...in both the interview and the Lobster story, which was enjoyable enough to make me want to find more of his work.
Personally, I don't care if the guy is an asshole or a saint, it's his ideas and the mixing of ideas which is interesting and fun.
Comparing authors is pointless to me in that no two are alike even if they're writing on similar subjects. This Lobster story is still fresh and to say it's just more cyberpunk is both unfair and untrue. It's like saying the punk rock of the early 80's left no room for anything else and all the new punk stuff is therefore just rehashed trash (which is obviously not true.)
"Lobster" was a good, if challenging, read and the author proves interesting in the interview. I'll be looking for more of his work to read and I'm sure -- I do mean positive - that many of the readers of Slashdot would enjoy both the lobster story and the interview.
Is there a troll-fest happening tonight? I must 'ave lost me invite!
It's a reference to the saying, "Bell the cat." It's an old-tech method of keeping Tabby from eating all the birds in the neighboorhod. It's also a way of knowing where your pet is so you can keep track of it. It's the second definition I am playing on with this joke: The black box is a way of belling the teenage driver so you know what they're doing.
That said, I don't want to seem insensitive to teenagers in the context of this black box thingy. Personally, I'd be really pissed if someone thought tracking me like this was a good idea or thought that anything I do is anyone else's business providing I'm not breaking a (valid) law.
I can see this scenario as having happened if this type of tracking had been available when I was a teenager:
Mom: "I noticed that the recorder says there was lopsided weight on the right side of the car last night combined with much movement. Were you having sex with whats-her-name again?" Me: "Mom, it's an MGB two seater sports car -- there just isn't anyplace else in the car to do it!" Mom: "Well, next time take the Buick." Me: "Okay, thanks!"
"How do you suggest we slow down a 2km-wide rock moving at 28km/s to achieve this?"
Remember that IANARS, just a bloody bloke thinking of ways to catch a rock, okay?
Here's some ideas:
1. Solar sails. Either teathered to the rear or attached to the front of the rock.
2. Nukes aren't gonna work. Most of the power of nukes as we know it comes from the blast effect which requires a medium to work (air or water). You'll fragment the rock before you slow it down if you use nukes directly attached to the rock. Now a nuke motor is an entirely different animal. I remember seeing an article awhile back about a motor which used small, controlled nuke explosions to generate thrust; this could work.
3. Assuming steering of the rock could be achieved (that's one big assumption,) then using the atmosphere of Venus could be used to slow down a rock (maybe not this rock, initial reports are that it may be a "gravel" type rock which would possibly shatter when under any significant stress.)
4. Break up the rock into more managable sized pieces and work on them separately, assuming less mass per piece makes them easier to work with. In a gravity-challenged environment (Oy, PC-ism hath long arms) the result could be just more trouble than the initial single rock.
5. Leave the rock to its current orbit, but use it's repeated close passage to attach the required devices/structures to work the rock. This might be the best solution, but could be more expensive than just parking the rock nearby.
Anyway, where's there's a will, there's a way or so the saying goes.
P.S. Anyone know why when I enter "its" it shows on slashdot as "it's?"
"Excellent karma? How am I supposed to know if I'm a more valuable human being than you?"
Funny sig. I've been shooting for the catagory "Fan-fscking-tastic!" but it just won't go up. You ever seen the following? (Old usage for the word "gay" of course.)
From years of study and of contemplation An old man brews a work of clarity, A gay and involuted disseration Discoursing on sweet wisdom playfully.
An eager student bent on storming heights Has delved in archives and in libraries, But adds the touch of genius when he writes A first book full of deepest subtleties.
A boy, with bowl and straw, sits and blows, Filling with breath the bubbles from the bowl. Each praises like a hymn, and each one glows; Into the filmy beads he blows his soul.
Old man, student, boy, all these three Out of the Maya-foam of the universe Create illusions. None is better or worse. But in each of them the Light of Eternity Sees its' reflection, and burns more joyfully.
Herman Hesse
Attributed to Magister Ludi Joseph Knecht
The Glass Bead Game
Hmmm. Okay, if the rock could be controlled (steered) perhaps the upper atmosphere of Venus could be used to slow it down. But, considering the composition of the rock, it'd probably break up under that much stress.
Sure wish Minter would port this gem -- not only was it fun, but absolutely hilarious to watch and the sounds, the sounds!. Llamatron would be a great game to play whilst waiting to get bonked by a 2km rock.
Guess I'll have to do the Atari ST emulation setup again. Anyone know where to get the TOS ROMs file?
A 2km rock isn't going to have much gravity when compared to the moon or Earth. I think the effect of it's gravity wouldn't be much of a factor, but then I'm not a rocket scientist (hey, new acronym, INARS -- oops, Limey trolls gonna love that one!)
Well, it's not _that_ big or going _that_ fast and it's a number of years out yet.
It could be slowed down by putting one of those big solar sails attached to the front of it. May even be able to use the sail to change trajectory. (sp?)
That it's discovered now when it's some many years out means there is some time to do some planning and design work to get all the pieces together to do the "catch" of the rock.
Yes, could prove to be most valuable, especially when you consider the cost of getting materials out of our gravity well into orbit.
Sheesh, just as a platform it could be a wonderful addition to science. Depending on the composition of the rock it could be used as a platform for small manufacturing base or a scientific research base or even a destination for space tourists. Be much cheaper than going to the moon for the "money is no object" crowd.
My guess is that data and materials would be the most useful application for the rock, but again, that depends on its composition.
...and a great example of how to grow the market for a product by making a classic "Win-Win" situation for all players:
Nvidia gets lots of folks playing with their software/hardware all the while generating ever more interest in their products. Users of the product get new software toys for their hardware, making the creation of even more software toys easier.
*Cheer* Nvidia! I have one of the GeForce3 DDR cards and I love it (although giving up the old Voodoo3 was tough to do as it was a great card too.)
Perhaps some day soon other companies will realize the value of this type of marketing move and just do it! (Hey, that's catchy, "Just do it!" Makes me wanna hire third world mommies for pennies on the hour and work them like dogs.)
shill n. One who poses as a satisfied customer or an enthusiastic gambler to dupe bystanders into participating in a swindle.
v. shilled, shilling, shills v. intr. To act as a shill.
v. tr. To act as a shill for (a deceitful enterprise). To lure (a person) into a swindle.
v : act as a shill
The question is, who's he shilling, the clueless gubers in our government or the public in general or the clueless gubers in our corporations or all the above?
As for who he's shilling for, well, that seems rather obvious.
I just read through all the "5" rated posts and it's really impressive: Slashdot folks have asked far more than ten intelligent and interesting questions on the subject.
I feel for the Slashdot editors: It's going to be tough to choose just ten out of this batch.
If human consciousness is in fact little more than a constant state of awareness in a complex context (my definition), do you think a machine can achieve the same level of "consciousness" as humans without a comparably complex context in which to be aware?
Exactly my experience as well. As long as I did the initial install and left it alone it was okay. Start tweaking or upgrading, it becomes more unstable by the click. My first XP install lasted less than 30 days before I had to rebuild it due to being unable to get it to boot past a BSOD after changing out the sound card. Now that I'm thinking about it, my first install of Win95 lasted about 30 days before I had to do the very same thing. After that initial experisnce with Win95 I figured I needed a better OS so went to Powell's in Portland and bought this Sam's book which had a copy of Slackware on CD in the back. Been a happy Slackware user since 1997.
Lucky me, I don't need to use MS product any longer. For all the MS BS about "professional" (hey, it's even part of the name so it must be true) it's really just a toy OS pretending to be something more.
...would be nice too since wxWindows is growing in popularity. Any one have experience using both wxWindows and MFC? Maybe a comparison between wxWindows and QT would be useful and interesting as well..
Perhaps the most useful of all would be a comprehensive somparison of all the various toolkits/libraries.
Sure hope you're right, but history says we're screwed. Remember that the stock market doesn't exist in a vacuum. The last time we saw something on this scale it was followed by a world-wide economic "downturn" that lasted the better part of an entire generation (fifteen or so years.)
It's not just the stock market situation that has me worried, but its place in the context the world's other stock markets and economies. Read up on the stock market crash of '29 and what followed in the general economy and you'll see way too many corelations to be comfortable. As a note, I heard this past Thursday or Friday that the market has already lost more than the '29 crash, but I don't want to give too much credence to that until I can know what is being compared and how; it's very easy to lie with numbers (there's a pun in there somewhere, but I'm not going to fish for it, thank you.)
The optimist in me wants to agree with you, the realist in me says, "Duck and cover!" whilst the pessimist says, "Oh shit...."
Yeah, for suckers and fools. P/Es are still very high, especially for tech stocks; there is no accountability on the corporate side because there are no real penalties on the legal side; there is no credibility on the part of the government with Mr. Bush as president ("I'm gonna run government like it's a business!" and they surely have tried.); Democrats aren't going to change much either because they're all owned by the same corporations as Mr. Bush and company.
Face the facts: We, as a nation, have seen our national governance (and states as well) sold to corporations by our elected leaders and representatives. We've been sold out for a bunch of dollars, which are now tanking too.
Gonna be a sucky next few years. Shit, I don't even feel good about having my money in a bank any more (they too own a shitload of these corporations.)
The big problem with representative democracy has finally become apparent to even the most distracted and deluded (Americans): Your representatives are for sale, highest bidder wins. Been true for the past 200+ years, still true now. Need to bone up on that history, Homer.
Here's a clue: The power in America resides with those who control the law making process _and_ have control of the means to enforce the laws, that is, fine, lock up, or kill.
The phrase should read, "Of the people, by the government, for the big business interests" which seems much more accurate of our historical reality. The really, truely sad thing is this has been true for so long and folks just don't want to acknowledge it.
Another phrase comes to mind which could be more accurately modified: "Those who ignore history are screwed."
Ancient Greece, representative democracy. Rome, representative democracy for most of its existence. Ever wonder why the representative democracy types get so rankled when direct democracy is discussed? Have a clue yet? Ever wonder why those great states died even with the supposed strength of democracy? Here's a hint: The word "corruption."
Wake up, time to get a clue!
Sorry if I sound sarcastic, it's not my intent here.
Slashdot Mirror
...in both the interview and the Lobster story, which was enjoyable enough to make me want to find more of his work.
Personally, I don't care if the guy is an asshole or a saint, it's his ideas and the mixing of ideas which is interesting and fun.
Comparing authors is pointless to me in that no two are alike even if they're writing on similar subjects. This Lobster story is still fresh and to say it's just more cyberpunk is both unfair and untrue. It's like saying the punk rock of the early 80's left no room for anything else and all the new punk stuff is therefore just rehashed trash (which is obviously not true.)
"Lobster" was a good, if challenging, read and the author proves interesting in the interview. I'll be looking for more of his work to read and I'm sure -- I do mean positive - that many of the readers of Slashdot would enjoy both the lobster story and the interview.
Is there a troll-fest happening tonight? I must 'ave lost me invite!
It's a reference to the saying, "Bell the cat." It's an old-tech method of keeping Tabby from eating all the birds in the neighboorhod. It's also a way of knowing where your pet is so you can keep track of it. It's the second definition I am playing on with this joke: The black box is a way of belling the teenage driver so you know what they're doing.
That said, I don't want to seem insensitive to teenagers in the context of this black box thingy. Personally, I'd be really pissed if someone thought tracking me like this was a good idea or thought that anything I do is anyone else's business providing I'm not breaking a (valid) law.
I can see this scenario as having happened if this type of tracking had been available when I was a teenager:
Mom: "I noticed that the recorder says there was lopsided weight on the right side of the car last night combined with much movement. Were you having sex with whats-her-name again?"
Me: "Mom, it's an MGB two seater sports car -- there just isn't anyplace else in the car to do it!"
Mom: "Well, next time take the Buick."
Me: "Okay, thanks!"
*bow* Glad it helped. That's one of the things I love about slashdot -- at least a few good chuckles if not a good belly laugh at least once a day.
Nerds and geeks (some of them anyway) have a well devloped sense of humor.
...you're getting a bell!
Yo Yak! I saw a YakYak site today, thanks to another poster who gave me the URL.
What a stange and wonderful world we live in:
Yaks and gnus and llamas too
Can all come out to play.
But Bills and Steves with evil grieves
Do plot to ruin your way.
So stay sharp and watch out for flying, chomping hamburgers!
"How do you suggest we slow down a 2km-wide rock moving at 28km/s to achieve this?"
Remember that IANARS, just a bloody bloke thinking of ways to catch a rock, okay?
Here's some ideas:
1. Solar sails. Either teathered to the rear or attached to the front of the rock.
2. Nukes aren't gonna work. Most of the power of nukes as we know it comes from the blast effect which requires a medium to work (air or water). You'll fragment the rock before you slow it down if you use nukes directly attached to the rock. Now a nuke motor is an entirely different animal. I remember seeing an article awhile back about a motor which used small, controlled nuke explosions to generate thrust; this could work.
3. Assuming steering of the rock could be achieved (that's one big assumption,) then using the atmosphere of Venus could be used to slow down a rock (maybe not this rock, initial reports are that it may be a "gravel" type rock which would possibly shatter when under any significant stress.)
4. Break up the rock into more managable sized pieces and work on them separately, assuming less mass per piece makes them easier to work with. In a gravity-challenged environment (Oy, PC-ism hath long arms) the result could be just more trouble than the initial single rock.
5. Leave the rock to its current orbit, but use it's repeated close passage to attach the required devices/structures to work the rock. This might be the best solution, but could be more expensive than just parking the rock nearby.
Anyway, where's there's a will, there's a way or so the saying goes.
P.S. Anyone know why when I enter "its" it shows on slashdot as "it's?"
Woo, interesting, thanks! Looks like Jeff is alive and well and, well, wooly as ever.
DLed the TOS ROM file and STonX last night, hoping to get a Llamatron fix today. Love the sound effects of that game. Funny, funny stuff, fur sure.
Thanks again!
"Excellent karma? How am I supposed to know if I'm a more valuable human being than you?"
Funny sig. I've been shooting for the catagory "Fan-fscking-tastic!" but it just won't go up. You ever seen the following? (Old usage for the word "gay" of course.)
From years of study and of contemplation
An old man brews a work of clarity,
A gay and involuted disseration
Discoursing on sweet wisdom playfully.
An eager student bent on storming heights
Has delved in archives and in libraries,
But adds the touch of genius when he writes
A first book full of deepest subtleties.
A boy, with bowl and straw, sits and blows,
Filling with breath the bubbles from the bowl.
Each praises like a hymn, and each one glows;
Into the filmy beads he blows his soul.
Old man, student, boy, all these three
Out of the Maya-foam of the universe
Create illusions. None is better or worse.
But in each of them the Light of Eternity
Sees its' reflection, and burns more joyfully.
Herman Hesse
Attributed to Magister Ludi Joseph Knecht
The Glass Bead Game
Hmmm. Okay, if the rock could be controlled (steered) perhaps the upper atmosphere of Venus could be used to slow it down. But, considering the composition of the rock, it'd probably break up under that much stress.
Oh well, maybe the next rock 'round.
"...run over by a llama..." ...LLLLLLLLLLAMATRON!
Sure wish Minter would port this gem -- not only was it fun, but absolutely hilarious to watch and the sounds, the sounds!. Llamatron would be a great game to play whilst waiting to get bonked by a 2km rock.
Guess I'll have to do the Atari ST emulation setup again. Anyone know where to get the TOS ROMs file?
"6.) Get Linux running on it"
Imagine a Beowolf cluster of _those_!
Sorry, I just couldn't resist.
Funny reply, thanks.
A 2km rock isn't going to have much gravity when compared to the moon or Earth. I think the effect of it's gravity wouldn't be much of a factor, but then I'm not a rocket scientist (hey, new acronym, INARS -- oops, Limey trolls gonna love that one!)
Cheers,
Well, it's not _that_ big or going _that_ fast and it's a number of years out yet.
It could be slowed down by putting one of those big solar sails attached to the front of it. May even be able to use the sail to change trajectory. (sp?)
That it's discovered now when it's some many years out means there is some time to do some planning and design work to get all the pieces together to do the "catch" of the rock.
Yes, could prove to be most valuable, especially when you consider the cost of getting materials out of our gravity well into orbit.
Sheesh, just as a platform it could be a wonderful addition to science. Depending on the composition of the rock it could be used as a platform for small manufacturing base or a scientific research base or even a destination for space tourists. Be much cheaper than going to the moon for the "money is no object" crowd.
My guess is that data and materials would be the most useful application for the rock, but again, that depends on its composition.
1. mine it for data;
...and, well, you get the point. If it's coming close enough, let's turn it in to something useful.
2. use it as a platform for whatever;
3. sell pieces of it to whomever;
4. mine it for whatever minerals it may carry;
5.
Yuppers, that's why I still have (and love) my IBM i1472. It's old, it's slow (366 MHz Celeron) and it's built like a friggin' tank!
Granted, the original hard-drive is long gone (replace with a higher capacity drive) and ditto the original RAM, but otherwise, the original machine.
...and a great example of how to grow the market for a product by making a classic "Win-Win" situation for all players:
Nvidia gets lots of folks playing with their software/hardware all the while generating ever more interest in their products. Users of the product get new software toys for their hardware, making the creation of even more software toys easier.
*Cheer* Nvidia! I have one of the GeForce3 DDR cards and I love it (although giving up the old Voodoo3 was tough to do as it was a great card too.)
Perhaps some day soon other companies will realize the value of this type of marketing move and just do it! (Hey, that's catchy, "Just do it!" Makes me wanna hire third world mommies for pennies on the hour and work them like dogs.)
From Dictionary.com:
shill
n.
One who poses as a satisfied customer or an enthusiastic gambler to dupe bystanders into participating in a swindle.
v. shilled, shilling, shills
v. intr.
To act as a shill.
v. tr.
To act as a shill for (a deceitful enterprise).
To lure (a person) into a swindle.
v : act as a shill
The question is, who's he shilling, the clueless gubers in our government or the public in general or the clueless gubers in our corporations or all the above?
As for who he's shilling for, well, that seems rather obvious.
I just read through all the "5" rated posts and it's really impressive: Slashdot folks have asked far more than ten intelligent and interesting questions on the subject.
I feel for the Slashdot editors: It's going to be tough to choose just ten out of this batch.
Hello Dr. Wallace,
If human consciousness is in fact little more than a constant state of awareness in a complex context (my definition), do you think a machine can achieve the same level of "consciousness" as humans without a comparably complex context in which to be aware?
Thanks for your thoughts.
Exactly my experience as well. As long as I did the initial install and left it alone it was okay. Start tweaking or upgrading, it becomes more unstable by the click. My first XP install lasted less than 30 days before I had to rebuild it due to being unable to get it to boot past a BSOD after changing out the sound card. Now that I'm thinking about it, my first install of Win95 lasted about 30 days before I had to do the very same thing. After that initial experisnce with Win95 I figured I needed a better OS so went to Powell's in Portland and bought this Sam's book which had a copy of Slackware on CD in the back. Been a happy Slackware user since 1997.
Lucky me, I don't need to use MS product any longer. For all the MS BS about "professional" (hey, it's even part of the name so it must be true) it's really just a toy OS pretending to be something more.
Perhaps the most useful of all would be a comprehensive somparison of all the various toolkits/libraries.
Sure hope you're right, but history says we're screwed. Remember that the stock market doesn't exist in a vacuum. The last time we saw something on this scale it was followed by a world-wide economic "downturn" that lasted the better part of an entire generation (fifteen or so years.)
It's not just the stock market situation that has me worried, but its place in the context the world's other stock markets and economies. Read up on the stock market crash of '29 and what followed in the general economy and you'll see way too many corelations to be comfortable. As a note, I heard this past Thursday or Friday that the market has already lost more than the '29 crash, but I don't want to give too much credence to that until I can know what is being compared and how; it's very easy to lie with numbers (there's a pun in there somewhere, but I'm not going to fish for it, thank you.)
The optimist in me wants to agree with you, the realist in me says, "Duck and cover!" whilst the pessimist says, "Oh shit...."
Hope you're right.
Yeah, for suckers and fools. P/Es are still very high, especially for tech stocks; there is no accountability on the corporate side because there are no real penalties on the legal side; there is no credibility on the part of the government with Mr. Bush as president ("I'm gonna run government like it's a business!" and they surely have tried.); Democrats aren't going to change much either because they're all owned by the same corporations as Mr. Bush and company.
Face the facts: We, as a nation, have seen our national governance (and states as well) sold to corporations by our elected leaders and representatives. We've been sold out for a bunch of dollars, which are now tanking too.
Gonna be a sucky next few years. Shit, I don't even feel good about having my money in a bank any more (they too own a shitload of these corporations.)
The big problem with representative democracy has finally become apparent to even the most distracted and deluded (Americans): Your representatives are for sale, highest bidder wins. Been true for the past 200+ years, still true now. Need to bone up on that history, Homer.
Here's a clue: The power in America resides with those who control the law making process _and_ have control of the means to enforce the laws, that is, fine, lock up, or kill.
The phrase should read, "Of the people, by the government, for the big business interests" which seems much more accurate of our historical reality. The really, truely sad thing is this has been true for so long and folks just don't want to acknowledge it.
Another phrase comes to mind which could be more accurately modified: "Those who ignore history are screwed."
Ancient Greece, representative democracy. Rome, representative democracy for most of its existence. Ever wonder why the representative democracy types get so rankled when direct democracy is discussed? Have a clue yet? Ever wonder why those great states died even with the supposed strength of democracy? Here's a hint: The word "corruption."
Wake up, time to get a clue!
Sorry if I sound sarcastic, it's not my intent here.