQL-type competition. Remember Cloudscape? Looks like CA is really trying to answer IBM's challenge!
Back in the 1970s a little game came out called Master Mind. It's still available today, uses a plastic board and colored pegs. Great game -- except that if the person who creates a puzzle for you to solve makes a mistake in handing out clues, it is very upsetting. So the first significant program I wrote (BASIC) was Master Mind. Keyboard input, graphical output, clue algorithm, etc. Took me about a week, but back then I was just a beginner. NEVER makes a mistaking handing out clues! As years go by and I learn more languages, I usually turn to Master Mind as something significant to write. Clipper, C, Delphi, and Javascript. I like that last one because just viewing the page means you have loaded the program. Save the page and you can play the game offline. (Ok, so the output of that version isn't graphical. Feel free to improve as you like.)
I wonder if instead of just examining the historical record, they also took one additional factor into account.
Physicists modelling the history of the Sun say that its overall brightness (read: activity level) has increased by about 30% since being born. This is related to the buildup of helium "ash" (from fusion of hydrogen) in its core. Furthermore, the trend is expected to continue -- quite slowly, of course. Nevertheless, any forcast that the current activity can be expected to decrease in the next few years -- or even decades -- might be rather "off" if that factor is not taken into account....