Personally, I agree with you - I much prefere to be able to defend myself against anybody, instead of having to rely on the state to do so.
However, look at the numbers. The number of gun deaths/injuries as a percentage of the population is still a LOT lower in the UK than in the US.
The reasoning is simple. Less guns = less injuries through guns.
I have to admit that I find the whole problem somewhat perplexing myself. On the one hand, Germany (where I live) simply doesn't have a gun problem (it's really hard to get a gun here), and as a result everybody feels a lot safer. On the other hand, I lived in the US for a few years, and liked the idea of being armed.
On the whole, much as I like a warm gun, I think it's better not to allow them. Germany simply does feel safer and nicer than the US, possibly because people trust each other more.
Personally, I loathe advertising. Spam is just another form of that. Filtering out all that trash bothers me a *lot*.
And yes, it is expensive. My parents live in South Africa, downloading their email through a little 56K modem (which rarely hits over 9600, thanks to the lousy ISP). They pay per KB and per minute. Think they don't mind "just pressing delete"? I'm lucky - I sit in Germany with an unlimited DSL line - and it *still* bothers me. Spam is on the verge of making my accounts unusable.
Bah. You sound a little like that idiot I read who called himself "all-american free-speech spammer".
What to buy instead for all this money? Why, weapons of course! Heck, with all that cash you could have bought another two or three stealth fighters! Wow! What a deal!
Okay, I won't start ranting. But it *is* idiotic. Imagine if the US didn't build yet another worthless aircraft carrier. With the money saved, you could have a permanent moonbase, well funded for the next 100 years.
It's lovely. I write a lot, and that little metal fold-out keyboard goes great with my Handspring. Since it's a BW-screen (and uses plain AAA batteries which are easily replacable), I get lots of mileage out of it.
All my addresses are on it. All my telephone numbers. A couple of books (Jack London!). I even use the calendar. And the calculator (a lot!).
If you have one of these CE-toys with a permanently backlit color screen and x MB of RAM, no wonder you can only use it for an hour or so before it goes belly-up.
Oh man, this opens memories for me. "Creative Computing" was *great*, I spent a lot of time in the library of the university (yeah, okay, I'm old), reading every single issue.
And "(More) BASIC Computer Games!" It's what got me started in programming. I even converted the "Sub War" game to run on a Univac 1100/11 - fun!
Another great mag from that time was "ZX Computing" - about the Sinclair ZX Spectrum (what you 'merkins know as the 'Timex Sinclair'). Great, and I even managed to convert some of the (graphic!) games from there onto the text-only output of the Univac 1100/11.
Back then, you could read these issues from cover to cover and walk away with lots of new thoughts and ideas. Today, you just get a bunch of adverts, and even the last bastion (in Germany), the "c't", is turning into a kind of mush. Sad, really.
Ciao, Klaus
PS: David Ahl, my favourite editor, is now selling insurance? Oh, how the mighty have fallen;(
And the reason it'll fail...
on
Airborne Mouse
·
· Score: 1
...is called 'Gorilla Arm'. Why do you think general-purpose touch-screens didn't catch on? Holding your hand out in front of you for extended periods of time is painful and not at all ergonomical. Your arm quickly feels heavy, hairy and painful. Thus 'gorilla arm'.
For presentations, okay. Highly specialized niches, okay. But ordinary work? No way.
I bought the game "No One Lives Forever 2", and love it. What I didn't like was the idea of always needing the CD in the drive (not only do I have a LOT of games, and don't always want to look for the CD, but some copy protections actually slow the game down, as in "Morrowind"). So it took me all of five minutes to find a crack on the net, apply it (it was already for the 1.1 patch, too!), and shelf my CD.
You know, there were some books from a german publisher (for example, "Frau Meier reist weiter" from Manfred Schmidt), which actually had a single advertising page in the middle.
Am I the only one who is sick of advertising? The major reason I don't have a TV is the adverts (I like watching movies, and view them on DVD/DivX on my PC). The reason I don't use the radio is adverts. The reason I don't read most magazines (well, next to the junky content) is adverts.
Maybe I'm just overly sensitive, but ads simply PISS ME OFF. Aimed at the lowest common denominator, people seem to take for granted that other people will see them as morons.
Yes, I realize adding that garbage to games is just name branding, but it also irritates me badly. I guarantee that I WILL NOT, under any circumstances, buy a game with adverts in it. It's already very bad with movies, but as I play a lot more games than view movies, I refuse to have my games polluted.
You say sooner or later all games will have ads? Well, I guess I won't buy them, then. There are some very good games out right now, and it'll do me good to read (even) more:)
Which is why we use RAID 0+1 arrays in our (big) PCs. And we have a second RAID 0+1 system for the PCs, which we hook up to make a backup and then carry off-site.
I can't think of any other way to make proper backups, either. Not unless you truly wish to spend massive amounts of money.
Look, I'm sorry, but I can't seem to get excited about this. It's just a TV show. TV. That thing taking over your life and melting your brains out your ears while bombarding you with ads. TV.
Do yourself a favour - get rid of that thing. I don't own a TV, haven't even watched TV anywhere for the past few years. I'm much happier coding or even playing games - keeps me more mentally activa than that garbage on TV.
Can we drop these articles?
on
Upcoming Cyberwars
·
· Score: 1, Insightful
Personally, I am getting tired of hearing about this "cyber-terrorism". You know it's nonsense. I know it's nonsense. It's simply another idiocy spewed by the cabal ruling the US, another area where they will spread violence and prohibitions, another area where humongous amounts of money will be spent.
Please, let's just drop this. Let's not make it news when somebody Up Top yet again talks about it with furrowed brow. Cyber-terrorism is ridiculous. It hasn't happened yet, and you can't convince me that there are any real signs of it happening in the near future.
The only thing that will happen is that vast amounts of money will be spent without result. Again.
> 1. Supports subselects > 2. Supports views > 3. Supports triggers > 4. Supports stored procs > 5. Does most the things that everyone takes for granted with a decent db server
Strange. Am I missing something, or am I just dumb? Firebird (open source version of Interbase from Borland) does all that, and does it well. It runs on Unix, Linux and Windoze (yes, some people need that), works very nice and fast, is reliable, costs exactly nothing, and I use it in quite a few real-world applications.
How come I never hear of it on Slashdot? Have a look at http://sourceforge.net/projects/firebird/
Leave the US. It's imploding anyway, and there are plenty of well-paying opportunities in other countries, which will also not brand you a 'terrorist' for fiddling and learning.
Me, I went from California to Germany, and I'm very happy. Feel free to look at Europe (Ireland or UK for english-only speakers), Australia (also english) or the pacific rim.
Are you willing to risk life imprisonment and/or major harassment from the state? I know I'm not.
Really. Leave. It's only going downhill from here. Perhaps in the near future, you won't be allowed to leave ("Removing vital knowledge from US soil - terrorist")
Umm... could we perhaps stop this political correctness thing here on Slashdot? They're not "Visually Impaired", they're "Blind". Even the article speaks of them as blind.
And yes, there are varying degrees of blindness (ranging from my slight color-blindness to full-out zero), but please, please, let's stop this PC garbage right here.
Slashdot Mirror
Personally, I agree with you - I much prefere to be able to defend myself against anybody, instead of having to rely on the state to do so.
However, look at the numbers. The number of gun deaths/injuries as a percentage of the population is still a LOT lower in the UK than in the US.
The reasoning is simple. Less guns = less injuries through guns.
I have to admit that I find the whole problem somewhat perplexing myself. On the one hand, Germany (where I live) simply doesn't have a gun problem (it's really hard to get a gun here), and as a result everybody feels a lot safer.
On the other hand, I lived in the US for a few years, and liked the idea of being armed.
On the whole, much as I like a warm gun, I think it's better not to allow them. Germany simply does feel safer and nicer than the US, possibly because people trust each other more.
Ciao,
Klaus
Sorry, but *that* was marked up as 'Interesting'?
Personally, I loathe advertising. Spam is just another form of that. Filtering out all that trash bothers me a *lot*.
And yes, it is expensive. My parents live in South Africa, downloading their email through a little 56K modem (which rarely hits over 9600, thanks to the lousy ISP). They pay per KB and per minute. Think they don't mind "just pressing delete"?
I'm lucky - I sit in Germany with an unlimited DSL line - and it *still* bothers me. Spam is on the verge of making my accounts unusable.
Bah. You sound a little like that idiot I read who called himself "all-american free-speech spammer".
Ciao,
Klaus
Well, apparently the Slashdot quote for the day is working for you :)
(Quote has now changed - when I read this first, it was "The human race has one really effective weapon, and that is laughter. -- Mark Twain")
Ciao,
Klaus
*whimper*
:(
:)
Not in the European version
But I got a ticket already anyway
What to buy instead for all this money?
Why, weapons of course! Heck, with all that cash you could have bought another two or three stealth fighters! Wow! What a deal!
Okay, I won't start ranting. But it *is* idiotic. Imagine if the US didn't build yet another worthless aircraft carrier. With the money saved, you could have a permanent moonbase, well funded for the next 100 years.
Bah.
Ciao,
Klaus
This article was worth it just for the reference to The Devils IT Dictionary. Didn't see it before; great fun!
Ciao, Klaus
It's lovely. I write a lot, and that little metal fold-out keyboard goes great with my Handspring. Since it's a BW-screen (and uses plain AAA batteries which are easily replacable), I get lots of mileage out of it.
All my addresses are on it. All my telephone numbers. A couple of books (Jack London!). I even use the calendar. And the calculator (a lot!).
If you have one of these CE-toys with a permanently backlit color screen and x MB of RAM, no wonder you can only use it for an hour or so before it goes belly-up.
Oh man, this opens memories for me. "Creative Computing" was *great*, I spent a lot of time in the library of the university (yeah, okay, I'm old), reading every single issue.
;(
And "(More) BASIC Computer Games!" It's what got me started in programming. I even converted the "Sub War" game to run on a Univac 1100/11 - fun!
Another great mag from that time was "ZX Computing" - about the Sinclair ZX Spectrum (what you 'merkins know as the 'Timex Sinclair'). Great, and I even managed to convert some of the (graphic!) games from there onto the text-only output of the Univac 1100/11.
Back then, you could read these issues from cover to cover and walk away with lots of new thoughts and ideas.
Today, you just get a bunch of adverts, and even the last bastion (in Germany), the "c't", is turning into a kind of mush. Sad, really.
Ciao,
Klaus
PS: David Ahl, my favourite editor, is now selling insurance? Oh, how the mighty have fallen
...is called 'Gorilla Arm'.
Why do you think general-purpose touch-screens didn't catch on? Holding your hand out in front of you for extended periods of time is painful and not at all ergonomical.
Your arm quickly feels heavy, hairy and painful. Thus 'gorilla arm'.
For presentations, okay. Highly specialized niches, okay. But ordinary work? No way.
"Transce*dental*"? You mean, like, he has lost his teeth?
That would explain it.
I bought the game "No One Lives Forever 2", and love it. What I didn't like was the idea of always needing the CD in the drive (not only do I have a LOT of games, and don't always want to look for the CD, but some copy protections actually slow the game down, as in "Morrowind").
So it took me all of five minutes to find a crack on the net, apply it (it was already for the 1.1 patch, too!), and shelf my CD.
So, what exactly is that new protection worth?
Ugh. A typical american idea: let's start producing throw-away windows, made of plastic!
Sorry, had a bad day. Still irritates me, though.
You know, there were some books from a german publisher (for example, "Frau Meier reist weiter" from Manfred Schmidt), which actually had a single advertising page in the middle.
Of course I tore it out.
Am I the only one who is sick of advertising?
:)
The major reason I don't have a TV is the adverts (I like watching movies, and view them on DVD/DivX on my PC). The reason I don't use the radio is adverts. The reason I don't read most magazines (well, next to the junky content) is adverts.
Maybe I'm just overly sensitive, but ads simply PISS ME OFF. Aimed at the lowest common denominator, people seem to take for granted that other people will see them as morons.
Yes, I realize adding that garbage to games is just name branding, but it also irritates me badly. I guarantee that I WILL NOT, under any circumstances, buy a game with adverts in it. It's already very bad with movies, but as I play a lot more games than view movies, I refuse to have my games polluted.
You say sooner or later all games will have ads? Well, I guess I won't buy them, then. There are some very good games out right now, and it'll do me good to read (even) more
Ciao,
Klaus
Exactly.
Which is why we use RAID 0+1 arrays in our (big) PCs. And we have a second RAID 0+1 system for the PCs, which we hook up to make a backup and then carry off-site.
I can't think of any other way to make proper backups, either. Not unless you truly wish to spend massive amounts of money.
Ciao,
Klaus
Look, I'm sorry, but I can't seem to get excited about this. It's just a TV show. TV. That thing taking over your life and melting your brains out your ears while bombarding you with ads. TV.
Do yourself a favour - get rid of that thing. I don't own a TV, haven't even watched TV anywhere for the past few years. I'm much happier coding or even playing games - keeps me more mentally activa than that garbage on TV.
Personally, I am getting tired of hearing about this "cyber-terrorism". You know it's nonsense. I know it's nonsense.
It's simply another idiocy spewed by the cabal ruling the US, another area where they will spread violence and prohibitions, another area where humongous amounts of money will be spent.
Please, let's just drop this. Let's not make it news when somebody Up Top yet again talks about it with furrowed brow. Cyber-terrorism is ridiculous. It hasn't happened yet, and you can't convince me that there are any real signs of it happening in the near future.
The only thing that will happen is that vast amounts of money will be spent without result. Again.
Ciao,
Klaus
...the phrase "patently ridiculous".
I've always wondered where that came from.
Ciao,
Klaus
...a beowolf cluster of your furniture. ...sorry :)
Ciao,
Klaus
> 1. Supports subselects
> 2. Supports views
> 3. Supports triggers
> 4. Supports stored procs
> 5. Does most the things that everyone takes for granted with a decent db server
Strange. Am I missing something, or am I just dumb? Firebird (open source version of Interbase from Borland) does all that, and does it well. It runs on Unix, Linux and Windoze (yes, some people need that), works very nice and fast, is reliable, costs exactly nothing, and I use it in quite a few real-world applications.
How come I never hear of it on Slashdot?
Have a look at http://sourceforge.net/projects/firebird/
Ciao,
Klaus
Well, obviously it didn't work for you. ;)
The secret is to shave your head at the spots where the electrodes sit, and make you look like a dork
Won't it be fun to fly in the New America?
Ciao,
Klaus
Leave the US.
It's imploding anyway, and there are plenty of well-paying opportunities in other countries, which will also not brand you a 'terrorist' for fiddling and learning.
Me, I went from California to Germany, and I'm very happy. Feel free to look at Europe (Ireland or UK for english-only speakers), Australia (also english) or the pacific rim.
Are you willing to risk life imprisonment and/or major harassment from the state? I know I'm not.
Really. Leave. It's only going downhill from here. Perhaps in the near future, you won't be allowed to leave ("Removing vital knowledge from US soil - terrorist")
Ciao,
Klaus
Thanks, gold old US of A! The first fully artificial virus comes from your labs, too!
I'm sure you'll only use this for humanitarian reasons, and your very safe bioweapon labs will make sure that none of its ilk will ever escape.
Right? Right.
Man, every day I'm glad that I don't live there anymore...
Ciao,
Klaus
Umm... could we perhaps stop this political correctness thing here on Slashdot? They're not "Visually Impaired", they're "Blind".
Even the article speaks of them as blind.
And yes, there are varying degrees of blindness (ranging from my slight color-blindness to full-out zero), but please, please, let's stop this PC garbage right here.
Thanks.
Ciao,
Klaus
Hmmm... what about Firebird? (http://sourceforge.net/projects/firebird/)
We use it a lot, and are very happy - both with the functionality, and with the speed. Stable, too. And free. And open. Runs in Windoze and Linux.
What more would you want?
Ciao,
Klaus