Just wait until the book publishers get wind of this.
I predict pointless IP lawsuits up the ass:(
Book publishers already claim using a screen reader for the blind is a copyright violation, text-to-voice on ebooks being illegal (I hope Amazon squashes that lawsuit instead of settles), and bypass some form of access control that doesn't exist and thus is a DMCA violation too.
(Quoting you out of order for simplicity. Please, no one take this as an exact quote of parent.)
Most license suspensions are for not obeying administrative rules, not due to dangerous conduct.
OK, I admit you got me there.
License suspension over administration issues is indeed quite bullshit.
Would he have been previously banned from riding a horse? Interesting conundrums.
Actually back then no, if you used your horse and wounded or killed someone, they wouldn't need to ban you from riding horses, since you will either get jailed, shot, or ran out of town by a mob.
Even at that, though, how do we expect Bob, who lives 10 miles from town, to eat if he has to walk, in the middle of Winter to get his food?
Well, if Bob living 10 miles from down had his license suspended for reckless operation, then the answer is simple. I have no concern on how Bob will continue to live 10 miles from town in the winter without his car, other than the fact I am GLAD he doesn't have a car. He could freeze to death for all his victims would care.
Now, for the other Bob that lives on the other side of the street from the first Bob, who had his license revoked because when he paid a parking ticket for $35 a week before it was due, the court added a $1 late fee anyways and never told him about it, thus when his license gets suspended for not paying the full amount, then he is screwed... Now _that_ guy I feel really bad for.
The difference is one is consistently death in an SUV form factor, and the other is not.
Only the former really should have driving rights revoked. Not the later at all.
Plus I never understood that line of thinking. "Well, this person owes us money. I KNOW! Lets revoke his primary means for earning money! That should get us the money we want"
But I thought the goal was to avoid a speeding ticket. How will 'stop speeding' keep you from getting a speeding ticket?
OOOH I see what you did there. You actually still think speeding is what triggers getting a speeding ticket! How cute.
and not only laugh at everyone who's being pulled over to pay the "speed tax", but also save on fuel.
Well, laughing is good and all, yes.
However, some cars will get better gas millage at lower speeds, yet others at higher speeds. Any car driving 'between gears' will get horrible gas millage depending on the optimal speed of each gear.
In order for my car to get optimal gas millage in 4th gear for example, it needs to be going about 55mph. This is great for a 55mph zone! But in a 50 mph zone this lowers gas millage (Without speeding 5mph over of course.) For a 60mph zone this isn't bad as one can drive 55 and still be safe.
However some of the slower speeds like 35mph for example, are half way between 2nd and 3rd gear for me. Going faster is of course speeding, but going slower can be illegal too (there is a speed minimum as well as a speed maximum) as well as dangerous as hell depending on the situation.
Also other cars will yield very different results.
In my case, in order not to pay the 'fuel tax' of a speeding ticket, I have to willingly increase the wear on my car as well as pay for more gas to get the same distance.
I'm not meaning to make an excuse for speeding here, just pointing out your blanket 'and save on gas!' statement is silly as it is quite literally different for each make/model of car.
That's their claim. The trouble with their claim is that a large subset of people literally couldn't survive without it.
While true, I think the point is an even larger subset of people literally won't survive if those whom can't drive properly are allowed to do so anyway...
I'm curious how 'anonymous reader' knows that Microsoft is doing nothing to fix the problem.
Probably because of the hundreds of thousands of times Microsoft has been informed of a vulnerability in their software, they Never go about fixing the problem right away, and frequently never go about fixing it at all. The number of high profile vulnerabilities that they have fixed in that manor is extremely low.
They are also known for often shooting the messenger. This alone is reason to NOT inform them and just let the public know first.
If the best case for telling them is nothing, and the worst case is jail time and lawsuits up the ass, it is clear MS does not want to be told about such things. You and I might not think that is the best way to handle security, but it is what Microsoft has chosen.
So to answer your question simply: History. A very solid track record of history.
Just out of curiosity, how can a wireless company tell whether or not you're tethering, when you run a device that can run pretty much any sort of software?
They can't tell at all. They just use made up numbers to 'prove' it.
If you download 1gb from your unlimited plan to your PC while teathered for example, they will assume incorrectly it was your phone doing it and you will be OK.
If you download 10gb from your unlimited plan to your phone with NO teathering, they will say you used too much of your unlimited plan and slander you with a teathering accusation, as well as add fees to your bill for using too much unlimited service, or if it is enough traffic just disconnect you.
While verizon breaking your contract and then accusing you of breaking the contract is illegal (The TOS is a legally binding contract after all) they are counting on the fact it will 'cost' you time and money to prove you are innocent, and won't take them to court over it. Most times, they are correct.
I don't get why all you people are suggesting computer-based solutions. Running wires to each room in the house would be both cheaper and have sound quality independent of network quality.
Because all those wires have to plug into something on the other end. Normal IR remote controls will not work through walls, so one needs some other form of control over the back end.
The computer is one of the most customizable pieces of hardware one can place on the back end for this project, and be controlled through numerous methods, any one of you find the best, or even multiple options at once.
No existing hardware device has the ability to match the posters (unstated) needs, however a computer can be, almost no matter what those needs are. To get the computer to do this however, requires software. Thus why everyone is suggesting various computer based options.
Just limiting yourself to wires that don't plug into anything as you suggest, is not even a working solution.
The US doesn't have jurisdiction over servers outside the country, same as other countries don't have jurisdiction over servers in the US.
Then it's a good thing people don't sue servers!
No, people sue people, in this case better known as the servers operator. The question is, are YOU in the US or not. If not, then your point stands. In this case, the operators are indeed in the US, where the US has jurisdiction over just fine.
You're putting words into my mouth, Anonymous.:) I didn't say it irritated be because it was stupid, but it does irritate me because I believe a 9 pin RS-232 port would work just as well without the need for the unusual cable.
For you maybe, but not for most network engineers. You patch the console cable into your patch panel and existing RJ-45 wiring just like the ethernet ports on the same device.
They are extremely common connectors in the networking world, and used on many devices. Even my terminal server uses RJ-45 serial ports, which is exactly where all those switch and router RJ-45 serial ports get patched into. And then another RJ-45 from the terminal server to ethernet to a jack in my office that I can connect to with my desktop or laptop if some part of the network failed and make it so my own system can not reach the switch/router via ethernet.
This is fairly basic network design used in most places.
To add in some funky DB-9 serial port anywhere in the mix would just require everyone else but you to be required to buy 'these damn funny rj-45 to db9 adapters'
All a fear detector detects is fear. Not intent or cause. Once they realize how many people are afraid in airports, they will quickly scrap this stupid idea.
Unfortunately that is probably exactly what they want.
This device is 'scientific proof' (AKA the computer said so) for arresting any one of 90% of the people there that they might want to arrest for some reason.
Think dousing rods here. It's an enforcement departments wet dream.
Now the Telegraph reports that researchers hope a 'fear detector'' will make it possible to identify individuals at check points who are up to no good.
What about us law abiding citizens who are only afraid that our governments checkpoint workers are up to no good?
It is already a very real possibility for one of those people to make up any type of claim they want and detail you without letting you speak to a lawyer nor involve any courts. The reason given can be as ridiculous as 'He had terrorist looking hair' and still be valid. Plenty of legit reason to be afraid of those people.
Not to mention the fact I have no doubt at least a subset of these checkpoints will be at places where fear is natural (IE airports, fear of flying, or fear of falling out of the sky in a fireball)
Will deodorant and perfume be classified as a terrorist munition now?
Additionally, the land line never went down. Power out? No Heat? Need to call someone to plow your out? Cell phone towers swamped with callers? Land line worked perfectly.
My home data and phone system can run for a good 24 hours on battery backups alone, and that is just until I switch on the generator.
Just because the phone company has such hardware, does not mean you can't too if you want it.
And if you don't want it, that is fine, just realize it is you choosing to have a non-working IP phone line, NOT that it is not possible.
One of the main downsides to Debian is that it is expected you will do everything 'the Debian way', and if you don't, expect Debian to step on your toes.
I too came from a Slackware background, and you are right they are based off totally different systems.
I don't know if you ever plan to try Debian again (It sounds like you already found the solution(s) that work best for you, and that is plenty of reason to continue as you are)
I've had apt delete half a running system on two occasions when trying to uninstall OpenOffice in particular; it is tied in for some reason with almost the entire rest of the system. Apt/dpkg is particularly bad for having false dependencies associated with packages, although rpm is generally not immune to that problem either.
I do fully believe that case. I've only run a single Debian system with X11 installed in my life (10+ years for using Debian on headless servers, still to this day) and yes the X11 dependencies are very messed up. That bit was actually one of the few improvements Ubuntu had over Debian. Effortless X11 auto detection and such (Which Mandrake does have too ofc)
The only time I ran into a similar issue was a console app that had some X-lib listed as a dependency, which itself of course had the rest of X11 as a dependency. Sadly, that is still the cream of the crop of package management these days:/
DKMS I find to be a complete mess; I've never been able to get a kernel compile to work on any Debian-based system; I always get tangled up in the jungle of perl scripts when I've tried doing it by the book. I should probably have just done it manually.
The 'debian way' is to use kbuild for your custom kernels. After a fakeroot compile, you end up with a.deb with the version number set as such to never be replaced by an official kernel.
I do admit that was an insanely poor documented process however. It some times IS easier to compile your own kernel manually and just exclude kernels (via apt pinning) from upgrades.
However, once you get used to and start using the kbuild setup, one main advantage is that it integrates very nicely with ksplice (Updates not just the kernel file on disk and package, but modifies the running kernel in memory with the same patches, so no reboots are required.)
To some, that is worth the pain of kbuild.. And there are of course other deployment aspects it makes easier, if one needs such features. If all you want is to get a custom kernel up quickly however, it can be annoying.
The init system I found almost incomprehensible, coming from a background primarily of Slackware and LFS; although I eventually figured that out.
Ahh yes. That comes from Debian using the SysV style init, and Slackware using the BSD style init.
That init system has been in use in SunOS (now Solaris) for a long time, and some other Unix OSs (AIX comes to mind) have used SysV as well.
As I came from a Slackware and BSD background, the SysV init system was a major change to me too, however I had to learn it for running a SunOS system, so was sorta set when I moved away from Slackware.
It's also worth noting that Slackware is the only major Linux distro to still use the BSD style init system. Of course the 'roll your own system from scratch' methods could very well use it too, but they are hardly major;)
I have to say however, once I figured that out, I do prefer SysV style setups. Debian and Ubuntu have a 'both' feature as well. You still have SysV init at the core, but that system then runs/etc/rc.local just like the BSD scripts would use. You can still put a simple one-liner in there to start something instead of making a Sxx-name.sh script if you wanted.
The fourth thing was that with virtually every application I tried to install that had dotfiles, there seemed to be two; one which was hardwired in by Debian in the location
Ok, Ubuntu is fairly broken in a lot of places for most of the time, I will give you.
But Debian?? Can you expand on that?
I switched to Debian because it solves all of the problems I still to this day have with other distributions. Including some of the ones you listed as plus points for Mandriva which most everyone else considers sub par still (Namely, packages)
I've heard of not RTFA before posting, but wow, you didn't even read the headline? Not even the very first word? How many times did you vote Tuesday?
In insulting the parent poster, you just proved his point correct and your own flame as false.
Yes, read TFA, and the summary, and the very first word, all as you point out.
Now, with that, prove to us that this won't be used to block anything congress critters don't like. Just try.
I can prove they will. It's called history, and 100% of the laws that could be abused in this way, HAVE BEEN. 0% of them have not been abused.
With that type of track record, you are insane if you think this won't be used to block Joe Random blogger who is critical of something the government is doing.
Have fun calling an electrician every time you need minor electrical work done.
A) Aren't you required by electrical code laws to do the same?
B) What are you, scared of 240vac or something?;}
Just don't touch any of them while live and you'll manage fine. I've done plenty of 120, 240 (2 phase), and 480 (3 phase) wiring at home and work. Of course at work it needs inspected, but we have people here for that.
As long as you perform the simple operations of:
1) shut off the breaker to that line, and
2) verify a non-live socket with a multimeter
then it does not matter the voltage or amperage*, you won't have any problems.
* Obviously we are talking home and business mains wiring here. Grabbing at a 20kv 1amp wire is a different story, and that level of voltage (or equivalent amperage) will laugh at you, and even the resistor we call 'air' is put to shame.
The best part about the europlug (or whatever they are naming the UK plug these days) is that only the tips of the leads are actually conductive, not the entire piece. The majority of those leads have plastic over them.
What this means is that until you have the plug far enough into the wall where you don't have much room for a finger in there, it can't make electrical contact, and thus no nasty shock.
In the US (Where I am) the entire lead is metal, and makes electrical contact with only say 1/4th to 1/3rd of the lead in the wall and the rest exposed. Plenty of opportunity for more zaps.
I am not familiar with any other nations plugs to know which they would be closer to comparatively, but personally I wish ALL of them were that way if nothing else. Of course a fixed standard would be a good second dream, but we all can guess at the expense of such a change thus it will not happen for a long time if ever.
So when someone says, "A murderer deserves life imprisonment" what they mean is "I would feel better if that person was put in prison for life." I don't really see why people's feelings should be the basis for the criminal law system.
After you get stabbed 12 times, I'm pretty sure your pain receptors will cause a feeling of not wanting that to happen again (At least to yourself, if not to anyone else)
An appeal court judge in Trieste, Italy, cut Bayout's sentence by a year after finding out he has gene variants linked to aggression.'"
So the fact it has been proven he has gene expressions linked to aggression, shouldn't that mean his sentence should be RAISED?
This is a man who proved to others his genes make him dangerous to everyone around him. That is exactly what prisons are for. To keep such animals away from human beings.
Does this mean if he runs at someone, and gets shot for doing so, it is not murder or manslaughter but just 'putting down a rabid dog' which also can't help itself?
Supporting copyright is far more importantto me than supporting fair-use, and I'd certainly sacrifice the latter entirely in order to improve the former.
And that is exactly why such an insanely huge percentage of the population no longer cares about your copyright and IP, and pirating is seen as hurting no one that doesn't deserve it.
Tell me, as a citizen, why exactly should the people give you any protection at all what so ever? What do we get in return?
Once you publish something, you no longer own it. The public is the only owner. This is in copyright law today. All you get as an author is limited time but exclusive rights over distribution, but of OUR property.
Until YOU follow the law, there is no reason for us to follow it either.
Slashdot Mirror
Just wait until the book publishers get wind of this.
I predict pointless IP lawsuits up the ass :(
Book publishers already claim using a screen reader for the blind is a copyright violation, text-to-voice on ebooks being illegal (I hope Amazon squashes that lawsuit instead of settles), and bypass some form of access control that doesn't exist and thus is a DMCA violation too.
And this is why we can't have nice things
One reason to love CVT's.
Well played good sir!
Unless of course you meant Cardiac, Vascular and Thoracic Surgeons, Inc. ;}
(Quoting you out of order for simplicity. Please, no one take this as an exact quote of parent.)
Most license suspensions are for not obeying administrative rules, not due to dangerous conduct.
OK, I admit you got me there.
License suspension over administration issues is indeed quite bullshit.
Would he have been previously banned from riding a horse? Interesting conundrums.
Actually back then no, if you used your horse and wounded or killed someone, they wouldn't need to ban you from riding horses, since you will either get jailed, shot, or ran out of town by a mob.
Even at that, though, how do we expect Bob, who lives 10 miles from town, to eat if he has to walk, in the middle of Winter to get his food?
Well, if Bob living 10 miles from down had his license suspended for reckless operation, then the answer is simple. I have no concern on how Bob will continue to live 10 miles from town in the winter without his car, other than the fact I am GLAD he doesn't have a car. He could freeze to death for all his victims would care.
Now, for the other Bob that lives on the other side of the street from the first Bob, who had his license revoked because when he paid a parking ticket for $35 a week before it was due, the court added a $1 late fee anyways and never told him about it, thus when his license gets suspended for not paying the full amount, then he is screwed...
Now _that_ guy I feel really bad for.
The difference is one is consistently death in an SUV form factor, and the other is not.
Only the former really should have driving rights revoked. Not the later at all.
Plus I never understood that line of thinking.
"Well, this person owes us money. I KNOW! Lets revoke his primary means for earning money! That should get us the money we want"
... or you could just stop speeding ...
But I thought the goal was to avoid a speeding ticket. How will 'stop speeding' keep you from getting a speeding ticket?
OOOH I see what you did there. You actually still think speeding is what triggers getting a speeding ticket! How cute.
and not only laugh at everyone who's being pulled over to pay the "speed tax", but also save on fuel.
Well, laughing is good and all, yes.
However, some cars will get better gas millage at lower speeds, yet others at higher speeds. Any car driving 'between gears' will get horrible gas millage depending on the optimal speed of each gear.
In order for my car to get optimal gas millage in 4th gear for example, it needs to be going about 55mph.
This is great for a 55mph zone! But in a 50 mph zone this lowers gas millage (Without speeding 5mph over of course.)
For a 60mph zone this isn't bad as one can drive 55 and still be safe.
However some of the slower speeds like 35mph for example, are half way between 2nd and 3rd gear for me.
Going faster is of course speeding, but going slower can be illegal too (there is a speed minimum as well as a speed maximum) as well as dangerous as hell depending on the situation.
Also other cars will yield very different results.
In my case, in order not to pay the 'fuel tax' of a speeding ticket, I have to willingly increase the wear on my car as well as pay for more gas to get the same distance.
I'm not meaning to make an excuse for speeding here, just pointing out your blanket 'and save on gas!' statement is silly as it is quite literally different for each make/model of car.
because driving is not a right, but a privilege
That's their claim. The trouble with their claim is that a large subset of people literally couldn't survive without it.
While true, I think the point is an even larger subset of people literally won't survive if those whom can't drive properly are allowed to do so anyway...
I'm not a fan of Glenn Beck,
*snip*
But come on, this domain name was making the implication that someone committed truly heinous acts
Well, thankfully Glenn Beck disagrees, and making an implication is perfectly OK, even for (especially for) truly heinous acts.
If it's good enough for Glenn Beck, it's good enough for the common American citizen!
I'm curious how 'anonymous reader' knows that Microsoft is doing nothing to fix the problem.
Probably because of the hundreds of thousands of times Microsoft has been informed of a vulnerability in their software, they Never go about fixing the problem right away, and frequently never go about fixing it at all. The number of high profile vulnerabilities that they have fixed in that manor is extremely low.
They are also known for often shooting the messenger. This alone is reason to NOT inform them and just let the public know first.
If the best case for telling them is nothing, and the worst case is jail time and lawsuits up the ass, it is clear MS does not want to be told about such things. You and I might not think that is the best way to handle security, but it is what Microsoft has chosen.
So to answer your question simply: History. A very solid track record of history.
Just out of curiosity, how can a wireless company tell whether or not you're tethering, when you run a device that can run pretty much any sort of software?
They can't tell at all. They just use made up numbers to 'prove' it.
If you download 1gb from your unlimited plan to your PC while teathered for example, they will assume incorrectly it was your phone doing it and you will be OK.
If you download 10gb from your unlimited plan to your phone with NO teathering, they will say you used too much of your unlimited plan and slander you with a teathering accusation, as well as add fees to your bill for using too much unlimited service, or if it is enough traffic just disconnect you.
While verizon breaking your contract and then accusing you of breaking the contract is illegal (The TOS is a legally binding contract after all) they are counting on the fact it will 'cost' you time and money to prove you are innocent, and won't take them to court over it. Most times, they are correct.
I don't get why all you people are suggesting computer-based solutions.
Running wires to each room in the house would be both cheaper and have sound quality independent of network quality.
Because all those wires have to plug into something on the other end. Normal IR remote controls will not work through walls, so one needs some other form of control over the back end.
The computer is one of the most customizable pieces of hardware one can place on the back end for this project, and be controlled through numerous methods, any one of you find the best, or even multiple options at once.
No existing hardware device has the ability to match the posters (unstated) needs, however a computer can be, almost no matter what those needs are.
To get the computer to do this however, requires software. Thus why everyone is suggesting various computer based options.
Just limiting yourself to wires that don't plug into anything as you suggest, is not even a working solution.
Only if the server is in the US.
The US doesn't have jurisdiction over servers outside the country, same as other countries don't have jurisdiction over servers in the US.
Then it's a good thing people don't sue servers!
No, people sue people, in this case better known as the servers operator. The question is, are YOU in the US or not.
If not, then your point stands. In this case, the operators are indeed in the US, where the US has jurisdiction over just fine.
You're putting words into my mouth, Anonymous. :) I didn't say it irritated be because it was stupid, but it does irritate me because I believe a 9 pin RS-232 port would work just as well without the need for the unusual cable.
For you maybe, but not for most network engineers.
You patch the console cable into your patch panel and existing RJ-45 wiring just like the ethernet ports on the same device.
They are extremely common connectors in the networking world, and used on many devices.
Even my terminal server uses RJ-45 serial ports, which is exactly where all those switch and router RJ-45 serial ports get patched into. And then another RJ-45 from the terminal server to ethernet to a jack in my office that I can connect to with my desktop or laptop if some part of the network failed and make it so my own system can not reach the switch/router via ethernet.
This is fairly basic network design used in most places.
To add in some funky DB-9 serial port anywhere in the mix would just require everyone else but you to be required to buy 'these damn funny rj-45 to db9 adapters'
Either way, I am sorry they irritate you.
They already are.
Have you tried carring deodorant and perfume in your hand luggage recently?
Wow. Actually no I haven't tried.
Does that fall under the no liquids / semi-solids thing?
All a fear detector detects is fear. Not intent or cause. Once they realize how many people are afraid in airports, they will quickly scrap this stupid idea.
Unfortunately that is probably exactly what they want.
This device is 'scientific proof' (AKA the computer said so) for arresting any one of 90% of the people there that they might want to arrest for some reason.
Think dousing rods here. It's an enforcement departments wet dream.
Whoops, thought these were more then just monitors, and actual controllers... My bad!
It's only a matter of time really.
I just hope they don't remotely control spiders in the future... I hate those things :P
Now the Telegraph reports that researchers hope a 'fear detector'' will make it possible to identify individuals at check points who are up to no good.
What about us law abiding citizens who are only afraid that our governments checkpoint workers are up to no good?
It is already a very real possibility for one of those people to make up any type of claim they want and detail you without letting you speak to a lawyer nor involve any courts.
The reason given can be as ridiculous as 'He had terrorist looking hair' and still be valid. Plenty of legit reason to be afraid of those people.
Not to mention the fact I have no doubt at least a subset of these checkpoints will be at places where fear is natural (IE airports, fear of flying, or fear of falling out of the sky in a fireball)
Will deodorant and perfume be classified as a terrorist munition now?
Additionally, the land line never went down. Power out? No Heat? Need to call someone to plow your out? Cell phone towers swamped with callers? Land line worked perfectly.
My home data and phone system can run for a good 24 hours on battery backups alone, and that is just until I switch on the generator.
Just because the phone company has such hardware, does not mean you can't too if you want it.
And if you don't want it, that is fine, just realize it is you choosing to have a non-working IP phone line, NOT that it is not possible.
Ok, All fairly good points.
One of the main downsides to Debian is that it is expected you will do everything 'the Debian way', and if you don't, expect Debian to step on your toes.
I too came from a Slackware background, and you are right they are based off totally different systems.
I don't know if you ever plan to try Debian again (It sounds like you already found the solution(s) that work best for you, and that is plenty of reason to continue as you are)
I've had apt delete half a running system on two occasions when trying to uninstall OpenOffice in particular; it is tied in for some reason with almost the entire rest of the system. Apt/dpkg is particularly bad for having false dependencies associated with packages, although rpm is generally not immune to that problem either.
I do fully believe that case. I've only run a single Debian system with X11 installed in my life (10+ years for using Debian on headless servers, still to this day) and yes the X11 dependencies are very messed up.
That bit was actually one of the few improvements Ubuntu had over Debian. Effortless X11 auto detection and such (Which Mandrake does have too ofc)
The only time I ran into a similar issue was a console app that had some X-lib listed as a dependency, which itself of course had the rest of X11 as a dependency. :/
Sadly, that is still the cream of the crop of package management these days
DKMS I find to be a complete mess; I've never been able to get a kernel compile to work on any Debian-based system; I always get tangled up in the jungle of perl scripts when I've tried doing it by the book. I should probably have just done it manually.
The 'debian way' is to use kbuild for your custom kernels. After a fakeroot compile, you end up with a .deb with the version number set as such to never be replaced by an official kernel.
I do admit that was an insanely poor documented process however. It some times IS easier to compile your own kernel manually and just exclude kernels (via apt pinning) from upgrades.
However, once you get used to and start using the kbuild setup, one main advantage is that it integrates very nicely with ksplice (Updates not just the kernel file on disk and package, but modifies the running kernel in memory with the same patches, so no reboots are required.)
To some, that is worth the pain of kbuild.. And there are of course other deployment aspects it makes easier, if one needs such features. If all you want is to get a custom kernel up quickly however, it can be annoying.
The init system I found almost incomprehensible, coming from a background primarily of Slackware and LFS; although I eventually figured that out.
Ahh yes. That comes from Debian using the SysV style init, and Slackware using the BSD style init.
That init system has been in use in SunOS (now Solaris) for a long time, and some other Unix OSs (AIX comes to mind) have used SysV as well.
As I came from a Slackware and BSD background, the SysV init system was a major change to me too, however I had to learn it for running a SunOS system, so was sorta set when I moved away from Slackware.
It's also worth noting that Slackware is the only major Linux distro to still use the BSD style init system. Of course the 'roll your own system from scratch' methods could very well use it too, but they are hardly major ;)
I have to say however, once I figured that out, I do prefer SysV style setups. /etc/rc.local just like the BSD scripts would use. You can still put a simple one-liner in there to start something instead of making a Sxx-name.sh script if you wanted.
Debian and Ubuntu have a 'both' feature as well. You still have SysV init at the core, but that system then runs
The fourth thing was that with virtually every application I tried to install that had dotfiles, there seemed to be two; one which was hardwired in by Debian in the location
(which was in a released version of Mandriva before apt was in a stable release of Debian)?
Wait, whaaaa??
The first Debian release was in August of 1993, but yes not with dpkg.
Dpkg/dselect/apt was in the 3rd or 4th debian release which was in 1995.
The first version of Mandrake was released sometime in 1998, an entire 3 years later.
The first version of Mandriva was released even after that!
http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/project-history/ch-releases.en.html
http://www.mandriva.com/enterprise/en/company/backgrounder
Ubuntu and Debian are both unmitigated garbage.
Ok, Ubuntu is fairly broken in a lot of places for most of the time, I will give you.
But Debian?? Can you expand on that?
I switched to Debian because it solves all of the problems I still to this day have with other distributions. Including some of the ones you listed as plus points for Mandriva which most everyone else considers sub par still (Namely, packages)
I've heard of not RTFA before posting, but wow, you didn't even read the headline?
Not even the very first word?
How many times did you vote Tuesday?
In insulting the parent poster, you just proved his point correct and your own flame as false.
Yes, read TFA, and the summary, and the very first word, all as you point out.
Now, with that, prove to us that this won't be used to block anything congress critters don't like. Just try.
I can prove they will. It's called history, and 100% of the laws that could be abused in this way, HAVE BEEN. 0% of them have not been abused.
With that type of track record, you are insane if you think this won't be used to block Joe Random blogger who is critical of something the government is doing.
Have fun calling an electrician every time you need minor electrical work done.
A) Aren't you required by electrical code laws to do the same?
B) What are you, scared of 240vac or something? ;}
Just don't touch any of them while live and you'll manage fine. I've done plenty of 120, 240 (2 phase), and 480 (3 phase) wiring at home and work. Of course at work it needs inspected, but we have people here for that.
As long as you perform the simple operations of:
1) shut off the breaker to that line, and
2) verify a non-live socket with a multimeter
then it does not matter the voltage or amperage*, you won't have any problems.
* Obviously we are talking home and business mains wiring here.
Grabbing at a 20kv 1amp wire is a different story, and that level of voltage (or equivalent amperage) will laugh at you, and even the resistor we call 'air' is put to shame.
The best part about the europlug (or whatever they are naming the UK plug these days) is that only the tips of the leads are actually conductive, not the entire piece. The majority of those leads have plastic over them.
What this means is that until you have the plug far enough into the wall where you don't have much room for a finger in there, it can't make electrical contact, and thus no nasty shock.
In the US (Where I am) the entire lead is metal, and makes electrical contact with only say 1/4th to 1/3rd of the lead in the wall and the rest exposed. Plenty of opportunity for more zaps.
I am not familiar with any other nations plugs to know which they would be closer to comparatively, but personally I wish ALL of them were that way if nothing else. Of course a fixed standard would be a good second dream, but we all can guess at the expense of such a change thus it will not happen for a long time if ever.
So when someone says, "A murderer deserves life imprisonment" what they mean is "I would feel better if that person was put in prison for life." I don't really see why people's feelings should be the basis for the criminal law system.
After you get stabbed 12 times, I'm pretty sure your pain receptors will cause a feeling of not wanting that to happen again (At least to yourself, if not to anyone else)
An appeal court judge in Trieste, Italy, cut Bayout's sentence by a year after finding out he has gene variants linked to aggression.'"
So the fact it has been proven he has gene expressions linked to aggression, shouldn't that mean his sentence should be RAISED?
This is a man who proved to others his genes make him dangerous to everyone around him.
That is exactly what prisons are for. To keep such animals away from human beings.
Does this mean if he runs at someone, and gets shot for doing so, it is not murder or manslaughter but just 'putting down a rabid dog' which also can't help itself?
Supporting copyright is far more importantto me than supporting fair-use, and I'd certainly sacrifice the latter entirely in order to improve the former.
And that is exactly why such an insanely huge percentage of the population no longer cares about your copyright and IP, and pirating is seen as hurting no one that doesn't deserve it.
Tell me, as a citizen, why exactly should the people give you any protection at all what so ever?
What do we get in return?
Once you publish something, you no longer own it. The public is the only owner. This is in copyright law today. All you get as an author is limited time but exclusive rights over distribution, but of OUR property.
Until YOU follow the law, there is no reason for us to follow it either.