> now that I'm aware of how racing habits can affect > your everyday driving, I'm better able to keep it in > check....and you have one more set of tools in your arsenal you can bust out if the shit suddenly hits the fan in front of you.
> Modems signals are pretty standard down to 2400 bps, but the slower > 1200 and 300bps standards are different between Europe and North America.
This hasn't really been an issue since the early 90s, IME. All the decent vendors pretty much support both the Bell and CCITT standards. IIRC the relevant standards are Bell 212A and V.21 for 1200 bps, look in your modem manual.
Heh. I recently decided to pitch a couple modem racks, maybe it's good I kept a couple of the 24-port US Robotic Courier racks I have.
Spurred by this thread, I have been trying to find a copy of Waffle BBS, which is a straight dial-up into VT100 way to access news and e-mail thats "uucp-native" instead of some kind of gateway.
It seems that the source code has vanished, however. I sent an e-mail to Tom Jennings, hopefully he can help.
First off -- who says that the box is subject to the rules cut-off? It's *possible* that it has connectivity - say, maybe, it's in France and you're dialing long-distance. Or maybe it has a bi-directional satellite link.
You can also exchange e-mail and usenet in a robust, scalable way, with a UUCP network. You don't actually need to go with a full-on fidonet-style setup. And you only need one entrace/exit point to the in-country network to get your email out. This could potentially be some guy that lives 2 or 3km from a neighbouring country with a pringles cantenna.
I wonder if I should set up a Waffle system with CNews and UUCP - just in case I need it some day. This is a lot more work than just making sure you can kick of a slip session..
Setting up dial-in is pretty straightforward. One technique I like to do is kick off either a slipd or a pppd attached to a serial terminal based on the shell in the password file. This way, I can just dial in to a shell when it's convenient and/or I have a very slow connection.
The hard part about it is having a POTS phone line. A lot of people forget that you can't run a modem over a VoIP line. This is yet another reason why I refuse to give up my copper pair...
Your reply seems to be of the "communicating with ET is hard, so let's not try" variety. I think that's a cop-out.
You say, "they might not be looking at EM" - I say, "Why not?" - and more appropriately, "What other choices do WE have?" -- EM is the only way we have of getting a signal off our planet.
I don't think it's unreasonable to expect that alien scientists receiving our signal will be smart enough to build radios, and this probably means a basic understanding of mathematics. Almost certainly we will not be *accidentally* picked up -- it will be some alien SETI program.
You also seem to think that we have to be able to communicate with every kind of alien. I submit that it is enough to craft messages which can be received by aliens which are at least somewhat like us. After all, the universe is vast...
Once we have gotten their attention -- prime numbers WILL probably suffice -- we can certainly begin encoding simple messages. The start of the encoding stream could be things like circles and triangles, which are probably obvious enough that they would know that they got the decoder right.
Then we can move on to bigger universal things, like chemistry. Then maybe on to explaining mathematics, and tying the math into chemistry. Once we have math and chemistry, we can develop measurement units. Then we can send them diagrams of ourselves.
Or maybe a picture of the Milky Way, and arrow saying "come find us here!"
Or maybe a map of our night sky -- a sufficiently advanced race could use this to find our location.
The possibilities are boundless. Throwing them out because the probability of universal success is low. The probability of success in at least one locale is much higher - at least if you assume an infinite universe.
That's true -- however, I think it can be reasonably assumed that anybody trying to decode these messages at least has a basic grasp of physics and is smart enough to build a radio.
I don't know where you live, but in Canada, this constitutes uttering a death threat. This is a serious matter -- you call the police, they arrest him.
Believe it or not, scanned fake books (my preferred music format) are readily available on p2p networks. The hard part is finding the same editions as the ones you gave in print, but things pike The Real Book are easy.
(and yes, I keep paper books as a holy-shit backup)
If you're also a fake book kinda guy, check out the igigbook app. It's worth the ten bucks. I'm hoping to finish OCRing a bunch more indices to share with him, too -- so that app will keep on improving. He's also responsive to bugs etc, but I get the impression he's newish to software dev.
An iPad works really, really for displaying sheet music. It fits on a music stand, the battery lasts forever, the display is gently backlit (goodbye orchestra pit light) and the user interface makes it easy to quickly change pages.
I tried to use a PC running Tablet XP, but the OS didn't work well in portrait mode, I had to run a cord to it, and the screen needed a stylus.
Using a laptop is impossible, I can't put one on my piano because it interferes with the controls, and putting it on a music stand just doesn't work.
One thing I liked about the tablet XP machine - searching for songs was easy with the hand-writing recognition. Touching the screen on the iPad isn't too awful, because the program I use auto-completes, but I may get a bluetooth keyboard and mount it somewhere.
Oh, I also use my iPad to watch TV in bed. This is better than a laptop, because it doesn't get hot, and I don't have to worry about falling asleep and blocking the vents with a blanket.
> There's no more pedophile priests than there are > pedophile psychiatrists, teachers, and scout masters
cite, please.
The commonly-held belief is that the priesthood attracts self-loathing homosexuals and/or pedophiles at a higher rate than other professions. These people then try to use priesthood celibacy to repress their sexuality, and eventually they simply "burst".
> So if AOL pisses of a customer then, as a representative, have to > take the heat because that's what you get paid to do.
It is perfectly possible to express yourself without cursing at a CSR. The fact that there are people such as yourself who cannot even understand that is possible to express how you feel about a company without resorting to four-letter words saddens me to no end.
There is absolutely no need to be rude to somebody who is doing their job in a courteous way. None whatsoever.
> Source code makes for a crappy specification. [....] But that only tells you what the code thinks it is....and if the code *is* the specification, then you know what the specification says.
If you re-implement the code so that it behaves differently, you are not following the specification.
Now, it's entirely possible that we're talking about crappy code here -- but like I said earlier, good code makes a fine spec, IMHO.
Code is almost always deterministic, i.e. it will only do one thing. I have read many, many, many ambiguous specifications in my day.
Your documented behaviour is almost correct, IMHO.
If you are following somebody in the left lane who is passing somebody, then keep a respectful following distance until he completes the pass and moves right to let you pass. Hogging the left lane is one of the rudest driving behaviours I can think of. But tailgating someone who is using it to pass, just because they are not passing fast enough for your taste, is worse.
> On average, they aren't well educated, and they don't have a lot of money.
You don't need an education or money to be polite. The OP clearly he said he was only a dick to people who were rude to him. I think the OP and I have a lot in common - I'll be pleasant and courteous, and do what I have to -- unless you start cursing me out without provocation. In that case, I'll be the biggest dick I can.
For example, if you think it's a good idea to tailgate me because I'm only going 10 over the speed limit, I will slow down. Slower and slower. And man, I mean, I have almost no lower bound. I'll do 10 in an 80 if you're on my ass. Until you decide to pass me. Then I'll speed up so you're still stuck behind me. You would have been much better off waiting until it was safe to pass, and put on your turn signal. I'll move right in my lane and slow down 'till you're past.
It's not free, but you can cheaply ($25/mo?) get shell access to a VM hosted on the internet with lots of bandwidth and open ports. Either run your services there, or tunnel them to your home.
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> now that I'm aware of how racing habits can affect ...and you have one more set of tools in your arsenal you can bust out if the shit suddenly hits the fan in front of you.
> your everyday driving, I'm better able to keep it in
> check.
My physiotherapist has one of those. Fuck does it ever hurt.
I was wondering why there would be a fireplace in an underground bunker.... Carbon Monoxide poisoning would be an omnipresent risk.
> Modems signals are pretty standard down to 2400 bps, but the slower
> 1200 and 300bps standards are different between Europe and North America.
This hasn't really been an issue since the early 90s, IME. All the decent vendors pretty much support both the Bell and CCITT standards. IIRC the relevant standards are Bell 212A and V.21 for 1200 bps, look in your modem manual.
Heh. I recently decided to pitch a couple modem racks, maybe it's good I kept a couple of the 24-port US Robotic Courier racks I have.
Spurred by this thread, I have been trying to find a copy of Waffle BBS, which is a straight dial-up into VT100 way to access news and e-mail thats "uucp-native" instead of some kind of gateway.
It seems that the source code has vanished, however. I sent an e-mail to Tom Jennings, hopefully he can help.
First off -- who says that the box is subject to the rules cut-off? It's *possible* that it has connectivity - say, maybe, it's in France and you're dialing long-distance. Or maybe it has a bi-directional satellite link.
You can also exchange e-mail and usenet in a robust, scalable way, with a UUCP network. You don't actually need to go with a full-on fidonet-style setup. And you only need one entrace/exit point to the in-country network to get your email out. This could potentially be some guy that lives 2 or 3km from a neighbouring country with a pringles cantenna.
I wonder if I should set up a Waffle system with CNews and UUCP - just in case I need it some day. This is a lot more work than just making sure you can kick of a slip session..
Setting up dial-in is pretty straightforward. One technique I like to do is kick off either a slipd or a pppd attached to a serial terminal based on the shell in the password file. This way, I can just dial in to a shell when it's convenient and/or I have a very slow connection.
The hard part about it is having a POTS phone line. A lot of people forget that you can't run a modem over a VoIP line. This is yet another reason why I refuse to give up my copper pair...
> Dialing out of country to a 56k connection is just so bloody obvious.
Dialing out of country to a 56k connection is damn near impossible.
28.8? If the phone lines are good.
I wonder if there are any Egyptians left with USR HST modems, and if the dial-up concentrators even speak that any more..
Hey, I *still* tell Challenger jokes. I am totally the life of every party!
Q: What were Crista McAuliffe's last words to her hustband?
A: Okay, honey - you water the plants, I'll feed the fish
Your analogy may be apt -- "Low-tech" does not means "does not work".
And you know what? We have seen cave drawings, and have even learned a few things about Neanderthals because of them.
So, it looks like they worked fine.
Your reply seems to be of the "communicating with ET is hard, so let's not try" variety. I think that's a cop-out.
You say, "they might not be looking at EM" - I say, "Why not?" - and more appropriately, "What other choices do WE have?" -- EM is the only way we have of getting a signal off our planet.
I don't think it's unreasonable to expect that alien scientists receiving our signal will be smart enough to build radios, and this probably means a basic understanding of mathematics. Almost certainly we will not be *accidentally* picked up -- it will be some alien SETI program.
You also seem to think that we have to be able to communicate with every kind of alien. I submit that it is enough to craft messages which can be received by aliens which are at least somewhat like us. After all, the universe is vast...
Once we have gotten their attention -- prime numbers WILL probably suffice -- we can certainly begin encoding simple messages. The start of the encoding stream could be things like circles and triangles, which are probably obvious enough that they would know that they got the decoder right.
Then we can move on to bigger universal things, like chemistry. Then maybe on to explaining mathematics, and tying the math into chemistry. Once we have math and chemistry, we can develop measurement units. Then we can send them diagrams of ourselves.
Or maybe a picture of the Milky Way, and arrow saying "come find us here!"
Or maybe a map of our night sky -- a sufficiently advanced race could use this to find our location.
The possibilities are boundless. Throwing them out because the probability of universal success is low. The probability of success in at least one locale is much higher - at least if you assume an infinite universe.
That's true -- however, I think it can be reasonably assumed that anybody trying to decode these messages at least has a basic grasp of physics and is smart enough to build a radio.
I don't know where you live, but in Canada, this constitutes uttering a death threat. This is a serious matter -- you call the police, they arrest him.
That's not what he said. He said that KA9Q was not the inventor.
What's with the polarizing dialogue? Are your Karl Rove in disguise?
Maybe the poster is confused because of KA9Q's package?
Or is he the Phil you're referring to?
Believe it or not, scanned fake books (my preferred music format) are readily available on p2p networks. The hard part is finding the same editions as the ones you gave in print, but things pike The Real Book are easy.
(and yes, I keep paper books as a holy-shit backup)
If you're also a fake book kinda guy, check out the igigbook app. It's worth the ten bucks. I'm hoping to finish OCRing a bunch more indices to share with him, too -- so that app will keep on improving. He's also responsive to bugs etc, but I get the impression he's newish to software dev.
I've found another -- sheet music.
An iPad works really, really for displaying sheet music. It fits on a music stand, the battery lasts forever, the display is gently backlit (goodbye orchestra pit light) and the user interface makes it easy to quickly change pages.
I tried to use a PC running Tablet XP, but the OS didn't work well in portrait mode, I had to run a cord to it, and the screen needed a stylus.
Using a laptop is impossible, I can't put one on my piano because it interferes with the controls, and putting it on a music stand just doesn't work.
One thing I liked about the tablet XP machine - searching for songs was easy with the hand-writing recognition. Touching the screen on the iPad isn't too awful, because the program I use auto-completes, but I may get a bluetooth keyboard and mount it somewhere.
Oh, I also use my iPad to watch TV in bed. This is better than a laptop, because it doesn't get hot, and I don't have to worry about falling asleep and blocking the vents with a blanket.
> There's no more pedophile priests than there are
> pedophile psychiatrists, teachers, and scout masters
cite, please.
The commonly-held belief is that the priesthood attracts self-loathing homosexuals and/or pedophiles at a higher rate than other professions. These people then try to use priesthood celibacy to repress their sexuality, and eventually they simply "burst".
> So if AOL pisses of a customer then, as a representative, have to
> take the heat because that's what you get paid to do.
It is perfectly possible to express yourself without cursing at a CSR. The fact that there are people such as yourself who cannot even understand that is possible to express how you feel about a company without resorting to four-letter words saddens me to no end.
There is absolutely no need to be rude to somebody who is doing their job in a courteous way. None whatsoever.
> Source code makes for a crappy specification. [....] But that only tells you what the code thinks it is. ...and if the code *is* the specification, then you know what the specification says.
If you re-implement the code so that it behaves differently, you are not following the specification.
Now, it's entirely possible that we're talking about crappy code here -- but like I said earlier, good code makes a fine spec, IMHO.
Code is almost always deterministic, i.e. it will only do one thing. I have read many, many, many ambiguous specifications in my day.
I know it's been done with jumbo jets -- but is the airframe rated for the manoeuvre? I guess that's your trying to say be saying it only needs 1G.
That said, I think my original point still stands - it's highly unlikely these lasers are being shone in the eyes of pilots flying upside-down.
Your documented behaviour is almost correct, IMHO.
If you are following somebody in the left lane who is passing somebody, then keep a respectful following distance until he completes the pass and moves right to let you pass. Hogging the left lane is one of the rudest driving behaviours I can think of. But tailgating someone who is using it to pass, just because they are not passing fast enough for your taste, is worse.
But...but... Think of the yacht makers' children!
> On average, they aren't well educated, and they don't have a lot of money.
You don't need an education or money to be polite. The OP clearly he said he was only a dick to people who were rude to him. I think the OP and I have a lot in common - I'll be pleasant and courteous, and do what I have to -- unless you start cursing me out without provocation. In that case, I'll be the biggest dick I can.
For example, if you think it's a good idea to tailgate me because I'm only going 10 over the speed limit, I will slow down. Slower and slower. And man, I mean, I have almost no lower bound. I'll do 10 in an 80 if you're on my ass. Until you decide to pass me. Then I'll speed up so you're still stuck behind me. You would have been much better off waiting until it was safe to pass, and put on your turn signal. I'll move right in my lane and slow down 'till you're past.
It's not free, but you can cheaply ($25/mo?) get shell access to a VM hosted on the internet with lots of bandwidth and open ports. Either run your services there, or tunnel them to your home.