In that case, you might want to go with Spanish rather than French.
Close enough reletive of Italian and goes some of the way with Portugeuse. French, for a romance language, is the bastard child. (And I'm a native English speaker living in a Francaphone city that also has 1/3rd German dialect speakers).
Combined economic clout of Spain in Europe and Central/South America would more than outweigh France, Belgium, Switzerland, Quebec and the piss-poor former French colonies in Africa. Even some of those are dropping French in favour of English.
Then you really need to decide if you go with Mandarin or Cantonese to speak with a Chinese.
But to change topics: From my observation, It seems that many dialect variations (such as might exist from village to village) are dying out, in favour of the 'standardised' versions. Generally, these are found on local television or radio stations. And then you have the situation in Australia where tribal languages are dying as the last few true native speakers bite the dust.
Orwell was on to something when he wrote 1984. If you change the language, you change the way people look at the world. I wonder what knowledge we're going to lose as the world does lose those last language speakers. For example, If the elders can no longer pass on tribal knowledge about a great healing tree, are we going to miss the great cure for cancer or the common cold at the same time? Or delay it's discovery by 20 - 50 - 200 years?
However, in some markets, MS has won on technical/money/usability merits.
In others it abused monopoly powers and/or giving secret advantages to its products over that in rivals.
Case in point: Secret APIs in Windows used by Office that were unavailable to the competition (WordPerfect et al). or deliberately making Windows 3.1 check for DR-DOS and reporting that it was unable to run on this platform.
Standards should be open. Governments should be free to mandate them (for themselves) and both companies and individuals to adopt them (or not). However, a proprietary standard is not a standard. And should never be blessed or described as one.
I have a lot of respect for some Microsoft software. However, in most cases F/OSS suits me better.
Wouldn't an incorrect, bad credit report constitute libel? If it reduces your standing in the community and the information is not true, would one then have an opportunity to sue the credit reporting agency.
In the event that they claim bad information, then you should be able to sue the party providing the bad information?
In Australia at least, to get to University, you'll need to get your High School certificate. Unis are only allowed to assess based on the results for this certificate.
Each state had a standard curriculum and a centrally set and marked major exam. All of these are centrally and independantly marked. Not school based.
I'm going to show my age here but when I did the certificate, 95% was one make or break exam. Now assesment still has a fairly major exam but with other assesment tasks through the year.
So discouraging students to take 'soft' subjects would certainly help a schools results. If you're capabile of running a four minute mile, you're a shoo in when someone asks you to run a four minute mile. By pushing students to take subjects well within thier capacity the school will look great but will hobble the child. However, it's probably only the borderline cases that this will affect. (ie someone that might get a D in the harder maths will be encouraged only to take the easier maths and get a B). The brigher student will no doubt take the harder maths because it is a pre-requisite for thier preferred course at Uni.
It's probably also cheaper and easier to recruit teachers that don't have solid maths and science backgrounds.
If the high schools are fudging the numbers, at least they have to do it systematically, and just not proclaim "we're the best".
(Please forgive the mistakes in the article. Until the coffee kicks in, grunt, rather than english, is my first langauge).
If OFFICE 2007 is a standard MSI, how come you can't do a Group Policy deployment of Office 2007?
Microsoft say you can, but only if you choose no customisation options, and no non-English support. In reality it doesn't work and Microsoft have recently more or less admitted it.
Also requires MS Installer V3.1 for any customised deployments. Most patched machines will have this, but freshly RIS'd machines might not.
Of course, this has NOTHING AT ALL with MS wanting every site with more than 10 machines to have SMS. NOTHING AT ALL.
Back on topic: Seems that what I recall from my one law class (Contract Law) was that both parties have to agree. If he can't see the terms, he can't agree. Of course, most civilised countries have laws to ensure that a product must fulfill it's basic function. And no legal-ese can weasel a vendor out of this requirement (all disclaimers to this effect are null and void).
End of story. Shoddy product, shoddy customer service, rather than admit wrong, went for "lawyers, guys and money".
And this is exactly why I dislike flash. 15,000 animations, 2000 different beeps, pops, whistles, tunes and jingles.
Flash can be used to enhance a web site, but most often just turns it to an evil, foul smelling mess.
I have a nice fast ADSL connection at home and a fast enough connection at work. A lot of people don't. Lots of internet uses are on dialup.
Let your marketing team go crazy on the bling (keeps them out of your way), but for god sakes provide a nice, usable text interface also. This will at least support other browsers. Doing so may make your web site acessability complient for sight impared too. (Check local laws for details).
Seriously, I have to laugh every time I go to a web site tells me for "security reasons" I should be using IE.
Second stupidy: Flash animation page that had the 'text only' link inside the flash animation. Where would you see that if you've installed flashblock?
Most kids won't go to a hardened criminal to get drugs, if they want them. An older brother/sister or niegbourhood "tough kid" will be sufficient.
There is illegal bootlegging and counterfieting of tobacco and liquor products. High prices and taxes pratty well ensures that. Legal drugs will probably be the same.
A few points to ponder:
I used to work late hours in a Service Station on weekends. Working my way through Uni. Bunch of pissed guys from the local pub or bunch of stoners looking for a few munchies? I knew which was much more pleasant to deal with, less blood and mess to clean up afterwards.
I wondered down the local last night and sank enough Magners with a few mates to wake up with a sizable hangover. Now I feel like shit and probably said something inappropriate to the g/f so now she's not talking to me. The coffee shops in Amsterdam provide a nice relaxing atmosphere, where one can talk just as much shite with your mates but wake up feeling OK and be a productive member of society.
And f-n awful when DVD players were around the $Au 1,000 mark. Now you can pick up one with plenty of change out of $Au100. So pick up one for your Region 1 DVDs, 1 for your Region 2 DVDs and 1 for the Region 4 DVDs, etc. Although it's trivially simple to buy one that is multi region or region selectable.
Thankfully BBC mostly produces DVDs in Region 2 AND 4 on the same DVD. (Yes, Minister and others). Although I generally buy from Amazon in the US as the Region 1 DVDs generally have a bucket-load more extras than the any other regions DVDs (2 and 4 are the other regions I've bought DVDs).
I haven't bought any Pr0n DVDs with any region coding. (not that I have a lot). Anyone ever find one with region coding?
A helpdesk system is a wonderful tool to have. There are plenty of LAMP helpdesk systems out there if you can't spend the budget on one.
The 3rd or 4th time a user makes a serious enough mistake, it can get flagged.
If it's training that is deficient, they get trained. If they still can't understand, then obviously there is a competancy issue here. Doesn't look good at review time.
Also, things like spyware/pr0n can be against company policy. Deliberatly breaking company policy can be downright career threatenting. A helpdesk system can help provide documented evidence (Keep screen dumps, etc). You should have centralised Anti-virus/anti-malware/spyware sysetm. Report the statistics weekly/monthly and flag problem systems/users through management.
Also a helpdesk system helps with charge-back systems. Users and especially managers will then see that IT is not a zero-cost, abuse target/slave. If everytime you change a toner for a willfully ignorant department, and it is charged, then you can be sure that the toner changing job will be handled by the intern next month or quarter.
Make sure that your helpdesk system is not just a black-hole. Run some reports out of it. Where you (the workers) were and which users and departments sucked the time out of the IT department. Make sure the report goes up and down the company. Even if you can't properly charge back, it might give your manager some ammo at budget time.
If someone is rude, document it, get witnesses, then report it, to your manager and/or HR. Be civil in response. They don't have to like you, or your job, but your coworkers have to be at least civil.
Be smart and professional about how you work. It pays off very quickly.
If management don't give a flying fek, then it's time to change jobs. (not always easy/possible).
I'm blaming the people skills of most geeks. I.T. people tend to be less people oriented. Gross generalisation alert: For some reason the more tech you are the less people and vice-versa.
I.T, whether programming, database management, system administration or whatever, is all about working for a business, run by people. Please them, and you'll get the job done, right. (I'm guilty of forgetting users. Occasionally I need to pour a large glass of perspective and soda).
I remember my University days, precious little was taugh about dealing with people, only a little more on what makes buiness "tick". And some rudimentary maths and accounting.
Solid design streaches from the top of code or wiring lay out, right through up to working with the customer/customer manager for the spec. Fail to get the spec right and you're sunk from the beginning. Good management AT THE BEGINNING helps a lot and gets this right. If the management fails, there are generally early signs, but get the hell out of that project before it starts to smell.
A little more engineering/people management skill probably wouldn't go astray in most tech courses. The uber-geek will still be an uber-geek, but the real people would probably benefit.
Enough perspective and soda for today thanks barkeep. I'm off.
He is aware of this. I'm not sure if it was him, or his father, but North Korea has the "miliary-first" policy. The family might be in-bread and nuts, but they have a firm grip on what it takes to maintain power (Well, his dad did anyway).
The masses might be starving, but what little oil, food, electricity, luxuries there are, all go to the military first. They are unlikely to rock the boat until the food actually starts running out, for them.
If any civilisation is three square meals aware from anarchy, i'd North Korea is about as close as they come though. Not sure the iPod will mean much, but every little bit helps.
My boss, Scottish, but lived here a long time, WAS told off by the police for washing his car on a Sunday. The car washes ARE closed. Lucky he didn't get a fine. No shops outside of the occasional bakery and some railway stations are open on a Sunday. Even most restaurants that aren't in tourist areas are closed.
To even be on emergency call service, one time per month on a Sunday, our company needed to jump through plenty of hoops with paperwork for the Canton (state) and have a time/money compensation policy.
Forget the price of petrol, (I usually take the buses and trains, but have a small motorbike), damn, check out the price of a decent steak, or leg of lamb. No vegemite either, but such is life.
Most people in other areas just head across the border on weekends. Unfortunately I'm about 1.5 hours from France/Germany, just a slight bit too far.
On the upside, plenty of spare cash. Great mates, good (enough) pubs, great bike riding and winter sports. Health insurance is compulsory, but doctors and hospitals are excellent.
No, it's not Australia, but there's plenty to like here. And when it all gets a bit much, Prague/London/Amsterdam are just an hour by plane.
Have MSCE and had CCNA (which expired last month). Certs please the HR department and can get you a toehold. Certs are also good for standing up to non-IT managers that think they know a thing or two about IT and want to make decisions on behalf of IT. "Talk quietly and carry a big gun". Don't question them on thier business knowledge, but do question them on thier IT knowledge.
However, it's knowing your shit gets you onward and upward.
Rule of thumb: A cert is worth a year or two when you're on the bottom rung. A degree is probably worth double that. At higher levels the degree (and an advanced degree moreso) holds its value. People that don't know better will always be impressed by a string of letters after your name (HR departments in general).
signed,
Arnold J. Rimmer BSc SSc (Bronze Swimming Certificate, Silver Swimming Certificate).
Angband: http://www.thangorodrim.net/, runs on almost anything. You can save, but that can't save you from death. (Well, you could cheat with savefile scumming, or go in to Wizard Mode.)
Requires concentration. No matter how bad the day, you can get in there for 5 or ten minutes, or hours if you prefer. You just have to concentrate. Low memory and processor overhead so you can let your compile or burn, render or download continue in the background.
Coffee is the drug of choice at work, but Angband gives you 5 minutes to switch moods. (Did I mention you have to concentrate?)
Any enterprise worth it's salt already has a support contract. After a certain level, you're essentially buying a MS insder who will find solutions fast on your behalf. No need to worry. To the point where the person who wrote the MS code might be involved.
Small business, home users will feel the call centre pain though. Often they are the least protected and aware. The probably have the least recourse too.
A good portion of the stuff the Iraqi army used was sold/given by the US. Cold hard cash rules and all the veto votes (and others) on the UN security council make a good $$$ selling military hardware. Freinds and enemies polically, all enemies trade-wise. Probably only friends politically because thats an easier way to make $$$ too.
Everyone with a gun to sell would no doubt have called at Saddam's door at one time or another.
I think I'll try this with my old T21 Thinkpad. Stick a pair of headphones in the appropriate socket. Sure, there will be some tiny sound, but for all intents and purposes, silence.
Slashdot Mirror
In that case, you might want to go with Spanish rather than French.
Close enough reletive of Italian and goes some of the way with Portugeuse. French, for a romance language, is the bastard child. (And I'm a native English speaker living in a Francaphone city that also has 1/3rd German dialect speakers).
Combined economic clout of Spain in Europe and Central/South America would more than outweigh France, Belgium, Switzerland, Quebec and the piss-poor former French colonies in Africa. Even some of those are dropping French in favour of English.
Then you really need to decide if you go with Mandarin or Cantonese to speak with a Chinese.
But to change topics: From my observation, It seems that many dialect variations (such as might exist from village to village) are dying out, in favour of the 'standardised' versions. Generally, these are found on local television or radio stations. And then you have the situation in Australia where tribal languages are dying as the last few true native speakers bite the dust.
Orwell was on to something when he wrote 1984. If you change the language, you change the way people look at the world. I wonder what knowledge we're going to lose as the world does lose those last language speakers. For example, If the elders can no longer pass on tribal knowledge about a great healing tree, are we going to miss the great cure for cancer or the common cold at the same time? Or delay it's discovery by 20 - 50 - 200 years?
Crap.
Yes: I am feeding the troll.
However, in some markets, MS has won on technical/money/usability merits.
In others it abused monopoly powers and/or giving secret advantages to its products over that in rivals.
Case in point: Secret APIs in Windows used by Office that were unavailable to the competition (WordPerfect et al). or deliberately making Windows 3.1 check for DR-DOS and reporting that it was unable to run on this platform.
Standards should be open. Governments should be free to mandate them (for themselves) and both companies and individuals to adopt them (or not). However, a proprietary standard is not a standard. And should never be blessed or described as one.
I have a lot of respect for some Microsoft software. However, in most cases F/OSS suits me better.
Wouldn't an incorrect, bad credit report constitute libel? If it reduces your standing in the community and the information is not true, would one then have an opportunity to sue the credit reporting agency.
In the event that they claim bad information, then you should be able to sue the party providing the bad information?
Any lawyers, or lawyer-alikes care to comment?
In Australia at least, to get to University, you'll need to get your High School certificate. Unis are only allowed to assess based on the results for this certificate.
Each state had a standard curriculum and a centrally set and marked major exam. All of these are centrally and independantly marked. Not school based.
I'm going to show my age here but when I did the certificate, 95% was one make or break exam. Now assesment still has a fairly major exam but with other assesment tasks through the year.
So discouraging students to take 'soft' subjects would certainly help a schools results. If you're capabile of running a four minute mile, you're a shoo in when someone asks you to run a four minute mile. By pushing students to take subjects well within thier capacity the school will look great but will hobble the child. However, it's probably only the borderline cases that this will affect. (ie someone that might get a D in the harder maths will be encouraged only to take the easier maths and get a B). The brigher student will no doubt take the harder maths because it is a pre-requisite for thier preferred course at Uni.
It's probably also cheaper and easier to recruit teachers that don't have solid maths and science backgrounds.
If the high schools are fudging the numbers, at least they have to do it systematically, and just not proclaim "we're the best".
(Please forgive the mistakes in the article. Until the coffee kicks in, grunt, rather than english, is my first langauge).
Alker-Salzer, Asprin, Berocca, Vitamins, water and a large quantity of caffine.
Hope that the shirt I put on is clean, pants also. (Sometimes the fact that I have pants is an improvement).
After a while the caffine kicks in and last nights bender degrades in to a dull throb and I can get some real work done.
Never turn up to work sober. It just creats unrealistic expectations.
This message brought to you by the letters Guiness, Kilkenny, Magners, Sambucca and Vodka.
If OFFICE 2007 is a standard MSI, how come you can't do a Group Policy deployment of Office 2007?
Microsoft say you can, but only if you choose no customisation options, and no non-English support. In reality it doesn't work and Microsoft have recently more or less admitted it.
Also requires MS Installer V3.1 for any customised deployments. Most patched machines will have this, but freshly RIS'd machines might not.
Of course, this has NOTHING AT ALL with MS wanting every site with more than 10 machines to have SMS. NOTHING AT ALL.
Back on topic: Seems that what I recall from my one law class (Contract Law) was that both parties have to agree. If he can't see the terms, he can't agree. Of course, most civilised countries have laws to ensure that a product must fulfill it's basic function. And no legal-ese can weasel a vendor out of this requirement (all disclaimers to this effect are null and void).
End of story. Shoddy product, shoddy customer service, rather than admit wrong, went for "lawyers, guys and money".
And this is exactly why I dislike flash. 15,000 animations, 2000 different beeps, pops, whistles, tunes and jingles.
Flash can be used to enhance a web site, but most often just turns it to an evil, foul smelling mess.
I have a nice fast ADSL connection at home and a fast enough connection at work. A lot of people don't. Lots of internet uses are on dialup.
Let your marketing team go crazy on the bling (keeps them out of your way), but for god sakes provide a nice, usable text interface also. This will at least support other browsers. Doing so may make your web site acessability complient for sight impared too. (Check local laws for details).
Seriously, I have to laugh every time I go to a web site tells me for "security reasons" I should be using IE.
Second stupidy: Flash animation page that had the 'text only' link inside the flash animation. Where would you see that if you've installed flashblock?
Absence of prohibition != approval.
Most kids won't go to a hardened criminal to get drugs, if they want them. An older brother/sister or niegbourhood "tough kid" will be sufficient.
There is illegal bootlegging and counterfieting of tobacco and liquor products. High prices and taxes pratty well ensures that. Legal drugs will probably be the same.
A few points to ponder:
I used to work late hours in a Service Station on weekends. Working my way through Uni. Bunch of pissed guys from the local pub or bunch of stoners looking for a few munchies? I knew which was much more pleasant to deal with, less blood and mess to clean up afterwards.
I wondered down the local last night and sank enough Magners with a few mates to wake up with a sizable hangover. Now I feel like shit and probably said something inappropriate to the g/f so now she's not talking to me. The coffee shops in Amsterdam provide a nice relaxing atmosphere, where one can talk just as much shite with your mates but wake up feeling OK and be a productive member of society.
That's almost exactly what I want too.
If it was available, I'd likely buy it. I'm looking to replace/supplement an ageing desktop in about 6 months.
No Microsoft tax is a 'must-have' also.
True.
But there is a security roll up from (AFAIR) about 6 months ago.
Not exactly recent, but that whacks a log of post-SP4 patches in one go.
Yes, very stupid.
And f-n awful when DVD players were around the $Au 1,000 mark. Now you can pick up one with plenty of change out of $Au100. So pick up one for your Region 1 DVDs, 1 for your Region 2 DVDs and 1 for the Region 4 DVDs, etc. Although it's trivially simple to buy one that is multi region or region selectable.
Thankfully BBC mostly produces DVDs in Region 2 AND 4 on the same DVD. (Yes, Minister and others). Although I generally buy from Amazon in the US as the Region 1 DVDs generally have a bucket-load more extras than the any other regions DVDs (2 and 4 are the other regions I've bought DVDs).
I haven't bought any Pr0n DVDs with any region coding. (not that I have a lot). Anyone ever find one with region coding?
Nos.
A helpdesk system is a wonderful tool to have. There are plenty of LAMP helpdesk systems out there if you can't spend the budget on one.
The 3rd or 4th time a user makes a serious enough mistake, it can get flagged.
If it's training that is deficient, they get trained. If they still can't understand, then obviously there is a competancy issue here. Doesn't look good at review time.
Also, things like spyware/pr0n can be against company policy. Deliberatly breaking company policy can be downright career threatenting. A helpdesk system can help provide documented evidence (Keep screen dumps, etc). You should have centralised Anti-virus/anti-malware/spyware sysetm. Report the statistics weekly/monthly and flag problem systems/users through management.
Also a helpdesk system helps with charge-back systems. Users and especially managers will then see that IT is not a zero-cost, abuse target/slave. If everytime you change a toner for a willfully ignorant department, and it is charged, then you can be sure that the toner changing job will be handled by the intern next month or quarter.
Make sure that your helpdesk system is not just a black-hole. Run some reports out of it. Where you (the workers) were and which users and departments sucked the time out of the IT department. Make sure the report goes up and down the company. Even if you can't properly charge back, it might give your manager some ammo at budget time.
If someone is rude, document it, get witnesses, then report it, to your manager and/or HR. Be civil in response. They don't have to like you, or your job, but your coworkers have to be at least civil.
Be smart and professional about how you work. It pays off very quickly.
If management don't give a flying fek, then it's time to change jobs. (not always easy/possible).
I'm blaming the people skills of most geeks. I.T. people tend to be less people oriented. Gross generalisation alert: For some reason the more tech you are the less people and vice-versa.
I.T, whether programming, database management, system administration or whatever, is all about working for a business, run by people. Please them, and you'll get the job done, right. (I'm guilty of forgetting users. Occasionally I need to pour a large glass of perspective and soda).
I remember my University days, precious little was taugh about dealing with people, only a little more on what makes buiness "tick". And some rudimentary maths and accounting.
Solid design streaches from the top of code or wiring lay out, right through up to working with the customer/customer manager for the spec. Fail to get the spec right and you're sunk from the beginning. Good management AT THE BEGINNING helps a lot and gets this right. If the management fails, there are generally early signs, but get the hell out of that project before it starts to smell.
A little more engineering/people management skill probably wouldn't go astray in most tech courses. The uber-geek will still be an uber-geek, but the real people would probably benefit.
Enough perspective and soda for today thanks barkeep. I'm off.
He is aware of this. I'm not sure if it was him, or his father, but North Korea has the "miliary-first" policy. The family might be in-bread and nuts, but they have a firm grip on what it takes to maintain power (Well, his dad did anyway).
The masses might be starving, but what little oil, food, electricity, luxuries there are, all go to the military first. They are unlikely to rock the boat until the food actually starts running out, for them.
If any civilisation is three square meals aware from anarchy, i'd North Korea is about as close as they come though. Not sure the iPod will mean much, but every little bit helps.
Why am I having a recurring mental image of The Simpsons episode in which Burns runs for Governor?
Presumably before that it was Citizen Kane. But the implications are just scary.
"To a new a better life"
Wasn't obvious? And Vietnam wasn't a big enough lesson in history?
Aren't the 'driods you're looking for.
Try Switzerland for conservative.
My boss, Scottish, but lived here a long time, WAS told off by the police for washing his car on a Sunday. The car washes ARE closed. Lucky he didn't get a fine. No shops outside of the occasional bakery and some railway stations are open on a Sunday. Even most restaurants that aren't in tourist areas are closed.
To even be on emergency call service, one time per month on a Sunday, our company needed to jump through plenty of hoops with paperwork for the Canton (state) and have a time/money compensation policy.
Forget the price of petrol, (I usually take the buses and trains, but have a small motorbike), damn, check out the price of a decent steak, or leg of lamb. No vegemite either, but such is life.
Most people in other areas just head across the border on weekends. Unfortunately I'm about 1.5 hours from France/Germany, just a slight bit too far.
On the upside, plenty of spare cash. Great mates, good (enough) pubs, great bike riding and winter sports. Health insurance is compulsory, but doctors and hospitals are excellent.
No, it's not Australia, but there's plenty to like here. And when it all gets a bit much, Prague/London/Amsterdam are just an hour by plane.
I'll agree with this.
Have MSCE and had CCNA (which expired last month). Certs please the HR department and can get you a toehold. Certs are also good for standing up to non-IT managers that think they know a thing or two about IT and want to make decisions on behalf of IT. "Talk quietly and carry a big gun". Don't question them on thier business knowledge, but do question them on thier IT knowledge.
However, it's knowing your shit gets you onward and upward.
Rule of thumb: A cert is worth a year or two when you're on the bottom rung. A degree is probably worth double that. At higher levels the degree (and an advanced degree moreso) holds its value. People that don't know better will always be impressed by a string of letters after your name (HR departments in general).
signed,
Arnold J. Rimmer BSc SSc (Bronze Swimming Certificate, Silver Swimming Certificate).
Angband: http://www.thangorodrim.net/, runs on almost anything. You can save, but that can't save you from death. (Well, you could cheat with savefile scumming, or go in to Wizard Mode.)
Requires concentration. No matter how bad the day, you can get in there for 5 or ten minutes, or hours if you prefer. You just have to concentrate. Low memory and processor overhead so you can let your compile or burn, render or download continue in the background.
Coffee is the drug of choice at work, but Angband gives you 5 minutes to switch moods. (Did I mention you have to concentrate?)
Any enterprise worth it's salt already has a support contract. After a certain level, you're essentially buying a MS insder who will find solutions fast on your behalf. No need to worry. To the point where the person who wrote the MS code might be involved.
Small business, home users will feel the call centre pain though. Often they are the least protected and aware. The probably have the least recourse too.
A good portion of the stuff the Iraqi army used was sold/given by the US. Cold hard cash rules and all the veto votes (and others) on the UN security council make a good $$$ selling military hardware. Freinds and enemies polically, all enemies trade-wise. Probably only friends politically because thats an easier way to make $$$ too.
Everyone with a gun to sell would no doubt have called at Saddam's door at one time or another.
Unfortuanely (sic), there are still plenty of people with the family name of "Coward", Mr (or Ms) Anonymous Coward.
I think I'll try this with my old T21 Thinkpad. Stick a pair of headphones in the appropriate socket. Sure, there will be some tiny sound, but for all intents and purposes, silence.
Well, compared to Windows 98, XP security is um, well, hmmm ... better?