To answer your question, one need only look at the Burqas. If the religion states that the face must be covered, then you need little else. It could even take some weird made-up Scientology-like route and state that a persons face must not be captured by technology. I'm not saying that such a belief exists, but all it takes is for a recognized religion to publish doctrine to that effect and it becomes protected in countries that grant protection to recognized religions.
All irrelevant in this case, as Jediism is not a recognized religion, but you get the idea.
An official from the National Statistics office had called us up to complain about the story. Apparently they've been getting a load of phone calls asking if Jedi Knight is officially a religion.
This is the official line: the Census does not provide recognition to any religion in the official statistics nor does it attempt to define religion. The list that you can see by checking out the pdf file above is merely a list of possible answers that people have been known to put in the box marked religion.
As such, Jedi Knight is not officially recognised as a religion."
Actually they could end up taking it very seriously. From TFA:
"Jediism was officially "recognised" as a religion back in 2001. At the time, no one could have suspected the potential pitfalls of acknowledging this apparently harmless sect, but Jedi hoods may now join burqas on the list of possible threats to national security."
How did this turn into an US vs UK debate? The summary alone should have more than enough fodder to keep everyone on topic.
"But the Open Rights Group, which campaigns on digital rights and freedoms, said that the amendment would not solve deeper problems with the bill – which may be rushed into law with barely any debate in the Commons – and called for it to be abandoned.
Amendments tabled to the bill show that the Liberal Democrats now want to alter amendment 120A, which was shown last week to have been copied almost word-for-word from a lobbying paper prepared by the music industry, but which was also widely criticised as giving copyright holders too much power to close down sites on limited evidence."
This should scare the hell out of people. The fact that they 'softened' the amendment, which is still horrible, as it will allow a site to be shut down without any substantiative proof, and then still require them weeks or months of work in legal courts to recover. What kind of moron even considers such legislation?
Whether or not Nokia can charge more to Apple than it does to other vendors for the same licensing costs is important as it would establish anti-competitive practices. I also don't understand Nokia's stance on this request to dismiss. Do they think that just because Apple has countersued, that their original case will just be ignored? Everyone will get their day in court, regardless of who countersues.
IMO, they items they lock out are just not important to the average Joe. To geeks and some business users, yes some apps are important, like WiFi Scanners, Tethering, Google Voice, Jiggly Tits (ok, granted, that one may have a wider appeal), but for the average user, they get what they need from the app store.
I have a good friend who went with the droid. He loves Apple Mac, but hated the restrictions on the iPhone. All he did after that was complain that it was hard to get it working properly, just the way he wanted it. When I suggested an iPhone so he didn't have to mess with such things, you'd think I suggested taking his porn collection away;)
The droid is great for Apple customers, as it's forcing Apple to expand into areas where it's weak, and that's always a good thing. The rumored multi-tasking in 4.0 should make some iPhone owners very happy. Personally I don't have much need for it, but the forums are jumping with anticipation over the rumored release.
So what are the odds of this thing being captured into a long orbit? I would imagine this will set off a shower like dropping a ball of water into a screen, but I'm also curious if this will just graze us, or if our suns gravity would be sufficient to actually capture this dwarf and create a binary system?
1.5 Million years though. At least we have some time...
The marrow transplant is older news. The issue is with the survivability of the procedure. These transplants kill about a third of the patients. It's not an attractive option. On top of that, finding a compatible donor is even more unlikely. It's just not a viable solution with current technology.
Perhaps not the best way to word it on a 'News For Nerds' site, but I don't think this deserves a Troll rating. In-artful yes, but this is certainly relevant to the topic and is not trolling. It actually made me stop and think about the sites that I do visit. I block as as a general rule, mostly for mobile access reasons, but I never turn it off at home either. I would consider turning this back on for a few key sites if they were responsible with their ads, avoided flash, and didn't let the ads overwhelm the content.
"Somehow Internet has made people to forget that creating quality content costs money. Often a lot of money. Often with these kind of things I'm really surprised at how dumb nerdy people can be too. You know, us who should know better and not be those stupid sheeps who are happy have a "mindless" job and then watch tv for rest of the evening and still enjoy it, even if theres no mentally requiring tasks involved."
Because we simply don't care? People here get so stressed about some of the most pedantic things. I use the WiFi outside my home once in a blue moon. It's just not that important since my data plan is unlimited. 3G is perfectly suitable for the occasional internet need while I'm at the doctors office, or sitting eating lunch and reading slashdot or some random news tidbit.
'Joe User' simply doesn't care as the functions and apps they have work just fine for day to day use. I shouldn't be surprised given the typical slashdot reader, but it's almost like there's a complete disconnect between the geeks and the typical user in here. Usually folks in here are a little more level headed to at least attempt to understand the general wants and needs of the non-nerd folk (outside of linux anyway..lol).
It like some sort of weird political extremist group in here lately. This whole Apple/Droid thing reminds me of the old Windows/Apple wars. It's become so polarized in here lately that people can't even state that they don't really care if it's a closed system, they just like the damn phone and geek ideals be damned.
Every iPhone topic turns into how Apple is evil (+1 insightful, yeah baby), and how we should despise them (+1 underrated), or their the new 'Microsoft' (+1 fanboi), even if these 'blocked' apps aren't even apps we use, or care about. You end up reading post after post about how we're missing out by not buying a droid, and we're mindless drones, ect, etc, ad-nauseum.
The very folks saying we're mindless drones just want us to become mindless droids. It's just turned into some weird caricature of South Park where the goths are running around calling everyone conformist, and stating you only need to wear dark clothes, listen to sad music, and hang out with the goth crowd to be non-conformists.
The oddness here is that these apps were ever approved to begin with. The phone already comes with built in functionality that scans for available hotspots.
Most errors spew garbage about Exception and Null Pointer, and No Resume, etc etc ad-nauseum. That will get an immediate non-response from an end user. Most importantly, you need something that a typical end user can understand. The technical error can always be logged elsewhere, but the information as presented to the end user can't be overly complex, overly long, or confusing (Keep It Simple Stupid). I can't stress that enough.
If all else fails, you can randomize the 'chime' that's played for an error to grab their attention, as well as utilizing full screen errors to hide what their working on.
You can also consider non-standard response dialogues/buttons that actually require them to read the button.
We used non-standard modal dialog boxes, odd colors, plain text errors and consequences, and non-standard buttons to good result.
On that last link, I'm also happy to note that Linux users are not gullible..they are actually a even less gullible than the typical Mac user. Just because a Mac user likes a no-fuss system doesn't mean we aren't interested in what makes it tick or the specs it comes with. The weirdest outcome of one of these studies? 85% of Mac users also own a Windows PC (either via multi-boot or hardware purchase). They aren't shy about using either platform.
Its well known that Apple doesn't shove the biggest processors into their laptops (or iMacs) which isn't surprising. Most laptops don't have quad core processors yet either. Most of the Mac line IS laptop hardware so this isn't a surprise. In addition, for typical Mac users, it isn't always about having the latest and greatest. They want stability, good performance, and a PC that won't break down in 2 years. I agree that some of their hardware could get higher end graphics cards and processors sooner, but they make up for it with systems that are rock solid. There is a reason they always top the charts in customer satisfaction and reliability.
I was wondering how long it would take you to start quoting 'home built' costs. I already responded to that. I already consider it a non-issue. Apples prices are comparable to other Manufacturers with the same specs. No surprises here that they cost more than a home built PC.
On the Steam topic - Why double the effort? Because there is money to be made? You do realize that they do make games for Mac? They are already successful in the PC market. Why stop there? I'd take a crack at the Mac if I had the funding as there is a LOT of potential revenue there. Steam obviously does have the capitol.
On point #5 - The iMac isn't user serviceable (well it is for a./ user, but not the typical end user). 10 years ago, I would have been replacing my video card every year or two. I find as I get older, I simply don't care. I'll use this Mac for 2-4 years, and simply replace the Mac when I get tired of it, and donate this to some family member. One of the advantages of a long career in the IT industry. It does have some financial benefits;)
I see your point on the display, but I have no use for a second display, nor do I have the desktop space. 27" is perfect for my needs but an iMac isn't for someone who wants dual monitors.
There are a couple of things that were important to me a few years ago:
a) Tear down and upgrade piece mail b) more flexibility on display options c) Purchase a faster desktop unit
None of these are important to me now, so the iMac is a good choice for me. If it wasn't, I'd probably just build a hackintosh and be done with it.
Postnote: If you're looking to get a Macbook Pro, hold out a bit..a hardware refresh is rumored to be in the pipe with I5 or I7 options.
#1 Your points about knowledge of underlying OS is true for pretty much any OS. There will always be people who are curious and there will be people that just don't give a damn. Are you trying to imply that people who use Mac's are somehow impaired? I have no difficulties firing up terminal to get something done.
#2 This is where people always start talking about how cheap they can get a PC, yet they never show you the same Apple equivalent PC on an actual manufacturers website. They just throw out a few links to some random piece of hardware from tigerdirect or amazon. If you actually went to an HP/Dell/Sony/Lenovo site, you'd find that the same hardware as a Mac as the same costs. When they actually do send you to such a site, they always link to some piece of hardware that is 'close' to a comparable Apple in specs, yet never quite the same, and only one generation or two (older, slower, cheap integrated graphics, less L2 cache, slower processor/slower ram, etc). There is no big surprise here. Apple isn't some bulk reseller of cheap parts. They are a hardware manufacturer, just like Dell, Sony, etc. They have support infrastructures, manufacturing costs, warehousing costs, etc. Want a cheap PC? Got to TigerDirect. Go to a manufacturer's site, and the comparable hardware looks pretty much just like Apple's pricelist. Sometimes it costs more, sometimes it costs less. but in general, the prices are consistent.
#3 I'm already using an iMac. 27" display (2560x1440), with Quad I7 (2.8Ghz) with 8GB of DDR3 1067 MHz ram, and an ATI 4850. I've yet to find anything it has a problem with. It cost me $2200.
#4 Why bother with Wine? Just offer Mac software and be done with it. If the interest in Steam is there, the software for Mac will follow
#5 - See #3. You didn't mention if you used some old display or bought yourself a 27" display equivalent. I'm guessing that wasn't included in your price. It was included in my $2200 iMac.
Add to that the fact that there is an obvious heat (energy) source there. Black Smokers also produce thermal energy, and chemical energy. We know they can support entire ecosystems thousands of feat under water.
You may not be popular for that comment, but it is definitely true. People decry ageism in regards to minors, while leaving out the fact that it also protects them. There are very few cases where a minor is held accountable for their actions in serious crimes and typically crimes committed by a minor are sealed and not permanent. The simple fact is, that they have little real world experience outside of their school social structures, home life, and neighborhood activities. They are more focused on 'me', although I can't say this is a biological change, or an environmental change that brings about a responsible adult. We do know that biological changes are what allows a child to learn to 'lie', and separate fantasy from fiction simply from development in the brain.
For instance, a 12 year old, out with his buddies late some night would probably never think twice about vandalizing a neighbors car. Having never owned one, understanding the costs, the pain of filing insurance claims, rentals, etc, they simply don't grasp what such a simple act sets in motion. Granted that's a rather simplistic example, but it has truth in it. Someone also mentioned the fact that there are responsible minors as well as irresponsible adults. For those, I say you simply have to you have to draw the line somewhere, and the odds are that an 18 year old apparently shows more adult traits at that age. They are typically working in the 'real world' by that age, they have experience outside of school and home life, and some basis in social norms expected of them.
All of this aside, I think that because they lack certain 'rights' until the age of 18, their basic rights are often dismissed or trampled. I suspect they are simply viewed as not being 'full citizens'. IMO, some rights should apply to all people, the right to free speech being one of them. The school never should have involved itself in a post made by a student on the students own time. It wasn't threatening any violence, and was basically just one students opinion of a faculty member.
Perhaps the faculty members time would be better spent understanding why students have such a poor opinion of him/her rather than wasting taxpayer money on pointless and inherently wrong cases such as this one.
Any possible excuses the school district can claim go up in smoke with the simple fact that they collected a still image on a laptop that was not reported as stolen. They basically took a picture with their own hand in the cookie jar. Unless they can prove that a claim was filed on the laptop in question, they are fucked, not to put too fine a point on it.
The whole idea of enabling a remote cam capability on a laptop in use by a child is disgusting on it's face. I don't care what 'benefits' they claim it produces. They could just as easily collect IP info, find the provider who owns those IP's, and track it down via that route.
The idiot that thought this was a 'great security feature' needs a little 'special time' in a local penitentiary along with any complicit school board members.
You know, about the only item of interest I have in this whole debacle are the disk queues. I had more HD failures under Vista than I have ever had with any previous operating system. The drives ran constantly. I can only assume it was for pre-caching and possibly indexing. Although server storage would handle this without breaking a sweat, it appeared to be too much for the general desktop/laptop drives. Either the vendors I had trusted or years had pushed out some really shitty components, or the OS was at fault.
Did anyone else experience a greater failure rate for HD's under Vista?
Of what possible use would a 'camera' be in locating a stolen laptop? Would they be able to identify anything other than a room with 1 or two walls in the background? If they saw a face, would that bring them realistically any closer to an arrest?
Doesn't it make more sense to triangulate the laptop's position via WiFi, or even via a GPS tracker installed in the hardware?
The article states that the laptops cost about $1000 each, and that they have had 42 reported stolen, and have recovered 18. It does not state that the security feature was beneficial in that recovery. Given that they've lost $24,000 dollars worth of hardware even with the security software, and that the resulting lawsuits will probably easily be in the 10's or 100's of times that actual loss value, is this even worth the potential litigation risk?
On page 6 of the class action doc, it specifically says that Lindy Matsko, assistant principal at Harriton High School informed the minor Blake J. Robbins, that he was engaged in improper behavior and she produced a photo of said conduct that was captured from the laptop's cam. The laptop was not reported as stolen, even though the school claims that feature is only activated in the event that a laptop is reported stolen. The parents were not informed of this capability until this incident (rather hard to hide when they produced the picture from the web cam).
The claim in the class action doc directly refutes the claims by the school.
The laptops should have never been placed with a student without notifying them of the security software, it's capabilities, or the potential privacy violations. Had they been notified at that time, I doubt the program would have been allowed to continue with said software installed as it appears to violate a number of statutes, listed beginning on page 6 of the class action PDF.
Slashdot Mirror
To answer your question, one need only look at the Burqas. If the religion states that the face must be covered, then you need little else. It could even take some weird made-up Scientology-like route and state that a persons face must not be captured by technology. I'm not saying that such a belief exists, but all it takes is for a recognized religion to publish doctrine to that effect and it becomes protected in countries that grant protection to recognized religions.
All irrelevant in this case, as Jediism is not a recognized religion, but you get the idea.
I dug deeper into the nested links and found this, so I'm updating my previous post:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/10/09/jedi_knights_achieve_official_recognition/
"Update
An official from the National Statistics office had called us up to complain about the story. Apparently they've been getting a load of phone calls asking if Jedi Knight is officially a religion.
This is the official line: the Census does not provide recognition to any religion in the official statistics nor does it attempt to define religion. The list that you can see by checking out the pdf file above is merely a list of possible answers that people have been known to put in the box marked religion.
As such, Jedi Knight is not officially recognised as a religion."
Actually they could end up taking it very seriously. From TFA:
"Jediism was officially "recognised" as a religion back in 2001. At the time, no one could have suspected the potential pitfalls of acknowledging this apparently harmless sect, but Jedi hoods may now join burqas on the list of possible threats to national security."
How did this turn into an US vs UK debate? The summary alone should have more than enough fodder to keep everyone on topic.
"But the Open Rights Group, which campaigns on digital rights and freedoms, said that the amendment would not solve deeper problems with the bill – which may be rushed into law with barely any debate in the Commons – and called for it to be abandoned.
Amendments tabled to the bill show that the Liberal Democrats now want to alter amendment 120A, which was shown last week to have been copied almost word-for-word from a lobbying paper prepared by the music industry, but which was also widely criticised as giving copyright holders too much power to close down sites on limited evidence."
This should scare the hell out of people. The fact that they 'softened' the amendment, which is still horrible, as it will allow a site to be shut down without any substantiative proof, and then still require them weeks or months of work in legal courts to recover. What kind of moron even considers such legislation?
Whether or not Nokia can charge more to Apple than it does to other vendors for the same licensing costs is important as it would establish anti-competitive practices. I also don't understand Nokia's stance on this request to dismiss. Do they think that just because Apple has countersued, that their original case will just be ignored? Everyone will get their day in court, regardless of who countersues.
Well with this system, you don't need to go that far. Just break your nose, and you're a whole 'new you'.
I'm sorry, but this idea is about as useful as a box of hair...
Shame they couldn't use Virtual Dyke 1.0, but that was filtered out too...
IMO, they items they lock out are just not important to the average Joe. To geeks and some business users, yes some apps are important, like WiFi Scanners, Tethering, Google Voice, Jiggly Tits (ok, granted, that one may have a wider appeal), but for the average user, they get what they need from the app store.
I have a good friend who went with the droid. He loves Apple Mac, but hated the restrictions on the iPhone. All he did after that was complain that it was hard to get it working properly, just the way he wanted it. When I suggested an iPhone so he didn't have to mess with such things, you'd think I suggested taking his porn collection away ;)
The droid is great for Apple customers, as it's forcing Apple to expand into areas where it's weak, and that's always a good thing. The rumored multi-tasking in 4.0 should make some iPhone owners very happy. Personally I don't have much need for it, but the forums are jumping with anticipation over the rumored release.
So what are the odds of this thing being captured into a long orbit? I would imagine this will set off a shower like dropping a ball of water into a screen, but I'm also curious if this will just graze us, or if our suns gravity would be sufficient to actually capture this dwarf and create a binary system?
1.5 Million years though. At least we have some time...
Mac users tend to be better educated, and less gullible than their Windows counterparts: http://news.cnet.com/2100-1040-943519.html
The marrow transplant is older news. The issue is with the survivability of the procedure. These transplants kill about a third of the patients. It's not an attractive option. On top of that, finding a compatible donor is even more unlikely. It's just not a viable solution with current technology.
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1858843,00.html
Perhaps not the best way to word it on a 'News For Nerds' site, but I don't think this deserves a Troll rating. In-artful yes, but this is certainly relevant to the topic and is not trolling. It actually made me stop and think about the sites that I do visit. I block as as a general rule, mostly for mobile access reasons, but I never turn it off at home either. I would consider turning this back on for a few key sites if they were responsible with their ads, avoided flash, and didn't let the ads overwhelm the content.
"Somehow Internet has made people to forget that creating quality content costs money. Often a lot of money. Often with these kind of things I'm really surprised at how dumb nerdy people can be too. You know, us who should know better and not be those stupid sheeps who are happy have a "mindless" job and then watch tv for rest of the evening and still enjoy it, even if theres no mentally requiring tasks involved."
Does this mean they can now enjoy the 2 Girls and 1 Cup Reaction videos?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggaWaK5d23Y
Because we simply don't care? People here get so stressed about some of the most pedantic things. I use the WiFi outside my home once in a blue moon. It's just not that important since my data plan is unlimited. 3G is perfectly suitable for the occasional internet need while I'm at the doctors office, or sitting eating lunch and reading slashdot or some random news tidbit.
'Joe User' simply doesn't care as the functions and apps they have work just fine for day to day use. I shouldn't be surprised given the typical slashdot reader, but it's almost like there's a complete disconnect between the geeks and the typical user in here. Usually folks in here are a little more level headed to at least attempt to understand the general wants and needs of the non-nerd folk (outside of linux anyway..lol).
It like some sort of weird political extremist group in here lately. This whole Apple/Droid thing reminds me of the old Windows/Apple wars. It's become so polarized in here lately that people can't even state that they don't really care if it's a closed system, they just like the damn phone and geek ideals be damned.
Every iPhone topic turns into how Apple is evil (+1 insightful, yeah baby), and how we should despise them (+1 underrated), or their the new 'Microsoft' (+1 fanboi), even if these 'blocked' apps aren't even apps we use, or care about. You end up reading post after post about how we're missing out by not buying a droid, and we're mindless drones, ect, etc, ad-nauseum.
The very folks saying we're mindless drones just want us to become mindless droids. It's just turned into some weird caricature of South Park where the goths are running around calling everyone conformist, and stating you only need to wear dark clothes, listen to sad music, and hang out with the goth crowd to be non-conformists.
Whatever...
The oddness here is that these apps were ever approved to begin with. The phone already comes with built in functionality that scans for available hotspots.
Most errors spew garbage about Exception and Null Pointer, and No Resume, etc etc ad-nauseum. That will get an immediate non-response from an end user. Most importantly, you need something that a typical end user can understand. The technical error can always be logged elsewhere, but the information as presented to the end user can't be overly complex, overly long, or confusing (Keep It Simple Stupid). I can't stress that enough.
If all else fails, you can randomize the 'chime' that's played for an error to grab their attention, as well as utilizing full screen errors to hide what their working on.
You can also consider non-standard response dialogues/buttons that actually require them to read the button.
We used non-standard modal dialog boxes, odd colors, plain text errors and consequences, and non-standard buttons to good result.
Actually studies that show that Mac users tend to be more educated than typical PC users:
http://news.cnet.com/2100-1040-943519.html
Mac users are also found to be less gullible than PC users:
http://techcrunch.com/2009/12/10/microsoft-users-gullible-advertising/
On that last link, I'm also happy to note that Linux users are not gullible..they are actually a even less gullible than the typical Mac user. Just because a Mac user likes a no-fuss system doesn't mean we aren't interested in what makes it tick or the specs it comes with. The weirdest outcome of one of these studies? 85% of Mac users also own a Windows PC (either via multi-boot or hardware purchase). They aren't shy about using either platform.
Its well known that Apple doesn't shove the biggest processors into their laptops (or iMacs) which isn't surprising. Most laptops don't have quad core processors yet either. Most of the Mac line IS laptop hardware so this isn't a surprise. In addition, for typical Mac users, it isn't always about having the latest and greatest. They want stability, good performance, and a PC that won't break down in 2 years. I agree that some of their hardware could get higher end graphics cards and processors sooner, but they make up for it with systems that are rock solid. There is a reason they always top the charts in customer satisfaction and reliability.
I was wondering how long it would take you to start quoting 'home built' costs. I already responded to that. I already consider it a non-issue. Apples prices are comparable to other Manufacturers with the same specs. No surprises here that they cost more than a home built PC.
On the Steam topic - Why double the effort? Because there is money to be made? You do realize that they do make games for Mac? They are already successful in the PC market. Why stop there? I'd take a crack at the Mac if I had the funding as there is a LOT of potential revenue there. Steam obviously does have the capitol.
On point #5 - The iMac isn't user serviceable (well it is for a ./ user, but not the typical end user). 10 years ago, I would have been replacing my video card every year or two. I find as I get older, I simply don't care. I'll use this Mac for 2-4 years, and simply replace the Mac when I get tired of it, and donate this to some family member. One of the advantages of a long career in the IT industry. It does have some financial benefits ;)
I see your point on the display, but I have no use for a second display, nor do I have the desktop space. 27" is perfect for my needs but an iMac isn't for someone who wants dual monitors.
There are a couple of things that were important to me a few years ago:
a) Tear down and upgrade piece mail
b) more flexibility on display options
c) Purchase a faster desktop unit
None of these are important to me now, so the iMac is a good choice for me. If it wasn't, I'd probably just build a hackintosh and be done with it.
Postnote: If you're looking to get a Macbook Pro, hold out a bit..a hardware refresh is rumored to be in the pipe with I5 or I7 options.
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/02/24/macbook_pros_in_tight_supply_new_models_could_broaden_gap_with_macbooks.html
Here's the URL with the full list of phones (yes, including the iPhone if you're curious): http://www.ewg.org/cellphoneradiation/Get-a-Safer-Phone?allavailable=1
#1 Your points about knowledge of underlying OS is true for pretty much any OS. There will always be people who are curious and there will be people that just don't give a damn. Are you trying to imply that people who use Mac's are somehow impaired? I have no difficulties firing up terminal to get something done.
#2 This is where people always start talking about how cheap they can get a PC, yet they never show you the same Apple equivalent PC on an actual manufacturers website. They just throw out a few links to some random piece of hardware from tigerdirect or amazon. If you actually went to an HP/Dell/Sony/Lenovo site, you'd find that the same hardware as a Mac as the same costs. When they actually do send you to such a site, they always link to some piece of hardware that is 'close' to a comparable Apple in specs, yet never quite the same, and only one generation or two (older, slower, cheap integrated graphics, less L2 cache, slower processor/slower ram, etc). There is no big surprise here. Apple isn't some bulk reseller of cheap parts. They are a hardware manufacturer, just like Dell, Sony, etc. They have support infrastructures, manufacturing costs, warehousing costs, etc. Want a cheap PC? Got to TigerDirect. Go to a manufacturer's site, and the comparable hardware looks pretty much just like Apple's pricelist. Sometimes it costs more, sometimes it costs less. but in general, the prices are consistent.
#3 I'm already using an iMac. 27" display (2560x1440), with Quad I7 (2.8Ghz) with 8GB of DDR3 1067 MHz ram, and an ATI 4850. I've yet to find anything it has a problem with. It cost me $2200.
#4 Why bother with Wine? Just offer Mac software and be done with it. If the interest in Steam is there, the software for Mac will follow
#5 - See #3. You didn't mention if you used some old display or bought yourself a 27" display equivalent. I'm guessing that wasn't included in your price. It was included in my $2200 iMac.
Add to that the fact that there is an obvious heat (energy) source there. Black Smokers also produce thermal energy, and chemical energy. We know they can support entire ecosystems thousands of feat under water.
You may not be popular for that comment, but it is definitely true. People decry ageism in regards to minors, while leaving out the fact that it also protects them. There are very few cases where a minor is held accountable for their actions in serious crimes and typically crimes committed by a minor are sealed and not permanent. The simple fact is, that they have little real world experience outside of their school social structures, home life, and neighborhood activities. They are more focused on 'me', although I can't say this is a biological change, or an environmental change that brings about a responsible adult. We do know that biological changes are what allows a child to learn to 'lie', and separate fantasy from fiction simply from development in the brain.
http://www.greatschools.org/parenting/social-skills/developmental-milestones-ages-3-through-5.gs?content=724&page=all
For instance, a 12 year old, out with his buddies late some night would probably never think twice about vandalizing a neighbors car. Having never owned one, understanding the costs, the pain of filing insurance claims, rentals, etc, they simply don't grasp what such a simple act sets in motion. Granted that's a rather simplistic example, but it has truth in it. Someone also mentioned the fact that there are responsible minors as well as irresponsible adults. For those, I say you simply have to you have to draw the line somewhere, and the odds are that an 18 year old apparently shows more adult traits at that age. They are typically working in the 'real world' by that age, they have experience outside of school and home life, and some basis in social norms expected of them.
All of this aside, I think that because they lack certain 'rights' until the age of 18, their basic rights are often dismissed or trampled. I suspect they are simply viewed as not being 'full citizens'. IMO, some rights should apply to all people, the right to free speech being one of them. The school never should have involved itself in a post made by a student on the students own time. It wasn't threatening any violence, and was basically just one students opinion of a faculty member.
Perhaps the faculty members time would be better spent understanding why students have such a poor opinion of him/her rather than wasting taxpayer money on pointless and inherently wrong cases such as this one.
Possible, but wouldn't it make sense for the school to disclose that to head of this PR disaster?
Any possible excuses the school district can claim go up in smoke with the simple fact that they collected a still image on a laptop that was not reported as stolen. They basically took a picture with their own hand in the cookie jar. Unless they can prove that a claim was filed on the laptop in question, they are fucked, not to put too fine a point on it.
The whole idea of enabling a remote cam capability on a laptop in use by a child is disgusting on it's face. I don't care what 'benefits' they claim it produces. They could just as easily collect IP info, find the provider who owns those IP's, and track it down via that route.
The idiot that thought this was a 'great security feature' needs a little 'special time' in a local penitentiary along with any complicit school board members.
You know, about the only item of interest I have in this whole debacle are the disk queues. I had more HD failures under Vista than I have ever had with any previous operating system. The drives ran constantly. I can only assume it was for pre-caching and possibly indexing. Although server storage would handle this without breaking a sweat, it appeared to be too much for the general desktop/laptop drives. Either the vendors I had trusted or years had pushed out some really shitty components, or the OS was at fault.
Did anyone else experience a greater failure rate for HD's under Vista?
Of what possible use would a 'camera' be in locating a stolen laptop? Would they be able to identify anything other than a room with 1 or two walls in the background? If they saw a face, would that bring them realistically any closer to an arrest?
Doesn't it make more sense to triangulate the laptop's position via WiFi, or even via a GPS tracker installed in the hardware?
The article states that the laptops cost about $1000 each, and that they have had 42 reported stolen, and have recovered 18. It does not state that the security feature was beneficial in that recovery. Given that they've lost $24,000 dollars worth of hardware even with the security software, and that the resulting lawsuits will probably easily be in the 10's or 100's of times that actual loss value, is this even worth the potential litigation risk?
On page 6 of the class action doc, it specifically says that Lindy Matsko, assistant principal at Harriton High School informed the minor Blake J. Robbins, that he was engaged in improper behavior and she produced a photo of said conduct that was captured from the laptop's cam. The laptop was not reported as stolen, even though the school claims that feature is only activated in the event that a laptop is reported stolen. The parents were not informed of this capability until this incident (rather hard to hide when they produced the picture from the web cam).
The claim in the class action doc directly refutes the claims by the school.
The laptops should have never been placed with a student without notifying them of the security software, it's capabilities, or the potential privacy violations. Had they been notified at that time, I doubt the program would have been allowed to continue with said software installed as it appears to violate a number of statutes, listed beginning on page 6 of the class action PDF.
http://craphound.com/robbins17.pdf