Up until a few years ago MP3 was the ONLY format for listening to music in a bandwidth friendly format.
SDMI or any other format wasn't here. Even now, players for those other formats aren't available on very many operating systems. I don't even know if I can play those on my Windoze box. But I know I can play MP3s on any of my computers.
Its a case of too little too late. They slept until MP3 was too big. And then they tried to sue it away because it wasn't going to be replaced.
... a long long time ago. Slashdot told me to complain to Ars. Ars didn't respond. So I started including Ars in my daily surf, cause I couldn't count on scanning the slashboxes to find headlines of interest.
Maybe some renewed complaining would motivate Ars to review their policy and change their RDF data to list their current headlines, not stuff thats been up for a while.
Cause your question seems out of context. Your advice may have applied the first time he was cracked, but that situation didn't result in any data loss. They left the cracker on the system while they planned a move and upgrade that would secure the boxes. That accomplished their goal, they took care of everything and locked the cracker out of the system.
Then they made the mistake of talking to him on IRC
Then they were cracked a second time. The second time they had no time for backups, the system was being rm -rf'd. Its difficult to make and verify backups while data is disappearing. This time he acted appropriately to minimize the damage. Unfortunately, their backup procedures were sloppy and apparantly their update procedures were also.
I just thought of the obligatory Open Source comment for this - The best thing about learning JScript to program is that most everything out there is open source, you can learn how to dissect it and analyze it and make it your own. For a kid thats been taught how to learn and how to teach themselves, open source anything becomes a classroom by itself.
In the early '80s when I had my first exposure to computers we learned BASIC. It was mind opening and life changing. A good portion of the people reading this discussion had a similar experience somewhere in their childhood. But that early exposure didn't change everyone. Most people that get to high school have exposure to some aspect programming the computer, yet most of them don't do much with it. Why did we go on to do something with it? The answers are many, but at the root is the curiousity, fascination and the desire to make the computer do something new.
Today the computing environment has changed. GUIs are on the desktop, nearly every computer is connected to the Internet and a BASIC interpreter isn't on the machine. The motivations change too. Some kids want their own webpage. Some kids want to impress their more knowledgeable friends. Some just want to message everyone they know. But the tools are still there, they just take on different shapes.
So say a kid wants a web page. He's gotta at least figure out geocities' point and drool file manager to get a couple hundred animated gifs to the server. He's gotta configure some kind of counter. And he's gonna want roll-overs. So chances are, somewhere along the line, there is a chance to learn some JavaScript.
Granted, there is quite a bit of clutter in between the browser and the scripting engine, but it is there and it could be used to greater potential than it is being used. And once a kid has a handle on how information is presented on a web page, it becomes no different than the BASIC interpreters of yore.
What would we do if we were at that age again? Would our fascination with computers be any less? Or could it be nurtured to grow even larger? And are we doing anything to help nurture that?
Either I didn't make my point clear enough, or you didn't get it or you didn't read my post in the context of the one I replied to.
But since it isn't clear, I'll make it so. See, I disagree with NatePWII, who I was replying to, about the viability of another audio compression format. And since Nate's sig mentioned domains at $15 a year, I assumed he was one of the OpenSRS registrars. So I decided that the best way to make my point was to parrot his post, replacing the subject at hand (OggVorbis chances of making it against mp3) with the whole domain registration issue. As a matter of fact, I think I do know how the domain registration system works, having registered domains under both NSI and various OpenSRS registrars. In fact, I've followed the whole evolution of alternate registrars and seem to recall serious comments similar to my parody. And look how they have been wrong. As the existence of Nate's business and the reality of $15/year domains shows, significant competition to a monopoly can arise.
Sure, there are technical details to be worked out, just as there were with opening the domain database to multiple registrars. And there is the issue of momentum in the business world. NSI will continue doing business becuase they are perceived as being trusted and because so many domains are already registered there. Mp3 will continue to be a popular format because of the momentum built up of the applications and hardware that support it. But an open, well engineered format like OggVorbis will be successful in its own right.
Oh, and the cheap shot was in taking Nate's words and twisting them around.
Ok, I hate to compare this to domain registrars but I will. This compression standard will be similar to the Open SRS registrars or the alternative registrars that ICANN has aproved. I mean nobody wants to use anyone else besides Network Solutions simply because they are the standard now, they have a foothold in the market. The same holds true for the MP3 standard. It has gained serious nameshare as well as tonnes of exposure. I mean how well have the other registrars competed with NSI, like register.com and the dotster thing or whatever. Heck, I can't even remember the names of the other registrars, that is how dominant NSI has become. These new registrars will just be another Beta vs. VHS thing, I'm sure of it.
The only thing that will blow NSI away is something which has vastly price and comparable service. Anything else is doomed to obsolesence.
...I know its a cheap shot but I couldn't resist. And I did it to make a point.
We used to sell microscopes and still use an overpriced video camera through some custom microscope optics at work.
One drawback of a video camera as opposed to looking through optics is the relatively low resolution available. The human eye has a far better resolution then the average CCD and this can make a difference, depending on the application.
As other posters pointed out, a video camera mounted to your microscope optics is going to lessen your neck strain and might make you more productive (again, depends on what you are looking at). Just like with a computer, your posture and seat height are also important. And if your job is forcing you to look through one of those cheap or old vertical microscopes, they need to at least get you proper tools to do your job. Binocular microscopes with an angled head are inexpensive nowdays.
To get an idea of what you'd get for an off-the-shelf system, check Edmund Scientific. Dig through their slow CFML catalog for microscopes and video microscopes for a selection of what is avaialable. Others have pointed out that you can put something together for well under their prices.
As far as microscopes in general, there are generally two types, low power binocular scopes and higher powered microscopes for slides (I forget the 'real' name for them).
Binocular Scopes - Usually 10x to 40x magnification, these are great for looking at 'real world' objects. Circuit boards, bugs, that expensive engagement ring you bought and that gash on the end of your finger are all amazing to look at with only 10x or 20x magnification. If you're thinking of buying something for your child to spark their interest in biology or the sciences in general, this is it. They will be able to relate better to the things they look at and you'll find yourself using it as well. These are used professionally by geologists and to inspect circuit boards (among other uses).
'Slide type' microscopes - These are the ones you remember from biology class for looking at pond water or single celled organisims (like that dude in the other comment who is trying to count his own sperm}. Typically having 3 or 4 set magnifications (10x, 40x, 100x, 400x and maybe 1000x combining the eyepiece and objective magnifications) and used with translucent specimens that are illuminated from beneath. These have an entirely different role, typically in biology. These are also fun for kids but they take a little more preparation because of the slides and such.
OK, so there is a start. Hopefully, you'll be able to convince your boss that a decent CCD camera along with a video capture card for your computer to archive and enhance the images is necessary for increased productivity and workplace ergonomics.
Yeah, I burned my mod points to try and push some of that back down and raise some worthier questions that were actually worth discussing and I paid the karma price to little avail. But who cares. We did get to see Mr. Zeldman stand up to the stupid questions and explain himself reasonably. And he threw in a few tidbits of goodness along the way.
Or upgrade do Dreamweaver 3, PHP support (or should I saw PHP ignorance - as in it won't rewrite code) built in.
Or take a look at the documentation on extending Dreamweaver. You might be able to write a translator for the PHP tags as a.dll that plugs into Dreamweaver and tells it to ignore them.
If your web weenies are going to use a WYSIWYG editor, Dreamweaver is the one to go with. As long as they know about the difference between Netscape and IE, they can write cross browser HTML with it. If they can't comprehend even that, a text editor isn't going to be much better for them.
And if they are going to be mucking around in PHP, you might set them up with PHPed (US mirror) as the external editor for Dreamweaver. With the HTML, PHP, and SQL all highlighted they even know what they can mess with and what to leave alone.
Some dude named Joel has a series of great articles at joel.editthispage.com on UI design. His latest installment has some horror stories about the Juno software, making some very good points in the process.
Logitech makes some decent stuff. My wife got me their Marble FX and I alternate between that and a regular mouse and just the variety helps my wrist problems a little. It took a little getting used too but I've even been using it in games. Still kinda sucks for graphics apps but I want a pressure sensitive pad for that. Linux sees it as a regular Logitech mouse with the third button working without any changes. I haven't tried to get the fourth button to work.
The biggest problem I find with Remarq (AKA Supernews) is that they don't seem to archive newsgroups, they just keep a longer selection of current articles. IMO, they are better for reading news through a browser (though nothing beats a good newsreader).
Sounds like you're further along than I am. My biggest problem is getting other people to use anything at all aside from email. I thought Pyra might be a good start because it looked so simple but it lost my test project so I've lost faith there.
The rest of the urls were just flung at you, haven't tried them.:)
Maybe if we had a few more details on the type of project you're working on we'd be able to better reccomend some stuff. You mention a web based project. Pyra might be a good one to take a look at. It lets you set up a tree like hierarchy assigning tasks to multiple users and set different permissions to modify items to different users. Pyra is in beta and I've had one glitch with it though. From Webapps comes ITeamWork and MediaLot. I haven't checked them out but they look promising. You might look at Zaplets. While heavily hyped, this looks a little too consumer oriented to me. The PHP Projects site mentions some task management systems. You could probably easily customise these to fit your needs. Zope might also be worth checking out if you want to customise something. Their Squishdot (Slashdot clone) is easy to set up and might be appropriate for your needs. And there might be other more appropriate Zope modules available for project management.
I don't think the differences are as great as you think.
You are right about religions claiming absolute truth. How easily is faith destroyed when so called absolute truth is broken? Religion has done that time and again. But science has had it's share of absolute truths broken. So individuals with faith in science come to see that their faith has to include change, learning more. In fact, their reward comes from learning more, the advancement of knowledge. So why isn't religion like that?
Now don't mention software, that is another world of faith and fanaticism...
But I suppose it might be a useful analogy. That leads to some support for my position, that one places faith in the scientists that can understand and prove the models created from observation. Just as I can put faith in various types of software, platforms, programmers and methodologies.
Is a process of ideas and models built upon observations exclusive to science or could a religion borrow some of that? Is it possible for a religion to reject the demonstrably false while building on the provable?
How many don't realize that their own beliefs are based on a sort of faith, that is, a faith in scientific results that they haven't personally witnessed or belief in events too far back in time to personally witness. To me, all of us have some degree of faith. Those who deny it haven't fully looked at their own faith.
I've wondered about that also. Imagine somebody's WHOIS requester archiving all the requests. Then once or twice a day someone takes a look at the requests and picks out likely looking ones and registers them. Poof, now the useful generic ones are gone. They could even snag some business related ones, the cost is low enough that they could just back down should someone challenge the ownership.
Hmm, I just might have a new patent application... After all, someone patented teasing a cat with a laser pointer.
I'm no expert, but I didn't think there were many interesting X-ray observations going on from ground based telescopes. According to this page from the Chandra X-ray Observatory page, the earth's atmosphere absorbs X-rays.
I would agree that the picture is a false color composite, probably infrared through the visible light range.
I want one that mounts the switches on an unused drive bay, kind of like Creative is doing with their sound card connecter bay 'Live Drive' or something like that. Then I'd need some big assed knobs that go up to 11 like Spinal Tap had. That way everyone knows I can crank that Athlon up anytime I want to.
Slashdot Mirror
And it would have been such a nice flame.
SDMI or any other format wasn't here. Even now, players for those other formats aren't available on very many operating systems. I don't even know if I can play those on my Windoze box. But I know I can play MP3s on any of my computers.
Its a case of too little too late. They slept until MP3 was too big. And then they tried to sue it away because it wasn't going to be replaced.
Maybe some renewed complaining would motivate Ars to review their policy and change their RDF data to list their current headlines, not stuff thats been up for a while.
Then they made the mistake of talking to him on IRC
Then they were cracked a second time. The second time they had no time for backups, the system was being rm -rf'd. Its difficult to make and verify backups while data is disappearing. This time he acted appropriately to minimize the damage. Unfortunately, their backup procedures were sloppy and apparantly their update procedures were also.
I just thought of the obligatory Open Source comment for this - The best thing about learning JScript to program is that most everything out there is open source, you can learn how to dissect it and analyze it and make it your own. For a kid thats been taught how to learn and how to teach themselves, open source anything becomes a classroom by itself.
Today the computing environment has changed. GUIs are on the desktop, nearly every computer is connected to the Internet and a BASIC interpreter isn't on the machine. The motivations change too. Some kids want their own webpage. Some kids want to impress their more knowledgeable friends. Some just want to message everyone they know. But the tools are still there, they just take on different shapes.
So say a kid wants a web page. He's gotta at least figure out geocities' point and drool file manager to get a couple hundred animated gifs to the server. He's gotta configure some kind of counter. And he's gonna want roll-overs. So chances are, somewhere along the line, there is a chance to learn some JavaScript.
Granted, there is quite a bit of clutter in between the browser and the scripting engine, but it is there and it could be used to greater potential than it is being used. And once a kid has a handle on how information is presented on a web page, it becomes no different than the BASIC interpreters of yore.
What would we do if we were at that age again? Would our fascination with computers be any less? Or could it be nurtured to grow even larger? And are we doing anything to help nurture that?
Either I didn't make my point clear enough, or you didn't get it or you didn't read my post in the context of the one I replied to.
But since it isn't clear, I'll make it so. See, I disagree with NatePWII, who I was replying to, about the viability of another audio compression format. And since Nate's sig mentioned domains at $15 a year, I assumed he was one of the OpenSRS registrars. So I decided that the best way to make my point was to parrot his post, replacing the subject at hand (OggVorbis chances of making it against mp3) with the whole domain registration issue. As a matter of fact, I think I do know how the domain registration system works, having registered domains under both NSI and various OpenSRS registrars. In fact, I've followed the whole evolution of alternate registrars and seem to recall serious comments similar to my parody. And look how they have been wrong. As the existence of Nate's business and the reality of $15/year domains shows, significant competition to a monopoly can arise.
Sure, there are technical details to be worked out, just as there were with opening the domain database to multiple registrars. And there is the issue of momentum in the business world. NSI will continue doing business becuase they are perceived as being trusted and because so many domains are already registered there. Mp3 will continue to be a popular format because of the momentum built up of the applications and hardware that support it. But an open, well engineered format like OggVorbis will be successful in its own right.
Oh, and the cheap shot was in taking Nate's words and twisting them around.
Ok, I hate to compare this to domain registrars but I will. This compression standard will be similar to the Open SRS registrars or the alternative registrars that ICANN has aproved. I mean nobody wants to use anyone else besides Network Solutions simply because they are the standard now, they have a foothold in the market. The same holds true for the MP3 standard. It has gained serious nameshare as well as tonnes of exposure. I mean how well have the other registrars competed with NSI, like register.com and the dotster thing or whatever. Heck, I can't even remember the names of the other registrars, that is how dominant NSI has become. These new registrars will just be another Beta vs. VHS thing, I'm sure of it.
The only thing that will blow NSI away is something which has vastly price and comparable service. Anything else is doomed to obsolesence.
...I know its a cheap shot but I couldn't resist. And I did it to make a point.
One drawback of a video camera as opposed to looking through optics is the relatively low resolution available. The human eye has a far better resolution then the average CCD and this can make a difference, depending on the application.
As other posters pointed out, a video camera mounted to your microscope optics is going to lessen your neck strain and might make you more productive (again, depends on what you are looking at). Just like with a computer, your posture and seat height are also important. And if your job is forcing you to look through one of those cheap or old vertical microscopes, they need to at least get you proper tools to do your job. Binocular microscopes with an angled head are inexpensive nowdays.
To get an idea of what you'd get for an off-the-shelf system, check Edmund Scientific. Dig through their slow CFML catalog for microscopes and video microscopes for a selection of what is avaialable. Others have pointed out that you can put something together for well under their prices.
As far as microscopes in general, there are generally two types, low power binocular scopes and higher powered microscopes for slides (I forget the 'real' name for them).
Binocular Scopes - Usually 10x to 40x magnification, these are great for looking at 'real world' objects. Circuit boards, bugs, that expensive engagement ring you bought and that gash on the end of your finger are all amazing to look at with only 10x or 20x magnification. If you're thinking of buying something for your child to spark their interest in biology or the sciences in general, this is it. They will be able to relate better to the things they look at and you'll find yourself using it as well. These are used professionally by geologists and to inspect circuit boards (among other uses).
'Slide type' microscopes - These are the ones you remember from biology class for looking at pond water or single celled organisims (like that dude in the other comment who is trying to count his own sperm}. Typically having 3 or 4 set magnifications (10x, 40x, 100x, 400x and maybe 1000x combining the eyepiece and objective magnifications) and used with translucent specimens that are illuminated from beneath. These have an entirely different role, typically in biology. These are also fun for kids but they take a little more preparation because of the slides and such.
OK, so there is a start. Hopefully, you'll be able to convince your boss that a decent CCD camera along with a video capture card for your computer to archive and enhance the images is necessary for increased productivity and workplace ergonomics.
Yeah, I burned my mod points to try and push some of that back down and raise some worthier questions that were actually worth discussing and I paid the karma price to little avail. But who cares. We did get to see Mr. Zeldman stand up to the stupid questions and explain himself reasonably. And he threw in a few tidbits of goodness along the way.
Hey, nice little explanation of cache.
I thought the comparisons to Design Patterns were hilarious but way too true.
Or take a look at the documentation on extending Dreamweaver. You might be able to write a translator for the PHP tags as a .dll that plugs into Dreamweaver and tells it to ignore them.
If your web weenies are going to use a WYSIWYG editor, Dreamweaver is the one to go with. As long as they know about the difference between Netscape and IE, they can write cross browser HTML with it. If they can't comprehend even that, a text editor isn't going to be much better for them.
And if they are going to be mucking around in PHP, you might set them up with PHPed (US mirror) as the external editor for Dreamweaver. With the HTML, PHP, and SQL all highlighted they even know what they can mess with and what to leave alone.
Some dude named Joel has a series of great articles at joel.editthispage.com on UI design. His latest installment has some horror stories about the Juno software, making some very good points in the process.
Logitech makes some decent stuff. My wife got me their Marble FX and I alternate between that and a regular mouse and just the variety helps my wrist problems a little. It took a little getting used too but I've even been using it in games. Still kinda sucks for graphics apps but I want a pressure sensitive pad for that. Linux sees it as a regular Logitech mouse with the third button working without any changes. I haven't tried to get the fourth button to work.
The biggest problem I find with Remarq (AKA Supernews) is that they don't seem to archive newsgroups, they just keep a longer selection of current articles. IMO, they are better for reading news through a browser (though nothing beats a good newsreader).
The rest of the urls were just flung at you, haven't tried them. :)
The PSX Emotion engine does well, this is also a testament to the quality of the Linux port and dev kit.
Also fun to check out the various cluster's performance.
Maybe if we had a few more details on the type of project you're working on we'd be able to better reccomend some stuff. You mention a web based project. Pyra might be a good one to take a look at. It lets you set up a tree like hierarchy assigning tasks to multiple users and set different permissions to modify items to different users. Pyra is in beta and I've had one glitch with it though. From Webapps comes ITeamWork and MediaLot. I haven't checked them out but they look promising. You might look at Zaplets. While heavily hyped, this looks a little too consumer oriented to me. The PHP Projects site mentions some task management systems. You could probably easily customise these to fit your needs. Zope might also be worth checking out if you want to customise something. Their Squishdot (Slashdot clone) is easy to set up and might be appropriate for your needs. And there might be other more appropriate Zope modules available for project management.
You are right about religions claiming absolute truth. How easily is faith destroyed when so called absolute truth is broken? Religion has done that time and again. But science has had it's share of absolute truths broken. So individuals with faith in science come to see that their faith has to include change, learning more. In fact, their reward comes from learning more, the advancement of knowledge. So why isn't religion like that?
Now don't mention software, that is another world of faith and fanaticism...
But I suppose it might be a useful analogy. That leads to some support for my position, that one places faith in the scientists that can understand and prove the models created from observation. Just as I can put faith in various types of software, platforms, programmers and methodologies.
Is a process of ideas and models built upon observations exclusive to science or could a religion borrow some of that? Is it possible for a religion to reject the demonstrably false while building on the provable?
How many don't realize that their own beliefs are based on a sort of faith, that is, a faith in scientific results that they haven't personally witnessed or belief in events too far back in time to personally witness. To me, all of us have some degree of faith. Those who deny it haven't fully looked at their own faith.
Hmm, I just might have a new patent application... After all, someone patented teasing a cat with a laser pointer.
I would agree that the picture is a false color composite, probably infrared through the visible light range.
You're too dim witted to even understand the possibilities of a way to contruct convex hull containers of arbitrary interesting shapes
Bright minds like Corrinne's are what enabled you to post your trolls.
I can't believe I responded to this.
I want one that mounts the switches on an unused drive bay, kind of like Creative is doing with their sound card connecter bay 'Live Drive' or something like that. Then I'd need some big assed knobs that go up to 11 like Spinal Tap had. That way everyone knows I can crank that Athlon up anytime I want to.