I've been co-locating my web server at Global Online Electronic Services. My server is more of an educational toy for my friends and I than anything. So we suffer no great loss if something goes wrong. However, if I ever need to host anything serious, I'll probably still stick with GOES.
GOES is a local ISP in Hackettstown, NJ (where M&M's come from:) I became aquainted with the owner, Norm, at a fair at the local college. The cool thing about it is that Norm is an ISP because that's what he loves to do. He loves having his own T3, servers, and racks of modems.
Norm's a BSD guy, but he's got at least one member of his tech support staff that's a Linux nut. They're very knowledgable, know me by name, and eager to help. In fact, they seem genuinely interested in what we're doing.
Point: I understand that a small ISP may not suit everyone, and not all local ISP's are alike. However, it's certainly worth considering because there are benefits to dealing with someone who will actually know who you are once you start with them. And, if they're local, you can always harass them in person if something goes wrong:)
Anyway, I moved ~1000 miles south as the car [sic] flies since the time I started doing business there. I'm using Linux so it's not as if I ever need to visit the box anyway.
Oh, another bit...I did have a problem with the server not rebooting once. It refused to detect the SCSI adapter all of a sudden and I figured the adapter was dead. Norm called the owner of the computer store located in the same building. He came up and fixed it--then wouldn't even let me pay him for his time because all he had to do was re-seat the SCSI card. You don't get that kind of support when you're dealing with a big companies...
I don't know about one-stop banking, but we've been very happy with Security First - they have a 6% checking account, and pay your bills free (using CheckFree). If you're looking for stock or mutual funds though just about any of the big guys seems to have a significant web presence now.
I've been using them for a couple years now after a friend recommended them. I think these guys were the first real online bank. Everything is done through the web browser (encrypted of course.) I've been very happy with them. I was concerned that their service would go downhill when they were bought by the Royal Bank of Canada, but to this day I'm still very happy with them. Even dealing with them over the phone is pleasant --can you imagine that from a bank?
What's really wierd is they don't charge for most services either. I paid nothing when I opened my first checking account with them. They sent me all the checks, plus pre-paid first class envelopes for me to mail deposits in when necessary. I think they have done away with the pre-paid envelopes since then though:(
Then, just a couple months ago, they had a special offer for their interest checking account. Free. No minimum balance ($100 initial deposit to open it though--no biggie.) It was 6% interest until 2000 when it dropped to 1% or 2% (don't remember which.)
Downside: Last time I tried they still couldn't deposit third party checks. The person I talked to said they were working on this. Don't know the current status.
Literally, when I use Win 98 or NT, I can really sense the inefficient, bloated, puddles of fat rippling behind the monitor screen. And I'm not running on ancient hardware - I've got a dual PII with 256 MB RAM and UW SCSI. Still, that's not enough to cover up all that bloated waste of code.
A specific example of this: When I try to make a directory (create a folder) from the "choose file" box in Windows the hard drive usually thrashes around for several seconds as if it's loading an application or swapping or whatever. I mean, wtf is that about? Does a simple system call to the kernel require all that? It's like that in 95, 98, and NT no matter how powerful the machine is. Sorry, that's just a pet peeve that I had to get off my chest...
Yeah, I see the McDonalds case brought up a lot. When I first heard about it I couldn't believe how idiotic a jury could be to give her $1 million for spilling hot coffee on herself...
It was only later that I actually got clued into less obvious details of the case. Bearpaw does a decent job of clearing some of it up in a paragraph. I'd just like to warn anyone who gets the urge to use the case as an example of a frivolous lawsuit, do yourself a favor and find out the details. Kinda like reading the article before posting.
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...if that doesn't work, well, there's always the shiva client:P
I've got a couple of boxes with MediaGX processors that I bought for $50 a piece...not as good of a deal as I'd originally thought considerring how f*cked up they are. I know Alan Cox has done some work with MediaGX processors to deal with some of the problems. One of the Linux Grrls gave me a pretty specific explanation of the problem (Thanks Kira:) Now I'm wondering if there will be better support in the 2.4 kernel.
The 2.2 kernel boots and runs fine until I try to do something radical like startx. 2.3 however, detects that it's a MediaGX at boot up, but locks up after 'checking the hlt instruction.'
Yeah, know that feeling. And I've also noticed that driving habits have less to do with tickets than they should. Getting a shorter haircut and a less conspicuous vehicle has done wonders for my driving record. My habits really haven't changed at all. Other perks are that I haven't been threatened by a cop, sworn at by a cop, been accused of transporting drugs, or had my car searched for drugs. Of course, some of these changes are probably due to moving out of New Jersey.
By the way, I really believe a lot of local authorities would fight a system like this. This would be incredibly detrimental to revenue.
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Officer: "Don't you realize you were driving 85 miles per hour? The speed limit is only 55 MILES PER HOUR!" Steve: "Yeah, but I'm not going to be out that long." --Steven Wright (paraphrased)
Anyone got any good suggestions for getting started on linux programming or hell any good suggestions for starting? I actually thought about taking some courses at night.
It seems almost redundant (no KT intended) to mention O'Reilly books as an excellent resource...anyway, if you're looking for some insight into the Linux kernel, O'Reilly's Linux Device Drivers book is very educational. At least for me it was. I've never worked on the kernel or device drivers for it and probably never will, but I found the book to be very informative nevertheless. BTW, I also am a Perl/PHP geek...not very fluent in C.
If you read the article on the BBC website, you'll find that there is no monitoring done. This is merely a device which uses the satelite to pinpoint its position and then uses that to check if the car is exceeding the speed limit. The idea of satelites tracking all cars in the UK is inaccurate.
Here's the part that doesn't quite make sense to me. If all the system is meant to do is prevent cars from speeding, then why is it being tied into the GPS system? Why does a satellite have to check it's location and then tell it how fast to go? Surely it would be cheaper to install cheap transmitters on the ground that activate a governor in a car.
Can someone please explain to me the benefit of implementing this type of system by satellite if there is no intent to monitor the actual position of vehicles?
Hey, if sunsite can change, I think we'll survive a Slashdot move, as well.:)
If they do change to slashdot.com theres no reason to give up slashdot.org to do it. Even though sunsite changed to metalab, it's still accessible at the sunsite address. My feeling, really, is that Slashdot belongs in both domains.
it might be a bit extreme, but the point is there. We live in a new time, a new place, one different in so many ways from what came before. A fresh outlook and a resetting of goals and priorities is in order.
You, like many people, probably were already thinking some things along the same lines as Bruce before he even wrote the essay. I see it like this...
Bruce's essay seems extreme because he sees such enormous potential for change. Rather than be wishy-washy and deliberately avoid sounding extreme, he expresses his vision(s) from closer to the heart.
If he sees latent potential in his audience to change the world for the better, then he must do his best to incite and/or inspire them. A wishy-washy half-vision/half-vision-statement will never do that.
Someone accused Bruce of being a little carried away with the "new millennium." I'm not so sure about that. He probably recognizes the symbolic value of 2000.
I personally feel like we're in limbo. It's as if the old millennium is over, and the next doesn't begin for a year. I could look at it as a year to get a little more extreme in our thinking so we can really be prepared to make a change next year. But hey, I'm a dreamer so it's easy to make stuff like that work for me.
Expect two more books in the Alvin Maker series: Crystal City and Master Alvin
Very cool--just finished Heartfire before the holidays and was wondering what was next.
"And if you don't know that Alvin is really Joseph Smith and Arthur Steward is really Brigham Young and that they're going to...(forget the whole quote), then You Haven't Been Paying Attention!" (I never noticed the parallels between the two, personally...:-) )
I knew that Card grew up as a Mormon, and that had some influence in the Alvin Maker series--but I wouldn't have known enough about the Book of Mormon to make the connection either:)
Warning: Topic Drift Occasionally I see someone mention the Alvin Maker series here on Slashdot, but not so often as books that are "more sci-fi-ish." I stumbled on Seventh Son by accident--almost literally. I found the book lying under a pile of computer junk in my apartment and have no idea where it came from. I read the whole series so far within the last 3 months--and I definately see a message for the open source community. There are tons of parallels; Alvin, Verily, the crystal city, the golden plow...RMS, ESR, the Internet, the GPL. Hmm, GPL, Golden PLow. Just noticed that... My point is this: if you like Orson Card but don't like to stray to far from sci-fi, you still may want to give this series a chance. If you read fantasy, then you'll probably like it anyway.
In the Apple II+ days (~1979), when I was in 5th grade, Apple donated 20-ish Apple II's to the elementary school in my small (Like many Slashdotter's, when I was a kid, I was extremely bored with the unchallenging, crappy cirruculum available at most public schools and was written off by administrators and teachers as 'lazy and unmotivated'. The Apple II+ changed my life... literally.
Woz,
I don't want to miss the opportunity to say Thank You for the Apple ][ either. My Apple ][+ without a doubt changed my life as well. Although I never had access to a decent computer at school until my senior year ('89), my parents bought an Apple ][+ in 1980.
Despite poor grades and other problems at school, at home I quickly learned Applesoft BASIC and 6502 Assembly Language. My academic career was pretty much a failure, but what I was able to teach myself at home became a strong foundation for a real career with nearly endless possibilities.
I can honestly say I learned more from my Apple ][, the incredibly detailed manuals that came with it, and many text files written by true hackers than I learned from all of my high school teachers put together.
At school I felt constantly frustrated and was always accused of being lazy and not caring about my future. With my Apple I felt intelligent, empowered, and had almost unlimited energy. I hope you understand what a difference having this balance made in my life.
ObQuestion: I've often wondered how hard it would be to write an educational game that would be fun--specifically a game that teaches object-oriented programming. Obviously it would have to be educational, fun, and interesting to a pretty wide range of ages. What other elements are important? What do you see as some of the not-so-obvious turn-offs that students face while learning? Where are other educational software packages lacking? Is anyone working on a project like this yet? Any other ideas?
Most of the air travel I've done has been for employers, and they or the client purchased the tickets. Driving really wouldn't really have been an option especially the weeks that I had to be in two different cities. Driving from Newark to LA to Dallas and back to Newark just wasn't an option even if I wanted to.
Get a grip. Learn to be tolerant. Even in the rare chance that the operator is gay, big deal. So what? You think he/she's going to strip you naked and rape you on the spot?
I hope this is not directed at me because I never mentioned sexual preference other than implying my own. It's not even relevant to me. It's not a matter of gay/straight/bi or interested/not interested.
Get a farking grip here. If this person's job is to look at x-ray-like pictures all day, they're not going to get turned on by you in the least.
Believe me, I don't spend my time worrying about who might or might not be turned on by me unless it's someone I'm interested in. What I care about is not being visually inspected beneath my clothing or touched without my consent.
We need people like you to get over your homophobic reactions and not keep spreading them. It just promotes intolerance and bigotry.
Take out the words "like you" and you have a point--just not one that has any relevance to my original post.
According to the Customs Commissioner the only people that will see you on the scanner will be of the same sex. Why should this make me feel any better?
But wait, if I'm unhappy with the idea of some dude checking out the outline of my unit on the scanner, I can opt to be felt up by him instead. Yeah, lovely choice...
Starting this year in 99, I'll be using 4 digit years in all my coding in 00 and beyond.
I'm going to start using single digit years. At least for checks and stuff like that. I figure each time I have to write out a date over the next 10 years I can save my self the effort of writing an unnecessary zero.
So, as of tomorrow the date is 1/1/0 as far as I'm concerned.
Moderate this down as flamebait, but my New Years resolution is to stop being a Karma Whore.
I know this is going to get moderated as a troll, but I intend to be an even bigger Karma Whore this year. I'm going to take the suggestion from the howto and continue pretending to be insightful. In addition I will pretend to be interesting, funny, informative, on-topic, and maybe even underrated if I can figure out how.
a) keep an eye on SourceForge b) help out with WorldForge (no relation) c) finish the G27 gigs page d) actually finish any project that I start e) quit smoking again (cigs that is) f) keep at least one of my new year's resolutions this year.
I'm not sure what would convince me to move to Pittsburgh, but I can point out some of the reasons I decided to make the move to Jacksonville: (in no particular order)
1) Climate: It's not especially warm here during the winter, but at least I don't have to scrape ice or shovel snow. And, if I hit I-95 heading south it gets warmer fairly quickly.
2) Beach: The beach is close-by. I'm not really a beach-bum or anything...I just can't picture living any great distance from the ocean.
3) Pay: This is pretty obvious. Better pay is always a great incentive.
4) Rent: Rent is cheap here (at least compared to New Jersey where I used to live.) I think this also what has brought Blue Cross, Merrill Lynch, First Union, Citibank, Amex, etc to the area as well. In my case (1BR/1B overlooking a fish hatchery in NJ) ~= (2BR/2B/W/D/Pools/Tennis Courts/Gym/etc on the golf course in Jax)
5) Stress: Definately less stress down here. People are more laid back, less traffic, more room to breath. I drive 10-15 minutes to work during "rush hour." Sometimes I go home and take a nap on lunch break.
6) Entertainment: Jax isn't exactly the entertainment capital of the world, but there's plenty to do...and more every day. It's only 2.5 hours to get to Orlando if there's not enough for you to do in Jax. It makes for a nice weekend trip. (The Space Coast makes for a good weekend trip too if you're a space geek.)
7) Growth: Jacksonville is definately a growing city. More buildings going up everywhere. New shops, theatres, restaurants and bars. I literally could think of at least 10 that have opened in the 1.5 years i've been here--and they're all within 10 minutes of my apartment.
8) Cable Modems and ADSL: MediaOne offers broadband cable Internet access for $40 a month. FDN/BellSouth offers ADSL (1.5M/256k) with static IP for $60 a month.
It's not that I'm especially attached to Jacksonville. I just don't know of anywhere I'd prefer at this point. If I were to move, #8 would be my first thought.
You've made an excellent point. I could nitpick the title a little bit though. I think it IS more documentation that we need.
As you've pointed out, most of the existing documentation is fairly unstructured (from a tutorial perspective at least.) It does not provide a tutor for the computer newbie. On the other hand, the documentation included with Linux gives you a better understanding of how your hardware/software works together than anything I've ever seen for the old mainstream OS's.
We need new documentation that is less intimidating to new casual users and that can provide them with the illusion of understanding that they get from other operating systems. If the user at some point wants to delve deeper, all those howto's that we've grown to love still need to be available. For those of us that like to learn what's going on under the hood, well, we've already got it pretty damn good in my opinion.
By the way, I'd like to offer some words of advice to anyone just starting with Linux. It's perfectly normal to feel intimidated. You may feel like there's no way you're going to learn everything. Fortunately, you don't have to learn everything to be more productive in Linux than you are in Windows.
My local electric company, Jacksonville Electric Authority, already sent out past due notices this month to some customers that apparently haven't paid their bill since December of 1899. The article didn't say anything about the 1.5%/per month late fee though as far as I know. And my electric bill hasn't arrived yet so I can't check mine out first hand.
Forgive my lack of confidence in the "nothing's going to happen" attitude. Not that I'm freaked out either. Whether I live or die, I won't have to sit through any more Y2K meetings--provided I'm not sent directly to hell for eternity after the New Years Eve party;)
water - I already have several gallons of bottled water already since my tap water sucks
food - still working on the leftovers from christmas. they'll probably still be in my fridge well past Y2k anyway
woman - I realized that this might be important in a post-apocolypse world. Not that anyone could truly replace my PC, washer, and dryer should the electricity go out.
medication - It would be irresponsible to enter the next millenium unprepared. So, I have made certain that I have any important medication I need, and enough knowledge to grow an acre or two of it if necessary.
alcohol - guinness bass corona jack daniels kj chardonay (?sp?). Any suggestions on a good merlot?
Slashdot Mirror
Also, does this mean we'll see a Kryo CoolAthlon announcement for 1.066 GHz? (upward multiplier is 133%)...drool drool....
Yup, and you can read about it here on Tom's Hardware.
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I've been co-locating my web server at Global Online Electronic Services. My server is more of an educational toy for my friends and I than anything. So we suffer no great loss if something goes wrong. However, if I ever need to host anything serious, I'll probably still stick with GOES.
:) I became aquainted with the owner, Norm, at a fair at the local college. The cool thing about it is that Norm is an ISP because that's what he loves to do. He loves having his own T3, servers, and racks of modems.
:)
GOES is a local ISP in Hackettstown, NJ (where M&M's come from
Norm's a BSD guy, but he's got at least one member of his tech support staff that's a Linux nut. They're very knowledgable, know me by name, and eager to help. In fact, they seem genuinely interested in what we're doing.
Point: I understand that a small ISP may not suit everyone, and not all local ISP's are alike. However, it's certainly worth considering because there are benefits to dealing with someone who will actually know who you are once you start with them. And, if they're local, you can always harass them in person if something goes wrong
Anyway, I moved ~1000 miles south as the car [sic] flies since the time I started doing business there. I'm using Linux so it's not as if I ever need to visit the box anyway.
Oh, another bit...I did have a problem with the server not rebooting once. It refused to detect the SCSI adapter all of a sudden and I figured the adapter was dead. Norm called the owner of the computer store located in the same building. He came up and fixed it--then wouldn't even let me pay him for his time because all he had to do was re-seat the SCSI card. You don't get that kind of support when you're dealing with a big companies...
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I don't know about one-stop banking, but we've been very happy with Security First - they have a 6% checking account, and pay your bills free (using CheckFree). If you're looking for stock or mutual funds though just about any of the big guys seems to have a significant web presence now.
:(
I've been using them for a couple years now after a friend recommended them. I think these guys were the first real online bank. Everything is done through the web browser (encrypted of course.) I've been very happy with them. I was concerned that their service would go downhill when they were bought by the Royal Bank of Canada, but to this day I'm still very happy with them. Even dealing with them over the phone is pleasant --can you imagine that from a bank?
What's really wierd is they don't charge for most services either. I paid nothing when I opened my first checking account with them. They sent me all the checks, plus pre-paid first class envelopes for me to mail deposits in when necessary. I think they have done away with the pre-paid envelopes since then though
Then, just a couple months ago, they had a special offer for their interest checking account. Free. No minimum balance ($100 initial deposit to open it though--no biggie.) It was 6% interest until 2000 when it dropped to 1% or 2% (don't remember which.)
Downside: Last time I tried they still couldn't deposit third party checks. The person I talked to said they were working on this. Don't know the current status.
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Literally, when I use Win 98 or NT, I can really sense the inefficient, bloated, puddles of fat rippling behind the monitor screen. And I'm not running on ancient hardware - I've got a dual PII with 256 MB RAM and UW SCSI. Still, that's not enough to cover up all that bloated waste of code.
A specific example of this: When I try to make a directory (create a folder) from the "choose file" box in Windows the hard drive usually thrashes around for several seconds as if it's loading an application or swapping or whatever. I mean, wtf is that about? Does a simple system call to the kernel require all that? It's like that in 95, 98, and NT no matter how powerful the machine is. Sorry, that's just a pet peeve that I had to get off my chest...
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Yeah, I see the McDonalds case brought up a lot. When I first heard about it I couldn't believe how idiotic a jury could be to give her $1 million for spilling hot coffee on herself...
It was only later that I actually got clued into less obvious details of the case. Bearpaw does a decent job of clearing some of it up in a paragraph. I'd just like to warn anyone who gets the urge to use the case as an example of a frivolous lawsuit, do yourself a favor and find out the details. Kinda like reading the article before posting.
and yeah, i've been guilty too...
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...if that doesn't work, well, there's always the shiva client
I've got a couple of boxes with MediaGX processors that I bought for $50 a piece...not as good of a deal as I'd originally thought considerring how f*cked up they are. I know Alan Cox has done some work with MediaGX processors to deal with some of the problems. One of the Linux Grrls gave me a pretty specific explanation of the problem (Thanks Kira :) Now I'm wondering if there will be better support in the 2.4 kernel.
The 2.2 kernel boots and runs fine until I try to do something radical like startx. 2.3 however, detects that it's a MediaGX at boot up, but locks up after 'checking the hlt instruction.'
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Yeah, know that feeling. And I've also noticed that driving habits have less to do with tickets than they should. Getting a shorter haircut and a less conspicuous vehicle has done wonders for my driving record. My habits really haven't changed at all. Other perks are that I haven't been threatened by a cop, sworn at by a cop, been accused of transporting drugs, or had my car searched for drugs. Of course, some of these changes are probably due to moving out of New Jersey.
By the way, I really believe a lot of local authorities would fight a system like this. This would be incredibly detrimental to revenue.
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Officer: "Don't you realize you were driving 85 miles per hour? The speed limit is only 55 MILES PER HOUR!"
Steve: "Yeah, but I'm not going to be out that long."
--Steven Wright (paraphrased)
Anyone got any good suggestions for getting started on linux programming or hell any good suggestions for starting? I actually thought about taking some courses at night.
It seems almost redundant (no KT intended) to mention O'Reilly books as an excellent resource...anyway, if you're looking for some insight into the Linux kernel, O'Reilly's Linux Device Drivers book is very educational. At least for me it was. I've never worked on the kernel or device drivers for it and probably never will, but I found the book to be very informative nevertheless. BTW, I also am a Perl/PHP geek...not very fluent in C.
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If you read the article on the BBC website, you'll find that there is no monitoring done. This is merely a device which uses the satelite to pinpoint its position and then uses that to check if the car is exceeding the speed limit. The idea of satelites tracking all cars in the UK is inaccurate.
Here's the part that doesn't quite make sense to me. If all the system is meant to do is prevent cars from speeding, then why is it being tied into the GPS system? Why does a satellite have to check it's location and then tell it how fast to go? Surely it would be cheaper to install cheap transmitters on the ground that activate a governor in a car.
Can someone please explain to me the benefit of implementing this type of system by satellite if there is no intent to monitor the actual position of vehicles?
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Hey, if sunsite can change, I think we'll survive a Slashdot move, as well. :)
If they do change to slashdot.com theres no reason to give up slashdot.org to do it. Even though sunsite changed to metalab, it's still accessible at the sunsite address. My feeling, really, is that Slashdot belongs in both domains.
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it might be a bit extreme, but the point is there. We live in a new time, a new place, one different in so many ways from what came before. A fresh outlook and a resetting of goals and priorities is in order.
You, like many people, probably were already thinking some things along the same lines as Bruce before he even wrote the essay. I see it like this...
Bruce's essay seems extreme because he sees such enormous potential for change. Rather than be wishy-washy and deliberately avoid sounding extreme, he expresses his vision(s) from closer to the heart.
If he sees latent potential in his audience to change the world for the better, then he must do his best to incite and/or inspire them. A wishy-washy half-vision/half-vision-statement will never do that.
Someone accused Bruce of being a little carried away with the "new millennium." I'm not so sure about that. He probably recognizes the symbolic value of 2000.
I personally feel like we're in limbo. It's as if the old millennium is over, and the next doesn't begin for a year. I could look at it as a year to get a little more extreme in our thinking so we can really be prepared to make a change next year. But hey, I'm a dreamer so it's easy to make stuff like that work for me.
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Expect two more books in the Alvin Maker series: Crystal City and Master Alvin
:-) )
:)
Very cool--just finished Heartfire before the holidays and was wondering what was next.
"And if you don't know that Alvin is really Joseph Smith and Arthur Steward is really Brigham Young and that they're going to...(forget the whole quote), then You Haven't Been Paying Attention!" (I never noticed the parallels between the two, personally...
I knew that Card grew up as a Mormon, and that had some influence in the Alvin Maker series--but I wouldn't have known enough about the Book of Mormon to make the connection either
Warning: Topic Drift
Occasionally I see someone mention the Alvin Maker series here on Slashdot, but not so often as books that are "more sci-fi-ish." I stumbled on Seventh Son by accident--almost literally. I found the book lying under a pile of computer junk in my apartment and have no idea where it came from. I read the whole series so far within the last 3 months--and I definately see a message for the open source community. There are tons of parallels; Alvin, Verily, the crystal city, the golden plow...RMS, ESR, the Internet, the GPL. Hmm, GPL, Golden PLow. Just noticed that... My point is this: if you like Orson Card but don't like to stray to far from sci-fi, you still may want to give this series a chance. If you read fantasy, then you'll probably like it anyway.
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In the Apple II+ days (~1979), when I was in 5th grade, Apple donated 20-ish Apple II's to the elementary school in my small (Like many Slashdotter's, when I was a kid, I was extremely bored with the unchallenging, crappy cirruculum available at most public schools and was written off by administrators and teachers as 'lazy and unmotivated'. The Apple II+ changed my life... literally.
Woz,
I don't want to miss the opportunity to say Thank You for the Apple ][ either. My Apple ][+ without a doubt changed my life as well. Although I never had access to a decent computer at school until my senior year ('89), my parents bought an Apple ][+ in 1980.
Despite poor grades and other problems at school, at home I quickly learned Applesoft BASIC and 6502 Assembly Language. My academic career was pretty much a failure, but what I was able to teach myself at home became a strong foundation for a real career with nearly endless possibilities.
I can honestly say I learned more from my Apple ][, the incredibly detailed manuals that came with it, and many text files written by true hackers than I learned from all of my high school teachers put together.
At school I felt constantly frustrated and was always accused of being lazy and not caring about my future. With my Apple I felt intelligent, empowered, and had almost unlimited energy. I hope you understand what a difference having this balance made in my life.
ObQuestion: I've often wondered how hard it would be to write an educational game that would be fun--specifically a game that teaches object-oriented programming. Obviously it would have to be educational, fun, and interesting to a pretty wide range of ages. What other elements are important? What do you see as some of the not-so-obvious turn-offs that students face while learning? Where are other educational software packages lacking? Is anyone working on a project like this yet? Any other ideas?
Sincerely,
numb - former SysOp, Hard Rock Cafe ][ BBS/AE
Most of the air travel I've done has been for employers, and they or the client purchased the tickets. Driving really wouldn't really have been an option especially the weeks that I had to be in two different cities. Driving from Newark to LA to Dallas and back to Newark just wasn't an option even if I wanted to.
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Get a grip.
Learn to be tolerant.
Even in the rare chance that the operator is gay, big deal. So what? You think he/she's going to strip you naked and rape you on the spot?
I hope this is not directed at me because I never mentioned sexual preference other than implying my own. It's not even relevant to me. It's not a matter of gay/straight/bi or interested/not interested.
Get a farking grip here. If this person's job is to look at x-ray-like pictures all day, they're not going to get turned on by you in the least.
Believe me, I don't spend my time worrying about who might or might not be turned on by me unless it's someone I'm interested in. What I care about is not being visually inspected beneath my clothing or touched without my consent.
We need people like you to get over your homophobic reactions and not keep spreading them. It just promotes intolerance and bigotry.
Take out the words "like you" and you have a point--just not one that has any relevance to my original post.
numb
According to the Customs Commissioner the only people that will see you on the scanner will be of the same sex. Why should this make me feel any better?
But wait, if I'm unhappy with the idea of some dude checking out the outline of my unit on the scanner, I can opt to be felt up by him instead. Yeah, lovely choice...
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Starting this year in 99, I'll be using 4 digit years in all my coding in 00 and beyond.
I'm going to start using single digit years. At least for checks and stuff like that. I figure each time I have to write out a date over the next 10 years I can save my self the effort of writing an unnecessary zero.
So, as of tomorrow the date is 1/1/0 as far as I'm concerned.
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Moderate this down as flamebait, but my New Years resolution is to stop being a Karma Whore.
I know this is going to get moderated as a troll, but I intend to be an even bigger Karma Whore this year. I'm going to take the suggestion from the howto and continue pretending to be insightful. In addition I will pretend to be interesting, funny, informative, on-topic, and maybe even underrated if I can figure out how.
numb
a) keep an eye on SourceForge
b) help out with WorldForge (no relation)
c) finish the G27 gigs page
d) actually finish any project that I start
e) quit smoking again (cigs that is)
f) keep at least one of my new year's resolutions this year.
numb
I'm not sure what would convince me to move to Pittsburgh, but I can point out some of the reasons I decided to make the move to Jacksonville: (in no particular order)
1) Climate: It's not especially warm here during the winter, but at least I don't have to scrape ice or shovel snow. And, if I hit I-95 heading south it gets warmer fairly quickly.
2) Beach: The beach is close-by. I'm not really a beach-bum or anything...I just can't picture living any great distance from the ocean.
3) Pay: This is pretty obvious. Better pay is always a great incentive.
4) Rent: Rent is cheap here (at least compared to New Jersey where I used to live.) I think this also what has brought Blue Cross, Merrill Lynch, First Union, Citibank, Amex, etc to the area as well. In my case (1BR/1B overlooking a fish hatchery in NJ) ~= (2BR/2B/W/D/Pools/Tennis Courts/Gym/etc on the golf course in Jax)
5) Stress: Definately less stress down here. People are more laid back, less traffic, more room to breath. I drive 10-15 minutes to work during "rush hour." Sometimes I go home and take a nap on lunch break.
6) Entertainment: Jax isn't exactly the entertainment capital of the world, but there's plenty to do...and more every day. It's only 2.5 hours to get to Orlando if there's not enough for you to do in Jax. It makes for a nice weekend trip. (The Space Coast makes for a good weekend trip too if you're a space geek.)
7) Growth: Jacksonville is definately a growing city. More buildings going up everywhere. New shops, theatres, restaurants and bars. I literally could think of at least 10 that have opened in the 1.5 years i've been here--and they're all within 10 minutes of my apartment.
8) Cable Modems and ADSL: MediaOne offers broadband cable Internet access for $40 a month. FDN/BellSouth offers ADSL (1.5M/256k) with static IP for $60 a month.
It's not that I'm especially attached to Jacksonville. I just don't know of anywhere I'd prefer at this point. If I were to move, #8 would be my first thought.
numb
You've made an excellent point. I could nitpick the title a little bit though. I think it IS more documentation that we need.
As you've pointed out, most of the existing documentation is fairly unstructured (from a tutorial perspective at least.) It does not provide a tutor for the computer newbie. On the other hand, the documentation included with Linux gives you a better understanding of how your hardware/software works together than anything I've ever seen for the old mainstream OS's.
We need new documentation that is less intimidating to new casual users and that can provide them with the illusion of understanding that they get from other operating systems. If the user at some point wants to delve deeper, all those howto's that we've grown to love still need to be available. For those of us that like to learn what's going on under the hood, well, we've already got it pretty damn good in my opinion.
By the way, I'd like to offer some words of advice to anyone just starting with Linux. It's perfectly normal to feel intimidated. You may feel like there's no way you're going to learn everything. Fortunately, you don't have to learn everything to be more productive in Linux than you are in Windows.
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My local electric company, Jacksonville Electric Authority, already sent out past due notices this month to some customers that apparently haven't paid their bill since December of 1899. The article didn't say anything about the 1.5%/per month late fee though as far as I know. And my electric bill hasn't arrived yet so I can't check mine out first hand.
;)
Forgive my lack of confidence in the "nothing's going to happen" attitude. Not that I'm freaked out either. Whether I live or die, I won't have to sit through any more Y2K meetings--provided I'm not sent directly to hell for eternity after the New Years Eve party
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water - I already have several gallons of bottled water already since my tap water sucks
food - still working on the leftovers from christmas. they'll probably still be in my fridge well past Y2k anyway
woman - I realized that this might be important in a post-apocolypse world. Not that anyone could truly replace my PC, washer, and dryer should the electricity go out.
medication - It would be irresponsible to enter the next millenium unprepared. So, I have made certain that I have any important medication I need, and enough knowledge to grow an acre or two of it if necessary.
alcohol - guinness bass corona jack daniels kj chardonay (?sp?). Any suggestions on a good merlot?
numb
http://www.libranet.com/petition.html
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