0) The world is progressing. Why is it that when they get close we think we need to go higher? At some point there should be a reasonable limit to what education can do alone. Language, culture, family, become more important as education gets more "equal". It'll never be a level where one can completely rule it out and only look at other factors-- this is in the realm of soft science. Could be ours is the best already but the other factors are knocking it down... (not probable; just making a point.)
1) PUBLIC schools should be funded by the number of students, federally without any strings other than they must be public schools. This will lower the taxes we have on shelter (aka property tax or renter's included property tax.) It will increase income tax; however, it is NOT equitable to punish kids by underfunding their schools simply because they are located in a poorer area. (I'm not talking inner city either, we have poor rural and rich rural depending on what properties are in that area and local tax codes.)
2) Technology in education is unproven. it needs more pilot programs and less political stumping. The public is part of the whole gaming of the numbers system we have. Test scores are a poor measure; any systematic measurement system is going to get hacked by people like win98 on an open network. Other nations measure scores differently; they also filter out kids-- our system accepts everybody. My city's schools do about as well as the rich suburban schools -- but have less money and TONS of disadvantaged kids of every kind to deal with.
3) Simply BEING A STUDENT does not make you an expert in education. Its like saying you can advise airplane design because you ride on jets. There is serious work done on learning, the brain etc. in academic institutions and by profession educators already. But forget that, a couple stats make us look bad so lets ship the kids off to more schooling and give them all laptops! Just how long have we known its better for children to have different school hours than we do now? We still have the same hours-- to keep the parents happy and their dreams of their kid getting that sports scholarship they didn't get. (college funding being a separate issue best solved instead of the lotto scholarship mess. Don't expect that CHANGE since college loans handle more money than the credit card industry!)
4) Children, like all mammals LEARN and develop by playing. Sure, TV robs them of this--- thats not the fed's business; if parents suck. (unless you are in the UK...where they want to monitor parents!) I LEARNED far more things in the summer that were useful in the "real world" than I did in school. I didn't have to work on a farm, but I worked on other things and learned, played, and developed my imagination. Many of my peers went to "camps" so they'd get an edge the next school year while the flunkies went to catch up so they'd not have to drop a grade.
5) Just HOW long should kids be in school? how about some REAL numbers? We already know health wise its better to take a long nap in the middle of the day but other than a few countries nobody does that... (BTW, the WTO is pressuring those countries to change their ways.)
6) America rose to the top (FYI we are not there anymore) and went to the moon with people who didn't have technology or even went to those "shameful" rural schools where 1-6 grades were in 1 room with the same teacher. Now we can't do math without a calculator-- even then we can't do math. My father had a shooting range in the basement of his high school; kept a gun at school too! Yes, this points to cultural degradation-- but THAT is the point! The real big issues are the elephants in the room nobody dares mention! I do credit Obama a bit having touched on a few... I am not saying we need to go back to those idealized times and "get off my lawn!" More social science is needed.
7) American kids are F***'d up. School psychologists are needed. #1 problem for any student is mental. We expect teachers to do everything and moder
1394/Firewire is wonderful; the only downside is that it lacks the wonderful driver classifications (and support) that USB has.
As far as I am concerned, if Apple designed the basics again as they did with firewire and intel adds the driver support that USB has it'll be a win-win situation.
PLUGS: I just hope that Apple designs the plugs because USB plugs always have been stupid! Not that firewire is a whole lot better-- but I for one hate this A/B plug insanity that we must deal with. I only want 2 kinds of plugs-- ones without copper(power) and ones with copper. No mini plugs or new mini standards later. Also, there is no reason these connectors can not be extremely small and work no matter how you rotate them into the socket. A variation on a headphone plug would be circular... In fact, if one was smart they would take one of those AC/DC power adapter plugs and run the optical down the center of it-- consumers could use an AC/DC adapter for charging-- resulting in 1 kind of socket in devices that handles charging, power, and data. Naturally, I'm assuming 1 optical cable; ideally you'd want 2 which would make it harder to make such a plug as small or round.
DRIVERS: classes-- basing them on USB is a good idea; however: I'd like to see the classes expanded - especially for mice - where there is a little room for these fancy products that add just 1 more button or another scroll wheel. Hardware makers are horrible at drivers and the better the classification system the less troubles consumers will have. Oh, a standard class for SERIAL and PARALLEL devices would be greatly appreciated! Especially for industrial uses-- we still run industry on serial and parallel.
Actually, a driver sub-classing system for drivers could be quite handy-- often we see devices that go slightly outside its class so it then must have a whole driver when its core functionality could have been handled without a driver... some get around this already but many devices do not. We need to encourage devices to comply with the closest standard class driver and then "subclass" it for their extensions. Properly implemented, this would result in more stable drivers because the OS would handle aspects of the standard class or at least provide the source code for the standard class driver (MS.) Ideally, the standard driver could be in kernel and the "subclass" would be in user space (I'm thinking of those hard disks with backup buttons or those DVD library systems... and Mac OS X which has split-space-drivers already.)
POWER: Everybody has run into the power limits on firewire AND especially USB. If any power is to be provided, it should be done CORRECTLY this time. I can't believe 1394 didn't have enough to drive a HD when it was planned for disks. USB was hacked up so its understandable it has no real power. If we are going to bother to run copper then we should get some SERIOUS power down those wires for a change. So it adds some cost; you think buying power bricks is cheap? you think those things save power?? My computer's supply is much better than a cheapo power brick that constantly draws power; I leave my computer on all the time but those bricks are not. It would actually be GREEN to cut out the power bricks and run a HD from the connector. Oh, it would be nice to have an powerless version of the cable if I am going to network or hook a computer to some future TV; but also because long runs of low voltage will cost me more power than running from a power brick. Now, to get more bang out of our copper - I don't think it would be so horrible to go to 12V or higher-- many devices already must step down voltage. USB's 5V is just too low; it does however do a nice job at "tracking" power load. The world needs a DC power standard for small devices desperately and the closest we've got is crappy USB and google's work for a DC power standard. Sure, I'm not saying it should handle 500W computers; although, if you think about it-- (dare i say it) a larger class of cable could power such devices.
Our right to vote was suppressed for generations with poll taxes etc. We did away with the big problems on that issue which shouldn't have required an amendment to fix.... We'll probably need another one to stop taxes / permit fees on our other rights and another one on free-speech zones so we can exercise our rights besides designated freedom areas!
I'm waiting for President Palin to require Free Speech permits for $20 an hour per person outside the speech zone. ("It pays for the police protection")
Its crazy to say we must pay for the BS for a permit with the excuse that we have to cover the overhead. Its just as crazy to have to pay property tax for your SHELTER (except there is no right to shelter.) My rent always included property tax and the deduction didn't cover it... If I don't pay the house property taxes then they kick me out-- is it really my house? or am I paying them rent to live there?? (sure it pays for needed services but there are OTHER equitable ways to pay for those instead of picking on me for being a handyman.)
With no price limit-- then everything is out of date except he newest most expensive GPU, CPU, etc.
Its all about PRICE POINT!
The other game systems were stupidly expensive at release by any measure. For the big demo of men 18-35 with jobs (and likely single) they could pay out that kind of cash and having not grown out of games enough, they'd pay those prices. Children and teens however are priced out. Its amazing that parents would be so stupid to waste that kind of money on video games when incomes have been going down-- when I was a child and incomes were better my parents had a hard time justifying such an expense for an entertainment item-- which was about $200-$250 for whatever Nintendo was out. Its almost like parents either expect that kind of inflation or they simply DO NOT THINK when giving into their brats demands.... or the father partially buys it for himself...
Nintendo has essentially lowered their price point since the beginning. They stay around the same price and probably near the same profit margin and their price point is about the same as it always was; meanwhile, inflation kept on going up-- net result: lower real prices.
I expect the next Nintendo to follow their same old pattern. To get HD support, they'll have to do a squared amount of GPU work so I don't expect GPU or CPU power on par with the current XBOX, they will go HD and add on features and possibly some more clever ideas to maximize the bang for the buck (I don't expect much in the way of expensive programmable shaders) - but the system will cost about the same and use about as much if not less power and heat.
Oh, you have to be crazy to give a child an iPhone or PSP. I think the DS is too weak; mine was broken (by an adult) and its made for abuse. I'd bitch about discs and children except I like that they must learn not to scratch something or lose it forever.
We can't even get 100% man made inventions to work properly (software) and we arrogantly think we can hack stuff we barely grasp and it will work perfectly??
Its like some hacker wannabe kid with a bunch of downloaded tools (and no skills) just cracked his 2nd video game and promises it runs wonderfully and uploads it for others to use....
Or when IT promises something is going to be fool proof...
On Mac and Linux I will use the menubar because it is one of the best UI ideas - right up there next to the mouse. I think the Ribbon is a good idea for many windows users... except those who need to retrain as a result of it.
I really liked the new ideas behind the ribbon when I 1st saw it. Using it for a while I quickly hated it and realized that power users did not need it. I would think IT support would hate it even more-- try telling somebody to pick a menu item over a phone when the menus are presented as a 'ribbon'.
Honestly, its not that new of an idea. It made me think the desktop was going towards the web; I've seen many websites with navigation similar to the 'ribbon' and MS just decided to look less desktop like and more like some web app.
I MISS CLIPPY! BRING CLIPPY BACK! He did almost as much as the ribbon did to get people to switch to open office.
1) MOST the problem people for children are FRIENDS AND FAMILY! This fact can not be stated enough. Obviously, tracking does little good.
2) The majority strangers are good people and will help / watch out for kids; well, not in lawsuit crazy countries or ones were the culture of fear makes everybody a threat; even the child who needs your help or supervision. Parents today seem over protective, possibly because they are so much more negligent than previous generations? (its not their fault they are this way)
3) Teenagers will not wear such a watch, outsmart it etc. Teens get themselves into trouble; much of it not requiring tracking-- knowing where they are being foolish is not that useful. Its primary use here would be kidnapping into the sex trade which is much higher in some areas and at certain ages and genders. This is still quite a low percentage even in relative bad areas.
4) Young "adults" would be better suited to a cell phone. Lots of ideas possible here. Ideally, something that was set it off with you yelling help... Your phone tracks you ALREADY to a general area if not precisely by this point-- no gps required. Eventually most children will have a cell phone too.
5) Drug sex offenders to kill their sex drive. Similar to drugging the mental cases as we do now (both are mental problems.) This would possibly even help with the #1 cause of the problems. Makes more sense to have the sick people pay to treat themselves than everybody else pay to see where their kid was before / during victimization.
6) How about we put the tracking devices ON THE OFFENDERS instead of all the kids? (which wouldn't help with biggest group-- friends and family.) This is a lot like house arrest bracelets. Seriously, somebody who preys on unknown kids/teens has a mental problem not a criminal problem-- punishment doesn't work; they only learn how not to get caught next time or go after safer targets (friends/family) or kill the victims. It requires life-long treatment, not temporary punishment. Its just as foolish as punishing gay people for being gay and thinking it will fix the situation. Legalized prostitution would also cut down the numbers- hey its a fact - prohibitions never work.
7) Bad Behavior / Drugs: Knowing where the child is will not help a whole lot; most the drug users I've known did it around friends, at home, or even at school.
8) Parents: Do you want to have data that could be used to prosecute your child?? In the USA, we prosecute children for stupid shit and are quite foolish about punishing them (in some areas even corrupt about it... http://www.ahrp.org/cms/content/view/519/150)
9) Clever hacker types (who could be kids) will combine with the power of the internet to provide less talented people easy ways to hack the watches so they don't work as planned
10) What about bad coverage areas? GPS doesn't work in all places and sending the data back is even more troublesome. Should a parent call 911 because the child disappears near some kids basement? Would wrapping foil over it cause it to do the same thing?
ZFS seems to solve many issues with a higher-end block manager approach in the filesystem itself; it is like a smart software raid.
However, ZFS is not wide spread and outside of SUN not something I can trust for serious use at this time. Its also a server bound solution as well; some higher end hardware would be nice that had ZFS features like the high end solutions already out there but doesn't cost a fortune with vendor lock.
I have (for fun) created Raid 10 with triple redundancy but i never used it in production (due to cost.) Again with a RAID 10 you are using at least 4 disks. You COULD lose 2 disks and be ok as long as it is not the wrong pair of disks. It goes up the larger the stripe goes. Yes, the whole thing is gone if you happen to lose the wrong 2 drives. The other RAIDs can't lose 2 disks except raid 6 which isn't even available in many situations.
The problem is people unlike the parent poster who do not understand you can never legislate solutions to these conundrums.
The reasons judges and juries exist is to insert some interpretation and sense to the rigid rules. They are flawed people as well but they are nearer the situation than those writing the laws; its a simple logistics problem.
Too many people do not understand that the law IS a strong guideline and is not absolute!
Their politicians then add to the bloat of the system with pointless guidelines, mandatory sentencing, and complex laws trying to control all future situations is a futile attempt that hurts society.
Somebody gaming the system isn't too hard to spot but by the letter of the law they get away with it. For some reasons we don't want juries to know about jury nullification or to recommend punishments outside the prescribed options.
In the USA, common sense largely died off long ago. For example: We now have to buy insurance just in case some fool hurts himself on our property. Its one thing if you put bear traps in your yard... and another if a stupid kid drowns at your cabin when you are not there.
Some countries have Judge duty. The entry point is there- you can spent money to go deeper into the system but for small claims and stupid claims it works cheaply and educates the people being judges. Yes, bad timing could cost you-- but now you are screwed $$$ either way. Fear of the overly complex system that has turned into a exclusive club terrorizes citizens as much a farmer in a showdown with hired gunfighter.
Reproduction has almost nothing to do with Civil Unions or much to do with sex anymore; especially for gay people! The world is 2/3 over populated, reproduction is now a problem not a need. Religions promote procreation to increase membership and thereby power and influence; therefore, adding to the problem. They politically control the issue which is why its void of logic and reasonable debate is dead.
Many people confuse Marriage with Civil Unions; I find a vast majority confuse those with procreation.
Everybody (even religious nuts) considers a childless marriage a marriage; so therefore, its not a mandatory part of its definition. The secular and legal definitions are even more lax.
Your culture's concept of family is not universal. Some cultures have defined family by cohabitation not by sex and offspring. Some separate sex from coupling; some are not as stuck on THEIR kids but feel the children are the community's responsibility. Elements are in all, but some stress parts differently with profound outcomes.
It is ethnocentric to impose the marriage; specifically the Jewish/Christian concept upon others - EVERY BIT as much as its ethnocentric to discriminate against GAY people. (At least the majority no longer stones gay people.)
"Marriage" (for lack of a non-charged term) is about relationships not solely for the purpose of offspring. You can regulate reproduction without touching marriage.
I agree that logically, if you can regulate incest for genetic reasons you surely can regulate genetic diseases far more likely to cause troubles for the exact same reasons. Its not a slippery slope (which BTW is a fallacy not a trend.) The incest laws are irrational and pre-date the science; its cultural based; any attempt to rationalize them leads to contradictions.
Here is a bigger question: You need a license to drive a car; why don't you need one for having a child? Adoption is heavily regulated; why isn't procreation? (sex is not procreation BTW) I have a fist, yet I can't bash in your face despite having a "natural right" to do so.
Your mistake is in the assumption the laws exist due to logical reasons and that they were made by people aware of the other laws.
Its an emotional illogically based law stemming from pop culture and nothing else. The rest is merely rationalization to make it sound legitimate.
Eugenics was ok in the USA until the push against it which reached its peak during WW2 where the ideas were taken too far (and not based on reason either.) Now you can't have a serious discussion without WW2 extremities killing it.
I have seen rebuilding problems TWICE where a 2nd drive died or had sector errors during rebuild. I've also avoided problem but had drives in the RAID all dying or having errors within the same year of the 1st drive's problem. Its not comfortable to spend 6 months swapping out most the drives when you can only afford to lose 1 of them.
The solution is preemption. You replace drives every 3 years reguardless. see google's study on drive life. 5 years seems to be the furthest one should go and 3 years is safer. Its also true that a significant number of drives show trouble in the 1st month (under heavy use) and I was about to start a burn in policy before I left that job. We ordered 30-40 drives at a time.
Buying the disks at the same time is somewhat unavoidable because if you buy lots you get discounts; PO approval etc. I think the risks are low of multiple drive deaths. I would however replace a whole batch immediately if just 1 died from the lot (my new policy.) Key to this is tracking the drives by AGE and batch. Oh, I USED to swear by seagate.
Hardware raid may cost but just try getting back online when the raid controller DIES. Buy two. I prefer software RAID, especially on servers; screw pci drivers! I never was a fan of parity RAID; use RAID 10. You can lose up to HALF of all disks in RAID 10; sure, a specific half not random half... its all a gamble anyhow.
Ultimately the #1 question is always: "What is my data worth to me?"
Going in the future, I've been WISHING somebody will standardize drive clustering; hopefully with dumb controller boards on the disks and a standardized controller board. Sure its a hardware controller-(and centralized caching?)- but it doesn't have to be RAID it can be a block level manager without the limitations of RAID. If standardized, then the main problems of resolving controller failure and vendor lock would be gone; plus you could would have an upgrade path. Today, this can not be done because you get tied to a vendor, a series, or even just 1 model of controller board.
The problem will continue to grow to the point where people will want management not dumb RAIDs; then we might see a move towards a convention and maybe standardization.
Incest is a cultural and possibly biological bad thing... I suppose I could agree that they shouldn't be involved in that either. I do not think it would be common and the abusive stuff would still be a crime (one could classify it as abuse and get it MOSTLY illegal without messing the right to choose a partner.)
Multiple spouses? I suppose those happen already, just not in the legal system... Legally, its 1 at a time but that doesn't seem to change a whole lot. Again, normal people don't do it without cultural support for it. Women with rights probably are extremely unlikely to agree to other wives. For the most part, I think today we have about the same stats regardless of the legal system.
Age? Well its rather silly to put numbers on it. Every now and then I hear about some poor child (18 or 19) fooling around with a 16-17 year old and getting labeled a sex offender. Where has the purpose for judges gone??? (they are there to inject some "common sense" not brainless apply law by guidelines.)
Government needs more restriction on its power to enforce the belief systems of the majority onto minorities. This INCLUDES marriage! A standard contractual agreement is all that is required to give the benefits of legal marriage-- without any restrictions--- relatives, room mates, etc. should be possible. If you want marriage go to a private entity for it. It is a bad idea to mislabel civil unions "Marriage" and dilute the language.
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Me, I find the behavior of the UK continually ironic. I think they should give Turning more than just a formal apology. He should be held up as an example of how flawed humans can be so that future generations have more examples to hopefully learn from. Given the size of his contribution, he should get a holiday.
Why do we have to be conventional about electric cars? We treat batteries like a fuel tank and electricity as gas and fantasize about hydrogen gas replacements. Why not think more like propane tanks? You get a large battery pack, use it up and then swap for another one when it goes dead. They can contain some electronics per battery pack. You pay when you swap it. Proper standardization and you'd be able to do seamless tech upgrades on the batteries (which is why you want some electronics on the batteries.) Sure, you could also charge it slowly yourself if you wanted (making use of solar car parks etc.)
Its not like I'm giving up much; I can't make my own gas either.
Battery cost would be amortized, greatly lowering car costs! You'd pay it in "battery fuel" which would cost more initially but likely it would be competitive, since the car cost would drop by the battery price making them cheaper than gas cars. The per-mile cost would depend on life of the battery, how many batteries your car uses, and the low low price of electricity. Electric costs are in the pennies per mile so if they rose to include batteries to $4-5 per mile-- so be it! It would tend to go down over time instead of upward like gas.... level off at cheaper than gas prices after maybe 5 years? in 50 years it might be down to pennies a gallon (Mr. Fusion?)
My car has a 300 mile range; I'm ok with stopping 3 times more to swap my tank-- although 99% of the time I travel less than 100 miles in a day and could charge it overnight. So I'd actually stop for "fuel" much less than I do now... more likely I'd do it because the battery was wearing out. Sure, this makes for a tough business model on the batteries since many people would not pay for swaps and refills making that battery an operating loss. One could have the battery record usage and you'd be billed later; complex charging could also deter physical hacking... it would still happen but not for most people. (as is the case with music etc now-- they are still highly profitable.)
Standardized battery packs makes for easy transitions of technology and lowers costs for the batteries; its pretty bad to have to go to the dealer to get expensive replacement parts (VW I'm looking at you...) We are shafted today with some parts; however, its not that frequent or expensive like battery packs...
There is no reason the battery packs have to be 100s of pounds and massive... something that can work for a tiny car would be a good size. Other cars would require 2-4 of them. The rates they pay wouldn't have to be a multiple of how many they use (but it probably should be.)
The medical companies advertise more than any other group and employ PR on levels that most nations at war could only dream of. They have inflated their importance in our lives when they are not required. Mankind did and can still go on with out them. In many ways the situation is analogous to some science fiction reality where our perception of reality is being controlled-- not with sci-fi technology but with old fashioned corruption and the social sciences. Big tobacco was a huge foe that took 30 years before anything was done (and they grew globally as a result;) this cabal is virtually unstoppable by comparison. Plus they can mobilize more frightened employees to spread the PR which is easier in a economic depression.
People do not realize they spend little money on actual drug research which was and still is largely done outside their companies. The migration of researchers will just go the other direction if they are shutdown. Say that they fund half the research (which I highly doubt) and you don't ignore the many useless inventions they put tons of money into (like male enhancement)--- mankind can continue without any of it. We will just make discoveries slower; sure, some people suffer while waiting-- but at the same time, you can't simply solve scientific problems by throwing more money at them! (assuming that they can be solved at all.)
The personal touch will always be part of politics (and I'm not referring to employees or young boys or Minneapolis bathrooms.)
Humans seem to be suckers for it--- couldn't get those two hostages free in North Korea with a Skype chat on Opera with Bill Clinton! Bill had to go in person; showing respect (and courage-- seriously, if they are as nuts as the "news" tells us then its insane to risk a bigger mess when they have Bill as a hostage. So clearly they are not as crazy as we've been told here in the USA...)
From those who used it to fight crime by raising their skill in DNA forensics and to those trying to defend or exploit it there were many opportunities to approach it from a "hacker" mindset with good or bad intentions.
This is the 1st public release of this information; there likely many more approaches than these "new" ones. When something like this is "discovered", why assume that the 1st discoveries are always reported? I'm not just implying any government conspiracies; organized crime, law enforcement, and even legal firms as well could have funded PRIVATE research into this area decades ago when DNA evidence was young--- and they all did to various degrees.. not all of it being made public.
I can't think of examples just within the realm of scientific research... but we've heard about scientific discoveries where many passed over or dismissed something that eventually somebody looked into and found or proved something "new."
Then we have the US FBI's method for DNA matching being far far less reliable than they thought and the FBI not wanting to formally admit error while other counties raised the bar on their DNA matching. (not sure we have yet...because in doing so it is like an admission of error...)
Government is the result of many people living together being "civilized." It reflects the people it governs; in a democratic system that means the people run the government-- practicality dictates employees, volunteers and representatives because the mob can not equally do everything for many reasons.
The city IS forced to serve the public's interests; not you individually, an average of the group's interests and the system by which that averaging occurs greatly influences how it works--- how the citizens participate and how much they can THINK being the largest factor. Corporate hijacking of the system is a function of the flawed system (which will never be perfect; it runs on humans) and LARGELY the citizens themselves who must fire the traitors who serve another master. If the public doesn't do its job the system can't save them and neither can good public servants who'd likely not stick around for long. Furthermore, dictators are essentially elected by the inability of the people to collectively overcome them.
The point behind a democratic system was to civilize the process of violent revolution that ALWAYS has and will be required. It also lowers the bar for kicking the bums out; but it also lowers the VALUE of transition. There is less cost involved; therefore, less value.
Public servants are NOT normal citizens! They should not be entitled to all our rights; just as the military takes away many basic rights from those public servants. As far as I'm concerned, it should be so bad that they have trouble finding people who want the jobs! As for police, we have a constant surplus where I live doing other jobs because there isn't enough work--- and we require college degrees and they still have waiting lists. Politicians are far far worse-- they should practically have their own reality show with a camera permanently bolted on their heads! (well, almost that severe-- they should never be allowed to work again; I'm sick of these former officials being loophole lawyer "consultants" and lobbyists its like their job was about setting up deals for later if not while they are in office.)
Those who can't play by the majority's rules can not be part of the game. It is NOT about punishment nor is it about rehabilitation! It is a practical reality: removal from society due to their inability to live by society's rules. Fundamentally this is the function; all the other stuff, that is just an additional layer of extraneous thought.
Many kinds of anti-social behavior are a result of mental sickness; therefore, rehabilitation is the logical conclusion-- treating a mental problem as a disease and trying to cure it. In these cases, its about mental health and not punishment which makes time periods ridiculous. A pedophile is sick in the head and until they are "cured" they should never be let out or with proper monitoring not let near children-- just like mentally handicapped can still be beneficial a part of society (just don't let one be president again.) Hans Reiser killed his wife - but he should be allowed to continue to work; never allowed to be married or date again if not simply isolated / monitored so he can't flip out and kill again; but turning a functional member of society into a burden to society is a waste.
The sick mentality in the USA for punishment and irrational assumption of guilt makes the public complacent to flaws in the prison system and legal system. We put the mentally ill in general circulation mixed with aggressive anti-social types and promote talk about prison rape and murder hoping to deter people... BTW, how many people commit a crime KNOWING they are going to get caught? (especially the young ones who make up a majority of 1st time offenders.)
Some people simply do not follow the rules of their society; they are the ones which must be forced to live my those rules even if it means they have to be separated from society. Possibly it can be solved with RELOCATION instead of incarceration. Punishment isn't likely to be that effective with them and it is not. Used to be in the USA that messing with the race laws was going against society and those who wouldn't comply either were in jail or they became refugees (or worse: they were actually punished for being evil criminals simply because they disagreed with popular racism.) Sure, there are people thinking you can beat the children into submission and it works on some... but it doesn't work that well and it will never lead to a Utopia. BTW, a you-topia is not that great of a goal; its pursuit caused more harm than good every time.
Humans do random shit; and the legal system tries to be too literal minded-- there are plenty of people with minor and major errors that got them into our sick system of punishment. Vengence drives a lot of the irrationality in all the legal systems of the world.
Similar things happened for the great depression which is why to some extent this depression didn't become "great" and has slowed down (doesn't mean that it is over or that the fall will be quite slow.)
The DIFFERENCE with this re-run? the PRESS and the CONGRESS WORKED TOGETHER to expose what was going on to the public which helped create the political will necessary to make meaningful changes; however, it was not enough to undo the newly created FED which helped create the whole mess in the 1st place as they did this time. People in the know tell me FED this and FED that but forget that during the weakest moment in history the FED won.
Krugman is an OK guy. HOWEVER, he is not a Nobel Prize winner! Its a way for some bankers to promote their economic policy to the world with a fake Nobel and everybody falls for it! Think about it and do some research. Nobel is only for science and peacemaking. Economics is neither and its degrading to the Nobel Prize. Mathematical models for voodoo is not credible work-- chaos as an equation if proven possible-- fine; but until then.... Other sciences can not win the Nobel yet we allow them to hijack it for economics?!!
You want serious predictions of the future? They are not pretty. The global warming stuff-- will be worse than the predictions 10 years ago because most were going from the most positive hopeful range of the projections just so they could be easier for people to accept. Behavior trends like that not only extend into other areas but also continue with present day predictions trying to be accepted by the mainstream. The bubble economic system will continue and those who question it will remain largely silent and work within it (as Krugman did and still largely does.) Madoff wasn't a freak he was a product of the system (or attracted to it.)
Well, just keeping with the neural network basics on the assumption they are close enough to how the brain works; or that a neural network is an equivalent type of computer:
The human brain would then be an analog computer functioning with some differences. The network itself and the weights being more important than the cells themselves; well, lets just assume that for the brain; its already the case for the NNet.
I've not read any papers on this, but I have not seen much in the way of transferring knowledge (non-linear approximations) between different networks because the knowledge is in the network and is too complex to map over. The solution commonly used to move the knowledge over is to plug one into the other so the destination re-learns the function. I can't see how a human brain could do this.
Ok, say we have a copy of the brain's network in the computer so we don't have to worry about transferring between different NNets: Then we have issues with the analog nature of the brain. I read about a hardware NNet long ago which used less "neurons" to perform the same task as the software NNet. What was discovered was physical properties were impacting its operations and being capitalized on; therefore requiring less hardware to perform the same task. The downside was the NNet would fail when the outside noise that was part of its learning changed - they changed the temperature and it messed up. I thought this was somewhat telling in that a human brain is much more limited in temperature than the mere living conditions of the cells; it starts malfunctioning too. So, we may simulate the thing perfectly but the analog factors make the two systems too different to simply clone-- so it becomes a problem like I mentioned above. (unless we simulate enough of these factors to get it to "heal" itself-- using a real brain as a boot strap.)
Yes, I think smaller brains will come first. I do think our simple NNet model we have is amazingly powerful and approximate enough a foundation; we do intelligent things with them already and they are extremely small.
I'm willing to bet on such a short time because I think we can figure out enough stuff to get the machine to figure a lot of it out itself. I don't think brains start out wired all the same; they develop with some initial fractal-like pattern which we might be able to model by that time?
Do we need to model a human brain? Can we just get something similar enough that it figures it out itself? Maybe it isn't on par, but if it can approximate us on many tasks won't that be enough? If it does act human, is it? or more importantly, do we really want to make the ultimate rube goldberg machine that just makes the same mistakes we do?
I've seen what one of these "sensors" on cells phones does for detecting water. It amounts to a special sticker which changes color when it gets wet! Problem is in finding a replacement sticker when yours turns color and they refuse to believe that you did not get the phone wet! I've seen these things change color from high humidity where they don't completely turn just a little bit--- but enough that some jerk think its any hint of discoloration is enough. Never leave it in the bathroom if the room gets full of steam. I bet that long periods of use and mild moisture eventually push the thing to the debatable range; although, but that point the battery is worn out and a replacement costs as much as a phone so....I wonder what realy humid areas of the world do to it.
So does this mean next time I put my apple keyboard in the dishwasher they are not going to give me a new one someday when it breaks? I'm not stupid, I turn off the laptop 1st.;-)
Around 2012 the tech will exist to map the whole human brain; not a living one, just the resolution needed to get all the cells and connections-- maybe 2015... and it'll probably have to be a dead brain that doesn't move. Brain scans already gets quite small on living human brains; but I heard this estimate about 6 years ago and it sounds reasonable.
Not understanding how the brain works will always be a problem; its a nonlinear approximation (of the number 42?) as far as our general understanding of it goes--- even if the brain is just an analog version of such a math problem, those problems almost instantly scale beyond our grasp with only a few variables involved (just think in terms of linear algebra problems and how basic they have to be to "solve;" which doesn't necessarily mean we really fully understand the answers we get. For example, infinity--we work with it, get the concept but we never will fully understand it. )
Computing power grows at certain rates; one can use that combined with an estimate of how many transistors it takes per simulated neuron (or something like that) and estimate at what point we will have the power to load the brain scan data in and start trying to simulate a model of a real brain. Using custom designed chips and circuitry only make shorten the estimate as does clever new ways to simulate processes.
I'm guessing around 2030 but its hard to say. Doesn't mean that when somebody tries it something will happen...may have to give the thing simulated I/O as well to get anything from it. My guess is politics will be the worst problem as this kind of research gets closer to science fiction.
OpenOffice is thinking in the same closed way MS does. Microsoft is rigid and dictatorial. OpenOffice can be like Firefox with the GUI interface, not a simple theme skin, but a bit more advanced while being less coupled than a Firefox add-on.
I should be able to get a Word 5.1 interface (the only one of theirs I could tolerate) on OpenOffice and KEEP that plug-in for the next few decades without having to putz around to keep it as I upgrade OpenOffice. Most users HATE having stuff move around for many reasons and OpenOffice should let you have it your way and NOT mess around with you.
How does the average office user know to pick a different plug-in? First, you don't have a million preference settings which take weeks of researching comparisons to make it act like something else-- there should be a list of grouped preferences with themes with widgets to choose from. Second, the install process asks the user to "vote" for what they want by showing many large screen shots coupled with a long list of interfaces properly named. Third, the help system's screen shots should be intelligent so they represent the interface and not just whatever somebody took and image of (clearly, gui related help items would have to be tied to a "theme".)
Office software is office software-- you should be able to make it look/act like any other office software you want (within reason) because its JOB is a generic one.
I know I'm proposing something big and complex; but hey, this is openoffice and firefox is doing both customization approaches already.
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0) The world is progressing. Why is it that when they get close we think we need to go higher? At some point there should be a reasonable limit to what education can do alone. Language, culture, family, become more important as education gets more "equal". It'll never be a level where one can completely rule it out and only look at other factors-- this is in the realm of soft science. Could be ours is the best already but the other factors are knocking it down... (not probable; just making a point.)
1) PUBLIC schools should be funded by the number of students, federally without any strings other than they must be public schools. This will lower the taxes we have on shelter (aka property tax or renter's included property tax.) It will increase income tax; however, it is NOT equitable to punish kids by underfunding their schools simply because they are located in a poorer area. (I'm not talking inner city either, we have poor rural and rich rural depending on what properties are in that area and local tax codes.)
2) Technology in education is unproven. it needs more pilot programs and less political stumping. The public is part of the whole gaming of the numbers system we have. Test scores are a poor measure; any systematic measurement system is going to get hacked by people like win98 on an open network. Other nations measure scores differently; they also filter out kids-- our system accepts everybody. My city's schools do about as well as the rich suburban schools -- but have less money and TONS of disadvantaged kids of every kind to deal with.
3) Simply BEING A STUDENT does not make you an expert in education. Its like saying you can advise airplane design because you ride on jets. There is serious work done on learning, the brain etc. in academic institutions and by profession educators already. But forget that, a couple stats make us look bad so lets ship the kids off to more schooling and give them all laptops! Just how long have we known its better for children to have different school hours than we do now? We still have the same hours-- to keep the parents happy and their dreams of their kid getting that sports scholarship they didn't get. (college funding being a separate issue best solved instead of the lotto scholarship mess. Don't expect that CHANGE since college loans handle more money than the credit card industry!)
4) Children, like all mammals LEARN and develop by playing. Sure, TV robs them of this--- thats not the fed's business; if parents suck. (unless you are in the UK...where they want to monitor parents!) I LEARNED far more things in the summer that were useful in the "real world" than I did in school. I didn't have to work on a farm, but I worked on other things and learned, played, and developed my imagination. Many of my peers went to "camps" so they'd get an edge the next school year while the flunkies went to catch up so they'd not have to drop a grade.
5) Just HOW long should kids be in school? how about some REAL numbers? We already know health wise its better to take a long nap in the middle of the day but other than a few countries nobody does that... (BTW, the WTO is pressuring those countries to change their ways.)
6) America rose to the top (FYI we are not there anymore) and went to the moon with people who didn't have technology or even went to those "shameful" rural schools where 1-6 grades were in 1 room with the same teacher. Now we can't do math without a calculator-- even then we can't do math. My father had a shooting range in the basement of his high school; kept a gun at school too! Yes, this points to cultural degradation-- but THAT is the point! The real big issues are the elephants in the room nobody dares mention! I do credit Obama a bit having touched on a few... I am not saying we need to go back to those idealized times and "get off my lawn!" More social science is needed.
7) American kids are F***'d up. School psychologists are needed. #1 problem for any student is mental. We expect teachers to do everything and moder
1394/Firewire is wonderful; the only downside is that it lacks the wonderful driver classifications (and support) that USB has.
As far as I am concerned, if Apple designed the basics again as they did with firewire and intel adds the driver support that USB has it'll be a win-win situation.
PLUGS:
I just hope that Apple designs the plugs because USB plugs always have been stupid!
Not that firewire is a whole lot better-- but I for one hate this A/B plug insanity that we must deal with. I only want 2 kinds of plugs-- ones without copper(power) and ones with copper. No mini plugs or new mini standards later. Also, there is no reason these connectors can not be extremely small and work no matter how you rotate them into the socket. A variation on a headphone plug would be circular... In fact, if one was smart they would take one of those AC/DC power adapter plugs and run the optical down the center of it-- consumers could use an AC/DC adapter for charging-- resulting in 1 kind of socket in devices that handles charging, power, and data. Naturally, I'm assuming 1 optical cable; ideally you'd want 2 which would make it harder to make such a plug as small or round.
DRIVERS:
classes-- basing them on USB is a good idea; however:
I'd like to see the classes expanded - especially for mice - where there is a little room for these fancy products that add just 1 more button or another scroll wheel. Hardware makers are horrible at drivers and the better the classification system the less troubles consumers will have. Oh, a standard class for SERIAL and PARALLEL devices would be greatly appreciated! Especially for industrial uses-- we still run industry on serial and parallel.
Actually, a driver sub-classing system for drivers could be quite handy-- often we see devices that go slightly outside its class so it then must have a whole driver when its core functionality could have been handled without a driver... some get around this already but many devices do not. We need to encourage devices to comply with the closest standard class driver and then "subclass" it for their extensions. Properly implemented, this would result in more stable drivers because the OS would handle aspects of the standard class or at least provide the source code for the standard class driver (MS.) Ideally, the standard driver could be in kernel and the "subclass" would be in user space (I'm thinking of those hard disks with backup buttons or those DVD library systems... and Mac OS X which has split-space-drivers already.)
POWER:
Everybody has run into the power limits on firewire AND especially USB. If any power is to be provided, it should be done CORRECTLY this time. I can't believe 1394 didn't have enough to drive a HD when it was planned for disks. USB was hacked up so its understandable it has no real power. If we are going to bother to run copper then we should get some SERIOUS power down those wires for a change. So it adds some cost; you think buying power bricks is cheap? you think those things save power?? My computer's supply is much better than a cheapo power brick that constantly draws power; I leave my computer on all the time but those bricks are not. It would actually be GREEN to cut out the power bricks and run a HD from the connector. Oh, it would be nice to have an powerless version of the cable if I am going to network or hook a computer to some future TV; but also because long runs of low voltage will cost me more power than running from a power brick. Now, to get more bang out of our copper - I don't think it would be so horrible to go to 12V or higher-- many devices already must step down voltage. USB's 5V is just too low; it does however do a nice job at "tracking" power load.
The world needs a DC power standard for small devices desperately and the closest we've got is crappy USB and google's work for a DC power standard. Sure, I'm not saying it should handle 500W computers; although, if you think about it-- (dare i say it) a larger class of cable could power such devices.
Our right to vote was suppressed for generations with poll taxes etc. We did away with the big problems on that issue which shouldn't have required an amendment to fix.... We'll probably need another one to stop taxes / permit fees on our other rights and another one on free-speech zones so we can exercise our rights besides designated freedom areas!
I'm waiting for President Palin to require Free Speech permits for $20 an hour per person outside the speech zone. ("It pays for the police protection")
Its crazy to say we must pay for the BS for a permit with the excuse that we have to cover the overhead. Its just as crazy to have to pay property tax for your SHELTER (except there is no right to shelter.) My rent always included property tax and the deduction didn't cover it... If I don't pay the house property taxes then they kick me out-- is it really my house? or am I paying them rent to live there?? (sure it pays for needed services but there are OTHER equitable ways to pay for those instead of picking on me for being a handyman.)
With no price limit-- then everything is out of date except he newest most expensive GPU, CPU, etc.
Its all about PRICE POINT!
The other game systems were stupidly expensive at release by any measure. For the big demo of men 18-35 with jobs (and likely single) they could pay out that kind of cash and having not grown out of games enough, they'd pay those prices. Children and teens however are priced out. Its amazing that parents would be so stupid to waste that kind of money on video games when incomes have been going down-- when I was a child and incomes were better my parents had a hard time justifying such an expense for an entertainment item-- which was about $200-$250 for whatever Nintendo was out. Its almost like parents either expect that kind of inflation or they simply DO NOT THINK when giving into their brats demands.... or the father partially buys it for himself...
Nintendo has essentially lowered their price point since the beginning. They stay around the same price and probably near the same profit margin and their price point is about the same as it always was; meanwhile, inflation kept on going up-- net result: lower real prices.
I expect the next Nintendo to follow their same old pattern. To get HD support, they'll have to do a squared amount of GPU work so I don't expect GPU or CPU power on par with the current XBOX, they will go HD and add on features and possibly some more clever ideas to maximize the bang for the buck (I don't expect much in the way of expensive programmable shaders) - but the system will cost about the same and use about as much if not less power and heat.
Oh, you have to be crazy to give a child an iPhone or PSP. I think the DS is too weak; mine was broken (by an adult) and its made for abuse. I'd bitch about discs and children except I like that they must learn not to scratch something or lose it forever.
We can't even get 100% man made inventions to work properly (software) and we arrogantly think we can hack stuff we barely grasp and it will work perfectly??
Its like some hacker wannabe kid with a bunch of downloaded tools (and no skills) just cracked his 2nd video game and promises it runs wonderfully and uploads it for others to use....
Or when IT promises something is going to be fool proof...
On Mac and Linux I will use the menubar because it is one of the best UI ideas - right up there next to the mouse. I think the Ribbon is a good idea for many windows users... except those who need to retrain as a result of it.
I really liked the new ideas behind the ribbon when I 1st saw it. Using it for a while I quickly hated it and realized that power users did not need it. I would think IT support would hate it even more-- try telling somebody to pick a menu item over a phone when the menus are presented as a 'ribbon'.
Honestly, its not that new of an idea. It made me think the desktop was going towards the web; I've seen many websites with navigation similar to the 'ribbon' and MS just decided to look less desktop like and more like some web app.
I MISS CLIPPY! BRING CLIPPY BACK! He did almost as much as the ribbon did to get people to switch to open office.
1) MOST the problem people for children are FRIENDS AND FAMILY! This fact can not be stated enough. Obviously, tracking does little good.
2) The majority strangers are good people and will help / watch out for kids; well, not in lawsuit crazy countries or ones were the culture of fear makes everybody a threat; even the child who needs your help or supervision. Parents today seem over protective, possibly because they are so much more negligent than previous generations? (its not their fault they are this way)
3) Teenagers will not wear such a watch, outsmart it etc. Teens get themselves into trouble; much of it not requiring tracking-- knowing where they are being foolish is not that useful. Its primary use here would be kidnapping into the sex trade which is much higher in some areas and at certain ages and genders. This is still quite a low percentage even in relative bad areas.
4) Young "adults" would be better suited to a cell phone. Lots of ideas possible here. Ideally, something that was set it off with you yelling help... Your phone tracks you ALREADY to a general area if not precisely by this point-- no gps required. Eventually most children will have a cell phone too.
5) Drug sex offenders to kill their sex drive. Similar to drugging the mental cases as we do now (both are mental problems.) This would possibly even help with the #1 cause of the problems. Makes more sense to have the sick people pay to treat themselves than everybody else pay to see where their kid was before / during victimization.
6) How about we put the tracking devices ON THE OFFENDERS instead of all the kids? (which wouldn't help with biggest group-- friends and family.) This is a lot like house arrest bracelets.
Seriously, somebody who preys on unknown kids/teens has a mental problem not a criminal problem-- punishment doesn't work; they only learn how not to get caught next time or go after safer targets (friends/family) or kill the victims. It requires life-long treatment, not temporary punishment. Its just as foolish as punishing gay people for being gay and thinking it will fix the situation. Legalized prostitution would also cut down the numbers- hey its a fact - prohibitions never work.
7) Bad Behavior / Drugs: Knowing where the child is will not help a whole lot; most the drug users I've known did it around friends, at home, or even at school.
8) Parents: Do you want to have data that could be used to prosecute your child?? In the USA, we prosecute children for stupid shit and are quite foolish about punishing them (in some areas even corrupt about it... http://www.ahrp.org/cms/content/view/519/150)
9) Clever hacker types (who could be kids) will combine with the power of the internet to provide less talented people easy ways to hack the watches so they don't work as planned
10) What about bad coverage areas? GPS doesn't work in all places and sending the data back is even more troublesome. Should a parent call 911 because the child disappears near some kids basement? Would wrapping foil over it cause it to do the same thing?
ZFS seems to solve many issues with a higher-end block manager approach in the filesystem itself; it is like a smart software raid.
However, ZFS is not wide spread and outside of SUN not something I can trust for serious use at this time. Its also a server bound solution as well; some higher end hardware would be nice that had ZFS features like the high end solutions already out there but doesn't cost a fortune with vendor lock.
I have (for fun) created Raid 10 with triple redundancy but i never used it in production (due to cost.) Again with a RAID 10 you are using at least 4 disks. You COULD lose 2 disks and be ok as long as it is not the wrong pair of disks. It goes up the larger the stripe goes. Yes, the whole thing is gone if you happen to lose the wrong 2 drives. The other RAIDs can't lose 2 disks except raid 6 which isn't even available in many situations.
The problem is people unlike the parent poster who do not understand you can never legislate solutions to these conundrums.
The reasons judges and juries exist is to insert some interpretation and sense to the rigid rules. They are flawed people as well but they are nearer the situation than those writing the laws; its a simple logistics problem.
Too many people do not understand that the law IS a strong guideline and is not absolute!
Their politicians then add to the bloat of the system with pointless guidelines, mandatory sentencing, and complex laws trying to control all future situations is a futile attempt that hurts society.
Somebody gaming the system isn't too hard to spot but by the letter of the law they get away with it. For some reasons we don't want juries to know about jury nullification or to recommend punishments outside the prescribed options.
In the USA, common sense largely died off long ago. For example:
We now have to buy insurance just in case some fool hurts himself on our property. Its one thing if you put bear traps in your yard... and another if a stupid kid drowns at your cabin when you are not there.
Some countries have Judge duty. The entry point is there- you can spent money to go deeper into the system but for small claims and stupid claims it works cheaply and educates the people being judges. Yes, bad timing could cost you-- but now you are screwed $$$ either way. Fear of the overly complex system that has turned into a exclusive club terrorizes citizens as much a farmer in a showdown with hired gunfighter.
Reproduction has almost nothing to do with Civil Unions or much to do with sex anymore; especially for gay people! The world is 2/3 over populated, reproduction is now a problem not a need. Religions promote procreation to increase membership and thereby power and influence; therefore, adding to the problem. They politically control the issue which is why its void of logic and reasonable debate is dead.
Many people confuse Marriage with Civil Unions; I find a vast majority confuse those with procreation.
Everybody (even religious nuts) considers a childless marriage a marriage; so therefore, its not a mandatory part of its definition. The secular and legal definitions are even more lax.
Your culture's concept of family is not universal. Some cultures have defined family by cohabitation not by sex and offspring. Some separate sex from coupling; some are not as stuck on THEIR kids but feel the children are the community's responsibility. Elements are in all, but some stress parts differently with profound outcomes.
It is ethnocentric to impose the marriage; specifically the Jewish/Christian concept upon others - EVERY BIT as much as its ethnocentric to discriminate against GAY people. (At least the majority no longer stones gay people.)
"Marriage" (for lack of a non-charged term) is about relationships not solely for the purpose of offspring. You can regulate reproduction without touching marriage.
I agree that logically, if you can regulate incest for genetic reasons you surely can regulate genetic diseases far more likely to cause troubles for the exact same reasons. Its not a slippery slope (which BTW is a fallacy not a trend.) The incest laws are irrational and pre-date the science; its cultural based; any attempt to rationalize them leads to contradictions.
Here is a bigger question:
You need a license to drive a car; why don't you need one for having a child?
Adoption is heavily regulated; why isn't procreation? (sex is not procreation BTW)
I have a fist, yet I can't bash in your face despite having a "natural right" to do so.
Your mistake is in the assumption the laws exist due to logical reasons and that they were made by people aware of the other laws.
Its an emotional illogically based law stemming from pop culture and nothing else. The rest is merely rationalization to make it sound legitimate.
Eugenics was ok in the USA until the push against it which reached its peak during WW2 where the ideas were taken too far (and not based on reason either.) Now you can't have a serious discussion without WW2 extremities killing it.
I have seen rebuilding problems TWICE where a 2nd drive died or had sector errors during rebuild. I've also avoided problem but had drives in the RAID all dying or having errors within the same year of the 1st drive's problem. Its not comfortable to spend 6 months swapping out most the drives when you can only afford to lose 1 of them.
The solution is preemption. You replace drives every 3 years reguardless. see google's study on drive life. 5 years seems to be the furthest one should go and 3 years is safer. Its also true that a significant number of drives show trouble in the 1st month (under heavy use) and I was about to start a burn in policy before I left that job. We ordered 30-40 drives at a time.
Buying the disks at the same time is somewhat unavoidable because if you buy lots you get discounts; PO approval etc. I think the risks are low of multiple drive deaths. I would however replace a whole batch immediately if just 1 died from the lot (my new policy.) Key to this is tracking the drives by AGE and batch. Oh, I USED to swear by seagate.
Hardware raid may cost but just try getting back online when the raid controller DIES. Buy two. I prefer software RAID, especially on servers; screw pci drivers! I never was a fan of parity RAID; use RAID 10. You can lose up to HALF of all disks in RAID 10; sure, a specific half not random half... its all a gamble anyhow.
Ultimately the #1 question is always: "What is my data worth to me?"
Going in the future, I've been WISHING somebody will standardize drive clustering; hopefully with dumb controller boards on the disks and a standardized controller board. Sure its a hardware controller-(and centralized caching?)- but it doesn't have to be RAID it can be a block level manager without the limitations of RAID. If standardized, then the main problems of resolving controller failure and vendor lock would be gone; plus you could would have an upgrade path. Today, this can not be done because you get tied to a vendor, a series, or even just 1 model of controller board.
The problem will continue to grow to the point where people will want management not dumb RAIDs; then we might see a move towards a convention and maybe standardization.
Incest is a cultural and possibly biological bad thing... I suppose I could agree that they shouldn't be involved in that either. I do not think it would be common and the abusive stuff would still be a crime (one could classify it as abuse and get it MOSTLY illegal without messing the right to choose a partner.)
Multiple spouses? I suppose those happen already, just not in the legal system... Legally, its 1 at a time but that doesn't seem to change a whole lot. Again, normal people don't do it without cultural support for it. Women with rights probably are extremely unlikely to agree to other wives. For the most part, I think today we have about the same stats regardless of the legal system.
Age? Well its rather silly to put numbers on it. Every now and then I hear about some poor child (18 or 19) fooling around with a 16-17 year old and getting labeled a sex offender. Where has the purpose for judges gone??? (they are there to inject some "common sense" not brainless apply law by guidelines.)
Government needs more restriction on its power to enforce the belief systems of the majority onto minorities. This INCLUDES marriage! A standard contractual agreement is all that is required to give the benefits of legal marriage-- without any restrictions--- relatives, room mates, etc. should be possible. If you want marriage go to a private entity for it. It is a bad idea to mislabel civil unions "Marriage" and dilute the language.
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Me, I find the behavior of the UK continually ironic. I think they should give Turning more than just a formal apology. He should be held up as an example of how flawed humans can be so that future generations have more examples to hopefully learn from. Given the size of his contribution, he should get a holiday.
Why do we have to be conventional about electric cars? We treat batteries like a fuel tank and electricity as gas and fantasize about hydrogen gas replacements. Why not think more like propane tanks? You get a large battery pack, use it up and then swap for another one when it goes dead. They can contain some electronics per battery pack. You pay when you swap it. Proper standardization and you'd be able to do seamless tech upgrades on the batteries (which is why you want some electronics on the batteries.) Sure, you could also charge it slowly yourself if you wanted (making use of solar car parks etc.)
Its not like I'm giving up much; I can't make my own gas either.
Battery cost would be amortized, greatly lowering car costs! You'd pay it in "battery fuel" which would cost more initially but likely it would be competitive, since the car cost would drop by the battery price making them cheaper than gas cars. The per-mile cost would depend on life of the battery, how many batteries your car uses, and the low low price of electricity. Electric costs are in the pennies per mile so if they rose to include batteries to $4-5 per mile-- so be it! It would tend to go down over time instead of upward like gas.... level off at cheaper than gas prices after maybe 5 years? in 50 years it might be down to pennies a gallon (Mr. Fusion?)
My car has a 300 mile range; I'm ok with stopping 3 times more to swap my tank-- although 99% of the time I travel less than 100 miles in a day and could charge it overnight. So I'd actually stop for "fuel" much less than I do now... more likely I'd do it because the battery was wearing out. Sure, this makes for a tough business model on the batteries since many people would not pay for swaps and refills making that battery an operating loss. One could have the battery record usage and you'd be billed later; complex charging could also deter physical hacking... it would still happen but not for most people. (as is the case with music etc now-- they are still highly profitable.)
Standardized battery packs makes for easy transitions of technology and lowers costs for the batteries; its pretty bad to have to go to the dealer to get expensive replacement parts (VW I'm looking at you...) We are shafted today with some parts; however, its not that frequent or expensive like battery packs...
There is no reason the battery packs have to be 100s of pounds and massive... something that can work for a tiny car would be a good size. Other cars would require 2-4 of them. The rates they pay wouldn't have to be a multiple of how many they use (but it probably should be.)
The medical companies advertise more than any other group and employ PR on levels that most nations at war could only dream of. They have inflated their importance in our lives when they are not required. Mankind did and can still go on with out them. In many ways the situation is analogous to some science fiction reality where our perception of reality is being controlled-- not with sci-fi technology but with old fashioned corruption and the social sciences. Big tobacco was a huge foe that took 30 years before anything was done (and they grew globally as a result;) this cabal is virtually unstoppable by comparison. Plus they can mobilize more frightened employees to spread the PR which is easier in a economic depression.
People do not realize they spend little money on actual drug research which was and still is largely done outside their companies. The migration of researchers will just go the other direction if they are shutdown. Say that they fund half the research (which I highly doubt) and you don't ignore the many useless inventions they put tons of money into (like male enhancement)--- mankind can continue without any of it. We will just make discoveries slower; sure, some people suffer while waiting-- but at the same time, you can't simply solve scientific problems by throwing more money at them! (assuming that they can be solved at all.)
The personal touch will always be part of politics (and I'm not referring to employees or young boys or Minneapolis bathrooms.)
Humans seem to be suckers for it--- couldn't get those two hostages free in North Korea with a Skype chat on Opera with Bill Clinton! Bill had to go in person; showing respect (and courage-- seriously, if they are as nuts as the "news" tells us then its insane to risk a bigger mess when they have Bill as a hostage. So clearly they are not as crazy as we've been told here in the USA...)
From those who used it to fight crime by raising their skill in DNA forensics and to those trying to defend or exploit it there were many opportunities to approach it from a "hacker" mindset with good or bad intentions.
This is the 1st public release of this information; there likely many more approaches than these "new" ones. When something like this is "discovered", why assume that the 1st discoveries are always reported? I'm not just implying any government conspiracies; organized crime, law enforcement, and even legal firms as well could have funded PRIVATE research into this area decades ago when DNA evidence was young--- and they all did to various degrees.. not all of it being made public.
I can't think of examples just within the realm of scientific research... but we've heard about scientific discoveries where many passed over or dismissed something that eventually somebody looked into and found or proved something "new."
Then we have the US FBI's method for DNA matching being far far less reliable than they thought and the FBI not wanting to formally admit error while other counties raised the bar on their DNA matching. (not sure we have yet...because in doing so it is like an admission of error...)
Government is the result of many people living together being "civilized." It reflects the people it governs; in a democratic system that means the people run the government-- practicality dictates employees, volunteers and representatives because the mob can not equally do everything for many reasons.
The city IS forced to serve the public's interests; not you individually, an average of the group's interests and the system by which that averaging occurs greatly influences how it works--- how the citizens participate and how much they can THINK being the largest factor. Corporate hijacking of the system is a function of the flawed system (which will never be perfect; it runs on humans) and LARGELY the citizens themselves who must fire the traitors who serve another master. If the public doesn't do its job the system can't save them and neither can good public servants who'd likely not stick around for long. Furthermore, dictators are essentially elected by the inability of the people to collectively overcome them.
The point behind a democratic system was to civilize the process of violent revolution that ALWAYS has and will be required. It also lowers the bar for kicking the bums out; but it also lowers the VALUE of transition. There is less cost involved; therefore, less value.
Public servants are NOT normal citizens! They should not be entitled to all our rights; just as the military takes away many basic rights from those public servants. As far as I'm concerned, it should be so bad that they have trouble finding people who want the jobs! As for police, we have a constant surplus where I live doing other jobs because there isn't enough work--- and we require college degrees and they still have waiting lists. Politicians are far far worse-- they should practically have their own reality show with a camera permanently bolted on their heads! (well, almost that severe-- they should never be allowed to work again; I'm sick of these former officials being loophole lawyer "consultants" and lobbyists its like their job was about setting up deals for later if not while they are in office.)
Those who can't play by the majority's rules can not be part of the game. It is NOT about punishment nor is it about rehabilitation! It is a practical reality: removal from society due to their inability to live by society's rules. Fundamentally this is the function; all the other stuff, that is just an additional layer of extraneous thought.
Many kinds of anti-social behavior are a result of mental sickness; therefore, rehabilitation is the logical conclusion-- treating a mental problem as a disease and trying to cure it. In these cases, its about mental health and not punishment which makes time periods ridiculous. A pedophile is sick in the head and until they are "cured" they should never be let out or with proper monitoring not let near children-- just like mentally handicapped can still be beneficial a part of society (just don't let one be president again.) Hans Reiser killed his wife - but he should be allowed to continue to work; never allowed to be married or date again if not simply isolated / monitored so he can't flip out and kill again; but turning a functional member of society into a burden to society is a waste.
The sick mentality in the USA for punishment and irrational assumption of guilt makes the public complacent to flaws in the prison system and legal system. We put the mentally ill in general circulation mixed with aggressive anti-social types and promote talk about prison rape and murder hoping to deter people... BTW, how many people commit a crime KNOWING they are going to get caught? (especially the young ones who make up a majority of 1st time offenders.)
Some people simply do not follow the rules of their society; they are the ones which must be forced to live my those rules even if it means they have to be separated from society. Possibly it can be solved with RELOCATION instead of incarceration. Punishment isn't likely to be that effective with them and it is not. Used to be in the USA that messing with the race laws was going against society and those who wouldn't comply either were in jail or they became refugees (or worse: they were actually punished for being evil criminals simply because they disagreed with popular racism.) Sure, there are people thinking you can beat the children into submission and it works on some... but it doesn't work that well and it will never lead to a Utopia. BTW, a you-topia is not that great of a goal; its pursuit caused more harm than good every time.
Humans do random shit; and the legal system tries to be too literal minded-- there are plenty of people with minor and major errors that got them into our sick system of punishment. Vengence drives a lot of the irrationality in all the legal systems of the world.
Similar things happened for the great depression which is why to some extent this depression didn't become "great" and has slowed down (doesn't mean that it is over or that the fall will be quite slow.)
The DIFFERENCE with this re-run? the PRESS and the CONGRESS WORKED TOGETHER to expose what was going on to the public which helped create the political will necessary to make meaningful changes; however, it was not enough to undo the newly created FED which helped create the whole mess in the 1st place as they did this time. People in the know tell me FED this and FED that but forget that during the weakest moment in history the FED won.
Krugman is an OK guy. HOWEVER, he is not a Nobel Prize winner! Its a way for some bankers to promote their economic policy to the world with a fake Nobel and everybody falls for it! Think about it and do some research. Nobel is only for science and peacemaking. Economics is neither and its degrading to the Nobel Prize. Mathematical models for voodoo is not credible work-- chaos as an equation if proven possible-- fine; but until then.... Other sciences can not win the Nobel yet we allow them to hijack it for economics?!!
You want serious predictions of the future? They are not pretty. The global warming stuff-- will be worse than the predictions 10 years ago because most were going from the most positive hopeful range of the projections just so they could be easier for people to accept. Behavior trends like that not only extend into other areas but also continue with present day predictions trying to be accepted by the mainstream. The bubble economic system will continue and those who question it will remain largely silent and work within it (as Krugman did and still largely does.) Madoff wasn't a freak he was a product of the system (or attracted to it.)
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Well, just keeping with the neural network basics on the assumption they are close enough to how the brain works; or that a neural network is an equivalent type of computer:
The human brain would then be an analog computer functioning with some differences. The network itself and the weights being more important than the cells themselves; well, lets just assume that for the brain; its already the case for the NNet.
I've not read any papers on this, but I have not seen much in the way of transferring knowledge (non-linear approximations) between different networks because the knowledge is in the network and is too complex to map over. The solution commonly used to move the knowledge over is to plug one into the other so the destination re-learns the function. I can't see how a human brain could do this.
Ok, say we have a copy of the brain's network in the computer so we don't have to worry about transferring between different NNets: Then we have issues with the analog nature of the brain. I read about a hardware NNet long ago which used less "neurons" to perform the same task as the software NNet. What was discovered was physical properties were impacting its operations and being capitalized on; therefore requiring less hardware to perform the same task. The downside was the NNet would fail when the outside noise that was part of its learning changed - they changed the temperature and it messed up. I thought this was somewhat telling in that a human brain is much more limited in temperature than the mere living conditions of the cells; it starts malfunctioning too. So, we may simulate the thing perfectly but the analog factors make the two systems too different to simply clone-- so it becomes a problem like I mentioned above. (unless we simulate enough of these factors to get it to "heal" itself-- using a real brain as a boot strap.)
Yes, I think smaller brains will come first. I do think our simple NNet model we have is amazingly powerful and approximate enough a foundation; we do intelligent things with them already and they are extremely small.
I'm willing to bet on such a short time because I think we can figure out enough stuff to get the machine to figure a lot of it out itself. I don't think brains start out wired all the same; they develop with some initial fractal-like pattern which we might be able to model by that time?
Do we need to model a human brain? Can we just get something similar enough that it figures it out itself? Maybe it isn't on par, but if it can approximate us on many tasks won't that be enough? If it does act human, is it? or more importantly, do we really want to make the ultimate rube goldberg machine that just makes the same mistakes we do?
I've seen what one of these "sensors" on cells phones does for detecting water. It amounts to a special sticker which changes color when it gets wet! Problem is in finding a replacement sticker when yours turns color and they refuse to believe that you did not get the phone wet! I've seen these things change color from high humidity where they don't completely turn just a little bit--- but enough that some jerk think its any hint of discoloration is enough. Never leave it in the bathroom if the room gets full of steam. I bet that long periods of use and mild moisture eventually push the thing to the debatable range; although, but that point the battery is worn out and a replacement costs as much as a phone so....I wonder what realy humid areas of the world do to it.
So does this mean next time I put my apple keyboard in the dishwasher they are not going to give me a new one someday when it breaks? I'm not stupid, I turn off the laptop 1st. ;-)
Around 2012 the tech will exist to map the whole human brain; not a living one, just the resolution needed to get all the cells and connections-- maybe 2015... and it'll probably have to be a dead brain that doesn't move. Brain scans already gets quite small on living human brains; but I heard this estimate about 6 years ago and it sounds reasonable.
Not understanding how the brain works will always be a problem; its a nonlinear approximation (of the number 42?) as far as our general understanding of it goes--- even if the brain is just an analog version of such a math problem, those problems almost instantly scale beyond our grasp with only a few variables involved (just think in terms of linear algebra problems and how basic they have to be to "solve;" which doesn't necessarily mean we really fully understand the answers we get. For example, infinity--we work with it, get the concept but we never will fully understand it. )
Computing power grows at certain rates; one can use that combined with an estimate of how many transistors it takes per simulated neuron (or something like that) and estimate at what point we will have the power to load the brain scan data in and start trying to simulate a model of a real brain. Using custom designed chips and circuitry only make shorten the estimate as does clever new ways to simulate processes.
I'm guessing around 2030 but its hard to say. Doesn't mean that when somebody tries it something will happen...may have to give the thing simulated I/O as well to get anything from it. My guess is politics will be the worst problem as this kind of research gets closer to science fiction.
OpenOffice is thinking in the same closed way MS does. Microsoft is rigid and dictatorial.
OpenOffice can be like Firefox with the GUI interface, not a simple theme skin, but a bit more advanced while being less coupled than a Firefox add-on.
I should be able to get a Word 5.1 interface (the only one of theirs I could tolerate) on OpenOffice and KEEP that plug-in for the next few decades without having to putz around to keep it as I upgrade OpenOffice. Most users HATE having stuff move around for many reasons and OpenOffice should let you have it your way and NOT mess around with you.
How does the average office user know to pick a different plug-in?
First, you don't have a million preference settings which take weeks of researching comparisons to make it act like something else-- there should be a list of grouped preferences with themes with widgets to choose from. Second, the install process asks the user to "vote" for what they want by showing many large screen shots coupled with a long list of interfaces properly named. Third, the help system's screen shots should be intelligent so they represent the interface and not just whatever somebody took and image of (clearly, gui related help items would have to be tied to a "theme".)
Office software is office software-- you should be able to make it look /act like any other office software you want (within reason) because its JOB is a generic one.
I know I'm proposing something big and complex; but hey, this is openoffice and firefox is doing both customization approaches already.