Maybe this will be enough to get me tossed in jail for conspiracy, but in about 1986, I remember friends and I contemplating what it would take to convert the Estes Alpha III (the one with plastic nosecone and fins) into something with an explosive payload. After all, you COULD take the stock Estes launcher and turn it horizontial.
We had dreams of a spectacular explosion as we launched it horizontially into some brick wall.
Of course - thank God, we never did it. Good things that the ideas of a 12 year old don't always match up with the abilities of ourselves later in life. But then again . ..we DID build that bottle rocket launcher on that car....
Here's a prediction. My next issue of WIRED will be filled with interesting articles. I'll read the whole thing, then two weeks later, half the stories in the magazine will be submitted as/. stories.
Some month, I'm gonna go through story by story and submit the whole damn magazine the day I get it.
The idea of a logic bomb reminds me of a "trick" we used to play on some of the outside consultants we had to work with and share CAD drawings with.
We called it the memory bomb. Here's how it worked - find some obscure spot in the middle of a cluttered, but usable drawing. We'd create a circle of near zero value, and create a polar array on top of itself, rotating each copy about a tenth of a degree, stacking about 5000-10,000 circles on top of each other.
Net effect - what appears to anyone who looks at it as a dot buried under a line, is actually enough material to bog down just about any computer at the time, and make the filesize about 10 times normal. Fun for the whole famiy.
Think you're getting enough fiber with your current telco? It'll take 750 miles of your current dark fiber to equalone mile of new Oregon Colon Blow Fiber!
(cut to shot of guy sitting on top of 750 miles of fiber)
I consistently find myself wishing I had some other computer monkeys to help me with some of the menial tasks that my work requires...the "making license plates" that does so little for me.
Thankfully, I have a very impregnable wife - she's cranked out two little computer monkeys for me so far - they're 3 and 1, and I figure that within a year or so, I can have them building 3D objects for me, doing the random photoshop cleanup to my texture maps, and generally taking workload off of me so I can spend more of my workday doing what God intended people to do during the workday - play games!!
Oops ..gotta run ... need to go explain NURBS curves to the 3 year old . ..they grow up so fast . ..*SNIFFLE*
You got me, $199.99 isn't the same as free. The point I was trying to make is that they're figuratively giving away a piece of hardware worth much more than the street price, because as we've all been told by Monkey Boy . . errr ..Steve Ballmer...their economic model for the XBox is based on selling X number of games to each console buyer.
Those at microsoft in charge of the bottom line would probably not see quite as much of a broad-stroked line as you or I do between selling at a loss and giving away for free.
I'm a workstation 3D user, and to say that there hasn't been a downward trend in the cost of 3D accelerators is in my mind, a mistake. Three, four years ago, you would have been hard pressed to get a workstation-class video card for less a couple thousand dollars.
Then - 3D gaming really took off, and the game market began to drive down the cost of 3D acceleration. As a result, I'm now able to run a video card (nVidia Quadro4 750 XGL) that cost $600, which, without a market for faster and faster gaming cards, might still be a $2500 card. Granted - there are still multiple thousand dollar workstation cards out there.
But if you really look at the performance of what you can get in a video card for less than $100, its remarkable. The rise of the GPU has totally reshaped the performance of video cards. Sure, you still have to fork out a couple hundred bucks for the latest and greatest. But holy crap. Look what you get anymore with the latest and greatest.
I guess I just have little sympathy for people complaining about having to pay $150-$200 for some card when I am delighted to be able to get my high end card for $600. Stuff costs.
On the 10th of the month or so, when my hard copy of WIRED arrives, I'm going to head to/., and submit a story for every story in the magazine. I don't think I can fail!
All my news sources are converging. . . . i'm becoming . . ..less interesting!
At least that hard copy of WIRED holds up to a month in the bathroom . . ..
I do architectural visualization work - one major application of this is a way to have an immersive presentation space in-office without having to drop major jack on a C.A.V.E. setup (three walls and a floor plus shutterglasses).
Client could come in, sit in out conference room, and we could pop up their design onscreen, hit the 3D switch, and suddenly they're seeing the design in a semi-immersive environment.
I just created my own telecommuting position with the company I am with. Essentially - I needed to move about 400 miles away for my family's sake, but didn't want to stop working for the company.
Just approached the boss with a proposal. Took a few months to grow on him, but he went for it - and its working. Its working better than we could have hoped. What it really boiled down to - is that the tasks that I actually perform have little relationship to the relative position of my butt in XYZ space. Now if I was making license plates or ceramic widget polishers or something in a factory.. it might be different. . . . but give me a fast net connection, a webcam and a mic, and in some ways it works better than before.
My firm does Landscape Architecture, Land Planning, and Architectural Visualization. We run into the same thing all the time. Because we're much smaller and leaner, we can generally offer better service, better product, at a MUCH lower cost than larger firms.
The catch-22 of the whole thing is that the client will bitch about how much money you're costing them . . . then you'll hear through back channels at the end of the project that they aren't happy because they don't think they paid enough for the high quality product they got.
I've got untold colleagues in other professions who have had essentially the same experience. I think it boils down to this - people want to feel violated. There's a mindset of "if it doesn't hurt, it can't be good" . ..
they let me centralize our files. An office full of CAD drawings and 3D models can get screwed up pretty quick when a drive goes down.
We put in a 240 GB NAS box, stuck all of our data on it (it only filled 20 gig), and I run automated backup on it every day. Had to invest about four grand in it, but it was worth it. Case in point - our accountant (boss's wife)'s drive died yesterday. Gee, whats all our billing information worth? Think maybe we paid for that system in one day?
As long as I have to wait for my machine to render, I can always use more power. When I can 3D model in realtime with raytracing and shadows, etc - then we can start having this discussion.
Of course - I can't wait for the next time I step into BestBuy and hear the salesman tellin the 75 year old guy who just wants to be able to read the email his granddaughter wants to send him that "oh yeah - you definitely want the power of that 1.7 gHz machine as opposed to that pokey little 1.2 gHz box. it'll make your net connection a lot faster."
two sides to every arguement.
After fighting my way through design school trying to argue with old-school profs who felt that CAD was a watering down of design, it is just as frustrating to hear comments about the non-art status of computer generated art.
When it comes to art and design (the two of which are fairly finely intertwined), the computer should be seen merely as a tool. It does not make you a better artist or architect or illustrator or graphic designer. The bad name that has come from computers in the art and design fields is from those attempted artists and designers who were bad artists and designers before they touched a mouse or tablet.
I could blab for hours on this. If i had to guess, it was some pointy headed academics who made these comments. Remember - those who can, do. Those who can't teach. We criticize that which we can't understand or do.
signed,
just another computer artist who isn't producing art,
vizualizr
Slashdot Mirror
Maybe this will be enough to get me tossed in jail for conspiracy, but in about 1986, I remember friends and I contemplating what it would take to convert the Estes Alpha III (the one with plastic nosecone and fins) into something with an explosive payload. After all, you COULD take the stock Estes launcher and turn it horizontial.
.we DID build that bottle rocket launcher on that car ... .
... . .
We had dreams of a spectacular explosion as we launched it horizontially into some brick wall.
Of course - thank God, we never did it. Good things that the ideas of a 12 year old don't always match up with the abilities of ourselves later in life. But then again . .
But thats another story
Here's a prediction. My next issue of WIRED will be filled with interesting articles. I'll read the whole thing, then two weeks later, half the stories in the magazine will be submitted as /. stories.
Some month, I'm gonna go through story by story and submit the whole damn magazine the day I get it.
This weekend at walmart, we're rolling back prices. Look at this example;
The Beast - was $665.95
Now $665.93
Always the lowest prices on the brands you trust. Always.
The idea of a logic bomb reminds me of a "trick" we used to play on some of the outside consultants we had to work with and share CAD drawings with.
We called it the memory bomb. Here's how it worked - find some obscure spot in the middle of a cluttered, but usable drawing. We'd create a circle of near zero value, and create a polar array on top of itself, rotating each copy about a tenth of a degree, stacking about 5000-10,000 circles on top of each other.
Net effect - what appears to anyone who looks at it as a dot buried under a line, is actually enough material to bog down just about any computer at the time, and make the filesize about 10 times normal. Fun for the whole famiy.
We were so kind.
Think you're getting enough fiber with your current telco? It'll take 750 miles of your current dark fiber to equalone mile of new Oregon Colon Blow Fiber!
(cut to shot of guy sitting on top of 750 miles of fiber)
nice.
Don't I count, too?
Sincerely,
Saipan
The vacuum repair shop?
no, that idea sucks.
250 Miles per second?
..
now that's what i call a .
QUARK EXPRESS
I consistently find myself wishing I had some other computer monkeys to help me with some of the menial tasks that my work requires .. .the "making license plates" that does so little for me.
.gotta run . .. need to go explain NURBS curves to the 3 year old . . .they grow up so fast . . .*SNIFFLE*
Thankfully, I have a very impregnable wife - she's cranked out two little computer monkeys for me so far - they're 3 and 1, and I figure that within a year or so, I can have them building 3D objects for me, doing the random photoshop cleanup to my texture maps, and generally taking workload off of me so I can spend more of my workday doing what God intended people to do during the workday - play games!!
Oops .
You got me, $199.99 isn't the same as free. The point I was trying to make is that they're figuratively giving away a piece of hardware worth much more than the street price, because as we've all been told by Monkey Boy . . errr . .Steve Ballmer .. .their economic model for the XBox is based on selling X number of games to each console buyer.
Those at microsoft in charge of the bottom line would probably not see quite as much of a broad-stroked line as you or I do between selling at a loss and giving away for free.
This wouldn't be a real new strategy for them. I mean - they're giving away the Xbox to sell games, aren't they?
I'm a workstation 3D user, and to say that there hasn't been a downward trend in the cost of 3D accelerators is in my mind, a mistake. Three, four years ago, you would have been hard pressed to get a workstation-class video card for less a couple thousand dollars.
Then - 3D gaming really took off, and the game market began to drive down the cost of 3D acceleration. As a result, I'm now able to run a video card (nVidia Quadro4 750 XGL) that cost $600, which, without a market for faster and faster gaming cards, might still be a $2500 card. Granted - there are still multiple thousand dollar workstation cards out there.
But if you really look at the performance of what you can get in a video card for less than $100, its remarkable. The rise of the GPU has totally reshaped the performance of video cards. Sure, you still have to fork out a couple hundred bucks for the latest and greatest. But holy crap. Look what you get anymore with the latest and greatest.
I guess I just have little sympathy for people complaining about having to pay $150-$200 for some card when I am delighted to be able to get my high end card for $600. Stuff costs.
back to my little virtual world . . . .
Here's my new plan.
/., and submit a story for every story in the magazine. I don't think I can fail!
.less interesting!
.
On the 10th of the month or so, when my hard copy of WIRED arrives, I'm going to head to
All my news sources are converging. . . . i'm becoming . . .
At least that hard copy of WIRED holds up to a month in the bathroom . . .
I do architectural visualization work - one major application of this is a way to have an immersive presentation space in-office without having to drop major jack on a C.A.V.E. setup (three walls and a floor plus shutterglasses).
Client could come in, sit in out conference room, and we could pop up their design onscreen, hit the 3D switch, and suddenly they're seeing the design in a semi-immersive environment.
I'll take one in 60", please.
they aren't hurting each other?
that just brought my whole worldview crashing down on me.
I just created my own telecommuting position with the company I am with. Essentially - I needed to move about 400 miles away for my family's sake, but didn't want to stop working for the company.
.. it might be different. . . . but give me a fast net connection, a webcam and a mic, and in some ways it works better than before.
.
Just approached the boss with a proposal. Took a few months to grow on him, but he went for it - and its working. Its working better than we could have hoped. What it really boiled down to - is that the tasks that I actually perform have little relationship to the relative position of my butt in XYZ space. Now if I was making license plates or ceramic widget polishers or something in a factory
Noone takes my stapler anymore . . .
My firm does Landscape Architecture, Land Planning, and Architectural Visualization. We run into the same thing all the time. Because we're much smaller and leaner, we can generally offer better service, better product, at a MUCH lower cost than larger firms.
.
The catch-22 of the whole thing is that the client will bitch about how much money you're costing them . . . then you'll hear through back channels at the end of the project that they aren't happy because they don't think they paid enough for the high quality product they got.
I've got untold colleagues in other professions who have had essentially the same experience. I think it boils down to this - people want to feel violated. There's a mindset of "if it doesn't hurt, it can't be good" . .
just2cents.
they let me centralize our files. An office full of CAD drawings and 3D models can get screwed up pretty quick when a drive goes down.
We put in a 240 GB NAS box, stuck all of our data on it (it only filled 20 gig), and I run automated backup on it every day. Had to invest about four grand in it, but it was worth it. Case in point - our accountant (boss's wife)'s drive died yesterday. Gee, whats all our billing information worth? Think maybe we paid for that system in one day?
As long as I have to wait for my machine to render, I can always use more power. When I can 3D model in realtime with raytracing and shadows, etc - then we can start having this discussion. Of course - I can't wait for the next time I step into BestBuy and hear the salesman tellin the 75 year old guy who just wants to be able to read the email his granddaughter wants to send him that "oh yeah - you definitely want the power of that 1.7 gHz machine as opposed to that pokey little 1.2 gHz box. it'll make your net connection a lot faster." two sides to every arguement.
After fighting my way through design school trying to argue with old-school profs who felt that CAD was a watering down of design, it is just as frustrating to hear comments about the non-art status of computer generated art. When it comes to art and design (the two of which are fairly finely intertwined), the computer should be seen merely as a tool. It does not make you a better artist or architect or illustrator or graphic designer. The bad name that has come from computers in the art and design fields is from those attempted artists and designers who were bad artists and designers before they touched a mouse or tablet. I could blab for hours on this. If i had to guess, it was some pointy headed academics who made these comments. Remember - those who can, do. Those who can't teach. We criticize that which we can't understand or do. signed, just another computer artist who isn't producing art, vizualizr