I saw a bit on TV about this yesterday (NBC think). ALong with this story, a couple other shocking ones were shown. In one, a girl was expelled from the school for one year becasue she brought to school a nail clipper that included a 2" fold-out blade on it. Apparantly, the school board's policy considered it the same as any weapon, be it a pocket knife or assauilt rifle. One boy was expelled for having a single ritalin pill at school. There was also no distinction between this and say, a garbage bag full of crack cocaine. He was epelled for one year, and although he was let back in after 4 months, he now has a drug record and other kids avoid him as if he were a dealer. This is amazing considering that just last year many kids were encouraged to take this drug at school. Perhaps the most shocking part about this is that on a web poll conducted at the time of the show, many people agreed that these kids should have been expelled. I think society has a lot to be worried about if people are afraid of grade school kids who are on perscription medicine and like to keep thier appearance tidy by clipping thier nails.
There are a few reasons why you can't yet use DVD-RAM, even though the encryption has been taken care of. First of all, DVD-RAM media is not recognized by all but a few drives -no dvd players recognize them. Also, there are 3 (three!) different standards for dvd-ram, all using slightly different technology. This means that it will likely be a few years before any one of them is widespread enough to become supported by the hardware manufacturers. The discs can only hold between 2.5-4.8GB. This means that some movies may not even be able to fit on a disc (discs cost around $20, btw). So, apart from these, the only viable option would be to use DVD-R to copy movies. Then again, at tens of thousands of dollars for the recording equipment, and $35-40 for the media, the purpouse is, once again, defeated. Fore more detailed information check out the DVD FAQ
It's true. Some members of the DVD forum (a group of commercial companies that manufacture DVD devices -the same group responsible for the tricky copy-protection) wanted it to stand for Digital Video Disc, while others wanted it to stand for Digital Versatile Disc. So, officially it stands for absolutely nothing. ONe good thing about this: It makes a fairly good gauge of a salesperson's knowledge. If a salesperson knows that DVD stands for nothing, then he is probably not completely clueless. Unfortunatly, most salsepeople are quite positive that it's "Digital Video Disc."
There is (was) a product (which IIRC costs about $45) that allows you to use your VCR as a tape drive. It is an ISA or PCI card that uses RCA cables to interface with your standard VCR. It allowed you to store about 4GB of data on t-120 tape. At the time I heard of this product, it was substantially cheaper than a tape drive of similar capacity, and the media was cheaper too. I don't think the price difference would be as great now, but I still think it is an innovative product. Actually, I'd like to read more about something like this, so if anyone has a URL for something like it, please tell.
I highly doubt that the turing test will be passed by any computer in the year 2000. However, I think we are getting close as things like neural nets and evolutionary simulation programs (I'm not talking about simulations of organisms evolving, but small programs written to evolve and compete against each other for memory and cpu time in a digital environment)-I wish I could remember the url, can anyone help me out? From what I understand, theoretically, a complex enough neural net could, with enough time and enough stimuli (input) learn to do anything within the limits of the hardware. I think we will start to see the beginnings of a true turing capable machine sometime in the next 5-10 years. In the next 25 years or so, we may even see programs that can upgrade themselves. Imagine: Linux 10.8.4 has a few unwanted bugs? No problem, just run it under a high load for a while and as problems arise, the turing module simply tweaks the code a bit for you.:)
In IE, to stop popups, simply go to Tools>Options>Security. Then, click on the "restricted sites" icon. Click on the "custom level" button, and disable all the ActiveX and Javascript stuff. Click OK, then click on the "Sites.." button. Now, simply add any sites that have or are likely to have popup windows, like geocities, tripod and aol. I think Netscape has an option to do this too, but I'm not sure about the exact method to enable it.
Just to clarify your statement ("GameGear also used the z80")..Not only did it also use the same chip, it was essentially the same machine in a smaller package. The only difference was the color palette (which was, by the way, backwards compatible). You can even get an adapter for the game gear that allows you to play master system games on it. This is a strictly physical pass through, not one with a cpu like for the genesis.
Replacing your TI calculator's cpu for a much faster one may at first seem like a good idea, but you must consider that while it will perform calculations at an incredible speed, it will make all your current games unplayable (imagine mario at 4+ times the speed). This would be OK, if there were new games produced to take advantage of the faster cpu. However, I suspect only a handful of people would be both capable and have sufficient reason to upgrade the cpu. If only, say, a few dozen people had these supercalculators, then it is doubtful that very many, if any games would be produced to take advantage of the new cpu. A similar problem exists for those that have chosen to overclock their calculators (replacing a capacitor in some of the TI-8x models allows for 2-4x overclocking). Once again, only a small number of people have overclocked calcs, and therefore, there are no games whatsoever that take advantage of it AFAIK.
Although this is kind of off topic, I can relate to how you feel about your admin. At my school, after someone unknowingly infected two NT machines with a macro virus, we haven't been allowed to use the internet at all, or even to bring in disks from home (even if all it contains is a 5kb text file -our admin thinks that anything can spread a virus). To disallow access to the internet, our admin deleted the IE and Netscape icons (he's a real genius). Of course, one can simply use my computer or run to launch their browser of choice. As for the two infected machines, AFAIK they are still down. And don't dare turning one on, because it will damage the motherboard! Apparantly the only way he can fix them is to "reghost and reinstall" the hard drives. That is, take a hard drive from a working computer, put it in the non-working computer, and make an exact copy of it. His excuse for not doing this already? He doesn't have a boot disk. Some of his other cool ideas include using an 8088 as a print server for a huge color deskjet used mostly to print blueprints on A1 paper. It takes between 5-30 minutes to spool. Of course his most greatest achievement would have to be setting up 386's to run windows 3.1 plus applications remotely (well, everything was stored remotely, then whatever you needed was copied, as you needed it). Imagine a class of 30 students booting windows as all needed files copy from a single server over 10baseT -not fun. Anyways, I would be afraid this guy would install monitering and filtering software, but somehow I doubt he's capable. (wow, a whole 1 sentance on topic -sorta;)
I'm a firm believer that school, while it provides the skills neccesary for the career of your choice, one the most important aspects of school is the school environment. Learning in this environment with a variety of other people prepares the student for "the real world" which is even more diverse. While a virtual/home taught student may have more refined skills and knowledge specific to their career, I think that they are more likely to be less sociable. Any employer can tell you that teamwork and attitude are important in the workplace, and I feel that virtual taught students may be at a disadvantage here. Besides, I bet that "virtual parties" aren't nearly as fun.
If operating systems like this are not going to be developed for merced, it could hopefully push more users to use Alpha chips. A bigger market share for Alpha could cause Intel to offer thier high-end products for a more reasonable price. Lower hardware prices are always good for users. On the other hand, it could push more Merced users to Microsoft's NT (NT is being developed for Merced is it not?). As we all know, if there's one thing MS doesn't need, it's a bigger market share. I suppose all we can do is hope that the first viewpoint is the correct one.
Hmm, spunkymonkey.com...Curious George is a monkey, and he has spunk, so...Hey, he's not supposed to have a clitoris! Who would have thought www.*monkey*.com sites would be pornographic?
I disagree. If the program is run multiple times, then the best entry is chosen, the contest would be similar to this: "My random number generator program is so smart it can produce whatever number you want." "Really? OK, make it produce the number 1345687" "OK..click..click..click..click.." "Hey, those numbers aren't even close to the one I said." "Yeah, but watch.." hours later "Hey, whadda ya know? It really did produce the same number. That program of yours is fantastic! It can produce specific numbers much better than any human can."
Geeks in space is an interesting show that I look forward to, but judging from the number of commments its audience is not very wide. I suspect that if it were announced on the front page, the number of listeners would increase by orders of magnitude (well, maybe not that much, but the number of listeners would certainly grow).
You can't make the assumption that all cd-r's are used to make illegal copies of music. If that's all people used them for, I'm sure the majority would feel that a tax is fair, to compensate the artists. However, many independant musicians use cd-r's as a means to distribute demos to radio stations, record companies, etc... When the have to shell out $2 extra for every cd, how is this supposed to help the music industry? By preventing new bands to break into the marketplace? Um, yeah, that's a good idea. Imagine, new bands having the nerve to produce good music. We must stop these creative people once and for all, before its too late! Oh, by the way, that was a bit of sarcasm One more thing. I bet the majority of cd-r's sold are not used to copy music. Many people use them to copy programs and games, so when is the SPA tax coming into effect? I know I can't wait for it, what about you? What's that one going to be? $5 a cd? Ever used a cd-r to back up a hard drive? Well, now it might cost $20 more (assuming your hard drive is 6-7GB and you don't use compression -that's around 10 cd's). That can sure build up if you're doing weekly or even monthly backups. And where does that $20 go? Well, maybe $5 goes to Bryan Adams, $5 to Celine Dion, and $10 goes towards some record exec's vacation. Do they need the money? No. Does the money help that talented garage band around the corner get radio time because of the tax? No, in fact the tax will probably cost them money too, as I explained above. So, keeping all that in mind, answer just one question: Do you honestly think the tax is going to help those who could need it? No, you might as well be stealing from the poor and giving to the rich.
No, seriously, vote for Rob Malda (aka CmdrTaco). His creation, Slashdot may not seem so influential right now, but it could very well change the way news is brought to the consumer in the future
"Until something else comes along, Linux-Mandrake is the best hope we have for getting Linux to the masses" Have you seen the Caldera's new installer? From what I understand, it starts from windows, the uses a wizard-like process to help you select the right packages to install. Best of all, you get to play tetris while it copies files and does whatever else it needs to do.:) That, I think, is the kind of ingineuty needed to bring linux to the masses.
That is a fine idea. I often use these small distributions to fix stuff after I do something bad (sidenote: don't use root as an everyday login;) and a small version of this would certainly be useful.
Is anyone else getting sick of all these morons who are taking SouthPark at face value and calling it "crude, sick and corrupting?" When you look at a movie like this, you can't just listen to the dialogue -you have to interpret it, and disover what it really means for yourself. As i watched this movie, although I found most of the jokes hilarious, I also think I understood the deeper meaning of them. Nearly *all* the jokes are a commentary on the things wrong with american society. Think about it -from the jokes making fun of the MPAA to parents laying blame on a single TV show for thier problems (sound familier?)- these jokes make some valid points. As for those of you criticizing the movie/show without actually watching it, you are the corrupt ones. Please learn to think for yourselves.
Is it just me, or does MS tend to try and justify its problems by pointing out flaws in other systems? Does it ever occur to them that when problems are pointed out, it's generally a good idea to take the oppurtunity to fix them, rathar than saying "but everyone else is doing it!"?
I like slashdot's green logo, why change it? I'd imagine once the logo is changed the whole site would have to change somewhat as well..I mean, what's the point?
Slashdot Mirror
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As for the two infected machines, AFAIK they are still down. And don't dare turning one on, because it will damage the motherboard! Apparantly the only way he can fix them is to "reghost and reinstall" the hard drives. That is, take a hard drive from a working computer, put it in the non-working computer, and make an exact copy of it. His excuse for not doing this already? He doesn't have a boot disk.
Some of his other cool ideas include using an 8088 as a print server for a huge color deskjet used mostly to print blueprints on A1 paper. It takes between 5-30 minutes to spool. Of course his most greatest achievement would have to be setting up 386's to run windows 3.1 plus applications remotely (well, everything was stored remotely, then whatever you needed was copied, as you needed it). Imagine a class of 30 students booting windows as all needed files copy from a single server over 10baseT -not fun.
Anyways, I would be afraid this guy would install monitering and filtering software, but somehow I doubt he's capable. (wow, a whole 1 sentance on topic -sorta
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On the other hand, it could push more Merced users to Microsoft's NT (NT is being developed for Merced is it not?). As we all know, if there's one thing MS doesn't need, it's a bigger market share.
I suppose all we can do is hope that the first viewpoint is the correct one.
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Who would have thought www.*monkey*.com sites would be pornographic?
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"My random number generator program is so smart it can produce whatever number you want."
"Really? OK, make it produce the number 1345687"
"OK..click..click..click..click.."
"Hey, those numbers aren't even close to the one I said."
"Yeah, but watch.."
hours later
"Hey, whadda ya know? It really did produce the same number. That program of yours is fantastic! It can produce specific numbers much better than any human can."
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One more thing. I bet the majority of cd-r's sold are not used to copy music. Many people use them to copy programs and games, so when is the SPA tax coming into effect? I know I can't wait for it, what about you? What's that one going to be? $5 a cd? Ever used a cd-r to back up a hard drive? Well, now it might cost $20 more (assuming your hard drive is 6-7GB and you don't use compression -that's around 10 cd's). That can sure build up if you're doing weekly or even monthly backups. And where does that $20 go? Well, maybe $5 goes to Bryan Adams, $5 to Celine Dion, and $10 goes towards some record exec's vacation. Do they need the money? No. Does the money help that talented garage band around the corner get radio time because of the tax? No, in fact the tax will probably cost them money too, as I explained above.
So, keeping all that in mind, answer just one question: Do you honestly think the tax is going to help those who could need it? No, you might as well be stealing from the poor and giving to the rich.
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Have you seen the Caldera's new installer? From what I understand, it starts from windows, the uses a wizard-like process to help you select the right packages to install. Best of all, you get to play tetris while it copies files and does whatever else it needs to do.
That, I think, is the kind of ingineuty needed to bring linux to the masses.
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Is it just me, or does MS tend to try and justify its problems by pointing out flaws in other systems? Does it ever occur to them that when problems are pointed out, it's generally a good idea to take the oppurtunity to fix them, rathar than saying "but everyone else is doing it!"?
I like slashdot's green logo, why change it? I'd imagine once the logo is changed the whole site would have to change somewhat as well..I mean, what's the point?