If you want to have a flashback to those thrilling days of yesteryear, get a copy of Interpolation by J.F.Steffensen from Dover Publications. ISBN 0–486–45009–0. It's a look at the mathematics behind various interpolation methods. What I remember from my old books of various tables was at the really good ones had a column for the second delta, so you didn't have to just use street linear interpolation. Since I'm a database guy, I frequently have built tables (in the SQL sense) for complicated functions, and had to use some of these old tricks in my queries. Apparently, some of the functions on calculators are also lookup tables with interpolation methods inside the chips for you can't see them.
I would also add anything by Will Eisner. There is a reason his name appears on those awards. In particular, most of the graphic techniques used both in movies and graphic novels later were developed by Eisner. I'm sort of surprise in the first person to suggest his name here
"You have undertaken to cheat me. I won't sue you, for the law is too slow. I'll ruin you." - Cornelius Vanderbilt
My publisher, Morgan-Kaufmann, has people who issue take-down notices to the illegal sites with my books. I keep a "Google Alert" on my name (an advantage of a rare name) so I can notify the company lawyers.
But I find that it is faster to ask the site why they are committing a crime in person or by email. Most will co-operate.
I then find the poster and contact his school. Note to criminal masterminds -- don't post on Facebook, et al or use a school account. So far, I have gotten two crooks kicked out of universities in New Zealand. I also caught an instructor using some of my SQL PUZZLES for class assignments when one of his students sent me a "do my homework for me!" email.
I contact his employer (http://siia.net/piracy) and ask that they fire him. Here in Austin, the Software & Information Industry Association runs radio ads. Once they have probable cause for a warrant, a full software audit is easy to get.
Finally, I keep the name on a list in case I run into him in the database world. Vanderbilt was right. If he wants to cheat me out of my only retirement (want to see my 0.401 account?), I am quite happy to return the favor.
Having worked for a prison system in a research section that psych profiles on inmates what we have with this kind of criminal is "depraved indifference to human life"; they fall into two sub-categories.
1) Sociopaths that view all of the world as a "video game" for their personal amusement. They will delete the medical files and watch insulin not get to where it is needed for a personal giggle, etc. Yet when they are caught and made to face the results of their actions, they are as self-centered as a 2-3 year old child. When caught, they whine and confess, then ask the adults for forgiveness.
2) Sociopaths who are motivated by profit (money, status, ego, etc.) and have a superiority complex. Their model is that they are Superman and shoudl be allowed to do this as opposed to look what I got away with in type one.
I was thinking about doing a near future SF story where the criminals are sentenced based on the harm they did: 1) You cost x-billion people y-nanoseconds; serve that time in jail 2) Pay the storage cost your crap cost people; pay it to the same agency the did #1 3) In Texas, we have "breath-analyzer" boxes on automobiles that prevent convicted drunks from driving; Let's do it do it for computers? We put a chip in your brain, so when you program, you dry vomit. 4) We hold them in a 4-th world country and when enough votes come in via the Internet, we feed them alive to animals (politically correct animals that have a lobby in Washington, like Pandas and Tigers) or to cannibal locals and webcast it! Pay per view to cover costs! (Admit it, there are people you would pay money to see eaten by cannibals)
Years ago, International Paper had some good free flyers. They were each a single 11x17" sheet, printed on one side with lots of white space, so the actual text was short. They were writing tips on one topic by "name brand" writers -- Kurt Vonnegut, Steve Allen and the like -- with examples.
They were great! But I do not know if they are still available or if you could get reprint rights for class use.
>> the obvious need for a first cause. > Of course, they merely postpone the inevitable: when one is finally done regressing into "branes" and the "bulk", and whatever lies beyond even them, you reach another boundary that begs still, a First Cause!
NO, it supports an infinity regression. Even Cantor's transfinite numbers become "an infinity of infinites" without an ultimate stopping point.
The arguement of the first cause is an old fallacy. It begs the question: (4) A causal chain cannot stretch back infinitely in time.
Why not? Would you like to think about a "time before time"?
Time is the measurement of the movement of objects, so to have no time you would have to have no objects. Therefore, time and matter have existed together for enternity and we cannot have a first cause. Time is infinite, a continuum, in a closed loop with matter.
This is why I tell SQL people to make a Calendar table that is good for 10-20 years. It can have all of the fiscal calendar, lunar holidays, unplanned closings, etc. in it, Computing some events on the fly is impossible or difficult.
http://www.puzzles.com/PuzzleLinks/NickBaxter'sSli dingBlockPuzzles.html
Great stuff and Nick was on the ANSI X3H2 Database Standards Committee about a million years ago. There are some other contributors there also.
--CELKO--
Re:I'm not convinced...
on
The Long Tail
·
· Score: 1
Consider the projects that cost hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars that bomb. Movies are a good example (did everyone get a VSH of "Showgirls", "Water World", etc. for $2 at their truck stop, too?). The long tail is a way to recover some of the costs over time, just like cable channels.
Slashdot Mirror
If you want to have a flashback to those thrilling days of yesteryear, get a copy of Interpolation by J.F.Steffensen from Dover Publications. ISBN 0–486–45009–0. It's a look at the mathematics behind various interpolation methods. What I remember from my old books of various tables was at the really good ones had a column for the second delta, so you didn't have to just use street linear interpolation. Since I'm a database guy, I frequently have built tables (in the SQL sense) for complicated functions, and had to use some of these old tricks in my queries. Apparently, some of the functions on calculators are also lookup tables with interpolation methods inside the chips for you can't see them.
So poor people will get on a self-driving bus or jitney. If my monthly bus pass cost is less than a monthly car payment, then we are ahead!
I would also add anything by Will Eisner. There is a reason his name appears on those awards. In particular, most of the graphic techniques used both in movies and graphic novels later were developed by Eisner. I'm sort of surprise in the first person to suggest his name here
"You have undertaken to cheat me. I won't sue you, for the law is too slow. I'll ruin you."
- Cornelius Vanderbilt
My publisher, Morgan-Kaufmann, has people who issue take-down notices to the illegal sites with my books. I keep a "Google Alert" on my name (an advantage of a rare name) so I can notify the company lawyers.
But I find that it is faster to ask the site why they are committing a crime in person or by email. Most will co-operate.
I then find the poster and contact his school. Note to criminal masterminds -- don't post on Facebook, et al or use a school account. So far, I have gotten two crooks kicked out of universities in New Zealand. I also caught an instructor using some of my SQL PUZZLES for class assignments when one of his students sent me a "do my homework for me!" email.
I contact his employer (http://siia.net/piracy) and ask that they fire him. Here in Austin, the Software & Information Industry Association runs radio ads. Once they have probable cause for a warrant, a full software audit is easy to get.
Finally, I keep the name on a list in case I run into him in the database world. Vanderbilt was right. If he wants to cheat me out of my only retirement (want to see my 0.401 account?), I am quite happy to return the favor.
I just did an article in the December issue of GAMES magazine on Golomb Rulers. You ought to be able to get it at any newsstand now.
Having worked for a prison system in a research section that psych profiles on inmates what we have with this kind of criminal is "depraved indifference to human life"; they fall into two sub-categories.
1) Sociopaths
that view all of the world as a "video game" for their personal amusement. They will delete the medical files and watch insulin not get to where it is needed for a personal giggle, etc. Yet when they are caught and made to face the results of their actions, they are as self-centered as a 2-3 year old child. When caught, they whine and confess, then ask the adults for forgiveness.
2) Sociopaths who are motivated by profit (money, status, ego, etc.) and have a superiority complex. Their model is that they are Superman and shoudl be allowed to do this as opposed to look what I got away with in type one.
I was thinking about doing a near future SF story where the criminals are sentenced based on the harm they did:
1) You cost x-billion people y-nanoseconds; serve that time in jail
2) Pay the storage cost your crap cost people; pay it to the same agency the did #1
3) In Texas, we have "breath-analyzer" boxes on automobiles that prevent convicted drunks from driving; Let's do it do it for computers? We put a chip in your brain, so when you program, you dry vomit.
4) We hold them in a 4-th world country and when enough votes come in via the Internet, we feed them alive to animals (politically correct animals that have a lobby in Washington, like Pandas and Tigers) or to cannibal locals and webcast it! Pay per view to cover costs! (Admit it, there are people you would pay money to see eaten by cannibals)
Years ago, International Paper had some good free flyers. They were each a single 11x17" sheet, printed on one side with lots of white space, so the actual text was short. They were writing tips on one topic by "name brand" writers -- Kurt Vonnegut, Steve Allen and the like -- with examples. They were great! But I do not know if they are still available or if you could get reprint rights for class use.
>> the obvious need for a first cause. > Of course, they merely postpone the inevitable: when one is finally done regressing into "branes" and the "bulk", and whatever lies beyond even them, you reach another boundary that begs still, a First Cause!
NO, it supports an infinity regression. Even Cantor's transfinite numbers become "an infinity of infinites" without an ultimate stopping point.
The arguement of the first cause is an old fallacy. It begs the question: (4) A causal chain cannot stretch back infinitely in time. Why not? Would you like to think about a "time before time"? Time is the measurement of the movement of objects, so to have no time you would have to have no objects. Therefore, time and matter have existed together for enternity and we cannot have a first cause. Time is infinite, a continuum, in a closed loop with matter.
This is why I tell SQL people to make a Calendar table that is good for 10-20 years. It can have all of the fiscal calendar, lunar holidays, unplanned closings, etc. in it, Computing some events on the fly is impossible or difficult.
http://www.puzzles.com/PuzzleLinks/NickBaxter'sSli dingBlockPuzzles.html
Great stuff and Nick was on the ANSI X3H2 Database Standards Committee about a million years ago. There are some other contributors there also.
--CELKO--
Consider the projects that cost hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars that bomb. Movies are a good example (did everyone get a VSH of "Showgirls", "Water World", etc. for $2 at their truck stop, too?). The long tail is a way to recover some of the costs over time, just like cable channels.