If you want some real insight into just how hit-or-miss and unscientific is the alleged research that leads to new pharmaceutical drugs, read the history of the development of Strattera. Here's a drug that Eli Lilly originally tried to develop as an anti-depressant. Sadly, during trials they discovered that it didn't have much "anti" effect at all. So did they just drop it and move on? Nope: they convinced the FCC to instead approve it as a treatment for ADD.
These people have no f***ing idea what they're doing, have virtually no Big Picture of neurochemistry, and have no idea what effect and side effects a compound will have until they actually test it on guinea pigs. They're slinging paint on the cerebral canvas while blindfolded, and charging criminal prices for the (patented) end-result.
Nicotine is a biological poison. Tobacco and other plants produce it as a chemical defense against both insects and other competing plants (it leaches into surrounding soil through roots and decomposing leaves). In fact, most modern drugs are poisons in anything but tiny amounts that the kidneys can neutralize.
What would inspire them to think a poison was a good candidate for a psychiatric drug? Could it possibly be the absence of any patented nicotine derivatives, and thus another potential source for obscene profits?
I don't think Mr. Barnes considers all the possible ramifications of HIDs. Much of his argument in favor of keyboards assumes a perfectly functioning human memory; completely aside from an ability or inability to touch-type, the ability to *remember* keyboard shortcuts is critical to succesful use of a keyboard in that fashion. Not all humans have a perfectly functional memory. It also depends upon how many different applications a person uses, and with what frequency; someone who uses dozens of applications and many of them infrequently will not be able to remember keyboard shortcuts with any reliability. If that person also possessed ADD traits including a poor memory, the problem would be magnified substantially.
Mr. Barnes' arguments dismiss the existence of both power-user geeks who use many dozens of applications and people with ADD and poor memory. Unless Mr. Barnes wants to put up the cash to buy everyone in those classes one of the fancy expensive new programmable OLED keyboards and then personally invest the time to ensure its perfect cooperation with every application, he might be better off keeping his HID opinions to himself.
I doubt that eBay can present me with a confirmation of acceptance of an offer at a specific price, and then later retract it saying, "Oh, wait... we were a bit hasty, made a mistake, didn't notice this other coincidentally higher bid here."
I suspect we can all hold eBay legally liable for those initial confirmations and make eBay eat the difference, since they're in turn confirming only the later higher bids to the sellers, rather than the initial ones reported to buyers.
The expectation is that you're an ignorant twit who won't comprehend why your phone died, and will simply toss it and buy another rather than seek expensive service for it. Certain corporations like Norelco, Braun, Black & Decker and many others have been making mass-market electronics with embedded batteries for years with the express intention that it will guarantee an obsolescence of no more than perhaps five years. Now Apple joins the sordid ranks. Is that a surprise?
Where does the gasoline go when it leaves the allegedly cozy confines of the tanks? It gets pumped up through other equipment that isn't double-digit feet underground, part of which is exposed to the full heat and light of day, and probably generates heat itself from operation. No, the gasoline won't heat up to ambient temperature in the trip, but it leaves me unconvinced that the advice is a complete myth, whether it had its origins in more haphazard days or not.
The sage advice has always been to buy gas before 10am. Of course, being forthrightly compensated for warmer less dense fuel would be better. As Michael Moore repeatedly suggests in his new movie - and this is rightly the subtitle of the movie - it's long overdue for Americans to be MORE like the French and make our government and corporations afraid of us rather than the other way around. It's the French (and Canadian)people screaming "Jump!", and the French guv'mint and big biz meekly asking, "How high?"
... on Sunday I encountered a bug in eBay, having to do with last-second bidders. I was involved in an auction, and updated the auction page immediately after it was scheduled to close; it reported me as the winning bidder at a price of $77.01. Since I was at a friend's house, when I got home I went to arrange payment and discovered that a last-seconds bidder had been inserted after the fact, and my winning bid had now jumped to $93.50. I had set a max bid higher than his, otherwise presumably the interloper would have won... but then, since *I* had the original winning bid at $77.01 before it belatedly noticed his bid and inserted it, how would the system have handled that? Would I have been summarily removed as winner after having already been told that I had won?
If anyone can think of a way to have malicious fun with this and make some money, lemme know.
Microsoft wants to hire the top 5% most capable coders at the bottom 5% of the wage scale. It's called greed and exploitation. I'd work for next to nothing, but they won't even hire me.
Unfortunately for us, FactCheck limits its interest to politics, although... this sorta posturing might even qualify as politics. Maybe they'll register the domain FactCheck.BIZ as well and start a new branch?
Isn't it about time we started applying open source principles and methodology more broadly to human endeavor? You can't really even have true open source software unless knowledge in general is also open source. And if knowledge is open source, well, where do patents of any flavor fit in?
Patents have never fostered innovation; that's a lie we've endured for far too long. What fosters innovation is free and open exchange of ideas.
Apparently it's only a "game" and relevant to their criteria if it's mindless - as in beer and pretzels - and doesn't really require intellect, like Super Mario Brothers?
What is so special about Delaware, that so many of the music corporations are incorporated there? What is it about Delaware (and California) that makes it so damned friendly to these monsters? Clearly there's some aspect of tax, tort, or corporate law or the CODB there that makes them all want to flock there. What's the deal?
"... and additional data that track the movement of the files through the Internet."
Note that, throughout his statements up to this point, Linares has repeatedly reasserted that MediaSentry doesn't use any techniques not enabled by the software and medium and not available to any other user of the system. It's obvious he wants to preserve for MediaSentry and, by extension the RIAA, that no "illegal" or unethical techniques were employed to gather data.
Right here, with this sentence, he contradicts himself. I think it's rather obvious that this sentence describes an activity that other P2P users cannot do, even if they chose to try. The very ambiguity of it, and his failure to clarify it, is noteworthy.
Dig deeper right there; "X" marks the spot, as Blackbeard might say.
Hmmm, what better way to screw over the Army for shorting his pension than to wait until the last second before he croaks to give 'em a PR headache of monstrous (er, alien?) proportions? Who're they gonna they gonna sue, whose pension records are they gonna conveniently lose that can hurt him now? And what a legacy to leave... he's guaranteed a whole chapter in every conspiracy book and blog for the next century!
"... Makes 3D Touchable" "...makes 3D objects solid enough to grasp."
And yet:
"... also feel solid to touch."
How exactly is feeling solid to the touch, i.e. having the illusion of being solid, that same as actually being solid, as both the title and first sentence rather clearly state? Sheesh.
Regardless, I'm kinda curious... given that it only creates the illusion of solidity, if as suggested one were to shake hands virtually using the device, what would happen if one were to do a Schwartzenegger and squeeze too tightly? Would the other person wince in agony?
He hit the damned nail on the head, you idiot anonymous mod. How is this NOT "digital rights management"?
This firm has designed hardware/firmware that would let printer manufacturers digitally restrict your use of their product, i.e. the printer, by preventing OEMs from making alternative cartridges and you from having choices. Isn't that rights management? If a competitor actually succeeded in creating a knockoff, you'd see a repeat of the stunt Lexmark pulled with toner cartridges: they'd sue in court under the provisions of the DMCA. In this case, this sleazebag Cryptography Research would no doubt jump in with a patent infringement suit, as well.
It's bad enough that average people are such a complete disappointment; when I see people here mod like that, even Slashdot disappoints me.
A very useful article... unfortunately spread across a dozen pages with no 'print view' available.
This situation is exactly what the "Repagination" extension for Firefox was created to thwart: it collapses multiple linked pages into one. It's not perfect (page headers and such are replicated, too), but with Aardvark or RIP or similar extensions the result could be cleaned up for printing or archiving.
That's a nice cliche, but in the real world it's not always true. Simple observation of biodynamics by a layperson, in this case, is enough to know that the company is FOS. Either the product itself is crap, or at the very least their marketing is mis-targeted or deceptive.
Also, it's worth noting the submission was by the reviewing site itself, hyping its own damned review. Hyping the hype, in essence.
Try this simple test: rest your arm on a desk in front of you, with your thumb pointing straight upward. Now how "ergonomic" does that feel? Can you feel the muscle stress in your arm? Now RELAX those muscles: to what position does your arm and hand naturally move?
That's right: it naturally wants to rotate approximately ninety degrees... just about the right position for a standard mouse.
The claims of this product are a lie, because the muscles in your forearm are actually MORE stressed in the required position, not less. Ergonomic, my ass.
Try this simple test: rest your arm on a desk in front of you, with your thumb pointing straight upward. Now how "ergonomic" does that feel? Can you feel the muscle stress in your arm? Now RELAX those muscles: to what position does your arm and hand naturally move?
That's right: it naturally wants to rotate approximately ninety degrees... just about the right position for a standard mouse.
The claims of this product are a lie, because the muscles in your forearm are actually MORE stressed in the required position, not less. Ergonomic, my ass.
Slashdot Mirror
If you want some real insight into just how hit-or-miss and unscientific is the alleged research that leads to new pharmaceutical drugs, read the history of the development of Strattera. Here's a drug that Eli Lilly originally tried to develop as an anti-depressant. Sadly, during trials they discovered that it didn't have much "anti" effect at all. So did they just drop it and move on? Nope: they convinced the FCC to instead approve it as a treatment for ADD.
These people have no f***ing idea what they're doing, have virtually no Big Picture of neurochemistry, and have no idea what effect and side effects a compound will have until they actually test it on guinea pigs. They're slinging paint on the cerebral canvas while blindfolded, and charging criminal prices for the (patented) end-result.
Nicotine is a biological poison. Tobacco and other plants produce it as a chemical defense against both insects and other competing plants (it leaches into surrounding soil through roots and decomposing leaves). In fact, most modern drugs are poisons in anything but tiny amounts that the kidneys can neutralize.
What would inspire them to think a poison was a good candidate for a psychiatric drug? Could it possibly be the absence of any patented nicotine derivatives, and thus another potential source for obscene profits?
I don't think Mr. Barnes considers all the possible ramifications of HIDs. Much of his argument in favor of keyboards assumes a perfectly functioning human memory; completely aside from an ability or inability to touch-type, the ability to *remember* keyboard shortcuts is critical to succesful use of a keyboard in that fashion. Not all humans have a perfectly functional memory. It also depends upon how many different applications a person uses, and with what frequency; someone who uses dozens of applications and many of them infrequently will not be able to remember keyboard shortcuts with any reliability. If that person also possessed ADD traits including a poor memory, the problem would be magnified substantially.
Mr. Barnes' arguments dismiss the existence of both power-user geeks who use many dozens of applications and people with ADD and poor memory. Unless Mr. Barnes wants to put up the cash to buy everyone in those classes one of the fancy expensive new programmable OLED keyboards and then personally invest the time to ensure its perfect cooperation with every application, he might be better off keeping his HID opinions to himself.
I imagine it will over slightly less well with the birds.
I smell a class action lawsuit here.
I doubt that eBay can present me with a confirmation of acceptance of an offer at a specific price, and then later retract it saying, "Oh, wait... we were a bit hasty, made a mistake, didn't notice this other coincidentally higher bid here."
I suspect we can all hold eBay legally liable for those initial confirmations and make eBay eat the difference, since they're in turn confirming only the later higher bids to the sellers, rather than the initial ones reported to buyers.
The expectation is that you're an ignorant twit who won't comprehend why your phone died, and will simply toss it and buy another rather than seek expensive service for it. Certain corporations like Norelco, Braun, Black & Decker and many others have been making mass-market electronics with embedded batteries for years with the express intention that it will guarantee an obsolescence of no more than perhaps five years. Now Apple joins the sordid ranks. Is that a surprise?
Where does the gasoline go when it leaves the allegedly cozy confines of the tanks? It gets pumped up through other equipment that isn't double-digit feet underground, part of which is exposed to the full heat and light of day, and probably generates heat itself from operation. No, the gasoline won't heat up to ambient temperature in the trip, but it leaves me unconvinced that the advice is a complete myth, whether it had its origins in more haphazard days or not.
The sage advice has always been to buy gas before 10am. Of course, being forthrightly compensated for warmer less dense fuel would be better. As Michael Moore repeatedly suggests in his new movie - and this is rightly the subtitle of the movie - it's long overdue for Americans to be MORE like the French and make our government and corporations afraid of us rather than the other way around. It's the French (and Canadian)people screaming "Jump!", and the French guv'mint and big biz meekly asking, "How high?"
Sorry about the movie spoiler. Or not.
... on Sunday I encountered a bug in eBay, having to do with last-second bidders. I was involved in an auction, and updated the auction page immediately after it was scheduled to close; it reported me as the winning bidder at a price of $77.01. Since I was at a friend's house, when I got home I went to arrange payment and discovered that a last-seconds bidder had been inserted after the fact, and my winning bid had now jumped to $93.50. I had set a max bid higher than his, otherwise presumably the interloper would have won... but then, since *I* had the original winning bid at $77.01 before it belatedly noticed his bid and inserted it, how would the system have handled that? Would I have been summarily removed as winner after having already been told that I had won?
If anyone can think of a way to have malicious fun with this and make some money, lemme know.
Microsoft wants to hire the top 5% most capable coders at the bottom 5% of the wage scale. It's called greed and exploitation. I'd work for next to nothing, but they won't even hire me.
Unfortunately for us, FactCheck limits its interest to politics, although... this sorta posturing might even qualify as politics. Maybe they'll register the domain FactCheck.BIZ as well and start a new branch?
Isn't it about time we started applying open source principles and methodology more broadly to human endeavor? You can't really even have true open source software unless knowledge in general is also open source. And if knowledge is open source, well, where do patents of any flavor fit in?
Patents have never fostered innovation; that's a lie we've endured for far too long. What fosters innovation is free and open exchange of ideas.
Apparently it's only a "game" and relevant to their criteria if it's mindless - as in beer and pretzels - and doesn't really require intellect, like Super Mario Brothers?
That's it. End of game. End of story.
What is so special about Delaware, that so many of the music corporations are incorporated there? What is it about Delaware (and California) that makes it so damned friendly to these monsters? Clearly there's some aspect of tax, tort, or corporate law or the CODB there that makes them all want to flock there. What's the deal?
Note that, throughout his statements up to this point, Linares has repeatedly reasserted that MediaSentry doesn't use any techniques not enabled by the software and medium and not available to any other user of the system. It's obvious he wants to preserve for MediaSentry and, by extension the RIAA, that no "illegal" or unethical techniques were employed to gather data.
Right here, with this sentence, he contradicts himself. I think it's rather obvious that this sentence describes an activity that other P2P users cannot do, even if they chose to try. The very ambiguity of it, and his failure to clarify it, is noteworthy.
Dig deeper right there; "X" marks the spot, as Blackbeard might say.
"OMG, they DO exist!"
Hmmm, what better way to screw over the Army for shorting his pension than to wait until the last second before he croaks to give 'em a PR headache of monstrous (er, alien?) proportions? Who're they gonna they gonna sue, whose pension records are they gonna conveniently lose that can hurt him now? And what a legacy to leave... he's guaranteed a whole chapter in every conspiracy book and blog for the next century!
Did anyone else notice?
"... Makes 3D Touchable"
"...makes 3D objects solid enough to grasp."
And yet:
"... also feel solid to touch."
How exactly is feeling solid to the touch, i.e. having the illusion of being solid, that same as actually being solid, as both the title and first sentence rather clearly state? Sheesh.
Regardless, I'm kinda curious... given that it only creates the illusion of solidity, if as suggested one were to shake hands virtually using the device, what would happen if one were to do a Schwartzenegger and squeeze too tightly? Would the other person wince in agony?
I like that! That gets filed. :thup:
He hit the damned nail on the head, you idiot anonymous mod. How is this NOT "digital rights management"?
This firm has designed hardware/firmware that would let printer manufacturers digitally restrict your use of their product, i.e. the printer, by preventing OEMs from making alternative cartridges and you from having choices. Isn't that rights management? If a competitor actually succeeded in creating a knockoff, you'd see a repeat of the stunt Lexmark pulled with toner cartridges: they'd sue in court under the provisions of the DMCA. In this case, this sleazebag Cryptography Research would no doubt jump in with a patent infringement suit, as well.
It's bad enough that average people are such a complete disappointment; when I see people here mod like that, even Slashdot disappoints me.
This situation is exactly what the "Repagination" extension for Firefox was created to thwart: it collapses multiple linked pages into one. It's not perfect (page headers and such are replicated, too), but with Aardvark or RIP or similar extensions the result could be cleaned up for printing or archiving.
That's a nice cliche, but in the real world it's not always true. Simple observation of biodynamics by a layperson, in this case, is enough to know that the company is FOS. Either the product itself is crap, or at the very least their marketing is mis-targeted or deceptive.
Also, it's worth noting the submission was by the reviewing site itself, hyping its own damned review. Hyping the hype, in essence.
Try this simple test: rest your arm on a desk in front of you, with your thumb pointing straight upward. Now how "ergonomic" does that feel? Can you feel the muscle stress in your arm? Now RELAX those muscles: to what position does your arm and hand naturally move?
That's right: it naturally wants to rotate approximately ninety degrees... just about the right position for a standard mouse.
The claims of this product are a lie, because the muscles in your forearm are actually MORE stressed in the required position, not less. Ergonomic, my ass.
Try this simple test: rest your arm on a desk in front of you, with your thumb pointing straight upward. Now how "ergonomic" does that feel? Can you feel the muscle stress in your arm? Now RELAX those muscles: to what position does your arm and hand naturally move?
That's right: it naturally wants to rotate approximately ninety degrees... just about the right position for a standard mouse.
The claims of this product are a lie, because the muscles in your forearm are actually MORE stressed in the required position, not less. Ergonomic, my ass.
... you blog about it for no pay from a machine that cost you what might have been the final nail in your down payment on a new house.