As proposed by
O'Neil would place the energy collectors in geosynchronous orbit. This is
something we could do today (and could have done
twenty years ago...).
I have formed "Computer Control, Inc." for the purpose of disseminating agitprop^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hinformation about the need to control computers.
To protect our society and our children, we must immediately enact strict controls on:
Multi-CPU "machine computers", who's only purpose is to attack encryption or to rip MP3s.
Scary-looking "assault computers", which are functionally equivalent to regular computers except for having two or more scary features like non-Windows(tm) OS's, black components, extra fans, extra blinking lights, etc.
Easily concealed "hand-computers" such as notebooks or PDAs. These make it just too easy to sneak around with dangerous data.
Storage media capacity limits. We need to get rid of DAT, DLT, CD-R, ZIP, etc. By limiting geeks to 1.4M floppies, we can limit the amount of dangerous data they can carry, and the speed with which they can access it.
These common-sense safety measures are, of course, bitterly opposed by the extremist baby-killing monsters at the National Computer Association (NCA) who want to see everyone writing and spreading virii, kiddie pr0n, and that weird Linux thingy.
In my 14 years in the industry, I have not found that CS grads generally have the "broader, stronger grasp" of the "why and how".
From what I've seen, they've been on the "memorize, regurgitate, repeat" treadmill. Once they leave school, they don't crack a book. They don't run their own Linux (or WinNT) box at home and poke around. In other words, they don't continue to learn and figure things out. To the contrary, they seem to have forgotten (if they ever learned) how to be self-sufficient and self-starting. Rather, they expect to have things already laid out and spoon-fed to them.
Again, the above is the norm in my 14 years' experience in a variety of companies large and small, blue-chip to dot-com.
There's probably a reason that the majority of people proclaiming the uselessness of a college degree don't have one: We don't have four years (and probably *still* a pile of student loans) to rationalize and defend.
I've been working in this field for 14 years, and have no degree. I regularly see college grads who cannot write, cannot read (staring at words doesn't count -- integration of content is required), and cannot think.
Why is this? It is because our educational system is becoming an indoctrination system -- it's all about memorizing and regurgitating. Combined with the lack of an overarching conceptual framework, the result is arrested cognitive development.
Some few make it through unscathed, but they are the exceptions. It makes me sad and angry to see what's being done to the minds of our children and young adults.:-(
I see no value whatever in college today (there may yet be some few outposts -- if you can find them). Any reasonably intelligent and motivated individual can and should craft his/her own ongoing program of education. This includes topics both in and out of one's field.
Or how about this: We all just order what we want to eat. No voting at all, just individual choice. So long as I'm not filching from your plate and vice-versa, everyone's happy.
The sods who like to get on their moralistic high-horses about what you or I eat can just sit and stew, as they will have no power to force their choices upon us.
That's what the government should be like. Protect individual rights and that's it.
Actually, I can pretty much do this already. I'm finishing up a large project for IBM (can't say what). My portion is a multithreaded back-end process that interfaces with various separate DB2 databases. I wish I could say more, it's rather cool. I did the development on Linux, then took the code over to the RS/6000. The makefile needed mods for the IBM compiler, and I updated a set of #defines for AIX paths vs Linux paths. That was pretty much it. By sticking to POSIX as far as possible, there just wasn't a big deal.
Of course, I knew to stay away from things that AIX doesn't (yet) have. Once the API is updated, this won't be a consideration.
I think this is a verysmart move for IBM, as makes AIX a no-brainer upgrade for appliations that grow beyond what Linux can do. This gives IBM a much broader product line with cleaner upgrade paths than they had with OS/2 as their Intel-based OS -- and puts them in a much more competitive stance.
OTOH, I can see MSFT and/or AOL cheerfully supporting this patent and entering into a cross-licensing agreement with BT. Nice way to kill off that pesky free and open Internet.
Remember the Halloween Documents (oohh...hyperlink! That's gonna cost!) and the running themes of de-commodotizing protocols and using IP to squash the competition from OpenSource.
AIX is not dead, nor is it dying. Its functionality will be incorporated into Monterey, which will run on Intel and Power (RS/6000) architectures. If you've seen specs on the Power4, you'll see why the RS/6000 line (and the AS/400, which uses the same processor) won't be going away. See the recent/. discussion.
In fact the RS/6000 offers better price/performance than Sun.
Sun has a lot of mindshare, but have you noticed that IBM has been much more visible in their marketing efforts, not just for AIX and RS/6000, but for DB2, WebSphere, and their excellent Intel-based Netfinity line.
Many of my clients use IBM hardware and software, and I must say that I'm very impressed with the improvements that have taken place in IBM's product line over the past few years.
If not for trademark issues, they ought to use the tagline: "It's not your father's IBM".
OK, this is sounding like an advert, now...
The point is: Monterey is not dead, it is the next version of AIX, with the added ability of supporting multiple architectures and APIs. It will even support the Linux API. Its target market is high-end systems and applications currently beyond Linux's reach.
Well, some folks are going for massive integration, but I'm not one of them.
The difference between inside and outside is very important, as Windows users are beginning to learn. The "We're all one big, happy family!" approach is not compatible with maintaining security. It has been observed elsewhere that MSFT's design decision to make clicking on a file "open" it (which runs it, for executables), has been a contributing factor in users running the various VBS trojans.
When MSFT decided to make IE the user interface for the OS, I disagreed. Windows has enough problems without making the interface to their unstable OS an unstable web browser. Not to mention the performance hit (oh, that's right, we're supposed to go out and buy faster computers -- again).
I also don't think we've seen the last of the security problems with Windows. Making the OS scriptable, and then making that scripting engine available to J. Random l33t d00d isn't my idea of sound engineering practice.
We'll have to see how these projects come out. If they are over-integrated as Windows is, many will not use them. There are plenty of wm's that aren't that way.
You're close, but not quite. It's not their budget, per se, that they're looking to increase -- it's their power.
The US Government is increasingly populated and run by people who want to rule. They know better than we do how we should live, and they crave the power to make us conform.
Note the rise in energy prices at the same time this adminstration takes huge coal and oil reserves off the market.
Worse, read Algore's book Earth in the Balance (which reads like the UNABOMER Manifesto), and you'll see that limiting energy production and increasing prices is one of the favored methods of forcing cuts in consumption. How long, then, before it is government which determines which forms of consuption are favored and disfavored -- or perhaps that should be "permitted" and "forbidden".
NOT. I had Comcast@Home for about a month. Every time the link went down (regularly, at the same time every day), I called support. Their only "solution" was to give me a four-hour window for a drone^H^H^H^H^Htechnician to come over. They apparently have no means to (or interest in) monitoring their network. After spending way too many non-billable hours waiting for them to come and do nothing, I went back to dial-up. It ain't fast, but it's pretty darn reliable.
In general, I find that government-enforced monopolies have no incentive to provide good service -- and it shows.
This is an excellent book by Pete Egoscue. He is an anatomical physiologist specializing in remediating and preventing injuries.
The premise is that it's not the fancy (and very expensive) "ergonomic" equipment that makes the difference, it is how you sit, how you type, etc.
For example, I have a "regular" office chair, and my lower back was starting to bother me quite badly. I was getting set to shell out $$ for a fancy ergo chair when I was given this book by a friend. I implemented Egoscues suggestions, and my back pain is now gone, w/o spending big $$ for a fancy chair.
The book costs $10.95, an ergo chair will run $400+. I'd say give the book a shot, first.
Though it doesn't look as cool as some of the sci-fi chairs do.;-)
Slashdot Mirror
As proposed by O'Neil would place the energy collectors in geosynchronous orbit. This is something we could do today (and could have done twenty years ago...).
Gordon.
I have formed "Computer Control, Inc." for the purpose of disseminating agitprop^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hinformation about the need to control computers.
To protect our society and our children, we must immediately enact strict controls on:
These common-sense safety measures are, of course, bitterly opposed by the extremist baby-killing monsters at the National Computer Association (NCA) who want to see everyone writing and spreading virii, kiddie pr0n, and that weird Linux thingy.
Gordon.
No, that was Franklin.
Jefferson said, among other things:
Gordon.
So, when you get a compile error, do you demand a hand recount?
In my 14 years in the industry, I have not found that CS grads generally have the "broader, stronger grasp" of the "why and how".
From what I've seen, they've been on the "memorize, regurgitate, repeat" treadmill. Once they leave school, they don't crack a book. They don't run their own Linux (or WinNT) box at home and poke around. In other words, they don't continue to learn and figure things out. To the contrary, they seem to have forgotten (if they ever learned) how to be self-sufficient and self-starting. Rather, they expect to have things already laid out and spoon-fed to them.
Again, the above is the norm in my 14 years' experience in a variety of companies large and small, blue-chip to dot-com.
There's probably a reason that the majority of people proclaiming the uselessness of a college degree don't have one: We don't have four years (and probably *still* a pile of student loans) to rationalize and defend.
Gordon.
I've been working in this field for 14 years, and have no degree. I regularly see college grads who cannot write, cannot read (staring at words doesn't count -- integration of content is required), and cannot think.
Why is this? It is because our educational system is becoming an indoctrination system -- it's all about memorizing and regurgitating. Combined with the lack of an overarching conceptual framework, the result is arrested cognitive development.
Some few make it through unscathed, but they are the exceptions. It makes me sad and angry to see what's being done to the minds of our children and young adults. :-(
I see no value whatever in college today (there may yet be some few outposts -- if you can find them). Any reasonably intelligent and motivated individual can and should craft his/her own ongoing program of education. This includes topics both in and out of one's field.
Gordon.
It's not 'lmhosts', it's just 'hosts'.
'lmhosts' is for LAN Manager (now Windows Networking) over TCP/IP.
Gordon.
Or how about this: We all just order what we want to eat. No voting at all, just individual choice. So long as I'm not filching from your plate and vice-versa, everyone's happy.
The sods who like to get on their moralistic high-horses about what you or I eat can just sit and stew, as they will have no power to force their choices upon us.
That's what the government should be like. Protect individual rights and that's it.
Maybe next time round...
Gordon.
They're adding Linux-specific calls to AIX.
Actually, I can pretty much do this already. I'm finishing up a large project for IBM (can't say what). My portion is a multithreaded back-end process that interfaces with various separate DB2 databases. I wish I could say more, it's rather cool. I did the development on Linux, then took the code over to the RS/6000. The makefile needed mods for the IBM compiler, and I updated a set of #defines for AIX paths vs Linux paths. That was pretty much it. By sticking to POSIX as far as possible, there just wasn't a big deal.
Of course, I knew to stay away from things that AIX doesn't (yet) have. Once the API is updated, this won't be a consideration.
I think this is a verysmart move for IBM, as makes AIX a no-brainer upgrade for appliations that grow beyond what Linux can do. This gives IBM a much broader product line with cleaner upgrade paths than they had with OS/2 as their Intel-based OS -- and puts them in a much more competitive stance.
Gordon.
It hasn't been quick. It's taken the better part of a decade, and it isn't complete.
But it is quite an amazing transformation.
Gordon.I enter my own data, then check it against the monthly statement. This way, I can easily catch any discrepancies, as the account will not balance.
Seems to me that by just importing your financial institution's transaction record bypasses this [IMHO] essential step.
Gordon.
OTOH, I can see MSFT and/or AOL cheerfully supporting this patent and entering into a cross-licensing agreement with BT. Nice way to kill off that pesky free and open Internet.
Remember the Halloween Documents (oohh...hyperlink! That's gonna cost!) and the running themes of de-commodotizing protocols and using IP to squash the competition from OpenSource.
Gordon.
AIX is not dead, nor is it dying. Its functionality will be incorporated into Monterey, which will run on Intel and Power (RS/6000) architectures. If you've seen specs on the Power4, you'll see why the RS/6000 line (and the AS/400, which uses the same processor) won't be going away. See the recent /. discussion.
In fact the RS/6000 offers better price/performance than Sun.
Sun has a lot of mindshare, but have you noticed that IBM has been much more visible in their marketing efforts, not just for AIX and RS/6000, but for DB2, WebSphere, and their excellent Intel-based Netfinity line.
Many of my clients use IBM hardware and software, and I must say that I'm very impressed with the improvements that have taken place in IBM's product line over the past few years.
If not for trademark issues, they ought to use the tagline: "It's not your father's IBM".
OK, this is sounding like an advert, now...
The point is: Monterey is not dead, it is the next version of AIX, with the added ability of supporting multiple architectures and APIs. It will even support the Linux API. Its target market is high-end systems and applications currently beyond Linux's reach.
Gordon.
Well, some folks are going for massive integration, but I'm not one of them.
The difference between inside and outside is very important, as Windows users are beginning to learn. The "We're all one big, happy family!" approach is not compatible with maintaining security. It has been observed elsewhere that MSFT's design decision to make clicking on a file "open" it (which runs it, for executables), has been a contributing factor in users running the various VBS trojans.
When MSFT decided to make IE the user interface for the OS, I disagreed. Windows has enough problems without making the interface to their unstable OS an unstable web browser. Not to mention the performance hit (oh, that's right, we're supposed to go out and buy faster computers -- again).
I also don't think we've seen the last of the security problems with Windows. Making the OS scriptable, and then making that scripting engine available to J. Random l33t d00d isn't my idea of sound engineering practice.
We'll have to see how these projects come out. If they are over-integrated as Windows is, many will not use them. There are plenty of wm's that aren't that way.
Choices. That's what it's all about.
Gordon.
You're close, but not quite. It's not their budget, per se, that they're looking to increase -- it's their power.
The US Government is increasingly populated and run by people who want to rule. They know better than we do how we should live, and they crave the power to make us conform.
Note the rise in energy prices at the same time this adminstration takes huge coal and oil reserves off the market.
Worse, read Algore's book Earth in the Balance (which reads like the UNABOMER Manifesto), and you'll see that limiting energy production and increasing prices is one of the favored methods of forcing cuts in consumption. How long, then, before it is government which determines which forms of consuption are favored and disfavored -- or perhaps that should be "permitted" and "forbidden".
Gordon.
Probably a mis-translation of "generous".
Gordon.
NOT. I had Comcast@Home for about a month. Every time the link went down (regularly, at the same time every day), I called support. Their only "solution" was to give me a four-hour window for a drone^H^H^H^H^Htechnician to come over. They apparently have no means to (or interest in) monitoring their network. After spending way too many non-billable hours waiting for them to come and do nothing, I went back to dial-up. It ain't fast, but it's pretty darn reliable.
In general, I find that government-enforced monopolies have no incentive to provide good service -- and it shows.
Sorry about the formatting above.
That site would be:
http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/lurker.html
It's an amazing trove of information.
Gordon.
That site would be: http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/lurker.html It's an amazing trove of information. Gordon.
Yes, I remember that game. It's still active, though I'm not.
I think you've hit the nail on the head.
Blessed binaries are the way to go. Could someone moderate winterstorm's post up a few notches?
Gordon.
This is an excellent book by Pete Egoscue. He is an anatomical physiologist specializing in remediating and preventing injuries.
The premise is that it's not the fancy (and very expensive) "ergonomic" equipment that makes the difference, it is how you sit, how you type, etc.
For example, I have a "regular" office chair, and my lower back was starting to bother me quite badly. I was getting set to shell out $$ for a fancy ergo chair when I was given this book by a friend. I implemented Egoscues suggestions, and my back pain is now gone, w/o spending big $$ for a fancy chair.
The book costs $10.95, an ergo chair will run $400+. I'd say give the book a shot, first.
Though it doesn't look as cool as some of the sci-fi chairs do. ;-)
Gordon.