Okay, first off, 40k lines isn't big, and unless they did a really horrible job of naming and organizing the parts, it shouldn't be hard to tackle. I'm dealing with a 1.5 million line assortment of legacy code, and while it's taken a while to suss out, I have a pretty decent grasp of where everything is.
It's a Zen thing. You look it over until you identify the top level units, then work your way down. Most applications have a framework. If you can't find a starting point, figure out which code is the most outward facing, read through the high level functions, and dig downward. Make notes. Look for comments along the way. If you don't see comments, write some. Absorb. No one understands any system immediately, if you become one with the code, you too can be a master.
Nowadays, I'm the architect, and while there's still more code written before I got there 5 years ago than since I arrived, I understand just about all of it. I've been programming for 20 years, and this makes the fourth time I've started with a million+ line system and ended up being one of the experts.
If you're visible to external customers and serve their needs, then it makes sense. If you're only visible internally, then it's a stupid idea designed to make a manager look like he's busy and somehow contributing. It's also a waste of company funds. Tell them that if they really want to put that money to good use, implement a dress code and purchase a decent vending machine instead.
Oh, man... I'm picturing being *that guy*, the one that rolls out his riding lawnmower with the Lotus symbol on the hood... All my neighbors would stop pushing their mowers to watch my gleaming grass cutting muscle machine in amazement and envy. Cue Tim Allen caveman grunts...
Yes, official Linux documentation is lacking. I've always held that the success of any software relies heavily on its documentation. Look at Delphi. When the now-defunct Borland released Delphi 7, it came with a pretty decent set of content-sensitive, F1-accessible help and examples. Nowadays I'm using Delphi 2010 from CodeGear, and yet I find myself firing up Delphi 7 and looking up what I need in that version's help because the D2010 help sucks so bad.
I'm in no way suggesting that Linux is not successful, but it would be a lot easier to use if it came with beginner documentation. It's safe to say that it's no longer just a hobby OS, and we're far beyond the point when Linux, the various flavors of GUI desktop, and all the applications moved beyond "man".
The guy that wrote the second comment should be slapped. If the function has been changed to do something else, then change the comment. I've seen examples of the same thing, and this isn't commenting so much as ego: "You're stupid and I'm smart and this is how I'm going to show everyone that I'm smarter than you, so THERE!" It's juvenile, and it eventually will bite you in the butt.
It's like making a smartass remark about your boss in your comments, thinking that he'll never see it...
If comments even exist, then the code is ugly. Code should document itself.
The tragic part about your comment is that there are so many people out there that don't know it's just a joke. It's the same crowd that thinks that Saddam hid his WMDs in Syria and that the House healthcare bill would legalize "death panels" and will never be convinced otherwise.
This is a good practice. Comments very seldom keep up with changes in the code base, so more often than not, they end up being misleading at some point in the future.
That's complete crap. I've heard this argument before, that by not putting in comments you force the next guy to read all the code. That of course assumes that your code is so clean, obvious, and readable that the next guy will be smitten with your mad skillz.
I would say that it's a reliable indication of extreme ego and lack of skills when a programmer eschews comments entirely.
Comments serve as an aid to understand not only the code but the problem domain addressed by the code. It's a means of recording knowledge that the code doesn't make readily apparent. Reticence to comment indicates laziness and perhaps even a lack of understanding as to why the code worked in the first place.
I completely agree: I have, at times, given a short explanation and included a reference to a design document, published work, or Internet resource. It would not only be a waste of my time to include the entire referenced content, but that content might change over time and I see a huge benefit in having code updated based on updated specs. Credit card number encoding and ranges or UPOS interfaces are good examples of this.
As a programming "old coot", I'd say that if you didn't understand why, then yes, by definition that's bad coding. You need to understand the problem before you can fully address the problem. And if the solution is complex, your comment shouldn't say, "Wow! I can't believe this worked. Good luck if you need to change it!" It should instead educate those that come behind you. Comments should be an aid to understand not only the code but the problem domain addressed by the code. It's a means of recording knowledge that the code doesn't make readily apparent.
Imagine being able to block light past specific points on a battlefield. You could effectively blind the enemy in darkness, or create soft cover for your movements.
It doesn't make things invisible. Blinding the enemy in darkness? Would that be necessary? After all -- it's dark. As for absorbing laser/radar tracking, it occurs to me that the enemy would see a number of moving points that effectively blocked the signal. I suppose if you combined the ability to completely absorb various wavelengths of light and then re-emit light such that you effectively painted what was behind you, then you'd be invisible to tracking devices, a la The Predator. This wouldn't work with visible light, since the source would be coming from all around, whereas tracking devices emit the radiation they use and the point of view is easily determined.
What they're really criminalizing is stupidity. Not P2P per se, but the use of a class of software that, when not properly configured, could give the world access to all your files, including ones that you may not want the world to have access to. And the kind of information on a government computer is can be so sensitive that you can't just make it a matter of policy, punishable by termination; you have to make it a crime.
Someone on here mentioned FTP, and they would be correct that setting up an FTP server on your machine and enabling FTP access to all the directories on your machine would be just as bad, perhaps even worse if you allow write access and gave a hacker the ability to push executable modules onto the host system.
But let's be honest, that's not enough. Any bill they come up with has to also make it a requirement that government and contractor systems prevent P2P software from reaching the outside world, with violation of the law punishable by heavy fines, mandatory complete shutdown investigation of the office/company, and and in the case of a contractor, being barred from being awarded government contracts ever again.
so you live indoors on venus, and you have genetically engineered crops that can withstand the high temps and scorching rays (as well as cosmic rays and other nasty high energy rays, since venus has no geomagnetism).
I'm not sure if you're kidding, so if you were, just ignore this, but Venus' surface temperature hovers around 460 degrees Celsuis. I don't think genetic engineering is going to create crops that will withstand being scorched to a black smudge in seconds.
Also, the atmosphere is over 80% CO2, which if I recall correctly is also toxic to plants at that concentration. Not that it matters; at 92 times Earth's atmospheric pressure, no plants or animals would survive.
And even if you got past the heat and atmospheric pressure, the sulfuric acid in the atmosphere would eat whatever you put on the surface.
On the other hand, I'm not sure cosmic radiation is an issue since the atmosphere on Venus is so thick and dense.
So to terraform it, you'd have to eliminate 90% of its atmosphere, convert the CO2 to carbon and oxygen, find a rich source of hydrogen (Venus' hydrogen is depleted, so there's very little to recombine the O2 with), combine the H and the O2 to form water in quantities great enough to form normal clouds and ice caps...
I think Mars would be a better terraforming target. It has a thin atmosphere and it has some water. Homes could be built underground, farm domes with a higher concentration of atmosphere could be built on the surface, and water could be mined from the poles. It's one downside, compared to Venus, is it's lack of protection from cosmic radiation, hence the underground dwellings. Another poster mentioned the theory that one could crash asteroids or captured comets into Mars, although the subsequent collision would vaporize all the water in the impactor and throw up dust that would take years to clear.
I just got done ordering a new machine, and after much research I decided to go with a 256GB SSD as my boot and application installation drive and 3x1TB drives RAIDed together for my data/multimedia storage and work area. The rationale is screaming fast boot and app load times and fault tolerance for the files I can't replace. Read times on SSDs tend to be off the chart fast, and writes to my boot/app drive will occur almost entirely when I'm installing software.
My current machine, much as I love it, takes 3 minutes to boot from hibernation, and at least 10 minutes to do a full startup. Yeah, it's about 5 years old, but it's got 2GB of RAM and two 2GHz AMD Athlons. The problem, ignoring OS bloat, is largely the drive speed. Plainly put, I'm doing what I can to eliminate the biggest bottleneck on my system.
Frankly, it sounds like the damage is already done. You were a floor mat, and they've gotten used to wiping their feet on you. You should probably review where you went wrong, learn some lessons, move on, get a new job, and start over.
But if you think you can salvage the situation, then here's my advice:
1. Get a calendar program at a minimum, an issue tracking and scheduling program if possible, one that can print reports. This is to help you stay organized, lower your stress, and cover your ass.
2. When a user asks for something, unless you really know how long it will take, do *not* tell them how long it will take. Any task outside of changing the printer cartridges requires an estimate.
3. Never, ever, ever, give them an ETA on the spot. Tell them how long it will take to get them an ETA, but do not give them an ETA. Not until you've had a chance to estimate the project, pad the estimates, get buy-off on the scope, time, and cost of the project, check your schedule, and see where you can fit it in. Then when you've done all that, call them back and tell them the ETA. No spec, no ETA.
4. At some point, someone is going to ask, "Well what's the delay? Why can't you just do it now?" Do not be afraid of rattling off the top three items on your list, who asked for them, and the priority placed on them.
5. If they get testy, facilitate. "Absolutely, I can't agree more! It's just not fair at all that you have to wait. Tell ya what, let's get Gary and Mike and Betsy together in a meeting, and you can decide amongst yourselves which of your projects is a higher priority. I'm just here to make you all happy." That's on the outside. On the inside you're thinking, "Hey, no problem, you wanna be a dick? Well then you can be a dick to these guys, and when the pissing contest is over, just let me know what you all decided. It's your emergency, not mine."
6. The bigger an ass the user is, the lower the priority they get. Just one time, when someone asks, "Why does she get a new forum site setup already, and I've been waiting for a week," reply with a straight face, "Because she's nice to me," and walk away. Yeah, they'll be pissed off, but the truth is, you can demand, expect, and get respect.
7. When the project schedule slips, be honest and let people know the schedule slipped. Give them new ETAs. And don't beat yourself up about it. It happens, and people would rather know up front when problems occur so they can reset expectations.
8. And if you kill yourself putting together some massive project and you finally get it all up and running, and no one pats you on the back, feel free to take the time to point out to your boss that you went the extra mile and that you're proud of your work. If you don't blow your horn, sometimes no one will, and getting recognition for a job well done can make all the difference.
9. The nuclear option: You can only do this one time for it be effective, and it resets the entire playing field. If someone really gives you a hard time, and you've just plain had it, tell him to kiss your ass. Loud. I mean really loud. Then turn around and yell that everyone in the joint can kiss your ass. You work hard, you do a good job, and you're damn tired of being treated like shit. You're tired of the attitudes and the disrespect. Throw something small (not at anyone, though), stomp back to your office, get your stuff, tell people to get out of your way, and walk out. Either you suck at what you do and your boss will fire you, or you are just a good employee pushed too far and your boss will try to talk you out of quitting. And if the latter, when you get back, you can bet word will have gotten around and most people (not everyone, unfortunately) will treat you with a bit more respect.
they are going to use the car salesman mentality by "hit em really high... then scrape them off the ceiling so you can get the price you want to sell for".
That's exactly what they're doing. And just like when you go to buy a car, do your research, figure out what it's worth to you and what you can afford to pay *before* you start the negotiation. Low ball them, then scrape them off the floor so you can get the price you're comfortable with.
The HP laptop I picked up last weekend has one and came with a remote. Clearly they expect that it's likely that you'll use the laptop to control input from cable or TV tuner to a TV sized screen.
Could it be retribution for the fact that AT&T got away with aiding the federal government with the warrantless wiretapping program that violated the Fourth Amendment and which the Obama administration seems determined to protect, continue, and maybe even extend?
No, I'm not a conspiracy theorist. I'm a conspiracy factualist. There is a difference...
WARNING: This message contains some disturbing content.
I actually agree with you in some principles, but not others.
Question for you: when androids can be made simulating small children, would you be equally bothered and yet protective of people purchasing them to have sex with them?
I and a friend of mine with whom I regularly engage in deep discussions turned this stomach turning topic around for a while and we couldn't come up with a solution that discouraged simulating illegal (and, as you put it, revolting) activities without violating people's rights. In that situation, there's only one actual human. The "victim" is a robot.
If we gave robots rights because of their intelligence, there's no guarantee that a "mature" and consenting robot intelligence couldn't inhabit an android body that simulated an immature human. Then what?
I have to tell you, I'm actually in favor of banning simulation of child sex, whether graphical or, in this future scenario, robotic.
A friend of mine is an electrician. He was tired of his yellow or orange extension cables going missing from job sites. What did he do? Started buying purple and pink ones.
Okay, I have to ask: where exactly does your "friend" manage to find a pink extension cable? Homo Depot? Castro Supply Hardware?
Carry around a small parabolic dish with a USB cable. Whenever you set up, plug in the dish and pretend to aim it at some point in the sky. When someone asks what it's for, just close the lid and say, "Nothing."
It's only cute if you're not using it to hack into military satellites...
Literally. Y'know, those big rubber testicles you see hanging from the backs of pickup trucks, typically the kind of truck with camouflage paint, oversize tires, rollbars in the bed, and a gunrack. Buy a set of huge rubber balls and hotglue them to the lip of your laptop so that, when it's open, they hang down. Then put a sticker on the top that says, "This is a normal size laptop, but next to my junk, everything looks smaller."
"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent."
This is from an ARGO Computers ad in the July 8th, 1991 edition of Microtimes. The browned page hangs on the wall of my home office. When I think I'm done trying with some project, I look at that page, and then I man up and ask if the project has a realistic chance if I just keep trying.
There once was a man that tried a dozen different businesses, and every single one failed. At age 40, on his last attempt, something simple that he was good at, he founded a restaurant that enjoyed reasonable success. When he attempted to franchise it, he received 1009 rejections before he finally managed to found his restaurant chain.
His name was Harland Sanders, his chain was KFC, and before this wild-eyed entrepreneur died he would have told you that 11 herbs and spices weren't the secret of his success. It was determination.
So I have a question: When you read the banner, did you try going to the website antiquiet.com just to check it out, or did you not dare to visit it for fear the feds would be monitoring who hits that site?
Slashdot Mirror
Okay, first off, 40k lines isn't big, and unless they did a really horrible job of naming and organizing the parts, it shouldn't be hard to tackle. I'm dealing with a 1.5 million line assortment of legacy code, and while it's taken a while to suss out, I have a pretty decent grasp of where everything is.
It's a Zen thing. You look it over until you identify the top level units, then work your way down. Most applications have a framework. If you can't find a starting point, figure out which code is the most outward facing, read through the high level functions, and dig downward. Make notes. Look for comments along the way. If you don't see comments, write some. Absorb. No one understands any system immediately, if you become one with the code, you too can be a master.
Nowadays, I'm the architect, and while there's still more code written before I got there 5 years ago than since I arrived, I understand just about all of it. I've been programming for 20 years, and this makes the fourth time I've started with a million+ line system and ended up being one of the experts.
Patience, grasshopper.
Time out...
You design and maintain hundreds of databases, write apps, manage projects, maintain servers and hardware devices... and you only charge $40k a year.
Dude. You're SO doing it wrong. Your paycheck is an epic fail. What country are you living in?
If you're visible to external customers and serve their needs, then it makes sense. If you're only visible internally, then it's a stupid idea designed to make a manager look like he's busy and somehow contributing. It's also a waste of company funds. Tell them that if they really want to put that money to good use, implement a dress code and purchase a decent vending machine instead.
Oh, man... I'm picturing being *that guy*, the one that rolls out his riding lawnmower with the Lotus symbol on the hood... All my neighbors would stop pushing their mowers to watch my gleaming grass cutting muscle machine in amazement and envy. Cue Tim Allen caveman grunts...
Awww yeah...
Yes, official Linux documentation is lacking. I've always held that the success of any software relies heavily on its documentation. Look at Delphi. When the now-defunct Borland released Delphi 7, it came with a pretty decent set of content-sensitive, F1-accessible help and examples. Nowadays I'm using Delphi 2010 from CodeGear, and yet I find myself firing up Delphi 7 and looking up what I need in that version's help because the D2010 help sucks so bad.
I'm in no way suggesting that Linux is not successful, but it would be a lot easier to use if it came with beginner documentation. It's safe to say that it's no longer just a hobby OS, and we're far beyond the point when Linux, the various flavors of GUI desktop, and all the applications moved beyond "man".
The guy that wrote the second comment should be slapped. If the function has been changed to do something else, then change the comment. I've seen examples of the same thing, and this isn't commenting so much as ego: "You're stupid and I'm smart and this is how I'm going to show everyone that I'm smarter than you, so THERE!" It's juvenile, and it eventually will bite you in the butt.
It's like making a smartass remark about your boss in your comments, thinking that he'll never see it...
If comments even exist, then the code is ugly. Code should document itself.
The tragic part about your comment is that there are so many people out there that don't know it's just a joke. It's the same crowd that thinks that Saddam hid his WMDs in Syria and that the House healthcare bill would legalize "death panels" and will never be convinced otherwise.
>> That's also why I don't comment my code.
This is a good practice. Comments very seldom keep up with changes in the code base, so more often than not, they end up being misleading at some point in the future.
That's complete crap. I've heard this argument before, that by not putting in comments you force the next guy to read all the code. That of course assumes that your code is so clean, obvious, and readable that the next guy will be smitten with your mad skillz.
I would say that it's a reliable indication of extreme ego and lack of skills when a programmer eschews comments entirely.
Comments serve as an aid to understand not only the code but the problem domain addressed by the code. It's a means of recording knowledge that the code doesn't make readily apparent. Reticence to comment indicates laziness and perhaps even a lack of understanding as to why the code worked in the first place.
I completely agree: I have, at times, given a short explanation and included a reference to a design document, published work, or Internet resource. It would not only be a waste of my time to include the entire referenced content, but that content might change over time and I see a huge benefit in having code updated based on updated specs. Credit card number encoding and ranges or UPOS interfaces are good examples of this.
As a programming "old coot", I'd say that if you didn't understand why, then yes, by definition that's bad coding. You need to understand the problem before you can fully address the problem. And if the solution is complex, your comment shouldn't say, "Wow! I can't believe this worked. Good luck if you need to change it!" It should instead educate those that come behind you. Comments should be an aid to understand not only the code but the problem domain addressed by the code. It's a means of recording knowledge that the code doesn't make readily apparent.
Imagine being able to block light past specific points on a battlefield. You could effectively blind the enemy in darkness, or create soft cover for your movements.
It doesn't make things invisible. Blinding the enemy in darkness? Would that be necessary? After all -- it's dark. As for absorbing laser/radar tracking, it occurs to me that the enemy would see a number of moving points that effectively blocked the signal. I suppose if you combined the ability to completely absorb various wavelengths of light and then re-emit light such that you effectively painted what was behind you, then you'd be invisible to tracking devices, a la The Predator. This wouldn't work with visible light, since the source would be coming from all around, whereas tracking devices emit the radiation they use and the point of view is easily determined.
What they're really criminalizing is stupidity. Not P2P per se, but the use of a class of software that, when not properly configured, could give the world access to all your files, including ones that you may not want the world to have access to. And the kind of information on a government computer is can be so sensitive that you can't just make it a matter of policy, punishable by termination; you have to make it a crime.
Someone on here mentioned FTP, and they would be correct that setting up an FTP server on your machine and enabling FTP access to all the directories on your machine would be just as bad, perhaps even worse if you allow write access and gave a hacker the ability to push executable modules onto the host system.
But let's be honest, that's not enough. Any bill they come up with has to also make it a requirement that government and contractor systems prevent P2P software from reaching the outside world, with violation of the law punishable by heavy fines, mandatory complete shutdown investigation of the office/company, and and in the case of a contractor, being barred from being awarded government contracts ever again.
so you live indoors on venus, and you have genetically engineered crops that can withstand the high temps and scorching rays (as well as cosmic rays and other nasty high energy rays, since venus has no geomagnetism).
I'm not sure if you're kidding, so if you were, just ignore this, but Venus' surface temperature hovers around 460 degrees Celsuis. I don't think genetic engineering is going to create crops that will withstand being scorched to a black smudge in seconds.
Also, the atmosphere is over 80% CO2, which if I recall correctly is also toxic to plants at that concentration. Not that it matters; at 92 times Earth's atmospheric pressure, no plants or animals would survive.
And even if you got past the heat and atmospheric pressure, the sulfuric acid in the atmosphere would eat whatever you put on the surface.
On the other hand, I'm not sure cosmic radiation is an issue since the atmosphere on Venus is so thick and dense.
So to terraform it, you'd have to eliminate 90% of its atmosphere, convert the CO2 to carbon and oxygen, find a rich source of hydrogen (Venus' hydrogen is depleted, so there's very little to recombine the O2 with), combine the H and the O2 to form water in quantities great enough to form normal clouds and ice caps...
I think Mars would be a better terraforming target. It has a thin atmosphere and it has some water. Homes could be built underground, farm domes with a higher concentration of atmosphere could be built on the surface, and water could be mined from the poles. It's one downside, compared to Venus, is it's lack of protection from cosmic radiation, hence the underground dwellings. Another poster mentioned the theory that one could crash asteroids or captured comets into Mars, although the subsequent collision would vaporize all the water in the impactor and throw up dust that would take years to clear.
I just got done ordering a new machine, and after much research I decided to go with a 256GB SSD as my boot and application installation drive and 3x1TB drives RAIDed together for my data/multimedia storage and work area. The rationale is screaming fast boot and app load times and fault tolerance for the files I can't replace. Read times on SSDs tend to be off the chart fast, and writes to my boot/app drive will occur almost entirely when I'm installing software.
My current machine, much as I love it, takes 3 minutes to boot from hibernation, and at least 10 minutes to do a full startup. Yeah, it's about 5 years old, but it's got 2GB of RAM and two 2GHz AMD Athlons. The problem, ignoring OS bloat, is largely the drive speed. Plainly put, I'm doing what I can to eliminate the biggest bottleneck on my system.
Frankly, it sounds like the damage is already done. You were a floor mat, and they've gotten used to wiping their feet on you. You should probably review where you went wrong, learn some lessons, move on, get a new job, and start over.
But if you think you can salvage the situation, then here's my advice:
1. Get a calendar program at a minimum, an issue tracking and scheduling program if possible, one that can print reports. This is to help you stay organized, lower your stress, and cover your ass.
2. When a user asks for something, unless you really know how long it will take, do *not* tell them how long it will take. Any task outside of changing the printer cartridges requires an estimate.
3. Never, ever, ever, give them an ETA on the spot. Tell them how long it will take to get them an ETA, but do not give them an ETA. Not until you've had a chance to estimate the project, pad the estimates, get buy-off on the scope, time, and cost of the project, check your schedule, and see where you can fit it in. Then when you've done all that, call them back and tell them the ETA. No spec, no ETA.
4. At some point, someone is going to ask, "Well what's the delay? Why can't you just do it now?" Do not be afraid of rattling off the top three items on your list, who asked for them, and the priority placed on them.
5. If they get testy, facilitate. "Absolutely, I can't agree more! It's just not fair at all that you have to wait. Tell ya what, let's get Gary and Mike and Betsy together in a meeting, and you can decide amongst yourselves which of your projects is a higher priority. I'm just here to make you all happy." That's on the outside. On the inside you're thinking, "Hey, no problem, you wanna be a dick? Well then you can be a dick to these guys, and when the pissing contest is over, just let me know what you all decided. It's your emergency, not mine."
6. The bigger an ass the user is, the lower the priority they get. Just one time, when someone asks, "Why does she get a new forum site setup already, and I've been waiting for a week," reply with a straight face, "Because she's nice to me," and walk away. Yeah, they'll be pissed off, but the truth is, you can demand, expect, and get respect.
7. When the project schedule slips, be honest and let people know the schedule slipped. Give them new ETAs. And don't beat yourself up about it. It happens, and people would rather know up front when problems occur so they can reset expectations.
8. And if you kill yourself putting together some massive project and you finally get it all up and running, and no one pats you on the back, feel free to take the time to point out to your boss that you went the extra mile and that you're proud of your work. If you don't blow your horn, sometimes no one will, and getting recognition for a job well done can make all the difference.
9. The nuclear option: You can only do this one time for it be effective, and it resets the entire playing field. If someone really gives you a hard time, and you've just plain had it, tell him to kiss your ass. Loud. I mean really loud. Then turn around and yell that everyone in the joint can kiss your ass. You work hard, you do a good job, and you're damn tired of being treated like shit. You're tired of the attitudes and the disrespect. Throw something small (not at anyone, though), stomp back to your office, get your stuff, tell people to get out of your way, and walk out. Either you suck at what you do and your boss will fire you, or you are just a good employee pushed too far and your boss will try to talk you out of quitting. And if the latter, when you get back, you can bet word will have gotten around and most people (not everyone, unfortunately) will treat you with a bit more respect.
they are going to use the car salesman mentality by "hit em really high... then scrape them off the ceiling so you can get the price you want to sell for".
That's exactly what they're doing. And just like when you go to buy a car, do your research, figure out what it's worth to you and what you can afford to pay *before* you start the negotiation. Low ball them, then scrape them off the floor so you can get the price you're comfortable with.
The HP laptop I picked up last weekend has one and came with a remote. Clearly they expect that it's likely that you'll use the laptop to control input from cable or TV tuner to a TV sized screen.
Could it be retribution for the fact that AT&T got away with aiding the federal government with the warrantless wiretapping program that violated the Fourth Amendment and which the Obama administration seems determined to protect, continue, and maybe even extend?
No, I'm not a conspiracy theorist. I'm a conspiracy factualist. There is a difference...
WARNING: This message contains some disturbing content.
I actually agree with you in some principles, but not others.
Question for you: when androids can be made simulating small children, would you be equally bothered and yet protective of people purchasing them to have sex with them?
I and a friend of mine with whom I regularly engage in deep discussions turned this stomach turning topic around for a while and we couldn't come up with a solution that discouraged simulating illegal (and, as you put it, revolting) activities without violating people's rights. In that situation, there's only one actual human. The "victim" is a robot.
If we gave robots rights because of their intelligence, there's no guarantee that a "mature" and consenting robot intelligence couldn't inhabit an android body that simulated an immature human. Then what?
I have to tell you, I'm actually in favor of banning simulation of child sex, whether graphical or, in this future scenario, robotic.
A friend of mine is an electrician. He was tired of his yellow or orange extension cables going missing from job sites. What did he do? Started buying purple and pink ones.
Okay, I have to ask: where exactly does your "friend" manage to find a pink extension cable? Homo Depot? Castro Supply Hardware?
Carry around a small parabolic dish with a USB cable. Whenever you set up, plug in the dish and pretend to aim it at some point in the sky. When someone asks what it's for, just close the lid and say, "Nothing."
It's only cute if you're not using it to hack into military satellites...
Literally. Y'know, those big rubber testicles you see hanging from the backs of pickup trucks, typically the kind of truck with camouflage paint, oversize tires, rollbars in the bed, and a gunrack. Buy a set of huge rubber balls and hotglue them to the lip of your laptop so that, when it's open, they hang down. Then put a sticker on the top that says, "This is a normal size laptop, but next to my junk, everything looks smaller."
"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent."
This is from an ARGO Computers ad in the July 8th, 1991 edition of Microtimes. The browned page hangs on the wall of my home office. When I think I'm done trying with some project, I look at that page, and then I man up and ask if the project has a realistic chance if I just keep trying.
There once was a man that tried a dozen different businesses, and every single one failed. At age 40, on his last attempt, something simple that he was good at, he founded a restaurant that enjoyed reasonable success. When he attempted to franchise it, he received 1009 rejections before he finally managed to found his restaurant chain.
His name was Harland Sanders, his chain was KFC, and before this wild-eyed entrepreneur died he would have told you that 11 herbs and spices weren't the secret of his success. It was determination.
So I have a question: When you read the banner, did you try going to the website antiquiet.com just to check it out, or did you not dare to visit it for fear the feds would be monitoring who hits that site?
My $.02:
"Cold War Reloaded"
"Yes We Can Again"
"Oh No They Di'n't!"
"Space Smackdown"
"The [Sp]asian Invasion"
"We're Just Not That In To Noodles"
I'm sure someone else can do better -- I haven't even had coffee...