Don't know what the system has against you, but I get mod points regularly. Probably about once a month it seems, though I don't actually track it. I also get M2'd negatively occassionally, but far more often positively. I have to agree that I don't think I've ever seen an over/under when I M2, which I also do regularly.
One question, do you have anyone on your friends/foes list? I use friends/foes to micromoderate, i.e. friends get +2, foes -2, etc. I'm wondering if mod point assignment has to do with a combination of active friend/foe list, frequency of posting, frequency of login, and M2. I'm also fairly certain that if you get mod points and don't use them before they expire, it will be a long time before you ever get them again. That's happened to me twice. I guess I could scan through the slashcode to figure it out, but having looked at it once, I don't care that much.
Except, that would not specify the criteria of being able to reproduce it. The system as it is now is almost precisely the way you describe it. You say given some input (information/power/raw materials/etc.), you get some specified output, with a black box in the middle labeled "the magic happens here". What we need to go back to is requiring that the "black box" be specified in complete detail. In this way it can be pretty well determined if someone else invents the idea independently, or if it is a close enough copy to fall under patent protections.
If you get a patent for "a machine that breaks up top soil", it could conceivably cover everything from a horse drawn plow, to a roto-tiller, to a full top of the line John Deer. Any time anyone tried to sell any of these you could point to your patent and demand royalties. If, however, your patent description was required to include a detailed drawing or prototype that clearly defines a garden weasel, then other entrprenuers are free to invent and sell their own methods for acheiving the same ends.
That is where we have gone wrong. Instead of realizing that patents are supposed to protect specific means and methods of accomplishing something, the Patent Office has started to grant patents for the end result. So instead of patenting the garden weasel, you patent turning dirt over, and sue everyone with a shovel.
Except that they offer clip-on adaptors for existing electronics, so you can convert all of your electronics before the device manufacturers install the coil internally. If they could create standard pickup coils to fit into the standard size battery compartments, 2-AA, 2-AAA, 9-volt, etc., they could probably sell it to the hotels as a pad that TV remote controls and bedside alarm clocks could be placed on. Add surge protection and a normal AC outlet on the desktop part of it, and it would allow the hotels to 1) not have to worry about replacing dead batteries in remotes, 2) keep the same number of cords running to the bedside, i.e. clock, and 3) fix one of the biggest annoyances I have when traveling. What use is it to offer free WiFi at a hotel when the only plugs for my laptop are either hidden behind the headboard of the bed, or all the way on the far side of the room by the TV?
This would be a great way to put an extra AC plug right on the nightstand beside the bed, and provide charging for all of the normal in-room electronics. Couple that with selling charging plates/adapters in the lobby, and you might be able to get some of the nationwide chains interested. I mean if they can get Radisson to install those hideous "sleep number" beds, they should be able to get somebody to go for this idea.
Yesterday I replaced a darksucker in the dining room. It had gotten full of dark, couldn't suck any more, and the room was a little dimmer. So we unscrewed it, screwed in a new one, and brightened the room.
So you can finally answer the question!
How much dark can a darksucker suck, when a darksucker does suck dark?
Actually, planetary rovers are just a tiny, tiny portion of the reason for this challenge, otherwise NASA would be sponsoring this, not DARPA. The primary reason for this challenge is for troop supply and support vehicles that can accompany troops into a battlefield, or be sent in autonomously. Which means the jungle scenario is non-trivial. One of the reasons the challenge is being held where it is, is due to the development lifetime projected force deployments being in mainly desert regions. Another major projected use for these kinds of vehicles is for deployment in a bio-hazardous area for testing and sampling in an autonomous measure. But once again, the is a DARPA challenge, not a CDC one.
and over $1M in lab equipment to test/debug the setup.
And how likely is it that someone without these resources is actually going to come up with an truly non-obvious and workable improvement on current designs? In addition, as noted in some other posts, a simulation or Verilog model would be acceptable. If you don't have that, or a very similar tool, you're likely not producing anything workable to begin with.
I don't think it's too much to ask for an inventor to at least produce detailed schematics from which the object of the patent can be created.
I thought the reason you had kids was for them to this kinda stuff. I envision a future where, as in the past large families were a benefit for getting the farm work done, large families will be a benefit to getting all the technological/recycling/etc. work done.
Actually I was kinda hoping for a "Britney vs vi/emacs (pick your least favorite)" flamewar.
1) Both are very simple
2) Both have legions of drooling fans
3) Both have outlived their period of signifigance
4) Both are being used waaay to much and too often by long haired, dirty, hippie types
5) Both have spawned evil sequels that have achieved a life of their own
6)...
Gee, this is fun. I should submit it as a Fark thread.
Oh, I'm all for sending ICANN to it's own little hell. It's almost as bad as the UN and not nearly as transparent in its dealings. I wouldn't mind at all for IETF or IANA to be put in charge, although I think that kind of power would ultimately corrupt either of those two good organizations. And if that is what I actually thought the UN would do, I would cheer them on. Unfortunately, the UN is just as corrupt as the US government, just corrupted by groups whose interests are less aligned with mine than the US groups.
I would prefer an independant, unbiased group making decisions based on technical merit. Since I'll never live to see that day, I personally prefer the corruption that is most beneficial to myself, and least likely to destroy or damage the things I like.
Care to post any links supporting your thesis? As far as I can tell, all that's about to happen is the UN whining like little babies 'cause the mean old US won't let them play at the table.
Based on years of observation of the UN and its proceedings, unless it a program proposed or at least strongly supported by the US, the UN never actually acomplishes anything. If they actually could pull together long enough to create something as complex, technically detailed, and successful as an alternate DNS, it would go a long way towards making me change my opinion of them.
UN want exclusive control? Fine, make a new network that is owned and operated exsclusively by UN and you can take all control you want, just don't try to expect it to work with the existing system run by the largest GDP economy in the world.
The existing system, works quite well, thank you very much. If the rest of the world doesn't like it, they are perfectly capable of setting up their own DNS system and encouraging the use of it. For them to demand to be given control of a system setup, funded, and run, by the original creators of the system is just absurd.
You don't like? Just go setup your own system, prove it's better, and people will switch... Just like Linux...
As far as course load though, one of the things that really bothered me while getting my B.S. in aerospace engineering was the fact that to graduate from my university in any degree program other than engineering or physics, required 125 credit hours. For most of the engineering degrees it required 135 credit hours. Physics was 138. Aerospace Engineering required 145 credit hours, and Electrical required 146. The only reason E.E. was one more than A.E. was that their Sophmore lab counted as 2 credit hours, while the A.E. equivalent only got counted as 1. Other than that E.E. sophmore lab, all the lab classes for engineering and physics only counted as 1 credit hour. Of course you actually were required to spend a minimum of 3 scheduled course hours in the lab, plus the fact that writing up the results and analysis each week involved much more homework time than say an equivalent English class. If the actual scheduled course hours were used, my degree took me 157 hours to earn.
Now if you do the math, you see that at "standard" full-time of 15-18 course hours, 125 can be easily gotten in 4 years (8 semesters) of study. 145 takes 10 semesters, and 157 takes a minimum of 9 semesters with every one being 18 course hours per semester. Our final year of what had been turned into an unofficial 5-year degree program all of us were harrassed by the university administration via letters about the fact that we were "a full year" behind on our 4-year degree program.
So not only is the course work much harder than what the typical Business or Psych student faces, but the pace is much more intense. And as has been pointed out elsewhere in this thread, you end up working for, and being paid considerably less than, those business and management majors that skated through. To be honest, even though I am 12 years into a fairly well paying engineering career, and my son is very interested and good at math and science, I am counseling him to go into a business degree program rather than the much harder degrees.
My favorite was the T.A. teaching my Circuits II class. Very nice Tiawanese gentleman, who at somepoint had a practical joker for an English teacher. Every time he wrote a circuit on the board, or worked a sample problem he reversed "off" and "on", and "open" and "closed". Took all of us much longer than it probably should have to realize what the problem was. then we spent the rest of the semester trying to convince him he had it backwards, and he complained to the department head that we were trying to trick him.
A perfect example of that was outside the Superdome in New Orleans.
When the first five buses rolled in to start evacuating the Superdome, they were sent right in. No Police, National Guard, or anything. When the 20,000+ crowd saw only five buses for evacuation, they went nuts. There were all sorts of stories about grown men trampling babies to get onto one of them.
After that scene, FEMA stopped all the buses coming in on the outside of town, until they had enough to really make an impression, and then sent the 1-2 mile long string of buses in with National Guard troops to maintain order. With the sense that, yes there was enough buses to get everyone out, and with strong, armed people obviously in control, while things were still tense there wasn't any of the chaos seen by the earlier group.
However, all that the media could seem to report is that for some "unexplainable" reason FEMA was keeping rescuers from the victims.
OMG, you're right! It's not even the most evil, pernicious or destructive of the greenhouse gases. We must sign an international treaty immediately to stop this incredible threat to the earth.
After much research (mid-post), I have discovered that the threat is much more far reaching than mere climate change. We must do something now!
Sewell Auto Dealerships is spending a huge effort to find and relocate all of its employees from the affected Gulf coast regions and their families to Dallas. They have promised the 114 employees equivalent jobs at their other dealerships at the same or better pay rate. When the TV interviewer asked the general manger how much this was costing the company, he looked at her like she was crazy and said, "I don't know and wont even consider it till we know everyone is safe and cared for. These people are our family and responsibility and this is the right thing to do. We'll look at the total impact from Katrina to our business after we've taken care of our people."
Evil Walmart "Any displaced associate can come and work in any other U. S. Wal-Mart store. Thus far, these associates have been transposed and are working from stories as far away as Alaska, California and Nevada, with many more in neighboring states of Georgia, Texas, and Florida. Displaced associates are eligible for up to $1,000 from our Associate Disaster Relief Fund if their homes were flooded or destroyed. We have already provided cash assistance to more than 6,100 associates, totaling more than $3.6 million in associate relief."
Entergy Energy One of the prime electrical and natural gas suppliers to the affected region. " In addition to mobilizing crews and resources for power restoration, Entergy Corporation is also mobilizing to provide assistance for customers and employees whose lives have been devastated by Hurricane Katrina.
The Power of Hope Fund will benefit employees and customers who need assistance in rebuilding their lives after Katrina. The focus of the fund is to help families get back on their feet after the disaster. The fund is being administered through the Foundation for the Mid South. Donors can choose to designate their contribution in one of three ways:
* to help Entergy employees who have experienced losses;
* for general relief/rebuilding efforts in Louisiana;
* for general relief/rebuilding efforts in Mississippi.
Entergy launched the fund with a $1 million contribution. The fund balance stands at $1.4 million."
This is just a very brief list. In short, every single company that I know of that had operations in those areas, and was big enough to still have some sort of operation now, is dedicating at least some major effort at finding and helping their displaced employees. Here in Dallas, many companies are advertising on the radio and TV asking displaced employees to call special hotline numbers setup specifically to help the employees get help and get back to work. Also, there are special job fairs being run specifically for local companies and displaced evacuees to get together. I saw one report where it was estimated that over 800 people had gotten employment at the one in Arlington.
Most importantly, all of these efforts are focused on, and will result in, long term stability and recovery for these people. The FEMA, Red Cross, Salvation Army, etc. assistance, while providing urgently needed immediate aid, is not, and will never, provide for long term self-sufficiency for any evacuees. The only way any of the people affected by the disaster will regain normal lives is by all of the companies stepping up and providing employment for them. The only other option is for all of these people to be on welfare and handouts for the rest of their lives.
Slashdot Mirror
Don't know what the system has against you, but I get mod points regularly. Probably about once a month it seems, though I don't actually track it. I also get M2'd negatively occassionally, but far more often positively. I have to agree that I don't think I've ever seen an over/under when I M2, which I also do regularly.
One question, do you have anyone on your friends/foes list? I use friends/foes to micromoderate, i.e. friends get +2, foes -2, etc. I'm wondering if mod point assignment has to do with a combination of active friend/foe list, frequency of posting, frequency of login, and M2. I'm also fairly certain that if you get mod points and don't use them before they expire, it will be a long time before you ever get them again. That's happened to me twice. I guess I could scan through the slashcode to figure it out, but having looked at it once, I don't care that much.
Except, that would not specify the criteria of being able to reproduce it. The system as it is now is almost precisely the way you describe it. You say given some input (information/power/raw materials/etc.), you get some specified output, with a black box in the middle labeled "the magic happens here". What we need to go back to is requiring that the "black box" be specified in complete detail. In this way it can be pretty well determined if someone else invents the idea independently, or if it is a close enough copy to fall under patent protections.
If you get a patent for "a machine that breaks up top soil", it could conceivably cover everything from a horse drawn plow, to a roto-tiller, to a full top of the line John Deer. Any time anyone tried to sell any of these you could point to your patent and demand royalties. If, however, your patent description was required to include a detailed drawing or prototype that clearly defines a garden weasel, then other entrprenuers are free to invent and sell their own methods for acheiving the same ends.
That is where we have gone wrong. Instead of realizing that patents are supposed to protect specific means and methods of accomplishing something, the Patent Office has started to grant patents for the end result. So instead of patenting the garden weasel, you patent turning dirt over, and sue everyone with a shovel.
Except that they offer clip-on adaptors for existing electronics, so you can convert all of your electronics before the device manufacturers install the coil internally. If they could create standard pickup coils to fit into the standard size battery compartments, 2-AA, 2-AAA, 9-volt, etc., they could probably sell it to the hotels as a pad that TV remote controls and bedside alarm clocks could be placed on. Add surge protection and a normal AC outlet on the desktop part of it, and it would allow the hotels to 1) not have to worry about replacing dead batteries in remotes, 2) keep the same number of cords running to the bedside, i.e. clock, and 3) fix one of the biggest annoyances I have when traveling. What use is it to offer free WiFi at a hotel when the only plugs for my laptop are either hidden behind the headboard of the bed, or all the way on the far side of the room by the TV?
This would be a great way to put an extra AC plug right on the nightstand beside the bed, and provide charging for all of the normal in-room electronics. Couple that with selling charging plates/adapters in the lobby, and you might be able to get some of the nationwide chains interested. I mean if they can get Radisson to install those hideous "sleep number" beds, they should be able to get somebody to go for this idea.
Hmmm...
1) Build world's largest enchilada
2) Get 20,000 people together to see/eat it
3) Harness all that pressurized gas for Rocket Fuel!
4) Profit!
But at least they've got the being consistent part down.
So you can finally answer the question!
How much dark can a darksucker suck, when a darksucker does suck dark?
Actually, planetary rovers are just a tiny, tiny portion of the reason for this challenge, otherwise NASA would be sponsoring this, not DARPA. The primary reason for this challenge is for troop supply and support vehicles that can accompany troops into a battlefield, or be sent in autonomously. Which means the jungle scenario is non-trivial. One of the reasons the challenge is being held where it is, is due to the development lifetime projected force deployments being in mainly desert regions. Another major projected use for these kinds of vehicles is for deployment in a bio-hazardous area for testing and sampling in an autonomous measure. But once again, the is a DARPA challenge, not a CDC one.
And how likely is it that someone without these resources is actually going to come up with an truly non-obvious and workable improvement on current designs? In addition, as noted in some other posts, a simulation or Verilog model would be acceptable. If you don't have that, or a very similar tool, you're likely not producing anything workable to begin with.
I don't think it's too much to ask for an inventor to at least produce detailed schematics from which the object of the patent can be created.
But remember, that magical google app is still in Beta.
I thought the reason you had kids was for them to this kinda stuff. I envision a future where, as in the past large families were a benefit for getting the farm work done, large families will be a benefit to getting all the technological/recycling/etc. work done.
Actually I was kinda hoping for a "Britney vs vi/emacs (pick your least favorite)" flamewar.
1) Both are very simple
2) Both have legions of drooling fans
3) Both have outlived their period of signifigance
4) Both are being used waaay to much and too often by long haired, dirty, hippie types
5) Both have spawned evil sequels that have achieved a life of their own
6)
Gee, this is fun. I should submit it as a Fark thread.
But vi is sooo much better!
The problem is that it hasn't gone to court yet. Until it does, it's illegal, and I personally don't have the cash to spend getting it overruled.
Yeah, the three of them need a forth for bridge.
Oh, I'm all for sending ICANN to it's own little hell. It's almost as bad as the UN and not nearly as transparent in its dealings. I wouldn't mind at all for IETF or IANA to be put in charge, although I think that kind of power would ultimately corrupt either of those two good organizations. And if that is what I actually thought the UN would do, I would cheer them on. Unfortunately, the UN is just as corrupt as the US government, just corrupted by groups whose interests are less aligned with mine than the US groups.
I would prefer an independant, unbiased group making decisions based on technical merit. Since I'll never live to see that day, I personally prefer the corruption that is most beneficial to myself, and least likely to destroy or damage the things I like.
Care to post any links supporting your thesis? As far as I can tell, all that's about to happen is the UN whining like little babies 'cause the mean old US won't let them play at the table.
Based on years of observation of the UN and its proceedings, unless it a program proposed or at least strongly supported by the US, the UN never actually acomplishes anything. If they actually could pull together long enough to create something as complex, technically detailed, and successful as an alternate DNS, it would go a long way towards making me change my opinion of them.
Got to respond to this one. Use your own logic:
The existing system, works quite well, thank you very much. If the rest of the world doesn't like it, they are perfectly capable of setting up their own DNS system and encouraging the use of it. For them to demand to be given control of a system setup, funded, and run, by the original creators of the system is just absurd.
You don't like? Just go setup your own system, prove it's better, and people will switch... Just like Linux...
I agree the guy's a whiner...etc.
As far as course load though, one of the things that really bothered me while getting my B.S. in aerospace engineering was the fact that to graduate from my university in any degree program other than engineering or physics, required 125 credit hours. For most of the engineering degrees it required 135 credit hours. Physics was 138. Aerospace Engineering required 145 credit hours, and Electrical required 146. The only reason E.E. was one more than A.E. was that their Sophmore lab counted as 2 credit hours, while the A.E. equivalent only got counted as 1. Other than that E.E. sophmore lab, all the lab classes for engineering and physics only counted as 1 credit hour. Of course you actually were required to spend a minimum of 3 scheduled course hours in the lab, plus the fact that writing up the results and analysis each week involved much more homework time than say an equivalent English class. If the actual scheduled course hours were used, my degree took me 157 hours to earn.
Now if you do the math, you see that at "standard" full-time of 15-18 course hours, 125 can be easily gotten in 4 years (8 semesters) of study. 145 takes 10 semesters, and 157 takes a minimum of 9 semesters with every one being 18 course hours per semester. Our final year of what had been turned into an unofficial 5-year degree program all of us were harrassed by the university administration via letters about the fact that we were "a full year" behind on our 4-year degree program.
So not only is the course work much harder than what the typical Business or Psych student faces, but the pace is much more intense. And as has been pointed out elsewhere in this thread, you end up working for, and being paid considerably less than, those business and management majors that skated through. To be honest, even though I am 12 years into a fairly well paying engineering career, and my son is very interested and good at math and science, I am counseling him to go into a business degree program rather than the much harder degrees.
My favorite was the T.A. teaching my Circuits II class. Very nice Tiawanese gentleman, who at somepoint had a practical joker for an English teacher. Every time he wrote a circuit on the board, or worked a sample problem he reversed "off" and "on", and "open" and "closed". Took all of us much longer than it probably should have to realize what the problem was. then we spent the rest of the semester trying to convince him he had it backwards, and he complained to the department head that we were trying to trick him.
Remember this is
No need for quick release pants in this crowd.
Some mod has a sense of humor. Redundant mod on a post about dupes...hehe.
Ignore me, I'm just trolling for an off-topic mod.
A perfect example of that was outside the Superdome in New Orleans.
When the first five buses rolled in to start evacuating the Superdome, they were sent right in. No Police, National Guard, or anything. When the 20,000+ crowd saw only five buses for evacuation, they went nuts. There were all sorts of stories about grown men trampling babies to get onto one of them.
After that scene, FEMA stopped all the buses coming in on the outside of town, until they had enough to really make an impression, and then sent the 1-2 mile long string of buses in with National Guard troops to maintain order. With the sense that, yes there was enough buses to get everyone out, and with strong, armed people obviously in control, while things were still tense there wasn't any of the chaos seen by the earlier group.
However, all that the media could seem to report is that for some "unexplainable" reason FEMA was keeping rescuers from the victims.
OMG, you're right! It's not even the most evil, pernicious or destructive of the greenhouse gases. We must sign an international treaty immediately to stop this incredible threat to the earth.
After much research (mid-post), I have discovered that the threat is much more far reaching than mere climate change. We must do something now!
In Pasta we trust, RAmen.
I just wish there was a snowball's chance this would get re-engineered as a general input device for PC/PS?/XBox, etc.
I'm just sitting here imagining having a light sabre shaped one, and using it to play SW Galaxies.... OMG I need a tissue.
Sewell Auto Dealerships is spending a huge effort to find and relocate all of its employees from the affected Gulf coast regions and their families to Dallas. They have promised the 114 employees equivalent jobs at their other dealerships at the same or better pay rate. When the TV interviewer asked the general manger how much this was costing the company, he looked at her like she was crazy and said, "I don't know and wont even consider it till we know everyone is safe and cared for. These people are our family and responsibility and this is the right thing to do. We'll look at the total impact from Katrina to our business after we've taken care of our people."
Community Coffee Company
Evil Walmart "Any displaced associate can come and work in any other U. S. Wal-Mart store. Thus far, these associates have been transposed and are working from stories as far away as Alaska, California and Nevada, with many more in neighboring states of Georgia, Texas, and Florida. Displaced associates are eligible for up to $1,000 from our Associate Disaster Relief Fund if their homes were flooded or destroyed. We have already provided cash assistance to more than 6,100 associates, totaling more than $3.6 million in associate relief."
Entergy Energy One of the prime electrical and natural gas suppliers to the affected region. " In addition to mobilizing crews and resources for power restoration, Entergy Corporation is also mobilizing to provide assistance for customers and employees whose lives have been devastated by Hurricane Katrina.
The Power of Hope Fund will benefit employees and customers who need assistance in rebuilding their lives after Katrina. The focus of the fund is to help families get back on their feet after the disaster. The fund is being administered through the Foundation for the Mid South. Donors can choose to designate their contribution in one of three ways:
* to help Entergy employees who have experienced losses;
* for general relief/rebuilding efforts in Louisiana;
* for general relief/rebuilding efforts in Mississippi.
Entergy launched the fund with a $1 million contribution. The fund balance stands at $1.4 million."
This is just a very brief list. In short, every single company that I know of that had operations in those areas, and was big enough to still have some sort of operation now, is dedicating at least some major effort at finding and helping their displaced employees. Here in Dallas, many companies are advertising on the radio and TV asking displaced employees to call special hotline numbers setup specifically to help the employees get help and get back to work. Also, there are special job fairs being run specifically for local companies and displaced evacuees to get together. I saw one report where it was estimated that over 800 people had gotten employment at the one in Arlington.
Most importantly, all of these efforts are focused on, and will result in, long term stability and recovery for these people. The FEMA, Red Cross, Salvation Army, etc. assistance, while providing urgently needed immediate aid, is not, and will never, provide for long term self-sufficiency for any evacuees. The only way any of the people affected by the disaster will regain normal lives is by all of the companies stepping up and providing employment for them. The only other option is for all of these people to be on welfare and handouts for the rest of their lives.