OK, got it. Reminds me of the old IBM Block mode terminals that had a physical map (with all literal fields and color specs, input specs and protection specs) and a data map that was only the fields that returned values. Both were sent to the terminal which would use a forward only processing to paint the screen and enable the unprotected fields. Any action key on the terminal transmitted only the data map to the invoking program. It was up to the program to split the data map back into fields and do any validation and processing of the data. (very efficient use of transmission bandwidth in the old days.) :)

You would have to eliminate all HTML events (like onclick, onblur, onfocus, etc.) Right?

An interesting thought. Are you suggesting also dropping the Javascript virtual machine from the client environment also? A real back to basics web page with no CSS and no interactivity via Javascript?

Because the Management of those big companies are too busy focusing on "Maximizing Share Holder Value" and have lost sight of the real software business that got them to where they are today. I believe that there are tens of thousands of frustrated, really talented technical people who feel trapped by the toxic environments that they are forced to work in, in those overly big companies. Projects cut to pieces in the quest for unreasonable deadlines and dispersed among teams that have no contact with each other (except via problem recording/resolution tracking software, where posting too many problems dams the career of the poster). Take Microsoft's latest disaster. They have pre-sold OEMs on building hardware with specialized "AI" hardware because Microsoft was coming out with killer "AI" software. So with the OEMs (with visions of skyrocketing hardware sales dancing in their heads (hey, it's almost Christmas (lol)). Have gone ahead invested millions in the new "Co-Pilot+ PCs". Only Microsoft doesn't have any killer "AI" software. In fact, most of the "AI" software is embroiled in massive lawsuits and a lot of public confusion and hate. So they quick, push out, the "Recall" software. An 'idea' that had not been baked too long deep in the bowels of Microsoft. The "Recall" software is ridiculed for lack of security and creepy spying. Microsoft pulls back the software but they have painted themselves into a corner. They have nothing else. Their stock valuation is based on their technical prowess with "AI". They must do something to "Maximize Share Holder Value"! So they round up all the internal technical wizards that they can find and quick patch up the software to make it palatable. And a half-baked idea is going to be forced out into the public where it will definitely have bugs, definitely have security failings and for the most part is unwanted or at least poorly understood by the very public they expect to buy the hardware to run the software. So do not discount "Integrity and Self-Respect" or "caring if your code works" and I might add, the vision to know that the software is useful, solves a problem and will be a strong foundation for future applications. That is what is important (In My Own Humble Opinion).

An excellent documentary on Octopus interactions is "My Octopus Teacher". A link to the trailer: My Octopus Teacher | Official Trailer | Netflix - YouTube[^]

Thank you. :)

Excuse my ignorance: What is CCC? What is WSO? What is DD?

Murphy's law. Anything that can go wrong will go wrong at the worst possible moment. (usually important demos, version 1.0 releases, "no sweat system updates"... etc.)

We continued to throw the boomerang for another hour and could not get it to come back to us. Mostly it would turn to about a 90 degree angle and drop to the ground. Kind of gave up after that point and went back to kicking a soccer ball around the field.

Lol, Brought to mind the time when our family was on vacation. There was a soccer field near where we were staying and early in the morning there was no one around. Figured it was a safe place to let him try it out. Went onto the field. He was about 8 or 9 years old. He wound up and let it fly. It started to rise and began a rapid curve. After turning past 90 degrees it was obvious that it was catching the air just right. It continued to rise and curve until it was on a direct line back to him. His face went from glee to horror as the boomerang began a rapid decent. Like some crazed predator it came screaming back to earth. My son turned and started to run away. The boomerang swooped in and got him right in the back before he had taken more than 3 steps.

"Doctor, Doctor, I am seeing double" "Good, here's my bill." :rolleyes:

Interesting. The key point "I think" is the example of the ball and string. The ball floating in space can be moved but exhibits no vibration. In a gravity field the ball is held in place by the string and force must be applied to move it. The ball then swings (vibrates) so it exhibits a repetitive motion within the boundaries of the swing (the vibration) but no motion outside of the vibration. The ball exhibits mass via the frequency of the vibration. Now gravity is basically one direction. The Higgs field acts like it but in all directions. So it causes the vibration of stationary particles and the vibration is related to what we call mass to set the particle in motion (outside the range of their normal stationary vibration) we must overcome the inertia of that mass. (Now my head hurts).

Terminus By Ralph Waldo Emerson : (last stanza) "..... As the bird trims her to the gale, I trim myself to the storm of time, I man the rudder, reef the sail, Obey the voice at eve obeyed at prime: “Lowly faithful, banish fear, Right onward drive unharmed; The port, well worth the cruise, is near, And every wave is charmed.”" It is the Journey not the Destination that is to be enjoyed." Have a Great Birthday! ;)

Oh you mean Ancient Wind Breaker? :)

This brought to mind the great advances in power consumption of older and newer devices. In the mid 1970's I was in college and had a co-op job working for IBM in their Philadelphia data center. It was downtown located midway up one of the high rises. They did education and system support and had the latest IBM 370 mainframe computer. The mainframe consisted of 4 refrigerator sized (think of a double door large modern model) components and ran from standard building 3 phase power. In a cost cutting move IBM management decided that since the data center only supported education it really did not need the latest and greatest. So they replaced it with a very old IBM 360 model. This model required it's own dedicated motor/generator to supply the filtered power to the mainframe. The motor/generator was huge (roughly 2 meters long by a meter and a half high). It looked like it belonged in the engine room of a large ship. The only problem was to spin the motor/generator up to the proper speed to generate stable power required it would look like a major short circuit to the building power. The operations manager went through the start up draw and matched it against the building's power and figured it would be fine. However, the building engineer felt that the safety trips in the building would stutter and not supply enough power to get the generator up to speed. The engineer had a work around. They could disable the safety trips for the few seconds that the mass surge of power was needed. On the day they were going to try this I got a chance to go to the building's power management core (located in that hidden floor in the middle of the building). The fuses in this part of the building were scary, huge. The fuse was as long as your arm (tip of fingers to elbow) and as thick as your leg. There was a special circuit breaker in front of the fuse that was the problem. It was there to protect the fuse (the engineer said they cost thousands of dollars to replace). That circuit breaker was the problem. It would set and then reset as the motor/generator pulled power to get started. Thus starving the motor/generator and preventing it from ever reaching it's intended speed. So even though the draw was within the safety range of the fuse, the circuit breaker would prevent the motor/generator from spinning up. The work-around was to jam a broom against the circuit breaker reset preventing it from tripping. The engineer handed the broom to my ops manager and said the responsibility was all his. He jammed the broom agains

OK, so tell me why you hate GO (language not the game).

From Google AI (remember AI is not reliable): The word "disaster" comes from the Latin words dis- and astro, which mean "away or without" and "star or planet" respectively. It literally translates to "without a star" and originally implied misfortune caused by astrological issues. For example, in Shakespeare's time, an astrologer might have warned Juliet of a disaster in her stars that indicated an unfortunate event was coming. The word "disaster" entered the English language in the mid-16th century and comes to us through Middle French and the Old Italian word disastro. The earliest known use of the word as a noun is from the mid-1500s, and as an adjective it's recorded in Robert Greene's writing in 1584. Today, "disaster" is more commonly used to mean upheaval or an adverse event that happens suddenly and unexpectedly.

Here is one resource you might look into. It is the NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) They are the organization that sponsors the yearly challenge to write a complete novel (50,000 words or more) during the month of November. They tend to cater to new writers with tips and encouragement to finish a first novel. I do know that a few literary agents do check out the winners (finishers) of their novel to see if there is any new talent that they can represent. Here is a link to the general organization: [^] Here is a link to one of their work shops on how to edit your completed first draft of a novel: Edit to Excellence with ProWritingAid[^] If writing feels good, keep at it! (I think it was Stephen King that said he sent his first novel to about 100 publisher/agents before one gave him a shot.)

Interesting. Not sure I get the connections between software licensing and the examples you provided. Car Leasing: You agree to pay for the depreciation of the car over the length of time or mileage (usage) for the period of the lease. You agree to be responsible for damage to the vehicle and must purchase insurance to protect against damage that occurs while the vehicle is in your possession but the title to the vehicle remains with the company doing the leasing. Backhoe rental: again the title to the Backhoe remains with the rental company but you agree to the rental terms that provide a certain amount of income to the owner of the Backhoe. The Backhoe remains on the books of the owning company and they get to take depreciation and wear and tear costs against their income generated by the asset. As to the Bar: If you can go into the bar and watch the game without purchasing a beer then it is a free charity event, if you must purchase at least one beer to remain and watch the game, then the cost of the beer is the entry cost of the service that is being provided. Beer plus game plus the ambiance of the pub. Sorry, but I am confused. Not the first time though.

The biggest difference between Products (TV, Automobile, Washing Machine) and software is that software is not sold. Software is licensed. You do not own it. You own the right to use it under the terms of the licensing agreement. If you do not agree with the terms of the license you are free to negotiate with the software owner or go find a different software solution with licensing terms that are more to your liking (like open source alternatives). The problem that software owners/vendors have is that software is easy to install and run on most computing equipment. Need an extra word processor for a new employee, just install the one you have on that employee's new PC. That is why most software installs try to phone home to the mother company to validate that the software license for it is not already bound to a different PC. Need more flexibility in the international nature of your multi country corporation. Then get an Enterprise License and you are free to use software as much as you want. Of course, you are going to pay an order of magnitude more for the license than a single user license. Have a small office with a tiny server and you don't want to pay for "big iron" prices. Then there are small server (per core) pricing. You can compare hard good products with software products only when they can "pop into existence" by simply installing a copy of them in another location. Need a 2nd TV, just install a copy of your TV in the new room, or friend's house. But I do agree that Oracle is the example of hardnosed licensing. It's the reason why almost everyone that is doing any serious development with Java software products is using OpenJDK development. If you are an enterprise and using Oracle as a database then you are stuck. You are already paying an arm and leg for licensing and support.