i) Iapetus is the second outermost moon of Saturn. But with its incredibly distinct angle of orbit, one might be forgiven for thinking such.
ii) This thing is not cratered as it would appear. Every single 'crater' is in fact hexagonal! Which if you think it, supports a Buckminster-Fuller 'spheroid' (for lack of a better term) hypothesis. Also, each of these hexagonal surface features are equally sized to other adjacent hexagons with the same altitude.
I think it is intellegent design. Such an enormous construction effort is possible at that fraction of earth's gravity - even with today's technology. Make up your own minds though. Yes, it looks a helluva lot like the Death Star! My personal conjecture is if, and only if, it's alien: that it is an enormous tomb full of dead bodies from an enormous planetary (or interplanetary) plague that needed quarantine of the dead.
I don't know why this hasn't received more coverage: Iapetus
Maybe you've all seen this already, so I don't know if anyone cares. Basically, Iapetus is not spherical! It is an enormous Buckmister-Fuller skeletal structure! It has also been observed from earth (with radio telescopes) to have a dull, uniform radar signature despite its obvious surface features - but consistent with its unusual, non-spherical geometry. ie: it's stealthy!
There is a 60 000 foot high 'wall' around its equator - perfectly around its equator. This is an impossibly coincidental geological feature. But again, it is empirically consistent with a gradual surface erosion which will reveal an underlying bucky-fuller skeleton.
What could very possibly be an alien artefact has been hushed up. NASA continually draws more attention to Titan, but it's the outermost Iapetus that is far more intriguing. If it wasn't so, how come NASA has scheduled an originally unplanned second flyby?! No, I am not wearing a tin-foil hat!
Don't be fooled by the "Titan smokescreen" (my term for it). Iapetus ('eye-app-e-tis') is the truly significant Cassini investigation.
This Rosetta I read about sounds like a potentially very useful binary translation library. It allows OS X applications built for a PPC Macintosh to run on an x86 Macintosh. Since OS X is a descendent of FreeBSD, could this possibly mean that those same apps might be interoperable on an x86 FreeBSD box?
Extending the hypothetical even further, in recognition of the BSD community's contribution, should Rosetta perhaps be open-sourced?
This is a point I have made in discussions with less technical people who ask me questions. I always say it's a matter of possessing vigilance... without the tin-foil hat!
I develop on *BSD OSes - not surprisingly, as with say GNU/Linux or Plan9 or BeOS - no nefarious breaches of integrity, viruses, malware. I also have an old laptop that runs Win2k. I don't get any of that evil shit either. It is a matter of vigilance. Admittedly (for me at least) it is now possible in large part thanks to open source apps on Win32 platforms. I don't use Internet Exploder... Firefox or Opera instead. I don't use Outbreak Express - with its plagues of macro expansion exploits... Thunderbird instead.
So, that's how choice of apps might help. But where your brain (as parent mentions) is crucial is in monitoring your own potentially dangerous activities - something dumbed down and indifferent (frustrated, maybe?) 'lusers' of course might not exercise caution with. For example, it is dangerous to download pr0n from Eastern Europe (or Russia, Ukraine, China etc.), you don't communicate with your bank through your email client *giggles* and it helps to keep up with news regarding known exploits and potential attackers' methods. This last point however is where most 'lusers' aren't going to adhere to this subset of the common sense precepts.
Hey dude. I don't know morse code myself (it has always been on my brain's TODO) but I think it is nevertheless an important skill. I don't think it is still a requirement for military recruits but I reckon it would be vital in life and death situations. For example, downed pilots behind enemy lines, sailors lost at sea or underground resistance groups coordinating liberation efforts against an invasion force (e.g. the French resistance during WWII). The wartime potential benefits are extraordinary.
It is for reasons such as these that I find it an essential skill that ought to be more widely known. In fact, I might start learning now!
Nah. Prepare yourself for a revelation here. The world's rainforests are in fact a net consumer of oxygen. The trees consume considerably more oxygen during their (natural) death and decay process than they ever produced by photosynthesis during their lifetimes. It's this oxidation process that is directly contrary to the environmentalist "Lungs of the Earth" belief.
All said dude, this discussion has actually presented quite an interesting contrast of opinion - heh, as so many do I guess...
Yep. That's exactly why you have added this righteous paragraph about superiority of one platform over another. Insecurity? Zealotry? You name it.;-)
Quite correct. To be perfectly honest, I was actually trying my best here not to prompt the 'zealot' label. Not saying you did call me a zealot directly, but I didn't call you a 'fanboy' either.
Installing software from ports tree is a breeze (when it is not broken, mkay). Supporting it in the long run is somewhat less of a breeze. Maintaing it so contents of/usr/local won't become a complete mess takes a lot of effort.
Especially when you are supporting not exactly that one server in your parent's basement.
Here, though, I don't much agree. I use *BSD servers for all my customers - never had a single call out in 4 years mind you - and to keep systems' ports updated is nothing harder than a couple of (well, literally 2) expect scripts with some SSH smarts. Using cron to trigger at 1800 on the last Friday of each month, said expect scripts are executed from my office machine (ie: don't need to track changes to update scripts on each of my prod servers). All this leaves me to enjoy my weekends. None of my intervention is necessary. What I think you might not know about here is that most of this is already scripted for me. 'portupgrade' (located in/usr/ports/sysutils/portupgrade;-)) is a collection of ruby scripts that is a level above 'make install', 'make deinstall', 'make reinstall', etc. The software does all the upgrade management for you. I mention this (in a long digression) because I'm not too sure if you're familiar with these specific tools. It has kept all of my 4 years worth of clients' servers with up to date software, using upgrade procedures I don't even think about or have needed to modify radically in years. Not to say this couldn't be done with apt, (yam, rpm, etc.) but I do say it is certainly possible with ports. And that I am not just scoffing away the latest upgrades in my parents' basement!
Of course, we're adults and it's all up to you. It's been nice talkin' champ.
... some obscure barely usable BSD lookalike base system with half working ports.
Umm sorry, what?
i) Ports (as in architectures):
NetBSD has never put its name to an architecture it didn't fully support. This is probably because there is still integrity in BSD OSes - the name, BSD, actually means something, not like the vast multitude of splintered, disparate efforts (distros) that have homeopathically watered down the quality of the product. 3 BSD distros. 1 for performance, 1 for portability, 1 for security. These aren't virtues carefully pinpointed to selected user spectra by the marketing department of some company that continually puts business ahead of technology. Contrast with e.g. Xandros OS, RedHat, Mandrake or (although not directed by a big business) Scientific Linux. No, believe me, if you were referring to this definition of the term 'port', you can bet that NetBSD wouldn't brand as supported some architecture it would not fully stand by 100% in a grab for 'customers'.
ii) Ports (as in software):
If you have ever even used a BSD OS, the ports tree is nearly idiot-proof. Everything works in the most logical, clean and consistent manner out of any software distribution system I have ever seen. Not just me, but anyone else who uses a BSD OS be they programmers, admins, engineers, scientists, financial analysts, academics or security people would all agree.
Alright now, BSD zealots, mod me into oblivion, but I've really been there.
And here is where you are wrong again:
iii) There really aren't any "BSD zealots". We're all resigned to the fact that slashdot doesn't give us the same air-play as any Linux news and that ignorant people give us the old "Netcraft confirms it". It really doesn't matter, we have more important stuff to do, and the superior tools to do it that we couldn't give a shit. Our stuff works, we don't need to defend it, we don't lock our users into any odd legal traps and our system is not encumbered with the unrealistic promises of some cult of hyper-caffeinated teenagers excited about Free Software.
Think back to PTA meeting on the 13th day of the 13th month - debating the faulty calendars the school purchased the year earlier.
Homer: "brrrr... lousy Smarch weather"
Kirk: "Uh, I for one would like to see the cafeteria menu before the school day. I don't like the idea of Milhouse having two spaghetti meals in, uh, one day."
An Institutional Repository (IR). Save yourself from rolling your own! Check this out mate: DSpace
Disregard this if you already have knowledge of the project, or, if it doesn't suit your needs. This is a very powerful and mature development of peer-review, content management workflow and academic submission from MIT. It is an IR, NOT a content management system!
Cheers Andy-Cat:) checkin' it out now. Shame to be modded offtopic, but if anyone else has any project info on this, keep 'em coming. I guess we can have an open-source rover of our own to duel those two puppies in an interplanetary RobotWars Battle Royale!;)
First, this is really ace! I have found this to be an enthralling journey and many would agree it has been an awesome success for NASA:D
I was wondering though, I think it was advertised here on one of the/. banners ~15 months ago, wasn't there some cool APIs that were bundled into an open-source SDK that NASA (and Sun maybe?) had for the community? I think it was communications, instrumentation and control specifically. And I'm pretty sure it was Java and (maybe) MATLAB.
If anyone knows what I'm on about, is there a still a link?? is there still interest?? I have some time atm to do some tinkering, any help is greatly appreciated.
An Institutional Repository (IR).Since this is slashdot and many of us tend to appreciate software somewhat, may I present this: DSpace
Disregard this if you already have knowledge of the project. This is a very powerful and mature development of peer-review, content management workflow and academic submission from MIT. It is an IR, NOT a content management system!
Slashdot Mirror
Just to update here:
i) Iapetus is the second outermost moon of Saturn. But with its incredibly distinct angle of orbit, one might be forgiven for thinking such.
ii) This thing is not cratered as it would appear. Every single 'crater' is in fact hexagonal! Which if you think it, supports a Buckminster-Fuller 'spheroid' (for lack of a better term) hypothesis. Also, each of these hexagonal surface features are equally sized to other adjacent hexagons with the same altitude.
I think it is intellegent design. Such an enormous construction effort is possible at that fraction of earth's gravity - even with today's technology. Make up your own minds though. Yes, it looks a helluva lot like the Death Star! My personal conjecture is if, and only if, it's alien: that it is an enormous tomb full of dead bodies from an enormous planetary (or interplanetary) plague that needed quarantine of the dead.
Read it. Get everyone you know to read it.
Raj
I don't know why this hasn't received more coverage: Iapetus
Maybe you've all seen this already, so I don't know if anyone cares. Basically, Iapetus is not spherical! It is an enormous Buckmister-Fuller skeletal structure! It has also been observed from earth (with radio telescopes) to have a dull, uniform radar signature despite its obvious surface features - but consistent with its unusual, non-spherical geometry. ie: it's stealthy!
There is a 60 000 foot high 'wall' around its equator - perfectly around its equator. This is an impossibly coincidental geological feature. But again, it is empirically consistent with a gradual surface erosion which will reveal an underlying bucky-fuller skeleton.
What could very possibly be an alien artefact has been hushed up. NASA continually draws more attention to Titan, but it's the outermost Iapetus that is far more intriguing. If it wasn't so, how come NASA has scheduled an originally unplanned second flyby?! No, I am not wearing a tin-foil hat!
Don't be fooled by the "Titan smokescreen" (my term for it). Iapetus ('eye-app-e-tis') is the truly significant Cassini investigation.
Enjoy,
Raj
... for the coders who now have to write this into Duke Nukem Forever!
This Rosetta I read about sounds like a potentially very useful binary translation library. It allows OS X applications built for a PPC Macintosh to run on an x86 Macintosh. Since OS X is a descendent of FreeBSD, could this possibly mean that those same apps might be interoperable on an x86 FreeBSD box?
Extending the hypothetical even further, in recognition of the BSD community's contribution, should Rosetta perhaps be open-sourced?
Thank-you.
This is a point I have made in discussions with less technical people who ask me questions. I always say it's a matter of possessing vigilance... without the tin-foil hat!
I develop on *BSD OSes - not surprisingly, as with say GNU/Linux or Plan9 or BeOS - no nefarious breaches of integrity, viruses, malware. I also have an old laptop that runs Win2k. I don't get any of that evil shit either. It is a matter of vigilance. Admittedly (for me at least) it is now possible in large part thanks to open source apps on Win32 platforms. I don't use Internet Exploder... Firefox or Opera instead. I don't use Outbreak Express - with its plagues of macro expansion exploits... Thunderbird instead.
So, that's how choice of apps might help. But where your brain (as parent mentions) is crucial is in monitoring your own potentially dangerous activities - something dumbed down and indifferent (frustrated, maybe?) 'lusers' of course might not exercise caution with. For example, it is dangerous to download pr0n from Eastern Europe (or Russia, Ukraine, China etc.), you don't communicate with your bank through your email client *giggles* and it helps to keep up with news regarding known exploits and potential attackers' methods. This last point however is where most 'lusers' aren't going to adhere to this subset of the common sense precepts.
vigilance!Thanks again parent. I agree with you entirely.
Raj
Hey dude. I don't know morse code myself (it has always been on my brain's TODO) but I think it is nevertheless an important skill. I don't think it is still a requirement for military recruits but I reckon it would be vital in life and death situations. For example, downed pilots behind enemy lines, sailors lost at sea or underground resistance groups coordinating liberation efforts against an invasion force (e.g. the French resistance during WWII). The wartime potential benefits are extraordinary.
It is for reasons such as these that I find it an essential skill that ought to be more widely known. In fact, I might start learning now!
Take heed of the Scouts' motto: Be prepared.
Your friend,
Raj
Nah. Prepare yourself for a revelation here. The world's rainforests are in fact a net consumer of oxygen. The trees consume considerably more oxygen during their (natural) death and decay process than they ever produced by photosynthesis during their lifetimes. It's this oxidation process that is directly contrary to the environmentalist "Lungs of the Earth" belief.
Help stop the rainforest before it's too late.
All said dude, this discussion has actually presented quite an interesting contrast of opinion - heh, as so many do I guess ...
Yep. That's exactly why you have added this righteous paragraph about superiority of one platform over another. Insecurity? Zealotry? You name it. ;-)
Quite correct. To be perfectly honest, I was actually trying my best here not to prompt the 'zealot' label. Not saying you did call me a zealot directly, but I didn't call you a 'fanboy' either.
Installing software from ports tree is a breeze (when it is not broken, mkay). Supporting it in the long run is somewhat less of a breeze. Maintaing it so contents of /usr/local won't become a complete mess takes a lot of effort.
Especially when you are supporting not exactly that one server in your parent's basement.
Here, though, I don't much agree. I use *BSD servers for all my customers - never had a single call out in 4 years mind you - and to keep systems' ports updated is nothing harder than a couple of (well, literally 2) expect scripts with some SSH smarts. Using cron to trigger at 1800 on the last Friday of each month, said expect scripts are executed from my office machine (ie: don't need to track changes to update scripts on each of my prod servers). All this leaves me to enjoy my weekends. None of my intervention is necessary. What I think you might not know about here is that most of this is already scripted for me. 'portupgrade' (located in /usr/ports/sysutils/portupgrade ;-)) is a collection of ruby scripts that is a level above 'make install', 'make deinstall', 'make reinstall', etc. The software does all the upgrade management for you. I mention this (in a long digression) because I'm not too sure if you're familiar with these specific tools. It has kept all of my 4 years worth of clients' servers with up to date software, using upgrade procedures I don't even think about or have needed to modify radically in years. Not to say this couldn't be done with apt, (yam, rpm, etc.) but I do say it is certainly possible with ports. And that I am not just scoffing away the latest upgrades in my parents' basement!
Of course, we're adults and it's all up to you. It's been nice talkin' champ.
Your friend,
Raj
Umm sorry, what?
i) Ports (as in architectures):
NetBSD has never put its name to an architecture it didn't fully support. This is probably because there is still integrity in BSD OSes - the name, BSD, actually means something, not like the vast multitude of splintered, disparate efforts (distros) that have homeopathically watered down the quality of the product. 3 BSD distros. 1 for performance, 1 for portability, 1 for security. These aren't virtues carefully pinpointed to selected user spectra by the marketing department of some company that continually puts business ahead of technology. Contrast with e.g. Xandros OS, RedHat, Mandrake or (although not directed by a big business) Scientific Linux. No, believe me, if you were referring to this definition of the term 'port', you can bet that NetBSD wouldn't brand as supported some architecture it would not fully stand by 100% in a grab for 'customers'.
ii) Ports (as in software):
If you have ever even used a BSD OS, the ports tree is nearly idiot-proof. Everything works in the most logical, clean and consistent manner out of any software distribution system I have ever seen. Not just me, but anyone else who uses a BSD OS be they programmers, admins, engineers, scientists, financial analysts, academics or security people would all agree.
Alright now, BSD zealots, mod me into oblivion, but I've really been there.
And here is where you are wrong again:
iii) There really aren't any "BSD zealots". We're all resigned to the fact that slashdot doesn't give us the same air-play as any Linux news and that ignorant people give us the old "Netcraft confirms it". It really doesn't matter, we have more important stuff to do, and the superior tools to do it that we couldn't give a shit. Our stuff works, we don't need to defend it, we don't lock our users into any odd legal traps and our system is not encumbered with the unrealistic promises of some cult of hyper-caffeinated teenagers excited about Free Software.
Think back to PTA meeting on the 13th day of the 13th month - debating the faulty calendars the school purchased the year earlier.
Homer: "brrrrKirk: "Uh, I for one would like to see the cafeteria menu before the school day. I don't like the idea of Milhouse having two spaghetti meals in, uh, one day."
Geez, I bet that faster than you can say "slow news day" there will be a shitty 'documentary' about the people lining up for VoIP service ...
An Institutional Repository (IR). Save yourself from rolling your own! Check this out mate: DSpace
Disregard this if you already have knowledge of the project, or, if it doesn't suit your needs. This is a very powerful and mature development of peer-review, content management workflow and academic submission from MIT. It is an IR, NOT a content management system!
Your friend,
Raj.
Cheers Andy-Cat :) checkin' it out now. Shame to be modded offtopic, but if anyone else has any project info on this, keep 'em coming. I guess we can have an open-source rover of our own to duel those two puppies in an interplanetary RobotWars Battle Royale! ;)
First, this is really ace! I have found this to be an enthralling journey and many would agree it has been an awesome success for NASA :D
I was wondering though, I think it was advertised here on one of the /. banners ~15 months ago, wasn't there some cool APIs that were bundled into an open-source SDK that NASA (and Sun maybe?) had for the community? I think it was communications, instrumentation and control specifically. And I'm pretty sure it was Java and (maybe) MATLAB.
If anyone knows what I'm on about, is there a still a link?? is there still interest?? I have some time atm to do some tinkering, any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks folks.
An Institutional Repository (IR).Since this is slashdot and many of us tend to appreciate software somewhat, may I present this: DSpace
Disregard this if you already have knowledge of the project. This is a very powerful and mature development of peer-review, content management workflow and academic submission from MIT. It is an IR, NOT a content management system!