Buy an electronics product when you need it, or when it would make a substantial improvement in your quality of life.
Yes, prices usually drop somewhat after the winter holidays, but prices on most of today's consumer electronics will continue to go lower and lower as eqipment bought a few months ago becomes obselete because of the latest "advance." The solution: wait until you need something and buy it then. If you become obsessed with getting the best price on something and timing the market, you'll either never buy or drive yourself crazy.
The role of Superman does indeed seem to be a stretch for Keanu; "I can fly, dude! Excellent!"
However, is anyone familiar with the movie Little Buddha?? For those of you not tainted by viewing this flick (God help the rest of us), Keanu played the Buddha... Even having watched it myself, It's hard to imagine the seat of Eastern wisdom being portrayed by the same actor who I cannot disconnect from the Bill & Ted movies (Keanu's best work, in my opinion).
No matter how dopey-dudalicious he is playing Superman, it cannot compare in terms of pure cheek-biting evil.
If I wrote a paper and got an A... Ok, I kinda get that analogy (though it's pretty bad).
The thing is, if I wrote a paper and got a D, I wouldn't give a shit if someone made photocopies of it and passed it out to all of their friends. In fact, I'd be delighted if that person passed off my shitty work as their own.
And this is what we're working with where most of the music industry is concerned.. D-quality work for which nobody should give a shit one way or the other. Drop me a note when somebody starts producing a product with some value.
With 2 monitors and 7 boxes your office, unless it's a huge room, is going to get very hot. I've always hated working at my machine while I'm sweating.
I'd strongly recommend planning your design with 2 or 3 room fans to move the hot air away from your boxes and vent cool air in from the A/C vent or the rest of your apartment. Perhaps one mounted to blow past the back of your boxes (it' be excellent it they were racked), one to blow from the A/C vent into the center of the your setup, and one to blow the warm air out of the room. Of course, don't forget your thermodynamics in the plan. Keep the boxes low and vent your exhaust air upwards.
A little moving air here and there will keep you and your machines cool and happy.
While this individual seems to have done a "good deed" in communicating a security flaw and this pursuit by the feds is excessive, the issue should at least get a fair treatment from both ends. Just imagine the following coversation:
Concerned Citizen: "Mr. Smith, I'm calling because I noticed that your bedroom blinds are partially open and I can see your wife walking around in the nude. I thought I'd bring this to your attention so you can remedy the situation before more malicious sorts exploit the breach in your window dressings."
Smith:"Are you sure about this?"
Concerned Citizen: "Yes sir. Just to be sure, I pulled out my binoculars. I can tell you that your wife has a pierced left nipple and a tattoo of Bugs Bunny on her right butt cheek. Oh, and I'm sorry about your lack of gift. They say that size really doesn't matter anyway..."
I'm all for the government getting involved in peer-to-peer pr0n!
I feel it is my right as a citizen of the US to have my pirated net porn delivered in a fast and reliable manner. Every time I use BearShare to snag a 50 or 100 meg pr0n video, it takes at least 5 or 10 tries, and often at slower speeds than my connection should be getting.
I hope you're listening, Senators and Representatives! I demand that you improve the quality and accessibility of my free internet pr0n!!
It's nice to hear the sentiment behind activism, particularly in relation to large corporations swamping the market with inferior products and trying to eclipse the hope that we have for something better. However, I am concerned with the potential for activism generally, and particularly activism that involves surreptitiously cracking into computer systems, can easily be turned against itself.
Just consider that during the 1960's, when the civil rights movement and civil rights activists were at their strogest, so was the KKK. In terms of corporate involvement now, activist cracker break-ins will only firm the resolve of businesses, tighten security, and remind the government that they should give even more power to corporations to "protect" themselves from these activist crackers.
I can even envision a sneaky corporation (redundant, yes?) hiring their own "cractivists" away from public notice to crack into their systems, do negligible damage, and then lay a heap of blame on whatever activist organization that corp. doesn't like. This sort of thing may even yield government support for the corporation.
It would be a shame.
It seems like, with everything else, there is no quick and easy way to fight activist causes. It comes down to the need to issue protest through the appropriate channels, decline to purchase products, and tell the story of why your cause is important. It's slow but it seems like the only solid way to support causes and be an activist.
Judging by the huge demand for file-sharing that has been evident through Napster, this is not an activity that will soon fade out.
Rather, the RIAA's contribution to shutting Napster down or gimping it with ridiculous restrictions will ultimately work against those who wish to prohibit sharing of music and files.
It reminds me of what my doctor says about taking antibiotics, "Take them until they're gone. If you only take a few, you'll just kill off the weak bacteria and eventually create a stronger strain."
Well, this is exactly what will happen. Once a central server-based system like Napster goes down, we will see noncentralized systems like the Gnutella model increase in size and reliability. The RIAA will shoot itself in the foot by forcing file-sharing to become easier to use by consumers and increasingly untouchable by industry and government.
Sending back the postage-paid envelopes empty is a fabulous idea.
Maybe even better would be to do a switch. Take one piece of return junk mail and put it in a different company's return postage-paid envelope. That way it's 30 cents plus 2 minutes for someone to figure out what the hell is going on.
We've done a lot of consultation with hospital staff in the improvement of quality of care, including bring staff up to par on standards of care for different problems. What I've seen is pretty scary. While overall care is ok, many many times standards are missed which results in increased patient suffering and longer hospital stays.
Consistent use of handheld computers could very easily improve the care that patients recieve across many settings. For example, the Doc checks off Diabetic and gets a list of recommendations like running certain tests, foot exams, and setting up outside education and consultation, which could also be suggested contingent on certain criteria.
Personally, I'd feel much better if my Doc relied on a standard reference in treating me. Doctors are not all super-intelligent and many have lots of trouble remembering important information, particularly for less common ailments.
I wonder if this is at all a negative for the Wintel corporate structure...
Just think, Linux boxes will be running Itanium right when it comes out. But, big surprise, Itanium turns out to be a little buggy. By the time Windows supports it, the bugs have been ironed out.
Bravo for Windows! Suddenly running more stable than Linux!
While saying that the internet has "peaked" may seem a bit odd because, of course, it will continue to grow, I think this article raises a good point.
Regular growth of all sorts of observable phenomenon starts slow, speeds up quickly, and then levels off to grow more slowly. The growth curve looks like an "S" with it's ends stretched out. A tree, for example, may grow 20,000% in the year after germination, but only grow 2% in it's 20th year.
Perhaps rather than the internet itself "peaking," we might say it's acceleration of growth has passed it's max.
Ok, on one level I can see how it is reasonable that a whole lot of activities, including gaming, might improve certain related skills like "strategic thinking." However, I do not think that this is specific to gaming, which can also has negative side effects: sedentary lifestyle, limiting interaction with humans, excess play/transient addiction...
On the same note, one might argue that sports are just the same, right? Sports can increase physical health, motivation, ambition, and teamwork. Of course sports can also contribute to aggression, groupthink, and be done in excess.
Oh, and looking at pr0n can have benefits too: improved attention to visual detail, increased hand and wrist strength, ehancement of ascetic sense...
While gaming may deserve status slightly above being considered a useless and idle diversion, it's still gaming and it's primary purpose is still just for fun.
Lanier said, "Basically, if you heard your brain surgeon also had a tattoo parlor, you'd probably demur. Right now we think of them as the same thing. We think it's perfectly all right for people to go back and forth. I don't think it is."
This is a fascinating suggestion and I think, aside from the flamebait in the article for Linux lovers, this may be the most important idea expressed in the interview.
That idea is that the people writing software should not only be generalists but software specialists(though I'm sure generalists are needed in software engineering just as in medicine). In this statement he both elevates software engineering to the level of medicine (which it certainly deserves given its importance in so many settings), but also calls for a more systematic approach to the social role held by coders.
Granted, while physicians are not perfect, their professional development model might not be a bad one to follow in the field of software development. Study fundamentals and then actual applications. Work under the tutelage of those more experienced. Increase professional independence. Share new ideas with peers and undergo peer review.
I think that a shift of this nature would definitely help propel software development leaps and bounds. And though it may be a good idea, what can be done to push things this way?
Here's what I see happening in the future (or maybe my idealized future):
One of these filtering progs starts scanning around for "obscene" material. It runs into itself, which, by nature contains "obscene" material, as this is what it is built to catch.
The filter prog filters itself.
This recursive paradox causes a huge explosion that destroys all filtering software.
Excellent! I'm glad we've reached an agreement. And I'm sure you'll also agree with the potential value in partaking in whatever fashion in this mire of a social drama in which we are all stuck. We just choose different paths and I'm glad to see we're equally aware that each of our choices is not the only valid path.
You have my respect for not igniting, as many do when prodded just a bit. It's been a pleasure.
Well well, wise teacher... I would say that you most certainly are part of this pathetic social drama. The incendiary tone and the fact that you have chosen to respond extensively is evidence enough for this. You are playing the game wholeheartedly, which is delightful for me. In fact, if you can resist, you won't even reply to this post; but you probably not so stalwart.
There are those who play the game, realize it, but have no choice. There are those who play the game, but claim not to, because the game is ugly, dirty, and depressing. And there are those who play the game, see it as so, and try their best to enjoy it as much as they can.
I would be careful about your preaching. It is a giveaway and will put you in an uncomfortable position when you come to the realization that you are mired in this mess as much as me, the "tormentors" from high school, and everyone else.
Back in the day before digital communication, wiretapping, and listening devices I wonder what the authorities did to investigate and prosecute crime...
Two people who wanted to have a private conversation could just step aside or walk outside to have a completely privileged and private conversation.
While I would'nt suggest sliding back to some of the other pieces of the past, it still seems that people should be able to communicate with each other or (with this keystroke example) write completely private notes or whatever in their personal documents.
Slashdot Mirror
Buy an electronics product when you need it, or when it would make a substantial improvement in your quality of life.
Yes, prices usually drop somewhat after the winter holidays, but prices on most of today's consumer electronics will continue to go lower and lower as eqipment bought a few months ago becomes obselete because of the latest "advance." The solution: wait until you need something and buy it then. If you become obsessed with getting the best price on something and timing the market, you'll either never buy or drive yourself crazy.
The role of Superman does indeed seem to be a stretch for Keanu; "I can fly, dude! Excellent!"
However, is anyone familiar with the movie Little Buddha?? For those of you not tainted by viewing this flick (God help the rest of us), Keanu played the Buddha... Even having watched it myself, It's hard to imagine the seat of Eastern wisdom being portrayed by the same actor who I cannot disconnect from the Bill & Ted movies (Keanu's best work, in my opinion).
No matter how dopey-dudalicious he is playing Superman, it cannot compare in terms of pure cheek-biting evil.
If I wrote a paper and got an A... Ok, I kinda get that analogy (though it's pretty bad).
The thing is, if I wrote a paper and got a D, I wouldn't give a shit if someone made photocopies of it and passed it out to all of their friends. In fact, I'd be delighted if that person passed off my shitty work as their own.
And this is what we're working with where most of the music industry is concerned.. D-quality work for which nobody should give a shit one way or the other. Drop me a note when somebody starts producing a product with some value.
With 2 monitors and 7 boxes your office, unless it's a huge room, is going to get very hot. I've always hated working at my machine while I'm sweating.
I'd strongly recommend planning your design with 2 or 3 room fans to move the hot air away from your boxes and vent cool air in from the A/C vent or the rest of your apartment. Perhaps one mounted to blow past the back of your boxes (it' be excellent it they were racked), one to blow from the A/C vent into the center of the your setup, and one to blow the warm air out of the room. Of course, don't forget your thermodynamics in the plan. Keep the boxes low and vent your exhaust air upwards.
A little moving air here and there will keep you and your machines cool and happy.
While this individual seems to have done a "good deed" in communicating a security flaw and this pursuit by the feds is excessive, the issue should at least get a fair treatment from both ends. Just imagine the following coversation:
Concerned Citizen: "Mr. Smith, I'm calling because I noticed that your bedroom blinds are partially open and I can see your wife walking around in the nude. I thought I'd bring this to your attention so you can remedy the situation before more malicious sorts exploit the breach in your window dressings."
Smith:"Are you sure about this?"
Concerned Citizen: "Yes sir. Just to be sure, I pulled out my binoculars. I can tell you that your wife has a pierced left nipple and a tattoo of Bugs Bunny on her right butt cheek. Oh, and I'm sorry about your lack of gift. They say that size really doesn't matter anyway..."
Smith: You bastard!!
I'm all for the government getting involved in peer-to-peer pr0n!
I feel it is my right as a citizen of the US to have my pirated net porn delivered in a fast and reliable manner. Every time I use BearShare to snag a 50 or 100 meg pr0n video, it takes at least 5 or 10 tries, and often at slower speeds than my connection should be getting.
I hope you're listening, Senators and Representatives! I demand that you improve the quality and accessibility of my free internet pr0n!!
It's nice to hear the sentiment behind activism, particularly in relation to large corporations swamping the market with inferior products and trying to eclipse the hope that we have for something better. However, I am concerned with the potential for activism generally, and particularly activism that involves surreptitiously cracking into computer systems, can easily be turned against itself.
Just consider that during the 1960's, when the civil rights movement and civil rights activists were at their strogest, so was the KKK. In terms of corporate involvement now, activist cracker break-ins will only firm the resolve of businesses, tighten security, and remind the government that they should give even more power to corporations to "protect" themselves from these activist crackers.
I can even envision a sneaky corporation (redundant, yes?) hiring their own "cractivists" away from public notice to crack into their systems, do negligible damage, and then lay a heap of blame on whatever activist organization that corp. doesn't like. This sort of thing may even yield government support for the corporation.
It would be a shame.
It seems like, with everything else, there is no quick and easy way to fight activist causes. It comes down to the need to issue protest through the appropriate channels, decline to purchase products, and tell the story of why your cause is important. It's slow but it seems like the only solid way to support causes and be an activist.
Judging by the huge demand for file-sharing that has been evident through Napster, this is not an activity that will soon fade out.
Rather, the RIAA's contribution to shutting Napster down or gimping it with ridiculous restrictions will ultimately work against those who wish to prohibit sharing of music and files.
It reminds me of what my doctor says about taking antibiotics, "Take them until they're gone. If you only take a few, you'll just kill off the weak bacteria and eventually create a stronger strain."
Well, this is exactly what will happen. Once a central server-based system like Napster goes down, we will see noncentralized systems like the Gnutella model increase in size and reliability. The RIAA will shoot itself in the foot by forcing file-sharing to become easier to use by consumers and increasingly untouchable by industry and government.
Sending back the postage-paid envelopes empty is a fabulous idea.
Maybe even better would be to do a switch. Take one piece of return junk mail and put it in a different company's return postage-paid envelope. That way it's 30 cents plus 2 minutes for someone to figure out what the hell is going on.
Smokin' speeds, no wait, and maybe sub-fission temperatures.. Wow!
So what will we use this for? Rendering the highest-quality ever cartoon pr0n and doctoring Natalie Portman pics faster than our neighbor?
We've done a lot of consultation with hospital staff in the improvement of quality of care, including bring staff up to par on standards of care for different problems. What I've seen is pretty scary. While overall care is ok, many many times standards are missed which results in increased patient suffering and longer hospital stays.
Consistent use of handheld computers could very easily improve the care that patients recieve across many settings. For example, the Doc checks off Diabetic and gets a list of recommendations like running certain tests, foot exams, and setting up outside education and consultation, which could also be suggested contingent on certain criteria.
Personally, I'd feel much better if my Doc relied on a standard reference in treating me. Doctors are not all super-intelligent and many have lots of trouble remembering important information, particularly for less common ailments.
I wonder if this is at all a negative for the Wintel corporate structure...
Just think, Linux boxes will be running Itanium right when it comes out. But, big surprise, Itanium turns out to be a little buggy. By the time Windows supports it, the bugs have been ironed out.
Bravo for Windows! Suddenly running more stable than Linux!
While saying that the internet has "peaked" may seem a bit odd because, of course, it will continue to grow, I think this article raises a good point.
Regular growth of all sorts of observable phenomenon starts slow, speeds up quickly, and then levels off to grow more slowly. The growth curve looks like an "S" with it's ends stretched out. A tree, for example, may grow 20,000% in the year after germination, but only grow 2% in it's 20th year.
Perhaps rather than the internet itself "peaking," we might say it's acceleration of growth has passed it's max.
Ok, on one level I can see how it is reasonable that a whole lot of activities, including gaming, might improve certain related skills like "strategic thinking." However, I do not think that this is specific to gaming, which can also has negative side effects: sedentary lifestyle, limiting interaction with humans, excess play/transient addiction...
On the same note, one might argue that sports are just the same, right? Sports can increase physical health, motivation, ambition, and teamwork. Of course sports can also contribute to aggression, groupthink, and be done in excess.
Oh, and looking at pr0n can have benefits too: improved attention to visual detail, increased hand and wrist strength, ehancement of ascetic sense...
While gaming may deserve status slightly above being considered a useless and idle diversion, it's still gaming and it's primary purpose is still just for fun.
Lanier said,
"Basically, if you heard your brain surgeon also had a tattoo parlor, you'd probably demur. Right now we think of them as the same thing. We think it's perfectly all right for people to go back and forth. I don't think it is."
This is a fascinating suggestion and I think, aside from the flamebait in the article for Linux lovers, this may be the most important idea expressed in the interview.
That idea is that the people writing software should not only be generalists but software specialists(though I'm sure generalists are needed in software engineering just as in medicine). In this statement he both elevates software engineering to the level of medicine (which it certainly deserves given its importance in so many settings), but also calls for a more systematic approach to the social role held by coders.
Granted, while physicians are not perfect, their professional development model might not be a bad one to follow in the field of software development. Study fundamentals and then actual applications. Work under the tutelage of those more experienced. Increase professional independence. Share new ideas with peers and undergo peer review.
I think that a shift of this nature would definitely help propel software development leaps and bounds. And though it may be a good idea, what can be done to push things this way?
food for thought anyway...
They failed to mention that you have to feed this thing raw beef to keep it running (or risk losing your fingers when it gets hungry).
How exciting!
By studying the blowfish genome we might learn why some men and women "puff up" so quickly just after getting married.
Here's what I see happening in the future (or maybe my idealized future):
One of these filtering progs starts scanning around for "obscene" material. It runs into itself, which, by nature contains "obscene" material, as this is what it is built to catch.
The filter prog filters itself.
This recursive paradox causes a huge explosion that destroys all filtering software.
Endgame.
Excellent! I'm glad we've reached an agreement. And I'm sure you'll also agree with the potential value in partaking in whatever fashion in this mire of a social drama in which we are all stuck. We just choose different paths and I'm glad to see we're equally aware that each of our choices is not the only valid path.
You have my respect for not igniting, as many do when prodded just a bit. It's been a pleasure.
Well well, wise teacher... I would say that you most certainly are part of this pathetic social drama. The incendiary tone and the fact that you have chosen to respond extensively is evidence enough for this. You are playing the game wholeheartedly, which is delightful for me. In fact, if you can resist, you won't even reply to this post; but you probably not so stalwart.
There are those who play the game, realize it, but have no choice. There are those who play the game, but claim not to, because the game is ugly, dirty, and depressing. And there are those who play the game, see it as so, and try their best to enjoy it as much as they can.
I would be careful about your preaching. It is a giveaway and will put you in an uncomfortable position when you come to the realization that you are mired in this mess as much as me, the "tormentors" from high school, and everyone else.
You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake...
Back in the day before digital communication, wiretapping, and listening devices I wonder what the authorities did to investigate and prosecute crime...
Two people who wanted to have a private conversation could just step aside or walk outside to have a completely privileged and private conversation.
While I would'nt suggest sliding back to some of the other pieces of the past, it still seems that people should be able to communicate with each other or (with this keystroke example) write completely private notes or whatever in their personal documents.
100Mbps... wow! Can you even look at pr0n that fast?
Well now if they can just develop some quantum dashes, they can build a quantum telegraph!
Quantum morse code...ahhh... It could revolutionize the railroad industry!
I think I see what's happening here.
CD-ROM's have been around for some time now. The market is aging.
With the aging market, the formerly rigid disks have more trouble. Sometimes, they go flaccid without any clear cause.
The good news is that this may liven up a market for Viagra.
Good point.
I've often been afraid that, because I carry a leather wallet, I might grow horns and develop three more stomachs.
Same thing with feather pillows. It makes me shudder to think that at any moment I might start craving sunflower seeds.