I think it's a pretty cool idea, though. Have you ever heard Johnny Cash's version of Soundgarden's Rusty Cage? I mean, he was almost dead at that point!
I've converted a variety of media to be played on small screens with the thinking that it would be great for when I have travel-downtime. For me at least, it does get tedious. I just don't enjoy such a small screen. Someone else mentioned an iPad, and for me, that would probably be the tipping point (I'd think about getting one), but a cellphone screen doesn't cut it. Especially since I tend to prefer reading during downtime than watching TV.
On the airplane wi-fi front, I was on a US Air flight recently, and they had wi-fi onboard. Since it was new, they were running a promotional deal where you get one free flight's worth of wi-fi if you give them your email addy (little do they know I'm an email admin... and have virtually unlimited email addresses!). I was floored at how fast it was, considering that I was, you know, hurtling through the air at 30,000 ft. I transferred files to and from my fileserver, I had an SSH session open, and the latency didn't seem any worse than my connection at home. Impressed... but I probably still wouldn't pay for it (just as I don't pay the extra $60 for 4 more inches of legroom; the $6 Jack Daniels can easily compensate for that). Now, granted, this was all subjective-- I didn't run any speed tests-- but I was expected something like modem-speed, so I was pleasantly surprised.
Maybe so, but it does mark a turning point. In the past, Apple primarily let their products speak for themselves-- or, at least, they let us think so.
I think what bugs The Steve is that a new competitor came up doing what Apple used to do: make great products. I still think Apple's products are highly refined, but I can't stand the lock-in. Their new business model (and the reason that they are wildly successful) is that they are now hybrid of the old Apple ("hip") and Microsoft ("shrewd"). In my mind, this is antithetical to the old Apple way of doing things, which was more of a hacker approach. The old Mac OS may be been a POS, but at least it was a hacker's POS.
Yes, but humans consume vast quantities of past human behavior as well. We do it very differently (or so we think), but exactly how that works is still a mystery, and we call it 'culture'.
My opinion is that-- if we can create a machine that can make original music as beautiful, aesthetically and intellectually, as our best work, this is not a triumph of machines over humans. We built them! It is a triumph of understanding of ourselves. In every way that matters, that machine is as much as a work of art as the music is. Maybe I think this now because I've been thinking lately about automata and the languages that they express...
My point is this: is the oak tree outside your window any less beautiful because you understand why it's leaves are green? That a steak is any less tastier because of Maillard reactions? That your children are any less awesome because we know they came from a sperm and an ovum? I think it is more beautiful when we know how it works. We can better appreciate what we have.
Yeah, it sounds to me like Xerox is facing increasing irrelevancy, and has decided to turn to litigation as a new revenue stream. I [ugh, sadly] do a lot of purchasing of office equipment, and now that I think of it, I have not even once considered a Xerox product in the last 6 years that I've worked here. I'm not even sure what they're up to anymore.
I'm going to assume you're not a racist moron, but I am wondering what the fuck him being Hispanic has anything at all with either being a thief or with a reason why a thief would deserve sympathy. Why did you even bother mentioning that factoid?
Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize that mentioning race meant that I was racist. WTF?
I mentioned it because minorities in this country face pressures on a regular basis that I don't have to worry about, like-- not being able to get a job because the guy doing the hiring doesn't trust people who aren't native English speakers. That factored into my judgment about whether the person deserved sympathy for his act. The fact that you jumped all over me for just mentioning this shows how fucked up the entire conversation has become.
That's a good point, and obviously the answer is 'no'. I recently had my CC # stolen by a pizza guy. I had just finished something like a 15-hour shift at work, I was tired, and I fell for a scam that, in retrospect, I should have caught on to immediately. Despite the fact that I ordered and paid for the pizza ahead of time, on the web, he told me that he "needed an imprint" of the card. Then he starts making the imprint with... his key? And then (and this is really where I kick myself), I take the original receipt and he goes, "Oh, nope, I need that one" and swaps with me. Of course, the carbon copy (which I am supposed to take but which he took) has the nicest key-imprint on it.
About 45 minutes after this happened, my CC company calls me to check on purchases that were made not five minutes ago at a "discount clothing store in the Bronx" (I live in Boston). Now, I am certain that this is the source of the theft, because prior to that, I had not used the card in several months.
My understanding is that the banks themselves don't absorb this loss because they pass it on to the merchant-- the merchant absorbs the loss. But I have to wonder whether banks (and credit card users) would be better (and cheaper) served by simply fixing these security problems now. Those fancy fraud-detection units can't be cheap. Our existing CC/ATM system is woefully anachronistic.
I briefly asked myself, if this guy, who was Hispanic, and given his choice of profession, probably poor, deserved some sympathy when it came to CC theft, and I quickly decided: no. There are many, many other people who are in exactly the same position, or worse, and they choose to do the right thing regardless. CC thieves are thieves. They don't point a gun at you, but the end result is the same thing.
Bruce, I wonder-- did Katzer know that the Artistic License was weak, and did that motivate some of his behavior? I'm wondering if the choice of a different license would have actually deterred this guy.
Right, because when the Olympics are over, they're just going to throw the rink and Zamboni in the landfill.
Don't know if you've ever been someplace that hosted the Olympics, but those facilities stay around for a long time. E.g., both Montreal and Lake Placid still use their facilities. If you're spending billions on infrastructure, why skimp on the ice resurfacer?
Actually, that's not true. Hulu mostly works fine for me in 64-bit Ubuntu 9.10 and the latest Firefox. I'm running the latest Flash alpha. I can watch the videos, but the player controls are unusable (clicking on them does nothing). Fortunately, Hulu Desktop works, although the video is occasionally a little glitchy.
Now Netflix, that's a different story. Videos are unwatchably glitchy unless I use IE, where they play fine (yes, on Windows).
Re:behavioral problems have virtually disappeared
on
The Wi-Fi On the Bus
·
· Score: 1
I was in the same boat with you for a long time. I will share two things with you that made me "come out of my shell":
relax
don't make yourself a victim
I know those sound trite, so I will elaborate. I'll start with not making yourself a victim, because for me, that was the turning point.
Up until the time I was in the 7th grade, I had essentially the same experience as most of the 'nerds' here. I was called 'nerd' repeatedly, and because I played saxophone and flute in the band (hey, I liked classical music), I was also called a 'fag', etc. At the time I was called these things, I thought I'd just shrug them off-- they don't bother me-- but in retrospect, they did quite bother me. Anyway, I wore glasses, and like to read during recess. Standard-issue nerd.
Now, for whatever reason, the big bully of this particular school, Tony, decided it was my time to get pushed around. I had evaded his attention partly because I was new to the school (had just moved in from another state) and because, man, it was so fun watching my other friends squeal. In Tony's defense, my other 'nerd'-friends really did put on a nice show. Anyway, one day, Tony pushed me as I walked down the hall. He walked behind me, stepping on the backs of my shoes, pushing me some more.
Now, I had thought a lot about this particular moment, and I decided that the only course of action was something of a "shock and awe" response (I was surprised, when I later read Ender's Game as an adult, that the same logic was applied there, although I had no intent to KILL anyone). So I pushed him back. But not a small push. I basically just used all my strength. I knocked him off his feet, and because we were near the gymnasium area, he fell backward and hit his head on the crossbar to a street hockey net. It knocked him out.
The gym teacher who was there was PISSED. And I was, inside, terrified of what was going to happen. What happened, though, was this: the bullies ramped up their rhetoric for awhile ("I'm gonna KILL you!"), but after seeing this was ineffective, they eventually left me alone. I wasn't good at 'trash talk', so I just glared angrily. I later learned that girls thought this was 'manly'-- but I kept my mouth shut because I didn't know what to say! In any case no one ever laid a finger on me for the rest of my schooling. Later in high school, when I became the top XC runner in the league (yes, XC is the true nerd's sport), I had these same guys asking me for training advice. Imagine that. Complete 180.
But the lesson was: you have a great deal of control over what other people think of you.
Sounds easy, right? I know you're thinking it's not. And this brings me to the second point, this social paralysis that a lot of us suffer from. Even now, there are times where I am expected to go to a social outing, and... I just can't seem to do it. It's not that I don't want to. I do.
I've thought a lot about the cause of that, and I've concluded that, for me at least it's: what if I do something stupid? They're all going to laugh at me. I couldn't handle it.
But the truth is: they're not going to laugh at you. In fact, the vast majority of people couldn't care less if you do something stupid. Relax. I know, it's easier said than done. It takes mental toughness to walk through this door sometimes.
For me, it comes down to: I would rather live my life than not. If that means I make a few mistakes, so be it. I've done and said stupid things, but I don't bother turning them over and over in my head. It's in the past. Move on. Live and learn. That strategy has allowed me to do well in life. I'm married to a beautiful and intelligent woman (who doesn't care that I like to come home and watch Star Trek), I manage a department at work, I work on the projects that I want to, and I've accomplished most of the goals I set out for myself.
It's easy to let your inherited problems or your particular circumstances stop you from doing things. The only one who can do anything about that is yourself. Start today.
That's strange. At my current university, getting caught cheating is grounds for immediate expulsion. At that school, in my experience, the problem is more with the teachers inflating grades. This happened in a math course I took, and because the teacher essentially gave everyone A's, the grade's use as a measure of understanding was completely eliminated. In my mind, our grades were meaningless. Fortunately, in my other classes, I'd had to work my ass of for those A's (or that B in physics-- whoa!).
At my last uni, I TA'ed a course where the honors students substituted a written paper for a produced radio program, that aired on the campus radio station. For most students, this really lit a fire under their asses, and most of the finished products were outstanding. But one student, who almost never came to the radio production lab (which was required), or met deadlines, handed in a piece of work that was terrible, and about a week late. I had explained our late policy to the class beforehand, so she knew the rules-- she got an F in the honors section. After receiving her grade, she came to me, begging me to change it, saying that if she had anything less than a C average, she would lose her scholarship. I told her that I could not, in good conscience, give her a better grade. It would be dishonest and unfair to other students.
Well, she took it straight to the academic dean for the college. Fortunately, my school had some integrity (and, I suppose it also helps that the dean was actually my academic advisor when I was an undergrad, so she knew me well). The department asked me for my rubric, asked for a quick explanation of my evaluation, and then, that was it. The grade stood. That's the way it's supposed to work, but I have to admit, it put a fear of vindictive students in me.
We are going that cheap. I am shooting for under $400 this year for PC desktops. We'll make up the difference between these and our normal expenditure, though, on really big displays, since a lot of our work is moving toward needing them. Fast PCs are dirt cheap as long as you aren't buying them from brand-name PC vendors.
Why not use Macs? We can't repair the hardware ourselves with Macs. Don't get me wrong-- I like Macs, and we did a big deployment last year-- but even with AppleCare, getting support is a hassle. You often have to convince support people on the other end that your diagnosis is correct, and Apple's rules for on-site service are somewhat opaque. In fact, you can often request on-site service even if they tell you "no", and they'll still do it, but when we already have qualified IT people, why bring in Apple's people? It's a waste of time and money. Instead of paying for AppleCare, we just keep a closet full of spare parts. Downtime is usually very short.
In high school, I designed such a hunt but I could not get my girlfriend to leave the house. She was in a deep funk. In retrospect, probably because she was stuck dating me:^/ I ended up just picking up the flowers I left her and drop-kicking them into a dumpster. And people wondered why I didn't go to my high school reunion...
Fortunately, since then I've ended up with a wife who would love such a trick, although, as I mentioned above, all she really wants (and I know because she made of a point of telling me repeatedly, including emails) is a heart-shaped box of candy from CVS. OK then...
Slashdot Mirror
I think it's a pretty cool idea, though. Have you ever heard Johnny Cash's version of Soundgarden's Rusty Cage? I mean, he was almost dead at that point!
I've converted a variety of media to be played on small screens with the thinking that it would be great for when I have travel-downtime. For me at least, it does get tedious. I just don't enjoy such a small screen. Someone else mentioned an iPad, and for me, that would probably be the tipping point (I'd think about getting one), but a cellphone screen doesn't cut it. Especially since I tend to prefer reading during downtime than watching TV.
On the airplane wi-fi front, I was on a US Air flight recently, and they had wi-fi onboard. Since it was new, they were running a promotional deal where you get one free flight's worth of wi-fi if you give them your email addy (little do they know I'm an email admin... and have virtually unlimited email addresses!). I was floored at how fast it was, considering that I was, you know, hurtling through the air at 30,000 ft. I transferred files to and from my fileserver, I had an SSH session open, and the latency didn't seem any worse than my connection at home. Impressed... but I probably still wouldn't pay for it (just as I don't pay the extra $60 for 4 more inches of legroom; the $6 Jack Daniels can easily compensate for that). Now, granted, this was all subjective-- I didn't run any speed tests-- but I was expected something like modem-speed, so I was pleasantly surprised.
Maybe so, but it does mark a turning point. In the past, Apple primarily let their products speak for themselves-- or, at least, they let us think so.
I think what bugs The Steve is that a new competitor came up doing what Apple used to do: make great products. I still think Apple's products are highly refined, but I can't stand the lock-in. Their new business model (and the reason that they are wildly successful) is that they are now hybrid of the old Apple ("hip") and Microsoft ("shrewd"). In my mind, this is antithetical to the old Apple way of doing things, which was more of a hacker approach. The old Mac OS may be been a POS, but at least it was a hacker's POS.
It may be time to finally bury that old SE/30.
Apparently I lack the ability to pick out a single voice in a crowd. What the hell is he saying?
Liaison.
Yes, but humans consume vast quantities of past human behavior as well. We do it very differently (or so we think), but exactly how that works is still a mystery, and we call it 'culture'.
My opinion is that-- if we can create a machine that can make original music as beautiful, aesthetically and intellectually, as our best work, this is not a triumph of machines over humans. We built them! It is a triumph of understanding of ourselves. In every way that matters, that machine is as much as a work of art as the music is. Maybe I think this now because I've been thinking lately about automata and the languages that they express...
My point is this: is the oak tree outside your window any less beautiful because you understand why it's leaves are green? That a steak is any less tastier because of Maillard reactions? That your children are any less awesome because we know they came from a sperm and an ovum? I think it is more beautiful when we know how it works. We can better appreciate what we have.
Yeah, it sounds to me like Xerox is facing increasing irrelevancy, and has decided to turn to litigation as a new revenue stream. I [ugh, sadly] do a lot of purchasing of office equipment, and now that I think of it, I have not even once considered a Xerox product in the last 6 years that I've worked here. I'm not even sure what they're up to anymore.
I'm going to assume you're not a racist moron, but I am wondering what the fuck him being Hispanic has anything at all with either being a thief or with a reason why a thief would deserve sympathy. Why did you even bother mentioning that factoid?
Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize that mentioning race meant that I was racist. WTF?
I mentioned it because minorities in this country face pressures on a regular basis that I don't have to worry about, like-- not being able to get a job because the guy doing the hiring doesn't trust people who aren't native English speakers. That factored into my judgment about whether the person deserved sympathy for his act. The fact that you jumped all over me for just mentioning this shows how fucked up the entire conversation has become.
That's a good point, and obviously the answer is 'no'. I recently had my CC # stolen by a pizza guy. I had just finished something like a 15-hour shift at work, I was tired, and I fell for a scam that, in retrospect, I should have caught on to immediately. Despite the fact that I ordered and paid for the pizza ahead of time, on the web, he told me that he "needed an imprint" of the card. Then he starts making the imprint with... his key? And then (and this is really where I kick myself), I take the original receipt and he goes, "Oh, nope, I need that one" and swaps with me. Of course, the carbon copy (which I am supposed to take but which he took) has the nicest key-imprint on it.
About 45 minutes after this happened, my CC company calls me to check on purchases that were made not five minutes ago at a "discount clothing store in the Bronx" (I live in Boston). Now, I am certain that this is the source of the theft, because prior to that, I had not used the card in several months.
My understanding is that the banks themselves don't absorb this loss because they pass it on to the merchant-- the merchant absorbs the loss. But I have to wonder whether banks (and credit card users) would be better (and cheaper) served by simply fixing these security problems now. Those fancy fraud-detection units can't be cheap. Our existing CC/ATM system is woefully anachronistic.
I briefly asked myself, if this guy, who was Hispanic, and given his choice of profession, probably poor, deserved some sympathy when it came to CC theft, and I quickly decided: no. There are many, many other people who are in exactly the same position, or worse, and they choose to do the right thing regardless. CC thieves are thieves. They don't point a gun at you, but the end result is the same thing.
Where Americans jest, others naively look at the thing flying over their heads.
We don't need the extra precision unless our software is stealing from the boss, thanks.
Bruce, I wonder-- did Katzer know that the Artistic License was weak, and did that motivate some of his behavior? I'm wondering if the choice of a different license would have actually deterred this guy.
Thaaaaaaat's my problem! I've been using zeros this whole time.
I specifically installed 64-bit.
Right, because when the Olympics are over, they're just going to throw the rink and Zamboni in the landfill.
Don't know if you've ever been someplace that hosted the Olympics, but those facilities stay around for a long time. E.g., both Montreal and Lake Placid still use their facilities. If you're spending billions on infrastructure, why skimp on the ice resurfacer?
Actually, that's not true. Hulu mostly works fine for me in 64-bit Ubuntu 9.10 and the latest Firefox. I'm running the latest Flash alpha. I can watch the videos, but the player controls are unusable (clicking on them does nothing). Fortunately, Hulu Desktop works, although the video is occasionally a little glitchy.
Now Netflix, that's a different story. Videos are unwatchably glitchy unless I use IE, where they play fine (yes, on Windows).
Unless you're from Nevada. That place is practically made of strip joints.
LOL. Whoops.
I know those sound trite, so I will elaborate. I'll start with not making yourself a victim, because for me, that was the turning point.
Up until the time I was in the 7th grade, I had essentially the same experience as most of the 'nerds' here. I was called 'nerd' repeatedly, and because I played saxophone and flute in the band (hey, I liked classical music), I was also called a 'fag', etc. At the time I was called these things, I thought I'd just shrug them off-- they don't bother me-- but in retrospect, they did quite bother me. Anyway, I wore glasses, and like to read during recess. Standard-issue nerd.
Now, for whatever reason, the big bully of this particular school, Tony, decided it was my time to get pushed around. I had evaded his attention partly because I was new to the school (had just moved in from another state) and because, man, it was so fun watching my other friends squeal. In Tony's defense, my other 'nerd'-friends really did put on a nice show. Anyway, one day, Tony pushed me as I walked down the hall. He walked behind me, stepping on the backs of my shoes, pushing me some more.
Now, I had thought a lot about this particular moment, and I decided that the only course of action was something of a "shock and awe" response (I was surprised, when I later read Ender's Game as an adult, that the same logic was applied there, although I had no intent to KILL anyone). So I pushed him back. But not a small push. I basically just used all my strength. I knocked him off his feet, and because we were near the gymnasium area, he fell backward and hit his head on the crossbar to a street hockey net. It knocked him out.
The gym teacher who was there was PISSED. And I was, inside, terrified of what was going to happen. What happened, though, was this: the bullies ramped up their rhetoric for awhile ("I'm gonna KILL you!"), but after seeing this was ineffective, they eventually left me alone. I wasn't good at 'trash talk', so I just glared angrily. I later learned that girls thought this was 'manly'-- but I kept my mouth shut because I didn't know what to say! In any case no one ever laid a finger on me for the rest of my schooling. Later in high school, when I became the top XC runner in the league (yes, XC is the true nerd's sport), I had these same guys asking me for training advice. Imagine that. Complete 180.
But the lesson was: you have a great deal of control over what other people think of you.
Sounds easy, right? I know you're thinking it's not. And this brings me to the second point, this social paralysis that a lot of us suffer from. Even now, there are times where I am expected to go to a social outing, and... I just can't seem to do it. It's not that I don't want to. I do.
I've thought a lot about the cause of that, and I've concluded that, for me at least it's: what if I do something stupid? They're all going to laugh at me. I couldn't handle it.
But the truth is: they're not going to laugh at you. In fact, the vast majority of people couldn't care less if you do something stupid. Relax. I know, it's easier said than done. It takes mental toughness to walk through this door sometimes.
For me, it comes down to: I would rather live my life than not. If that means I make a few mistakes, so be it. I've done and said stupid things, but I don't bother turning them over and over in my head. It's in the past. Move on. Live and learn. That strategy has allowed me to do well in life. I'm married to a beautiful and intelligent woman (who doesn't care that I like to come home and watch Star Trek), I manage a department at work, I work on the projects that I want to, and I've accomplished most of the goals I set out for myself.
It's easy to let your inherited problems or your particular circumstances stop you from doing things. The only one who can do anything about that is yourself. Start today.
OK, enough pep talk.
Especially when it means 800815. I'm looking at you, Cat Schwartz!
That's strange. At my current university, getting caught cheating is grounds for immediate expulsion. At that school, in my experience, the problem is more with the teachers inflating grades. This happened in a math course I took, and because the teacher essentially gave everyone A's, the grade's use as a measure of understanding was completely eliminated. In my mind, our grades were meaningless. Fortunately, in my other classes, I'd had to work my ass of for those A's (or that B in physics-- whoa!).
At my last uni, I TA'ed a course where the honors students substituted a written paper for a produced radio program, that aired on the campus radio station. For most students, this really lit a fire under their asses, and most of the finished products were outstanding. But one student, who almost never came to the radio production lab (which was required), or met deadlines, handed in a piece of work that was terrible, and about a week late. I had explained our late policy to the class beforehand, so she knew the rules-- she got an F in the honors section. After receiving her grade, she came to me, begging me to change it, saying that if she had anything less than a C average, she would lose her scholarship. I told her that I could not, in good conscience, give her a better grade. It would be dishonest and unfair to other students.
Well, she took it straight to the academic dean for the college. Fortunately, my school had some integrity (and, I suppose it also helps that the dean was actually my academic advisor when I was an undergrad, so she knew me well). The department asked me for my rubric, asked for a quick explanation of my evaluation, and then, that was it. The grade stood. That's the way it's supposed to work, but I have to admit, it put a fear of vindictive students in me.
We are going that cheap. I am shooting for under $400 this year for PC desktops. We'll make up the difference between these and our normal expenditure, though, on really big displays, since a lot of our work is moving toward needing them. Fast PCs are dirt cheap as long as you aren't buying them from brand-name PC vendors.
Why not use Macs? We can't repair the hardware ourselves with Macs. Don't get me wrong-- I like Macs, and we did a big deployment last year-- but even with AppleCare, getting support is a hassle. You often have to convince support people on the other end that your diagnosis is correct, and Apple's rules for on-site service are somewhat opaque. In fact, you can often request on-site service even if they tell you "no", and they'll still do it, but when we already have qualified IT people, why bring in Apple's people? It's a waste of time and money. Instead of paying for AppleCare, we just keep a closet full of spare parts. Downtime is usually very short.
If I told you that you had a beautiful body, would you hold it against me? I am no longer infected.
In high school, I designed such a hunt but I could not get my girlfriend to leave the house. She was in a deep funk. In retrospect, probably because she was stuck dating me :^/ I ended up just picking up the flowers I left her and drop-kicking them into a dumpster. And people wondered why I didn't go to my high school reunion...
Fortunately, since then I've ended up with a wife who would love such a trick, although, as I mentioned above, all she really wants (and I know because she made of a point of telling me repeatedly, including emails) is a heart-shaped box of candy from CVS. OK then...
"Surprise, no Valentine's Day present!"