Slashback: Titanium, Art, Israel 157
You want fries with that software? If the recent report of Microsoft porting apps to *nix, intrigued you, see Paul Thurrott's piece in Windows 2000 Magazine (yes, there is such a thing). Thurrott says, in part: "I can't tell you that the port is going to produce actual products. But I can tell you that Microsoft is looking into it. No, I don't think it's smart. No, it's not what I'd do. But yes, I believe it's true. So why would Microsoft try to port its desktop applications to a platform that has absolutely no desktop market share? I've no idea." Too bad for Microsoft Linux has "absolutely no desktop market share."
Silly! The sky isn't falling! It's just sinking a little each day ... Johann writes "Here is a follow up story to last week's NY Times article which was debated here on Slashdot. The article states that 'Open water at the top of the world isn't evidence that the North Pole is melting, as an article this month in The New York Times suggested.' There are numerous quotes in the article that do suggest that global warming is fact, not fiction."
To which the dapper and elegant Party Remover adds: "The Associated Press reports that a recent New York Times story about liquid water at the North Pole was rather overstating the seriousness of the situation. It seems that the Arctic Ocean is typically 10% ice-free during the summer." And the wording of the correction is amusing, for those of us easily amused.
Getcher doo-dads! Red-hot, computer-generated doo-dads! Get 'em while they're hot, ladies and gents ... ussphoenix writes: "Regarding the /. story about Computer Makes Robot Offspring, here is an article in the journal Nature describing the system. There are also mpegs of the virtual machines and the corresponding real machines moving!"
Next week we explain the buggy-whip makers' case, too. breillysf writes: "Eric Sinrod has condensed the complicated legal issues surrounding 2600's hyperlinking ruling. You can read the article here: Upside Counsel DeCSS article. The article is concise and not filled with legal jargon. A good contribution for those with little time to understand the fundamentals of the case."
And on the DeCSS note, Jim Tyre writes "Tom Vogt, a defendant in the California DeCSS lawsuit brought by DVD CCA, has started DeArt, the DeCSS Art Contest, to further explore the expressive aspects of DeCSS. Original creations only, obviously must be related to DeCSS. The contest runs through Dec. 31, and there will be prizes. Tom and Jon Johansen are the current judges, Emmanuel Goldstein has been asked to be an additional judge. Time for Slashdotters to express their creativity in a new way." I think the most strategic contest area would be performance art. Since it must be digitized, a video recorder would be necessary, I guess. Anyone here watched Roger and Me?[grin]
And if you're feeling less artistic, don't worry: Carpman writes, "I have set up a project to create a letter to congress about the DMCA and its effects. I'm running this like an open source project, you submit, it gets reviewed, and added. Also, you can submit stand alone letters to send allong with the big letter. The page is here." Of course, note the verb sense of "carp" and this makes perfect sense ...
Oh, no, you must have misunderstood. What we meant was something totally different. thebaron writes "Here is a interesting back-pedaling by Sony in this article. One should think before opening mouth and inserting [one's] own foot, even if you're a company exec." Or perhaps especially then. As roblimo pointed out recently, big companies have trouble tying their collective shoelaces sometimes, never mind effecting their own conspiracies.
Hit that high hat, swing that hook! PenguinRadio writes: "The Washington Post notes in Tuesday's paper that Motorola has begun the necessary reporting to certain government agencies so that they can burn up the $4 billion in Iridium satellites. Interesting in this announcements is the fact that their engineers feels certain pieces of the birds may actually reach the Earth and not burn up completely. Most notably a 2 foot by 3 foot titanium fuel tank may make it through the atmosphere. Wanna bet we see it on e-bay if it does fall to earth?"
Re:Yay. $4G's burning up into the Earth's atmosphe (Score:1)
Quote: (Score:5)
The judge made the following analogy: "It is analogous to the publication of a bank vault combination in a national newspaper. Even if no one uses the combination to open the vault, its mere publication has the effect of defeating the bank's security system, forcing the bank to reprogram the lock."
Actually. I thought it was more like - hey, we made a car...but you have to use our gas to drive the sum'bitch!
FluX
After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
Stongly suggest you read (Score:1)
You have no idea how deep the "financial backing" goe. It has do to mostly with Canadian issues, but it is impressive in its scope.
Re:Stongly suggest you read (Score:1)
You think I underestimate the financial backing of the green lobby, while I think you underestimate the financial backing of the industrial lobby. I guess it's even
I've just read a few reviews of the book, if it drops into my lap sometime in the future I'll read it, but the subject matter doesn't seem of particular interest to me so I probably won't go looking for it. It doesn't seem to scream a challenge to any values I hold dear (or promise to fill me with self-rightousness by reinforcing personal prejudices
Re:Warming? Or cooling??? (Score:2)
If the earth is given a typical 3 billion yr age, then 150 yrs is 0.000005% of the total data set.
Going with a more reasonable data: Dinosaur extinction 65 million years ago; call it 60 Myr. 150 yrs is 0.00025% of that span.
Going with 150,000 yrs (data from, say, polar ice samples) we're up to a more reasonable 0.15% data set.
Putting this in perspective: Taking 0.15% of the last 70 yrs of stock market performance data gives us the last 6 weeks of data. From 40 days of data, we will predict the stock trends for the next 70 years. That's not likely to work to well. And that's what it seems is being done with a fair portion of the global warming data.
But, as a scientist, I know that it's easy to poo-poo a challenging and complicated research field when I'm very ignorant of it
-----
D. Fischer
Re:Global Warming (Score:2)
Think about it more closely: Your assuption that global warming is either "man made or natural" is incorrect - it misses the most crucial issue - that the possible presence of natural warming does not negate or neutralize the presence of artifical warming.
For example, what we see today (or ten years from now) might fall within natural boundries, thus you would seem to conclude we had little to worry about and no reason to act, but that warming could be the result of both a slight natural warming and a slight artifical one, which, damaging enough for us as that could be, would be nothing next to the warming of full on natural effects plus full on artifical effects.
You seem to think that warming is ok if it's natural. This maybe true from a holistic view, but as warming from either source could be very bad for us, personally, it seems absolutely ludicrious to exacibate and compound the problem simply because we haven't yet artifically produced a disaster as terrible as what nature can managed (and thus in the process, open ourselves up to a disaster greater than what even nature could produce on its own).
Natural doesn't mean healthy or acceptable. (And I suspect the risks from environmental change outweigh the possible risk that such change might be neccessary for some unknown reason that might turn out to be more important to our wellbeing).
How to "lawfully" link to DeCSS? (Score:1)
Anyway, the article says that "there cannot be liability for linking to a site containing unlawful circumvention technology unless those responsible for the link know that the offending material is on the linked-to site".
With this in mind, would it be possible to set up a CGI script, that (randomly) sometimes returned the DeCSS source, and sometimes returned something else? In that case, the one who performs the linking can't "know that the offending material is on the linked-to-site", can they? And the link should be OK by the judge's standards?
Have fun! //Johan
Re:Warming? Or cooling??? (Score:1)
As for Global Warming. Yes the Earth has warmed up in the last 200 years
Actually, I never took much stock in the standard measurements
Is it the Sun. Well it could be. Seems a bit of a coincidence we get warming just when we expect it though. I do recall some comments in the journals that the temperature change measured in ice cores or somewhere was the largest since the holocene but I can't remember where. Anyway what's the mystery here
Peter
Re:Absolutely no desktop market share (Score:1)
About the Mac: I just call the numbers as I see them. Statistics count in *my* definition of proof.
Just because everyone uses Word documents doesn't mean you can't do the same stuff on Linux; last I saw, StarOffice worked just fine, it just wasn't called "MS-Office". Call it Office, don't use the StarOffice formats, and add a frickin' paperclip, and they'll never know the difference.
Would you call the NT stations we have as *public workstations* Desktop machines? If so, so are the Linux and Sun boxes. I guarantee you they don't SERVE anything, and they're accessible to the student body; that's what we call DESKTOPS.
The market grows along with the apps, but as it stands, Linux is getting more attention than MacOS, even without Office. Maybe Microsoft can read the writing on the wall; hopefully their Apps department will.
---
pb Reply or e-mail; don't vaguely moderate [ncsu.edu].
Re:The Arctic Ocean (Score:1)
Yes, and it is well established that profits are of greater importance than anything else.
On a related note, I don't know how widely this is known (it will either be common knowledge or esoteric), but it only takes a slight rise in ocean levels to pretty much wipe several pacific island nations off the face the earth. Understandably, they're pretty vocal on global warming issues.
(Pacific island concerns don't get much coverage outside the general area (in which I am in), but on the other hand this is just the kind of story that the media love, so it might have been constantly reported to the rest of the world as well. I don't know which is the case, so I thought I'd note it).
The power of e-bay (Score:2)
Why just the tank? They should put the entire Iridium network up for auction on e-bay! I bet they'd sell it, AND get a decent amount of money...
Re:Quote: (Score:1)
gun -> DeCSS
murderers -> pirates
gun is tool. DeCSS is tool. pirats are commiting crimes, murderers are comitting crimes (and far more serious crimes!).
BUT
producing guns, selling guns, talking about guns, having gun, ..., linking to information about gun is legal. (under some circumstances)
while linking to DeCSS is not legal (under any circumstances AFAIK)
strange, what a big fear from DeCSS. anybody knows about someone get killed or wounded by DeCSS?
Ebay? (Score:2)
Mabey Iridium can make their money back by selling "real parts from outer space" on Ebay or something. When they sell all the parts, they can sell their domain name there too and actually turn a profit.
"Own a peice of technological history!!! Iridium.com domain name: opening bid $4,000,000,000..."
Re:But it dosn't actually enhance it (Score:1)
First, you can not figure what kind of enhancements can be made by knowing the encryption scheme. That is akin to what a patent examiner said at the turn of the century - "that everything that will be invented has been invented". Needless to say he was dead wrong. It is presumptuous to say that there can't be enhancements because you can't think of any off hand.
Secondly, why do we have to buy DVD players from select manufacturers in the first place? Maybe that's why you can't afford one. Why is the MPAA even involved in hardware anyway??? They make movies, they shouldn't have control over the devices that play them. If you doubt this, the government already bitched slapped them in the fifties. The U.S. Department of Justice' antitrust division filed suit against the eight major studios, accusing them of 'monopolizing the distribution of their films.' Gee, I guess history does repeat itself. They were forced to give up control of the theatre chains.
Third, the MPAA would rather dismantle the internet rather than lose their 'precious' encryption scheme. I take it you like to use the net now? How about when they come after slashdot because they might find DeCSS here? AKA Microsoft and the Kerberos scam (do a search if you don't know). The real croak is that in Taiwan there are so called 'legit' dvd disc makers by day and pirate houses by night stamping out bit by bit copies (it's far easier than hassling with DeCSS)
See here [latimes.com].
Fourth, government has already bowed to companies. That's how they were able to pass the DMCA in the dead of night with no debate and a voice vote (so nobody would be on record). That's why my own congressman (senator Hatch) tried to attach anonymously (at the request of a company, because their drug patent is about to expire) a bill to extend the length of drug patents. He had to do it anonymously because he knows voting seniors who can't afford drugs as it is would be really pissed. They are.
It's an academic excercise that is best left up to people who actually will explain it better for people like me.
Fifth, you don't mind that other people control what you can and cannot see. I do. This is a constitutional excercise. Otherwise you have other people explain better to you what may and may not do/see/read. It's called freedom.
Sixth, everybody knows that the best random numbers comes from shot noise generated from a reversed biased zener diode. See here [io.com].
I could go on, but I believe I have dismantled your post sufficiently.
Iridium and keeping track of space junk. (Score:1)
Uhm, if this is true, exactly how do they do this? LEO is four hundred miles away, and Clarke orbit much higher up. Granted, you won't have much in the way of atmospheric fade (maybe fifty miles worth including both ways) whatever the media (RADAR, LIDAR, etc.) and the background is somewhat predictable, but this has got to be some kind of record.
I wonder if there are any spares for Iriduim lying around. Given the unique nature of the beast, there must be some parts that will never be used again. They could go on the wall next to the retrieved tank...
Timothy Was Quoting Somebody Else. (Score:2)
Didn't you see that? Or has this just degenerated into a "let's bash timothy" because he isn't one of the original Mercury 7 Slashdotters?
Re:The Arctic Ocean (Score:1)
1) World sea levels (a very close proxy for world temperatures) are at a relative high-stand--in other words, the world is at the warmer end of its cycle already (sea levels are within 5 ft of their observed historical high point).
2) World temperatures tend to change cataclysmically (sp?). Basically, when an ice age hits, it happens much more quickly than we once thought (hundreds instead of 10s of thousands of years).
3) The world is undergoing one of these said cataclysmic changes. Things are changing very rapidly.
4) The earth is getting warmer. The Western Antarctic Ice Sheet has been there for a *long* time. Now, it is almost completely gone. Not just in the summer...but in the winter, too. Based upon ice cores we've made in the past, this ice sheet has been there since the last high-stand.
Now, this current blip we're seeing in temperatures might be a chance occurrance. It might even be normal by geologic terms. However, given that we're already at a high stand, I'm worried that the equilibrium is changing. Humans have had an impact. The system is being affected by our input. By how much? Is it signicant at all? I don't know. I don't think anyone can really tell for certain.
Anyone that tells you that the world isn't getting warmer is ignoring the obvious clues we have. I think the experts are in agreement that the world *is* getting warmer. The next question is, "is it our fault?". Or, perhaps, "what can/should we do about it?". These are much harder problems to answer. They are more likely the centers for argument.
At any rate, I'm sorry to foment. It just seems like there is some question here on
Hypocracy my ass (Score:3)
Well, come on guys... which is it?
You can't have it both ways.
Oh come off it! 30-odd years ago (I'm guessing at your age) the scientists based on the research of the day were theorizing one thing and now, after 30 years of futher research and observation, they are concluding something different. This is not suprising nor can it in any way be called hypocritical. Do you expect scientists to make one theory and stick to it for over a generation, no matter what further evidence may suggest?
You also presuppose that "they" are a monolithic block of researchers and that they speak with a unified voice. Further more, you presuppose that the exact same people from 30 years ago are the ones saying something different now when in actual fact the ones from 30 years ago are probably mostly all dead now or retired and the ones speaking today about global warming are an entirely new generation.
How your comment got moderated as "Insightful" is beyond me, when it mostly shows your profound ignorance of the scientific method and is an extreme over-simplification of the nature of the scientific community based on a hearsay anecdote of a doddering old man who obviously passed on his lack of intelligence to his progeny.
Try this on: "At one time scientists were saying that the world was flat. Now they've done a 180 and are claiming that the world is round! Well come on guys... which is it? You can't have it both ways."
Sounds rather moronic doesn't it?
Trickster Coyote
Life is an illusion.
Re:limitations of genetic algorithms (Score:1)
After he wrote the code, it was classified, and he didn't have a high enough clearance to read it.
Imagine that.
"Sorry, but you can't read this."
"But I WROTE it."
"Sorry sir. Regulations."
Re:DVD decryption dosn't "further" computer scienc (Score:1)
Re:The Arctic Ocean (Score:1)
Re:Stongly suggest you read (Score:1)
TA
Re:The Arctic Ocean (Score:2)
I had the opportunity to deal with the press about seven years ago. I was involved in a high visibility project that the upper management wanted to put on display. I dealt with ppl from CNN, NPR, Boston Globe, Philly Inquirer, Beyond200, among others. Only one group presented what I felt was a rational discourse of what we were doing; that was NPR.
I did learn one important thing. Those in the mainstream press are under constant time pressure to produce. They do not have sufficient time to follow up on the initial interview. Rarely is a scientist given the opportunity to review what the reporter eventually writes up. In science we have peer-review which acts as a means of filtering out garbage. The press has an editor (who probably understands less of about science than the reporter) acting as this filter.
Re:The sky is falling (Score:1)
Nothing like spending trillions of dollars sending these babies up, to end up playing space-debris dodge-ball!
Too bad they can't aim them precisely... it would be fun to play something like "hit the atoll" using these satellites. Like a world-wide darts game! Pay one million dollars to play, and if you can hit the atoll in the center, you win 10 million dollars.
Warming? Or cooling??? (Score:2)
>will push us into doing something that really
>does counter environmental changes, and those
>changes turn out to be natural and necessary.
You know... the odd thing is, that the "environmentalists" can't make up their OWN minds what is happening.
I was talking to my dad on the phone not long ago, and in the course of conversation, I mentioned the earlier article about the polar icecap melting. He's a retired submariner and has actually BEEN to the north pole before.
Well, after a few sea stories, he mentioned an intresting little tidbit. It seems that right about the time I was getting around to being born, all these "environmentalists" were, even then, claiming that all the pollutantants that we're spewing into the atmosphere was going to drastically affect the global climate. Tricky bit was, the doomsayers were NOT talking about global warming... they were saying that industrial soceity was bringing about global COOLING!!! We were dooming ourselves to a new ice age! And now they've done a 180 and are doomsaying about global warming???
Well, come on guys... which is it?
You can't have it both ways.
john
Resistance is NOT futile!!!
Haiku:
I am not a drone.
Remove the collective if
Re:Quote: (Score:2)
-Elendale (btw, you forgot your ending italic tag, just thought i would be a nit-picking jerk)
Re:How to "lawfully" link to DeCSS? (Score:2)
And for that crime, I hereby sentence you to whatever is picked by the random drawing. My lovely assistant Trisha will now spin the wheel. Oooooh... let's hope it doesn't land on Lethal Injection. (the crowd starts chanting, Lethal Injection, Lethal Injection!).
For those who miss the courtroom spectacle, it'll be available on DVD.
Vindictive Art (Score:1)
Re:The Arctic Ocean (Score:1)
This is just too funny!
You are trying to make the point that global warming is not just hype created by people who have no idea what they're talking about ... but
then you go and confuse global warming with ozone
depletion! Am I the only one who finds this a
wee bit ironic?
I think you made the original poster's point for him........
Re:Quote: (Score:2)
Isn't science in violation of the DMCA?
FluX
After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
The sky is falling AGAIN !!!! (Score:2)
(1) Not a single hit on Europe or North America.
(2) A bonanza for space souvenier hunters in outback Australia, just like Skylab.
When will the space cowboys realise we aussies don't like having other peoples space junk dropped on us ?
Here's an idea (Score:1)
Yes it does (Score:1)
But CSS isn't copy protection (Score:2)
Could someone explain to me what is required to be classified as a copy protection device?
Currently, without circumventing CSS I am able to run off copies of DVDs onto VHS, or even save them into mpeg's (using two computers) and upload them to the internet for digital distribution. Commercial pirates can stamp DVDs just like CDs - also without requiring the circumvention of CSS.
If it allows all this, while lining the pockets of the movie industry with licensing fees and regional pricing etc, why is it just accepted by the court as a copy protection device - isn't the piss poor job it does of copy protection (in the few contrived scenarios where it complicats piracy) just a side effect of its actual intended purpose.
Did the MPAA present documentation proving it was designed first and formost as a copy protection device and not a player control device?
Like publishing a combination? (Score:2)
Re:Absolutely no desktop market share (Score:1)
Linux is so "Grandma-usable." Grandma just has to learn to use it before Windows/Macs teach her that she's too stupid to understand anything other than their glorified, GUI, point-and-click-only interface.
-Matthead
Re:Warming? Or cooling??? (Score:3)
... all these "environmentalists" were, even then, claiming that all the pollutantants that we're spewing into the atmosphere was going to drastically affect the global climate. Tricky bit was, the doomsayers were NOT talking about global warming... they were saying that industrial soceity was bringing about global COOLING!!!
Well, come on guys... which is it?
You can't have it both ways.
If environmentalists were predicting a climate change 50 years ago that's actually pretty insightful. That the direction of the change was wrong is hardly surprising, given the massive complexity to predicting weather. We can't even reliably predict the weather for the next day! What would have been clear 50 years ago was that we were pumping massive amounts of waste into the atmosphere (and rivers etc.), so much that we were changing its composition. It's good to know that some people back then had the foresight to realise that this may have effects on the climate.
As for all the comments that doubt that global warming is going on, you only have to do a simple web search to find some statistics on how the mean temperature has risen over the past 100 years.
Here's a few links I just found:
This graph of the mean world temperature over the last 150 years [lanl.gov]
From this report [lanl.gov]
Global Temperatures [uea.ac.uk]
A paper from the Proceedings of National Academy of Science [nap.edu]
And there is heaps and heaps more evidence if you care to look.
The fact that the world leaders had a conference in Kyoto to discuss global warming means that the evidence is clear enough to worry them. It should probably worry everyone else too.
Re:Absolutely no desktop market share (Score:1)
Maybe where you come from, people don't use Suns on the desktop - but over here, we sure do.
- My boss has two Sparcstations, an Apollo, and a Windows box on his desktop.
- I have a Windows and a Linux box on mine.
- My co-worker has a Sparcstation, a FreeBSD box, and a Windows/Solaris x86 laptop on his desk.
- We also have an SGI Indy for the guys who come in and out of the office.
- On the server side, we have a NetWare file/print server and a Linux file server.
I don't know about you, but I count all those as desktop computers, seeing as how they are all used to surf the web, read e-mail, write & compile programs, compose memos and bulletin board (the cork kind) postings, etc...Maybe, but UNIX still has a place on the desktop. Speaking of which, I recently toured an aircraft manufacturer's lab, where only HP Catia computers were on the desks. Running HP-UX, not Windows.
-Matthead
Re:Absolutely no desktop market share (Score:1)
Here's my contribution... (Score:1)
"Hi, I saw your link on
The overall significance of DeCSS is not that it provides a DVD player for an operating system that currently has no "official" DVD players. DeCSS is a celebration of the right to fair use of copywritten works that we have legally purchased for our own, private use. "
If you're too cheap to help fund the 2600 defense fund, this is the next best thing!
Re:Absolutely no desktop market share (Score:1)
Absolutely. I don't buy many games for any OS myself but I can recall a time when you could walk into a computer game shop and there's be rows and rows of Amiga and Atari games and maybe a couple of shelves for PC games. Everything has to start somewhere after all.
Rich
...are likely to hit water (Score:1)
At any rate, maybe some newspaper will pay $50,000 for a verifiable piece, and then two chaps will bring a piece in within 5 minutes of each other. Sound familiar?
Hint: It starts with an "S"
But it dosn't actually enhance it (Score:1)
DVDs are an area that is actually quite outside of CS and more in the realm of hardware engineering.
I know my ideas are not terribly popular but it's a social issue. And ultimately a social issue that has money tied up with it.
And also to be quite frank I can't afford a DVD player and the only one I might get would be in the form of a Playstation 2.
Also I can't even figure out how someone can crack an encryption scheme in the first place. I have at least minimal calculus experience and I can't even decipher some of the ideas about encryption and the like. It's an academic excercise that is best left up to people who actually will explain it better for people like me.
Ultimately since companies are composed of people there are limits to power. Governments have power companies have limits on their power. If push came to shove companies have to bow to unkie sam.
The sky is falling (Score:2)
That's one titanium fuel tank for each satellite. Look out below!
Re:Global Warming (Score:1)
I'm fairly enviromentally minded but I think that this sort of thing really needs to be checked out before we form an opinion. I get so sick of people saying it's man's fault 5 minutes after it gets reported. Yea, Man is a big defiler but lets try to handle it rashinally! When it's our fault work toward a fix it. when it's not then we can either ignore it or try to contain it (If it's a threat).
-Fyre
PS- Isn't it amazing how bad I spell?
Re:Absolutely no desktop market share (Score:1)
1) I use it on the Desktop.
2) A lot of people on Slashdot do as well.
3) There are retail boxes for WordPerfect's Office Suite, Quake 3, and several other products for Linux; brick-and-mortar software stores often have 'Linux' sections now.
4) Last I saw, Linux was about on par with MacOS for a regular user-base.
5) Many people use Linux as both a Desktop *and* a server as well.
6) My University is converting Sun boxes into Linux boxes; they're more powerful at a lower cost, and run the same stuff (and more!) for what we have around here; University students generally count as Desktop users.
7) Let Microsoft release 'Office for Linux', and watch businesses, universities, and individuals collectively put their money where their mouths are, and make Microsoft Apps richer and Microsoft OS poorer.
---
pb Reply or e-mail; don't vaguely moderate [ncsu.edu].
Re:The Arctic Ocean (Score:1)
DeArt Nominee... (Score:2)
ending italics (Score:1)
oh well...i'll probably get modded to hell cause the moderators thought all i did was ^C ^V from the article.
FluX
After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
Re:Well, who launched the thing? (Score:1)
Re:Something Missing? (Score:1)
Ok boy, I'm logged in now. I do have a better idea though, why don't you stop on by my house and we can debate the question you posed that was totally unrelated to my troll?
We'll see who goes home humiliated.
.............................................
Re:Alternative entertainment (dealing with the MPA (Score:2)
I will go and see Star Wars II cause he hasn't released a DVD yet (which in turn pees me off though you can't win on that one cause I want DVDs but I wont buy them while I can't play them with any freedom). If someone shows me how Mr. Lucas is supporting the MPAA (i.e. his membership and preferably any activity on his part for them) than that will be me out of going to movies, or renting them or giving a penny to them until this farce is sorted out.
To all those with influence, take note that you are not getting as much money out of me as you want (it is rapidly approaching nothing) and it is nowhere near what I would spend were in not for "personal politics", and many many more people will be voting with their wallets and giving you less and less cash until you can't pay your lawyers anymore so grow up and come with us intop the new frontier.
In the last 6 months I have seen 0 movies in the cinema and about 4 on video (none rented or encouraged by me) and purchased one CD single for $2 to see what codec they used for the video on it. [kylie.com]
In the previous 6 months I saw perhaps 12 movies in the cinema and about 20 on video (many rented or encouraged by me) along with about 4 CDs.
So in six months their taking from me are down from about £120-£150 to £2.
The key is for everyone who hates what their doing to avoid giving them money....if you "have to" see Natalie Portmans new film so do it, if your "thinking" of going to see X-Men...don't!
Re:Absolutely no desktop market share (Score:1)
Re:Warming? Or cooling??? (Score:1)
I don't know enough about this to agree or disagree but I know it's something I've read/heard about.
Re:Absolutely no desktop market share (Score:1)
Why should "absolutely no" mean anything other than "absolutely no"?
Because this is the English language, not math class.
I'll bet you're a million laughs at parties.
--
Microsoft offers proof (Score:2)
I am a bit cautious to sing praises of "Linux has arrived on the desktop". Its my primary desktop (and laptop) OS... but I'll readily admit that I'm not the average user. But having said all that... something strange is afoot.
Companies that previously distanced themselves from Linux embrace it. Even harsh critics have began to adopt it. Sure... this has been all the talk for servers in the past. But now we're hearing about laptops coming factory installed with Linux (hardly server hardware). Even stranger is other Unix vendors adopting a desktop environment that's synonymous with the Linux desktop - Gnome.
So what are the numbers? If that's all you're interested in, you're missing something. There's something odd happening right now. And its got nothing to do with current marketshare.
Global warming (Score:2)
There are, however, other issues that are subjects to discussion, namely, what causes what. Is the global warming related to CO2 increase? Is the latter due to human activity? (well, this is pretty sure, but not 100% sure). Maybe the global warming is a part of a longer trend? Can we do anything about it? Should we do anything about it? If we don't, what happens next? Does the data fit the greenhous-effect model? And so on.
Best regards
Biologuary
Re:But it dosn't actually enhance it (Score:2)
Re:Good flamebait: change a few words and watch... (Score:1)
Vote Nader, because it doesn't matter.
Re:But it dosn't actually enhance it (Score:1)
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Blame Greenpeace (Score:2)
This is precisely why these global warming discussions are never conclusive. Ignorant techies on one side, and ignorant environmentalists on the other, and noone bothers to take a handbook on ecology or climatology in the hand. Hey, if you talk that "there are is no proof" then I know that you never had anything to do with science -- otherwise you would have known that there are facts, and theories, and refutations, but proofs are only in maths.
Come on. There is a global warming. There are hundreds of modells and theories that predict what happens next. And many of them do predict really dramatic changes. (And I thought that at least Americans should understand the meaning of "hurricane" or "flood". Now, you are lucky, you got the dough to save your lifes). It is not sure, whether the global changes are related to the global changes in CO2 (for which there are quite good records as well). It never will. Every model is an approximation, and constructing one that could precisely predict what happens to the weather in twenty years is not only practically, but also theoretically impossible (hint: predictive horison in models involving deterministic chaos).
My point is, we have a game with a very high stake, and you should disregard the panic-makers and do some serious reading on the subject - maybe that would convince you.
Best regards
j.
Re:Global Warming (Score:1)
What I want to say is don't discount humans affecting earths weather. We can. The increasing CO2 concentration shows we can do this much (at least regarding the composition of the atmosphere). Come on folks think! Don't be blindly sarcastic.
Yes, CO2 is definately increasing. IIRC, it's at about twice the level it was when we first started measuring it. However, the fact that it is increasing is not proof that we caused such a great increase. CO2 occurs in nature in large amounts; most (all?) animals exhale CO2. CO2 is released by volcanic activity.
CO2 is also a pollutant from many human-made processes, so we would be stupid to discount the possibility that we are largely responsible. All I'm saying is to remember the distinction between proven fact and possibility.
That is not blind sarcasm. That's how science works.
My mom is not a Karma whore!
Re:The sky is falling AGAIN !!!! (Score:2)
If you think about it a little bit, you realize that when they 'de-orbit' the satellites, they will be aiming at the Pacific Ocean, since it's far & away the largest target. It's an unfortunate fact that orbits that end in the Pacific will be coming over places like Australia. However, I suspect that the people doing the de-orbiting are much better at it now than in the Spacelab days, so you will likely not have anything to worry about.
...phil
Re:Warming? Or cooling??? (Score:3)
YOU CAN HAVE IT BOTH WAYS.
From http://www.canoe.ca/TimeCanada0009/0 4_time8.html [canoe.ca]
What is really at risk in the Arctic is part of the thermostat of Earth itself. The difference in temperature between the tropics and the poles drives the global climate system. The excess heat that collects in the tropics is dissipated at the poles, about half of it through what has been nicknamed the ocean conveyor, a vast deep-water current equivalent in flow to 100 Amazon Rivers. Much of the rest of the heat is conveyed as the energy in storms that move north from the tropics. If the poles continue to warm disproportionately faster than the tropics, the vigor of this planetary circulatory system may diminish, altering prevailing winds, ocean currents and rainfall patterns. Already, severe and unpredictable storms in the northern hemisphere may be a sign that the global system is changing. Canadians like to think they will be winners in a global-warming era. Warmer weather, the theory goes, will make it possible to grow more food for export. That could happen, but there are no guarantees. Grain production in the breadbaskets of Canada and the U.S. could be in jeopardy if rainfall becomes less steady and predictable. Moreover, greater climate change could be ahead. Growing numbers of scientists fear that the warming trend will so disrupt ocean circulation patterns that the Gulf Stream, the current that warms large parts of the northern hemisphere, could shut down. If that happens, global warming would, ironically, produce global cooling--and bring on a deep freeze.
Alternative entertainment (dealing with the MPAA) (Score:3)
First let me criticize a few suggestions I've seen over the past few days:
(1) Launching a DDOS attack against movie companies' websites: Bad idea. This will only reinforce their accusations that we are all criminals, and turn the general public against us. The decision is frustrating, but we don't need to give them justification for what they've done.
(2) Burning DVD's in mass quantities. Are you going to loot video stores to get them? (see above) Otherwise, the movie industry already has your money, and that's the bottom line. I really don't think anyone would care aside from the protesters themselves, and maybe some neighbors who get annoyed by the smell of burning plastic.
There are other forms of entertainment than movies. Gaming, for example.
I'm discussing mainly (but not exclusively--see the end of my post) roleplaying games.
Gaming is cheaper. A typical rulebook for an RPG is $20-$30, cheaper than movie tickets for for the 4-6 people in a typical gaming group. Extra sourcebooks for a gaming system are usually only $10-15.
Gaming is more interesting. Even if you only have one rulebook, you can have a nearly endless variety of scenarios. Your best-case scenario with movies is renting, where you might be able to get 20 movies or so. This leads right into my third point...
Gaming is easier to schedule. Regardless of how much or how little time you have available, a movie (with few exceptions) takes roughly two hours to watch. The length of an RPG session can be controlled by adjusting the complexity of the storyline. I've seen games as short as 2 hours or as long as several days.
With less time available, you might want to consider a card game or board game (maybe monopoly, but I was thinking along the lines of Settlers of Catan)
Not to ramble on too much, I thought I'd post links to a few of my favorite gaming companies:
Steve Jackson Games [sjgames.com]
White Wolf Game Studio [white-wolf.com]
Cheapass Games [cheapass.com] (Typically only $5 a game, I recommend Give me the Brain for a fun, short card game.
limitations of genetic algorithms (Score:3)
it's curious, though, that as a branch of AI research, GA has pretty much plateaued. it's been becoming apparent that there are serious limitations to the GA model of design - first and foremost, just like in connectionist systems, the GA system tells the designer nothing* about the workings of the system - a scientist looking at a GA system has no better of a chance to figure out what it's doing than when looking at a biological creature.
and secondly, GAs and connectionist systems alike are very good - in fact, entirely too good - at adapting themselves to the detils of their environment. this means they will use the strangest characteristics of the environment (or training data in case of NNs) if they're only beneficial - and not necessarily the characteristics we'd like them to use.
there's actually an amusing second-hand (third-hand?) story of the incredible adaptivity of NNs. a research lab somewhere develops what appears to be a pretty good NN-based tank detection system for aerial surveillance photographs. they train it on a corpus of photos of tanks going through some natural terrains, and it performs admirably - the program detects tanks not only in the photos similar to the training set, but also in very different ones. in other words, it's quite robust.
so they show it to the people upstairs, and they're reasonably impressed, too. so the machine is given a completely novel set of images to see how it would do - but this time, it utterly fails! everyone's baffled - what's going on, why does it fail now when it used to work so well?
only after a while someone took a good look at the two series of images, and realized - the program really learned to detect tree shadows! because the original series pictures had tanks driving through greenery, the NN detected it was more reliable to rely on that than on anything else... **
and the moral of the story is - these systems are very efficient in adapting to the given task, in whatever way is most optimal. but we as designers don't know what they're 'really' doing - we (connectionist ai people, biologists, dynamic systems people, etc.) lack the proper analytical tools to describe such complex systems. will GAs ever be used to evolve anything larger than toy insect-like agents? probably no, not until better analytical techniques are developed - that is, if ever.
r
*) all right, so i exaggerated.
**) does anyone have a reference for this story? i think i saw it in something written by dreyfus, but i can't for the life of me remember...
Re:Absolutely no desktop market share (Score:1)
Well, the best way I know of telling how many linux desktops there are is going to the #gnapster ( if thats how you put it?) channels on napster or opennap servers, since Gnapster's default configuration has you join that channel.
I for one have seen over a hundred people on a opennap server -- and these severs each handle only about 1000 people!
This assumption being that people won't run gnapster on a server, since it's a gui program, and thus a waste of resources on a server... DanteDVD decryption dosn't "further" computer science (Score:1)
MS kills with kindness (Score:2)
Judges are furthering the aristocratic state, too? (Score:1)
Re:Something Missing? (Score:2)
Re:...are likely to hit water (Score:2)
Re:Hmm... (Score:2)
I believe the term for what seperates the two divisions of Microsoft is "Glass wall".
(Yes, im serious, its in one of the books i read about Microsoft.)
Mark Duell
Typical right-wing hysteria (Score:4)
While it is heartwarming to see that you've been keeping up on your South Park episodes ("Look! The volcano erupted! Duck and cover!"), one can hardly imagine a single paragraph more chock full of right-wing hysteria and "enemy complex" than the one above.
- If you're suggesting that the government, or anybody for that matter, believes that "ducking and covering" under desks is an appropriate way to defend against an atomic blast, you are a cretin of unimaginable proportions.
- If you're suggesting that Al Gore (and Al Gore alone) personally approved Motorola's technology transfer to China, you are a laughable buffoon. You people get a little behind in the polls, and you'll say anything. (Interesting how if the economy is good, you people say we have to give Ronald Reagan the credit personally, but if it goes bad, we have to blame Clinton or Gore personally.)
- China does not have the military strength to successfully invade Taiwan, a tiny island a stone's throw off of its own shores, and yet you claim that it is somehow a threat to the United States. Sheer, unadulterated poppycock. What is it about the right wing that requires them to always have "an enemy?" Since the Soviet Union collapsed, they can no longer direct their hatred there (well, at least not all of it.) Who is our enemy now? By golly, it must be the Chinese! I've never understood why the right wing (and particularly the religious right) are so terrified of the idea of a peaceful, united world. Perhaps it's part of the damnable "New World Order" that Pat Robertson preaches about so vociferously?
- Communism is on its way out in China. Over the course of the past few years, the regime has moved to privatize several of its key state-owned industries. With the advent of the Internet and access to it spreading in China, it is ridiculous to suggest that these trends will reverse themselves. With each passing year, China inches away from being a brutal Communist regime. Within 20 years, "Communist China" wil be as much a part of history as the Berlin Wall.
Finally, I personally am glad that China is experimenting with a space program. Space exploration is a necessity, and if a bit of friendly competition can get NASA and the ESA off of their asses and step up their investments in this important field of study, then so much is the better. Admiral Ackbar, you of all people (Mon Calamari?) should appreciate the importance of space exploration.In the meantime, think for yourself. You are allowed to disagree with the Rush Limbaughs and Michael Reagans and Jerry Falwells of the world. Ask yourself what Communist China has to gain from provoking an arms race with the United States. Take a look at the trends and ask yourself -- honestly -- if you believe that the current regime is going to be in place forever. I personally feel that if the Chinese regime attempted another Tianamen Square today, there would be a bloody revolt that they would be powerless to stop.
Your mileage may vary, of course.
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Re:Warming? Or cooling??? (Score:2)
Some anti-environmentalists (and i can only call them that) mention the cyclical nature of Earth in defense of their not giving a damn about the enviroment. well yeah the earth will be fine it just won't be fine for us. And as for the cycle the earth never had 6 billion people chain smoking nissans before either. In the past there was always some kinf of balance, a give and take. Now, its become more of a take, no give or very little give.
and for those that just don't care cause they won't be around in fifty years. You're a selfich bastard and should impale yourself now. I mean it. do it.
How to fix the Iridium and Global Warming problem (Score:3)
So, while they are there, get a tube of heat sink compound and send it to the north pole. Motorola then brings down Iridium carefully to the arctic ice cap, and we use the metal to make the worlds largest heat sink. Put the compound on the glaciers (make sure to fill the cracks for better transfer!).
If we all do this and it works, then we can all buy the Intel P4's without worry of more global warming.
Besides, I read someplace a while ago (wish I could find the reference) that we are actually in a warm period in the middle of an ice age!
Re:Microsoft has done this before. (Score:2)
So what? This strategy works with other commercial competition because those companys have to worry about things like shareholders and the bottom line, not just their program. So when Microsoft gains said mindshare, they *can* effectively squeeze the life out of it. But do you think GNOME programmers care about MS Office? Do you think Free Software coders have ever cared about proprietary alternatives? Sure they may copy the features, sure they may reverse engineer the file formats, but competition only makes us stronger. So when Microsoft pulls that "Hey we just couldn't make a good Office Suite on Linux because Linux sucks", we can say "Well hey, here's a damn good one. What's your deficiency?"
Re:DVD decryption dosn't "further" computer scienc (Score:2)
On a lighter but related note, I honestly hope that Mr. Johansen is forgotten quickly, as is this entire mess. DMCA is a bad law, is at conflist with natural and traditional readings of the law, and is undoubtably unconstitutional. If this is resolved quickly on appeal, no one but the money grubbing corporations beat back by its repeal will remember it..
Re:Hmm... (Score:2)
Neal Stephenson in In the Beginning Was the Command Line makes the argument that since OS's are now free (as in beer) then in order to keep selling Windows MS must differentiate it somehow.
One way to do this would be to only write apps for Windows.
Stephenson points out the problem with this is that as more and more people move to free OS's there are less and less people using Windows and thus less and less people to buy MS's apps.
The only way out of this trap for MS is to sell apps for any and all OS's but this will cannibalize Windows sales. It will also end the Windows Everywhere dream/nightmare.
And even if MS did write apps for other OS's they could only stay in business as long as there were no free (beer) apps.
So it isn't in MS's best interest to write apps for Linux. But it isn't in MS's best interests not to write apps for Linux.
So maybe it's time to sell all that MS stock...
Steve M
Re:Warming? Or cooling??? (Score:4)
OTOH, listen to the voice of the scientific majority. In it you will hear a relatively conservative, guarded discussion of global warming. Yes, there will be a vocal minority of scientists who put forth outlandish hypotheses, but the consensus of the others will return the debate to more solid ground.
There will be a report on global warming issued this year by an international multidisciple group of scientists. These reports come out every five years. Unless the politicians intervene, this report will state that human activity is having a discernable affect on global temperature increase. This plot [sciencemag.org] shows measured and computed global temperature for the past 1000 yrs. I find it scary.
Re:Absolutely no desktop market share (Score:2)
1) I use it on the Desktop.
Irrelevent to the marketshare.
2) A lot of people on Slashdot do as well.
Irrelevent to the marketshare.
3) There are retail boxes for WordPerfect's Office Suite, Quake 3, and several other products for Linux; brick-and-mortar software stores often have 'Linux' sections now.
Indeed. And did you notice how miserable game sales on Linux were? And you can assume most of those sales were to people who wanted to make a political statement.
4) Last I saw, Linux was about on par with MacOS for a regular user-base.
*cough* you are insane if you think the Linux desktop base is even 1/100th the Mac installed base. Again, extraordinary claims demand extraordinary proof.
5) Many people use Linux as both a Desktop *and* a server as well.
Personally, I use Linux as a development and server environment. That does *not* count as a desktop environment. All my productivity apps (which are what we're talking about) are used under Win/2000.
We are talking about people who use Linux as a primary productivity workstation. Only the truly hard core can do that, because you have to sacrifice using the best apps (which are generally available for Windows or the Mac).
6) My University is converting Sun boxes into Linux boxes; they're more powerful at a lower cost, and run the same stuff (and more!) for what we have around here; University students generally count as Desktop users.
Uh, no they don't count. Otherwise, you would count Sun workstations as 'desktop' users, and that's not generally done. Even engineering people who use Unix for CAD applications usually also have a Windows box next door to it.
I guarantee you that they are not going to recommend Linux boxes to the Art Majors for them to do their reports.
7) Let Microsoft release 'Office for Linux', and watch businesses, universities, and individuals collectively put their money where their mouths are, and make Microsoft Apps richer and Microsoft OS poorer.
It's possible that Linux may become more viable if there were more standard apps available. In fact, I've gone on record as saying that it's primarily applications that hold Linux back (and the infrastructure to support sophisticated apps, but that's another topic). I don't argue that, I only argue that the current market is incredibly puny.
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Re:Typical right-wing hysteria (Score:2)
I'm sure that the government didn't believe it, but during the 1950s that was exactly what they advised people to do. Y'see, they knew that they could not protect people if a war ever started, but they needed to give reassurance to a population who teetered on the edge of panic almost constantly. Remember that back then, people in general had a lot more faith in their government, and most of them were mollified by what they were told - and almost none of them knew anything about nuclear weapons apart from what they had been told, so had no reason to distrust one more piece of information.
China does not have the military strength to successfully invade Taiwan
That depends on how you count it. The only things that the Chinese really lack from a military perspective are naval logistics and air superiority. That's why they couldn't invade an island, but if they wanted to cross Mongolia and attack east Russia, there would be little to stop them. The danger then is that the Russians panic and do something that we'd all regret. Historically, governments who were losing their grip on their power often start foreign wars - see your comments on the decline of Communism.
exploration is a necessity, and if a bit of friendly competition can get NASA and the ESA off of their asses and step up their investments in this important field of study, then so much is the better.
Aye.
Hmm... (Score:2)
I mean, not everyone can use Windows for everything, but Microsoft could still sell them apps. And if Microsoft had no competition, well, that just makes it easier for them.
Of course, people *do* use Linux on the desktop; I know, because I'm one of them. And there *are* other apps, but I'm sure if they ever released "MS-Office for Linux", a lot of people and businesses would buy it. (And then replace Windows, which is why Apps & OS need to be broken up in Microsoft; the Chinese Wall never worked.)
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pb Reply or e-mail; don't vaguely moderate [ncsu.edu].
Microsoft has done this before. (Score:2)
Remember their Unix compatibility interface development software? It put competing products completely out of business, then they turn off the air supply on the Microsoft version having eliminated the threat. By this time it's too late for the now defunct product. Augment this with a few strategic patents and you have a winning strategy.
So, Linux and Star Office represents a potential threat on the desktop and if it begins to grow in that market Microsoft will release Office on Linux and in doing so eliminate Star Office in short order through increased mindshare and leveraging their monopoly where they can. Once this is done they let the Linux version trail the Windows version and drop a few 'unsupportable' features and eventually perhaps eliminate the Linux version of the product altogether citing insufficient demand or technological hurdles.
That said, with the
Re:Absolutely no desktop market share (Score:2)
Re:Absolutely no desktop market share (Score:2)
That's a pretty incredible statement, assuming that you've been paying attention to linux for the last 2 years. If it continues to expand at half the rate it has been, the number of Linux desktops will certainly be significant. Today's linux distributions are several orders of magnitude more ready for the desktop than RedHat 4.x...just imagine where we could be in 2 more years...
I, for one, can say that my university has many linux machines available in the computer labs, and since they also have a deal with MS, would definitely benefit from and make use of MSOffice for linux.
Re:Something Missing? (Score:2)
Like all microsoft promises, IsNotReal. In other news, mainsoft based in Israel.
The Arctic Ocean (Score:3)
Global warming alarmists ought to be especially careful to save the screaming for the real thing. They'll be taken a lot more seriously that way. The siren that goes off every day at noon gets ignored; the one that only sounds when bombs are falling is paid attention to by everybody.
Regarding the tank thing... (Score:2)
More on perceptrons can be found by doing a search on Google - look up "perceptron history", but here is a couple of links to get you started:
http://www.neurocomputing.org/history.htm
http://ei.cs.vt.edu/~history/Perceptrons.Estebo
I support the EFF [eff.org] - do you?
Re:Typical right-wing hysteria (Score:2)
You blather out the standard diatribe against "right wing, particularly the religious right". Why don't you old dinosaurs get a clue: The 80's are over. You go on and on about Falwell, Robertson and others as if they really matter any more. They are sad, old figures from a bygone era whose supporters were with them when they started and will not desert them anytime soon.
Poor China. Quit it. Whether China sabre rattles in the Pacific (which they do quite regularly) or threatens trade relations (because they have 1Billion people, most of who can't afford a can of generic soda) because they have 'potentially' the biggest market in the world, they are no different than Ford, or Microsoft. They want domination over world affairs in order to make their voice heard and to change everyone to their way of thinking. They don't deserve sympathy or instant trust for this.
Poor China 2. China has the same, tired old leaders running their country since 1949. Imagine if George Bush the Elder was President from '49 to the present, you would be having fits and staging protest skits or whatever it is you do. They do not have freedom of speech, freedom of religion or freedom of movement. This should not be acceptable to anyone who believes in human rights.
Think for yourself. You are allowed to disagree with Jane Fonda, Peter Buck, Warren Beatty and all the other political and foreign affairs experts who share your viewpoints.
Be honest with yourself. The Chinese government has not changed in over 50 years. During that time they have trampled a peaceful country, Tibet, to the ground, denied basic human rights to their people and killed or imprisoned anyone who defies them in their country. Those are facts. Deal with them. You would not stand for it here would you. Or is it okay, because it is just a bunch of Chinese who don't know what is best for them?
This one always gets me: (Score:3)
Oh, dear. Nothing closer to taking one's own life than allowing people to communicate with each other and advance the art of computer science. However did our founding fathers make do in the years before the ratification of the constitution, when just anyone on the block could copy his dvds?
Things that survive reentry (Score:5)
Disclamer: I do not speak for The Aerospace Corporation in any capacity.
Re:The Arctic Ocean (Score:2)
It's easy to criticize just the surface observations on the grounds that you do, but when you dig deeper and find out the details of mechanisms involved, the big picture is very different. I think you under-estimate how much is known about ozone depletion (which is quite understandable, as the details are pretty much 100% absent from the media).
It might be trendy to doubt environmental problems, but it is no less irrational than the hysterics who claim the world will end with each mis-reported finding. Some nutter making wild claims about global warming is not rational grounds for dismissing global warming.
On a related note, go to www.junkscience.com
You will find lots of people and material that supports your views, and will probably feel you are in smart company. Except that Junkscience is a front funded by industrial interests and basically reads like the who's who list of global polluters and environmentally destructive corporations. There is a lot of dirty money promoting your views and trying to make them seem acceptable and rational. Warning bells should be ringing.
Genetic algorithms needs training (Score:2)
I've been doing some work with GAs myself, and the tank recognition problem you mention is NOT a problem inherent to GAs - the training set was chosen poorly. They ARE prone to over-adapting to what are, in hindsight, irrelevant details. But most of this can be overcome by a careful selection of the training set. This really is very hard - it needs to be progressively more difficult, but at a slow, steady pace. Want to teach it to recognize tanks? Maybe start with silhouttes of tanks on white paper, move on to tanks with a few distractions thrown in, then on to tanks in simple scenarios (on a road, in a ditch etc.), then on to <a series of harder stuff>.
Teaching GAs is very similar to teaching young children to read - you start out with REALLY simple stuff like a few select letters (say, the ones in the child's name), train that until they get the idea, move on to more letters and perhaps assign a few select words to each letter (like "A as in Apple", "B as in Banana"), then on to REALLY simple two-letter words etc.
Toss a couple of Harry Potter books their way instead and train exclusively and intensively on those, and you get children that can, by and large, recite the entire text but can not read simple newspaper texts. Not because your children are stupid, not because Harry Potter books are bad, not because you didn't try really hard - it just wasn't the right thing to do (read: wrong training set).
IMHO the reason why GAs typically have the problems you mention (and they are very real problems) is that the average GA designer/trainer is a traditional programmer. That's not a bad thing to be, but it doesn't turn you into a good teacher. Choosing a training set is SOOOO difficult, and might I suggest that GA-training require a different mindset than ordinary programming. Maybe we should try having professional teachers have a go at designing training set...
Don't forget about the sun (Score:2)
I seem to recall reading that the sun has entered a cool phase recently. Apparently some scientists have been using antenna arrays in deep mine shafts to measure the sun's activity. The evidence (which struck me as sketchy, but I'm a computer scientist, not a physicist) implies a correlation between cool solar phases and ice ages. If that were the case then we should be in or entering an ice-age. However other evidence implies global warming.
The simple fact of the matter is that it's a very complicated system and we don't understand it yet. It's also a system that our lives collectively depend on. We don't have a spare earth so there are no second chances. I think that caution is in order.
I'm not arguing for extreem actions; my SO lives on the other side of the continent and it's just too far without jets. But what I am saying is that we need to start think very carefully about the results of pollution. Global warming (or cooling if you prefer) is not the only issue here. There are already plenty of cases demonstrating what mercury and other heavy metals will do to people if (or maybe when is more appropriate) they get into a water supply. We have no idea about the possible long term effects of genetically enginered organisms. We have advanced at an almost exponential speed technologically and naturally we haven't completely figured out the ramifacations of these changes.
We live in a capitalist society and there isn't much dirrect incentive (as in things that will show up on the bottom line by the next financial quarter) to spend money to control polution. Indeed there is a strong incentive to avoid anything that increases immediate and obvious costs without providing additional revenue.
I believe that the long term costs of pollution will be devastating. Even if we associate financial costs to pollution through legislation (which I doubt will happen), I expect that these taxes or penalties will not be severe enough to provide sufficient incentive.
Here is a worst case scenario. Assume that both the solar thermometer amd greenhouse theories are correct. That would mean that we are currently experiencing a Maunder minimum (which would lead to an ice age in the abscence of other phenomenon) balanced by greenhouse warming. What happens when the sun heats up again?
In summary, it' mission critical, complicated to the point that we don't really understand it, and we're fucking with it.
Re:Absolutely no desktop market share (Score:2)
I too have Linux as my only desktop OS at home. At work I have Linux on my laptop (definitely not a server). In just our little corner of my work building, maybe 25 cubicles, there are three Linux laptops, a LinuxPPC, and at least three people who use Linux at home as their desktop (two dual boot with FreeBSD). None of these are servers.
No, I don't expect that those in the business or human resources buildings would be able to cope with with anything other than Mac or Win. But then, they can barely cope with what they've got.
Re:The Arctic Ocean (Score:2)
Absolutely no desktop market share (Score:2)
timothy sez Too bad for Microsoft Linux has "absolutely no desktop market share."
From this comment, I'm to assume that Timothy thinks that this statement is untrue? (and, please, literalist fools go away. "Absolutely no" means "too little to be relevent to anything").
Well, in my book, extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. And to claim that Linux has any sort of desktop market share is most definitely an extraordinary claim. Note the work 'desktop' not 'server', please.
So where's the proof?
[To quote Jack Nicholson: "You want the truth? You can't handle the truth!"]
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Global Warming (Score:4)
I am far more concerned that "environmentalists" will push us into doing something that really does counter environmental changes, and those changes turn out to be natural and necessary.
My mom is not a Karma whore!
Something Missing? (Score:2)