Quickies Rock! 86
Phexro extended our congratulations to Bruce and Valerie on the birth of Bruce 2.0, otherwise known as Stanley Charles Perens. this is jimmy asked us all to compete in the great Beltsander Races. Need to send crazy Aunt JoAnne some E-mail? Try something from
the Great Spam Archive, sent in by Jones. Nezumi-chan wasn't the only one to write in with this one, but all I can say is Oh, yes. ahaning wrote in to tell us about the Obsolete Computer Museum. Want something to plug them into? blizzard shared Electricity from Giant Artichokes. Also, check out the Ultracade, which is cool unless you're a video game purist like me. Dropkick wrote in about a cyber-riffic washing
machine. Last but not least, Penguin_99 writes in about cool photos from Galileo. That's it, folks. Thanks to AfterY2K for the title inspiration.
Bruce 2.0 (Score:1)
Folks, , in 20 years time, we could be looking at someone even more fervent than RMS. Scary
--------------------------------------
That explains it. (Score:1)
I hope I'm the first one to say: Congratulations Bruce.
kwsNI
Obsolete!? (Score:1)
Censorship ALERT (Score:1)
What happened to that capital-L-lame story about "video games we hope we don't see" written by some dumb chick who wouldn't know a video game if NESTicle bit her on the ass?
Maybe it was so lame it was pulled? Rightly so, but FOR SHAME!!!! CENSORSHIP!!!!
Thats not Obsolete! (Score:1)
The Atari Portfolio [obsoleteco...museum.org] is not obsolete! Thats serving my web site [popealien.com] right now.
Oh. Ok.. thats BS. I only wish it was doing something other than sitting on my shelf. Any one want a used Portfolio? I've got the smart parallel port adapter and two 64k memory cards.. Its very cool..
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Where do I Reboot in Oz? (Score:1)
Now why doesn't Galaxy bookshop, or my local video rental place have any? They have all sorts of other crappier TV shows.
Does anyone know a source for these in Oz? Or at least somewhere that does PAL video, not NTSC...
Re:Obsolete!? (Score:2)
Use your old C64 for electronics projects. Other than that though, these really are useless. But any computer today can be rendered useless by installing Windows >:)
You know :) (Score:3)
You know open-source has hit the big time when we start seeing mergers within the industry.
e-washing machine's old news... (Score:2)
- Michael Cohn
Energy from Giant Spliffs (Score:3)
An Irish scheme to burn cannabis as a fuel foundered last year because of it was considered too expensive compared with wind-power projects.
WTO stepped in and shut it down. So many of my Irish brethren sought and obtained licenses to produce electricity, WTO feared there would be a worldwide glut leading to the weakening of the utility monopolies.
======
"Rex unto my cleeb, and thou shalt have everlasting blort." - Zorp 3:16
you know you're a n3wb33 when. . . (Score:4)
what a weird collection! (Score:1)
Congrats Bruce ! (Score:1)
NRE: YASRPOS (Score:1)
http://slashdot.org/articles/00/04/10/144220_F.
Bleh. (Score:1)
Re:That explains it. (Score:1)
No, that would make the post redundant! Damn....
-Earthman
Re:Energy from Giant Spliffs (Score:1)
And just how does that work? Cannabis fuel? Heat your house with cannabis? Um, well, I guess after I smoke one too many bowls i do feel a bit hotter... but that's probably from freaking out to electronica songs.
This plant is surely magic >:)
OBJECTION (Score:2)
I know for a fact that Time Warner Wisconsincable (which sucks) has one running the old-style "TV Guide Channel" channel in the Milwaukee area. (but they still suck)
How do I know this?
One day I was channel surfing and came upon a channel (which turned out to be the aforementioned TV Guide channel) displaying the Amiga boot screen and asking for an infinite number of disks!!!
(I guess -- I never got to use an Amiga, which is B.S., but I guess the boot screen if you don't have the boot disk inserted shows an infinite nummber of disks going into a disk drive and not coming back out.)
P.S. For some reason we didn't lose our ABC station. Go figure.
Quickies (Score:3)
Re:Bleh. (Score:1)
really, flash is groovy
Cannabis as fuel? (Score:1)
Re:OBJECTION - the amiga channel (Score:1)
There also have been sightings of the Windows 95 channel, default install. Wish I could just catch them in the act of setting things up. I'd be captivated for hours.
Better yet, if they ran PC Anywhere, you can watch(as well as your other subscribers) you goof off on the computer in real time!
Re:OBJECTION - the amiga channel (Score:1)
Urgent Message to Washing Machine: (Score:4)
Quick, wash the bed sheets
and that blue dress with the stain.
Re:Bleh. (Score:1)
Re:OBJECTION - the windows and MacOS channels (Score:2)
The local cable for Baltimore has one of those classified ad channels (mostly just badly rendered images with muzak), which runs on some version of windows. One night, there was a blank screen with a error message saying, "Error: CDROM not available". I guess someone forgot to change the CD for that night.
The Univerity of Maryland College Park also had a cable channel that just showed a Mac desktop (don't know what version), with nothing moving, no changes or mouse movments, 24 hours a day, for a couple of months. Once in a while I would go to the library to watch it for no reason. I'm guessing it was some project that was never finished.
There's also a bar near here that uses WIN95 to operate the cash register, using a touch screen. Of course, it got BSOD, so the manager had to come down, hit the reset button and leave. Twice.
Re:Energy from Giant Spliffs (Score:1)
The Cannabis plant puts out alot of heat when it is burned, so I guess it could make a good fuel source. There was something on TV that showed the DEA buring tons of pot in a large metal tank. The odd thing is that they had to spray the top of the tank with water/ice so the tank won't melt.
Re:Energy from Giant Spliffs (Score:1)
I dunno about the utility monopolies (I work for one, and I'm sure we'd love to have some freedom from coal-fired powerstations), but a big problem with cannabis it that it's really hard on the soil it grows in - extracts all the nutrients and leaves nothing for the other kids.
So, you'd better consider that before planting it in your garden. (for home heating, of course :-)
Re:Cannabis as fuel? (Score:1)
Not really. Note that the story is from Reuters, a UK-based news service. The word scheme, in British usage, doesn't have the negative connotations that it does in American usage -- to them, the word is synonymous with plan.
Re:Obsolete!? (Score:1)
If it's got a plug on it, all you need is a breadboard and a C64 and you can talk to it.
Ultracade?! (Score:1)
Unless you're planning to "go legit" (put your arcade machine in a public place and start charging people for real) don't waste your money on Ultracade.
ArcadePC [hanaho.com] is where it's at. Granted, after you add a sufficient computer to the ArcadePC it will probably cost nearly as much as Ultracade, but you won't be locked into buying stupid "game packs" since ArcadePC works with emulators. So the more games MAME [mame.net] supports, the more games your cabinet does.
Re:Energy from Giant Spliffs (Score:1)
Besides, you know that there's gonna be kids inhaling the smoke coming from it (how's that for a "power plant"?) which will probably also contain worse things, such as toxic gas fumes.
On the topic of ReBoot (Score:1)
Re:Obsolete!? (Score:1)
I've also got a desktop 386, two 486/33s, and a Sun 4/110. Unfortunately, I sold my AST 286 and Amiga 1000. I don't know what happened to my NCR 386DX/16 (yes, a 386DX/16!), Laser 128, or Vic 20.
I want to start my own museum.
an obsolete computer "museum" i like a bit better. (Score:3)
hey, i always thought of emulation pages as an "obsolete computer museum"
seems like a pretty damn complete list to me, even if the focus is on gaming machines. and i will take ANY day being able to RUN the obsolete computer over looking at pictures of them..
seriously, they have just about every old machine ever made, or about half of them anyway, represented there. Fascinating to look at these things, run them, and realize people--many of whom are reading this discussion right now-- actually USED them to DO things. and they're pieces of crap!
this page in question is for us mac users only, but you get my point.. perhaps some kind person in the audience would post some emulation resources pointing to emulators that run on wintel or whatever flavors of *n?x you like.
oh and as long on we're on the subject i suppose you ought to look at
http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/retro/ [tuxedo.org]
for those of us who find programming languages as interesting as computers..
Re:You know :) (Score:1)
Or, perhaps someone was trying to say "Bruce's kid", in a geeky sort of way. I think that's what Linus was saying here [helsinki.fi].
However, abandoning common sense and continuing on with an alternate interpretation of the can of worms you insisted on creating where there was none before...
Using multiple inheritance and polymorphism correctly is bad enough in C++, and hyphenated names are kludgey in English, and I don't think the populace is ready for the gender-bending implications if the kid were Bruce-Valerie-2.0, possibly with both genders and other conflicts.
Basically, typecasting is incompatible with political-correctness, which just goes to show that programming languages are direct, to-the-point, and don't care about those wussy Humanities issues of fairness, children with more than one parent, or the English language.
---
pb Reply or e-mail; don't vaguely moderate [ncsu.edu].
Re:OBJECTION (Score:1)
Years ago I had seen the local TV listings channel show "Please insert disk in DF0:". DF0: is the first floopy drive on an Amiga. This was actually an odd message, because the Amiga usually asks for a disk in "any drive". This message was also done as an "alert", not as a "requestor", so it was some weird thing in their software, not the system doing it. ("alerts" are a blinking red or orange box that appears at the top of the display, while "requestors" are on a window)
Another time, on the same channel, I actually saw a Guru Meditation. I wonder what people who had never heard of a Guru meditation thought of that.
Re:OBJECTION - the amiga channel (Score:2)
Since they reboot the machine manually once a day at 5 am throughout the week, I can confidently say the maximum functional uptime of a NT box running Powerpoint is 37 hours.
Re: (Score:1)
Re:You know :) (Score:1)
Just because your particular set of biases doesn't cause you to see a problem with a situation, that doesn't mean that there isn't a problem. In fact, the biggest problem here is that people like you don't even think there is one. It's precisely that your particular set of biases condition you to not see a problem.
Or, perhaps someone was trying to say "Bruce's kid", in a geeky sort of way.
Yeah, which is my point entirely. Thinking of the child just as "Bruce's kid" is where the problem lies, and where the greater problem stems from.
Basically, typecasting is incompatible with political-correctness, which just goes to show that programming languages are direct, to-the-point, and don't care about those wussy Humanities issues of fairness, children with more than one parent, or the English language.
First, you've failed to show how any claims you make about computer programming languages are at all substantiated. The issue here is program naming, not programming languages themselves. The fact that Bruce or Linus could think that they could apply program-naming terms to children without problems, and the fact that they do so without compunctions is a symptom of the larger problem of sexism.
Re:Energy from Giant Spliffs (Score:2)
hehe same here (Score:1)
Re:Energy from Giant Spliffs (Score:2)
Too expensive? They could have offset the cost easily. There's a lot of people who are willing to pay large amounts of money to live downwind of such a power plant.
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I shouldn't reply to a troll, BUT--an exception... (Score:2)
Trolls, there are maybe ten people a day who actually see your long Portman-related ramblings, and pay any attention. Most never even see them. It's a waste of your time, and the time of everyone here at
Now, as for the Slashdot community, here's an odd idea. Why not, ladies and gentlemen, have a special area for trolls and would-be comedians? You know, a little link in the listing to the left on the main page, with a designated place to troll/perform Open Source stand-up. Trolls are here for attention and to try to be appreciated for their sense of humor, as well as to annoy people. If there were a designated "trolling-place," people who want a little comic relief or to get into flame-wars could click over and have a little fun, and many trolls would gladly go over there where people could actually read their stuff (they don't usually read it here since it quickly gets down-modded). Some would stay here to be annoying, but most would instead post in a place where their skills would be appreciated. After all, consider the alt.flame type groups on USENET--there's a sense of pride in places like that where people appreciate the ancient skills of trolling and flaming, whereas on the main pages of Slashdot the trolling and flamebait isn't appreciated. So, it has to be a disappointment all around.
Personally, I think this would be a productive idea if the good Commander and the powers that be would consider trying it on a trial basis. Just my two cents, fellas, no harm intended...
more old-school hardware (Score:3)
http://www.geocities.com/~compcloset/ [geocities.com]
--Siva
Keyboard not found.
JeffK (Score:1)
Wacky Fun Computar Comic Jokes [somethingawful.com]
Pablo Nevares, "the freshmaker".
Re:You know :) (Score:1)
Re:You know :) (Score:1)
Bollocks. This is all about the culture of celebrity, not sexism. The concept of Bruce's kid comes up because Bruce is a celebrity, and Valerie is not. People also talk about Madonna's child - this is not sexism, just the fact Madonna is a celeb. If Valerie was the famous partner rather than Bruce, Valerie 2.0 could just as easily have come up as a phrase. You can imagine Madonna's child being referred to as Madonna II - this wouldn't be sexist, just the fact the Madonna is far more interesting (by celebrity/media standards) than her partner(s).
And applying programming terms to children as sexist - don't be stupid. It may be depersonalising, and inappropriate, but claiming that it's sexist is just plain wrong (although programming terms could be applied in a sexist way, just like any other terms). The application of programming terms to children is something that people of either sex can do to children of either sex (and almost certainly do - at least one female geek out there will have referred to their child as version 2).
Disclaimer: I do not condone the culture of celebrity, or Madonna.
tangent - art and creation are a higher purpose
cheap cleanup (Score:1)
BREATHE DEEP!
--Clay
Re:e-washing machine's old news... (Score:1)
Re:OBJECTION - the windows and MacOS channels (Score:2)
Re:You know :) (Score:2)
Bruce has been calling the kid 'Bruce 2.0' for the past several months, in conversation, and even on the radio show I hosted at Comdex last year. Quit whining.
--Emmett
Re:Cannabis as fuel? (Score:1)
Re:You know :) (Score:1)
WTF (Score:2)
Re:You know :) (Score:1)
I don't see a problem with the situation. I don't think there *is* a problem. I think the only problem we've had with this so far is the one you invented in your own little head. However, since you're taking all of this seriously, I'll do my best to do the same.
If I had a kid, say a male one, I might call him "my kid". Is this child not "Bruce's kid?". Is it sexist to know someone and say "Hey, how's your kid doing?", as opposed to "Hey, how's you and your wife's kid doing?" Hmm?
Also, it isn't unheard of to name a kid after the father or the mother, or call your son Junior. This is cultural. It isn't sexist, and if you consider it to be so, realize that it's a feature of the culture that is so deeply ingrained that the very people involved don't consider it sexist, and therefore it isn't. In short, if intent means anything to you, this debate is useless, because the only person who doesn't understand is you, an uninvolved third-party (goes back to minding your own business...).
Also, I don't see how applying program-naming terms to children without problems applies to sexism at all. And the issues I've raised about programming languages are supposed to be humorous, not serious. Must you be the person to make me have to put "HUMOR:" back into my subject lines?
---
pb Reply or e-mail; don't vaguely moderate [ncsu.edu].
Re:Amiga volume names (Score:2)
Later versions of the OS even introduced virtual volumes that included multiple directories. Like, something looks for a file in "C:" (the equivalent of
It isn't a Unix style unified file system, but it worked really well. It solved one of the problems both Windows and Unix have, making it easy to arrange your drives any way you want, and rearrange at will without breaking everything. If anyone's still worrying about paradigms for devices and file systems in 2000, they'd do well to examine the Amiga's solution.
I also saw an Amiga running a local access advertising channel, years and years ago. I wouldn't have ever known it, but one day it was sitting there with a full screen CLI (nothing interesting in it though, drat.)
Re:I shouldn't reply to a troll, BUT--an exception (Score:1)
As for how "moderators should follow the guidlines"--they usually do, which is why your posts get modded down. A funny one-liner can get modded up for being funny, but a lengthy off-topic post like the parent post here must be modded down for being off-topic or a troll because it takes up so much space that it detracts from the discussion of the article. Clicking down ten screens of off-topic stuff shouldn't be necessary, it it wouldn't be necessary if the idea I outlined above were embraced by the different parties. Ultimately, more people would see your posts if they were in a section dedicated to such posts, and I think that that would be a good thing. Your posts are funny, I enjoy reading them, and more people would enjoy them if they were someplace where people go specifically to see that sort of off-topic but humorous or interesting stuff. As it is, trolls and flamers are on a fast track towards making Slashdot a lot less easy to troll. At the current rate, it won't be long before the powers that be decide to make only logged-in anonymous posts possible, and delete the accounts and the posts of trolls and flamers. Then Slashdot would be effectively troll-proof and you'd never be able to post here again. Do you really think it would be that difficult for someone who works for Slashdot, if they were to decide to do it, to permanetly delete all troll or off-topic posts, and the accounts from which they came? Yeah, you could open another account, but your posts would be up for a couple minutes before they'd be deleted from the board, and of course there'd be no more "name recognition" for trolls who get accounts.
And, that wouldn't be a bad thing to do, either. I think the only reason Taco and Hemos haven't done it is out of respect for "openness" and a free community. But if trolling continues to escalate, so will their means to control it. This time last year the trolling and flaming was nice and moderate. Now, it's extreme and stupid and a waste of many people's time. The choice isn't mine, or the moderators, nor is the fault. The fault is with the trolls who post excessive and off-topic, and the choices are up to the Slashdot admins and the trolls. If trolls and flames get out of hand, the admins will surely stop it quite easily by deleting all troll posts and closing troll acounts. It could be implemented easily, into an Amazon-style 1-Click system for CmdrTaco and Hemos and Roblimo and Cowboy Neal or whoever else they want to, to have the power to just delete the trolls. But if the trolls start being reasonable, maybe it wouldn't have to come to that. The idea I had about a special area for trolling and flaming is just a possible suggestion, which would be up to the Slashdot admins to implement--*if* people such as yourself were to support the suggestion. If not, so what, I don't care, it was just a suggestion. But it's people such as yourself who are being unreasonable. You can't expect a long rambling post, even if totally hilarious, to be modded up as funny when the guidlines clearly call for it to be modded down as off-topic. To mod it down as a troll might not be fair, but to mod it down as off-topic surely is fair. I mean, my posting threshold is defaulted to +2, but I click in the little box to post at just 1 because this is an off-topic message and it's appropriate for me to give up that bonus to avoid bothering people who read at a default of +2, people who are clearly looking to read only good posts which are typically on-topic. If other people decide to mod this up, or down, that's fine, but I will not presume to automatically barge in and annoy people by posting this at +2. It's therefore not unreasonable to expect you to realize that, almost every time you post something off-topic, and long, it will get modded down to -1. And right it should, not because it isn't funny, but because this isn't the place. Someone else mentioned the "undocumented" forums on Slashdot as providing a good place for posts like yours. I don't think that's sufficient, because it provides even less of an audience than the main stories do. But if there were a forum linked to the main page for your sort of humor, and for trolls and flames and free-for-all orgies of unmoderated fun, I think that that should be sufficient to satisfy everyone, and to even give trolls a bigger, and willing, audience. It's just a suggestion, take it or leave it, but personally I'd like to see the inappropriate and ever-increasing trolling and off-topic stuff stop so that I can use all my mod points for moderating stuff up which deserves to be read, rather than modding stuff down which deserves to be ignored.
Rebelious Youth (Score:1)
> Valerie is a windows user and I use Linux.
> Valerie has agreed for the child to be brought up
> as a Linux user
Watch, when he goes through his rebelious stage as a teenager he's gonna start using a Macintosh.
Obsolete Computer Museum (Score:2)
Bruce 2.0 (Score:2)
--
grappler
Re:You know :) (Score:2)
Gee, Bruce 2.0 was a joke. People accuse me of being humor impaired...
Thanks
Bruce
Building a Spam filter from the reat Spam Archive (Score:1)
Does anyone have any more ideas on possible solutions?
One small point (Score:1)
At the current rate, it won't be long before the powers that be decide to make only logged-in anonymous posts possible, and delete the accounts and the posts of trolls and flamers. Then Slashdot would be effectively troll-proof and you'd never be able to post here again.
I troll here on /. on a semi-regular basis [slashdot.org], and I always do in using anonymous posts whilst logged in. It certainly hasn't caused me any problems, so I doubt that part of your argument would stand up.
As for the rest, you're confusing the small numbers of troll posts with the large number of spam posts here on /. Trolls can add value, spam never does.
Re:Urgent Message to Washing Machine: (Score:2)
Baz
Re:Energy from Giant Spliffs (Score:2)
downwind of such a power plant.
Funny, yes, well done: but it's worth pointing out that hemp grown for this purpose would have negligible narcotic qualities. The whole drug thing distracts people from the other uses of the plant (and it doesn't help that campaigners who *obviously* just want to get stoned legally, also use the "great fuel, animal feed, textile" rhetoric)
--
Re:Ultracade?! (Score:1)
There's a couple of other vendors using multiple-title formats, albeit with trivia/swat the fly/tetris clone games ported into the console, but once those drinks start taking effect, the curiousity & nostalgia factors of the customers will kick in, making these consoles a better money draw for the establishment than salted nuts
or pretzels.
Anyone notice the games were mainly old Taito titles? You can be sure that if Ultracade has the rights to the rest of the titles, demands for personalized custom packs will rise [like having Knights of the Round (available) paired with Magic Sword, or Elevator Action with "that other Otto" title, Bezerk].
ReBoot - Don't forget the Redmond version.. (Score:1)
Microsoft: Don't Innovate, Regurgitate!
Saten? (Score:1)
Bruce 2.0 Violating GPL! (Score:1)
Eggs bacon spam beans spam spam spam and spam (Score:1)
Currently I get 6-7 emails a day at that account. All of it spam. About twice a week one from hotmail asking me to please delete some messages :)
Re:You know :) (Score:1)
Re:You know :) (Score:1)
Ultracade (Score:2)
It's missing some of the coolest games from twenty years ago: Defender, Joust, Robotron.... If it had Defender, I'd buy it in a second. Man, I remember the time I got to half a million on Defender. When I went to bed that night, I had burn in on my retinas. I closed my eyes and all I could see were Landers and Baiters zipping by.--Trippy!--The music and sound effects were ringing in my ears. It's amazing that I didn't get carpal tunnel from all the games of Defender that I played as a kid.
Re:Ultracade (Score:2)
Re:Emulators on PC not the same (Score:2)
However, the experience just isn't the same as having the proper arcade controls in the arcade box. Perhaps, I'll have to get a cheap 486 PC and mount it in a custom enclosure with a VGA monitor and custom controls wired up like a keyboard. Build my own Ultracade....
Thank You!! (Score:1)
Bruce
THIS IS NOT BRUCE (Score:1)
Re:You know :) (Score:1)
You mean like "Big-endian" and "Little-endian"?
Re:You know :) (Score:1)
So is Bruce 2.0 going to be released under the GPL? Is source available?
(Now that's a scary thought -- the day that GPL stands for Genetic Public License...)
Re:Obsolete Computer Museum (Score:1)
A cool thing not mentioned (Score:2)
http://www.idmaweb.com/ [idmaweb.com] to check out.
It's supposed to be a community forum for privacy and security issues.
He's a cool guy - ask him to send you some of his wierd pics once in a while, or travel pix from strange locations.
Re:Emulators on PC not the same (Score:1)
Spam-O-Meter (Score:1)
Dan
Re:You know :) (Score:1)
Only you, who seems to think that because someone makes a joke about a particular thing, it must mean they agree with whatever stance someone else believes the punchline represents. No-one is saying it is right to disassociate your child with your wife, or treat children as software. To imply that anyone thinks that way is nothing short of a straw man argument. Professional comedians make jokes about stereotypes all the time: it doesn't mean they think those stereotypes appropriate or correct or right. Making a joke about something cannot (and should not) be construed as a value statement concerning the morality or ethics of that thing. It just doesn't function that way. People find things funny that are, on average, considered deplorable. People find slapstick funny, that doesn't mean it's a good thing to walk into a pole.
Anyway, where'd you ever get the notion that "Bruce 2.0" implies the child is just that of Bruce? It doesn't. The implication (disregarding the option of starting from scratch, which would be considerably more difficult a process) is one of part of Bruce 1.0 (not sure about Bruce's minor version number) with additions and modifications. This wouldn't be the first time the combination of two separate code bases was given the name of just one with an increased version number. But, I'm sure, as you seem to imply, Bruce's wife and child are all deeply traumatized by this. (No harm, no foul, I say. But since his reference to their son as Bruce 2.0, I'm sure the marriage is splitsville and the infant now has a tongue piercing, smokes pot, robs houses, and wears dresses.)
As it stands, I can't believe I wrote all of this to defend a joke. Humor is like sex: you either get it or you don't. And, I think it's quite clear, you don't get it.
Re:Obsolete Computer Museum (Score:2)
I'm so excited! That photo was taken with an older digital camera and spiffed up with The Gimp.
For those who want to see it the url is:
http://www.obsoletecomputermuseum.org/kaypro-1.htm l