What will happen, though, is the pilot of said airplane may try to 'check his email on this cool new Outlook control surface thingy' and the plane will be instantly infected with virus... and *then* it'll crash into a mountain, subroutine or none!
... there was a gameboy concert in Belgium put on by 4 or 5 8bit artists. I forget the name of the place, but apparently it was a really good gig for them...
I agree with you. I'm a certified geek (got my socks in '78) and I have no intention whatsoever of ever wearing a computer.
Of course, I'm quite happy to lug around my Clie NX70v, my Siemens cell phone, the WLAN card, and a few other things, though.
Come to think of it, I've changed my mind. If someone can build me a PDA/Cell combo that fits in a nice stylish leather jacket, I'd wear it. But it'd have to be a jacket first, computer thing second - none of this crappy TechVest shit!
It is fearmongering, you are right, but do not be so naive to discount it at face value.
That food you bought in the grocery store. It was fresh. It probably had to be ordered from a market.
If the phones ('the net') go down for a week, maybe two... then how will orders be placed?
Give this information-addicted society 4 weeks of nothing - i.e., the grid goes down - and what will things be like when it comes back up again? The scenario wherein a massive population is without power for weeks on end is not an unreal one... it is a very real possiblity.
Okay, due to redundancy and the constructive power of people who *do* care in emergency situations enough to get things fixed and running again, maybe the *threat* is overstated.
But the possibility should not be overlooked that it could occur, and if it did occur - what may be the consequences to the society thereafter?
... that is if Optus hasn't changed satellites or frequencies without sending me an update first:-(
What do you do when that happens?
As an ex-pat Aussie who has now spent most of his adult life living in 'bandiwdth-laden' countries such as Germany and the U.S., I have to say that I'm very, very impressed with your setup!
It won't be long before I'll feel comfortable with moving back home, building that house out in the desert, and stocking up with my own satellite supplies - and when I do, I hope I'll be able to follow in your footsteps as you continue to make progress on things!
Re:Does the shuttle problem really limit the ISS?
on
NASA's New Space Wheels
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
I guess this isn't really discussed much, but the whole 'Shuttle == lifeboat' thing is only really a big deal because the U.S. and U.S.S.R. and other countries couldn't come together and agree on a standard docking technology... so the ISS has a couple different types.
The shuttle is on standby for 'rescue service' only when it is *attached* to the ISS itself. In other words - there can only be, at a time, enough ships to take everyone on board back home to Earth.
The ISS can't accomodate more than 2 Soyuz docking scenario's - 1 for a crew return module, and the other for the Progress supply vessels.
The 'other' docking capabilities on ISS are only for the Shuttle...
Anyone know what the absolutely latest and greatest BeOS version for us humble BeBox owners is?
I've gotta get my machine back up and running (it was raped for ram and video years ago...) but when I do, I want to run the best OS I can on it. Any suggestions?
(Yes, I know about the BeBox-linux project, but are there other interesting things to do with BeBoxen?)
Coordinate with online musicians: ampfea.org
on
Free Sound Samples?
·
· Score: 3, Informative
You might also get results if you turn to other online forums for musicians too - there's no point asking slashdot.org, when you could spend maybe 10 minutes to find some of the musician communities that are out there, and just ask there.
Come to ampfea.org, subscribe to the music-bar mailing list, and ask for folks on there to help you come up with original sound effects for free inclusion in your game. There are *plenty* of budding sound designers, musicians, and sound engineer types on this mailing list (music-bar) and more than likely you'll find what you need.
Maybe you'll even come up with some interesting new directions in sound design for your game engine too?!
(PS - we have free samples in the ampfea.org/files section, too... you might spend some time browsing our archives, there are sound effects in there, and more importantly, contact details for folks who contributed such effects too...)
It is time we formed "Peoples Corporations" whose sole business role and duty is:
To hold secure, private, and safe, the collective copyright/information pool on *all* works produced by staff members, indefinitely, including personal information.
So, we start a company, and everyone agree to change their middle name to whatever we call it, and from that point on turn over the copyright on *all* personal information generated by members to this corporation, which is run to keep everyones details *100%* safe from all other entities.
This is a legal restriction on free thought and development.
Well, this is one of the best summaries of the situation I have ever heard, and I will quote you on this in any discussions I have about this situation.
It is a terrible situation that information - the most abundant resource available to the human species - is being controlled by a few in order to cultivate many...
Well, then you wouldn't be a 'programmer', you'd be more like a... husband, or something.
But seriously: SubEthaEdit rawks hardcore. Put two people together to work on the same code together, and it can make for some really nice results... you have to think of it more as a team scenario, constantly communicating and discussing things -as needed- and then working around/with each other too. It can go like this:
Programmer Bob - "Okay, I'll do all the util code today for module_XXX - load/save/parse/etc."
Programmer Jane - "As you start to get that stuff working, I'll do the structural work for the major logic."
You can really work efficiently this way, because by having another person to talk things through you can get a structure/organized state very rapidly.
Many programmers have a difficult time laying out their app structure individually, choosing to 'evolve' the framework of their app as they figure things out - paired programming is designed to overcome the 'flaying around blindly' aspect of design, by giving you another pair of eyes.
Done right, it can be very, very, very efficient. But, of course, as with anything: it can also be a pain in the ass.
Continue to use per-desk PC's, albeit cheaper/better/easier to administer, and continue to utilize 'upgrade' licensing schemes - the cheapest you can possibly get from Microsoft, is, probably, very cheap - to maintain the OS upgrade/fix end of things, and you can probably do this all very cheap.
"Thin-client" is just another word for extremely small/light/cheap PC-in-a-box. So maybe the simpler option to 'considering remote client solutions' is simply, put it all into better hardware (new CPU/more RAM/*standard* video for all systems/etc.) and don't change your existing software standards... or at least, don't change it much. Maybe re-think your use of networking and other such things, but still within the framework of your existing OS setup.
If you maintain your existing stance with regard to how well your business problems are solved by your software systems, and give it a 'boost' with periodical hardware upgrades for key areas/servers every now and then, there is little reason to drastically change everything at all.
When the PC is akin to the size/heft of a block of printer paper, 'administration' becomes relatively trivial - particularly in an organization of 2,000 people or so... if you've got your software worked out.
Just get smaller, lighter, cheaper PC's, and refresh them every now and then. Convert as much as possible to cheap laptops and monitors, even.
"Best tool for the job" in this case would be one which protects democracy. The code must be available, and viewable, so that it can be scrutinized for backdoors/bugs/problems which might interfere with the democratic process.
So, therefore, open public code is the best tool for the job - how else can we guarantee - to the public - that the software is going to accurately record their vote?
Seriously though, I think it'd be kind of interesting to make a computer model - in video game context - of these villages, and the problems/solutions they encountered.
Think about it, the management of these villages and the structures they built has some parallel to the "Age of Mythology" resource-management paradigm.
I'm sure it would be interesting to develop computer models of the surrounding flora/fauna based on human impact as well as provide an interface for managing their road systems geometrically using stargazing and such...
There are anthropological computer models around, I know that... I remember running "WORLD.EXE" in the 70's even, heh heh... but I wonder if modern anthropological software tools are being used on this project to perform modelling theories about the resource usage, etc?
Yes, incidentally, in the New Global Economy, aren't these "outside of English-speaking countries" supposed to be a new source of global wealth and economic stability?
Nintendo, for some reason, seems to have no problems being sold in downtown markets where nobody speaks English.
I do care about the future of Linux, but one thing that everyone that has been involved in Linux has to understand that free, open, honest source code has its liabilities. Linux coders *MUST* be careful not to break laws, and violate other intellectual property - and the only way to do this is to continue to have open publication of the code for others to review.
If Linux went to court over some IP issue, then that would be fair - the courts are *supposed* to be a fair-dealing arena for the addressing of wrongs. Yes, it would suck to have Linux go up against a million-dollar lawyer, but then: if the law is broke, the law is broke. Fix it.
Slashdot Mirror
Anyway, why should I prove anything to you?
For fun? Because I'm cool? Because you might get to know me, fall in love, and move to Germany?
c'mon ... prove it. lets see a pic.
no, wait, a webcam! yeah, lets see a webcam!
oh, and are you wearing a skirt today by any chance?
Good point.
... and *then* it'll crash into a mountain, subroutine or none!
What will happen, though, is the pilot of said airplane may try to 'check his email on this cool new Outlook control surface thingy' and the plane will be instantly infected with virus
... there was a gameboy concert in Belgium put on by 4 or 5 8bit artists. I forget the name of the place, but apparently it was a really good gig for them ...
I agree with you. I'm a certified geek (got my socks in '78) and I have no intention whatsoever of ever wearing a computer.
Of course, I'm quite happy to lug around my Clie NX70v, my Siemens cell phone, the WLAN card, and a few other things, though.
Come to think of it, I've changed my mind. If someone can build me a PDA/Cell combo that fits in a nice stylish leather jacket, I'd wear it. But it'd have to be a jacket first, computer thing second - none of this crappy TechVest shit!
Looks like the Chinese Government is going to have to do their own compile and compare binaries ...
... heh heh. Yeah. Right.
*pffftt*
It is fearmongering, you are right, but do not be so naive to discount it at face value.
... then how will orders be placed?
... it is a very real possiblity.
That food you bought in the grocery store. It was fresh. It probably had to be ordered from a market.
If the phones ('the net') go down for a week, maybe two
Give this information-addicted society 4 weeks of nothing - i.e., the grid goes down - and what will things be like when it comes back up again? The scenario wherein a massive population is without power for weeks on end is not an unreal one
Okay, due to redundancy and the constructive power of people who *do* care in emergency situations enough to get things fixed and running again, maybe the *threat* is overstated.
But the possibility should not be overlooked that it could occur, and if it did occur - what may be the consequences to the society thereafter?
What do you do when that happens?
As an ex-pat Aussie who has now spent most of his adult life living in 'bandiwdth-laden' countries such as Germany and the U.S., I have to say that I'm very, very impressed with your setup!
It won't be long before I'll feel comfortable with moving back home, building that house out in the desert, and stocking up with my own satellite supplies - and when I do, I hope I'll be able to follow in your footsteps as you continue to make progress on things!
I guess this isn't really discussed much, but the whole 'Shuttle == lifeboat' thing is only really a big deal because the U.S. and U.S.S.R. and other countries couldn't come together and agree on a standard docking technology ... so the ISS has a couple different types.
...
The shuttle is on standby for 'rescue service' only when it is *attached* to the ISS itself. In other words - there can only be, at a time, enough ships to take everyone on board back home to Earth.
The ISS can't accomodate more than 2 Soyuz docking scenario's - 1 for a crew return module, and the other for the Progress supply vessels.
The 'other' docking capabilities on ISS are only for the Shuttle
Anyone know what the absolutely latest and greatest BeOS version for us humble BeBox owners is?
I've gotta get my machine back up and running (it was raped for ram and video years ago...) but when I do, I want to run the best OS I can on it. Any suggestions?
(Yes, I know about the BeBox-linux project, but are there other interesting things to do with BeBoxen?)
You might also get results if you turn to other online forums for musicians too - there's no point asking slashdot.org, when you could spend maybe 10 minutes to find some of the musician communities that are out there, and just ask there.
/files section, too ... you might spend some time browsing our archives, there are sound effects in there, and more importantly, contact details for folks who contributed such effects too...)
Come to ampfea.org, subscribe to the music-bar mailing list, and ask for folks on there to help you come up with original sound effects for free inclusion in your game. There are *plenty* of budding sound designers, musicians, and sound engineer types on this mailing list (music-bar) and more than likely you'll find what you need.
Maybe you'll even come up with some interesting new directions in sound design for your game engine too?!
(PS - we have free samples in the ampfea.org
It is time we formed "Peoples Corporations" whose sole business role and duty is:
To hold secure, private, and safe, the collective copyright/information pool on *all* works produced by staff members, indefinitely, including personal information.
So, we start a company, and everyone agree to change their middle name to whatever we call it, and from that point on turn over the copyright on *all* personal information generated by members to this corporation, which is run to keep everyones details *100%* safe from all other entities.
Private information security.
This is a legal restriction on free thought and development.
Well, this is one of the best summaries of the situation I have ever heard, and I will quote you on this in any discussions I have about this situation.
It is a terrible situation that information - the most abundant resource available to the human species - is being controlled by a few in order to cultivate many...
Terrible.
Ummm...
'remote control ' is not a device, it is a function, and this couch would be implementing it.
Well, then you wouldn't be a 'programmer', you'd be more like a ... husband, or something.
... you have to think of it more as a team scenario, constantly communicating and discussing things -as needed- and then working around/with each other too. It can go like this:
But seriously: SubEthaEdit rawks hardcore. Put two people together to work on the same code together, and it can make for some really nice results
Programmer Bob - "Okay, I'll do all the util code today for module_XXX - load/save/parse/etc."
Programmer Jane - "As you start to get that stuff working, I'll do the structural work for the major logic."
You can really work efficiently this way, because by having another person to talk things through you can get a structure/organized state very rapidly.
Many programmers have a difficult time laying out their app structure individually, choosing to 'evolve' the framework of their app as they figure things out - paired programming is designed to overcome the 'flaying around blindly' aspect of design, by giving you another pair of eyes.
Done right, it can be very, very, very efficient. But, of course, as with anything: it can also be a pain in the ass.
Okay, no I'm not.
... or at least, don't change it much. Maybe re-think your use of networking and other such things, but still within the framework of your existing OS setup.
Why change?
What do you need to 'fix' in the existing system?
Continue to use per-desk PC's, albeit cheaper/better/easier to administer, and continue to utilize 'upgrade' licensing schemes - the cheapest you can possibly get from Microsoft, is, probably, very cheap - to maintain the OS upgrade/fix end of things, and you can probably do this all very cheap.
"Thin-client" is just another word for extremely small/light/cheap PC-in-a-box. So maybe the simpler option to 'considering remote client solutions' is simply, put it all into better hardware (new CPU/more RAM/*standard* video for all systems/etc.) and don't change your existing software standards
If you maintain your existing stance with regard to how well your business problems are solved by your software systems, and give it a 'boost' with periodical hardware upgrades for key areas/servers every now and then, there is little reason to drastically change everything at all.
When the PC is akin to the size/heft of a block of printer paper, 'administration' becomes relatively trivial - particularly in an organization of 2,000 people or so... if you've got your software worked out.
Just get smaller, lighter, cheaper PC's, and refresh them every now and then. Convert as much as possible to cheap laptops and monitors, even.
They are out there.
My middle mouse button thanks you, sir.
... how can anyone be 'addicted' to horoscopes?
....
Ooooh... I "have" to have my fix of the Pisces prediction for today, ooh
Ever heard of Florida, 2000 elections? Dubya?
...
He got in because of the 'old-sk00l' methods, and how reliable they are
"Best tool for the job" in this case would be one which protects democracy. The code must be available, and viewable, so that it can be scrutinized for backdoors/bugs/problems which might interfere with the democratic process.
So, therefore, open public code is the best tool for the job - how else can we guarantee - to the public - that the software is going to accurately record their vote?
Of course, its 'got the humanoid' ... but, hey.
That has stuck in my head for years...
Seriously though, I think it'd be kind of interesting to make a computer model - in video game context - of these villages, and the problems/solutions they encountered.
... I remember running "WORLD.EXE" in the 70's even, heh heh ... but I wonder if modern anthropological software tools are being used on this project to perform modelling theories about the resource usage, etc?
Think about it, the management of these villages and the structures they built has some parallel to the "Age of Mythology" resource-management paradigm.
I'm sure it would be interesting to develop computer models of the surrounding flora/fauna based on human impact as well as provide an interface for managing their road systems geometrically using stargazing and such...
There are anthropological computer models around, I know that
Yes, incidentally, in the New Global Economy, aren't these "outside of English-speaking countries" supposed to be a new source of global wealth and economic stability?
Nintendo, for some reason, seems to have no problems being sold in downtown markets where nobody speaks English.
Wonder why that is, exactly?
Situation Terrible - Fucked Up
I do care about the future of Linux, but one thing that everyone that has been involved in Linux has to understand that free, open, honest source code has its liabilities. Linux coders *MUST* be careful not to break laws, and violate other intellectual property - and the only way to do this is to continue to have open publication of the code for others to review.
If Linux went to court over some IP issue, then that would be fair - the courts are *supposed* to be a fair-dealing arena for the addressing of wrongs. Yes, it would suck to have Linux go up against a million-dollar lawyer, but then: if the law is broke, the law is broke. Fix it.