I had a co-worker that was in Naam, and he related to me how he would play with GL's. He said he would shoot at telephone poles within 20 feet of him, and you would be able to see the nice little ring of spikes in the pole. I believe the modeling of grenade launchers is highly inaccurate.
The next step: a truly 3D immersive peripheral video system, maybe a curved paper-thin monitor? Add to that something like Ray-Traced sound. Possibly more complex due to interactions with surfaces of different sizes changing the frequency characteristics of the sound.
Actually if the Open Source world gets a clean, easy to use OpenRT stack and standard going before MS they would have one shot at making the next Killer App. Once they get that one truly awesome game out using RT and an easy way to switch to Linux, the rest of the gaming world could fall right into their laps.
I doubt it would be good for photography. Shadows are black, so if you did a simple replace black with other background I think you'd run into problems. On the other hand, because it is SO black, maybe nothing else is truly that dark. The trick with using a green screen is that you can wear stuff that will never look bright green at any intensity of illumination.
Why can't they boot both at the same time? Is it getting the image from the disk in both cases? If it's coming from a big flash disk, 20 seconds is freakin forever. If you have a dual core machine, why can't it boot Linux on one and Windows on the other, then when the user switches over to windows give the other core to windows.
I have a photocopy of an E-mail from Bill Gates himself about that very issue. This email is Plaintiff's Exhibit 3020, Comes V. Microsoft. And I quote: "From: Bill Gates Sent: Sunday, January 24, 1999 8:41 AM To: Jeff Westenorinen; Ben Fathi CC: Carl Stork (Exchange); Nathan Myhrvoid; Eric Rudder Subject: ACPI extensions
One thing I find myself wondering about is whether we shouldn't try and make the "ACPI" extensions somehow windows specific. It seems unfortunate if we do this work and get our partners to do the work and the result is that Linux works great without having to do the work. Maybe there is no way to avoid this problem but it does bother me. Maybe we could define the APIs so that they work well with NT and not the others even if they are open. Or maybe we could patent something related to this. "
I have that on my desk as a shining example of Microsofts evilness.
The reason I leave it open for weeks at a time is I like to keep my context, and I haven't found a way to close firefox so that when it reloads it has all the same tabs open. If I shut the computer down it does the right thing (save the tabs), but when I hit X I lose them all and it restarts at my homepage.
As an aside, we CS people have missed the boat on computing in general. Computer interfaces should be persistent. If I yank the power cord out from the wall then plug it back in, one measure of how fast the computer is would be how long it takes to have all the same windows open with all the same data. By this metric performance on modern machines is worse than atrocious, I mean sometimes it doesn't even save your work!?! And no I don't mean auto-save, overwriting what's on disk. Microsoft Word has this partially implemented, where it will save a copy of what you were editing to a temporary file.
Roads stink for how expensive they are. Some enhancements: Change geometry of road to include slots, notches, chines, etc that a matching wheel on the car engages with. Embed rows of magnets surrounding a slot in the road. Sucker, Fan, and rocket cars: direct air up or create suction under the car. Ground effects. Aerodynamics (wings)
Any of these could be employed to increase acceleration and deceleration. Why do you think the F16 vs top-fuel dragster comes out with the jet winning? They cheat by using a catapult.
1. Use our armed forces for national defense, not the world's police We tried that before, during WW1. Not getting involved early cost us dearly. Do you wait for wildfires to get to a modest size before you decide to start fighting them? Now I'm not saying that we're doing the right thing now in Iraq, however to let Saddam go free after invading Kuwait sends the wrong message to every other 2 bit dictator around the world. The fact that the US might get involved in a war acts as a deterrent to those that might start one.
How do you figure? There's no way nationalized health care is Interstate Commerce. That clause has been abused so badly the only way forward is to repeal it, followed by all the laws that were foisted upon the public using it. Health care should Definitely not be a national issue, but a state issue. I'm not even sure it should be funded by taxes. Do you really want to get stuck in the position of having really awful health care and not having the money or power to fix the problem? National health care takes power away from the people. It removes their ability to choose who cares for them.
Co-operation did not stop Hitler. Conciliatory did not bring down the wall. Bullies must be stood up to, and made to pay the price for their misdeeds, or they will use the fact that they got away with it last time to do something worse next. We need Laws because people on average are inherently evil.
Sounds like a treaty banning testing of anti-satellite weapons is in order. I don't know what the penalty should be though. De-orbiting 5 of their satellites perhaps?
What I meant to say was that they exhibited the characteristics of companies that are aggressively pursuing or maintaining a monopoly, which is why I used the term monopolistic. That said, I could also argue that while it is true that they did not have the monopoly on computers, they did have the monopoly on hardware that would run Mac OS *. If they were to achieve a monopoly on home PCs (i.e. achieve market domination over the clones) we would have a huge problem with the price/performance. Apple would charge ever increasing premiums for PCs because they would be the only company that made them.
This idea was actually around before the integrated circuit. We got ICs because Jack Kilby invented the Integrated Circuit in response to a requirement to create modular electronics. See here or here
Slashdot Mirror
I had a co-worker that was in Naam, and he related to me how he would play with GL's. He said he would shoot at telephone poles within 20 feet of him, and you would be able to see the nice little ring of spikes in the pole. I believe the modeling of grenade launchers is highly inaccurate.
What does the rule look like to filter out all web requests from IE?
Disbanding the Federal Reserve isn't such a bad idea. Maybe that would put a stop to them devaluing our money so significantly.
You don't need to have the knowledge when you start. Either way by the time you finish you'll have it.
Google for donut on rope sometime :)
I'm just waiting for the day I can have my own Nightelf Mohawk.
Actually if the Open Source world gets a clean, easy to use OpenRT stack and standard going before MS they would have one shot at making the next Killer App. Once they get that one truly awesome game out using RT and an easy way to switch to Linux, the rest of the gaming world could fall right into their laps.
What? Then why do I have Oscar Pistorius' leg and a copy of Portal?
Well if the dollar keeps falling the way it is maybe the
6 million peso man will start to get some respect.
I doubt it would be good for photography. Shadows are black, so if you did a simple replace black with other background I think you'd run into problems. On the other hand, because it is SO black, maybe nothing else is truly that dark. The trick with using a green screen is that you can wear stuff that will never look bright green at any intensity of illumination.
Wouldn't this stuff be great for painting the inside of an optical telescope with?
Doubt it, Methusaluh was > 1000 years, several others mentioned were over 900. Didn't mention that they were blind.
Why can't they boot both at the same time? Is it getting the image from the disk in both cases? If it's coming from a big flash disk, 20 seconds is freakin forever. If you have a dual core machine, why can't it boot Linux on one and Windows on the other, then when the user switches over to windows give the other core to windows.
I have a photocopy of an E-mail from Bill Gates himself about that very issue. This email is Plaintiff's Exhibit 3020, Comes V. Microsoft.
And I quote:
"From: Bill Gates
Sent: Sunday, January 24, 1999 8:41 AM
To: Jeff Westenorinen; Ben Fathi
CC: Carl Stork (Exchange); Nathan Myhrvoid; Eric Rudder
Subject: ACPI extensions
One thing I find myself wondering about is whether we shouldn't try and make the "ACPI" extensions somehow windows specific.
It seems unfortunate if we do this work and get our partners to do the work and the result is that Linux works great without having to do the work.
Maybe there is no way to avoid this problem but it does bother me.
Maybe we could define the APIs so that they work well with NT and not the others even if they are open.
Or maybe we could patent something related to this. "
I have that on my desk as a shining example of Microsofts evilness.
The reason I leave it open for weeks at a time is I like to keep my context, and I haven't found a way to close firefox so that when it reloads it has all the same tabs open. If I shut the computer down it does the right thing (save the tabs), but when I hit X I lose them all and it restarts at my homepage.
As an aside, we CS people have missed the boat on computing in general. Computer interfaces should be persistent. If I yank the power cord out from the wall then plug it back in, one measure of how fast the computer is would be how long it takes to have all the same windows open with all the same data. By this metric performance on modern machines is worse than atrocious, I mean sometimes it doesn't even save your work!?! And no I don't mean auto-save, overwriting what's on disk. Microsoft Word has this partially implemented, where it will save a copy of what you were editing to a temporary file.
Roads stink for how expensive they are.
Some enhancements:
Change geometry of road to include slots, notches, chines, etc that a matching wheel on the car engages with.
Embed rows of magnets surrounding a slot in the road.
Sucker, Fan, and rocket cars: direct air up or create suction under the car.
Ground effects.
Aerodynamics (wings)
Any of these could be employed to increase acceleration and deceleration.
Why do you think the F16 vs top-fuel dragster comes out with the jet winning? They cheat by using a catapult.
Now all restaurants are Taco Bell.
Do you wait for wildfires to get to a modest size before you decide to start fighting them?
Now I'm not saying that we're doing the right thing now in Iraq, however to let Saddam go free after invading Kuwait sends the wrong message to every other 2 bit dictator around the world. The fact that the US might get involved in a war acts as a deterrent to those that might start one.
How do you figure? There's no way nationalized health care is Interstate Commerce. That clause has been abused so badly the only way forward is to repeal it, followed by all the laws that were foisted upon the public using it.
Health care should Definitely not be a national issue, but a state issue. I'm not even sure it should be funded by taxes. Do you really want to get stuck in the position of having really awful health care and not having the money or power to fix the problem?
National health care takes power away from the people. It removes their ability to choose who cares for them.
A turtles shell does not have muscles in it.
In an indirect fashion, this exoskeleton does have "muscles" and is indirectly tied into the wearers CNS.
Co-operation did not stop Hitler.
Conciliatory did not bring down the wall.
Bullies must be stood up to, and made to pay the price for their misdeeds, or they will use the fact that they got away with it last time to do something worse next.
We need Laws because people on average are inherently evil.
Sounds like a treaty banning testing of anti-satellite weapons is in order. I don't know what the penalty should be though. De-orbiting 5 of their satellites perhaps?
Don't just average the two files.
That would mean that you have both watermarks at 1/2 volume.
Grab three of them, and as you copy randomly choose between a, b, a+b, b+c, a+c, a+b+c.
You have to do this both in the time and frequency domains.
What I meant to say was that they exhibited the characteristics of companies that are aggressively pursuing or maintaining a monopoly, which is why I used the term monopolistic.
That said, I could also argue that while it is true that they did not have the monopoly on computers, they did have the monopoly on hardware that would run Mac OS *. If they were to achieve a monopoly on home PCs (i.e. achieve market domination over the clones) we would have a huge problem with the price/performance. Apple would charge ever increasing premiums for PCs because they would be the only company that made them.
This idea was actually around before the integrated circuit.
We got ICs because Jack Kilby invented the Integrated Circuit in response to a requirement to create modular electronics.
See here or here