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Reading through all of the comments on this story, I am struck by how many people have said this. Why is the US so paranoid about people seeing their kids naked? The number of people who get off on it is *very* small, and the number that actually do anything about it is smaller still.

Does anyone with a kid drive them around in their car? Congratulations, that's thousands of times more dangerous than any dodgy perverts. We all need some perspective - there seems to be some sort of mass hysteria over this issue. If you get a chance I would recommend watching the Brass Eye special on paedophiles (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000066N T9/) to illustrate how much society is over-reacting.

I think there is a problem here in the UK with nudity, but it's worse in the US. It is bizarre and just plain wrong that you can be arrested for being naked in public. This is the case though, and as a result nudity is seen as something dirty and perverted.

I wouldn't have a problem in this airport scanner as far as being seen naked goes, much as I wouldn't object to my girlfriend going through it either. I also prefer to be naked when swimming or on the beach, but I wouldn't class myself as a 'naturist'. It is absurd that people don't feel comfortable with this, and 100% down to social conditioning. I say bring on the nakedness! Once people get used to it and realise that we're all the same underneath, perhaps society will improve.

I've been using the Microsoft Trackball Optical for a while now. I have to say that the extra two buttons really do help out a lot. I use them for cut and paste. Nice to provide unix style cut and paste in a windows environment.

I know it says access on the cover, but Steve Roman's book Access Database Design & Programming is pretty good as a starting point, IMO.

You could also try Michael Hernandez's Database design for mere mortals

I found both to be pretty readable and a good introduction to the theory.

Once you've got the basics down, there's lots of further stuff you can try, from the obvious books by Codd and Date, to the more esoteric and weird.

I would suggest, however, that you don't stress the "platform independance" of databases; you can do it, but it's not going to be pretty - most of them have their own syntax, additions, quirks and foibles, and that's just in the SQL; it gets worse when you actually try and design code stuff; for example if you program your application to work with Oracle for locking, and then switch to, for example, SQL Server, you're going to have to redesign the way it works, since they have completely different strategies (or at least they did - been a while since I've done any SQL Server).

If you try for DB independance, you'll also end up coding to the lowest common denominator (no sequences for example... 'cause they all have their own standard...), which kinda takes the fun out of anything.

For Oracle, Tom Kyte is probably a good bet - Expert One-on-One Oracle is very good, IMO, well worth the asking price; I can't really recommend anything for non-oracle though, maybe someone else can help out; O'Reilly are bound to have something for pretty much everything and everyone.

I know it says access on the cover, but Steve Roman's book Access Database Design & Programming is pretty good as a starting point, IMO.

You could also try Michael Hernandez's Database design for mere mortals

I found both to be pretty readable and a good introduction to the theory.

Once you've got the basics down, there's lots of further stuff you can try, from the obvious books by Codd and Date, to the more esoteric and weird.

I would suggest, however, that you don't stress the "platform independance" of databases; you can do it, but it's not going to be pretty - most of them have their own syntax, additions, quirks and foibles, and that's just in the SQL; it gets worse when you actually try and design code stuff; for example if you program your application to work with Oracle for locking, and then switch to, for example, SQL Server, you're going to have to redesign the way it works, since they have completely different strategies (or at least they did - been a while since I've done any SQL Server).

If you try for DB independance, you'll also end up coding to the lowest common denominator (no sequences for example... 'cause they all have their own standard...), which kinda takes the fun out of anything.

For Oracle, Tom Kyte is probably a good bet - Expert One-on-One Oracle is very good, IMO, well worth the asking price; I can't really recommend anything for non-oracle though, maybe someone else can help out; O'Reilly are bound to have something for pretty much everything and everyone.

I know it says access on the cover, but Steve Roman's book Access Database Design & Programming is pretty good as a starting point, IMO.

You could also try Michael Hernandez's Database design for mere mortals

I found both to be pretty readable and a good introduction to the theory.

Once you've got the basics down, there's lots of further stuff you can try, from the obvious books by Codd and Date, to the more esoteric and weird.

I would suggest, however, that you don't stress the "platform independance" of databases; you can do it, but it's not going to be pretty - most of them have their own syntax, additions, quirks and foibles, and that's just in the SQL; it gets worse when you actually try and design code stuff; for example if you program your application to work with Oracle for locking, and then switch to, for example, SQL Server, you're going to have to redesign the way it works, since they have completely different strategies (or at least they did - been a while since I've done any SQL Server).

If you try for DB independance, you'll also end up coding to the lowest common denominator (no sequences for example... 'cause they all have their own standard...), which kinda takes the fun out of anything.

For Oracle, Tom Kyte is probably a good bet - Expert One-on-One Oracle is very good, IMO, well worth the asking price; I can't really recommend anything for non-oracle though, maybe someone else can help out; O'Reilly are bound to have something for pretty much everything and everyone.

Kyocera released the Tu-kaSa very simple phone in Japan and it proved to be very successful. But the thing I find strange about this story is that Vodafone are basically selling a phone with features equivalent to a nokia 3310 for £80! You can get a NEW pay as you go phone on Amazon.co.uk for £20.

Why would anyone buy the £80 phone from Vodafone?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000816MD K/qid=1116699557/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_3_1/026-1337833-4 985209

£20 for a basic phone. Why pay £80?

What are Blackies ?

Blacks publish what are generally considered to be the standard legal textbooks in the UK, hence the nickname "blackies" see: amazon for list of titles.

You must be in management. And not very good at it. Large IT projects require a whole lot of cranking repetitive things out. Folks who are generalists get VERY bored very quickly, and will jump ship if they aren't feeling creative enough.

That's like saying we could replace our armed forces with about 10% as many "Special Forces." Well you mind explaining to a Green Beret why he went through combat training, bungied from helicopters, and learned hostage extraction techniques to drive a water truck?

Before you go spouting out about good IT people versus mediocre IT people, pick up a copy of Fredrick Brook's The Mythical Man Month.

It turns out that for an IT project you need to split the job into tasks that can be solved by a surgical team of 10 people. 2 of those people are programmers. The rest are the secretaries, managers, accountants, testers, and tool smiths to support them.

This idea is 30 years old. Where it is tried success follows.

Simmer down there, it was a joke. (But evidently not as glaring obvious as I thought.)

I'm British myself, although I do admit to preferring the "S" spelling of that particular word. I also tend to drop my "U" in words like "favorite".

But the next time you think to correct someone on regional spelling differences, remember that there are around 2,000 words in the English language that not even the people who write the dictionaries can agree on the spelling of.

I recommend reading Made In America by Bill Bryson for an interesting and accessible history on how English has evolved over the last 500 years, both at home and abroad.

OK - for the record there was:

1. A suggestion that KDE had become overbloated and that maybe a lighter version was needed. The suggestion of a rewrite was shot down in flames on the show, and no mention was made of the language in which to do said rewrite.

2. The suggestion about using Python in the core of a DE was a sarcastic remark in a conversation about GNOME looking to support development in high-level languages.

Jono Bacon has been around in Linux-related media for ages; most Linux magazines have had work by him, and he has most recently released Linux Desktop Hacks which he co-edited with Nicholas Petreley - but you've probably never heard of him either.

Stuart Langridge (aka Aq) has been around the web development scene for a while; he wrote DHTML Utopia

Need I go on? I think not - all out of troll food.

OK - for the record there was:

1. A suggestion that KDE had become overbloated and that maybe a lighter version was needed. The suggestion of a rewrite was shot down in flames on the show, and no mention was made of the language in which to do said rewrite.

2. The suggestion about using Python in the core of a DE was a sarcastic remark in a conversation about GNOME looking to support development in high-level languages.

Jono Bacon has been around in Linux-related media for ages; most Linux magazines have had work by him, and he has most recently released Linux Desktop Hacks which he co-edited with Nicholas Petreley - but you've probably never heard of him either.

Stuart Langridge (aka Aq) has been around the web development scene for a while; he wrote DHTML Utopia

Need I go on? I think not - all out of troll food.

How can they expect people to choose buying the DVDs over downloading the content for free when they charge ridiculous amounts like £50 for nine episodes of Doctor Who?!

That's not even considering the £70 retail price..

Finding the g-spot is quite easy. There is a great book that has pointers...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/189015902 6/qid=1115728290/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/026- 2537690-7222055

Enjoy :-) [or should I say, let her enjoy?]

La Jetee is a great shortish film that every science fiction fan should see (in the original French, if possible). The Hollwood movie 12 Monkeys is based on La Jetee, but as is usually the case, the original is the best. La Jetee is also commonly cited as an influence on The Terminator, and on time travel movies in general. I was flipping through an old New Worlds magazine the other night and found a review of La Jetee by J.G. Ballard in which he describes it as the most realistic example of time travel ever shown on screen. Forty years later, I'd say that's still the case.

It's not too difficult to dig up a copy of La Jetee. There are two DVD versions and one VHS version, each with different cuts and language setup. The most recent DVD version is a region 2 PAL double feature with Sans Soleil, and you can get it from Amazon UK (ref. free link).

Of Other Worlds

Google for "watchful dragons" and you can probably find more quoted.

that one day you'll also get to enjoy the apparent comfort of the british prison system.

And who apart from some anal neo-fascists said prison is supposed to be a hell-hole?

P.S.: Required reading:
Foucault: Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/014013722 X/ref=pd_sim_b_dp_3/202-7423959-8052618

erm, I think you've got your dates out of whack there... Dirk Gently came out in paperback in 1988 and Twin Peaks didn't appear on screen till 1990.

Amazon.co.uk has Dirk here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/033030162 4/026-5185379-6291623#product-details
and IMDB has Twin Peaks here:
http://www.imdb.com/find?q=twin%20peaks;tt=on;nm=o n;mx=20

Putting aside the idea that one is a rip-off of the other. Can't quite see it myself but hey.

This sounds like StarWars!

Obi-Wan: I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.

(From: Quotes from The Stars Of Star Wars - Interviews From The Cast:

Best...Sword&Sorcery Writer...Ever

Nah, that's David Gemmell.

Here's the collectors box-set CD edition. By the way, it's TWO extra CDs, as well as the COMPLETE radio series from the original master tapes.

You can obtain the original broadcast radio series on CD. I can't spot the first CD, but here's the second at Amazon.

There is also a box set collectors edition, which I have, which is the original radio series plus an interview disc with DNA. In my opintion, the original radio series is the unsurpassed canonical version, but I like the books and the original TV series too. Pity about the film.

Primary Phase

By the way, there is a complete set available from amazon.com (the US version) but based on the reviews, the audio quality is not so great. I got the CDs from Amazon UK a few years ago (I am in the US) and they are great.

• Making Of
  
• Extra Footage
  
• Peter Jones Intro
  
• Original Trailer
  
• Communicate
  
• Behind The Scenes
  
• Animatronics Feature
  
• Pebble Mill Appearance By Rod Lord And Alan J Bell
  
• Production Notes
  
• Out Takes
  
• Photo Gallery
  
• Easter Eggs
  

Heat death is not necessarilly what the universe is heading towards. This is due to gravity - some scientists claim that uniform soup of particles at the end-state of the universe will not come to be for a simple reason that particles will start to attract each other and complexity would increase, aided by the rules governing chaos. Some of the ideas relevant to this can be found in this book

Sweden is quite socialist and is richer per capita than the US ($38 760 in Sweden to $36 620 in the US according to The Economist's World in 2005).

I also think you may be confusing the modern day definition of socialism with Marxism. I wouldn't break the original poster's balls just because there is some disagreement in the use of words.

BTW, America did awfully well under "socialist" Roosevelt in the 1930s. FDR's New Deal dragged America out of the Depression.

"That said, those nations are facing fiscal distress because even *they* have too much socialist influence."

I don't think Sweden is facing any more distress than the States. Judging by America's trade and budget deficit and the massive debt the American Government is running up to finance those tax cuts (you didn't really think they came for free, did you?) I would say Sweden is in a much better state than America. Professor Paul Krugman has an excellent and accessible book on the subject.

BTW, have you ever been to Sweden? It's beautiful and there is little sign of poverty that I saw. I've lived in the States for a couple of years and saw some shameful deprivation.

Actually, it is out on DVD... in the UK, at least.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0007L6SA 8/202-8389048-6566215

The most interesting work I have of hers is 1969's White Noise - An Electric Storm. She formed White Noise with David Vorhaus, and along with Brian Hodgson (also from the Radiophonic Workshop) created a bizarre, psychedelic, mostly electronic pop record, full of strange noises, quirky tunes, humour, and genuinely frightening sounds. Not easy to listen to, but well worth the effort.

Her web site is here.

The Algebraist by Iain M. Banks
Amazon Link

Iron Council by China Mieville
Amazon Link

Iron Sunrise by Charles Stross
Amazon Link

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell: A Novel by Susanna Clarke
Amazon Link

River of Gods by Ian McDonald
Amazon Link

The Three Stigmata..., Martian Time-Slip, Do Androids Dream..., Ubik, and A Scanner Darkly are published in a single volume for under a tenner (UK): ISBN 0575075813.

I've been reading Matt Ridley's The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature. Jumping off Richard Dawkins ideas that it's not survival of the fittest species, or even the fittest individual, but the survival of the genes *themselves*, I'm not overly surprised that recessive genes can express themselves generations afterward. Genes in fact compete with *each other* in the same individual, struggling to force some genes out, other times co-existing. In fact, this fits right in with Dawkins ideas. These "repairing genes" want to survive to further generations, and if they happen to have to repair their host so that it can have sex and pass on the genes, then so be it.

Genetics is an amazingly complex science. Genes sometimes actively kill off their competators. The concept of XX being female and XY being male applies to humans but not necessarily other animals, or even other mammals. (Some birds have XX and XY reversed for male and female, some mammals have a third "W" chromosome to determine gender. This just blew me away when I first read it.

Think of genes as a computer program, perhaps like a computer virus. You can program a virus to rootkit other apps. Genetics provides more than enough complexity for genes to be able to perform a similar function.

Mendel's work was very, very good, but seems ancient in the context of what we've learned from genetics in the past 25 years.

Mendels laws of inheritance are like Newton's laws of Gravity. They hold in most everyday situations, but there are strange and unusual exceptions. Saying that this says there's a flaw in evolution is about the same as saying because of questions raised by Einstein's relativity, gravity might be false.

The name is probably taken from the popular swedish agent novel Coq Rouge (meaning red rooster, code name for the agent in the novel). It is a perfect name for an infiltrator.

A couple of points:

First, I agree that some of the people in the games industry need some growing up to do. I don't agree that someone who is passionate about video games is inherently suffering from arrested development, in much the same way that I don't think someone who is passionate about, say, making films or writing children's books is suffering from a similar problem.

The thing that most struck a chord with me though is the problems you had trying to convince people that you can do a particular job, even though you might not have 3+ years experience in it. I see this often, too. I believe that a good programmer, once s/he's been working for as long as you (or for that matter, I) have, can turn his/her hand to most things.

The things that make me laugh is like your example of audio programming - as if it's an unbelievably arcane and complex subject. It's really not. But as you say, a (bad) manager will think they absolutely must have an 'audio expert', as opposed to someone who has a good background in engineering/computer science, and has programmed in various environments, platforms and languages.

As I go through my career, I'm becoming less and less impressed by specific experience, and more impressed by a candidate's range of skills, approach and personality. They tell me much more than "4 years DirectX experience" does.

Speaking of which - your journal entry about the rejection letter: I have no magical answer, but it did remind me of the section in Peopleware about hiring people (the bit where they say something like "But do you think he'd find chickens with lips funny?"). Sometimes it's just about a fit of the team, and how it gels, and if someone doesn't fit, then that's the way it goes. It doesn't necessarily reflect badly on the team or the person they decided to pass on hiring. So I guess what I'm saying there is, don't worry about it so much. It feels like you're looking for someone to blame for that (and maybe you'd prefer it if you could believe that the team are a bunch of immature jerks and that's why they didn't want you), but just let it go :)

But yes, essentially, boy am I sick of "But you've never done X before, how can you do that?"

I always think, "Here's an idea, maybe I could use my innate human abilities of learning, memory and problem solving to apply my experience and education to the work? Imagine that!"

I don't know about a US release, but the UK release is currently selling for under £7 (around $13) on Amazon UK. You'll need a multi-region DVD player, but these days they're pretty easy to come by - Amazon themselves sell them for under 25 quid.

I don't know about a US release, but the UK release is currently selling for under £7 (around $13) on Amazon UK. You'll need a multi-region DVD player, but these days they're pretty easy to come by - Amazon themselves sell them for under 25 quid.

I guess really though I'm more like Grommit in real life. I suppose being Shaun might be considered an aspirational thing if you're Grommit.

A lot of my best maths and computing teachers were women.
That at UCL.
System's Analysis, Functional Programming and Calculus to cite a few.
Because it's been a while now - I can't find their personal pages.

So many great mathematicians were women so why do they shy away from computing?
I.T is dying collapsing we don't need an exodus right now.
So in future we will have what zero participation of women in Computing? Fine desert us!

Also I find women (imho) are much better than men at teaching, presentation and communication.
All of which very related to Computing.
The authors Linda Bostock and Sue Chandler are but one example that comes to mind.

Men are crap teachers mostly.
You often hear of a bad male teacher, but rarely a crap lady teacher.

There is only one thing us men do better than women.
And that is cooking :)
Get your girlfriend to cook for you and expect to eat overcooked burnt goo.

"Ahm ... tastes alright if you drown it in catchup" - she says.

Compare that with the Creative muvo n200 1gb version for £109 on amazon.co.uk .

Based on creative's pricing, I would pay £140 for the NW-E507. Anything more than that would not seem like a reasonable purchase.

Another book for the (ant) pile is Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities and Software by Steven Johnson.

Apple stuff is cheaper through amazon, at least that's what i've found on iPods.

iPod 20gb

http://store.apple.com/Apple/WebObjects/ukstore.wo a/wo/0.0.11.1.0.6.21.1.4.1.2.0.0.1.0 - £209 at Apple.com

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0002OXOZ C - £199 at Amazon.co.uk

...is Balderdash. For anybody who is a fan of The Superior Person's Book of Words, this is a must.

Jesus is peculiar in that very few "historical figures" that have had such importance through the ages are so poorly documented.

In terms of number of writers, and numbers of consistent copies of their writings, Jesus is by far and away the best-attested historical figure of his time. I'd recommend "The Canon Of Scripture" by F.F. Bruce, which covers this territory. It's a fairly in-depth read, but it is thorough.

Gerv

March 28th for the first 13 episodes, at least here in region 2.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0007L6SA 8

According to Amazon UK Season 1, Part 1 will be released March 28. However, it will be region 2 encoding. So for all of you in Europe, Japan, etc. please make sure to set up a BitTorrent so all of us in the US have a chance to get it.

Thanks in advance.

If you're interested in any of the concepts that the parent writes about then be sure to read Olaf Stapeldon's Star Maker. Lots of thoughts on how mind, spirituality and how a species transcends into the next organisational grouping, resulting in galaxies full of merged species trying the contact the Star Maker...

And no, I didn't include my affiliate id in that link...

With the help of Google, anything is possible! How to build a nuclear bomb Complete with book search!

Don't panic!

Apparently U2's instructions to dismantle one should you find one are selling like hotcakes all over the world. :)

Here you go.

And yes, they do ship to the United States.

Rather than tackle the problems of reading and maths head on, encourage your brother to learn the skills that will help him to learn. Disabilities like dylexia have strong connection to poorly developed cerebellum and vestibular systems. By training up the physical co-ordiation the more able to cope the eye tracking and mental agility need to read. For more information have a look here.

Old fashioned games of running around and catching balls are also very good at training the cerebellum and vestibular system. I'f a normal ball is too fast or difficult to catch then look into Plusballs . (Review ).

You may also want to consider singing lessons. There is anecdotal evidence that singing helps the brain's langauge skills develop. Research has found it can raise the IQ as well. Check out SingStar for the PS2. Your brother will need help with reading the lyrics but a cheap and fun way to learn.

Declaration of interest: I run Myomancy.com.

Chris

For funny side of things. Now that we know that we 10E90 bits will be enough for everyone. 299 bits will be enough to address every bit in the universe. 296 bits if we want to access 8-bit bytes.

It also seems evident that universe wasn't compiled with full optimizations. There is no input or output so all this computation could have been optimized out. Let's have silent moment for this tought.

Hmmm, Why do people always depend on others when the list can be constructed with relative ease?
Here's my list:
1. Run antivirus-update
2. Run full antivirus scan
3. Update firewall
4. Update Windowz
5. Update spyware program
6. Run spyware program & delete entries
7. Clean out TEMP folder
8. Reboot
9. Cold boot
10. Run disk check
11. Uninstall redundant software through configuration menu - Software
12. Run defragmentation
13. Uninstall drivers
14. Install up-to-date drivers
15. Degauss your CRT
16. Remove side-panel of case

And my all time favorite...
17. Read my Wishlist on Amazon and see what you can buy for me before I come over to repair your PC. :)