The weather beaten trail wound ahead into the dust racked
climes of the baren land which dominates large portions of the
Norgolian empire. Age worn hoof prints smothered by the sifting
sands of time shone dully against the dust splattered crust of
earth. The tireless sun cast its parching rays of incandescense
from overhead, half way through its daily revolution. Small
rodents scampered about, occupying themselves in the daily
accomplishments of their dismal lives. Dust sprayed over three
heaving mounts in blinding clouds, while they bore the burdonsome
cargoes of their struggling overseers.
"Prepare to embrace your creators in the stygian haunts of
hell, barbarian", gasped the first soldier.
"Only after you have kissed the fleeting stead of death,
wretch!" returned Grignr.
Or what if the system malfunctions and your SUV full of NUNS and PARAPLEGIC CHILDREN cuts out just as you're in the middle of a LEVEL CROSSING and a TRAIN is coming?????
I went to a talk a while ago about automatic music clustering. Basically, the researchers got a bunch of MIDIs — some classical, some pop, some jazz — cleaned them up a bit, and then used bzip2 to test them for similarity:
From memory, to test two pieces A and B, you concatenate the files to produce AA, AB, BA, and BB. Then use bzip2 to compress each concatenation. We expect AA and BB to compress well (because there are obviously big areas of similarity). If AB and BA also compress fairly well, then A and B are "close". Otherwise, they aren't. I forget what exact computation was used, but it was pretty simple.
I thought about doing that with mp3 — take two uncompressed audio files, join them together, compress with lame — but it didn't work; I think this is because mp3 is too local and unable to take advantage of bigger structures in the audio (which is obviously a design goal because you need to be able to decode on the fly).
Engineers back in the day worried that database technology wouldn't be able to handle millions of domains all hanging off.com. So the plan was to use single character subdomains to split it up: rather than google.com and microsoft.com, we would only have google.g.com and microsoft.m.com. Instead of one big database, we could have 26 smaller ones.
But they've decided that that's not going to be necessary any more, so the single-character domains can be released to the hoards...
It's a bit confusing, but as I understand things, this is the story: Eolas were awarded big damages against Microsoft based on their browser plugin patent. This patent was overturned in March 2004, which means Microsoft no longer had to pay those damages. Micosoft's appeal to SCOTUS was against those damages that it doesn't have to pay any more. So, I imagine the SCOTUS were like "WTF?" when they declined to hear the case.
Microsoft's not totally insane, though, because the patent has been reinstated, so MS and Eolas will be going back to court, and MS might lose again and have to pay money again. So they were looking for a precedent to keep a lid on those damages which they might get.
When PJ made _Heavenly Creatures_, he received critical acclaim.
He said that, in a way, he was annoyed about that --- it meant that he couldn't just make any old movie any more, because suddenly there was all this pressure on him to do something with artistic merit and stuff.
So, I don't think he's too concerned about his career...
There is some truth to that --- however, a good calculator, that fits in your hand, and has all the calculator functions available as keypresses, can still be more efficient than your laptop+CAS..
We criticize terrorists for choosing violence over speech to make their point. Then we take away their ability to speak.
As the Americans learned so painfully in Earth's final century, free flow of information is the only safeguard against tyranny. The once-chained people whose leaders at last lose their grip on information flow will soon burst with freedom and vitality, but the free nation gradually constricting its grip on public discourse has begun its rapid slide into despotism. Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master.
-- Commissioner Pravin Lal, "U.N. Declaration of Rights"
Instead of being able to create a character (or party), I'm forced to deal with a pre-made character and run him (or rarely, her) through a pre-set adventure.
Pre-made characters mean that the pre-made adventure can have a lot of depth and detail. That's hard to do with generic characters. Maybe you can supply your own character interaction... but, if you can do that, do you need the computer game at all?
I recommend pen+paper RPGs if you want to create your own character:-)
Power the whole Earth cleanly... Including the power for all the artificial lamps we'll need to make plants grow, now that we're blocking out the sun? And all the heating we'll need 'cause there's still plenty of cold places on Earth, and they'll only be colder if we implement permanent sunblock...
The article says "35% of music consumers". Presumably, this means "all people who buy CDs" (or would buy CDs, if they weren't busy stealing the bread out of hungry record executive children's mouths).
This allows for overlap between the two groups; in fact, I'm guessing that the vast majority of online-music-buyers have also experimented with downloading.
If there is complete overlap, it would mean that 60% of music consumers have never downloaded music from the 'net. It would also mean that only 12.5% of illegal downloaders have not bought from iTunes or similar...
It would be interesting to see the actual numbers, and what questions they asked:-/
Yes, you are responsible to check on a store's security policy to the best of your ability. Obviously they are not going to give you their router config to look through for mistakes or give you a glimpse at their overall security infrastructure, but you do hold final responsibility.
Reminds me of a Nasreddin story...
The Hodja's donkey was stolen. But, instead of consoling him, his neighbours were blaming him, saying:
"You should have locked the shed."
"Didn't you hear any noises?"
"You should have tied the donkey securely."
The Hodja listened patiently for a while, before saying,
"Don't you think the thief deserves some blame as well?"
This is nothing to do with rail guns. It's just a silly inflamatory headline (or maybe railguns are cool 'cause they're in Quake).
This is all about generating massive shockwaves to examine the properties of matter in extreme conditions (without having to heat it up to enormous temperatures).
True! All you do is go into the wormhole and time-travel to the instant when the wormhole still exists. Then you go ino the w0rmhole and time-travel to the instaant when the wormhole still exists. Then yu ogo ino the w0rmhole nand time-travel to the intaant wh3n the wormhole siltl exists. thEn yu ogo ino $he w0rm99ole nand tim\travel o eh intaant wh3n the ehmmhole siltl exist, ThEn yu o9o ++o $e w0r;99o\x00e/rd 7im\t.,vel o eh intnt wh3n the ehmhoe s*ltl e#it, TEn u o +o e r;9oe/d 7\t.vel o e int wn t mho stl it, T. .... . .... .
Slashdot Mirror
The weather beaten trail wound ahead into the dust racked climes of the baren land which dominates large portions of the Norgolian empire. Age worn hoof prints smothered by the sifting sands of time shone dully against the dust splattered crust of earth. The tireless sun cast its parching rays of incandescense from overhead, half way through its daily revolution. Small rodents scampered about, occupying themselves in the daily accomplishments of their dismal lives. Dust sprayed over three heaving mounts in blinding clouds, while they bore the burdonsome cargoes of their struggling overseers.
"Prepare to embrace your creators in the stygian haunts of hell, barbarian", gasped the first soldier.
"Only after you have kissed the fleeting stead of death, wretch!" returned Grignr.
...but you're not sticking your name to it, so who really cares?
What the article doesn't mention is that these arcade machines are dispensed from vending machines...
Or what if the system malfunctions and your SUV full of NUNS and PARAPLEGIC CHILDREN cuts out just as you're in the middle of a LEVEL CROSSING and a TRAIN is coming?????
THINK THINGS THROUGH, PEOPLE!!!!!
I went to a talk a while ago about automatic music clustering. Basically, the researchers got a bunch of MIDIs — some classical, some pop, some jazz — cleaned them up a bit, and then used bzip2 to test them for similarity:
From memory, to test two pieces A and B, you concatenate the files to produce AA, AB, BA, and BB. Then use bzip2 to compress each concatenation. We expect AA and BB to compress well (because there are obviously big areas of similarity). If AB and BA also compress fairly well, then A and B are "close". Otherwise, they aren't. I forget what exact computation was used, but it was pretty simple.
Here's an arciel I found on the topic: http://www.ercim.org/publication/Ercim_News/enw54/ vitanyi.html.
I thought about doing that with mp3 — take two uncompressed audio files, join them together, compress with lame — but it didn't work; I think this is because mp3 is too local and unable to take advantage of bigger structures in the audio (which is obviously a design goal because you need to be able to decode on the fly).
Interesting stuff, though..
It was in TFA, although the wording was unclear.
Engineers back in the day worried that database technology wouldn't be able to handle millions of domains all hanging off .com. So the plan was to use single character subdomains to split it up: rather than google.com and microsoft.com, we would only have google.g.com and microsoft.m.com. Instead of one big database, we could have 26 smaller ones.
But they've decided that that's not going to be necessary any more, so the single-character domains can be released to the hoards...
Yeah, that's what I was thinking — "Hey, dude, you missed a chance for some self promotion!"
I did stumble across this guy recently, though. Although I haven't had the time to try any of his games yet...
I'm sure we can lend them some expertise — NZ's first geothermal plant was commissioned in the '50s...
(apparently, we get 18% of our primary energy from geothermal sources)
Ars has better coverage.
It's a bit confusing, but as I understand things, this is the story: Eolas were awarded big damages against Microsoft based on their browser plugin patent. This patent was overturned in March 2004, which means Microsoft no longer had to pay those damages. Micosoft's appeal to SCOTUS was against those damages that it doesn't have to pay any more. So, I imagine the SCOTUS were like "WTF?" when they declined to hear the case.
Microsoft's not totally insane, though, because the patent has been reinstated, so MS and Eolas will be going back to court, and MS might lose again and have to pay money again. So they were looking for a precedent to keep a lid on those damages which they might get.
Is smacking kids illegal in California?
When PJ made _Heavenly Creatures_, he received critical acclaim.
He said that, in a way, he was annoyed about that --- it meant that he couldn't just make any old movie any more, because suddenly there was all this pressure on him to do something with artistic merit and stuff.
So, I don't think he's too concerned about his career...
(well, those millions from LotR will also help)
You could always offset your higher fuel prices by reading a book instead :-)
The asr faq traces it to afu. Google has afu posts mentioning it going back to 1997..
There is some truth to that --- however, a good calculator, that fits in your hand, and has all the calculator functions available as keypresses, can still be more efficient than your laptop+CAS..
Yeah, like that _Art of War_ book ... Man, that guy could have used a decent editor.
Instead of being able to create a character (or party), I'm forced to deal with a pre-made character and run him (or rarely, her) through a pre-set adventure.
Pre-made characters mean that the pre-made adventure can have a lot of depth and detail. That's hard to do with generic characters. Maybe you can supply your own character interaction ... but, if you can do that, do you need the computer game at all?
I recommend pen+paper RPGs if you want to create your own character :-)
Power the whole Earth cleanly ... Including the power for all the artificial lamps we'll need to make plants grow, now that we're blocking out the sun? And all the heating we'll need 'cause there's still plenty of cold places on Earth, and they'll only be colder if we implement permanent sunblock...
They say that a magic vomit pump could be useful for gourmands...
The article says "35% of music consumers". Presumably, this means "all people who buy CDs" (or would buy CDs, if they weren't busy stealing the bread out of hungry record executive children's mouths).
This allows for overlap between the two groups; in fact, I'm guessing that the vast majority of online-music-buyers have also experimented with downloading.
If there is complete overlap, it would mean that 60% of music consumers have never downloaded music from the 'net. It would also mean that only 12.5% of illegal downloaders have not bought from iTunes or similar...
It would be interesting to see the actual numbers, and what questions they asked :-/
So that's what Xenu got so riled up about!
Yes, you are responsible to check on a store's security policy to the best of your ability. Obviously they are not going to give you their router config to look through for mistakes or give you a glimpse at their overall security infrastructure, but you do hold final responsibility.
Reminds me of a Nasreddin story ...
This is nothing to do with rail guns. It's just a silly inflamatory headline (or maybe railguns are cool 'cause they're in Quake).
This is all about generating massive shockwaves to examine the properties of matter in extreme conditions (without having to heat it up to enormous temperatures).
True! All you do is go into the wormhole and time-travel to the instant when the wormhole still exists. Then you go ino the w0rmhole and time-travel to the instaant when the wormhole still exists. Then yu ogo ino the w0rmhole nand time-travel to the intaant wh3n the wormhole siltl exists. thEn yu ogo ino $he w0rm99ole nand tim\travel o eh intaant wh3n the ehmmhole siltl exist, ThEn yu o9o ++o $e w0r;99o\x00e /rd 7im\t.,vel o eh intnt wh3n the ehmhoe s*ltl e#it, TEn u o +o e r;9oe /d 7\t.vel o e int wn t mho stl it, T. . ... . . ... .
Futurologist is a cool title. I wish I'd invented it myself. Looking at any prediction anyone makes upon the future that far out is, well, ludicrous.
My favourite concept of futurology is from Stanislaw Lem (in _The Futurological Congress_, I think).
The idea is that any new invention needs a name. Furthermore, that name is probably going to be based on existing words in some fashion.
Thus, it is possible to predict future developments by examining the current state of language and considering what new words could be formed...