Push back a little on your boss. Have him scratch out some rough sketches of what he thinks he wants to see. The problem with artistic endeavors is that everyone is a critic. If you put in the extra effort to try and come up with some nice artwork, only to find your boss doesn't like it, you will become bogged down and eventually burn out. You need your client —your boss —to give you some artistic direction on what he wants. By engaging him like this, he'll be a little more aware of the amount of effort it is going to take you — a confessed non-artist —to "pretty things up".
Someone already beat me to suggesting CSS Zen Garden. That's a very inspirational site for anyone who wants to blend esthetically pleasing with advanced technically functional. Being familiar with HTML, SQL, and PHP, adding CSS to the quiver will open up a new level of creative possibilities. My favorite approach was adding subtle variations depending on the season or holiday —even local changes to the weather. I would have the PHP output a slight variation in the colors of certain elements with inline CSS, depending on certain conditions laid out in the rules table I created in MySQL.
You can do some very effective decorative touches using just CSS and minimal graphics elements. If nothing else, it will certainly increase the speed at which your site loads. Eric Meyers offers some simple (and not so simple) examples of what you can accomplish with just CSS. His Complex Spiral demonstration is one of my favorites and was what really inspired me years ago to learn more about CSS.
Definitely go to different web sites and look at the way they look and use that as inspiration for what you would like to accomplish. But as I stated in the opening, each revision, bring back to your boss and get his input. The more you involve him (her?), the more you are likely to end up with something that he wants, and the less work you will have to do.
A few days earlier, a poster set another thread going concerning products that weren't actually tested by regular people, and so while these products made perfect sense to the engineers who designed them, they didn't make much sense to the average consumer. The Curse of Knowledge Bogs Down Information. I pointed out that EMACS is a good example of this. It sure as hell is a capable system, but — whew! — is it ever hell to learn! And how many people to this day still complain that they can't program the clock on their VCR?
How many of you out there could put one of your grandparents in front of a unix command line and expect them to get it? Unless they were/are a computer scientist/programmer, I'm willing to bet that 95% of you would say it'll never happen. In a previous argument a few years ago about this subject, a friend of mine was trying to show me that there were GUI desktops available for Linux that were as good as Apple's Mac OS X (Then Jaguar).
I asked him, "How do you get it started?"
He answered by going to the terminal, typing the command, and up came the desktop — which was not as esthetically pleasing as Mac OS X. Indeed, it was reminiscent of Windoze 95. (I use "Windoze" to avoid copyright infringement on Microsoft's name for their desktop)
I asked, "Could you teach your grandmother to do that?"
"She hardly knows how to turn a computer on! Much less start the desktop from the command line-" he retorted.
"-BINGO!" I interrupted.
end of argument
Things have improved for the Linux GUI desktop selection! But it still lags far behind. As my above-mentioned friend demonstrated and grudgingly acknowledged, I find that the GUI's available have been designed assuming that the operator knows enough of what's going on to finish tweaking it for their own system setup. The vast majority of people out there lack this technical skill. I found the rendering of fonts and graphic ornamentals to be less than visually pleasing. And before anyone argues that eye-candy is a waste and demonstrates a lack of technical understanding — a comment that clearly supports my position — I would ask how many out there have tweaked their terminals so different colors are used showing text in their terminals. How many of the elite use VIM with syntax enabled so when they edit code, everything is color coded? (For that matter, how many of you understand what I just said?)
In the thread I link to above, "Curse of Knowledge...", one fool commented how he didn't like Mac OS X because he didn't like how one accessed the command line through the Terminal program. Hello? Just how do you access the command line in a Linux GUI desktop environment? You open a terminal window.
Prior to Apple's OS X, the only way to get a GUI on any unix-system was to use X windows. I know of many people — and personally know four — who bought Macs after OS X came out, and then proceded to turn off Aqua because having a GUI was not for "real computer users." They installed X windows and used that as a GUI, then complained that Mac OS X was inferior because their X windows were crashing fairly often — but no more often than they did on their Linux boxes. I labeled them Luddites. Since then, all the four people I knew and many on the net who admitted to doing so, have gone back to using Mac OS X with its native GUI because it works so well. And remember: these people had the technical knowledge and skill to do this!
It was said that there was a lack of commercial software for Linux and that was the reason why the Linux GUI desktop never caught on. My above argument clearly shows that I feel this is only a minor point. How many people would quickly point out that NeoOffice or OpenOffice are good suites to turn to as alternatives for MicroSoft's Office suite? While Office certainly has shortcomings, brought on by b
Heinlein's books at the time he created the idea for Variable Star were positive and ended with the hero overcoming whatever. But he always wanted to write a book that took the other path, where things didn't work out. He wanted to write a tragedy.
His publisher at the time refused to allow him to write it, for the above mentioned reason that "Heinlein fans expected a positive, uplifting story."
In the end, Heinlein had to set aside the notes and outline for Variable Star to work on other stories that were already in the pipeline according to his contract with the publisher. Contrary to popular belief, most authors do not make that much money. (Steven King and J. K. Rowling are exceptions to that rule.) Writers are pretty much self-employed contractors. Their clients (publishers) are looking for a given product. Like any contractor, if one tries to deliver something other than what was asked for, they aren't going to get paid. Would you pay someone if you hired them to paint your house a deep blue color and they painted it florescent green instead? Heinlein had to set aside this manuscript to work on what the publisher was paying him to deliver.
As time went by, he found himself working on other, more enticing projects and ideas that he wanted to pursue, and the notes and outline for Variable Star were persistently put on a lower priority. Time eventually ran out for Mr. Heinlein before he ever got a chance to sit down and work on it. How often do we have a little project that we'd like to work on, but never get around to it because of other matters? (Kind of makes you think about your priorities, doesn't it?)
This is my fault for not mentioning the issue with the publisher in my initial submission of the story. Judging by a number of the comments I've read, people are assuming that the story was abandoned because Heinlein thought it was bad. I strongly urge people to go to the Variable Star site and read the free chapters before jumping to conclusions. I am a fan of Heinlein's earlier style, and I've been enjoying this book immensely, and I'm confident that this book will be a good read for anyone who is a fan of science fiction.
Actually, Heinlein's earlier novels were fairly squeaky-clean not because he was trying to be the "serious young author", but because the publishers and censors would not allow racy material he kept trying to write to be put into print.
In the sixties, social mores began to change, which allowed Heinlein to push the envelope in character interactions in his stories. In other words, his stories got racier and more adult.
One contributor above wisely pointed out that each repetitive strain injury varies from one individual to another, as we all tend to do to activities with our own unique motions. Working as a journalist, I would have these problems off and on. Usually, the key issue causing pain was the use of a mouse.
I tried a few different things, and found that trackball devices really helped. Ultimately, using a trackball with a very large ball was the best solution. I'm using one of the Kensington multi-button trackballs now on my desktop computer. It's easier to rest your hand on the large ball, and move the cursor using gentler hand motions. Smaller balls tend to be more "twitchy" when using them, and as a result the user will tense up the hand more while using it.
Another nice thing, is that the buttons can be individually programmed, so you can move the primary-clicking-button to another button on the trackball, so she won't have to use her thumb for a while.
It can take up to a couple of weeks for strain injury inflammation to subside. So it may be a while before the sufferer actually begins to feel a positive difference. If the strain injury is advanced enough, constantly switching from one thing to another in short order may actually make the pain feel worse. If the problem is so bad that nothing seems to be working, she needs to see a doctor and do some physical therapy to reduce/repair the damage.
I long ago switched to the Dvorak keyboard layout. For writing, it's great! But for programming or data entry, it may be less convenient. I enjoy using this layout as it works nicely for what I'm doing (writing and programming), and I found it entertaining to try and teach myself the layout. Note: Unless you can get yourself a quality Dvorak keyboard (I've never found one), you better get used to touch typing!
Mechanically, keyboards can also make a difference. Soft touch keyboards such as the ones Apple uses on their Powerbooks are great. The funky angled keyboards don't make much difference if you still have to pound the keys down to get a hit.
Actually, the idea of capacitors as electrical storage devices goes back a couple centuries before that:
If I remember correctly, Benjamin Franklin wasn't trying to prove that there was electricity in clouds when he performed his legendary experiment of a key on a kite. He was trying to see if he could charge a Leyden Jar with a lightning stroke.
The problem was, back then they didn't have any use for electricity (no computers or Hello Kitty Vibrators) so this was more of an entertainment/scientific-curiosity sort of thing. Though, Franklin had invented a modification to the Leyden jar that apparently could alert of an approaching thunderstorm by ringing a bell.
I should just quit while I'm behind, but I have to get it right! I blame it on Daylight Savings Time! (Yeah, any port in a storm.)
Thank God that any man can at least count to 21!
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Three and five make eight.
Then eight and five will make thirteen.
Thirteen and eight gets twenty-one.
This could continue for a very long time, indeed.
On and on we go, counting every syllable hoping that the count will be correct.
I gone done reel gud on my vurbil STA! My math scor wuz eevin all most az gud!
Ah, well! So much for my moment of fame! I guess I should have taken off my shoes when I started getting over 10...:P
Thanks for catching it guys! It would have been weeks before I noticed.:-D
Here's the corrected version:
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Three and five make eight.
Then eight and five will make thirteen.
Thirteen and eight gets twenty-one.
On and on we go, counting every syllable hoping that the count will be correct.
This was something I expected from Microsoft, but I am hugely disappointed in Google for selling out like this. Choosing to kowtow to an authoritarian regime and violating the Constitution of their own country.
Once again, we have a clear demonstration of what happens when an MBA is put at the helm of a company. Morals and ethics go out the window in favor of the bottom line and making sure his severance contract is as fat as possible.
The more I read that article, the more I feel sick to my stomach! I would rather accept a lower profit for my company than betray the hundreds of thousands of my fellow Americans who gave their lives in various wars to defend my right to the Freedom of Speech.
And what about the many people in other countries, including those in China, who gave everything they could to gain that basic right? It wasn't just those individuals who suffered, it was their families as well who were also punished in order to set an example for others.
Hey Google? What's next? Are you going to make a contribution to Sadam's Gas the Kurds! Defense Fund in Iraq? Or how about a little for the Tienanman Square Memorial- Oh, wait! There isn't one. Guess you're safe on that score.
Is Ask Jeeves still clean? Or does anyone else know of a decent search engine we can use in place of Googlesoft? Is it really possible today to boycott Google? I for one just changed my default search engine selection away from Google.
Thanks, Google for totally destroying my faith in you. And thanks for betraying your countrymen and the Constitution and the Bill of Rights of the United States. Take a good look at Article 1 of the Bill of Rights- Oh, that's right! You're not allowed to read that any more unless you get permission from the Chinese government, eh?
What ever happened to "Do No Evil?" I guess you have to change that a little to "Do No Evil to the Highest Bidder!"
Heh- Read through the slashdot comments and find an answer!
iSync synchronized perfectly via Bluetooth. So there is no issue there.
But I still can't get the phone to pop up alerts and allow Address Book to send SMS messages.
Someone else also listed a website, Bluetooth Device Qualification Web Site which may hold a solution to my issues with application between the phone and OS X.
I had a Sony-Ericson T616 that worked very nicely with OS X via Bluetooth. I could send SMS messages with Address book from my Powerbook, and when my phone started ringing, it would pop up a window letting me know who was calling. I could even tell the phone to answer the call, so I could connect while I went digging for my phone.
The problem I had with the T616 was that the buttons were always exposed, so I was constantly making accidental phone calls every time I leaned or brushed against something with the phone. also, the user interface wasn't all that intuitive. (Personally, I think the Samsung phones have the best interface and voice dialing capabilities -- pity they didn't have Bluetooth back when.)
I like the styling on the RAZR! It's very nicely engineered and has a good solid feel to it. Being of metal and glass, I've had this thing for two months now and it doesn't have a scratch on it -- unlike every other phone I ever had which would get scuffed up within the first three weeks. The sound quality and reception are excellent! I have yet to get a dropped or garbled call when in areas of known good reception. It seems to be getting good reception even when other people with different phones right next to me are not.
The RAZR has a surprisingly good battery life! With average use, I seem to be able to go a week between charges! The T616 wouldn't go more than a couple of days before needing a charge. Of course, I should point out that I pretty much had my T616 running with Bluetooth constantly to alert me to phone calls and Text Messages when they arrived. But more importantly: The RAZR can be charged via the USB terminal on your PowerBook! If the T616 could have been charged in that way, I probably would have stayed with it.
The biggest F that the RAZR gets -- and this makes me question the value of my purchase even after all this time -- is its shoddy Bluetooth implementation!
I honestly would have expected Motorola to make sure their "flagship" phone would be able to outperform anything else on the market. It doesn't work with OS X the way the Sony-Ericson T616 did. I've missed several calls because the RAZR cannot pair with Address Book and pop up alert windows like the T616 did. That's vitally important for me, because I could turn off ringers completely and allow the phone to alert me in noisy environments, or when I didn't want the phone making noise in silent areas when it was important to stay silent.
Now I have to admit, I don't know if I can blame the phone or OS X for this inability to pair together. I can use the Bluetooth File Exchange utility in OS X to easily pass files back and forth between the RAZR and OS X. So why can't it sync via iSync or pair with Address Book via Bluetooth? If they went lax on this because of the fact the Bluetooth drains the battery faster, my answer is, "Who cares? I can connect the USB cable and keep the phone charged if faced with extended periods of pairing!"
If I could clear that pairing issue, then the RAZR would be the perfect phone! If any of you Bluetooth/Cell Phone hackers out there can figure out a way around this glaring bug in the RAZR, I would dearly love to hear from you!
Quote: I suppose it's possible that they were really just Motorola-designed chips manufactured at an IBM plant...
Actually, you had it backwards: The PowerPC family of processors are IBM designed and manufactured. Motorola manufactured PowerPC chips under license from IBM with the addition of the [i]Altivec Instruction Set[/i], aka the "Velocity Engine." (Details here.)
Apple's OS X relies heavily on the Altivec set. Early on, IBM didn't see a value in Altivec, so Apple's only supplier was Motorola. After seeing how well Alitvec worked in Apple's application, IBM changed their mind, and included Altivec as part of the PowerPC design. So now Apple has two potential suppliers.
Motorola wanted out of the primary chip manufacturing business, wanting instead to concentrate of embedded systems chips which is a much broader and more lucrative market. At the same time, Motorola's chip production division hit on a bad production snag. They were unable to push the G4 chipset beyond 400 MHz. for a painful period of time. Apple turned to IBM to take up the slack. IBM did so.
I'm pretty sure that IBM is now the predominant producer of Apple's CPU chips -- at least the G5 chips. I believe that Motorola still produces G4 chips, but I think they are producing the variety that are used for embedded systems, not for CPU usage. I also think that Motorola has since spun off its CPU division as a separate company.
Since Apple finally released the G5s, I really haven't paid any attention to the production issue any more. So I have to admit, the preceding paragraph may be a bit innaccurate.
The ability to turn off GPS has been built in from day one. This is pretty much standard for any of the nationally run navigation systems: the ability to turn it off in the event of threat or emergency.
The navigation system used by pilots before -- and still -- the advent of GPS is the VOR (VHS Omni-Range) system. This can also be shut off to avoid it being used by nefarious organizations.
And prior to that are non-directional radio beacons. Still in use, but clearly superseded by more advanced technologies.
For anyone who relies on such systems on a regular basis, it is just standard operating procedure to be prepared that it could be turned off at any time. You just simply keep switching down to a lesser system, even it it means you are reduced to your compass and a stop watch.
Konfabulator basically returns to MacOS X the functionality of the old MacOS 9-and-under Desk Accessories.
The graphics for their widgets are gorgeous! I really have to applaud the folks at Pixoria for paying attention to detail. I was pretty happy to try it out and return some of the whimsical little things back to my Mac that I used to have under the old OS.
In their implementation, they used Java to run their stuff, so the result is that Konfabulator can be a bit CPU intensive to run. I didn't have quite the performance issues that another poster had, but running more than a couple of widgets did send my CPU usage soaring.
I disagree with the assertion that Apple stole the idea. Returning Desk Accessory function to OS X had always been on the development path. It was simply low enough on the priority list that it didn't get approval to be included until the pending OS release, Tiger.
I will concede that it does encourage one to raise an eyebrow at Apple for calling their DA's "widgets." But I can also point out that if anyone with half a brain was going to steal someone else's idea, they would at least give it a different name. And does anyone in the general public really know when Apple decided on that name for their DAs in OS X?
Early on, there was a critique leveled against Pixoria that rather than just make desk accessories, they should have put their efforts into making an editor that regular people could use to make those desk accessories. Considering that Microsoft is planning on making their own similar desk accessory system, I think that would be a pretty good idea to come up with an editor like that.
For an example: I ultimately decided that Konfabulator didn't have enough value for me to purchase it. But I did choose to buy a program for editing style sheets called, CSSEdit, even though I can easily slap together a style sheet by hand. The idea is the same, sure I could load someone else's work, but I like to see my own stuff.
CSSEdit had value for me because it made it easier for me to manage my own work. Konfabulator is fun, but I can't do my own stuff with it.
Finally, one important thing should be pointed out: just because Apple (and ultimately Microsoft) are going to be including their own DA code into their OSs, that doesn't mean there isn't room for competition! If the people at Pixoria could rewrite Konfabulator to lower-level code that isn't so resource intensive, I'm sure they could make a strongly competitive product. They certainly have set a pretty good standard by the look of Konfabulator's widgets.
...since most of the world uses.doc, schools get lassoed into using Office. Office requires windows.
Wrong!Office runs extremely well on a Mac. Indeed, it runs better on my Mac than it does on my PC at work running Win2K. Where the Mac OS X makes life much easier is I can then drag content into other programs where I'm doing my compositing.
The above argument reminds me of when I was at a technology organization meeting and I was talking with a tech officer from a company with whom my company did business. He was complaining what a waste of money it was for his CTO to buy a Mac G3 B/W to be their new company server. I will quote him:
"You pay for the name, you pay for all that stupid fancy-schmancy designing -- and when they put it in the rack, it takes up way too much room. And no one's looked at the thing in over a year!"
I happen to know that they got the Mac, because the CTO was so frustrated with the Windows server they were using. They had discovered that the thing had been caching all their external-addressed email for a week, and not one of their IT techs had caught it, until one of the engineers complained that a customer had not received an important file. Thereon, they discovered that in order to keep their server working, it had to be rebooted on an hourly basis.
The G3 was in service for four years as their main server. Not once during that time did it require any manual intervention. It was replaced with an XServe when those became available and they wanted something a bit higher end.
When I was little, my brothers, some friends, and I would play a game we called, "Wild Goose Chase." One would hide a series of notes, each note giving a clue to find the next.
Some clues would be in a code the others had to crack, sometimes they would be pictures, maps, hints about landmarks, or riddles. Sometimes just straight-forward directions to the next note. It was just as much fun trying to come up with clues for the notes as it was to be the ones trying to follow the notes. It was like a non-stop treasure hunt.
We had a blast playing it! There was no prize at the end, no points -- though we occasionally took time into account. You had to think fast! There were a couple of times when one group would be looking for the notes while the hider was still actually hiding the notes. As competitive as we were, it's interesting to note that no one ever cheated playing this game.
At times, it could become a fairly sophisticated game -- especially considering we were all under 10 years old at the time.
I can easily see how these phones could be used to play this game all over again! Of course, at the end, rather than a note saying "You Win," it could be dinner and beer for everyone who reaches the end -- last one in buys!
Slashdot Mirror
Push back a little on your boss. Have him scratch out some rough sketches of what he thinks he wants to see. The problem with artistic endeavors is that everyone is a critic. If you put in the extra effort to try and come up with some nice artwork, only to find your boss doesn't like it, you will become bogged down and eventually burn out. You need your client —your boss —to give you some artistic direction on what he wants. By engaging him like this, he'll be a little more aware of the amount of effort it is going to take you — a confessed non-artist —to "pretty things up".
Someone already beat me to suggesting CSS Zen Garden. That's a very inspirational site for anyone who wants to blend esthetically pleasing with advanced technically functional. Being familiar with HTML, SQL, and PHP, adding CSS to the quiver will open up a new level of creative possibilities. My favorite approach was adding subtle variations depending on the season or holiday —even local changes to the weather. I would have the PHP output a slight variation in the colors of certain elements with inline CSS, depending on certain conditions laid out in the rules table I created in MySQL.
You can do some very effective decorative touches using just CSS and minimal graphics elements. If nothing else, it will certainly increase the speed at which your site loads. Eric Meyers offers some simple (and not so simple) examples of what you can accomplish with just CSS. His Complex Spiral demonstration is one of my favorites and was what really inspired me years ago to learn more about CSS.
Definitely go to different web sites and look at the way they look and use that as inspiration for what you would like to accomplish. But as I stated in the opening, each revision, bring back to your boss and get his input. The more you involve him (her?), the more you are likely to end up with something that he wants, and the less work you will have to do.
A few days earlier, a poster set another thread going concerning products that weren't actually tested by regular people, and so while these products made perfect sense to the engineers who designed them, they didn't make much sense to the average consumer. The Curse of Knowledge Bogs Down Information. I pointed out that EMACS is a good example of this. It sure as hell is a capable system, but — whew! — is it ever hell to learn! And how many people to this day still complain that they can't program the clock on their VCR?
How many of you out there could put one of your grandparents in front of a unix command line and expect them to get it? Unless they were/are a computer scientist/programmer, I'm willing to bet that 95% of you would say it'll never happen. In a previous argument a few years ago about this subject, a friend of mine was trying to show me that there were GUI desktops available for Linux that were as good as Apple's Mac OS X (Then Jaguar).
I asked him, "How do you get it started?"
He answered by going to the terminal, typing the command, and up came the desktop — which was not as esthetically pleasing as Mac OS X. Indeed, it was reminiscent of Windoze 95. (I use "Windoze" to avoid copyright infringement on Microsoft's name for their desktop)
I asked, "Could you teach your grandmother to do that?"
"She hardly knows how to turn a computer on! Much less start the desktop from the command line-" he retorted.
"-BINGO!" I interrupted.
end of argument
Things have improved for the Linux GUI desktop selection! But it still lags far behind. As my above-mentioned friend demonstrated and grudgingly acknowledged, I find that the GUI's available have been designed assuming that the operator knows enough of what's going on to finish tweaking it for their own system setup. The vast majority of people out there lack this technical skill. I found the rendering of fonts and graphic ornamentals to be less than visually pleasing. And before anyone argues that eye-candy is a waste and demonstrates a lack of technical understanding — a comment that clearly supports my position — I would ask how many out there have tweaked their terminals so different colors are used showing text in their terminals. How many of the elite use VIM with syntax enabled so when they edit code, everything is color coded? (For that matter, how many of you understand what I just said?)
In the thread I link to above, "Curse of Knowledge...", one fool commented how he didn't like Mac OS X because he didn't like how one accessed the command line through the Terminal program. Hello? Just how do you access the command line in a Linux GUI desktop environment? You open a terminal window.
Prior to Apple's OS X, the only way to get a GUI on any unix-system was to use X windows. I know of many people — and personally know four — who bought Macs after OS X came out, and then proceded to turn off Aqua because having a GUI was not for "real computer users." They installed X windows and used that as a GUI, then complained that Mac OS X was inferior because their X windows were crashing fairly often — but no more often than they did on their Linux boxes. I labeled them Luddites. Since then, all the four people I knew and many on the net who admitted to doing so, have gone back to using Mac OS X with its native GUI because it works so well. And remember: these people had the technical knowledge and skill to do this!
It was said that there was a lack of commercial software for Linux and that was the reason why the Linux GUI desktop never caught on. My above argument clearly shows that I feel this is only a minor point. How many people would quickly point out that NeoOffice or OpenOffice are good suites to turn to as alternatives for MicroSoft's Office suite? While Office certainly has shortcomings, brought on by b
[x] Death by Snoo-Snoo!
Heinlein's books at the time he created the idea for Variable Star were positive and ended with the hero overcoming whatever. But he always wanted to write a book that took the other path, where things didn't work out. He wanted to write a tragedy.
His publisher at the time refused to allow him to write it, for the above mentioned reason that "Heinlein fans expected a positive, uplifting story."
In the end, Heinlein had to set aside the notes and outline for Variable Star to work on other stories that were already in the pipeline according to his contract with the publisher. Contrary to popular belief, most authors do not make that much money. (Steven King and J. K. Rowling are exceptions to that rule.) Writers are pretty much self-employed contractors. Their clients (publishers) are looking for a given product. Like any contractor, if one tries to deliver something other than what was asked for, they aren't going to get paid. Would you pay someone if you hired them to paint your house a deep blue color and they painted it florescent green instead? Heinlein had to set aside this manuscript to work on what the publisher was paying him to deliver.
As time went by, he found himself working on other, more enticing projects and ideas that he wanted to pursue, and the notes and outline for Variable Star were persistently put on a lower priority. Time eventually ran out for Mr. Heinlein before he ever got a chance to sit down and work on it. How often do we have a little project that we'd like to work on, but never get around to it because of other matters? (Kind of makes you think about your priorities, doesn't it?)
This is my fault for not mentioning the issue with the publisher in my initial submission of the story. Judging by a number of the comments I've read, people are assuming that the story was abandoned because Heinlein thought it was bad. I strongly urge people to go to the Variable Star site and read the free chapters before jumping to conclusions. I am a fan of Heinlein's earlier style, and I've been enjoying this book immensely, and I'm confident that this book will be a good read for anyone who is a fan of science fiction.
Actually, Heinlein's earlier novels were fairly squeaky-clean not because he was trying to be the "serious young author", but because the publishers and censors would not allow racy material he kept trying to write to be put into print.
In the sixties, social mores began to change, which allowed Heinlein to push the envelope in character interactions in his stories. In other words, his stories got racier and more adult.
Thanks! I'll give that a look. One keyboard I'm holding out for is the Optimus Keyboard by a Russian design business, Art. Lebdev Studio.
Either it's going to be the coolest keyboard ever made, or it is going to be a very expensive disappointment.
One contributor above wisely pointed out that each repetitive strain injury varies from one individual to another, as we all tend to do to activities with our own unique motions. Working as a journalist, I would have these problems off and on. Usually, the key issue causing pain was the use of a mouse.
I tried a few different things, and found that trackball devices really helped. Ultimately, using a trackball with a very large ball was the best solution. I'm using one of the Kensington multi-button trackballs now on my desktop computer. It's easier to rest your hand on the large ball, and move the cursor using gentler hand motions. Smaller balls tend to be more "twitchy" when using them, and as a result the user will tense up the hand more while using it.
Another nice thing, is that the buttons can be individually programmed, so you can move the primary-clicking-button to another button on the trackball, so she won't have to use her thumb for a while.
It can take up to a couple of weeks for strain injury inflammation to subside. So it may be a while before the sufferer actually begins to feel a positive difference. If the strain injury is advanced enough, constantly switching from one thing to another in short order may actually make the pain feel worse. If the problem is so bad that nothing seems to be working, she needs to see a doctor and do some physical therapy to reduce/repair the damage.
I long ago switched to the Dvorak keyboard layout. For writing, it's great! But for programming or data entry, it may be less convenient. I enjoy using this layout as it works nicely for what I'm doing (writing and programming), and I found it entertaining to try and teach myself the layout. Note: Unless you can get yourself a quality Dvorak keyboard (I've never found one), you better get used to touch typing!
Mechanically, keyboards can also make a difference. Soft touch keyboards such as the ones Apple uses on their Powerbooks are great. The funky angled keyboards don't make much difference if you still have to pound the keys down to get a hit.
Actually, the idea of capacitors as electrical storage devices goes back a couple centuries before that:
If I remember correctly, Benjamin Franklin wasn't trying to prove that there was electricity in clouds when he performed his legendary experiment of a key on a kite. He was trying to see if he could charge a Leyden Jar with a lightning stroke.
The problem was, back then they didn't have any use for electricity (no computers or Hello Kitty Vibrators) so this was more of an entertainment/scientific-curiosity sort of thing. Though, Franklin had invented a modification to the Leyden jar that apparently could alert of an approaching thunderstorm by ringing a bell.
Really, the true test will be if it can handle the load of a Hello Kitty Vibrator.
I should've said "42"
No one can argue with that answer! ;)
I should just quit while I'm behind, but I have to get it right! I blame it on Daylight Savings Time! (Yeah, any port in a storm.)
Thank God that any man can at least count to 21!
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Three and five make eight.
Then eight and five will make thirteen.
Thirteen and eight gets twenty-one.
This could continue for a very long time, indeed.
On and on we go, counting every syllable hoping that the count will be correct.
On top of that, I misspelled Mnemonics!
I gone done reel gud on my vurbil STA! My math scor wuz eevin all most az gud!
Ah, well! So much for my moment of fame! I guess I should have taken off my shoes when I started getting over 10... :P
Thanks for catching it guys! It would have been weeks before I noticed. :-D
Here's the corrected version:
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Three and five make eight.
Then eight and five will make thirteen.
Thirteen and eight gets twenty-one.
On and on we go, counting every syllable hoping that the count will be correct.
Frightened_Turtle © 2006
Time to crawl back under the rock and bask in the red glow of my embarrassment! :D
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Three and five make eight.
Eight and five will make eleven.
Eleven and eight will make number nineteen.
© Frightened_Turtle 2006
...I thought the tears in my eyes were due to laughter.
Then I realized the tears were caused by my retinas melting from staring at these colors! ....My eyes! My eyes!
Thank Heavens Thinkgeek has a perfect solution for this color problem!
This was something I expected from Microsoft, but I am hugely disappointed in Google for selling out like this. Choosing to kowtow to an authoritarian regime and violating the Constitution of their own country.
Once again, we have a clear demonstration of what happens when an MBA is put at the helm of a company. Morals and ethics go out the window in favor of the bottom line and making sure his severance contract is as fat as possible.
The more I read that article, the more I feel sick to my stomach! I would rather accept a lower profit for my company than betray the hundreds of thousands of my fellow Americans who gave their lives in various wars to defend my right to the Freedom of Speech.
And what about the many people in other countries, including those in China, who gave everything they could to gain that basic right? It wasn't just those individuals who suffered, it was their families as well who were also punished in order to set an example for others.
Hey Google? What's next? Are you going to make a contribution to Sadam's Gas the Kurds! Defense Fund in Iraq? Or how about a little for the Tienanman Square Memorial- Oh, wait! There isn't one. Guess you're safe on that score.
Is Ask Jeeves still clean? Or does anyone else know of a decent search engine we can use in place of Googlesoft? Is it really possible today to boycott Google? I for one just changed my default search engine selection away from Google.
Thanks, Google for totally destroying my faith in you. And thanks for betraying your countrymen and the Constitution and the Bill of Rights of the United States. Take a good look at Article 1 of the Bill of Rights- Oh, that's right! You're not allowed to read that any more unless you get permission from the Chinese government, eh?
What ever happened to "Do No Evil?" I guess you have to change that a little to "Do No Evil to the Highest Bidder!"
Heh- Read through the slashdot comments and find an answer!
iSync synchronized perfectly via Bluetooth. So there is no issue there.
But I still can't get the phone to pop up alerts and allow Address Book to send SMS messages.
Someone else also listed a website, Bluetooth Device Qualification Web Site which may hold a solution to my issues with application between the phone and OS X.
Let the learning continue!
I had a Sony-Ericson T616 that worked very nicely with OS X via Bluetooth. I could send SMS messages with Address book from my Powerbook, and when my phone started ringing, it would pop up a window letting me know who was calling. I could even tell the phone to answer the call, so I could connect while I went digging for my phone.
The problem I had with the T616 was that the buttons were always exposed, so I was constantly making accidental phone calls every time I leaned or brushed against something with the phone. also, the user interface wasn't all that intuitive. (Personally, I think the Samsung phones have the best interface and voice dialing capabilities -- pity they didn't have Bluetooth back when.)
I like the styling on the RAZR! It's very nicely engineered and has a good solid feel to it. Being of metal and glass, I've had this thing for two months now and it doesn't have a scratch on it -- unlike every other phone I ever had which would get scuffed up within the first three weeks. The sound quality and reception are excellent! I have yet to get a dropped or garbled call when in areas of known good reception. It seems to be getting good reception even when other people with different phones right next to me are not.
The RAZR has a surprisingly good battery life! With average use, I seem to be able to go a week between charges! The T616 wouldn't go more than a couple of days before needing a charge. Of course, I should point out that I pretty much had my T616 running with Bluetooth constantly to alert me to phone calls and Text Messages when they arrived. But more importantly: The RAZR can be charged via the USB terminal on your PowerBook! If the T616 could have been charged in that way, I probably would have stayed with it.
The biggest F that the RAZR gets -- and this makes me question the value of my purchase even after all this time -- is its shoddy Bluetooth implementation!
I honestly would have expected Motorola to make sure their "flagship" phone would be able to outperform anything else on the market. It doesn't work with OS X the way the Sony-Ericson T616 did. I've missed several calls because the RAZR cannot pair with Address Book and pop up alert windows like the T616 did. That's vitally important for me, because I could turn off ringers completely and allow the phone to alert me in noisy environments, or when I didn't want the phone making noise in silent areas when it was important to stay silent.
Now I have to admit, I don't know if I can blame the phone or OS X for this inability to pair together. I can use the Bluetooth File Exchange utility in OS X to easily pass files back and forth between the RAZR and OS X. So why can't it sync via iSync or pair with Address Book via Bluetooth? If they went lax on this because of the fact the Bluetooth drains the battery faster, my answer is, "Who cares? I can connect the USB cable and keep the phone charged if faced with extended periods of pairing!"
If I could clear that pairing issue, then the RAZR would be the perfect phone! If any of you Bluetooth/Cell Phone hackers out there can figure out a way around this glaring bug in the RAZR, I would dearly love to hear from you!
...and eating raw meat will give you fuzzy balls....
Quote: I suppose it's possible that they were really just Motorola-designed chips manufactured at an IBM plant...
Actually, you had it backwards: The PowerPC family of processors are IBM designed and manufactured. Motorola manufactured PowerPC chips under license from IBM with the addition of the [i]Altivec Instruction Set[/i], aka the "Velocity Engine." (Details here.)
Apple's OS X relies heavily on the Altivec set. Early on, IBM didn't see a value in Altivec, so Apple's only supplier was Motorola. After seeing how well Alitvec worked in Apple's application, IBM changed their mind, and included Altivec as part of the PowerPC design. So now Apple has two potential suppliers.
Motorola wanted out of the primary chip manufacturing business, wanting instead to concentrate of embedded systems chips which is a much broader and more lucrative market. At the same time, Motorola's chip production division hit on a bad production snag. They were unable to push the G4 chipset beyond 400 MHz. for a painful period of time. Apple turned to IBM to take up the slack. IBM did so.
I'm pretty sure that IBM is now the predominant producer of Apple's CPU chips -- at least the G5 chips. I believe that Motorola still produces G4 chips, but I think they are producing the variety that are used for embedded systems, not for CPU usage. I also think that Motorola has since spun off its CPU division as a separate company.
Since Apple finally released the G5s, I really haven't paid any attention to the production issue any more. So I have to admit, the preceding paragraph may be a bit innaccurate.
The ability to turn off GPS has been built in from day one. This is pretty much standard for any of the nationally run navigation systems: the ability to turn it off in the event of threat or emergency.
The navigation system used by pilots before -- and still -- the advent of GPS is the VOR (VHS Omni-Range) system. This can also be shut off to avoid it being used by nefarious organizations.
And prior to that are non-directional radio beacons. Still in use, but clearly superseded by more advanced technologies.
For anyone who relies on such systems on a regular basis, it is just standard operating procedure to be prepared that it could be turned off at any time. You just simply keep switching down to a lesser system, even it it means you are reduced to your compass and a stop watch.
Konfabulator basically returns to MacOS X the functionality of the old MacOS 9-and-under Desk Accessories.
The graphics for their widgets are gorgeous! I really have to applaud the folks at Pixoria for paying attention to detail. I was pretty happy to try it out and return some of the whimsical little things back to my Mac that I used to have under the old OS.
In their implementation, they used Java to run their stuff, so the result is that Konfabulator can be a bit CPU intensive to run. I didn't have quite the performance issues that another poster had, but running more than a couple of widgets did send my CPU usage soaring.
I disagree with the assertion that Apple stole the idea. Returning Desk Accessory function to OS X had always been on the development path. It was simply low enough on the priority list that it didn't get approval to be included until the pending OS release, Tiger.
I will concede that it does encourage one to raise an eyebrow at Apple for calling their DA's "widgets." But I can also point out that if anyone with half a brain was going to steal someone else's idea, they would at least give it a different name. And does anyone in the general public really know when Apple decided on that name for their DAs in OS X?
Early on, there was a critique leveled against Pixoria that rather than just make desk accessories, they should have put their efforts into making an editor that regular people could use to make those desk accessories. Considering that Microsoft is planning on making their own similar desk accessory system, I think that would be a pretty good idea to come up with an editor like that.
For an example: I ultimately decided that Konfabulator didn't have enough value for me to purchase it. But I did choose to buy a program for editing style sheets called, CSSEdit, even though I can easily slap together a style sheet by hand. The idea is the same, sure I could load someone else's work, but I like to see my own stuff.
CSSEdit had value for me because it made it easier for me to manage my own work. Konfabulator is fun, but I can't do my own stuff with it.
Finally, one important thing should be pointed out: just because Apple (and ultimately Microsoft) are going to be including their own DA code into their OSs, that doesn't mean there isn't room for competition! If the people at Pixoria could rewrite Konfabulator to lower-level code that isn't so resource intensive, I'm sure they could make a strongly competitive product. They certainly have set a pretty good standard by the look of Konfabulator's widgets.
Wrong! Office runs extremely well on a Mac. Indeed, it runs better on my Mac than it does on my PC at work running Win2K. Where the Mac OS X makes life much easier is I can then drag content into other programs where I'm doing my compositing.
The above argument reminds me of when I was at a technology organization meeting and I was talking with a tech officer from a company with whom my company did business. He was complaining what a waste of money it was for his CTO to buy a Mac G3 B/W to be their new company server. I will quote him:
I happen to know that they got the Mac, because the CTO was so frustrated with the Windows server they were using. They had discovered that the thing had been caching all their external-addressed email for a week, and not one of their IT techs had caught it, until one of the engineers complained that a customer had not received an important file. Thereon, they discovered that in order to keep their server working, it had to be rebooted on an hourly basis.
The G3 was in service for four years as their main server. Not once during that time did it require any manual intervention. It was replaced with an XServe when those became available and they wanted something a bit higher end.
Hm- Dividing $1 billion by $300k means that there will be one-third of an employee left over the target mark when they do the layoffs.
I really don't want to be that last employee...
"Uh, Mr. Ballmer? You asked to see me about the employee cuts?"
"Yes! Yes, Mr. Turtle! Please lie down on that table- Don't mind the very large axe hovering over your legs..."
When I was little, my brothers, some friends, and I would play a game we called, "Wild Goose Chase." One would hide a series of notes, each note giving a clue to find the next.
Some clues would be in a code the others had to crack, sometimes they would be pictures, maps, hints about landmarks, or riddles. Sometimes just straight-forward directions to the next note. It was just as much fun trying to come up with clues for the notes as it was to be the ones trying to follow the notes. It was like a non-stop treasure hunt.
We had a blast playing it! There was no prize at the end, no points -- though we occasionally took time into account. You had to think fast! There were a couple of times when one group would be looking for the notes while the hider was still actually hiding the notes. As competitive as we were, it's interesting to note that no one ever cheated playing this game.
At times, it could become a fairly sophisticated game -- especially considering we were all under 10 years old at the time.
I can easily see how these phones could be used to play this game all over again! Of course, at the end, rather than a note saying "You Win," it could be dinner and beer for everyone who reaches the end -- last one in buys!