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He used Dragon Dictate and Talking Point on his last few novels, as his Alzheimer's had embuggered his typing skills. Not necessarily something you'd use on a older machine.

THE LATE SIR TERRY PRATCHETT TALKS TALKINGPOINT

That's not easy. Keurig got all the parameters right, starting with the story they tell you about how your life will be different with their product. You get up in the morning in a caffeine-withdrawal fog, you pop the pod into the machine and your coffee comes out. Then you toss the pod in the trash. What they are selling is the will-o-the-wisp of convenience, and they've managed to sell it at a staggering markup. The truth is that it's just as easy to make that cup of coffee with an Aeropress, especially if you have an electric tea kettle, and it's a hell of a lot cheaper.

You can easily use ground coffee and make it Neapolitan-style or moka-style.
If you prefer the espresso, there are also al lot of electric coffee makers that use either ground coffee or ESE pods, like these or automatic grinding ones, like these.
If you look at coffee advertising either you have the advents for ground coffees or for proprietary pods and machines. Some coffee makers that also sell ESE pods are advertising proprietary pods.
I have an ESE and ground coffee machine and a moka and I absolutely like that I could chage type and brad of coffee without any problem

That's not easy. Keurig got all the parameters right, starting with the story they tell you about how your life will be different with their product. You get up in the morning in a caffeine-withdrawal fog, you pop the pod into the machine and your coffee comes out. Then you toss the pod in the trash. What they are selling is the will-o-the-wisp of convenience, and they've managed to sell it at a staggering markup. The truth is that it's just as easy to make that cup of coffee with an Aeropress, especially if you have an electric tea kettle, and it's a hell of a lot cheaper.

You can easily use ground coffee and make it Neapolitan-style or moka-style.
If you prefer the espresso, there are also al lot of electric coffee makers that use either ground coffee or ESE pods, like these or automatic grinding ones, like these.
If you look at coffee advertising either you have the advents for ground coffees or for proprietary pods and machines. Some coffee makers that also sell ESE pods are advertising proprietary pods.
I have an ESE and ground coffee machine and a moka and I absolutely like that I could chage type and brad of coffee without any problem

No, vignetting is fairly major with Hyperstar and f/2.1. Hyperstar and Fastar are really the same thing, Celestron sold the technology to Starizona. However the later incarnations of Hyperstar (I have the latest version 3), add things like easy to use rotator and collimation bolts

However, taking flat field images cancels it out very nicely. You would want to do this to deal with blemishes since the corrector is a dust-magnet anyhow. I haven't found an easy way to use a flat field box, but doing twilight flats is pretty easy. I have been thinking of using a box that fits all the way over the hyperstar+camera attachment. Early on I have had success without flats, and with the Sony sensor I don't ever bother with dark frames. Even with a 10 minute dark exposure, usually not a single pixel is illuminated.

I also bought specifically designed f/2 Baader narrowband filters, since I hear that regular narrowband filters do poorly on hyperstar. So far the results on Ha have been fantastic. It did end up being such a pile of money that I wonder if I was better off with a different setup. Not being able to use a filter wheel is a serious pain in the rear. At least hyperstar lets you use the much cheaper 1.25" filters.

Early on I did not know how to take or process flats, and had good results anyhow. Pixinsight has some very good tools for dealing with background gradients, either vignetting or light pollution. But the flats do a better job easier on vignetting.

If I was not going to ever use the scope for visual, I probably would have saved myself a hundred or two dollars and gotten a regular C8. However the thing is a dream for visual as well. I think C8 scopes are the best bang for your buck on aperture for a mixed imaging/visual scope. Eventually I plan on getting the .7x reducer, and if I ever get a really nice mount, maybe image at f/10. Having looked through both Edge and regular C8s before purchasing, I think the Edge falttener makes a big difference for visual. Especially if you like those fancy 82 degree fov eyepeices. Eventually I will be getting a 2" diagonal. (sadly it only ships with a 1.25", which wastes some of the scope's potential.)

Though if you really want a Hyperstar-only scope, there is the Rowe-Ackermann. It was out of my budget anyhow, since it requires a beefier mount. Its about the same price as the Edge11, but you don't have to buy the $800 or so Hyperstar lens.

The only complaint I would have is that dew control is a serious pain in the rear if you live someplace cold. But that is the case for every SCT. At least a C8 is small enough that the dew heaters are pretty effective.

I actually just got home from a trip to a dark site and have a pile of data from hyperstar to process. Was my first time with a focus motor, which makes a pretty big difference, since as you know the focus with fastar/hyperstar is really really touchy.

Brazil's Main Agricultural Products and Exports:

        Sugar: the world's largest producer and exporter.
        Coffee: the world's largest producer and exporter. It controls about 30 percent of the international market in the bean.
        Orange Juice: the world's largest producer and exporter. It accounts for roughly one in every two glasses of orange juice consumed in the world today.
        Beef: Brazil has the world's largest commercial cattle herd of around 200 million head, and is the largest exporter of beef.
        Poultry: With a fast expanding grain belt, Brazil has leveraged its corn and soy production to become the world's largest exporter of poultry meat. Feed accounts for about 70 percent of poultry production costs.
        Soybeans: the world's No. 2 soybean producer and exporter, and one day will likely overtake the United States as the leading producer of the oilseed.
        Corn: No.3 world exporter of corn. Until recently it has been only a marginal corn exporter, keeping 95 percent of the 55 million tonnes-plus of corn produced at home to feed its booming pork and poultry industries. But in the past several years, Brazil has exported around 7 to 11 million tonnes a year.
        Cocoa: Brazil ranks sixth among the world's cocoa growers.
        Timber: With abundant rain, sun and land inside the tropics, Brazil is the world's lowest cost producer of pulp from timber.
        Cotton: ranks no.4 in world exporters of cotton fibre. Brazil produces close to 2 million tonnes of high grade long fibre cotton lint.

- See more at: http://www.4property.uk.com/br...

Brazil's Main Agricultural Products and Exports:

        Sugar: the world's largest producer and exporter.
        Coffee: the world's largest producer and exporter. It controls about 30 percent of the international market in the bean.
        Orange Juice: the world's largest producer and exporter. It accounts for roughly one in every two glasses of orange juice consumed in the world today.
        Beef: Brazil has the world's largest commercial cattle herd of around 200 million head, and is the largest exporter of beef.
        Poultry: With a fast expanding grain belt, Brazil has leveraged its corn and soy production to become the world's largest exporter of poultry meat. Feed accounts for about 70 percent of poultry production costs.
        Soybeans: the world's No. 2 soybean producer and exporter, and one day will likely overtake the United States as the leading producer of the oilseed.
        Corn: No.3 world exporter of corn. Until recently it has been only a marginal corn exporter, keeping 95 percent of the 55 million tonnes-plus of corn produced at home to feed its booming pork and poultry industries. But in the past several years, Brazil has exported around 7 to 11 million tonnes a year.
        Cocoa: Brazil ranks sixth among the world's cocoa growers.
        Timber: With abundant rain, sun and land inside the tropics, Brazil is the world's lowest cost producer of pulp from timber.
        Cotton: ranks no.4 in world exporters of cotton fibre. Brazil produces close to 2 million tonnes of high grade long fibre cotton lint.

- See more at: http://www.4property.uk.com/br...

A fellow of huge significance in our lifetimes, so many of us will admit to having been influenced by his enthusiasm for astronomy and quite frankly his bravery in being himself in a world increasingly obsessed with vain self promotion. This is not to say that he was not dedicated to helping others because he is well known for tirelessly working to help any individual who asked him for help. It takes moments of searching the web to discover that he talked and wrote to countless individuals throughout his life with advice and encouragement about their interest in astronomy.

In some ways he predates the internet in his understanding that direct communication has tremendous value, in typewritten letters and time for people he met. Today we have this great digital channel where we hunger for connection through twitter, forums, email, Facebook and he did all of this with the tools of his era - connect. So top appreciation for being one of the first people in the world to join up the thrill and excitement of those in a fascinating profession with us the amateurs and the interested in space and astronomy. He was doing citizen science before the concept really existed.

And like most interesting people in the world apart from his profession he had other passions in life Cricket and particularly music, you only have to see something on YouTube showing him playing the Xylophone to understand that. Oh and that's the other thing, he obviously had a seriously funny sense of humor.

Do appreciate the twinkle in his eye at the closing words of this recent interview (skip down to number 10)
http://www.philipwilliams.uk.com/characters-on-the-coastline.html

We will be watching that candle and having a chuckle.

Thank you Patrick for passing on the light.

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I understand, I wasn't trying to get you to spend a lot of money, just wondering how we could tell whether there was a smear or nor. More of a mental exercise than anything else.

In my highschool, we had some small "spectrometers" (basically just a black plastic box with a slit, a grating and a peep-hole), they can't be that expensive. Ah, yes, these*. They have teh spectrum of a fluorescent light, there is a smear, but it seems to be smaller than for the high pressure mercury light. And it doesn't seem to be mercury-based. Hmmm, wierd. Oh, well, I am going to see if I can buy one. I wouldn't have gotten that thought if not for this dialogue, thank you :-)

uk.com? Really, slashdot? That is what you think the domain is? Wow.

Outlawing something pushes it underground. It does not make any perceived problem disappear, in fact it creates more. Some places have actually allowed controlled use of what would otherwise be completely illegal substances such as cocaine and hash because otherwise there would be so many problems the domestic security services would be overwhelmed.

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Dump the middleman who is profiting from the hard work of the musicians and producers and just buy the music directly from the artist.

For example: Purchase Radiohead In Rainbows for 7.5 pounds or $12 US.

Seems fair to me.

"PLR is the right to get cash every time someone borrows a book from a public library

You need to work on your reading comprehension. That statement in no way states or implies what you claim, to wit: "Libraries already pay a fee to the author each time a book is loaned out." PLR is an organization funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and in 2008-09 received £7.4 million pounds in grant-in-aid, of which £6.6 million was distributed to authors. Funding for 2009-10 has been set at £7.5 million.

It exists solely in the UK, every Author does not receive money even for books borrowed in the UK (they have to sign up.) The portion received by those who do is in no way comparable to compensation for "piracy losses" experienced when someone "pirates" a book by borrowing it from the library. Again, the library doesn't pay a penny.

Furthermore, it is not necessary to take a book out of the library to read it.

bbc board is for links of london[bbc.spot]....

SIEMENS GIGASET S680 BLUETOOTH DECT PHONE http://www.cordless-phones.uk.com/cordless-phones/digital-cordless-phones/siemens-gigaset-s680-phone easy to program, easy to use. I have worked with Siemens dect systems when I worked with Siemens HiPath 4000. Most new dect phones got sync to PC that I have used.

You can still do it if you want, it's just aesthetically arguable to have a huge box (as opposed to this or this), protruding of the wall with plugs all around, so I'm not sure that's the point.

It's huge size is certainly not an asset. Just browse other comments for examples, especially how it becomes an unwanted volume for laptop power bricks.

The only pro might be the extra security. I won't argue that, but I can argue if all that security really pays for the inconveniences or if it's just redundant.

it's unclear that there website was commercial - given the "free", I'm guessing not.

Not necessarily correct.

(Also "their", sorry, couldn't help myself.)

Try searching for "free [term]" and you'll find dozens of sites with the word "free" in their domain, with the word "free" plastered all over their page and with absolutely nothing being provided for free except the ability to look at the price list.

Let's get a quick example, googling "free ringtone" shows these guys on result page #1:

http://www.free-ringtones.uk.com/

The word "free" appears no less than 20 times on the front page of the site and the domain name itself is fairly unequivocal. Looks like lots of content and all free. Click any item of content and you'll get a signup page which wants your credit card and $10 a month.

You'll find similar sites for "free [term]" where [term] is just about any popular online consumer item.

It's obviously tempting just to think "but who the hell would PAY for lego porn anyway?!?". Though, again, another similar google search "porn [term]" for almost any random word you can imagine might make you think otherwise! ;-)

I do really pretty favicons :)

Like this one
or this one
then there is this one
and this one
now this one was a gift in exchange for a link

If you need a favicon contact me.

They already exist and have for quite some time, especially out here in California the epicenter for computer development and waste.

Mainly churches have been the center piece for this volunteer business and salvation army.

Some woman in downtown Los Angeles does this on her free time accepting these old computers, they strip them and see what parts still work. They rebuild another computed and sell them for very cheap to people who are poor. It allows a lot of Mexican children to finally have a computer to accomplish basic work.

This has been going on for a long time, I am surprised it has gotten no coverage on Slashdot compared to all the time wasted on the dead end project of OLPC.

I remember the local news station had pictures of some poor Mexican lady coming down with only $15 in her hand, she walked out with a working desktop computer, screen and printer all working. They had gone from nothing to something, later they showed the computer in some little girls room as she was using it with a smile.

http://www.usedcomputer.com/nonprof.html
www.agreenspan.org
http://www.globalcrisis.info/computerrecycle.html
http://www.microsoft.com/Education/TenTips.mspx
http://www.recycle-it.uk.com/donating.htm

Rent space on a webserver. You can get a month for around £15, with ample bandwidth and transfer capacity. Most of them don't have restrictive contracts, so after a month, let it die. Or are you expecting somebody else to re-encode your content as well as host it ?
But then of course *you'll* be liable for copyright infringement if you upload whole TV programs. Easier, cheaper and more discrete to use dvds to share your videos.

* I have no affiliation with the linked site, it came up in a search.

No, only that there may be more than two states in this affair.

It's like Schroedinger's Box: If you don't look at the lies, they don't happen. Or they do. We won't know.

Maybe we should put the RIAA in a box and launch it at the sun.

Maybe I should cut down on the Tech Support Coffee of Choice.

that if you go to their web page and look on the left hand side it says URGENT NOTICE blah blah blah XP SP3 then "click here" if you are over "click" it takes you to one of their products (not the affected one btw) page if you are over "here" it takes you to the firmware. kinda funny really.. I would like my vote to the numerous others that suggest this should not have been subbed as a XP SP3 problem but a cock up on Billion's part.

I don't know your location, but in the UK employment contracts automatically have what's called an implied term of a mutual duty of mutual trust and confidence. Your employers would probably be in breach of that term by removing your access.

In the software lab I work in, we have this image as a poster.

This guy agrees, claiming that the light-sensitive patch genes are pretty conserved.

However, this crowd seems to think that although opsins are remarkably well-conserved across different phyla, the controlling genes that the abovementioned people were obsessed by control many other gene families, besides eye development, so it's still possible that there are different complete eye evolution families.

They talk a bit about fish and squid eyes: I didn't know that squids and octopi have inverted (compared to mammals) retinal structures. They must be *very* good at low-light conditions.

The whole purpose of uk.com is to mislead gullible people into thinking they are buying a real domain.

You do realise that the large UK chain GAME chain used a uk.com address and had it printed on their bags at one stage?

The game.uk.com address redirects now; but the point is, they used it as their primary address not so long ago....

Though I agree with you.... uk.com always struck me as ropey 'unofficial' alternative to .co.uk.

http://www.avon.uk.com/ Avon does and GAME http://www.game.uk.com/ does (or used to, they have game.net now)

http://www.avon.uk.com/ Avon does and GAME http://www.game.uk.com/ does (or used to, they have game.net now)

Seems to be businesses who want a dot com but the name is already in use.
The Agricultural Engineers Association use a UK.COM domain, aea.com (no web page) and aea.co.uk are in use.
At least it's better than a .biz or even a .info

It is okay. People have been doing it for years, pointing www.example.com, ftp.example.com, mail.example.com, etc to the same IP.

Don't be fooled by the fact that this is uk.com. People aren't complaining because they think uk.com has some special legitimacy. People are complaining because 1) they're advertising themselves as a NIC, and 2) they're not so insignificant that Verisign couldn't use them as supporting evidence (for instance, see bcf.uk.com, sandbag.uk.com, cphp.uk.com. uk.com is clearly a general-purpose NIC).

It is okay. People have been doing it for years, pointing www.example.com, ftp.example.com, mail.example.com, etc to the same IP.

Don't be fooled by the fact that this is uk.com. People aren't complaining because they think uk.com has some special legitimacy. People are complaining because 1) they're advertising themselves as a NIC, and 2) they're not so insignificant that Verisign couldn't use them as supporting evidence (for instance, see bcf.uk.com, sandbag.uk.com, cphp.uk.com. uk.com is clearly a general-purpose NIC).

It is okay. People have been doing it for years, pointing www.example.com, ftp.example.com, mail.example.com, etc to the same IP.

Don't be fooled by the fact that this is uk.com. People aren't complaining because they think uk.com has some special legitimacy. People are complaining because 1) they're advertising themselves as a NIC, and 2) they're not so insignificant that Verisign couldn't use them as supporting evidence (for instance, see bcf.uk.com, sandbag.uk.com, cphp.uk.com. uk.com is clearly a general-purpose NIC).

Not directly, but indirectly.

Browsers are now "smart," and (can be configured to) append .com on all domains names that aren't found. If a person goes to http://notfound.co.uk/ and it is not a registered domain, the browser will then try http://notfound.co.uk.com/ which will resolve through the wildcard.

http://www.game.uk.com/ ? (Admittedly they have now moved to game.net. I'm pretty sure Electronics Boutique also had a uk.com before their UK licencee gave up the name and merged it into GAME.)

I cannot agree with you more.
"The act of investigating information online by following links more or less at random. Many users of the Web find themselves spending time simply following one interesting link after another, never knowing quite where they will end up. It can be a useful research technique, and is usually quite entertaining, as well." definition from http://www.webtec.uk.com/Glossary/body_glossary.ht ml
Nine out of ten times, the link I searched for was in the first 3 or 4 result-pages, I never cared about the remaining thousand results. The only results that count are the ones that display what I need. I look for quality in a search engine, quantity comes second, speed third. Yahoo may search twice as many pages, the result-quality never convinced me to switch from Google. My 2 -cents

Yes!
Let the UN general assembly do it!
No, wait, maybe it should be the ITU!
No, wait, maybe it should be the ISO!
Hmm... maybe the International electrotechnical commission?

Oh, wait... the US doesn't like standards-setting bodies. OR international organizations, for that matter.

It's better to have a hodgepodge of cell phone technologies that don't talk to each other, a silly measurement system based on bodyparts and british wheat, a TV broadcast system that never twice gives you the same color, never mind a digital TV standard that the rest of the world won't use.

I'm sure Bolton will take care of it once he's in the UN as our ambassador. Yeah, that's the ticket...

Market Share

big keys

This sounds like just the shot in the arm the ancient art of gurning has been crying out for.

http://www.cumbria.uk.com/cumbria/fun/gurn.htm

You forgot "Left-side" -vs- "Right-side" for automobiles.

Erm, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, The Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and several other countries drive on the right. Great Britain (with the unusual exception of Savoy Court) and The Republic of Ireland drive on the left.

Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark? ;)

Download

Gee. Things screwd up there:

povray export script

yafray

to add to the parent, companies like Intermedia will convert/image your disks for you.

I use one of these . The intellect AirKey is a small form-factor keyboard with built-in mouse that functions over infra-red. Infra-red really is a fine compromise, because I need to be in IR range to use the TV remote anyway!

The mouse-pad thingy is quite neat, it's small and can be driven from your sofa. It's a bit tricky to get used to at first, but it's really worth it once you get used to it.

My only advice is don't install the system with it, use a proper keyboard and mouse. This thing is fine as a PC remote control, but you probably don't want to set one up with it!

If the above still hasn't sold you, it's a very cheap option and most importantly it's black!

I guess I must be getting old, I was thinking of these guys