I've bought things from many foreign countries using USPS money orders. If people in these countries can also buy such a money order I'd be willing to accept it as payment. Anyone know if they can?
If you are willing to pay I'll buy you anything you want and send it to you. I've worked in exporting before so I kind of know the business. Nothing like an expert.. especially to your location.. but for a lil $ I'd be willing to figure it out.;)
I won't argue with that. I do think there is something to be said for doing things the hard way though. You might not get there as quick or easy but you might get there with more experience.
Given the dangerous levels of electricity the use seems limited. Also I wonder how well these could be kept over the generators? Wouldn't they fly right off their power source? How effecient is it to 'beam' power to fly a load compared to just putting the power source in the flyer itself and flying in a traditional way? Sounds cool but seems it'll need a lot of work to be useful.
I've tried and I even have friends already working there to use as references. My impression has been that for any kind of fun job there you need a PhD or at least a Masters. Oh well.. we can always dream.
A more interesting project would be to make a search engine that functions as well as Google on a much more modest budget. That's an ongoing game of mine. I figure if I ever succeed maybe they'll hire me finally.;)
Maybe things have improved in the year or so since I tried. I'll see about trying again. At the time I tried I was told on the freenet list that the entire network couldn't handle that many files.
The problem isn't the time. It's that, at least last time I checked, you had to duplicate files to insert them. So to insert 100Gb of files into freenet you needed another 100Gb of free space. Also the program tended to have serious issues when it came to properly dealing with millions of files. And as I said the freenet developers seemed very unsupportive of the whole concept of sharing so many files. They claimed that sharing so many files would swamp the entire network and essentially break it. That seems like sort of a major design flaw.. maybe they've fixed it since that time. One can hope.:)
My main bitches against freenet are #1 it's written in Java and quite honestly it performs like shit on every system I've tried it on and #2 the freenet developers have some sort of thing against anybody having very many files shared (even if they legally own them all).
The first problem is easy to fix just by developing other clients. I don't really see it as a problem if the dev client is written in Java.. which certainly has some benefits. The second issue is what made me lose interest in freenet. They total refused to make any effort towards making it easier (or possible?) to share large groups of files. Not only that but they made plain that they didn't think anybody should put so many files on freenet.
Or come to the dark side. Drop out of society. Spend 99% of your life building weird things and banging out code. Sure you probably won't have a cushy office or a large paycheck but you'll have a lot more fun, be more likely to actually produce something useful from your life, and have the slight chance of getting honking rich off inventing something that everyone wants.
Come to the dark side. Join us. Onward to world conquest through gizmos and gadgets.;)
I can't see this as anything but a whine from Adobe. Really a well written app should be easy to port from one platform to another. I can't imagine their sells have been so low as to make this slight effort unprofitable for them. Couldn't they just make their program better if they want to continue being the #1 in their market? Besides porting a program between platforms often results in finding hidden bugs.. which results in the program being better on all platforms.
I recommend never buying a book that is for Idiots, Dummies, or Stupid. IMO these books suck and leave their readers little smarter for having read them.
I have seen several series of Learn Visually books and I think they are much better in most cases. That's what I will usually give newbies to learn from.
That's the main reason I wouldn't bother. I just don't care if people can read my mail or know the password to my email account. Really there is very little online I worry about encrypting. If I connect to work it's encrypted. If I connect to home it's encrypted. If I connect to my web server it's encrypted. If I'm looking at offers to enlarge my penis as I sit surfing porn then what do I care?:)
Just a note.. The program driftnet is a fun toy. Try it on your insecure network today. It nicely lets you see what images, movies, etc people are downloading.
He may not be evil but he doesn't seem like what you'd call a nice guy. Just because you play by the rules doesn't mean your not a big asshole. Not that I think he is more of an asshole than the unemployed poverty stricken bum down the street.. he just has more power to make felt what an asshole he is He got ahead both by the cushy start his parents gave him and his own ability to do what he had to to get where he wanted.. and by pure luck of being the right guy in the right place at the right time.
Did you ever try getting that refund? I've yet to find a company that will honor the terms of their own EULA (Microsoft certainly doesn't).. so that should invalidate the whole thing. Besides EULA's are still more hot air than enforcable law. Scare people into believing something is illegal and it doesn't matter if it isn't really illegal.
Maybe they should get together with Columbia Record (cd, video, dvd, etc too) Club and see if they can't sell us our XBox and first 3 games for a penny (plus S&H) and then we're legally required to keep buying games on a weekly basis until our poor geek bodies are crushed under the weight of the many discs falling on us.
If you don't sign a contract when you buy the unit stating that you'll buy X number of games for it I do't really see how it can be your fault if they lose money. I mean it's not your fault that they are stupid enough to sell something at a lose.
Once a machine is sold the seller should have no say in what I do with it. I paid for it afterall. If I want to run Linux on it that's my right. If I throw it in a closet and never use it that's my right also. Either way M$ would lose the same amount of money on the deal.
It seems to me that this group gave Microsoft a fair offer, to let them run Linux on what they have legally purchased, without having to play dirty. Since Microsoft didn't even try to make a counter offer I guess they shouldn't complain. They probably will use the DMCA to attack this group but IMO that just proves what a shitty bit of law the DMCA is.
As a former support guy I know where you are coming from. Some users choice of software or options should get them shot.
As a geek though I don't really let such things bother me. I can deal with ten different email programs as easily as one. Let the users go crazy - I can handle it. I can grok new software in a few minutes time and really 99% of your users will choose one of 2 or 3 most popular programs in a given problem domain. I could even say that having multiple programs is good because it breaks things up a little. A hetrogenous enviroment is harder for viruses, trojans, bad tips, etc to move through. It also makes it easier to expose if there is a problem hidden somewhere. If program ABC doesn't tickle it then it's likely XYZ will.. a big help because eventually ABC might also tickle the problem.. but only after you have thousands of man hours invested into doing things that wrong way.
The combination of Mozilla and my IMAP server choke when I am away for a day or two and open my mail and find 15000 messages waiting. It can handle a few hundred messages okay but when it gets into the thousands it really gives it brain farts. It does a great job at sorting my mail though. The filtering is good overall and I love it's junk mail filtering.
To be fair the only programs I've found that didn't puke on 15,000 new messages at a time were all command line or console based.
If you use Linux you can easily run IE by using CrossOver Office. I use it to run IE6. It's easier than trying to switch to a Windows machine just to see if a page looks right in IE. (or asking a friend)
IE6 renders CSS much better than previous versions of IE did. Enough to/mostly/ make me happy at least. Mozilla still does a better job though.
Use CSS for minor things and for major changes you have the code or can create your own skin or your own add-on's. Mozilla has special user editable files that let the user change the look of either the chrome or page content. I use it all the time to render pages in a way that is cleaner than the defaults.
Look for userContent.css and userChrome.css for a good starting place.:)
I've been using Netscape since before they were a company and I don't see how 'old-timers' would be demented enough to stick to such a shitty browser as Netscape 4.x. Yick! If their apps won't work with anything newer then they must be really badly programmed.
I don't support any browsers that old anymore. I develop with Mozilla 1.4 but I also use IE6 and Opera 6/7. I like Mozilla's CSS support best but IE6 and Opera 7 have came a long way and IMO actually do a pretty nice job at it now. I don't test in any Netscape browsers but assume they will work with anything that works well with Mozilla.
If you disable scripting and plugins that you don't need you'll find the browser to be much faster also. On a 1Ghz system I've noticed page load times being more than twice as fast with these features turned off.. and usually you can't even see any difference in the resulting page. ActiveX controls and Java (in either IE or Mozilla) seem to be some of the worst offenders. Turn those off and your browsing experience will feel much better.
It also much helps stability. Most browser crashes seem to be related to Java or plugins.
I still don't see why email needs scripting. I always disable all scripting for mail and there are no problems. I do think Mozilla is better behaved about obeying the user when they turn scripting off than is IE/Outlook. Also Outlook totally slaughters email. Have you ever dealt with it on a technical level? They like do tons of shit in ways that they just made up and changed but still claim to follow the standards.
In any browser or email program I suggest users turn off any scripting and plugins they don't need. It'll make the experience faster, more stable, and more secure. You really don't miss a lot because of it either. Mozilla seems to be moving towards doing allow/deny of different scripting abilities on a site by site basis and I really appreciate that. I'd like to see them do the same with plugins.. such that I could allow Shockwave at Dreamworks.com but everything else have it disabled (just an example). Most scripting and plugins are used for retarded purposes anyway. Really, what is the benefit of using it for menus or animations? Those things can easily be done just as well without scripting (in most cases). What really pisses me off are people who use Javascript to open a new window for links. Dammit use normal HTML or better yet don't do it.:P
Why? Because the majority of laws are stupid and to be honest are somewhat based on fad. I'm pretty sure it'd take all of 5 minutes every 5 years to decide that basics like murder are still bad.. and if not could be ammended to the constitution. If there is enough about an issue to make it need discussed every five years then there is good reason not to make it permanent. The extra work would force lawmakers to consentrate first on the important things and only then nit pick over new stuff.
Just having all things, not otherwise outlawed, to be legal is a good start but with generation after generation of lawmarker trying to make their mark the legal system is slowly spammed to death.
Ammending the constitution for things like banning liquor is pretty stupid but it takes more work to pass an ammendment than a normal law.. so if they have enough support then I guess it's fine.
The Supreme Court getting some balls would also be a good idea but much harder to enact as a basis of law. It's easier to tweak the system than change human nature.:)
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I've bought things from many foreign countries using USPS money orders. If people in these countries can also buy such a money order I'd be willing to accept it as payment. Anyone know if they can?
If you are willing to pay I'll buy you anything you want and send it to you. I've worked in exporting before so I kind of know the business. Nothing like an expert.. especially to your location.. but for a lil $ I'd be willing to figure it out. ;)
I won't argue with that. I do think there is something to be said for doing things the hard way though. You might not get there as quick or easy but you might get there with more experience.
Given the dangerous levels of electricity the use seems limited. Also I wonder how well these could be kept over the generators? Wouldn't they fly right off their power source? How effecient is it to 'beam' power to fly a load compared to just putting the power source in the flyer itself and flying in a traditional way? Sounds cool but seems it'll need a lot of work to be useful.
I've tried and I even have friends already working there to use as references. My impression has been that for any kind of fun job there you need a PhD or at least a Masters. Oh well.. we can always dream.
;)
A more interesting project would be to make a search engine that functions as well as Google on a much more modest budget. That's an ongoing game of mine. I figure if I ever succeed maybe they'll hire me finally.
Maybe things have improved in the year or so since I tried. I'll see about trying again. At the time I tried I was told on the freenet list that the entire network couldn't handle that many files.
The problem isn't the time. It's that, at least last time I checked, you had to duplicate files to insert them. So to insert 100Gb of files into freenet you needed another 100Gb of free space. Also the program tended to have serious issues when it came to properly dealing with millions of files. And as I said the freenet developers seemed very unsupportive of the whole concept of sharing so many files. They claimed that sharing so many files would swamp the entire network and essentially break it. That seems like sort of a major design flaw.. maybe they've fixed it since that time. One can hope. :)
My main bitches against freenet are #1 it's written in Java and quite honestly it performs like shit on every system I've tried it on and #2 the freenet developers have some sort of thing against anybody having very many files shared (even if they legally own them all).
The first problem is easy to fix just by developing other clients. I don't really see it as a problem if the dev client is written in Java.. which certainly has some benefits. The second issue is what made me lose interest in freenet. They total refused to make any effort towards making it easier (or possible?) to share large groups of files. Not only that but they made plain that they didn't think anybody should put so many files on freenet.
Or come to the dark side. Drop out of society. Spend 99% of your life building weird things and banging out code. Sure you probably won't have a cushy office or a large paycheck but you'll have a lot more fun, be more likely to actually produce something useful from your life, and have the slight chance of getting honking rich off inventing something that everyone wants.
;)
Come to the dark side. Join us. Onward to world conquest through gizmos and gadgets.
I can't see this as anything but a whine from Adobe. Really a well written app should be easy to port from one platform to another. I can't imagine their sells have been so low as to make this slight effort unprofitable for them. Couldn't they just make their program better if they want to continue being the #1 in their market? Besides porting a program between platforms often results in finding hidden bugs.. which results in the program being better on all platforms.
I recommend never buying a book that is for Idiots, Dummies, or Stupid. IMO these books suck and leave their readers little smarter for having read them.
I have seen several series of Learn Visually books and I think they are much better in most cases. That's what I will usually give newbies to learn from.
That's the main reason I wouldn't bother. I just don't care if people can read my mail or know the password to my email account. Really there is very little online I worry about encrypting. If I connect to work it's encrypted. If I connect to home it's encrypted. If I connect to my web server it's encrypted. If I'm looking at offers to enlarge my penis as I sit surfing porn then what do I care? :)
Just a note.. The program driftnet is a fun toy. Try it on your insecure network today. It nicely lets you see what images, movies, etc people are downloading.
He may not be evil but he doesn't seem like what you'd call a nice guy. Just because you play by the rules doesn't mean your not a big asshole. Not that I think he is more of an asshole than the unemployed poverty stricken bum down the street.. he just has more power to make felt what an asshole he is He got ahead both by the cushy start his parents gave him and his own ability to do what he had to to get where he wanted.. and by pure luck of being the right guy in the right place at the right time.
Did you ever try getting that refund? I've yet to find a company that will honor the terms of their own EULA (Microsoft certainly doesn't).. so that should invalidate the whole thing. Besides EULA's are still more hot air than enforcable law. Scare people into believing something is illegal and it doesn't matter if it isn't really illegal.
Maybe they should get together with Columbia Record (cd, video, dvd, etc too) Club and see if they can't sell us our XBox and first 3 games for a penny (plus S&H) and then we're legally required to keep buying games on a weekly basis until our poor geek bodies are crushed under the weight of the many discs falling on us.
If you don't sign a contract when you buy the unit stating that you'll buy X number of games for it I do't really see how it can be your fault if they lose money. I mean it's not your fault that they are stupid enough to sell something at a lose.
Once a machine is sold the seller should have no say in what I do with it. I paid for it afterall. If I want to run Linux on it that's my right. If I throw it in a closet and never use it that's my right also. Either way M$ would lose the same amount of money on the deal.
It seems to me that this group gave Microsoft a fair offer, to let them run Linux on what they have legally purchased, without having to play dirty. Since Microsoft didn't even try to make a counter offer I guess they shouldn't complain. They probably will use the DMCA to attack this group but IMO that just proves what a shitty bit of law the DMCA is.
As a former support guy I know where you are coming from. Some users choice of software or options should get them shot.
As a geek though I don't really let such things bother me. I can deal with ten different email programs as easily as one. Let the users go crazy - I can handle it. I can grok new software in a few minutes time and really 99% of your users will choose one of 2 or 3 most popular programs in a given problem domain. I could even say that having multiple programs is good because it breaks things up a little. A hetrogenous enviroment is harder for viruses, trojans, bad tips, etc to move through. It also makes it easier to expose if there is a problem hidden somewhere. If program ABC doesn't tickle it then it's likely XYZ will.. a big help because eventually ABC might also tickle the problem.. but only after you have thousands of man hours invested into doing things that wrong way.
The combination of Mozilla and my IMAP server choke when I am away for a day or two and open my mail and find 15000 messages waiting. It can handle a few hundred messages okay but when it gets into the thousands it really gives it brain farts. It does a great job at sorting my mail though. The filtering is good overall and I love it's junk mail filtering.
To be fair the only programs I've found that didn't puke on 15,000 new messages at a time were all command line or console based.
If you use Linux you can easily run IE by using CrossOver Office. I use it to run IE6. It's easier than trying to switch to a Windows machine just to see if a page looks right in IE. (or asking a friend)
/mostly/ make me happy at least. Mozilla still does a better job though.
IE6 renders CSS much better than previous versions of IE did. Enough to
Use CSS for minor things and for major changes you have the code or can create your own skin or your own add-on's. Mozilla has special user editable files that let the user change the look of either the chrome or page content. I use it all the time to render pages in a way that is cleaner than the defaults.
:)
Look for userContent.css and userChrome.css for a good starting place.
I've been using Netscape since before they were a company and I don't see how 'old-timers' would be demented enough to stick to such a shitty browser as Netscape 4.x. Yick! If their apps won't work with anything newer then they must be really badly programmed.
I don't support any browsers that old anymore. I develop with Mozilla 1.4 but I also use IE6 and Opera 6/7. I like Mozilla's CSS support best but IE6 and Opera 7 have came a long way and IMO actually do a pretty nice job at it now. I don't test in any Netscape browsers but assume they will work with anything that works well with Mozilla.
If you disable scripting and plugins that you don't need you'll find the browser to be much faster also. On a 1Ghz system I've noticed page load times being more than twice as fast with these features turned off.. and usually you can't even see any difference in the resulting page. ActiveX controls and Java (in either IE or Mozilla) seem to be some of the worst offenders. Turn those off and your browsing experience will feel much better.
It also much helps stability. Most browser crashes seem to be related to Java or plugins.
I still don't see why email needs scripting. I always disable all scripting for mail and there are no problems. I do think Mozilla is better behaved about obeying the user when they turn scripting off than is IE/Outlook. Also Outlook totally slaughters email. Have you ever dealt with it on a technical level? They like do tons of shit in ways that they just made up and changed but still claim to follow the standards.
:P
In any browser or email program I suggest users turn off any scripting and plugins they don't need. It'll make the experience faster, more stable, and more secure. You really don't miss a lot because of it either. Mozilla seems to be moving towards doing allow/deny of different scripting abilities on a site by site basis and I really appreciate that. I'd like to see them do the same with plugins.. such that I could allow Shockwave at Dreamworks.com but everything else have it disabled (just an example). Most scripting and plugins are used for retarded purposes anyway. Really, what is the benefit of using it for menus or animations? Those things can easily be done just as well without scripting (in most cases). What really pisses me off are people who use Javascript to open a new window for links. Dammit use normal HTML or better yet don't do it.
Usually you'll also get benefits for the extra $50. Make your choice as to which will serve you better. Stop whining. :)
Signed, an idiot.
Why? Because the majority of laws are stupid and to be honest are somewhat based on fad. I'm pretty sure it'd take all of 5 minutes every 5 years to decide that basics like murder are still bad.. and if not could be ammended to the constitution. If there is enough about an issue to make it need discussed every five years then there is good reason not to make it permanent. The extra work would force lawmakers to consentrate first on the important things and only then nit pick over new stuff.
:)
Just having all things, not otherwise outlawed, to be legal is a good start but with generation after generation of lawmarker trying to make their mark the legal system is slowly spammed to death.
Ammending the constitution for things like banning liquor is pretty stupid but it takes more work to pass an ammendment than a normal law.. so if they have enough support then I guess it's fine.
The Supreme Court getting some balls would also be a good idea but much harder to enact as a basis of law. It's easier to tweak the system than change human nature.