We discovered a wonderful use for the warm-hearted student who was never going to get an A.
When someone was too embarrassed to ask a "stupid" question, we would have the "Designated Idiot" ask it.
The professor might sigh a bit, but would always give a more complete answer, so the rest of us understood the material more completely.
And there were benefits all around. In a series of classes, we had a professor known to subjectively ding student's grades for "dumb" questions.
Our "Designated Idiot" kept the class grades a bit higher as a result. In this class and others, we noticed that our "Designated Idiot" tended
to get a higher letter grade than the test scores might have suggested.
In many cases, while it interrupted the flow of the the class, the professors saw the benefit in quizzes and tests on the topics.
When the "dumb question" had been asked, the material covered was retained far better by the class.
So don't shoot the idiot. Find them a role that helps everyone!
We had a better system. Launched all its satellite payloads pretty well. Only one Tracking and Data Relay Satellite was lost.
Human cost was 14 of our best and brightest people over the launch system's lifetime. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-51-L and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-107 .
NASA, and now picking up the ball DOD, decided to try and eliminate the human cost. The result, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_X-37, just had a successful launch. Originally, it was to be launched from the shuttle (a shuttle within a shuttle), but the Columbia disaster changed that.
By banning wikileaks access, any subsequent access is therefore suspect. Also by banning access, any DNS lookup of www.wikileaks.org can set off the bells and whistles, even if the follow up is years later. Banning access reduces the number of leads to track down.
One of the keys to Cassini's success has been flexibility. Using fancy flying, NASA/ESA were able to save the payload Huygens probe mission, which had an almost fatal communications flaw.
The story has a hero,
Boris Smeds,
a Swedish radio engineer for the ESA, who pushed and pushed because he found out something was very wrong with the Huygens payload to be launched from Cassini probe.
Slashdot covered this well and humorously. See substitute links provided for 6 years of bit rot on URL's:-)
Saving Huygens
The paper's "lessons learned" are particularly important:
Spacecraft subsystems must be tested to all of their requirements before launch (this would have helped Hubble Space Telescope, too).
Keep engineering model and flight spares operational throughout the mission.
Documentation of Spacecraft Hardware and testing.
"It is important to keep proper documentation of all tests so this information
is available when something goes wrong."
Never intentionally throw away data in a deep space mission.
Spacecraft systems need to have an appropriate level of reconfigurability in flight.
"This anomaly would have been easy to solve if there has been even a modest amount of reconfigurability in the PSA."
Doppler Shift? What is this Doppler Shift thing you speak of?:-)
"Turning Leonardo into a permanent module will take some work, said NASA Payload Manager Joe Delai. "Once it returns from this flight we will beef up the external shield and change things internally to become a permanent module. It will be about a four month process to get it ready."
Thats why it will be re-launched in September this year. And when it is relaunched and made a permanent module it will become their 'man cave'.
Permanent: means it lasts until ISS de-orbit in 2016.
Yup, idiocy still planned.
See: (In glorious PowerPoint)
Nicholas Harbour, who at the time was working for the Department of Defense Computer Forensics Lab (DCFL)
wrote a loving modified dd that writes to multiple files and streams to multiple programs at the same time. The program, dcfldd, also introduces the sorely missed VERIFY operation, and even block-by-block hashes, ( dcfldd Man page)
[...]An example of an acceptable license is the BSD license available at http://www.opensource.org/licenses/bsd-license.html, whereas the widely-used GPL and LGPL licenses are not acceptable. [...]
From: Safe and Scalable Multicore Computing Request for Proposals 2008 http://research.microsoft.com/ur/us/fundingopps/RFPs/SafeScalableMulticore_RFP.aspx
New carpets, which may trap formaldehyde emitted from other sources and release it when temperature and humidity change
Gas stoves and kerosene heaters
Urea Formaldehyde Foam Isulation, UFFI, was used as an effective insulation product in many homes until the 1980's, when the presence of high levels of formaldehyde gas was determined to be a health hazard.
Embalmed biological specimens or deceased friends:-)
The reaction is reversible: too much heat hydrolyses the UF resin into urea and formaldehyde thereby degrading the bond and releasing
even more formaldehyde. It is therefore of critical importance to precisely control pressing time and immediately cool the finished panels after completion of the pressing.
Guess what doesn't alway get done:-)
Ammonia is a treament but
NOTE: Although treatment of a surface with strong ammonia can temporarily reduce formaldehyde levels, ammonia can be toxic and is very dangerous. This procedure is strongly discouraged, since ammonia presents its own serious hazards.
A chemical engineer, who worked in the field, would do the following. Since, sadly, he was sensitive to formaldehyde fumes, he would:
When checking into a hotel room with new furniture, a sniff would detect formaldehyde fumes. Then, he would find the maid and ask her for a few ashtrays and some ammonia.
He would then explain his plan to the maid. He would pour ammonia into the ashtrays he placed around his room and leave the room. The maids were asked to not make the room up (or at least not empty the ashtrays). When he returned, the room was now free of formaldehyde fumes, to his own benefit and all subsequent quests.
p.3 Section 8, subsection (6):
computer records discovered in the AOL work computer assigned to SMATHERS included highly unusual computerized code and instructions necessary for and capable of stealing the list from AOL's secure database
Apparently once he had access he first tried
to get everything, but the queries results
were too large for things to succeed! Then he queried a single AOL account, his own!
After that he came back two weeks later with
the scheme of trying all the accounts that start with A, then all the accounts that
start with B and so on...
Even more fun was that he was apparently doing this all from his AOL company laptop via a
nice VPN from his home. He didn't even have to go into the office to steal...
These con artists target senior citizens. It is important to be alert to any sign that a vulnerable family member is being victimized and to discuss such a fraud with loved ones and their caregivers. If you or any member of your family has been a victim of any form of the Nigerian scam, contact the United States Secret Service, the lead agency fighting this fraud at
202-406-5572.
If you receive an email relating to advanced fee fraud, please forward the email to the Secret Service at:
419.fcd@usss.treas.gov.
If you receive a letter in the mail, you may send or fax it to:
U.S. Secret Service
Financial Crimes Division
950 H. Street, NW
Suite 5300
Washington, DC 20223 Fax: (202) 406-6930
If the scheme targets a United States resident but involves a Canadian address or phone number, inform PhoneBusters by sending an email to
info@phonebusters.com
or calling toll-free 1-888-495-8501.
Click and learn how to use gimp...
on
Gimp Hits 2.0
·
· Score: 4, Informative
OK, click and learn:-)
Note: Number 9 below is especially cool if you have an investment in Photoshop-plugins.
While The GIMP is such a powerful application, doesn't it have any drawbacks ?!? - Oh, yes, it has...
I [Martijn Weisbeek] am writing this article just to show you some of these. I hope that it will make you're life with The GIMP more easy. This article is the result of about one year of experience with using the Windows-version of The GIMP (almost on a daily basis). Just remember that The GIMP clearly focuses on functionality (which is good) instead of user-friendlyness. Therefore some things just aren't that obvious, just until you get the hang of it... So just take your time to read through this article and you'll make yourself an immediate GIMP-crack.
[...snip...]
For your convenience I created a list with pointers to the items in this article:
This is the development version of The Gimp. It will open a console (MS-DOS) window when it's run to display debugging
messages. Do not close this window.
It is highly recommended to update GTK2 to the newest version before installing Gimp 2.0pre4, as some
bugs have been fixed since the last release.
Note: The Gimp binary available from this page was compiled for Pentium MMX or better CPUs.
Bad design hits wallet too...
on
Flaming Cellphones
·
· Score: 2, Informative
Yup, things go boom. Apple powerbook laptops suffered from this as did recent Dell laptops. But for Dell the problem grew and grew and grew.
But do you think they put millions into battery design? Maybe they should...
Interestingly the documents p.23 of 35 in pdf seem to show Dell shelling out a $30 coupon
to each owner of the flaming laptop batteries and more to the flaming lawyers...
Dell agrees to pay, subject to the Court's approval, and not to oppose any
application for or award by the Court to Class Counsel of attorneys' fees, together with costs and
expenses up to
$1,750,000 (One Million Seven Hundred and Fifty Thousand Dollars)
("Attorneys' Fees and Expenses"). The Parties agree that no award greater than that amount
shall be requested or made. This amount is in addition to and separate from all other
consideration and remedies paid to and available to the Settlement Class.
Perhaps this explains Panasonic's reluctance to sell dangerous batteries to "just anyone"...:-)
Open Source Facial Animation software might help
on
Skulls Gain Virtual Faces
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Why not have that skull do something? Look neutral, Angry, Fearful or just raise an eyebrow?
A former schoolmate at the full scholarship Cooper Union brought his cool package, The Expression Toolkit, into open source.
Expression is an animation system based on an anatomical model of the face. Using basic muscle simulations instead of morph targets, Expression simplifies the creation of lifelike characters, allowing a face to be set up in a matter of hours instead of days. Written in C++ and OpenGL, Expression is a general-purpose framework for real-time facial animation in games and web applications.
From the FAQ
Does Expression work with a skeletal system?
Yes it does, I have demo code that I'll be posting some time in the future showing it integrated with a open source skeletal animation system - dejaview - the main thing is that you need to have an additional vertex cache. Expression's input is the base mesh, its output is a morphed face and body in rest pose. That cache is then used as the basis for the skeletal system
As far as I know, it has still not reached a critical mass of users:-(
If the spin axis of
1950 DA is fixed
near our direct rotation pole solution, solar
pressure and asteroid perturbations could
counter the Yarkovsky effect so that the probability
of a collision in 2880 would be comparable
to that of the initial detection case of
0.33%. Thus, the impact probability currently
lies in the interval from 0 to 0.33%, where the
upper bound will increase or decrease more
rapidly as physical knowledge improves than
as ground-based optical astrometry accumulates.
We are unable to calculate a reliable,
specific collision probability, because the trajectory
uncertainties are dominated by unmeasured
or poorly determined systematic
physical effects.
And don't forget it goes out past Mars, too!
For more calculation fun, of course, don't forget:-)
Galactic tide
Numerical integration error
Solar mass loss
Solar oblateness
61 additional asteroids [not included in their model]
Guide to installing Knoppix on a hard drive...
on
Knoppix 3.2 Available
·
· Score: 1
leads you through formatting hard drive
But, you say I have to use Windows for [Insert your strange application here] and I really don't want to reformat my hard drive. Don't despair, a Dualboot Knoppix and Windows hard disk install guide is here!
I've install Knoppix V3.1 multiple times this way. I've hot repartitioned (leaving Windows and its data happy) and installed Knoppix to keep Windows honest:-) All this leaves Windows still bootable.
Since our full scholarship students want to do this, I slapped together
a quick guide. There are many gory details and no beautiful prose:-). My steps are very cautious and guide you through the whole process.
I haven't tested it with V3.2, hey, V3.2 only 3 days old:-),
so I would appreciate comments by anyone brave enough to try.
The instructions can be gotten via my slashdot journal at http://slashdot.org/~lent/journal/28974
malloc() and free(), the first two dynamic memory management functions that most C programmers learn, were broken back in Windows NT.
If you ever had an application ported from UNIX to NT that wasn't a memory hog under UNIX but slowly ate its way through virtual memory on NT, this is most likely why.
Microsoft sneakily added the _heapmin() function
to combine contiugous small free'd blocks into big chunks of memory.
Unfortunately, free(), malloc()'s happy buddy, had
been combining free blocks on each call to free() since the dawn of the C programming language.
My guess is Microsoft got better performance on benchmarks by essentially not freeing memory!
If you look at K&R "The C Programming Language", Kernighan & Ritchie implement malloc and free
free() itself is the last thing. It scans the free list, starting at freep, looking for the place to insert the free block. This is either between two existing blocks or at the end of the list. In any case, if the
block being freed is adjacent to either neighbor, the adjacent blocks are combined. The only troubles are keeping the pointers pointing to the right things and the sizes correct.
Hey but don't take my word for it. Intel has warned you about this for a while, [p.61 of 101].
NOTE for MSVC users: As in any C application, the standard C calls malloc() and free()
may be used to manage memory. If you are using the Microsoft Visual C++ compiler, it is
VERY IMPORTANT to note
a scarcely documented fact of the Win32 API, in that free()
does not actually free the memory that is being accessed (as it does in most standard C
compilers). MSVC will free the pointer to the memory but will not actually release the
physical memory. To release the physical memory a call to the Windows extension
function _heapmin() must be made. This function should be documented in Win32 API
documentation but it may be noted that it is difficult to find a reference to it otherwise. If
the application uses free() and malloc() but not _heapmin() then virtual memory issues will
arise during extended use of the application.
But Mircosoft "fixed" it in MSVC 4.0 and up.
Note
[New feature hides ugly bug]In Visual C++ Version 4.0, the underlying heap structure was moved to the C run-time libraries to support the new debugging features. As a result, the only Win32 platform that is supported by _heapmin is Windows NT. The function returns -1 and sets errno to ENOSYS, when it is called by any other Win32 platform. [But what happens if you run an old VC < 4.0 compiled binary? Probably the old function gets called]
In a related move, Microsoft has quietly added to the Windows SDK that the color red, formerly 622 - 760nm, shall be redefined with the values 455 - 492nm (formerly known as blue).
Programs from other platforms should add a call to the
_PutOnRoseColoredGlasses()
function to avoid compatibility problems.:-)
The virus is so large that at first researchers mistook
it for bacteria. Most viruses can only be seen with
electron microscopes but
this one was spotted
through a high quality optical microscope.
The National Transportation Safety Board pulled
investigators pulled people from the Flight 587 probe to help out on the Columbia investigation. NTSB Field Investigators, unfortunately, are experienced
with finding the cause from many sometimes grisly
pieces of data.
They also know what to bring, what to do, where to
go and what to ask.
And of course, they known how to
extract data from Flight Data Recorders
Interestingly, the NTSB issued recommendations that Require retrofit after January 1, 2005, of all cockpit voice recorders (CVRs) [...] [be] fitted with an independent power source [...] that provides 10 minutes of operation whenever aircraft power to the recorder ceases. Just one of the things the NTSB fights the FAA over:-)
But remember the "Black box" (OEX recorder) on the shuttle is very different from a CVR.
Microsoft has now decided that having customers pick up the telephone and call Microsoft to re-enable Windows or Office XP after a configuration change still has not solved the software piracy problem.
Microsoft has decided to drop phone support and in an exciting joint venture with the United States Postal Service, customers having these problems can simply travel down to their local post office to have a new password issued.:-)
require[s] that [telemarketer's] do-not-call request records must be maintained for 10 years after a request is made.
even more stringent restrictions were thought of by Congress in 1991.
Back in 1991, Congress instructed the FCC to investigate providing a National Do-Not-Call database, According to the 1991 law, US Code
The regulations required by paragraph (2)
may require the
establishment and operation of a single national database to compile
a list of telephone numbers of residential subscribers who object to
receiving telephone solicitations,
Unfortunately, the FCC decided the National Database was too difficult/expensive to implement, though they are all for it now.
Fun whining and some valid concerns about the new rules by telemarkers, phone and computer companies can be viewed at New Rules would hurt us
For Paper Directories, my favorite is Alaska's Blackdotwhich allows
"Do Not Call Law"(Alaska's Black Dot Law)
AS 45.50.475 prohibits telephone solicitation of persons identified in a telephone directory as not wishing to receive telephone solicitations. These telephone customers have a "black dot" by their name in the directory. The statute also requires local telephone companies to provide a list of "black dot" customers to telephone solicitors who request one. For a small fee, your local telephone company will identify your residential listing in your telephone directory with a
black dot.
This informs telephone solicitors that you do not want to receive telephone solicitations.
Slashdot Mirror
We discovered a wonderful use for the warm-hearted student who was never going to get an A.
When someone was too embarrassed to ask a "stupid" question, we would have the "Designated Idiot" ask it. The professor might sigh a bit, but would always give a more complete answer, so the rest of us understood the material more completely.
And there were benefits all around. In a series of classes, we had a professor known to subjectively ding student's grades for "dumb" questions. Our "Designated Idiot" kept the class grades a bit higher as a result. In this class and others, we noticed that our "Designated Idiot" tended to get a higher letter grade than the test scores might have suggested.
In many cases, while it interrupted the flow of the the class, the professors saw the benefit in quizzes and tests on the topics. When the "dumb question" had been asked, the material covered was retained far better by the class.
So don't shoot the idiot. Find them a role that helps everyone!
NASA, and now picking up the ball DOD, decided to try and eliminate the human cost. The result, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_X-37, just had a successful launch. Originally, it was to be launched from the shuttle (a shuttle within a shuttle), but the Columbia disaster changed that.
Other ideas still proceed, but slowly...
By banning wikileaks access, any subsequent access is therefore suspect. Also by banning access, any DNS lookup of www.wikileaks.org can set off the bells and whistles, even if the follow up is years later. Banning access reduces the number of leads to track down.
The story has a hero, Boris Smeds, a Swedish radio engineer for the ESA, who pushed and pushed because he found out something was very wrong with the Huygens payload to be launched from Cassini probe.
Slashdot covered this well and humorously. See substitute links provided for 6 years of bit rot on URL's
Saving Huygens
"Titan Calling: How a Swedish engineer saved a once-in-a-lifetime mission to Saturn's mysterious moon"
and The story behind "Titan Calling"
For completeness sake, here is a NASA/JPL paper on "What we can do to fix the problem"
Resolving the Cassini/Huygens Relay Radio Anomaly
The paper's "lessons learned" are particularly important:
"It is important to keep proper documentation of all tests so this information is available when something goes wrong."
Spacecraft systems need to have an appropriate level of reconfigurability in flight. "This anomaly would have been easy to solve if there has been even a modest amount of reconfigurability in the PSA."
Doppler Shift? What is this Doppler Shift thing you speak of? :-)
"Turning Leonardo into a permanent module will take some work, said NASA Payload Manager Joe Delai. "Once it returns from this flight we will beef up the external shield and change things internally to become a permanent module. It will be about a four month process to get it ready."
Thats why it will be re-launched in September this year. And when it is relaunched and made a permanent module it will become their 'man cave'.
Permanent: means it lasts until ISS de-orbit in 2016. Yup, idiocy still planned. See: (In glorious PowerPoint)
http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/386764main_09-15-09_Human_Spaceflight_Testimony.pdf
http://titan04.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/nexgen/Nexgen_Downloads/378555main_02-Sally_Charts_v11.ppt
Or just search via Google: for iss +"de-orbit" site:nasa.gov
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=iss+%22de-orbit%22+site%3Anasa.gov
In another instance,
Nicholas Harbour, who at the time was working for the Department of Defense Computer Forensics Lab (DCFL)
wrote a loving modified dd that writes to multiple files and streams to multiple programs at the same time. The program, dcfldd, also introduces the sorely missed VERIFY operation, and even block-by-block hashes, ( dcfldd Man page)
Maybe someone will combine this with dd_rescue, ddrescue and dd_rhelp to make the ultimate "Convert and Copy" utility :-)
Ah and I can dream of SCTP support too :-)
True,
witness this
[...]An example of an acceptable license is the BSD license available at http://www.opensource.org/licenses/bsd-license.html,
whereas the widely-used GPL and LGPL licenses are not acceptable. [...]
From: Safe and Scalable Multicore Computing
Request for Proposals 2008
http://research.microsoft.com/ur/us/fundingopps/RFPs/SafeScalableMulticore_RFP.aspx
Researchers at University of Alberta have found that dichloroacetate (DCA) is able to cause tumor regression in a number of human cancers growing in animals. DCA seems to awaken mitochondria, which are present in normal animal cells but dormant in cancer cells, and cancerous tumor growth is stopped.
While DCA has been used for decades to treat mitochondrial diseases in humans, patients are cautioned no human beings have gone through clinical trials using DCA to treat cancer.
The following stuff may be emitting formaldehyde
Unfortunately Urea-Formaldehyde (UF) Resin isn't always used properly when making furniture.
Guess what doesn't alway get done
Ammonia is a treament but
A chemical engineer, who worked in the field, would do the following. Since, sadly, he was sensitive to formaldehyde fumes, he would:
When checking into a hotel room with new furniture, a sniff would detect formaldehyde fumes. Then, he would find the maid and ask her for a few ashtrays and some ammonia. He would then explain his plan to the maid. He would pour ammonia into the ashtrays he placed around his room and leave the room. The maids were asked to not make the room up (or at least not empty the ashtrays). When he returned, the room was now free of formaldehyde fumes, to his own benefit and all subsequent quests.
and his AOL work computer
Apparently once he had access he first tried to get everything, but the queries results were too large for things to succeed! Then he queried a single AOL account, his own!
After that he came back two weeks later with the scheme of trying all the accounts that start with A, then all the accounts that start with B and so on...
Even more fun was that he was apparently doing this all from his AOL company laptop via a nice VPN from his home. He didn't even have to go into the office to steal...
Probing further...
Since court papers give out his AOL employee email, JasonS2e@aol.com, we can find out via Google Groups, that Mr. Smathers was busy using the Internet to:
Ben Franklin, that great lightning pioneer, had
a cool device that directly used lightning to
ring bells...
Damage from lightning can be reduced through careful grounding, but not eliminated. 30,000 Amps is a non-trivial current to play with.
One interesting point is lightning damage while sailing on fresh water the damage is worse than when sailing on salt water!
A long Video with really neat post-lighting photos at: http://www.thomson.ece.ufl.edu/lightning/video.htm l
Some good scientific works at:t ml
0 07/d000007.html
http://www.thomson.ece.ufl.edu/lightning/SGEB17.h
http://www.cdc.gov/nasd/docs/d000001-d000100/d000
[...] REPORT ADVANCED FEE FRAUD
These con artists target senior citizens. It is important to be alert to any sign that a vulnerable family member is being victimized and to discuss such a fraud with loved ones and their caregivers. If you or any member of your family has been a victim of any form of the Nigerian scam, contact the United States Secret Service, the lead agency fighting this fraud at 202-406-5572.
If you receive an email relating to advanced fee fraud, please forward the email to the Secret Service at:
419.fcd@usss.treas.gov.
If you receive a letter in the mail, you may send or fax it to:
U.S. Secret Service
Financial Crimes Division
950 H. Street, NW
Suite 5300
Washington, DC 20223
Fax: (202) 406-6930
If the scheme targets a United States resident but involves a Canadian address or phone number, inform PhoneBusters by sending an email to
info@phonebusters.com
or calling toll-free 1-888-495-8501.
Note: Number 9 below is especially cool if you have an investment in Photoshop-plugins.
From:http://members.home.nl/m.weisbeek/gimp/
GIMP for Windows
FAQ | Stable version | Development version | Source code | ] Installers for GIMP for Windows Development version download
This is the development version of The Gimp. It will open a console (MS-DOS) window when it's run to display debugging messages. Do not close this window.
It is highly recommended to update GTK2 to the newest version before installing Gimp 2.0pre4, as some bugs have been fixed since the last release.
Note: The Gimp binary available from this page was compiled for Pentium MMX or better CPUs.
GTK+ 2 for Windows (version 2.2.4-20040124) 3619 kB GTK+ 2 runtime environment. This package is required by The Gimp 2.0.
MirrorFTPHTTPProvided by ftp.arnes.si Download - Academic and research network Of Slovenia ftp.flamingtext.com Download - FlamingText --> files.akl.lt Download Download Atviras kodas Lietuvai ftp.freenet.de Download Download freenet.de --> The Gimp for Windows (version 2.0pre4) 6807 kB Gimp 2.0pre4 for Windows.
MirrorFTPHTTPProvided by ftp.arnes.si Download - Academic and research network Of Slovenia ftp.flamingtext.com Download - FlamingText * --> files.akl.lt Download Download Atviras kodas Lietuvai ftp.freenet.de Download Download freenet.de --> Additional plug-ins for The Gimp 742 kB This package contains Gimp-FreeType (CVS 20040202) and Gimp Animation Package (1.3.25) plug-ins for Gimp 2.0pre2.
Warning: both these plug-ins are considered unstable.
Note: Due to a problem with the GTK+ installer, the FreeType plug-in will not work, unless you copy the file freetype-6.dll to freetype6.dll in C:\Program Files\Common Files\GTK\2.0\bin\ folder.
MirrorFTPHTTPProvided by ftp.arnes.si Download - Academic and research network Of Slovenia -->
If you wish to compile plug-ins for use with this Gimp version, you can get the development files here.
Development version download This is the development v
Make: It's not just for breakfast any more
But do you think they put millions into battery design? Maybe they should...
Interestingly the documents p.23 of 35 in pdf seem to show Dell shelling out a $30 coupon to each owner of the flaming laptop batteries and more to the flaming lawyers... Perhaps this explains Panasonic's reluctance to sell dangerous batteries to "just anyone"...
A former schoolmate at the full scholarship Cooper Union brought his cool package, The Expression Toolkit, into open source. Expression is an animation system based on an anatomical model of the face. Using basic muscle simulations instead of morph targets, Expression simplifies the creation of lifelike characters, allowing a face to be set up in a matter of hours instead of days. Written in C++ and OpenGL, Expression is a general-purpose framework for real-time facial animation in games and web applications.
From the FAQ As far as I know, it has still not reached a critical mass of users
And don't forget it goes out past Mars, too! For more calculation fun, of course, don't forget
And a wacky idea I've had floating around for a while:
Could the "hole" which produced Hawaii be the result of an ancient impact? Then the Hawaiian Islands, the Hawaiian Ridge and the Emperor Seamounts are just a record of the Pacific plate drifting over that impact site, which is still bubbling...
And if you accept that, what produced the "sudden" left turn in the volcanic chain? Did the Pacific plate go "bump"?
leads you through formatting hard drive :-) All this leaves Windows still bootable.
:-).
:-),
so I would appreciate comments by anyone brave enough to try.
But, you say I have to use Windows for [Insert your strange application here] and I really don't want to reformat my hard drive.
Don't despair, a Dualboot Knoppix and Windows hard disk install guide is here!
I've install Knoppix V3.1 multiple times this way. I've hot repartitioned (leaving Windows and its data happy) and installed Knoppix to keep Windows honest
Since our full scholarship students want to do this, I slapped together a quick guide.
There are many gory details and no beautiful prose
My steps are very cautious and guide you through the whole process.
I haven't tested it with V3.2, hey, V3.2 only 3 days old
The instructions can be gotten via my slashdot journal at http://slashdot.org/~lent/journal/28974
If you ever had an application ported from UNIX to NT that wasn't a memory hog under UNIX but slowly ate its way through virtual memory on NT, this is most likely why.
Microsoft sneakily added the _heapmin() function to combine contiugous small free'd blocks into big chunks of memory.
Unfortunately, free(), malloc()'s happy buddy, had been combining free blocks on each call to free() since the dawn of the C programming language.
My guess is Microsoft got better performance on benchmarks by essentially not freeing memory!
If you look at K&R "The C Programming Language", Kernighan & Ritchie implement malloc and free Hey but don't take my word for it. Intel has warned you about this for a while, [p.61 of 101].
But Mircosoft "fixed" it in MSVC 4.0 and up.
In a related move, Microsoft has quietly added to the Windows SDK that the color red, formerly 622 - 760nm, shall be redefined with the values 455 - 492nm (formerly known as blue). Programs from other platforms should add a call to the _PutOnRoseColoredGlasses() function to avoid compatibility problems.
The National Transportation Safety Board pulled investigators pulled people from the Flight 587 probe to help out on the Columbia investigation. NTSB Field Investigators, unfortunately, are experienced with finding the cause from many sometimes grisly pieces of data. :-)
They also know what to bring, what to do, where to go and what to ask. And of course, they known how to extract data from Flight Data Recorders Interestingly, the NTSB issued recommendations that Require retrofit after January 1, 2005, of all cockpit voice recorders (CVRs) [...] [be] fitted with an independent power source [...] that provides 10 minutes of operation whenever aircraft power to the recorder ceases. Just one of the things the NTSB fights the FAA over
But remember the "Black box" (OEX recorder) on the shuttle is very different from a CVR.
The way it's going we may see:
:-)
Microsoft has now decided that having customers pick up the telephone and call Microsoft to re-enable Windows or Office XP after a configuration
change still has not solved the software piracy problem.
Microsoft has decided to drop phone support and in an exciting joint venture with the United States Postal Service, customers having these problems can simply travel down to their local post office to have a new password issued.
www.ftc.gov/dotnotcall according to this.
Reasonably good lists were available, but are being revised. Luckily cache's are available here goes:
Interestingly in 1995 the FCC
even more stringent restrictions were thought of by Congress in 1991.
Back in 1991, Congress instructed the FCC to investigate providing a National Do-Not-Call database,
According to the 1991 law, US Code
Unfortunately, the FCC decided the National Database was too difficult/expensive to implement, though they are all for it now.
Fun whining and some valid concerns about the new rules by telemarkers, phone and computer companies can be viewed at New Rules would hurt us
For Paper Directories, my favorite is Alaska's Blackdotwhich allows