The Euro GPS is so that if the Americans show their true colours again towards Europe, Europe won't have to sit around playing with their dicks because they can't hit anything without GPS. It's because at the moment the USA can threaten whoever it likes with nuclear missiles, because it knows full well that retaliation would be impossible without proper targeting. With Euro GPS, the Americans will have to worry about a few gigatons of hydrogen fueled goodness falling on them if they try that kind of shit again
Well that's just silly. Even with EuroGPS, Europe would still be sitting around with their "dick's in their hands" because they barely have have the conventional arsenal to respond to the US military if it invaded France; Europe has bery littly ability to project that power outside her continent. The only exception to that is the UK, and they sided with the US in the last go 'round. Furthermore, the suggestion that a nuclear attack would occur is clearly absurd. Everyone knows the end result of that response. But, if it's any consolation, I assure you that Europe's ICBMs have no need of GPS, and if she has any air-dropped bombs lying around, I don't think GPS-type precision is really needed to deliver them. "Near the big five-sided building" should be good enough. Sheesh.
And to imply that 'relevant' political force is determined by military strength alone is typically American thinking, and sorely misses the core lesson of 9-11 (namely that you don't need to spend 3% of your GDP on your military to inflict suffering on your enemies, nor will it prevent them from inflicting suffering on you).
I would argue that the aftermath of 9/11 (Afghanistan, Iraq...) proved that military power is for more important than the those who counted on political power would like to believe. As it's turned out, it doesn't matter what the UN votes if sufficient military power is available to work around it.. Europe needs to realize it cannot counter the world's military superpower by trying to out-vote it.
The EU is growing rapidly, its population already exceeds that of the US, and it won't be long before its economic strength does too (if it doesn't already). Most European countries have experienced first-hand the real meaning of war on their own soil (think 9-11 thousands of times over), and because of this they seek to create a world where justice doesn't have to be dispensed through Cruise missiles and Cuban concentration camps.
I look forward to a stronger Europe and hope that it will temper some of America's less well thought-out actions. I would also, however, like to see a Europe that has the military capability to right injustices, whether they are the device of an Iraqi or American president, or the next Milosevic. This is what I mean by 'relevance'. Cruise missile diplomacy is not the tool for every problem, but diplomacy and economic isolation/engagement (etc) are clearly not always the solution either (Iraq, Cuba, N. Korea, Afghanistan...)
I'm sure I'll get blasted for this, but the US really showed it's true colours in this last war. They rode roughshod over every international organisation when the consensus didn't go their way and ultimately staged an invasion rather than liberation. I think under these circumstances the world needs another option.
Clearly a system of satellites that provide location data will be an excellent counter to US military supremacy. After this coup, no doubt the EU will look into building the 'Euronet' (aka the 'Information Autobahn') to futher counter US hegemony. Rumsfeld is likely shaking in his boots.
Note that I'm no fan of the current US administration, but to suggest that creating a European version of GPS is some great step towards making the EU a 'relevant' force in world politics (by which I mean a force capable of doing ~anything~) seems a tad laughable.
1. Why is the cable on the watch and not vice-versa? That's kind of a metaphysical question isn't? "You cannot bend the spoon..." Actually, I think it would have been amusing if they could have used the USB connector as the catch for the band. Of course it would have to be modified to include a real latching mechanism and not just a friction fit.
2. Why doesn't it use a MicroUSB Connector? Do you have a MicroUSB connector on your computer? I don't have one on mine (home, work, laptop, etc.) That's probably the reason, though it would be convenient.
3. Why doesn't it use Bluetooth instead? For that capacity, the lack of speed ain't an issue. For that size, power must be an issue. I'd really rather not have a recharging cradle to put my watch in ever night.
The $1 coins are an excellent idea which should be fully embraced by discontinuing the $1 bill. The cost savings to the government/taxpayer alone make it worthwhile. The reasoning is presented very nicely here.
As for the wad of 50 $1 bills, I'd rather have two $20s and a $10. I'm sure that strip clubs can find a way to help you work around the dollar coin issue.
I was very happy to read the post of someone who reacted the same way I did to the suggestions. Almost every suggestion attacked the sense of class the current design evokes, with the possible exception of the tilted shelves and the better elevator signage. My personal "favorite" suggestions were:
1) Addition of "in stock now" signs. Nothing says class like advertising the fact you actually have what you're selling. (although perhaps "not in stock" signs would be useful for the 17" PowerBook)
2) The concession stand. Because you want your entire store to wreak like a Starbucks and have the floor covered with spill stains.
3) Add point of sale items near the register. Like Wal/K-mart. Because that's the image you want people to have.
Clearly the author of the article is the one responsible for putting DVD players (!!!!) in my grocery store.
You should give Ploticus a try. It has no GUI, but the output can be very good (postscript) and it is very flexible. The price (free) is also very nice.
I've used it to create plots/graphs for journal publication and I've used it to create graphs on-demand for a website.
Now, as much as evolution fits a lot of the evidence, there is also a good quantity of evidence that does not support evolution(above are merely 2 recent examples). Just how much counter evidence for evolution is required for it to be considered 'falsified'.At the very least there should some admission there are reasons to lack confidence in common descent.
The general theory of evolution will remain until sufficient counter-evidence is found to discredit it. Thus far, the "good quantity" of counter-evidence you refer to is minor compared to the weight of evidence supporting evolution. Until a new theory is found that describes both your counter-evidence and the evidence for evolution, the theory of evolution will remain.
Thanks for the post; your data is pretty interesting. I have to say I'm surprised the IDE RAID-5 numbers are so much lower than the numbers I get with a RAID-0 of two 60GB IBM 60GXP drives also using Linux's software RAID:
/dev/md0:
Timing buffered disk reads: 64 MB in 0.98 seconds = 65.31 MB/sec
/dev/md0:
Timing buffered disk reads: 64 MB in 1.03 seconds = 62.14 MB/sec
/dev/md0:
Timing buffered disk reads: 64 MB in 0.90 seconds = 71.11 MB/sec
The part about it being regressive is not true at all. The tax is proportional to the car's current value, so owners of old clunkers (like me) will pay very little, while owners of 2003 10 gallons-to-the-mile armored SUVs will pay up the ass.
The tax may not be regressive, but it certainly doesn't make sense. Mass transit of any sort should be paid for by those who are most likely to create the congestion/pollution in the first place. It does not make sense for the office worker who lives downtown, walks to work, but owns a new $40k car to pay more than the worker commuting from the god-knows-where in his/her 15-20 year old proto-SUV. A gas tax would have encouraged carpooling, use of mass transit, and the purchase of more efficient vehicles.
Instead, we have people holding on to their old clunkers because they don't want the extra car payment per year and nothing has been done to increase the long-term cost differential between a 30-50mpg hybrid car costing $20k and 10-20 mpg mini-SUV costing the same. Truly brilliant planning.
until Tivo can be purchased and never allowed to dial home AND function properly as a Digital VCR (record at XX:XXpm for 1 hour call it foobar1) I and several others will never buy one.
With all due respect, you don't "get" Tivo. That's ok, I didn't "get" it until I used it for a while. I received (won, actually) my Tivo a couple of years ago. I wasn't going to pay for the service; I was just going to use it as a digital VCR, as you describe.
That idea lasted about a week.
I would suggest that you and the "several others" who won't buy a Tivo without service talk to some people who do have the service and see what they think about. My guess is that they'll get a good laugh ar your suggestion that the service isn't worth it.
Note that computers will never, ever be able to figure out a protein structre ab initio. (i.e. without any info except the sequence)
If you're working on your Ph.D., you might want to abandon the use of the word "never" when it comes to what may be accomplished in the future. A 20-residue protein has already been folded from sequence information alone
Nice work Beavis:), you just upped the US's trade deficit as hundreds of overclockers destroy their motherboards attempting to solder in their RAM modules.
No doubt you'll be receiving an extra bonus from the Taiwanese motherboard manufacturers this month. Of course I suppose that assumes they're able to recognize solder drips and scorch marks as good reasons to assume the board was not received DOA...
(Yes, I realize there are overclockers all over the world -- I apologize in advance for my horribly US-centric post... geez...)
This is about the zillionth article posted on Slashdot debating the fact that MySQL doesn't have subselects while PostGreSQL does, and yet I still don't know why one would do a subselect instead of a join. In fact, I don't even have a good idea when I'd start caring about row-level locking vs. table-level locking. I've performed the usual Google searches on the subject, but have yet to find a good resource discussing the pros and cons of such things.
What I'd like to look at is a practical reference on such matters; something that combines table size/design, query complexity/frequence/methodology, and hardware requirements. I 'get' the concept of normalized data tables. I'd just like to 'get' the concept of quering equally well.
My younger sister saw all the SW films, old and new, within the last couple years -- and was in agreement that the originals were far better movies.
I can think of four reasons: 1) The new movies really are worse.
2) She saw them in an order that made the newer ones less appealing.
3) She was more forgiving of the corniness of the old movies because, well, they're old.
4) She liked the style of the old movies more (not better/worse, just different).
or, my favorite,
5) She's been listening to you and everyone else complain about them and "knew" the new ones weren't going to be as good as the old ones.
And no, I have no intentions of wasting my five dollars and three hours on the third movie. I'll find a decent book to read and do something enjoyable with my time.
Yeah, sure. And no one who reads Slashdot uses Windows...:P
For all those wondering why this subject suddenly returned to the limelight, it's due to a paper realased today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (or pnas for those in the know).
Here's a link to the Autumn, et al. article, entitled "Evidence for van der Waals adhesion in gecko setae".
I'd rather see these guys sentenced to work as free advisors to the mil for 10000 hours than be prosecuted. Actually, It'd be a good policy to offer rewards for hacing ANY mil computer (provided you do report inmediately and in proper way [ie: tell the mil, NOT the press]).
I wholeheartedly approve of that punishment, however I'm less enthusiastic about the general "hack us if you can" policy. I'm hoping the sysadmin(s) responsible for leaving the network open get whacked around a bit too.
so what about using MacroVision - disabling VCRs?
how about speeding on highways?
I think the obvious difference here is that when one uses Macrovision-disabling VCRs, one doesn't usually: a) Send the RIAA/MPAA an email letting them know b) Tell the press what an easy time you had doing it
Likewise, when speeding on the highways, one doesn't usually give the local police a call to let them know.
Furthermore, I don't know about you, but I expect the law to enforced consistently. You certainly don't want Al Qaeda claiming that knocking down the WTC and was just some proof-of-concept work they were doing to point out inadequacies of airport security in the US.
Would the editors (Hemos, in this case) please learn to edit the posts a bit?
Here's how I would have interpreted the post, though I'd prefer to just rewrite the whole thing and thank the original poster for providing the link:
(too bad strikeout is not a slashdot-approved HTML tag)
MIT's Technology Review takes a look at the world of digital special effects, [an] industry worth half a billion dollars per year, according to the authors. [The Review] talks about the role of SFX in movie production and comes to the connclusion [sic] that while [movies] might not [be] 100% computer-created in the future, [we will] see more special effects [aimed at reproducing real-world objects].
Not to be horribly offensive, but I've heard this before. I've heard it every time a new cpu is released. I remember when no one "needed" a 1GHz machine, much less a dual 1GHz system. I remember when a P3-500, P2-266, P-166MMX, P-60, 486DX2-66, 386DX-33, 286-16, and 8088 turbo were "overkill" and "excessive" and only for "rabid gamers". I remember when CGA and EGA were scoffed at because you only needed monochrome to get "real work" done (oddly, I don't remember complaints about VGA).
What would make me appreciably happier is if instead of saying, "But for the rest of us, who really needs it?" how about "It's probably not worth it for the common user to invest in this speed of processor now." Or how about something like "most user don't run programs that require this much speed right now". Or, even better, "The speed of the processor should start to open up new fields for home users in the coming months/years." These statements are rather more insightful and don't make you look like a moron in a couple of years when you make a post regarding the release of the AthlonHT 50,000+, stating that you "can't imagine anyone needing anything beyond the quad Pentium6-25GHz you run your AI-CAD program on".
And just so you know, web browsers on machines with fast internet connections do run appreciably "better" (render faster) on a P4-2.53 than on a P3-500. It's not like comparing a 486 to a P3, but there's a difference. Oh, Photoshop's a little bit faster too...
Slashdot Mirror
Well that's just silly. Even with EuroGPS, Europe would still be sitting around with their "dick's in their hands" because they barely have have the conventional arsenal to respond to the US military if it invaded France; Europe has bery littly ability to project that power outside her continent. The only exception to that is the UK, and they sided with the US in the last go 'round. Furthermore, the suggestion that a nuclear attack would occur is clearly absurd. Everyone knows the end result of that response. But, if it's any consolation, I assure you that Europe's ICBMs have no need of GPS, and if she has any air-dropped bombs lying around, I don't think GPS-type precision is really needed to deliver them. "Near the big five-sided building" should be good enough. Sheesh.
I would argue that the aftermath of 9/11 (Afghanistan, Iraq...) proved that military power is for more important than the those who counted on political power would like to believe. As it's turned out, it doesn't matter what the UN votes if sufficient military power is available to work around it.. Europe needs to realize it cannot counter the world's military superpower by trying to out-vote it.
I look forward to a stronger Europe and hope that it will temper some of America's less well thought-out actions. I would also, however, like to see a Europe that has the military capability to right injustices, whether they are the device of an Iraqi or American president, or the next Milosevic. This is what I mean by 'relevance'. Cruise missile diplomacy is not the tool for every problem, but diplomacy and economic isolation/engagement (etc) are clearly not always the solution either (Iraq, Cuba, N. Korea, Afghanistan...)
Clearly a system of satellites that provide location data will be an excellent counter to US military supremacy. After this coup, no doubt the EU will look into building the 'Euronet' (aka the 'Information Autobahn') to futher counter US hegemony. Rumsfeld is likely shaking in his boots.
Note that I'm no fan of the current US administration, but to suggest that creating a European version of GPS is some great step towards making the EU a 'relevant' force in world politics (by which I mean a force capable of doing ~anything~) seems a tad laughable.
1. Why is the cable on the watch and not vice-versa?
That's kind of a metaphysical question isn't? "You cannot bend the spoon..." Actually, I think it would have been amusing if they could have used the USB connector as the catch for the band. Of course it would have to be modified to include a real latching mechanism and not just a friction fit.
2. Why doesn't it use a MicroUSB Connector?
Do you have a MicroUSB connector on your computer? I don't have one on mine (home, work, laptop, etc.) That's probably the reason, though it would be convenient.
3. Why doesn't it use Bluetooth instead? For that capacity, the lack of speed ain't an issue.
For that size, power must be an issue. I'd really rather not have a recharging cradle to put my watch in ever night.
The $1 coins are an excellent idea which should be fully embraced by discontinuing the $1 bill. The cost savings to the government/taxpayer alone make it worthwhile. The reasoning is presented very nicely here.
As for the wad of 50 $1 bills, I'd rather have two $20s and a $10. I'm sure that strip clubs can find a way to help you work around the dollar coin issue.
Sadly, in most corporate environments, all wormholes only lead to the boss's office... or to the marketing department meeting.
Nah, those are black holes.
RC
I was very happy to read the post of someone who reacted the same way I did to the suggestions. Almost every suggestion attacked the sense of class the current design evokes, with the possible exception of the tilted shelves and the better elevator signage. My personal "favorite" suggestions were:
1) Addition of "in stock now" signs. Nothing says class like advertising the fact you actually have what you're selling. (although perhaps "not in stock" signs would be useful for the 17" PowerBook)
2) The concession stand. Because you want your entire store to wreak like a Starbucks and have the floor covered with spill stains.
3) Add point of sale items near the register. Like Wal/K-mart. Because that's the image you want people to have.
Clearly the author of the article is the one responsible for putting DVD players (!!!!) in my grocery store.
RC
You should give Ploticus a try. It has no GUI, but the output can be very good (postscript) and it is very flexible. The price (free) is also very nice.
I've used it to create plots/graphs for journal publication and I've used it to create graphs on-demand for a website.
Main page: here
Good examples: here
The general theory of evolution will remain until sufficient counter-evidence is found to discredit it. Thus far, the "good quantity" of counter-evidence you refer to is minor compared to the weight of evidence supporting evolution. Until a new theory is found that describes both your counter-evidence and the evidence for evolution, the theory of evolution will remain.
Hurry up and educate them!
Because new ones are boring.
Thanks for the post; your data is pretty interesting. I have to say I'm surprised the IDE RAID-5 numbers are so much lower than the numbers I get with a RAID-0 of two 60GB IBM 60GXP drives also using Linux's software RAID:
/dev/md0:
Timing buffered disk reads: 64 MB in 0.98 seconds = 65.31 MB/sec
/dev/md0:
Timing buffered disk reads: 64 MB in 1.03 seconds = 62.14 MB/sec
/dev/md0:
Timing buffered disk reads: 64 MB in 0.90 seconds = 71.11 MB/sec
/dev/md0:
Timing buffer-cache reads: 128 MB in 0.48 seconds =266.67 MB/sec
/dev/md0:
Timing buffer-cache reads: 128 MB in 0.48 seconds =266.67 MB/sec
/dev/md0:
Timing buffer-cache reads: 128 MB in 0.48 seconds =266.67 MB/sec
The tax may not be regressive, but it certainly doesn't make sense. Mass transit of any sort should be paid for by those who are most likely to create the congestion/pollution in the first place. It does not make sense for the office worker who lives downtown, walks to work, but owns a new $40k car to pay more than the worker commuting from the god-knows-where in his/her 15-20 year old proto-SUV. A gas tax would have encouraged carpooling, use of mass transit, and the purchase of more efficient vehicles.
Instead, we have people holding on to their old clunkers because they don't want the extra car payment per year and nothing has been done to increase the long-term cost differential between a 30-50mpg hybrid car costing $20k and 10-20 mpg mini-SUV costing the same. Truly brilliant planning.
With all due respect, you don't "get" Tivo. That's ok, I didn't "get" it until I used it for a while. I received (won, actually) my Tivo a couple of years ago. I wasn't going to pay for the service; I was just going to use it as a digital VCR, as you describe.
That idea lasted about a week.
I would suggest that you and the "several others" who won't buy a Tivo without service talk to some people who do have the service and see what they think about. My guess is that they'll get a good laugh ar your suggestion that the service isn't worth it.
You're right, however your statement assumes the people are able to learn.
That might be a stretch with this group.
As long as you keep the word "barely" in that sentence, I won't have to call you out for a duel
If you're working on your Ph.D., you might want to abandon the use of the word "never" when it comes to what may be accomplished in the future. A 20-residue protein has already been folded from sequence information alone
Nice work Beavis :), you just upped the US's trade deficit as hundreds of overclockers destroy their motherboards attempting to solder in their RAM modules.
No doubt you'll be receiving an extra bonus from the Taiwanese motherboard manufacturers this month. Of course I suppose that assumes they're able to recognize solder drips and scorch marks as good reasons to assume the board was not received DOA...
(Yes, I realize there are overclockers all over the world -- I apologize in advance for my horribly US-centric post... geez...)
This is about the zillionth article posted on Slashdot debating the fact that MySQL doesn't have subselects while PostGreSQL does, and yet I still don't know why one would do a subselect instead of a join. In fact, I don't even have a good idea when I'd start caring about row-level locking vs. table-level locking. I've performed the usual Google searches on the subject, but have yet to find a good resource discussing the pros and cons of such things.
What I'd like to look at is a practical reference on such matters; something that combines table size/design, query complexity/frequence/methodology, and hardware requirements. I 'get' the concept of normalized data tables. I'd just like to 'get' the concept of quering equally well.
I can think of four reasons:
1) The new movies really are worse.
2) She saw them in an order that made the newer ones less appealing.
3) She was more forgiving of the corniness of the old movies because, well, they're old.
4) She liked the style of the old movies more (not better/worse, just different).
or, my favorite,
5) She's been listening to you and everyone else complain about them and "knew" the new ones weren't going to be as good as the old ones.
Yeah, sure. And no one who reads Slashdot uses Windows...
For all those wondering why this subject suddenly returned to the limelight, it's due to a paper realased today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (or pnas for those in the know).
Here's a link to the Autumn, et al. article, entitled "Evidence for van der Waals adhesion in gecko setae".
I wholeheartedly approve of that punishment, however I'm less enthusiastic about the general "hack us if you can" policy. I'm hoping the sysadmin(s) responsible for leaving the network open get whacked around a bit too.
So you could call the local police when you see *someone else* speeding, of course! :)
(Especially if their car is nicer than yours...)
I think the obvious difference here is that when one uses Macrovision-disabling VCRs, one doesn't usually:
a) Send the RIAA/MPAA an email letting them know
b) Tell the press what an easy time you had doing it
Likewise, when speeding on the highways, one doesn't usually give the local police a call to let them know.
Furthermore, I don't know about you, but I expect the law to enforced consistently. You certainly don't want Al Qaeda claiming that knocking down the WTC and was just some proof-of-concept work they were doing to point out inadequacies of airport security in the US.
Here's how I would have interpreted the post, though I'd prefer to just rewrite the whole thing and thank the original poster for providing the link:
(too bad strikeout is not a slashdot-approved HTML tag)
Not to be horribly offensive, but I've heard this before. I've heard it every time a new cpu is released. I remember when no one "needed" a 1GHz machine, much less a dual 1GHz system. I remember when a P3-500, P2-266, P-166MMX, P-60, 486DX2-66, 386DX-33, 286-16, and 8088 turbo were "overkill" and "excessive" and only for "rabid gamers". I remember when CGA and EGA were scoffed at because you only needed monochrome to get "real work" done (oddly, I don't remember complaints about VGA).
What would make me appreciably happier is if instead of saying, "But for the rest of us, who really needs it?" how about "It's probably not worth it for the common user to invest in this speed of processor now." Or how about something like "most user don't run programs that require this much speed right now". Or, even better, "The speed of the processor should start to open up new fields for home users in the coming months/years." These statements are rather more insightful and don't make you look like a moron in a couple of years when you make a post regarding the release of the AthlonHT 50,000+, stating that you "can't imagine anyone needing anything beyond the quad Pentium6-25GHz you run your AI-CAD program on".
And just so you know, web browsers on machines with fast internet connections do run appreciably "better" (render faster) on a P4-2.53 than on a P3-500. It's not like comparing a 486 to a P3, but there's a difference. Oh, Photoshop's a little bit faster too...