Terry Pratchett sort of touched on this in a few of his books, Thud comes to mind. And of course he ridiculed it; he's kind of a fantasy writer that makes fun of fantasy.
The copyright interests enjoy some public sympathy as long as they can portray themselves as the poor victims of rampant "theft" who just want a fair day's pay for a fair day's work.
I wish you wouldn't use the term "copyright interests". I hold copyrights, but they should have expired, and would have had it not been for the Bono Act. FOSS authors are "copyright interests". My first book is on BitTorrent (I put it there myself) and I'll be registering its copyright when I finish the dead tree version's dust jacket. And I plan on writing a lot more when I retire in 2014.
You are referring to the Media And Film Industry Associations of America, so just say MAFIAA. Most artists, writers, and musicians are dead set against the MAFIAA and the theft of the public domain by them.
However, I don't see legit businesses (e.g. banks, stores, etc) using this.
To my mind, that's a plus.
Re:It's all about the power supply, folks.
on
Building the Bionic Man
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
My bionic implant uses my eye's natural focusing muscle for power, and it works better than YOUR natural, unenhanced eye. And batteries and magnet tech and lower energy needs have been improving greatly over the last few decades. My old Star Tak analog phone lasted a day if I was lucky, my newer Motorola has a smaller battery and lasts several days. I think you're a bit too pessimistic.
And this IS science fiction turned reality -- we're in the 21st century, man! When Star Trek first came on the air when I was 14, there were no communicators (cell phones), flat screen displays, iPads (or "padds"), doors that opened automatically, McCoy's medical readouts (which we've surpassed), voice-activated computers (my Acer has that feature), space shuttles... to young folks there's nothing futuristic about STOS except the transporter, faster than light travel, and matter replicators. Back then it was all impossible fantasy.
Well, they sort of can. When I had a tonsellictomy at age 6 they used ether as an anesthetic -- AKA automotive starting fluid. Nasty shit, horrible trip, and talking to others who went under the knife with ether is was the same terrible nightmare.
However, when I had a hemmoroidectomy in 2002 the anestegiologist said "OK, you're going to sleep now." I replied after a few seconds "Uh, it's not working." He laughed -- "we're finished." They may not yet be able to shut us all the way off and not kill us, but they can put us in hibernate mode. You don't even know you were unconscious!
I'm a cyborg; the lens in my left eye was replaced by a device called a CrystaLens, which gives it better than 20/20 vision at all distances. After needing thick glasses all my life, not even needing reading glasses at age 60 is nothing short of miraculous.
However, had I not gotten a steroid-induced cataract that pretty much blinded that eye I'd not had the surgery, mostly because I wouldn't have been able to afford the surgery but partly because, well, would you let someone stick a needle in your eye if it wasn't an emergency and glasses or contacts would do the job?
All surgey is dangerous. People have died in dentists' chairs. The difference between people and PCs is we can't just unscrew a panel, replace a part, and screw the panel back in. We have knives and needles and danger of infection and other possible complications, machinery doesn't. We have to heal, and often need some sort of therapy after surgery.
A lot of folks who have had hips, knees, and other joints replaced must suffer additional pain and surgery because of faulty parts; there are several class action lawsuits going on now over defective parts.
However, rather than bionic parts replacement with enhancements for perfectly healthy body parts (which, as I mention, is dangerous), things like third arms, exoskeletons that allow us to lift hundreds of pounds, are already in development.
Bionics will most likely be for replacement of existing, faulty human parts rather than enhancing or "upgrading" human tissues unless we get McCoy's knifeless surgery.
Wow, that's sad. It appears that politically, things have deteriorated quite a bit in the last 40 years. Sad also to hear that your king is not in the best of health, when I was there folks told me of the good he'd done.
Indeed, when I was in the USAF I spent the 1st 3 years on the flightline, and there was a lot of accidental damage. One poor fellow backed a C5-A into a hangar and did $50 million in damage. He was sweating bullets for a week until the wing walker got the blame. They grounded the fleet when one of the giant buckets they serviced the tails fell over in another base and killed two mechanics. I saw quite a few land without landing gear on a foam runway, and at least one had an engine fall off. I also saw a C-141 with a missing windshield and a lot of blood, a large bird went through the windshield, killing the co-pilot.
Nobody's perfect, everybody screws up occasionally. Like you say, these things happen.
I did think of that, but didn't mention it because I see no solution to the problam, but I'll bet someone else will. Maybe piggybacking moduated signals* on ham radio signals? OK, now I'm sure someone will solve it with a much better idea.
* I mean like they did in the '70s with quadrophonic LPs, where they modulated the rear channels with a 40kHz wave and mixed them with the front signals. The digital data could be made to appear as noise if you piggybacked digital data with, say, morse code.
It's also incorrect to put your comma outside of the quote!:)
I believe that's one that's kind of up in the air, and a lot depends on whether you're British or American, although I've seen some edited American writing (published books) that do it the British way.
How about the death penalty? How about the invasion of Iraq? People who live in glass houses... Before you try to take the speck out of your brother's eye, remove the plank from your own.
You, like most, misunderstand -- it isn't taking his name in vain, it's a prayer. "Please damn this intolerable situation" and "send this piece of shit phone to hell where it came from."
An ex-girlfriend had the crazy idea that "God damn it" was damning God. I guess she can't tell the difference between a shit dog and dog shit.
the.gov cannot "create" something that benefits more people than the required taxing harms.
Like the interstate highway system? I'm sure glad I don't have to pay a hundred dollar toll to get to St Louis over very dangerous two lane highways, or pay the higher prices it would cost to have goods shipped.
And where do you think the ineternet came from? Almost ll that medical tech in your local hospital was born from the space program.
Rub your two remaining brain cells together and you might think of some on your own... but that's a little to ask of an anarchist, I guess.
You've forgotten the three laws of thermodynamics: You can't win, you can't break even, and you can't quit. If we ever discover that the laws of thermodynamics are bullshit you might have a point, but I don't think anyone seriously believes that will ever happen.
Society has become too risk adverse to do anything as innovative and risky as the first moon landings.
No it hasn't. Yes, we've minimized risk where possible, but not minimizing risk as much as you can for a particular feat is just stupid. But people still bungi jump, climb mountains, do extreme motocross and snowboarding/skateboarding, drag racing 200mph in a quarter mile, etc.
The minute something goes wrong everyone immediately starts arguing about whose fault it was instead of acknowledging the entire venture is risky so don't be too surprised if a couple of things blow up.
I take it you weren't yet born when Apollo 7 blew up.
The rocket disasters in the early space program did not shelve the project until endless analyses could be conducted to guarantee 100% future success.
What early rocket disasters? Yeah, a lot of UNMANNED rockets blew up, why do you think they were unmanned? Apollo 7 set the program back by two years rather than their saying "well, accidents happen, let's launch another one."
Thousands of years ago people blindly set off to sail the oceans when they thought the world was flat
Sailors knew the world wasn't flat, as they coud see the land slowly sinking into the horizon as they got farther away.
Early scientific minds were willing to chance being charged as religious heretics in order to study and eventually publish information about the solar system and basic physics models.
Yeah, that's why Leonardo spoke in code.
The reason government isn't sponsoring moon exploration is because there's no need for government to do so, especially since robots seem to be doing a pretty good job on Mars and other planets.
We're not going to ever leave the solar system and colonize another one unless someone discovers a way around the lightspeed limit, and if it ever happesn it will be generations from now.
Politicians aren't afraid of dead soldiers in Iraq, or dead Navy Seals in Afghanistan and Somalia, are they? So why would they be afraid of dead astronauts? Rather than parrot what you hear, give it a little thought.
This is the real reason Siri's available only for 4S users.
I don't think so, I think it's because of Checkov in the last Star Trek movie.
"Please enter authorization code." "Wictor wictor alpha" "That code is not recognized."
There was a British woman on TV a few weeks ago who was saying that Siri couldn't understand a word she said. And she's speaking the same language but with a slightly different accent! I'll bet Texans and Bostonians have trouble with it, too. Hell, I can't understand a word someone from Boston says.
"Please enter authorizatiopn" "Victah Victah alpha" "That code is not recognized."
Or New Yawk. "Da dwag! Da dyam Dwag is undah da cwah! Ya pahkin' da cah on da dyam dwag!"
Using National Review for all your citations about the tea party is like using Mother Jones for all one's citations about unionism. You really expect a magazine founded by William F. Buckley to be anything but extreme right wing propaganda? I would no more trust National Review for an unbiased citation than I would trust Mother Jones.
The "racists for Cain" is a good example -- Cain was only running so they could claim to not be racist, plus it pits a black man against a half black man. And notice that they chose a black man who appears to be batshit insane to most people, ensuring that he had no chance of being nominated while giving a reason other than racism?
America has been a place where people could start out poor and work their way to wealth.
True -- my grandparents were dirt-poor farmers, my Uncle became very wealthy, but it takes more than just hard work, even though hard work is needed. It also takes intelligence, skill, and a shitload of luck.
That is becoming more difficult under the Obama administration due to the laws and policies they are enacting
That's just bullshit. It's no harder now than it was in WWII when Uncle Dan started his prosthetic business. It's just as unlikely now as then, as well. 99.9% of the 1% were born into wealth. These people, to quote a Texan whose name I can't recall, were born on third base and think they hit a triple.
humans have always endeavored to explore the unexplored. It is why people eventually left Africa
Actually I kind of doubt that; there are far better expanations. The Potato Famine led many Irish to America; the richer Irish got exiled by Cromwell (he simnply killed the poor ones). Australia was colonized to be a penal colony. Columbus was looking for a new route to India so they could make more money.
Name one place and time in written history that people colonized simply from curiosity.
Slashdot Mirror
Terry Pratchett sort of touched on this in a few of his books, Thud comes to mind. And of course he ridiculed it; he's kind of a fantasy writer that makes fun of fantasy.
The copyright interests enjoy some public sympathy as long as they can portray themselves as the poor victims of rampant "theft" who just want a fair day's pay for a fair day's work.
I wish you wouldn't use the term "copyright interests". I hold copyrights, but they should have expired, and would have had it not been for the Bono Act. FOSS authors are "copyright interests". My first book is on BitTorrent (I put it there myself) and I'll be registering its copyright when I finish the dead tree version's dust jacket. And I plan on writing a lot more when I retire in 2014.
You are referring to the Media And Film Industry Associations of America, so just say MAFIAA. Most artists, writers, and musicians are dead set against the MAFIAA and the theft of the public domain by them.
However, I don't see legit businesses (e.g. banks, stores, etc) using this.
To my mind, that's a plus.
My bionic implant uses my eye's natural focusing muscle for power, and it works better than YOUR natural, unenhanced eye. And batteries and magnet tech and lower energy needs have been improving greatly over the last few decades. My old Star Tak analog phone lasted a day if I was lucky, my newer Motorola has a smaller battery and lasts several days. I think you're a bit too pessimistic.
And this IS science fiction turned reality -- we're in the 21st century, man! When Star Trek first came on the air when I was 14, there were no communicators (cell phones), flat screen displays, iPads (or "padds"), doors that opened automatically, McCoy's medical readouts (which we've surpassed), voice-activated computers (my Acer has that feature), space shuttles... to young folks there's nothing futuristic about STOS except the transporter, faster than light travel, and matter replicators. Back then it was all impossible fantasy.
Well, they sort of can. When I had a tonsellictomy at age 6 they used ether as an anesthetic -- AKA automotive starting fluid. Nasty shit, horrible trip, and talking to others who went under the knife with ether is was the same terrible nightmare.
However, when I had a hemmoroidectomy in 2002 the anestegiologist said "OK, you're going to sleep now." I replied after a few seconds "Uh, it's not working." He laughed -- "we're finished." They may not yet be able to shut us all the way off and not kill us, but they can put us in hibernate mode. You don't even know you were unconscious!
Do you have any good references?
Sorry, no, just a few poorly thought out ideas I'd like to see someone with more expertise than me run with.
That's the point - it would be a NEW internet. OUR internet.
I'm a cyborg; the lens in my left eye was replaced by a device called a CrystaLens, which gives it better than 20/20 vision at all distances. After needing thick glasses all my life, not even needing reading glasses at age 60 is nothing short of miraculous.
However, had I not gotten a steroid-induced cataract that pretty much blinded that eye I'd not had the surgery, mostly because I wouldn't have been able to afford the surgery but partly because, well, would you let someone stick a needle in your eye if it wasn't an emergency and glasses or contacts would do the job?
All surgey is dangerous. People have died in dentists' chairs. The difference between people and PCs is we can't just unscrew a panel, replace a part, and screw the panel back in. We have knives and needles and danger of infection and other possible complications, machinery doesn't. We have to heal, and often need some sort of therapy after surgery.
A lot of folks who have had hips, knees, and other joints replaced must suffer additional pain and surgery because of faulty parts; there are several class action lawsuits going on now over defective parts.
However, rather than bionic parts replacement with enhancements for perfectly healthy body parts (which, as I mention, is dangerous), things like third arms, exoskeletons that allow us to lift hundreds of pounds, are already in development.
Bionics will most likely be for replacement of existing, faulty human parts rather than enhancing or "upgrading" human tissues unless we get McCoy's knifeless surgery.
Wow, that's sad. It appears that politically, things have deteriorated quite a bit in the last 40 years. Sad also to hear that your king is not in the best of health, when I was there folks told me of the good he'd done.
Not stupid, simply misguided.
Indeed, when I was in the USAF I spent the 1st 3 years on the flightline, and there was a lot of accidental damage. One poor fellow backed a C5-A into a hangar and did $50 million in damage. He was sweating bullets for a week until the wing walker got the blame. They grounded the fleet when one of the giant buckets they serviced the tails fell over in another base and killed two mechanics. I saw quite a few land without landing gear on a foam runway, and at least one had an engine fall off. I also saw a C-141 with a missing windshield and a lot of blood, a large bird went through the windshield, killing the co-pilot.
Nobody's perfect, everybody screws up occasionally. Like you say, these things happen.
I did think of that, but didn't mention it because I see no solution to the problam, but I'll bet someone else will. Maybe piggybacking moduated signals* on ham radio signals? OK, now I'm sure someone will solve it with a much better idea.
* I mean like they did in the '70s with quadrophonic LPs, where they modulated the rear channels with a 40kHz wave and mixed them with the front signals. The digital data could be made to appear as noise if you piggybacked digital data with, say, morse code.
You are correct, it was indeed Apollo 1. I should google before trusting my memory.
It's also incorrect to put your comma outside of the quote! :)
I believe that's one that's kind of up in the air, and a lot depends on whether you're British or American, although I've seen some edited American writing (published books) that do it the British way.
How about the death penalty? How about the invasion of Iraq? People who live in glass houses... Before you try to take the speck out of your brother's eye, remove the plank from your own.
You, like most, misunderstand -- it isn't taking his name in vain, it's a prayer. "Please damn this intolerable situation" and "send this piece of shit phone to hell where it came from."
An ex-girlfriend had the crazy idea that "God damn it" was damning God. I guess she can't tell the difference between a shit dog and dog shit.
the .gov cannot "create" something that benefits more people than the required taxing harms.
Like the interstate highway system? I'm sure glad I don't have to pay a hundred dollar toll to get to St Louis over very dangerous two lane highways, or pay the higher prices it would cost to have goods shipped.
And where do you think the ineternet came from? Almost ll that medical tech in your local hospital was born from the space program.
Rub your two remaining brain cells together and you might think of some on your own... but that's a little to ask of an anarchist, I guess.
...the government would have blown the money on something else similarly unproductive.
Like the Vietnam war?
You've forgotten the three laws of thermodynamics: You can't win, you can't break even, and you can't quit. If we ever discover that the laws of thermodynamics are bullshit you might have a point, but I don't think anyone seriously believes that will ever happen.
Society has become too risk adverse to do anything as innovative and risky as the first moon landings.
No it hasn't. Yes, we've minimized risk where possible, but not minimizing risk as much as you can for a particular feat is just stupid. But people still bungi jump, climb mountains, do extreme motocross and snowboarding/skateboarding, drag racing 200mph in a quarter mile, etc.
The minute something goes wrong everyone immediately starts arguing about whose fault it was instead of acknowledging the entire venture is risky so don't be too surprised if a couple of things blow up.
I take it you weren't yet born when Apollo 7 blew up.
The rocket disasters in the early space program did not shelve the project until endless analyses could be conducted to guarantee 100% future success.
What early rocket disasters? Yeah, a lot of UNMANNED rockets blew up, why do you think they were unmanned? Apollo 7 set the program back by two years rather than their saying "well, accidents happen, let's launch another one."
Thousands of years ago people blindly set off to sail the oceans when they thought the world was flat
Sailors knew the world wasn't flat, as they coud see the land slowly sinking into the horizon as they got farther away.
Early scientific minds were willing to chance being charged as religious heretics in order to study and eventually publish information about the solar system and basic physics models.
Yeah, that's why Leonardo spoke in code.
The reason government isn't sponsoring moon exploration is because there's no need for government to do so, especially since robots seem to be doing a pretty good job on Mars and other planets.
We're not going to ever leave the solar system and colonize another one unless someone discovers a way around the lightspeed limit, and if it ever happesn it will be generations from now.
Politicians aren't afraid of dead soldiers in Iraq, or dead Navy Seals in Afghanistan and Somalia, are they? So why would they be afraid of dead astronauts? Rather than parrot what you hear, give it a little thought.
This is the real reason Siri's available only for 4S users.
I don't think so, I think it's because of Checkov in the last Star Trek movie.
"Please enter authorization code."
"Wictor wictor alpha"
"That code is not recognized."
There was a British woman on TV a few weeks ago who was saying that Siri couldn't understand a word she said. And she's speaking the same language but with a slightly different accent! I'll bet Texans and Bostonians have trouble with it, too. Hell, I can't understand a word someone from Boston says.
"Please enter authorizatiopn"
"Victah Victah alpha"
"That code is not recognized."
Or New Yawk. "Da dwag! Da dyam Dwag is undah da cwah! Ya pahkin' da cah on da dyam dwag!"
I couldn't decide if he was clueless or a sociopath.
Why do you have to decide? The two are not mutually exclusive.
Using National Review for all your citations about the tea party is like using Mother Jones for all one's citations about unionism. You really expect a magazine founded by William F. Buckley to be anything but extreme right wing propaganda? I would no more trust National Review for an unbiased citation than I would trust Mother Jones.
The "racists for Cain" is a good example -- Cain was only running so they could claim to not be racist, plus it pits a black man against a half black man. And notice that they chose a black man who appears to be batshit insane to most people, ensuring that he had no chance of being nominated while giving a reason other than racism?
America has been a place where people could start out poor and work their way to wealth.
True -- my grandparents were dirt-poor farmers, my Uncle became very wealthy, but it takes more than just hard work, even though hard work is needed. It also takes intelligence, skill, and a shitload of luck.
That is becoming more difficult under the Obama administration due to the laws and policies they are enacting
That's just bullshit. It's no harder now than it was in WWII when Uncle Dan started his prosthetic business. It's just as unlikely now as then, as well. 99.9% of the 1% were born into wealth. These people, to quote a Texan whose name I can't recall, were born on third base and think they hit a triple.
How about an open wifi mesh network?
humans have always endeavored to explore the unexplored. It is why people eventually left Africa
Actually I kind of doubt that; there are far better expanations. The Potato Famine led many Irish to America; the richer Irish got exiled by Cromwell (he simnply killed the poor ones). Australia was colonized to be a penal colony. Columbus was looking for a new route to India so they could make more money.
Name one place and time in written history that people colonized simply from curiosity.