If the community college is too slow, then try a *real* college-level Japanese course. Many colleges/universities will willingly take non-degree-seeking students.
And stay away from any course that use only the "easier" Romaji technique. If you can learn to program, then learning the Katakana and Hiragana alphabets are a snap (only about 46 syllables, written two different ways). Better still, write your own alphabet flashcard 'toy' application
So how is this news if it was written about in
December 2003? Before Tiger or Dashboard was even annnounced.
Mac applets coming soon to Windows
Published: December 16, 2003, 5:08 PM PST
By Paul Festa
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
A Web site that offers desktop applets for the Macintosh desktop is gearing up to provide similar gadgets for Windows.
...
Now, Perry and Rose are at work on a version for Windows. That version goes to beta testers Tuesday night and is scheduled to be complete within four to six weeks.
Oh, I get it. The four to six weeks was extended slightly to eleven months, and that counts as news.
Remember the Hubble Telescope's mirror flaw? It was in all the papers at the time...
Perkin-Elmer had done the rough grinding of the mirror in 1978, and had finished the final polishing in 1981. As the telescope's 2.4 meter primary mirror was being polished, an unrecognized 1.308 millimeter error in the structure of a device used to monitor the process caused technicians to give the mirror an exquisitely smooth surface with a grossly inaccurate shape. The result is the "spherical aberration" that now bathes the stars in fuzz whenever Hubble tries to look at them. The culprit device was called the reflective null corrector.
Yah, sure, they crashed this one *on purpose*. They forgot Jupiter was so big is my guess.
Tell me another story, Grampa.
I ain't buyin' it. NASA just screwed up again and arranged the phony paper trail on their website, complete with press releases, as a massive coverup. Hey, if they can make up a Moon Shot (Capricorn One? Galileo 2003? Sure!) then they can definitely cover up a screwup like this one.
Not quite magic, and the metamaterial can only bend a very small range of wavelengths. Basically a surface was constructed in which microwave radiation would impinge on the surface, and the only way it can escape is normal to the surface. That is, arrive at any angle, leave only at a right angle to the surface.
In other words, the only way that the radiation can escape from a slice of the metamaterial is as a beam perpendicular to the surface. The trick only works for radiation of the same wavelength as the spacing between the components of the metamaterial. A few millimetres corresponds to the wavelength of microwave radiation. For a material to focus visible light in the same way, the components would have to be much closer together. Such a metamaterial could improve fibre-optic telecommunications and display technology.
The reason I posted the budget from NASA's web page was that the original article said that the budget is going DOWN.
Regardless of military or social services or AIDS spending, the NASA budget is not going down, in absolute terms. That's that "fact" I was disputing.
Frankly I find defense to be much more important lately than space exploration. Even though I'm a space buff, 9-11 shifted a lot of priorities. Or rather, it should have.
I know that facts can be stubborn things. Let's see what the actual budget for NASA is.
http://ifmp.nasa.gov/codeb/budget2003/03-Multi-Y ea r_Budget.pdf
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION FISCAL YEAR 2003 ESTIMATES (IN MILLIONS OF REAL YEAR DOLLARS) For display purposes only ? appropriated budgets for FY 2001 and FY 2002 are different
The one-page PDF includes several screen shots as well. Here's just the text from the PDF file.
Pooch Quick Start
Requirements: Macintoshes running OS X 10.1 or later with proper connections to the Internet. (If the Macs are on an isolated network, manually configure their Network system preferences to use unique IP addresses from 192.168.1.1 to 192.168.1.254.)
1. Select a parallel application: Download the AltiVec Fractal Carbon demo and drag it from the Finder to the Pooch alias icon on the desktop.
2. Select nodes: To add other nodes, click on Select Nodes from the Job Window that just appeared to invoke the Node Scan Window. Double-clicking on a node moves it to the node list of the Job Window.
3. Launch: Click Launch Job in the Job Window to start your parallel job. Pooch should be distributing the code and launching the parallel application.
Congratulations! You are now operating your first parallel computer.
Congratulations! You have just built your first parallel computer. Now to test it
... or at least unstable. I hate getting Word attachments for cr*ppy 2-paragraph memos.
Sample:
"I've been burned a couple of times from hidden text or viruses embedded in Microsoft Word files, so could you please save it as Word 95 format? Or even better just save as Text Only, since that's all I need anyway. Downloads much faster too. Thanks, I appreciate it."
Here's the very first comment from the source for the KPMG.com website.
Was't Razorfish sued by another client? This flash intro is prima facie evidence of monumental hubris.
<!-- r a z o r f i s h , Inc.
Description: KPMG [home]
Created: 2000-04-20 jj
(c) 2000, Razorfish, Inc. all rights reserved.
KPMG LLP
Dan Wells
Matt Michelman
Jennifer Holly
Derek "Uber" Wargo
Mike Lavine
Joey B.
-->
Re:Begging Questions and Urban Planning
on
This is IT?
·
· Score: 5, Funny
From the TIME article:
By traveling at
three or four times walking speed, and thus turning what would have been a 30-minute walk into a 10-minute ride, Kamen contends, Segways will in effect shrink cities to the point where cars "will not only be undesirable, but unnecessary."
As for weather, here in the Midwest we occasionally use outerware to mitigate the effects of the elements on our epidermis. That comes highly recommended. And your mom told me you should wear a hat, too.
I believe (but haven't seen for myself) that most businesses today are currently wired for "electricity" available at convenient locations we call "outlets". And a space the size of one car-parking spot can probably hold one or maybe up to two of the Segway behemoths.
I really get disappointed when people who are smart in one area...
If I don't legally have MacOS X and use this trick to get a copy of MacOS 10.1 for 20 bucks then I'm at least doing something immoral, and possibly illegal. Apple has the right to try to prevent this (beyond that, they've got an obligation to as well, an obligation to their stock holders).
True. Of course, Napster was also used only by people owning the original CD's to comply with copyright, right?
Road Runner originally offered digital telephone service in my area: Free cable installation, about $7 cheaper/month than US West. Great! So when I wanted broadband internet as well, I got a $10/mo discount for having the digital phone service!
Then they were bought by the Death Star, AT&T. Grrr, I was trying to get away from monolithic telecoms!
The internet pipe works mighty fast, except for a random $650 unreturned modem charge, which could only be removed by *physically* turning in my fully-working cable modem at their local office and getting a different one. Grrrrr.
Now I get a letter from AT&T telling me that due to contract problems, 900 numbers can't be used from my home phone. Sorry. These things happen.
The other huge problem came when trying to change my long distance from MCI to Sprint. I called Sprint, picked a plan, and asked them to switch it. My call went through 3rd part verification, all that crep.
Got my next months' bill and found that my friend's calls overseas were billed at $2.69/min, instead of ~$.25/min. Bit of a slip-up, don't worry.
So after at least 10 calls between AT&T, MCI, and Sprint, it turns out that AT&T got the switch-over request but didn't implement the change. Seems that somehow they aren't really a phone company, they just lease the lines from someone else. Or some such runaround. So I was still on MCI, racking up another month's of long distance calls at the old casual rate.
But after pleading, MCI re-rated my 2-month's bills to a plan which reduces my total bill by *80%*. So I decide to give up on the switch and stay with MCI. I was *never* switched, BTW, and the cluster-fscks at AT&T are still well-clustered.
So don't depend on AT&T's precious letters to soothe any anxiety. Next time I gotta ask them to at least grease their shaft before scheduling my next appointment with their customer "service" drones...
Now you aren't restricted to just the one edition of a classic that the bookstore decided to carry. I was looking for Huck Finn the other day, and the bookstore had 3 different editions. I know there are many more than that, but I was looking for one with footnotes etc. to explain the terms for a non-native English speaker.
A bookstore can now carry *ALL* editions of every publisher's backlist. Print out *ONE* copy of all the books in a given area, then when a customer browses one and buys it, generate an order to print up the same edition as the replacement for the shelf. Even faster than waiting for the book-printer. But if they still don't find the book they want, then do the search and print it right then and there.
Want the 2nd edition instead of the 6th? Fine, same price. Want the version with complete footnotes and historical essays? Want a book of all of Mark Twain's stories that used the word "fraudulent"? It's all just bit-pushing at this point.
Instant publishing takes on a new meaning. Web sites can publish a review of a new work, then offer to send it to your corner book-printer for you to pick up in 30 minutes. Both companies make a little, you win a lot.
Create a web page which will search for all genealogy information for a given name, then format it nicely and print out the book. Voil!
Textbooks? Of course. Now the biggest cost would not be printing, shipping and storing the paper, the largest cost would be the author's royalties. Talk about instant feedback!
These are all million-dollar ideas here, given away for free.
Slashdot Mirror
So how come this isn't in the /. "Apple" section too?
Seems kinda relevant, what with kudos and all...
If the community college is too slow, then try a *real* college-level Japanese course. Many colleges/universities will willingly take non-degree-seeking students.
And stay away from any course that use only the "easier" Romaji technique. If you can learn to program, then learning the Katakana and Hiragana alphabets are a snap (only about 46 syllables, written two different ways). Better still, write your own alphabet flashcard 'toy' application
You can read forum posts at www.MacFixItForums.com for free. Lots of useful troubleshooting help.
To post, you need to register but not necessarily buy a subscription.
This is a joke, right?
Yah, sure, they crashed this one *on purpose*. They forgot Jupiter was so big is my guess.
Tell me another story, Grampa.
I ain't buyin' it. NASA just screwed up again and arranged the phony paper trail on their website, complete with press releases, as a massive coverup. Hey, if they can make up a Moon Shot (Capricorn One? Galileo 2003? Sure!) then they can definitely cover up a screwup like this one.
You mean like this?
metamaterials.net
From this articleThe reason I posted the budget from NASA's web page was that the original article said that the budget is going DOWN.
Regardless of military or social services or AIDS spending, the NASA budget is not going down, in absolute terms. That's that "fact" I was disputing.
Frankly I find defense to be much more important lately than space exploration. Even though I'm a space buff, 9-11 shifted a lot of priorities. Or rather, it should have.
I know that facts can be stubborn things. Let's see what the actual budget for NASA is.
Y ea r_Budget.pdf
http://ifmp.nasa.gov/codeb/budget2003/03-Multi-
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
FISCAL YEAR 2003 ESTIMATES
(IN MILLIONS OF REAL YEAR DOLLARS)
For display purposes only ? appropriated budgets for FY 2001 and FY 2002 are different
TOTAL EXCLUDING FEDERAL RETIREES COST
2001 [restructured $14,253.2]
2002 [restructured $14,901.7]
2003: $15,000.0
2004: $15,573.4
2005: $15,869.4
2006: $16,275.0
2007: $16,789.0
-------
Going up? How can that be?
How could they miss the Gallery of Regrettable Food?
This should read, "But when they came for Jar-Jar, there was *much* rejoicing."
Manchette apparently suffered from Agoraphobia and so didn't leave his house. And his son was named "Doug Headline"
t ic le=10
http://benoitthierry.free.fr/article.php3?id_ar
It's in French, though...
Pooch Quick Start
Requirements: Macintoshes running OS X 10.1 or later with proper connections to the Internet. (If the Macs are on an isolated network, manually configure their Network system preferences to use unique IP addresses from 192.168.1.1 to 192.168.1.254.)
1. Select a parallel application: Download the AltiVec Fractal Carbon demo and drag it from the Finder to the Pooch alias icon on the desktop.
2. Select nodes: To add other nodes, click on Select Nodes from the Job Window that just appeared to invoke the Node Scan Window. Double-clicking on a node moves it to the node list of the Job Window.
3. Launch: Click Launch Job in the Job Window to start your parallel job. Pooch should be distributing the code and launching the parallel application.
Congratulations! You are now operating your first parallel computer.
Congratulations! You have just built your first parallel computer. Now to test it
pooch@daugerresearch.com
http://daugerresearch.com/pooch/
Copyright © 2001 Dauger Research, Inc.
Installation: Double-click the Pooch Installer. Repeat for additional
Macs on the same local area network.
Why haven't I heard about these Beowulf "clusters" on Slashdot before?
Sample:
Here's the very first comment from the source for the KPMG.com website.
Was't Razorfish sued by another client? This flash intro is prima facie evidence of monumental hubris.
<!-- r a z o r f i s h , Inc.
Description: KPMG [home]
Created: 2000-04-20 jj
(c) 2000, Razorfish, Inc. all rights reserved.
KPMG LLP
Dan Wells
Matt Michelman
Jennifer Holly
Derek "Uber" Wargo
Mike Lavine
Joey B.
-->
As for weather, here in the Midwest we occasionally use outerware to mitigate the effects of the elements on our epidermis. That comes highly recommended. And your mom told me you should wear a hat, too.
I believe (but haven't seen for myself) that most businesses today are currently wired for "electricity" available at convenient locations we call "outlets". And a space the size of one car-parking spot can probably hold one or maybe up to two of the Segway behemoths.
I really get disappointed when people who are smart in one area
True. Of course, Napster was also used only by people owning the original CD's to comply with copyright, right?
Road Runner originally offered digital telephone service in my area: Free cable installation, about $7 cheaper/month than US West. Great! So when I wanted broadband internet as well, I got a $10/mo discount for having the digital phone service!
Then they were bought by the Death Star, AT&T. Grrr, I was trying to get away from monolithic telecoms!
The internet pipe works mighty fast, except for a random $650 unreturned modem charge, which could only be removed by *physically* turning in my fully-working cable modem at their local office and getting a different one. Grrrrr.
Now I get a letter from AT&T telling me that due to contract problems, 900 numbers can't be used from my home phone. Sorry. These things happen.
The other huge problem came when trying to change my long distance from MCI to Sprint. I called Sprint, picked a plan, and asked them to switch it. My call went through 3rd part verification, all that crep.
Got my next months' bill and found that my friend's calls overseas were billed at $2.69/min, instead of ~$.25/min. Bit of a slip-up, don't worry.
So after at least 10 calls between AT&T, MCI, and Sprint, it turns out that AT&T got the switch-over request but didn't implement the change. Seems that somehow they aren't really a phone company, they just lease the lines from someone else. Or some such runaround. So I was still on MCI, racking up another month's of long distance calls at the old casual rate.
But after pleading, MCI re-rated my 2-month's bills to a plan which reduces my total bill by *80%*. So I decide to give up on the switch and stay with MCI. I was *never* switched, BTW, and the cluster-fscks at AT&T are still well-clustered.
So don't depend on AT&T's precious letters to soothe any anxiety. Next time I gotta ask them to at least grease their shaft before scheduling my next appointment with their customer "service" drones...
What, you want to *test* the systems that you are responsible for?
Why on earth would you want to do that? Don't you know that a lack of testing is what makes your systems safer?
That's M$ company policy, after all.
A million monkeys could type out all of Microsoft's source code?
Ha! So that would explain [insert MS product name here] !
{BTW, all possible software-product permutations of this joke are hereby copyrighted, so this IS on-topic.}
Now you aren't restricted to just the one edition of a classic that the bookstore decided to carry. I was looking for Huck Finn the other day, and the bookstore had 3 different editions. I know there are many more than that, but I was looking for one with footnotes etc. to explain the terms for a non-native English speaker.
A bookstore can now carry *ALL* editions of every publisher's backlist. Print out *ONE* copy of all the books in a given area, then when a customer browses one and buys it, generate an order to print up the same edition as the replacement for the shelf. Even faster than waiting for the book-printer. But if they still don't find the book they want, then do the search and print it right then and there.
Want the 2nd edition instead of the 6th? Fine, same price. Want the version with complete footnotes and historical essays? Want a book of all of Mark Twain's stories that used the word "fraudulent"? It's all just bit-pushing at this point.
Instant publishing takes on a new meaning. Web sites can publish a review of a new work, then offer to send it to your corner book-printer for you to pick up in 30 minutes. Both companies make a little, you win a lot.
Create a web page which will search for all genealogy information for a given name, then format it nicely and print out the book. Voil!
Textbooks? Of course. Now the biggest cost would not be printing, shipping and storing the paper, the largest cost would be the author's royalties. Talk about instant feedback!
These are all million-dollar ideas here, given away for free.
DZ