Out of curiosity: Is the manufacturing process for ammunition particularly trick, or are there other reasons that supply hasn't expanded to meet demand(or at least lag demand a bit less)?
You mean like the US fighting two foreign wars at once taking up most of the supply capacity of the ammo factories?
All the topsoil on the canadian shield (the center parts of canada n. of where they grow grain now) pretty much got tossed south during glaciation. That's poor farmland, and acidic even where there's significant soil. It isn't trading one great plains for another, it's trading the great plains for a wasteland. Getting it warmer won't help this land not suck for crops.
"thinks like an OS" == "Has Internet Explorer embedded in it."
But seriously, isn't this the third or fourth engine for Internet Explorer? If there's one thing that MSFT has taught the IT industry, it's that branding and tech aren't necessarily related and there's no reason that branding (MSIE) and engine (CERN or Spyglass or whatever == IE1, IE3, IE4...) have to be related at all. (Vista == IE6, etc...)
If you're writing summaries of articles, it would be handy to understand them.
Prediction: Soon you will be able to buy an external battery pack that is roughly the size of a laptop battery that you can plug in through the magsafe adapter rather than changing the battery physically.
I've been using Subversion largely through the eclipse plugins for a while, on a couple of different platforms. I would characterize the Eclipse integration (Subversion) as fairly mature, and it has exhibited recovery for me across a few different hilarious network failures, which caused me difficulties (and delta corruptions) on the commercial products i'd used previously.
Benefits of Subversion: 1. It's been working for a while, the last thing I need to do with my copious spare time is switch over to a new VCS mid-project. 2. MacOSX version that works without having to deal with endless recompile/experimentation. Right now, it's a PITA to get git working under MacOSX. 3. It's easier to back up a central server than it is to get developers to back up their machines on a regular basis. Who wants to risk losing code? 4. I'm working for a startup. Right now, I'm evaluating VC systems on one basis -- and it isn't novelty, it's whether it does a job in an appropriate way without taking resources away from doing other high priority tasks. GIT (as of a month ago at least), hadn't reached that level of seamlessness. 5. Good tools exist that non-technical people can use to check things in and out of SVN on a variety of platforms.
--Corprew (and for those wondering, SVN works fine with the free AptanaStudio plugin that lets you write rails/ruby in Eclipse)
It's more or less this company announcing a new future product with a partner every month, not a new company with a similar technology. They've shipped ebooks in Japan, and are working on various cell phones and similar things.
All in all, it will probably be much easier to get a robot arm with a USB interface and use that to drive the typewriter than it will be to actually convert the typewriter, unless you use one of the typewriters that already have this functionality (as mentioned in other posts.)
Not quite the original question, but I'm guessing you're looking for cool more than utility.
I have a two word first name (of which corprew is the second word.) This has caused a lot of hilarity over the years with my name being recorded differently in different systems.
It has been a large problem, because the people who look at records at, say, the DMV or an HR department tend to be literalists without much of a sense of humor. I have a bunch of documents with 'E. Corprew' some with 'E.... Corprew,' and some with just 'E....' or 'Corprew.' A lot of it is just how the clerk chose to enter it. I've had name problems with employers, the State Department (passport), the DMVs of two states, and a past employer maintained two employment records for me accidentally after a merger because the symbols that made up my name weren't 100% identical on two different records.
So, yeah, it's been a massive pain in the ass. I change everything to my full name to avoid problems. My advice would be to change all the things to your full name as soon as you can, because if it does come up, it's almost certainly going to come up when you have the least time to deal with it. (like, while processing an insurance claim after an accident or applying for an expedited passport.)
I consistently get 5 MPG better than the EPA ratings on the highway, and about the EPA ratings for city when I'm stuck in traffic.
That's for relatively open highway speeds in cruise control. But due to the way that the engine and transmission is rigged, the fuel efficiency goes down very fast at speeds over 70. (Over 60-65, really, but it becomes human noticeable at 70.)
I have changed my commuting habits to avoid peak periods, as it is a waste of both a) gas and b) my time, on those days when I drive to work instead of taking the bus.
Baroque Cycle/Crypto* as Economic History Textbook
on
The Confusion
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
One of the things that I've always found curious about this current cycle of books, is that it seems to be a series of books written with a purpose -- to give people a firm understanding of the fundamental principles underlying economics, value, and money
Cryptonomicon covers in excruciating detail, but with a story interested enough to keep you reading, the principles behind cryptography, which would be needed for a cryptographically sound currency, but it also covers modern ideas of value in corporations (various incarnations of Epiphyte) as well as the changing economic nature of gold.
Hg and Confusion also cover in detail what the ideas of money and value in their respective periods, and the level of detail can only be described as exacting.
So, I think that irrespective of what you might think of them as novels -- I happen to quite like them but opinion seems to vary -- they're definitely the most fascinating economic history textbooks in the history of the world.
As economics history textbooks, they're extremely well written as they keep you engaged as a textbook might not. A lot of people just assume that Stephenson is just an unspeakable pedant, but I assume he's a man with a mission. I also assume that this mission is that he thinks it is important that a lot of people understand the actual basis behind the modern economy and the modern economy's development.
Therefore instead of viewing it simply as a book, view it as a 'A Citizen's Illustrated Primer'[1] that will entertain and inform in equal measure about the things that NS thinks are important. Personally, I can't wait.
--Corprew [1] a reference to the instructional book in NS's book 'The Diamond Age.'
Yeah, but Mike Royko died a couple of years ago ('97.) I end up remembering this every year around Scavenger Hunt time when pranking him doesn't appear on the item list.
The UCSD p-Machine was the precursor (roughly) of "today's" virtual machine technology. This system was based more or less on a generic runtime that ran 'P-code,' which could be generated by high level language compilers instead of having to write something that could compile machine code for each platform.
A quote from the link above:
People mention the UCSD P-System when they recount the predecessors of portable, interpreted virtual machines like Java. In theory, a P-System executable program was portable between machines with different processors because the program was not expressed in machine-dependent assembly code but instead the "p-code" machine language of a virtual computer. Java uses the same approach to gain platform independence.
So, anyway, that's my theory on why language designers are so obsessed with P, because the system (or one of the systems) that originated them was the P-system.
That's just saying that the starbucks employees aren't complex enough to predict when you're ordering a certain thing, not that there isn't an algorithm complex enough to predict it. There may be some underlying reason to why you're ordering particular things such as temperature, cloudiness, time of day, etc... that could be divined given the right inputs.
For example, large numbers of people would probably order different things depending on the time of day, temperature outside, and other factors that might not be immediately obvious to the starbucks' employee, but the computer would probably be able to see the correllation of particular factors fairly easily.
Here's an example: I tend to get soy-milk lattes in the morning and nonfat-milk lattes in the afternoon on weekdays. On the weekends, I usually get diet rockstars. On weekends when they're out of the energy drink, the barista generally mentions that when i walk up to the counter, and guesses correctly what i want. I also get iced lattes when it is hot at my location, and they're usually able to remember that.
Now, I've been going there off and on for about 4 years, so they've had plenty of time to figure out that pattern, and the long-time baristas are right 90-odd percent of the time. It probably wouldn't take a computer that long to figure out the same pattern in a different sort of store, as there are probably 1000s of people who respond in roughly the same way I do.
Slashdot Mirror
Out of curiosity: Is the manufacturing process for ammunition particularly trick, or are there other reasons that supply hasn't expanded to meet demand(or at least lag demand a bit less)?
You mean like the US fighting two foreign wars at once taking up most of the supply capacity of the ammo factories?
'Larry' is often used metonymously for Oracle's corporate direction, even when Larry isn't involved directly, just as 'Steve' is for Apple.
All the topsoil on the canadian shield (the center parts of canada n. of where they grow grain now) pretty much got tossed south during glaciation. That's poor farmland, and acidic even where there's significant soil. It isn't trading one great plains for another, it's trading the great plains for a wasteland. Getting it warmer won't help this land not suck for crops.
This suggestion ignores the last mile costs, which is probably the reason that dial-up and cable are their only options (no dsl available, etc...)
It probably wouldn't be effective for him to be another dial-up provider.
"thinks like an OS" == "Has Internet Explorer embedded in it."
But seriously, isn't this the third or fourth engine for Internet Explorer? If there's one thing that MSFT has taught the IT industry, it's that branding and tech aren't necessarily related and there's no reason that branding (MSIE) and engine (CERN or Spyglass or whatever == IE1, IE3, IE4...) have to be related at all. (Vista == IE6, etc...)
If you're writing summaries of articles, it would be handy to understand them.
Prediction: Soon you will be able to buy an external battery pack that is roughly the size of a laptop battery that you can plug in through the magsafe adapter rather than changing the battery physically.
Oh, wait, whoops, the future is here.
http://www.batterygeek.net/Batterygeek_15_21_130_External_Laptop_Battery_p/15-21-130_batterygeek.htm
My comment was a joke.
To increase performance, windows is paging to a ram disk.
I've been using Subversion largely through the eclipse plugins for a while, on a couple of different platforms. I would characterize the Eclipse integration (Subversion) as fairly mature, and it has exhibited recovery for me across a few different hilarious network failures, which caused me difficulties (and delta corruptions) on the commercial products i'd used previously.
Benefits of Subversion:
1. It's been working for a while, the last thing I need to do with my copious spare time is switch over to a new VCS mid-project.
2. MacOSX version that works without having to deal with endless recompile/experimentation. Right now, it's a PITA to get git working under MacOSX.
3. It's easier to back up a central server than it is to get developers to back up their machines on a regular basis. Who wants to risk losing code?
4. I'm working for a startup. Right now, I'm evaluating VC systems on one basis -- and it isn't novelty, it's whether it does a job in an appropriate way without taking resources away from doing other high priority tasks. GIT (as of a month ago at least), hadn't reached that level of seamlessness.
5. Good tools exist that non-technical people can use to check things in and out of SVN on a variety of platforms.
--Corprew
(and for those wondering, SVN works fine with the free AptanaStudio plugin that lets you write rails/ruby in Eclipse)
As popular as a drug legalization is generally, I think he's more making the argument that it should be controlled like bamboo.
It's more or less this company announcing a new future product with a partner every month, not a new company with a similar technology. They've shipped ebooks in Japan, and are working on various cell phones and similar things.
All in all, it will probably be much easier to get a robot arm with a USB interface and use that to drive the typewriter than it will be to actually convert the typewriter, unless you use one of the typewriters that already have this functionality (as mentioned in other posts.)
Not quite the original question, but I'm guessing you're looking for cool more than utility.
--Corprew
I have a two word first name (of which corprew is the second word.) This has caused a lot of hilarity over the years with my name being recorded differently in different systems.
It has been a large problem, because the people who look at records at, say, the DMV or an HR department tend to be literalists without much of a sense of humor. I have a bunch of documents with 'E. Corprew' some with 'E.... Corprew,' and some with just 'E....' or 'Corprew.' A lot of it is just how the clerk chose to enter it. I've had name problems with employers, the State Department (passport), the DMVs of two states, and a past employer maintained two employment records for me accidentally after a merger because the symbols that made up my name weren't 100% identical on two different records.
So, yeah, it's been a massive pain in the ass. I change everything to my full name to avoid problems. My advice would be to change all the things to your full name as soon as you can, because if it does come up, it's almost certainly going to come up when you have the least time to deal with it. (like, while processing an insurance claim after an accident or applying for an expedited passport.)
two cents, have fun.
--Corprew
I consistently get 5 MPG better than the EPA ratings on the highway, and about the EPA ratings for city when I'm stuck in traffic.
That's for relatively open highway speeds in cruise control. But due to the way that the engine and transmission is rigged, the fuel efficiency goes down very fast at speeds over 70. (Over 60-65, really, but it becomes human noticeable at 70.)
I have changed my commuting habits to avoid peak periods, as it is a waste of both a) gas and b) my time, on those days when I drive to work instead of taking the bus.
One of the things that I've always found curious about this current cycle of books, is that it seems to be a series of books written with a purpose -- to give people a firm understanding of the fundamental principles underlying economics, value, and money
Cryptonomicon covers in excruciating detail, but with a story interested enough to keep you reading, the principles behind cryptography, which would be needed for a cryptographically sound currency, but it also covers modern ideas of value in corporations (various incarnations of Epiphyte) as well as the changing economic nature of gold.
Hg and Confusion also cover in detail what the ideas of money and value in their respective periods, and the level of detail can only be described as exacting.
So, I think that irrespective of what you might think of them as novels -- I happen to quite like them but opinion seems to vary -- they're definitely the most fascinating economic history textbooks in the history of the world.
As economics history textbooks, they're extremely well written as they keep you engaged as a textbook might not. A lot of people just assume that Stephenson is just an unspeakable pedant, but I assume he's a man with a mission. I also assume that this mission is that he thinks it is important that a lot of people understand the actual basis behind the modern economy and the modern economy's development.
Therefore instead of viewing it simply as a book, view it as a 'A Citizen's Illustrated Primer'[1] that will entertain and inform in equal measure about the things that NS thinks are important. Personally, I can't wait.
--Corprew
[1] a reference to the instructional book in NS's book 'The Diamond Age.'
Haw Flakes are a candy available in a lot of Chinese groceries, including those in Chicago's chinatown, I should imagine.
s cs tore/chinesefoodsnack.shtml?E+scstore
Haw is also called 'Chinese Cranberry.' Haw Flakes are penny sized discs of haw+sugar sold in stack wrapped in paper.
http://www.quickspice.com/cgi-bin/SoftCart.exe/
Haw Haw Haw,
--Corprew
Yeah, but Mike Royko died a couple of years ago ('97.) I end up remembering this every year around Scavenger Hunt time when pranking him doesn't appear on the item list.
--Corprew
A quote from the link above:
So, anyway, that's my theory on why language designers are so obsessed with P, because the system (or one of the systems) that originated them was the P-system.
--Corprew
(or its a coincidence. either way.)
That's just saying that the starbucks employees aren't complex enough to predict when you're ordering a certain thing, not that there isn't an algorithm complex enough to predict it. There may be some underlying reason to why you're ordering particular things such as temperature, cloudiness, time of day, etc... that could be divined given the right inputs.
For example, large numbers of people would probably order different things depending on the time of day, temperature outside, and other factors that might not be immediately obvious to the starbucks' employee, but the computer would probably be able to see the correllation of particular factors fairly easily.
Here's an example: I tend to get soy-milk lattes in the morning and nonfat-milk lattes in the afternoon on weekdays. On the weekends, I usually get diet rockstars. On weekends when they're out of the energy drink, the barista generally mentions that when i walk up to the counter, and guesses correctly what i want. I also get iced lattes when it is hot at my location, and they're usually able to remember that.
Now, I've been going there off and on for about 4 years, so they've had plenty of time to figure out that pattern, and the long-time baristas are right 90-odd percent of the time. It probably wouldn't take a computer that long to figure out the same pattern in a different sort of store, as there are probably 1000s of people who respond in roughly the same way I do.
Ex Uthor is Uperman's Nemesis.
Chicago-Kent is the law school of IIT, and not even remotely related to Kent State. Check out http://www.kentlaw.edu/ for more details.