> But personally I'd LOVE to see a speed-run
> of E1M8...
If they grab a rocket launcher and the invulnerability ASAP, they could do it
"a la Pool Billiard".
I guess they practise with God Mode and then they look for an optimized way through the powerups.
I just downloaded the pack and I have ot say it is astonishing: 15 minutes of adrenalin:-)
In E2M(last), though, they lost much time as they anyway hads to wait for the ground to collapse, thus taking 1'20"...
Finally, having it "a la Marathon" (the same player in Nightmare mode playing the complete game) would really be amazing:-)) --
They don't look to have visited the secret levels, what a pity...
Is that because in the first episode, the low gravity in the secret level would have made it impossible to finish quickly?
BTW, I remember some years ago racing the same way through the 5th episode of Wolf3D and I managed to finish it in 2'50".
This is an "Office watch".
Most people wearing a watch want to keep it in most situations and if somebody wanders in Düsseldorf with one of these, it will sure get drown.
I'd also love if they could embed voice-recognition inside though, imagine in the streets somebody yelling "mkfs" in your back;-)
Well, this'd sure be annoying too.:-)
Okay, I admit I am totally blasted by this cool watch but we also have to find some issues about it or it won't be a discussion anymore.
--
...New "low-radiation" phones available soon.
Why? And while the
results on the activity of the brain are too new to have been
subjected to the same scrutiny, the consensus is: don't panic .
. . but watch this space.
Because I just can't help establishing a relation between this article that says "perhaps no" and this one:
Phones cells are diminishing
There are few new cellular phone features attracting people as most of them now have WAP, DATA and FAX
People are keen on ecology provided its applications make them smarter
New phone make people smarter
No "low-radiation" phone have been released yet
So, I just can't help imaginating a marketer's mind: OK, if we have a doubt then there is something to sell to make peopl feel more secure.
Get it ? --
Sony is a huge corporation that is validating Crusoe's work by putting their Crusoe in their laptops
Sony Vaio's are quite hyped, so this might represent lots of sales for Transmeta, especially if they influence their concurrents
Sony's C1Xxxx (the tiny one with a camera and a pointing device just big enough for a Barbie doll main cons is its lack of autonomy (around 2 hours). Putting a Crusoe in it might at least double this uptime and hence boost its sales. So, it is not only good for Crusoe but also against WindowsCE.
Vaios often run BeOS perfectly.
Cons
Vaios are usually quite expensive and something new doesn't imply it will be cheaper. Especially if some people call these newer ones a "financial risk"... Or abuse people with potentially lower costs of ownership.
C1X... doesn't run Linux properly (well, maybe this is getting better now but I doubt all of the windows features -camera, etc- work yet...): What a pity for my admin colleagues...
I believe Vaios have two concurents in the small but powerfull and with a huge autonomy sector : The Psion Netbook (soon to be powered by either Linux, QNX or RiscOS) and the Apple iBook (6 hours autonomy). These one are especially cheap (respectively 2500CHF and 3300CHF -what is CHF ?- ). And they are already available.
The modem they give with Vaio are technically incompatible with either Linux or BeOS (personal experience). They don't answer to system queries and then need a specific driver that only exists under Windows.
Hi,
First of all, as many people I know here in Switzerland, whenever we are on a bike, we just renew our oxygen while riding the fastest possible, it is a sport, not only a transportation mean. This device seems to be too distractive for a hurry or sportive guy that usually take his bike to change his mind an healthy way.
More than in a car, where handy usage is strongly discouraged, a small loss of attention while riding a bike may have huge consequences : loss of equilibrium, accident, etc. So, I just suggest we avoid such tech/sport mix in this case.
2nd, as mountain bikes popularity as increased even more during the last decade, I just can't imagine that this bike could be solid enough to resists a tiny sidewalk jump.
BTW, they seemed to be too modest to just indicates its weight... I bet people riding more than one mile a day won't want this probably heavy thing. --
OK, you might want to hire people with huge degrees but for what I saw, even as a Prof, I learnt most of my job on the fly, where it was the most challenging and valuable.
I had an interview with an American company, last year, andthe guys kept asking me theoretical questions which I *do* hate.
When working with another american company I got classified amongst the "experts" so, it just depends on who leads the interview as it works when you get interviewed by somebody who has the same culture as you but not in another case.
We are quite different, not especially better or worse than one another, you know ? --
Do you remember Tomorrow never dies ?
A big multimedia company settled in Germany and which could easily force governments to do what they wanted ?
Here they are: playing once again the game of picking up money in the name of the artists and just about to keep these billions.
I think this would have more weight and credibility if the artists could just ask themselves whatever they want to he public. --
1) odd idea:
It is actually a cool think to imagine ourselves wearing light flexible plastic screens that'll just display fashioned pictures, colors or drawing and will be able to coordinate their aspect to the others detected clothes (The network would then be the suit). This also reminds me of Fantastic Four's unstable molecul clothes that changed of aspect (and size but this doesn't apply here) on their carrier.
Finally, imagine if we get "hacked" and then display some advertising on our back without even noticing it.
Will the future introduce us to an application of the push technology where ladies will subscribe to fashion-channel in order (1) never to wear the same-looking clothes (2) never wearing the same as the other channel subscriber ?
2) more serious bit:
Also about wearable, does this technology allow the development of flexible touchscreen ?
This'd sure be a huge technology leap. --
Lotus Notes
I guess we were many people here expecting this kind of software to get rid of windows.
(BTW, these 2 words could have also been Microsoft Exchange).
Of course, we might have to troubleshoot some kernel stuff at all but the fact its openness makes it possible is also the reason why we love Linux, no ?
The future is bright. --
GNOME and KDE will remain two rival desktops, unless some day they can be merged in some way
Hmmmmm.... Does this mean we might encounter the same problems as with glibc and libstc ?
I'd have prefered if RMS had not evoked some merge but rather an increased freedom of choice.
I can therefore understand that RMS doesn't plan to throw out the Gnome Project once KDE has become Free.
This would also be a pity so please, let them co-exist instead of yugoslavi-ing them into a unique internally conflicting entity.
You guessed right.
I am a coder.
I actually even consider myself as an artist.
As a passionate guy, I consider coding an artistic manneer and thus like to do it a creative way.
I then find it quite frustrating to have to fill tons of papers (not a euphemism). It calms down my coding frenzy.
I don't think I am a corporate parasite though and I still believe that, unlike my former company's spirit, technical skills are more valuable than negociation skills, especially when you are a coder.
In the former case, technical skills make the others respect you, especially if sou share them.
Negociation and leadership bullshit just make you motivated for the wrong reasons. BTW it also make people fear you, not respect you.
finally I still think that straightforward development will give better resaults even though I agree witht the documentation thing which anyway seem to have been taken into account by Sun witht he inclusion of JavaDoc (automatic Java programs documentation). --
Linux is better in the aspect at you can run a server by command prompt only
I don't agree with this one.
As a Linux addict, I have believed this for a long time but I recently discovered how a few but complex NT commands will basically do most of the remote job for you, especially if you batch them, like packagers:
rcmd \\host to access its command line
net... this can do anything including modifying its registry contents and whatever else.
shutdown... If you are not patient enough to twiddle NT's internal parameters and just want to reboot and see.;-)
I already heard about taking a brain off its dead owner but at least "they" gave us some info about it, like its weight.
Some typical celebrities brains are Russian writer Ivan Tourgueniev's (one of the heaviest now) which was almost 5 pounds (2,5kg) of French writer Anatole France which was amongst the lightest.
In Einstein case we don't even know how heavy it was but maybe it is because by studying M. France and Tourgueniev organs we already knew that size doesn't matter...
Anyway, carrying it in a plastic container sounds quite weird and I don't think it smelled good after some of these Tupperware meetings.:-(
--
> The project ballooned from 18 people to 50,
> and most were forced to write detailed
> specifications and white papers instead of
> concentrating on writing code.
Even though reducing Mac hardware sales could have been a decisive reason not to carry on the Star Trek project, I still think it also lost much of its inertia because of such a constraint.
Big projects usually involve lots of Quality Insurance features which have a negative impact on people's motivation:
Lots of paperwork to do prevent coder from focussing on what they are here for (coding, yep...).
Dividing the project tasks in subcategories remove its role's transversality.
Innovation is led by initiative. Allocating some specific subtask to a coder is a right way to reduce the global vision of the project it otherwise would have had, hence their opportunity to share their visions laterally across the project hierarchy instead of up then down.
BTW, increasing the project staff increases the costs and also reduces each bonus part. this is not that good for motivation.
So, with a few people coding there could still have been this sparkling emulation which would have let them do some amazing stuff.
Each time I was confronted to a similar situation we had the same problem.
Solving this issue is a choice to make:
Quality or Innovation ?
Securing or Pioneering ?
This is a manichean problem, there's no long-term compromise and Star Trek may have made its way if coders had not lost their motivation doing administrative tasks. --
Most Nokia and Ericson phones have their OS stored in flashable memory. It is possible to fetch the
version and revision number by entering a code. I guess it would be possible to do some reverse
engineering and write your own OS.
Linux for Phone ?
I like this idea:-)
I was actually thinking of FPCGAs in order to update the processors themselves.
For example, most phones contain an ARM processor.
Their is a patented technology which allow the use of an ARM as a soft modem's platform.
I was then thinking of the ability of rewriting the CPU's internal logics in real time in order to embed such features without the user even notices it.
We would then have an enormous potential here.
Imagine: an evolutive BeoWulf cluster of apparently-looking phones that would in fact allow any of the permanently connected users to share his unused bandwith with the other people whose phone would have the same technology. BTW, the processing (unlike bandwidth) power coul also be shared in order to help each other in case he has a tremendous amount of data to (un)encrypt, hence the BC
I know, it is not a good idea to mention a BeoWulf cluster in a Slashdot comment as it usually gets moderated down but I think this is not off-topic here.
Concerning the hefty discount you mention, I still think it is viable to just give the phone away (along with its communication) and actually gain some money this way. --
Phones should be based on programmable-chips so that they could easilly evolve to newer technologies, this could either lead to a subscription, or to an affordable pay per upgrade system.
Phones should be small computer parts so that they would be used as home (as the home computer modem) as well.
Phones should be free. Somebody should pay instead of people. But if I am against sound ads while phoning, maybe these ads could be broadcasted on the phone screen with full wap navigation facilities.
Phones could also be used in the car as the GPS system.
A phone could also be a wallet, well whatever you need an electronic device to accomplish could be a cellular phone function.
Why "Racist" ?
You don't even look like you try to understand somebody you don't know so, you do "sound" racist.
Why "Shit" ?
You use such a violent language to just vomit what you can't explain.
Let me reformulate, instead of accusing me in such an idiot manner.
Bringing Free Software to China will also bring mentalities to a new era.
It will help the civilian to increase their technological knowledge, thus
opening them to the joy of Internet communication. (of course, joy is not adapted in your case)
I also think (maybe too implicitly for the paranoids) that the Tibet problem is, of course, due to governmental policies rather than
the civilians themselves.
Now, because they accept these contacts with external democracies and multinational which act here as diplomats, this implicitely sound like they slowly open themselves to the rest of the world until they can't refuse to soften their presence in Tibet.
I believe it will happen as I believe there are people of good will everywhere.
This is just a question of time, Chinese representatives know that their civilization is too intransigent to keep as advanced as they used to be.
BTW: You call me a racist but you have not tasted my Pekinese Duck... Lecker;-) --
Besides the technological advance, as Sid Meier's would have called it, this might have a huge impact on the market as it will definitely slow down the sales because of people's looking forward to increase the price/perfomance of their next purchase.
We saw the same phenomenon when Microsoft announced Windows95 without delivering it, hence slowing down the sales of people like Norton or whoever else having the 95 version of their products ready but without the possibility of selling neither W95 nor W3x versions as the market was congested by a constipated giant.
Now, you didn't tell us about the RAM but I also think the standard will, once again change here and only big OEMs (Dell, Compaq, etc.) will win while small OEMs might have much more problems with their existing stock which price they have to cut even shorter. --
Hacking a body to make it perform better instead of optimally is a bad thing.
You say the human body could syntetize caffeine itself but you could be much more friendly with your body by sleeping some time, even like Dali's flash sleep.
Look at the "Tour de France": Most of its performers are taking loads of alien drugs and though they finish in the Tour's few first, finish completely stoned out of the competition.
It is because of the current level of competition and because of the mediatic heavy fire that people feel likle beating more and more records not even because of the original sane thing that people call challenge or self-improvement but because they need recognition that people won't usually offer them if they just happen to be only cool.
So, yes, of course, you could make your body synthetize coffee, drugs or even adamantium but it will still secrete shit on a dayly basis and you'll still have to do with this.
What will be the next improvement ? Hermaphrodism ? --
Though this is a good idea to write abook about complex Linux-based networks, I'd like to highlight the fact that in real-life, the most frequent situation a sysadmin might encounter consists of complex hybrid networks, i.e. gathering tons of different machines together like (in my case) Digital Unix, Sun Solaris, HP-UX, Windows NT, etc.
There is an ORA book about this which I venerate : Essential System Administration, 2nd Edition.
It not only covers most situations (though more aimed at single machines) but is also written a very pleasant way by a woman: AEleen Frisch.
I especially appreciated when ORA asked a French(-speaking) woman: Céline Valot to translate it to French, thus preserving the typical flavour of the original author's feminine humor.
It is one of my fery few French computing books.
ESA2 not only covers most aspect of all the different unices but also implicitely conveys its reader to uniformize the way each machine has to do each job, hence making the resulting network even more homogeneous and easy to administer. --
Slashdot Mirror
> But personally I'd LOVE to see a speed-run :-) :-))
> of E1M8...
If they grab a rocket launcher and the invulnerability ASAP, they could do it "a la Pool Billiard".
I guess they practise with God Mode and then they look for an optimized way through the powerups.
I just downloaded the pack and I have ot say it is astonishing: 15 minutes of adrenalin
In E2M(last), though, they lost much time as they anyway hads to wait for the ground to collapse, thus taking 1'20"...
Finally, having it "a la Marathon" (the same player in Nightmare mode playing the complete game) would really be amazing
--
They don't look to have visited the secret levels, what a pity...
Is that because in the first episode, the low gravity in the secret level would have made it impossible to finish quickly?
BTW, I remember some years ago racing the same way through the 5th episode of Wolf3D and I managed to finish it in 2'50".
OK : I cheated.
--
This is an "Office watch". ;-) :-)
Most people wearing a watch want to keep it in most situations and if somebody wanders in Düsseldorf with one of these, it will sure get drown.
I'd also love if they could embed voice-recognition inside though, imagine in the streets somebody yelling "mkfs" in your back
Well, this'd sure be annoying too.
Okay, I admit I am totally blasted by this cool watch but we also have to find some issues about it or it won't be a discussion anymore.
--
Why?
And while the results on the activity of the brain are too new to have been subjected to the same scrutiny, the consensus is: don't panic . . . but watch this space.
Because I just can't help establishing a relation between this article that says "perhaps no" and this one:
- Phones cells are diminishing
- There are few new cellular phone features attracting people as most of them now have WAP, DATA and FAX
- People are keen on ecology provided its applications make them smarter
- New phone make people smarter
- No "low-radiation" phone have been released yet
So, I just can't help imaginating a marketer's mind: OK, if we have a doubt then there is something to sell to make peopl feel more secure.Get it ?
--
- Sony is a huge corporation that is validating Crusoe's work by putting their Crusoe in their laptops
- Sony Vaio's are quite hyped, so this might represent lots of sales for Transmeta, especially if they influence their concurrents
- Sony's C1Xxxx (the tiny one with a camera and a pointing device just big enough for a Barbie doll main cons is its lack of autonomy (around 2 hours). Putting a Crusoe in it might at least double this uptime and hence boost its sales. So, it is not only good for Crusoe but also against WindowsCE.
- Vaios often run BeOS perfectly.
Cons--
Hi,
First of all, as many people I know here in Switzerland, whenever we are on a bike, we just renew our oxygen while riding the fastest possible, it is a sport, not only a transportation mean. This device seems to be too distractive for a hurry or sportive guy that usually take his bike to change his mind an healthy way.
More than in a car, where handy usage is strongly discouraged, a small loss of attention while riding a bike may have huge consequences : loss of equilibrium, accident, etc. So, I just suggest we avoid such tech/sport mix in this case.
2nd, as mountain bikes popularity as increased even more during the last decade, I just can't imagine that this bike could be solid enough to resists a tiny sidewalk jump.
BTW, they seemed to be too modest to just indicates its weight... I bet people riding more than one mile a day won't want this probably heavy thing.
--
OK, you might want to hire people with huge degrees but for what I saw, even as a Prof, I learnt most of my job on the fly, where it was the most challenging and valuable.
I had an interview with an American company, last year, andthe guys kept asking me theoretical questions which I *do* hate.
When working with another american company I got classified amongst the "experts" so, it just depends on who leads the interview as it works when you get interviewed by somebody who has the same culture as you but not in another case.
We are quite different, not especially better or worse than one another, you know ?
--
Do you remember Tomorrow never dies ?
A big multimedia company settled in Germany and which could easily force governments to do what they wanted ?
Here they are: playing once again the game of picking up money in the name of the artists and just about to keep these billions.
I think this would have more weight and credibility if the artists could just ask themselves whatever they want to he public.
--
1) odd idea:
It is actually a cool think to imagine ourselves wearing light flexible plastic screens that'll just display fashioned pictures, colors or drawing and will be able to coordinate their aspect to the others detected clothes (The network would then be the suit). This also reminds me of Fantastic Four's unstable molecul clothes that changed of aspect (and size but this doesn't apply here) on their carrier.
Finally, imagine if we get "hacked" and then display some advertising on our back without even noticing it.
Will the future introduce us to an application of the push technology where ladies will subscribe to fashion-channel in order (1) never to wear the same-looking clothes (2) never wearing the same as the other channel subscriber ?
2) more serious bit:
Also about wearable, does this technology allow the development of flexible touchscreen ?
This'd sure be a huge technology leap.
--
Lotus Notes
I guess we were many people here expecting this kind of software to get rid of windows.
(BTW, these 2 words could have also been Microsoft Exchange).
Of course, we might have to troubleshoot some kernel stuff at all but the fact its openness makes it possible is also the reason why we love Linux, no ? The future is bright.
--
GNOME and KDE will remain two rival desktops, unless some day they can be merged in some way
Hmmmmm.... Does this mean we might encounter the same problems as with glibc and libstc ?
I'd have prefered if RMS had not evoked some merge but rather an increased freedom of choice.
I can therefore understand that RMS doesn't plan to throw out the Gnome Project once KDE has become Free.
This would also be a pity so please, let them co-exist instead of yugoslavi-ing them into a unique internally conflicting entity.
--
A Robot bone or sugar to reward AIBO ?
They dream of it so Sony'll make it !
--
You guessed right.
I am a coder.
I actually even consider myself as an artist.
As a passionate guy, I consider coding an artistic manneer and thus like to do it a creative way.
I then find it quite frustrating to have to fill tons of papers (not a euphemism). It calms down my coding frenzy.
I don't think I am a corporate parasite though and I still believe that, unlike my former company's spirit, technical skills are more valuable than negociation skills, especially when you are a coder.
In the former case, technical skills make the others respect you, especially if sou share them.
Negociation and leadership bullshit just make you motivated for the wrong reasons. BTW it also make people fear you, not respect you.
finally I still think that straightforward development will give better resaults even though I agree witht the documentation thing which anyway seem to have been taken into account by Sun witht he inclusion of JavaDoc (automatic Java programs documentation).
--
I don't agree with this one.
As a Linux addict, I have believed this for a long time but I recently discovered how a few but complex NT commands will basically do most of the remote job for you, especially if you batch them, like packagers:
--
I already heard about taking a brain off its dead owner but at least "they" gave us some info about it, like its weight. :-(
Some typical celebrities brains are Russian writer Ivan Tourgueniev's (one of the heaviest now) which was almost 5 pounds (2,5kg) of French writer Anatole France which was amongst the lightest.
In Einstein case we don't even know how heavy it was but maybe it is because by studying M. France and Tourgueniev organs we already knew that size doesn't matter...
Anyway, carrying it in a plastic container sounds quite weird and I don't think it smelled good after some of these Tupperware meetings.
--
> and most were forced to write detailed
> specifications and white papers instead of
> concentrating on writing code.
Even though reducing Mac hardware sales could have been a decisive reason not to carry on the Star Trek project, I still think it also lost much of its inertia because of such a constraint.
Big projects usually involve lots of Quality Insurance features which have a negative impact on people's motivation:
- Lots of paperwork to do prevent coder from focussing on what they are here for (coding, yep...).
- Dividing the project tasks in subcategories remove its role's transversality.
- Innovation is led by initiative. Allocating some specific subtask to a coder is a right way to reduce the global vision of the project it otherwise would have had, hence their opportunity to share their visions laterally across the project hierarchy instead of up then down.
- BTW, increasing the project staff increases the costs and also reduces each bonus part. this is not that good for motivation.
So, with a few people coding there could still have been this sparkling emulation which would have let them do some amazing stuff.Each time I was confronted to a similar situation we had the same problem.
Solving this issue is a choice to make:
Quality or Innovation ?
Securing or Pioneering ?
This is a manichean problem, there's no long-term compromise and Star Trek may have made its way if coders had not lost their motivation doing administrative tasks.
--
Have you seen the letter paper headers ?
I wonder if they renew it each time staff changes occur...
--
Most Nokia and Ericson phones have their OS stored in flashable memory. It is possible to fetch the version and revision number by entering a code. I guess it would be possible to do some reverse engineering and write your own OS. :-)
Linux for Phone ?
I like this idea
I was actually thinking of FPCGAs in order to update the processors themselves.
For example, most phones contain an ARM processor.
Their is a patented technology which allow the use of an ARM as a soft modem's platform.
I was then thinking of the ability of rewriting the CPU's internal logics in real time in order to embed such features without the user even notices it.
We would then have an enormous potential here.
Imagine: an evolutive BeoWulf cluster of apparently-looking phones that would in fact allow any of the permanently connected users to share his unused bandwith with the other people whose phone would have the same technology. BTW, the processing (unlike bandwidth) power coul also be shared in order to help each other in case he has a tremendous amount of data to (un)encrypt, hence the BC
I know, it is not a good idea to mention a BeoWulf cluster in a Slashdot comment as it usually gets moderated down but I think this is not off-topic here.
Concerning the hefty discount you mention, I still think it is viable to just give the phone away (along with its communication) and actually gain some money this way.
--
--
Why "Racist" ? ;-)
You don't even look like you try to understand somebody you don't know so, you do "sound" racist.
Why "Shit" ?
You use such a violent language to just vomit what you can't explain.
Let me reformulate, instead of accusing me in such an idiot manner.
Bringing Free Software to China will also bring mentalities to a new era.
It will help the civilian to increase their technological knowledge, thus opening them to the joy of Internet communication. (of course, joy is not adapted in your case)
I also think (maybe too implicitly for the paranoids) that the Tibet problem is, of course, due to governmental policies rather than the civilians themselves.
Now, because they accept these contacts with external democracies and multinational which act here as diplomats, this implicitely sound like they slowly open themselves to the rest of the world until they can't refuse to soften their presence in Tibet.
I believe it will happen as I believe there are people of good will everywhere.
This is just a question of time, Chinese representatives know that their civilization is too intransigent to keep as advanced as they used to be.
BTW: You call me a racist but you have not tasted my Pekinese Duck... Lecker
--
Also note:
- this is planned for the next 4 years (only ?)
- 300 consultants will be sent in : Tokyo, Shanghai, Beijing, Taipei, Seoul, Bangalore and Sydney.
- About the above ones in bold: As China seems really repressive, it is just a good thing for Linux (andn Free Software in general) that will then be:
- endorsed by IBM
- validated by the Chinese
I just hope this initiative will help Chinese C programmers code intelligent stuff like: free(Tibet);--
Besides the technological advance, as Sid Meier's would have called it, this might have a huge impact on the market as it will definitely slow down the sales because of people's looking forward to increase the price/perfomance of their next purchase.
We saw the same phenomenon when Microsoft announced Windows95 without delivering it, hence slowing down the sales of people like Norton or whoever else having the 95 version of their products ready but without the possibility of selling neither W95 nor W3x versions as the market was congested by a constipated giant.
Now, you didn't tell us about the RAM but I also think the standard will, once again change here and only big OEMs (Dell, Compaq, etc.) will win while small OEMs might have much more problems with their existing stock which price they have to cut even shorter.
--
Hacking a body to make it perform better instead of optimally is a bad thing.
You say the human body could syntetize caffeine itself but you could be much more friendly with your body by sleeping some time, even like Dali's flash sleep.
Look at the "Tour de France": Most of its performers are taking loads of alien drugs and though they finish in the Tour's few first, finish completely stoned out of the competition.
It is because of the current level of competition and because of the mediatic heavy fire that people feel likle beating more and more records not even because of the original sane thing that people call challenge or self-improvement but because they need recognition that people won't usually offer them if they just happen to be only cool.
So, yes, of course, you could make your body synthetize coffee, drugs or even adamantium but it will still secrete shit on a dayly basis and you'll still have to do with this.
What will be the next improvement ? Hermaphrodism ?
--
Though this is a good idea to write abook about complex Linux-based networks, I'd like to highlight the fact that in real-life, the most frequent situation a sysadmin might encounter consists of complex hybrid networks, i.e. gathering tons of different machines together like (in my case) Digital Unix, Sun Solaris, HP-UX, Windows NT, etc.
There is an ORA book about this which I venerate : Essential System Administration, 2nd Edition.
It not only covers most situations (though more aimed at single machines) but is also written a very pleasant way by a woman: AEleen Frisch.
I especially appreciated when ORA asked a French(-speaking) woman: Céline Valot to translate it to French, thus preserving the typical flavour of the original author's feminine humor.
It is one of my fery few French computing books.
ESA2 not only covers most aspect of all the different unices but also implicitely conveys its reader to uniformize the way each machine has to do each job, hence making the resulting network even more homogeneous and easy to administer.
--
Were there robot-hooligans attending the matchs ?
--