Hi Tech, Wireless Help for Climbers

Mark Baard writes "Alpinists may soon be using wearable sensors and tricorder-like medical scanners to bail out their buried comrades. Computer scientists Bernt Schiele and Florian Michahelles, at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, are designing A-Life, a portable device that transmits and receives avalanche victims' vital signs through snow, up to 80 meters away."

Comments

Maybe

[Anonymous Coward]

Possibly.

*BSD is dying

[Anonymous Coward]

It is official; Netcraft now confirms: *BSD is dying

One more crippling bombshell hit the already beleaguered *BSD community when IDC confirmed that *BSD market share has dropped yet again, now down to less than a fraction of 1 percent of all servers. Coming on the heels of a recent Netcraft survey which plainly states that *BSD has lost more market share, this news serves to reinforce what we've known all along. *BSD is collapsing in complete disarray, as fittingly exemplified by failing dead last in the recent Sys Admin comprehensive networking test.

You don't need to be a Kreskin to predict *BSD's future. The hand writing is on the wall: *BSD faces a bleak future. In fact there won't be any future at all for *BSD because *BSD is dying. Things are looking very bad for *BSD. As many of us are already aware, *BSD continues to lose market share. Red ink flows like a river of blood.

FreeBSD is the most endangered of them all, having lost 93% of its core developers. The sudden and unpleasant departures of long time FreeBSD developers Jordan Hubbard and Mike Smith only serve to underscore the point more clearly. There can no longer be any doubt: FreeBSD is dying.

Let's keep to the facts and look at the numbers.

OpenBSD leader Theo states that there are 7000 users of OpenBSD. How many users of NetBSD are there? Let's see. The number of OpenBSD versus NetBSD posts on Usenet is roughly in ratio of 5 to 1. Therefore there are about 7000/5 = 1400 NetBSD users. BSD/OS posts on Usenet are about half of the volume of NetBSD posts. Therefore there are about 700 users of BSD/OS. A recent article put FreeBSD at about 80 percent of the *BSD market. Therefore there are (7000+1400+700)*4 = 36400 FreeBSD users. This is consistent with the number of FreeBSD Usenet posts.

Due to the troubles of Walnut Creek, abysmal sales and so on, FreeBSD went out of business and was taken over by BSDI who sell another troubled OS. Now BSDI is also dead, its corpse turned over to yet another charnel house.

All major surveys show that *BSD has steadily declined in market share. *BSD is very sick and its long term survival prospects are very dim. If *BSD is to survive at all it will be among OS dilettante dabblers. *BSD continues to decay. Nothing short of a miracle could save it at this point in time. For all practical purposes, *BSD is dead.

Fact: *BSD is dying

Insider's scoop: doc reveals What Killed FreeBSD

[Anonymous Coward]

The End of FreeBSD

[ed. note: in the following text, former FreeBSD developer Mike Smith gives his reasons for abandoning FreeBSD]

When I stood for election to the FreeBSD core team nearly two years ago, many of you will recall that it was after a long series of debates during which I maintained that too much organisation, too many rules and too much formality would be a bad thing for the project.

Today, as I read the latest discussions on the future of the FreeBSD project, I see the same problem; a few new faces and many of the old going over the same tired arguments and suggesting variations on the same worthless schemes. Frankly I'm sick of it.

FreeBSD used to be fun. It used to be about doing things the right way. It used to be something that you could sink your teeth into when the mundane chores of programming for a living got you down. It was something cool and exciting; a way to spend your spare time on an endeavour you loved that was at the same time wholesome and worthwhile.

It's not anymore. It's about bylaws and committees and reports and milestones, telling others what to do and doing what you're told. It's about who can rant the longest or shout the loudest or mislead the most people into a bloc in order to legitimise doing what they think is best. Individuals notwithstanding, the project as a whole has lost track of where it's going, and has instead become obsessed with process and mechanics.

So I'm leaving core. I don't want to feel like I should be "doing something" about a project that has lost interest in having something done for it. I don't have the energy to fight what has clearly become a losing battle; I have a life to live and a job to keep, and I won't achieve any of the goals I personally consider worthwhile if I remain obligated to care for the project.

Discussion

I'm sure that I've offended some people already; I'm sure that by the time I'm done here, I'll have offended more. If you feel a need to play to the crowd in your replies rather than make a sincere effort to address the problems I'm discussing here, please do us the courtesy of playing your politics openly.

From a technical perspective, the project faces a set of challenges that significantly outstrips our ability to deliver. Some of the resources that we need to address these challenges are tied up in the fruitless metadiscussions that have raged since we made the mistake of electing officers. Others have left in disgust, or been driven out by the culture of abuse and distraction that has grown up since then. More may well remain available to recruitment, but while the project is busy infighting our chances for successful outreach are sorely diminished.

There's no simple solution to this. For the project to move forward, one or the other of the warring philosophies must win out; either the project returns to its laid-back roots and gets on with the work, or it transforms into a super-organised engineering project and executes a brilliant plan to deliver what, ultimately, we all know we want.

Whatever path is chosen, whatever balance is struck, the choosing and the striking are the important parts. The current indecision and endless conflict are incompatible with any sort of progress.

Trying to dissect the above is far beyond the scope of any parting shot, no matter how distended. All I can really ask of you all is to let go of the minutiae for a moment and take a look at the big picture. What is the ultimate goal here? How can we get there with as little overhead as possible? How would you like to be treated by your fellow travellers?

Shouts

To the Slashdot "BSD is dying" crowd - big deal. Death is part of the cycle; take a look at your soft, pallid bodies and consider that right this very moment, parts of you are dying. See? It's not so bad.

To the bulk of the FreeBSD committerbase and the developer community at large - keep your eyes on the real goals. It's when you get distracted by the politickers that they sideline you. The tireless work that you perform keeping the system clean and building is what provides the platform for the obsessives and the prima donnas to have their moments in the sun. In the end, we need you all; in order to go forwards we must first avoid going backwards.

To the paranoid conspiracy theorists - yes, I work for Apple too. No, my resignation wasn't on Steve's direct orders, or in any way related to work I'm doing, may do, may not do, or indeed what was in the tea I had at lunchtime today. It's about real problems that the project faces, real problems that the project has brought upon itself. You can't escape them by inventing excuses about outside influence, the problem stems from within.

To the politically obsessed - give it a break, if you can. No, the project isn't a lemonade stand anymore, but it's not a world-spanning corporate juggernaut either and some of the more grandiose visions going around are in need of a solid dose of reality. Keep it simple, stupid.

To the grandstanders, the prima donnas, and anyone that thinks that they can hold the project to ransom for their own agenda - give it a break, if you can. When the current core were elected, we took a conscious stand against vigorous sanctions, and some of you have exploited that. A new core is going to have to decide whether to repeat this mistake or get tough. I hope they learn from our errors.

Future

I started work on FreeBSD because it was fun. If I'm going to continue, it has to be fun again. There are things I still feel obligated to do, and with any luck I'll find the time to meet those obligations.

However I don't feel an obligation to get involved in the political mess the project is in right now. I tried, I burnt out. I don't feel that my efforts were worthwhile. So I won't be standing for election, I won't be shouting from the sidelines, and I probably won't vote in the next round of ballots.

You could say I'm packing up my toys. I'm not going home just yet, but I'm not going to play unless you can work out how to make the project somewhere fun to be again.

= Mike

--

To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. -- Theodore Roosevelt

Buried

[Anonymous Coward]

My penis isn't very big. What should I do?

Facts about Fags

[Anonymous Coward]

• On April 25, 2001, the CDC reported that "We are seeing substantial increases in sexually transmitted diseases among men who have sex with men in multiple locations across this country."
• Fags are responsible for the "first sexually transmitted outbreak of typhoid fever" in the history of the United States. This disease is caused by ingesting human feces.
• More than 10% of fags in major U.S. urban areas are infected with HIV. To this day, they still make up more than 50% of reported AIDS cases in the United States.
• Fags fellate almost 100% of their sexual contacts and ingest semen from about half of those. Semen contains virtually every germ carried in the blood stream, so this is about equivalent to ingesting raw human blood.
• One study reports 70% of fags admitting to having sex only one time with over 50% of their partners.
• One study reports that the average fag has between 20 and 106 partners per year.The average heterosexual has 8 partners in a lifetime.
• Sperm readily penetrates the anal wall (which is only one cell thick) and gains direct access to the blood stream. This causes massive immunological damage to the body's T- and B-cell defensive systems.
• 50% of male syphilis is carried by fags as a rectal infection and can enter through the urethra of another fag during anal sex.
• Around 67-80% of fags lick and/or insert their tongues into the anuses of their partners (called "rimming", anilingus, fecal sex, etc.) and ingest biologically significant amounts of feces, which is the chief cause of hepatitis and parasitic infections among fags.This practice is called the "prime taste treat in sex" in the bestseller The Joy of Gay Sex.
• 33% of fags admit to fisting (inserting the hand, sometimes part of the arm, into the rectum of his partner).
• Urinating on each other ("golden showers") and torture has doubled among fags since the 1940s, and fisting has increased astronomically.
• 17% of fags eat and/or rub the feces of their partners on themselves .
• 12% of fags give/receive enemas as part of sexual pleasure .
• In one study, the average fag fellated somewhere between 20 and 106 men, swallowed 50 seminal discharges, had 72 penile penetrations of the anus, and ingested feces of 23 different men EVERY YEAR.
• Many fag sexual encounters occur while drunk, high on drugs, or in an orgy setting.
• Many fags don't pay heed to warnings of their lifestyles: "Knowledge of health guidelines was quite high, but this knowledge had no relation to sexual behavior".
• Activities of fags involve rimming (anilingus), golden showers, fisting, and using "toys".
• Fags got homosexuality removed from the list of mental illnesses in the early 70s by storming the annual American Psychiatric Association (APA) conference on successive years. "Guerrilla theater tactics and more straight-forward shouting matches characterized their presence". Since homosexuality has been removed from the APA list of mental illnesses, so has pedophilia (except when the adult feels "subjective distress").
• Fags account for 3-4% of all gonorrhea cases, 60% of all syphilis cases, and 17% of all hospital admissions (other than for STDs) in the United States.They make up only 1-2% of the population.
• Fags live unhealthy lifestyles, and have historically accounted for the bulk of syphilis, gonorrhea, Hepatitis B, the "gay bowel syndrome" (which attacks the intestinal tract), tuberculosis and cytomegalovirus.
• 73% of psychiatrists say fags are less happy than the average person, and of those psychiatrists, 70% say that the unhappiness is NOT due to social stigmatization.
• 25-33% of fags and dykes are alcoholics.
• Of fags questioned in one study, 43% admitted to 500 or more partners in a lifetime, 28% admitted to 1000 or more in a lifetime, and of these people, 79% said that half of those partners were total strangers, and 70% of those sexual contacts were one night stands (or, as one fag admits in the film "The Castro," one minute stands). Also, it is a favorite past-time of many fags to go to "cruisy areas" and have anonymous sex. See www.cruisingforsex.com (NOTE: this site may contain pornographic images - please don't go to it if you are under age or don't want to see this type of material. This site is referenced only for illustrative purposes.)
• 78% of fags are affected by STDs.
• Judge John Martaugh, chief magistrate of the New York City Criminal Court has said, "Homosexuals account for half the murders in large cities".
• Captain William Riddle of the Los Angeles Police says, "30,000 sexually abused children in Los Angeles were victims of homosexuals".
• 50% of suicides can be attributed to fags.
• Dr. Daniel Capron, a practicing psychiatrist, says, "Homosexuality by definition is not healthy and wholesome. The homosexual person, at best, will be unhappier and more unfulfilled than the sexually normal person". For other psychiatrists who believe that homosexuality is wrong, please see National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality.
• It takes approximately $300,000 to take care of each AIDS victim, so thanks to the promiscuous lifestyle of fags, medical insurance rates have been skyrocketing for all of us.
• One study reports that 90% of fags have engaged in anal sex, and 66% engage in anal sex regularly.
• Fags were responsible for spreading AIDS in the United States, and then raised up violent groups like Act Up and Ground Zero to complain about it. Even today, fags account for well over 50% of the AIDS cases in the United States, which is quite a large number considering that they account for only 1-2% of the population.
• Fags account for a disproportionate number of hepatitis cases: 70-80% in San Francisco, 29% in Denver, 66% in New York City, 56% in Toronto, 42% in Montreal, and 26% in Melbourne.
• 10% of fags admit to eating feces and/or drinking contaminated enema water.
• 29% of fags engage in urine sex ("golden showers").
• 37% of fags engage in sadomasochism, which accounts for many accidental deaths. In San Francisco, classes were held to teach fags how to not kill their partners during sadomasochism.
• In large cities, hospitals are often called on to remove objects from the rectums of fags. Sometimes, the fags do so much damage that they have to wear colostomy bags for the rest of their lives.
• 41% of fags say they have had sex with strangers in public restrooms, 60% say they have had sex with strangers in bathhouses, and 64% of these encounters have involved the use of illegal drugs.
• Depending on the city, 39-59% of fags are infected with intestinal parasites like worms, flukes and amoebae, which is common in filthy third world countries .
• The median age of death of fags is 42 (only 9% live past age 65). This drops to 39 if the cause of death is AIDS. The median age of death of a married heterosexual man is 75.
• The median age of death of dykes is 45 (only 24% live past age 65). The median age of death of a married heterosexual woman is 79.
• Fags are 100 times more likely to be murdered (usually by another fag) than the average person, 25 times more likely to commit suicide, and 19 times more likely to die in a traffic accident.
• 21% of dykes die of murder, suicide or traffic accident, which is at a rate of 534 times higher than the number of white heterosexual females aged 25-44 who die of these things.
• 50% of the calls to a hotline to report "queer bashing" involved domestic violence (i.e., fags beating up other fags).
• About 50% of the women on death row are dykes.

IN SOVIET RUSSIA

[Anonymous Coward]

Least loved employee works Christmas.

Re:IN SOVIET RUSSIA

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh wait...just a minute:

Christmas works least loved employee

-500 Off Topic

[sheepab]

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!