>Roger Zelazny's Amber Chronicles was somewhat recently (1999) released >as one big book that contains all 10 volumes, The Great Book of Amber. >It is a very interesting series that mixes Fantasy and Sci-Fi, more >towards the Fantasy side. I also enjoyed how it was written in 1st >person. It was the first epic fantasy book I'd read that was written >like that and I must say it was a welcome change.
Please, please, please, please, do yourself a gigantic favor and read some of Zelazny's better stuff. Start with Lord Of Light.
Nice list, a lot of good books here. I seriously question some of their choices, though.
Pop quiz - which one of these entries doesn't belong here?
25 The Deed of Paksennarion, Elizabeth Moon - 8.24 (66) 26 The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Robert A. Heinlein - 8.24 (515) 27 The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien - 8.23 (854) 28 Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny - 8.21 (302)
The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect Read localroger's novel free online: Kinky sex, ultraviolence, super AI, the ultimate VR game, and TEOTWAWKI twice!
I probably would have used that blurb if I'd seen it before I wrote my own post.
>if you want GOOD scifi... (Score:2) >by zephc (225327) Neutral on 06:55 PM January 16th, 2003 (#5098298) > >check out the Prime Intellect [kuro5hin.org] novella-length story
Oh come now, let's do a stronger sales pitch for an excellent story.
In the best possible future, there will be no war, no famine, no crime, no sickness, no oppression, no fear, no limits, no shame......and nothing to do.
This online novel contains strong language and explicit violence. If you are under 21 years old, or easily offended, please leave.
Here's a brief excerpt to give you a taste:
Later, Raven made the traditional toast. Her strong voice boomed out through the rooms and courtyards she had envisioned. Caroline's handcuffs disappeared, and like everyone else she found herself holding a drink. "It's time for our toast," Raven declared. "Who are we going to toast?"
"PRIME INTELLECT!" answered over four thousand enthusiastic voices. "To Prime Intellect, for making the world safe from people like us!" And four thousand people, instead of tossing back those drinks, inverted their glasses, baptising the floor in alcohol. "My heart just isn't in that toast any more," a balding older man told Caroline. She wondered briefly if he had chosen to be old for some reason, or if it was his way of letting nature take its course. "I mean, we're amateurs against Prime Intellect. I killed six college students. It killed the whole universe. Not even in the same league."
>I'd really like to see a keyboard with a few programmable LEDs, or even >better, a LCD screen. It'd be cool to have the memory/CPU use or >something like that there.
Here's a list of utilites to use your keyboard LEDs as status indicators for various things: http://www.modelm.org/thing.htm
>But all I see instead is keyboards with annoying power buttons I tend >to press in the least inconvenient moment. I just don't get it, >what's the point of having it there? As if I needed to turn the >computer on and off every 5 minutes.
Go to an electronics surplus store and buy an 80's IBM or Compaq keyboard. Nice feel, no superfluous keys. Real keyboards aren't made from plastic, any keyboards weighing less then 10 pounds is a toy.
>My favorite goal, was to cripple an incapacitate the other races, >without genociding them. Each race was allowed to have its homeworld, >and only that homeworld.
You're a kind and soft-hearted leader.
I'd leave 'em with the worst planet in their holdings, hopefully something tiny and ultra-poor.
It doesn't take much of a fleet to babysit a planet like that:)
>The stellar converters were awesome. On very stressful days, I'd >sometimes go around trying to destroy every planet in the galaxy by >not quite killing off an enemy, letting him settle a new world, then >vaporizing it. A guilty pleasure. I suppose I'm going to be up in >front of a war crimes tribunal some day
Heh. In small universe games, where every planet counts, I made a point of blowing up poor/ultra-poor planets. Once I'd conquered another planet in that system, if I had time, I'd construct an artificial planet from the left over asteroid debris. The new planet would have normal mineral wealth:)
>I think the developers will be the first to jump on the bandwagon. Just >give them the bugzilla URL and show them how easy it is to add and >track bugs. You don't even have to tell management until it's well >entrenched.
You must work with smarter and/or nicer people then I do:)
Using a tired cliche like "make no mistake" - that's a paddlin'.
Using a tired cliche like "make no mistake" twice in the same article - it's time to smash the author's keyboard, and maybe cut off his fingers, just to be sure.
>Don't expect every program people might need to >exist or get ported to linux.
Exactly.
In big companies, people often spend a lot of time using a terminal emulator to access mainframe applications from their Windows desktop. Old apps don't disappear/get replaced overnight.
>What about when you have been working for years >with minimal documentation. Suddenly upper >management wants you to document everything. Not >too suspicious until you consider the amount of >layoffs that has been happening recently. On the >other hand new equipment is being implemented and >there is more time during this slow economy.
>So if "The writing is on the wall", do you take >your time? Do you procrastinate? What quality do >you provide? How much do you let your >documentation interfere with your job hunting?
In a situation like this, you produce large quantities of paper documenting the stunningly obvious and/or completely useless.
Make a little binder for each server with serial #s, driver diskettes, and lots of info about obvious hardware and software setting. IRQs, driver revisions, patchlevels, IP addrs, MAC addrs, etc. Be creative, make it look SPIFFY SHINY PROFESSIONAL.
This style of documentation looks very impressive to management, who will not appreciate that it could be recreated by a trained chimp in a fairly short time.
The true BOFH scrimps on documentation by never explaining why things are set up the way they are. Never mention what problems you've encountered, or how you solved them. Don't explain the interactions of the systems, or which programs/machines depend on other programs or machines. Hell, don't even explain what task each server is doing!
Copious documentation of "what" is not nearly as valuable as documentation about "how" and/or "why". "What" can be discovered with a little effort, but the reasons "why" are often very obscure and complicated, i.e. "you had to be there".
The sad thing is, most documentation has exactly these weaknesses without even trying to be evil.
>Gee, and all this time I thought that it was >gross misbehavior or not doing your job >effectively that would justify firing someone
OK, here's a true story for you.
A particular HR person *always* had their password written on a sticky on their monitor. This person's account would have access to payroll info, employee records, and other confidential information. Is that employee doing their job effectively? Does this qualify as gross misbehaviour that deserves firing?
>You are a system administrator. Let HR do their >damn job, you do yours.
The guys at purchasing don't sit around scheming to fire people. Regardless, if I break the rules about how equipment is bought, I will be fired.
>Unfortunately this will only encourage people to >write their password down and tape it to the bottom >of their keyboard so they don't have to be >humiliated by their boss.
One former job (not the same one) had a policy that "having a password written down is grounds for termination".
That policy worked well IMHO, I push for a similar password policy wherever I go.
They always shoot me down:)
However, subsequent events generally provide me a chance to do my "I told you so, but you wouldn't listen" song and interpretive dance.
>Surely the most sensible way of sorting this out >would be to have a trusted member of staff in each >building/department/whatever with the authority to >reset passwords. Note, I said *reset* passwords - >not the ability to read them.
I once worked at a place where getting your mainframe password reset required getting your manager to sign a form. You took this form down to the data center, where a smirking operator would reset the password.
This is excellent psychology -the user has to interrupt their manager to explain that he/she/it is a bonehead, please sign this form.
So now you've embarrassed the user, and better yet, the boss is annoyed at the user! If the user is a repeat offender, the boss doesn't get mad at those evil IT guys and their password policies, he gets mad at the bonehead who can't remember their password and keeps bothering them. Ah, sweet justice.
Slashdot Mirror
>Roger Zelazny's Amber Chronicles was somewhat recently (1999) released
>as one big book that contains all 10 volumes, The Great Book of Amber.
>It is a very interesting series that mixes Fantasy and Sci-Fi, more
>towards the Fantasy side. I also enjoyed how it was written in 1st
>person. It was the first epic fantasy book I'd read that was written
>like that and I must say it was a welcome change.
Please, please, please, please, do yourself a gigantic favor and read some of Zelazny's better stuff. Start with Lord Of Light.
There are a few books by Weber, Drake, and Flint at the Baen Free Library.
I really enjoyed Old Nathan by David Drake, but YMMV.
Nice list, a lot of good books here. I seriously question some of their choices, though.
Pop quiz - which one of these entries doesn't belong here?
25 The Deed of Paksennarion, Elizabeth Moon - 8.24 (66)
26 The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Robert A. Heinlein - 8.24 (515)
27 The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien - 8.23 (854)
28 Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny - 8.21 (302)
I liked the text ad that someone took out on K5:
I probably would have used that blurb if I'd seen it before I wrote my own post.
>I know it sounds trivial and off topic but I'm serious. Check your
e atures/resume.html
>resume.
Best resume advice I've seen: http://www.usenix.org/publications/login/2000-7/f
>by zephc (225327) Neutral on 06:55 PM January 16th, 2003 (#5098298)
>
>check out the Prime Intellect [kuro5hin.org] novella-length story
Oh come now, let's do a stronger sales pitch for an excellent story.
From the into to Prime Intellect:
Here's a brief excerpt to give you a taste:
>I'd really like to see a keyboard with a few programmable LEDs, or even
>better, a LCD screen. It'd be cool to have the memory/CPU use or
>something like that there.
Are you good with a soldering iron + dremel?
http://www.modelm.org/mboard/almost.JPG
http://www.modelm.org/mboard.html
Here's a list of utilites to use your keyboard LEDs as status indicators for various things: http://www.modelm.org/thing.htm
>But all I see instead is keyboards with annoying power buttons I tend
>to press in the least inconvenient moment. I just don't get it,
>what's the point of having it there? As if I needed to turn the
>computer on and off every 5 minutes.
Go to an electronics surplus store and buy an 80's IBM or Compaq keyboard. Nice feel, no superfluous keys. Real keyboards aren't made from plastic, any keyboards weighing less then 10 pounds is a toy.
>My favorite goal, was to cripple an incapacitate the other races,
:)
>without genociding them. Each race was allowed to have its homeworld,
>and only that homeworld.
You're a kind and soft-hearted leader.
I'd leave 'em with the worst planet in their holdings, hopefully something tiny and ultra-poor.
It doesn't take much of a fleet to babysit a planet like that
>The stellar converters were awesome. On very stressful days, I'd
:)
>sometimes go around trying to destroy every planet in the galaxy by
>not quite killing off an enemy, letting him settle a new world, then
>vaporizing it. A guilty pleasure. I suppose I'm going to be up in
>front of a war crimes tribunal some day
Heh. In small universe games, where every planet counts, I made a point of blowing up poor/ultra-poor planets. Once I'd conquered another planet in that system, if I had time, I'd construct an artificial planet from the left over asteroid debris. The new planet would have normal mineral wealth
>You won't like to hear it, but it was this comment that pushed me to
>Karma: Excellent
ROTFL.
At least you were honestly mistaken, not trolling.
You already got your gentle rap from the cluestick, I wish I could give the moderators a whack or two.
>I think the developers will be the first to jump on the bandwagon. Just
:)
>give them the bugzilla URL and show them how easy it is to add and
>track bugs. You don't even have to tell management until it's well
>entrenched.
You must work with smarter and/or nicer people then I do
>Bugzilla's free (libre). Just install it.
Um, what about the rest of the team? How's he going to get the rest of the developers to use Bugzilla if the managers aren't on his side?
The real irony is that the misleading post is modded higher then you are!
+5 informative my ass.
Using a tired cliche like "make no mistake" - that's a paddlin'.
Using a tired cliche like "make no mistake" twice in the same article - it's time to smash the author's keyboard, and maybe cut off his fingers, just to be sure.
>Don't expect every program people might need to
>exist or get ported to linux.
Exactly.
In big companies, people often spend a lot of time using a terminal emulator to access mainframe applications from their Windows desktop. Old apps don't disappear/get replaced overnight.
>Has anyone ever done anything useful with flash?
>I'd hate to think I'm missing something.
Yes, this site is useful.
Highly offensive, but useful.
FreeBSD installs tcsh as /bin/csh . The others don't.
NetBSD runs on a Cobalt Qube2. The others don't.
OpenBSD can encrypt swap. The others don't.
>What about when you have been working for years
>with minimal documentation. Suddenly upper
>management wants you to document everything. Not
>too suspicious until you consider the amount of
>layoffs that has been happening recently. On the
>other hand new equipment is being implemented and
>there is more time during this slow economy.
>So if "The writing is on the wall", do you take
>your time? Do you procrastinate? What quality do
>you provide? How much do you let your
>documentation interfere with your job hunting?
In a situation like this, you produce large quantities of paper documenting the stunningly obvious and/or completely useless.
Make a little binder for each server with serial #s, driver diskettes, and lots of info about obvious hardware and software setting. IRQs, driver revisions, patchlevels, IP addrs, MAC addrs, etc. Be creative, make it look SPIFFY SHINY PROFESSIONAL.
This style of documentation looks very impressive to management, who will not appreciate that it could be recreated by a trained chimp in a fairly short time.
The true BOFH scrimps on documentation by never explaining why things are set up the way they are. Never mention what problems you've encountered, or how you solved them. Don't explain the interactions of the systems, or which programs/machines depend on other programs or machines. Hell, don't even explain what task each server is doing!
Copious documentation of "what" is not nearly as valuable as documentation about "how" and/or "why". "What" can be discovered with a little effort, but the reasons "why" are often very obscure and complicated, i.e. "you had to be there".
The sad thing is, most documentation has exactly these weaknesses without even trying to be evil.
>Gee, and all this time I thought that it was
>gross misbehavior or not doing your job
>effectively that would justify firing someone
OK, here's a true story for you.
A particular HR person *always* had their password written on a sticky on their monitor. This person's account would have access to payroll info, employee records, and other confidential information. Is that employee doing their job effectively? Does this qualify as gross misbehaviour that deserves firing?
>You are a system administrator. Let HR do their
>damn job, you do yours.
The guys at purchasing don't sit around scheming to fire people. Regardless, if I break the rules about how equipment is bought, I will be fired.
>Unfortunately this will only encourage people to
:)
>write their password down and tape it to the bottom
>of their keyboard so they don't have to be
>humiliated by their boss.
One former job (not the same one) had a policy that "having a password written down is grounds for termination".
That policy worked well IMHO, I push for a similar password policy wherever I go.
They always shoot me down
However, subsequent events generally provide me a chance to do my "I told you so, but you wouldn't listen" song and interpretive dance.
>Still got my point tho', didn't ya? ;)
Yup, I shore did.
But if you are trying to sell me something, and you can't spell, I wonder how good your product is.
If you are trying to convince me of something, and you have poor grammar, I wonder if your ideas are well thought out.
If you are trying to present tech info (a HOWTO etc.) with poor spelling/grammar, I wonder if your facts are sound.
It all comes back to credibility, I reckon. Ain't life a bitch?
>Surely the most sensible way of sorting this out
>would be to have a trusted member of staff in each
>building/department/whatever with the authority to
>reset passwords. Note, I said *reset* passwords -
>not the ability to read them.
I once worked at a place where getting your mainframe password reset required getting your manager to sign a form. You took this form down to the data center, where a smirking operator would reset the password.
This is excellent psychology -the user has to interrupt their manager to explain that he/she/it is a bonehead, please sign this form.
So now you've embarrassed the user, and better yet, the boss is annoyed at the user! If the user is a repeat offender, the boss doesn't get mad at those evil IT guys and their password policies, he gets mad at the bonehead who can't remember their password and keeps bothering them. Ah, sweet justice.
>On the other hand, we have a standard for english :)
:-)
>grammer and not too many around here follow it.
>(Well, not me at least.
s/grammer/grammar/
>But the message is usually rendered correctly.
No offence, but bad spelling and grammar make you look dumber. This can distract the reader from your message, and affect your credibility.
Gratuitously bad HTML makes a person or company look dumber. This can distract the reader from their message, and affect their credibility.
Here is a classic.
It just looks dumb in Mozilla, but you can use IE to truly experience the horror.
I believe this was originally designed as an object lesson that HTML email and usenet posts are a bad idea.
There is no author identified, but I'd love to know who came up with this one.
>That has to be the worst thing a client can say to us
How about "That is just what I asked for, but it's not what I want" ?