Soundex gives each name a key using its first letter and dropping the vowels and giving number codes to similar-sounding vowels (like "S" and "C"). The system gives the same code, L350, for "Laden" and all similar-sounding names: Lydon, Lawton, and Leedham.
Boy, I'd hate to be a guy with a name like "Sam Lawton" or something. I wonder how many similarly-named middle-aged salesmen are getting red-flagged on flights... because you just never know, what if Osama Bin Laden disguised as a portly white guy from Milwaukee, and he never bothered to pick a false name that sounded sufficiently different from the original.
A more important reason is that GPS, which can monitor exactly where a car goes within the state and at what times, eventually could be used to implement different tax rates, according to Whitty.
Just what we all need... Big Brother monitoring our precise movements, day and night, in order to determine how much tax we should pay. Gee, do you think that the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, et al. would access that information? Naw... those guys wouldn't violate our privacy unless it was absolutely necessary...
Personally, I would rather pay the maximum tax rate for road and gas use. Hopefully most Americans wouldn't allow themselves to be tagged and monitored in order to save a few bucks in taxes.
Monsanto said canola plants grown from its genetically altered seed had grown along a ditch on the Schmeiser farm in violation of the company's patent. Schmeiser contends the GM seed blew off a truck or came from someone else's field but Monsanto argued that's impossible. Schmeiser said he never bought Monsanto seed.
(...) At issue are the patent rights to Roundup Ready canola, a genetically modified strain resistant to a herbicide that would normally kill the plants used to produce cooking oil.
Beyond the obvious issue of whether genetically altered plants should be patentable, there is also a simpler, common sense issue at stake: who was responsible for the contamination?
If the seed blew in accidentally, contaminating the farmer's own breed of canola, there is no reason the farmer should be held responsible. Otherwise, what would stop an unscrupulous patent-holder from "accidentally" spreading their patented product all over the area, and then demanding compensation from the unsuspecting farmers?
There's one simple way to test whether the seeding was intentional: did the farmer use herbicides on his crops? If the answer is yes, he clearly knew that Monsanto's herbicide-resistant plants were growing in his field. If the answer is no, he got no economic benefit from growing Monsanto's plants and should be left alone.
Live Feed from the House of Lords
on
Spam, Milord
·
· Score: 2, Informative
Meyer had more than one pony, so to speak, in this race. Not only was Maguire dating his daughter, he also was in Universal's "Seabiscuit." Meyer got on the phone with Maguire and told him he'd be making a catastrophic mistake if he didn't do everything in his power to get himself back into the movie.
From the sound of things, he'd be making an even worse mistake if he hadn't done everything in his power to get himself back into his boss's daughter.;-)
Publishing depends on inefficiency
on
Mighty Amazon
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
"We suggested to members that it was in their own self-interest not to undermine their book sales by sending Web site visitors to Amazon," Aiken said. "Amazon is turning new book buyers into a used-book marketplace. That hurts profits of publishers and the royalties for authors."
I think the Author's Guild is absolutely correct in this case. Amazon claims that it's about giving customers options, or turning new readers on to authors. But studies have shown that price has almost no impact in getting readers to choose a new author. Other factors, such as book reviews and word-of-mouth recommendations, are much more influential. Readers do look for bargains, but only after they have decided which title they want.
The publishing industry depends on the systemic inefficiency of book distribution. Profit margins, as always, are razor thin. Fortunately, most books just gather dust on bookshelves once they've been read. Usually they just doesn't seem worth the trouble to sell. This is inefficient, because the unused book doesn't end up in the hands of another willing reader. But it's a boon to the publishing industry, because the willing reader will be tempted to buy new books (with much higher profit margins) instead.
Ironically, readers as a whole benefit when they are willing to fork out more cash for a book. It's important that publishers make profits or at least break even, because this allows them to take the financial risks publishing "niche" books for smaller markets or taking chances on new, aspiring authors. The alternative is to focus exclusively on mass-selling pulp, churning out whole forests' worth of best-sellers and "Left Behind"novels.
"If you had a friend who was interviewed on a news program and you sent him a copy of it, I think there's a pretty strong chance that would be considered fair use. On the other hand, if you taped all the top singles off the top 40 stations and sent it to all your friends that is more likely to be illegal."
Legality issues aside, I think that if I taped the "Top 40" and sent it to all my friends I'd find myself running out of friends very quickly...
Best Wil Wheaton Interview
on
Dancing Barefoot
·
· Score: 5, Informative
Check out Wil's interview with
The Onion AV Club.
Lots of good insights on the absurdity of child stardom, and the bizarre love/hate relationship with Star Trek fans.
I think Wil's done a great job moving away from his strange past... hopefully he will soon find a strong movie role that suits his unique personality.
Last year the company was awarded $25 million in damages in a suit against another big junk e-mailer, Kahn C. Smith of Tennessee. Youngblood said the company hasn't collected that award. But the monetary award, Wellborn said, is less of a victory than the injunction.
Nobody will ever collect civil damages from a spammer, because the vast majority of spam does not come from legitimate companies with assets. Most spammers tend to be individuals: low-rent sleazebags with bad credit and a history of illegal or borderline illegal activities. If they actually had millions of dollars they wouldn't stoop to spamming.
The injunction is a good thing because if one of these lowlifes tries spamming again, they can throw him in jail.
Does anyone know why MS chose the name Longhorn for the Windows XP successor? In Texas and Alberta, "Longhorn" is instantly recognizable as a well-known breed of cattle.
I predict that "Where's the Beef?" jokes (currently in hibernation since the 80's) will reappear on the cultural landscape in 2005, as the Longhorn release date is inevitably delayed by Microsoft...
many scientists... want to undermine fears of advanced nanotechnology by simply taking the subject off the table. You'd think, though, that at least some of these people would beware of Arthur C. Clarke's observation that when a distinguished scientist says that something is possible, he is almost certainly right, but when he says that something is impossible, he is often wrong.
Unless the scientists are advancing agendas that have nothing to do with science... for example, when a "Creation Scientist" maintains that it is "possible" the Earth is only thousands of years old, or a scientist in the pay of industry maintains that it is "possible" that emissions have no effect on global warming.
Actually, Arthur C. Clarke's axiom still holds true, because none of the above examples are "distinguished" scientists.
The technology has raised eyebrows not only for the absolute control it would grant such creators of digital content as music and movie companies but also because it is being driven by Microsoft, which has a reputation for strong-arming the computer industry.
And the next nominee for "Understatement of the Year" is... Matthew Fordahl, of the Associated Press!
Origami is one of my favorite hobbies, but I never thought about it being related to science.
I think we've just found a new entry for the "World's Least Effective Pick-Up Lines Competition" held anually in Reno, Nevada.
Of course, in the rare event that the line actually works, you've found every geek's dream: a soul-mate who will never, ever grow bored of you.;-)
Crime Prevention vs. Human Rights
on
Brain Privacy
·
· Score: 1
'Perhaps child molesters and other criminals in the future will wear headgear that will monitor that brain region in order to determine when their intentions will be carried out,'' Hinrichs wrote. ''Would this be a reasonable method of crime prevention or a human rights violation?'
I'm leaning toward reasonable method of crime prevention for convicted child molesters, rapists and violent criminals who are on parole. It could turn out to be awkward as far as social rehabilitation goes, though... I mean, who would want to stand next in line to some guy with brain-scanning headgear at the bank?
Given that the average cost of a federal wiretap in 2002 was $75,659, I imagine there was a strong incentive for gov't wiretappers to get their money's worth. And given the feds' almost unparalleled codebraking resources, it would take pretty solid encryption to sneak one past them.
The supposed 100% success ratio in cracking encrypted communications is most likely because the individuals under surveillance (mainly drug smugglers and organized crime) lack the sophistication necessary to match wits with the feds.
I'd assume that the most elite, technically savvy criminals out there don't get caught by law enforcement wiretapping, for two reasons:
1. They are subtle enough that they never even come under suspicion, and are thus not under surveillance.
2. They are smart enough to communicate in ways that are not easily intercepted by the feds: private couriers, simple signals that were agreed upon in advance, etc.. Those that rely on electronic communications probably use steganography or other means to disguise the fact that a "message" is even being sent. Let's face it, a suspected drug dealer sending a simple, encrypted text message may as well be waving a big red flag and shouting: "look at me!
I've got something to hide!"
The RIAA will continue the only possible strategy for prosecuting illegal music-swappers: hammer a few "extreme offenders" college students to set an example for the many.
IM warning notwithstanding, Joe Blow from Iowa who downloads a few Celine Dion songs has as good a chance of being prosecuted as he does replacing Rene Angelil. The RIAA must prosecute copyright violators individually, and out of necessity they will focus on the select few worst abusers, at least those who are easy targets.
The judges don't have to perform any complicated calculations to figure out who the winner is -- the rules suggest that they can simply give the title to whomever hands out the best bribes.
had been wondering what figure skating judges do in the off season...
Amazon is letting children 12 years old and younger post reviews of toy products without their parents' consent.
How dare they allow my little angels to post a toy review without my express consent! I shudder to think of how many children will have their innocence corrupted because they are exposed to speech that has not been censored by a vigilant adult.
Even worse, they may expose themselves to predators online if they are allowed to post without parental approval. You know: "My name is Jimmy and I think this toy is real neat and I live with my parents in the big red house on the corner of Mulberry Street and the back door is unlocked." That kind of thing. Perhaps we should block our children from accessing websites altogether: it's a dangerous world out there.
One of the major principles of corporate law, for the past hundred years, is that only the company itself (and in certain circumstances the company's directors) are liable for legal action. The shareholders are exempt, and their loss is limited to the amount of their original investment (i.e. the company files for bankruptcy and the value of their shares drops to zero.
The attempt to sue a major investor of Napster is equivalent to attempting to sue every mutual fund, investment bank, or major shareholder who owns Philip Morris for "Supporting a product that causes death and disease".
Q: Several sites, including LinuxWorld, News.com, Slashdot and Neowin.net have published articles on the conflict. How do you feel about the media coverage of the dispute?
A: "To be frank, I haven't read any of the articles. I've got a mangled database I'm trying to resurrect and I've been answering e-mails from people who object to my attempt to raise our profile."
and yet, Anne admits:
"And I've spent most of the last week responding to people who read about this on Slashdot and call me a spammer, a terrorist, and a sucker of moose balls."
Glad to see she has her priorities straight. She's been too busy responding to the flames of Slashdot readers to read any of the other articles on the conflict...;-)
Sounds like our boy Charlie read a book on communications or network theory, understood about half of it, and threw all the words he remembered into a few densely worded and confusing paragraphs.
And then he patented it.
It's kind of fun to watch Chuck's patent exploits, since he has no chance of ever winning one of his pesky lawsuits. Of course, it can be kind of annoying for the other parties involved.
In other news, motorized bar stool DUI accidents have increased 800% in the past year.
"The bar stool carnage on our streets must end," warned a source from the local police department. "Anyone convicted of driving bar stools while intoxicated will be prosecured to the fullest extent of the law."
In prison, these maniacs will find fellow inmates who are more than willing to 'drive in their stools'"
Slashdot Mirror
Soundex gives each name a key using its first letter and dropping the vowels and giving number codes to similar-sounding vowels (like "S" and "C"). The system gives the same code, L350, for "Laden" and all similar-sounding names: Lydon, Lawton, and Leedham.
Boy, I'd hate to be a guy with a name like "Sam Lawton" or something. I wonder how many similarly-named middle-aged salesmen are getting red-flagged on flights... because you just never know, what if Osama Bin Laden disguised as a portly white guy from Milwaukee, and he never bothered to pick a false name that sounded sufficiently different from the original.
A more important reason is that GPS, which can monitor exactly where a car goes within the state and at what times, eventually could be used to implement different tax rates, according to Whitty.
Just what we all need... Big Brother monitoring our precise movements, day and night, in order to determine how much tax we should pay. Gee, do you think that the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, et al. would access that information? Naw... those guys wouldn't violate our privacy unless it was absolutely necessary...
Personally, I would rather pay the maximum tax rate for road and gas use. Hopefully most Americans wouldn't allow themselves to be tagged and monitored in order to save a few bucks in taxes.
Monsanto said canola plants grown from its genetically altered seed had grown along a ditch on the Schmeiser farm in violation of the company's patent. Schmeiser contends the GM seed blew off a truck or came from someone else's field but Monsanto argued that's impossible. Schmeiser said he never bought Monsanto seed.
(...) At issue are the patent rights to Roundup Ready canola, a genetically modified strain resistant to a herbicide that would normally kill the plants used to produce cooking oil.
Beyond the obvious issue of whether genetically altered plants should be patentable, there is also a simpler, common sense issue at stake: who was responsible for the contamination?
If the seed blew in accidentally, contaminating the farmer's own breed of canola, there is no reason the farmer should be held responsible. Otherwise, what would stop an unscrupulous patent-holder from "accidentally" spreading their patented product all over the area, and then demanding compensation from the unsuspecting farmers?
There's one simple way to test whether the seeding was intentional: did the farmer use herbicides on his crops? If the answer is yes, he clearly knew that Monsanto's herbicide-resistant plants were growing in his field. If the answer is no, he got no economic benefit from growing Monsanto's plants and should be left alone.
Intrigued by the House of Lords?
Check out this live feed (in session until 4pm EST).
Meyer had more than one pony, so to speak, in this race. Not only was Maguire dating his daughter, he also was in Universal's "Seabiscuit." Meyer got on the phone with Maguire and told him he'd be making a catastrophic mistake if he didn't do everything in his power to get himself back into the movie.
From the sound of things, he'd be making an even worse mistake if he hadn't done everything in his power to get himself back into his boss's daughter. ;-)
"We suggested to members that it was in their own self-interest not to undermine their book sales by sending Web site visitors to Amazon," Aiken said. "Amazon is turning new book buyers into a used-book marketplace. That hurts profits of publishers and the royalties for authors."
I think the Author's Guild is absolutely correct in this case. Amazon claims that it's about giving customers options, or turning new readers on to authors. But studies have shown that price has almost no impact in getting readers to choose a new author. Other factors, such as book reviews and word-of-mouth recommendations, are much more influential. Readers do look for bargains, but only after they have decided which title they want.
The publishing industry depends on the systemic inefficiency of book distribution. Profit margins, as always, are razor thin. Fortunately, most books just gather dust on bookshelves once they've been read. Usually they just doesn't seem worth the trouble to sell. This is inefficient, because the unused book doesn't end up in the hands of another willing reader. But it's a boon to the publishing industry, because the willing reader will be tempted to buy new books (with much higher profit margins) instead.
Ironically, readers as a whole benefit when they are willing to fork out more cash for a book. It's important that publishers make profits or at least break even, because this allows them to take the financial risks publishing "niche" books for smaller markets or taking chances on new, aspiring authors. The alternative is to focus exclusively on mass-selling pulp, churning out whole forests' worth of best-sellers and "Left Behind"novels.
"If you had a friend who was interviewed on a news program and you sent him a copy of it, I think there's a pretty strong chance that would be considered fair use. On the other hand, if you taped all the top singles off the top 40 stations and sent it to all your friends that is more likely to be illegal."
Legality issues aside, I think that if I taped the "Top 40" and sent it to all my friends I'd find myself running out of friends very quickly...
... but over here, we just call it a flashlight.
Check out Wil's interview with The Onion AV Club. Lots of good insights on the absurdity of child stardom, and the bizarre love/hate relationship with Star Trek fans.
I think Wil's done a great job moving away from his strange past... hopefully he will soon find a strong movie role that suits his unique personality.
Last year the company was awarded $25 million in damages in a suit against another big junk e-mailer, Kahn C. Smith of Tennessee. Youngblood said the company hasn't collected that award. But the monetary award, Wellborn said, is less of a victory than the injunction.
Nobody will ever collect civil damages from a spammer, because the vast majority of spam does not come from legitimate companies with assets. Most spammers tend to be individuals: low-rent sleazebags with bad credit and a history of illegal or borderline illegal activities. If they actually had millions of dollars they wouldn't stoop to spamming.
The injunction is a good thing because if one of these lowlifes tries spamming again, they can throw him in jail.
Does anyone know why MS chose the name Longhorn for the Windows XP successor? In Texas and Alberta, "Longhorn" is instantly recognizable as a well-known breed of cattle.
I predict that "Where's the Beef?" jokes (currently in hibernation since the 80's) will reappear on the cultural landscape in 2005, as the Longhorn release date is inevitably delayed by Microsoft...
many scientists ... want to undermine fears of advanced nanotechnology by simply taking the subject off the table. You'd think, though, that at least some of these people would beware of Arthur C. Clarke's observation that when a distinguished scientist says that something is possible, he is almost certainly right, but when he says that something is impossible, he is often wrong.
Unless the scientists are advancing agendas that have nothing to do with science... for example, when a "Creation Scientist" maintains that it is "possible" the Earth is only thousands of years old, or a scientist in the pay of industry maintains that it is "possible" that emissions have no effect on global warming.
Actually, Arthur C. Clarke's axiom still holds true, because none of the above examples are "distinguished" scientists.
The technology has raised eyebrows not only for the absolute control it would grant such creators of digital content as music and movie companies but also because it is being driven by Microsoft, which has a reputation for strong-arming the computer industry.
And the next nominee for "Understatement of the Year" is... Matthew Fordahl, of the Associated Press!
Origami is one of my favorite hobbies, but I never thought about it being related to science.
I think we've just found a new entry for the "World's Least Effective Pick-Up Lines Competition" held anually in Reno, Nevada.
Of course, in the rare event that the line actually works, you've found every geek's dream: a soul-mate who will never, ever grow bored of you. ;-)
'Perhaps child molesters and other criminals in the future will wear headgear that will monitor that brain region in order to determine when their intentions will be carried out,'' Hinrichs wrote. ''Would this be a reasonable method of crime prevention or a human rights violation?'
I'm leaning toward reasonable method of crime prevention for convicted child molesters, rapists and violent criminals who are on parole. It could turn out to be awkward as far as social rehabilitation goes, though... I mean, who would want to stand next in line to some guy with brain-scanning headgear at the bank?
Given that the average cost of a federal wiretap in 2002 was $75,659, I imagine there was a strong incentive for gov't wiretappers to get their money's worth. And given the feds' almost unparalleled codebraking resources, it would take pretty solid encryption to sneak one past them.
The supposed 100% success ratio in cracking encrypted communications is most likely because the individuals under surveillance (mainly drug smugglers and organized crime) lack the sophistication necessary to match wits with the feds.
I'd assume that the most elite, technically savvy criminals out there don't get caught by law enforcement wiretapping, for two reasons:
1. They are subtle enough that they never even come under suspicion, and are thus not under surveillance.
2. They are smart enough to communicate in ways that are not easily intercepted by the feds: private couriers, simple signals that were agreed upon in advance, etc.. Those that rely on electronic communications probably use steganography or other means to disguise the fact that a "message" is even being sent. Let's face it, a suspected drug dealer sending a simple, encrypted text message may as well be waving a big red flag and shouting: "look at me! I've got something to hide!"
The RIAA will continue the only possible strategy for prosecuting illegal music-swappers: hammer a few "extreme offenders" college students to set an example for the many.
IM warning notwithstanding, Joe Blow from Iowa who downloads a few Celine Dion songs has as good a chance of being prosecuted as he does replacing Rene Angelil. The RIAA must prosecute copyright violators individually, and out of necessity they will focus on the select few worst abusers, at least those who are easy targets.
The judges don't have to perform any complicated calculations to figure out who the winner is -- the rules suggest that they can simply give the title to whomever hands out the best bribes.
had been wondering what figure skating judges do in the off season...Amazon is letting children 12 years old and younger post reviews of toy products without their parents' consent.
How dare they allow my little angels to post a toy review without my express consent! I shudder to think of how many children will have their innocence corrupted because they are exposed to speech that has not been censored by a vigilant adult.
Even worse, they may expose themselves to predators online if they are allowed to post without parental approval. You know: "My name is Jimmy and I think this toy is real neat and I live with my parents in the big red house on the corner of Mulberry Street and the back door is unlocked." That kind of thing. Perhaps we should block our children from accessing websites altogether: it's a dangerous world out there.
.
Switching to grease? Finally, dogs will have a reason to chase your car.
One of the major principles of corporate law, for the past hundred years, is that only the company itself (and in certain circumstances the company's directors) are liable for legal action. The shareholders are exempt, and their loss is limited to the amount of their original investment (i.e. the company files for bankruptcy and the value of their shares drops to zero.
The attempt to sue a major investor of Napster is equivalent to attempting to sue every mutual fund, investment bank, or major shareholder who owns Philip Morris for "Supporting a product that causes death and disease".
Consider Anne's Responses:
Q: Several sites, including LinuxWorld, News.com, Slashdot and Neowin.net have published articles on the conflict. How do you feel about the media coverage of the dispute?
A: "To be frank, I haven't read any of the articles. I've got a mangled database I'm trying to resurrect and I've been answering e-mails from people who object to my attempt to raise our profile."
and yet, Anne admits:
"And I've spent most of the last week responding to people who read about this on Slashdot and call me a spammer, a terrorist, and a sucker of moose balls."
Glad to see she has her priorities straight. She's been too busy responding to the flames of Slashdot readers to read any of the other articles on the conflict... ;-)
Sounds like our boy Charlie read a book on communications or network theory, understood about half of it, and threw all the words he remembered into a few densely worded and confusing paragraphs.
And then he patented it.
It's kind of fun to watch Chuck's patent exploits, since he has no chance of ever winning one of his pesky lawsuits. Of course, it can be kind of annoying for the other parties involved.
In keeping with the Fiery Bird Motif of Firebird and Phoenix (a mythical bird that bursts into flame and is reborn)...
May I suggest that they change the name to "HotWings" to avoid futher disputes. Has a nice ring to it, eh?
In other news, motorized bar stool DUI accidents have increased 800% in the past year.
"The bar stool carnage on our streets must end," warned a source from the local police department. "Anyone convicted of driving bar stools while intoxicated will be prosecured to the fullest extent of the law."
In prison, these maniacs will find fellow inmates who are more than willing to 'drive in their stools'"