IIRC, Metropolis fell into the public domain or something (or at least, there are 50 million versions of it, editing aside -- sort of like His Girl Friday).
Will they be releasing this spiffed up version at some point in the future?
The first collegiate-level production of Metropolis done as a musical was done in 1994 at Southwestern College (in San Diego, CA). (My father performed in it, so I ended up at the theatre for many-a late night.) Anyway, I remember hearing all sorts of debate over the different versions of the movie out there. Which was the "truest" to the original story (none, really), which was the most accessible.
Since we were the first in the US, the script and songs for the musical were re-written and umpteen number of times during production. It ended up as a sort of rock opera, but evoking many themes that were more present in the original than in later edits.
Apparently, even with as much research as they've now been able to do, there are still significant portions of it missing ('it' being Lang's original version).
Anyway, all technology workers deserve to see this story in one form or another. Definitely has as much to say now as it did 75 years ago.
If this thing were an am/fm radio that let you record/scrub a live radio broadcast or something, that would be cool. Not that this isn't cool, but that's what I though it was when I read that phrase.
Would be useful for those Saturday night DJ mixes you hear, or I suppose if there was some talk radio segment you like, or a really funny morning-radio skit.
Mr. Joe User is the guy at our office (we run linux desktops) who doesn't get to have the root password on his box. Mr. Joe User is a user, he gets to come into work. Type in his user name, type in his password (he can do this because he keeps it on a sticky on his monitor) and lauch an office suite. In support, we don't hear from Mr. Joe User much any more, since we switched to linux, he desktop is stable, and he doesn't have the power to mess it up.
It's worth pointing out right about now the concept of the "PC". No, I'm not talking about the x86 hardware standard, I'm talking about the "personal computer." The computer which a single person has the ability to use and "personalize" to a large extent, while still having it work.
To some extent, this concept is at odds with the multi-user or corporate environments. There, no computer is truly personal - it's corporate. Someone is being paid bucks to "manage" and control all of the company-owned systems. In this case, Joe User is an employee and can no more be expected to diagnose his company-owned machine than a buger-flipper be expected to conduct annual grill tune-ups on his own.
Mr. Joe User takes his car to Jiffy-Lube to get the oil chainged, but thinks he can install ram himself? No, no, not Mr. Joe User.
Do you know where Jiffy Lube gets most of its business from? Fleet contracts! How many people driving company cars are told to do anything more with their vehicles than fill the gas tank?
The other Joe User (and the one relevant here) is Joe Public. Joe Public deserves to have full control over his machine, and yet still be able to avoid breaking it (or at least being warned before he's about to do something dangerous.)
This is the main reason the classic (pre OS X) Mac OS was so great. Users were able to pick up very quickly how to get their machines to do lots of interesting things on their own.
Rather than force your grandmother to either "only" use a web browser and email client or have to log in as root and have a degree to make her changes, a personal computer should have an empowering and forgiving interface and design. One that keeps the user informed (not uninformed like Windows ("contact your administrator") or over-informed like *nix ("string undefined in libsc324.h: var str set... blah blah blah")) and in control.
Mr. Joe User is a fool is he thinks he can be a system administrator without any training, reading, or studying, regardless of the os.
A personal computer operating system (ie, one for the home user) should be intelligent enough to slide to the user's comfort level. You don't have to train to be a mechanic to perform maintenance (and some "upgrades") on your car. To do a major tune-up, yes (although there are some (think linux geeks) that perform them on their own cars). To replace an oil filter, change your oil, clean your carb, etc.. a sufficiently motivated consumer can do, and should be able to do without having to pour through a 600 page ASE manual first.
This is why the classic Mac OS's TCO (total cost of ownership) has historically been so low. "Administering" a Macintosh can be *effectively* done by someone who HASN'T studied for 3 years to get their MCSE, or given up their Friday nights for 2 years in a row to be an uber-geek.
Re:leaving the visually-disabled behind?
on
Quake For the Blind
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Can't speak for other airports, but the San Diego International Airport (Lindburgh Field) has a pretty nift visual paging system. All around the facility are monitors which print out in big bold letters any pages or important information being said over the loudspeaker.
A few days ago I was "surfing the Internet" (if you want to call it that) with my crappy SprintPCS 4-line PCS phone, and I got to thinking that a raw, text-only, yet linked hypertext environment is precisely the type of thing that these types of ultra-thin clients need.
Has anyone explored the possiblity of using gopher as the standard for text-only wireless access to documents instead of some hacked version of HTML (WML)?
Seriously, the only platform that can reasonably get same-as-desktop speed out of their laptops is Apple's.
Chips by Intel and AMD (for the kind of speed needed for these types of activities, or just general high-intensity apps) simply cannot do the work needed for the price/feature/weight point needed.
Especially with Mac OS X now firmly in place, this really hits home why more and more people are dumping their Toshiba's and Sony's and hopping onto PowerBooks at their next upgrade cycle.
Unless you see nothing wrong with needing an industrial-strength blower to keep your lap cool.
It kind of depends on what your file system is optimized for.
The classic Mac OS HFS+ (and HFS) was optomized for directory depth (large numbers of subdirectories, with fewer files each) versus directory breadth (a more shallow directory structure, but with 1000's of files each).
That's one reason why Mac OS X is somewhat slow, and why classic Mac apps don't store information in tons of tiny little files everywhere like Windows or even *nix apps do. I'm sure my MacOS 9 machine next to me would be slow as a dog opening up my 4000-file c:\winnt\system32\ directory, but Windows takes forever drilling down into a directory like the Mac's System Folder.
Of course, with the built in database aspects of the Resource Manager, storing structured data in one file was easier on MacOS than it was on other OS's too.
My point is, if a FS or OS is optimized to deal with billions and billions of tiny files all in the same directory, then that's great. If it's optomized to deal with fewer files, but with a more structured layout, you should take that into account when designing the storage for your app.
Who said every platform needs to use the same thing?
"If restrictions are truly unavoidable (and I doubt they are) I agree with those promoting the idea of AVERAGE bandwidth used, not total volume transfered. As long as I have the ability to transfer large files at off-peak hours without restrictions, I won't be *too* unhappy."
Umm.. since when did computing an average not imply (total amount)/(something)?
Your average bandwidth used (in kbps) = (total volume transferred in kilobits for that month)/(30 days*24 hours*60 minutes*60 seconds)
You'd think they would be able to do this from their home office - except for the part about testing each of their competitors signal at the same point. Do they really need to do that though?
That's like saying "Hey I can pull up the page using the loopback address 127.0.0.1, so I guess our clients can view the website now." You're forgetting DNS, IP address assignment, routing issues, packet loss, ping times, and all the other issues that can affect web browsing.
Sometimes there's just no substitute for actually physically doing the test.
I believe that's factoring in the cost of making constant calls using every other provider as well. Add gas, amoritized car repairs resulting from driving hundreds of miles a day, insurance costs, lodging or meals if they're doing an actual cross-country trip, training costs, etc... and you're getting up there.
And are you really going to have someone driving around a $275K piece of equipment and pay them minimum wage? Are you nuts?
One of the problems with these various large scale concept/projects is that things can flounder forever in the planning stages.
For those of you familiar with large bureaucracies, everything lies in the funding. By forcing the funding of something and laying out a defined timetable, this bill would IMHO stand a good chance of actually causing this to become a reality. (Technical delays notwithstanding.)
I agree, this probably won't pass... but it would a very clear signal, a strident first step, and a more exciting two decades if it did.
FYI: That's the way HFS/HFS+ is designed, it's a case-preserving, but case-insensitive system.
This has been written about in ARSTechnica and other good interface-analysis sites.
Frankly, this is a GOOD thing. There's no reason the user/sysadmin needs to have case-distinguishable file names. A filename's purpose is to serve as an identifiable label which a human can recognize the file by. There's no good reason why "readme" and "README" should refer to two separate files. If you have two readme files, they should be named differently.
The case-preserving aspect is important because it reminds all involved that the user is in control, not the OS. If you want to name something "sysTEM FOLDer", the OS should identify it as such, but if someone else wants to get to the "system folder", the OS needs to be smart enough to recognize that that's what you're refering to.
Calling someone "brian smith", or "Brian Smith", or "BRIAN SMITH" doesn't change the identify of the person you're calling.
Slashdot Mirror
IIRC, Metropolis fell into the public domain or something (or at least, there are 50 million versions of it, editing aside -- sort of like His Girl Friday).
Will they be releasing this spiffed up version at some point in the future?
The first collegiate-level production of Metropolis done as a musical was done in 1994 at Southwestern College (in San Diego, CA). (My father performed in it, so I ended up at the theatre for many-a late night.) Anyway, I remember hearing all sorts of debate over the different versions of the movie out there. Which was the "truest" to the original story (none, really), which was the most accessible.
Since we were the first in the US, the script and songs for the musical were re-written and umpteen number of times during production. It ended up as a sort of rock opera, but evoking many themes that were more present in the original than in later edits.
Apparently, even with as much research as they've now been able to do, there are still significant portions of it missing ('it' being Lang's original version).
Anyway, all technology workers deserve to see this story in one form or another. Definitely has as much to say now as it did 75 years ago.
If you have a duel machine...
Somebody watching Revolutionary Girl Utena a little too much recently?
D'oh! My bad...
Sorry, it's only 11am over here. Looks like I need more coffee =P
If this thing were an am/fm radio that let you record/scrub a live radio broadcast or something, that would be cool. Not that this isn't cool, but that's what I though it was when I read that phrase.
Would be useful for those Saturday night DJ mixes you hear, or I suppose if there was some talk radio segment you like, or a really funny morning-radio skit.
Sounds interesting; couldn't find it in the IMDB though. Any info/links on it?
Mr. Joe User is the guy at our office (we run linux desktops) who doesn't get to have the root password on his box. Mr. Joe User is a user, he gets to come into work. Type in his user name, type in his password (he can do this because he keeps it on a sticky on his monitor) and lauch an office suite. In support, we don't hear from Mr. Joe User much any more, since we switched to linux, he desktop is stable, and he doesn't have the power to mess it up.
It's worth pointing out right about now the concept of the "PC". No, I'm not talking about the x86 hardware standard, I'm talking about the "personal computer." The computer which a single person has the ability to use and "personalize" to a large extent, while still having it work.
To some extent, this concept is at odds with the multi-user or corporate environments. There, no computer is truly personal - it's corporate. Someone is being paid bucks to "manage" and control all of the company-owned systems. In this case, Joe User is an employee and can no more be expected to diagnose his company-owned machine than a buger-flipper be expected to conduct annual grill tune-ups on his own.
Mr. Joe User takes his car to Jiffy-Lube to get the oil chainged, but thinks he can install ram himself? No, no, not Mr. Joe User.
Do you know where Jiffy Lube gets most of its business from? Fleet contracts! How many people driving company cars are told to do anything more with their vehicles than fill the gas tank?
The other Joe User (and the one relevant here) is Joe Public. Joe Public deserves to have full control over his machine, and yet still be able to avoid breaking it (or at least being warned before he's about to do something dangerous.)
This is the main reason the classic (pre OS X) Mac OS was so great. Users were able to pick up very quickly how to get their machines to do lots of interesting things on their own.
Rather than force your grandmother to either "only" use a web browser and email client or have to log in as root and have a degree to make her changes, a personal computer should have an empowering and forgiving interface and design. One that keeps the user informed (not uninformed like Windows ("contact your administrator") or over-informed like *nix ("string undefined in libsc324.h: var str set... blah blah blah")) and in control.
Mr. Joe User is a fool is he thinks he can be a system administrator without any training, reading, or studying, regardless of the os.
A personal computer operating system (ie, one for the home user) should be intelligent enough to slide to the user's comfort level. You don't have to train to be a mechanic to perform maintenance (and some "upgrades") on your car. To do a major tune-up, yes (although there are some (think linux geeks) that perform them on their own cars). To replace an oil filter, change your oil, clean your carb, etc.. a sufficiently motivated consumer can do, and should be able to do without having to pour through a 600 page ASE manual first.
This is why the classic Mac OS's TCO (total cost of ownership) has historically been so low. "Administering" a Macintosh can be *effectively* done by someone who HASN'T studied for 3 years to get their MCSE, or given up their Friday nights for 2 years in a row to be an uber-geek.
Can't speak for other airports, but the San Diego International Airport (Lindburgh Field) has a pretty nift visual paging system. All around the facility are monitors which print out in big bold letters any pages or important information being said over the loudspeaker.
I can sympathize... I live out in El Cajon wth my bedroom window about 30 ft. from the tracks over the Fletcher Pkwy bridge.
At least twice a week one of the SDTI frieght trains comes rolling by at about 2am.
Oh well, at least the tracks are being put to good use...
You're both wrong.... it took place in 2015.
f00.
Everyday some random Joe Schmoe's sight is degraded and impaired by a barrage of requests from a slashdot article.
Maybe if Mr. Schmoe is playing some sort of drinking game related to network traffic or something....
This gets me thinking...
A few days ago I was "surfing the Internet" (if you want to call it that) with my crappy SprintPCS 4-line PCS phone, and I got to thinking that a raw, text-only, yet linked hypertext environment is precisely the type of thing that these types of ultra-thin clients need.
Has anyone explored the possiblity of using gopher as the standard for text-only wireless access to documents instead of some hacked version of HTML (WML)?
Seriously, the only platform that can reasonably get same-as-desktop speed out of their laptops is Apple's.
Chips by Intel and AMD (for the kind of speed needed for these types of activities, or just general high-intensity apps) simply cannot do the work needed for the price/feature/weight point needed.
Especially with Mac OS X now firmly in place, this really hits home why more and more people are dumping their Toshiba's and Sony's and hopping onto PowerBooks at their next upgrade cycle.
Unless you see nothing wrong with needing an industrial-strength blower to keep your lap cool.
How about Richard Stallman denouncing non-"free software" as the same?
It kind of depends on what your file system is optimized for.
The classic Mac OS HFS+ (and HFS) was optomized for directory depth (large numbers of subdirectories, with fewer files each) versus directory breadth (a more shallow directory structure, but with 1000's of files each).
That's one reason why Mac OS X is somewhat slow, and why classic Mac apps don't store information in tons of tiny little files everywhere like Windows or even *nix apps do. I'm sure my MacOS 9 machine next to me would be slow as a dog opening up my 4000-file c:\winnt\system32\ directory, but Windows takes forever drilling down into a directory like the Mac's System Folder.
Of course, with the built in database aspects of the Resource Manager, storing structured data in one file was easier on MacOS than it was on other OS's too.
My point is, if a FS or OS is optimized to deal with billions and billions of tiny files all in the same directory, then that's great. If it's optomized to deal with fewer files, but with a more structured layout, you should take that into account when designing the storage for your app.
Who said every platform needs to use the same thing?
Umm.. since when did computing an average not imply (total amount)/(something)?
Your average bandwidth used (in kbps) =
(total volume transferred in kilobits for that month)/(30 days*24 hours*60 minutes*60 seconds)
So how is this different?
Lasertag is still going strong! The one in San Diego is pretty nice... lots of locals go there pretty often...
Okay, i just realized i didn't really respond to that quote =P
Yes, they do need to do that... you're forgetting one of the most important concepts in competition (or war):
Know your enemy as well as you know yourself.
That's like saying "Hey I can pull up the page using the loopback address 127.0.0.1, so I guess our clients can view the website now."
You're forgetting DNS, IP address assignment, routing issues, packet loss, ping times, and all the other issues that can affect web browsing.
Sometimes there's just no substitute for actually physically doing the test.
I believe that's factoring in the cost of making constant calls using every other provider as well. Add gas, amoritized car repairs resulting from driving hundreds of miles a day, insurance costs, lodging or meals if they're doing an actual cross-country trip, training costs, etc... and you're getting up there.
And are you really going to have someone driving around a $275K piece of equipment and pay them minimum wage? Are you nuts?
Really? I seem to recall a lot more than just 2 or 3 "full rewrites" getting the number treatment.
The day of the Elian Gonzalez raid had no less than 8 numbered editions, some obviously major (once the raid happened), but some relatively minor....
http://www.cnn.com/2000/US/04/22/cuba.boy/
all the way to
http://www.cnn.com/2000/US/04/22/cuba.boy.08/
One of the problems with these various large scale concept/projects is that things can flounder forever in the planning stages.
For those of you familiar with large bureaucracies, everything lies in the funding. By forcing the funding of something and laying out a defined timetable, this bill would IMHO stand a good chance of actually causing this to become a reality. (Technical delays notwithstanding.)
I agree, this probably won't pass... but it would a very clear signal, a strident first step, and a more exciting two decades if it did.
So write your Congressmen, damnit! =)
Hey, there's nothing wrong with using what's available when you're in a pinch =)
Nice.. this'll look pretty elegant in our data center =)
http://www.apple.com/xserve/
FYI: That's the way HFS/HFS+ is designed, it's a case-preserving, but case-insensitive system.
This has been written about in ARSTechnica and other good interface-analysis sites.
Frankly, this is a GOOD thing. There's no reason the user/sysadmin needs to have case-distinguishable file names. A filename's purpose is to serve as an identifiable label which a human can recognize the file by. There's no good reason why "readme" and "README" should refer to two separate files. If you have two readme files, they should be named differently.
The case-preserving aspect is important because it reminds all involved that the user is in control, not the OS. If you want to name something "sysTEM FOLDer", the OS should identify it as such, but if someone else wants to get to the "system folder", the OS needs to be smart enough to recognize that that's what you're refering to.
Calling someone "brian smith", or "Brian Smith", or "BRIAN SMITH" doesn't change the identify of the person you're calling.