And of those 4 billion, probably 1 billion are on AOL and another billion are on yageohooties (Yahoo+Geocities)/angelfire/dragonfire/.../. This means that at a reasonable guess, a minimum of half of the pages on the net consist of a purple background (or image) with lime green text, broken html, and a couple dozen animated gifs reminiscent of a carnival (and no content beyond "Hi, my name is _____ I was born in _____, my drivers license, SSN, and major credit card are _____, _____, and _____.").
Geez....I say that there are far too many people on the net who just don't belong, and freedom of speech or no, some people shouldn't be allowed to make web sites.
It may be true that America is turning out plenty of illiterate people. However, the tone of the post was sneering, and cast America as the sole province of illiteracy. That's flame.
Plenty of other countries have illiteracy problems similar to those in America. This is offtopic, though.
While I admit that there is a unique philosophical perspective to The Matrix (e.g., how can we tell what is real?), I don't necessarily see that it is a good idea to start basing non-entertainment-related courses on entertainment. (Of course, I also fail to see how anything with Madonna in it can be useful, unless as an example of what *NOT* to do).
This is truly a classic. It's not particularly science fiction. It's more in the line of "What can fact and science be used for in the construction of a tale?" The character of Purvis is perfectly suited for this, since you never quite know if he's pulling your leg, and then one day he disappears under odd circumstances. The best part is the story about the UFO-ologist who finds the White Heart--and gives Purvis his due:)
Who am I? Why am here? Where is the chocolate?
Fountains was indeed interesting
on
Childhood's End
·
· Score: 1
In particular, his construction of a synthetic diamond tower into LEO. In recent years he has observed that fullerene tubules would likely be a better building material than diamond filament.
I wonder if it was this concept (in particular, the test of unspooling the filament from a spacecraft in LEO) that caused NASA to attempt the same sort of test a few years ago. (Don't remember when, or what the filamentthey used was, sorry)
This (along with many Clarke books) is a favorite of mine. The question I have has something to do with one of the last lines in (the original) book.
When the alien overlord finally reveals himself, the book says that he was a figure out of earth's past and mythology. I got the general impression that he was supposed to be the basis for the talse of dragons. Is this impression correct, or did I miss something? (and if so, what;) )
I'm not surprised that they responded as they did. It figures that they would shift the blame and ask for an extension. However, one of my friends pointed out that a lot of @Home users have webTV--and tend to make the average AOL user look positively intelligent.
The way he put it was something like "@Home users have gone a long way to making AOL a respected member of the community." I say enforce the ban, give them time to iron out their problems, then give them a 3-day trial period to see if they truly have reformed.
AFAIK, just about any Linux system should run these. Civ CTP works fine on both my dual-400 celeron system and my friend's PII (166? | 266?) (although you can tell a noticable difference;) ). It also runs through X on any other UNIX. Just for fun I tried to run it off his computer, over his T1, through the school network and onto a Sun Ultra 5. The result was slow as molasses, with 16 colors and a nasty green tinge, but it worked.
The interfaces for both versions of Civ 2 are compatible, but for some reason after applying the patch to the Linux version (and maybe before applying it), it wouldn't let my system host a game. Join, yes; host no. Is this a problem with the Linux version, or a result of my not using the CD?
I really like SimCity 3000, and have been hoping for some time that it would be ported eventually. However, SC3k is a DirectX program. I have two questions:
1. How is Loki going to make a Linux version of a DirectX progam and 2. Will the Linux version be compatible (mapwise and interface-wise) with the Windows version?
How many police do you think really want to be attacked by demonstrators? How many police want to see you treat someone who was causing them trouble? Maybe the cop in question was feeling a little vengeful after having to put up with a day full of hotheaded fools? Hmmm? There are other points of view....
These people (can we call them that?) are freaks. There are other, more appropriate forums and methods of expressing concerns than blocking up a city and starting riots.
From a discussion in #slashdot on slashnet, I have the feeling that I'm in the minority on the following opinion, but I'd like to air it anyway.
The protestors in Seattle have a right to make themselves heard. They do NOT have a right to commit acts of violence against ordinary people doing ordinary business, or against the police, who are charged with maintaining law and order. In small groups, what is going on in Seattle is called "disorderly conduct." In larger groups, it's a riot. They may claim that it's nonviolent, but the results speak for themselves.
I'm not against freedom of expression (lest the flamers take me to task), and I have a healthy amount of skepticism when it comes to government actions, but in this case the police were completely within their rights. Protestors in Seattle claimed that they were not given warning before the police opened up with teargas and rubber bullets. Well and good. It may even be true. But this arguement is symptomatic of the disgustingly prevalent attitude in our society of personal irresponsibility. "It isn't our fault!" they chant.
Actually, it is. By blocking streets, smashing windows, and hassling trade delegates, these rioters knowingly put themselves in a position where the police would have to act. Just because they were not forewarned by the police does not remove their personal responsibility. Furthermore, the results of their actions (e.g., the police response) are obvious to anyone who considers the consequences of their actions. If these individuals failed to think through their actions to the end result, that's just too bad.
I have no sympathy for these (cough) people. They brought it on themselves, and they deserve everything they got. They're lucky they weren't attacked by the motorists trying to commute to work or the pedestrians going about normal business. Given the recent epidemic of murderous motorists, one would think that people would be hesitant to induce "road rage" in commuters. Given recent accounts of police brutality (in NYC, for example), it would make some sense to not be in the area where a protest might happen--especially as a participant.
Arrest the rioters. Pelt them with rubber bullets. Gas them. If they still don't get the message that their conduct is inexcusable, then maybe they need to be weeded from the gene pool because they're too stupid to be allowed to reproduce:)
Their are peaceful ways of resolving differences of opinion, even with the WTO. The most commonly accepted form is greasing a politician. Call it campaign finance. Call it graft. Call it whatever you like. You can buy a politician. And it is perfectly peaceful. Lining up in the street causing traffic jams and civil unrest is not peaceful, no matter what platitudes the protestors spew.
Who am I? Why am here? Where is the chocolate?
Spreadsheet programs and numeric keypads
on
Interface Zen
·
· Score: 1
My experience using Quatro Pro and Excel is that you don't have to use the tab key to move to the next cell. You can use the arrow keys to go to the cell up/down/left/right of the current cell. This eliminates the necessity of straying far from the keypad.
Am I the only one who knows this, or have the complainers just not realized it yet?
Caveat: this doesn't work on cells that you're changing the info in, but most data changing occurs long after the enter-next-enter-next rythm.
Who am I? Why am here? Where is the chocolate?
If no-one sent you the article...
on
Dear Mr. Lucas
·
· Score: 1
...email me. (y'all be kind and don't spam me 'k?)
I actually gave some thought to this once (don't really know why but it seemed fun at the time). I thought about ideas like a mesh or a sphere or suspending someone by the waist in a ring but gave them up as impractical.
What I finally came up with (and it does have some limitation)is a body suit designed with the same kind of input sensors as "the Glove" as well as feedback devices (pressure pads or something). The idea is to make the device completely waterproof, complete with VR goggles. Put soldier/etc into the suit with an air hose in the suit and a microphone headset so he can communicate and breathe, then lower the contraption into a pool of water. If the suit has sufficient mass, it should counteract the body's bouyancy, allowing the person freedom of movement without resurfacing.
Of course this has some limitations, but if you think about it, so do air force flight simulators, army tank simulators, etc. That is, you don't get the effect in those of rolling up terrain, crunching over vehicles, doing multiple G's, or rolling/diving/etc.basically, if most parts of the sym are real enough, I think the mind uses a form of suspended belief and ignores the signals that don't match the vr.
Back in 1994 my parents sent a $100 trench coat and $50-$100 in dried food goods (rice, noodles), some gloves, and a few other things from Alabama to California via UPS (/aka/ United Package Smashers). The (insured) package arrived a month later than it should have, and when it arrived, the contents of the package were soaked. Water doen't harm coats and gloves, but almost all of the food was a loss. Worse still, talking with my parents over the phone we discovered that the box I had received was not the original shipping box. My parents contacted UPS concerning the insured package and were given lots of excuses. I don't know if they ever collected (I don't think they did, or if so, it wasn't much), but UPS was definitely *not* planning to honor the insurance contract and did what they could to prevent us from collecting.
This isn't the only bad experience I've had with UPS, either. I've had computer parts packages arrive smashed up (getting a smashed box with your motherboard inside is not conducive to sanity or happy thoughts).
I don't have any experience with FedEx, since their rates are steep. After this, though, I may switch.
Slashdot Mirror
And of those 4 billion, probably 1 billion are on AOL and another billion are on yageohooties (Yahoo+Geocities)/angelfire/dragonfire/.../. This means that at a reasonable guess, a minimum of half of the pages on the net consist of a purple background (or image) with lime green text, broken html, and a couple dozen animated gifs reminiscent of a carnival (and no content beyond "Hi, my name is _____ I was born in _____, my drivers license, SSN, and major credit card are _____, _____, and _____.").
Geez....I say that there are far too many people on the net who just don't belong, and freedom of speech or no, some people shouldn't be allowed to make web sites.
Who am I?
Why am here?
Where is the chocolate?
The same person that bought the Soviet Submarine?
Who am I?
Why am here?
Where is the chocolate?
It includes info about various bioses and the beep codes they make, in addition to various hardware notes.
Who am I?
Why am here?
Where is the chocolate?
Disclaimer: I didn't moderate this down
I *CAN* see why it was moderated down though.
It may be true that America is turning out plenty of illiterate people. However, the tone of the post was sneering, and cast America as the sole province of illiteracy. That's flame.
Plenty of other countries have illiteracy problems similar to those in America. This is offtopic, though.
While I admit that there is a unique philosophical perspective to The Matrix (e.g., how can we tell what is real?), I don't necessarily see that it is a good idea to start basing non-entertainment-related courses on entertainment. (Of course, I also fail to see how anything with Madonna in it can be useful, unless as an example of what *NOT* to do).
Who am I?
Why am here?
Where is the chocolate?
This is truly a classic. It's not particularly science fiction. It's more in the line of "What can fact and science be used for in the construction of a tale?" The character of Purvis is perfectly suited for this, since you never quite know if he's pulling your leg, and then one day he disappears under odd circumstances. The best part is the story about the UFO-ologist who finds the White Heart--and gives Purvis his due :)
Who am I?
Why am here?
Where is the chocolate?
In particular, his construction of a synthetic diamond tower into LEO. In recent years he has observed that fullerene tubules would likely be a better building material than diamond filament.
I wonder if it was this concept (in particular, the test of unspooling the filament from a spacecraft in LEO) that caused NASA to attempt the same sort of test a few years ago. (Don't remember when, or what the filamentthey used was, sorry)
Who am I?
Why am here?
Where is the chocolate?
This (along with many Clarke books) is a favorite of mine. The question I have has something to do with one of the last lines in (the original) book.
;) )
When the alien overlord finally reveals himself, the book says that he was a figure out of earth's past and mythology. I got the general impression that he was supposed to be the basis for the talse of dragons. Is this impression correct, or did I miss something? (and if so, what
Who am I?
Why am here?
Where is the chocolate?
I'm not surprised that they responded as they did. It figures that they would shift the blame and ask for an extension. However, one of my friends pointed out that a lot of @Home users have webTV--and tend to make the average AOL user look positively intelligent.
The way he put it was something like "@Home users have gone a long way to making AOL a respected member of the community." I say enforce the ban, give them time to iron out their problems, then give them a 3-day trial period to see if they truly have reformed.
Who am I?
Why am here?
Where is the chocolate?
Most pentium-class systems ;)
Who am I?
Why am here?
Where is the chocolate?
AFAIK, just about any Linux system should run these. Civ CTP works fine on both my dual-400 celeron system and my friend's PII (166? | 266?) (although you can tell a noticable difference ;) ). It also runs through X on any other UNIX. Just for fun I tried to run it off his computer, over his T1, through the school network and onto a Sun Ultra 5. The result was slow as molasses, with 16 colors and a nasty green tinge, but it worked.
Who am I?
Why am here?
Where is the chocolate?
The interfaces for both versions of Civ 2 are compatible, but for some reason after applying the patch to the Linux version (and maybe before applying it), it wouldn't let my system host a game. Join, yes; host no. Is this a problem with the Linux version, or a result of my not using the CD?
Who am I?
Why am here?
Where is the chocolate?
I really like SimCity 3000, and have been hoping for some time that it would be ported eventually. However, SC3k is a DirectX program. I have two questions:
1. How is Loki going to make a Linux version of a DirectX progam and
2. Will the Linux version be compatible (mapwise and interface-wise) with the Windows version?
Who am I?
Why am here?
Where is the chocolate?
There was no info afaik on the site regarding the price.
Who am I?
Why am here?
Where is the chocolate?
...which the Boston Tea Party was. However, at least they didn't block up the city or harass the police :)
;))
(Of course, it's probable that the town police were involved in the Tea Party
Who am I?
Why am here?
Where is the chocolate?
How many police do you think really want to be attacked by demonstrators? How many police want to see you treat someone who was causing them trouble? Maybe the cop in question was feeling a little vengeful after having to put up with a day full of hotheaded fools? Hmmm? There are other points of view....
Who am I?
Why am here?
Where is the chocolate?
These people (can we call them that?) are freaks. There are other, more appropriate forums and methods of expressing concerns than blocking up a city and starting riots.
:)
From a discussion in #slashdot on slashnet, I have the feeling that I'm in the minority on the following opinion, but I'd like to air it anyway.
The protestors in Seattle have a right to make themselves heard. They do NOT have a right to commit acts of violence against ordinary people doing ordinary business, or against the police, who are charged with maintaining law and order. In small groups, what is going on in Seattle is called "disorderly conduct." In larger groups, it's a riot. They may claim that it's nonviolent, but the results speak for themselves.
I'm not against freedom of expression (lest the flamers take me to task), and I have a healthy amount of skepticism when it comes to government actions, but in this case the police were completely within their rights. Protestors in Seattle claimed that they were not given warning before the police opened up with teargas and rubber bullets. Well and good. It may even be true. But this arguement is symptomatic of the disgustingly prevalent attitude in our society of personal irresponsibility. "It isn't our fault!" they chant.
Actually, it is. By blocking streets, smashing windows, and hassling trade delegates, these rioters knowingly put themselves in a position where the police would have to act. Just because they were not forewarned by the police does not remove their personal responsibility. Furthermore, the results of their actions (e.g., the police response) are obvious to anyone who considers the consequences of their actions. If these individuals failed to think through their actions to the end result, that's just too bad.
I have no sympathy for these (cough) people. They brought it on themselves, and they deserve everything they got. They're lucky they weren't attacked by the motorists trying to commute to work or the pedestrians going about normal business. Given the recent epidemic of murderous motorists, one would think that people would be hesitant to induce "road rage" in commuters. Given recent accounts of police brutality (in NYC, for example), it would make some sense to not be in the area where a protest might happen--especially as a participant.
Arrest the rioters. Pelt them with rubber bullets. Gas them. If they still don't get the message that their conduct is inexcusable, then maybe they need to be weeded from the gene pool because they're too stupid to be allowed to reproduce
Their are peaceful ways of resolving differences of opinion, even with the WTO. The most commonly accepted form is greasing a politician. Call it campaign finance. Call it graft. Call it whatever you like. You can buy a politician. And it is perfectly peaceful. Lining up in the street causing traffic jams and civil unrest is not peaceful, no matter what platitudes the protestors spew.
Who am I?
Why am here?
Where is the chocolate?
My experience using Quatro Pro and Excel is that you don't have to use the tab key to move to the next cell. You can use the arrow keys to go to the cell up/down/left/right of the current cell. This eliminates the necessity of straying far from the keypad.
Am I the only one who knows this, or have the complainers just not realized it yet?
Caveat: this doesn't work on cells that you're changing the info in, but most data changing occurs long after the enter-next-enter-next rythm.
Who am I?
Why am here?
Where is the chocolate?
...email me. (y'all be kind and don't spam me 'k?)
Who am I?
Why am here?
Where is the chocolate?
I actually gave some thought to this once (don't really know why but it seemed fun at the time). I thought about ideas like a mesh or a sphere or suspending someone by the waist in a ring but gave them up as impractical.
What I finally came up with (and it does have some limitation)is a body suit designed with the same kind of input sensors as "the Glove" as well as feedback devices (pressure pads or something). The idea is to make the device completely waterproof, complete with VR goggles. Put soldier/etc into the suit with an air hose in the suit and a microphone headset so he can communicate and breathe, then lower the contraption into a pool of water. If the suit has sufficient mass, it should counteract the body's bouyancy, allowing the person freedom of movement without resurfacing.
Of course this has some limitations, but if you think about it, so do air force flight simulators, army tank simulators, etc. That is, you don't get the effect in those of rolling up terrain, crunching over vehicles, doing multiple G's, or rolling/diving/etc.basically, if most parts of the sym are real enough, I think the mind uses a form of suspended belief and ignores the signals that don't match the vr.
Who am I?
Why am here?
Where is the chocolate?
I've been meaning to make a top X list of UPS acronym meanings (see my previous post for why), so here goes...add yours too ;)
...
:)
1. United Package Smashers
2. United Picket Service
3. Uselessly Pathetic Scum
4. Unlimited Pain & Suffering
etc.
have fun
Who am I?
Why am here?
Where is the chocolate?
Back in 1994 my parents sent a $100 trench coat and $50-$100 in dried food goods (rice, noodles), some gloves, and a few other things from Alabama to California via UPS (/aka/ United Package Smashers). The (insured) package arrived a month later than it should have, and when it arrived, the contents of the package were soaked. Water doen't harm coats and gloves, but almost all of the food was a loss. Worse still, talking with my parents over the phone we discovered that the box I had received was not the original shipping box. My parents contacted UPS concerning the insured package and were given lots of excuses. I don't know if they ever collected (I don't think they did, or if so, it wasn't much), but UPS was definitely *not* planning to honor the insurance contract and did what they could to prevent us from collecting.
This isn't the only bad experience I've had with UPS, either. I've had computer parts packages arrive smashed up (getting a smashed box with your motherboard inside is not conducive to sanity or happy thoughts).
I don't have any experience with FedEx, since their rates are steep. After this, though, I may switch.
Who am I?
Why am here?
Where is the chocolate?
It can have only one connection to (or from) an NT box.
Who am I?
Why am here?
Where is the chocolate?
in reverse.....
Who am I?
Why am here?
Where is the chocolate?
... or the OJ defense team ;)
Who am I?
Why am here?
Where is the chocolate?
Maybe not as my decor, but I'm a student at Auburn University :)
Who am I?
Why am here?
Where is the chocolate?