Doing alright. My last journal entry here was August 2008. I'm still over on Multiply for the most part now. But there's less discussion about computer related stuff there. I cross-posted this anyway. So how are things here at the "dot"?
How many times have you used the 'sleep' command interactively only to realize that the amount of time you initially specified wasn't enough and you wanted to reset it? Or how many times have you had something sleeping for quite a while but you wanted to know where it was in the sleep countdown? Never? Good you can ignore this. I've found myself in these situations quite a few times when recording a TV show or ripping a live stream from the web. So I wrote the 'resleep' functions (which
If it's aliens, it might be interesting, but given that all aliens are hostile, it's also likely to be the last thing you'll ever read. I suspect that the Niburu are starting to play their games since 2012 is just around the corner and Planet X is nearly here. Expect increasing storms, floods, blizzards, earth quakes, volcanic eruptions, heavier menstruation, and zits over the next couple of years... Then it will be "The End" (tm) (C) Apple Inc. Enjoy it while it lasts.
Crow T. Robot Sez: I'll tell you where you can insert a colon...
...it's more about a bunch of dickless wimps playing the latest FPS and MMORPGs while living in their parent's basements trying to find a way to validate their hobby. Did I win?
Mmhmf! Hah! BWAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!! Oh, it's so funny and yet so very very true.
Alert: If you're not into computers, don't manage servers at work or at home, or don't know what TFTP, DHCP, Xen hypervisor mean, then skip this entry.
Disclaimer: I'm not affiliated with VirtualIron other than being a very happy customer so far.
OK... Here is what I know (or at least think I know) about Java:
RULES: These have to be things you can't do on other proprietary platforms easily (without being a programmer), at all, or without buying additional software, or pirating software. These don't have to be things that are necessarily special within the *nix world, just things that you know you can't do elsewhere. (ie. they can be commonplace *nix operations)
My list:
Let's assume that GCC is real and deadly. Taking the word of scientific consensus, we change massive parts of our global economy to meet the threat and, sure enough, nothing bad happens.
Aside from the fact that, due to human nature, many will argue it was never going to happen anyway, what have we accomplished? Yes, we have saved millions of lives. We have avoided massive numbers of refugees and the destruction of coastal cities. But we have also, for the first time, let a new group of people decide by consensus what the policy should be for the rest of the population. Are we sure we want to do this?
We've went through a time in our history where groups of clergy ran a great part of western civilization. While I know that it's popular to demonize them today, at the time they were the smartest people the world had to offer. They made decisions mostly on what they thought to be a higher cause. And significantly, there was consensus.
Things didn't work out too well for folks that disagreed in those days. They were called heretics, amoral. They were told to get with the program. They were not accepted by society. Dissent was not tolerated. What we found was that even though the church was created to take care of spiritual needs, once it got into politics it became just another political player, jockeying for power and playing hardball with the rest of the rulers.
People are tired of ads. They hate them on TV, they hate them on the web. They're tired of those stupid customer loyalty cards that every business has nowadays. They're not stupid: they know those cards help the businesses a lot more than they do the consumers. And they're going to get tired of digging, moderating, boinking, slapping, skirting, poking, winking, and whatever other synonyms websites can come up with to try to get folks to participate. Right now, there's a headlong push to get people involved in these Web 2.0 sites, but for every true convert, there are a hundred folks that just drop by to see what everybody else is doing. They're there because of habit, not because of bells and whistles.
I think there's a world market for about five computers. -- attr. Thomas J. Watson (Chairman of the Board, IBM), 1943
