Larry Clopper, one of the founders of PublishAmerica, responded to tales of some manuscripts being accepted with significant portions consisting of nothing but pages repeated over and over by saying, "People make mistakes. When somebody views a manuscript, they may not read the whole thing line by line."
Sounds like someone could be replaced by a very small shell script.
I know this sounds cheesy, but the value of the companionship offered by a dog is something you haven't taken into account (and, indeed, can't have a dollar value assigned to it). I don't pretend to know anything about it, but I would imagine that having a disability such as visiom impairment would be socially isolating to a certain degree (most differences tend to have this effect in society, even those that don't limit mobility). The therapeutic value of having a pet is not to be ignored (a dog doesn't charge $100/hr:).
Another advantage is that a dog can adapt to new situations better than a typical robot. Also - though it has already been mentioned - a dog can help ensure safety (it is probably less likely to be stolen than an expensive electronic gadget)
If this is true, then it certainly won't be long before Microsoft begins to release core patents to the public.
Err... perhaps not.
But just think - if they did, then someday they might even allow Linux to include the major feature Windows has that it still lacks: the patented BlueScreen(tm) technology that those OSS folks just can't seem to master.
I've always heard that they wait until after someone is dead so that he or she can't disgrace themselves and make the tribute to them an embarrassment. Once someone is dead, they can't do anything bad and you know what you're getting.
It would have been much more fitting if they had decided to name the 10th "planet" (debatable) Rupert instead of Sedna.
Many fields left where Linux is unsuitable
on
Cooking With Linux
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· Score: 5, Insightful
Contrary to the article, Windows is good for more than viruses and freeze-ups. In certain specialized fields, Linux is still much more difficult (or impossible) to run. The examples I am most familiar with are animation (as far as I know, no Linux program exists to create Flash animation, and the only 3d animation program I'm aware of is Blender), professional audio (fun with ALSA, anyone?), and graphics (aside from the GIMP issue, what about vector graphics and publishing?).
Yes, some of this is because more manufacturers cater to Windows rather than Linux, but the fact remains that this makes Windows more suitable for some things. Linux is not inherently less capable of performing these functions, but the tools don't exist yet.
Pointing out logical fallacies may be useless...
on
Gates Nose-Dives at CES
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· Score: 5, Insightful
But I'll just add one more comment, trying to deconstruct what Gates says about communism and IP:
Communism is generally considered to be a negative adjective in the US, no matter how you slice it. Also, I would argue that most communist governments have done quite a bit of damage by being communist (note that we're talking about communism not socialism, which is something different altogether.
He is also, largely, fighting a straw man: very few people (that I know of, anyway) are actually in favor of abolishing all intellectual property. Rather, most seem to advocate more moderate limits.
He maintains that the purpose of IP laws are to provide an incentives for those who create content. I agree that this was the original intent of the laws - whether that is still their function is debatable. However, I have a hard time imagining a musician (or any other content creator) sitting down to write a song (or any other content for that matter) but deciding not to because it would only remain protected until 75 years after their death (the current laws protect it for 95 years, I believe). I understand wanting to leave something to one's heirs, but 95 years is several generations - is this really a factor in whether people create new content?
While I can't speak for others, of course, I think that the many aren't actually in opposition to intellectualism, but - like myself - simply think it is overrated. It is definitely worth while to learn to communicate effectively, especially in writing, but it doesn't necessarily follow that college is all it's cracked up to be.
I attended college for two years (before dropping out), and some of the things extolled in the article were things notably absent in my college experience, such as actually writing code. Personally, it seems to me that my writing skills are not necessarily less developed than those of some of the college graduates I know. A fair portion of the people I know or work with who have college degrees are no more competent than myself or others without such a degree (indeed, many are less so). My point is simply that having a diploma is overrated. It doesn't appear to me (although I am admittedly biased) that a college degree is necessary to be an effective programmer, or that there is even a necessary correlation between education and effectiveness.
But then, again, I'll have to wait and see if I actually make it as a programmer...
It could make it more difficult to approach without setting off red flags. If a large ship comes in saying they're transporting bananas, but there are no cargo ships scheduled to be carrying bananas in the area at that time, it will hopefully set off some alarms or the like. This is assuming of course that the Coast Guard is organized enough to have some sort of centralized database of ships' schedules cargos and other relevant data.
This would mean that someone would have to be very good at falsifying the data, or they would have to hijack an existing ship. Not impossible by any means, but at least it would mean that not just anyone could come steaming up - it's not foolproof, but it would add another layer of difficulty.
The post implies that I'm splitting my attention between Slashdot and something else. The key here is to concentrate wholeheartedly on the refresh button, thus avoiding stress from multitasking.
At least, I assume that's what the article says - I would have RTFA, but then I might miss the next comment posted here.
Here's the project's site that looks like it offers a way to be involved in the program, as well as some more detailed information "straight from the source" on what the PDAs will have loaded on them.
According to another article (http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200412/s1273 322.htm), the PDAs won't just have maps and common phrases, but will also have voice translation (in the english models), as well as free unlimited Internet access and free phone calls within Japan. These seem to me to be substantive services beyond just a flashy way to deliver basic, predefined information.
The second article does indeed state that "harbours and estuaries that funnel the waves inland" will be "worst hit". I would think that this would apply to Puget Sound, which is open to the ocean at one end (although it is somewhat protected by a sharp bend and numerous islands, it would seem to me to be at least as vulnerable as some of the cities mentioned, e.g. Philedelphia).
It is worth noting, however, that Puget Sound is in Washington State (on the West coast of the US) and opens onto the Pacific Ocean, so it would not be at a direct risk from this particular potential tsunami. I would imagine, however, that similar threats exist in the Pacific Ocean (the BBC article says that such potentially devastating volcanoes are "scattered across the world's oceans").
I know that Douglas Adams changed elements of the plot himself - inconsistency is fine (welcome, in fact). It's just that I can't quite see a chronically depressed robot as cute and adorable. We're talking about a robot who who caused a computer to commit suicide by telling it his view on life, and all the while I can't help comparing the costume design to a mechanized teletubby. It just doesn't seem to fit somehow.
The only reservations I have (from what I know so far) are issues of production design rather than plot. As far as I know (and I may well be wrong) Douglas Adams wasn't involved in costume or set design for the production.
The way I understand writable media is that the laser goes right through the coating (in the same way it would to read a disk) but instead of just bouncing off the surface of the disk, it "burns" spots in some sort of dye to reperesent pits and valleys... I'm not positive about the mechanics of it.
I'm not a physicist, but my impression of quantum theory was that even physical observation would change the result (e.g. observing a photon can actually change its location). If this is true, then even if the physical link was compromised, you should still be alerted.
The way that I understand it is that SVG is completely open - it is language based so you can go in directly and modify the code. Personally, I would give a lot to be able to do this with Flash. In general, no matter how good the tools are (and I happen to think Macromedia's are pretty darn good) I always like to have the option of directly modifying the source code - for optimazation and because there is always something that's much more difficult than it should be to do through a software interface.
Slashdot Mirror
"...to indicate that are using the FreeBSD inside"
"FreeBSD inside" - that has a ring to it, don't you think? What about "FreeBSD Inside" with - get this - a circle around it?
Oh wait...
This would be an argument for changing, you realize.
Larry Clopper, one of the founders of PublishAmerica, responded to tales of some manuscripts being accepted with significant portions consisting of nothing but pages repeated over and over by saying, "People make mistakes. When somebody views a manuscript, they may not read the whole thing line by line."
Sounds like someone could be replaced by a very small shell script.
I know this sounds cheesy, but the value of the companionship offered by a dog is something you haven't taken into account (and, indeed, can't have a dollar value assigned to it). I don't pretend to know anything about it, but I would imagine that having a disability such as visiom impairment would be socially isolating to a certain degree (most differences tend to have this effect in society, even those that don't limit mobility). The therapeutic value of having a pet is not to be ignored (a dog doesn't charge $100/hr :).
Another advantage is that a dog can adapt to new situations better than a typical robot. Also - though it has already been mentioned - a dog can help ensure safety (it is probably less likely to be stolen than an expensive electronic gadget)
If this is true, then it certainly won't be long before Microsoft begins to release core patents to the public.
Err... perhaps not.
But just think - if they did, then someday they might even allow Linux to include the major feature Windows has that it still lacks: the patented BlueScreen(tm) technology that those OSS folks just can't seem to master.
I've always heard that they wait until after someone is dead so that he or she can't disgrace themselves and make the tribute to them an embarrassment. Once someone is dead, they can't do anything bad and you know what you're getting.
It would have been much more fitting if they had decided to name the 10th "planet" (debatable) Rupert instead of Sedna.
Contrary to the article, Windows is good for more than viruses and freeze-ups. In certain specialized fields, Linux is still much more difficult (or impossible) to run. The examples I am most familiar with are animation (as far as I know, no Linux program exists to create Flash animation, and the only 3d animation program I'm aware of is Blender), professional audio (fun with ALSA, anyone?), and graphics (aside from the GIMP issue, what about vector graphics and publishing?).
Yes, some of this is because more manufacturers cater to Windows rather than Linux, but the fact remains that this makes Windows more suitable for some things. Linux is not inherently less capable of performing these functions, but the tools don't exist yet.
But I'll just add one more comment, trying to deconstruct what Gates says about communism and IP:
While I can't speak for others, of course, I think that the many aren't actually in opposition to intellectualism, but - like myself - simply think it is overrated. It is definitely worth while to learn to communicate effectively, especially in writing, but it doesn't necessarily follow that college is all it's cracked up to be.
I attended college for two years (before dropping out), and some of the things extolled in the article were things notably absent in my college experience, such as actually writing code. Personally, it seems to me that my writing skills are not necessarily less developed than those of some of the college graduates I know. A fair portion of the people I know or work with who have college degrees are no more competent than myself or others without such a degree (indeed, many are less so). My point is simply that having a diploma is overrated. It doesn't appear to me (although I am admittedly biased) that a college degree is necessary to be an effective programmer, or that there is even a necessary correlation between education and effectiveness.
But then, again, I'll have to wait and see if I actually make it as a programmer...
It could make it more difficult to approach without setting off red flags. If a large ship comes in saying they're transporting bananas, but there are no cargo ships scheduled to be carrying bananas in the area at that time, it will hopefully set off some alarms or the like. This is assuming of course that the Coast Guard is organized enough to have some sort of centralized database of ships' schedules cargos and other relevant data.
This would mean that someone would have to be very good at falsifying the data, or they would have to hijack an existing ship. Not impossible by any means, but at least it would mean that not just anyone could come steaming up - it's not foolproof, but it would add another layer of difficulty.
At least, I assume that's what the article says - I would have RTFA, but then I might miss the next comment posted here.
http://www.narita-airport.or.jp/e-navi/howto.html
According to another article (http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200412/s1273 322.htm), the PDAs won't just have maps and common phrases, but will also have voice translation (in the english models), as well as free unlimited Internet access and free phone calls within Japan. These seem to me to be substantive services beyond just a flashy way to deliver basic, predefined information.
The second article does indeed state that "harbours and estuaries that funnel the waves inland" will be "worst hit". I would think that this would apply to Puget Sound, which is open to the ocean at one end (although it is somewhat protected by a sharp bend and numerous islands, it would seem to me to be at least as vulnerable as some of the cities mentioned, e.g. Philedelphia).
It is worth noting, however, that Puget Sound is in Washington State (on the West coast of the US) and opens onto the Pacific Ocean, so it would not be at a direct risk from this particular potential tsunami. I would imagine, however, that similar threats exist in the Pacific Ocean (the BBC article says that such potentially devastating volcanoes are "scattered across the world's oceans").
I know that Douglas Adams changed elements of the plot himself - inconsistency is fine (welcome, in fact). It's just that I can't quite see a chronically depressed robot as cute and adorable. We're talking about a robot who who caused a computer to commit suicide by telling it his view on life, and all the while I can't help comparing the costume design to a mechanized teletubby. It just doesn't seem to fit somehow.
The only reservations I have (from what I know so far) are issues of production design rather than plot. As far as I know (and I may well be wrong) Douglas Adams wasn't involved in costume or set design for the production.
The way I understand writable media is that the laser goes right through the coating (in the same way it would to read a disk) but instead of just bouncing off the surface of the disk, it "burns" spots in some sort of dye to reperesent pits and valleys... I'm not positive about the mechanics of it.
I'm not a physicist, but my impression of quantum theory was that even physical observation would change the result (e.g. observing a photon can actually change its location). If this is true, then even if the physical link was compromised, you should still be alerted.
The way that I understand it is that SVG is completely open - it is language based so you can go in directly and modify the code. Personally, I would give a lot to be able to do this with Flash. In general, no matter how good the tools are (and I happen to think Macromedia's are pretty darn good) I always like to have the option of directly modifying the source code - for optimazation and because there is always something that's much more difficult than it should be to do through a software interface.