I've got a list of ALL 10 questions every/.er wants to know:
John,
1) When will you go away? 2) Can you make it any sooner? 3) What can we, as a community, do to speed your departure? 4) When you leave, will you promise not to return? 5) Are you still here? 6) You haven't left yet? 7) Go. 8) Leave. 9) Scram. 10) Can you take Katz with you?
I remember reading somewhere recently that MS Word's word-counter failed to count words in a footnote for a legal brief, which was quite a problem since legal footnotes tend to be long and the brief was supposed to be under a certain number of words. MS has, I believe, fixed this. It's the only software that got it wrong.
I agree that much of that story was a bit hyped, and I do have a few issues with some of their "studies" as well. However, even the Time link you gave mentions sensible precautions, like having the antenna pointed away from your head.
The base unit can easily be small enough to fit into your pocket. The ear piece fits over your ear with a little microphone sticking out. It's not only MOBILE but HANDS FREE (save for dialing/answering).
> you attributed to ddwalker some beliefs that he did not state
He said "Milk seems like it would alter the results".
> but could be inferred from what he said by an invalid, but commonly used, form of reasoning.
Help me fix my reasoning here. I don't see where I inferred anything at all. He said "milk may have altered the results". He's claiming that the results (which he is not disputing) may have something to do with the milk.
Assuming you accept the results and that milk is the only thing we're arguing about, there are only two possible theories: "radiation to the brain causes memory loss," or "radiation to the brain + milk causes memory loss".
Yes, cell phones have only been around for a decade. They haven't always been as popular as they are today, however.
Now, human life expentancy is in the 80s now. Perhaps 10 years of low-level radiation to the brain isn't so bad. But what about 20-years of radiation?
Cell phones have, until very recently, been used mostly by adults. They are now being used more and more by youunger and younger people. People who have not finished growing, and may not have, literally, as thick of a skull as the rest of us.
The effect of THIS experiment showed effects on memory. This can be very subtle. People tend to lose their memory as they age naturally, so the question is really HOW MUCH memory should they have lost. Try and come up with an experiment that compares your memory to what it was 10 years ago, and also what your memory WOULD BE if you hadn't been using a cell phone for 10 years.
Compare cell phones to tobacco. I don't think ANYONE is trying to argue that cell phone related health problems are as severe as smoking problems, but it's a useful analogy. How many years of smoking did it take for people to be generally aware that smoking was somehow linked to health problems? It's only been in the past year or so that the tobacco companies have begun *admitting* how much they knew.
Smoking won't kill you after one cigarette. No one knows exactly how many it does take, but I think it's rare to notice the health effects if you've only been smoking for less than 10 years.
Finally, there is something that you can do (other than giving up your cell phone). Move the radiation away from your skull! They now make cell phones that have a headset that plugs into the base unit. There's no need to keep the antenna next to your brain.
When you question the methods of a study, one generally posits a counterfactual that would explain the result and that the experiment did not control for.
In this case, the counterfactual was that it was somehow possible that the milk was responsible for the memory loss (while ignoring that the control rats had no problem in the milk).
Although the effects are immediately noticeable in rats, it may take much longer for them to effect humans. Cell phones haven't been around (much less so widely depolyed) long enough for significant amount of harm to be caused to the general population. There really isn't enough data to do good human studies yet.
I just saw cell phones covered on Dateline (I think... one of those shows). They pointed out that while cell phones are required to keep their radiation levels within specified safety limits, the manufacturers get to do all the tests themselves and no one (not even the FCC) confirms the results... so Dateline did.
Depending on HOW you hold the phone, many phones far exceeded the safety limits. Moving the mouthpiece a little closer to your chin will vary the orientation of the antenna and can dramatically increase or decrease your exposure.
They also mentioned that one manufacturer (don't reacall who) had created a headset that plugs into the phone. The phone itself (and all its potentially harmful radiation) is kept far away from your noggin.
Just keep that antenna away from your skull and you'll be fine.
Corel Linux is actually putting some work and new stuff into their Debian-based distro.
Libranet, OTOH, seems to be doing a LinuxOne-style distribution. The only thing I can see is that they've pre-selected the initial packages to install. They claim have been in business since 1984, but a few searches found very little info:
A site with a broken link to a "Libra Computer Systems Office": http://www.gy.com/naics/44312/Nashua_nh.htm
Some guys home page who says he once worked at "...a small software house (Libra Computer Systems) which folded 3 months later". He also has a link to/. and says he posts under "bigman", but he hasn't posted lately. Maybe he can tell us more... http://www.pncl.co.uk/~ianrolfe/aboutme.html
I'm looking at my SAS/Language book, Copyright 1990, and it documents the "YEARCUTOFF" option:
"The YEARCUTOFF= system option specifies the first of a 100-year span used as the default by various DATE and DATETIME informats and functions." ... "For example, if you specify YEARCUTOFF=1950, any two-digit value between 50 and 99 inclusive refers to the first half of the 100-year span, which is in the 1900s. Any two-digit value between 00 and 49 inclusive refers to the second half of the 100-year span, which is in the 2000s."
They made a go at charging access fees and it just didn't work. Now they're gonna try the ad revenue route. Their only alternative was to close down entirely, so I don't think it was too short-sighted.
As someone else who has tried both, I can say that Palm OS is my preferred hand-held platform.
Palm OS has been succesful because it didn't try to be like a desktop. A "start" menu on a hand held device? Please.
When writing programs for a desktop, an occasional "please wait while I load" is acceptable. We're already sitting on our butts and we have screen space, memory, and time to do other things while we wait. That's not true when I'm in out-and-about and I need a phone # or appointment. I need it NOW and I won't be doing anything else until it's here.
Palm OS has, from the start, understood the fundamental difference between sitting at your desk and walking down the street. WinCE has simply tried to bring to desktop on the road (that's what laptops are for).
You can find LOTS of these examples at www.snopes.com. You will, however, be disappointed to learn how often they are untrue. Just like the baby food story.
Slashdot Mirror
I've got a list of ALL 10 questions every /.er wants to know:
John,
1) When will you go away?
2) Can you make it any sooner?
3) What can we, as a community, do to speed your departure?
4) When you leave, will you promise not to return?
5) Are you still here?
6) You haven't left yet?
7) Go.
8) Leave.
9) Scram.
10) Can you take Katz with you?
I remember reading somewhere recently that MS Word's word-counter failed to count words in a footnote for a legal brief, which was quite a problem since legal footnotes tend to be long and the brief was supposed to be under a certain number of words. MS has, I believe, fixed this. It's the only software that got it wrong.
Thank you for the correction.
I agree that much of that story was a bit hyped, and I do have a few issues with some of their "studies" as well. However, even the Time link you gave mentions sensible precautions, like having the antenna pointed away from your head.
The base unit can easily be small enough to fit into your pocket. The ear piece fits over your ear with a little microphone sticking out. It's not only MOBILE but HANDS FREE (save for dialing/answering).
> you attributed to ddwalker some beliefs that he did not state
He said "Milk seems like it would alter the results".
> but could be inferred from what he said by an invalid, but commonly used, form of reasoning.
Help me fix my reasoning here. I don't see where I inferred anything at all. He said "milk may have altered the results". He's claiming that the results (which he is not disputing) may have something to do with the milk.
Assuming you accept the results and that milk is the only thing we're arguing about, there are only two possible theories: "radiation to the brain causes memory loss," or "radiation to the brain + milk causes memory loss".
I still say that's a freaky argument.
Yes, cell phones have only been around for a decade. They haven't always been as popular as they are today, however.
Now, human life expentancy is in the 80s now. Perhaps 10 years of low-level radiation to the brain isn't so bad. But what about 20-years of radiation?
Cell phones have, until very recently, been used mostly by adults. They are now being used more and more by youunger and younger people. People who have not finished growing, and may not have, literally, as thick of a skull as the rest of us.
The effect of THIS experiment showed effects on memory. This can be very subtle. People tend to lose their memory as they age naturally, so the question is really HOW MUCH memory should they have lost. Try and come up with an experiment that compares your memory to what it was 10 years ago, and also what your memory WOULD BE if you hadn't been using a cell phone for 10 years.
Compare cell phones to tobacco. I don't think ANYONE is trying to argue that cell phone related health problems are as severe as smoking problems, but it's a useful analogy. How many years of smoking did it take for people to be generally aware that smoking was somehow linked to health problems? It's only been in the past year or so that the tobacco companies have begun *admitting* how much they knew.
Smoking won't kill you after one cigarette. No one knows exactly how many it does take, but I think it's rare to notice the health effects if you've only been smoking for less than 10 years.
Finally, there is something that you can do (other than giving up your cell phone). Move the radiation away from your skull! They now make cell phones that have a headset that plugs into the base unit. There's no need to keep the antenna next to your brain.
When you question the methods of a study, one generally posits a counterfactual that would explain the result and that the experiment did not control for.
In this case, the counterfactual was that it was somehow possible that the milk was responsible for the memory loss (while ignoring that the control rats had no problem in the milk).
That, I believe, is truly bizarre.
> as someone else mentioned, most rats are lactose intolerant
They DID use a control... rats that were NOT exposed to the radiation were able to find the platform.
I find it really weird that you believe radiation in the brain might not cause memory loss, but yet you believe that adding milk will.
Although the effects are immediately noticeable in rats, it may take much longer for them to effect humans. Cell phones haven't been around (much less so widely depolyed) long enough for significant amount of harm to be caused to the general population. There really isn't enough data to do good human studies yet.
I just saw cell phones covered on Dateline (I think... one of those shows). They pointed out that while cell phones are required to keep their radiation levels within specified safety limits, the manufacturers get to do all the tests themselves and no one (not even the FCC) confirms the results... so Dateline did.
Depending on HOW you hold the phone, many phones far exceeded the safety limits. Moving the mouthpiece a little closer to your chin will vary the orientation of the antenna and can dramatically increase or decrease your exposure.
They also mentioned that one manufacturer (don't reacall who) had created a headset that plugs into the phone. The phone itself (and all its potentially harmful radiation) is kept far away from your noggin.
Just keep that antenna away from your skull and you'll be fine.
Ok, I still have mixed feelings about it myself, but what about Solaris 2?
/. either!
And let's not forget
Well, I'm running both Linux and Unix(tm), specifically Solaris 2.6. Seems commercially viable to me.
Ok, Linux may not be a Unix(TM), but they said releasing Netscape on Linux was an important event!
And even though no one's bothered to pony up the bucks to certify Linux, you can't deny that Linux has impacted Unix.
Corel Linux is actually putting some work and new stuff into their Debian-based distro.
/. and says he posts under "bigman", but he hasn't posted lately. Maybe he can tell us more... http://www.pncl.co.uk/~ianrolfe/aboutme.html
Libranet, OTOH, seems to be doing a LinuxOne-style distribution. The only thing I can see is that they've pre-selected the initial packages to install. They claim have been in business since 1984, but a few searches found very little info:
A site with a broken link to a "Libra Computer Systems Office": http://www.gy.com/naics/44312/Nashua_nh.htm
Some guys home page who says he once worked at "...a small software house (Libra Computer Systems) which folded 3 months later". He also has a link to
I'm looking at my SAS/Language book, Copyright 1990, and it documents the "YEARCUTOFF" option:
"The YEARCUTOFF= system option specifies the first of a 100-year span used as the default by various DATE and DATETIME informats and functions."
...
"For example, if you specify YEARCUTOFF=1950, any two-digit value between 50 and 99 inclusive refers to the first half of the 100-year span, which is in the 1900s. Any two-digit value between 00 and 49 inclusive refers to the second half of the 100-year span, which is in the 2000s."
"To withdraw in disgust is not the same thing as apathy." -- Slacker
If cookies weren't allowed in img src tags, banner sites would just switch to using frames for their ads.
> I'm one of many people who basically keeps a Windows machine around just to read PowerPoint documents
I guess she never heard of Star Office. It can do PowerPoint just fine.
Seems the original site is available again (with GIFs). Probably just got slashdotted yesterday.
http://car54.cc.gatech.edu:1880/truenames/
Google has it in its cache:
q =cache:car54.cc.gatech.edu:1880/truenames/
http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:54205760&d
Well, I have NT at my office, but I'm not an adminstrator on the machine and the IT folx won't install the Palm Desktop, so I'm SOL.
They made a go at charging access fees and it just didn't work. Now they're gonna try the ad revenue route. Their only alternative was to close down entirely, so I don't think it was too short-sighted.
As someone else who has tried both, I can say that Palm OS is my preferred hand-held platform.
Palm OS has been succesful because it didn't try to be like a desktop. A "start" menu on a hand held device? Please.
When writing programs for a desktop, an occasional "please wait while I load" is acceptable. We're already sitting on our butts and we have screen space, memory, and time to do other things while we wait. That's not true when I'm in out-and-about and I need a phone # or appointment. I need it NOW and I won't be doing anything else until it's here.
Palm OS has, from the start, understood the fundamental difference between sitting at your desk and walking down the street. WinCE has simply tried to bring to desktop on the road (that's what laptops are for).
Prior to QT 2, neither the "Open Source" nor the "Free Software" people thought QT was free...
You can find LOTS of these examples at www.snopes.com. You will, however, be disappointed to learn how often they are untrue. Just like the baby food story.