As I mentioned in another thread, there are 2 Lego stores in the Chicago area. Michigan Avenue near the Wrigley Building, and Woodfield Shopping Center. They have a great selection of odd parts, and bricks in way more than the usual 5 colors. As you say, they are sold by various size cups.
He's right
You've got to have space Legos, although I've found that the Star Wars sets have a lot of good general use and spaceship parts.
And you've got to have space pirates and such.
In the Chicago area they have 2 Lego stores (Michigan Avenue near the Wrigley Building, and Woodfield) and you can pick and choose a small or large cup of parts of your choosing for a flat charge. They have all the cool interconnects, and specialty parts. They also have the standard bricks, only in way more colors.
I can sit down with a hundred random parts and just start throwing together a space something-or-other with guns and crane-arms and hyperspace whatchamacallits and all!
This is one of the highlights on Christmas Day for me and my little sister: making spaceships out of Legos. (And we're both in our late 40s)
I seem to recall that GaAs claim to fame was high switching speed. But at the cost of high power usage. I thought they were bipolar instead of CMOS, so they were fast, but they sure as hell weren't very efficient. I forget whether they came up with GaAs in a complimentary configuration or not.
So the nominees for GaAs downside seem to be:
cost
toxicity
high power consumption
design trickiness?
Last I heard, they sacked all of their IT, and outsourced it. They expect to save 5 percent. Desktop computer doesn't work, call India. Hardware problem,...uh, send it to India.
Hey, it's a rumor. On the Internet. It must be true.
ability is completely random. You either get it or you don't. Doesn't matter whether you are Indian, white, educated, or not. You are a real programmer, or you aren't.
You've hit one of my hot buttons. Maybe I've misinterpreted you remark.
I've seen good people do poorly in a "sink or swim" environment. I've seen good programmming talent wasted on clueless supervisors. I've been fired for cleaning up wretched code, only to go back 3 months later as a customer, and hear them brag about their new QA staff.
There are perhaps, those who will never "get it", and those who have never had the seemingly obvious pointed out to them. Common sense is not always common and sensible. Good training can make a world of difference.
I understand that some of that old code only seems to work.
Many times they are in denial about bugs because the new libraries to fix them are simply not in the (conservative) budget.
Some existing program suites are not capable of being expanded without a bottom-up rewrite. That, of course, is simply not in the budget. Can you say "brittle"?
Nigerian money scams would seem to me to be a security issue.
HTML spams which call out for.gifs and.jpegs of dubious construction could be considered a security issue.
HTML spams which contain scripts should be considered a security issue.
Spam messages claiming to be from Paypal or [your ISP] should be considered a serious security concern. HTML spams which contain URLs with non-standard ports should virtually scream "security alert".
Spam containing pornography or links to pornography could thoroughly confound your HR and legal personel who are charged with enforcement of certain anti-pornography policies.
Turn Spam purchasing into the Venereal Disease of the new century and it will cost these folks more to send the messages than is returned in sales.
So... we'll be rid of spam just shortly after we've eradicated syphalis, ghonorrea, herpes, genital warts, AIDS, and chlamidia? Does this mean we're making progress, or no?
"At the time of writing the worm was unavailable for comment."
Or the URL. Or something. I don't know. Ok, it needs work. Fine, leave it as a exercise for the reader.
Dumb problem though. Duh, lets see. It goes on line and gets some more code. How can we possibly stop that? Uh... dunno! Think there's a trail to follow here? Uh... nope!
Perhaps it is the scroll of learning disablitity. As you read it, yol will smolwey bekat confused by thhr printed wertz. You belrxring abiliditry will vanisht like a aridzoba frost, leabing ou a mrxfl bankon snurgly do!
I've known about these for years. Seen 'em in dishwater. Seen 'em on soda. Never seen 'em on beer, though. Glad to see somebody else noticed 'em and decided to study 'em.
Slashdot Mirror
As I mentioned in another thread, there are 2 Lego stores in the Chicago area. Michigan Avenue near the Wrigley Building, and Woodfield Shopping Center. They have a great selection of odd parts, and bricks in way more than the usual 5 colors. As you say, they are sold by various size cups.
You've got to have space Legos, although I've found that the Star Wars sets have a lot of good general use and spaceship parts.
And you've got to have space pirates and such.
In the Chicago area they have 2 Lego stores (Michigan Avenue near the Wrigley Building, and Woodfield) and you can pick and choose a small or large cup of parts of your choosing for a flat charge. They have all the cool interconnects, and specialty parts. They also have the standard bricks, only in way more colors.
I can sit down with a hundred random parts and just start throwing together a space something-or-other with guns and crane-arms and hyperspace whatchamacallits and all!
This is one of the highlights on Christmas Day for me and my little sister: making spaceships out of Legos. (And we're both in our late 40s)
Once the mindshare for something which runs on a P133 starts slipping away, then the Microsoft Office monopoly starts leaking big-time.
Just what we need. "Popular in Europe." Just like Betamax, soccer, and the Amiga.
Thought you said slashdotters were lit up by halucinogens.
Movealongnothingtoseehere.
Hey, now! Let's not go bringing SCO Group into this!
Man, all this over one flippant joke....
Fodder for your rants page then, eh?
Ashcroft: We'll take your case off the burner, if you'll help us put "Trusted Computing" in every home and business.
Gates: OK.
Not Craw, Craw!
Really Mr. Smart, you don't speak Engrish very well.
I suppose you kids with your fancy-shmancy cable and DLS can't do that. Can you? :-)
I get 42.5K bps connections, and I likes it that way!
Bah! Get off my lawn!
Mork: Give me an "N"
Orson: "N"
Give me an "A"
"A"
Give me an "N"
"N"
Give me an "O"
"O"
What do you get?
"Nanu"
No, you get Nano... Orsun!
So the nominees for GaAs downside seem to be:
cost
toxicity
high power consumption
design trickiness?
Last I heard, they sacked all of their IT, and outsourced it. They expect to save 5 percent. Desktop computer doesn't work, call India. Hardware problem, ...uh, send it to India.
Hey, it's a rumor. On the Internet. It must be true.
What? Oh. Those Indians. Never mind.
You've hit one of my hot buttons. Maybe I've misinterpreted you remark.
I've seen good people do poorly in a "sink or swim" environment. I've seen good programmming talent wasted on clueless supervisors. I've been fired for cleaning up wretched code, only to go back 3 months later as a customer, and hear them brag about their new QA staff.
There are perhaps, those who will never "get it", and those who have never had the seemingly obvious pointed out to them. Common sense is not always common and sensible. Good training can make a world of difference.
Many times they are in denial about bugs because the new libraries to fix them are simply not in the (conservative) budget.
Some existing program suites are not capable of being expanded without a bottom-up rewrite. That, of course, is simply not in the budget. Can you say "brittle"?
Sure it "works". If you don't look to hard.
Nigerian money scams would seem to me to be a security issue. .gifs and .jpegs of dubious construction could be considered a security issue.
HTML spams which call out for
HTML spams which contain scripts should be considered a security issue.
Spam messages claiming to be from Paypal or [your ISP] should be considered a serious security concern.
HTML spams which contain URLs with non-standard ports should virtually scream "security alert".
Spam containing pornography or links to pornography could thoroughly confound your HR and legal personel who are charged with enforcement of certain anti-pornography policies.
Oh, that's a "G". Never mind...
Oh! A "G"! [long pause] Oh!
It took me way to long to get that. Sorry.
So... we'll be rid of spam just shortly after we've eradicated syphalis, ghonorrea, herpes, genital warts, AIDS, and chlamidia? Does this mean we're making progress, or no?
Impeccable spelling and grammer?
Active sex lives?
Proper literary quotes, instead of HHGG and the Simpsons?
Fit bodies and sound personal hygeine?
The brain reels at the mere thought...
(Oh! ... and no obscure Firesign Theatre sig lines, either!)
Or the URL. Or something. I don't know. Ok, it needs work. Fine, leave it as a exercise for the reader.
Dumb problem though. Duh, lets see. It goes on line and gets some more code. How can we possibly stop that? Uh... dunno! Think there's a trail to follow here? Uh... nope!
No, this is slashdot. Most of us type like that.
So that song about "Green alligators" and such is perfectly on topic with the current "Green..." poll.
Do you suppose the Mars Rovers can carry a tune?
Does this mean there'll be Martian Whiskey?
I've known about these for years. Seen 'em in dishwater. Seen 'em on soda. Never seen 'em on beer, though. Glad to see somebody else noticed 'em and decided to study 'em.
Just pass a law that spammers have to set the evil bit.