(Background: I first put hand to a computer in 1972 via an ASR-33 Teletype over a 110 baud accoustical-coupler modem to a timesharing PDP/8 with, IIRC, 8KB(!) of memory.)
Over the years, I've been burned MANY TIMES by upgrades causing me more problems than they fixed.
What I do: I try to always download to a local directory, first, and ONLY THEN do I run the install. That way, if it goes bad, I can always try to uninstall and then re-install the prior version. (Exceptions: AVG updates, and Firefox extensions - only the original is downloaded first. Mostly because they make it way to easy to just install the updates directly, and also because I have not burned by doing this, yet.) I also regularly use Windows/XPs System Restore to make a backup - at least once a week. And, I have spare 200GB and 300GB USB drives which I use for system backups.
Question:
How do you handle upgrades so you can roll back to prior versions?
What tools/utilities have you used that have saved your bacon?
How do you take control of the install/upgrade process on your system instead of relying on each vendor providing a mechanism for backing out?
I'd love to have a tool that I could fire up so that when I do an install/upgrade, it logged EVERY change to my system in plain text.
(e.g.: Created file foo.txt; read file: baz.ini; replaced file: bar.doc; deleted registry key:... added Registry key:...)
that would permit me, immediately after the install, I could see what was potentially impacted. Further down the road, I'd have info I could refer to so I can find out what hosed needed functionality.
Case in point: I recently tried to write some data to a CD (hadn't done that for a few months) and cannot. I have no idea which of the past 4 months' downloads/installs caused the problem. But, with logs such as I just described, my task would be so much easier.
Well, once you read this snippet from the article, they'll have enough ammo:
"There is one caveat: PHP, the popular programming language, is the only component in the LAMP stack that has a higher bug density than the baseline, Coverity said."
I assume he means the baseline of 0.434 bugs/1000 lines, and that if they removed PHP from the LAMP stack, that average bug count would go down even further.
Well, I know a way where you can leave PHP in that stack and still make the bugs/KLOC figure go down REALLY fast. All I need is for someone to check in this simple fix:
I just watched the
video
of this robotic "pack mule".
Given that the "knees" of the front legs face the knees of the back legs, I wonder if anyone else was reminded of
Doctor Dolittle's
PushMi-PullYu?
How about a Slashdot for Patents???? Given the knowledge and interest I've seen displayed here, and the fact that the SlashCode is available, I really think this could work!
Features: Here's a rough, back of the envelope, sketch of how it could work:
Getting patents A demon could periodically check the USPTO site, and create an article for each new patent application it finds.
Categorizating Patents would be categorized into different "departments".
Hmmm, could a Bayesian filter come up with a short list of recommendations? These could be attached to the article as options for "High-Karma" users to select (or offer something better). As soon as some threshhold (say 10 votes) is reached, the article is moved from the NEW department to the selected department.
Moderating This could procede as it does here on slashdot, but the comments' focus could be to examine the patents:
Provide references to PRIOR ART.
Discuss the [IM]POSSIBILITY of the application.
And, of course, HUMOR would be encouraged!
Benefits Offhand, I see this would:
provide a venue for those who are proficient in the area to comment
help the beleagured patent office, and
inform readers as to the workings of the PTO.
What have I missed? I know there has to be SOMEthing! Thoughts? Ideas?
Background: I've worked in software development and QA since 1980. I've worked in multi-nationals (IDM, DEC, WANG, PR1ME) down to startups with 3 people and many other sizes in between.
Sensitivity: Some people are more sensitive than others. There is a range of stimulus within which people are comfortable. Too little stimulus and they are bored; too much, and there's an urge to yell "SHUT UP!". In between is where people are most productive. Imagine a thermometer, but marked in amount of stimulus instead of degrees. Your "comfort-zone range" is most likely not the same as mine. I need little stimulus to be comfortable and am easily overwhelmed. BUT, that sensitivity allows me to be exceptionally good at picking up on software defects - I perceive things that most people don't even notice. OTOH, there are people on the other end of the scale who THRIVE on CHAOS. Anything less and they feel bored. These are the folks who can keep their heads when all around them is going nuts. It's not so much that they are necessarily processing all that stimulus better, but more often they only perceive some fraction of what you and I would notice. Freed from the additional input that overwhelms us, they can see the big picture and make decisions when others couldn't.
Distribution:Of course, offices are set up to be most comfortable to the most people. Take a bell curve of sensitivity.
I'm with the 10% at the low end - it doesn't take much and I'm
happy... and it doesn't take much more and I'm overwhelmed. The
manager types tend to be at the other 10% end of the scale - they can
deal with chaos. Then there's the other 80% or so for which the
usual office setup is designed.
My experience:I am most productive when I can get into "FLOW"... that's when all outside distractions disappear and I am totally immersed in the problem at hand. I can, in one hour of that, produce what would
otherwise take me a whole morning or even a whole day. In a cube farm,
it is EXTREMELY dfficult for me to get into the FLOW. My productivity suffers. I just can't keep focused when so much around me is distracting. So, what has worked best for me is an office of my own
where I can close the door. For many (most?) other people, this would be akin to an isolation chamber and they would be bored - and out of their comfort zone.
Then again, there have been a couple of times when I was working VERY CLOSELY with a co-worker on the EXACT SAME problem area... it was as if the two of us were one with the project and with each other's way of thinking. Then, and only then, did I find a shared office to be more
productive than either a cube farm or a single office.
Positions: I've hinted at this above, but some jobs are more conducive to engaging, constant stimulus than others. Deep contemplation versus constant interaction and brainstorming. Software QA, e.g., versus a software developer trying to brainstorm a way past a blocking problem.
Summary: I do not believe there is a single, best answer. It depends on your personal makeup and the task(s) you are trying to accomplish. What is best for me, may well be the worst environment for you. So, I won't forcce you into a private ofice, if you don't force me into a cube farm. Okay?;^)
I've not seen this anywhere else, but I have a theory. I've heard that Google
has set thing up to host images for free. It would be easy with these new facilities
mentioned in the article, that they could then offer web hosting for free (or almost nothing, whatever). But with one catch:
Their robots.txt would allow no other web crawler to access the content that they host
As more and more people take advantage of their hosting, the less content that
Yahoo and MSN can access, so the more relevant Google's search is, so more people
use Google search, so they have more money from their ad income to go and provide
free hosting... lather, rinse, repeat.
Then, add in all this dark fiber to interconnect their webhosting
sites and they can provide the best access to information. Will they eventually
BECOME the internet? I doubt it, but they sure could make buckets of money as
this system develops.
Hi! I'm having fun playing some of these games... but it would be really nice
if all 50 of the 2005 4KB games were available for download in a single.ZIP file. If I missed such a thing, please give the URL. Otherwise, could you please add this to the site and let us know what its URL is?
Thanks!
- Marty
I think it's time that there was an open discussion of dupes (This article is a dupe of one poasted last night).
There have been pro and against arguments. The pro argument have been that some people miss the original articles and have a second chance to post. The neutral argument has been that if one doesn't like the dupe, one should simpy ignore it. Both of these arguments make good sense.
However, slashdot is in some sense a commercial enterprise. The majority are, of course, not subscribers, but there must be quite a few all the same. Slashdot also gets paid by advertisers to get many hits. Advertisers could argue that they get less hits on dupe articles.
In these last two cases, it isn't exactly a shiny example of quality in a product (if one can look upin slashdot as a product) to see so many dupes. I know that the sheer number of dupes in slashdot would prevent me from subscribing as I see it as a problem of editors being disinterested in checking what they post.
I agree with your sentiment. I also understand that it can be difficult to detect a dupe when such a large number of articles come streaming through. It's a non-trivial task.
What I would recommend is some kind of tool which discerns "similarity" between a current article under consideration, and articles posted within, say, the last week. What comes to mind is a technique used to detect spam - Bayesian (sp?) Filters. It just seems to me that these are similar problem spaces and that it may be able to apply the same techniques. Even if, just prior to an article being posted, the top 5 [or so] most similar articles were presented for comparison, it could help to knock a few off the site.
Now maybe that's not the right technology to use, but it seems like there should be some way we can leverage anti-spam tools to assist in this.
When in college in the Late 1970's, we brought some liquid nitrogen from the main science lab back to the dorm. After pouring (IIRC) 150 proof vodka into ice cube trays, we used the LN to create "vod-cubes". These, when added to a class of Collins Mixer, made for an interesting drink - the longer we waited the stronger it got! Also used some of it to freeze popcorn and Fig Newtons(TM)... It sure was neat to see a Fig Newton *shatter*!
There's a bunch of info on the CLP-500 here that might help. There are lots and lots of comments from users with both good and bad results and the distros they used.
Leaving a computer in the cold weather might also be a problem, and LCD's have a noticably slower refresh rate in the cold.
It's not JUST cold weather you have to watch out for... I've seen LCD's go completely black when they overheated... like from sitting out in the sun. Since car temps can easily get well over 100 F when left in the sun, this could be a real problem. Then there's the matter that the electronics you use need to be able to operate at those temps, too. You need to make sure you have a large enough heat sink to cool it in summer. But, then again, you don't want a huge heatsink in winter when the temp goes below 0 F.
Maybe things are different for you, but here in the Northeast USA, temperatures have swung between 10 below and 100 above in any given year.
Separate to this will be a unique experimental observation organised by JIVE, the Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe that will involve 17 radio telescopes around the world including the Parkes dish in NSW. They will monitor the weak signal of the Huygens probe directly to detct any doppler shift in the signal. Using VLBI (Very Long Baseline Interferometry) astronomers hope to be able to pinpoint the entry of Huygens into Titan's atmosphere to within 1 km.
Given reports that the Malicious Software Removal Tool has identified benign programs (e.g. VNC) as infected, maybe BOTH of the following groupings apply!
Is this a:
a Tool that performs the Removal of Malicious Software?
i.e. (Malicious Software) (Removal Tool)
OR
a Tool that looks around and Maliciously performs the Removal of Software?
i.e. (Malicious) (Software Removal Tool)
Several years ago, I read a short [fictional] story about an attempt to overthrow a leader. There was no way
to get close to him, physically. So, conventional ammunition was out of the picture. They story has it that the "all-knowing, all-seeing" leader was taken out in a different way. He still lived, but he was blinded by a short burst from a high-powered laser at an outdoor speaking engagement.
So, the question I have is Just what does it take in the way of power level and duration to actually blind a person?
If it were feasible, I'd imagine the CIA or some other TLA would have used it by now and we'd have a few blind leaders around, or obvious steps taken to protect leaders' vision.
So, am I missing something here?
One of the things that is addressed to some extent in the article is the need to make error messages meaningful! There is nothing more frustrating to me than to encounter an error message like "syntax error."
At a minimum, an error message should have a Unique ID of where in the code this message is coming from, what was expected, what was actually found, and the context where it was found.
EXAMPLE:
for (i=1;i<=10;i++) {printf "%d\n', i}
Which would you prefer:
Syntax error in line 1.
ERROR [ID=WXY1234] found "'" where expected """ in statement: "{printf "%d\n', i}" on line: 1.
In my experience, meaningful error messages save more debugging time than it takes to put them in.
I could be wrong about this device (I don't know what's inside), but just because physical things are oscillating does not mean they shake around and buzz. Macro scale buzzing requires some serious inertia... atoms and molecules don't buzz:)
Okay, that makes sense... but why do TVs and CRTs (IBM 3270 Terminals, especially) have a most annoying buzz? To the best of my knowledge, there's no moving parts, and yet I could hear them
from over 30 feet away!
It's been many years since I studied German, but that reads to me: the mirror moves "more than a thousand times per second".
It means "several thousand times per second" (I'm German).
Okay, thanks! I stand corrected.
This is necessary if you want decent refresh rates. The mirror has to be tilted once for every scanline; if you want 70 fps at 240 lines of vertical resolution, that means it will have to be tilted about 16,800 times per second. In theory, this would lead to an buzz at the upper end of the audible spectrum. TV sets usually emit noise at about 15 kHz, which is terribly annoying.
And 60 fps at 240 lines would be 14,400 Hz. So, we're agreed the frequency would be in the
audible range.
Given how small the amplitude actually is (and it has to be for this kind of motion!), however, I doubt you would hear a lot as long as the mechanical parts are properly designed and it's in any kind of casing.
I didn't think it all the way through; thanks for pointing it out. It's just that I'd spent WAY too many years listening to the horrible buzz of IBM 3270 Terminals (they were the WORST!) There were no moving parts in those (that I am aware of), and yet the noise was painfully audible. So, I feared this new display might also be subject to the same problem.
Nach jeder Auslenkung ziehen die Federn den Spiegel so schnell in seine Ausgangslage zurück, dass er sich mehrere tausend Mal pro Sekunde verkippen lässt.
It's been many years since I studied German, but that reads to me: the mirror moves "more than a thousand times per second". Translation: this thing vibrates at approximately 1 KHz. That's probably not only audible, but it probably would cause a noticable vibration in your hand, too.
I realize the vibration's amplitude is probably minor, but I can hear the buzz from a TV from 30 feet away... and I've known several other people who could do the same, so I'm not unique in that regard. The whir of my PC's fan and disk drives can be terribly annoying.
So, I think it's a great accomplishment, but I'd hold off buying one until the buzz dies down.;^)
BHRC is sponsored by Benfield, the world's leading independent reinsurance intermediary and risk advisory business. Benfield's customers include many of the world's major insurance and reinsurance companies as well as Government entities and global corporations. Benfield employs over 1,700 people based in over 30 locations worldwide.
<sarcasm>Why would an insurance company post such an article?</sarcasm>
The BASIC language was designed for this in mind. There are a number of sources on the web where
you can download a copy to play with. It was the first language I learned, decades ago, and it still
is a good choice today. Just be sure to teach her structured programming so she doesn't run into
the trap of spaghetti coding where GOTO's go every which way.
Here's a google link to some places where you can download a copy to get started.
The fun is in the play itself, and if the designers - being only human after all - limited me in some way, I want a way around that limitation. I want a cheat.
In other words, it sounds like you want to make use of all the game has to offer. Explore and then push the limits of what you can do in that "universe".
Reminds me of a time back in the late 70's when a friend (Brian) and I popped in to visit the sysop (Mike) of our school computer system (PDP/11-70 running RSTS/E). Mike had apparently finished his day's work just as we showed up. We got to talking and the next thing we knew, Mike set us up with a system image just for us, and let us login as operator (which effectively gave us unlimited access).
All these commands we'd heard of or dreamed of were suddenly at our disposal. Brian and I spent the next hour or so locked in mortal combat! He forced me off the system. I logged back in and tried to force HIM off. That went on for a while and then we moved on to adjusting priorities -- I'd lower his and then boost mine. On and on it went. I swear we learned more operator commands in that hour than could have been taught to us in a month of classes... and we had a ball doing it, too!
In short, we were able to use all the commands the system had to offer... It was like someone told us the computer system we'd used for a couple years had cheat codes and gave them to us. Using them opened up a whole new universe to us!
Slashdot Mirror
(Background: I first put hand to a computer in 1972 via an ASR-33 Teletype over a 110 baud accoustical-coupler modem to a timesharing PDP/8 with, IIRC, 8KB(!) of memory.)
Over the years, I've been burned MANY TIMES by upgrades causing me more problems than they fixed.
What I do: I try to always download to a local directory, first, and ONLY THEN do I run the install. That way, if it goes bad, I can always try to uninstall and then re-install the prior version. (Exceptions: AVG updates, and Firefox extensions - only the original is downloaded first. Mostly because they make it way to easy to just install the updates directly, and also because I have not burned by doing this, yet.) I also regularly use Windows/XPs System Restore to make a backup - at least once a week. And, I have spare 200GB and 300GB USB drives which I use for system backups.
Question:
I'd love to have a tool that I could fire up so that when I do an install/upgrade, it logged EVERY change to my system in plain text. (e.g.: Created file foo.txt; read file: baz.ini; replaced file: bar.doc; deleted registry key: ... added Registry key: ...)
that would permit me, immediately after the install, I could see what was potentially impacted. Further down the road, I'd have info I could refer to so I can find out what hosed needed functionality.
Case in point: I recently tried to write some data to a CD (hadn't done that for a few months) and cannot. I have no idea which of the past 4 months' downloads/installs caused the problem. But, with logs such as I just described, my task would be so much easier.
Well, I know a way where you can leave PHP in that stack and still make the bugs/KLOC figure go down REALLY fast. All I need is for someone to check in this simple fix:
[BTW, I suggest using an optimization setting for the compiler so that redundant code is removed.]It has long been known that bugs/KLOC is a convenient, but not necessarily informative, statistic. A few seconds with google might prove enlightening:
I just watched the video of this robotic "pack mule". Given that the "knees" of the front legs face the knees of the back legs, I wonder if anyone else was reminded of Doctor Dolittle's PushMi-PullYu?
How about a Slashdot for Patents???? Given the knowledge and interest I've seen displayed here, and the fact that the SlashCode is available, I really think this could work!
Features: Here's a rough, back of the envelope, sketch of how it could work:
Getting patents A demon could periodically check the USPTO site, and create an article for each new patent application it finds.
Categorizating Patents would be categorized into different "departments". Hmmm, could a Bayesian filter come up with a short list of recommendations? These could be attached to the article as options for "High-Karma" users to select (or offer something better). As soon as some threshhold (say 10 votes) is reached, the article is moved from the NEW department to the selected department.
Moderating This could procede as it does here on slashdot, but the comments' focus could be to examine the patents:
Benefits Offhand, I see this would:
What have I missed? I know there has to be SOMEthing! Thoughts? Ideas?
Background: I've worked in software development and QA since 1980. I've worked in multi-nationals (IDM, DEC, WANG, PR1ME) down to startups with 3 people and many other sizes in between.
Sensitivity: Some people are more sensitive than others. There is a range of stimulus within which people are comfortable. Too little stimulus and they are bored; too much, and there's an urge to yell "SHUT UP!". In between is where people are most productive. Imagine a thermometer, but marked in amount of stimulus instead of degrees. Your "comfort-zone range" is most likely not the same as mine. I need little stimulus to be comfortable and am easily overwhelmed. BUT, that sensitivity allows me to be exceptionally good at picking up on software defects - I perceive things that most people don't even notice. OTOH, there are people on the other end of the scale who THRIVE on CHAOS. Anything less and they feel bored. These are the folks who can keep their heads when all around them is going nuts. It's not so much that they are necessarily processing all that stimulus better, but more often they only perceive some fraction of what you and I would notice. Freed from the additional input that overwhelms us, they can see the big picture and make decisions when others couldn't.
Distribution:Of course, offices are set up to be most comfortable to the most people. Take a bell curve of sensitivity. I'm with the 10% at the low end - it doesn't take much and I'm happy... and it doesn't take much more and I'm overwhelmed. The manager types tend to be at the other 10% end of the scale - they can deal with chaos. Then there's the other 80% or so for which the usual office setup is designed.
My experience:I am most productive when I can get into "FLOW"... that's when all outside distractions disappear and I am totally immersed in the problem at hand. I can, in one hour of that, produce what would otherwise take me a whole morning or even a whole day. In a cube farm, it is EXTREMELY dfficult for me to get into the FLOW. My productivity suffers. I just can't keep focused when so much around me is distracting. So, what has worked best for me is an office of my own where I can close the door. For many (most?) other people, this would be akin to an isolation chamber and they would be bored - and out of their comfort zone.
Then again, there have been a couple of times when I was working VERY CLOSELY with a co-worker on the EXACT SAME problem area... it was as if the two of us were one with the project and with each other's way of thinking. Then, and only then, did I find a shared office to be more productive than either a cube farm or a single office.
Positions: I've hinted at this above, but some jobs are more conducive to engaging, constant stimulus than others. Deep contemplation versus constant interaction and brainstorming. Software QA, e.g., versus a software developer trying to brainstorm a way past a blocking problem.
Summary: I do not believe there is a single, best answer. It depends on your personal makeup and the task(s) you are trying to accomplish. What is best for me, may well be the worst environment for you. So, I won't forcce you into a private ofice, if you don't force me into a cube farm. Okay? ;^)
So if this actually became a problem, MSN could simply tell their spider to ignore robots.txt on Google-hosted sites.
Okay, but couldnt google then block all access from MSN's crawlers? I seriously don't know if/how this would be done. Any ideas?
I've not seen this anywhere else, but I have a theory. I've heard that Google has set thing up to host images for free. It would be easy with these new facilities mentioned in the article, that they could then offer web hosting for free (or almost nothing, whatever). But with one catch:
As more and more people take advantage of their hosting, the less content that Yahoo and MSN can access, so the more relevant Google's search is, so more people use Google search, so they have more money from their ad income to go and provide free hosting... lather, rinse, repeat.
Then, add in all this dark fiber to interconnect their webhosting sites and they can provide the best access to information. Will they eventually BECOME the internet? I doubt it, but they sure could make buckets of money as this system develops.
Try these:
Hi! I'm having fun playing some of these games... but it would be really nice if all 50 of the 2005 4KB games were available for download in a single .ZIP file. If I missed such a thing, please give the URL. Otherwise, could you please add this to the site and let us know what its URL is?
Thanks!
- Marty
There have been pro and against arguments. The pro argument have been that some people miss the original articles and have a second chance to post. The neutral argument has been that if one doesn't like the dupe, one should simpy ignore it. Both of these arguments make good sense.
However, slashdot is in some sense a commercial enterprise. The majority are, of course, not subscribers, but there must be quite a few all the same. Slashdot also gets paid by advertisers to get many hits. Advertisers could argue that they get less hits on dupe articles.
In these last two cases, it isn't exactly a shiny example of quality in a product (if one can look upin slashdot as a product) to see so many dupes. I know that the sheer number of dupes in slashdot would prevent me from subscribing as I see it as a problem of editors being disinterested in checking what they post.
I agree with your sentiment. I also understand that it can be difficult to detect a dupe when such a large number of articles come streaming through. It's a non-trivial task.
What I would recommend is some kind of tool which discerns "similarity" between a current article under consideration, and articles posted within, say, the last week. What comes to mind is a technique used to detect spam - Bayesian (sp?) Filters. It just seems to me that these are similar problem spaces and that it may be able to apply the same techniques. Even if, just prior to an article being posted, the top 5 [or so] most similar articles were presented for comparison, it could help to knock a few off the site.
Now maybe that's not the right technology to use, but it seems like there should be some way we can leverage anti-spam tools to assist in this.
When in college in the Late 1970's, we brought some liquid nitrogen from the main science lab back to the dorm. After pouring (IIRC) 150 proof vodka into ice cube trays, we used the LN to create "vod-cubes". These, when added to a class of Collins Mixer, made for an interesting drink - the longer we waited the stronger it got! Also used some of it to freeze popcorn and Fig Newtons(TM)... It sure was neat to see a Fig Newton *shatter*!
There's a bunch of info on the CLP-500 here that might help. There are lots and lots of comments from users with both good and bad results and the distros they used.
Check this out:
Good Luck!
It's not JUST cold weather you have to watch out for... I've seen LCD's go completely black when they overheated... like from sitting out in the sun. Since car temps can easily get well over 100 F when left in the sun, this could be a real problem. Then there's the matter that the electronics you use need to be able to operate at those temps, too. You need to make sure you have a large enough heat sink to cool it in summer. But, then again, you don't want a huge heatsink in winter when the temp goes below 0 F.
Maybe things are different for you, but here in the Northeast USA, temperatures have swung between 10 below and 100 above in any given year.
That's AMAZING!
I did some googling and found these:
As to your comment about the resolution of JIVE's VLBI work, I found this quote to be especially descriptive:
Makes me wonder what kind of resolution we could get if we had radio telescopes on the moon, too!
Hmmm, word grouping makes a difference!
Given reports that the Malicious Software Removal Tool has identified benign programs (e.g. VNC) as infected, maybe BOTH of the following groupings apply!
Is this a:
i.e. (Malicious Software) (Removal Tool)
OR
i.e. (Malicious) (Software Removal Tool)
Freudian slip?
Heh. The word debugging now takes on a whole new world of meaning!
Several years ago, I read a short [fictional] story about an attempt to overthrow a leader. There was no way to get close to him, physically. So, conventional ammunition was out of the picture. They story has it that the "all-knowing, all-seeing" leader was taken out in a different way. He still lived, but he was blinded by a short burst from a high-powered laser at an outdoor speaking engagement.
So, the question I have is Just what does it take in the way of power level and duration to actually blind a person?
If it were feasible, I'd imagine the CIA or some other TLA would have used it by now and we'd have a few blind leaders around, or obvious steps taken to protect leaders' vision. So, am I missing something here?
One of the things that is addressed to some extent in the article is the need to make error messages meaningful! There is nothing more frustrating to me than to encounter an error message like "syntax error."
At a minimum, an error message should have a Unique ID of where in the code this message is coming from, what was expected, what was actually found, and the context where it was found.
EXAMPLE:
Which would you prefer:In my experience, meaningful error messages save more debugging time than it takes to put them in.
Okay, that makes sense... but why do TVs and CRTs (IBM 3270 Terminals, especially) have a most annoying buzz? To the best of my knowledge, there's no moving parts, and yet I could hear them from over 30 feet away!
Okay, thanks! I stand corrected.
And 60 fps at 240 lines would be 14,400 Hz. So, we're agreed the frequency would be in the audible range.
I didn't think it all the way through; thanks for pointing it out. It's just that I'd spent WAY too many years listening to the horrible buzz of IBM 3270 Terminals (they were the WORST!) There were no moving parts in those (that I am aware of), and yet the noise was painfully audible. So, I feared this new display might also be subject to the same problem.
Nach jeder Auslenkung ziehen die Federn den Spiegel so schnell in seine Ausgangslage zurück, dass er sich mehrere tausend Mal pro Sekunde verkippen lässt.
It's been many years since I studied German, but that reads to me: the mirror moves "more than a thousand times per second". Translation: this thing vibrates at approximately 1 KHz. That's probably not only audible, but it probably would cause a noticable vibration in your hand, too.
I realize the vibration's amplitude is probably minor, but I can hear the buzz from a TV from 30 feet away... and I've known several other people who could do the same, so I'm not unique in that regard. The whir of my PC's fan and disk drives can be terribly annoying.
So, I think it's a great accomplishment, but I'd hold off buying one until the buzz dies down. ;^)
Brazil is not the only place performing these analyses... check out what they are doing in Hawaii
Let's look at the source:
On the front page of the Benfield Grieg Hazard Research Centre web site is this interesting statement:
<sarcasm>Why would an insurance company post such an article?</sarcasm>
The BASIC language was designed for this in mind. There are a number of sources on the web where you can download a copy to play with. It was the first language I learned, decades ago, and it still is a good choice today. Just be sure to teach her structured programming so she doesn't run into the trap of spaghetti coding where GOTO's go every which way.
Here's a google link to some places where you can download a copy to get started.
Have Fun!
The fun is in the play itself, and if the designers - being only human after all - limited me in some way, I want a way around that limitation. I want a cheat.
In other words, it sounds like you want to make use of all the game has to offer. Explore and then push the limits of what you can do in that "universe".
Reminds me of a time back in the late 70's when a friend (Brian) and I popped in to visit the sysop (Mike) of our school computer system (PDP/11-70 running RSTS/E). Mike had apparently finished his day's work just as we showed up. We got to talking and the next thing we knew, Mike set us up with a system image just for us, and let us login as operator (which effectively gave us unlimited access).
All these commands we'd heard of or dreamed of were suddenly at our disposal. Brian and I spent the next hour or so locked in mortal combat! He forced me off the system. I logged back in and tried to force HIM off. That went on for a while and then we moved on to adjusting priorities -- I'd lower his and then boost mine. On and on it went. I swear we learned more operator commands in that hour than could have been taught to us in a month of classes... and we had a ball doing it, too!
In short, we were able to use all the commands the system had to offer... It was like someone told us the computer system we'd used for a couple years had cheat codes and gave them to us. Using them opened up a whole new universe to us!