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Math

Statistician Creates Mathematical Model To Predict the Future of Game of Thrones 127

Posted by samzenpus from the math-is-coming dept.
KentuckyFC writes One way of predicting the future is to study data about events in the past and build a statistical model that generates the same pattern of data. Statisticians can then use the model to generate data about the future. Now one statistician has taken this art to new heights by predicting the content of the soon-to-be published novels in the Song of Ice and Fire series by George R R Martin. The existing five novels are the basis of the hit TV series Game of Thrones. Each chapter in the existing books is told from the point of view of one of the characters. So far, 24 characters have starred in this way. The statistical approach uses the distribution of characters in chapters in the first five books to predict the distribution in the forthcoming novels. The results suggest that several characters will not appear at all and also throw light on whether one important character is dead or not, following an ambiguous story line in the existing novels. However, the model also serves to highlight the shortcomings of purely statistical approaches. For example, it does not "know" that characters who have already been killed off are unlikely to appear in future chapters. Neither does it allow for new characters that might appear. Nevertheless, this statistical approach to literature could introduce the process of mathematical modelling to more people than any textbook.

Comment Re:What's wrong with Windows Server? (Score 1) 613

by Uncle Warthog (#47819095) Attached to: You Got Your Windows In My Linux

I would add that the main problem they seem to be solving is slow bootup times, which are slow because you can't run startup processes in parallel. .

That was the original reason for systemd before they decided to start the feature bloat. The fact though is that you can run startup processes in parallel and could without systemd. SUSE linux was able to do this and did a good job of it long before they switched to systemd while still using standard init scripts. On my system, the switch from that to systemd actually _slowed_ my boot process by about 10% because systemd insists on waiting for things that don't need to be waited for. Through some careful tuning, I've managed to get that slowdown to about 4-5% but it's still slower than the old parallel-run init scripts were.

Comment Re:TOR (Score 1) 427

by Uncle Warthog (#47647527) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Life Beyond the WRT54G Series?

I hear these onion routers are all the rage now.

Well if you want to route onions around the internet, then, yeah, it's an ok router (hint: puree routes better than whole onions and onion soup is even better until you get to the crouton and cheese). I'm mainly looking for a better way to route data from my home network to my Internet connection though.

Comment Re:And no one will go to jail - just like bankers! (Score 1) 266

9/11 was the most spectacular win for the authoritarians, because they more or less kicked the foundations out from Western society, and have helped to create the worst form of surveillance state you can imagine.

FTFY

No, you didn't. You just made it say the same thing again.
Patents

Bose Sues New Apple Acquisition Beats Over Patent Violations 162

Posted by timothy from the stick-it-in-your-ear dept.
Bose has taken issue with some of the technology embodied in products in Apple's newly acquired Beats line of headphones. As Ars Technica reports, Bose is suing Apple, claiming that the Beats products violate five Bose patents, covering noise cancellation and signal processing Although Bose never mentions Apple in the 22-page complaint, the acquisition price of the private company may have played a part in spurring Bose to sue. The suit doesn't include a specific damage demand. Bose has also filed a complaint with the US International Trade Commission against Beats over the same infringement claims. That means the patent lawsuit filed in federal court will be stayed while the ITC case gets resolved first.
Security

Not Just a Cleanup Any More: LibreSSL Project Announced 360

Posted by timothy from the they'd-like-some-beer-money dept.
An anonymous reader writes "As some of you may know, the OpenBSD team has started cleaning up the OpenSSL code base. LibreSSL is primarily developed by the OpenBSD Project, and its first inclusion into an operating system will be in OpenBSD 5.6. In the wake of Heartbleed, the OpenBSD group is creating a simpler, cleaner version of the dominant OpenSSL. Theo de Raadt, founder and leader of OpenBSD and OpenSSH, tells ZDNet that the project has already removed 90,000 lines of C code and 150,000 lines of content. The project further promises multi-OS support once they have proper funding and the right portability team in place. Please consider donating to support LibreSSL via the OpenBSD foundation."
Privacy

AMC Theaters Allegedly Calls FBI to Interrogate a Google Glass Wearer 1034

Posted by Unknown Lamer from the probable-russian-spy dept.
An anonymous reader writes "A Google Glass user was interrogated without legal counsel for a couple of hours under suspicion that he may have been recording a film in the AMC movie theater. Although the matter could have been cleared in minutes, federal agents insisted on interrogating the user for hours. So long for our constitutional freedoms." Hours of being detained that could have been avoided if they had just searched his devices (which he repeatedly suggested they do): "Eventually, after a long time somebody came with a laptop and an USB cable at which point he told me it was my last chance to come clean. I repeated for the hundredth time there is nothing to come clean about and this is a big misunderstanding so the FBI guy finally connected my Glass to the computer, downloaded all my personal photos and started going though them one by one (although they are dated and it was obvious there was nothing on my Glass that was from the time period they accused me of recording). Then they went through my phone, and 5 minutes later they concluded I had done nothing wrong." Update: 01/21 21:41 GMT by U L : The Columbus Dispatch confirmed the story with the Department of Homeland Security. The ICE and not the FBI detained the Glass wearer, and there happened to be an MPAA task force at the theater that night, who then escalated the incident.

Comment A simple solution? (Score 1) 264

by Uncle Warthog (#45736283) Attached to: Scientists Extract RSA Key From GnuPG Using Sound of CPU

Since they're attacking using high frequency sound, maybe have the machine emit some random noise in the same spectrum using its sound hardware while encrypting or decrypting or performing key generation. Wouldn't something like that jam such an attack (at least from a distance; if someone got microphones into your hardware that might be a different story)?

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I tell them to turn to the study of mathematics, for it is only there that they might escape the lusts of the flesh. -- Thomas Mann, "The Magic Mountain"

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