You don't think "this guy is a dick" is just as rude if not more so?
If you think really hard, you might be able to understand why someone might think the sentiment of "someone who wants to do something I don't want to do or understand is a dick" to be overly harsh, and thus come to an understanding why someone might take offense to the post.
I personally wouldn't want to make this, being neither a cigar smoker or a fan of twitter, but I don't think that people with different enthusiasms are dicks for having them.
Remember, the bragging here is "look at the clever way I made these bit of technology work", not "you should subscribe to my cigar's tweets."
The article is about how he did it, not why you should follow his twitter feed. If you actually RTFA, you will see it is about how to interface the sensor to a computer, how to gather meaningful data and present it with the google API and other interesting things. The tweeting function is just one of the things he did with the data.
Please explain this assertion. I'm having problems getting past "since only girls are named Mary, 'at least one child named Mary'=='at least one daughter'". I understand that the converse is not true.
Excellent point, that would have been a lot more clear cut. I'm probably reading to much into it.
But it still sounds like "her interest in playing games with me is a phase" which is a sad sentiment about someone you plan to spend your life with. Or even just "her interest in playing computer games is a phase" which would sound very bizarre if it were said about a guy.
I wouldn't have found the "cute little notebook" phrase noteworthy if it hadn't been accompanied by the bit about his fiance's interest in his interests to be a passing phase.
Sure it might be, but by that logic, his own interest in having a computer to play games might be a passing phase. He might as well give her his computer and assume he won't want it after he gets over his "wanting to play video games with his wife" phase.
An easy test is to flip it around. If she told him he could NOT have something because "it's just going to be a phase", would he be miffed? And if she turned around and announced it on the internet, might he not feel even more belittled? Maybe not, but it would be understandable if he was.
The law you are looking for (in the US anyway) is the Digital Millinium Copyright Act and it does make it illegal to circument any measure designed to prevent piracy. You don't have to be planning to use the data illegally to be in violation.
Sad but true. http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/iclp/dmca1.htm
I can't believe no one has mentioned cosmic encounter, my favorate social game. 3 or 4 different game companies have produced versions of it and the original had 9 expansions. Add that to the tons of user created expansions available on the web and you get a game that never gets old.
The best CE site in my opinion (disclaimer, I did the database programming) is The warp
By the way, the topic is mildly interesing but the article itself may just possibly be the most boring one I have ever read on slashdot. I'm not certain as perhaps I've read one less interesting and just fogotten, but it's hard to believe. What are other people's nominations for more boring articles?
Any discussion of obscure comic characters make me think of my favorate, "Arm fall off boy". I originally read about him in a reprint digest of Legion of Superhero classics. In the introduction, the editor related how they often got suggestions for new heros from fans. He mentioned the idea of "arm fall off boy" who could detatch his arm and hit people with it.
I was tickled by the idea of the worst super hero that never lived. Then I went looking for a link to post with this, and discovered that DC went ahead and used the character in 1996! I don't know whether to be horrified or pleased.
Apple didn't always use a RISC processor. When they switched to the powerPC they managed to be pretty sucessful at providing backward compatability. Many said it couldn't be done but they actually imbeded an emulator of the prior chipset in the OS and did so seemlessly enough that often the only way you could tell that you were running software not written for the PowerPC chip was the fact that it didn't run any faster than it had on your old computer. Not every old application worked, but the instance of success for me was just as great if not greater than PC aps working with new versions of windows or dos programs running properly on newer hardware.
So perhaps there are other reasons people have stayed with intel than backward compatability.
Besides, you can run most "legacy" pc aps on a mac via a PC emulator just fine.
You may want to check out the definition in the jargon file. In fact, you may want to peruse the whole jargon file to get a handle on this slippery concept.
For those too lazy to follow the link, here is the definition (minus all the crossreferences):
hacker n.
[originally, someone who makes furniture with an axe] 1. A person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems and how to stretch their capabilities, as opposed to most users, who prefer to learn only the minimum necessary. 2. One who programs enthusiastically (even obsessively) or who enjoys programming rather than just theorizing about programming. 3. A person capable of appreciating hack value. 4. A person who is good at programming quickly. 5. An expert at a particular program, or one who frequently does work using it or on it; as in `a Unix hacker'. (Definitions 1 through 5 are correlated, and people who fit them congregate.) 6. An expert or enthusiast of any kind. One might be an astronomy hacker, for example. 7. One who enjoys the intellectual challenge of creatively overcoming or circumventing limitations. 8. [deprecated] A malicious meddler who tries to discover sensitive information by poking around. Hence `password hacker', `network hacker'. The correct term for this sense is cracker.
The term `hacker' also tends to connote membership in the global community defined by the net (see the network and Internet address). For discussion of some of the basics of this culture, see the How To Become A Hacker FAQ. It also implies that the person described is seen to subscribe to some version of the hacker ethic (see hacker ethic).
It is better to be described as a hacker by others than to describe oneself that way. Hackers consider themselves something of an elite (a meritocracy based on ability), though one to which new members are gladly welcome. There is thus a certain ego satisfaction to be had in identifying yourself as a hacker (but if you claim to be one and are not, you'll quickly be labeled bogus). See also geek, wannabee.
This term seems to have been first adopted as a badge in the 1960s by the hacker culture surrounding TMRC and the MIT AI Lab. We have a report that it was used in a sense close to this entry's by teenage radio hams and electronics tinkerers in the mid-1950s.
A Prayer for Owen Meany -- John Irving
My all time favorate, A theodesy. Stupid White Men -- Michael Moor
What's wrong with america today. Round the Bend -- Nevile Shute
Hard to find tale of a Modern day messiah/airplane mechanic (this predates the Jonathon Livingston Seagull sequal with the same idea executed less well) as told by his non-believer boss. Cryptonomicon -- Niel Stephenson
WWII Codebreakers, gung ho marines and globe trotting unix administrators. The World's Most Dangerous Places -- Fielding guide
A travel guide to places you DON'T want to go. A Wolverine is eating my leg -- Tim Cahill
Travel tales of disaster Bingo -- Fanny Mae Brown
Small town life
You are not wrong, but the IIe mouse came out quite a bit after the Mac made the mouse popular. And unlike the mac mouse, the IIe mouse was not required to use the operating system. It was just an add on for a few rare programs.
Slashdot Mirror
If you are interested in tracking the power usage of appliances via a computer, the open source tweet-a-watt is a nifty project you can build.
http://www.ladyada.net/make/tweetawatt/
You don't think "this guy is a dick" is just as rude if not more so?
If you think really hard, you might be able to understand why someone might think the sentiment of "someone who wants to do something I don't want to do or understand is a dick" to be overly harsh, and thus come to an understanding why someone might take offense to the post.
I personally wouldn't want to make this, being neither a cigar smoker or a fan of twitter, but I don't think that people with different enthusiasms are dicks for having them.
Remember, the bragging here is "look at the clever way I made these bit of technology work", not "you should subscribe to my cigar's tweets."
The article is about how he did it, not why you should follow his twitter feed. If you actually RTFA, you will see it is about how to interface the sensor to a computer, how to gather meaningful data and present it with the google API and other interesting things. The tweeting function is just one of the things he did with the data.
Please explain this assertion. I'm having problems getting past "since only girls are named Mary, 'at least one child named Mary'=='at least one daughter'". I understand that the converse is not true.
My person religion prevents me from using the word "you" on Thor's day, as this is the day that it's all about ME!
Thank you for being so understanding!
Amen!
Excellent point, that would have been a lot more clear cut. I'm probably reading to much into it.
But it still sounds like "her interest in playing games with me is a phase" which is a sad sentiment about someone you plan to spend your life with. Or even just "her interest in playing computer games is a phase" which would sound very bizarre if it were said about a guy.
I wouldn't have found the "cute little notebook" phrase noteworthy if it hadn't been accompanied by the bit about his fiance's interest in his interests to be a passing phase.
Sure it might be, but by that logic, his own interest in having a computer to play games might be a passing phase. He might as well give her his computer and assume he won't want it after he gets over his "wanting to play video games with his wife" phase.
An easy test is to flip it around. If she told him he could NOT have something because "it's just going to be a phase", would he be miffed? And if she turned around and announced it on the internet, might he not feel even more belittled? Maybe not, but it would be understandable if he was.
Are you a full time femenist or just a whiner over the internets?
Oh come on now anonymous coward. Why can't I be both?
"she has a cute little notebook.... what amounts to a passing phase."
Are this condescending to your fiance directly, or just when she is not around?
My name is Porter and I use linux!
Oh shoot, I guess I should have read the entire article first.
The law you are looking for (in the US anyway) is the Digital Millinium Copyright Act and it does make it illegal to circument any measure designed to prevent piracy. You don't have to be planning to use the data illegally to be in violation.
Sad but true. http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/iclp/dmca1.htm
I can't believe no one has mentioned cosmic encounter, my favorate social game.
3 or 4 different game companies have produced versions of it and the original had 9 expansions.
Add that to the tons of user created expansions available on the web and you get a game that never gets old.
The best CE site in my opinion (disclaimer, I did the database programming) is The warp
When I have a bevy of characters to name, I ususally give them names that reflect their class, for quick recognition. i.e.:
cleric = Cedrick
mage (wizard) = Willy
fighter = Fred
ranger = Ralph (or Rick)
druid = Drusilla
monk = monko
By the way, the topic is mildly interesing but the article itself may just possibly be the most boring one I have ever read on slashdot. I'm not certain as perhaps I've read one less interesting and just fogotten, but it's hard to believe. What are other people's nominations for more boring articles?
Any discussion of obscure comic characters make me think of my favorate, "Arm fall off boy". I originally read about him in a reprint digest of Legion of Superhero classics. In the introduction, the editor related how they often got suggestions for new heros from fans. He mentioned the idea of "arm fall off boy" who could detatch his arm and hit people with it.
I was tickled by the idea of the worst super hero that never lived. Then I went looking for a link to post with this, and discovered that DC went ahead and used the character in 1996! I don't know whether to be horrified or pleased.
http://www.ian-rowland.com/Vault/FunAFOB.htm
Apple didn't always use a RISC processor. When they switched to the powerPC they managed to be pretty sucessful at providing backward compatability. Many said it couldn't be done but they actually imbeded an emulator of the prior chipset in the OS and did so seemlessly enough that often the only way you could tell that you were running software not written for the PowerPC chip was the fact that it didn't run any faster than it had on your old computer. Not every old application worked, but the instance of success for me was just as great if not greater than PC aps working with new versions of windows or dos programs running properly on newer hardware.
So perhaps there are other reasons people have stayed with intel than backward compatability.
Besides, you can run most "legacy" pc aps on a mac via a PC emulator just fine.
For those too lazy to follow the link, here is the definition (minus all the crossreferences):
hacker n.
[originally, someone who makes furniture with an axe] 1. A person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems and how to stretch their capabilities, as opposed to most users, who prefer to learn only the minimum necessary. 2. One who programs enthusiastically (even obsessively) or who enjoys programming rather than just theorizing about programming. 3. A person capable of appreciating hack value. 4. A person who is good at programming quickly. 5. An expert at a particular program, or one who frequently does work using it or on it; as in `a Unix hacker'. (Definitions 1 through 5 are correlated, and people who fit them congregate.) 6. An expert or enthusiast of any kind. One might be an astronomy hacker, for example. 7. One who enjoys the intellectual challenge of creatively overcoming or circumventing limitations. 8. [deprecated] A malicious meddler who tries to discover sensitive information by poking around. Hence `password hacker', `network hacker'. The correct term for this sense is cracker.
The term `hacker' also tends to connote membership in the global community defined by the net (see the network and Internet address). For discussion of some of the basics of this culture, see the How To Become A Hacker FAQ. It also implies that the person described is seen to subscribe to some version of the hacker ethic (see hacker ethic).
It is better to be described as a hacker by others than to describe oneself that way. Hackers consider themselves something of an elite (a meritocracy based on ability), though one to which new members are gladly welcome. There is thus a certain ego satisfaction to be had in identifying yourself as a hacker (but if you claim to be one and are not, you'll quickly be labeled bogus). See also geek, wannabee.
This term seems to have been first adopted as a badge in the 1960s by the hacker culture surrounding TMRC and the MIT AI Lab. We have a report that it was used in a sense close to this entry's by teenage radio hams and electronics tinkerers in the mid-1950s.
A Prayer for Owen Meany -- John Irving
My all time favorate, A theodesy.
Stupid White Men -- Michael Moor
What's wrong with america today.
Round the Bend -- Nevile Shute
Hard to find tale of a Modern day messiah/airplane mechanic (this predates the Jonathon Livingston Seagull sequal with the same idea executed less well) as told by his non-believer boss.
Cryptonomicon -- Niel Stephenson
WWII Codebreakers, gung ho marines and globe trotting unix administrators.
The World's Most Dangerous Places -- Fielding guide
A travel guide to places you DON'T want to go.
A Wolverine is eating my leg -- Tim Cahill
Travel tales of disaster
Bingo -- Fanny Mae Brown
Small town life
You are not wrong, but the IIe mouse came out quite a bit after the Mac made the mouse popular. And unlike the mac mouse, the IIe mouse was not required to use the operating system. It was just an add on for a few rare programs.