You have to remember that a good many people who were at the orignal release of Star Wars (back in '77) were kids who didn't even have the slightest idea who Alec Guinness was.
Yes. It's sad in a way to be so pigeon-holed. But how many people outside of the Trek continuum have roles that are so fondly remembered, and so deeply imbedded into modern culture as Sir Alec's role of Obi Wan?
Through his work, he's become, effectively immortal. So yes, he's become more powerful than even Obi Wan could possibly imagine. =)
Actually, this has already become a reality in some ways. If any of you have ever been to a Virtual World site (BattleTech (Mech Combat)/Red Planet (Hovercraft racing)) you'll have seen this in action. A relatively weak computer (PPro200) and a massive video system to control almost a dozen monitors.
Nonono. It's actually a good idea. Funny as it may sound.
Such a second-level person, with only a vendor/outsource tie to the company would be getting paid for handling these issues. His SOLE purpose is to get the problem fixed. So he won't be distracted by the boss's secretary and that virus she just executed.
In short. The in-house guys should take first crack at getting the problem rectified. But if they cannot, the trouble ticket's handed off to the external liason. This guy then is in charge of coordinating online/telephone techsup from the multiple vendors (hardware, OS, application/environment). This way other internal issues don't suffer neglect when a major issue comes up with the big breadmaker systems.
Example:
You're in-house techsup. The company is running DevelPlatformX under OS-Y, on a HardwareZ system.
Developer Joe is running into random crashes and other wierdness at various points.
You go in and look around. Try to recreate the crashes, and look into the causes. After a couple hours, you're still getting random crashes and you're still stumped as to why.
Other things which are of lesser importance, but still important (the Boss' pr0n browser farted out) are also clamoring for attention.
You hand the problem off, along with your documentation, to the second tier external guy who's only concern is getting this system running properly.
You continue fixing other stuff while the external guy agonizes with coordinating the telephone techsup.
What percent of them are considered busy? Maybe 1%?
And taking out 4% of those (either through physical damage or (less likely since they're more or less equipped for high throughput) would take down the net.
Let's say there's a million nodes.
1% of 1,000,000=10,000 'busy' nodes.
4% of 10,000=400.
So you'd have to take out roughly 400 nodes. All of whom are probably quite widely distributed (in the geographic sense).
Yeah. Looks feasible to me!
Let's just say it's going to take a LOT of damage to take out that many connections.
A: Even after having updated their clients, Berkley will support the use of the former versions for a period of time during which the client on the chip can be updated by downloading a flash utility from our site. This is like doing a BIOS-update and will require no special knowledge. The updated client will have to be downloaded from the SETI@home homepage.
Well. To a certain point, I can see what would motivate Deja to do this. If the revenue from it isn't coming close to the cost of upkeep, I can see where they'd rightfully shelve it.
However, the Usenet junkie in me is kicking and screaming over this. My Usenet service from my ISP drops posts off after a couple weeks. And even the group specific server that my group's moderation pool uses drops stuff after a couple months because of the sheer quantitiy (and because it's only purpose is support of the moderation bot).
Personally I'd pay money for and/or put up with a reasonable amount of banner ads to be able to search back through all the content.
Actually, there's no telling how old Mystique is in the movie. She could be 20, she could be 40 (Good genes eh?). So we could see a slightly younger Kurt.
Of course, then we'd have to hear little BSD Daemon jokes throughout the movie. =)
Chas - The one, the only. THANK GOD!!!
Re:If Slashdot/Linux people had Mutant Powers?
on
Slashdot Meets X-Men
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· Score: 2
Linus: Can compile more unique Linux kernels than anyone in their right mind could conceive of.
Richard Stallman: Can bust you up with his hammer and spout every pro-open-source piece of propaganda from his photographic memory.
Bruce Perens: Is actually a Richard Stallman clone with all his powers, minus the hammer thing.
John 'Maddog' Hall: An immortal Unix hacker. He has Unix empathy (can FEEL Unixen being used, up to 500 miles away). That and the shorts and sandals scare the shnit out of people.
Alan Cox: Has true kernel control. With minimal effort, he can do absoloutely ANYTHING with your reality that he likes. Simply by hacking the kernel.
Larry Wall/Ian Murdock: Will get back to you on them.
Rob Malda: Can attract and direct hideous amounts of net traffic and can bring your website to it's knees without breaking a sweat.
Jon Katz: A man who's superhumanly focused (some say fixated) on Columbine.
Rasterman: Can completely dazzle you by throwing all sorts of wild special effects at you.
It's your network. You have a right to decide what traffic goes across it. Since you're paying for the bandwidth.
The RBL is a SERVICE. They don't impose their filters on recipients who don't want to use the RBL filter. You have to WANT it to have it.
Please cite these "numerous cases". They make every effort to help the "offending" sites fix their node. Only after all attempts have failed, and the site appears unwilling to rectify the situation, do they nominate it for the blacklist.
Intelligent filtering is all well and good, but the problem is that the server is compromised in some way. And while it'd be nice to allow some of the legitimate users through, if the server's compromised, it's nearly impossible to tell who the legitimate users are.
Again, the RBL is VOLUNTARY. Your provider either opts in or they don't. Either way, the offending mail server still functions. It merely cannot relay messages to users on mail servers which utilize the RBL. And since you have the option of changing ISP's, or requesting exclusion from the filtering, you DO have the freedom. Remember, freedom doesn't guarantee you a cablemodem and high speed access. Some choices have consequences.
The RBL does NOT limit your connectivity to the outside world. You have the right to opt-out, either through a request for exclusion to your ISP, or by changing ISP's.
Connectivity isn't a right. High speed connectivity isn't a right. Utilization of your ISP's bandwidth in a manner contrary to their SOP and user agreement isn't a right.
Okay now. Opt-Out: Basically they can send you stuff until you send them a notice or fill out a form stating that you don't want their content. The only problem with this is, there's nothing to prevent you from being put right back on a similar list later on. Also, the act of notification probably gets you chucked onto a couple more lists. Opt-In: Basically it's as simple as "fill out your e-mail address and we'll send you our content". There's no verification that the person submitting the address is actually the person utilizing that address. So, if someone wanted to be a real idiot, they could simply submit your address to the Opt-In for "Fill your mailbox with "SOMETHING". Double-Opt-In (or Verified): Like a properly set up majordomo mailing list. You submit yourself to the list. The listserv sends back an e-mail saying, essentially, "Someone subscribed you to this list. If you really want to be on this list, just reply to this message, or go to this webpage and confirm it". Once you've confirmed it, you're on the list. DOI makes sure you actually WANT the content BEFORE sending any of the content your way. The only problem with some DOI's is that some of them allow your e-mail address to be submitted over and over again. Causing you to receive multiple confirmation requests, and essentially amounting to mailbombing. Some better DOI agents will accept a particular e-mail address once, then won't accept addition submissions for it. At least until confirmation is received.
The Chicagoland area is positively sprouting positions for technical workers. They're one of the fastest growing VC areas outside of Silicon Valley. There's a a huge technical corridor stretching from Joliet nearly to the Illinois/Wisconsin border.
Not to mention that Chicago's NAP sees more traffic coming through than ANYWHERE else on the planet.
Cablemodem and DSL services are emerging in the area (Ye God! There's so many DSL companies advertising out here now it's disgusting!) For cable, look at AT&T, MediaOne, and @Home. For listings of DSL providers, just hit 2Wire.com
How much you make depends on what you know. Decent wages for a tech support drone at an ISP is about $9-11(USC) an hour. Some positions down at the law firms downtown pay as much as $40K a year for people with basic techsup skills, some Unix experience, and some network experience.
Housing can be anywhere between $500-900 for a 1 bedroom apartment. Between $750-1200 for a 2 bedroom. (Not sure for 3.)
Depending on how far out you live, and what neighborhoods, actually buying a house may be cheaper. In Berwyn, the median price of a house is about $140K (some condos go for around $50K).
Further south in Downer's Grove/Darien, housing is in the $180-200K range, with condos going for between $60-100K.
If you live out further west in areas like Plainfield (starting to build up), housing starts around $120K and goes up from there.
The only major hassle in Chicago is the traffic. They have 5 major tollways, and 4 major freeways. And right now, they're working on most of them (hopefully to be done by the end of this year). For night-shift workers, this isn't too bad. For 9-5'ers and evening workers, it can be a big hassle.
Also, parking downtown is disgustingly expensive. Luckily there's a decent rail system in Chicago with several major lines (IIRC all of them are now open nearly 24/7).
There's two major airports for commuting (O'Hare and Midway). Midway is undergoing major construction right now to add a huge parking structure, and additional terminals.
I understand that the mentality over there is much different. But, as I said, the government we're talking about is LONG gone. Whilst there MIGHT be some lingering 70-something Iranians still carrying on Jyhad, I seriously doubt they number more than a handful. And, likely, they're fairly quiet and uninfluential about it.
We're talking 47 YEARS here! Even if someone was 21 at the time, they'd be closing in on that septugenarian mark! They're more in danger of losing BLADDER CONTROL than they are of being hunted down by an equally aged remnant of a four-decades-dead government!
In intelligence circles, this is pre-dirt ANCIENT HISTORY.
I can see it now.
Assassin: Infidel! I kill you now!.....Just as soon as nurse changes diaper.
Ex-CIA: What? Sssschpeak up schonny! 'Ahm stone cold DEAF!
Assassin: Beat...you...with...cane! (Drops dead from overexertion.)
Needless to say, it must be a slow news day if this guy needs to claim "violations of national security" to grab some page space.
My name is Charles Edward Borner. (No Jr, no II, no nothing)
My father's name is Charles Edward Borner. (No Sr, no I, no nothing).
Our SSN's are even similar (first three numbers identical).
I was born in 1973, my father in 1940.
A couple years back I went to buy a car, cash. They go looking at my credit check. The guy comes back and tells me I have many years of excellent credit.
Fighting to keep the surprise from my face, I thank him and buy the car. On the loan app, however, I made SURE that all the information supplied was mine though. I don't even want to THINK about what my father'd do to me if I fscked up his credit rating.
Probably sic my mom on me.
**SHUDDER** Talk about your archetypical fate worse than death.
Actually if you read it, it says nothing about what I spoke upon.
Where some form of a product is not distributed with source code, there must be a well-publicided means of obtaining the source code for no more than a reasonable production cost -- PREFERABLY, downloading off the internet without charge.
See? It says nothing about freely releasing source code to people who haven't bought the software package. It merely says that if you don't release the source code with the binaries, you have to have them somewhere well publicized. The answer is simple. Include a source CD package with every licensed copy. Then you're NOT obliged to post the code on the internet.
All it says is that you may not restrict a party from buildig it into an agregate product distribution.
Yes, that clause DOES pretty much make it tough to control redistribution of software. All someone has to do is buy a copy of the product and make the source available. The only problem is that the community doesn't necessarily have access to the ever-evolving code base.
As long as they're not obfuscating source code or funneling output through a preprocessor binary, they still qualify for the term "Open Source".
Simple grammar. Nothing more.
Please note that I don't think use of the term in this way is "right" or a "good thing". I'm merely stating that that is how it can be construed. And until the guys at OpenSource change the definition, or someone takes it to court to define it further.
Open Source: (Oh-pehn Sor-ss): Source code for a given application is readily available to those who use the application.
You see. Nowhere in there does it say that the people get the source for free. Nor does it state that you cannot sell the source with the application and restrict the source only to those who have purchased a license. Open source IN NO WAY obligates a licensee to returning any customization/debugged code to the codebase.
Open Source can be developed by a private company, without any outside development from the Free Software community. Star Office, UBB, and VMWare are nods in this direction.
Example: ThingamaWidget2000 is a popular OS program. But it's not Free Software. It's commmercial, and source code for the software is only issued to those who have a ThingamaWidget2000 license. This gives the licensee the ability to customize/debug their copy of ThingamaWidget2000 to their specific setup..
Slashdot Mirror
It's not "the KDE people" who did it. It some immature person over at TT who built the page and did the screenshots.
From what I understand, many of the people actually working on KDE are more than a bit appalled by this sort of childish backbiting.
It's sad that someone at TT STILL doesn't get the concept that the best way to advertise a product is NOT to rip on friendly competitiors.
About the only bright spot is that this attitude isn't reflective of the KDE community as a whole.
As my father said. It takes all kinds...Conrad Stargard/Leo Frankowski
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
You have to remember that a good many people who were at the orignal release of Star Wars (back in '77) were kids who didn't even have the slightest idea who Alec Guinness was.
Yes. It's sad in a way to be so pigeon-holed. But how many people outside of the Trek continuum have roles that are so fondly remembered, and so deeply imbedded into modern culture as Sir Alec's role of Obi Wan?
Through his work, he's become, effectively immortal. So yes, he's become more powerful than even Obi Wan could possibly imagine. =)
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
I'm majorly bummed over this. But, you can find news on it:
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Actually, this has already become a reality in some ways. If any of you have ever been to a Virtual World site (BattleTech (Mech Combat)/Red Planet (Hovercraft racing)) you'll have seen this in action. A relatively weak computer (PPro200) and a massive video system to control almost a dozen monitors.
Quite interesting actually.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Nonono. It's actually a good idea. Funny as it may sound.
Such a second-level person, with only a vendor/outsource tie to the company would be getting paid for handling these issues. His SOLE purpose is to get the problem fixed. So he won't be distracted by the boss's secretary and that virus she just executed.
In short. The in-house guys should take first crack at getting the problem rectified. But if they cannot, the trouble ticket's handed off to the external liason. This guy then is in charge of coordinating online/telephone techsup from the multiple vendors (hardware, OS, application/environment). This way other internal issues don't suffer neglect when a major issue comes up with the big breadmaker systems.
Example:
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
There's how many millions of nodes on the net?
What percent of them are considered busy? Maybe 1%?
And taking out 4% of those (either through physical damage or (less likely since they're more or less equipped for high throughput) would take down the net.
Let's say there's a million nodes.
1% of 1,000,000=10,000 'busy' nodes.
4% of 10,000=400.
So you'd have to take out roughly 400 nodes. All of whom are probably quite widely distributed (in the geographic sense).
Yeah. Looks feasible to me!
Let's just say it's going to take a LOT of damage to take out that many connections.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
From the SETI Accelerator FAQ page.
Q: What if Berkley updates the SETI client?
A: Even after having updated their clients, Berkley will support the use of the former versions for a period of time during which the client on the chip can be updated by downloading a flash utility from our site. This is like doing a BIOS-update and will require no special knowledge. The updated client will have to be downloaded from the SETI@home homepage.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Well. To a certain point, I can see what would motivate Deja to do this. If the revenue from it isn't coming close to the cost of upkeep, I can see where they'd rightfully shelve it.
However, the Usenet junkie in me is kicking and screaming over this. My Usenet service from my ISP drops posts off after a couple weeks. And even the group specific server that my group's moderation pool uses drops stuff after a couple months because of the sheer quantitiy (and because it's only purpose is support of the moderation bot).
Personally I'd pay money for and/or put up with a reasonable amount of banner ads to be able to search back through all the content.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Intel's having enough problems fabbing at .18 micron. Notice we don't see most of their highest end chips out in quantity.
Take this rumor with a grain of salt.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Actually, there's no telling how old Mystique is in the movie. She could be 20, she could be 40 (Good genes eh?). So we could see a slightly younger Kurt.
Of course, then we'd have to hear little BSD Daemon jokes throughout the movie. =)
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Okay now. Opt-Out: Basically they can send you stuff until you send them a notice or fill out a form stating that you don't want their content. The only problem with this is, there's nothing to prevent you from being put right back on a similar list later on. Also, the act of notification probably gets you chucked onto a couple more lists. Opt-In: Basically it's as simple as "fill out your e-mail address and we'll send you our content". There's no verification that the person submitting the address is actually the person utilizing that address. So, if someone wanted to be a real idiot, they could simply submit your address to the Opt-In for "Fill your mailbox with "SOMETHING". Double-Opt-In (or Verified): Like a properly set up majordomo mailing list. You submit yourself to the list. The listserv sends back an e-mail saying, essentially, "Someone subscribed you to this list. If you really want to be on this list, just reply to this message, or go to this webpage and confirm it". Once you've confirmed it, you're on the list. DOI makes sure you actually WANT the content BEFORE sending any of the content your way. The only problem with some DOI's is that some of them allow your e-mail address to be submitted over and over again. Causing you to receive multiple confirmation requests, and essentially amounting to mailbombing. Some better DOI agents will accept a particular e-mail address once, then won't accept addition submissions for it. At least until confirmation is received.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
IIRC, it was Alternic that tried this once. It wound up breaking a bunch of stuff.
Also, if it COULD be made to work, who'd admin it? How would they get paid? Would their service be any better than NSI?
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
The Chicagoland area is positively sprouting positions for technical workers. They're one of the fastest growing VC areas outside of Silicon Valley. There's a a huge technical corridor stretching from Joliet nearly to the Illinois/Wisconsin border.
Not to mention that Chicago's NAP sees more traffic coming through than ANYWHERE else on the planet.
Cablemodem and DSL services are emerging in the area (Ye God! There's so many DSL companies advertising out here now it's disgusting!) For cable, look at AT&T, MediaOne, and @Home. For listings of DSL providers, just hit 2Wire.com
How much you make depends on what you know. Decent wages for a tech support drone at an ISP is about $9-11(USC) an hour. Some positions down at the law firms downtown pay as much as $40K a year for people with basic techsup skills, some Unix experience, and some network experience.
Housing can be anywhere between $500-900 for a 1 bedroom apartment. Between $750-1200 for a 2 bedroom. (Not sure for 3.)
Depending on how far out you live, and what neighborhoods, actually buying a house may be cheaper. In Berwyn, the median price of a house is about $140K (some condos go for around $50K).
Further south in Downer's Grove/Darien, housing is in the $180-200K range, with condos going for between $60-100K.
If you live out further west in areas like Plainfield (starting to build up), housing starts around $120K and goes up from there.
The only major hassle in Chicago is the traffic. They have 5 major tollways, and 4 major freeways. And right now, they're working on most of them (hopefully to be done by the end of this year). For night-shift workers, this isn't too bad. For 9-5'ers and evening workers, it can be a big hassle.
Also, parking downtown is disgustingly expensive. Luckily there's a decent rail system in Chicago with several major lines (IIRC all of them are now open nearly 24/7).
There's two major airports for commuting (O'Hare and Midway). Midway is undergoing major construction right now to add a huge parking structure, and additional terminals.
Hope this helps.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
I understand that the mentality over there is much different. But, as I said, the government we're talking about is LONG gone. Whilst there MIGHT be some lingering 70-something Iranians still carrying on Jyhad, I seriously doubt they number more than a handful. And, likely, they're fairly quiet and uninfluential about it.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
And this is different from any of the other fifty-googolplex obscure reasons HOW?
Also, before you start making "those people" statements. Be sure that you've got the facts. If we want to talk long-standing grudges.
The Hatfield and McCoy clans. They're so legendary that they've become virtually synonymous with "blood feud". And they were 100% American.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Endangering lives my lilly-white (REDACTED)!
We're talking 47 YEARS here! Even if someone was 21 at the time, they'd be closing in on that septugenarian mark! They're more in danger of losing BLADDER CONTROL than they are of being hunted down by an equally aged remnant of a four-decades-dead government!
In intelligence circles, this is pre-dirt ANCIENT HISTORY.
I can see it now.
Needless to say, it must be a slow news day if this guy needs to claim "violations of national security" to grab some page space.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Equal parts greed, stupidity, corporate mentality (emphasis on "mental"), and sheer pigheadedness.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
I did get it cleared up. But that's what happens when people look at name, address, and only the first three of the SSN.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
And I just shelled out buku bucks for their FD-91 35mm camera!
It sucks when even CAMERAS have a product life cycle now!
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
My name is Charles Edward Borner. (No Jr, no II, no nothing)
My father's name is Charles Edward Borner. (No Sr, no I, no nothing).
Our SSN's are even similar (first three numbers identical).
I was born in 1973, my father in 1940.
A couple years back I went to buy a car, cash. They go looking at my credit check. The guy comes back and tells me I have many years of excellent credit.
Fighting to keep the surprise from my face, I thank him and buy the car. On the loan app, however, I made SURE that all the information supplied was mine though. I don't even want to THINK about what my father'd do to me if I fscked up his credit rating.
Probably sic my mom on me.
**SHUDDER** Talk about your archetypical fate worse than death.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Actually, most of the cost is due to the fact that each and every monitor is being hand-built right now.
As the review stated, by the time these things go mainstream, they should be about the same cost as a decent flat-panel.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Actually if you read it, it says nothing about what I spoke upon.
Where some form of a product is not distributed with source code, there must be a well-publicided means of obtaining the source code for no more than a reasonable production cost -- PREFERABLY, downloading off the internet without charge.
See? It says nothing about freely releasing source code to people who haven't bought the software package. It merely says that if you don't release the source code with the binaries, you have to have them somewhere well publicized. The answer is simple. Include a source CD package with every licensed copy. Then you're NOT obliged to post the code on the internet.
All it says is that you may not restrict a party from buildig it into an agregate product distribution.
Yes, that clause DOES pretty much make it tough to control redistribution of software. All someone has to do is buy a copy of the product and make the source available. The only problem is that the community doesn't necessarily have access to the ever-evolving code base.
As long as they're not obfuscating source code or funneling output through a preprocessor binary, they still qualify for the term "Open Source".
Simple grammar. Nothing more.
Please note that I don't think use of the term in this way is "right" or a "good thing". I'm merely stating that that is how it can be construed. And until the guys at OpenSource change the definition, or someone takes it to court to define it further.
So YES I did RTFM.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Open Source: (Oh-pehn Sor-ss): Source code for a given application is readily available to those who use the application.
You see. Nowhere in there does it say that the people get the source for free. Nor does it state that you cannot sell the source with the application and restrict the source only to those who have purchased a license. Open source IN NO WAY obligates a licensee to returning any customization/debugged code to the codebase.
Open Source can be developed by a private company, without any outside development from the Free Software community. Star Office, UBB, and VMWare are nods in this direction.
Example: ThingamaWidget2000 is a popular OS program. But it's not Free Software. It's commmercial, and source code for the software is only issued to those who have a ThingamaWidget2000 license. This gives the licensee the ability to customize/debug their copy of ThingamaWidget2000 to their specific setup..
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!