Don't they know you are supposed to start with Pedophiles and TERRORISTS, not AIDS patients. AIDS may be scary, but you are never going to get a color coded threat system out of it.
Only after you stop the terrorists and save the children do you require it for AIDS patients, and senior citizens, and prisoners, and high school students. Then, you require it for "discounts" at the grocery store. That's where the irony starts, I suppose, when you need the chip to get a discount on a box of condoms, because you don't don't trust the chip on the patients.
I'd complain about a slippery slope, but it's much too late. That started when all you people had your dogs and cats chipped. Now it's just a matter of time. Shame on you for bringing about the end times. I hope Fluffy was worth it.
To prove that, when the antichrist shows up, I bet he gets a microchipped pet for his kids. Unless they are alergic, I suppose.
Well, technically, the 5-shot revolvers are more common -- much easier to conceal.
More importantly, handgun shootings have about a 20% mortality rate statistically. That includes multiple shots, but I'll call it even, since your aim is likely to be better on average if you restrict yourself to AIDS-transmission distances.
We'll also assume (incorectly) that each cylinder has an equal chance of firing. In real life, the heavier cylinder with the bullet in it tends to wind up at the bottom, and the barrel tends to be at the top of the gun. I've confirmed this with my own testing on three different revolvers.
This leaves us with 3% chance of death from nationality-neutral-roulette in the six shot shot case, and 4% in the five shot case.
Still worse than AIDS, but I say since it's now same order of magnitude, the analogy stands.
Besides, we've got to give it bonus points. At least he didn't use a car analogy.
1) Get a list of 128 email addresses.
2) Pick a volatile stock.
3) Send half the list a "tip" that the stock will climb.
4) Send the other half a "tip" that it will fall.
5) Discard whatever half you gave bad advice to.
6) Repeat steps 2-5, five times
7) Send the remaining guy an email pointing out that you just picked six stock movements in a row, offer to give another tip in exchange for immortal soul and 10% of earthly income.
8) PROPHET!!
It's called survivor bias. When you decide which books are the holy ones and which are the heretical ones 1000 years after they get written, it's pretty easy to pick out the ones that were right.
I don't know if you actually hold this misconception, but I see this alot, so it's worth pointing out anyway.
The fact that you "get money back" every year on your taxes does NOT mean that you don't pay any taxes. It means that you paid more during the year than you owed. Not sending the IRS a check != don't pay into the system.
In my opinion, the withholding system is a scam. It tricks many many people into not noticing what the.gov is actually costing them. If everyone had to actually write a check every quarter for what they owe, I have a feeling we'd see income tax go down in this country. At the very least, maybe we'd see people taking a more active interest in how the money is spent. Either outcome would be better for everyone.
The systems we evolved were specialized to detect dangers that could kill from an arms length away. We would probably disregard predators at 200 meters, since they were simply not a threat, even if they did trip the pattern matcher circuits. The sorts of threats that soldiers need to deal with are nothing like the sorts of threats that instinct prepares us for.
Avionics was exempt as well, but the actual exemptions are useless. All the high volume consumer applications have gone lead free, so the economic incentive isn't there for component manufacturers to produce non lead-free parts. In practice, everyone gets to follow the ipods and use lead-free parts. Makes one wonder whether the environmental gain from eliminating (relatively stable) metalic lead from landfills will be far outweighed by the flood of prematurely failed electronics.
Don't forget about getting people to quit bitching about the laptop searches at US customs. Also, in reply to GP, can't you accomplish the same thing by just building a bigger missile?
I agree, that is an awesome feature, but unfortunately one that doesn't get advertised since the non-technical public isn't so interested.
The secret is to look for weights greater than about 60 or 70 pounds, and lead-acid battery chemistry.
If the little leather holster comes with shoulder straps, a sturdy hip belt, and an aluminum frame, you are probably on the right track.
And, also important, the more chips you have, the smaller each individual chip is... which means any given imperfection in the die is less likely to damage a given chip.
Smaller chips == better yield, all other things being constant.
If I have on average one flaw per square inch of wafer, and one chip per square inch, then my yield is pretty close to zero. Halve the linear dimensions of the chip, and my yield just went up to 75%. Halve them again, and my yield is 94%.
Let's say my wafers are 10 square inches (or centimeters, for you ten fingered types), and cost $100 each. Now, let's say we use the first process, with 1x1 inch chips, we might need several wafers to get one chip that works, means several hundred $$ per chip. With the second process we get 40 chips per wafer, times 75% yield, equals 30 chips per wafer, or $3.33 each. Now, with the final process, we have 160 chips, at 94% yield, equals 150 working chips per wafer, or $0.66 each.
Point is, there is more at work here than simply the number of chips they can cram into an area.
People don't seem to get it... DRM has nothing to do with piracy. That's just a marketing friendly excuse.
The purpose of DRM is to make it less convenient for people to format-shift and time-shift content, thus increasing revenue from attempting to sell content multiple times.
The *IAA aren't idiots. They don't care about piracy, but they do use it as a tool to lobby for increased protection of their content. Any increase in piracy is used as an argument for increased restrictions, which in turn destroy fair use and allow for more restrictive business models.
These sorts of hacks get unprotected content on the file sharing sites, but they don't change the fact that Joe Consumer still faces an added barrier to watching his HD-DVD on his HD-iPod without buying a second copy on HD-iTunes. That barrier is more legal than technical -- there will never be a shrink wrapped software package on the shelves of Best Buy that does this for him.
I hate to say it, but for all but us nerds, these sort of hacks play right into the *PAA's hand. They lose nothing that they hadn't already lost, and they gain political leverage to impliment yet more DMCA-style legislation.
You are probably right there... the Economist types are much more moderate in their view of government controls than the Libertarian party. The Libertians, however, do advocate market solutions to some problems (ie pollution). Not, however, to the extent the Economist types do. So, while they are extremist whakos, they are the only organized classically liberal extremist whackos in the US.
We still do... it's called the Libertarian party, and it's where Republicans (like me) jump ship to when they get sick of the fundies (and homeland security).
You are missing an important detail... this will only apply to content created AFTER Mickey Mouse, so there is no concern about it ever entering the public domain.
Basically, US copyright law says that everything created BEFORE Mickey Mouse is Public Domain, everything created AFTER Mickey Mouse is not. They just update the law every twenty years or so to keep it current.
Isn't this a bit like a car company coming out with a release that their car has some serious defect, but since they took so long to find it, they now get to make a profit on the recall?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't Ford be in just a bit of trouble if they came out every five years and said "Our 1998 model vehicles have serious flaws, but have been EOLed, so please purchase a recall contract, or buy a new high quality Ford vehicle".
I can understand charging people for a new version of software, but with hotfixes, we are talking about making the software DO WHAT THEY SAID IT WOULD DO when you bought it in the first place. And since they are resorting to this strategy, obviously a large number of people felt that a new version of the software with its attendant features had nothing to offer... if that wasn't the case they wouldn't use EOL as a tool to force upgrades.
Someone needs to call MS on this -- software, after all, does not wear out... if it did it's job five years ago, it should continue to do so. In this case, the only reason that it has stopped working is that it was defective in the first place (and yes, a major security exploit is a defect in the product.)
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Dear God!!
You mean the human race could be extinct, and no one here would even know?
Don't they know you are supposed to start with Pedophiles and TERRORISTS, not AIDS patients. AIDS may be scary, but you are never going to get a color coded threat system out of it.
Only after you stop the terrorists and save the children do you require it for AIDS patients, and senior citizens, and prisoners, and high school students. Then, you require it for "discounts" at the grocery store. That's where the irony starts, I suppose, when you need the chip to get a discount on a box of condoms, because you don't don't trust the chip on the patients.
I'd complain about a slippery slope, but it's much too late. That started when all you people had your dogs and cats chipped. Now it's just a matter of time. Shame on you for bringing about the end times. I hope Fluffy was worth it.
To prove that, when the antichrist shows up, I bet he gets a microchipped pet for his kids. Unless they are alergic, I suppose.
Well, technically, the 5-shot revolvers are more common -- much easier to conceal.
More importantly, handgun shootings have about a 20% mortality rate statistically. That includes multiple shots, but I'll call it even, since your aim is likely to be better on average if you restrict yourself to AIDS-transmission distances.
We'll also assume (incorectly) that each cylinder has an equal chance of firing. In real life, the heavier cylinder with the bullet in it tends to wind up at the bottom, and the barrel tends to be at the top of the gun. I've confirmed this with my own testing on three different revolvers.
This leaves us with 3% chance of death from nationality-neutral-roulette in the six shot shot case, and 4% in the five shot case.
Still worse than AIDS, but I say since it's now same order of magnitude, the analogy stands.
Besides, we've got to give it bonus points. At least he didn't use a car analogy.
By definition, the only way to achieve extinction is to kill everyone (who's left) at once. Right?
Trench coats. Firearms. Lots of media coverage. Tragic, perhaps, but if it happened more the net change might be for the better.
Recipe for accurate prophecy:
1) Get a list of 128 email addresses.
2) Pick a volatile stock.
3) Send half the list a "tip" that the stock will climb.
4) Send the other half a "tip" that it will fall.
5) Discard whatever half you gave bad advice to.
6) Repeat steps 2-5, five times
7) Send the remaining guy an email pointing out that you just picked six stock movements in a row, offer to give another tip in exchange for immortal soul and 10% of earthly income.
8) PROPHET!!
It's called survivor bias. When you decide which books are the holy ones and which are the heretical ones 1000 years after they get written, it's pretty easy to pick out the ones that were right.
Based on the ubiquitous copyright statements in that book, I'd say the source IS quite decidedly human.
welcome our new less-thoroughly-shuffled overlords. (I am truly sorry for that, but I couldn't resist)
I don't know if you actually hold this misconception, but I see this alot, so it's worth pointing out anyway.
The fact that you "get money back" every year on your taxes does NOT mean that you don't pay any taxes. It means that you paid more during the year than you owed. Not sending the IRS a check != don't pay into the system.
In my opinion, the withholding system is a scam. It tricks many many people into not noticing what the .gov is actually costing them. If everyone had to actually write a check every quarter for what they owe, I have a feeling we'd see income tax go down in this country. At the very least, maybe we'd see people taking a more active interest in how the money is spent. Either outcome would be better for everyone.
The systems we evolved were specialized to detect dangers that could kill from an arms length away. We would probably disregard predators at 200 meters, since they were simply not a threat, even if they did trip the pattern matcher circuits. The sorts of threats that soldiers need to deal with are nothing like the sorts of threats that instinct prepares us for.
Avionics was exempt as well, but the actual exemptions are useless. All the high volume consumer applications have gone lead free, so the economic incentive isn't there for component manufacturers to produce non lead-free parts. In practice, everyone gets to follow the ipods and use lead-free parts. Makes one wonder whether the environmental gain from eliminating (relatively stable) metalic lead from landfills will be far outweighed by the flood of prematurely failed electronics.
Don't forget about getting people to quit bitching about the laptop searches at US customs. Also, in reply to GP, can't you accomplish the same thing by just building a bigger missile?
I agree, that is an awesome feature, but unfortunately one that doesn't get advertised since the non-technical public isn't so interested. The secret is to look for weights greater than about 60 or 70 pounds, and lead-acid battery chemistry. If the little leather holster comes with shoulder straps, a sturdy hip belt, and an aluminum frame, you are probably on the right track.
And, also important, the more chips you have, the smaller each individual chip is... which means any given imperfection in the die is less likely to damage a given chip.
Smaller chips == better yield, all other things being constant.
If I have on average one flaw per square inch of wafer, and one chip per square inch, then my yield is pretty close to zero. Halve the linear dimensions of the chip, and my yield just went up to 75%. Halve them again, and my yield is 94%.
Let's say my wafers are 10 square inches (or centimeters, for you ten fingered types), and cost $100 each. Now, let's say we use the first process, with 1x1 inch chips, we might need several wafers to get one chip that works, means several hundred $$ per chip. With the second process we get 40 chips per wafer, times 75% yield, equals 30 chips per wafer, or $3.33 each. Now, with the final process, we have 160 chips, at 94% yield, equals 150 working chips per wafer, or $0.66 each.
Point is, there is more at work here than simply the number of chips they can cram into an area.
People don't seem to get it... DRM has nothing to do with piracy. That's just a marketing friendly excuse.
The purpose of DRM is to make it less convenient for people to format-shift and time-shift content, thus increasing revenue from attempting to sell content multiple times.
The *IAA aren't idiots. They don't care about piracy, but they do use it as a tool to lobby for increased protection of their content. Any increase in piracy is used as an argument for increased restrictions, which in turn destroy fair use and allow for more restrictive business models.
These sorts of hacks get unprotected content on the file sharing sites, but they don't change the fact that Joe Consumer still faces an added barrier to watching his HD-DVD on his HD-iPod without buying a second copy on HD-iTunes. That barrier is more legal than technical -- there will never be a shrink wrapped software package on the shelves of Best Buy that does this for him.
I hate to say it, but for all but us nerds, these sort of hacks play right into the *PAA's hand. They lose nothing that they hadn't already lost, and they gain political leverage to impliment yet more DMCA-style legislation.
In Soviet Russia, the artists pay YOU.
You are probably right there... the Economist types are much more moderate in their view of government controls than the Libertarian party. The Libertians, however, do advocate market solutions to some problems (ie pollution). Not, however, to the extent the Economist types do. So, while they are extremist whakos, they are the only organized classically liberal extremist whackos in the US.
We still do... it's called the Libertarian party, and it's where Republicans (like me) jump ship to when they get sick of the fundies (and homeland security).
"American Idol" is not natural. I'll go with you on the rest, but I'm afraid you stepped over the line there.
You are missing an important detail... this will only apply to content created AFTER Mickey Mouse, so there is no concern about it ever entering the public domain.
Basically, US copyright law says that everything created BEFORE Mickey Mouse is Public Domain, everything created AFTER Mickey Mouse is not. They just update the law every twenty years or so to keep it current.
Don't forget to change their password so they can't call up the local guru to fix it for them.
Better yet, put up fliers and offer to fix wireless problems for a fee...
Uh...
end of story because you can now get signals over your neighbor, or...
end of story because you fried your neighbor's cat and revenge is sweet?
Does that mean that in the EULA, Microsoft is promising that the software will do whatever my admin claims it will?
Cool!
Isn't this a bit like a car company coming out with a release that their car has some serious defect, but since they took so long to find it, they now get to make a profit on the recall?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't Ford be in just a bit of trouble if they came out every five years and said "Our 1998 model vehicles have serious flaws, but have been EOLed, so please purchase a recall contract, or buy a new high quality Ford vehicle".
I can understand charging people for a new version of software, but with hotfixes, we are talking about making the software DO WHAT THEY SAID IT WOULD DO when you bought it in the first place. And since they are resorting to this strategy, obviously a large number of people felt that a new version of the software with its attendant features had nothing to offer... if that wasn't the case they wouldn't use EOL as a tool to force upgrades.
Someone needs to call MS on this -- software, after all, does not wear out... if it did it's job five years ago, it should continue to do so. In this case, the only reason that it has stopped working is that it was defective in the first place (and yes, a major security exploit is a defect in the product.)
Hmmm... wouldn't this be a direct indication that NASA has been looking in the wrong direction?