There was a point in id software's evolution where John Carmack almost adopted Java as the "scripting language" for Quake 3. This got abandoned REAL quick when it wasn't fast enough.
I'm not sure speed is java's real problem for something like that--I would be really surprised if java managed to be slower than the homemade language used in Quake I (QuakeC)...
Probably has more to do with java's bondage-and-discipline aspects (absolutely zero control over memory management, for example) or the great difficulty making java code interoperate with C.
So how about we let the christians and other superstitous people deprive themselves of whatever advances and technology we come up with, while they argue amongst themselves, (or rather, blindy obey the will of the pope) about such matters as whats going to be banned this week, or what northern irish school to throw stones at this weekend.
Meanwhile the rest of the world should be free to enjoy the benefits of modern science.
Regardless of your opinion, I seriously doubt you can fail to see that there is a moral issue here.
Out of the entire year, there are two, count 'em TWO, months suitable for X History month. October and February. And February is actually better since it has fewer distractions - there's no distraction as the kids see the first Christmas decorations go up or parents discuss Holiday travel plans.
I don't know about you, but I spend most of February in a post-groundhog day stupor.
Merely being constitutional doesn't make it any less of a stupid dangerous idea that won't actually make flying one bit safer. There's no constitutional restriciton against putting police cameras and listening devices in every public place, but it still makes people uncomfortable, for good reason.
Your idea that travel is somehow a privelege, and not a right, is fairly repulsive, too.
Except for the fact that air travel is paid for as much with (income) taxes as with fares, so even if you stay home or take the bus, you get to pay. Fun!
So, all you have to do to get on a plane without being looked at carefully is to convincingly fake being a 90 year old nun?
Not falling for the easy trap of profiling makes things more secure, not less.
Yes it would mean that those who are both Arabian descent and Muslim would be scrutinzed more...
I love it when people suggest we should subject Muslims to more security at airports. How, exactly, do you tell a Muslim from, say, an Atheist? Demand they denouce God or eat a ham sandwich or something?
That's what I'm talking about. What kind of twisted order of priorites is it to allow publishing Nazi propoganda and promoting violent acts based on race alone, while not allowing citizens to write and publish technological solutions for home entertainment.
It's not an accident; Nazi propaganda is political speech, and therefore given special protection--You're only giving people self-determination if you allow them to choose the "wrong" government, too. A nation that selectively outlaws political speech and political parties is as much a sham democracy as the communist regimes.
Not that the US has a 100% spotless record in this category, either. Debs, the Sedition Acts, and Kent State coming to mind...
You're right, there are already dozens of perfectly nice police states around the world. I sure wish the paranoid would just move to one of them and be "safe", instead of trying to turn the US into one...
Incidentally, though, this "blind people used e-book reader" argument seems a bit thin on the ground, for two reasons:
1) I've never seen any report of any case where a blind person actually used the software, and
2) I seem to recall they only sold about 50 copies before it got yanked.
I think the idea is that it's a "substantial non-infringing use" which is, iirc, what got the VHS people off, since it would be legal to "time-shift" by recording a TV show and watching it later, the VCR wasn't only useful for illegal copying. (even though that's a major use of the record feature)
Um, I think because people (at least some people, I suppose) find government-controlled media outlets somewhat distasteful... You know, the whole "we tell you what to think then you vote that way" feedback loop and all. People even make a stink now and then about money going to PBS in grants.
Not that the free U.S. press isn't doing a wonderful job of looking the other way and swallowing the official line without question anyway, mind you.
Man, those things are dangerous. You'd think something described as "pulp" wouldn't be sharp, but you cut your finger on the edge and you'll wish you were dead.
argh, no, for signed addition,
c = a + b is overflow if
(a ^ b) >= 0 && (a ^ c) < 0
(a and b have the same sign and the result is different sign)
... if i'm awake yet.
I've only used the Intel compiler on Win32, but i imagine there isn't much difference. It creates code that detects the CPU on the fly and branches to multiple optimized versions, so you get the fastest code for the system you're running.
There are options you can set to control this behavior, so you can create smaller binaries targeted to a single processor (pentium, mmx, II, III, or IV, iirc)
Hibernation, you can do it on Windows 2000. When you can get it to work, hibernate (swap everything to disk and power down) and de-hibernate (reloads the image, give the password of the logged in user, right back where you left off) are much faster than shutdown/startup, particularly since you don't have to restart all those applications.
It's a pain to get working and keep working, though, since (iirc) all hardware and all drivers must allow it, and windows is very unhelpful about which piece of hardware/driver is refusing to allow hibernate.
If you're really weak-willed, you could set the PDA up to make a guess at whether you're really doing what you said you wanted to do, or if you've actually gone for a beer instead.
"No, Bob, I'm not going to go jogging with your PDA so that it thinks you've earned another Heineken. You need help."
--
Benjamin Coates
Re:NYTimes article has more stuff to it
on
Woz's New Startup
·
· Score: 1
Hey, if it has GPS and wireless support, you could phone the damn thing and have it tell you where you left it.
I've stepped into a couple local Internet Cafe's and have this to say:
They are havens for HARD drug deals.
Due to the lack of actual supervision, many of the so called patrons nearly live there.
The cafe's have been the sites of many un-documented drug overdoses, hurriedly covered up by worried owners and PFYs.
Wait a minute, you've "stepped into" a couple of these places and noticed HARD drug deals, ODs, and that some of the patrons "live there"? Either a) you've spent more than a little time at these places or b) you're making that up.
My guess is b, since the one or two gamer cafes I've been to are have just been a bunch of (nearly unsupervised) kids (age 14-20ish) playing CS.
If people think this is a bad thing?! What if the teenagers in question don't think someone being stabbed is a bad thing? Suppose they fatalistically think it's a natural part of teenage life? I imagine you think it's not government's job to tell teenagers that gang violence is not a natural part of life...it's the parents' job, and if they don't get it done, too bad!
Or maybe these teenagers aren't quite as hysterical as their parents/legislators, and realize that while they may not be able to do much about violence, they can go on with their lives instead of trying to be perfectly safe by hiding under a rock or something...
Besides, I'd wager more kids are murdered at home every year (where most people get killed) than at some internet cafe. It's just not news.
Slashdot Mirror
There was a point in id software's evolution where John Carmack almost adopted Java as the "scripting language" for Quake 3. This got abandoned REAL quick when it wasn't fast enough.
I'm not sure speed is java's real problem for something like that--I would be really surprised if java managed to be slower than the homemade language used in Quake I (QuakeC)...
Probably has more to do with java's bondage-and-discipline aspects (absolutely zero control over memory management, for example) or the great difficulty making java code interoperate with C.
--
Benjamin Coates
So how about we let the christians and other superstitous people deprive themselves of whatever advances and technology we come up with, while they argue amongst themselves, (or rather, blindy obey the will of the pope) about such matters as whats going to be banned this week, or what northern irish school to throw stones at this weekend.
Meanwhile the rest of the world should be free to enjoy the benefits of modern science.
Regardless of your opinion, I seriously doubt you can fail to see that there is a moral issue here.
--
Benjamin Coates
Out of the entire year, there are two, count 'em TWO, months suitable for X History month. October and February. And February is actually better since it has fewer distractions - there's no distraction as the kids see the first Christmas decorations go up or parents discuss Holiday travel plans.
I don't know about you, but I spend most of February in a post-groundhog day stupor.
--
Benjamin Coates
Merely being constitutional doesn't make it any less of a stupid dangerous idea that won't actually make flying one bit safer. There's no constitutional restriciton against putting police cameras and listening devices in every public place, but it still makes people uncomfortable, for good reason.
Your idea that travel is somehow a privelege, and not a right, is fairly repulsive, too.
--
Benjamin Coates
Except for the fact that air travel is paid for as much with (income) taxes as with fares, so even if you stay home or take the bus, you get to pay. Fun!
--
Benjamin Coates
You don't accost 90 year old NUNs just to be fair
So, all you have to do to get on a plane without being looked at carefully is to convincingly fake being a 90 year old nun?
Not falling for the easy trap of profiling makes things more secure, not less.
Yes it would mean that those who are both Arabian descent and Muslim would be scrutinzed more...
I love it when people suggest we should subject Muslims to more security at airports. How, exactly, do you tell a Muslim from, say, an Atheist? Demand they denouce God or eat a ham sandwich or something?
--
Benjamin Coates
That's what I'm talking about. What kind of twisted order of priorites is it to allow publishing Nazi propoganda and promoting violent acts based on race alone, while not allowing citizens to write and publish technological solutions for home entertainment.
It's not an accident; Nazi propaganda is political speech, and therefore given special protection--You're only giving people self-determination if you allow them to choose the "wrong" government, too. A nation that selectively outlaws political speech and political parties is as much a sham democracy as the communist regimes.
Not that the US has a 100% spotless record in this category, either. Debs, the Sedition Acts, and Kent State coming to mind...
--
Benjamin Coates
Look at El Al in Israel
You're right, there are already dozens of perfectly nice police states around the world. I sure wish the paranoid would just move to one of them and be "safe", instead of trying to turn the US into one...
--
Benjamin Coates
Is anyone really insane enough to leave their CC# on their computer?
It's not like it would be convenient, since most people keep their cards with them.
--
Benjamin Coates
Incidentally, though, this "blind people used e-book reader" argument seems a bit thin on the ground, for two reasons:
1) I've never seen any report of any case where a blind person actually used the software, and
2) I seem to recall they only sold about 50 copies before it got yanked.
I think the idea is that it's a "substantial non-infringing use" which is, iirc, what got the VHS people off, since it would be legal to "time-shift" by recording a TV show and watching it later, the VCR wasn't only useful for illegal copying. (even though that's a major use of the record feature)
--
Benjamin Coates
Um, I think because people (at least some people, I suppose) find government-controlled media outlets somewhat distasteful... You know, the whole "we tell you what to think then you vote that way" feedback loop and all. People even make a stink now and then about money going to PBS in grants.
Not that the free U.S. press isn't doing a wonderful job of looking the other way and swallowing the official line without question anyway, mind you.
--
Benjamin Coates
Hard to tell, but that car bears a passing resemblence to a Messerschmitt. Wacky little car, that was/is.
--
Benjamin Coates
like i said, nt
Man, those things are dangerous. You'd think something described as "pulp" wouldn't be sharp, but you cut your finger on the edge and you'll wish you were dead.
--
Benjamin Coates
I imagine most of the 353 Offtopic are the same editor, though.
--
Benjamin Coates
argh, no, for signed addition,
c = a + b is overflow if
(a ^ b) >= 0 && (a ^ c) < 0
(a and b have the same sign and the result is different sign)
... if i'm awake yet.
--
Benjamin Coates
There are a few things assembly has over C (just try to figure out if that last addtion operation just overflowed).
isn't (a += b) overflow if (b > 0 && a < b)?
--
Benjamin Coates
Wasn't the the click-thru licence on Netscape "smart download" shot down in court? I thought there was a slashdot article on it, but I can't find it.
--
Benjamin Coates
I've only used the Intel compiler on Win32, but i imagine there isn't much difference. It creates code that detects the CPU on the fly and branches to multiple optimized versions, so you get the fastest code for the system you're running.
There are options you can set to control this behavior, so you can create smaller binaries targeted to a single processor (pentium, mmx, II, III, or IV, iirc)
--
Benajmin Coates
Hibernation, you can do it on Windows 2000. When you can get it to work, hibernate (swap everything to disk and power down) and de-hibernate (reloads the image, give the password of the logged in user, right back where you left off) are much faster than shutdown/startup, particularly since you don't have to restart all those applications.
It's a pain to get working and keep working, though, since (iirc) all hardware and all drivers must allow it, and windows is very unhelpful about which piece of hardware/driver is refusing to allow hibernate.
--
Benjamin Coates
If you're really weak-willed, you could set the PDA up to make a guess at whether you're really doing what you said you wanted to do, or if you've actually gone for a beer instead.
"No, Bob, I'm not going to go jogging with your PDA so that it thinks you've earned another Heineken. You need help."
--
Benjamin Coates
Hey, if it has GPS and wireless support, you could phone the damn thing and have it tell you where you left it.
--
Benjamin Coates
They are havens for HARD drug deals.
Due to the lack of actual supervision, many of the so called patrons nearly live there.
The cafe's have been the sites of many un-documented drug overdoses, hurriedly covered up by worried owners and PFYs.
Wait a minute, you've "stepped into" a couple of these places and noticed HARD drug deals, ODs, and that some of the patrons "live there"? Either a) you've spent more than a little time at these places or b) you're making that up.
My guess is b, since the one or two gamer cafes I've been to are have just been a bunch of (nearly unsupervised) kids (age 14-20ish) playing CS.
--
Benjamin Coates
In that line of reasoning, a parent could also say that "I feel my son is reponsible enough to go into a bar and drink."
I know lots of parents that think that. They're usually right.
--
Benjamin Coates
If people think this is a bad thing?! What if the teenagers in question don't think someone being stabbed is a bad thing? Suppose they fatalistically think it's a natural part of teenage life? I imagine you think it's not government's job to tell teenagers that gang violence is not a natural part of life...it's the parents' job, and if they don't get it done, too bad!
Or maybe these teenagers aren't quite as hysterical as their parents/legislators, and realize that while they may not be able to do much about violence, they can go on with their lives instead of trying to be perfectly safe by hiding under a rock or something...
Besides, I'd wager more kids are murdered at home every year (where most people get killed) than at some internet cafe. It's just not news.
--
Benjamin Coates