and here's where we might disagree on the distinction. you say he should never have been granted an H1-B visa, I agree, but only on the H1-B part. I don't see why there isn't a fast track for citizenship in cases like this. sounds like he was a productive member of society. i don't see any reason not to increase the ratio of those around here.
I don't care what country someone came from. only what country they belong to now. there isn't a problem with someone leaving their country, becoming a US citizen, and either joining our workforce, or continuing their education before joining the workforce. i don't see a problem with tax dollars assisting with that along with any other citizen. now, spending our tax dollars so a citizen of another country (doesn't matter which) can get a nice mostly free education, and return home to assist with improving their economy at the cost of ours.. that i kinda have a problem with.
primary mac user here, though i have a vista box, a fedora box in a server role, and a dual boot xp/fedora desktop. i deal in tech support with a variety of OS's, find it comes in handy to have some around at home.
i agree that you're more likely to run into a situation where a combination of your computer and a given software title "just won't work" on a mac when dealing with an age gap, but much of that is due to the changes that apple's implemented to try and move in a new direction.
If they'd had a bigger share of the market 5-10 years ago, i don't think there would have been quite such a steep cliff. that being said, that issue does arise on windows as well.
10 years prior to the release of vista, win95 was the current OS, try running a win95 app on vista, or an app designed for vista on win95.
10 years prior to now, win98 (the first release) has been out for a year or so. trying to update a pc you bought with win95 to vista would be a long slow, likely fruitless process. with some significant hardware upgrades you 'might' be able to have a usable xp installation on an early win98 pc, but even that's unlikely.
the move to 64 bit OS's and apps will make things even more interesting for compatibility. basically. if you want things to work, use recent hardware, recent software, and try not to do anything too outside spec with it, or expect to be supporting yourself (which isn't impossible, but not something john q public's gonna do)
in a different direction. the pictures were discovered by the school administration confiscating one of the male's cellphones. what then gave them the right to go poking around at the data on the phone? if the student was using a phone during class time, i can understand taking it away. but i don't see how that allows an invasion of privacy? what if we were talking about a laptop instead of a cellphone. does the school have the right to go through all that data as well? access to bank information (that some 16-17 year old's could have) going through old emails, etc. with today's cell phone capabilities, in many ways there isn't a difference between what you store on your laptop and your phone.
yes, it is horrible that you'll have to spend money on your friend due to his procrastination. the important part is understanding that it's that procrastination that's at fault, not the government. I'm not a huge fan of the performance of most government aid programs, but seriously, i have next to no sympathy for anyone that's getting 'left out' here. we're looking at 1 month left until the changeover is coming out, and they're 'starting' to run out of money. this program has been going on all last year at least, and the commercials on this television that your friend is so dependant of have been common since that time, progressively more so as we got closer. When you wait until dinner's wrapping up to get yourself a plate, don't come complaining when all that's left is scraps, or that they're cold.
to your first point. why would there be a 'device'.. they can wiretap through the service provider. hence why the bill providing immunity to the telco's for complying with illegal tap requests was passed.
when for awhile there, every other week we'd hear about another 'secret operation' that was conducted without anyone notification or approval.. it becomes difficult to assume the best of a particular situation. However, it really is likely that there are no, and likely have never been any US citizens there- it would be far simpler to strip the citizenship of an individual beforehand, far less red tape that way. there's been so many changes in homeland security law lately that i'm not sure if it's currently the case, but at least at some point if there was reasonable suspicion of terrorist activities, one's US citizenship could be suspended/revoked. of course, we haven't heard any issues of that happening either.
maybe we'd be more forgiving or optimistic if we heard about any of these issues through a method other than someone slipping up and saying something they weren't supposed to.
I'll agree that some of the people here are building up XP's flaws and toning down Linux's drawbacks, but i think you're doing much the same in the reverse. in a corporate environment, with a nice speedy internet connection, and prebuilt images, 20-30 minutes to get a windows desktop going is feasible. in this situation, you're lucky to have a poor 'broadband' connection. any updates needed will take a -long- time. the fact that sp3 is fairly new makes including it in an image cut down on your update times now. but what about 6 months ago, what about 6 months from now?
i've installed many a windowsXP box as well, and if you aren't just tossing an image on the drive, i don't know that i've ever seen just the install take less than 30 minutes. much less the format and update/configuration. now, if you have a customized, up to date xp image that includes all the patches/service packs, and configuration changes that you commonly make (understandable for someone that does reinstalls regularly) 30 minutes to 1.5 hours is about right. but, how much time are would you spend per month keeping that disc up to date? shouldn't that factor into the time it takes you to do your installs?
there are exceptions to every rule, obviously. however, i'd say with some certainty, if you are reasonably familiar with both OS's (ie, you're equally comfortable setting up a linux pc and a windows pc) it's much simpler to set up a linux system for use as a generic email/internet workstation. if there's specific hardware issues, or a specific software requirement, that changes things. but the same can be said of windows versions. (there may only be a vista driver, or only an XP driver if you're installing vista- an app may only run in a certain version of windows and compatibility mode might not cut it- just as wine might not cut it in certain situations)
it's not just an issue with 'upselling'. though certainly the company hopes to keep these people as customers, there's nothing dirty or underhanded about that- quite the opposite, i wish -more- companies put forth effort to reduce customer churn. TR is an MMO, the people who play this game really should understand that the majority of mmo's don't succeed long term, though i will admit TR went a bit quicker than most. generally, when this happens, you end up stuck. do not pass go, do not collect $200. Here, NCSoft is at least offering -something- it's a realization that it's a bad situation, but a company can't continue to operate an operation that isn't making, nor shows any signs of turning a profit. it's a "we're sorry we can't keep the game you want to play running, but here, have some time to get to know all our other games, and decide if there's something here you'd like to try before you leave."
the attitude that offering access to their entire online collection for 3 months, plus beta access an a month free of the new game they're producing is insulting.. is just well, insulting. assuming a user took up all that offer, and spent 3 months with CoH and L2, that right there is more than double to cost of the TR game purchase, and while it wasn't completely clear with L2, i did note that the digital DL was included with CoH, so there wouldn't even be a purchase required.
the idea of offering up the server software as a free item isn't highly likely. TR's engine has some unique features that would likely do well in another game, therefore, the program will likely stay in the hands of the creators to help prevent issues with any of those future products.
really, just lighten up.
see, that sounds like a righteous indignity. until you really look at the situation. on your windows xp installs, you're running native opensource windows software. in your linux install, you have a small linux install (which likely as all the same sorts of apps that your windows install includes, and then some-though i accept that you don't want any of that with either os) and -then- you're adding what while exceptionally polished is still a windows emulation layer. and then installing software compiled to run on windows, not linux
and your 250 MB windowsXP install would be -highly- stripped, and not count it's pagefile, and if you're talking about a 1 gig linux/wine install, it's likely not stripped down at all, and i'm guessing you're including the swap partition, or just installing alot that's not just wine related. (the definition of 'fully featured wine install' is a bit vague as well)
I can understand this point. but it's not like a hammer with a slick handle. the wii mote is fairly light, with most of the weight in the battery pack towards the back, solidly in your grip. the rubber gripping sleeve provides very good 'traction' to prevent a slipping grip, even taking sweaty hands into consideration.
while i have not even come close to testing every game released for the system, the ones i am familiar with don't suggest wildly swinging or throwing the remote against the strap purposefully, and the game play doesn't reward that behavior with increased performance. I can honestly say i've never had the remote slip from my hands, but i have 'released' it in between periods of play, and the strap has always served perfectly well to prevent the remote from hitting the floor. I would not expect it to hold if i was to swing with full force and let go (accidentally or otherwise).
I understand the idea that 'kids use this, and they don't understand' and it's a valid point, your child, or children in the house, are much more liable to use devices inappropriately than a knowledgeable adult. however, with other technology- we don't blame the tech, we blame the kids. why is this different? isn't it an adults job to encourage the proper use of technology?
if a child was putting toys or food into the 'little cave' in your VHS player, would you blame the VCR manufacturer?
if your children were playing frisbee with your dvd/cd collection, would you sue the manufacturer because they failed to play afterwards? (it looks like a frisbee, shouldn't it act like one?)
if your children break their bed due to jumping on it -popping springs, breaking the frame- is it the manufacturers fault, (as clearly, it allows them to bounce on it, so bouncing should be part of the intended use?).
I could go on and on with these examples, some much more serious, while others would admittedly be a stretch of reality, but no less true. receiving complaints about the strap failing were likely heard much as the majority of slashdot views them. as people misusing the device. once it reached a 'critical point' they released a stronger strap to provide a bit of protection for people being a bit too strenuous with the device. that doesn't imply that the strap, or any strap- will keep the remote on your arm no matter what you do.
obviously the article and summary don't state exactly what the posters in question were talking about. but from what was given, - is there really any defamation going on? can the plaintiff prove that the statement was untrue? this comment was back in 06. the state of his store -now- hold little bearing on comments made 2 years ago. on top of that, the post seems highly opinionated. it's very possible that the poster's history with food service doesn't include many with less than pleasant standards. if that was the case, would the comment not be truly stated? and can a true statement be defamation in maryland? IANAL, so it's a serious question. and if there was no defamation, why bother with determining the first amendment standing of the issue, when there may well be no issue?
except, then anyone who legitimately wants to sell their old copper to a recycling company can't. last time i checked, the % of recycled copper that was assumed to be illegitimate was rather low. and in all organizations i'm familiar with, if you brought in any significant amount, or even a small amount of a material that seemed 'shady' the company took a photocopy of your ID, along with getting in writing your claim that said material was yours.
"Modern humans were more vulnerable to the cold than Neanderthals and developed these tools as far back as 90,000 years ago to cope with cooler parts of Africa, before the peak of the ice age."
from your linked article on the clothing. 'designed for the ice age' might have been a bit of an incorrect statement- but they were certainly more at home in colder climates, with a much more solid trunk and thicker limbs. this likely made them significantly stronger than modern man, and likely able to absorb more punishment as well. however, on the downside- they were likely no where near as swift as modern man, and burned huge amounts of energy while active. this would require them to consume more food, and be less able to travel the ranges required to find that food. all of this is at least marginally speculation, and going into the ideas of clothing and interbreeding stretches even further into the realm of the unknown. cloning certainly wouldn't tell us what caused the extinction, but it likely would give us a much clearer picture of what the species was like.
the trick isn't so much producing the energy. it's storing it. people don't care that you can create enough energy to power the US with a section of desert in AZ, they want to know how they can run their car all year in maine. putting solar cells on the car at this point is just not practical, most definitely not in sub ideal regions. Electricity is wonderful, great in fact. leaps and bounds have been made with electric motors, manufacturing materials, etc. the place it all falls apart is with energy storage. batteries still lack. horribly expensive, short life expectancy, and charge times. when it takes longer than 10 minutes to 'fill up', and it's not easy to do on the road, joe public isn't going to go for it.
what i'd like to see is some lower cost efficient generator options. so that electric motor cars could start functioning on the road, and work on a more permanent power storage solution once there's more demand.
gmail updates fairly regularly, and the rest all have ad banners that will update. (many of them with flash or java based ads, yes? while it makes sense that you'd be using your pc more if you were actually sitting there, it could be possible that just those updates would, over the course of several days, add up to your memory issue? to be honest, I've experienced this same thing, and just chalked it up to that explanation. (certainly doesn't mean it's right of course). i find if all i have open is say a forum page without ads or any other updated info, i don't experience this problem. or at least not in any noticeably way.
here's an issue i have. I find the thought of teaching either ID, or something close to it in a 'science' class highly objectionable (as part of a religion class, or even some form of social or cultual class would be fine). However, I don't have children in school, and even if I did, without coaching to look for that specific instance, it's very unlikely that a younger student (before junior high) would even make note of 'if' they were being taught something 'wrong'. along those lines, students aren't even remotely encouraged to disagree with a teacher at these ages, which are some of the more formative as far as belief systems go. I recall back when I was in high school, a girlfriend was suspended for 'religious evangelism'. she was reading some form of wiccan book after she'd finished her work. (reading was encouraged in this situation) the teacher was so shocked at the sight, she brought out her bible and swore on it, in the middle of class, exclaiming that actions such as that would never happen in her classroom. (this was a FL public school, early 90's) No trouble befell the teacher, and it's highly likely if she hasn't retired, that she's still working much the same way. It's important to remember, if the teachers and administration don't like something, it very rarely matters what the 'rules' say, they'll do what they want. This whole situation is an example of that. the regulations passed were about as lenient as possible, basically just saying that evolution in some form had to be taught, not that it had to be taught as any form of solid fact. and even with that being the case, people are trying to pass legislation on top of that making it ok to completely disregard even that.
problems with education are much like insect infestations. if you notice an issue, it's almost certainly much more widespread than you believe.
i've got 2 pc's running vista, and 2 running fedora. one of the vista PC's is a laptop, and it's slightly newer than the rest of the bunch, but far from top of the line.
When I first put vista on one of my desktops, I was somewhat impressed (as far as one can be with a MS OS anyway)the only issue i had was the speed with which.zip files were handled, which was horrible. when i got the laptop, i was a little less pleased, it was a bit sluggish. I picked up 2 gigs of ram, turned off the transparency of the UI, and interface animations, and it was very 'usable'. as new drivers are coming out, so far it's just gotten more responsive. if anything at this point, i think the laptop is more responsive than the vista desktop.
it's all about your hardware, and the drivers that are available. if your system plays nice with vista, it's a fairly decent experience. if it doesn't play nice.. yer in for a world of hurt.
yes.. just what i want, all browsers to not just be adware infected, but adware themselves!
the problem with IE isn't that it's bundled with windows, or that MS has a monopoly. the issue is that it's a browser that doesn't follow standards. -that's- what needs to be fixed.
Slashdot Mirror
and here's where we might disagree on the distinction. you say he should never have been granted an H1-B visa, I agree, but only on the H1-B part. I don't see why there isn't a fast track for citizenship in cases like this. sounds like he was a productive member of society. i don't see any reason not to increase the ratio of those around here.
I don't care what country someone came from. only what country they belong to now. there isn't a problem with someone leaving their country, becoming a US citizen, and either joining our workforce, or continuing their education before joining the workforce. i don't see a problem with tax dollars assisting with that along with any other citizen. now, spending our tax dollars so a citizen of another country (doesn't matter which) can get a nice mostly free education, and return home to assist with improving their economy at the cost of ours.. that i kinda have a problem with.
wait..google voice isn't VOIP.. geesh, and all this time i thought it was an app that handled voice over IP... marketingspeak- it's bad
primary mac user here, though i have a vista box, a fedora box in a server role, and a dual boot xp/fedora desktop. i deal in tech support with a variety of OS's, find it comes in handy to have some around at home. i agree that you're more likely to run into a situation where a combination of your computer and a given software title "just won't work" on a mac when dealing with an age gap, but much of that is due to the changes that apple's implemented to try and move in a new direction. If they'd had a bigger share of the market 5-10 years ago, i don't think there would have been quite such a steep cliff. that being said, that issue does arise on windows as well. 10 years prior to the release of vista, win95 was the current OS, try running a win95 app on vista, or an app designed for vista on win95. 10 years prior to now, win98 (the first release) has been out for a year or so. trying to update a pc you bought with win95 to vista would be a long slow, likely fruitless process. with some significant hardware upgrades you 'might' be able to have a usable xp installation on an early win98 pc, but even that's unlikely. the move to 64 bit OS's and apps will make things even more interesting for compatibility. basically. if you want things to work, use recent hardware, recent software, and try not to do anything too outside spec with it, or expect to be supporting yourself (which isn't impossible, but not something john q public's gonna do)
in a different direction. the pictures were discovered by the school administration confiscating one of the male's cellphones. what then gave them the right to go poking around at the data on the phone? if the student was using a phone during class time, i can understand taking it away. but i don't see how that allows an invasion of privacy? what if we were talking about a laptop instead of a cellphone. does the school have the right to go through all that data as well? access to bank information (that some 16-17 year old's could have) going through old emails, etc. with today's cell phone capabilities, in many ways there isn't a difference between what you store on your laptop and your phone.
yes, it is horrible that you'll have to spend money on your friend due to his procrastination. the important part is understanding that it's that procrastination that's at fault, not the government. I'm not a huge fan of the performance of most government aid programs, but seriously, i have next to no sympathy for anyone that's getting 'left out' here. we're looking at 1 month left until the changeover is coming out, and they're 'starting' to run out of money. this program has been going on all last year at least, and the commercials on this television that your friend is so dependant of have been common since that time, progressively more so as we got closer. When you wait until dinner's wrapping up to get yourself a plate, don't come complaining when all that's left is scraps, or that they're cold.
to your first point. why would there be a 'device'.. they can wiretap through the service provider. hence why the bill providing immunity to the telco's for complying with illegal tap requests was passed.
when for awhile there, every other week we'd hear about another 'secret operation' that was conducted without anyone notification or approval.. it becomes difficult to assume the best of a particular situation. However, it really is likely that there are no, and likely have never been any US citizens there- it would be far simpler to strip the citizenship of an individual beforehand, far less red tape that way. there's been so many changes in homeland security law lately that i'm not sure if it's currently the case, but at least at some point if there was reasonable suspicion of terrorist activities, one's US citizenship could be suspended/revoked. of course, we haven't heard any issues of that happening either. maybe we'd be more forgiving or optimistic if we heard about any of these issues through a method other than someone slipping up and saying something they weren't supposed to.
I'll agree that some of the people here are building up XP's flaws and toning down Linux's drawbacks, but i think you're doing much the same in the reverse. in a corporate environment, with a nice speedy internet connection, and prebuilt images, 20-30 minutes to get a windows desktop going is feasible. in this situation, you're lucky to have a poor 'broadband' connection. any updates needed will take a -long- time. the fact that sp3 is fairly new makes including it in an image cut down on your update times now. but what about 6 months ago, what about 6 months from now? i've installed many a windowsXP box as well, and if you aren't just tossing an image on the drive, i don't know that i've ever seen just the install take less than 30 minutes. much less the format and update/configuration. now, if you have a customized, up to date xp image that includes all the patches/service packs, and configuration changes that you commonly make (understandable for someone that does reinstalls regularly) 30 minutes to 1.5 hours is about right. but, how much time are would you spend per month keeping that disc up to date? shouldn't that factor into the time it takes you to do your installs? there are exceptions to every rule, obviously. however, i'd say with some certainty, if you are reasonably familiar with both OS's (ie, you're equally comfortable setting up a linux pc and a windows pc) it's much simpler to set up a linux system for use as a generic email/internet workstation. if there's specific hardware issues, or a specific software requirement, that changes things. but the same can be said of windows versions. (there may only be a vista driver, or only an XP driver if you're installing vista- an app may only run in a certain version of windows and compatibility mode might not cut it- just as wine might not cut it in certain situations)
it's not just an issue with 'upselling'. though certainly the company hopes to keep these people as customers, there's nothing dirty or underhanded about that- quite the opposite, i wish -more- companies put forth effort to reduce customer churn. TR is an MMO, the people who play this game really should understand that the majority of mmo's don't succeed long term, though i will admit TR went a bit quicker than most. generally, when this happens, you end up stuck. do not pass go, do not collect $200. Here, NCSoft is at least offering -something- it's a realization that it's a bad situation, but a company can't continue to operate an operation that isn't making, nor shows any signs of turning a profit. it's a "we're sorry we can't keep the game you want to play running, but here, have some time to get to know all our other games, and decide if there's something here you'd like to try before you leave." the attitude that offering access to their entire online collection for 3 months, plus beta access an a month free of the new game they're producing is insulting.. is just well, insulting. assuming a user took up all that offer, and spent 3 months with CoH and L2, that right there is more than double to cost of the TR game purchase, and while it wasn't completely clear with L2, i did note that the digital DL was included with CoH, so there wouldn't even be a purchase required. the idea of offering up the server software as a free item isn't highly likely. TR's engine has some unique features that would likely do well in another game, therefore, the program will likely stay in the hands of the creators to help prevent issues with any of those future products. really, just lighten up.
see, that sounds like a righteous indignity. until you really look at the situation. on your windows xp installs, you're running native opensource windows software. in your linux install, you have a small linux install (which likely as all the same sorts of apps that your windows install includes, and then some-though i accept that you don't want any of that with either os) and -then- you're adding what while exceptionally polished is still a windows emulation layer. and then installing software compiled to run on windows, not linux and your 250 MB windowsXP install would be -highly- stripped, and not count it's pagefile, and if you're talking about a 1 gig linux/wine install, it's likely not stripped down at all, and i'm guessing you're including the swap partition, or just installing alot that's not just wine related. (the definition of 'fully featured wine install' is a bit vague as well)
I can understand this point. but it's not like a hammer with a slick handle. the wii mote is fairly light, with most of the weight in the battery pack towards the back, solidly in your grip. the rubber gripping sleeve provides very good 'traction' to prevent a slipping grip, even taking sweaty hands into consideration. while i have not even come close to testing every game released for the system, the ones i am familiar with don't suggest wildly swinging or throwing the remote against the strap purposefully, and the game play doesn't reward that behavior with increased performance. I can honestly say i've never had the remote slip from my hands, but i have 'released' it in between periods of play, and the strap has always served perfectly well to prevent the remote from hitting the floor. I would not expect it to hold if i was to swing with full force and let go (accidentally or otherwise). I understand the idea that 'kids use this, and they don't understand' and it's a valid point, your child, or children in the house, are much more liable to use devices inappropriately than a knowledgeable adult. however, with other technology- we don't blame the tech, we blame the kids. why is this different? isn't it an adults job to encourage the proper use of technology? if a child was putting toys or food into the 'little cave' in your VHS player, would you blame the VCR manufacturer? if your children were playing frisbee with your dvd/cd collection, would you sue the manufacturer because they failed to play afterwards? (it looks like a frisbee, shouldn't it act like one?) if your children break their bed due to jumping on it -popping springs, breaking the frame- is it the manufacturers fault, (as clearly, it allows them to bounce on it, so bouncing should be part of the intended use?). I could go on and on with these examples, some much more serious, while others would admittedly be a stretch of reality, but no less true. receiving complaints about the strap failing were likely heard much as the majority of slashdot views them. as people misusing the device. once it reached a 'critical point' they released a stronger strap to provide a bit of protection for people being a bit too strenuous with the device. that doesn't imply that the strap, or any strap- will keep the remote on your arm no matter what you do.
obviously the article and summary don't state exactly what the posters in question were talking about. but from what was given, - is there really any defamation going on? can the plaintiff prove that the statement was untrue? this comment was back in 06. the state of his store -now- hold little bearing on comments made 2 years ago. on top of that, the post seems highly opinionated. it's very possible that the poster's history with food service doesn't include many with less than pleasant standards. if that was the case, would the comment not be truly stated? and can a true statement be defamation in maryland? IANAL, so it's a serious question. and if there was no defamation, why bother with determining the first amendment standing of the issue, when there may well be no issue?
except, then anyone who legitimately wants to sell their old copper to a recycling company can't. last time i checked, the % of recycled copper that was assumed to be illegitimate was rather low. and in all organizations i'm familiar with, if you brought in any significant amount, or even a small amount of a material that seemed 'shady' the company took a photocopy of your ID, along with getting in writing your claim that said material was yours.
"Modern humans were more vulnerable to the cold than Neanderthals and developed these tools as far back as 90,000 years ago to cope with cooler parts of Africa, before the peak of the ice age." from your linked article on the clothing. 'designed for the ice age' might have been a bit of an incorrect statement- but they were certainly more at home in colder climates, with a much more solid trunk and thicker limbs. this likely made them significantly stronger than modern man, and likely able to absorb more punishment as well. however, on the downside- they were likely no where near as swift as modern man, and burned huge amounts of energy while active. this would require them to consume more food, and be less able to travel the ranges required to find that food. all of this is at least marginally speculation, and going into the ideas of clothing and interbreeding stretches even further into the realm of the unknown. cloning certainly wouldn't tell us what caused the extinction, but it likely would give us a much clearer picture of what the species was like.
the trick isn't so much producing the energy. it's storing it. people don't care that you can create enough energy to power the US with a section of desert in AZ, they want to know how they can run their car all year in maine. putting solar cells on the car at this point is just not practical, most definitely not in sub ideal regions. Electricity is wonderful, great in fact. leaps and bounds have been made with electric motors, manufacturing materials, etc. the place it all falls apart is with energy storage. batteries still lack. horribly expensive, short life expectancy, and charge times. when it takes longer than 10 minutes to 'fill up', and it's not easy to do on the road, joe public isn't going to go for it. what i'd like to see is some lower cost efficient generator options. so that electric motor cars could start functioning on the road, and work on a more permanent power storage solution once there's more demand.
gmail updates fairly regularly, and the rest all have ad banners that will update. (many of them with flash or java based ads, yes? while it makes sense that you'd be using your pc more if you were actually sitting there, it could be possible that just those updates would, over the course of several days, add up to your memory issue? to be honest, I've experienced this same thing, and just chalked it up to that explanation. (certainly doesn't mean it's right of course). i find if all i have open is say a forum page without ads or any other updated info, i don't experience this problem. or at least not in any noticeably way.
here's an issue i have. I find the thought of teaching either ID, or something close to it in a 'science' class highly objectionable (as part of a religion class, or even some form of social or cultual class would be fine). However, I don't have children in school, and even if I did, without coaching to look for that specific instance, it's very unlikely that a younger student (before junior high) would even make note of 'if' they were being taught something 'wrong'. along those lines, students aren't even remotely encouraged to disagree with a teacher at these ages, which are some of the more formative as far as belief systems go. I recall back when I was in high school, a girlfriend was suspended for 'religious evangelism'. she was reading some form of wiccan book after she'd finished her work. (reading was encouraged in this situation) the teacher was so shocked at the sight, she brought out her bible and swore on it, in the middle of class, exclaiming that actions such as that would never happen in her classroom. (this was a FL public school, early 90's) No trouble befell the teacher, and it's highly likely if she hasn't retired, that she's still working much the same way. It's important to remember, if the teachers and administration don't like something, it very rarely matters what the 'rules' say, they'll do what they want. This whole situation is an example of that. the regulations passed were about as lenient as possible, basically just saying that evolution in some form had to be taught, not that it had to be taught as any form of solid fact. and even with that being the case, people are trying to pass legislation on top of that making it ok to completely disregard even that. problems with education are much like insect infestations. if you notice an issue, it's almost certainly much more widespread than you believe.
if i had to take a guess, it'd be for wireless issues
i've got 2 pc's running vista, and 2 running fedora. one of the vista PC's is a laptop, and it's slightly newer than the rest of the bunch, but far from top of the line. When I first put vista on one of my desktops, I was somewhat impressed (as far as one can be with a MS OS anyway)the only issue i had was the speed with which .zip files were handled, which was horrible. when i got the laptop, i was a little less pleased, it was a bit sluggish. I picked up 2 gigs of ram, turned off the transparency of the UI, and interface animations, and it was very 'usable'. as new drivers are coming out, so far it's just gotten more responsive. if anything at this point, i think the laptop is more responsive than the vista desktop.
it's all about your hardware, and the drivers that are available. if your system plays nice with vista, it's a fairly decent experience. if it doesn't play nice.. yer in for a world of hurt.
yes.. just what i want, all browsers to not just be adware infected, but adware themselves! the problem with IE isn't that it's bundled with windows, or that MS has a monopoly. the issue is that it's a browser that doesn't follow standards. -that's- what needs to be fixed.