How about trying to help the so called "technological underclass" (how elitist is that?) and spread the word about Mozilla?
Heck I even try to help out the poor Netscape 7 users by explaing the wonders of a user.js file with the following line:
user_pref("dom.disable_open_during_load", true);
Since AOL-Time Warner in their infinite wisdom decided to take out that as a choice in the preferences for Netscape 7.
I don't want to see pop ups and I use the tech available to rid me of them.
I could care less about removing the negative feedback element. I'll bitch to Orbitz without having to see their damn pop ups. I'll let them know that I never intend to use their services and I will use tech to not see their ads to make sure everyone I know is using said tech as well.
There was an article (maybe an editorial) on space.com that gave a reasonable explanation for the current state of NASA.
Back in the 1970's, at the end of the Apollo program, NASA was looking at what the next mission would. They thought it was a trip to Mars. In order to make that happen they needed a space station. This would allow the construction of the vehicle needed to get to Mars. This is because once you are out the gravity well of Earth getting to other places is much easier.
In order to build the station it made sense to create a reusable vehicle to ferry people and material to build the station on the Mars vehicle.
Now, back in the 1970's when Apollo was winding down NASA's budget only allowed them to do only of these things at a time and it had to be justified on its own merits and not in the context of getting to Mars. So the hidden agenda was really to get to Mars even though they asked for a space shuttle and a space station separately.
Consequently, each was designed, planned, and built for missions it really shouldn't have been. The shuttle could have been made to be more efficient, ie. don't need to be able to house a bunch of astronauts for 14 days instead of just getting them and their payload into orbit.
Of course, all of the re-designs, delays, and shuffling that happened in the 1980's didn't help either. Heck, with a fraction of the Star Wars/SDI/BMDO money they could have had the station up and running in the 1990's.
Musk came to the university I work at and gave a talk about Space X. They definitely have a lot of ambition, vision, and ideas.
However, they might be a tad light in pragmatism. They only have 1 guy writing the avionics/flight code. They expect to only have something like 25 full time employees. They are really riding the edge of what is possible.
They do have a lot of interesting ideas. Outsource as much as possible. Instead of having the tanks manufactured by the normal space vehicle companies they bid it out to companies that make large tanks for other things. That was a big cost savings. They are using LOX and RP1. Much easier to deal with than LOX and LH2. Oddly enogh this is what the Atlas V vehicle is using for propellants as well. All this outsourcing and such means that Space X will be primarily and assembly company. It reminds me a little bit of auto makers. Ford and such do the design work, have suppliers make most of the parts, and then assemble the vehicle themselves. Quality control should be a nightmare of a job.
It was fun to put a multi-millionaire on the spot but it was more fun hearing about someone that is willing to try something bold and daring regarding space.
Like I wrote above, these folks have a very big task ahead of them. They also have a lot of drive, too. Personally, I hope they succeeded. If nothing else it will be a big kick in the butt to NASA and the other launch vehicle companies around the world. 2) Space X assembles everything
But Drexel is still using VPN to secure the connection. WEP has security issues even if the keys are linked to email ids. VPN provides a stronger level of encryption than what WEP can provide.
Still, it looks like Drexel is doing good things network security-wise.
My university is rolling out wireless using vpn to authenticate and secure the connection.
I've heard about some security issues with VPN but nothing like the issues with WEP. Seems like an elegant solution to me. I haven't pushed and prodded it too much but I didn't notice that there is some firewall protection available in the vpn client as well (not mentioned at the link above).
Not a perfect solution but possibly good enough for now.
This made me remember somethin Sonny Bono's wife said about what copyright and Sonny's thoughts on copyright. That they should be forever but to comply with the Constitution he would be satisfied with forever minus a day.
I hope Lessig wins for Eldrid. One small step for Eldrid, one giant smackdown for the Mouse.
Are you at your currently employer because you like the job?
The danger of the counter-offer is "lost loyalty". Your current company may look at you differently. However, I think that most companies no longer care how loyal you are to them as evidenced by the staggering amount of layoffs in the last few years.
I did have a friend accept a counter-offer. He stayed at the job for about 18 months before he left for another job.
The point is that maybe there is something you're aren't happy with at you current company.
I believe I remember reading that Unigraphics had ported to linux (or it might have been their lower end CAD package).
But you're right on about having I-DEAS and other CAD packages on *nix. You can do an amazing amount of automation on the *unix platform that is a pain in the ass on Windows. I'm especially familiar about automating things for I-DEAS after working with for 5 years.
Are you doing this for self-edification(or flagellation might be a better description)?
Why not try going down a less travelled road. To make a computer from scratch is sort of like building a car from scratch.
Why not try to find something relatively new? Maybe a PVR. There are plenty of sites that have instructions but it's still a relatively new tech unlike PC's.
Then again, why should I cast stones/doubt? I'm not coming up with many alternatives.
If you really want a big gun then you want a Ram Accelerator. It will subject a projectile to about 25,000 G's of acceleration.
The beauty of it is its efficiency. The fuel (gas) is stored in the barrel. The projectile is fired to have it travel fast enough to cause its shock wave to ignite the gas in the tube and therefore propel it even more. Basically, it is just ahead of the detonation wave it creates.
The University of Washington has a good bit of info about them.
What makes this a GOOD idea is that identity theft would be much more difficult
So the reward for identity theft is that much higher. Sort of like keeping a lot of credit card numbers in one place.
On the other hand, a retinal scan, as I said above, makes an excellent ID/password, because it is so difficult to duplicate.
They don't have to duplicate it just sub in another retinal scan for yours and now they are for all intents and purposes you. What if they took your retinal scan record and subbed it for Charles Manson or some other nogoodnik? Can you prove whom you are if your retinal scan is linked to a criminal record?
Do yourself a favor and read _Secrets and Lies_. Schneier does a good job of explaining the dangers of biometric identification.
Why wouldn't a thief just grab some scotch tape or whatever device is similar to what forensics labs use to lift prints?
Just notice what finger the purchaser in front of you uses, when you buy your groceries you lift the print, then go home and transfer that to some vinyl/rubber/whatever mold/model, and apply to the apropo thumb.
Then you just shop at times when the store personnel aren't likely to know the person you've stolen the print from, or even another store completely. If it doesn't work (I'm sure that even for the real person this might happen occasionally) just pay with cash and be on your way.
Like others have noted, Schneier wrote about the downsides of biometrics in "Secrets and Lies". I was ok with them as an id device until that book.
Of course, I've just tagged myself as a subversive element in the Echelon database. Let's just hope they don't have a Tempest surveillance system on me as well.:-)
That's how most of our laws are, right now. Ex post facto -- you break them, you do the punishment. The RIAA/MPAA wants to undermine this situation, and prevent people from breaking the law. We already tried this once.
Ex post facto? After the fact. Why didn't you use some other latin phrase: Quid pro quo, you're wrong.
In law, ex post facto is usually talked about in the following situation:
1) You perform act A. 2) A law is passed that makes act A illegal. In fact the law even says that those people that committed act A before the law was made can be arrested. 3) That is an ex post facto law and is unconstitutional in the US.
To have an Ex Post Facto law in the US you better burn the Constitution or amend it.
First off, anyone that uses "oeuvre" in a review of an action film based on a comic deserves a wedgie, wet noogie, and generally laughed at for being such a poser.
I was expecting a lot from Blade II. I wasn't expecting a story, I wasn't expecting great acting, and I definitely wasn't expecting scientific validity/consistency. I was expecting to see lots of fights, special effects, and comic book fun.
I would say that it delivered on all counts. Besides, whom needs to have a scientifically valid action comic flick (not movie, not cinema, it's a flick)? I want just enough story to get from fight to fight. If it isn't a decent story (which Blade did have in the original) then don't let it interfere with the reason I paid to see Wesley Snipes do his action groove thang. Besides, he helped in fight coordination in both films and did well.
Why do I bother reading/. anymore? Sound, technical articles (at least in my opinion) have been rejected and we get this Katz' crap instead?
I thought RE was ok. Good start, decent finish, and a very mediocre middle. I like Mila as an actress but the movie slowed down when she showed up. I don't think it was her, I blame the writer/director (which I think are the same person in this movie).
For it's genre I would give it a 7 out of 10 (no grade inflation in my world, 7's are decent movies, I think The Matrix would be around 9 or so, just to give you a feel for the scale:-)
I agree with another's post that the sudden cut/big noise technique to get a jump out of the audience was over-used. Which of course was in the middle of the flick.
I did like the flashback/memory recall technique though. Nice way to do some quick, visual exposition.
Like I wrote, an enjoyable movie, not a horrible way to waste a few hours.
Showtime has very little pertaining to "News for Nerds. Stuff that matters." Resident Evil on the other hand is a movie adaptation of a video game. Whom decides what movie reviews by Katz are greenlighted?
I say that CmdrTaco and the rest audition other folks for movie reviews. They can at least find someone as adept as Katz at reviewing movies and deciding to review movies that are closer to the/. mob.
While this is a very interesting idea, I don't see how NASA will hope to implement this or the 2nd gen RLV initiatives.
With their budgets not growing, lots of that budget earmarked for things other than direct space and aeronautical research. NASA has had to stop the research into hypersonic vehicles (X-43 project) among other projects.
It is good to see that ideas are being created, it's too bad that they might not be implemented
When I purchased my VAIO SR7K I didn't want to take any chances. I found an aluminum briefcase (Vanguard is the name on it) that is very, very thin and is just large enough to hold my laptop. The briefcase is also padded inside.
I haven't dropped the laptop nor the briefcase so I don't know how rugged it really is. If nothing else it's relatively crush proof since I have stacked 4 or 5 big texts on it.
The briefcase has enough rough for a couple of cd's, pens, the ac adaptor, usb light (the flexible cable kind), my usb-ethernet adapter, and a small usb cable. The case fits inside a backup. The main pocket of the backpack can hold books, close, etc. The case is also handy as a surface to rest the laptop on when I don't have a table or some other surface to rest the laptop.
I've been using this for about a year now. It's handy for weekend flights to my girlfriend's. Enough room in the backpack for my briefcase, clothes, and a couple books.
It's nice that Katz has access to a book before it's been released to the general public.
Just to continue the Katz-basho I would rather anyone else review this book once it is published (4/2002). I would rather have chromatic's (or even CmdrTaco's) view on this then Katz. Besides, I hope that more than eBay is used as foundation for this cybertheorizing. But it's hard to determine the utility of a book from the cover jacket and Katz's so-so review
Slashdot Mirror
How about trying to help the so called "technological underclass" (how elitist is that?) and spread the word about Mozilla?
Heck I even try to help out the poor Netscape 7 users by explaing the wonders of a user.js file with the following line:
user_pref("dom.disable_open_during_load", true);
Since AOL-Time Warner in their infinite wisdom decided to take out that as a choice in the preferences for Netscape 7.
I don't want to see pop ups and I use the tech available to rid me of them.
I could care less about removing the negative feedback element. I'll bitch to Orbitz without having to see their damn pop ups. I'll let them know that I never intend to use their services and I will use tech to not see their ads to make sure everyone I know is using said tech as well.
A long running forum is The HomeBrew Digest. There's only about 14 years worth in the archives.
You may also want to try: nntp://rec.crafts.brewing
It's been awhile since I read that newsgroup but it was also useful for me.
There was an article (maybe an editorial) on space.com that gave a reasonable explanation for the current state of NASA.
Back in the 1970's, at the end of the Apollo program, NASA was looking at what the next mission would. They thought it was a trip to Mars. In order to make that happen they needed a space station. This would allow the construction of the vehicle needed to get to Mars. This is because once you are out the gravity well of Earth getting to other places is much easier.
In order to build the station it made sense to create a reusable vehicle to ferry people and material to build the station on the Mars vehicle.
Now, back in the 1970's when Apollo was winding down NASA's budget only allowed them to do only of these things at a time and it had to be justified on its own merits and not in the context of getting to Mars. So the hidden agenda was really to get to Mars even though they asked for a space shuttle and a space station separately.
Consequently, each was designed, planned, and built for missions it really shouldn't have been. The shuttle could have been made to be more efficient, ie. don't need to be able to house a bunch of astronauts for 14 days instead of just getting them and their payload into orbit.
Of course, all of the re-designs, delays, and shuffling that happened in the 1980's didn't help either. Heck, with a fraction of the Star Wars/SDI/BMDO money they could have had the station up and running in the 1990's.
Musk came to the university I work at and gave a talk about Space X. They definitely have a lot of ambition, vision, and ideas.
However, they might be a tad light in pragmatism. They only have 1 guy writing the avionics/flight code. They expect to only have something like 25 full time employees. They are really riding the edge of what is possible.
They do have a lot of interesting ideas. Outsource as much as possible. Instead of having the tanks manufactured by the normal space vehicle companies they bid it out to companies that make large tanks for other things. That was a big cost savings. They are using LOX and RP1. Much easier to deal with than LOX and LH2. Oddly enogh this is what the Atlas V vehicle is using for propellants as well. All this outsourcing and such means that Space X will be primarily and assembly company. It reminds me a little bit of auto makers. Ford and such do the design work, have suppliers make most of the parts, and then assemble the vehicle themselves. Quality control should be a nightmare of a job.
It was fun to put a multi-millionaire on the spot but it was more fun hearing about someone that is willing to try something bold and daring regarding space.
Like I wrote above, these folks have a very big task ahead of them. They also have a lot of drive, too. Personally, I hope they succeeded. If nothing else it will be a big kick in the butt to NASA and the other launch vehicle companies around the world.
2) Space X assembles everything
But Drexel is still using VPN to secure the connection. WEP has security issues even if the keys are linked to email ids. VPN provides a stronger level of encryption than what WEP can provide.
Still, it looks like Drexel is doing good things network security-wise.
My university is rolling out wireless using vpn to authenticate and secure the connection.
I've heard about some security issues with VPN but nothing like the issues with WEP. Seems like an elegant solution to me. I haven't pushed and prodded it too much but I didn't notice that there is some firewall protection available in the vpn client as well (not mentioned at the link above).
Not a perfect solution but possibly good enough for now.
This made me remember somethin Sonny Bono's wife said about what copyright and Sonny's thoughts on copyright. That they should be forever but to comply with the Constitution he would be satisfied with forever minus a day.
I hope Lessig wins for Eldrid. One small step for Eldrid, one giant smackdown for the Mouse.
So, what was MS doing during that month dedicated to security?
Look at Perl's DBI module. It works with tons of databases. However, each database needs its own driver or DBD module.
It might prove useful to look at how and what they did.
The Perl Data Language (PDL), found here, gives a fast backend for scientific and matrix computing.
It is a tried and true extension to Perl that has been thoroughly abused by lots of folks.
I would say FORTRAN is the way to go for scientific computing but PDL is something to give a look.
Are you at your currently employer because you like the job?
The danger of the counter-offer is "lost loyalty". Your current company may look at you differently. However, I think that most companies no longer care how loyal you are to them as evidenced by the staggering amount of layoffs in the last few years.
I did have a friend accept a counter-offer. He stayed at the job for about 18 months before he left for another job.
The point is that maybe there is something you're aren't happy with at you current company.
I believe I remember reading that Unigraphics had ported to linux (or it might have been their lower end CAD package).
But you're right on about having I-DEAS and other CAD packages on *nix. You can do an amazing amount of automation on the *unix platform that is a pain in the ass on Windows. I'm especially familiar about automating things for I-DEAS after working with for 5 years.
Are you doing this for self-edification(or flagellation might be a better description)?
Why not try going down a less travelled road. To make a computer from scratch is sort of like building a car from scratch.
Why not try to find something relatively new? Maybe a PVR. There are plenty of sites that have instructions but it's still a relatively new tech unlike PC's.
Then again, why should I cast stones/doubt? I'm not coming up with many alternatives.
If you really want a big gun then you want a Ram Accelerator. It will subject a projectile to about 25,000 G's of acceleration.
The beauty of it is its efficiency. The fuel (gas) is stored in the barrel. The projectile is fired to have it travel fast enough to cause its shock wave to ignite the gas in the tube and therefore propel it even more. Basically, it is just ahead of the detonation wave it creates.
The University of Washington has a good bit of info about them.
Cool stuff.
Where to begin...
What makes this a GOOD idea is that identity theft would be much more difficult
So the reward for identity theft is that much higher. Sort of like keeping a lot of credit card numbers in one place.
On the other hand, a retinal scan, as I said above, makes an excellent ID/password, because it is so difficult to duplicate.
They don't have to duplicate it just sub in another retinal scan for yours and now they are for all intents and purposes you. What if they took your retinal scan record and subbed it for Charles Manson or some other nogoodnik? Can you prove whom you are if your retinal scan is linked to a criminal record?
Do yourself a favor and read _Secrets and Lies_. Schneier does a good job of explaining the dangers of biometric identification.
Why wouldn't a thief just grab some scotch tape or whatever device is similar to what forensics labs use to lift prints?
:-)
Just notice what finger the purchaser in front of you uses, when you buy your groceries you lift the print, then go home and transfer that to some vinyl/rubber/whatever mold/model, and apply to the apropo thumb.
Then you just shop at times when the store personnel aren't likely to know the person you've stolen the print from, or even another store completely. If it doesn't work (I'm sure that even for the real person this might happen occasionally) just pay with cash and be on your way.
Like others have noted, Schneier wrote about the downsides of biometrics in "Secrets and Lies". I was ok with them as an id device until that book.
Of course, I've just tagged myself as a subversive element in the Echelon database. Let's just hope they don't have a Tempest surveillance system on me as well.
That's how most of our laws are, right now. Ex post facto -- you break them, you do the punishment. The RIAA/MPAA wants to undermine this situation, and prevent people from breaking the law. We already tried this once.
Ex post facto? After the fact. Why didn't you use some other latin phrase: Quid pro quo, you're wrong.
In law, ex post facto is usually talked about in the following situation:
1) You perform act A.
2) A law is passed that makes act A illegal. In fact the law even says that those people that committed act A before the law was made can be arrested.
3) That is an ex post facto law and is unconstitutional in the US.
To have an Ex Post Facto law in the US you better burn the Constitution or amend it.
First off, anyone that uses "oeuvre" in a review of an action film based on a comic deserves a wedgie, wet noogie, and generally laughed at for being such a poser.
I was expecting a lot from Blade II. I wasn't expecting a story, I wasn't expecting great acting, and I definitely wasn't expecting scientific validity/consistency. I was expecting to see lots of fights, special effects, and comic book fun.
I would say that it delivered on all counts. Besides, whom needs to have a scientifically valid action comic flick (not movie, not cinema, it's a flick)? I want just enough story to get from fight to fight. If it isn't a decent story (which Blade did have in the original) then don't let it interfere with the reason I paid to see Wesley Snipes do his action groove thang. Besides, he helped in fight coordination in both films and did well.
'Nuff said.
For those of you like me that have no clue what REST is (REpresentatational State Transer) here's a decent wiki page I found on it.
That's the kind of shit I'm talking about.
/. anymore? Sound, technical articles (at least in my opinion) have been rejected and we get this Katz' crap instead?
:-)
Why do I bother reading
I thought RE was ok. Good start, decent finish, and a very mediocre middle. I like Mila as an actress but the movie slowed down when she showed up. I don't think it was her, I blame the writer/director (which I think are the same person in this movie).
For it's genre I would give it a 7 out of 10 (no grade inflation in my world, 7's are decent movies, I think The Matrix would be around 9 or so, just to give you a feel for the scale
I agree with another's post that the sudden cut/big noise technique to get a jump out of the audience was over-used. Which of course was in the middle of the flick.
I did like the flashback/memory recall technique though. Nice way to do some quick, visual exposition.
Like I wrote, an enjoyable movie, not a horrible way to waste a few hours.
Why didn't Katz review Resident Evil?
/. mob.
Showtime has very little pertaining to "News for Nerds. Stuff that matters." Resident Evil on the other hand is a movie adaptation of a video game. Whom decides what movie reviews by Katz are greenlighted?
I say that CmdrTaco and the rest audition other folks for movie reviews. They can at least find someone as adept as Katz at reviewing movies and deciding to review movies that are closer to the
Agreed, but the X-33 is just a hulk of its former self.
While this is a very interesting idea, I don't see how NASA will hope to implement this or the 2nd gen RLV initiatives.
With their budgets not growing, lots of that budget earmarked for things other than direct space and aeronautical research. NASA has had to stop the research into hypersonic vehicles (X-43 project) among other projects.
It is good to see that ideas are being created, it's too bad that they might not be implemented
When I purchased my VAIO SR7K I didn't want to take any chances. I found an aluminum briefcase (Vanguard is the name on it) that is very, very thin and is just large enough to hold my laptop. The briefcase is also padded inside.
I haven't dropped the laptop nor the briefcase so I don't know how rugged it really is. If nothing else it's relatively crush proof since I have stacked 4 or 5 big texts on it.
The briefcase has enough rough for a couple of cd's, pens, the ac adaptor, usb light (the flexible cable kind), my usb-ethernet adapter, and a small usb cable. The case fits inside a backup. The main pocket of the backpack can hold books, close, etc. The case is also handy as a surface to rest the laptop on when I don't have a table or some other surface to rest the laptop.
I've been using this for about a year now. It's handy for weekend flights to my girlfriend's. Enough room in the backpack for my briefcase, clothes, and a couple books.
It's nice that Katz has access to a book before it's been released to the general public.
Just to continue the Katz-basho I would rather anyone else review this book once it is published (4/2002). I would rather have chromatic's (or even CmdrTaco's) view on this then Katz. Besides, I hope that more than eBay is used as foundation for this cybertheorizing. But it's hard to determine the utility of a book from the cover jacket and Katz's so-so review