...is a z-code VM, not a Java VM, so I can play the hundreds [wurb.com] of games already available - some of very high quality. Might need a keyboard port too though.
Ask and though shalt receive.
Isn't google grand?
Contract programmers get a considerably better rate and overtime pay... They also are a bit more secure as they have a signed contract for X hours, which is legally actionable if not met...
The best I've ever had a contract stipulate is a month's notice of termination. I've never seen a true fixed length contract. The ones with fixed length always have an easy out. Not much different from "at will" employment. They just have to claim you weren't doing the work right, or they don't need it done anymore.
Project-based contracts have some implication of stability, but most of these require a company between you and the client. If they don't like you, they'll force the company to take you off the project.
"If Pacman had affected us kids, we'd be running around in dark rooms munching pills and listening to repetitive electronic music..."
I feel obligated to point to my previous response to this comment.
Don't you hate when there's several people with the same name as yours? I know more than 10 different "Miguel Farah" besides myself, and that's only within my family.
That's funny. I've met or had direct knowledge of only about 10 Gino's in my whole life. And my best efforts can only find 1-3 other Gino Melone's in the entire world.
Toy Biz would have owed the balance of 5.2% for the time it was applicable
Actually, its a bit the other way. Toy Biz appears to have a refund coming.
From the article, Toy Biz had good cause to pursue this line. Having its action figures declared toys would mean a hefty reimbursement of past duties, though the company declines to give specifics on how much was at stake.
Yeah, but throughout the US, miles=minutes for long distance travel. There is no conversion needed. Freeway speed averages about 60 mph in the long run. So, number of miles is number of minutes. I'm already very used to converting between minutes and hours. Just like everyone else in the world.
The fun thing about it is, some bushels are more or less pounds than another one.
And a litre of various materials will have a different mass according to the items density. I really don't feel like converting the lengthy quote of Rhode Island legislation you included.
If PacMan had affected us as kids we'd be running around in dark rooms, munching pills and listening to electronic
music
Um. I am sitting in a darkened office (none of us likes having the overhead flourescents on), I've got a skittles dispenser on my desk and I'm listening to an MP3. Oh yeah, cube-land does kind of resemble the PacMan maze.
No, if the middle were bombed, the bottom half would fall and the Geo station would fall away from the Earth at significant velocity, because the tremendous mass of the cable acts as a counterweight.
Putting a large counterweight on a space-side tether with a quick release would allow you to save the station pretty easily. Or, just have the station be a seperate satelite. Have the top of the tether be a very simple 'port'.
In either case, the majority of the mass at the top could be simple chunks of rock. These could be easily snagged extra-terrestially. Maybe chunks of Moon or something. Or ice.
There's also the point that few rollercoasters go over 250 ft. up. And the thrill of heading back towards the ground from that height at an 80 degree angle is very exciting.
Two. Possibly three. I'm not sure if the third of that height has been opened yet.
There's also Superman the Escape. A rollercoaster track that is a DemonDrop style go-up-and-fall ride.
This used to be a pretty common type of attack on the old FidoNET systems. Almost everyone was using MS-DOS (or some version thereof) with ANSI.SYS.
The ANSI.SYS driver allowed the F-keys to be reprogrammed via ESC sequences. The common technique was to reprogram F1 or F3 (used in the simplisitc command history function) to do something nasty.
I would think it'd take more effort to establish a self-sustaining base on the Moon than it would on Mars, given the limited resources to be found on the Moon.
But, the advantage to the Moon is the proximity to Earth - if things go wrong, its just a 3 day trip to the plentiful resources of Earth.
So, we refine the self-sustaining tech needed to live on Mars, using our own backyard lab (the Moon), and once that's all happening, send the tech off to Mars. Not to mention that we could probably *manufacture* half of the Mars base from the Moon, which would be cheaper and less dangerous than doing it here on Earth. Heck, we could probably use all sorts of crazy ass tech on the moon to build things better, such as nuclear technology, etc.
Seems sorta backwards to me that we're ignoring this resource and trying to get straight to Mars instead, but then again I don't know how these things are budgeted. Perhaps there are political reasons for getting th Mars before doing the Moon thing - and after all, politics drive the space program.
Reading the Zubrin book will answer a lot of these questions.
Basically, its cheaper to get to Mars than the Moon(read the book, most library systems seem to have it). And, Mars offers a lot more useful resources once you get there.
The classic young-programmer's languages seem to be BASIC and LOGO. Both are good.
If you want to start with something a little sexier (as it were), how about Java. Simple text-based software is about as easy to write as BASIC. Fancier stuff is fairly easy. They can work on that Win98 box or a UNIX environment easily. There are some decent IDE's available.
All that, and they'd be starting off with a solid OO basis to boot.
I'd also recommend that any new programmer spend some time in Lisp. Not as a first language. But, when you get to the point where you start playing around in languages, make Lisp one of the first. I think it really helps a programmer to think in the very data-driven model once in a while.
I have to agree with the comments about getting hold of the source for something they'd like to modify. I fondly remember stripping the sound out of MS BASIC games so we could play them in the lab without being noticed.
Automobiles are not subject to copy protection. The DCMA will not prohibit reverse engineering of any automobile or other nuts and bolts product.
Actually, the auto manufacturers have invented systems that could be considered copy-protection on their intellectual property. Proprietary screwheads, one-way bolt heads, various wiring shrinkwrap mechanisms, the 'computer' in any modern car. I'm sure there are other examples. The real point here is that broadly worded legislation can be manipulated to apply to a lot of things which are quite unrelated to the original intent. Bringing this to the attention of those who do such interpreting sounds like a good thing.
BTW, the argument that copy-protection fuels a monopoly on the player devices is good, as well.
These days I'd agree. Win95 and MacOS 7.5+ are about the same. However, in the old days (MacOS 6.x and earlier vs Win3.x or Win95) the Mac was a lot more stable. I've never locked or crashed my SE or my LC. Netscape on my iMac crashes about as often as Netscape or IE will lock up on NT.
Slashdot Mirror
Ask and though shalt receive.
Isn't google grand?
Contract programmers get a considerably better rate and overtime pay... They also are a bit more secure as they have a signed contract for X hours, which is legally actionable if not met...
The best I've ever had a contract stipulate is a month's notice of termination. I've never seen a true fixed length contract. The ones with fixed length always have an easy out. Not much different from "at will" employment. They just have to claim you weren't doing the work right, or they don't need it done anymore.
Project-based contracts have some implication of stability, but most of these require a company between you and the client. If they don't like you, they'll force the company to take you off the project.
"If Pacman had affected us kids, we'd be running around in dark rooms munching pills and listening to repetitive electronic music..."
I feel obligated to point to my previous response to this comment.
Don't you hate when there's several people with the same name as yours? I know more than 10 different "Miguel Farah" besides myself, and that's only within my family.
That's funny. I've met or had direct knowledge of only about 10 Gino's in my whole life. And my best efforts can only find 1-3 other Gino Melone's in the entire world.
Actually, its a bit the other way. Toy Biz appears to have a refund coming.
From the article, Toy Biz had good cause to pursue this line. Having its action figures declared toys would mean a hefty reimbursement of past duties, though the company declines to give specifics on how much was at stake.
Yeah, but throughout the US, miles=minutes for long distance travel. There is no conversion needed. Freeway speed averages about 60 mph in the long run. So, number of miles is number of minutes. I'm already very used to converting between minutes and hours. Just like everyone else in the world.
The fun thing about it is, some bushels are more or less pounds than another one.
And a litre of various materials will have a different mass according to the items density. I really don't feel like converting the lengthy quote of Rhode Island legislation you included.
Can we at least give Dvorak credit for this. He's been making this claim for at least 15 years.
If PacMan had affected us as kids we'd be running around in dark rooms, munching pills and listening to electronic music
Um. I am sitting in a darkened office (none of us likes having the overhead flourescents on), I've got a skittles dispenser on my desk and I'm listening to an MP3. Oh yeah, cube-land does kind of resemble the PacMan maze.
Are you sure PacMan didn't affest us?
Putting a large counterweight on a space-side tether with a quick release would allow you to save the station pretty easily. Or, just have the station be a seperate satelite. Have the top of the tether be a very simple 'port'.
In either case, the majority of the mass at the top could be simple chunks of rock. These could be easily snagged extra-terrestially. Maybe chunks of Moon or something. Or ice.
Two. Possibly three. I'm not sure if the third of that height has been opened yet. There's also Superman the Escape. A rollercoaster track that is a DemonDrop style go-up-and-fall ride.
This used to be a pretty common type of attack on the old FidoNET systems. Almost everyone was using MS-DOS (or some version thereof) with ANSI.SYS.
The ANSI.SYS driver allowed the F-keys to be reprogrammed via ESC sequences. The common technique was to reprogram F1 or F3 (used in the simplisitc command history function) to do something nasty.
This sounds like the same basic thing.
I would think it'd take more effort to establish a self-sustaining base on the Moon than it would on Mars, given the limited resources to be found on the Moon.
But, the advantage to the Moon is the proximity to Earth - if things go wrong, its just a 3 day trip to the plentiful resources of Earth.
So, we refine the self-sustaining tech needed to live on Mars, using our own backyard lab (the Moon), and once that's all happening, send the tech off to Mars. Not to mention that we could probably *manufacture* half of the Mars base from the Moon, which would be cheaper and less dangerous than doing it here on Earth. Heck, we could probably use all sorts of crazy ass tech on the moon to build things better, such as nuclear technology, etc.
Seems sorta backwards to me that we're ignoring this resource and trying to get straight to Mars instead, but then again I don't know how these things are budgeted. Perhaps there are political reasons for getting th Mars before doing the Moon thing - and after all, politics drive the space program.
Reading the Zubrin book will answer a lot of these questions.
Basically, its cheaper to get to Mars than the Moon(read the book, most library systems seem to have it). And, Mars offers a lot more useful resources once you get there.
The classic young-programmer's languages seem to be BASIC and LOGO. Both are good.
If you want to start with something a little sexier (as it were), how about Java. Simple text-based software is about as easy to write as BASIC. Fancier stuff is fairly easy. They can work on that Win98 box or a UNIX environment easily. There are some decent IDE's available.
All that, and they'd be starting off with a solid OO basis to boot.
I'd also recommend that any new programmer spend some time in Lisp. Not as a first language. But, when you get to the point where you start playing around in languages, make Lisp one of the first. I think it really helps a programmer to think in the very data-driven model once in a while.
I have to agree with the comments about getting hold of the source for something they'd like to modify. I fondly remember stripping the sound out of MS BASIC games so we could play them in the lab without being noticed.
Good Luck.
Actually, the auto manufacturers have invented systems that could be considered copy-protection on their intellectual property. Proprietary screwheads, one-way bolt heads, various wiring shrinkwrap mechanisms, the 'computer' in any modern car. I'm sure there are other examples. The real point here is that broadly worded legislation can be manipulated to apply to a lot of things which are quite unrelated to the original intent. Bringing this to the attention of those who do such interpreting sounds like a good thing.
BTW, the argument that copy-protection fuels a monopoly on the player devices is good, as well.
These days I'd agree. Win95 and MacOS 7.5+ are about the same. However, in the old days (MacOS 6.x and earlier vs Win3.x or Win95) the Mac was a lot more stable. I've never locked or crashed my SE or my LC. Netscape on my iMac crashes about as often as Netscape or IE will lock up on NT.