Totally agree. I've seen some really bogus stuff trotted out by people who claim to be beyond superstition. Scientists especially should know better. Yeah astrology is not something I would believe in, but I don't disbelieve in it either... it just has very low probability with no evidence. Which means it's just as good as believing in anything random. That doesn't mean the believer is dumb. I could say the same for everyone who believes in organised religion or my favourite "A Theory of Everything" which is so obviously bogus only a fool would accept it. But then I could be wrong. Just a matter of being tolerant, and not ramming your ideas down people's throats.
Who decides? If they delete 'trivial' articles then I am certain they will delete important stuff because 'triviality' is to a large degree subjective, who knows what the importance of an article will be.
What we may regard as trivial today may become quite an important piece of history in even 5 years. Like those old photos you sometimes see, where the most interesting thing is not what is in the foreground but in the background. Wikipedia is, whether it knows it or not, documenting our global society in real time. I was particularly pissed off that they removed the original article about slashdot culture which I found both funny and true.
If I had a vote I'd say they have the capability of both keeping the 'trivial' and setting standards. Why can't Wikipedia have levels of authenticity: technical articles that are easily verified, or other articles that are lower levels of confidence but are still interesting anyway (and even useful). Even official encyclopedias can't maintain the same standard for all articles, established scientific ideas do not have the same reliability as controversial but important ideas, but I would expect an encyclopedia to contain both.
In fact the strong resemblance to US society is superficial. They are polytheistic, colonial, wary of their own technology (I mean for crying out loud they've had starships for 2000+ years), and do not question their origins.
Looking at it some more you see lots of things in it. Just like the series where little throwaway lines end up having great significance. Notice the chalice, but it isn't in front of anyone. What is Roslin burning? Caprica (virtual Caprica by the clothing) is centred and in the role of the Angel of God (a role I think she is actually telling the truth about). But the other Six on the far left is pointing an accusing finger at her. Hmm. No wonder I love this series just gets the brain cells going into overdrive. And interestingly exactly half of the 12 are Cylons, though maybe virtual Caprica is something else.
Yes that is how I saw it too. It is pretty clear as she walks away the look of pain and regret on her face. When she is downloaded in "Downloaded" it is one of the principal memories that comes back. Sharon describes the Sixes as 'hardcore' but they are obsessed by being loved and the virtual Baltar tells Caprica that she thinks of herself as more human than Cylon (just before Sharon tells Caprica that Baltar is still alive).
In "The Eye of Jupiter" episode (Season 3) when Three sends raiders to the planet surface Adama threatens to nuke the entire continent. The Six, Eight, Five etc tell Three to pull back but she recalls all but one of the ships. Three says to the others when Adama steps back from attack : "It is *never* about one ship".
How many planes can get off the runway powered only by some seeds, and self repair? You underestimate the level of sophistication of biological systems, there is no need for birds to fly at 40,000 feet.
As for AI. Well we have been goddam long time waiting. The more I learn about the brain and neural systems the more primitive our technology looks. And I don't really understand what the fuss is about nanobots, we already have them... they're bacteria. Just grab some, re-engineer them to our liking. Problem solved.
Especially if you only look on the surface. The article itself talks about conditions when the seas dried up. Well, gees... I'm sure everyone here agrees that a drying up sea is not a good place for life to start. But before that? And underground now? There may be extensive caves with melted ice. Mars hasn't lost all of its internal heat yet.
I'm not sure what your point is. There is plenty of water on Mars, mostly ice of course. But any subterranean heat will likely produce sizeable pockets of liquid water. And article was about the saltiness of the water wasn't it? So surely adequate for extremophiles.
Advanced lifeforms... sure that is very unlikely. But I'd say there are reasonable chances of finding native bacteria on Mars, but we'll have to dig.
Yeah generally the greedy want to exploit people. I have seen this from both sides of the divide. Which is why I am left of centre now, was once right wing. Fact is the wealthy are lazy in their reasoning, they think that anyone who isn't as rich as them is guilty of... well there is a list. But basically it is about "I'm ok, fuck you". This applies to most people and when they get power or wealth they express it. Anyone who doesn't believe in unions better be prepared for violent revolution, that is just the way it is. Read your history. I don't see why I should sugar coat it.
Actually I was being pretty grim by saying "fun_and_games". I find it pretty disturbing. This is the sort of thing that should be top priority of those responsible: regional, state and national leaders everywhere.
Citing two Government Accountability Office reports on SCADA security, Paller said that people have been adding wireless and Windows to SCADA systems without really thinking about security. "They're gotten radically unsafe," he said.
Windows + wifi + scada + power_grid = fun_and_games
I've already been affected. An application I work on has in a remote corner of its innards a check for expiry time of certain proximity cards. These are not credit cards. The real expiry dates were past 2040. The library which uses standard 'time' returning a time_t is 32 bits. So only goes to part way through 2038. Had to fake the rest. Hopefully when we get closer either the company will be bust, the OS will be 64 bit or the code will be revamped... likely all three.
2038 is more fundamental than y2k. y2k was a problem because of a choice made by some developers. But the end of the unix epoch is common to almost all large C / C++ applications, and not just unix. I expect this to be dealt with semi cleanly, maybe a redefinition of time_t etc. Yeah it's more complicated than that, I haven't looked into the plans.
I don't know the details of your app. However, I have noticed that some software lends itself very well to the 'service' path. Many applications are usable right out of the box -- no assembly required. But others must be adapted to different companies' requirements, sometimes in a major way. In that case knowledge of the source and the philosophy and the domain knowledge of the application make a great opportunity. The company I work for guards its source code, but the truth is if it fell into someone else's hands they couldn't use it, each of our projects is user specific, because the requirements mandate deep changes to the source, requiring deep knowledge of the customer, the code and the industry.
Don't take the following as an attack. This is just something that has always mystified me.
As an outsider I used to wonder why Americans seem so different. At least the way they often interact on the world stage. Then I realised, only quite recently, that some/many have adopted Democracy as a religion and become zealots. Democracy is good, sure. Preferable. But some societies may not be ready. When your political system is viewed like a religion I think it corrodes your common sense. And when you start to form a sphere of influence (Empire is tempting but not quite the same), then unpleasant unintended things happen. OK. That's enough, I only want to express an opinion about what I see.
I was re-viewing the DVDs of "The Civil War" recently, and I was struck by the difference in temper of the people in their own words then as compared to now. Still not sure about that, but wouldn't be surprised if others have noticed as well. I understood those people, I'm not sure I understand modern America.
Heh heh. Quite awhile back I was watching an Open University program (in Australia) about Australian ecosystems or whatever. The presenter said something like "In Australia, Mother Nature is guilty of child abuse", after discussing the horrible regularity of droughts, fires and floods through almost the entire continent. This has always been my biggest objection to the environmental movement, their belief in "The Balance of Nature" as some wonderful, magical thing belongs in some mythical part of Europe where the weather is much kinder. But for most of the Earth it's adapt or die.
You do realise that you are talking about an event spread out over 20 million years. The average species lasts about a million years, so there must have been plenty of time for resistance to arise. And, how can a pandemic occur? There's no international travel of dinos. And as someone pointed out dinosaurs weren't the only branch / group of animals affected. How come the ocean going lizards, eg pleisiosaur and icthyosaur, also went exinct... because they were not dinosaurs. I think a proven asteroid impact (or several) plus the Deccan Traps counts more highly as the likely cause(s) than this. However, it has always been my suspicion that after the impact many dinosaurs in some parts would have survived, but the ecosystem would have been so damaged they were overwhelmed by the plagues of insects and new critters radiating into vacant niches. Then insects and disease would play a part.
Certifications don't protect the public. They protect the certified against competition.
Good idea! In that case when they (the government) ask us to check the security of a network we can just say: "sorry I can't legally do that, I'm not certified. cya later".
Slashdot Mirror
Simple as that. And even with the source, that is just the first step.
Totally agree. I've seen some really bogus stuff trotted out by people who claim to be beyond superstition. Scientists especially should know better. Yeah astrology is not something I would believe in, but I don't disbelieve in it either ... it just has very low probability with no evidence. Which means it's just as good as believing in anything random. That doesn't mean the believer is dumb. I could say the same for everyone who believes in organised religion or my favourite "A Theory of Everything" which is so obviously bogus only a fool would accept it. But then I could be wrong. Just a matter of being tolerant, and not ramming your ideas down people's throats.
My 3 cents. More for inflation.
Who decides? If they delete 'trivial' articles then I am certain they will delete important stuff because 'triviality' is to a large degree subjective, who knows what the importance of an article will be.
What we may regard as trivial today may become quite an important piece of history in even 5 years. Like those old photos you sometimes see, where the most interesting thing is not what is in the foreground but in the background. Wikipedia is, whether it knows it or not, documenting our global society in real time. I was particularly pissed off that they removed the original article about slashdot culture which I found both funny and true.
If I had a vote I'd say they have the capability of both keeping the 'trivial' and setting standards. Why can't Wikipedia have levels of authenticity: technical articles that are easily verified, or other articles that are lower levels of confidence but are still interesting anyway (and even useful). Even official encyclopedias can't maintain the same standard for all articles, established scientific ideas do not have the same reliability as controversial but important ideas, but I would expect an encyclopedia to contain both.
In fact the strong resemblance to US society is superficial. They are polytheistic, colonial, wary of their own technology (I mean for crying out loud they've had starships for 2000+ years), and do not question their origins.
Looking at it some more you see lots of things in it. Just like the series where little throwaway lines end up having great significance. Notice the chalice, but it isn't in front of anyone. What is Roslin burning? Caprica (virtual Caprica by the clothing) is centred and in the role of the Angel of God (a role I think she is actually telling the truth about). But the other Six on the far left is pointing an accusing finger at her. Hmm. No wonder I love this series just gets the brain cells going into overdrive. And interestingly exactly half of the 12 are Cylons, though maybe virtual Caprica is something else.
Such an interesting photo. Says a great deal I think. Of course skip obvious stuff and go the important bit: two Sixes. Double the fun.
Yes that is how I saw it too. It is pretty clear as she walks away the look of pain and regret on her face. When she is downloaded in "Downloaded" it is one of the principal memories that comes back. Sharon describes the Sixes as 'hardcore' but they are obsessed by being loved and the virtual Baltar tells Caprica that she thinks of herself as more human than Cylon (just before Sharon tells Caprica that Baltar is still alive).
In "The Eye of Jupiter" episode (Season 3) when Three sends raiders to the planet surface Adama threatens to nuke the entire continent. The Six, Eight, Five etc tell Three to pull back but she recalls all but one of the ships. Three says to the others when Adama steps back from attack : "It is *never* about one ship".
How many planes can get off the runway powered only by some seeds, and self repair? You underestimate the level of sophistication of biological systems, there is no need for birds to fly at 40,000 feet.
As for AI. Well we have been goddam long time waiting. The more I learn about the brain and neural systems the more primitive our technology looks. And I don't really understand what the fuss is about nanobots, we already have them ... they're bacteria. Just grab some, re-engineer them to our liking. Problem solved.
No. Think of it this way: maybe Novell and IBM will now be able to screw SCO to the wall and get that 100 million.
Especially if you only look on the surface. The article itself talks about conditions when the seas dried up. Well, gees ... I'm sure everyone here agrees that a drying up sea is not a good place for life to start. But before that? And underground now? There may be extensive caves with melted ice. Mars hasn't lost all of its internal heat yet.
I'm not sure what your point is. There is plenty of water on Mars, mostly ice of course. But any subterranean heat will likely produce sizeable pockets of liquid water. And article was about the saltiness of the water wasn't it? So surely adequate for extremophiles.
Advanced lifeforms ... sure that is very unlikely. But I'd say there are reasonable chances of finding native bacteria on Mars, but we'll have to dig.
Yeah generally the greedy want to exploit people. I have seen this from both sides of the divide. Which is why I am left of centre now, was once right wing. Fact is the wealthy are lazy in their reasoning, they think that anyone who isn't as rich as them is guilty of ... well there is a list. But basically it is about "I'm ok, fuck you". This applies to most people and when they get power or wealth they express it. Anyone who doesn't believe in unions better be prepared for violent revolution, that is just the way it is. Read your history. I don't see why I should sugar coat it.
Heroes? Ugh! Waste of space, for kids only. Of all the programs on TV, BSG is one of the best and certainly the best in SciFi.
I generally don't watch SciFi on TV any more because it is crap but BSG transcends that.
You just know it doesn't make sense.
Actually I was being pretty grim by saying "fun_and_games". I find it pretty disturbing. This is the sort of thing that should be top priority of those responsible: regional, state and national leaders everywhere.
I really liked the last paragraph in the article:
Windows + wifi + scada + power_grid = fun_and_games
Agreed but the problem is, of course, that the programmer should have written:
I've already been affected. An application I work on has in a remote corner of its innards a check for expiry time of certain proximity cards. These are not credit cards. The real expiry dates were past 2040. The library which uses standard 'time' returning a time_t is 32 bits. So only goes to part way through 2038. Had to fake the rest. Hopefully when we get closer either the company will be bust, the OS will be 64 bit or the code will be revamped ... likely all three.
2038 is more fundamental than y2k. y2k was a problem because of a choice made by some developers. But the end of the unix epoch is common to almost all large C / C++ applications, and not just unix. I expect this to be dealt with semi cleanly, maybe a redefinition of time_t etc. Yeah it's more complicated than that, I haven't looked into the plans.
I don't know the details of your app. However, I have noticed that some software lends itself very well to the 'service' path. Many applications are usable right out of the box -- no assembly required. But others must be adapted to different companies' requirements, sometimes in a major way. In that case knowledge of the source and the philosophy and the domain knowledge of the application make a great opportunity. The company I work for guards its source code, but the truth is if it fell into someone else's hands they couldn't use it, each of our projects is user specific, because the requirements mandate deep changes to the source, requiring deep knowledge of the customer, the code and the industry.
Don't take the following as an attack. This is just something that has always mystified me.
As an outsider I used to wonder why Americans seem so different. At least the way they often interact on the world stage. Then I realised, only quite recently, that some/many have adopted Democracy as a religion and become zealots. Democracy is good, sure. Preferable. But some societies may not be ready. When your political system is viewed like a religion I think it corrodes your common sense. And when you start to form a sphere of influence (Empire is tempting but not quite the same), then unpleasant unintended things happen. OK. That's enough, I only want to express an opinion about what I see.
I was re-viewing the DVDs of "The Civil War" recently, and I was struck by the difference in temper of the people in their own words then as compared to now. Still not sure about that, but wouldn't be surprised if others have noticed as well. I understood those people, I'm not sure I understand modern America.
Heh heh. Quite awhile back I was watching an Open University program (in Australia) about Australian ecosystems or whatever. The presenter said something like "In Australia, Mother Nature is guilty of child abuse", after discussing the horrible regularity of droughts, fires and floods through almost the entire continent. This has always been my biggest objection to the environmental movement, their belief in "The Balance of Nature" as some wonderful, magical thing belongs in some mythical part of Europe where the weather is much kinder. But for most of the Earth it's adapt or die.
You do realise that you are talking about an event spread out over 20 million years. The average species lasts about a million years, so there must have been plenty of time for resistance to arise. And, how can a pandemic occur? There's no international travel of dinos. And as someone pointed out dinosaurs weren't the only branch / group of animals affected. How come the ocean going lizards, eg pleisiosaur and icthyosaur, also went exinct ... because they were not dinosaurs. I think a proven asteroid impact (or several) plus the Deccan Traps counts more highly as the likely cause(s) than this. However, it has always been my suspicion that after the impact many dinosaurs in some parts would have survived, but the ecosystem would have been so damaged they were overwhelmed by the plagues of insects and new critters radiating into vacant niches. Then insects and disease would play a part.
Certifications don't protect the public. They protect the certified against competition.
Good idea! In that case when they (the government) ask us to check the security of a network we can just say: "sorry I can't legally do that, I'm not certified. cya later".
OK being a bit sarcastic there.
A mathematics article without proofs is like a history article without citations.