"And I'd gladly live in a country where it's illegal to defend myself by lethal means if it also meant the possibility of having to defend oneself with lethal means wasn't something a normal person would have to worry about."
Feeding useless eaters does nothing to move mankind forward, and DOES breed more useless eaters. Send them birth control instead.
Quality of life goes with smaller families, even in the US. The idea of throwing food at people who refuse to change their culture to a less self-destructive one is silly. It may make donors feel good, but it isn't really "helping", "Helping" is teaching those people ways they can feed themselves, provide sanitation for themselves, pump and conserve water themselves, (there's a theme here) and become more self reliant.
"Aid" can be economically toxic. For example, dumping clothing the First World doesn't need simply destroys local clothing makers by destroying demand for their products.
"Me being 5.11 and upset will simply get me pinned to the floor hit with a nightstick, ZAPPED and handcuffed just for being emotional about an issue in front of them"
I'm 6'2", 240lbs, a "biker" and dress like one, and have NEVER been fucked with by cops in bars or on the road. I don't get fucked with by bouncers either. I am not a badass, nor do I kiss ass, I'm simply POLITE. Courtesy works, yo.
If you get emotional enough to require restraint, you are acting like a bitch. If you keep getting reeled in by the cops, consider if you are contributing to your downfall by being stupid.
There are bad cops, but there are also many idiots who start shit and provoke situtations which are totally unnecessary.
"Eventually, you'll have to change it out, and dispose of the old stuff."
No problem. Use the diesel to fuel plant vehicles in order to rotate the stock. Fuel sampling is old news. Military POL troops handle stuff like that under austere conditions worldwide.
"oh wait no airports are open because they are all too damaged....what now?"
That's easy. Lift a crew in on military CH-47 and CH-53 helicopters, including Skycrane variants which can haul small tracked vehicles and other heavy gear. They can prep runways (you don't need an "airport" in a combat situation, just the runway) by clearing them enough for airlifters to bring the heavy equipment.
It's rather like deploying to a "bare base", which the US military have been training for longer than most Americans have been alive.
"I have a few compasses, and a complete set of maps (road, topographical, and aviation sectional) on PAPER. I also bring several means of traditional wireless communications for HF, VHF, and UHF, and an ELT."
Fuck yeah! (Oh, must contain enthusiasm, I was an Avionics troop in a past life.)
"And if their maps wrongly placed their destination in completely the wrong place, they'd be equally screwed.
What's your point?"
Most of the world has been surveyed, very much including Australia. OTOH people don't quite "get" that new, buggy, consumer toys may not be as reliable as conventional maps, which should always be carried as backup in case the toy breaks.
I have GPS in my truck, and a "truckers atlas" under the back seat.
Anyone going to a wilderness area should go as if on a war patrol (weapons where legal are always a plus as you may encounter four or two-legged varmints) equipped with waterproof map, compass, and the ability to navigate using them.
Bring enough WATER, some food, and appropriate clothing including multiple pairs of socks, a pair of BOOTS (broken in, not new so you don't destroy your feet), a first aid kit (know how to use that, too) and an appropriate radio or radios with batteries.
Dress and equip yourself so you can walk out if you have to.
"I really haven't used a desktop client for email in years. Where's the gain for the user?"
You answered you own question:
"What I'd really like to see is improvement in the webmail interfaces available to us. Gmail is fast, but I find the interface limiting and clunky. The best I have experienced was Zimbra, but it really prefers to be run on a standalone machine and is pretty resource intensive."
I detest current webmail interfaces, and Thunderbird lets me monitor multiple email clients at the same time. The storage requirement of few or many gigs is trivial nowadays. It's also easy to back up. I use Thunderbird Portable on Windows, and simply copy the program folder or burn to DVD (so a future sync won't destroy messages I downloaded).
I can reply to messages received via one account using another, which is nice when migrating accounts while still monitoring old ones.
Ordinary users will prefer webmail often because that's all they know. I've set up a few people with Thunderbird and they don't go back to conventional webmail because T-bird is a better way to interact with multiple accounts.
MANY people still use dialup because cable and DSL don't reach them.
I keep a stash of cheap Winmodems for when power spikes and storms take out customer modems. Dialup sucks, but not worse than "no internet access".
I also keep a US Robotics externaI bought in 1999 because I couldn't get Winmodems to work with Linux. I sometimes visit rural places where dialup is the only game in town and it does fine.
USR still make their descendants, because they WORK.
Reinforced concrete with steel door and window frames, bonus being much longer structure life, fire and storm and termite resistance, and good thermal mass.
If someone really wants in, they can carry a backpack oxy-acetylene torch and breach the metal bits quietly and fairly quickly, but might trigger a fire alarm if the structure is so equipped.
Slashdot Mirror
"And I'd gladly live in a country where it's illegal to defend myself by lethal means if it also meant the possibility of having to defend oneself with lethal means wasn't something a normal person would have to worry about."
Laws don't make that happen. Anywhere.
I'd sell my info and put it towards college. Since I'm already attending it would be legit!
Lead scraps high enough to be worth pickup. Put 'em on Craigslist or bring to any auto store (if you are in the US).
"How do you say Geek Squad in Farsi?"
Let's send them Geek Squad personnel to help.
As if installing the Pahlevis wasn't enough of an insult...
"You mean 2013 is the year of Linux on Iranian desktops?"
Jihadix? MullahTux?
OTOH its a nice way to remind other people to stay the fuck out of systems which do NOT BELONG TO THEM.
Feeding useless eaters does nothing to move mankind forward, and DOES breed more useless eaters. Send them birth control instead.
Quality of life goes with smaller families, even in the US. The idea of throwing food at people who refuse to change their culture to a less self-destructive one is silly. It may make donors feel good, but it isn't really "helping", "Helping" is teaching those people ways they can feed themselves, provide sanitation for themselves, pump and conserve water themselves, (there's a theme here) and become more self reliant.
"Aid" can be economically toxic. For example, dumping clothing the First World doesn't need simply destroys local clothing makers by destroying demand for their products.
"This is how it is done in Finland, at least."
But what has a Finn ever contributed to the world?
(runs)
You don't need a desktop environment to use Linux for specialty applications because those can avoid using a DE entirely.
Want a "desktop"? Buy the ITX combo of your choice and be happy.
"Even a nightstick is less severe."
Citation needed.
"A taser should only be used in a situation where an officer would use a gun if necessary but would rather not. "
Citations needed.
Plenty of people have died from "manhandling" too.
Do tell what physical mechanisms are acceptable to restrain the disobediant?
"Me being 5.11 and upset will simply get me pinned to the floor hit with a nightstick, ZAPPED and handcuffed just for being emotional about an issue in front of them"
I'm 6'2", 240lbs, a "biker" and dress like one, and have NEVER been fucked with by cops in bars or on the road. I don't get fucked with by bouncers either. I am not a badass, nor do I kiss ass, I'm simply POLITE. Courtesy works, yo.
If you get emotional enough to require restraint, you are acting like a bitch. If you keep getting reeled in by the cops, consider if you are contributing to your downfall by being stupid.
There are bad cops, but there are also many idiots who start shit and provoke situtations which are totally unnecessary.
"BTW, all forms of racism are born of ignorance, so don't think that I'm Jew hating."
Superstition is not Race. It is ideology which one may doff, don, or modify as their fantasy suits them.
Any doubts? Explain Sammy Davis Jr's conversion to Judaism.
China isn't Communist, and is following Capitalist rules beautifully.
China isn't "Maoism", it's fucking Foxconn, and that works.
"Eventually, you'll have to change it out, and dispose of the old stuff."
No problem. Use the diesel to fuel plant vehicles in order to rotate the stock. Fuel sampling is old news. Military POL troops handle stuff like that under austere conditions worldwide.
"oh wait no airports are open because they are all too damaged....what now?"
That's easy. Lift a crew in on military CH-47 and CH-53 helicopters, including Skycrane variants which can haul small tracked vehicles and other heavy gear. They can prep runways (you don't need an "airport" in a combat situation, just the runway) by clearing them enough for airlifters to bring the heavy equipment.
It's rather like deploying to a "bare base", which the US military have been training for longer than most Americans have been alive.
"I have a few compasses, and a complete set of maps (road, topographical, and aviation sectional) on PAPER. I also bring several means of traditional wireless communications for HF, VHF, and UHF, and an ELT."
Fuck yeah! (Oh, must contain enthusiasm, I was an Avionics troop in a past life.)
What are your best sources for such maps?
"And if their maps wrongly placed their destination in completely the wrong place, they'd be equally screwed.
What's your point?"
Most of the world has been surveyed, very much including Australia. OTOH people don't quite "get" that new, buggy, consumer toys may not be as reliable as conventional maps, which should always be carried as backup in case the toy breaks.
I have GPS in my truck, and a "truckers atlas" under the back seat.
Anyone going to a wilderness area should go as if on a war patrol (weapons where legal are always a plus as you may encounter four or two-legged varmints) equipped with waterproof map, compass, and the ability to navigate using them.
Bring enough WATER, some food, and appropriate clothing including multiple pairs of socks, a pair of BOOTS (broken in, not new so you don't destroy your feet), a first aid kit (know how to use that, too) and an appropriate radio or radios with batteries.
Dress and equip yourself so you can walk out if you have to.
I prefer Thunderbird WITH webmail accounts. Best of both worlds.
"I really haven't used a desktop client for email in years. Where's the gain for the user?"
You answered you own question:
"What I'd really like to see is improvement in the webmail interfaces available to us. Gmail is fast, but I find the interface limiting and clunky. The best I have experienced was Zimbra, but it really prefers to be run on a standalone machine and is pretty resource intensive."
I detest current webmail interfaces, and Thunderbird lets me monitor multiple email clients at the same time. The storage requirement of few or many gigs is trivial nowadays. It's also easy to back up. I use Thunderbird Portable on Windows, and simply copy the program folder or burn to DVD (so a future sync won't destroy messages I downloaded).
I can reply to messages received via one account using another, which is nice when migrating accounts while still monitoring old ones.
Ordinary users will prefer webmail often because that's all they know. I've set up a few people with Thunderbird and they don't go back to conventional webmail because T-bird is a better way to interact with multiple accounts.
"old IP KVMs that were $1200 new are actually BETTER than current models because don't require proprietary software"
Recommendations?
"I can get a new keyboard at Big Lots for $8, so no need to keep them for decades."
I don't inflict those ergonomic nightmares on myself.
MANY people still use dialup because cable and DSL don't reach them.
I keep a stash of cheap Winmodems for when power spikes and storms take out customer modems. Dialup sucks, but not worse than "no internet access".
I also keep a US Robotics externaI bought in 1999 because I couldn't get Winmodems to work with Linux. I sometimes visit rural places where dialup is the only game in town and it does fine.
USR still make their descendants, because they WORK.
http://www.usr.com/products/modem/modem-product.asp?sku=USR5686G
Reinforced concrete with steel door and window frames, bonus being much longer structure life, fire and storm and termite resistance, and good thermal mass.
If someone really wants in, they can carry a backpack oxy-acetylene torch and breach the metal bits quietly and fairly quickly, but might trigger a fire alarm if the structure is so equipped.