Here in the U.S. everything is really spread out. Our population density is pretty low compared to other cultures (like Japan, since you mentioned it). As a result, people can afford much better housing and enjoy better lives. Compare a ridiculously expensive Tokyo apartment with my very inexpensive Upstate New York one; my apartment costs a fraction what the Japanese one does, and is about three times the size.
Americans want to live comfortably. Americans want to be able to afford their housing. Americans want the freedom to travel as they choose, where and when they choose. These are not unreasonable demands, they are logical desires. The sprawl that is so fashionable to complain about is the very same sprawl that makes our standard of living possible. And the only price this sprawl demands of us is that we be willing to drive our cars around, instead of relying on the government to shuffle us around en-masse.
Now, I don't think that's a "problem". I don't think there's anything wrong with the car model at all. The problem as I see it is strictly in the use of petroleum-based fuels to POWER the cars. It's stupid. A far better solution would be to use something like alcohol, biodiesel, or electricity. And this solution is coming. Sooner or later, there won't be any oil left, and people are not going to stop driving; they're going to buy a car that runs on whatever fuel they can most easily acquire.
Demand creates supply. The technology already exists. It's a foregone conclusion.
People should relax about this issue; it'll resolve itself sooner or later, one way or the other.
Aha! Your bias reveals itself to be that of the pro-wealthy elitist, who despises the middle and working classes and believes that a small wealthy class SHOULD rule the despicable masses! The REAL problem with America, you claim, is that everyone's so prosperous! If only they'd just Know Their Place, things would be as God intended -- isn't that what you meant to say?
Thank you for so thoroughly discrediting yourself. It would have taken longer for us despicable masses to do it. Now we can get back to plotting our revolution!
Well, "I would suggest" losing the gravitas, dude. It's a slashdot post, not a world summit, and I'm Just Another Slashdotter, not Kofi Annan.
Having said that, the "nation designed around cars" is already here and it isn't going away. Deal with it.
Alcohol could be a good piece of the alternative energy puzzle, and it doesn't require any technology we don't already have. It'll run both cars and personal electronics, and doesn't require gasoline to burn (despite your assertion to the contrary). I hereby assert that my idea is perfectly useful and would improve the world. It certainly can't be any WORSE than petroleum...
So are you saying that the "Haber process" is the only way of producing fertilizer, and that no methods of producing fertilizer will ever be invented that don't rely on natural gas?
Interesting. And I take it you think the world is flat?
Wow... You British sure are hostile to anything that smacks of non-PC male behavior, aren't you?
Let me fill you in on a couple of things that are true in the U.S. (but might not be wherever you're from):
1. Here in the U.S. men go to a strip joint to see naked women spinning around on poles and rolling around on a stage. It's considered to be a relatively harmless good time; the women make some decent bucks, the men get a laugh or two out of it, and everyone ends up relatively happy.
2. Here in the U.S. there's no real social stigma against strippers or the men who throw money at them. It's just another thing people do, like shooting pool or watching sports. Our women go to strip clubs, too -- to throw money at naked men. I know, I know... It boggles your mind. And, yet -- it's true!
3. Here in the U.S. strippers are generally not exploited. They're making a decent buck and don't feel particularly ashamed or bothered by their choice of living. Having known more than a few on a personal level (just friends, not intimately) I can tell you they're pretty much regular folks.
4. EVEN THOUGH there's nothing wrong with it per se, most Americans grow out of the whole thing and lose interest by the time they're out of their twenties. I haven't been to one in over ten years. But I don't regret going when I was a kid; it was generally a good time and there was nothing to be ashamed of.
NOW, let me say this:
You brits always make me laugh with your buttoned-up, "ass so tight it whistles when you fart", crusty, emasculated point of view. You're always so shocked whenever any man actually ACTS LIKE A MAN! I mean, it's really funny the way you guys get all shocked and horrified, like a bunch of old ladies! EVEN BENNY HILL made fun of you guys.
You're like a bunch of eunuchs; ask your women to give you back your balls already. Really! I'd invite you over to this side of the pond, to go camping or hunting or something, anything to help you generate some testosterone, but I think the shock would probably kill you.
Cut loose a little! Quit being such a prim little sissy mary! It ain't healthy, I'm tellin' ya!
It was a long time ago, when the strip club I'm describing still existed (about 1994). It was closed down about a year after my story happened due to some sort of investigation. The club you're thinking of is on the other side of town. This one was just north of campus on San Francisco Street.
It might have re-opened with different management, of course. But at the time, there were some gorgeous women in there. The stripper in question, who had picked the nickname "Devon" from the Billy Idol video, was about 5'7 or 5'8, maybe 34-24-34, with very pale, pink skin, green or hazel eyes (I don't remember, honestly), and strawberry blonde hair cut short on the sides and long on top, combed over. And a very light dusting of freckles.
I didn't know her from the strip club, I knew her from around town, but she told me she worked there and I should drop by. She never took money from me, either, until Mr. Thumbs jabbed her in the ass. I never went back.
It'd be funny... I left out a bunch of stuff -- the actual events took a few hours. There was even a brief fight scene, some racial tension, and a very short not-quite run-in with a patrol car. But the whole story would've taken too long for a slashdot post...;)
Only on Slashdot could someone take a simple idea (alcohol is an easy fuel to produce, and can be used in both internal combustion engines and in fuel cells) and turn it into "OMG! Phil's a totalitarian! Double plus ungood!"
Dude, seriously, you have GOT to calm down. Try decaf.
Aaaaaaanyway...
Solar cells aren't a good idea. First of all, they're very expensive. Second, they don't produce much wattage. Third, they don't produce anywhere NEAR enough wattage to generate hydrogen for fuel cells. FOURTH, all the most promising fuel cell technologies use ALCOHOL, not Hydrogen. I could go on and on, but I'd rather move onward.
An alcohol economy would be much more sustainable than an oil economy, first of all.
Second, it could be matched up with a combination of other clean energy generation methods like hydroelectric, geothermal, seaside wave-oriented generating systems, wind power, and of course, some of the newer nuclear energy proposals to completely replace fossil fuels.
Your solar cells are mostly suited to powering autonomous equipment, like weather monitoring tools and things like that, which don't require much power and have to be left unattended long-term. Personal electronics and the like are NOT candidates for that kind of power generation.
Anyway, it was just an idea. Don't have an aneyurism, 'kay?
Ha, good one... I actually knew a guy who, before going to a strip club with me, dropped acid and drank a whole bottle of "cold duck" (some kind of wine). He didn't mention this to me, of course.
So we're at the strip club, and this girl I know is giving me a table dance. Her gorgeous ass is bobbing back and forth in front of my face, right? And there's a good chance she'll come with us later in the evening for some clubbing. I'm happy and content, and all is well.
SUDDENLY! His hand flies into the scene from the left, and he sticks his thumb straight up her ass. She screams and shoots off him like a pershing missle, and sprints -- SPRINTS -- into the dressing rooms twenty feet away. My mouth is hanging open; I simply cannot believe what has just happened. The girl -- strawberry blonde with a surfer hairdo and freckles and the whitest, softest skin you have EVER seen -- is certainly NEVER going to speak to me again. I am in shock of course.
She's barely gone and my knucklehead friend leaps up to the platform where some other poor girl is doing her little pole-dance thing, and starts screaming "they're all SLUTS! SLUTS! SLUTS!" I grab him in a headlock and drag him to the door, saying to the two Giant Navajo bouncers "Uh... I think he's on something, we're leaving, ok?" He's frothing at the mouth at this point. I barely get him outside and he takes off like a psycho rocket.
I spent the rest of the night chasing his psycho tripping ass all over Flagstaff, Arizona, hoping he wouldn't get himself killed, not having any idea whatsoever what was going on. At one point, he drove his head into four or five huge plate-glass windows in a row, all along San Francisco street, causing an enormous uproar (people getting out of bed with their shotguns, etc) and a police investigation that would go on for weeks. Unbelieveably, he wasn't injured at all. Not even a scratch.
I finally got him back in his apartment, and when he called me the next day, all of his clothes had been mysteriously tied in a huge rope which extended from his ankle to his door (or something, he wasn't really coherent when he told me the story), he was stark naked, and there was vomit all over every surface of his room. On the advice of a bartender friend of ours, he got out of town at first opportunity - EVERYONE was looking for him (and me, because they thought he might have killed me or something) -- and I haven't seen or heard of him since.
Think about it. Everyone's pissing and moaning about the coming oil shortages, and so on, and NOBODY is thinking about how conveniently flammable alcohol is.
We have an entire Midwest full of Great Plains which are very well suited to growing grains which could produce alcohol.
It has been demonstrated that you can run a car on alcohol. Dragsters do it all the time.
It has been demonstrated that a fuel cell can generate electricity from methanol.
Alcohol doesn't poison the environment if you spill some. It burns clean if you have a darwinian-selection moment and light it up. And in a pinch, you can drink it. Try THAT with petroleum.
Well? Wouldn't an alcohol economy be easier than a hydrogen one?
No, no, no... The truth is, men originated on Mars, and women on Venus. However, ASIAN women discovered that Earth was much cooler than Venus (literally) and had beaches. They told all of their black, white, and hispanic girlfriends that they were "going out for a mocha" and flew to Earth.
Shortly thereafter, the men of Mars read on Slashdot that all of the Asian hotties had moved to Earth. Unfortunately, the Slashdot post was made by an anime-obsessed Otaku and read "OMG!!! Earth == Anime Hotties! Tentacle sex!" and instead of travelling to Venus for the annual mating festival, virtually all of the men intelligent enough to operate a starship flew to Earth with their camcorders.
On Venus, the non-Asian hotties began to suspect something was going on. They studied the situation and learned that all of the intelligent men and all of the Asian women were partying in Ft. Lauderdale, and drinking beer, which apparently only grew on Earth in large melons called H00ters. They became rather incensed and flew to Mars in the remaining Venusian spacecraft, picked up all of the dumb jocks the geeks had left behind, and flew directly to Florida.
All hell broke loose, predictably, and in the conflict, all the spaceships were destroyed. In the following diaspora, all of the nations of Earth were founded, as was the institution of "Marriage" which has served to punish Asian hottie appreciating men for thousands of years.
It has only been the recent development of the Anime Network that has brought the Asian Hottie Phenomenon back to us.
If the NARA really wanted to be sharp about this, they could load all the emails into a running database instead of onto media, then back it up to tape periodically (this ensures the tapes will keep working, etc). They could go in all sorts of directions from this starting point, including cloning the database to produce WORKING backups, etc.
Somehow, I find a running server more trustworthy than a bunch of CDs in a box. At least I can go ASK the thing whether it still works...:)
What I've noticed lately is ISPs handing out a software suite that's supposed to secure your machine. It runs on Windows and OS/X. Only. And it acts as a layer between you and the internet, a layer that the ISP can detect.
Luckily, even though my ISP does hand out some of this dorkware, they don't REQUIRE it yet. I just run my Linux boxen and ignore the poor, orphaned CD. But, I worry that one day, this may no longer be possible.
In this case, the "piece of shit filter" is the call/response between the ISP and its weird dorkware. See how that works?
If your ISP starts requiring you to run some piece of shit software that only works on Windows, what exactly are you going to do about it? Your local neighborhood isn't going to be a large enough population for Linux to be custom-patched for you. And if all the ISPs are doing it differently, trust me, Linux WON'T be patched for it. Besides, the ISP might turn around and say that patching your Linux to fool their "filter" violates their TOS, and bing, it's game over.
Ah, you know that and I know that, but does MICROSOFT think that is true? besides, it's not REALLY true. There are plenty of ISPs that use Microsoft products, or at least foist them off on their users. Many hand out default system setups that assume you'll be using Windows. How many people do you think do as I do (i.e. ignore the default setup and go with Slackware or SUSE)?
Remember -- just because you're ahead of the curve doesn't mean everyone (or even anyone) else is.
Because they know it WON'T be "old" windows users, it'll be the current flavor of the week when they've dragged their feet on the patches. It's about foresight; this situation cultivates an environment in which insecure systems are considered worthy of quarantine; it won't take long before people start looking Microsoft's CURRENT systems over. They get that.
Side #1: Microsoft is terrified of this because it will set a precedent whereby an ISP will be able to cut people off based on the ISP's view of their software configuration. So, ISPs will be able to threaten to kick Microsoft in the balls unless they get favorable treatment (RE: cheaper prices), and home users will be able to demand that tainted machines get knocked off the web until they're fixed (which will mostly affect MICROSOFT). Microsoft, God bless 'em, is naturally against the whole thing.
Side #2: The TRUE result of this will be that lazy ISPs (read: most ISPs) will just lock out anything that doesn't match some piece of shit filter they put in place. So, a fully patched Microsoft or Apple box will probably be able to connect, but my Slackware box will NOT. And when I call tech support, the retard who takes my call will say "SlackWHAT? You can't run that on our network, for, uh... SECURITY reasons. Why don'cha run Winders like everyone else?" And I will be forced to resort to cruel, mocking language, upsetting his supervisor and getting me absolutely NOWHERE.
What's really fascinating about your latest missive is that I HAVE been promoted into a DBA slot!
Now, about your "know everything" comment, from this I have deduced that you are one of those annoying "developers" who beg/nag the DBA for the right to create, alter, and drop tables in the production schema. As I'm sure your OWN DBA's have explained to you over and over again (with the same exaggerated patience I'm about to use on you):
Nobody in his right mind EVER lets a programmer touch a production database. EVER. Not even when all the planets are aligned, it's a full moon, and Mars is rising in Uranus. Sorry, champ, but you were cute when you asked (thanks for the laugh).
Good little programmers draw up ER diagrams, and have meetings with their helpful DBAs, who will point out any major fuck-ups in their model and HELP THEM un-fuck their design before implementing it for them.
Good little programmers KNOW that the DBA's there to cover their ass (and save it occasionally). They WANT the DBA to be the layer in between them and production, because it helps them NOT GET FIRED for fucking up the production database during business hours.
Now, unruly, dopey little programmers scream "I want to use Oracle DESIGNER without restrictions! I want to build my own tables! I want access to production data! Waaa! Waaa! Waaa!"
Their helpful DBA says something like "Awwww, that's cute. Tell my partner what you just told me! Hey, Joe! Check out what this guy just asked me!" Then a good laugh is had by all, and no harm is done.
You have to hand it to him, though -- he's a plucky little rascal. He reminds me of that Kids In The Hall episode where the drunk keeps challenging a big bruiser to a fistfight, gets clobbered, wobbles to his feet, and insists on getting beaten down again, all the while thinking he's winning.
It's one-stop shopping. Just download the current edition of the JDK and it comes with NetBeans -- all for free. It's available for every platform and it supports full object-oriented programming and most modern tools, everything from aspects to unit testing.
With Java, you can go in any direction you want. Want to play around with algorithms? There are good Java algorithm texts around, and you can have a blast. Want to write up a GUI? You can do that too. Want to do networking software? Java offers great networking support.
I really don't think you can go wrong here. In a few years, Apache is even going to offer a full open-source standard edition of Java (they're working on it right now).
Well, I can see I haven't helped you get over yourself. You're still thinking of whatever "code" you've got laying around as a competitive advantage, instead of a little do-it-yourself software you wrote to help you sell hamster food.
So, since you're doing the "number 1, number 2" thing, let me respond in kind:
1. You USED to be an "enterprise class developer". You didn't get bored, you got laid off or fired. You got creamed in the dot-com crash. Call it what it is.
2. You're a "real-world business user" who sells hamster food from your little shop. You don't count. Nobody would notice it if you DID open-source anythin, so hoarding your code affects nobody. Counterexamples people can provide you with, of enormous businesses like IBM, Novell, and I.D. Software (to name only three of hundreds) that use and support open-source dwarf your example in their relative importance. You are, therefore, insignificant -- by your own admission. Your opinion, by extension, is similarly insignificant.
3. Being a nobody who is completely insignificant, you nevertheless discount the activities of a company (ID Software) that has tens of millions in revenue and is extremely significant in their field. I find that remarkable. You really are a big doofus, aren't you?
You're a tiny little krill shrimp (you know what those are, Mr. Pet Food Salesman, now, don'cha?) waving his tiny little feelers at a giant rock lobster! "I'm important!" you yell. "I'm a bigtime business person! And I don't like open source!" To which the rest of us say, "Did you hear something? Like a little squeaking noise? Must be my ears..."
Seriously, GET OVER YOURSELF before you embarass yourself any further.
Oh, I wouldn't worry about the M.S. You're already a smug son of a bitch (I provide your earlier posts as ample proof, you smug son of a bitch).
Since you want a concrete example, I.D. Software, whose annual profits are thousands of times as great as those of a pissy little hamster food salesman, releases every single game engine it produces open source the minute it releases a more modern version. It does this in order to accelerate development of gaming technology, which benefits all game companies; to enhance the talent pool available, by letting college students study their code; to befriend the open-source community and show goodwill and appreciation for all of the work that is currently being done that AIDS THEIR BUSINESS, and in general because they're good people. As a result, I.D. Software is beloved by gamers and programmers alike, and are one of the two or three most important game companies in the world.
Maybe that was a little more example than you were looking for. But it's a good one.
By the way, I'm not a college kid; I'm not even an academic. I'm an enterprise-level software developer with a patent or two under his belt who has singlehandedly made MILLIONS of dollars for one company or another over the past decade. So go fuck yourself, little man. I laugh at your self-aggrandizement.
You bring up an interesting pair of possibilities for a "businessman" who wishes to create custom software:
Possibility #1: Hoard and hide the software, in hopes of attaining "competitive advantage". Watch in horror as your competitors duplicate the software, but with better programmers, thus gaining better competitive advantage than you did. Try to stop them by spending tens of thousands of dollars on patent issues, only to have the entire market brand you as a vicious slug, and get buried by your own bad P.R. (while a court invalidates your patent as "obvious" and all your money ends up wasted).
Possibility #2: Release the software open source, so that your competitors better programmers end up improving YOUR software and you both benefit from it with no additional expense. Also, gain a great deal of good P.R. in the bargain.
Slashdot Mirror
Here in the U.S. everything is really spread out. Our population density is pretty low compared to other cultures (like Japan, since you mentioned it). As a result, people can afford much better housing and enjoy better lives. Compare a ridiculously expensive Tokyo apartment with my very inexpensive Upstate New York one; my apartment costs a fraction what the Japanese one does, and is about three times the size.
Americans want to live comfortably. Americans want to be able to afford their housing. Americans want the freedom to travel as they choose, where and when they choose. These are not unreasonable demands, they are logical desires. The sprawl that is so fashionable to complain about is the very same sprawl that makes our standard of living possible. And the only price this sprawl demands of us is that we be willing to drive our cars around, instead of relying on the government to shuffle us around en-masse.
Now, I don't think that's a "problem". I don't think there's anything wrong with the car model at all. The problem as I see it is strictly in the use of petroleum-based fuels to POWER the cars. It's stupid. A far better solution would be to use something like alcohol, biodiesel, or electricity. And this solution is coming. Sooner or later, there won't be any oil left, and people are not going to stop driving; they're going to buy a car that runs on whatever fuel they can most easily acquire.
Demand creates supply. The technology already exists. It's a foregone conclusion.
People should relax about this issue; it'll resolve itself sooner or later, one way or the other.
Aha! Your bias reveals itself to be that of the pro-wealthy elitist, who despises the middle and working classes and believes that a small wealthy class SHOULD rule the despicable masses! The REAL problem with America, you claim, is that everyone's so prosperous! If only they'd just Know Their Place, things would be as God intended -- isn't that what you meant to say?
Thank you for so thoroughly discrediting yourself. It would have taken longer for us despicable masses to do it. Now we can get back to plotting our revolution!
Where'd I put that guillotine?
Well, "I would suggest" losing the gravitas, dude. It's a slashdot post, not a world summit, and I'm Just Another Slashdotter, not Kofi Annan.
Having said that, the "nation designed around cars" is already here and it isn't going away. Deal with it.
Alcohol could be a good piece of the alternative energy puzzle, and it doesn't require any technology we don't already have. It'll run both cars and personal electronics, and doesn't require gasoline to burn (despite your assertion to the contrary). I hereby assert that my idea is perfectly useful and would improve the world. It certainly can't be any WORSE than petroleum...
So are you saying that the "Haber process" is the only way of producing fertilizer, and that no methods of producing fertilizer will ever be invented that don't rely on natural gas?
Interesting. And I take it you think the world is flat?
Wow... You British sure are hostile to anything that smacks of non-PC male behavior, aren't you?
Let me fill you in on a couple of things that are true in the U.S. (but might not be wherever you're from):
1. Here in the U.S. men go to a strip joint to see naked women spinning around on poles and rolling around on a stage. It's considered to be a relatively harmless good time; the women make some decent bucks, the men get a laugh or two out of it, and everyone ends up relatively happy.
2. Here in the U.S. there's no real social stigma against strippers or the men who throw money at them. It's just another thing people do, like shooting pool or watching sports. Our women go to strip clubs, too -- to throw money at naked men. I know, I know... It boggles your mind. And, yet -- it's true!
3. Here in the U.S. strippers are generally not exploited. They're making a decent buck and don't feel particularly ashamed or bothered by their choice of living. Having known more than a few on a personal level (just friends, not intimately) I can tell you they're pretty much regular folks.
4. EVEN THOUGH there's nothing wrong with it per se, most Americans grow out of the whole thing and lose interest by the time they're out of their twenties. I haven't been to one in over ten years. But I don't regret going when I was a kid; it was generally a good time and there was nothing to be ashamed of.
NOW, let me say this:
You brits always make me laugh with your buttoned-up, "ass so tight it whistles when you fart", crusty, emasculated point of view. You're always so shocked whenever any man actually ACTS LIKE A MAN! I mean, it's really funny the way you guys get all shocked and horrified, like a bunch of old ladies! EVEN BENNY HILL made fun of you guys.
You're like a bunch of eunuchs; ask your women to give you back your balls already. Really! I'd invite you over to this side of the pond, to go camping or hunting or something, anything to help you generate some testosterone, but I think the shock would probably kill you.
Cut loose a little! Quit being such a prim little sissy mary! It ain't healthy, I'm tellin' ya!
It was a long time ago, when the strip club I'm describing still existed (about 1994). It was closed down about a year after my story happened due to some sort of investigation. The club you're thinking of is on the other side of town. This one was just north of campus on San Francisco Street.
It might have re-opened with different management, of course. But at the time, there were some gorgeous women in there. The stripper in question, who had picked the nickname "Devon" from the Billy Idol video, was about 5'7 or 5'8, maybe 34-24-34, with very pale, pink skin, green or hazel eyes (I don't remember, honestly), and strawberry blonde hair cut short on the sides and long on top, combed over. And a very light dusting of freckles.
I didn't know her from the strip club, I knew her from around town, but she told me she worked there and I should drop by. She never took money from me, either, until Mr. Thumbs jabbed her in the ass. I never went back.
God, was I pissed. I almost wept!
I was younger then, and I hadn't yet begun to ask that question. Now that I'm older, I haven't been to one in ten years.
Of course, these days I get all my Pr0n via the internet!
It'd be funny... I left out a bunch of stuff -- the actual events took a few hours. There was even a brief fight scene, some racial tension, and a very short not-quite run-in with a patrol car. But the whole story would've taken too long for a slashdot post... ;)
Sigh...
Only on Slashdot could someone take a simple idea (alcohol is an easy fuel to produce, and can be used in both internal combustion engines and in fuel cells) and turn it into "OMG! Phil's a totalitarian! Double plus ungood!"
Dude, seriously, you have GOT to calm down. Try decaf.
Aaaaaaanyway...
Solar cells aren't a good idea. First of all, they're very expensive. Second, they don't produce much wattage. Third, they don't produce anywhere NEAR enough wattage to generate hydrogen for fuel cells. FOURTH, all the most promising fuel cell technologies use ALCOHOL, not Hydrogen. I could go on and on, but I'd rather move onward.
An alcohol economy would be much more sustainable than an oil economy, first of all.
Second, it could be matched up with a combination of other clean energy generation methods like hydroelectric, geothermal, seaside wave-oriented generating systems, wind power, and of course, some of the newer nuclear energy proposals to completely replace fossil fuels.
Your solar cells are mostly suited to powering autonomous equipment, like weather monitoring tools and things like that, which don't require much power and have to be left unattended long-term. Personal electronics and the like are NOT candidates for that kind of power generation.
Anyway, it was just an idea. Don't have an aneyurism, 'kay?
Ha, good one... I actually knew a guy who, before going to a strip club with me, dropped acid and drank a whole bottle of "cold duck" (some kind of wine). He didn't mention this to me, of course.
So we're at the strip club, and this girl I know is giving me a table dance. Her gorgeous ass is bobbing back and forth in front of my face, right? And there's a good chance she'll come with us later in the evening for some clubbing. I'm happy and content, and all is well.
SUDDENLY! His hand flies into the scene from the left, and he sticks his thumb straight up her ass. She screams and shoots off him like a pershing missle, and sprints -- SPRINTS -- into the dressing rooms twenty feet away. My mouth is hanging open; I simply cannot believe what has just happened. The girl -- strawberry blonde with a surfer hairdo and freckles and the whitest, softest skin you have EVER seen -- is certainly NEVER going to speak to me again. I am in shock of course.
She's barely gone and my knucklehead friend leaps up to the platform where some other poor girl is doing her little pole-dance thing, and starts screaming "they're all SLUTS! SLUTS! SLUTS!" I grab him in a headlock and drag him to the door, saying to the two Giant Navajo bouncers "Uh... I think he's on something, we're leaving, ok?" He's frothing at the mouth at this point. I barely get him outside and he takes off like a psycho rocket.
I spent the rest of the night chasing his psycho tripping ass all over Flagstaff, Arizona, hoping he wouldn't get himself killed, not having any idea whatsoever what was going on. At one point, he drove his head into four or five huge plate-glass windows in a row, all along San Francisco street, causing an enormous uproar (people getting out of bed with their shotguns, etc) and a police investigation that would go on for weeks. Unbelieveably, he wasn't injured at all. Not even a scratch.
I finally got him back in his apartment, and when he called me the next day, all of his clothes had been mysteriously tied in a huge rope which extended from his ankle to his door (or something, he wasn't really coherent when he told me the story), he was stark naked, and there was vomit all over every surface of his room. On the advice of a bartender friend of ours, he got out of town at first opportunity - EVERYONE was looking for him (and me, because they thought he might have killed me or something) -- and I haven't seen or heard of him since.
It was the weirdest-ass thing I ever witnessed.
Think about it. Everyone's pissing and moaning about the coming oil shortages, and so on, and NOBODY is thinking about how conveniently flammable alcohol is.
We have an entire Midwest full of Great Plains which are very well suited to growing grains which could produce alcohol.
It has been demonstrated that you can run a car on alcohol. Dragsters do it all the time.
It has been demonstrated that a fuel cell can generate electricity from methanol.
Alcohol doesn't poison the environment if you spill some. It burns clean if you have a darwinian-selection moment and light it up. And in a pinch, you can drink it. Try THAT with petroleum.
Well? Wouldn't an alcohol economy be easier than a hydrogen one?
Just a thought...
No, no, no... The truth is, men originated on Mars, and women on Venus. However, ASIAN women discovered that Earth was much cooler than Venus (literally) and had beaches. They told all of their black, white, and hispanic girlfriends that they were "going out for a mocha" and flew to Earth.
Shortly thereafter, the men of Mars read on Slashdot that all of the Asian hotties had moved to Earth. Unfortunately, the Slashdot post was made by an anime-obsessed Otaku and read "OMG!!! Earth == Anime Hotties! Tentacle sex!" and instead of travelling to Venus for the annual mating festival, virtually all of the men intelligent enough to operate a starship flew to Earth with their camcorders.
On Venus, the non-Asian hotties began to suspect something was going on. They studied the situation and learned that all of the intelligent men and all of the Asian women were partying in Ft. Lauderdale, and drinking beer, which apparently only grew on Earth in large melons called H00ters. They became rather incensed and flew to Mars in the remaining Venusian spacecraft, picked up all of the dumb jocks the geeks had left behind, and flew directly to Florida.
All hell broke loose, predictably, and in the conflict, all the spaceships were destroyed. In the following diaspora, all of the nations of Earth were founded, as was the institution of "Marriage" which has served to punish Asian hottie appreciating men for thousands of years.
It has only been the recent development of the Anime Network that has brought the Asian Hottie Phenomenon back to us.
All Hail the Anime Channel!
Cool! Thank you, and happy New Year!
By your line of reasoning, Dada is only able to employ people who are so awful they can't work for more than 5.15 an hour. Sounds about right...
I know I wouldn't work for him...
If the NARA really wanted to be sharp about this, they could load all the emails into a running database instead of onto media, then back it up to tape periodically (this ensures the tapes will keep working, etc). They could go in all sorts of directions from this starting point, including cloning the database to produce WORKING backups, etc.
:)
Somehow, I find a running server more trustworthy than a bunch of CDs in a box. At least I can go ASK the thing whether it still works...
What I've noticed lately is ISPs handing out a software suite that's supposed to secure your machine. It runs on Windows and OS/X. Only. And it acts as a layer between you and the internet, a layer that the ISP can detect.
Luckily, even though my ISP does hand out some of this dorkware, they don't REQUIRE it yet. I just run my Linux boxen and ignore the poor, orphaned CD. But, I worry that one day, this may no longer be possible.
In this case, the "piece of shit filter" is the call/response between the ISP and its weird dorkware. See how that works?
If your ISP starts requiring you to run some piece of shit software that only works on Windows, what exactly are you going to do about it? Your local neighborhood isn't going to be a large enough population for Linux to be custom-patched for you. And if all the ISPs are doing it differently, trust me, Linux WON'T be patched for it. Besides, the ISP might turn around and say that patching your Linux to fool their "filter" violates their TOS, and bing, it's game over.
It's a problem.
Ah, you know that and I know that, but does MICROSOFT think that is true? besides, it's not REALLY true. There are plenty of ISPs that use Microsoft products, or at least foist them off on their users. Many hand out default system setups that assume you'll be using Windows. How many people do you think do as I do (i.e. ignore the default setup and go with Slackware or SUSE)?
Remember -- just because you're ahead of the curve doesn't mean everyone (or even anyone) else is.
Because they know it WON'T be "old" windows users, it'll be the current flavor of the week when they've dragged their feet on the patches. It's about foresight; this situation cultivates an environment in which insecure systems are considered worthy of quarantine; it won't take long before people start looking Microsoft's CURRENT systems over. They get that.
Side #1: Microsoft is terrified of this because it will set a precedent whereby an ISP will be able to cut people off based on the ISP's view of their software configuration. So, ISPs will be able to threaten to kick Microsoft in the balls unless they get favorable treatment (RE: cheaper prices), and home users will be able to demand that tainted machines get knocked off the web until they're fixed (which will mostly affect MICROSOFT). Microsoft, God bless 'em, is naturally against the whole thing.
;)
Side #2: The TRUE result of this will be that lazy ISPs (read: most ISPs) will just lock out anything that doesn't match some piece of shit filter they put in place. So, a fully patched Microsoft or Apple box will probably be able to connect, but my Slackware box will NOT. And when I call tech support, the retard who takes my call will say "SlackWHAT? You can't run that on our network, for, uh... SECURITY reasons. Why don'cha run Winders like everyone else?" And I will be forced to resort to cruel, mocking language, upsetting his supervisor and getting me absolutely NOWHERE.
So, naturally, I'm against this bullshit too.
What's really fascinating about your latest missive is that I HAVE been promoted into a DBA slot!
Now, about your "know everything" comment, from this I have deduced that you are one of those annoying "developers" who beg/nag the DBA for the right to create, alter, and drop tables in the production schema. As I'm sure your OWN DBA's have explained to you over and over again (with the same exaggerated patience I'm about to use on you):
Nobody in his right mind EVER lets a programmer touch a production database. EVER. Not even when all the planets are aligned, it's a full moon, and Mars is rising in Uranus. Sorry, champ, but you were cute when you asked (thanks for the laugh).
Good little programmers draw up ER diagrams, and have meetings with their helpful DBAs, who will point out any major fuck-ups in their model and HELP THEM un-fuck their design before implementing it for them.
Good little programmers KNOW that the DBA's there to cover their ass (and save it occasionally). They WANT the DBA to be the layer in between them and production, because it helps them NOT GET FIRED for fucking up the production database during business hours.
Now, unruly, dopey little programmers scream "I want to use Oracle DESIGNER without restrictions! I want to build my own tables! I want access to production data! Waaa! Waaa! Waaa!"
Their helpful DBA says something like "Awwww, that's cute. Tell my partner what you just told me! Hey, Joe! Check out what this guy just asked me!" Then a good laugh is had by all, and no harm is done.
You have to hand it to him, though -- he's a plucky little rascal. He reminds me of that Kids In The Hall episode where the drunk keeps challenging a big bruiser to a fistfight, gets clobbered, wobbles to his feet, and insists on getting beaten down again, all the while thinking he's winning.
It's one-stop shopping. Just download the current edition of the JDK and it comes with NetBeans -- all for free. It's available for every platform and it supports full object-oriented programming and most modern tools, everything from aspects to unit testing.
:)
With Java, you can go in any direction you want. Want to play around with algorithms? There are good Java algorithm texts around, and you can have a blast. Want to write up a GUI? You can do that too. Want to do networking software? Java offers great networking support.
I really don't think you can go wrong here. In a few years, Apache is even going to offer a full open-source standard edition of Java (they're working on it right now).
Give it a try.
Well, I can see I haven't helped you get over yourself. You're still thinking of whatever "code" you've got laying around as a competitive advantage, instead of a little do-it-yourself software you wrote to help you sell hamster food.
So, since you're doing the "number 1, number 2" thing, let me respond in kind:
1. You USED to be an "enterprise class developer". You didn't get bored, you got laid off or fired. You got creamed in the dot-com crash. Call it what it is.
2. You're a "real-world business user" who sells hamster food from your little shop. You don't count. Nobody would notice it if you DID open-source anythin, so hoarding your code affects nobody. Counterexamples people can provide you with, of enormous businesses like IBM, Novell, and I.D. Software (to name only three of hundreds) that use and support open-source dwarf your example in their relative importance. You are, therefore, insignificant -- by your own admission. Your opinion, by extension, is similarly insignificant.
3. Being a nobody who is completely insignificant, you nevertheless discount the activities of a company (ID Software) that has tens of millions in revenue and is extremely significant in their field. I find that remarkable. You really are a big doofus, aren't you?
You're a tiny little krill shrimp (you know what those are, Mr. Pet Food Salesman, now, don'cha?) waving his tiny little feelers at a giant rock lobster! "I'm important!" you yell. "I'm a bigtime business person! And I don't like open source!" To which the rest of us say, "Did you hear something? Like a little squeaking noise? Must be my ears..."
Seriously, GET OVER YOURSELF before you embarass yourself any further.
Oh, I wouldn't worry about the M.S. You're already a smug son of a bitch (I provide your earlier posts as ample proof, you smug son of a bitch).
Since you want a concrete example, I.D. Software, whose annual profits are thousands of times as great as those of a pissy little hamster food salesman, releases every single game engine it produces open source the minute it releases a more modern version. It does this in order to accelerate development of gaming technology, which benefits all game companies; to enhance the talent pool available, by letting college students study their code; to befriend the open-source community and show goodwill and appreciation for all of the work that is currently being done that AIDS THEIR BUSINESS, and in general because they're good people. As a result, I.D. Software is beloved by gamers and programmers alike, and are one of the two or three most important game companies in the world.
Maybe that was a little more example than you were looking for. But it's a good one.
By the way, I'm not a college kid; I'm not even an academic. I'm an enterprise-level software developer with a patent or two under his belt who has singlehandedly made MILLIONS of dollars for one company or another over the past decade. So go fuck yourself, little man. I laugh at your self-aggrandizement.
You bring up an interesting pair of possibilities for a "businessman" who wishes to create custom software:
Possibility #1: Hoard and hide the software, in hopes of attaining "competitive advantage". Watch in horror as your competitors duplicate the software, but with better programmers, thus gaining better competitive advantage than you did. Try to stop them by spending tens of thousands of dollars on patent issues, only to have the entire market brand you as a vicious slug, and get buried by your own bad P.R. (while a court invalidates your patent as "obvious" and all your money ends up wasted).
Possibility #2: Release the software open source, so that your competitors better programmers end up improving YOUR software and you both benefit from it with no additional expense. Also, gain a great deal of good P.R. in the bargain.
Hmm...