When they were auditing for Y2K bugs, all the phone companies ran massive audits and found stuff they hadn't known about for years.. and the mergers were tremendously complicating things as well. There was stuff in the network well over 40 years old. But the price on the equipment they use certainly suggests _why_ they leave equipment from the 60s in place.
But they should have fairly decent records for now from that audit process.
Actually it's not quite 50/50, but close enough for government work. Last time I saw the statistics, boys were slightly more common births, but girls had a better chance of surviving. Source? My faulty memory of an article sometime in the past few years. [shrug]
A good book, easy to follow, and enough action to keep people interested.
It would have to be spun right in the current paranoia.. make it a summer blockbuster type and release it July 4, like Independence Day (makes sense in light of the book).
But more importantly, it has to be done right. I still refuse to see the abortion that was Starship Troopers, and TMIAHM ranks in my permanent top 10 books list.. Not to mention the cutting it would have to undergo. But done right, yes, I'd love to see it as a movie.
1) There is a linux utility to update the microcode.
2) The microcode is not only undocumented (along with the internal structure it works with) but is encrypted and checked by the processor before it is loaded, but I have no idea how effective the authentication method is.
There's also some experimental builds of XFree for cygwin that put X applications in Windows' windows (note caps). See "-multiwindow" switch on the server test series. It's not ready for release yet, but worked fairly well the few times I've used it.
The point it that it is a completely disproportionate response to a single unpaid parking ticket. If it's a failure to appear in court for a DUI charge, or something similar, where public safety is an issue, yes, that would be appropriate.
An unpaid ticket rates something along the lines of an additional fine, or a refusal to allow one to renew you license until paid, or adding it to his tax assessment. Suspending a license without notification is excessive, at least with the facts given.
Well, last time I looked at it, it worked like this: There is a default version, probably rom-masked, on chip. Then, at _each_ boot, the bios uploads an updated microcode to volatile memory on chip. And finally, the OS or anything else running at ring-0 can upload a new version.
Typically, this is fairly black-box (undocumented) binary code you get from your vendor (intel/amd/whatever).
Basically, if software is already running at Ring 0, you are in trouble anyway. It can wipe the HD, flash the bios, whatever.
..."The issue with the 3GHz Pentium 4 with support for an 800MHz system bus occurs only in rare circumstances and users are unlikely to be affected, according to Alfs."
Wasn't that what they said about the floating point bug, too? Well, both of them?:)
Sounds like they are fixing it with a microcode patch, much as they fixed the PII FIST/FISTP bug, but the article was rather short on details.
You obviously didn't read the previous post.. he said _suspended_ license, not expired, and implied it was suspended for non-payment of a traffic ticket, without notification. That is a different matter than an expired license.
Well, considering most of the military GPS models I've seen pictures of, you can replace them with at least 4 or 5 civilian GPS units for less size and weight.
It requires (at the least) software upgrades on your CO switches (5ESS/whatever) to enable it. I know Lucent's been pushing these upgrades for ages, but I have no idea what they (or their competitors) are charging.
It was repeatedly mentioned on NPR today, along with some singer from Somalia (must be a fairly slow news day.. I got tired of hearing those two stories over and over and changed stations.)
They've got a bunch of these type of chairs at a local mall.. $1 for 3 minutes, $5 for 15 or some such. They feel good, although they aren't adjustable (not high enough on a tall person like me) and will occasionally pinch.
Nowhere near a real person (not to mention a real theraputic message), but they don't get tired in 45 seconds:)
Reminds me of the DAT tax discussions (i.e. why I am I paying RIAA to record my own music? Why music I buy equipment that costs 5-times as much to be able to copy my own music? Why do I get the feeling I'll never see a penny of the fees I'm paying RIAA to record my own music?) of many years ago.
There are some strange exceptions to this.. I believe some architextural designs require permission, and (not precisely relevant) the lighting scheme of the Eiffel Tower is protected, even if the Tower itself isn't.. so night pictures require permission.
Lossless?!?!? Atrac is a _lossy_ codec, and the latest version are actually more lossy (lower bitrate) in order to pack more data onto a small medium (by today's standard's, MD is tiny.. ~140 MB) with a relatively large form factor.
As for HD-based recorders, some people are trying to work with Nomads.. but their recorder function currently will occasionally drop samples, and creative is not paying much attention. Field/Home recording is not a large part of their target demographic, evidently:)
For more discussion on this, look at the excellent laptop-tapers group at groups.yahoo.com.
Timidity? I think there's a couple forks around with Soundfont support, as well. It's not as nice as the newer PC/Mac softsynths, but it works and is free. I think the current version is called Timidity++, and is being developed/maintained by someone in japan. Ah.. link here (http://www.onicos.com/staff/iz/timidity/).
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When they were auditing for Y2K bugs, all the phone companies ran massive audits and found stuff they hadn't known about for years.. and the mergers were tremendously complicating things as well. There was stuff in the network well over 40 years old. But the price on the equipment they use certainly suggests _why_ they leave equipment from the 60s in place.
But they should have fairly decent records for now from that audit process.
There was a little passage in _Friday_ (by Heinlein) about this.. dresses and stock market, beard length and the price of gold, or some such.
LOL. If I hadn't posted in this article I would mod you up. Hint, hint other mods.
Actually it's not quite 50/50, but close enough for government work. Last time I saw the statistics, boys were slightly more common births, but girls had a better chance of surviving. Source? My faulty memory of an article sometime in the past few years. [shrug]
"Hack the Gibson" is from the bad, bad movie "Hackers". The MaGIC digital guitar (here) uses Cat 5 (ethernet cable) but not ethernet signaling.
Not to mention the length.. and how do you reduce pages of brooding thought to something physical?
I still haven't read the latest.. I'm waiting for the hardcover to drop in price or to pick it up used.
It would have to be spun right in the current paranoia.. make it a summer blockbuster type and release it July 4, like Independence Day (makes sense in light of the book).
But more importantly, it has to be done right. I still refuse to see the abortion that was Starship Troopers, and TMIAHM ranks in my permanent top 10 books list.. Not to mention the cutting it would have to undergo. But done right, yes, I'd love to see it as a movie.
Ah yes, some more info on intel microcode:
1) There is a linux utility to update the microcode.
2) The microcode is not only undocumented (along with the internal structure it works with) but is encrypted and checked by the processor before it is loaded, but I have no idea how effective the authentication method is.
There's also some experimental builds of XFree for cygwin that put X applications in Windows' windows (note caps). See "-multiwindow" switch on the server test series. It's not ready for release yet, but worked fairly well the few times I've used it.
The point it that it is a completely disproportionate response to a single unpaid parking ticket. If it's a failure to appear in court for a DUI charge, or something similar, where public safety is an issue, yes, that would be appropriate.
An unpaid ticket rates something along the lines of an additional fine, or a refusal to allow one to renew you license until paid, or adding it to his tax assessment. Suspending a license without notification is excessive, at least with the facts given.
Well, last time I looked at it, it worked like this: There is a default version, probably rom-masked, on chip. Then, at _each_ boot, the bios uploads an updated microcode to volatile memory on chip. And finally, the OS or anything else running at ring-0 can upload a new version.
Typically, this is fairly black-box (undocumented) binary code you get from your vendor (intel/amd/whatever).
Basically, if software is already running at Ring 0, you are in trouble anyway. It can wipe the HD, flash the bios, whatever.
..."The issue with the 3GHz Pentium 4 with support for an 800MHz system bus occurs only in rare circumstances and users are unlikely to be affected, according to Alfs."
:)
Wasn't that what they said about the floating point bug, too? Well, both of them?
Sounds like they are fixing it with a microcode patch, much as they fixed the PII FIST/FISTP bug, but the article was rather short on details.
You obviously didn't read the previous post.. he said _suspended_ license, not expired, and implied it was suspended for non-payment of a traffic ticket, without notification. That is a different matter than an expired license.
Actually, unless they changed again, the new tivos (series 2?) _require_ a sub to work properly.
Well, considering most of the military GPS models I've seen pictures of, you can replace them with at least 4 or 5 civilian GPS units for less size and weight.
It requires (at the least) software upgrades on your CO switches (5ESS/whatever) to enable it. I know Lucent's been pushing these upgrades for ages, but I have no idea what they (or their competitors) are charging.
It was repeatedly mentioned on NPR today, along with some singer from Somalia (must be a fairly slow news day.. I got tired of hearing those two stories over and over and changed stations.)
They've got a bunch of these type of chairs at a local mall.. $1 for 3 minutes, $5 for 15 or some such. They feel good, although they aren't adjustable (not high enough on a tall person like me) and will occasionally pinch.
:)
Nowhere near a real person (not to mention a real theraputic message), but they don't get tired in 45 seconds
Reminds me of the DAT tax discussions (i.e. why I am I paying RIAA to record my own music? Why music I buy equipment that costs 5-times as much to be able to copy my own music? Why do I get the feeling I'll never see a penny of the fees I'm paying RIAA to record my own music?) of many years ago.
There are some strange exceptions to this.. I believe some architextural designs require permission, and (not precisely relevant) the lighting scheme of the Eiffel Tower is protected, even if the Tower itself isn't.. so night pictures require permission.
Lossless?!?!? Atrac is a _lossy_ codec, and the latest version are actually more lossy (lower bitrate) in order to pack more data onto a small medium (by today's standard's, MD is tiny.. ~140 MB) with a relatively large form factor.
:)
As for HD-based recorders, some people are trying to work with Nomads.. but their recorder function currently will occasionally drop samples, and creative is not paying much attention. Field/Home recording is not a large part of their target demographic, evidently
For more discussion on this, look at the excellent laptop-tapers group at groups.yahoo.com.
Eh? Try again. 1000Base-T is designed to run on most Cat-5, and all Cat-5e. See IEEE 802.3 or http://www.10gea.org/GEA_copper_0999_rev-wp.pdf
Timidity? I think there's a couple forks around with Soundfont support, as well. It's not as nice as the newer PC/Mac softsynths, but it works and is free. I think the current version is called Timidity++, and is being developed/maintained by someone in japan. Ah.. link here (http://www.onicos.com/staff/iz/timidity/).
They keep you from buying it at the stores, wholesale.. but you can still buy it by the shot at bars (at least in Atlanta)..
Personally I think Ballad of Bilbo Baggins sung by Leonard Nimoy, or anything from Yoko Ono beat Shatner..
Then again.. There is the 3rd grade violin recitals..