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Slashback: Folding, Cursing, Exporting
The more numerous the laws ... friscolr writes "The Register has an article about security researcher Niels Provos's (creator/collaborator for systrace, honeyd, openssh, various steg tools, and more) struggle to continue his Ph.D. studies amidst an increasingly restrictive set of U.S. and Michigan laws. This isn't the first time a prominent security researcher in Michigan has voiced serious concerns over new laws."
You may remember several earlier stories mentioning Provos' research, such as this article on his honeynet creation tool honeyd.
Apple Records has a certain ring, though, doesn't it? egoff writes "The Apple/Universal Music deal is unlikely, according to the New York Times (reg req), nor would it be a sure hit with investors. However, if the deal did go through, it would be because of Steve Job's vision for the future of digital music. Said one former Apple exec: 'Apple always needs to pull a rabbit out of its hat. Universal is a pretty big rabbit.'"
Swearing in another language doesn't count. Chilliwilli writes with an update to the recent Anger As a Software Design Philosophy: "Anyone that took a look at the foul language feckfeck might be amazed to see that somebody has actually risen to one of the three challenges and written a quine in this more irritating of languages. Congratulations go to 'hoser'."
Upping their meds. Elyjah writes "Steve Bellovin has compiled a short list of emails he got regarding his most recent RFC (3514) which appeared this last April 1st. (I believe you may have seen something on Slashdot about it.) Some people just...don't...get it."
If you go beyond the Enterprise, doesn't that invalidate their theme song? Built enough floppy-disk Enterprises? GaryK writes "With Dell getting rid of 3.5" disk drives, I'm quite sure we'll have to come up with creative uses for the hundreds and hundreds of floppies we have around our offices. This guy should serve as an inspiration to us all.
Ah, yes, AOL floppy disks. I turned in many a-C++ assignment on these. I also recall using Compuserve and Prodigy disks, but those just aren't as pervasive.
Back when Apple Computers(AC( was founded, Apple Records(AR) (who put out the Beatles records in America) sued AC for the name Apple. AC had to agree not to go into the music recording business in order to use the name Apple. If AC makes this move into music recording, would they not be violating that agreement?
Am I the only person who assumes Apple Computers would keep the name of Universal if they were to buy the record company, therefore flying under the radar. The agreement with Apple Corps was to avoid confusion in the marketplace. If the music products still carried the Universal name, wouldn't Apple Computers be in the clear even if they were the parent company?
Nothing from nowhere I'm no one at all
Speaking of floppies and CDs...
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http://www.georgehart.com/sculpture/sculpture.htm
Your hybrid is not saving the environment. Its purpose is to make you feel good about buying something.
Granted, the motors in floppy drives are pretty weak... but each drive contains two stepper motors, one uni-directional servo motor, at least 3 input switches (either optical or mechanical), and all the electronics to drive them!
The whole thing can be controlled with simple pulses to the various pins on the cable connector, which means an old floppy drive is a cheap (free) way to add motor controls to any microcontroller project, or even drive it with the PC's printer port. Ideal for science fair projects and other low-low budget / non critical / fun stuff.
Here and here are just some of many examples.
Fun fun!
=Smidge=
Since the days of the death of MFM hard drives I've been stripping dead drives of their platters and using them for wind chimes. The platters resonate with crystal clear tones when struck against each other, and I've never had one I couldn't use from notebook drives to IDE/SCSI drives.
Besides the usual nylon line and a wooden dowel or two for the upper support, you do need a few different type of screwdriver bits, since most drives use odd shaped star/torx screwheads. If you have any trouble just grab a drill and destroy the screws, at this stage who cares about what the case ends up looking like. And a final tip, you may want to spray the platters with a thin clear coat if your putting them outside.
Jonah Hex
Horror & SciFi Erotic Nudes
Quines are particularly useful, actually. It proves that there can, conceptually at least, exist a machine capable of replicating itself in full.
As an example, nanotechnology presumes that we'll be able to build machines that could build exact copies of themselves, in order that we don't have to make machines to stamp out billions of microscopic nanites. Well, is this possible? It's tempting to just say "sure, of course", and it is indeed possible, but not obviously so.
If a nanite's going to make an exact copy of itself, it has to copy its brain. Which means it has to store the blueprints for its brain. Which means it has to be able to replicate *that*. Et cetera.
Try it! Try writing your own quine. It isn't trivial. But it is possible, which makes nanotech doable in theory. If quines didn't exist, or let's say they were provably impossible, nanotech would be that much more implausible.