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I used a system that was tied to my mag card / student ID for many years there. You can buy cokes, pizza, food of any type, etc.. with the swipe of a card. The vending machines are the best because there is no need for change anymore! Everyone at A&M loves Aggie Bucks.

BTW, here is a link for businesses involved. I know this doesn't help directly with the software, but it proves it has been done on a wide scale with great success. You may want to contact those involved in implementing this, or learn from their example. Good luck.

JOhn

Okay, the mysterious Dr. Wlodzimierz Holtzinski doesn't get a single hit on Google. Dr. Steve Smale hasn't release a paper in five years and is in his seventies. Retired, perhaps?

I'm still not impressed.

I have a C.E. degree from Texas A&M

There, CE is just CS with a EE minor. If I did it over again, I would have taken more CS courses instead of the extra EE.

CS - it's not just programming. I took maybe 5 courses where the point was to learn a specific language. Most of my courses were studying theory & concepts - with projects and labs that required you to write code to prove your understanding of the topic (write a simulator for a round-robin scheduler in my OS class, etc). You had to pick up a lot of skills on your own to complete the projects.

MIS, from what I observed, was geared much more towards spoon-feeding specific technologies, environments and languages.

I signed up for one MIS course when I was a senior, just to pick up some extra credits. The class was in a brand new business building - the prof had a grad student present just to operate the PowerPoint slides!! In most CS courses the prof writes on the whiteboard or uses slides generated from LaTEX, never PowerPoint!! A CS prof would never waste time putting together PP slides for a class.

And, despite what many people have said, I think it does make a difference when looking for a programming job. When we send our recruiter to do on-campus interviews, he fills up as many slots as possible with CS & CE degrees, then MIS. And if a MIS makes it to a site interview, we're going to ask them why they didn't just get a CS degree.

That being said, there are some excellent programmers with MIS degrees - we even have a few working for us. And there are plenty of CS grads who are idiots. But I think the critical thinking and problem solving skills required to be a great programmer are more likely to be developed in a CS grad.

Microwave power transmission conceptual designs typically consider RF frequencies not dissimilar to those used for space comm applications (power transmission has been proposed at ~2.5GHz). See this for more info.

Apparently, Larry Ewing did the original Tux pictures. He asks that you acknowledge him and the GIMP when using his images (if someone asks).

Apparently, Larry Ewing did the original Tux pictures. He asks that you acknowledge him and the GIMP when using his images (if someone asks).

Larry Ewing does.

Feel free to do whatever you see fit with the images, you are encouraged to integrate them into other designs that fit your need. Comments suggestions are also welcome, so please tell me what you think of these. I suggest that you look at some of the other images available with integrated text.

...

Permission to use and/or modify this image is granted provided you acknowledge me lewing@isc.tamu.edu and The GIMP if someone asks.

Yes it the Vizualization program, part of the School of Architeture. Not only did they have graduates that went to Pixar but many that have gone to many FX and Animation facilities like ILM, Blue Sky Studios, Will Vinton studios, SPI, PDI and many others. You can check here:

Yeah, I'm in that program...it's called the Texas A&M Visualization Program (http://www-viz.tamu.edu), and it's a Masters of Science degree. Applicants have to have abilities both in computer science and in traditional art. Most people go into the movie industry as technical directors...shaders, lighters, character setup, etc. We have a bunch of grads who worked on Monsters Inc.

That link steers you to his website, not cool if you ask me. You can right click and save http://dhcp-128-194-69-244.resnet.tamu.edu/ferrofl uid.mpeg

I can confirm this being a member of that 'captive' audience. I would even point to this page for the open math lab hours where they list 200+ linux workstations available for student use.

You're certainly not implying that just because the FBI doesn't arrest citizens of other countries in their own countries that the U.S. would never do such a thing... right?

Actually, real yams and potatos aren't particularly related... they're both plants, and that's about it :) However, the orange things sold in the US as "yams" are actually potatoes. You can get real yams though (usually in ethnic stores); they look very different from the American "yams".

Those Aggies at Texas A&M have an explanation of the difference between sweet potatoes and yams.

Here are yet more links, regarding the terrorist attack. Only, these links are in response to a question I have ... are we actually dealing with a radical sucide cult here ?

Yeah, I know, sounds wacky. However, considering the planning and fanaticism behind last tuesday's acts ... and considering that the Teliban has about as much in common with Islam, as Heaven's Gate did with Christianity. Are we actually up against a group that preaches taking their lives, along with others, is a path to paradise ?

Here are some links on the subject. Decide for yourself.

Chronology of Suicide Cults
Doomsday, Destructive Religious Cults
Suicide Makes Ten Deaths Among Guru's Followers
More Than 200 Die in Uganda Cult Mass Suicide
Aum and Terrorism
Suicide Cults The End Of The Century
AUM SUPREME TRUTH
A party, prayers, then mass suicide
Lessons to be Learned: Heaven's Gate Tragedy
Cults

This is already pretty Orwellian, but the one comfort about this system is there's an easy way to opt-out: don't keep a toll transponder in your car. While I'll mostly agree that turning off your cell phone/pager constitutes an opt-out system for the scheme mentioned in the article, it's quite an imposition: having a cell phone on, in the car (even a passenger) is asking to be tracked.

Houston's Real Time Traffic Map puts [!] on the map wherever an incident has occurred. It opens up a pop-up window with info on traffic issues. Currently there's a "Car-B-Q" (car on fire) on 59 that's blocking a lane. You can also view the traffic via the highway camera's

Houston's Real Time Traffic Map puts [!] on the map wherever an incident has occurred. It opens up a pop-up window with info on traffic issues. Currently there's a "Car-B-Q" (car on fire) on 59 that's blocking a lane. You can also view the traffic via the highway camera's

Houston's Real Time Traffic Map puts [!] on the map wherever an incident has occurred. It opens up a pop-up window with info on traffic issues. Currently there's a "Car-B-Q" (car on fire) on 59 that's blocking a lane. You can also view the traffic via the highway camera's

It has been called an "Open Source alternative to .NET", although it is by no means a clone. Rather, it focuses on extending existing UNIX features and programs to the Internet, where they haven't been before.

Perhaps we don't need a clone, just as Linux is not a clone of Windows. And it's a good thing it is not.

Here are some articles and mentions of Piper:

On Slashdot

Linux Software Encyclopedia

Linux Weekly News

Gnome Gnotices (It's interesting to note that the article first posted there referred to Piper as an alternative to .Net. The moderator later changed that. Paranoid minds, such as mine, wonder about this and the future intentions of GNOME with respect to .Net.)

O'Reilly P2P website

SunWorld Online

And some other online magazines/forums:

Infolets

Tecnologia

Hispa MP3

--
This sort of thing has cropped up before. And it has always been due to human error.

MapQuest integration would be really cool. Even better - extend your car GPS navigation system to get real-time traffic info and use it to compute plans. With central coordination, this could have a dramatic impact on traffic conditions. Possibly even to the point of delaying/reducing the need for road expansions.

I'd buy it, anyway.

One danger: people get the system and use it to tour the city all day gawking at accidents. Yikes!

Anthropology in the News has links to a lot more news stories on these findings. The BBC story is very short, but noteworthy for including a little bit of information on the dating methods used in the Australian case.

Anthropology in the News updates a lot and doesn't keep stuff on its front page for very long, so for the sake of Slashdot's archives, I'm copying the links here.

• New Evidence in Extinction Whodunnit BBC (6/7/01)
• Humans Linked to Animal Extinction New York Times (6/7/01)
• Humans Linked to Animal Extinction Yahoo (6/7/01)
• Human Hunters Spelled Doom for Ice Age Behemoths Yahoo (6/7/01)
• Humans Blamed for Ancient Extinctions MSNBC (6/7/01)
• Planet Was Too Small for Man and Beasts, Study Finds Dallas Morning News (6/8/01)
• Humans Hunted Mammals to Extinction in North America Eureka Alert (6/7/01)

As you note, there were several problems. The original design was weak. Then the builder unilaterally decided to build the box beams the way they did. They also did not want to thread the entire length of the rod, so they changed the design to two rods. The hotel's prime contractor would not allow the engineering firm to be represented on site, for cost reasons. All of this added up to the disaster. The hotel was even fucked up before it was complete: 2000 square feet of roof collaped during construction. One of my old professors put up a page about it with lots of picures. Check out this picture of the distressed box beam from the walkway that didn't collapse.

As you note, there were several problems. The original design was weak. Then the builder unilaterally decided to build the box beams the way they did. They also did not want to thread the entire length of the rod, so they changed the design to two rods. The hotel's prime contractor would not allow the engineering firm to be represented on site, for cost reasons. All of this added up to the disaster. The hotel was even fucked up before it was complete: 2000 square feet of roof collaped during construction. One of my old professors put up a page about it with lots of picures. Check out this picture of the distressed box beam from the walkway that didn't collapse.

The Rainmakers refer to this, and other modern technological disasters, in "Rockin' At The T-Dance" off their first album.

Take a trip with me in 1967
With Grissom, White, and Chaffe on a rocket ride to heaven
A dead-end date aboard AS-204
It was American made, only the best for our boys.
And we were rockin' at the T-dance

I had another date with a homecoming queen
I took her to the prom in Apollo 13
We orbit the moon, we couldn't get home,
Little Queenie's mom was pissed 'cause her baby didn't phone.
And we were rockin' at the T-dance

Take a trip with me to Kansas City, MO
To the Hyatt House, to the big dance floor,
You can still see the ghosts but you can't see the sense,
Why they let the monkey go and blamed the monkey wrench.
And we were rockin' at the T-dance

The song title of "T-dance" plays off of the tea dance that was being held at the time of the collapse.

The whole album is lyrically brilliant, and would do well in the collection of anyone into the Springsteen/Mellencamp/heartlandish sorta rock'n'roll thing.
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Its not just Tigers, it sall great Cats that don't purr. Ist the construction of the voice box. Great Cats can growl but not purr, small cats can purr but not truely growl. in afct, this is the DEFINITION of Great Cat and small cat.

Here are a few pages with details:
wav of Cheetah purr,
Big cats,
Lion,
Puma.

As for the research, it's a well known fact that injured cats purr (see, e.g. Encyclopaedia Britannica) so it's hardly suprising that it might have some beneficial effect. Here's a link to the original article this story is on.

I'm sure they may be working on a smaller scale, but researchers have been using laser tweezers to insert/remove/adjust objects inside cells for years. It's kind of fun to beat the crap out of paramecium with a PVC pellet. I'm just waiting for some giant alien to give me a taste of my own medicine...

The only thing that annoyed me about the Tux on a chip page was that they attributed the original idea of using a penguin as a centrepiece for Linux to Linus Torvalds. We know that this is not true, that Linus merely endorsed the penguin, and the idea was Larry Ewing. Just a minor detail, but I do like seeing people get credit that is due.
____________________________________________ _________________

The link is Electrical Engineering at Texas A&M

• Pokey the Penguin?
  
• Tux the Penguin?

In essence, yes. (Actually, if it were "software licensed" I guess it'd probably be more like the BSD license.) The information is here on Larry Ewing's page about it...

The real problem with melting ice caps is not the immediate sea level rise, but rather a break in the formation of North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW). NADW is the driving force behind the worlds largest ocean currents. In the north atlantic, extremely salty, cold water descends to the bottom of the; this downward flow, draws water behind it, initiating global thermohaline circulation. This circulation acts as a belt that rotates around the world, Americans would most likely identify the Gulf Stream lying off the coast of the Eastern United States; this stream is caused by the sinking of the NADW; however this flow of water from the equatorial regions of the atlantic most notably affects England and North-Western Europe. If the Polar ice caps continue to melt, or a fresh water lake in the cap were to rupture and spill out over the North Atlantic, the salty/cold water would be dilluted and would no longer sink to the bottom. This would cause all of the major ocean currents to slow and ultimately cease. Most likely the first place that this effect would be seen is in dramatic weather change in the Northeast Atlantic, if the Gulf stream stops then warm water will no longer carry warm water to these upper latitudes, resulting in much colder temperatures, and possibly a regrowth of some ice sheets over regions of England and Northern Europe.
-OctaneZ

It helps explain the article featured on Slashdot, showing how management at NASA allowed political pressures to override from their engineers. It's possible that NASA has leaned back too far the other way, into over-cautiousness, but it's understandable.

According to testimony by Kilminster and Boisjoly, Mason finally turned to Bob Lund and said, "Take off your engineering hat and put on your management hat."

PS: I made up some plaques and managed to get Ben Bova to present them, as the first official public act of the newly formed National Space Society, to the 4 leading Morton Thiokol engineers who steadfastly opposed the launch of the Challenger. Too bad NSS turned into such a NASA cheerleading organization.

I've put up a mirror for an http download from a .edu site http://eskimo.tamu.edu.

I hope this helps out some students on the Internet2 backbone get their Mandrake fix a little quicker.

-podious

My mother-in-law recently got a $5k+ Singer embroidery machine, and I quite loved playing with it. The Tux image makes a nice embroidered image due to its simple 3 color design and large blocks. It took me about an hour of playing from downloading the .GIF to getting a nice Tux on a $2 hat. Ah, if only my wife had known about this before buying me a Tux tie.

As for the comment about photo-realistic embroidery, there are in fact something like 32 recognized colors of embroidery floss and the computer programs used to create the designs can control the direction, density, and frequency of the stiches. I created quite an impressive Union Jack embroidery for my mother-in-law's MG car club by having the different colored sections of the flag are all stiched in different directions. This causes the stiching to reflect the light quite nicely.

--

low end I2's had 100, 150, 200 or 250 mhz R4400's while high end I2's had 175 or 195 R10000's. Some also has 150 or 180 mhz R5000's. There was also a R8000 variant which used a 75-80 mhz chip. Sgi hrware faq is here.

My experience with I2's shows that an R4400 is about comperable to 1.25 mhz on a Pentium 2, while an R8k or R10k is about 2-3 mhz P2. I've never used an R5k; they seem to be aimed at the graphics types, while the 44k, 8k, and 10k were aimed at the numerical simulation folks. Your results may vary, of course; Spec 95 CINT results for an R10k 195 were very disappointing- comparable to a PII 266. Some similar POV-ray render speed benchmarks can be found here as well.

Rev Neh

His credits can be found at:
http://hobbes.resnet.tamu.edu/credits.p html

~afniv
"Man könnte froh sein, wenn die Luft so rein wäre wie das Bier"

I dunno when this page was last modified, but he gives explicit credit to linux.com here.

Many thanks to linux.com's cool layout!

Where's the problem?

Sorry, here's the url for the credits section.

Layout

Many thanks to linux.com's cool layout!

It looks like he's modified this page to now include:

Many thanks to Linux.com for the layout!

Still no link though. Hrmph.

But the fact of the matter is, he even gives credit to the linux.com layout, as shown here. All of you are talking about how he gave no credit, yet there is blatant proof that he does. Now, the real question is whether that is enough credit to give in return for "yoinking" an entire website design.
- - - - - - - - -

What activity on ResNet will get me in trouble?
Students are subject to rules of responsible computing, as described in http://student-rules.tamu.edu/append5.htm . Activities including but not limited to the following will be considered violations: ... unauthorized possession of copyright material;... use of any A&M resource for commercial use.

What activity on ResNet will get me in trouble?
Students are subject to rules of responsible computing, as described in http://student-rules.tamu.edu/append5.htm . Activities including but not limited to the following will be considered violations: ... unauthorized possession of copyright material;... use of any A&M resource for commercial use.

Look at this page. Isn't that the themes.org logo? Wow. Just give credit where credit is due. I don't see any credit given on his site.

Do we just let them free? Do we kill large portions of them so that there aren't as many to deal with? What do we do? I doubt there would be too many ranchers out there who'd keep feeding them and raising them if there was no market.

I know I sound like a troll, but seriously, what would we do with them?

-gandalf23

"Give me an army of West Point grads and I'll win the battle. Give me a handfull of Aggies, and I'll win the war!"
-Gen. George Patton, the Armor God

Are you afraid that if a particularly buggy version of TUX slips out the door and trashes people's systems and loses valuable data, that a certain angry penguin will open a whole can of whoopass on you for defamation of character? Are you investing in reserves of herring and icecubes in anticipation of this event? Perhaps an adapted Ursus anti-bear suit?