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You can do all of these things in Jython, or your favorite JVM language.

Bashing the conservative Java syntax is ok, but it does in no way mean you have to leave the JVM.

You countries pathetic internet link is less than 1/4 of the potential speed of a single optical fiber and probably costs less than $100 - $500k.

In the future UK FTTC will be delivering bandwidth potential of your country to 10's of thousands of cabinets across the country.

If you're in the ISP business, maybe you are doing it wrong.

sources (see vid on youtube page)
http://www.youtube.com/my_speed#
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Fiber_to_the_x
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Fiber-optic_communication

You countries pathetic internet link is less than 1/4 of the potential speed of a single optical fiber and probably costs less than $100 - $500k.

In the future UK FTTC will be delivering bandwidth potential of your country to 10's of thousands of cabinets across the country.

If you're in the ISP business, maybe you are doing it wrong.

sources (see vid on youtube page)
http://www.youtube.com/my_speed#
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Fiber_to_the_x
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Fiber-optic_communication

I read Bruce Schneier's Secrets and Lies, and in one chapter, he describes different tiers of access controls, ranging from discretionary access control, as on Linux, Unix, and newer versions of Windows, to mandatory access control, based on the Bell-LaPadula model, which I can't imagine using for anything but narrowly defined tasks. In Schneier, and elsewhere I've read descriptions of the more restrictive access controls, I get the impression that there are decades of experience with implementing these systems, that sure, Linux or Windows are fine for kids playing games, but people doing anything important are using operating systems with security systems that make damned sure you're using your system only for its intended purpose.

And yet, as people pointed out above, the article points out that the IT staff was using malware removal advice from Kaspersky's public Website, which strongly implies that the infected systems are running some version of Windows and the malware is common.

So, if the US military isn't using strict access controls or other exceptionally strong security measures when the stakes are this high, if they're just using conventional operating systems that everyone uses, then who ever actually uses secure operating systems?

I read Bruce Schneier's Secrets and Lies, and in one chapter, he describes different tiers of access controls, ranging from discretionary access control, as on Linux, Unix, and newer versions of Windows, to mandatory access control, based on the Bell-LaPadula model, which I can't imagine using for anything but narrowly defined tasks. In Schneier, and elsewhere I've read descriptions of the more restrictive access controls, I get the impression that there are decades of experience with implementing these systems, that sure, Linux or Windows are fine for kids playing games, but people doing anything important are using operating systems with security systems that make damned sure you're using your system only for its intended purpose.

And yet, as people pointed out above, the article points out that the IT staff was using malware removal advice from Kaspersky's public Website, which strongly implies that the infected systems are running some version of Windows and the malware is common.

So, if the US military isn't using strict access controls or other exceptionally strong security measures when the stakes are this high, if they're just using conventional operating systems that everyone uses, then who ever actually uses secure operating systems?

I read Bruce Schneier's Secrets and Lies, and in one chapter, he describes different tiers of access controls, ranging from discretionary access control, as on Linux, Unix, and newer versions of Windows, to mandatory access control, based on the Bell-LaPadula model, which I can't imagine using for anything but narrowly defined tasks. In Schneier, and elsewhere I've read descriptions of the more restrictive access controls, I get the impression that there are decades of experience with implementing these systems, that sure, Linux or Windows are fine for kids playing games, but people doing anything important are using operating systems with security systems that make damned sure you're using your system only for its intended purpose.

And yet, as people pointed out above, the article points out that the IT staff was using malware removal advice from Kaspersky's public Website, which strongly implies that the infected systems are running some version of Windows and the malware is common.

So, if the US military isn't using strict access controls or other exceptionally strong security measures when the stakes are this high, if they're just using conventional operating systems that everyone uses, then who ever actually uses secure operating systems?

(you still have two cranks and half the valves of a W)

Volkwagen's "W" engines use one crankshaft.

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/W_engine

Aren't you a democracy? So either enough people agreed with it, or enough people didn't care enough to stop it. In the end, it's the same result.

Yes. You're right. 50% (of the voting electorate) agreed and 48% disagreed in 2004

I opposed the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, I voted against the disgusting scumbags who made those wars and the "war on terror" as well as the "Patriot" Act and spoke out to whoever would listen that I thought all of this was a bad idea.

So now explain to me why, according to this jackass *I* am a sadistic warmonger?

Georgie Porgie said "Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists." I note (from the reference link) that Lenin and Mussolini said similar things.

I guess that means I'm not just a sadistic warmonger, I'm a terrorist too. So which one is it? Can I really be both in this context?

My objection to that other moron (yes, I am trying to insult you Ja'Achan) was that (s)he shouldn't paint all Americans with a broad brush. Hmm. Sounds like you're doing the same thing. That, in fact, was one of the things I thought was so wrong about this "war on terror" -- painting large swaths of humanity as "the bad guys." Gee. I guess you're just taking an example from the assholes I despise. You do the math.

Aren't you a democracy? So either enough people agreed with it, or enough people didn't care enough to stop it. In the end, it's the same result.

Yes. You're right. 50% (of the voting electorate) agreed and 48% disagreed in 2004

I opposed the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, I voted against the disgusting scumbags who made those wars and the "war on terror" as well as the "Patriot" Act and spoke out to whoever would listen that I thought all of this was a bad idea.

So now explain to me why, according to this jackass *I* am a sadistic warmonger?

Georgie Porgie said "Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists." I note (from the reference link) that Lenin and Mussolini said similar things.

I guess that means I'm not just a sadistic warmonger, I'm a terrorist too. So which one is it? Can I really be both in this context?

My objection to that other moron (yes, I am trying to insult you Ja'Achan) was that (s)he shouldn't paint all Americans with a broad brush. Hmm. Sounds like you're doing the same thing. That, in fact, was one of the things I thought was so wrong about this "war on terror" -- painting large swaths of humanity as "the bad guys." Gee. I guess you're just taking an example from the assholes I despise. You do the math.

As a culture, we find that the most appropriate treatment of people who have a criminal psychosis is to isolate them and help them, forcibly. We also find that they are not "wrong" and don't need to be punished, but require help. I don't readily see how an act of violence in this case is a critical point where we force help on the unwilling. So, why not force it earlier and prevent the violent acts?

To be a devil's advocate right back (angel's advocate?):

The danger is that preemptive treatment of, say, schizophrenia, can turn into preemptive treatment of sluggishly progressing schizophrenia, were the government to become sufficiently corrupt.

There's also the usual Bayesian argument: if the pre-crime test has 0.1% false positive and negative rate, and there are 10 terrorists in the US, the test is useless, even though 0.1% sounds really impressive and could convince lawmakers. For ordinary crimes, it would still claim a lot of innocents to be suspect.

Spot on. Mod parent up. Almost everyone is guilty of some crime, be it copyright infringement, tax fraud, hate speech, or some driving felony. Heck, if the Six Degrees of Seperation hypothesis is right you're probably close enough to some terrorist to count as a terrorist yourself.

Everyone forgets, of course, that you don't need to be watched for very long before you break a law. It's so hopelessly complex that even lawyers, who spend several years learning about it, are unable to avoid being ensnared against a determined law enforcement effort. If they want you, they will get you.

If it is a scam, then why doesn't he ask for money?

What am I, psychic? There are plenty of possible reasons. Maybe he's trying to con a large company instead of cashing in on on thousands of small-time suckers. Since most of his dealings have been behind closed doors, we have no idea what he's been asking for. Or maybe he's waiting until he gets enough publicity. Or maybe he figures enough fame will create opportunities for making money all on it's own, regardless of whether his machine works.

You could ask the converse question - if he isn't looking to make money, why is he being so secretive about it? Why not just publish a paper and let everyone profit? Every day he delays means thousands of lives lost which might otherwise have been saved.

Who knows. I don't need to divine the complete workings of his mind to determine that he's almost certainly a quack, and probably fully aware that his device doesn't actually produce energy. I may be wrong about the latter, but I doubt it. Either way, the rational response to his claims is skepticism. Until he provides us with something tangible, there's no reason to take him seriously.

The key to any good scam is convince people it's not a scam. The first question you want people asking is "well if it was a scam he'd do this and he hasn't!"

I mean let's put this in perspective: why did Steorn spend so much money on an ad in the Economist?

It could be a scam. Of course in both cases they could just genuinely believe its real, but "not quite ready" and want to talk about it.

Well I had to work late and have to sleep real bad but I couldn't let the night go by with no content. So here's my section on the Reagan administration.

WILLFULLY IGNORANT IDEOLOGUES, LOOK AWAY! THE FOLLOWING IS BASED ON UNDENIABLE HISTORICAL FACTS WHICH CANNOT BE INVALIDATED BY CALLING THEM PROPAGANDA OR LIES BECAUSE THEY WILL STILL BE UNDENIABLE HISTORICAL FACTS.

1980 - Ronald Reagan is elected, partly on a "state's rights" platform - at the time that phrase was a euphemism for allowing states to return to segregation, but Reagan's use of the phrase is controversial. Understanding what Reagan meant will be left as an exercise to the reader. Keep in mind that he always claimed that he was totally not racist and was deeply offended by such accusations.

During his presidency Reagan did not support the women's rights movement or any blacks' civil rights issues, except in his extensions to the Voting Rights Act (which he had verbally opposed beforehand) and Fair Housing Act. He opposed the establishment of MLK day and was only forced to sign it into law by a veto-proof majority. He considered the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act to be unconstitutional, and tried to veto the Civil Rights Restoration Act but was overridden. He also supported South Africa's apartheid regime and considered Jefferson Davis a personal hero of his.

I encourage anyone not familiar with those various acts to look them up, all conveniently linked within.

Well I had to work late and have to sleep real bad but I couldn't let the night go by with no content. So here's my section on the Reagan administration.

WILLFULLY IGNORANT IDEOLOGUES, LOOK AWAY! THE FOLLOWING IS BASED ON UNDENIABLE HISTORICAL FACTS WHICH CANNOT BE INVALIDATED BY CALLING THEM PROPAGANDA OR LIES BECAUSE THEY WILL STILL BE UNDENIABLE HISTORICAL FACTS.

1980 - Ronald Reagan is elected, partly on a "state's rights" platform - at the time that phrase was a euphemism for allowing states to return to segregation, but Reagan's use of the phrase is controversial. Understanding what Reagan meant will be left as an exercise to the reader. Keep in mind that he always claimed that he was totally not racist and was deeply offended by such accusations.

During his presidency Reagan did not support the women's rights movement or any blacks' civil rights issues, except in his extensions to the Voting Rights Act (which he had verbally opposed beforehand) and Fair Housing Act. He opposed the establishment of MLK day and was only forced to sign it into law by a veto-proof majority. He considered the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act to be unconstitutional, and tried to veto the Civil Rights Restoration Act but was overridden. He also supported South Africa's apartheid regime and considered Jefferson Davis a personal hero of his.

I encourage anyone not familiar with those various acts to look them up, all conveniently linked within.

From JulDes' user page and contributions, I see no reason to assume he or she is part of the Evil Astrolabe Cabal, either.

Other than the fact that every single contribution is focused on inserting information about the importance and notability of Thomas G. Shanks as the author of "The most extensive collection of timezone and daylight saving time history data has been published by Thomas Shanks in two volumes The American Atlas (1978) and The International Atlas (1985)." (quoting JulDes' interpolation into the Wikipedia article "Time Zone".)

The account was created on 3 September and all contributions were on that day or the next.

Yeah. smells like sockpuppet from where I stand.

They're probably only 10 people, anyway.

I was one of the '10' the last time this happened.

I was living in Iqaluit at the time, but was actually in flight to Pond Inlet at the northern tip of Baffin Island when the outage occurred. It was a very bizarre feeling to arrive in one of the most remote communities in the world and find I'd stepped back in time by a century.

Telephone, TV, and most other means of communications simply stopped. But people in the Arctic are adaptable. They don't last long if they aren't. Emergency communications were hopped from airport-to-pilot-to-ground from the hamlet (It's a LONG way from any other habitation). We hunkered down, and yes, politely waited for news.

As the wikipedia link indicates, we waited for days while the local telco flew technicians across the territory to reposition their dishes and get services running.

It was the experience of living in a remote location - close to the technological edge, as it were - that led me to drop what I was doing a few years later and leave for the South Pacific, where I live today. (Also: When I left Iqaluit, I promised myself I'd never be cold again.) I live in a country with only satellite service, and have worked for the last 8 years helping to improve communications here.

(Not so) amusingly, about a year and a half after I arrived, the satellite providing service to our region suffered catastrophic failure. I was able to use my experience in the Arctic to help convince people here of the dangers of relying on a single source of data communications. We should be getting a submarine cable in 2012-13, and once that happens, I just might be able to rely on Internet again.

They're probably only 10 people, anyway.

I was one of the '10' the last time this happened.

I was living in Iqaluit at the time, but was actually in flight to Pond Inlet at the northern tip of Baffin Island when the outage occurred. It was a very bizarre feeling to arrive in one of the most remote communities in the world and find I'd stepped back in time by a century.

Telephone, TV, and most other means of communications simply stopped. But people in the Arctic are adaptable. They don't last long if they aren't. Emergency communications were hopped from airport-to-pilot-to-ground from the hamlet (It's a LONG way from any other habitation). We hunkered down, and yes, politely waited for news.

As the wikipedia link indicates, we waited for days while the local telco flew technicians across the territory to reposition their dishes and get services running.

It was the experience of living in a remote location - close to the technological edge, as it were - that led me to drop what I was doing a few years later and leave for the South Pacific, where I live today. (Also: When I left Iqaluit, I promised myself I'd never be cold again.) I live in a country with only satellite service, and have worked for the last 8 years helping to improve communications here.

(Not so) amusingly, about a year and a half after I arrived, the satellite providing service to our region suffered catastrophic failure. I was able to use my experience in the Arctic to help convince people here of the dangers of relying on a single source of data communications. We should be getting a submarine cable in 2012-13, and once that happens, I just might be able to rely on Internet again.

They're probably only 10 people, anyway.

I was one of the '10' the last time this happened.

I was living in Iqaluit at the time, but was actually in flight to Pond Inlet at the northern tip of Baffin Island when the outage occurred. It was a very bizarre feeling to arrive in one of the most remote communities in the world and find I'd stepped back in time by a century.

Telephone, TV, and most other means of communications simply stopped. But people in the Arctic are adaptable. They don't last long if they aren't. Emergency communications were hopped from airport-to-pilot-to-ground from the hamlet (It's a LONG way from any other habitation). We hunkered down, and yes, politely waited for news.

As the wikipedia link indicates, we waited for days while the local telco flew technicians across the territory to reposition their dishes and get services running.

It was the experience of living in a remote location - close to the technological edge, as it were - that led me to drop what I was doing a few years later and leave for the South Pacific, where I live today. (Also: When I left Iqaluit, I promised myself I'd never be cold again.) I live in a country with only satellite service, and have worked for the last 8 years helping to improve communications here.

(Not so) amusingly, about a year and a half after I arrived, the satellite providing service to our region suffered catastrophic failure. I was able to use my experience in the Arctic to help convince people here of the dangers of relying on a single source of data communications. We should be getting a submarine cable in 2012-13, and once that happens, I just might be able to rely on Internet again.

Linux app? There are very few native Linux apps on Android. Android are written in Java and run on the Dalvik framework.

The only thing even remotely Linuxy about Android is the kernel. Even if you install a terminal emulator it's practically useless with only a small set of the normal commands installed, typically not even "su" until you root the phone.

Android != Linux in the way Ubuntu = Linux or Red Hat = Linux

Well of course, all transmission systems have to have a bandwidth "cap" otherwise their frequencies would be all over the spectrum.

What?! No, there is no need for a bandwidth cap on a transmission system. They are clearly selling signals that are infinite in the time domain!

PS. Technically, any signal that is time limited has infinite bandwidth, though in all real world applications the Fourier transform is just an approximation. May the math be with you!

Wiki-administrator David Gerard reverted it back, with the very telling comment "rv apparent vanity entry to redirect".

What the comment "tells" me is that Gerard may have misjudged JulDes' and "TZ master"'s motivations. It sounds to me as if they just wanted to give information on the author of the atlases used as a source for some of the tz database entries. (Whether Thomas G. Shanks is notable enough to deserve a Wikipedia page is another matter, on which I have no opinion.)

Wiki-administrator David Gerard reverted it back, with the very telling comment "rv apparent vanity entry to redirect".

What the comment "tells" me is that Gerard may have misjudged JulDes' and "TZ master"'s motivations. It sounds to me as if they just wanted to give information on the author of the atlases used as a source for some of the tz database entries. (Whether Thomas G. Shanks is notable enough to deserve a Wikipedia page is another matter, on which I have no opinion.)

As a side note, the infowars portion of the suit has begun. The reference to Shanks on the "Tz database" page was added as close to the top as could be managed by user JulDes on Sept. 3, which seems to be the day the account was created. As of May 2006, "Thomas Shanks" on Wikipedia redirected to Irish footballer Tommy Shanks. As of One month ago, it now instead has information on the otherwise unknown author of the American Atlas, 1978, ACS publications. The editing account, "TZ Master" seems to have been created expressly for the purpose 5 minutes earlier.

Looking at TZ master's contributions, he or she appears to be a tz database nerd; the "Thomas Shanks" edits might have been his or her first edits, but they are far from his or her last edits.

Besides, JulDes, not "TZ master", was the person who made the "Thomas Shanks" page talk about the time zone atlas person. From JulDes' user page and contributions, I see no reason to assume he or she is part of the Evil Astrolabe Cabal, either.

As a side note, the infowars portion of the suit has begun. The reference to Shanks on the "Tz database" page was added as close to the top as could be managed by user JulDes on Sept. 3, which seems to be the day the account was created. As of May 2006, "Thomas Shanks" on Wikipedia redirected to Irish footballer Tommy Shanks. As of One month ago, it now instead has information on the otherwise unknown author of the American Atlas, 1978, ACS publications. The editing account, "TZ Master" seems to have been created expressly for the purpose 5 minutes earlier.

Looking at TZ master's contributions, he or she appears to be a tz database nerd; the "Thomas Shanks" edits might have been his or her first edits, but they are far from his or her last edits.

Besides, JulDes, not "TZ master", was the person who made the "Thomas Shanks" page talk about the time zone atlas person. From JulDes' user page and contributions, I see no reason to assume he or she is part of the Evil Astrolabe Cabal, either.

As a side note, the infowars portion of the suit has begun. The reference to Shanks on the "Tz database" page was added as close to the top as could be managed by user JulDes on Sept. 3, which seems to be the day the account was created. As of May 2006, "Thomas Shanks" on Wikipedia redirected to Irish footballer Tommy Shanks. As of One month ago, it now instead has information on the otherwise unknown author of the American Atlas, 1978, ACS publications. The editing account, "TZ Master" seems to have been created expressly for the purpose 5 minutes earlier.

Looking at TZ master's contributions, he or she appears to be a tz database nerd; the "Thomas Shanks" edits might have been his or her first edits, but they are far from his or her last edits.

Besides, JulDes, not "TZ master", was the person who made the "Thomas Shanks" page talk about the time zone atlas person. From JulDes' user page and contributions, I see no reason to assume he or she is part of the Evil Astrolabe Cabal, either.

As a side note, the infowars portion of the suit has begun. The reference to Shanks on the "Tz database" page was added as close to the top as could be managed by user JulDes on Sept. 3, which seems to be the day the account was created. As of May 2006, "Thomas Shanks" on Wikipedia redirected to Irish footballer Tommy Shanks. As of One month ago, it now instead has information on the otherwise unknown author of the American Atlas, 1978, ACS publications. The editing account, "TZ Master" seems to have been created expressly for the purpose 5 minutes earlier.

Looking at TZ master's contributions, he or she appears to be a tz database nerd; the "Thomas Shanks" edits might have been his or her first edits, but they are far from his or her last edits.

Besides, JulDes, not "TZ master", was the person who made the "Thomas Shanks" page talk about the time zone atlas person. From JulDes' user page and contributions, I see no reason to assume he or she is part of the Evil Astrolabe Cabal, either.

Wiki-administrator David Gerard reverted it back, with the very telling comment "rv apparent vanity entry to redirect".

Wiki-administrator David Gerard reverted it back, with the very telling comment "rv apparent vanity entry to redirect".

/. is a technical blog which gets its name from the "slash" punctuation symbol and the "dot" symbol as they are used in computing.

"Slash Dot" is a fantasy blog you wish existed about slash involving male body parts smaller than the punctuation at the end of this sentence.

/. is a technical blog which gets its name from the "slash" punctuation symbol and the "dot" symbol as they are used in computing.

"Slash Dot" is a fantasy blog you wish existed about slash involving male body parts smaller than the punctuation at the end of this sentence.

/. is a technical blog which gets its name from the "slash" punctuation symbol and the "dot" symbol as they are used in computing.

"Slash Dot" is a fantasy blog you wish existed about slash involving male body parts smaller than the punctuation at the end of this sentence.

When it comes to two-dimensional shapes I understand Circles are preferred.

Personally, I prefer Obloids.

Windows 1.0:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4e/Windows1.0.png

Better than AmigaOS, but still eye-bleeding. Windows 2 was cleaner, but the layout was still awkward.

System 1.0:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/50/Apple_Macintosh_Desktop.png

There you go. Clean and uncluttered. I think going for the black and white look made all the difference. Unless you were doing a bar chart or something, EGA graphics looked just awful.

Windows 1.0:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4e/Windows1.0.png

Better than AmigaOS, but still eye-bleeding. Windows 2 was cleaner, but the layout was still awkward.

System 1.0:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/50/Apple_Macintosh_Desktop.png

There you go. Clean and uncluttered. I think going for the black and white look made all the difference. Unless you were doing a bar chart or something, EGA graphics looked just awful.

This is a good example of the prevailing flaw in scientific research.

You are saying, in effect, that this can't be right because it doesn't conform to your model.

That's fine, we use models all the time in science, but a model is only useful in predicting the experiment described by the model.

If you want to build something exactly described by the model, then the model will predict the outcome and your chances of success. If you want to ask interesting questions, then the model may inform your beliefs as to whether you will get interesting answers... but your model isn't more important than evidence. The model *never* trumps evidence.

Here's a man so sure of his results that he is willing to give us evidence. I agree completely that this looks a lot like frauds of bygone times, I don't personally think that he will be able to provide results, but I'm not so vain as to state he *won't* provide results.

Let's let him have his moment, and then judge the evidence. It's only a month, after all.

(Another good example is Burzynski. Everyone in that case is arguing the model, not the evidence. Don't explain *why* it doesn't work, talk about *whether* it doesn't work. Why can come later.)

In Spain some farmers are installing what they call "Fiber From The Farms".
That's it, they are buying fiber cables themselves (about 0.5 €/m they say) and installing them with their own means up to the closest neutral point.
They are buying 1Gbit for everyone interested (currently in the thousands) for ~400€/month (AFAIK) bypassing all ISP's (in essence they are their own ISP).
They are registered as a non-profit organization and as a legal ISP.

More info here.

We used to lead the world in engineering and technology.

When was this??

As recently as rocket technology. Stephenson's rocket, to be precise.

Stop thinking Steve Jobs had ideas. He recognized good ideas when he saw one and he spent a lot of time hunting for good ideas, but he did not come up with them first :

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/The_Mother_of_All_Demos

You can find similar stuff behind most "genius idea" of Apple.

That would look bloody awesome. ;)

Not really.

You mean this?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b3/Amiga_Workbench_1_0.png

The Amiga was a technically superior machine in many respects. Too bad the UI looked like arse.

So, this makes you either an ignorant fool that should read a book, or an unashamed partisan propagandists that must resort to such obvious lies. I hope its the prior. The latter is just so Joseph Goebbels (that's not a compliment btw).

Funny, that's what I thought about you.

Confident that I hadn't accidentally brainwashed myself with revisionist history, and encouraged by the fact that you couldn't be bothered to casually mention a single issue that would contradict my argument despite the alleged abundance of such issues, I decided to dedicate my evening to proving my point.

First of all, I'd like to cover the role reversal on civil rights issues which you know less about than a foreigner:

http://harrisschool.uchicago.edu/programs/beyond/workshops/ampolpapers/fall07-schickler.pdf
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/History_of_the_Democratic_Party_(United_States)#The_Johnson_Years:_1963.E2.80.931968
http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/s6980.html
tl;dr-friendly summary: http://civilliberty.about.com/od/historyprofiles/p/democratic.htm

Next I want to continue your timeline up to the present day, but I had to help a relative with a cell phone problem and won't have time to finish it tonight, however I'll try again tomorrow evening. It will start with the (SPOILERS horrifyingly racist /SPOILERS) history of the Reagan administration.

The tendency for infection is correlated to how popular the OS is, goes the oft-repeated idea.

For relative infectibility, I quote the "exposed to malware" numbers from the article. They make it a little ambiguous whether this means actual infections. And for relative popularity between Windows OSs, I quote from the Wikipedia article on Windows (with some averaging).

1. XP - 41%
2. Vista - 38%
3. 7 - 16%

1. XP - 46%
2. Vista - 11.4%
3. 7 - 40.2%

Appears to be a large discrepancy between these numbers. Any explanations? On the face of it it looks like it is not true that popularity of OS correlates highly with infection rate.

That's not quite the way I remember it. Instead, I remember the Tea Party having some valid complaints, but then they were quickly co-opted by some greedy politicians like Palin and Bachmann. The Tea Partiers were so dumb and gullible that when these politicians said "we're one of you!" they believed it and adopted them as their spokespeople. After this, the TPers' reputations were ruined.

And don't forget the Koch brothers. They were major contributor to TP candidates.

I just wish we could get back to the original definition of "Tea Bagger"

That or you'd be creating the worlds largest Van De Graaff generator
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Van_de_Graaff_generator

Have you been to Syria? It's quite a complicated place, and has a fascinating history :)

I was there last year, slightly before the uprisings started. While I did most of the usual backpacker routes (Damascus, Hamah, Aleppo, Palmyra), with the occasional getting lost, hitchhiking and crossing to/from Lebanon using odd routes), I met a lot of people who barely spoke English and just felt like communicating. I found people to be very open minded, proud of their culture, curious about others and somewhat indifferent about their incompetent government (as if it's that big brother who just keeps screwing up, until it reached a breaking point where they figured it's time to kick him out).

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Syria

Generalizing about "arabs" is the same as those who generalize about "americans". Ex: americans are just a bunch of ignorant trigger-happy rednecks who don't realize that sexual abstinence has a high rate of failure (increases the risks of teen pregnancy and STD propagation). The US are capable of doing the best .. but also being irresponsible of doing the worst.

(disclaimer: I am from Montreal, and from the current path we are on right now, it won't be long before we end up in the same ditch)

Why does everyone else have to suffer?

You don't have to.

If you're worried about the data being destroyed, look no further than here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Database_download
Unfortunately the Database Download link is down on the Italian Wikipedia. but you can still access it on the English Wikipedia.

Status of last dump for the Italian DB http://dumps.wikimedia.org/itwiki/20110920/

As a side note the database files are gigabytes in size and expand to terabytes, so only download it if you really want it.

Granted it's not a good source for references, but it does qualify as culture, and culture deserves to be protected / preserved.

One of the problems with launchy I found was that you need to know what you want to launch.

So, yes, I can remember a few of the programs I've used recently and for years.. but for ages ago? No.

For a long time I kept a folder on my desktop with shortcuts to all of the games available.

I can understand why MS think that less people use the scroll bar start menu in Windows 7. It sucks compared to the XP menu. It's simple logic - as a user I want to see all of the programs installed, even if it does take up the whole screen to do so.

The windows start bar 'search for programs and files' has bugs. For example, a search for "office" does not return a match for "OpenOffice.org Writer".

A couple of days ago, I thought (for a very short time) that OpenOffice was not installed. I searched in the menu, and yes.. OpenOffice is there..

Before they remove the start menu they would need to fix the weird search behaviour.

Also, technically, programs will still want to install to the 'start' location. Does this mean that someone will write a 3rd party application to provide a start menu for windows?

Let's see what Wikipedia says:
"The Start Menu and Start Button are user interface elements used in the later versions of the Microsoft Windows operating systems and in some X window managers. The Start Button provides a central launching point for application and tasks."

So, considering this.. they are .. killing it?

I agree with this proposition, that the language being edited is irrelevant. The issue here is how it impacts collaborative writing projects involving Italian citizens rather than simply a particular language edition of Wikipedia.

What is significant here is that the Italian language version of the the project generally already conforms to Italian law in part because the policies have been established by people who are familiar with that country's laws. The threat here is that the volunteers are suggesting a nuclear/scorched earth option that if they are not going to be legally permitted to edit or maintain Wikipedia, that they simply want to get rid of the whole project altogether. At least that is my gist of what the threat listed on the Italian language edition of Wikipedia is trying to say.

Even more significant, the volunteers at the Italian language edition of Wikipedia hosted a 24 hour "blackout" after considerable discussion that was supported by the greater Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees that essentially gave a blank check support to the Italian language volunteers as well as the "Wikimedia Italia" local chapter in their fight on this particular issue. While it may not be strictly necessary to shut down the project in America, the net effect is essentially the same if the volunteer community simply pulls the plug.

Since many people in Italy use Wikipedia as a resource in their native language, the volunteers want the Italian people to realize just how serious this issue is to them, and how a very valuable resource can simply disappear if this law is allowed to stand. In that sense, I think this "blackout" was a very good idea. The real "news for nerds" isn't the law... even if that is the trigger... but the fact that Wikipedia blanked itself out yesterday and this morning (depending on what time zone you live in) with the Italian language edition.

The fact that legally speaking it seems like we are moving into a world where the lowest common denominator seems to be prevailing in terms of how you conduct yourself with international projects on the internet, this is an issue even with other language editions of Wikipedia or for that matter even Slashdot.... assuming Italian citizens participate with posts here. In the case of Slashdot, they are going to be forced by the Italian law to respond to any potential slander or "misrepresentation of fact" by removing content in a fashion similar to the DMCA. Note that the DMCA only covers blatant copyright violations, where as this law covers much more (hence the slander or "misrepresentation" issues) where take-down notices can be filed for practically any reason at all and must be dealt with or you will be facing international legal injunctions that might be recognized by American courts due to "intellectual property" treaties.

There is some real teeth in the issue here, and one that sadly might start impacting other websites over time as well. Even worse, there seems to be a tendency for laws of this nature to spread to other countries, where there certainly are several Europhiles in the American government who love to adopt laws like this into American society once they have been established "over there". This is a canary in a coalmine, so to say, and the canary is dying. At stake here is the concept of free speech altogether, especially for such a seductive concept for the expansion of government authority over the printed word.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it.wikipedia.org isn't hosted in Italy. Ergo, the authorities aren't in a position to fine or arrest anyone posting "defamatory" material... unless an offending editor resident in Italy drops a bit too much identifying material on their personal page. Seems like more of a PITA than a deal breaker.

Every country with weak speech laws ends up with obviously absurd and unjust convictions. The case Albert Langer, for example, shows that things are far from well Down Under.