>How much did this computer cost? Thrift shops regularly sell 300mhz machines for around $100.00 in my area. Is it O.K. for a poor person to spend $100.00 on something that her child will need to gain job skills in the future?
Some friends and I regularly build up computers from "junk" parts from our own upgrades, donated parts, etc, and then GIVE the working computer to the Salvation Army, churchs, PARC, etc, for distribution to lower income familys... A P1-100 loaded up with Win95 and AOL may not be the fastest computer on the 'net, but it beats the hell outta not having one at all...
>I've been to concerts where the singer has forgotten lyrics, or sung a wrong verse. It's part of the experience...
I was the Engineer in Charge of the TV production truck about 6 years ago when we did the KISS concert at the Omni in Atlanta... Gene Simmons had big pieces of posterboard with the song lyrics taped down to the stage all around his mic stand... Every few songs they would manage to pause a minute or so while a stagehand threw down more posterboard while another one pulled the old ones down into the pit in front of the stage...
Yes... I can honestly say *I* have been onstage with KISS during a concert... OK... So it was off to the side, and I wasn't playing an instrument, but I WAS onstage! LOL
And for all you fans out there, let me tell ya... The band are all a bunch of jerks... I do play the drums, and had brought a ride cymbal with me for them to sign... Was literally told to "fuck off" by one of their handlers as they were headed to the limo with their skanks... Guess they didn't want to hang on my wall with Rush, Aerosmith, Jimmy Buffet, The Outlaws, Molly Hatchet, and a few other bands who took the few seconds to sign a fan's cymbal...
>Yes, we actually go OFF THE GRID every time a thunderstorm rolls in, and in Atlanta that's many
times a week. Of course, we've got millions of dollars an hour running through our facility so heads would roll if we weren't this paranoid.
We did the same thing when I used to work for Home Shopping Network. If the forcast predicted rain, the generators would fire up. If it actually started raining in the Tampa Bay area, we would go off-grid. I heard someone throw out a figure once, I don't know how accurate it is, but supposedly HSN potentially looses $365,000 per minute that it is off the air...
Guess that diesel fuel bill isn't as bad as it seems...
As an final thought, when HSN was on a load-sharing basis, prior to going off-grid, Florida Power and Light had to buy the excess power back at retail rates... Making money all around...
> I work for a wireless carrier, we lost less than a dozen towers during the outtage and the...
One thing that I havn't noticed anybody mention... Cell phones cannot talk to each other. They MUST have radio access to a cell tower. You can be standing next to someone and their phone will NOT talk to yours unless both of them can receive the signals from a tower.
As was made painfully obvious when hurricane Andrew ripped through South Florida, cell towers will not work when they become "horizontally polarized" (laying on their side)... I was down in the Homestead area for 3 weeks after "A-day"... I worked with the local police, EMS, Red Cross, National Guard, Salvation Army, and countless number of simple people who lost everything and were desperate to contact their loved ones outside of the disaster area, to let them know they were still alive. In one day alone, I personally sent out over 450 health and welfare messages on the packet network.
Every year North American amateurs have what's called a "Field Day". The purpose of Field Day is to get away from your home, in a local park or some other public place, and operate for 24 hours without commercial power. To simulate emergency conditions. To demonstrate to the public that HAM radio is still very much alive. This past year's slogan was "When all else fails..." When all else fails, I *CAN* take a 5 watt radio and a couple hundred feet of whatever wire I can lay my hands on, and set up a communications station. Can you do that with cellular technology? I didn't think so...
And by the way... After I left Homestead, after 20 days in the area, my cellphone STILL did not work until I got half-way back to Tampa... Yeah... Great technology to rely on when the shit hits the fan...
My apologies for the flame tone of this reply... It just pisses me off when someone who really does NOT have a clue about what they are talking about makes meaningless blanket statements about things they know nothing of... The PHB's absolutely LOVE those types...
> It's also a miefield that can be taken out by a sharpshooter from 1KM away. All you'd have to do is shoot these things.
Only problem with that idea is that, unless the sharpshooter is using armor-piercing rounds, which are not standard sniper issue, a resonable thickness of simple iron would protect the device's innards... Issued ball ammo, especially from 1KM away, would not have the ability to penetrate, oh, say a.25" thick piece of pipe. If the cannister were made of aluminum, bump it up to.375" and use a harder alloy. It would most likely still be safe unless someone was shooting at it from 25' away...
>Most HAMs could probably rig up a big dumb 800Mhz or 1900Mhz transmitter that'll kill cellular service for a big area.
I know a guy that built just a device for use when he was on a news location. He ran a satellite uplink truck, and when he couldn't get any lines out on any of the cellphones in his truck, he would bring out this blue box, press a button, and then start dialing his phones... A simple 800 MHz noise generator at about 5 watts would blow everyone else off the air, then he would get his phones up before anyone had a chance to redial...
He knocked my lines down once (and ONLY once) right after the school shooting in Jonesboro Arkansas... As soon as it happened, I went looking for him and told him if he used it again, I'd let all the other truck operators know who he was, and let the FCC know who he was... He didn't use it again for the 10 days I was in Jonesboro...
I still have my original Mad Scientists Club book, that I bought back in elementary school. The paperback is getting pretty worn, but it is still fun reading. It's amazing that a 35 year-old children's book can still be such a pleasure to immerse yourself into.
Dude... not only is that NOT a mirror of the article, but your little grafitti about Verizon is uncalled for. If anything, we should be applauding the way they are taking it in the chops for trying to PROTECT online privacy... I'm sure that someone on/. works for Verizon. What's to keep them from now just thinking, "Why the fuck are we busting our asses for these ungrateful clods?"
There was a guy in my dorm who liked his weed fresh and on a regular basis, much to the irritation of his roomie. This guy was also the most paranoid person I have ever met. So I took a simple metal-can transistor, pulled two of the leads off, painted the whole thing black with a Sharpie, and stuck it under the cord going to the wall phone in their room.
When the stoner finally saw that, his roomie said he totally freaked.... He would turn the water on whenever he was talking to someone, he would go to the other side of the room and whisper, and all of his dope cleared the room in about 60 seconds... He just KNEW the DEA was going to show up at any moment...
I don't know whatever happened to that guy, but I'm pretty sure he has to know Ted Kazinski personally....
>Last semester I took a Java-programming course.... This semester I decided to take a C-programming course.... for the most part you do not need the extreme speed of C.
I can't help but wonder how you would feel if you took C before Java??
Just because you started with Java instead of a real language, don't fall into the trap of thinking it has better capabilities than one closer "to the metal". If you want a totally secure system, fire up ASM....
I have two AMD Tbirds in my desk drawer as remiders to 1) Pay ATTENTION to how much you're trying to overclock a chip (I KNOW I had that jumper on the right pins, and 2) ALWAYS make sure you have a heatsink on your chip when you hit the power switch! The chip in example 2 lasted about 3 seconds before the smoke appeared. It also toasted the moboard....
Electronics is all smoke and mirrors. If you let the smoke out of a device, it will never work again!
My first computer was an IMSAI 8008 and an ASR-33, but had a friend who had an Osborne. I remember that tiny little screen and remember wishing that *I* had a tiny little screen, instead of rolls and rolls of paper. I later bought a Kaypro 10, because the Osborne company was history.... I still have that Kaypro and still use it for Amateur Radio....
Ahhhh, those were the days.... The pioneers of the computer industry are starting to get old and forgotten. Rest well, Adam. You made your mark, and to some of us, you will never be forgotten.
>decline to use any sort of blimp delivery system.
DUDE! You have GOT to warn people before posting that!
I read it while at work, and my roomies in this hell we call Cubeville thought that I was having a stroke or something! I was making bizarre noises while attempting to stifle my urge to roll on the floor laughing out loud!!! I finally lost the battle and out came this croaking-laugh kinda sound.... The secretary was calling 911 while everyone else crowded into my cube to see what in hell was happening to me!
Holy cow what a story!!! Moderators.... Kick that post up to 5+ Funny!!!
I used to operate a flyaway uplink, like the one shown in pic #3 in the article.... These days, I'm glad I sit behind a desk in an office instead of sitting on a rooftop in Kuwait waiting to get shot/bombed/gassed....
Was "over there" for Desert Storm.... Staying "over HERE" for this one....
"After ten years and investing over a billion dollars we think its time to move on," says Stewart."
Ten years and OVER A BILLION DOLLARS??? If that's what it takes GM to develop a simple DC drive system, the stockholders of GM need to rethink their investment! That figure is more likely to be what they want to try and write off their corprate tax returns!
Anyone who has ever turned a wrench on an electric golf cart could design an electric car. As far as charging the vehicle, who gives a damn how it's done?! Plug it in or park next to the charger. Pick the LEAST expensive technology and go with it.
The problem with the electric cars is that you can't turn a big ass SUV into an electric car. Ford and GM are interested in PROFITS, not ecology. If they have to devote parts of their assembly lines to a niche vehicle, that takes up resources from their SUV lines.
And for the record, I drive a big-ass Ford Bronco with big tires and a lift kit.... I have nothing at all against SUV's and their drivers. But I'm getting damn tired of this country relying on foreign oil. Electric cars may not totally be the answer, but they are at least a step toward the solution. I'd drive one to/from work if I could buy one. Then keep my Bronco for trips, pulling my boat or camper, or hauling stuff from Home Depot. You know, like use the right tool for the job??! Cheaper and smaller for short trips, big and bulky when the job calls for it.
I always thought GM sucked, now they have confirmed it....
>or perhaps they will do like they did with the dorm phone systems...
Or perhaps they will do like I did in college when they jumped the phone charges up on us.... Crawl through the attic and drop into the phone room, then repunch my dorm room's phone line onto one of the administrative phone lines. Secondary pairs in a multi-pair cable can be so useful! Can you say FREE phone service??! I thought you could!
Yes. I put a backdoor into every program I ever wrote.
Why? Because I REALLY do not like to lose. If I ever got screwed by a client, they would stand to lose more than me.
Have I ever USED one of my backdoors? Only once in over 24 years of working with computers. I wrote a program for a college professor who then turned around, changed the opening banner/credits/logon page to HIS name, and then sold it to the college as his own work. I went in, changed the page back, blew away the user and password file, and disabled the logon sequence. Everyone on the college's staff who had a computer got to see what I said about him the next morning when they tried to log on.
A few weeks later, after all the shit was through flying, I gave the college the program for free. Along with the source code (Open source circa 1979!).
>I think the era of BBS is, in fact, dead and buried.
The only reason you would think that is because you don't still use them. I used to be a SYSOP of a BBS in Nashville, TN, but shut it down when I moved. I still call a BBS up in Nashville, to chat with my friends that I met both online AND at "meet and greets".
I am also getting ready to set up a Citadel/UX system of my own. WHY you ask? Because more and more people I chat with are getting tired of the crap in chat rooms. You can't really chat in them anymore, for all of the spam. BBSes offer a SPAM FREE zone in which to converse and make new friends. I already have 15 people who used to use my old CP/M Citadel BBS that are eagerly awaiting my Citadel/UX system.
The BBS DOES LIVE ON.... It may be "old school" to you kiddies, but the BBS "scene" is making a comeback. The World Wide Wasteland is making sure of it!
Beta Mountain BBS.... Coming soon to a URL near you!
Slashdot Mirror
Some friends and I regularly build up computers from "junk" parts from our own upgrades, donated parts, etc, and then GIVE the working computer to the Salvation Army, churchs, PARC, etc, for distribution to lower income familys... A P1-100 loaded up with Win95 and AOL may not be the fastest computer on the 'net, but it beats the hell outta not having one at all...
I was the Engineer in Charge of the TV production truck about 6 years ago when we did the KISS concert at the Omni in Atlanta... Gene Simmons had big pieces of posterboard with the song lyrics taped down to the stage all around his mic stand... Every few songs they would manage to pause a minute or so while a stagehand threw down more posterboard while another one pulled the old ones down into the pit in front of the stage...
Yes... I can honestly say *I* have been onstage with KISS during a concert... OK... So it was off to the side, and I wasn't playing an instrument, but I WAS onstage! LOL
And for all you fans out there, let me tell ya... The band are all a bunch of jerks... I do play the drums, and had brought a ride cymbal with me for them to sign... Was literally told to "fuck off" by one of their handlers as they were headed to the limo with their skanks... Guess they didn't want to hang on my wall with Rush, Aerosmith, Jimmy Buffet, The Outlaws, Molly Hatchet, and a few other bands who took the few seconds to sign a fan's cymbal...
We did the same thing when I used to work for Home Shopping Network. If the forcast predicted rain, the generators would fire up. If it actually started raining in the Tampa Bay area, we would go off-grid. I heard someone throw out a figure once, I don't know how accurate it is, but supposedly HSN potentially looses $365,000 per minute that it is off the air...
Guess that diesel fuel bill isn't as bad as it seems...
As an final thought, when HSN was on a load-sharing basis, prior to going off-grid, Florida Power and Light had to buy the excess power back at retail rates... Making money all around...
One thing that I havn't noticed anybody mention... Cell phones cannot talk to each other. They MUST have radio access to a cell tower. You can be standing next to someone and their phone will NOT talk to yours unless both of them can receive the signals from a tower.
As was made painfully obvious when hurricane Andrew ripped through South Florida, cell towers will not work when they become "horizontally polarized" (laying on their side)... I was down in the Homestead area for 3 weeks after "A-day"... I worked with the local police, EMS, Red Cross, National Guard, Salvation Army, and countless number of simple people who lost everything and were desperate to contact their loved ones outside of the disaster area, to let them know they were still alive. In one day alone, I personally sent out over 450 health and welfare messages on the packet network.
Every year North American amateurs have what's called a "Field Day". The purpose of Field Day is to get away from your home, in a local park or some other public place, and operate for 24 hours without commercial power. To simulate emergency conditions. To demonstrate to the public that HAM radio is still very much alive. This past year's slogan was "When all else fails..." When all else fails, I *CAN* take a 5 watt radio and a couple hundred feet of whatever wire I can lay my hands on, and set up a communications station. Can you do that with cellular technology? I didn't think so...
And by the way... After I left Homestead, after 20 days in the area, my cellphone STILL did not work until I got half-way back to Tampa... Yeah... Great technology to rely on when the shit hits the fan...
My apologies for the flame tone of this reply... It just pisses me off when someone who really does NOT have a clue about what they are talking about makes meaningless blanket statements about things they know nothing of... The PHB's absolutely LOVE those types...
Only problem with that idea is that, unless the sharpshooter is using armor-piercing rounds, which are not standard sniper issue, a resonable thickness of simple iron would protect the device's innards... Issued ball ammo, especially from 1KM away, would not have the ability to penetrate, oh, say a .25" thick piece of pipe. If the cannister were made of aluminum, bump it up to .375" and use a harder alloy. It would most likely still be safe unless someone was shooting at it from 25' away...
I know a guy that built just a device for use when he was on a news location. He ran a satellite uplink truck, and when he couldn't get any lines out on any of the cellphones in his truck, he would bring out this blue box, press a button, and then start dialing his phones... A simple 800 MHz noise generator at about 5 watts would blow everyone else off the air, then he would get his phones up before anyone had a chance to redial...
He knocked my lines down once (and ONLY once) right after the school shooting in Jonesboro Arkansas... As soon as it happened, I went looking for him and told him if he used it again, I'd let all the other truck operators know who he was, and let the FCC know who he was... He didn't use it again for the 10 days I was in Jonesboro...
And don't forget about us Television and Radio Broadcast Engineers (Yes, I am SBE Certified...)
I still have my original Mad Scientists Club book, that I bought back in elementary school. The paperback is getting pretty worn, but it is still fun reading. It's amazing that a 35 year-old children's book can still be such a pleasure to immerse yourself into.
Dude... not only is that NOT a mirror of the article, but your little grafitti about Verizon is uncalled for. If anything, we should be applauding the way they are taking it in the chops for trying to PROTECT online privacy... I'm sure that someone on /. works for Verizon. What's to keep them from now just thinking, "Why the fuck are we busting our asses for these ungrateful clods?"
When the stoner finally saw that, his roomie said he totally freaked.... He would turn the water on whenever he was talking to someone, he would go to the other side of the room and whisper, and all of his dope cleared the room in about 60 seconds... He just KNEW the DEA was going to show up at any moment...
I don't know whatever happened to that guy, but I'm pretty sure he has to know Ted Kazinski personally....
ahhhh.... good times....
I can't help but wonder how you would feel if you took C before Java??
Just because you started with Java instead of a real language, don't fall into the trap of thinking it has better capabilities than one closer "to the metal". If you want a totally secure system, fire up ASM....
LOL I feel your pain, pal....
I have two AMD Tbirds in my desk drawer as remiders to 1) Pay ATTENTION to how much you're trying to overclock a chip (I KNOW I had that jumper on the right pins, and 2) ALWAYS make sure you have a heatsink on your chip when you hit the power switch! The chip in example 2 lasted about 3 seconds before the smoke appeared. It also toasted the moboard....
Electronics is all smoke and mirrors. If you let the smoke out of a device, it will never work again!
Yes! I still use my Kaypro 10 daily as both a terminal for my Altos Unix box and for doing the logging duties for my Amateur Radio station.
I also recently bought a couple of Kaypro 10's from eBay, so I have spare parts, just in case....
Ahhhh, those were the days.... The pioneers of the computer industry are starting to get old and forgotten. Rest well, Adam. You made your mark, and to some of us, you will never be forgotten.
DUDE! You have GOT to warn people before posting that!
I read it while at work, and my roomies in this hell we call Cubeville thought that I was having a stroke or something! I was making bizarre noises while attempting to stifle my urge to roll on the floor laughing out loud!!! I finally lost the battle and out came this croaking-laugh kinda sound.... The secretary was calling 911 while everyone else crowded into my cube to see what in hell was happening to me!
Holy cow what a story!!! Moderators.... Kick that post up to 5+ Funny!!!
I can see it now.... Pastel pink and blue walls, with "It's A Small World" piped in 24/7....
If THAT wouldn't deter them, I don't know what else would!
Was "over there" for Desert Storm.... Staying "over HERE" for this one....
Yeah.... You piss us Floridians off and we'll hunt you down no matter what book you read!!!
Buwhahaha!!
Ten years and OVER A BILLION DOLLARS??? If that's what it takes GM to develop a simple DC drive system, the stockholders of GM need to rethink their investment! That figure is more likely to be what they want to try and write off their corprate tax returns!
Anyone who has ever turned a wrench on an electric golf cart could design an electric car. As far as charging the vehicle, who gives a damn how it's done?! Plug it in or park next to the charger. Pick the LEAST expensive technology and go with it.
The problem with the electric cars is that you can't turn a big ass SUV into an electric car. Ford and GM are interested in PROFITS, not ecology. If they have to devote parts of their assembly lines to a niche vehicle, that takes up resources from their SUV lines.
And for the record, I drive a big-ass Ford Bronco with big tires and a lift kit.... I have nothing at all against SUV's and their drivers. But I'm getting damn tired of this country relying on foreign oil. Electric cars may not totally be the answer, but they are at least a step toward the solution. I'd drive one to/from work if I could buy one. Then keep my Bronco for trips, pulling my boat or camper, or hauling stuff from Home Depot. You know, like use the right tool for the job??! Cheaper and smaller for short trips, big and bulky when the job calls for it.
I always thought GM sucked, now they have confirmed it....
And just to tweak the youngsters at work, I still keep my trusty Pickett sliderule in my desk....
>or perhaps they will do like they did with the dorm phone systems...
Or perhaps they will do like I did in college when they jumped the phone charges up on us.... Crawl through the attic and drop into the phone room, then repunch my dorm room's phone line onto one of the administrative phone lines. Secondary pairs in a multi-pair cable can be so useful! Can you say FREE phone service??! I thought you could!
Why? Because I REALLY do not like to lose. If I ever got screwed by a client, they would stand to lose more than me.
Have I ever USED one of my backdoors? Only once in over 24 years of working with computers. I wrote a program for a college professor who then turned around, changed the opening banner/credits/logon page to HIS name, and then sold it to the college as his own work. I went in, changed the page back, blew away the user and password file, and disabled the logon sequence. Everyone on the college's staff who had a computer got to see what I said about him the next morning when they tried to log on.
A few weeks later, after all the shit was through flying, I gave the college the program for free. Along with the source code (Open source circa 1979!).
>I think the era of BBS is, in fact, dead and buried.
The only reason you would think that is because you don't still use them. I used to be a SYSOP of a BBS in Nashville, TN, but shut it down when I moved. I still call a BBS up in Nashville, to chat with my friends that I met both online AND at "meet and greets".
I am also getting ready to set up a Citadel/UX system of my own. WHY you ask? Because more and more people I chat with are getting tired of the crap in chat rooms. You can't really chat in them anymore, for all of the spam. BBSes offer a SPAM FREE zone in which to converse and make new friends. I already have 15 people who used to use my old CP/M Citadel BBS that are eagerly awaiting my Citadel/UX system.
The BBS DOES LIVE ON.... It may be "old school" to you kiddies, but the BBS "scene" is making a comeback. The World Wide Wasteland is making sure of it!
Beta Mountain BBS.... Coming soon to a URL near you!