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uh... I'm going to have to disagree with you there...

Drivers under XP are still running at Ring-0. The same Win32 API thing is still in operation which makes virtually any security problem, a system-wide compromise since the message queue is a problem that cannot be fixed without a complete rewrite/replacement of Win32.

Part of Windows's current set of problems involve the execution level of device drivers. Another part is the message queue problem. The integration of MSIE is a pretty critical failure too but wouldn't be were it not for the existance of the first two. The first two problems necessitate abandoning or virtualizing the Win32 API as it is today. The only safe way to continue using that API is to run it in a virtual machine that doesn't actually run that API itself. That way, the apps and drivers cannot corrupt the rest of the OS needlessly.

MS can win on Slashdot if MS would abandon its pride and admit when mistakes are made. It was a mistake to integrate MSIE too deeply into the OS. The shell itself should have be safely disconnected from the kernel. I remember when Win2k was first being introduced and discussed at some Microsoft thingy... I raised my hand during the Q&A session and asked if drivers were still running at Ring-0. The guy I asked didn't have a clue what I was talking about but another guy did and "admitted" '...yes...' with a sigh. So he knew as much as I did that drivers at Ring-0 is a critical problem. (even if all devices are certified by MS, people still write and use those damned VXDs as DLLs for their programs so they can get 'more' from the OS in the way of performance... thereby running their apps at Ring-0 and circumventing program protections.)

When Avalon (whatever that is) comes out I am sure there will be plenty of people bitching about it... no getting around it. But I think the world has adjusted to the fact that Win98 is an abandoned OS and should be regarded as such. Win2000 is not yet abandoned and should be supported where it is appropriate. (Did people actually use WinME??? Dear god...thought it was just a bad dream...)

MS forcing developers to start over again should be considered normal and acceptable. I don't think anyone should bitch about that at all. There are other reasons developers should bitch at Microsoft, however. In my view it's like people bitching that they need to go back to school to update their education. Sorry man, but the world is a changing place and if you don't change with it, you will die. But then again... :) Go visit http://www.night.net :) Those jokers are still running WindowsNT for most all of their servers... who knows why other than being unwilling to learn and change with the world... running some oreilly web server I can't recall. (Oh yeah, WebSite...) Servers rebooting several times a day. Simply remarkable the lengths and crap people will endure simply to avoid learning something new. Boggles my mind.

Well anyway... I know these people are out there and I admit you're probably right that MS can't seem to win on Slashdot, but I'd be willing to bet that people on Slashdot at one time did sing the praises of Microsoft as I once did. I hold that Microsoft EARNED Slashdot's disapproval and it would take a LOT to restore any good feeling we once had.

George Washington, America's first president, signed Thanksgiving Day into existence...he made it obviously a Christian day of thanking God..it originally was NOT the "yay settlers!" day it has become

i think the most relevant statement in his 1789 Thanksgiving Proclamation when he created Thanksgiving Day is:

"And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions"

there is literally NOTHING in his proclamation of thanksgiving about the Pilgrims, or any other settler group...TAKE THAT MY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHER!!

I am sure a lot of us on /. launched model rockets as kids. The big boy version is called high power rocketry, where certification is required and rockets weighing hundreds of pounds are launched sometimes over 25,000 feet.

For YEARS hybrid rocket motors have been used by high power rocketeers, and anybody certified can go buy a kit from Aerotech, Hypertek, RATT Works, or a few other companies.

I hate it when some scientist catches on to what people have been doing for years then does a little research and publishes their "original idea".

In Rocket boys, which is the (highly recommended) book October Sky was based on, the author describes ZnS (aka Micrograin) rockets. In the movie they just used off the shelf Aerotech motors.

Too bad really; ZnS rockets suck in many different ways, but they are highly photogenic!

/August

A couple of years ago I ran across this song by Dar Williams called "Christians and Pagans". It's hilarious (+1) and insightful (+1), and it's been my favorite "Christmas" song ever since (except, perhaps, for John McCutcheon's "Christmas in the Trenches").

So back in 1998 my brother and I started to throw "solstice" parties. We looked into various holiday and solstice traditions around the world. No real attempts at sorcery, bachannals, or blood, which I suppose some might expect. We wassail an apple tree, we make radish and butter carvings, we light and extinguish and light candles and talk about what we've done the last year and what we hope to do again. We have the "Urn of Fate" assign friends for the year. We sing "here comes the sun" and "christians and pagans". I'm sure any serious pagan would laugh at us, but it's our little chance to do things a little bit differently, remember there's other cultures and traditions in the world, and perhaps find magic/life/spirit in an unexpected place or two.

I'm still a reasonably solid Christian. OK, I occasionally go for bouts of rational agnosticism, but for the most part, I've found that Christianity as a spiritual practice seems to have something to it. So still I'm a little uncomfortable singing that line from Dar's song "sending hope for peace on earth to all their Gods and Goddesses". But I like this new tradition of looking at other traditions and fashioning new ones from it, and we're going to keep it up, as well as gathering on Christmas day and reading Luke 2 (stopping before we have to explain circumcision to the kids :). Plus, what's not to celebrate about the days getting longer.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot, And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot; A bundle of toys he had flung on his back, And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.

His eyes -- how they twinkled! his dimples how merry! His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry! His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow, And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth, And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath; He had a broad face and a little round belly, That shook, when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.

I think it is more the case of a corporation taking a popular mythological figure, who can't object, being mythological, and having him hawk their cheesy wares.

Sort of like what some companies have been doing with God lately...

You've obviously been away from 'hobby' engines for awhile. Both Aerotech and Hypertech make hybrid rocket engines and many kit manufacturers make kits designed specifically for them. Current designs are for large ('I' and up) engines, but some people are working on smaller hybrids.

They're all cool and aren't regulated by the BATF like large solid engines.

some links:
Rocketry Online -- excellent rocketry site
Aerotech -- Motor (solid & hybrid) manuf.
R.A.T.T. Works -- Smaller Hybrids
Public Missiles -- Kit manuf.
NAR -- National Association of Rocketry