Just as Phil Zimmermann famously had to distribute PGP internationally in print form to avoid violating munitions laws, wouldn't these guys have to be really careful about their elite missle launching software? If this code makes it to Syria or Iran, we're in for a mildly annoying attack with state of the art styrofoam weaponry.
The founding fathers had a complaint about taxation without representation, not taxation in general. If someone has the right to vote for their representatives, then they also can be fairly obliged to pay taxes, even if they disagree with how elections turn out.
Who says great figures have to keep on creating just to be respected? Bringing an entire new field of technology like personal computing into being is enough of an accomplishment that he can rest on his laurels. I'd only complain that while Slashdot celebrates Woz, I feel this community really neglects other great PC engineers of the '70s, and has seemed to forget a lot of the details of the era's culture, for which I'd recommend Freiberger's Fire in the Valley
Private investment in space flight seemed so likely in the 1990s. I remember science fiction author Michael Flynn's future history starting with Firestar suggesting that FedEx would be a major force behind space flight because deliveries could be made anywhere on Earth in much less time than with airplanes. Nowadays, however, no company is going to want to spend that much money on courier services, and with the present economic crisis there's not much investment in anything.
It's a real shame that companies presently developing private space vehicles are more concerned with just getting people far up enough to enjoy freefall (for dumb prices) instead of really looking towards space.
Indeed, it's sad how little knowledge there is of amateur radio among nerds these days. Part of that is the medium itself, where you're often essentially talking with bored middle-aged men about nothing (international regulations arguably forbidding interesting discussions). However, there's no better way to gain an understanding of electronics than through studying for an amateur radio license. If you start with a guide like the ARRL intro, electronic gadgets become a lot less mysterious and it gets better as you proceed up the license classes. You can diagnose television or mobile phone problems, repair simple devices, or build your own for cheap like audio amplifiers. I haven't used amateur radio in over a decade now, but I'm still really happy that I got into it.
I find Greg Bear's novel Eon more thought-provoking in this case. In Bear's universe, myriad intelligent species in the universe live together and trade peacefully in a shared tunnel through space-time. Along comes an aggressive species that tries to wipe out of them out. Ironically, this aggressive species believes that in killing other civilizations (by "storing" them), it is preserving knowledge for the future. An alien species that does ill to other species wouldn't necessary be self-centered or malevolent, but their values could be quite different from ours.
If anyone actually bothers reading a bio, you'll see that Ahmadinejad has been doing a really nice job compared to his predecessors. For example, he reestablished relations with the US after 30 years of the silent treatment.
No, he didn't. There is still no US embassy in Tehran. There have been talks between the US and Iran, both open and private, under all US presidents since the Islamic Revolution, and Ahmadinejad hasn't effected much change.
But you know, Iran isn't just Ahmadinejad. In fact, he has fairly limited power under the Ayatollah, and one of the reasons why Iran bothers a lot of people is because it is a state where elected representatives are subject to religious figures.
I live in a Nordic welfare state where social programmes are much more generous than anything even the most liberal American lawmaker ever conceived of, and there isn't catastrophic leeching like you insist follows naturally. It turns out that even with generous unemployment benefits, most people actually like to have a job. Huge taxes on businesses haven't stopped Finland from becoming a globally competitive state that a major company like Nokia still wants to call home.
Appeal to authority is only a fallacy in a world of infinite time, energy and resources to adequately examine the merit of all claims. In a world where such things are in short supply, human beings must rely on authorities.
From my experience in various Eastern European countries over the last decade, the reason people pirate is not because they don't get attention from publishers. It's because people don't think films and games should cost much more than the cost of their storage media. Who doesn't want to get stuff for almost free?
While growing up, my father imparted something of a passion for astronomy, and I remember being thrilled by a glance through his homebrew Dobsonian reflector. However, light pollution really takes any wonder out of gazing up at the heavens with a naked eye. I've been to some fairly remote places on Earth, such as central Kazakhstan and Western Sahara, but even there local authorities have put up enough lighting to seriously dim the skies. I can't imagine how glorious things must have been a century ago.
It's a pity few even realize what a problem light pollution is. If you want to really appreciate the stars, consider looking at something like Bob Mizon's Light Pollution: Responses and Remedies. But in the face of apathy from officials, there's no much hope for improvement.
Virgin Galactic? Pay a butt-load to fly up to outer space?
It's hard to use the term "outer space" in anything but jest when Virgin Galactic won't even take you into orbit, but rather will give you only a decent view and a few minutes of weightlessness.
Where in the Constitution is the federal government tasked at all with computer security? I'm going to rail against any politician not supporting my Heinlein-esque wet dreams while making government-funded technological developments like the Internet a huge part of my life.
Congratulations, your half-way to becoming the newest member of the Borg collective! Just need a machine suit and a bunch of implants, and the transition to your new life is complete.
Kevin Warwick has him beat. I'm surprised he didn't immediately pop up in a first post. He's a well-known figure in nerd subculture. If you haven't heard about his odd lifestyle choices yet, his autobiography I, Cyborg does much to explain his thinking.
I remember reading in Freiberger's Fire in the Valley, his chronicle of the birth of the PC in the 1970s, that Woz and Jobs formed an almost ideal partnership, with Woz creating sublime technical solutions and Jobs knowing how to work people to make them sell. With Jobs, Apple might not have gone anywhere, but rather would have disappeared like so many hobbyist PC projects of the era.
Ironically you would be travelling the most distance in your life and end not going anywhere.
Wasn't it Robert Heinlein who said that once you're in orbit, you're halfway to anywhere? In any event, getting into orbit makes it faster to reach any other point on Earth than with traditional jet aircraft. In his 1996 novel Firestar, the first volume of a future history on the development of private space travel, Michael Flynn foresaw FedEx being one of the first patrons of spaceports, so that it could deliver urgent parcels faster. That was always an unreasonable expectation, and with the economic downturn it's even less likely, but perhaps other needs for getting into orbit to get elsewhere will arise.
I don't think it's worth attributing the teacher's support of Windows to some kind of fanatical support of union directives. From postal workers to teachers, truckers to plumbers, in my admittedly anecdotal experience I've found that the average professional has very little clue about his union's sources of funds and its goals.
Monkey's Audio is already undergoing bit rot, and the legality of improving on existing decoders is dubious. Being in development does matter if you want to continue to enjoy the format on the devices of the future.
Slashdot Mirror
Just as Phil Zimmermann famously had to distribute PGP internationally in print form to avoid violating munitions laws, wouldn't these guys have to be really careful about their elite missle launching software? If this code makes it to Syria or Iran, we're in for a mildly annoying attack with state of the art styrofoam weaponry.
The founding fathers had a complaint about taxation without representation, not taxation in general. If someone has the right to vote for their representatives, then they also can be fairly obliged to pay taxes, even if they disagree with how elections turn out.
I'd like to read this article, but I'm reluctant to put down my gun to pick up my flashlight.
Impostor. A true Bruce Perens would not have a Slashdot user ID as absurdly high as 3872.
It's not a screen, it's digital paper. There's no touchable form of this yet.
Who says great figures have to keep on creating just to be respected? Bringing an entire new field of technology like personal computing into being is enough of an accomplishment that he can rest on his laurels. I'd only complain that while Slashdot celebrates Woz, I feel this community really neglects other great PC engineers of the '70s, and has seemed to forget a lot of the details of the era's culture, for which I'd recommend Freiberger's Fire in the Valley
Private investment in space flight seemed so likely in the 1990s. I remember science fiction author Michael Flynn's future history starting with Firestar suggesting that FedEx would be a major force behind space flight because deliveries could be made anywhere on Earth in much less time than with airplanes. Nowadays, however, no company is going to want to spend that much money on courier services, and with the present economic crisis there's not much investment in anything.
It's a real shame that companies presently developing private space vehicles are more concerned with just getting people far up enough to enjoy freefall (for dumb prices) instead of really looking towards space.
Indeed, it's sad how little knowledge there is of amateur radio among nerds these days. Part of that is the medium itself, where you're often essentially talking with bored middle-aged men about nothing (international regulations arguably forbidding interesting discussions). However, there's no better way to gain an understanding of electronics than through studying for an amateur radio license. If you start with a guide like the ARRL intro , electronic gadgets become a lot less mysterious and it gets better as you proceed up the license classes. You can diagnose television or mobile phone problems, repair simple devices, or build your own for cheap like audio amplifiers. I haven't used amateur radio in over a decade now, but I'm still really happy that I got into it.
I find Greg Bear's novel Eon more thought-provoking in this case. In Bear's universe, myriad intelligent species in the universe live together and trade peacefully in a shared tunnel through space-time. Along comes an aggressive species that tries to wipe out of them out. Ironically, this aggressive species believes that in killing other civilizations (by "storing" them), it is preserving knowledge for the future. An alien species that does ill to other species wouldn't necessary be self-centered or malevolent, but their values could be quite different from ours.
No, he didn't. There is still no US embassy in Tehran. There have been talks between the US and Iran, both open and private, under all US presidents since the Islamic Revolution, and Ahmadinejad hasn't effected much change.
But you know, Iran isn't just Ahmadinejad. In fact, he has fairly limited power under the Ayatollah, and one of the reasons why Iran bothers a lot of people is because it is a state where elected representatives are subject to religious figures.
Back in the '60s (in stories like those in Niven's Known Space universe), it was always assumed that a fusion rocket would use a ramscoop technology to get fuel along the way. This entire concept seems to have fallen by the wayside. Are ramjets no longer considered a possible technology?
I live in a Nordic welfare state where social programmes are much more generous than anything even the most liberal American lawmaker ever conceived of, and there isn't catastrophic leeching like you insist follows naturally. It turns out that even with generous unemployment benefits, most people actually like to have a job. Huge taxes on businesses haven't stopped Finland from becoming a globally competitive state that a major company like Nokia still wants to call home.
Appeal to authority is only a fallacy in a world of infinite time, energy and resources to adequately examine the merit of all claims. In a world where such things are in short supply, human beings must rely on authorities.
From my experience in various Eastern European countries over the last decade, the reason people pirate is not because they don't get attention from publishers. It's because people don't think films and games should cost much more than the cost of their storage media. Who doesn't want to get stuff for almost free?
While growing up, my father imparted something of a passion for astronomy, and I remember being thrilled by a glance through his homebrew Dobsonian reflector. However, light pollution really takes any wonder out of gazing up at the heavens with a naked eye. I've been to some fairly remote places on Earth, such as central Kazakhstan and Western Sahara, but even there local authorities have put up enough lighting to seriously dim the skies. I can't imagine how glorious things must have been a century ago.
It's a pity few even realize what a problem light pollution is. If you want to really appreciate the stars, consider looking at something like Bob Mizon's Light Pollution: Responses and Remedies . But in the face of apathy from officials, there's no much hope for improvement.
He didn't say Christmas. He said Xmas. Totally different holiday.
It's hard to use the term "outer space" in anything but jest when Virgin Galactic won't even take you into orbit, but rather will give you only a decent view and a few minutes of weightlessness.
Where in the Constitution is the federal government tasked at all with computer security? I'm going to rail against any politician not supporting my Heinlein-esque wet dreams while making government-funded technological developments like the Internet a huge part of my life.
Kevin Warwick has him beat. I'm surprised he didn't immediately pop up in a first post. He's a well-known figure in nerd subculture. If you haven't heard about his odd lifestyle choices yet, his autobiography I, Cyborg does much to explain his thinking.
Been reading Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash , have you?
I remember reading in Freiberger's Fire in the Valley , his chronicle of the birth of the PC in the 1970s, that Woz and Jobs formed an almost ideal partnership, with Woz creating sublime technical solutions and Jobs knowing how to work people to make them sell. With Jobs, Apple might not have gone anywhere, but rather would have disappeared like so many hobbyist PC projects of the era.
Wasn't it Robert Heinlein who said that once you're in orbit, you're halfway to anywhere? In any event, getting into orbit makes it faster to reach any other point on Earth than with traditional jet aircraft. In his 1996 novel Firestar , the first volume of a future history on the development of private space travel, Michael Flynn foresaw FedEx being one of the first patrons of spaceports, so that it could deliver urgent parcels faster. That was always an unreasonable expectation, and with the economic downturn it's even less likely, but perhaps other needs for getting into orbit to get elsewhere will arise.
I agree. This is conclusive proof that the human race is circling the drain.
I don't think it's worth attributing the teacher's support of Windows to some kind of fanatical support of union directives. From postal workers to teachers, truckers to plumbers, in my admittedly anecdotal experience I've found that the average professional has very little clue about his union's sources of funds and its goals.
Monkey's Audio is already undergoing bit rot, and the legality of improving on existing decoders is dubious. Being in development does matter if you want to continue to enjoy the format on the devices of the future.