Everyone seems so confident that this experiment will work as expected. What if the green-house warming goes out of control and a now hospitibal mars (although a little chilly) becomes a roaring furnace that immediately melts anything that isn't metal.
I personally think that its better to do lots and lots and lots of testing before completing experiments that change the habitability of Mars. As it is right now, you need pressure sealed homes, some O2 from water and a way to keep yourself warm. Its about the same as living under the ocean, which is pretty decent for colonizing an entirely different planet.
Patents were created to protect novel physical inventions. Not the idea of a physical invention, but an actual implementation of an invention (we can all dream up flying cars, but its very difficult to build the first working model). Mathematical formulas and ideas were intentionally exluded from patent law.
When a person tries to patent software, they either patent the idea of what is done or a particular implementation. The problem with this is that patenting an idea doesn't require implementation (and therefore invention) and an actual software implementation necessarily reduces to a mathematical formula. The patenting of new mathematical constructs would have a strongly chilling effect on Western learning. The patenting of ideas is quite silly and is the cause of most slash scorn concerning patents.
Either way, I think that software patents (and business process patents) are a horrible mistake and as an American I wish that the EU remains a safe haven from this recent legal development.
I completely agree with Astrodrabb that this is pretty much the only way to salvage the patent system. I suggest an extension to this that only this particular implementation is patentable. If someone finds a different implementation that accomplishes the same task, then they have successfully circumvented your patent. The real hard part of any new idea is implementation. All of us can envision flying cars and nuclear powered rockets, but until a person spends the painstaking effort of actually building one, its just hot air.
The current patent system gives power to people that have the money to file for patents and takes it from people that have the drive to actually build new things.
Patents are unbelievably expensive compared to copyright. There are two ways that they are expensive.
The thousands of dollars to draft and maintain a patent (copyright is free and instantaneous)
The years of time it would take to comb through every patent, understand it and know for sure that you aren't violating any existing patents
The second point makes the system entirely un-workable as there are so many patents that it is impossible for any one person to be sure that they aren't stepping on someone else's claimed invention. What makes the system just laughable is that now ideas are being patented (software and business processes) which are vague by nature. On top of this ridiculous situation is the notion of triple damages if you are almost aware of a patent that you later infringe upon (so you are horribly punished for trying to play by the rules and read through ambiguous patents). The system is horribly broken and stacked many times over against the little guy. I deeply wish that the case law that made software and business process patents legal is overturned quickly.
Godspeed EFF, you fight for all of us little guys and gals.
Here are a couple links to some great free C++ IDEs which have builds available for Win32 and for Linux. Both environments rely on GCC for compilation and they are perfect for students.
The man is suggesting an end to the free flow of information that science is built upon. He talked about scientific "guilds" that would hold the sacred flame and hide it from everyone else in an effort to preserve the human race.
I'm sorry, but that would sound like the end of at least interdisciplinary science if not science itself. I think the rubuttal that you labeled "simplistic" is pretty accurate. Just because the results of science can be used for destructive aims is not a reason to return to the ages of hidden knowledge.
If this were true, then it should be illegal to put COPS on air. Tons of people watch COPS and surely this has caused a massive epidemic of crime which is neeeded to fuel the public's insatiable demand for crazy COPS footage.
This whole article is an accountant's view of morality. Its repugnant to hear anyone discuss the merits of another peron's death based upon how much it will cost someone else. It seems as though people with money should have the right to demand executions. Damn that Linus fellow, he cost me 30 billion dollars, he is _so_ executed.
On top of this whole problem is a cause and effect error. Are these virus and worm writers helping software and hardware makers build more secure systems or are they causing the downfall of western civilization? Imagine if there was no virus writers for the last few decades and then throw in a really nasty fellar that destroys all the data of every networked device on the planet.
You actually had me really excited until I went to install it. Wow! Postgres on windows! Then I read this:
This will install PostgreSQL 7.3.1 Proof of Concept for Windows Alpha 1
Not only alpha, but a proof of concept no less. I don't think this is quite what I was envisioning;)
Why MySQL is more popular than Postgres
on
Why MySQL Grew So Fast
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
It doesn't seem like anyone is honest enough to spill the beans on this one. Postgres isn't available for windows without using Cygwin. The truth is that most beginers are looking for an executable download... with an installer. If you tell them that they have to compile or install something else first, they freak out.
The truth is that people are learning on their home systems which are more often than not windows systems. On top of this, most hosting companies only support what is most popular, hence MySQL.
Once Postgres is available on windows as an executable download with an installer, watch its popularity soar.
Neo became _the_ tool - Oracle the manipulator
on
The Matrix: Resolutions
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Neo was told by the Architect that his role was to fully express the instability in the matrix and at the architect's cue, to enter the door and share his code with the source. Both losing Trinity and his defiant self, but saving humanity. Neo would have none of this
So in the end, he joined directly with the source, lost Trinity and himself, and saved humanity.
It turns out that the Architect and the Oracle are much more similar than at first glance. The architect is an old-school architect that plans everything out before-hand and forces everyone into this "perfection". The Architect generally hates choice as it is too complex to adequately design for during the design phase.
Humans generally hate being forced and like to think that they have free choice. Some people hate being forced so much that they can't stand being forced into something nice and generally pleasant for them. These people are the remainder of the equation that the Architect can't abide. With the architect alone, the matrix consistently failed because of these people that couldn't stand to be forced. It is the Oracle control mechanism that works for this last remainder.
Neo did exactly what he was supposed to, but only because he was manipulated by the Oracle into thinking that it was his decision. The Oracle pulls, the Architect pushes.
It is the Oracle that is guiding the changes in Neo from one version of Neo to the next. She influenced Trinity's feelings for him and she influenced his development. She was designed to create a workable Matrix (because the Architect couldn't do it on his own), but she is also fighting for power against the Architect. At the end of the third movie, she holds a great deal more power than ever before. She has changed the fate of Zion and the way in which the one passes his hidden bits to the source (much to the displeasure of the Source having to physically make an agreement with the human).
Further, I think the Matrix proves deeper than what we are shown and I think that Smith's monologue to a drugged Morpheus in part 1 reveals it. He talks of how the first Matrix was a utopia that was a failure because humans define their existance through misery. He says that this human problem lead to the present Matrix. The present Matrix is not particularly miserable, perhaps unpleasant in areas, however, Zion and the real world are a very unpleasant reality (destroyed world, perpetual hiding, constant fear of attack and death). I also assert that the Matrix and Zion/real world are actually inside another Matrix. For the people that don't like being told what to do even if it is pleasant. For these people, the machines have created a truly deplorable place, but one of their own choosing.
The humans that can't take the Architect's grand lovely Matrix have their very own hell-hole of "truth" and "reality".
Many of the programs are aware of this and look down on the sheep and the masochists.
The strongest evidence for this higher level Matrix however, is the Oracle's power. She can "see" the future. This of course is drivel, that is, unless there was a higher level of abstraction above the Matrix that was shaping and guiding the Matrix beneath it. The Oracle has access to this higher-level Matrix and that is how she can predict what is going to happen.
Because she is a comparative God that lives within the Matrix, she is far more powerful than what she appears and that is why her powers are of such a lustful nature to the Frenchman. She does after all, have her own angel.
Whatever lies above the Matrix is unknown. This higher-level Matrix explains away the whole "human battery" thing, but not the stupidity in which the "real humans" accept it.
For me, Revolutions was as much of a teaser for the next movie as anything. The revolution brought us back to almost the same place (except that Zion doesn't need to be rebuilt, but rather continues). The one has fullfilled his designed role (in a slightly different way than normal) and the cycle is set to repeat. Along with the Oracle, I expect to see Neo again some day.
Aparantly these "stupid people" are making profit on "stupid products" at the expense of decent products that actually work.
Maybe people creating decent products should also package them in appealing ways as well, rather than depending entirely on word-of-mouth.
Generally its a good idea to think about and craft every aspect of a product and not just its utility. Beauty, intended market, and product position are all important to consumers of commercial products.
Here is a technique that every 3D person should know. Open up the task manager, click the processes tab, find the 3D app's process, right-click on it and set priority to below normal or low. This will give priority to your other wimpy apps but will cost the 3D application almost no processor time.
interface vs. implementation
on
Java vs .NET
·
· Score: 1
So you're saying that the interface is the same, but the implementation is constantly being improved when it comes to hammers.
I think the point being argued had to do with changes to the interface.
At the time it wasn't considered dirty at all. Jarnac's move was surprising and a Coup de Jarnac at first meant to use a surprising move on an opponent. However, the term took on darker colors as time passed.
http://www.thearma.org/essays/DOTC.htm
I think everyone should be surgically implanted with subdermal gps microphones that happens to carry a small explosive charge. Everyone can agree that the potential benefits outweigh any possibility for misuse. Imagine... a golden world free of crime!
Thank Government for these little training wheels so that I couldn't do anything to embarass myself, my family, or my country.
You're forgetting business competition. If costs drop, and profit margins increase, then this segment becomes an especially juicy morsel in the eyes of competitors. Another company comes along, offers more for the same price (reducing profit margins to previous levels as it hires more people) and kicks the crap out of the incumbant.
This isn't the case with monopolies and hence the unpleasantness. However, monopoly tends to breed not only competitor lust, but customer loathing.
Slashdot Mirror
Everyone seems so confident that this experiment will work as expected. What if the green-house warming goes out of control and a now hospitibal mars (although a little chilly) becomes a roaring furnace that immediately melts anything that isn't metal.
I personally think that its better to do lots and lots and lots of testing before completing experiments that change the habitability of Mars. As it is right now, you need pressure sealed homes, some O2 from water and a way to keep yourself warm. Its about the same as living under the ocean, which is pretty decent for colonizing an entirely different planet.
Patents were created to protect novel physical inventions. Not the idea of a physical invention, but an actual implementation of an invention (we can all dream up flying cars, but its very difficult to build the first working model). Mathematical formulas and ideas were intentionally exluded from patent law.
When a person tries to patent software, they either patent the idea of what is done or a particular implementation. The problem with this is that patenting an idea doesn't require implementation (and therefore invention) and an actual software implementation necessarily reduces to a mathematical formula. The patenting of new mathematical constructs would have a strongly chilling effect on Western learning. The patenting of ideas is quite silly and is the cause of most slash scorn concerning patents.
Either way, I think that software patents (and business process patents) are a horrible mistake and as an American I wish that the EU remains a safe haven from this recent legal development.
I completely agree with Astrodrabb that this is pretty much the only way to salvage the patent system. I suggest an extension to this that only this particular implementation is patentable. If someone finds a different implementation that accomplishes the same task, then they have successfully circumvented your patent. The real hard part of any new idea is implementation. All of us can envision flying cars and nuclear powered rockets, but until a person spends the painstaking effort of actually building one, its just hot air.
The current patent system gives power to people that have the money to file for patents and takes it from people that have the drive to actually build new things.
Patents are unbelievably expensive compared to copyright. There are two ways that they are expensive.
The second point makes the system entirely un-workable as there are so many patents that it is impossible for any one person to be sure that they aren't stepping on someone else's claimed invention. What makes the system just laughable is that now ideas are being patented (software and business processes) which are vague by nature. On top of this ridiculous situation is the notion of triple damages if you are almost aware of a patent that you later infringe upon (so you are horribly punished for trying to play by the rules and read through ambiguous patents). The system is horribly broken and stacked many times over against the little guy. I deeply wish that the case law that made software and business process patents legal is overturned quickly.
Godspeed EFF, you fight for all of us little guys and gals.Schaaweeeeet
In this episode of Nancy Drew we find that Nancy got sand trapped in her shoe while walking on the beach. This may explain how...
Here are a couple links to some great free C++ IDEs which have builds available for Win32 and for Linux. Both environments rely on GCC for compilation and they are perfect for students.
Dev C++
MinGW Developer Studio
The man is suggesting an end to the free flow of information that science is built upon. He talked about scientific "guilds" that would hold the sacred flame and hide it from everyone else in an effort to preserve the human race.
I'm sorry, but that would sound like the end of at least interdisciplinary science if not science itself. I think the rubuttal that you labeled "simplistic" is pretty accurate. Just because the results of science can be used for destructive aims is not a reason to return to the ages of hidden knowledge.
If this were true, then it should be illegal to put COPS on air. Tons of people watch COPS and surely this has caused a massive epidemic of crime which is neeeded to fuel the public's insatiable demand for crazy COPS footage.
This whole article is an accountant's view of morality. Its repugnant to hear anyone discuss the merits of another peron's death based upon how much it will cost someone else. It seems as though people with money should have the right to demand executions. Damn that Linus fellow, he cost me 30 billion dollars, he is _so_ executed.
On top of this whole problem is a cause and effect error. Are these virus and worm writers helping software and hardware makers build more secure systems or are they causing the downfall of western civilization? Imagine if there was no virus writers for the last few decades and then throw in a really nasty fellar that destroys all the data of every networked device on the planet.
-zipping up his trousers-
When is the interview?
That was the interview, your hired.
You actually had me really excited until I went to install it. Wow! Postgres on windows! Then I read this:
;)
This will install PostgreSQL 7.3.1 Proof of Concept for Windows Alpha 1
Not only alpha, but a proof of concept no less. I don't think this is quite what I was envisioning
It doesn't seem like anyone is honest enough to spill the beans on this one. Postgres isn't available for windows without using Cygwin. The truth is that most beginers are looking for an executable download... with an installer. If you tell them that they have to compile or install something else first, they freak out.
The truth is that people are learning on their home systems which are more often than not windows systems. On top of this, most hosting companies only support what is most popular, hence MySQL.
Once Postgres is available on windows as an executable download with an installer, watch its popularity soar.
Neo was told by the Architect that his role was to fully express the instability in the matrix and at the architect's cue, to enter the door and share his code with the source. Both losing Trinity and his defiant self, but saving humanity.
Neo would have none of this
So in the end, he joined directly with the source, lost Trinity and himself, and saved humanity.
It turns out that the Architect and the Oracle are much more similar than at first glance. The architect is an old-school architect that plans everything out before-hand and forces everyone into this "perfection". The Architect generally hates choice as it is too complex to adequately design for during the design phase.
Humans generally hate being forced and like to think that they have free choice. Some people hate being forced so much that they can't stand being forced into something nice and generally pleasant for them. These people are the remainder of the equation that the Architect can't abide. With the architect alone, the matrix consistently failed because of these people that couldn't stand to be forced. It is the Oracle control mechanism that works for this last remainder.
Neo did exactly what he was supposed to, but only because he was manipulated by the Oracle into thinking that it was his decision. The Oracle pulls, the Architect pushes.
It is the Oracle that is guiding the changes in Neo from one version of Neo to the next. She influenced Trinity's feelings for him and she influenced his development. She was designed to create a workable Matrix (because the Architect couldn't do it on his own), but she is also fighting for power against the Architect. At the end of the third movie, she holds a great deal more power than ever before. She has changed the fate of Zion and the way in which the one passes his hidden bits to the source (much to the displeasure of the Source having to physically make an agreement with the human).
Further, I think the Matrix proves deeper than what we are shown and I think that Smith's monologue to a drugged Morpheus in part 1 reveals it. He talks of how the first Matrix was a utopia that was a failure because humans define their existance through misery. He says that this human problem lead to the present Matrix. The present Matrix is not particularly miserable, perhaps unpleasant in areas, however, Zion and the real world are a very unpleasant reality (destroyed world, perpetual hiding, constant fear of attack and death). I also assert that the Matrix and Zion/real world are actually inside another Matrix. For the people that don't like being told what to do even if it is pleasant. For these people, the machines have created a truly deplorable place, but one of their own choosing.
The humans that can't take the Architect's grand lovely Matrix have their very own hell-hole of "truth" and "reality".
Many of the programs are aware of this and look down on the sheep and the masochists.
The strongest evidence for this higher level Matrix however, is the Oracle's power. She can "see" the future. This of course is drivel, that is, unless there was a higher level of abstraction above the Matrix that was shaping and guiding the Matrix beneath it. The Oracle has access to this higher-level Matrix and that is how she can predict what is going to happen.
Because she is a comparative God that lives within the Matrix, she is far more powerful than what she appears and that is why her powers are of such a lustful nature to the Frenchman. She does after all, have her own angel.
Whatever lies above the Matrix is unknown. This higher-level Matrix explains away the whole "human battery" thing, but not the stupidity in which the "real humans" accept it.
For me, Revolutions was as much of a teaser for the next movie as anything. The revolution brought us back to almost the same place (except that Zion doesn't need to be rebuilt, but rather continues). The one has fullfilled his designed role (in a slightly different way than normal) and the cycle is set to repeat. Along with the Oracle, I expect to see Neo again some day.
relativePositioning
Aparantly these "stupid people" are making profit on "stupid products" at the expense of decent products that actually work.
Maybe people creating decent products should also package them in appealing ways as well, rather than depending entirely on word-of-mouth.
Generally its a good idea to think about and craft every aspect of a product and not just its utility. Beauty, intended market, and product position are all important to consumers of commercial products.
Here is a technique that every 3D person should know. Open up the task manager, click the processes tab, find the 3D app's process, right-click on it and set priority to below normal or low. This will give priority to your other wimpy apps but will cost the 3D application almost no processor time.
So you're saying that the interface is the same, but the implementation is constantly being improved when it comes to hammers.
I think the point being argued had to do with changes to the interface.
At the time it wasn't considered dirty at all. Jarnac's move was surprising and a Coup de Jarnac at first meant to use a surprising move on an opponent. However, the term took on darker colors as time passed. http://www.thearma.org/essays/DOTC.htm
Everyone can agree that the potential benefits outweigh any possibility for misuse.
Imagine... a golden world free of crime!
Thank Government for these little training wheels so that I couldn't do anything to embarass myself, my family, or my country.
"These micro-engines have over 300 times more energy than an ordinary battery and are much lighter and smaller."
So a cellphone that needs a daily charging will now need a refill once a year?
I would wager that this claim carries a degree of exaggeration.
You're forgetting business competition. If costs drop, and profit margins increase, then this segment becomes an especially juicy morsel in the eyes of competitors. Another company comes along, offers more for the same price (reducing profit margins to previous levels as it hires more people) and kicks the crap out of the incumbant. This isn't the case with monopolies and hence the unpleasantness. However, monopoly tends to breed not only competitor lust, but customer loathing.