TVT is suing MP3.com, not Napster. I'm all for suing MP3 if they were giving away copyrighted material. There's plenty of non-copyright MP3s out there.
The RCMP have nothing to do with the Government of Ontario. They are a federal police force. Ontario has the OPP, which do the same thing as the RCMP, except their only jurisdiction is in rural Ontario.
You are right in saying that Ontario is the most powerful province in Canada. I remember when I was young watching elections on TV. The election was already decided before the polls closed in B.C. Basically, the viewpoint from out west (I'm from Manitoba) is that Ontario is a spoilt province which thinks its the centre of the universe. And the message they get out there from Ontario doesn't help change that attitude either.
P.S., I'm living in Toronto now, so I've seen both sides of the argument.
The University of Waterloo, which had been using Modula-3 in its second year to teach "good" programming, has just switched to Java. I was fortunate enough to be in the last class of Modula-3, and must definitely say it is one of the nicest languages I've seen. I feel sorry for all the first and second years who will be forced to use Java. *shudder*
I would have been about 6 or 7 when I got on my TRS-80 (Model I) and entered: 10 PRINT "HI THERE" 20 GOTO 10
The is apparent in everybody's first BASIC program. But the problem is only if it is overused. There is absolutely nothing wrong with GOTOs if used responsibly (i.e. the code is still readable). I think for infinite loops, a GOTO is more than justified.
And to think that after using GOTOs for loop control, that a kid won't be able to take the plunge into structured programming is just bunk. I had my TRS-80 until I was 16 and learned Pascal in high school. I must say that my early BASIC programming experience was a *huge* advantage over the other students, who largely had no previous exposure to programming. The gap between BASIC and a structured language like Pascal was a very small one.
If you want someone to learn a language fast, and keep them entertained for a while, give them an old TRS-80, or Apple II, or C-64 along with a game programming book from the mid-80s. Once the need for more power comes around, it's time to haul out Pascal for some structured lessons. Finally, once the need for "real programming" rears its (ugly) head, it's time for Java's introduction.
Isn't there a "largest" known prime number? Take double that + 2 and isn't it disproven?
Actually, there is a proof that there is no largest prime number. To use it, you need to know the Unique Factorization Theorem (which I'm not ready to explain on/.)
I just realized that you had a "known" in there... Yeah. The largest known prime number is of the form (2^p)-1, also known as a Mersenne prime.
We haven't even finished solving the all of the original 23 problems!
One great example is Goldbach's Conjecture: All even numbers greater than 2 are the sum of two prime numbers.
Mathematicians have tried for years to prove or disprove this one (or to prove it is unprovable), but still haven't come up with an answer. I think the thing that irks most mathematicians is the fact that it is so short and elementary.
I've often wonderred the same thing. And I'm nowhere close to the answer. I think the assumption is that because they're "different companies", they won't talk to each other and intermix their products. While that may happen, it still doesn't stop Microsoft from having its OS monopoly, abusing it with unfair pricing schemes.
An articulated arm is an extremely flexible tool that can be repurposed for the evolving needs of say, a car factory, where new vehicle models require that the same tools adapt to manufacturing new products. I don't think that the same requirements apply to a fast food restaurant.
Your car example was a perfect parallel to why a fast food company would prefer a moving arm than a specialized "hamburger" or "pancake" machine. If a company goes out and buys one of those specialized machines, they're locked in. The menu won't be able to change. Take a look at fast-food nowadays. New items are continuously being added and removed from the menu. Having flexibility in the cook to make those new items is an incredible advantage.
Many in Europe are upset at the notion of the US spying on their cell phone conversations, E-mails, and other private communications.
Come on, it doesn't take government resources to spy on cell phone calls. Any ordinary joe with a radio receiver can do it if you tweak it into the 900MHz range.
I have no clue why Inprise would have wanted to merge with Corel. If there is one software company that is going to die out in the next 3 years, it's Corel. They're grasping at straws, trying to be one of the "big boys". If it wasn't for CorelDRAW, they would have been bankrupt long ago.
You don't even want to hear about my opinion of Mr. Cowpland (Bill Gates wannabe).
Why is it that 95% of the population of Canada lives within 100 miles of the US border?
Because when Canada was very young, the Great Lakes were the most economical method of travel. So, most of the population is along the St. Lawrence river and Great Lakes. Not to mention that further north, in the Canadian Shield, the ground is infertile (read: rock).
If somebody leaves their lunch out at their desk and I steal it, eat it, and then get food poisoning.. should I be able to sue them?
It depends. If the person deliberately poisoned their food so somebody who stole it would get sick, then yes you could sue. But if you just happened to get the food poisoning because the lunch was ill-prepared (and at no fault to the maker), then you cannot sue.
Basically, you cannot deliberately hurt somebody whether they are doing something illegal or not. As a more relevant example, you cannot go around booby-trapping your house to mortally wound burglars (ala Home Alone). Everyone has a duty of care to ensure nobody is hurt by your direct actions.
As a result, to prosecute the man who made the virus, the court would have to prove that he created ILOVEYOU and that he intended to distribute it. If he accidentally distributed it, he would still get dinged, just not as severely (just like Manslaugher vs. First Degree Murder).
The market as a whole is definitely NOT offtopic. Where would be geeks be if we didn't have jobs? Okay, I know the answer to that... We'd all be in school. But other than school? We'd all be in deep doo-doo.
The markets, specifically the Nasdaq, have increased a phenomenal amount in the past year (over 50%). Anybody with first-year economics can tell you this is not a good thing. That means, there's either going to be a 40% correction (crash) or there's going to be 40% inflation (eep!). A growth rate of 10% is deemed to be more or less "normal".
The federal reserve noticed that inflation is starting to increase. That means the economy is doing a little too well, so they raised their interest rates. You might be thinking "so what?" But that means people would be able to get more of their money's worth 10 years from now than today (calculate it out, and see for yourself). This makes people spend less, and slows the economy down. All to prevent inflation rates from going out of control.
So before, we were in a boom, and now we're going into a recession. Recessions tend to be marked by bearish markets, and high unemployment.
After all the high-tech stocks get beaten into pulp by (rightly-so) nervous investors who haven't seen a dime come from their investments, high-tech companies are going to be the first companies sold off. Their stocks plumet (already been seeing this), and they'll have to start making cutbacks.
So, it looks like sometime in the next ten years, there's not going to be a shortage of IT staff. There's going to be a surplus.
Good call. Forgot about failure other than purely mechanical.
What *IS* preventing tapes from reaching the capacity that hard drives reach? Is it because the HDs need to be in a sealed environment? Otherwise, I can't see why you just don't "pull" at the end of a track on a HD to make a long tape (logically, not physically). Of course, that'd be one hell of a long tape. But if you cut it into 32, 64 or 128 parts, you could lay them side by side and be able to read/write 1, 2 or 4 words at a time.
Yeah yeah, I know I'm oversimplifying the case. Can anybody else give an explanation of why tapes suck so much compared to HDs?
Anyone remember full-height 3.5" drives? Maybe they'll make a brief comeback once density plateaus.
Don't remember 3.5s, but I do remember 5.25s. In fact, I have a friend who has a couple of them whirring away in his room....
backup window times are shrinking quickly
QAD solution: Don't backup. Use RAID-5 or some other RAID that gives you redundancy with minimal cost. You could even do RAID-5 with a hot backup, so if one disk does die, another comes to life and takes its place. Giving you double redundancy! Of course, if BOTH disks die, or if a second disk dies before all the information is copied to the backup, then you're SOL!
Slashdot Mirror
TVT is suing MP3.com, not Napster. I'm all for suing MP3 if they were giving away copyrighted material. There's plenty of non-copyright MP3s out there.
The RCMP have nothing to do with the Government of Ontario. They are a federal police force. Ontario has the OPP, which do the same thing as the RCMP, except their only jurisdiction is in rural Ontario.
You are right in saying that Ontario is the most powerful province in Canada. I remember when I was young watching elections on TV. The election was already decided before the polls closed in B.C. Basically, the viewpoint from out west (I'm from Manitoba) is that Ontario is a spoilt province which thinks its the centre of the universe. And the message they get out there from Ontario doesn't help change that attitude either.
P.S., I'm living in Toronto now, so I've seen both sides of the argument.
The University of Waterloo, which had been using Modula-3 in its second year to teach "good" programming, has just switched to Java. I was fortunate enough to be in the last class of Modula-3, and must definitely say it is one of the nicest languages I've seen. I feel sorry for all the first and second years who will be forced to use Java. *shudder*
10 PRINT "HI THERE"
20 GOTO 10
The is apparent in everybody's first BASIC program. But the problem is only if it is overused. There is absolutely nothing wrong with GOTOs if used responsibly (i.e. the code is still readable). I think for infinite loops, a GOTO is more than justified.
And to think that after using GOTOs for loop control, that a kid won't be able to take the plunge into structured programming is just bunk. I had my TRS-80 until I was 16 and learned Pascal in high school. I must say that my early BASIC programming experience was a *huge* advantage over the other students, who largely had no previous exposure to programming. The gap between BASIC and a structured language like Pascal was a very small one.
If you want someone to learn a language fast, and keep them entertained for a while, give them an old TRS-80, or Apple II, or C-64 along with a game programming book from the mid-80s. Once the need for more power comes around, it's time to haul out Pascal for some structured lessons. Finally, once the need for "real programming" rears its (ugly) head, it's time for Java's introduction.
Doesn't 4 come after 3? Shouldn't it be the VooDoo4?
Actually, there is a proof that there is no largest prime number. To use it, you need to know the Unique Factorization Theorem (which I'm not ready to explain on /.)
I just realized that you had a "known" in there... Yeah. The largest known prime number is of the form (2^p)-1, also known as a Mersenne prime.
I said "Greater Than", not "Greater Than or Equal To". So two is not inclusive. Start the even numbers at 4. And 1 is not a prime number.
Or you could always make a post claiming to have a solution to the Karma Maximization problem. That'd work, too. :)
Actually, R is the set of all Reals. C is the set of all Complex numbers (which include the Reals, Imaginary numbers, and sums of the two).
One great example is Goldbach's Conjecture: All even numbers greater than 2 are the sum of two prime numbers.
Mathematicians have tried for years to prove or disprove this one (or to prove it is unprovable), but still haven't come up with an answer. I think the thing that irks most mathematicians is the fact that it is so short and elementary.
I've often wonderred the same thing. And I'm nowhere close to the answer. I think the assumption is that because they're "different companies", they won't talk to each other and intermix their products. While that may happen, it still doesn't stop Microsoft from having its OS monopoly, abusing it with unfair pricing schemes.
Your car example was a perfect parallel to why a fast food company would prefer a moving arm than a specialized "hamburger" or "pancake" machine. If a company goes out and buys one of those specialized machines, they're locked in. The menu won't be able to change. Take a look at fast-food nowadays. New items are continuously being added and removed from the menu. Having flexibility in the cook to make those new items is an incredible advantage.
Come on, it doesn't take government resources to spy on cell phone calls. Any ordinary joe with a radio receiver can do it if you tweak it into the 900MHz range.
My sword of solid Itanium will smite thee!
You don't even want to hear about my opinion of Mr. Cowpland (Bill Gates wannabe).
Because when Canada was very young, the Great Lakes were the most economical method of travel. So, most of the population is along the St. Lawrence river and Great Lakes. Not to mention that further north, in the Canadian Shield, the ground is infertile (read: rock).
I thought the beer in Canada was better. . .
You thought correctly :)
It depends. If the person deliberately poisoned their food so somebody who stole it would get sick, then yes you could sue. But if you just happened to get the food poisoning because the lunch was ill-prepared (and at no fault to the maker), then you cannot sue.
Basically, you cannot deliberately hurt somebody whether they are doing something illegal or not. As a more relevant example, you cannot go around booby-trapping your house to mortally wound burglars (ala Home Alone). Everyone has a duty of care to ensure nobody is hurt by your direct actions.
As a result, to prosecute the man who made the virus, the court would have to prove that he created ILOVEYOU and that he intended to distribute it. If he accidentally distributed it, he would still get dinged, just not as severely (just like Manslaugher vs. First Degree Murder).
Well then it's simple. Just apply the fifth commandment of the Pentabarf:
V - A Discordian is Prohibited of Believing what he reads.
The markets, specifically the Nasdaq, have increased a phenomenal amount in the past year (over 50%). Anybody with first-year economics can tell you this is not a good thing. That means, there's either going to be a 40% correction (crash) or there's going to be 40% inflation (eep!). A growth rate of 10% is deemed to be more or less "normal".
The federal reserve noticed that inflation is starting to increase. That means the economy is doing a little too well, so they raised their interest rates. You might be thinking "so what?" But that means people would be able to get more of their money's worth 10 years from now than today (calculate it out, and see for yourself). This makes people spend less, and slows the economy down. All to prevent inflation rates from going out of control.
So before, we were in a boom, and now we're going into a recession. Recessions tend to be marked by bearish markets, and high unemployment.
After all the high-tech stocks get beaten into pulp by (rightly-so) nervous investors who haven't seen a dime come from their investments, high-tech companies are going to be the first companies sold off. Their stocks plumet (already been seeing this), and they'll have to start making cutbacks.
So, it looks like sometime in the next ten years, there's not going to be a shortage of IT staff. There's going to be a surplus.
Of course it may be a bit of an extreme example, but you get the idea :)
By circular, I meant that your reason for why FreeBSD was better than OpenBSD was because FreeBSD was written by a guy who writes FreeBSD. :)
2) more importantly, it's from a major contributor to FreeBSD.
1) What type of security issues?
2) Circular reasoning isn't valid.
What *IS* preventing tapes from reaching the capacity that hard drives reach? Is it because the HDs need to be in a sealed environment? Otherwise, I can't see why you just don't "pull" at the end of a track on a HD to make a long tape (logically, not physically). Of course, that'd be one hell of a long tape. But if you cut it into 32, 64 or 128 parts, you could lay them side by side and be able to read/write 1, 2 or 4 words at a time.
Yeah yeah, I know I'm oversimplifying the case. Can anybody else give an explanation of why tapes suck so much compared to HDs?
Don't remember 3.5s, but I do remember 5.25s. In fact, I have a friend who has a couple of them whirring away in his room....
backup window times are shrinking quickly
QAD solution: Don't backup. Use RAID-5 or some other RAID that gives you redundancy with minimal cost. You could even do RAID-5 with a hot backup, so if one disk does die, another comes to life and takes its place. Giving you double redundancy! Of course, if BOTH disks die, or if a second disk dies before all the information is copied to the backup, then you're SOL!