I'm with ya on that point Skyshadow. Especially "Find someone who can and will drag your ass out of your chair every so often."
One of best things about my last relationship was the fact that she got me to do stuff I wouldn't usually go out of my way to do. I actually learned something from her. Sure it would have been nice if she cooked, cleaned, and ran my bathwater for me, but that's not enough to keep me interested any more than good looks.
Roblimo, I think your article is pretty cool overall. You're going to get flamed to a crisp for some of it...and I think you deserve a little flamage for this one along with the kudos.
I hate replying to my own comment, but I found the story on Wired's website and I had it mixed up with another story I'd heard...but it's relevant so here's the link:
I read a story a couple years ago about this guy set up a website to trade "stock" in his microbrew beers--for entertainment purposes only. Suprisingly, frequent visitors really got into it--to the point that they actually started offering each other real money for the fake stock.
IIRC this led to him setting up an online trading system with genuine "fake" stock certificates that he would send out to patrons of the system--clearly stated that it was for entertainment purposes.
Last I heard he was being hounded by the SEC. This was quite a while ago, but I was able to find the links on Yahoo's index where it mentions the "common stock" thing--however his site makes absolutely no mention of it anymore except for a jpg somewhere that says "take stock in your beer."
Anyone else remember this story or know whatever happened to the guy? It says nothing about it on the site anymore. I know theres quite a bit more to the story, but honestly I can't remember the rest.
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I'd love to sit at a bar for a couple hours with the President and get bombed. I have a feeling he's the type of dude that really knows how to party. ?syntax error
I hate to say it, but this is complete fluff. And honestly, I don't see myself using it in any real situation. "Machine load is immediately apparent"? Number of processes != system load. "monsters occasionally kill each other"? That would be a rare application. "Sysadmins could cooperate or compete"? I don't need to collaborate to kill processes. And I certainly don't want to compete.
I don't expect to see any of the companies I've worked at installing this...but is the story complete fluff? No way.
Experiments such as this one are important steps to creating new interfaces. This article spawned many thoughts and creative ideas in a very short time here on Slashdot.
In other words, exercise your imagination a little like the guy that wrote this patch. You're missing out if you don't.
So you're saying the phone companies are guilty of not subsidizing ISDN so they can charge by the minute for local calls? Of course, though, they can't charge by the minute for local calls, and they will never get approval to do so. Any serious talk of a modem tax is referring to special charges for modem users, either directly or indirectly.
No I don't think I ever said that. What I was getting at is that most RBOCs have deliberately forced home users to tie up their networks. By the way, they DO charge per minute for local voice calls on your ISDN line in Bell Atlantic-NJ territory (at least they did when I lived there. This always pissed me off too--I'd need a second phone line anyway with ISDN just so I wouldn't have to pay for local voice calls--AFAIK most RBOCs are kind enough to let you make local voice calls for free over ISDN though.)
I don't think ISDN is the greatest technology either. The reason that I pointed at ISDN is that it's been around for years (>20 IIRC), and even offered affordably in some areas of the country.
Almost all of the poor bastards that are stuck with a 53.3kbit (maximum) connection, could be surfing at 128kbit (actual) and tying up the network less...if only the RBOCs fostered rather than stifled it over the last several years.
Of course the phone companies are greedy. Any for-profit public corporation is required by law to seek maximum profit for its shareholders. That doesn't mean that they are acting maliciously.
The prices on POT lines are based on the way they work without ISPs: occasional short uses, not long-term continual connections. You are on a time-share system, and you are insisting on your right to use it 100% of the time.
ISDN could have been the RBOC's solution to this years ago. The setup/connect time for ISDN is only a second or two so there is no need to stay connected unless you are continuously sending or receiving data. Keep in mind that an ISDN channel uses the same amount of bandwidth as a regular phone line (although it's common to bond two channels together.)
Instead of fostering this technology, the RBOC's have kept the prices prohibitive. In most areas of the US the user is charged per minute per channel or an exhorbitant flat rate (more expensive than a T1 when I lived in NJ.) To make matters worse you have to pay for a full minute even if that e-mail only took 5 seconds to transfer. The average home user would tie up the network a lot less if their connection only came up long enough to load a web page then closed down again--almost definately less than a voice call rather than more!
So the RBOC's force people to tie up their network and then complain that they need more money because of it. Do you think that they didn't realize this would happen?
Think about the services RBOCs supply to home users... The bare minimum are affordable because RBOCs are local monopolies that don't benefit at all by giving more than the bare minimum--they basically charge as much as they are allowed for extra services. Over the last couple years more competition has entered the picture, and only now are we seeing reasonably priced data services showing up from the RBOCs.
So, why wouldn't they make prices more reasonable for ISDN if it will lessen the load on their network? Because they don't have to! Why give it away if they can charge 2-4 cents a minute for local calls? Why give away call waiting if they can charge $2.50 a month for it? (You don't think that it costs them any extra to provide you with call waiting do you?)
Greed.
All I can say is thank * for my cablemodem. As far as I'm concerned the RBOC's can go fsck themselves.
I read Snowcrash a couple years ago, then Diamond Age more recently. And finally I broke down and bought Cryptonomicon (still in hardcover) which I just finished reading. I have Zodiac lying around somewhere but my head needs some rest after reading Crypto.
Anyway, just wanted compare his books that I've read:
Snow Crash: [Net] It was fun, lots of interesting ideas about the Metaverse. The writing style was a little wierd -- IIRC Snow Crash was intended to be a work of interactive fiction but Neal ended up making it into a book instead. Thus a lot of writing in the present tense.
Diamond Age: [Nanotech] This one was my favorite. I liked the idea of a book/nanotech computer created to teach as well invite change into the world. In a sense Diamond Age is the book [primer] in the book. Lots of fun and cool ideas. This one also seems to end too abruptly (as did Snowcrash.)
Cryptomonicon: [Crypto] Not only was this one long, but it was some really heavy reading. Lots of math and stuff (even some Perl code in there--no sh*t.) I'll never figure out why he refers to Linux as "Finux" yet feels free to call Windows "Windows." I didn't find this one as much fun as the other two, but on the other hand it was very educational. Certainly a worthy read at any rate.
Unless you're really into the heavy stuff, I'd recommend reading Snowcrash and Diamond Age first. If I wasn't already "broken in" by reading those, I'm not sure I would've gotten as much out of Cryptomonicon.
I spent several years working in casinos in Atlantic City. The credit card companies have machines similar to ATM's that allow you to obtain cash from your credit card within ten feet of the casino floor. I suppose they're not there specifically for gambling purposes though:)
Microsoft wouldn't be nearly as big as it is today if it weren't for its ability to corner technology markets. Disabling them to do this is like cutting off their leg. How are they supposed to compete in an environment where they have to, er... compete? What are they supposed to do, just turn around and pull superior software out of their Back Orifice? Getting the DOJ off their back is the only way they have a chance to continue their past success.
Come on though....haven't we gone too far in the wrong direction when we start enhancing children. Who of all of you out there actually want to send your son/daughter out to a plastik surgeon!?
Some routine non-genetic "enhancements" routinely performed on children in the US: Circumcision, removal of healthy tonsils, and removal of non-problematic wisdom teeth.
Optional enhancements for somewhat older people: capped teeth, breast implants, penis implants, calve implants, piercings, tattoos, etc, etc.
Basically we've already decided that it's okay to modify ourselves and our children. How far it goes will be the question...
When cybernetic enhancements are available there will people that will rush to get them regardless of the controversy. Then how are you going to compete in the workplace with a guy that has wireless access to the internet built into his head (maybe not as far off as it sounds.)
People will enhance themselves and their children as they see fit an nothing is going to stop them (except lack of funding perhaps.)
The original article says: "If the user opens the attached file -- an action AOL claims to repeatedly warn users against -- it launches a small program that obtains the user's password off the hard disk and sends it back to the hacker's OperaMail address."
Slashdot says: "Using OperaMail and a program similar to those used to hack ICQ, the sender can get the password to anyone's account on AOL; all the user has to do is open the email."
What gives? Does it really open automatically? If so then AOL is at fault. If the users are running an attached executable, then the user is at fault.
Having a CPU powerful enough to encode well in realtime should be the most important factor. For low bit rates such as 24kbps (low enough to listen over a 33.6k modem--there is overhead to deal with so 32kbps is out of the question for 33.6k modems and 56k modems would be hit or miss depending on the listeners connection) the quality might not be that great. l3enc encodes 24kbps MP3's beautifully in high quality mode, but my K6-2-420 (oc'd) can't do it in realtime. None of the encoders that encode fast enough in realtime sound that great though (at 24k--a lot sound great at the higher bitrates.)
Someone posted about the new Gogo encoder that supports MMX/3Dnow -- that may make a difference. I'm definately going to check that out. Of course this means an Intel/AMD solution rather than PowerPC.
To the point: Try some different different encoders and see which gives you acceptable quality at the bit rate you'll be using. Which encoder works best will depend on the bit rate you choose. As far as the server, Icecast is open source and uses very little CPU. It's completely compatible with Shoutcast (even registers you on http://yp.shoutcast.com when you're broadcasting--the cool thing is that it registers you on multiple icecast yp.servers also.) Icecast outbenchmarked Shoutcast a lot when it first came out, but I can't find the benchmarks--things may have changed since then.
Please avoid using something like Realaudio. Their support for Linux/Unix has been really lame in my opinion. They've only just released Realplayer G2 (alpha) for Linux.
It sounds stupid to me. Not half as interesting an idea as Wheel World. Lex and Terry (radio hosts) stick a bunch people in a in a Jacksonville trailer park for a couple weeks. I think it just started this week in fact. I think they might have a cam or something on lexandterry.com (Our proxy blocks their site so I can't be sure.) Judging by the applicants they interviewed on the radio it could turn out pretty funny, or maybe dangerous. Still more interesting than the Gilligan's Island meets Real World idea.
This guy really seems to make a lot of erroneous assumptions about the Open Source community. I only read C&B once but I don't remember ESR saying that OSS projects are magically easy. I don't remember him saying that OSS projects never fail.
Did he say the Microsoft needs to be destroyed? It seems to me that most OSS people agree that Microsoft's software and business practices suck, but care little about M$ beyond that. Yeah they'd love to see Gates get a good spanking, but I certainly don't think they really care what happens to M$. These may be my erroneous assumptions, but one thing I'm sure of is that this guy is overestimating the relevance of Microsoft in the past, present, and future of OSS. It's a common goal, not a common enemy that drives this community.
Almost every paragraph that I read seemed to be off key with my view of OSS and the community surrounding it. Or maybe it's just my view that's skewed...
Has anyone remapped their keyboard with a custom layout? Maybe someone could come up with something better for computing needs. Something that takes heavy use of []{}|~ into consideration would be nice. Hmm...
I don't mean to intrude on your personal reality or anything, but I'd like to offer a couple of thoughts from my own...
I believe that God will exist as long as people believe H/he exists. I believe the same thing about the Tao. And files on my hard drive. Yeah, I know my hard drive doesn't really have "files" and "folders" in it. Hell, it doesn't even really have "bits" in it. It's just a bunch of magnetized discs and some silicon.
But it really helps me to apply a layer of abstraction to things. I really can't seem to find the time to understand everything in the universe in perfect detail.
Believe me, I do not approve of the way people have abused religions and I feel bad for the people that have been abused by religion.
On the other hand, I know and respect many highly intelligent people that are religious. Religion empowers them, and/helps/ guide them. The same people are also entirely capable of thinking for themselves (although it seems most people aren't regardless of whether they are religious or not.) They know that God is something they can't understand.
What I find to be annoying are people that think they know everything, including everything in the universe beyond their comprehension.
2000 - 15 year old high school student creates her own Linux distribution specifically tailored for her school. After word spreads of this new distribution it evolves into EduLinux, the standard platform for learning institutions around the world.
2001 - 18 year old high school drop-out writes PerlQuest. As the player progresses through the game, he learns how to create objects that interact with each other to solve each quest. PerlQuest becomes a hit despite it's odd command line interface. ie: key->use(door)
2002 - PerlQuest is included in the EduLinux package due the ease with which educational quests can be created. PerlQuest becomes the standard interface for a huge amount of educational quests for students and non-students of all ages.
4/1/3 - Slashdot announces that there will be a new Windows release from Microsoft. Turns out to be a hoax.
2000 - 15 year old high school student creates her own Linux distribution specifically tailored for her school. After word spreads of this new distribution it evolves into EduLinux, the standard platform for learning institutions around the world.
2001 - 18 year old high school drop-out writes PerlQuest. As the player progresses through the game, he learns how to create objects that interact with each other to solve each quest. PerlQuest becomes a hit despite it's odd command line interface. ie: key->use(door)
2002 - PerlQuest is included in the EduLinux package due the ease with which educational quests can be created. PerlQuest becomes the standard interface for a huge amount of educational quests for students and non-students of all ages.
4/1/3 - Slashdot announces that there will be a new Windows release from Microsoft. Turns out to be a hoax.
OK, if you found this article a little upsetting, just wait for Phase II:
"Today the US Department of Education announced passage of a bill which requires that all students be instructed in using a computer, it's operating system, and basic applications such as word processing. Students will be required to take one class per week from 4th grade through high school graduation.
'It is imperative that our students have the computers skills that they will need to survive in the 21st century,' said the President, 'and we're very fortunate to have such support from the technology industry.'
Such support comes from Microsoft who cut licensing costs for all their products in half, including educational software co-developed at MIT to show students the proper way to use operating systems and applications. Microsoft's and MIT's educational software is tightly integrated with the Windows operating system and the Office suite of applications (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook) making it the perfect choice all around for the classroom. The educational software will also provide a universal interface to other educational programs on subjects as varied as Automotive Repair, Citizenship, and Art Appreciation.
'We're very proud that our software has become the standard, to the point that it will be on every computer in every classroom in the US.' from Bill Gates, CEO of Microsoft. 'I've always felt that it was important to start teaching our children about computers as soon as possible. What they learn as children will guide them for the rest of their lives--and I can't express how happy we are to play a role in that!'"
uh, this is purely fictitious (at the time of posting...) Writing this I realized that getting Linux into the classroom (asap) is probably more important than I'd thought.
> How do they convince intelligent > geeks that, after all, the long-term assurance > of privacy and personal liberties isn't that > important. Is it money? Do they snag them early > in college? What?
I dunno, maybe they arrest them for possession of electronic equipment that "could be used in a crime." Then lock them up and deny them a trial if they refuse.
This could be a good way for the government to foster the development of encryption products that are more big brother friendly. Or any technology for that matter. I don't like it.
I don't understand why so many writers seem to think that the power of Linux and "ease of use" are mutually exclusive things? I guess it's because most of them new to the Linux bandwagon. There are a lot of projects that have been, and will continue to improve the ease of use of Linux for newbies.
Notice I said for newbies. For those who have bothered to learn how to use the keyboard as their primary input device, Unix shells are much easier to use than GUI interfaces for all but the most simple operations.
A pretty GUI interface simply does not define ease of use for everyone. I'm hoping that during the next year the "ease of use" arguement is going to become a non issue. By that point Linux should at least be caught up to Windows in the "ease of use for newbies" category. The idea that Linux may one day also be touted as "easier to configure and install than Windows" may be here sooner than you think.
I know it's off-topic but can someone shed some light on the purpose of the quarter ads? Did the US Treasury have reason to believe that people would stop using quarters in favor of two dimes and a nickel or something? Why did they have to spend money to contract Kermit the Frog to advertise currency that everyone already uses? How much did they pay? I know there must be a conspiracy around here somewhere;)
I remember hearing this also and had the same reaction. Someone must have created the rumour that he was dead (or that he's still alive.) I remember they said Guiness, like the brew;)
Slashdot Mirror
I'm with ya on that point Skyshadow. Especially "Find someone who can and will drag your ass out of your chair every so often."
...and I think you deserve a little flamage for this one along with the kudos.
One of best things about my last relationship was the fact that she got me to do stuff I wouldn't usually go out of my way to do. I actually learned something from her. Sure it would have been nice if she cooked, cleaned, and ran my bathwater for me, but that's not enough to keep me interested any more than good looks.
Roblimo, I think your article is pretty cool overall. You're going to get flamed to a crisp for some of it
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http://www.wired.com/wired/ar chive/6.02/wallstreet.html
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IIRC this led to him setting up an online trading system with genuine "fake" stock certificates that he would send out to patrons of the system--clearly stated that it was for entertainment purposes.
Last I heard he was being hounded by the SEC. This was quite a while ago, but I was able to find the links on Yahoo's index where it mentions the "common stock" thing--however his site makes absolutely no mention of it anymore except for a jpg somewhere that says "take stock in your beer."
http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=wit-tra de
Anyone else remember this story or know whatever happened to the guy? It says nothing about it on the site anymore. I know theres quite a bit more to the story, but honestly I can't remember the rest.
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I'd love to sit at a bar for a couple hours with the President and get bombed. I have a feeling he's the type of dude that really knows how to party.
?syntax error
I don't expect to see any of the companies I've worked at installing this...but is the story complete fluff? No way.
Experiments such as this one are important steps to creating new interfaces. This article spawned many thoughts and creative ideas in a very short time here on Slashdot.
In other words, exercise your imagination a little like the guy that wrote this patch. You're missing out if you don't.
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No I don't think I ever said that. What I was getting at is that most RBOCs have deliberately forced home users to tie up their networks. By the way, they DO charge per minute for local voice calls on your ISDN line in Bell Atlantic-NJ territory (at least they did when I lived there. This always pissed me off too--I'd need a second phone line anyway with ISDN just so I wouldn't have to pay for local voice calls--AFAIK most RBOCs are kind enough to let you make local voice calls for free over ISDN though.)
I don't think ISDN is the greatest technology either. The reason that I pointed at ISDN is that it's been around for years (>20 IIRC), and even offered affordably in some areas of the country.
Almost all of the poor bastards that are stuck with a 53.3kbit (maximum) connection, could be surfing at 128kbit (actual) and tying up the network less...if only the RBOCs fostered rather than stifled it over the last several years.
Of course the phone companies are greedy. Any for-profit public corporation is required by law to seek maximum profit for its shareholders. That doesn't mean that they are acting maliciously.
Of course.
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?syntax error
ISDN could have been the RBOC's solution to this years ago. The setup/connect time for ISDN is only a second or two so there is no need to stay connected unless you are continuously sending or receiving data. Keep in mind that an ISDN channel uses the same amount of bandwidth as a regular phone line (although it's common to bond two channels together.)
Instead of fostering this technology, the RBOC's have kept the prices prohibitive. In most areas of the US the user is charged per minute per channel or an exhorbitant flat rate (more expensive than a T1 when I lived in NJ.) To make matters worse you have to pay for a full minute even if that e-mail only took 5 seconds to transfer. The average home user would tie up the network a lot less if their connection only came up long enough to load a web page then closed down again--almost definately less than a voice call rather than more!
So the RBOC's force people to tie up their network and then complain that they need more money because of it. Do you think that they didn't realize this would happen?
Think about the services RBOCs supply to home users... The bare minimum are affordable because RBOCs are local monopolies that don't benefit at all by giving more than the bare minimum--they basically charge as much as they are allowed for extra services. Over the last couple years more competition has entered the picture, and only now are we seeing reasonably priced data services showing up from the RBOCs.
So, why wouldn't they make prices more reasonable for ISDN if it will lessen the load on their network? Because they don't have to! Why give it away if they can charge 2-4 cents a minute for local calls? Why give away call waiting if they can charge $2.50 a month for it? (You don't think that it costs them any extra to provide you with call waiting do you?)
Greed.
All I can say is thank * for my cablemodem. As far as I'm concerned the RBOC's can go fsck themselves.
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?syntax error
I read Snowcrash a couple years ago, then Diamond Age more recently. And finally I broke down and bought Cryptonomicon (still in hardcover) which I just finished reading. I have Zodiac lying around somewhere but my head needs some rest after reading Crypto.
Anyway, just wanted compare his books that I've read:
Snow Crash: [Net]
It was fun, lots of interesting ideas about the Metaverse. The writing style was a little wierd -- IIRC Snow Crash was intended to be a work of interactive fiction but Neal ended up making it into a book instead. Thus a lot of writing in the present tense.
Diamond Age: [Nanotech]
This one was my favorite. I liked the idea of a book/nanotech computer created to teach as well invite change into the world. In a sense Diamond Age is the book [primer] in the book. Lots of fun and cool ideas. This one also seems to end too abruptly (as did Snowcrash.)
Cryptomonicon: [Crypto]
Not only was this one long, but it was some really heavy reading. Lots of math and stuff (even some Perl code in there--no sh*t.) I'll never figure out why he refers to Linux as "Finux" yet feels free to call Windows "Windows." I didn't find this one as much fun as the other two, but on the other hand it was very educational. Certainly a worthy read at any rate.
Unless you're really into the heavy stuff, I'd recommend reading Snowcrash and Diamond Age first. If I wasn't already "broken in" by reading those, I'm not sure I would've gotten as much out of Cryptomonicon.
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I spent several years working in casinos in Atlantic City. The credit card companies have machines similar to ATM's that allow you to obtain cash from your credit card within ten feet of the casino floor. I suppose they're not there specifically for gambling purposes though :)
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Microsoft wouldn't be nearly as big as it is today if it weren't for its ability to corner technology markets. Disabling them to do this is like cutting off their leg. How are they supposed to compete in an environment where they have to, er... compete? What are they supposed to do, just turn around and pull superior software out of their Back Orifice? Getting the DOJ off their back is the only way they have a chance to continue their past success.
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Some routine non-genetic "enhancements" routinely performed on children in the US: Circumcision, removal of healthy tonsils, and removal of non-problematic wisdom teeth.
Optional enhancements for somewhat older people: capped teeth, breast implants, penis implants, calve implants, piercings, tattoos, etc, etc.
Basically we've already decided that it's okay to modify ourselves and our children. How far it goes will be the question...
When cybernetic enhancements are available there will people that will rush to get them regardless of the controversy. Then how are you going to compete in the workplace with a guy that has wireless access to the internet built into his head (maybe not as far off as it sounds.)
People will enhance themselves and their children as they see fit an nothing is going to stop them (except lack of funding perhaps.)
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The original article says: "If the user opens the attached file -- an action AOL claims to repeatedly warn users against -- it launches a small program that obtains the user's password off the hard disk and sends it back to the hacker's OperaMail address."
Slashdot says: "Using OperaMail and a program similar to those used to hack ICQ, the sender can get the password to anyone's account on AOL; all the user has to do is open the email."
What gives? Does it really open automatically? If so then AOL is at fault. If the users are running an attached executable, then the user is at fault.
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Having a CPU powerful enough to encode well in realtime should be the most important factor. For low bit rates such as 24kbps (low enough to listen over a 33.6k modem--there is overhead to deal with so 32kbps is out of the question for 33.6k modems and 56k modems would be hit or miss depending on the listeners connection) the quality might not be that great. l3enc encodes 24kbps MP3's beautifully in high quality mode, but my K6-2-420 (oc'd) can't do it in realtime. None of the encoders that encode fast enough in realtime sound that great though (at 24k--a lot sound great at the higher bitrates.)
Someone posted about the new Gogo encoder that supports MMX/3Dnow -- that may make a difference. I'm definately going to check that out. Of course this means an Intel/AMD solution rather than PowerPC.
To the point: Try some different different encoders and see which gives you acceptable quality at the bit rate you'll be using. Which encoder works best will depend on the bit rate you choose. As far as the server, Icecast is open source and uses very little CPU. It's completely compatible with Shoutcast (even registers you on http://yp.shoutcast.com when you're broadcasting--the cool thing is that it registers you on multiple icecast yp.servers also.) Icecast outbenchmarked Shoutcast a lot when it first came out, but I can't find the benchmarks--things may have changed since then.
Please avoid using something like Realaudio. Their support for Linux/Unix has been really lame in my opinion. They've only just released Realplayer G2 (alpha) for Linux.
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This guy really seems to make a lot of erroneous assumptions about the Open Source community. I only read C&B once but I don't remember ESR saying that OSS projects are magically easy. I don't remember him saying that OSS projects never fail.
Did he say the Microsoft needs to be destroyed? It seems to me that most OSS people agree that Microsoft's software and business practices suck, but care little about M$ beyond that. Yeah they'd love to see Gates get a good spanking, but I certainly don't think they really care what happens to M$. These may be my erroneous assumptions, but one thing I'm sure of is that this guy is overestimating the relevance of Microsoft in the past, present, and future of OSS. It's a common goal, not a common enemy that drives this community.
Almost every paragraph that I read seemed to be off key with my view of OSS and the community surrounding it. Or maybe it's just my view that's skewed...
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Has anyone remapped their keyboard with a custom layout? Maybe someone could come up with something better for computing needs. Something that takes heavy use of []{}|~ into consideration would be nice. Hmm...
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I don't mean to intrude on your personal reality or anything, but I'd like to offer a couple of thoughts from my own...
/helps/ guide them. The same people are also entirely capable of thinking for themselves (although it seems most people aren't regardless of whether they are religious or not.) They know that God is something they can't understand.
I believe that God will exist as long as people believe H/he exists. I believe the same thing about the Tao. And files on my hard drive. Yeah, I know my hard drive doesn't really have "files" and "folders" in it. Hell, it doesn't even really have "bits" in it. It's just a bunch of magnetized discs and some silicon.
But it really helps me to apply a layer of abstraction to things. I really can't seem to find the time to understand everything in the universe in perfect detail.
Believe me, I do not approve of the way people have abused religions and I feel bad for the people that have been abused by religion.
On the other hand, I know and respect many highly intelligent people that are religious. Religion empowers them, and
What I find to be annoying are people that think they know everything, including everything in the universe beyond their comprehension.
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2000 - 15 year old high school student creates her own Linux distribution specifically tailored for her school. After word spreads of this new distribution it evolves into EduLinux, the standard platform for learning institutions around the world.
2001 - 18 year old high school drop-out writes PerlQuest. As the player progresses through the game, he learns how to create objects that interact with each other to solve each quest. PerlQuest becomes a hit despite it's odd command line interface. ie: key->use(door)
2002 - PerlQuest is included in the EduLinux package due the ease with which educational quests can be created. PerlQuest becomes the standard interface for a huge amount of educational quests for students and non-students of all ages.
4/1/3 - Slashdot announces that there will be a new Windows release from Microsoft. Turns out to be a hoax.
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2000 - 15 year old high school student creates her own Linux distribution specifically tailored for her school. After word spreads of this new distribution it evolves into EduLinux, the standard platform for learning institutions around the world.
2001 - 18 year old high school drop-out writes PerlQuest. As the player progresses through the game, he learns how to create objects that interact with each other to solve each quest. PerlQuest becomes a hit despite it's odd command line interface. ie: key->use(door)
2002 - PerlQuest is included in the EduLinux package due the ease with which educational quests can be created. PerlQuest becomes the standard interface for a huge amount of educational quests for students and non-students of all ages.
4/1/3 - Slashdot announces that there will be a new Windows release from Microsoft. Turns out to be a hoax.
OK, if you found this article a little upsetting, just wait for Phase II:
"Today the US Department of Education announced passage of a bill which requires that all students be instructed in using a computer, it's operating system, and basic applications such as word processing. Students will be required to take one class per week from 4th grade through high school graduation.
'It is imperative that our students have the computers skills that they will need to survive in the 21st century,' said the President, 'and we're very fortunate to have such support from the technology industry.'
Such support comes from Microsoft who cut licensing costs for all their products in half, including educational software co-developed at MIT to show students the proper way to use operating systems and applications. Microsoft's and MIT's educational software is tightly integrated with the Windows operating system and the Office suite of applications (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook) making it the perfect choice all around for the classroom. The educational software will also provide a universal interface to other educational programs on subjects as varied as Automotive Repair, Citizenship, and Art Appreciation.
'We're very proud that our software has become the standard, to the point that it will be on every computer in every classroom in the US.' from Bill Gates, CEO of Microsoft. 'I've always felt that it was important to start teaching our children about computers as soon as possible. What they learn as children will guide them for the rest of their lives--and I can't express how happy we are to play a role in that!'"
uh, this is purely fictitious (at the time of posting...) Writing this I realized that getting Linux into the classroom (asap) is probably more important than I'd thought.
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> How do they convince intelligent
> geeks that, after all, the long-term assurance > of privacy and personal liberties isn't that > important. Is it money? Do they snag them early > in college? What?
I dunno, maybe they arrest them for possession of electronic equipment that "could be used in a crime." Then lock them up and deny them a trial if they refuse.
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This could be a good way for the government to foster the development of encryption products that are more big brother friendly. Or any technology for that matter. I don't like it.
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I don't understand why so many writers seem to think that the power of Linux and "ease of use" are mutually exclusive things? I guess it's because most of them new to the Linux bandwagon. There are a lot of projects that have been, and will continue to improve the ease of use of Linux for newbies.
Notice I said for newbies. For those who have bothered to learn how to use the keyboard as their primary input device, Unix shells are much easier to use than GUI interfaces for all but the most simple operations.
A pretty GUI interface simply does not define ease of use for everyone. I'm hoping that during the next year the "ease of use" arguement is going to become a non issue. By that point Linux should at least be caught up to Windows in the "ease of use for newbies" category. The idea that Linux may one day also be touted as "easier to configure and install than Windows" may be here sooner than you think.
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> Wile E. Coyote: Isn't that one blatantly obvious?
Nope, Wile E would be a hardcore Windows user. He would continue buying Microsoft products no matter how often they blew up in his face.
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I know it's off-topic but can someone shed some light on the purpose of the quarter ads? Did the US Treasury have reason to believe that people would stop using quarters in favor of two dimes and a nickel or something? Why did they have to spend money to contract Kermit the Frog to advertise currency that everyone already uses? How much did they pay? I know there must be a conspiracy around here somewhere ;)
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I remember hearing this also and had the same reaction. Someone must have created the rumour that he was dead (or that he's still alive.) I remember they said Guiness, like the brew ;)
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