Maybe the Star Trek universe lost some technologies.
I remember watching the original shows and everytime the control panels sparked up, I was thinking, damn, don't they have circuit breakers, or at least a fuse box somewhere.;-)
I don't get it - it's like most recipes I see.
on
Cooking for Engineers
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
I start off with something I have, like, oh, say, some frozen scallops from Costco...
Then I look up a recipe - hmmmm. don't have that. don't have that. don't have that... cook for 3 minutes, per side - or until done.
Gee - I can do that (cook 3 minutes per side).
Add my own butter, garlic, and other stuff I would add anyhow, since I have it
Cook it up. Add some butter, grated cheese de jour, half-n-half... call it alfredo. Pour it over rice or pasta!
viola! (that's french for "ta da") The wife loves it! Get laid.
Yeah, I too loved early Niven books. Then -- what? Dude if you don't want to write, fine, but don't write stuff that just sneers at your (former) fans.
Based on this review, however, maybe there is still some newer Niven that is worth reading.
Re:Thomas Jefferson's opinion
on
Is IP Property?
·
· Score: 1
Exactly... I guess when it came to this idea, the original poster didn't want you to possess the whole of it [Jefferson's complete thought];-)
Oh come on now, I hope to live to see 100 year old I Love Lucy re-runs!
Hmmm. You are right even if you toss in the two good episodes of Monty Python and some Benny Hill episodes you still come up waaaay short of something worth spending money on to record TV shows.
I have 7 computers in my house.
3 Have floppies - two of them just because they came that way.
The only one that has a floppy on purpose is a computer I built for my wife last December. She is a psychologist and uses software that still uses "key" disks to allow you to run the sofware, or that count the number of uses.
She has several programs like this or worse - one runs in a DOS window and uses an old ASCII database program! These are not "old" programs, they have all been purchased within the last couple of years.
I guess the market is too small to pay for updating them. I am sure there are other "vertical" markets like this for various professionals that have odd-ball programs that still old features like floppy authentication and DOS based terminal windows.
Heh. Last I checked, $1 millon dollars was not quite what it used to be anyhow.
You can barely buy what used to be a nice house in many markets for a millon. And if you did, you'd have to feed the property-tax man a couple of thousand USD a month just to keep it.
Anyhow, I saw that the article said "he didn't seem interested", but what does that mean? Is there some form he didn't fill out? Some protocol not followed? What? Will he not just be offered the prize after two years of scrutiny or did he not really complete the proof?
It wasn't really clear to me. Give me a rigorous proof that he won't take the 29-some-odd-million roubles, if offered?
At least for myself. And I am a harsh boss - no drinking until at least 3pm! My stupid dot-com went bust, like so many others, so, now, I work for myself.
When I am not working I relish the fact that I am saving thousands ($USD) per month in taxes, so the lack of income really isn't that bad, since I don't aquire every "Ooooh, Shiny iPod/Beemer/Opteron" piece of crap that passes in front of me.
When I am working, I can easily take in $10 - $12K per month. Taxes eat almost half of it, but I always stash plenty away as a "stress reducer", for later.
There would be a lot less stress in the world if people didn't buy more than they could afford. I have zero credit card debt, and own my cars. I could have bought beemers, but paying cash for Toyotas is so much less stress. Plan to live on a "flippin burgers" income and just think of all the stess-reducing beer money you will have when you earn more!
Everyone knows you don't just bury radioactive waste, as is. You grind it up first so that the big scary atoms are smaller and nicer. We just need some atom smashers!
Where are all the atom smashers? Any flying cars too? We were promised flying cars!
Sure the prevailing theory is that IF someone is OUT THERE, they will be NICE.
Bah.
They will have evolved, just like critters here, and just as likely as not they will be nasty ones if they were tough enough to survive long enough to be interested space stuff. Look at the slashdot lot - would you trust them with your daughter?
Giving them Earth DNA just gives them clues that we are here (which is of course the point) but more importantly tells them everything they need to know to make some bug spray especially for us.
... in some computers at Fidelity. Most of it anyhow. I assume they do backups. I don't care what OS they use.
For some reason, Money reminds me of the observation about calculators that my High School kid just passed on to me "they get to use all the time. Just like in the real world." I've always told my kids, if you face a world without calculators, you've probably been studying the wrong thing anyhow [e.g. you would be better off knowing how to kill things with pointy sticks.]
Money is like that too; If my bits become worthless, the bullets in my closet will be all of a sudden be worth a lot!
Slashdot Mirror
Heck, most people hear just fine, and lots of us don't listen. Just ask any wife, mother, professor, boss...
RMS will have to trademark those three letters soon, or cede their use to his favorite software giant.
Any tin-foil hatters out there want to say that MSFT chose those three letters on purpose?
Maybe the Star Trek universe lost some technologies.
I remember watching the original shows and everytime the control panels sparked up, I was thinking, damn, don't they have circuit breakers, or at least a fuse box somewhere. ;-)
Then I look up a recipe - hmmmm. don't have that. don't have that. don't have that... cook for 3 minutes, per side - or until done.
Gee - I can do that (cook 3 minutes per side).
Add my own butter, garlic, and other stuff I would add anyhow, since I have it
Cook it up. Add some butter, grated cheese de jour, half-n-half... call it alfredo. Pour it over rice or pasta!
viola! (that's french for "ta da") The wife loves it! Get laid.
Oh, damn, I'm I rambling again?
Based on this review, however, maybe there is still some newer Niven that is worth reading.
Here is the whole thing, in context.
Probably a lot of them would, after all look how many people clicked on something to become a zombie in the first place...
With a little training your job can be outsourced to someone moonlighing on a solar powered computer in a school in India. Damn, those jobs must suck.
Hmmm. You are right even if you toss in the two good episodes of Monty Python and some Benny Hill episodes you still come up waaaay short of something worth spending money on to record TV shows.
If you don't want to watch the "boring" stuff, just look at the box scores the next day.
The only one that has a floppy on purpose is a computer I built for my wife last December. She is a psychologist and uses software that still uses "key" disks to allow you to run the sofware, or that count the number of uses.
She has several programs like this or worse - one runs in a DOS window and uses an old ASCII database program! These are not "old" programs, they have all been purchased within the last couple of years.
I guess the market is too small to pay for updating them. I am sure there are other "vertical" markets like this for various professionals that have odd-ball programs that still old features like floppy authentication and DOS based terminal windows.
1) If it was warez, then he deserved to be yanked.
2) If it was stupid stuff just to see if he could, he deserved to be yanked (maybe, depends on the policy).
3) If it was porn, and there was no policy against it... no. Change the policy - enough yanking has gone on already.
4) If it was "legitimate" downloads... where did he put it? If you can't keep what you get, then we are back to #2.
What did he transfer, that added up to a terrabyte in one month?
You can barely buy what used to be a nice house in many markets for a millon. And if you did, you'd have to feed the property-tax man a couple of thousand USD a month just to keep it.
Anyhow, I saw that the article said "he didn't seem interested", but what does that mean? Is there some form he didn't fill out? Some protocol not followed? What? Will he not just be offered the prize after two years of scrutiny or did he not really complete the proof?
It wasn't really clear to me. Give me a rigorous proof that he won't take the 29-some-odd-million roubles, if offered?
When I am not working I relish the fact that I am saving thousands ($USD) per month in taxes, so the lack of income really isn't that bad, since I don't aquire every "Ooooh, Shiny iPod/Beemer/Opteron" piece of crap that passes in front of me.
When I am working, I can easily take in $10 - $12K per month. Taxes eat almost half of it, but I always stash plenty away as a "stress reducer", for later.
There would be a lot less stress in the world if people didn't buy more than they could afford. I have zero credit card debt, and own my cars. I could have bought beemers, but paying cash for Toyotas is so much less stress. Plan to live on a "flippin burgers" income and just think of all the stess-reducing beer money you will have when you earn more!
I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy!
Now I have to call the dogs to clean it up.
Where are all the atom smashers? Any flying cars too? We were promised flying cars!
Exactly - they will come to get us, AND they will already have a cure for the common cold! So our defenses will be useless!
I mean, it would be cool to discover intelligent aliens and all, but why have them discover us?
I like to surf the internet, but for crying out loud, I have a firewall. I see the Internet, the Internet doesn't see me.
I'd say just be cosmic lurkers until we are damn sure it is safe to be sticking our nose into things.
Of course the odds of anything on this topic happening (good or bad) are so poor that I don't think anyone has to worry.
Bah.
They will have evolved, just like critters here, and just as likely as not they will be nasty ones if they were tough enough to survive long enough to be interested space stuff. Look at the slashdot lot - would you trust them with your daughter?
Giving them Earth DNA just gives them clues that we are here (which is of course the point) but more importantly tells them everything they need to know to make some bug spray especially for us.
EOM
For some reason, Money reminds me of the observation about calculators that my High School kid just passed on to me "they get to use all the time. Just like in the real world." I've always told my kids, if you face a world without calculators, you've probably been studying the wrong thing anyhow [e.g. you would be better off knowing how to kill things with pointy sticks.]
Money is like that too; If my bits become worthless, the bullets in my closet will be all of a sudden be worth a lot!
Get yourself some fine sandpaper and scuff up your laptop, iPod, PDA, cellphone, etc.
Spraypaint it "safety yellow" or other color of your choice.
It will still function, and even better, function under your control, because noone will steal that ugly stuff!
It had to be said