What's next? People can ask a judge if TV show is okay? A magazine? A book?
Well, yeah. Generally comunities have obscenity laws, and those laws are based on some idea of a community standard. Yes, there could be some sort of legal action around a TV show, book, movie. Who else would you expect to interpret the laws and decide whether or not a publication had run afoul of those laws?
The judge gets his power to rule on the contents of video games because it's a publication like anything else.
The only strange thing in this case is that the judge did agree to consider arguments *before* the publication of the work. As noted in the original coverage, the government is generally prohibited from ruling on something *before* it's published. That's the free speech thing. You can publish what you want. There just might be consequences afterwards.
Still from TFA, it seems like the judge wanted a look, and handed down NO DECISION, telling Thompson he could bring action after the publication. His comments afterwards seem to hint that he doesn't expect such a case to suceed, and also from the TFA, it sounds like Thompson got that message.
Zune's wireless sharing isn't a killer app. Jobs knows this. Ballmer should.
Wireless wasn't a killer app, but it might've been enough when the Zune was also $50 cheaper than the iPod. When Apple cut their prices to match during the last "mini-refresh," they blew Zune's biggest market advantage out of the water.
I bet that M$ was pissed. They probably figured that Apple would try to hold the pricing line based on their market share. Now, with the Zune still not really all that cool and the iPod the same price, they're going to have a big uphill battle on their hands.
I dunno.. I guess there's nothing *wrong* with it per se, it's just the same uninspired sort of thing that pushes sequels and remakes out of Hollywood, instead of new stuff. Kinda disappoints me.
Honestly, my post was more of just a gut reaction to the Slashdot article, and the way it was phrased. It just triggered an association with the Spaceballs scene. Wasn't meant to be a serious scathing indictment.
I guess it's now even more ironic, since Brooks just announced a Spaceballs TV cartoon sequel series.
It's a little different though. Your account is both a normal user and admin, but not at the same time. Generally you either have to re-enter your password in a dialog or do "sudo" at the command line in order to do "root" things, otherwise you exist at the privlage level of a mere mortal.
Maybe this installer thing is a hole, but in general, the Mac thing is *not* the same as running as "root" or "Administrator" all the time. By design, you have to do something special (re-authenticate) to escalate your privlages.
So, it's mostly wrong to say that you're running as admin "all the time". The fact that your pasword works as the "admin" doesn't mean you're running with those privelages the whole time, and that's a big difference.
Problem is that Pork is often benefits for one's constituents (bridges, defense contracts, etc.), so there's not often incentive for a politician to cut pork. Often pork is the kind of stuff they point to in their stump speeches as examples of their accomplishments. They're bringing $$$ to their voters at the expense of other constituencies.
There must be something about being CEO of Sun that makes you go BATSHIT INSANE. I mean, I was thinking that once McNealy stepped down the company might get a little less goofy, but I guess that's not the case. Oracle should just buy them, so we only have to deal with one nutjob egomaniac tech CEO.
What confuses me is how the poker openings differ. I would speculate that a program would be some heuristic relating the ratio of bluffing to "playing the odds." I have gambling friends that play poker all the time and they have these rules that they follow when they play initially against people. They say it's the best until you "know" the people you're playing. Once you can read them then you deviate from the rules.
and
Simply put, unless you knew someone's reputation as being a bluffer, you would play the opening hand always the same way. Aren't we forced to program the "AI" of the poker software as being this simple heuristic? Will programs ever be able to "read" players intelligently or will they rely on Markov models & statistics they develop from playing against the same human over and over?
Unfortunately it's not quite that simple. First of all, the opening strategies have quite a lot of inputs. Your action varies based on the cards in your hand, the amount of money on the table, your position in the game (did you act first, or last, or somewhere in between), who is in or out, how they've acted (called or raised), etc.
Second, good poker strategy is not just reactive. It includes active attempts to probe for information by examining the reactions of others at the table. In general your strategy remains fairly constant, but you adjust your behavior (how aggressively do you play), based on the information that you've learned by observing the play of others at the table.
Third, good poker strategy is intentionally deceptive. Sometimes you might specifically decide to play the same hand a different way the second time than the first. Sometimes you will bet your cards for value, and others you won't.
In the long run, you're going to end up with an estimation of each player, and how well/poorly agressively/meekly they're playing, and that's information that you form over time. It's also hard to come by sometimes, because when a player folds, you generally don't get to see their cards, and it can be very expensive to take lots of hands all the way to a showdown just to see what the other player had. At the same time, you're trying to hide as much information as you can from the other players at the table, and possibly create a false image of your intents.
That's what this article is about there is a *lot* there, which makes it a very interesting problem. Your behaviors aren't nearly as fixed as they are in chess. It's further complicated by conflicting opinions as to the best play of certain hands and situations.
If you're interested in the mathematical and game theory aspects of poker, check out "The Theory of Poker" by David Slansky. It has lots of great discussion on the mathematical basis of decisionmaking in poker, including theory of bluffing, etc. Of course, as I just mentioned, it's not the only opinion on how poker should be played, but it's a good starting point.
Most unfortunate is the fact that the primary reason my friends gamble is they don't experience the same kind of rush while playing other games as they do with poker because it's more social than other games. If we program applications to beat humans, where does the "social aspect" of the game go?
Poker bots can be mostly sucessful because there are a lot of iditots who play mathematically unsound poker, and are pretty much begging to give their money away. If your bot playes sound poker, it doesn't matter if you give up some money to players who are playing better. Your expectation is positive because there is so much money there to be had.
If you don't like the idea of bots, get some friends, some beer, and play in your kitchen. It makes it much harder to have colluding computers (as you described) take your cash. Plus, then, you also get to drink beer.
Colbert didn't vandalize anything. He made a joke about editing entries in the wikipedia to satirize pundits in the press who treat the truth as some maleable thing that should be bent to fit their zany world-view.
This completely fits in with the "character" he plays on ths show, and even fit with some of the points about the repetition of the WMD "facts" that was made later in the interview segment.
You want to be ticked at someone, be ticked at the douchebags who took his joke seriously and actually went and vandalized the pages.
What matters is profit today. Spend as little money as possible today while taking in as much revenue as possible today. This makes the stock price go up today, which makes your options (someone else mentioned these) go up today, and the Board of Directors happy today.
No, this is bubble thinking, and it really applies to "growth stocks," which is mostly a code-name for crappy companies with no business plan.
When good companies correctly manage TCO, they refer to it as good "supply chain management," and they tend to be consistently profitable, which results in decent stock performance and consistent increases in the dividend they pay out. These companies usually manage their core business as tightly as possible, and grow their business (and stock price) by expanding into new markets. Well-run beverage companies are a good example of this.
It's a numbers thing. Most companies (and their management) out there are just naturally bound to be mediocre or sub-par. If it was easy to spot the really well-run ones, I'd be a millonaire.:)
Well, the all black keyboard would be great for some geek cred, especially 'round the office.. but I'm just not going to pay that kind of cash for it.
I've also fallen in love with the two extra USB ports on my Apple keyboard at home. I don't think I'd willingly buy another keyboard that doesn't have a built-in hub. It's just so darned handy.
Well duh, there's always collectors in niche markets anywhere. No one here was really discussing that, and I didn't feel like padding out the post with all the disclaimers for the Slashdot Pedants League. Most of the readers on this site couldn't guess ahead of time which things are likely to one day be valuable, at least not often enough to make buying HD-DVDs look anything like an "investment."
The fact remains that when the punk teen in Best Buy walks up and asks me if I'm ready to "invest" in expensive new technology X (especially when I'll have to repurchase my perfectly fine library of media), I want to punch him in the face, every time.
Companies haven't "figured it out" yet because the CEO picked the VP of HR who's negotiating his pay package, oh and the CEO's probably also the chairman of the board, too. He's probably on the board of three other companies with half of those guys, and they all play golf together and light each others' cigars with $100 bills.
Anyone with the power to "figure it out" and do something about it has absolutley zero incentive to do so. Nice, huh?
This is the point where you should be asking yourself "how do I become a CEO?"
Yeah, except there are low voltage, low power versions of the Pentium family specifically for embedded use. You can get whole systems that use 25 watts or less. Google for it.
So, the OP is still a retard, and the respondant complaining about the bad slashdot attitude is still right.
Cingular is in the process of rolling out UMTS with HSDPA, it's already available in a bunch of markets, and Verizon and Sprint already have EVDO all over the place. I even see two UMTS handsets on the Cingular website for my market. Unless you're living somewhere pretty rural, we've already *got* all the good stuff.
My guess, BTW, is that T-Mobile is interested in this wi-fi stuff because they're farthest back in the pack to deploy 3G data. They're mostly stuck with EDGE, and they won't be able to compete without tying in all their Wi-Fi hotspots.. and I'm not even sure they have the spectrum they'd need for a UMTS rollout.
Actually, I think it was an attempt to reference the Colbert Report. Steven pretends he is a Fox News-style pundit, who prefers the council of his "gut" to the facts.
The fact that it also works as a perfect description of the Slashdot crowd is just gravy.
Yes, but the filesharers would prefer that you not call it theft so they can feel like they're not doing anything wrong. They're perfectly happy violating someone else's license, especially if it's someone they don't like. If we start calling them theives, they might actually experience some guilt over it.
Nevermind that these are the same people screaming for blood when some rinky-dink company violates the GPL, which is, of course, based on the same copyright laws.
This is still the way to go. I love having a physical backup of music I've just spent money on. Actually, I've found that, as long as you absolutely never buy a "featured selection," that BMG Music Service is a good deal: $6-$8 bucks a disk, no DRM, and a nice solid, physical copy.
Slashdot Mirror
The judge gets his power to rule on the contents of video games because it's a publication like anything else.
The only strange thing in this case is that the judge did agree to consider arguments *before* the publication of the work. As noted in the original coverage, the government is generally prohibited from ruling on something *before* it's published. That's the free speech thing. You can publish what you want. There just might be consequences afterwards.
Still from TFA, it seems like the judge wanted a look, and handed down NO DECISION, telling Thompson he could bring action after the publication. His comments afterwards seem to hint that he doesn't expect such a case to suceed, and also from the TFA, it sounds like Thompson got that message.
I bet that M$ was pissed. They probably figured that Apple would try to hold the pricing line based on their market share. Now, with the Zune still not really all that cool and the iPod the same price, they're going to have a big uphill battle on their hands.
I dunno.. I guess there's nothing *wrong* with it per se, it's just the same uninspired sort of thing that pushes sequels and remakes out of Hollywood, instead of new stuff. Kinda disappoints me.
Honestly, my post was more of just a gut reaction to the Slashdot article, and the way it was phrased. It just triggered an association with the Spaceballs scene. Wasn't meant to be a serious scathing indictment.
I guess it's now even more ironic, since Brooks just announced a Spaceballs TV cartoon sequel series.
Halo the toilet paper, Halo the lunchbox, Halo the flamethrower! (The kids love this one).
Good thing the game industry is such a source original thought and creativity.
It's a little different though. Your account is both a normal user and admin, but not at the same time. Generally you either have to re-enter your password in a dialog or do "sudo" at the command line in order to do "root" things, otherwise you exist at the privlage level of a mere mortal.
Maybe this installer thing is a hole, but in general, the Mac thing is *not* the same as running as "root" or "Administrator" all the time. By design, you have to do something special (re-authenticate) to escalate your privlages.
So, it's mostly wrong to say that you're running as admin "all the time". The fact that your pasword works as the "admin" doesn't mean you're running with those privelages the whole time, and that's a big difference.
Problem is that Pork is often benefits for one's constituents (bridges, defense contracts, etc.), so there's not often incentive for a politician to cut pork. Often pork is the kind of stuff they point to in their stump speeches as examples of their accomplishments. They're bringing $$$ to their voters at the expense of other constituencies.
There must be something about being CEO of Sun that makes you go BATSHIT INSANE. I mean, I was thinking that once McNealy stepped down the company might get a little less goofy, but I guess that's not the case. Oracle should just buy them, so we only have to deal with one nutjob egomaniac tech CEO.
At which point in the story do the fanboys drink the Kool Aid?
Seriously.. I own an iPod, but this seems a little.. Out There.
Second, good poker strategy is not just reactive. It includes active attempts to probe for information by examining the reactions of others at the table. In general your strategy remains fairly constant, but you adjust your behavior (how aggressively do you play), based on the information that you've learned by observing the play of others at the table.
Third, good poker strategy is intentionally deceptive. Sometimes you might specifically decide to play the same hand a different way the second time than the first. Sometimes you will bet your cards for value, and others you won't.
In the long run, you're going to end up with an estimation of each player, and how well/poorly agressively/meekly they're playing, and that's information that you form over time. It's also hard to come by sometimes, because when a player folds, you generally don't get to see their cards, and it can be very expensive to take lots of hands all the way to a showdown just to see what the other player had. At the same time, you're trying to hide as much information as you can from the other players at the table, and possibly create a false image of your intents.
That's what this article is about there is a *lot* there, which makes it a very interesting problem. Your behaviors aren't nearly as fixed as they are in chess. It's further complicated by conflicting opinions as to the best play of certain hands and situations.
If you're interested in the mathematical and game theory aspects of poker, check out "The Theory of Poker" by David Slansky. It has lots of great discussion on the mathematical basis of decisionmaking in poker, including theory of bluffing, etc. Of course, as I just mentioned, it's not the only opinion on how poker should be played, but it's a good starting point.
Poker bots can be mostly sucessful because there are a lot of iditots who play mathematically unsound poker, and are pretty much begging to give their money away. If your bot playes sound poker, it doesn't matter if you give up some money to players who are playing better. Your expectation is positive because there is so much money there to be had.
If you don't like the idea of bots, get some friends, some beer, and play in your kitchen. It makes it much harder to have colluding computers (as you described) take your cash. Plus, then, you also get to drink beer.
Colbert didn't vandalize anything. He made a joke about editing entries in the wikipedia to satirize pundits in the press who treat the truth as some maleable thing that should be bent to fit their zany world-view.
This completely fits in with the "character" he plays on ths show, and even fit with some of the points about the repetition of the WMD "facts" that was made later in the interview segment.
You want to be ticked at someone, be ticked at the douchebags who took his joke seriously and actually went and vandalized the pages.
Yes, but they sure demonstrated "some hard truths about Wikipedia's strength in resisting vandalism."
All vandals who go onto national TV and announce their intent beforehand will be stopped!
Well, it is one of the three great virtues of a programmer..
We're loud, arrogant, conspicuous consumers.. but we're not stupid. ;)
What matters is profit today. Spend as little money as possible today while taking in as much revenue as possible today. This makes the stock price go up today, which makes your options (someone else mentioned these) go up today, and the Board of Directors happy today.
:)
No, this is bubble thinking, and it really applies to "growth stocks," which is mostly a code-name for crappy companies with no business plan.
When good companies correctly manage TCO, they refer to it as good "supply chain management," and they tend to be consistently profitable, which results in decent stock performance and consistent increases in the dividend they pay out. These companies usually manage their core business as tightly as possible, and grow their business (and stock price) by expanding into new markets. Well-run beverage companies are a good example of this.
It's a numbers thing. Most companies (and their management) out there are just naturally bound to be mediocre or sub-par. If it was easy to spot the really well-run ones, I'd be a millonaire.
Well, the all black keyboard would be great for some geek cred, especially 'round the office.. but I'm just not going to pay that kind of cash for it.
I've also fallen in love with the two extra USB ports on my Apple keyboard at home. I don't think I'd willingly buy another keyboard that doesn't have a built-in hub. It's just so darned handy.
Well duh, there's always collectors in niche markets anywhere. No one here was really discussing that, and I didn't feel like padding out the post with all the disclaimers for the Slashdot Pedants League. Most of the readers on this site couldn't guess ahead of time which things are likely to one day be valuable, at least not often enough to make buying HD-DVDs look anything like an "investment."
The fact remains that when the punk teen in Best Buy walks up and asks me if I'm ready to "invest" in expensive new technology X (especially when I'll have to repurchase my perfectly fine library of media), I want to punch him in the face, every time.
Repeat after me: "Things, like cars, TVs, and entertainment media, which are guaranteed to decline in value over time are NOT investments."
Yes, I own a nice HDTV. Yes, I am aware that cost a big pile of cash that I will never get back.
Companies haven't "figured it out" yet because the CEO picked the VP of HR who's negotiating his pay package, oh and the CEO's probably also the chairman of the board, too. He's probably on the board of three other companies with half of those guys, and they all play golf together and light each others' cigars with $100 bills.
Anyone with the power to "figure it out" and do something about it has absolutley zero incentive to do so. Nice, huh?
This is the point where you should be asking yourself "how do I become a CEO?"
Yeah, except there are low voltage, low power versions of the Pentium family specifically for embedded use. You can get whole systems that use 25 watts or less. Google for it.
So, the OP is still a retard, and the respondant complaining about the bad slashdot attitude is still right.
Cingular is in the process of rolling out UMTS with HSDPA, it's already available in a bunch of markets, and Verizon and Sprint already have EVDO all over the place. I even see two UMTS handsets on the Cingular website for my market. Unless you're living somewhere pretty rural, we've already *got* all the good stuff.
My guess, BTW, is that T-Mobile is interested in this wi-fi stuff because they're farthest back in the pack to deploy 3G data. They're mostly stuck with EDGE, and they won't be able to compete without tying in all their Wi-Fi hotspots.. and I'm not even sure they have the spectrum they'd need for a UMTS rollout.
Actually, I think it was an attempt to reference the Colbert Report. Steven pretends he is a Fox News-style pundit, who prefers the council of his "gut" to the facts.
The fact that it also works as a perfect description of the Slashdot crowd is just gravy.
Yes, but the filesharers would prefer that you not call it theft so they can feel like they're not doing anything wrong. They're perfectly happy violating someone else's license, especially if it's someone they don't like. If we start calling them theives, they might actually experience some guilt over it.
Nevermind that these are the same people screaming for blood when some rinky-dink company violates the GPL, which is, of course, based on the same copyright laws.
It's not a razor! It's a shaving system! Get it right. Jeez.
1) Buying new CD's, and ripping them
This is still the way to go. I love having a physical backup of music I've just spent money on. Actually, I've found that, as long as you absolutely never buy a "featured selection," that BMG Music Service is a good deal: $6-$8 bucks a disk, no DRM, and a nice solid, physical copy.
No, it was on TNG because it looked cool, not the other way around.