My company has a copy of the Windows 95, 98, and NT4 installation CD's (and service packs) on a central server. Everybody should do it. It saves you the hassle of tracking down a piece of plastic whenever you install a new keyboard mapping or whatever. --
[...]who really needs to be a cyborg? Sure, I can see perhaps giving sight to the blind, or creating better prosthetics, but is there any real reason we NEED to be wiring hardware to ourselves?
Well, you just gave a real reason right there. Another reason to become a cyborg is that people might just plain want to. There's no need for body piercing, ballet, or Linux kernel hacking, yet people seem to like that stuff. Need is not the only reason to do stuff. --
Your sleepy C compiler example does not impress me. Due to the vagueness of natural languages and the fluency of human though, people consider "Trucks are faster than ships" to be a true statement even though you can find or create counterexamples. I'm sure you wouldn't jump on them for that. Allow them to do the same thing in the realm of computer languages. --
I've been longing for this ever since the last local film festival, where they showed some of Kubrik's films along with some new non-mainstream films. I got the chance to see Full Metal Jacket in a theatre. Even though it was small screen by theatre standards, the experience was so much better than I'd get at home. The difference is espacially great with this film because of the outrageous aspect ratio. Then there's the sound system and the popcorn of course. But above and beyond the regular advantages that movie theatres provide, there was something new: all the people there were Kubrik fans too. Everybody knew what they were getting and were tuned into the experience. There were no irreverent teenagers talking too loudly and flinging popcorn at their buddies five rows down. The mood was good. I'd love to be able to get this kind of thing going on a regular basis.
Movie theatres could do much better than just taking votes on what to show and when. If they play their cards right, they can build communities where fans of different kinds of films will talk about the films they like and spark each other's interest in more films they haven't seen yet. They can create a new market. --
Well, I've heard a story about a guy approaced by an undercover officer at a party and asked if he had some ${ILLEGAL_DRUG} to sell. He said "no, but that guy has some, I think". He was then charged as an accessory when the guy he led the officer to sold him some. I also heard that this story is a well known urban legend and anyone who believes it should try to lower their gullability index. I don't know if it happened or if it could happen. Does anyone else?
The biggest problem I see with making people responsible for the things they link to is that it places a big burden on linkers. In order to be sure they're not doing anything illegal, they have to set up a system where, whenever the linked-to content changes, the link is disabled until the linker can verify that the change didn't make the content illegal. Tools could be created to make this less painful, but it's still a pain. Or you could just take your chances, but then we'd have the occasional Slashdot story about an innocent web author thrown in jail when the site he linked to started serving up kiddie porn or something. --
Hehe! I went searching for the interview I was talking about and I couldn't find it. Perhaps it *was* the Bill Gates interview I was thinking of!:-P --
I'm not a regular Salon reader, but I've read a few articles linked to from Slashdot. They all have the same structure. The journalist notices a common element among geeks and gives examples. Then they notice that the opposite element is also present and give examples. Now, I'm all for balanced reporting, but I gotta ask: If some members of group Y have property X and others don't, where's the story? How does that differentiate group Y from the rest of society? --
He's hard to follow because you're following him through a transcript of a telephone conversation. If you'd either heard the conversation, or read a written response, I'm sure he would have come across a lot better. People ramble a lot in voice conversations; they start sentences, change their minds what they wanted to say and start again; they go off on tangents and fail to return to the departure point to finish the sentence, etc. Even in IRC chats, people are more organised than that because they can backspace and restructure their sentences.
IIRC, A while back there was a telephone interview with someone more "one of us" on Slashdot, someone technical, someone we liked. He sounded just as bad as Lars, but no-one jumped on him for it. --
I don't really believe whatever hardware you suppose was broken just fixed itself one day. The machine hasn't changed, but it's not behaving like that now that most of the bugs are out of the Xtra. --
While a "OS stability test" program can't say for certain that an OS is stable, it can say for certain that it's unstable and it can give some indication of how unstable it is. Write a MacOS version of the Linux "crashme" utility and run it and I think you'll find ample evidence for MacOS's instability.
Crashme allocates some memory, fills it with junk, and jump to it.
Crashme emits this stern notice:
*** WARNING ***
The use of crashme could result in lose of data! crashme is not a joke. It really can crash your system, and result in the irrevocable loss of data, or make your computer explode, or any number of other things.
but it hasn't done those things to my machine on the few occasions when I've run it and I feel safe running it. I don't feel that safe just running Macromedia Director with unstable Xtras on MacOS (although my experience with MacOS has been with 8.5, not 9). For some weeks, an Xtra that we developed was in such a state that I began keeping a log of Director crashes and MacOS crashes to show my boss when he came around asking why development had ground to a halt. I was getting about 40 director crashes and 15 MacOS crashes PER DAY.
I hate MacOS. Not because I'm a UNIX bigot or a PC bigot or because I'm otherwise prejudiced, but because MacOS has earned my contempt my being unstable as hell. --
While this is the morally correct do-the-right-thing, building-a-better-future-for-our-children solution, I think the problem you describe is largely irrelevant to this guy.
Perhaps I'm mistaken, but I don't believe such measures are taken as lightly as sending a simple cease and decist letter to someone's ISP which seems to be a common and effective way of shutting people up.
Another question arises: Regardless of whether strongarm tactics can be employed to take his off-shore site down, can he be prosecuted in the US for hosting it?
I know what I think the answer is, but I'm not a lawyer, so who cares? --
This is better handled in the email client with multiple account structures. You don't have different font size preferences, history lists, etc. in the browser depending on which email account you want to access.
There are some things you might want to keep in different user profiles though. Perhaps you NFS mount your home directory and access a single account form multiple boxes. In that case, you might indeed want different font sizes depending on what monitor you're using. But again, that's unrelated to your email account and shouldn't really reside in a "user profile", but a "machine profile" or "location profile". You are the same user every time. --
I know. I was pointing out that CmdrTaco didn't follow the advice he gives posters on the page where I type this message and on the story submission page (well, there he actually says (Are you sure you included a URL? Didja test them for typos?))
But I imagine he may have done it on purpose to lessen the intensity of the slashdot effect on the potato-powered webserver. --
I doubt anyone can explain to you why you would want to watch DVDs on your computer. I can explain why I watch them on mine.
I have a really nice setup where I can use my computer in bed or from a comfy chair next to it. Add a DVD player and a TV tuner card and I can watch DVDs and TV in bed or from my chair.
I could have bought a TV and a standalone player instead. The cost would have been greater. Last time I checked, standalone DVD players were ridiculously expensive. I would have had to rearrange the furniture in my bedroom to fit the TV at the foot of the bed. The image quality would be lower. The viewing arc would be smaller due to the increased distance (assuming a TV screen size I can afford). I would have had to be careful to pick a TV that doesn't emit that annoying high-frequency whine that no-one but me seems to be bothered by. I would have to pay the Icelandic TV tax. When I wanted to use my headphones with the TV, I'd either have to unplug them from my soundcard and plug them into the TV or DVD unit and then back again when I wanted to use them with the computer or I'd have to run a permanent line from the TV or DVD unit to the line-in connector on the soundcard. That connector is in use at the moment, feeding from the other computer, which sometimes plays mp3's for me while Quake 3 hogs the processor on the main machine. That's sort of OK though, since that machine's line-in connector is free and I could pass the DVD audio signal through that machine. That would force me to keep that machine on while watching TV or DVD, but that's no biggie and I doubt the signal degradation would be noticable. Then there's the region thing. I'm not even sure that multiregion players are available locally.
Let's see. Anything else? Well, I was planning to set up something to capture and compress TV shows on a timer much like a TiVo or ReplayTV. I haven't taken the time to make it happen, but I look forward to tackling that problem when work settles down to a sensible pace (yeah right, like that's going to happen). TiVo's and ReplayTV's aren't available here so cost doesn't even enter into it on that front.
In conclusion, I have many reasons to prefer a computer and a DVD drive to a TV and a DVD player. None of them may be relevant to you or most other people, but they are valid and I'm sure the hordes of people who have bought DVD drives have equally valid reasons for doing so. --
Altavista has something like that. Use Altavista's image search to search on some keyword, then click the "similar" link below one of the returned images. Not all image have a "similar" link. Try another search if you don't get any. "Mountain" gives me a lot of those links on the first page, but "Natalie Portman" doesn't. I guess she's one of a kind.
It looks to me like they're mostly considering the colours used in the images rather than the shapes and you get very fuzzy matches. Still, it is something in the direction of what you were thinking. --
Slashdot Mirror
My company has a copy of the Windows 95, 98, and NT4 installation CD's (and service packs) on a central server. Everybody should do it. It saves you the hassle of tracking down a piece of plastic whenever you install a new keyboard mapping or whatever.
--
Yeah, but they didn't get everything right. The (software) engineers I know generally aren't very firm.
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Well, you just gave a real reason right there. Another reason to become a cyborg is that people might just plain want to. There's no need for body piercing, ballet, or Linux kernel hacking, yet people seem to like that stuff. Need is not the only reason to do stuff.
--
Your sleepy C compiler example does not impress me. Due to the vagueness of natural languages and the fluency of human though, people consider "Trucks are faster than ships" to be a true statement even though you can find or create counterexamples. I'm sure you wouldn't jump on them for that. Allow them to do the same thing in the realm of computer languages.
--
Movie theatres could do much better than just taking votes on what to show and when. If they play their cards right, they can build communities where fans of different kinds of films will talk about the films they like and spark each other's interest in more films they haven't seen yet. They can create a new market.
--
The biggest problem I see with making people responsible for the things they link to is that it places a big burden on linkers. In order to be sure they're not doing anything illegal, they have to set up a system where, whenever the linked-to content changes, the link is disabled until the linker can verify that the change didn't make the content illegal. Tools could be created to make this less painful, but it's still a pain. Or you could just take your chances, but then we'd have the occasional Slashdot story about an innocent web author thrown in jail when the site he linked to started serving up kiddie porn or something.
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What's the latency like?
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What ever became of GGI? I haven't heard a peep about it or Berlin in ages.
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Your sig: quote or original? context? What happened next? :-)
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Exceeding the local c in a medium is nothing new or newsworthy. This is different. Read the article.
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Hammers suck, screwdrivers ruuule !!!
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As far as I can tell, this falls under clause B on this page but it's a fuzzy rule so I'm not sure.
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Hehe! I went searching for the interview I was talking about and I couldn't find it. Perhaps it *was* the Bill Gates interview I was thinking of! :-P
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I'm not a regular Salon reader, but I've read a few articles linked to from Slashdot. They all have the same structure. The journalist notices a common element among geeks and gives examples. Then they notice that the opposite element is also present and give examples. Now, I'm all for balanced reporting, but I gotta ask: If some members of group Y have property X and others don't, where's the story? How does that differentiate group Y from the rest of society?
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ROFL!
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IIRC, A while back there was a telephone interview with someone more "one of us" on Slashdot, someone technical, someone we liked. He sounded just as bad as Lars, but no-one jumped on him for it.
--
I don't really believe whatever hardware you suppose was broken just fixed itself one day. The machine hasn't changed, but it's not behaving like that now that most of the bugs are out of the Xtra.
--
Crashme allocates some memory, fills it with junk, and jump to it.
Crashme emits this stern notice:
but it hasn't done those things to my machine on the few occasions when I've run it and I feel safe running it. I don't feel that safe just running Macromedia Director with unstable Xtras on MacOS (although my experience with MacOS has been with 8.5, not 9). For some weeks, an Xtra that we developed was in such a state that I began keeping a log of Director crashes and MacOS crashes to show my boss when he came around asking why development had ground to a halt. I was getting about 40 director crashes and 15 MacOS crashes PER DAY.I hate MacOS. Not because I'm a UNIX bigot or a PC bigot or because I'm otherwise prejudiced, but because MacOS has earned my contempt my being unstable as hell.
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From WordNet (r) 1.6 [wn]:
liable: subject to legal action; "liable to criminal charges"
libel: a tort consisting of false and malicious publication printed for the purpose of defaming a living person
(This is intended to inform, not complain or ridicule)
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Perhaps I'm mistaken, but I don't believe such measures are taken as lightly as sending a simple cease and decist letter to someone's ISP which seems to be a common and effective way of shutting people up.
Another question arises: Regardless of whether strongarm tactics can be employed to take his off-shore site down, can he be prosecuted in the US for hosting it?
I know what I think the answer is, but I'm not a lawyer, so who cares?
--
There are some things you might want to keep in different user profiles though. Perhaps you NFS mount your home directory and access a single account form multiple boxes. In that case, you might indeed want different font sizes depending on what monitor you're using. But again, that's unrelated to your email account and shouldn't really reside in a "user profile", but a "machine profile" or "location profile". You are the same user every time.
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But I imagine he may have done it on purpose to lessen the intensity of the slashdot effect on the potato-powered webserver.
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(Use the Preview Button! Check those URLs! Don't forget the http://!)
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I have a really nice setup where I can use my computer in bed or from a comfy chair next to it. Add a DVD player and a TV tuner card and I can watch DVDs and TV in bed or from my chair.
I could have bought a TV and a standalone player instead. The cost would have been greater. Last time I checked, standalone DVD players were ridiculously expensive. I would have had to rearrange the furniture in my bedroom to fit the TV at the foot of the bed. The image quality would be lower. The viewing arc would be smaller due to the increased distance (assuming a TV screen size I can afford). I would have had to be careful to pick a TV that doesn't emit that annoying high-frequency whine that no-one but me seems to be bothered by. I would have to pay the Icelandic TV tax. When I wanted to use my headphones with the TV, I'd either have to unplug them from my soundcard and plug them into the TV or DVD unit and then back again when I wanted to use them with the computer or I'd have to run a permanent line from the TV or DVD unit to the line-in connector on the soundcard. That connector is in use at the moment, feeding from the other computer, which sometimes plays mp3's for me while Quake 3 hogs the processor on the main machine. That's sort of OK though, since that machine's line-in connector is free and I could pass the DVD audio signal through that machine. That would force me to keep that machine on while watching TV or DVD, but that's no biggie and I doubt the signal degradation would be noticable. Then there's the region thing. I'm not even sure that multiregion players are available locally.
Let's see. Anything else? Well, I was planning to set up something to capture and compress TV shows on a timer much like a TiVo or ReplayTV. I haven't taken the time to make it happen, but I look forward to tackling that problem when work settles down to a sensible pace (yeah right, like that's going to happen). TiVo's and ReplayTV's aren't available here so cost doesn't even enter into it on that front.
In conclusion, I have many reasons to prefer a computer and a DVD drive to a TV and a DVD player. None of them may be relevant to you or most other people, but they are valid and I'm sure the hordes of people who have bought DVD drives have equally valid reasons for doing so.
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It looks to me like they're mostly considering the colours used in the images rather than the shapes and you get very fuzzy matches. Still, it is something in the direction of what you were thinking.
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