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What reasonable explanation can exist for charging me an extra 50 cents per minute, just because I made a call from Maryland instead of Pennsylvania?

Did they advertise it as 0.50 cents, or is it only Verizon who struggle with decimals ?

Well, if it were running on 64-bit java instead of 64-bit perl, it wouldn't - java ints are still only 32 bits in "64 bit java.

Someone forgot to future-proof their language. 10 years from now, when you're running a 128-bit cpu with a quarter-terrabyte of ram, those 32-bit signed ints are going to look mighty quaint. "What do you mean, I can't store the [file size|number of inodes|ipv6 address|whatever] in a 128-bit int? What do you mean, 128-bit java doesn't have 128-bit ints? You're shitting me, right? This is 2018 ... what's gonna happen in 2038 - we gonna have a 2k38 java problem? No? Why should I believe you? You can't even right-size your ints ..."

Refactor your ints to long if you need bigger values?

Apart from that, the link's criticism specifically refers to Arrays still using a 32bit int index without the capability to use a long instead but you might be able to work around that by using another datastructure instead should you really need that much Objects stored in one container.

and sometimes leads you off in directions that aren't at all productive

It would be amusing to have the player run off in search of random football players ;)

Well, if it were running on 64-bit java instead of 64-bit perl, it wouldn't - java ints are still only 32 bits in "64 bit java.

Someone forgot to future-proof their language. 10 years from now, when you're running a 128-bit cpu with a quarter-terrabyte of ram, those 32-bit signed ints are going to look mighty quaint. "What do you mean, I can't store the [file size|number of inodes|ipv6 address|whatever] in a 128-bit int? What do you mean, 128-bit java doesn't have 128-bit ints? You're shitting me, right? This is 2018 ... what's gonna happen in 2038 - we gonna have a 2k38 java problem? No? Why should I believe you? You can't even right-size your ints ..."

Gmail's "Mail Goggles" feature is starting to sound more and more useful...

I doubt he's got too much in GM right now...

http://thinkbillions.blogspot.com/2008/11/warren-buffett-mouths-off-about-general.html

http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2008/12/net-neutrality-and-benefits-of-caching.html

While I can appreciate having a common connector for common purposes, I can't get behind having a common connector for divergent purposes. CAT5 is great - easy to connect, mostly secure, good bandwidth and power characteristics. But if you only have a bunch of CAT5 connection ports on your computer or any other device, something will be broken and quickly - especially if these cables are carrying any kind of power. You'll have to get everyone together to ensure (at a minimum) that everyone agrees certain pins should be power and certain pins should be (for every device) otherwise you'll very quickly have +5V shorted to ground. It would be a nightmare. If you want to talk about standard and effective connectors, why, circular MILSPEC connectors are the best! Think of it, we'll have just ONE BIG CONNECTOR the size of a dinner plate with 1000 pins on your computer, and there's only one cable that hooks up to it that octopuses out into 50 others! It's the perfect solution! (Yes I'm joking, but they are good connectors!) http://angryee.blogspot.com/

They also said that Google have changed their stance. If you look at this Google Public Policy Blog post from last summer:

Beyond that, we also believe that broadband carriers should have the flexibility to engage in a whole host of activities, including....Employing certain upgrades, such as the use of local caching or private network backbone links

Many SSDs suck at small random writes even though they write throughput can be quite high. But there are exceptions. Linus Torvalds writes about such an exception on its blog here.

wasn't this on /. at some point?

Just from the top of my head:

Latency spike which occurs exactly every 60 seconds when you are connected through wifi, which cripples your surfing experience and completely disables *any* online gaming. This problem was present at least since vista rc1, still present even in windows 7 pre-beta versions. Add to that complete unreliability of ad-hoc created networks. Random and long disconnects, have to manually connect to ad-hoc networks every time you login (even from resume) etc. They work fine in xp, why are suddenly broken in vista?

Network connections settings have not much less than 100 windows. It is almost physically painful to go through them when trying to setup anything. (Hint: look at os x equivalent window, 3 different windows at most). And wtf do I need to click (or even see) 800x600 window telling me that I'm now connected to $NETWORK? Which leads me to my next point.

Windows settings are fragmented and sometimes they are hard to find. (ie first char underlining when pressing the alt key). I know where to find pretty much every setting there is in vista but it is all very hard and unnecessary work. Try to explain someone over the phone where to find setting to disable cleartype or anything else. Everything is completely unnecessary buried deep in some obscure windows. It is a clickfest. It is like a diablo, but not fun.Btw, windows 7 can even search directly for settings like this. So you can press start, type "cleartype" and click on the link. Then the proper window will open. Nice isn't it?

NOT!

Why? Completely wrong design philosophy. If you need a friggin search tool to find a window with a correct setting, well sorry folks, but your OS has too many windows and settings. Why bother with designing normal windows at all? Just give us a query tool (start menu) and generate windows dynamically with appropriate wanted settings. (gosh! I should patent that!) But it is a bullshit design anyway.

Speaking of windows design; a severely crippled amoeba could designed them better. A majority of vista's windows have this layout: menus on top (ok), main settings below on the right side, and settings which are not that major have links (on another windows no less) on the left (buzzword: sidebar). The problem is that the left part takes no less than 200px. And the items on the sidebar are just thrown there because retarded designers couldn't be bothered to integrate them logically in the same window. Just look at this example: (this is windows 7 screenshot, but vista is no better, only worse) Power Options screenshot

File IO is much slower than xp's. No need to expand on that.

Games performance is worse. I will tell it again,

Games performance is worse on vista than on xp. Those who don't notice the difference should have their eyes examined or have Space Odyssey's monolith-rivaling high performance computer. Or they are just kids who don't know how to check fps rating when playing games.

These are just some of the problems vista has over xp. I'm first to admit that xp has a lot of problems too, but those problems in my opinion are smaller than vista's. And vista's benefits are just to small to hide its design flaws.
 

I've got all kinds of external drives > 500GB. One for each day of the week to do dailies onto. We use La Cie drives for it. http://standalone-sysadmin.blogspot.com/2008/05/backup-scheme.html

Give me my solar foci telescope, damn it! No need to muck about with this indirect measuring stuff...

The fact that your friends are teachers gives them no more authority to speak on this topic than the teacher that instigated this mess, particularly since they apparently agree with the way she handled it, and I think we all agree that she handled it poorly.

That's not exactly what he/she said: to quote the GP, "I don't think overreacting can really come into the picture until we actually know what the class is like." Their point was merely that some school classes are pretty awful in terms of behaviour, and for many teachers the only way to prevent things getting completely out of hand is to rule through uncompromising strictness. Sadly, rational argument is not often something that works very well with a class of rebellious children!

Yea, these kids with expensive laptops giggling at OpenGL demos and passing around Linux CDs sound like some real inner city thugs.

Going back to the original mail the teacher sent (quoted here), all she did was confiscate the linux live CD (fair enough, since it was apparently causing a disruption at the time), and then talk to the student about the issue after class. Whilst her preconceptions about free software were deplorable, and her email to the HeliOS maintainer obviously an overreaction, her actual handling of the matter in class seems perfectly calm and reasonable.

The fact that you know teachers doesn't give you any special authority on the topic. I myself claim no special authority either...so with a total absence of special authority to go around, why don't we all just agree to discuss it as equals and assess the points on their own merits and reasonableness. Appeal to authority [wikipedia.org] is always a fallacy, but it's particularly absurd when there is no actual authority present, wouldn't you agree?

From the wikipedia article you just referenced:

"The second form, citing a person who is actually an authority in the relevant field, carries more subjective, cognitive weight. A person who is recognized as an expert authority often has greater experience and knowledge of their field than the average person, so their opinion is more likely than average to be correct.

Except in this case, the sole example of a specific teacher we have so far doesn't seem to be more correct on average on this point I was making. That's because the point I was making was an subtopic of teaching that I don't believe teachers really ever get any training on whatsoever—the pscyhological development of children is something not many teachers know much about, particularly when it comes to practical knowledge. (And in any case, the operative word in that defn you quoted is subjective.)

I'm no child psychologist either, though...so I'm only saying that I wish my argument to be judged on the points I'm asserted, and not simply ignored because some guy said something he heard from some teachers he knows that are as ill-equipped in the classroom as the average teacher on average. I hate it when I make a point and someone else's response essentially boils down to: that's not what someone else I know says! So what? What about the point itself? What do you think?

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Yeah, this is what I've been saying - non-food biofuels are likely to be just as bad as corn ethanol and the like.

This should be the Title, but there wasn't enough space:
To Egyptians: There's still HOPE - To Ignorants :Please Read/Think before Speaking

This is what Apple wants us to expect:
From http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2432 [apple.com]

GPS is not available while in Egypt or when using an Egyptian iPhone and you may experience the following:
1- An iPhone purchased in Egypt does not have GPS enabled. {In Testing Phase}
2- An iPhone purchased in Egypt that is used outside of Egypt does not have GPS enabled {In Testing Phase}
3- Any iPhone used while roaming in Egypt does not have GPS enabled {Working & Apple will be disappointed, or let us say the OTHERS who doesn't want us to use it will be really disappointed}
4- An unlocked iPhone used with an Egyptian carrier's SIM does not have GPS enabled {In Testing Phase}
5- When using Maps in the scenarios above, the blue marker does not appear, and instead a circle is used to show your approximate location and other applications that use Location Services do not provide GPS coordinates

Check this out:
http://igeekle.blogspot.com/ [blogspot.com]

P.S: I feel some ignorance in some posts/comments.
So this is what I need to say since I love Egypt, Apple has just made a software modification to all the iPhones 3G ever manufactured. This modification is since Ver. 2.0, and in a specific point while updating/restoring through iTunes. The modification is simpler than all what has been rumoring around.
It doesn't rely on the coordinates as some people suggested. It's not like if the coordinates is found in Egypt region, the GPS chip will stop communicating. It's the software identifying the carrier, which disables the OS to communicate with the GPS.
Google maps is just an app, that gets the position through cell towers triangulation, and then specifies your coordinates from the GPS chip, which communicates/synchs with the satellites. And by the way, these satellites are not only American, it's from all nationalities.
So breaking the 5 previous points, that Apple wants us to expect, is just simple. The GPS chip as a hardware is installed in all of them, the software just stops communicating with it, once the carrier is identified in Egypt. That's why Apple is saying that even unlocked iPhones' GPS will not work while roaming in Egypt, or using any local Sim.
Check the blog link attached above, and you'll see what I mean.

Do you read the /. comments often? Freetards are everywhere! I use Linux daily as well -- I just can't stand the blind evangelism certain outspoken members of the community exhibit. Most FS users are well mannered individuals in real life. The Internet brings out the jerks who can't tolerate a viewpoint other than their own.

Ever read the (now defunct) Linux Hater's Blog? http://linuxhaters.blogspot.com/ It's great.

Also, I hardly see how the one sentence in my original post is "rambling" :)

The fact that your friends are teachers gives them no more authority to speak on this topic than the teacher that instigated this mess, particularly since they apparently agree with the way she handled it, and I think we all agree that she handled it poorly.

That's not exactly what he/she said: to quote the GP, "I don't think overreacting can really come into the picture until we actually know what the class is like." Their point was merely that some school classes are pretty awful in terms of behaviour, and for many teachers the only way to prevent things getting completely out of hand is to rule through uncompromising strictness. Sadly, rational argument is not often something that works very well with a class of rebellious children!

Going back to the original mail the teacher sent (quoted here), all she did was confiscate the linux live CD (fair enough, since it was apparently causing a disruption at the time), and then talk to the student about the issue after class. Whilst her preconceptions about free software were deplorable, and her email to the HeliOS maintainer obviously an overreaction, her actual handling of the matter in class seems perfectly calm and reasonable.

The fact that you know teachers doesn't give you any special authority on the topic. I myself claim no special authority either...so with a total absence of special authority to go around, why don't we all just agree to discuss it as equals and assess the points on their own merits and reasonableness. Appeal to authority [wikipedia.org] is always a fallacy, but it's particularly absurd when there is no actual authority present, wouldn't you agree?

From the wikipedia article you just referenced:

"The second form, citing a person who is actually an authority in the relevant field, carries more subjective, cognitive weight. A person who is recognized as an expert authority often has greater experience and knowledge of their field than the average person, so their opinion is more likely than average to be correct. In practical subjects such as car repair, an experienced mechanic who knows how to fix a certain car will be trusted to a greater degree than someone who is not an expert in car repair. There are many cases where one must rely on an expert, and cannot be reasonably expected to have the same experience, knowledge and skill that that person has. Many trust a surgeon without ever needing to know all the details about surgery themselves. Nevertheless, experts can still be mistaken and their expertise does not always guarantee that their arguments are valid."

The fact that the GP knows teachers who have experience of unruly classrooms seems a valid point to me. After all, the GP wasn't suggesting that this was the case with the class in question, only that it was a potential factor that ought to be considered.

1) set up a minimum set of expectations, in the design and implementation of internet "accessing" software ; and
2) ensure that all deployments are more securely implemented ; and/or
3) remove inherently unsecure products from the marketplace.

Actually, I'd be happy to store it in my back yard. Now, it'd be 100 feet down, but still. :)

Worries about nuclear waste are overblown. Besides, if things go right, most nuclear power plants will just burn it to make more energy: http://nucleargreen.blogspot.com/

Governments, organizations and individuals are becoming increasingly concerned about software compatibility, conflicts and the possible existence of spyware in the software applications they use. If you have access to the source code, then you can check it and compile it for yourself. This is not an option for closed source proprietary applications, and not everyone has the resources to check each line of source code. One solution for these issues is to employ a trusted third party, separate from the application developer, who is tasked with maintaining a trusted build environment, to build the binaries from source code. The Trusted Build Agent (TBA) would hold the source to each build in escrow, releasing the source code for only open source licensed code. Competing businesses providing a TBA service in a free market would compete with each other in not only price and level of certification, but also on the ability to detect hostile, vulnerable, incompatible or just plain buggy source code. You could request a trusted build from multiple TBAs test the ability to detect defects. Defects would be reported back to the application developers, along with any patches and suggestions that provide a fix. To a lesser extent, most Linux distributions and other operating system vendors that build and redistribute open source licensed code already provide this role.

I emailed AISD and received no confirmation of anyone affilated with that organization is the 'Karen referred to in that story. See a previous entry from 'Ken Starks' of HeliOS Solutions. Never mind Karen, is 'Ken Starks' for real ?

Found it, and it's the SAME GUY. Honestly when the correlation clicked in my mind I had no idea at all that it was the same guy, but somehow the hashing algorithm was colliding the two articles.

http://linuxlock.blogspot.com/2008/09/wasted-on-idiot.html

Wow.

He's posted a response to this and many others.

Very well done and interesting. Pity /. won't post that.

It's a mass grave.

Oh, look. Chrome is out of Beta:
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/12/google-chrome-beta.html

A few weeks ago I wrote up a summary of the status of chromium on linux. http://benjamin-meyer.blogspot.com/2008/11/status-of-chromium-on-linux.html Summary: You can run it, but a full chrome will be no time soon.

If I had mod points I would mod you up to the sky, my friend. BTW there is a job opening at the Linux Hater's Blog.

I can confirm, too. I dropped TWC/Roadrunner Internet for AT&T U-verse Internet. $35/month 6down/1up for AT&T vs $45 for TWC/RR. http://alternate-u-verse.blogspot.com/

Except that they apparently have talked about his senate seat:

Chicago Tribune article referenced Obama-Blago discussions on Senate Seat

Sorry, little obama supporter, I know this hurts.

Linux will have good support SSD support, you can be sure of it as Linus uses it himself, he mentions it in his blog. (he is using an intel SSD drive) http://torvalds-family.blogspot.com/2008/10/so-i-got-one-of-new-intel-ssds.html

This should be the Title, but there wasn't enough space:
To Egyptians: There's still HOPE - To Ignorants :Please Read/Think before Speaking

This is what Apple wants us to expect:
From http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2432

GPS is not available while in Egypt or when using an Egyptian iPhone and you may experience the following:
1- An iPhone purchased in Egypt does not have GPS enabled. {In Testing Phase}
2- An iPhone purchased in Egypt that is used outside of Egypt does not have GPS enabled {In Testing Phase}
3- Any iPhone used while roaming in Egypt does not have GPS enabled {Working & Apple will be disappointed, or let us say the OTHERS who doesn't want us to use it will be really disappointed}
4- An unlocked iPhone used with an Egyptian carrier's SIM does not have GPS enabled {In Testing Phase}
5- When using Maps in the scenarios above, the blue marker does not appear, and instead a circle is used to show your approximate location and other applications that use Location Services do not provide GPS coordinates

Check this out:
http://igeekle.blogspot.com/

P.S: I feel some ignorance in some posts/comments.
So this is what I need to say since I love Egypt, Apple has just made a software modification to all the iPhones 3G ever manufactured. This modification is since Ver. 2.0, and in a specific point while updating/restoring through iTunes. The modification is simpler than all what has been rumoring around.
It doesn't rely on the coordinates as some people suggested. It's not like if the coordinates is found in Egypt region, the GPS chip will stop communicating. It's the software identifying the carrier, which disables the OS to communicate with the GPS.
Google maps is just an app, that gets the position through cell towers triangulation, and then specifies your coordinates from the GPS chip, which communicates/synchs with the satellites. And by the way, these satellites are not only American, it's from all nationalities.
So breaking the 5 previous points, that Apple wants us to expect, is just simple. The GPS chip as a hardware is installed in all of them, the software just stops communicating with it, once the carrier is identified in Egypt. That's why Apple is saying that even unlocked iPhones' GPS will not work while roaming in Egypt, or using any local Sim.
Check the blog link attached above, and you'll see what I mean.

You forgot:

• Fat hairy guys trying to join the 300 Club

You should have gotten a Hershey's Symphony bar. The "Symphony" bars are made with a flavor profile closer to European milk chocolates. The regular Hershey's milk chocolate bar is "Americanized". Typically, they are the same price. I am thoroughly American, but I greatly prefer the Symphony bars.

I did a quick search and found some more anecdotal evidence of this:

http://supermarsbars.blogspot.com/2007/06/hershey-symphony.html

Check the first comment.

I agree that it's not as good as Lindt, which is readily available here, but then again, Hershey's is probably half the price.

I agree about the buzzword merchant part, but disagree about Web 2.0 not having any substance. I think Web 2.0 is a business adaptation to how a generation is developing culturally. Specifically, if you 25 and younger, the internet has been something you have always used. You are used to the speed and volume of data. Additionally, the collaborative aspects of the internet and supporting technologies are expected. Web 2.0, Facebook, Slashdot, and YouTube represent the attempt to monetize social expectations. Further to that point, business is mimicking this generation's requirements for community, collaboration, speed, and matrix teaming. As other generations become more adapt at using the Web 2.0 technologies, they are adapting insight into how this new generation thinks and what their expectations are. I read an entire series on the Web 2.0 manager and found it quite interesting, found here.

http://inttech.blogspot.com/2008/11/sci-fi-and-real-science-collide.html

Yes real science and Sci-Fi are colliding. This research can have amazing benefits for people suffering from a wide range of conditions and limb loss.

Exactly. As I say on my blog. Power is about double standards. Especially in college. http://innomen.blogspot.com/2008/12/college.html

Specifically this: http://war-on-pakistan.blogspot.com/2008/12/is-this-just-indias-war.html The similarities between now (Obama) and then (Kennedy) are just too much to ignore. My opinion of course. And yes, I'm a stinking, brainless, peace-mongering leftist nutcase :-P

Here's an analysis of the situation and the politics behind the scenes: http://war-on-pakistan.blogspot.com/ Let us see, LIVE, if this war can be prevented, and criminals brought to justice using the internet. All of you Indians sitting there in California, what do you think? Can we do something about these crooks spread all over Pakistan and Afghanistan? This time, it's not Darfur, it's your very own Mumbai, commercial capital of the back-office of the world - India - the scums that robbed your call-centre / support jobs and the scums who want to give your nuclear scientists and engineers some really good jobs.