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http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1414304420/104-92 75859-2849503 Jack Thompson's book

The list is amusing, heres the few on the page:

First tag: lies (6mullet on Nov 17, 2005)
Last tag: Propaganda

Lies (7),Propaganda (5),Childish Name Calling (4),Unfounded assertions (4),Slander (4),Unscientific (4),Defamation (3),Self-promoting with fake reviews (3),Biased (3),lies (3),Racist (2),Scaremonger (2),toilet-paper (2),Money grabbing lawyer (2),Ambulance Chaser (2)

The amazon page listing them is here.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1414304420/103-17 36564-3760662?v=glance&n=283155&n=507846&s=books&v =glance

Dunno... Solaris was good, really good, but Tarkovsky's Stalker was better, IMHo, and the Strugatsky's book Roadside Picnic is better than Lem's book too...

Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News (Paperback)

I thought Basehead's real name - as in the demo scene and Five Musicians Basehead - was Dan Grandpre. I'm really confused now though because I found an album on Amazon which seems to be by both of them (Dan Gardopee is another alias he uses). Are they the same dude? I thought Alexander Brandon's nick was Siren. And I see they've worked on a lot of the same game soundtracks...

Can someone enlighten me please? Heh - The Zen Garden has finished and Shades of Night: Sea at Dawn has just come on - fairly appropriate.

I have have almost finished reading "Spychips: How Major Corporations and Government Plan to Track Your Every Move with RFID". It describes how Wallmart, Procter & Gamble, Accenture and other large companies plan to have RFID chips in everything we buy. They would be used for inventory control, automated checkout and other purposes, but passive RFID tags would remain active in our clothing and other items for many years afterwards. Before long we will all be walking around with RFID tags in our shoes, clothing, drivers licenses, cards in our wallet and on our shopper ID cards.

Each and every item sold would have a unique serial number. The stores who sold those items to us would have a record of who owns them in their computer databases. They would record who purchased them when we use our shoppers ID card, charge card or wrote a check while paying for them. Since 1987 many companys have been using data aggregators to share information about our purchases. In the future, every time we walk past an RFID scanner at a store we would be recognized and and there would be a record of our having been there. In the movie "Minority Report" there are several examples of RFID technology being used to provide targeted advertising.

Some motorists already have toll transponders attached to their windows to pay tolls. In Huston, if you have a toll tag, you are unkowingly beaming a unique ID number to roadway RFID readers that are placed every five miles along some of their freeways. The Federal Highway Administration has a proposal to require all cars to be spychipped before coming off the assembly line. In their proposal, the spychip would be accompanied by a GPS receiver and an 802.11 wireless device to upload real-time location data as your car passes roadside "hot spots". It is slated for rollout between 2008 and 2010. The FCC has also reserved a radio band for applications like that.

Passive RFID devices don't use batteries so they keep working for many years. When you throw out your RFID tagged clothing and other items they can still be read from several feet away from your garbage can. Market researchers have expressed an interest in covertly driving by garbage cans and scanning their contents from several feet away.

Many Christians are uncomfortable with RFID technology because of what it says in Revalation 13:16-17 about the mark of the beast. They feel that the implatable versions of RFID chips might be what the bible is refering to. Implantable RFID tags are already being widely implanted in pets and have been implanted in a few bar patrons at at the Baja Beach Club in Barcelona, Spain and the Baja Beach Club in Rotterdam, Holland and in the Bar Soba in Edinburgh, Scotland, and the Amika nightclub in Maimi Beach, Florida. A soon to be released book is called "The Spychips Threat : Why Christians Should Resist RFID and Computer Tracking".

Those are just a few examples of the privacy issues with RFID. I am not totally opposed to all uses of RFID but believe that all RFID tagged items should have label that says that they contain RFID tags. That way consumers can choose to avoid them if they want to. Here is on organization that oppose RFID tags:

I have have almost finished reading "Spychips: How Major Corporations and Government Plan to Track Your Every Move with RFID". It describes how Wallmart, Procter & Gamble, Accenture and other large companies plan to have RFID chips in everything we buy. They would be used for inventory control, automated checkout and other purposes, but passive RFID tags would remain active in our clothing and other items for many years afterwards. Before long we will all be walking around with RFID tags in our shoes, clothing, drivers licenses, cards in our wallet and on our shopper ID cards.

Each and every item sold would have a unique serial number. The stores who sold those items to us would have a record of who owns them in their computer databases. They would record who purchased them when we use our shoppers ID card, charge card or wrote a check while paying for them. Since 1987 many companys have been using data aggregators to share information about our purchases. In the future, every time we walk past an RFID scanner at a store we would be recognized and and there would be a record of our having been there. In the movie "Minority Report" there are several examples of RFID technology being used to provide targeted advertising.

Some motorists already have toll transponders attached to their windows to pay tolls. In Huston, if you have a toll tag, you are unkowingly beaming a unique ID number to roadway RFID readers that are placed every five miles along some of their freeways. The Federal Highway Administration has a proposal to require all cars to be spychipped before coming off the assembly line. In their proposal, the spychip would be accompanied by a GPS receiver and an 802.11 wireless device to upload real-time location data as your car passes roadside "hot spots". It is slated for rollout between 2008 and 2010. The FCC has also reserved a radio band for applications like that.

Passive RFID devices don't use batteries so they keep working for many years. When you throw out your RFID tagged clothing and other items they can still be read from several feet away from your garbage can. Market researchers have expressed an interest in covertly driving by garbage cans and scanning their contents from several feet away.

Many Christians are uncomfortable with RFID technology because of what it says in Revalation 13:16-17 about the mark of the beast. They feel that the implatable versions of RFID chips might be what the bible is refering to. Implantable RFID tags are already being widely implanted in pets and have been implanted in a few bar patrons at at the Baja Beach Club in Barcelona, Spain and the Baja Beach Club in Rotterdam, Holland and in the Bar Soba in Edinburgh, Scotland, and the Amika nightclub in Maimi Beach, Florida. A soon to be released book is called "The Spychips Threat : Why Christians Should Resist RFID and Computer Tracking".

Those are just a few examples of the privacy issues with RFID. I am not totally opposed to all uses of RFID but believe that all RFID tagged items should have label that says that they contain RFID tags. That way consumers can choose to avoid them if they want to. Here is on organization that oppose RFID tags:

I have have almost finished reading "Spychips: How Major Corporations and Government Plan to Track Your Every Move with RFID". It describes how Wallmart, Procter & Gamble, Accenture and other large companies plan to have RFID chips in everything we buy. They would be used for inventory control, automated checkout and other purposes, but passive RFID tags would remain active in our clothing and other items for many years afterwards. Before long we will all be walking around with RFID tags in our shoes, clothing, drivers licenses, cards in our wallet and on our shopper ID cards.

Each and every item sold would have a unique serial number. The stores who sold those items to us would have a record of who owns them in their computer databases. They would record who purchased them when we use our shoppers ID card, charge card or wrote a check while paying for them. Since 1987 many companys have been using data aggregators to share information about our purchases. In the future, every time we walk past an RFID scanner at a store we would be recognized and and there would be a record of our having been there. In the movie "Minority Report" there are several examples of RFID technology being used to provide targeted advertising.

Some motorists already have toll transponders attached to their windows to pay tolls. In Huston, if you have a toll tag, you are unkowingly beaming a unique ID number to roadway RFID readers that are placed every five miles along some of their freeways. The Federal Highway Administration has a proposal to require all cars to be spychipped before coming off the assembly line. In their proposal, the spychip would be accompanied by a GPS receiver and an 802.11 wireless device to upload real-time location data as your car passes roadside "hot spots". It is slated for rollout between 2008 and 2010. The FCC has also reserved a radio band for applications like that.

Passive RFID devices don't use batteries so they keep working for many years. When you throw out your RFID tagged clothing and other items they can still be read from several feet away from your garbage can. Market researchers have expressed an interest in covertly driving by garbage cans and scanning their contents from several feet away.

Many Christians are uncomfortable with RFID technology because of what it says in Revalation 13:16-17 about the mark of the beast. They feel that the implatable versions of RFID chips might be what the bible is refering to. Implantable RFID tags are already being widely implanted in pets and have been implanted in a few bar patrons at at the Baja Beach Club in Barcelona, Spain and the Baja Beach Club in Rotterdam, Holland and in the Bar Soba in Edinburgh, Scotland, and the Amika nightclub in Maimi Beach, Florida. A soon to be released book is called "The Spychips Threat : Why Christians Should Resist RFID and Computer Tracking".

Those are just a few examples of the privacy issues with RFID. I am not totally opposed to all uses of RFID but believe that all RFID tagged items should have label that says that they contain RFID tags. That way consumers can choose to avoid them if they want to. Here is on organization that oppose RFID tags:

> "A three-sided vortex (once limited to the greater Bermuda area
> but in recent years expanded to be anchored at Crawford, TX,
> Washington, DC, and Baghdad due to depletion of the ozone layer)
> into which pour vast sums of the rest of the world's time and money"
> explains the Bermuda Triangle.

Hehe, no seriously, someone not promoting late night radio actually went and looked into all the prominent cases. BTW, it's from the '70's, so there's a good chance there's a copy down at your library.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0688128165/ref=sib _fs_top/102-2348296-1264964?_encoding=UTF8&p=S00G& checkSum=qdscB2w4LZyZ%2FGv8UPVCooYDVgcxIM%2BKl%2FX owFBapUM%3D#reader-page

Indeed - hey, here is a book I think you would really appreciate. It has LOTS of equations (which I don't think will bug you, hence my recommendation), but a theme and a thread that makes the book a wonderful, beautiful tour through many areas of mathematics:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0691099839/103-77 98844-8308625?v=glance&n=283155&n=507846&s=books&v =glance

No stupid "recommend and gets points" or any such stuff - it took me several months to read through the whole book, and I then reread the whole book again, it is so delightful. Perhaps you will like it - it is hard to find excellent books written for "mathematical hobbyists" - people who love and enjoy math, but are not professional mathematicians but are nonetheless quite capable of doing an integral, fiddling with a bit of DE, etc.

This is the kind of book I wish /. would review. Think there would be any luck in submitting this one for review? It's over a year old, and I've never attempted the submission process before...

There are some people having success with using the Linksys NSLU2 and Unslung as an audio player.
http://www.nslu2-linux.org/wiki/HowTo/SlugAsAudioP layer/
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0001FSCZO/

Joe Haldeman wrote an interesting novel, Buying Time , on just this topic. The premise of the novel is that scientists have indeed found a way to extend life indefinitely, ten years at a time (albeit in the rather crude manner of ripping you apart and putting you back together again)--but the cost of the treatment is your entire net worth, minimum one million pounds, which you're not allowed to give back to yourself afterwards. While the manner of treatment in the novel results in different answers than what may be reached from genetic research, it does address a number of issues, both scientific and societal, about lengthening life and the effects thereof.

Look at the one at the bottom for hooking directly to your soundcard.

Or look at this one at Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0007ODOMA/102-27 68592-7307354?v=glance&n=172282&v=glance

What you need is an audio distribution amplifier (DA).

I agree completely, but the one you link to seems quite a bit more complicated (and expensive) than necessary here - You need the $200 base unit plus a $50 receiver in each room? No way!

The AudioVox VA100 (not a referrer link, and just search for the model number on Amazon if you don't trust me) does 1 stereo input to 4 stereo outputs, and handles audio separate from video (ie, no need to deal with converting it to RF and back, as with most cheap distribution amps). $50 per eight audio outputs (for the described use, stereo won't add anything to the quality, so might as well use the channels independantly). If the FP poster needs less than 16 rooms, I'd even try splitting each of those outputs once, shouldn't hurt the quality too much with active speakers.

The "free market of ideas" is only an analolgy
Yes, of course, but it's a wrong one. Amazon is a free market of ideas, science is not.

The path of altering human nature is quite different, and even if it is possible, I just don't see the point. If tech will get us there no matter what, why the community ownership?

First, because 80 years ago we weren't certain that the technology-only path would work. Second, because improving lifes of people today is also important. And third, because we need equality and social emphasis on human development before we can feel safe about opening the Pandora box.

Since collective ownership is not required in this type of labor-free society (people would almost never be required to interact) I can't even call it communism.
That wouldn't be communism, you are right. But the system before that might be. It makes sense that humans will first become economically self-sufficient and only some time after that the society will cease to exist. In between voluntary communist cooperation makes more sense than free markets.

China, though, is doing much better now that they've allowed some private ownership.
China is doing well because 1) they have influx of foreign investment and 2) the communist party kept political control. The private ownership was only a means to getting the investment. In today's world getting investment for a socialist economy is a hard sell, but this isn't related to the efficiency of the system, just to preferences of the political elite. For example, Belarus has the most successful economy of all former republics (excluding the Baltic states that thrived on Western handouts and transit of oil and goods plundered in Russia), but there aren't many foreign investments wanting to invest there. Actually, there aren't many investors wanting to put money in Russia either, but that's a different story. Anyway, explaining Chinese success with allowing private ownership is not fully warranted. Capital expenditure helps regardless of the economic system.

And I really do believe that free markets will get us to the posthuman stage faster than any artificial system.
The progress mostly depends on the amount of basic and applied research funding. That isn't related to free markets at all. Soviet Union was as advanced scientifically and technologically as the US. Scientists and engineers don't care about the economic system, they just want to get paid and have necessary equipment bought.

And the biggest problem is not getting fast to the posthuman stage, it's getting there in good shape. You don't want to go into posthumanity when the rules are set by multinational corporations and imperialist politicians and when large fractions of population are denied economic and other opportunities.

The "free market of ideas" is only an analolgy
Yes, of course, but it's a wrong one. Amazon is a free market of ideas, science is not.

The path of altering human nature is quite different, and even if it is possible, I just don't see the point. If tech will get us there no matter what, why the community ownership?

First, because 80 years ago we weren't certain that the technology-only path would work. Second, because improving lifes of people today is also important. And third, because we need equality and social emphasis on human development before we can feel safe about opening the Pandora box.

Since collective ownership is not required in this type of labor-free society (people would almost never be required to interact) I can't even call it communism.
That wouldn't be communism, you are right. But the system before that might be. It makes sense that humans will first become economically self-sufficient and only some time after that the society will cease to exist. In between voluntary communist cooperation makes more sense than free markets.

China, though, is doing much better now that they've allowed some private ownership.
China is doing well because 1) they have influx of foreign investment and 2) the communist party kept political control. The private ownership was only a means to getting the investment. In today's world getting investment for a socialist economy is a hard sell, but this isn't related to the efficiency of the system, just to preferences of the political elite. For example, Belarus has the most successful economy of all former republics (excluding the Baltic states that thrived on Western handouts and transit of oil and goods plundered in Russia), but there aren't many foreign investments wanting to invest there. Actually, there aren't many investors wanting to put money in Russia either, but that's a different story. Anyway, explaining Chinese success with allowing private ownership is not fully warranted. Capital expenditure helps regardless of the economic system.

And I really do believe that free markets will get us to the posthuman stage faster than any artificial system.
The progress mostly depends on the amount of basic and applied research funding. That isn't related to free markets at all. Soviet Union was as advanced scientifically and technologically as the US. Scientists and engineers don't care about the economic system, they just want to get paid and have necessary equipment bought.

And the biggest problem is not getting fast to the posthuman stage, it's getting there in good shape. You don't want to go into posthumanity when the rules are set by multinational corporations and imperialist politicians and when large fractions of population are denied economic and other opportunities.

The "free market of ideas" is only an analolgy
Yes, of course, but it's a wrong one. Amazon is a free market of ideas, science is not.

The path of altering human nature is quite different, and even if it is possible, I just don't see the point. If tech will get us there no matter what, why the community ownership?

First, because 80 years ago we weren't certain that the technology-only path would work. Second, because improving lifes of people today is also important. And third, because we need equality and social emphasis on human development before we can feel safe about opening the Pandora box.

Since collective ownership is not required in this type of labor-free society (people would almost never be required to interact) I can't even call it communism.
That wouldn't be communism, you are right. But the system before that might be. It makes sense that humans will first become economically self-sufficient and only some time after that the society will cease to exist. In between voluntary communist cooperation makes more sense than free markets.

China, though, is doing much better now that they've allowed some private ownership.
China is doing well because 1) they have influx of foreign investment and 2) the communist party kept political control. The private ownership was only a means to getting the investment. In today's world getting investment for a socialist economy is a hard sell, but this isn't related to the efficiency of the system, just to preferences of the political elite. For example, Belarus has the most successful economy of all former republics (excluding the Baltic states that thrived on Western handouts and transit of oil and goods plundered in Russia), but there aren't many foreign investments wanting to invest there. Actually, there aren't many investors wanting to put money in Russia either, but that's a different story. Anyway, explaining Chinese success with allowing private ownership is not fully warranted. Capital expenditure helps regardless of the economic system.

And I really do believe that free markets will get us to the posthuman stage faster than any artificial system.
The progress mostly depends on the amount of basic and applied research funding. That isn't related to free markets at all. Soviet Union was as advanced scientifically and technologically as the US. Scientists and engineers don't care about the economic system, they just want to get paid and have necessary equipment bought.

And the biggest problem is not getting fast to the posthuman stage, it's getting there in good shape. You don't want to go into posthumanity when the rules are set by multinational corporations and imperialist politicians and when large fractions of population are denied economic and other opportunities.

The "free market of ideas" is only an analolgy
Yes, of course, but it's a wrong one. Amazon is a free market of ideas, science is not.

The path of altering human nature is quite different, and even if it is possible, I just don't see the point. If tech will get us there no matter what, why the community ownership?

First, because 80 years ago we weren't certain that the technology-only path would work. Second, because improving lifes of people today is also important. And third, because we need equality and social emphasis on human development before we can feel safe about opening the Pandora box.

Since collective ownership is not required in this type of labor-free society (people would almost never be required to interact) I can't even call it communism.
That wouldn't be communism, you are right. But the system before that might be. It makes sense that humans will first become economically self-sufficient and only some time after that the society will cease to exist. In between voluntary communist cooperation makes more sense than free markets.

China, though, is doing much better now that they've allowed some private ownership.
China is doing well because 1) they have influx of foreign investment and 2) the communist party kept political control. The private ownership was only a means to getting the investment. In today's world getting investment for a socialist economy is a hard sell, but this isn't related to the efficiency of the system, just to preferences of the political elite. For example, Belarus has the most successful economy of all former republics (excluding the Baltic states that thrived on Western handouts and transit of oil and goods plundered in Russia), but there aren't many foreign investments wanting to invest there. Actually, there aren't many investors wanting to put money in Russia either, but that's a different story. Anyway, explaining Chinese success with allowing private ownership is not fully warranted. Capital expenditure helps regardless of the economic system.

And I really do believe that free markets will get us to the posthuman stage faster than any artificial system.
The progress mostly depends on the amount of basic and applied research funding. That isn't related to free markets at all. Soviet Union was as advanced scientifically and technologically as the US. Scientists and engineers don't care about the economic system, they just want to get paid and have necessary equipment bought.

And the biggest problem is not getting fast to the posthuman stage, it's getting there in good shape. You don't want to go into posthumanity when the rules are set by multinational corporations and imperialist politicians and when large fractions of population are denied economic and other opportunities.

The "free market of ideas" is only an analolgy
Yes, of course, but it's a wrong one. Amazon is a free market of ideas, science is not.

The path of altering human nature is quite different, and even if it is possible, I just don't see the point. If tech will get us there no matter what, why the community ownership?

First, because 80 years ago we weren't certain that the technology-only path would work. Second, because improving lifes of people today is also important. And third, because we need equality and social emphasis on human development before we can feel safe about opening the Pandora box.

Since collective ownership is not required in this type of labor-free society (people would almost never be required to interact) I can't even call it communism.
That wouldn't be communism, you are right. But the system before that might be. It makes sense that humans will first become economically self-sufficient and only some time after that the society will cease to exist. In between voluntary communist cooperation makes more sense than free markets.

China, though, is doing much better now that they've allowed some private ownership.
China is doing well because 1) they have influx of foreign investment and 2) the communist party kept political control. The private ownership was only a means to getting the investment. In today's world getting investment for a socialist economy is a hard sell, but this isn't related to the efficiency of the system, just to preferences of the political elite. For example, Belarus has the most successful economy of all former republics (excluding the Baltic states that thrived on Western handouts and transit of oil and goods plundered in Russia), but there aren't many foreign investments wanting to invest there. Actually, there aren't many investors wanting to put money in Russia either, but that's a different story. Anyway, explaining Chinese success with allowing private ownership is not fully warranted. Capital expenditure helps regardless of the economic system.

And I really do believe that free markets will get us to the posthuman stage faster than any artificial system.
The progress mostly depends on the amount of basic and applied research funding. That isn't related to free markets at all. Soviet Union was as advanced scientifically and technologically as the US. Scientists and engineers don't care about the economic system, they just want to get paid and have necessary equipment bought.

And the biggest problem is not getting fast to the posthuman stage, it's getting there in good shape. You don't want to go into posthumanity when the rules are set by multinational corporations and imperialist politicians and when large fractions of population are denied economic and other opportunities.

The "free market of ideas" is only an analolgy
Yes, of course, but it's a wrong one. Amazon is a free market of ideas, science is not.

The path of altering human nature is quite different, and even if it is possible, I just don't see the point. If tech will get us there no matter what, why the community ownership?

First, because 80 years ago we weren't certain that the technology-only path would work. Second, because improving lifes of people today is also important. And third, because we need equality and social emphasis on human development before we can feel safe about opening the Pandora box.

Since collective ownership is not required in this type of labor-free society (people would almost never be required to interact) I can't even call it communism.
That wouldn't be communism, you are right. But the system before that might be. It makes sense that humans will first become economically self-sufficient and only some time after that the society will cease to exist. In between voluntary communist cooperation makes more sense than free markets.

China, though, is doing much better now that they've allowed some private ownership.
China is doing well because 1) they have influx of foreign investment and 2) the communist party kept political control. The private ownership was only a means to getting the investment. In today's world getting investment for a socialist economy is a hard sell, but this isn't related to the efficiency of the system, just to preferences of the political elite. For example, Belarus has the most successful economy of all former republics (excluding the Baltic states that thrived on Western handouts and transit of oil and goods plundered in Russia), but there aren't many foreign investments wanting to invest there. Actually, there aren't many investors wanting to put money in Russia either, but that's a different story. Anyway, explaining Chinese success with allowing private ownership is not fully warranted. Capital expenditure helps regardless of the economic system.

And I really do believe that free markets will get us to the posthuman stage faster than any artificial system.
The progress mostly depends on the amount of basic and applied research funding. That isn't related to free markets at all. Soviet Union was as advanced scientifically and technologically as the US. Scientists and engineers don't care about the economic system, they just want to get paid and have necessary equipment bought.

And the biggest problem is not getting fast to the posthuman stage, it's getting there in good shape. You don't want to go into posthumanity when the rules are set by multinational corporations and imperialist politicians and when large fractions of population are denied economic and other opportunities.

1) You're wrong (these are finite sets), and
2) This is a bad translation straight out of Stoll's book. Read the second paragraph.

Also, check out Stoll's book if you want a really thorough introduction to sets, groups, rings, fields, predicate calculus, first order axiomatic theories, and a pretty good explanation of Gödel's theorem. It's actually quite readable and thorough.

An example is Fermat's Last Theorem: x^n + y^n = z^n has no non-zero integer solutions for x, y and z when n > 2. By the way, you can save yourself $9.16 by buying the book here: The Equation That Couldn't Be Solved: How Mathematical Genius Discovered the Language of Symmetry. And if you use the "secret" A9.com discount, you can save an extra 1.57%!

An example is Fermat's Last Theorem: x^n + y^n = z^n has no non-zero integer solutions for x, y and z when n > 2. By the way, you can save yourself $9.16 by buying the book here: The Equation That Couldn't Be Solved: How Mathematical Genius Discovered the Language of Symmetry. And if you use the "secret" A9.com discount, you can save an extra 1.57%!

-FL

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000683DH/103-32 50640-8207011?v=glance&n=130&v=glance

McCoy: Damn it Jim, what the hell is the matter with you? Other people have birthdays, why are we treating yours like a funeral?

Amusing series in a lot of ways although, as aforementionned, the science is not top-rate.

I discovered a Van Heusen outlet store in Kittery, Maine and for a $50 an outfit (Trousers and a Shirt) the ladies will be impressed as will your current employer.

Most of the cloths mix and match well. You could pick out a shirt, trousers and a tie blind-folded and you will still look better than waring jeans and a t-shirt.

The cloths look good most are wrinkle-free and/or stain resistant and the girls that work in the shops are hot.

Checkout amazon: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000 06WREH/104-8222280-3082356?v=glance

On Friday throw on some jeans and a white button-down and go to the local pub for a beer. The chicks will dig you and if you play your cards right (by not talking about computers, porn, Magic The Gathering, D&D, or you cool bed-room in your parents garage) you might get laid.

I thought then about how much, in the history of civilization, dress as armor has influenced behavior and, in consequence, exterior morality. The Victorian bourgeois was stiff and formal because of stiff collars; the nineteeth-century gentleman was constrained by his tight redingotes, boots, and top hats that didn't allow brusque movements of the head. If Vienna had been on the equator and its bourgeoisie had gone around in Bermuda shorts, would Freud have described the same neurotic symptoms, the same Oedipal triangles? And would he have described them the same way if he, the doctor, had been a Scot, in a kilt (under which, as everyone knows, the rule is to wear nothing)?

... that sprinkles holy water on orange groves in an attempt to retard freezing.

Hey, at least the orange groves will be safe from Bunnicula!

You may want to learn how to code from this book: Win Friends and Influence People. It is like an O'Reilly book on people coding. Why is it important? Well, according to the Millionaire Mind (Thomas J. Stanley), the most important skill amongst millionaires (and sucessful people in general) is social skills.

This is why all those annoying "business types" who can't understand 'teh intarweb' are the ones who earn the higher incomes, and are generally the employers, not the employees.

It sounds like you have great strengths in the coding department - just like Theo de Raadt, but lack the people skills that someone like Linux Torvalds exemplifies. But, that is just my opinion, I could be wrong.

Your whole AC post is dispelled just by looking at the top selling laptops on Amazon...

Or, for those inclined to larger boxes how about top-selling desktops?

Gee, 'ya think many people use Amazon?

Your whole AC post is dispelled just by looking at the top selling laptops on Amazon...

Or, for those inclined to larger boxes how about top-selling desktops?

Gee, 'ya think many people use Amazon?

Norton Internet Security 2005 AntiSpyware Edition

McAfee AntiSpyWare 2005

Microsoft Windows AntiSpyware (Beta)

This is their business. Period.

Norton Internet Security 2005 AntiSpyware Edition

McAfee AntiSpyWare 2005

Microsoft Windows AntiSpyware (Beta)

This is their business. Period.

I'm sure that a widely regarded author of several security books, a cryptographer who's created a fairly robust algorithm, and a guy who's been called to testify before Congress several times is all broken up about slashdot user 805235 thinking his article sucks.

Agreed. After all, have you seen the price of CDs at Borders or Barnes and Noble lately? Astronoical (even though the latter seems to be having a "sale"). Save five bucks and hit up Target or, if you have to, WalMart.

Of course, if you don't live in the states, I'm basically talking out of my ass. I know prices get jacked even higher for Europe. It's absurd.

And, hey, if it makes it easier for smaller bands to get off the ground, then more power to 'em. Given the choice, most people will go with what they know it it's the same cost as taking a leap of faith on music they haven't heard. Even at ten or possibly twenty cents cheaper, I'd be more likely to try out a lot of music.

Despite the numerous Emmy awards and endless critical acclaim, FOX is planning, in its infinite wisdom, to cancel the show after 13 episodes of Season 3.

As we know, FOX is good at making bad decisions, such as canceling Family Guy (which is now back on TV), and canceling Firefly (which is now back as the movie Serenity).

In both cases, the thing that saved those shows was DVD SALES. You've seen the show for free. Now, if you want to see more of it, pay up, and make the world a better place.

You can buy both seasons for a ridiculously low $16 each:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002PYS7Y

Also, if you purchase them through Amazon, you get immediate online access to deleted scenes from the show.

On a somewhat(?) related note, I have a Gaggia Syncrony Digital coffee maker and it makes wonderful freshly ground coffee with a "crema" on it (it doesn't use paper filters so retains a *LOT* more flavor) but the water and coffee bean containers are too small and I can't use the steamer at the same time as I'm making coffee because the steamer doesn't have a separate heater tank.

Does anyone know of a better coffee maker they can recommend?

Mark was a friend and is missed. One of his favorite books on the subject was P.K. Dick's Ubiq. Hence the name of the site. Check it out. -- gnet

good link to good book: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/020161622X/103-06 23057-4823018?v=glance&n=283155&v=glance

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0964881209

(yes, no affiliate code in that link...amazing)

With that said, I would just pick a standard for each language that you use at your place of business. How are you going to enforce the standard? I assume that there will be peer reviews, right? Ok, good.

Oh, by pick a standard I mean a conventional programming style is all. I believe that Steve McConnell has some good ideas on this in Code Complete.

You should also worry about development practices. Just having good coding pratices will not gain you much in the way of robust and easily changed systems. Having good development pratices will.

Specifically, I'm referring to having a complete system of specifying the requirements for any system. Too many coders these days start a project by hacking up the first thing they think is necessary, then the second, then the third, etc. While this ends up working out for most small projects, big projects can quickly become unweildy. Not to mention, if you bring in a new developer after years of working like this, the learning curve for that developer is very steep.

Enter Hatley & Pirbhai's Strategies for Real-Time System Specification. In this book, the authors outline a set of strategies for developing complicated systems and making them as robust as possible. Now, you may be thingking "Who are these guys and why should I care what they have to say?" Well, they used to work at Boeing and they developed their strategies while working on designing a plane. (I think it was the 777, but I could me wrong.)

You should definately read the book, but the strategies they present basically boil down to defining the whole system from the perspective of what, how and when--separately. Here's how it works:

• Specify what the system does - This means starting at the top and drilling down until you get down to individual tasks that do one thing.
• Specify how each task will be implemented - This is where you write the code, develop the hardware and such thing.
• Specify when (and how often) each task needs to run - If you find some task can't be completed as often as you like, it's easy to go back to the implementation and find a new way to do it.

This may seem like overkill, but it's not. I've been working like this for a few years at college now and it has huge advantages. Development tends to go faster, problems can be fixed faster and--most importantly I think--new developers can sit down with the specifications and get up to speed very quickly.

Overall, I think using strategies like Hatley and Pirhbai have developed is far more important than all the coding practices and code commenting in the world.

Of course, YMMV, etc.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-fo rm/102-8961702-9548145

I have recently aquired the book "C++ Coding Standards - 101 Rules, Guidelines, and Best Practices." ISBN 0321113586 or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0321113586/103-00 42056-9954216?v=glance&n=283155/

It's the geekiest book I've ever seen! Sr0t of a 20th century Leonardo daVinci. From a review:

Your Private Sky presents an overview of all facets of Fuller's career, as an architect, a navigator, an inventor, an automobile designer, an editor, a cartographer, an formidible diarist. The editors have done an admirable job of selecting sections from Fuller's own writings and works and arranging them for the reader. One of the chief assets of this book is that it is overwhelmingly graphic. There is not a single page without a photo, a sketch, reproduction of a printed page...

Inconvenient (to liberals) Fact: Michael Moore owns Halliburton stock.

Not sure how anybody would know this

Do As I Say (Not As I Do): Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy.