Ok... I am going to go out on a limb here... I HAVE NOT actually listened to any of these yet so I can not attest for quality and it isn't quite tech stuff but it looks like it has a lot of potential.
The Mercury Theatre on the Air
http://www.unknown.nu/mercury
Hosting a collection of original radio broadcasts.
Enjoy... also be gentle... It does not seem to be hosted from a very large server
Ok whoever modded this off topic is obviously a youngster or someone that has had there head in a bucket... This is a reference to the "War of the Worlds" radio broadcast in 1938.
I was looking for a few moments to see if I could find a recording available for download of a re-broadcast but I could not fine one. I have listened to it once before and it, in my opinion, was more entertaining than many movies that hit the screens today.
Glass... as in glass bead not glass jar or glass cup. What it is a small piece of electronics encased in glass, unless there was a flaw in the manufacturing process where a bubble gets in what you basically have is a solid piece of glass. If there are any voids from manufacturing defects they are so small that they do not reduce the strength of the package. The reason glass is used is that it is cheep very durable and is biologically/chemically inert, i.e. it will not rust, decompose or fuse to live tissue or interact with the body in any other way.
In addition to the point made about "not in my back yard" there are economies of scale at work with power generation that are not relevant to the Internet. In general with current power production technologies there are substantial savings in scaling up plants to larger sizes to generate significant operational cost savings. There is also the issue that unless you are using a consumable fuel source (fossil or nuclear) you can't just put a power plant were ever you want. Not all locations are suitable for solar, wind or hydro power stations and even these "green" power production technologies have significant environmental impacts.
Additionally... the way the physics of gravity and orbits work, a big part of what is keeping you in orbit is your speed, as soon as you start to slow down gravity begins to pull you closer to earth.
Totally off topic... but your sig... so... you are a pointer to a DreadLord object... does that something like a "yes man" or are you just an index finger?
In the case of commodities... quantity drives quality. Other than those in the academic community heavy research is limited. Until it is seen as a way to compete better in a market. The fact that robot sales is going up is an indicator to technology companies that this is a market that I can build products for and these products will naturally have to evolve to compete.
Why the hell do you think we started with trash80s instead of p4's?
The version I give my product owners is that they can set two of the following for a development cycle:
budget
scope
duration
The more about this I read trusted systems...
on
Trusted Computing
·
· Score: 1
the more I do not like them.
The big problem I have with a lot of these initiatives is the thought that corporations are getting into the mind set that it is right for them to be able to tell Joe consumer how he may or may not use his own property. If I buy an X-Box and want to take it apart... there is nothing at all wrong with that... you don't have to fix it for me... if I want to try to put a larger hard drive in my TiVo... well it's mine isn't it?My views also extend to media... If I buy a DVD or CD I should be able to listen to it however and whenever I want...
Basically... tinkering/ hacking != distributing un-authorized copies of media.
It's not quite time to start buying up all the high performance non DRM hardware out there yet... but who knows... the way things are shaping up we could see the birth of black market rigs and deckers ala Shadowrun style in 10 or so years...
Hell... you are missing the best part of that... put together the right way you would never have to leave your chair to get more coffee... great for all night coding sessions...
Other than the low quality... a PDF of a scanned fax apparently, it is a good read, not nearly as hard a read as some other court documents I have had a look at. One of the most important quotes from the ruling in my opinion is "Here, it is undisputed that there are substantial noninfringing uses for Defendants' software..." pg.11 ln.16 to me this is basically affirming the right of p2p networks and technologies in general to exist. Hopefully this works its way around and is used against the MPAA's and RIAA's efforts to lobby for technology controls.
Ok... string me up for not reading my own linked article through... its not the best description... an air blast weapon gets most of it's explosive power by dispersing a fine mist of a highly reactive agent over a large area using the oxygen in the surrounding atmosphere as the oxidant. Thus... no air... no boom, in all reality I would bet that most if not all conventional explosives would fail to detonate in space due to the lack of atmospherically supplied oxygen... any demolitions experts here that can answer this?
... why did it have to end, I was rolling. On a more on topic note I feel for anyone that supports family. I would be suprised than less than half of us do and its probably more than that so we all know what it's like. My mother is actually the easier one to deal with, she only does what she is told is ok. My father on the other hand.. well lets just say he knows just enough to be dangerous.
Cheers
Googles good for the web.. but there is more to...
on
Overture Buys Fast Search
·
· Score: 2, Informative
... [damn short subjects]... to search than web content.
FAST has a stronger business in search solutions, not a web search engine. All the web, one of FAST's newer products is hopping to change that and it seems that this is what Overture is hoping to capitalize on. Most of FAST's current business comes from outsourcing search and indexing technology/support to other companies such as Lycos and various article and abstract databases. http://www.fastsearch.com/partners/ has a list of some of their bigger customers. Google still doesn't have quite the same penetration that FAST has in the corporate intranet and 'other than html' search areas. Personally I think this is due to the nature of Google's hit relevancy algorithms... very good for heavily cross referenced/linked data sets... not as good at pure keyword type searches and very limited support of advanced linguistic features.
I do not think it is a matter of languages... like others have said... they are really just different tools. Actually they are well, just different languages, some are more conducive for conveying different tasks than others are. Anyway back to the point, it really has to do with the labeling of people as either a Programmer or as a Scripter. Let's start with definitions. Now remember this is my opinion and should not be read as being an attack against scripters (in fact most of you that script primarily are actually people I would classify as a programmer).
A Programmer is a person who has a solid understanding of computer operation and a backing (either formally or informally) in computational theory. Because of this a programmer usually demonstrates the ability to learn new languages (interpreted or compiled) quickly and is more apt to choose the more appropriate tool for the job when given the flexibility to do so. Further more through a more thorough understanding of how various computer languages behave a programmer is capable of implementing a workable (i.e. maintainable and adequate) solution to a problem when the ideal languages are not available.
A Scripter on the other hand is someone that I would view as being of lesser skill or general understanding than a programmer, even though they may possess a deep understanding of any one or two "scripting" languages. I base this on my belief that scripting languages in general where created for one of two uses 1) to automate or simplify specific tasks for programmers to save them time while they are solving more complicated problems or 2) abstract complex tasks or provide interfaces for complex tasks for non-technical or less technical employees to work with.
So a programmer writing in PERL is just that... a programmer writing in PERL where as a game designer that is writing in his or her shop's game scripting language is just a scripter. (They are still a game designer something that I give them mad props for, I for one am very creative but about as expressive and artistic as a dull brick, but in the context of programmers and scripters they are scripters.)
Now as for the discrimination, that may me a bit harsh of a term to use but I do concede the fact that yes I have seen behavior that would lead itself towards that interpretation. Most of what I see falls into two categories, first would be what I would call programmers thorough understanding of computers and computational theory looking down on scripters because they are viewed as less competent or knowledgeable about computers. Not making a judgment call on this here, also its nothing new... you see it anyplace you have a group of people that consider themselves in the "in" verses those in the "out"... the stereotypical technical support view of a marketing or human resource employee for example. The second is when management miss assigns a task to a scripter or a programmer either giving the programmer a task that should really be assigned to a scripter or more damaging giving a task that should be given to a programmer to a scripter. In the first case the time of a programmer is wasted solving a problem or implementing a solution that should have been given to a scripter, at the very least it is a waste of programming resources that could be better spent solving technical problems that are outside the abilities of a scripter, but more often that not the programmer is being asked to solve a problem that while they have the technical skills to solve may not have the best background in understanding of the product, intent of the product or general artistic capability. The second situation, the one that I feel is more dangerous, when a scripter is given a task that should have been assigned a programmer at best produces a substandard solution that in the long run will be difficult to maintain in the long run. Many times though the solution is worse than that resulting in eventual product failure because it is not possible, or un-scalable, un-maintainable because of language changes, etc, etc. On top of this when successful management's perception of having a quick and cheep solution in scripters and scripting languages that can be used to solve all of their companies problems is perpetuated and if the projects (usually when not if) the projects fail or it is finally realized that to continue to scale they have to be reimplemented by programmers the unfair perception by programmers that scripters are unskilled and uneducated in the ways of the computer are unfortunately reinforced.
Ok... I probably babbled a lot more than I intended and took way too many lines to say way too little... ok... I guess I must have had some pent up angst or something.
Unfortunately this post was not cut short by the need to do real work
So true... in fact the other day I was trying (with no luck) to find a book of problems and puzzles for programmers. Ideally nothing language specific, more focused on clever algorithms... a fairly concise problem statement (say a page or less) and answerers that are self checking (i.e. if you got the answer... you did it right). With puzzle complexity being something that would take a day to a week to solve and really push creative thinking... if anybody knows of one... please let us know... if not... maybe I should start writing.;)
Your first argument about China just does not. China has no jurisdiction... if you do not live there, work there, do business there, ship through there, rout your messages through there. With out jurisdiction this law would not be legal.
On your second point... I'm not a IRS agent or retail accountant... but I find it hard to believe that a company gets to keep any of the taxes collected... could you please explain how this works? (Ok granted, yes business taxes are assessed quarterly so yes collected sales taxes do have time to earn interest for a business but I find it doubtful that it would be significant enough to motivate businesses to argue for taxation of their sales.)
Yeah... from verizon's access policy [http://www2.verizon.net/policies/agreement.asp]
section 2.5.b You may connect multiple computers/devices within a single home or office location to your DSL modem and/or router to access the Service , but only through a single DSL account and a single IP address obtained from Verizon Online.
For the corporate environment most installs are coming from an image, same for most consumer systems... most everything that is shipped as a pre install was an image... Then for those small companies and the times when a home user does an install the issue is not a server it's installing a plan old desktop... There... unfortunately MS wins. I have not timed it exactly but the last install of MS XP Home I did was at the very most 35 minutes. Now granted I have no clue how long a RedHat 8 install takes but the SuSE 8.1 install I did last light came in at about 45. Even if it was the other way around though... 35 for SuSE and 45 for MS... MS would still have the advantage, why? Because of the hardware support. Current distros are just now starting to be reasonable when it comes to hardware support but still they don't even come close to XP... and as long as this is the case... well... MS will maintain its edge on being the preferred home platform for the consumer (i.e. not us) market... ok enough ramblings... need to finish eating...
Slashdot Mirror
Ok... I am going to go out on a limb here... I HAVE NOT actually listened to any of these yet so I can not attest for quality and it isn't quite tech stuff but it looks like it has a lot of potential.
The Mercury Theatre on the Air
http://www.unknown.nu/mercury
Hosting a collection of original radio broadcasts.
Enjoy... also be gentle... It does not seem to be hosted from a very large server
Ok whoever modded this off topic is obviously a youngster or someone that has had there head in a bucket... This is a reference to the "War of the Worlds" radio broadcast in 1938. I was looking for a few moments to see if I could find a recording available for download of a re-broadcast but I could not fine one. I have listened to it once before and it, in my opinion, was more entertaining than many movies that hit the screens today.
Glass... as in glass bead not glass jar or glass cup. What it is a small piece of electronics encased in glass, unless there was a flaw in the manufacturing process where a bubble gets in what you basically have is a solid piece of glass. If there are any voids from manufacturing defects they are so small that they do not reduce the strength of the package. The reason glass is used is that it is cheep very durable and is biologically/chemically inert, i.e. it will not rust, decompose or fuse to live tissue or interact with the body in any other way.
In addition to the point made about "not in my back yard" there are economies of scale at work with power generation that are not relevant to the Internet. In general with current power production technologies there are substantial savings in scaling up plants to larger sizes to generate significant operational cost savings. There is also the issue that unless you are using a consumable fuel source (fossil or nuclear) you can't just put a power plant were ever you want. Not all locations are suitable for solar, wind or hydro power stations and even these "green" power production technologies have significant environmental impacts.
Additionally... the way the physics of gravity and orbits work, a big part of what is keeping you in orbit is your speed, as soon as you start to slow down gravity begins to pull you closer to earth.
Ahhh... I haven't written in PERL in ages... to me it was just C++
Ahh my bad... you are right... DreadLord is a pointer to a slashdotter :)
Totally off topic... but your sig... so... you are a pointer to a DreadLord object... does that something like a "yes man" or are you just an index finger?
In the case of commodities... quantity drives quality. Other than those in the academic community heavy research is limited. Until it is seen as a way to compete better in a market. The fact that robot sales is going up is an indicator to technology companies that this is a market that I can build products for and these products will naturally have to evolve to compete. Why the hell do you think we started with trash80s instead of p4's?
The version I give my product owners is that they can set two of the following for a development cycle:
budget
scope
duration
the more I do not like them. The big problem I have with a lot of these initiatives is the thought that corporations are getting into the mind set that it is right for them to be able to tell Joe consumer how he may or may not use his own property. If I buy an X-Box and want to take it apart... there is nothing at all wrong with that... you don't have to fix it for me... if I want to try to put a larger hard drive in my TiVo... well it's mine isn't it?My views also extend to media... If I buy a DVD or CD I should be able to listen to it however and whenever I want... Basically ... tinkering/ hacking != distributing un-authorized copies of media.
It's not quite time to start buying up all the high performance non DRM hardware out there yet... but who knows... the way things are shaping up we could see the birth of black market rigs and deckers ala Shadowrun style in 10 or so years...
Actually a refrigerator runs more efficiently if it is full.
Hell... you are missing the best part of that... put together the right way you would never have to leave your chair to get more coffee... great for all night coding sessions...
Yeah... and to get really picky... like it was already pointed out it is an aspect ratio not a measurement... 16:9 (16 to 9 aspect ratio) not 16x9.
lately its been damn did you see her... pull up along side again....
gotta love the summer...
Other than the low quality... a PDF of a scanned fax apparently, it is a good read, not nearly as hard a read as some other court documents I have had a look at. One of the most important quotes from the ruling in my opinion is "Here, it is undisputed that there are substantial noninfringing uses for Defendants' software..." pg.11 ln.16 to me this is basically affirming the right of p2p networks and technologies in general to exist. Hopefully this works its way around and is used against the MPAA's and RIAA's efforts to lobby for technology controls.
Ok... string me up for not reading my own linked article through... its not the best description... an air blast weapon gets most of it's explosive power by dispersing a fine mist of a highly reactive agent over a large area using the oxygen in the surrounding atmosphere as the oxidant. Thus... no air... no boom, in all reality I would bet that most if not all conventional explosives would fail to detonate in space due to the lack of atmospherically supplied oxygen... any demolitions experts here that can answer this?
Just how exactly do you expect a Massive Ordnance Air Blast to work without the air? For those that need to be reminded... read
... why did it have to end, I was rolling. On a more on topic note I feel for anyone that supports family. I would be suprised than less than half of us do and its probably more than that so we all know what it's like. My mother is actually the easier one to deal with, she only does what she is told is ok. My father on the other hand.. well lets just say he knows just enough to be dangerous. Cheers
... [damn short subjects]... to search than web content.
FAST has a stronger business in search solutions, not a web search engine. All the web, one of FAST's newer products is hopping to change that and it seems that this is what Overture is hoping to capitalize on. Most of FAST's current business comes from outsourcing search and indexing technology/support to other companies such as Lycos and various article and abstract databases. http://www.fastsearch.com/partners/ has a list of some of their bigger customers. Google still doesn't have quite the same penetration that FAST has in the corporate intranet and 'other than html' search areas. Personally I think this is due to the nature of Google's hit relevancy algorithms... very good for heavily cross referenced/linked data sets... not as good at pure keyword type searches and very limited support of advanced linguistic features.
I do not think it is a matter of languages... like others have said... they are really just different tools. Actually they are well, just different languages, some are more conducive for conveying different tasks than others are. Anyway back to the point, it really has to do with the labeling of people as either a Programmer or as a Scripter. Let's start with definitions. Now remember this is my opinion and should not be read as being an attack against scripters (in fact most of you that script primarily are actually people I would classify as a programmer).
A Programmer is a person who has a solid understanding of computer operation and a backing (either formally or informally) in computational theory. Because of this a programmer usually demonstrates the ability to learn new languages (interpreted or compiled) quickly and is more apt to choose the more appropriate tool for the job when given the flexibility to do so. Further more through a more thorough understanding of how various computer languages behave a programmer is capable of implementing a workable (i.e. maintainable and adequate) solution to a problem when the ideal languages are not available.
A Scripter on the other hand is someone that I would view as being of lesser skill or general understanding than a programmer, even though they may possess a deep understanding of any one or two "scripting" languages. I base this on my belief that scripting languages in general where created for one of two uses 1) to automate or simplify specific tasks for programmers to save them time while they are solving more complicated problems or 2) abstract complex tasks or provide interfaces for complex tasks for non-technical or less technical employees to work with.
So a programmer writing in PERL is just that... a programmer writing in PERL where as a game designer that is writing in his or her shop's game scripting language is just a scripter. (They are still a game designer something that I give them mad props for, I for one am very creative but about as expressive and artistic as a dull brick, but in the context of programmers and scripters they are scripters.)
Now as for the discrimination, that may me a bit harsh of a term to use but I do concede the fact that yes I have seen behavior that would lead itself towards that interpretation. Most of what I see falls into two categories, first would be what I would call programmers thorough understanding of computers and computational theory looking down on scripters because they are viewed as less competent or knowledgeable about computers. Not making a judgment call on this here, also its nothing new... you see it anyplace you have a group of people that consider themselves in the "in" verses those in the "out"... the stereotypical technical support view of a marketing or human resource employee for example. The second is when management miss assigns a task to a scripter or a programmer either giving the programmer a task that should really be assigned to a scripter or more damaging giving a task that should be given to a programmer to a scripter. In the first case the time of a programmer is wasted solving a problem or implementing a solution that should have been given to a scripter, at the very least it is a waste of programming resources that could be better spent solving technical problems that are outside the abilities of a scripter, but more often that not the programmer is being asked to solve a problem that while they have the technical skills to solve may not have the best background in understanding of the product, intent of the product or general artistic capability. The second situation, the one that I feel is more dangerous, when a scripter is given a task that should have been assigned a programmer at best produces a substandard solution that in the long run will be difficult to maintain in the long run. Many times though the solution is worse than that resulting in eventual product failure because it is not possible, or un-scalable, un-maintainable because of language changes, etc, etc. On top of this when successful management's perception of having a quick and cheep solution in scripters and scripting languages that can be used to solve all of their companies problems is perpetuated and if the projects (usually when not if) the projects fail or it is finally realized that to continue to scale they have to be reimplemented by programmers the unfair perception by programmers that scripters are unskilled and uneducated in the ways of the computer are unfortunately reinforced.
Ok... I probably babbled a lot more than I intended and took way too many lines to say way too little... ok... I guess I must have had some pent up angst or something.
Unfortunately this post was not cut short by the need to do real work
So true... in fact the other day I was trying (with no luck) to find a book of problems and puzzles for programmers. Ideally nothing language specific, more focused on clever algorithms... a fairly concise problem statement (say a page or less) and answerers that are self checking (i.e. if you got the answer... you did it right). With puzzle complexity being something that would take a day to a week to solve and really push creative thinking... if anybody knows of one... please let us know... if not... maybe I should start writing. ;)
Your first argument about China just does not. China has no jurisdiction... if you do not live there, work there, do business there, ship through there, rout your messages through there. With out jurisdiction this law would not be legal. On your second point... I'm not a IRS agent or retail accountant... but I find it hard to believe that a company gets to keep any of the taxes collected... could you please explain how this works? (Ok granted, yes business taxes are assessed quarterly so yes collected sales taxes do have time to earn interest for a business but I find it doubtful that it would be significant enough to motivate businesses to argue for taxation of their sales.)
Yeah... from verizon's access policy [http://www2.verizon.net/policies/agreement.asp] section 2.5.b You may connect multiple computers/devices within a single home or office location to your DSL modem and/or router to access the Service , but only through a single DSL account and a single IP address obtained from Verizon Online.
For the corporate environment most installs are coming from an image, same for most consumer systems... most everything that is shipped as a pre install was an image... Then for those small companies and the times when a home user does an install the issue is not a server it's installing a plan old desktop... There... unfortunately MS wins. I have not timed it exactly but the last install of MS XP Home I did was at the very most 35 minutes. Now granted I have no clue how long a RedHat 8 install takes but the SuSE 8.1 install I did last light came in at about 45. Even if it was the other way around though... 35 for SuSE and 45 for MS... MS would still have the advantage, why? Because of the hardware support. Current distros are just now starting to be reasonable when it comes to hardware support but still they don't even come close to XP... and as long as this is the case... well... MS will maintain its edge on being the preferred home platform for the consumer (i.e. not us) market... ok enough ramblings... need to finish eating...