Industrialized nations share a different trait - our power consumption does not decrease much or at all during the overnight hours.
Yes it does. See for example, the current status (and forecast demand) of the California ISO (California Independent System Operator, which controls the distribution of power and produces warnings about potential rolling blackouts here in California). Notice that the power demand drops significantly after 9PM PST, reaching almost 50% of the day time peak at around 4AM PST.
Which isn't to say that power demand drops to zero over night; we still some source of power, but hydroelectric, wind and wave power all work day and night. And coal and gas-fired plants aren't going to go away over night (no pun intended), but they will go away eventually when the fuel runs out.
You mean an ASCII version of Tux like this? I believe it's done using kernel source for the text. There are numerous RPMs for it found by searching on Google, including this list.
If you're in to alternative Tux logos, look here, referenced by the earlier Slashdot article.
Not sure about the more general "images into Tux" software, though.
Globus has a free link to the article at The Enconomist here.
I guess the $2.95 is to pay for the privilege of using the search box at the Enconomist;-)
The electronic version can be found here. However, it requires a subscription or $2.95 to read the article. I have the latter, but no desire to part with it for this:-)
Babbage: I think there are so few responses because this article isn't visible on the front page. It takes a search or clicking on "older stuff" to find it. At least that's how I did.
I think using spare CPU cycles for such projects is great, as long as:
the results from the public's participation are made public, not kept for private gain as was reported with some drug and genome distributed research projects. If they want to make money from it, then they should pay for the CPU time, and state what they're doing up front
computers aren't left on simply to run such programs
When the power crisis hit here in California, SETI@Home specifically requested that SETI users turn off their computers during stage 2 and 3 power alerts, and has since added a page on "running green", which also suggests that you turn off your monitor when not in use, and requests that you not keep your computer on just to run SETI@Home. And it has some handy links to sources about conserving energy, too.
The script even begins populating the discussion with lengthy posts from the same account both extolling the virtues of and deriding Microsoft
Don't forget the automated OpenSpel spell checker and myDegrammarizer (patent pending) to make sure a good number of the posts have misspellings and poor grammar.
I find that putting the same amount of good quality coffee (e.g., beans from my local organic coffee shop, or from Peet's and filtered water makes for a good pot of coffee every time. Put garbage in, and you'll get garbage out.
If you're worried about the coffee getting stale, put it in a thermos to keep it hot so it doesn't get that skanky burned taste that leaving it on the hot pot can give. It uses less electricty that way, and you can take it with you to your computer^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H breakfast table with you, too.
My sister in Germany has a coffee pot where the carafe is a thermos, and it shuts off the heating element as soon as the coffee is brewed.
i think they were referring the durability with respect to space materials. i dont believe they were suggesting you use the vibrational aspects of the concrete. i suppose it is possible to match the resonance with the solar winds.
From the article: "Imagine you have a large structure in space -- like a satellite -- made of this material," said Vaughan. "You could construct it to operate at its natural frequency and use the energy this produces for propulsion."
Sounds like he means straight-forward mechanics, but I don't see how. The canoe works because there's water to push against. Maybe I should have taken more physics...
Anybody know what's up with this?
When I worked at Geoworks, we did code reviews. Not all the time or for every project, but they were done regularly for:
engineering co-ops
newer programmers
changes to core code
bug fixes done near deadlines
This last one kept more than one serious bug from going out the door. When the pressure is on, there's a temptation to make "just a little fix" that frequently would introduce a new problem. When a freeze date was close, the build manager for a project would review any changes before allowing them to be installed.
Code reviews were also very helpful for engineering co-ops and other newer programmers. As much coding as you've done in school or on your own, you were probably the only one besides the grader that's ever seen it, and graders usually weren't looking for good code, but for code that worked the way the professor wanted it to (I had one exception to that; the prof for my OS course required following a coding convention.) A code review for newer programmers helps more experienced programmers impart their wisdom about coding conventions (every large project should have one), choice of data structures and algorithms, and documentation & comments (every large project should have some:-)
In part, this is how open source works. One person writes some code, and other people look at it and find bugs in it, better ways to do what it does, ways to change it to make future expansion easier, etc. For a larger open source project like, say, Linux, many more people look at the code and it gets better and better as a result.
Hell, no matter how you look at it, people like you would be happy only when there is NO paper being used, no books printed , no electricity used and frankly, no advancement since ANYTHING modern is to some degree environmentally unfriendly ( it uses power in one way or another.)
Interesting extrapolation about what would make me happy, but incorrect. Electricty isn't the problem, it's burning coal to do it that is. Paper is fine, as long as it's not wasted. I'm not against technology, I'm against waste and damaging the environment for short-term gain.
technology usely helps out nature.
Usually, but not always. Burning coal for anything, DDT, automobiles, countless weapons of war are all most decidely not good for the environment. Some of them have their uses (you can bet I want a fast ambulance to get me to the hospital if I'm deathly ill), but not all.
If it werent for technology we would be beating our clothes on rocks in rivers to clean them. And we would be shitting and pissing in those same rivers.
Whether or not you realize and admit it, driving pollution-spewing cars, creating and discarding toxin-filled computers, and many other things we do every day is doing exactly that.
And as computer use is more accepted we can use less paper HELL IM SICK OF these damn FAXEs get a freaking computer
I wish this was true. However, studies have found that paper isn't going away. People get an email...and then print it. They get a fax (you really ought to use your computer to receive them, then you don't have to use any paper)...and then print it. They use MS Word to create a memo...and then print it for distribution. Computers aren't making for a paperless office, but trading some uses of paper for new ones.
Yes, a 1997 Honda Accord pollutes more than a 2001 Ford Excursion. The Accord first met LEV requirements in 1998, and the 2001 Exursion is LEV certified. The Excursion may use twice the gas, but it has lower emissions per mile than does the Accord. The Exursion will more quickly deplete us of our fossil fuel supply, but the greenies want that.
Correct only if you look solely at hyrdocarbon emissions, and at the smaller, lighter Explorer. I can't find emissions data for the Excursion, but being generous and using the 2WD Explorer (also LEV certified in 2001), it still doesn't add up if you look at all emissions:
values are driving 12,500 miles per year
year/make/model
MPG Fuel Fuel $ CO2 CO N oxides Hydrocarbons
2001 EXPLORER 2WD 17.1 mpg 733 gal $1172 14655 lb 223.1 lb 25.0 lb 6.6 lb
1997 ACCORD 25.0 mpg 500 gal $800 10000 lb 193.0 lb 24.1 lb 9.0 lb
2001 EXPEDITION 4WD 14.7 mpg 851 gal $1361 17015 lb 223.1 lb 25.0 lb 6.6 lb
2001 ACCORD 26.1 mpg 479 gal $766 9581 lb 175.7 lb 18.0 lb 4.7 lb
2001 Toyota Prius 48.6 mpg 257 gal $412 5144 lb 103.3 lb 1.8 lb 1.2 lb
2001 Ford Focus 28.7 mpg 436 gal $698 8725 lb 193.0 lb 18.0 lb 5.7 lb
source: EDF's 'tailpipe tally'
Sorry about the lack of coulmns; that's the only way I could get/. to accept it, as it doesn't take <pre> tags, and it doesn't take American Express®.
Now imagine you'd gotten a 2001 Accord instead of the 2001 Excursion or Explorer. Or a Beetle. Or (heavens!) a Toyota Prius!
But for fun, let's assume your original statement was 100% correct. Do you think that the extra metal, plastic, rubber, etc. that go into an Excursion beyond what goes into the Accord is free? That there's no environmental impact of that? That tires from a heavy vehicle somehow wear more slowly and contribute less to water pollution than a smaller vehicle? Or that the refining, distribution and sales of more gasoline are without cost or environmental impact?
Somebody should invent a "actual cost-o-meter"® that shows what our actions and choices actually cost, both in terms of real money and impact on the environment. Of course, then I'd log off Slashdot, power down my computer, and (gasp!) go outside. Which I'll be doing shortly to take the clothes off the line...
Are these sorts of actions justifiable?
Um...no. Based on the majority of posts I see here on Slashdot, I'm more liberal than most/. readers and more inclined to side with nature vs. technology. But vandalism, especially that releases gobs of toxins into the air, or might release untested GMOs into the environment is not helping the cause. One of the big concerns about GMOs is that they aren't fully tested. So how is ripping a bunch of GMO peas that are being tested supposed to help either side of the discussion?
As the article said: "I loathe S.U.V.'s; I have deep concerns about genetic engineering," said Chip Giller, editor of www.gristmagazine.com, the online journal of the Earth Day Network, based in Seattle. "I understand the anger."
"But these attacks aren't constructive," Mr. Giller said. "They're not winning any converts to the cause. They're not environmentalism. They're vandalism."
Working with my 75-year-old father-in-law and other seniors, I've found that keeping things goal-oriented to start helps. While broader knowledge gives them more power later, it helps if there are some tasks they want to do that you can show them, e.g., get a stock quote, email a grandchild, read the news on CNN or bookmark the AARP web site. Some of them (and you can encourage this) may even want to write down each and every step for a refresher when they're doing it on their own.
Another thing is to realize physical limitations. Seniors generally don't see as well, so show them how to set the UI font larger (and have them write down the steps) and/or use a screen magnifier utility. Related to this is how large menu items appear, and how easy it is for them to position the mouse over them.
Mouse skills can be tricky to learn, too. Both holding and moving a mouse as you mentioned, but I've found double-clicking is especially difficult for some people (including non-seniors) to learn. Consider setting the double-click speed to something slower.
In the list of tasks to show them, don't forget to include (and write them down!:-):
turning the machine on and starting applications
connecting to the Internet
bookmarking a site they like
exiting applications and turning the machine off
About the only background information I'd be sure to give them (besides anything they ask about, of course) is what the web is:
a bunch of computers connected together
sometimes the connections are broken or slow
some of the information is from 'normal' sources like CNN, and some of it is just random peoples' opinions about random things (e.g., Slashdot:-)
like any place, it has 'nice' neighborhoods and ones that aren't so nice, and one can be only a single click away from the other
Your fresman year should be devoted to assembly language, basic data structures and low level hardware concepts.
In general I agree, but there should also be some higher level language to start with, to start applying the things you've learned in something besides assembly, as well as some basic algorithms to go along with the data structures. Not to mention to be more fun:-)
Python would be a good choice as it is geared towards teaching. Java and C/C++ might as well, though there are pros and cons to each. C has the advantage that the correlation between C and assembly is reasonably close and therefore understandable (unless you have optimizations turned on:-).
My own programming education was a lot less structured initally, and went something like:
self-taught BASIC programming on TRS-80, Commodore PET, and Apple ][+
self-taught 6502 assembly on Apple ][+
some Pascal at a computer camp (yeah, a geek at an early age)
the teacher's course for AP Computer Science (including Karel the robot, and more Pascal)
BASIC programming course in high school on TI-99/4 computers. I already knew more than the instructor, so I helped teach the course and learned more assembly language instead.
full time work for 13 years or so, including self-taught C++ and lots of other things...
I guess my points are that (a) there isn't a single "right" answer (b) some OOP is OK, but needs to be balanced with some understanding of the underlying systems (i.e., I agree with you), and (c) that all needs to be balanced with some fun!
P.S. I guess some things never die...there's a version of Karel written in Java and another over at SourceForge written in C using GTK.
I agree completely.
My experience volunteering at Raphael House, a family homeless shelter in San Francisco's Tenderloin district backs this up.
"inner city" doesn't mean minority, black or white, it means chances are they don't have a lot of things may of us probably take for granted, like a computer at home, enough to eat every day, a chance to see a forest instead of scrawny trees growing up through holes in the sidewalk.
I saw nothing racist about the original post. Saying "inner city" doesn't imply race or racism, it implies socio-economic background. The author has a legimate question; this thread should get back to answering it.
Sure it is, or can be. In this case it sounds like it's not the AmigaOS, but an Amiga API layer.
An OS provides applications access to system resources including I/O, memory, and display. Whether it's doing it directly or piggybacking on Linux, DOS or whatever, it's still an OS. That just means it's learned how to share:-)
In any case, the bulk of the web does work, and good pages get recognition. I've always eventually been able to find what I'm looking for on the web, no matter what the topic.
I agree that the bulk of the web does work. But one question: how do you know that all the good pages get recognition? There may be a brilliant page on some topic you want, but it's amongst the estimated 99% of the web that Google, Altavista, etc. don't index, so you'll probably never see it. The odds suggest there's a lot of good pages (and thankfully, a huge number of bad pages) that they're missing.
...and all your redundant "yeah, but does it run Linux?" posts belong to us:-)
Seriously, it looks cool, but it's not a new idea: the Compaq Concerto, the recent Fujitsu machine someone pointed out, and (stretching waaaaay back), the GRiD computer.
The last of these was where the creators of the Palm (Jeff Hawkins, et al) started out. It was a pen-based, tablet-sized, x86 processor machine that could run DOS, GEOS, and (if prodded with a sufficiently large hammer) Windows (2.X IIRC). Unfortunately it was heavy, had a very reflective screen, and a slow processor to give it a decent battery life.
Where this makes to look some advances are in weight, battery life (thank you, Crusoe) and overall usability given a fairly zippy processor.
Gotta like the simple solutions:-)
I'm proud to say my VCR never blinks 12:00 -- that's because it displays a steady --:-- when it doesn't know the time:-)
Re:This is no different than an interstate
on
Fiddler on the RUF
·
· Score: 1
God help you if there's an emergency and you need to pull over. Oops, gotta wait for the next junction, then slow down to 18 MPH to exit. Too late, baby has choked on his own vomit and died.
If there's an emergency, you can deal with it without slowing down -- you're not driving the RUF while it's on the rail. It would be a whole lot easier to deal with a choking baby (or a driver that has a heart attack, as happened near here recently) in a RUF than in a car doing 70MPH in the fast lane of a crowded freeway.
Any mass transit system that is intended to replace the Interstate highway system is going to have to use that highway system.
This system isn't just for the U.S. -- it's starting in Denmark where the inventor lives
The interstate system hasn't always existed, either. It took quite a while to build (after Eisenhower saw the German Autobahn during WWII, no?), not to mention money, land usage issues, etc.
Perhaps most significantly, this isn't intended to replace the entire interstate system. It's meant for sprawling urban areas, where interstates have already proven they're not up to the task at hand.
Railways are already availible, yet most people choose to travel in their automobiles. Why? Because they value their autonomy.
Railways aren't universally available, but I do agree that people (especially in the U.S. it would seem) value their autonomy -- just look at all the mega-SUVs with a single passenger.
The San Francisco Bay Area has BART, Muni trams in San Francisco, CalTrain along the peninsula, light rail in Santa Clara County, and ACE from eastern Alameda County.
Why doesn't everyone take one of these?
people don't live near a stop
since they don't, they need to drive to the nearest stop (or take a bus, which is a whole different story), and parking is frequently filled up by the time they get there, so they drive anyway
few of the systems connect
of the systems that do connect, almost none of them are synchronized
many of the systems run irregularly, and very few of them run all night
The RUF system deals with all these things -- personal transport to the nearest junction, a system that runs all the time, and goes when you want to go. This system would get a huge number of people off freeways around here.
Once you strap your vehicle to a rail, you lose control. If you feel like stopping, too bad, you're stuck until you get to the destination.
No, you're stuck until you get to the next junction -- very much like on the freeway or autobahn, where you're stuck until you get to the next exit.
You specify the destination before you start your trip, but there's nothing saying you can't override your choice enroute (say, if you get an email on your Internet connection saying your meeting has been moved/cancelled/rescheduled).
Remember, this is a system for people in an urban area, not for people wanting to drive along the California coast. I want my own car when I take a driving trip (though you can bet the next car will be a hybrid, electric or other alternative fuel vehicle), but if I had to commute, I'd love a system like this. As it is, I'd use it any time I do have to drive around the SF Bay Area.
Slashdot Mirror
Industrialized nations share a different trait - our power consumption does not decrease much or at all during the overnight hours. Yes it does. See for example, the current status (and forecast demand) of the California ISO (California Independent System Operator, which controls the distribution of power and produces warnings about potential rolling blackouts here in California). Notice that the power demand drops significantly after 9PM PST, reaching almost 50% of the day time peak at around 4AM PST. Which isn't to say that power demand drops to zero over night; we still some source of power, but hydroelectric, wind and wave power all work day and night. And coal and gas-fired plants aren't going to go away over night (no pun intended), but they will go away eventually when the fuel runs out.
That should have been http://odur.let.rug.nl/~kleiweg/postscript/penguin .pdf for the ASCII logo.
You mean an ASCII version of Tux like this? I believe it's done using kernel source for the text. There are numerous RPMs for it found by searching on Google, including this list. If you're in to alternative Tux logos, look here, referenced by the earlier Slashdot article. Not sure about the more general "images into Tux" software, though.
Globus has a free link to the article at The Enconomist here. I guess the $2.95 is to pay for the privilege of using the search box at the Enconomist ;-)
- the results from the public's participation are made public, not kept for private gain as was reported with some drug and genome distributed research projects. If they want to make money from it, then they should pay for the CPU time, and state what they're doing up front
- computers aren't left on simply to run such programs
When the power crisis hit here in California, SETI@Home specifically requested that SETI users turn off their computers during stage 2 and 3 power alerts, and has since added a page on "running green", which also suggests that you turn off your monitor when not in use, and requests that you not keep your computer on just to run SETI@Home. And it has some handy links to sources about conserving energy, too.The script even begins populating the discussion with lengthy posts from the same account both extolling the virtues of and deriding Microsoft Don't forget the automated OpenSpel spell checker and myDegrammarizer (patent pending) to make sure a good number of the posts have misspellings and poor grammar.
I find that putting the same amount of good quality coffee (e.g., beans from my local organic coffee shop, or from Peet's and filtered water makes for a good pot of coffee every time. Put garbage in, and you'll get garbage out. If you're worried about the coffee getting stale, put it in a thermos to keep it hot so it doesn't get that skanky burned taste that leaving it on the hot pot can give. It uses less electricty that way, and you can take it with you to your computer^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H breakfast table with you, too. My sister in Germany has a coffee pot where the carafe is a thermos, and it shuts off the heating element as soon as the coffee is brewed.
i think they were referring the durability with respect to space materials. i dont believe they were suggesting you use the vibrational aspects of the concrete. i suppose it is possible to match the resonance with the solar winds. From the article:
"Imagine you have a large structure in space -- like a satellite -- made of this material," said Vaughan. "You could construct it to operate at its natural frequency and use the energy this produces for propulsion." Sounds like he means straight-forward mechanics, but I don't see how. The canoe works because there's water to push against. Maybe I should have taken more physics... Anybody know what's up with this?
- engineering co-ops
- newer programmers
- changes to core code
- bug fixes done near deadlines
This last one kept more than one serious bug from going out the door. When the pressure is on, there's a temptation to make "just a little fix" that frequently would introduce a new problem. When a freeze date was close, the build manager for a project would review any changes before allowing them to be installed. Code reviews were also very helpful for engineering co-ops and other newer programmers. As much coding as you've done in school or on your own, you were probably the only one besides the grader that's ever seen it, and graders usually weren't looking for good code, but for code that worked the way the professor wanted it to (I had one exception to that; the prof for my OS course required following a coding convention.) A code review for newer programmers helps more experienced programmers impart their wisdom about coding conventions (every large project should have one), choice of data structures and algorithms, and documentation & comments (every large project should have someHell, no matter how you look at it, people like you would be happy only when there is NO paper being used, no books printed , no electricity used and frankly, no advancement since ANYTHING modern is to some degree environmentally unfriendly ( it uses power in one way or another .)
Interesting extrapolation about what would make me happy, but incorrect. Electricty isn't the problem, it's burning coal to do it that is. Paper is fine, as long as it's not wasted. I'm not against technology, I'm against waste and damaging the environment for short-term gain.
technology usely helps out nature.
Usually, but not always. Burning coal for anything, DDT, automobiles, countless weapons of war are all most decidely not good for the environment. Some of them have their uses (you can bet I want a fast ambulance to get me to the hospital if I'm deathly ill), but not all. If it werent for technology we would be beating our clothes on rocks in rivers to clean them. And we would be shitting and pissing in those same rivers.
Whether or not you realize and admit it, driving pollution-spewing cars, creating and discarding toxin-filled computers, and many other things we do every day is doing exactly that. And as computer use is more accepted we can use less paper HELL IM SICK OF these damn FAXEs get a freaking computer
I wish this was true. However, studies have found that paper isn't going away. People get an email...and then print it. They get a fax (you really ought to use your computer to receive them, then you don't have to use any paper)...and then print it. They use MS Word to create a memo...and then print it for distribution. Computers aren't making for a paperless office, but trading some uses of paper for new ones.
Yes, a 1997 Honda Accord pollutes more than a 2001 Ford Excursion. The Accord first met LEV requirements in 1998, and the 2001 Exursion is LEV certified. The Excursion may use twice the gas, but it has lower emissions per mile than does the Accord. The Exursion will more quickly deplete us of our fossil fuel supply, but the greenies want that. Correct only if you look solely at hyrdocarbon emissions, and at the smaller, lighter Explorer. I can't find emissions data for the Excursion, but being generous and using the 2WD Explorer (also LEV certified in 2001), it still doesn't add up if you look at all emissions:
/. to accept it, as it doesn't take <pre> tags, and it doesn't take American Express®.
Now imagine you'd gotten a 2001 Accord instead of the 2001 Excursion or Explorer. Or a Beetle. Or (heavens!) a Toyota Prius!
But for fun, let's assume your original statement was 100% correct. Do you think that the extra metal, plastic, rubber, etc. that go into an Excursion beyond what goes into the Accord is free? That there's no environmental impact of that? That tires from a heavy vehicle somehow wear more slowly and contribute less to water pollution than a smaller vehicle? Or that the refining, distribution and sales of more gasoline are without cost or environmental impact?
Somebody should invent a "actual cost-o-meter"® that shows what our actions and choices actually cost, both in terms of real money and impact on the environment. Of course, then I'd log off Slashdot, power down my computer, and (gasp!) go outside. Which I'll be doing shortly to take the clothes off the line...
values are driving 12,500 miles per year
year/make/model MPG Fuel Fuel $ CO2 CO N oxides Hydrocarbons
2001 EXPLORER 2WD 17.1 mpg 733 gal $1172 14655 lb 223.1 lb 25.0 lb 6.6 lb
1997 ACCORD 25.0 mpg 500 gal $800 10000 lb 193.0 lb 24.1 lb 9.0 lb
2001 EXPEDITION 4WD 14.7 mpg 851 gal $1361 17015 lb 223.1 lb 25.0 lb 6.6 lb
2001 ACCORD 26.1 mpg 479 gal $766 9581 lb 175.7 lb 18.0 lb 4.7 lb
2001 Toyota Prius 48.6 mpg 257 gal $412 5144 lb 103.3 lb 1.8 lb 1.2 lb
2001 Ford Focus 28.7 mpg 436 gal $698 8725 lb 193.0 lb 18.0 lb 5.7 lb
source: EDF's 'tailpipe tally'
Sorry about the lack of coulmns; that's the only way I could get
Are these sorts of actions justifiable? Um...no. Based on the majority of posts I see here on Slashdot, I'm more liberal than most /. readers and more inclined to side with nature vs. technology. But vandalism, especially that releases gobs of toxins into the air, or might release untested GMOs into the environment is not helping the cause. One of the big concerns about GMOs is that they aren't fully tested. So how is ripping a bunch of GMO peas that are being tested supposed to help either side of the discussion?
As the article said:
"I loathe S.U.V.'s; I have deep concerns about genetic engineering," said Chip Giller, editor of www.gristmagazine.com, the online journal of the Earth Day Network, based in Seattle. "I understand the anger." "But these attacks aren't constructive," Mr. Giller said. "They're not winning any converts to the cause. They're not environmentalism. They're vandalism."
- turning the machine on and starting applications
- connecting to the Internet
- bookmarking a site they like
- exiting applications and turning the machine off
About the only background information I'd be sure to give them (besides anything they ask about, of course) is what the web is:Python would be a good choice as it is geared towards teaching. Java and C/C++ might as well, though there are pros and cons to each. C has the advantage that the correlation between C and assembly is reasonably close and therefore understandable (unless you have optimizations turned on :-).
My own programming education was a lot less structured initally, and went something like:an engineering co-op
full time work for 13 years or so, including self-taught C++ and lots of other things... I guess my points are that (a) there isn't a single "right" answer (b) some OOP is OK, but needs to be balanced with some understanding of the underlying systems (i.e., I agree with you), and (c) that all needs to be balanced with some fun!
P.S. I guess some things never die...there's a version of Karel written in Java and another over at SourceForge written in C using GTK.Independant verification of stories before posting ...and independent verification of spelling :-)
I agree completely. My experience volunteering at Raphael House, a family homeless shelter in San Francisco's Tenderloin district backs this up. "inner city" doesn't mean minority, black or white, it means chances are they don't have a lot of things may of us probably take for granted, like a computer at home, enough to eat every day, a chance to see a forest instead of scrawny trees growing up through holes in the sidewalk. I saw nothing racist about the original post. Saying "inner city" doesn't imply race or racism, it implies socio-economic background. The author has a legimate question; this thread should get back to answering it.
Sure it is, or can be. In this case it sounds like it's not the AmigaOS, but an Amiga API layer. An OS provides applications access to system resources including I/O, memory, and display. Whether it's doing it directly or piggybacking on Linux, DOS or whatever, it's still an OS. That just means it's learned how to share :-)
In any case, the bulk of the web does work, and good pages get recognition. I've always eventually been able to find what I'm looking for on the web, no matter what the topic. I agree that the bulk of the web does work. But one question: how do you know that all the good pages get recognition? There may be a brilliant page on some topic you want, but it's amongst the estimated 99% of the web that Google, Altavista, etc. don't index, so you'll probably never see it. The odds suggest there's a lot of good pages (and thankfully, a huge number of bad pages) that they're missing.
...and all your redundant "yeah, but does it run Linux?" posts belong to us :-)
Seriously, it looks cool, but it's not a new idea: the Compaq Concerto, the recent Fujitsu machine someone pointed out, and (stretching waaaaay back), the GRiD computer.
The last of these was where the creators of the Palm (Jeff Hawkins, et al) started out. It was a pen-based, tablet-sized, x86 processor machine that could run DOS, GEOS, and (if prodded with a sufficiently large hammer) Windows (2.X IIRC). Unfortunately it was heavy, had a very reflective screen, and a slow processor to give it a decent battery life.
Where this makes to look some advances are in weight, battery life (thank you, Crusoe) and overall usability given a fairly zippy processor.
Gotta like the simple solutions :-)
I'm proud to say my VCR never blinks 12:00 -- that's because it displays a steady --:-- when it doesn't know the time :-)
This system isn't just for the U.S. -- it's starting in Denmark where the inventor lives
The interstate system hasn't always existed, either. It took quite a while to build (after Eisenhower saw the German Autobahn during WWII, no?), not to mention money, land usage issues, etc.
Perhaps most significantly, this isn't intended to replace the entire interstate system. It's meant for sprawling urban areas, where interstates have already proven they're not up to the task at hand.
people don't live near a stop
since they don't, they need to drive to the nearest stop (or take a bus, which is a whole different story), and parking is frequently filled up by the time they get there, so they drive anyway
few of the systems connect
of the systems that do connect, almost none of them are synchronized
many of the systems run irregularly, and very few of them run all night
The RUF system deals with all these things -- personal transport to the nearest junction, a system that runs all the time, and goes when you want to go. This system would get a huge number of people off freeways around here. Once you strap your vehicle to a rail, you lose control. If you feel like stopping, too bad, you're stuck until you get to the destination. No, you're stuck until you get to the next junction -- very much like on the freeway or autobahn, where you're stuck until you get to the next exit. You specify the destination before you start your trip, but there's nothing saying you can't override your choice enroute (say, if you get an email on your Internet connection saying your meeting has been moved/cancelled/rescheduled). Remember, this is a system for people in an urban area, not for people wanting to drive along the California coast. I want my own car when I take a driving trip (though you can bet the next car will be a hybrid, electric or other alternative fuel vehicle), but if I had to commute, I'd love a system like this. As it is, I'd use it any time I do have to drive around the SF Bay Area.