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User: andrewb

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Comments · 23

  1. Re:$14.95 on Slashback: Snapshots, Amends, Bazaarity · · Score: 5, Informative
    Ah, yes. That would be a kibblesworth of 5c.

    KIBBLESWORTH (n.):
    The footling amount of money by which the price of a given article in a shop is less than a sensible number, in a vain hope that at least one idiot will think it cheap. For instance, the kibblesworth on a pair of shoes priced at £19.99 is 1p.
    -- The Meaning of Liff, by Douglas Adams & John Lloyd
  2. Re:Secret writings ? on So Long, Hitchhiker: Douglas Adams Dead At 49 · · Score: 5
    I'm sure this has been seen here before, but anyway:

    #define NINE 8 + 1
    #define SIX 1 + 5

    int main() {
    printf("%i times %i is %i\n", SIX, NINE, SIX * NINE);
    return 0;
    }

    --

  3. The REAL Parkes/Apollo 11 Story on Review: The Dish · · Score: 3
    I've seen the Dish, and it's indeed an excellent movie. Most of it is true, although the signal was never actually lost.

    There is a whole heap of information about Parkes and the Apollo 11 broadcast at this CSIRO site, including lots of interesting technical info that didn't make it into the film, including original audio from the NET 2 comms loop.

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  4. I Totally Disagree on Improving CS Education? · · Score: 1
    At my uni the first session of both computing degrees (CS and CE) starts out teaching Haskell (a cool functional language). This means the students get into coding reasonably large programs straight away, and get an idea about design tradeoffs and other things that you would never get from assembly.

    Show assembly to most first years and if you don't scare them off computing immediately they'll get stuck in a mess of pointers and never get anywhere. You certainly won't be able to do any programs of a reasonable size, and you probably don't end up teaching the most important aspects of computing (like handling complexity with abstraction).

    Second session is C (used to be Java, but they went back to C because later subjects need it), and only in second year do they start seeing assembly in conjunction with digital logic (which is where it actually makes sense).

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  5. "Share and Enjoy" on Holiday Games For Linux · · Score: 1
    You wouldn't happen to work for the Complaints division of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation, would you?

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  6. Re:HP ScanJets on Easter Eggs In Consumer Electronics? · · Score: 1
    Play online Infocom HHGG.
    Or even better, play offline and be able to save your games! Download the jar, and use the included .z5 file with any infocom interpreter...

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  7. HP ScanJets on Easter Eggs In Consumer Electronics? · · Score: 1
    Most HP ScanJets (I have a 5P, but I've heard it works on other models as well) can play "Ode to Joy" by moving the scanning head at varying speeds.
    1. switch off
    2. set SCSI address to 0
    3. switch back on while holding down the green scan button
    It's a neat trick to play on someone else's scanner!

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  8. Lead-Into-Gold Machines on Commercial IPv6 Service In Australia · · Score: 2
    Fat pipes, IPv6 ... next they'll announced affordable satellite links to the whole country, lead-into-gold machines, etc.
    Would a lead-into-gold machine improve the state of the dollar?

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  9. Re:Not Just bloody OZ either on 120 Gigabit Pipe To Oz Begins Operation · · Score: 1
    "remember we won the AMERICAS CUP twice"
    You can win it as many times as you want bro, just remember - we won it first. ;)

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  10. Re:Winmodems under linux? on Mandrake 7.2 Download Available · · Score: 2
    I think it was a bit of both (some released specs or partial specs, and there is still a lot of reverse-enginerering going on). Lots of info here.

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  11. Re:Mozilla/Netscape policy branch? on Netscape 6, PR 3 Released · · Score: 2
    Remember, this version is being dropped even though M18 hasn't come out yet.
    Either they had a change of plan or I guess this means we can expect M18 real soon now. The current roadmap (which is only 10 days old) shows netscape and mozilla branching at the M18/PR3 point.

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  12. Re:battle bots on Robot soccer - AIBO Blown Away · · Score: 2
    Is this kind of like those "Battle Bots" on Comedy Central?

    Um, no. The battle bots are remote controlled by people (and are pretty boring, but that's just IMHO), the soccer robots are run by AI.

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  13. Re:Amost happened... on IOC To Olympic Athletes: Online Diaries Verboten · · Score: 1
    The back of the medals for Sydney 2000 were originally planned to have a depiction of the Sydney Opera House. I imagine (though don't know) that they're a sponsor of the 2000 Games.

    The Opera House is basically government owned and is managed by a trust which rents it out to the various groups that use it, so they couldn't sponsor anything.

    You're right about the screw-up with the medals though (although SOCOG now claim that they really did mean to put the colloseum on!).

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  14. Re:Availability on Windows Source Code Proposal Confirmed · · Score: 1
    Either that, or they'll be on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying Beware of the Leopard.

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  15. Re:Am I the only one using tcsh? on AT&T's Korn Shell Source Code Released · · Score: 1
    A quote I think is applicable here:

    The only way tcsh "rocks" is when the rocks are attached to it's feet in the deepest part of a very deep lake.
    -- Linus Torvalds

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  16. Re:Whoa... on Could Distributed.Net Help the Mars Polar Lander? · · Score: 1
    This cookie is also in the fortune distribution (somewhere like /usr/share/games/fortunes/linuxcookie), where it comes with a translation:

    'Mounten' wird fuer drei Dinge benutzt: 'Aufsitzen' auf Pferde, 'einklinken' von Festplatten in Dateisysteme, und, nun, 'besteigen' beim Sex.
    (Christa Keil in a German posting: "Mounting is used for three things: climbing on a horse, linking in a hard disk unit in data systems, and, well, mounting during sex".)

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  17. Re:FLAMEBAIT HERE PLEASE on When Does Y2K Begin? · · Score: 1
    Actually, the stupid thing with the "millenium bug" is that it's only really a century bug anyway... I don't think there are any 3-digit date formats out there :)

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  18. Re:hmm.. on GNU/Hurd Web Server Online · · Score: 1
    Well, that's hardly surprising... It's probably the only HURD box on the net.

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  19. Re:hacking root = root directory? on CNet's "Top 10 Hacks" · · Score: 1
    I wonder if they did an altavista search for 'root', and took the first mention they found.

    Probably not, I suspect if you searched for "root" you'd just get a billion porn sites. They probably just looked it up in their "Computer Journalism for Dummies" glossary...

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  20. They missed this one... on LWN's Penguin Gallery · · Score: 4
    Actually, it probably doesn't qualify, but for those who didn't see it on User Friendly yesterday, http://rio.dhs.org/penguin.html has a version of Tux done in kernel source.
    It's really rather spiffy, although it gives your browser some grief.

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  21. Re:Computer Bank - wrong URL on Ask Slashdot: Computer Charities for the Children? · · Score: 1

    That link is broken... It needs an .au on the end: http://www.computerbank.org.au
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  22. Wishing for cheaper net access... on Telstra Opening Network · · Score: 1
    Telstra still act like they are the old Telecom monopoly, and with the amount of competition available they can afford to - the only real alternative for local call access is Optus, and they only have cable in the major cities.

    Hopefully this will force them to open up to competition a bit more - when I moved to Optus about a year ago they wouldn't allow you to keep your old number, although it was technically possible.

    Unfortunately because of this almost-monopoly, the fastest net connection available to most people is still about 40k on a 56k modem (if you're lucky enough to have a decent phone line) - Telstra is still the only cable modem provider (with very high prices), ISDN is even worse, and both of these are only available in some major cities...
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  23. Re: Darkcity - same studios on The Matrix to have two sequels · · Score: 1
    Actually, Dark City was shot in the same studios just before The Matrix - there might even be bits of the set in there!

    It was a pretty good movie, but The Matrix kicks its arse in every way possible...
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