but, have any of y'all looked at some of the packaged linux distributions? I mean, redhat, corel.. mandrake.. some of them have HUGE boxes. This doesn't reflect on the quality of the product either way (we all know that.. they're all fine distributions). I was in best buy yesterday, wandering through the software isle, and my god.. they're huge.
I think there's a tendency to notice something M$ does (now, I'm not exactly pro-microsoft, but neither am I completely anti-m$), and bitch and point at how evil they are. At the same time, we completely ignore the fact that (especially in this case) it's really just good marketting or something equally benign (not that marketting is completely benign). I mean, really.. whether or not somebody thinks the better box has a better product, it's just plain more noticeable.
And who says you'll be bothered by the police. At least according to the article, George is alerted by the smart cameras, and he decides what to do. IMO, the smart cameras don't do anything but increase efficiency.
Now, that being said, I do agree that I wouldn't want cameras posted on every street corner watching everything I do. At the same time, if a mall or airport decides to put up cameras to enhance security and prevent shoplifting, car theft, and whatnot; I don't have a problem with that. Some security is needed. What if there were no security at the airport, and terrorists ran amok, bombing planes and the like?
-V
Re:Scary, only if the people watcing give a rip
on
Caught Before the Act
·
· Score: 1
I'm willing to bet that you won't be able to arrest someone based on the fact that they look suspicious. I can just see the lawsuits now. And I don't think they're supposed to replace human intuition. I think the system is meant to augment it. All the examples the article gives involve "George" being notified. George then examines the situation and decides what to do.
I think the only way they'd arrest you is if you concealed the fact that the car in question was yours. Once you say (and prove) that, I bet they'll let you go.
How is this unconstitutional?? What I got from it is that the computer picks out suspicious behavior and alerts someone, who can then decide what to do about it. This system isn't intended to make arrests. It's more of a deterrent system. If you were planning on stealing a car and security walked by, what would you do?
How is that different from having a man watching several screens (except for being more efficient)?? Are security cameras unconstitutional?? I'd love to hear the logic behind that one!
I agree that a world with multiple Leonardo DiCaprio's would be incredibly frightening. Dang.
Still, assuming these hypothetical parents and children are real, they might have identical genetic codes (which is doubtful, maybe just alter the genes affecting physical appearance). Even if they did, they're going to have their own unique experiences. They might react in a very similar fashion. Then again, they might not. Identical twins can be incredibly alike (as psyche experiments show us). But there is an extremely wide range of variation within a genetic code.
for example: a person's IQ has been shown to vary within a specific range (the location of this range is, if I remember correctly, determined by genetics) depending on environmental factors. A mentally stimulating environment typically breeds a higher IQ.
The moral of the story: We're never going to be exactly alike. Not even Identical Twins are EXACTLY alike.
from who? Jon Katz? Yeah. He does raise some interesting points. Then he just takes a running leap with them. I agree that genetic manipulation is both scary and inspiring. I also believe that it's got to happen sometime. Why not now? It's going to raise a myriad of questions and cause gaps between generations and classes and societies. But I believe that these things HAVE to happen sometime. That's how we learn. By tinkering.
And if multinational corporations rule the world? I can't say that's the best future. But then again, it might not be a bad one. Read almost any book by William Gibson. He predicts a much more chaotic world. That doesn't make it bad.
Science is all about redundancy! That's probably for the better too. I remember reading about the atomic clocks experiment, and it did prove Einstein's theories, but this experiment (and I'm sure the many that will follow) prove Einstein's theories from different perspectives. At least that's how I look at it.:-)
Mayhap it'll give us a more interesting glimpse of how things work (which is what it's all about, isn't it?
Well, in the 14 years I've lived in Florida, I can say that there is indeed a mosquito problem. In less rural areas.
On the other hand, near Tampa (where I live), there isn't nearly that much of a mosquito problem. Same thing in Orlando (which I've been to quite a few times (it's only like 2hrs. away).
Now, unless all of Florida's major cities are dumping chemicals from hell into the environment, I'm willing to bet that Disney isn't either. I think someone would've noticed by now!
Just another two cents from me.
P.S. Oh yeah, and when misquitos are around, they all make a beeline for yours truly, so I do know when they're around!
I agree with the other posters. This comment is WELL off-topic. Not to mention untrue.
I've lived in Florida for almost 14 years. I've also lived other places accross the country (from Maryland to California). Florida's gunlaws have done nothing to increase the murder rate any higher than anywhere else.
On a more "on-topic" note, Katz, your book idea does sound like a nice one. I don't often agree with your writings (I consider most of them to be good ideas taken a wee bit too far), but this one sounds like it has lots of promise. Stick to it, I'll try to read the article, and if it comes out, maybe even the book!
You could heat your room with that thing. Or at least have a GREAT heated foot stool. Dude.
Bigger and better keeps getting bigger and better. On a slightly more serious note, I wonder how that 1GHz PIII stacks agains the 800 or 900 MHz Athlons. Will the speed difference make that much of a difference? I remember an article a while back on/. that stated that while they have 800Mhz cooled Athlons, the G4 produced a fraction of the heat, but outperformed it by a healthy margin. Makes me wonder if they should maybe start concentrating on new technology innovations, rather than trying to crank up their numbers. Any thoughts?
But from what's been said on the PNG website, PNG's typically compress 5%-25% better than GIF's do. Not only that, but "PNG's compression is fully lossless" (that's off the website While I agree that older browsers not supporting PNG is a problem, they do seem to be a nice graphics format. Just my 2cents -Vinay
This isn't legislation. It's a study of existing legislation, isn't it? No laws are being made by this working group. Reading through it, I can see how laws may be eventually made, but nothing directly stated by this working group will be made into a law.
I don't think he's portraying this migration as such a bad thing. I think he's just sorta stating it. "This is what's going to happen." Whether or not he's right is (as these posts say) the subject of considerable debate.
Now, if you listen (or read..whatever)to what a lot of you are saying, you'll see mention of "When something better comes out, I'll move on"
Well, don't you think that somewhere in the back of your mind, you're saying, "once everybody's using it, the quality can't be as good!" (as ze author suggests)
That's exactly what he's talking about, the progression will happen, it's just a matter of when. Yes, we're all technically minded, and love to use something that's welldesigned. But we also love our individuality. It makes us.. well. us.
I don't think there's ever been something that escapes this phenomenon (though I'm probably wrong on that count, and just can't think of an example)
In plain words, I think some of us make us pretty dang inhuman, when, well.. we're not.
My two cents, plus any other random change I have in my pocket,
Slashdot Mirror
I think there's a tendency to notice something M$ does (now, I'm not exactly pro-microsoft, but neither am I completely anti-m$), and bitch and point at how evil they are. At the same time, we completely ignore the fact that (especially in this case) it's really just good marketting or something equally benign (not that marketting is completely benign). I mean, really.. whether or not somebody thinks the better box has a better product, it's just plain more noticeable.
my $0.02
-V
And who says you'll be bothered by the police. At least according to the article, George is alerted by the smart cameras, and he decides what to do. IMO, the smart cameras don't do anything but increase efficiency.
Now, that being said, I do agree that I wouldn't want cameras posted on every street corner watching everything I do. At the same time, if a mall or airport decides to put up cameras to enhance security and prevent shoplifting, car theft, and whatnot; I don't have a problem with that. Some security is needed. What if there were no security at the airport, and terrorists ran amok, bombing planes and the like?
-V
I'm willing to bet that you won't be able to arrest someone based on the fact that they look suspicious. I can just see the lawsuits now. And I don't think they're supposed to replace human intuition. I think the system is meant to augment it. All the examples the article gives involve "George" being notified. George then examines the situation and decides what to do.
-V
I think the only way they'd arrest you is if you concealed the fact that the car in question was yours. Once you say (and prove) that, I bet they'll let you go.
Until then, they can probably arrest you.
-V
How is this unconstitutional?? What I got from it is that the computer picks out suspicious behavior and alerts someone, who can then decide what to do about it. This system isn't intended to make arrests. It's more of a deterrent system. If you were planning on stealing a car and security walked by, what would you do?
How is that different from having a man watching several screens (except for being more efficient)?? Are security cameras unconstitutional?? I'd love to hear the logic behind that one!
-V
I agree that a world with multiple Leonardo DiCaprio's would be incredibly frightening. Dang.
Still, assuming these hypothetical parents and children are real, they might have identical genetic codes (which is doubtful, maybe just alter the genes affecting physical appearance). Even if they did, they're going to have their own unique experiences. They might react in a very similar fashion. Then again, they might not. Identical twins can be incredibly alike (as psyche experiments show us). But there is an extremely wide range of variation within a genetic code.
for example: a person's IQ has been shown to vary within a specific range (the location of this range is, if I remember correctly, determined by genetics) depending on environmental factors. A mentally stimulating environment typically breeds a higher IQ.
The moral of the story: We're never going to be exactly alike. Not even Identical Twins are EXACTLY alike.
-V
from who? Jon Katz? Yeah. He does raise some interesting points. Then he just takes a running leap with them. I agree that genetic manipulation is both scary and inspiring. I also believe that it's got to happen sometime. Why not now? It's going to raise a myriad of questions and cause gaps between generations and classes and societies. But I believe that these things HAVE to happen sometime. That's how we learn. By tinkering.
And if multinational corporations rule the world? I can't say that's the best future. But then again, it might not be a bad one. Read almost any book by William Gibson. He predicts a much more chaotic world. That doesn't make it bad.
Science is all about redundancy! That's probably for the better too. I remember reading about the atomic clocks experiment, and it did prove Einstein's theories, but this experiment (and I'm sure the many that will follow) prove Einstein's theories from different perspectives. At least that's how I look at it. :-)
Mayhap it'll give us a more interesting glimpse of how things work (which is what it's all about, isn't it?
Well, in the 14 years I've lived in Florida, I can say that there is indeed a mosquito problem. In less rural areas.
On the other hand, near Tampa (where I live), there isn't nearly that much of a mosquito problem. Same thing in Orlando (which I've been to quite a few times (it's only like 2hrs. away).
Now, unless all of Florida's major cities are dumping chemicals from hell into the environment, I'm willing to bet that Disney isn't either. I think someone would've noticed by now!
Just another two cents from me.
P.S. Oh yeah, and when misquitos are around, they all make a beeline for yours truly, so I do know when they're around!
I agree with the other posters. This comment is WELL off-topic. Not to mention untrue.
I've lived in Florida for almost 14 years. I've also lived other places accross the country (from Maryland to California). Florida's gunlaws have done nothing to increase the murder rate any higher than anywhere else.
On a more "on-topic" note, Katz, your book idea does sound like a nice one. I don't often agree with your writings (I consider most of them to be good ideas taken a wee bit too far), but this one sounds like it has lots of promise. Stick to it, I'll try to read the article, and if it comes out, maybe even the book!
Good luck with it!
This isn't exactly hard numbers, and I think they're referring to older PIII's (not the Coppermine)
http://www.apple.com/powermac/
You could heat your room with that thing. Or at least have a GREAT heated foot stool. Dude.
Bigger and better keeps getting bigger and better. On a slightly more serious note, I wonder how that 1GHz PIII stacks agains the 800 or 900 MHz Athlons. Will the speed difference make that much of a difference? I remember an article a while back on /. that stated that while they have 800Mhz cooled Athlons, the G4 produced a fraction of the heat, but outperformed it by a healthy margin. Makes me wonder if they should maybe start concentrating on new technology innovations, rather than trying to crank up their numbers. Any thoughts?
But from what's been said on the PNG website, PNG's typically compress 5%-25% better than GIF's do. Not only that, but "PNG's compression is fully lossless" (that's off the website While I agree that older browsers not supporting PNG is a problem, they do seem to be a nice graphics format. Just my 2cents -Vinay
This isn't legislation. It's a study of existing legislation, isn't it? No laws are being made by this working group. Reading through it, I can see how laws may be eventually made, but nothing directly stated by this working group will be made into a law.
Reading = good;
-V
I don't think he's portraying this migration as such a bad thing. I think he's just sorta stating it. "This is what's going to happen." Whether or not he's right is (as these posts say) the subject of considerable debate.
Now, if you listen (or read..whatever)to what a lot of you are saying, you'll see mention of "When something better comes out, I'll move on"
Well, don't you think that somewhere in the back of your mind, you're saying, "once everybody's using it, the quality can't be as good!" (as ze author suggests)
That's exactly what he's talking about, the progression will happen, it's just a matter of when. Yes, we're all technically minded, and love to use something that's welldesigned. But we also love our individuality. It makes us.. well. us.
I don't think there's ever been something that escapes this phenomenon (though I'm probably wrong on that count, and just can't think of an example)
In plain words, I think some of us make us pretty dang inhuman, when, well.. we're not.
My two cents, plus any other random change I have in my pocket,
-V