Why worry about filenames... Any self-respecting person that creates MP3's puts info in the ID3 tag fields anyway, and that info is usually better than the limited filename text anyway!
Well, maybe so, but, then, the only reason that nothing major happened was that a bunch of us have worked our asses off for up to 2 or 3 years, in some cases, to prevent it from happening. (By "us" I do mean Slashdot readers specifically, geeks in general.) I expected the "overhyped" and "non-event" descriptions from vanilla news sites, but not Slashdot. Please don't play it down as something that never would have happened. Billions of dollars and manhours went into insuring against it.
Hmmm... Seems to me a Census card is one small piece of paper. Also, all that glue and circuitry in the paper would *not* make for a very recyclable machine.
My "spouting off" about renewable resources was in direct reply to the preceding post. Perhaps you should read the posts.
Paper, in landfills, has been known to last more than 20 years, as it frequently never gets water, heat or air after it gets buried.
Many energy sources, like hydroelectric, for example, are ultimately renewable. Nuclear, though not perfect, is extremely clean when properly insulated and operated, so many LANs don't have that much impact on the environment via electricity, as the electricity is produced cleanly.
"Biodegradable" plastic is actually only partially degradable. It first transforms into a goopy clump that kills birds and can clog drainage systems, and then becomes millions of plastic molecules that are often toxic to the local environment.
Spacing points out makes them infinitely more readable. Besides, didn't you look at your own post?!
I'm not quite unaccustomed to debates like this, seeing that I've spoken worldwide about the environment, as well as a the UN headquarters.
A few folks (though not many) have briefly pointed out that paper computers would be environmentally unsound. Let me emphasize this... The amount of deforestation that would occur if every household in America received a paper 'census computer' would be devastating. With imbedded electronics it would make recycling, at best, very difficult and costly, and, at worst, impossible.
In the case of voting, the environmentally friendly solution would be to have LAN's running ballots with encrypted data packets.
Paper computers are a step backwards, in the wrong direction. It's fortunate that nobody has been naive or short-sighted enough to financially support this scheme.
True environmentalists aren't worried about saving the trees, or the whales, or the planet... They're worried about preserving the future of the human race.
I know it's probably against geek rules, but I simply can't see what makes this news. The movie was mediocre at best, violating principles previously put forth in the original movies left and right. Hello, midichlorians!? I know that someone else must have seen through Lucas' pathetic, yet successful, quest for more cash.
Pathetic movie. This news item should have been a mere footnote, if that.
Google will become a popular search engine: Maybe....If the average person will get off their duffs and leave the mediocrity that altavista and lycos have embraced.
It seems to me that the "Darwinian Theory" that was presented at the conclusion of the article was a bit off... Way back when yahoo was a couple pages with lots of cool links, it was survival of the fittest. Now it's survival of the richest, or those that can spam the most, or target the best ads, or plant the most (irrelevant) keywords getting so much of the attention. Yahoo and friends are exceptions... Hold-overs from the Internet's more open past. Anything created today has a snowballs chance in hell unless they have the capital or engage in sketchy practices.
On the other hand, the idea of 4 clicks of separation is pretty neat, and true in most cases, too, I'd bet. The article's a bit fluffy, but after separating the wheat from the chaff there is some useful/interesting information in it.
Actually, there are online 'conferences' in which messages can be posted, and many require distinctly that one not be anonymous. A package called Caucus, by Caucus Systems (formerly Screenporch Software) allows for conversation of all sorts to happen online, as well as basic file transfer. Altavista also had a similar package called "Forum", though I haven't used it in years, and don't know if they still make it (seeing that they've changed hands twice recently). I'm a member of one site that uses Caucus, and it is quite a thriving online community. (I won't divulge the URL here, though, as I'd get hung by my toenails and beaten with a keyboard if it was slashdotted because of my carelessness.)
I hate to say it, but eBay is creating its own sort of community, too, with much interaction on the site and via e-mail. Granted, the basis for the communication is in RL, but it's still all handled online except for the payment and product delivery.
Hell, it seems like I just purchased the v3.6 commercial package just a few days ago. I guess that Patrick and his clan have to eat, too, though. Where's my credit card again!?
-Argentus "'Twixt the optimist and the pessimist the difference is droll. The optimist sees the doughnut while the pessimist sees the hole." -McLandburgh Wilson
I applaud the attempts to further geek culture and humor, but I just didn't find "After Y2K" all that funny. I read the first 10 or so, plus the current comic, and I found it rather ill-conceived. Characters show up for no reason, and with no explanation. I bet it's quite funny to the author, but the rest of us have to guess just where everyone is coming from.
Nerds wear thick glasses, never bathe, and trip over their shadow whenever possible.
Geeks enjoy technology, almost to excess, and in general are above average intelligence.
Both classifications can err toward each other, but there's a line where the range ends and one can exclusively be one or the other.
This is the way it has seemed for a long time (since the late 80's). It could be blamed on experience, but I've encountered many people who feel the same way.
As much as a run-of-the-mill psychologist *can* be a scientist, that is. Observing behavior and classifying it in a completely subjective manner, and then summarily tacking it onto a certain disorder, calling it a "shadow syndrome" is utter balogna. It is as bad as Freud's attributing every single problem of humanity to sex.
Use of the scientific method to systematically test geeks vs. a random sample of people off the street is the only way that such a claim could have any validity whatsoever. Brain and neural response analysis would be better.
Still, the general public will buy it, just as they believe that ADHD is on the rise (it's not, parents aren't disciplining their kids well, that's all.)....Just like they believe that so many murderers are 'mentally ill," because only a mentally ill person would do *that* (circular reasoning, anyone?).
It's a shame that these "psychologists" are allowed to run around and ruin the good names of people (like myself) who have been trained in scientific psychology and are endeavoring to get legitimate answers and reasons for our cognitive and behavioral processes.
Well, The whole thing looks like Win98 with the "integrated" Internet Explorer. *puke*
Count on me to stick with something other than Corel if they're going to turn this thing into a Windows clone (which it definitely looks like what they're striving for).
I have no problem with user-friendliness, but come on... integrating the desktop with a browser simply is *not* intuitive. It is also very inefficient when it comes to space matters.
It's beyond me how you know that the author was anticipating what others would do when he wrote the article, since he never said that. Neat trick, though. *grin*
However, if he had that purpose in mind, that is fine. It's still noteworthy that, though some books may be useful for learning from the "ground up", that is not their primary intention. I would never recommend that a newbie go out and purchase a "Nutshell" book to learn from, unless they had other sources. Of course, with the number of tutorials on the web these days, one can usually pick up the basics of a given topic and then grab a "Nutshell" book and augment their skills.
The author of the review went in with incorrect thoughts about the series of books... The "Nutshell" series is (and always has been) the eqivalent of a man page for commands within the given system.
Simply stated, it's a (very large and detailed) command reference card, not a howto.
Slashdot Mirror
Definitely not the sort of thing you want to be on the "business end" of!
This lovely site has such wonderful services as an "International Directory of Dog Waste Removal Services".
Perhaps you'd be interested in the "Dog Waste Removal Service Message Board".
woof
Why worry about filenames... Any self-respecting person that creates MP3's puts info in the ID3 tag fields anyway, and that info is usually better than the limited filename text anyway!
"The most overhyped event in years.
Well, maybe so, but, then, the only reason that nothing major happened was that a bunch of us have worked our asses off for up to 2 or 3 years, in some cases, to prevent it from happening. (By "us" I do mean Slashdot readers specifically, geeks in general.) I expected the "overhyped" and "non-event" descriptions from vanilla news sites, but not Slashdot. Please don't play it down as something that never would have happened. Billions of dollars and manhours went into insuring against it.
"several glued-together layers of paper"
Hmmm... Seems to me a Census card is one small piece of paper. Also, all that glue and circuitry in the paper would *not* make for a very recyclable machine.
My "spouting off" about renewable resources was in direct reply to the preceding post. Perhaps you should read the posts.
Are you sure you read anything except my posts?
The computers aren't entirely paper, true.
Paper, in landfills, has been known to last more than 20 years, as it frequently never gets water, heat or air after it gets buried.
Many energy sources, like hydroelectric, for example, are ultimately renewable. Nuclear, though not perfect, is extremely clean when properly insulated and operated, so many LANs don't have that much impact on the environment via electricity, as the electricity is produced cleanly.
"Biodegradable" plastic is actually only partially degradable. It first transforms into a goopy clump that kills birds and can clog drainage systems, and then becomes millions of plastic molecules that are often toxic to the local environment.
Spacing points out makes them infinitely more readable. Besides, didn't you look at your own post?!
I'm not quite unaccustomed to debates like this, seeing that I've spoken worldwide about the environment, as well as a the UN headquarters.
A few folks (though not many) have briefly pointed out that paper computers would be environmentally unsound. Let me emphasize this... The amount of deforestation that would occur if every household in America received a paper 'census computer' would be devastating. With imbedded electronics it would make recycling, at best, very difficult and costly, and, at worst, impossible.
In the case of voting, the environmentally friendly solution would be to have LAN's running ballots with encrypted data packets.
Paper computers are a step backwards, in the wrong direction. It's fortunate that nobody has been naive or short-sighted enough to financially support this scheme.
True environmentalists aren't worried about saving the trees, or the whales, or the planet... They're worried about preserving the future of the human race.
I know it's probably against geek rules, but I simply can't see what makes this news. The movie was mediocre at best, violating principles previously put forth in the original movies left and right. Hello, midichlorians!? I know that someone else must have seen through Lucas' pathetic, yet successful, quest for more cash.
Pathetic movie. This news item should have been a mere footnote, if that.
Google is a fantastic search engine. Yes.
...If the average person will get off their duffs and leave the mediocrity that altavista and lycos have embraced.
Google is a popular search engine. No.
Google will become a popular search engine: Maybe.
Google has a silly name. Most definitely. *grin*
It seems to me that the "Darwinian Theory" that was presented at the conclusion of the article was a bit off... Way back when yahoo was a couple pages with lots of cool links, it was survival of the fittest. Now it's survival of the richest, or those that can spam the most, or target the best ads, or plant the most (irrelevant) keywords getting so much of the attention. Yahoo and friends are exceptions... Hold-overs from the Internet's more open past. Anything created today has a snowballs chance in hell unless they have the capital or engage in sketchy practices.
On the other hand, the idea of 4 clicks of separation is pretty neat, and true in most cases, too, I'd bet. The article's a bit fluffy, but after separating the wheat from the chaff there is some useful/interesting information in it.
Actually, there are online 'conferences' in which messages can be posted, and many require distinctly that one not be anonymous. A package called Caucus, by Caucus Systems (formerly Screenporch Software) allows for conversation of all sorts to happen online, as well as basic file transfer. Altavista also had a similar package called "Forum", though I haven't used it in years, and don't know if they still make it (seeing that they've changed hands twice recently). I'm a member of one site that uses Caucus, and it is quite a thriving online community. (I won't divulge the URL here, though, as I'd get hung by my toenails and beaten with a keyboard if it was slashdotted because of my carelessness.)
I hate to say it, but eBay is creating its own sort of community, too, with much interaction on the site and via e-mail. Granted, the basis for the communication is in RL, but it's still all handled online except for the payment and product delivery.
Hell, it seems like I just purchased the v3.6 commercial package just a few days ago. I guess that Patrick and his clan have to eat, too, though. Where's my credit card again!?
-Argentus
"'Twixt the optimist and the pessimist the difference is droll. The optimist sees the doughnut while the pessimist sees the hole."
-McLandburgh Wilson
I applaud the attempts to further geek culture and humor, but I just didn't find "After Y2K" all that funny. I read the first 10 or so, plus the current comic, and I found it rather ill-conceived. Characters show up for no reason, and with no explanation. I bet it's quite funny to the author, but the rest of us have to guess just where everyone is coming from.
I'll stick with User Friendly, thanks.
Hmmm... Somehow I thought that I had noted that such definitions weren't absolute, and they varied. Perhaps you should read my post again.
Nerds wear thick glasses, never bathe, and trip over their shadow whenever possible.
Geeks enjoy technology, almost to excess, and in general are above average intelligence.
Both classifications can err toward each other, but there's a line where the range ends and one can exclusively be one or the other.
This is the way it has seemed for a long time (since the late 80's). It could be blamed on experience, but I've encountered many people who feel the same way.
As much as a run-of-the-mill psychologist *can* be a scientist, that is. Observing behavior and classifying it in a completely subjective manner, and then summarily tacking it onto a certain disorder, calling it a "shadow syndrome" is utter balogna. It is as bad as Freud's attributing every single problem of humanity to sex.
...Just like they believe that so many murderers are 'mentally ill," because only a mentally ill person would do *that* (circular reasoning, anyone?).
Use of the scientific method to systematically test geeks vs. a random sample of people off the street is the only way that such a claim could have any validity whatsoever. Brain and neural response analysis would be better.
Still, the general public will buy it, just as they believe that ADHD is on the rise (it's not, parents aren't disciplining their kids well, that's all.).
It's a shame that these "psychologists" are allowed to run around and ruin the good names of people (like myself) who have been trained in scientific psychology and are endeavoring to get legitimate answers and reasons for our cognitive and behavioral processes.
Well, The whole thing looks like Win98 with the "integrated" Internet Explorer. *puke*
Count on me to stick with something other than Corel if they're going to turn this thing into a Windows clone (which it definitely looks like what they're striving for).
I have no problem with user-friendliness, but come on... integrating the desktop with a browser simply is *not* intuitive. It is also very inefficient when it comes to space matters.
It's beyond me how you know that the author was anticipating what others would do when he wrote the article, since he never said that. Neat trick, though. *grin*
However, if he had that purpose in mind, that is fine. It's still noteworthy that, though some books may be useful for learning from the "ground up", that is not their primary intention. I would never recommend that a newbie go out and purchase a "Nutshell" book to learn from, unless they had other sources. Of course, with the number of tutorials on the web these days, one can usually pick up the basics of a given topic and then grab a "Nutshell" book and augment their skills.
The author of the review went in with incorrect thoughts about the series of books... The "Nutshell" series is (and always has been) the eqivalent of a man page for commands within the given system.
Simply stated, it's a (very large and detailed) command reference card, not a howto.