Yeah, those Greenpeace guerillas are so evil, picking on the poor oil companies. Ever heard about Shell in Nigeria? Exxon's lobbying? BP's real "environmental" record?
Even when Greenpeace arguably get it wrong (the Brent Spar oil platform debacle), their direct actions are an effective way of mobilising debate and raising public interest in the issues.
Beware, the Linux rio500 software has/had a serious bug when used with a 128Mb SmartMedia card, which could result in (permanent) corruption to the device. Last time I checked the dev lists, there didn't seem to be any progress on fixing it (although one person reported that increasing the size of a couple of fields in the code worked).
Also, it is possible to corrupt the device anyway by interrupting transfers (e.g. battery dies). My Rio500 now thinks it has only 26Mb on the internal card. Needless to say, this happened after the warranty expired (and the serial number rubbed off the back of the unit!)
Rio/SonicBlue appeared to stop actively supporting it after firmware release 2.16 (which is well worth installing).
If you're going to buy both the theatrical and special editions, then you also need to buy The Fellowship of the Ring - Turnip Edition.
This consists of an entirely and lovingly blank DVD disc with "LotR - Turnip" carefully written on it in exquisite marker pen by a skilled writer (me). It is an extremely limited edition, there being only one - and it's YOURS for the bargain, once-only price of $500!
Fans! Fanatics! Don't miss out. Mail me now and be first in the queue to own this unique souvenir.
If you're going on holiday, read "The Art Of Travel" by Alain de Botton. It's a lite philosophical discussion of our need and experience of travel, along with some interesting historical diversions. It might not inspire you to travel, but it will remind you why you love reading.
There's a utility to convert to DVI to plain text (for viewing on a terminal, hence "tty") called dvi2tty (search Google or CTAN). However, it doesn't do a pretty job.
There have been various tex2... WordPerfect/etc converters over the years, but none of them seem to handle complex TeX or be very robust. Check the TeX FAQ (via TUG).
You couldn't take five mins to knock up the code for that module, could you? I'm a bit busy for the next half hour, writing a quick single system image package.
Pah, any monkey can install a few RPMs and then say, "Dude, this new desktop totally ROCKS! Awesome!" ten seconds after starting it without crashes.
Wait until my SO uses it for a month or two, then I'll be able to tell you just how much ass it sucks. Particularly if using KDE's (usually severely borked) Red Hat RPMs ("Hey guys, let's build the arts package with NO AUDIO DEVICE SUPPORT! And let's overwrite the installed XDM config with the standard X11R6 one!" - 2.x maintainer).
I believe the 'n' in "turn key" is silent. "Turn key" means that after turning the key, you can only resort to kicking the box when it doesn't work, because you don't have manuals or any way of debugging the problem.
The phrase "100% uptime" should be qualified with "in my fevered and ignorant imagination".
Glorious new Soviet People's Dual Potato 3000! With advanced UVR (Ultra Root Vegetable(tm)) technology and many obedient clock cycles working for common good. Running Mikkelzoft Window KGB. Own the means of production and experience many kilohertz of glorious revolution in the People's progress today, comrade!
Adski_ /
NB. Before you complain, I must point out that as a Linux user myself, I am of course a fervent communist.
Re:.Net fails the pr0n test
on
.NETly News
·
· Score: 1
I dunno, whenever I read anbout.Net (particularly licensing) I feel compelled to mutter "Disgusting!" under my breath. Whereas it has apparently given Peter Wright a big hard-on. So I guess it counts as pr0n.
(Disclaimer: I've never knowingly bought or used a McAfee product, so I am not bound by the terms of the license.;-)
McAfee products are shit. I mean, really, really, faecal. Not quite as bad as having your face shoved in a blender while a lawyer reams you in the ass, but doubtless the next release will address this. Installing this software is the IT equivalent of picking up an STD from a prostitute: not only are you unpleasantly infected, but you paid good money for the experience. Like I say, totally crap. Whooohooo! Ya hear me?!
I think I've proven that it is perfectly possible to give a bad review to a product, providing you haven't actually used it. So the IT rags simply have to review everything the same way they review Linux software. Equality at last!
I recently wrote an article asserting that Windows was more secure than Linux because the stats say it is so. But guess what, it was all just a big joke! I was teasin' ya! But I stand by it. Well, maybe not the bit about Windows being more secure than Linux. Or vice-versa. Or any of my other points, because obviously they were all based on wild or false suppositions (not surprising when I pulled them out of the same place I put my suppositories). Hey, ya rumbled me - congrats! Let's forget about it.
Anyway, here's a few more crazy ideas: you can't state anything categorical about Linux security, and Windows works just fine, and if the world used Linux then my crystal ball says it wouldn't be any better.
OK, I'm still fooling with ya! You rumbled me again, well done. It wasn't my crystal ball I was looking into at all.
But let me just say: think with your head, not your heart. Or your ass. Especially not your ass. Let this be a valuable lesson. And thank me for illustrating it so clearly for you.
The Rio 500 firmware started out at 1.0. The last released firmware was 2.15, and there were plenty of releases inbetween - go figure. Apart from fixing a few battery bugs, they also added support for 64Mb Smart Media cards and ID3 tags, both extremely welcome.
On the other hand, the BIOS for my motherboard requires a chip swap to upgrade. Fortunately, I haven't discovered a serious reason to do this yet, although there are some annoying DMA issues I'd rather fix. But am I gonna mess around ordering and fitting a new chip or will I simply upgrade the board (to another brand)? You got it...
BOFHweb has a lot of archived a.s.r material (and a lot of macho bragging about killing lusers in various creative and entirely improbably ways - you just know these guys wouldn't even dare to complain at McD's).
Ade_
/
LaTeX2HTML not a complete solution
on
Writing Documentation
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Be wary of grandiose claims for the power of LaTeX2HTML. Yes, it usually does a good job of converting simple to moderate LaTeX documents. However, once you start writing your own style files and using complex macros, it's a whole new ballgame. Theoretically, L2H can be extended to cope with any new macro, but you need Perl skills to do so and API documentation is poor-to-non-existent. Various obscure bugs may crop up from time to time, configuration for some odd situations (such as custom style files) can be non-intuitive, it's been in beta for years and releases are infrequent (although I notice that a new release came out in December).
It's not a bad program, but YMMV for actual use. (Note: I make my comments after writing a 100 page product manual in LaTeX.) OTOH, I must admit that a printed LaTeX document is a thing of beauty. If you're serious about using it, you definitely need to buy a book or two (say Lamport's and one more comprehensive reference).
If you're starting from scratch though, maybe you should give DocBook a proper go, given that it is supposed to be the format of the future and subsume all others.
The Silmarillion is hardcore Tolkien! That's where you go when you've finished the LotR appendices. The best thing about LotR is the back-story (not the florid dialogue, the two dimensional characters or the numerous other literary flaws;-)... and The Silmarillion is pure back-story.
Can anyone comment on Christopher Tolkien's large body of work containing the various drafts and revisions of The Silmarillion and other stories (Unfinished Tales, History of Middle Earth, etc.)? It seems to me that Tolkien only wrote three actual Middle Earth stories, and a large amount of extra material has been "generated" to fill the demand.
In my experience, wearing headphones is tantamount to saying, "Please attempt to talk to me, wait until I have removed my headphones and then say, 'Sorry, it was nothing important.'"
I pity people who are unable to properly listen to a piece of music all the way through. But I also want to kill them when they won't afford anyone else the same privilege.
Slashdot Mirror
Yeah, those Greenpeace guerillas are so evil, picking on the poor oil companies. Ever heard about Shell in Nigeria? Exxon's lobbying? BP's real "environmental" record?
Even when Greenpeace arguably get it wrong (the Brent Spar oil platform debacle), their direct actions are an effective way of mobilising debate and raising public interest in the issues.
"Interesting"? This post was an ignorant troll.
Ade_
/
Pros
Cons
Ade_
/
Beware, the Linux rio500 software has/had a serious bug when used with a 128Mb SmartMedia card, which could result in (permanent) corruption to the device. Last time I checked the dev lists, there didn't seem to be any progress on fixing it (although one person reported that increasing the size of a couple of fields in the code worked).
Also, it is possible to corrupt the device anyway by interrupting transfers (e.g. battery dies). My Rio500 now thinks it has only 26Mb on the internal card. Needless to say, this happened after the warranty expired (and the serial number rubbed off the back of the unit!)
Rio/SonicBlue appeared to stop actively supporting it after firmware release 2.16 (which is well worth installing).
Ade_
/
If you're going to buy both the theatrical and special editions, then you also need to buy The Fellowship of the Ring - Turnip Edition.
This consists of an entirely and lovingly blank DVD disc with "LotR - Turnip" carefully written on it in exquisite marker pen by a skilled writer (me). It is an extremely limited edition, there being only one - and it's YOURS for the bargain, once-only price of $500!
Fans! Fanatics! Don't miss out. Mail me now and be first in the queue to own this unique souvenir.
Ade_
/
At last, no more $100 dollar tips for the washroom attendant.
/
Ade_
("The English guy who just tipped me a hun'erd!")
If you're going on holiday, read "The Art Of Travel" by Alain de Botton. It's a lite philosophical discussion of our need and experience of travel, along with some interesting historical diversions.
It might not inspire you to travel, but it will remind you why you love reading.
Ade_
/
There's a utility to convert to DVI to plain text (for viewing on a terminal, hence "tty") called dvi2tty (search Google or CTAN). However, it doesn't do a pretty job.
There have been various tex2... WordPerfect/etc converters over the years, but none of them seem to handle complex TeX or be very robust. Check the TeX FAQ (via TUG).
Ade_
/
You couldn't take five mins to knock up the code for that module, could you? I'm a bit busy for the next half hour, writing a quick single system image package.
Ade_
/
Pah, any monkey can install a few RPMs and then say, "Dude, this new
/
desktop totally ROCKS! Awesome!" ten seconds after starting it without
crashes.
Wait until my SO uses it for a month or two, then I'll be able to tell you
just how much ass it sucks. Particularly if using KDE's (usually severely
borked) Red Hat RPMs ("Hey guys, let's build the arts package with NO
AUDIO DEVICE SUPPORT! And let's overwrite the installed XDM config with the
standard X11R6 one!" - 2.x maintainer).
Ade_
(Happy OLVWM user)
I believe the 'n' in "turn key" is silent. "Turn key" means that after turning the key, you can only resort to kicking the box when it doesn't work, because you don't have manuals or any way of debugging the problem.
The phrase "100% uptime" should be qualified with "in my fevered and ignorant imagination".
Ade_
/
You want the truth?! You can't handle the truth!
Ade_
/
It's been ten years, I'm beginning to suspect that I'm never gonna see a return on all that cash I mailed out...
Ade_
/
..."Build one to throw away"?
Looks like AT&T had a great prototype.
Ade_
/
[Adopt cod Russian accent:]
/
Glorious new Soviet People's Dual Potato 3000! With advanced UVR (Ultra Root Vegetable(tm)) technology and many obedient clock cycles working for common good. Running Mikkelzoft Window KGB. Own the means of production and experience many kilohertz of glorious revolution in the People's progress today, comrade!
Adski_
NB. Before you complain, I must point out that as a Linux user myself, I am of course a fervent communist.
I dunno, whenever I read anbout .Net (particularly licensing) I feel compelled to mutter "Disgusting!" under my breath. Whereas it has apparently given Peter Wright a big hard-on. So I guess it counts as pr0n.
Ade_
/
(Disclaimer: I've never knowingly bought or used a McAfee product, so I am not bound by the terms of the license. ;-)
McAfee products are shit. I mean, really, really, faecal. Not quite as bad as having your face shoved in a blender while a lawyer reams you in the ass, but doubtless the next release will address this. Installing this software is the IT equivalent of picking up an STD from a prostitute: not only are you unpleasantly infected, but you paid good money for the experience. Like I say, totally crap. Whooohooo! Ya hear me?!
I think I've proven that it is perfectly possible to give a bad review to a product, providing you haven't actually used it. So the IT rags simply have to review everything the same way they review Linux software. Equality at last!
Ade_
/
What's the motivation for this, is there still space in the landfill sites after all the AOL CDs have been dumped?
Ade_
/
I recently wrote an article asserting that Windows was more secure than Linux because the stats say it is so. But guess what, it was all just a big joke! I was teasin' ya! But I stand by it. Well, maybe not the bit about Windows being more secure than Linux. Or vice-versa. Or any of my other points, because obviously they were all based on wild or false suppositions (not surprising when I pulled them out of the same place I put my suppositories). Hey, ya rumbled me - congrats! Let's forget about it.
Anyway, here's a few more crazy ideas: you can't state anything categorical about Linux security, and Windows works just fine, and if the world used Linux then my crystal ball says it wouldn't be any better.
OK, I'm still fooling with ya! You rumbled me again, well done. It wasn't my crystal ball I was looking into at all.
But let me just say: think with your head, not your heart. Or your ass. Especially not your ass. Let this be a valuable lesson. And thank me for illustrating it so clearly for you.
Ciao,
Paul
Gee, if Harlan Ellison is such a great writer, how come he writes everything in caps with M$ quote marks? And people want to copy his stuff??
Ade_
/
The Rio 500 firmware started out at 1.0. The last released firmware was 2.15, and there were plenty of releases inbetween - go figure. Apart from fixing a few battery bugs, they also added support for 64Mb Smart Media cards and ID3 tags, both extremely welcome.
On the other hand, the BIOS for my motherboard requires a chip swap to upgrade. Fortunately, I haven't discovered a serious reason to do this yet, although there are some annoying DMA issues I'd rather fix. But am I gonna mess around ordering and fitting a new chip or will I simply upgrade the board (to another brand)? You got it...
Ade_
/
BOFHweb has a lot of archived a.s.r material (and a lot of macho bragging about killing lusers in various creative and entirely improbably ways - you just know these guys wouldn't even dare to complain at McD's).
Ade_
/
Be wary of grandiose claims for the power of LaTeX2HTML. Yes, it usually does a good job of converting simple to moderate LaTeX documents. However, once you start writing your own style files and using complex macros, it's a whole new ballgame. Theoretically, L2H can be extended to cope with any new macro, but you need Perl skills to do so and API documentation is poor-to-non-existent. Various obscure bugs may crop up from time to time, configuration for some odd situations (such as custom style files) can be non-intuitive, it's been in beta for years and releases are infrequent (although I notice that a new release came out in December).
It's not a bad program, but YMMV for actual use. (Note: I make my comments after writing a 100 page product manual in LaTeX.) OTOH, I must admit that a printed LaTeX document is a thing of beauty. If you're serious about using it, you definitely need to buy a book or two (say Lamport's and one more comprehensive reference).
If you're starting from scratch though, maybe you should give DocBook a proper go, given that it is supposed to be the format of the future and subsume all others.
Cheers,
Ade_
/
The Silmarillion is hardcore Tolkien! That's where you go when you've finished the LotR appendices. The best thing about LotR is the back-story (not the florid dialogue, the two dimensional characters or the numerous other literary flaws ;-) ... and The Silmarillion is pure back-story.
Can anyone comment on Christopher Tolkien's large body of work containing the various drafts and revisions of The Silmarillion and other stories (Unfinished Tales, History of Middle Earth, etc.)? It seems to me that Tolkien only wrote three actual Middle Earth stories, and a large amount of extra material has been "generated" to fill the demand.
Ade_
/
In my experience, wearing headphones is tantamount to saying, "Please attempt to talk to me, wait until I have removed my headphones and then say, 'Sorry, it was nothing important.'"
I pity people who are unable to properly listen to a piece of music all the way through. But I also want to kill them when they won't afford anyone else the same privilege.
Ade_
/
As an introvert, I'd just like to point out that I'm always having a party. On the inside.
Please don't spoil it with external distractions.
Ade_
/