What you fail to understand is that this guy is just one person who suddenly has been given the task of making all the content in his domain accessible. The content itself was input from hundreds if not thousands of sources.
As far as complying to W3C standards, even today there isn't even one HTML editor that is 100% compliant. The closest I've seen is HTML-Kit. Really, if I had to point any fingers it would have to be at the W3C for dragging ass on implementing needed standards. By acting so frigging slow, being indecisive, they all but ensured that software companies would either develop their own standards of pick and choose among the W3C standards for those they didn't think would be depricated in six months. Then I would blame the software companies that still fail at making content creation simple enough that laymen can create presentable, standards compliant HTML. Then I would point to the government for failing to realize the potential of the internet for collaborative efforts and information dissimination. Even today.
I used to work for Newport News Shipbuilding, the company that build the SS United States. Yesterday they ran an article in a local paper on the history of the ship and its future. The ship was mothballed in 1969, I believe. It has changed ownership several times usually with the organization with plans for refurbishing the ship going broke. The last owners salvaged all the ornate interior woodwork. Today there is yet another owner trying to raise the $350mil to get the ship seaworthy again. It really is a beautiful ship. I hope he succeedes.
The SS United States was the brainchild of one of the world's foremost marine architects, William Francis Gibbs. His dream was to build a passenger ship that was faster, safer and more technologically advanced than anything else afloat. It was truly a construction project that challenged conventional thinking. In 1952, his dream became a reality when the SS United States crossed the North Atlantic in 3 days, 10 hours and 42 minutes averaging 35.59 knots (65.48 km/hr or 40.96 mph). The design characteristics encompassing the United States read straight out of a James Bond novel, many remaining classified by the Navy well into the late 70's:
Why don't we try getting the movie started by setting up a donation website? I'd be willing to put up $40. Anybody have extra webspace? Anyone with the tax background to get this thing rolling?
I try to place myself in his shoes. Part of me says this is a really good thing but another part says that pissing on someone elses parade is a sucky thing to do. Geeks really should pitty those who think polularity contests are good things. I know I'd be sad if the only big thing that ever happened to me was being voted homecoming king in highschool. I guess I have a whatever-floats-your-boat attitude. I opted out. Didn't even know that was a lame-o homecoming king.
I really should feel dissed. Realistically, at least someone in the Bush camp took the time to cut and paste the opinions. That asteroid one must have been a tough choice.
Realistically though, most of the questions that candidates are asked are pointless since the president has little or no influence over the issues. Maybe a little on strategic defence and the policy direction. In the end Congress makes the laws and spends the money.
Here is a list of editors to use with PHP. Personally I prefer HTML-Kit. HTML-Kit is free, extensible and supports new standards very quickly. The IDE is very similar to ColdFusion/HomeSite.
From personal experience I would put ColdFusion and PHP tied for the top slot. CF is cleaner and easier for building small apps but PHP has MUCH better support and is better for medium size apps. Not to mention the easiest to learn. ASP sucks. Really there is no such thing as ASP since its really a hodgepodge of VBScript, JScript and HTML. With Microsoft's.NET it gets even worse with 16+ languages available. PHP is simple, has decent string handling and excellent online support. PHP+Apache+MySQL is a killer combo. Want an easy install? Check out PHPTriad for Windows. Chances are than any question you could come up with has been asked and answered in one os the the support groups.
Does the game at least use a new superwhammydyne game engine? At least if it did they could recoup a few losses licensing the engine. You know, like that sucky game Unreal did? Unreal sucked after the first level. At least these guys were honest and sucked from the beginning.
Yes, I seem to recall somthing about mixing alloys. Some of the patterns that can be formed are pretty cool too. Another recent advancement is a company invented a method of producing stainless steel pseudo Damascene steel from powdered metal. Inexpensive and very pretty.
Damascene steel is really an interresting material. For you Highlander fans out there this is the kind of steel used in his sword. Basically, a blacksmith pounds the metal stock flat, folds it in half and pounds it flat again. Masters of this process can be found in Japan. Often they create blades that have been folded thousands of times. Without having read any in-depth studies on what this does to the metal, I surmise that the metal crystal lattice structure becomes highly uniform/aligned perpindicular to the edge of the blade. This would make the blade stiffer when striking an object with the blade while remaining flexible from the side. In most cases some form of carbon steel is used since the layers must be beaten/fused/spot-weleded between layers. This also means that the blade must be kept very clean or surface will form rust very easily. Another problem is if the blade is poorly crafted it may delaminate between layers like the first cheap Damascus knife I bought.
Earlier this week I caught a Charlie Rose interview with Lars Ulrich. To tell you the truth he put up some pretty convincing arguments for banning MP3s on Napster. Lars pointed out that what they were objecting to was digital copies or their digitally recorded albums. He openly supports fans recording live performances. When the other guy in the interview accused him of being greedy he took the pragmatic stance by saying that though the record companies have a virtual monopoly, all Napster is trying to do is become the new monopolist (with no revenue going back to the artist). Lars also seemd to focus on the Artists right to coltroll the artistic work. I'm not sure that is a valid point. My personal feeling is that while the artist has the right to decide how to produce the art, it a general way it can't be called art unless the audience sees/hears it. The expression is controlled by the artitst, but the audience controls how they see/hear/interpret it. In this way I think it is valid to record performance and redistribute it since the recording itself becomes a new piece or art. Maybe Slashdot needs to interview Napster and really press them on their goals for generating revenue. Is their model based on finding the best online MP3 content and servicing it to the consumer, without the artist getting a cut? Is the software ging to eventually cost money? Will they start pushing ads down to Napster clients?
At any rate I can respect someone for standing up for what they believe is right. If someone basically crapped over all my work and then flipped me the bird when I ask them not to steal my work, I reckon I'd get a little pissed myself.
I somehow think we are talking about a heck more than $2.95, especiall when Palm wound up being worth more than 3COM. But then again, some people think insider trading should be lagal too. I mean, whats the big deal if a few guys make a couple of extra bucks. Or even better, stop prosecuting scams altogether. Who cares if 3 or 4 million people spend $4 for a product that doesn't work.
As far as the E*Trade thing goes, I got into an IPO offer by just clicking the mouse a bunch of times.
When 10 people march off the same cliff because they couldn't read the tiny sign that read "Lookout, cliff ahead!" it is surely a problem. IPOs in general are damaged by the number of people hurt investing a ton of money to find they only own a fraction of a company. Legitmate companies seeking capital to grow will be damaged when the market associates IPO with ripoff. This is a legitimate securities practices complaint. And yes, I have complained to the SEC.
When 10 people march off the same cliff because they couldn't read the tiny sign that read "Lookout, cliff ahead!" it is surely a problem. IPOs in general are damaged by the number of people hurt investing a ton of money to find they only own a fraction of a company. Legitmate companies seeking capital to grow will be damaged when the market associates IPO with ripoff. This is a legitimate securities practices complaint. And yes, I have complained to the SEC. Anal retentives that nitpick other people on spelling definitely deserve the name "Anonymous Coward".
I think the biggest problem with the recent spat of IPOs is the way they are reported and marketed. I have yet to read a decent report that clearly states the percentage of stock that will be offered in the IPO.
Take the Palm Pilot IPO. It wasn't until a week after the IPO that the mainstream press picked up on the fact that only 5% of the company had been offered.
Clearly these IPOs are being advertised in a manner to trick unsuspecting daytraders into investing. Big name brokerages and investment groups jump on the bandwagon because they know a biname ".COM" or tech stock will jump through the roof nontheless because of investor ignorance. Trading groups should be required to clearly state what percent stake in the company is being offered when advertising IPOs. This is pure consumer ripoff. Sure the details are in the perspectus, but perspectuses (perspecti?) are often unintelligible to the common investor.
What they really needed to do was develop a better marketing plan. They should have produced a ton more handsets but made sure 4/5 of them were defective. The should have set the price at $100 per handset and sold the airtime for $1/min. Offer a premuim service for $500/handset and $20/min. Everyone but the premium customers get the message "Were sorry but all satellites are currently busy. Please stay on the line and the next available satellite will assist you." They have to stay online for 15 min to get a connection and get auto-disconnectd after 5 min. Push out lots of press reports saying,"After being bombarded with much more demand than expected we are currently in the process of upgrading our service." ala` AOL style.
This is yet another example of Microsoft's strategy of announcing products that either will never happen or are very far from being a real product. This strategy allows them to "steal the thunder" from other competitors. How many times has the rumor circulated that MS will relase somthing as OpenSource? Bugaboo. How many times has MS overmarketed a product years from release, even going as far as saying it beats tangible products already on the markey? Bugaboo. Can we say X-Box anyone? Woh about NT with good 3D support? How obout embedded NT? Bugabuggabooooo.
I've read many of the responses to this article and I think there is a big misunderstanding. Sure there are lots of online college classes. Sure there are some Universities and Chat offer full degree programs online. But what of quality? Has any of these programs evolved the learning/teaching process to meet the demands of a new meduim or simply copied existing ideas/techniques?
What IVY Leage is supposed to mean is that there is a given level of quality both in the teaching and a suffieceintly high level of difficulty to gaurantee graduating students meet high standards. Most universities run their school just like a business. Selling classes online is a cheap revenue generator. Acccreditation is a joke and is pretty much worthless. It also means that potential employers know that when they hire a graduate they are getting what they pay for.
The next question is what would someone have to do to create such an institution?
Be indepent from reliance on tuition fees for existance.
Have sufficient budget and backing to attract teachers who are motivational and creative.
Create a curriculum that is suited to the new medium. For instace, chemstry would be tough since much of chemistry learning is applying principles and theories to real lab experiments. Computer programming, philosophy, political science, and any other cerebral study would work fine.
Ditch 80 % of liberal arts curriculum. Programmers will spend the vast majority of their time learning programming , etc.. By the time they graduate in their field any potential employer will know that even the lowliest graduate far exceeds their peers with advanced degrees in the field from traditional universities.
The teaching format requires structured learning discipline. Real class schedules, required attendance, etc.
Verification of attendance and identity via two way video with sound. Perhaps voice or retina identification. The program will be free but the student must have access to a computer with the correct specs and a high speed connection. Students would bee free from tuition and book expenses but will need to meet this requirement by either buying the equipment or borrowing it.
Slashdot Mirror
Order Two pair. One with "Sweat" and the other with "Shop" and put one on each foot.
What you fail to understand is that this guy is just one person who suddenly has been given the task of making all the content in his domain accessible. The content itself was input from hundreds if not thousands of sources.
As far as complying to W3C standards, even today there isn't even one HTML editor that is 100% compliant. The closest I've seen is HTML-Kit. Really, if I had to point any fingers it would have to be at the W3C for dragging ass on implementing needed standards. By acting so frigging slow, being indecisive, they all but ensured that software companies would either develop their own standards of pick and choose among the W3C standards for those they didn't think would be depricated in six months. Then I would blame the software companies that still fail at making content creation simple enough that laymen can create presentable, standards compliant HTML. Then I would point to the government for failing to realize the potential of the internet for collaborative efforts and information dissimination. Even today.
I used to work for Newport News Shipbuilding, the company that build the SS United States. Yesterday they ran an article in a local paper on the history of the ship and its future. The ship was mothballed in 1969, I believe. It has changed ownership several times usually with the organization with plans for refurbishing the ship going broke. The last owners salvaged all the ornate interior woodwork. Today there is yet another owner trying to raise the $350mil to get the ship seaworthy again. It really is a beautiful ship. I hope he succeedes.
The SS United States was the brainchild of one of the world's foremost marine architects, William Francis Gibbs. His dream was to build a passenger ship that was faster, safer and more technologically advanced than anything else afloat. It was truly a construction project that challenged conventional thinking. In 1952, his dream became a reality when the SS United States crossed the North Atlantic in 3 days, 10 hours and 42 minutes averaging 35.59 knots (65.48 km/hr or 40.96 mph). The design characteristics encompassing the United States read straight out of a James Bond novel, many remaining classified by the Navy well into the late 70's:
To read more go to S.S. United States Homepage.
Why don't we try getting the movie started by setting up a donation website? I'd be willing to put up $40. Anybody have extra webspace? Anyone with the tax background to get this thing rolling?
I try to place myself in his shoes. Part of me says this is a really good thing but another part says that pissing on someone elses parade is a sucky thing to do. Geeks really should pitty those who think polularity contests are good things. I know I'd be sad if the only big thing that ever happened to me was being voted homecoming king in highschool. I guess I have a whatever-floats-your-boat attitude. I opted out. Didn't even know that was a lame-o homecoming king.
Realistically though, most of the questions that candidates are asked are pointless since the president has little or no influence over the issues. Maybe a little on strategic defence and the policy direction. In the end Congress makes the laws and spends the money.
From personal experience I would put ColdFusion and PHP tied for the top slot. CF is cleaner and easier for building small apps but PHP has MUCH better support and is better for medium size apps. Not to mention the easiest to learn. ASP sucks. Really there is no such thing as ASP since its really a hodgepodge of VBScript, JScript and HTML. With Microsoft's .NET it gets even worse with 16+ languages available. PHP is simple, has decent string handling and excellent online support. PHP+Apache+MySQL is a killer combo. Want an easy install? Check out PHPTriad for Windows. Chances are than any question you could come up with has been asked and answered in one os the the support groups.
This page has a pretty detailed overview about whats available and what platforms each toolkit works on.
Does the game at least use a new superwhammydyne game engine? At least if it did they could recoup a few losses licensing the engine. You know, like that sucky game Unreal did? Unreal sucked after the first level. At least these guys were honest and sucked from the beginning.
Do I get to just download the Linux version?
Thanks for pointing that out. Brainfart. I saw a show once on PBS tat said some of these blacksmiths are considered national treasures.
Yes, I seem to recall somthing about mixing alloys. Some of the patterns that can be formed are pretty cool too. Another recent advancement is a company invented a method of producing stainless steel pseudo Damascene steel from powdered metal. Inexpensive and very pretty.
I almost forgot to mention that thses blades also hold an edge very well. Probably due to the many stiff layers at the blade edge.
Damascene steel is really an interresting material. For you Highlander fans out there this is the kind of steel used in his sword. Basically, a blacksmith pounds the metal stock flat, folds it in half and pounds it flat again. Masters of this process can be found in Japan. Often they create blades that have been folded thousands of times. Without having read any in-depth studies on what this does to the metal, I surmise that the metal crystal lattice structure becomes highly uniform/aligned perpindicular to the edge of the blade. This would make the blade stiffer when striking an object with the blade while remaining flexible from the side. In most cases some form of carbon steel is used since the layers must be beaten/fused/spot-weleded between layers. This also means that the blade must be kept very clean or surface will form rust very easily. Another problem is if the blade is poorly crafted it may delaminate between layers like the first cheap Damascus knife I bought.
Earlier this week I caught a Charlie Rose interview with Lars Ulrich. To tell you the truth he put up some pretty convincing arguments for banning MP3s on Napster. Lars pointed out that what they were objecting to was digital copies or their digitally recorded albums. He openly supports fans recording live performances. When the other guy in the interview accused him of being greedy he took the pragmatic stance by saying that though the record companies have a virtual monopoly, all Napster is trying to do is become the new monopolist (with no revenue going back to the artist). Lars also seemd to focus on the Artists right to coltroll the artistic work. I'm not sure that is a valid point. My personal feeling is that while the artist has the right to decide how to produce the art, it a general way it can't be called art unless the audience sees/hears it. The expression is controlled by the artitst, but the audience controls how they see/hear/interpret it. In this way I think it is valid to record performance and redistribute it since the recording itself becomes a new piece or art. Maybe Slashdot needs to interview Napster and really press them on their goals for generating revenue. Is their model based on finding the best online MP3 content and servicing it to the consumer, without the artist getting a cut? Is the software ging to eventually cost money? Will they start pushing ads down to Napster clients?
At any rate I can respect someone for standing up for what they believe is right. If someone basically crapped over all my work and then flipped me the bird when I ask them not to steal my work, I reckon I'd get a little pissed myself.
Damn I wish I had the moderator points to give.
I somehow think we are talking about a heck more than $2.95, especiall when Palm wound up being worth more than 3COM. But then again, some people think insider trading should be lagal too. I mean, whats the big deal if a few guys make a couple of extra bucks. Or even better, stop prosecuting scams altogether. Who cares if 3 or 4 million people spend $4 for a product that doesn't work.
As far as the E*Trade thing goes, I got into an IPO offer by just clicking the mouse a bunch of times.
When 10 people march off the same cliff because they couldn't read the tiny sign that read "Lookout, cliff ahead!" it is surely a problem. IPOs in general are damaged by the number of people hurt investing a ton of money to find they only own a fraction of a company. Legitmate companies seeking capital to grow will be damaged when the market associates IPO with ripoff. This is a legitimate securities practices complaint. And yes, I have complained to the SEC.
When 10 people march off the same cliff because they couldn't read the tiny sign that read "Lookout, cliff ahead!" it is surely a problem. IPOs in general are damaged by the number of people hurt investing a ton of money to find they only own a fraction of a company. Legitmate companies seeking capital to grow will be damaged when the market associates IPO with ripoff. This is a legitimate securities practices complaint. And yes, I have complained to the SEC. Anal retentives that nitpick other people on spelling definitely deserve the name "Anonymous Coward".
I think the biggest problem with the recent spat of IPOs is the way they are reported and marketed. I have yet to read a decent report that clearly states the percentage of stock that will be offered in the IPO.
Take the Palm Pilot IPO. It wasn't until a week after the IPO that the mainstream press picked up on the fact that only 5% of the company had been offered.
Clearly these IPOs are being advertised in a manner to trick unsuspecting daytraders into investing. Big name brokerages and investment groups jump on the bandwagon because they know a biname ".COM" or tech stock will jump through the roof nontheless because of investor ignorance. Trading groups should be required to clearly state what percent stake in the company is being offered when advertising IPOs. This is pure consumer ripoff. Sure the details are in the perspectus, but perspectuses (perspecti?) are often unintelligible to the common investor.
What they really needed to do was develop a better marketing plan. They should have produced a ton more handsets but made sure 4/5 of them were defective. The should have set the price at $100 per handset and sold the airtime for $1/min. Offer a premuim service for $500/handset and $20/min. Everyone but the premium customers get the message "Were sorry but all satellites are currently busy. Please stay on the line and the next available satellite will assist you." They have to stay online for 15 min to get a connection and get auto-disconnectd after 5 min. Push out lots of press reports saying ,"After being bombarded with much more demand than expected we are currently in the process of upgrading our service." ala` AOL style.
This is yet another example of Microsoft's strategy of announcing products that either will never happen or are very far from being a real product. This strategy allows them to "steal the thunder" from other competitors. How many times has the rumor circulated that MS will relase somthing as OpenSource? Bugaboo. How many times has MS overmarketed a product years from release, even going as far as saying it beats tangible products already on the markey? Bugaboo. Can we say X-Box anyone? Woh about NT with good 3D support? How obout embedded NT? Bugabuggabooooo.
Be glad you don't live in a country where the entire legal system goes belly-up for big business at the drop of a dime.
I've read many of the responses to this article and I think there is a big misunderstanding. Sure there are lots of online college classes. Sure there are some Universities and Chat offer full degree programs online. But what of quality? Has any of these programs evolved the learning/teaching process to meet the demands of a new meduim or simply copied existing ideas/techniques?
What IVY Leage is supposed to mean is that there is a given level of quality both in the teaching and a suffieceintly high level of difficulty to gaurantee graduating students meet high standards. Most universities run their school just like a business. Selling classes online is a cheap revenue generator. Acccreditation is a joke and is pretty much worthless. It also means that potential employers know that when they hire a graduate they are getting what they pay for.
The next question is what would someone have to do to create such an institution?