> Using the same logic, you could say that Newton's Laws have been "flat > out wrong" for the past 90 years, but for many, many, applications, > from automobiles to rocket boosters, they are "perfectly" accurate > (from an engineer's point of view).
Newton's Laws have been known to be wrong for 90 years (they were wrong before that, too, we just didn't know it). They are *not* "perfectly" accurate for anything, from an engineer's pov or anyone elses. What you mean to say is that they are SUFFICIENTLY accurate to accomplish the task at hand. The relativistic effects at the speeds you are using are too small to be relevant, but they *do* exist, if measured accurately and precisely enough.
> The logic is more something like, "Well, you have this classic car > parked in the driveway, and since it isn't made anymore, I am > going to duplicate the plans and build one for myself. Your car > still works."
Or, more accurately still,
"Well, you have this classic car parked in the driveway, and since it isn't made anymore, I am going to duplicate the plans and build one for myself AND give one free to whoever wants one. Your car still works, and good luck trying to sell it."
> If we went with a straight popular vote the President would be > selected by 7 major metropolitan areas.
Only if all 7 metro areas agreed, which is by no means a given. The alternative is that your "rural" vote counts more than one from a New Yorker. Is that democratic? One vote per person, no one "more equal" than anyone else, if you ask me.
Lots of articles covered the "death of the floppy." A few:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/02/06/floppy_d is ks_face_extinction/ http://www.ccnmag.com/index.p hp?sec=mag&id=59 http://www.chron.com/content/chr onicle/tech/98/09/ 25/main.html
Floppy drives are cheap, (somewhat) reliable, universally known and understood. It will be years before they disappear completely, maybe when all the legacy (non-USB) hardware is retired. If you're like me, that will likely be never (still have a PDP-11 here somewhere).
True, true. Ther's also the fact that you don't convert anyone by preaching to the choir, only by going out among the heathens. At the very least, the Microsoft ads will grate on the anti-MS zealots every time they load Slashdot. If I were an MS advertising exec (I'm not) that would make me smile.
of the VISA/Google search is that VISA is a sponsored link. Kind of like Microsoft advertising on a website that bashes it for its security holes...wait a minute...
Dude, you foolishly replied to your own grandparent post from a different/. account. NOW WE ALL KNOW!!
BTW, does this mean you waste *twice* as much time here? Are you looking at multiple instances of/. right now? Do you remember what the sun looks like? Take a deep breath and go outside.
Oh, and stop spending mod points on yourself, you'll go blind.
> The essence of scientific knowledge is its testability.
By that argument, astronomy isn't a science, either. It is based almost purely on observation, not experimentation, just like economics. I think the real reason economics gets such a bad rap is that it is such a young, immature science, having only been around for about 230 years (most agree the birth of modern economics was with Smiths "Wealth of Nations" in 1776).
America is not a secular country (I don't any country is secular) but it isn't a Christian country either, as your post and sig seem to imply. It is a FREE country that happens to be inhabited by a majority of Christians. As to the "minority...rip[ping] religion out of every aspect of life," what have you been smoking? I don't see any churches, mosques or other temples being torn down. The minority religions just want to stop their tax dollars supporting a state religion that they don't believe in. Sounds reasonable to me.
If you are religious, go to church (or whatever temple suits you), teach your children your religious values, spend your money to support your religious community. But don't tell me I'm trying to stamp out religion when I don't want to live my life (or spend my money) that way.
Damn right we should blame the lawyers. Who wrote almost every law in the country? Lawyers. Who set up the court system? Lawyers. Who uses TV ads, etc to promote frivolous lawsuits? Lawyers. Who made all our laws so complex that a lay person has very little chance of understanding them, thus requiring a lawyer? Lawyers. Whose powerful lobby groups ensure it will stay this way? Lawyers.
Having lawyers write all your laws is like having your barber decide how fast your hair should grow or having your mechanic decide how reliable a car your should buy. It's a conflict of interest.
Blaming lawyers for the "issues" in the legal system is like blaming programmers for bugs in the code.
Yes, but I think it was a slightly different story. SIS stood for "Switzerland in Space," and the computer was the banking system. Didn't go as far into the future as The Last Question, but the ending was pretty much the same.
I googled it but didn't find the whole text, only a reference to "Science Past - Science Future" published in 1975.
As a fellow Canadian, I would like to point out that the views expressed in the parent post are those of acidrain and do not in any way constitute those of the benevolent, democratic government of Canada or its peaceful people.
We Canadians love our friendly, heavily-armed neighbors to the south and wish them well in their just war against the evil warfare technique, terrorism. We gape in awed silence at the graceful architecture of your Patent Office and other government buildings, and would try to stop someone who wanted to destroy them from entering through Canada.
We have no need to see overhead photos of your buildings, and the only thing we use your ever-so-useful GPS system for is for guiding our fishing boats and helping hikers in our vast wilderness, which you are free to visit anytime as long as you don't bring your gun.
When you patent a design for a physical object, like a wrench, you're not patenting the object itself, but the specifications to make more of them. You have potential rights to every other company that produces a wrench of the same design, even if it was developed independently. The patent itself is a form of intellectual property.
If instead of a wrench, you design a non-physical entity, like a compression algorithm, should you have the same potential rights? Even if someone arrives at it independently?
Maybe the whole patent idea in general is a bad idea. If someone has a better wrench, shouldn't anyone be able to make one like it?
Asus and Abit had an "unfair advantage" when it came to motherboards because they weren't warrantying the processor, too. They could allow features that the processor guys would never okay (especially overclocking stuff) while Intel had to stick within their processor's parameters. I think Intel had the edge in reliability, processor life and compatibility, especially as you go further back.
Funny you mention an Isaac Asimov character. I remember a short story of his called "Sis" about an orbiting computerized that took over the world in a benevolent sort of way. IIRC, he ended up comparing it to God as all-knowing, all-powerful and all-good. If Google sticks to their "Do no evil" policy, maybe they will become "Sis."
Slashdot Mirror
There is considerable debate about whether that's where the "actors" came from or if it was the "actual" Springfield.
http://www.snpp.com/episodes/BABF19
Man, am I _really_ debating this? I need to get outside more.
...what state the Simpsons' Springfield is in.
(whaddya mean it's a running joke?)
Where's the only bridge out of town?
From the episode "Bart's Comet"
http://www.snpp.com/episodes/2F11.html
I see at least three bridges.
> Using the same logic, you could say that Newton's Laws have been "flat
> out wrong" for the past 90 years, but for many, many, applications,
> from automobiles to rocket boosters, they are "perfectly" accurate
> (from an engineer's point of view).
Newton's Laws have been known to be wrong for 90 years (they were wrong before that, too, we just didn't know it). They are *not* "perfectly" accurate for anything, from an engineer's pov or anyone elses. What you mean to say is that they are SUFFICIENTLY accurate to accomplish the task at hand. The relativistic effects at the speeds you are using are too small to be relevant, but they *do* exist, if measured accurately and precisely enough.
Don't forget:
"I'll take The Penis Mightier for 500, Trebek."
> The logic is more something like, "Well, you have this classic car
> parked in the driveway, and since it isn't made anymore, I am
> going to duplicate the plans and build one for myself. Your car
> still works."
Or, more accurately still,
"Well, you have this classic car parked in the driveway, and since it isn't made anymore, I am going to duplicate the plans and build one for myself AND give one free to whoever wants one. Your car still works, and good luck trying to sell it."
Another big difference.
> If we went with a straight popular vote the President would be
> selected by 7 major metropolitan areas.
Only if all 7 metro areas agreed, which is by no means a given. The alternative is that your "rural" vote counts more than one from a New Yorker. Is that democratic? One vote per person, no one "more equal" than anyone else, if you ask me.
I hear you. I saw that big red streak through the deep south, too. Yee-haw! Bush for four more!
Lots of articles covered the "death of the floppy." A few:
d is ks_face_extinction/p hp?sec=mag&id=59r onicle/tech/98/09/ 25/main.html
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/02/06/floppy_
http://www.ccnmag.com/index.
http://www.chron.com/content/ch
Floppy drives are cheap, (somewhat) reliable, universally known and understood. It will be years before they disappear completely, maybe when all the legacy (non-USB) hardware is retired. If you're like me, that will likely be never (still have a PDP-11 here somewhere).
True, true. Ther's also the fact that you don't convert anyone by preaching to the choir, only by going out among the heathens. At the very least, the Microsoft ads will grate on the anti-MS zealots every time they load Slashdot. If I were an MS advertising exec (I'm not) that would make me smile.
of the VISA/Google search is that VISA is a sponsored link. Kind of like Microsoft advertising on a website that bashes it for its security holes...wait a minute...
Dude, you foolishly replied to your own grandparent post from a different /. account. NOW WE ALL KNOW!!
/. right now? Do you remember what the sun looks like? Take a deep breath and go outside.
BTW, does this mean you waste *twice* as much time here? Are you looking at multiple instances of
Oh, and stop spending mod points on yourself, you'll go blind.
> The essence of scientific knowledge is its testability.
By that argument, astronomy isn't a science, either. It is based almost purely on observation, not experimentation, just like economics. I think the real reason economics gets such a bad rap is that it is such a young, immature science, having only been around for about 230 years (most agree the birth of modern economics was with Smiths "Wealth of Nations" in 1776).
America is not a secular country (I don't any country is secular) but it isn't a Christian country either, as your post and sig seem to imply. It is a FREE country that happens to be inhabited by a majority of Christians. As to the "minority...rip[ping] religion out of every aspect of life," what have you been smoking? I don't see any churches, mosques or other temples being torn down. The minority religions just want to stop their tax dollars supporting a state religion that they don't believe in. Sounds reasonable to me.
If you are religious, go to church (or whatever temple suits you), teach your children your religious values, spend your money to support your religious community. But don't tell me I'm trying to stamp out religion when I don't want to live my life (or spend my money) that way.
Post links to it that you describe as pr0n.
Runner up: Post links to it described as bootleg copy of new Star Wars movie.
Easy:
1. Do all that you agree to do.
2. Do not encroach on other people or their property.
All other laws are superfluous or derivative.
Damn right we should blame the lawyers. Who wrote almost every law in the country? Lawyers. Who set up the court system? Lawyers. Who uses TV ads, etc to promote frivolous lawsuits? Lawyers. Who made all our laws so complex that a lay person has very little chance of understanding them, thus requiring a lawyer? Lawyers. Whose powerful lobby groups ensure it will stay this way? Lawyers.
Having lawyers write all your laws is like having your barber decide how fast your hair should grow or having your mechanic decide how reliable a car your should buy. It's a conflict of interest.
Blaming lawyers for the "issues" in the legal system is like blaming programmers for bugs in the code.
Yes, but I think it was a slightly different story. SIS stood for "Switzerland in Space," and the computer was the banking system. Didn't go as far into the future as The Last Question, but the ending was pretty much the same.
I googled it but didn't find the whole text, only a reference to "Science Past - Science Future" published in 1975.
Tee hee, this was so funny I got Spousal Unit 1.0 to read it and even she found it hilarious!
As a fellow Canadian, I would like to point out that the views expressed in the parent post are those of acidrain and do not in any way constitute those of the benevolent, democratic government of Canada or its peaceful people.
We Canadians love our friendly, heavily-armed neighbors to the south and wish them well in their just war against the evil warfare technique, terrorism. We gape in awed silence at the graceful architecture of your Patent Office and other government buildings, and would try to stop someone who wanted to destroy them from entering through Canada.
We have no need to see overhead photos of your buildings, and the only thing we use your ever-so-useful GPS system for is for guiding our fishing boats and helping hikers in our vast wilderness, which you are free to visit anytime as long as you don't bring your gun.
We have oil, but we sell it to you cheaply.
Regards,
The Canadian People
When you patent a design for a physical object, like a wrench, you're not patenting the object itself, but the specifications to make more of them. You have potential rights to every other company that produces a wrench of the same design, even if it was developed independently. The patent itself is a form of intellectual property.
If instead of a wrench, you design a non-physical entity, like a compression algorithm, should you have the same potential rights? Even if someone arrives at it independently?
Maybe the whole patent idea in general is a bad idea. If someone has a better wrench, shouldn't anyone be able to make one like it?
Asus and Abit had an "unfair advantage" when it came to motherboards because they weren't warrantying the processor, too. They could allow features that the processor guys would never okay (especially overclocking stuff) while Intel had to stick within their processor's parameters. I think Intel had the edge in reliability, processor life and compatibility, especially as you go further back.
Funny you mention an Isaac Asimov character. I remember a short story of his called "Sis" about an orbiting computerized that took over the world in a benevolent sort of way. IIRC, he ended up comparing it to God as all-knowing, all-powerful and all-good. If Google sticks to their "Do no evil" policy, maybe they will become "Sis."
Wouldn't you feel deflated if you didn't meet the minimum system requirements? Gives new meaning to being 133t if you exceed them.
Is that to keep signals in or out?