You know, I love Birds of Prey, and I hate that it's getting cancelled, but every episode, I think 'it would be a plot twist IF it wound up not being the standard plot twist.'
Like if Helena's friend who shows up out of the blue after seven years winds up NOT being the mysterious assassin who also just showed up in New Gotham.
Or if the metahuman who just showed up chasing a serial killer winds up NOT actually being said serial killer.
Of course, it doesn't help that now adays, even hour long shows in America often don't have any real continuity or multi-episode plot arcs.
Go look up the history of western science fiction, and you'll find that it pretty much did, in fact, start out as 'westerns in space.'
Rather than the evil Robber Baron cheating Miss Goodnpure out of her ranch, only to be rescued by the mysterious Cowboy, you get the evil Galactic Emperor cheating Princess Goodnpure out of her peaceful planet, only to be rescued by the mysterious space rouge.
Well, hot damn, better not sell any food to those damn Chinese; it's only going to be used to feed those damn oppressors and allow them to stay in power.
Or oil; can't sell them any oil, it will only be used in the tanks used to run down students.
There is absolutely NO technology, idea, or concept that is inherently good or evil. None. It ALL rests in how it is used, and anything you can name that has a good use, I can name an evil use for, and vice versa.
Synching is a pain, even as simple as palm makes it. I'm pretty mobile and have a laptop with me most of the time so carrying a docking station or even a cable is more than I want to be bothered with. Fortunately it looks like bluetooth (mmm, Palm Tungsten) might solve this problem for me since my laptop has it built in.
Out of curiosity, what's wrong with syncing through the laptop's IrDA port? Just point your palm at it and go.
Actually, here's a true story very similar to that.
Mutant Marsupials Take Up Arms Against Australian Air Force
The reuse of some object-oriented code has caused tactical headaches for Australia's armed forces. As virtual reality simulators assume larger roles in helicopter combat training , programmers have gone to great lengths to increase the realism of the their scenarios, including detailed landscapes and -- in the case of the Northern Territory's Operation Phoenix -- herds of kangaroos (since groups of disturbed animals might well give away a helicopters position).
The head of the Defense Science and Technology Organization's Land Operations/Simulations division reportedly instructed developers to model the local marsupials' movements and reaction to helicopters.
Being efficient programmers, they just re-appropriated some code originally used to model infantry detachments reactions under the same stimuli, changed the mapped icon from a soldier to a kangaroo, and increased the figures' speed of movement.
Eager to demonstrate their flying skills for some visiting American pilots, the hotshot Aussies "buzzed" the virtual kangaroos in low flight during a simulation. The kangaroos scattered, as predicted, and the Americans nodded appreciatively . . . and then did a double-take as the kangaroos reappeared from behind a hill and launched a barrage of stinger missiles at the hapless helicopter. (Apparently the programmers had forgotten the remove "that" part of the infantry coding).
The lesson? Objects are defined with certain attributes, and any new object defined in terms of the old one inherits all the attributes. The embarrassed programmers had learned to be careful when reusing object-oriented code, and the Yanks left with the utmost respect for the Australian wildlife.
Simulator supervisors report that pilots from that point onwards have strictly avoided kangaroos, just as they were meant to.
You see, there's this thing called demand, and when there are no competing products in a market
No, no, no. You see, there's this thing called demand, and when there's not enough demand for a product, it generally exits the market place.
If consumer processors make AMD money, AMD makes consumer processors. If consumer processors don't make AMD money, AMD doesn't make comsumer processors.
Generally a lot cheaper and easier to simply have an emergency relocation location; a backup of your server room and equipment, if you will, in a different geographical area. This is commonly done for business that need it, and can afford it.
Err..umm..UNIX is a proprietary OS. There's a very good reason Linux is referred to as a 'UNIX work-alike.'
Ye Gods, though, go take a look at a 'history of UNIXes' chart. You think Win95 vs 98 vs ME vs NT4 vs 2K vs XP is bad? You kids don't know how nice you have it now adays; even several years ago, at least it was starting to coalesce into BSD versus SVR4.
Giving a transgenic crop blanket immunity to a given insect or disease simply encourages said insect or disease to mutate into something potentially worse.
Vaccines do the same thing, aye, but not quite as quickly. There's a bit of a difference between 'stimulating the organisim's immune system to do what it would do anyway, only a bit more safely' and 'gengineering the organisim to produce a chemical that the beasties can then develop, in turn, an immunity to.'
With the old Orange Book series, at least, as I haven't looked at the CCSE, as you increased in 'security' level, the emphasis shifted away from keeping people out, to being able to tell what they did.
The fact of the matter is that if your service can be used for legitimate purposes, it can be used for illegitimate purposes. Period.
Like I said originally, great episode, crap followup. It truly was one of the best episodes, but they never WENT anywhere with it. The only time I ever saw it even mentioned again was when some Starfleet officer with a rollup keyboard shows up, they jam, and he orders her off to her death.
The Borg subplot, on the other hand, you quite accurately point out actually alters his character. It, to put it bluntly, fucked him up. In a real army, I wager there'd have been a medical discharge after that. It affected him on an ongoing basis, up to and including the movies; First Contact, for example, he damn near makes a tragic mistake based on his now pathological hatred and fear of the Borg. That's good follow up, good examination on how this would actually affect him, and points him out to be human.
The Inner Light should have affected him just as much; he had a family. Wife and children. This should have shown up in his attitudes towards children, off hand comments, for example like 'Hello, young man. Blah blah blah, you remind me of my son when he was your age...' to which Riker would give him a look, and say 'Your son, sir?' It should have coloured the way he interacted with future love interests; they'd have to stack up to his wife. Hell, he might even feel the typical guilt that a widower sometimes feels when trying to start a new career. He'd see other families, and get a bit sad. He'd also, likely, wind up with a slightly greater distrust of beauracracy. And I think I mispelled that.
My point is, while it was a great episode, it seems he slept on it, and moved on, where that's more or less impossible. As opposed to the Borg arc, which affected him in a deep and real-seeming way, and was actually portrayed in later episodes.
Always remember, you are not an employee, you are not an associate, you are not a representative. You are a RESOURCE. They have an entire department allocated to dealing with those pesky HUMAN RESOURCES, just as they have an entire department allocated to those pesky IT resources.
They don't expect their computing resources to work without care, feeding, maintenance, and electricity, so why do you think they expect human resources to work without renumeration?
If they fired you, and your severance agreement did not include provisions for continuing to maintain systems you built, then they, ipso facto, pro forma, and a bunch of other oft-incorrectly used Lation terms, absolved you of any and all responsibility, culpability, and all sorts of other 'ity' words that make lawyers drool in a Pavlovian reaction, for any systems you may or may not have built/worked on/designed/implemented during your tenure there.
Everybody else has said this, but I'll say it as well; they are a business seeking a service, and you are somebody capable of giving that service. That means renumeration for time and expertise, and that means you bill them. They're a business, and it's as simple as that.
It also means you get something in at least an email saying that they've agreed to your rates. That means you bring a time sheet, fill it out, and get them to sign it before you leave. If they don't sign it, undo all the work you just did.
People today, it seems to me, have this odd notion that the first iteration of something should be the best iteration.
Sure, hyperthreading won't do much for you now. But what about the next generation? Or the third? Once this trickles down to the point that it winds up on chips automatically, great.
And the reason nothing newer than a 386, or specially designed 486, is used in spacecraft is....the radiation!
Yes, out in space, there's so much more radiation floating about that you've a much higher chance of having a bit flipped. The more dense your transistors, the more likely you'll get something flipped.
I seem to recall one system using 3 486 chips that would each do a calculation, then the results would be compared. If at least two of them agreed on the result, that's what they used.
Slashdot Mirror
You know, I love Birds of Prey, and I hate that it's getting cancelled, but every episode, I think 'it would be a plot twist IF it wound up not being the standard plot twist.'
Like if Helena's friend who shows up out of the blue after seven years winds up NOT being the mysterious assassin who also just showed up in New Gotham.
Or if the metahuman who just showed up chasing a serial killer winds up NOT actually being said serial killer.
Of course, it doesn't help that now adays, even hour long shows in America often don't have any real continuity or multi-episode plot arcs.
Go look up the history of western science fiction, and you'll find that it pretty much did, in fact, start out as 'westerns in space.'
Rather than the evil Robber Baron cheating Miss Goodnpure out of her ranch, only to be rescued by the mysterious Cowboy, you get the evil Galactic Emperor cheating Princess Goodnpure out of her peaceful planet, only to be rescued by the mysterious space rouge.
It's annoying because nowadays, a new show gets an average of two or three episodes in which to 'prove' itself, and that's just bloody stupid.
This also trains the viewer to have a much shorter attention span, leading to shorter, less 'deep' shows, perpetuating a vicious cycle.
Well, hot damn, better not sell any food to those damn Chinese; it's only going to be used to feed those damn oppressors and allow them to stay in power.
Or oil; can't sell them any oil, it will only be used in the tanks used to run down students.
There is absolutely NO technology, idea, or concept that is inherently good or evil. None. It ALL rests in how it is used, and anything you can name that has a good use, I can name an evil use for, and vice versa.
Ah, yes, that would do it. :-)
Out of curiosity, what's wrong with syncing through the laptop's IrDA port? Just point your palm at it and go.
Actually, here's a true story very similar to that.
No, no, no. You see, there's this thing called demand, and when there's not enough demand for a product, it generally exits the market place.
If consumer processors make AMD money, AMD makes consumer processors. If consumer processors don't make AMD money, AMD doesn't make comsumer processors.
Generally a lot cheaper and easier to simply have an emergency relocation location; a backup of your server room and equipment, if you will, in a different geographical area. This is commonly done for business that need it, and can afford it.
Err..umm..UNIX is a proprietary OS. There's a very good reason Linux is referred to as a 'UNIX work-alike.'
Ye Gods, though, go take a look at a 'history of UNIXes' chart. You think Win95 vs 98 vs ME vs NT4 vs 2K vs XP is bad? You kids don't know how nice you have it now adays; even several years ago, at least it was starting to coalesce into BSD versus SVR4.
Star TREKKIN, across the Universe.
On the starship Enterprise, under Captain Kirk...
Star TREKKIN, 'cross the universe...
Boldly going forward, cuz we can't find reverse.
Interesting. Would you happen to have any references, essays, examinations, or what have you, to this?
I find your ideas intriguing, and wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
If it only works if run from computers in the 'local computer' zone, then no, it's not a security hole, it's operation by design.
That's like saying 'there's a huge security hole in the UNIX 'rm' command, which allows the root user to delete entire filesystems!'
What do you expect from a Dark Ages-era castle?
The Romans, on the other hand, did have fully functioning indoor plumbing.
GEOS, baby, GEOS. I still have fond memories of GeoPaint, and GeoWrite....
Shipped with the 64c, as I recall.
Giving a transgenic crop blanket immunity to a given insect or disease simply encourages said insect or disease to mutate into something potentially worse.
Vaccines do the same thing, aye, but not quite as quickly. There's a bit of a difference between 'stimulating the organisim's immune system to do what it would do anyway, only a bit more safely' and 'gengineering the organisim to produce a chemical that the beasties can then develop, in turn, an immunity to.'
Aye, the problem with TNG was always that it was somewhere hideously between having a continuity, and not having a continuity. But what can you do?
With the old Orange Book series, at least, as I haven't looked at the CCSE, as you increased in 'security' level, the emphasis shifted away from keeping people out, to being able to tell what they did.
The fact of the matter is that if your service can be used for legitimate purposes, it can be used for illegitimate purposes. Period.
***Just as off topic***
Like I said originally, great episode, crap followup. It truly was one of the best episodes, but they never WENT anywhere with it. The only time I ever saw it even mentioned again was when some Starfleet officer with a rollup keyboard shows up, they jam, and he orders her off to her death.
The Borg subplot, on the other hand, you quite accurately point out actually alters his character. It, to put it bluntly, fucked him up. In a real army, I wager there'd have been a medical discharge after that. It affected him on an ongoing basis, up to and including the movies; First Contact, for example, he damn near makes a tragic mistake based on his now pathological hatred and fear of the Borg. That's good follow up, good examination on how this would actually affect him, and points him out to be human.
The Inner Light should have affected him just as much; he had a family. Wife and children. This should have shown up in his attitudes towards children, off hand comments, for example like 'Hello, young man. Blah blah blah, you remind me of my son when he was your age...' to which Riker would give him a look, and say 'Your son, sir?' It should have coloured the way he interacted with future love interests; they'd have to stack up to his wife. Hell, he might even feel the typical guilt that a widower sometimes feels when trying to start a new career. He'd see other families, and get a bit sad. He'd also, likely, wind up with a slightly greater distrust of beauracracy. And I think I mispelled that.
My point is, while it was a great episode, it seems he slept on it, and moved on, where that's more or less impossible. As opposed to the Borg arc, which affected him in a deep and real-seeming way, and was actually portrayed in later episodes.
Always remember, you are not an employee, you are not an associate, you are not a representative. You are a RESOURCE. They have an entire department allocated to dealing with those pesky HUMAN RESOURCES, just as they have an entire department allocated to those pesky IT resources.
They don't expect their computing resources to work without care, feeding, maintenance, and electricity, so why do you think they expect human resources to work without renumeration?
If they fired you, and your severance agreement did not include provisions for continuing to maintain systems you built, then they, ipso facto, pro forma, and a bunch of other oft-incorrectly used Lation terms, absolved you of any and all responsibility, culpability, and all sorts of other 'ity' words that make lawyers drool in a Pavlovian reaction, for any systems you may or may not have built/worked on/designed/implemented during your tenure there.
Everybody else has said this, but I'll say it as well; they are a business seeking a service, and you are somebody capable of giving that service. That means renumeration for time and expertise, and that means you bill them. They're a business, and it's as simple as that.
It also means you get something in at least an email saying that they've agreed to your rates. That means you bring a time sheet, fill it out, and get them to sign it before you leave. If they don't sign it, undo all the work you just did.
People today, it seems to me, have this odd notion that the first iteration of something should be the best iteration.
Sure, hyperthreading won't do much for you now. But what about the next generation? Or the third? Once this trickles down to the point that it winds up on chips automatically, great.
They did. It was called RDRAM, from Rambus. Everybody bitched and moaned, so they went back to using SDRAM. Or was it DDR RAM? Either way.
And the reason nothing newer than a 386, or specially designed 486, is used in spacecraft is....the radiation!
Yes, out in space, there's so much more radiation floating about that you've a much higher chance of having a bit flipped. The more dense your transistors, the more likely you'll get something flipped.
I seem to recall one system using 3 486 chips that would each do a calculation, then the results would be compared. If at least two of them agreed on the result, that's what they used.