In the age of widescreen displays, why in the world do they want to waste more of my precious vertical viewing plane with pictures?
My company's switch to Office 2007 nearly a year ago is still bringing groans from my coworkers (who by the way are engineers in their 20-30s for the most part). We love new things, and we love improvements; we abhor inefficiency and "stupid pretty things". If we wanted eye candy, we'd get a Mac.
I guess I should read more about their "clear benefits", because we are obviously missing them!
Back in high school (~2001) I used to help out with this "Komputers-4-Kids" project sponsored by Junior Achievement.
Basically, we got a bunch of donated old computers (donated by companies, etc) and replaced all the malfunctioning parts until we had a nice group of working, cleaned, usable computers with freshly-installed OSes. Computers were given to low-income families/poor schools, and we volunteers got to learn tons about all the different types of hardware inside computers from that age.
The best part was that it was totally hands-off on the part of the people in charge. They just stacked piles of parts for us to wade through. My boyfriend, my brother, and I (a few other people here and there) organized all the parts and repairs ourselves. All the business end was taken care of, so it was just a nice nerdy Saturday hangout sorta thing.
My brother and I later volunteered at a nearby low-income school near our high school (the principle was a family friend) and completely redid their network/maintained the computer system, etc. They went from 10 computers using Win 95 to ~100 with Windows 2000 by the time I was a senior in high school. All that I learned from those days really helped me later in life--got me many well-paying side jobs and opened my eyes at a young age to the world of technology.
So guys, bring your sisters along to those nerdy volunteering things you find, because you never know... they just might really pick up on it like I did!
-What measures would you support on the state and/or federal level to enhance K-12 science, math, & engineering-geared education?
-Given that recently, the government stopped subsidizing student loans for graduate students...
How would your administration help encourage research & continued education in colleges/universities (undergrad AND grad school)?
-Would your research initiatives refuse funding for programs such as stem-cell research that some religious groups find immoral?
And by the way:
Don't think it's just minorities getting those need-based loans... my family & I paid for every bit of my engineering education via subsidized student loans + unsubsidized parent loans. There's no other way to pay for >$100k in 4 years.
It IS pandering, because she's completely inexperienced and very typical of what chauvenists think women should be: mothers, supermodels, lightly involved with community, etc... but NOT the leaders of society.
She's like McCain's wife, something pretty to stand next to him on stage. She's no better than a 2nd "First Lady."
Many guys think these stories are "anecdotal," but similar one are really quite common--I know cause I have female friends of really very different sorts, both from my engineering classes and my earlier school days.
All the girls I know in AE and ME (ie not many) were taken to science museums, etc at a young age and shown the world of engineering without discrimination. The girls I know who had lives more like mine (forced art & dance lessons) all ended up unsure about what to do with themselves or in the "women-OK" liberal arts/medical fields. The smarter ones ask me lots of questions about my field though--it's a totally unknown world to them! They are genuinely interested, but it's the great unknown to them. Knowing the people I've met throughout my years, I can't believe that women are "inherently" different from men.
Speaking of children... Just yesterday, my cousin came over with her daughter's new baby, and thus I ended up holding a baby for the first time in my life. Let me tell you, I'd rather hold the cats or my 80lb dog! In a way I feel an obligation to have kids, but I certainly have 0 desire to get that started any time soon... luckily I'm in my early 20s and have plenty of time to decide.
It's not that women have different interests based on some physical differences (there are all different types of women you know!), it's really that we're coached into certain things from a very young age.
From day 1, I was given pink things and dolls just because I'm female. Yes--day 1, and that IS societal coaching. I actually did pull the hair out of my dolls. Once, when my mother painted my nails, my brother insisted his should be painted also (he was 3 or 4 then, and got blue). Even when I played with my brother's toys more than mine (Legos or Ninja Turtles action figures were my favorite), no one got the hint. My favorite shows were Garfield and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles... SO feminine, I know. My brother and I played video games and went to weekly art classes together.
I was always the highest scoring Mathlete in my school, president of Mu Alpha Theta, got the highest grades in Science classes, etc when I was younger, yet my parents/teachers/everyone always highlighted my art talent and said I should become an architect or artist! Meanwhile, they encouraged my brother to do things far from art because people would doubt his sexuality or some BS like that.
When I mentioned I wanted to join the Navy and be an engineer on a submarine, my dad laughed heartily and said that women aren't allowed on submarines: "I can just see it now--it'd be pink and they'd be doing their hair and nails all day!" I've *still* never gone to a salon to get my "nails done," and I have no freakin' clue what they do at spas either.
Good thing I don't listen to any of those wonderful "mentors" though--just finished my AE degree and got a great job with an engineering company.
Forcing women into science if they are not interested, or keeping men out because of a need to meet quotas for female enrollment, doesn't suddenly cause women to be interested in those fields.
Every person (both male and female) I know who went into engineering without really knowing what it meant switched very quickly. Most of the fields within science & engineering are very rigorous, and no doubt the students have to be very motivated to deal with the coursework. Quotas show just how out of touch government employees are with our world of technology.
The best way to get more women into science & engineering is to stop discriminating against your daughters and start showing them how to fix the car/boat/computer! Take them on nature hikes, to visit prominent companies' factories, to museums and air shows. Show them how to program if that's your thing... just stop assuming what they like or don't like. Even if they don't seem interested at first, they're more open to the idea of wondering how things work/can be improved... and that's the basis for interest in science & engineering.
The only racists I have ever met have been black, Mexican (ie, 1st or 2nd generation American inhabitants), and Asian (Chinese and Japanese). I once heard of a crazy motherfucker named Dewey, who was always talking about killing niggers, but he's the exception to the rule, and was chastised and shunned as a result.
Read this Katrina relief forum
or comments to any online article about the poor, and then decide if white people are not (also) racist. It's prejudice to say that any group is more racist, and I've heard horrible things from all sides! It all depends on where you are and who you meet. I can't read comments on any newspaper site without encountering horribly disgusting racism. You must know some great people, because I've met *so* many racist people here (FL/GA/LA). Or perhaps many white people are just too chicken to speak the words in public--instead they rely on the veil of secrecy provided by online forums. It'd be great if more of the general populace could learn some empathy.
Pardon the lame analogy, but if I own a pizza restaurant, and serve horrible pizzas, does that justify people stealing pizzas from me? Better analogy: a bookstore allows people to come in, read through books at their leisure, perhaps buy one once in a while. No sales people standing around to bother you & get you moving. Ever heard of such a store? Hmm?
I knew many kids that spent hours and hours in Barnes and Noble (and many adults only a few minutes) before buying anything. I personally have read parts of several books without buying those particular books, while sampling/buying others, etc... It's just a different (read: more friendly) way of approaching sales. I remember once going into a Borders and trying to do the same thing--sit down and flip through a couple books I was thinking of buying--and was practically thrown out of the store. I never went back!
As Radiohead, NIN, etc who have turned to alternative business models have shown, fans WILL send money if they think your product is worth paying for. Recording companies need to re-evaluate what their products are -actually- worth according to the consumer. Every single computer I've ever "fixed" for friends/family/coworkers has had some kind of bittorent/Limewire-esque app on it. Obviously the population of consumers is trying to tell the recording industry something!
Do you still believe you don't owe tax in that situation after reading the following?:
Use Tax and Consumption Use tax complements and is applied in the same manner as sales tax. The use tax rate and sales tax rate are the same, including discretionary sales surtax, if applicable. Use tax is due on purchases made out of state and brought into Florida within 6 months of the purchase date. Also, if you purchase a product tax-exempt that you plan to sell at retail, but end up using it at your place of business, the "use" of the product is subject to tax. If you purchase materials that are "consumed" in a manufacturing process to create your end product but are not part of the end product, those materials are subject to tax. The "use" component of the sales and use tax provides uniform taxation on items that are purchased outside Florida but are used or stored in the state. If the item brought into Florida is subject to tax, a credit for lawfully imposed taxes paid to another state, a U.S. territory, or the District of Columbia is permitted. Credit is not given for taxes paid to another country. They don't levy taxes automatically online, but you're expected to pay up quarterly. I had no idea this rule/law existed until a few days ago, but here's my source for that quote:
http://dor.myflorida.com/dor/taxes/sales_tax.html
It's already done in FL. It's called a "use tax," defined as follows:
Use Tax and Consumption
Use tax complements and is applied in the same manner as sales tax. The use tax rate and sales tax rate are the same, including discretionary sales surtax, if applicable. Use tax is due on purchases made out of state and brought into Florida within 6 months of the purchase date. Also, if you purchase a product tax-exempt that you plan to sell at retail, but end up using it at your place of business, the "use" of the product is subject to tax. If you purchase materials that are "consumed" in a manufacturing process to create your end product but are not part of the end product, those materials are subject to tax.
The "use" component of the sales and use tax provides uniform taxation on items that are purchased outside Florida but are used or stored in the state. If the item brought into Florida is subject to tax, a credit for lawfully imposed taxes paid to another state, a U.S. territory, or the District of Columbia is permitted. Credit is not given for taxes paid to another country.
You are expected to send in any tax that wasn't already levied when you purchase something online, in quarterly installments with a document. About half the people from FL I've talked to so far knew about this... not sure how long it's been around, but I just found out about it.
The Orlando Sentinel had a story that they ran where it compared things Obama said outside of Florida to things he said while in Florida. Hm I thought he "didn't campaign" in FL. Can you get a link to that Orlando Sentinel story? It'd be great to send off to some Obama-trolls.
But something else is important to remember everyone: the president cannot legislate, only Congress can. So everything requires the approval of Congress for funding, etc, and Obama would simply be initiating the discussion on these topics.
This is going to stop what kind of crime? Are they going to spot bank robbers in their hideout planning to rob banks? Are they going to stop illegals from going to work? What exactly are they planning to stop?
Where I'm from, helicopters are used all the time to prevent police chases (ie tell other cops where to cut the runaway car off) and track criminals running on foot away from crimes (burglaries, hit-and-runs accidents, etc etc). There are plenty of times that criminals run! In fact, they almost always do. And then there's the chase through the neighborhoods and watching the canals/lakes for hours via helicopter. Helicopters are *much* louder than this little thing, with what looks like a 2-stroke model helicopter-type engine.
And the other problem with using manned helicopters in these situations is that, especially at night or in poor weather, this puts the pilots (and people below) at risk. They're flying outside of the Dead Man's Curve, meaning that they cannot safely autorotate to the ground if something happens to their aircraft (say, engine failure). Plus, full helicopters and pilots are more expensive, as I said louder, and take much longer to get to a scene than a portable MAV like this one.
I see all sorts of benefits for the police from my "cop's daughter" perspective. And trust me, a lot more happens in Miami than just simple drug busts! Look up the murder rate sometime, or how about that missing children number.
And one final thing... when did everyone start referring to illegal aliens as "illegals"? It drives me mad. As if they're not people or something! "Aliens" is bad enough, etc, but plenty of my friends growing up either were or had parents who were illegally here (Miami area). And they've got tons of money, own homes & cars, and contribute to society just as everyone else here does. They'd even pay taxes if you'd give them the chance!
I'm going to start tuning into more car chase coverage on the news if those drones are packing a pair of hellfires!
Yes, yes... I'm sure they'll be unarmed, or at least the ones they show you up close. RTFA. The thing is only 18.5 lb when fully loaded with fuel, and that wiki you link to says Hellfires are at least 99lb, with >18lb warheads. The weight alone doesn't make sense... remember this thing flies/hovers.
More like "Landing airliner collides with drone. 400 dead. Including 10 on the ground. The drone was mistakenly armed with nuclear weapons and exploded when the drone crashed, killing 50,000 more". I think dropping tear gas capsules would be a lot more likely than sending off missiles/nuclear arms anyways.
And this thing is "designed to fly between ground level and 500 ft," which tells me that it'll be rather easy to keep away from light aircraft. Sure, it can go up to 10,500 ft in optimal conditions, but what good would that do? That'd be an enormous amount of climbing time for such a small vehicle, wasting tons of fuel. Especially in the heat of Miami, they'll probably keep it as low as possible. A 747 or some such large passenger aircraft, weighing between 735,000 and 970,000 lb, would probably suffer minimal damage if it ran into something like this anyways. I believe they still do the frozen chicken tests during engine design.
Here's a more informative video and website: video website
I hate the idea of this thing buzzing around, and it sure is ugly, but I think it's silly to think they'll throw it in front of light aircraft, which is the only way you'd really hit it... assuming only the police are using the drone. If some media/photography groups get a hold of this, sure it'll become a huge issue as it'll be everywhere and anywhere without warning. More likely it'll be infringing on your personal space rather than aircraft (ie back yard, parks, shopping areas). But given the crowd down in Miami, unless it's bullet-proof, it won't last very long.
That's the most unconvincing, biased list of anything I've seen in ages!
First of all, I'm a fourth-year student at a big engineering university. When everyone asks me what I think of my school & major... my answer is always the following:
I love my major, but the workload is constant, so that gets difficult. It's just that--difficult to keep up! The assignments are (80%) fair... *rarely* plug-and-chug "math" problems, most professors do seem to care (only one I had really did not care), and the subject is interesting to me, so I think it's all worth it in the end. Counseling here is horrible (my Co-op advisor told me to switch to ME back in freshman year just because of the job market in my field), but that hasn't stopped me from landing several high-paying/interesting internships and jobs!
Plus, everyone I know who's in school for engineering has the distinct goal of a certain $$ starting salary. We all know we'll have jobs when we graduate if we do -decently- (talking a whopping 3.0 minimum for most companies), so I think the GPA difference is taken into consideration. Sure, none of us have lives here. Sure, there are "no" girls here. But in the end, I have an offer months in advance of my graduation (like many of my friends) with a starting salary above the average household income of the area I'm moving to! That, to me, is enough to validate all this craziness. From what I hear, the job itself will be similar to this lifestyle anyways, so like someone else mentioned... it's good to get used to it!
And by the way, I've had lots of great books in my curriculum... a few bad, usually those that were written by the professor here though. I hate the flashier Econ/Business book style... as engineering texts they'd be wasted paper with pictures and things unnecessary for real mathematical approaches. How silly would it be to have a controls book with big colorful pictures of masses, springs, and dampers? Anyways, I suppose it takes an engineering type of person to appreciate the engineering courses!
IANAL, so all I can do is hope that the Constitution actually means something to those overpaid ISP exec's and in the end (whatever lawyering that can be done) they realize customers are actually people with rights.
I remember the days of lots of options for ISPs, and I think it's about time these giants making much more money off the crap internet service they give us feel some pain from giving away innocent people's sensitive information.
After all, the "government" stealing all this information is made up mostly not of people like you and me... it's made up of people like the cops on the highway with radar guns and the secretaries at your least favorite doctor's office. I definitely don't want them knowing every little thing about me.
Hm I suppose you MAY have missed the article that came out (from the Wall Street Journal no less) that talked about a huge NSA spying program, which includes -everyone- in the city of Detroit, everyone they talked to, among millions of other people whose emails, etc got flagged by some NSA program. I'd link but their site requires subscription. The NSA pulled bank, phone, credit card, etc records for millions of innocent individuals and shared them with many other government agencies.
This type of government-funded, classified-budget project, plus all the other recent revelations about warrant-less wiretapping (demanded by the Bush administration officials on account of their terrorist-finding programs) amounts to a huge case against the Bush administration itself. If the administration had not demanded the info, which is illegal itself thanks to the Constitution, the ISPs would not have had to give up info... not that they had to, and doing so was also illegal IMHO. Anyways you can't possibly say it was only the ISP's fault without acknowledging the government was giving them hell in the meantime.
I personally dual-boarded a Ryan-Air jet on my way to Ireland from Frankfurt-Hahn a few years ago, and no they didn't have double the staff (again, Ryan Air). We all went through the ramp entrance to verify tickets, and some of us boarded from the back by going down stairs from the ramp and up stairs to the plane, if I remember correctly.
I imagine that if we had assigned seats, and something like the typical boarding style mirrored was used, it could've been a very quick process. Of course Ryan Air is quite special in that people line up based on check-in time, and in one big mass group wander towards the ticket people and then wander in smaller masses through the ramp to the plane... but that's just one airline's way of doing it.
Great, give our elections to the Russians. Oh please. Igor Sikorsky was an immigrant like Einstein, Wernher von Braun, and many others who contributed greatly to our nation's science & technology. Of all the locations the company has, NONE are in Russia.
Man, the prejudice. Check some facts before you go spewing BS slander out on the web... or just say you're a Republican, and we'll know not to listen in the first place! We know Republicans hate immigrants....
Anyways, even if Sikorsky were a Russian company, UTC is about as Northeastern & American as you can get, and each of its little companies is completely separate. Sikorsky Aircraft doesn't even work all that much with Pratt & Whitney... they often use foreign/GE/Rolls-Royce engines in their helicopters (ie Black Hawk, Sea Hawk). According to their website: The US government paid out $6.4bill to UTC in 2006 alone... so I think we're safe with them being in charge of the elections. In fact, UTC was "Named 'Best Managed Big Company in America' [conglomerates] (Forbes, 2007)," so maybe they can hire some people to get those damn machines to work! Hopefully Diebold won't hurt UTC in the end... I wouldn't be too surprised if UTC dropped the elections part of the company.
Go to some nearby/preferred universities that care about computing/programming, and talk to the career-advising departments about possible interviews/co-op/internship programs. It's like a free sample, practically, considering most companies pay $10-15/hr for co-op's/interns the first time around (exception for expensive areas I suppose). I'll never forget when my university "adviser" told me that I should switch to Mechanical Engineering because there were no jobs in Aerospace (much like the "all programming is going to India" problem), and here I am now with more than 2 offers and the possibility of interesting grad school research. Let students know that jobs are out there, or this will be a bigger problem in the future! I found my company via co-op'ing by the way, as did nearly all my friends in my major.
Or, like Lockheed does, go to the campus and set up a "challenge" event--go to the school and offer prizes for students solving a programming challenge like one you face. Students like competition & free stuff (please NOT pizza). Not sure what overhead something like that requires, but just another idea.
Or maybe they have something like an "Engineering/computing week" or a "Career Fair" where students come and hand you resumes while you sit at a decorated booth. Anyways, I think most campuses that have good candidates try to put them out there. Use their resources.
Same here. I moved into a small house with my boyfriend, and we already get free (somewhat reliable) internet from a small business across the street, so we had absolutely no reason/desire to pay for a cable line here. For the last few years, I'd been using MythTV to block out the commercials and only record shows I liked, so it was odd when the first few Fridays came along and I had no pile of Daily Show/Mythbusters/etc episodes to watch. I got over it pretty quickly though... I spend more time with my newly-adopted dog and doing things around the house.
Really, there are so many reasons using the internet & a projector for information/amusement is better than watching TV, but here are a few that I noticed:
1. On the internet, it's easier to control what I see/focus on.
I control the direction of my attention by clicking only on things I'm interested in... I'm not constantly forced into some particular sequence of footage/information by a large corporation.
Ad blockers both in Firefox and on my router turn ads into errors, which are easy to ignore. Ads on the internet in general (usually) are off to the side anyways, so it's not like having to watch commercials for 5 minutes just to see the last 20 seconds of some show that sucks anyways.
2. Quality of news is much better, with a little work on my part.
The "sound byte" mentality is gone on online news sources... stories without decent information are plainly obvious, and with a few clicks and some typing I can get the -whole- story about whatever's going on. Plus I generally check a few different news sources... say the NY Times, my local paper, Slashdot, etc to get different sets of news, if I have time. I can see news in any language I want, about anywhere, etc. In general, it takes minutes instead of hours to get the news I want.
3. It's not flashy and disruptive, and it's naturally "paused".
Compared to regular cable/satellite/broadcast without a TiVo/MythTV sort of setup, it's much easier to casually surf the 'net while interacting with other people than it is to watch TV while actually holding conversations. I agree that there are some similarities between the dead-pan look we kids have in front of the computer as compared to the look older generations have seen for years in front of the TV, but the internet is actually less captivating and time-consuming IMHO without requiring some thinking and input... hey, at least you're thinking instead of just sitting and being fed corporate crap. Pausing internet games/online shows/news broadcasts isn't such a big deal, everyone can do it, and the internet games are less intense than video games, etc. anyways. I've seen TV shows start verbal fights because someone interrupts, but I've never seen something like that with the internet.
4. Projectors/cheaper alternatives + movies provides a much more efficient & higher quality entertainment option
We recently got a projector here and watched so many movies in the last few months, backtracking through the years of movies that I never saw. I was amazed at the quality of movies compared to the quality of TV shows. When it's just as hard to acquire either, you realize quickly that movies are a much better option! They're more concise, less melo-dramatic, and generally more tasteful, because one movie is the complete work and has much more money put into it (in general) compared to a similar TV episode. It's actually quite amusing to see older versions of newer movies, if you run out of new ones to watch and can't find anything better to do. I also noticed that we invite people over much more often now to watch on our "big screen" (ie white wall)... movies are much more of a social thing.
Anyways, I hope more people in America wake up and realize that TVs are not necessary for survival... I know it's hard to be productive at home when everyone works until really late every night and comes home tired, etc (Ive been there), but it's something our culture needs to get over.
I was born and raised in (South) Florida, and even my Catholic Schools (forget the public school system) taught evolution! I'm only 21, so that wasn't all too long ago, either. My teachers saved the religious BS for "Religion"/"Theology"/etc whatever they wanted to call it, and "Science" was indeed Science. The teachers were pretty crazy about some things, but they didn't let that get in the way of real education...I remember once they made a fellow teacher quit because she re-married without an annulment. I also remember once in Science (8th grade) I had to show my teacher how to draw/use a graph, because she'd forgotten...but at least they didn't deny major theories.
I think the main problem with the public school system in FL is lack of truly qualified teachers (and 'qualified' parents also). I've heard of a few of my former classmates "going into teaching", and let me tell you, it makes me want to home school!
I hardly ever see someone my age walking around with bare ears--nearly everyone listens to music while walking. So are these directed sounds going to be loud enough to cover the rap and rock that most young people listen to?
And then there are those wonderful Bose noise-canceling headphones (though they DO allow most human voices to go through). Hopefully those will keep the ads away. If not, I'm sure these ridiculous ads will spur a new line of headphones that specifically -make sure- that the ads stay out of your ears. Sound is much easier to block than...say...billboards/other visuals.
How many people really believe ads anyways? Are they REALLY that effective? I can see a few ads here and there... but the more intrusive ones really just turn me off to the company. I know I'll make a point never to buy a product that gets injected into my ears.
Actually, that's probably the best way to get these ads off the street: just tell everyone who complains about the ad to stop buying the product. Eventually, the news will filter up, and other marketing agencies (hopefully) will learn that it's not even worth implementing. Until then, noise canceling headphones + music for me.
It's not just people who buy $500 laptops. I was feeling desperate when my 5+ year old Toshiba laptop video card finally died in August, so I went and bought a Sony Vaio VGN-650N (go look it up for price and specs). Not ONLY was it loaded with bloatware from Sony that drove me insane, but it also made me wait minutes upon minutes for ANYTHING to happen. I uninstalled all the 3rd party programs I didn't need and even turned off Aero, and "Computer" would take freakin forever to open! And yes, I turned off Aero because it's useless, and it still used 1GB of RAM constantly--ie even while I was doing nothing! It annoys me that my battery power and hard drive/processor/RAM usage are going towards Windows just -existing- let alone me actually using it. I know myself that mechanical pieces degrade with usage, and it's just plain common sense that constant usage will make them degrade faster over time. Anyways... Even in the laptop's "Speed" mode, or the highest performance setting modes, etc., it would skip during movies, make me wait a while for simple explorer windows to load, and often Explorer (or whatever it was called... Ive switched back to XP by now) would crash completely! (Explorer needs to restart or something of that nature was the error I think.) Winamp + visualizations that I used on my previous computer completely crashed the system and made me boot into safe mode, etc.
Also, upon resuming from Sleep mode, Vista liked to resize my screen so that there was an inch and a half of plan BLACK (ie no picture at all) on both the left and right side. It actually did this about 80% of the times I resumed from Sleep, which is quite interesting I think.
One more thing: connecting to Georgia Tech's Lawn network was a NIGHTMARE. Everything was set as needed... even told it to connect to non-broadcasting networks, etc... I really tried everything, because I KNEW that Sony REFUSED to support XP at all, and I wanted to get my freaking $2500 laptop to work! Every time, connecting to the wireless network took AT LEAST 10-15 minutes. I would sit through a good fraction of the class just waiting to get to my class notes. Between classes, I just gave up on my laptop and went to a computer lab! What a waste! Half the time, if I actually needed to get SOMETHING DONE... ie work... I would use my boyfriend's budget $800 HP laptop that came with XP.
Oh, and of course there were the annoying "are you sure..." "please confirm..." etc dialog boxes that repeatedly annoyed the hell outa me, but that wasn't the worst of it.
Since XP's on here (no thanks to Sony) I can connect to wireless networks in SECONDS, there's no lag on my movies/programs/etc opening, and I havent crashed ANYTHING, as usual. The one issue, of course, is that SONY wont provide XP drivers OR allow for the installation of similar hardware drivers on this computer (suppose I need to find a crack for their "checking your system" sequence during the driver install.) Luckily I've been able to find almost all the drivers I need, but that is only because Intel, etc have them on their respective non-MS, non-Sony websites.
So PLEASE, don't think that everyone has enjoyed Vista who has put good money into decent systems. I would love to get my wasted Vista money back.
Alright, so which distribution would you put on a Sony Vaio VGN-SZ650N laptop, and do you really think that it would work correctly?
It has a hybrid hard drive system and a hybrid graphics system (there's a mechanical switch), which I would have to get full use of while in Linux.
I've had the laptop for about a week, and I'm dying to get rid of this crap Vista, but driver issues for the above hardware are going to be a nightmare! Sony won't even give me XP drivers for it.
Anyways I just may return it within my 14 day period because of how annoying Vista has been and Sony's lack of even XP drivers... but I will miss the occasionally-decent performance and 3.75lb laptop so much if I do.
Slashdot Mirror
In the age of widescreen displays, why in the world do they want to waste more of my precious vertical viewing plane with pictures?
My company's switch to Office 2007 nearly a year ago is still bringing groans from my coworkers (who by the way are engineers in their 20-30s for the most part). We love new things, and we love improvements; we abhor inefficiency and "stupid pretty things". If we wanted eye candy, we'd get a Mac.
I guess I should read more about their "clear benefits", because we are obviously missing them!
Back in high school (~2001) I used to help out with this "Komputers-4-Kids" project sponsored by Junior Achievement.
Basically, we got a bunch of donated old computers (donated by companies, etc) and replaced all the malfunctioning parts until we had a nice group of working, cleaned, usable computers with freshly-installed OSes. Computers were given to low-income families/poor schools, and we volunteers got to learn tons about all the different types of hardware inside computers from that age.
The best part was that it was totally hands-off on the part of the people in charge. They just stacked piles of parts for us to wade through. My boyfriend, my brother, and I (a few other people here and there) organized all the parts and repairs ourselves. All the business end was taken care of, so it was just a nice nerdy Saturday hangout sorta thing.
My brother and I later volunteered at a nearby low-income school near our high school (the principle was a family friend) and completely redid their network/maintained the computer system, etc. They went from 10 computers using Win 95 to ~100 with Windows 2000 by the time I was a senior in high school. All that I learned from those days really helped me later in life--got me many well-paying side jobs and opened my eyes at a young age to the world of technology.
So guys, bring your sisters along to those nerdy volunteering things you find, because you never know... they just might really pick up on it like I did!
-What measures would you support on the state and/or federal level to enhance K-12 science, math, & engineering-geared education?
-Given that recently, the government stopped subsidizing student loans for graduate students... How would your administration help encourage research & continued education in colleges/universities (undergrad AND grad school)?
-Would your research initiatives refuse funding for programs such as stem-cell research that some religious groups find immoral?
And by the way: Don't think it's just minorities getting those need-based loans... my family & I paid for every bit of my engineering education via subsidized student loans + unsubsidized parent loans. There's no other way to pay for >$100k in 4 years.
It IS pandering, because she's completely inexperienced and very typical of what chauvenists think women should be: mothers, supermodels, lightly involved with community, etc... but NOT the leaders of society. She's like McCain's wife, something pretty to stand next to him on stage. She's no better than a 2nd "First Lady."
Many guys think these stories are "anecdotal," but similar one are really quite common--I know cause I have female friends of really very different sorts, both from my engineering classes and my earlier school days.
All the girls I know in AE and ME (ie not many) were taken to science museums, etc at a young age and shown the world of engineering without discrimination. The girls I know who had lives more like mine (forced art & dance lessons) all ended up unsure about what to do with themselves or in the "women-OK" liberal arts/medical fields. The smarter ones ask me lots of questions about my field though--it's a totally unknown world to them! They are genuinely interested, but it's the great unknown to them. Knowing the people I've met throughout my years, I can't believe that women are "inherently" different from men.
Speaking of children... Just yesterday, my cousin came over with her daughter's new baby, and thus I ended up holding a baby for the first time in my life. Let me tell you, I'd rather hold the cats or my 80lb dog! In a way I feel an obligation to have kids, but I certainly have 0 desire to get that started any time soon... luckily I'm in my early 20s and have plenty of time to decide.
It's not that women have different interests based on some physical differences (there are all different types of women you know!), it's really that we're coached into certain things from a very young age.
From day 1, I was given pink things and dolls just because I'm female. Yes--day 1, and that IS societal coaching. I actually did pull the hair out of my dolls. Once, when my mother painted my nails, my brother insisted his should be painted also (he was 3 or 4 then, and got blue). Even when I played with my brother's toys more than mine (Legos or Ninja Turtles action figures were my favorite), no one got the hint. My favorite shows were Garfield and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles... SO feminine, I know. My brother and I played video games and went to weekly art classes together.
I was always the highest scoring Mathlete in my school, president of Mu Alpha Theta, got the highest grades in Science classes, etc when I was younger, yet my parents/teachers/everyone always highlighted my art talent and said I should become an architect or artist! Meanwhile, they encouraged my brother to do things far from art because people would doubt his sexuality or some BS like that.
When I mentioned I wanted to join the Navy and be an engineer on a submarine, my dad laughed heartily and said that women aren't allowed on submarines: "I can just see it now--it'd be pink and they'd be doing their hair and nails all day!" I've *still* never gone to a salon to get my "nails done," and I have no freakin' clue what they do at spas either.
Good thing I don't listen to any of those wonderful "mentors" though--just finished my AE degree and got a great job with an engineering company.
Forcing women into science if they are not interested, or keeping men out because of a need to meet quotas for female enrollment, doesn't suddenly cause women to be interested in those fields.
Every person (both male and female) I know who went into engineering without really knowing what it meant switched very quickly. Most of the fields within science & engineering are very rigorous, and no doubt the students have to be very motivated to deal with the coursework. Quotas show just how out of touch government employees are with our world of technology.
The best way to get more women into science & engineering is to stop discriminating against your daughters and start showing them how to fix the car/boat/computer! Take them on nature hikes, to visit prominent companies' factories, to museums and air shows. Show them how to program if that's your thing... just stop assuming what they like or don't like. Even if they don't seem interested at first, they're more open to the idea of wondering how things work/can be improved... and that's the basis for interest in science & engineering.
The only racists I have ever met have been black, Mexican (ie, 1st or 2nd generation American inhabitants), and Asian (Chinese and Japanese). I once heard of a crazy motherfucker named Dewey, who was always talking about killing niggers, but he's the exception to the rule, and was chastised and shunned as a result.
Read this Katrina relief forum or comments to any online article about the poor, and then decide if white people are not (also) racist. It's prejudice to say that any group is more racist, and I've heard horrible things from all sides! It all depends on where you are and who you meet. I can't read comments on any newspaper site without encountering horribly disgusting racism. You must know some great people, because I've met *so* many racist people here (FL/GA/LA). Or perhaps many white people are just too chicken to speak the words in public--instead they rely on the veil of secrecy provided by online forums. It'd be great if more of the general populace could learn some empathy.
I knew many kids that spent hours and hours in Barnes and Noble (and many adults only a few minutes) before buying anything. I personally have read parts of several books without buying those particular books, while sampling/buying others, etc... It's just a different (read: more friendly) way of approaching sales. I remember once going into a Borders and trying to do the same thing--sit down and flip through a couple books I was thinking of buying--and was practically thrown out of the store. I never went back!
As Radiohead, NIN, etc who have turned to alternative business models have shown, fans WILL send money if they think your product is worth paying for. Recording companies need to re-evaluate what their products are -actually- worth according to the consumer. Every single computer I've ever "fixed" for friends/family/coworkers has had some kind of bittorent/Limewire-esque app on it. Obviously the population of consumers is trying to tell the recording industry something!
Use tax complements and is applied in the same manner as sales tax. The use tax rate and sales tax rate are the same, including discretionary sales surtax, if applicable. Use tax is due on purchases made out of state and brought into Florida within 6 months of the purchase date. Also, if you purchase a product tax-exempt that you plan to sell at retail, but end up using it at your place of business, the "use" of the product is subject to tax. If you purchase materials that are "consumed" in a manufacturing process to create your end product but are not part of the end product, those materials are subject to tax. The "use" component of the sales and use tax provides uniform taxation on items that are purchased outside Florida but are used or stored in the state. If the item brought into Florida is subject to tax, a credit for lawfully imposed taxes paid to another state, a U.S. territory, or the District of Columbia is permitted. Credit is not given for taxes paid to another country. They don't levy taxes automatically online, but you're expected to pay up quarterly. I had no idea this rule/law existed until a few days ago, but here's my source for that quote: http://dor.myflorida.com/dor/taxes/sales_tax.html
You are expected to send in any tax that wasn't already levied when you purchase something online, in quarterly installments with a document. About half the people from FL I've talked to so far knew about this... not sure how long it's been around, but I just found out about it.
But something else is important to remember everyone: the president cannot legislate, only Congress can. So everything requires the approval of Congress for funding, etc, and Obama would simply be initiating the discussion on these topics.
Where I'm from, helicopters are used all the time to prevent police chases (ie tell other cops where to cut the runaway car off) and track criminals running on foot away from crimes (burglaries, hit-and-runs accidents, etc etc). There are plenty of times that criminals run! In fact, they almost always do. And then there's the chase through the neighborhoods and watching the canals/lakes for hours via helicopter. Helicopters are *much* louder than this little thing, with what looks like a 2-stroke model helicopter-type engine.
And the other problem with using manned helicopters in these situations is that, especially at night or in poor weather, this puts the pilots (and people below) at risk. They're flying outside of the Dead Man's Curve, meaning that they cannot safely autorotate to the ground if something happens to their aircraft (say, engine failure). Plus, full helicopters and pilots are more expensive, as I said louder, and take much longer to get to a scene than a portable MAV like this one.
I see all sorts of benefits for the police from my "cop's daughter" perspective. And trust me, a lot more happens in Miami than just simple drug busts! Look up the murder rate sometime, or how about that missing children number.
And one final thing... when did everyone start referring to illegal aliens as "illegals"? It drives me mad. As if they're not people or something! "Aliens" is bad enough, etc, but plenty of my friends growing up either were or had parents who were illegally here (Miami area). And they've got tons of money, own homes & cars, and contribute to society just as everyone else here does. They'd even pay taxes if you'd give them the chance!
Yes, yes... I'm sure they'll be unarmed, or at least the ones they show you up close. RTFA. The thing is only 18.5 lb when fully loaded with fuel, and that wiki you link to says Hellfires are at least 99lb, with >18lb warheads. The weight alone doesn't make sense... remember this thing flies/hovers. More like "Landing airliner collides with drone. 400 dead. Including 10 on the ground. The drone was mistakenly armed with nuclear weapons and exploded when the drone crashed, killing 50,000 more". I think dropping tear gas capsules would be a lot more likely than sending off missiles/nuclear arms anyways.
And this thing is "designed to fly between ground level and 500 ft," which tells me that it'll be rather easy to keep away from light aircraft. Sure, it can go up to 10,500 ft in optimal conditions, but what good would that do? That'd be an enormous amount of climbing time for such a small vehicle, wasting tons of fuel. Especially in the heat of Miami, they'll probably keep it as low as possible. A 747 or some such large passenger aircraft, weighing between 735,000 and 970,000 lb, would probably suffer minimal damage if it ran into something like this anyways. I believe they still do the frozen chicken tests during engine design.
Here's a more informative video and website:
video
website
I hate the idea of this thing buzzing around, and it sure is ugly, but I think it's silly to think they'll throw it in front of light aircraft, which is the only way you'd really hit it... assuming only the police are using the drone. If some media/photography groups get a hold of this, sure it'll become a huge issue as it'll be everywhere and anywhere without warning. More likely it'll be infringing on your personal space rather than aircraft (ie back yard, parks, shopping areas). But given the crowd down in Miami, unless it's bullet-proof, it won't last very long.
That's the most unconvincing, biased list of anything I've seen in ages!
First of all, I'm a fourth-year student at a big engineering university.
When everyone asks me what I think of my school & major... my answer is always the following:
I love my major, but the workload is constant, so that gets difficult. It's just that--difficult to keep up! The assignments are (80%) fair... *rarely* plug-and-chug "math" problems, most professors do seem to care (only one I had really did not care), and the subject is interesting to me, so I think it's all worth it in the end. Counseling here is horrible (my Co-op advisor told me to switch to ME back in freshman year just because of the job market in my field), but that hasn't stopped me from landing several high-paying/interesting internships and jobs!
Plus, everyone I know who's in school for engineering has the distinct goal of a certain $$ starting salary. We all know we'll have jobs when we graduate if we do -decently- (talking a whopping 3.0 minimum for most companies), so I think the GPA difference is taken into consideration.
Sure, none of us have lives here. Sure, there are "no" girls here. But in the end, I have an offer months in advance of my graduation (like many of my friends) with a starting salary above the average household income of the area I'm moving to! That, to me, is enough to validate all this craziness. From what I hear, the job itself will be similar to this lifestyle anyways, so like someone else mentioned... it's good to get used to it!
And by the way, I've had lots of great books in my curriculum... a few bad, usually those that were written by the professor here though. I hate the flashier Econ/Business book style... as engineering texts they'd be wasted paper with pictures and things unnecessary for real mathematical approaches. How silly would it be to have a controls book with big colorful pictures of masses, springs, and dampers? Anyways, I suppose it takes an engineering type of person to appreciate the engineering courses!
IANAL, so all I can do is hope that the Constitution actually means something to those overpaid ISP exec's and in the end (whatever lawyering that can be done) they realize customers are actually people with rights. I remember the days of lots of options for ISPs, and I think it's about time these giants making much more money off the crap internet service they give us feel some pain from giving away innocent people's sensitive information. After all, the "government" stealing all this information is made up mostly not of people like you and me... it's made up of people like the cops on the highway with radar guns and the secretaries at your least favorite doctor's office. I definitely don't want them knowing every little thing about me.
Hm I suppose you MAY have missed the article that came out (from the Wall Street Journal no less) that talked about a huge NSA spying program, which includes -everyone- in the city of Detroit, everyone they talked to, among millions of other people whose emails, etc got flagged by some NSA program. I'd link but their site requires subscription. The NSA pulled bank, phone, credit card, etc records for millions of innocent individuals and shared them with many other government agencies.
This type of government-funded, classified-budget project, plus all the other recent revelations about warrant-less wiretapping (demanded by the Bush administration officials on account of their terrorist-finding programs) amounts to a huge case against the Bush administration itself. If the administration had not demanded the info, which is illegal itself thanks to the Constitution, the ISPs would not have had to give up info... not that they had to, and doing so was also illegal IMHO. Anyways you can't possibly say it was only the ISP's fault without acknowledging the government was giving them hell in the meantime.
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/n/national_security_agency/index.html?inline=nyt-org
I personally dual-boarded a Ryan-Air jet on my way to Ireland from Frankfurt-Hahn a few years ago, and no they didn't have double the staff (again, Ryan Air). We all went through the ramp entrance to verify tickets, and some of us boarded from the back by going down stairs from the ramp and up stairs to the plane, if I remember correctly.
I imagine that if we had assigned seats, and something like the typical boarding style mirrored was used, it could've been a very quick process. Of course Ryan Air is quite special in that people line up based on check-in time, and in one big mass group wander towards the ticket people and then wander in smaller masses through the ramp to the plane... but that's just one airline's way of doing it.
Man, the prejudice. Check some facts before you go spewing BS slander out on the web... or just say you're a Republican, and we'll know not to listen in the first place! We know Republicans hate immigrants....
Anyways, even if Sikorsky were a Russian company, UTC is about as Northeastern & American as you can get, and each of its little companies is completely separate. Sikorsky Aircraft doesn't even work all that much with Pratt & Whitney... they often use foreign/GE/Rolls-Royce engines in their helicopters (ie Black Hawk, Sea Hawk). According to their website: The US government paid out $6.4bill to UTC in 2006 alone... so I think we're safe with them being in charge of the elections. In fact, UTC was "Named 'Best Managed Big Company in America' [conglomerates] (Forbes, 2007)," so maybe they can hire some people to get those damn machines to work! Hopefully Diebold won't hurt UTC in the end... I wouldn't be too surprised if UTC dropped the elections part of the company.
For young blood:
Go to some nearby/preferred universities that care about computing/programming, and talk to the career-advising departments about possible interviews/co-op/internship programs. It's like a free sample, practically, considering most companies pay $10-15/hr for co-op's/interns the first time around (exception for expensive areas I suppose). I'll never forget when my university "adviser" told me that I should switch to Mechanical Engineering because there were no jobs in Aerospace (much like the "all programming is going to India" problem), and here I am now with more than 2 offers and the possibility of interesting grad school research. Let students know that jobs are out there, or this will be a bigger problem in the future! I found my company via co-op'ing by the way, as did nearly all my friends in my major.
Or, like Lockheed does, go to the campus and set up a "challenge" event--go to the school and offer prizes for students solving a programming challenge like one you face. Students like competition & free stuff (please NOT pizza). Not sure what overhead something like that requires, but just another idea.
Or maybe they have something like an "Engineering/computing week" or a "Career Fair" where students come and hand you resumes while you sit at a decorated booth. Anyways, I think most campuses that have good candidates try to put them out there. Use their resources.
Same here. I moved into a small house with my boyfriend, and we already get free (somewhat reliable) internet from a small business across the street, so we had absolutely no reason/desire to pay for a cable line here. For the last few years, I'd been using MythTV to block out the commercials and only record shows I liked, so it was odd when the first few Fridays came along and I had no pile of Daily Show/Mythbusters/etc episodes to watch. I got over it pretty quickly though... I spend more time with my newly-adopted dog and doing things around the house.
Really, there are so many reasons using the internet & a projector for information/amusement is better than watching TV, but here are a few that I noticed:
1. On the internet, it's easier to control what I see/focus on. I control the direction of my attention by clicking only on things I'm interested in... I'm not constantly forced into some particular sequence of footage/information by a large corporation. Ad blockers both in Firefox and on my router turn ads into errors, which are easy to ignore. Ads on the internet in general (usually) are off to the side anyways, so it's not like having to watch commercials for 5 minutes just to see the last 20 seconds of some show that sucks anyways.
2. Quality of news is much better, with a little work on my part. The "sound byte" mentality is gone on online news sources... stories without decent information are plainly obvious, and with a few clicks and some typing I can get the -whole- story about whatever's going on. Plus I generally check a few different news sources... say the NY Times, my local paper, Slashdot, etc to get different sets of news, if I have time. I can see news in any language I want, about anywhere, etc. In general, it takes minutes instead of hours to get the news I want.
3. It's not flashy and disruptive, and it's naturally "paused". Compared to regular cable/satellite/broadcast without a TiVo/MythTV sort of setup, it's much easier to casually surf the 'net while interacting with other people than it is to watch TV while actually holding conversations. I agree that there are some similarities between the dead-pan look we kids have in front of the computer as compared to the look older generations have seen for years in front of the TV, but the internet is actually less captivating and time-consuming IMHO without requiring some thinking and input... hey, at least you're thinking instead of just sitting and being fed corporate crap. Pausing internet games/online shows/news broadcasts isn't such a big deal, everyone can do it, and the internet games are less intense than video games, etc. anyways. I've seen TV shows start verbal fights because someone interrupts, but I've never seen something like that with the internet.
4. Projectors/cheaper alternatives + movies provides a much more efficient & higher quality entertainment option We recently got a projector here and watched so many movies in the last few months, backtracking through the years of movies that I never saw. I was amazed at the quality of movies compared to the quality of TV shows. When it's just as hard to acquire either, you realize quickly that movies are a much better option! They're more concise, less melo-dramatic, and generally more tasteful, because one movie is the complete work and has much more money put into it (in general) compared to a similar TV episode. It's actually quite amusing to see older versions of newer movies, if you run out of new ones to watch and can't find anything better to do. I also noticed that we invite people over much more often now to watch on our "big screen" (ie white wall)... movies are much more of a social thing.
Anyways, I hope more people in America wake up and realize that TVs are not necessary for survival... I know it's hard to be productive at home when everyone works until really late every night and comes home tired, etc (Ive been there), but it's something our culture needs to get over.
Hey, now...
I was born and raised in (South) Florida, and even my Catholic Schools (forget the public school system) taught evolution! I'm only 21, so that wasn't all too long ago, either. My teachers saved the religious BS for "Religion"/"Theology"/etc whatever they wanted to call it, and "Science" was indeed Science. The teachers were pretty crazy about some things, but they didn't let that get in the way of real education...I remember once they made a fellow teacher quit because she re-married without an annulment. I also remember once in Science (8th grade) I had to show my teacher how to draw/use a graph, because she'd forgotten...but at least they didn't deny major theories.
I think the main problem with the public school system in FL is lack of truly qualified teachers (and 'qualified' parents also). I've heard of a few of my former classmates "going into teaching", and let me tell you, it makes me want to home school!
I hardly ever see someone my age walking around with bare ears--nearly everyone listens to music while walking. So are these directed sounds going to be loud enough to cover the rap and rock that most young people listen to?
And then there are those wonderful Bose noise-canceling headphones (though they DO allow most human voices to go through). Hopefully those will keep the ads away. If not, I'm sure these ridiculous ads will spur a new line of headphones that specifically -make sure- that the ads stay out of your ears. Sound is much easier to block than...say...billboards/other visuals.
How many people really believe ads anyways? Are they REALLY that effective? I can see a few ads here and there... but the more intrusive ones really just turn me off to the company. I know I'll make a point never to buy a product that gets injected into my ears.
Actually, that's probably the best way to get these ads off the street: just tell everyone who complains about the ad to stop buying the product. Eventually, the news will filter up, and other marketing agencies (hopefully) will learn that it's not even worth implementing. Until then, noise canceling headphones + music for me.
It's not just people who buy $500 laptops.
I was feeling desperate when my 5+ year old Toshiba laptop video card finally died in August, so I went and bought a Sony Vaio VGN-650N (go look it up for price and specs).
Not ONLY was it loaded with bloatware from Sony that drove me insane, but it also made me wait minutes upon minutes for ANYTHING to happen. I uninstalled all the 3rd party programs I didn't need and even turned off Aero, and "Computer" would take freakin forever to open! And yes, I turned off Aero because it's useless, and it still used 1GB of RAM constantly--ie even while I was doing nothing! It annoys me that my battery power and hard drive/processor/RAM usage are going towards Windows just -existing- let alone me actually using it. I know myself that mechanical pieces degrade with usage, and it's just plain common sense that constant usage will make them degrade faster over time.
Anyways...
Even in the laptop's "Speed" mode, or the highest performance setting modes, etc., it would skip during movies, make me wait a while for simple explorer windows to load, and often Explorer (or whatever it was called... Ive switched back to XP by now) would crash completely! (Explorer needs to restart or something of that nature was the error I think.) Winamp + visualizations that I used on my previous computer completely crashed the system and made me boot into safe mode, etc.
Also, upon resuming from Sleep mode, Vista liked to resize my screen so that there was an inch and a half of plan BLACK (ie no picture at all) on both the left and right side. It actually did this about 80% of the times I resumed from Sleep, which is quite interesting I think.
One more thing: connecting to Georgia Tech's Lawn network was a NIGHTMARE. Everything was set as needed... even told it to connect to non-broadcasting networks, etc... I really tried everything, because I KNEW that Sony REFUSED to support XP at all, and I wanted to get my freaking $2500 laptop to work! Every time, connecting to the wireless network took AT LEAST 10-15 minutes. I would sit through a good fraction of the class just waiting to get to my class notes. Between classes, I just gave up on my laptop and went to a computer lab! What a waste! Half the time, if I actually needed to get SOMETHING DONE... ie work... I would use my boyfriend's budget $800 HP laptop that came with XP.
Oh, and of course there were the annoying "are you sure..." "please confirm..." etc dialog boxes that repeatedly annoyed the hell outa me, but that wasn't the worst of it.
Since XP's on here (no thanks to Sony) I can connect to wireless networks in SECONDS, there's no lag on my movies/programs/etc opening, and I havent crashed ANYTHING, as usual. The one issue, of course, is that SONY wont provide XP drivers OR allow for the installation of similar hardware drivers on this computer (suppose I need to find a crack for their "checking your system" sequence during the driver install.) Luckily I've been able to find almost all the drivers I need, but that is only because Intel, etc have them on their respective non-MS, non-Sony websites.
So PLEASE, don't think that everyone has enjoyed Vista who has put good money into decent systems. I would love to get my wasted Vista money back.
Alright, so which distribution would you put on a Sony Vaio VGN-SZ650N laptop, and do you really think that it would work correctly? It has a hybrid hard drive system and a hybrid graphics system (there's a mechanical switch), which I would have to get full use of while in Linux. I've had the laptop for about a week, and I'm dying to get rid of this crap Vista, but driver issues for the above hardware are going to be a nightmare! Sony won't even give me XP drivers for it. Anyways I just may return it within my 14 day period because of how annoying Vista has been and Sony's lack of even XP drivers... but I will miss the occasionally-decent performance and 3.75lb laptop so much if I do.