Admittedly, Microsoft's attempt to add proper shell scripting is pretty much what you'd expect from Microsoft - overly complex, inconsistent and monolithic, but it is pretty powerful.
I've been saying for a while now that the last few decades have seen the devolution of language. I'm not a linguist, as I'm probably about to demonstrate, but the development of written language went (very) roughly like: pictograms -> consonants -> vowels -> punctuation
Each level adding a bit more subtlety and complexity while reducing ambiguity.
Computer based communication has followed this path backwards almost exactly. Punctuation was the first to suffer, followed by an increase in consonant only abbreviations, and smilies started the trend towards the final step. It looks like we've just hit rock-bottom.
The trouble is, all the previous developments in written communication happened for good reasons, which are generally not explained, taught or understood any more.
Medical journals on female anatomy a few centuries ago would happily use cunt as the official term, whereas, "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn" has almost none of the punch it originally had.
It's just one of those things that has to be learnt, unfortunately.
The association of words with meanings is such a practiced process by most people's minds that it is automatic. Hearing or seeing a word will immediately conjure up the associated mental semantic object, without any choice for the beholder (behearer?).
Normally, that's fine. However, words designated as profanity by consensus tend to be a) associated with substances or actions that are generally "personal" - masturbation, copulation et al are/generally/ not performed in public, and doing so often generates a similar reaction to the profanity, b) carry connotations of the worst aspects of the aforementioned topics. Sam and Bob make love suggests an activity that is mutually enjoyed and respectful. Sam fucks Bob imagines a somewhat more one-sided arrangement, with possible violent overtones (depending on the reader).
In other words, profanity as a class will induce an automatic mental imagining of the more unpleasant aspects of activities not usually encountered in a social situation. The visual or aural equivalent of an unpleasant smell being shoved under your nose.
Admittedly, the degree of discomfort varies between individuals, much as it does with smells, but it's still impolite to be so inconsiderate of others' potential feelings.
[quote]Unfortunately Facebook's power is in that everyone uses it, and that is what they use to get new users too. Alternative projects are a humble goal, but especially with social networks you are quite much locked in to a single existing network just because everyone else you know uses it, and they in turn use it because you use it too.[/quote]
Doesn't Facebook have an API? I'm fairly sure you could get a massive head start by allowing you to import contacts from, and cross-communicate with, Facebook via their own API.
The only reason I use facebook is because my friends use facebook. If I could keep the access without ever actually having to use fb itself, I'd be there like a shot.
It seems reasonable to assume that most if not all of those IP addresses represent infected machines. Were there some way to get them shut down, imagine how much cleaner the Internet would be. However, there IS no way to do so: the ISPs hosting those machines don't provide any meaningful or automated way to report them, there is no way to contact the owner of those machines, so they just keep on spewing and infecting the rest of the system.
Nor will ISPs ever provide an automated way of reporting such machines as things stand now: a reporting mechanism is an internalized cost, and there is no reason for an ISP to internalize that cost when they can externalize it to the rest of the Internet.
On the contrary. Claim to be a representative of the movie or recording industry, and claim list those addresses as infringing your copyright. Tada. Instant automated disconnect (well, after the third time at least..):P
That's okay, in another decade "The Year of Linux on the Router" will be just around the corner:P
In all seriousness, however, while there's nothing that can be done about the user making bad decisions, the OS can do a fair bit to mitigate the effect of those decisions.
Not running as a privileged user, having space, cpu and network caps in place, etc. are a start.
There always will be a trade-off between letting the user do something easily and not letting a program do something too easily. With decent UI design, education and OS support, however, that ratio can be improved.
I used the same system for several years after losing my keys at a cinema. I could drive, open doors, etc. without the keys ever being physically seperated from my person.
I'm still absent-minded enough to have locked myself out of home a few times (forgetting to move keys when switching trousers, not forgetting trousers), but that's a much easier problem than being seperated from keys in the big wide world.
You've just recommended everything I was going to:P
"The Dark is Rising" series is excellent fantasy for younger readers, and while I've not read as many of Alex Garner's stuff, what I did read I enjoyed.
I credit John Wyndham with getting me hooked on sci-fi. I've loved every book of his I've ever got my hands on.
Earthsea is also a good choice because of the style used - it feels very gentle and friendly.
I wouldn't recommend Neuromancer - I found it depressing and bleak, and the actions of the protaganist are not the sort of behaviour I'd want recommended to any child of mine.
To add something original, can I recommend "The Spiral Series" by Michael Scott Rohan? Followed, naturally, by his "Winter of the World" series (the original trilogy at least). Possibly a little darker and mature than the other recommendations, but anybody whose age is in double-digits should be able to cope with the content with no problem.
No, its the inverse of naivity. Faith has been abused by religion for so long, it now has these unfortunate definitions, but the Bible itself defines faith as "...the/assured/ expectation of things hoped for, the/evident demonstration/ of realities, though not beheld." (Heb 11:1).
Faith is based on assurance, evidence and demonstration. It is very akin to trust - you don't trust someone for no reason (hopefully) - you trust them because they have proved over time that there is reason to trust that person.
If someone has no reason for their "faith", that is no faith. That's just gullible.
My mother tends to handle all the paperwork relating to any activities of my parents. As such, she long ago learnt to produce flawless copies of my father's signiture for any forms.
Once, in a bank, attempting to make a transaction on their joint account, the teller informed her it needed both their signatures, rather than just hers. She took it back, signed my father's name on the counter right in front of the teller and handed it back. The teller looked at her, wisely decided not to argue, and accepted the form.
I'm trying really hard to figure out if that was meant to be an intentional parody, or actually intended seriously, and I can't decide which it is.
I think I'm going to give the benefit of the doubt for now, so congratulations on a perfectly pitched piece of parody...
I'm happy to consider the electric universe theory for some behaviours - I don't see a contradiction in admitting some of it makes more sense for a few observed items, but likewise gravity seems a better fit for others.
Any side that degenerates into name-calling and concentrates on the failings of their opponents instead of the benfits of their theory becomes questionable, however.
It seems obvious that the brain operates on various levels of detail - right down to, as has been mentioned, almost immediate local decisions by nerves or spinal cord.
Our "conciousness" is simply the filtered, sanitised highlight reel of everything that our body is doing and sensing. Of course it will lag behind the actual decision. It's like any leader. Most of the work is done by the administration section, but the leader gets to vet and occasionally over-rule big decisions.
It seems more amazing to me that anyone thought something as complicated as the body could be run any other way...
Both my wife and I talk in our sleep - quite coherently, in fact. On a number of occasions I have persuaded my wife's subconcious to give me a running commentary of her dreams. I've even been able to ask questions about what's going on, and offer suggestions.
So fascinating as this robot is, it's rather redundant for me.
I have the exact same problem - the moment I realise I'm in a dream, I wake up. I can't seem to stay asleep when I know I'm asleep.
Interestingly, I can wake myself up from nightmares in a similar fashion - if the dream starts becoming to disturbing, my brain seems to just go, "Uhuh, this ain't happening!" and I pull myself out of the dream. It really does feel like being pulled, too - like I was immersed in molasses and I'm pulling myself up and out of them. Without the stickiness of course...(and since we're now on that subject, the downside to this ability appears to be that pleasure has the same effect - I haven't 'finished' a dream for years). Thank goodness for reality...
Seriously - I know that sounds like a joke, and it is a humourous comment on my lifestyle for sure, but it is true. Everything goes black, and I find myself back at an earlier point in the dream, whereupon I do something different to avoid dying.
"If voting could change things, it would be illegal." - anonymous (AFAIK).
Anyone with power will seek to keep it. The more power they have, the more they will want to keep it, and the more easily they'll be able to ensure they can keep it.
This process has been iterating for a long time now. It's somewhat quaint that people think what they do makes the slightest difference to those in power:P
I've read that the end punctuation being inside the quotes is a throw-back to early printing days, where the spacing around the symbols made it look better that way around.
Could be true or not, but it it sounds suitably plausible.
Hence the point of the article - that non-pre-computed ray-tracing will soon be fast enough to do real-time games, therefore it's no longer wishful thinking.
Played to full concerts over here in England before they had a record deal, mainly due to internet shared mp3s.
A journalist covering one of their concerts was apprently very peturbed to find everyone singing along to all the songs before any CDs had ever been made (apart from fans on their home PCs, obviously).
So yes, it is possible, and will likely only get more so.
If we're planetforming for another race I hope they like particulate-filled skies, sewage-flavoured water and barren ground...hey, that must mean all the "save the environment" stuff is making our job harder! Cut it out and start polluting, I want my paycheck when this gig is finished...
Here's the question - if you used breathable liquids instead of air would that reduce the problem, since you'd have a lot less air within your body cavity?
Slashdot Mirror
Powershell might be worth a look.
Admittedly, Microsoft's attempt to add proper shell scripting is pretty much what you'd expect from Microsoft - overly complex, inconsistent and monolithic, but it is pretty powerful.
I've been saying for a while now that the last few decades have seen the devolution of language. I'm not a linguist, as I'm probably about to demonstrate, but the development of written language went (very) roughly like: pictograms -> consonants -> vowels -> punctuation
Each level adding a bit more subtlety and complexity while reducing ambiguity.
Computer based communication has followed this path backwards almost exactly. Punctuation was the first to suffer, followed by an increase in consonant only abbreviations, and smilies started the trend towards the final step. It looks like we've just hit rock-bottom.
The trouble is, all the previous developments in written communication happened for good reasons, which are generally not explained, taught or understood any more.
Reading is fundamental....
Indeed. Reading all the way to the bottom is equally useful:
"Another impact structure in Siberia was created by an asteroid 100 km in size."
What people don't want to hear, basically.
Medical journals on female anatomy a few centuries ago would happily use cunt as the official term, whereas, "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn" has almost none of the punch it originally had.
It's just one of those things that has to be learnt, unfortunately.
The association of words with meanings is such a practiced process by most people's minds that it is automatic. Hearing or seeing a word will immediately conjure up the associated mental semantic object, without any choice for the beholder (behearer?).
Normally, that's fine. However, words designated as profanity by consensus tend to be /generally/ not performed in public, and doing so often generates a similar reaction to the profanity,
a) associated with substances or actions that are generally "personal" - masturbation, copulation et al are
b) carry connotations of the worst aspects of the aforementioned topics. Sam and Bob make love suggests an activity that is mutually enjoyed and respectful. Sam fucks Bob imagines a somewhat more one-sided arrangement, with possible violent overtones (depending on the reader).
In other words, profanity as a class will induce an automatic mental imagining of the more unpleasant aspects of activities not usually encountered in a social situation. The visual or aural equivalent of an unpleasant smell being shoved under your nose.
Admittedly, the degree of discomfort varies between individuals, much as it does with smells, but it's still impolite to be so inconsiderate of others' potential feelings.
[quote]Unfortunately Facebook's power is in that everyone uses it, and that is what they use to get new users too. Alternative projects are a humble goal, but especially with social networks you are quite much locked in to a single existing network just because everyone else you know uses it, and they in turn use it because you use it too.[/quote]
Doesn't Facebook have an API? I'm fairly sure you could get a massive head start by allowing you to import contacts from, and cross-communicate with, Facebook via their own API.
The only reason I use facebook is because my friends use facebook. If I could keep the access without ever actually having to use fb itself, I'd be there like a shot.
It seems reasonable to assume that most if not all of those IP addresses represent infected machines. Were there some way to get them shut down, imagine how much cleaner the Internet would be. However, there IS no way to do so: the ISPs hosting those machines don't provide any meaningful or automated way to report them, there is no way to contact the owner of those machines, so they just keep on spewing and infecting the rest of the system.
Nor will ISPs ever provide an automated way of reporting such machines as things stand now: a reporting mechanism is an internalized cost, and there is no reason for an ISP to internalize that cost when they can externalize it to the rest of the Internet.
On the contrary. Claim to be a representative of the movie or recording industry, and claim list those addresses as infringing your copyright. Tada. Instant automated disconnect (well, after the third time at least..) :P
That's okay, in another decade "The Year of Linux on the Router" will be just around the corner :P
In all seriousness, however, while there's nothing that can be done about the user making bad decisions, the OS can do a fair bit to mitigate the effect of those decisions.
Not running as a privileged user, having space, cpu and network caps in place, etc. are a start.
There always will be a trade-off between letting the user do something easily and not letting a program do something too easily. With decent UI design, education and OS support, however, that ratio can be improved.
I used the same system for several years after losing my keys at a cinema. I could drive, open doors, etc. without the keys ever being physically seperated from my person.
I'm still absent-minded enough to have locked myself out of home a few times (forgetting to move keys when switching trousers, not forgetting trousers), but that's a much easier problem than being seperated from keys in the big wide world.
You've just recommended everything I was going to :P
"The Dark is Rising" series is excellent fantasy for younger readers, and while I've not read as many of Alex Garner's stuff, what I did read I enjoyed.
I credit John Wyndham with getting me hooked on sci-fi. I've loved every book of his I've ever got my hands on.
Earthsea is also a good choice because of the style used - it feels very gentle and friendly.
I wouldn't recommend Neuromancer - I found it depressing and bleak, and the actions of the protaganist are not the sort of behaviour I'd want recommended to any child of mine.
To add something original, can I recommend "The Spiral Series" by Michael Scott Rohan? Followed, naturally, by his "Winter of the World" series (the original trilogy at least). Possibly a little darker and mature than the other recommendations, but anybody whose age is in double-digits should be able to cope with the content with no problem.
"Insistence on evidence is the inverse of faith."
No, its the inverse of naivity. Faith has been abused by religion for so long, it now has these unfortunate definitions, but the Bible itself defines faith as "...the /assured/ expectation of things hoped for, the /evident demonstration/ of realities, though not beheld." (Heb 11:1).
Faith is based on assurance, evidence and demonstration. It is very akin to trust - you don't trust someone for no reason (hopefully) - you trust them because they have proved over time that there is reason to trust that person.
If someone has no reason for their "faith", that is no faith. That's just gullible.
My mother tends to handle all the paperwork relating to any activities of my parents. As such, she long ago learnt to produce flawless copies of my father's signiture for any forms.
Once, in a bank, attempting to make a transaction on their joint account, the teller informed her it needed both their signatures, rather than just hers. She took it back, signed my father's name on the counter right in front of the teller and handed it back. The teller looked at her, wisely decided not to argue, and accepted the form.
I'm trying really hard to figure out if that was meant to be an intentional parody, or actually intended seriously, and I can't decide which it is.
I think I'm going to give the benefit of the doubt for now, so congratulations on a perfectly pitched piece of parody...
I'm happy to consider the electric universe theory for some behaviours - I don't see a contradiction in admitting some of it makes more sense for a few observed items, but likewise gravity seems a better fit for others.
Any side that degenerates into name-calling and concentrates on the failings of their opponents instead of the benfits of their theory becomes questionable, however.
It seems obvious that the brain operates on various levels of detail - right down to, as has been mentioned, almost immediate local decisions by nerves or spinal cord.
Our "conciousness" is simply the filtered, sanitised highlight reel of everything that our body is doing and sensing. Of course it will lag behind the actual decision. It's like any leader. Most of the work is done by the administration section, but the leader gets to vet and occasionally over-rule big decisions.
It seems more amazing to me that anyone thought something as complicated as the body could be run any other way...
Both my wife and I talk in our sleep - quite coherently, in fact. On a number of occasions I have persuaded my wife's subconcious to give me a running commentary of her dreams. I've even been able to ask questions about what's going on, and offer suggestions.
So fascinating as this robot is, it's rather redundant for me.
I have the exact same problem - the moment I realise I'm in a dream, I wake up. I can't seem to stay asleep when I know I'm asleep.
Interestingly, I can wake myself up from nightmares in a similar fashion - if the dream starts becoming to disturbing, my brain seems to just go, "Uhuh, this ain't happening!" and I pull myself out of the dream. It really does feel like being pulled, too - like I was immersed in molasses and I'm pulling myself up and out of them. Without the stickiness of course...(and since we're now on that subject, the downside to this ability appears to be that pleasure has the same effect - I haven't 'finished' a dream for years). Thank goodness for reality...
I die quite often in my dreams.
I just restart the level.
Seriously - I know that sounds like a joke, and it is a humourous comment on my lifestyle for sure, but it is true. Everything goes black, and I find myself back at an earlier point in the dream, whereupon I do something different to avoid dying.
"If voting could change things, it would be illegal." - anonymous (AFAIK).
:P
Anyone with power will seek to keep it. The more power they have, the more they will want to keep it, and the more easily they'll be able to ensure they can keep it.
This process has been iterating for a long time now. It's somewhat quaint that people think what they do makes the slightest difference to those in power
I've read that the end punctuation being inside the quotes is a throw-back to early printing days, where the spacing around the symbols made it look better that way around.
Could be true or not, but it it sounds suitably plausible.
Hence the point of the article - that non-pre-computed ray-tracing will soon be fast enough to do real-time games, therefore it's no longer wishful thinking.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_Monkeys
Played to full concerts over here in England before they had a record deal, mainly due to internet shared mp3s.
A journalist covering one of their concerts was apprently very peturbed to find everyone singing along to all the songs before any CDs had ever been made (apart from fans on their home PCs, obviously).
So yes, it is possible, and will likely only get more so.
Have you never watched a person with failing eyesight try and read the small-print on a menu (or anything else)?
Well, I thought it was a funny comment, anyway.
If we're planetforming for another race I hope they like particulate-filled skies, sewage-flavoured water and barren ground...hey, that must mean all the "save the environment" stuff is making our job harder! Cut it out and start polluting, I want my paycheck when this gig is finished...
Here's the question - if you used breathable liquids instead of air would that reduce the problem, since you'd have a lot less air within your body cavity?
Yup - that moment is about the time when my friend and I got up and walked out.
/that/ bad.
Yes, it's