I stay off Windows as much as possible because I'm tired of an operating system patronizing my skills as a computer professional. I am tired of being constantly asked to confirm or deny the actions I take. I am tired of windows and popups offering to help me with this or that when I just want them all to shut up and go away.
Windows has mass appeal for those unfamiliar with computers because it hand-holds and coddles all the way, making those who are fearful to even touch a keyboard at ease enough to surf the web, send email, and order jockey shorts from eBay.
However, Microsoft says that Windows is a professional-grade OS suitable for programming, computer science, and complex development. Yet this OS still treats me like I am a two year old. No, I don't want you to ask me before throwing it in the fucking trash. Yes, I want to view my files...ALL of my goddamn files, thank you very much. I don't GIVE A SHIT if changing the extension makes the file unusable or inaccessible or even if it blows up China...JUST DO IT!
I'm just waiting for Qantas (crash free since...well...forever) gets this on their 747-438 Longreach crafts. They're already putting in AC and PC power outlets for business class and progressively moving them backwards to accomodate your myriad of consumer electronics. Since my wife is Australian, when we fly back and forth it'd be great to have Wi-Fi to pass the time. The first 4 hours of the flight are interesting, but somewhere around hour 12 of the 14.5 to 15 hour flight to Sydney, you really think about opening a window for entertainment value.
Cross country I can see just wanting to have some booze and relax, but after that, it'd be nice to do something constructive.
I am a programmer, and I suck at math. I've always been able to get through it but I'm horrible at it, it doesn't "click" with me, and I've had to work hard and long to get through any problems whatsoever.
I took Calculus I through a community college affiliation while a senior in HS. I did all right...B+/A- average. Nothing spectacular, and I had to really bust my butt to get it.
Upon arriving at college I enrolled in CalcII and was blown away within 4 weeks because of the vast chasm between the two classes, let alone how quickly the concepts of CalcI left my mind. I quickly dropped it and was much disheartened.
My advisor said I would need to start over; I had to have higher maths in order to be a computer programmer. I was frustrated and very depressed...computers came extremely easy, maths did not. I felt Very Screwed(tm).
Then I was visiting another CS professor in his office, a brilliant man, and we got talking about it. He said it was bullshit; if you've had algebra and geometry and a basic understanding of trig, unless you were going into game programming, advanced research, or something like AI, you didn't need more than that. Enlightened, I gave up trying to do higher maths and never did another class in them in college.
And you know what? I've never, never needed what I don't have. The concepts and ideas I've retained from algebra, geometry, trig, and basic math have covered my ass more times than I dare say, and concepts in computer science have crossed any gaps that existed (discrete structures, etc.) I have no doubt that if I pursue a higher degree in CS that I'll need to take some or if I decided to get into graphics or such.
Remember: Your education isn't as much as WHAT you know but that you know how to LEARN what you need to know. Develop your skill to be able to figure things out on your own and you'll prosper more than trying to remember vague abstract theories and theorms.
I just thought I would give a bit of feedback on your banner blocking blocking (?) policy.
First, I think that if you cannot encourage subscriptions by members-only content or other benefits, perhaps you need to rethink the design of your site. There are many sites that I gladly pay a subscription to because the benefits offered to subscribed members is worth my time and the value is good.
Secondly, I believe that the issue here is trust. Websites have lost my trust as a user when it concerns advertising. Although you say your site does not use pop-over/pop-under ads or other more annoying forms thereof, there are sites that do. There are also sites where the advertising content is overdone or oppressive; hence, in addition to regular popup blockers I run a custom HOSTS file to block ad content. I am tired of being mentally violated by the Internet.
Thirdly, I find that ads are next to never effective when not properly directed. As an anonymous user to your site, you do not know about me or my preferences, my likes or dislikes, or my interests. Hence, your ads cannot be properly directed towards my interests. If websites would take more of an interest in directing their ad campaigns so that visitors would see things that they would possibly purchase, I believe the effectiveness would go up incredibly. Some sites do -- Amazon is a prime example of showing me things related to my interests. More sites could take that example.
Finally, I want you to know that I am not against online advertising. I think that it can be an effective way of generating revenue and, honestly, there are few ways of doing so if you are not selling actual products. However, your current ad processes will prevent me from visiting again as I cannot yet trust sites to deliver to me an experience that is worth my time when dealing with advertising.
That's the first time I've seen the words "balls" and "Windows" in the same sentence.
SSDD, folks. Every major news source and all the minor ones from InternetWeek to Kumquat Digest are speculating on what Linux will do. You know what? I have a new revelation. Linux will come to the desktop when and if it feels like it, when and if it wants to, and you WILL NOT NOTICE IT. You know how I know this? Linux appeared on the scene in the first damn place in a manner so quiet that very few read the newsgroup posting. It grew and distributions started so subtly that most people didn't hear about them until several versions later.
The Angel of the Lord(tm) did NOT appear to me with RedHat install CDs one evening. I got a small email from my roommate saying, "Hey, you ever heard of this Linux thing?"
Linux has never been and, I suspect, will never be the sort of software and/or community to burst into a room, prancing on a stage like a monkey on crack, and shouting to the audience because he "loves this company". We'll be the dude in the back, sippin' a cup of java and poring over the light board while talking to the theatre technician. 'Cause you see, we're not all about fanfare, but we're still running the show. Someday you'll look down and you'll have been running Linux for a year and go, "Now, where in the hell did THAT come from?"
Agreed with every point of yours except the "speeding" part. Yes, stiffer fines for recklessness. But speeding doesn't cause accidents. Sure, if you get into an accident at a higher speed you're more likely to kill/injure yourself and the person(s) you hit, but speed itself doesn't cause the problem...it's idiot drivers that cause the problem.
Not that I'm opposed to speed limits and laws, but as I've proposed before, I'd like to see different licenses for those allowed to go at higher speeds if they take training to handle it and drive vehicles designed to be run at those speeds. I currently drive a car designed very well for high speeds (03 Mitsu Eclipse GTS), yet if I want to utilize this machine to its potential, I have to do it on a back road out of the way, not when I need it (say, to make up time being late for a meeting, etc). Some days it is like using a 2.2GHz CPU clocked down to 500mHz.
At any rate, the point stands: Speeding doesn't cause accidents, stupid drivers do. So kudos to all the other points you've made.
Re:How best to implement an MP3 server?
on
Control-Alt-Recycle
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· Score: 2, Informative
Depending on what network sharing method you are using, you can usually have the protocol buffer some to avoid hiccups. I run an MP3 server that decodes from a fileserver across a 10Mbit link. NFS happily buffers the connection so not only do I get some insurance against network bumps but if the fileserver goes down, the player just blocks until it comes back up and then happily continues on its way. Works like a charm.
My statement, of course, was not to provoke your ire. I never said it was *practical* in the long run to be able to drive fast, I just said it would be convenient. Oftentimes we weigh convenience against practicalities or larger issues.
While I'm not an environmentalist freak, I am cautious about my treatment of the earth. That being said, my good treatment will do nothing to lessen the poor treatment of every gas-guzzling SUV owner out there who is currently using the same amount of gas that I would be should I be allowed to drive faster in my efficient sportscar.
Hence, the convenience of being able to do so outweighs the negative effects of it, simply because it won't matter...the gas will be used up one way or another, either by morons who drive cars at 120mph or morons who drive cars that get 8mpg. Until you get everyone to be efficient, your part in trying to save the world means squat. Hence, it'd be convenient to be able to drive that fast.
I know what you're thinking..."but if I can lead by example..." well, that's good, but people have been trying by example for ages and the idiots keep muliplying. I don't see an end to it until the oil supply is short enough to FORCE everyone to be good about it. Until then, people will be dicks because they can. I appreciate optimism, but I try to accept reality.
Anywho...I agree with your statement that it's not a good thing for the gas mileage. Absolutely correct. That aside, being able to use my car to its full abilities would be nice for a change.
True enough, but if I don't care about my fuel savings? I think while the fuel savings are good and noble, my ability to go from NYC to LA in less than 24 hours and potentially MUCH less would make me happy.
Plus, driving a cool car at a high speed for a long period would rock.:)
I'd like to see something that I've thought about for a long time -- different licenses for different roads.
Here's the concept: You have one general driver's license that gets you anywhere, basically, on standard roads. But a new driver's license that allows you onto a type of super-super-highway to be built across the USA. This highway would be several lanes wide for ease and safety, and the speed limit would be high -- say, 150mph. The minimum would be at least 85 or 90mph.
The idea being here that if I am a driver with a good record, I can take a high-speed driving course and if I pass and install some standard, high-speed accessories in my car (3 or 4-point harnesses, etc), I am allowed to drive on the super-super highway and make a cross-country trip in very little time.
The fact is, there's plenty of morons who should never go over the speedlimit due to the fact that they can't even use a turn signal, let alone drive correctly. But there are plenty of safe, alert, attentive drivers who would benefit from being able to run their well-designed fast cars on a highway suited to their needs.
Plus, that way I wouldn't feel bad about kicking it up on a back highway because the day is gorgeous and 60mph is just too slow.:)
...smart, responsive and self-healing digital network--in short, an 'energy internet'.
Oh, you mean like the Internet is now? You mean that when Alter.net takes a dump in Ohio that I will still be able to get to the east coast, albeit through a more round-about way? That even if major fibre in the West gets backhoed that I'll be able to get to Australia, maybe through England first?
Although originally designed to be, the Internet is NOT completely fault-tolerant, smart, responsive, or self-healing. In fact, some parts are downright fragile...hit the right router and a lot of lines go dark.
Now, maybe the electric grid would be easier to make tolerant due to the way the distribution is setup, or maybe not (I'm no expert). Monitoring is all good, but building something that is less likely to break is better. I can monitor my servers all I want and be paged like crazy when they go down, but if I don't have good hardware to start with, I'll be running to work at 3am an awful lot.
Building something that is inherently fault-tolerant seems to me to be a better "first" than just improving the monitoring of an already fragile system.
The problem with recipes and such is that tastes vary so much, how do you know what one person thinks is just the shit in food won't taste horrific to you? I think that's why you have family cookbooks and such.
My college roommates and I lived together for a year and we know what each other likes. Thus, we assembed an online beer/pub/recipe site so we can continue to share with each other what we consider to be good. Since we know each other's tastes, we're almost sure to like everything on there between us.
Global recipe books are just too broad to appeal and make it easy to pick out winners.
First: I am very, very glad that you love and care for your pets. There are plenty of people in the world who do not and they should be disdained as much as those who don't care for their children. Neglect is neglect.
That being said, I am very, very disturbed and oftentimes annoyed by those who anthropomorphosize their pets. While your dog may be the best thing in the world to you, it is still a dog. I have friends who refuse to come visit because "the dog couldn't possibly be alone that long". One friend's mother scolded her dog and the daughter piped up, "Mom, you can't do that! He's sensitive! He's a little dog in a big dog's body!" Needless to say, statements like this lead me to conclude that these people have lost the reality of what they have.
If you have pets, please understand that they are pets, animals, but NOT human. They may exhibit traits which can be humanlike, but they do not have the functionality of a real human nor should be treated like one. Dogs could give a damn about the web, the Internet, or what color their doggie sweater is. Leaving your pet in its cage/enclosure with adequate food and water while you go visit a friend for the afternoon is NOT going to severely damage them mentally. Etc.
Please always keep in mind the attributes that pets have and the attributes that humans have and assign to each their proper dues and respect, but don't mix them up. It's not healthy or intelligent.
For all those that replied, thanks. Interesting points, some of you, the others are just idiots.
My point, of course, was that Gimp isn't for the mainstream user. And that's fine -- it doesn't have to be. Maybe it's intended for more intense people with more time to climb the learning curve slope.
PSP was something that took me very little time to learn to do things as simple as a circle OR as complex as an inner bevel (which is two mouse clicks in PSP). The Gimp might be powerful enough to do that, but it isn't intuitive in that I don't need to read the manual to figure it out eventually just by playing around (which is how I learned PSP...who needs a manual when you can "get it" after a bit?)
I'm not giving up on the Gimp, I think it has lots of potential, but it's certainly not something I can give to my mother and she'll figure it out, nor is it something that I can easily think, "Oh, I want to use gradients today" and easily find in 5 minutes.
I view the Gimp as a very extensible, flexible program.
That being said, it's completely unusable for long periods of time by a guy who, admittedly, is NOT a graphic artist.
I use graphics programs like secretaries use computers. I want it to do what I want it to do, I don't want to know why, I don't want to know when, and I sure as hell don't want to have to spend a half hour figuring out HOW to do something. Ever tried to do something like a inner bevel in Gimp? I'm sure it can be done, but for the life of me I can't figure it out. And that, to me, is a failure of the program for users such as myself.
Maybe you graphics types find it just fine, but it certainly doesn't work for us reg'ler folks.
To bend the book's metaphor, knowing how a carburetor works isn't the thing that makes you a good race driver.
When you are a programmer, you are NOT the driver -- you are the engine builder. You are the person who has to know how it works lest you can't fix it when it breaks. You have to know why it's only getting 5 miles to the gallon instead of 10. You have to know when you are preventing that extra horsepower from coming through because of some other needed feature.
You're right...assembly is the basics. And if you don't have the basics down, how will you have a proper foundation for the rest of your knowledge?
Assembly programming has been invaluable in my career...not because I actually do it, but because it gives me a mindset -- I think about what is happening behind the scenes when I write a function -- the operations involved just to push a new function pointer onto the stack, load the variables, save the program counter, etc. It has made me aware and prevented me from making dumb programming mistakes that would have cost a lot in terms of performance and resources.
Of course, just knowing assembly doesn't make you good. You have to have all the other skills on top, as well as a quick and thorough mind. But it's a GREAT place to start on the road to excellence.
Fair enough. I was thinking that "plasma" ray gun sounded cooler...it didn't have a neat name like "plasma". But nice point. Perhaps Captain Shamerica will be victorious after all.:)
This will not do! I demand that the scientists come up with a name for this stuff that is more fun. You just can't use this properly in sci-fi films. Observe:
Captain Shamerica: Cease and desist, foul scum! Grokthor: Never! *rowr* Captain Shamerica: Then I shall blast you with my fermionic condensate ray!
See? Poor Captain Shamerica now looks like a pussy because he's using some weirdo-thingy to whack the bad guys.
I still use IE at work because on the old machines we use for Internet browsing (PHB is paranoid, won't let Internet at your desktop) are like 233's and such...anything besides IE takes too long to load and too much overhead to make it work a dingo's kidney.
At home, of course, I'm Konqueror.:) I've tried Firebird before but it was bloody unstable at the time...maybe I'll give it another shot and see.
I'll let someone else figure out how expensive an entire house would be to insulate.
Ok, I'll bite.
That piece is 16 in^3. Thus, it's about $60.94 per cubic inch.
Let's take a 16'x16' room -- not a bad size for a living room or such. 16'x16' is 192"x192".
Figure our 2x4 studs are 16" on center. That makes for 12 stud spaces (the space between studs) in a wall, or 48 stud spaces for the room (this room has no doors, windows, etc.)
That makes the space between studs (ignoring the size of the stud itself) as being 84x4x16 or 5,376 in^3.
5,376 times 48 is 258,048 in^3.
Aerogel insulation at $60.94 a cubic inch for 258,048 cubic inches is $15,725,445.12.
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I stay off Windows as much as possible because I'm tired of an operating system patronizing my skills as a computer professional. I am tired of being constantly asked to confirm or deny the actions I take. I am tired of windows and popups offering to help me with this or that when I just want them all to shut up and go away.
Windows has mass appeal for those unfamiliar with computers because it hand-holds and coddles all the way, making those who are fearful to even touch a keyboard at ease enough to surf the web, send email, and order jockey shorts from eBay.
However, Microsoft says that Windows is a professional-grade OS suitable for programming, computer science, and complex development. Yet this OS still treats me like I am a two year old. No, I don't want you to ask me before throwing it in the fucking trash. Yes, I want to view my files...ALL of my goddamn files, thank you very much. I don't GIVE A SHIT if changing the extension makes the file unusable or inaccessible or even if it blows up China...JUST DO IT!
Hence: Yes, I DID mean to type: format c:
Blog = Web Log
Plog = Project Log
I have a new one:
Flog = $%&# Log - for all you aspiring mackdaddies out there.
I'm just waiting for Qantas (crash free since...well...forever) gets this on their 747-438 Longreach crafts. They're already putting in AC and PC power outlets for business class and progressively moving them backwards to accomodate your myriad of consumer electronics. Since my wife is Australian, when we fly back and forth it'd be great to have Wi-Fi to pass the time. The first 4 hours of the flight are interesting, but somewhere around hour 12 of the 14.5 to 15 hour flight to Sydney, you really think about opening a window for entertainment value.
Cross country I can see just wanting to have some booze and relax, but after that, it'd be nice to do something constructive.
I am a programmer, and I suck at math. I've always been able to get through it but I'm horrible at it, it doesn't "click" with me, and I've had to work hard and long to get through any problems whatsoever.
I took Calculus I through a community college affiliation while a senior in HS. I did all right...B+/A- average. Nothing spectacular, and I had to really bust my butt to get it.
Upon arriving at college I enrolled in CalcII and was blown away within 4 weeks because of the vast chasm between the two classes, let alone how quickly the concepts of CalcI left my mind. I quickly dropped it and was much disheartened.
My advisor said I would need to start over; I had to have higher maths in order to be a computer programmer. I was frustrated and very depressed...computers came extremely easy, maths did not. I felt Very Screwed(tm).
Then I was visiting another CS professor in his office, a brilliant man, and we got talking about it. He said it was bullshit; if you've had algebra and geometry and a basic understanding of trig, unless you were going into game programming, advanced research, or something like AI, you didn't need more than that. Enlightened, I gave up trying to do higher maths and never did another class in them in college.
And you know what? I've never, never needed what I don't have. The concepts and ideas I've retained from algebra, geometry, trig, and basic math have covered my ass more times than I dare say, and concepts in computer science have crossed any gaps that existed (discrete structures, etc.) I have no doubt that if I pursue a higher degree in CS that I'll need to take some or if I decided to get into graphics or such.
Remember: Your education isn't as much as WHAT you know but that you know how to LEARN what you need to know. Develop your skill to be able to figure things out on your own and you'll prosper more than trying to remember vague abstract theories and theorms.
My reply to their webmaster:
I just thought I would give a bit of feedback on your banner blocking blocking (?) policy.
First, I think that if you cannot encourage subscriptions by members-only content or other benefits, perhaps you need to rethink the design of your site. There are many sites that I gladly pay a subscription to because the benefits offered to subscribed members is worth my time and the value is good.
Secondly, I believe that the issue here is trust. Websites have lost my trust as a user when it concerns advertising. Although you say your site does not use pop-over/pop-under ads or other more annoying forms thereof, there are sites that do. There are also sites where the advertising content is overdone or oppressive; hence, in addition to regular popup blockers I run a custom HOSTS file to block ad content. I am tired of being mentally violated by the Internet.
Thirdly, I find that ads are next to never effective when not properly directed. As an anonymous user to your site, you do not know about me or my preferences, my likes or dislikes, or my interests. Hence, your ads cannot be properly directed towards my interests. If websites would take more of an interest in directing their ad campaigns so that visitors would see things that they would possibly purchase, I believe the effectiveness would go up incredibly. Some sites do -- Amazon is a prime example of showing me things related to my interests. More sites could take that example.
Finally, I want you to know that I am not against online advertising. I think that it can be an effective way of generating revenue and, honestly, there are few ways of doing so if you are not selling actual products. However, your current ad processes will prevent me from visiting again as I cannot yet trust sites to deliver to me an experience that is worth my time when dealing with advertising.
My comment is released under the MIT License so go ahead. :)
Everyone purse up their lips and BLOW!
World's (Reality's?) Largest Tuba.
That's the first time I've seen the words "balls" and "Windows" in the same sentence.
SSDD, folks. Every major news source and all the minor ones from InternetWeek to Kumquat Digest are speculating on what Linux will do. You know what? I have a new revelation. Linux will come to the desktop when and if it feels like it, when and if it wants to, and you WILL NOT NOTICE IT. You know how I know this? Linux appeared on the scene in the first damn place in a manner so quiet that very few read the newsgroup posting. It grew and distributions started so subtly that most people didn't hear about them until several versions later.
The Angel of the Lord(tm) did NOT appear to me with RedHat install CDs one evening. I got a small email from my roommate saying, "Hey, you ever heard of this Linux thing?"
Linux has never been and, I suspect, will never be the sort of software and/or community to burst into a room, prancing on a stage like a monkey on crack, and shouting to the audience because he "loves this company". We'll be the dude in the back, sippin' a cup of java and poring over the light board while talking to the theatre technician. 'Cause you see, we're not all about fanfare, but we're still running the show. Someday you'll look down and you'll have been running Linux for a year and go, "Now, where in the hell did THAT come from?"
And all this time I've been recycling STORAGE SPACE! ARGH!
Hands off my 3-ring binder, that's my new RAID controller. If I doodle in the margins, am I considered a hacker?
Agreed with every point of yours except the "speeding" part. Yes, stiffer fines for recklessness. But speeding doesn't cause accidents. Sure, if you get into an accident at a higher speed you're more likely to kill/injure yourself and the person(s) you hit, but speed itself doesn't cause the problem...it's idiot drivers that cause the problem.
Not that I'm opposed to speed limits and laws, but as I've proposed before, I'd like to see different licenses for those allowed to go at higher speeds if they take training to handle it and drive vehicles designed to be run at those speeds. I currently drive a car designed very well for high speeds (03 Mitsu Eclipse GTS), yet if I want to utilize this machine to its potential, I have to do it on a back road out of the way, not when I need it (say, to make up time being late for a meeting, etc). Some days it is like using a 2.2GHz CPU clocked down to 500mHz.
At any rate, the point stands: Speeding doesn't cause accidents, stupid drivers do. So kudos to all the other points you've made.
Depending on what network sharing method you are using, you can usually have the protocol buffer some to avoid hiccups. I run an MP3 server that decodes from a fileserver across a 10Mbit link. NFS happily buffers the connection so not only do I get some insurance against network bumps but if the fileserver goes down, the player just blocks until it comes back up and then happily continues on its way. Works like a charm.
My statement, of course, was not to provoke your ire. I never said it was *practical* in the long run to be able to drive fast, I just said it would be convenient. Oftentimes we weigh convenience against practicalities or larger issues.
While I'm not an environmentalist freak, I am cautious about my treatment of the earth. That being said, my good treatment will do nothing to lessen the poor treatment of every gas-guzzling SUV owner out there who is currently using the same amount of gas that I would be should I be allowed to drive faster in my efficient sportscar.
Hence, the convenience of being able to do so outweighs the negative effects of it, simply because it won't matter...the gas will be used up one way or another, either by morons who drive cars at 120mph or morons who drive cars that get 8mpg. Until you get everyone to be efficient, your part in trying to save the world means squat. Hence, it'd be convenient to be able to drive that fast.
I know what you're thinking..."but if I can lead by example..." well, that's good, but people have been trying by example for ages and the idiots keep muliplying. I don't see an end to it until the oil supply is short enough to FORCE everyone to be good about it. Until then, people will be dicks because they can. I appreciate optimism, but I try to accept reality.
Anywho...I agree with your statement that it's not a good thing for the gas mileage. Absolutely correct. That aside, being able to use my car to its full abilities would be nice for a change.
True enough, but if I don't care about my fuel savings? I think while the fuel savings are good and noble, my ability to go from NYC to LA in less than 24 hours and potentially MUCH less would make me happy.
:)
Plus, driving a cool car at a high speed for a long period would rock.
I'd like to see something that I've thought about for a long time -- different licenses for different roads.
:)
Here's the concept: You have one general driver's license that gets you anywhere, basically, on standard roads. But a new driver's license that allows you onto a type of super-super-highway to be built across the USA. This highway would be several lanes wide for ease and safety, and the speed limit would be high -- say, 150mph. The minimum would be at least 85 or 90mph.
The idea being here that if I am a driver with a good record, I can take a high-speed driving course and if I pass and install some standard, high-speed accessories in my car (3 or 4-point harnesses, etc), I am allowed to drive on the super-super highway and make a cross-country trip in very little time.
The fact is, there's plenty of morons who should never go over the speedlimit due to the fact that they can't even use a turn signal, let alone drive correctly. But there are plenty of safe, alert, attentive drivers who would benefit from being able to run their well-designed fast cars on a highway suited to their needs.
Plus, that way I wouldn't feel bad about kicking it up on a back highway because the day is gorgeous and 60mph is just too slow.
...smart, responsive and self-healing digital network--in short, an 'energy internet'.
Oh, you mean like the Internet is now? You mean that when Alter.net takes a dump in Ohio that I will still be able to get to the east coast, albeit through a more round-about way? That even if major fibre in the West gets backhoed that I'll be able to get to Australia, maybe through England first?
Although originally designed to be, the Internet is NOT completely fault-tolerant, smart, responsive, or self-healing. In fact, some parts are downright fragile...hit the right router and a lot of lines go dark.
Now, maybe the electric grid would be easier to make tolerant due to the way the distribution is setup, or maybe not (I'm no expert). Monitoring is all good, but building something that is less likely to break is better. I can monitor my servers all I want and be paged like crazy when they go down, but if I don't have good hardware to start with, I'll be running to work at 3am an awful lot.
Building something that is inherently fault-tolerant seems to me to be a better "first" than just improving the monitoring of an already fragile system.
AGMTA - All great minds think alike. :)
The problem with recipes and such is that tastes vary so much, how do you know what one person thinks is just the shit in food won't taste horrific to you? I think that's why you have family cookbooks and such.
My college roommates and I lived together for a year and we know what each other likes. Thus, we assembed an online beer/pub/recipe site so we can continue to share with each other what we consider to be good. Since we know each other's tastes, we're almost sure to like everything on there between us.
Global recipe books are just too broad to appeal and make it easy to pick out winners.
First: I am very, very glad that you love and care for your pets. There are plenty of people in the world who do not and they should be disdained as much as those who don't care for their children. Neglect is neglect.
That being said, I am very, very disturbed and oftentimes annoyed by those who anthropomorphosize their pets. While your dog may be the best thing in the world to you, it is still a dog. I have friends who refuse to come visit because "the dog couldn't possibly be alone that long". One friend's mother scolded her dog and the daughter piped up, "Mom, you can't do that! He's sensitive! He's a little dog in a big dog's body!" Needless to say, statements like this lead me to conclude that these people have lost the reality of what they have.
If you have pets, please understand that they are pets, animals, but NOT human. They may exhibit traits which can be humanlike, but they do not have the functionality of a real human nor should be treated like one. Dogs could give a damn about the web, the Internet, or what color their doggie sweater is. Leaving your pet in its cage/enclosure with adequate food and water while you go visit a friend for the afternoon is NOT going to severely damage them mentally. Etc.
Please always keep in mind the attributes that pets have and the attributes that humans have and assign to each their proper dues and respect, but don't mix them up. It's not healthy or intelligent.
For all those that replied, thanks. Interesting points, some of you, the others are just idiots.
My point, of course, was that Gimp isn't for the mainstream user. And that's fine -- it doesn't have to be. Maybe it's intended for more intense people with more time to climb the learning curve slope.
PSP was something that took me very little time to learn to do things as simple as a circle OR as complex as an inner bevel (which is two mouse clicks in PSP). The Gimp might be powerful enough to do that, but it isn't intuitive in that I don't need to read the manual to figure it out eventually just by playing around (which is how I learned PSP...who needs a manual when you can "get it" after a bit?)
I'm not giving up on the Gimp, I think it has lots of potential, but it's certainly not something I can give to my mother and she'll figure it out, nor is it something that I can easily think, "Oh, I want to use gradients today" and easily find in 5 minutes.
I view the Gimp as a very extensible, flexible program.
That being said, it's completely unusable for long periods of time by a guy who, admittedly, is NOT a graphic artist.
I use graphics programs like secretaries use computers. I want it to do what I want it to do, I don't want to know why, I don't want to know when, and I sure as hell don't want to have to spend a half hour figuring out HOW to do something. Ever tried to do something like a inner bevel in Gimp? I'm sure it can be done, but for the life of me I can't figure it out. And that, to me, is a failure of the program for users such as myself.
Maybe you graphics types find it just fine, but it certainly doesn't work for us reg'ler folks.
To bend the book's metaphor, knowing how a carburetor works isn't the thing that makes you a good race driver.
When you are a programmer, you are NOT the driver -- you are the engine builder. You are the person who has to know how it works lest you can't fix it when it breaks. You have to know why it's only getting 5 miles to the gallon instead of 10. You have to know when you are preventing that extra horsepower from coming through because of some other needed feature.
You're right...assembly is the basics. And if you don't have the basics down, how will you have a proper foundation for the rest of your knowledge?
Assembly programming has been invaluable in my career...not because I actually do it, but because it gives me a mindset -- I think about what is happening behind the scenes when I write a function -- the operations involved just to push a new function pointer onto the stack, load the variables, save the program counter, etc. It has made me aware and prevented me from making dumb programming mistakes that would have cost a lot in terms of performance and resources.
Of course, just knowing assembly doesn't make you good. You have to have all the other skills on top, as well as a quick and thorough mind. But it's a GREAT place to start on the road to excellence.
Fair enough. I was thinking that "plasma" ray gun sounded cooler...it didn't have a neat name like "plasma". But nice point. Perhaps Captain Shamerica will be victorious after all. :)
This will not do! I demand that the scientists come up with a name for this stuff that is more fun. You just can't use this properly in sci-fi films. Observe:
Captain Shamerica: Cease and desist, foul scum!
Grokthor: Never! *rowr*
Captain Shamerica: Then I shall blast you with my fermionic condensate ray!
See? Poor Captain Shamerica now looks like a pussy because he's using some weirdo-thingy to whack the bad guys.
New name! New name! *forms picket line*
I still use IE at work because on the old machines we use for Internet browsing (PHB is paranoid, won't let Internet at your desktop) are like 233's and such...anything besides IE takes too long to load and too much overhead to make it work a dingo's kidney.
:) I've tried Firebird before but it was bloody unstable at the time...maybe I'll give it another shot and see.
At home, of course, I'm Konqueror.
Ok, I'll bite.
- That piece is 16 in^3. Thus, it's about $60.94 per cubic inch.
- Let's take a 16'x16' room -- not a bad size for a living room or such. 16'x16' is 192"x192".
- Figure our 2x4 studs are 16" on center. That makes for 12 stud spaces (the space between studs) in a wall, or 48 stud spaces for the room (this room has no doors, windows, etc.)
- That makes the space between studs (ignoring the size of the stud itself) as being 84x4x16 or 5,376 in^3.
- 5,376 times 48 is 258,048 in^3.
- Aerogel insulation at $60.94 a cubic inch for 258,048 cubic inches is $15,725,445.12.
Insulating a house could get pricey in a hurry!