At least it is better than the U.S. military's typical code names for operations, which always sound to me like something a 10 year old boy would come up with -- "Operation Exploding Falcon", or "Operation Maximum Destructive Weasel". Maybe it is just me?
Select rogue Task, click "End Task". Nothing. Do it again. Nothing. Do it again. Nothing. (repeat ad nauseum) Wait a while, program gives in and dies.
(under TRUE pre-emption the scheduler would terminate it; under windows it gets politely "asked" to die...)
No, this doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the way Windows handles multitasking. My understanding is that this happens because the app in question wasn't coded properly to respond to the Windows equivalent of "SIGTERM".
The real question is: why are users not allowed to send a "SIGKILL" to a wayward process? Or is there any such signal in Windows?
Not to mention the fact that, as a developer, writing any substantial amount of JavaScript just makes me feel...well, dirty. No type-safety, no assurance that the end user's browser will interpret the script correctly (or at ALL, for that matter), etc. etc.
All of this on top of the fundamental problem that HTTP is not and never will be appropriate as an application protocol...the whole request/response paradigm becomes a set of handcuffs if your application needs to do anything non-trivial.
Do they really think that people will pay $20/month (on TOP of their regular DSL/cable/whatever bill) just to "see Christina Aguilera's new music video...exclusively on AOL for Broadband!!". Give me a break. If AOL wants to be in the content business (since their original Internet access business is all but irrelevant now), give me content I want. How about streaming video of every division I NCAA football game on Saturdays? How about the ability to pull up and watch any episode of Seinfeld at any time?
AOL: "But we would have to work out the licensing details, and bandwidth--"
Me: "Shut UP...take my $20/month and MAKE IT HAPPEN."
Even better, if you are using Windows XP, be sure to get the ClearType Tuner from Microsoft's XP Power Toy site. It reminds me of an eye exam; it allows you to adjust the degree of ClearType-edness to suit your LCD rather than just turning it on or off.
I agree...Roddenberry gets too much credit. He had a good core idea -- a sci-fi TV series as a vehicle to explore meaty issues -- and then had the balls to continue to pound the pavement until it was produced inspite of considerable rejection and ridicule.
But the man couldn't write his way out of a paper bag. Go back and watch TNG's "Encounter at Farpoint", "Hide and Q", or "Datalore" for some fine examples of his writing talent. Let me know what you think...when you finish dry heaving and wretching, that is.
I agree with the parent, particularly with regards to the motion pictures: the less Roddenberry was involved, the better the material.
First of all, while Paul Thurrott has from time to time said some nice things about free/open source projects (Firefox, most recently), the guy practically works for Microsoft and everything that comes from him should be filtered accordingly.
Second, this 'starter edition' of Windows reeks of artificial market segmentation, a la DVD region encoding. Users overseas that presumably can't/won't pay Microsoft prices for Windows turn to piracy, so they are offered a scaled-down (both in price and functionality) version of Windows in the hopes that they will choose to pay something instead of just pirating it. But consumers here in the US (including those for whom this starter edition would be totally acceptable, capability-wise) are deemed to be able to afford the full versions of Windows and are therefore not allowed to so much as REVIEW (including Thurrott, long-time MS puppet), let alone purchase this edition.
Let me preface this by saying that I am a Christian. The anthropic principle says (roughly) that the universe that we see appears so "perfect" to us simply because if it wasn't...in other words, if it were different (e.g. Earth was a little closer to the sun)...we wouldn't be here to see it and that we are just the (very!) fortunate benefactors of probability. Something to think about.
Now as to WHY we are so lucky as to exist in a universe/galaxy/solar system/etc. that is seemingly tuned for our existence and of course how this universe came to be in the first place: I turn to my faith to answer those questions.
Who cares? Any outrage about this is completely missing the point: Screen Savers is a lost cause.
I remember religously watching Computer Chronicles with Stewart Cheifet when I was younger. I also used to watch TSS regularly; I even upgraded my cable package to one that included ZDTV just for the show. It was (although at times a bit basic) funny, informative, etc.
I lost track of the show when they moved to L.A. and got rid of Pat and Leo. I turned it on a week or so ago just to see what was going on these days...just in time for an insightful discussion about the word "scrotum", complete with snorting and giggling from the new adolescent "hosts"...and a new set that looks like something that a 7 year old would come up with if you asked them to imagine their dream playroom.
Thanks, Comcast...thanks for not only failing to recognize quality TV, but apparently actively setting out to flush it down the toilet.
Is it just me, or does that sound like it should be the title of a Heinlein book?
60% of ALL people?
on
Digital Packrats
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
The linked article is only slightly more clear than the story blurb, but it sounds like only 60% of "gadget lovers" keep 1,000-2,000 music files on their devices. The/. story makes it sound like 60% of all Britons do...that seems a bit high.
I'm not going to call you ignorant, because I myself have noticed be a bit of acronymic presumption on the part of Slashdot editors...and it seems to be especially common in gaming-related stories. I've lost count of how many stories concerning the "DS" or the "PSP" (products that have barely been released) have been posted that fail to actually mention what they ARE.
Now I can understand not defining "PHP" or "RIAA"...but not everyone stays on the cutting edge of game technology. Anyway...
I think you've hit the nail on the head, but I'd take your explanation one step further: there is a cultural stigma in this country attached to learning or academic achievement of ANY KIND. You simply can't teach someone who doesn't WANT to learn.
I honestly can't explain this...it might be because some young people see no relevant benefits to an education. The standard-bearers of "success" that they see are extremely wealthy musicians, actors, professional athletes, etc.
Unfortunately, I think our education system is going in the wrong direction; instead of challenging students to excel, the bar is lowered and simply "trying" will earn you a passing grade.
I was mentored in my first job out of college by a guy who helped McConnell write the new edition...the first edition did more to make me a better developer than any book on a specific language, technology, etc. and the second edition refreshed the code examples with current programming language, incorporated class and OO design, refactoring, and more modern development methods. Good stuff, check it out.
I worked at a development shop in Little Rock, Arkansas for a couple of years before getting married and moving to a very large U.S. city (I think it is #4 currently) when my wife was accepted to medical school here, so I think I'm qualified to do a bit of comparison.
I think that there are a lot of cities in the U.S. in the 100,000 - 200,000 population range that people don't really consider for whatever reason, either as places to live or for corporations. Little Rock, for example, had most of the shopping, dining, etc. of a larger city but without nearly as much pollution and traffic and with a lower cost of living to boot. To respond specifically to some of the comments I've seen in this thread so far: we had Starbucks, pizza delivery, clubs/raves (if that is your thing), a symphony orchestra, and a minor league baseball team (the only thing that I would miss if I moved back would be the professional sports).
I think there is rural, as in one gas station, one stoplight, and a Sonic...and then there is "rural", as in "not one of the 50 largest cities in the US", and I think businesses would do well to look more closely at the latter.
Although I understand what you mean, I think it is important to encourage development to standards, not a particular browser (even if it is Firefox). A site the takes advantage of Firefox-specific quirks in its HTML or CSS rendering (although I don't know of any such quirks) would be no better than one of the infamous "IE required" sites.
If you have broadband, you can do what my wife and I did...get a cheapo $30 web cam, and set up a shoutcast server. All of the software needed to get it up and running is free (you'll need WinAMP or a video player that plays NSV to view the stream, but it will work anywhere with a 'net connection). I set mine to 10fps, which seems to be a good balance between video quality and bandwidth use.
The NCAA Football line of games from EA Sports has been my favorite time-sucker lately, but the Pontiac ads in the latest version (2005) have me more than a little bit ticked off...I don't particularly like being forced to watch a Pontiac car skid across the field in between EVERY FREAKING PLAY in the game's "college classics" mode. Very disappointing, considering that a college football game is a rare case where some well-placed non-intrusive advertising could actually make the game more realistic.
YEARS ago, we had an old IBM dot matrix printer that our cat would sleep next to (presumably because it was warm). One day we discovered that she had thrown up a freaking hairball...INTO the printer. It had fallen down onto the circuit boards, so we cleaned it out with q-tips as best we could. We managed to get most of it out and the printer worked fine until we upgraded to ink jet years later.
Slashdot Mirror
At least it is better than the U.S. military's typical code names for operations, which always sound to me like something a 10 year old boy would come up with -- "Operation Exploding Falcon", or "Operation Maximum Destructive Weasel". Maybe it is just me?
Select rogue Task, click "End Task". Nothing.
Do it again. Nothing.
Do it again. Nothing. (repeat ad nauseum)
Wait a while, program gives in and dies.
(under TRUE pre-emption the scheduler would terminate it; under windows it gets politely "asked" to die...)
No, this doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the way Windows handles multitasking. My understanding is that this happens because the app in question wasn't coded properly to respond to the Windows equivalent of "SIGTERM".
The real question is: why are users not allowed to send a "SIGKILL" to a wayward process? Or is there any such signal in Windows?
Not to mention the fact that, as a developer, writing any substantial amount of JavaScript just makes me feel...well, dirty. No type-safety, no assurance that the end user's browser will interpret the script correctly (or at ALL, for that matter), etc. etc.
All of this on top of the fundamental problem that HTTP is not and never will be appropriate as an application protocol...the whole request/response paradigm becomes a set of handcuffs if your application needs to do anything non-trivial.
A-FREAKING-MEN.
Do they really think that people will pay $20/month (on TOP of their regular DSL/cable/whatever bill) just to "see Christina Aguilera's new music video...exclusively on AOL for Broadband!!". Give me a break. If AOL wants to be in the content business (since their original Internet access business is all but irrelevant now), give me content I want. How about streaming video of every division I NCAA football game on Saturdays? How about the ability to pull up and watch any episode of Seinfeld at any time?
AOL: "But we would have to work out the licensing details, and bandwidth--"
Me: "Shut UP...take my $20/month and MAKE IT HAPPEN."
Too late...prior art. :)
For an interesting and somewhat humorous take on various forms of PC feedback, check out Alan Cooper's famous thesis on the subject.
I just wonder what percentage of Slashdot's demographics will understand this post. :)
Even better, if you are using Windows XP, be sure to get the ClearType Tuner from Microsoft's XP Power Toy site. It reminds me of an eye exam; it allows you to adjust the degree of ClearType-edness to suit your LCD rather than just turning it on or off.
I agree...Roddenberry gets too much credit. He had a good core idea -- a sci-fi TV series as a vehicle to explore meaty issues -- and then had the balls to continue to pound the pavement until it was produced inspite of considerable rejection and ridicule.
But the man couldn't write his way out of a paper bag. Go back and watch TNG's "Encounter at Farpoint", "Hide and Q", or "Datalore" for some fine examples of his writing talent. Let me know what you think...when you finish dry heaving and wretching, that is.
I agree with the parent, particularly with regards to the motion pictures: the less Roddenberry was involved, the better the material.
First of all, while Paul Thurrott has from time to time said some nice things about free/open source projects (Firefox, most recently), the guy practically works for Microsoft and everything that comes from him should be filtered accordingly.
Second, this 'starter edition' of Windows reeks of artificial market segmentation, a la DVD region encoding. Users overseas that presumably can't/won't pay Microsoft prices for Windows turn to piracy, so they are offered a scaled-down (both in price and functionality) version of Windows in the hopes that they will choose to pay something instead of just pirating it. But consumers here in the US (including those for whom this starter edition would be totally acceptable, capability-wise) are deemed to be able to afford the full versions of Windows and are therefore not allowed to so much as REVIEW (including Thurrott, long-time MS puppet), let alone purchase this edition.
Something stinks...
Let me preface this by saying that I am a Christian. The anthropic principle says (roughly) that the universe that we see appears so "perfect" to us simply because if it wasn't...in other words, if it were different (e.g. Earth was a little closer to the sun)...we wouldn't be here to see it and that we are just the (very!) fortunate benefactors of probability. Something to think about.
Now as to WHY we are so lucky as to exist in a universe/galaxy/solar system/etc. that is seemingly tuned for our existence and of course how this universe came to be in the first place: I turn to my faith to answer those questions.
Who cares? Any outrage about this is completely missing the point: Screen Savers is a lost cause.
I remember religously watching Computer Chronicles with Stewart Cheifet when I was younger. I also used to watch TSS regularly; I even upgraded my cable package to one that included ZDTV just for the show. It was (although at times a bit basic) funny, informative, etc.
I lost track of the show when they moved to L.A. and got rid of Pat and Leo. I turned it on a week or so ago just to see what was going on these days...just in time for an insightful discussion about the word "scrotum", complete with snorting and giggling from the new adolescent "hosts"...and a new set that looks like something that a 7 year old would come up with if you asked them to imagine their dream playroom.
Thanks, Comcast...thanks for not only failing to recognize quality TV, but apparently actively setting out to flush it down the toilet.
Is it just me, or does that sound like it should be the title of a Heinlein book?
The linked article is only slightly more clear than the story blurb, but it sounds like only 60% of "gadget lovers" keep 1,000-2,000 music files on their devices. The /. story makes it sound like 60% of all Britons do...that seems a bit high.
I'm not going to call you ignorant, because I myself have noticed be a bit of acronymic presumption on the part of Slashdot editors...and it seems to be especially common in gaming-related stories. I've lost count of how many stories concerning the "DS" or the "PSP" (products that have barely been released) have been posted that fail to actually mention what they ARE.
Now I can understand not defining "PHP" or "RIAA"...but not everyone stays on the cutting edge of game technology. Anyway...
DS
PSP
So, in the finest tradition of AOL...
"ME TOO!!!1!"
Seriously, does anyone remember the days when AOL was actually a unique, innovative company as opposed to a punchline?
I think you've hit the nail on the head, but I'd take your explanation one step further: there is a cultural stigma in this country attached to learning or academic achievement of ANY KIND. You simply can't teach someone who doesn't WANT to learn.
I honestly can't explain this...it might be because some young people see no relevant benefits to an education. The standard-bearers of "success" that they see are extremely wealthy musicians, actors, professional athletes, etc.
Unfortunately, I think our education system is going in the wrong direction; instead of challenging students to excel, the bar is lowered and simply "trying" will earn you a passing grade.
I was mentored in my first job out of college by a guy who helped McConnell write the new edition...the first edition did more to make me a better developer than any book on a specific language, technology, etc. and the second edition refreshed the code examples with current programming language, incorporated class and OO design, refactoring, and more modern development methods. Good stuff, check it out.
I worked at a development shop in Little Rock, Arkansas for a couple of years before getting married and moving to a very large U.S. city (I think it is #4 currently) when my wife was accepted to medical school here, so I think I'm qualified to do a bit of comparison.
I think that there are a lot of cities in the U.S. in the 100,000 - 200,000 population range that people don't really consider for whatever reason, either as places to live or for corporations. Little Rock, for example, had most of the shopping, dining, etc. of a larger city but without nearly as much pollution and traffic and with a lower cost of living to boot. To respond specifically to some of the comments I've seen in this thread so far: we had Starbucks, pizza delivery, clubs/raves (if that is your thing), a symphony orchestra, and a minor league baseball team (the only thing that I would miss if I moved back would be the professional sports).
I think there is rural, as in one gas station, one stoplight, and a Sonic...and then there is "rural", as in "not one of the 50 largest cities in the US", and I think businesses would do well to look more closely at the latter.
Although I understand what you mean, I think it is important to encourage development to standards, not a particular browser (even if it is Firefox). A site the takes advantage of Firefox-specific quirks in its HTML or CSS rendering (although I don't know of any such quirks) would be no better than one of the infamous "IE required" sites.
But I'd bet that the time it would take for the Firefox team to get a fix out would be measured in days, not months...
If you have broadband, you can do what my wife and I did...get a cheapo $30 web cam, and set up a shoutcast server. All of the software needed to get it up and running is free (you'll need WinAMP or a video player that plays NSV to view the stream, but it will work anywhere with a 'net connection). I set mine to 10fps, which seems to be a good balance between video quality and bandwidth use.
The NCAA Football line of games from EA Sports has been my favorite time-sucker lately, but the Pontiac ads in the latest version (2005) have me more than a little bit ticked off...I don't particularly like being forced to watch a Pontiac car skid across the field in between EVERY FREAKING PLAY in the game's "college classics" mode. Very disappointing, considering that a college football game is a rare case where some well-placed non-intrusive advertising could actually make the game more realistic.
YEARS ago, we had an old IBM dot matrix printer that our cat would sleep next to (presumably because it was warm). One day we discovered that she had thrown up a freaking hairball...INTO the printer. It had fallen down onto the circuit boards, so we cleaned it out with q-tips as best we could. We managed to get most of it out and the printer worked fine until we upgraded to ink jet years later.
the Opportunity rover has found a 'razorback'
...previously found only at University of Arkansas athletic events. :)