I tried to join Hurd development a couple of years ago. The mailing list was 80 - 90% spam, with the rest being more or less 'I reckon we could do this', comments.
OK, I'm generalizing, but the thing is I did not get the impression that it was a going concern. Instead what I saw was a dying project that couldn't even keep its own mailing list clear of viagra and penis extension adverts. Needless to say I ejected within a month or two. I suspect I am not alone, there were more than a few comments from people asking if the spam on the list could be stopped. I think the problem that Stallman has is that his utopia has failed along with hurd, and he doesn't like what survived to supplant it.
Its a shame really. In my day to day work I rely totally on GCC, and I use other gnu foundation products all the time. I think they're amazing coders, but they seem unwilling to admit that the world is changing. Not everyone is filled with respect for someone who can code good C these days. Most of the time they just want to find out how you talk to each other so they can try to sell you penis related products. That and no-one in their right mind uses emacs willingly.
I doubt they will love to phone or send snail mail.
Oh I dunno, that used to work in the seventies and eighties. What'd'ya mean that was years ago, eh? Come 'ere you young hooligan, say that again! Get off my Property!
I'd give it a year after this implemented and people will be routinely sharing music over this system.
Then there will be uproar from the music police, and they will insist on such draconian anti piracy measures that the technology will become all but unusable.
Its interesting to me that there are adverts on Facebook. I've never seen any, didn't even know they existed there.
Its amazing how adblock changes the web experience. I used an undergrad lab computer last week, and was taken aback by the amount of adverts on sites I use all the time.
Nice idea. Unfortunately, clients do not always know what they need. They usually have an idea of what they want, but not how best to achieve it.
If asked about the development process they want, most would say 'fast and cheap'. Bearing in mind that a less than perfect website that is up and gaining revenue is better then a wonderful, fully featured website of d00m that won't be ready for six more months. A good programmer should advise the smallest possible feature set at first, so that can be tested, and decisions made as to the best way to proceed.
Besides, a cheap website can be improved over time, an expensive one that looks nice but doesn't quite do the job (find me a version 1 of anything that did) is costly even if all you do is remove stuff you paid a lot for.
it is something of a misunderstanding. However, the term is bandied about a lot on the interwebs in reference to technologies, and people will use words in the context they experience them.
I doubt anyone would say a flash advert is evil in the same way as hitler was. Its a matter of scale. Pong and Unreal 2007 are both computer games games, and can be spoken of using some of the same words (multiplayer, zero sum, graphical). The magnitude differs is all. A flash advert that winds you up by forcing iteslf on your attention when you want to read an article is going to engender feelings of irritation, and possibly discomfort as it tries to wrest your attention from the content you visited a site for.
I, like many people who routinely use firefox addons, never see these adverts. If advert producers found a way to force me to experience them then I would start thinking the ad providers themselves were a tad on the evil side. Not in a big way, but in a 'wrecking my online experience' way.
Flaws in original programming never seem to be a problem.
Take Red Dwarf. The first three series were filmed on cheap sets, with minimal budgets, and, well, the props were mostly crap. And yet the result was pure gold. Never before had I encountered something so funny that I almost pissed myself laughing.
The problem arise when people with big budgets try to recapture that, it never seems to work. In the case of Red Dwarf the final three series were well funded, had lots of resources, and the result was at best mediocre. I'll watch it, but not often.
If this adaption of robotech to the big screen is to have any chance, it will be if the producers understand that they are not required to 'fix' it.
if you look at sites like gamecopyworld.com you will find a wealth of programs that people will download for legitimate (in the consumers mind) use, to mean they can keep their game dvds in their boxes. Add 'trainers' and 'fun free games' to the list and your looking at the majority of casual downloads not directly involving pron or media.
The main problem though is closed source. If source is closed, then there is no easy way to find malicious code before it is deployed on your system. Ok, I'm speaking as a programmer, so that would be useful for me, not a non coder. Still, the point remains, binary distribution only means trouble, be it storm, a sony rootkit, or just 'phone home' code in a program.
What we need is something sort of like gentoo, where all programs are compiled locally, and the code can be inspected for malicious intent. Alas such technology, while it does exist, does not exist in a form that could be disseminated and used by people with no technological background. This is a pipe dream for the moment, I know this. Especially since I tried once to compile openoffice locally (18 hours I think). Perhaps trusted compile farms that deliver fresh binaries?
Waxing lyrical I know, but there has to be an answer somewhere.
I'm actually in the UK, so can't go to the shop you mention. We do have something similar though, called Maplins. I'll see if they have the chips you speak of.
I saw some kits there last year, and some boards and componants, but didn't think to get any at the time, it could be fun. Programming of something small would be fun. I spend most of my time coding for research, always using clusters, and its always really complex code. It would be nice to just code for a simple system again.
then consider me jealous. Being in the uk I missed out on that period of computing. Primarily due to the potential cost, which I couldn't meet. It remains my only regret, although I am at least a computer scientist now.
I thought I had my original Sinclair zx spectrum up in the loft, but it turned out that a 'friend' had swapped it for his damaged/oft repaired one without me knowing many years ago. I got it out last year, expecting to find my well cared for spectrum, and found a ratty scratched piece of crap in its place. I found a replacement on ebay. It's not quite the same though.
The new testament was written once many romans were willingly converting to Christianity. Therefore it would have been a seriously bad idea to say much on the subject of hating the romans.
Let me clarify. I don't think he was violent. I just said he was a revolutionary. I happen to think he had some good idea's. At least those that can be parsed from the religious bollocks that pervades the bible.
I will never believe he was the son of god. I can see no reason why someone capable of creating an infinite universe would be interested in making a human. We just aren't that special, we are, when it comes down to it, apes that can make things.
are you for real? Of course the gospels promote rigid control. If you want it spelled out, those who enforce the gospels as universal truth use them to promote rigid control. Or are you so enamored of sermons that you neglect to study on your own.
I'm not speaking as a lifelong atheist here, I was a catholic once.
Every time someone has tried to lessen the effect of religious control on any society they have been persecuted. This is a fact that cannot be disputed by proper research.
Evil has always been, and will remain, predominantly 'that which causes people to behave in a manner other then I wish them to behave'. On some levels societies agree on evil. It's usually bad to murder. In India its acceptable to some that females be killed if they 'harm the family honor', but they are appalled by murder if it involves a man or a 'good wife'. The roman catholic church honored genital mutilation until earlier this century. Muslim religions still consider it appropriate for females.
One universal feature of evil is that religions take it upon themselves to define it. You'd be amazed how frequently evil is ascribed to people who are 'not of the faithful', or are female. I certainly was.
evil is a relative term, it varies according to culture. Some people for example believe it is evil for a woman to express a desire for independence. This is nonsensical for other people, but usually accepted as fact by religious groups.
The term evil is most often used as a means to differentiate one group from another, most often when the groups involved want what the other has.
The gospels are fine if what you want is a rigidly controlled society. History has shown us that such cultures rarely thrive.
The bible is fiction, I agree there. I do believe that jesus existed, but I think he was closer to what we might call a revolutionary (or in the bush parlance, a terrorist in the eyes of the jewish leadership), not a religious leader. His legacy was likely co-opted by people who saw a means to gain power by its manipulation.
I certainly don't think that anything jesus had to say is relevant to us, two thousand years later and in an utterly different world.
This sets me apart from religious types, who always seem ready to fight the crusades over again. An odd ideal, since the crusades were a disaster for the Christians by any real measure.
I used to own a mormon bible from someone who strangely believed that giving it to me would result in instant conversion. They were rather wrong..
I used to make small bets (of the 'you buy the next round' type), that it was impossible to open it randomly and not find a reference to violence. I never lost.
Back then it was a laugh, but in recent years that fact has given me pause for thought. Is there such a thing as a non violent religion? I honestly can't think of one. Even those that aren't seem to hold the seeds for violence if they got real power.
I still play dungeon siege 2, it's one of only two games I have installed, although the broken world expansion, while it add lots of niceness that makes the main game far better, is a bit small, just another chapter really.
I keep looking to see if dungeon siege 3 is ever coming. I thought this article appearing on slashdot was an indication of such an event, seems not though. Shame.
So what about the fundamentalists Christians who want to impose their religion on the rest of the world?
You can't criticize Muslim extremism without realizing that it's just their build of a tool we also employ, and have so employed for many centuries. Only in the past we had no competition that mattered (to those doing the conversions by force anyhow).
They're using bombs and stuff (we've done that), killing themselves to kill others (ok, we haven't usually done that one), but that's because they believe that this is a proper way to die, and their god approves. Odd then that the Koran makes no such claim.
Slashdot Mirror
I tried to join Hurd development a couple of years ago. The mailing list was 80 - 90% spam, with the rest being more or less 'I reckon we could do this', comments.
OK, I'm generalizing, but the thing is I did not get the impression that it was a going concern. Instead what I saw was a dying project that couldn't even keep its own mailing list clear of viagra and penis extension adverts. Needless to say I ejected within a month or two. I suspect I am not alone, there were more than a few comments from people asking if the spam on the list could be stopped. I think the problem that Stallman has is that his utopia has failed along with hurd, and he doesn't like what survived to supplant it.
Its a shame really. In my day to day work I rely totally on GCC, and I use other gnu foundation products all the time. I think they're amazing coders, but they seem unwilling to admit that the world is changing. Not everyone is filled with respect for someone who can code good C these days. Most of the time they just want to find out how you talk to each other so they can try to sell you penis related products. That and no-one in their right mind uses emacs willingly.
I doubt they will love to phone or send snail mail.
Oh I dunno, that used to work in the seventies and eighties. What'd'ya mean that was years ago, eh? Come 'ere you young hooligan, say that again! Get off my Property!
ZZZzzzzzzzz whut?
thanks, I'll check it out.
I'd give it a year after this implemented and people will be routinely sharing music over this system.
Then there will be uproar from the music police, and they will insist on such draconian anti piracy measures that the technology will become all but unusable.
Or am I being pessimistic.
yes, but only with a level 5 or below mace.
Its interesting to me that there are adverts on Facebook. I've never seen any, didn't even know they existed there.
Its amazing how adblock changes the web experience. I used an undergrad lab computer last week, and was taken aback by the amount of adverts on sites I use all the time.
Nice idea. Unfortunately, clients do not always know what they need. They usually have an idea of what they want, but not how best to achieve it.
If asked about the development process they want, most would say 'fast and cheap'. Bearing in mind that a less than perfect website that is up and gaining revenue is better then a wonderful, fully featured website of d00m that won't be ready for six more months. A good programmer should advise the smallest possible feature set at first, so that can be tested, and decisions made as to the best way to proceed.
Besides, a cheap website can be improved over time, an expensive one that looks nice but doesn't quite do the job (find me a version 1 of anything that did) is costly even if all you do is remove stuff you paid a lot for.
it is something of a misunderstanding. However, the term is bandied about a lot on the interwebs in reference to technologies, and people will use words in the context they experience them.
I doubt anyone would say a flash advert is evil in the same way as hitler was. Its a matter of scale. Pong and Unreal 2007 are both computer games games, and can be spoken of using some of the same words (multiplayer, zero sum, graphical). The magnitude differs is all. A flash advert that winds you up by forcing iteslf on your attention when you want to read an article is going to engender feelings of irritation, and possibly discomfort as it tries to wrest your attention from the content you visited a site for.
I, like many people who routinely use firefox addons, never see these adverts. If advert producers found a way to force me to experience them then I would start thinking the ad providers themselves were a tad on the evil side. Not in a big way, but in a 'wrecking my online experience' way.
Flaws in original programming never seem to be a problem.
Take Red Dwarf. The first three series were filmed on cheap sets, with minimal budgets, and, well, the props were mostly crap. And yet the result was pure gold. Never before had I encountered something so funny that I almost pissed myself laughing.
The problem arise when people with big budgets try to recapture that, it never seems to work. In the case of Red Dwarf the final three series were well funded, had lots of resources, and the result was at best mediocre. I'll watch it, but not often.
If this adaption of robotech to the big screen is to have any chance, it will be if the producers understand that they are not required to 'fix' it.
if you look at sites like gamecopyworld.com you will find a wealth of programs that people will download for legitimate (in the consumers mind) use, to mean they can keep their game dvds in their boxes. Add 'trainers' and 'fun free games' to the list and your looking at the majority of casual downloads not directly involving pron or media.
The main problem though is closed source. If source is closed, then there is no easy way to find malicious code before it is deployed on your system. Ok, I'm speaking as a programmer, so that would be useful for me, not a non coder. Still, the point remains, binary distribution only means trouble, be it storm, a sony rootkit, or just 'phone home' code in a program.
What we need is something sort of like gentoo, where all programs are compiled locally, and the code can be inspected for malicious intent. Alas such technology, while it does exist, does not exist in a form that could be disseminated and used by people with no technological background. This is a pipe dream for the moment, I know this. Especially since I tried once to compile openoffice locally (18 hours I think). Perhaps trusted compile farms that deliver fresh binaries?
Waxing lyrical I know, but there has to be an answer somewhere.
I'm actually in the UK, so can't go to the shop you mention. We do have something similar though, called Maplins. I'll see if they have the chips you speak of.
I saw some kits there last year, and some boards and componants, but didn't think to get any at the time, it could be fun.
Programming of something small would be fun. I spend most of my time coding for research, always using clusters, and its always really complex code. It would be nice to just code for a simple system again.
then consider me jealous. Being in the uk I missed out on that period of computing. Primarily due to the potential cost, which I couldn't meet. It remains my only regret, although I am at least a computer scientist now.
I thought I had my original Sinclair zx spectrum up in the loft, but it turned out that a 'friend' had swapped it for his damaged/oft repaired one without me knowing many years ago. I got it out last year, expecting to find my well cared for spectrum, and found a ratty scratched piece of crap in its place. I found a replacement on ebay. It's not quite the same though.
What next a box with 256 bytes of ram and toggles on the front so you can enter code manually bit by bit?
You mean an Altair? Oh hell yes I'd like one. I tried to buy one back in the day, but couldn't get enough cash together.
So, you had to study CORBA in your final year at uni too eh?
The new testament was written once many romans were willingly converting to Christianity. Therefore it would have been a seriously bad idea to say much on the subject of hating the romans.
Let me clarify. I don't think he was violent. I just said he was a revolutionary. I happen to think he had some good idea's. At least those that can be parsed from the religious bollocks that pervades the bible.
I will never believe he was the son of god. I can see no reason why someone capable of creating an infinite universe would be interested in making a human. We just aren't that special, we are, when it comes down to it, apes that can make things.
You make I giggle...
are you for real? Of course the gospels promote rigid control. If you want it spelled out, those who enforce the gospels as universal truth use them to promote rigid control. Or are you so enamored of sermons that you neglect to study on your own.
I'm not speaking as a lifelong atheist here, I was a catholic once.
Every time someone has tried to lessen the effect of religious control on any society they have been persecuted. This is a fact that cannot be disputed by proper research.
Evil has always been, and will remain, predominantly 'that which causes people to behave in a manner other then I wish them to behave'. On some levels societies agree on evil. It's usually bad to murder. In India its acceptable to some that females be killed if they 'harm the family honor', but they are appalled by murder if it involves a man or a 'good wife'. The roman catholic church honored genital mutilation until earlier this century. Muslim religions still consider it appropriate for females.
One universal feature of evil is that religions take it upon themselves to define it. You'd be amazed how frequently evil is ascribed to people who are 'not of the faithful', or are female. I certainly was.
Thanks for the link
evil is a relative term, it varies according to culture. Some people for example believe it is evil for a woman to express a desire for independence. This is nonsensical for other people, but usually accepted as fact by religious groups.
The term evil is most often used as a means to differentiate one group from another, most often when the groups involved want what the other has.
The gospels are fine if what you want is a rigidly controlled society. History has shown us that such cultures rarely thrive.
The bible is fiction, I agree there. I do believe that jesus existed, but I think he was closer to what we might call a revolutionary (or in the bush parlance, a terrorist in the eyes of the jewish leadership), not a religious leader. His legacy was likely co-opted by people who saw a means to gain power by its manipulation.
I certainly don't think that anything jesus had to say is relevant to us, two thousand years later and in an utterly different world.
This sets me apart from religious types, who always seem ready to fight the crusades over again. An odd ideal, since the crusades were a disaster for the Christians by any real measure.
I used to own a mormon bible from someone who strangely believed that giving it to me would result in instant conversion. They were rather wrong..
I used to make small bets (of the 'you buy the next round' type), that it was impossible to open it randomly and not find a reference to violence. I never lost.
Back then it was a laugh, but in recent years that fact has given me pause for thought. Is there such a thing as a non violent religion? I honestly can't think of one. Even those that aren't seem to hold the seeds for violence if they got real power.
I still play dungeon siege 2, it's one of only two games I have installed, although the broken world expansion, while it add lots of niceness that makes the main game far better, is a bit small, just another chapter really.
I keep looking to see if dungeon siege 3 is ever coming. I thought this article appearing on slashdot was an indication of such an event, seems not though. Shame.
So what about the fundamentalists Christians who want to impose their religion on the rest of the world?
You can't criticize Muslim extremism without realizing that it's just their build of a tool we also employ, and have so employed for many centuries. Only in the past we had no competition that mattered (to those doing the conversions by force anyhow).
They're using bombs and stuff (we've done that), killing themselves to kill others (ok, we haven't usually done that one), but that's because they believe that this is a proper way to die, and their god approves. Odd then that the Koran makes no such claim.
I'm in Audible...