I remember reading somewhere awhile back that all internet connections to everywhere in China were routed through some government office that blocked "unsuitable" material. It's doubtless that people found ways around this, but it still puts a large portion of the country under the eye of Big Brother.
This school sounds like the high school I attend, although more computer oriented. My school, the Science Academy of South Texas, specializes in technical classes, sciences, and math. We differ from other schools in that we have a set of required electives referred to by the students as the tech classes. They range from freshman technology systems, where students learn about different systems, energy sources, and applications, to senior research and development, where the students find a problem, research it, and provide a solution. We also have several architecture and engineering graphics classes, as well as an electronics class said to be similar to college digital I. Our school district is rather poor as well, but we do manage to get along. Students are encouraged to learn above and beyond what is taught or whatever falls in their interest areas. For example, a friend of mine and I are currently in the process of building a small linux network from computers that are about 10 years old. The great thing about that is we probably wouldn't be doing that if we went to a regular school because we wouldn't be allowed free reign over the equipment.
Perhaps this activity in the prefrontal region is the brain sort of sleeping while it's awake. When the body is asleep, the brain fires what seems to amount to a bunch of random synapses, which, if I remember correctly occur mostly in the prefrontal region, where lots of higher order thinking goes on, like doing math problems and such. This activity could perhaps be the brain trying to do this in an effort to glean what it can out of whatever it is that is beneficial from this occurrence.
Last year and some of this year I was sleep-deprived enough to start halfway falling asleep in odd places, like class, the car, a barber shop, and others. I remember being able to understand what was going on around me, but I was also having some sort of dream at the same time. Maybe that was some of the heightened brain activity at work.
This should be an interesting case since, as far as I know, there are no legal precedents. I presume the World Court division of the UN would handle the case, as there really is no other feasible way to bring a civil suit against another country. The thing is, there really isn't any established international law. The UN may create and attempt to impose laws, but it's really up to the individual countries as to whether or not they will obey them. It could cause a member nation to lose face if it did not follow the rules, but it isn't the same as a private citizen breaking a state or federal law. Be interesting to see what happens..
1. obtain day job to finance small investment in classified photos of various installations in various countries. 2. find small, militant country looking for someone to start a fight with. 3. offer to help country out, for a price 4. after selling photos, obtain great two-for-one deal on nuclear missiles from a certain former communist country 5. obtain blast proof bunker and large amounts of supplies 6. sit back and enjoy the show
Seems to me that everything in a bureaucracy requires extensive amounts of waiting time, kind of an extension of the "hurry up and wait" motto of the US Army. Mounds of paperwork seem to be neccessary, even though it serves no functional purpose in the end. I thought the computer was supposed to do away with all of the paper involved in paperwork, save trees, speed up work time, and other unfulfilled promises. Now multiple copies are needed, both paper and digital files must be kept, and in multiple copies. How come computers haven't speeded up processes like this?
The Soviet military used to wear red berets as a part of their uniforms. Now the comparny Red Hat wants to move into a communist country to establish a business...and with the US government interested in Linux as an operating system, it makes me wonder if there isn't another Chinese conspiracy afloat. I wouldn't surprise me, those reds are awful sneaky.
It may be just me, but I'm getting access forbidden errors on the site. I'm wondering if the site got slashdotted and the sysadmin changed the file permissions in order to save his servers. Anybody happen to get a mirror of this thing?
Here's a good application for the GPL. We already see it applied profusely to software, and books are beginning a tentative move into the realm of the free license as seen in an earlier article and mentioned several subsequent comments. Since the computer is a machine developed over many years by many different people, it seems to me that no one should really own the work they do. Therefore, the work should be "owned" by the community.
Not only would this solve the problem of patent infringement, it would allow needed improvements to be made and implemented by anyone who wished to do so. Any improvements suggested can be used by the manufacturers of GPL'd products, similar to the updates to the linux kernel given by various companies selling distributions of the program.
The article makes a valid point in mentioning that it would be rather mean to broadcast a fake message of the surrender of the enemy's leader to the enemy's troops. However, I would think that a study would not need to be conducted in order to figure this out. The article also states that, due to the nature of computer crime, the perpetrator(s) is(are) not likely to be caught. It seems rather pointless to make up a law that is almost impossible to be enforced.
One more thing: The long-distance and anonymous nature of computer network attacks may make detection and prosecution unlikely, but it is the firmly established policy of the United States that U.S. forces will fight in full compliance with the law of war," the study concluded. Number one, since when did war have or need laws? Number two, isn't all fair in love and war?
It seems that any unexplainable occurrence these days is blamed on some form of mysterious alien beings. There has to be some better explanation to this than a fight between two alien races on our humble planet.
It seems to me that these creatures, whatever they may be, are a bit too humanoid to come from some distant planet/star/galaxy/whatever. Another thing, why would an alien culture leave only two embassadors with only one culture on our planet, alone and without the ability to contact their own people? And why would another alien culture come all the way to our planet to kill the two other beings and then just leave?
Any culture advanced enough to reach Earth would spend a bit more time on it, and we would most likely still be in contact with them. Even the most barbaric of cultures would spend a bit more time at least studying a sentient culture they came in contact with. Sentient beings like us and these two supposed alien cultures are too few and far between.
What's the point of buying a disposable cellphone? If you need a phone, why not just get one of the plans offered by the various phone companies? Those plans practically give away the phone in the first place. It's also a waste of silicon and plastic to make one that is only good for 60 minutes of use. If you want something you can throw away, why not just buy a prepaid cellphone? It serves the same purpose as a disposable one would, and you can get more time without having to buy a new phone, thereby keeping trash out of landfills and protecting the environment, etc, etc, ad infinitum...
One of the main reasons IE works so well with the windows operating system is because both systems are made by the same company. IE has access to all the hidden APIs and other good stuff that windows programs get to use, but competitors' programs don't. Not to mention the fact that the source code for the operating system is freely available to the IE development team. But there are some side effects to this.
For one thing, having the browser so tightly tied into the operating system often causes the whole system to lock up when the browser crashes(at least in most of my experiences). Secondly, if the browser is compromised by an intruder, the system is more easily accessed than if the browser wasn't tied so closely to the OS.
My opinion is that it's better to have a seperate browser and operating system because it doesn't cause complete system failures when it crashes and it's not as easy to comprimise the whole system by attacking the browser(like that old IE 3.0something exploit).
Controlling limbs still attached to the body is a very interesting experiment, but there are several things that could go a bit wrong with this. First of all, the body may completely reject the signals the same way it rejects all foreign bodies, such as organ transplants. Second, what happens if you attempt to move your arm while the computer is controlling it, providing the control works in the first place. Which signal gets priority? The nerves are more than likely set to receive only one signal at a time, and from only one source, the brain. Multiple signals from multiple sources may cause damage to the nerves, or possibly a confusion similar to a person trying to listen to several people at once.
This theory is an excellent alternate explanation for the existance of hydrocarbons such as oil. A few questions/comments/criticisms though:
1. How exactly would this oil be formed in the Big Bang? Current elements and compounds were formed by thermonuclear reactions of stars and, in the case of the Big Bang, one massive superhot and superdense explosion. How would this produce the right environment for creating hydrocarbon compounds?
2. If oil and helium were trapped in the materials that created the earth and various other planets, isn't there still a limited amount of them? And what about Europa and its surface sea of liquid hydrocarbons? How would a small celestial body like that create enough heat to boil up that amount of hydrocarbon compounds?
All in all it is a very interesting theory, and one I would like to see verified. It would definitely be an ecouragement to those wanting to put forth other radical ideas, as well as give us a more stable fuel source, at least for a while..
We're the world's best Internet search and directory. And we guarantee that you'll like us. If I don't like them does that mean I can sue them for false advertisement?
Using the mammoth as a food source might be helpful to our food supply. Mammoths, being much bigger than cows, could provide more food, as well as textiles and various other products. They can probably also survive in more adverse climates than cattle and other livestock, increasing their usability. Land deemed otherwise unusable could be used for grazing and keeping mammoth herds, which would alleviate some of the growing population without growing resources problem.
I wonder what the European community would say to having mammoth instead of beef. Given their recent reactions to genetically engineered products of any kind whatsoever, I would guess that the product would not be received with kindness.
Whether or not Echelon actually exists or did ever exists remains to be seen. The idea is worth a shot. Who knows, it may actually uncover something interesting. If not, it was a decent idea, and people can have fun reading all the neat words and phrases and such in each other's sig files.
In a separate ceremony in Palo Alto, Gov. Gray Davis signed an executive order setting government policy for state agencies to use only legal copies of software. President Clinton signed a similar order covering federal agencies a year ago.
An executive order had to be signed to mandate this??? You'd think our various government agencies would at least make an attempt at being honest without a law enforcing it.
This is the kind of thing that causes those neat little warning labels to be placed on various products, such as the one on lawnmowers that says "Do not place hands under mower while in operation," or the one on Dr. Pepper bottles that says "Warning: contents may explode upon opening. Point away from self and others when opening."
This type of lawsuit just goes to show how dumb people can really be, both the people that commit the act and then sue for it, and the people that award the money to the "victim." It's a waste of taxpayers' money, plain and simple.
This whole genetically engineered "kill switch" thing has been around for awhile. The original plan was to put a sterilization gene in the Roundup Ready and other already genetically modified seeds to help protect the patent and keep other countries from buying a few hundred tons of the seed one year and then using it to grow their own crops. Market protection also.
Many farmers (my father included), don't like the idea because of the possible consequences. In order to provide seed for next year's crop, a certain amount of acreage has to be planted with usable seed, while the rest can be planted with a crop that produces sterile seed. If something goes wrong with the seed crop, you have no other seed to get next year's crop from, because all the other seed is sterile. Very big problem.
There are some things in nature which just shouldn't be messed with. Creating genetic enhancements in order to produce more or make the plant better is great, but creating them just for controlling purposes is stepping over the line.
I used to be an avid X-Files fan until the abduction thing started becoming the main theme of the story, instead of the "investigation of the paranormal," which was the original intent of the whole X-Files project. Replacing the characters won't work, I've seen several halfway-decent shows ruined by that attempt. Let the show die and move on to something else.
Slashdot Mirror
I remember reading somewhere awhile back that all internet connections to everywhere in China were routed through some government office that blocked "unsuitable" material. It's doubtless that people found ways around this, but it still puts a large portion of the country under the eye of Big Brother.
This school sounds like the high school I attend, although more computer oriented. My school, the Science Academy of South Texas, specializes in technical classes, sciences, and math. We differ from other schools in that we have a set of required electives referred to by the students as the tech classes. They range from freshman technology systems, where students learn about different systems, energy sources, and applications, to senior research and development, where the students find a problem, research it, and provide a solution. We also have several architecture and engineering graphics classes, as well as an electronics class said to be similar to college digital I. Our school district is rather poor as well, but we do manage to get along. Students are encouraged to learn above and beyond what is taught or whatever falls in their interest areas.
For example, a friend of mine and I are currently in the process of building a small linux network from computers that are about 10 years old. The great thing about that is we probably wouldn't be doing that if we went to a regular school because we wouldn't be allowed free reign over the equipment.
Perhaps this activity in the prefrontal region is the brain sort of sleeping while it's awake. When the body is asleep, the brain fires what seems to amount to a bunch of random synapses, which, if I remember correctly occur mostly in the prefrontal region, where lots of higher order thinking goes on, like doing math problems and such. This activity could perhaps be the brain trying to do this in an effort to glean what it can out of whatever it is that is beneficial from this occurrence.
Last year and some of this year I was sleep-deprived enough to start halfway falling asleep in odd places, like class, the car, a barber shop, and others. I remember being able to understand what was going on around me, but I was also having some sort of dream at the same time. Maybe that was some of the heightened brain activity at work.
This should be an interesting case since, as far as I know, there are no legal precedents. I presume the World Court division of the UN would handle the case, as there really is no other feasible way to bring a civil suit against another country. The thing is, there really isn't any established international law. The UN may create and attempt to impose laws, but it's really up to the individual countries as to whether or not they will obey them. It could cause a member nation to lose face if it did not follow the rules, but it isn't the same as a private citizen breaking a state or federal law. Be interesting to see what happens..
1. obtain day job to finance small investment in classified photos of various installations in various countries.
2. find small, militant country looking for someone to start a fight with.
3. offer to help country out, for a price
4. after selling photos, obtain great two-for-one deal on nuclear missiles from a certain former communist country
5. obtain blast proof bunker and large amounts of supplies
6. sit back and enjoy the show
Seems to me that everything in a bureaucracy requires extensive amounts of waiting time, kind of an extension of the "hurry up and wait" motto of the US Army. Mounds of paperwork seem to be neccessary, even though it serves no functional purpose in the end. I thought the computer was supposed to do away with all of the paper involved in paperwork, save trees, speed up work time, and other unfulfilled promises. Now multiple copies are needed, both paper and digital files must be kept, and in multiple copies. How come computers haven't speeded up processes like this?
The Soviet military used to wear red berets as a part of their uniforms. Now the comparny Red Hat wants to move into a communist country to establish a business...and with the US government interested in Linux as an operating system, it makes me wonder if there isn't another Chinese conspiracy afloat. I wouldn't surprise me, those reds are awful sneaky.
It may be just me, but I'm getting access forbidden errors on the site. I'm wondering if the site got slashdotted and the sysadmin changed the file permissions in order to save his servers. Anybody happen to get a mirror of this thing?
Not only would this solve the problem of patent infringement, it would allow needed improvements to be made and implemented by anyone who wished to do so. Any improvements suggested can be used by the manufacturers of GPL'd products, similar to the updates to the linux kernel given by various companies selling distributions of the program.
paxx
One more thing:
The long-distance and anonymous nature of computer network attacks may make detection and prosecution unlikely, but it is the firmly established policy of the United States that U.S. forces will fight in full compliance with the law of war," the study concluded.
Number one, since when did war have or need laws?
Number two, isn't all fair in love and war?
It seems to me that these creatures, whatever they may be, are a bit too humanoid to come from some distant planet/star/galaxy/whatever. Another thing, why would an alien culture leave only two embassadors with only one culture on our planet, alone and without the ability to contact their own people? And why would another alien culture come all the way to our planet to kill the two other beings and then just leave?
Any culture advanced enough to reach Earth would spend a bit more time on it, and we would most likely still be in contact with them. Even the most barbaric of cultures would spend a bit more time at least studying a sentient culture they came in contact with. Sentient beings like us and these two supposed alien cultures are too few and far between.
What's the point of buying a disposable cellphone? If you need a phone, why not just get one of the plans offered by the various phone companies? Those plans practically give away the phone in the first place. It's also a waste of silicon and plastic to make one that is only good for 60 minutes of use. If you want something you can throw away, why not just buy a prepaid cellphone? It serves the same purpose as a disposable one would, and you can get more time without having to buy a new phone, thereby keeping trash out of landfills and protecting the environment, etc, etc, ad infinitum...
For one thing, having the browser so tightly tied into the operating system often causes the whole system to lock up when the browser crashes(at least in most of my experiences). Secondly, if the browser is compromised by an intruder, the system is more easily accessed than if the browser wasn't tied so closely to the OS.
My opinion is that it's better to have a seperate browser and operating system because it doesn't cause complete system failures when it crashes and it's not as easy to comprimise the whole system by attacking the browser(like that old IE 3.0something exploit).
Controlling limbs still attached to the body is a very interesting experiment, but there are several things that could go a bit wrong with this. First of all, the body may completely reject the signals the same way it rejects all foreign bodies, such as organ transplants. Second, what happens if you attempt to move your arm while the computer is controlling it, providing the control works in the first place. Which signal gets priority? The nerves are more than likely set to receive only one signal at a time, and from only one source, the brain. Multiple signals from multiple sources may cause damage to the nerves, or possibly a confusion similar to a person trying to listen to several people at once.
This theory is an excellent alternate explanation for the existance of hydrocarbons such as oil. A few questions/comments/criticisms though:
1. How exactly would this oil be formed in the Big Bang? Current elements and compounds were formed by thermonuclear reactions of stars and, in the case of the Big Bang, one massive superhot and superdense explosion. How would this produce the right environment for creating hydrocarbon compounds?
2. If oil and helium were trapped in the materials that created the earth and various other planets, isn't there still a limited amount of them? And what about Europa and its surface sea of liquid hydrocarbons? How would a small celestial body like that create enough heat to boil up that amount of hydrocarbon compounds?
All in all it is a very interesting theory, and one I would like to see verified. It would definitely be an ecouragement to those wanting to put forth other radical ideas, as well as give us a more stable fuel source, at least for a while..
We're the world's best Internet search and directory. And we guarantee that you'll like us.
If I don't like them does that mean I can sue them for false advertisement?
Using the mammoth as a food source might be helpful to our food supply. Mammoths, being much bigger than cows, could provide more food, as well as textiles and various other products. They can probably also survive in more adverse climates than cattle and other livestock, increasing their usability. Land deemed otherwise unusable could be used for grazing and keeping mammoth herds, which would alleviate some of the growing population without growing resources problem.
I wonder what the European community would say to having mammoth instead of beef. Given their recent reactions to genetically engineered products of any kind whatsoever, I would guess that the product would not be received with kindness.
Tomorrow could prove to be very interesting...
paxx
An executive order had to be signed to mandate this??? You'd think our various government agencies would at least make an attempt at being honest without a law enforcing it.
This type of lawsuit just goes to show how dumb people can really be, both the people that commit the act and then sue for it, and the people that award the money to the "victim." It's a waste of taxpayers' money, plain and simple.
Many farmers (my father included), don't like the idea because of the possible consequences. In order to provide seed for next year's crop, a certain amount of acreage has to be planted with usable seed, while the rest can be planted with a crop that produces sterile seed. If something goes wrong with the seed crop, you have no other seed to get next year's crop from, because all the other seed is sterile. Very big problem.
There are some things in nature which just shouldn't be messed with. Creating genetic enhancements in order to produce more or make the plant better is great, but creating them just for controlling purposes is stepping over the line.
I used to be an avid X-Files fan until the abduction thing started becoming the main theme of the story, instead of the "investigation of the paranormal," which was the original intent of the whole X-Files project. Replacing the characters won't work, I've seen several halfway-decent shows ruined by that attempt. Let the show die and move on to something else.