Or perhaps this approach only ensures that *smart* prospective workers are weeded out. Okay, "smart" is subjective so substitute "motivated and creative."
Most power companies are required to buy extra electriciy if you generate more power for the grid than you consume. This usually only applies to folks with solar panels and other sources of power that end up contributing to the grid. They get to watch their power meters run backwards!
I wonder if the same principle could be applied to net data flows! I would love to be paid by the power company for massive file sharing since I would be contributing more to the 'net than I consume.
Perhaps the Act should be expanded to include liability for companies that offer operating systems with poorly designed security that permit (some of) such problems in the first place. Sure, users are responsable when they flip their car off the road, but auto-makers are still liable when they manufacture a vehicle with inherintly weak suspension arms.
I too have a 5 year old. The problem for me has become the fact that I must wait to play my games after he goes to bed. Having to give up sleep to continue progressing on games is getting harder as I get older. Fortunately, I have a broad range of likes and can enjoy the games he likes (Lego Star Wars, Katamari Damacy). God, I hope he never discovers Poke-e-mon or Yu-gi-oh...
I'm not an avid WoW gamer, but I suspect it lacks the perky, sinlge, flirty beer chick that drives by every 20 minutes. Somehow, yelling upstairs to ask Mom to "throw another Mountaind Dew down to the basement" doesn't have the same appeal.
Are you kidding? Do you know how much cheaper it would be to subscribe to these bird cage liners than it would be to purchase 240,000 credit/debit card accounts on the black market? The ROI seems pretty high to me!
Why is there a persistent expectation by people in "our" fields, that "users" should be required to understand computers? I put the key in my car, it goes. I put money in a vending machine, I get a coke. I press a button, the elevator arrives. I'm not expected to understand ignition timing, solonoid switches, or counter weights. Sometimes I can't believe the patience and persistance of non-geeks in their pursuit to learn and use computers. If it was half as difficult for me to use an elevator as it is for my Mom to install software, I would be in great shape from using the stairs!
Most computers, operating systems, and software applications are HORRIBLY designed. Almost all of them require the user to adapt to the limitations of the design. The USER shouldn't have to adapt to the machine, it should be the MACHINE that adapts to the user! Yes, this is a very difficult approach. Yes, it's VERY difficult to anticipate what every possible user will try to do. But the pressure should be on US to invent things to make our lives more productive, NOT on the users to learn IT jargon.
I should be able to take a picture with a digital camera, go home, set the camera NEAR my printer, wait a few seconds for the camera to ask me "Would you like to print today's pictures to your HP LaserPlane 9000?" and say "Yes please." All of the individual technologies for this scenario exist, it's just that product development teams don't tie it all togeather. And worst of all, Joe Public's expectations are so low that they accept the fact that they have to muck around with cables, install drivers on their PC, select the right paper that's currently loaded, etc. etc. etc...
Too bad we'll never see such a show in the US. As soon as the IT basement geeks start surfing pr0n *BAM* FCC fine: $1,000,000... *BAM* FCC fine: 2,000,000...
> I can't tell you the number of times I've worked on potentially incredible stories that just fell apart because of the uncooperativeness from a publisher.
Assuming "publisher" refers to a game publisher... Since when were the subjects of journalism required to cooperate on a story? The mainstream media (I hate that term) have been publishing solid, thought-provoking stories for hundreds of years -and not always with the cooperation of their subjects.
Assuming "publisher" refers to a game magazine publisher... Since when were the publishers of journalism required to cooperate on a story? Many journalists have been publishing solid, thought-provoking stories for hundreds of years -and not always with the cooperation of publishers- thanks to the Internet, copy machine flyers, and printing press pamphlets.
It's just not the same to say "WOW! I helped find a spec of dust!" instead of "WOW! I helped find an advanced civilation in another galaxy!"
Part of the attraction for some of the distributed computing projects is that those who donate their time get a sense that they are helping to solve a really big, important challenge. I'm not saying it's scientifically sound to make research decisions based on flair, but when it comes to getting folks to donate their resources (cycles, time, eyes, tax dollars) to a cause, it sure helps to have a little flair.
Instead of blatently blocking the Wikipedia site, couldn't it be more effective for the communists to update the content of the articles to refelct more positiviely on China and their policies?
They do NOT have any escelation procedures for problems that continue to go unresolved.
Their servers go down for DAYS at a time!
My problems with RegisterFly are not isolated incidents or one-time goof-ups. The NUMEROUS and MAJOR problems I have encountered are symptoms of a completely broken operation. I used to work in the hosting arena, so I am VERY familiar with the types of challenges faced by RegisterFly. I tend to be (too) patient since I know what they might be going through; however, their issue handling constitutes gross negligence.
In my first 3 weeks of using RegisterFly for 6 new domains and 3 hosting packages (mid-range web-starter plan, not the super-cheap personal stuff), I have experienced the following problems:
1) Webhosting service down for 7 days straight. 2) DNS service down for 6 days straight. 3) None of the domains' e-mail services were setup. Rec'd auto-gen error e-mail re: failure to create new e-mail service. 4) Conflicting answers between live chat support sessions. 5) Conflicting answers between trouble ticket resolutions. 6) Trouble tickets being closed with no resolution and being asked to "open another ticket later..." 7) Buggy account login: I have to login twice anytime I access RFly. 8) Buggy checkout: Items continued to fall out of my shopping cart. 9) Buggy checkout: I could not register a domain name AND sign-up for web/mail hosting at the same time (despite being given the option to do so AND despite have done so a few days prior with another domain) I was told to purchase the domain name and come back later to sign-up for web/mail hosting. 10) The DNS, web, and mail hosting are dis-jointed systems cobbled togeather via clumsy control panels. The user interface issues are horrible. 11) Absolutely no phone support or any way to contact a real person. 12) Non-English support peoples are making difficult my chances of understanding the why problems of the issues not being fixing. 13) RegisterFly and Unified names is not even listed as an accredited registrar by ICANN! http://www.internic.net/alpha.html (MY fault for not checking this sooner.)
Support conversations go like this:
ME: My problem is blah blah... RF: First of all, your settings are all wrong. They're still default values. ME: I know, but I can't access the control panel to make the necessary changes. I was told last week that... RF: Your settings have been corrected, please wait 24 to 72 hours for the change to be active. ME: That's what I was told last week, but the problem still... RF: Sir, please wait 24 to 72 hours and try again. ME: But what if it doesn't work? RF: Please open a support ticket. ME: But they close the tickets without fixing the problem and ask me to re-open another one later. RF: Sir, please wait 24 to 72 hours and try again. ME: [I stop typing and just watch the chat window] RF: Sir, please wait 24 to 72 hours and try again. RF: Sir, please wait 24 to 72 hours and try again. RF: Sir, please wait 24 to 72 hours and try again. RF: Sir, please wait 24 to 72 hours and try again.
Television's primary product for sale is not the junk featured in ads, it's YOUR eyeballs. Where do networks get their primary source of revenue? From selling your eyeballs upstream to corporations. The TV shows are just crummy hooks to get your eyeballs for a little while. Is there some level of art, acting, or writing involved? Sure, a little. But the VAST majority of TV programming is happy, blinky stuff to keep you hooked for just a few more minutes.
I admit that I like plugging in for a little brain-nap myself, but don't forget there ARE other forms of entertainment. I mean, let's not elevate the so-called art of television to some level that we think they're above blatent product placement.
He should consider the idea of selling his time to the highest bidder. He could also put some parameters in place about what type of tests he would agree to, the right to refuse any specific test, etc...
Of course, this assumes he is even interested in participating at all. If he wants to go on living as quiet a life as possible, then fine.
Here's a gimmick: Bring in a big black trash bag filled with cash. As the meeting begins, dump out all the cash on the conference room table and spread it out. Now go on to describe that this could be the average monthly savings if our company switched one appplication (like MS-Exchange) to an open source alternative.
Ideally, the amount of cash would be based on some kind of quick and dirty ROI analysis. And of course, you could replace the idea of switching one app with migrating 5 PC's off Windows, replacing the firewall with a linux solution, replacing an expensive server with cheap hardware, and so on.
Big piles of cash are VERY fun for business people!
With some music distribution models, I can buy individual songs I like without having to pay for the entire album. I did it with 45's, single-song tapes (with a "B" side), single CD's (with 4 re-mix versions of the same song), and of course with Internet disti models.
What if instead of buying an entire movie, I could simply purchase by the chapter? I could take a movie like... Pirates of the Carribean, and buy only the scenes that I thought were cool or enjoyable. They could even bundle "action-packs" or "slow-boring-love-scene-packs" as sub-products of the movie.
Ahhhhh yes, I can see how that would be the case. Because the algorithims could be searching all possible paths/scenarios with lighting speed, the environment they are constrained within has to be rock solid -no wiggling through cracks in polygons, etc...
What frustrates a non-neurevolution researcher who watches game AI, is when an NPC gets stuck in a loop running around the same post, or starts banging and jittering against a wall. It seems "they" could put an out-of-bounds counter that says: "If you repeat the same path 6 times in less than 10 seconds, then try some random manuever." The random manuever could be chosen from a small library of "break free" moves. They might still be silly to an observer like me, but at least the NPC would break out of the loop.
BTW: I'm sure neuroevolution learning bots is far more complex than traditional gaming AI scripts. I am not attempting to equate the two.
I'd like to know if the NEROs can evolve more advanced tactics such as:
When its health is less than 5% and likely to die, make a final kamakaze run at a tough enemy to deliver a mega bomb, draw fire, etc...
Gang beat downs - Even though the NERO is closer to enemy tank B, focus your fire on enemy tank A since its damage is critical and about to be pushed over the edge.
Unload power ups - Before picking up a weapons upgrade that would replace my super grenade, go ahead and lob all of my super grenades before picking up the power-up.
Waiting for power ups to cycle - In some games, a power-up changes every few seconds. Could the NEROs learn to wait for spread-fire on one level versus lazer fire on another level? Okay, levels is too easy, how about depending on the situation, what my friends have, etc...
And most importantly, could NERO's be taught to perform "ethical cheats"? By ethical cheat, I mean take advantage of the game engine or environment in a way not intended by the developers. -Not by patching code or using network sniff bots.
Sure, these seem like pretty simple tactics, but YOU try programming this kind of AI. It's next to impossible!
...That this is the first site/article I've opened on my blacberry in a week. Sure wish/. Had a more mobile-friendly format. Actually, I'll take/. Working in my firefox first!
Slashdot Mirror
But if there WAS a SpaceMart, I'd totally shop there!
Or perhaps this approach only ensures that *smart* prospective workers are weeded out. Okay, "smart" is subjective so substitute "motivated and creative."
...just like someone's doing to you. :-)
Most power companies are required to buy extra electriciy if you generate more power for the grid than you consume. This usually only applies to folks with solar panels and other sources of power that end up contributing to the grid. They get to watch their power meters run backwards!
I wonder if the same principle could be applied to net data flows! I would love to be paid by the power company for massive file sharing since I would be contributing more to the 'net than I consume.
Perhaps the Act should be expanded to include liability for companies that offer operating systems with poorly designed security that permit (some of) such problems in the first place. Sure, users are responsable when they flip their car off the road, but auto-makers are still liable when they manufacture a vehicle with inherintly weak suspension arms.
I too have a 5 year old. The problem for me has become the fact that I must wait to play my games after he goes to bed. Having to give up sleep to continue progressing on games is getting harder as I get older. Fortunately, I have a broad range of likes and can enjoy the games he likes (Lego Star Wars, Katamari Damacy). God, I hope he never discovers Poke-e-mon or Yu-gi-oh...
I'm not an avid WoW gamer, but I suspect it lacks the perky, sinlge, flirty beer chick that drives by every 20 minutes. Somehow, yelling upstairs to ask Mom to "throw another Mountaind Dew down to the basement" doesn't have the same appeal.
Are you kidding? Do you know how much cheaper it would be to subscribe to these bird cage liners than it would be to purchase 240,000 credit/debit card accounts on the black market? The ROI seems pretty high to me!
Why is there a persistent expectation by people in "our" fields, that "users" should be required to understand computers? I put the key in my car, it goes. I put money in a vending machine, I get a coke. I press a button, the elevator arrives. I'm not expected to understand ignition timing, solonoid switches, or counter weights. Sometimes I can't believe the patience and persistance of non-geeks in their pursuit to learn and use computers. If it was half as difficult for me to use an elevator as it is for my Mom to install software, I would be in great shape from using the stairs!
Most computers, operating systems, and software applications are HORRIBLY designed. Almost all of them require the user to adapt to the limitations of the design. The USER shouldn't have to adapt to the machine, it should be the MACHINE that adapts to the user! Yes, this is a very difficult approach. Yes, it's VERY difficult to anticipate what every possible user will try to do. But the pressure should be on US to invent things to make our lives more productive, NOT on the users to learn IT jargon.
I should be able to take a picture with a digital camera, go home, set the camera NEAR my printer, wait a few seconds for the camera to ask me "Would you like to print today's pictures to your HP LaserPlane 9000?" and say "Yes please." All of the individual technologies for this scenario exist, it's just that product development teams don't tie it all togeather. And worst of all, Joe Public's expectations are so low that they accept the fact that they have to muck around with cables, install drivers on their PC, select the right paper that's currently loaded, etc. etc. etc...
Too bad we'll never see such a show in the US. As soon as the IT basement geeks start surfing pr0n *BAM* FCC fine: $1,000,000... *BAM* FCC fine: 2,000,000...
> I can't tell you the number of times I've worked on potentially incredible stories that just fell apart because of the uncooperativeness from a publisher.
Assuming "publisher" refers to a game publisher... Since when were the subjects of journalism required to cooperate on a story? The mainstream media (I hate that term) have been publishing solid, thought-provoking stories for hundreds of years -and not always with the cooperation of their subjects.
Assuming "publisher" refers to a game magazine publisher... Since when were the publishers of journalism required to cooperate on a story? Many journalists have been publishing solid, thought-provoking stories for hundreds of years -and not always with the cooperation of publishers- thanks to the Internet, copy machine flyers, and printing press pamphlets.
It's just not the same to say "WOW! I helped find a spec of dust!" instead of "WOW! I helped find an advanced civilation in another galaxy!"
Part of the attraction for some of the distributed computing projects is that those who donate their time get a sense that they are helping to solve a really big, important challenge. I'm not saying it's scientifically sound to make research decisions based on flair, but when it comes to getting folks to donate their resources (cycles, time, eyes, tax dollars) to a cause, it sure helps to have a little flair.
Instead of blatently blocking the Wikipedia site, couldn't it be more effective for the communists to update the content of the articles to refelct more positiviely on China and their policies?
!!!! NEVER USE REGISTERFLY !!!!
!!!! NEVER USE REGISTERFLY !!!!
!!!! NEVER USE REGISTERFLY !!!!
!!!! NEVER USE REGISTERFLY !!!!
They are NOT accredited by ICANN! http://www.internic.net/alpha.html
They do NOT have any phone support!
They do NOT have any escelation procedures for problems that continue to go unresolved.
Their servers go down for DAYS at a time!
My problems with RegisterFly are not isolated incidents or one-time goof-ups. The NUMEROUS and MAJOR problems I have encountered are symptoms of a completely broken operation. I used to work in the hosting arena, so I am VERY familiar with the types of challenges faced by RegisterFly. I tend to be (too) patient since I know what they might be going through; however, their issue handling constitutes gross negligence.
In my first 3 weeks of using RegisterFly for 6 new domains and 3 hosting packages (mid-range web-starter plan, not the super-cheap personal stuff), I have experienced the following problems:
1) Webhosting service down for 7 days straight.
2) DNS service down for 6 days straight.
3) None of the domains' e-mail services were setup. Rec'd auto-gen error e-mail re: failure to create new e-mail service.
4) Conflicting answers between live chat support sessions.
5) Conflicting answers between trouble ticket resolutions.
6) Trouble tickets being closed with no resolution and being asked to "open another ticket later..."
7) Buggy account login: I have to login twice anytime I access RFly.
8) Buggy checkout: Items continued to fall out of my shopping cart.
9) Buggy checkout: I could not register a domain name AND sign-up for web/mail hosting at the same time (despite being given the option to do so AND despite have done so a few days prior with another domain) I was told to purchase the domain name and come back later to sign-up for web/mail hosting.
10) The DNS, web, and mail hosting are dis-jointed systems cobbled togeather via clumsy control panels. The user interface issues are horrible.
11) Absolutely no phone support or any way to contact a real person.
12) Non-English support peoples are making difficult my chances of understanding the why problems of the issues not being fixing.
13) RegisterFly and Unified names is not even listed as an accredited registrar by ICANN! http://www.internic.net/alpha.html (MY fault for not checking this sooner.)
Support conversations go like this:
ME: My problem is blah blah...
RF: First of all, your settings are all wrong. They're still default values.
ME: I know, but I can't access the control panel to make the necessary changes. I was told last week that...
RF: Your settings have been corrected, please wait 24 to 72 hours for the change to be active.
ME: That's what I was told last week, but the problem still...
RF: Sir, please wait 24 to 72 hours and try again.
ME: But what if it doesn't work?
RF: Please open a support ticket.
ME: But they close the tickets without fixing the problem and ask me to re-open another one later.
RF: Sir, please wait 24 to 72 hours and try again.
ME: [I stop typing and just watch the chat window]
RF: Sir, please wait 24 to 72 hours and try again.
RF: Sir, please wait 24 to 72 hours and try again.
RF: Sir, please wait 24 to 72 hours and try again.
RF: Sir, please wait 24 to 72 hours and try again.
Not only has this killed the High School's website, but it seems other schools (and stuff) were hosted on at the same place:
p hp
o bjectives.php
e x.php
i ndex.html
Lake High School http://lake.stark.k12.oh.us/hs/
Lake Middle School http://lake.stark.k12.oh.us/ms/
Lake Elementary http://lake.stark.k12.oh.us/le/
Hartville Elementary http://lake.stark.k12.oh.us/he/
Uniontown Elementary http://lake.stark.k12.oh.us/ue/
Lake County District http://lake.stark.k12.oh.us/
Staff Login http://lake.stark.k12.oh.us/login.php
Athletics http://lake.stark.k12.oh.us/athletics
News http://lake.stark.k12.oh.us/news/news.php
Help Desk Login http://staff.lake.stark.k12.oh.us/helpdesk/login.
Mr. Wood's Homepage http://lake.stark.k12.oh.us/~wooddave/compsciiii-
AP Calculus http://lake.stark.k12.oh.us/~erbdave/Calculus/ind
Mr. Erb's Homepage http://lake.stark.k12.oh.us/~erbdave/main.php
Jester Labs http://lake.stark.k12.oh.us/~wooddave/jesterlabs/
BTW: According to Google's cached version of their site from Jan 1, 2006 03:32:05 GMT:
"This page has been viewed 580 times! Powered by CMS Made Simple 0.10.4"Heh heh heh... IF it ever recovers from the /.ing it'll read "This page has been viewed 7.2*10^36. Please see Mr. Erb for conversion details."
I'm mean googles. Will my usual searches for Britney Spears be somehow disrupted by this new music search engine?
[steps away from tee...]
C'mon guys, at least include a link to the SUBJECT of TFA:
Try searching for "good music" and "crappy music"http://www.google.com/musicsearch
Television's primary product for sale is not the junk featured in ads, it's YOUR eyeballs. Where do networks get their primary source of revenue? From selling your eyeballs upstream to corporations. The TV shows are just crummy hooks to get your eyeballs for a little while. Is there some level of art, acting, or writing involved? Sure, a little. But the VAST majority of TV programming is happy, blinky stuff to keep you hooked for just a few more minutes.
I admit that I like plugging in for a little brain-nap myself, but don't forget there ARE other forms of entertainment. I mean, let's not elevate the so-called art of television to some level that we think they're above blatent product placement.
He should consider the idea of selling his time to the highest bidder. He could also put some parameters in place about what type of tests he would agree to, the right to refuse any specific test, etc...
Of course, this assumes he is even interested in participating at all. If he wants to go on living as quiet a life as possible, then fine.
Here's a gimmick: Bring in a big black trash bag filled with cash. As the meeting begins, dump out all the cash on the conference room table and spread it out. Now go on to describe that this could be the average monthly savings if our company switched one appplication (like MS-Exchange) to an open source alternative.
Ideally, the amount of cash would be based on some kind of quick and dirty ROI analysis. And of course, you could replace the idea of switching one app with migrating 5 PC's off Windows, replacing the firewall with a linux solution, replacing an expensive server with cheap hardware, and so on.
Big piles of cash are VERY fun for business people!
Oh wait, you said Georgia Tech right? That little trade school over on North Avenue? They wouldn't care about that kind of robot.
With some music distribution models, I can buy individual songs I like without having to pay for the entire album. I did it with 45's, single-song tapes (with a "B" side), single CD's (with 4 re-mix versions of the same song), and of course with Internet disti models.
What if instead of buying an entire movie, I could simply purchase by the chapter? I could take a movie like... Pirates of the Carribean, and buy only the scenes that I thought were cool or enjoyable. They could even bundle "action-packs" or "slow-boring-love-scene-packs" as sub-products of the movie.
Ahhhhh yes, I can see how that would be the case. Because the algorithims could be searching all possible paths/scenarios with lighting speed, the environment they are constrained within has to be rock solid -no wiggling through cracks in polygons, etc...
What frustrates a non-neurevolution researcher who watches game AI, is when an NPC gets stuck in a loop running around the same post, or starts banging and jittering against a wall. It seems "they" could put an out-of-bounds counter that says: "If you repeat the same path 6 times in less than 10 seconds, then try some random manuever." The random manuever could be chosen from a small library of "break free" moves. They might still be silly to an observer like me, but at least the NPC would break out of the loop.
BTW: I'm sure neuroevolution learning bots is far more complex than traditional gaming AI scripts. I am not attempting to equate the two.
I'd like to know if the NEROs can evolve more advanced tactics such as:
When its health is less than 5% and likely to die, make a final kamakaze run at a tough enemy to deliver a mega bomb, draw fire, etc...
Gang beat downs - Even though the NERO is closer to enemy tank B, focus your fire on enemy tank A since its damage is critical and about to be pushed over the edge.
Unload power ups - Before picking up a weapons upgrade that would replace my super grenade, go ahead and lob all of my super grenades before picking up the power-up.
Waiting for power ups to cycle - In some games, a power-up changes every few seconds. Could the NEROs learn to wait for spread-fire on one level versus lazer fire on another level? Okay, levels is too easy, how about depending on the situation, what my friends have, etc...
And most importantly, could NERO's be taught to perform "ethical cheats"? By ethical cheat, I mean take advantage of the game engine or environment in a way not intended by the developers. -Not by patching code or using network sniff bots.
Sure, these seem like pretty simple tactics, but YOU try programming this kind of AI. It's next to impossible!
...That this is the first site/article I've opened on my blacberry in a week. Sure wish /. Had a more mobile-friendly format. Actually, I'll take /. Working in my firefox first!