They didn't really find anything new. Most new discoveries related to dinosaurs come from archaeologists re-mapping the way existing bones were supposedly put together, like when people thought that the Tyrannosaurus Rex had a horn, and then later found out it was a hind claw. The 18 metres come from lining all the bones up in one straight line!
I think it's a matter of keeping your karma at a positive level. I didn't do anything in specific to get some myself. I wrote a few appreciated comments to various stories and polls, but as you can see, the ratio between comments I was rated for and comments I wasn't rated for is not even something to be proud of.
You will be able to find a lot of negative comments on Slashdot's karma system, arguing that doing certain things will improve your karma without these things necessarily being ethical. The strongest argument is writing "things people like to hear", and doing so early in the lifetime of the news entries.
However, I don't believe you have to be this tactical to gain mod points. I have only written messages whenever I felt like it, and whenever I felt I had something more or less important to say -- whether I then succeeded in writing something sensible, and whether people even saw it, is another thing.
Meta-moderating helps, if you have that enabled. I think your UID comes into play when deciding if you are eligible, as a percentage of the new userbase is always considered to be too new. I don't recall having been here for more than three years with this account, so I'm sure it should pop up for you once in a while. Completeing meta moderation should give you better karma -- at least, that's what appears logical to me.
I receive mod points a few times a month for doing what I currently am doing, so unless you have done something special to get yourself blacklisted, I believe you should be able to earn them. Keep in mind that the mod points disappear after not having used them in a couple of days. I think I've wasted quite a few mod points by not going to Slashdot every single day.
Of course, that won't help us reciters much, since we would be wearing the t-shirts. We would of course gain some fictive rigths to the "keepers of the Pi" title.
I myself can recite ten digits. (3.1415926535) I tried learning twenty, but the first ten seem to have been imprinted by now. As an earlier poster linked to, it seems as if these Japanese reciters use a more complicated method of calculating the next digit, and not simply remembering the digits. I read in an article of Simon Plouffe (a mathematician you'll bump into if you read a few articles on the 'net) that he used to sit in dark rooms just reciting blocks and blocks of memorized digits until he eventually could like 4.000.
And no, it's not an artform per se to remember pi, but I still find it pretty fascinating that some people can and some can't, and it all boils down to method. And with the Japanese, as often, a special persistance in attempt.:-)
> 1) If you're dumb enough to get stuck with XP Home, you're too dumb to do this hack, so it doesn't matter to you.
If I'm dumb enough? I purchased my laptop with XP Home bundled with it, not wanting to spend further money on upgrading it to XP Pro. Apparently, Microsoft doesn't give me any good reasons to have the Pro package unless I accidentally had it. The features are:
Remote Desktop? Thanks, but I have VNC and SSH.
IIS? Thanks, but I have Apache.
Offline files and folders? Thanks, but I know how to store files...
Scalable processor support? This would in fact be really useful if I had two processors.
NTFS? Thanks, but I like FAT when running several operating system mounting each others' partitions.
Access Control? Thanks, but I store my essential files on encrypted partitions already.
Centralized administration? Thanks, but I only have a simple home LAN.
Group Policy? Thanks, but I'm just me.
Software Installation and Maintenance? Thanks, but can't I do that already?
Roaming User Profiles? Thanks, but... these are getting cryptic.
Remote Installation Service (RIS)? Thanks, but I bet on not having to install it oftener than once a year.
Multi-lingual User Interface (MUI) add-on? Dank, aber mein Goldfish ist tot.
> 2) If you're not dumb enough to get stuck with XP Home, but you were dumb enough to get Windows at all, you deserve to go to jail or sued for getting caught doing this hack.
Why should I get sued for using my software in a way it enables, only I have to change two bits in its code? Microsoft is clearly nerfing the versions, but they already gave me the software.
> 3) If you're smart, you run Linux (or at least dual-boot with XP Pro already), so you don't give a shit about this hack.
I happen to run dual boot between BSD and Windows, and I find this interesting, at least as a proof of concept, and as a provocation towards Microsoft with their previous attempts with XP Lite for third world countries.
Re: ON their desk? Not necessary...
on
TIE Fighter Case Mod
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
> Does anyone really have something like this on thier desk?
The practical thing about this "casemod" is that it is the desk - and a cool looking one at that, so you have the entire theme figured out besides a nifty poster to hang above on the wall!
_their_ last release
on
PHRACK Final
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
Considering their emphasis in the official announcement, one is likely to think that they expect another body to take over the release, but haven't found any suitable. It is a common pattern to announce the end of something, then to discover this great possibility for a sequel. I have no doubt they're different.
If there was ever one thing I did in school physical exercise classes, it was getting injured from landing incorrectly after jumping, or bending a finger in the attempt to catch a ball.
The only thing I'm reminded of is the telling of a guy who sought palindrome ICQ account numbers with email addresses from XS4ALL assigned to them, of which the email accounts had expired. Apparently he found a few, and through XS4ALL, he would re-create these expired email accounts, then have the old password sent to him. A weird collectible, and probably not the story you were looking for.:-)
When banks hand out PIN codes to credit/debit cards here, they offer a piece of paper with a coloured matrix on it, each cell containing a different number and a different colour. You can then replace your very complicated four-digit number with a combination of colour and (relative) location.
The matrix would have to be more complicated to contain a bigger character table, but as long as it fits in your pocket, right? The trick is to make your helping system appear random, i.e. not just highlight the ones that make out your password, but for instance pick the ones that share a colour, in your mind.
It appears like really a really cool thing to have, but does any near future price compare to the $30 a KVM costs, just so that you can see two windows at the same time? You can even build KVMs yourself.
I'm using the Firefox Adblock extension, and it basically blocks all flash applications unless I tell it specifically to unblock one. I personally find this an effective solution because I don't mind clicking an extra time when I actually want to use an application rather than the thousands of times I don't. (And the ones that I use regularly are permanently whitelisted.)
In OpenBSD, I use the Dillo browser which has so few features this is not a problem.
I have a feeling they all originate from this page of confusingly sorted quotes. If aliens should look at you with an odd expression in their face, don't panic!
Your suggestion makes me think of tv-shop just after September 11 when "personal parachutes" where hot. They seem pretty cheap considering that they will save your life in the event of finding yourself in a skyscraper caught on fire.
With so many MUAs existing, I am surprised, for the sake of security, that you wouldn't pick one with native security measurements in it! (Such as simply not showing images by default, in this case.)
Oh, did I forget to mention that Thunderbird does that?
Here in Denmark, the only 3G phones for sale, by the only 3G network in Denmark, are NEC ones. It may have taken a while for the technology to get here, but if there is any delay in these new Linux mobiles from NEC, it would be because we've had a really bad experience with the last series due to software bugs.
The company in Denmark has a campaign offering a free operating system upgrade until December 1st.
In spite of the lack of the politician garbage speech one could expect stating that it's not as bad as we think, they actually did replace the problem, I think, with one of less severity, and one that only requires technical competence to deal with.
Slashdot Mirror
They didn't really find anything new. Most new discoveries related to dinosaurs come from archaeologists re-mapping the way existing bones were supposedly put together, like when people thought that the Tyrannosaurus Rex had a horn, and then later found out it was a hind claw. The 18 metres come from lining all the bones up in one straight line!
You will be able to find a lot of negative comments on Slashdot's karma system, arguing that doing certain things will improve your karma without these things necessarily being ethical. The strongest argument is writing "things people like to hear", and doing so early in the lifetime of the news entries.
However, I don't believe you have to be this tactical to gain mod points. I have only written messages whenever I felt like it, and whenever I felt I had something more or less important to say -- whether I then succeeded in writing something sensible, and whether people even saw it, is another thing.
Meta-moderating helps, if you have that enabled. I think your UID comes into play when deciding if you are eligible, as a percentage of the new userbase is always considered to be too new. I don't recall having been here for more than three years with this account, so I'm sure it should pop up for you once in a while. Completeing meta moderation should give you better karma -- at least, that's what appears logical to me.
I receive mod points a few times a month for doing what I currently am doing, so unless you have done something special to get yourself blacklisted, I believe you should be able to earn them. Keep in mind that the mod points disappear after not having used them in a couple of days. I think I've wasted quite a few mod points by not going to Slashdot every single day.
I hope this is useful to you.
Did it occur to you that you might have to sign up in order to get mod points, anonymous coward?
Of course, that won't help us reciters much, since we would be wearing the t-shirts. We would of course gain some fictive rigths to the "keepers of the Pi" title.
:-)
I myself can recite ten digits. (3.1415926535) I tried learning twenty, but the first ten seem to have been imprinted by now. As an earlier poster linked to, it seems as if these Japanese reciters use a more complicated method of calculating the next digit, and not simply remembering the digits. I read in an article of Simon Plouffe (a mathematician you'll bump into if you read a few articles on the 'net) that he used to sit in dark rooms just reciting blocks and blocks of memorized digits until he eventually could like 4.000.
And no, it's not an artform per se to remember pi, but I still find it pretty fascinating that some people can and some can't, and it all boils down to method. And with the Japanese, as often, a special persistance in attempt.
Yeah, you have to keep the skill cap in mind. Multi-classing sucks because then your kid only advances levels half as fast.
If I'm dumb enough? I purchased my laptop with XP Home bundled with it, not wanting to spend further money on upgrading it to XP Pro. Apparently, Microsoft doesn't give me any good reasons to have the Pro package unless I accidentally had it. The features are:
Remote Desktop? Thanks, but I have VNC and SSH.
IIS? Thanks, but I have Apache.
Offline files and folders? Thanks, but I know how to store files...
Scalable processor support? This would in fact be really useful if I had two processors.
NTFS? Thanks, but I like FAT when running several operating system mounting each others' partitions.
Access Control? Thanks, but I store my essential files on encrypted partitions already.
Centralized administration? Thanks, but I only have a simple home LAN.
Group Policy? Thanks, but I'm just me.
Software Installation and Maintenance? Thanks, but can't I do that already?
Roaming User Profiles? Thanks, but... these are getting cryptic.
Remote Installation Service (RIS)? Thanks, but I bet on not having to install it oftener than once a year.
Multi-lingual User Interface (MUI) add-on? Dank, aber mein Goldfish ist tot.
> 2) If you're not dumb enough to get stuck with XP Home, but you were dumb enough to get Windows at all, you deserve to go to jail or sued for getting caught doing this hack.
Why should I get sued for using my software in a way it enables, only I have to change two bits in its code? Microsoft is clearly nerfing the versions, but they already gave me the software.
> 3) If you're smart, you run Linux (or at least dual-boot with XP Pro already), so you don't give a shit about this hack.
I happen to run dual boot between BSD and Windows, and I find this interesting, at least as a proof of concept, and as a provocation towards Microsoft with their previous attempts with XP Lite for third world countries.
The practical thing about this "casemod" is that it is the desk - and a cool looking one at that, so you have the entire theme figured out besides a nifty poster to hang above on the wall!
Considering their emphasis in the official announcement, one is likely to think that they expect another body to take over the release, but haven't found any suitable. It is a common pattern to announce the end of something, then to discover this great possibility for a sequel. I have no doubt they're different.
> Which brings up the question: why are you here?
If there was ever one thing I did in school physical exercise classes, it was getting injured from landing incorrectly after jumping, or bending a finger in the attempt to catch a ball.
The only thing I'm reminded of is the telling of a guy who sought palindrome ICQ account numbers with email addresses from XS4ALL assigned to them, of which the email accounts had expired. Apparently he found a few, and through XS4ALL, he would re-create these expired email accounts, then have the old password sent to him. A weird collectible, and probably not the story you were looking for. :-)
When banks hand out PIN codes to credit/debit cards here, they offer a piece of paper with a coloured matrix on it, each cell containing a different number and a different colour. You can then replace your very complicated four-digit number with a combination of colour and (relative) location.
The matrix would have to be more complicated to contain a bigger character table, but as long as it fits in your pocket, right? The trick is to make your helping system appear random, i.e. not just highlight the ones that make out your password, but for instance pick the ones that share a colour, in your mind.
It appears like really a really cool thing to have, but does any near future price compare to the $30 a KVM costs, just so that you can see two windows at the same time? You can even build KVMs yourself.
That would be the h, t, n and s buttons, you insensitive clod! (dvorak)
I'm using the Firefox Adblock extension, and it basically blocks all flash applications unless I tell it specifically to unblock one. I personally find this an effective solution because I don't mind clicking an extra time when I actually want to use an application rather than the thousands of times I don't. (And the ones that I use regularly are permanently whitelisted.)
In OpenBSD, I use the Dillo browser which has so few features this is not a problem.
"Have you hugged your wolf today?"
"Where is the nearest thinking mammal?"
"This in my buddy, not tips."
"Have you hugged your wolf today?"
"Waiter, this dish is still alive."
"My hovercraft is full of eels."
I have a feeling they all originate from this page of confusingly sorted quotes. If aliens should look at you with an odd expression in their face, don't panic!
> OMFG!!! 2 billion? 2 BILLION??
I felt the same way. Reading through the news, Ask Jeeves was sold for $2 million with a b... er... go back.. go back.
Your suggestion makes me think of tv-shop just after September 11 when "personal parachutes" where hot. They seem pretty cheap considering that they will save your life in the event of finding yourself in a skyscraper caught on fire.
--Stop the brainwash.
With so many MUAs existing, I am surprised, for the sake of security, that you wouldn't pick one with native security measurements in it! (Such as simply not showing images by default, in this case.)
Oh, did I forget to mention that Thunderbird does that?
..., you can have 1 Terabyte for free!
Chances are that, in spite of them owning netscape mail, they probably never touched the code.
where am I... why have I got no pants on...
<p>
So what you're saying is that I should start questioning why I have no pants on!
</p>
Here in Denmark, the only 3G phones for sale, by the only 3G network in Denmark, are NEC ones. It may have taken a while for the technology to get here, but if there is any delay in these new Linux mobiles from NEC, it would be because we've had a really bad experience with the last series due to software bugs. The company in Denmark has a campaign offering a free operating system upgrade until December 1st.
A group of geeks tried to filter alcohol. High school, anyone?
Maybe it will serve as a warning to those that do not yet live like this because they are in school. No, I do not have an alternative. :)
In spite of the lack of the politician garbage speech one could expect stating that it's not as bad as we think, they actually did replace the problem, I think, with one of less severity, and one that only requires technical competence to deal with.