Editors, what is your job, exactly? Moderators can only moderate what's posted - you're supposed to vet the fucking stories for accuracy and relevance.
Ohhhh, I wondered how they did that cool inside-the-body stuff in "House M.D."
Seriously though, this is Big Medicine. I know a couple of guys researching treatments for congenital pancreatic cancer who would kill to get their hands on something like this.
I doubt this drive is marketed at those who want the highest capacity per buck, but rather those who want the highest density. Specifically, we're talking Small Form Factor PCs, which can usually only take one or two 3.5" drives.
Where storage density is more important than price, this is a very sensible drive.
I think a useful comparison to this idea would be that of putting heat-powered generators in all the light bulbs, rather than just developing and using more efficient, cooler bulbs.
Given the two options of reusing waste and eliminating waste, the latter is almost always the better option in every sense.
And now the Modders and Overclockers are set to polarise into two distinct communities - those who try to improve performance by reducing light-leakage, and those who prettify the setup by mounting a spinning disco-ball in their many-windowed case and grinding a refractive biohazard symbol into the top of their CPU...
Regardless of people's feelings on having their social-site password stolen, if this vulnerability allows someone on a social networking site to find your other passwords... oh, why am I bothering.
This is just a blog, ffs. The idea of chorded typing - or even just improving the efficiency of text-entry - has been bandied around for so long that it makes this particular blogger sound like a 13-yr-old nerd who's just had his first Big Idea.
I'm not saying he's wrong. Personally, I'd love to see this being implemented. QWERTY input isn't likely to be shunted aside until text-input keyboards become obsolete - it's well-established and it works well enough, and would require a hell of a lot of people to unlearn and relearn typing for a marginal increase in efficiency - but for other specialised applications there are always better ways. Just look at the stenotype used in courts, or the way SMS texting made use of the very limited resources that phones had back in the day. Very specific developments for very specific purposes.
My point is, this sort of idea is not new, and it's being discussed and ummed-and-aahed over in development labs even as we speak. Until someone with real inside knowledge writes about it, however, I'm really not interested in someone's inter-blag brain-fart.
I have done absolutely no searches to find out if any of the ideas described in this article have been patented or not.
Without getting metaphysical, the only notion that's ever satisfied me in some small way regarding this whole topic is:
Consciousness is not a "state". It is a "process".
Sounds like semantics and sophistry, but it works exactly the same way as the "what is life" debate. It doesn't solve it, but allows you to view the issue from a completely different perspective - one which, in my opinion, makes it a lot more tangible and less ethereal. The debate then becomes a matter of clearly defining the process, not the conditions or characteristics, which is a lot more practical.
That may be a little clinical, but having something you can work with rather than argue about is much more useful for a scientist. Medically it doesn't change anything except to clarify the purpose of medicine, which is "to perpetuate human life" rather than "to preserve human life" (I'm paraphrasing).
And so it is with consciousness. To define what consciousness is is a far harder undertaking than to define what it does. Taking that further, if the very noun is thought to represent a process rather than a thing, it all becomes a lot less tricky.
By the way, I'm not trying to "solve" the debate with my own sweeping conclusion here, but rather add to it by presenting another perspective. The day we solve the debate around life and/or consciousness is the day we're all consumed in a holy war, I suspect.
Some will argue that this is an impossible point to make, as each person has different needs from their distribution. But for the sake of this article, we will be considering the average user
Average user? Average user?? That's exactly the sort of thinking and language that screws up these debates to begin with. You start by ceding the point that distro preference is down to user needs & priorities, and then totally contradict that point by taking the "average" user as a point of reference.
That isn't a concession for practical purposes - it's a complete contradiction. If you can give a definition of an "average user" that is practical for the purposes of building a perfect everyman OS, why the hell do these debates happen?
Sorry, but you may as well say "Okay, everyone wants something different from a car, but putting such considerations aside, which one is best?". Excuse the overused analogy, but frankly what a ridiculous story.
Now, on a more general note: of course Ubuntu is gaining ground. There are a lot of people who want something that isn't MS but that works on their existing PC. Ubuntu is often proferred as the easiest to install and use for a novice. It's got nothing to do with it being the best - it just meets that very important criterion for the mass of Linux novices out there (my Missus included), and has the reputation to get their attention. There's no mystery.
To put it in perspective: the supposed issue was that thePirateBay held links to child-porn, which is illegal in Sweden (there are forms of content that are illegal, but only some to which it is illegal to simply link). The government was proposing to have most of the major Swedish ISPs blacklist the site for having such links.
TPB stated that they do not hold such links, and if any are reported they are immediately investigated and removed. Since it is a forum on which anyone can post links to content, this is the most active policy it is possible to enforce. Therefore there are no grounds for blacklisting.
Most people suspect this was just a muscle-flexing on the part of the Swedish government - possibly under pressure from US and other governments, and ultimately from the MPAA, RIAA and other non-US affiliated organisations - and that it would come to nothing. They were just saying "Yes, you know our laws and do not flout them, but don't push it".
And in this case, it seems that this is indeed what happened. They have shown that they're not afraid to exercise a little force to keep ThePirateBay in line (albeit unnecessarily, in my opinion), and I daresay they've not harmed their cause at all in this regard. TPB is actually pretty strict and even-handed anyway, but this may have meant to serve as a bit of a warning from the Govt to anyone looking for inappropriate material: If you're after kiddy porn, TPB is not the place to look, and nor is Sweden.
I've simplified a little, and coloured heavily with my own opinion, but I just wanted to present a little more background for those who don't really give a fuck about all this but will insist on commenting anyway.
The missus has been using Musicmatch Jukebox for ages now - ever since it came bundled with her MP3/CD walkman. She's always ranting about how every upgrade to every application she uses seems to work worse and more slowly than the last (Adobe Reader is her latest pet-hate, and understandably so).
Fortunately she's had enough and decided to spend some time over the summer installing and learning to use Linux. At least she hasn't been ripping all her CDs into WMA...
The article doesn't seem to explain what the hell these are supposed to be - can someone enlighten me? It seems as though, by branding ICT warfare as "electromagnetic warfare", they've confused the issue somewhat. What does infrared have to do with internet tubes and a bunch of ones and zeros?
If they mean "Chaff and Mirrors", well... what the hell? Whom did they get this info from, and were they trying not to giggle when they said it? Or did I just not grasp the article properly?
If you'd been at Glastonbury a couple of years ago, and suffered the acoustic assault he waged upon the crowd on that fateful day, you'd understand. I mean, I like the Beatles, some of the Wings stuff was great, but...
Look, you remember how you had a favourite Uncle who was always a laugh, didn't mind what you got up to, very accepting, good fun to be around when you were a kid? Remember how he was the first person to get you drunk? Remember how you were pleased he was going to be at your 18th birthday party because you hadn't seen him in 2 years and were convinced he'd be the life and soul of the party? And remember how you felt about him at the end of the night when he'd either embarrassed or pissed off everybody else by getting roaring drunk, being abusive and incoherent, repeatedly telling your girlfriend how beautiful she was while she just put up with it with a smile because it was your birthday, until eventually he tried to slow-dance with her & grab her arse before throwing up on your shoes and then accusing you of stealing his keys?
Remember how you were so disappointed, and couldn't decide whether it was because he'd always been that bad and you'd just grown up a bit, or he'd just had a particularly bad night and your fond memories were justified?
I felt pretty much the same way when I heard his single come on the radio the other night. I was humming along, tapping my feet and generally enjoying myself. Then the DJ decides to tell me AFTERWARDS that it's Paul McCartney's new release, and I come over all peculiar.
It felt like that moment when the police tell you she was in fact 15...
"Imagine, right... nononono, listen, listen. Just imagine... if all this was real money!!!
This has the same kind of feel to it.
And I have to ask, if the guy's prepared to spend 12 hours a day doing this with "Monopoly money", even sacrificing his professional accreditation studies in the belief that he might end up as the best market-player in over 300,000 and win $1m... why the hell isn't he just playing the stock-market??
Reign it in a bit there! I agree that the GP is misinformed, incorrect, or doesn't really understand the implications of the images in question. It doesn't seem like he/she actually intended to deny that the analysis was accurate though - it was just a rather clumsy attempt at playing devil's advocate.
I understand your upset or annoyance at someone suggesting that this is reactionary inference, but Slashdot comments are supposed to be debate about the issues surrounding a story. Inform and educate, rebuff and argue, but please don't be abusive. There's a world of difference between impassioned and aggressive, and leaning towards the latter actually damages your argument more than strengthens it.
Slashdot Mirror
Editors, what is your job, exactly? Moderators can only moderate what's posted - you're supposed to vet the fucking stories for accuracy and relevance.
You should have seen their research-grant application. It was just a horse's head.
Seriously though, this is Big Medicine. I know a couple of guys researching treatments for congenital pancreatic cancer who would kill to get their hands on something like this.
Where storage density is more important than price, this is a very sensible drive.
Great - I've been hearing a lot about C-Pound.
I can see the TV people's point. It's not like those frequencies are a big truck you can just dump stuff on.
Sure sure, tap into the inexhaustible power supply now, sun blows up later. Didn't you ever read Asimov's "The Gods Themselves"? Sheesh.
Doesn't really matter - you can swap the button mappings in the driver settings.
Given the two options of reusing waste and eliminating waste, the latter is almost always the better option in every sense.
And now the Modders and Overclockers are set to polarise into two distinct communities - those who try to improve performance by reducing light-leakage, and those who prettify the setup by mounting a spinning disco-ball in their many-windowed case and grinding a refractive biohazard symbol into the top of their CPU...
Regardless of people's feelings on having their social-site password stolen, if this vulnerability allows someone on a social networking site to find your other passwords... oh, why am I bothering.
I'm not saying he's wrong. Personally, I'd love to see this being implemented. QWERTY input isn't likely to be shunted aside until text-input keyboards become obsolete - it's well-established and it works well enough, and would require a hell of a lot of people to unlearn and relearn typing for a marginal increase in efficiency - but for other specialised applications there are always better ways. Just look at the stenotype used in courts, or the way SMS texting made use of the very limited resources that phones had back in the day. Very specific developments for very specific purposes.
My point is, this sort of idea is not new, and it's being discussed and ummed-and-aahed over in development labs even as we speak. Until someone with real inside knowledge writes about it, however, I'm really not interested in someone's inter-blag brain-fart.
Yeah, no kidding.Never, ever underestimate the power of Big Rigs. I've never played it myself, but I can't help laughing at the Wikipedia article every time I read it.
Avoirdupois? To have peas?
Consciousness is not a "state". It is a "process".
Sounds like semantics and sophistry, but it works exactly the same way as the "what is life" debate. It doesn't solve it, but allows you to view the issue from a completely different perspective - one which, in my opinion, makes it a lot more tangible and less ethereal. The debate then becomes a matter of clearly defining the process, not the conditions or characteristics, which is a lot more practical.
That may be a little clinical, but having something you can work with rather than argue about is much more useful for a scientist. Medically it doesn't change anything except to clarify the purpose of medicine, which is "to perpetuate human life" rather than "to preserve human life" (I'm paraphrasing).
And so it is with consciousness. To define what consciousness is is a far harder undertaking than to define what it does. Taking that further, if the very noun is thought to represent a process rather than a thing, it all becomes a lot less tricky.
By the way, I'm not trying to "solve" the debate with my own sweeping conclusion here, but rather add to it by presenting another perspective. The day we solve the debate around life and/or consciousness is the day we're all consumed in a holy war, I suspect.
That isn't a concession for practical purposes - it's a complete contradiction. If you can give a definition of an "average user" that is practical for the purposes of building a perfect everyman OS, why the hell do these debates happen?
Sorry, but you may as well say "Okay, everyone wants something different from a car, but putting such considerations aside, which one is best?". Excuse the overused analogy, but frankly what a ridiculous story.
Now, on a more general note: of course Ubuntu is gaining ground. There are a lot of people who want something that isn't MS but that works on their existing PC. Ubuntu is often proferred as the easiest to install and use for a novice. It's got nothing to do with it being the best - it just meets that very important criterion for the mass of Linux novices out there (my Missus included), and has the reputation to get their attention. There's no mystery.
... if you're undertaking clinical trials with these drugs in the UK - don't do it in public enclosed spaces.
Thanks for the tip, but... are you seriously suggesting I tell her not to bother switching to Linux? You can hand your geek-card in at the door :-)
This was all bull from the start.
To put it in perspective: the supposed issue was that thePirateBay held links to child-porn, which is illegal in Sweden (there are forms of content that are illegal, but only some to which it is illegal to simply link). The government was proposing to have most of the major Swedish ISPs blacklist the site for having such links.
TPB stated that they do not hold such links, and if any are reported they are immediately investigated and removed. Since it is a forum on which anyone can post links to content, this is the most active policy it is possible to enforce. Therefore there are no grounds for blacklisting.
Most people suspect this was just a muscle-flexing on the part of the Swedish government - possibly under pressure from US and other governments, and ultimately from the MPAA, RIAA and other non-US affiliated organisations - and that it would come to nothing. They were just saying "Yes, you know our laws and do not flout them, but don't push it".
And in this case, it seems that this is indeed what happened. They have shown that they're not afraid to exercise a little force to keep ThePirateBay in line (albeit unnecessarily, in my opinion), and I daresay they've not harmed their cause at all in this regard. TPB is actually pretty strict and even-handed anyway, but this may have meant to serve as a bit of a warning from the Govt to anyone looking for inappropriate material: If you're after kiddy porn, TPB is not the place to look, and nor is Sweden.
I've simplified a little, and coloured heavily with my own opinion, but I just wanted to present a little more background for those who don't really give a fuck about all this but will insist on commenting anyway.
Thank you, goodnight.
Fortunately she's had enough and decided to spend some time over the summer installing and learning to use Linux. At least she hasn't been ripping all her CDs into WMA...
Eh?
The article doesn't seem to explain what the hell these are supposed to be - can someone enlighten me? It seems as though, by branding ICT warfare as "electromagnetic warfare", they've confused the issue somewhat. What does infrared have to do with internet tubes and a bunch of ones and zeros?
If they mean "Chaff and Mirrors", well... what the hell? Whom did they get this info from, and were they trying not to giggle when they said it? Or did I just not grasp the article properly?
Look, you remember how you had a favourite Uncle who was always a laugh, didn't mind what you got up to, very accepting, good fun to be around when you were a kid? Remember how he was the first person to get you drunk? Remember how you were pleased he was going to be at your 18th birthday party because you hadn't seen him in 2 years and were convinced he'd be the life and soul of the party? And remember how you felt about him at the end of the night when he'd either embarrassed or pissed off everybody else by getting roaring drunk, being abusive and incoherent, repeatedly telling your girlfriend how beautiful she was while she just put up with it with a smile because it was your birthday, until eventually he tried to slow-dance with her & grab her arse before throwing up on your shoes and then accusing you of stealing his keys?
Remember how you were so disappointed, and couldn't decide whether it was because he'd always been that bad and you'd just grown up a bit, or he'd just had a particularly bad night and your fond memories were justified?
That was Paul McCartney at Glastonbury.
It felt like that moment when the police tell you she was in fact 15...
"Imagine, right... nononono, listen, listen. Just imagine... if all this was real money!!!
This has the same kind of feel to it.
And I have to ask, if the guy's prepared to spend 12 hours a day doing this with "Monopoly money", even sacrificing his professional accreditation studies in the belief that he might end up as the best market-player in over 300,000 and win $1m... why the hell isn't he just playing the stock-market??
I understand your upset or annoyance at someone suggesting that this is reactionary inference, but Slashdot comments are supposed to be debate about the issues surrounding a story. Inform and educate, rebuff and argue, but please don't be abusive. There's a world of difference between impassioned and aggressive, and leaning towards the latter actually damages your argument more than strengthens it.