I second the endorsement of the EFF... but shouldn't we be above throwing money at a problem?;-)
Especially when Disney/Fox/AOL-Time-Warner/etc have far more money than the EFF can rustle up. Don't get me wrong - the EFF is surely worthy of support - but you won't beat these guys at their own game.
Write letters to, or telephone, the FCC and tell them what you want. Get petitions signed and send them in. Explain clearly and eloquently why you want the opposite of our good buddy Phil. Venting of the spleen usually accomplishes very little to further your cause, and can often prejudice people against your argument.
Colours?
on
Earth as Art
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
Nice pictures, although the colours appear to be a bit artificial in some of them, in particular the green in the Brazilian shot. It would have been nice to see an un-enhanced photo for comparison.
Most people just don't care. I've been reading a number of 'alternative' news sources for a while now, and trying to pass information on to other people. They are either uninterested, or find the subject fascinating but are still unwilling to make any changes to their lives. I've even been very careful to present 'information' rather than 'opinion', and encourage people to find out more for themselves and make up their own minds. Most just smile and nod and hope I will shut up soon.
Another part of the problem, more relevant to your question, is that the majority of people actually DO believe what they read in the papers, or see on television. Those media tell them what to do, how to think, and "we must be right because we have a guy in a white coat!". People WANT that. Anyone presenting a different opinion is a crackpot, troublemaker, or 'has a history of alcohol abuse' (a good way to totally destroy someone's credibility without any proof). And if you DO present a good argument, it upsets most peoples' balance and makes them uncomfortable. Thus, they would rather pretend you are not there.
Anyway, the 'pure facts' don't really help. We actually need the spin. It tells us the repercussions and consequences of whatever decision or report or committe finding means. The problem is - we only get one spin - the other spin usually unheard, classified, or debunked. Leading Edge is one, Nexus is another. There are others. These sources already give alternative descriptions for many events, but they are usually ignored, or belittled. Read them, with an open mind, then make your own decision.
You don't even have to have an always-on connection to see this. Earlier this week I was watching the message log on a system I had just upgraded - which has a dialup modem and dynamic IP - and within ten minutes we were getting probes on a number of ports, 137 and 139 in particular.
I wish I could pop up a message on their screens. Something polite and respectful like 'piss off you little bastard'.
1.
1. The use of words to express something different from and often opposite to their literal meaning.
2. An expression or utterance marked by a deliberate contrast between apparent and intended meaning.
3. A literary style employing such contrasts for humorous or rhetorical effect. See Synonyms at wit1.
2.
1. Incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs: "Hyde noted the irony of Ireland's copying the nation she most hated" (Richard Kain).
2. An occurrence, result, or circumstance notable for such incongruity. See Usage Note at ironic.
3. Dramatic irony.
4. Socratic irony.
I have received a few SMS spams in recent weeks. Apparently 'someone I know secretly fancies me', and wants me to call a 1902 number. They obviously fancy me enough to take 4.95 a minute from me, but not enough to meet me in person and let me stuff it down the front of their pants.
After reading your comment I went back and re-read the Wiley letter, then Nastard's. You are quite correct - Wiley were very polite, and said they preferred to do it informally. Nastard claims that their first course of action was to threaten legal ramifications, whereas what they really said was that they would do everything they could do to protect their trademark. Legal action? Of course, that's the only way to do it if you REFUSE TO RESOLVE THE MATTER INFORMALLY.
By 'resolve' they don't NECESSARILY mean 'just do what we say'. I am curious as to what their reaction would have been if Nastard's reply had stopped after the first paragraph (not counting 'Dear Kimberley'). I guess we'll never know.
the corruption of the food supply through genetic engineering (ok, some good might come of it, but terminator and roundup-ready technologies are not going to help feed the world, we already have enough food for that)... privatisation of the worlds water supply... corruption of the health of the world by the big pharma companies... George W's obsession with waging war on *sombody*... the widening divide between rich and poor...
Oh, you wanted tech issues? Sure, I have some concerns there too, but they are further down the list.
You are both right. Kind of. In Gattaca they chose the healthiest embryo, and implanted that one - but the others were left to die. This is not the same as abortion, since those embryos left to die may not have implanted or may have naturally aborted themselves anyway, but depending on your ethics/opinions on the matter it might be considered as just the same.
Most of the comments I have read focus on making arithmetic fun. Mathematics is such an enormous field, and many of those can be made fun.
Remember spirograph? Beautiful pictures, very simply done, based on mathematics. Draw some dots in a 'L' shape on a piece of paper and use a ruler to make curves with straight lines (you know what I mean). Bash some nails into a piece of wood and do the same thing with some coloured string. Draw up a pascals triangle and colour code the numbers (multiples of 2, 3, 4 etc in different colours).
Use a fibonacci sequence to draw boxes (1st box 1x1, 2nd box 2x1, 3rd box 3x2, etc using the long side of the previous box as the short side of the next), then draw quarter circles within the boxes to get a nice spiral effect. Check out the Sybase logo for an example.
Then you have graphs of 3D functions, and axial rotations of 2D functions. There are many more ideas. Young kids like pretty pictures with lots of colours.
She doesn't necessarily have to understand the mathematics right now, she'll just enjoy doing stuff with you, getting a nice picture out of it, and most importantly she'll associate "maths" with "fun".
Assume your butt moves at 1G from 10 inches above the chair to the chair surface, sinking into the chair 1 inch (it has a cushion). If the time taken to stop sinking into the chair is about the same as it took you to reach the surface of the chair from standing, that's a 10G decelerative force.
I think. Someone with a PhD in Physics can probably explain it better. And probably will.
It's a good bet that he downloaded KaZaa to grab other music, and is blissfully unaware that he's been 0wn3d, his entire music collection has been copied numerous times, and he can't figure out why the refrigerator doesn't work properly and his ice cream is all melty.
Slashdot Mirror
I second the endorsement of the EFF ... but shouldn't we be above throwing money at a problem? ;-)
Especially when Disney/Fox/AOL-Time-Warner/etc have far more money than the EFF can rustle up. Don't get me wrong - the EFF is surely worthy of support - but you won't beat these guys at their own game.
Write letters to, or telephone, the FCC and tell them what you want. Get petitions signed and send them in. Explain clearly and eloquently why you want the opposite of our good buddy Phil. Venting of the spleen usually accomplishes very little to further your cause, and can often prejudice people against your argument.
Nice pictures, although the colours appear to be a bit artificial in some of them, in particular the green in the Brazilian shot. It would have been nice to see an un-enhanced photo for comparison.
I agree.
By the way, what's your IP?
Most people just don't care. I've been reading a number of 'alternative' news sources for a while now, and trying to pass information on to other people. They are either uninterested, or find the subject fascinating but are still unwilling to make any changes to their lives. I've even been very careful to present 'information' rather than 'opinion', and encourage people to find out more for themselves and make up their own minds. Most just smile and nod and hope I will shut up soon.
Another part of the problem, more relevant to your question, is that the majority of people actually DO believe what they read in the papers, or see on television. Those media tell them what to do, how to think, and "we must be right because we have a guy in a white coat!". People WANT that. Anyone presenting a different opinion is a crackpot, troublemaker, or 'has a history of alcohol abuse' (a good way to totally destroy someone's credibility without any proof). And if you DO present a good argument, it upsets most peoples' balance and makes them uncomfortable. Thus, they would rather pretend you are not there.
Anyway, the 'pure facts' don't really help. We actually need the spin. It tells us the repercussions and consequences of whatever decision or report or committe finding means. The problem is - we only get one spin - the other spin usually unheard, classified, or debunked. Leading Edge is one, Nexus is another. There are others. These sources already give alternative descriptions for many events, but they are usually ignored, or belittled. Read them, with an open mind, then make your own decision.
You should also add in the phone number 202-622-5701 for your 'transport' division.
(If only ONE person gets this joke it will be worth it).
Check in your user preferences, homepage tab, and make sure that the 'Willing to Moderate' check box is checked.
To ensure perfect aim, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target
Don't you mean 'call it the tar-jay'?
Governments exist to protect the people, not to forward corporate interests
Ahhh, the naeivity of youth...
In fact, I'm using one today to go to a wedding. :)
Congratulations!!!
It's for the same reason that condom sizes are never small, medium, and large; instead they are large, extra large, and 'Oh my God!'
No, that's not it. The probes are not from the local network, they are coming over the modem/ppp interface.
PS: Funny?
You don't even have to have an always-on connection to see this. Earlier this week I was watching the message log on a system I had just upgraded - which has a dialup modem and dynamic IP - and within ten minutes we were getting probes on a number of ports, 137 and 139 in particular.
I wish I could pop up a message on their screens. Something polite and respectful like 'piss off you little bastard'.
The 902 area code might well be Nova Scotia in the US, but in Australia 1902 is (usually) a pay-lots-per-minute service.
(from dictionary.com)
irony Pronunciation Key (r-n, r-)
n. pl. ironies
1.
1. The use of words to express something different from and often opposite to their literal meaning.
2. An expression or utterance marked by a deliberate contrast between apparent and intended meaning.
3. A literary style employing such contrasts for humorous or rhetorical effect. See Synonyms at wit1.
2.
1. Incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs: "Hyde noted the irony of Ireland's copying the nation she most hated" (Richard Kain).
2. An occurrence, result, or circumstance notable for such incongruity. See Usage Note at ironic.
3. Dramatic irony.
4. Socratic irony.
I have received a few SMS spams in recent weeks. Apparently 'someone I know secretly fancies me', and wants me to call a 1902 number. They obviously fancy me enough to take 4.95 a minute from me, but not enough to meet me in person and let me stuff it down the front of their pants.
After reading your comment I went back and re-read the Wiley letter, then Nastard's. You are quite correct - Wiley were very polite, and said they preferred to do it informally. Nastard claims that their first course of action was to threaten legal ramifications, whereas what they really said was that they would do everything they could do to protect their trademark. Legal action? Of course, that's the only way to do it if you REFUSE TO RESOLVE THE MATTER INFORMALLY.
By 'resolve' they don't NECESSARILY mean 'just do what we say'. I am curious as to what their reaction would have been if Nastard's reply had stopped after the first paragraph (not counting 'Dear Kimberley'). I guess we'll never know.
Microsoft can afford to play follow the leader - they have the money and the bloody minded resove to catch up from the rear.
They prefer to do it this way - because it's much harder to shaft people from in front.
You don't even need to enter the correct password. You just type 'override'.
the corruption of the food supply through genetic engineering (ok, some good might come of it, but terminator and roundup-ready technologies are not going to help feed the world, we already have enough food for that)... privatisation of the worlds water supply... corruption of the health of the world by the big pharma companies... George W's obsession with waging war on *sombody*... the widening divide between rich and poor...
Oh, you wanted tech issues? Sure, I have some concerns there too, but they are further down the list.
You are both right. Kind of. In Gattaca they chose the healthiest embryo, and implanted that one - but the others were left to die. This is not the same as abortion, since those embryos left to die may not have implanted or may have naturally aborted themselves anyway, but depending on your ethics/opinions on the matter it might be considered as just the same.
Most of the comments I have read focus on making arithmetic fun. Mathematics is such an enormous field, and many of those can be made fun.
Remember spirograph? Beautiful pictures, very simply done, based on mathematics. Draw some dots in a 'L' shape on a piece of paper and use a ruler to make curves with straight lines (you know what I mean). Bash some nails into a piece of wood and do the same thing with some coloured string. Draw up a pascals triangle and colour code the numbers (multiples of 2, 3, 4 etc in different colours).
Use a fibonacci sequence to draw boxes (1st box 1x1, 2nd box 2x1, 3rd box 3x2, etc using the long side of the previous box as the short side of the next), then draw quarter circles within the boxes to get a nice spiral effect. Check out the Sybase logo for an example.
Then you have graphs of 3D functions, and axial rotations of 2D functions. There are many more ideas. Young kids like pretty pictures with lots of colours.
She doesn't necessarily have to understand the mathematics right now, she'll just enjoy doing stuff with you, getting a nice picture out of it, and most importantly she'll associate "maths" with "fun".
Assume your butt moves at 1G from 10 inches above the chair to the chair surface, sinking into the chair 1 inch (it has a cushion). If the time taken to stop sinking into the chair is about the same as it took you to reach the surface of the chair from standing, that's a 10G decelerative force.
I think. Someone with a PhD in Physics can probably explain it better. And probably will.
It's a good bet that he downloaded KaZaa to grab other music, and is blissfully unaware that he's been 0wn3d, his entire music collection has been copied numerous times, and he can't figure out why the refrigerator doesn't work properly and his ice cream is all melty.
I find warm water does the job very well - plus I *heard* (tm) that some LCD screens have some 'magic coating' that windex can damage. Who knows.
Use warm water to damp cloth 1, wipe screen, dry with cloth 2. Beautiful.
Oh, and tell anyone who uses the computer to NOT TOUCH THE SCREEN!
So....it's not really an optical illusion - it just looks like one.