That is the first thing I thought of. Another way for college students to cheat...just what the world needs. On the other hand, if the machines can actually start understanding stuff, we'll all be obsolete and irrelevant anyway.
Yay! For once, HL & Counterstrike not mentione
on
NYT on Game Mods
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
There have been lots of articles in the mainstream media about mods, but usually they end up talking almost exclusively about Half Life and Counterstrike. For once, I'm glad to see them not get mentioned. It is time for the online FPS gaming community to move on from those 5 year old games and mods. There is much better stuff out there to play now than Half Life & Counterstrike. I think the Desert Combat mod for Battlefield 1942 has a chance of becoming the "new" Counterstrike.
Um, last I checked, the USA is a far bigger and more populous country than S Korea, so if you are saying $80B x 2 = $160B to wire the US twice with 100Mbit than you are making a big error. Even if the US is only 10 times the size of S Korea, it would be 80 x 2 x 10 = $1.6 trillion for the US.
That's one of the big problems with liberals: they all failed math class.
You're all being too hard on Peter Jackson's portrayal of Gimli. The dwarf-tossing joke was corny but in good fun considering that dwarf-tossing is some kind of weird tradition in Jackson's native New Zealand where the film was shot. I think Jackson's portrayal of all the characters makes the audience really care about each one of them. I have to say that the film has made me appreciate the sympathetic side of Gollum more than I ever did when reading the book.
Numbering the ballots or the printed records of electronic voting sounds like a good idea to me. I would still have voters sign their ballot or the printed record of their electronic vote. This would add more security because if someone fraudulently managed to get through the voter identification process (e.g. with a fake ID), an audit could still catch them because their signature won't match that of the voter they impersonated.
In fact, technology might be better used for improving the voter identification process than for actually casting ballots. In addition to checking an ID card before allowing someone to vote, why not add another identity check such as fingerprint scanning?
Sorry if you misunderstood. I never suggested that voters carry the signed receipt out of the polling place. The signed receipts would be retained in the locked ballot box as a verifiable paper backup that would only be looked at in the event that a recount or election audit was necessary. When people leave the polling pace, they would not be carrying anything that bullies could use to verify how they voted.
If a little bit of methanol can power a fuel cell, I think most people should be able to power their portable devices using the methane that all of us emit on an almost continuous basis (at least judging from the guys who always seem to sit next to me on airplanes). Sure the little hose you would have to wear would be kind of uncomfortable at first, but I think we'd get used to it. It would also give us all a good excuse to break wind in public: "Um, sorry, but I need to make a phone call." On the days you just aren't very flatulent, you could just "bum some fuel" from the person next to you.
The system you describe (I've used it myself), while better than punch cards by a long shot, doesn't solve the inevitable questions and problems that will arise if a manual recount is necessary. What about lines that people drew and then tried to erase? What is the standard for judging whether a line is dark enough to count as a vote? What about when there are two lines filled in? What about obvious votes which were done improperly (e.g. the person didn't fill the entire gap, or they put an X instead of filling the gap, etc)? All of these things are the equivalents of the "hanging chad" issues that existed in the 2000 Florida recount. If you have ever handled paper questionnaires or ballots, you would understand that a significant portion of the population just doesn't seem to be capable of following simple instructions for marking a questionnaire or ballot.
The system you describe (I've used it myself) doesn't solve the inevitable questions and problems that will arise if a manual recount is necessary. What about lines that people drew and then tried to erase? What is the standard for judging whether a line is dark enough to count as a vote? That about when there are two lines filled in? What about obvious votes which were done improperly (e.g. the person didn't fill the entire gap, or they put an X instead of filling the gap, etc)? All of these things are the equivalents of the "hanging chad" issues that existed in the 2000 Florida recount. If you have ever handled paper questionnaires or ballots, you would understand that a significant portion of the population just doesn't seem to be capable of following simple instructions for marking a questionnaire or ballot.
The system you describe (I've used it myself) doesn't solve the inevitable questions and problems that will arise if a manual recount is necessary.
What about lines that people drew and then tried to erase? What is the standard for judging whether a line is dark enough to count as a vote? That about when there are two lines filled in? What about obvious votes which were done improperly (e.g. the person didn't fill the entire gap, or they put an X instead of filling the gap, etc)? All of these things are the equivalents of the "hanging chad" issues that existed in the 2000 Florida recount. If you have ever handled paper questionnaires or ballots, you would understand that a significant portion of the population just doesn't seem to be capable of following simple instructions for marking a questionnaire or ballot.
Why is it that millions of financial transactions occur each day with relatively good reliability, and the ability to track down and correct errors, but they can't seem to design a reliable system to count votes?
The main thing is that there should always be a paper receipt as backup. When you go to the ATM you get a receipt, when you use your credit card, you get a receipt. When you vote electronically, a matching receipt should be printed, signed by the voter, and retained in a locked ballot box. The receipts in the ballot box can then be counted if there is a question about the electronic results.
I think we need to consider keeping the ability to match voters to ballots in order to reduce the chance of ballot-box stuffing (either electronic or physical). Of course safeguards would need to put in place to restrict and prevent the abuse of knowledge about how someone voted. For example, after a certain amount of time, all ballots should be destroyed, etc.
This is just plain wrong. Why should all of the students have to subsidize music fans' hobby? This is tyranny of the majority. I bet they are not going to use university money to subsidize other "minority" hobbies. Community resources should only be used for things that benefit everybody or the community as a whole: public education, roads and bridges, national defense, etc. Transferring community money to the RIAA to allow Johnny to "freely" download "Oops I Did It Again" by Britney Spears is not something that benefits the community as a whole.
It is apparent that Lucas is incapable of leaving well enough alone. If he makes any of these changes, I hope he will at least put the original theatrical release versions (with all of the original 1977-1983 era special effects) on the DVDs as well as the new "improved" versions.
The only two things in the list of rumored changes that I approve of are:
Restoring the original scene where Han shoots Greedo.
Giving Chewie a medal at the endo of ANH (I thought he got one in the original version, but he should have if he didn't).
The changes in the list that horrify me completely:
More ewoks...even if they aren't little kids and midgets in fuzzy costumes anymore.
JarJar Binks in RotJ.
Replacing Sebastian Shaw with Hayden Chistensen in RotJ.
Messing with the lighsaber duel between Obi Wan and Vader.
Naboo fighters in the Death Star battle in ANH.
Messing with the original score. However Duel of the Fates is indeed a brilliant piece, and John Williams is a genius, so I will reserve judgment until I hear the changes.
OMG...please tell me you are not serious about the rumor that he is going to splice Amidala into the end of RotJ! I wouldn't put it past him though.
However, removing the Ewoks would be cool! Maybe in a few years he'll do a Special Edition of Episode I where he digitally removes JarJar Binks, Anakin, and Amidala, and in Episode 2 he could digitally replace Anakin with a wooden plank.
Now since you didn't know what a PHB is, you must be one yourself. However, I applaud your willingness to show weakness by asking others for help in finding out what a PHB is.
My guess why Microsoft doesn't just license the technology is that it's the same reason the the US government doesn't negotiate with terrorists...it just encourages more terrorism. By going around the patent, Microsoft demonstrates to other companies that might try to force MS into licensing their technology that there will probably be no financial benefit...MS will just rewrite their software to avoid having to license their technology. It's the same thing the Linux development community will do to avoid infringing on any of SCO's alleged code, if SCO's case is upheld in court.
If we tried to buy up SCO stock to take them over, it would create demand for SCO stock, drive the price up, and the SCO directors would make out on their options. You can bet that a buyout offer from IBM is probably one of the outcomes that SCO's corporate directors would really like.
I was just thinking, if Linux-using companies got together and organized a divestment campaign against SCO, could that succeed in dampening SCO's interest in continuing to pursue it's new business model of aggressive and unfounded IP litigation? This would mean dumping any directly controlled investments in SCO, both by the corporate parent and any subsidiaries. Even greater pressure could be brought to bear through 401K and pension plans. Companies could eliminate mutual funds which include SCO stock in their portfolios from the list of investment options included in employee 401K and pension plans. Such a campaign might not only appeal to Linux-using companies, but to any company who feels that SCO's litigious strategy is fundamentally bad for the business environment in general. If the SCO business model was adopted widely it would only succeed in sucking productive corporate resources (e.g. money, time) and fattening the wallets of lawyers. Once you get a few corporate behemoths together to start the divestment campaign, it could generate publicity, snowball, and really drive down the price of SCO stock.
Identity theft wouldn't be such a big problem if corporations and branches of government would authenticate properly. People's dogs are getting pre-approved credit card spam! If you know someone's momma's maiden name, banks will roll over and give you the key to the vault. Sure, they've got tons of money spent on all the other security features (except auditing of course. and integrity/accesibility, disaster data recovery people gotta make a buck to) but it doesn't help if you think someone's mom's maiden name is a secret!
I can't agree with this more! You should be able to sue companies if they give credit in your name without having taken adequate steps to verify that it is really you who is requesting the credit. This means that all mail, phone, and internet applications for credit should be outlawed. You should have to be physically present and provide multiple forms of identification, be photographed, and perhaps have your fingerprints taken in order to apply for credit. This wouldn't be perfect either, but it would cut down on fraud by 90% or more because identity thieves wouldn't want to have their photograph or prints taken, even if they were able to produce authentic looking fake id.
Yes, it's true that the EU has the authority to determine how large the fine should be. They could levy a fine so large even Microsoft wouldn't be able to pay it. However, if the EU has to be fair in setting the amount of the fine, or it could result in "payback" in the form of the US fining EU companies outrageous amounts of money. The EU doesn't want to be seen as deliberately trying to kill or hurt the competitiveness of a major US corporation that employs tens or hundreds of thousands of people not just in the US but also in the EU and the rest of the world. Not to mention the effect it would have on stock markets, and thus on the retirment savings of hundreds of millions of people around the world, and perhaps more importantly on the investments of lots of influential wealthy Europeans. Like it or not, this is the way the game of international trade is played. Every country is forced to play a balancing act between favoring their own domestic industries and corporations (sometimes by hurting foreign competitors with fines or tariffs), and the risk of retaliation by other countries.
Slashdot Mirror
That is the first thing I thought of. Another way for college students to cheat...just what the world needs. On the other hand, if the machines can actually start understanding stuff, we'll all be obsolete and irrelevant anyway.
There have been lots of articles in the mainstream media about mods, but usually they end up talking almost exclusively about Half Life and Counterstrike. For once, I'm glad to see them not get mentioned. It is time for the online FPS gaming community to move on from those 5 year old games and mods. There is much better stuff out there to play now than Half Life & Counterstrike. I think the Desert Combat mod for Battlefield 1942 has a chance of becoming the "new" Counterstrike.
Um, last I checked, the USA is a far bigger and more populous country than S Korea, so if you are saying $80B x 2 = $160B to wire the US twice with 100Mbit than you are making a big error. Even if the US is only 10 times the size of S Korea, it would be 80 x 2 x 10 = $1.6 trillion for the US. That's one of the big problems with liberals: they all failed math class.
The surround sound effect is achieved by playing some sophisticated MARKETING trickery on the human brain."
You're all being too hard on Peter Jackson's portrayal of Gimli. The dwarf-tossing joke was corny but in good fun considering that dwarf-tossing is some kind of weird tradition in Jackson's native New Zealand where the film was shot. I think Jackson's portrayal of all the characters makes the audience really care about each one of them. I have to say that the film has made me appreciate the sympathetic side of Gollum more than I ever did when reading the book.
In fact, technology might be better used for improving the voter identification process than for actually casting ballots. In addition to checking an ID card before allowing someone to vote, why not add another identity check such as fingerprint scanning?
Sorry if you misunderstood. I never suggested that voters carry the signed receipt out of the polling place. The signed receipts would be retained in the locked ballot box as a verifiable paper backup that would only be looked at in the event that a recount or election audit was necessary. When people leave the polling pace, they would not be carrying anything that bullies could use to verify how they voted.
If a little bit of methanol can power a fuel cell, I think most people should be able to power their portable devices using the methane that all of us emit on an almost continuous basis (at least judging from the guys who always seem to sit next to me on airplanes). Sure the little hose you would have to wear would be kind of uncomfortable at first, but I think we'd get used to it. It would also give us all a good excuse to break wind in public: "Um, sorry, but I need to make a phone call." On the days you just aren't very flatulent, you could just "bum some fuel" from the person next to you.
The system you describe (I've used it myself), while better than punch cards by a long shot, doesn't solve the inevitable questions and problems that will arise if a manual recount is necessary. What about lines that people drew and then tried to erase? What is the standard for judging whether a line is dark enough to count as a vote? What about when there are two lines filled in? What about obvious votes which were done improperly (e.g. the person didn't fill the entire gap, or they put an X instead of filling the gap, etc)? All of these things are the equivalents of the "hanging chad" issues that existed in the 2000 Florida recount. If you have ever handled paper questionnaires or ballots, you would understand that a significant portion of the population just doesn't seem to be capable of following simple instructions for marking a questionnaire or ballot.
The system you describe (I've used it myself) doesn't solve the inevitable questions and problems that will arise if a manual recount is necessary. What about lines that people drew and then tried to erase? What is the standard for judging whether a line is dark enough to count as a vote? That about when there are two lines filled in? What about obvious votes which were done improperly (e.g. the person didn't fill the entire gap, or they put an X instead of filling the gap, etc)? All of these things are the equivalents of the "hanging chad" issues that existed in the 2000 Florida recount. If you have ever handled paper questionnaires or ballots, you would understand that a significant portion of the population just doesn't seem to be capable of following simple instructions for marking a questionnaire or ballot.
The system you describe (I've used it myself) doesn't solve the inevitable questions and problems that will arise if a manual recount is necessary. What about lines that people drew and then tried to erase? What is the standard for judging whether a line is dark enough to count as a vote? That about when there are two lines filled in? What about obvious votes which were done improperly (e.g. the person didn't fill the entire gap, or they put an X instead of filling the gap, etc)? All of these things are the equivalents of the "hanging chad" issues that existed in the 2000 Florida recount. If you have ever handled paper questionnaires or ballots, you would understand that a significant portion of the population just doesn't seem to be capable of following simple instructions for marking a questionnaire or ballot.
The main thing is that there should always be a paper receipt as backup. When you go to the ATM you get a receipt, when you use your credit card, you get a receipt. When you vote electronically, a matching receipt should be printed, signed by the voter, and retained in a locked ballot box. The receipts in the ballot box can then be counted if there is a question about the electronic results.
I think we need to consider keeping the ability to match voters to ballots in order to reduce the chance of ballot-box stuffing (either electronic or physical). Of course safeguards would need to put in place to restrict and prevent the abuse of knowledge about how someone voted. For example, after a certain amount of time, all ballots should be destroyed, etc.
Granted, not many other MP3 players will play back Ogg Vorbis files either. But more are starting to appear.
This is just plain wrong. Why should all of the students have to subsidize music fans' hobby? This is tyranny of the majority. I bet they are not going to use university money to subsidize other "minority" hobbies. Community resources should only be used for things that benefit everybody or the community as a whole: public education, roads and bridges, national defense, etc. Transferring community money to the RIAA to allow Johnny to "freely" download "Oops I Did It Again" by Britney Spears is not something that benefits the community as a whole.
- Restoring the original scene where Han shoots Greedo.
- Giving Chewie a medal at the endo of ANH (I thought he got one in the original version, but he should have if he didn't).
The changes in the list that horrify me completely:OMG...please tell me you are not serious about the rumor that he is going to splice Amidala into the end of RotJ! I wouldn't put it past him though. However, removing the Ewoks would be cool! Maybe in a few years he'll do a Special Edition of Episode I where he digitally removes JarJar Binks, Anakin, and Amidala, and in Episode 2 he could digitally replace Anakin with a wooden plank.
I feel bad for your friend. He's probably better off not working in such an environment of incompetence and scapegoating.
Now since you didn't know what a PHB is, you must be one yourself. However, I applaud your willingness to show weakness by asking others for help in finding out what a PHB is.
My guess why Microsoft doesn't just license the technology is that it's the same reason the the US government doesn't negotiate with terrorists...it just encourages more terrorism. By going around the patent, Microsoft demonstrates to other companies that might try to force MS into licensing their technology that there will probably be no financial benefit...MS will just rewrite their software to avoid having to license their technology. It's the same thing the Linux development community will do to avoid infringing on any of SCO's alleged code, if SCO's case is upheld in court.
- The decimal point!
Maybe you Brits invented it, but now if you could actually use it instead of that annoying comma, that would be great.As I wrote here an organized corporate divestment campaign including employee 401K and pension plans could really stick it to SCO.
If we tried to buy up SCO stock to take them over, it would create demand for SCO stock, drive the price up, and the SCO directors would make out on their options. You can bet that a buyout offer from IBM is probably one of the outcomes that SCO's corporate directors would really like.
I was just thinking, if Linux-using companies got together and organized a divestment campaign against SCO, could that succeed in dampening SCO's interest in continuing to pursue it's new business model of aggressive and unfounded IP litigation? This would mean dumping any directly controlled investments in SCO, both by the corporate parent and any subsidiaries. Even greater pressure could be brought to bear through 401K and pension plans. Companies could eliminate mutual funds which include SCO stock in their portfolios from the list of investment options included in employee 401K and pension plans. Such a campaign might not only appeal to Linux-using companies, but to any company who feels that SCO's litigious strategy is fundamentally bad for the business environment in general. If the SCO business model was adopted widely it would only succeed in sucking productive corporate resources (e.g. money, time) and fattening the wallets of lawyers. Once you get a few corporate behemoths together to start the divestment campaign, it could generate publicity, snowball, and really drive down the price of SCO stock.
Identity theft wouldn't be such a big problem if corporations and branches of government would authenticate properly. People's dogs are getting pre-approved credit card spam! If you know someone's momma's maiden name, banks will roll over and give you the key to the vault. Sure, they've got tons of money spent on all the other security features (except auditing of course. and integrity/accesibility, disaster data recovery people gotta make a buck to) but it doesn't help if you think someone's mom's maiden name is a secret!
I can't agree with this more! You should be able to sue companies if they give credit in your name without having taken adequate steps to verify that it is really you who is requesting the credit. This means that all mail, phone, and internet applications for credit should be outlawed. You should have to be physically present and provide multiple forms of identification, be photographed, and perhaps have your fingerprints taken in order to apply for credit. This wouldn't be perfect either, but it would cut down on fraud by 90% or more because identity thieves wouldn't want to have their photograph or prints taken, even if they were able to produce authentic looking fake id.
Yes, it's true that the EU has the authority to determine how large the fine should be. They could levy a fine so large even Microsoft wouldn't be able to pay it. However, if the EU has to be fair in setting the amount of the fine, or it could result in "payback" in the form of the US fining EU companies outrageous amounts of money. The EU doesn't want to be seen as deliberately trying to kill or hurt the competitiveness of a major US corporation that employs tens or hundreds of thousands of people not just in the US but also in the EU and the rest of the world. Not to mention the effect it would have on stock markets, and thus on the retirment savings of hundreds of millions of people around the world, and perhaps more importantly on the investments of lots of influential wealthy Europeans. Like it or not, this is the way the game of international trade is played. Every country is forced to play a balancing act between favoring their own domestic industries and corporations (sometimes by hurting foreign competitors with fines or tariffs), and the risk of retaliation by other countries.