And he realizes it. That is a plus as well. Managers often employ technical assistants for a reason.
I have a degree in Computer Engineering, not nearly as 'programmy' as CS, but I too didn't care for the programming side of things and focused on architecture and the systems engineering side of things.
I've worked on a wide variety of things and never needed to actually program as a primary developer. From data mining to aircraft.
You know what, I don't buy their stuff, but then I might want to buy something that is completely unrelated to the RIAA.
You know, cable television service.
Except that due to the proddings of these organizations my cable-box is a piece of shit. If I switch input sources on my television, it loses its HDCP connection and must reconnect (this results in a few seconds of black-screen that aren't necessary).
The nice company, Scientific-Atlanta, decided to be very safe in their design. When their smart cable box determined that an evil pirate like me decided to include the input source from my cablebox->HDMI->TV with my Cablebox->Composite out->TIVO->Composite->TV (you know, the low res stuff). The cable box freaks out and blocks ALL output on all video sources.
The result is that whenever my Cablebox detects a HDMI connection, it shuts down all other outputs and displays a large "OMG DON'T USE ANYTHING BUT HDMI" message with an 'ok' dialog.
So what happens? My Tivo records nothing but a large dialog box instead of the television show that I am completely within my rights to record.
Of course, this doesn't happen if I use the component connections on the cable box, which kind of makes this entire attempt to block piracy COMPLETELY FUCKING POINTLESS. It simply causes me to not be able to use all of the functions of the equipment that I already own.
So I had to ditch the HDMI connection, or manually operate my TIVO....
Or I could just spend 10 seconds and download an unencumbered pirated version that works better.
F-117 designed by Lockheed Those projects began a long time ago (with respect to how long the secrets were protected). And still were unveiled to the public as a shock.
Private contractors get the same background checks as the government employees receive. Aside from a loyalty oath, I doubt you could request much more. (and I'm not sure that an oath would get you anything real protection)
(FYI, if you want to know about government craziness, read up about the polygraphs that they give you when checking you out.)
There are countless ways that a single person can momentarily inconvenience others. If it isn't cell-phones, it would be something else.
I haven't heard a cell-phone go off in a theater for years, I think the good old-fashioned technique of social shame seems to be doing a fine job as-is. Forgive me for thinking it asinine that the fact that some person might find something mildly annoying with another person that it should be turned into some technological ban.
If it bothers you so much complain to the theater. If enough people complain they will start to do things. Things like the slides they show at the beginning of the movie to remind people to turn off their phones. If someone is so dense that they don't know enough to turn off their cell phone, trust me, they are probably going to do 10 other things that will annoy you.
Chest-thumping about 'nobody controls MY car but ME' is a bit silly; authorities already have control over how fast I go in my car, where I can go, I have to have registration, insurance, and cops can pull me over at a whim and detain me
Well then, once I put this sort of device into my vehicle, which one of those things is going to go away? Oh, you mean that I get all that AND a kill switch. Sounds like a deal.
I don't know about 125 MPH being normal on the Autobahn. I typically cruise along at 85-90 MPH and I often felt like I was the faster of many vehicles on the road.
120 MPH was about the upper limit for what I considered even minimally safe if there was any sort of traffic about that wasn't all going a similar speed. And I KNOW the trucks weren't doing anything near 125MPH.
I absolutely hate that. I am religious about moving over to the right after I pass someone. I'm a slower driver (slower = 70 in a 65), and I'll always move over, and I always use my turn signal.
But what pisses me off is when I am passing a larger vehicle like a truck, and I will give them enough room (since they will accelerate down hills and such) and someone cuts in between me as I'm giving the truck enough distance to get through.
I'd love to see a law about no passing on the right, and strictly enforced left hand lane restrictions. The highways in Germany were wonderful.
FOX News is what's tuned in on every military base I've been on, and many of the government contractors. It's being watched. By a lot of people. Who decry CNN as being "left wing".
That's odd. Why at this contractor, we have a feed of CNN on the IPTV, no Fox news. In general though, I don't know of any contractors that would have TVs tuned into a television station at all the way you would at a military base.
(FoxNews is a joke here, so is CNN Headline news. That's coming from the guys in my dept who are Marines.)
Actually I wouldn't say that their eyes are lifeless. Why, their eyes (and mannerisms) are just like my little cuddly dog.
Oh aren't you just a cuddly little new reporter aren't you. Yes you are! Oh, look how excited you are getting at the animation. Woooosh, it looks fast doesn't it.
Take a look at the anchor again, and compare his expression to that of a puppy.
Essentially, the AI project would have to be an accidental success for the AI to preserve itself.
I wouldn't say to preserve itself, since it would actually have to come to that conclusion. That it would need to preserve itself suggests that it actually perceives a threat.
Even then, an accidental AI wouldn't necessarily rationalize anything like a human would, at least not to start. It would start, at best, as little more than an animal in its cognitive ability, but a peculiar one at that, since it wouldn't have evolved from anything to begin with.
Flight or Fight responses? Why would it have those? Those sorts of responses to situations developed through millions of years in evolution. It is always fun to imagine Skynet scenarios or something like the Lawnmowerman hiding itself away in our networks, but it really puts the cart before the horse when you think about what we can expect to actually observe as the first sentient 'AI'.
Something would have to become intelligent, learn enough to make a decision, then decide to hide its own intelligence. There is a lot of non-hiding that it would do before reaching that final decision.
Even if it did decide that it would prefer to hide, that likely wouldn't be the best decision for something trying to preserve itself. What happens when it the budget gets cut and they end up scrapping the whole 'failed' project?
In short, you are correct. If you were to magically replace our Sun with a black hole of 1 solar mass, the gravitational pull would not change. There would be a whole lot of other stuff going on, but black holes don't magically increase the gravitational pull of a mass.
If I made a blackhole out of the amount of mass that the LHC is accelerating, and put it suspended in a sealed jar on my desk, I would only feel the gravitational pull of the mass that actually is the black hole. So, unless people are having difficulty with the gravitational pull of things on their desk, I wouldn't be too worried about it.
If it's important enough to swear about, it's important enough to communicate intelligibly.
Then I'll be sure to carefully enunciate the next time I call someone a motherfucker.
Which, I might add, I don't do nearly enough.
Either you're letting the rest of us down by not communicating what you've perceived in a fashion that we can digest and act upon, or you're making a spectacle of yourself and needlessly distracting the rest of us from what's important. Either way, you're part of the problem.
What is important, is that self-righteous shits don't fuck things up for the rest of us by imposing their own selected morals on the rest of society based on nothing more than tradition and old stories.
Anyone who mentions "up there", "god", or "soul" in this article should be modded down.
Why mod them down? Because you cannot see it for the joke it is? If Carlin were here, I'm sure he would find the joke of him 'looking down from up there' as a bit funny. Unless of course, by 'up there', you mean stuck up there on the roof.
I think that one of the sadder parts about Carlin's passing is that most people are going to turn this into an athiest vs theist debate and completely overlook the remaining bulk that is Carlin's work.
There is a lot more to Carlin's humor than just his latest poking at religion.
Or so the theory goes, anyway. The truth is, we don't know what will happen. If we did, there would be no need to actually perform the experiment.
That is not true.
When I do a crash test on a unit, I don't know with 100% certainty what will happen, but I do have some very clear ideas as what is expected to happen. I also know what can not happen.
It is possible to conduct an experiment and know what should occur.
If you go by the premise that they could be wrong in their calculations, then you should point out where those calculations are wrong.
Because taking out taxes after they are in place is pretty damned hard. Sadly, it seems the best we can hope for is to keep taxes out of new areas and hope that they old ones simply become anachronisms.
But then again, I no longer live in one of the areas where violent crime is a problem. When I did, there were bells on the doors/windows and they were locked, and a shotgun was under my bed.
The problem in the US with violence has nothing to do with firearms and a lot more to do with cultural issues.
To vote with my feet.... well lets look at my options:
I'm with RR right now. My other option is Verizon (DSL), unfortunately I'm too far from the CO in the first place. So I suppose my only other option is Hughesnet, which for anyone who has used satellite internet, isn't really an option at all.
My neighbors don't even have internet access (average age = 60 yrs old) So getting a T1 and selling it out isn't much of an option either.
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And he realizes it. That is a plus as well. Managers often employ technical assistants for a reason.
I have a degree in Computer Engineering, not nearly as 'programmy' as CS, but I too didn't care for the programming side of things and focused on architecture and the systems engineering side of things.
I've worked on a wide variety of things and never needed to actually program as a primary developer. From data mining to aircraft.
You know what, I don't buy their stuff, but then I might want to buy something that is completely unrelated to the RIAA.
You know, cable television service.
Except that due to the proddings of these organizations my cable-box is a piece of shit. If I switch input sources on my television, it loses its HDCP connection and must reconnect (this results in a few seconds of black-screen that aren't necessary).
The nice company, Scientific-Atlanta, decided to be very safe in their design. When their smart cable box determined that an evil pirate like me decided to include the input source from my cablebox->HDMI->TV with my Cablebox->Composite out->TIVO->Composite->TV (you know, the low res stuff). The cable box freaks out and blocks ALL output on all video sources.
The result is that whenever my Cablebox detects a HDMI connection, it shuts down all other outputs and displays a large "OMG DON'T USE ANYTHING BUT HDMI" message with an 'ok' dialog.
So what happens? My Tivo records nothing but a large dialog box instead of the television show that I am completely within my rights to record.
Of course, this doesn't happen if I use the component connections on the cable box, which kind of makes this entire attempt to block piracy COMPLETELY FUCKING POINTLESS. It simply causes me to not be able to use all of the functions of the equipment that I already own.
So I had to ditch the HDMI connection, or manually operate my TIVO....
Or I could just spend 10 seconds and download an unencumbered pirated version that works better.
Learned nothing from experience?
SR-71 designed by Lockheed
F-117 designed by Lockheed
Those projects began a long time ago (with respect to how long the secrets were protected). And still were unveiled to the public as a shock.
Private contractors get the same background checks as the government employees receive. Aside from a loyalty oath, I doubt you could request much more. (and I'm not sure that an oath would get you anything real protection)
(FYI, if you want to know about government craziness, read up about the polygraphs that they give you when checking you out.)
There are countless ways that a single person can momentarily inconvenience others. If it isn't cell-phones, it would be something else.
I haven't heard a cell-phone go off in a theater for years, I think the good old-fashioned technique of social shame seems to be doing a fine job as-is. Forgive me for thinking it asinine that the fact that some person might find something mildly annoying with another person that it should be turned into some technological ban.
If it bothers you so much complain to the theater. If enough people complain they will start to do things. Things like the slides they show at the beginning of the movie to remind people to turn off their phones. If someone is so dense that they don't know enough to turn off their cell phone, trust me, they are probably going to do 10 other things that will annoy you.
Chest-thumping about 'nobody controls MY car but ME' is a bit silly; authorities already have control over how fast I go in my car, where I can go, I have to have registration, insurance, and cops can pull me over at a whim and detain me
Well then, once I put this sort of device into my vehicle, which one of those things is going to go away? Oh, you mean that I get all that AND a kill switch. Sounds like a deal.
I don't know about 125 MPH being normal on the Autobahn. I typically cruise along at 85-90 MPH and I often felt like I was the faster of many vehicles on the road.
120 MPH was about the upper limit for what I considered even minimally safe if there was any sort of traffic about that wasn't all going a similar speed. And I KNOW the trucks weren't doing anything near 125MPH.
I absolutely hate that. I am religious about moving over to the right after I pass someone. I'm a slower driver (slower = 70 in a 65), and I'll always move over, and I always use my turn signal.
But what pisses me off is when I am passing a larger vehicle like a truck, and I will give them enough room (since they will accelerate down hills and such) and someone cuts in between me as I'm giving the truck enough distance to get through.
I'd love to see a law about no passing on the right, and strictly enforced left hand lane restrictions. The highways in Germany were wonderful.
The correct thing to do in that situation is mug the person making the announcement.
I'd be willing to bet that almost anyone else in the bar would be carrying more cash than Bill Gates.
FOX News is what's tuned in on every military base I've been on, and many of the government contractors. It's being watched. By a lot of people. Who decry CNN as being "left wing".
That's odd. Why at this contractor, we have a feed of CNN on the IPTV, no Fox news. In general though, I don't know of any contractors that would have TVs tuned into a television station at all the way you would at a military base.
(FoxNews is a joke here, so is CNN Headline news. That's coming from the guys in my dept who are Marines.)
Actually I wouldn't say that their eyes are lifeless. Why, their eyes (and mannerisms) are just like my little cuddly dog.
Oh aren't you just a cuddly little new reporter aren't you. Yes you are! Oh, look how excited you are getting at the animation. Woooosh, it looks fast doesn't it.
Take a look at the anchor again, and compare his expression to that of a puppy.
Please be fair though, a poster on /. who is an advocate of the 2nd Amendment tends to be an advocate of the entire Bill of Rights.
Essentially, the AI project would have to be an accidental success for the AI to preserve itself.
I wouldn't say to preserve itself, since it would actually have to come to that conclusion. That it would need to preserve itself suggests that it actually perceives a threat.
Even then, an accidental AI wouldn't necessarily rationalize anything like a human would, at least not to start. It would start, at best, as little more than an animal in its cognitive ability, but a peculiar one at that, since it wouldn't have evolved from anything to begin with.
Flight or Fight responses? Why would it have those? Those sorts of responses to situations developed through millions of years in evolution. It is always fun to imagine Skynet scenarios or something like the Lawnmowerman hiding itself away in our networks, but it really puts the cart before the horse when you think about what we can expect to actually observe as the first sentient 'AI'.
What really makes us different from animals?
If you are looking for a good place to draw a line, I would think that your question is a good place to start.
I'd draw the line at the point when an animal asks itself, 'What really makes us different from other animals?'
Something would have to become intelligent, learn enough to make a decision, then decide to hide its own intelligence. There is a lot of non-hiding that it would do before reaching that final decision.
Even if it did decide that it would prefer to hide, that likely wouldn't be the best decision for something trying to preserve itself. What happens when it the budget gets cut and they end up scrapping the whole 'failed' project?
I have always expected the end of the world to be preceeded by:
"Good news everyone!"
Right? I'm not a physicist.
In short, you are correct. If you were to magically replace our Sun with a black hole of 1 solar mass, the gravitational pull would not change. There would be a whole lot of other stuff going on, but black holes don't magically increase the gravitational pull of a mass.
If I made a blackhole out of the amount of mass that the LHC is accelerating, and put it suspended in a sealed jar on my desk, I would only feel the gravitational pull of the mass that actually is the black hole. So, unless people are having difficulty with the gravitational pull of things on their desk, I wouldn't be too worried about it.
The difference between uttering a curse word and assaulting someone and threatening them with death?
Yeah, I just don't see it either. -_-
If it's important enough to swear about, it's important enough to communicate intelligibly.
Then I'll be sure to carefully enunciate the next time I call someone a motherfucker.
Which, I might add, I don't do nearly enough.
Either you're letting the rest of us down by not communicating what you've perceived in a fashion that we can digest and act upon, or you're making a spectacle of yourself and needlessly distracting the rest of us from what's important. Either way, you're part of the problem.
What is important, is that self-righteous shits don't fuck things up for the rest of us by imposing their own selected morals on the rest of society based on nothing more than tradition and old stories.
Anyone who mentions "up there", "god", or "soul" in this article should be modded down.
Why mod them down? Because you cannot see it for the joke it is? If Carlin were here, I'm sure he would find the joke of him 'looking down from up there' as a bit funny. Unless of course, by 'up there', you mean stuck up there on the roof.
I think that one of the sadder parts about Carlin's passing is that most people are going to turn this into an athiest vs theist debate and completely overlook the remaining bulk that is Carlin's work.
There is a lot more to Carlin's humor than just his latest poking at religion.
Or so the theory goes, anyway. The truth is, we don't know what will happen. If we did, there would be no need to actually perform the experiment.
That is not true.
When I do a crash test on a unit, I don't know with 100% certainty what will happen, but I do have some very clear ideas as what is expected to happen. I also know what can not happen.
It is possible to conduct an experiment and know what should occur.
If you go by the premise that they could be wrong in their calculations, then you should point out where those calculations are wrong.
Because taking out taxes after they are in place is pretty damned hard. Sadly, it seems the best we can hope for is to keep taxes out of new areas and hope that they old ones simply become anachronisms.
I live in the US, and my door is always unlocked.
But then again, I no longer live in one of the areas where violent crime is a problem. When I did, there were bells on the doors/windows and they were locked, and a shotgun was under my bed.
The problem in the US with violence has nothing to do with firearms and a lot more to do with cultural issues.
2000 Years is a bit of a stretch. What is the difference between that and Hiroshima or Nagasaki?
WTF? I can't even think of a stupid reason for tagging this 'Harry Potter', let alone a serious one.
Because the claims of Denon with respect to this cable are, for all intents and purposes, magic.
To vote with my feet.... well lets look at my options:
I'm with RR right now. My other option is Verizon (DSL), unfortunately I'm too far from the CO in the first place. So I suppose my only other option is Hughesnet, which for anyone who has used satellite internet, isn't really an option at all.
My neighbors don't even have internet access (average age = 60 yrs old) So getting a T1 and selling it out isn't much of an option either.