Having installed a car radiator on the computer, perhaps the heat could also be used for lunch - although right now I'd be happy with a heater, or an evaporative cooler in summer.
and just to make it exciting some drive wherever the hell they feel like especially on the road between Wellington and Parapara'm'.
And yes lots of people were getting killed but not necessarily the ones who deserved it.
In just two weeks while I was there, 8 people died. I was very dedicated to the train after the first weekend, even though I knew that had fallen off the side of the mountain one time.
[were != where - I thought that subject line looked funny]
You're right: Christian Cullen. I vaguely remember a small speedy guy who travelled up the wing like a bullet.
Trust NZ to have a harness racing horse named for him. Also travels fast.
Why do so many Kiwis post as AC when you could post as a Kauri? or a Matai?
Or at least determining which Rugby team you should play in or support depending on where you live, right?
I did mention Otago - for Rugby. The whole time I was there, I didn't hear the "provinces" referred to for any other reason. And I did ask. I think I even had a discussion with a regular inhabitant of the Beehive about it.
because that's where [insert name of famous rugby union player here] comes from.
At least that's what the post office guy told me, when I asked him for the post code.
I did put "North Island", or "South Island" on to the envelopes just to be sure. But after travelling round, I discovered that NZ is not like the "West Island" (Oz), in that they don't have five suburbs or towns called "Beaconsfield" located an average of 1500km apart. And if they must name things after places in the "Old Country" (UK), they'd match particular UK regions to particular NZ regions so the names didn't repeat. There aren't even NZ States or Provinces. Cool. Although there are regional divisions for Rugby teams mostly. Go Otago!
I tried to get postcodes for Wellington, and for Paekakariki (skuse spellin), and the people that lived there didn't know what they were.
But I confess that was 1998.
Having read the stuff.co.nz article about this particular guy, seems like he knew exactly what he was doing and how popular it was.
Somebody has posted an address for Shane, in Christchurch. I hope it's the same person. Otherwise it would be like being "Dave Nelson" in a USA airport.
Are the private school kids still wearing straw boaters and striped blazers in Christchurch?
Yeah, the version they run here, they can eliminate any of the four.
Usually the host asks you first, which you think are most likely, or what you are trying to decide between, and usually the two that you are trying to decide between are the two that remain.
Contestants have since become more cunning, and refuse to reveal what their favourites are.
Then of course the ones that get eliminated are the silly options. Leaving the similar or ambiguous answers. I can't bear the show with the sound on cos the talk is such drivel, and I can't watch it at all now, cos I got rid of the TV.
Lets put this guy in Jail where he can tell all the real criminals?
Surely there is some sort of consumer affairs organisation that can prosecute Tornado for fraud and deception, ie lying about how secure their email system was.
He probably got the email addresses through the exploit.
So if you tell your bosses that there is a door into the building with no lock on it and they don't do anything about it, are you under any obligation to take it further? Perhaps report it to the police or corporate equivalent. I get the feeling that this guy would be dammed if he did and dammed if he didn't.
They're a bit behind the times on things like
Road rage
Locking up the house and having a safe room
Gun Injuries and Murders
Driving on the same side of the road as everyone else going in the same direction
Postcodes - there are no postcodes in NZ
And the fact that there is too much spam!
I've got some solar panels but there's no way I'd hook them to my computer, the power generated is very variable, which is one of the problems I'm trying to solve. They get used for recharging car batteries. And you gotta keep them super clean and rotate them with the sun. And they weigh a tonne. And they don't work too well on the winter stormy days.
and there's no way they'd support the power guzzling A/C.
Wind power might be better. Hmm only in winter. I've heard of some sort of trick that uses thermal differences in the earth to generate electricity but I'm not too sure how it works. It ought to work really well on hot days.
Hmm maybe a solar driven steam engine? With a nice parabolic focus for the sunlight instead of photo electric cells.
You pick queue 1. Queue 2 closes. Switching to Queue 3 is not going to help you. Unless the checkout operator in Queue 1 is an L-Plate operator.
So lemme see (I was always crap at probablility). First you have a choice of three doors. So your chance of winning is 1/3 on door number 1.
Door number two is eliminated, leaving door number three with 2/3 probability against it.
But imagine, now you are only offered two doors to start with. Fifty fifty chance of winning. 1/2 chance. but you have to combine that with the original probability?
Ie the 1/3 and 2/3 probability no longer applies? Or does it. Ie you knew in advance that one empty door would be eliminated and you'd get an option of switching. So you could group your choices into 1/2 (for the door you picked) and 1/2 for the doors combined from which one will be eliminated? That's like saying 2/3 = 1/2. Which bugs my head no end.
Leastways, if the host always opens an empty door, it changes the 1/3 per door probability, to 1/2s. If the host can actually open the door with the prize (and you miss out), but he opens an empty door, then definitely the switch is on.
? Does it work on that who wants to be a millionaire thing, where you select an answer, get two eliminated (one of which could be what you hypothetically selected), is it better, supposing your original choice didn't get eliminated, to switch? (Assuming four options, two options eliminated and you have no clue which option is correct).
To know that their power and water is supposed be restored by USA contractors/military.
Consider yourselves lucky. Iraq and Afghanistan have crap power, and major cities in places you wouldn't expect have power failures too. Like NZ, Australia, UK and that strange country to your South West (California). And even a local blackout can cause much wider problems. Eg the bush fire problem in the Australian Capital Territory was rendered unmanageable when they lost power to the water supply and the emergency services building which meant that the water stopped in the suburbs affected by fire, and the fire control HQ went incommunicado!
How come they recommended me one for a grand?
on
Blackout Week Continues
·
· Score: 2, Informative
I just found out that the 12 blackouts a week that I was having was because the little powerbox, that joins the wire from the power pole to my house, had shit itself. Diagnosis confirmed because my house was the only one powerless, and my mains switch and all fuses were still on (up). They (ETSA) were quite sure that the power box had died of old age, and that the plank that it was screwed to and that the wires ran through was all wet and rotten at the back had nothing to do with its untimely demise. The workers all seemed very cheerful though it was late on Sunday afternoon and raining. Maybe the double overtime rate had something to do with it?
Since deregulation of our power supply (Adelaide South Australia), blackouts have become a regular occurance, especially during really hot weather or windy weather. Can't we make airconditioners that run using heat, the same way as a kero fridge does? And obviously there isn't enough money to fund maintenance of the wires or pruning of trees. So everything is falling apart.
Not to mention, that this house has about one power point per bedroom, and just two in the office. In 30 years since this house was built, I've gone from one powerpoint in the bedroom for a reading light, to one each for the light, the stereo, the fan heater, the phone charger the AA battery charger, alarm clock, mozzie zapper, hair dryer etc. And don't get me started on the room full of computers. Etsa/AGL are charging double (instead of less as they promised) and I'm using triple.
What the APC guy wrote:
>I would suggest a new product we have available which is the BR1000I. This UPS is sufficient to support two PC's, two monitors and the 8 port hub. Because laser printers draw so much power, the laser printer will need to be plugged into the Surge Only outlet at the rear of the UPS, as it will not be able to be held up on battery power.
>
>Recommended Retail Pricing for the BR1000I is $919.00. Below is a link to the spec page of the BR500I.[wadiwood: how did we get from BR1000I to BR500I?]
>
I gotta admire the stamina, to be able to do the hottie (incidentally this is a word for hot water bottle round here), and hump the water cooler in the same panic.
Ah and I thought I was the only pedant on this site. Sometimes I can't be stuffed thinking things through, and there's usually someone out on slashdot that wants to punish me for it. Fair enough.
This one was fairly gentle. I didn't think Memento fitted the description either. The only time I'd seen anything like that was in Oliver Sach's books, stories about memory ambiguities. Although the film itself was a little ambiguous about what the main character could and couldn't do, was he faking it? It was also a reminder to me that in my coding doco (comments) I should write not only what I'm trying to achieve but why I'm trying to achieve it.
Of course TDOTC - he couldn't possibly remember what was expected of him because he didn't know so the plot device works in a similar fashion. You also get a reality twist - maybe his memory is stuffed (cf total recall) and the enemy is right (cf bourne identity...).
What I really want to know is the name of the B/W film that gave me such a strong sense of deja vu when I saw the Bourne Identity. Or maybe it was the TV show of the same name that I'm remembering. See, my memory is cactus too.
Melting Glaciers everywhere Maybe when George goes back to the Texas ranch and finds it is too hot to spend time outside and then has a big drought and has to hand feed and water all his lifestock (does he have any?), that he might feel the effects of environmental abuse.
It isn't so much that climate change is new, it is just that every time it happens quickly, weather disasters and species extinctions go with it.
Eg the el nino, el nina current cycles didn't used to swap over so quickly. Things coped and survived. Now whole species are under threat along the whole west coast of South America, not to mention icons like the Great Barrier Reef
Couple quick climate change with a "mini-nuke" winter that the pentagon seem so keen on and our way of life could go the way of previous big resource hungry civilizations. Eg Egypt then Rome.
three days of the condor, total recall and other films about amnesia.
"I can't remember anything and why is everyone trying to kill me".
Sheesh, I vaguely remember black and white movies with that as a theme.
IMDB seems to think Ben plays an electrician!? I find the idea of Ben playing "top notch engineer" about as convincing as Elizabeth Shue playing a nuclear physicist
And there'll be no cables all over my desk. I'll probably still have a keyboard. My computer won't be sitting on the desk with its back facing outwards so I can share the keyboard and monitor with the unix box when it crashes (for some reason insists on a keyboard).
No network cables, no peripheral connector cables, no power cables, no voltage converters or powerboards...
And I will have a reliable power supply, probably provided by my own equipment. Hmm I'd like to fast internet out somewhere rural like a farm or something.
And I'd like to know that if the cables are replaced by electomagnetic waves, that those are not giving me cancer or sharing all my info with that blue van parked out the front etc.
And put the submit and preview buttons further apart
Ten years ago:
I thought some of the titanic applications I was working on would be re-written in nice spagetti-free code that would be easy to maintain and reliable. I was wrong. The code that was there in the 1960's is still there, code today is often like the ultimate junk yard.
I thought that eventually everyone would develop code with some degree of planning, coding and testing and maybe "code gardening" where you go weeding and clean up some of the mess. This would produce code that was reliable and easy to maintain blah blah.
I thought that governments might be educated to introduce legislation with some understanding of the coding changes required to implement it. We were constantly fighting to get stuff implemented with stupid deadlines. Nobody said "this piece of legislation will take 4 years to implement and cost 1/4 of your annual budget, annually". And they'd pass it with a 3 month deadline or even better "retrospectively" and wonder why nobody ever enforced it.
I thought games would get more interesting and easier to play. Wrong. I thought there would be more puzzle based games that didn't require reliable finger twitching to play. There probably are these but I haven't noticed.
I thought that the fax-photocopier-printer would be cheaper. I thought that TV's, stereos, and vcr type things would be better integrated. I never thought I'd have a mobile phone, though I frequently wanted one. They still don't work on the lonely highways where you would need one most.
I never thought I wouldn't be able to live without email. Actually I'm fine without email out in the desert without email but other things back home fall apart.
Ten years from now:
I can see a good deal of chaos. How will we filter the information overload, the truth we want to hear from everyone's opinion. I guess Slashdot moderation systems is a start. I'd really like to see real reporting instead of media baron/political brownnosing reporting.
I'd like a spam filter that fries the source computer, or at least locates the sender and sends the appropriate info to the cops.
I'd like to see companies that insist on inconvenient and expensive activation systems go belly up (broke).
I want a home security system with a couple of motion activated cameras that send the photos off site. You can steal my vcr but the pictures are not there. Then the system can alert my neighbour. The one with the rotweillers.
I'd like to be able to read stuff on paper or something that didn't involve refresh rates.
I'd like a home blood tester that lets me know if I've got something serious that needs treating.
I'd still like some privacy but I'm not sure if I will have it. What will cameras everywhere do? Will we all be living "big brother tv game"?
I'd like some piece of technology that helps me get a bit of focus instead of distracting me with lots of new ideas and concepts that need to be explored.
I'd like to be able to surf the web (what ever that may be) with no wait time.
I'd like to have a huge LCD or projection screen with whatever visual art/film/game/novel I like. Hook that up to stereo and have a tropical fish aquarium visual and mood music for dinner parties. I still want my friends to come round.
And somehow backup and restore will be redundant or painless.
Ten years ago:
I thought some of the titanic applications I was working on would be re-written in nice spagetti-free code that would be easy to maintain and reliable. I was wrong. The code that was there in the 1960's is still there, code today is often like the ultimate junk yard.
I thought that eventually everyone would develop code with some degree of planning, coding and testing and maybe "code gardening" where you go weeding and clean up some of the mess. This would produce code that was reliable and easy to maintain blah blah.
I thought that governments might be educated to introduce legislation with some understanding of the coding changes required to implement it. We were constantly fighting to get stuff implemented with stupid deadlines. Nobody said "this piece of legislation will take 4 years to implement and cost 1/4 of your annual budget, annually". And they'd pass it with a 3 month deadline or even better "retrospectively" and wonder why nobody ever enforced it.
I thought games would get more interesting and easier to play. Wrong. I thought there would be more puzzle based games that didn't require reliable finger twitching to play. There probably are these but I haven't noticed.
I thought that the fax-photocopier-printer would be cheaper. I thought that TV's, stereos, and vcr type things would be better integrated. I never thought I'd have a mobile phone, though I frequently wanted one. They still don't work on the lonely highways where you would need one most.
I never thought I wouldn't be able to live without email. Actually I'm fine without email out in the desert without email but other things back home fall apart.
Ten years from now:
I can see a good deal of chaos. How will we filter the information overload, the truth we want to hear from everyone's opinion. I guess Slashdot moderation systems is a start. I'd really like to see real reporting instead of media baron/political brownnosing reporting.
I'd like a spam filter that fries the source computer, or at least locates the sender and sends the appropriate info to the cops.
I'd like to see companies that insist on inconvenient and expensive activation systems go belly up (broke).
I want a home security system with a couple of motion activated cameras that send the photos off site. You can steal my vcr but the pictures are not there. Then the system can alert my neighbour. The one with the rotweillers.
I'd like to be able to read stuff on paper or something that didn't involve refresh rates.
I'd like a home blood tester that lets me know if I've got something serious that needs treating.
I'd still like some privacy but I'm not sure if I will have it. What will cameras everywhere do? Will we all be living "big brother tv game"?
I'd like some piece of technology that helps me get a bit of focus instead of distracting me with lots of new ideas and concepts that need to be explored.
I'd like to be able to surf the web (what ever that may be) with no wait time.
I'd like to have a huge LCD or projection screen with whatever visual art/film/game/novel I like. Hook that up to stereo and have a tropical fish aquarium visual and mood music for dinner parties. I still want my friends to come round.
And somehow backup and restore will be redundant or painless.
Or just post the direct ref after you log in?
on
The "Techie" Vote?
·
· Score: 1
Of course that might have worked because my regsucks cookie was still alive...
Ignore the votes and brownnose the USA government
on
The "Techie" Vote?
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
At least that's what our Australian Federal Government is doing.
And our tech minister (Richard Alston) is about as technically advanced as stoneage man. His idea of a reboot, is to kick his press secretary. His latest faux-pas is to deny responsibility for his own official website which cost megabucks.
At least some techie is making money out of him somewhere but chances are, it isn't an Aussie. Dammit.
Slashdot Mirror
Having installed a car radiator on the computer, perhaps the heat could also be used for lunch - although right now I'd be happy with a heater, or an evaporative cooler in summer.
and just to make it exciting some drive wherever the hell they feel like especially on the road between Wellington and Parapara'm'. And yes lots of people were getting killed but not necessarily the ones who deserved it. In just two weeks while I was there, 8 people died. I was very dedicated to the train after the first weekend, even though I knew that had fallen off the side of the mountain one time.
[were != where - I thought that subject line looked funny] You're right: Christian Cullen. I vaguely remember a small speedy guy who travelled up the wing like a bullet. Trust NZ to have a harness racing horse named for him. Also travels fast. Why do so many Kiwis post as AC when you could post as a Kauri? or a Matai?
Or at least determining which Rugby team you should play in or support depending on where you live, right? I did mention Otago - for Rugby. The whole time I was there, I didn't hear the "provinces" referred to for any other reason. And I did ask. I think I even had a discussion with a regular inhabitant of the Beehive about it.
because that's where [insert name of famous rugby union player here] comes from.
At least that's what the post office guy told me, when I asked him for the post code.
I did put "North Island", or "South Island" on to the envelopes just to be sure. But after travelling round, I discovered that NZ is not like the "West Island" (Oz), in that they don't have five suburbs or towns called "Beaconsfield" located an average of 1500km apart. And if they must name things after places in the "Old Country" (UK), they'd match particular UK regions to particular NZ regions so the names didn't repeat. There aren't even NZ States or Provinces. Cool. Although there are regional divisions for Rugby teams mostly. Go Otago!
I tried to get postcodes for Wellington, and for Paekakariki (skuse spellin), and the people that lived there didn't know what they were.
But I confess that was 1998.
Having read the stuff.co.nz article about this particular guy, seems like he knew exactly what he was doing and how popular it was.
Somebody has posted an address for Shane, in Christchurch. I hope it's the same person. Otherwise it would be like being "Dave Nelson" in a USA airport.
Are the private school kids still wearing straw boaters and striped blazers in Christchurch?
Yeah, the version they run here, they can eliminate any of the four.
Usually the host asks you first, which you think are most likely, or what you are trying to decide between, and usually the two that you are trying to decide between are the two that remain.
Contestants have since become more cunning, and refuse to reveal what their favourites are.
Then of course the ones that get eliminated are the silly options. Leaving the similar or ambiguous answers. I can't bear the show with the sound on cos the talk is such drivel, and I can't watch it at all now, cos I got rid of the TV.
Now I waste my time on Slashdot.
Lets put this guy in Jail where he can tell all the real criminals?
Surely there is some sort of consumer affairs organisation that can prosecute Tornado for fraud and deception, ie lying about how secure their email system was.
He probably got the email addresses through the exploit.
So if you tell your bosses that there is a door into the building with no lock on it and they don't do anything about it, are you under any obligation to take it further? Perhaps report it to the police or corporate equivalent. I get the feeling that this guy would be dammed if he did and dammed if he didn't.
They're a bit behind the times on things like
Road rage
Locking up the house and having a safe room
Gun Injuries and Murders
Driving on the same side of the road as everyone else going in the same direction
Postcodes - there are no postcodes in NZ
And the fact that there is too much spam!
I've got some solar panels but there's no way I'd hook them to my computer, the power generated is very variable, which is one of the problems I'm trying to solve. They get used for recharging car batteries. And you gotta keep them super clean and rotate them with the sun. And they weigh a tonne. And they don't work too well on the winter stormy days.
and there's no way they'd support the power guzzling A/C.
Wind power might be better. Hmm only in winter. I've heard of some sort of trick that uses thermal differences in the earth to generate electricity but I'm not too sure how it works. It ought to work really well on hot days.
Hmm maybe a solar driven steam engine? With a nice parabolic focus for the sunlight instead of photo electric cells.
to switch or not to switch.
You pick queue 1. Queue 2 closes. Switching to Queue 3 is not going to help you. Unless the checkout operator in Queue 1 is an L-Plate operator.
So lemme see (I was always crap at probablility).
First you have a choice of three doors. So your chance of winning is 1/3 on door number 1.
Door number two is eliminated, leaving door number three with 2/3 probability against it.
But imagine, now you are only offered two doors to start with. Fifty fifty chance of winning. 1/2 chance. but you have to combine that with the original probability?
Ie the 1/3 and 2/3 probability no longer applies? Or does it. Ie you knew in advance that one empty door would be eliminated and you'd get an option of switching. So you could group your choices into 1/2 (for the door you picked) and 1/2 for the doors combined from which one will be eliminated? That's like saying 2/3 = 1/2. Which bugs my head no end.
Leastways, if the host always opens an empty door, it changes the 1/3 per door probability, to 1/2s. If the host can actually open the door with the prize (and you miss out), but he opens an empty door, then definitely the switch is on.
? Does it work on that who wants to be a millionaire thing, where you select an answer, get two eliminated (one of which could be what you hypothetically selected), is it better, supposing your original choice didn't get eliminated, to switch? (Assuming four options, two options eliminated and you have no clue which option is correct).
To know that their power and water is supposed be restored by USA contractors/military.
Consider yourselves lucky. Iraq and Afghanistan have crap power, and major cities in places you wouldn't expect have power failures too. Like NZ, Australia, UK and that strange country to your South West (California). And even a local blackout can cause much wider problems. Eg the bush fire problem in the Australian Capital Territory was rendered unmanageable when they lost power to the water supply and the emergency services building which meant that the water stopped in the suburbs affected by fire, and the fire control HQ went incommunicado!
I just found out that the 12 blackouts a week that I was having was because the little powerbox, that joins the wire from the power pole to my house, had shit itself. Diagnosis confirmed because my house was the only one powerless, and my mains switch and all fuses were still on (up). They (ETSA) were quite sure that the power box had died of old age, and that the plank that it was screwed to and that the wires ran through was all wet and rotten at the back had nothing to do with its untimely demise. The workers all seemed very cheerful though it was late on Sunday afternoon and raining. Maybe the double overtime rate had something to do with it?
Since deregulation of our power supply (Adelaide South Australia), blackouts have become a regular occurance, especially during really hot weather or windy weather. Can't we make airconditioners that run using heat, the same way as a kero fridge does? And obviously there isn't enough money to fund maintenance of the wires or pruning of trees. So everything is falling apart.
Not to mention, that this house has about one power point per bedroom, and just two in the office. In 30 years since this house was built, I've gone from one powerpoint in the bedroom for a reading light, to one each for the light, the stereo, the fan heater, the phone charger the AA battery charger, alarm clock, mozzie zapper, hair dryer etc. And don't get me started on the room full of computers. Etsa/AGL are charging double (instead of less as they promised) and I'm using triple.
What the APC guy wrote:
>I would suggest a new product we have available which is the BR1000I. This UPS is sufficient to support two PC's, two monitors and the 8 port hub. Because laser printers draw so much power, the laser printer will need to be plugged into the Surge Only outlet at the rear of the UPS, as it will not be able to be held up on battery power. >
>Recommended Retail Pricing for the BR1000I is $919.00. Below is a link to the spec page of the BR500I.[wadiwood: how did we get from BR1000I to BR500I?] >
> BR1000I
Maybe I should just get a diesel generator. Or imagine the sleek athletic bod I'd have if I hooked the computer to pedal power?
Our radio station is running a competition about who you'd least like to be trapped with, and who you'd most like to be trapped with.
and I could imagine pairings where one is trapped with his favourite dream, and the other is trapped with her nightmare.
I gotta admire the stamina, to be able to do the hottie (incidentally this is a word for hot water bottle round here), and hump the water cooler in the same panic.
Ah and I thought I was the only pedant on this site. Sometimes I can't be stuffed thinking things through, and there's usually someone out on slashdot that wants to punish me for it. Fair enough.
This one was fairly gentle. I didn't think Memento fitted the description either. The only time I'd seen anything like that was in Oliver Sach's books, stories about memory ambiguities. Although the film itself was a little ambiguous about what the main character could and couldn't do, was he faking it? It was also a reminder to me that in my coding doco (comments) I should write not only what I'm trying to achieve but why I'm trying to achieve it.
Of course TDOTC - he couldn't possibly remember what was expected of him because he didn't know so the plot device works in a similar fashion. You also get a reality twist - maybe his memory is stuffed (cf total recall) and the enemy is right (cf bourne identity...).
What I really want to know is the name of the B/W film that gave me such a strong sense of deja vu when I saw the Bourne Identity. Or maybe it was the TV show of the same name that I'm remembering. See, my memory is cactus too.
And anyone who thinks nobody needs to be anonymous has never been stalked.
I even know some people who have managed to inspire obsession without ever displaying a photo, not even of their cat.
Melting Glaciers everywhere Maybe when George goes back to the Texas ranch and finds it is too hot to spend time outside and then has a big drought and has to hand feed and water all his lifestock (does he have any?), that he might feel the effects of environmental abuse.
It isn't so much that climate change is new, it is just that every time it happens quickly, weather disasters and species extinctions go with it.
Eg the el nino, el nina current cycles didn't used to swap over so quickly. Things coped and survived. Now whole species are under threat along the whole west coast of South America, not to mention icons like the Great Barrier Reef
Couple quick climate change with a "mini-nuke" winter that the pentagon seem so keen on and our way of life could go the way of previous big resource hungry civilizations. Eg Egypt then Rome.
In ten years computers will be able to correct my misteaks.
Slashdot will be able to do line breaks and html without gobbling either...
three days of the condor, total recall and other films about amnesia.
"I can't remember anything and why is everyone trying to kill me".
Sheesh, I vaguely remember black and white movies with that as a theme.
IMDB seems to think Ben plays an electrician!? I find the idea of Ben playing "top notch engineer" about as convincing as Elizabeth Shue playing a nuclear physicist
And there'll be no cables all over my desk. I'll probably still have a keyboard. My computer won't be sitting on the desk with its back facing outwards so I can share the keyboard and monitor with the unix box when it crashes (for some reason insists on a keyboard).
No network cables, no peripheral connector cables, no power cables, no voltage converters or powerboards...
And I will have a reliable power supply, probably provided by my own equipment. Hmm I'd like to fast internet out somewhere rural like a farm or something.
And I'd like to know that if the cables are replaced by electomagnetic waves, that those are not giving me cancer or sharing all my info with that blue van parked out the front etc.
And put the submit and preview buttons further apart
Ten years ago:
I thought some of the titanic applications I was working on would be re-written in nice spagetti-free code that would be easy to maintain and reliable. I was wrong. The code that was there in the 1960's is still there, code today is often like the ultimate junk yard.
I thought that eventually everyone would develop code with some degree of planning, coding and testing and maybe "code gardening" where you go weeding and clean up some of the mess. This would produce code that was reliable and easy to maintain blah blah.
I thought that governments might be educated to introduce legislation with some understanding of the coding changes required to implement it. We were constantly fighting to get stuff implemented with stupid deadlines. Nobody said "this piece of legislation will take 4 years to implement and cost 1/4 of your annual budget, annually". And they'd pass it with a 3 month deadline or even better "retrospectively" and wonder why nobody ever enforced it.
I thought games would get more interesting and easier to play. Wrong. I thought there would be more puzzle based games that didn't require reliable finger twitching to play. There probably are these but I haven't noticed.
I thought that the fax-photocopier-printer would be cheaper. I thought that TV's, stereos, and vcr type things would be better integrated. I never thought I'd have a mobile phone, though I frequently wanted one. They still don't work on the lonely highways where you would need one most.
I never thought I wouldn't be able to live without email. Actually I'm fine without email out in the desert without email but other things back home fall apart.
Ten years from now:
I can see a good deal of chaos. How will we filter the information overload, the truth we want to hear from everyone's opinion. I guess Slashdot moderation systems is a start. I'd really like to see real reporting instead of media baron/political brownnosing reporting.
I'd like a spam filter that fries the source computer, or at least locates the sender and sends the appropriate info to the cops.
I'd like to see companies that insist on inconvenient and expensive activation systems go belly up (broke).
I want a home security system with a couple of motion activated cameras that send the photos off site. You can steal my vcr but the pictures are not there. Then the system can alert my neighbour. The one with the rotweillers.
I'd like to be able to read stuff on paper or something that didn't involve refresh rates.
I'd like a home blood tester that lets me know if I've got something serious that needs treating.
I'd still like some privacy but I'm not sure if I will have it. What will cameras everywhere do? Will we all be living "big brother tv game"?
I'd like some piece of technology that helps me get a bit of focus instead of distracting me with lots of new ideas and concepts that need to be explored.
I'd like to be able to surf the web (what ever that may be) with no wait time.
I'd like to have a huge LCD or projection screen with whatever visual art/film/game/novel I like. Hook that up to stereo and have a tropical fish aquarium visual and mood music for dinner parties. I still want my friends to come round.
And somehow backup and restore will be redundant or painless.
Ten years ago: I thought some of the titanic applications I was working on would be re-written in nice spagetti-free code that would be easy to maintain and reliable. I was wrong. The code that was there in the 1960's is still there, code today is often like the ultimate junk yard. I thought that eventually everyone would develop code with some degree of planning, coding and testing and maybe "code gardening" where you go weeding and clean up some of the mess. This would produce code that was reliable and easy to maintain blah blah. I thought that governments might be educated to introduce legislation with some understanding of the coding changes required to implement it. We were constantly fighting to get stuff implemented with stupid deadlines. Nobody said "this piece of legislation will take 4 years to implement and cost 1/4 of your annual budget, annually". And they'd pass it with a 3 month deadline or even better "retrospectively" and wonder why nobody ever enforced it. I thought games would get more interesting and easier to play. Wrong. I thought there would be more puzzle based games that didn't require reliable finger twitching to play. There probably are these but I haven't noticed. I thought that the fax-photocopier-printer would be cheaper. I thought that TV's, stereos, and vcr type things would be better integrated. I never thought I'd have a mobile phone, though I frequently wanted one. They still don't work on the lonely highways where you would need one most. I never thought I wouldn't be able to live without email. Actually I'm fine without email out in the desert without email but other things back home fall apart. Ten years from now: I can see a good deal of chaos. How will we filter the information overload, the truth we want to hear from everyone's opinion. I guess Slashdot moderation systems is a start. I'd really like to see real reporting instead of media baron/political brownnosing reporting. I'd like a spam filter that fries the source computer, or at least locates the sender and sends the appropriate info to the cops. I'd like to see companies that insist on inconvenient and expensive activation systems go belly up (broke). I want a home security system with a couple of motion activated cameras that send the photos off site. You can steal my vcr but the pictures are not there. Then the system can alert my neighbour. The one with the rotweillers. I'd like to be able to read stuff on paper or something that didn't involve refresh rates. I'd like a home blood tester that lets me know if I've got something serious that needs treating. I'd still like some privacy but I'm not sure if I will have it. What will cameras everywhere do? Will we all be living "big brother tv game"? I'd like some piece of technology that helps me get a bit of focus instead of distracting me with lots of new ideas and concepts that need to be explored. I'd like to be able to surf the web (what ever that may be) with no wait time. I'd like to have a huge LCD or projection screen with whatever visual art/film/game/novel I like. Hook that up to stereo and have a tropical fish aquarium visual and mood music for dinner parties. I still want my friends to come round. And somehow backup and restore will be redundant or painless.
what if you just click here
Of course that might have worked because my regsucks cookie was still alive...
At least that's what our Australian Federal Government is doing.
And our tech minister (Richard Alston) is about as technically advanced as stoneage man. His idea of a reboot, is to kick his press secretary. His latest faux-pas is to deny responsibility for his own official website which cost megabucks.
At least some techie is making money out of him somewhere but chances are, it isn't an Aussie. Dammit.