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Canadians can expect to have this convergance within 3 months, here's the
press release and heres an overview

The technology was provided by Siemens with its SURPASS line of switches, and is really amazing. You'll be able to provision multiple lines, virutual PBX's and high bandwidths with their business offerings as well.

You've never been hit by a car, or even a go kart, have you?

Actually, yes, I have. Read my experience here. Have you?

It seems like you are comparing a bipedal creature with a four-legged creature or a machine with a huge height advantage. Although I agree with you that the current state of technology might not be adeqaute for a bipedal to defeat a wedge, I can guarantee that if you drive a wedge (of the same weeight class) after a human in a random environment, I can guarantee that the human will be able to defeat it. All the wedge can do is run after the human with a sawblade, the human can climb, push objects, and basically use his environment to his advantage. Taking advantage of a smaller turning radius, a human can out-flank a vehicle and win (though he might not have all his limbs after the battle).

Ages ago, I was surprised to learn that the definition of "economics" wasn't "the study of money" but rather the study of how people network their wants and needs. The definition I've come up with online is "the branch of social science that deals with the production and distribution and consumption of goods and services and their management". It always kept me wondering how an economy could exist without the use of money.

The thing about money is that, beyond the psychological impressions of it, it is simply a form of networking technology. I've always wondered if it could be replaced by another form of networking. With the advent of the Internet, it looks like another has possibly come about. The successes of "critical mass" phenomena such as Open Source, P2P, and Wikis shows that it is possible to do some things this way.

A system called LETS has been around for a while that maintains a form of local economy without using money. The Internet could allow such a system to be implemented on a much larger scale. I recall seeing something about it a while back on television that said the point of the system was to make people focus less on the currency and see that they could actually maintain a local economy without one.

I think there is an innate misconception in how an amount of money is percieved. The first impression of it is that it is a fixed measurement of something almost tangible, like mass, when in fact it is a percentage of the currency as a whole. It's a piece of a pie, and the pie doesn't get bigger- if you get a bigger piece, it means someone else has to get a smaller piece. It doesn't mean more pie for everyone. And it is actually a decentralised form of record-keeping. When you look at it that way, currency could simply be compared to something like the dewey decimal system, and can be replaced by other forms. The dependence on it also causes limitations. Take the example of an economy that requires a workforce smaller than the population. Should people that can't be part of the workforce simply be eliminated because they don't have an income? There is also an example of the illusion of money in The Money Myth Exploded by Louis Even.

I think that it is erroneous to compare not using currency with communism. The use of currency and democracy are independent of one another. You can still have democracy without currency. In fact, it would probably be a more ideal democracy because there wouldn't be the whole controversy of financial lobbying, soft money, biases from campaign contributions, rent-a-crowds, and vote buying.

So while we may spend twice as much on private health care, we don't pay nearly as much taxes, so it more or less evens out. It's also more efficient.

Muahahahahahaha! You're kidding, right? Okay, first, read this, then read this. Oh, and maybe read this. Then, tell me again how the US system is somehow more efficient. Hell, compared to Canada, the US spends 3 times as much, per capita, on health care. And almost a quarter of that is on administrative costs alone! And, continuing the comparison with Canada, if you look at this, you'll see that, on average, an American citizen bears a greater tax burden than a Canadian.

So, tell me again, how is the US system better?

Yes, Canada was in fact the third country in space after the Russians and Americans. We were also the first country to have commercial geostationary satelities in space.

Here's a site with a brief timeline and notes aboot Canada in space

Apparently it's Matter-Eater Lad.

I'm most happy with my Fujitsu Lifebook P-2120 (runs Linux nicely). With the extended main battery and the drive bay battery, I get up to nine hours.

Of course, the cpu is a bit outdated. And I only do work on it, if I were to watch DVDs or stuff I'd probably hook it up to A/C power anyway. But I like the small size, the light weight, and the fact that pretty much everything is in it.

But I hated the fact that I had to order it from the US (I live in Germany) and it took me forever to find a retailer who would send it, just because Fujitsu refuses to send them to Europe, and Fujitsu-Siemens in Germany doesn't even offer them.

If you want something ultra-portable with everything in it that you want to use mostly for working, it's quite lovely. Unfortunately, it looks like it's not being sold anymore.

I know this doesn't quite answer your request, but it might still be a good idea to check Portable One (they used to be called Global Computers when I ordered from them).

Don't know about the new Fujitsu P series anymore. And, I have to say, I still hold a grudge against laptop manufacturers and computer magazines, because practically all of them advertize performance, never battery life. Most laptop tests I see do performance benchmarks, and stuff like Quake III benchmarks and all that bullshit. WTF? No one really seems to want to make an effort in constructing a laptop with long battery life. Quite frustrating, that. I don't wanna play games for half an hour. I wanna use the thing for work, preferably nine or more hours before having to recharge.

Err..... if the bad guy can't read my preferences and find out wht my theme is, how come the proof of concept appeared in MY THEME?

what, did this guy just happen to use Charamel for his PoC?

or hang on, was this not your point?

the page looked like it would /. so i made a mirror complete with the gallery. the server seems to be holding up thou.

here it is anyway:

THE U70

http://www.members.shaw.ca/fog_dogg_69/fillmybox.w mv

Here's the segment from g4techtv captured by me: http://www.members.shaw.ca/fog_dogg_69/fillmybox.w mv

The crew of the ISS basically spends almost all their time doing the work they need to do in order to stay alive. In terms of science, the ISS is a complete waste.

That being said; It's more correct to say that the *current* ISS crew spends all of their time doing said work. Adding 2 scientists on top of the 2 engineers already there would not double the work, in fact they add little to the total work. In fact, that's how the ISS is (was) supposed to be eventually crewed, just like a research vessel. (That is to say a science crew who does nothing but science, and support crew who does the day-to-day grunt work.)

Shrug. When I used to work IT for a big cable monopoly, we often had surplus computers, projectors, and miscellaneous equipment that the company would sell to us at cost, just so it wouldn't take up space. I had a co-worker constantly taking advantage of the employee buy program and ebaying stuff as new in box. He figured it was a win-win situation-- the company got rid of stuff it didn't need, my friend made some spare cash, and buyers got equipment cheaper than retail.

I'm sure a fair amount of ebay bargains were obtained through extra-retail means, but that doesn't mean they're all stolen.

Sites like (safe proof-of-concept)this can exploit and bother IE users, but FireFox protects me!

I'm with Shaw in Manitoba. I also bundle everything together with digital cable, but even without that the price for the 5Mb/s connection would be in the $45-55 range (in CANADIAN DOLLARS too, so much cheaper than american prices).

Charamel

I have nothing do do with this, btw, aside from the fact I love this theme.

More:

Study Finds Home Schooled Children Better at Social Skills
Children Educated at Home Don't Become Social Misfits
Developmental Phases of Social Development
A Game of Socialization
Homeschooling and the Myth of Socialization
Marvin Minsky Comment on Schooling
THE MYTH OF SOCIALIZATION AND THE VALUE OF PLAY
Questioning Socialization
Sociability of Students in a Home-based Charter School
Social Development or Socialization?
Social Skills and Homeschooling: Myths and Facts
SOCIALIZATION ISSUES
That Dreaded "S" Word

In my opinion, the greatest, cutest Firefox/Thunderbird theme is Charamel. It'd be great if they would make a Sunbird theme as well.

How did i predict this would be nessesary?

http://members.shaw.ca/infonic/icece/

>Oh and those who suggest landfills, you are of course the volunteer to have it in your backyard right? Thought not.

Did you know? The average person in Nunavut owns 100 square km of land? And that would be enough for everyone in the US for the next 100 years? And that nobody in their right mind would ever take a vacation up there except maybe to visit family, or if they're crazy enough to try to boat in frozen rivers?

Basically, if the entire world could scrape together enough money to buy, oh, say, the land of 100 people in Nunavut, we could be trash-problem-free for at least a few centuries worldwide.

But hey, let's pretend we want to put the landfill in the centre of Hollywood without paying people for the inconvenience. That makes way better press than giving 20 inuit $1,000,000 each.

>Funny thing is that the glass industry itself doesn't seem to think so.

Awesome. So, why aren't all my glasses made from recycled glass?

>Just that the only problem is that the margins are extremely narrow so it is hard to make the business of collecting a real profit maker.

Ahhh, thought so. It's not economically viable, then. Usually most business people (such as myself) associate that with "too costly", perhaps that's where the confusion is. I suppose there's just not enough people wanting to work for pennies an hour shovelling broken glass to make it a popular business.

Charamel is pretty nice. It's a dual theme for both Firefox and Thunderbird. I've been using it for the last couple of days, and it supports the new extensions for Firefox 0.9 and Thunderbird 0.7. It's definately worth checking out!

Thanks to my /. subscription, i was able to secure some images! orac3 images

I have a CD of space recordings dated back to 1992. Granted it's out of print these days, but, there is still some info to be found on them.

From the liner notes:
These recordings are the most unique approach to deep level relaxation... hmmm.. let me type the better ones...

These recordings come from a variety of different sound environments:
1)From the intersection of the solar-wind with the planet's magneto-sphere (...)
2. From the magneto-sphere itself.
3. From the trapped radio waves bouncing between the planet and the inner surface of it's atmosphere.
4. Electromagnetic field noise within space itself.
5. From charged particle interactions of the planet, its moons, and the solar wind.
6. From charged particle emissions from the rings of certain planets.

OK, I guess that gets the point across. This stuff dated back a number of years.

FYI, for anyone that knows most of Brian Eno's recodings, this won't sound any different...

www.think.iq
www.mensa.iq
www.cantmatchmy.iq
ww w.200.iq (I want this one!!)
www.is-that-your-age-or-your.iq
www.drugs -poison-your.iq
Good business domain - www.test.your.iq

And, of course, even though I'm a Republican and tired of the Bush jokes:
www.bush.iq

[NB: Based on his SAT scores (640,640) GW Bush's IQ is about 132, while JFK's was probably about 119. Hope I'm not starting a troll war...]

Seriously, this will be an opportunity for the new TLD registry to be self-sustaining and even profitable very quickly. I hope they are given the new authority, and I hope that smart folks everywhere support it by registering their fave. It's a small but important symbol of the nation becoming part of the world community.

Source for IQ info: How to estimate your IQ based on your GRE or SAT scores, one of the pages on the IQ Comparison Site. Bush SAT Info from The Straight Dope.

Note to anyone who congratulates themselves on getting a better score than Bush: If you took the SAT since 1995, better take another look. In 1995 they adjusted the scoring of the SAT because your entire generation was scoring so much lower than all us old fogies!! Hah!!

www.think.iq
www.mensa.iq
www.cantmatchmy.iq
ww w.200.iq (I want this one!!)
www.is-that-your-age-or-your.iq
www.drugs -poison-your.iq
Good business domain - www.test.your.iq

And, of course, even though I'm a Republican and tired of the Bush jokes:
www.bush.iq

[NB: Based on his SAT scores (640,640) GW Bush's IQ is about 132, while JFK's was probably about 119. Hope I'm not starting a troll war...]

Seriously, this will be an opportunity for the new TLD registry to be self-sustaining and even profitable very quickly. I hope they are given the new authority, and I hope that smart folks everywhere support it by registering their fave. It's a small but important symbol of the nation becoming part of the world community.

Source for IQ info: How to estimate your IQ based on your GRE or SAT scores, one of the pages on the IQ Comparison Site. Bush SAT Info from The Straight Dope.

Note to anyone who congratulates themselves on getting a better score than Bush: If you took the SAT since 1995, better take another look. In 1995 they adjusted the scoring of the SAT because your entire generation was scoring so much lower than all us old fogies!! Hah!!

Konqueror IS half-assed. It doesn't even have type-ahead find.

Konqueror got "find as you type" ("type-ahead find" is the old name for this feature) last month. And what do you mean "it doesn't even have type-ahead find"? It's not a common feature, the majority of end-users don't even know it exists, and it's not exactly a revolutionary step forward for the web. You are talking about it as if it's something as basic as bookmarks.

And I don't even want to get started on its crummy rendering.

Its rendering engine is far better than Internet Explorer's, which is by far the most common browser, so simply writing Konqueror off as "crummy" without giving any specific reasons sounds like an ill-informed rant.

What a lot of people don't realize is that it is also better than a lot of the more expensive projectors out there also. It has great contrast and the colors look superb. What this long throw projector lacks in some people's eyes is its resolution: 800x600 . But guess what, unless you're watching HD signals (720p/1080i/p) , you won't notice a thing. Sure you might not get a great picture when you hook your PC up to it, but the reader asked for a home theater projector and the last I checked there were just a few HD DVD players, and even fewer movies that supported HD quality resolutions.

Also, it will take the higher resolution signals (which only work through its vga port - grab the component break out cable from the Infocus website) and scale them the approriate resolution. The projector has a built in Faroudja deinterlacer (see http://www.dcdi-video.com/technology/articles/sage -dcdi-overview.html for more explanation) also, which happens to be one of the best DCDi chips out there.

The best place to get started with an X1 is to check out the very, very informative X1 FAQ by technet at http://members.shaw.ca/technut/x1faq/

Based on research, I was able to build my own home theater using the X1 for cheaper than the big screen rear projector TV I bought and returned because of a crummy picture and scratch on the screen. For around 2k I built the home theater which included: the X1, the sound system (onkyo) , the dvd player, the paint for the walls, and the material to build the screen. Send me a private message for pics.

Two words: stack reset. IE is just integrated enough into the OS to get utterly fucked when the TCP/IP configuration of Windows is the slightest bit off. For any version of Windows prior to XP, remove TCP/IP and reinstall it. For XP, open a command prompt and type "netsh int ip reset resetlog.txt", and then merge Winsock and Winsock2 keys from a working registry. There are utilities which will do it for you.

Stupid feature. That followed by 4 minutes watching the progress bar, praying that the 97% video encoding that had taken hours already would finish first. Of course it didn't.

See this, and this.

Canada's new Personal Information Protectiona and Electronics Document Act is starting to be tested with the issue of wheather or not companies can release private information to third parties. For an ISP like Shaw to release customer names to the CRIA would require consent (not likely) or the occurance of an illegal act.

1. Shaw (The cable company)
2. Rogers (Another cable company)
3. MTS (The phone company)
4. Skycable (Wireless RF)
5. Bell Expressview (Satellite)
6. Star Choice (Satellite)
7. Probably a bunch more I'm forgetting

It is odd to read people think this will reduce the number of casualties, especially "collateral damage".

This is not unlike some of the security discussions we've had here. Force people to have 4 passwords, and they'll write them on sticky-notes besides their screen, reducing security. Passwords are _supposed_ to make systems safer, but abuse them and they are counter-productive.

Drone technologies will completely change the strategy of conflict. One month before 9/11, a colleague and I predicted rc planes would be used against the White House. Ok, so we were off. But think about it: if the Israelis can use this, why couldn't the "terrorist" Palestinians? Imagine for a second what an rc plane/helicopter could do with non-conventional means...

Assymetrical warfare is used because one side has no chance at symmetrical -conventional- warfare. As this reinforces "full-spectrum dominance", it only increases the risk of terrorist attack.

I hope such drones are only used for reconnaissance, and not to carry out direct assassinations, causing another escalation.

In the long-term, we will need to make our conflict resolution systems more robust, so they don't degenerate so fast and with such bloody consequences. Another interesting thing to note is as war becomes more capital intensive, we can expect the rise of Conscientious Objection to Military Taxation

Wow! 25 gigs for only $40 a month? That's a great deal! Considering that most isps around here most certainly do have traffic limitations. And those of us slashdotters who work for companies that have large internet connections know full well what bandwidth is really worth. For instance on an OC3 (155Mbps) you're getting a wholesale rate of only $3 per gigabyte, plus the connection fee of $300 a month and a setup fee of around $3000 or more. Included bandwidth? None.

So $40 per month for 25 gigs? And extra gigs at only $10 each? You're practically ripping them off.

I've tried the Sidewinder cell phone charger once. After that, the battery emptied in less than half the time it originally took (a single day instead of more than two). The measly instructions accompanying the product did indeed warn against its actual use. Should have RTFM'd before I tried, huh?

Now that I think about it, Here are some other things that we have been using other than Spybot and Ad-Aware. so far I've haven't found a single app that does it all.

Go here and get the following tools.

HijackThis - Excellent tool that lists just about everywhere spyware gets into and allows you to delete them. This is not user friendly however, so you better know what you are doing before you do it.

CWShredder - Gets rid of CoolWebSearch. a Very nasty Spyware app that a pain to remove.

Also Here has these tools as well

WinsockFix - Fixes the winsock after spyware FUBAR's it.

TheKillBox - Gets rid of files that wont delete.

HostsFileReader - helps you get rid of all the crap adware likes to put in there. Can restore it to factory default.

With me it's the opposite: I use emacs for complex work, and vi for quick and dirty stuff

Gah, I did a little restructuring on my site.

New page is here.

My noiseless case was about $150, thankyouverymuch.

Here in Central Canada (Manitoba), Cable and DSL is $39.95-45.95 CDN. Which converted is around $30 or so US. However, if one wanted to sign up, it's approximately $29.99 CDN for the first 6-8 months. I know in the states, Comcast and other providers are offering broadband at $45.95 to 60.95 US for cable internet. Might be why we have a high ratio of broadband customers here in Canada versus in the states.

The two most popular broadband providers in my area are:
Shaw Cable
MTS DSL

They gave me a letter like that. Appearently 51 GB outbound and 6 GB inbound per month was "too much strain on the system".

Then they called my house to "figure it out". I told them it was a hacker got in my computer. They bought it. But long story short, don't run an FTP server on Shaw Cable networks (even if it is on a non standard port).

My solution is to have two of those totally standard digital alarm clocks with the bright red displays that burns a hole in your eyes when you look at it (and I have them on the other side of the room, so I have to get up and walk a short distance to turn them off; once I'm on my feet it doesn't take much more to wake me up completely).

As far as I can tell, they all use the exact same circuitboard inside, because every single unit I've seen is absolutely identical in operation, with the exception of the shape and layout of buttons.

Basically, the snooze button is large and in front of all the others, just smashing the thing with my fist generally hits the snooze button reliably. The other buttons (for setting the time and the alarm) are smaller and near the back, which is ok because you only ever use them when you're awake anyway. The switch for whether or not the alarm should go off the next day is a tiny switch on the back, so there's no danger of accidentally turning off the alarm completely when you just want the beeping to stop.

Although, I have had an idea for a better alarm clock if that kind of thing won't work: set up a cron job on your computer so that this mp3 plays when you need to wake up. Make sure your speakers are cranked up and very close to your head while you are sleeping :)

* Darren Wright has graciously offerred to help anyone who would like the location and instructions to get to their VIU. You can send him an email requesting this information at dawright@shaw.ca. As he finds the information, I will update this site with an archive of the instructions for each vehicle.

It may sound unlikely, it may even BE unlikely... but fundamentally the 2nd Amendment is all about making sure that the ultimate power lies in the hands of "the people" where it belongs.

And it works. So well that some people now believe that a conversion to a tyranny is so unlikely that they argue for the elimination of guns as an unnecessary hazard - completely oblivious to WHY it is unlikely.

But it will only remain unlikely as long as a large part of the population is armed. The US has had a number of near-misses with tyranny even in recent times. Some examples:

In the period just before WWII, when the NAZIs were coming to power in Germany, the KKK actually HELD power (especially in law enforcement) in many of the towns, counties, and states of the US. Their ideology was similar. But in the US people were able to resist with firearms. (My wife is here because, in separate incidents, her grandfather and mother held off the Klan in battle.) So while the NAZIs were able to suppress opposition and rise to power in Germany, the Klan in the US was held at bay, and finally defeated, in thousands of tiny battles.)

Nixon, president during the peak of the '60s anti-war movement (with a terrorist faction that makes Alkaida look tame), actually hired a think-tank to examine what would happen if he suspended the presidential election. Answer: That would precipitate the population to oust him by armed might and restore the election - and this would succeed, mainly because over half the population was armed and partly because some of the military would side with them.

The Battle of Athens is another county-level example.

(Of course not all near-misses were averted by an aroused, armed population, or the threat of one. For instance, there was the "Butler Plot" in 1933, when the heads of several of the US' largest corporations plotted a coup to replace Roosevelt with a fascist regime under general Butler. Butler was appalled, went to a congressional committee (the predecessor of HUAC) about it, and the plot was suppressed. Imagine if they'd found a more sympathetic general...)

And I could go on.

Go easy on her, it's on my ISPs web space. Wait a minute, I'm still upset about not have truely unlimited access so on second thought: bag on it! ;)

First off, if Shaw wants to impose limits, that's their choice. But if they do, they must provide a way for their customers to check their usage. Your father's case is a good example. If he had some way of checking his bandwidth usage, he might have noticed the problem earlier and kept everyone happy.

I'm with Shaw now and I was aware of the limits when I signed up (both through stories heard and by googling for "shaw internet review"). They actually mention these limits on their website, although sometimes it's a bit buried. First, they advertise the service as "unlimited time," and their Acceptable Use Policy states:

The guidelines for Bandwidth Usage/month for each business service package are the following: ... Residential services do not have specific guidelines of this nature as the Service is not intended for business applications. Shaw reserves the right to set specific limits for Bandwidth Usage and charge for excessive Bandwidth Usage for residential Services at any time.

Having said all this, they should be a lot more forward and specific about their limits. Also, Shaw support and sales people are under a lot of pressure to sell the internet service (Shaw's a really crappy company to work for), so they usually forget to mention these limits to people signing up.

I'd love to use DSL myself, but Telus insists that I must also sign up for a telephone account (sure, sure) and that won't happen any time soon.

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