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Not that America isn't a superb nation (ignoring the current administration), but I get a bad taste in my mouth about the idea of any nation having the capacity to control another *on the cheap* over the long term on a military basis.

Still, this can be seen as more of a failed experiment than a conclusive result. When the tools are available, and less humanity necissary for the military control of a population... well, tyranny can then become something greater than a Thomas Paine pamphlet can help fight anymore.

The automated undermining of freedoms is a scary concept.

Ryan Fenton

...like this one? I thought they just made it so you could play copies of games.

Separating presentation from content is always a good thing, and it's a requirement I had for my own website. I did a bit of research for ideas on how to do this in a web application, and the solutions that others have presented here (like the Smarty Template) and other template-style presentation mechanisms were the common solution.

One problem with this approache was mentioned in the Architecture Patterns book; depending on how your site is designed, you may have to edit multiple template files to change something in your website's presentation. For example, if you have a set of links that should appear on every page, you may have to change each template file to change something about those links.

So what I've done is separate the content from the presentation the same way I would have if my website was static HTML. The HTML is nothing more than data wrapped in DIVs, and my presentation information is completely contained in CSS files. I've also separated the presentation classes from the application logic in the script. The markup is still embedded within the script, but that script does nothing else than aggregate the data and the markup.

This way, I can put common data (like general navigation links and titles) in a class, and page specific content in sub-classes. If I want to change a link in all pages, it's one change. If I want to change the data in a page, it's just one change as well. If I want to change the look and feel, I do so in a single CSS file.

It's definitely overkill for a personal website (although another goal I had was to see if this could hold up as the website grew). So far, it seems to be holding up, even if I'm still fairly early in development.

Phemur

"Lawyers. Accountants. Radiologists. Software engineers. That's what our parents encouraged us to become when we grew up. But Mom and Dad were wrong. The future belongs to a very different kind of person with a very different kind of mind. The era of "left brain" dominance, and the Information Age that it engendered, are giving way to a new world in which "right brain" qualities-inventiveness, empathy, meaning-predominate. That's the argument at the center of this provocative and original book, which uses the two sides of our brains as a metaphor for understanding the contours of our times..."

This is especially true with laptops with slow 4200 rpm hardrives. I picked up 2 AMD 2400+ laptops from the school I was going to because the administrative staff thought they were too slow, well with 256 megs of course they would be. Snapped two 1 gig sodimms in there and they fucking fly now. Turned around and sold one with a 80 gig external hardrive for 1000 bucks 4 months ago.

I would recommend buying six copies of "Working Effectively with Legacy Code", by Michael Feathers. Perhaps with Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code by Fowler et al. Or, you can just buy one copy now, and the other five later.

I would recommend buying six copies of "Working Effectively with Legacy Code", by Michael Feathers. Perhaps with Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code by Fowler et al. Or, you can just buy one copy now, and the other five later.

Save yourself $9.25 by buying the book here: Google: The Missing Manual, Second Edition. And if you use the "secret" A9.com discount, you can save an extra 1.57%!

Save yourself $9.25 by buying the book here: Google: The Missing Manual, Second Edition. And if you use the "secret" A9.com discount, you can save an extra 1.57%!

As a side note, the CIA did not fund bin Laden, although they knew of him and knew that some fighters they did fund were also working with him.

Man, I'm with you on the topic of pushing the social bounds that a video game can touch. Why is it ok to write books, plays, film movies and TV shows about horrible events - but you depict it in a video game and suddenly your an amoral asshat?

For some of use, we would like to see video games mature into interactive media that conveys a message with more clarity and depth than any of the current one dimensional media vehicles available. This game is a step in that direction. Hell, some people call it art.

Anyone see that film Capote? Critical acclaim everywhere. The movie was about a self indulgent asshole who basically wrote a "true Crime" novel. Whoop de dooo. I don't see anyone flipping out over that.

Lets take a look at the book now. In Cold Blood. Read the reviews on that page, they're ridiculous. Capote's writing is boring, typical, and worshipped by those who couldn't handle Tolstoy. The subject of a book, a murder. A REAL murder.

Where is the outcry there? Hell, where is the outcry on the "pulp true crime" novels written about serial killer after serial killer? It's pretty damn small and has NO face.

People can't handle media if they haven't been ingesting it for 20 years or more. This "kiddie" media is mostly being purchased by people over 18. This is knee jerk reaction to an overhyped statistical anomonoly.

This is not an attack on those who still might have very deep pain over this event, I feel for you. But this game is NOT demeaning you. This game is NOT trying to foster this behavior in others. The very people who are demeaning this game should take a look at it, see how it makes you feel. My guess is repulsed. And every time you re-enact a slaying you should be asking yourself "what kind of monster can do this?" That, ladies and gentlemen, is the point. What does it take to make two confused youth transform into heartless killers? What is the aftermath? How much pain does not understanding or ignoring the early warning signs cause after all is said and done?

No, who cares about those things. Sweep that shit under the rug and turn on the tube - I wanna see who's gonna be the next American Idol. As long as I'm not starving or suffering - I try not to worry too much abouth the specifics. If this stuff didn't exist the problem might just go away.

Hmm, let's see if we can do better: Acer TravelMate TM4202WLMi http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000E502UO/104-61 49296-7670321?v=glance&n=541966 * Affordable notebook PC with 15.4-inch LCD; 1.67 GHz Intel Core Duo T2300 with 2 MB L2 cache * 100 GB hard drive, 1 GB of RAM (2 GB max), dual-layer/multi-format DVD burner * Four USB 2.0, Type II PCMCIA slot, headphone (with SPDIF support), microphone * Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 (128 MB of shared RAM); tri-mode 802.11a/b/g wireless connectivity * Windows XP Professional All for $999

Accelerometers are nothing new, and have been used before in game controllers.

Specifically, this one.

I have one of these. It's fun in some games and a pain in the butt in others. I really enjoyed Motocross Madness, but car driving games, well, drove me crazy.

The Wiimote is a very different technology, but it suffers from the same fatal flaws as every other motion sensing controller (you can count the EyeToy in here too)... a)the body likes to push against something and b) the body likes small control movments.

Don't get me wrong, I do like motion sensing stuff once in a while, but this is something you'll want to avoid if playing for long periods of time. Long as in more than about half an hour.

Sony should have realized this and let Nintendo hang themselves with their own nunchuck rope. Nintendo does realize this to some degree which is why it's pushing the family friendliness of the box... families don't videogame for hours on end.

TW

Save yourself some money by buying the book here: Computer Network Time Synchronization. And if you use the "secret" A9.com discount, you can save an extra 1.57%!

Save yourself some money by buying the book here: Computer Network Time Synchronization. And if you use the "secret" A9.com discount, you can save an extra 1.57%!

If you buy Computer Network Time Synchronization through my Amazon link you can get free shipping and help me pay for school. Thanks in advance. (personally though I feel the book is a little too pricy)

There's only one catch-- MILLIONS of blu-ray readers will already be in the clutches of PS3 owners. They'll get a next generation HD format with the bonus of a next-generation game machine. Stand alone players will cost $600 to $800 at the time the PS3 launches but you won't get a game machine with those. And because this all comes standard on BOTH the low and high end PS3, it's a winner. If this was optional equipment I wouldn't be singing the same tune. HD-DVD will not win the format war because SONY will have blu-ray standard on the PS3. End of story.

• Better picture and audio quality without the need of expensive equipment upgrade.
  
• More convenience than the previous tape-based format: chapter skipping, etc.
  
• Extra features beyond just the basic film on most titles.
  
• Easier storage of packaging for consumers and retailers.
  
• Considerably cheaper pricing for new releases (remember, VHS had the rental window).
  

It's "too difficult and time consuming" to rollover a link to see if it's real link or an IP address or bogus URL? I dunno about you, but if I get an e-mail from my bank telling me to click a link, it better have the same domain as the URL I'm accustomed to going to do my online banking or I won't go there.

It's "too difficult and time consuming" to ask yourself, "Gee, would my [ISP/bank/telco/cellular provider/etc] really ask me to provide [credit card #/password/personal information/etc] via an e-mail, especially when I've already provided them with this information in the past? Gee, why wouldn't they contact me in person if there were really a problem?" And think about it: especially if it's a credit card #, they really really want to get paid and not very likely to use an insecure and unreliable channel such as e-mail to get such information from you. They're far more likely to call you on the phone or send you some snail mail.

C'mon. Do we really expect that people are that dumb? Is this what it's come to?

I suggest everyone read Atlas Shrugged. Really. Right now. Go do it.

I just realized the first book I listed is not even released yet, the one I actually meant to post was Moving To Linux, which I am familiar with. It contains a live Knoppix CD customized by the author. But I suspect the Moving To Ubuntu Linux book will be just as good if not better.

Moving To Ubuntu Linux

Mepis - Point & Click Linux

Linspire - The No Nonsense Guide

Each book comes with a live Linux CD for the specific distro the book concentrates on.

Moving To Ubuntu Linux

Mepis - Point & Click Linux

Linspire - The No Nonsense Guide

Each book comes with a live Linux CD for the specific distro the book concentrates on.

Moving To Ubuntu Linux

Mepis - Point & Click Linux

Linspire - The No Nonsense Guide

Each book comes with a live Linux CD for the specific distro the book concentrates on.

I love the quicksearch function but have had difficulty getting a URL that worked for Amazon, most would stop working after a while and take me to a page suggesting there was a browser bug instead.

The Amazon one you have doesn't work on the U.S. (.com) site. Even if you bring up a plain search and then just substitute %s into the URL, Amazon just ignores what was put in when you try to use it afterwards.

I think I have found the search URL that works on the .com site

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/external-search/ ?field-keywords=%s&mode=blended&tag=mozilla-20&sou rceid=Mozilla-search

It appears to be the one that the Amazon search on the Toolbar search field uses (it redirects fast somewhere else so getting it caught was tough).

Greg Egan writes about excactly that in one of the short stories in this book... US hardback version

Quite decent book by the way, my last three weeks of New Scientist are still in the shrink-wrap/lying on the doormat because of it :)

Spaceballs not funny? Dude, if you don't like Mel Brooks' films don't see them. They will give you a case of High Anxiety

Backwoods Country Magazine so you can learn to make it when they shut off your electricity and you are forced to use your 1/8th of an arable land that used to be your lawn to grow corn on and hunt neighborhood cats.

There's an excellent novel by N. Lee Wood called Faraday's Orphans set in the apocalyptic aftermath of just such a reversal. Probably inaccurate, but interesting.

Now Alexis de Tocqueville's "Democracy in America" is one book I would require to be read in hs. People need to see the America Alexis saw.

Mr. Spock (I don't know that he held a doctorate in anything, but he was described as a scientist)

Predictable? Me?

We can buy better quality DVD/Blu-ray/HD-DVD players for the same price as a PS3 and still get a Wii.

Here is another much much more detailed description (down in Malaria control), and here is an eye-witness account from 1959 of the cat drop itself.

Note that the author of the cat drop was a little too dismissive of the dangers of the rats (he seemed to be more concerned by the fact that they were nibbling people's toenails and eating transistor radios) but hey, he's a reporter. Can't blame him for that.

Still, though, I really recommend the Charlotte Pomerantz book. It's a well-written children's book which describes what happened in Borneo in a way to help kids understand.

The one thing I will say (that I've said elsewhere, too) is that I might've been being a bit strong in saying what happened there, but that's mainly because the comments I've seen have been equally strong the other way - as in "DDT doesn't cause any damage to ecosystems." Well, it does. I'm not trying to say DDT shouldn't be used. I'm trying to say DDT isn't hand soap. It isn't manna from heaven. It's an insecticide that, if used improperly, can concentrate lethally in apex predators.

(Offtopic warning!)

That eweek's "malware icon" (just like slashdot's malware icon has a picture of something that's not a worm.

Unless I've missed the threat of 'caterpillars' crawling the internet (consuming all resources. :-)

Anyway, back on topic - wouldn't it be easier for MS to simply write more secure software? It's rather disheartening to hear their response to the deluge of malware is a classification program.

Your two other quoted sources in a previous post are not much better. Neither even pretends to support their version of the Borneo story with a shred of documentation. Puttering about on the web for a few minutes shows many many slight variants of the same precautionary tale, but none surpass the level of unsubstantiated anecdote.

Could you point inquisitive Slashdot readers to original sources for the story? Perhaps some hard data that can link a mass feline extinction to DDT spraying? Something detailing this rat carried plague that swept the region? Is there more to this story than hearsay and urban legend?

Even an accurate geographical description of the area involved would be nice. I have seen the story written as affecting all of Borneo, the northern half of Borneo, and one part in the north of Borneo.

Some variants say the cats ate DDT contaminated cockroaches. Some say the cats ingested lizards which had ingested DDT contaminated insects. Some versions add the anecdote of the collapsing roofs from a lack of caterpillar controlling wasps. Some claim the caterpillars were ingested by the cats. Some claim the caterpillars were ingested by the lizards which were ingested by the cats. Some mention only a rat population problem being fixed by cat drops. Some mention plague problems being spread by the rats (the DDT didn't hit the plague carrying insects on the rats?). Some have cats being parachuted. Some have cats being trucked.

Call me skeptical of DDT causing the "complete devastation of the Borneo ecosystem."

Or, more on topic, how the WHO screwed over Borneo by recklessly spraying DDT without first examining its effects on the local population. They ended up very likely causing more deaths than the malaria outbreak originally would have.

"When they sprayed my hut with insecticide,
My rat catching cat soon sickened and died.
When the rats crawled in, I was filled with fear:
The plague can kill more than malaria here.
When my roof beams caved in, I moved next door.
Until their roof beams collapsed to the floor.

But please, do not think I wish to offend,
For DDT is the farmer's good friend.
Still, perhaps you'll allow a poor man to say,
He hopes men of science will soon find a way
To kill the mosquitoes till all, all are dead -
But save the roof beams which are over my head,
As well as my most useful rat-catching cat.
How grateful I'd be if you'd only do that!

Then, men of science, I would not complain.
But now I must look to my roof - I smell rain!"

While all 3 designs look "nicer" than the current design, it seems to me that they are done by hobby-designers (i'm a visual illiterate person myself, too but learned some things from this woman).

Especially the various spaces between texts, images, etc look randomly unbalanced.

And the font sizes look randomly choosen, too. I dislike a website/printed paper where there are more than two or three font sizes. The three examples have lots of them, make it look odd to me.

This is getting into off-topic territory, but have you read Under The Banner of Heaven?

A short version is this - two brothers hear the command of God to kill the wife and child of their third brother. Are they crazy, or not?

The longer version is that these two brothers are influenced by the history of the Mormon faith they belonged to, where it is "normal" for men to have personal revelations sent to them from God. If they are crazy, then do their beliefs mean that all Mormons are crazy (or crazier ;) )? If they're not crazy, does that mean the murders they committed were justified?

I probably fail to describe the book fairly, it's an interesting history of the Mormon faith, crazy religious fundamentalists, and a little slice of psychology. I think it can be applied to Islamic fundamentalists, or fundamentalists in general.

I'm almost positive it's gonna be at 40 dollars.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BWZY7Q/qid=11 47383818/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-5637480-4577449?_ encoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=468642

With all the negative posts by AC's on Celko, I just had to recommend that folks read the reviews on Amazon before writing off Celko's books.

I like the guys on DbDebunk (the site referred to in several of the anti-Celko links), and I recommend their books as well, but I wouldn't recommend their books or their site as the best place to learn practical SQL. But, check out their site and decide for yourself.

No, I mean allowed by the fans. Typically, if its 2+ years old, its viewed as, well, old.

You speak with great authority. I can only speak for myself and those I know with certainty, but I like older music as well as newly released music. Given our respective musical tastes, I think I'd have a better handle on the scene that you do. You seem to be implying that those who like hip-hop are only doing so because when it is new. I'd like a little more credit here, please.

I'll say one thing though. If people who enjoy hip-hop do listen to a lot more modern music than they do the older stuff (and consistant high sales of Tupak et al suggest otherwise), then you should also consider that a lot more high-quality hip-hop is coming out than there is high-quality rock, classical or gregorian chanting. We're spoilt for choice, is all.

Now as you like classical, may I point you in the direction of this gentleman, who I consider to be highly talented and I am going through a phase of listening to his work a lot. Alas, he is new and therefore unlikely to achieve lasting popularity. Classical music is fixed in the minds of many as Mozart, Beethoven and the rest of the club. By your criteria therefore, he'd not be considered "quality music." I think you'll agree this is not the case, however.

And if you like his work despite it being new, I'd like you to get hold of this which I hope you will like despite it being old. Also available on iTunes. I particularly recommend Favourite Things from Nu Flow, but it's all good.

You'll not only save money, but also the time involved in shopping until you actually find a 360 for sale

As a writer for the school newspaper and someone who is expected to write in excess of 10 pages a week in lab reports and other miscellenia the last thing I want to do when I am entertained is use a keyboard and mouse. I used a DDR gamepad for a long time but was looking into getting something a bit more resilient to 300 lbs of weight being thrown around.

Go read the Puzzle Palace for an interesting history of the NSA. The NSA was always allowd to operate and spy in the USA. It is nothing new.

Actually, I read the Puzzle Palace, as well as "Body of Secrets", the follow-up book by James Bamford. Here is what this book says on the subject (page 440-441, 1st Edition, published in May 2001, if you have to know):

"Among the reforms to come out of the Church Committee investigation was the creation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) [...] In order for NSA to target an American citizen or permanent resident alien -- a green card holder -- within the United States, a secret warrant must be obtained from the [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance] court. To get the warrant, the NSA officials must show that the person they wish to target is either an agent of a foreign power or involved in espionage or terrorism. But because these issues fall under the jurisidction of the FBI within the United States the NSA seldom becomes involved. Thus, according to senior U.S. intelligence official involved in Sigint, NSA does not target Americans at home." (Emphasis mine).

Therefore, contrary to what you just posted, NSA is allowed to spy on American citizens, but only after getting a court warrant. The fact that the NSA is spying right now on American citizens -- without obtaining this warrant -- should be more than enough reason to impeach the current President of the United States, as well as prosecute USAF General Hayden, the former NSA Director who authorized this program, and who is now the new CIA director.

Somehow, I don't think this is going to happen.

It's not a very large number either (not as low as 6 though)

Actually, in the book Linked it was argued that the degrees of separation are generally less than 6. The older model created by Erdos and Renyi (random) was an attempt at mapping a completely random network. This was the predominant model used by many until Duncan Watts and Steven Strogantz (clustered) offered a different approach that showed a relatively small number of social links were sufficient to drastically reduce the distance of one person to another across the world.

I can't remember who introduced the idea of connector social nodes off the top of my head, but this idea contradictided the previous two models. The idea that a connector node, a social node that had a disproportionate amount of connections to many other nodes, was not possible in the random or cluster models - yet it was an accurate description of social networks and how they function. If I remember correctly, this meant that people were generally about 3 degrees separated from each other, they were just unaware of the relationships they needed to utilize to make the connection in that short a span of hops.

The first person to mod this one offtopic might want to read a book first.

SQL Visual Start Guide remains the best introdutory SQL book.

Save yourself $13.58 by buying the book here: SQL Cookbook. And if you use the "secret" A9.com discount, you can save an extra 1.57%!

Save yourself $13.58 by buying the book here: SQL Cookbook. And if you use the "secret" A9.com discount, you can save an extra 1.57%!

Here's the link to Amazon.

Yes, it's an affiliate link, flame away, what do I care.

Celko's SQL Puzzles and Answers is good too.