Still filtering 95% of the messages I receive out as spam here, no let down. Others have noted a large Dutch operation was shut down but it's not affecting me!
I turned all my machines off for 35 days recently during a house move. I was hoping one positive would be it'd get my damn e-mail off of some of the lists. Alas, no. The very first thing that connected to my machine when I turned it back on was a spammer. Typical. I still bounce spam sent to an address I've not used in 10 years so I really shouldn't be surprised.
I recognise they're high theft items but they're starting to get a little excessive.
Bought a plastic car that was in a thick cardboard box and sellotaped shut. Once that was removed there was another box inside made of molded plastic. Scissors time. Inside that is yet another piece of cardbord and the car is SCREWED DOWN to it. Screwdriver time - and the screws are about 2" long. Finally, I have 4 large ties to remove to free the stupid thing. Took me about 20 minutes to get the thing out (with an excited 5-year old waiting for his new toy and getting very impatient!!).
It cost $5 at Wal-Mart!
In terms of dumb shipments from technology companies, I ordered a small antenna from radio shack once (about 5" long) and it came in a huge box completely filled with the popcorn styrofoam. The antenna was in a small ziplock bag in one corner.
It must be some sort of new sport amongst packaging people.
Actually, I thought this was a cool proposal until I started thinking about it..., these are the ones that came into my head immediately:
* The ISS may be designed to be boosted into a higher orbit, but this is not the same as the stresses involved with a Trans-Lunar injection boost. It would have to have the entire structural integrity improved which would be VERY expensive.
* Yes, solar panels would work at the moon but the whole directional system would have to be redesigned and the number of panels probably increased.
* The resupply craft are not designed to go to the moon nor is there a booster (currently) available that could take them there. We'd need a whole new booster built to even get them close.
* Our current proposal is to put a base ON the moon. There's really not much to be gained by creating, or moving, a space station into lunar orbit. You certainly couldn't land the ISS on the moon (well you *could* I guess but it'd take some serious engineering!).
It's a religion, or a cult, I'm not sure. I worked desktop support for a largish company and the people who used ergonomic keyboards would whine piteously whenever they got moved to a terminal without one. It always seemed a bit weird to me.
Some things to consider here: I learned on a MANUAL typewriter when I was about 7 years old (thanks Mum!) and was taught the old fashioned 10 fingered way of typing from a book written in the 60s!
Anyway, I and forced myself to use one for 2 weeks to give it a fair try. About a week and half in my hands where in absolute agony so I went back to my old keyboard. I've not had any problems since but swore never to go back to the horrible thing!
My conclusion is that "ergonomic" keyboards are probably great if that's what you learned on but if you've used a normal keyboard for a long period of time (almost 25 years for me) it's impossible to adjust.
I have a box of about 400 speccy games from the 80s and 90s that I kept in their original cases, I'm sure they're worth something but I'd never part with them. Whilst I imagine they'd sell on Ebay now, I'm sure they'll be worth much more money in a few decades.
I suspect they'll be part of my kid's inheritance.
This is a weak idea for a story, the same advice is commented on somewhere with every new Slashdot post about Firefox releases.
Better advice would be to go check the Addon's web site and see if there's a beta version that been tested with the new Firefox release. Many of these extensions are written for free and have donate buttons on the site. If you donate to the author, he may be more inclined to "fix" your favourite extension to ensure compatibility.
It's a project I'm working on. I'm one of those unfortunates with an analog OnStar box that can't be upgraded (or rather, Chevy refuse to) so I did some research and found this (and many others), remembered how cool the Empeg Car was so got inspired to build one for the 21st century that'd do GPS navigation and play DVDs as well as being an MP3 jukebox.
One of these days I'll actually finish it and post pictures.:-)
In all seriousness, please take off your tin toils hats and stop being some damn paranoid that the US is somehow going to arrest your at the border. Really, if you have nothing to hide then you have nothing to worry about.
My other advice: What kind of crazy idiot stores important or sensitive data or there laptop anyway? Your laptop is stolen and gets into the wrong hands, you're fucked (just pray your encryption isn't broken!).
Put it somewhere safe that you can get to it remotely. Then there won't be anything there for anyone to find, border patrol or otherwise.
Congrats on the marriage. Funny, when I was a newlywed computer games were the last type of "game" we thought about playing. Anyway, ahem, 3 kids later...
MAME is always fun, plenty of games there. Also try some of the older emulators like the Atari and NES/SNES ones. Once you're bored with those you can always get a Speccy emulator (Spectaculator, SPIN, etc.). Once you're bored with those try Gametap.
Or, you could just buy yourselves a console and get one of the Namco museum compilations. Or DDR, or Guitar Hero, or Rock Band.
You may be right, bear in mind that this is a computer trying to set up the best route it can from a complex set of algorithms. My GPS wants me to turn on a certain street on the way home. It makes sense, it's a main road and will take me right to my street. What my GPS does not know is that the intersection it wants me to turn on is a) VERY dangerous and b) the busiest intersection in my city so I would be stuck there for 10 minutes.
The next left will add 0.3 of a mile and an extra turn to my journey but saves me dealing with that horrible intersection and is actually faster.
What I would love to see in GPS's and none of them have this feature is the ability to upload "local shortcuts", eg roads the locals know about that get you where you need to go faster but are not obvious to visitors.
My TomTom device has mapshare built in, I'd be astonished if Garmin did not. I've made dozens of map corrections (mostly silly stuff like incorrect street names) and they seem to update the maps often. My neighbourhood has been around for a while so no problems with the street layout here. I believe TomTom use Teradata maps whereas most other GPS systems use a different company.
I would love to see an open mapping project though.
I'm assuming that 1) This is for her personal account, not root/administrator/whatever and 2) it's connected via a proxy that does its best to filter out the nasty stuff she shouldn't be seeing and 3) You've got her incredibly locked down, right? I like it, 7 years old is a good age to start teaching her about internet security so long as limits are set.
Good, in that case a fingerprint reader is your best bet. Just make sure she knows to wipe her fingers off after finger painting or eating sticky food:-)
Cleaning sticky candy out of electronics is not fun. I've had to do it myself. More than once. Kids are fun!
It's still used in some legal firms even today. Sometimes those tricky forms are just easier with a manual typewriter. And, of course, we have to make copies of everything!
There was significant effort put into locating Fossett to no avail. Bear in mind also he was a survival expert. Unless you want to start conspiracy theories, the chances of him being found alive now are next to zero. I think his family just wants closure and the chance to get all of his affairs in order.
I use my retro 80s arcade controller for MAME and I have my flight joke controller for the rare occasion I have time to dive into a flight simulator. I should find one for my PS2 for playing Taito Museum (anyone?).
Game pads are fine, but those awful thumb controllers in modern games consoles are just plain irritating to me. I've never understood the appeal. Maybe I'm old fashioned?
If I was a developing country wanting to get into space I'd be offering the Russians money for the blueprints to their Buran program rather than stealing information on the Shuttle from the United States. I'd be willing to bet they'd happily give them up if the price was right. Sure it was an unproven technology (at least in manned flight) but it'd be a LOT cheaper.
I have an original Fisher Price Garage. The thing was bought in the mid 70s for my older brother and it was handed down to me. It's now over 30 years old. It's been played with by countless numbers of children over the years and apart from being very scuffed up is in working order. My own kids love it. I suspect my own grandkids will be playing with it many years from now.
That, or my vote would be for anything Tonka made in the 70s. Still have several examples of those as well.
My 5 year old showed really no interest in computers until he was 4 years old. He plays age appropriate games, eg the stuff Fisher Price put out but also loves Guitar Hero. I don't see any problem with video games, they are improving his hand-eye coordination and rational thinking.
My 2 year old, on the other hand is already into computers but still at the randomly hitting keys to see what happens stage. So, we have an older machine that I don't mind him beating up on and some simple video games to nuture his interest. I think this is the one that'll follow me into the IT field.
We also spend plenty of time teaching our children traditional games as well. Seems to me almost every toy you get now requires AA batteries (not included) so I've made a point of buying manual toys for them to play with. Lego is a big hit! It's important to have a balance between the old and new.
They found a problem during the design phase? Good! Better now than 73 seconds after launch or during re-entry! Seriously, they've probably found several thousand issues by now - why is this even news? Trial and error is part of every rocket design project.
So long as the major ones (you know, the ones that'll kill someone) are fixed before launch there is no cause for alarm.
A little extreme, but sometimes things just get forgotten. I'm a little surprised a trouble ticket festered for 10 years but who knows? I got an e-mail once that took 5 years to be delivered, it turned out the e-mail server was decommissioned whilst mine was still in the mail spool and, 5 years later, the server was turned on again and did its job.
Just recently I got a reply to a Freshmeat post I made in 1998. Old data can stick around for a long time!
Well, discounting the childhood games of Tig (or Tag, but we called in Tig), British Bulldogs, Cops and Robbers, Cowboys and Indians, Conkers and a dozen others that I sincerely hope are still played in some form or another in schoolyards around the world or all hope is lost! I assume you mean video games.
My first experience would be Soccer on a friend's intellivision and I recall sucking at it and thinking it sucked too. It's not the game's fault, I'm just not a big association football fan. I'm thinking probably 1982 or 1983. My first positive experience would be Chequered Flag on a ZX Spectrum 48K in about 1983. After that, I was completely hooked on computers in general. I still own an original copy!
Slashdot Mirror
Still filtering 95% of the messages I receive out as spam here, no let down. Others have noted a large Dutch operation was shut down but it's not affecting me!
I turned all my machines off for 35 days recently during a house move. I was hoping one positive would be it'd get my damn e-mail off of some of the lists. Alas, no. The very first thing that connected to my machine when I turned it back on was a spammer. Typical. I still bounce spam sent to an address I've not used in 10 years so I really shouldn't be surprised.
I recognise they're high theft items but they're starting to get a little excessive.
Bought a plastic car that was in a thick cardboard box and sellotaped shut. Once that was removed there was another box inside made of molded plastic. Scissors time. Inside that is yet another piece of cardbord and the car is SCREWED DOWN to it. Screwdriver time - and the screws are about 2" long. Finally, I have 4 large ties to remove to free the stupid thing. Took me about 20 minutes to get the thing out (with an excited 5-year old waiting for his new toy and getting very impatient!!).
It cost $5 at Wal-Mart!
In terms of dumb shipments from technology companies, I ordered a small antenna from radio shack once (about 5" long) and it came in a huge box completely filled with the popcorn styrofoam. The antenna was in a small ziplock bag in one corner.
It must be some sort of new sport amongst packaging people.
Actually, I thought this was a cool proposal until I started thinking about it..., these are the ones that came into my head immediately:
* The ISS may be designed to be boosted into a higher orbit, but this is not the same as the stresses involved with a Trans-Lunar injection boost. It would have to have the entire structural integrity improved which would be VERY expensive.
* Yes, solar panels would work at the moon but the whole directional system would have to be redesigned and the number of panels probably increased.
* The resupply craft are not designed to go to the moon nor is there a booster (currently) available that could take them there. We'd need a whole new booster built to even get them close.
* Our current proposal is to put a base ON the moon. There's really not much to be gained by creating, or moving, a space station into lunar orbit. You certainly couldn't land the ISS on the moon (well you *could* I guess but it'd take some serious engineering!).
It's a religion, or a cult, I'm not sure. I worked desktop support for a largish company and the people who used ergonomic keyboards would whine piteously whenever they got moved to a terminal without one. It always seemed a bit weird to me.
Some things to consider here: I learned on a MANUAL typewriter when I was about 7 years old (thanks Mum!) and was taught the old fashioned 10 fingered way of typing from a book written in the 60s!
Anyway, I and forced myself to use one for 2 weeks to give it a fair try. About a week and half in my hands where in absolute agony so I went back to my old keyboard. I've not had any problems since but swore never to go back to the horrible thing!
My conclusion is that "ergonomic" keyboards are probably great if that's what you learned on but if you've used a normal keyboard for a long period of time (almost 25 years for me) it's impossible to adjust.
Well, it went mental and spawned three processes that happily chewed up my CPU and started eating memory as a side dish. Oh, and Firefox crashed.
;-)
It's a beta, right?
To small to be imaged by current technology (which makes the Moon Hoax Theory loonies very happy).
When the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter launches we'll be able to get images (albeit fuzzy) of the equipment on the surface.
It won't shut up the Moon Hoax theorists but it will make them look even sillier.
I have a box of about 400 speccy games from the 80s and 90s that I kept in their original cases, I'm sure they're worth something but I'd never part with them. Whilst I imagine they'd sell on Ebay now, I'm sure they'll be worth much more money in a few decades.
I suspect they'll be part of my kid's inheritance.
This is a weak idea for a story, the same advice is commented on somewhere with every new Slashdot post about Firefox releases.
Better advice would be to go check the Addon's web site and see if there's a beta version that been tested with the new Firefox release. Many of these extensions are written for free and have donate buttons on the site. If you donate to the author, he may be more inclined to "fix" your favourite extension to ensure compatibility.
Far better than making your browser unstable!
It's a project I'm working on. I'm one of those unfortunates with an analog OnStar box that can't be upgraded (or rather, Chevy refuse to) so I did some research and found this (and many others), remembered how cool the Empeg Car was so got inspired to build one for the 21st century that'd do GPS navigation and play DVDs as well as being an MP3 jukebox.
:-)
One of these days I'll actually finish it and post pictures.
Take a look at http://www.pbskids.org/ plenty of stuff there. My 2 year old loves it.
In all seriousness, please take off your tin toils hats and stop being some damn paranoid that the US is somehow going to arrest your at the border. Really, if you have nothing to hide then you have nothing to worry about.
My other advice: What kind of crazy idiot stores important or sensitive data or there laptop anyway? Your laptop is stolen and gets into the wrong hands, you're fucked (just pray your encryption isn't broken!).
Put it somewhere safe that you can get to it remotely. Then there won't be anything there for anyone to find, border patrol or otherwise.
It was some kind of infection I think, he recovered at any rate.
Congrats on the marriage. Funny, when I was a newlywed computer games were the last type of "game" we thought about playing. Anyway, ahem, 3 kids later...
MAME is always fun, plenty of games there. Also try some of the older emulators like the Atari and NES/SNES ones. Once you're bored with those you can always get a Speccy emulator (Spectaculator, SPIN, etc.). Once you're bored with those try Gametap.
Or, you could just buy yourselves a console and get one of the Namco museum compilations. Or DDR, or Guitar Hero, or Rock Band.
You may be right, bear in mind that this is a computer trying to set up the best route it can from a complex set of algorithms. My GPS wants me to turn on a certain street on the way home. It makes sense, it's a main road and will take me right to my street. What my GPS does not know is that the intersection it wants me to turn on is a) VERY dangerous and b) the busiest intersection in my city so I would be stuck there for 10 minutes.
The next left will add 0.3 of a mile and an extra turn to my journey but saves me dealing with that horrible intersection and is actually faster.
What I would love to see in GPS's and none of them have this feature is the ability to upload "local shortcuts", eg roads the locals know about that get you where you need to go faster but are not obvious to visitors.
My TomTom device has mapshare built in, I'd be astonished if Garmin did not. I've made dozens of map corrections (mostly silly stuff like incorrect street names) and they seem to update the maps often. My neighbourhood has been around for a while so no problems with the street layout here. I believe TomTom use Teradata maps whereas most other GPS systems use a different company.
I would love to see an open mapping project though.
I'm assuming that 1) This is for her personal account, not root/administrator/whatever and 2) it's connected via a proxy that does its best to filter out the nasty stuff she shouldn't be seeing and 3) You've got her incredibly locked down, right? I like it, 7 years old is a good age to start teaching her about internet security so long as limits are set.
:-)
Good, in that case a fingerprint reader is your best bet. Just make sure she knows to wipe her fingers off after finger painting or eating sticky food
Cleaning sticky candy out of electronics is not fun. I've had to do it myself. More than once. Kids are fun!
It's still used in some legal firms even today. Sometimes those tricky forms are just easier with a manual typewriter. And, of course, we have to make copies of everything!
There was significant effort put into locating Fossett to no avail. Bear in mind also he was a survival expert. Unless you want to start conspiracy theories, the chances of him being found alive now are next to zero. I think his family just wants closure and the chance to get all of his affairs in order.
I use my retro 80s arcade controller for MAME and I have my flight joke controller for the rare occasion I have time to dive into a flight simulator. I should find one for my PS2 for playing Taito Museum (anyone?).
Game pads are fine, but those awful thumb controllers in modern games consoles are just plain irritating to me. I've never understood the appeal. Maybe I'm old fashioned?
If I was a developing country wanting to get into space I'd be offering the Russians money for the blueprints to their Buran program rather than stealing information on the Shuttle from the United States. I'd be willing to bet they'd happily give them up if the price was right. Sure it was an unproven technology (at least in manned flight) but it'd be a LOT cheaper.
I have an original Fisher Price Garage. The thing was bought in the mid 70s for my older brother and it was handed down to me. It's now over 30 years old. It's been played with by countless numbers of children over the years and apart from being very scuffed up is in working order. My own kids love it. I suspect my own grandkids will be playing with it many years from now.
That, or my vote would be for anything Tonka made in the 70s. Still have several examples of those as well.
My 5 year old showed really no interest in computers until he was 4 years old. He plays age appropriate games, eg the stuff Fisher Price put out but also loves Guitar Hero. I don't see any problem with video games, they are improving his hand-eye coordination and rational thinking.
My 2 year old, on the other hand is already into computers but still at the randomly hitting keys to see what happens stage. So, we have an older machine that I don't mind him beating up on and some simple video games to nuture his interest. I think this is the one that'll follow me into the IT field.
We also spend plenty of time teaching our children traditional games as well. Seems to me almost every toy you get now requires AA batteries (not included) so I've made a point of buying manual toys for them to play with. Lego is a big hit! It's important to have a balance between the old and new.
They found a problem during the design phase? Good! Better now than 73 seconds after launch or during re-entry! Seriously, they've probably found several thousand issues by now - why is this even news? Trial and error is part of every rocket design project.
So long as the major ones (you know, the ones that'll kill someone) are fixed before launch there is no cause for alarm.
A little extreme, but sometimes things just get forgotten. I'm a little surprised a trouble ticket festered for 10 years but who knows? I got an e-mail once that took 5 years to be delivered, it turned out the e-mail server was decommissioned whilst mine was still in the mail spool and, 5 years later, the server was turned on again and did its job.
Just recently I got a reply to a Freshmeat post I made in 1998. Old data can stick around for a long time!
Well, discounting the childhood games of Tig (or Tag, but we called in Tig), British Bulldogs, Cops and Robbers, Cowboys and Indians, Conkers and a dozen others that I sincerely hope are still played in some form or another in schoolyards around the world or all hope is lost! I assume you mean video games.
My first experience would be Soccer on a friend's intellivision and I recall sucking at it and thinking it sucked too. It's not the game's fault, I'm just not a big association football fan. I'm thinking probably 1982 or 1983. My first positive experience would be Chequered Flag on a ZX Spectrum 48K in about 1983. After that, I was completely hooked on computers in general. I still own an original copy!