Define your color classes (color1, color2, etc.) in your CSS. Do not define colors in other CSS classes (unless you don't want to use your "aliases" with those classes).
In your (X)HTML mark-up, define your classes to use the "other" CSS classes followed by the "color aliases" separated by spaces. For example, class="myClass color1" applies the.myClass class and the.color1 class. (Like any CSS, later definitions override earlier definitions, which is why your "other" classes should avoid defining colors that would be overridden by the color classes. Of course, you may find this effect useful...)
I use this method on my personal site. It is potentially an extremely powerful tool that is not limited to colors; I also use it to apply other types of formatting, including positioning (mostly horizontal alignments) and common div widths (which means I don't have to update every div with a new width, only the class definition for that kind of div.)
I would love to claim original credit for this concept, but admittedly I found it somewhere else... I just don't recall where...
I think l0b0's response best addresses your list of "complaints," but I have some additional insights into a couple of them.
Every HTML page contains 3 languages for the same thing: HTML, CSS and javascript.
I disagree. Many HTML pages I write are in "pure" (X)HTML. While there are references to CSS and JavaScript (via rel tags), but the actual code is handled "off-page" in separate files: There is no CSS or JavaScript in the HTML itself. This is very convenient because (1) I only have to write them once, and (2) I can update my entire site quickly by changing only one or two files rather than every page. Now, of course, there are some things that are easier to do with inline CSS or JavaScript, but that doesn't mean they are required and certainly not present in every HTML page.
HTML became popular because it was so simple to use that everyone could use it.
I'm not so sure this is necessarily such a good thing. Lots of things are "so simple to use that everyone could use it." Cars. Guns. Television (watching at least). Drugs. Ease of use often means ease of abuse. Have you actually looked at the HTML behind MySpace? Or the old Slashdot? "Make something even an idiot can use and only idiots will use it."
CSS by contrast is so complicated that only fulltime professionals understand it.
Really? Because my fulltime profession is architecture (and anyone familiar with that field can tell you that it leaves precious little time for anything else), not web design, but I seem to have a pretty good grasp of CSS. Have you tried reading some books about CSS? Visited CSS Zen Garden and (gasp!) actually read the style sheets?
I think a lot of people come from a background of "old-school" HTML table layouts and simply throw up their hands when CSS doesn't work the same way. CSS is a kind of "paradigm shift" in terms of thinking about how content is presented, and not everyone used to one method will be able (or willing) to understand a different method. That does not mean the new method is bad. I am not a programmer, but I understand the fairly significant differences between monolithic coding and object-oriented coding. I can imagine a lot of "old-school" programmers failing to grasp the concept of OO programming, throwing up their hands and delcaring it a pointless waste of time. But that doesn't make it true, and the legion of OO-coded programs out there proves it.
I have a 17 GB WD Caviar HDD that I bought in 1998. I have since re-used it in 3 separate custom-built computers while five other HDDs (3 WD and 2 Maxtor) have up and died, including a rather unfortunate 100-day lifespan of a 3-month-warranty WD drive.
Moral of the Story #1: They don't make HDDs like they used to.
Moral of the Story #2: Don't buy a HDD with a 3-month warranty. Splurge and spend the extra $$$ for the 3-year warranty "special edition" drives.
...what happens when one state offers better benefits than another state? Unlike many countries of the past (and even some of the present), you don't need "papers" to pack up and move to another state.
Fine, you say, so people move to where the benefits are better. But exactly how is the state-with-better-benefits supposed to pay for all of these additional people? Assuming (based on current evidence) that these people are not contributing their "fair share" to the cost of such services, it quickly leads to one of two situations: either the state in question goes bankrupt or it radically cuts (even eliminates) services to balance the load. Regardless of which, everyone loses. The unfortunate pack up again and move to the next best state, which eventually collapses under the added load, and so forth until the entire country is in shambles.
I see only three ways to avoid such a scenario: prevent the free movement of people from state to state (unlikely, even under the current administration); eliminate social services in their entirety (popular with many folks, I'm sure, but near-certain political suicide for any politician who even brings the subject up); or maintain the centralized system.
With a centralized (federal) system of benefits, it doesn't really matter if you live in a "wealthy" state (e.g., California) or a "poor" state (e.g., Arkansas) -- your benefits are the same either way.
the photograph was taken by the web site owner and/or under "contract" thereof, or was taken from a public-domain/royalty-free source (as opposed to copied from the school or some other copyright-protected source);
the photograph was taken from public property or other public right-of-way (sidewalk, street, alley, etc.); and
the web site is not attempting to claim credit for the design, appearance, etc. of the building, nor trying to duplicate said design for any purpose other than describing the original building...
...then the school has nothing to stand on to ask them to remove the photograph of the library. Building owners (or architects, for that matter) have no control over images of their building captured from public property.
Can you imagine what a messed up world it would be if they could? What if you had to pay royalty fees for your vacation photos just because there are buildings in the background?
You're absolutely right that your family is unlikely to give a spit about the technical specs of the digital picture frame you give them. They'll be happy that it shows pictures that change over time. Wheee!
But there's more to giving a gift that just giving someone something that's off the shelf. I'd wager that your family will appreciate a custom-made gift (if it's well-made, that is) more than something you spent thirty minutes on picking up at the mall and which they can see sitting in their neighbor's house the next day.
But what happens when the pre-built models really aren't that great? When I looked into getting a pre-built model for my folks last Christmas, the models all seemed to hover around 640x480 pixels and 8-bit color. I take my digital photos at 1280x1024 with 24-bit color, and frankly I don't think they'd look all that great at one-quarter the size and an even smaller fraction of the color palette.
Also, most of the models I looked at used a plain telephone line to download updates (new photos and the like). Everyone in my family is sitting on broadband Ethernet connections, so I'd much prefer something that at least had the option of an Ethernet jack.
And another thing: most of the pre-built digital frame companies charge a monthly service fee in order to download new content. So not only do you have to pay for the frame itself, you have to keep paying in order to use it!
So for me, the "coolness factor" has little to do with it. Instead, it's all about pride in displaying my work, being able to include the options I want, and only having to pay for the whole thing once.
It pays to understand exactly what you're purchasing, especially when it comes to investing in foreign nations... after all, the.la TLD technically belongs to Laos. (According to some other posts in this discussion, there is some dispute as to whether the old registrar of.la was actually legally entitled to provide that service.) A little research now can save a lot of headaches later. However, that being said...
Any so-called company that can't absorb a one-time $150 loss is not long for this world anyway.
Any company that is willing to spend six months fussing over a trendy, atypical (i.e., not a.com/.net/.org) domain name, instead of just eating the original $150 loss and moving on, probably shouldn't be in business anyway. I mean, really, is the cute little.la really worth six months of life?
Any company that really believes the particular TLD portion of its domain name somehow makes or breaks the company's name, image, or concept, is probably missing the clue train, and will likely not be around in five years anyway.
In the end, five years is a long ways off in so-called Internet Time. There may not even be TLDs by then, or ICANN may finally see the light (fat chance, I know) and bust the TLD market wide open a la the rogue TLD services. Or we may all just revert back to IP addresses and use Google (or whatever manages to unseat Google) to find web sites!
I was just in Vegas a few weeks ago. The monorail is in various states of completion along its route, but it is very impressive. I was initially confused, as some places looked as though they were already operational; alas, there was only the track. Other places just barely had formwork in place, not even the concrete poured yet. But the really interesting thing is that the monorail seems to be "integrated" into a few of the casinos along its route, passing under/over/through some of the casino eye-candy.
From a purely selfish point of view, it makes a lot of sense for the casinos to support the project. It took 30 minutes to drive the length of the Strip during rush hour... at 3am it was closer to 5 minutes, even including a few red lights. Now, casinos really don't want you leaving, but most realize that half the people in Vegas aren't there to gamble -- but they spend money anyway, be it in the buffet line or in the themed casino shopping malls. Allowing all those mobile customers to more easily patronize your establishments makes a lot of sense.
But the best thing Las Vegas could do would be to extend the line to McCarran Airport. It's not that I minded the $5 I paid for a van ride to my hotel, it's the hour I waited for said van and the additional 30 minute ride down the Strip. A monorail would solve that problem very nicely. It would also be a natural extension of the "light-rail" line that shuttles passengers between the old and new terminal buildings within the airport. (As an architectural aside, the new terminal building is a very nice example of "high-tech" design. The cable-truss window walls are especially beautiful to behold...)
My policy is to unilaterally block pop-under advertisers. Not the sites that feature the ads, but the companies that provide the ads -- like iwin, doubleclick, etc. I'm able to do this through my HOSTS file, which while still allowing the window to pop-under, at least displays nothing but a blank page.
There are limitations to this method. Yahoo's "dailynews" server started popping under ads that came from straight IP addresses, something HOSTS can't block. So I was forced to label dailynews.yahoo.com as a restricted site, and disabled all forms of scripting and advanced features for that (and a few others) web server.
I have no problem with banner ads or even those new square Flash-based ads. It's motherfuckers who decide that they need to open up new windows (either over but especially under my current browser window) that get me all pissy.
Yes, but Red Dawn would never get banned by Ashcroft & Company 'cause it's all about good ol' American boys kicking the shit out of those evil commie bastards.;-)
I keep my monitor on my UPS so that I can see what I'm doing if/when the power goes out. My machine has a lot of nasty quirks (like an inconsistent cooling system) that make me nervous to leave it running when I'm not in the apartment... so I power everything down when I leave for work in the morning.
Without the monitor, I get close to 30 minutes of power (as opposed to 18-20 with it). However, the junk I decide to plug into it changes with what I'm doing; if I am printing a lot of critical things, I'll plug the printer into the powered plugs at the expense of, say, the cable modem.
I'd be interested to know if the RS-232 (serial) software works with this USB unit. From what I've read on APC's site (not that that is a good source of unbiased information), only the Win98/MacOS drivers that are included with the unit will work with it. I'd be very happy to learn otherwise.
A relative of mine works for a muni power company up in the Northwest. Since I live in California, I was talking to him about the whole "power crisis" thing.
It turns out that most power generation facilities must be shut down periodically for maintenance. This is a necessary thing -- if you don't do it, the plant blows up, melts down, starts polluting (more than usual, that is;-), etc.
Last summer (2000), there was a huge surge in the power consumption in California. Since the generators here couldn't provide the necessary power, the utilities went looking elsewhere. The high demand of power led several major generators, both in California and other states, to delay the regularly scheduled maintenance until the winter (now). The rationale was that winter power consumption tends to be much lower than summer consumption.
Unfortunately, there was a bit of poor planning involved: these days, both delayed and regularly scheduled plant closures are in effect. I'm not sure why no one thought of this at the time (last summer) -- perhaps the assumption was that more power plants would be brought online by now? I know there are several in California that are scheduled to begin operations this summer (2001)... not that that helps us now. Compounding the problem are the recent storms along the California coastline: the increased surf has interfered with water intakes of several coastal generating facilities, hampering their ability to produce power.
My recommendation is to get yourself an Uninteruptible Power Supply. I like the APC Back-UPS Pro 500. You can only "interact" with it if you have Windows 98 or MacOS and free (non-hub) USB port... but if you don't mind it being "dumb," it makes a great deal at less than $150 for 500 VA. Plus, it has four powered outlets, plus three surge. It provides me (PII/400, external zip, 17" monitor, cable modem) with 18 minutes of power...
... considering the French (Norman) invasion and subjugation of Britain. Didn't quite turn out the way intended; the natives simply appropriated elements they desired from the upper class (French) language and culture, building upon their own resources rather than displacing them. The end result was that the English language got bigger (through words like "rendezvous" and the like). But don't feel bad: the English language has a long and storied history of appropriating other languages. For example, most of the initial "th" words (like "this," "that," "them," and "their") are descendents from a Norse (Viking!) invasion along the northeast coast.
The phenomenon that is the English language is like an insatiable virus, absorbing everything it comes in contact with. Left to its own devices, English probably would have eliminated several major languages by now simply through the act of making them obsolete.
...tell the company you worked for! Even if you don't like the company any more, dash off an email to their legal department or something.
Posting to slashdot may make you feel better, but let's not kid ourselves: the forces deciding these things are not reading this or any other web site. (I'd argue that they cannot read at all, except they must have some rudimentary grasp of written language in order to process the patent application in the first place.)
...Really. <g> But at least they'll leave behind a nice building. I drive by it every day on my way to/from work, and I watched as they built it over the last year. If you're near the Westside (West Los Angeles/Santa Monica), and you like the high-tech postmodern architecture look, I'd highly recommend swinging by. It's located on the south side of Olympic Boulevard between Bundy and Centinela. I haven't been inside, so I can't attest for the interior layout, but the exterior is great. If anyone has any information about the building (who designed it, whether it follows sustainability guidelines, etc.), I'd appreciate the info.
Recently, there have been several articles lamenting the passing (or retiring) of some of the "old-school" hackers -- the first generation of computer geeks who helped shape the current environment of programming, hacking, the internet, computers in general. Many comments lament that no one today has the same aura of knowledge or contribution.
Well, I have to agree with Lumpy as to the general cause -- there has been a disturbing lack of teaching from one generation to the next. Those who posses power and knowledge (and let's face it, in programming knowledge is power) seem to be very reluctant to distribute said power/knowledge, for fear of losing their own influence.
The first-generation of hackers, the people now retiring or passing away, seem to me to be genuinely nice, helpful people. Calm, patient, and always willing to offer constructive criticism and advice. (YMMV) They freely passed their knowledge along to the second-generation of hackers, and for a long time those two generations have been collaboratively shaping the computing world.
Now, however, we're seeing the emergence of third- and fourth-generation hackers. Unfortunately, as lumpy points out, they often do not receive the same kind of instruction (if any at all). The second-generation hackers, so pleased at the time to be given knowledge, now resist passing that same knowledge along for fear of being dislodged from their godlike status. What arrogance! -- though I completely understand it. It's hard to let go of power. Yet, to me anyway, the most powerful people in the world are the teachers. And I don't mean exclusively in the traditional, K-12 sense. Anyone who takes on the task of passing along knowledge is a teacher, and holds an extremely powerful position -- of trust, of respect, and for shaping the next generation.
IMHO, most of the problems with todays kiddiez is that they were forced to learn their skills on their own. While I am all for learning via this method, it must be accompanied by guidance. Especially with programming/hacking, where there are as many moral and ethical issues at stake as technical! Today's third- and fourth-generation hackers have simply grown up without the guidance of the older generation. Forced to rely on their own resources, they have developed their own sense of morals, their own ethical code of conduct. It should not be a surprise that these are nearly opposite of the old-school "hacker ethic." Just exactly when and where were these new "wannabes" supposed to pick up this ethic? From the people telling them to RTFM?
If he were truly evil, and not just insane, the last thing he would want is to find a hero, for it would interfere with his evil actions...
Ah, but in the world of superheroes and supervillians, the bad guy always seems to go out of his way to make his (the villian's) life more difficult.
For example: Just when the villian has the hero in the grips of "certain death" (with only one possible means of escape), the hero asks the villian what the villian's evil plans are. The villian, realizing that there is "no way to escape now" (except for the aforementioned single method), relents and reveals everything. Then, before the hero actually dies, the villian leaves to go do his evil things. The hero naturally exploits the sole method of escape, and goes on to spoil the villians evil plans.
So no, villians do seek out heros. They seem to take pleasure in terrorizing innocents, but the ultimate goal for a villian is to show off in front of a hero.
(For all of you aspiring evil-doers out there, the Evil Overlord List is required reading.)
About halfway down the release, set apart in its very own paragraph:
If customers do not renew or install an upgrade product, they can still open, view and print their existing documents.
The only thing that happens when your subscription expires is the ability to create new documents.
Frankly, if the price is low enough, this makes a great deal of sense. If you consider MS Office nowadays costs $600 or more, and a new version is released every 3 years, an annual subscription of $150 saves you money in the long run -- assuming you always need/want the latest version of Office. Me, my trusty old copy of Office '95 works just fine on my ancient 486... but I sprung for Office 2k for my real machine.
Trying to get map.net to come up, I stumbled across this directory. (Nice when you don't set up your server to provide a default page...) Anyway, the two pages that I found most interesting are the help pages for 2D Navigation and 3D Navigation. Not really the same as being able to interact with the map, but I think it gives the general impression of what it is all about. I especially like the discussion regarding sizes and colors of buildings (near the bottom of the 3D page) -- fairly intuitive, though I would try to keep the colors more consistent between building types.
Slashdot Mirror
Use multiple classes in your HTML.
Define your color classes (color1, color2, etc.) in your CSS. Do not define colors in other CSS classes (unless you don't want to use your "aliases" with those classes).
In your (X)HTML mark-up, define your classes to use the "other" CSS classes followed by the "color aliases" separated by spaces. For example, class="myClass color1" applies the .myClass class and the .color1 class. (Like any CSS, later definitions override earlier definitions, which is why your "other" classes should avoid defining colors that would be overridden by the color classes. Of course, you may find this effect useful...)
I use this method on my personal site. It is potentially an extremely powerful tool that is not limited to colors; I also use it to apply other types of formatting, including positioning (mostly horizontal alignments) and common div widths (which means I don't have to update every div with a new width, only the class definition for that kind of div.)
I would love to claim original credit for this concept, but admittedly I found it somewhere else... I just don't recall where...
I think l0b0's response best addresses your list of "complaints," but I have some additional insights into a couple of them.
I disagree. Many HTML pages I write are in "pure" (X)HTML. While there are references to CSS and JavaScript (via rel tags), but the actual code is handled "off-page" in separate files: There is no CSS or JavaScript in the HTML itself. This is very convenient because (1) I only have to write them once, and (2) I can update my entire site quickly by changing only one or two files rather than every page. Now, of course, there are some things that are easier to do with inline CSS or JavaScript, but that doesn't mean they are required and certainly not present in every HTML page.
I'm not so sure this is necessarily such a good thing. Lots of things are "so simple to use that everyone could use it." Cars. Guns. Television (watching at least). Drugs. Ease of use often means ease of abuse. Have you actually looked at the HTML behind MySpace? Or the old Slashdot? "Make something even an idiot can use and only idiots will use it."
Really? Because my fulltime profession is architecture (and anyone familiar with that field can tell you that it leaves precious little time for anything else), not web design, but I seem to have a pretty good grasp of CSS. Have you tried reading some books about CSS? Visited CSS Zen Garden and (gasp!) actually read the style sheets?
I think a lot of people come from a background of "old-school" HTML table layouts and simply throw up their hands when CSS doesn't work the same way. CSS is a kind of "paradigm shift" in terms of thinking about how content is presented, and not everyone used to one method will be able (or willing) to understand a different method. That does not mean the new method is bad. I am not a programmer, but I understand the fairly significant differences between monolithic coding and object-oriented coding. I can imagine a lot of "old-school" programmers failing to grasp the concept of OO programming, throwing up their hands and delcaring it a pointless waste of time. But that doesn't make it true, and the legion of OO-coded programs out there proves it.
I think 21st Century Insurance and Century 21 Real Estate should send some C&D letters to this guy for libeling their companies' good names!
...wasn't TFA itself but its link to the Troubleshooting and Repair of Small Household Appliances and Power Tools FAQ. Good stuff there.
I have a 17 GB WD Caviar HDD that I bought in 1998. I have since re-used it in 3 separate custom-built computers while five other HDDs (3 WD and 2 Maxtor) have up and died, including a rather unfortunate 100-day lifespan of a 3-month-warranty WD drive.
Moral of the Story #1: They don't make HDDs like they used to.
Moral of the Story #2: Don't buy a HDD with a 3-month warranty. Splurge and spend the extra $$$ for the 3-year warranty "special edition" drives.
That is so incredibly evil that I don't even know where to begin...
I'll have to start doing that, too. >:)
...what happens when one state offers better benefits than another state? Unlike many countries of the past (and even some of the present), you don't need "papers" to pack up and move to another state.
Fine, you say, so people move to where the benefits are better. But exactly how is the state-with-better-benefits supposed to pay for all of these additional people? Assuming (based on current evidence) that these people are not contributing their "fair share" to the cost of such services, it quickly leads to one of two situations: either the state in question goes bankrupt or it radically cuts (even eliminates) services to balance the load. Regardless of which, everyone loses. The unfortunate pack up again and move to the next best state, which eventually collapses under the added load, and so forth until the entire country is in shambles.
I see only three ways to avoid such a scenario: prevent the free movement of people from state to state (unlikely, even under the current administration); eliminate social services in their entirety (popular with many folks, I'm sure, but near-certain political suicide for any politician who even brings the subject up); or maintain the centralized system.
With a centralized (federal) system of benefits, it doesn't really matter if you live in a "wealthy" state (e.g., California) or a "poor" state (e.g., Arkansas) -- your benefits are the same either way.
I think they meant copyrighted, but whatever.
Assuming:
...then the school has nothing to stand on to ask them to remove the photograph of the library. Building owners (or architects, for that matter) have no control over images of their building captured from public property.
Can you imagine what a messed up world it would be if they could? What if you had to pay royalty fees for your vacation photos just because there are buildings in the background?
You're absolutely right that your family is unlikely to give a spit about the technical specs of the digital picture frame you give them. They'll be happy that it shows pictures that change over time. Wheee!
But there's more to giving a gift that just giving someone something that's off the shelf. I'd wager that your family will appreciate a custom-made gift (if it's well-made, that is) more than something you spent thirty minutes on picking up at the mall and which they can see sitting in their neighbor's house the next day.
But what happens when the pre-built models really aren't that great? When I looked into getting a pre-built model for my folks last Christmas, the models all seemed to hover around 640x480 pixels and 8-bit color. I take my digital photos at 1280x1024 with 24-bit color, and frankly I don't think they'd look all that great at one-quarter the size and an even smaller fraction of the color palette.
Also, most of the models I looked at used a plain telephone line to download updates (new photos and the like). Everyone in my family is sitting on broadband Ethernet connections, so I'd much prefer something that at least had the option of an Ethernet jack.
And another thing: most of the pre-built digital frame companies charge a monthly service fee in order to download new content. So not only do you have to pay for the frame itself, you have to keep paying in order to use it!
So for me, the "coolness factor" has little to do with it. Instead, it's all about pride in displaying my work, being able to include the options I want, and only having to pay for the whole thing once.
I was just in Vegas a few weeks ago. The monorail is in various states of completion along its route, but it is very impressive. I was initially confused, as some places looked as though they were already operational; alas, there was only the track. Other places just barely had formwork in place, not even the concrete poured yet. But the really interesting thing is that the monorail seems to be "integrated" into a few of the casinos along its route, passing under/over/through some of the casino eye-candy.
From a purely selfish point of view, it makes a lot of sense for the casinos to support the project. It took 30 minutes to drive the length of the Strip during rush hour... at 3am it was closer to 5 minutes, even including a few red lights. Now, casinos really don't want you leaving, but most realize that half the people in Vegas aren't there to gamble -- but they spend money anyway, be it in the buffet line or in the themed casino shopping malls. Allowing all those mobile customers to more easily patronize your establishments makes a lot of sense.
But the best thing Las Vegas could do would be to extend the line to McCarran Airport. It's not that I minded the $5 I paid for a van ride to my hotel, it's the hour I waited for said van and the additional 30 minute ride down the Strip. A monorail would solve that problem very nicely. It would also be a natural extension of the "light-rail" line that shuttles passengers between the old and new terminal buildings within the airport. (As an architectural aside, the new terminal building is a very nice example of "high-tech" design. The cable-truss window walls are especially beautiful to behold...)
My policy is to unilaterally block pop-under advertisers. Not the sites that feature the ads, but the companies that provide the ads -- like iwin, doubleclick, etc. I'm able to do this through my HOSTS file, which while still allowing the window to pop-under, at least displays nothing but a blank page.
There are limitations to this method. Yahoo's "dailynews" server started popping under ads that came from straight IP addresses, something HOSTS can't block. So I was forced to label dailynews.yahoo.com as a restricted site, and disabled all forms of scripting and advanced features for that (and a few others) web server.
I have no problem with banner ads or even those new square Flash-based ads. It's motherfuckers who decide that they need to open up new windows (either over but especially under my current browser window) that get me all pissy.
Heh. It'd be really useful information like
I've had this .sig for years...
Yes, but Red Dawn would never get banned by Ashcroft & Company 'cause it's all about good ol' American boys kicking the shit out of those evil commie bastards. ;-)
2001-04-01 04:03:22
(Happy April Fool's Day!)
I know this may seem bizarre...
I keep my monitor on my UPS so that I can see what I'm doing if/when the power goes out. My machine has a lot of nasty quirks (like an inconsistent cooling system) that make me nervous to leave it running when I'm not in the apartment... so I power everything down when I leave for work in the morning.
Without the monitor, I get close to 30 minutes of power (as opposed to 18-20 with it). However, the junk I decide to plug into it changes with what I'm doing; if I am printing a lot of critical things, I'll plug the printer into the powered plugs at the expense of, say, the cable modem.
I'd be interested to know if the RS-232 (serial) software works with this USB unit. From what I've read on APC's site (not that that is a good source of unbiased information), only the Win98/MacOS drivers that are included with the unit will work with it. I'd be very happy to learn otherwise.
A relative of mine works for a muni power company up in the Northwest. Since I live in California, I was talking to him about the whole "power crisis" thing.
It turns out that most power generation facilities must be shut down periodically for maintenance. This is a necessary thing -- if you don't do it, the plant blows up, melts down, starts polluting (more than usual, that is ;-), etc.
Last summer (2000), there was a huge surge in the power consumption in California. Since the generators here couldn't provide the necessary power, the utilities went looking elsewhere. The high demand of power led several major generators, both in California and other states, to delay the regularly scheduled maintenance until the winter (now). The rationale was that winter power consumption tends to be much lower than summer consumption.
Unfortunately, there was a bit of poor planning involved: these days, both delayed and regularly scheduled plant closures are in effect. I'm not sure why no one thought of this at the time (last summer) -- perhaps the assumption was that more power plants would be brought online by now? I know there are several in California that are scheduled to begin operations this summer (2001)... not that that helps us now. Compounding the problem are the recent storms along the California coastline: the increased surf has interfered with water intakes of several coastal generating facilities, hampering their ability to produce power.
My recommendation is to get yourself an Uninteruptible Power Supply. I like the APC Back-UPS Pro 500. You can only "interact" with it if you have Windows 98 or MacOS and free (non-hub) USB port... but if you don't mind it being "dumb," it makes a great deal at less than $150 for 500 VA. Plus, it has four powered outlets, plus three surge. It provides me (PII/400, external zip, 17" monitor, cable modem) with 18 minutes of power...
... considering the French (Norman) invasion and subjugation of Britain. Didn't quite turn out the way intended; the natives simply appropriated elements they desired from the upper class (French) language and culture, building upon their own resources rather than displacing them. The end result was that the English language got bigger (through words like "rendezvous" and the like). But don't feel bad: the English language has a long and storied history of appropriating other languages. For example, most of the initial "th" words (like "this," "that," "them," and "their") are descendents from a Norse (Viking!) invasion along the northeast coast.
The phenomenon that is the English language is like an insatiable virus, absorbing everything it comes in contact with. Left to its own devices, English probably would have eliminated several major languages by now simply through the act of making them obsolete.
...tell the company you worked for! Even if you don't like the company any more, dash off an email to their legal department or something.
Posting to slashdot may make you feel better, but let's not kid ourselves: the forces deciding these things are not reading this or any other web site. (I'd argue that they cannot read at all, except they must have some rudimentary grasp of written language in order to process the patent application in the first place.)
...Really. <g> But at least they'll leave behind a nice building. I drive by it every day on my way to/from work, and I watched as they built it over the last year. If you're near the Westside (West Los Angeles/Santa Monica), and you like the high-tech postmodern architecture look, I'd highly recommend swinging by. It's located on the south side of Olympic Boulevard between Bundy and Centinela. I haven't been inside, so I can't attest for the interior layout, but the exterior is great. If anyone has any information about the building (who designed it, whether it follows sustainability guidelines, etc.), I'd appreciate the info.
Recently, there have been several articles lamenting the passing (or retiring) of some of the "old-school" hackers -- the first generation of computer geeks who helped shape the current environment of programming, hacking, the internet, computers in general. Many comments lament that no one today has the same aura of knowledge or contribution.
Well, I have to agree with Lumpy as to the general cause -- there has been a disturbing lack of teaching from one generation to the next. Those who posses power and knowledge (and let's face it, in programming knowledge is power) seem to be very reluctant to distribute said power/knowledge, for fear of losing their own influence.
The first-generation of hackers, the people now retiring or passing away, seem to me to be genuinely nice, helpful people. Calm, patient, and always willing to offer constructive criticism and advice. (YMMV) They freely passed their knowledge along to the second-generation of hackers, and for a long time those two generations have been collaboratively shaping the computing world.
Now, however, we're seeing the emergence of third- and fourth-generation hackers. Unfortunately, as lumpy points out, they often do not receive the same kind of instruction (if any at all). The second-generation hackers, so pleased at the time to be given knowledge, now resist passing that same knowledge along for fear of being dislodged from their godlike status. What arrogance! -- though I completely understand it. It's hard to let go of power. Yet, to me anyway, the most powerful people in the world are the teachers. And I don't mean exclusively in the traditional, K-12 sense. Anyone who takes on the task of passing along knowledge is a teacher, and holds an extremely powerful position -- of trust, of respect, and for shaping the next generation.
IMHO, most of the problems with todays kiddiez is that they were forced to learn their skills on their own. While I am all for learning via this method, it must be accompanied by guidance. Especially with programming/hacking, where there are as many moral and ethical issues at stake as technical! Today's third- and fourth-generation hackers have simply grown up without the guidance of the older generation. Forced to rely on their own resources, they have developed their own sense of morals, their own ethical code of conduct. It should not be a surprise that these are nearly opposite of the old-school "hacker ethic." Just exactly when and where were these new "wannabes" supposed to pick up this ethic? From the people telling them to RTFM?
Ah, but in the world of superheroes and supervillians, the bad guy always seems to go out of his way to make his (the villian's) life more difficult.
For example: Just when the villian has the hero in the grips of "certain death" (with only one possible means of escape), the hero asks the villian what the villian's evil plans are. The villian, realizing that there is "no way to escape now" (except for the aforementioned single method), relents and reveals everything. Then, before the hero actually dies, the villian leaves to go do his evil things. The hero naturally exploits the sole method of escape, and goes on to spoil the villians evil plans.
So no, villians do seek out heros. They seem to take pleasure in terrorizing innocents, but the ultimate goal for a villian is to show off in front of a hero.
(For all of you aspiring evil-doers out there, the Evil Overlord List is required reading.)
About halfway down the release, set apart in its very own paragraph:
The only thing that happens when your subscription expires is the ability to create new documents.
Frankly, if the price is low enough, this makes a great deal of sense. If you consider MS Office nowadays costs $600 or more, and a new version is released every 3 years, an annual subscription of $150 saves you money in the long run -- assuming you always need/want the latest version of Office. Me, my trusty old copy of Office '95 works just fine on my ancient 486... but I sprung for Office 2k for my real machine.
Trying to get map.net to come up, I stumbled across this directory. (Nice when you don't set up your server to provide a default page...) Anyway, the two pages that I found most interesting are the help pages for 2D Navigation and 3D Navigation. Not really the same as being able to interact with the map, but I think it gives the general impression of what it is all about. I especially like the discussion regarding sizes and colors of buildings (near the bottom of the 3D page) -- fairly intuitive, though I would try to keep the colors more consistent between building types.