The Borg are a race of cyborgs in the Star Trek fictional universe. Some say the name 'Borg' is simply short for cyborg.
Borg are humanoids of different races that are enhanced with cybernetic implants, giving them improved mental and physical abilities. Although the cyborg concept has long existed in science-fiction literature, it is probable that the general concept of the Borg - a ruthless, aggressive race of bio-mechanical beings bent on galactic conquest - was influenced to some degree by the Cybermen, which featured in the popular British television series Doctor Who and who displayed similar rationales and methods as the Borg, including wanting to assimilate individuals to augment their race. They also bear significant resemblences to Fred Saberhagen's Berserker series.
The minds of all Borg are connected via implants to a hive, a collective mind, orchestrated by the Borg Queen and controlled from a central hub, the Unicomplex. According to themselves, the Borg only seek to "improve the quality of life in the universe" and add to their own perfection. To this end, they travel the galaxy, improving their numbers and advancing by "assimilating" other species and technologies, and forcing captured individuals under the control of the Hive mind by injecting them with nanoprobes. They harbor no ill will to anyone; they merely fulfil their biological or programmatic imperative to assimilate. As they say, "You will be assimilated - resistance is futile." They make good on that threat by their ability to quickly adapt to any attack to render it harmless. Thus, any successful defense depends on the ingenuity of the opponent to find a method to stop the Borg completely before they can neutralize it.
You were doing real good until you tossed out the Dvorak keyboard idea.
You use logic that it "takes ages to learn morse code" (therefore, bad), and then you ignore the "ages that it takes" to learn a new keyboard layout, and profess Dvorak keyboard as good.
If we didn't have a huge installed base of QWERTY keyboards and users, then I'd prefer Dvorak hands down (well, hand on, I guess). Oh well. Darn installed base gets you every time!
Yes, after browsing that wesite yesterday, I was nearly literally sick to my stomach. I almost feel a sense of guilt simply being a member of the same species as some of these slimey snakes!
But I still contend that a room name is just a room name - not something upon which you can convict. Of course, if the person was being tried of trying to meet up with a child, the jury would not look favorably on such "room names". But if I were the defense attorney, I would fight like hell to keep the room names out of the court record, as I feel they are extremely prejudicial (because jurors don't all agree with me - and DO think that room names implicate people).
Of course, if I were the defense attorney, I think I would have bigger problems (like tying to get a good night's sleep!)
If a room is called "Sinners Meet Here", I think it'd be a fair assumption that many "Bible Thumpers" (for lack of a better term) would go there. THAT was my point! (and in fact, years ago, I asked someone who was very religious why they "hung out" on chat, and the response was that in order to "save people", you need to go into the evil places where people are, who need to be saved. I'd hate to think that this person would get convicted (even in the press!) purely because he tried to help people and browsed some REALLY slimey rooms.)
Granted, the overall profile between a pedophile and a Bible-thumper would be totally different - but the press (and the prosecuting attorney) would tend to ONLY report the room names, and not the fact that the person may have been "doing good".
We'll probably have to agree to disagree on that one, but I just think that the press is famous for taking something that may NOT implicate people, and making it look much worse than it is (regardless of the surrounding facts). So I would not convict based on room name - and I would not advocate censorship based solely on room name.
Anyway, the perverted-justice.com site makes for some very interesting (and scary) reading. I will be sharing that with several people I know with 10-15 year old kids. And with a couple of guys I know who like to pull pranks in chat - not that they would do anything this slimey, but,... it certainly makes you think!
I guess there are MANY more sickos out there than I thought. My point was that BEING in these rooms does not implicate someone. Shoot, the police and the people who run that web site are in those rooms, and presumably those are the GOOD guys, right? I can't believe a young girl would go in there! Those rooms are probably almost all men talking to each other!
But yes, sadly, there are some sick people out there.
I remember such classic rooms as "12-14girlz and guyz chat" and "13-17 teen chat", with maybe 84% of the room's population consisting of thirty-two-year-old men living on the west coast
So how are things on the west coast?
Why is it that YOU judge other men for going into that room, when YOU probably had to enter the room to see them??;)
Grandparent said: Although the room names don't imply that something illicit is going on
I agree. A room title is nothing. It is NOT an implication that there's something evil going on. It's an "ad" to get you interested in coming in the room.
The examples in the article could be reworded, and NOT sound evil...
Change "9-17-Year-Olds Wantin' Sex" to "9 normal 17 year olds"
Change "Younger Girls 4 Older Guys" to "Younger Girls 4 Bush or Kerry" (both of whom were older guys)
Change "Girls 13 And Under For Older Guys" to "Girls 13 and under who respect their fathers"
Change "Girls 13 And Up For Much Older Man" to "Girls 13 and up researching prehistoric man"
Change "Girls 8 to 13 Watch Boys (In A Particular Sex Act)" to "8 Girls to 13 Boys with Watches"
It's a friggin ROOM NAME, not an admission of some act! Read it any way you want!
An example to prove my point: (I hate to make this political...) if you saw a chat room called "We Love War", and you "went into" the room to a) observe the conversation, or b) refute nonsense, does that make you a War Lover?
I bet the vast majority of the rooms in question were set up by law enforcement people anyway! Should we be investigating our police forces?
I have always worried about the size of my brain. When I have thoughts, even though she says that the thought is good, I know that what she really wants is an extra inch!
3 months ago I found The Extender. I just put it on whilst I'm driving the car and when I'm sleeping. It stays hidden under my clothes and it
is really surprisingly comfortable and soft.
I could tell that my brain was getting larger and heavier, but I thought that when I took it back off I would shrink back to original size. I was really surprised!
I have been 115 IQ since adolescence
When I took off The Extender I was measuring 145 IQ.
After not wearing the extender for a week, I am still 145 IQ!
The enlargement is permanent!
I could not believe the results of this device. I am back to wearing it again and I'm still getting larger! My girlfriend says it is the best product I've ever bought, and she ALWAYS reminds me to put it on if I forget!
Take a peek... We know it works. There's a total guarantee with it, too. If you are not completely satisfied with your size gain and comfort you get your money back. Every penny. No-one sends them back!
The Extender correct the curve of the brain too, straightening out sharp bends as new cells grow!
Is there a form somewhere that I can enter my credit card information to check if my cc number has been comprimised?
Sure, if you post your name, card number, and expiration date to slashdot, an automatic check will be run, and the results will be displayed.
If you receive the message "Comment Submitted. There will be a delay before the comment becomes part of the static page.", then this means you have been comprimised (sic). It's a perfectly fool-proof system, I primise.
Lets say that at t = 0 your father is alive. And you go back to t = -10 to kill him. Let's say, further, that you kill him. So at t = -10 your father is dead. Then at t = 0 your dad is dead. This is a contradiction by hypothesis. The logic here is valid, so some premise must fail.
There are numerous problems with your "proof". Here are some assumptions that you gloss over:
- You assume that t automatically progresses from -10 to 0, with all other values in tact. That is, you assume that if father is dead at t=-10, then father will be dead at t=0. Pretty wild assumption, considering that you assume just the opposite is true (that if father is dead at t-10, it's possible for father to be alive at t-11). It's a much more logical assumption that if father's state can change from dead to alive going in the negative direction (from t=-10 to t=-11), then father's state can also change from dead to alive in the positive direction (from t=-10 to t=0).
- You assume that it is impossible for father to be dead at t=0 and father to also be alive at t=0. Since parallel universes and probabilistic realities are two hotly debated ideas (by people smarter than you), I'd say that this assumption cannot be relied upon.
You can't just apply math where you want to, and gloss over these huge assumptions. Nice try, though.
I realize this is off topic, but I just received a call from Google, based on an application that I submitted.
The screener said she calls back about 75% of the qualified resume she receives. She said she would ask me three questions, and if I could answer 2, I would move on in the interview process. The process is - screen (today), phone interview (45 minutes), 2nd phone interview (45 minutes), then a trip to Mountain View CA for an 8-hour interview.
I had to answer two of the following 3 questions:
Q1: What's the running time for Quick sort? A1a: Average case = n log (n). A1b:Worst Case is n-squared.
Q2: Assuming speed is most important, and umlimited memory, what's the FASTEST way to tell how many bits are ON in a 32-bit value? A1: Perform an array lookup using the 32-bits as an index into a pre-computed array.
Q2b: Suppose you didn't want to waste so much memory... A2b: Break the 32 bits up, say, into 4 8-bit values, and perform 4 lookups into a 256-entry array. Add the 4 numbers together.
Q3: What power of 2 is closest to 2 Billion.
A3: 2^31
Interestingly, this was for a MANAGER position!
OK.. so, on to the next interview. Stand by for more info next week!
This might work in [insert culture here], where they all look alike, but it won't work for my culture.
Interesting comment. I do believe it to be a natural tendency that each culture seems to see other races or cultures as "looking alike". So for me, watching an Asian's face substituted in a film would probably work well (not being Asian, the other body movements and occasional mistakes would probably not be as noticeable to me, as, say, if my wife's face were put on to someone else's body).
More interestingly, though, is that such an observation is marked as flaimbait. I guess mentioning natural tendencies like that is Politically Incorrect.
Explanation for those non-financial types: this is the company value if you bought all the outstanding shares of stock at the current price (which probably never happens). Basically it's an estimate of the company's value as a whole.
I'm sure the "coolness" factor (and optimism) about Google is what is pushing demand for the stock. Investors are excited about it, and bid the stock up. That's how you explain why a company which is much larger, in the same industry, is worth less.
Here's some irony: when I did the research on these two Market Caps, I typed their symbols into Google, and Google pointed me to the Yahoo Finance pages. At least Google is smart enough to partner with Yahoo to provide results in areas that they haven't gotten into yet.
From the sensationalized Slashdot blurb: Today, the researcher who led authorities to the hacker who wrote Melissa, says that mass-mailed worms have reached their peak."
From TFA: "The good news now," he said, "is that what Melissa ushered in is finally waning. Mass-mailed worms and viruses reached their peak last year."
I think the blurb is a little misleading. The blurb should have said that the peak was last year and we are on the decline.
Teh parent mesage is a fruad. Donot fall for it. Morderaters pelase mod it down.
Teh only real way to protect your private information is to make it public, so no one to steal it. case in point teh paperatzi guys chasing movie stars around to take their pictures. The stars that pose willingly are not hassled. and those that want thier privacy are hounded.
post all private information here, and you'll be safer for it. I gaurantee if you reveal all private information, you will have nothing to lose. 100% gaurantee.
PS thanks to all of you who have already used Kaaza to share your C: drive including your Turbo Tax.tax files. Those are very helpful.
- Your Nigerian long lost relative
Dr. Amatumbu Tiboramaubi
That entry was the longest one ever made into a tattoo, however there are hundreds of people around the world who have unknowingly had this entry tattoed on their forearm:
http://www.de.ioccc.org/years.html#1994_smr
wow. I didn't realize that I had that tattoo!
...took me a few minutes to figure out why the source wasn't loading. Then I realized that damn Microsoft C loaded it more than 1000 times in the same window!
Slashdot Mirror
The Borg are a race of cyborgs in the Star Trek fictional universe. Some say the name 'Borg' is simply short for cyborg.
Borg are humanoids of different races that are enhanced with cybernetic implants, giving them improved mental and physical abilities. Although the cyborg concept has long existed in science-fiction literature, it is probable that the general concept of the Borg - a ruthless, aggressive race of bio-mechanical beings bent on galactic conquest - was influenced to some degree by the Cybermen, which featured in the popular British television series Doctor Who and who displayed similar rationales and methods as the Borg, including wanting to assimilate individuals to augment their race. They also bear significant resemblences to Fred Saberhagen's Berserker series.
The minds of all Borg are connected via implants to a hive, a collective mind, orchestrated by the Borg Queen and controlled from a central hub, the Unicomplex. According to themselves, the Borg only seek to "improve the quality of life in the universe" and add to their own perfection. To this end, they travel the galaxy, improving their numbers and advancing by "assimilating" other species and technologies, and forcing captured individuals under the control of the Hive mind by injecting them with nanoprobes. They harbor no ill will to anyone; they merely fulfil their biological or programmatic imperative to assimilate. As they say, "You will be assimilated - resistance is futile." They make good on that threat by their ability to quickly adapt to any attack to render it harmless. Thus, any successful defense depends on the ingenuity of the opponent to find a method to stop the Borg completely before they can neutralize it.
See also this cartoon.
I took the time to memorize pi to over 100,000 digits in base PI. When's that competition?
You use logic that it "takes ages to learn morse code" (therefore, bad), and then you ignore the "ages that it takes" to learn a new keyboard layout, and profess Dvorak keyboard as good.
If we didn't have a huge installed base of QWERTY keyboards and users, then I'd prefer Dvorak hands down (well, hand on, I guess). Oh well. Darn installed base gets you every time!
But I still contend that a room name is just a room name - not something upon which you can convict. Of course, if the person was being tried of trying to meet up with a child, the jury would not look favorably on such "room names". But if I were the defense attorney, I would fight like hell to keep the room names out of the court record, as I feel they are extremely prejudicial (because jurors don't all agree with me - and DO think that room names implicate people).
Of course, if I were the defense attorney, I think I would have bigger problems (like tying to get a good night's sleep!)
If a room is called "Sinners Meet Here", I think it'd be a fair assumption that many "Bible Thumpers" (for lack of a better term) would go there. THAT was my point! (and in fact, years ago, I asked someone who was very religious why they "hung out" on chat, and the response was that in order to "save people", you need to go into the evil places where people are, who need to be saved. I'd hate to think that this person would get convicted (even in the press!) purely because he tried to help people and browsed some REALLY slimey rooms.)
Granted, the overall profile between a pedophile and a Bible-thumper would be totally different - but the press (and the prosecuting attorney) would tend to ONLY report the room names, and not the fact that the person may have been "doing good".
We'll probably have to agree to disagree on that one, but I just think that the press is famous for taking something that may NOT implicate people, and making it look much worse than it is (regardless of the surrounding facts). So I would not convict based on room name - and I would not advocate censorship based solely on room name.
Anyway, the perverted-justice.com site makes for some very interesting (and scary) reading. I will be sharing that with several people I know with 10-15 year old kids. And with a couple of guys I know who like to pull pranks in chat - not that they would do anything this slimey, but,... it certainly makes you think!
I guess there are MANY more sickos out there than I thought. My point was that BEING in these rooms does not implicate someone. Shoot, the police and the people who run that web site are in those rooms, and presumably those are the GOOD guys, right? I can't believe a young girl would go in there! Those rooms are probably almost all men talking to each other!
But yes, sadly, there are some sick people out there.
IBM $96.2 Billion
HP $79.9 Billion
Doesn't give x86 Server breakdown, but I'm sure they are comparable (not 2x to 3x)!
So how are things on the west coast?
Why is it that YOU judge other men for going into that room, when YOU probably had to enter the room to see them?? ;)
I agree. A room title is nothing. It is NOT an implication that there's something evil going on. It's an "ad" to get you interested in coming in the room.
The examples in the article could be reworded, and NOT sound evil...
Change "9-17-Year-Olds Wantin' Sex" to "9 normal 17 year olds"
Change "Younger Girls 4 Older Guys" to "Younger Girls 4 Bush or Kerry" (both of whom were older guys)
Change "Girls 13 And Under For Older Guys" to "Girls 13 and under who respect their fathers"
Change "Girls 13 And Up For Much Older Man" to "Girls 13 and up researching prehistoric man"
Change "Girls 8 to 13 Watch Boys (In A Particular Sex Act)" to "8 Girls to 13 Boys with Watches"
It's a friggin ROOM NAME, not an admission of some act! Read it any way you want!
An example to prove my point: (I hate to make this political...) if you saw a chat room called "We Love War", and you "went into" the room to a) observe the conversation, or b) refute nonsense, does that make you a War Lover?
I bet the vast majority of the rooms in question were set up by law enforcement people anyway! Should we be investigating our police forces?
I have always worried about the size of my brain. When I have thoughts, even though she says that the thought is good, I know that what she really wants is an extra inch!
3 months ago I found The Extender. I just put it on whilst I'm driving the car and when I'm sleeping. It stays hidden under my clothes and it is really surprisingly comfortable and soft.
I could tell that my brain was getting larger and heavier, but I thought that when I took it back off I would shrink back to original size. I was really surprised!
I have been 115 IQ since adolescence When I took off The Extender I was measuring 145 IQ. After not wearing the extender for a week, I am still 145 IQ!
The enlargement is permanent!
I could not believe the results of this device. I am back to wearing it again and I'm still getting larger! My girlfriend says it is the best product I've ever bought, and she ALWAYS reminds me to put it on if I forget!
Take a peek... We know it works. There's a total guarantee with it, too. If you are not completely satisfied with your size gain and comfort you get your money back. Every penny. No-one sends them back!
The Extender correct the curve of the brain too, straightening out sharp bends as new cells grow!
Sure, if you post your name, card number, and expiration date to slashdot, an automatic check will be run, and the results will be displayed.
If you receive the message "Comment Submitted. There will be a delay before the comment becomes part of the static page.", then this means you have been comprimised (sic). It's a perfectly fool-proof system, I primise.
There are numerous problems with your "proof". Here are some assumptions that you gloss over:
- You assume that t automatically progresses from -10 to 0, with all other values in tact. That is, you assume that if father is dead at t=-10, then father will be dead at t=0. Pretty wild assumption, considering that you assume just the opposite is true (that if father is dead at t-10, it's possible for father to be alive at t-11). It's a much more logical assumption that if father's state can change from dead to alive going in the negative direction (from t=-10 to t=-11), then father's state can also change from dead to alive in the positive direction (from t=-10 to t=0).
- You assume that it is impossible for father to be dead at t=0 and father to also be alive at t=0. Since parallel universes and probabilistic realities are two hotly debated ideas (by people smarter than you), I'd say that this assumption cannot be relied upon.
You can't just apply math where you want to, and gloss over these huge assumptions. Nice try, though.
- A/C #12345
The next update on the remarkable and heroic journey will be available here on Tuesday, April 25, at 10:00 am CET (04:00 am EST).
Tuesday April 25 is a year from today!
I'm not too worried. They won't be able to match my salary requirement anyway.
Fortunately my memory didn't fail me!
The screener said she calls back about 75% of the qualified resume she receives. She said she would ask me three questions, and if I could answer 2, I would move on in the interview process. The process is - screen (today), phone interview (45 minutes), 2nd phone interview (45 minutes), then a trip to Mountain View CA for an 8-hour interview.
I had to answer two of the following 3 questions:
Q1: What's the running time for Quick sort? A1a: Average case = n log (n). A1b:Worst Case is n-squared.
Q2: Assuming speed is most important, and umlimited memory, what's the FASTEST way to tell how many bits are ON in a 32-bit value? A1: Perform an array lookup using the 32-bits as an index into a pre-computed array.
Q2b: Suppose you didn't want to waste so much memory... A2b: Break the 32 bits up, say, into 4 8-bit values, and perform 4 lookups into a 256-entry array. Add the 4 numbers together.
Q3: What power of 2 is closest to 2 Billion. A3: 2^31
Interestingly, this was for a MANAGER position!
OK.. so, on to the next interview. Stand by for more info next week!
For i=1 to count(This_crowd)
i.remove(tool_from_toolkit)
next i
Stop
We're getting there....
Here is the traditional "Hello World" progam in COBOL (for the youngsters out there who never had to program in it).
Only 20 lines.
Forget it being a tool for this crowd then!
Interesting comment. I do believe it to be a natural tendency that each culture seems to see other races or cultures as "looking alike". So for me, watching an Asian's face substituted in a film would probably work well (not being Asian, the other body movements and occasional mistakes would probably not be as noticeable to me, as, say, if my wife's face were put on to someone else's body).
More interestingly, though, is that such an observation is marked as flaimbait. I guess mentioning natural tendencies like that is Politically Incorrect.
Google: $49.01 Billion
Yahoo: $43.57 Billion
Explanation for those non-financial types: this is the company value if you bought all the outstanding shares of stock at the current price (which probably never happens). Basically it's an estimate of the company's value as a whole.
I'm sure the "coolness" factor (and optimism) about Google is what is pushing demand for the stock. Investors are excited about it, and bid the stock up. That's how you explain why a company which is much larger, in the same industry, is worth less.
Here's some irony: when I did the research on these two Market Caps, I typed their symbols into Google, and Google pointed me to the Yahoo Finance pages. At least Google is smart enough to partner with Yahoo to provide results in areas that they haven't gotten into yet.
From TFA: "The good news now," he said, "is that what Melissa ushered in is finally waning. Mass-mailed worms and viruses reached their peak last year."
I think the blurb is a little misleading. The blurb should have said that the peak was last year and we are on the decline.
Teh only real way to protect your private information is to make it public, so no one to steal it. case in point teh paperatzi guys chasing movie stars around to take their pictures. The stars that pose willingly are not hassled. and those that want thier privacy are hounded.
post all private information here, and you'll be safer for it. I gaurantee if you reveal all private information, you will have nothing to lose. 100% gaurantee.
PS thanks to all of you who have already used Kaaza to share your C: drive including your Turbo Tax .tax files. Those are very helpful.
- Your Nigerian long lost relative
Dr. Amatumbu Tiboramaubi
alternative server at the same domain
http://www.de.ioccc.org/years.html#1994_smr
wow. I didn't realize that I had that tattoo!