Big respect for power engineers / fixes
on
Blackout Week Continues
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Nobody cared about the power engineers and techs who work 24-hours a day. Until last week of course. Now politicians are visiting power stations and saying what terrific hardworking guys they are. Of course, they are.
Makes me a bit sad the Y2k bugs didn't fully bring everything down. Instead most everything worked and everyone got made at the programmers.
Ideas for the blackout problem: - Tax subsidies / no interest loans for businesses to get off the grid and build their own small scale power plants. - Require gas stations of have a manual way of pumping gas. - Some electronic ignition gas ranges didn't work! There should be an override for this. - In fact no energy source should require another and make it law - I understand nuclear plants need the grid to start up! This is too circular for words. Require them to have a clear generator to bootstrap. - Everyone home should have a reverse plug Where you can safely plugin a solar panel etc. It should be easy to buy and install them.
The article says the Xlib API function prototypes are still K&R. That's horrible. Since I assume all toolkits are built on Xlib wouldn't it benefit everyone if somebody (eg one of the toolkit makers) fixed this horrible state of affairs.
In fact *any* improvement to Xlib be great for everyone. This suggest it would be a great area for somebody like IBM to fund.
Sure there's a bug now. But Microsoft picking DCE RPC
for DCOM was a nice thing for the open source community since its a documented protocol.
There's a project supporting it on Linux:
freedce.
I have used freedce to communicate between Linux and Windows. It's nice.
The video features a mime. No not a MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) but one of those guys with the white face paint. A very bad choice. If they don't want people to hate their product they sound use *anything* else.
Update: Chat with me in real-time at irc://irc.xbetas.com/Micro95
A FULL set of configuration files; Win.ini, system.ini, Registry, is available in our IRC channel. If you're thinking of building your own version of Micro95, be sure to head over there to find out more information about the project.
Interesting use of IRC. To download the thing you gotta join the IRC channel. Then while you are there you will presumably chat. First time I have seen that in a product announcement.
And I might mention that irc://irc.xbetas.com/Micro95 worked for me in Mozilla - it placed me in Chatzilla.
Yeah, I like the idea of changing DLLs on a system
back to insecure versions and (of course) keeping
the Add/Remove Programs list saying they patches have been applied. Needless to say this would be other worms/viruses would get in further making diagnosing more difficult.
If we want to see what nasty viruses do we need only look at nature. For example, AIDS (or the HIV virus if you want to be exact) attacks the immune system -- the part of the body that fights viruses. People with AIDS then die with opportunistic viruses, like pneumonia, take advantage of the situation. If you wrote a computer virus that only attacked the immune system of the net it would be quite a sight to see.
Launch DDOS attached against Windows Update, Symantec, Norton, CERT websites
Make the Windows update agent think all is
well but to the user appear to functioning properly
Likewise neuter virus checking programs by
say altering their.EXE's to check for a different.DAT file. If the user can manage to get a current.DAT file he replace one that the program isn't looking at:-)
Reminds me of
haystack
which was dismissed
as been-there-seen-that when it was
discussed here. I think there might be a place for these things -- but where?
Yes, and also when we hear "to be perfectly frank..." we know were aren't to be hearing frankness.
I also like "make no mistake...". Which means I am using this tired sequence of words to stress what follows.
Of course, there is also the classic (but sadly not likely to be used again) "read my lips" as in "read my lips no new taxes" -- George Bush I who later raised taxes.
Taxies in many cities already video passengers in the back seat.
I don't much like being recorded but feel for the poor drivers who get mugged regularly.
Dan Gillmore isn't so crazy about this Southeast "innovation".
Slashdot Mirror
Nobody cared about the power engineers and techs who work 24-hours a day. Until last week of course.
Now politicians are visiting power stations and saying what terrific hardworking guys they are. Of course, they are.
Makes me a bit sad the Y2k bugs didn't fully
bring everything down. Instead most everything worked and everyone got made at the programmers.
Ideas for the blackout problem:
- Tax subsidies / no interest loans for businesses
to get off the grid and build their own small scale power plants.
- Require gas stations of have a manual way of
pumping gas.
- Some electronic ignition gas ranges didn't work!
There should be an override for this.
- In fact no energy source should require another
and make it law
- I understand nuclear plants need the grid to
start up! This is too circular for words.
Require them to have a clear generator to
bootstrap.
- Everyone home should have a reverse plug
Where you can safely plugin a solar panel
etc. It should be easy to buy and install
them.
I don't think its trying to prevent RMI (Remote Method Invocation) ... Maybe RSI (Repetitive Strain Injury) ???
Bill Gates Sold 1 Million More Microsoft Common Shares Friday ;-)
I guess he releaiszed MSFT's days are numbered
The article says the Xlib API function prototypes are still K&R. That's horrible. Since I assume
all toolkits are built on Xlib wouldn't it benefit
everyone if somebody (eg one of the toolkit makers)
fixed this horrible state of affairs.
In fact *any* improvement to Xlib be great for everyone. This suggest it would be a great area for somebody like IBM to fund.
Sure there's a bug now. But Microsoft picking DCE RPC for DCOM was a nice thing for the open source community since its a documented protocol. There's a project supporting it on Linux: freedce. I have used freedce to communicate between Linux and Windows. It's nice.
this is what the AC is talking about!
I think XML is overhyped. I'd like to see some other plain text data formats get standized so
.ini format:
they can have official ISO/ANSI/etc approval.
Maybe some kind of extended
[section]
var=val
The extended part would define a way for
subsections or arrays of variables
[section]
[subsection]
var=val
And, of course, the old BIND or C style:
Something
{
stuff
}
It would be great to see libraries for both
these in Gnome and KDE.
The video features a mime. No not a MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) but one of those guys with the white face paint. A very bad choice. If they don't want people to hate their product they sound use *anything* else.
I agree. What is it about XML that brings out the anti-KISS in people? There won't be any web if HTML was so complicated!
Yeah, I like the idea of changing DLLs on a system back to insecure versions and (of course) keeping the Add/Remove Programs list saying they patches have been applied. Needless to say this would be other worms/viruses would get in further making diagnosing more difficult.
If we want to see what nasty viruses do we need only look at nature. For example, AIDS (or the HIV virus if you want to be exact) attacks the immune system -- the part of the body that fights viruses. People with AIDS then die with opportunistic viruses, like pneumonia, take advantage of the situation. If you wrote a computer virus that only attacked the immune system of the net it would be quite a sight to see.
It worked for me with Mozilla 1.4
Miranda is very good but this is just the first release of this plugin and it only appears to work with ICQ.
Doesn't render the bottom of cnn.com correctly.
So let Lindows make a bit of profit - jeeze.
Yikes I didn't know his middle name was Benedict.
In any case we how can get the POSIX standard. We have the info: the LSB and how POSIX diff's from it.
Reminds me of haystack which was dismissed as been-there-seen-that when it was discussed here. I think there might be a place for these things -- but where?
Yes, and also when we hear "to be perfectly frank..." we know were aren't to be hearing frankness.
I also like "make no mistake...". Which means I am using this tired sequence of words to stress what follows.
Of course, there is also the classic (but sadly not likely to be used again) "read my lips" as in "read my lips no new taxes" -- George Bush I who later raised taxes.
I agree Bill has become very predictable.
He has zero insight. Nobody would listen to him
if it wasn't for his position.
Also, in the British Museum version you can enlarge the pages enough so you can actually read them.
Gosh, everyone is so negative on this.
Well... I like the idea of anonymous cash transfers.
Not only do they "lose" the case but they
get Slashdotted!
(I am joking because hopefully these guys have the
capacity to handle it.)
But maybe not since the first version of GTK (the Gimp Tool Kit) had everything that Gimp needed. Why would they bother upgrading. Just guessing.
Dan Gillmore isn't so crazy about this Southeast "innovation".