Since these machines have a "doubtful" application besides the DARPA contract, I think that it may be better for these companies to invest on research more related to their product or may-be products.
You may want to rethink that. The number of products developed out of DARPA initiatives which have become mainstream are astounding. For now, yes, they may be specialized devices, but the research driven by these funding sources is responsible for home technology 10 years from now. Just because you can't see a use for it, doesn't mean it won't affect you.
Yes, we all enjoy the idea of OSS, and in most cases it is reasonable. However, it is not always practical. You don't always get the option of waiting 5 years until someone writes the open tool you need. Sometimes, in the real world, we are forced to mix between pragmatism and idealism. If you have need functionality, sometimes you have to pay for it.
As for the Sig... It's a joke about the lop-sidedness of expectations on Slashdot, in that all it takes to be modded up is to be pro OSS and Anti-MS. If you care, I prefer OSS when I have the option, and loathe having to fork over money to a company for limited functionality. However, sometimes you really DON'T have a choice.
Well, if it works, and the OSS version doesn't, then there really isn't anything wrong if you choose to pay for the working version. What would you rather have, a free piece of trash, or a functional tool that you paid for?
It isn't solely due to people being idiots that they live in flood planes. A large majority of shipping routes travel to, and build warehousing, in flood zones. Large scale shipping operations depend on these areas, as do other industries desiring close proximity to shipping lanes. People live in these areas not because they are stupid, but because there are jobs and important transportation infrastructure as well. So long as it is profitable to do so, people will keep going back and rebuilding. Don't be ignorant by assuming that it is pure stupidity, there is far more involved here.
Those web safe colors aren't there just because people can only view 256 colors. They are there because different monitors, hardware, etc. can render colors slightly different. These 256 are supposed to be guaranteed to view the same on Mac's, PC's, and various monitors, that's why they're important.
Lastly, the more I hear about it, maybe we need to go back to having the Senators appointed by the state's legislature rather than general elections, that would keep them more loyal to their state's interest, rather than the national political parties' interests.
You don't get it, do you? Alaskans WANT these guys in power, so having the state legislature vote vs. the general populace won't change anything. As a small population state with vast amount of resources, the only way to have a large say is to have a senator that has been in the Senate longer than others, due to the way the Senate works in regards to seniority and project leadership. Even die hard liberals know that if we lose our long term seniority with Stevens/Young, we lose a LOT of funding, including education and social programs. You seem to assert that having the state legislature choose our Senators over the general populace would change things, but it would have no effect whatsoever. If anything, it would cause politicians to ignore the general populace even more and focus only on the whims of the leaders.
No, they're doing this because they are actually starting to lose control of the Game Development market. Recently a number of studios have begun porting and/or developing for Linux. If Microsoft loses the hold on gaming, there is very little left stopping people from switching to Linux entirely. Gaming is the reason most home systems use Microsoft.
See, by "giving" this kit away to amateur gamers, they are essentially guaranteeing a long line of new games which only run under a closed Microsoft platform. This ensures that people will continue buying their Windows OS in order to run the tools/games. It's actually a very strategic move by MS, and unfortunately it is likely to work.
Who better to write test cases than the people using it? Having an analyst go in and test certain cases which they feel are important is not going to take the perspective of the average user. By welcoming the input of a wide variety of skill levels, they can learn how to better tailor the Mozilla products to a broad user base, not what a business analyst comes up with. The reason MBA's are seen as so necessary is because they come up with tasks that make them look necessary. Cut out the BS, and just go straight to the people actually using the product. It'll save everyone a lot of time and pain.
Or you just bend visible light, and use another device to view light not visible to the human eye. It requires an additional device, but would be doable, even if it modified the way the invisible person saw things...
Cursive isn't really a necessity, just another preference of some people. The idea that cursive is more or less elegant is simply a passing fad. As for hand-writing versus typing, of course typing is much faster. It's sensible to do so, and is reasonable to type rather than write in many cases. The only reason people get in a tizzy over things like this is that they believe their language should be "pure". In reality, the only pure languages are dead languages. Any evolving language is subject to large tranformations, and just because the previous generation of linguists or literature majors doesn't agree with something doesn't mean it is wrong. After all, english is quite a different language today than it once was. Who's to say it will even be recognizable in years to come as such?
The home consumer market isn't exactly the goal for technology like this intiially, and the price won't be inline with home consumers anyhow. This is the kind of stuff used in High Performance Computing, as a single computing node can maintain large amount of CPU performance with no transfer between nodes. 2GB is nothing in the HPC world, and 8 cores get filled up fast. While it may be easy to assume "I can't fill 1 CPU, what would I do with 8"? you have to remember that there are people out there running huge simulations, which could very easily use up many thousands of CPU's.
The one thing I fail to see responded to over and over by electric zealots is the idea of long range trips. If I want to travel in a few days cross continent, how many times would I have to stop and recharge batteries? With gasoline/diesel, if I need more, I fill up in 5 minutes and am on my way. If I need more electricity, am I supposed to take a multiple hour recharge break? Yes, I could trade out batteries, but having "community" batteries that get traded at stops would be terrible, and hauling your own around would be a dramatic increase to vehicle weight. Are electric cars more versatile in the energy source? Yes, but if they don't do what I need them to, then there isn't much point using them.
And before you explain how most people don't travel over 200 miles, or take breaks often... I live in Alaska, and make 400-700 mile non-stop trips each way on a quite regular basis. Show me electric cars capable of that and I'll think about it.
It's basic strategy though. Don't put all your resources (in this case people) in one point of failure. If anything were to happen to Earth (nuclear war, rogue asteroid, etc.) then the entire species would be wiped out in one fell swoop. The benefit of spreading out is that humanity would still survive, even if one planet didn't. Within 100 years? Who knows... Horse & Buggy to Space Travel was quite a leap for 100 years. Space Travel to Space Colonization doesn't seem to be any bigger.
Things like this are common in many languages. Even latin has its vulgar and proper forms. Unfortunately, we are allowing children to use only the vulgar form without understanding the rules first. While I admit that I myself use "thru" and "ur" when in the context of online gaming, it is also important to understand the rules of the more proper forms. Any teacher allowing a 5th grader to get by on such replacements in a formal paper is truly doing the child, as well as society, a great disservice.
"Peeps r spalling teh wurdz liek they sound an hav b33n doin it fer a loong tiem."
Well, this isn't exactly abnormal. Many languages spell words in such a way that the spelling can be determined exactly from the sound of the word. It is a sensible approach and allows for very easy transcribing. This is one of those things that english does differently. Whether or not it is sensible is probably up to debate. Many of the things that make english a difficult language are also the reasons it is in such wide use. Its difficult rules allow for greater flexibility, which can be both a vice and a virtue.
Yes, but they have created a lot of other great tools as well. Google Earth, Maps, Gmail, etc. They weren't the first to do any of these (searching included) but they certainly did a good job on them. Is it against the rules now to do more than one thing well?
No, actually a pileup happens because not everyone can effectively drive 100mph. Everyone is capable of handling different driving speeds. Some people are terrible drivers at 55mph. Add 45mph to that, and they cause 40 car pileups. Driving 100mph just because everyone else is does not make for safe conditions. Instead, it pushes people beyond their capabilities, leading to more dangerous conditions for everyone.
This is half ture really. The first study monitored the effects of prayer when the person knew about it, as well as when they were unaware. Since the initial result was that unknowing prayer did not show signs of progress, they expanded this aspect of the study further. So basically, they further showed that if the person knew they were being prayed for, it helped, and if they didn't, it had no positive net result. The slashdot posting this time seems to leave that out.
While I won't enter the debate on creation vs. evolution explicitly, this is an important point. If you can absolutely prove that your line of reason is correct, then you are doing a contrary believer disservice by allowing them to maintain an illogical belief system. While I am personally a believer in science, evolution, etc, it has yet to be fully ruled out that a creator does not exist. We simply do not have 100% evidence to the contrary. When you enter into a situation where neither side has proof of correctness, then you enter the realm of faith. In the realm of faith, the only thing that matters is opinion, and that is a realm I'd rather not argue over.
Slashdot Mirror
Since these machines have a "doubtful" application besides the DARPA contract, I think that it may be better for these companies to invest on research more related to their product or may-be products.
You may want to rethink that. The number of products developed out of DARPA initiatives which have become mainstream are astounding. For now, yes, they may be specialized devices, but the research driven by these funding sources is responsible for home technology 10 years from now. Just because you can't see a use for it, doesn't mean it won't affect you.
Yes, we all enjoy the idea of OSS, and in most cases it is reasonable. However, it is not always practical. You don't always get the option of waiting 5 years until someone writes the open tool you need. Sometimes, in the real world, we are forced to mix between pragmatism and idealism. If you have need functionality, sometimes you have to pay for it. As for the Sig... It's a joke about the lop-sidedness of expectations on Slashdot, in that all it takes to be modded up is to be pro OSS and Anti-MS. If you care, I prefer OSS when I have the option, and loathe having to fork over money to a company for limited functionality. However, sometimes you really DON'T have a choice.
And to clarify, I'm referring to specialty drivers, not to the OS's as a whole.
Well, if it works, and the OSS version doesn't, then there really isn't anything wrong if you choose to pay for the working version. What would you rather have, a free piece of trash, or a functional tool that you paid for?
It isn't solely due to people being idiots that they live in flood planes. A large majority of shipping routes travel to, and build warehousing, in flood zones. Large scale shipping operations depend on these areas, as do other industries desiring close proximity to shipping lanes. People live in these areas not because they are stupid, but because there are jobs and important transportation infrastructure as well. So long as it is profitable to do so, people will keep going back and rebuilding. Don't be ignorant by assuming that it is pure stupidity, there is far more involved here.
Those web safe colors aren't there just because people can only view 256 colors. They are there because different monitors, hardware, etc. can render colors slightly different. These 256 are supposed to be guaranteed to view the same on Mac's, PC's, and various monitors, that's why they're important.
Lastly, the more I hear about it, maybe we need to go back to having the Senators appointed by the state's legislature rather than general elections, that would keep them more loyal to their state's interest, rather than the national political parties' interests.
You don't get it, do you? Alaskans WANT these guys in power, so having the state legislature vote vs. the general populace won't change anything. As a small population state with vast amount of resources, the only way to have a large say is to have a senator that has been in the Senate longer than others, due to the way the Senate works in regards to seniority and project leadership. Even die hard liberals know that if we lose our long term seniority with Stevens/Young, we lose a LOT of funding, including education and social programs. You seem to assert that having the state legislature choose our Senators over the general populace would change things, but it would have no effect whatsoever. If anything, it would cause politicians to ignore the general populace even more and focus only on the whims of the leaders.
No, they're doing this because they are actually starting to lose control of the Game Development market. Recently a number of studios have begun porting and/or developing for Linux. If Microsoft loses the hold on gaming, there is very little left stopping people from switching to Linux entirely. Gaming is the reason most home systems use Microsoft.
See, by "giving" this kit away to amateur gamers, they are essentially guaranteeing a long line of new games which only run under a closed Microsoft platform. This ensures that people will continue buying their Windows OS in order to run the tools/games. It's actually a very strategic move by MS, and unfortunately it is likely to work.
Who better to write test cases than the people using it? Having an analyst go in and test certain cases which they feel are important is not going to take the perspective of the average user. By welcoming the input of a wide variety of skill levels, they can learn how to better tailor the Mozilla products to a broad user base, not what a business analyst comes up with. The reason MBA's are seen as so necessary is because they come up with tasks that make them look necessary. Cut out the BS, and just go straight to the people actually using the product. It'll save everyone a lot of time and pain.
Or you just bend visible light, and use another device to view light not visible to the human eye. It requires an additional device, but would be doable, even if it modified the way the invisible person saw things...
Cursive isn't really a necessity, just another preference of some people. The idea that cursive is more or less elegant is simply a passing fad. As for hand-writing versus typing, of course typing is much faster. It's sensible to do so, and is reasonable to type rather than write in many cases. The only reason people get in a tizzy over things like this is that they believe their language should be "pure". In reality, the only pure languages are dead languages. Any evolving language is subject to large tranformations, and just because the previous generation of linguists or literature majors doesn't agree with something doesn't mean it is wrong. After all, english is quite a different language today than it once was. Who's to say it will even be recognizable in years to come as such?
IBM broke it. One word: Cell.
The home consumer market isn't exactly the goal for technology like this intiially, and the price won't be inline with home consumers anyhow. This is the kind of stuff used in High Performance Computing, as a single computing node can maintain large amount of CPU performance with no transfer between nodes. 2GB is nothing in the HPC world, and 8 cores get filled up fast. While it may be easy to assume "I can't fill 1 CPU, what would I do with 8"? you have to remember that there are people out there running huge simulations, which could very easily use up many thousands of CPU's.
Utility is in the eye of the user.
Am I the only one that thought the parent meant PLANE (2D) versus 3D? Pretty clever, but I think it got missed with all the airplane talk =(
Seems like a reasonable solution to me, as soon as a car manufacturer starts producing one at a reasonably affordable cost :)
The one thing I fail to see responded to over and over by electric zealots is the idea of long range trips. If I want to travel in a few days cross continent, how many times would I have to stop and recharge batteries? With gasoline/diesel, if I need more, I fill up in 5 minutes and am on my way. If I need more electricity, am I supposed to take a multiple hour recharge break? Yes, I could trade out batteries, but having "community" batteries that get traded at stops would be terrible, and hauling your own around would be a dramatic increase to vehicle weight. Are electric cars more versatile in the energy source? Yes, but if they don't do what I need them to, then there isn't much point using them.
And before you explain how most people don't travel over 200 miles, or take breaks often... I live in Alaska, and make 400-700 mile non-stop trips each way on a quite regular basis. Show me electric cars capable of that and I'll think about it.
"You must use Internet Explorer Version 6 or higher on a PC running Windows 2000 or later in order to use the CinemaNow service."
Guess that means no download to DVD service for me... =\
It's basic strategy though. Don't put all your resources (in this case people) in one point of failure. If anything were to happen to Earth (nuclear war, rogue asteroid, etc.) then the entire species would be wiped out in one fell swoop. The benefit of spreading out is that humanity would still survive, even if one planet didn't. Within 100 years? Who knows... Horse & Buggy to Space Travel was quite a leap for 100 years. Space Travel to Space Colonization doesn't seem to be any bigger.
Things like this are common in many languages. Even latin has its vulgar and proper forms. Unfortunately, we are allowing children to use only the vulgar form without understanding the rules first. While I admit that I myself use "thru" and "ur" when in the context of online gaming, it is also important to understand the rules of the more proper forms. Any teacher allowing a 5th grader to get by on such replacements in a formal paper is truly doing the child, as well as society, a great disservice.
"Peeps r spalling teh wurdz liek they sound an hav b33n doin it fer a loong tiem." Well, this isn't exactly abnormal. Many languages spell words in such a way that the spelling can be determined exactly from the sound of the word. It is a sensible approach and allows for very easy transcribing. This is one of those things that english does differently. Whether or not it is sensible is probably up to debate. Many of the things that make english a difficult language are also the reasons it is in such wide use. Its difficult rules allow for greater flexibility, which can be both a vice and a virtue.
Yes, but they have created a lot of other great tools as well. Google Earth, Maps, Gmail, etc. They weren't the first to do any of these (searching included) but they certainly did a good job on them. Is it against the rules now to do more than one thing well?
No, actually a pileup happens because not everyone can effectively drive 100mph. Everyone is capable of handling different driving speeds. Some people are terrible drivers at 55mph. Add 45mph to that, and they cause 40 car pileups. Driving 100mph just because everyone else is does not make for safe conditions. Instead, it pushes people beyond their capabilities, leading to more dangerous conditions for everyone.
Apparently you've missed the premise in most organized religions that deem belief in any other belief system to be blasphemy.
This is half ture really. The first study monitored the effects of prayer when the person knew about it, as well as when they were unaware. Since the initial result was that unknowing prayer did not show signs of progress, they expanded this aspect of the study further. So basically, they further showed that if the person knew they were being prayed for, it helped, and if they didn't, it had no positive net result. The slashdot posting this time seems to leave that out.
While I won't enter the debate on creation vs. evolution explicitly, this is an important point. If you can absolutely prove that your line of reason is correct, then you are doing a contrary believer disservice by allowing them to maintain an illogical belief system. While I am personally a believer in science, evolution, etc, it has yet to be fully ruled out that a creator does not exist. We simply do not have 100% evidence to the contrary. When you enter into a situation where neither side has proof of correctness, then you enter the realm of faith. In the realm of faith, the only thing that matters is opinion, and that is a realm I'd rather not argue over.