My inability to conjure up evidence about God definately doesn't disprove his existence...
I say that there is a whale in the center of the sun. My belief stands as at least possible unless you can disprove it, right?
Anyone can make brazen and flowery statements, but that does not make them true. Because of this, burden of proof lies with he/she who makes the claim. If I claim that you killed my brother, you wouldn't expect to have to prove that you didn't, would you? Of course not... if I'm going to claim something, I better be able to back it up. The same goes for any other claims, including religious ones, which someone makes.
My grandfather was involved with the Air Force's initiative to bring computers into the military back in the 50s and 60s. He has some of the greatest stories about programming the old machines and working with the punch cards. He is now a 74 year old site designer/admin in his retirement, has a network in his RV, and is constantly learning and finding new technology.
My father is a systems designer/black belt analyst at GE.
I have a three year old daughter, and I've struggled with the same issues. The rule I've come up with is that she has no access to video games, computers, or television until she can read. I'm a dyed-in-the-wool, third generation computer geek, but I really think that young children should be focusing on more basic skills until they can read.
Reading is really one of the first skills of human abstraction which children must master. Most everything prior to that consists of interaction with the world around them and grokking that world. Allowing children to immerse themselves in the worlds of computers, TV, and video games denies them that interaction. Our generation (and older) can appreciate the "virtual" worlds more fully because we grew up in the outside world; we can compare and contrast and see the benefits/detriments of both.
That said, I can't wait for the days when I can totally geek out with my daughter. I can't wait to see how she absorbs the world of computers. A command of and comfort with technology is also a requirement in the world moving forward. Because of that, and because I value reading (offline and on) so much, I've drawn the line at her ability to read. That way, it's dependent upon her development, not upon some arbitrarily chosen age.
My mother has RP. She was born with vision problems which have worsened over time. You are correct in saying that RP affects peripheral and night vision, however, over time RP degrades vision to complete blindness. My mother used to be able to see some color differences and some general shapes (before I was born). Since my birth, however, her vision has worsened considerably; from being able to see only extreme differences in light to almost 100% blindness. So yes, the indicators of RP are loss of peripheral and night vision, but they are by no means the only result of the disease.
My girlfriend actually works at Children's here in Cincinnati. I just emailed her about them making it into a/. article and haven't had a chance to talk to her about what she knows, but I thought your post was quite perceptive.
The schedules that nurses and doctors work at hospitals are just bizarre to me as a guy with a regular schedule. I don't work a job where people's lives are in my hands on a regular basis, but I have a regular schedule. It's not odd to see my girlfriend work 7AM-3PM on monday, 11:30PM tuesday to 7AM wednesday and then 3PM to 11:30PM wednesday and then a twelve hour shift on the weekend. She's always worn and stressed out when she comes home. It seems to me that these kinds of professionals in particular could benefit from having a regular schedule. I'll never understand it.
i thought someone would have mentioned Mindtrap, but it doesn't look like it.
the brain teasers are incredible (some of them are a little preposterous), and it scales well. sometimes i'll get bored and just start trying to figure out the questions myself. the game really comes into its own, however, when you have two teams of players constantly double-guessing themselves.
there have been a couple sequels that add different types of puzzles as well, but they're getting harder to come by.
A friend of mine works for a large bank in the area. After receiving new computers at their branch, they noticed that the connection to the central office was running incredibly slow. They let it go for a while, thinking that it might be a problem that would clear up on its own, but it never did. She finally broke down and called their help desk. After reporting the issue, the response she got back from the tech guy was:
"Oh, that's perfectly normal; the computer just has to get used to the software."
back in mid-2000, i was an 18 year old who thought he was hot stuff because i was the network admin for a manufacturing company. the company was running on netware 4.11 at the time, and we decided to move to 5.1 and use an IP only network.
we purchased a new box and i spent an entire friday getting the thing running and configured. because nw 4.11 was ipx, the new server had ipx and ip running for communications purposes. that evening i migrated the nds tree and files to the new server, checked that it was working properly, downed the old server, brought up the new, and went home happy.
the next morning, the owner of the company called me at home. he couldn't get any of the computers to connect to the server. i just figured it was something simple, because the night before i had tested some of the client stations to make sure they connected. i went into the office figuring it would be a quick fix. damn my naivete.
it turns out when i had tested the clients the night before ipx was still running on the server. i took all of the ipx parameters out of the autoexec.ncf after that. i honestly don't remember it happening in that order. at this point in my career my understanding of tcp/ip was considerably lacking; i thought it was like ipx, you just plug it in and it works. i had no concept of what it actually took to get all of the clients to communicate with the server. oops. being a stubborn idiot, i spent that entire saturday and the following sunday trying to get the damn thing to work. i finally got the clients to connect, but never did get the database server (pervasive.sql/btrieve) to talk to the clients. after two days of straight work, at 11PM on sunday, i fired ipx back up and everything worked. to say i was embarrassed would be putting it lightly.
i still don't understand why i wasn't fired for that one.
god, i remember 'stunts' as one of my favorite games of all time. i used to spend hours building insane tracks just to see how wicked a crash i could manage to pull off. you'd smash into the corner of one of the ramps and somehow manage to go 300 feet straight up in the air. my brothers and i had an ongoing challenge to gain the longest airtime... as of a few years ago (yes, we still play it sometimes), we were sitting at about 13 minutes.
it was also one of the first games i remember which allowed you to replay your race. blocky little F1 racers look so cool in isometric view, man.
i will never forget the hours i spent building tracks with that game. if this one lives up to that experience, it will be worth every cent.
though i wish my phone (samsung A500) would display plain old html, its wap capabilities have actually helped a bit (as opposed to it not having any internet capabilities). my girlfriend works as a nurse in a hospital that assigns a cell phone to each of them. problem is, she can have a different phone on any given day she's working. my solution? have her post her number in a database on my website and then make it accessible on a wml page so that i can pull it up on my phone.
as my girlfriend repeatedly points out: in this country you have to have a license to drive, you have to have a license to own a dog, but anyone who possesses the necessary working parts can have a kid.
with that kind of attitude, no wonder the last people to take the blame are the parents.
Hard to keep my mouth shut...
on
Myst Online Trailer
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· Score: 2, Informative
ok, as a beta tester, i agreed to a restrictive NDA telling me not to discuss things i see in the game outside of the beta forums... so my apologies if this is lacking in details.
i'm seeing a lot of comments about killing the myst franchise by going online, the game possibly sucking, etc. let me say this: it is by far the most impressive online game i've seen yet. the graphics are great, the music is incredible, the puzzles and ages are wonderful, there haven't been any lock-ups or timeouts, everything is top-notch. don't worry about killing the idea that is myst.
a couple people have asked about what kind of computer the graphics were rendered on. i'm getting the same results using a 2.0GHz P4, 512MB RAM, and an nvidia geforce ti 4600.
apologies for that. she can already make calls without much of a hassle. she wants to be able to use the address book, perhaps the calendar, and she really wants to be able to determine where in the menu system she is at any time. it's incredibly easy to get lost in all of the different menus and she doesn't want to have to power down the phone or close and reopen it just to start over.
while this would be nice due to the availability of software, these problems still remain:
-it's insanely slow (who in their right mind wants to run anything on a 266?)
-boot up time is annoying - who wants to wait 30s to a minute waiting for their stereo to boot up, then login, then apply settings and initialize so they can listen to mp3s?
-software interfaces are generally not designed to be easy to use in the car
-using a keyboard and mouse, or even a touchpad, isn't the easiest thing to do while cruising the highway... there's a reason everything in the car is still button controlled
a better option is to go get yourself an xbox, mod it, put a 120gb hd in it, load xbox media player on it, put your mp3s, videos, and games on it, and wire it up in the car. make a simple control panel by soldering wires and buttons to a controller board and mount the thing underneath your seat (or wherever you happen to have room). you've got a five second boot time, an extremely easy to control interface, and a custom control panel on your dash. with lcd screen, wiring, and sweat the setup should cost you around $500... i have my doubts this 1 DIN PC is going to be anywhere near that, especially with the screen.
this is the setup in my car right now, and it's gotten to the point where i can't imagine driving without it... i have linux loaded on the box for those times when i really want to perform some PC tasks in the car, but other than that it's the best way to go with something like this. until the boot time is down and some custom media players are written for it (good luck with that one), as well as a button driven control panel for the dash, it's not going to go anywhere.
Re:Twit: "The Roads Must Roll" was Heinlein...
on
High Speed Travelator
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· Score: 1
i believe the asimov stories being referred to here are those detective stories which follow the travails of r. daneel olivaw and elijah baley (such as the caves of steel). these sidewalks are all over the place in those.
Re:Chrichton's books
on
Prey
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
the one book i haven't seen mentioned is A Case of Need. apparently he wrote it as a med student under the pseudonym of Jeffrey Hudson (::goes out and checks::). yea, that's what he wrote it under.
at any rate, it's a hell of a book, and a stark departure from his usual works. the closest comparison is probably to The Terminal Man (incidentally one of my favorites), but only because they both deal with medical stories.
it actually might be a fairly successful and worthwhile task to tackle. consider this:
back in the early 1900s and up to the present, though it's less prevalent today, a lot of children who were in american schools had parents who had immigrated from another country and were incapable of speaking english. they quite successfully learned to speak their parents' language at home, and english at school and with friends.
so here's my point: what's wrong with your children using linux/macos/etc. at home and another at school and other friends' houses? revolutions start small, don't they? just think how awesome it would be if your child were at a friend's house and said 'your computer can't do this? well mine can.' maybe it'd make someone else curious.
give credit where credit's due. kids are incredibly resilient (i'm learning this from my daughter as we speak). the more flexible and open you can keep them, even if it's by them using multiple OSes, the better off they'll be.
.NET server is not longhorn... you're right in saying that longhorn is the release after it. to quote the article:
A Microsoft representative Tuesday confirmed that the next release of the company's server software "would follow the release of Windows.Net Server," yet essentially skip a generation to focus on the next version of Windows, code-named Blackcomb--initially planned as a successor to Longhorn.
when is this fucking country going to get it through it's head that it's not the government that has the power to break a monopoly... IT'S THE CONSUMERS. this country was not founded on the basis that the government would be there to fix all our problems. at some point a nanny government has to be an insult to your self-respect. sweet jesus, people. go cry and whine and whatnot, but don't hire the government as your henchman to do your dirty work. you don't like a product or company? don't buy the shit. convince your friends not to buy the shit. it's common sense.
and for those of you who get what i'm saying, let's secede!
Slashdot Mirror
I say that there is a whale in the center of the sun. My belief stands as at least possible unless you can disprove it, right?
Anyone can make brazen and flowery statements, but that does not make them true. Because of this, burden of proof lies with he/she who makes the claim. If I claim that you killed my brother, you wouldn't expect to have to prove that you didn't, would you? Of course not... if I'm going to claim something, I better be able to back it up. The same goes for any other claims, including religious ones, which someone makes.
My grandfather was involved with the Air Force's initiative to bring computers into the military back in the 50s and 60s. He has some of the greatest stories about programming the old machines and working with the punch cards. He is now a 74 year old site designer/admin in his retirement, has a network in his RV, and is constantly learning and finding new technology.
My father is a systems designer/black belt analyst at GE.
So yes, third generation is rare but possible.
I have a three year old daughter, and I've struggled with the same issues. The rule I've come up with is that she has no access to video games, computers, or television until she can read. I'm a dyed-in-the-wool, third generation computer geek, but I really think that young children should be focusing on more basic skills until they can read. Reading is really one of the first skills of human abstraction which children must master. Most everything prior to that consists of interaction with the world around them and grokking that world. Allowing children to immerse themselves in the worlds of computers, TV, and video games denies them that interaction. Our generation (and older) can appreciate the "virtual" worlds more fully because we grew up in the outside world; we can compare and contrast and see the benefits/detriments of both. That said, I can't wait for the days when I can totally geek out with my daughter. I can't wait to see how she absorbs the world of computers. A command of and comfort with technology is also a requirement in the world moving forward. Because of that, and because I value reading (offline and on) so much, I've drawn the line at her ability to read. That way, it's dependent upon her development, not upon some arbitrarily chosen age.
The soundtrack is from the movie Liminy Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
The lightsaber itself is a source of light, so the blade wouldn't cast a shadow. That's what he's talking about.
My mother has RP. She was born with vision problems which have worsened over time. You are correct in saying that RP affects peripheral and night vision, however, over time RP degrades vision to complete blindness. My mother used to be able to see some color differences and some general shapes (before I was born). Since my birth, however, her vision has worsened considerably; from being able to see only extreme differences in light to almost 100% blindness. So yes, the indicators of RP are loss of peripheral and night vision, but they are by no means the only result of the disease.
The schedules that nurses and doctors work at hospitals are just bizarre to me as a guy with a regular schedule. I don't work a job where people's lives are in my hands on a regular basis, but I have a regular schedule. It's not odd to see my girlfriend work 7AM-3PM on monday, 11:30PM tuesday to 7AM wednesday and then 3PM to 11:30PM wednesday and then a twelve hour shift on the weekend. She's always worn and stressed out when she comes home. It seems to me that these kinds of professionals in particular could benefit from having a regular schedule. I'll never understand it.
the brain teasers are incredible (some of them are a little preposterous), and it scales well. sometimes i'll get bored and just start trying to figure out the questions myself. the game really comes into its own, however, when you have two teams of players constantly double-guessing themselves.
there have been a couple sequels that add different types of puzzles as well, but they're getting harder to come by.
"Oh, that's perfectly normal; the computer just has to get used to the software."
we purchased a new box and i spent an entire friday getting the thing running and configured. because nw 4.11 was ipx, the new server had ipx and ip running for communications purposes. that evening i migrated the nds tree and files to the new server, checked that it was working properly, downed the old server, brought up the new, and went home happy.
the next morning, the owner of the company called me at home. he couldn't get any of the computers to connect to the server. i just figured it was something simple, because the night before i had tested some of the client stations to make sure they connected. i went into the office figuring it would be a quick fix. damn my naivete.
it turns out when i had tested the clients the night before ipx was still running on the server. i took all of the ipx parameters out of the autoexec.ncf after that. i honestly don't remember it happening in that order. at this point in my career my understanding of tcp/ip was considerably lacking; i thought it was like ipx, you just plug it in and it works. i had no concept of what it actually took to get all of the clients to communicate with the server. oops. being a stubborn idiot, i spent that entire saturday and the following sunday trying to get the damn thing to work. i finally got the clients to connect, but never did get the database server (pervasive.sql/btrieve) to talk to the clients. after two days of straight work, at 11PM on sunday, i fired ipx back up and everything worked. to say i was embarrassed would be putting it lightly.
i still don't understand why i wasn't fired for that one.
it has a full d-pad. the way the shadow falls on the device makes it look like it's missing part of it, though.
it was also one of the first games i remember which allowed you to replay your race. blocky little F1 racers look so cool in isometric view, man.
i will never forget the hours i spent building tracks with that game. if this one lives up to that experience, it will be worth every cent.
i'm using trillian 2.0 and it connects without a problem.
though i wish my phone (samsung A500) would display plain old html, its wap capabilities have actually helped a bit (as opposed to it not having any internet capabilities). my girlfriend works as a nurse in a hospital that assigns a cell phone to each of them. problem is, she can have a different phone on any given day she's working. my solution? have her post her number in a database on my website and then make it accessible on a wml page so that i can pull it up on my phone.
i'm so far away
as my girlfriend repeatedly points out: in this country you have to have a license to drive, you have to have a license to own a dog, but anyone who possesses the necessary working parts can have a kid. with that kind of attitude, no wonder the last people to take the blame are the parents.
ok, as a beta tester, i agreed to a restrictive NDA telling me not to discuss things i see in the game outside of the beta forums... so my apologies if this is lacking in details.
i'm seeing a lot of comments about killing the myst franchise by going online, the game possibly sucking, etc. let me say this: it is by far the most impressive online game i've seen yet. the graphics are great, the music is incredible, the puzzles and ages are wonderful, there haven't been any lock-ups or timeouts, everything is top-notch. don't worry about killing the idea that is myst.
a couple people have asked about what kind of computer the graphics were rendered on. i'm getting the same results using a 2.0GHz P4, 512MB RAM, and an nvidia geforce ti 4600.
overall, absolutely incredible.
take a gander.
apologies for that. she can already make calls without much of a hassle. she wants to be able to use the address book, perhaps the calendar, and she really wants to be able to determine where in the menu system she is at any time. it's incredibly easy to get lost in all of the different menus and she doesn't want to have to power down the phone or close and reopen it just to start over.
-it's insanely slow (who in their right mind wants to run anything on a 266?)
-boot up time is annoying - who wants to wait 30s to a minute waiting for their stereo to boot up, then login, then apply settings and initialize so they can listen to mp3s?
-software interfaces are generally not designed to be easy to use in the car
-using a keyboard and mouse, or even a touchpad, isn't the easiest thing to do while cruising the highway... there's a reason everything in the car is still button controlled
a better option is to go get yourself an xbox, mod it, put a 120gb hd in it, load xbox media player on it, put your mp3s, videos, and games on it, and wire it up in the car. make a simple control panel by soldering wires and buttons to a controller board and mount the thing underneath your seat (or wherever you happen to have room). you've got a five second boot time, an extremely easy to control interface, and a custom control panel on your dash. with lcd screen, wiring, and sweat the setup should cost you around $500... i have my doubts this 1 DIN PC is going to be anywhere near that, especially with the screen.
this is the setup in my car right now, and it's gotten to the point where i can't imagine driving without it... i have linux loaded on the box for those times when i really want to perform some PC tasks in the car, but other than that it's the best way to go with something like this. until the boot time is down and some custom media players are written for it (good luck with that one), as well as a button driven control panel for the dash, it's not going to go anywhere.
i believe the asimov stories being referred to here are those detective stories which follow the travails of r. daneel olivaw and elijah baley (such as the caves of steel). these sidewalks are all over the place in those.
at any rate, it's a hell of a book, and a stark departure from his usual works. the closest comparison is probably to The Terminal Man (incidentally one of my favorites), but only because they both deal with medical stories.
pick it up if you get a chance. amazon link
it actually might be a fairly successful and worthwhile task to tackle. consider this:
back in the early 1900s and up to the present, though it's less prevalent today, a lot of children who were in american schools had parents who had immigrated from another country and were incapable of speaking english. they quite successfully learned to speak their parents' language at home, and english at school and with friends.
so here's my point: what's wrong with your children using linux/macos/etc. at home and another at school and other friends' houses? revolutions start small, don't they? just think how awesome it would be if your child were at a friend's house and said 'your computer can't do this? well mine can.' maybe it'd make someone else curious.
give credit where credit's due. kids are incredibly resilient (i'm learning this from my daughter as we speak). the more flexible and open you can keep them, even if it's by them using multiple OSes, the better off they'll be.
A Microsoft representative Tuesday confirmed that the next release of the company's server software "would follow the release of Windows.Net Server," yet essentially skip a generation to focus on the next version of Windows, code-named Blackcomb--initially planned as a successor to Longhorn.
and for those of you who get what i'm saying, let's secede!