Actually, champ and chomp mean and are pronounced exactly the same (chomp is an alternate spelling for champ, probably because of pronunciation sounding like chomp), so either would technically be correct (at least as far as the meaning is concerned).
The idiom is champing everyplace I've ever seen it written, though (except here), so you are correct in the spelling of the idiom itself @:)
I'm not an Aussie, or an expert, but I recall from old Popular Science's (Space Planes issue) that Scramjet engines use much less fuel because they don't go straight up (ascend more like a plane) and use the atmosphere as part of their combustion, unlike rockets, which use liquified propellents. The major problem with scramjets was accelerating to a speed where they become efficient. The airline industry abandoned the idea because they couldn't carry enough passengers to make a profit (one of the Concorde's problems, as well) and the US military abandoned it because they didn't have an immediate need and it was an easy way to save money. Since I haven't heard much about them for a number of years, I'd guess that other militaries abandoned them, as well (at least for combat uses).
There probably won't be much of a market for passengers in the near future, unless someone builds a space casino, mainly because the cost is too high, at least compared to conventional aircraft. There is a market for cheap satellite delivery, though, which conventional aircraft can't do (the plane or the satellite would need to be rocket assisted to get into the proper orbit, and orbit velocity, I'd think).
Sure you can! Which commandment does that break? Thou shalt not mock scripture? Haven't heard that one... must have been one on the tablet Moses dropped. I give you these 15... smash... 10... Ten Commandments!
Ok, it was funny until some holier-than-thou Anonymous Coward busted a couple of rounds in my ass. Psychotic fundamentalists...
I thought it was bad when Northpoint went away (first filing bankruptcy and then liquidating all assets - I think they originally wanted Chap 11 but never got to it), but can you imagine Worldcom's UUNet? Roughly 1/2 the internet rides on that backbone, and without bankruptcy protection, this backbone might be shut down and sold. Also, millions of phone subscribers would be without service until someone came in and took over the system.
I don't love corporate welfare, but sometimes it's a necessary evil. If half the internet went out tomorrow, how many dot-coms would die? If 1/4 of the phone service in the country went dark today, how many businesses would go bankrupt because they weren't able to get faxes for orders? We're not just talking about Worldcom anymore, now we're talking about the thousands of smaller businesses that depend on Worldcom.
You're not separating your RGB, and LEP has separate R,G, and B components (like colored LED displays). Increase that timing by 3 times as much or increase the number of conductors to 1024+(768*3)=3328, assuming you're passing the RGB on the horizontal with vertical scanlines (pass goes left to right or right to left, unlike your TV's up and down - for up and down, it's 1024*3+768=3840 conductors).
The original logic should be 2359296 connections, one each for RGB and 1024x768.
A little more on this subject...
If you use scanlines, you could get away with a single wire carrying a signal (or a signal and power if power is being distributed over the same wire) and decode the signal at each pixel and distribute power (for intensities) at the contact point into the RGB plastics. That would reduce your calculation down to... 1792 connections (x+y) since some decoding is happening at the contact points.
The disadvantage is you'd need decoder logic for every pixel, but this may be easier and more producable than individual wires. If the decoders were good enough, you could reduce the wires further by having 4 pixels decoded for each wire (providing the wire meets at a single contact point for the four pixels. A four pixel connection point without scanlines reduces the number of wires to 196608 for continuous updates (such as the original example) and with scanlines you halve the values in each direction ending with 896 wires (512+384).
Fast scan conversion with long "burn" times would likely not be noticable (update takes a fraction of the "on screen" time - probably less noticable than a TV), and if some memory is available for each pixel and a clock is used, one could double buffer the display, and have a near 0 update time.
I'm sure there are other possibilities. My main point is that wiring isn't the only option for each pixel or pixel component (RG or B), as long as there is enough space to stick in a small amount of circuitry to do some decoding at the end.
You wouldn't exactly change your clothes, but you could change the LOOK of your clothes. In other words, if your clothes are dirty and stink like a sewer, they still will. I also suspect something that would statically change clothes color/fit/etc would be more realistic, unless you want continuously updating clothes (imagine the tie-dye...). Now T-shirt advertisers, on the other hand, are probably drooling...
my biggest worry would be laundry, - my wife has enough hand wash/line dry crap as it is.
In C++, for instance, you can override the == operator and create one that works with strings. This would have to be in their universal headers, since I don't see any #include statements anywhere.
Some scripting languages take string matching like that, as well (but not Perl or Java - I think it was WinRunner scripts where I've seen this).
I personally like the special install program, which reduces your 128 bit encryption to a more universal 56 bit and installs the CIA mandated Eavesdrop program listening on port 666 (usurping Doom and mdqs on that port).
You're saying Microsoft doesn't charge a lot for a development package? Last time I checked, Visual Studio was $600.
Yes to all your tools questions. XFree86 runs on top of OS X, either in Rootless or Rooted mode (separate screen or local screen). If you've ever used Cygwin on Windows, you'll know what rootless X-Windows are like. Rooted is just like linux, with your window manager and everything. Speaking of Window Managers, Gnome, Enlightenment, fvwm, fvwm2, and quite a few more are available. I haven't seen a KDE port yet (probably because of QT), so that isn't available. If you're feeling extremely zealous, you can run a window manager on top of OS X and arrange your iconbars and stuff so it is usable.
It is also possible to run Gnome on top of OS X, with Gnome's title bar underneath the OS X menu bar. I had to move the mac icon bar to the right side, but I don't believe the latest versions of gnome require this.
Python comes as both a Fink module (essentially a debian package manager file, so probably a tarball as well) and a Framework, depending on how you aquire it. Jaguar is supposed to include Python. Perl is on all distrobutions. TCL/TK can be downloaded and installed.
Actually, you could get 10.1 for free (not anymore, tho) - you just needed to get it from an Apple authorized store and provide your own CD. Having to pay for this upgrade doesn't bother me that much, as long as it's reasonably priced (M$'s $70+ upgrade crap doesn't fly too well with me).
lest you forget, Windows 98 did not include Windows 98 SP2, and SP2 was required for USB devices. The only way to get it was to pay for the upgrade (which I think was $79 instead of $109). SP2 came out about a year after '98, and since then M$ has named all its new releases rather than just tacking on SPx (ME is just a glorified name for a '98 SP, XP is a glorified name for a 2000 SP), probably because people were demanding free Service Pack upgrades.
Yeah, I picked up XP Pro OEM for $129 with a $90 motherboard, which was quite a bit cheaper than buying XP off the shelf (I also picked up a new $300 graphics card, but that wasn't required for the OEM pricing -- retail versions were ~$280 through the cheap sites and $299 at Best Buy).
There are quite a few features that can be added to make OS X a lot better. Native IPSEC, for instance, so I can forward ESP packets on my firewall without using a NAT hack. I wouldn't mind an update to several of the programs on the BSD layer, as well, as some of the files are based on FreeBSD stuff that is 3-4 years out of date.
My favorite OS X feature is the free developer tools. Metrowerks $300+ compilers was eating up a good chunk of my yearly bonus. Still, much cheaper than M$ Visual Studio at $600+.
I think they mean open because the API is published openly and can be used without fee (with certain restrictions). OpenGL (the name) is a trademark of SGI, so to use it you need to pay a licensing and certification fee.
This reminds me of the whole "free as in beer" and "free as in speech" thing.
It is currently legal to write "OpenGL compatible" libraries by following the published specifications for OpenGL. You can't legally use the OpenGL logo or list your product as being OpenGL, even if it works better than some commercial implementations, but as long as you're not reverse engineering someone else's code, OpenGL licensing allows it. I believe a change in the license would be required for Microsoft to force a fee on Mesa.
I also doubt if the SGI sale was the result of shortsightedness - it probably had more to do with needing a quick infusion of cash. Too bad M$ had to be the one to give it too them.
First, M$ doesn't give a rip about OpenGL 1.4, and will probably leave nVidia or some other company to do the work of writing to the spec.
Second, Mesa is a free implementation of OpenGL APIs (OpenGL compatible library). I'm sure Mesa's author(s) have already started moving to 1.4.
Third, writing a new Linux library doesn't address the fact that 90%+ of games are written for Windows using DirectX. Creating a new API won't help this unless you do the same thing as OpenGL is doing, which is write cross-platform for Windows, as well as Linux (and maybe other OS's).
Fourth, patents exist on just about anything you can do with computer graphics (CG). OpenGL ARB members share their patents in an effort to make a unified standard and make it affordable for consumers. Microsoft owns some of these patents, mainly through purchased companies, which is why OpenGL Architecture Review Board (ARB) is worried that they could push high licensing fees rather than share patents. It is in Microsoft's best interest to charge money for these patents, especially unreasonable amounts of it, because it makes DirectX the only affordable option and locks you into Microsoft software and x86 hardware.
Sure the US has laws for murder, but most of the time the perp gets away with a reduced sentence. Hacking is certainly more serious than rape or murder because it takes away our precious CAPITAL. Our businesses suffer, and without them, we are no better than Columbia, so hackers need to be punished, preferably with whips and chains in a CIA torture chamber.
This way, those evil hackers can get a life sentence for hacking and a life sentence for murder and a life sentence for domestic terrorism and we citizens can pretty much lock them up and throw away the key (or send you to the chair if you're in one of THOSE states).
And if we're lucky, our beloved Enron executives will get less than 20 years (5 years with good behavior) for causing hundreds to thousands of people to live in poverty 'cause they lost everything while the executives left with millions. Executives are certainly much less malicious than hackers, don't you think?
I have one problem with your list: using.CVS is bad because old macs (pre X) use the . to signify a driver. I don't write for old macs, but if you want a truely cross platform replacement for CVS, you probably want to avoid . names.
Filterable downloads would be nice (files to not include in your copy of a project), but that may cause problems elsewhere. I'm mainly referring to cross-platform files for platforms you don't need here - if I'm making a macosX or Linux project, I don't need platform specific files for Windows, Cygwin, OS/2, Amiga, and x number of other systems cluttering up my work/build space.
I personally want searchable repositories. I'm tired of having to go to the web (webcvs) to find out if the archiving site I'm looking at is up to date with the project before I spend time downloading it. I didn't have a problem with this until Loki went under (ftp down) and I needed to get a copy of the OpenAL source. I found several archives that weren't up to date before finally finding one that had source from the day before close (I needed source from at least a week or so before to include a recent fix).
I really never found the women in the Xanth books interesting, at all (even as objects), although I only read 6 or 7 books in that series. I have no problem with nudity/sex in books or film or real life (interesting - I almost exactly quoted the Cure's Pornography lyrics there...), but women with no little or no backbone are boring to me, and I think that is more a societal, turn-of-the-century belief/behavior than anything else. Some of Piers' other books had more intersting women than the Xanth series (Mute comes to mind, although it's been years since I read that), so I am mainly referring to Xanth women.
It used to be that women stood helpless as Errol Flynn beat away 50 bad guys to rescue her, while she just stood there unharmed in her sweeping dress, hands and feet free, and the worst harm that came to her was a little smudged makeup from crying. Nowadays audiences at least expect her to drop the last guy herself while the hero is getting his butt kicked, or be bound tightly and badly beaten (in the case of suspense books/movies)....but, seeing how many women like the old "romantic" movies, I can see why Piers would have lots of female fans. Funny how sexist movies (and probably books, as well), have a large female fanbase.
OpenOffice is coming along, but it isn't ready for prime time on macs yet. 638c is the first working version, and is currently only stable in its XFree86 incarnation, which requires a separate install of XFree86. This version is currently being migrated to OpenOffice 1.0 (638c is a couple of revisions behind release 1.0).
The native Quartz version of 638c is building, but is unstable and still needs quite a bit of work. If you're an OS X developer, the OpenOffice team is looking for help - see the OpenOffice mac port website for details.
The printing problem won't automagically go away by using OS X, especially if someone hasn't changed the code to use the OS X printing API (something I've never looked at, so I'm not sure what's all there). The UNIX (XFree86) version probably relies on ghostscript or CUPS to do it's printing (I'm guessing, so punch me if I'm wrong), which currently require additional installs if available at all (CUPS, or Common UNIX Printing Services is slated for Jaguar, I think, ghostscript can be downloaded).
As much as I'd like to advocate OS X, I'd say Linux is the better OS for OpenOffice or StarOffice, currently, with Windows a close second. Maybe next year I'll like the OS X version better:)
I think WAAAY back, only 3-4 agents were sent in and before the agents could find their way to the kid's room, he had unparked his hard disk write head and started taking a scissors to diskettes. Sending in 40 agents quickly secures the evidence and stops the destruction of it.
Come to think of it, I think that was exactly what one of the SPM (Super Pirates of Minneapolis) members did (pop his hard disk write head and shake), which was in one of the first major piracy busts, circa '82, but I could be wrong (it could have been someone else). I know I heard some pirate did it (I believe successfully destroying most of the data - er, evidence - as well). Can't find a thing about them on the net, tho, except a tribute page to hackers. I do remember they got one of the younger members to testify against some of the older members so he would only get probation (the rest got jail time). 20 years ago... wow. I'm surprised I remember any of this. Heck, I wasn't even a teenager when all that happened.
Don't feel too bad - my first modem was a Zoom Telephonics 300/110 Apple ][ modem (one of the first internals I remember seeing, with an external on/off switchbox and no autoanswer). That was about $100 cheaper than the AppleCat modem, which ran 1200 with other AppleCats, but otherwise was a 300 baud modem. This was way back in the early to mid '80s and all warez (called cracks back then) were distributed through pirate BBS sites or directly diskette to diskette.
And to think there were very few harddrives back then, so we'd copy the files straight from BBS to diskettes. I was heavily on the distrobution end because of friends in a group called the NDC (National Distributors Club) who would upload and download between the midwest and California. I got lots of pre-releases that way.
I probably would've never used a computer if it weren't for warez games (particularly Sabotage, Sneakers, and Choplifter). Times certainly have changed - I wouldn't think of pirating today, nor do I need to:
my youth: no $ + lots of free time = warez
now: $$$ + no time = all purchased software, 'cause I don't have time to play more than 1-2 games or figure out 1-2 non-work programs a month anyway.
I haven't read much Gaiman, but the book I did read, American Gods, was actually quite funny and certainly not weighty (broody) reading. Definitely my favorite book for this year (albeit somewhat disturbing). Prior to that, all I've read by him is Sandman, where I'd agree with you, his works are dark and brooding.
As far as your cult classic question, The Fast and the Furious was a cult movie in theaters (low budget, bad reviews, and suddenly popular for no apparent reason) and may be one on video. Not my cup of tea, but it certainly had that cult sort of appeal. There really haven't been that many campy cult movies as of late, but that may be because audience expectations are too high. The few that have been made were pretty bad. The best one I remember is Saving Silverman, and that wasn't good.
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Actually, champ and chomp mean and are pronounced exactly the same (chomp is an alternate spelling for champ, probably because of pronunciation sounding like chomp), so either would technically be correct (at least as far as the meaning is concerned).
The idiom is champing everyplace I've ever seen it written, though (except here), so you are correct in the spelling of the idiom itself @:)
mine has a switch in the back for NTSC or PAL.
:)
maybe I'm special
I'm not an Aussie, or an expert, but I recall from old Popular Science's (Space Planes issue) that Scramjet engines use much less fuel because they don't go straight up (ascend more like a plane) and use the atmosphere as part of their combustion, unlike rockets, which use liquified propellents. The major problem with scramjets was accelerating to a speed where they become efficient. The airline industry abandoned the idea because they couldn't carry enough passengers to make a profit (one of the Concorde's problems, as well) and the US military abandoned it because they didn't have an immediate need and it was an easy way to save money. Since I haven't heard much about them for a number of years, I'd guess that other militaries abandoned them, as well (at least for combat uses).
There probably won't be much of a market for passengers in the near future, unless someone builds a space casino, mainly because the cost is too high, at least compared to conventional aircraft. There is a market for cheap satellite delivery, though, which conventional aircraft can't do (the plane or the satellite would need to be rocket assisted to get into the proper orbit, and orbit velocity, I'd think).
What?!?
;)
Sure you can! Which commandment does that break? Thou shalt not mock scripture? Haven't heard that one... must have been one on the tablet Moses dropped. I give you these 15... smash... 10... Ten Commandments!
Ok, it was funny until some holier-than-thou Anonymous Coward busted a couple of rounds in my ass. Psychotic fundamentalists...
good thing Cowards don't get mod points
Weird - I was thinking the same thing...
I always thought NT was chosen because it was one letter off from MS (kinda like the HAL-IBM thing).
They probably meant Forget
I thought it was bad when Northpoint went away (first filing bankruptcy and then liquidating all assets - I think they originally wanted Chap 11 but never got to it), but can you imagine Worldcom's UUNet? Roughly 1/2 the internet rides on that backbone, and without bankruptcy protection, this backbone might be shut down and sold. Also, millions of phone subscribers would be without service until someone came in and took over the system.
I don't love corporate welfare, but sometimes it's a necessary evil. If half the internet went out tomorrow, how many dot-coms would die? If 1/4 of the phone service in the country went dark today, how many businesses would go bankrupt because they weren't able to get faxes for orders? We're not just talking about Worldcom anymore, now we're talking about the thousands of smaller businesses that depend on Worldcom.
Oops - I meant LCD displays.
:)
At least I didn't say LSD displays
You're not separating your RGB, and LEP has separate R,G, and B components (like colored LED displays). Increase that timing by 3 times as much or increase the number of conductors to 1024+(768*3)=3328, assuming you're passing the RGB on the horizontal with vertical scanlines (pass goes left to right or right to left, unlike your TV's up and down - for up and down, it's 1024*3+768=3840 conductors).
:)
Still, much less than 3/4 of a million
The original logic should be 2359296 connections, one each for RGB and 1024x768.
A little more on this subject...
If you use scanlines, you could get away with a single wire carrying a signal (or a signal and power if power is being distributed over the same wire) and decode the signal at each pixel and distribute power (for intensities) at the contact point into the RGB plastics. That would reduce your calculation down to... 1792 connections (x+y) since some decoding is happening at the contact points.
The disadvantage is you'd need decoder logic for every pixel, but this may be easier and more producable than individual wires. If the decoders were good enough, you could reduce the wires further by having 4 pixels decoded for each wire (providing the wire meets at a single contact point for the four pixels. A four pixel connection point without scanlines reduces the number of wires to 196608 for continuous updates (such as the original example) and with scanlines you halve the values in each direction ending with 896 wires (512+384).
Fast scan conversion with long "burn" times would likely not be noticable (update takes a fraction of the "on screen" time - probably less noticable than a TV), and if some memory is available for each pixel and a clock is used, one could double buffer the display, and have a near 0 update time.
I'm sure there are other possibilities. My main point is that wiring isn't the only option for each pixel or pixel component (RG or B), as long as there is enough space to stick in a small amount of circuitry to do some decoding at the end.
You wouldn't exactly change your clothes, but you could change the LOOK of your clothes. In other words, if your clothes are dirty and stink like a sewer, they still will. I also suspect something that would statically change clothes color/fit/etc would be more realistic, unless you want continuously updating clothes (imagine the tie-dye...). Now T-shirt advertisers, on the other hand, are probably drooling...
my biggest worry would be laundry, - my wife has enough hand wash/line dry crap as it is.
Depends on the language used.
In C++, for instance, you can override the == operator and create one that works with strings. This would have to be in their universal headers, since I don't see any #include statements anywhere.
Some scripting languages take string matching like that, as well (but not Perl or Java - I think it was WinRunner scripts where I've seen this).
I personally like the special install program, which reduces your 128 bit encryption to a more universal 56 bit and installs the CIA mandated Eavesdrop program listening on port 666 (usurping Doom and mdqs on that port).
You're saying Microsoft doesn't charge a lot for a development package? Last time I checked, Visual Studio was $600.
Yes to all your tools questions. XFree86 runs on top of OS X, either in Rootless or Rooted mode (separate screen or local screen). If you've ever used Cygwin on Windows, you'll know what rootless X-Windows are like. Rooted is just like linux, with your window manager and everything. Speaking of Window Managers, Gnome, Enlightenment, fvwm, fvwm2, and quite a few more are available. I haven't seen a KDE port yet (probably because of QT), so that isn't available. If you're feeling extremely zealous, you can run a window manager on top of OS X and arrange your iconbars and stuff so it is usable.
It is also possible to run Gnome on top of OS X, with Gnome's title bar underneath the OS X menu bar. I had to move the mac icon bar to the right side, but I don't believe the latest versions of gnome require this.
Python comes as both a Fink module (essentially a debian package manager file, so probably a tarball as well) and a Framework, depending on how you aquire it. Jaguar is supposed to include Python. Perl is on all distrobutions. TCL/TK can be downloaded and installed.
Actually, you could get 10.1 for free (not anymore, tho) - you just needed to get it from an Apple authorized store and provide your own CD. Having to pay for this upgrade doesn't bother me that much, as long as it's reasonably priced (M$'s $70+ upgrade crap doesn't fly too well with me).
lest you forget, Windows 98 did not include Windows 98 SP2, and SP2 was required for USB devices. The only way to get it was to pay for the upgrade (which I think was $79 instead of $109). SP2 came out about a year after '98, and since then M$ has named all its new releases rather than just tacking on SPx (ME is just a glorified name for a '98 SP, XP is a glorified name for a 2000 SP), probably because people were demanding free Service Pack upgrades.
Yeah, I picked up XP Pro OEM for $129 with a $90 motherboard, which was quite a bit cheaper than buying XP off the shelf (I also picked up a new $300 graphics card, but that wasn't required for the OEM pricing -- retail versions were ~$280 through the cheap sites and $299 at Best Buy).
There are quite a few features that can be added to make OS X a lot better. Native IPSEC, for instance, so I can forward ESP packets on my firewall without using a NAT hack. I wouldn't mind an update to several of the programs on the BSD layer, as well, as some of the files are based on FreeBSD stuff that is 3-4 years out of date.
My favorite OS X feature is the free developer tools. Metrowerks $300+ compilers was eating up a good chunk of my yearly bonus. Still, much cheaper than M$ Visual Studio at $600+.
I think they mean open because the API is published openly and can be used without fee (with certain restrictions). OpenGL (the name) is a trademark of SGI, so to use it you need to pay a licensing and certification fee.
This reminds me of the whole "free as in beer" and "free as in speech" thing.
It is currently legal to write "OpenGL compatible" libraries by following the published specifications for OpenGL. You can't legally use the OpenGL logo or list your product as being OpenGL, even if it works better than some commercial implementations, but as long as you're not reverse engineering someone else's code, OpenGL licensing allows it. I believe a change in the license would be required for Microsoft to force a fee on Mesa.
I also doubt if the SGI sale was the result of shortsightedness - it probably had more to do with needing a quick infusion of cash. Too bad M$ had to be the one to give it too them.
um, it doesn't work that way.
First, M$ doesn't give a rip about OpenGL 1.4, and will probably leave nVidia or some other company to do the work of writing to the spec.
Second, Mesa is a free implementation of OpenGL APIs (OpenGL compatible library). I'm sure Mesa's author(s) have already started moving to 1.4.
Third, writing a new Linux library doesn't address the fact that 90%+ of games are written for Windows using DirectX. Creating a new API won't help this unless you do the same thing as OpenGL is doing, which is write cross-platform for Windows, as well as Linux (and maybe other OS's).
Fourth, patents exist on just about anything you can do with computer graphics (CG). OpenGL ARB members share their patents in an effort to make a unified standard and make it affordable for consumers. Microsoft owns some of these patents, mainly through purchased companies, which is why OpenGL Architecture Review Board (ARB) is worried that they could push high licensing fees rather than share patents. It is in Microsoft's best interest to charge money for these patents, especially unreasonable amounts of it, because it makes DirectX the only affordable option and locks you into Microsoft software and x86 hardware.
Actually, Ziggy is slang for a marijuana cigarette (Stardust is some kind of hallucinogen [PCP?]).
Think about that the next time you read the comics.
Sure the US has laws for murder, but most of the time the perp gets away with a reduced sentence. Hacking is certainly more serious than rape or murder because it takes away our precious CAPITAL. Our businesses suffer, and without them, we are no better than Columbia, so hackers need to be punished, preferably with whips and chains in a CIA torture chamber.
This way, those evil hackers can get a life sentence for hacking and a life sentence for murder and a life sentence for domestic terrorism and we citizens can pretty much lock them up and throw away the key (or send you to the chair if you're in one of THOSE states).
And if we're lucky, our beloved Enron executives will get less than 20 years (5 years with good behavior) for causing hundreds to thousands of people to live in poverty 'cause they lost everything while the executives left with millions. Executives are certainly much less malicious than hackers, don't you think?
I have one problem with your list: using .CVS is bad because old macs (pre X) use the . to signify a driver. I don't write for old macs, but if you want a truely cross platform replacement for CVS, you probably want to avoid . names.
Filterable downloads would be nice (files to not include in your copy of a project), but that may cause problems elsewhere. I'm mainly referring to cross-platform files for platforms you don't need here - if I'm making a macosX or Linux project, I don't need platform specific files for Windows, Cygwin, OS/2, Amiga, and x number of other systems cluttering up my work/build space.
I personally want searchable repositories. I'm tired of having to go to the web (webcvs) to find out if the archiving site I'm looking at is up to date with the project before I spend time downloading it. I didn't have a problem with this until Loki went under (ftp down) and I needed to get a copy of the OpenAL source. I found several archives that weren't up to date before finally finding one that had source from the day before close (I needed source from at least a week or so before to include a recent fix).
hmm...
...but, seeing how many women like the old "romantic" movies, I can see why Piers would have lots of female fans. Funny how sexist movies (and probably books, as well), have a large female fanbase.
I really never found the women in the Xanth books interesting, at all (even as objects), although I only read 6 or 7 books in that series. I have no problem with nudity/sex in books or film or real life (interesting - I almost exactly quoted the Cure's Pornography lyrics there...), but women with no little or no backbone are boring to me, and I think that is more a societal, turn-of-the-century belief/behavior than anything else. Some of Piers' other books had more intersting women than the Xanth series (Mute comes to mind, although it's been years since I read that), so I am mainly referring to Xanth women.
It used to be that women stood helpless as Errol Flynn beat away 50 bad guys to rescue her, while she just stood there unharmed in her sweeping dress, hands and feet free, and the worst harm that came to her was a little smudged makeup from crying. Nowadays audiences at least expect her to drop the last guy herself while the hero is getting his butt kicked, or be bound tightly and badly beaten (in the case of suspense books/movies).
OpenOffice is coming along, but it isn't ready for prime time on macs yet. 638c is the first working version, and is currently only stable in its XFree86 incarnation, which requires a separate install of XFree86. This version is currently being migrated to OpenOffice 1.0 (638c is a couple of revisions behind release 1.0).
:)
The native Quartz version of 638c is building, but is unstable and still needs quite a bit of work. If you're an OS X developer, the OpenOffice team is looking for help - see the OpenOffice mac port website for details.
The printing problem won't automagically go away by using OS X, especially if someone hasn't changed the code to use the OS X printing API (something I've never looked at, so I'm not sure what's all there). The UNIX (XFree86) version probably relies on ghostscript or CUPS to do it's printing (I'm guessing, so punch me if I'm wrong), which currently require additional installs if available at all (CUPS, or Common UNIX Printing Services is slated for Jaguar, I think, ghostscript can be downloaded).
As much as I'd like to advocate OS X, I'd say Linux is the better OS for OpenOffice or StarOffice, currently, with Windows a close second. Maybe next year I'll like the OS X version better
I think WAAAY back, only 3-4 agents were sent in and before the agents could find their way to the kid's room, he had unparked his hard disk write head and started taking a scissors to diskettes. Sending in 40 agents quickly secures the evidence and stops the destruction of it.
Come to think of it, I think that was exactly what one of the SPM (Super Pirates of Minneapolis) members did (pop his hard disk write head and shake), which was in one of the first major piracy busts, circa '82, but I could be wrong (it could have been someone else). I know I heard some pirate did it (I believe successfully destroying most of the data - er, evidence - as well). Can't find a thing about them on the net, tho, except a tribute page to hackers. I do remember they got one of the younger members to testify against some of the older members so he would only get probation (the rest got jail time). 20 years ago... wow. I'm surprised I remember any of this. Heck, I wasn't even a teenager when all that happened.
Don't feel too bad - my first modem was a Zoom Telephonics 300/110 Apple ][ modem (one of the first internals I remember seeing, with an external on/off switchbox and no autoanswer). That was about $100 cheaper than the AppleCat modem, which ran 1200 with other AppleCats, but otherwise was a 300 baud modem. This was way back in the early to mid '80s and all warez (called cracks back then) were distributed through pirate BBS sites or directly diskette to diskette.
And to think there were very few harddrives back then, so we'd copy the files straight from BBS to diskettes. I was heavily on the distrobution end because of friends in a group called the NDC (National Distributors Club) who would upload and download between the midwest and California. I got lots of pre-releases that way.
I probably would've never used a computer if it weren't for warez games (particularly Sabotage, Sneakers, and Choplifter). Times certainly have changed - I wouldn't think of pirating today, nor do I need to:
my youth:
no $ + lots of free time = warez
now:
$$$ + no time = all purchased software, 'cause I don't have time to play more than 1-2 games or figure out 1-2 non-work programs a month anyway.
I haven't read much Gaiman, but the book I did read, American Gods, was actually quite funny and certainly not weighty (broody) reading. Definitely my favorite book for this year (albeit somewhat disturbing). Prior to that, all I've read by him is Sandman, where I'd agree with you, his works are dark and brooding.
As far as your cult classic question, The Fast and the Furious was a cult movie in theaters (low budget, bad reviews, and suddenly popular for no apparent reason) and may be one on video. Not my cup of tea, but it certainly had that cult sort of appeal. There really haven't been that many campy cult movies as of late, but that may be because audience expectations are too high. The few that have been made were pretty bad. The best one I remember is Saving Silverman, and that wasn't good.