Informative links...but one thing I wasn't able to determine: Is the position of the web standards' group that all browsers support this "core" set of standards (presumably the standards in the right-hand sidebar)? Or do they support the implementation of browsers that can gracefully handle unknown web standards implementations without cratering?
What's needed in this world isn't another clone of *zilla written in the language du jour. The problem with anything written with the Mozilla (or Gecko engine) is speed: Why should it take more than a few fractions of a second to render HTML?
And yes, it's been done already: Dillo is a blindingly-fast HTML engine/browser that runs from a binary less than 300Kb. No, it doesn't support frames, nor Javascript, nor any of the other kitchen-sink items all other browsers strive to be. Instead, Dillo sports a plug-in interface (open-source, naturally) that allows for all of this to happen, if the user wants it to happen.
So here's my suggestion: Take a cue from Dillo and go for speed, not for bloat.
Oh, and I should add that Dillo renders/. and Yahoo just fine.
So you are actually causing harm instead of helping people. I hope you can feel good about yourself!
Bullshit. If companies were better managed, if executive boards weren't so greedy, and if our government didn't allow companies to go bankrupt and then reward them with the opportunity to create new companies (WorldCom->MCI, for example), there would be no need for layoffs. Attrition due to employee turnover and retirement would take care of the problem of "too many employees."
Employment at will actually favors the employer rather than the employee, because employers are usually better-equipped to handle the loss of an employee rther than employees are to handle the loss of an employer.
I sadly was involved in layoffs at my work, and one minute I was talking to one of my employees about his 6-month/1-year/2-year goals, and the next, I was laying him off.
So you laid people off in 2000, and you're still with the same company 3 years later?
Do you feel no shame for ruining someone's life for the sake of profit? It's people like yourself that continue to perpetuate the fraud of "downsizing" by your willing participation in the process. What a sad commentary.
I'm a satisfied TMDA user too, but don't be deceived: Using all of those tmda-style addresses freely on the net simply increases the amount of spam your MTA ends up handling, but that you never see. In other words, TMDA does wonders for one's insanity, but does little for one's bandwidth.
What I would like to see is a way to integrate RBL's in the mix. Presumably, the RBLs would block the majority of spam messages, but for those that slip through and end up in the TMDA pending list, each one's IP address of origin would be automatically checked as an open relay. If it is, then it takes a place of honor on the RBL through an automated reporting system. If it's forged, the likelihood of there being an open relay is very small, so no harm done.
Do you know how to read? Try reading the GPL. It requires any derivative works to also be GPL. That's a restriction, because it means you can never make software that is available for sale from anything that has been opened as GPL. Pretty serious restriction, if you ask a professional programmer. I am one, I know.
You don't know what you're talking about. You can most certainly make money from GPL'd software. Nothing prevents one from burning CDs of GPL'd software (perhaps you've heard of CheapBytes) and making money from it.
What the GPL prevents you from doing is taking someone else's GPL'd code, modifying it for distribution, and subverting the original author's intent to make the original code freely available by not distributing your changes.
While I admire the spirit of GNU, they're very impractical, and cause tremendous heartache among programmers that are generally in favor of their movement than not.
Don't like it? Check out the BSD license. Or simply don't freeload from the efforts of other professional programmers who don't have a hangup with using GPL for their code.
If you are the proud owner of a tolltag from the North Texas Transit Authority, your movements are already being tracked. Tolltag transponders can be found miles from the nearest tollroad, mounted high on telephone poles and angled downward towards the road.
So to answer your question, not only is nothing preventing the tracking and identification of cars, but it's already being done, without any kind of notification from the NTTA that your movements off the tollroads are being tracked.
...than if everyone involved with this project tested for their Amateur Radio Tech license, and simply used existing off-the-shelf components with power output several magnitudes greater than consumer-grade 802.11 equipment to do the same thing?
Hams have been communicating digitally in the GHz spectrum for a long time now. Why use inferior consumer-grade equipment to get the job done? Plus, as a licensed ham, you have the permission of the government to modify your equipment as necessary (as long as it falls within the power/interference limits set by the FCC).
Of course, transmitting porn and music would be against the regs, but if it's principle you're after, using amateur radio is just the ticket.
One of the guys with l0pht set up this site in an attempt to accomplish something similar: A LAN-based backbone independent of government and corporate oversight. I waited two years for someone in my area to indicate some sort of interest, but nobody seemed interested. The last time this site was updated was in 2002, so I guess the original author's interest has waned as well.
The point of this post, though, is to provide a link that does a good job of answering why such an independent backbone would be A Good Thing.
...would I have ever thought I would see/. ranked right up there with the big boys:
In addition to receiving press here on Slashdot, the fake release was also covered by The Wall Street Journal, The Associated Press, and Reuters.
What prestige! I bet my boss wouldn't even notice if I swapped out his beloved Journal with a copy of today's/. headlines. Hell, he might even stop bitching at me about wasting time reading all that geek drivel, now that he realizes he's been in good company all along.
Sort of like/. redirecting you to Google if you blackhole the Google banners at the top of the page with Junkbuster. (It's an interesting bit of JavaScript that does this...)
Does that mean/. is just a little less pathetic?
Polygons from circles
on
Origami and Math
·
· Score: 3, Informative
I teach high school geometry, and believe the only way to learn geometry is by doing. There's an excellent book I use that is also used in many Chicago-area schools called "Wholemovement Geometry," which involves constructing various 3-D polyhedra using only paper plates (the cheaper the better) and tape. No cutting necessary, as the unused parts of the circles are simply extra information that are folded away. Here's a link to some of the things you never thought were possible to create from paper plates.
Anybody can sue. Whether they are successful is another matter entirely. I won't do your homework for you, but check it out for yourself. See what the record is for individuals who have attempted to sue private entities for curtailment of their constitutional rights. More often than not, these cases are not found in favor of the plaintiff.
Civil rights violations are against laws which have been passed that model various constitutional rights (which, of course, the Bill of Rights is part of). These have been necessary because in the past, it was very difficult, or nearly impossible, for an individual to sue another individual for civil rights violation. Why? Because the Constitution and its amendments directly address the right of the people to be free from government oppression, and do not address all the wrongs one private party can inflict upon another. English common law (supposedly) takes care of this.
I'm not trying to start an ideological war here. But please, before you start firing from the hip, do a little research first.
Not bound by the constitution? You mean I can violate your constitutional rights all I want without worry? Cooool!!
Haven't you heard? The Bill of Rights was drafted to protect individual citizens from government oppression. If I, a restaurant owner, keep you, an individual citizen, from speaking your mind in my restaurant, that's perfectly OK, because I'm not a government representative.
Maybe you slept during US Government?
Here's a place for you to start some serious catch-up work on how this country is run:
They have no right to be looking in the first place, no matter how open my network is.
If your network is publicly accessible, then of course they have a right to look at it...just as I have a right to look at your voting certificate, marriage certificate, or any other document about you that is publicly accessible but that you might not want me to look at.
Your network's presence on the internet implicitly permits anybody who has access to the internet to comb through your network. If you don't want people looking at your stuff, don't make it publicly accessible.
As for the constitutional aspects, I don't recall the RIAA being a governmental entity, which means they are not bound by the Constitution. That's a contract between the government and the people, not between two private entities.
Maybe UC's money would be better-spent researching improved organic methods to control weeds, rather than contributing to the very real problem of synthetic chemical pollutants in the environment.
I am not impressed with this irresponsible use of technology.
In the interest of fair disclosure, it should be pointed out that the submitter of this article (anonicon) is a principal of the company.
Which makes this article nothing more than a blatant advertising piece.
Taco, why don't you put the advertising articles where they belong: In the banner ads. Stop wasting our time with "submissions" that are nothing more than thinly-disguised marketing pitches.
Imagine a world where all those people who would otherwise shell out $30 for MoneyDance would be willing to donate half of that to support "free" comparable software such as Gnucash.
Sarnoff's claims of being able to introduce flicker or other artifacts that are imperceptible to moviegoers is bunk. Different people have different thresholds. I know a computer science prof who cannot work for long periods of time under fluorescent lights without getting migraines from the 60 Hz flicker. His office and the server room are outfitted with incandescent lights. I can detect a 70 Hz flicker on a monitor, which is extremely distracting for me (but it doesn't cause me migraines).
Here's a question: If Sarnoff's anti-copy protection becomes the norm, will those of us in the "flicker-sensitive" population be able to get our money back if a movie proves to be unwatchable? Will we even know a film is Sarnoff-modified in advance, so we can avoid these movies?
The rest cannot be verified one way or the other because of lack of data.
And where, exactly, is the hard data that proves the existence of parallel universes?
It's just a theory, just like the possible origins of UFOs are theories. Parallel universes are no different from UFO sightings. Neither have been proven.
Sure, they were popular with highschool and college kids, but people who do real work with calculators are pretty much unanimously in favour of HP's.
Not "were", but "is" (at least in Texas, unfortunately). TI has a sweetheart deal with the state: Their TI-83+ is the prerequisite calc for all schools administering the state-standardized exams (and that's basically every public school in Texas). Hundreds of thousands of dollars, per school district, flow into TI's coffers as a result.
Having been raised on HPs, I find the TI's EOS (algebraic entry system) extremely tedious to use. No intermediate answers (well, you can access the previous answer), just keep typing in numbers and parens until you're through, hit the enter key, and keep your fingers crossed you didn't make a mistake.
I shudder to think what colleges are requiring their engineering students to use (when I was in engineering school, the 41CX was a necessity to survive).
Oh, and don't go crying to me about all of the rigors of being a teacher. No one forced you into that profession any more than those parents were forced to have kids.
Then it's only fair that you not pass judgement on a profession you know nothing about.
you are not protecting the child, and don't even think for a minute your god damn cowardice of hiding behind you students is pulling the wool over anybodies eyes. clearly you are afraid a students parent might question you about what your doing. you just don't want to be held accountable for what you do.
I thought about dismissing your response as the troll that it is, but decided to correct you on this one point.
Any parent that contacts me has full access to any of their child's grades in my class. There's really nothing to hide. What I am against is the idea that parents are somehow a better judge of their child's progress based on incomplete data than I am. It's as if you went in to have a medical procedure done, and the lab technician told you the results indicated you were going to die. What a way to be notified, especially if the results were interpreted incorrectly, and your doctor says you're going to live after all.
Here's a constructive suggestion: Instead of taking your anger out on me, spend some time in the classroom. Most districts take anybody as subs (that's not a ding at you, but a ding at the entire sub system), so chances are you can experience most everything I experience, except that you don't have to do it every day.
Do you have any objects to being called at 3 am when some parent is on lunchbreak from their 3rd shift factory job? Can they drop by your house at 6 am when they get off work before they crash? Do you mind getting calls during dinner around 8 when someone who has to work 50+ hours per week at their shitty job to pay rent finally gets off work?
Being one of those people who has to work 50+ hours a week to make ends meet, I can sympathize. And no, to answer your question, I don't mind when parents call at inopportune times. To me, it's part of the job.
I mentioned the socioeconomic status of my school to point out that the number of students whose parents have access to e-mail accounts is small, so alternative contact methods are helpful.
If the kid got a 12% on his last test it doesn't matter whether you plan on dropping that grade or not, the kid obviously had no idea WTF was going on. Shouldn't his parents be aware of that? Or do you just not want to be accountable for it?
And I should justify my accountability by doing the parents' job of keeping track of their children? I'm expected to phone 180 parents and keep them personally up-to-date on their child's progress? And how often do you propose I do this? Should this be on my own time? Maybe I can squeeze it in during one of those long break periods (not) they give us?
From the comments I've seen, many people seem to be ignorant of just how involved a teacher's job really is. For those who think we simply waltz in, say a few words to our kids, pass out worksheets, and give tests, I have a suggestion for you: Try subbing at a local school. See what it's really like during the school day. Experience the 10-20 hours per week of unpaid time most dedicated teachers devote to taking care of all those things that can't be taken care of while you're in front of class.
My having to explain to half of my parents that the grade they see on the on-line gradebook isn't accurate is simply make-work I don't want any part of...if you're a parent, then take the initiative and *keep up* with your child's progress. If you work 80 hour weeks, you have my sympathy (I've been there), but you also chose to bring children into this world. No one forced you into that choice. The argument that parents don't have time to check on their children's progress is fallacious at best, and insulting at worst to those parents who do give a damn and who do routinely check progress.
Slashdot Mirror
Informative links...but one thing I wasn't able to determine: Is the position of the web standards' group that all browsers support this "core" set of standards (presumably the standards in the right-hand sidebar)? Or do they support the implementation of browsers that can gracefully handle unknown web standards implementations without cratering?
What's needed in this world isn't another clone of *zilla written in the language du jour. The problem with anything written with the Mozilla (or Gecko engine) is speed: Why should it take more than a few fractions of a second to render HTML?
/. and Yahoo just fine.
And yes, it's been done already: Dillo is a blindingly-fast HTML engine/browser that runs from a binary less than 300Kb. No, it doesn't support frames, nor Javascript, nor any of the other kitchen-sink items all other browsers strive to be. Instead, Dillo sports a plug-in interface (open-source, naturally) that allows for all of this to happen, if the user wants it to happen.
So here's my suggestion: Take a cue from Dillo and go for speed, not for bloat.
Oh, and I should add that Dillo renders
Yes, it happened to me, and no, my career is intact.
And is she?
So you are actually causing harm instead of helping people. I hope you can feel good about yourself!
Bullshit. If companies were better managed, if executive boards weren't so greedy, and if our government didn't allow companies to go bankrupt and then reward them with the opportunity to create new companies (WorldCom->MCI, for example), there would be no need for layoffs. Attrition due to employee turnover and retirement would take care of the problem of "too many employees."
Employment at will actually favors the employer rather than the employee, because employers are usually better-equipped to handle the loss of an employee rther than employees are to handle the loss of an employer.
I sadly was involved in layoffs at my work, and one minute I was talking to one of my employees about his 6-month/1-year/2-year goals, and the next, I was laying him off.
So you laid people off in 2000, and you're still with the same company 3 years later?
Do you feel no shame for ruining someone's life for the sake of profit? It's people like yourself that continue to perpetuate the fraud of "downsizing" by your willing participation in the process. What a sad commentary.
I'm a satisfied TMDA user too, but don't be deceived: Using all of those tmda-style addresses freely on the net simply increases the amount of spam your MTA ends up handling, but that you never see. In other words, TMDA does wonders for one's insanity, but does little for one's bandwidth.
What I would like to see is a way to integrate RBL's in the mix. Presumably, the RBLs would block the majority of spam messages, but for those that slip through and end up in the TMDA pending list, each one's IP address of origin would be automatically checked as an open relay. If it is, then it takes a place of honor on the RBL through an automated reporting system. If it's forged, the likelihood of there being an open relay is very small, so no harm done.
Do you know how to read? Try reading the GPL. It requires any derivative works to also be GPL. That's a restriction, because it means you can never make software that is available for sale from anything that has been opened as GPL. Pretty serious restriction, if you ask a professional programmer. I am one, I know.
You don't know what you're talking about. You can most certainly make money from GPL'd software. Nothing prevents one from burning CDs of GPL'd software (perhaps you've heard of CheapBytes) and making money from it.
What the GPL prevents you from doing is taking someone else's GPL'd code, modifying it for distribution, and subverting the original author's intent to make the original code freely available by not distributing your changes.
While I admire the spirit of GNU, they're very impractical, and cause tremendous heartache among programmers that are generally in favor of their movement than not.
Don't like it? Check out the BSD license. Or simply don't freeload from the efforts of other professional programmers who don't have a hangup with using GPL for their code.
If you are the proud owner of a tolltag from the North Texas Transit Authority, your movements are already being tracked. Tolltag transponders can be found miles from the nearest tollroad, mounted high on telephone poles and angled downward towards the road.
So to answer your question, not only is nothing preventing the tracking and identification of cars, but it's already being done, without any kind of notification from the NTTA that your movements off the tollroads are being tracked.
...than if everyone involved with this project tested for their Amateur Radio Tech license, and simply used existing off-the-shelf components with power output several magnitudes greater than consumer-grade 802.11 equipment to do the same thing?
Hams have been communicating digitally in the GHz spectrum for a long time now. Why use inferior consumer-grade equipment to get the job done? Plus, as a licensed ham, you have the permission of the government to modify your equipment as necessary (as long as it falls within the power/interference limits set by the FCC).
Of course, transmitting porn and music would be against the regs, but if it's principle you're after, using amateur radio is just the ticket.
One of the guys with l0pht set up this site in an attempt to accomplish something similar: A LAN-based backbone independent of government and corporate oversight. I waited two years for someone in my area to indicate some sort of interest, but nobody seemed interested. The last time this site was updated was in 2002, so I guess the original author's interest has waned as well.
The point of this post, though, is to provide a link that does a good job of answering why such an independent backbone would be A Good Thing.
...would I have ever thought I would see /. ranked right up there with the big boys:
/. headlines. Hell, he might even stop bitching at me about wasting time reading all that geek drivel, now that he realizes he's been in good company all along.
In addition to receiving press here on Slashdot, the fake release was also covered by The Wall Street Journal, The Associated Press, and Reuters.
What prestige! I bet my boss wouldn't even notice if I swapped out his beloved Journal with a copy of today's
Sort of like /. redirecting you to Google if you blackhole the Google banners at the top of the page with Junkbuster. (It's an interesting bit of JavaScript that does this...)
/. is just a little less pathetic?
Does that mean
I teach high school geometry, and believe the only way to learn geometry is by doing. There's an excellent book I use that is also used in many Chicago-area schools called "Wholemovement Geometry," which involves constructing various 3-D polyhedra using only paper plates (the cheaper the better) and tape. No cutting necessary, as the unused parts of the circles are simply extra information that are folded away. Here's a link to some of the things you never thought were possible to create from paper plates.
Anybody can sue. Whether they are successful is another matter entirely. I won't do your homework for you, but check it out for yourself. See what the record is for individuals who have attempted to sue private entities for curtailment of their constitutional rights. More often than not, these cases are not found in favor of the plaintiff.
Civil rights violations are against laws which have been passed that model various constitutional rights (which, of course, the Bill of Rights is part of). These have been necessary because in the past, it was very difficult, or nearly impossible, for an individual to sue another individual for civil rights violation. Why? Because the Constitution and its amendments directly address the right of the people to be free from government oppression, and do not address all the wrongs one private party can inflict upon another. English common law (supposedly) takes care of this.
I'm not trying to start an ideological war here. But please, before you start firing from the hip, do a little research first.
Not bound by the constitution?
f _f reedom/bill_of_rights/bill_of_rights.html
You mean I can violate your constitutional rights all I want without worry? Cooool!!
Haven't you heard? The Bill of Rights was drafted to protect individual citizens from government oppression. If I, a restaurant owner, keep you, an individual citizen, from speaking your mind in my restaurant, that's perfectly OK, because I'm not a government representative.
Maybe you slept during US Government?
Here's a place for you to start some serious catch-up work on how this country is run:
http://www.archives.gov/exhibit_hall/charters_o
They have no right to be looking in the first place, no matter how open my network is.
If your network is publicly accessible, then of course they have a right to look at it...just as I have a right to look at your voting certificate, marriage certificate, or any other document about you that is publicly accessible but that you might not want me to look at.
Your network's presence on the internet implicitly permits anybody who has access to the internet to comb through your network. If you don't want people looking at your stuff, don't make it publicly accessible.
As for the constitutional aspects, I don't recall the RIAA being a governmental entity, which means they are not bound by the Constitution. That's a contract between the government and the people, not between two private entities.
Nonetheless, I feel your anger...
Maybe UC's money would be better-spent researching improved organic
methods to control weeds, rather than contributing to the very real
problem of synthetic chemical pollutants in the environment.
I am not impressed with this irresponsible use of
technology.
In the interest of fair disclosure, it should be pointed out that the submitter of this article (anonicon) is a principal of the company.
Which makes this article nothing more than a blatant advertising piece.
Taco, why don't you put the advertising articles where they belong: In the banner ads. Stop wasting our time with "submissions" that are nothing more than thinly-disguised marketing pitches.
Imagine a world where all those people who would otherwise shell out $30 for MoneyDance would be willing to donate half of that to support "free" comparable software such as Gnucash.
Just imagine.
Sarnoff's claims of being able to introduce flicker or other artifacts that are imperceptible to moviegoers is bunk. Different people have different thresholds. I know a computer science prof who cannot work for long periods of time under fluorescent lights without getting migraines from the 60 Hz flicker. His office and the server room are outfitted with incandescent lights. I can detect a 70 Hz flicker on a monitor, which is extremely distracting for me (but it doesn't cause me migraines).
Here's a question: If Sarnoff's anti-copy protection becomes the norm, will those of us in the "flicker-sensitive" population be able to get our money back if a movie proves to be unwatchable? Will we even know a film is Sarnoff-modified in advance, so we can avoid these movies?
The rest cannot be verified one way or the other because of lack of data.
And where, exactly, is the hard data that proves the existence of parallel universes?
It's just a theory, just like the possible origins of UFOs are theories. Parallel universes are no different from UFO sightings. Neither have been proven.
Sure, they were popular with highschool and college kids, but people who do real work with calculators are pretty much unanimously in favour of HP's.
Not "were", but "is" (at least in Texas, unfortunately). TI has a sweetheart deal with the state: Their TI-83+ is the prerequisite calc for all schools administering the state-standardized exams (and that's basically every public school in Texas). Hundreds of thousands of dollars, per school district, flow into TI's coffers as a result.
Having been raised on HPs, I find the TI's EOS (algebraic entry system) extremely tedious to use. No intermediate answers (well, you can access the previous answer), just keep typing in numbers and parens until you're through, hit the enter key, and keep your fingers crossed you didn't make a mistake.
I shudder to think what colleges are requiring their engineering students to use (when I was in engineering school, the 41CX was a necessity to survive).
Oh, and don't go crying to me about all of the rigors of being a teacher. No one forced you into that profession any more than those parents were forced to have kids.
Then it's only fair that you not pass judgement on a profession you know nothing about.
you are not protecting the child, and don't even think for a minute your god damn cowardice of hiding behind you students is pulling the wool over anybodies eyes. clearly you are afraid a students parent might question you about what your doing. you just don't want to be held accountable for what you do.
I thought about dismissing your response as the troll that it is, but decided to correct you on this one point.
Any parent that contacts me has full access to any of their child's grades in my class. There's really nothing to hide. What I am against is the idea that parents are somehow a better judge of their child's progress based on incomplete data than I am. It's as if you went in to have a medical procedure done, and the lab technician told you the results indicated you were going to die. What a way to be notified, especially if the results were interpreted incorrectly, and your doctor says you're going to live after all.
Here's a constructive suggestion: Instead of taking your anger out on me, spend some time in the classroom. Most districts take anybody as subs (that's not a ding at you, but a ding at the entire sub system), so chances are you can experience most everything I experience, except that you don't have to do it every day.
Do you have any objects to being called at 3 am when some parent is on lunchbreak from their 3rd shift factory job? Can they drop by your house at 6 am when they get off work before they crash? Do you mind getting calls during dinner around 8 when someone who has to work 50+ hours per week at their shitty job to pay rent finally gets off work?
Being one of those people who has to work 50+ hours a week to make ends meet, I can sympathize. And no, to answer your question, I don't mind when parents call at inopportune times. To me, it's part of the job.
I mentioned the socioeconomic status of my school to point out that the number of students whose parents have access to e-mail accounts is small, so alternative contact methods are helpful.
If the kid got a 12% on his last test it doesn't matter whether you plan on dropping that grade or not, the kid obviously had no idea WTF was going on. Shouldn't his parents be aware of that? Or do you just not want to be accountable for it?
And I should justify my accountability by doing the parents' job of keeping track of their children? I'm expected to phone 180 parents and keep them personally up-to-date on their child's progress? And how often do you propose I do this? Should this be on my own time? Maybe I can squeeze it in during one of those long break periods (not) they give us?
From the comments I've seen, many people seem to be ignorant of just how involved a teacher's job really is. For those who think we simply waltz in, say a few words to our kids, pass out worksheets, and give tests, I have a suggestion for you: Try subbing at a local school. See what it's really like during the school day. Experience the 10-20 hours per week of unpaid time most dedicated teachers devote to taking care of all those things that can't be taken care of while you're in front of class.
My having to explain to half of my parents that the grade they see on the on-line gradebook isn't accurate is simply make-work I don't want any part of...if you're a parent, then take the initiative and *keep up* with your child's progress. If you work 80 hour weeks, you have my sympathy (I've been there), but you also chose to bring children into this world. No one forced you into that choice. The argument that parents don't have time to check on their children's progress is fallacious at best, and insulting at worst to those parents who do give a damn and who do routinely check progress.