Yes, I do remember "mainframes" - I was in charge of about $3M worth of computing equipment, back in "the day", but I would guess my household computers surpass all that now. (Of course a VAX cost about $200K back then... Not a VAX III, mind you.)
Just because I once had a job that involved loading many cases of punched cards into a computer doesn't mean I didn't know it was antiquated then!:-)
(I was in the last class at a University of California school that required punch-card input. Of course, working in the computer center, I was able to use an interactive CRT workstation, then simply send my debugged program to the cardpunch... I had time to spare, and harass the poor souls who had to punch their cards manually, submit the deck, check for results, rinse lather and repeat, as it were. Heh.)
But still - I am over 40, but less than 50. Not that old. (I haven't had my slide rule out in ages!)
If half of the Earth moves relative to the other half, which set of property owners has a problem?
If it moves "a little", the people with a problem with be the ones that are poorer - as usual. By definiton the more well-to-do have the means to fix stuff (or higher a better lawyer to get the "new" property lines drawn in their favor:-)
On the other hand, if it moves "a bit", (like "end of the world as we know it") then maybe you would have been better off as a hunter gatherer, already in tune with the primative conditions that arise.
Of course, if it is "really a lot" (end of the world.) Then the point is moot.
Yeah, I guess the "automakers" are just that - automakers. Not necessarily companies from any particular country. I own a Toyota made in Kentucky, and an "English Car" made by a German company with a Brazilian engine and a Japanese transmission... A lot of GM product is made in Canada or Mexico. All car companies are "owned" by shareholders the world over.
I am reminded of those stickers you used to see on computers (Sun?)... "made in one or more of the following countries... "
That has inspired me to remember to rummage thru my Dad's shed - he has a disc very similar to that, but not quite as big, as I recall. As far as $300,000 disks, that was before my time, but I think I do remember seeing a $20,000 disk pack get crashed (200MB?). And I definately remember wondering if my insurance would cover $200,000 worth of equipment that I once delivered to a customer in my own car. Nowadays it would take a semi-truck to carry $200,000 worth of computers.
I have many a fond memory tearing apart computer "junk" in the late 70's that my dad would bring home as "scrap" from Burroughs (before they were Unisys).
120 lb CRT monitors anyone? Teletypes - WITH paper tape?. Wire memory. Core memory, that really used little ferrite cores?
That was the stuff.
With a smile on my face, and in the spirt of discussion... I beg to differ. Design and Random are not the same thing.
"Design" implies purpose. I only meant to point out that some folks are perfectly happy with the idea that stuff can happen without purpose. In my experience stuff happens, on purpose, and otherwise. To me, the suggestion of a "biological reset" is nothing more than a continuation of the random selection, more commonly known as "Evolution". (There is no such thing as "de-evolution" - it is all "survival of the fittest". If simpler organisms survive better... that IS evolution, by definition.)
Anyhow, it may appear that even lower organisms have a "purpose", which is to begat more of the same. But that begs the question of why they would want to do that - the scientific answer, of course, is the whole point, to wit; They do it because if they didn't, they wouldn't be here now.
Now, your critical judgment of your child's artistic talent IS a judgment call. While there may be some deep ingrained sense of esthetics that make some art more pleasing than others, in modern terms, Art is whatever they decide is Art. As a parent, of course you may see it as "random", but you will say it is great! (Being one of them, in this case.) In any event, it was not random, your four year old certainly tried to do something on purpose, even if it was no more than "paint this paper" (although, I am sure some random spots did appear on the floor and various items of clothing which were not intentional.)
As far as your sig, Just because it can't be explained doesn't mean it isn't true. Science fits into reality... not the other way around. - don't forget this:
Just because it is true, doesn't mean many will not believe. Science gets closer and closer to the truth of reality whether you believe or not.
Yup - my LaserJet 5L laster for over 9 years before I finally replaced it "just because". I put a bit sign on it that said "works great" when I put it in the Salvation Army pile...
"Just because" it was 4ppm and I picked up a 20ppm Konica for $50 on the new year's sales.
My HP 5L was working fine - I had replaced the pinch rollers once (they were multi-grabbing), and had to re-solder the AC socket to the circuit board once (too much wear and tear on the socket - no On/Off switch). But 9 years on one printer seems solid to me.
That said, modern HP printers seem to have WAY too much suplerfluous software now-a-days. Always asking about updates, phoning home for updates, making themself the default printer, etc...
I used to be an HP "works-for-sure" guy too... but now I will shop around. I have an HP, Konica, Oki, and a NEC printer. The HP has obnoxious software, the NEC sometimes crashes on Win2K, mostly printing from the web. I hear nice things about canon, if you need a color inkjet.
I meant to say something about the Gates foundation spending money on mundane stuff like roads, instead of/in addition to the stuff they already do.
And by "roads", I do mean literally roads, but also any other infrastructure that we westerners might overlook as "obvious". How about some more phone lines, etc.
Maybe assasinate a few warlords on the sly, while you are at it. You know, basic stuff.
But someone mentioned to me a thought expressed in some TV show or another (West Wing?), that what poor third world countries need are roads. That kind of struck me as having "the ring of truth" about it.
Rule of law and basic economic freedom seem to provide the best means out of poverty, every time it is implemented, and roads might help that effort along.
I know building the Interstate Highway system in the USA seems to have done wonders in a country that was doing well anyhow, but how about it? Aren't roads high tech enough to be sexy?
After all, how do you deliver X (medicine, water purifiers, food, laptops and WiFi set-ups) without roads?
On the other hand, the cynical side of me thinks... if you put solar powered anything that might have any other use... it will get stolen.
Yes, it was behind the counter, as I recall (about a year ago, but definately post-9/11)
I asked the clerk for a box (550 rounds, I think - the loose kind, not the boxes of 50). The clerk handed the box to me, and I said I had other shopping to do, so off I walked with it, rather than having him ring me up right there.
I live in Southern California. I think they ask you if it is for a rifle or a pistol. If you say "rifle" you have fewer follow-up questions.
I am sure I have purchased lighters before too -- although probably in bulk at Costco, so they do know who I am. I guess if anything catches on fire, I am an official suspect.
I am not sure about either of those points. While I agree you are right from a moral point of view, the law is not always the friend of reason.
The whole idea of the attractive nuisance is that if kids play in your old refrigerator (treaspassing while doing it, for example) and suffocate, it is your fault, even though you didn't intend for it to be a kid-trap. I am not saying it is right, just that the way legal cases go anymore, you could very well be liable for what your network gets used for. For the same reason you properly discard of the fridge (or disable the door) -- you should not advertise your network (and encrypt it).
ISP's are licensed and specifically given status as "common carriers". I am not sure if individuals can get "common carrier" status just because they say so.
In My Perfect World, intentions for the use of things have nothing to do with actual use thereof by others. I would be able to sell hammers, clearly labeled as "burglary tools" and not have to put a disclaimer on them that "not approved for any use your jurisdiction prohibits". Everything would be like matches - what a great product! They start fires. There are no disclaimers about using them for arson, personal injury, etc. Everthing should be like that.
In the current world, McDonalds will get sued for making people fat, even though they never intended that.
OT: Heh, maybe we need to grant all foodstuffs providers with the equivalent of "common carrier" status.
As far as liability free WiFi - maybe someone needs to start a religion that has as one of it's tennents that they must share the network... religious freedom trumps some laws anyhow.
Slashdot Mirror
Couldn't they add some Lithium too?
Simply a nuisance which many would not bother to circumvent, but by no means a strong licensing enforcement mechanism like DRM.
Searching the consitution...
Free Speech - Check.
Privacy... searching... hmmm.
<tinfoil_hat> Just wait - when a supreme court rules you don't have privacy, what other famous cases based on privacy will fall? </tinfoil_hat>
BTW - here is a reasoned argument on why there is such a right.
Please arrive at your gate 10 hours early so that our one certified laptop cavity searcher can accomodate everyone...
Trust me, 99.9999% of the folks will never follow the link if your short blather is at all close to an accurite summary.
Plastered with boilerplate warnings about unstable software, etc.
And several (an infinite loop?) click-thru agreements to hold RockStar harmless for what you are about to see...
And just hope :-) there are no pc destroying bugs present, and certainly no goatse man pop-ups!
Why don't we just put some big rockets on the dark side and push the whole thing down here were we can get at it easily?
We could land it where it came from in the first place - the location of Atlantis.
Anyhow, dropping the Moon onto the Earth should would shut up a lot of whiners.
Yes, I do remember "mainframes" - I was in charge of about $3M worth of computing equipment, back in "the day", but I would guess my household computers surpass all that now. (Of course a VAX cost about $200K back then... Not a VAX III, mind you.)
Just because I once had a job that involved loading many cases of punched cards into a computer doesn't mean I didn't know it was antiquated then! :-)
(I was in the last class at a University of California school that required punch-card input. Of course, working in the computer center, I was able to use an interactive CRT workstation, then simply send my debugged program to the cardpunch... I had time to spare, and harass the poor souls who had to punch their cards manually, submit the deck, check for results, rinse lather and repeat, as it were. Heh.)
But still - I am over 40, but less than 50. Not that old. (I haven't had my slide rule out in ages!)
This Trusted Input Device method, I call TID BITS, for short.
If I had them, well, I might give that one - it is almost funny, in a Jon Stewart kind of way.
If it moves "a little", the people with a problem with be the ones that are poorer - as usual. By definiton the more well-to-do have the means to fix stuff (or higher a better lawyer to get the "new" property lines drawn in their favor :-)
On the other hand, if it moves "a bit", (like "end of the world as we know it") then maybe you would have been better off as a hunter gatherer, already in tune with the primative conditions that arise.
Of course, if it is "really a lot" (end of the world.) Then the point is moot.
I am reminded of those stickers you used to see on computers (Sun?)... "made in one or more of the following countries... "
Putting public records online... Think of the privacy issues! Phishers and identity thieves will have a heyday!
I have many a fond memory tearing apart computer "junk" in the late 70's that my dad would bring home as "scrap" from Burroughs (before they were Unisys).
120 lb CRT monitors anyone? Teletypes - WITH paper tape?. Wire memory. Core memory, that really used little ferrite cores? That was the stuff.
"Design" implies purpose. I only meant to point out that some folks are perfectly happy with the idea that stuff can happen without purpose. In my experience stuff happens, on purpose, and otherwise. To me, the suggestion of a "biological reset" is nothing more than a continuation of the random selection, more commonly known as "Evolution". (There is no such thing as "de-evolution" - it is all "survival of the fittest". If simpler organisms survive better... that IS evolution, by definition.)
Anyhow, it may appear that even lower organisms have a "purpose", which is to begat more of the same. But that begs the question of why they would want to do that - the scientific answer, of course, is the whole point, to wit; They do it because if they didn't, they wouldn't be here now.
Now, your critical judgment of your child's artistic talent IS a judgment call. While there may be some deep ingrained sense of esthetics that make some art more pleasing than others, in modern terms, Art is whatever they decide is Art. As a parent, of course you may see it as "random", but you will say it is great! (Being one of them, in this case.) In any event, it was not random, your four year old certainly tried to do something on purpose, even if it was no more than "paint this paper" (although, I am sure some random spots did appear on the floor and various items of clothing which were not intentional.)
As far as your sig, Just because it can't be explained doesn't mean it isn't true. Science fits into reality... not the other way around. - don't forget this:
Just because it is true, doesn't mean many will not believe. Science gets closer and closer to the truth of reality whether you believe or not.
Even the summary says "Ford, GM, and Mazda"...
Maybe you meant re-randomization?
"Just because" it was 4ppm and I picked up a 20ppm Konica for $50 on the new year's sales.
My HP 5L was working fine - I had replaced the pinch rollers once (they were multi-grabbing), and had to re-solder the AC socket to the circuit board once (too much wear and tear on the socket - no On/Off switch). But 9 years on one printer seems solid to me.
That said, modern HP printers seem to have WAY too much suplerfluous software now-a-days. Always asking about updates, phoning home for updates, making themself the default printer, etc...
I used to be an HP "works-for-sure" guy too... but now I will shop around. I have an HP, Konica, Oki, and a NEC printer. The HP has obnoxious software, the NEC sometimes crashes on Win2K, mostly printing from the web. I hear nice things about canon, if you need a color inkjet.
And by "roads", I do mean literally roads, but also any other infrastructure that we westerners might overlook as "obvious". How about some more phone lines, etc.
Maybe assasinate a few warlords on the sly, while you are at it. You know, basic stuff.
Rule of law and basic economic freedom seem to provide the best means out of poverty, every time it is implemented, and roads might help that effort along.
I know building the Interstate Highway system in the USA seems to have done wonders in a country that was doing well anyhow, but how about it? Aren't roads high tech enough to be sexy?
After all, how do you deliver X (medicine, water purifiers, food, laptops and WiFi set-ups) without roads?
On the other hand, the cynical side of me thinks... if you put solar powered anything that might have any other use... it will get stolen.
Maybe you really do need "rule of law" first.
I asked the clerk for a box (550 rounds, I think - the loose kind, not the boxes of 50). The clerk handed the box to me, and I said I had other shopping to do, so off I walked with it, rather than having him ring me up right there.
I live in Southern California. I think they ask you if it is for a rifle or a pistol. If you say "rifle" you have fewer follow-up questions.
I am sure I have purchased lighters before too -- although probably in bulk at Costco, so they do know who I am. I guess if anything catches on fire, I am an official suspect.
The only time I was flagged at a "self checkout" was when I was buying bullets at Wal-Mart.
Someone came over, looked at me, muttered something about how I was obviously old enough, punched a button and let me finish.
No ID, no nothing.
Paid cash, got my change and left.
Google doesn't seem to have this conversion (yet).
BTW - Microsoft is listed as the second best brand, right behind Coca-Cola.
It doesn't matter if you like Coke or not, it doesn't matter if you like Microsoft or not, their "brand" is out there.
The whole idea of the attractive nuisance is that if kids play in your old refrigerator (treaspassing while doing it, for example) and suffocate, it is your fault, even though you didn't intend for it to be a kid-trap. I am not saying it is right, just that the way legal cases go anymore, you could very well be liable for what your network gets used for. For the same reason you properly discard of the fridge (or disable the door) -- you should not advertise your network (and encrypt it).
ISP's are licensed and specifically given status as "common carriers". I am not sure if individuals can get "common carrier" status just because they say so.
In My Perfect World, intentions for the use of things have nothing to do with actual use thereof by others. I would be able to sell hammers, clearly labeled as "burglary tools" and not have to put a disclaimer on them that "not approved for any use your jurisdiction prohibits". Everything would be like matches - what a great product! They start fires. There are no disclaimers about using them for arson, personal injury, etc. Everthing should be like that.
In the current world, McDonalds will get sued for making people fat, even though they never intended that.
OT: Heh, maybe we need to grant all foodstuffs providers with the equivalent of "common carrier" status.
As far as liability free WiFi - maybe someone needs to start a religion that has as one of it's tennents that they must share the network... religious freedom trumps some laws anyhow.