There's an equivalent in the Roman alphabet to every letter in the Greek alphabet, unless I am very much mistaken (although some are two letters). So, come on, give us a shot...
What about the explanation from Star Trek for the difference in look between the original Klingons and the later ones? "The Klingons genetically engineered a race of humanoids that looked more human in order to facilitate peace between them and the humans. After war was declared, they didn't need this any more, so they've gone back to how they should be."
I think it's a little unfair of you to pick on just Star Wars fans. Just look at the sphere of fanfic which is available - people like something so much that they can't get enough of it, so they must come up with more to satisfy their craving. The concept that their chosen object of affection is flawed in any way (for whatever reason, special-effects-related or ignorance-of-author-related) is one which they cannot stand, and so they fill holes with conjecture. If you think about it, this is the reason we have religion, but I'll leave that for another debate!
The reason I mention it is because I haven't seen this type of behavior in other sci-fi fans... Star Trek fans don't flesh out throwaway comments into things of vast significance in the Star Trek universe.
That's probably because there are (currently) only 5 Star Wars movies (plus one Christmas Special which I haven't seen yet), yet there are something like 10 Star Trek movies (I can't be bothered to actually count), 5 Star Trek live-action series and a Star Trek animated series (I'm not counting the Endor series of Star Wars spinoffs, coz that would be silly).
The Star Wars fans have much less material to go by, so they have to concentrate their efforts into those outlets. Hence every line is important to them, because it is one of a limited edition of lines in the Star Wars franchise. The Star Trek fans learn Klingon instead.
I can see all the arguments for and against this system, and while it is obviously well-intentioned, I find it a bit disturbing. It's all well and good sticking security cameras around the place and putting trained security individuals in charge of watching them, but this sounds like a helpdesk thing - they get a small amount of "training" and then they're released out into the real world, with a wizard to help them.
"Is there a person on the camera?" Yes
"Are the person's eyes looking shifty?" Yes
"Is this person wearing all black?" Yes
"Is the person carrying something?" Yes
"Alert the authorities that a Muslim individual is walking around in the local supermarket carrying military-grade C4 explosives! Query the man through the loudspeaker. Don't believe him if he says he's doing his shopping! Don't accept any other explanations he gives! You are ALWAYS right, and even if you aren't, this wizard IS!"
Well, seeing as he's hosted by the ECS department at Southampton University, they own a B-class subnet and are the best Electronics and Computer Science department in the UK (5*s and 24s for both Electronics and CS, if you know what that means), I would expect the servers to be able to deal with a Slashdotting!
I'm only pissed because it's slowing down my webpage... =o)
a) Canada is in North America. "America" is short for "The United States of America". As someone pointed out somewhere else under this story, it is just like "Mexico" being short for "The United States of Mexico".
b) Spelling not your strong point? It's "Canada" not "Candada".
The person who holds the patents - even if they are valid - did not do the difficult thing which is set up a successful company around the idea
Most of the time, the applicant doesn't have the resources, either technical or financial, to build up a successful company around one patent. Most patents are issued to people who have filed them for things they have invented whilst researching and developing for a parent company, which then has the resources to back the project.
ALL this guy has done is have a fairly obvious idea
Everything is obvious once it's been done, isn't it? The best inventions are the simplest, and their genius shines through by way of seeming an "obvious solution". But they aren't - it needs someone to actually think laterally around the subject, or to have a flash of inspiration to solve a problem in such a way. My favorite examples of this sort of thinking are a matchbox manufacturer who cut costs spectacularly by putting a striking surface on only one side of the box (when there had been two previously), and British Airlines saving thousands by way of halving the number of olives in their Martinis.
I'd love to be able to come up with these ideas myself - the guy who invented TetraPaks has made a fortune for himself and his family - but, sadly, it takes a true flash of inspiration and creativity. By no means am I taking sides in this eBay thing - I haven't looked into it deeply enough...
I don't know about anyone else, but I found the account of Ancient Greece's terracentric solar system model interesting:
...using elaborate models based on epicycles, in which each body describes a circle (the epicycle) around a point that itself moves in a circle around the earth.
Basically, the epicycle is centred on the Sun, which the Earth orbits. But their model seems preposterous now, because, to a person with a heliocentric view of the solar system it is overly complex, as all you have to do is think of the Earth circling that point as well, and you remove an order of complexity from the problem. I wonder if this seems simple just because of my heliocentric upbringing, or because the Greeks of the time were so convinced that the Earth was the center of the universe that they were blinded to the truth and missed the more simple explanation? Who first proposed the heliocentric model? I doubt it was really Copernicus, if this epicyclic model existed first!
Daft Punk put a credit card sized card inside their CD with a unique number were you could download MP3 singles of remixes and live versions of the song from a special website.
So the people who bought the CD could trade those as well?
Re:The middle of the information age? Says who?
on
When Users Attack
·
· Score: 1
Isn't it too low? It would be like stepping into a F355 or something, and feel totally... wrong. I suppose you could get used to it. Suppose you were using it when you hit a button by accident? Cue comedy slapstick scene like in Carry On movies when the occupant of a hospital bed loses control of it...
Well, maybe there's a good point - does it have heated seats? It might be good for those cold coding nights.
""
Can't have a tsunami in that thin an atmosphere""
Um, I think you're a little mixed up - maybe you're thinking of a tornado? In which case, it must still be possible, only the contributing factors to the formation of that tornado would have to be much greater than those on earth.
Or did you mean what you said? If so, then you've forgotten another thing! You cannot have tsunamis without water! (Or a similar liquid)
Of course, with a thin atmosphere, the boiling point of water would be lowered, meaning that it would be harder to have standing water on the planet, therefore making tsunamis impossible - no water, no wave! I don't know for sure how much standing water could survive on Mars...
Anyway, I've made my point. I should think that a space elevator crashing to Earth (or Mars, whatever) would probably do more than just slice through buildings etc. I'd imagine that the seismic ramifications would be significant.
Sirch
Re:this is clearly a hoax...
on
Silicon LED
·
· Score: 1
Not cracked - hacked! Get into the central computer, or whatever, and change the speed limits for entire roads!
I think this is a totally stupid idea, for reasons already mentioned under this topic, and therefore not needed to be repeated. If anything, I think the speed limits should go up in the UK.
I guess his skill is in dialogue. He's found one plot which works, so he's sticking to it - rather like a British pantomime. The plot's always the same, there are some new jokes, some old ones, but people like to watch them because they know the format and know what to expect.
Re. your email address. Are you in the acting business? (For any reading this comment, Alan Smythee is a pseudonym for people who have worked on films/shows and don't want to be credited with it.)
Slashdot Mirror
Statistics are like bikinis. What they reveal is suggestive, but what they hide is vital.
Kind of sensible really, mom got me a bag of coffee beans per month for the rest of the year, which should be cool.
A bit better than her giving me 21 different varieties of pasta for my 21st!
Those darn news sites, with their region-encoded text... good thing I cracked my browser so I can read Region 1 stories...
... engines search for YOU!
Sorry.
There's an equivalent in the Roman alphabet to every letter in the Greek alphabet, unless I am very much mistaken (although some are two letters). So, come on, give us a shot...
Oh, so now you're picking on B5 fans?!
What about the explanation from Star Trek for the difference in look between the original Klingons and the later ones? "The Klingons genetically engineered a race of humanoids that looked more human in order to facilitate peace between them and the humans. After war was declared, they didn't need this any more, so they've gone back to how they should be."
I think it's a little unfair of you to pick on just Star Wars fans. Just look at the sphere of fanfic which is available - people like something so much that they can't get enough of it, so they must come up with more to satisfy their craving. The concept that their chosen object of affection is flawed in any way (for whatever reason, special-effects-related or ignorance-of-author-related) is one which they cannot stand, and so they fill holes with conjecture. If you think about it, this is the reason we have religion, but I'll leave that for another debate!
That's probably because there are (currently) only 5 Star Wars movies (plus one Christmas Special which I haven't seen yet), yet there are something like 10 Star Trek movies (I can't be bothered to actually count), 5 Star Trek live-action series and a Star Trek animated series (I'm not counting the Endor series of Star Wars spinoffs, coz that would be silly).
The Star Wars fans have much less material to go by, so they have to concentrate their efforts into those outlets. Hence every line is important to them, because it is one of a limited edition of lines in the Star Wars franchise. The Star Trek fans learn Klingon instead.
I can see all the arguments for and against this system, and while it is obviously well-intentioned, I find it a bit disturbing. It's all well and good sticking security cameras around the place and putting trained security individuals in charge of watching them, but this sounds like a helpdesk thing - they get a small amount of "training" and then they're released out into the real world, with a wizard to help them.
"Is there a person on the camera?" Yes
"Are the person's eyes looking shifty?" Yes
"Is this person wearing all black?" Yes
"Is the person carrying something?" Yes
"Alert the authorities that a Muslim individual is walking around in the local supermarket carrying military-grade C4 explosives! Query the man through the loudspeaker. Don't believe him if he says he's doing his shopping! Don't accept any other explanations he gives! You are ALWAYS right, and even if you aren't, this wizard IS!"
Orwellian nightmare?
Well, seeing as he's hosted by the ECS department at Southampton University, they own a B-class subnet and are the best Electronics and Computer Science department in the UK (5*s and 24s for both Electronics and CS, if you know what that means), I would expect the servers to be able to deal with a Slashdotting!
I'm only pissed because it's slowing down my webpage... =o)
Go back to school
a) Canada is in North America. "America" is short for "The United States of America". As someone pointed out somewhere else under this story, it is just like "Mexico" being short for "The United States of Mexico".
b) Spelling not your strong point? It's "Canada" not "Candada".
I suggest you take your own advice.
This seems to be a source of info on Kwanzaa, for all you non-Americans out there. Seems to be some Christmas alternative thing.
I suppose it would bring a whole new meaning to "the local loop"!
Most of the time, the applicant doesn't have the resources, either technical or financial, to build up a successful company around one patent. Most patents are issued to people who have filed them for things they have invented whilst researching and developing for a parent company, which then has the resources to back the project.Everything is obvious once it's been done, isn't it? The best inventions are the simplest, and their genius shines through by way of seeming an "obvious solution". But they aren't - it needs someone to actually think laterally around the subject, or to have a flash of inspiration to solve a problem in such a way. My favorite examples of this sort of thinking are a matchbox manufacturer who cut costs spectacularly by putting a striking surface on only one side of the box (when there had been two previously), and British Airlines saving thousands by way of halving the number of olives in their Martinis.
I'd love to be able to come up with these ideas myself - the guy who invented TetraPaks has made a fortune for himself and his family - but, sadly, it takes a true flash of inspiration and creativity. By no means am I taking sides in this eBay thing - I haven't looked into it deeply enough...
I don't know about anyone else, but I found the account of Ancient Greece's terracentric solar system model interesting:
...using elaborate models based on epicycles, in which each body describes a circle (the epicycle) around a point that itself moves in a circle around the earth.
Basically, the epicycle is centred on the Sun, which the Earth orbits. But their model seems preposterous now, because, to a person with a heliocentric view of the solar system it is overly complex, as all you have to do is think of the Earth circling that point as well, and you remove an order of complexity from the problem. I wonder if this seems simple just because of my heliocentric upbringing, or because the Greeks of the time were so convinced that the Earth was the center of the universe that they were blinded to the truth and missed the more simple explanation? Who first proposed the heliocentric model? I doubt it was really Copernicus, if this epicyclic model existed first!
A quick Google search finds this.
The page basically says they believe the battery to have been used for electro-plating gold onto silver, a technique which is still used today.
The Romans used electric eels to treat arthritis and gout.
Daft Punk put a credit card sized card inside their CD with a unique number were you could download MP3 singles of remixes and live versions of the song from a special website.
So the people who bought the CD could trade those as well?
Are we at the beginning? No.
Are we at the end? No.
Must be in the middle then!
The HPFM (Hocus Pocus F*$!ing Magic) Effect put to wonderful use:
"So, how does this work?"
"It utilises the HPFM Effect to totally recharge the batteries every five seconds."
"HPFM? Wow, I've, er, heard of that. Yeah."
*cha-ching!*
Isn't it too low? It would be like stepping into a F355 or something, and feel totally... wrong. I suppose you could get used to it. Suppose you were using it when you hit a button by accident? Cue comedy slapstick scene like in Carry On movies when the occupant of a hospital bed loses control of it...
Well, maybe there's a good point - does it have heated seats? It might be good for those cold coding nights.
Or did you mean what you said? If so, then you've forgotten another thing! You cannot have tsunamis without water! (Or a similar liquid)
Of course, with a thin atmosphere, the boiling point of water would be lowered, meaning that it would be harder to have standing water on the planet, therefore making tsunamis impossible - no water, no wave! I don't know for sure how much standing water could survive on Mars...
Anyway, I've made my point. I should think that a space elevator crashing to Earth (or Mars, whatever) would probably do more than just slice through buildings etc. I'd imagine that the seismic ramifications would be significant.
Sirch
Have you heard the theory of rapitivity?
E = MC Hammer.
Sirch
I think this is a totally stupid idea, for reasons already mentioned under this topic, and therefore not needed to be repeated. If anything, I think the speed limits should go up in the UK.
Re. your email address. Are you in the acting business? (For any reading this comment, Alan Smythee is a pseudonym for people who have worked on films/shows and don't want to be credited with it.)
--