I wish the US would do this a week before elections, with a few test cuts in advance. Foreign opinion shouldn't be ignored, but there are bad actors (e.g. "troll farms") operating outside of US jurisdiction.
I'm curious how hard it would be for the US to disconnect from the outside Internet. Hawaii and Alaska have voting populations and would need to be "inside" the firewall. Ideally we would continue to relay outside traffic through our routers to avoid impacting (say) Latin America's connectivity too much.
Back when there was AIM, MSN, etc., a chat program called Trillian came along and let people use the major chat platforms with one client. Then there was an open source one called Gaim, which was later renamed Pidgin.
Then they tried to standardize it with XMPP and such, but that died down for some reason.
Pidgin is still around, and supports Facebook messenger. We're back where we were 15 years ago. Now get off my lawn.
The biggest hindrance to adoption is that major browsers, along with JavaScript itself, handle strings in UCS-2 and tend to mishandle codepoints above 0xFFFF. Hopefully this will push browser makers and web designers to handle UTF-16 surrogate pairs properly.
I ran the Windows 8 upgrade assistant, and had a much better experience:
* It presented the option to download the CD, which I took.
* The install CD lets you do a nuke-from-orbit reinstall of the system.
* While the installer runs, it shows you "the new way to use Windows" (i.e. how to get to the charms bar)
Also, knowing a few shortcuts will save you a lot of pain:
* You can use Alt+F4 to close Metro apps, and Alt+F4 on the desktop to shut down / sleep / hibernate / etc.
* You can search apps, settings, etc. by hitting the Windows key, then typing your search (though you still have to click the category to see the results).
For completeness, a a few bad things about Windows 8:
* If you set up a Windows Live-backed account (the default), it asks for an awful lot of personal information. Worse, you need an internet connection to log in to your computer. This problem is easy to fix: reinstall the system, and set up a local account instead.
* The control panels (not one, mind you) break continuity big time. If you open the charms bar from the Start screen and click control panel, you get a Metro-styled interface, but only a limited set of options. If you do the same thing from the Desktop, you get a desktop interface with more options. If you click one of the "advanced" links, it takes you to one of the original settings programs that have been around since '95.
I find Windows 8 to be usable. Not great, but at least usable.
Alex Trebek: Very good... 'His death and subsequent disagreement of heir resulted in the Battle of Hastings.'
*Ken Jennings rings in, opens the door and steps through it* Ken Jennings: Um... uh... um... I knew it a second ago.
Short-term memory? It's more like he'd forget the question... err, answer.
I've said it once, and I'll say it again: the fundamental theorem of backups is:
Backups != Archives
When you create a backup (as opposed to an archive), do not rely on the backup to hold files you don't currently need. If you do, you'll amass several "backups" that you can't get rid of because they contain files you might need. Instead, put files you're tired of looking at in an *archive*.
This definition of "backup" implies that it is almost completely safe to destroy an old backup to make room for a new one. Or, better yet:
Although I have by no means figured out the file problem, I've learned what I believe to be the fundamental formula of data management:
Backups != Archives
When I first got a computer with a CD/DVD burner, I was thrilled, as I would finally have limitless and cheap data storage. When I filled up my disk, instead of having to delete files to create new ones, I could "back up" the files that were taking a lot of space.
It came to pass that I literally had hundreds of CDs and DVDs with a variety of backups using multiple indexing schemes. AVI_SET_1 through AVI_SET_5. LS000 through LS038. DVD±RWs 0 through 8. Many of my discs remain unlabeled. Most of them contain a hodgepodge of file types, many of which are outdated.
I have hundreds of gigabytes of data, but most of it is unaccessible. When I want that project file from five years ago, I can't just search my hard drive for it. I have to dig through disc after disc, insert it, look at the contents, and occasionally write a memo of some sort concerning the contents of the disc (often losing track of the memo in mere months). It would be a lot easier if it were all on one monster hard drive (better yet, two hard drives in mirrored RAID configuration). If I actually knew how to organize the files as well, they might not even take that much space, and I wouldn't have needed today's hard drive prices to replace compact discs for the type of storage I was doing.
I failed to understand what a backup is for and what an archive is for. A backup is for disaster recovery. An archive is for shoving files out of sight until I need them in the future. I was using backup technology (compact discs) for archiving.
Let's say that, of all the data one has, 99% of it is junk that you hang on to "just in case", and 1% of it is used routinely (these figures vary wildly in real life). Backups target the 1%, while archives target the 99%. Fortunately, for most people, a DVD is more than sufficient to store the 1% at any given moment in time (operating system files aside).
The bottom line is, an ideal (and cheap) arrangement to keep archives and backups in their respective places is:
Buy two or more big hard drives (e.g. 1TB each), set them up in RAID-1 (mirrored) configuration, and use them to archive junk. When you put a file in the archive, you can delete it from your system. You shouldn't have to worry about losing your junk files, as they are stored redundantly. This assumption is the whole purpose of the junk drive: you can delete files from your system without blotting them out of existence.
Once a month or so, burn a DVD backing up all of your most important files, as if you were grabbing your valuables out of a burning building. However, once you have done so, proceed as though this backup does not exist (i.e. don't delete the corresponding files from your hard drive). Backups are for disaster recovery only. I'll say it again, backups are for disaster recovery only.
Fedora 12 also starts out with no sound on the eMac. Next time you reboot, you may want to try modprobe snd-powermac and see if that turns on sound. If so, try adding snd-powermac to/etc/modules,/etc/modules.conf, or/etc/sysconfig/modules .
Debian is one of the last major Linux distros still supporting PowerPC (along with Gentoo, Arch Linux PPC, and a few others). Ubuntu discontinued official PowerPC support in 2007, and Fedora did the same in 2010. I'm tempted to install Debian 6 on my Apple eMac, replacing Fedora 12 (which reached EOL a couple months ago).
Slashdot Mirror
I wish the US would do this a week before elections, with a few test cuts in advance. Foreign opinion shouldn't be ignored, but there are bad actors (e.g. "troll farms") operating outside of US jurisdiction.
I'm curious how hard it would be for the US to disconnect from the outside Internet. Hawaii and Alaska have voting populations and would need to be "inside" the firewall. Ideally we would continue to relay outside traffic through our routers to avoid impacting (say) Latin America's connectivity too much.
Back when there was AIM, MSN, etc., a chat program called Trillian came along and let people use the major chat platforms with one client. Then there was an open source one called Gaim, which was later renamed Pidgin. Then they tried to standardize it with XMPP and such, but that died down for some reason. Pidgin is still around, and supports Facebook messenger. We're back where we were 15 years ago. Now get off my lawn.
The biggest hindrance to adoption is that major browsers, along with JavaScript itself, handle strings in UCS-2 and tend to mishandle codepoints above 0xFFFF. Hopefully this will push browser makers and web designers to handle UTF-16 surrogate pairs properly.
It's about 1.08 millitexases, or 1.25 Chicagos.
Good
luck trying to find this post later.
Here I am working, when I could be playing. Thanks Slashdot, now I'm going to have to kill my ...
Please get help. You have so much to live for.
... kill my productivity and go home and kill some zerg!
Ohh, nevermind. Knock yourself out.
Also, knowing a few shortcuts will save you a lot of pain:
For completeness, a a few bad things about Windows 8:
I find Windows 8 to be usable. Not great, but at least usable.
...the same time we get the following:
Cold Fusion
Check.
Flying Cars
Street cars kill enough people as it is. Flying cars would be like World War II every year.
World Peace
We already have world peace. It's just that some countries don't want to participate.
Pfft, my mod points expire, right before I get a chance to mark spam.
Alex Trebek: Very good ... 'His death and subsequent disagreement of heir resulted in the Battle of Hastings.'
*Ken Jennings rings in, opens the door and steps through it*
... uh ... um ... I knew it a second ago.
Ken Jennings: Um
Short-term memory? It's more like he'd forget the question... err, answer.
Some time ago, the Computer History Museum helped make the source code to MacPaint and QuickDraw available to the public.
I have a feeling they added the last sentence because people were cheating.
I've said it once, and I'll say it again: the fundamental theorem of backups is:
Backups != Archives
When you create a backup (as opposed to an archive), do not rely on the backup to hold files you don't currently need. If you do, you'll amass several "backups" that you can't get rid of because they contain files you might need. Instead, put files you're tired of looking at in an *archive*.
This definition of "backup" implies that it is almost completely safe to destroy an old backup to make room for a new one. Or, better yet:
(cd "$HOME"; rsync -av --exclude-from="$HOME/list-of-huge-files" "$HOME" "/media/backup-disk/homedir")
Explain to me one thing: how did Louis Armstrong play golf on the moon where there's NO AIR?
Also, why on earth does the OpenShot package in Ubuntu depend on libgfortran3 ?
I guess we'll all be like Grampa Simpson in a few years.
Does the new standard change the actual hash function, or does it merely provide a faster way to compute SHA2?
The "flag this post as inappropriate" button seems to be missing.
Although I have by no means figured out the file problem, I've learned what I believe to be the fundamental formula of data management:
Backups != Archives
When I first got a computer with a CD/DVD burner, I was thrilled, as I would finally have limitless and cheap data storage. When I filled up my disk, instead of having to delete files to create new ones, I could "back up" the files that were taking a lot of space.
It came to pass that I literally had hundreds of CDs and DVDs with a variety of backups using multiple indexing schemes. AVI_SET_1 through AVI_SET_5. LS000 through LS038. DVD±RWs 0 through 8. Many of my discs remain unlabeled. Most of them contain a hodgepodge of file types, many of which are outdated.
I have hundreds of gigabytes of data, but most of it is unaccessible. When I want that project file from five years ago, I can't just search my hard drive for it. I have to dig through disc after disc, insert it, look at the contents, and occasionally write a memo of some sort concerning the contents of the disc (often losing track of the memo in mere months). It would be a lot easier if it were all on one monster hard drive (better yet, two hard drives in mirrored RAID configuration). If I actually knew how to organize the files as well, they might not even take that much space, and I wouldn't have needed today's hard drive prices to replace compact discs for the type of storage I was doing.
I failed to understand what a backup is for and what an archive is for. A backup is for disaster recovery. An archive is for shoving files out of sight until I need them in the future. I was using backup technology (compact discs) for archiving.
Let's say that, of all the data one has, 99% of it is junk that you hang on to "just in case", and 1% of it is used routinely (these figures vary wildly in real life). Backups target the 1%, while archives target the 99%. Fortunately, for most people, a DVD is more than sufficient to store the 1% at any given moment in time (operating system files aside).
The bottom line is, an ideal (and cheap) arrangement to keep archives and backups in their respective places is:
They should try again in the morning.
More relevant, at least when your Core 2 Duo laptop dies and your old Mac suddenly becomes your best computer.
Fedora 12 also starts out with no sound on the eMac. Next time you reboot, you may want to try modprobe snd-powermac and see if that turns on sound. If so, try adding snd-powermac to /etc/modules, /etc/modules.conf, or /etc/sysconfig/modules .
Debian is one of the last major Linux distros still supporting PowerPC (along with Gentoo, Arch Linux PPC, and a few others). Ubuntu discontinued official PowerPC support in 2007, and Fedora did the same in 2010. I'm tempted to install Debian 6 on my Apple eMac, replacing Fedora 12 (which reached EOL a couple months ago).
I want to know what software he used to make those cats!
No, I think the cats are just raw material.
I think the bubble sort would be the wrong way to go.
—Barack Obama