> Often it seems that things are moving along with the plot and then suddenly the writer hit a deadline so wrote 5 more pages to conclude the book.
I see you too have read Neil Stephenson's Diamond Age.
Or "Snow Crash"... or "Zodiac"... actually, now that I think about it, "Cryptonomicon" is the only one of Stephenson's novels that seems to have a concluding chapter.
(All those burnt-out houses, and all those unburnt trees. WTF? It's as if the houses themselves were more flammable than the trees that surrounded them.)
As a Sydneysider, my thoughts go out to those in Canberra. The fires weren't far away from Sydney last month.
I hasten to point out that the article was a criticism of RMAC. Just in case someone skimmed the parent post and promptly had a breakdown, thinking that 3DES was no longer The Mack.
OUR EVOLVING CONSTITUTION Imagine that you live in Plum Creek, a fictitious, medium size town somewhere in the United States. It has two high schools, East High and West High. The rivalry between the two schools' football teams has been a major feature of local culture for decades. Last year, a boy living next door to your home was playing on the West High team. He invited you to attend the season finale, the game against East High. It began with the usual rules; however, East High couldn't seem to move the ball. The team had big, strong players but they were slow, and they had no passing game.
The referees reacted by announcing some rule changes. From now on, a team only needed thirty-nine and one half inches for a first down. And it had five attempts rather than four, but only if it didn't try a pass play. Any forward pass would end a series of downs.
People sitting near you in the stands were quite upset about the changes. They were aware that two of the three referees were uncles, and the third a next door neighbor, of East High players. A committee elected by all the high school coaches in the state had hired the referees. But they had long term contracts, and it was almost impossible to get rid of one who was biased, corrupt, or incompetent.
Many years ago, the coaches committee had also written a rule book, and all the coaches had then voted to adopt it. It stated that no rule could be changed without the written approval of three-fourths of the coaches. It also said, "A first down requires an advance of ten yards or more in no more than four plays." It didn't say anything about special limits on pass plays.
When irate fans complained about the clearly fraudulent rule changes, the referees brushed them off. "You don't understand the rule book," they said, "it's a living document which evolves to meet the needs of changing times. And we have the authority to guide that evolution."
You have just read a rough description of modern U. S. Supreme Court jurisprudence.
(copied from http://ttokarnak.home.att.net/Evolution.html)
I wouldn't put Debian in that list. That would be analogous to having one of the Big Three car manufacturers a) refusing to release a new car until it was proved that a new car was necessary and b) refusing to release that new car until every single nut, bolt, and chip in that new car had been stress-tested for years.
i can't be the only person in america who cringes every time the president tries to say something off the top of his head. how in holy hell did a man that profoundly stupid become president of the united states?
I suggest you read "Stupid White Men" by Michael Moore.
Or maybe someone with a clue pointed out to them that it would take greater than the lifetime of the Universe and require more disk space than currently exists?
O'Reilly's "Running Linux" (Welsh and Kaufman, authors) is one of my "must-have" books. I have 3 copies -- one on my desk at work, one on my bookshelf at home, and one at my girlfriend's place. (Just in case!)
Because Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" is a labor of love, created by a team who all know and love the story and the characters, filmed in the most beautiful locations in the world, performed by an ensemble of great actors who ate, slept, and breathed their characters TOGETHER for years, and led by a man who stood up to the suits and said "Fuck the budget, we're doing it RIGHT, trust me!"... and George Lucas's "Star Wars" is just...well.. George Lucas's "Star Wars".
- Who invented the transistor?
- Who started the computer industry?
- Who invented nuclear power?
- Who put human beings on the moon and then brought them back safely 6 times
Actually, now that I think about it...
Transistor, the team at Bell Labs. Score one for the USA.
Computer industry? I'd say the team led by England's Alan Turing.
Nuclear power? I'd say the team led by Italy's Enrico Fermi, or if you look back further, New Zealand's Ernest Rutherford.
Putting humans on the moon? I'd say the team led by Germany's Werner von Braun.
OK, that's one from four. Nothing to really brag about. And my comment about "in our lifetimes" still stands.
Events or developments like this always remind me how small New Zealand is, and how tightly-knit its IT/Internet/Telco geek community is. I look down the list of proposal supporters and recognise maybe three quarters of the names there; know personally maybe half the names there; and know on a first-name, face-to-face, is-it-your-round-or-mine basis maybe a quarter of the names there.
Slashdot Mirror
YHBT. YHL. HAND.
> Often it seems that things are moving along with the plot and then suddenly the writer hit a deadline so wrote 5 more pages to conclude the book.
I see you too have read Neil Stephenson's Diamond Age.
Or "Snow Crash"... or "Zodiac"... actually, now that I think about it, "Cryptonomicon" is the only one of Stephenson's novels that seems to have a concluding chapter.
OK, carefully stack some drinking glasses into a pile two or three feet high.
:)
Get on a FatLazyAmericanWay, get it up to top speed, and ride straight into the pile of glasses.
Does the pile of glasses:
a) get magically saved as the POINT-AUTOMATIC BRAKING UPON IMPACT comes to the rescue; or
b) get smashed
Buddy, you don't know how old I am or how intelligent I am. So sit your FatLazyAmericanWay-riding ass down and STFU.
it is NOT LIKE A VEHICLE. It is an extension of your body. If you hit any obstacle, it automatically stops
There's this thing called INERTIA. Ever heard of it?
Recent photo of the Observatory
:(
The Observatory:
, 00.jpg
e data/0,1658,231155,00.jpg
http://news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,3600,231203
Here's a fascinating aerial photo:
http://www.dailytelegraph.news.com.au/common/imag
(All those burnt-out houses, and all those unburnt trees. WTF? It's as if the houses themselves were more flammable than the trees that surrounded them.)
As a Sydneysider, my thoughts go out to those in Canberra. The fires weren't far away from Sydney last month.
There are just too many ways to reverse engineer something these days .... debuggers, de-compilers, etc ....
This is why everything should be open source!
You still have to trust the compiler that turns your source into something useful.
I hasten to point out that the article was a criticism of RMAC. Just in case someone skimmed the parent post and promptly had a breakdown, thinking that 3DES was no longer The Mack.
In the name of all that remains good and true in the world, someone mod motherf*cking parent UP!
OUR EVOLVING CONSTITUTION
Imagine that you live in Plum Creek, a fictitious, medium size town somewhere in the United States. It has two high schools, East High and West High. The rivalry between the two schools' football teams has been a major feature of local culture for decades. Last year, a boy living next door to your home was playing on the West High team. He invited you to attend the season finale, the game against East High. It began with the usual rules; however, East High couldn't seem to move the ball. The team had big, strong players but they were slow, and they had no passing game.
The referees reacted by announcing some rule changes. From now on, a team only needed thirty-nine and one half inches for a first down. And it had five attempts rather than four, but only if it didn't try a pass play. Any forward pass would end a series of downs.
People sitting near you in the stands were quite upset about the changes. They were aware that two of the three referees were uncles, and the third a next door neighbor, of East High players. A committee elected by all the high school coaches in the state had hired the referees. But they had long term contracts, and it was almost impossible to get rid of one who was biased, corrupt, or incompetent.
Many years ago, the coaches committee had also written a rule book, and all the coaches had then voted to adopt it. It stated that no rule could be changed without the written approval of three-fourths of the coaches. It also said, "A first down requires an advance of ten yards or more in no more than four plays." It didn't say anything about special limits on pass plays.
When irate fans complained about the clearly fraudulent rule changes, the referees brushed them off. "You don't understand the rule book," they said, "it's a living document which evolves to meet the needs of changing times. And we have the authority to guide that evolution."
You have just read a rough description of modern U. S. Supreme Court jurisprudence.
(copied from http://ttokarnak.home.att.net/Evolution.html)
Respect for the Shelley reference :)
I wouldn't put Debian in that list. That would be analogous to having one of the Big Three car manufacturers a) refusing to release a new car until it was proved that a new car was necessary and b) refusing to release that new car until every single nut, bolt, and chip in that new car had been stress-tested for years.
i can't be the only person in america who cringes every time the president tries to say something off the top of his head. how in holy hell did a man that profoundly stupid become president of the united states?
I suggest you read "Stupid White Men" by Michael Moore.
Or maybe someone with a clue pointed out to them that it would take greater than the lifetime of the Universe and require more disk space than currently exists?
O'Reilly's "Running Linux" (Welsh and Kaufman, authors) is one of my "must-have" books. I have 3 copies -- one on my desk at work, one on my bookshelf at home, and one at my girlfriend's place. (Just in case!)
How's this for a theory.
... and George Lucas's "Star Wars" is just...well.. George Lucas's "Star Wars".
Because Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" is a labor of love, created by a team who all know and love the story and the characters, filmed in the most beautiful locations in the world, performed by an ensemble of great actors who ate, slept, and breathed their characters TOGETHER for years, and led by a man who stood up to the suits and said "Fuck the budget, we're doing it RIGHT, trust me!"
- Who invented the transistor?
- Who started the computer industry?
- Who invented nuclear power?
- Who put human beings on the moon and then brought them back safely 6 times
Actually, now that I think about it...
Transistor, the team at Bell Labs. Score one for the USA.
Computer industry? I'd say the team led by England's Alan Turing.
Nuclear power? I'd say the team led by Italy's Enrico Fermi, or if you look back further, New Zealand's Ernest Rutherford.
Putting humans on the moon? I'd say the team led by Germany's Werner von Braun.
OK, that's one from four. Nothing to really brag about. And my comment about "in our lifetimes" still stands.
How about something since we were all born?
Amazon sells BOOKS, not PEOPLE. Therefore you should be reviewing the BOOK, not the AUTHOR.
Looking forward? Hell, kids have been unlocking AMD chips with graphite pencils for quite a while now :)
If you'd made it "...law violates YOU!" it would have been wittier. But you still got a chuckle outta me.
Err, how about $39 for life? Did you actually READ anything at pgp.com?
Events or developments like this always remind me how small New Zealand is, and how tightly-knit its IT/Internet/Telco geek community is. I look down the list of proposal supporters and recognise maybe three quarters of the names there; know personally maybe half the names there; and know on a first-name, face-to-face, is-it-your-round-or-mine basis maybe a quarter of the names there.
Kia kaha!
I'm not sure which is more indicative of Slashdot's editorial decline -- this story, or the rash of duplicates.
So wait your 30 days, then post details of the bug/exploit/hole/whatever to Usenet anonymously. No big deal.