By coincidence, the monthly live chat with Dish Network's CEO is scheduled for tonight (Monday) at 9 PM EST. Watch for it on on Dish's FYI Channel (which is somthing like channel 101).
You can bet that Charlie will have a lot to say about this situation.
If Microsoft wants a company to perform a license audit, then I suspect that the audit is going to happen regardless of whether the company is running Linux. Microsoft will ask for proof that the company is not running Windows. Period.
For live NASA feeds, check out NASA TV. I watch it every morning while I'm working out. It's mostly stuff for kids at that early hour, but they also broadcast rocket launches, space station dockings, etc.
Because students aren't the only potential user base for Linux.
Many companies have thousands of legacy documents that were created using MS Office. They have already paid the MS tax. Maybe OpenOffice will work with all these docs, but if you were the CEO would you want to take the risk?
Linux on the desktop in very difficult transition for most businesses to make. In many cases there are thousands of legacy documents that need to be supported after the transition. If the transition is not smooth, then productivity will be affected which in turn will have a major impact on the bottom line. Try convincing the CEO of a large company that they can afford to take such a big risk. It's a hell of a lot easier to justify making the transition in phases, and in many cases it will be easier to switch operating systems while keeping the Office apps.
Many Linux advocates just don't get it. On the desktop, Linux is simply not going to move beyond being a niche environment until it becomes easy for average people to use the Apps that they today. Crossover Office has great potential as a tool to help accomplish this.
Pack *your* bag for the hospital. They will give your wife most of what she needs (in terms of food and clothing), but not you. You may be there the better part of the week.
Amen. With our first child we arrived at the hospital at 10 PM and the baby was not born until 4 PM the following day. At one point, the nurse ordered me to go the cafeteria and get something to eat. She was worried that I would faint during the actual delivery due to lack of food.
When our second child was born, I brought my own good bag with sandwiches, snacks, water, etc. It made a big difference.
When my first child was born, the biggest shock to my system was how much time my wife and I had to spend doing child care. Babies are helpless, so you gotta do everything for them. Maybe if I had younger siblings (or wasn't such an idiot) I was have known what to expect, but I was completely caught off guard.
Forget working on any type of hobby or non-essential home project for at least three months (probably more).
I suggest consulting several sources with a broad range of perspectives. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle. Guardian Unlimited's World News Guide is a good starting point. It contains pointers to international sources for news from every region of the world.
The worst source for information is the American electronic media. They are obsessed with breaking the newest little piece of news, ignoring normal journalist practices of verifying information before going live with it. They focus on areas and events where they have reporter who can transmit live, and give little time to anything else. I watched CNN for half an hour this morning, and not even once did they slow down long enough to provide a summary of what was happening. FOX, CBS, etc. are just as bad. ABC is a little better, but only when Peter Jennings the anchor.
Here's what the US military has to say about this.
The reality is that in the time period since S/A was turned off many businesses have become dependent on the GPS. If S/A were to be turned back on worldwide, then that would provide one more reason to oppose the war. COnsidering the current political climate, both in the US and worldwide, I can't see this happening.
It's not that simple. Let's say that it costs $10/ton to put waste in a landfill. If the cost to recycle the same waste is $5/ton then recycling makes economic sense.
I once pondered whether it was better for the environment to eat meals off paper plates which would then be thrown away, or plastic plates which would be washed and reused.
Paper plates are made from a renewable resource (trees), which sounds good, but energy would be continually used to harvest the raw material and manufacture the plates. Plus throwing them away results in energy being used to transport the waste to the landfill, and then waste takes up space in the landfill. At the time I didn't consider incineration, but that undoubtably has costs, too.
Plastic plates are made a non-renewable resource (oil), which does not sound good, but it's (almost) a one time usage since the plates would be used many times. However, it takes energy to clean them (water has to be heated, automatic dishwashers use electricity, etc) and the soap may not be completely biodegradable. Plus in some areas the availability of water is an issue.
After about a day I gave up, because I had no idea where to start looking for information about the energy used for the different steps in each process. Plus I had no way to assign any type of cost/value to renewable versus nonrenewable resources, etc. I was overwhelmed by the magnitude of what initially seemed like a simple problem.
I bring this up because almost all decisions about things that impact the environment require making choices, and in most cases all of the available options have some amount of environmental cost. The problem is that there are no good sources for information that would help us make true comparisons. Instead, we are left with comparisons that are influenced by politics or ignorance (or both). As we consider new proposal about how to deal with environmental issues, we must never forget that nearly every alternative will cost something.
There are many arguments both in favor and agaist recycling, but I have yet to see a study that performs a thorough cost/benefit analysis. What does it really cost to recycle something?
A good analysis needs to factor in transportation costs, processing costs, whether using the recycled material requires more/less energy than using the raw material, etc. For starters, look at materials that can be truely recycled (such as aluminum cans) rather materials that are just put to another use (such as melting down HDPE bottles to make park benches).
Then somehow factor in the long term cost of using raw materials that come from non-renewable sources versus renewable sources (oil versus paper).
The problem is that an analysis that considers the multitude of materials used by modern society would be a very complicated and time consuming project. I doubt if anyone has even attempted it.
The antennas on most cell phones are not designed for long distance transmission. Depending on how far you are from the cell, and the local terrain, you may be able to get something to work using a different antenna. An external antenna might be your best bet (if your phone allows this).
You might also consider switching providers, if that is an option.
This same author also wrote an
article about the shabby conditions at one of the unclassified Los Alamos sites. It's interesting that the physicist that he was interviewing did not complain about the working conditions. So why did the author make a big deal about it?
After reading both articles, my impression is that the author was expecting the entire Los Alamos complex to be some type of high tech super-secure facility, and when his expectations were not met he decided to write a couple articles blasting the place.
NPRAll Things Considered recently did a story about this (search their audio archives). The bottom line is that it's within an employer's rights to perform a background check on new employees as a condition of employment, including obtaining a credit report. If, based on the credit report, they decide not to hire you, then they have to provide you with a copy of the report.
This was discussed when the original ruling was announced. You can draw your own conclusions, but you probably ought to at least review the history of the lawsuit.
Wegmans is one of my local supermarkets. Many years ago they figured out that the secret to sucess in retail is to provide excellent customer service. They also figured out that it takes good workers to provide good customer service. The question was how to find these good workers.
Most supermarkets (around here, at least) hire a lot of high school students to fill part-time positions. One of their Wegman's secrets is to offer an incredibly good college schlarship program for their high school age employees. This program is so good that most of the top students in the local high schools want to work there. The result is that Wegmans can pick and choose who they hire for part-time jobs, and the ones that they do hire are motivated to do well on the job. It also gives Wegmans an opportunity to identify future high-potential candidates for management positions, well before these kids even enter college. It's a long term strategy that is definitely working.
It really surprises me that more retail companies, as well as firms in other industries, don't copy this practice.
Evaporating the brine might be cost efective if the city of Tampa has an in-house use for the salt. If they were located in the snow belt, for example, it might be used for snow/ice removal.
Beer vs. Computers
on
Do You Homebrew?
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
I have been brewing my own beer for close to 20 years, and I'm a computer geek, so I feel qualified to comment on this thread.
There are a lot of similarities between DIY beer and DIY computers. Making beer offers many opportunities for fabricating equipment (to enable more advanced brewing methods), writing software (to help calculate recipies), surfing the 'net (for recipies, supplies, advice, etc), and the list goes. And as with Linux, there's a single individual (Charlie Papazian) who is very influencial in shaping the direction of the field.
The Internet and it's predecessors have played an important role in the homebrewing community. As other posts have mentioned, the Homebrew Digest and rec.crafts.brewing are two long running forums for discussing homebrewing information. It's neat that several important advances in homebrewing (and commercial brewing) were first introduced, and refined, through discussions on these two forums. Beer making is definitely a field, like computers, where the home experimenter can make a difference.
I should also put in a plug for the American Homebrewers Association, which dispite it's name it a worldwide organization that promotes homebrewing.
Although not a computer science paper per se, The Hacker Papers was one of the first widely read articles about people who spend an excessive amount of time using computers. This article also introduced the original definition of the term hacker to a wider audience.
At work we have noticed that some brands of CD-R media seem to be more resistant to damage than others. Kodak Gold, for example, has a protective coating that seems to help. Maybe you just need to use different(better) media.
That's all good and well, but what OSS software would you suggest for first graders?
I think that this is the big barrier to the use of Linux in K-12 schools. The IT group usually wants to standardize on one desktop OS, and has to choose Windows because that's the OS that Apps for all grade levels will run on. Provide an enabler (such as Lindows) that let's them run the existing commercial Apps on Linux, and Windows will begin to loose it's appeal.
Slashdot Mirror
By coincidence, the monthly live chat with Dish Network's CEO is scheduled for tonight (Monday) at 9 PM EST. Watch for it on on Dish's FYI Channel (which is somthing like channel 101).
You can bet that Charlie will have a lot to say about this situation.
I was beginning to think that no one remembered lyrics.ch. Has it really been that long ago?
This happened in 1999, if I recall correctly. The past repeats itself.
If Microsoft wants a company to perform a license audit, then I suspect that the audit is going to happen regardless of whether the company is running Linux. Microsoft will ask for proof that the company is not running Windows. Period.
If you want an MP3 of a song, why not burn the song to CD-RW, then RIP it using your favorite ripping software?
For live NASA feeds, check out NASA TV. I watch it every morning while I'm working out. It's mostly stuff for kids at that early hour, but they also broadcast rocket launches, space station dockings, etc.
Many companies have thousands of legacy documents that were created using MS Office. They have already paid the MS tax. Maybe OpenOffice will work with all these docs, but if you were the CEO would you want to take the risk?
Many Linux advocates just don't get it. On the desktop, Linux is simply not going to move beyond being a niche environment until it becomes easy for average people to use the Apps that they today. Crossover Office has great potential as a tool to help accomplish this.
Amen. With our first child we arrived at the hospital at 10 PM and the baby was not born until 4 PM the following day. At one point, the nurse ordered me to go the cafeteria and get something to eat. She was worried that I would faint during the actual delivery due to lack of food.
When our second child was born, I brought my own good bag with sandwiches, snacks, water, etc. It made a big difference.
When my first child was born, the biggest shock to my system was how much time my wife and I had to spend doing child care. Babies are helpless, so you gotta do everything for them. Maybe if I had younger siblings (or wasn't such an idiot) I was have known what to expect, but I was completely caught off guard.
Forget working on any type of hobby or non-essential home project for at least three months (probably more).
I suggest consulting several sources with a broad range of perspectives. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle. Guardian Unlimited's World News Guide is a good starting point. It contains pointers to international sources for news from every region of the world.
The worst source for information is the American electronic media. They are obsessed with breaking the newest little piece of news, ignoring normal journalist practices of verifying information before going live with it. They focus on areas and events where they have reporter who can transmit live, and give little time to anything else. I watched CNN for half an hour this morning, and not even once did they slow down long enough to provide a summary of what was happening. FOX, CBS, etc. are just as bad. ABC is a little better, but only when Peter Jennings the anchor.
The reality is that in the time period since S/A was turned off many businesses have become dependent on the GPS. If S/A were to be turned back on worldwide, then that would provide one more reason to oppose the war. COnsidering the current political climate, both in the US and worldwide, I can't see this happening.
It's not that simple. Let's say that it costs $10/ton to put waste in a landfill. If the cost to recycle the same waste is $5/ton then recycling makes economic sense.
Paper plates are made from a renewable resource (trees), which sounds good, but energy would be continually used to harvest the raw material and manufacture the plates. Plus throwing them away results in energy being used to transport the waste to the landfill, and then waste takes up space in the landfill. At the time I didn't consider incineration, but that undoubtably has costs, too.
Plastic plates are made a non-renewable resource (oil), which does not sound good, but it's (almost) a one time usage since the plates would be used many times. However, it takes energy to clean them (water has to be heated, automatic dishwashers use electricity, etc) and the soap may not be completely biodegradable. Plus in some areas the availability of water is an issue.
After about a day I gave up, because I had no idea where to start looking for information about the energy used for the different steps in each process. Plus I had no way to assign any type of cost/value to renewable versus nonrenewable resources, etc. I was overwhelmed by the magnitude of what initially seemed like a simple problem.
I bring this up because almost all decisions about things that impact the environment require making choices, and in most cases all of the available options have some amount of environmental cost. The problem is that there are no good sources for information that would help us make true comparisons. Instead, we are left with comparisons that are influenced by politics or ignorance (or both). As we consider new proposal about how to deal with environmental issues, we must never forget that nearly every alternative will cost something.
A good analysis needs to factor in transportation costs, processing costs, whether using the recycled material requires more/less energy than using the raw material, etc. For starters, look at materials that can be truely recycled (such as aluminum cans) rather materials that are just put to another use (such as melting down HDPE bottles to make park benches).
Then somehow factor in the long term cost of using raw materials that come from non-renewable sources versus renewable sources (oil versus paper).
The problem is that an analysis that considers the multitude of materials used by modern society would be a very complicated and time consuming project. I doubt if anyone has even attempted it.
You might also consider switching providers, if that is an option.
This same author also wrote an article about the shabby conditions at one of the unclassified Los Alamos sites. It's interesting that the physicist that he was interviewing did not complain about the working conditions. So why did the author make a big deal about it?
After reading both articles, my impression is that the author was expecting the entire Los Alamos complex to be some type of high tech super-secure facility, and when his expectations were not met he decided to write a couple articles blasting the place.
Quality journalism? I think not.
NPR All Things Considered recently did a story about this (search their audio archives). The bottom line is that it's within an employer's rights to perform a background check on new employees as a condition of employment, including obtaining a credit report. If, based on the credit report, they decide not to hire you, then they have to provide you with a copy of the report.
Good luck!
Are there any plans to offer software specifically targetted towards grade school age children? Seems like there may be an untapped market here.
This was discussed when the original ruling was announced. You can draw your own conclusions, but you probably ought to at least review the history of the lawsuit.
Wegmans is one of my local supermarkets. Many years ago they figured out that the secret to sucess in retail is to provide excellent customer service. They also figured out that it takes good workers to provide good customer service. The question was how to find these good workers.
Most supermarkets (around here, at least) hire a lot of high school students to fill part-time positions. One of their Wegman's secrets is to offer an incredibly good college schlarship program for their high school age employees. This program is so good that most of the top students in the local high schools want to work there. The result is that Wegmans can pick and choose who they hire for part-time jobs, and the ones that they do hire are motivated to do well on the job. It also gives Wegmans an opportunity to identify future high-potential candidates for management positions, well before these kids even enter college. It's a long term strategy that is definitely working.
It really surprises me that more retail companies, as well as firms in other industries, don't copy this practice.
Evaporating the brine might be cost efective if the city of Tampa has an in-house use for the salt. If they were located in the snow belt, for example, it might be used for snow/ice removal.
I have been brewing my own beer for close to 20 years, and I'm a computer geek, so I feel qualified to comment on this thread.
There are a lot of similarities between DIY beer and DIY computers. Making beer offers many opportunities for fabricating equipment (to enable more advanced brewing methods), writing software (to help calculate recipies), surfing the 'net (for recipies, supplies, advice, etc), and the list goes. And as with Linux, there's a single individual (Charlie Papazian) who is very influencial in shaping the direction of the field.
The Internet and it's predecessors have played an important role in the homebrewing community. As other posts have mentioned, the Homebrew Digest and rec.crafts.brewing are two long running forums for discussing homebrewing information. It's neat that several important advances in homebrewing (and commercial brewing) were first introduced, and refined, through discussions on these two forums. Beer making is definitely a field, like computers, where the home experimenter can make a difference.
I should also put in a plug for the American Homebrewers Association, which dispite it's name it a worldwide organization that promotes homebrewing.
Relax, don't worry, and have a homebrew!
Although not a computer science paper per se, The Hacker Papers was one of the first widely read articles about people who spend an excessive amount of time using computers. This article also introduced the original definition of the term hacker to a wider audience.
At work we have noticed that some brands of CD-R media seem to be more resistant to damage than others. Kodak Gold, for example, has a protective coating that seems to help. Maybe you just need to use different(better) media.
I think that this is the big barrier to the use of Linux in K-12 schools. The IT group usually wants to standardize on one desktop OS, and has to choose Windows because that's the OS that Apps for all grade levels will run on. Provide an enabler (such as Lindows) that let's them run the existing commercial Apps on Linux, and Windows will begin to loose it's appeal.