Mister, you have *no idea* how much room there is out there. It would be a challenge to hit a satellite so that it hit even a single other on it's way down to re-entry.
There's a java applet available from NASA that lets you track just about everyhting man-made in Earth orbit. You should go look it up, it's pretty fascinating.
Re:Other books with same theme..
on
Singularity Sky
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· Score: 1
I found this post of yours this morning. I clicked on MOPI, your first link.
It's now several hours later, I've just finished the entire story. I even donated to the author's paypal site. It's not the most perfect sci-fi I've ever read but it's definately a good read.
Well, this is an obvious point, I guess - I just wan't thinking.
But now it makes me think: How many people are starting to think these kinds of violations are okay because of shows like this where they occur in *every single episode* and the guy *always ends up being guilty*...?
I mean, I know half the time when I watch the show - and admittedly, I'm a moron - I find myself thinking, "Well, that sucked... but he was guilty after all..."
I love to watch COPS. I know, I'm a horrible exampe of white trash. But I just can't resist. I see things like this happen on COPS all the time - no really, watch it and you'll see. And I always wonder, "How the *hell* can they do that?!"
You'll see them come up to some guy who seems like he's just minding his own business, and they'll totally abuse his rights -- although in their defense, in the end, the guy always ends up being guilty of something.
This seems like as good a time as any to ask - how CAN they do that?
You said: There are also no exposed pointers in Java, thus no way to clobber the stack by writing to a negative array offset, as in this exploit. Reading or writing to a negative array offset in Java will result in a RuntimeException of some sort. Buffer overflows are also impossible in Java, since writing off the end of an array will result in a similar exception.
I say: Yes, I agree completely. The next version of Windows should be written in Java.
As a matter of fact, it does. The famous case is that of the waterbed - the patent was declared invalid because the device was described previously in a novel, specifically a Heinlein novel if I recall.
YOu Say: I wish there was a single platform specification, with multiple hardware vendors building compatible systems, all capable of running the same software. Then you'd have real choices.
Hey, that's what 3DO is for! You want one, man! Go buy it today!
While you make an excellent point, I'd like to share my experience with Metal Gear. I've been a fan of the series since the first one, on the NES. I bought a PS2 in part so I could play Metal Gear Solid II, and I quite enjoyed it.
Then Metal Gear Solid: Substance came out for the Xbox, and I decided it was time to get an Xbox.
I've only put MGS:S in the Xbox once. I was that disappointed. First off the extras aren't compelling enough to make the difference, but secondly, the game runs slower and more jerkily on the Xbox than on hte PS2! And as far as I could tell, all the models, lighting, and graphics resources were ported from the PS2, so there wasn't any discernable graphic improvement.
However, I picked up Splinter Cell for the Xbox, and am very, very, very happy with my purchase.
I mean, I for one remember when telephones were invented, and then we had to connect every other netowkr to the telephone network, because obviously everything's got to be wired to phones, right? All my appliances, my dog, my house, the traffic lights,...
Oh wait. That didn't happen. Neither will this. What a dumbass.
Hey, I like e-books. I love reading everything on my handheld. It bothers my eyes not one whit, and it's a lot easier to carry around many books, etc.
This is still the worst idea I've ever heard. Assuming they would release Potter as ONLY an e-book, it would doubtlessly help e-book sales incredibly and make it a much more accepted product.
HOWEVER, if they didnt' releast it only as an e-book, clearly it wouldn't help sales too much. Many people will still by the paper edition -- most, in fact.
But that's not why this is a rotten idea. This is: COST. Right now I can go out and buy the paperback Harry Potter for five bucks. That's a price that's easily affordable to a lot of kids in the book's target demographic.
Buying an e-book display device is way out of the range of these kids. It's even out of the range of many parents. It's also ridiculous to give a kid a device like this to break, take with him tos chool to get lost or stolen, etc. Believe me, this isn't going to fly, and if the publishers think it's a good idea... well, they need to examine all the factors.
I think this is a hoax, too. But you people need to check up on your facts. I've seen lots of you saying "A commodore couldn't play movies!!" C'mon, people... Commodore is a BRAND name, not a specific PC. The Commodore 64 prolly wouldn't play movies. The Commodore Amiga sure could, though. So could the few PC CLONES Commodore put out. Yeah, they made some 486s if I recall. They didnt' sell for crap in the states but then what commodore product after the 64 did?
Your post got modded funny -- and it was. But just in case you were being serious, do note that this guy had to get permission from Lee's family. There's no reason actors couldn't trademark their image -- I'd be surprised if some don't already. (Could they copyright themselves? Prolly not... could their parents? Hrm...)
But your idea about killing Brad Pitt may have some merit...
I saw it this weekend at 600 N. Michigan (One of Chicago's trendy downtown theatres... can't see how it's any different from any other theatre -- oh,y es, location counts when you're watching afilm, I guess). Anyhow, I did notice a sign that said "NO REFUNDS FOR MONSTERS INC" and it scared me; I thought "Is the movie THAT BAD?" But not that I read your post, it all makes sense.
Okay, so call me a cynic, but having followed various news sources in recent years, I've come to the conclusion that competition is irrelevant. Take a look at the RIAA, the MPAA, Microsoft, or any 'near-monopoly' we have going here in the US of A and you'll see a consistent string of actions that use legislation or coersion to stifle the possibility of competition. The government has given these companies their monopolies and power by listening to their money and lobbyists. And despite the fact that MS is about to get a slap on the wrist, I don't see these practices changing anytime soon. Our government is currently run by the lobbies, it works for the corporations, and you and I -- the little guys -- get screwed. The best example I can think of right now is the airlines. Though they lay people off every fall, this year it makes news. Though United airlines has the stupidest business model ever and couldn't possibly hope to survive in a free market, the government is stepping in with our money to bail them out. They're like a bunch of whining kids -- "We can't compete; help us!" Hell, United's not the only airline out there. If we are ina market that supports competition, let competition sort out the market. United can go under, we'll still be able to fly places without them. And United DESERVES to go under. Though the events of September 11th were horrible and undoubtedly hurt their business badly, if they hadn't put themselves into a horrible position in the first place, they'd be fine now.
Anyone asked how many jobs the donation of money to the airlines is going to save? I'd sue like a number on this.
There's an easy answer to your theoretical question. All you have to do is take a look a deCSS, or any of the other million purely digital peices of information that 'the man' has tried to crush in recent years. The Nazis didn't fail at their book burnings because the books were physical objects. In fact, that probably made things easier. Now that we can share our ideas freely and speedily, with no inherent limit on how many copies we can make or the speed with which we can make them, it will be FAR MORE difficult to stomp out ideas of any sort, be they controversial or not.
The idea of a virus or worm that would rewrite history where it finds it is a fun one that would make a gret premise for a hollywood movie or a sci-fi novel, but I'd need some serious convincing that it's even theoretically possible - or ever will be - in real life. There are simply too many places it would have to touch to get every original record. Chances are for the sort of revisions of history you are implying, it would also have to change many things that are offline -- tape backups, CD archives, etc. Not to mention the minds of the people involved, which aren't always the best record, but are usually the hardest to change.
LEt me preface this by saying not only do I code in Perl more than anyhting else currently, I do it for a huge e-commerce application.
I think the point he was making was perfectly valid. Perl is not a less real or useful language than C++/Java, but I think anyone would agree that there is a huge paradigm difference in how one goes about coding similar applications in these different languages. Personally, I learned C as my first "real" computer language (ie actually USED, unlike Pascal and BASIC -- this was pre VB).
For me, at least, making the paradigm switch from C to C++ took me forever. I was also self-taught, no CS education to speak of. I took two programming courses and ended up teaching them both -- something I know you can relate to.
Perl I learned in a week, well enought o code on a production system. I can only assume though if I hadn't had the OO knowledge and the procedural experience both, I wouldn't have been able to function in Perl quite so easily. Likewise, if I'd started with Perl, I can only imagine that it would have taken me forever to switch my mode of thinking to be able to code efficiently in Java/C++.
If I were hiring for a company, I'd make damn sure that if the hiree didn't have a CS education, they at least had serious experience with botha procedural language and an OO language and demonstrated ability to think and code effectively in both paradigms.
Yes, I am classifying Perl as a procedural language here. Yes, it supports many OO features, but at least here it's used mainly for things that lend themselves better to procedural thinking than OO.
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Mister, you have *no idea* how much room there is out there. It would be a challenge to hit a satellite so that it hit even a single other on it's way down to re-entry.
There's a java applet available from NASA that lets you track just about everyhting man-made in Earth orbit. You should go look it up, it's pretty fascinating.
I found this post of yours this morning. I clicked on MOPI, your first link.
It's now several hours later, I've just finished the entire story. I even donated to the author's paypal site. It's not the most perfect sci-fi I've ever read but it's definately a good read.
Well, this is an obvious point, I guess - I just wan't thinking.
But now it makes me think: How many people are starting to think these kinds of violations are okay because of shows like this where they occur in *every single episode* and the guy *always ends up being guilty*...?
I mean, I know half the time when I watch the show - and admittedly, I'm a moron - I find myself thinking, "Well, that sucked... but he was guilty after all..."
Unreal! I'm not a lawyer... so someone who is, please tell me how this is legal!
I love to watch COPS. I know, I'm a horrible exampe of white trash. But I just can't resist. I see things like this happen on COPS all the time - no really, watch it and you'll see. And I always wonder, "How the *hell* can they do that?!"
You'll see them come up to some guy who seems like he's just minding his own business, and they'll totally abuse his rights -- although in their defense, in the end, the guy always ends up being guilty of something.
This seems like as good a time as any to ask - how CAN they do that?
they just force you to spend tens-of-thousands of dollars in the preliminaries before you even get to Jury selection.
--
Is this possible? What about right to a fair (and speedy) trial?!
Are you telling me my rights in the legal system depend on how much money I have?
I'm shocked. Shocked, I tell you.
You said:
There are also no exposed pointers in Java, thus no way to clobber the stack by writing to a negative array offset, as in this exploit. Reading or writing to a negative array offset in Java will result in a RuntimeException of some sort. Buffer overflows are also impossible in Java, since writing off the end of an array will result in a similar exception.
I say:
Yes, I agree completely. The next version of Windows should be written in Java.
As a matter of fact, it does. The famous case is that of the waterbed - the patent was declared invalid because the device was described previously in a novel, specifically a Heinlein novel if I recall.
-Chris
YOu Say: I wish there was a single platform specification, with multiple hardware vendors building compatible systems, all capable of running the same software. Then you'd have real choices.
Hey, that's what 3DO is for! You want one, man! Go buy it today!
While you make an excellent point, I'd like to share my experience with Metal Gear. I've been a fan of the series since the first one, on the NES. I bought a PS2 in part so I could play Metal Gear Solid II, and I quite enjoyed it.
Then Metal Gear Solid: Substance came out for the Xbox, and I decided it was time to get an Xbox.
I've only put MGS:S in the Xbox once. I was that disappointed. First off the extras aren't compelling enough to make the difference, but secondly, the game runs slower and more jerkily on the Xbox than on hte PS2! And as far as I could tell, all the models, lighting, and graphics resources were ported from the PS2, so there wasn't any discernable graphic improvement.
However, I picked up Splinter Cell for the Xbox, and am very, very, very happy with my purchase.
-Chris
Prolly pointed out already, but he clearly meant
Y 2K - Note the K
A K is 1024 bytes, right?
2K = 2048.
Y2K = 2048. Nothing to do witht he time overflow in 2038.
-Chris
I don't know about you guys, but my standard desktop PC survives a wet and salty environment daily. :P
I mean, I for one remember when telephones were invented, and then we had to connect every other netowkr to the telephone network, because obviously everything's got to be wired to phones, right? All my appliances, my dog, my house, the traffic lights, ...
Oh wait. That didn't happen. Neither will this. What a dumbass.
A) UNIX is a brand name.
B) YOu think you don't PAY for the operating system on your mac?
You mac people really are delusional.
YOu fail to understand Occam's Razor.
You're forgetting the ALL THINGS BEING EQUAL part, which basically means:
1) Athiests believe in the laws of physics, nature, etc.
2) Religious people believe in the laws of physics, nature, etc... AND God.
Which is simpler now?
-Chris
I know there's a lot of newbies who never heard of Grand Theft Auto before GTAIII hit the shelves.
The rest of us remember GTAII and GTAII:London.
Same thing happened last time, guys.
-Chris
Addison St. is 3600 N. If you drove to 3600 N Clark, you would be in front of Wrigley Field.
However, Wrigley field's address is not on Clark, it is on Addison. 1060 West Addison, to be precise.
I live two blocks from there.
This is still the worst idea I've ever heard. Assuming they would release Potter as ONLY an e-book, it would doubtlessly help e-book sales incredibly and make it a much more accepted product.
HOWEVER, if they didnt' releast it only as an e-book, clearly it wouldn't help sales too much. Many people will still by the paper edition -- most, in fact.
But that's not why this is a rotten idea. This is: COST. Right now I can go out and buy the paperback Harry Potter for five bucks. That's a price that's easily affordable to a lot of kids in the book's target demographic.
Buying an e-book display device is way out of the range of these kids. It's even out of the range of many parents. It's also ridiculous to give a kid a device like this to break, take with him tos chool to get lost or stolen, etc. Believe me, this isn't going to fly, and if the publishers think it's a good idea... well, they need to examine all the factors.
-Chris
But your idea about killing Brad Pitt may have some merit...
KITTY!!!
Anyone asked how many jobs the donation of money to the airlines is going to save? I'd sue like a number on this.
The idea of a virus or worm that would rewrite history where it finds it is a fun one that would make a gret premise for a hollywood movie or a sci-fi novel, but I'd need some serious convincing that it's even theoretically possible - or ever will be - in real life. There are simply too many places it would have to touch to get every original record. Chances are for the sort of revisions of history you are implying, it would also have to change many things that are offline -- tape backups, CD archives, etc. Not to mention the minds of the people involved, which aren't always the best record, but are usually the hardest to change.
I think the point he was making was perfectly valid. Perl is not a less real or useful language than C++/Java, but I think anyone would agree that there is a huge paradigm difference in how one goes about coding similar applications in these different languages. Personally, I learned C as my first "real" computer language (ie actually USED, unlike Pascal and BASIC -- this was pre VB).
For me, at least, making the paradigm switch from C to C++ took me forever. I was also self-taught, no CS education to speak of. I took two programming courses and ended up teaching them both -- something I know you can relate to.
Perl I learned in a week, well enought o code on a production system. I can only assume though if I hadn't had the OO knowledge and the procedural experience both, I wouldn't have been able to function in Perl quite so easily. Likewise, if I'd started with Perl, I can only imagine that it would have taken me forever to switch my mode of thinking to be able to code efficiently in Java/C++.
If I were hiring for a company, I'd make damn sure that if the hiree didn't have a CS education, they at least had serious experience with botha procedural language and an OO language and demonstrated ability to think and code effectively in both paradigms.
Yes, I am classifying Perl as a procedural language here. Yes, it supports many OO features, but at least here it's used mainly for things that lend themselves better to procedural thinking than OO.