It's a lost cause. If people hate something, no amount of logic will appeal to them (trite point, I know). I get 50% spam myself, even with mailfilters, and it takes no more than 3 seconds a day to ignore all of the irrelevant messages. People should have enough going on in their lives that the "spam problem" seems comparatively unimportant. Or at least if they need real enemies, they should hunt down those kids who tormented them in high school.
People always act like getting spammed is equivalent to being punched in the face. These are the same people who want to start unions to protect against the Carpal Tunnel syndrome they get from "Coding Sweatshops". Here's a quick fix to all your spam problems.
Do not bother opening any mail about:
Investment opportunities in India/Thailand/Mexico
Having hot sex with Nicki or Linda
Finding out your horoscope
College degree in 3 months!
Warning, New Dangerous Virus Causes Nuclear Meltdown (click attachment for more info)!
How about growing up and realizing that some things barely matter in life. I mean these guys should be in trouble for using an unauthorized email account. And if they really damaged a company's equipment though illegal usage of it, well fine, throw the book at them for that too. But some of the above coments, about how we need to be saved from spam is ridiculous. Most people open spam because they want to get something out of it (sex, etc.). Serves them right that they wind up wasting their "precious time". At least their time is less valuable now since all these "html engineers" are being laid off by the thousands.
I know this is a troll, but I'll bite. There's really only one kernel, which is 90% of what matters, and it contains within one source tree simultaneous support for 13 architectures. See:
Of course it sucks that there are incompatible libraries, and different installation/package tools, but that's being improved upon. The fact is that today's linux distributions have *more* in common than they did when linux first got started (when 100 different people were each rolling their own). And stuff like ximian is ensuring that even the user apps are compatible (but come on folks, don't neglect Slack!). So there you go. Of course a better troll would be to compare linux and *bsd, or linux and nt, but that's my style so I'm biased. And an even better troll would be to post a link to this and to this. I might make even that my sig.
Good "slow in-person website" comparison - I was there myself and incredibly bored (funny I didn't see you there...) and thinking how the web makes these things absolutely irrelevant. Who needs a dim-witted sales person trying to sell you, when you've got google. I also felt guilty asking questions at booths, because I'm demonstrating that I hadn't read their faqs. I think in the end that's what tradeshows are:
Documentation for people who can't rtfm.
or
An excuse for people to say the word "specs" 900 times
I can't believe the poster was dumb enough to fall for it and then Mr. Taco was dumb enough to post it in the "Patents" category instead of "It's funny, laugh". Lately slashdot has been so eager to provide us with the "Late Breaking News" that gets enough banner-ad clickthroughs to somehow save VA from bankruptcy, that they'll post un{spell,grammar}checked stuff constantly and often - as in this case - not even read what they're posting links to. Praise to the American educational system, which has majors in SciFi, classes on Madonna, and graduates like Cmdr. Taco.
Yeah that book sucked. The author even had notes to himself, which I thought was ridiculous (check out line 9 of page 3, for an example). I'm saving that flame for another time, though. The information was for the most part accurate in that book, but it is not the ideal source for "linux internals" information. A better source, is from the author's columns for Byte.com from which the book developed.
Cheers,
Nate
This book should have gotten a 10. The reviewer's two complaints were:
the network stack isn't covered
it'll be out of date soon
The first complaint can be answered by pointing out that two other linux books out there, the core kernel commentary and linux internals, don't cover the network stack either; in fact there is another book that does just that and that alone. Many topics can't be covered in a book and like the reviewer admits, the authors say networking deserves a book of its own. They have no reason to worry about limiting "their audience". They did such a thorough job with this 700 page book that if they were to include networking - and do the same thorough job with that subject too - the book would bloat to 1400 pages and not get out the door until kernel 3.0.
The reviewer's second complaint is even dumber. Since the kernel is a construction based in time (rather than something more eternal), descriptions of it are going to be outdated eventually. As will any other linux book out there, when a new version gets out there. Even the New York Times will be outdated tomorrow. Big fucking deal. The authors are tracking the 2.4 changes for the next version of the book - and they plan to keep a website for the book - so everything should be okay. Plus their notes of what's new in 2.4 should be all you need for the time being.
Sorry to vent, but I hate it when reviewers feel obligated to come up with flaws, just to make it seem like they did a super-penetrating read of the text. If you want to come up with flaws, try reading the book past the introduction. I'm sure you'll find a few legitimate ones at least.
Actually, VIM's default behaviour isn't to edit on both sides of the file (hex and ascii) simultaneously. However some versions (specifically the one that came with Slackware 7.1) do this automatically.
Cheers,
Nate
VIM actually has a hex editor mode (thanks to the xxd utility) that does what you're talking about. From command mode type:%!xxd to convert a file to hex format and type:%!xxd -r to convert it back.
LinuxCareGuy: I'll give you 9 million shares, valued at $0.00 per share, for 7 million shares of your stock, valued at $0.00 per share. TurboLinuxGuy: You're ripping me off. How about 5 million shares of my stock valued at $0.00 per share, in exchange for 10 million shares of your stock, valued at $0.00 per share. LinuxCareGuy: You've got a deal. [to himself] He doesn't know I'm planning a 3:1 stock split before we trade. [wicked laughter].
Sometimes I get asked a question I can't answer, or have a hankering to fill in some blanks, so I search the web. Obviously google is my primary tool but I've realized a few tricks for using it. I use the "show 100 results" option in the advanced section (to filter out the porn) and add in the additional term "lecture notes". I usually wind up with a few postscript documents that serve quite nicely. For example, I just typed in "algorithms lecture notes" and the first result generated was Collection of Lecture Notes, Survey Papers, etc., including a few great booklets by Laszlo Lovasz. In fact, I think I'm going to be up for another 10 hours...
What is the status of SMP? I belong to the mailing list and there is little traffic (2 comments a week, or so). I realize that there are bigger issues at stake then performance, but changes to the scheduler (to make it smp-ready) can usually be done pretty transparently, or even (like with linux's "#ifdef SMP"s) in a way that locking primitives cause a box to take no performance hit when the kernel is compiled without smp support.
So, what are the chances of an ambitious youngster to ravamp the scheduler for smp support sometime before 3.0? Scheduler changes usually don't introduce security holes (except for the occasional DOS:)) if done right.
I discovered gnuplot a few weeks ago and it changed my life for the better. Gnuplot can be scripted to do whatever you want it do do, output charts in a bunch of formats, and even perform some calculations on data. It used to take me five or ten minutes to come up with a decent Excel graph from a flat text file (I'm not too bright:)). But recently I wrote a short perl script that takes directories of flat text files and generates gnuplot graphs at the rate of 20 per second. Postscript even, so they're ripe for embedding in your latex docs. Pretty nifty stuff (email me if you want it) if you're got reams of data that need to be summarized by your noontime class. Nate BTW, The "gnu" in "gnuplot" has nothing to do with the fsf but I still think it's open source.
Nonetheless I will not stay silent while you malign a great art form.
Sheesh, how defensive. I'm not maligning the martial arts; I even mention (albeit as an afterthought) that since the student of martial arts is capable of causing damage to others, there might be a reason to make sure he understands the ethical import of his situation. What I have a problem with are the pervasive hidden agendas, the constant assumption of spiritual truths. I don't feel that everybody who wants a workout without religion should be relegated to "an aerobics class". If someone wants to learn how to defend themselves (e.g. a teenage girl doesn't want to get raped, an old man doesn't want to get mugged, a football player wants to keep in shape during the off-season), they should be able to do so without having spiritual values forced upon them. To a degree ethical values are fine. A martial arts instructor can say you shouldn't hit, but the teacher who says you should love your mother and give to charity is abusing his power (even though you should love your mother and give to charity). He is preying upon people in a vulnerable state who are taking him as an authority.
But I'm done arguing with you. Obviously I'm assaulting your religious sensibilities (I was under their spell once too, I know the seduction first-hand) and courtesy dictates I stop.
True, I do:). I find that though there's nothing wrong with Zen (legitimate practitions of it seem more at peace with themselves than your average citizen) or martial arts (taught me to kick some SERIOUS ass) many martial arts schools tend to use an ad-hoc system of ethics loosely based on Zen-buzzwords in order to enforce a false hierarchy and ensure a monthly stream of revenue. I've checked out many disciplines and found this to be the case with the majority. Students unwittingly become voicepieces for their teachers. This phenomenon is undoubtably cultlike.
Most teachers of martial arts wind up considering themselves qualified teachers of religion as well. This is an extremely dangerous abuse of power. What's worse is that they're implicitly converting to their belief system many people who wanted nothing more than a Billy Blanks style of workout. If you take Yoga or Tai-Chi, odds are your target is some state of harmony/bliss/awareness. It's therefore expected that some spiritual virtues will be emphasized. But if you're taking kickboxing, you are expecting little more than a workout. It's therefore unfair for them to push upon you an alien belief system. What if you believe in Jesus, heaven, all of that stuff? Or in Yehovah and the splitting of the Red Sea? Or in the Big Bang, evolution, etc. To be forced to acknowledge another shape to the universe when all you wanted was an exciting workout that would teach you to defend yourself is an act of brainwashing.
Imagine a short 10 year-old geek (give him tourette's or diabetes to sadden his plight) picked on by the other kids. He takes Karate because he's seen the movies, played the video games, and knows that it will teach him how to fight back. To not be a victim. And when he goes to Tae-Kwon-Do school, they fill his impressionable mind with yet-another-ethical-system and yet-another-belief-system. When his technique is poor, they tell him he lacks "spirit". And he's vulnerable, so these lessons stick. That kid has just lost a MAJOR part of his ability to think independently. Yes he can rediscover his freedom later in life, but he might not. Many don't.
You can argue that since the martial arts teach a person how to become a fearsome fighter, it's vital that some lessons be given regarding self-control, etc. so this ten year-old kid won't himself become a bully. But that's no reason to fill his head with mystical doctrines. Oh well, maybe I just had the wrong teachers:).
Seriously. Creatine will pack on muscle mass like you wouldn't believe. And this muscle mass will burn tremendous amounts of fat. In addition, creatine increases your muscle recovery periods which means you will increase the amount of times per week you will be able to work out without overtraining.
As for pedaling equipment: You shouldn't think about work, school, etc. when you exercise, or else you will have a terrible workout. I used to take a book with me to the gym and read between sets in order to conserve time (any other geeks out there do this?). This led to my workouts lasting twice as long as necessary, and being half as intense as they should have been.
What you need is a sport you'll enjoy (Martial arts fit the bill for many people, despite the cult/fascist/zen approach taken by some schools). Instead of a cycling machine, you might try cycling for real. Outdoors. Wind, rain, muggers, all that stuff. That way, keeping up with your exercise routine won't be a burden, and you'll feel fulfilled throughout the rest of the day (insert sappy music here). You might even find you get more out of the day if you don't condense activities. I know I do.
I think games are a tremendous vehicle for conversion (like the promise of eternal life). I'm personally looking forward to building a super-powered smp workstation that dual boots both Linux and BeOS. I'll get the best cards available for both operating systems and build around those. The problem with Linux on my laptop is that my laptop's a piece of shit so it makes Linux look bad. People keep saying "that's what you're so excited about?" In short, though not a gamer myself, I have to prove Linux is highly games-capable in order to unpaganize my fellow man (in violation of the advocacy-how-to;-)).
Does anybody know if there's a copy of the hacked website posted anywhere? My proxy won't let me go to www.2600.com and see if a copy's been posted there (I might get fired for checking) and I'd love a picture of Alf for my desktop wallpaper.
Installing Mandrake over RedHat
on
Distro News
·
· Score: 1
Does anybody out there know if you can install Mandrake over a previous RedHat installation (as an upgrade)? Is the rpm format compatible? I know I should STFS (search the fucking site) and I will do so in a minute, but I'm just looking for insights/flames.
I agree 100%. The fact is us humans are cruel and will never stop being so. A pseudo-military mentality can infest anything; watch how Slashdot's united-by-OS readership balkanize when it comes to visual desktops, editors, and Linux distributions. If that's not ridiculous I can't picture what is. Half of the people in our industry express their pride at not working in McDonalds, the other half refer to computing as "man's work". We find different weapons every day. The fact is that the oppression "geeks" suffer is dished out by them in turn. The tech-culture, at least how it manifests itself in the NY-NJ area, is profoundly masculinist, homophobic and lacking in religious tolerance (that is, it expresses intolerance for religion of any sort). In my life I've been both oppressor and oppressed, victim and perpetrator of every brand of prejudice of which our minds are capable. Though that "evil world" of youth is now left way behind me I can see others in its grip. I guarantee you that every geek out there posting the tale of his misery would be equally cruel had he the chance. And not as a reaction to the cruelty he suffered, but simply because he's a human being, cousin of those apes who know genocide as well.
Slashdot Mirror
It's a lost cause. If people hate something, no amount of logic will appeal to them (trite point, I know). I get 50% spam myself, even with mailfilters, and it takes no more than 3 seconds a day to ignore all of the irrelevant messages. People should have enough going on in their lives that the "spam problem" seems comparatively unimportant. Or at least if they need real enemies, they should hunt down those kids who tormented them in high school.
- Investment opportunities in India/Thailand/Mexico
- Having hot sex with Nicki or Linda
- Finding out your horoscope
- College degree in 3 months!
- Warning, New Dangerous Virus Causes Nuclear Meltdown (click attachment for more info)!
How about growing up and realizing that some things barely matter in life. I mean these guys should be in trouble for using an unauthorized email account. And if they really damaged a company's equipment though illegal usage of it, well fine, throw the book at them for that too. But some of the above coments, about how we need to be saved from spam is ridiculous. Most people open spam because they want to get something out of it (sex, etc.). Serves them right that they wind up wasting their "precious time". At least their time is less valuable now since all these "html engineers" are being laid off by the thousands.Sorry Jim...I'd love to shake your hand but my whole damn arm is in our New York office.
How the fuck is the above post flamebait?
Documentation for people who can't rtfm.
or
An excuse for people to say the word "specs" 900 times
I can't believe the poster was dumb enough to fall for it and then Mr. Taco was dumb enough to post it in the "Patents" category instead of "It's funny, laugh". Lately slashdot has been so eager to provide us with the "Late Breaking News" that gets enough banner-ad clickthroughs to somehow save VA from bankruptcy, that they'll post un{spell,grammar}checked stuff constantly and often - as in this case - not even read what they're posting links to. Praise to the American educational system, which has majors in SciFi, classes on Madonna, and graduates like Cmdr. Taco.
Yeah that book sucked. The author even had notes to himself, which I thought was ridiculous (check out line 9 of page 3, for an example). I'm saving that flame for another time, though. The information was for the most part accurate in that book, but it is not the ideal source for "linux internals" information. A better source, is from the author's columns for Byte.com from which the book developed. Cheers, Nate
- the network stack isn't covered
- it'll be out of date soon
The first complaint can be answered by pointing out that two other linux books out there, the core kernel commentary and linux internals, don't cover the network stack either; in fact there is another book that does just that and that alone. Many topics can't be covered in a book and like the reviewer admits, the authors say networking deserves a book of its own. They have no reason to worry about limiting "their audience". They did such a thorough job with this 700 page book that if they were to include networking - and do the same thorough job with that subject too - the book would bloat to 1400 pages and not get out the door until kernel 3.0.The reviewer's second complaint is even dumber. Since the kernel is a construction based in time (rather than something more eternal), descriptions of it are going to be outdated eventually. As will any other linux book out there, when a new version gets out there. Even the New York Times will be outdated tomorrow. Big fucking deal. The authors are tracking the 2.4 changes for the next version of the book - and they plan to keep a website for the book - so everything should be okay. Plus their notes of what's new in 2.4 should be all you need for the time being.
Sorry to vent, but I hate it when reviewers feel obligated to come up with flaws, just to make it seem like they did a super-penetrating read of the text. If you want to come up with flaws, try reading the book past the introduction. I'm sure you'll find a few legitimate ones at least.
Actually, VIM's default behaviour isn't to edit on both sides of the file (hex and ascii) simultaneously. However some versions (specifically the one that came with Slackware 7.1) do this automatically. Cheers, Nate
VIM actually has a hex editor mode (thanks to the xxd utility) that does what you're talking about. From command mode type :%!xxd to convert a file to hex format and type :%!xxd -r to convert it back.
Jesus, goatse's got nothing on it. I predict great things for this photo.
LinuxCareGuy: I'll give you 9 million shares, valued at $0.00 per share, for 7 million shares of your stock, valued at $0.00 per share.
TurboLinuxGuy: You're ripping me off. How about 5 million shares of my stock valued at $0.00 per share, in exchange for 10 million shares of your stock, valued at $0.00 per share.
LinuxCareGuy: You've got a deal. [to himself] He doesn't know I'm planning a 3:1 stock split before we trade. [wicked laughter].
Sometimes I get asked a question I can't answer, or have a hankering to fill in some blanks, so I search the web. Obviously google is my primary tool but I've realized a few tricks for using it. I use the "show 100 results" option in the advanced section (to filter out the porn) and add in the additional term "lecture notes". I usually wind up with a few postscript documents that serve quite nicely. For example, I just typed in "algorithms lecture notes" and the first result generated was Collection of Lecture Notes, Survey Papers, etc., including a few great booklets by Laszlo Lovasz. In fact, I think I'm going to be up for another 10 hours...
What is the status of SMP? I belong to the mailing list and there is little traffic (2 comments a week, or so). I realize that there are bigger issues at stake then performance, but changes to the scheduler (to make it smp-ready) can usually be done pretty transparently, or even (like with linux's "#ifdef SMP"s) in a way that locking primitives cause a box to take no performance hit when the kernel is compiled without smp support. So, what are the chances of an ambitious youngster to ravamp the scheduler for smp support sometime before 3.0? Scheduler changes usually don't introduce security holes (except for the occasional DOS :)) if done right.
I discovered gnuplot a few weeks ago and it changed my life for the better. Gnuplot can be scripted to do whatever you want it do do, output charts in a bunch of formats, and even perform some calculations on data. It used to take me five or ten minutes to come up with a decent Excel graph from a flat text file (I'm not too bright :)). But recently I wrote a short perl script that takes directories of flat text files and generates gnuplot graphs at the rate of 20 per second. Postscript even, so they're ripe for embedding in your latex docs. Pretty nifty stuff (email me if you want it) if you're got reams of data that need to be summarized by your noontime class.
Nate
BTW, The "gnu" in "gnuplot" has nothing to do with the fsf but I still think it's open source.
Sheesh, how defensive. I'm not maligning the martial arts; I even mention (albeit as an afterthought) that since the student of martial arts is capable of causing damage to others, there might be a reason to make sure he understands the ethical import of his situation. What I have a problem with are the pervasive hidden agendas, the constant assumption of spiritual truths. I don't feel that everybody who wants a workout without religion should be relegated to "an aerobics class". If someone wants to learn how to defend themselves (e.g. a teenage girl doesn't want to get raped, an old man doesn't want to get mugged, a football player wants to keep in shape during the off-season), they should be able to do so without having spiritual values forced upon them. To a degree ethical values are fine. A martial arts instructor can say you shouldn't hit, but the teacher who says you should love your mother and give to charity is abusing his power (even though you should love your mother and give to charity). He is preying upon people in a vulnerable state who are taking him as an authority.
But I'm done arguing with you. Obviously I'm assaulting your religious sensibilities (I was under their spell once too, I know the seduction first-hand) and courtesy dictates I stop.
True, I do :). I find that though there's nothing wrong with Zen (legitimate practitions of it seem more at peace with themselves than your average citizen) or martial arts (taught me to kick some SERIOUS ass) many martial arts schools tend to use an ad-hoc system of ethics loosely based on Zen-buzzwords in order to enforce a false hierarchy and ensure a monthly stream of revenue. I've checked out many disciplines and found this to be the case with the majority. Students unwittingly become voicepieces for their teachers. This phenomenon is undoubtably cultlike.
Most teachers of martial arts wind up considering themselves qualified teachers of religion as well. This is an extremely dangerous abuse of power. What's worse is that they're implicitly converting to their belief system many people who wanted nothing more than a Billy Blanks style of workout. If you take Yoga or Tai-Chi, odds are your target is some state of harmony/bliss/awareness. It's therefore expected that some spiritual virtues will be emphasized. But if you're taking kickboxing, you are expecting little more than a workout. It's therefore unfair for them to push upon you an alien belief system. What if you believe in Jesus, heaven, all of that stuff? Or in Yehovah and the splitting of the Red Sea? Or in the Big Bang, evolution, etc. To be forced to acknowledge another shape to the universe when all you wanted was an exciting workout that would teach you to defend yourself is an act of brainwashing.
Imagine a short 10 year-old geek (give him tourette's or diabetes to sadden his plight) picked on by the other kids. He takes Karate because he's seen the movies, played the video games, and knows that it will teach him how to fight back. To not be a victim. And when he goes to Tae-Kwon-Do school, they fill his impressionable mind with yet-another-ethical-system and yet-another-belief-system. When his technique is poor, they tell him he lacks "spirit". And he's vulnerable, so these lessons stick. That kid has just lost a MAJOR part of his ability to think independently. Yes he can rediscover his freedom later in life, but he might not. Many don't.
You can argue that since the martial arts teach a person how to become a fearsome fighter, it's vital that some lessons be given regarding self-control, etc. so this ten year-old kid won't himself become a bully. But that's no reason to fill his head with mystical doctrines. Oh well, maybe I just had the wrong teachers :).
meant "decreases muscle recovery periods"
Seriously. Creatine will pack on muscle mass like you wouldn't believe. And this muscle mass will burn tremendous amounts of fat. In addition, creatine increases your muscle recovery periods which means you will increase the amount of times per week you will be able to work out without overtraining.
As for pedaling equipment: You shouldn't think about work, school, etc. when you exercise, or else you will have a terrible workout. I used to take a book with me to the gym and read between sets in order to conserve time (any other geeks out there do this?). This led to my workouts lasting twice as long as necessary, and being half as intense as they should have been.
What you need is a sport you'll enjoy (Martial arts fit the bill for many people, despite the cult/fascist/zen approach taken by some schools). Instead of a cycling machine, you might try cycling for real. Outdoors. Wind, rain, muggers, all that stuff. That way, keeping up with your exercise routine won't be a burden, and you'll feel fulfilled throughout the rest of the day (insert sappy music here). You might even find you get more out of the day if you don't condense activities. I know I do.
I think games are a tremendous vehicle for conversion (like the promise of eternal life). I'm personally looking forward to building a super-powered smp workstation that dual boots both Linux and BeOS. I'll get the best cards available for both operating systems and build around those. The problem with Linux on my laptop is that my laptop's a piece of shit so it makes Linux look bad. People keep saying "that's what you're so excited about?" In short, though not a gamer myself, I have to prove Linux is highly games-capable in order to unpaganize my fellow man (in violation of the advocacy-how-to ;-)).
Does anybody know if there's a copy of the hacked website posted anywhere? My proxy won't let me go to www.2600.com and see if a copy's been posted there (I might get fired for checking) and I'd love a picture of Alf for my desktop wallpaper.
Does anybody out there know if you can install Mandrake over a previous RedHat installation (as an upgrade)? Is the rpm format compatible? I know I should STFS (search the fucking site) and I will do so in a minute, but I'm just looking for insights/flames.
I agree 100%. The fact is us humans are cruel and will never stop being so. A pseudo-military mentality can infest anything; watch how Slashdot's united-by-OS readership balkanize when it comes to visual desktops, editors, and Linux distributions. If that's not ridiculous I can't picture what is. Half of the people in our industry express their pride at not working in McDonalds, the other half refer to computing as "man's work". We find different weapons every day. The fact is that the oppression "geeks" suffer is dished out by them in turn. The tech-culture, at least how it manifests itself in the NY-NJ area, is profoundly masculinist, homophobic and lacking in religious tolerance (that is, it expresses intolerance for religion of any sort).
In my life I've been both oppressor and oppressed, victim and perpetrator of every brand of prejudice of which our minds are capable. Though that "evil world" of youth is now left way behind me I can see others in its grip. I guarantee you that every geek out there posting the tale of his misery would be equally cruel had he the chance. And not as a reaction to the cruelty he suffered, but simply because he's a human being, cousin of those apes who know genocide as well.