Hey, AGW people? Here's the bottom line. Read this carefully. Let it nourish your thought processes. You want to know why the general public hasn't panicked and fallen behind you in your crusade? Here it is.
Lets say we have many, many skilled scientists working on not one, but DOZENS of models that are constantly being refined and tinkered with. This has been going on for DECADES. They feed these models with thousands and thousands of hard, verifiable data points -- measurements from buoys, satellites, even ships at sea with calibrated instruments. Temperatures, pressures, atmospheric readings, all get poured into these models with loving care and infinite attention to detail. When using the models, another team of specialists carefully takes the average of these models, based on experience, to make cautious predictions.
They're called Hurricane Models. And even after DECADES of refinement, they still can't reliably predict the path of a storm past 3-5 days. They still can't reliably predict hurricane intensity AT ALL.
And you want us to believe that you can predict, WITH GREAT CONFIDENCE, that the Earth will be 10 degrees warming in so many years because of what mankind is doing?
"Oh, well, that's different," screams the AGW crowd. Maybe. But it does show the limitations of science, does it not? I appreciate everything that the hurricane forecasters have accomplished. They've saved a lot of lives. But there's a good, hard example of the limitations of ANY model that seeks to predict the behavior of a huge, complex, chaotic system.
What I'm desperately tired of is binary thinking: EITHER one believes the prevailing, dire theories about AGW and wants to take emergency action, OR one is an uniformed, reactionary dunderhead. (Or even worse, a Republican -- which I am NOT, by the way).
The question isn't whether the Earth is warming. I honestly don't know, but let's say it has. It's a long leap from that assertion to insisting that my barbeque grill is what's causing it. (More binary thinking: either you agree with us in all particulars, or you're no different from a Young Earth Creationist.) I need to be SURE before I repent and take the grill to the landfill. You haven't convinced me.
And here's the point: I AGREE that we need to reduce carbon emissions. Whether they're causing global warming or not, I'm tired of breathing stinky air in Birmingham, AL, if nothing else. (There's the "personal interest" angle.) Let's crush the stranglehold of Big Oil and find some real, green alternatives.
But I AM NOT going to allow anyone to wreck the global economy to achieve this. We can do it slowly and steadily, with planning and forethought. I'm not going to allow my government to enact some byzantine, "carbon credit" scheme that is, at the end of the day, just another boondoggle that lines the pockets of important contributors.
So: there you go, AGW proponents. Read it and learn, or begin with the condescending, sneering replies about how uninformed I am. It's really this simple: when your "scientists" finally achieve the ability to tell me, with at least 90% accuracy, that it will rain in my neighborhood next week, I *might* believe your claims about what's going to happen in the next century.
I don't think one vendor will supply everything that you need, but you definitely need to take a look at uBiquity. We've used their NanoBridges in studio-to-transmitter links several times and have been pleasantly surprised. The stuff is ridiculously cheap -- so cheap that we honestly wondered what could be wrong with it until we tried it. (Less than $160 for a pair of NanoBridges!)
It's not that they love mediocre so much as the "15 PHB Managers" mentioned above delude themselves. They've also been taught that the *perception* of quality is more important than the reality. "Sell the sizzle, not the steak," convince the customers that you're the best and there you go.
They honestly don't know any better, because they've never actually built anything. All they know how to do is maximize profits. It's not just the software, either, it's the hardware. In spades. Some salescreature from Asia will waltz in and say, "I can build your gidgle-widgets for fifty cents!"
The PHBs get moist eyed. They exclaim, "we're paying ten times that now!" They pound each other on the back and cry. "FIFTY CENTS? Yay! Halloo," and they sign the deal.
The new stuff arrives and about half of it breaks. About 10% of it doesn't even work out of the box. The PHBs DON'T CARE. The way they look at it, they're saving so much money that, even if they have to replace the customer's unit two or three times, they still come out ahead.
The Internet is changing that, though, because most of us consumer types look at reviews before we buy anything. PHBs *hate* online reviews, because they say, "their stuff may 'sizzle nicely, but the steak itself is awful..."
(Gosh, I'm awfully poetic this morning. I need more coffee.)
*Slightly* off topic, but let's face it: you'd do something like that because, deep down inside (if nothing else), you're hoping they'll fire up the software on that USB stick and say, "wow! And it's free??? Gimme some more o' dis!"
If you're trying to spread the news about Free Software, the only effective way to do it is to SHOW them. Most of the people whom I've converted to Linux did so after watching me use KDE (formerly) and Gnome (more recently). The multiple desktops are absolutely intriguing to a power user; it won't be long before he/she starts thinking, "hmmm... I could use that." The fact that you're not playing "whack-a-mole" with a dozen pop ups each time you boot is impressive, too, as is the fact that, with a good distro, updates are centralized, controlled and politely done, with rarely a need to reboot.
Of course, I go one step further. If they want to see Windows, I've installed Windows in a Virtual Box. I can bring up Windows as a nice, well-behaved little application one one of my multiple desktops, where it stays out of the way until I really want or need it..... the way it SHOULD BE. (Evil. Grin.)
In this particular instance, if I was wrong about the OWS vs. the heads of Fannie and Freddie, I stand corrected. But the actual comment was a rhetorical question, not a conjecture, per se.:)
Or why doesn't the OWS crowd complain about the heads of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac receiving millions in bonuses... at the same time that they're asking the feds for another bailout?:)
Oh, I agree with that. If present attitudes had been applied to the 1800's, homesteading would have been stopped before it started because (horrors!) some of the pioneers were dying as they made their way across the plains.
But on the other hand, as a practical matter, I think we need a "Moore's Law" applied to batteries. The batteries that we're using now in electric cars and hybrids are huge, dangerous and expensive. (Buy a Prius, then ask how much it's going to cost to replace those batteries in a few years. You'll probably pass out from the shock.)
In other words -- again, just speaking practically -- I think that electric cars are a great idea, but I don't think the battery technology is there yet.
> It's a huge complex system that's never been tested.
Ummm... no. It has never been tested on a nationwide basis -- that was the purpose of this particular test -- but folks, we've been using EAS for years at the state level and it works just fine. Those of us who set up the systems (I'm a radio engineer) are completely familiar with it, and it's a no-brainer. It's essentially 70's-era technology. (Ever notice how it the intro and extro sound like old dial-up modem tones? That's exactly what they are: they're at a relatively low baud rate, similar to the packet radio that Ham radio operators came up with decades ago.)
The fact is (forgive me, because I'm very frustrated), the Federal Government could screw up boiling a pot of water. They'd find some way to burn up the pot, or they'd turn on the wrong burner. Why? Because it's all politically-correct committee meetings and long drawn out "planning sessions" and other tommy rot for something that just AIN'T THAT DEEP, people. There are probably dozens (if not hundreds) people here on Slashdot who could design and program a simple encoder/decoder pair for EAS, using the sound card in your computer.
I normally try to steer clear of the political discussions here, but nothing -- and I repeat, NOTHING -- dismays me more, as an American in his 50's, than the rising number of Government Fanbois nowadays. The Government can do no wrong, we can trust them with everything (including our healthcare) ... . and they can't even get a simple, nationwide test using 70's-level technology right?
Give. Stephen. A. Break.
We (meaning radio and television) are generally credited with saving a lot of lives on April 27th when those horrible tornadoes came through Alabama. I'm VERY proud of that. We were HUMMING. All of us were working together, and we had info on the air as soon as we received it. Bang, bam, "go to your safe place NOW." Local and regional emergency officials triggered the system multiple times. For each, our equipment automatically picked out the correct alerts for our area and we never missed a beat.
Repeat: THIS IS NOT THAT DEEP. We do it all the time. We're very, very good at it. And why the Federal Government has taken years, and STILL can't figure out how to send out a uniform, nationwide alert signal, is absolutely, utterly baffling to me.
The engineer at the local PEP (Primary Entry Point) in our state was standing at the transmitter site, watching the equipment, when the test began. He was on the phone with FEMA, as a matter of fact.
The test never came through. The (FEMA-supplied) equipment never responded. As a result, most of central Alabama never even got the test.
The failure was on THEIR end, not ours. We had done TWO statewide tests just prior to the national one and they worked fine. Don't blame us, dood.:)
Sad, but for most corporations, that's just considered part of the cost of doing business. They're not going to fight if they feel that it's cheaper just to cave in.
If hiring attorneys and spending months (or even years) in court doesn't present some obvious benefit for them, or if they think it won't provide a clear strategic advantage, they'll probably choose the path of least resistance -- and cost. Especially in a weak economy.
This. And you know what else? If you have more than one user login on a typical Windows system, the files will go everywhere. There will be several "My Documents" folders, and if one user forgets to log out, and someone saves his file under someone else's login, you get to hunt for it. Great fun, and a great way to kill an afternoon. (Or better yet, the user will go back later, log in under his user name, go "wharr's mah file?" and RELOAD it from the thumb drive. Net result: you have a dozen copies of the same dancing chicken video on the hard drive.)
As for the original idea, that of combining the file system on 'Nix systems, speaking as someone who has wholeheartedly switched from Winders to Linux, I think it's dumb. I *want* my system and supervisor's executables in/sbin or/usr/sbin. I don't want my users to even know that these programs EXIST. I don't want them to see them or even smell a hint of their existence. No. Not happening.
By the way... the comments here are obviously based on each person's experience (including mine). But at the risk of stating the obvious: be careful when assuming that your system will be like everyone else's. For 'zample, many servers load up the/var/ and/opt/ directories. That's where they store their data. A Linux Terminal Server, by contrast (and if you haven't tried that, by the way, you don't know what you're missing; its a beautiful thing for an office full of non-technical people who just need email and Web browsing), IS going to store tons of stuff in separate/home directories. Different systems, different approaches.
The idea of my mail store or database being in a directory that could even be viewed by Joe Sixpack The Conscientious Employee is enough to make me ITCH. Incessantly. When I install a new package, one of the things I do is run around chmod'ing and chown'ing as tightly as I can -- I open it up only as much as is absolutely needed for the package to work properly.
One size does NOT fit all. End of the day: leave it to me. Don't force some weird filesystem consolidation on me. I'll decide what people need to see, and if they have trouble finding it, I'll show them how to do a Search.:)
... is that most people think they understand economics, but they really don't.
The threads here are fascinating, with one poster making an assertion, then the next one saying, "no, that's not so, the actual cost is 2.5 times so and so and yadda yadda." Response follows, and another correction. Preconceived notions are the order of the day anytime this subject comes up.
One thing you can take to the bank: the vast majority of the Occupy [insert-name-of-city] protesters don't have any idea how Wall Street and business actually work. In fairness: mitigating that is the fact that most of those who despise and denounce the Occupy people don't really understand how it works, either.:)
If we could figure out some way to teach these things in our schools, without ideological bias (it'll never happen, but I can dream), that would go a long way toward solving the problem.
My wife and I ran a small business in NC years ago. (An insurance agency.) I was endlessly astonished at the number of customers who would drop snide comments about how we "must be rich" (no, I'm not making this up) because we "owned our own business." All they saw was that even a basic auto policy cost them a minimum of $40 a month, and assumed that WE pocketed all of that money.
In fact, we were in debt to our eyeballs and I finally changed careers because I was tired of long hours and endless hassles.
> Wasn't Mandrake installed in like two clicks or something?
Mandrake is what "converted" me to Linux. Loved that OS. It took more than "two clicks" to install, but in fact, it blew me away because it was easier to install than Windows. The only catch that I recall was that frightening "move your mouse wheel!!!" dialog that would pop up during the installation. (Remember THAT thing?):)
But since we're talking about XP here, I have to say, it has been a good 'un. Windows 7 seems to be pretty solid as well.
I have no idea what caused this particular incident, but I know in our own organization, employees treat email as a convenient way to transfer files. As far as they're concerned, it beats a thumb drive, because they don't even have to get up from the desk!!! So... we have employees emailing contracts, contact lists, and everything else imaginable to each other... and even to themselves.
Telling them not to do it is a waste of time. We've set up alternatives (SFTP servers for bulk file storage and transfer, for example), but some employees still won't use them.
I agree. Anyone who tried an older version of VirtualBox and wasn't satisfied with it should definitely try a newer release. The latest versions of VirtualBox sing like a chorus of monkeys.
(I meant that in a GOOD way. Call it, "well-trained monkeys with great voices."):)
The gaming thing has never been an issue for me because I don't like the big, world-eating things that the kids are playing now. I'm more of an old Commander Keen or Duke Nukem I/II guy, and DosBOX is a beauty-pageant-winner level beautiful thing for people like me.
If I ever did decide to get into the awesome new games, I'd probably just buy something like a Wii. Why tie up CPU cycles on that?
But that's just personal preference. The only thing I miss under Linux is really, truly good audio editing and MIDI support. The available FOSS selections (Ardour, Rosegarden, et. al.) all leave something to be desired. But also just MY opinion.
And that's fine; that's your choice. But there are plenty of us who prefer to run Linux because it's lighter and faster (for one thing, you don't need all of the stupid antivirus/antimalware stuff constantly consuming CPU cycles). There are some of us who have no choice -- we use 'nix at work and need a 'nix flavor installed at home.
But I'll admit that there are times when I need or want Windows -- doing my taxes, for one thing. So, I have Windows XP installed in a VirtualBox under OpenSUSE, and I can start it, do my taxes (or whatever), then exit.
Besides, there is the INTENSE pleasure of seeing Windows in a small, well-behaved window on my desktop. That's how it SHOULD be. (Evil cackle...)
Also besides, you ought to run a really secure OS like Linux, then virtualize Windows, anyway. Take a snapshot of a known good config, and then if (when) you get a virus or some malware, simply delete the current VM and go back to the snapshot. Quick, simple, a beautiful thing. Like doing regular backups, only even mo' betta.:)
Complete and utter waste of time, as is complaining to your attorney general's office. At best, they'll send you a Form To Fill Out(tm) (or nowadays, I guess you can go to their website and fill out said form), and that'll be the last you hear of it.
Unless they are completely egregious and the FTC or attorney general gets so many complaints that the collector can no longer be ignored, they won't bother. Very occasionally, they'll take action, but the real problem is that so many collection agencies are fly by night now -- if they're closed down, they'll simply reopen a week later at a new address and under a new name.
The buying and selling of old debts is big business, too -- so let me give everyone some advice. Talk to an attorney who is familiar with the laws in your jurisdiction, but most US states have a strict statue of limitations, especially on unsecured debt. These "debt buyers" will purchase a 10 year old Sears or Discover card debt, then start calling and calling. They hope to drive you crazy enough so that you send them just a few bucks... BECAUSE THAT RESETS THE STATUS OF LIMITATIONS. If it's a big enough debt, it's now worth their while to take you to court.
Actually, Webmin has been improved considerably. I use CentOS and OpenSuSE almost exclusively and on the Cent boxes, I install Webmin first thing. It makes maintaining a firewall, just to name one, a million times easier.
The second thing I do is write a script that tells my associates NOT to use the "system-config-securitylevel" tools because it will open some ports by default that really ought not to be exposed to the Internet. (CUPS comes to mind.)
(No, I'm not kidding. CentOS 6/RHEL 6 may have fixed this, but in Cent 5, as soon as you activate the firewall, it opens up CUPS and a couple of things. I first discovered this a couple of years ago when I did my usual routine NMAP check of a new server, just to see what it was exposing to the Internet. I almost fell out.)
I'm surprised that no one here has suggested Suse/OpenSUSE yet. It's extremely easy to install and set up, with a LAMP stack, ready to go off the disk. I realize that there are some philosophical reasons amongst the free software community against Suse, but I've never cared about those, just to be frank. And once you do get familiar with the CLI, Suse has an advantage that I haven't found in any other major distro: I can go in remotely with SSH and use the CLI Yast program. which uses an NCurses interface that duplicates the GUI version of Yast. Everything's in the same place. This is absolutely wonderful.:)
I've used Ubuntu, and the last thing I want to do is start a flame war. Ubuntu LTS is extremely stable and yes, the online support is excellent. However... it is almost entirely CLI for administration (unless you install Webmin/Virtualmin, as someone else here suggested), and if you go into the Ubuntu forums with a problem, the help provided will almost certainly be CLI. Also, speaking from experience, if it's a really puzzling problem, you'll get two or three conflicting suggestions. (Again, speaking from experience.)
Remember, the original poster's experience is entirely with Microsoft-style stuff. That's where I was a decade ago, I can still remember how difficult it was to transition to Linux. Mandrake (now Mandriva) made my switch a breeze, even though others were screaming at me to use Red Hat or Debian (both of which I tried, and both of which almost soured me to Linux entirely). When you recommend something to the OP, keep that in mind. What's easy for YOU (going into/etc and editing a file, for example) might completely baffle him or her. Now add in the fact that most error reporting under Linux is via the log files, instead of pop-up screens.
That was my question, too. Maybe the seagulls are snatching feed from nearby farms? Or is there some other vector?
Like I said above, the truly troubling thing is that they've got these antibiotic-resistant bacteria in them to start with. That shows how widespread the problem has become, and we're back to my concerns about a "superbug."
> Antibiotics allow the cattle to... produce more meat...
Yes, I know. Another reason they cram the animals full of antibiotics is because they're stuffed together in breeding stalls or crowded into feed lots, and it (supposedly) helps prevent them from getting sick. The latter reason is why they don't just limit feed suppliers to the older antibiotics, while reserving the newer ones for prescription use only. The farm animals themselves are developing resistant infections, so the farmers want to hit them with the Latest And Greatest drugs, too.
I'm aware of the downside, though -- the price of meat and poultry is going to go WAY up if strict limits on antibiotic use on farms are implemented. Nevertheless, given the very real danger that a "superbug" could develop from our indiscriminate use of antibiotics (by the tons) on farms, I'm afraid I have to swallow my conservative principles and agree that additional government regulation is needed here.:)
Actually, there was a story (I believe it was right here on/.) a while back about one common vector for MRSA in hospitals being the keyboards on the computers. The staff would be faithful about protecting themselves from the resistant staph, wearing gloves and masks, but would then walk out of the patient's room and touch something (like a keyboard) without thoroughly washing first. I'm sure that practice has since been stopped, but it shows the problem.
And the address your specific contention, many people contract MRSA in hospitals. You concentrate a bunch of very sick people into a single building, THEN add in the wildcard that many of the bacteria have become resistant, and you see the problem. My own late father (diabetes) lost some toes to the disease, then almost died from MRSA. He was WEEKS in the hospital while they slowly brought it under control with vancomycin.
I'm a very messy person in general (I admit it), but I'm a fanatic about cleanliness in the kitchen. My wife sometimes gets tickled at how often I wash my hands and wipe the counters while I'm cooking. But here's the problem: you buy a package of ground beef that happens to have bacteria in it (that's why they have the warning labels on there). You can be quite diligent about *cooking* it properly, but if you get the tainted blood on your fingers, you could carry the bacteria over to the salad, onto the refrigerator door, or dozens of other places without even thinking about it.
Now add in the fact that many of these strains of bacteria are resistant to antibiotics and you can understand my paranoia.:)
Slashdot Mirror
Hey, AGW people? Here's the bottom line. Read this carefully. Let it nourish your thought processes. You want to know why the general public hasn't panicked and fallen behind you in your crusade? Here it is.
Lets say we have many, many skilled scientists working on not one, but DOZENS of models that are constantly being refined and tinkered with. This has been going on for DECADES. They feed these models with thousands and thousands of hard, verifiable data points -- measurements from buoys, satellites, even ships at sea with calibrated instruments. Temperatures, pressures, atmospheric readings, all get poured into these models with loving care and infinite attention to detail. When using the models, another team of specialists carefully takes the average of these models, based on experience, to make cautious predictions.
They're called Hurricane Models. And even after DECADES of refinement, they still can't reliably predict the path of a storm past 3-5 days. They still can't reliably predict hurricane intensity AT ALL.
And you want us to believe that you can predict, WITH GREAT CONFIDENCE, that the Earth will be 10 degrees warming in so many years because of what mankind is doing?
"Oh, well, that's different," screams the AGW crowd. Maybe. But it does show the limitations of science, does it not? I appreciate everything that the hurricane forecasters have accomplished. They've saved a lot of lives. But there's a good, hard example of the limitations of ANY model that seeks to predict the behavior of a huge, complex, chaotic system.
What I'm desperately tired of is binary thinking: EITHER one believes the prevailing, dire theories about AGW and wants to take emergency action, OR one is an uniformed, reactionary dunderhead. (Or even worse, a Republican -- which I am NOT, by the way).
The question isn't whether the Earth is warming. I honestly don't know, but let's say it has. It's a long leap from that assertion to insisting that my barbeque grill is what's causing it. (More binary thinking: either you agree with us in all particulars, or you're no different from a Young Earth Creationist.) I need to be SURE before I repent and take the grill to the landfill. You haven't convinced me.
And here's the point: I AGREE that we need to reduce carbon emissions. Whether they're causing global warming or not, I'm tired of breathing stinky air in Birmingham, AL, if nothing else. (There's the "personal interest" angle.) Let's crush the stranglehold of Big Oil and find some real, green alternatives.
But I AM NOT going to allow anyone to wreck the global economy to achieve this. We can do it slowly and steadily, with planning and forethought. I'm not going to allow my government to enact some byzantine, "carbon credit" scheme that is, at the end of the day, just another boondoggle that lines the pockets of important contributors.
So: there you go, AGW proponents. Read it and learn, or begin with the condescending, sneering replies about how uninformed I am. It's really this simple: when your "scientists" finally achieve the ability to tell me, with at least 90% accuracy, that it will rain in my neighborhood next week, I *might* believe your claims about what's going to happen in the next century.
I think I'm being quite reasonable. :)
Ubiquiti, with an "i", not a "y." Sorry.
I don't think one vendor will supply everything that you need, but you definitely need to take a look at uBiquity. We've used their NanoBridges in studio-to-transmitter links several times and have been pleasantly surprised. The stuff is ridiculously cheap -- so cheap that we honestly wondered what could be wrong with it until we tried it. (Less than $160 for a pair of NanoBridges!)
Ubiquity's Website
It's not that they love mediocre so much as the "15 PHB Managers" mentioned above delude themselves. They've also been taught that the *perception* of quality is more important than the reality. "Sell the sizzle, not the steak," convince the customers that you're the best and there you go.
They honestly don't know any better, because they've never actually built anything. All they know how to do is maximize profits. It's not just the software, either, it's the hardware. In spades. Some salescreature from Asia will waltz in and say, "I can build your gidgle-widgets for fifty cents!"
The PHBs get moist eyed. They exclaim, "we're paying ten times that now!" They pound each other on the back and cry. "FIFTY CENTS? Yay! Halloo," and they sign the deal.
The new stuff arrives and about half of it breaks. About 10% of it doesn't even work out of the box. The PHBs DON'T CARE. The way they look at it, they're saving so much money that, even if they have to replace the customer's unit two or three times, they still come out ahead.
The Internet is changing that, though, because most of us consumer types look at reviews before we buy anything. PHBs *hate* online reviews, because they say, "their stuff may 'sizzle nicely, but the steak itself is awful ..."
(Gosh, I'm awfully poetic this morning. I need more coffee.)
*Slightly* off topic, but let's face it: you'd do something like that because, deep down inside (if nothing else), you're hoping they'll fire up the software on that USB stick and say, "wow! And it's free??? Gimme some more o' dis!"
If you're trying to spread the news about Free Software, the only effective way to do it is to SHOW them. Most of the people whom I've converted to Linux did so after watching me use KDE (formerly) and Gnome (more recently). The multiple desktops are absolutely intriguing to a power user; it won't be long before he/she starts thinking, "hmmm ... I could use that." The fact that you're not playing "whack-a-mole" with a dozen pop ups each time you boot is impressive, too, as is the fact that, with a good distro, updates are centralized, controlled and politely done, with rarely a need to reboot.
Of course, I go one step further. If they want to see Windows, I've installed Windows in a Virtual Box. I can bring up Windows as a nice, well-behaved little application one one of my multiple desktops, where it stays out of the way until I really want or need it ..... the way it SHOULD BE. (Evil. Grin.)
In this particular instance, if I was wrong about the OWS vs. the heads of Fannie and Freddie, I stand corrected. But the actual comment was a rhetorical question, not a conjecture, per se. :)
Or why doesn't the OWS crowd complain about the heads of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac receiving millions in bonuses ... at the same time that they're asking the feds for another bailout? :)
I guess that doesn't count.
> Americans have become nancies ...
Oh, I agree with that. If present attitudes had been applied to the 1800's, homesteading would have been stopped before it started because (horrors!) some of the pioneers were dying as they made their way across the plains.
But on the other hand, as a practical matter, I think we need a "Moore's Law" applied to batteries. The batteries that we're using now in electric cars and hybrids are huge, dangerous and expensive. (Buy a Prius, then ask how much it's going to cost to replace those batteries in a few years. You'll probably pass out from the shock.)
In other words -- again, just speaking practically -- I think that electric cars are a great idea, but I don't think the battery technology is there yet.
> It's a huge complex system that's never been tested.
Ummm ... no. It has never been tested on a nationwide basis -- that was the purpose of this particular test -- but folks, we've been using EAS for years at the state level and it works just fine. Those of us who set up the systems (I'm a radio engineer) are completely familiar with it, and it's a no-brainer. It's essentially 70's-era technology. (Ever notice how it the intro and extro sound like old dial-up modem tones? That's exactly what they are: they're at a relatively low baud rate, similar to the packet radio that Ham radio operators came up with decades ago.)
The fact is (forgive me, because I'm very frustrated), the Federal Government could screw up boiling a pot of water. They'd find some way to burn up the pot, or they'd turn on the wrong burner. Why? Because it's all politically-correct committee meetings and long drawn out "planning sessions" and other tommy rot for something that just AIN'T THAT DEEP, people. There are probably dozens (if not hundreds) people here on Slashdot who could design and program a simple encoder/decoder pair for EAS, using the sound card in your computer.
I normally try to steer clear of the political discussions here, but nothing -- and I repeat, NOTHING -- dismays me more, as an American in his 50's, than the rising number of Government Fanbois nowadays. The Government can do no wrong, we can trust them with everything (including our healthcare) . .. . and they can't even get a simple, nationwide test using 70's-level technology right?
Give. Stephen. A. Break.
We (meaning radio and television) are generally credited with saving a lot of lives on April 27th when those horrible tornadoes came through Alabama. I'm VERY proud of that. We were HUMMING. All of us were working together, and we had info on the air as soon as we received it. Bang, bam, "go to your safe place NOW." Local and regional emergency officials triggered the system multiple times. For each, our equipment automatically picked out the correct alerts for our area and we never missed a beat.
Repeat: THIS IS NOT THAT DEEP. We do it all the time. We're very, very good at it. And why the Federal Government has taken years, and STILL can't figure out how to send out a uniform, nationwide alert signal, is absolutely, utterly baffling to me.
Now: some decaf, then I'm off to bed. :)
>private broadcast companies ... failed ...
Been waiting for people would say that.
The engineer at the local PEP (Primary Entry Point) in our state was standing at the transmitter site, watching the equipment, when the test began. He was on the phone with FEMA, as a matter of fact.
The test never came through. The (FEMA-supplied) equipment never responded. As a result, most of central Alabama never even got the test.
The failure was on THEIR end, not ours. We had done TWO statewide tests just prior to the national one and they worked fine. Don't blame us, dood. :)
> the android companies that have caved ...
Sad, but for most corporations, that's just considered part of the cost of doing business. They're not going to fight if they feel that it's cheaper just to cave in.
If hiring attorneys and spending months (or even years) in court doesn't present some obvious benefit for them, or if they think it won't provide a clear strategic advantage, they'll probably choose the path of least resistance -- and cost. Especially in a weak economy.
> *rolls eyes*
This. And you know what else? If you have more than one user login on a typical Windows system, the files will go everywhere. There will be several "My Documents" folders, and if one user forgets to log out, and someone saves his file under someone else's login, you get to hunt for it. Great fun, and a great way to kill an afternoon. (Or better yet, the user will go back later, log in under his user name, go "wharr's mah file?" and RELOAD it from the thumb drive. Net result: you have a dozen copies of the same dancing chicken video on the hard drive.)
As for the original idea, that of combining the file system on 'Nix systems, speaking as someone who has wholeheartedly switched from Winders to Linux, I think it's dumb. I *want* my system and supervisor's executables in /sbin or /usr/sbin. I don't want my users to even know that these programs EXIST. I don't want them to see them or even smell a hint of their existence. No. Not happening.
By the way ... the comments here are obviously based on each person's experience (including mine). But at the risk of stating the obvious: be careful when assuming that your system will be like everyone else's. For 'zample, many servers load up the /var/ and /opt/ directories. That's where they store their data. A Linux Terminal Server, by contrast (and if you haven't tried that, by the way, you don't know what you're missing; its a beautiful thing for an office full of non-technical people who just need email and Web browsing), IS going to store tons of stuff in separate /home directories. Different systems, different approaches.
The idea of my mail store or database being in a directory that could even be viewed by Joe Sixpack The Conscientious Employee is enough to make me ITCH. Incessantly. When I install a new package, one of the things I do is run around chmod'ing and chown'ing as tightly as I can -- I open it up only as much as is absolutely needed for the package to work properly.
One size does NOT fit all. End of the day: leave it to me. Don't force some weird filesystem consolidation on me. I'll decide what people need to see, and if they have trouble finding it, I'll show them how to do a Search. :)
... is that most people think they understand economics, but they really don't.
The threads here are fascinating, with one poster making an assertion, then the next one saying, "no, that's not so, the actual cost is 2.5 times so and so and yadda yadda." Response follows, and another correction. Preconceived notions are the order of the day anytime this subject comes up.
One thing you can take to the bank: the vast majority of the Occupy [insert-name-of-city] protesters don't have any idea how Wall Street and business actually work. In fairness: mitigating that is the fact that most of those who despise and denounce the Occupy people don't really understand how it works, either. :)
If we could figure out some way to teach these things in our schools, without ideological bias (it'll never happen, but I can dream), that would go a long way toward solving the problem.
My wife and I ran a small business in NC years ago. (An insurance agency.) I was endlessly astonished at the number of customers who would drop snide comments about how we "must be rich" (no, I'm not making this up) because we "owned our own business." All they saw was that even a basic auto policy cost them a minimum of $40 a month, and assumed that WE pocketed all of that money.
In fact, we were in debt to our eyeballs and I finally changed careers because I was tired of long hours and endless hassles.
> Wasn't Mandrake installed in like two clicks or something?
Mandrake is what "converted" me to Linux. Loved that OS. It took more than "two clicks" to install, but in fact, it blew me away because it was easier to install than Windows. The only catch that I recall was that frightening "move your mouse wheel!!!" dialog that would pop up during the installation. (Remember THAT thing?) :)
But since we're talking about XP here, I have to say, it has been a good 'un. Windows 7 seems to be pretty solid as well.
I have no idea what caused this particular incident, but I know in our own organization, employees treat email as a convenient way to transfer files. As far as they're concerned, it beats a thumb drive, because they don't even have to get up from the desk!!! So ... we have employees emailing contracts, contact lists, and everything else imaginable to each other ... and even to themselves.
Telling them not to do it is a waste of time. We've set up alternatives (SFTP servers for bulk file storage and transfer, for example), but some employees still won't use them.
I agree. Anyone who tried an older version of VirtualBox and wasn't satisfied with it should definitely try a newer release. The latest versions of VirtualBox sing like a chorus of monkeys.
(I meant that in a GOOD way. Call it, "well-trained monkeys with great voices.") :)
The gaming thing has never been an issue for me because I don't like the big, world-eating things that the kids are playing now. I'm more of an old Commander Keen or Duke Nukem I/II guy, and DosBOX is a beauty-pageant-winner level beautiful thing for people like me.
If I ever did decide to get into the awesome new games, I'd probably just buy something like a Wii. Why tie up CPU cycles on that?
But that's just personal preference. The only thing I miss under Linux is really, truly good audio editing and MIDI support. The available FOSS selections (Ardour, Rosegarden, et. al.) all leave something to be desired. But also just MY opinion.
> Personally, I just run Windows.
And that's fine; that's your choice. But there are plenty of us who prefer to run Linux because it's lighter and faster (for one thing, you don't need all of the stupid antivirus/antimalware stuff constantly consuming CPU cycles). There are some of us who have no choice -- we use 'nix at work and need a 'nix flavor installed at home.
But I'll admit that there are times when I need or want Windows -- doing my taxes, for one thing. So, I have Windows XP installed in a VirtualBox under OpenSUSE, and I can start it, do my taxes (or whatever), then exit.
Besides, there is the INTENSE pleasure of seeing Windows in a small, well-behaved window on my desktop. That's how it SHOULD be. (Evil cackle ...)
Also besides, you ought to run a really secure OS like Linux, then virtualize Windows, anyway. Take a snapshot of a known good config, and then if (when) you get a virus or some malware, simply delete the current VM and go back to the snapshot. Quick, simple, a beautiful thing. Like doing regular backups, only even mo' betta. :)
> sic the FTC on them
Complete and utter waste of time, as is complaining to your attorney general's office. At best, they'll send you a Form To Fill Out(tm) (or nowadays, I guess you can go to their website and fill out said form), and that'll be the last you hear of it.
Unless they are completely egregious and the FTC or attorney general gets so many complaints that the collector can no longer be ignored, they won't bother. Very occasionally, they'll take action, but the real problem is that so many collection agencies are fly by night now -- if they're closed down, they'll simply reopen a week later at a new address and under a new name.
The buying and selling of old debts is big business, too -- so let me give everyone some advice. Talk to an attorney who is familiar with the laws in your jurisdiction, but most US states have a strict statue of limitations, especially on unsecured debt. These "debt buyers" will purchase a 10 year old Sears or Discover card debt, then start calling and calling. They hope to drive you crazy enough so that you send them just a few bucks ... BECAUSE THAT RESETS THE STATUS OF LIMITATIONS. If it's a big enough debt, it's now worth their while to take you to court.
Actually, Webmin has been improved considerably. I use CentOS and OpenSuSE almost exclusively and on the Cent boxes, I install Webmin first thing. It makes maintaining a firewall, just to name one, a million times easier.
The second thing I do is write a script that tells my associates NOT to use the "system-config-securitylevel" tools because it will open some ports by default that really ought not to be exposed to the Internet. (CUPS comes to mind.)
(No, I'm not kidding. CentOS 6/RHEL 6 may have fixed this, but in Cent 5, as soon as you activate the firewall, it opens up CUPS and a couple of things. I first discovered this a couple of years ago when I did my usual routine NMAP check of a new server, just to see what it was exposing to the Internet. I almost fell out.)
> SuSE is still around?
On the assumption that you're serious, try www.opensuse.org.
I personally think that their support forum is the best, by the way -- and I'm including Ubuntu in that comparison. By far.
And by the way, for the original poster: Swerdna has a complete walkthrough on setting up LAMP for OpenSuSE here:
http://www.swerdna.net.au/linux.html
And of course, Falko has some great stuff over at How-To Forge as well: www.howtoforge.com
I'm surprised that no one here has suggested Suse/OpenSUSE yet. It's extremely easy to install and set up, with a LAMP stack, ready to go off the disk. I realize that there are some philosophical reasons amongst the free software community against Suse, but I've never cared about those, just to be frank. And once you do get familiar with the CLI, Suse has an advantage that I haven't found in any other major distro: I can go in remotely with SSH and use the CLI Yast program. which uses an NCurses interface that duplicates the GUI version of Yast. Everything's in the same place. This is absolutely wonderful. :)
I've used Ubuntu, and the last thing I want to do is start a flame war. Ubuntu LTS is extremely stable and yes, the online support is excellent. However ... it is almost entirely CLI for administration (unless you install Webmin/Virtualmin, as someone else here suggested), and if you go into the Ubuntu forums with a problem, the help provided will almost certainly be CLI. Also, speaking from experience, if it's a really puzzling problem, you'll get two or three conflicting suggestions. (Again, speaking from experience.)
Remember, the original poster's experience is entirely with Microsoft-style stuff. That's where I was a decade ago, I can still remember how difficult it was to transition to Linux. Mandrake (now Mandriva) made my switch a breeze, even though others were screaming at me to use Red Hat or Debian (both of which I tried, and both of which almost soured me to Linux entirely). When you recommend something to the OP, keep that in mind. What's easy for YOU (going into /etc and editing a file, for example) might completely baffle him or her. Now add in the fact that most error reporting under Linux is via the log files, instead of pop-up screens.
That was my question, too. Maybe the seagulls are snatching feed from nearby farms? Or is there some other vector?
Like I said above, the truly troubling thing is that they've got these antibiotic-resistant bacteria in them to start with. That shows how widespread the problem has become, and we're back to my concerns about a "superbug."
> Antibiotics allow the cattle to ... produce more meat ...
Yes, I know. Another reason they cram the animals full of antibiotics is because they're stuffed together in breeding stalls or crowded into feed lots, and it (supposedly) helps prevent them from getting sick. The latter reason is why they don't just limit feed suppliers to the older antibiotics, while reserving the newer ones for prescription use only. The farm animals themselves are developing resistant infections, so the farmers want to hit them with the Latest And Greatest drugs, too.
I'm aware of the downside, though -- the price of meat and poultry is going to go WAY up if strict limits on antibiotic use on farms are implemented. Nevertheless, given the very real danger that a "superbug" could develop from our indiscriminate use of antibiotics (by the tons) on farms, I'm afraid I have to swallow my conservative principles and agree that additional government regulation is needed here. :)
Actually, there was a story (I believe it was right here on /.) a while back about one common vector for MRSA in hospitals being the keyboards on the computers. The staff would be faithful about protecting themselves from the resistant staph, wearing gloves and masks, but would then walk out of the patient's room and touch something (like a keyboard) without thoroughly washing first. I'm sure that practice has since been stopped, but it shows the problem.
And the address your specific contention, many people contract MRSA in hospitals. You concentrate a bunch of very sick people into a single building, THEN add in the wildcard that many of the bacteria have become resistant, and you see the problem. My own late father (diabetes) lost some toes to the disease, then almost died from MRSA. He was WEEKS in the hospital while they slowly brought it under control with vancomycin.
I'm a very messy person in general (I admit it), but I'm a fanatic about cleanliness in the kitchen. My wife sometimes gets tickled at how often I wash my hands and wipe the counters while I'm cooking. But here's the problem: you buy a package of ground beef that happens to have bacteria in it (that's why they have the warning labels on there). You can be quite diligent about *cooking* it properly, but if you get the tainted blood on your fingers, you could carry the bacteria over to the salad, onto the refrigerator door, or dozens of other places without even thinking about it.
Now add in the fact that many of these strains of bacteria are resistant to antibiotics and you can understand my paranoia. :)