A fascinating approach to translation systems - and a profitable one, I think. With the falling prices of bandwidth and storage, it's simply become more cost effective to deal with the vast amounts of data required for such a system, rather than trying to putz the results with advanced AI "guessing" procedures...

Romancing The Rosetta Stone [Slashdot]
3:40:18 PM     comment []

I've often wondered how a "Star Trek" universe, complete with "transporter" technology that allows replication of physical objects would work in a world dominated by lawyers, copyrights and patents. This article addresses that very issue ....

Peer To Peer Meets Manufacturing [Slashdot]
10:47:56 AM     comment []

A very good summation of some of the legal issues involved in copyright.

Copying is Theft - and other legal myths. Fair and unfair use [The Register]
10:45:49 AM     comment []

Ya know, I try to avoid political commentary here like the plague - I'm no "pundit", and have no intention of trying to imitate one. Nonetheless, I do pay attention to matters political, and feel that there are some trends so startling that I have to say something.

And this piece from Moore's Lore really illustrates it.

Left and Right are both beginning to be driven by a dynamic that we've not seen in the United States for a hundred years: it's a people dynamic, a real grassroots movement. There is a great deal of promise here, but a good deal of danger as well. As the rhetoric generating engine gets more diffused, it becomes more likely to exhibit "loose cannon syndrome" - and consequently more likely to merely inflame passions rather than attempt to solve problems or contribute to rational discourse.

To some extent, obviously, public participation in a republic is vital. But one should, in my no so humble opinion, always bear in mind the wrods of Winston Churchill - "Democracy is a terrible form of government. It's just that the other's are so much worse."
9:25:38 AM     comment []

It's a boy! The first registered Scots Highland calf born at Hammerstead Farms! I guess this means we're in the cattle business for real now. Kris has been fussing all day, as has Kevyn - he's having nearly as much fun with this as we are.

12:29:03 AM     comment []