Some of us have girlfriends/partners/spouses, and we occasionally drive each others' vehicles for reasons of convenience, pleasure, etc.
Back in the 90s my then-g/f and I used to regularly swap cars (all above board with insurance etc.) depending on where we were going, what we were gonna be carrying, even which car had most fuel in it, etc. etc.
In fact more recently I did the same thing for about a year or so when I lived with a woman for a while who had kids - her car had child seats in it, mine didn't. Rather than keep moving the child seats, if we were moving kids about, we took her car; if we were moving loads of shopping about (and no kids), we took mine, regardless of who was actually driving.
In either case, if the law had come along weeks or months later and said "who was driving your car at 8.13pm on such and such a date", we'd have had no fecking idea.
I wonder if that's why UK prime minister David Cameron used to think that LOL meant "Lots of Love"? Perhaps he'd been given a similar list by the UK spooks based on the US one?
Smoke from what? Too much current? Its pretty hard to make a pothead smoke!
Wonderful! Despite being interested in electrical distribution, I'd never heard that usage before here in the UK, that's just too funny... "Two three phase electric circuits in a residential neighborhood terminated with potheads", brings wonderful visions to mind...
If you actually have a working ZX80, you do realise it's worth quite a lot of money these days, don't you? Not that I'd sell mine if I had one (I "only" have my old ZX81 and ZX Spectrum (not to mention a QL mouldering in an attic somewhere)) but just to let you know that you should take good care of it...
And you're worried about Iran putting pressure on OPEC? Deal with your lack of domestic energy security. You had 40 years to wake up, but instead you sold everything off to mostly foreign concerns.
And now we're getting the Chinese to build our next generation of nuclear power stations... *facepalm*
Depends on the country I guess. In the UK, BT (British Telecom), easily the biggest single internet provider, will give you a new IP address instantly, every time you power-cycle the router or even if you just press the software disconnect/reconnect button on the router's webpage. I think only once has it ever come straight back with the same one.
I know they're not the only UK ISP to whom that applies also...
So yeah, over here, "powercycle your modem and router" is quite good advice.
The James Bond movie was Goldfinger and that was done by having a girl in a nearby hotel room using a telescope (or high-power binoculars, I forget) to spy on Goldfinger's opponent's hand, then radio it to him via a fake hearing aid.
programming a microwave timer may suck, programming the UI to the new BMW might be cool, or whatever
You might be surprised. By and large, I had far more fun programming point-of-sale systems for petrol stations (US: gas stations) then I did the far more glamorous world of TV digital effects systems. Once you got over the initial eye-popping "oooh wow" factor, it was a sheer grind most of the time. The analogy with "being a prostitute is fun because sex is fun" that someone made up there is spot-on.
I second this. My thoughts exactly. I used to do a lot of embedded work, especially stuff that talks to other devices down RS422. Sometimes you just have to say WHY you are doing stuff in a seemingly counter-intuitive way. Even if your own hardware is sensible, more than once I've had to write comments along the lines of: "/* Because the stupid device at the other end of the cable requires we do it this way round or it breaks. */"
I would also worry about referring to external docs; in most places I've worked, the project leaders have just not been organised enough to do any of that. It would get lost, separated from the source code, or outdated in pretty short order. Unless it's a massive specification document, generally best to put such info in a big comment block near the top of the function, or module, I've found.
In general though, I agree with you. With well chosen names, code structure, and data structure, the actual code should largely explain itself.
Another note for The Planiverse, which I read long before Flatland and much preferred -- the older novel was a disappointment by comparison when I finally managed to track it down.
Yup, I gathered that might be the case from something I read. Apparently with some laptops you can flash a new BIOS to fix that, but their doesn't appear to be one for my model. Also the BIOS flasher may only work under Windows (although I haven't double-checked that), and since my copy of Windows is lunched... *sigh*.
And yeah, I'd love to get a new laptop, but am totally broke at the moment and this was a very kind gift from someone, so I have to make do with it the best I can. It was a very nice machine when it worked.
Mind you, I agree with you that it should be the BIOS's job to do that, but if not just Acer, but Tosh and Sony are having the same issues... well yes, they ALL need a good kicking to be honest... but equally, the Linux/Ubuntu devs, even though they shouldn't have to, would be wise to look into it, doncha think?
To be honest, the whole laptop heat management thing is a broader issue. My ex- had an HP that overheated cos the fan gave out after nine months, she sent it back and got it repaired and four months later it was starting to go again. (And no, she didn't smoke, nor had a house full of fluff or animal hair.) I seriously wonder if anyone can make a laptop that doesn't overheat any more, most of my friends have some kind of issues, I'm amazed there's not been a class-action suit somewhere over it. The only one I know that definitely doesn't is a friend with a business model. Bloody noisy fan, but it never overheats...
Ummm thanks for the info. Not really my style, but I'll look into it. After all, it was a perfectly legal install of Vista that decided to lunch itself one day, my only crime was to try to create a new user profile... at which point it corrupted all of them.
That's precisely why I haven't installed it.:-D If you'd read what I put, I'm still just booting from the Ubuntu Live CD, and the overheating is the very reason I *won't* install it permanently.
Also, your attitude is a great example of why people aren't moving to the Linux desktop in droves. Got a problem with Ubuntu running on your machine? Well that's YOUR fault for not checking it out properly first. (Even though, actually, I am.)
C'mon, this isn't NoName Box from Outer Mongolia, it's an Acer, hardly the rarest brand in the world; and more to the point I was shocked when I went to the forums to find that really prestigious brand laptops (Toshiba, Sony Vaio) are having the same issues with it.
Last year I inherited a nice Acer Aspire laptop, just a year or so old. It came with that abomination called Windows Vista, which true to form managed to lunch itself (corrupting all user profiles) within 3 months of me having it. After a couple of half-hearted attempts to fix Vista, I switched to using an Ubuntu Live CD... and now I have to keep a fan sitting underneath it to stop it shutting down from overheating.
It's not that the built-in fan is inadequate, it's that it just doesn't come on for long enough. The machine warms up, the fan comes on for about 20-30 seconds, and then, inexplicably, turns itself off again, leaving the machine to get hotter and hotter until it just turns itself hard-off to protect itself. Under Vista the fan just stayed on as long as needed.
Last week I finally decided I'd had enough of this and went trawling round all the Ubuntu forums. I spent a couple of days installing lm-sensors and tinkering around with various other bits of software and various things that were suggested. Unfortunately lm-sensors can't see the fan on my machine, there's apparently one chip there it can't recognise. So it seems that I have no way to improve the fan handling on this machine, something the main install should be doing anyway without me having to tinker.
The Ubuntu forums were full of other people with similar complaints "my laptop ran nice and cool on Windows, but on Ubuntu it fries". Mainly Acers, Toshibas and Vaios by the looks of things.
I was planning on kicking Vista into the weeds, and doing a full install of Ubuntu onto this machine, but Unity (the stupid insane scrollbars more than anything else) gave me pause for thought, and now the overheating is the killer.
Until Ubuntu can actually make the fan on my laptop work properly so I can actually use the damn computer, it doesn't actually matter which fricking user interface it's lumbered with. Priorities people, priorities.
> Is there anyone that actually likes Unity? Or are Canonical just trying to piss everyone off?
In my darker moments I do sometimes wonder if a certain very large software company didn't pay off someone at Canonical to make the switch, thus helping to neuter the Linux desktop threat by ruining its most successful distribution and fracturing the Linux desktop community. Very cunning move, if so.
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Some of us have girlfriends/partners/spouses, and we occasionally drive each others' vehicles for reasons of convenience, pleasure, etc.
Back in the 90s my then-g/f and I used to regularly swap cars (all above board with insurance etc.) depending on where we were going, what we were gonna be carrying, even which car had most fuel in it, etc. etc.
In fact more recently I did the same thing for about a year or so when I lived with a woman for a while who had kids - her car had child seats in it, mine didn't. Rather than keep moving the child seats, if we were moving kids about, we took her car; if we were moving loads of shopping about (and no kids), we took mine, regardless of who was actually driving.
In either case, if the law had come along weeks or months later and said "who was driving your car at 8.13pm on such and such a date", we'd have had no fecking idea.
I wonder if that's why UK prime minister David Cameron used to think that LOL meant "Lots of Love"? Perhaps he'd been given a similar list by the UK spooks based on the US one?
Smoke from what? Too much current? Its pretty hard to make a pothead smoke!
Wonderful! Despite being interested in electrical distribution, I'd never heard that usage before here in the UK, that's just too funny... "Two three phase electric circuits in a residential neighborhood terminated with potheads", brings wonderful visions to mind...
And no, I don't smoke it...
the BBC does such a great job. I'm saddened I cannot get their TV channel.
iPlayer and a UK proxy should do you just fine.
Although the Beeb is far from perfect... but probably far better than what you get at the moment.
"people die from smallpox and guns and other unknown diseases"
I'm pretty sure at least one of those was unintentional.
I just thought it was a bit of anti-gun-lobby humour, myself.
If you actually have a working ZX80, you do realise it's worth quite a lot of money these days, don't you? Not that I'd sell mine if I had one (I "only" have my old ZX81 and ZX Spectrum (not to mention a QL mouldering in an attic somewhere)) but just to let you know that you should take good care of it...
And you're worried about Iran putting pressure on OPEC? Deal with your lack of domestic energy security. You had 40 years to wake up, but instead you sold everything off to mostly foreign concerns.
And now we're getting the Chinese to build our next generation of nuclear power stations... *facepalm*
Depends on the country I guess. In the UK, BT (British Telecom), easily the biggest single internet provider, will give you a new IP address instantly, every time you power-cycle the router or even if you just press the software disconnect/reconnect button on the router's webpage. I think only once has it ever come straight back with the same one.
I know they're not the only UK ISP to whom that applies also...
So yeah, over here, "powercycle your modem and router" is quite good advice.
Until Rusbridger apologises for the contempt with which he treated his readership over the Max Gogarty affair, I will never buy another edition.
The James Bond movie was Goldfinger and that was done by having a girl in a nearby hotel room using a telescope (or high-power binoculars, I forget) to spy on Goldfinger's opponent's hand, then radio it to him via a fake hearing aid.
How does that work then, given that analogue (sic for the UK) ETACS phones were withdrawn in the UK on 31st May 2001?
Or are you talking about some kind of walkie-talkie thing?
Or are you just trolling?
programming a microwave timer may suck, programming the UI to the new BMW might be cool, or whatever
You might be surprised. By and large, I had far more fun programming point-of-sale systems for petrol stations (US: gas stations) then I did the far more glamorous world of TV digital effects systems. Once you got over the initial eye-popping "oooh wow" factor, it was a sheer grind most of the time. The analogy with "being a prostitute is fun because sex is fun" that someone made up there is spot-on.
> 'From July 2012 through May 2013, the full cost has been £3.8 million ($5,963,340),'
The Six Million Dollar Man, then...
I second this. My thoughts exactly. I used to do a lot of embedded work, especially stuff that talks to other devices down RS422. Sometimes you just have to say WHY you are doing stuff in a seemingly counter-intuitive way. Even if your own hardware is sensible, more than once I've had to write comments along the lines of:
"/* Because the stupid device at the other end of the cable requires we do it this way round or it breaks. */"
I would also worry about referring to external docs; in most places I've worked, the project leaders have just not been organised enough to do any of that. It would get lost, separated from the source code, or outdated in pretty short order. Unless it's a massive specification document, generally best to put such info in a big comment block near the top of the function, or module, I've found.
In general though, I agree with you. With well chosen names, code structure, and data structure, the actual code should largely explain itself.
Excellent question. Wish I had mod points.
Lose Unity.
Still... two... questions...
Another note for The Planiverse, which I read long before Flatland and much preferred -- the older novel was a disappointment by comparison when I finally managed to track it down.
Damn, I wish I had mod points for you right now!
Yup, I gathered that might be the case from something I read. Apparently with some laptops you can flash a new BIOS to fix that, but their doesn't appear to be one for my model. Also the BIOS flasher may only work under Windows (although I haven't double-checked that), and since my copy of Windows is lunched... *sigh*.
And yeah, I'd love to get a new laptop, but am totally broke at the moment and this was a very kind gift from someone, so I have to make do with it the best I can. It was a very nice machine when it worked.
Mind you, I agree with you that it should be the BIOS's job to do that, but if not just Acer, but Tosh and Sony are having the same issues... well yes, they ALL need a good kicking to be honest... but equally, the Linux/Ubuntu devs, even though they shouldn't have to, would be wise to look into it, doncha think?
To be honest, the whole laptop heat management thing is a broader issue. My ex- had an HP that overheated cos the fan gave out after nine months, she sent it back and got it repaired and four months later it was starting to go again. (And no, she didn't smoke, nor had a house full of fluff or animal hair.) I seriously wonder if anyone can make a laptop that doesn't overheat any more, most of my friends have some kind of issues, I'm amazed there's not been a class-action suit somewhere over it. The only one I know that definitely doesn't is a friend with a business model. Bloody noisy fan, but it never overheats...
Ummm thanks for the info. Not really my style, but I'll look into it. After all, it was a perfectly legal install of Vista that decided to lunch itself one day, my only crime was to try to create a new user profile... at which point it corrupted all of them.
That's precisely why I haven't installed it. :-D If you'd read what I put, I'm still just booting from the Ubuntu Live CD, and the overheating is the very reason I *won't* install it permanently.
Also, your attitude is a great example of why people aren't moving to the Linux desktop in droves. Got a problem with Ubuntu running on your machine? Well that's YOUR fault for not checking it out properly first. (Even though, actually, I am.)
C'mon, this isn't NoName Box from Outer Mongolia, it's an Acer, hardly the rarest brand in the world; and more to the point I was shocked when I went to the forums to find that really prestigious brand laptops (Toshiba, Sony Vaio) are having the same issues with it.
Last year I inherited a nice Acer Aspire laptop, just a year or so old. It came with that abomination called Windows Vista, which true to form managed to lunch itself (corrupting all user profiles) within 3 months of me having it. After a couple of half-hearted attempts to fix Vista, I switched to using an Ubuntu Live CD... and now I have to keep a fan sitting underneath it to stop it shutting down from overheating.
It's not that the built-in fan is inadequate, it's that it just doesn't come on for long enough. The machine warms up, the fan comes on for about 20-30 seconds, and then, inexplicably, turns itself off again, leaving the machine to get hotter and hotter until it just turns itself hard-off to protect itself. Under Vista the fan just stayed on as long as needed.
Last week I finally decided I'd had enough of this and went trawling round all the Ubuntu forums. I spent a couple of days installing lm-sensors and tinkering around with various other bits of software and various things that were suggested. Unfortunately lm-sensors can't see the fan on my machine, there's apparently one chip there it can't recognise. So it seems that I have no way to improve the fan handling on this machine, something the main install should be doing anyway without me having to tinker.
The Ubuntu forums were full of other people with similar complaints "my laptop ran nice and cool on Windows, but on Ubuntu it fries". Mainly Acers, Toshibas and Vaios by the looks of things.
I was planning on kicking Vista into the weeds, and doing a full install of Ubuntu onto this machine, but Unity (the stupid insane scrollbars more than anything else) gave me pause for thought, and now the overheating is the killer.
Until Ubuntu can actually make the fan on my laptop work properly so I can actually use the damn computer, it doesn't actually matter which fricking user interface it's lumbered with. Priorities people, priorities.
> Is there anyone that actually likes Unity? Or are Canonical just trying to piss everyone off?
In my darker moments I do sometimes wonder if a certain very large software company didn't pay off someone at Canonical to make the switch, thus helping to neuter the Linux desktop threat by ruining its most successful distribution and fracturing the Linux desktop community. Very cunning move, if so.
Yup, despite my reservations stated above, that's the ONLY reason I can see for him to take this job.