Under Unix, if I run into a permissions issue, I su root, and fix it. Worst case, I open another window as root. No muss, no fuss. Under Windows, I've got to logout and re-login as Administrator. Show them how to avoid that, and they're yours for life.
I used to carry a huge (7" x 5" x 3") DayRunner to keep track of everything, and I constantly had to re-enter repeating . Every time someone changed phone numbers or addresses, I had to make a new entry, and I was always having to buy new inserts.
When I scribbled down a note, I knew I would have to re-enter it into my Mac (yes, Mac) later on. Otherwise, if I ever lost it, I'd have no backup.
Now I have a Palm V. I have a backup of all my contacts. I only have to enter a weekly event once.
When I'm stuck with nothing to do, I have half a dozen books loaded up. When I have too much to do, I've got reference guides for Perl, HTML, Unix, and Windows. I've got a database of 50 of my favorite restaraunts, and directions how to get there.
Many of these are the same tasks my DayRunner did before. Palm just does them much better. And I have Tetris.
The Palm Pilot is a tool. If all you want is a tip calculator, it's the coolest $400 tip calculator there is. If, however, you want the mythical "Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy", it's here.
Palm is simply having the same problems as every high-tech company: the economy's in the dumper. Give it a year.
Well, the Predator would be subject to the same laws and have the same rights as a Canadian who went on a US killing spree. There's no current extradition treaty with the Predator race, so it would stand trial in the country where the crimes were committed.
The Predator itself (or it's Lawyer) could make a convincing case case for insanity by claiming that it was common in the rest of the Universe to hunt pre-warp spiecies, and therefore the Predator had no knowledge that his actions were "wrong". True or not, this would be very difficult to disprove.
If convicted, The Predator would have to be placed in special custody for the safety of itself and other prisoners. The nature of the prisoner, would suggest an isolated military prison.
In the realpolitik world, it would be captured, and whisked off the a secret government lab for interrogation, study and dissection. A cover story would be created to avoid mass panic over Predators falling out of the sky. If the story had been made unspinnably public, there would be a massive military buildup, and Cold War II would be on.
Weel, what I did was rent a house (from a fellow geek!), and offer to install all the wiring if he'd pay for it.
I put all the house bills in my name, and produce a monthly statement for each roomie.
When Cobra-R moved out, he took his hardware:-( but life went on.
What would happen if I moved out is a debatable point, but I expect that the bills would be transferred to a different person, and the landlord would raise the rent;-)
This is Silicon Valley, and there simply aren't any vacancies.
If I owned the house, it would be about the same. I'd rent out a few rooms to geeky friends, and have veto power over construction and wiring. Othere than that...
Net access is just another utility, so the bill gets split 3 ways, just like cable and power. I have no desire to calculate how much bandwidth everyone uses.
Really, the hard part is finding someone you can live with. You could be in a world of hurt if your new roommate started hacking external sites, but no more than if he turned out to be a coke dealer. Bottom line: know who's moving in. Just because they can code C++ doesn't make them a good roommate.
I have found that living in a geek house is a really good way to learn stuff. I taught one guy perl, and he taught me about security. And if you're building a new box, you can always hit people up for spare parts.
Interestingly, this is the 3rd geek house I've lived in. The 1st was full of bike geeks: guys who rode 100 miles a week and had seen "Breaking Away" 50 times. The second one was music geeks. We were all djs who were obsessed with music and the surrounding industry. And true to form, we networked a killer stereo system. This time out, it's tech-geeks (the classic type of geek), and it's just the same: our obsession dominates house conversation, and the evidence therof (books, parts, cds...) are everywhere.
I've lived in a Geekhouse for 2 years, and it rocks! In a nerdy sort of way. In addition to the usual roommate issues (phone bill, cleaning...), add "Who messed with the router?", and "Where's my perl book?".
Start by getting a DSL or other high speed connection, there's no way you want 3-6 phone lines for modems. Don't pay a professional to install it, either. You ARE a professional. And if you aren't a network guy, ask around among your freinds. You'd be amazed what people will do for pizza and beer.
One pitfall: if your work is paying for your net connection, they won't be happy about your roommate's Napster habit. Also remember that everything in and out will be monitored by work.
Try this: design the network, figure out where all the cables will be strung, and draw up a nice clean plan including a list of the hardware you intend to use. If you offer to do the installation and leave everything when you leave, you landlord may offer to pay for some (or all) of the hardware (mine did). Oh, and by the time you move out, it'll all be obsolete.
Once everything's installed, set up a main house server with big ass hard drive for file sharing and everyone's mp3's. If you can, install a cd burner. Wink wink. Oh, and don't forget networked gaming.
For the truly ambitious and those determined NEVER to leave the house I reccomend Mister House, a home automation software package. http://www.misterhouse.net
It allows you to run everything from your house lights to your VCR from your PC, and it even has a voice interface.
-=Logan of The Hill People
Slashdot Mirror
Under Unix, if I run into a permissions issue, I su root, and fix it. Worst case, I open another window as root. No muss, no fuss. Under Windows, I've got to logout and re-login as Administrator. Show them how to avoid that, and they're yours for life.
When I scribbled down a note, I knew I would have to re-enter it into my Mac (yes, Mac) later on. Otherwise, if I ever lost it, I'd have no backup.
Now I have a Palm V. I have a backup of all my contacts. I only have to enter a weekly event once.
When I'm stuck with nothing to do, I have half a dozen books loaded up. When I have too much to do, I've got reference guides for Perl, HTML, Unix, and Windows. I've got a database of 50 of my favorite restaraunts, and directions how to get there.
Many of these are the same tasks my DayRunner did before. Palm just does them much better. And I have Tetris.
The Palm Pilot is a tool. If all you want is a tip calculator, it's the coolest $400 tip calculator there is. If, however, you want the mythical "Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy", it's here.
Palm is simply having the same problems as every high-tech company: the economy's in the dumper. Give it a year.
The Predator itself (or it's Lawyer) could make a convincing case case for insanity by claiming that it was common in the rest of the Universe to hunt pre-warp spiecies, and therefore the Predator had no knowledge that his actions were "wrong". True or not, this would be very difficult to disprove.
If convicted, The Predator would have to be placed in special custody for the safety of itself and other prisoners. The nature of the prisoner, would suggest an isolated military prison.
In the realpolitik world, it would be captured, and whisked off the a secret government lab for interrogation, study and dissection. A cover story would be created to avoid mass panic over Predators falling out of the sky. If the story had been made unspinnably public, there would be a massive military buildup, and Cold War II would be on.
Weel, what I did was rent a house (from a fellow geek!), and offer to install all the wiring if he'd pay for it.
:-( but life went on.
;-)
I put all the house bills in my name, and produce a monthly statement for each roomie.
When Cobra-R moved out, he took his hardware
What would happen if I moved out is a debatable point, but I expect that the bills would be transferred to a different person, and the landlord would raise the rent
This is Silicon Valley, and there simply aren't any vacancies. If I owned the house, it would be about the same. I'd rent out a few rooms to geeky friends, and have veto power over construction and wiring. Othere than that...
Net access is just another utility, so the bill gets split 3 ways, just like cable and power. I have no desire to calculate how much bandwidth everyone uses.
Really, the hard part is finding someone you can live with. You could be in a world of hurt if your new roommate started hacking external sites, but no more than if he turned out to be a coke dealer. Bottom line: know who's moving in. Just because they can code C++ doesn't make them a good roommate.
I have found that living in a geek house is a really good way to learn stuff. I taught one guy perl, and he taught me about security. And if you're building a new box, you can always hit people up for spare parts.
Interestingly, this is the 3rd geek house I've lived in. The 1st was full of bike geeks: guys who rode 100 miles a week and had seen "Breaking Away" 50 times. The second one was music geeks. We were all djs who were obsessed with music and the surrounding industry. And true to form, we networked a killer stereo system. This time out, it's tech-geeks (the classic type of geek), and it's just the same: our obsession dominates house conversation, and the evidence therof (books, parts, cds...) are everywhere.
All hail the alpha geek.
I've lived in a Geekhouse for 2 years, and it rocks! In a nerdy sort of way. In addition to the usual roommate issues (phone bill, cleaning...), add "Who messed with the router?", and "Where's my perl book?".
Start by getting a DSL or other high speed connection, there's no way you want 3-6 phone lines for modems. Don't pay a professional to install it, either. You ARE a professional. And if you aren't a network guy, ask around among your freinds. You'd be amazed what people will do for pizza and beer.
One pitfall: if your work is paying for your net connection, they won't be happy about your roommate's Napster habit. Also remember that everything in and out will be monitored by work.
Try this: design the network, figure out where all the cables will be strung, and draw up a nice clean plan including a list of the hardware you intend to use. If you offer to do the installation and leave everything when you leave, you landlord may offer to pay for some (or all) of the hardware (mine did). Oh, and by the time you move out, it'll all be obsolete.
Once everything's installed, set up a main house server with big ass hard drive for file sharing and everyone's mp3's. If you can, install a cd burner. Wink wink. Oh, and don't forget networked gaming.
For the truly ambitious and those determined NEVER to leave the house I reccomend Mister House, a home automation software package.
http://www.misterhouse.net
It allows you to run everything from your house lights to your VCR from your PC, and it even has a voice interface. -=Logan of The Hill People