Numb3rs is kind of a grown-up version of Mathnet which I loved as a kid. Of course, being edutainment TV, on Mathnet they actually did math on camera, instead of mainly handwaving it as on the more modern show.
And the chick who played Kate Monday is still hot.
The Master Control Program name came from the OS for a series of Burroughs mainframes starting with the B5000. The MCP itself was quite a revolutionary piece of software, being the first OS to be fully written in an HLL, the first OS to have virtual memory, and so forth.
Alan Kay consulted for Tron, and he was quite a fan of the Burroughs; the tagged-data architecture the Burroughs used (a precursor to a similar idea used in Lisp Machines), and the code+data storage method on another Burroughs machine, the 220, both influenced the way Smalltalk and object-oriented programming developed.
By the way, the MCP lives on today, in the Unisys ClearPath architecture. Remember that next time you go to the bank or make an ATM withdrawal (due to their legendary stability, MCP systems were widely used by financial institutions).:)
This was 1995. First of all in Hollywood the on-screen computers were quite predominantly Macs (this is changing; Swordfish and Firewall used Dells, and in the latter you can even see 'em run Winders and sometimes a Unix variant for the servers). Secondly, the trump-card argument amongst Mac fanboys at the time in the perennial PC-vs-Mac debates was that Macs were superior hardware because they had a faster, superior RISC architecture.
So that line of dialogue pretty much sums up the CPU knowledge of your average mid-nineties Mac fanboy which, if a film director or graphic designer touches a computer he is quite likely to be. It may have even been more true then, as the Pentium Pro arch is I believe when Intel switched its CPU to incorporate dynamic translation to an internal, RISCy microcode.
At least the 2006.0 version is. It challenges the structured narratives about how we've come to expect an installer to look and act.
The graphical installer mysteriously goes silent at about the point where it's supposed to get its install on. The text-mode installer is better, but sometimes it dies mysteriously with cryptic error messages and no way for the user to restore or resume the process, or else correct the problem.
After a few tries I got it going. For my amd64 machine, there was no easy-peezy installer if I wanted to make use of all 64 juicy bits and both succulent cores. So I had to do a by-hand, command-line install like a true gangsta should. I dare say that process was more pleasant, only because command-line installs don't build up your expectations only to let you down.
...Eden. From Rez. In many ways she is the anti-SHODAN; and if you study the game's audiovisual symbology carefully, and think of it as "Eden's thoughts", she becomes a surprisingly intriguing character.
Re:Formal study vs. Hard Work
on
The Expert Mind
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· Score: 1
Sorry, should have read that article down to the bottom. Apparently the Diz's blowing style was shaped by damage to the buccinators (muscles along the cheeks), slackening them; this is also not rare amongst professional trumpeters.
Re:Formal study vs. Hard Work
on
The Expert Mind
·
· Score: 1
If you are referring to the famous way in which Dizzy Gillespie puffed his cheeks while playing -- that is due not to improper technique but rather "Satchmo's syndrome" or rupture of the orbicularis oris, the muscle that goes all the way around the mouth and makes it constrict. It's apparently real common amongst brass wind musicians, a sort of trumpeter's RSI:
I think Gillespie's biggest mistake was continuing to play in spite of the damage to his muscle tissue; Louis Armstrong, for whom the condition is named, stopped playing for a year in order to let his mouth recover.
"FYI, man, you can do like absolutely nothing... and your name goes through like, 17 computers a day, man. 1984? Yeah, RIGHT, man, that's a typo. Orwell's here now and he's livin' large. We have no names man, no names! We are NAMELESS.... Can I score a fry?"
Actually I think they'll be both trumped by the project affiliated with the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Of course in some circles he is venerated as the Buoyant Spaghetti Deity; hence, OpenBSD.
The original Macintosh was the UI Bible, 1984 King Steve Version, the only version which can claim to be divinely inspired. All other UIs are apostate.
I.e., give Supes a series of missions he has to complete. He's effectively invincible but he needs to stop the bank robbers/terrorists/etc. in a minimum amount of time, with no human collateral damage and a minimum of property damage. The longer he dallies or the more of Metropolis he tears up while saving the world, the lower his publicity rating becomes. This will require strategic thinking and searching for non-obvious solutions (perhaps with the aid of X-ray vision). Boss battles could be super-powered robots built by Lex Luthor or something, with kryptonite power sources and Supes could only take a limited number of hits from those (perhaps as few as one).
A girl I knew in college, a sophomore or junior, thought that a compiler worked by using a magic chip located on the computer's motherboard. She was concerned about being able to put Borland on her laptop and have it still work -- laptops of course lack the "compiler chip". She was a high-GPA, CS major.
I tell this story frequently as being illustrative of the current state of CS education.
I didn't know until I found and bought a copy of "The Bouncer" for like 3 bucks a few months ago, and my guy was always making clumsy swings at empty air. Then I found that there's a button responsiveness tweak in the options and a little graph that goes up and down with the firmness of button presses so you can test it. "Wow... the buttons could do that?!"
The canonical story I hear w.r.t. NT is the usual "We made the Amiga; Commodore f*ed it up" story. Dave Cutler and his team, who designed VMS, came to Microsoft and produced a tight little 32-bit microkernel for their NT OS/2 project. Then NT became Windows NT, and the Microsoft marketroids came in and demanded features (like kernel-mode video) that helped make NT the wonderful piece of shite it is today.
How does that story resonate with your experience?
Did anyone notice that both the Koreans and the Japanese have done exactly what Saber Marionette, Mahoromatic, and Cat Girl Nuku Nuku have predicted, and that is direct their formidable robotics skills to the building of more and more realistic, supple-skinned robot women?
"I'm only gonna sing this one time. Ohhhh... if you want it to be a possessive, it's just I-T-S, but if it's supposed to be a contraction, then it's I-T-apostrophe-S... scalawag." --Strong Bad
Slashdot Mirror
Numb3rs is kind of a grown-up version of Mathnet which I loved as a kid. Of course, being edutainment TV, on Mathnet they actually did math on camera, instead of mainly handwaving it as on the more modern show.
And the chick who played Kate Monday is still hot.
The Master Control Program name came from the OS for a series of Burroughs mainframes starting with the B5000. The MCP itself was quite a revolutionary piece of software, being the first OS to be fully written in an HLL, the first OS to have virtual memory, and so forth.
:)
Alan Kay consulted for Tron, and he was quite a fan of the Burroughs; the tagged-data architecture the Burroughs used (a precursor to a similar idea used in Lisp Machines), and the code+data storage method on another Burroughs machine, the 220, both influenced the way Smalltalk and object-oriented programming developed.
By the way, the MCP lives on today, in the Unisys ClearPath architecture. Remember that next time you go to the bank or make an ATM withdrawal (due to their legendary stability, MCP systems were widely used by financial institutions).
This was 1995. First of all in Hollywood the on-screen computers were quite predominantly Macs (this is changing; Swordfish and Firewall used Dells, and in the latter you can even see 'em run Winders and sometimes a Unix variant for the servers). Secondly, the trump-card argument amongst Mac fanboys at the time in the perennial PC-vs-Mac debates was that Macs were superior hardware because they had a faster, superior RISC architecture.
So that line of dialogue pretty much sums up the CPU knowledge of your average mid-nineties Mac fanboy which, if a film director or graphic designer touches a computer he is quite likely to be. It may have even been more true then, as the Pentium Pro arch is I believe when Intel switched its CPU to incorporate dynamic translation to an internal, RISCy microcode.
People make fun of him for stuff like this, but ESR has accounted for this possibility.
Preach it, brother! I mean, how else can he afford another solid-gold Humvee?
At least the 2006.0 version is. It challenges the structured narratives about how we've come to expect an installer to look and act.
The graphical installer mysteriously goes silent at about the point where it's supposed to get its install on. The text-mode installer is better, but sometimes it dies mysteriously with cryptic error messages and no way for the user to restore or resume the process, or else correct the problem.
After a few tries I got it going. For my amd64 machine, there was no easy-peezy installer if I wanted to make use of all 64 juicy bits and both succulent cores. So I had to do a by-hand, command-line install like a true gangsta should. I dare say that process was more pleasant, only because command-line installs don't build up your expectations only to let you down.
The CPU of the true pimp. Nothing matches the Commodizzo' Sitty-Fizzo'!
I'm waiting for my SinoLogic 16 with Sogo7 data gloves and Thompson eye phones.
Will I be able to do a lip trick off a giant human skull into a burning vagina?
...Eden. From Rez. In many ways she is the anti-SHODAN; and if you study the game's audiovisual symbology carefully, and think of it as "Eden's thoughts", she becomes a surprisingly intriguing character.
Sorry, should have read that article down to the bottom. Apparently the Diz's blowing style was shaped by damage to the buccinators (muscles along the cheeks), slackening them; this is also not rare amongst professional trumpeters.
If you are referring to the famous way in which Dizzy Gillespie puffed his cheeks while playing -- that is due not to improper technique but rather "Satchmo's syndrome" or rupture of the orbicularis oris, the muscle that goes all the way around the mouth and makes it constrict. It's apparently real common amongst brass wind musicians, a sort of trumpeter's RSI:
http://www.clinica-planas.es/artcien20.html
I think Gillespie's biggest mistake was continuing to play in spite of the damage to his muscle tissue; Louis Armstrong, for whom the condition is named, stopped playing for a year in order to let his mouth recover.
Next step: getting NVIDIA and ATI to comply with the law.
I just saw The Incredibles again, and I suddenly get the weird feeling the new plans for OpenGL involve rocket-borne, city-ravaging Omnidroids...
"FYI, man, you can do like absolutely nothing... and your name goes through like, 17 computers a day, man. 1984? Yeah, RIGHT, man, that's a typo. Orwell's here now and he's livin' large. We have no names man, no names! We are NAMELESS.... Can I score a fry?"
Actually I think they'll be both trumped by the project affiliated with the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Of course in some circles he is venerated as the Buoyant Spaghetti Deity; hence, OpenBSD.
No, no, you don't get it.
The original Macintosh was the UI Bible, 1984 King Steve Version, the only version which can claim to be divinely inspired. All other UIs are apostate.
I.e., give Supes a series of missions he has to complete. He's effectively invincible but he needs to stop the bank robbers/terrorists/etc. in a minimum amount of time, with no human collateral damage and a minimum of property damage. The longer he dallies or the more of Metropolis he tears up while saving the world, the lower his publicity rating becomes. This will require strategic thinking and searching for non-obvious solutions (perhaps with the aid of X-ray vision). Boss battles could be super-powered robots built by Lex Luthor or something, with kryptonite power sources and Supes could only take a limited number of hits from those (perhaps as few as one).
Of course, down in Kakariko Village it'd be five rupees, six tops, but today you're shopping with Tingle.
Time to call the Cheat Commandos and ROCK, ROCK ON!
A girl I knew in college, a sophomore or junior, thought that a compiler worked by using a magic chip located on the computer's motherboard. She was concerned about being able to put Borland on her laptop and have it still work -- laptops of course lack the "compiler chip". She was a high-GPA, CS major.
I tell this story frequently as being illustrative of the current state of CS education.
I didn't know until I found and bought a copy of "The Bouncer" for like 3 bucks a few months ago, and my guy was always making clumsy swings at empty air. Then I found that there's a button responsiveness tweak in the options and a little graph that goes up and down with the firmness of button presses so you can test it. "Wow... the buttons could do that?!"
The canonical story I hear w.r.t. NT is the usual "We made the Amiga; Commodore f*ed it up" story. Dave Cutler and his team, who designed VMS, came to Microsoft and produced a tight little 32-bit microkernel for their NT OS/2 project. Then NT became Windows NT, and the Microsoft marketroids came in and demanded features (like kernel-mode video) that helped make NT the wonderful piece of shite it is today.
How does that story resonate with your experience?
Did anyone notice that both the Koreans and the Japanese have done exactly what Saber Marionette, Mahoromatic, and Cat Girl Nuku Nuku have predicted, and that is direct their formidable robotics skills to the building of more and more realistic, supple-skinned robot women?
"I'm only gonna sing this one time. Ohhhh... if you want it to be a possessive, it's just I-T-S, but if it's supposed to be a contraction, then it's I-T-apostrophe-S... scalawag." --Strong Bad