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E-Paper Moves Closer
squaretorus sent in this story about electronic paper at the BBC. Seems that everytime any of the e-paper, e-ink, e-whatever companies have a new demo unit they run out and call a press conference. But none of it matters until they have ultra-thin, durable, flexible pages that can be manufactured cheaply...
Let's have a close look at the costs involved when running a Linux system.
Linux' cost consists not only of the frequent updates, which require new cdrom's to be bought if you don't have a high speed Internet connection.
Another factor in Linux' cost is its maintenance. Linux requires a *lot* of maintenance, work doable only by the relatively few high-paid Linux administrators that put themselves - of course willingly - at a great place in the market. Linux seems to be needing maintenance continuously, to keep it from breaking down.
Add to this the cost of loss of data. Linux' native file system, EXT2FS, is known to lose data like a firehose spouts water when the file system isn't unmounted properly. Other unix file systems are much more tolerant towards unexpected crashes. An example is the FreeBSD file system, which with soft updates enabled, performance-wise blows EXT2FS out of the water, and doesn't have the negative drawback of extreme data loss in case of a system breakdown.
The upcoming 'solution' to this, EXT3FS, is nothing more than an ugly hack to put journaling into the file system. All the drawbacks of the ancient EXT2FS file system remain in EXT3FS, for the sake of 'forward- and backward compatibility'. This is interesting, considering that the DOS heritage in the Windows 9x/ME series was considered a very bad thing by the Linux community, even though it provided what could be called one of the best examples of compatibility, ever. When it's about Linux, compatibility constraints don't seem to be that much of a problem for Linux advocates.
Back to Linux' cost. Factor in also the fact that crashes happen much more often on Linux than on other unices. On other unices, crashes usually are caused by external sources like power outages. Crashes in Linux are a regular thing, and nobody seems to know what causes them, internally. Linux advocates try to hide this fact by denying crashes ever happen. Instead, they have frequent "hardware problems".
The steep learning curve compared to about any other operating system out there is a major factor in Linux' cost. The system is a mix of features from all kinds of unices, but not one of them is implemented right. A Linux user has to live with badly coded tools which have low performance, mangle data seemingly at random and are not in line with their specification. On top of that a lot of them spit out the most childish and unprofessional messages, indicating that they were created by 14-year olds with too much time, no talent and a bad attitude.
I could go on and on and on, but the conclusion is clear. Linux is not an option for any one who seeks a professional OS with high performance, scalability, stability, adherence to standards, etc.
duph owns
Maybe I would get el second psotage yah?
e-slashdot e-sucks e-dick
probably because you fucks won't pay for anything.
This has to be the most pathetic story I've ever seen on slashdot. Come one Taco, stop fucking your mother and sort this shit out.
Have a shotgun, bong or waterfall.
Just smoke some, bitch.
E-paper: J'ai peur de Philippe et peur de son chien.
this is really news, we always hear about this futuristic crap that would be really cool but is never going to happen, move along people.
Several years ago, a college teacher, who I was very close to, died suddenly. I was terribly depressed by this, because he had been such a mentor to me...a father figure, so to speak. The evening of the funeral visitation, I had gone over to my ex-boyfriends house for the night. I didn't want to be alone. As I was getting ready for bed, I sat down and started sobbing. My boyfriend at the time walked into the room and sat down on the edge of the bed to comfort me. I kept telling him how sad I was that I didn't get to say good-bye to Jack and how he'd never know how much he meant to me. Suddenly, we heard a strange noise and we looked across the room to the dresser where two greeting cards were standing. One of the cards started to move across the dresser slowly and as it moved, it made a scraping noise against the wood. We sat there in total shock as we watched this card slide at least 4 feet and then come to a complete stop while standing upright. My boyfriend was immediately mortified, but it didn't affect me that way at all. I know that noone will fully understand what I felt at that moment, but I will try to explain. I felt almost a tingly sensation, and then suddenly the most peaceful calm swept over me. The air felt thick with his presence and I was suddenly no longer sad at all. I will forever remember that night. It truly changed my life. Since then I haven't really had any other significant encounters with a spirit until last week. My husband works late at night and I had put my daughter in bed and was getting ready to do the same when the dog jumped up and started growling like crazy at the bedroom door. This startled me, because I had never heard the dog growl before. He's a very mild mannered animal. Anyway, I looked at the door and of course nothing was there. By this time panic had set in me, because the dogs eyes were following something across the room. Suddenly he started crying and backed under the computer desk. I couldn't get him to come out. He was completely scared to death. I had to physically pick him up to get him out of the room. And he's a big dog! I was going to force him come with me to check the house out for intruders. As we were walking down the hall, I saw a man's reflection in a picture on the wall staring at me. When I turned to see who's reflection it was, there was noone there. I was so scared that I thought I was going to have a heart attack. Whatever it was felt AWFUL! I hope I never experience anything remotely like that again. Does anyone know if a ghost can just randomly come through a home? This place has never felt spooky to me before.
This happened to me when I was twelve years old. As you will read, however, the experience had a type of repeat years later. I was glad to read that you discriminate between ''ghosts'' and ''demons'' otherwise, I would not be writing you. My encounter was with a demon. My father was an alcoholic. He was a steel worker who worked hard and drove far to work each day. We didn't see him but a little while each evening. During the work week he was sober. On the weekends, however, he stayed drunk and that's when my brother and I suffered his violence and brutality. It seems that his violence increased the last few years he was alive. In 1952 he was killed in a car accident. Sad to say, the news was met with relief on my part. The day of the funeral is when I had my encounter. We walked home from the church that day and climbed the steps to our apartment above the laundry. The Catholic Church we had the funeral in was very beautiful. As a young Catholic, I was always "in love" with the beautiful saints and statues of Mary and Joseph, but the statues of Jesus were my favorite. The face so gentle and full of love that I carried it active in my mind during the bad times. I don't remember the funeral. I don't remember sermons graphically describing Satan. So it wasn't a thought I carried with me that day after the funeral. I was a kid, anyway. No pain stays too long....only the damage done by those who we were supposed to be able to trust and honor. I walked through the front room on my way to my bedroom. I was frozen in my tracks in the hall. I don't know what stopped me. My blood seemed to drop to my feet and I was cold. I looked up and there, floating in the darkened corner of the hall was an apparition of my father's face. It wavered there as though I was seeing it though rippling air. But this face, with it's greenish cast and malevolence, was looking at me with such hatred that I remember thinking that if it had a full body it would be trying to strangle me! The moment ended in about 30 seconds. Suddenly, all was as it was before. I "went on my way" as though nothing had happened. It was totally gone from my memory. I didn't run screaming to my mother about the experiece. I didn't tell my friends. I had forgotten it completely. In 1976, after the death of my wonderful husband, I moved in with my eldest brother and his family for a short time. It was great for all of us. My brother was my favorite. He'd been through those years of violence with me. We'd always comforted each other during those times and remained close through to adulthood. My two children and their three cousins were good friends and my sister-in-law was a true sister and friend. But my brother was also a heavy weekend drinker. So living there meant my sister-in-law and I lent support to each other during those days. As I arrived from work one day, my brother was coming down the sidewalk from the house. I looked at him as I approached and was, once again, frozen in my steps. He came toward me and I thought how much he looked like my father. Then I saw that same malevolence staring back at me! He passed without saying a word. Like before, I was freed from my motionlessness and went on into the house. As before, the moment passed into oblivion. During a recent conversation witrh my mother I was relating the stories that until that moment I'd not recalled (suddenly I remembered them, like someone freed from amnesia). Details returned and with them realizations. My brother looks nothing like my father. The face that I saw on my brother that day was not his face...but the very same spirit face I had seen the day of my father's funeral! That point alone was enough for me to know that while I had somehow escaped it's influence that day, my brother had not. I can only imagine that even at the tender age of 10, he was captured by that spirit that no longer had power over my father. In retrospect, I can see it's influence in my brother's life. I've read that demons take control during moments in any person's life where they are at a morally weak moment, ie, inebriated, to mention one. The longer a person stays in that state the more "demons" can enter. It is evident in the memories I have of my father and now, of my brother. For me, the connections came many years later. I would not have believed it if it hadn't happened to me. And the way it happened...over so many years to have unfolded so slowly...to have come to the full horrible realization of the ''haunting'' of my father, then my brother. To the full realization of what I escaped...somehow... and it makes me thank God! The week that this all came together I found that I couldn't get my precious niece out of my mind. Waking, dreaming...all filled with thoughts of her. For some reason I can't explain, and not knowing her situation-of-the-moment, I wrote her. For some reason I can't explain, I decided to tell her that story. The next morning she called me to tell me that she'd been having a battle with alcohol for years and that this week had been especially hard for her. She'd quit drinking a long time ago but still had days when the battle not to drink was almost more than she could handle alone. Knowing the story of "the family demon" gave her an additional tool....knowledge; an appreciation of what she was in fact fighting against! With that she was given an added incentive for overcoming her "demon", which she recognized as being a reality. There are prayers, or mantras, if you will, that can assist one in being freed of such influences. While I know that some of your readers are looking for the thrill of reading a good "ghost story" others are looking for help. It's with that in mind that I include the prayer. It can be called a prayer, a blessing, a mantra, or even an exorcism. But we are all a part of the Spirit that created us and as such we too, have the power of God's Spirit to bless. As Jesus told Peter, "What you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and what you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven" Matt. 16:19 And so, for what it's worth, this is the prayer: "I give my higher self permission to accept the help of my angels and I call twelve archangels to assist me. We do not accept the spirits of darkness and opposition to God's light to remain. You dark spirits, with your harmful intent, must leave now. You will go to the light. You will go away from me. I command it with the power of God and in the Name of God, the Creator. You are banished from me forever. The light of God is around me and within me there are no dark corners. My higher self is henceforth in company of the angels of God. I am protected by the light of God. It is done. In Jesus' name, so be it. Amen" That's it, Dave. I wouldn't have written this to you if I couldn't include the prayer. It's a true experience and the help that came from that prayer is undeniable. We don't need a church exorcist, with all their accoutrements, to free ourselves from a malignant spirit...that prayer (and words to that effect ) are all that are needed. I know that there are many who are seriously trouble by such manifestations and this could help. If one wanted to help an alcoholic it would have to be done while he/she was completely sober. The afflicted person must say the words.