And it can do equal amounts of harm (ill-justice) or good (justice!) depending on how it is used, and, sometimes, the intention of the original lawmakers. Precedent is one of the strongest means to sway the law, and is quite respected in the legal community. You know all those great big rooms full of huge volumes of faceless books? Those are more than likely the compilations of huge numbers of cases, available to any who might want to look up a case and its verdict, sentence, etc, ad infinitum, for use as precedent.
1) Blade Runner (the movie, I never read the book)
As the androids were limited to a fantastic life of being capable of much more than most ordinary humans were, but only had 4 years to live.
2) Ender's Shadow
Ender was doomed to expereicnce exponential growth and a life span of only 20 or so years, but before that his life would be full as he could make it. He had talents: a perfect memory, a dedicated spirit, etc... He was perfect, except for his genes.
I suppose it is becoming a valid tradeoff now, although I hope researchers can find a way around that scary double-edged sword. It would be a shame to be able to only choose one.
Is this just another example of the All Powerful United States flexing its mighty iron fist around smaller countries that have almost no means by which to fight back?
Or, is this a legitimate action? Why not protect people who work hard to make their intellectual products? Does information really want to be free, and, if it does, should it be? Who is to decide?
I often find myself torn between these two schools of thought, as I believe that the IP could be integral to the lives of those who do not have the resources to pay for it, but, then again, does that justify the essential theft of such IP? Chairity theft, perhaps?
It's all very complex. Any opinions? I'd hate it if the US hurt more innocent people, only because of something as seemingly insignificant as IP law.
I preform BIOS updates by running the flasher from my hard disk. I used a floppy to do it once and the floppy failed halfway through. Had to send the computer away to have the damage repaired. I hate floppies.
Yep, this happened to me at school last month - I had to copy the drivers for my NIC onto a CD using my roommate's computer. But, now, I have everything on CD, and I never have to use a floppy drive again (unless the next time I buy hardware there is STILL a floppy in the mix). I hope manufacturers get their act together soon and start going all CD.
CMU's Campus (Carnegie Mellon) has a wireless network on the entire campus. Very neay to be anywhere on campus using the internet. The potential for outdoor LAN parties is limitless.:)
Again, I disagree with the things said about Laptops:
Removable storage: Rewritable DVD; some form of CompactFlash card
Why on Earth would Laptops come with CompactFlash card readers standard? The article makes no effor to explain this unseemly turn of events, and I can't figure it out. I love CompactFlash, as I am in love with all solid state media, but I really don't see why it would be a standard for removable storage, if SIMPLY because, right now, only once device can interface with it concurrently without the other data being raped.
Secondly:
CPU and RAM: 2- to 3-GHz chip with 256MB of RAM
What are they THINKING??? I am fine with the chip expectations, heck, we might be even farther along than that, but, really, only 256MB of RAM? I don't think so. Whoever wrote this article must be behind the times a bit, as some Laptops can come equipped with that much RAM now. In two years, if engineers and designers haven't found a way to (economically) pack at least a gig of RAM in a laptop, I'll be very suprised. With all the demanding data processing going on (Hey! 3 GHz chip!) there is a _need_ for more of that precious RAM.
Methinks the writer of this article is a bit confused with some of his points. If he is right, in two years, I'll eat my shorts.
Removable storage: Rewritable DVD and -- yes -- the unsinkable 1.44MB floppy
That's according to the article, but, I have not used a floppy disk in nearly three years. I took all the floppy drives out of my computers at home, and simply use CDs or CDRWs for all my data transfer needs. They are leaps and bounds more reliable (Ask me about reports on magnetic disks "Escaping" in my bookbag), and are generally just more sensible to use (more space for better presentations, etc). Even with driver issues - most, if not all, new machies are CD bootable, so, voila, you can have all your drivers on once nice CD.
I don't understand why any (non tech person) would still use a disk (as opposed to a disc).
I didn't say it made for a good drama, I said it was never thought of - like those other things I mentioned. Things that we have today are generally _not_ what is found in Sci Fi of yesterday. It's quite beautiful, if you ask me, that we can do such varied and amazing things.
. . . is so full of diversity, and what we have come up with in the past several years has been amazing, to say the least. Science Fiction writers are generally accurate with regards to the underlying technologies that come about, but often miss the mark with the specifics, and therefore the spinoffs. I'm not saying that's bad, on the contrary, Sci Fi writers are often great inspirers of the scientists of the futute - and that's good!
Every time I read a good Sci Fi book, I am amazed by what I read, but, then, I look around, and I see things that are not even remotely considered by the writers:
Composite Materials
Polymers
VIDEO GAMES
MP3s!
Post-It-Notes
Of course, some of those things are quite frivolous (or are they?), but, that's what makes the human race so beautiful: we come up with things that are truly amazing, in their diversity and simplicity. We are an unruly and unpreditable crew of warriors, writers, diplomats, scientists, researchers, dreamers, and a myriad of other vocations - we are beautiful.
I hope we continue to pave the path of peace and progress for ever and ever.
I had the opprotunity to do some research at the Green Bank Radio Observatory last December(woo! dish time!), and while I was there, I saw Drake's original receiver. It is just a monument now, on the right side of the entrance, but it is still inspirational. One could only imagine the ensuing watershed that would result in alien contact, and to think that it started with (in the modern sense of searching) that little array of antennas is simply awe-inspiring.
I read through (most) of the article (I just could not bear with all that "Well, you know..." so I didn't finish the whole thing, but I was suprised to not read about FRANK DRAKE and the DRAKE EQUATION. The Drake Equation is arguably the underlying force being the entire aim of SETI.
And, nicely pasted from E2, here is a good idea of what it is:
An equation used to estimate the number of technological civilizations that may exist in the galaxy. There is no exact answer to Frank Drake's famous equation, but it nonetheless a tool for the scientific community, and the force "behind every project at the SETI Institute."
N = R* x fp x ne x fl x fi x fc x L
Where:
N = The number of civilizations in the Milky Way whose radio emissions are detectable.
R* = The rate of formation of stars with a large enough "habitable zone" and long enough lifetime to be suitable for the development of intelligent life.
fp = The fraction of Sun-like stars with planets is currently unknown, but evidence indicates that planetary systems may be common for stars like the Sun.
ne = Number of earths per planetary system. All stars have a habitable zone where a planet would be able to maintain a temperature that would allow liquid water. A planet in the habitable zone could have the basic conditions for life as we know it.
fl = The fraction of those planets where life develops. Although a planet orbits in the habitable zone of a suitable star, other factors are necessary for life to arise. Thus, only a fraction of suitable planets will actually develop life.
fi = The fraction life sites where intelligence develops. Life on Earth began over 3.5 billion years ago. Intelligence took a long time to develop. On other life-bearing planets it may happen faster, it may take longer, or it may not develop at all.
fc = The fraction of planets where technology develops. The fraction of planets with intelligent life that develop technological civilizations, i.e., technology that releases detectable signs of their existence into space.
L = The length of time that communicative civilizations release detectable signals into space.
My fault, the purines are not A and T, they are C and T. And, also, A pairs off with T, and G pairs off with C. Boy, only two years after my AP Bio class and already I'm forgetting the basics.
And, if you don't know what AGTC means, they are the different bases that make up DNA:
Adenine
Guanine
Thimine
Cytosine
Adenine pairs off with Guanine, and Thimine pairs off with Cytosine. A purine with a pyrimidine. Purines (A and T) have two carbon-nitrogen rings, and pyrimidines have only one.
I simply assumed that people on Slashdot are above those biases. We are (mostly) computer and science enthusiasts, and, generally, those types are able to make well-informed decisions about things. And, decisions of that sort are best made without the influence of bias. Some would argue that if bias is a factor, those decisions are no longer well-informed - they are inherently ill-formed.
I could be wrong, but I thought that most of the users of Slashdot were above bias. I may have been wrong. Please excuse me if I was.
But editors in the respected news firms of the world do not say things as unproductive as those who edit on Slashdot. As editors, they have a RESPONSIBLITY to get _news_ to us, not their own biased point of view.
How many inexperienced people will read that snippet (and other snippets) and forever think of Microsoft as an EVIL EVIL SCUM with no mind for security at all? Think about what influence Slashdot has over a very large proportion of the "geek community" and other technical and scientific gropus.
All I am saying is that Slashdot should put aside their pride, zeal, or whatever it might be that drives them to attach unproductive garbage to the ends of stories. They should recognize this on their own, but, apparantly they do not. It's unfortuante, as Slashdot is one of the best places on the Internet to go for news, and heady, informed discussion.
just like the rep AOL gets, the more users you have the more dumb users you have.
Do you know what that means? It means the system needs to be engineered to handle those users. It does NOT mean we should shout and flame about how stupid those users are. Guess what: Everyone who uses an online service (or the Internet, for that matter) is NOT a Computer Science or Engineering major, and they should NOT be expected to act accordingly. They are there for their own purposes, to accomplish their own ends. The systems should be designed accordingly, with error prevention and correction built in, to catch things that would otherwise hurt users or administrators.
Slashdot Mirror
And it can do equal amounts of harm (ill-justice) or good (justice!) depending on how it is used, and, sometimes, the intention of the original lawmakers. Precedent is one of the strongest means to sway the law, and is quite respected in the legal community. You know all those great big rooms full of huge volumes of faceless books? Those are more than likely the compilations of huge numbers of cases, available to any who might want to look up a case and its verdict, sentence, etc, ad infinitum, for use as precedent.
What's happening here is very similar.
Wooops. I slipped on that one. Yes, it was indeed Bean. Shame, too. I really liked Bean.
Almost reminds me of two different stories:
1) Blade Runner (the movie, I never read the book)
As the androids were limited to a fantastic life of being capable of much more than most ordinary humans were, but only had 4 years to live.
2) Ender's Shadow
Ender was doomed to expereicnce exponential growth and a life span of only 20 or so years, but before that his life would be full as he could make it. He had talents: a perfect memory, a dedicated spirit, etc... He was perfect, except for his genes.
I suppose it is becoming a valid tradeoff now, although I hope researchers can find a way around that scary double-edged sword. It would be a shame to be able to only choose one.
Is this just another example of the All Powerful United States flexing its mighty iron fist around smaller countries that have almost no means by which to fight back?
Or, is this a legitimate action? Why not protect people who work hard to make their intellectual products? Does information really want to be free, and, if it does, should it be? Who is to decide?
I often find myself torn between these two schools of thought, as I believe that the IP could be integral to the lives of those who do not have the resources to pay for it, but, then again, does that justify the essential theft of such IP? Chairity theft, perhaps?
It's all very complex. Any opinions? I'd hate it if the US hurt more innocent people, only because of something as seemingly insignificant as IP law.
Just tell the insurance companies to get outta town. Really, if enough people, at once, stood up against their bull crap, they would have to cave.
Come on, moderators, don't hit this down! Celebrate with some cheer! Happy New Year everyone! God Bless America, and the world!
I preform BIOS updates by running the flasher from my hard disk. I used a floppy to do it once and the floppy failed halfway through. Had to send the computer away to have the damage repaired. I hate floppies.
Woops. I meant 'optical'.
Yep, this happened to me at school last month - I had to copy the drivers for my NIC onto a CD using my roommate's computer. But, now, I have everything on CD, and I never have to use a floppy drive again (unless the next time I buy hardware there is STILL a floppy in the mix). I hope manufacturers get their act together soon and start going all CD.
Yeah, but here, I always learned that the difference between disk and disc was that a disk is magnetic, and a disc is optial.
CMU's Campus (Carnegie Mellon) has a wireless network on the entire campus. Very neay to be anywhere on campus using the internet. The potential for outdoor LAN parties is limitless. :)
Again, I disagree with the things said about Laptops:
Removable storage: Rewritable DVD; some form of CompactFlash card
Why on Earth would Laptops come with CompactFlash card readers standard? The article makes no effor to explain this unseemly turn of events, and I can't figure it out. I love CompactFlash, as I am in love with all solid state media, but I really don't see why it would be a standard for removable storage, if SIMPLY because, right now, only once device can interface with it concurrently without the other data being raped.
Secondly:
CPU and RAM: 2- to 3-GHz chip with 256MB of RAM
What are they THINKING??? I am fine with the chip expectations, heck, we might be even farther along than that, but, really, only 256MB of RAM? I don't think so. Whoever wrote this article must be behind the times a bit, as some Laptops can come equipped with that much RAM now. In two years, if engineers and designers haven't found a way to (economically) pack at least a gig of RAM in a laptop, I'll be very suprised. With all the demanding data processing going on (Hey! 3 GHz chip!) there is a _need_ for more of that precious RAM.
Methinks the writer of this article is a bit confused with some of his points. If he is right, in two years, I'll eat my shorts.
Removable storage: Rewritable DVD and -- yes -- the unsinkable 1.44MB floppy
That's according to the article, but, I have not used a floppy disk in nearly three years. I took all the floppy drives out of my computers at home, and simply use CDs or CDRWs for all my data transfer needs. They are leaps and bounds more reliable (Ask me about reports on magnetic disks "Escaping" in my bookbag), and are generally just more sensible to use (more space for better presentations, etc). Even with driver issues - most, if not all, new machies are CD bootable, so, voila, you can have all your drivers on once nice CD.
I don't understand why any (non tech person) would still use a disk (as opposed to a disc).
Hehe, oops, yes, I do mead CowboyNeal.
:)
Too much wine, I suppose.
Merry Christmas!
No no no... that would be CmdrTaco.
I didn't say it made for a good drama, I said it was never thought of - like those other things I mentioned. Things that we have today are generally _not_ what is found in Sci Fi of yesterday. It's quite beautiful, if you ask me, that we can do such varied and amazing things.
. . . is so full of diversity, and what we have come up with in the past several years has been amazing, to say the least. Science Fiction writers are generally accurate with regards to the underlying technologies that come about, but often miss the mark with the specifics, and therefore the spinoffs. I'm not saying that's bad, on the contrary, Sci Fi writers are often great inspirers of the scientists of the futute - and that's good!
Every time I read a good Sci Fi book, I am amazed by what I read, but, then, I look around, and I see things that are not even remotely considered by the writers:
Composite Materials
Polymers
VIDEO GAMES
MP3s!
Post-It-Notes
Of course, some of those things are quite frivolous (or are they?), but, that's what makes the human race so beautiful: we come up with things that are truly amazing, in their diversity and simplicity. We are an unruly and unpreditable crew of warriors, writers, diplomats, scientists, researchers, dreamers, and a myriad of other vocations - we are beautiful.
I hope we continue to pave the path of peace and progress for ever and ever.
Yeah yeah, everyone needs a boost now and again.
I had the opprotunity to do some research at the Green Bank Radio Observatory last December(woo! dish time!), and while I was there, I saw Drake's original receiver. It is just a monument now, on the right side of the entrance, but it is still inspirational. One could only imagine the ensuing watershed that would result in alien contact, and to think that it started with (in the modern sense of searching) that little array of antennas is simply awe-inspiring.
I read through (most) of the article (I just could not bear with all that "Well, you know..." so I didn't finish the whole thing, but I was suprised to not read about FRANK DRAKE and the DRAKE EQUATION. The Drake Equation is arguably the underlying force being the entire aim of SETI.
And, nicely pasted from E2, here is a good idea of what it is:
An equation used to estimate the number of technological civilizations that may exist in the galaxy. There is no exact answer to Frank Drake's famous equation, but it nonetheless a tool for the scientific community, and the force "behind every project at the SETI Institute."
N = R* x fp x ne x fl x fi x fc x L
Where:
N = The number of civilizations in the Milky Way whose radio emissions are detectable.
R* = The rate of formation of stars with a large enough "habitable zone" and long enough lifetime to be suitable for the development of intelligent life.
fp = The fraction of Sun-like stars with planets is currently unknown, but evidence indicates that planetary systems may be common for stars like the Sun.
ne = Number of earths per planetary system. All stars have a habitable zone where a planet would be able to maintain a temperature that would allow liquid water. A planet in the habitable zone could have the basic conditions for life as we know it.
fl = The fraction of those planets where life develops. Although a planet orbits in the habitable zone of a suitable star, other factors are necessary for life to arise. Thus, only a fraction of suitable planets will actually develop life.
fi = The fraction life sites where intelligence develops. Life on Earth began over 3.5 billion years ago. Intelligence took a long time to develop. On other life-bearing planets it may happen faster, it may take longer, or it may not develop at all.
fc = The fraction of planets where technology develops. The fraction of planets with intelligent life that develop technological civilizations, i.e., technology that releases detectable signs of their existence into space.
L = The length of time that communicative civilizations release detectable signals into space.
Thank heavans their not a clueless Computer Science major!
Thank heavans you are not an English major.
My fault, the purines are not A and T, they are C and T. And, also, A pairs off with T, and G pairs off with C. Boy, only two years after my AP Bio class and already I'm forgetting the basics.
Sorry!
And, if you don't know what AGTC means, they are the different bases that make up DNA:
Adenine
Guanine
Thimine
Cytosine
Adenine pairs off with Guanine, and Thimine pairs off with Cytosine. A purine with a pyrimidine. Purines (A and T) have two carbon-nitrogen rings, and pyrimidines have only one.
There is also Uracil, which is only found in RNA.
I simply assumed that people on Slashdot are above those biases. We are (mostly) computer and science enthusiasts, and, generally, those types are able to make well-informed decisions about things. And, decisions of that sort are best made without the influence of bias. Some would argue that if bias is a factor, those decisions are no longer well-informed - they are inherently ill-formed.
I could be wrong, but I thought that most of the users of Slashdot were above bias. I may have been wrong. Please excuse me if I was.
But editors in the respected news firms of the world do not say things as unproductive as those who edit on Slashdot. As editors, they have a RESPONSIBLITY to get _news_ to us, not their own biased point of view.
How many inexperienced people will read that snippet (and other snippets) and forever think of Microsoft as an EVIL EVIL SCUM with no mind for security at all? Think about what influence Slashdot has over a very large proportion of the "geek community" and other technical and scientific gropus.
All I am saying is that Slashdot should put aside their pride, zeal, or whatever it might be that drives them to attach unproductive garbage to the ends of stories. They should recognize this on their own, but, apparantly they do not. It's unfortuante, as Slashdot is one of the best places on the Internet to go for news, and heady, informed discussion.
just like the rep AOL gets, the more users you have the more dumb users you have.
Do you know what that means? It means the system needs to be engineered to handle those users. It does NOT mean we should shout and flame about how stupid those users are. Guess what: Everyone who uses an online service (or the Internet, for that matter) is NOT a Computer Science or Engineering major, and they should NOT be expected to act accordingly. They are there for their own purposes, to accomplish their own ends. The systems should be designed accordingly, with error prevention and correction built in, to catch things that would otherwise hurt users or administrators.