Well, I agree that an engineering student could make a film.... if the engineering student took film courses. Like I did. And believe you me, it's not just a matter of having an idea for a film, picking up a camera, and making it happen.
No, it's more like ordering your meal. Then the restaurant takes 5 years to prepare it, all the time exclaiming that it's going to be the best meal ever. Then, when you get it, you find out it's complete crap, and it takes them another year just to get around to fixing it.
So what you're saying is, Microsoft needs Gordon Ramsay?
Calgary[, Alberta] has very good tap water taken from two rivers that run through it, and Coca-Cola has a large bottling plant there. Anyone want to guess where Dasani bottled water comes from? That's right, out of the taps in Calgary and Brampton, ON...it goes to show what a ripoff bottled water can be, and usually is.
I know. For those of us who don't live in Calgary and would like access to clean, Calgary water, buying it would be a ripoff. Oh, wait.
BTW, this was the missing rat anecdote. That shows me skipping the preview:/
Rats can count, at least up to three. When trained, rats can select the Nth tunnel (N less than 5) where food can be found, regardless of the position of the tunnel, even if each tunnel is out of sight of the other. I say up to three because in the experiments, when food is placed in the 4th tunnel, the rats race to the end of the tunnel sequence, and count backwards by one, as if counting to 4 isn't possible. This is somewhat higher intelligence -- memory with a sense of ordering.
I recently read an interesting book by Marian Dawkins, Through Our Eyes Only (The Search for Consciousness). The majority of the book actually dealt with intelligence. The book takes you through various behaviors, arguing that there is a spectrum of intelligence.
For example, insects appear clever when they are placed in normal insect circumstances, but they act inappropriately -- cannot adapt -- when faced with abnormal circumstances. For example, digger wasps drag their dead cricket up to the edge of their burrow, then leave the cricket there, enter the burrow, check it out, come back out, and drag the cricket in. When you pull the cricket away a little bit when the wasp is in the burrow, the behavior repeats over and over: the wasp drags the cricket back, checks the burrow, etc. This is not adaptive, and so it is a sign of lower intelligence.
Clever Hans (the horse) could not count, although he faked it pretty well. Clever Hans would watch his owner give subconscious cues when the horse counted up to the correct answer. This is higher intelligence than insects, but still not so high.
Rats can count, at least up to three. When trained, rats can select the Nth tunnel (N Alex the Parrot could abstract color and number concepts. When trained to answer "How many" when shown a bunch of corks, and "How many" when shown wood sticks, the parrot correctly responds. However, when shown a new experience -- a mixed number of corks and wood sticks, the parrot correctly answers with the total number. This is even higher intelligence -- the ability to abstract.
And so on.
The book seems to skip over the question of consciousness. The book seems to conclude that consciousness is not intelligence, but since we have consciousness and intelligence, and animals also have intelligence (to a greater or lesser extent) then either animals also have consciousness, or consciousness is an illusion. If consciousness is not an illusion, then evolutionarily speaking, consciousness must have an effect that is notably better than not having consciousness.
In any case, better minds than mine have argued over this:) And as you can tell by my sig, I believe nonhumans and machines can be conscious and intelligent.
Hey, where the hell am I? Where are all the "all your base" jokes? Isn't this Slashdot? I must've gotten turned around and gotten into BoingBoing or something.
I'm not sure what your title has to do with your post. Gray market goods are goods manufactured legitimately and specifically for countries with depressed prices, showing up for sale in countries with high prices through unauthorized distribution. The typical example is digital cameras and DV cams manufactured for, say, the Southeast Asian market showing up for sale in the US.
The only difference is that the gray market devices come with that other country's language, not yours. Also the manufacturer will not honor warranties on gray market devices. Other than that, they work exactly as advertised.
What you are talking about are not even built legitimately, so I don't think you mean gray market.
Not so much that he's from Hungary, but for what he did. You see, we Westerners think of the old Soviet-era Eastern Europe as a windswept expanse of cold, grey concrete buildings. All the people are huddled inside, shivering over a fire made out of rolled-up Pravda, because the Central Committee didn't come through with the oil for the 15th year running. Smartly-dressed politzei wearing fur hats patrol the streets with vicious attack dogs.
So it's pretty natural that if you see a 3D render in Excel, you have to think: "My God, what God-forsaken country do you have to be in to have to do 3D renders in Excel?!" And then you picture that guy hiding in a monk's hole, giggling to himself, swilling tea made from thrice-used teabags heated by Pravda fire, with a dash of bootleg Stolichnaya for kicks, and it couldn't happen anywhere except Eastern Europe, that fictional colorless country where it snows all the time.
The recent proposal to send humans to Mars is idiotic. I.e. we send take months and god knows how many $$ to send a few humans to Mars and then bring them back. What kind of an idiotic idea is that?
It's the kind of idiotic idea that will help us figure out what we need to do next time to send more humans to Mars.
Slashdot Mirror
I'd leave it all right where it was.
Forget the nontactile keyboard. The first concept looks like it's displaying an old CoCo chiclet keyboard. DO NOT WANT!
--Rob
Technically speaking, the computer *is* the most important item. The TV, no matter how much it is *liked*, is not as important.
--Rob
I know I wouldn't want to do 150 mph, let alone 30 mph on a smooth plastic road.
Well, I agree that an engineering student could make a film.... if the engineering student took film courses. Like I did. And believe you me, it's not just a matter of having an idea for a film, picking up a camera, and making it happen.
GetEasterDate in Perl, huh? My, my, my.
I admit it! I'm a student! Now where's mah moolah?
I agree, this was bad sentence structure, but "may" in this case means "will be allowed to".
--Rob
So what you're saying is, Microsoft needs Gordon Ramsay?
--Rob
Actually, it kinda looks like K9, without the head.
Yes...mahster!
--Rob
I thought that was a feature of all functional languages, not just Erlang?
--Rob
I think my cat speaks for me when she says:
"Ung-k-ung-k-ung-k-UNG-K-kkhkhkhkhklleeechcchhh!!"
--Rob
Sure, I am known to purr on occasion.
--Rob
I know. For those of us who don't live in Calgary and would like access to clean, Calgary water, buying it would be a ripoff. Oh, wait.
--Rob
OMG, srsly, that is the best rationale for it ever. I hereby propose to call that the Only One Cinnabon Conspiracy!
BTW, this was the missing rat anecdote. That shows me skipping the preview :/
Rats can count, at least up to three. When trained, rats can select the Nth tunnel (N less than 5) where food can be found, regardless of the position of the tunnel, even if each tunnel is out of sight of the other. I say up to three because in the experiments, when food is placed in the 4th tunnel, the rats race to the end of the tunnel sequence, and count backwards by one, as if counting to 4 isn't possible. This is somewhat higher intelligence -- memory with a sense of ordering.
I recently read an interesting book by Marian Dawkins, Through Our Eyes Only (The Search for Consciousness). The majority of the book actually dealt with intelligence. The book takes you through various behaviors, arguing that there is a spectrum of intelligence.
For example, insects appear clever when they are placed in normal insect circumstances, but they act inappropriately -- cannot adapt -- when faced with abnormal circumstances. For example, digger wasps drag their dead cricket up to the edge of their burrow, then leave the cricket there, enter the burrow, check it out, come back out, and drag the cricket in. When you pull the cricket away a little bit when the wasp is in the burrow, the behavior repeats over and over: the wasp drags the cricket back, checks the burrow, etc. This is not adaptive, and so it is a sign of lower intelligence.
Clever Hans (the horse) could not count, although he faked it pretty well. Clever Hans would watch his owner give subconscious cues when the horse counted up to the correct answer. This is higher intelligence than insects, but still not so high.
Rats can count, at least up to three. When trained, rats can select the Nth tunnel (N Alex the Parrot could abstract color and number concepts. When trained to answer "How many" when shown a bunch of corks, and "How many" when shown wood sticks, the parrot correctly responds. However, when shown a new experience -- a mixed number of corks and wood sticks, the parrot correctly answers with the total number. This is even higher intelligence -- the ability to abstract.
And so on.
The book seems to skip over the question of consciousness. The book seems to conclude that consciousness is not intelligence, but since we have consciousness and intelligence, and animals also have intelligence (to a greater or lesser extent) then either animals also have consciousness, or consciousness is an illusion. If consciousness is not an illusion, then evolutionarily speaking, consciousness must have an effect that is notably better than not having consciousness.
In any case, better minds than mine have argued over this :) And as you can tell by my sig, I believe nonhumans and machines can be conscious and intelligent.
Hey, where the hell am I? Where are all the "all your base" jokes? Isn't this Slashdot? I must've gotten turned around and gotten into BoingBoing or something.
--Rob
I'm not sure what your title has to do with your post. Gray market goods are goods manufactured legitimately and specifically for countries with depressed prices, showing up for sale in countries with high prices through unauthorized distribution. The typical example is digital cameras and DV cams manufactured for, say, the Southeast Asian market showing up for sale in the US.
The only difference is that the gray market devices come with that other country's language, not yours. Also the manufacturer will not honor warranties on gray market devices. Other than that, they work exactly as advertised.
What you are talking about are not even built legitimately, so I don't think you mean gray market.
--Rob
Not so much that he's from Hungary, but for what he did. You see, we Westerners think of the old Soviet-era Eastern Europe as a windswept expanse of cold, grey concrete buildings. All the people are huddled inside, shivering over a fire made out of rolled-up Pravda, because the Central Committee didn't come through with the oil for the 15th year running. Smartly-dressed politzei wearing fur hats patrol the streets with vicious attack dogs.
So it's pretty natural that if you see a 3D render in Excel, you have to think: "My God, what God-forsaken country do you have to be in to have to do 3D renders in Excel?!" And then you picture that guy hiding in a monk's hole, giggling to himself, swilling tea made from thrice-used teabags heated by Pravda fire, with a dash of bootleg Stolichnaya for kicks, and it couldn't happen anywhere except Eastern Europe, that fictional colorless country where it snows all the time.
--Rob
Hint: One's depressed. One's depressing.
To be fair, neither would I. But also to be fair, I might if it were for an artist that has released several albums before, all of which I like.
--Rob
It's the kind of idiotic idea that will help us figure out what we need to do next time to send more humans to Mars.
--Rob
I think you mean, "Mah conspiraciez. Let me show you it."
--Rob
Actually, it's called the Broken Window effect. Look it up :)
--Rob