It's not just for kids; Lewis Carroll was a mathematician, and it abounds in metaphor, puzzles, hidden treats. Read it. Accept only the John Tenniel illustrations!
I agree wholeheartedly. Reading Carroll changed my life, and I make a point to re-read Alice and Through the Looking-Glass at least once a year. But more than a Mathematician, Carroll was a surrealist. I've found that the abstract thinking involved in understanding surrealisim is really helpful in learning to work with computers (beit admin or programming). Good to see I'm not the only one who sees the Alice/computing connection;-)
Incidentally, they're making a pc game based on Alice, but it's a first person shooter about a goth chick. Sigh. *whacks head on desk*
Gyro-99FX3dW00 caused a general protection fault in MSHBLSAT.dll. It may be possible to continue operating normally. Press enter to return to MS-Space and wait for your telescope to recover, or press ctrl-alt-del to send it spiraling down to earth in a heaping flaming mass.
Eventually these discussions degraded to "flamebait," or a war of words
So does that mean I can define "gun" as "murdering someone in cold blood in front of their children and pets with an illegal, likely stolen millitary-issue automatic rifle"?
At least TRY to learn what the buzzwords mean before using them. God, I'm bitching alot today!
Eventually these discussions degraded to "flamebait," or a war of words
So does that mean I can define "gun" as "murdering someone in cold blood in front of their children and pets with an illegal, likely stolen millitary-issue automatic rifle"?
At least TRY to learn what the buzzwords mean before using them. God, I'm bitching alot today!
. . . to go on and on about privacy and security for ourselves, and then start jumping at a chance to spy on everyone else? Not that I don't want one myself, mind you (though the "respectable" reason is to reverse-engineer and protect myself), but it kinda seems silly to think that way.
The truth of the matter is still the information war. We don't object to the act of spying, we just want to make sure WE'RE doing the spying, not the guy next to us.
The benchmarks are on an i820 . . . AGAIN. Why the hell does everyone keep doing this? Test on something I can possibly buy. Honestly, I think they just wanted to toss out the term "coppermine" once or twice.
That said, it looks like a nice card. I'd like to see how it performs on an Athelon(or however the hell you spell that). I'm personally going to wait; I don't have time to write Linux drivers for it;-)
Long distance relationships are hell. But they can work, and be MORE than worth it. My current girlfriend: item a: we met on the Swans discussion list. item b: we became more phone friends than e-mail friends after a few months. item c: I didn't know she was interested in me, and likely still wouldn't were it not for the Pimpin' Cupid at thespark.com item d: She moved a time zone closer, we met and . . . . How geeky is THIS relationship!!!!
But I've met people I thought I was interested in, and changed my mind after meeting them. And people I would date if they lived closer, but didn't think they were worth the distance. And my ex-roommate is now married and living in Japan to his former long-distance girlfriend.
It CAN work. But be careful before you put too much of yourself into it.
What we need is a full options set where we can choose to enable or disable certain tags, and have the architecture for implementing said tags standard and easily updatable.
Don't like ? Shut it off.
Want to implement a new tag ? Make up a little mod, and distribute it to your audience.
We could have a repository with custom tags, and the HTML 4.0 standards (obviously should be standard on the browser) and extensions. Just a thought anyway.
oh, and the tag could be standard for whining to yourself in a public place;-)
I stopped college for reasons beyond my control. I didn't do it because I wanted to. I'm young; I'll go back. But computers were for fun for me; if I had stayed in school then I wouldn't have taken computer classes, and I would have entered the work force exactly where I am now. I didn't know then what I know now.
As for methodology, I think that I do just fine reading books instead of sleeping through classes and maintaining a 4.0. I couldn't do that if I was a compsci major, but I wasn't. I'm not saying that anyone should learn anything particular from my story. If you learn that I'm an idiot, that's fine.
Great theory, but that's provided that the Baby-MSes decide to work with EVERYONE equally towards a standard API and such. And it's not saying protocols will be open either. They could sell information to each other, and either refuse to deal with other corporations or sell at an increased priced ("prefered customer" or some crap like that; happens all the time). That's why the hive-mind metaphor works; equally effective if there is one functioning unit, or a hundred, so long as they're moving towards mutual goals.
So if Micros~1 is found guilty and split into a bunch of smaller companies, won't the evil be multiplied exponentially?
My thoughts on Servitude.
on
NetSlaves
·
· Score: 1
I'm underpaid, and though I'm bitter, for the most part I accept this. We're ALL underpaid, and we all have varying degrees of ability, qualifications and experience. I'm the l'il web monkey, but the MSCEs still ask me questions, because a piece of paper doesn't mean you know what you're doing. Allow me to tell my story.
I'm 22. I do web design and programming on Unix based Xerox printers in a bank. I'm also the unpaid techie and a thousand other things that I can't keep track of. I don't have a degree. I left college, and left home a few years ago, because I decided that was best for me (long story). I was sleeping on a friend's floor in a different city with absolutely no qualifications, working a couple shitty jobs to try and afford an apartment. I should also point out that I have never taken a computer class in my life (with the exception of a keyboarding class in high school, but that doesn't count;-)
I got on my feet, and took a temp job in a bank doing data entry stuff. Anyone ever work with Restrac? Anyway, I was hired on full time and quickly far surpassed expectations and standards. They noticed I knew alot about computers (I'm a geek; I taught myself BASIC in 3rd grade; you all know the story:-), so they started finding things for me to do. Long story short, I taught myself web-design (all in notepad at work, and emacs at home) and a few programming languages. I work in HR, but the webdesign group are very impressed with my work. But I'm still doing it for data-entry money. But I'm (sort of) okay with that for now. This is why:
I'm building experience. I have skills, but I have nothing to back up those skills. Nothing other than myself says that I can do all that I can. The money isn't great (or even good), but the experience and resume building I'm gaining is invaluable, and in a couple years I'll have my choice of exploitative jobs;-)
Moral of the story: there are times when it's okay to be underpaid. And sometimes abilities really are qualifications.
Well, from what I've been told, there was an earlier film that had done the same idea, but didn't market itself as well (via the net).
And to be fair, a friend of mine and I did the same thing with audio tapes, an abandoned apartment complex, a story about vampires and some props (for sounds and our own sake). We thought the idea was neat, but the end results were kinda lame, and incidentally that's the last time i worked with a vampire story. And I felt the same about the results of Blair Witch; great idea, lame film. If only I had known, and persued the idea a little longer!
But the parodies I enjoy. So long as someone doesn't do a South Park parody.
But the fact remains; they shouldn't have done it in the first place. I hope the response they've received from this has helped them learn, and it doesn't happen again.
Yeah, the anime was good. And it certainly was head and shoulders about most of the other crappy anime out there. But I was seriously disappointed in it. Why? The manga. AMAZING. Heartwarming and breaking at the same time. Now, they DO hold pretty close to the story, but they only cover the first book of about seven in the series. Now, they do treat it well. Killing off Nausicaa at the end was a nice touch too; it really got to me, particularly because she didn't *have* to die. I loved that. But I wanted more, which the comics gave me. So much, much more. WONDERFUL story, if you ever get a chance, seek this one out.
I suppose I come from a slightly different perspective; all of my friends are girls (well, 90% of them anyway). It's been that way since I was 6. I think it's mostly because a) I really am a nice guy and b) it's alot easier to tolerate behaviour that you don't agree with in someone of the opposite sex (subconsicously, you feel behaviours from same sex friends are projected upon you from outsiders and so on . . . ) So naturally, I seek out geek girls, just to have something to relate to. Sure, opposites attract, but if you don't share ANY interests, then it gets real boring real quick.
I've had very few relationships in my life. Most of them failed, but not because of anything I did (shallow girls who weren't happy with who I am). My current relationship IS working out. And yes, it started out as friends. And yes, she's a geek, and VERY attractive. Oh, and like myself she's also a musician. There's always something we like doing that we can do together.
My advice? Don't look for a girlfriend, look for a friend. And have high standards. There's nothing wrong with liking yourself, and one day you WILL meet someone who you feel you "deserve". You'll spend alot of time lonely, but it will be worth it. And most importantly, be happy being single. You don't NEED a girlfriend. Once you accept that, you'll be more relaxed and prepared, and won't be so urgent and needy when the situation arises.
Of course, to make new friends you do need to occasionally leave the house. Unfortunately for me, the one day I do per month is not the one day the geeks around here do;-)
(not that I'm taking this seriously, mind you. I read the WWN occasionally, but strictly for amusement value. pathetic people are funny)
I've often been approached by girls BECAUSE I'm geeky. There is a certain section of the population that seems to be attracted to people who are kinda strange . . . and sometimes even to me. And the opposite hold true for me. Geek girls are sexy. I'm not exactly sure why, but they are. Don't get me wrong, I love candlelight diners and flowers and dancing, but there's something strangely romantic about an evening discussing code or the latest science news. I like girls who can sustain conversations with me. Intelligence IS attractive. So yeah, there are people who attract weirdos without wanting to, but there are also those who look for them.
I don't necessarily know where the stereotype of geek with no girlfriend came from. Yeah, in high school I didn't have a girlfriend, but I wasn't quite comfortable with how geeky I was (entirely). Now I accept that I am kinda strange and in certain ways pathetic. But I like myself. And girls seem to like me now more than ever. I'm sure most of you have had similar experiences.
I'll stop before I start bragging about my current girlfriend;-)
Now, I can't honestly say, because I've never actually used it, but I have a friend who swears up and down by Be. He says it's the easiest thing that he's ever used, the only drawbacks being lack of hardware drivers and software. But it sounds like the intended user here isn't going to be running everything known to man. You've already bought the hardware; see if this sort of solution could work for you. And there IS the iToaster (which is BASED on Be), which should be all set up with drivers so you don't even have to worry about that.
Anyone more informed here? I'm going on second hand info.
And thus we see the real deal here. There's nothing in, say, the GPL saying that open source tools have to be used on an open sourced OS. I haven't developed for WinCE, but I've heard stories . . . if they could get thier hands on some quality Open tools, they'd have the advantage of not having to worry too much about developing tools (let everyone else do that). So we, the open source community, spend our time and effort developing tools and MS packs them up and sells them.
This brings up an intersting idealistic connundrum. For the most part, people develop Open Source because they love to do it, and they share because they want to help those like minded people out. I think it's safe to say that none of us COMPLETELY agree with Microsoft's tactics/philosophy. There are purists pointing fingers at RED HAT for crying out loud. They've contributed to the community. I can't imagine that Microsoft will.
It's almost sad, and a little scary. It seems like this could be the first attempt at MS-Assimilation(tm) of the Open Source community. I suppose we should just hold to our resolve of doing what we do for ourselves. World Domination? Maybe it'll happen, but I'd trade it in a moment to continue good software, and a helpful intelligent community behind it.
well, when you never see the outside world anyway;-)
No books about dieting.
You're right, but if you drink enough coffee (as any geek trying to meet a deadline is GOING to, like it or not), you'll be twitching so much you won't have a chance to gain weight!
No books about exercise.
About what?
No books about finance or economics.
Sigh. This is true. That's why we eventually turn to free software. a) we can't afford software AND hardware, and b) we can't tell if we're being ripped off by a commercial publisher or not . . . so we go free and know no one is screwing us worse than ourselves;-)
Shouldn't they have said "LinuxPlanet will now be a feature of LinuxToday"?
Sigh. I'm kinda nervy about this one. "Our goal is to maintain and enhance our position as a leading destination for content, community and commerce" Not bad at first. But the last goal . . . yeah, selling Linux is good. Bringing money into the community is good (I like to eat too). But that sounds too close to the comercialization of Linux to me. Maybe I'm just being arrogant, but the idealisim nerves are firing like crazy . . . . . .
And they hint at it too. Think about it. You chemically engineer a substance with an insane amount of conductivity. With this you can make all the switches and gates small enough to fit a modern microchip in an extremely small space (I don't know much about chips; anyone want to math out the proportions?). You're killing two bottleneck birds with one stone; they run faster because the current can move across the switch faster, and because you can fit more switches into less space. Gigahertz? We'll be measuring in TERRAHERTZ . . . though I'd imagine we're still at minimum 6 years away from being able to use this technology, even if Intel and AMD started today. Just further evidence that the leaps and bounds of technology we've seen this century will continue well into the next.
And (start groaning now) imagine the Beowulf cluster . . .;-)
Slashdot Mirror
I agree wholeheartedly. Reading Carroll changed my life, and I make a point to re-read Alice and Through the Looking-Glass at least once a year. But more than a Mathematician, Carroll was a surrealist. I've found that the abstract thinking involved in understanding surrealisim is really helpful in learning to work with computers (beit admin or programming). Good to see I'm not the only one who sees the Alice/computing connection
Incidentally, they're making a pc game based on Alice, but it's a first person shooter about a goth chick. Sigh. *whacks head on desk*
Gyro-99FX3dW00 caused a general protection fault in MSHBLSAT.dll. It may be possible to continue operating normally. Press enter to return to MS-Space and wait for your telescope to recover, or press ctrl-alt-del to send it spiraling down to earth in a heaping flaming mass.
somehow I feel vaguely relieved.
When they go public, I'm dropping some cash just on principal. If what they have is half of what they elude to . . . . .
So does that mean I can define "gun" as "murdering someone in cold blood in front of their children and pets with an illegal, likely stolen millitary-issue automatic rifle"?
At least TRY to learn what the buzzwords mean before using them. God, I'm bitching alot today!
So does that mean I can define "gun" as "murdering someone in cold blood in front of their children and pets with an illegal, likely stolen millitary-issue automatic rifle"?
At least TRY to learn what the buzzwords mean before using them. God, I'm bitching alot today!
. . . to go on and on about privacy and security for ourselves, and then start jumping at a chance to spy on everyone else? Not that I don't want one myself, mind you (though the "respectable" reason is to reverse-engineer and protect myself), but it kinda seems silly to think that way.
The truth of the matter is still the information war. We don't object to the act of spying, we just want to make sure WE'RE doing the spying, not the guy next to us.
The benchmarks are on an i820 . . . AGAIN. Why the hell does everyone keep doing this? Test on something I can possibly buy. Honestly, I think they just wanted to toss out the term "coppermine" once or twice.
;-)
That said, it looks like a nice card. I'd like to see how it performs on an Athelon(or however the hell you spell that). I'm personally going to wait; I don't have time to write Linux drivers for it
Long distance relationships are hell. But they can work, and be MORE than worth it. My current girlfriend:
item a: we met on the Swans discussion list.
item b: we became more phone friends than e-mail friends after a few months.
item c: I didn't know she was interested in me, and likely still wouldn't were it not for the Pimpin' Cupid at thespark.com
item d: She moved a time zone closer, we met and . . . .
How geeky is THIS relationship!!!!
But I've met people I thought I was interested in, and changed my mind after meeting them. And people I would date if they lived closer, but didn't think they were worth the distance. And my ex-roommate is now married and living in Japan to his former long-distance girlfriend.
It CAN work. But be careful before you put too much of yourself into it.
What we need is a full options set where we can choose to enable or disable certain tags, and have the architecture for implementing said tags standard and easily updatable.
;-)
Don't like ? Shut it off.
Want to implement a new tag ? Make up a little mod, and distribute it to your audience.
We could have a repository with custom tags, and the HTML 4.0 standards (obviously should be standard on the browser) and extensions. Just a thought anyway.
oh, and the tag could be standard for whining to yourself in a public place
I stopped college for reasons beyond my control. I didn't do it because I wanted to. I'm young; I'll go back. But computers were for fun for me; if I had stayed in school then I wouldn't have taken computer classes, and I would have entered the work force exactly where I am now. I didn't know then what I know now.
As for methodology, I think that I do just fine reading books instead of sleeping through classes and maintaining a 4.0. I couldn't do that if I was a compsci major, but I wasn't. I'm not saying that anyone should learn anything particular from my story. If you learn that I'm an idiot, that's fine.
Great theory, but that's provided that the Baby-MSes decide to work with EVERYONE equally towards a standard API and such. And it's not saying protocols will be open either. They could sell information to each other, and either refuse to deal with other corporations or sell at an increased priced ("prefered customer" or some crap like that; happens all the time). That's why the hive-mind metaphor works; equally effective if there is one functioning unit, or a hundred, so long as they're moving towards mutual goals.
So if Micros~1 is found guilty and split into a bunch of smaller companies, won't the evil be multiplied exponentially?
I'm underpaid, and though I'm bitter, for the most part I accept this. We're ALL underpaid, and we all have varying degrees of ability, qualifications and experience. I'm the l'il web monkey, but the MSCEs still ask me questions, because a piece of paper doesn't mean you know what you're doing. Allow me to tell my story.
;-)
:-), so they started finding things for me to do. Long story short, I taught myself web-design (all in notepad at work, and emacs at home) and a few programming languages. I work in HR, but the webdesign group are very impressed with my work. But I'm still doing it for data-entry money. But I'm (sort of) okay with that for now. This is why:
;-)
I'm 22. I do web design and programming on Unix based Xerox printers in a bank. I'm also the unpaid techie and a thousand other things that I can't keep track of. I don't have a degree. I left college, and left home a few years ago, because I decided that was best for me (long story). I was sleeping on a friend's floor in a different city with absolutely no qualifications, working a couple shitty jobs to try and afford an apartment. I should also point out that I have never taken a computer class in my life (with the exception of a keyboarding class in high school, but that doesn't count
I got on my feet, and took a temp job in a bank doing data entry stuff. Anyone ever work with Restrac? Anyway, I was hired on full time and quickly far surpassed expectations and standards. They noticed I knew alot about computers (I'm a geek; I taught myself BASIC in 3rd grade; you all know the story
I'm building experience. I have skills, but I have nothing to back up those skills. Nothing other than myself says that I can do all that I can. The money isn't great (or even good), but the experience and resume building I'm gaining is invaluable, and in a couple years I'll have my choice of exploitative jobs
Moral of the story: there are times when it's okay to be underpaid. And sometimes abilities really are qualifications.
I'm going back to bed now.
Well, from what I've been told, there was an earlier film that had done the same idea, but didn't market itself as well (via the net).
And to be fair, a friend of mine and I did the same thing with audio tapes, an abandoned apartment complex, a story about vampires and some props (for sounds and our own sake). We thought the idea was neat, but the end results were kinda lame, and incidentally that's the last time i worked with a vampire story. And I felt the same about the results of Blair Witch; great idea, lame film. If only I had known, and persued the idea a little longer!
But the parodies I enjoy. So long as someone doesn't do a South Park parody.
But the fact remains; they shouldn't have done it in the first place. I hope the response they've received from this has helped them learn, and it doesn't happen again.
Yeah, the anime was good. And it certainly was head and shoulders about most of the other crappy anime out there. But I was seriously disappointed in it. Why? The manga. AMAZING. Heartwarming and breaking at the same time. Now, they DO hold pretty close to the story, but they only cover the first book of about seven in the series. Now, they do treat it well. Killing off Nausicaa at the end was a nice touch too; it really got to me, particularly because she didn't *have* to die. I loved that. But I wanted more, which the comics gave me. So much, much more. WONDERFUL story, if you ever get a chance, seek this one out.
I suppose I come from a slightly different perspective; all of my friends are girls (well, 90% of them anyway). It's been that way since I was 6. I think it's mostly because a) I really am a nice guy and b) it's alot easier to tolerate behaviour that you don't agree with in someone of the opposite sex (subconsicously, you feel behaviours from same sex friends are projected upon you from outsiders and so on . . . ) So naturally, I seek out geek girls, just to have something to relate to. Sure, opposites attract, but if you don't share ANY interests, then it gets real boring real quick.
;-)
I've had very few relationships in my life. Most of them failed, but not because of anything I did (shallow girls who weren't happy with who I am). My current relationship IS working out. And yes, it started out as friends. And yes, she's a geek, and VERY attractive. Oh, and like myself she's also a musician. There's always something we like doing that we can do together.
My advice? Don't look for a girlfriend, look for a friend. And have high standards. There's nothing wrong with liking yourself, and one day you WILL meet someone who you feel you "deserve". You'll spend alot of time lonely, but it will be worth it. And most importantly, be happy being single. You don't NEED a girlfriend. Once you accept that, you'll be more relaxed and prepared, and won't be so urgent and needy when the situation arises.
Of course, to make new friends you do need to occasionally leave the house. Unfortunately for me, the one day I do per month is not the one day the geeks around here do
MIT. Harvard. Wouldn't have made more "sense" to go with a name like the .edu state?
(not that I'm taking this seriously, mind you. I read the WWN occasionally, but strictly for amusement value. pathetic people are funny)
;-)
I've often been approached by girls BECAUSE I'm geeky. There is a certain section of the population that seems to be attracted to people who are kinda strange . . . and sometimes even to me. And the opposite hold true for me. Geek girls are sexy. I'm not exactly sure why, but they are. Don't get me wrong, I love candlelight diners and flowers and dancing, but there's something strangely romantic about an evening discussing code or the latest science news. I like girls who can sustain conversations with me. Intelligence IS attractive. So yeah, there are people who attract weirdos without wanting to, but there are also those who look for them.
I don't necessarily know where the stereotype of geek with no girlfriend came from. Yeah, in high school I didn't have a girlfriend, but I wasn't quite comfortable with how geeky I was (entirely). Now I accept that I am kinda strange and in certain ways pathetic. But I like myself. And girls seem to like me now more than ever. I'm sure most of you have had similar experiences.
I'll stop before I start bragging about my current girlfriend
Now, I can't honestly say, because I've never actually used it, but I have a friend who swears up and down by Be. He says it's the easiest thing that he's ever used, the only drawbacks being lack of hardware drivers and software. But it sounds like the intended user here isn't going to be running everything known to man. You've already bought the hardware; see if this sort of solution could work for you. And there IS the iToaster (which is BASED on Be), which should be all set up with drivers so you don't even have to worry about that.
Anyone more informed here? I'm going on second hand info.
And thus we see the real deal here. There's nothing in, say, the GPL saying that open source tools have to be used on an open sourced OS. I haven't developed for WinCE, but I've heard stories . . . if they could get thier hands on some quality Open tools, they'd have the advantage of not having to worry too much about developing tools (let everyone else do that). So we, the open source community, spend our time and effort developing tools and MS packs them up and sells them.
This brings up an intersting idealistic connundrum. For the most part, people develop Open Source because they love to do it, and they share because they want to help those like minded people out. I think it's safe to say that none of us COMPLETELY agree with Microsoft's tactics/philosophy. There are purists pointing fingers at RED HAT for crying out loud. They've contributed to the community. I can't imagine that Microsoft will.
It's almost sad, and a little scary. It seems like this could be the first attempt at MS-Assimilation(tm) of the Open Source community. I suppose we should just hold to our resolve of doing what we do for ourselves. World Domination? Maybe it'll happen, but I'd trade it in a moment to continue good software, and a helpful intelligent community behind it.
You need a book?!?!?!
No books about hygeine.
well, when you never see the outside world anyway ;-)
No books about dieting.
You're right, but if you drink enough coffee (as any geek trying to meet a deadline is GOING to, like it or not), you'll be twitching so much you won't have a chance to gain weight!
No books about exercise.
About what?
No books about finance or economics.
Sigh. This is true. That's why we eventually turn to free software. a) we can't afford software AND hardware, and b) we can't tell if we're being ripped off by a commercial publisher or not . . . so we go free and know no one is screwing us worse than ourselves ;-)
Shouldn't they have said "LinuxPlanet will now be a feature of LinuxToday"?
Sigh. I'm kinda nervy about this one. "Our goal is to maintain and enhance our position as a leading destination for content, community and commerce" Not bad at first. But the last goal . . . yeah, selling Linux is good. Bringing money into the community is good (I like to eat too). But that sounds too close to the comercialization of Linux to me. Maybe I'm just being arrogant, but the idealisim nerves are firing like crazy . . . . . .
And they hint at it too. Think about it. You chemically engineer a substance with an insane amount of conductivity. With this you can make all the switches and gates small enough to fit a modern microchip in an extremely small space (I don't know much about chips; anyone want to math out the proportions?). You're killing two bottleneck birds with one stone; they run faster because the current can move across the switch faster, and because you can fit more switches into less space. Gigahertz? We'll be measuring in TERRAHERTZ . . . though I'd imagine we're still at minimum 6 years away from being able to use this technology, even if Intel and AMD started today. Just further evidence that the leaps and bounds of technology we've seen this century will continue well into the next.
;-)
And (start groaning now) imagine the Beowulf cluster . . .