Everyone, not just police officers, should be able to use it to track people.
Okay, but I don't want just anyone to know who they're tracking, especially telemarketers. That is to say, I'm fine with what you suggest as long as the system doesn't provide personally identifiable information to anyone but law enforcement.
Every time I see the word "assurance" in contexts such as "Microsoft Software Assurance," I think of Monty Python's Crimson Permanent Assurance...
It's fun to charter an accountant
And sail the wide accountancy,
To find, explore the funds offshore
And skirt the shoals of bankruptcy!
It can be manly in insurance.
We'll up your premium semi-annually.
It's all tax deductible.
We're fairly incorruptible,
We're sailing on the wide accountancy!!
And so, they sailed off into the ledgers of history, one by one, the financial capitals of the world crumbling under the might of their business acumen,... or so it would have been... if certain modern theories concerning the shape of the world had not proved to be... disastrously wrong.
Unfortunately I have a very old DVD player that will only play VCD's.
I think you got robbed.;-)
Seriously, -R is the most compatible for current DVD players and +RW is the least (excepting, of course, DVD-RAM). But your best bet is to visit vcdhelp and see what your DVD player (and those of your family and friends) supports.
That web site also has a ton of tutorials on the authoring and burning process.
Blackholes slowly evaporate over time, due to the Hawking Effect. As a hole loses mass, the effect goes faster. The amount of mass used in these experiments will result in a hole that evaporates in a tiny fraction of a second. In that short a span, there is not enough time to pull in enough mass to stop the evaporation.
Couldn't we just prop the sucker open? I got a toothpick.
They'll need to choose a material for the transistors that has the index of refraction as everything else in the display, otherwise it will be tough to see through (like frosted glass).
It's the whole reason the Predator (in the movie with the same name) wasn't completely invisible. Those pesky physics always spoil a good time!
All we need is a nice perl script to suck x bytes of bandwidth from a given IP address. It will attempt to do this with pings, recursive http or ftp, or whatever services it can find. (Real maliciousness such as Pings of Death is unnecessary.)
So Every time a mail server receives a suspected spam, it would fork() off this script against the server that sent the spam. With enough receiving servers configured to do the same, *poof*! The offending mail server is, almost instantaneously, effectively taken off the Net.
I remember a Bill Cosby skit about this subject. It went something like this:
God: "I want you to build a quark."
Noah: "Right... what's a quark?"
God: " Make it 300 qubits by 80 qubits by 40 qubits."
Noah: "Right... what's a qubit?"
How in the world are they supposed to expect the end user to secure the box they leased from the phone company and are told not to touch?
So let me get this straight. You're supposed to administer your own DSL modem... but if you administer your own cable modem, you run the risk of the police busting down your door. Do I have it right?
Please don't promote blocking port 25, whatever happens. That would be very annoying.
Agreed, in regard to cable modems and DSL. If you have a cable modem and you use it to send spam, you're just plain stupid. Once your cable provider gets ear of it, *poof*! No more cable modem for you!
I'd wager that most spam originates from dialup ("throwaway") accounts and T-1 (or T-3, etc.) accounts (where there are fewer Terms of Service). I don't think we have much to fear from DSL and cable modem owners.
AFAIK, the FCC's jurisdiction is over the airwaves. Why do they have to approve anything dealing with cable?
The second 'C' is for 'Communications.' For example, telephone service, which is over cable. See the FCC's Web Site to see what their jurisdiction is over.
Does anyone see these kinds of suits scary, and threatening to our free speech that we try ever so hard to protect? When you limit peoples communications methods - and spam can be very broad, it limits our speech.
This is just a private lawsuit. It's not going to directly result in any new legislation. So there's nothing to be worried about.
The problem with spammers is that they stifle the free exchange of speech. The more spam you get, the less likely you are to read legitimate e-mail, especially advertisements.
Another problem is that they tend not to include information that can be used to identify themselves. Why do I have to get a court order to force the spammer's ISP to give me their information in order to sue them? There's nothing free about that. A spammer who complains that legislation prohibiting spamming is a violation of freedom of speech but at the same time never gives his real name or street address has no "free speech" leg to stand on. Free speech for whom?
And remember that commercial speech isn't always guaranteed, even under the U.S. Constitution.
how about we know everything the government does, then i'll tell them everything i do. sound fair?
I'd also like the home telephone numbers of telemarketers who call me at home. That's also fair.
Actually, the Freedom of Information Act forces the government to reveal any information requested. Particularly sensitive information is exempt, of course. But I'm with you on that whole mutual information thing.
Is this a robot? Or is this a human surgeon performing surgery with a very sophisticated set of tools?
From the topic description:
...if anything goes wrong with the robot, the human surgeons can jump right in and pick up where the robot has stopped...
From the CNN article:
...totally robotic operation...
These imply the human surgeons can just sit and watch while the robot goes about its work, but Da Vinci's web site says otherwise. I don't think there's any artificial intelligence involved, but I see where the confusion lies.
I'm really not too excited about ultra-tiny storage formats. A CD is about the right size to keep track of, a floppy in a hardcase is still OK. But...CompactFlash cards? Memory Stick? USB pendrives? Enough people lose their keys, socks, and wedding rings.
How about a subcutaneous solution? I've found limbs to be much more difficult to lose than car keys.
Re:Change their minds?
on
Film Gimp
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
A-ko: Having Linux and open source as a crucial part of studio operations may help executives rethink their corporate position on open source and Linux issues
B-ko: Not likely. They're in the movie business to make money, anything their customers use for free is a threat, anything they use for free is more money.
This "they" you refer to are made up of two groups of people: those making movies, and those collecting money for it. (Well, there's a certain amount of overlap.)
The people using Linux are the same who are making movies (you know, the geeks) and usually they get paid a fixed amount. In other words, they don't get a percentage of the profits. They make movies for the sake of making movies. (Oh, and also to pay the bills.) Linux is great for them, they don't see a threat from it.
The people making the real money off of movies, in particular those who get a cut of the profits - they could see Linux as a threat because of what it can do to them financially.
"...[he] tells Congress that they can best help him by going back to their constituents and finding out where the public wants to draw the line between liberty and safety."
Why choose between liberty and safety? I agree with Franklin, who said the person willing to trade liberty for security deserves neither.
Anonymity would make a better trade. It was never guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution in the first place.
Said by BoBaBrain: "As a matter of interest, are Google under any legal obligation to provide an 'fair' search?"
Probably not. As a matter of fact, according to Google's own Terms of Service:
"You may not use the Google Search Services to sell a product or service, or to increase traffic to your Web site for commercial reasons, such as advertising sales."
...which is exactly what Search King is trying to do for themselves and their customers. Needless to say,the case should be thrown out.
Probably coded to sit idle if it's domain is symantec.com, etc.
Maybe the virus is still a work in progress. Software like this tends to be more "geographically sensitive." You know, it works on this machine here but it doesn't work on that one over there.
What happens when a person listening has their cell phone go off, but it is set to vibrate?
Hey, they could use vibrate mode for the bass! ^o^
They should make a mobile phone with both a speaker and a transducer, one you could download.wav files to. If you want vibrate mode, use a.wav with nothing but low-frequency noise. If you want realistic-sounding bell tones, that would work, too.
If DRM means I'll be able to watch first-run movies on my entertainment center in the peace and comfort of my own home (or my future friend with his Plasma or front projection display and Martin Logan speakers), then it doesn't sound like such a bad thing. Plus, my popcorn's better than the movie theater's.
On the other hand, I don't want DRM on my main PC. I should be allowed to archive all my CD's to mp3 (and later, DVD to mpeg-4) on the biggest hard drive I can find and share it all with every other computer in the house. This is perfectly legal under the "personal use" clause of the license agreements, but if DRM had its way even this wouldn't be allowed.
I can see a case for both sides of the issue. I'd like to see what DRM can do for me, but the possibility that it can take away my rights could make Digital "Rights" Management less than worthless.
Pluto, the Rogue Planet
on
Life on Pluto?
·
· Score: 1, Interesting
Generally it's the size of the planet, not the planet's distance from the sun, that dictates whether it will contain water, whether liquid or ice. The more massive planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune) were able to trap water molecules from evaporating out into the depths of space by the force of gravity, while the smaller planets and moons could not hold onto their water.
Another factor that would prevent the existence of flowing water on planets such as Pluto is also related to the size of the planet. All the planets that were formed at the birth of the solar system have lost proportional amounts of heat since that time. The larger planets took longer to lose their heat than the smaller planets. This would seem to imply that Pluto should be frozen down to the core.
However, Pluto, with its highly unusual orbit, may not have been formed at the same time as the rest of the solar system. Proof of any H2O at all on Pluto, whether ice or liquid water, could help confirm this theory - or vice-versa.
The reason why wireless content is so good in Japan is can be traced back to the local telephone monopoly. Using an ordinary landline, calls to your next-door neighbor cost by the minute, so you can imagine the cost of dialup Internet access.
Then the cellular companies arrived and brought services that are competitively priced and much more convenient. They didn't need a "killer app" to jump-start wireless Internet usage like what's needed in the US because they already had demand. All that was left was to figure out how to capitalize on the market even more. And content and services geared toward Internet cell phones was born.
Slashdot Mirror
...would make all postal codes obsolete. Plus they're inevitable. "When I was a kid we had to write the whole address on the envelope!"
So these interim "universal alphanumeric postal codes" are just a waste of money. If we're going to spend the money anyway, let's do it right.
Okay, but I don't want just anyone to know who they're tracking, especially telemarketers. That is to say, I'm fine with what you suggest as long as the system doesn't provide personally identifiable information to anyone but law enforcement.
Every time I see the word "assurance" in contexts such as "Microsoft Software Assurance," I think of Monty Python's Crimson Permanent Assurance...
And so, they sailed off into the ledgers of history, one by one, the financial capitals of the world crumbling under the might of their business acumen,... or so it would have been... if certain modern theories concerning the shape of the world had not proved to be... disastrously wrong.
It's strangely fitting.
I think you got robbed. ;-)
Seriously, -R is the most compatible for current DVD players and +RW is the least (excepting, of course, DVD-RAM). But your best bet is to visit vcdhelp and see what your DVD player (and those of your family and friends) supports.
That web site also has a ton of tutorials on the authoring and burning process.
Couldn't we just prop the sucker open? I got a toothpick.
They'll need to choose a material for the transistors that has the index of refraction as everything else in the display, otherwise it will be tough to see through (like frosted glass).
It's the whole reason the Predator (in the movie with the same name) wasn't completely invisible. Those pesky physics always spoil a good time!
All we need is a nice perl script to suck x bytes of bandwidth from a given IP address. It will attempt to do this with pings, recursive http or ftp, or whatever services it can find. (Real maliciousness such as Pings of Death is unnecessary.)
So Every time a mail server receives a suspected spam, it would fork() off this script against the server that sent the spam. With enough receiving servers configured to do the same, *poof*! The offending mail server is, almost instantaneously, effectively taken off the Net.
I remember a Bill Cosby skit about this subject. It went something like this:
God: "I want you to build a quark."
Noah: "Right... what's a quark?"
God: " Make it 300 qubits by 80 qubits by 40 qubits."
Noah: "Right... what's a qubit?"
So let me get this straight. You're supposed to administer your own DSL modem ... but if you administer your own cable modem, you run the risk of the police busting down your door. Do I have it right?
What a confusing world we live in.
I'd wager that most spam originates from dialup ("throwaway") accounts and T-1 (or T-3, etc.) accounts (where there are fewer Terms of Service). I don't think we have much to fear from DSL and cable modem owners.
The second 'C' is for 'Communications.' For example, telephone service, which is over cable. See the FCC's Web Site to see what their jurisdiction is over.
I'd also like the home telephone numbers of telemarketers who call me at home. That's also fair.
Actually, the Freedom of Information Act forces the government to reveal any information requested. Particularly sensitive information is exempt, of course. But I'm with you on that whole mutual information thing.
Is this a robot? Or is this a human surgeon performing surgery with a very sophisticated set of tools?
From the topic description: From the CNN article:These imply the human surgeons can just sit and watch while the robot goes about its work, but Da Vinci's web site says otherwise. I don't think there's any artificial intelligence involved, but I see where the confusion lies.
I'm really not too excited about ultra-tiny storage formats. A CD is about the right size to keep track of, a floppy in a hardcase is still OK. But...CompactFlash cards? Memory Stick? USB pendrives? Enough people lose their keys, socks, and wedding rings.
How about a subcutaneous solution? I've found limbs to be much more difficult to lose than car keys.
A-ko: Having Linux and open source as a crucial part of studio operations may help executives rethink their corporate position on open source and Linux issues
B-ko: Not likely. They're in the movie business to make money, anything their customers use for free is a threat, anything they use for free is more money.
This "they" you refer to are made up of two groups of people: those making movies, and those collecting money for it. (Well, there's a certain amount of overlap.)
The people using Linux are the same who are making movies (you know, the geeks) and usually they get paid a fixed amount. In other words, they don't get a percentage of the profits. They make movies for the sake of making movies. (Oh, and also to pay the bills.) Linux is great for them, they don't see a threat from it.
The people making the real money off of movies, in particular those who get a cut of the profits - they could see Linux as a threat because of what it can do to them financially.
Why choose between liberty and safety? I agree with Franklin, who said the person willing to trade liberty for security deserves neither.
Anonymity would make a better trade. It was never guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution in the first place.
"As a matter of interest, are Google under any legal obligation to provide an 'fair' search?"
Probably not. As a matter of fact, according to Google's own Terms of Service:
"You may not use the Google Search Services to sell a product or service, or to increase traffic to your Web site for commercial reasons, such as advertising sales."
Probably coded to sit idle if it's domain is symantec.com, etc.
Maybe the virus is still a work in progress. Software like this tends to be more "geographically sensitive." You know, it works on this machine here but it doesn't work on that one over there.
What happens when a person listening has their cell phone go off, but it is set to vibrate?
Hey, they could use vibrate mode for the bass! ^o^
They should make a mobile phone with both a speaker and a transducer, one you could download .wav files to. If you want vibrate mode, use a .wav with nothing but low-frequency noise. If you want realistic-sounding bell tones, that would work, too.
How about it, Nokia?
If DRM means I'll be able to watch first-run movies on my entertainment center in the peace and comfort of my own home (or my future friend with his Plasma or front projection display and Martin Logan speakers), then it doesn't sound like such a bad thing. Plus, my popcorn's better than the movie theater's.
On the other hand, I don't want DRM on my main PC. I should be allowed to archive all my CD's to mp3 (and later, DVD to mpeg-4) on the biggest hard drive I can find and share it all with every other computer in the house. This is perfectly legal under the "personal use" clause of the license agreements, but if DRM had its way even this wouldn't be allowed.
I can see a case for both sides of the issue. I'd like to see what DRM can do for me, but the possibility that it can take away my rights could make Digital "Rights" Management less than worthless.
Generally it's the size of the planet, not the planet's distance from the sun, that dictates whether it will contain water, whether liquid or ice. The more massive planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune) were able to trap water molecules from evaporating out into the depths of space by the force of gravity, while the smaller planets and moons could not hold onto their water.
Another factor that would prevent the existence of flowing water on planets such as Pluto is also related to the size of the planet. All the planets that were formed at the birth of the solar system have lost proportional amounts of heat since that time. The larger planets took longer to lose their heat than the smaller planets. This would seem to imply that Pluto should be frozen down to the core.
However, Pluto, with its highly unusual orbit, may not have been formed at the same time as the rest of the solar system. Proof of any H2O at all on Pluto, whether ice or liquid water, could help confirm this theory - or vice-versa.
The reason why wireless content is so good in Japan is can be traced back to the local telephone monopoly. Using an ordinary landline, calls to your next-door neighbor cost by the minute, so you can imagine the cost of dialup Internet access.
Then the cellular companies arrived and brought services that are competitively priced and much more convenient. They didn't need a "killer app" to jump-start wireless Internet usage like what's needed in the US because they already had demand. All that was left was to figure out how to capitalize on the market even more. And content and services geared toward Internet cell phones was born.