Slashdot Mirror

This guy wrote a genetical algorithm to find out the most efficient keyboard layout based on several factors like time needed to move fingers and use of both hands alternating. The best designs were stunningly similar to Dvorak, suggesting that it is quite perfect. In direct competition to Dvorak they even lost. Seems there are no (mathematically) faster keyboards. Quite scientific method. Of course only relevant to ten-finger-typists.

Sorry, but X11 is something which should have died a quiet death circa 1994. Even with the newer WMs you can still spot an X11 app a mile away (although to be fair, that has a lot to do with all the crap GUIs designed for unix apps...I'm looking at you, Gimp.)

Um... X11 is the underlying technology. I don't have any real Unix GUI experience, so somebody correct me if/when I'm wrong: X11 has no concept of a button. Buttons, text boxes, list boxes and other "widgets" are drawn by a toolkit. GTK is used for Gnome and its stuff; Qt is used for KDE and its stuff.

The programs you are talking about just use old-fashioned toolkits. For a better explanation, look at the above link by a guy with a really spiffy first name.

Good analogy, except that Maxwell's Demon really does exist.

Alright, this'll probably go 1000 comments. Everyone will comment on the fact that money is an unsatisfactory remedy for voting fraud. Then it'll die. The media won't pick it up, 2.6 million is not an impressive number. The average person won't care, and all will proceed as usual. Just because we know something is wrong doesn't mean the average person does.

NO! This is the problem with a lot of intellectual liberals these days....APATHY. DO NOT LET THIS HAPPEN. The worst thing you can do is give up. Write your representative. Write to a newspaper. Just don't sit back and hope that someone out there will do your dirty work for you. You have an opinion. Let people who can make a difference know about it.

You wonder why public schools suck? An educated populace wouldn't tolerate this shit. The government has no need to make them better when ignorance is rewarded and they can stay in power by keeping them poor.

Couldn've said it better. The best kind of slaves are ones too dumb to know any better. This trend has to stop before it's too late.

It is in the intelligence legislation that is being worked out. The House version (HR10) mandates that states must participate in a new compact called the "Driver License Agreement" (DLA) which will supercede the current "Driver Licence Compact" (DLC) and the "Non-Resident Violator Compact" (NRVC). This DLA would link state driver's license databases between the US States and Territories but unknown to many people, it will link databases to Canada and Mexico as well. This is being put forth by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA) which is composed not only DMV officials but also police executives and insurance companies executives.

The DLA requires a state to assess points for a violation such as speeding in a different state/Canada/Mexico. It also requires all violations to be on your motor vehicle record regardless if there are points or not. Some states like Colorado (where I live at) only put pointable offenses on record. Offenses such as not have your front tag will not show on your record. Also Colorado does not assess points for out of state tickets except alcohol realted such as DUI.

The most insidious part of this DLA is cops in different states as well as Canada and Mexico will have access to your Social Security number. Can you say identity theft !

There is very little time to oppose this. Contact Congress. The House is hell bent on passing this and the Senate needs to be encouraged to get rid of the Driver's License provisions. It is best that the intelligence legislation dies.

Within 3 years, no federal agency such as the TSA shall not accept a state ID/DL unless it conforms to certain federal requirements such as collecion of SS#'s

States will be required to participate in the new compact known as the Driver License Agreement. (more on that later)

The bills are in conference committee

Information on this ID can be found at No National ID blog site

On the Driver License Agreement (DLA), it is a compact which has been worked on by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA). It will facilitate the exchange of driving records between states which includes and requires points to be assessed against your driving record for an out of state offense including offenses in Mexico and Canada.Most states do this already but a few select states will take action for a Canadian ticket but no states that I know would take action for a ticket from Mexico. The work on the DLA started in 1994, around the same time that NAFTA passed. Also with the DLA, your driving record would be available to Canadian and Mexican authorities including your SS#. A corrupt Mexican cop could use your SS# to get access to your credit and can estimate your net worth and "charge" his la morida (bribe) accordingly.

The DLA is much more draconian than the current Driver License Compact (DLC) that most states operate under today. It is written in such a way that when you get a ticket in a different state, you will be punished at home even if your home state has no equivalent offense. That cannot under happen under the DLC. An example is as an Indiana driver you get a ticket in Michigan for Careless Driving. Under the DLC concept, Indiana will not assess points for the careless driving but under the DLA concept, you will get some kind of point penalty and Indiana could bump it to reckless driving.

However, there is little time to contact our "representatives" to express out objection to this.

If I were called by a coworker on my personal cell phone or received a letter at my hotel while on vacation, I would be pretty pissed as I'm sure you would. If you want to contact a government official, do it the way it's supposed to be done.

Dvorak allready has keyboards designs for both left and right hand only. These could probably be put on the new kb easy enough.

No, these are designed for standard 102/104-key keyboards.

There's one catch: someone will have to design a keying pattern and hack up software for it.

Inspired by this guy I hacked together a software for finding optimal keyboard layouts using genetic algorithms a couple of months ago. The tool I started works similar to his, but allows the user to specify arbitrary input texts for simulating the keystrokes and to define custom weights for keystrokes so that layouts for non-pc104 keyboards and/or for people with disabilities can be evolved. It's also meant to be released as open-source.

It's not finished, but the GA and the basic code for generating a layout is in place, along with a (simple) realtime GUI display of the evolution process. What's missing is basically a way to load all parameters from a file - currently, many are hardwired.

I won't have time to continue working on it anytime soon, but if someone is interested in picking it up (it's written in Java), drop me a note: julian@sektor37.ddvorake (remove name of HCI designer).

Julian

The concept of "selective editing" (a la Mike Moore ;-) was demonstrated very well in the Babylon 5 episode "Illusion of Truth".

The B5 ISN news reporter Dan Randall edited the footage in an unethically truthful way just like Mike Moore

From "Illusion of Truth" plot summary (spoiler warning)

From a second "Illusion of Truth" plot summary (spoiler warning)

From a third "Illusion of Truth" plot summary (spoiler warning)

And finally a fourth "Illusion of Truth" plot summary (minor spoiler warning)

BTW, this Babylon 5 espisode is available on DVD

It has the codes to create a new ng, but it doesn't seem all too clear on where you need to send them. Presumably, this is on purpose...

There's some more information here and all the information should be in RFC 1036, especially part 3.3 of the document.

" Hi. I work for Greenpeace. ... we support ecoterrorism ... Greenpeace has a history of ... Violent Direct Actions for more than 30 years. ... We do ... ecoterrorism. ... speaking for Greenpeace, ... who just so happens to be an active reader of Slashdot ... You might not agree with protesting, but it's ... [a] type of terrorism ... It's quite obvious that this made the front page because of the people involved and the challenges that those people overcame."

There is no immediately available record that Greenpeace ever took 'Direct Action' against violent dictatorships

"truth" might not always be ethical truth "truth" might actually be a deceitful truth

... remember that Dan Randall (the Babylon 5 news reporter) was very truthful... he just strung the facts together in an unethically truthful way just like Mike Moore

From "Illusion of Truth" plot summary (spoiler warning)

From a second "Illusion of Truth" plot summary (spoiler warning)

From a third "Illusion of Truth" plot summary (spoiler warning)

And finally a fourth "Illusion of Truth" plot summary (minor spoiler warning)

"truth" might not always be ethical truth "truth" might actually be a deceitful truth

... remember that Dan Randall (the Babylon 5 'news' reporter) was very truthful... he just strung the facts together in an unethically truthful way just like Mike Moore

From "Illusion of Truth" plot summary (spoiler warning)

From a second "Illusion of Truth" plot summary (spoiler warning)

From a third "Illusion of Truth" plot summary (spoiler warning)

And finally a fourth "Illusion of Truth" plot summary (minor spoiler warning)

Orwell - his other writings apropos to current events
Many mention/imply that the USA is headed in the direction of Orwell's "1984" (perhaps F911 is an example of 1984 techniques in action). However, many are not aware of Orwell's other writings. For example, Notes on Nationalism:

NEGATIVE NATIONALISM
(i) ANGLOPHOBIA. Within the [pseudo?]intelligentsia, a derisive and mildly hostile attitude towards Britain [United States?] is more or less compulsory, but it is an unfaked emotion in many cases. During the war it was manifested in the defeatism of the [pseudo?]intelligentsia, which persisted long after it had become clear that the Axis [Islamo-fascist?] powers could not win. Many people were undisguisedly pleased when Singapore fell ore when the British were driven out of Greece, and there was a remarkable unwillingness to believe in good news, e.g. el Alamein [Iraq? Afghanistan?], or the number of German planes shot down in the Battle of Britain. English [Liberal Western Democracy?] left-wing [pseudo?]intellectuals did not, of course, actually want the Germans or Japanese [Islamo-fascist groups/countries?] to win the war, but many of them could not help getting a certain kick out of seeing their own country humiliated, and wanted to feel that the final victory would be due to Russia [UN? 'world-community'], or perhaps America, and not to Britain. In foreign politics many [pseudo?]intellectuals follow the principle that any faction backed by Britain [United States?] must be in the wrong. As a result, [pseudo?] 'enlightened' opinion is quite largely a mirror-image of Conservative policy. Anglophobia is always liable to reversal, hence that fairly common spectacle, the pacifist of one war who is a bellicist in the next.

One last thing ... I triple double dare you to watch the Iraq torture video clip

I will claim that Mike Moore does not "lie" per se ... rather Mike edits "creatively" ... May I ask you to read my entire post, consider all the links, especially the Babylon 5 "Illusion of Truth" plot summaries? The DVD is also available. You might also get a kick out of the Orwell aspects.

BTW, Happy 4th :-):-):-)

F911 - deceitful truth

BEGIN EXAMPLE showing Mike Moore being truthful albeit in a deceitful manner:

At the end of F911 Michael Moore quotes Condoleeza Rice as saying,

Oh, indeed there is a tie between Iraq and what happened on 9/11.
- Condi Rice as editied by Mike Moore

[snip][snip][snip]

Pretty damning stuff, isn't it? But that was the truncated, Michael Moore version.

Now for the full, unexpurgated quote:

Oh, indeed there is a tie between Iraq and what happened on 9/11. It's not that Saddam Hussein was somehow himself and his regime involved in 9/11, but, if you think about what caused 9/11, it is the rise of ideologies of hatred that lead people to drive airplanes into buildings in New York.
- Condi Rice without Mike Moore editing

Mike has taken a Condi quote and given it the polar opposite meaning from what she actually said. Now, Moore fans, consider this. There are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of hours of video of Condi Rice talking about Iraq. If Condi had ever actually said that there was a tie between Iraq and 9/11 then Moore would have used it. So, if the Bush administration had ever actually claimed that there was a connection between 9/11 and Iraq, why would Michael Moore feel the need to use these kind of editing tricks to try and prove his point?

Because nobody ever said it, and he damn well knows it. His entire premise is based on a lie.

END EXAMPLE showing Mike Moore being truthful albeit in a deceitful manner
Babylon 5 - deceitful truth
If you are still a wee-bit confused about how Mike Moore editing works then you can check out the Babylon 5 episode "Illusion of Truth" which taught me that:

"truth" might not always be ethical truth

"truth" might actually be a deceitful truth

... remember that Dan Randall (the b5 ISN news reporter) was very truthful... he just strung the facts together in an unethically truthful way just like Mike Moore

From

"Illusion of Truth" plot summary (spoiler warning)

From a second "Illusion of Truth" plot summary (spoiler warning)

From a third "Illusion of Truth" plot summary (spoiler warning)

And finally a fourth "Illusion of Truth" plot summary (minor spoiler warning)

Orwell - his other writings apropos to current events
Many mention/imply that the USA is headed in the direction of Orwell's "1984" (perhaps F911 is an example of 1984 techniques in action). However, many are not aware of Orwell's other writings. For example, Notes on Nationalism:

NEGATIVE NATIONALISM
(i) ANGLOPHOBIA. Within the [pseudo?]intelligentsia, a derisive and mildly hostile attitude towards Britain [United States?] is more or less compulsory, but it is an

F911 - deceitful truth

BEGIN EXAMPLE showing Mike Moore being truthful albeit in a deceitful manner:

At the end of F911 Michael Moore quotes Condoleeza Rice as saying, "

Oh, indeed there is a tie between Iraq and what happened on 9/11."
- Condi Rice as editied by Mike Moore

[snip][snip][snip]

Pretty damning stuff, isn't it? But that was the truncated, Michael Moore version.

Now for the full, unexpurgated quote:

"

Oh, indeed there is a tie between Iraq and what happened on 9/11. It's not that Saddam Hussein was somehow himself and his regime involved in 9/11, but, if you think about what caused 9/11, it is the rise of ideologies of hatred that lead people to drive airplanes into buildings in New York."
- Condi Rice without Mike Moore editing

Mike has taken a Condi quote and given it the polar opposite meaning from what she actually said. Now, Moore fans, consider this. There are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of hours of video of Condi Rice talking about Iraq. If Condi had ever actually said that there was a tie between Iraq and 9/11 then Moore would have used it. So, if the Bush administration had ever actually claimed that there was a connection between 9/11 and Iraq, why would Michael Moore feel the need to use these kind of editing tricks to try and prove his point?

Because nobody ever said it, and he damn well knows it. His entire premise is based on a lie.

END EXAMPLE showing Mike Moore being truthful albeit in a deceitful manner

Babylon 5 - deceitful truth
If you are still a wee-bit confused about how Mike Moore editing works then you can check out the Babylon 5 episode "Illusion of Truth" which taught me that "truth" might not always be ethical truth and that "truth" might actually be a deceitful truth ... remember that Dan Randall (the b5 ISN news reporter) was very truthful... he just strung the facts together in an unethically truthful way just like Mike Moore

From

"Illusion of Truth" plot summary (spoiler warning)

From a second "Illusion of Truth" plot summary (spoiler warning)

From a third "Illusion of Truth" plot summary (spoiler warning)

And finally a fourth "Illusion of Truth" plot summary (minor spoiler warning)

Orwell
Many mention/imply that the USA is headed in the direction of Orwell's "1984" (perhaps F911 is an example of 1984 techniques in action). However, many are not aware of Orwell's other writings. For example, Notes on Nationalism:

NEGATIVE NATIONALISM
(i) ANGLOPHOBIA. Within the [pseudo?]intelligentsia, a derisive and mildly hostile attitude towards Britain [United States?] is more or less compulsory, but it is an unfaked emotion in many cases. During the war it was manifested in the defeatism of the [pseudo?]intelligentsia, which persisted long after it had become clear that the Axis [Islamo-fascist?] powers could not win. Many people were undisguisedly pleased when Singapore fell ore when the British were driven out of Greece, and there was a remarkable unwillingness to believe in good news, e.g. el Al

F911 - "stopping certain content from surfacing again"
Funny because it reminds me of a movie I am hearing a tremendous amount of buzz about where Mike Moore teaches the concept of editing out-of-context ... thus, as you say, "stopping certain content from surfacing again"

BEGIN EXAMPLE showing Mike Moore attempting to "stop certain content from surfacing again":

At the end of F911 Michael Moore quotes Condoleeza Rice as saying, "

Oh, indeed there is a tie between Iraq and what happened on 9/11."
- Condi Rice as editied by Mike Moore

As usual, just like he did with the Charlton Heston speech in BFC, Mike plays fast and loose with the truth through the world of editing.

Pretty damning stuff, isn't it? But that was the truncated, Michael Moore version.

Now for the full, unexpurgated quote:

"

Oh, indeed there is a tie between Iraq and what happened on 9/11. It's not that Saddam Hussein was somehow himself and his regime involved in 9/11, but, if you think about what caused 9/11, it is the rise of ideologies of hatred that lead people to drive airplanes into buildings in New York."
- Condi Rice without Mike Moore editing

Mike has taken a Condi quote and given it the polar opposite meaning from what she actually said. Now, Moore fans, consider this. There are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of hours of video of Condi Rice talking about Iraq. If Condi had ever actually said that there was a tie between Iraq and 9/11 then Moore would have used it. So, if the Bush administration had ever actually claimed that there was a connection between 9/11 and Iraq, why would Michael Moore feel the need to use these kind of editing tricks to try and prove his point?

Because nobody ever said it, and he damn well knows it. His entire premise is based on a lie.

END EXAMPLE showing Mike Moore attempting to "stop certain content from surfacing again"

I dare say this is a good example of how an individual (Mike Moore in F911) has, as you say, attempted to "stop certain content from surfacing again" Babylon 5 - "stopping certain content from surfacing again"
If you are still a wee-bit confused about how Mike Moore editing works then you can check out the Babylon 5 episode "Illusion of Truth" which taught me that "truth" might not always be ethical truth and that content that exists may be prevented from seeing the light of day ... remember that Dan Randall (the b5 ISN news reporter) was very truthful... he just strung the facts together in an unethically truthful way just like Mike Moore

From

"Illusion of Truth" plot summary (spoiler warning)

From a second "Illusion of Truth" plot summary (spoiler warning)

From a thrid "Illusion of Truth" plot summary (spoiler warning)

And finally a fourth "Illusion of Truth" plot summary (minor spoiler warning)

Orwell
You wrote "reminds me of a book I once read" ...

Your above post as it might be quoted by your evil twin "Skippy" after having learned a thing or two about editing out-of-context from Mike Moore

See how Mike Moore editing works? 'Skippy' truthfully quoted what you wrote. Isn't he great. 'Skippy' can now claim that he honestly quoted you. 'Skippy' has the facts correct. You might be angry that 'Skippy' added some extra stuff such that your original intent changes, but you are being mean because 'Skippy' did not put quotes (") around the extra stuff ... he just sort of added it at the end of your prediction of the future. Isn't 'Skippy' a swell guy?

'Skippy' is practicing Mike Moore editing

From "Illusion of Truth" plot summary (spoiler warning)

From a second "Illusion of Truth" plot summary (spoiler warning)

From a thrid "Illusion of Truth" plot summary (spoiler warning)

And finally a fourth "Illusion of Truth" plot summary (minor spoiler warning)

One last thing ... I triple double dare you to watch the Saddam (Iraq torture video clip)

From

"Illusion of Truth" plot summary (spoiler warning)

From a second "Illusion of Truth" plot summary (spoiler warning)

From a thrid "Illusion of Truth" plot summary (spoiler warning)

And finally a fourth "Illusion of Truth" plot summary (minor spoiler warning)

Ed Koch (democrat mayor of New York City from 1978 to 1989) might agree there is a need for "Ethical Film Makers"

Disagreeing with America's foreign policy and seeking to change it, responsibly or irresponsibly, is a fundamental right protected by the First Amendment.

Shaming those who do it irresponsibly [unethical Moore?] is our only lawful recourse and rightly so.

Senator John Kerry in criticizing United States' foreign policy and the incumbent president is acting responsibly, albeit I disagree with many of his views. On the other hand, Michael Moore, writer and director of the film "Fahrenheit 9/11," crosses that line regularly. The line is not set forth in the criminal statutes, but it is determined by Americans who know instinctively what actions and statements taken and uttered violate the obligations of responsibility and citizenship they deem applicable in time of war.

Franklin Roosevelt (president of usa during ww2) might agree there is a need for "Ethical Film Makers"

And, finally, there are a few among us who have deliberately and consciously closed their eyes because they were determined to be opposed to their government, its foreign policy and every other policy, to be partisan, and to believe that anything that the Government did was wholly wrong.

To those who have closed their eyes for any of these many reasons, to those who would not admit the possibility of the approaching storm--to all of them the past two weeks have meant the shattering of many illusions.

They have lost the illusion that we are remote and isolated and, therefore, secure against the dangers from which no other land is free.

In some quarters, with this rude awakening has come fear, bordering on panic. It is said that we are defenseless. It is whispered by some that only by abandoning our freedom, our ideals, our way of life, can we build our defenses adequately, can we match the strength of the aggressors.

I did not share those illusions. I do not share these fears
[snip][snip][snip]
But there is an added technique for weakening a nation at its very roots, for disrupting the entire pattern of life of a people. It is important that we understand it.

The method is simple. It is, first, a dissemination of discord. A group--not too large- a group that may be sectional or racial or political--is encouraged to exploit its prejudices through false slogans and emotional appeals. The aim of those who deliberately egg on these groups is to create confusion of counsel, public indecision, political paralysis and, eventually, a state of panic.

Sound national policies come to be viewed with a new and unreasoning skepticism, not through the wholesome political debates of honest and free men, but through the clever schemes of foreign agents.

As a result of these new techniques, armament programs may be dangerously delayed. Singleness of national purpo

Pulp

The Fall (bit of an acquired taste).

Aimee Mann (wrote the songs to Magnolia).

If these are the best, who're these?

Albert Einstein didn't believe in a personal god.

David Hume, Epikur, Schopenhauer, Thomas Edison, Freud, Pierre Curie, Marie Curie, Bertrand Russell. To name a few in no apparent order (and shamelessly stolen from here), didn't believe in a personal god.

But I think this debate over who can name the most people believing or non-believing in god(s) is a bit futile. And assuming that an educated view of god is also a non-zealous, non-threatening version to others it is also an irrelevant one.

With the right moderation system, you might even be able to keep every circuit board from matching a porn site. ;)

http://www.visi.com/~drow/ampere/

I always liked these - not too hard to make, but also not as effecient as other methodes. Apply compressed air, tube gets hot on one end and cold on the other.

If you don't like this then we can do somthing about it Contact your Reps If every slashdoter over the age of 18 that lives in the US emails them or calls them we can make a diffrence. Its up to you.

See the *twm family tree.

ctwm and tvtwm were one of the oldest window managers with virtual desktops, derived from one of the oldest X window managers twm (uwm was older).

Here is an interesting family tree of twm descendants, showing the first virtual desktop window managers appearing in 1990/1991.

Basically, it works like this: You rank the candidates in order and your first choice gets your first vote. All the votes are counted and the candidate with the least votes is eliminated. If the candidate eliminated is your first choice, then your vote goes to the second candidate on your list. This process continues until only one candidate is left, and they are then elected. (See the link above for a better explanation...)

If this sounds like something you'd like instituted, contact your senators and representatives!

Furthermore, support candidates such as Presidential Candidate Dennis Kucinich who have declared their support for IRV. As he says in his platform:

I also support "Instant Runoff Voting." IRV offers a cost-effective way of insuring that the winning candidate is preferred by a majority of voters; it encourages voters to vote their wishes and not their fears; it promotes greater voter turnout and positive campaigning.

Peace.

make sure LD_LIBRARY_PATH includes /usr/local/BerkeleyDB.4.2

Gah! Don't use LD_LIBRARY_PATH. Instead you should be setting LD_RUN_PATH when you compile applications that will use the Berkeley DB library.

No, not Einstein, because he wasn't religious. Check out This

I'll quote what it say for you:
Albert Einstein, German born American threoretical physicist (1879-1955).
"It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it." [From a letter Einstein wrote in English, dated 24 March 1954. It is included in Albert Einstein: The Human Side, edited by Helen Dukas and Banesh Hoffman, published by Princeton University Press.
"A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death."

But somehow, I've not bought any RIAA CDs for about a year (I've only bought 2 CDs total).

One alternative would be a "self-taxation" where you give something back somewhere else.

For example, let's say you buy a CD for $15. Of that, how much is paid to support the RIAA carrying out legal attacks? My guess is not much (maybe 20c?). So, if you go any buy an RIAA CD, go and give 50c to someone like the EFF or something.

PS Check out The Fall, a great band on a truly independent label. Can buy from many places including Amazon.

Thankfully, this reminded me to check the RIAA Radar site and I found their record company are RIAA members.

My decision: I'm not going to give any fuel to these motherfuckers. I'll be getting The real new Fall CD by The Fall.

Sorry for the typo, but you seem to have figured it out anyway, except for your contrived (or somewhat derisive?) complaint about the double-t. Anyway, lighten up a bit -- no derision was intended. It's an abbreviation. And I didn't make it up -- it's fairly common.

Note that even religious types sometimes use this abbreviation. Scan the google results and you'll see about 20k instances, not counting people with the name of alias "Xtian."

But, I suppose this FAQ entry for "Someone used the term Xtian, and I'm offended. What should I do?" might be more suitable for you:

Start by learning the history of term, to understand that there was likely no offense intended. X is an abbreviation for Christ, arising from the Greek term Christos, which starts with a Greek Chi, written as X. This usage dates back to the 1500s. Thus, the usage is not an attempt to "blot out" the name, or be offensive.

Xtians can be so touchy.

I like this folk artist named Peter Mayer. My wife and i saw him perform live and wanted to buy his CDs but didn't have any cash on us so we went home and resolved to buy them on-line. One thing leads to another and we're busy and we forget.

A few months later i'm goofing around and i search for him on Amazon. I am surprised to find such a "small" artist on a mainstream site, but happy to see that he has some free downloads! (Don't ask me why there are two separate pages for "all free song downloads by Peter Mayer.")

I download the songs and spend a few days enjoying them. I copy them for my wife and for a few friends, then decide i really do want to support this guy. So i go to his label's site, Peppermint Records order his stuff (No money for Amazon today!) and check out some other artists while i'm there. Some sound good, but Anne Heaton really impresses me. Amazon has some downloads for her too. Turns out i'm crazy for one song and not so hot on the others so i don't order but i enjoy (and share) the mp3 and vow to check her out live if i get the chance and to look out for any new CDs she makes.

At the same time, my friends are doing the same thing because of the stuff i shared with them. They've bought several of Peter's CDs and some of them thought Anne's was worth the investment too. We were all being responsible and trading publicly available stuff, but when my CDs arrive i'll be ripping them to listen via WinAmp and if the occasion arises, i won't hesitate to give a few out.

I didn't have to buy anything, nor did my friends. I've got what amounts to a nearly complete album of Peter Mayer's Greatest Hits on my hard drive, but i know that if i don't send some cash his way, he'll have to go get a real job and i won't be hearing any more of his thoughtful, beautiful songs.

So is this post for or against file sharing? On the one hand, i didn't engage in any Napster-scale swapping. On the other hand, if Peppermint put some DRM crap on their CDs that made it a hassle for me to rip them i probably wouldn't buy them as a protest.

I think the RIAA doesn't take people like me into account. Most of what made me buy Peter's CDs was the music, but a part of it was my desire to support an independant label and artist. The only major-label CD i've bought lately was the Dixie Chicks. I like their music, but i was content to hear it on the radio on those infrequent occasions when i turn off NPR. I bought their CD to counteract some of the crap they were getting for exercising their first amendment rights.

I'm using my cash to reward those whose products and policies i like and withholding it from those i don't like. Maybe the RIAA doesn't have to take people like me into account. Maybe i'm just an insignificant statistical blip to them, but i'm talking to my friends and family about this stuff and some of them are doing the same thing, so maybe that blip will become significant if they don't change their ways.

Vector Internet Services Incorporated is currently testing their anti-SiteFinder solution before rolling it into production. It's been on the cooker since about 0600 UTC on Wednesday.

Mike Horwath, senior admin, called Verisign's actions "offensive". Concise, yet very descriptive. :-)

I wrote a simple JVMPI method tracer. It's mind-blowing what all happens before your code is actually run. Here's a method trace I just ran with 1.4.2 for a simple program.

-Kevin

You can come to Slashdot all you want and complain about what the RIAA is doing. But talk is cheap. If you don't support organizations working to change the laws, the RIAA will win out.

You idiot. I am sick of hearing people say how slow Java is, I've had enough. Look here (a repeat of benchmarking done 2 years ago found here) to find benchmarks showing some Java code (using jdk1.4.1) running faster then C++ code compiled with GCC. I'm not saying Java is faster then C++, what I am saying is that Java is not slow, the difference is small and getting smaller, and I think it speaks directly to the intellect of "malocchio" when he bases his opinions on what may have been the case SEVERAL years ago. But that's just me.

on the other hand I have cable because it costs less, I get speedy downs although my ups suck...I dont know why its hard for them to give me even HALF of what I get downstream for my uploads, I dont have a real problem with the nat and I can run a temp server for 6 or so people to play CS with no lag (although that includes me connecting through ethernet and my neighbor on the same cable loop). I am scared to leave the server running at all times though since they dont want me to and I get no uploads so it doesnt hold many people...

I would LOVE to have a good dsl connection but as far as I can tell you have to have qwest...no thanks, I tried signing up...payed money...saw hidden charges, waited, got a box installed on the side of my house, waited, called support, got bounced from qwest.net(ISP) support to qwest(Line Provider) support and never once got the damn connection working. I was very close going with a connection through visi because they provided multiple static IP's, free dialup, excelent local support and they even happened to host one of my favorite server boxes colo for nice low pings to me (qwest.net offered NONE of these, and the lowest level service wasnt even always on),but I would still need qwest since I couldnt get a frontier line in my area and they still wanted something like $35 to give me a line (no isp), that got a 640/256 speed cap...add the visi fee to this (which was a very reasonable 19.99 for all the services they offer) and the $7 line tax and some $2 other fees I remember from the first try and it comes out to costing more than my cable connection with about 1850/200...

I think the best example of this would be the Hilsch Tube.

BLow air in the middle, hot air blows out one end and cold air blows out the other. Temperature difference can be as much as a few hundred degrees C depending on the configuration used! (Still doesn't violate any laws of thermodynamics though... but it does 'sort' high and low energy molecules without ant "extra" energy)
=Smidge=

I for one was glad that my Window Manager ran nice and fast on my spare 486 (NetBSD) and Pentium (Debian) systems when my main Athlon XP2200+ system was down for a week due to faulty parts.

You've also never had to use a "bloated" window manager over a slow remote X or VNC connection, have you?

I tried EvilWM a while back, but I didn't like it as much as my current setup. The perfect minimalist WM has got to be VTWM. It's fully compatible with the original TWM, with some really useful features.

I find VTWM suits my needs better.

If you're going to go lean and mean, why not go all the way? ;-)

I've used XFce on everything from a 486 to a P-4. It'll be snappy no mattery where you run it. It's not too hard to get used to, and almost never crashes.

If you want even less resource consumption, go for VTWM. I've also used it on everything from a 486 to a P-4, and it's even faster than XFce, and not too much more difficult to figure out. We use it at the Earlham College CS department on our Red Hat Linux P-4 clients, and it really flies.

Well, it's pretty much the same thing. [...] Interpreters don't have brute strength speed that assembler, or even earlier C++ had. Sure, they're quick for instantiating a zillion objects from an already loaded class, but are awful for anything doing heavy calculations. For heavy math/memory moving you'll need tighter native compiled code libraries, which I'm already finding to be a headache

No decent VMs are solely interpreter based - modern JITs perform comparable to C/C++ also under the conditions you mention. E.g., check out this C vs. Java comparison.

/ulrik

On RoadRunner (yes, from Time Warner; DUN-DUN-DUUUUUN) in Minneapolis, I get 2Mbps! Or, I would, if my freeking roommates would close their file sharing programs. *sigh*

I looked at DSL before getting cable, as I really wanted to have VISI as my ISP, but the price difference is absurd. DSL is much, much more expensive for equivalent bandwidth.

So when is the mighty industrial combine that is stavatti going to have time to finish working the bugs out of this gun? After they complete their first sale of their F-16 replacement? Or maybe when their supersonic stealth bomber, is in "advanced development"? Or how about when the prototype supersonic sea plane/executive bizjet flies? My money is on just after the sale of the 100,000th Moller flying car hits the skies. But that's not bad for a defense contractor based at a Minnesotta general aviation airport founded during the sophomore year of a kid with a bachelor's degree

Argh, Slashdot ate my link.

http://www.visi.com/~rwglynn/030319spamreport.pdf

Ah, the good old days when everyone used there own window manager, everybody's unix desktop looked totally different and you actually had to know something to have a desktop that was cool.

Man, I would so love to get a laptop with a HHK layout. Ahhhhh. :)

But with regard to your comment (MikeFM) about key order not doing anything, you might find this particular article interesting - I think there was a Slashdot story on this a while back:

http://www.visi.com/~pmk/evolved.html

It's essentially about an experiment to see if using genetic algorithms (with a computer) could help to "evolve" a more effective/efficient keyboard layout than Dvorak. The most interesting bit (to me at least) was how the guy adjusted his scoring rules. Note this quote in particular (just after he'd tried the first run and was testing the first "winning" keyboard layout):

The next step was to actually try using the layout. I spent a couple days with it, and learned that my layout evaluation function was just too smart for its own good. Too many words required complicated patterns using the fingers of the right hand. The word bottom convinced me that Dvorak was on to something when he designed a keyboard that maximized alternation between the hands.

(The insight is that hand alternation increases parallelism. When the fingers of one hand are hitting keys, the fingers on the other are getting into position atop the next keys. This should have been obvious, but it wasn't until I started the third experiment and saw some empirical timing data that I realized how much faster things are with high rates of hand alternation.)

Being a two-fingered typist yourself, you may simply not realise how important these factors are for a ten-fingered typist (BTW - no offense meant, but there's no way in hell I'd believe anyone could do even close to 100wpm with only two fingers. Try using a typing tester program of some kind and see just how far off you are ;-)). I think the only people that would find an "alphabetical" keyboard layout helpful would be "hunt-and-peck" typists (ie. they have to stop and look for every key, for every keystroke) - and even they might not find it that helpful.

Re: the Twiddler - I presume you're referring to this - http://www.handykey.com/? Looks interesting... I'd love to try one of those sometime and see how usable they are. But I agree, the price is a little off-putting at the moment. :)

Pete.

My ISPs that support IPv6, like mine (Visi) have tunnel endpoints right there. This is a much better solution than using some tunnel broker way off on some far flung corner of the network. It gets your tunnelled IPv4 packets turned back into IPv6 as close to you as possible.

Tunneling this way essentially works by sending IPv4 packets between tunnel endpoints who's content type field says they contain IPv6 packets.

[It's getting cheaper] with large ATA hard drives and digital interfaces for various applications to drive real-world mixers and soundboards becoming cheaper and cheaper, the actual cost of recording, in a real sense is very minimal. A whole setup can be had for $20,000.

Here are some of the reasons why:

Warp 4 Screen Shots>