For those who aren't familar, Six Degrees of Separation is an exploration into the fundamental interconnectedness of relations. You've probably heard of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, now lets play Six Degrees of MADS (Microsoft Authorization Data Specification).
Aim of the game, to link from the Microsoft site to a copy of the MADS docs on the internet in 6 clicks or less.
Consider software installation: in Windows, you download a file, extract it (typically through an install wizard) and click ok several times, and *poof* it's ready to run (after the obligatory reboot, of course:) In linux, there are no such "user-friendly" graphical installers (except for some OS distributions)... at least no widely used ones.
Just on the topic of program installers... Debian makes this easier than Windows in one respect. You don't have to download and save the installation file, all you have to do is type in "apt-get install ". Bang, it downloads the package from the internet, installs it, and even adds it to your favourite Window Manager menu automatically.
To relate a story where this came in useful: I had to do an on-site visit to a customer who was having trouble with their internet server and updating web pages. When I got there, I discovered that they were running Debian. I wanted to test to see if various ports were open on the machine, but it didn't have "telnet" installed. No problem... a simple "apt-get install telnet", and 20 seconds later, I was happily testing away.
You can bet I was incredibly thankful they were running Debian!
... that many of the comments to this story start off with "I know people aren't going to like this...". And you know, alot of people won't. Kudos to Katz for publishing an article that many people won't like. It shows where his priorities lay; that he's not interested in coddling people and trying to make them feel good, but trying to probe into underlying social problems and airing them out for all to recognise.
NEVER underestimate the ability of people to ignore/cover up/suppress what is unpleasant to them. Even if it's the truth. And when it is exposed, beware the backlash.
Anyway, I guess I should try to make a comment about the article, to try to make this reply a little more relevent:).
"I disagree with what you say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it
This pretty much encapsulates the idea of freedom of speech. If you want that freedom, then EVERYBODY must respect your right to speak. So why isn't America truely a free country?? Because some of its people do not have this respect!.
Jon pretty well says this in his article: "If America really were a free country, Singer would be able to talk about his ideas in the open, in a classroom without guards.".
As soon as you have people start threatening physical violence against others only because of what the other person said, then true freedom does not exist. It's a despicable thing to do, and I'm sure people would be totally ashamed of it if they weren't so caught up in their own self-righteousness.
Acutally, the best efficiencies are getting close to 25% now. Mind you, that'd only be for single crystal silicon. According to my uni web pages, they've also done 19.8% for multicrystalline silicon cells.
Slashdot Mirror
For those who aren't familar, Six Degrees of Separation is an exploration into the fundamental interconnectedness of relations.
You've probably heard of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, now lets play Six Degrees of MADS (Microsoft Authorization Data Specification).
Aim of the game, to link from the Microsoft site to a copy of the MADS docs on the internet in 6 clicks or less.
Start your engines people
Just on the topic of program installers ... Debian makes this easier than Windows in one respect. You don't have to download and save the installation file, all you have to do is type in "apt-get install ". Bang, it downloads the package from the internet, installs it, and even adds it to your favourite Window Manager menu automatically.
To relate a story where this came in useful: ... a simple "apt-get install telnet", and 20 seconds later, I was happily testing away.
I had to do an on-site visit to a customer who was having trouble with their internet server and updating web pages. When I got there, I discovered that they were running Debian. I wanted to test to see if various ports were open on the machine, but it didn't have "telnet" installed. No problem
You can bet I was incredibly thankful they were running Debian!
From the news report I saw, they were trying to find the culprits. That was a few days ago. Not sure if they've found them yet.
... that many of the comments to this story start off with "I know people aren't going to like this
NEVER underestimate the ability of people to ignore/cover up/suppress what is unpleasant to them. Even if it's the truth. And when it is exposed, beware the backlash.
Anyway, I guess I should try to make a comment about the article, to try to make this reply a little more relevent
"I disagree with what you say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it
This pretty much encapsulates the idea of freedom of speech. If you want that freedom, then EVERYBODY must respect your right to speak. So why isn't America truely a free country?? Because some of its people do not have this respect!.
Jon pretty well says this in his article: "If America really were a free country, Singer would be able to talk about his ideas in the open, in a classroom without guards.".
As soon as you have people start threatening physical violence against others only because of what the other person said, then true freedom does not exist. It's a despicable thing to do, and I'm sure people would be totally ashamed of it if they weren't so caught up in their own self-righteousness.
Acutally, the best efficiencies are getting close to 25% now. Mind you, that'd only be for single crystal silicon. According to my uni web pages, they've also done 19.8% for multicrystalline silicon cells.
UNSW Photovoltaic achievements
does anyone remember an old animated movie about a snowman in a snowglobe?? I saw this YEARS ago and thought it was great!
Damn it, but they should release these things openly onto the internet after a while.