The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interrèd with their bones.
So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus
Hath told you Caesar was ambitious.
If it were so, it was a Grievous fault,
And grievously hath Caesar answered it.
-- Wm. Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act III, Scene ii.
Given that this is a story of the fall of the Republic and the Rise of the Empire, Lucas' literary allusion here seems to have all of the subtlety of a high-speed halfbrick to the cranium.
Come on, everyone-- ripping off Shakespeare is a noble literary tradition !
Haven't we learned that periodic forest fires are part of the cycle of life for a forrest?
More exactly, we've learned that changing that periodicity is a bad thing, from our having turned it too far down; turning it way up isn't good, either, in more obvious ways.
As an Analog SF editorial noted a few months back, fire may be considered analagous to a super-predator. It has a niche in the ecosystem, and removing it causes the system to unbalance in similar ways. Of course, over predation is a lot more obvious in its harmful effects. As a quick analogy, it seems plausible. Proof would be a good subject for a NSF grant research proposal-- perhaps even with the current administration.
While the original claim about double risk for 5 degree change is unsourced, imprecise (try "doubles the Erlang distribution frequency"-- which, yes, has several implicit plausible but unproven assumptions), and certainly has an elasticity range if you go 50 degrees either way, it's not inconsistent with what I recall an ex-GF prattling about from the forestry class she was taking at the time. The responding comments on "0%/100%" risk can be answered by reading about Erlang distribution stochastic processes.
Alright, Sony, now let's talk about this Memory Stick...
After all, SanDisk has done something mildly clever with their flash memory offering. While I don't use the Sony MS myself, the size and shape looks like they could do something similar on the other end of their product, giving something reminiscent of these USB flash drives.
it uses dated technology and lose out in terms of features and price to other players.
Correct; by any and perhaps all of these means, there are a number of products definitely superior to the iPod.
However, if your means of comparison is file space per gram or per cc, it has few competitors; and if your means of comparison is based on quality of interface, the iPod is definitely superior to the competition. One need not use bleeding edge tech to create a superior product, you can simply put existing stuff together better than anyone else.
Apple does human-use engineering better than almost anyone else. I didn't find the cost worth the improved usability, and went with an Archos product. I also prefer a command line to a window; this may mark me as an uber-geek, but far more certainly marks me as a weirdo. (Of course, the fact that I refer to iPod users as "pod people" is more obvious evidence....) Most humans place a higher value over improved usability than on improvements to other features.
I think Sony is about one of few competitors with the sort of brand that can compete if they get their act togather.
If Admins can modify this file willy-nilly, then could be a major problem for users who haven't bothered to create user accounts.
And who don't have the sense to manually edit the security permissions on the hosts file to "read only", even for administrators. (Which is mostly the same group, I admit.) When I need to hand edit hosts, I change it back for a little bit, and then lock it up again.
Similarly, inserting empty install target directories into/Program Files for the usual spyware suspects and removing ALL permissions from those folders causes most spyware installers to crash nicely. Of course, it's only a matter of time before the spyware writers fix that, and it only works for known install locations, but it's just one more stumbling block to put in spyware's way.
On the other hand, this little trick doesn't WORK in XP-Home... a compelling arguement for upgrading (or sticking with 2K) IMHO.
Actually, I have played in a "house rules" Paranoia campaign where the GM allowed a dice reroll if we didn't like the result. The price was one bottle of the GM's beer of choice-- usually Anchor Steam. He never had to bring his own beer for the gaming sessions. He also said for a bottle of one of the Balvenie Scotches you could keep rolling until you got the result you wanted, but no-one ever took him up on that.
I also recall hearing of one Economics professor who allowed students to get a raise in their grade by bribing him; $100 per percentage point, max of ten points.
Speaking as someone tending to the antisocial introvert myself, it's more often a weakness than a strength. Introverts remain comfortable longer in environments that don't bring them in contact with other people, be it the insides of a 200 acre server farm, or a Nation park fire watch tower. Extroverts remain confortable in crowds, and constantly dealing with other people.
Barring pathological cases, either kind can tolerate in the other's environment for a reasonable time. However, for both, it requires mental effort, and is draining over prolonged periods.
The problem introverts face is that in modern society, due to the interdependence of social structures, more and more nitches in the social equallity require social interaction. Ergo, the current environment leads extroverts to prosper, and introverts to struggle. It's not "wrong". However, it is a more disadvantageous than advantageous trait these days.
No, I can't prove this; I have better things to do than write a Sociology masters' thesis on Slashdot. But we introverts may be an endangered species.
If the EFF guy has a problem with this, I'd encourage him to Read The Fucking Fourth Amendment, and actually pay attention to what it says about what you can poke at without a warrant:
Read The Amendment Yourself, Sir. It doesn't say the government can poke at anything without a issued warrant; rather, it lists what they cannot poke at without a warrant, and what terms such a warrant may be properly issued under.
Additionally, even if you don't agree that finding the location of my car constitues a search among my effects, while you're in the neighborhood of the fourth, you might review the ninth amendment as well:
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
If, suddenly, your car is a different 'type' of private property that the police have public enough access to to plant bugs then what else changes? Can they then plant bugs on your bike? On other personal belongings? Your house?
Not that I think the cops should be able to do this, but... um, precisely what benefit would the police get out of putting a GPS locator on my house? =)
Then again, RSA isn't much more difficult than long division. We learned it in an intro discrete math class.
Which was the joke there-- it's "just" exponentiation combined with long division. However, the proof as to why it works-- that is, the science behind it-- does require a modicum of algebraic group theory, which is a little more complicated, although it's still introductory course level material. Most non-math major curricula do not require a group theory class, and discrete math courses only brush against it lightly, mentioning the theorems without showing the proofs.
The company which holds the patents for fractal image compression made it clear that it was ready to defend its IP back in the 90s.
20 years patent life, and the patents were granted between 1990 and 1995. So, we may start seeing more of this in about five years. I'd call this an arguement against software patents, except that the math work involved here was highly non-trivial. From what I recall, it makes RSA encryption look like long division. =)
On the other hand, I seem to remember hearing that IBM had title to one of the key patents; with them starting to open the patent chest, Linux might get an edge at some point soon.
One of the main complaints on Slashdot is the oft dubious quality level of telephone Helldesk tech support, especially when outsourced. The article suggests monitoring allows companies to provide a higher quality experience for the customers.
A less addressed concern is that this is yet another instance where the employees are put under more pressure. Helldesk work already has a typical full turnover roughly every 5 years. On the bright side, people with both the extrovert people skills and modest technical skills that Helldesk work ought to demand, and who make customers happy by solving their problems, may start getting better rewarded than those who simply focus on high-speed turnover of call volume.
The ethical thing to do is to refuse any honour handed to you by the scum we call royalty.
Even granting your premise on HRM, the ethical and polite thing to do is to treat it like any other "honour handed to you" by a "stupid inbred moron": smile politely, say "thank you," deposit into the nearest trash can once out of sight, and continue with your life.
is "linksys". From that point, I know that the AP is unsecured, and has a default admin password.
Usually. A rather nasty neighbor of mine configured his AP with the name "linksys", but it's quite well secured, with WEP, MAC restriction, and the other manufacturer bells and whistles turned on.
I'm starting to think like Prof. Farnsworth from Futurama. I read that and thought "What we really need is Book continuations that exploit quantum anomalies [....]
While worrisome, there's no need to panic yet.
When your second thought is "And I can whip that up in my lab in no time!"...then, yes, it is time be very afraid. Or rather, it is time to be very afraid after you send me a sample set of book continuations.
Slashdot Mirror
Given that this is a story of the fall of the Republic and the Rise of the Empire, Lucas' literary allusion here seems to have all of the subtlety of a high-speed halfbrick to the cranium.
Come on, everyone-- ripping off Shakespeare is a noble literary tradition !
More exactly, we've learned that changing that periodicity is a bad thing, from our having turned it too far down; turning it way up isn't good, either, in more obvious ways.
As an Analog SF editorial noted a few months back, fire may be considered analagous to a super-predator. It has a niche in the ecosystem, and removing it causes the system to unbalance in similar ways. Of course, over predation is a lot more obvious in its harmful effects. As a quick analogy, it seems plausible. Proof would be a good subject for a NSF grant research proposal-- perhaps even with the current administration.
While the original claim about double risk for 5 degree change is unsourced, imprecise (try "doubles the Erlang distribution frequency"-- which, yes, has several implicit plausible but unproven assumptions), and certainly has an elasticity range if you go 50 degrees either way, it's not inconsistent with what I recall an ex-GF prattling about from the forestry class she was taking at the time. The responding comments on "0%/100%" risk can be answered by reading about Erlang distribution stochastic processes.
That's not your number, Mrs. Whitcher. You should be using 567-68-0515 instead.
Judging by our local TV station news crew, it wouldn't be anything new if he was....
After all, SanDisk has done something mildly clever with their flash memory offering. While I don't use the Sony MS myself, the size and shape looks like they could do something similar on the other end of their product, giving something reminiscent of these USB flash drives.
Incorrect.
it uses dated technology and lose out in terms of features and price to other players.
Correct; by any and perhaps all of these means, there are a number of products definitely superior to the iPod.
However, if your means of comparison is file space per gram or per cc, it has few competitors; and if your means of comparison is based on quality of interface, the iPod is definitely superior to the competition. One need not use bleeding edge tech to create a superior product, you can simply put existing stuff together better than anyone else.
Apple does human-use engineering better than almost anyone else. I didn't find the cost worth the improved usability, and went with an Archos product. I also prefer a command line to a window; this may mark me as an uber-geek, but far more certainly marks me as a weirdo. (Of course, the fact that I refer to iPod users as "pod people" is more obvious evidence....) Most humans place a higher value over improved usability than on improvements to other features.
I think Sony is about one of few competitors with the sort of brand that can compete if they get their act togather.
With this, I agree completely.
And who don't have the sense to manually edit the security permissions on the hosts file to "read only", even for administrators. (Which is mostly the same group, I admit.) When I need to hand edit hosts, I change it back for a little bit, and then lock it up again.
Similarly, inserting empty install target directories into /Program Files for the usual spyware suspects and removing ALL permissions from those folders causes most spyware installers to crash nicely. Of course, it's only a matter of time before the spyware writers fix that, and it only works for known install locations, but it's just one more stumbling block to put in spyware's way.
On the other hand, this little trick doesn't WORK in XP-Home... a compelling arguement for upgrading (or sticking with 2K) IMHO.
I also recall hearing of one Economics professor who allowed students to get a raise in their grade by bribing him; $100 per percentage point, max of ten points.
A Dremmel.
After that, you can figure out how it was supposed to open in the first place, for future reference. And yes, I have used this on gear before. =)
Speaking as someone tending to the antisocial introvert myself, it's more often a weakness than a strength. Introverts remain comfortable longer in environments that don't bring them in contact with other people, be it the insides of a 200 acre server farm, or a Nation park fire watch tower. Extroverts remain confortable in crowds, and constantly dealing with other people.
Barring pathological cases, either kind can tolerate in the other's environment for a reasonable time. However, for both, it requires mental effort, and is draining over prolonged periods.
The problem introverts face is that in modern society, due to the interdependence of social structures, more and more nitches in the social equallity require social interaction. Ergo, the current environment leads extroverts to prosper, and introverts to struggle. It's not "wrong". However, it is a more disadvantageous than advantageous trait these days.
No, I can't prove this; I have better things to do than write a Sociology masters' thesis on Slashdot. But we introverts may be an endangered species.
Read The Amendment Yourself, Sir. It doesn't say the government can poke at anything without a issued warrant; rather, it lists what they cannot poke at without a warrant, and what terms such a warrant may be properly issued under.
Additionally, even if you don't agree that finding the location of my car constitues a search among my effects, while you're in the neighborhood of the fourth, you might review the ninth amendment as well:
Not that I think the cops should be able to do this, but... um, precisely what benefit would the police get out of putting a GPS locator on my house? =)
Which was the joke there-- it's "just" exponentiation combined with long division. However, the proof as to why it works-- that is, the science behind it-- does require a modicum of algebraic group theory, which is a little more complicated, although it's still introductory course level material. Most non-math major curricula do not require a group theory class, and discrete math courses only brush against it lightly, mentioning the theorems without showing the proofs.
20 years patent life, and the patents were granted between 1990 and 1995. So, we may start seeing more of this in about five years. I'd call this an arguement against software patents, except that the math work involved here was highly non-trivial. From what I recall, it makes RSA encryption look like long division. =)
On the other hand, I seem to remember hearing that IBM had title to one of the key patents; with them starting to open the patent chest, Linux might get an edge at some point soon.
A less addressed concern is that this is yet another instance where the employees are put under more pressure. Helldesk work already has a typical full turnover roughly every 5 years. On the bright side, people with both the extrovert people skills and modest technical skills that Helldesk work ought to demand, and who make customers happy by solving their problems, may start getting better rewarded than those who simply focus on high-speed turnover of call volume.
Mostly not compatible with Macs in my experience. (I've tried a couple times just for the giggle value.)
Apple is USB only, no PS/2, so less likely hand-me-down on Keyboard or Mouse. Going El Cheapo for that via Newegg adds $20, including shipping.
Even granting your premise on HRM, the ethical and polite thing to do is to treat it like any other "honour handed to you" by a "stupid inbred moron": smile politely, say "thank you," deposit into the nearest trash can once out of sight, and continue with your life.
Usually. A rather nasty neighbor of mine configured his AP with the name "linksys", but it's quite well secured, with WEP, MAC restriction, and the other manufacturer bells and whistles turned on.
Said manufacturer being NetGear.
While worrisome, there's no need to panic yet.
When your second thought is "And I can whip that up in my lab in no time!" ...then, yes, it is time be very afraid. Or rather, it is time to be very afraid after you send me a sample set of book continuations.