Placing things inside the terminal (like ticket counters and security) was pointless... you could pile everything up on top of each other so people couldn't possible reach them, and it didn't matter. All that mattered is that you placed them somewhere. Also, what happened on the screen showed ZERO relationship with what was going on in the game. The game would say that the runway was too crowded, but the display would show an empty runway.
Are you sure you didn't get your hands on a TSA/FAA training simulation?
The underlying issue to those who "get it" is that programmers and engineers need to understand what they are doing, and not just connect high level blocks. Understanding the physics behind the behavior of basic electrical components is, to me, critical even for someone designing at the high level.
Comp sci wants to treat the computer as a black box. Working primarily with embedded systems it seems to me that the best programmer is the one who goes beyond that approach, and learns what the box is actually doing.
Since when is "insight" a bad thing?
The problem with treating this as an "experiement", to me personally, is that the very nature of the paranormal is that it is not scientific. Like dreams. Do they exist? We'd all agree on that. Are they "real"? Well, what do you mean, real? The "reality" of the dream or the "reality" of the biological functions during a dream?
These things are turbulence; "tubuls" I call them in my personal notes on it, and as such are not repeatable. That doesn't diminish the "reality" of Fortean events; but it destroys the utility. And the scientific reality.
I won't claim that events just on the fringe of our preception occur, too many otherwise credible people have seen ghosts, UFOs, cryptids, visions, etc. But what I will claim is that these events, lacking the fundamental repeatability of 'science' are themselves mere apparitions, and not something the scientific community should focus on chasing.
When I was in the last couple of years of my undergrad -- computer engineering -- the way I'd deal with hard core tests (Calculus IV, control systems, etc) was by completely shifting gears right before the test.
Guys would always be cramming that last hour or so before the test. Look, if you don't understand how to do a Laplace transform you ain't gonna learn it 30 minutes before the test. To freak out then ya gotta be fracking crazy.
I have a lot of non-technical interests, and a big one is sports cars and sports car racing. I'd take a couple of car porn mags and read about sports car restoration or racing skillz in the common areas while watching every one else act like nut cases. It really calmed me down, and reminded me that I knew this stuff.
There's a saying in the world of professional soldiers -- you fight like you train. Same about tests. If you know the material and are comfortable with it you will test like you train.
Dead? What? In a day and age when everything around you has a uC of some sort in it? Now are a lot of those consumer products being designed in Elbonia? Of course, but still, there's a lot going on. This year I've worked on projects using small (say PIC like) microcontrollers in:
house arrest system
sports watch
in store kiosk (touch screen controller, the brain of the kiosk is an embedded x86 running Linux)
cargo container status device Of course we've also used embedded x86/pentium class machines, ARM, Coldfire...
There are huge volumes of microcontrollers shipped from 4-bit (just like those obsolete mainframes making obsolete money for obsolete banks) to 32-bit and up. Not to mention DSPs. But I think the days of super simple designs, say replacing a mechanical timer on a washer, are long gone. Sure you may be replacing a mechanical timer, but you've got to understand so much more, like being able to run on nanowatts or making the device intrinsically safe.
Unless somebody has a lot of talent and a lot of experience, we hire the two-year types as bench techs. Four years for an engineering position. Things are so fast and competitive that the engineer also has to be something of a project manager. A strong understanding of hardware, firmware, and software is important. Yes, I think there's a huge difference between the mindset needed to write good firmware and good software. To write good firmware you've got to understand what's going on in the hardware. Plus you've got to be able to understand that yes sir it is indeed possible to toggle a single bit without doing an operation on a whole register!:)
The people who claim "ah, it's dying because for only a few dollars/cents/credits more you can have a whole embedded super-whoopAMDIntelMot128bit blah blah" don't understand capitalism. 1) if it costs more, um, it costs more, and somebody will do it cheaper, this we call competition, and blast it whether or not Adam Smith is right it happens, and 2) if I want to monitor a real world event or spin a motor or some such I can do it with a PIC/AVR/8051 faster than you can get your makefile working right just the core of your OS. Time is money, at least in my business. The right tool for the job. And sometimes a $0.35 PIC is the right tool. But because of the competition and current needs in the field, the project that $0.35 PIC goes in to probably needs to be designed by someone with more than two years of tech school. The code may be easy, but understanding enough about battery chemistry, thermal concerns, and other deeper issues means that making the whole thing run for three years from one set of batteries while on a ship somewhere in the Pacific...you see what I mean, it's no longer just "hey designer write some code to spin a motor".
It seems that a lot of what we do are projects that are either "extreme" one way or another -- environmental, regulatory, power/life requirements -- or are a small piece of a much larger and more complex system. Again, something that requires a higher level of thought and understanding.
We've seen more and more applications for the smaller and cheaper super tiny 6 and 8 pin micros. It's absolutely mindboggling how many places these things end up, and low margin but high volume works. Moore's law not only means more transistors on the same amount of real estate...it also means you can get the same number of transistors as you did before for much much cheaper.
The Pirates, a Delaware based Limited Liability Corporation, recently announced their completion of ISO 9001 requirements. Captain Aarg, Chief Overseas Transportation Officer, said "with the extensive effort required to obtain and secretly move our products, quality isn't just an end result, but an important aspect of each link in the chain". The Pirates believe that customers will rapidly appreciate the improved quality of items they find in back alleys and under trench coats. Ling Mee Sin, a clerk with a The Pirates franchise, commented "You bring cash!"
So, um, ok....travelling fast in a car means you have more time to do things other than travel, but iff you smack in to something and die, you don't? I mean WTF. Relativity and radiation are unrelated effects. So one counter acts the other. So? News that matters, to somebody.
I don't know about PR stunt (but you might be right) but sure, their engineers are going to quote worst case life...because that's what you design for. If you ask me to design something for a harsh environment (I do a lot of race car stuff) and say "I want it to last the entire season" or whatever I'll design it to last that long worst case. It'll probably last longer. If the worst case situation is likely to happen only 5% of the time, then there is a 95% chance it'll last longer.
This happens with all sorts of stuff. My dad was a Huey gunner/crew chief in Vietnam. When they first got their D model birds, they were told the airframe had a life expectancy of so many hours. Then later Bell revised it to a longer life. By the time he was back working on them stateside, Bell said the Huey airframe had an "indefinite" life.
Of course this doesn't take in to account the real worst case NASA faces...like forgetting whether the engine thrust is in lbs or Newtons or whatever.
"Was that yes on one or go ahead and nuke Russia?"
I'm hoping the digital world will do for photography what, well, photography did for painting: getting all the lame snapshot portrait "I want to capture exactly what I see" stuff out of the way and allow it to again be an art form. Don't get me wrong, I love snapshots as much as anyone else, and it is fantastic we all can so simply document every moment of our lives....
But, my favorite photographs are taken with ASA400 B&W with my Minox. (made in '68) They look warm, artistic. Digital pix are best for selling shtuff on e-bay and, ummmm, trading.;)
Flamebait?
I didn't intend it as such...what I thought was strange is what information is supposedly worth...I mean some marketing firm will pay more to find out if I was a sex offender than if I've got a gun?...just makes you wonder how many people out there are marketing products to sex offenders, and what exactly it is that they are selling!
I'm not in favor of dumping the entire concept of "intellectual property", but here's the flaw I see with what's going on right now:
How many products, concepts, algorithms, recipes, poems, songs and whatever else are truly "unique"?
How many people who have patents, copyrights, and fame for "inventing" something were not the first to 1) come up with the idea, or even 2) make it work? How much true original thought is there in society? If the concept that your idea is "unique" (and not that you have the meanest lawyers, better marketing, or whatever) is the basis for the argument for "IP", then the question of "how unique" must be asked.
If you've got a red door, and I want it black, can I patent the black door? And by using that analogy did I "steal" someone elses "work"? And even if I did, would that make it less enjoyable (or annoying) to listen to the song?
Capitalism, as we live it, is based on growth. We live in a world of limited resources, which means growth can not continue forever. Many firms are now "Knowledge Based", so they try to artificially create a limited resource -- ideas. But ideas on how to do things are practically limitless, particularly when compared to hard resources.
If you create a tasty recipe for bread with some additional spices in it, and you think people would like it, more power to you to try and sell it. But when I taste your bread and say "geeze, this is just a thousands of years old bread recipe with some spices added" and then figure out what spices you've added, don't say I "stole" something. And don't try to hide behind some legalistic artificial trade barrier.
I'm not saying that it should be a free for all, but I don't think the "free" market should come down to legal wrangling over the stupidity of thinking that one person (or firm) in a world billions had a "unique" idea.
Maybe you would be offended by someone "stealing" a poem you wrote, but that's cultural. How many anonymous nursey rhymes and other such ditties fill our world? There was a time when news was transmitted by wandering poets and musicians. I doubt they felt the same way about their "intellectual property" being stolen. Not saying one is right and the other is wrong, nor am I saying one is better than the other, just saying that these concepts are cultural, not natural.
As far as the RIAA is concerned, those people are just going through a major economic wake up call: the product is over priced, the distribution based on outdated tech.
When will they realize that engineering and architectural marvels aren't what real power is all about.
I mean, who needs to go to space and build great things and such when you can blow all of your country's money killing, destroying, and generally pissing people off...all while mispronouncing simple two syllable words? Now that's how to build a legacy!
Forbes has some nasty things to say about Linux
on
The FSF, Linux's Hit Men
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Look at the articles: "why you won't be getting a linux pc" "mad Matt", the Linux "bandwagon" and "cult".
The cult reality is that Forbes is in the American cult of capitalism. Here's a clue for you clueless suits: capitalism is a multi-faceted tool, not a religioin. The "comrade" comment in the mentioned article merely shows that Forbes believes in the cult position that whatever shovels money towards the rich must be right, because gee, that's capitalism.
Even though you'd have to be pretty open about "the still in use" bit. It's the only box I've got (for whatever reason) that is happy with my old device programmer, and that's all it's used for.
I don't use that thing much anymore, it's been a long time since I burned PROMs or PALs. These days it seems like everything is in-circuit programmable. So the 486 just sits there, next to the PROM burner.
Other than that (older wise) it's a couple of 75 MHz Pentium laptop brains (used as embedded targets, running Linux) and a few pentium SBCs.
Let's see, I've got a 200 MHz Pentium Pro industrial box playing proxy d00d, and a couple of 400~500 MHz development boxes. Hmm, and a 300 MHz Pentium II industrial box as a data acquisition system. It's fun having a built in 19" rack!
Probably the oldest processor based gear running in my office/lab are some 8051 development boards.
Now if I could just get paid to do embedded systems again, it'd be great. That's what I get for moving to a technological backwards state.
Hmmm, an old schematic for a piece of classic Japanese music kit that has a device called a "frip frop" on it.
And, geeze I wish I still a copy, from an LCD datasheet -- very typical Japanese/manga type artwork with big eyed childish looking character with his/her tongue sticking out holding a dripping little rectangle:
"Never taste of it".
Of course the datasheet didn't talk too much about what "it" was...
If you are in the US, look for your local "Small Business Development Center". You've already paid for them with your tax dollars. Some are better than others, but they all share the same basic mission -- free or inexpensive access to information and advice about starting a business in your community. They are usually associated with a local college.
They should be able to supply you with a checklist of things that need to happen to legally start a business in your area. This is the information that the.gov people know, but are too busy to tell you about.
For instance -- should you form a corporation, an LLC, or a work as a sole proprietor? If you call and ask the county clerk, he'll only know about DBA (doing business as certificates) for sole proprietorships. The secretary of state will be able to send you forms to incorporate, but neither will (probably) have the info to help you make a decision about which is best for you.
When you see that stupid SOB on TV with the question-mark suit saying "there's government money to help small businesses" -- this is what he's talking about, not what he's implying. Ain't no grant money for start-ups of course, but the SBA and other such entities do fund the SBDCs.
How do I know this? I'm working on an MBA -- and I'm a grad assistant at one. Moving back to technological backwards state (due to family reasons) means I'm having to figure out a new or modified path -- not too much work for embedded systems guys in Huckabee's state -- hell, most people here can't even say "embedded systems".
Best of luck to you.
Slashdot Mirror
Are you sure you didn't get your hands on a TSA/FAA training simulation?
Ah, so the ship is the cloaking device! So much for putting on pointy ears and stealing it.
More creative comments from the fellow who couldn't recall not recalling owning a droid before...
The underlying issue to those who "get it" is that programmers and engineers need to understand what they are doing, and not just connect high level blocks. Understanding the physics behind the behavior of basic electrical components is, to me, critical even for someone designing at the high level. Comp sci wants to treat the computer as a black box. Working primarily with embedded systems it seems to me that the best programmer is the one who goes beyond that approach, and learns what the box is actually doing. Since when is "insight" a bad thing?
Does the word 'school' have some strange usage that I wasn't previously aware of?
Oh, so you want your 'school' to remain old school.
The problem with treating this as an "experiement", to me personally, is that the very nature of the paranormal is that it is not scientific. Like dreams. Do they exist? We'd all agree on that. Are they "real"? Well, what do you mean, real? The "reality" of the dream or the "reality" of the biological functions during a dream?
These things are turbulence; "tubuls" I call them in my personal notes on it, and as such are not repeatable. That doesn't diminish the "reality" of Fortean events; but it destroys the utility. And the scientific reality.
I won't claim that events just on the fringe of our preception occur, too many otherwise credible people have seen ghosts, UFOs, cryptids, visions, etc. But what I will claim is that these events, lacking the fundamental repeatability of 'science' are themselves mere apparitions, and not something the scientific community should focus on chasing.
When I was in the last couple of years of my undergrad -- computer engineering -- the way I'd deal with hard core tests (Calculus IV, control systems, etc) was by completely shifting gears right before the test.
Guys would always be cramming that last hour or so before the test. Look, if you don't understand how to do a Laplace transform you ain't gonna learn it 30 minutes before the test. To freak out then ya gotta be fracking crazy.
I have a lot of non-technical interests, and a big one is sports cars and sports car racing. I'd take a couple of car porn mags and read about sports car restoration or racing skillz in the common areas while watching every one else act like nut cases. It really calmed me down, and reminded me that I knew this stuff.
There's a saying in the world of professional soldiers -- you fight like you train. Same about tests. If you know the material and are comfortable with it you will test like you train.
I'm general manager for an embedded design house.
:)
Dead? What? In a day and age when everything around you has a uC of some sort in it? Now are a lot of those consumer products being designed in Elbonia? Of course, but still, there's a lot going on. This year I've worked on projects using small (say PIC like) microcontrollers in:
house arrest system
sports watch
in store kiosk (touch screen controller, the brain of the kiosk is an embedded x86 running Linux)
cargo container status device
Of course we've also used embedded x86/pentium class machines, ARM, Coldfire...
There are huge volumes of microcontrollers shipped from 4-bit (just like those obsolete mainframes making obsolete money for obsolete banks) to 32-bit and up. Not to mention DSPs. But I think the days of super simple designs, say replacing a mechanical timer on a washer, are long gone. Sure you may be replacing a mechanical timer, but you've got to understand so much more, like being able to run on nanowatts or making the device intrinsically safe.
Unless somebody has a lot of talent and a lot of experience, we hire the two-year types as bench techs. Four years for an engineering position. Things are so fast and competitive that the engineer also has to be something of a project manager. A strong understanding of hardware, firmware, and software is important. Yes, I think there's a huge difference between the mindset needed to write good firmware and good software. To write good firmware you've got to understand what's going on in the hardware. Plus you've got to be able to understand that yes sir it is indeed possible to toggle a single bit without doing an operation on a whole register!
The people who claim "ah, it's dying because for only a few dollars/cents/credits more you can have a whole embedded super-whoopAMDIntelMot128bit blah blah" don't understand capitalism. 1) if it costs more, um, it costs more, and somebody will do it cheaper, this we call competition, and blast it whether or not Adam Smith is right it happens, and 2) if I want to monitor a real world event or spin a motor or some such I can do it with a PIC/AVR/8051 faster than you can get your makefile working right just the core of your OS. Time is money, at least in my business. The right tool for the job. And sometimes a $0.35 PIC is the right tool. But because of the competition and current needs in the field, the project that $0.35 PIC goes in to probably needs to be designed by someone with more than two years of tech school. The code may be easy, but understanding enough about battery chemistry, thermal concerns, and other deeper issues means that making the whole thing run for three years from one set of batteries while on a ship somewhere in the Pacific...you see what I mean, it's no longer just "hey designer write some code to spin a motor".
It seems that a lot of what we do are projects that are either "extreme" one way or another -- environmental, regulatory, power/life requirements -- or are a small piece of a much larger and more complex system. Again, something that requires a higher level of thought and understanding.
We've seen more and more applications for the smaller and cheaper super tiny 6 and 8 pin micros. It's absolutely mindboggling how many places these things end up, and low margin but high volume works. Moore's law not only means more transistors on the same amount of real estate...it also means you can get the same number of transistors as you did before for much much cheaper.
The Pirates, a Delaware based Limited Liability Corporation, recently announced their completion of ISO 9001 requirements. Captain Aarg, Chief Overseas Transportation Officer, said "with the extensive effort required to obtain and secretly move our products, quality isn't just an end result, but an important aspect of each link in the chain". The Pirates believe that customers will rapidly appreciate the improved quality of items they find in back alleys and under trench coats. Ling Mee Sin, a clerk with a The Pirates franchise, commented "You bring cash!"
Safer in a bank? I've never received a phishing e-mail that included an armed robber. It's really simple; banks don't e-mail you asking for info.
So, um, ok....travelling fast in a car means you have more time to do things other than travel, but iff you smack in to something and die, you don't? I mean WTF. Relativity and radiation are unrelated effects. So one counter acts the other. So? News that matters, to somebody.
I must be the only nerd here who wears a shoulder holster to work. (and no, I'm not a cop)
I don't know about PR stunt (but you might be right) but sure, their engineers are going to quote worst case life...because that's what you design for. If you ask me to design something for a harsh environment (I do a lot of race car stuff) and say "I want it to last the entire season" or whatever I'll design it to last that long worst case. It'll probably last longer. If the worst case situation is likely to happen only 5% of the time, then there is a 95% chance it'll last longer.
This happens with all sorts of stuff. My dad was a Huey gunner/crew chief in Vietnam. When they first got their D model birds, they were told the airframe had a life expectancy of so many hours. Then later Bell revised it to a longer life. By the time he was back working on them stateside, Bell said the Huey airframe had an "indefinite" life.
Of course this doesn't take in to account the real worst case NASA faces...like forgetting whether the engine thrust is in lbs or Newtons or whatever.
"Was that yes on one or go ahead and nuke Russia?"
I'm hoping the digital world will do for photography what, well, photography did for painting: getting all the lame snapshot portrait "I want to capture exactly what I see" stuff out of the way and allow it to again be an art form. Don't get me wrong, I love snapshots as much as anyone else, and it is fantastic we all can so simply document every moment of our lives.... But, my favorite photographs are taken with ASA400 B&W with my Minox. (made in '68) They look warm, artistic. Digital pix are best for selling shtuff on e-bay and, ummmm, trading. ;)
you insensitive clod! Oh wait, this isn't a poll...
"lithium is no longer available on credit"?
Flamebait? I didn't intend it as such...what I thought was strange is what information is supposedly worth...I mean some marketing firm will pay more to find out if I was a sex offender than if I've got a gun? ...just makes you wonder how many people out there are marketing products to sex offenders, and what exactly it is that they are selling!
From the data calculator:
Carry a concealed weapon: $0.25
Sex offender: $13
So this means Michael's "info" is worth more than Janet's?
I don't get it!
I'm not in favor of dumping the entire concept of "intellectual property", but here's the flaw I see with what's going on right now:
How many products, concepts, algorithms, recipes, poems, songs and whatever else are truly "unique"?
How many people who have patents, copyrights, and fame for "inventing" something were not the first to 1) come up with the idea, or even 2) make it work? How much true original thought is there in society? If the concept that your idea is "unique" (and not that you have the meanest lawyers, better marketing, or whatever) is the basis for the argument for "IP", then the question of "how unique" must be asked.
If you've got a red door, and I want it black, can I patent the black door? And by using that analogy did I "steal" someone elses "work"? And even if I did, would that make it less enjoyable (or annoying) to listen to the song?
Capitalism, as we live it, is based on growth. We live in a world of limited resources, which means growth can not continue forever. Many firms are now "Knowledge Based", so they try to artificially create a limited resource -- ideas. But ideas on how to do things are practically limitless, particularly when compared to hard resources.
If you create a tasty recipe for bread with some additional spices in it, and you think people would like it, more power to you to try and sell it. But when I taste your bread and say "geeze, this is just a thousands of years old bread recipe with some spices added" and then figure out what spices you've added, don't say I "stole" something. And don't try to hide behind some legalistic artificial trade barrier.
I'm not saying that it should be a free for all, but I don't think the "free" market should come down to legal wrangling over the stupidity of thinking that one person (or firm) in a world billions had a "unique" idea.
Maybe you would be offended by someone "stealing" a poem you wrote, but that's cultural. How many anonymous nursey rhymes and other such ditties fill our world? There was a time when news was transmitted by wandering poets and musicians. I doubt they felt the same way about their "intellectual property" being stolen. Not saying one is right and the other is wrong, nor am I saying one is better than the other, just saying that these concepts are cultural, not natural.
As far as the RIAA is concerned, those people are just going through a major economic wake up call: the product is over priced, the distribution based on outdated tech.
...from a long way away.
#4 the "big spruce"
Ok, yeah, mod me down, old Monty Python gag.
Really though, cool tech, but size compared to "a big srpuce"? Is comparing reactors to trees anything like weighing clouds in elephants?
When will they realize that engineering and architectural marvels aren't what real power is all about.
I mean, who needs to go to space and build great things and such when you can blow all of your country's money killing, destroying, and generally pissing people off...all while mispronouncing simple two syllable words? Now that's how to build a legacy!
Look at the articles: "why you won't be getting a linux pc" "mad Matt", the Linux "bandwagon" and "cult".
The cult reality is that Forbes is in the American cult of capitalism. Here's a clue for you clueless suits: capitalism is a multi-faceted tool, not a religioin. The "comrade" comment in the mentioned article merely shows that Forbes believes in the cult position that whatever shovels money towards the rich must be right, because gee, that's capitalism.
What's even more interesting is from uptime.netcraft:
(begine block quote)
OS, Web Server and Hosting History for www.forbes.com
OS Server Last changed IP address Netblock Owner
FreeBSD Apache/1.3.26 (Unix) 19-Jun-2003 63.240.4.179 CERFnet
unknown Apache/1.3.26 (Unix) 22-Jun-2002 63.240.4.179 CERFnet
unknown Apache/1.3.20 (Unix) 23-Feb-2002 63.240.4.179 CERFnet
unknown Apache/1.3.20 (Unix) 14-Feb-2002 63.240.4.200 CERFnet
FreeBSD Apache/1.3.20 (Unix) 13-Feb-2002 63.240.4.200 CERFnet
unknown Apache/1.3.20 (Unix) 8-Feb-2002 63.240.4.200 CERFnet
FreeBSD Apache/1.3.20 (Unix) 7-Feb-2002 63.240.4.200 CERFnet
unknown Apache/1.3.20 (Unix) 16-Dec-2001 63.240.4.200 CERFnet
FreeBSD Apache/1.3.20 (Unix) 15-Dec-2001 63.240.4.200 CERFnet
unknown Apache/1.3.20 (Unix) 24-Oct-2001 63.240.4.200 CERFnet
(end block quote)
Even though you'd have to be pretty open about "the still in use" bit. It's the only box I've got (for whatever reason) that is happy with my old device programmer, and that's all it's used for.
I don't use that thing much anymore, it's been a long time since I burned PROMs or PALs. These days it seems like everything is in-circuit programmable. So the 486 just sits there, next to the PROM burner.
Other than that (older wise) it's a couple of 75 MHz Pentium laptop brains (used as embedded targets, running Linux) and a few pentium SBCs.
Let's see, I've got a 200 MHz Pentium Pro industrial box playing proxy d00d, and a couple of 400~500 MHz development boxes. Hmm, and a 300 MHz Pentium II industrial box as a data acquisition system. It's fun having a built in 19" rack!
Probably the oldest processor based gear running in my office/lab are some 8051 development boards.
Now if I could just get paid to do embedded systems again, it'd be great. That's what I get for moving to a technological backwards state.
Hmmm, an old schematic for a piece of classic Japanese music kit that has a device called a "frip frop" on it.
And, geeze I wish I still a copy, from an LCD datasheet -- very typical Japanese/manga type artwork with big eyed childish looking character with his/her tongue sticking out holding a dripping little rectangle:
"Never taste of it".
Of course the datasheet didn't talk too much about what "it" was...
If you are in the US, look for your local "Small Business Development Center". You've already paid for them with your tax dollars. Some are better than others, but they all share the same basic mission -- free or inexpensive access to information and advice about starting a business in your community. They are usually associated with a local college. They should be able to supply you with a checklist of things that need to happen to legally start a business in your area. This is the information that the .gov people know, but are too busy to tell you about.
For instance -- should you form a corporation, an LLC, or a work as a sole proprietor? If you call and ask the county clerk, he'll only know about DBA (doing business as certificates) for sole proprietorships. The secretary of state will be able to send you forms to incorporate, but neither will (probably) have the info to help you make a decision about which is best for you.
When you see that stupid SOB on TV with the question-mark suit saying "there's government money to help small businesses" -- this is what he's talking about, not what he's implying. Ain't no grant money for start-ups of course, but the SBA and other such entities do fund the SBDCs.
How do I know this? I'm working on an MBA -- and I'm a grad assistant at one. Moving back to technological backwards state (due to family reasons) means I'm having to figure out a new or modified path -- not too much work for embedded systems guys in Huckabee's state -- hell, most people here can't even say "embedded systems".
Best of luck to you.