Re:There is use for a table in zero-gravity ?
on
Home Improvement
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OK, since they have a table on the ISS, how does the stuff stay on the table? Here on the bottom of the gravity-well, 9.81m/s make sure the cup stays on the table if i put it there. But which force works up in the ISS?
I can imagine all kinds of pitfalls to this, just based on the location. But these could just be engineering problems.
Things like thousands of miles of data cables. Never mind that you might want to hook up not just to North America, but also to Asia and Europe. Enviromental factors in terms of the cold effect on equipment. Effects from Solar Storms (northern lights, etc)
I am not completely sold on this. Maybe something closer to the Bering Straights.
Personally, I have nothing against the idea of little green men from mars, although I think it far more likely that the little green people are actually be little green AI robots. Since the US Military is working in the direction of unmanned aircraft, and with the continued advances in AI, etc this becomes much more reasonable. And It would explain the reported manuvering capabilities of this things.
That being said, I think that alot of what folks see looking at mars is sort of what you get looking at the old ink blot tests. you can see all kinds of things there, when all it really is, is ink on papaer. Probably most of it is that way.
On the other hand, if there were little green robots out there running around, a place like mars might not be a bad place for a base, although the asteroids would be better suited for most operations. So it spotting structures from space would not be unusual.
Of note in this discussion are this story from last week on ABC News, about a group of 20 ex military and others coming forward and saying that their were just to many weird things going on. You can see the real Video of the original press conferance here: http://www.connectlive.com/events/disclosureprojec t/ in two parts, (p1 = 1h45m, p2 = 0h55m)
If this comes up as legit, then I would be surprised to NOT find something on Mars. but alot of it is likely nothing at all.
Why is it the school's job to teach values to our children? It's the parent's job to make sure that his or her child knows right from wrong. Our society increasingly abdicates this responsibility to our future, forcing public institutions like the school system to attempt to repair the damage to our ethical mores that lazy and stupid parents refuse to engender in an entire generation.
Actually - it is not just the responsibility of just the parents, or of just the teachers. Everyone has to exercise responsibility, and take care of the things they see around them. This can be a rough concept to deal with. So let me give an example from a geek life
I recall a repair shop in a store that also had a shell answer man type sales desk on the floor, dealing with hardware questions, etc. and coordinating with the repair install shop so that the right parts were ordered etc. Now for managerial purposes you had to have someone named as the person in chargew so that you could shoot someone in case of theft, etc. But there were a group of people who were equally adept at working both sides of the operation. And it worked out that If there was help needed on one side or the other, someone could go over and lend a hand. It went back and forth.
The technical term for this is the dynamic re-allocation of resources.
This can only work in a situation where you have a majority of the people involved who are in fact competent, and who are trustworthy, and who are willing to take real responsibility for the situation. (heck I'm an alien, so I can dream...;-)
The correct assignment of responsibility requires this sort of thing on a wider basis. However, responsibility is currently defined by most folks as "what can I get blamed for", and "what can I pass off on to the other guy" meaning I don't have to sweat it myself. That simply won't cut it if you expect society to change for the better.
In this canoe, everyone has got to paddle. Sorry, but you got to grab an oar.
There is some basic contact info here
(thoughtfully worded snailmail probably best)
Grover Middle School
10 Southfield Road
Princeton, NJ 08550
Principal: Steven Mayer
But if you are in a rush, School Board email addresses and other info can be found here.
http://www.wwptoday.com/schools/schools.html
The district main website is at:
http://www.ww-p.org/
they have a blurb about handling trauma, but noting about the suicide itself
Please be careful to tread the original story, and cite the link as a source when you send email.
Mind you also that some of the teachers may well be innocent bystanders, and already upset enough as it is.
Be thoughtful and concerned in your reply, even if it is intensely emotional.
The problem is a system, that, under thew appearance of help, tends to do those things that destroy, even if benign neglect. "We didn't see it coming" they say, but they are supposed to be the professionals. They are supposed to know.
But district Superintendent John Fitzsimons said school officials followed disciplinary policies in this case, and although teachers and administrators are grieving the loss,
they aren't responsible. "When one seeks answers when none exist, it's understandable to extend blame," Fitzsimons said. "But in my
judgment, due process was exercised and the actions of the administration were justified."
All this says is that they are clueless, and they explain it away as saying there is no answer.
And their standard answer is punishment by suspension. Punishment by itself is NOT educational. It is the theory that Pain is theraputic to Learning. Which is how some people train dogs. By Fear, Pain, and Punishment
Now the kid needed to be taught some responsibility. Obviously the school district is not qualified to teach this to those kids.
Well the old jousting tournements were popular for a reason, even if the music they had wasn't rock'n'roll.
and Medieval peasants could certainly be a rowdy bunch. So it in perverse way, this may actually catch some of the energy and excitement of the tournaments even if it is otherwise sheer fantasy.
Maybe I just need coffee, but I just had this flash of speculation of some aspects UCITA copyright law and licensing being applied to entertainment. Of course this is Europe, where they don't do things quite the same way as in the US. and UCITA is not the same as the DCMA
During the Opening credits:
"This film is licensed for you one time only in the exchange for the fee of a movie ticket, or a movie rental, all for the purposes of your viewing pleasure. Ownership for puroses of indefinite viewing is prohibited under Law."
[Insert incredible legalese for 1 to 5 minutes of scrolling]
"In exchange for the priveledge of viewing this entertainment, you also agree to not write or speak about about elements of this entertainment in a public or private forum without prior approval of the proprietors of the establishment providing you with this licensed viewing, and the owners of this Licensed property.
This prohibition includes discussion and opinion expressed on TV shows, Radio shows, message forums, and other media online and offline."
[Insert more legal blather]
"
If you dis-agree with these conditions, Please Leave the theater now and Ask for a refund. If You are viewing via a rental, cancel the streaming media immediately and ask your service provider for as refund. Violation of this license can lead to substantial fines and imprisonment"
Seems like something that someone might want someday.
Terry Gillium ought to do a satirical film with just this sort of premise.
I always had a sentimental attitude towards them. It wouldn't bother me (but it IS unlikely) if MS abandons the desktop to devote everything to.NET, and then after it all shakes out, Amiga is there again with a decent system again.
I wish the guys the best of luck. But, this sounds like a tale of the underside of the programmers' life:
Olaf Barthel: Probably the same as with 3.5, which is complaining about the things that don't work and then surprisingly ending up doing all the work to resolve the issues I don't see anybody else finding the time to tackle. That's how I ended up rewriting workbench.library and reimplementing icon.library from scratch, plus taking to fixing a gazillion of other bits and pieces. Believe
me, I'd rather have spent my time more productively.
Amen, but as they say, the devil is in the details
Looks like someone is just figuring out the practical applications and implications of ethics as far as their personal life goes.
However, they are careful to dance around inconsistancies, as well as nicely avoiding actually taking responsibility for anything wrong that they might be doing themselves.
The result is a pleasant mishmash of fractured logic.
The problem not spotted is that there are several layers and levels of non-ethical behavior here on the part of all concerned.
You have
the business and marketing practices of MS. In a perfect world, MS would get fair exchange for their work and their products, and they would not see possible independance from the MS as a deathly threat to them. The flaw in the MS model is that anyone who is getting ahead who is not under their control is viewed as a threat, or a competitor. MS talks about the danger of competition. The problem here is that a number of MS flacks take this to the level approaching paranoia.
As above for MS, but instead insert the recording and film industries.
The individual patron of the arts and of computer products, has the ethical problem of how to deal fairly and rightly with business that have adopted some of the mafia mentality, and who have bought the law makers so that ripoffs are considered fair business practice under the law (the copyright act, etc)
It is no consolation that under innumerable religious systems such people, no matter how much they explain away their deeds and misdeeds, condemn themselves to any number of the commonly described hells, many of their own making.
It is also very inviting to go ahead and go along with the petty ripoffs, because the system has been set up this way. And many common actions have been suddenly made illegal under this abusive system. this is a trap by itself.
The real ethical quandry lies in not recognizing the ethical trap that has been sprung. and then, to step into it, and then to explain away everything you are doing because of all thos bad men over there.
The real ethical solution is to recognize the trap, not step into it, and to then work with others to make a better system that is truly fair and not booby trapped for the benefit of the greedy.
Probably the best way to get things really quiet is to treat the noise problem as a separate isse from the cooling issue.
Noise as an issues is like best handled by isolating the machine partially in a cool cabinet with sound baffles. There are folks who go overboard into the noise reduction. some recommendation I have seen include reducing the speed of your machine so that the computer can run without CPU fans. I have also seen power supplies that do not have and do not need fans because the design.
Needless to say, you need to have a handle on your priorities.
We are the Music makers, and We are the Dreamers of Dreams Wandering by lone seabreakers, and sitting by desolate streams World losers, and world forsakers, on whom the pale moon gleams Yet we are the Movers and Shakers of the world, forever, it seems.
We are the carefree dancers, we are the players on the the stage And we are the poets and the writers, we are the muses of the age. And we are the painters and sculptors, of those futures not yet seen. and we are the Movers and the Shakers, of the world forever, it seems.
With wonderful endless dittes, we build up the worlds great cities And out of a fabulous story, we fashioned a empire's glory One man with a dream, at pleasure, will go forth, and conquer a crown. And three, with a new songs measure, can trample an empire down.
We are the Music makers, and We are the Dreamers of Dreams Wandering by lone seabreakers, and sitting by desolate streams World losers, and world forsakers, on whom the pale moon gleams For we are the Movers and Shakers of the world, forever, it seems.
That the version tracking can take palce inside the document, or outside the document. Version tracking can be engineered outside the document if you have many types of data and documents. Then you will need a database to control the varios parameters of the documents such as file names, number of copies, who has access, etc. This can be a problem, but it is not outrageous, depending on the capabilities of the technology at hand. I would think ity is certainly within the capabilities of perl and the table technology of your choice.
Though it would amuse me no end that we would see see it from some far future, and part of the gist is that none would know why precisely why the federation fell. Have the Klingons become more and more like the chinese, so that they become the cultural center of a high level civilization (say, in their 5th empire, we currently seeing the 1st)) and we watch the klingon scientists at work when they find a starship encased in ice in/on the surface of a long period comet (people in stasis, etc whatever)
or whatever. The point being agreed on is to take it well outside of the normal range of events and known history so that you can start from scratch somehow. take it truly intergalatic (months to the next galaxy)
One hack type of solution that I recall from the world of dos and windows what a generic NON-MS database with fileds that had the document name in it as a character field. a widget on the screen could call up the MS doc by file name, and launch word or whatever.
In the original, the file was a medical record sort of thing, so it was a doc with a name made up of pateint ssn number, doc ID, and a time/date string. The file names got stored in the db, and the db could launch w to open them via a command.
The only thing I could think of is maybe a widget or macro in word to save the current date/time as part of the file name, along with the user ID, so that as soon as word opened the file, it would be saved with the new file name with the updated data in the name.
Wait, as part of the command line, you can set it up to copy the file to a new name with the propwer date and time info in the name, then feed the string so you have a proper record of it in the database, and then open it in your word processor. This maintains an audit trail, since everytime a doc is opened, a copy is made and saved. You could also include a delete option for just for folks just looking around.
So this is not to hard to do via the database of your choice. Although you better have a lot of drive space for the clueless. A really messy solution, but if you have space to waste, semi-workable. This would work for in house, not webifried.
You would have to add a layer in there some place for converting to web format, depending on the word processor you use.
The best idea I ever heard for a new ST series was for it to take place after The Fall of the Federation. This would be especially rewarding for the fans, since then you would know what was lost, but not many of the characters would.
This has been done with Andromeda, also based on an Idea by Roddenberry. It is an okay show, but it is missing some of the irony that a viewers knowledge of the previous civilization would give.
If Paramount did that, it would be too obviously stealing a good idea.
Personally, I like the idea of the Star Trek would turned on its head, with a 1000 years plus of history gone down the tubes. So that the early Federation would be like the history of Early Rome Before the Ceasars.
In the begginnig the web was mostly a refuge of college kids and research scientists, etc. There were also walled communities, like Compuserve, and AOL, etc.
Then the commercial types got into the act, and for a while, it was all hell.
It looks like the Internet might wind up not being commercially viable as Madison Ave might want it to be. We may be seein gthe death throes of Madison Ave on the Net. What would that leave us with?
Mostly college kids and research scientists. With a number of walled communities, like before.
A year and a half after the second largest non-event in history
It was one of those situations where, if you do your job right, nothing goes wrong.
of course, if you are a BOFH, then you make sure things are always going wrong, so you can be a hero when convenient, or when you want to be entertained.
Slashdot Mirror
Everything is in a crisis as it is.
Seriously, think of the fun a pointy haired manager would have with this!
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They use more duct tape
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Except, of course, when they make a mistake, or mis-speak, or omit certain details, or just out right lie.
Doesn't that seem to be happening uncomfortably often?
It is one thing to get control of a market by various hardball marketing tactics.
It is another to gain a market because of trust.
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Things like thousands of miles of data cables. Never mind that you might want to hook up not just to North America, but also to Asia and Europe. Enviromental factors in terms of the cold effect on equipment. Effects from Solar Storms (northern lights, etc)
I am not completely sold on this. Maybe something closer to the Bering Straights.
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http://www.enterprisemission.com/empire.htm
There does seem to be some weird politics behind the scene, above and beyond the actual science.
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This has been taken to heart by a well known site, famous in fringe circles as one of the more serious sites in the fringe science area:
Clarke Item One: http://www.enterprisemission.com/images/arthur.jpg
Clarke Item Two: http://www.enterprisemission.com/sir.htm
An Explanation?: http://www.enterprisemission.com/can.htm
Take with the usual pinch of salt.
Although I can see the possibility for weird politics inside nasa.
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That being said, I think that alot of what folks see looking at mars is sort of what you get looking at the old ink blot tests. you can see all kinds of things there, when all it really is, is ink on papaer. Probably most of it is that way.
On the other hand, if there were little green robots out there running around, a place like mars might not be a bad place for a base, although the asteroids would be better suited for most operations. So it spotting structures from space would not be unusual.
Of note in this discussion are this story from last week on ABC News, about a group of 20 ex military and others coming forward and saying that their were just to many weird things going on. You can see the real Video of the original press conferance here: http://www.connectlive.com/events/disclosureprojec t/ in two parts, (p1 = 1h45m, p2 = 0h55m)
If this comes up as legit, then I would be surprised to NOT find something on Mars. but alot of it is likely nothing at all.
Check out the Vinny the Vampire comic strip
Actually - it is not just the responsibility of just the parents, or of just the teachers. Everyone has to exercise responsibility, and take care of the things they see around them. This can be a rough concept to deal with. So let me give an example from a geek life
I recall a repair shop in a store that also had a shell answer man type sales desk on the floor, dealing with hardware questions, etc. and coordinating with the repair install shop so that the right parts were ordered etc. Now for managerial purposes you had to have someone named as the person in chargew so that you could shoot someone in case of theft, etc. But there were a group of people who were equally adept at working both sides of the operation. And it worked out that If there was help needed on one side or the other, someone could go over and lend a hand. It went back and forth.
The technical term for this is the dynamic re-allocation of resources.
This can only work in a situation where you have a majority of the people involved who are in fact competent, and who are trustworthy, and who are willing to take real responsibility for the situation. (heck I'm an alien, so I can dream ... ;-)
The correct assignment of responsibility requires this sort of thing on a wider basis. However, responsibility is currently defined by most folks as "what can I get blamed for", and "what can I pass off on to the other guy" meaning I don't have to sweat it myself. That simply won't cut it if you expect society to change for the better.
In this canoe, everyone has got to paddle. Sorry, but you got to grab an oar.
Check out the Vinny the Vampire comic strip
(thoughtfully worded snailmail probably best)
Grover Middle School
10 Southfield Road
Princeton, NJ 08550
Principal: Steven Mayer
But if you are in a rush, School Board email addresses and other info can be found here.
http://www.wwptoday.com/schools/schools.html
The district main website is at:
http://www.ww-p.org/
they have a blurb about handling trauma, but noting about the suicide itself
Please be careful to tread the original story, and cite the link as a source when you send email.
Mind you also that some of the teachers may well be innocent bystanders, and already upset enough as it is.
Be thoughtful and concerned in your reply, even if it is intensely emotional.
The problem is a system, that, under thew appearance of help, tends to do those things that destroy, even if benign neglect. "We didn't see it coming" they say, but they are supposed to be the professionals. They are supposed to know.
Check out the Vinny the Vampire comic strip
All this says is that they are clueless, and they explain it away as saying there is no answer.
And their standard answer is punishment by suspension. Punishment by itself is NOT educational. It is the theory that Pain is theraputic to Learning. Which is how some people train dogs. By Fear, Pain, and Punishment
Now the kid needed to be taught some responsibility. Obviously the school district is not qualified to teach this to those kids.
Check out the Vinny the Vampire comic strip
and Medieval peasants could certainly be a rowdy bunch. So it in perverse way, this may actually catch some of the energy and excitement of the tournaments even if it is otherwise sheer fantasy.
Check out the Vinny the Vampire comic strip
During the Opening credits:
"This film is licensed for you one time only in the exchange for the fee of a movie ticket, or a movie rental, all for the purposes of your viewing pleasure. Ownership for puroses of indefinite viewing is prohibited under Law."
[Insert incredible legalese for 1 to 5 minutes of scrolling]
"In exchange for the priveledge of viewing this entertainment, you also agree to not write or speak about about elements of this entertainment in a public or private forum without prior approval of the proprietors of the establishment providing you with this licensed viewing, and the owners of this Licensed property. This prohibition includes discussion and opinion expressed on TV shows, Radio shows, message forums, and other media online and offline."
[Insert more legal blather]
" If you dis-agree with these conditions, Please Leave the theater now and Ask for a refund. If You are viewing via a rental, cancel the streaming media immediately and ask your service provider for as refund. Violation of this license can lead to substantial fines and imprisonment"
Seems like something that someone might want someday.
Terry Gillium ought to do a satirical film with just this sort of premise.
Check out the Vinny the Vampire comic strip
I wish the guys the best of luck. But, this sounds like a tale of the underside of the programmers' life:
Olaf Barthel: Probably the same as with 3.5, which is complaining about the things that don't work and then surprisingly ending up doing all the work to resolve the issues I don't see anybody else finding the time to tackle. That's how I ended up rewriting workbench.library and reimplementing icon.library from scratch, plus taking to fixing a gazillion of other bits and pieces. Believe me, I'd rather have spent my time more productively.
Amen, but as they say, the devil is in the details
Check out the Vinny the Vampire comic strip
However, they are careful to dance around inconsistancies, as well as nicely avoiding actually taking responsibility for anything wrong that they might be doing themselves.
The result is a pleasant mishmash of fractured logic.
The problem not spotted is that there are several layers and levels of non-ethical behavior here on the part of all concerned.
You have
- the business and marketing practices of MS. In a perfect world, MS would get fair exchange for their work and their products, and they would not see possible independance from the MS as a deathly threat to them. The flaw in the MS model is that anyone who is getting ahead who is not under their control is viewed as a threat, or a competitor. MS talks about the danger of competition. The problem here is that a number of MS flacks take this to the level approaching paranoia.
- As above for MS, but instead insert the recording and film industries.
- The individual patron of the arts and of computer products, has the ethical problem of how to deal fairly and rightly with business that have adopted some of the mafia mentality, and who have bought the law makers so that ripoffs are considered fair business practice under the law (the copyright act, etc)
It is no consolation that under innumerable religious systems such people, no matter how much they explain away their deeds and misdeeds, condemn themselves to any number of the commonly described hells, many of their own making.It is also very inviting to go ahead and go along with the petty ripoffs, because the system has been set up this way. And many common actions have been suddenly made illegal under this abusive system. this is a trap by itself.
The real ethical quandry lies in not recognizing the ethical trap that has been sprung. and then, to step into it, and then to explain away everything you are doing because of all thos bad men over there.
The real ethical solution is to recognize the trap, not step into it, and to then work with others to make a better system that is truly fair and not booby trapped for the benefit of the greedy.
Check out the Vinny the Vampire comic strip
Noise as an issues is like best handled by isolating the machine partially in a cool cabinet with sound baffles. There are folks who go overboard into the noise reduction. some recommendation I have seen include reducing the speed of your machine so that the computer can run without CPU fans. I have also seen power supplies that do not have and do not need fans because the design.
Needless to say, you need to have a handle on your priorities.
Check out the Vinny the Vampire comic strip
Ode
by Arthur O'Shaugnessey
We are the Music makers, and We are the Dreamers of Dreams
Wandering by lone seabreakers, and sitting by desolate streams
World losers, and world forsakers, on whom the pale moon gleams
Yet we are the Movers and Shakers of the world, forever, it seems.
We are the carefree dancers, we are the players on the the stage
And we are the poets and the writers, we are the muses of the age.
And we are the painters and sculptors, of those futures not yet seen.
and we are the Movers and the Shakers, of the world forever, it seems.
With wonderful endless dittes, we build up the worlds great cities
And out of a fabulous story, we fashioned a empire's glory
One man with a dream, at pleasure, will go forth, and conquer a crown.
And three, with a new songs measure, can trample an empire down.
We are the Music makers, and We are the Dreamers of Dreams
Wandering by lone seabreakers, and sitting by desolate streams
World losers, and world forsakers, on whom the pale moon gleams
For we are the Movers and Shakers of the world, forever, it seems.
Sleep well, Dream Maker.
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VCs should make sure to look out for those who lost them money the first time around. Especially those whop were into smoke and mirrors.
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That the version tracking can take palce inside the document, or outside the document. Version tracking can be engineered outside the document if you have many types of data and documents. Then you will need a database to control the varios parameters of the documents such as file names, number of copies, who has access, etc. This can be a problem, but it is not outrageous, depending on the capabilities of the technology at hand. I would think ity is certainly within the capabilities of perl and the table technology of your choice.
Check out the Vinny the Vampire comic strip
Agreed
Though it would amuse me no end that we would see see it from some far future, and part of the gist is that none would know why precisely why the federation fell. Have the Klingons become more and more like the chinese, so that they become the cultural center of a high level civilization (say, in their 5th empire, we currently seeing the 1st)) and we watch the klingon scientists at work when they find a starship encased in ice in/on the surface of a long period comet (people in stasis, etc whatever)
or whatever. The point being agreed on is to take it well outside of the normal range of events and known history so that you can start from scratch somehow. take it truly intergalatic (months to the next galaxy)
something!
Check out the Vinny the Vampire comic strip
In the original, the file was a medical record sort of thing, so it was a doc with a name made up of pateint ssn number, doc ID, and a time/date string. The file names got stored in the db, and the db could launch w to open them via a command.
The only thing I could think of is maybe a widget or macro in word to save the current date/time as part of the file name, along with the user ID, so that as soon as word opened the file, it would be saved with the new file name with the updated data in the name.
Wait, as part of the command line, you can set it up to copy the file to a new name with the propwer date and time info in the name, then feed the string so you have a proper record of it in the database, and then open it in your word processor. This maintains an audit trail, since everytime a doc is opened, a copy is made and saved. You could also include a delete option for just for folks just looking around.
So this is not to hard to do via the database of your choice. Although you better have a lot of drive space for the clueless. A really messy solution, but if you have space to waste, semi-workable. This would work for in house, not webifried.
You would have to add a layer in there some place for converting to web format, depending on the word processor you use.
Check out the Vinny the Vampire comic strip
This has been done with Andromeda, also based on an Idea by Roddenberry. It is an okay show, but it is missing some of the irony that a viewers knowledge of the previous civilization would give.
If Paramount did that, it would be too obviously stealing a good idea.
Personally, I like the idea of the Star Trek would turned on its head, with a 1000 years plus of history gone down the tubes. So that the early Federation would be like the history of Early Rome Before the Ceasars.
but it is too good an idea to waste, perhaps ...
Check out the Vinny the Vampire comic strip
Then the commercial types got into the act, and for a while, it was all hell.
It looks like the Internet might wind up not being commercially viable as Madison Ave might want it to be. We may be seein gthe death throes of Madison Ave on the Net. What would that leave us with?
Mostly college kids and research scientists. With a number of walled communities, like before.
sheer speculation , of course, but ...
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It is now at:
http://www.tomshardware.com/technews/technews-2001 0510.html
There is also another article with decent info here
They also have updated info on the specs on the front page.
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It was one of those situations where, if you do your job right, nothing goes wrong.
of course, if you are a BOFH, then you make sure things are always going wrong, so you can be a hero when convenient, or when you want to be entertained.
;-)
Check out the Vinny the Vampire comic strip