There is nothing more powerful in chemical conversion than life. Life converts chemicals faster than any acid or agent known to man short of the sun or other nuclear reactions.
Life, however, is subject to a narrow band of habitable conditions. Raise or lower the ph, temperature, gas content of it's growth medium, or food availability and certain forms of life ceace.
Left to it's own devices, life will adapt but maybe not as we would wish. We think of ourselves as intelligent - let us prove it by stopping our meddling with natural processes. Creating manmade forms of removing gasses from the atmosphere will only create more expenses and costs - not to mention byproducts. We need to work WITH nature rather than battling it.
For energy we have the sun. Almost all forms of energy can be traced back to the sun in one form or another. Nature has found a way to convert solar energy into stored energy in the form of sugars. We have found ways of converting solar energy into usable gases which have a net zero effect on pollution - hydrogen/oxygen electrolysis for recombination in a feul cell. Lets develop this technology and avoid the original problem altogether. We could make better or more efficient alcohol or hydrogen burning engines at the very least.
Our very health is dependant on economic considerations. It seems that there isn't much money to be made from fixing the problem - profits are being made treating the symptoms - bottled water and air filtration systems. I guess those who profit feel that they can buy a livable atmosphere and potable water and poison free food while the rest of us suffer and die. What a bleak future we're likely to have - what a promising future we could all have if we just think. Assist or allow nature to fix itself.
Yeah, Master of Orion was definately a fun game. I played many hours of it - single player, hotseat, and multiplayer. The battle sequences were a great part of it and the strategy involved in planet aquisition as well as technology path choices.
What finally turned me off to it was the problems with the multiplayer code - it had some problems with data corruption and just plain fubaredness (Is this a word? Look it up for me.)
As for Everquest, I like it a lot but it's got it's limitations too.
Codifex Maximus Ogre WAR 54 Dwarf CLR 40 Dark Elf WIZ 30
I read alot of the Unabomber's Manifesto. It makes alot of sense from one point of view; we are destroying our planet with technology. However, this is where my opinions differ from the Unabomber - to wit: Blowing people up is not the answer.
So, if you are going to compare Richard Stallman's writing to the Unabomber's then that is ok in the sense that they both have academic backgrounds - they just have different methods of achieving their goals.
> No matter what you think of the man, he's like a broken record.
You mean he is very consistent in what he says and believes?
> it's certainly anything but interesting.
I dunno. I met Richard Stallman at the Atlanta Linux Showcase a few years ago. He is definately different. Very quiet until you press the right button. I walked up to his stand where he was sitting - books were being sold at the booth. I bought an AWK book and ask him if he would sign it - he said no. I asked why and he told me he didn't write it. I said ok which book did you write - he said they were sold out. I asked if there was anything he WOULD sign and he said sorry all was sold out. Man was I frustrated heh. But then I kinda realized that he was concerned that if he signed something, he would be held as endorsing something.
He was generally enjoying the whole thing too as I could see. We talked a little bit and I said I appreciated everything he's doing for Free Software and that I was going to get an autograph next time I saw him. He just grinned like the Mona Lisa.
You don't think such a personality is interesting? I do.
Heh yeah it took Freeza what? A week and a half to fight Goku or was it Gohan in that last big battle when the Super Seyan manifested?
I was thinking GEEZ fight already.
Re:How to spam the web with links
on
Google Juice
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
Sounds to me like the fix for weblog bombing of Google *may* be a fairly easy thing.
Google could use the same method of rating that they do now to raise the importance of pages to also demote weblogs in importance. A way may be found to determine if a page is a Weblog and take it out of the equation.
Slashdot could be considered a weblog. Any page that allows a user to post a message with links embedded in it is a Weblog is it not?
Let Google's Deja worry about the Weblogs and then the user can opt to include the extra results or not.
> Unix admins use SSH while Windows admins drive? > If only there was a secure way to get into MS > servers to administer them remotely. Hmm, VNC, > Citrix, and MS's own Terminal services seem to fit > that bill.
As much as I like VNC, I'd not want to administrate a server, regardless of OS, from it. Unless you have a secure pipe, you are asking to be compromised. Not sure about Citrix and it's bastardized version called MTS.
> You've served as a support technician for a > large Linux desktop installation? I kind of > doubt it.
Actually, I have. We had close to no support calls on hundreds of installations of Linux. Albeit, it was a pilot program to replace SUN boxes on user's desktops rather than having them use Windows with Reflections. I'll grant you that most of the Linux installations were done by technical personnel and engineers (they are the ones that need stability for their work) but most of them were also not specifically computer technicians either.
> You've seem to have been in a lot of places and > done a lot of things.
Indeed I have.
> But from where I've been, it's the programmer > and the project manager who affect the final > outcome and reusability of code, language has > little to do with it.
Yes and no. Yes, Programmer and Project Manager *do* affect the final outcome and reusability of code and No - language does have alot to do with it. Objects are more flexible than functions in that they have fewer dependancies regarding message passing. A function is usally written in a particular language while a compiled and properly libraried object is easier to instatiate and communicate with. Not to mention the fact that objects are more compartmentalized. Most VB/VBA/ASP code is not very objectified and is usually throw together just good enough to get the job done. Not that VB can't be done right because I've done it - just that it rarely is done right. VB doesn't lend itself well to objectification even though it is capable of objectification of a sort. There is the utopian view of what VB can do and then there is the cold reality of what usually gets done with it. Java, on the other hand, starts and ends as objects and if care is taken then the resulting code is highly reusable.
As for VB.NET, I remain unconvinced of it's merits... time will tell.
> Bruce Perens touts the money saved by not buying > MS software, but completely ignores the much more > significant expenditures on people to administer > all this software.
What a tired sick argument! I'd have to say that the average UNIX administrator is much better trained than the average Window's administrator. The average UNIX admin can do his job from a ssh terminal anywhere there is an internet connection; the Windows admin usually has to drive down to the server room and get ready to reboot multiple times. Been there done that.
Not to mention the army of techs needed to support the desktop users of Windows. Frankly, Windows just requires more support. Been there done that.
> Does it cost more to administer sendmail than > Exchange? Apache vs. IIS? Is in-house > development with VB cheaper to get the same > results as Java on Linux?
Development costs of VB compares with Java though I'd say Java costs a bit more initially. Over the long run though, Java code gets reused more as it is based on objects; VB code usually is a mangled mess of sphagetti (sp?) code, procedural and pseudo-object code. Been there seen that.
Face it - Closed Source Software is not a panacea!
Heh, Be, Inc. comes back from the grave to haunt Microsoft. Will they (Be) go back into business if they win?? Now that would be interesting to see!
After all, if Microsoft pulls Windows from the shelves, wont there be a greatly expanded market then for BeOS as well as Linux and many other competitors to Windows?
"That's the way good software gets designed. So if you pull out a piece it won't run," Ballmer said.
Hehe... ain't that funny? As far as I'm concerned, that's the way software IS NOT designed. If you pull out a piece, the rest should still work! At least that is how much of UNIX is. I know if you pull some cruicial files like the clib then you will have problems but not application level programs like a web browser!
> For _most_ network-aware applications, the only > thing different is the address format. Once you > have the connected socket, the rest of the network > code should remain unchanged.
So, essentially what you're saying is: After you get past all the things that are different then the rest is the same?
There is alot of code based on IPv4 functions - upgrading all the programs to use IPv6 would be a mammoth task... hey, maybe there will be some jobs opening up in Socket Programming soon?
After all, we have had a change of Executive Administration haven't we? You know, the guys that are tied tightly with Enron?
I like to have confidence in my government but lately, I've seen nothing to lead me to that conclusion. After all, are we not in the throes of the worst case of unemployment the USA has had for many years? And this essentialy after the administration changed? We enjoyed one of the lowest rates of unemployment under the previous administration - the one that initiated the DOJ case against Microsoft?
I am not surprised at all by the turn of events regarding the Microsoft settlement; neither will I be surprised if the Enron issue gets swept under the rug nice and tidily. It's just business as usual for our current administration - the one that can't seem to do anything but threaten to and drop bombs on distant countries.
Yeah sure does sound like the Movie Studios and the Music Industry wants to monopolize broadband for their profits; that's the way it looks to me.
Also, it seems that they don't want the expense of securing their own product, they want the responsibility on the manufacturers of devices designed to present the Movie Studios and Music Industries content in a secure manner. That hardware security will be cracked so fast it'll make their collective heads spin right off - better to have that security be programmatic/software based. Regulation is not the answer.
> battle.net forces users of Blizzard's software to > purchase the software to obtain a legitimate key # > to play online.
Ok, so why doesn't Blizzard make the clients validate keys with the actual game server rather than with the listing server?
Maybe they are afraid that the actual game server will be cracked? If that is the case then Blizzard may have no choice but to force players to use their Battle.Net - because the crackers want to use the software for free and Blizzard wants to retain some measure of control.
High-End Hardware. Sun makes some pretty nice High-End Hardware too. While you can get some powerful computing done with Beowulf systems, a single Sun multiproc box is more compact and manageable in the majority of instances.
I think Sun aught to put a bit more work into increasing the power and reducing the cost of their equipment. Get more of it out there while still making a decent profit.
Slashdot Mirror
There is nothing more powerful in chemical conversion than life. Life converts chemicals faster than any acid or agent known to man short of the sun or other nuclear reactions.
Life, however, is subject to a narrow band of habitable conditions. Raise or lower the ph, temperature, gas content of it's growth medium, or food availability and certain forms of life ceace.
Left to it's own devices, life will adapt but maybe not as we would wish. We think of ourselves as intelligent - let us prove it by stopping our meddling with natural processes. Creating manmade forms of removing gasses from the atmosphere will only create more expenses and costs - not to mention byproducts. We need to work WITH nature rather than battling it.
For energy we have the sun. Almost all forms of energy can be traced back to the sun in one form or another. Nature has found a way to convert solar energy into stored energy in the form of sugars. We have found ways of converting solar energy into usable gases which have a net zero effect on pollution - hydrogen/oxygen electrolysis for recombination in a feul cell. Lets develop this technology and avoid the original problem altogether. We could make better or more efficient alcohol or hydrogen burning engines at the very least.
Our very health is dependant on economic considerations. It seems that there isn't much money to be made from fixing the problem - profits are being made treating the symptoms - bottled water and air filtration systems. I guess those who profit feel that they can buy a livable atmosphere and potable water and poison free food while the rest of us suffer and die. What a bleak future we're likely to have - what a promising future we could all have if we just think. Assist or allow nature to fix itself.
Yeah, Master of Orion was definately a fun game. I played many hours of it - single player, hotseat, and multiplayer. The battle sequences were a great part of it and the strategy involved in planet aquisition as well as technology path choices.
What finally turned me off to it was the problems with the multiplayer code - it had some problems with data corruption and just plain fubaredness (Is this a word? Look it up for me.)
As for Everquest, I like it a lot but it's got it's limitations too.
Codifex Maximus
Ogre WAR 54
Dwarf CLR 40
Dark Elf WIZ 30
it's good enuf for me. :P
This is a silly skit... now stop that! Clear off! Off you go.
And slow down there Cowboy.
You had me goin for a minute there.... don't do that! Gawd I hate April 1st. :D
Heh...
You've got mail!
You've got...
You've got...
You've...
You've...
You...
This program has performed an Illegal Operation and will be shut down.
Heh bring the Unabomber into this huh?
I read alot of the Unabomber's Manifesto. It makes alot of sense from one point of view; we are destroying our planet with technology. However, this is where my opinions differ from the Unabomber - to wit: Blowing people up is not the answer.
So, if you are going to compare Richard Stallman's writing to the Unabomber's then that is ok in the sense that they both have academic backgrounds - they just have different methods of achieving their goals.
Your assertion then carries no weight.
> No matter what you think of the man, he's like a broken record.
You mean he is very consistent in what he says and believes?
> it's certainly anything but interesting.
I dunno. I met Richard Stallman at the Atlanta Linux Showcase a few years ago. He is definately different. Very quiet until you press the right button. I walked up to his stand where he was sitting - books were being sold at the booth. I bought an AWK book and ask him if he would sign it - he said no. I asked why and he told me he didn't write it. I said ok which book did you write - he said they were sold out. I asked if there was anything he WOULD sign and he said sorry all was sold out. Man was I frustrated heh. But then I kinda realized that he was concerned that if he signed something, he would be held as endorsing something.
He was generally enjoying the whole thing too as I could see. We talked a little bit and I said I appreciated everything he's doing for Free Software and that I was going to get an autograph next time I saw him. He just grinned like the Mona Lisa.
You don't think such a personality is interesting? I do.
I've rarely ever seen anyone write so many words and still stay on topic. Methinks this CmdrTaco likes DBZ. heh
I have to agree though... I hate it when things get edited like you say DBZ has. I like the pure uncut uncensored version! KABUTO!
>> Are the actors going to be asian?
> Yes, but only the actor playing Piccolo.
Will he be green with funny ears and antennae?
Heh yeah it took Freeza what? A week and a half to fight Goku or was it Gohan in that last big battle when the Super Seyan manifested?
I was thinking GEEZ fight already.
Sounds to me like the fix for weblog bombing of Google *may* be a fairly easy thing.
Google could use the same method of rating that they do now to raise the importance of pages to also demote weblogs in importance. A way may be found to determine if a page is a Weblog and take it out of the equation.
Slashdot could be considered a weblog. Any page that allows a user to post a message with links embedded in it is a Weblog is it not?
Let Google's Deja worry about the Weblogs and then the user can opt to include the extra results or not.
> Unix admins use SSH while Windows admins drive?
> If only there was a secure way to get into MS
> servers to administer them remotely. Hmm, VNC,
> Citrix, and MS's own Terminal services seem to fit
> that bill.
As much as I like VNC, I'd not want to administrate a server, regardless of OS, from it. Unless you have a secure pipe, you are asking to be compromised. Not sure about Citrix and it's bastardized version called MTS.
> You've served as a support technician for a
> large Linux desktop installation? I kind of
> doubt it.
Actually, I have. We had close to no support calls on hundreds of installations of Linux. Albeit, it was a pilot program to replace SUN boxes on user's desktops rather than having them use Windows with Reflections. I'll grant you that most of the Linux installations were done by technical personnel and engineers (they are the ones that need stability for their work) but most of them were also not specifically computer technicians either.
> You've seem to have been in a lot of places and
> done a lot of things.
Indeed I have.
> But from where I've been, it's the programmer
> and the project manager who affect the final
> outcome and reusability of code, language has
> little to do with it.
Yes and no. Yes, Programmer and Project Manager *do* affect the final outcome and reusability of code and No - language does have alot to do with it. Objects are more flexible than functions in that they have fewer dependancies regarding message passing. A function is usally written in a particular language while a compiled and properly libraried object is easier to instatiate and communicate with. Not to mention the fact that objects are more compartmentalized. Most VB/VBA/ASP code is not very objectified and is usually throw together just good enough to get the job done. Not that VB can't be done right because I've done it - just that it rarely is done right. VB doesn't lend itself well to objectification even though it is capable of objectification of a sort. There is the utopian view of what VB can do and then there is the cold reality of what usually gets done with it. Java, on the other hand, starts and ends as objects and if care is taken then the resulting code is highly reusable.
As for VB.NET, I remain unconvinced of it's merits... time will tell.
> Bruce Perens touts the money saved by not buying
> MS software, but completely ignores the much more
> significant expenditures on people to administer
> all this software.
What a tired sick argument! I'd have to say that the average UNIX administrator is much better trained than the average Window's administrator. The average UNIX admin can do his job from a ssh terminal anywhere there is an internet connection; the Windows admin usually has to drive down to the server room and get ready to reboot multiple times. Been there done that.
Not to mention the army of techs needed to support the desktop users of Windows. Frankly, Windows just requires more support. Been there done that.
> Does it cost more to administer sendmail than
> Exchange? Apache vs. IIS? Is in-house
> development with VB cheaper to get the same
> results as Java on Linux?
Development costs of VB compares with Java though I'd say Java costs a bit more initially. Over the long run though, Java code gets reused more as it is based on objects; VB code usually is a mangled mess of sphagetti (sp?) code, procedural and pseudo-object code. Been there seen that.
Face it - Closed Source Software is not a panacea!
Agreed. Bruce Perens did well with his rebuttal of Mundie's comments.
So where are we now? At the We-Win part yet? Maybe not... but we are mighty close!
Heh, Be, Inc. comes back from the grave to haunt Microsoft. Will they (Be) go back into business if they win?? Now that would be interesting to see!
After all, if Microsoft pulls Windows from the shelves, wont there be a greatly expanded market then for BeOS as well as Linux and many other competitors to Windows?
> wow. not only is it buried in some friggin configuration file (how many does X have?
Likely no more friggin configuration files than Windows has friggin hives and friggin entries in it's friggin registry.
Bleah.
"That's the way good software gets designed. So if you pull out a piece it won't run," Ballmer said.
Hehe... ain't that funny? As far as I'm concerned, that's the way software IS NOT designed. If you pull out a piece, the rest should still work! At least that is how much of UNIX is. I know if you pull some cruicial files like the clib then you will have problems but not application level programs like a web browser!
Back to the old drawing board Microsoft.
> For _most_ network-aware applications, the only
> thing different is the address format. Once you
> have the connected socket, the rest of the network
> code should remain unchanged.
So, essentially what you're saying is: After you get past all the things that are different then the rest is the same?
Ok, I'll buy that.
There is alot of code based on IPv4 functions - upgrading all the programs to use IPv6 would be a mammoth task... hey, maybe there will be some jobs opening up in Socket Programming soon?
After all, we have had a change of Executive Administration haven't we? You know, the guys that are tied tightly with Enron?
I like to have confidence in my government but lately, I've seen nothing to lead me to that conclusion. After all, are we not in the throes of the worst case of unemployment the USA has had for many years? And this essentialy after the administration changed? We enjoyed one of the lowest rates of unemployment under the previous administration - the one that initiated the DOJ case against Microsoft?
I am not surprised at all by the turn of events regarding the Microsoft settlement; neither will I be surprised if the Enron issue gets swept under the rug nice and tidily. It's just business as usual for our current administration - the one that can't seem to do anything but threaten to and drop bombs on distant countries.
that if Microsoft lost their copyright on all versions of Microsoft Windows (or any other software) that the source code would magically dissapear?
I think it would vanish in a matter of minutes if not seconds. Oh golly... I hit the wrong key oops!
But, hey, we still have compiled versions for sale.
Yeah sure does sound like the Movie Studios and the Music Industry wants to monopolize broadband for their profits; that's the way it looks to me.
Also, it seems that they don't want the expense of securing their own product, they want the responsibility on the manufacturers of devices designed to present the Movie Studios and Music Industries content in a secure manner. That hardware security will be cracked so fast it'll make their collective heads spin right off - better to have that security be programmatic/software based.
Regulation is not the answer.
> battle.net forces users of Blizzard's software to
> purchase the software to obtain a legitimate key #
> to play online.
Ok, so why doesn't Blizzard make the clients validate keys with the actual game server rather than with the listing server?
Maybe they are afraid that the actual game server will be cracked? If that is the case then Blizzard may have no choice but to force players to use their Battle.Net - because the crackers want to use the software for free and Blizzard wants to retain some measure of control.
High-End Hardware. Sun makes some pretty nice High-End Hardware too. While you can get some powerful computing done with Beowulf systems, a single Sun multiproc box is more compact and manageable in the majority of instances.
I think Sun aught to put a bit more work into increasing the power and reducing the cost of their equipment. Get more of it out there while still making a decent profit.