Interesting applications include walk-thru advertisements on shops or malls
Great, just what the human race needs. Another way to display advertisements. I do my best to ignore them, but if I have to walk through an ad, it's going to be hard not to see it.
innocents are convicted using a "web" of circumstantial evidence
This is what scares the shit out of me. In college I dual majored in physics and sociology. If the government looks over my book purchasing habits, they will see titles like 'The Communist Manifesto', 'A People's History', and 'Nuclear Physics' not to mention books on other 'dangerous' topics like biology, chemistry, and electronics. That doesn't look too good now does it? In addition, I have traveled to places like China and Istanbul. Oh yeah, I also have an Irish passport in addition to my US one.
Any one of these things can be explained, but put them all together, and some FBI guy who doesn't understand that I'm just smart and like to read thinks I'm a terrorist.
I have recently moved to London, and I'm not sure I'm going to move back.
Science used to "know" the world was flat. They used to "know" that the sun revolved around the earth, and that the human heart worked just like a furnace.
I refer you to Mr. Asimov:
The young specialist in English Lit, having quoted me, went on to lecture me severely on the fact that in every century people have thought they understood the universe at last, and in every century they were proved to be wrong. It follows that the one thing we can say about our modern "knowledge" is that it is wrong. The young man then quoted with approval what Socrates had said on learning that the Delphic oracle had proclaimed him the wisest man in Greece. "If I am the wisest man," said Socrates, "it is because I alone know that I know nothing." the implication was that I was very foolish because I was under the impression I knew a great deal.
My answer to him was, "John, when people thought the earth was flat, they were wrong. When people thought the earth was spherical, they were wrong. But if you think that thinking the earth is spherical is just as wrong as thinking the earth is flat, then your view is wronger than both of them put together."
Who the hell chose the biohazard symbol for "Your computer is vulnerable"? Do these people know that a computer virus is not the same thing as the AIDS virus?
Instant Physics - Rothman
This is exactly what you ask for. It covers basics mechanics and electrodynamics, but does it so you understand why things work.
The Illustrated History of Time - Hawking
This book is the reason I became a physics major. But do yourself a favor and make sure you pick up the illustrated version.
Calculus Made Easy - Thompson
I hated calc until I read this. Within the first two chapters it all made sense, and I understood the amazing utility of the method.
Fermat's Last Theorem - Singh
This book covers a whole lot of the 'why' of math. I highly recommend anything by Singh; he is a great science writer.
The Man Who Loved Only Numbers: The Story of Paul Erdos and the Search for Mathematical Truth - Hoffman.
It's the biography of Erdos, but it goes over a lot advanced math concepts in an easy to understand manner. Erdos's life is also fascinating. He was a bit of a math gypsy.
How are they planning to deal with the large numbers of false positives a system like this will generate? In my experience when you try to predict such low probability events as being a terrorist (no matter what you 'should' believe, even 100,000 terrorists in the US is only 0.0004%) the number of false positives far exceeds the number of true ones (or even the potentially true ones if you picked them all up).
Your terrorist estimate is way too low. Remember Bush's (paraphrased) statement: "If you don't agree with me you are a terrorist." That really widens the who-is-a-terrorist net, so the real concern is with false negatives. : (
Did anyone read this story and immediately think of how they just vacuum the entire crime scene and run every piece of debris through an instant DNA test? The first time I saw that I thought it was 50+ years away; now I would be suprised not to see it within a decade or two
w00t!
Now all my early twentieth century clothing will be back in style soon too!
During WWI, pilots would signal the enemy if their machine guns jammed. Then it was considered the gentlemanly thing to do for the opponent to wait until the pilot had cleared the jam before resuming the dogfight.
Yeah right. If some guy is trying to kill me but is having a problem, I'm not going to let him fix it. I'm going to kill him as quickly as possible so I can go home at the end of the day.
It disturbs me that you are disturbed by the military talking about killing people. What exactly do you think the military does? Maybe they will make it open source and you can add some code for feeding orphans.
I'd do that, but then the military would just kill the orphans.
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Interesting applications include walk-thru advertisements on shops or malls
Great, just what the human race needs. Another way to display advertisements. I do my best to ignore them, but if I have to walk through an ad, it's going to be hard not to see it.
Actually the sodium orange lighting is much less disruptive to night vision than the blue-white.
Red street lights for everyone!
Come on, who doesn't remember putting red foil over a flashlight to go stargazing in the fourth grade.
I need to give them something back. /. still allows you to read the content, post on the content, etc, w/o having to pay.
By posting comments to slashdot you are adding to their content base. It's like being an unpaid freelance writer. : )
innocents are convicted using a "web" of circumstantial evidence
This is what scares the shit out of me. In college I dual majored in physics and sociology. If the government looks over my book purchasing habits, they will see titles like 'The Communist Manifesto', 'A People's History', and 'Nuclear Physics' not to mention books on other 'dangerous' topics like biology, chemistry, and electronics. That doesn't look too good now does it? In addition, I have traveled to places like China and Istanbul. Oh yeah, I also have an Irish passport in addition to my US one.
Any one of these things can be explained, but put them all together, and some FBI guy who doesn't understand that I'm just smart and like to read thinks I'm a terrorist.
I have recently moved to London, and I'm not sure I'm going to move back.
Forget the bike, how many miles on the girlfriend?
The unit of girlfriend usage is a 'thrust' not a mile.
Like SCO cares.
All your code are belong to us.
No to mention all the idiots who use words like boxen.
boxen is a perfectly cromulent word.
I can't live without virtual desktops...
:(
Ditto here.
It's the one thing holding me back from buying a powerbook.
Science used to "know" the world was flat. They used to "know" that the sun revolved around the earth, and that the human heart worked just like a furnace.
I refer you to Mr. Asimov:
The young specialist in English Lit, having quoted me, went on to lecture me severely on the fact that in every century people have thought they understood the universe at last, and in every century they were proved to be wrong. It follows that the one thing we can say about our modern "knowledge" is that it is wrong. The young man then quoted with approval what Socrates had said on learning that the Delphic oracle had proclaimed him the wisest man in Greece. "If I am the wisest man," said Socrates, "it is because I alone know that I know nothing." the implication was that I was very foolish because I was under the impression I knew a great deal.
My answer to him was, "John, when people thought the earth was flat, they were wrong. When people thought the earth was spherical, they were wrong. But if you think that thinking the earth is spherical is just as wrong as thinking the earth is flat, then your view is wronger than both of them put together."
Who the hell chose the biohazard symbol for "Your computer is vulnerable"? Do these people know that a computer virus is not the same thing as the AIDS virus?
Instant Physics - Rothman
This is exactly what you ask for. It covers basics mechanics and electrodynamics, but does it so you understand why things work.
The Illustrated History of Time - Hawking
This book is the reason I became a physics major. But do yourself a favor and make sure you pick up the illustrated version.
Calculus Made Easy - Thompson
I hated calc until I read this. Within the first two chapters it all made sense, and I understood the amazing utility of the method.
Fermat's Last Theorem - Singh
This book covers a whole lot of the 'why' of math. I highly recommend anything by Singh; he is a great science writer. The Man Who Loved Only Numbers: The Story of Paul Erdos and the Search for Mathematical Truth - Hoffman. It's the biography of Erdos, but it goes over a lot advanced math concepts in an easy to understand manner. Erdos's life is also fascinating. He was a bit of a math gypsy.
You know, I'd prefer we implemented the Three Laws in order, starting at One.
I'd rather we start at the 0th law. I don't want humanity disappearing because of the action or inaction of a Mickey Doll.
wood can easily stand up to the elements for many many years. trees are designed that way, to survive against rain and tornadoes and whatnot
But a tree is alive and can heal. A wooden roller coaster is not, and cannot.
I quit flying that day and will never step foot on another plane for the rest of my life.
I hope you don't live in Hawaii.
Er...
Nevermind.
I can see why people might be getting a bit paranoid with air planes and all, but buses?! What the hell can I do with a hijacked bus
Didn't you see speed?
It's OK though. Neo will save the day.
How are they planning to deal with the large numbers of false positives a system like this will generate? In my experience when you try to predict such low probability events as being a terrorist (no matter what you 'should' believe, even 100,000 terrorists in the US is only 0.0004%) the number of false positives far exceeds the number of true ones (or even the potentially true ones if you picked them all up).
Your terrorist estimate is way too low. Remember Bush's (paraphrased) statement: "If you don't agree with me you are a terrorist." That really widens the who-is-a-terrorist net, so the real concern is with false negatives. : (
Did anyone read this story and immediately think of how they just vacuum the entire crime scene and run every piece of debris through an instant DNA test? The first time I saw that I thought it was 50+ years away; now I would be suprised not to see it within a decade or two w00t!
Now all my early twentieth century clothing will be back in style soon too!
During WWI, pilots would signal the enemy if their machine guns jammed. Then it was considered the gentlemanly thing to do for the opponent to wait until the pilot had cleared the jam before resuming the dogfight.
Yeah right. If some guy is trying to kill me but is having a problem, I'm not going to let him fix it. I'm going to kill him as quickly as possible so I can go home at the end of the day.
It disturbs me that you are disturbed by the military talking about killing people. What exactly do you think the military does? Maybe they will make it open source and you can add some code for feeding orphans.
I'd do that, but then the military would just kill the orphans.
Best replay value of any game I've seen.
yes. Yes! YES!
Nice try Waren.
I know you just really want a job at the store.
Typical Slashdot, reposting a story a year after it was news.
Will too.
Are they ever going to make a stand alone version of composer?