You are thinking about the first possible application which would be to somehow attach yourself to one huge piece of flat material and somehow use that to slow your fall.
But if you on the other hand had a parachute which somehow was made up of thousands or maybe millions of small pieces of flat objects which could rotate independently you might achieve the same effect, and the random falls would average out.
It is also reasonable to believe that the smaller the object the smaller the random drops.
My imagined parachute above might not work. But can you prove it? It shows that there are applications of this which we might not fully understand after reading an article on the Internet.
But then again, maybe you already thought about this and was just making a joke.
Man, I used to go nuts wondering where the universe ended.
And I used to wonder if a ship speeding away from earth at 0.6c would see my flashlight if I was at the back of another rocket ship also speeding away from earth at 0.6c but in the opposite direction so that neither would go faster than the speed of light relative to earth, but so that they would be distancing themselves at 1.2c from each other.
And now you gave me two more things to go nuts about.
No, I've made up my mind. Near light speed is better. Just because, can you imagine how bad you would have to go when you got there? And there is probably only room for one bathroom on the ship.
I'd have to recommend near light speed instead. First of all, the trip will be faster. And as an added bonus, time will pass faster.
The trip will feel as if it was from now... to... now. Or even faster, from now to now. Or maybe even from nowtonow if they are really close to light speed.
The one advantage with the hibernation thing is that they might feel really rested when they get there.
I think that google realises that the good will of the geeks is very important.
They know, that for their line of business, the geeks are a really powerful, _highly_ opinionated, bunch of people. Should we start disliking Google we will start telling our relatives to use some other search engine.
If they court us and we continue to like them, or maybe even like them more, then we will scoff at anyone who uses another search engine.
So, even if Linux has a small market share that market share is a highly influential group in the society.
So I think they will offer this for Linux. It is enormous good will.
It could be that the first version of Googles software doesn't do anything that Spotlight doesn't. But they probably have a business plan that is far more far reaching than people think.
They may just be doing the ground work and getting an installed base for the next version Google Desktop which will connect you to froogle and let you search your desktop as well as your Google Mail in one fell swoop.
I'm just trying to think how they can integrate their Google Desktop with what they already have to make money.
Didn't they just buy a map company?
So you could have this one box where you do a search and if Google Desktop recognizes it as an address it'll bring up a map instead of searching your local computer. Much like it gives you the answer 4 when you type in 2 + 2 instead of searching the web.
So Google is in a position where they can give you one single search box which will let you search for anything you want and it will intelligently look in the right place.
Thank you for putting a time on this game. I had it all wrong. So it was way before Doom. So it came out around Wolfenstein 3D then.
I do remember thinking that Ultima Underworld was waaay ahead of its time when I was playing it.
And another thing. Even now, when I tried it, I really liked the "feel" of it. Not the controls, they were a bit screwed up, but the feel of the dungeon and the sense of dungeoun exploration.
I'm going to stop rambling about Ultima Underworld after this post. But 3 minutes into this game I "angered a giant rat with my actions". I just find it hilarious that I've spent so much time killing rodents in modern MMORPGs and yet it isn't a "new concept". No wonder that killing rodents feels "old".
I really hope that WoW and EQ2 will innovate in some way.
It actually works but you have to right click on the executable, choose properties and allocate some EMS memory for it. It then creates an old style.pif file and if you double click on that the game will actually start.
If you download this, just make sure that you put it in its own folder first because it self expands to the folder it is in.
It does look somewhat dated. But it is actually quite similar to todays 3d rpgs.
I did a search on Ultima Underworld on a whim. And I found this page with some information on the game and a map of the "Stygian Abyss" and even better I found this link where you can download a demo.
I can't believe it. I'm going to have to download it and see if I can get it running.
What I fail to understand is why Ultima Underworld never is mentioned in this context.
That was the first 3d game I played and it was awesome. You'd run around in a dungeoun system and hack and slash monsters a la single player RPG. The dungeon was not limited to a "flat 2d floor" you could run arund and end up running under a bridge that you had just run over.
I can't remember if it came before or after Doom. But it must have been at about the same time.
I've never tried XUL but from what I read it sounds pretty good.
But I've always thought, for as long as I can remember, that the best way to help Linux is to write your applications in Java.
The backers of Java are very powerful, IBM, Sun, BEA, Oracle. The list goes on.
If Java truly would be write once, run anywhere and if Java gets fast enough (it is pretty fast now already but it is fighting a common notion that it is slow) then the operating system becomes irrelevant. This is why MS worked so hard on undermining Java.
So everytime people advocate Perl and PHP and other toy languages (Yes, that's right, I said toy languages. And spare me the flames. I will take this back if you show me a PHP or Perl application server which is comparable to BEA WebLogic) I feel as if it is an opportunity lost for Linux.
I have heard people say that the terrorists of the world wants Kerry to win. Well, Microsoft would rather that you used Perl and PHP than Java.
Not to bash Max OS X (I have a Powerbook and I love it). But if you move to a different operating system altogether than it would be very surprising if you didn't see features that wasn't availalble in Windows and appear new to you.
If you had used Mac OS X since 95 and just had moved to Windows you would have marvelled over all the innovations there.
What one has to realize is that the cost of the software itself often is marginal for the total cost of using a computer. Most people are more productive with Windows than they are with Linux. That is however not as easy to measure as the dollars spent on the software.
I used to be a hard core Linux advocate. I still love Linux and run it when I have the chance (I happen to be a Debian-head but thinking about trying Gentoo).
But as a software engineer, I have to be honest with myself and admit that it is easier and cheaper to develop applications for Windows than for Linux.
I'm not saying that good programmers can't be smarter than average. In fact, I'd agree that good programmers are smarter than average.
What I'm saying is that programmers automatically assume that they are more intelligent.
Even programmers that aren't very good.
From what you are telling me I believe that you are above average intelligence and a good programmer (you seem to be honest and have distance to yourself).
But you are a good programmer because you are intelligent. You aren't intelligent because you are a programmer.
Being a nerd and doing "insider" jokes is different from thinking that I'm smarter than everyone else because I'm a programmer.
But I'lll freely admit that I've been guilty of this myself. Assumed that I'm smarter because I'm a programmer, that is. That is why I've spent so much time thinking about it.
And now I see it as a trend with programmers and it is rather obvious when reading slashdot.
A question is asked, which begs for answers which reassuringly imply that programmers are smarter than the average person. It is our communitys little "feel good" ritual.
But I think that programmers tend to think that they are smarter than the average person. People tend to want to be good at what they do. And for a programmer, being intelligent is one of the most important factors for that.
And with the power of wishful thinking they think they are.
And without even realizing it, they ask questions which imply that programmers are smarter than the average person. That bugs me.
I would suggest building something which draws off of a car battery. And I wouldn't spend a whole lot of money on that. I'd build it so that it can run an hour on battery power.
And then I would make sure that I could recharge the battery with the car. Assuming that you have a gas station within 30 minutes of driving you can sustain this indefinitely.
But that will be terribly inefficient and it will pollute you say? Well, you are right. But it isn't like it will be used often. Maybe never. But in a crisis situation it would work. And it would be cheap.
Slashdot Mirror
You are thinking about the first possible application which would be to somehow attach yourself to one huge piece of flat material and somehow use that to slow your fall.
But if you on the other hand had a parachute which somehow was made up of thousands or maybe millions of small pieces of flat objects which could rotate independently you might achieve the same effect, and the random falls would average out.
It is also reasonable to believe that the smaller the object the smaller the random drops.
My imagined parachute above might not work. But can you prove it? It shows that there are applications of this which we might not fully understand after reading an article on the Internet.
But then again, maybe you already thought about this and was just making a joke.
The flattening is not the problem. That will be achieved. Timing is the problem.
You need to flat yourself _before_ you hit the ground.
Man, I used to go nuts wondering where the universe ended.
And I used to wonder if a ship speeding away from earth at 0.6c would see my flashlight if I was at the back of another rocket ship also speeding away from earth at 0.6c but in the opposite direction so that neither would go faster than the speed of light relative to earth, but so that they would be distancing themselves at 1.2c from each other.
And now you gave me two more things to go nuts about.
I have a -1 modifier on anonymous cowards these days. Try it.
Heh... The interesting mod has me confounded as well. I was aiming for funny.
Thank you very much for this information.
Or Quake. That would make for good gaming stories when they get back.
"So there I was, I had just gotten the rocket launcher and my ping was 18 minutes, but I rocket jumped up to the ledge and..."
Umm... You say that v should be approximately c, but do you mean bigger or smaller than c?
Because if it is bigger they would arrive before they started and that is creepy. I've read about that in the Silver Surfer.
No, I've made up my mind. Near light speed is better. Just because, can you imagine how bad you would have to go when you got there? And there is probably only room for one bathroom on the ship.
I'd have to recommend near light speed instead. First of all, the trip will be faster. And as an added bonus, time will pass faster.
The trip will feel as if it was from now... to... now. Or even faster, from now to now. Or maybe even from nowtonow if they are really close to light speed.
The one advantage with the hibernation thing is that they might feel really rested when they get there.
I think the point is that they aren't necessarily aiming only for NY.
They are doing this in a way that it might be picked up by other mainstream media as news about what is happening in New York.
Take this thread for instance. It is of course preaching to the choir, but the actual news article could have been carried by CNN.
I think that google realises that the good will of the geeks is very important.
They know, that for their line of business, the geeks are a really powerful, _highly_ opinionated, bunch of people. Should we start disliking Google we will start telling our relatives to use some other search engine.
If they court us and we continue to like them, or maybe even like them more, then we will scoff at anyone who uses another search engine.
So, even if Linux has a small market share that market share is a highly influential group in the society.
So I think they will offer this for Linux. It is enormous good will.
It could be that the first version of Googles software doesn't do anything that Spotlight doesn't. But they probably have a business plan that is far more far reaching than people think.
They may just be doing the ground work and getting an installed base for the next version Google Desktop which will connect you to froogle and let you search your desktop as well as your Google Mail in one fell swoop.
I'm just trying to think how they can integrate their Google Desktop with what they already have to make money.
Didn't they just buy a map company?
So you could have this one box where you do a search and if Google Desktop recognizes it as an address it'll bring up a map instead of searching your local computer. Much like it gives you the answer 4 when you type in 2 + 2 instead of searching the web.
So Google is in a position where they can give you one single search box which will let you search for anything you want and it will intelligently look in the right place.
Thank you for putting a time on this game. I had it all wrong. So it was way before Doom. So it came out around Wolfenstein 3D then.
I do remember thinking that Ultima Underworld was waaay ahead of its time when I was playing it.
And another thing. Even now, when I tried it, I really liked the "feel" of it. Not the controls, they were a bit screwed up, but the feel of the dungeon and the sense of dungeoun exploration.
OK,
I'm going to stop rambling about Ultima Underworld after this post. But 3 minutes into this game I "angered a giant rat with my actions". I just find it hilarious that I've spent so much time killing rodents in modern MMORPGs and yet it isn't a "new concept". No wonder that killing rodents feels "old".
I really hope that WoW and EQ2 will innovate in some way.
It actually works but you have to right click on the executable, choose properties and allocate some EMS memory for it. It then creates an old style
If you download this, just make sure that you put it in its own folder first because it self expands to the folder it is in.
It does look somewhat dated. But it is actually quite similar to todays 3d rpgs.
Sweeeet!
I did a search on Ultima Underworld on a whim. And I found this page with some information on the game and a map of the "Stygian Abyss" and even better I found this link where you can download a demo.
I can't believe it. I'm going to have to download it and see if I can get it running.
I... Think... I'm... Going... to... cry.
What I fail to understand is why Ultima Underworld never is mentioned in this context.
That was the first 3d game I played and it was awesome. You'd run around in a dungeoun system and hack and slash monsters a la single player RPG. The dungeon was not limited to a "flat 2d floor" you could run arund and end up running under a bridge that you had just run over.
I can't remember if it came before or after Doom. But it must have been at about the same time.
I've never tried XUL but from what I read it sounds pretty good.
But I've always thought, for as long as I can remember, that the best way to help Linux is to write your applications in Java.
The backers of Java are very powerful, IBM, Sun, BEA, Oracle. The list goes on.
If Java truly would be write once, run anywhere and if Java gets fast enough (it is pretty fast now already but it is fighting a common notion that it is slow) then the operating system becomes irrelevant. This is why MS worked so hard on undermining Java.
So everytime people advocate Perl and PHP and other toy languages (Yes, that's right, I said toy languages. And spare me the flames. I will take this back if you show me a PHP or Perl application server which is comparable to BEA WebLogic) I feel as if it is an opportunity lost for Linux.
I have heard people say that the terrorists of the world wants Kerry to win. Well, Microsoft would rather that you used Perl and PHP than Java.
Hence, use Java if you want to promote Linux.
Not to bash Max OS X (I have a Powerbook and I love it). But if you move to a different operating system altogether than it would be very surprising if you didn't see features that wasn't availalble in Windows and appear new to you.
If you had used Mac OS X since 95 and just had moved to Windows you would have marvelled over all the innovations there.
What one has to realize is that the cost of the software itself often is marginal for the total cost of using a computer. Most people are more productive with Windows than they are with Linux. That is however not as easy to measure as the dollars spent on the software.
I used to be a hard core Linux advocate. I still love Linux and run it when I have the chance (I happen to be a Debian-head but thinking about trying Gentoo).
But as a software engineer, I have to be honest with myself and admit that it is easier and cheaper to develop applications for Windows than for Linux.
I'm not saying that good programmers can't be smarter than average. In fact, I'd agree that good programmers are smarter than average.
What I'm saying is that programmers automatically assume that they are more intelligent.
Even programmers that aren't very good.
From what you are telling me I believe that you are above average intelligence and a good programmer (you seem to be honest and have distance to yourself).
But you are a good programmer because you are intelligent. You aren't intelligent because you are a programmer.
At least this is my opinion.
Being a nerd and doing "insider" jokes is different from thinking that I'm smarter than everyone else because I'm a programmer.
But I'lll freely admit that I've been guilty of this myself. Assumed that I'm smarter because I'm a programmer, that is. That is why I've spent so much time thinking about it.
And now I see it as a trend with programmers and it is rather obvious when reading slashdot.
A question is asked, which begs for answers which reassuringly imply that programmers are smarter than the average person. It is our communitys little "feel good" ritual.
No,
And this isn't a troll.
But I think that programmers tend to think that they are smarter than the average person. People tend to want to be good at what they do. And for a programmer, being intelligent is one of the most important factors for that.
And with the power of wishful thinking they think they are.
And without even realizing it, they ask questions which imply that programmers are smarter than the average person. That bugs me.
Oh, and I'm a programmer myself.
I would suggest building something which draws off of a car battery. And I wouldn't spend a whole lot of money on that. I'd build it so that it can run an hour on battery power.
And then I would make sure that I could recharge the battery with the car. Assuming that you have a gas station within 30 minutes of driving you can sustain this indefinitely.
But that will be terribly inefficient and it will pollute you say? Well, you are right. But it isn't like it will be used often. Maybe never. But in a crisis situation it would work. And it would be cheap.