Yes, I definitely live in Outback, Nowhere. Fast affordable internet is available as close as Texarkana, about 40 miles away as the crow flies. There is nothing fast out here, in the sticks.
Maybe so. The first comma doesn't belong. The rest of my commas actually do belong. My writing just rolls out. I don't think about the punctuation very much, or the spelling, or even about grammar. I seldom proof read anything. All my posts just flow, straight from the brain, onto the screen. Ehh - sometimes, it's not exactly right, but I don't much care.;^)
Have you emailed a rant to Linus? You might trigger one of his famous tantrums, wherein he bites developer's heads off. Those are always amusing! And, it might just fix the problem!
I would just roll back to the last known good kernel. The distro I'm using is still at 3.10, and the wife's distro is still at 3.9 I believe. There really is little need to keep those kernels up to date all the time. I've often counseled the wife to just not update. Wait for the updates to roll out to the masses, then scroll through the forums looking for issues. A couple weeks AFTER the rollout, consider doing the updates, unless some specific issue is likely to affect our hardware and/or software.
Yeah, I used to keep up with the latest bleeding edge version of the kernel. That's just to much of a headache, so I gave up on it.
Define "affordable". My landline costs ~$15.00 per month. I have no long distance carrier associated with that landline, meaning I do not / cannot make long distance calls. The only real use that I have for the landline, is the DSL that comes into the house on the same line. DSL is definitely over priced - $75 for less than 1 MB connection. If I lived in a city, a bottom tier offering would be cheaper and faster. I'd be happy to get rid of DSL, if wireless could supply my needs/wants. Unfortunately, wireless coverage sucks here. There are times when I have to walk outside, even walk out into the roadway, to get a good signal. "Good signal" being relative of course. Sometimes, I actually have a full bar, and still can't make a phone call, so I resort to text messages.
Fair enough. You're looking at present day problems - I suspected otherwise. I also suspect that some of those users might be "holding it wrong".;^)
More seriously, there are, and probably always will be, bugs and glitches in all operating systems. I honestly believe that Linux rivals all other OS's in all respects today. Those bugs and glitches are addressed as quickly and efficiently as any other OS addresses their own bugs and glitches. More, those bugs and glitches are openly documented, unlike the proprietary systems. No matter the problem, you can track it closely, to find real solutions, or to find workarounds.
That last one? Updating the kernel disables the keyboard? That's pretty serious. Something one would expect from Apple, LMAO!! The rather simple workaround, however, is to select the older kernel, where the keyboard did work. Presuming, of course, that the machine is configured so that selection of kernels is possible.
And, you base all of that on what exactly? Recent personal experience? Linux had a poor user experience, historically. But, we don't live in history, do we? At present, I'm living in the year 2013, soon to be 2014. Today, Linux has not one, but two good sound systems available. It has pretty awesome graphics. Most NICs just work. As has been observed many times, you can set up a desktop, laptop, or whatever for your doddering old grandparents, and convince them that it's the "new Windows". And, we are all aware that serious science has relied on Linux and/or Unix-likes just about forever now. And, servers?
Whatever. You may continue to cite obsolete historical data to justify dumping on Linux. This is still a free country. Well, as free as the NSA permits it to be.
Fight back with torrents. Calibre doesn't care what format the ebook is in, and it certainly doesn't report back to Amazon or anyone else. To document my reading habits, you'll have to root my machine. To even find out what I read, you'll have to at least get a look at my hard drive.
That certainly isn't the end-all be-all, but it does remove a lot of work. Opt outs help. Adblock Plus and other browser scripts help, Ghostery among them. But, you are right, in that you have to take personal responsibility for your own security. Security is a process, not a product.
I'll add that most people who put up the cash for high performing GPU's aren't much interested in actually "computing" with them. They are far more interested in "gaming". They demand video performance, as opposed to crunching database numbers. Those companies that are most likely to pay people for manipulating data bases generally have little interest in top notch video, so they aren't going to pay for hundreds of GPU's.
I've sometimes wondered how conformity might be measured. Personally - I'm a non-conformist in a number of ways. I'm rather proud of that fact. I do as I damned well please, I hold my own opinions, and just don't give a rat's arse what others think about it.
I do realize though, that I do conform to society's expectations in a number of ways.
Where do you go to get a conformity grade? On a bell curve, where would any of us be?
Manipulating the market is unethical, especially when that manipulation includes dishonesty.
IMHO, it's perfectly alright to tout the strengths and benefits of your own products. It's not alright to spread rumors that the competition's product is inferior, substandard, or whatever. In the case of Microsoft, they have historically stooped to some pretty low levels in their attempts to destroy competitor's good names. Some of that crap SHOULD be illegal.
You see, GP as a troll. I see him as a realist. Google's product is not software, but data. That data consists of your information, and mine. Please see my reply to GP.
Do you block Google Analytics, and all their ad servers? Do you block tracking? I'm willing to allow Google some limited data, and I block the rest. So, no, I don't hand over all my personal data. Further, I encourage others (techies and non-techies alike) to block Google's tracking. I don't believe anyone can block it all, but neither do I believe that Google is going to waste time, money, or effort trying to track people who don't cooperate.
You will note that Rockstar was formed by the members of the consortium for the purpose of patent enforcement. It appears to me that this enforcement has devolved into patent trolling.
"As soon as I think that Sony might be doing something right, they shove their heads up their arse again."
Lack of oxygen, mostly. There's a lot of methane in the posterior orifice, and little oxygen.
TBH, I cannot understand the thinking of the idiots who graduate to become corporate executives. Theoretically, they joined the consortium to save money. Being a member of the consortium, the other actors aren't going to go after them to extract licensing fees. Android, for instance, has been reported to have "earned" a couple billion dollars for Microsoft already. And, of course, Microsoft is ethically entitled to NONE of that money. Or, if they are actually, truthfully, entitled to any of it, they should have presented their case in court somewhere to demonstrate exactly what they should be entitled to.
I'm sick of the status quo. Microsoft implies that a product may infringe upon one of more patents, but never does state exactly which patent, or how the infringement might be taking place. That doesn't exactly fit the modus of most patent trolls, but it's close enough for my purposes.
I care less about how it works in Google's favor, than I care about how it works in OUR FAVOR! In this case, I believe that Google's interest coincides with the "consumer's" interest. Anything to kill patent trolls sounds good to me. I'm aware, however, that the best of laws have those pesky unintended consequences.
We, the end users, are already paying for illegitimate licensing over a broad spectrum of goods. It's unlikely that killing off patent trolls will do very much to end existing licenses. But, if we can see the beginning of the end of those bastard patent trolls, eventually the market price of consumer goods will start to go down.
I actually do still favor Google, in general, but some of their practices aren't all that non-evil. I can't cheer the anti-troll legislation just because it seems to favor Google. I support that legislation for the sake of all of us, who aren't even players in the patent game. Ultimately, WE PAY for that nonsense.
Prejudice and bigotry are both necessary elements of racism. I've often observed that the most "liberal" people are the most intolerant. And, of course you stopped reading - as soon as one of you type sees or hears something they don't like, the revert into intolerance so strong that they no longer see or hear whatever it is that "offends" them.
Fuck me? Only in your dreams. I suppose that if you have a fetish about Klansmen, you can probably get some together for a marshmallow roast or something. They seem to be into that kind of stuff.
I WISH that GP was wrong, and that you are right. Unfortunately - the past 12 years have proven GP to be perfectly right. Only in recent months has there been any reaction worthy of note, and the NSA seems to be weathering that just fine.
Hyperbole? Without it, almost all political positions fall apart, in today's USA. So help me, I get email - well, here, try this:
Doomed!
We’ll get straight to the point:
If the Republicans hold on to the House in next year’s election, Speaker Boehner will destroy any chances of real progress and effectively run out the clock on President Obama’s term.
So here’s our plan for 2014: remove Boehner from power, elect a Democratic House, and finish the work we all started together.
We can win the 17 House seats we need to make that happen – but we’re going to need you on this. To put it bluntly, if we fall behind the Republicans on this year-end deadline, our campaign to win a Democratic House next year is doomed from the start.
The OTHER party's hyperbole is slightly less dramatic, but not much.
I'll wager that you can find people in prisons in every state who possess higher morals than your average politician, or political appointee. Lots of them, in fact. The reason a lot of people are in prison, is that they did something ILLEGAL. Illegal and immoral should be synonymous, or at least very nearly so, but they are not.
LOL, isn't THAT special? You can't register unless you give them the information to add you to the database! What a hoot. I'm not going to bother even supplying a fake number with a throwaway email. But, at least we know that there are one or more directories, apparently fishing for the information needed to grow.
"Being liberal doesn't get you elected. Lots of liberal people lose elections and lots of conservative people win elections. This country is split almost 50/50 between liberal and conservative voters."
Alright, I think I misspoke on that one. Being liberal didn't get him elected, so much as being non-neoconservative and non-Tea party. The "conservative party" today suffers from a myriad of ills, and the liberal party benefits from those ills. Personally, I voted AGAINST the dude with the magic underwear, and a hotline to God. Had there been a Libertarian on the ballot, he would have had my vote. Unfortunately, there were only two candidates for president on my ballot, so that meant either vote for Obama, or leave the space blank. On an electronic ballot, one can't do a write-in candidate.
And, I'll back off a little on the race bit. I do get irritated when *some people* claim that it's all about race, while others claim it has nothing to do with race. Race is, and will remain, a factor for a long, long time to come. Maybe one day, we can get over race - or maybe not. It depends on a lot of things. Sometimes, it seems a lot of blacks sabotage themselves - other times it seems a lot of whites are working even harder to sabotage things.
Maybe someday, race will mean nothing. Today, it means a lot.
Slashdot Mirror
Yes, I definitely live in Outback, Nowhere. Fast affordable internet is available as close as Texarkana, about 40 miles away as the crow flies. There is nothing fast out here, in the sticks.
Maybe so. The first comma doesn't belong. The rest of my commas actually do belong. My writing just rolls out. I don't think about the punctuation very much, or the spelling, or even about grammar. I seldom proof read anything. All my posts just flow, straight from the brain, onto the screen. Ehh - sometimes, it's not exactly right, but I don't much care. ;^)
Have you emailed a rant to Linus? You might trigger one of his famous tantrums, wherein he bites developer's heads off. Those are always amusing! And, it might just fix the problem!
I would just roll back to the last known good kernel. The distro I'm using is still at 3.10, and the wife's distro is still at 3.9 I believe. There really is little need to keep those kernels up to date all the time. I've often counseled the wife to just not update. Wait for the updates to roll out to the masses, then scroll through the forums looking for issues. A couple weeks AFTER the rollout, consider doing the updates, unless some specific issue is likely to affect our hardware and/or software.
Yeah, I used to keep up with the latest bleeding edge version of the kernel. That's just to much of a headache, so I gave up on it.
Define "affordable". My landline costs ~$15.00 per month. I have no long distance carrier associated with that landline, meaning I do not / cannot make long distance calls. The only real use that I have for the landline, is the DSL that comes into the house on the same line. DSL is definitely over priced - $75 for less than 1 MB connection. If I lived in a city, a bottom tier offering would be cheaper and faster. I'd be happy to get rid of DSL, if wireless could supply my needs/wants. Unfortunately, wireless coverage sucks here. There are times when I have to walk outside, even walk out into the roadway, to get a good signal. "Good signal" being relative of course. Sometimes, I actually have a full bar, and still can't make a phone call, so I resort to text messages.
Fair enough. You're looking at present day problems - I suspected otherwise. I also suspect that some of those users might be "holding it wrong". ;^)
More seriously, there are, and probably always will be, bugs and glitches in all operating systems. I honestly believe that Linux rivals all other OS's in all respects today. Those bugs and glitches are addressed as quickly and efficiently as any other OS addresses their own bugs and glitches. More, those bugs and glitches are openly documented, unlike the proprietary systems. No matter the problem, you can track it closely, to find real solutions, or to find workarounds.
That last one? Updating the kernel disables the keyboard? That's pretty serious. Something one would expect from Apple, LMAO!! The rather simple workaround, however, is to select the older kernel, where the keyboard did work. Presuming, of course, that the machine is configured so that selection of kernels is possible.
And, you base all of that on what exactly? Recent personal experience? Linux had a poor user experience, historically. But, we don't live in history, do we? At present, I'm living in the year 2013, soon to be 2014. Today, Linux has not one, but two good sound systems available. It has pretty awesome graphics. Most NICs just work. As has been observed many times, you can set up a desktop, laptop, or whatever for your doddering old grandparents, and convince them that it's the "new Windows". And, we are all aware that serious science has relied on Linux and/or Unix-likes just about forever now. And, servers?
Whatever. You may continue to cite obsolete historical data to justify dumping on Linux. This is still a free country. Well, as free as the NSA permits it to be.
Fight back with torrents. Calibre doesn't care what format the ebook is in, and it certainly doesn't report back to Amazon or anyone else. To document my reading habits, you'll have to root my machine. To even find out what I read, you'll have to at least get a look at my hard drive.
I would rather reverse the "master - slave" relationship. I use Google, but don't permit Google to use me, except under my own terms and conditions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoQBVgNtdqE
There are scripts to help a person with "keeping up".
http://lifehacker.com/5060053/set-up-universal-ad-blocking-through-your-router
That certainly isn't the end-all be-all, but it does remove a lot of work. Opt outs help. Adblock Plus and other browser scripts help, Ghostery among them. But, you are right, in that you have to take personal responsibility for your own security. Security is a process, not a product.
I'll add that most people who put up the cash for high performing GPU's aren't much interested in actually "computing" with them. They are far more interested in "gaming". They demand video performance, as opposed to crunching database numbers. Those companies that are most likely to pay people for manipulating data bases generally have little interest in top notch video, so they aren't going to pay for hundreds of GPU's.
I've sometimes wondered how conformity might be measured. Personally - I'm a non-conformist in a number of ways. I'm rather proud of that fact. I do as I damned well please, I hold my own opinions, and just don't give a rat's arse what others think about it.
I do realize though, that I do conform to society's expectations in a number of ways.
Where do you go to get a conformity grade? On a bell curve, where would any of us be?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear,_uncertainty_and_doubt
Manipulating the market is unethical, especially when that manipulation includes dishonesty.
IMHO, it's perfectly alright to tout the strengths and benefits of your own products. It's not alright to spread rumors that the competition's product is inferior, substandard, or whatever. In the case of Microsoft, they have historically stooped to some pretty low levels in their attempts to destroy competitor's good names. Some of that crap SHOULD be illegal.
You see, GP as a troll. I see him as a realist. Google's product is not software, but data. That data consists of your information, and mine. Please see my reply to GP.
Do you block Google Analytics, and all their ad servers? Do you block tracking? I'm willing to allow Google some limited data, and I block the rest. So, no, I don't hand over all my personal data. Further, I encourage others (techies and non-techies alike) to block Google's tracking. I don't believe anyone can block it all, but neither do I believe that Google is going to waste time, money, or effort trying to track people who don't cooperate.
Sorry, your reading comprehension seems to be suffering. Google bid on the patents. Google never made any effort to purchase the company, Rockstar.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockstar_Consortium
You will note that Rockstar was formed by the members of the consortium for the purpose of patent enforcement. It appears to me that this enforcement has devolved into patent trolling.
"As soon as I think that Sony might be doing something right, they shove their heads up their arse again."
Lack of oxygen, mostly. There's a lot of methane in the posterior orifice, and little oxygen.
TBH, I cannot understand the thinking of the idiots who graduate to become corporate executives. Theoretically, they joined the consortium to save money. Being a member of the consortium, the other actors aren't going to go after them to extract licensing fees. Android, for instance, has been reported to have "earned" a couple billion dollars for Microsoft already. And, of course, Microsoft is ethically entitled to NONE of that money. Or, if they are actually, truthfully, entitled to any of it, they should have presented their case in court somewhere to demonstrate exactly what they should be entitled to.
I'm sick of the status quo. Microsoft implies that a product may infringe upon one of more patents, but never does state exactly which patent, or how the infringement might be taking place. That doesn't exactly fit the modus of most patent trolls, but it's close enough for my purposes.
I care less about how it works in Google's favor, than I care about how it works in OUR FAVOR! In this case, I believe that Google's interest coincides with the "consumer's" interest. Anything to kill patent trolls sounds good to me. I'm aware, however, that the best of laws have those pesky unintended consequences.
We, the end users, are already paying for illegitimate licensing over a broad spectrum of goods. It's unlikely that killing off patent trolls will do very much to end existing licenses. But, if we can see the beginning of the end of those bastard patent trolls, eventually the market price of consumer goods will start to go down.
I actually do still favor Google, in general, but some of their practices aren't all that non-evil. I can't cheer the anti-troll legislation just because it seems to favor Google. I support that legislation for the sake of all of us, who aren't even players in the patent game. Ultimately, WE PAY for that nonsense.
Prejudice and bigotry are both necessary elements of racism. I've often observed that the most "liberal" people are the most intolerant. And, of course you stopped reading - as soon as one of you type sees or hears something they don't like, the revert into intolerance so strong that they no longer see or hear whatever it is that "offends" them.
Fuck me? Only in your dreams. I suppose that if you have a fetish about Klansmen, you can probably get some together for a marshmallow roast or something. They seem to be into that kind of stuff.
The PATRIOT act, specifically.
I WISH that GP was wrong, and that you are right. Unfortunately - the past 12 years have proven GP to be perfectly right. Only in recent months has there been any reaction worthy of note, and the NSA seems to be weathering that just fine.
Hyperbole? Without it, almost all political positions fall apart, in today's USA. So help me, I get email - well, here, try this:
Doomed!
We’ll get straight to the point:
If the Republicans hold on to the House in next year’s election, Speaker Boehner will destroy any chances of real progress and effectively run out the clock on President Obama’s term.
So here’s our plan for 2014: remove Boehner from power, elect a Democratic House, and finish the work we all started together.
We can win the 17 House seats we need to make that happen – but we’re going to need you on this. To put it bluntly, if we fall behind the Republicans on this year-end deadline, our campaign to win a Democratic House next year is doomed from the start.
The OTHER party's hyperbole is slightly less dramatic, but not much.
I'll wager that you can find people in prisons in every state who possess higher morals than your average politician, or political appointee. Lots of them, in fact. The reason a lot of people are in prison, is that they did something ILLEGAL. Illegal and immoral should be synonymous, or at least very nearly so, but they are not.
Attention span? Absolutely NOT! The public can't remember when 9/11/01 happened. Heck, they've already forgotten the Boston Marathon bombing.
LOL, isn't THAT special? You can't register unless you give them the information to add you to the database! What a hoot. I'm not going to bother even supplying a fake number with a throwaway email. But, at least we know that there are one or more directories, apparently fishing for the information needed to grow.
"Being liberal doesn't get you elected. Lots of liberal people lose elections and lots of conservative people win elections. This country is split almost 50/50 between liberal and conservative voters."
Alright, I think I misspoke on that one. Being liberal didn't get him elected, so much as being non-neoconservative and non-Tea party. The "conservative party" today suffers from a myriad of ills, and the liberal party benefits from those ills. Personally, I voted AGAINST the dude with the magic underwear, and a hotline to God. Had there been a Libertarian on the ballot, he would have had my vote. Unfortunately, there were only two candidates for president on my ballot, so that meant either vote for Obama, or leave the space blank. On an electronic ballot, one can't do a write-in candidate.
And, I'll back off a little on the race bit. I do get irritated when *some people* claim that it's all about race, while others claim it has nothing to do with race. Race is, and will remain, a factor for a long, long time to come. Maybe one day, we can get over race - or maybe not. It depends on a lot of things. Sometimes, it seems a lot of blacks sabotage themselves - other times it seems a lot of whites are working even harder to sabotage things.
Maybe someday, race will mean nothing. Today, it means a lot.