Since you have XKCD in your sig I don't want to assume you just recently found the site, but XKCD always has messages in the title attribute for the image of the comic. Now from what you're saying in your comment it could be you're poking fun at me for leaving an ambiguous statement out there. Obviously I meant the mouseover/tooltip on the comic itself, which is found at the link provided in the GGP's and My comment above. If you are poking fun at me, then one of us is going to have to be referred to: http://xkcd.com/169/
also for reference purposes:
</div> <br/> <br/> <img src="http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/real_programmers.png" title="Real programmers set the universal constants at the start such that the universe evolves to contain the disk with the data they want." alt="Real Programmers"/><br/> <br/> <div class="menuCont">
<ul>
Randomly snagged that book off the shelf at the library last week and read it. Great book, but then for a week or so, my dreams were twinged with doomsday scenario planning... Good times though.
I object, that's not against the law unless you're bombing *our* country. If it's anyone else's you're only a minor infringer for not letting us get first dibs.
Those state reps are subject to the laws of the states/locations where they travel. Undoubtedly there would be either a concession for political representatives, or there would be a special exemption by the state (so that they can print ID's for their reps), or a wild west shootout would occur. I personally favor the shootout.
Well, I'm not wheelchair-bound myself so much of what I'm saying right now is just my thoughts on the matter, but consider this: the robot cost 11,000 right? Assuming with maintenance and incident recovery slop (wasted gas, or wasted time of more highly paid workers) that rounded out to 20,000. Assuming also that it's not a complete flop in terms of ability, then if it's lifespan is a single year, won't the robot have paid for itself in comparison to the 3 or 4 workers that would be needed to man that pump 24/7? If it's lifespan is 5 years or more then doesn't this seem to be highly effective?
As for safety, you're right, I'm assuming that they designed it to hazardous environment specs with well designed smarts so the robot doesn't harm humans. People have done this successfully with much more powerful robots on the factory floor, I don't see why they can't succeed with a gentle fuel robot.
Finally there's a human component, sure someone who was disabled at birth might have resigned themselves to the fact that they will always need someone to help them and thus must always be ready to ask a stranger to help, but I feel both them and many, many other movement-impaired people probably consider what independence they have a dignity thing. Unless they can dehumanize the person to the point where they see the attendant as existing solely to fuel their vehicle for the payment they receive, having to wait for an attendant and ask them for help might be a surrender of some of that dignity. Ditto for having to slowly/awkwardly/painfully exit their vehicle to operate the pump themselves. If they can get gas, go to the bank, and get food without having to leave their car, they don't get any stares, they don't depend on anyone but themselves. They are independent, and at a glance noone can tell they are stuck in a wheelchair. They get treated no differently than anyone else. Assuming they don't charge a premium for robotic service, such a person would be indistinguishable from the masses of lazy people (only "lazy people" until all pumps become robotic because the gas stations realize they can fuel more cars in the same timeframe).
This last reason alone is almost enough to get the robots even with a significant loss factor involved. If only one gas company did it to all their pumps, they'd get instant lifetime loyalty from a huge section of the population.
Dude! It's not that complicated, think "person stuck in a wheelchair, but in an appropriately modded van with hand controls" in that case they can maneuver just fine, and have a wheelchair lift to get in and out of their vehicle unaided. The problem is that just exiting the vehicle to fill one's tank could take > 2 minutes (deploy lift at reasonable speed, move chair out of driver location latches, enter lift, lower lift) and then they have to do the same to get back in. Or think a person with a single broken leg where you just have to be careful, and pull out your crutches while balancing = not convenient at all. Or finally think of in the northern states where the winter is ridiculous. There are plenty of uses for this attendant that doesn't require painting the driver as a crazy old person driving unsafely!
I know if I were on the jury, I'd have to see all possible interactions of 2 girls and 1 guy. Hmmmm... I wonder, is there a precedent for *hands-on* jury interaction with the exhibits? You know, to get in the mind of the victim/offender.... that's it, right.
Also... I wonder, if a tiger does something stupid like tripping or running into something, does it pretend it was on purpose and go to wash itself like housecats do?
I was just thinking the same thing, I however don't consider pencils and pens a good example for me anymore, because I've only used them sparingly in the past few years. I wouldn't personally expect them to be an extension of my body.
As I was typing this comment however I tried again a few times with a capped sharpie: Turns out simple pressure doesn't do it for me, but if I move the sharpie around/tap it on the table, I feel the texture of the surface vibrating a focal point shifted down and away, between my fingers. Could this be the effect other people expect? It helped a bit when the tip of the pen was at least an inch away from my fingertips and the pen between a 30 and 80 degree angle. (Also helped having a non-smooth surface for when I was doing figure 8's with it) I think the thickness of the sharpie helped me notice that it was *between* and *away* from my fingertips, and not just at my fingertips.
That has it's own issues, you lose guaranteed delivery, you end up having to do much more calculation to process the same amount of data, somewhere you really need a good endpoint/proxy to deal with all the services that won't be using that system, and if the endpoint is also being blocked then you've only shifted the problem. It might work if the only thing you're worrying about is p2p, but the moment the ISP notices a major increase in UDP packets then can just start silently dropping them, they aren't obligated to deliver those!
if you have all the oil and ammo you need, then theoretically it's hard for anyone to come in range of you to even attack. I'm betting running out of ammo or fuel in the middle of a confrontation would be scarier to a commander than to have a ship sunk spectacularly rather than just seriously wounded or sunk normally.
GTA... with a kiddy mode??? Maybe you should get a sandbox [or car driving game] with a little bit less focus on you know... crime? [/other morally troubled activities] Have you thought about getting him an underage account on Second Life? I haven't explored that but ostensibly it's there to make a safe haven from the seedier side of the full second life.
End result is that true instantaneous effects like you suggest would imply time travel.
Re:Software is under the eyes of regulators
on
Geekonomics
·
· Score: 1
How would one design such a test? Isn't it sort of the halting problem: Is there a function F that can tell if software1 is 80% vulnerable? [I'm certain we could develop a classification system that would tell us something like "80% vulnerable", but determining it in all cases seems impossible if you have a useful classification]
I never had that problem [re: 50 limit], as for the javascript timeout I did have that issue, but it was resolved. I do however have the comment settings setup to filter my comments a good deal, so could it be that I only have 50 expanded comments and then many more 1-liners? I track from a highly rated comment and click to have more exposed on the fly if I'm interested.
1. Make a ton of these chambers. 2. Fill them sequentially with a high-powered laser. 3. Unleash them simultaneously with a high-powered x N laser burst at the target (where N = number of chambers). 4. ??? 5. Profit(able weapon) 6. Sell consumer version of weapon for say welding based on normal hand lasers and long charge times. 7. Profit(even more)
Slashdot Mirror
also for reference purposes:
Read the mouseover on your linked comic.
Randomly snagged that book off the shelf at the library last week and read it. Great book, but then for a week or so, my dreams were twinged with doomsday scenario planning... Good times though.
I object, that's not against the law unless you're bombing *our* country. If it's anyone else's you're only a minor infringer for not letting us get first dibs.
Those state reps are subject to the laws of the states/locations where they travel. Undoubtedly there would be either a concession for political representatives, or there would be a special exemption by the state (so that they can print ID's for their reps), or a wild west shootout would occur. I personally favor the shootout.
Well, I'm not wheelchair-bound myself so much of what I'm saying right now is just my thoughts on the matter, but consider this: the robot cost 11,000 right? Assuming with maintenance and incident recovery slop (wasted gas, or wasted time of more highly paid workers) that rounded out to 20,000. Assuming also that it's not a complete flop in terms of ability, then if it's lifespan is a single year, won't the robot have paid for itself in comparison to the 3 or 4 workers that would be needed to man that pump 24/7? If it's lifespan is 5 years or more then doesn't this seem to be highly effective?
As for safety, you're right, I'm assuming that they designed it to hazardous environment specs with well designed smarts so the robot doesn't harm humans. People have done this successfully with much more powerful robots on the factory floor, I don't see why they can't succeed with a gentle fuel robot.
Finally there's a human component, sure someone who was disabled at birth might have resigned themselves to the fact that they will always need someone to help them and thus must always be ready to ask a stranger to help, but I feel both them and many, many other movement-impaired people probably consider what independence they have a dignity thing. Unless they can dehumanize the person to the point where they see the attendant as existing solely to fuel their vehicle for the payment they receive, having to wait for an attendant and ask them for help might be a surrender of some of that dignity. Ditto for having to slowly/awkwardly/painfully exit their vehicle to operate the pump themselves. If they can get gas, go to the bank, and get food without having to leave their car, they don't get any stares, they don't depend on anyone but themselves. They are independent, and at a glance noone can tell they are stuck in a wheelchair. They get treated no differently than anyone else. Assuming they don't charge a premium for robotic service, such a person would be indistinguishable from the masses of lazy people (only "lazy people" until all pumps become robotic because the gas stations realize they can fuel more cars in the same timeframe).
This last reason alone is almost enough to get the robots even with a significant loss factor involved. If only one gas company did it to all their pumps, they'd get instant lifetime loyalty from a huge section of the population.
Dude! It's not that complicated, think "person stuck in a wheelchair, but in an appropriately modded van with hand controls" in that case they can maneuver just fine, and have a wheelchair lift to get in and out of their vehicle unaided. The problem is that just exiting the vehicle to fill one's tank could take > 2 minutes (deploy lift at reasonable speed, move chair out of driver location latches, enter lift, lower lift) and then they have to do the same to get back in. Or think a person with a single broken leg where you just have to be careful, and pull out your crutches while balancing = not convenient at all. Or finally think of in the northern states where the winter is ridiculous. There are plenty of uses for this attendant that doesn't require painting the driver as a crazy old person driving unsafely!
I know if I were on the jury, I'd have to see all possible interactions of 2 girls and 1 guy. Hmmmm... I wonder, is there a precedent for *hands-on* jury interaction with the exhibits? You know, to get in the mind of the victim/offender.... that's it, right.
Not exactly. the 12.5ft figure refers to the bottom of the moat, see this comment:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=438748&cid=22260946
did it catch the squirrel?
Also... I wonder, if a tiger does something stupid like tripping or running into something, does it pretend it was on purpose and go to wash itself like housecats do?
If you had used emacs you wouldn't have messed up that quote block!
Whatever this Documentation thing is, I'm such a geek don't even have it!
I was just thinking the same thing, I however don't consider pencils and pens a good example for me anymore, because I've only used them sparingly in the past few years. I wouldn't personally expect them to be an extension of my body.
As I was typing this comment however I tried again a few times with a capped sharpie: Turns out simple pressure doesn't do it for me, but if I move the sharpie around/tap it on the table, I feel the texture of the surface vibrating a focal point shifted down and away, between my fingers. Could this be the effect other people expect? It helped a bit when the tip of the pen was at least an inch away from my fingertips and the pen between a 30 and 80 degree angle. (Also helped having a non-smooth surface for when I was doing figure 8's with it) I think the thickness of the sharpie helped me notice that it was *between* and *away* from my fingertips, and not just at my fingertips.
That has it's own issues, you lose guaranteed delivery, you end up having to do much more calculation to process the same amount of data, somewhere you really need a good endpoint/proxy to deal with all the services that won't be using that system, and if the endpoint is also being blocked then you've only shifted the problem. It might work if the only thing you're worrying about is p2p, but the moment the ISP notices a major increase in UDP packets then can just start silently dropping them, they aren't obligated to deliver those!
if you have all the oil and ammo you need, then theoretically it's hard for anyone to come in range of you to even attack. I'm betting running out of ammo or fuel in the middle of a confrontation would be scarier to a commander than to have a ship sunk spectacularly rather than just seriously wounded or sunk normally.
...or quietly chew her cud?
GTA... with a kiddy mode??? Maybe you should get a sandbox [or car driving game] with a little bit less focus on you know... crime? [/other morally troubled activities] Have you thought about getting him an underage account on Second Life? I haven't explored that but ostensibly it's there to make a safe haven from the seedier side of the full second life.
Here's a link to help you out with that:
http://sheol.org/throopw/tachyon-pistols.html
End result is that true instantaneous effects like you suggest would imply time travel.
How would one design such a test? Isn't it sort of the halting problem: Is there a function F that can tell if software1 is 80% vulnerable? [I'm certain we could develop a classification system that would tell us something like "80% vulnerable", but determining it in all cases seems impossible if you have a useful classification]
what chameleon3 said, or ctr+w (a one handed key combo)
negative overflow on probability?
Are you sam?
I never had that problem [re: 50 limit], as for the javascript timeout I did have that issue, but it was resolved. I do however have the comment settings setup to filter my comments a good deal, so could it be that I only have 50 expanded comments and then many more 1-liners? I track from a highly rated comment and click to have more exposed on the fly if I'm interested.
There's an extension that makes a resizeable firefox search box for all platforms.
1. Make a ton of these chambers.
2. Fill them sequentially with a high-powered laser.
3. Unleash them simultaneously with a high-powered x N laser burst at the target (where N = number of chambers).
4. ???
5. Profit(able weapon)
6. Sell consumer version of weapon for say welding based on normal hand lasers and long charge times.
7. Profit(even more)