Well, to heat all this plasma, we certainly need a nuclear reactor. But more importantly, this is hydrogen plasma. And all that hydrogen needs to come from somewhere. That can mean only one thing... Bussard collecters! Yes! Even more life-imitates-[Larry Niven | Star Trek]!
I mean, despite the obvious climatic troubles, why not Antarctica (on the plus side, you can overclock to your heart's content)? It's supposedly shared by all nations, isn't it? If you could get the funds, you might be able to set up a bunch of servers there. I guess it might be possible to work with some of the scientific teams. ...must not make penguin reference... === -J
Good gods, that's quite interesting. They're hardly subtle about it, are they? What an amazingly original logo. But I guess it is legal... Anyway, what really pisses me off about slashdot.net is that while it has link to the "real"/. , it refers to it as a "news site for the Linux community." Tanjit, none of my [two] computers runs linux, or any other unix-type. I don't consider myself part of any "Linux community." Stupid gosh-darn ignorant generalizations.... === -J
isn't that kind of like copyrighting any program that uses ";" to mark line breaks in the code?
Jeez. POST is part of HTML. I don't think it's right to copyright a command. Although maybe, if the copyright were on the method the database uses to handle data sent by the POST command, he might have a chance. But that's different. === -J
You see, this is what comes of listening to NPR while reading slashdot. I get all confused. From the guy's remarks about confusing the heck out of the chinese, I clearly made the wrong inference. Terribly sorry about that. === -J
The story does say that some of them are computerized... like the overenthusiastic taiwanese woman who says things like "please decode your message now!" and "thank you for decoding today's message!" === -J
I posted earlier about how this must be a bunch of lost Soviet spies, but I came up with soehting that makes even more sense. See, I was in the library today, doing some research on the ISS. I found an article in April 2000 Popular Mechanics, and after skimming it, I turned out of curiosity to the magazine's cover story: The KGB plot to bring america to it's knees. Apparently KGB (and/or GRU; no-one is quite sure) agents were involved in an elaborate scheme to take advantage of the Canadian and Mexican borders and plant explosives in military bases, dams, power stations, etc, up to and including the power source for New York city. The idea was that massive power outages, especially in NYC, would cause Americans to overthrow their government. So, this is clearly part of that op. The russians set up a bunch agents to read random numbers over america's radio stations, causing the populace to revolt against the FCC. Only they got the frequencies wrong. Or something. See, it all makes sense!
I can see it now. Half a dozen GRU (or KGB, I suppose) in an underground bunker in the midwest, huddled over a transmitter, still sending intelligence information, blind to the fact that the Soviet Union has fallen and the Cold War is theoretically over. Just watch, when someone decodes this stuff, it's going to turn out to be "FROM NEVADA 314 STOP TO MOSCOW STOP CURRENT AMERICAN PROPOGANDA IS THAT MOTHERLAND HAS COLLAPSED STOP PLEASE SEND MORE VODKA STOP" or some such. Nothing against Russians, mind, i'm proud to sort of be one, but this would make such a great spy novel. === -J
'[online anonymity] is nothing more than the digital equivalent of putting on a ski mask when you rob a bank.'
Seems to me it's more like walking around in public with a mask - any kind of mask - on. It might be awkward at times, but it's perfectly legal. === -J
I posted soemthign along these lines, but it doesn't look like it'll get moderated up... anyway, amen, comrade! Right on! VB was the transtition, for me, between Qbasic(which still reigns supreme, by the way) and what I'm learnign now (Perl, C++, possibly Python). It's not an incoherent mess, though. The problem is the meshing of the "unstructured" BASIC (which is a great, intuitive language) with the structure imposed by event handlers from controls. With VB, I was forced to give up GOTO (except for my internal error handlers) and finally learn how subs and functions really work. And VB made that easy. Plus, with VB (unlike QBasic), you can legally make.exe's of your programs.;) ps. This is OT, but anyone know why QBasics 4.5 and 7.whatever still aren't freeware? === -J
Now that's totally uncalled-for. After I taught myself Qbasic (mostly by reading other people's stuff, with help from the help files and assorted books), Visual Basic was the first "real" language i learned. I have a soft spot in my heart for basic (I don't want to hear anything about unstructured programming; it works anyway, godsdarnit). Anyway, At just about that same age (11-13), I learned VB3 for win3.1 . I still have and use it on my 486. With only the books that came with it (a language reference and a guide to programming), I taught myself almsot all there was to know about how it worked. I also learned what I could and could not do easily, which is why I'm now moving on to other languages (perl and C++). Ultimately, I think VB is the way to go. Don't knock it; it's a darn good language. High level is not necessarily a bad thing! Basic is much more intuitive than most scripting languages i've encountered. It served as a good transtion from QBasic for me. In QBasic, I could goto and gosub to my heart's content, and get complicated but funcitnal code. But VB is reliant enough on subs and functions and procedures and whatnot that it introduces structure into programming. So get your kids a copy of VB5 (or 6, whatever). Let them play. === -J
Quite a number of my/. colleagues have pointed out that Slashdot servers may, in fact, contain copyrighted materials. Is it possible, then, that Microsoft may actually have a case? *gasp* It seems to me that Andover's response sort of skirts the issue. It also seems to me that Slashdot should be wary of "knee-jerk" reactions to anything involving the naughty words "Microsoft" and "censorship."
Now where did I put that asbestos body suit... === -J
Amen, comrade! The problem which I have had with the Post's two recent articles about Slashdot are these sweeping generalizations. These range from words like "Slashdotters" and "geekerati" to the example cited by KiboMaster. Okay, I read and post to Slashdot. But if "Slashdotter" is someone who is constantly advocating universal open source and who is militantly opposed to Microsoft, as the Post portrays it to be, then I want no part of that classification. And "geekerati" sounds like a bizarre form of unarmed combat.
I kind of like Microsoft. They may not be nice. They may have done some incredibly nasty and illegal things. They may be attempting to censor us. That part of Microsoft I dislike with a passion. I also dislike the part that makes Windows 95 crash all the time. But at the same time, they have done some great things. I'm a big DOS fan. Microsoft's Qbasic and Visual Basic programs got me interested in programming. I use IE for much of my browsing. What was my point? Um...oh yeah: don't generalize me. I really like you, Washington Post. You're one of my favorite newspapers. But don't generalize me. === -J
Well, of course we can't rpeoroduce copytighted works without permission. But nothing's wrong with linking to them We mustn't abuse free speech! It's a rightand a responsibility.
Actually, I'm kind of disturbed that Microsoft has lackeyes combing through our posts like this...:) === -J
I'd love to have these in the labs at my high school! It might put a stop to all the jerks who download mp3s and whatnot onto the computers used by my programming class(it's my personal mission to delete Winamp from the computer I use every time the bum in some other class installs it).
Unfortunately, this is nothing new. I remember hearing, years ago, about such empty network terminals...computers for which all software is downloaded or accessed over an intenret, etc. And they didn't take off. Oh well. === -J
Hmmm.... methinks 'twas because to make a really good virus, it used to be necessary to do some skillful assembly coding. But now a good (effective, fast-spreading) virus can be easily written in VBscript because of Microsoft "features."
Let the record show that I use the word "good" in terms of effectiveness as a virus. Let the record also show that I do not condone virii, and that anyone who writes them is abusing power and wasting a good brain, and should be beaten with a ruler. Let the record finally show that I am sick and tired of having to write disclaimers. === -J
Slashdot Mirror
Well, to heat all this plasma, we certainly need a nuclear reactor. But more importantly, this is hydrogen plasma. And all that hydrogen needs to come from somewhere. That can mean only one thing...
Bussard collecters!
Yes! Even more life-imitates-[Larry Niven | Star Trek]!
I think I'll go lie down now...
===
-J
Split in two? Where did that idea come from? Is this guy out of his mind?
I never saw this one coming...
[/sarcasm]
===
-J
I mean, despite the obvious climatic troubles, why not Antarctica (on the plus side, you can overclock to your heart's content)?
It's supposedly shared by all nations, isn't it? If you could get the funds, you might be able to set up a bunch of servers there. I guess it might be possible to work with some of the scientific teams.
...must not make penguin reference...
===
-J
Good gods, that's quite interesting. They're hardly subtle about it, are they? What an amazingly original logo. But I guess it is legal... /. , it refers to it as a "news site for the Linux community." Tanjit, none of my [two] computers runs linux, or any other unix-type. I don't consider myself part of any "Linux community." Stupid gosh-darn ignorant generalizations....
Anyway, what really pisses me off about slashdot.net is that while it has link to the "real"
===
-J
Gotcha. Thanks. Well, I learn something new every day.
Usually, anyway. Sometimes it's two new things.
===
-J
isn't that kind of like copyrighting any program that uses ";" to mark line breaks in the code?
Jeez. POST is part of HTML. I don't think it's right to copyright a command. Although maybe, if the copyright were on the method the database uses to handle data sent by the POST command, he might have a chance. But that's different.
===
-J
That's more what I was going for. Okay, maybe it should read: "Heheh. Sorry."
===
-J
The Wine team is preparing to begin on the road towards the long-awaited Wine 1.0 release
(my bold)
So we're still at the preliminary commencement portion of the preporatory stage, eh?
Hee hee. Sorry.
===
-J
Whoa, cool!
Er...not the killing part, per se, but it's an interesting concept.
===
-J
You see, this is what comes of listening to NPR while reading slashdot. I get all confused. From the guy's remarks about confusing the heck out of the chinese, I clearly made the wrong inference. Terribly sorry about that.
===
-J
The story does say that some of them are computerized... like the overenthusiastic taiwanese woman who says things like "please decode your message now!" and "thank you for decoding today's message!"
===
-J
The guys over at the NSA are reading this thread right now and laughing their rears off...
===
-J
I posted earlier about how this must be a bunch of lost Soviet spies, but I came up with soehting that makes even more sense.
See, I was in the library today, doing some research on the ISS. I found an article in April 2000 Popular Mechanics, and after skimming it, I turned out of curiosity to the magazine's cover story: The KGB plot to bring america to it's knees. Apparently KGB (and/or GRU; no-one is quite sure) agents were involved in an elaborate scheme to take advantage of the Canadian and Mexican borders and plant explosives in military bases, dams, power stations, etc, up to and including the power source for New York city. The idea was that massive power outages, especially in NYC, would cause Americans to overthrow their government.
So, this is clearly part of that op. The russians set up a bunch agents to read random numbers over america's radio stations, causing the populace to revolt against the FCC. Only they got the frequencies wrong. Or something.
See, it all makes sense!
I think I need to go lie down...
===
-J
I can see it now. Half a dozen GRU (or KGB, I suppose) in an underground bunker in the midwest, huddled over a transmitter, still sending intelligence information, blind to the fact that the Soviet Union has fallen and the Cold War is theoretically over. Just watch, when someone decodes this stuff, it's going to turn out to be "FROM NEVADA 314 STOP TO MOSCOW STOP CURRENT AMERICAN PROPOGANDA IS THAT MOTHERLAND HAS COLLAPSED STOP PLEASE SEND MORE VODKA STOP" or some such.
Nothing against Russians, mind, i'm proud to sort of be one, but this would make such a great spy novel.
===
-J
QuickBasic, AKA Qbasic 4.5?
I think they're the same thing...
===
-J
'[online anonymity] is nothing more than the digital equivalent of putting on a ski mask when you rob a bank.'
Seems to me it's more like walking around in public with a mask - any kind of mask - on. It might be awkward at times, but it's perfectly legal.
===
-J
Because Microsoft ia a bunch of money grubbing snakes.
There's always a logical explanation.
===
-J
I posted soemthign along these lines, but it doesn't look like it'll get moderated up... anyway, amen, comrade! Right on! .exe's of your programs. ;)
VB was the transtition, for me, between Qbasic(which still reigns supreme, by the way) and what I'm learnign now (Perl, C++, possibly Python). It's not an incoherent mess, though. The problem is the meshing of the "unstructured" BASIC (which is a great, intuitive language) with the structure imposed by event handlers from controls. With VB, I was forced to give up GOTO (except for my internal error handlers) and finally learn how subs and functions really work. And VB made that easy.
Plus, with VB (unlike QBasic), you can legally make
ps. This is OT, but anyone know why QBasics 4.5 and 7.whatever still aren't freeware?
===
-J
VB (shudder)
Now that's totally uncalled-for. After I taught myself Qbasic (mostly by reading other people's stuff, with help from the help files and assorted books), Visual Basic was the first "real" language i learned. I have a soft spot in my heart for basic (I don't want to hear anything about unstructured programming; it works anyway, godsdarnit).
Anyway, At just about that same age (11-13), I learned VB3 for win3.1 . I still have and use it on my 486. With only the books that came with it (a language reference and a guide to programming), I taught myself almsot all there was to know about how it worked. I also learned what I could and could not do easily, which is why I'm now moving on to other languages (perl and C++).
Ultimately, I think VB is the way to go. Don't knock it; it's a darn good language. High level is not necessarily a bad thing! Basic is much more intuitive than most scripting languages i've encountered. It served as a good transtion from QBasic for me. In QBasic, I could goto and gosub to my heart's content, and get complicated but funcitnal code. But VB is reliant enough on subs and functions and procedures and whatnot that it introduces structure into programming.
So get your kids a copy of VB5 (or 6, whatever). Let them play.
===
-J
Quite a number of my /. colleagues have pointed out that Slashdot servers may, in fact, contain copyrighted materials.
Is it possible, then, that Microsoft may actually have a case? *gasp*
It seems to me that Andover's response sort of skirts the issue. It also seems to me that Slashdot should be wary of "knee-jerk" reactions to anything involving the naughty words "Microsoft" and "censorship."
Now where did I put that asbestos body suit...
===
-J
Amen, comrade! The problem which I have had with the Post's two recent articles about Slashdot are these sweeping generalizations. These range from words like "Slashdotters" and "geekerati" to the example cited by KiboMaster.
Okay, I read and post to Slashdot. But if "Slashdotter" is someone who is constantly advocating universal open source and who is militantly opposed to Microsoft, as the Post portrays it to be, then I want no part of that classification.
And "geekerati" sounds like a bizarre form of unarmed combat.
I kind of like Microsoft. They may not be nice. They may have done some incredibly nasty and illegal things. They may be attempting to censor us. That part of Microsoft I dislike with a passion. I also dislike the part that makes Windows 95 crash all the time.
But at the same time, they have done some great things. I'm a big DOS fan. Microsoft's Qbasic and Visual Basic programs got me interested in programming. I use IE for much of my browsing.
What was my point? Um...oh yeah: don't generalize me. I really like you, Washington Post. You're one of my favorite newspapers. But don't generalize me.
===
-J
Well, of course we can't rpeoroduce copytighted works without permission. But nothing's wrong with linking to them
:)
We mustn't abuse free speech! It's a rightand a responsibility.
Actually, I'm kind of disturbed that Microsoft has lackeyes combing through our posts like this...
===
-J
I'd love to have these in the labs at my high school! It might put a stop to all the jerks who download mp3s and whatnot onto the computers used by my programming class(it's my personal mission to delete Winamp from the computer I use every time the bum in some other class installs it).
Unfortunately, this is nothing new. I remember hearing, years ago, about such empty network terminals...computers for which all software is downloaded or accessed over an intenret, etc. And they didn't take off. Oh well.
===
-J
Hmmm.... methinks 'twas because to make a really good virus, it used to be necessary to do some skillful assembly coding. But now a good (effective, fast-spreading) virus can be easily written in VBscript because of Microsoft "features."
Let the record show that I use the word "good" in terms of effectiveness as a virus. Let the record also show that I do not condone virii, and that anyone who writes them is abusing power and wasting a good brain, and should be beaten with a ruler. Let the record finally show that I am sick and tired of having to write disclaimers.
===
-J
It upgrades a Mac's resolution from b&w to real life. And it runs at the speed of a real aquarium too.
Now all it lacks is flying toasters, eh?
===
-J