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correct link: http://mp.blogs.com/mp/2005/04/fire_aim_ready.html

I wonder if it can boot off a USB drive...in which case it could be an interesting application for the "computers on a stick" that are starting to show up. see this post for more http://mp.blogs.com/mp/2005/07/on_computers_on.htm l

Google has had a "skyteam" in New York for some time now as I touched on in this post in April: http://mp.blogs.com/mp/2005/04/birds_eye_view.html The focus also seems to be on 45-degree building views.

well, it's still not available, but it seems to be one heck of a Linux PDA. 800x480 16bit screen, dual wireless - that's wifi and bluetooth builtin. Oh, and it is supposed to be 802.g, not 802.b, as 110% of the others PDAs that have some kind of wireless access.

I wish it had a snappier CPU (200MHz ARM9) and more memory (64MB RAM). Also, CompactFlash support would be great, but it will sport RS-MMC, for compability with current Symbian Nokia phones. Or so I'm told.

A good review here: http://jkontherun.blogs.com/jkontherun/2005/06/jko ntherun_gues.html
and the official page: http://www.nokia.com/nokia/0,,74866,00.html

Now if they could combine the guerilla art commentary with GPS contextualization it'd be perfect.

• Migration of user settings - even if just basic ones like bookmarks, documents, e-mail settings. Users will immediately feel more at home if their stuff is there and ready for them. Start small with things that are easy (bookmarks, a symbolic link back to their old documents, e-mail settings, perhaps their current wallpaper setting) and continue to build.
  
• Simple software installation - honestly, things like synaptic do a lot to help on this, but Linux needs to have a way for someone to download one thing and have it work. If that means that various Linux subsystems need to freeze their API's more, so be it. The Linux Standard Base project was working on this, and it needs to happen.
  
• Progressive Disclosure - Fewer features in front of the user, not more (but feel free to keep an "advanced" button with all the rest). Only show options that are applicable (the settings vs preferences example was excellent). Only show the "major" programs. The file browser/Open/Save dialogs need a lot of work - show the user how to easily get to where they need to be, and by default hide the "UNIXy" stuff - look at OS X for some inspiration.
  
• Defaults - Continue refining the "out-of-box" desktop experience (leaner main menus, more familiar default taskbar configuration, cleaner and more "professional" UI - Fedora is doing a *lot* right in this regard). Let it all be customizeable, but the defaults must be sensible for the largest (and simplest) audience.
  
• Comfort - This does not mean "like Windows". This means things should work as expected. Drives should mount automatically without any settings or fiddling. Documents should be easy to find. Applications should be easy to install. For God's sake, never allow the X clipboard near a "normal" user (FreeDesktop is working well on that one). Terminology should be simplified ("Home", "Mount", "Execute", and others must go). You should never, ever, ever have to touch a text file, or even hear about something called "fstab".

• Migration of user settings - even if just basic ones like bookmarks, documents, e-mail settings. Users will immediately feel more at home if their stuff is there and ready for them. Start small with things that are easy (bookmarks, a symbolic link back to their old documents, e-mail settings, perhaps their current wallpaper setting) and continue to build.
  
• Simple software installation - honestly, things like synaptic do a lot to help on this, but Linux needs to have a way for someone to download one thing and have it work. If that means that various Linux subsystems need to freeze their API's more, so be it. The Linux Standard Base project was working on this, and it needs to happen.
  
• Progressive Disclosure - Fewer features in front of the user, not more (but feel free to keep an "advanced" button with all the rest). Only show options that are applicable (the settings vs preferences example was excellent). Only show the "major" programs. The file browser/Open/Save dialogs need a lot of work - show the user how to easily get to where they need to be, and by default hide the "UNIXy" stuff - look at OS X for some inspiration.
  
• Defaults - Continue refining the "out-of-box" desktop experience (leaner main menus, more familiar default taskbar configuration, cleaner and more "professional" UI - Fedora is doing a *lot* right in this regard). Let it all be customizeable, but the defaults must be sensible for the largest (and simplest) audience.
  
• Comfort - This does not mean "like Windows". This means things should work as expected. Drives should mount automatically without any settings or fiddling. Documents should be easy to find. Applications should be easy to install. For God's sake, never allow the X clipboard near a "normal" user (FreeDesktop is working well on that one). Terminology should be simplified ("Home", "Mount", "Execute", and others must go). You should never, ever, ever have to touch a text file, or even hear about something called "fstab".

Here.

Christianity has always been expressed through the culture it lives in. It should be no suprise that some churches have visions and mission statements -- they want to succeed, and one model for success in America is the corporation.

However, there is a backlash against this strict hierarchical structure, and as many traditional structures are being circumvented by new ways of doing things (blogs vs. old media, P2P vs. old music distribution, network vs. hierarchy, etc.), many churches will change to reflect this. This can already be seen in the Emergent conversation, and in the writings of Brian McLaren, Johnny Baker, Doug Pagitt, Tony Jones, and others...

Mr. Berman is an admirer of the war-strategist Thomas P.M. Barnett, and Bermans theories can be seen as war doctrine applied to IT networks.

This same story appeared on Berman's blog a month ago.

Personally, I think Tesla was full of shit. Because, you know, he was a famous inventor and I'm some anonymous schlub on teh Intarweb and saying so makes me feel better about myself.

Parent poster misspoke. The Bible implies the age of the Earth is about 6000 years, and our friend James Ussher worked it out that the Earth was created the evening before October 23, 4004 B.C. So stop blaspheming, you filthy heathen, lest I strike you down in the name of our peace-preaching Lord.

Iran is another country filtering internet access (prevoiusly covered on /.)

- This article outlines some of the methods..
http://rconversation.blogs.com/rconversation/2005/ 06/how_iran_blocks.html

What planet are you on, moron? The Democrats have always been the biggest water carriers for the entertainment industry, and have always received the lion's share of political donations from Hollywood fat cats (78% in 2002.)

Psychiatrists call it 'projection' when you accuse others of the same faults you have. I call it typical leftist ignorance and hypocrisy.

You stupid little children think George Bush is the black hole from whence all evil flows. I guess your tiny little minds can't wrap around the fact that a "progressive" politician could be as supine and venal a lackey for big business as any Republican.

-ccm

And the rest of you, when are you joining up? The Army is in desperate need of you. Recruitment is down, nothing is helping. Three? Only three?

If all the young people who wanted this war would join up today, there'd be more than enough boots on the ground. You'd help the soldiers who are stuck there today, undermanned, live.

There is no excuse. You think the invasion and occupation is worth dying for? You think Bush and Rice and Cheney didn't lie their asses off?

JOIN. That's what war is about, sacrifice.

When are you sacrificing yourself?

If you don't think the occupation and asset seizure is worth your career, your education, your reproductive organ's attachment to your nether regions, or your very life -- then you have no right to support this war, demand its continuation, or demand that OTHERS SERVE IN YOUR PLACE.

Join, and help a private contractor making a thousand dollars per diem in the Green Zone see another day.

JOIN. Or oppose the war. You have no other options, Young Republicans.

Operation Yellow Elephant Help a Young Republican Join Today!

According to the leaked patch notes:

"Will of the Forsaken (Undead Racial) - duration of the lasting immunity effect decreased to 5 seconds."

This link would be worth reading:
blog entry which delves into this further

"maybe the people of Iraq before *you guys* gave him millions in support, training and, according to some, bological weapons capabilities..."

Bzzzzzzttt!

Thanks for playing: http://dailyablution.blogs.com/the_daily_ablution/ 2003/12/how_the_us_arme.html/

And for the original data: http://projects.sipri.se/armstrade/Trnd_Ind_IRQ_Im ps_73-02.pdf

> > Nowadays the state of the art has moved on and there is no excuse, none at all, for malloc/free.
> Right, you should be using new/delete.

No, you should be using smart pointers (RAII is your friend.) Bare-nekkid new and delete calls are at least 10 years out of date.

Current topics on the pet peeve list (so you made #1):


1. "out-of-the-box"?

An overused, misunderstood phrase. Were you by chance referring to lateral thinking? (see: Edward deBono)

_______________________

2. karaoke is not carry-okay. How people get carry out of kara I have no idea.

_______________________

3. And this is a Van Dyke , not a goatee. This: this is a goatee .

Only on /. can the idea that obesity is somehow healthy get +5 Insightful.

Look, I don't argue the point that the BMI method may be flawed, and I don't doubt that the numbers may be fabricated.
I am convinced that the food industry has a terrible influence on our diet, and they probably fake the numbers as they like, depending on whether they currently would like to sell fat, antibiotic-poisoned meat, or so-called "light" products that are even worse.

We don't need to argue about the fact that some people are just heavier, and some are lighter than some artificial average, and as long as one feels ok and is healthy, there is no point in forcing oneself to have some artificial "ideal" weight.

But we are talking "obesity" here, which Merriam-Webster defines as "excessively fat". And you are not going to convince me that this is in any way healthy.

I give you a hint: check out people that do regular manual work in healthy conditions, and are relatively self-sufficient wrt to their food. Try to find some without US TV. Then check if they are obese. May tell you something

Not sure they all qualify as blogs, but here are some great sources for news related to interests such as tranhumanist discussions...

Accelerating Times and their blog.
KurzweilAI (one of my favorites).
SL4
Yahoo Transhuman Group

Just to list a few...

Ah, but one of the joys of the software business in general is how little capital you need. It's possible to waste money, but that only happens when you're suffering a slight concussion from VCs hurling obscene amounts of cash at you and demanding that you waste it.

I had a look at this a week or so back, since there was a link to it on Terra Nova.
I really wasn't particularly impressed, to be honest, although I'm willing to give it the benefit of the doubt and say that it is still very much early days as far as the project is concerned.

There would also be a couple of major obstacles to this in the real world, sadly.

a) With regards to content in particular, Sturgeon's Law would probably apply with a brutal vengeance.

b) With client-side character files and (worse yet) individual control of bandwidth from peers, you'd see 14 year old Neo wannabes swarming out of the woodwork everywhere, with things like the recent Blizzard speed hack, item duping, and so forth.

c) Although most people might, not everybody has broadband yet, sadly...and for this, everyone would need to. (I'm still on a 56k modem myself)

At least in terms of its level of progress, Croquet is far more interesting. I downloaded it and had a mess around with it...and although there are some issues which could be majorly improved, (texture size needs to be made uniform, for one thing) it's coming along well. It will be a while I think before a sufficient portion of the online population will have the processing capacity or bandwidth for a networked version of Croquet to be large-scale viable...but when we get to that point it could be very interesting. It essentially looks like an ancestor of the sort of completely 3D, networked virtual environment that Gibson and others wrote about.

I had a look at this a week or so back, since there was a link to it on Terra Nova.
I really wasn't particularly impressed, to be honest, although I'm willing to give it the benefit of the doubt and say that it is still very much early days as far as the project is concerned.

There would also be a couple of major obstacles to this in the real world, sadly.

a) With regards to content in particular, Sturgeon's Law would probably apply with a brutal vengeance.

b) With client-side character files and (worse yet) individual control of bandwidth from peers, you'd see 14 year old Neo wannabes swarming out of the woodwork everywhere, with things like the recent Blizzard speed hack, item duping, and so forth.

c) Although most people might, not everybody has broadband yet, sadly...and for this, everyone would need to. (I'm still on a 56k modem myself)

At least in terms of its level of progress, Croquet is far more interesting. I downloaded it and had a mess around with it...and although there are some issues which could be majorly improved, (texture size needs to be made uniform, for one thing) it's coming along well. It will be a while I think before a sufficient portion of the online population will have the processing capacity or bandwidth for a networked version of Croquet to be large-scale viable...but when we get to that point it could be very interesting. It essentially looks like an ancestor of the sort of completely 3D, networked virtual environment that Gibson and others wrote about.

And notice how IGE is already targetting many of their fansites for buyout. Amusing write up at n3rfed.

The company that patented "first come first serve" wants to reform the patent system?! What, did they finally run out of blatantly obvious ideas? Or is Microsoft gaining ground in patenting such ideas, which scares IBM somehow? Or is it the Japanese who are catching up?

I've used my tablet for anything that involves taking notes, jotting down information quickly, or annotating documents. Basically instead of carrying around two or three binders with papers scattered everywhere, I keep everything in my tablet. I also access electronic text books online, print copies to my disk, and take notes there rather than buying the full books.

In my spare time, I use my tablet as a sketchpad, using the free program Artrage http://www.ambient.gen.nz/artrage.html.

So instead of carrying around all my books, all my binders, my laptop and my PDA, I have everything on my tablet.

For more info, check out http://studenttabletpc.blogs.com/the_student_table t_pc/ and http://tabletpcbuzz.com/.

Thanks for the warning, but Michael "oh boy am I a suit!" Hyatt has got me interested and mentions a few of the things I want.

According to the independent The Penis Enlargement Blog, some pills do actually work, when coupled with stretching exercises.

If they named it FTTH then you would expect the appropriate speeds . I am talking 100 megabits/sec. Are they trying to 'dupe' rich middle class internet users ? I think so.

Extremetech article on Verizon's $ 44.95/month , 15mbits . And $39.95 for 5megabits/sec downloads.

Is this comparable to FTTH,Fiber To The Home ? Nope.

Thats why we need to keep 'PUBLIC SUPPORT' for 'Municpal FTTH' which is real broadboand and not the name hijacked variety.

What the Clickable Culture story missed is that today's Wall Street Journal reported that the Second Life resident has sold the real world publishing rights of Tringo to Sean Ryan's Donnerwood Media for "low five figures." They plan to publish Tringo for mobile phones and on the web. Also mentioned over at Terra Nova.

Look at the titties on these naked mole rats

Now available for your perverted pleasure, rubber naked mole rats!

The economy is bloated and full of beurocracy, if it weren't for government subsidy (State, Local and Federal) the Central Valley (Salad bowl) would have no chance.

Currently South American Farmers are beating the pricepoint by a few pennies for most grown foods in supermarkets. FDR era new deal bullshit subsidies are still around. People need to wake up and smell the gravy train that's been going on for a very long time. If these illegal tariffs continue, the bubble will be much bigger when it bursts.

There needs to be an econmic reformation in California.

Housing prices in the central valley are artificially inflated due to the steep rise in population.

The stress on schools and local hospitals combined with the huge crime rates in the Salinas Valley paint the picture pretty well. libraries are forced to close down, the city can't afford to keep them running. Schools cut vital programs to afford expensive survielance systems to cut back on the crime.

The citizenship by birthright is a nice ideal, but it's not a good way to control migration with open borders. People abuse this system. Parents of citizens who are non-citizens themselves is a byproduct of a fucking loophole. There is a lot of this. 35% of the Central Valley are illegal occupants. That's 1/3rd more people on the roads, 1/3rd more people occupying homes, and 1/3rd more kids in schools.

It's also been slightly more than 1/3rd more crime. But no more than the MOE.

A page from most other nation's constitution might be useful. A stipulation that requires one parent be a citizen.

It's good to see that Bush was concerned enough to throw .01% of the national debt at such a growing problem.

Still, just symptoms of what packing people into such a small area (#47 in population density) and paying them very little can do to a people.

FYI, a 50 foot yacht is a somewhat larger than usual fishing boat. Check out what a billionaire sails these days...

http://wesnerm.blogs.com/net_undocumented/2005/02/ windows_reveale.html

Oh wait!

See how much better the movie is now:
Star Wars: Episode IV

This does happen a lot more than you think. I started a blog to document it at Orangelimey.blogs.com

NSI is currently claiming that the transfer was legitimate - somehow the hijacker got into the administrative contact's email and compromised the accounts - how we still don't know. However, the person that ended up with the domain seems to be willing to give it back.

Really, the whole domain security thing is ridiculous. For a domain (which is considered property under a ruling from the appeals court in the sex.com case) to be transfered with such lax legal proceedings is pathetic. Can I steal your car or your house by simply faking email and guessing passwords? Of course not.

Maybe panix can make enough of a stink about this to get someone to stand up and take notice - although who can do this I don't know. ICANN is toothless and only cares about trademark disputes.

Someone told me as a result of this that 40,000 domains were hijacked in the last year. I don't know where this data comes from, but really, obviously something is wrong.

Feel sorry for panix, I used them when I lived in NYC

Bush as ChickenHawk ... visit the Wingmen For Bush Website

Mocking the Heroism of Kerry (Part 1) ... read the Kerry vs Benedict Arnold essay

Mocking the Heroism of Kerry (Part 2) ... view all five Swift Vet mini-documentaries

Turning on your own, like McCain, when they challenge the Master Plan ... read these two letters addressed to Senator McCain one and two written by veterans turning on McCain because McCain deserved and deserves it

Bush as ChickenHawk ... visit the Wingmen For Bush Website

Mocking the Heroism of Kerry (Part 1) ... read the Kerry vs Benedict Arnold essay

Mocking the Heroism of Kerry (Part 2) ... view all five Swift Vet mini-documentaries

Turning on your own, like McCain, when they challenge the Master Plan ... read these two letters addressed to Senator McCain one and two written by veterans turning on McCain because McCain deserved and deserves it

WRONG

First, IANAL but I link to a lawyer's blog below.

Second I am a Navy Veteran (FTN & PAPERCLIP awards) whose skin crawled when Kerry gave his lifer "reporting for duty salute" ... something is not right with this dude ... thank you SwiftVets and POWS for Truth for confirming my gut feelings as a Navy Veteran about Kerry

BULLET POINTS: Kerry Lies -vs- SwiftVets Factual Data

why no Kerry libel/slander suit? Because Kerry has no grounds to sue - everything SwiftVets has said/published about Kerry is TRUE. Kerry is terrified of the discovery process that would occur during such a trial ... Kerry's full and complete military service record (except medical records) would be released to the general public.

Swift Vets & POW For Truth have ALL their Tar Baby ducks in a row ... they were and are ready to go to court.

There is a book Unfit For Command referencing:
(1) Kerry's own authorized biography
(2) limited official Navy Records
(3) the Congressional Record
(4) sworn affidavits signed by people who served with Kerry in Vietnam
... documenting Kerry's exaggerations, distortions, and lies regarding his Vietnam-era SwiftBoat naval service and his postwar activities with the enemy

There are now five (5) mini-documentaries, explaining the minutia of the various Kerry combat engagements. Animations, maps and eye-witness voice overs are utilized. These are very useful for explaining to non-Navy types the ins&outs of what was going on during various SwiftBoat naval engagements. Basically Kerry was/is a serial exagerater who "lied while good men died"

please note John Kerry NOT released his naval records to the general public via a signed SF-180. What was published on the Kerry website was a subset of his official records.

CONFIRMED BY WASHINGTON POST

Although Kerry campaign officials insist that they have published Kerry's full military records on their Web site (with the exception of medical records shown briefly to reporters earlier this year), they have not permitted independent access to his original Navy records. A Freedom of Information Act request by The Post for Kerry's records produced six pages of information. A spokesman for the Navy Personnel Command, Mike McClellan, said he was not authorized to release the full file, which consists of at least a hundred pages.From the Washington Post article Swift Boat Accounts Incomplete: Critics Fail to Disprove Kerry's Version of Vietnam War Episode by By Michael Dobbs, Washington Post Staff Writer, Sunday, August 22, 2004; Page A01

There is a photograph showing Kerry with 19 of his fellow Swift boat OICs (Officers In Charge) in Coastal Division 11. Only three of Kerry's 23 fellow OICs from Coastal Division 11 support Kerry ... why so few support Kerry ... maybe Kerry has a problem? Perhaps we should pay some attention to these OICs who do not support Kerry? Maybe they kno

WRONG

First, IANAL but I link to a lawyer's blog below.

Second I am a Navy Veteran (FTN & PAPERCLIP awards) whose skin crawled when Kerry gave his lifer "reporting for duty salute" ... something is not right with this dude ... thank you SwiftVets and POWS for Truth for confirming my gut feelings as a Navy Veteran about Kerry

BULLET POINTS: Kerry Lies -vs- SwiftVets Factual Data

why no Kerry libel/slander suit? Because Kerry has no grounds to sue - everything SwiftVets has said/published about Kerry is TRUE. Kerry is terrified of the discovery process that would occur during such a trial ... Kerry's full and complete military service record (except medical records) would be released to the general public.

Swift Vets & POW For Truth have ALL their Tar Baby ducks in a row ... they were and are ready to go to court.

There is a book Unfit For Command referencing:
(1) Kerry's own authorized biography
(2) limited official Navy Records
(3) the Congressional Record
(4) sworn affidavits signed by people who served with Kerry in Vietnam
... documenting Kerry's exaggerations, distortions, and lies regarding his Vietnam-era SwiftBoat naval service and his postwar activities with the enemy

There are now five (5) mini-documentaries, explaining the minutia of the various Kerry combat engagements. Animations, maps and eye-witness voice overs are utilized. These are very useful for explaining to non-Navy types the ins&outs of what was going on during various SwiftBoat naval engagements. Basically Kerry was/is a serial exagerater who "lied while good men died"

please note John Kerry NOT released his naval records to the general public via a signed SF-180. What was published on the Kerry website was a subset of his official records.

CONFIRMED BY WASHINGTON POST

Although Kerry campaign officials insist that they have published Kerry's full military records on their Web site (with the exception of medical records shown briefly to reporters earlier this year), they have not permitted independent access to his original Navy records. A Freedom of Information Act request by The Post for Kerry's records produced six pages of information. A spokesman for the Navy Personnel Command, Mike McClellan, said he was not authorized to release the full file, which consists of at least a hundred pages.From the Washington Post article Swift Boat Accounts Incomplete: Critics Fail to Disprove Kerry's Version of Vietnam War Episode by By Michael Dobbs, Washington Post Staff Writer, Sunday, August 22, 2004; Page A01

There is a photograph showing Kerry with 19 of his fellow Swift boat OICs (Officers In Charge) in Coastal Division 11. Only three of Kerry's 23 fellow OICs from Coastal Division 11 support Kerry ... why so few support Kerry ... maybe Kerry has a problem? Perhaps we should pay some attention to these OICs who do not support Kerry? Maybe they kno

For those of you who missed the reference

Doing a little checking, I found this:

For example, even Florida's homestead protections cannot avoid a lien placed on the house related to criminal or egregious activity. Secondly, federal agencies have unlimited resources to attack lawyers who attempt to deceive the agency or collaborate with targets of their investigations. Targets of federal civil or regulatory agencies are "toxic clients". Its not worth it. From: Florida asset protection It may just be that the Feds could take whatever they own, regardless of the state protections.

I have been following stratospheric airship technology for years, and discuss some of the interesting tidbits I've collected over the years at:

http://thewired.blogs.com/teotwawki/

Under the technology section.

The military is considerably more technically advanced in terms of airship tech than what is currently being acknowledged. The big, generally slow, often triangular UFO sightings that have taken place over the past decade or more are sightings of next-gen airships. There is some indication that they may employ more exotic propulsion technologies than traditional blimps.

See:

DARPA's Project WALRUS

DARPA's Project ISIS

The Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency's tests of using airships as platforms for mirrors used in ground-based laser weapon systems

The timeframe discussed, as well as on-record comments from DARPA that electrostatic propulsion is something that is being investigated for the airships, seem to add weight to the argument that these are in fact considerably more advanced than what many folks may be thinking of.

There is obviously a lot of commercial use for stratospheric airships. Here's to hoping that this is a tech that may finally be ready to emerge from the black world!

There appears to be prior art that has not been considered. It is listed in a patent lawyer's blog.

http://nip.blogs.com/patent/2004/11/cloak_and_dagg e.html

http://nip.blogs.com/patent/2004/12/tablet_pcs_the _.html

...and in that very same patent someone noticed further prior art pertaining to docking cradles (the 2nd link)

There appears to be prior art that has not been considered. It is listed in a patent lawyer's blog.

http://nip.blogs.com/patent/2004/11/cloak_and_dagg e.html

http://nip.blogs.com/patent/2004/12/tablet_pcs_the _.html

...and in that very same patent someone noticed further prior art pertaining to docking cradles (the 2nd link)

The BBC was reporting in June that Microsoft was expanding it's localization program to include Kiswahili,100 million speakers, Hausa and Yoruba in West Africa, Amharic and Somali in the Horn of Africa. Microsoft to launch in Kiswahili, Microsoft's Kiswahili Edition: An Advance for African Language, Programming Africans' linguistic needs

I'm pink, therefore I'm spam.
Hormel loves you. So does the "pink embassy". Also you are loved by the Pink States and the red-to-pink states. :-)