Okay, sorry for double posting, but the site seems to have come back up (or perhaps something flaky happened to my net connection, but at the Signup page, you can select any state! I just signed up as an Indiana resident (forged, of course) and then went back and created a new account, and selected Idaho as my home state, and it still accepted my registration!
My guess is, they're using some template form, and they forgot to take out the state box. Anyone want to double check?
Tried to create an account, but the site's getting slow. Anyway, at the whatis page says:
Every student, every parent, every business, EVERYONE who lives in the State of Indiana can use SimIndiana. The only requirement is that you register for the software with a valid Indiana address.
Can't we forge an address anyway? NY Times thinks I'm from Anchorage, Alaska.
If you create a document in SimWord® (SimIndiana's word processor), you do not have to save it to a disk or to a computer's hard drive. With SimIndiana, you have the option to save your document in your virtual drive on the SimIndiana server.
It's simply a glorified virtual hard disk service, paid for by the government.
My first reaction was, "Well, you linked to what looks like a small business site, so either that site's going down or the hosting fees with bankrupt the company". But I digress.
that detracts from both my geek-drive and my wallet, both of which I'd prefer to keep as full as possible."
Well, I think your wallet's going to be drained either way. You need specialized components, software, etc for a completely automated solution. And even that's not going to be the end-all (corners, adjacent to fences, etc)
I would say start with a remote-controlled (as opposed to computer-controlled; mods, there is a difference) solution, see if you can rip apart some RC Cars, take their steering equipment out, see if you can interface to them using a RC Helicopter Remote or RC Airplane Remotes, connect up the servos, and perhaps sprinkle some detectors around your lawn.
Computer controlled would be difficult, to say the least. Perhaps even a Masters level thesis or a really good undergraduate senior project. Hell, if you can make it fairly cheap and efficient, you have your own business.
I'd do it. In a heartbeat. An 80% chance of living is pretty decent, especially if I would be seeing things no other human being alive (or ever) has seen before.
I've always had an interest in spaceflight, and in studying asteroids. I'd gladly give up a lot of things for the chance to fly up into space and live there, study there, put myself into the history books, etc.
Risk is always present. I might get run over by a truck tomorrow, or perhaps some Muslim bozo SOB will drop a nuke on Chicago and I'll die. But it's a calculated risk. 80% chance of living is a nice tradeoff against being able to see what nobody has ever seen before, has studied before.
I doubt, even if the crew of the Columbia knew they were going to die before they boarded that craft, that they would have refused to go. Spaceflight is a damn risky business. But who cares? Certainly the Wrights didn't. Certainly Chuck Yeager in his X-1 didn't. Certainly the guy who piloted the SpaceShipOne didn't.
I really can't understand the people who say spaceflight is risky and so we shouldn't do it. Everything entails risks. I'm sorry. But that's the way life is.
I remember a quote by somebody, I'll mangle it, but paraphrasing, it's, "The adventurous might not live long, certainly, but the scared do not live at all."
Definitely how I feel, and, if I may take liberties, probably how many geeks feel.
...although you have to wonder what happens if something breaks. Doesn't the human heart use electrical pulses to actuate it's muscles? What happens if the person wearing this gets electrocuted by an outside source?
No, I have the same scheme as the grandparent poster, and my amazon registered email address is amazon@[mydomain].com. I set this up about 2 years ago, so maybe it's a new block, but I haven't gotten any request to change my email or anything....
Yeah, I have 6-7 Yahoo accounts (use them as spam collectors, just give them away when annoying sites require an email address). Two of them I've had for a couple of years now, and they're at 6 MB. The rest of them (which were opened up within 1-3 years from now) are at 4 MB.
I go to Madison (Engineering major), and I read in the school newspapers last school year (2003-2004) that Netgear is giving something like $50,000 dollars to the DoIT (Department of Information Technology) folks. (DoIT handles the school network, public computers, labs, and so on). So that's pretty much cleared up. Of course, the school newspapers didn't mention that Netgear had flooded the U's time server, but made it seem that because this U rocked so much, they decided to give the money.....
Definitely going to try this stuff out. I'm a what people would call a Pokemon fanatic, have all the Pokemon Game Boy, GameCube and Nintendo 64 games (and occasionally duplicates of the same cartridge;-) ), with all of them beat. (Okay, ladies and gentlemen, start your jokes).
But anyway, this looks _extremely_ nice, this might be useful as a screen to display quick stats on a server, or just as a game platform. Again, very nice job.
Low cost reliable web hosting. 800MB of storage for $7.95/mo. aff
LunarPages Secrets
The reasons why you Should and Should Not host with LunarPages.
Lunar Pages
Web Hosting for real Webmasters Taking your site higher - Aff.
Lunar Pages Web Hosting
Responding Personally to All Your Hosting Needs. Give us a try! aff
Yeah, Google here totally screws it up, since it's associating lunar hosting (start the jokes on web servers on the moon) with lunar eclipses. Guess it can't be helped though. I clicked on an ad, just to give you an extra clickthough, FYI.
First three times, someone picked up the phone, then hung it back up again. I could hear phones almost ringing themselves off the hook in the background. Next ten times, it just rang, and rang, and rang.....
I really should be getting back to studying for my finals, but a few more calls shouldn't hurt anyone;-)
I just played the game on a U of Wisc @ Madison public computer. AMD Athlon 1.39 GHz processor, 256 MB ram. It works fine. I played the first level, so here are some quick tips:
On my Windows computer, the four arrow keys were direction, and spacebar fired the character's weapon.
Attack the red circle things on the ground. I didn't realize this at first and simply ran over them, and my character got hurt.
There are powerups floating around in bubbles. I believe they only contain weapons powerups, but I can't be sure.
In addition, at each corner of the field, there are powerups that don't go away. Pop into those when you're feeling weak.
When you fire your weapon, a green meter with a symbol of a spoon in a bowl goes down. I think that what you're actually doing using is firing chicken soup at the enemy. It's an interesting metaphor for a weapon.
The most powerful weapon, IMHO, is the weapon with a rocket symbol. It's an area attack weapon, where you fire a single rocket, and when that rocket hits a red cell area (grouping of red circles going up and down) the rocket breaks into multiple smaller rockets and they all break into different directions. Think MIRV (Multiple Independent Reentry Vehicles, for you non-military people).
I would be really interesting in the technical specs of the program. Did they develop their own physics engine for the game, or did they borrow LucasArts code? If the physics and 3D stuff had to be developed from scratch, then that could very easily account for the months spent in development. Some things I'd like to see are:
A bomb type weapon, where one blast totally annihilates all targets within a given radius from the bomb detonation. Perhaps the metaphor of chemotherapy would work here?
Some kind of salt-the-earth weapon, where once you clear an area, you pour some kind of antibiotic to make sure no enemy ever grows there again.
Moderate the speed. You can go really fast in the game without trying real hard, but that's a problem, since you need to slow down and blast the enemy. Some kind of speed maximum would be terrific.
Play from the vantage point of the character. That might be a little bit difficult to program (I don't know much about 3d graphics programming) but it would be cool.
It's a fun game. No doubt about that. Graphics are nice, physics are good, based on a solid principal, etc.
I'm a freshman at the U of Wisconsin @ Madison. The Data Engineering book looks interesting, but how much math do I need to understand it? I've had calculus already, and basic statistics.
Dumbass mods, the article reads:
Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The mods can't even RTFA...
As a broadcaster, you wouldn't have to own the copyright in what you broadcast, but you could still stop people from recording your broadcast, reproducing it or distributing it.
I say if you don't have the copyright to what you broadcast, you shouldn't have the right to prevent redistribution.
Vinny, DPS No:[blanked out] is the dispatch no of the box which you
will recive you do not have to replace the LCD your self you
just have to send the system to depot we will replace the system
LCD and and send it back to you . All you need to do is call
airborn an get an Box.
RTS#[blanked out] for the system to be picked up and returned to the
repair facility. To have the system picked up, you will need
to call 1-877-335-5782. This is Airborne Express and is a number
that handles the repair depot returns for this system. Please
give the Airborne Express dispatcher the following information.
An English teacher would have a panic attack looking at these paragraphs. This, by the way, is copied from a Dell Support email I got a few days ago (My Inspiron's LCD screen is acting up).
Slashdot Mirror
Okay, sorry for double posting, but the site seems to have come back up (or perhaps something flaky happened to my net connection, but at the Signup page, you can select any state! I just signed up as an Indiana resident (forged, of course) and then went back and created a new account, and selected Idaho as my home state, and it still accepted my registration!
My guess is, they're using some template form, and they forgot to take out the state box. Anyone want to double check?
Tried to create an account, but the site's getting slow. Anyway, at the whatis page says:
Every student, every parent, every business, EVERYONE who lives in the State of Indiana can use SimIndiana. The only requirement is that you register for the software with a valid Indiana address.
Can't we forge an address anyway? NY Times thinks I'm from Anchorage, Alaska.
If you create a document in SimWord® (SimIndiana's word processor), you do not have to save it to a disk or to a computer's hard drive. With SimIndiana, you have the option to save your document in your virtual drive on the SimIndiana server.
It's simply a glorified virtual hard disk service, paid for by the government.
Terrific, the 25th is only TOMORROW.
However, the British (at least Londoners) are less than three hours away from tomorrow.
My first reaction was, "Well, you linked to what looks like a small business site, so either that site's going down or the hosting fees with bankrupt the company". But I digress.
that detracts from both my geek-drive and my wallet, both of which I'd prefer to keep as full as possible."
Well, I think your wallet's going to be drained either way. You need specialized components, software, etc for a completely automated solution. And even that's not going to be the end-all (corners, adjacent to fences, etc)
I would say start with a remote-controlled (as opposed to computer-controlled; mods, there is a difference) solution, see if you can rip apart some RC Cars, take their steering equipment out, see if you can interface to them using a RC Helicopter Remote or RC Airplane Remotes, connect up the servos, and perhaps sprinkle some detectors around your lawn.
Computer controlled would be difficult, to say the least. Perhaps even a Masters level thesis or a really good undergraduate senior project. Hell, if you can make it fairly cheap and efficient, you have your own business.
I'd do it. In a heartbeat. An 80% chance of living is pretty decent, especially if I would be seeing things no other human being alive (or ever) has seen before.
I've always had an interest in spaceflight, and in studying asteroids. I'd gladly give up a lot of things for the chance to fly up into space and live there, study there, put myself into the history books, etc.
Risk is always present. I might get run over by a truck tomorrow, or perhaps some Muslim bozo SOB will drop a nuke on Chicago and I'll die. But it's a calculated risk. 80% chance of living is a nice tradeoff against being able to see what nobody has ever seen before, has studied before.
I doubt, even if the crew of the Columbia knew they were going to die before they boarded that craft, that they would have refused to go. Spaceflight is a damn risky business. But who cares? Certainly the Wrights didn't. Certainly Chuck Yeager in his X-1 didn't. Certainly the guy who piloted the SpaceShipOne didn't.
I really can't understand the people who say spaceflight is risky and so we shouldn't do it. Everything entails risks. I'm sorry. But that's the way life is.
I remember a quote by somebody, I'll mangle it, but paraphrasing, it's, "The adventurous might not live long, certainly, but the scared do not live at all."
Definitely how I feel, and, if I may take liberties, probably how many geeks feel.
...although you have to wonder what happens if something breaks. Doesn't the human heart use electrical pulses to actuate it's muscles? What happens if the person wearing this gets electrocuted by an outside source?
At least it's a whole lot faster this way ;-)
if you have an extra, whirlcavern@yahoo.com
No, I have the same scheme as the grandparent poster, and my amazon registered email address is amazon@[mydomain].com. I set this up about 2 years ago, so maybe it's a new block, but I haven't gotten any request to change my email or anything....
Yeah, I have 6-7 Yahoo accounts (use them as spam collectors, just give them away when annoying sites require an email address). Two of them I've had for a couple of years now, and they're at 6 MB. The rest of them (which were opened up within 1-3 years from now) are at 4 MB.
Can we put our own distros on the computers, see what they can really do?
I go to Madison (Engineering major), and I read in the school newspapers last school year (2003-2004) that Netgear is giving something like $50,000 dollars to the DoIT (Department of Information Technology) folks. (DoIT handles the school network, public computers, labs, and so on). So that's pretty much cleared up. Of course, the school newspapers didn't mention that Netgear had flooded the U's time server, but made it seem that because this U rocked so much, they decided to give the money.....
The Robots Exclusion Protocol (i.e. robots.txt.
Here's Google's stance on the subject (boils down to you don't want it indexed, put in a damn robots.txt file)
Hell, even Google News uses robots.txt
Definitely going to try this stuff out. I'm a what people would call a Pokemon fanatic, have all the Pokemon Game Boy, GameCube and Nintendo 64 games (and occasionally duplicates of the same cartridge ;-) ), with all of them beat. (Okay, ladies and gentlemen, start your jokes).
But anyway, this looks _extremely_ nice, this might be useful as a screen to display quick stats on a server, or just as a game platform. Again, very nice job.
Low cost reliable web hosting. 800MB of storage for $7.95/mo. aff
The reasons why you Should and Should Not host with LunarPages.
Web Hosting for real Webmasters Taking your site higher - Aff.
Responding Personally to All Your Hosting Needs. Give us a try! aff
Yeah, Google here totally screws it up, since it's associating lunar hosting (start the jokes on web servers on the moon) with lunar eclipses. Guess it can't be helped though. I clicked on an ad, just to give you an extra clickthough, FYI.
First three times, someone picked up the phone, then hung it back up again. I could hear phones almost ringing themselves off the hook in the background. Next ten times, it just rang, and rang, and rang.....
;-)
I really should be getting back to studying for my finals, but a few more calls shouldn't hurt anyone
I would be really interesting in the technical specs of the program. Did they develop their own physics engine for the game, or did they borrow LucasArts code? If the physics and 3D stuff had to be developed from scratch, then that could very easily account for the months spent in development. Some things I'd like to see are:
It's a fun game. No doubt about that. Graphics are nice, physics are good, based on a solid principal, etc.
I'm a freshman at the U of Wisconsin @ Madison. The Data Engineering book looks interesting, but how much math do I need to understand it? I've had calculus already, and basic statistics.
Dumbass mods, the article reads:
Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The mods can't even RTFA...
That's an entire Ph.D. thesis in CS!
But how would the costs be measured?
As a broadcaster, you wouldn't have to own the copyright in what you broadcast, but you could still stop people from recording your broadcast, reproducing it or distributing it.
I say if you don't have the copyright to what you broadcast, you shouldn't have the right to prevent redistribution.
Same with "litigious bastards! Gotta love that Google!
Be careful, and read the Contest Rules. There might be a provision saying that Sun owns any code submitted.
Okay, then check this out:
:[blanked out] is the dispatch no of the box which you
will recive you do not have to replace the LCD your self you
just have to send the system to depot we will replace the system
LCD and and send it back to you . All you need to do is call
airborn an get an Box.
Vinny, DPS No
RTS#[blanked out] for the system to be picked up and returned to the repair facility. To have the system picked up, you will need to call 1-877-335-5782. This is Airborne Express and is a number that handles the repair depot returns for this system. Please give the Airborne Express dispatcher the following information.
An English teacher would have a panic attack looking at these paragraphs. This, by the way, is copied from a Dell Support email I got a few days ago (My Inspiron's LCD screen is acting up).