If you pick applications like Mozilla, OpenOffice, and GAIM, you will be able to use the same applications under Windows as you do under Linux. This will blur the distinction between the two, and make it easier for your other family members to use Linux (if they/you want this). Products like Adobe Acrobat are available for both as well. You can get Xchat for both if you want your kids to rot away their lives in front of IRC.:)
For Linux, you definitely need something like MPlayer, and there's now a plugin to integrate support for it into Mozilla so that content can be viewed inline (sorry, no time to research the link).
As for other apps, I guess that depends on what _your_family_ likes to do. My mom is a PA, so she has all these medical applications, but they might not apply to anyone in your family. Your question is a bit too open-ended for me to be any more helpful than the above.
I like it for some of the reasons listed above, but if you're using a client such as GAIM, you can always disable it (so people can't see when you're typing and vice-versa). I also type/respond more quickly than most people with whom I converse, and this helps me know whether they're composing a reply to something I just said (so I don't waste time trying to clarify, only to have my answer be half complete when their reply happens, or worse, appear right after their reply. Race conditions suck:)
It seems to have removed the Outlook Express binary itself (or moved it somewhere else), but there are a bunch of DLLs still in c:\Program Files\Outlook Express. I don't know enough about Windows to know whether that would be enough for malware. To be fair, the entry in the "Add/Remove Programs" box does say "Removes access to Outlook Express from the Start Menu".
You can do the same thing to IE, but it certainly doesn't remove it. This is a big problem; why MUST a server have a Web browser? I know that they've tied their auto-update system to it, but in my opinion that is also wrong (when up2date first came out, I thought it was incredibly stupid that it required Netscape 4, while AutoRPM only needed a few Perl libraries).
How many people go out and buy a retail, separate version of Windows? Very few; most people use it because it's what comes with their computers, and they complain about it constantly. Of course, they associate Windows with PCs, so they complain about "the computer", and the slightly more informed ones complain about Windows but will never switch.
...you can run Linux on your business desktop today. It's not quite the same, but you can have software installed which does exactly what the users need, tailor everything to your specific requirements, and disable executables on/home (most users wouldn't need them). It's even better if you use X terminals, because all the desktop machines are identical, and users can switch between them with no problems whatsoever.
The problem with the hardware solution that you propose is that it would make free-as-in-beer software almost impossible, as all software would have to be distributed on a physical medium, which costs money.
A firewall doesn't have to be restricted to simply blocking/allowing certain ports. It can do rate limiting, logging, and other things that your network services may be unable to do themselves. Instead of re-inventing the wheel for every program, many authors choose to include tcpwrappers support. A packet filter can be viewed in a similar manner, except that your application doesn't even have to support it.
Generally, I want it all: only enable those services which I need, lock them down as far as their own settings will allow, and then put a packet filter in front of them. Maybe they don't have the ability to restrict which networks/hosts can connect to them; the packet filter adds that ability. Or maybe they're badly written commercial software that can't turn off/restrict services on their own. Hopefully not, but there's some awfully crusty niche software out there, and some of it runs on NT4 to boot.
That's not even addressing the needs of a location where you may not have control over your end-users' machines, such as an ISP or a college campus.
Disclaimer: yes, I work for freshmeat. But I don't think you could argue too hard that we're not a great place to find *nix software, and if you think you can, please tell us why.
There are several projects which provide a firewall based on some free *nix (Linux and otherwise) which are complete packages, ready to run from floppy or CD-ROM. There are numerous GUI firewall configuration scripts, so many that we have placed a moratorium on new ones unless they're really special in some way.
If you use Linux, you want to be using iptables with the 2.4.x series kernel (this will also be in the 2.6.x series). It has stateful filtering, which means that you can have sensible rules like "deny all external traffic unless it is a response to something initiated by me", and open up certain ports (e.g. 80, 22, etc.) as exceptions to that. ipchains (for 2.2.x kernels) can't do this.
I learned how to configure everything by hand just by reading the HOWTO, which is very good and written by the guy who wrote the iptables code (Rusty Russel). But I've been using Linux since 1998, and I have always liked doing things by hand, so this approach is not for everyone.
Personally, I prefer ipf (now pf) on OpenBSD, but iptables also makes a good firewall/gateway. As for a VPN, you might want to look into FreeSWAN, an IPSEC implementation for Linux. I have heard that there may be issues with this, and that another IPSEC implementation has been accepted for inclusion into 2.6.x, but I haven't been keeping up on this since it doesn't currently apply to me.
Whatever you do, don't use PPTP for a VPN, as there are serious flaws in that protocol.
Windows Update does not come configured to automatically download and install updates for you. It also does not always work. It has been reported to falsely report that patches are installed, and to prompt to install patches over and over again that are already installed. And how many people, used to an endless barrage of meaningless dialog boxes from Microsoft products (though they are not the only ones who do this), dismissed the auto-updates configuration, and so go unpatched? Additionally, were you aware of the 31 currently unpatched security holes in IE?
http://www.pivx.com/larholm/unpatched/
As for being informed, if Slashdot is your only source for notification about security vulnerabilites, you have bigger problems than a single sendmail exploit.
For example, the ones for Linux actually work. I have never heard complaints about APT or up2date where updates were reported to be installed but were not installed, or vice-versa. There have been quite a few reports lately of this happening with Windows Update.
To be fair, Debian has (once, AFAIK) released a security patch with an error in it; an update to man caused a glitch in a nightly cron job. But this is far less serious than some of the flaws in the history of Windows updates.
For update notification with Debian, I rely on their email security announcements. You can subscribe to their list, and they also post the announcements to BUGTRAQ. There is probably a cute, glowy applet like Red Hat has for up2date available somewhere, but most of my servers don't run X.
Also, you can look at the number of security announcements for a Linux distribution and say that it's "ridiculous", but you have to take into account that you probably don't have most of those packages installed, and that distributions like Debian issue security updates for several thousand packages, not several.
If you stop buying CDs altogether, the RIAA will say, "See, the number of CDs we sell has gone down! It is all due to filesharing!"
However, if you spend that money on CDs by non-RIAA labels, or on music from emusic.com, then there will be increases in those sales to counter their arguments.
Sorry to reply to my own post, but I just recalled an anecdote. My mother is a Physician's Assistant, and she has worked in emergency rooms in some pretty sketchy areas. But while wearing her medical uniform, everyone was very friendly. In areas where many "wouldn't want to walk at night", she was greeted with smiles and waves. According to her, the same can be accomplished by carrying a guitar case. Everyone knows the value of real musicians.
Money is their sole motivation for doing the best job they possibly can? Without it, there is no motivation? What misguided, hopelessly lost individuals.
When I write a song, I don't say, "Well, I don't have a multi-million-dollar recording contract, so I think I'll aim to just write a pretty good song." That is moronic. REAL artists produce art because it is impossible for them to stop, just as sometimes they get a block and it is impossible for them to start. They do the best that they can because they love it, often times more than they love other people. It's part of who they are.
Why do people give money to buskers playing guitar on the side of the road, or to sand sculpters on the Boardwalk in Ocean City? They don't have to give money; they could walk by and appreciate the art for free. Many people give money because they feel that they should, because they want to do so, as payment for their lives having been made better.
There is a saying that no (visual) artists are famous until after they die, and sayings don't come into being for no reason at all. Maybe without copyright, we would not have "blockbuster" summer movies and bands with amazing lightshows. I wouldn't miss them. But are you telling me John Waters wouldn't have made movies if copyright didn't exist? I call shenanigans.
Whoever suggested this idea seems to be unaware of or have forgotten about the many legitimate mailing lists which exist. How many are run using a spare, old machine in some corner? Not every group with a worthy cause can afford burly hardware so that large discussions are possible.
Even some large-ish groups, like Prometheus (for low-power FM), who don't have a mailing list per se, do send out mass mailings to people who have (really) signed up for them. They should not be penalized for the actions of others.
If you poorly manage your money, then your salary can be nearly irrelevant.
One interesting concept is the "true wage", as described in the book Your Money Or Your Life. In order to figure out what you really make, you have to factor in all time spent, including travelling to and from work. You then have to count your work-related expenses, including eating lunch out, business clothes, car maintenance, etc. You're also supposed to figure out the "life energy cost" (i.e., if your job is hellish, the rest of your life will not be great), but even leaving that aside, jobs might compare much differently than they look on the surface.
Additionally, it's easy to waste money and so create a "need" for more money. Living on frozen pizzas/TV dinners is expensive, and will probably lead to more health-related expenses. There's a lot to be said for having a lower salary, whether by working less or taking a lower-paying job that's more fulfilling, and lowering your cost of living by driving a good used car, not buying ridiculously overpriced "designer" clothes, etc.
Then you get into wisely investing your money, etc., and you start to see how people who don't look so great on paper are better off after everything has been added up. It really is how you use it rather than the size. Of course, if you take this to an extreme, you start expending more effort than is worth the money you might save, but as with everything else, balance is key.
Yes, but that means there are 9,900,000 people that don't need those features. Maybe the numbers don't exactly break down that way, but shouldn't that translate into a huge segment of the market which would be perfectly fine with OpenOffice? To rephrase another poster, why should they pay for those features that they won't need? But what I mean is that the majority shouldn't buy MS Office at all. Shouldn't niche features be for a niche market?
And you might even break it down further. Maybe your accounting department really, really needs Excel, but everyone else is fine using OpenOffice (after all, the accountants could simply produce HTML/PDF/whatever reports for the non-accountants who need to see them).
You can still say the same thing about "autoworkers", if you're talking about mechanics. Are YOU going to ship your car overseas on a boat or plane so that someone can fix it? Not really. The design/engineering of the cars can be outsourced overseas, but people will always need a local mechanic to fix things.
Right now, I am the IT person at the UMBC Physical Plant. Jobs like this will be around for a while. Electricians, HVAC people, locksmiths, etc. need to be on campus, and they need computers. They won't be outsourced (not overseas, to contractors) because it would be more expensive.
Keep in mind that most people in this country are employed by small businesses. It might not seem that way, but it's true. These places are less likely to be able to outsource things to other countries. If you have one IT guy for 20 people, it's probably more trouble than the salary difference is worth.
Will it evaporate in 10 years? 20? Maybe, but I have other options. I'm going to cooking school; let's see your restaurant food get cooked in India. There are other things I could fall back on. If you're not expanding your options, you're not only shortsighted but probably boring too. Branch out, have a backup plan, and have a good time learning something new.
Many colleges are using Internet radio, especially ones (like us) that live in areas which make it impossible to get an FM license (too many stations already; there wasn't even space for us to get an LP-100 license). Most college stations don't play exclusively electronic, but do during certain hours (being freeform, we play electronic when a DJ is on that plays that sort of thing. Color-coded schedules are a good thing.)
That's where you'll find the good non-RIAA stations. Yes, some RIAA-label-signed bands still get a lot of airplay (Tool and Radiohead come to mind), but most of the stuff we get in and put on the shelf is from small labels like Dischord, Touch and Go, Fueled by Ramen, Archenemy, etc.
Shameless plug? Yes, but remember, I don't have a huge advertising budget funded with ill-gotten gains.:)
Waa, waa, waa. Since it's an XPI, not only will the site tell you which version to get, but it will install automatically when you click on it (assuming you have left Software Installtion turned on [on by default]). So you have to go to a Web site and click on something. As a Windows user, you should be used to having to download and install all sorts of things to make your computer useful anyway.
Besides, not everyone cares about a calendar. If the Mozilla project included it by default, everyone would bitch at them about "bloat".
[By the way, here's a handy little memory device that I learned from the book "How to Conquer Homework." There was once a woman with a husband named Sep. She was terrified of rats. Whenever she saw one, she would scream "Sep! A rat! Eeee!". (sepArate, see?)]
Was Jello Biafra's singing "perfect"? No, but it was _distinctive_. You can always tell when you're listening to the Dead Kennedys (although John Linnell, on his State Songs tour, did an eerily good impression when he and his backing band covered California Uber Alles as an encore. That was a jolt, to be sure.)
The same is true of non-punk bands like Quasi and Hefner. The vocals are excellent, but a choir director would cringe at them. On the other hand, synth-pop bands like Freezepop make good music and _try_ to make their vocals sound like a synth, because it fits in with the rest of their style.
For those who live in Maryland, think of the Ft. McHenry or Harbor tunnels. Or you may have similar underwater tunnels in your area. Our tunnels are lined with fluorescent lights on both sides, and there are always a few out, which probably means that bulb crews go in there weekly, if not daily. We're talking miles of bulbs here, lit 24/7.
As another poster mentioned, fluourescent lights do produce heat; that's why the big lights on top of my brother's salt water aquariums (which need to be kept warm) need cooling fans.
Also, keep in mind that fluorescents are efficient at staying on, and use more power when first turned on, so if you're updating areas in your house to use compact fluorescents, you might need to modify some habits (if you'll be back in a few hours, leave it on. Got a paint closet you use for 5 minutes every 2 years? Keep it incandescent.)
I can go to IKEA and get cheap compact fluorescent bulbs which fit in "regular" light bulb sockets. Even the 11w and 20w variants can be quite bright. I'm not sure how long they last, because I haven't replaced one yet.
Yes, fluourescent lighting isn't as nice aesthetically as incandescent lighting, so I still have a full spectrum incandescent in my bedroom (right next to the lava lamp). And I also can't replace the incandescent in that cool 3-brightness touch lamp in the living room (but again, I prefer to only use fluorescents in areas like the bathroom, kitchen, doorstep, hall, etc.). I'd be interested in finding out how LED lighting "feels" compared to current technologies, and also how the spectrum stacks up (wouldn't it be great to save on electricity and counter SAD at the same time?)
BIND 9 is supposed to be a complete rewrite, though it's by some of the same people (and Vixie cron, i.e. Paul Vixie) that worked on BIND 4 and 8, and it's still one big binary instead of several smaller ones.
Yes, the first way is technically more correct, but the second way is easier to make into a better headline. Conspiracy theories about shoddy/corrupt journalism aside, it's a fact that most people skim headlines and barely read any of the content of a paper, even if they physically flip through the whole thing. Jakob Nielson has demonstrated that this is also true on the Web; users skim. So a news organization needs a short headline that gets the message across effectively and makes you want to read the article.
Slashdot Mirror
If you pick applications like Mozilla, OpenOffice, and GAIM, you will be able to use the same applications under Windows as you do under Linux. This will blur the distinction between the two, and make it easier for your other family members to use Linux (if they/you want this). Products like Adobe Acrobat are available for both as well. You can get Xchat for both if you want your kids to rot away their lives in front of IRC. :)
For Linux, you definitely need something like MPlayer, and there's now a plugin to integrate support for it into Mozilla so that content can be viewed inline (sorry, no time to research the link).
As for other apps, I guess that depends on what _your_family_ likes to do. My mom is a PA, so she has all these medical applications, but they might not apply to anyone in your family. Your question is a bit too open-ended for me to be any more helpful than the above.
I like it for some of the reasons listed above, but if you're using a client such as GAIM, you can always disable it (so people can't see when you're typing and vice-versa). I also type/respond more quickly than most people with whom I converse, and this helps me know whether they're composing a reply to something I just said (so I don't waste time trying to clarify, only to have my answer be half complete when their reply happens, or worse, appear right after their reply. Race conditions suck :)
It seems to have removed the Outlook Express binary itself (or moved it somewhere else), but there are a bunch of DLLs still in c:\Program Files\Outlook Express. I don't know enough about Windows to know whether that would be enough for malware. To be fair, the entry in the "Add/Remove Programs" box does say "Removes access to Outlook Express from the Start Menu".
You can do the same thing to IE, but it certainly doesn't remove it. This is a big problem; why MUST a server have a Web browser? I know that they've tied their auto-update system to it, but in my opinion that is also wrong (when up2date first came out, I thought it was incredibly stupid that it required Netscape 4, while AutoRPM only needed a few Perl libraries).
How many people go out and buy a retail, separate version of Windows? Very few; most people use it because it's what comes with their computers, and they complain about it constantly. Of course, they associate Windows with PCs, so they complain about "the computer", and the slightly more informed ones complain about Windows but will never switch.
Dan Bernstein has a $500 guarantee that no security holes will be found in qmail or djbdns:
. yp.to/djbdns/guarantee.html
http://cr.yp.to/qmail/guarantee.html
http://cr
...you can run Linux on your business desktop today. It's not quite the same, but you can have software installed which does exactly what the users need, tailor everything to your specific requirements, and disable executables on /home (most users wouldn't need them). It's even better if you use X terminals, because all the desktop machines are identical, and users can switch between them with no problems whatsoever.
The problem with the hardware solution that you propose is that it would make free-as-in-beer software almost impossible, as all software would have to be distributed on a physical medium, which costs money.
A firewall doesn't have to be restricted to simply blocking/allowing certain ports. It can do rate limiting, logging, and other things that your network services may be unable to do themselves. Instead of re-inventing the wheel for every program, many authors choose to include tcpwrappers support. A packet filter can be viewed in a similar manner, except that your application doesn't even have to support it.
Generally, I want it all: only enable those services which I need, lock them down as far as their own settings will allow, and then put a packet filter in front of them. Maybe they don't have the ability to restrict which networks/hosts can connect to them; the packet filter adds that ability. Or maybe they're badly written commercial software that can't turn off/restrict services on their own. Hopefully not, but there's some awfully crusty niche software out there, and some of it runs on NT4 to boot.
That's not even addressing the needs of a location where you may not have control over your end-users' machines, such as an ISP or a college campus.
Disclaimer: yes, I work for freshmeat. But I don't think you could argue too hard that we're not a great place to find *nix software, and if you think you can, please tell us why.
There are several projects which provide a firewall based on some free *nix (Linux and otherwise) which are complete packages, ready to run from floppy or CD-ROM. There are numerous GUI firewall configuration scripts, so many that we have placed a moratorium on new ones unless they're really special in some way.
If you use Linux, you want to be using iptables with the 2.4.x series kernel (this will also be in the 2.6.x series). It has stateful filtering, which means that you can have sensible rules like "deny all external traffic unless it is a response to something initiated by me", and open up certain ports (e.g. 80, 22, etc.) as exceptions to that. ipchains (for 2.2.x kernels) can't do this.
I learned how to configure everything by hand just by reading the HOWTO, which is very good and written by the guy who wrote the iptables code (Rusty Russel). But I've been using Linux since 1998, and I have always liked doing things by hand, so this approach is not for everyone.
Personally, I prefer ipf (now pf) on OpenBSD, but iptables also makes a good firewall/gateway. As for a VPN, you might want to look into FreeSWAN, an IPSEC implementation for Linux. I have heard that there may be issues with this, and that another IPSEC implementation has been accepted for inclusion into 2.6.x, but I haven't been keeping up on this since it doesn't currently apply to me.
Whatever you do, don't use PPTP for a VPN, as there are serious flaws in that protocol.
Windows Update does not come configured to automatically download and install updates for you. It also does not always work. It has been reported to falsely report that patches are installed, and to prompt to install patches over and over again that are already installed. And how many people, used to an endless barrage of meaningless dialog boxes from Microsoft products (though they are not the only ones who do this), dismissed the auto-updates configuration, and so go unpatched? Additionally, were you aware of the 31 currently unpatched security holes in IE?
http://www.pivx.com/larholm/unpatched/
As for being informed, if Slashdot is your only source for notification about security vulnerabilites, you have bigger problems than a single sendmail exploit.
For example, the ones for Linux actually work. I have never heard complaints about APT or up2date where updates were reported to be installed but were not installed, or vice-versa. There have been quite a few reports lately of this happening with Windows Update.
To be fair, Debian has (once, AFAIK) released a security patch with an error in it; an update to man caused a glitch in a nightly cron job. But this is far less serious than some of the flaws in the history of Windows updates.
For update notification with Debian, I rely on their email security announcements. You can subscribe to their list, and they also post the announcements to BUGTRAQ. There is probably a cute, glowy applet like Red Hat has for up2date available somewhere, but most of my servers don't run X.
Also, you can look at the number of security announcements for a Linux distribution and say that it's "ridiculous", but you have to take into account that you probably don't have most of those packages installed, and that distributions like Debian issue security updates for several thousand packages, not several.
Just stop buying RIAA-backed CDs.
If you stop buying CDs altogether, the RIAA will say, "See, the number of CDs we sell has gone down! It is all due to filesharing!"
However, if you spend that money on CDs by non-RIAA labels, or on music from emusic.com, then there will be increases in those sales to counter their arguments.
Sorry to reply to my own post, but I just recalled an anecdote. My mother is a Physician's Assistant, and she has worked in emergency rooms in some pretty sketchy areas. But while wearing her medical uniform, everyone was very friendly. In areas where many "wouldn't want to walk at night", she was greeted with smiles and waves. According to her, the same can be accomplished by carrying a guitar case. Everyone knows the value of real musicians.
Money is their sole motivation for doing the best job they possibly can? Without it, there is no motivation? What misguided, hopelessly lost individuals.
When I write a song, I don't say, "Well, I don't have a multi-million-dollar recording contract, so I think I'll aim to just write a pretty good song." That is moronic. REAL artists produce art because it is impossible for them to stop, just as sometimes they get a block and it is impossible for them to start. They do the best that they can because they love it, often times more than they love other people. It's part of who they are.
Why do people give money to buskers playing guitar on the side of the road, or to sand sculpters on the Boardwalk in Ocean City? They don't have to give money; they could walk by and appreciate the art for free. Many people give money because they feel that they should, because they want to do so, as payment for their lives having been made better.
There is a saying that no (visual) artists are famous until after they die, and sayings don't come into being for no reason at all. Maybe without copyright, we would not have "blockbuster" summer movies and bands with amazing lightshows. I wouldn't miss them. But are you telling me John Waters wouldn't have made movies if copyright didn't exist? I call shenanigans.
Whoever suggested this idea seems to be unaware of or have forgotten about the many legitimate mailing lists which exist. How many are run using a spare, old machine in some corner? Not every group with a worthy cause can afford burly hardware so that large discussions are possible.
Even some large-ish groups, like Prometheus (for low-power FM), who don't have a mailing list per se, do send out mass mailings to people who have (really) signed up for them. They should not be penalized for the actions of others.
If you poorly manage your money, then your salary can be nearly irrelevant.
One interesting concept is the "true wage", as described in the book Your Money Or Your Life. In order to figure out what you really make, you have to factor in all time spent, including travelling to and from work. You then have to count your work-related expenses, including eating lunch out, business clothes, car maintenance, etc. You're also supposed to figure out the "life energy cost" (i.e., if your job is hellish, the rest of your life will not be great), but even leaving that aside, jobs might compare much differently than they look on the surface.
Additionally, it's easy to waste money and so create a "need" for more money. Living on frozen pizzas/TV dinners is expensive, and will probably lead to more health-related expenses. There's a lot to be said for having a lower salary, whether by working less or taking a lower-paying job that's more fulfilling, and lowering your cost of living by driving a good used car, not buying ridiculously overpriced "designer" clothes, etc.
Then you get into wisely investing your money, etc., and you start to see how people who don't look so great on paper are better off after everything has been added up. It really is how you use it rather than the size. Of course, if you take this to an extreme, you start expending more effort than is worth the money you might save, but as with everything else, balance is key.
Yes, but that means there are 9,900,000 people that don't need those features. Maybe the numbers don't exactly break down that way, but shouldn't that translate into a huge segment of the market which would be perfectly fine with OpenOffice? To rephrase another poster, why should they pay for those features that they won't need? But what I mean is that the majority shouldn't buy MS Office at all. Shouldn't niche features be for a niche market?
And you might even break it down further. Maybe your accounting department really, really needs Excel, but everyone else is fine using OpenOffice (after all, the accountants could simply produce HTML/PDF/whatever reports for the non-accountants who need to see them).
You can still say the same thing about "autoworkers", if you're talking about mechanics. Are YOU going to ship your car overseas on a boat or plane so that someone can fix it? Not really. The design/engineering of the cars can be outsourced overseas, but people will always need a local mechanic to fix things.
Right now, I am the IT person at the UMBC Physical Plant. Jobs like this will be around for a while. Electricians, HVAC people, locksmiths, etc. need to be on campus, and they need computers. They won't be outsourced (not overseas, to contractors) because it would be more expensive.
Keep in mind that most people in this country are employed by small businesses. It might not seem that way, but it's true. These places are less likely to be able to outsource things to other countries. If you have one IT guy for 20 people, it's probably more trouble than the salary difference is worth.
Will it evaporate in 10 years? 20? Maybe, but I have other options. I'm going to cooking school; let's see your restaurant food get cooked in India. There are other things I could fall back on. If you're not expanding your options, you're not only shortsighted but probably boring too. Branch out, have a backup plan, and have a good time learning something new.
Many colleges are using Internet radio, especially ones (like us) that live in areas which make it impossible to get an FM license (too many stations already; there wasn't even space for us to get an LP-100 license). Most college stations don't play exclusively electronic, but do during certain hours (being freeform, we play electronic when a DJ is on that plays that sort of thing. Color-coded schedules are a good thing.)
:)
That's where you'll find the good non-RIAA stations. Yes, some RIAA-label-signed bands still get a lot of airplay (Tool and Radiohead come to mind), but most of the stuff we get in and put on the shelf is from small labels like Dischord, Touch and Go, Fueled by Ramen, Archenemy, etc.
Shameless plug? Yes, but remember, I don't have a huge advertising budget funded with ill-gotten gains.
Waa, waa, waa. Since it's an XPI, not only will the site tell you which version to get, but it will install automatically when you click on it (assuming you have left Software Installtion turned on [on by default]). So you have to go to a Web site and click on something. As a Windows user, you should be used to having to download and install all sorts of things to make your computer useful anyway.
Besides, not everyone cares about a calendar. If the Mozilla project included it by default, everyone would bitch at them about "bloat".
[By the way, here's a handy little memory device that I learned from the book "How to Conquer Homework." There was once a woman with a husband named Sep. She was terrified of rats. Whenever she saw one, she would scream "Sep! A rat! Eeee!". (sepArate, see?)]
Was Jello Biafra's singing "perfect"? No, but it was _distinctive_. You can always tell when you're listening to the Dead Kennedys (although John Linnell, on his State Songs tour, did an eerily good impression when he and his backing band covered California Uber Alles as an encore. That was a jolt, to be sure.)
The same is true of non-punk bands like Quasi and Hefner. The vocals are excellent, but a choir director would cringe at them. On the other hand, synth-pop bands like Freezepop make good music and _try_ to make their vocals sound like a synth, because it fits in with the rest of their style.
For those who live in Maryland, think of the Ft. McHenry or Harbor tunnels. Or you may have similar underwater tunnels in your area. Our tunnels are lined with fluorescent lights on both sides, and there are always a few out, which probably means that bulb crews go in there weekly, if not daily. We're talking miles of bulbs here, lit 24/7.
As another poster mentioned, fluourescent lights do produce heat; that's why the big lights on top of my brother's salt water aquariums (which need to be kept warm) need cooling fans.
Also, keep in mind that fluorescents are efficient at staying on, and use more power when first turned on, so if you're updating areas in your house to use compact fluorescents, you might need to modify some habits (if you'll be back in a few hours, leave it on. Got a paint closet you use for 5 minutes every 2 years? Keep it incandescent.)
I can go to IKEA and get cheap compact fluorescent bulbs which fit in "regular" light bulb sockets. Even the 11w and 20w variants can be quite bright. I'm not sure how long they last, because I haven't replaced one yet.
Yes, fluourescent lighting isn't as nice aesthetically as incandescent lighting, so I still have a full spectrum incandescent in my bedroom (right next to the lava lamp). And I also can't replace the incandescent in that cool 3-brightness touch lamp in the living room (but again, I prefer to only use fluorescents in areas like the bathroom, kitchen, doorstep, hall, etc.). I'd be interested in finding out how LED lighting "feels" compared to current technologies, and also how the spectrum stacks up (wouldn't it be great to save on electricity and counter SAD at the same time?)
BIND 9 is supposed to be a complete rewrite, though it's by some of the same people (and Vixie cron, i.e. Paul Vixie) that worked on BIND 4 and 8, and it's still one big binary instead of several smaller ones.
Yes, the first way is technically more correct, but the second way is easier to make into a better headline. Conspiracy theories about shoddy/corrupt journalism aside, it's a fact that most people skim headlines and barely read any of the content of a paper, even if they physically flip through the whole thing. Jakob Nielson has demonstrated that this is also true on the Web; users skim. So a news organization needs a short headline that gets the message across effectively and makes you want to read the article.