Quote comes from a friend of mine long ago and far away. Don't know where he got it but I'm willing to believe he made it up. I had an opportunity to revive it in the office the other day and thought I should share it with the world.
If so then my answer is yes! I mean no! err..What was the question again?
IANANE (I am not a nuclear engineer) but if I read that article correctly then it seems some of the many problems have theoretical solutions. In other words, it worked in the simulation. We need to get this thing built and do real tests before we can even think about being "close" to having fusion plants.
They can't even decide where to build it! Why can't I vote to spend my (US) tax money on putting one of these over here. Even as a test bed it will give the contry it's in some home field advantage. You can use my back yard if you want! Don't listen to my whiney neighbors, they don't know what's good for them!
Very true, all of Microsofts "evil" comes from competitive board room decisions. The "inherently evil" above is intended to be sarcasm based on/.'s "M$ is the Devil" BS. It didn't come across well but there you go.
For the record: MS does not hire child or slave labor; MS does not dump toxic waste; MS does not poison ground water; MS does not encourage unsafe working conditions involving nasty chemicals. MS DOES crush competitors and they don't care if the competitors product is better, this is called capitalism and it is generally good for us, the consumer. Without MS (and Compaq, and others) we may all be forced to pay thousands more for our computers and many of our embedded devices (including things like the iPod) wouldn't exist at all.
Troubles arise when a company gets big enough that their normal competitive behavior begins to impact an entire industry. Think Standard Oil or even IBM. We have laws to stop this from happening but the important thing to remember is that even the worst monopolist is rarely Evil, usually they are just really good at the job. In this sense MS is a monopoly and controls have kicked in to control the damage they can do.
The important thing with regard to this discussion is that MS is big enough to throw Millions at a project in the hopes of a very tenuous return on investment. I suspect that the low cost PC in several forms is something MS has gambled quite a bit on in the hope (slim though it might be) of locking in new markets before Linux can take over. You and I will look at this and think, why throw millions away on an idea that has almost no chance. MS looks at it and says, why not put a few million on a long shot that could generate billions.
It doesn't hurt ME to have them take this stance and with all those hard working hackers out there I might have a lot to gain (small, low power, low cost media PC for the car or kitchen running Linux or even a hacked CE.net, sounds good to me) but remember competition can drive a company to stifle other efforts. Bribing the leaders of "emerging markets" to standardise on your product can certainly be seen as bad if not evil. Especially if you manage to secure a contract which forces a small country to spend more on your stuff than they can really afford. MS could be seen as evil if they are taking advantage of their power and position in a way which increases suffering, but even if that happens you can bet it will be inadvertent and indirect.
On an only vaguely related note, don't you find it amusing/sad to hear people talk about the horrible violence in cartoons when not that long ago we lived in a society where people were regularly hanged in public? Just for being the wrong skin tone! That is evil, MS isn't. They may act like a big blundering bull in a china shop sometimes but that's a different story.
Actually, I agree with you. Those sub-Saharan Africans will only use Microsoft while there is some advantage to it. Same goes for China, India and the US.
You are assuming that I think this strategy will work, I'm just giving a likely scenario. The sort that plays out in boardrooms all over the world.
Just because they are Microsoft and therefor inherently evil doesn't mean they can't be incompetent as well.
What makes you think that Microsoft is "taxing" these boxes? Microsoft (and just about every other large company in the world) is more than willing to SUBSIDISE projects like this for market penetration. I wouldn't be suprised to find out that MS has at least helped with design if not funding. Remember, this box is intentionally limited. Consider it a teaser or loss leader. The first one is free...
I suspect that they (AMD) don't want you to think of this as a general purpose PC but rather more like an embedded internet device. In other words, it is designed to always run in kiosk mode. It may limit its funtionality but it should also limit problems like spyware and mainstream apps that need a lot more horsepower than this thing has.
Couldn't agree more! I too, love my 1990 240 w/ 140k miles. It might drink a quart of oil every couple of months but it starts every morning and never fails to go when I ask it to.
My dad didn't believe me when I told it was only a 4 cylinder. 14 years old, heavy as can be and just enough acceleration to get me ahead of the pack.
Best purchase I've ever made... $750 three years and 40k miles ago, woot!
I doubt that this domain was registered with the INTENT of squating on it and hoping for a big pay off. Those were heady days for i/e business ideas. Like most of those ideas this one didn't go anywhere. The site probably languished for a few years and then came the iPod followed by iTunes. By this point I can see someone making the decision to hold on to a worthless domain to recoup the investment and then some. Maybe even profit on the draw of iTunes to push some mechandise or service (scam? I withhold judgement).
Summary: He may not have started out as a mean, evil, coward of a cybersquater. But as time goes by he begins to look like one.
Tortured Analogy: He didn't know the railline was going to go in when he bought the land but when it turned out to be worthless for his original intentions he decided to hold on to it just in case. Now the railway company wants it to build a station on it. Should they be forced to pay him whatever he demands or should he be forced to hand it over by the courts. On the gripping hand, maybe he should be forced to accept a fair market value for it. Compromi(s|z)e, is it that hard?
I can assure you that they didn't buy IBM's "quality" whatever you think that is. They bought IBM's reputation (including its reputation for quality, I grant you).
IBM has almost certainly contrated out all of its PC designs for some time now. Their quality control and demanding specifactions are probably all that separates a Thinkpad from a Gateway from a Dell.
If Levono can maintain that then we will all be recommending them in the future. If not then they will milk IBM's reputation dry and move on.
Re:Somone get these ppl some free software!
on
Given Up to Spyware?
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· Score: 1
Not that stretching this analogy will help it any but my take would be more like: You are standing on a NY street with taxi after taxi stopping to ask you if you need a ride and never willing to tell you how much it will cost. You look around and ask "Doesn't NY have a cheap and efficient subway which will take me right where I need to go?" If you had asked this question in the OpenSubway forum you whould have recived detailed instructions on how to use the system and where to go to catch it (plus a couple of RTFM of course) but since you are standing on the street you get three more offers for rides in subpar cabs.
First, no you are not crazy. Evolutionary methods are gaining ground in lots of areas and traffic management will probably make the list. Second, would you mind if we tested this system on your hometown first. Something about seeing the name Darwin in this contex makes me cringe.
Now for the meat of the matter. How do you describe the test controls of maximum efficiency? It sounds relatively easy but from what I have heard it rapidly spirals into insanely complex. Maximum efficiency might mean the side streets get no green at all from 7 to 8 AM for example. Is this acceptable? If not then we need a rule for that and so on.
I'm not an expert in this field by any means but I doubt you could design good test criteria that would still be simple enough to understand in all conditions. And I doubt you will get many people to buy it if they can't be sure it will won't kill people, or even cause major traffic jams for that matter.
So you read two articles about two different things but since they both used the word quantum you decided they were really the same thing and therefore proved something else.
No that is appling the scientific method!
Re:Obligatory Bill Hicks quote...
on
HIV Vaccine
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You are aware that the main reason why people don't want to have sex with you ISNT AIDS right?
Just kidding of course but I suspect there may be a lot of disappointed/disillusioned geeks on that day:)
"You mean you just said you were scared of AIDS was to avoid sleeping with me! But I took time away from SETI at home to run "Cure AIDS at home" just for you! Now I'll never know if I could have been the one to discover the Vulcans!!!!"
Re:you'll know when its it.
on
HIV Vaccine
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So we'll know but we may be the last people to find out...
Damn, I ran out of Mountain Dew, better run to the store.
What the hell??...
Re:There's a preventive vaccine already
on
HIV Vaccine
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I definitely agree with you here but would like to add the the chances of contacting HIV are PROBABLY higher with certain types of sexual contact. This might keep the virus more contained within groups that are more likely to practice those positions but at some point you reach a tipping point where there is enough infection outside of these groups to counteract this effect. Once you reach this point (as has happened in many portions of Africa and elsewhere) HIV/AIDS becomes equal opportunity for all. Your best bet at that point is to assume that everyone is "high risk" and hand out condoms while preaching abstinence. The preaching doesn't work of course but it gives you something to feel superior about.
Actually, this is the way I see a lot of our future meds going. Instead of a Doc writing out a script of a certain med at a certain level, imagine having your blood/fluids drawn, your stats entered and a tailor made concoction coming out. Or maybe it just writes/prints the prescription to take to the pharmacy. Specifically though, I'm thinking about anitbiotics/antivirials which target only the problem not the whole body. That could drastically reduce drug resistance.
So I live in a dream world. I like it here. This stuff may be 20+ years out but research like this is getting us ever closer!
It means that they know the/. crowd doesn't have the patience to go to all that trouble. Fewer hits and fewer false claims to go though. Those Bastards
I believe they have to send you a new one if you find a mistake (that they made, mind you). Basically, if there is something on there that you dispute you work it though them (and the agency that submitted it if needed) and then you can request a new report, free of charge, to make sure that it is fixed. I looked into this a while back so it may be out of date, or just plain wrong because I never tried to correct anything. Unfortunately, all those debts were mine:(
Back to the current topic, I suspect that this free report will actually be limited in someway and then they will offer to sell you the special, extended edition, unrated directors cut for some small fee.
He will be able to sleep, maybe: "He said the autopilot was coming along as Jon M. Karkow, the project engineer and main test pilot, got more experience with the plane, but added, "If I'm having trouble with the autopilot, then I will absolutely not fall asleep."
But my favorite quote: "If it quits at 45,000 feet, or about 9 miles, finding a landing spot is probably not a problem, because it can glide about 30 feet for each one foot loss in altitude, giving it a range of nearly 300 miles before the pilot would have to land, ditch or bail out. But the GlobalFlyer is such a wonderful glider that it would be a challenge to descend fast enough to find breathable air."
Can you imagine the panic in trying to get a plane to go down fast enough that you can breathe but not so fast that you lose control. Glad that's not me then...
Another way to fool this may be to generate 'noise' when you are telling the truth and therefor provide a false baseline. Working Quadratic equations the when telling the truth might work. Trying to create a new story in your head would probably be even better.
Slashdot Mirror
Research reveals that it originated with Dorothy Parker. Sig has been updated to reflect this and thanks for pushing me to look for it.
Quote comes from a friend of mine long ago and far away. Don't know where he got it but I'm willing to believe he made it up. I had an opportunity to revive it in the office the other day and thought I should share it with the world.
Is this an Ask Slashdot?
If so then my answer is yes! I mean no! err..What was the question again?
IANANE (I am not a nuclear engineer) but if I read that article correctly then it seems some of the many problems have theoretical solutions. In other words, it worked in the simulation. We need to get this thing built and do real tests before we can even think about being "close" to having fusion plants.
They can't even decide where to build it! Why can't I vote to spend my (US) tax money on putting one of these over here. Even as a test bed it will give the contry it's in some home field advantage.
You can use my back yard if you want! Don't listen to my whiney neighbors, they don't know what's good for them!
Yes, and the leeches don't really suck the evil out of the sick. Now try convincing the general public!
Very true, all of Microsofts "evil" comes from competitive board room decisions. The "inherently evil" above is intended to be sarcasm based on /.'s "M$ is the Devil" BS. It didn't come across well but there you go.
For the record: MS does not hire child or slave labor; MS does not dump toxic waste; MS does not poison ground water; MS does not encourage unsafe working conditions involving nasty chemicals.
MS DOES crush competitors and they don't care if the competitors product is better, this is called capitalism and it is generally good for us, the consumer. Without MS (and Compaq, and others) we may all be forced to pay thousands more for our computers and many of our embedded devices (including things like the iPod) wouldn't exist at all.
Troubles arise when a company gets big enough that their normal competitive behavior begins to impact an entire industry. Think Standard Oil or even IBM. We have laws to stop this from happening but the important thing to remember is that even the worst monopolist is rarely Evil, usually they are just really good at the job. In this sense MS is a monopoly and controls have kicked in to control the damage they can do.
The important thing with regard to this discussion is that MS is big enough to throw Millions at a project in the hopes of a very tenuous return on investment. I suspect that the low cost PC in several forms is something MS has gambled quite a bit on in the hope (slim though it might be) of locking in new markets before Linux can take over. You and I will look at this and think, why throw millions away on an idea that has almost no chance. MS looks at it and says, why not put a few million on a long shot that could generate billions.
It doesn't hurt ME to have them take this stance and with all those hard working hackers out there I might have a lot to gain (small, low power, low cost media PC for the car or kitchen running Linux or even a hacked CE.net, sounds good to me) but remember competition can drive a company to stifle other efforts. Bribing the leaders of "emerging markets" to standardise on your product can certainly be seen as bad if not evil. Especially if you manage to secure a contract which forces a small country to spend more on your stuff than they can really afford. MS could be seen as evil if they are taking advantage of their power and position in a way which increases suffering, but even if that happens you can bet it will be inadvertent and indirect.
On an only vaguely related note, don't you find it amusing/sad to hear people talk about the horrible violence in cartoons when not that long ago we lived in a society where people were regularly hanged in public? Just for being the wrong skin tone! That is evil, MS isn't. They may act like a big blundering bull in a china shop sometimes but that's a different story.
Actually, I agree with you. Those sub-Saharan Africans will only use Microsoft while there is some advantage to it. Same goes for China, India and the US.
You are assuming that I think this strategy will work, I'm just giving a likely scenario. The sort that plays out in boardrooms all over the world.
Just because they are Microsoft and therefor inherently evil doesn't mean they can't be incompetent as well.
Don't suppose you could give us a model? This is what I have been looking for (but not too hard yet).
A line in on the front (or even back) just makes sense, why are they so hard to find?
I would be OK with CF or SD card slots as well!
Stupid standard car radio...
What makes you think that Microsoft is "taxing" these boxes?
Microsoft (and just about every other large company in the world) is more than willing to SUBSIDISE projects like this for market penetration. I wouldn't be suprised to find out that MS has at least helped with design if not funding.
Remember, this box is intentionally limited. Consider it a teaser or loss leader. The first one is free...
I suspect that they (AMD) don't want you to think of this as a general purpose PC but rather more like an embedded internet device. In other words, it is designed to always run in kiosk mode. It may limit its funtionality but it should also limit problems like spyware and mainstream apps that need a lot more horsepower than this thing has.
Couldn't agree more! I too, love my 1990 240 w/ 140k miles. It might drink a quart of oil every couple of months but it starts every morning and never fails to go when I ask it to.
My dad didn't believe me when I told it was only a 4 cylinder. 14 years old, heavy as can be and just enough acceleration to get me ahead of the pack.
Best purchase I've ever made... $750 three years and 40k miles ago, woot!
I doubt that this domain was registered with the INTENT of squating on it and hoping for a big pay off. Those were heady days for i/e business ideas. Like most of those ideas this one didn't go anywhere. The site probably languished for a few years and then came the iPod followed by iTunes. By this point I can see someone making the decision to hold on to a worthless domain to recoup the investment and then some. Maybe even profit on the draw of iTunes to push some mechandise or service (scam? I withhold judgement).
Summary: He may not have started out as a mean, evil, coward of a cybersquater. But as time goes by he begins to look like one.
Tortured Analogy: He didn't know the railline was going to go in when he bought the land but when it turned out to be worthless for his original intentions he decided to hold on to it just in case.
Now the railway company wants it to build a station on it.
Should they be forced to pay him whatever he demands or should he be forced to hand it over by the courts. On the gripping hand, maybe he should be forced to accept a fair market value for it. Compromi(s|z)e, is it that hard?
All your quality belong to us?
I can assure you that they didn't buy IBM's "quality" whatever you think that is. They bought IBM's reputation (including its reputation for quality, I grant you).
IBM has almost certainly contrated out all of its PC designs for some time now. Their quality control and demanding specifactions are probably all that separates a Thinkpad from a Gateway from a Dell.
If Levono can maintain that then we will all be recommending them in the future. If not then they will milk IBM's reputation dry and move on.
Not that stretching this analogy will help it any but my take would be more like:
You are standing on a NY street with taxi after taxi stopping to ask you if you need a ride and never willing to tell you how much it will cost. You look around and ask "Doesn't NY have a cheap and efficient subway which will take me right where I need to go?"
If you had asked this question in the OpenSubway forum you whould have recived detailed instructions on how to use the system and where to go to catch it (plus a couple of RTFM of course) but since you are standing on the street you get three more offers for rides in subpar cabs.
First, no you are not crazy. Evolutionary methods are gaining ground in lots of areas and traffic management will probably make the list.
Second, would you mind if we tested this system on your hometown first. Something about seeing the name Darwin in this contex makes me cringe.
Now for the meat of the matter. How do you describe the test controls of maximum efficiency? It sounds relatively easy but from what I have heard it rapidly spirals into insanely complex. Maximum efficiency might mean the side streets get no green at all from 7 to 8 AM for example. Is this acceptable? If not then we need a rule for that and so on.
I'm not an expert in this field by any means but I doubt you could design good test criteria that would still be simple enough to understand in all conditions. And I doubt you will get many people to buy it if they can't be sure it will won't kill people, or even cause major traffic jams for that matter.
So you read two articles about two different things but since they both used the word quantum you decided they were really the same thing and therefore proved something else.
No that is appling the scientific method!
You are aware that the main reason why people don't want to have sex with you ISNT AIDS right?
:)
Just kidding of course but I suspect there may be a lot of disappointed/disillusioned geeks on that day
"You mean you just said you were scared of AIDS was to avoid sleeping with me! But I took time away from SETI at home to run "Cure AIDS at home" just for you! Now I'll never know if I could have been the one to discover the Vulcans!!!!"
So we'll know but we may be the last people to find out...
Damn, I ran out of Mountain Dew, better run to the store.
What the hell??...
I definitely agree with you here but would like to add the the chances of contacting HIV are PROBABLY higher with certain types of sexual contact.
This might keep the virus more contained within groups that are more likely to practice those positions but at some point you reach a tipping point where there is enough infection outside of these groups to counteract this effect. Once you reach this point (as has happened in many portions of Africa and elsewhere) HIV/AIDS becomes equal opportunity for all. Your best bet at that point is to assume that everyone is "high risk" and hand out condoms while preaching abstinence. The preaching doesn't work of course but it gives you something to feel superior about.
Actually, this is the way I see a lot of our future meds going. Instead of a Doc writing out a script of a certain med at a certain level, imagine having your blood/fluids drawn, your stats entered and a tailor made concoction coming out. Or maybe it just writes/prints the prescription to take to the pharmacy. Specifically though, I'm thinking about anitbiotics/antivirials which target only the problem not the whole body. That could drastically reduce drug resistance.
So I live in a dream world. I like it here. This stuff may be 20+ years out but research like this is getting us ever closer!
It means that they know the /. crowd doesn't have the patience to go to all that trouble. Fewer hits and fewer false claims to go though. Those Bastards
I believe they have to send you a new one if you find a mistake (that they made, mind you). :(
Basically, if there is something on there that you dispute you work it though them (and the agency that submitted it if needed) and then you can request a new report, free of charge, to make sure that it is fixed. I looked into this a while back so it may be out of date, or just plain wrong because I never tried to correct anything. Unfortunately, all those debts were mine
Back to the current topic, I suspect that this free report will actually be limited in someway and then they will offer to sell you the special, extended edition, unrated directors cut for some small fee.
He will be able to sleep, maybe:
"He said the autopilot was coming along as Jon M. Karkow, the project engineer and main test pilot, got more experience with the plane, but added, "If I'm having trouble with the autopilot, then I will absolutely not fall asleep."
But my favorite quote:
"If it quits at 45,000 feet, or about 9 miles, finding a landing spot is probably not a problem, because it can glide about 30 feet for each one foot loss in altitude, giving it a range of nearly 300 miles before the pilot would have to land, ditch or bail out. But the GlobalFlyer is such a wonderful glider that it would be a challenge to descend fast enough to find breathable air."
Can you imagine the panic in trying to get a plane to go down fast enough that you can breathe but not so fast that you lose control. Glad that's not me then...
Another way to fool this may be to generate 'noise' when you are telling the truth and therefor provide a false baseline. Working Quadratic equations the when telling the truth might work. Trying to create a new story in your head would probably be even better.
Maybe that Oil for Food thing was too unethical even for the BIG OIL people? Nah...
Eliminate no, but what if that technology could reduce accidents/contamination
to lower levels than our current methods of energy generation?
I think we could replace dirty coal with not perfect but better nuclear
if we put the money and research into it.