Wow... I had heard that they merged with the Museum of Science (which, in itself, is a great insitution). It's sad that it does not, in fact, exist anymore.
Back about 10 years ago, it really was a geek's museum. They had chunks of Whirlwind sitting around, with an original console. There was another section (perhaps of Whirlwind, perhaps of another acient computer) where you walked through racks and racks of vacuum tubes.
They also had demonstrations of core memory, and the infamous tinkertoy computer.
More recently, they seemed to focus on kids, and explaining how a modern PC worked. This seemed like a losing battle, since obviously their monster "walk through" computer became out of date. And, anyhow, I suspect that fewer kids were really interested in what went on inside the box (and those that were would rather simply disassemble the family computer than push a bumper-car sized mouse around). They tried to demonstrate neat uses of computers but... well, all of their stuff was behind the times. Why go to a museum to learn about computer graphics when your family desktop puts out kickin' Q3 frame rates?
The last time I went there, I didn't see much about computer history, per se. I remember a display they had of early PCs (including, I believe, an Apple 1). That was a kick, especially since I owned one of the ones in the display (an Osborne CP/M machine).
I looked all over the website, and no where *at all* does it say where the contest takes place. They even give you directions to the place *without telling you where the hell it is*.
I was an editor in a past life for a software company. We picked e-mail, much for the saem reasons mentioned in the article. It's a combination of two words, which calls out for a hyphen. That one of the words is abbreviated is irrelevant, in this case.
I also think that e-mail makes for an obvious pronunciation. How would you pronounce "email" if you've never heard it before? Probably "em-ale." As editors, we needed to consider not only the current useage of native speakers, but also how comprehensible it will be to those who speak English as a second language. Following the rules helps, since most non-native speaks of English operate on rules (such as they are). Deviating from them in the name of style is just stupid.
I'm glad to see that Wired is finally getting a clue about this. When our ediorial group reviewed our standards, we took a look at the Wired guide. We ran away holding our noses. This was around '96, where we had a huge boom in Internet-related jargon (i.e. capitalize "Web" when talking about the World Wide Web? "web site" or "website"? etc.)
Anyhow, I won't follow Wired on anything after seeing the design of their first issue. Jesus, it looked like it was typeset by a myopic color-blind monkey. They've backed away from that, from what I can see as well (I haven't looked at an issue in 5 years or so).
Some rules and made to be broken (especially in writing). But other times, breaking the rules is just stupid.
Note that this really only applies to people who actually do writing for a living. As far as e-mail (or email), and Slashdot posts, heck, if the reader can understand it, who cares? It's only us nitpicky pro writers who really care about this stuff anyhow.
From a company's perspective, hey, they've got you, why should they stop? It's not until they realize that it will cost them customers that they need to end spam. IF you've not bought something from them in a while, they probably figure they have nothing to lose.
Another place that really bugs me is Outpost.com. Seems that it's fairly simple to get off their e-mail list, but every time you buy something from them, they *resubscribe you*. Needless to say, I don;t buy anything from those clowns anymore.
I've seen all sort of hoops being put up that you have to jump through to get off a list. The *worst* I've seen is a recent MediaOne spam I got, which said, basically, that if I wanted off of their stupid mailing list, I needed to send them my physical address and contact information. WTF? This, ironically, was to be sent to their "consumer privacy" department. Lemme get this straight... I need to send you personal information via an unsecured e-mail link so you'll respect my privacy? Sweet.
One tactic you might try is to say that someone else gave your e-mail address as their own (in a big ISP, this has got to happen occasionally... jdoe21@hotmail is sometimes going to accidentally give an address of jdoe12@hotmail).
As with all sorts of spam, the best way to avoid getting it is to not give out your private e-mail. A Hotmail or other account is handy here. Moreso, in fact, since you can get the recipt info from whatever computer you're at. Of course, there is the privacy issue. You might try hushmail or some other encrypted web e-mail service.
Personally, I have my own domain, and the ability to create e-mail accounts at will. I'll use one for a while, then kill it.
Interesting... has Intel ever used Pioneer 10 as a marketing coup? I mean, powering one of the first human objects to travel in interstellar space has got to be one hell of a marketing claim...
I notice that ZDNet has a whole freakin' story about his one toss-off comment. Here's what he said:
"I think the government has to
establish some sort of central database
that uses biometric identifiers, such as
your DNA, that can label you as you.
This might eliminate a lot of identity
theft, because anyone can apply for
credit by supplying information over
the phone."
Notice he said "such as your DNA." Not, "yeah, the government should definitly scan our DNA."
All he's saying is biometric data is the only way to be sure, and identify you as you. DNA is probably a bad example of this. I agree with him in that biometrics of some sort is probably the most crack-proof method that we could come up with to ensure identity. If he'd said "a central retinal scan database" instead, we wouldn't have a story. Seesh.
Although... it would be somewhat amusing if in the future, every contract were signed in blood...
As another aside, I read this interview yesterday, and came off kinda liking him a bit, which is more than I can say from the whole "Free Kevin!" thing. He even mocks his worhipper k1dd1ez . "d00d, make me a 1eet HaXoR!"
1) Going into the mid 90's, Microsoft thought they had it made... they owned the desktop after all. Apple was dying, no other competition was on the horizon. Meanwhile, this little thing called "The Internet" and the little app that was available on it called "The World Wide Web" appeared. People in the trenches seized on the new idea as the Next Big Thing. But, up on the bridge of the SS. Microsoft, it was business as usual... they were passing out MSN floppies and waiting for their captured audience to flock to them. A *lot* of people (myself included) rubbed their hands gleefully waiting for Microsoft to founder on the rocks.
At almost the last second, before Microsoft's monopoly was rendered moot by Internet and network computing, Gates & co. realized that they were about to get clobbered. Gates managed in an incredibly short amount to time to turn his behemoth of a company around and take advantage of the Internet. All products became "Internet enabled" (at least t the point that they could add a bullet list to the "new features section"). They also rammed a behemoth-to-be called Netscape and sank them handily. Considering how many other major companies in the IT sector have perished or have been greatly diminished by previous paradigm shifts (i.e. DEC in the age of the PC), Gate's feat was pretty impressive.
2) Another thing that Microsoft did during the 90's is make major inroads into the server market. Going into the 90's, Novell, DEC, IBM, and various UNIXen owned the server markets. Microsoft has managed to carve out a fairly handy piece of the server sector pie, a very competitive sector compared to its familiar desktop zone where it has had Apple on the ropes for a while. The very fact that many people feel they have to become MSCE's pretty much makes Gates a shoe-in for the top ten list put together by an IT magazine.
When I was in school (at Worcester Polytech) I was *this* close to becoming a History of Science major. I burnt out on the CS major (after an abortive sidetrack into EE) and was looking for something, anything, that would get me out of school with a useable diploma. The classes I took in the history of science were great. I did loads of research on the early computing done by Turing to break the Enigma and other codes (a dead-end, since the details of the work were still classified at the time). I found, oddly, that put into the context of history, that science became a *lot* easier to learn. How we came up with modern physics (particle physics and quantum mechanics) actually made sense.
Alas, this was back during the recession of the late 80's, getting a degree in the History of Science looked like it would perfectly suit me for a job saying "you want fries with that?"* So I opted for something else.
Anyhow, there is an entire discipline out there regarding the history of science and technology. I don't know which schools are big on the history of science. But I can tell you that the big acedemic journal for the History of Science is called ISIS. I assume you can get some information out of that journal about academic programs.
(* note to those interested in funky majors like the history of science. The truth is, if you have computer skills, you can get a job even if you don't have a major in it. I suspect that I could have gone on to have the career I have right now, even if I did get a diploma in the history of science. Oh well.)
My favorite types of MUDs were (are) the Tiny's (TinyMUD, TinyMUCK, and TinyMUSH), where you were more involved in socializing and building than you were killing monsters and boosting stats. Of course, most of the Tiny's are used for roleplay, which are still human-moderated for the most part rather than the Diku or LpMUD-style games.
It would be fun to see that sort of game/community make the leap into the Everquest-type technology. If you got a simple sort of building interface (say, like a virtual Lego set) a simple scripting language, and maybe a way to tie into other Internet technologies (be able to pull up a web page within the virtual environment). I think you'd start to see something an awful lot like the "cyberspace" that cyberpunk authors of the 80's envisioned.
I've looked at some of the open source 3D engines out there... some do seemed aimed at this sort of environment, but it looks like no one has put thepieces together.
So... I have this old, dull gray looking laptop. I was thinking of jazzing it up somehow, but can find precious little information on the net on what I could do to it. The closest thing I found was some Mac website that showed pictures of some Mac laptops from Japan that had been painted. Of course, these sites were in Japanese, so I can;t get much information out of them.
I suppose I could disassemble and paint the thing... except I don't have access to a well-ventilated place to do painting (apartment life, ya know). I heard, somewhere, that in Japan they have some sort of vinyl covering that you can apply with a heat gun. Has anyone run across something like that here? Seems to me that applying this sort of finish is A) easier and B) faster than painting. I suppose some other sort of covering (wood veneer?) would be cool.
I suspect you didn't read the article. This response wasn't taking issue with Moody's conclusion. Instead, it demonstrated that Moody made a naive mistake by adding up all of the stats for all of the Linux distributions. Meaning that bugs shared between Debian and Redhat counted twice. The aggregate Linux total (which is what Moody should have used, since it counts Linux bugs once, even if they appear in more than one distro). The Linux aggregate score shows Linux has *less* security bugs than NT.
More importantly, how do we convince companies like ABCNews not to hire these fools?
By not paying attention to them. Moody's column was very successful. It drew a hoard of./ readers in to their web site. Moody's editors and bosses will give him a pat on the back.
Now, if no one ever went to Moody's columns, and if no one ever sent feedback indicating that they'd read them, then Moody would be tossed out.
See, the thing is, being right is irrelevant for pundits of any stripe. As long as you're pulling in the (ratings/web site hits/newspapers or magazines sold) your publishers will be happy with you, and you'll keep your job. It's only if you go way over the line and get sued or caught doing something really dumb (plagerism comes to mind) that you'll get canned, if you're pulling your weight.
So, just like with any troll, the best way to get rid of people like Moody is to simply not pay attention. Unfortunately, by looking at the reaction here, it looks like that's not in the cards. I'm sure that Moody and others of his ilk have learned by now that an inflammatory article about Linux will make a nice bump in their number of hits on the web site. That it also currys favor with certain industry leaders only helps them in the long run.
The thing is, these days, I only want to play a game for 10 minutes. I periodically buy games, load them onto my computer, and abandon them when I can't make much progress the first few times I play them. I got half-life a year-and-a-half ago as a present. Sweet looking game, especially after I got the hardware to play it. But I still haven't gotten into it, since i have to master all of these damn controls. I seem to have lost the quick reference card for the thing, so I'd actually have to memorize the command to crouch and run forward (probably quacking like a duck, to boot).
I'm simply not interested in investing time in a game. I don't want a new career. I don't eant to develop new skills. I'm just here to blow shit up. Which is exactly what I get to do in classic arcade games. Gimme Rampage or Galaxian. Move left. Move right. Shoot. That I can handle.
Now, if I can just find some games that combin classic gameplay with cool new graphic eyecandy... I bought my neice that new version of Asteroids for the Playstation. Now, that is something that I could manage to get into.
Well, I made a much bigger change than that. Junior year of college, I basically burnt out on programming. I had been doing it in one form or another since I was 11, so roughly I'd been doing it half my life.
My solution was to switch focus, and become a tech writer. Not as good cash, not as highly esteemed, but I found I could concentrate on writing english a lot easier than coding.
I may go back to doing programming someday. In fact, my job now requires some small amounts of programming. Enough to keep my feet wet. Someday I might just decide to become a developer. Or, I may just burn out on computers and become a sushi chef.
Remember, there *are* other things out there. There's no better feeling than walking away from something you really hate doing.
Garth Brooks is wasting away to nothingness because of used CDs stores? Damn! Where's the nearest one!? I need to buy me a whole lotta music to support this cause!
So, at first I didn't realize you were the wacko^h^h^h^h^h host of "plane crazy." Given your insights into both planes and computers, how do you think we'll be able to compare the changes that computers are and will make in society in the next 50 to 75 years to the changes brought about by airplanes in the similar period in the past? Do you think it's siginifcant that both the PC and the airplane were sort of "garage startups"?
I wouldn't have the slightest idea where to begin if I wanted to crack that system. Don't know what operating system it uses. Don't know if it's accessible from public networks. Don't know what it looks like even if I stumbled across it. And I'm guessing that information isn't just sitting around on the internet. THAT is security through obscurity and it's working very well.
OK, cool. We're safe fom you causing an airliner from augering in. The thing is, someone else out there just might be able to figure it out, even without the source code. There are too many cases of people stumbling onto security flaws in systems to ignore.
The problem with security through obscurity is that it lets programmers be lazy. If the programmers of the air traffic control system are safe to think "naw, no one is ever going to to try that... I won't have to worry about it," then that's just asking for a huge hole in the system.
The simple fact is, the more eyes on the code, the better. If this wasn't the case, why are code reviews a standard part of software development? Why do good software companies do security audits?
Going back to the air traffic control system... I'm sure (or at least, I'm really, really hoping, since I'm hopping on an airplane in a month) that every line of it has been poured over. Not becuase of security concerns, per se, but to catch bugs. Actually, security probably wasn't a concern when they wrote the system, since it's so damn old. But any new system needs to take it into account.
Basically, security holes are bugs. They just happen to be different in that people actively seek them out. It may take longer, and hey, some percentage of the really obscure bugs may not be uncovered. But, security through obscurity will doubtlessly breed even more security holes that will be exploited, since programmers will always be able to fall back onto the "oh, no one will notice that" excuse.
This is going to piss whoever did this even more, and probably get them even more worked up. People who enjoy doing this are not resonable, rational people who care for the good of others.
Maybe they're trying to provoke the kiddie further. Someone who's pissed off often makes mistakes. Maybe they'll mouth off on some k1dd1es IRC channel someplace, or try another attack at the web server. A hasty attack made in a fit of rage could be just the thing to get the kiddie some quality time with The Man.
Personally, I hope the Kuro5hin crew's up to carry out their threat. Both from the standpoint that whoever did this needs to be taken down, and from the standpoint that I'd rather not have them left there impotently waving their fists in the air and making empty threats.
Of course, I'm assuming they're getting the law involved after figuring out who it was.
So you're not driving an SUV to survive the collision; you're driving it to kill somebody.
This basically fits in with what I've observed around my area (metro Boston) and from what others have said. Basically, SUV drivers are unmitagated assholes. When it comes to running red lights, and generally driving obliviously, SUV's are king. I've seen one nearly plow through a group of people in a crosswalk, long after the light had changed. I nearly had one run me down as I was crossing the street. Of course, the idiot had a cell phone glued to his ear.
Here's a thought someone online mentioned recently. A freind of his was thinking of buying a bunch of old arcade machines and opening a "classic arcade." I was think that, what with 80's nostalgia and all (or has that died out?) that an acrade sporting classic machines, some period music, and so on would be a hit. I was thinking that this was a pretty neat idea. And, of course, you could also perserve pinball machines, which simply can't be preserved the MAME way. So, are there any places out there that are classic arcades? I hear a lot about people having a few games in their basements... but what about places you can actually go and play? (hopefully still for a quarter, unlike the $0.50 - $1.00 that some places charge these days).
Classic games do seem to pop up some odd places, though.
There's a pretty large arcade place north of Boston that has some classic games sitting forlorn in a back area. I forget what they had, specifically, but they didn't have my all-time favorites (Galaxian and Spy Hunter). A few seeme to be busted, as well. Maintainence must be a pain.
Then there was the Holiday Inn in Iowa I was in last year, which had Tron and a few other classics.
Oh, and the obligatory "mame rocks" comment: It's great fun to recall a game I saw, way way back in a dinky little arcade in New Hampshire, and be able to play it within a few minutes of hunting around (Tail Gunner, specifically). If only other aspects of my mis-spent youth could be summoned up so easily...
I can just see some corny "Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" movie springing from an idea like this...
Hmm... interesting thought though. Did any society use clubs to impel projectile weapons? (I'd thinking more of baseball than of golf here...) Seems to be an easier technology to develop than the bow. Of course, to be useful in anything other than a huge battle, you'd need a hell of a lot of practice. And there's the friendly-fire issue...
This all reminds me of a William Gibson interview I read once, where he talked about his illusions about computers being shattered by noise:
...Then I went out and bought an Apple II on sale, took it home, set it up, and it started making this horrible sound like a farting toaster every time the drive would go on. When I called the store up and asked what was making this noise, they said, "Oh, that's just the drive mechanism--there's this little thing that's spinning around in there." Here I'd been expecting some exotic crystaline thing, a cyberspace deck or something, and what I'd gotten was something with this tiny piece of a Victorian engine in it, like an old record player (and a scratchy record player at that!). That noise took away some of the mystique for me, made it less sexy for me. My ignorance had allowed me to romanticize it.
It's funny to think back to this... computers as exotic, crystalline machines. I think everyone's jaded about them these days.
I was thinking, though, that aside from the drive, the Apple ]['s were also silent, since they didn't need cooling fans (in fact, most of small personal computers of the early 80's, such as the C64, didn't need them either).
I do remember that the first computer I used that did have a fan (an Osborne Executive CP/M machine) really impressed me by sounding... well... Powerful. It made this sort of turbine-whining noise as it started. It made a breathy white noise hiss while it ran, which reminded me of huge computer rooms packed with Serious Equipment. Last time I stuck my head into the server room at work... wow... that was really noisy.
Ah well. I'd love to have a silent PC again. I'm planning on using my old Pentium Pro 200 as a server PC, but I'll have to suff it someplace in my apartment where it's out of the way. The fan isn't bad, but the drives whine like a bitch.
Ah, for the good old (fanless) days of computing...
Slashdot Mirror
Heh...
"Uh... what do you mean '$20 Million was only for a one-way ticket!?' And *why* is it getting so hot up here?"
It's probably part of a Spielburg plot to regain the #1 top grossing movie of all time slot. Step #1, eliminate the competition.
Wow... I had heard that they merged with the Museum of Science (which, in itself, is a great insitution). It's sad that it does not, in fact, exist anymore.
Back about 10 years ago, it really was a geek's museum. They had chunks of Whirlwind sitting around, with an original console. There was another section (perhaps of Whirlwind, perhaps of another acient computer) where you walked through racks and racks of vacuum tubes.
They also had demonstrations of core memory, and the infamous tinkertoy computer.
More recently, they seemed to focus on kids, and explaining how a modern PC worked. This seemed like a losing battle, since obviously their monster "walk through" computer became out of date. And, anyhow, I suspect that fewer kids were really interested in what went on inside the box (and those that were would rather simply disassemble the family computer than push a bumper-car sized mouse around). They tried to demonstrate neat uses of computers but... well, all of their stuff was behind the times. Why go to a museum to learn about computer graphics when your family desktop puts out kickin' Q3 frame rates?
The last time I went there, I didn't see much about computer history, per se. I remember a display they had of early PCs (including, I believe, an Apple 1). That was a kick, especially since I owned one of the ones in the display (an Osborne CP/M machine).
I looked all over the website, and no where *at all* does it say where the contest takes place. They even give you directions to the place *without telling you where the hell it is*.
Bad, bad webmaster. Shoot 'em with a pumpkin!
There's lots of free compressed air in the tires of those cars parked around you...
Heck, I'm sure you could drain a few miles worth of air from that Ford SUV with the Firestone tires, and the owner wouldn;t know the difference...
I was an editor in a past life for a software company. We picked e-mail, much for the saem reasons mentioned in the article. It's a combination of two words, which calls out for a hyphen. That one of the words is abbreviated is irrelevant, in this case.
I also think that e-mail makes for an obvious pronunciation. How would you pronounce "email" if you've never heard it before? Probably "em-ale." As editors, we needed to consider not only the current useage of native speakers, but also how comprehensible it will be to those who speak English as a second language. Following the rules helps, since most non-native speaks of English operate on rules (such as they are). Deviating from them in the name of style is just stupid.
I'm glad to see that Wired is finally getting a clue about this. When our ediorial group reviewed our standards, we took a look at the Wired guide. We ran away holding our noses. This was around '96, where we had a huge boom in Internet-related jargon (i.e. capitalize "Web" when talking about the World Wide Web? "web site" or "website"? etc.)
Anyhow, I won't follow Wired on anything after seeing the design of their first issue. Jesus, it looked like it was typeset by a myopic color-blind monkey. They've backed away from that, from what I can see as well (I haven't looked at an issue in 5 years or so).
Some rules and made to be broken (especially in writing). But other times, breaking the rules is just stupid.
Note that this really only applies to people who actually do writing for a living. As far as e-mail (or email), and Slashdot posts, heck, if the reader can understand it, who cares? It's only us nitpicky pro writers who really care about this stuff anyhow.
From a company's perspective, hey, they've got you, why should they stop? It's not until they realize that it will cost them customers that they need to end spam. IF you've not bought something from them in a while, they probably figure they have nothing to lose.
Another place that really bugs me is Outpost.com. Seems that it's fairly simple to get off their e-mail list, but every time you buy something from them, they *resubscribe you*. Needless to say, I don;t buy anything from those clowns anymore.
I've seen all sort of hoops being put up that you have to jump through to get off a list. The *worst* I've seen is a recent MediaOne spam I got, which said, basically, that if I wanted off of their stupid mailing list, I needed to send them my physical address and contact information. WTF? This, ironically, was to be sent to their "consumer privacy" department. Lemme get this straight... I need to send you personal information via an unsecured e-mail link so you'll respect my privacy? Sweet.
One tactic you might try is to say that someone else gave your e-mail address as their own (in a big ISP, this has got to happen occasionally... jdoe21@hotmail is sometimes going to accidentally give an address of jdoe12@hotmail).
As with all sorts of spam, the best way to avoid getting it is to not give out your private e-mail. A Hotmail or other account is handy here. Moreso, in fact, since you can get the recipt info from whatever computer you're at. Of course, there is the privacy issue. You might try hushmail or some other encrypted web e-mail service.
Personally, I have my own domain, and the ability to create e-mail accounts at will. I'll use one for a while, then kill it.
Interesting... has Intel ever used Pioneer 10 as a marketing coup? I mean, powering one of the first human objects to travel in interstellar space has got to be one hell of a marketing claim...
I notice that ZDNet has a whole freakin' story about his one toss-off comment. Here's what he said:
Notice he said "such as your DNA." Not, "yeah, the government should definitly scan our DNA."
All he's saying is biometric data is the only way to be sure, and identify you as you. DNA is probably a bad example of this. I agree with him in that biometrics of some sort is probably the most crack-proof method that we could come up with to ensure identity. If he'd said "a central retinal scan database" instead, we wouldn't have a story. Seesh.
Although... it would be somewhat amusing if in the future, every contract were signed in blood...
As another aside, I read this interview yesterday, and came off kinda liking him a bit, which is more than I can say from the whole "Free Kevin!" thing. He even mocks his worhipper k1dd1ez . "d00d, make me a 1eet HaXoR!"
Gates did two things in the 90's:
1) Going into the mid 90's, Microsoft thought they had it made... they owned the desktop after all. Apple was dying, no other competition was on the horizon. Meanwhile, this little thing called "The Internet" and the little app that was available on it called "The World Wide Web" appeared. People in the trenches seized on the new idea as the Next Big Thing. But, up on the bridge of the SS. Microsoft, it was business as usual... they were passing out MSN floppies and waiting for their captured audience to flock to them. A *lot* of people (myself included) rubbed their hands gleefully waiting for Microsoft to founder on the rocks.
At almost the last second, before Microsoft's monopoly was rendered moot by Internet and network computing, Gates & co. realized that they were about to get clobbered. Gates managed in an incredibly short amount to time to turn his behemoth of a company around and take advantage of the Internet. All products became "Internet enabled" (at least t the point that they could add a bullet list to the "new features section"). They also rammed a behemoth-to-be called Netscape and sank them handily. Considering how many other major companies in the IT sector have perished or have been greatly diminished by previous paradigm shifts (i.e. DEC in the age of the PC), Gate's feat was pretty impressive.
2) Another thing that Microsoft did during the 90's is make major inroads into the server market. Going into the 90's, Novell, DEC, IBM, and various UNIXen owned the server markets. Microsoft has managed to carve out a fairly handy piece of the server sector pie, a very competitive sector compared to its familiar desktop zone where it has had Apple on the ropes for a while. The very fact that many people feel they have to become MSCE's pretty much makes Gates a shoe-in for the top ten list put together by an IT magazine.
When I was in school (at Worcester Polytech) I was *this* close to becoming a History of Science major. I burnt out on the CS major (after an abortive sidetrack into EE) and was looking for something, anything, that would get me out of school with a useable diploma. The classes I took in the history of science were great. I did loads of research on the early computing done by Turing to break the Enigma and other codes (a dead-end, since the details of the work were still classified at the time). I found, oddly, that put into the context of history, that science became a *lot* easier to learn. How we came up with modern physics (particle physics and quantum mechanics) actually made sense.
Alas, this was back during the recession of the late 80's, getting a degree in the History of Science looked like it would perfectly suit me for a job saying "you want fries with that?"* So I opted for something else.
Anyhow, there is an entire discipline out there regarding the history of science and technology. I don't know which schools are big on the history of science. But I can tell you that the big acedemic journal for the History of Science is called ISIS. I assume you can get some information out of that journal about academic programs.
(* note to those interested in funky majors like the history of science. The truth is, if you have computer skills, you can get a job even if you don't have a major in it. I suspect that I could have gone on to have the career I have right now, even if I did get a diploma in the history of science. Oh well.)
My favorite types of MUDs were (are) the Tiny's (TinyMUD, TinyMUCK, and TinyMUSH), where you were more involved in socializing and building than you were killing monsters and boosting stats. Of course, most of the Tiny's are used for roleplay, which are still human-moderated for the most part rather than the Diku or LpMUD-style games.
It would be fun to see that sort of game/community make the leap into the Everquest-type technology. If you got a simple sort of building interface (say, like a virtual Lego set) a simple scripting language, and maybe a way to tie into other Internet technologies (be able to pull up a web page within the virtual environment). I think you'd start to see something an awful lot like the "cyberspace" that cyberpunk authors of the 80's envisioned.
I've looked at some of the open source 3D engines out there... some do seemed aimed at this sort of environment, but it looks like no one has put thepieces together.
So... I have this old, dull gray looking laptop. I was thinking of jazzing it up somehow, but can find precious little information on the net on what I could do to it. The closest thing I found was some Mac website that showed pictures of some Mac laptops from Japan that had been painted. Of course, these sites were in Japanese, so I can;t get much information out of them.
I suppose I could disassemble and paint the thing... except I don't have access to a well-ventilated place to do painting (apartment life, ya know). I heard, somewhere, that in Japan they have some sort of vinyl covering that you can apply with a heat gun. Has anyone run across something like that here? Seems to me that applying this sort of finish is A) easier and B) faster than painting. I suppose some other sort of covering (wood veneer?) would be cool.
Anyhow, anyone tried this?
I suspect you didn't read the article. This response wasn't taking issue with Moody's conclusion. Instead, it demonstrated that Moody made a naive mistake by adding up all of the stats for all of the Linux distributions. Meaning that bugs shared between Debian and Redhat counted twice. The aggregate Linux total (which is what Moody should have used, since it counts Linux bugs once, even if they appear in more than one distro). The Linux aggregate score shows Linux has *less* security bugs than NT.
Simple. They're summer re-runs.
More importantly, how do we convince companies like ABCNews not to hire these fools?
By not paying attention to them. Moody's column was very successful. It drew a hoard of ./ readers in to their web site. Moody's editors and bosses will give him a pat on the back.
Now, if no one ever went to Moody's columns, and if no one ever sent feedback indicating that they'd read them, then Moody would be tossed out.
See, the thing is, being right is irrelevant for pundits of any stripe. As long as you're pulling in the (ratings/web site hits/newspapers or magazines sold) your publishers will be happy with you, and you'll keep your job. It's only if you go way over the line and get sued or caught doing something really dumb (plagerism comes to mind) that you'll get canned, if you're pulling your weight.
So, just like with any troll, the best way to get rid of people like Moody is to simply not pay attention. Unfortunately, by looking at the reaction here, it looks like that's not in the cards. I'm sure that Moody and others of his ilk have learned by now that an inflammatory article about Linux will make a nice bump in their number of hits on the web site. That it also currys favor with certain industry leaders only helps them in the long run.
The thing is, these days, I only want to play a game for 10 minutes. I periodically buy games, load them onto my computer, and abandon them when I can't make much progress the first few times I play them. I got half-life a year-and-a-half ago as a present. Sweet looking game, especially after I got the hardware to play it. But I still haven't gotten into it, since i have to master all of these damn controls. I seem to have lost the quick reference card for the thing, so I'd actually have to memorize the command to crouch and run forward (probably quacking like a duck, to boot).
I'm simply not interested in investing time in a game. I don't want a new career. I don't eant to develop new skills. I'm just here to blow shit up. Which is exactly what I get to do in classic arcade games. Gimme Rampage or Galaxian. Move left. Move right. Shoot. That I can handle.
Now, if I can just find some games that combin classic gameplay with cool new graphic eyecandy... I bought my neice that new version of Asteroids for the Playstation. Now, that is something that I could manage to get into.
Well, I made a much bigger change than that. Junior year of college, I basically burnt out on programming. I had been doing it in one form or another since I was 11, so roughly I'd been doing it half my life.
My solution was to switch focus, and become a tech writer. Not as good cash, not as highly esteemed, but I found I could concentrate on writing english a lot easier than coding.
I may go back to doing programming someday. In fact, my job now requires some small amounts of programming. Enough to keep my feet wet. Someday I might just decide to become a developer. Or, I may just burn out on computers and become a sushi chef.
Remember, there *are* other things out there. There's no better feeling than walking away from something you really hate doing.
Garth Brooks is wasting away to nothingness because of used CDs stores? Damn! Where's the nearest one!? I need to buy me a whole lotta music to support this cause!
So, at first I didn't realize you were the wacko^h^h^h^h^h host of "plane crazy." Given your insights into both planes and computers, how do you think we'll be able to compare the changes that computers are and will make in society in the next 50 to 75 years to the changes brought about by airplanes in the similar period in the past? Do you think it's siginifcant that both the PC and the airplane were sort of "garage startups"?
I wouldn't have the slightest idea where to begin if I wanted to crack that system. Don't know what operating
system it uses. Don't know if it's accessible from public networks. Don't know what it looks like even if I
stumbled across it. And I'm guessing that information isn't just sitting around on the internet. THAT is security
through obscurity and it's working very well.
OK, cool. We're safe fom you causing an airliner from augering in. The thing is, someone else out there just might be able to figure it out, even without the source code. There are too many cases of people stumbling onto security flaws in systems to ignore.
The problem with security through obscurity is that it lets programmers be lazy. If the programmers of the air traffic control system are safe to think "naw, no one is ever going to to try that... I won't have to worry about it," then that's just asking for a huge hole in the system.
The simple fact is, the more eyes on the code, the better. If this wasn't the case, why are code reviews a standard part of software development? Why do good software companies do security audits?
Going back to the air traffic control system... I'm sure (or at least, I'm really, really hoping, since I'm hopping on an airplane in a month) that every line of it has been poured over. Not becuase of security concerns, per se, but to catch bugs. Actually, security probably wasn't a concern when they wrote the system, since it's so damn old. But any new system needs to take it into account.
Basically, security holes are bugs. They just happen to be different in that people actively seek them out. It may take longer, and hey, some percentage of the really obscure bugs may not be uncovered. But, security through obscurity will doubtlessly breed even more security holes that will be exploited, since programmers will always be able to fall back onto the "oh, no one will notice that" excuse.
Maybe they're trying to provoke the kiddie further. Someone who's pissed off often makes mistakes. Maybe they'll mouth off on some k1dd1es IRC channel someplace, or try another attack at the web server. A hasty attack made in a fit of rage could be just the thing to get the kiddie some quality time with The Man.
Personally, I hope the Kuro5hin crew's up to carry out their threat. Both from the standpoint that whoever did this needs to be taken down, and from the standpoint that I'd rather not have them left there impotently waving their fists in the air and making empty threats.
Of course, I'm assuming they're getting the law involved after figuring out who it was.
So you're not driving an SUV to survive the collision; you're driving it to kill somebody.
This basically fits in with what I've observed around my area (metro Boston) and from what others have said. Basically, SUV drivers are unmitagated assholes. When it comes to running red lights, and generally driving obliviously, SUV's are king. I've seen one nearly plow through a group of people in a crosswalk, long after the light had changed. I nearly had one run me down as I was crossing the street. Of course, the idiot had a cell phone glued to his ear.
Here's a thought someone online mentioned recently. A freind of his was thinking of buying a bunch of old arcade machines and opening a "classic arcade." I was think that, what with 80's nostalgia and all (or has that died out?) that an acrade sporting classic machines, some period music, and so on would be a hit. I was thinking that this was a pretty neat idea. And, of course, you could also perserve pinball machines, which simply can't be preserved the MAME way. So, are there any places out there that are classic arcades? I hear a lot about people having a few games in their basements... but what about places you can actually go and play? (hopefully still for a quarter, unlike the $0.50 - $1.00 that some places charge these days).
Classic games do seem to pop up some odd places, though.
There's a pretty large arcade place north of Boston that has some classic games sitting forlorn in a back area. I forget what they had, specifically, but they didn't have my all-time favorites (Galaxian and Spy Hunter). A few seeme to be busted, as well. Maintainence must be a pain.
Then there was the Holiday Inn in Iowa I was in last year, which had Tron and a few other classics.
Oh, and the obligatory "mame rocks" comment: It's great fun to recall a game I saw, way way back in a dinky little arcade in New Hampshire, and be able to play it within a few minutes of hunting around (Tail Gunner, specifically). If only other aspects of my mis-spent youth could be summoned up so easily...
I can just see some corny "Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" movie springing from an idea like this...
Hmm... interesting thought though. Did any society use clubs to impel projectile weapons? (I'd thinking more of baseball than of golf here...) Seems to be an easier technology to develop than the bow. Of course, to be useful in anything other than a huge battle, you'd need a hell of a lot of practice. And there's the friendly-fire issue...
This all reminds me of a William Gibson interview I read once, where he talked about his illusions about computers being shattered by noise:
(the full interview is here).
It's funny to think back to this... computers as exotic, crystalline machines. I think everyone's jaded about them these days.
I was thinking, though, that aside from the drive, the Apple ]['s were also silent, since they didn't need cooling fans (in fact, most of small personal computers of the early 80's, such as the C64, didn't need them either).
I do remember that the first computer I used that did have a fan (an Osborne Executive CP/M machine) really impressed me by sounding... well... Powerful. It made this sort of turbine-whining noise as it started. It made a breathy white noise hiss while it ran, which reminded me of huge computer rooms packed with Serious Equipment. Last time I stuck my head into the server room at work... wow... that was really noisy.
Ah well. I'd love to have a silent PC again. I'm planning on using my old Pentium Pro 200 as a server PC, but I'll have to suff it someplace in my apartment where it's out of the way. The fan isn't bad, but the drives whine like a bitch.
Ah, for the good old (fanless) days of computing...