"And I think it is a poor setup not to be able to do things like drag and drop and make things smaller than default. Everything can be made larger, but never smaller."
That's why I switched back to 3.5. Big effing stupid everything will be fine when I'm old(er) and blind, but I can see ATM and teh largeness is annoying. That's also why I don't use Gnome.
As a user, I want a VERY easy to configure desktop I don't have to spend time fvcking with. and don't care if it looks old-fashioned to some people.
KDE 3.5 is excellent, so I could care less how long 4.whatever takes to sort out.
"I dunno, a minority of Iraqi's seem to be giving us a hard time with AK47s and IEDs..."
True enough. Interestingly, US policy in Iraq is to allow each householder a personal battle rifle, because they are necessary to self-defense. IEDs, heavy MGs, and other ordnance are a different thing entirely.
While IEDs are illegal, disarming the public isn't desired by the US forces. Not even Saddam tried to disarm Iraqis. The "militia" IS necessary not only to the security of not only a free state, but for personal security in dangerous areas. Some folks can only be dealt with by killing them, so that is what to do.
A rename is in order. There should be a custom of not using ones own name in OSS projects unless it is obfuscated (Debian comes to mind) so that personal drama won't reflect negatively on the project. OSS is more important than the vanity of the individual.
ntpasswd is a dandy tool, and there are hordes of live Window (WinPE, BartPE)/DOS/Linux single and multiboot live CDs that make owning anything ya can get access to trivial. The same tools are being installed on USB sticks for convenience.
It would be interesting to know what's on the MSFT USB keys so we can add that to our admin toolkits.
Live CDs are as basic a tool as boot floppies were in ancient times. I'm surprised every geek doesn't have a stack of them.
"There have been dozens of anti-theft systems that would turn a car off after it's been stolen but due to concerns that it might do so while the car was traveling at speed on the highways, such products were never deployed."
Having the horse drop dead after its out of the barn may be nice for recovering the body, so to speak, but systems that prevent drive-away theft in the first place make much more sense, along with tracking systems to facilitate recovery.
As a mechanic, I see car after car burdened with feature bloat that merely makes them more expensive, far more expensive to repair, and harder to troublshoot. IMO the large number of recalls reflects the excessive complexity of modern vehicles. I wouldn't want remote disable on any of my vehicles.
"Interestingly, non-violent action on the part of German civilians did work against Hitler."
Examples please? "Existed"/= "work" if you define "work" as being very successful.
Armor. infantry, and artillery OTOH worked superbly against Hitler. Pacifists didn't burn down the Third Reich around his ears, nor did they kill the millions of Wehrmacht and SS personnel who were the obstacles to victory. That took massive battles, not the whimpering of a few ineffectual pacifists.
"But I don't want to disturb your war-monger fantasies, so don't read this posting."
Insult isn't argument. Bring some facts to the table.
There are plenty of "us nerds" that are far from being pacifists. Pacifism is fine in Moms basement. It equals "surrender" everywhere else, because it is only effective against people who aren't serious in the first place.
"Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor, and the contrary opinion is wishful thinking at its worst. Breeds that forget this basic truth have always paid for it with their lives and freedoms."
Robert Anson Heinlein
"If some kid breaks into your home to steal your TV"
You don't know that's what they came for, and a youthful ("kid") offender is hardly a guarantee they are just out for a lark! They might have come for the telly, then decide they'll have a Clockwork Orange moment since you are there and failed to defend yourself.
If they break into my home while I am there, that means that they are willing to disable or kill me and my wife to accomplish their goal. I have no obligation to value the life or health of someone who is attacking my home. I have no obligation to chase them off so they can return at leisure.
Now, as to my property. Killing someone in order to protect property rights is more important than the property itself. IMSHO my right to be secure in my person and property matters far more than the life of someone who is trying to violate my home.
My home is MY castle. It belongs to ME and not some shitbag who wants what I earned. Said shitbag will be presumed hostile if they break into it while I'm there. If he/she/it values their safety, they will find a different hobby. The right to defend yourself is so basic that even the US forces in Iraq allow one AK per household!
"And lets say someone violent breaks in, with a gun. Don't I considerably increase my chances of getting killed if I have a gun myself?"
Not if you bothered to get training and practice using your weapon. When you cede iniatiatve to your attacker you depend on THEIR good will. Have fun with that during a home invasion, but I'll pass!
There is AMPLE documentation of the efficacy of armed self-defense available on the NRA Institute for Legislative Action website. I have both firearms and fire extinguishers. I'd rather not have to use them, but it is better to have them and not need them than need them and not have them.
I haven't had to shoot anyone in self-defense, but I and my wife have both used firearms to ensure situations did not escalate.
In the first instance, I confronted (without brandishing or pointing the weapon, the distinction matters) a couple of drunks who were dumping trash on my rural property. With a two-to-one advantage, they could have treated me to a beatdown but chose otherwise when they saw my pump shotgun. The cops have a half-hour response time to my house, so I'm on my own.
In the second, while I was off deployed to KSA, some crackheads decided to party on my perimeter road. My wife asked them to leave, they told her to piss off. She withdrew to the house, retrieved my Mini-14, and put several rounds into the earth (nowhere near the crackheads). They spun tires leaving and never returned. When the sheriff got there he was pleased with the outcome (I love the South!) and mentioned that warning shots should be fired into a known spot in the ground so the bullets can be retrieved if required for proof.:)
"I'm actually torn about this situation, because I make my living producing entertainment products that I hope people will mindlessly consume"
Why be torn? There will NEVER be a shortage of people ready to gobble mindless entertainment. What you do as a self-aware person doesn't mean fuck all to the drones, so make stuff that makes money for you and then enjoy the power money gives you. You cannot (no one can) ensmarten the drones. Leave them to their American Idol and other comforting bullshit. They don't care what you want.
"Someone should put some of their newly-acquired brainspace into finding a way to make TV more socially-and-interactively useful, so I don't have to worry so much."
"Here's something that I've always wondered and never got an answer to. Why are some people bothered by the sight of blood?"
Social conditioning. When I was young I was tasked with beheading and plucking a bunch of chickens. I found it a bit nasty (I was an innocent suburban kid) because I was never taught nor had I experienced anything different.
My views changed instantly on eating the delicious stew made from my victims.:)
"Ever notice that when there is a famine in africa the export crops still keep leaving the country ?"
Ever notice the corrupt African governments not blocking exports or imposing export tariffs?:)
As for the debt, that's simple. Don't borrow what you cannot afford to pay back, and consider defaulting or using the leverage of being a debtor to get better repayment terms.
"If your answer is 'because we can' then watch out when your recession hits cause nobody will help."
It is, and they shouldn't, unless it is in their own best economic interest.
Recession is a necessary correction, and will coerce the US to adapt as it would refuse to do absent pressure! Those adaptations include biofuels and using our domestic resources for our own benefit. Others will have to adapt in their turn.
"Just in case anyone didn't know yet the biofuel dream would mean starving the world as their is not enough land for both food and fuel."
No, the biofuel dream would involve the world concentrating on good ecological stewardship coupled with raising appropriate crops.
If you consider what makes "poor" countries poor, it is the backward behaviors of their primitive citizens. Adults in those countries will have to make choices when the developed world rightly takes care of itself first. If my choice is between feeding foreigners or burning biofuels in my truck, said foreigners had better discover agriculture and family planning, _just_like_advanced_societies_.
Re:Started the download 20 minutes ago
on
Ubuntu 8.04 Released
·
· Score: 3, Informative
Try the Ubuntu forums instead, or linuxquestions.org. Nice folks.
Slashdot isn't really a place to get "help" unless you have a fireproof suit that needs testing while you are wearing it.
"A lot of those people decided to download a copy and give it a try. The difficulty these casual users had in grabbing an installable copy and getting it running easily were significant."
The baseline for Linux is now excellent live CD/DVDs with enough different boot options to ensure decent odds that they will work. They are also easy to use as rescue/recovery disks.
"It would be far better to monitor the botnet, find the computers involved and then help them clean their computer and prevent another infection. It's not as simple or efficient in the short term, but it's more moral and more effective in the long run."
It would also be prohibitively complex and expensive. The idea that morality obligates us to do things that are wildly unlikely to work is questionable.
Consider "help them clean their computer and prevent another infection" for what it REALLY means. That can be anything from a complete reinstall of the OS and all apps to replacing the computer with a more secure (and securED) OS because the original machine isn't suitable. There is no reasonable guarantee afterwards that the machine won't get 0wn3 again by the same or a new threat.
Slashdot Mirror
"Breed Whales, burn the oil."
Lure them home with donuts instead. They'll keep you warm and even make breakfast.
We are talking a bunch of housewives, the Bradycrat, Lifetime TV demographic.
"And I think it is a poor setup not to be able to do things like drag and drop and make things smaller than default. Everything can be made larger, but never smaller."
That's why I switched back to 3.5. Big effing stupid everything will be fine when I'm old(er) and blind, but I can see ATM and teh largeness is annoying. That's also why I don't use Gnome.
As a user, I want a VERY easy to configure desktop I don't have to spend time fvcking with. and don't care if it looks old-fashioned to some people.
KDE 3.5 is excellent, so I could care less how long 4.whatever takes to sort out.
"I'm sure the last thing this kid's family would want to find out about is his furry porn collection."
:)
Don't be so sure. They might be in it.
"I dunno, a minority of Iraqi's seem to be giving us a hard time with AK47s and IEDs..."
True enough. Interestingly, US policy in Iraq is to allow each householder a personal battle rifle, because they are necessary to self-defense. IEDs, heavy MGs, and other ordnance are a different thing entirely.
While IEDs are illegal, disarming the public isn't desired by the US forces. Not even Saddam tried to disarm
Iraqis. The "militia" IS necessary not only to the security of not only a free state, but for personal security in dangerous areas. Some folks can only be dealt with by killing them, so that is what to do.
A rename is in order. There should be a custom of not using ones own name in OSS projects unless it is obfuscated (Debian comes to mind) so that personal drama won't reflect negatively on the project. OSS is more important than the vanity of the individual.
ntpasswd is a dandy tool, and there are hordes of live Window (WinPE, BartPE)/DOS/Linux single and multiboot live CDs that make owning anything ya can get access to trivial. The same tools are being installed on USB sticks for convenience.
It would be interesting to know what's on the MSFT USB keys so we can add that to our admin toolkits.
Live CDs are as basic a tool as boot floppies were in ancient times. I'm surprised every geek doesn't have a stack of them.
"There have been dozens of anti-theft systems that would turn a car off after it's been stolen but due to concerns that it might do so while the car was traveling at speed on the highways, such products were never deployed."
Having the horse drop dead after its out of the barn may be nice for recovering the body, so to speak, but systems that prevent drive-away theft in the first place make much more sense, along with tracking systems to facilitate recovery.
As a mechanic, I see car after car burdened with feature bloat that merely makes them more expensive, far more expensive to repair, and harder to troublshoot. IMO the large number of recalls reflects the excessive complexity of modern vehicles. I wouldn't want remote disable on any of my vehicles.
"The prosecutor used Power Point in his closing."
What a terrible miscarriage of justice!
He should have used Impress.
Sounds like I can regut a suitable older Apple case with modern components and be legal. :)
"The Nazis would have steamrolled Gandhi."
So would Beijing, and they would have done it before he got famous.
"Interestingly, non-violent action on the part of German civilians did work against Hitler."
/= "work" if you define "work" as being very successful.
Examples please? "Existed"
Armor. infantry, and artillery OTOH worked superbly against Hitler. Pacifists didn't burn down the Third Reich around his ears, nor did they kill the millions of Wehrmacht and SS personnel who were the obstacles to victory.
That took massive battles, not the whimpering of a few ineffectual pacifists.
"But I don't want to disturb your war-monger fantasies, so don't read this posting."
Insult isn't argument. Bring some facts to the table.
"Um, I would point out that Heinlein was a science FICTION author. Reality much?"
:)
Ad hominem much?
Now try attacking his statement.
There are plenty of "us nerds" that are far from being pacifists.
Pacifism is fine in Moms basement. It equals "surrender" everywhere else, because it is only effective against people who aren't serious in the first place.
"Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor, and the contrary opinion is wishful thinking at its worst. Breeds that forget this basic truth have always paid for it with their lives and freedoms."
Robert Anson Heinlein
"If some kid breaks into your home to steal your TV"
:)
You don't know that's what they came for, and a youthful ("kid") offender is hardly a guarantee they are just out for a lark! They might have come for the telly, then decide they'll have a Clockwork Orange moment since you are there and failed to defend yourself.
If they break into my home while I am there, that means that they are willing to disable or kill me and my wife to accomplish their goal. I have no obligation to value the life or health of someone who is attacking my home. I have no obligation to chase them off so they can return at leisure.
Now, as to my property. Killing someone in order to protect property rights is more important than the property itself. IMSHO my right to be secure in my person and property matters far more than the life of someone who
is trying to violate my home.
My home is MY castle. It belongs to ME and not some shitbag who wants what I earned. Said shitbag will be presumed hostile if they break into it while I'm there. If he/she/it values their safety, they will find a different hobby. The right to defend yourself is so basic that even the US forces in Iraq allow one AK per household!
"And lets say someone violent breaks in, with a gun. Don't I considerably increase my chances of getting killed if I have a gun myself?"
Not if you bothered to get training and practice using your weapon.
When you cede iniatiatve to your attacker you depend on THEIR good will. Have fun with that during a home invasion, but I'll pass!
There is AMPLE documentation of the efficacy of armed self-defense available on the NRA Institute for Legislative Action website. I have both firearms and fire extinguishers. I'd rather not have to use them, but
it is better to have them and not need them than need them and not have them.
I haven't had to shoot anyone in self-defense, but I and my wife have both used firearms to ensure situations did not escalate.
In the first instance, I confronted (without brandishing or pointing the weapon, the distinction matters) a couple of drunks who were dumping trash on my rural property. With a two-to-one advantage, they could have treated me to a beatdown but chose otherwise when they saw my pump shotgun. The cops have a half-hour response time to my house, so I'm on my own.
In the second, while I was off deployed to KSA, some crackheads decided to party on my perimeter road. My wife asked them to leave, they told her to piss off. She withdrew to the house, retrieved my Mini-14, and put several rounds into the earth (nowhere near the crackheads). They spun tires leaving and never returned. When the sheriff got there he was pleased with the outcome (I love the South!) and mentioned that warning shots should be fired into a known spot in the ground so the bullets can be retrieved if required for proof.
"if this is such a great idea, why not just set up a medium-sized production plant, make ethanol from "inedible sugar", and make some money?"
Because that would require much more capital and is more work than milking suckers out of mad cash for home production appliances.
"I'm actually torn about this situation, because I make my living producing entertainment products that I hope people will mindlessly consume"
Why be torn? There will NEVER be a shortage of people ready to gobble mindless entertainment. What you do as a self-aware person doesn't mean fuck all to the drones, so make stuff that makes money for you and then enjoy the
power money gives you. You cannot (no one can) ensmarten the drones. Leave them to their American Idol and other comforting bullshit. They don't care what you want.
"Someone should put some of their newly-acquired brainspace into finding a way to make TV more socially-and-interactively useful, so I don't have to worry so much."
They did. It's called a computer.
"Here's something that I've always wondered and never got an answer to. Why are some people bothered by the sight of blood?"
:)
Social conditioning. When I was young I was tasked with beheading and plucking a bunch of chickens. I found it a bit nasty (I was an innocent suburban kid) because I was never taught nor had I experienced anything different.
My views changed instantly on eating the delicious stew made from my victims.
"Ever notice that when there is a famine in africa the export crops still keep leaving the country ?"
:)
Ever notice the corrupt African governments not blocking exports or imposing export tariffs?
As for the debt, that's simple. Don't borrow what you cannot afford to pay back, and consider defaulting or using
the leverage of being a debtor to get better repayment terms.
"If your answer is 'because we can' then watch out when your recession hits cause nobody will help."
It is, and they shouldn't, unless it is in their own best economic interest.
Recession is a necessary correction, and will coerce the US to adapt as it would refuse to do absent pressure!
Those adaptations include biofuels and using our domestic resources for our own benefit. Others will have to adapt in their turn.
"Just in case anyone didn't know yet the biofuel dream would mean starving the world as their is not enough land for both food and fuel."
No, the biofuel dream would involve the world concentrating on good ecological stewardship coupled with raising appropriate crops.
If you consider what makes "poor" countries poor, it is the backward behaviors of their primitive citizens. Adults in those countries will have to make choices when the developed world rightly takes care of itself first. If my choice is between feeding foreigners or burning biofuels in my truck, said foreigners had better discover agriculture and family planning, _just_like_advanced_societies_.
Try the Ubuntu forums instead, or linuxquestions.org. Nice folks.
Slashdot isn't really a place to get "help" unless you have a fireproof suit that needs testing while you are wearing it.
"A lot of those people decided to download a copy and give it a try. The difficulty these casual users had in grabbing an installable copy and getting it running easily were significant."
The baseline for Linux is now excellent live CD/DVDs with enough different boot options to ensure decent odds that they will work. They are also easy to use as rescue/recovery disks.
Hello (probable) APK! :)
"It would be far better to monitor the botnet, find the computers involved and then help them clean their computer and prevent another infection. It's not as simple or efficient in the short term, but it's more moral and more effective in the long run."
It would also be prohibitively complex and expensive. The idea that morality obligates us to do things that are wildly unlikely to work is questionable.
Consider "help them clean their computer and prevent another infection" for what it REALLY means. That can be anything from a complete reinstall of the OS and all apps to replacing the computer with a more secure (and securED) OS because the original machine isn't suitable. There is no reasonable guarantee afterwards that the machine won't get 0wn3 again by the same or a new threat.
"And their model was ALWAYS to sell multiple computers to the same people, through planned obsolescence in 2 years."
That is why many geeks recommend against buying their proprietary form-factor upgrade-resistant machines.