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User: oakwine

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  1. The History of a Rolling Trainwreck on The Strange Birth and Long Life of Unix · · Score: 1

    My first encounter with UNIX was learning it on a dialup system back in the days when CP/M was still the user operating system. It looked to me like a vast rolling trrainwreck that was continually evolved to keep it more or less functional. Teams of wizards surrounded it and made lots of money from its care and feeding. I became one of the wizards. But I still hated it. And do.

  2. Used to Code in That on CP/M and MSDOS on Things That Turbo Pascal Is Smaller Than · · Score: 1

    On CP/M there was no room for bloat. Not much room for bloat on MSDOS. For a couple years I ran CP/M parallel with MSDOS. Had a couple of "do everything" program disks. Slowly MSDOS came up to speed. Now we live in the age of bloatware. Easier to maintain and modify I guess, but it lacks the elegance and speed that once existed.

  3. Goodbye to a Great Man on John McCarthy, Discoverer of Lisp, Has Passed Away · · Score: 2

    I am sad to see him go, one more of the old crew departed. Lisp taught me more about programming than any other language. Yes, he discovered it. The Spartans had the Lambda on their shields. They knew about it, they just had no computers! You had to be a bit of a Spartan to keep up with all the close parens. And Scheme, Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs by Abelson and Sussman. A treasure. I hope Lisp lives on at least in academia. The concepts are inspiring even if implementation may be more efficient in an imperative language.

  4. Why I Stay With Firefox on No Tab Relocation Coming For Chrome · · Score: 1

    Liked Chrome when it first came out. But back to Firefox. The fox had one major glitch session for me but fixed within 24 hours. Tabs position easily selectable. Doesn't make me much difference really. There are lots of browser choices. When devs have their heads wedged, just go run an alternative.

  5. Are We There Yeti? on US Scientists Invited To Russian Yeti Hunt · · Score: 1

    The name of the WoW quest for the two pristine horns is "Are We There Yeti?" The original quest was meant to be a grind fest and was. Then you had to be world traveler to frighten all the targets with the mechanical yeti. But with the revision of the quests in the low game in the Cataclysm patch, heck I just stealthed into the depts of the yeti cave with my Druid and quickly had the two horns. I think the only person I had to frighten with the mechanical yeti was right there in WinterSpring. This made me feel pretty stud, so I set out to find the hunter quests and the Boss Dragon, FinkWing or whatever his name is, appeared and blasted me with fire and killed me! I got an achievement for this honor. As for the russians, good luck to them. Maybe they find no yeti but find a lochness monster or a Gobi Death Worm. Or clever Russian peasants are stimulating the tourist trade.

  6. Storm in a Teacup on Science and Religion Can and Do Mix, Mostly · · Score: 1

    On the surface of a planet around a star that cannot be seen with the naked eye a distance of more than 60 light years or so dwells a group of semi intelligent featherless bipeds less than the size of a dust mote on a galactic scale. They have small brains subject to the henweigh effect; their brains weigh about as much as a hen. They communicate mostly by disturbing the air around them with what they call words. They also have symbol systems for their words. Lost and alone in a vast cosmos they argue about science and religion as if their burblings meant anything. When I was a boy in Jr. High and HS long ago I read Mr. Moffatt's translation of the Bible, all of the Darwin I could find, and a lot of Mark Twain. Sir James Jeans, Arthur Eddington, etc. I then went to a major brand name science institute for my physics degree. Over the years it seems that most of the religious people I knew, Christian and Jewish with an occasional follower of Islam, Buddhism, or the Eternal Dharma; these people I say ended up well off and happy. The followers of "science" by contrast are mostly dead or wish they were. No kidding. So I remain religious because it seems to be the way of common sense and survival all things considered. And yes, I still like Mark Twain. Not that any of it matters on a cosmic scale. Not being divinely inspired, I allow that the followers of scientism might be right after all and we are only meaningless pots of bubbling chemicals. If so, I enjoy my delusions. Or even worse, H. P. Lovecraft; but let's not go there.

  7. Re:They will be able to if it is fun on An FPS Minus the Shooting · · Score: 1

    Right on the nose. Or they try to raise consciousness level of one or another good cause. Life has many exciting enterprises that do not involve shooting other people, animals, monsters, or demons for whatever purpose. But if someone writes a jungle exploration game you can be sure they will try to teach the principles of ecology and conservation. Suddenly the game feels like work. The End.

  8. Feather Merchants on Age Bias In IT: the Reality Behind the Rumors · · Score: 1

    The sickness of American companies. Middle management composed mostly of feather merchants. If you do not fit into their feathery kingdom, out you go.

  9. Poor Experience in the Past on Mandriva 2011 Out · · Score: 1

    No, just no. My experience with this distro in the past was not good.

  10. Wave of the Future on Reaction To Diablo 3's Always-Online Requirement · · Score: 1

    Those who cannot have a continuous internet connection lose out big, no doubt of it. Only solution for them is to play older games. More and more games will use the client / server model. This is the model that has been in use in MMO for many years. It works, it has many benefits; it will thus become the standard for many game publishers. Ubisoft's new Conflux model is a compromise example. For instance, it will be possible to play Heroes of Might and Magic VI without and an internet connection. But there are so many advantages to Conflux that everyone will want to use it. I approve of the Diablo III always online model. If you play WoW you already know the drill. Again, sympathy for those who do not have a constant internet connection, but older games will be the solution. Heck, half my gaming time is on older games, Good Old Games (GoG), and being forced to play those can turn out to be a very happy outcome!

  11. Winning Move by Blizzard on Blizzard Reveals Diablo 3 (Real Money) Auction House · · Score: 1

    This is good! Looking forward to D3 even more. Since I was not looking forward to it much, now I am looking forward to it less but a bigger less that is closer to much. How much closer is yet to be revealed.

  12. Tubes Were Better on Why Your Dad's 30-Year-Old Stereo Sounds Better Than Yours · · Score: 1

    All predicted when the switch to solid state and mp3 quality began. Stereo quality went south. Same is true in amateur radio. Rich friend has complete set of tube based Collins S-Line equipment plus most of the current elite solid state gear. So he can A/B. Tube gear always wins both for reception and for online transmission reports. Sadly, most of the engineers who knew how to work with tubes are deceased or retired. Welcome to the solid state slum of modern life.

  13. Guild Wars 2 and Diablo 3 on Can Minecraft Change the Gaming Industry? · · Score: 1

    Not as if this hasn't been known. Diablo 3 will have destructible elements. In GW 2 lots of random stuff to pick up, some of it weaponry that changes your skill bar. Plus maps that change from one play session to the next as far as monsters and events go. Dungeons rearrange themselves; but Diablo had that.

  14. Old Player Not Surprised on EVE Online Players Rage, Protest Over Microtransactions · · Score: 1

    Years ago, played EVE for about 7 months. Still get invites to activate my account for a few days and see all the great changes. Not likely. On the one hand like WoW, on the other hand like a spreadsheet. But overall like a million scam jobs all after you at once. EVE players were always up in arms about something.This sounds a bit more serious though. I think in the end micro transactions will mark the final decline of the MMO. Playing online with "friends" was once a novelty. Now it is more of a pain than anything else. Offline games have a lot more to offer me, I know that. Except for forums filled with outrage ... think I'll nip over and watch the lynch mobs.

  15. Bugs With Google Home Page FF 5 on No Additional Firefox 4 Security Updates · · Score: 1

    ARRRRRGGH! So I upgraded to FF 5 and the Google Personal Home Page now does not display properly. NoSquint seems to work, but that might be the problem. Who knows. This does not look good comrades, no it does not look good. I hate the new Firefox button because we hates changes we does, my precioussss. Give it a week or so, but may be time to change browsers. What you all recommend?

  16. GW and WoW on Women Remain the Ignored Audience In Gaming · · Score: 1

    Both are popular with women, relatively speaking. Been in guilds in both where women were significant in number and some of them influential. Couple of female Guild Masters, did wonderful job. (yes, we used Ventrilo; not fakes) No need to make games designed to attract females. Games are games are games. Only need to avoid elements in games that are offensive to most women. Much harder task is to remove online offensive language and adolescent crudity from players.

  17. We Will Find Out on No, We're Not Headed For a New Ice Age · · Score: 1

    One way or the other or neither. Time will tell, not political science.

  18. Scientists Comedians and Children on Fetus Don't Fail Me Now: How Scientists Raise Children · · Score: 1

    take away valuable time better spent playing World of WarCraft.

  19. Don't Like GM Cars Either on Activists Destroy Scientific GMO Experiment · · Score: 1

    Like Monsanto even less than GM. Activists were acting against a malign corporation. Good for them.

  20. They Can Sit With the People Playing WoW on Why IT Needs To Change for Gen Z · · Score: 1

    On company time. Who are sitting in HR signing out with staff ready to help them carry their boxes of personal belongings to car. Oh no no no, I don't think so.

  21. It is Fun to Watch if You Know How to Play on Why People Watch StarCraft, Instead of Playing · · Score: 1

    And I'm not that good at it; not the sharpest tool in the shed, indeed not even in the shed! But if you know in general what the pro players are doing it is fun to watch even if you do not understand why they are doing what they do. Besides which all that APM hurts my fingers!

  22. Google FUD Department on Sergey Brin: Windows Is "Torturing Users" · · Score: 1

    Google copied their FUD Department from the Microsoft model. Windows never tortured me. Very reliable OS. I like Windows! I also like Linux almost as much except for games ... sigh. I like controlling and building my own computer, thank you. Please Google, go FUD somewhere else.

  23. GoG to Your Rescue on Is the Gaming Industry Moving Online Too Fast? · · Score: 2

    "find ways to guarantee that items bought are permanently owned even without a physical copy" Try GoG, www.gog.com. Buy game, no DRM. Put installer on CD if you want. GoG has no client that must run in background. Games on GoG a bit old, but probably a huge improvement on Nintendo. That being said, Steam, Impulse, D2D all work. Bunch of 'em out there.

  24. A Sound of Ancient Drums on Court Clears Novell To Sue Microsoft Over WordPerfect · · Score: 1

    WP was a wonderful word processor on DOS and I guess DR Dos up to some point, then it got overly complex. It did not transition to Windows gracefully especially when it was forced to dance to the tune of shots nicely aimed when each new Windows patch came out. Ethics was not anyone's strong suit in those days. Hate to be the legal counsel on either side of this one.

  25. Re:To me, Unity netbook was better on 5 Out of 11 Crashed Unity In Canonical's Study · · Score: 1

    Xfce better for what I do. If even that. Holy Grails are only available from commercial vendors like Microsoft, Apple, and Google. Corporations can maintain design focus while products of volunteer groups are chunky, quirky collections of everyone's ideas. Next name of Ubuntu release, Quirky Quillboar. Any further questions about why the vast majority of users are not adopting Linux?