The speed of light is a fixed natural value that we know with finite precision.
Pi is a fixed natural value that we know with finite precision.
Contrary to what you imply, C is not arbitrary, nor is it "defined". The speed of light is a fixed constant, and whatever units we measure it in, its fundamental value remains unchanged.
Sorry, you've lost me. How do you figure that the kinetic energy of a mass is similar to the mass' energy equivalence?
Also, m is not constant of inertia, it is simply mass. The equation em=c^2 would work just fine even if you changed all the units, so long as you changed them all equivalently. Alternatively, if you did not change them equivalently you could easily re-express it as:
ke=mc^2 where k is some random constant that accounts for the unit difference.
This is the value of the metric system: All units are designed to add up neatly when plugged into equations, to reduce as much as possible the need for arbitrary constants all over the place.
You say "day to day use" as though I'd use e-mc^2 when working out value for money on the small vs large box of cereal in the supermarket or something like that.
"Hmm... I wonder if the larger box would still be better value for money if I were eating it in a spaceship with a velocity approaching c"
the reason that is it not (some value here)mc^2 is because c is a natural constant with a non-integer value, and all the "non-roundness" that seems to amaze you is contained in this constants. Another example of a fundamental constant is pi. Is it really so amazing that the ratio of circumference to diameter is exactly pi and not 2.143243*pi ? These numbers and constants are discovered, as they clearly exist whether or not we know what they are.
Other parts of math do resemble invention more than discovery. E.g., the definition of mole being the number of atoms of carbon 12 needed to make exactly 12g and the Coulomb, both of which are numbers that are arbitrarily assigned to fit in with the system of measurements that has been devised over the years. All of these constants could easily be multiplied by any non-integer value and the whole system would still work.
To answer the article's original question however, my answer would be: Who gives a toss? Math is useful. Whatever semantic definition we apply to the process by which we expand our mathematical capabilities has absolutely zero impact upon that expansion.
how is that possible, if you ensure that your boot CD is sitting on the bare metal? When booting from the CD surely you'd ensure that the CD is the first boot device. How would they manage to sit a hypervisor between the machine and your LiveCD?
How are you on the internet then? I'd wager a bet that > 50% of the products you use on a daily basis are at least partly made in China.
But back up a minute, since when was China the sworn enemy of the US? If the US didn't trade with countries it viewed with suspicion, then they'd pretty much only be trading with Canada, and even then it'd be a begrudging trade arrangement.
Yea. All those who were previously in the market for retarded attempts at trolling, thinly disguised rickrolling links and Soviet Russia jokes are losing billions to the Open Source approach Slashdot takes to those things.
I beg to differ. After waiting for rev2 of these drives, I'm going to use 4 of them in RAID10 for my database server.
I've currently got 4x 74gb drives, and I've been waiting for the next gen Raptor drives for a while now. I'm glad they are here, and I'm glad they are finally at a more usable size for modern applications.
Don't be ridiculous. Of course its true. It's just like the evil purveyors of that monstrosity that they call the "car" has put many a good, hard-working farrier out of business. Please, someone think of the farriers!
I have no problem with you needing a class 4 laser. However if you need something that has a hugely limited use potential (we're not talking about something as commonly necessary as a screwdriver or a hammer here) and at the same time has the ability to cause grievous harm very easily if even slightly negligently used, then yes, I (speaking on behalf of any rational human being) would want you to demonstrate need and responsibility in order to have it.
These lasers are powerful enough to cause serious injury, and are of very limited use outside of niche industrial or commercial applications.
So, given a) high harm potential and b) very uncommon use case I don't think this law is unreasonable. In fact, I think that the capacity to cause harm with these things carelessly is about on par with the harm that can be caused by a negligent driver, yet the device being used is infintely less commonly useful. So I find this law to be even more approprite than requiring cars and drivers to be registered.
Innocent enough? Think 1984? Dude, your danger sensors are turned waaaay too low, they need recalibrating. You're the kind of guy who sits in a boat with water up to his knees and says to his crewmates:
"OK, something's not right here. Did one of you fart?"
You can find his reasoning explained in a journal article called "The Ballamer Principle: A dissertation on the proportionality of the relationship between Microsoft's annual office furniture budget and strategic failures their global modus operandi." Published by Ikea Press.
I admit it. I am partly respoinsible for this. When deciding to buy Office in order to get my business critical information I should have considered the optiona: a) Not buy office b) go out of busiess due to not being able to get the information that I need in order to operate.
Hmm... Facebook will need some new options in a few of their option boxes: Seargent Smith, please indicate how you know Mr. Badguy: ( ) We went to school together ( ) We hooked up (x) I arresed him on felony charges
I, like you, sadly pine for the days of old when the Internet was used for activities that were intellectually stimulating, and bemoan the emergence of passive, mindless, consumerist culture on the once erudite Internet community. I remember hoping that as people joined the internet, their mental atrophy would reverse and they would begin learning and participating on a more socially constructive level. How naive and myopic of me to not see that mindlessness would simply follow them online.
Government and big business have a vested interest in maintaining a stupid, politically inert and consumerist society, so it was inevitable that bread and circuses would be pushed down the tubes as soon as it became mainstream.
Slashdot Mirror
Both are natural properties of the universe. Also, congratulations on managing to degenerate a math discussion into semantics in a single reply.
The speed of light is a fixed natural value that we know with finite precision.
Pi is a fixed natural value that we know with finite precision.
Contrary to what you imply, C is not arbitrary, nor is it "defined". The speed of light is a fixed constant, and whatever units we measure it in, its fundamental value remains unchanged.
Sorry, you've lost me. How do you figure that the kinetic energy of a mass is similar to the mass' energy equivalence?
Also, m is not constant of inertia, it is simply mass. The equation em=c^2 would work just fine even if you changed all the units, so long as you changed them all equivalently. Alternatively, if you did not change them equivalently you could easily re-express it as:
ke=mc^2 where k is some random constant that accounts for the unit difference.
This is the value of the metric system: All units are designed to add up neatly when plugged into equations, to reduce as much as possible the need for arbitrary constants all over the place.
You say "day to day use" as though I'd use e-mc^2 when working out value for money on the small vs large box of cereal in the supermarket or something like that.
"Hmm... I wonder if the larger box would still be better value for money if I were eating it in a spaceship with a velocity approaching c"
the reason that is it not (some value here)mc^2 is because c is a natural constant with a non-integer value, and all the "non-roundness" that seems to amaze you is contained in this constants. Another example of a fundamental constant is pi. Is it really so amazing that the ratio of circumference to diameter is exactly pi and not 2.143243*pi ? These numbers and constants are discovered, as they clearly exist whether or not we know what they are.
Other parts of math do resemble invention more than discovery. E.g., the definition of mole being the number of atoms of carbon 12 needed to make exactly 12g and the Coulomb, both of which are numbers that are arbitrarily assigned to fit in with the system of measurements that has been devised over the years. All of these constants could easily be multiplied by any non-integer value and the whole system would still work.
To answer the article's original question however, my answer would be: Who gives a toss? Math is useful. Whatever semantic definition we apply to the process by which we expand our mathematical capabilities has absolutely zero impact upon that expansion.
how is that possible, if you ensure that your boot CD is sitting on the bare metal? When booting from the CD surely you'd ensure that the CD is the first boot device. How would they manage to sit a hypervisor between the machine and your LiveCD?
20/10 times as productive? Why didn't you juss say "twice as productive" ?
"Perl developer" is a misnomer. The appropriate term is "Voodoo practitioner".
How are you on the internet then? I'd wager a bet that > 50% of the products you use on a daily basis are at least partly made in China.
But back up a minute, since when was China the sworn enemy of the US? If the US didn't trade with countries it viewed with suspicion, then they'd pretty much only be trading with Canada, and even then it'd be a begrudging trade arrangement.
That's not what the judge said.
Yea. All those who were previously in the market for retarded attempts at trolling, thinly disguised rickrolling links and Soviet Russia jokes are losing billions to the Open Source approach Slashdot takes to those things.
I beg to differ. After waiting for rev2 of these drives, I'm going to use 4 of them in RAID10 for my database server.
I've currently got 4x 74gb drives, and I've been waiting for the next gen Raptor drives for a while now. I'm glad they are here, and I'm glad they are finally at a more usable size for modern applications.
Don't be ridiculous. Of course its true. It's just like the evil purveyors of that monstrosity that they call the "car" has put many a good, hard-working farrier out of business. Please, someone think of the farriers!
This is Slashdot. We know that there is no need to pay people to break Windows. It was already broken when we got here.
I have no problem with you needing a class 4 laser. However if you need something that has a hugely limited use potential (we're not talking about something as commonly necessary as a screwdriver or a hammer here) and at the same time has the ability to cause grievous harm very easily if even slightly negligently used, then yes, I (speaking on behalf of any rational human being) would want you to demonstrate need and responsibility in order to have it.
These lasers are powerful enough to cause serious injury, and are of very limited use outside of niche industrial or commercial applications.
So, given a) high harm potential and b) very uncommon use case I don't think this law is unreasonable. In fact, I think that the capacity to cause harm with these things carelessly is about on par with the harm that can be caused by a negligent driver, yet the device being used is infintely less commonly useful. So I find this law to be even more approprite than requiring cars and drivers to be registered.
Yours truly,
King Shit
c/o Turd Mountain.
Will my tank full of sharks count as a "lawful reason"?
Innocent enough? Think 1984? Dude, your danger sensors are turned waaaay too low, they need recalibrating. You're the kind of guy who sits in a boat with water up to his knees and says to his crewmates:
"OK, something's not right here. Did one of you fart?"
You can find his reasoning explained in a journal article called "The Ballamer Principle: A dissertation on the proportionality of the relationship between Microsoft's annual office furniture budget and strategic failures their global modus operandi." Published by Ikea Press.
"Throw me a goddamn chair Mr. Ballmer."
Dude, I'd be watching out from now on. When you make a challenge like that, you risk your life every time you walk under an open window.
I admit it. I am partly respoinsible for this. When deciding to buy Office in order to get my business critical information I should have considered the optiona: a) Not buy office b) go out of busiess due to not being able to get the information that I need in order to operate.
Not sure, but I'd prefer the military grade one, as you're less likely to have it phone home :P
Perhaps those Sony battery incidents were actually beta versions of products intended for this very use!
On Soviet Slashdot, case rests you!
Hmm... Facebook will need some new options in a few of their option boxes:
Seargent Smith, please indicate how you know Mr. Badguy:
( ) We went to school together
( ) We hooked up
(x) I arresed him on felony charges
I, like you, sadly pine for the days of old when the Internet was used for activities that were intellectually stimulating, and bemoan the emergence of passive, mindless, consumerist culture on the once erudite Internet community. I remember hoping that as people joined the internet, their mental atrophy would reverse and they would begin learning and participating on a more socially constructive level. How naive and myopic of me to not see that mindlessness would simply follow them online.
Government and big business have a vested interest in maintaining a stupid, politically inert and consumerist society, so it was inevitable that bread and circuses would be pushed down the tubes as soon as it became mainstream.