FWIW, I disagree with every idea listed in E2 Community Development Newsletter, Summer 2007. I'm still fled*, since 2005 and pretty-much permanantly, so I doubt anyone will care about my opinion, but if the mindset that came up with this list of ideas is representative of what E2 has become, I see no reason to come back. I only logged in now to post this.
I mean, honestly. Images. Youtube links. Integration with the whole Web 2.0 wankery. Tagging. FaceBook. Writeup Comments (Just like a blog! Whoopee!). It's like someone took a look at E2's original manifesto and decided 'let's all do the exact opposite'. The whole point of E2 was/is that it is a restricted medium: like Haiku and oekaki, you work within the medium, and use it to your advantage. E2 should be text-only. E2 should prevent linking out. E2 is not Livejournal. E2 is not Wikipedia.
Perhaps E2's time is up. This is not necessarily a bad thing: Usenet still has its users, even though the majority of the interwebs don't even know it exists. Better to die a natural death than reinvent Everything as just another Wiki.
For the record, I predict that this new direction will end in tears: as intended, loads more users will show up, but not as intended, they'll use the site the way they want, not the way the old guard expect. So yeah, there may well be a new site. But it won't be Everything2, and it won't be what you wanted.
Goodbye.
* No details, because I'm not into drama. Nowadays on the interwebs, I'm part of Anonymous, and a site where people post links and then criticise and argue about them. If you've been there, you'll recognise it. I Think.
"I don't think that Debian can really compete with Gentoo. Sure it might be okay, but when it comes to dependencies, you probably are still going to have to get them all on your own. Or is there something like portage in the Debian world as well?"- GENTOO is Rice
________________________________ | ____________<yopy>____________ | || || || || || || || || || || || || || || || || || || || || || || || || || || || || || || || || || || || || ||______________________________|| | | | | |______ ______| | |__________________| | | | | _ | | _______ / \ | | / | \ \_/ | | | | | _ | | |-- --| _ _ / \ | | | | | / \ / \ \_/ | | \___|___/ \_/ \_/ | | | | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 | | | | Q W E R T Y U I O P | | | | A S D F G H J K L # | | | | # Z X C V B N M . # | | | | # # # # #### # # # # | |________________________________|
HOWTO make your yopy make a star trek communicator noise when you flip it open:
- upload an mp3 of the star trek communicator noise to /usr/share/sounds
-
edit the file /etc/power/pmd_proxy , adding the line
/usr/bin/madplay /usr/share/sounds/communicator.mp3
aftercase "$2" in "open") # remove next line for YP3500 echo 0 > /proc/sys/pm/power - Become the envy of
allbothyour geeky friends.
a tanuki. Unlike cabbits, Tanukis really exist. They are, however, one of these animals where the fiction is much better known than the fact.
Free DNS is a donation-supported Dynamic DNS service. It kicks ass.
Computer Users Manual, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Democratic Republic of East Timor. The more nerdy of us will enjoy reading this - almost all of it is subtly incorrect in one way or another. A great example why documentation should be written colaboratively, with constant recourse to primary sources, rather than by one person doing a brain dump.
"One of the most features of an operating system is the kernel, usually responsible for handling input and output into the 'microkernel' design architecture and memory management, file systems in the larger 'microkernel' design. An example of the former include Windows NT, QNX, and Mach and of the latter, Linux, MS-DOS and Windows95. Apple's Rhapsody and MacOS X put a microkernel on top of a microkernel. The advantage of microkernels is that they're very easy to transport to other hardware. The main disadvantage is that they're not always as efficient because of their (usually) modular design."
"In 1965, whilst preparing a speech about the growth of computer memory, George Moore noticed that each new chip contained roughly twice as much capacity as the previous one and each chip was released every 18-24 months. "
"those who have mastered the material in this manual will have a higher level of computer knowledge than many people in so-called 'advanced' nations. For a country that is starting with 45% illiteracy, this will be quite an achievement!"
Ikea's Gorm shelves piss me off. They're a cost-cutting slimmed-down version of Sten shelves, having thinner uprights, thinner shelves, and smaller bolts. Sten shelves can support 500kg (that's half a tonne; a Sten under each end could support a mini), but Gorm shelves can only support 50kg. That's a tenth of what Stens can support!
The reason this pisses me off, is that I need to support a 150kg fish tank, and Ikea don't sell Stens any more. I never bought any in the right size when they were available, and now it's too late.
Map24 won the Webby for technical achievement in both the 'Webby Award' (decided by comittee) and 'People's Choice' (decided by vote) categories. E2 didn't. This is just as well; my blood pressure remains at safe levels. Hopefully next year E2 will be nominated in an appropriate category, so we don't have to choose between supporting the community, or voting for the most deserving.
Rainbow warriors - speculation on gay characters in capcom's fighting games: "They were obviously beards, as this was before the whole "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy came about."
Overclocking the P4 Dothan (For those of us that don't follow Intel's roadmaps religiously, the Dothan is the new P4M, a laptop processor) to 2.4GHz, where its performance is the average of that of the Prescott P4 3.4 GHz, and the P4 Extreme Edition 3.4 GHz. Worth checking out for the cooling solution alone. This isn't a very practical overclock, as the Dothan goes for around $700, while the Prescott EE $1000. The $300 saving in processor is easily offset by having to surround it in $1000 of laptop (You could maybe make a bespoke compute farm out of a ton of latitude motherboards, however). This is quite a good indication of how next-year's Johan desktop processor, the stopgap while intel gets IA64 working will perform.
Kishiro-sensei talks us through the process of making a cover for Gunnm: Last Order. An interesting exhibition of today's high-end computer graphics programs, as used by a master; rather than replacing pen and paper, they complement it.
"The weapons in that theoretical arsenal bore the same relationship to the hypometric device as a sophisticated computer virus did to a stone axe. Simply grasping how such weapons were in some way disadvantageous to something loosely analagous to an enemy would have required such a comprehensive remapping of the human mind that it would be pointless calling it human anymore" - Alastair Reynolds, Absolution Gap.
Operation Telic casualties list.
Better known as 'Gulf War II', Operation Telic is the MOD's name for the ongoing 'peacekeeping operation' in Iraq. This is a list, with obituaries and photographs, of the soldiers who have died (so far) in the course of this operation. Most of them had families, but had the bravery to lay down their lives for the noble cause of killing iraqi soldiers and civilians. For bringing death to their 'enemies', and misery to their relatives, we laud these people as 'heroes'.
The true heroes of this war, the doctors, aid workers, police, firefighters, and engineers, who risk injury, death, and kidnap to heal the sick and injured, ease the suffering of the dying, save the lives of those in danger, and restore quality of life to the living, barely get a footnote. Thousands of innocent civilians, in the wrong place at the wrong time, have been killed by our 'brave soldiers' in the process of this invasion and occupation. They don't get mentioned at all, because they're only Iraqis.
The next time you see a glorification of the selfish, amoral killing machines the government calls heroes, give some thought to the inumerable innocent victims, and those, dead or alive, who actually did something to help their fellow man.
Next Armistice Day, wear a white poppy
Mossberg retorts with, "Well, I have a word for these contemptuous techies: Save your energy for solving the problem instead of blaming its victims. Mainstream users shouldn't have to be IT experts to operate their computers."- Tim Mullen, http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/04/28/clueless_security_user/page2.html
In a word? Um, that's 24 words. If that statement were computer code rather than consumer criticism, it would be... wait for it... a buffer overflow
Go read:
No one can be told what 日本ブレイク工業 is. You have to see it for yourself.:
- http://www.viplt.ne.jp/midopure/swf/nbk.html
- http://www.nbk.gr.jp/song.html
- http://www.ne.jp/asahi/mtg/life/jbi.txt
- http://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00012IJ6E/250-4158835-4423427
- ed2k://|file|Nihon_Break_Kogyo.mp3|1289288|183CE7ABDCCC848804DC3FF023D06D39|/