Legend: A student arrives late to math class and finds two problems written on the chalkboard. Assuming they're homework problems, he jots them down in his notebook and works on the equations over the next few days before turning his solutions in to the instructor. Several weeks later, the professor turns up at the student's door with the student's work written up for publication. The two problems were not a homework assignment; they were problems previously thought to be unsolvable which the instructor had used as examples in his lecture that day.
Origins: This
has to be one of the ultimate academic wish-fulfillment fantasies: a student not only proves himself the smartest one in his class, but also bests his professor and every other scholar in his field of study.
As far as we know, this legend is based upon a true incident. (That is, a version of this legend that antedates a known true incident has not yet been discovered). George B. Dantzig, then a graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley, arrived late for a statistics class one day and found two problems written on the board. Not knowing they were examples of "unsolvable" statistics problems, he solved them as a homework assignment. Dantzig, who later became a staff mathematician at Stanford University, recounted his solving two "unsolvable" problems in a 1986 interview for College Mathematics Journal, and his solutions to the two problems can be found in the journal articles listed in the Sources section below.
That explains the commerical that was just on:
on
Recycling TV Ads
·
· Score: 3, Funny
Want.
Desire.
Obsession.
From Calvin-Klein^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^HBob's Discount Perfumatorium
They're actually proud of this? That they went so many years without complying to HTML standards? It is obvious that Slashdot was just planning to break the HTML standard to force everyone to use Slashdot's "integrated" browser, Mozilla.
This isn't the first time this has happened. Remember when BBS's became popular, and Slashdot "integrated" one into their site to kill any competition? Or all the times that Slashdot has brought down "competing" sites by linking to them, thereby safeguarding their website monopoly?
It's a shame that the DoJ let them off for this....
Abstract: This patent shall cover the act of patenting an idea, concept or plan for the purposes of eliminating competition, stopping another party from pursuing an idea which I find threatening, or creating a method of suing other people. The act of patenting an obvious or previously-invented idea is also covered by this patent.
GPS + small network
Fire truck gets tracked by traffic computer, lights along route change as needed.
Of course, I'm sure that city planners would manage to screw this up (using an unencrypted WiFi connection on emergency vehicles, turning your local wardriver into Mercurius, God of Traffic). Still it sounds smarter than a laser with thirty seconds of warning. (San Diego drivers know how long people will continue pushing through an intersection for.)
[Apple's music store]... is a drawback for Windows users, who expect choice in music services, choice in devices, and choice in music from a wide-variety of music services to burn to a CD or put on a portable device.
Paraphrase that: "Consumers want the opposite of Microsoft."
"Due to improved techniques the elite will have greater control over the masses; and because human work will no longer be necessary the masses will be superfluous, a useless burden on the system. If the elite is ruthless the may simply decide to exterminate the mass of humanity. If they are humane they may use propaganda or other psychological or biological techniques to reduce the birth rate until the mass of humanity becomes extinct, leaving the world to the elite. Or, if the elite consist of soft-hearted liberals, they may decide to play the role of good shepherds to the rest of the human race. They will see to it that everyone's physical needs are satisfied, that all children are raised under psychologically hygienic conditions, that everyone has a wholesome hobby to keep him busy, and that anyone who may become dissatisfied undergoes "treatment" to cure his "problem." Of course, life will be so purposeless that people will have to be biologically or psychologically engineered either to remove their need for the power process or to make them "sublimate" their drive for power into some harmless hobby. These engineered human beings may be happy in such a society, but they most certainly will not be free. They will have been reduced to the status of domestic animals."
--Ted Kaczynski
Is that what you're talking about? Not to imply that your point isn't valid; your post simply reminded me of this.
By using this voucher, you ackowledge that Microsoft Corporation is innocent of any and all wrongdoing for any crimes it has commited, is committing, or will commit in the future. You agree to pay Microsoft corporation a sum of one and one-half times the value of the voucher you have received. You agree that you will not install or use Linux on any computer you may use in any function.
You agree to stop making stupid Clippy jokes. You agree to stop complaining about our upgrade cycle. You agree to buy the latest version of Windows whenever it is released.
You agree that, notwithstanding the use of the term "buy," you cannot own Windows. You agree that Windows owns j00, notwithstanding any stupid "in Soviet Russia..." jokes.
Them: Can I interest you in [insert service I already have] for your telephone? Me: I'm sorry, I don't own a phone. Them (usually): Oh, I'm sorry. Them (usually, as I hang up): Hey, wait a minute!
The doubt is whether or not they're suffering from it. Case in point, the days of Naspter. Four major events occured in those years:
1) Price of an album increased from $12 to $15-20.
2) Boy bands!
3) File sharing becomes commonplace.
4) Mmm... Internet bubble make economy artificially good.
5) Total number of albums sold increases.
Simple economics states that increasing the price of a product should decrease the total number of units sold-- not increase it. That means that file-sharing, the economy or boy bands caused the increase. Since the growth witnessed extended beyond sales of boy bands and Brittany (and in fact beyond the entire genre of pop), we are limited to the economy and file-sharing. Since the downturn started well after the economy began to slide, we are left with one viable candidate for the increased sales and revenues:
Say the dirty word: FILE-SHARING!
It's called "publicity." I didn't buy more music because music was getting better or cheaper; I bought more because I had an easier time finding bands that I actually liked. It's a heck of a lot easier to part with a twenty if I know I'm getting my money's worth.
The record industry has seen CD sales slump for three years, a decline it blames on online file-sharing sites where music can be traded freely and sometimes before it is even released.
The New York times just says, "A decline caused by online file-sharing sites...." The LA Times does the same. CNN is owned by AOL/Time-Warner, and obviously just states it as though it's a credible fact. NBC/ABC/CBS ignore the issue, and follow CNN's lead when they don't. Fox... well, Fox will be Fox.
And here Reuters is at least insinuating that a doubt may exist. What's that Eric Blair/George Orwell (real name/pen name) quote about times of lies and revolutionary truths?
Re-post with the proper fomratting this time. Sorry--forgot to check that little "HTML Formatted" thing which was hidden right next to the post button.
I actually found something about the Cacophany Society from whilst researching Chuck Palahniuk, author of Fight Club. (Don't ask, it's an Ingrish Lit thing.)
Straight from the horse's mouth:
There's usually one host city that different chapters from around the world go to for one
weekend, usually about two weeks before Christmas. Everybody arrives dressed as Santa Claus,
using the name "Santa Claus," and the host city usually has two to three days of continuous
events. People drink and party and sing, and disrupt big benefit parties, and are basically public
nuisances. But the fact that there's 400 of them all in red makes them this stunning sort of moving
artwork. They call it "The Red Tide." It's really beautiful. When I did it in '96, at one point it was all
these Santas against this SWAT team of cops, because the Santas wanted to get into a shopping
center that was private property. It was so beautiful to see all these blue policemen juxtaposed
with all these red Santas, and all these crying kids that were like, "Why are you beating up on
Santa?" This year, they're talking about Tijuana as the host city, but no one wants to get busted in
Tijuana.
I actually found something about the Cacophany Society from whilst researching Chuck Palahniuk, author of Fight Club. (Don't ask, it's an Ingrish Lit thing.)
Straight from the horse's mouth:
>>There's usually one host city that different chapters from around the world go to for one
>>weekend, usually about two weeks before Christmas. Everybody arrives dressed as Santa Claus,
>>using the name "Santa Claus," and the host city usually has two to three days of continuous
>>events. People drink and party and sing, and disrupt big benefit parties, and are basically public
>>nuisances. But the fact that there's 400 of them all in red makes them this stunning sort of moving
>>artwork. They call it "The Red Tide." It's really beautiful. When I did it in '96, at one point it was all
>>these Santas against this SWAT team of cops, because the Santas wanted to get into a shopping
>>center that was private property. It was so beautiful to see all these blue policemen juxtaposed
>>with all these red Santas, and all these crying kids that were like, "Why are you beating up on
>>Santa?" This year, they're talking about Tijuana as the host city, but no one wants to get busted in
>>Tijuana.
Slashdot Mirror
Stuff that Matters? No.
As cool as it is, these stories lost relevance when IBM put Linux on a wristwatch.
Click.
Legend: A student arrives late to math class and finds two problems written on the chalkboard. Assuming they're homework problems, he jots them down in his notebook and works on the equations over the next few days before turning his solutions in to the instructor. Several weeks later, the professor turns up at the student's door with the student's work written up for publication. The two problems were not a homework assignment; they were problems previously thought to be unsolvable which the instructor had used as examples in his lecture that day.
Origins: This has to be one of the ultimate academic wish-fulfillment fantasies: a student not only proves himself the smartest one in his class, but also bests his professor and every other scholar in his field of study.
As far as we know, this legend is based upon a true incident. (That is, a version of this legend that antedates a known true incident has not yet been discovered). George B. Dantzig, then a graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley, arrived late for a statistics class one day and found two problems written on the board. Not knowing they were examples of "unsolvable" statistics problems, he solved them as a homework assignment. Dantzig, who later became a staff mathematician at Stanford University, recounted his solving two "unsolvable" problems in a 1986 interview for College Mathematics Journal, and his solutions to the two problems can be found in the journal articles listed in the Sources section below.
Want.
Desire.
Obsession.
From Calvin-Klein^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^HBob's Discount Perfumatorium
They're actually proud of this? That they went so many years without complying to HTML standards? It is obvious that Slashdot was just planning to break the HTML standard to force everyone to use Slashdot's "integrated" browser, Mozilla.
This isn't the first time this has happened. Remember when BBS's became popular, and Slashdot "integrated" one into their site to kill any competition? Or all the times that Slashdot has brought down "competing" sites by linking to them, thereby safeguarding their website monopoly?
It's a shame that the DoJ let them off for this....
What are they thinking?
1) Claim to have millions of dollars in stolen funds.
2) Ask millions of people for bank account numbers.
3) Pose for a photograph for the nice mark.
4) ???
5) Profit!
This is almost as bad as SCO.
Patent on abuse of the patent system
Abstract: This patent shall cover the act of patenting an idea, concept or plan for the purposes of eliminating competition, stopping another party from pursuing an idea which I find threatening, or creating a method of suing other people. The act of patenting an obvious or previously-invented idea is also covered by this patent.
7th Affirmative Defense: The GPL is selectively enforced.
8th Affirmative Defense: The GPL is Unconstitutional and invalid.
9th Affirmative Defense: ???
10th Affirmative Defense: Profit!
So what happens if I forget my glasses?
GPS + small network Fire truck gets tracked by traffic computer, lights along route change as needed. Of course, I'm sure that city planners would manage to screw this up (using an unencrypted WiFi connection on emergency vehicles, turning your local wardriver into Mercurius, God of Traffic). Still it sounds smarter than a laser with thirty seconds of warning. (San Diego drivers know how long people will continue pushing through an intersection for.)
[Apple's music store] ... is a drawback for Windows users, who expect choice in music services, choice in devices, and choice in music from a wide-variety of music services to burn to a CD or put on a portable device.
Paraphrase that: "Consumers want the opposite of Microsoft."
"Due to improved techniques the elite will have greater control over the masses; and because human work will no longer be necessary the masses will be superfluous, a useless burden on the system. If the elite is ruthless the may simply decide to exterminate the mass of humanity. If they are humane they may use propaganda or other psychological or biological techniques to reduce the birth rate until the mass of humanity becomes extinct, leaving the world to the elite. Or, if the elite consist of soft-hearted liberals, they may decide to play the role of good shepherds to the rest of the human race. They will see to it that everyone's physical needs are satisfied, that all children are raised under psychologically hygienic conditions, that everyone has a wholesome hobby to keep him busy, and that anyone who may become dissatisfied undergoes "treatment" to cure his "problem." Of course, life will be so purposeless that people will have to be biologically or psychologically engineered either to remove their need for the power process or to make them "sublimate" their drive for power into some harmless hobby. These engineered human beings may be happy in such a society, but they most certainly will not be free. They will have been reduced to the status of domestic animals."
--Ted Kaczynski
Is that what you're talking about? Not to imply that your point isn't valid; your post simply reminded me of this.
By using this voucher, you ackowledge that Microsoft Corporation is innocent of any and all wrongdoing for any crimes it has commited, is committing, or will commit in the future. You agree to pay Microsoft corporation a sum of one and one-half times the value of the voucher you have received. You agree that you will not install or use Linux on any computer you may use in any function.
You agree to stop making stupid Clippy jokes. You agree to stop complaining about our upgrade cycle. You agree to buy the latest version of Windows whenever it is released.
You agree that, notwithstanding the use of the term "buy," you cannot own Windows. You agree that Windows owns j00, notwithstanding any stupid "in Soviet Russia..." jokes.
This one also works:
Them: Can I interest you in [insert service I already have] for your telephone?
Me: I'm sorry, I don't own a phone.
Them (usually): Oh, I'm sorry.
Them (usually, as I hang up): Hey, wait a minute!
The doubt is whether or not they're suffering from it. Case in point, the days of Naspter. Four major events occured in those years:
1) Price of an album increased from $12 to $15-20.
2) Boy bands!
3) File sharing becomes commonplace.
4) Mmm... Internet bubble make economy artificially good.
5) Total number of albums sold increases.
Simple economics states that increasing the price of a product should decrease the total number of units sold-- not increase it. That means that file-sharing, the economy or boy bands caused the increase. Since the growth witnessed extended beyond sales of boy bands and Brittany (and in fact beyond the entire genre of pop), we are limited to the economy and file-sharing. Since the downturn started well after the economy began to slide, we are left with one viable candidate for the increased sales and revenues:
Say the dirty word: FILE-SHARING!
It's called "publicity." I didn't buy more music because music was getting better or cheaper; I bought more because I had an easier time finding bands that I actually liked. It's a heck of a lot easier to part with a twenty if I know I'm getting my money's worth.
The record industry has seen CD sales slump for three years, a decline it blames on online file-sharing sites where music can be traded freely and sometimes before it is even released.
The New York times just says, "A decline caused by online file-sharing sites...." The LA Times does the same. CNN is owned by AOL/Time-Warner, and obviously just states it as though it's a credible fact. NBC/ABC/CBS ignore the issue, and follow CNN's lead when they don't. Fox... well, Fox will be Fox.
And here Reuters is at least insinuating that a doubt may exist. What's that Eric Blair/George Orwell (real name/pen name) quote about times of lies and revolutionary truths?
Oh great. So by intercepting them, we become felons and get sued by the RIAOP8 (Recording Industry Association of Omicron Persei-8)?
I don't mean to nit-pick, but I think atoms per square mile on Earth can be counted on one hand.
Unless you're counting their electron shells. That might change things.
OK, so I do mean to nit-pick.
Re-post with the proper fomratting this time. Sorry--forgot to check that little "HTML Formatted" thing which was hidden right next to the post button.
I actually found something about the Cacophany Society from whilst researching Chuck Palahniuk, author of Fight Club. (Don't ask, it's an Ingrish Lit thing.)
Straight from the horse's mouth:
There's usually one host city that different chapters from around the world go to for one
weekend, usually about two weeks before Christmas. Everybody arrives dressed as Santa Claus,
using the name "Santa Claus," and the host city usually has two to three days of continuous
events. People drink and party and sing, and disrupt big benefit parties, and are basically public
nuisances. But the fact that there's 400 of them all in red makes them this stunning sort of moving
artwork. They call it "The Red Tide." It's really beautiful. When I did it in '96, at one point it was all
these Santas against this SWAT team of cops, because the Santas wanted to get into a shopping
center that was private property. It was so beautiful to see all these blue policemen juxtaposed
with all these red Santas, and all these crying kids that were like, "Why are you beating up on
Santa?" This year, they're talking about Tijuana as the host city, but no one wants to get busted in
Tijuana.
I actually found something about the Cacophany Society from whilst researching Chuck Palahniuk, author of Fight Club. (Don't ask, it's an Ingrish Lit thing.) Straight from the horse's mouth: >>There's usually one host city that different chapters from around the world go to for one >>weekend, usually about two weeks before Christmas. Everybody arrives dressed as Santa Claus, >>using the name "Santa Claus," and the host city usually has two to three days of continuous >>events. People drink and party and sing, and disrupt big benefit parties, and are basically public >>nuisances. But the fact that there's 400 of them all in red makes them this stunning sort of moving >>artwork. They call it "The Red Tide." It's really beautiful. When I did it in '96, at one point it was all >>these Santas against this SWAT team of cops, because the Santas wanted to get into a shopping >>center that was private property. It was so beautiful to see all these blue policemen juxtaposed >>with all these red Santas, and all these crying kids that were like, "Why are you beating up on >>Santa?" This year, they're talking about Tijuana as the host city, but no one wants to get busted in >>Tijuana.