Back in about '82 an acquaintance bought a C64, floppy drive and accounting software. Painstakingly entered data for his employees, customers etc. Took him about 2 weeks of hunt and peck. Program ran great for about a month and then one day when he loaded it up, his master data file had every record replaced with "PIRATE","PIRATE","PIRATE"...
It turned out that the copy protection could be triggered by a slightly misaligned drive head. The program thought it was a pirated copy and activated its anti-piracy code. OOPS!
Buddy was not impressed, since it cost him much time and money. After several nasty letters from lawyers the developer ended up having to pay to have the data re-entered, as well as supplying a version of the software without the anti-pirate code.
There is a story about the second world war, during the Blitz in London, some kids from England were sent to live with their relatives in Canada. The brits sent a telegram "Muffy and Nigel arriving in Halifax tomorrow at 10. Please pick them up."
The canucks, (who lived in Vancouver) telegraphed back "You pick them up. You're closer!"
Fisher spent their own money to develop the space pen and then gave it to NASA. Before that NASA and the Russians both used pencils. After both NASA and the Russians used the space pen.
There is a special place in Hell, right next to the furnaces, reserved for people who use the phrase "All you have to do is...". As in "All you have to do is write some code"
Hard Sci-fi, to most people, means an emphasis on the science part (ok sometimes engineering). Asimov,Niven, Heinlein, Hal Clement, Allan Steele, Kim Stanley Robinson (Mars Trilogy). Moorcock is a fantasy writer. Excellent no doubt, but not hard sf (or any other kind really).
The word you are looking for does not exist in English, but in German they say Schadenfreude. It is a sort of malicious glee at the misfortunes of others. It can also contain an element of "I told you so".
The "Balance of Terror" episode from TOS was a submarine fight. The scenes were like a 1950s WW2 submarine movie. Right down to the Romulans tossing debris and bodies out the airlock to fake damage. "The Enemy Below" with spaceships.
Vacuum flasks are made of glass because they need to be rigid; the air outside is trying to get in, the flask is in compression. Space balloons are made of fabric because the air inside is trying to get out, the balloon is in tension.
If the space balloon is normal sea level air pressure inside, we have inflated it to a whopping 15 psi. My bike tires can take 60 psi, a 2l coke bottle can take about 200 psi.
Here in my own happy-work-land we have achieved a sort of reasonable balance. If I want to work from home (a perk) the company will pay for VPN access (about $300 a year IT costs and license fees for one user) but I have to pay for my internet access. Broadband or dialup or none at all is my choice, but no internet = no VPN.
I'm not "on call", so I don't carry a cell phone or pager, but if work calls and I answer, I almost always will try to help out.
If I can save the company 60 minutes of downtime on one of our big systems, I have more than covered the cost of the VPN. Plus, it never hurts to be a hero once in a while.
Years ago on tv I saw a japanese product which was exactly that. It had a small (say 3 x 10 cm) finned heatsink with a tiny 12V fan on an elastic headband. It was supposed to keep automobile drivers alert.
Nope. The charge is per kilowatt*hour ie kilowatts multiplied by hours.
saying its uses 300 watts per hour 24/7 is not at all incorrect
It is most certainly incorrect. It uses 300 watts. Period. Full Stop. Watts per hour is joules per second per hour which is either a: the rate of change of energy consumed with respect to time or b: nonsense.
There is a story (probably not true, but still funny) about one of our radio technicians jamming a neighbours RC plane. Said neighbour liked to fly Sunday mornings before church when tech guy was still trying to sleep off hangover. Polite complaints had no effect so tech brings home test gear and finds what channel the RC is on. Then he buys a cheap controller and pumps output through a 75W base station radio. The last the neighbour saw of his plane was it heading for the horizon over the waters of lake michigan.
Are computers designed to accomodate women's cultural thought processes?
No problem. Just send over the specs and we'll start coding....
Oh, wait a minute; there are no specs.
No man has ever fully comprehended "women's cultural thought processes", nor will any man ever do so in the future, world without end, till the heat death of the universe.
Give yer head a shake, lad. 2 or 3 orders of magnitude means 100 to 1000 times more (unspecified rocket fuel goodness). Improvements usually come a few percent at a time.
We write software for railroad traffic control and crossing warning systems. If it fails we could end up with two trains trying to occupy the same piece of track at the same time (ref. Clapham Junction 35 dead) or gates that stay up when the train comes. Testing is very formal and rigorous and every step is documented. For every hour we spend making sure the system does what it's supposed to do, we spend eight hours making sure it doesn't do what it's not supposed to do.
Wrong. You do read encyclopedias cover to cover. Aardvark to zyther. That way you get to know everything . You start to look up anteaters and spend an hour reading about atomic bombs. I sure loved to read my World Book when I was a kid.
Of course, this was before there was an internet.....barefoot....20 miles....in the snow....uphill both ways...mutter grumble
Slashdot Mirror
Bad Idea if you end up hurting a paying customer.
Back in about '82 an acquaintance bought a C64, floppy drive and accounting software. Painstakingly entered data for his employees, customers etc. Took him about 2 weeks of hunt and peck. Program ran great for about a month and then one day when he loaded it up, his master data file had every record replaced with "PIRATE","PIRATE","PIRATE"...
It turned out that the copy protection could be triggered by a slightly misaligned drive head. The program thought it was a pirated copy and activated its anti-piracy code. OOPS!
Buddy was not impressed, since it cost him much time and money. After several nasty letters from lawyers the developer ended up having to pay to have the data re-entered, as well as supplying a version of the software without the anti-pirate code.
There is a story about the second world war, during the Blitz in London, some kids from England were sent to live with their relatives in Canada. The brits sent a telegram "Muffy and Nigel arriving in Halifax tomorrow at 10. Please pick them up."
The canucks, (who lived in Vancouver) telegraphed back "You pick them up. You're closer!"
MYTH MYTH MYTH
Fisher spent their own money to develop the space pen and then gave it to NASA. Before that NASA and the Russians both used pencils. After both NASA and the Russians used the space pen.
Right you are!
There is a special place in Hell, right next to the furnaces, reserved for people who use the phrase "All you have to do is...". As in "All you have to do is write some code"
Moorcock is hard sci-fi?? WTF???
Hard Sci-fi, to most people, means an emphasis on the science part (ok sometimes engineering). Asimov,Niven, Heinlein, Hal Clement, Allan Steele, Kim Stanley Robinson (Mars Trilogy). Moorcock is a fantasy writer. Excellent no doubt, but not hard sf (or any other kind really).
"Schadenfreude"
The word you are looking for does not exist in English, but in German they say Schadenfreude. It is a sort of malicious glee at the misfortunes of others. It can also contain an element of "I told you so".
The "Balance of Terror" episode from TOS was a submarine fight. The scenes were like a 1950s WW2 submarine movie. Right down to the Romulans tossing debris and bodies out the airlock to fake damage. "The Enemy Below" with spaceships.
Great episode, personal favorite.
Silly comparison.
Vacuum flasks are made of glass because they need to be rigid; the air outside is trying to get in, the flask is in compression. Space balloons are made of fabric because the air inside is trying to get out, the balloon is in tension.
If the space balloon is normal sea level air pressure inside, we have inflated it to a whopping 15 psi. My bike tires can take 60 psi, a 2l coke bottle can take about 200 psi.
An Actuary: Someone who wanted to be an accountant but didn't have the people skills.
Here in my own happy-work-land we have achieved a sort of reasonable balance. If I want to work from home (a perk) the company will pay for VPN access (about $300 a year IT costs and license fees for one user) but I have to pay for my internet access. Broadband or dialup or none at all is my choice, but no internet = no VPN.
I'm not "on call", so I don't carry a cell phone or pager, but if work calls and I answer, I almost always will try to help out.
If I can save the company 60 minutes of downtime on one of our big systems, I have more than covered the cost of the VPN. Plus, it never hurts to be a hero once in a while.
You're asking on Slashdot?????
Americans are a fiercely proud people. Proud of being ...well... American.
The really cool thing is not one "American" in 50 knows who the country was actually named after. (I saw it on TV, it must be true)
Forehead heatsink? Been there, done that.
Years ago on tv I saw a japanese product which was exactly that. It had a small (say 3 x 10 cm) finned heatsink with a tiny 12V fan on an elastic headband. It was supposed to keep automobile drivers alert.
The charge is per kilowatt/hour.
Nope. The charge is per kilowatt*hour ie kilowatts multiplied by hours.
saying its uses 300 watts per hour 24/7 is not at all incorrect
It is most certainly incorrect. It uses 300 watts. Period. Full Stop. Watts per hour is joules per second per hour which is either a: the rate of change of energy consumed with respect to time or b: nonsense.
senescent - old, senile
did you mean sentient??
Best line in the book.
"I have a variable sword.
I urge calm."
"Here's a few songs from our new album"
at a Rolling Stones concert.
CHICKEN !!!
Turkey !!!
DUCK !!!
Pheasant !!!
Or did you mean "cry foul"
There is a story (probably not true, but still funny) about one of our radio technicians jamming a neighbours RC plane. Said neighbour liked to fly Sunday mornings before church when tech guy was still trying to sleep off hangover. Polite complaints had no effect so tech brings home test gear and finds what channel the RC is on. Then he buys a cheap controller and pumps output through a 75W base station radio. The last the neighbour saw of his plane was it heading for the horizon over the waters of lake michigan.
Are computers designed to accomodate women's cultural thought processes?
No problem. Just send over the specs and we'll start coding....
Oh, wait a minute; there are no specs.
No man has ever fully comprehended "women's cultural thought processes", nor will any man ever do so in the future, world without end, till the heat death of the universe.
Give yer head a shake, lad. 2 or 3 orders of magnitude means 100 to 1000 times more (unspecified rocket fuel goodness).
Improvements usually come a few percent at a time.
spayed
We write software for railroad traffic control and crossing warning systems. If it fails we could end up with two trains trying to occupy the same piece of track at the same time (ref. Clapham Junction 35 dead) or gates that stay up when the train comes. Testing is very formal and rigorous and every step is documented.
For every hour we spend making sure the system does what it's supposed to do, we spend eight hours making sure it doesn't do what it's not supposed to do.
Wrong. You do read encyclopedias cover to cover. Aardvark to zyther. That way you get to know everything . You start to look up anteaters and spend an hour reading about atomic bombs. I sure loved to read my World Book when I was a kid.
Of course, this was before there was an internet.....barefoot....20 miles....in the snow....uphill both ways...mutter grumble
Windows
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