I always wished there was a good "cool facts" chemistry book. Right now you have to google for it if you want some useful and interesting information, and even then you get a bunch of junk.
Plus this is definately a must-buy at my old high school. Every kid had to do a project on an element--this book would basically do the work for you:).
I'm getting my copy next time I find myself in a bookstore.
I'll admit I have little knowledge of windows, but if you take out mshtml.dll, and replace it with a new dynamic linked library (still called mshtml.dll) in which the only difference is the rendering engine (uses gecko instead of ie), then why would it break anything? In fact, how would windows even be able to tell the change had been made (assuming you wrote it correctly, which is something I lack the skill to do)??
Note: I am *not* recommending you remove mshtml, but replace it with somehting that has equal functionality, yet does not employ a Microsoft browser solution.
As far as I know, you *can* remove the browser in windows. or at least replace it with gecko:)
All you have to do is replace mshtml.dll (the html rendering engine for windows) with one that is based off of gecko code. There! Now windows uses gecko instead of whatever they call explorer's rendering engine.
Problem is, i have no clue how to do this:). But it shouldn't be so hard for someone with windows expertise.
Now all someone needs to do is write a VB app that lets you "choose" which rendering engine you want and sell it to the DOJ as a MS "remedy." Voila! Quick cash.
ummm, I hate to come between a troll and an author being infantile, but shouldn't is be "the fact remains that it is still bad to satrt a sentence with 'And.'" (no comma)
BTW, I have no clue what the discussion is about, and I couldn't find the above sentence in the text of the review....
I liked the review, though. It gave me a good idea of what the book was about. Isn't that the point of a review?
I agree. It's terribly annoying when people categorize mac users into one single group.
Even more annoying is when a mac user categorizes everyone else who dares to use the same computer as him as being "exactly like him," usually going on to rant about everyone who is "not." It is blatant arrogance and hubris. Those are the people that give mac users a bad name.
And unfortunately the book sounds like it has a bunch of this.
As a mac user, I resent this. I don't like alternative medicine. And I believe I pay a premium for what I like (the mac). So I am definately not seeking the "low-cost herbal/alternative solution."
You can't put me in a little box and define what I believe because I use a certain computer platform. All you can say is that I like that platform.
Nice review. The book seems pretty good, and I might consider it worth buying, except for one fact--
I already have a personal identity. I know who I am. And I am a mac user. I don't need to read a book to tell me how I should behave, how I should think, or what my personality should be just because of the computing platform I use.
This point was brought up slightly in the review by pudge's criticism of the "definitive platform test," but it seems the problem would be endemic to the entire book. The author seems to be trying to get all chummy with every mac user out there, though most share the at best tenuous bond of using the same type of computer (and not even OS. Many mac users still use 9!).
However, this book might be ineteresting to someone who is not a mac user, as it could give some perspective into what "we" (and I hestiate to use the term) experience. But it seems like it alienates and bashes those who don't buy into the "jobs experience."
To those that side with the BSA/or bring up the point of double standards as per the GPL...
The problem that we are discussing is terribly written licensing agreements (and, in particular, the "end user" variety, or EULA) that force the user of the software to do all sorts of stupid things. Greedy companies overcharge for their software, taking advantage of their ability to enforce the license after you buy the software, and counting on the fact that stores don't let you return opened packages to get you to agree.
Furthermore, companies would really love it if you bought 2 $400 copies of MS office/photoshop/etc for your two computers at home, no matter how ridiculous that may sound.
And the BSA enforces all this. Legally. And they are real jerks about it too. Rather than nicely try to help with licensing issues (ala here, let us help you find the most legal and cost-effective solution for you), they attempt to fuX0r your business/institution by abusing the legal system.
Our governement did not inyend the legal system to be used as a club. The purpose of the courts was not originally to threaten costly lawsuits. I'll bet if the founding fathers discovered that the legal system they envisioned as helping freedom and protecting free speech was being used to cut off people's internet, remove content from google, and close down things like napster, they would be appalled.
So the BSA, and what it does, is wrong. "Well," you ask, "how is this different from the GPL?" Well here it is:
The GPL was designed specifically to keep companies from using free code (the "solution" to the problem outlined above) from being used in products that abuse the system (i.e. are "commericial"). Not all commercial software abuses the system, but a whole bunch does. The idea behind Open Source software was to kill the companies that perpetuate these evils by underpricing them with software that fundamentally cannot ever be used to screw over the consumer. The GPL ensure that these companies will not be able to profit by incorporating this "free code" into their commercial products. Otherwise, Microsoft would just use all the open source'd code to further their screwing over of the consumer.
Basically the issue is this: There is a problem with licensing. The GPL is a license which is meant to help fix the problem with licensing. If licenses such as the GPL (and every single EULA ever made) are banned, then the GPL will have served its purpose. Until such a time, the GPL must be enforced.
(mods, please don't mark this "offtopic" or "redundant" I think this post clearly shows some crucial points in the issue at hand)
Isaac Asimov, in his wildly popular "Foundation" series (read it if you haven't), predicted that eventually human actions as a group (not individuals) could be calculated through computer simulations. He called it "Psychohistory" (as previously noted). In the novels it was a matter of probability, almost certain probability in most cases, butunlikely events still were able to mess it up. (For example, a telepathic genetic abnormailty, or "Mule," was born, and using his powers basically conquered the galaxy, thereby screwing up predictions)
Anyways, its really nifty how many cool technologies have been predicted by science fiction authors.
As many have alreqady stated it is a play on "The rain in spain falls mainly in the plain" from the musical "My Fair Lady"
The point of the phrase (in the musical) was to teach this girl (was her name liza dolittle?) to speak "proper english" instead of cockney. This Professor Henry Higgins guy had made a bet that he could turn a street urchin into a "fair lady" of society, and one of the things he had to do was change the way she was speaking.
Ms Dolittle had to say the phrase again, and again, and again... until she pronounced it right. It was very frustrating, and the next song in the musical was along the lines of "I'm going to kill Henry Higgins."
So the title could refer to the sheer repetitiveness of releases, or all the (boring) work it took to get it right. And I think there's a developer conference in spain, too.
Basically its the same old story all over again...
Great, amazing technology gets incorporated into low-marketshare platform, creating amazing product. Innovation goes virtually unnoticed. Small marketshare platform dies, squeezed out by its semi-monopolistic comptetitors who, though they use (perhaps) inferior tech, have the benefit of a well-known brandname, more apps, established user base, et etc.
That was the death of the dreamcast. Now we enter Chapter Two:
Tech used in low-marketshare-yet-advanced platform gets bought up (or copied) by its larger, and now former, competitors. "Innovations" are much heralded. Amazing "new" features are aplauded by all, and large, monopolistic companies get kudos and make more money.
Basically, history repeats itself. Microsoft is notorious exactly for this sort of behaviour. Sony's rep isn't too good, either. But I am the first to admit that the PS2 kicks ass. Anyone have a nice, free one for me?:)
I am glad for mandrake, and quite amazed at the amount of kindness shown by people online... (i.e. sending in money)
However, it is somewhat disheartening that their software has to be supported by donations. Sympathetic users just don't make a good substitute for a sound business plan.
Anyways, I hope they keep up the good work. (and maybe develop a better way to make $$) They're not my distro of choice, but they are quite good.
I think that the zaurus will mainly be a sucess amongst geeks. Its amazing feature set, power, and coolness factor all point to this. However, just the fact that it is different (read incompatible) from "regular" PDAs will keep most people from getting it. Complicated UI and high price don't help, either.
And I think Sharp knew, or at least suspected this. So maybe the wall street journal people aren't the intended consumers for the Zaurus.
Which would be a bad business decision on Sharp's part, especially if they made it knowingly (i.e. saying "lets make this suck for non-geeks" instead of just "lets make this appeal to geeks") but is an interesting thought to keep in mind.
Though I haven't tried the Zaurus (no ready cash) the complaints seem to be those endemic to the linux platform in general, or at least the common problems percieved to be inherent in linux/open source stuff.
"Fails to do the simple stuff well" "Complicated user interface" "Even the nify [insert x] turned out to be clumsy to use" and of course "Incompatible with whatever I use now"...
Interestingly enough, it seems a great number of people percieve these to be the problems with linux. Its just too complicated for them, and requires too much of a shift in their method of computing. And of course, it also requires them to change almost all of their programs, and download obscure, hard-to-install drivers for their peripherals.
I hope soon linux can overcome these problems, and become the windows-killing operating system it deserves to be. Mac OS X pretty much suceeds now, except for its extremely high inital cost (proprietary hardware. grrrrr.)
But linux has a bunch of potential. I am sure someone will get it right, and soon.
ATI cards are actually quite excellent. They are fast, powerful, and have MUCH better 2d acceleration (like for scrolling in PDFs et etc) than nVidia cards.
ATi Drivers sucks ass though. This is fairly common knowledge. Mac drivers for ATi cards are also crap, so its not like ATi has a problem with windows. And though I don't use linux, I am sure ATi doesn't exactly shine in that category either.
After my last card purchase from ATi they have only gone downhill in terms of software support. While nVidia manages to pull power out of even limited chipsets with their decent drivers, ATi seems to assume consumers want to code their own drivers. By hand. And without any info from ATi.
Oh, and because of the sheer brilliance of ATi execs, the decision was made to keep the framework of the cards "closed" --i.e. open source people are not going to get even a little hint on how to write drivers. So even the independent developer community can do nothing to remedy the situation (and I, for one, would be willing to pay for decent video drivers).
Its really sad when good hardware gets handcuffed, beaten to a fine pulp, and smeared over a nearby wall, resulting in a useless POS (also see modern art and microsoft), and all because of bad software--stuff thats CHEAPER to develop and distribute than hardware!
I will never buy an ATi card again, or at least until decent drivers actually are available for download, and are favorably reviewed, and not just "promised" as they are now.
I don't think that Echostar really cares that much about the First Amendment in this case. They simply want to be able to get everyone to buy their service
Not only that, but this would allow echostar to have a virtual monopoly in the future... providing both network and local coverage, where now they can only do one or the other (and as they are a nat'l company, they have to do network).
While I think that I should be able to get local news over satellite, I don't like to support monopolies... it will really suck once the satellite people have eliminated cable TV and they can start charging whatever the heck they feel like. And squeezing out local companies is exactly what will occur if echostar gets their way. So I hope the judge deliberates on both sides of the issue before making a decision.
Many people have brought up ther valid point that if this (seemingly large) 2.4Mbit bandwidth is spread amongstwhoever is using the cell, then some people will hog everything, and others will get almost none, thereby creating a really terrible situation for the great majority of users.
The point has also been brought up that paying by the kilobyte sucks for those who want high bandwidth...
My point is that the two effects would tend to cancel each other out, or, more specifically, that The people hogging the bandwidth would have to pay more, thereby eliminating the use of a cell phone for downloading warez or such.
Okay, so its not so nice... but it works. People will end up using the system for IMing and light web page browsing, which is what it is designed for. No-one intended cellphones to be used as hotline servers.
Now, it would be really nice if 3G meant more bandwidth than you could shake a nokia at, but its just not feasible. And who really wants to host a quake 3 server on a laptop. Most laptops can't even PLAY quake 3 with decent FPS (note I said most). And the payment scheme, though I am sure it will exact several orders of magnitude more dollars than are needed, making you pay the jerks through the nose for some crappy junk, works. Don't be surprised. We live in a real world:)
It is really frustrating to me when small(er) websites get linked to on the main page of slashdot.
I go to see what the latest news is, click on the link to read the article, and then... wait.
After a bit, I get an internal error or, for geocities sites, a flat out denial of access (along with some BS about "quotas").
This is a real issue, no matter how many people eventually post linkage to google caches or submit plaintext. In fact, it dilutes the slashdot experience itself. How many people just drop it after the link is returned "invalid?" Quite a few, I imagine. In fact, this is even more true with articles like this with almost no text, forcing the reader to rely on the broken link.
"ooh!" One thinks. "Game developers! Cool!" But then it just sucks.
Perhaps, now that slashdot is (to some, at least) a paying service, a feature of mirroring slashdotted sites could be offered to subscribers. This could generate additional income, not to mention fixing the now endemic problem of overvisited sites.
This is a joke, right? Sed is a "DOS game writing app for windows XP?" Surely you jest.
Sed is a unix command to manipulate text streams. similiar to "awk." It is kind of like a command-line "find and replace" function. Only better:) Perl is like a much more advanced, super-evolved, and uber-powerful version of sed.
Let the man be your friend. "man sed" on almost any unix box (that includes MacOS X) will help you.
Sed is not a windows XP command. (at least, unless MS copied unix here...). And Sed's purpose is most definately NOT writing DOS games. Or games of any kind. Which is what makes it cool that the guy coud write a game with it.
This just seems to be ridiculously puerile whining on microsofts part. Now that they find themselves in an industry that they can't easily dominate, they resort to "Tattle"ing on others.
Kinda like the mean kids in grade school who alternatively beat you up and "told on you." Really, though, this is kind of funny. Especially since Microsoft denied that they complained, but the show's management confirmed it. It is possible microsoft could have Lied elsewhere?
Naaaah
Or was it a "rogue emplyee." Acting on the behalf of all the show's attendees, who had to endure being forced to play on the PS2 by those evil sony peoplem, this rogue employee bravely took it upon himself to notify the authorities about the heinous trangression of the show's logical rules. Yeah, thats it. A rogue employee.
Actually, what probably happened was that the MS people got tired of sitting around and looking at the giant lines for playing on the PS2s. So they went to do something about it. But they are still bastards. Anyone who keeps people from playing video games (for free! nonetheless) is a "bastard."
The solution to spam is that Giant laser of death the airforce just got. Tie it to the email system, so once a spammer is identified, they become toast. Literally.
Sheesh, though, I hate spam. I get like 10 spam a day at my real email address, which people only can discover by talking to me (I don't post it or give it out for obvious reasons).
Maybe some kind of bulk-email tax could be imposed.... Even though I am firmly against internet tax, I think making the spammers pay for the mail (ala-junk mail via postal system) is the only solution.
Cape Town-based British palaeontologist John Almond glanced up at a crumbling cliff near Laingsburg in the Karoo and noticed a
double set of strange blob-like markings in the rock, starkly outlined in the cross-light of the late afternoon sun.
At our school, there are similiar strange, blob-like markings on the inside of the bathroom stalls!!
Slashdot Mirror
I always wished there was a good "cool facts" chemistry book. Right now you have to google for it if you want some useful and interesting information, and even then you get a bunch of junk.
:).
Plus this is definately a must-buy at my old high school. Every kid had to do a project on an element--this book would basically do the work for you
I'm getting my copy next time I find myself in a bookstore.
ummmm, why won't this work?
I'll admit I have little knowledge of windows, but if you take out mshtml.dll, and replace it with a new dynamic linked library (still called mshtml.dll) in which the only difference is the rendering engine (uses gecko instead of ie), then why would it break anything? In fact, how would windows even be able to tell the change had been made (assuming you wrote it correctly, which is something I lack the skill to do)??
Note: I am *not* recommending you remove mshtml, but replace it with somehting that has equal functionality, yet does not employ a Microsoft browser solution.
As far as I know, you *can* remove the browser in windows. or at least replace it with gecko :)
:). But it shouldn't be so hard for someone with windows expertise.
All you have to do is replace mshtml.dll (the html rendering engine for windows) with one that is based off of gecko code. There! Now windows uses gecko instead of whatever they call explorer's rendering engine.
Problem is, i have no clue how to do this
Now all someone needs to do is write a VB app that lets you "choose" which rendering engine you want and sell it to the DOJ as a MS "remedy." Voila! Quick cash.
Just think: Women could 'rent' their breasts out for ad space, with larger payments for 'hotter' girls.
ummm, I hate to come between a troll and an author being infantile, but shouldn't is be "the fact remains that it is still bad to satrt a sentence with 'And.'" (no comma)
BTW, I have no clue what the discussion is about, and I couldn't find the above sentence in the text of the review....
I liked the review, though. It gave me a good idea of what the book was about. Isn't that the point of a review?
I agree. It's terribly annoying when people categorize mac users into one single group.
Even more annoying is when a mac user categorizes everyone else who dares to use the same computer as him as being "exactly like him," usually going on to rant about everyone who is "not." It is blatant arrogance and hubris. Those are the people that give mac users a bad name.
And unfortunately the book sounds like it has a bunch of this.
As a mac user, I resent this. I don't like alternative medicine. And I believe I pay a premium for what I like (the mac). So I am definately not seeking the "low-cost herbal/alternative solution."
You can't put me in a little box and define what I believe because I use a certain computer platform. All you can say is that I like that platform.
And that is my problem with the book.
Nice review. The book seems pretty good, and I might consider it worth buying, except for one fact--
I already have a personal identity. I know who I am. And I am a mac user. I don't need to read a book to tell me how I should behave, how I should think, or what my personality should be just because of the computing platform I use.
This point was brought up slightly in the review by pudge's criticism of the "definitive platform test," but it seems the problem would be endemic to the entire book. The author seems to be trying to get all chummy with every mac user out there, though most share the at best tenuous bond of using the same type of computer (and not even OS. Many mac users still use 9!).
However, this book might be ineteresting to someone who is not a mac user, as it could give some perspective into what "we" (and I hestiate to use the term) experience. But it seems like it alienates and bashes those who don't buy into the "jobs experience."
So my take on the book would be "don't buy."
To those that side with the BSA/or bring up the point of double standards as per the GPL...
The problem that we are discussing is terribly written licensing agreements (and, in particular, the "end user" variety, or EULA) that force the user of the software to do all sorts of stupid things. Greedy companies overcharge for their software, taking advantage of their ability to enforce the license after you buy the software, and counting on the fact that stores don't let you return opened packages to get you to agree.
Furthermore, companies would really love it if you bought 2 $400 copies of MS office/photoshop/etc for your two computers at home, no matter how ridiculous that may sound.
And the BSA enforces all this. Legally. And they are real jerks about it too. Rather than nicely try to help with licensing issues (ala here, let us help you find the most legal and cost-effective solution for you), they attempt to fuX0r your business/institution by abusing the legal system.
Our governement did not inyend the legal system to be used as a club. The purpose of the courts was not originally to threaten costly lawsuits. I'll bet if the founding fathers discovered that the legal system they envisioned as helping freedom and protecting free speech was being used to cut off people's internet, remove content from google, and close down things like napster, they would be appalled.
So the BSA, and what it does, is wrong. "Well," you ask, "how is this different from the GPL?" Well here it is:
The GPL was designed specifically to keep companies from using free code (the "solution" to the problem outlined above) from being used in products that abuse the system (i.e. are "commericial"). Not all commercial software abuses the system, but a whole bunch does. The idea behind Open Source software was to kill the companies that perpetuate these evils by underpricing them with software that fundamentally cannot ever be used to screw over the consumer. The GPL ensure that these companies will not be able to profit by incorporating this "free code" into their commercial products. Otherwise, Microsoft would just use all the open source'd code to further their screwing over of the consumer.
Basically the issue is this: There is a problem with licensing. The GPL is a license which is meant to help fix the problem with licensing. If licenses such as the GPL (and every single EULA ever made) are banned, then the GPL will have served its purpose. Until such a time, the GPL must be enforced.
(mods, please don't mark this "offtopic" or "redundant" I think this post clearly shows some crucial points in the issue at hand)
I just looked at the pictures of the ogg vorbis player... and I have to say, I was quite shocked by this one.
I was shocked by the amazing similarity between the (software) ogg player's interface and Apple's iPod. First iPod ripoff or what?
I guess this silences those who said the iPod's interface was "teh suck."
Again, Science fiction predicts fact!
Isaac Asimov, in his wildly popular "Foundation" series (read it if you haven't), predicted that eventually human actions as a group (not individuals) could be calculated through computer simulations. He called it "Psychohistory" (as previously noted). In the novels it was a matter of probability, almost certain probability in most cases, butunlikely events still were able to mess it up. (For example, a telepathic genetic abnormailty, or "Mule," was born, and using his powers basically conquered the galaxy, thereby screwing up predictions)
Anyways, its really nifty how many cool technologies have been predicted by science fiction authors.
As many have alreqady stated it is a play on "The rain in spain falls mainly in the plain" from the musical "My Fair Lady"
The point of the phrase (in the musical) was to teach this girl (was her name liza dolittle?) to speak "proper english" instead of cockney. This Professor Henry Higgins guy had made a bet that he could turn a street urchin into a "fair lady" of society, and one of the things he had to do was change the way she was speaking.
Ms Dolittle had to say the phrase again, and again, and again... until she pronounced it right. It was very frustrating, and the next song in the musical was along the lines of "I'm going to kill Henry Higgins."
So the title could refer to the sheer repetitiveness of releases, or all the (boring) work it took to get it right. And I think there's a developer conference in spain, too.
Basically its the same old story all over again...
:)
Great, amazing technology gets incorporated into low-marketshare platform, creating amazing product. Innovation goes virtually unnoticed. Small marketshare platform dies, squeezed out by its semi-monopolistic comptetitors who, though they use (perhaps) inferior tech, have the benefit of a well-known brandname, more apps, established user base, et etc.
That was the death of the dreamcast. Now we enter Chapter Two:
Tech used in low-marketshare-yet-advanced platform gets bought up (or copied) by its larger, and now former, competitors. "Innovations" are much heralded. Amazing "new" features are aplauded by all, and large, monopolistic companies get kudos and make more money.
Basically, history repeats itself. Microsoft is notorious exactly for this sort of behaviour. Sony's rep isn't too good, either. But I am the first to admit that the PS2 kicks ass. Anyone have a nice, free one for me?
I am glad for mandrake, and quite amazed at the amount of kindness shown by people online... (i.e. sending in money)
However, it is somewhat disheartening that their software has to be supported by donations. Sympathetic users just don't make a good substitute for a sound business plan.
Anyways, I hope they keep up the good work. (and maybe develop a better way to make $$) They're not my distro of choice, but they are quite good.
I think that the zaurus will mainly be a sucess amongst geeks. Its amazing feature set, power, and coolness factor all point to this. However, just the fact that it is different (read incompatible) from "regular" PDAs will keep most people from getting it. Complicated UI and high price don't help, either.
And I think Sharp knew, or at least suspected this. So maybe the wall street journal people aren't the intended consumers for the Zaurus.
Which would be a bad business decision on Sharp's part, especially if they made it knowingly (i.e. saying "lets make this suck for non-geeks" instead of just "lets make this appeal to geeks") but is an interesting thought to keep in mind.
Interestingly enough, it seems a great number of people percieve these to be the problems with linux. Its just too complicated for them, and requires too much of a shift in their method of computing. And of course, it also requires them to change almost all of their programs, and download obscure, hard-to-install drivers for their peripherals.
I hope soon linux can overcome these problems, and become the windows-killing operating system it deserves to be. Mac OS X pretty much suceeds now, except for its extremely high inital cost (proprietary hardware. grrrrr.)
But linux has a bunch of potential. I am sure someone will get it right, and soon.
ATI cards are actually quite excellent. They are fast, powerful, and have MUCH better 2d acceleration (like for scrolling in PDFs et etc) than nVidia cards.
ATi Drivers sucks ass though. This is fairly common knowledge. Mac drivers for ATi cards are also crap, so its not like ATi has a problem with windows. And though I don't use linux, I am sure ATi doesn't exactly shine in that category either.
After my last card purchase from ATi they have only gone downhill in terms of software support. While nVidia manages to pull power out of even limited chipsets with their decent drivers, ATi seems to assume consumers want to code their own drivers. By hand. And without any info from ATi.
Oh, and because of the sheer brilliance of ATi execs, the decision was made to keep the framework of the cards "closed" --i.e. open source people are not going to get even a little hint on how to write drivers. So even the independent developer community can do nothing to remedy the situation (and I, for one, would be willing to pay for decent video drivers).
Its really sad when good hardware gets handcuffed, beaten to a fine pulp, and smeared over a nearby wall, resulting in a useless POS (also see modern art and microsoft), and all because of bad software--stuff thats CHEAPER to develop and distribute than hardware!
I will never buy an ATi card again, or at least until decent drivers actually are available for download, and are favorably reviewed, and not just "promised" as they are now.
While I think that I should be able to get local news over satellite, I don't like to support monopolies... it will really suck once the satellite people have eliminated cable TV and they can start charging whatever the heck they feel like. And squeezing out local companies is exactly what will occur if echostar gets their way. So I hope the judge deliberates on both sides of the issue before making a decision.
Many people have brought up ther valid point that if this (seemingly large) 2.4Mbit bandwidth is spread amongstwhoever is using the cell, then some people will hog everything, and others will get almost none, thereby creating a really terrible situation for the great majority of users.
:)
The point has also been brought up that paying by the kilobyte sucks for those who want high bandwidth...
My point is that the two effects would tend to cancel each other out, or, more specifically, that The people hogging the bandwidth would have to pay more, thereby eliminating the use of a cell phone for downloading warez or such.
Okay, so its not so nice... but it works. People will end up using the system for IMing and light web page browsing, which is what it is designed for. No-one intended cellphones to be used as hotline servers.
Now, it would be really nice if 3G meant more bandwidth than you could shake a nokia at, but its just not feasible. And who really wants to host a quake 3 server on a laptop. Most laptops can't even PLAY quake 3 with decent FPS (note I said most). And the payment scheme, though I am sure it will exact several orders of magnitude more dollars than are needed, making you pay the jerks through the nose for some crappy junk, works. Don't be surprised. We live in a real world
It is really frustrating to me when small(er) websites get linked to on the main page of slashdot.
... wait.
After a bit, I get an internal error or, for geocities sites, a flat out denial of access (along with some BS about "quotas").
I go to see what the latest news is, click on the link to read the article, and then
This is a real issue, no matter how many people eventually post linkage to google caches or submit plaintext. In fact, it dilutes the slashdot experience itself. How many people just drop it after the link is returned "invalid?" Quite a few, I imagine. In fact, this is even more true with articles like this with almost no text, forcing the reader to rely on the broken link.
"ooh!" One thinks. "Game developers! Cool!" But then it just sucks.
Perhaps, now that slashdot is (to some, at least) a paying service, a feature of mirroring slashdotted sites could be offered to subscribers. This could generate additional income, not to mention fixing the now endemic problem of overvisited sites.
This is a joke, right? Sed is a "DOS game writing app for windows XP?" Surely you jest.
:)
Sed is a unix command to manipulate text streams. similiar to "awk." It is kind of like a command-line "find and replace" function. Only better
Perl is like a much more advanced, super-evolved, and uber-powerful version of sed.
Let the man be your friend. "man sed" on almost any unix box (that includes MacOS X) will help you.
Sed is not a windows XP command. (at least, unless MS copied unix here...). And Sed's purpose is most definately NOT writing DOS games. Or games of any kind. Which is what makes it cool that the guy coud write a game with it.
This just seems to be ridiculously puerile whining on microsofts part. Now that they find themselves in an industry that they can't easily dominate, they resort to "Tattle"ing on others.
Kinda like the mean kids in grade school who alternatively beat you up and "told on you." Really, though, this is kind of funny. Especially since Microsoft denied that they complained, but the show's management confirmed it. It is possible microsoft could have Lied elsewhere?
Naaaah
Or was it a "rogue emplyee." Acting on the behalf of all the show's attendees, who had to endure being forced to play on the PS2 by those evil sony peoplem, this rogue employee bravely took it upon himself to notify the authorities about the heinous trangression of the show's logical rules. Yeah, thats it. A rogue employee.
Actually, what probably happened was that the MS people got tired of sitting around and looking at the giant lines for playing on the PS2s. So they went to do something about it. But they are still bastards. Anyone who keeps people from playing video games (for free! nonetheless) is a "bastard."
The solution to spam is that Giant laser of death the airforce just got. Tie it to the email system, so once a spammer is identified, they become toast. Literally.
Sheesh, though, I hate spam. I get like 10 spam a day at my real email address, which people only can discover by talking to me (I don't post it or give it out for obvious reasons).
Maybe some kind of bulk-email tax could be imposed.... Even though I am firmly against internet tax, I think making the spammers pay for the mail (ala-junk mail via postal system) is the only solution.
THERE ARE GIANT WATER SCORPIONS IN OUR TOILETS!
What are we going to do?!
Today is apparently the day of the funny postings. Gotta love it.
:)
2.5m Water Scorpion Stalks Southern Africa
Tabloid headlines indeed
All I can say is: Where can I get mine?