More Details...
on
Directed Sound
·
· Score: 5, Informative
This is more commonly called "HSS", or "HyperSonic Sound", rather than "UltraSonic Sound". The earliest citation to the term "Directed Sound" goes to American Technology Corp.:
"We are focused on achieving high volume applications featuring the unique benefits of HSS directed sound.
--"To the Shareholders of American Technology Corp." Business Wire, March 25, 2002
From the Apple website: Futuristic Backlit Keyboard:
The 17-inch PowerBook features a fiber optic backlit keyboard that's right out of the future. Built-in light sensors automatically adjust the keyboard illumination and your screen's brightness based on the available ambient light.
"Microsoft's concern is the resulting degradation of the software ecosystem that would be triggered by widespread acceptance of the GPL"..."Microsoft further contends that the combined forces of a well-funded research community and a robust commercial software industry will continue to drive global economic expansion."
Pac-Man was originally called Puck-Man, until a shrewd Namco employee noticed the opportunity for kids to scrape at the logo, creating a much ruder-sounding game.
From the rules: "At the start of the game, Pac-Man runs along the streets, staying outdoors, within the designated playing area at all times. The ghosts may begin to chase Pac-Man. Pac-Man continues to run the board until all of the dots are "eaten" or one of the ghosts eats Pac-Man."
What does it mean for a ghost to "eat" Pac-Man? Does a ghost have to be within a certain distance from Pac-Man? Does a ghost have to "tag" (physically touch) Pac-Man? Does a ghost have to restrain Pac-Man?
What happens if a random pedestrian interferes with the game? These are not empty streets where pan-man and the ghosts can run around freely. There is a lot of obstacles and pedestrian and automotive traffic getting in the way of things. Also, a guy dressed in yellow foam being vigorously chased by other guys dressed in foam is likely to attract attention, probably by the police.
Wouldn't the fastest runner have a distinct advantage over the other players? In other words, if Pac-Man had the evasive maneuvers of a pro football running back, wouldn't the game kind of be over before it started?
I applaude the creative ressurrection of a childhood pastime, but I am skeptical of the game being much more than an elaborate "tag, you're it" with costumes.
The open source gnomes tried that one, but it didn't work.
Possible solution: exclude Microsoft et. al.
on
Gosling on Opening Java
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
From the article: "Developers value Java's cross platform interoperability and reliability. They're afraid that if Java is open-sourced then someone will try to fragment the community by creating incompatible versions of Java and ignore the community process, just like Microsoft did. Microsoft did a lot of damage to the community and many developers strongly do not want that to happen again."
Microsoft is one of a handful of entities in a strong enough position to be able to do a lot of damage to the community.
In the present situation, that damage could be avoided by writing a License that, for example, specifically excludes 'any employee of Microsoft'.
(1) Having a one-on-one is usually more effective, probably because nobody wants to complain about their job in front of a coworker they compete with. (2) Beer works better than soda.
Matthew Skala writes "This article from the Süddeutsche Zeitung describes the 'What's The Diff?' program, in which German students and teachers can win prizes by learning to endorse the Nazi Party's version of social law. They're using volunteer labour from the Hitler Youth - not an organization I would have expected to see doing this kind of thing. I guess I'll have to move its card over in my mental Illuminati: New World Order game."
>The plans are designed to tackle identity fraud, which costs Britain an estimated 1.3bn pounds each year.
This is another article on the BBC that discusses the last time Britain had a national ID card scheme, back during World War II. According to the article, it was not concerns about security shortcomings or civil liberties that ended the ID cards so much as that "the system was expensive and difficult to administer, and offered few benefits."
>ID Plans: 2008: 80% of economically active population will carry some form of biometric identity document. Estimated cost of 3.1bn pounds.
Administering a system where over 50,000,000 people each have to hold an identification card to carry on their daily business is going to have many direct and indirect costs and benefits. The people of the nation, and the government meant to represent those people, should think long and hard about those costs and benefits before implementing the system.
No, actually you are right, but I was taking into consideration the fact that you can spend one of those three years doing something like attending a university in England, Jamaica, Mongolia, or wherever, or doing some other sort of independant law-related project, like studying the effects of AIDs on the Rwandan criminal justice system.
I didn't count that as 'a full year of attendance at a law school', because somebody from India trying to get an offshore job could claim that they spent a year at an Indian university "studying the methods used by Indian lawyers to circumvent American immigration laws", and pass that off as a year of independant study.
American Bar Association regulations and local bar rules ensure that lawyering can't be offshored. To practice law, you have to be a member of the bar of the state in which you want to practice. To be a member of the bar, you have to pass the bar exam and graduate from an accredited law school. To graduate from an accredited law school, you have to have spent a minimum of two full years attending law school (with few, minor, and expensive exceptions). Attending a law school means being in residence, regularly attending classes. In other words, you can't take correspondence courses.
Bottom Line: To practice law in America, you must have an American legal education.
But for those who haven't, here is a thought-provoking article on some of the basic issues posed by outsourcing. The article focuses on IT offshoring, but it may be a useful appetizer for/.ers delving into the biotech offshoring discussion.
"Bounce provides conclusive evidence not only of Martian meteorites on Earth, but also of the possibility of cross-seeding."
This sentence expresses the idea that B provides conclusive evidence not only of M, but also of P.
This can be accurately rephrased as two assertions:
B provides conclusive evidence of M, and
B provides conclusive evidence of P.
In my original post, I did not choose to question the author's first assertion. I chose to question his second assertion. For the sake of brevity, I chose not to quote his first assertion. I did the best I could to concisely quote his second assertion without changing the meaning of his assertion.
I think I did a good job of that, but reasonable minds can disagree.
Wireless coverage is at about 85-90%. -Not bad for a top ten law school.
Like most law schools, it is pretty much expected that every student in every class will have a laptop in front of them so that they can "take notes". Some people argue that wireless internet access is a distraction in the classroom, but I disagree. It simply makes the distraction of a laptop more productive. Instead of endless games of solitare, students are able to check their e-mail, read the news, do research for other classes, etc... (and write posts on slashdot). These are all things that a student would probably spend time on at some other point in the day. But wireless internet access in the classroom allows students to perform these daily tasks at a time when they would otherwise be wasting time on solitare games. The Bottom Line: I love wireless access. It has made me a more productive slacker.
...but it still sucks that no laptop battery will last through a full day of classes. Cold fusion batteries = true wireless.
Slashdot Mirror
"We are focused on achieving high volume applications featuring the unique benefits of HSS directed sound. --"To the Shareholders of American Technology Corp." Business Wire, March 25, 2002
Their 15 and 17 inch Powerbooks have fiber optic backlit keyboards.
From the Apple website:
Futuristic Backlit Keyboard:
The 17-inch PowerBook features a fiber optic backlit keyboard that's right out of the future. Built-in light sensors automatically adjust the keyboard illumination and your screen's brightness based on the available ambient light.
Yes I have. It's basically: "The GPL sucks because it prevents us from making money."
Here it is, from an article on Microsoft's website, titled "Microsoft's View of the GPL":
"Microsoft's concern is the resulting degradation of the software ecosystem that would be triggered by widespread acceptance of the GPL"..."Microsoft further contends that the combined forces of a well-funded research community and a robust commercial software industry will continue to drive global economic expansion."
Pac-Man was originally called Puck-Man, until a shrewd Namco employee noticed the opportunity for kids to scrape at the logo, creating a much ruder-sounding game.
Pac-Man was Time Magazine's Man of the Year in 1982.
From the rules:
"At the start of the game, Pac-Man runs along the streets, staying outdoors, within the designated playing area at all times. The ghosts may begin to chase Pac-Man. Pac-Man continues to run the board until all of the dots are "eaten" or one of the ghosts eats Pac-Man."
What does it mean for a ghost to "eat" Pac-Man?
Does a ghost have to be within a certain distance from Pac-Man?
Does a ghost have to "tag" (physically touch) Pac-Man?
Does a ghost have to restrain Pac-Man?
What happens if a random pedestrian interferes with the game?
These are not empty streets where pan-man and the ghosts can run around freely. There is a lot of obstacles and pedestrian and automotive traffic getting in the way of things.
Also, a guy dressed in yellow foam being vigorously chased by other guys dressed in foam is likely to attract attention, probably by the police.
Wouldn't the fastest runner have a distinct advantage over the other players?
In other words, if Pac-Man had the evasive maneuvers of a pro football running back, wouldn't the game kind of be over before it started?
I applaude the creative ressurrection of a childhood pastime, but I am skeptical of the game being much more than an elaborate "tag, you're it" with costumes.
The open source gnomes tried that one, but it didn't work.
"Developers value Java's cross platform interoperability and reliability. They're afraid that if Java is open-sourced then someone will try to fragment the community by creating incompatible versions of Java and ignore the community process, just like Microsoft did. Microsoft did a lot of damage to the community and many developers strongly do not want that to happen again."
Microsoft is one of a handful of entities in a strong enough position to be able to do a lot of damage to the community.
In the present situation, that damage could be avoided by writing a License that, for example, specifically excludes 'any employee of Microsoft'.
Hmm. 150 micrometres is about the diameter of a human hair. Travelling at 100,000 kph? That would hurt.
I suddenly feel very grateful for our atmosphere.
Only three days ago, slashdotters got to read about one of the MPAA's latest methods of 'spreading the truth'.
(1) Having a one-on-one is usually more effective, probably because nobody wants to complain about their job in front of a coworker they compete with.
(2) Beer works better than soda.
Matthew Skala writes "This article from the Süddeutsche Zeitung describes the 'What's The Diff?' program, in which German students and teachers can win prizes by learning to endorse the Nazi Party's version of social law. They're using volunteer labour from the Hitler Youth - not an organization I would have expected to see doing this kind of thing. I guess I'll have to move its card over in my mental Illuminati: New World Order game."
This is another article on the BBC that discusses the last time Britain had a national ID card scheme, back during World War II. According to the article, it was not concerns about security shortcomings or civil liberties that ended the ID cards so much as that "the system was expensive and difficult to administer, and offered few benefits."
>ID Plans: 2008: 80% of economically active population will carry some form of biometric identity document. Estimated cost of 3.1bn pounds.
Administering a system where over 50,000,000 people each have to hold an identification card to carry on their daily business is going to have many direct and indirect costs and benefits. The people of the nation, and the government meant to represent those people, should think long and hard about those costs and benefits before implementing the system.
It hasn't had to pass through parliament because so far it isn't compulsory.
Furthermore, it would probably pass without too much problem because there is generally good public support.
>News of the pilot follows an opinion poll suggesting 80% of people backed a national ID card scheme.
Shouldn't the Environmental Protection Agency have jurisdiction over this?
I didn't count that as 'a full year of attendance at a law school', because somebody from India trying to get an offshore job could claim that they spent a year at an Indian university "studying the methods used by Indian lawyers to circumvent American immigration laws", and pass that off as a year of independant study.
To practice law, you have to be a member of the bar of the state in which you want to practice. To be a member of the bar, you have to pass the bar exam and graduate from an accredited law school. To graduate from an accredited law school, you have to have spent a minimum of two full years attending law school (with few, minor, and expensive exceptions). Attending a law school means being in residence, regularly attending classes. In other words, you can't take correspondence courses.
Bottom Line: To practice law in America, you must have an American legal education.
But for those who haven't, here is a thought-provoking article on some of the basic issues posed by outsourcing. The article focuses on IT offshoring, but it may be a useful appetizer for /.ers delving into the biotech offshoring discussion.
"Bounce provides conclusive evidence not only of Martian meteorites on Earth, but also of the possibility of cross-seeding."
This sentence expresses the idea that B provides conclusive evidence not only of M, but also of P.
This can be accurately rephrased as two assertions:
B provides conclusive evidence of M, and
B provides conclusive evidence of P.
In my original post, I did not choose to question the author's first assertion. I chose to question his second assertion.
For the sake of brevity, I chose not to quote his first assertion. I did the best I could to concisely quote his second assertion without changing the meaning of his assertion.
I think I did a good job of that, but reasonable minds can disagree.
Does conclusive evidence of a possibility make it true?
"I definitely smell a pork product of some type. It's your yo-yo"
Like most law schools, it is pretty much expected that every student in every class will have a laptop in front of them so that they can "take notes". Some people argue that wireless internet access is a distraction in the classroom, but I disagree. It simply makes the distraction of a laptop more productive. Instead of endless games of solitare, students are able to check their e-mail, read the news, do research for other classes, etc... (and write posts on slashdot). These are all things that a student would probably spend time on at some other point in the day. But wireless internet access in the classroom allows students to perform these daily tasks at a time when they would otherwise be wasting time on solitare games.
The Bottom Line: I love wireless access. It has made me a more productive slacker.
...but it still sucks that no laptop battery will last through a full day of classes. Cold fusion batteries = true wireless.
Then you would have to remove the battery to put in a different CD.
yields a bigger bite out of Microsoft's marketshare
yields more desperation at Microsoft's headquarters
yields more Linux-virus-writers hired by Microsoft.