"Since it sounds like Wesley Crusher, I mean Wil Wheaton, likes Mandrake, how about some Wesley Crusher, I mean Wil Wheaton games and utilities for Mandrake? He could provide his voice to whoever decided to code the stuff."
not running the bloat? You can do that with Linux if you want. Chose your bloat tolerance level and install that, right down to a functional OS with CLI shell on a single floppy if that's what rows your boat, and it's not "obsoleteware" either.
At the risk of being modded redundant. . .
on
Passport vs. Plan 9
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
I too will question the very advisability of single sign on. There are good reasons I keep multiple banking, credit card and merchant accounts. I specifically * don't want* one single authority to be tracking my every move. I * don't want* all my finacial and personal assets and records piled up in one location. I keep a *diversified* portfolio.
What good is having your system backed up on removable media if your house burns down and * you don't have a copy off site?*
When Egghead was hacked I knew for a fact that I had to be concerned about *one* of my credit card accounts. I could watch that *one* like a hawk and the risk didn't steamroll through my whole life. The argument is, of course, that there is less risk with a well protected central account, but that account is an all or nothing sort of deal. You're either safe, or you lose everything.
I'll take the slightly greater overall risk at sustaining *some* sort of loss against the lower risk of complete and total devestation.
Do you have sort of financial insurance? Say on your car? Exact same deal. You "lose" your insurance payment against the protection from greater potential loss.
Obviously others disagree but I think that single access is just plain dumb, and all to save you a rather miniscule risk to save a few minutes of typing a year.
On the other hand one of the things that induced me to switch my business from Windows to Linux was that Windows required retraining over, and over, and over again with each new version, or even just updates.
The idea that Windows saves the expense of retraining is pure myth.
And of course the main reason Linux was written in the first place was to break the *UNIX* monopolies, a fact that is often times completely forgotten.
I mean really. At least the first disenter had the decency to post as an AC.
I'm not sure what all the brouhaha over the NYT's registration policy is myself. If you don't like it but wish to read the articles you always have the option of having the dead tree version delivered right to your doorstep every morning.
Just call them on the phone and tell them who you are and where you live.
As I once remarked to a friend during a discussion of the merits of zoning, the primary 'value' of your house is that it *houses* you. A simple fact that seems to have been lost somewhere along the way. What do you expect from a culture where 'value' and *price* have become virtually synonomous?
KFG
The question is not who you can buy Solaris from
on
Sun To Sell Linux PCs
·
· Score: 2
The question is who can you buy a UNIX operating system from.
There is not only no monopoly but UNIX systems are available for free from multiple vendors.
Solaris is a *brand,* not an operating system per se, just as Ford and Chevy are both *cars.* Ford has a monopoly on the *trademark,* not the car.
He sustained no impact to the head and yet spent months in a coma from closed head brain trauma.
Ok, he sustained a force of about 90 gees to do it, but the point is closed head brain trauma strictly from g-forces with no impact to the head itself is quite common. The brain *moves* inside the skull and has *inertia.* If the forces are high enough the brain can impact the *inside* of the skull even without impact. It's called a *concusion.*
With extremely high and sustained g-forces internal organs can actually "moosh." (Please excuse my use of such a highly technical medical term).
I think this law is a bit on the doofey side because no coaster in normal operation is going to approach these force levels, but let's not lie about it.
would advise you to read 'Quantum Reality' by Nick Herbert. It is the *only* lay explanation of the subject I have ever read actually worth a damn in terms of the actual physics involved. Virtually all of the other books being recomended here are good reads, but I wouldn't call them physics at all. My interpretation of your question is that you want to go beyond that sort of book. Read Herbert's book, pay attention, and you'll have a better understanding of the state of quantum physics then some physicists I know. All without a drop of math too.
For "good reads," rather than good physics, try:
Steven Weinberg's 'Dreams of a Final Theory." A good look by a real physicist at where some people are trying to take physics.
What's physics without a little math? David Berlinski has done the impossible and written a *book*, not a text book, a *BOOK* about the calculus. 'Tour of the Calculus.' Loverly little bit of work. Thank you David.
Someone else mentioned 'The God Particle." I'll second that. Most books on physics talk about theory or "gee whiz" stuff. This is simply an anecdotal telling of the real life of a hardcore experimental physicist. Well worth the read.
For more elementary physics there are already umptynine recommendations for the Feynman Lectures, all moded up to +5. Who am I to object?
BUT: Whatever you do don't miss Feynman's anecdotal books, 'What do you care what People Think?' and 'Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!'
They have absolutely nothing to do with physics, per se, and yet at the same time seem to have everything to do with physics, plus they'll be the most fun you have reading this year, and maybe next.
You want to get a little more hardcore? Get 'Physics' by Hallidy & Resnick. Read 'em. Learn 'em ( and all the relevant math). Work all the problems. Congratulations, you're an A.S. in physics.
There are some online sites for physics but I've never warmed up to them. You need the books, you need to be able to open the page, read a bit, put it down and ponder, go for a walk and ponder some more, pick the book back up, read a couple more pages, go "hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm," take it to bed, read a few more pages and fall asleep with visions of quarks dancing in your head.
You need the bloody books. Buy them, steal them, whatever you have to do to *possess* them. Keep them as treasured Holy objects. You won't regret it.
So instead I started working on transportation. I figured out a way to travel between NY City and LA for free. Just build a big tube between them, LA Sucks and NYC blows. It only works one way though, so that idea was down the tube.
Let's face it, all of my ideas just seem to break like the wind.
KFG
Re:Preserve the genre? Is my old copy of Chainmail
on
Layoffs at WotC
·
· Score: 1
I like it.:)
For that matter I predate Chainmail by a bit of a margin. I've got a copy of H.G. Wells "Little Wars" around here somewhere.
Yeah, they're starting to call me "The Grey Ponytail" these days, but at least I don't wear striped suspenders.
KFG
And where has the fresh blood always come from?
on
Layoffs at WotC
·
· Score: 2
WotC's marketing? Hah! When WotC bought out TSR D&D was already a thriving "product." TSR didn't "market" D&D, they made it available for purchase.
So who did the marketing? The DM's and players, that's who. No, I don't expect teenagers to look into archives for back issues of no longer developed games. I expect to go out and actively recruit them to play a game whose basic framework has already *been* developed and which we as players flesh out for our own enjoyment. The whole point of an RPG is that the *players* do their own development. An RPG is not a "product," it's an imaginative, interactive *game.*
If game playing were left to the "marketing" of some corporation chess and checkers not only would have been dead centuries ago, they never would have existed in the first place!
The rules to D&D really did fit in your pocket once upon a time. In fact they were simple enough that it would be a practical undertaking to memorize them. Publication is a non-issue, just as it is with Chess. Just as with chess the rules are known by one and passed by direct transmision to others.
What will kill the RPG genre? One and only one thing, which I have already alluded to. When college kids will only play games that are "marketed" to them with rules that are "under development" in order to get them to buy the same product over and over and over again. When they can't take a loose framework and develop their own game *themselves*, then the RPG genre will die.
When this happens we'll have far more to worry about than RPGing.
KFG
The idea of leveling up is so old. . .
on
Layoffs at WotC
·
· Score: 4, Funny
Slashdot Mirror
"Since it sounds like Wesley Crusher, I mean Wil Wheaton, likes Mandrake, how about some Wesley Crusher, I mean Wil Wheaton games and utilities for Mandrake? He could provide his voice to whoever decided to code the stuff."
1 7
Sorry, Illiad beat you to that idea:
http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=200209
KFG
"I'm not a terrorist and so I have nothing to fear from this system."
PROVE it you scumwad suspected perp you.
(Moderators, the above is a logical argument, not a flame)
KFG
Because they haven't proven themselves to be of any value * or danger* to anyone, and thus are both allowed to exist, and to do so without penalty.
KFG
Ah, but what if you couldn't avail yourself of privately owned commercially provided transportaion without being fingerprinted?
KFG
not running the bloat? You can do that with Linux if you want. Chose your bloat tolerance level and install that, right down to a functional OS with CLI shell on a single floppy if that's what rows your boat, and it's not "obsoleteware" either.
Ain't user controlled full modularity grand?
KFG
Slashdot would edit the article just to make you look like a jackass instead of them.
The next thing you know you'll be telling me the FBI is reading my books or something.
Damned conspiricy theorists.
KFG
text to poin? :)
KFG
the person who modded it flamebait was the one doing the flamebaiting. Go figure.
Who's sig is it that says, " Because my opinion differs doesn't make it flamebait"?
KFG
http://www.davehitt.com/july02/no-tipping.html
KFG
I too will question the very advisability of single sign on. There are good reasons I keep multiple banking, credit card and merchant accounts. I specifically * don't want* one single authority to be tracking my every move. I * don't want* all my finacial and personal assets and records piled up in one location. I keep a *diversified* portfolio.
What good is having your system backed up on removable media if your house burns down and * you don't have a copy off site?*
When Egghead was hacked I knew for a fact that I had to be concerned about *one* of my credit card accounts. I could watch that *one* like a hawk and the risk didn't steamroll through my whole life. The argument is, of course, that there is less risk with a well protected central account, but that account is an all or nothing sort of deal. You're either safe, or you lose everything.
I'll take the slightly greater overall risk at sustaining *some* sort of loss against the lower risk of complete and total devestation.
Do you have sort of financial insurance? Say on your car? Exact same deal. You "lose" your insurance payment against the protection from greater potential loss.
Obviously others disagree but I think that single access is just plain dumb, and all to save you a rather miniscule risk to save a few minutes of typing a year.
KFG
On the other hand one of the things that induced me to switch my business from Windows to Linux was that Windows required retraining over, and over, and over again with each new version, or even just updates.
The idea that Windows saves the expense of retraining is pure myth.
KFG
And of course the main reason Linux was written in the first place was to break the *UNIX* monopolies, a fact that is often times completely forgotten.
KFG
I mean really. At least the first disenter had the decency to post as an AC.
I'm not sure what all the brouhaha over the NYT's registration policy is myself. If you don't like it but wish to read the articles you always have the option of having the dead tree version delivered right to your doorstep every morning.
Just call them on the phone and tell them who you are and where you live.
KFG
Cold Fusion, Cold Fusion.
KFG
As I once remarked to a friend during a discussion of the merits of zoning, the primary 'value' of your house is that it *houses* you. A simple fact that seems to have been lost somewhere along the way. What do you expect from a culture where 'value' and *price* have become virtually synonomous?
KFG
The question is who can you buy a UNIX operating system from.
There is not only no monopoly but UNIX systems are available for free from multiple vendors.
Solaris is a *brand,* not an operating system per se, just as Ford and Chevy are both *cars.* Ford has a monopoly on the *trademark,* not the car.
KFG
He sustained no impact to the head and yet spent months in a coma from closed head brain trauma.
Ok, he sustained a force of about 90 gees to do it, but the point is closed head brain trauma strictly from g-forces with no impact to the head itself is quite common. The brain *moves* inside the skull and has *inertia.* If the forces are high enough the brain can impact the *inside* of the skull even without impact. It's called a *concusion.*
With extremely high and sustained g-forces internal organs can actually "moosh." (Please excuse my use of such a highly technical medical term).
I think this law is a bit on the doofey side because no coaster in normal operation is going to approach these force levels, but let's not lie about it.
KFG
converstion, but it's being able to hold such a discussion with a *judge* that will help us.
Have *you* been able to hold an intelligent conversation about the DMCA with a judge lately?
Neither has anyone else.
KFG
would advise you to read 'Quantum Reality' by Nick Herbert. It is the *only* lay explanation of the subject I have ever read actually worth a damn in terms of the actual physics involved. Virtually all of the other books being recomended here are good reads, but I wouldn't call them physics at all. My interpretation of your question is that you want to go beyond that sort of book. Read Herbert's book, pay attention, and you'll have a better understanding of the state of quantum physics then some physicists I know. All without a drop of math too.
For "good reads," rather than good physics, try:
Steven Weinberg's 'Dreams of a Final Theory." A good look by a real physicist at where some people are trying to take physics.
What's physics without a little math? David Berlinski has done the impossible and written a *book*, not a text book, a *BOOK* about the calculus. 'Tour of the Calculus.' Loverly little bit of work. Thank you David.
Someone else mentioned 'The God Particle." I'll second that. Most books on physics talk about theory or "gee whiz" stuff. This is simply an anecdotal telling of the real life of a hardcore experimental physicist. Well worth the read.
For more elementary physics there are already umptynine recommendations for the Feynman Lectures, all moded up to +5. Who am I to object?
BUT: Whatever you do don't miss Feynman's anecdotal books, 'What do you care what People Think?' and 'Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!'
They have absolutely nothing to do with physics, per se, and yet at the same time seem to have everything to do with physics, plus they'll be the most fun you have reading this year, and maybe next.
You want to get a little more hardcore? Get 'Physics' by Hallidy & Resnick. Read 'em. Learn 'em ( and all the relevant math). Work all the problems. Congratulations, you're an A.S. in physics.
There are some online sites for physics but I've never warmed up to them. You need the books, you need to be able to open the page, read a bit, put it down and ponder, go for a walk and ponder some more, pick the book back up, read a couple more pages, go "hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm," take it to bed, read a few more pages and fall asleep with visions of quarks dancing in your head.
You need the bloody books. Buy them, steal them, whatever you have to do to *possess* them. Keep them as treasured Holy objects. You won't regret it.
KFG
we're talking about Denmark, not California or LA, and that the entire nation of Denmark has a significantly smaller population that greater LA alone.
What may be unworkable in one enviroment may well be ideal in another.
KFG
Yeah, my cat does that already.
KFG
the vacuum, but as it turns out that idea sucked.
My carpet is clean and fresh though.
So instead I started working on transportation. I figured out a way to travel between NY City and LA for free. Just build a big tube between them, LA Sucks and NYC blows. It only works one way though, so that idea was down the tube.
Let's face it, all of my ideas just seem to break like the wind.
KFG
I like it. :)
For that matter I predate Chainmail by a bit of a margin. I've got a copy of H.G. Wells "Little Wars" around here somewhere.
Yeah, they're starting to call me "The Grey Ponytail" these days, but at least I don't wear striped suspenders.
KFG
WotC's marketing? Hah! When WotC bought out TSR D&D was already a thriving "product." TSR didn't "market" D&D, they made it available for purchase.
So who did the marketing? The DM's and players, that's who. No, I don't expect teenagers to look into archives for back issues of no longer developed games. I expect to go out and actively recruit them to play a game whose basic framework has already *been* developed and which we as players flesh out for our own enjoyment. The whole point of an RPG is that the *players* do their own development. An RPG is not a "product," it's an imaginative, interactive *game.*
If game playing were left to the "marketing" of some corporation chess and checkers not only would have been dead centuries ago, they never would have existed in the first place!
The rules to D&D really did fit in your pocket once upon a time. In fact they were simple enough that it would be a practical undertaking to memorize them. Publication is a non-issue, just as it is with Chess. Just as with chess the rules are known by one and passed by direct transmision to others.
What will kill the RPG genre? One and only one thing, which I have already alluded to. When college kids will only play games that are "marketed" to them with rules that are "under development" in order to get them to buy the same product over and over and over again. When they can't take a loose framework and develop their own game *themselves*, then the RPG genre will die.
When this happens we'll have far more to worry about than RPGing.
KFG
it is literally prehistoric.
You want prior art, centuries old?
*King me!*
KFG