The major problem with Star Wars is the fact that George Lucas is poor writer and a mediocre director. He is however, an excellent ideas man. If he was to think of another movie plot and then delegated the bulk of the writing and directing, I think the resulting film would be quite good. But I am no longer willing to subject myself to anything written and directed by him.
FTA
"Ritek claims to not only have been able to produce a three-layer and four-layer HD optical discs, but to have successfully designed HD media with a full 10 layers."
"While those numbers do sound impressive, Ritek officials point out that the real barrier to this advancement is the lack of reader and writer laser diode technology to support the additional eight layers above the current standard."
I feel that the phrase I've highlighted kind of diminish their announcement. The summary implied to me that they were already able to prototype these new discs
This gets stated and restated on Slashdot all the time, usually by the same handful of people - but does anyone have any actual proof from anywhere that doesn't cater to a 15- to 25-year-old audience? It seems like yet another wikiality. Not proof, but I remember reading an essay about six years ago which described a number of internet based innovations developed by/for the porn industry. If I remeber correctly, they include things like streaming media and online commerce.
I define failed as "To cease functioning properly". Which is the correct definition based on the language used in the article
A capacitor which has, say, a 1 meg-ohm short that reads 25% below the value stamped on it with a lousy ESR would certainly be classified as "failed" by any reasonable capacitor-evaluating standard.
I qualify that statement using "begin to fail" or "fail to meet specification" neither phrases were used in the article.
Then I guess I have been lucky enough to have good parts, because most of the systems I play with run pretty much 24/7 with only the occasional power down. The only things that I've had stop working properly are drives and fans.
I'm curious as to how they calculate these numbers, I've never had a capacitor fail and I play with a fair number of boxes that are beyond their 3 year "average". Then again I've never used a Gigabyte board, so they may well have had a shoddy supplier at one point.
I'm inclined to agree that it is a dubious claim, considering the only picture shown in the article was an artistic impression of what it looked like whole. Also all the of the axial bifurcation mutations that I've seen on modern day reptiles tend to only have a short length from the point of divergence, where as this one appears to have two seperate necks as well as heads.
Just because they have a debilitating disease doesn't mean they aren't downloading infringing material. I know someone with Motor Neuron Disease and he can still use a computer well enough to use the intarwebs. (he has a wacky sensor on his head to operate the mouse)
Nowhere have I said that they would be compromised as badly as Windows. All I have stated is that you will have an increase in security issues. Besides which, my point is nothing is totally secure, if you can communicate out, someone can communicate in. It all depends on their level of commitment.
You are using Linux in a broader fashion than I would, considering there are over a hundred different distributions available. Let's say openSUSE replaces Windows as the dominant operating system, I think you'll find that the number times that they are "pwned" will increase significantly. If it's on a network then it's not secure, if someone really wants to screw with your systems then they will figure out how.
Only until other systems become prevalent enough to be viable targets, although having a diverse enough population will mean that fewer systems overall will be affected by any particular exploit.
You can a totally secure system. But it won't be doing much unplugged and locked up.
I agree that is likely not a cost saving ploy. However, I will maintain my skeptism until they begin rolling out a distribution. It is possible that they may end up maintaining the status quo, because it's even cheaper to not upgrade.
At one of my previous jobs I had to install and setup a piece of specialised teaching software, and quite a number of large organisations were sitting on very old Windows installations.
But, I like I said, I hope it goes through and doesn't get shot down by some vocal minority.
Although I am a little bit skeptical about news that states large organisations will be switching to open source. I recall similar a story in Australia, in which Telstra (IIRC) was going to switch to Linux until M$ offered them below normal pricing.
Except your argument is flawed, based on the fact that NWN was a standalone game that had the ability to be multiplayer.
They only charged extra for expansions and after the Hordes of the Underdark expansion they moved to a online expansion model and only charged $8-10 for new expansions.
And you could always play on one of the community based servers or download a free module, some of which were better than those provided by Bioware.
I will end up buying NWN2, but not until I upgrade my hardware. My only gripe is the high system specification.
For institutions that are responsible for vast quantities of peoples money, some of the security policies they implement are really quite strange. For example, the bank I use, even before they brought in the annoying virtual keyboard, had a six character alpha-numeric limit on there passwords. Very bizarre considering that you enter in your customer id which is a ten character string.
Although, on the plus side it has made me extra paranoid about all online transactions. So now any site where I am involved in a finacial transaction has different passwords and anything that gets cached is cleared out of my system as soon as I am done.
Isn't it life of the artist + 50 years. Which means you can live off your 1955 royalties till the day you die and still have your grandchildren receiving royalties.
If any number of them were going to jump ship, wouldn't they just create a new distribution. They could recruit people from the Fedora team, Trustix Secure Linux, and Ubuntu.
I'd call it STFU linux.
It was up sporadically during those ten hours, and I was able to actually get through the checkout at hour nine. Of course, I'd pre-prepared my list of purchase because I knew that their servers would crash. Just like when Virgin Airlines offered a limited number of $1 flights in some promotion they had.
Think about it, you access websites based on search engines or from provided links, both of which will provide you with a context of what should be on the site. That will give you enough reason to query the powers that be over the listing, besides there are enough proxy servers around that you can get to any website even if your ISP is blocking that domain.
From the description of what the ISPs have opted into, I don't see too many problems with it. However, there should be some way of being able to review who is on the blacklist and why, so there is some recourse for sites that are listed without actually violating any laws.
Slashdot Mirror
The major problem with Star Wars is the fact that George Lucas is poor writer and a mediocre director. He is however, an excellent ideas man. If he was to think of another movie plot and then delegated the bulk of the writing and directing, I think the resulting film would be quite good. But I am no longer willing to subject myself to anything written and directed by him.
FTA
"Ritek claims to not only have been able to produce a three-layer and four-layer HD optical discs, but to have successfully designed HD media with a full 10 layers."
"While those numbers do sound impressive, Ritek officials point out that the real barrier to this advancement is the lack of reader and writer laser diode technology to support the additional eight layers above the current standard."
I feel that the phrase I've highlighted kind of diminish their announcement. The summary implied to me that they were already able to prototype these new discs
This gets stated and restated on Slashdot all the time, usually by the same handful of people - but does anyone have any actual proof from anywhere that doesn't cater to a 15- to 25-year-old audience? It seems like yet another wikiality. Not proof, but I remember reading an essay about six years ago which described a number of internet based innovations developed by/for the porn industry. If I remeber correctly, they include things like streaming media and online commerce.
I qualify that statement using "begin to fail" or "fail to meet specification" neither phrases were used in the article.
Then I guess I have been lucky enough to have good parts, because most of the systems I play with run pretty much 24/7 with only the occasional power down. The only things that I've had stop working properly are drives and fans.
I'm curious as to how they calculate these numbers, I've never had a capacitor fail and I play with a fair number of boxes that are beyond their 3 year "average". Then again I've never used a Gigabyte board, so they may well have had a shoddy supplier at one point.
I could have sworn Cheney shot an 87 year old man in the face.
It's fine, they'll keep "landing" probes on Mars. That will take care of any pesky Martians.
I'm inclined to agree that it is a dubious claim, considering the only picture shown in the article was an artistic impression of what it looked like whole. Also all the of the axial bifurcation mutations that I've seen on modern day reptiles tend to only have a short length from the point of divergence, where as this one appears to have two seperate necks as well as heads.
Just because they have a debilitating disease doesn't mean they aren't downloading infringing material. I know someone with Motor Neuron Disease and he can still use a computer well enough to use the intarwebs. (he has a wacky sensor on his head to operate the mouse)
Nowhere have I said that they would be compromised as badly as Windows. All I have stated is that you will have an increase in security issues. Besides which, my point is nothing is totally secure, if you can communicate out, someone can communicate in. It all depends on their level of commitment.
You are using Linux in a broader fashion than I would, considering there are over a hundred different distributions available. Let's say openSUSE replaces Windows as the dominant operating system, I think you'll find that the number times that they are "pwned" will increase significantly. If it's on a network then it's not secure, if someone really wants to screw with your systems then they will figure out how.
Only until other systems become prevalent enough to be viable targets, although having a diverse enough population will mean that fewer systems overall will be affected by any particular exploit.
You can a totally secure system. But it won't be doing much unplugged and locked up.
I agree that is likely not a cost saving ploy. However, I will maintain my skeptism until they begin rolling out a distribution. It is possible that they may end up maintaining the status quo, because it's even cheaper to not upgrade.
At one of my previous jobs I had to install and setup a piece of specialised teaching software, and quite a number of large organisations were sitting on very old Windows installations.
But, I like I said, I hope it goes through and doesn't get shot down by some vocal minority.
Although I am a little bit skeptical about news that states large organisations will be switching to open source. I recall similar a story in Australia, in which Telstra (IIRC) was going to switch to Linux until M$ offered them below normal pricing.
Except your argument is flawed, based on the fact that NWN was a standalone game that had the ability to be multiplayer.
They only charged extra for expansions and after the Hordes of the Underdark expansion they moved to a online expansion model and only charged $8-10 for new expansions.
And you could always play on one of the community based servers or download a free module, some of which were better than those provided by Bioware.
I will end up buying NWN2, but not until I upgrade my hardware. My only gripe is the high system specification.
For institutions that are responsible for vast quantities of peoples money, some of the security policies they implement are really quite strange. For example, the bank I use, even before they brought in the annoying virtual keyboard, had a six character alpha-numeric limit on there passwords. Very bizarre considering that you enter in your customer id which is a ten character string.
Although, on the plus side it has made me extra paranoid about all online transactions. So now any site where I am involved in a finacial transaction has different passwords and anything that gets cached is cleared out of my system as soon as I am done.
Isn't it life of the artist + 50 years. Which means you can live off your 1955 royalties till the day you die and still have your grandchildren receiving royalties.
If any number of them were going to jump ship, wouldn't they just create a new distribution. They could recruit people from the Fedora team, Trustix Secure Linux, and Ubuntu.
I'd call it STFU linux.
--
Sometimes people are as stupid as they look.
It was up sporadically during those ten hours, and I was able to actually get through the checkout at hour nine. Of course, I'd pre-prepared my list of purchase because I knew that their servers would crash. Just like when Virgin Airlines offered a limited number of $1 flights in some promotion they had.
Graphs and pretty pictures in a presentation. If you don't need to use a projector then it isn't important enough.
Think about it, you access websites based on search engines or from provided links, both of which will provide you with a context of what should be on the site. That will give you enough reason to query the powers that be over the listing, besides there are enough proxy servers around that you can get to any website even if your ISP is blocking that domain.
It hasn't only been Family First. Blocking legislation has been pushed by various politians from all the parties.
From the description of what the ISPs have opted into, I don't see too many problems with it. However, there should be some way of being able to review who is on the blacklist and why, so there is some recourse for sites that are listed without actually violating any laws.
Or you could read the arstechnica article from October when this news first appeared on Slashdot