Yes, that's it! I bet the routers moving those packets between you and Tim's web site are all XORP. And all those routers between you and Joe's site are Cisco...That proves it!
My code is meant to be secret. If anyone ever saw it, I'd be ridiculed for my terrible coding style and lack of programming prowess. I don't think I could survive the shame.
You see, by assigning an IP address, we can easily track who owns what IP. Then we know if it's an IP violation or not: if you have a valid IP address, you can't be violating IP laws.
Thanks for that link, but that's not precisely I want. I'm talking about a box that takes those various inputs and either (a) recodes them into an R/F signal I can plug directly into my television's coax input, or (b) spits them out an S-Video, or component, or composite feed to a TV. I'm not after an Ethernet video feed.
Let me give you an example of what I'm thinking: I have several seasons of The Simpsons on DVD as well as other series I enjoy and a bunch of movies I like. I would like to rip these all onto a system, encoded as DiVX or whatever, and let that system constantly stream them (in random order) so that I would in effect have my own "The Simpsons" channel and my own "Movie channel" etc. with the ability to move around through the channels much like you do with TV anyway...only with my system I'm guaranteed no commercials and I know I like what's on.
Does MythTV or another tool have an ability to basically create your own TV channel?
That is, if I took all of my DVDs and encoded them (DivX, or whatever...), could I basically set up a box to keep a stream playing all the time, randomly jumping around the entire library?
Trust me, the X-windows model specifically precludes the application from being supposed to keep track of your environment/windowing issues.
I don't doubt this.
...because whatever you want as default behaviour, I expect my window manager to decide based on my settings.
I am not trying to say everything should work the way I want it to...to the exclusion of your desired preferences. But it sounds to me like it is a function of the Window Manager...and perhaps I need to look into what WM will allow me this type of preference (to keep track of where an app is launched so when it says "draw me" the WM draws it *there*).
Most apps open an initial window as a splash screen almost immediately. Even if they don't, the session manager places a "Starting [AppName]" in the task bar. Either the session manager or the app should immediately make whatever API call necessary to determine what workspace it is launching from (if workspaces are enabled at all) and either the session manager should control the app based on that info, or the app should deal with it itself. I have not done native X programming, so I don't know...but I would expect there to be a method of creating the initial frame in a "minimized" state to avoid a blank frame on screen. A common trick I've seen in Windows is to create the original frame at off-screen coordinates (-5000,-5000) and waiting until the entire app is finished loading before, as the last step, moving the whole form to (0,0) or whatever on-screen top-left position you want.
While it is good practice to use a UPS, I wouldn't go so far as to shout "Idiot!" for the belief that a computer ought to be able to handle power problems.
A well-engineered solution, especially since the components must be relatively cheap (as you said, a UPS can be had for ~US$100), could include the basic function of the UPS in the power supply. Power flickers, no problem, no loss. Power fails, warn the user and give them time to shut down gracefully. It should increase the cost by less than $100, right?
But, would buyers pay $100 more for a PC that wouldn't lose the love letter they were working on when that drunk smashed into a pole down the street?
There are a lot of Windows apps guilty of this. Outlook is terrible. Start it, its splash screen steals focus...switch back to something else while it's loading, then it steals focus to paint its main window...go back to that other thing...and it steals focus again when its done loading all the components inside the main window.
But, to be fair, many X apps do the same crap. Here's one thing about X-Windows (or Gnome maybe) that drives me nuts: Let's say I have four workspaces...I like to use workspace one for Internet-related activities, workspace two is development-related activities, workspace three is productivity-app hell, and workspace four is terminals. Now, let's say I go to workspace one and launch Mozilla...(really any app will do), then, while it's loading, I switch back to workspace two to continue debugging an app while Mozilla loads...then, BING! Mozilla pops on workspace two. Why won't an app stay on the workspace it was originally launched from? Does it have to follow me to the current active workspace?
I would think any app should be smart enough to do two things: (1) know where it is when it's launched and stay there; and, (2) know if it loses focus during start up and NOT re-take it. How hard could that be?
Re:I know bugger all about EE
on
Tin Foil Passports?
·
· Score: -1, Offtopic
My LCD laptop screen makes the combination of r and n look almost exactly like the letter m. So, what I'm trying to figure out is this: did the person you responded to write coRNtrol or coMtrol? I imagine it was just a fat finger coMtrol, the M being right beside the N and all. But it would be cooler if the person *actually* meant it and wrote coRNtrol.
After all, agribusiness is trying to coRNtrol our minds.
...a peer-to-peer service that enables legal music file-sharing.
Hello!! Earth to submitter! They ALL enable legal music file-sharing. Every freaking P2P system ever used enabled legal music file-sharing. This statement is designed to re-inforce the notion that ALL THE OTHER P2P APPS ARE 100% ILLEGAL. Period.
What this scheme attempts to do is block the illegal part that the others pay no mind to.
And yes I know the usage stats. I know most P2P is violating copyrights. But it's just ignorance to say this scheme "enables" legal music sharing like it's something missing in all other methods. Perhaps the proper verbage is "enforces" legal music sharing...
...not getting matching contributions from your employer is a big negative.
A lot of employers' matching plans are quite crappy. Many have no matching. Also, you typically have to vest in the matching plan...so if you only work there for three years, you may only get 40-60% of the match anyway. I think the fact that you can defer a much larger portion of your income (as well as write off a lot more expenses) easily offsets the loss of employer matching 401k funds.
Be smart and incorporate. This protects your personal assets to a higher degree and makes things a lot easier.
Are you quite sure? Whether he is a sole proprietor or a corporation with one employee (himself), he is still personally liable for his actions. The benefit to incorporating is you are protected from the actions of employees. A sole proprietor with employees is very vulnerable. Also, I would disagree with the "makes things a lot easier" statement. A sole proprietor has a lot less paperwork to do than he would if he formed a corporation with a single employee (himself).
You will need an accountant to help you out.
Agreed, 100%. And a lawyer. Same thing. People will say you can do it yourself, but an accountant and a decent lawyer are invaluable.
Every cost you incur in your business is pretax deductible. Every cost you incur as an individual is after tax.
As a sole proprietor, all of my business expenses come off the top, just like they would were I an LLC or a Corp. Insurance costs are 100% deductible now in my state. So, again, there's little tax advantage to a corporation vs. a sole proprietorship. But you're right: running your own business opens a lot of expenses up to be pre-tax deductions.
As for me, I quit my full-time position to start contracting (for my former employer and a new customer) in October. I had had enough. I actually expected my employer to be petty about it...but they surprised me and have been very cool; so I'm still working with them...only not as an employee any longer.
I was freelance for a while a few years back anyway; so, it's not as scary to me. It is somewhat scary, though. I have three children and one on the way. One of them has a genetic disorder. My wife is a stay-at-home Mom. But my job was really that bad. And besides, ownership has always been my goal.
Insurance is going to be a b***h no matter what. Look into COBRA. If the guy's married, but his wife has employment that offers insurance, he should check into getting covered under that. If not, he should look into getting coverage minus dependents. As a last resort, if he would incorporate (form an LLC, S or C corp) he could include his wife on his payroll (if she really does help out say 25 hrs/week) and then qualify under group plans instead of individual plans. The benefit there is that an insurer can generally turn you down just because they don't like you for individual plans. But for group plans, they can't.
Again, the best advice I could give you is this:
Talk to a trustworthy accountant
Find a decent lawyer as well
A financial advisor is a good idea as well but will overlap functionality with the accountant
ask for guaranteed minimum terms on your contracts (six months or a year)
work your tail off
I like working for myself tremendously. But the money only comes in if I work. For instance, if I don't work this Thanksgiving, I don't get paid.
Jonathan's point is that Linux (the kernel) is cathedral-like because decisions about changes to the kernel are made exclusively by Linus Torvalds.
This is not true. Linus is a final arbiter. The decisions are not made exclusively by him. Linux kernel maintenance is more a meritocracy than a dictatorship. Kernel sub-system maintainers are where they are because there past performance earned them their position. They have say over their sub-system. They accept patches from further downlevel contributors and I'm quite sure Linus' approval is not required on every patch or kernel update no matter how trivial.
Linus' decision-making becomes the focus when there is a "tie" (for lack of a better word) between competing visions. And so what if it is? I know many people who run -ac kernels exclusively. And it's still Linux.
Shit, I have SIX. And I'm happily enjoying each of them.
I have a 20GB HDD unit and five 128MB flash units. I take them to conferences and use them for voice audio recording. One 128MB flash unit recording 160Kpbs MP3s will record for close to 90 minutes.
The 20GB unit is for recording 48Khz WAVs of live music.
I use them professionally and although they have a few odd behaviors, they are overall very solid and excellent little mobile recorders. And they beat out Mini-Disc handily imho.
Lastly, the firmware is now free speech software.
Digital Innovations has done a good job. A very good job. Clicky.
But seriously, this was the first thing I thought of when I read "fairly extreme geek activity"
So, why not a "gaming" documentary? From the LAN game perspective, the RPG-ers, the FRAGG-ers, etc. Then looking at the people who take it to the real world level (the "lightning bolt" folks).
Are the people at the Renaissance Festivals the same folks playing EQ?
But once you start writing a check, you now have demands, and rightfully so.
Let's focus on this statement alone. This is the point I believe the parent to whom you replied was addressing. The point is, users have a right to demand Microsoft produce better software. Better in terms of less bugs. Better in terms of more secure.
And I disagree with you about MS support. It is very much NOT OK. I've had the misfortune of trying it a few times. Godawful comes to mind. I have found that on all but the MOST bizarre of issues it is easier to fix a problem with a Microsoft product by avoiding their tech support than by using it. (There's always the wipe+reinstall answer, eh?)
I will grant that one time (ONCE) I called Microsoft for a problem with SQL Server and IMMEDIATELY REQUESTED ESCALATION. I refuse to talk with the first level techs as they 99.999% of the time cannot help me. I did get to a third tier support level and at least found the person knowledgeable. It appears to me most of their tech support personnel are just perusing TechNet and the knowledge base the same as I can do myself and offering suggestions from there.
What his statement fundamentally misses, though, is that a lot of customers adopt Linux to reduce their dependency on a single, proprietary, monolithic, control-freak of a "business partner" who has their own greed (oops, I meant profit), rather than the customer's best interest at heart...if they have a heart at all.
What's worth remembering is that many Unix vendors (*cough*Sun*cough*) fit this mold as much as Microsoft.
Didn't read the FA, but doubtful he gets this point anywhere else in his interview.
Linux is doing so well not so much because it's free. It's more because it's free. Linux is about control, choice, freedom. I have yet to see a useful measure of those items rolled into a TCO analysis.
I understand. I'm not trying to poo poo Sybase. It's an okay DMBS. I know about the NASDAQ and many other companies that use it. It is, after all, still probably a top 5 commercial DBMS product.
My point, or at least one of them, was that if you are looking at learning a new DBMS, and your selection critera includes marketability of the skill set, Sybase is a poor choice compared to Oracle and DB2.
Microsoft SQL Server is the DBMS leader on Windows platform. If that's your target platform, learn it. Oracle is the leader on Unix platforms. DB2 is Oracle's strongest challenger in this area. If you're looking at commercial DBMS on Linux, I think DB2 is the skillset to acquire. And, they make it relatively easy because you can download DB2 UDB for no charge. Sybase is respectable, but from a career perspective, marketability favors, imho, in this order: Oracle, DB2, Microsoft SQL Server, Sybase.
This Sybase move now means that I can download and play with a serious database. It's a smart move because it means that I will be gaining skills in programming for that database engine, skills which are seriously marketable.
Okay, I have to comment on this. First, You've been able to download and play with a *serious* database for some time now. Second, Sybase...seriously marketable? Where? DB2, Oracle. Those are seriously marketable. Microsoft SQL Server to a lesser extent. Sybase to a lesser extent. More marketable than PostgreSQL and MySQL, probably in a commercial proprietary environment, yes. In the OSS world, no. Market share has a lot to do with the marketability of specific DMBS experience.
There are highly capable DBMS available already. From the ubiquitous PostgreSQL and MySQL to the less familiar Firebird, SAPDB, and Ingres, I'd say there's again almost too much choice in the OSS world.
This is a noteworthy announcement from Sybase, but nothing more than Score: 3, Interesting.
All that being said, it would be different if Sybase literally were to open source their product. The reason for this being that while they have diverged since 6.x, Microsoft SQL Server and Sybase were once one-and-the-same. The divergence is, I'm willing to bet, still a minority of the codebase. Making Sybase a drop-in replacement for SQL Server in an OSS environment would be killer.
Slashdot Mirror
Yes, that's it! I bet the routers moving those packets between you and Tim's web site are all XORP. And all those routers between you and Joe's site are Cisco...That proves it!
My code is meant to be secret. If anyone ever saw it, I'd be ridiculed for my terrible coding style and lack of programming prowess. I don't think I could survive the shame.
A bill to outlaw this type of service will be written by one or many cellular providers and presented to one or many congresstools in 3...2...1...
You see, by assigning an IP address, we can easily track who owns what IP. Then we know if it's an IP violation or not: if you have a valid IP address, you can't be violating IP laws.
right?
Thanks for that link, but that's not precisely I want. I'm talking about a box that takes those various inputs and either (a) recodes them into an R/F signal I can plug directly into my television's coax input, or (b) spits them out an S-Video, or component, or composite feed to a TV. I'm not after an Ethernet video feed.
Let me give you an example of what I'm thinking: I have several seasons of The Simpsons on DVD as well as other series I enjoy and a bunch of movies I like. I would like to rip these all onto a system, encoded as DiVX or whatever, and let that system constantly stream them (in random order) so that I would in effect have my own "The Simpsons" channel and my own "Movie channel" etc. with the ability to move around through the channels much like you do with TV anyway...only with my system I'm guaranteed no commercials and I know I like what's on.
Just a quick question:
Does MythTV or another tool have an ability to basically create your own TV channel?
That is, if I took all of my DVDs and encoded them (DivX, or whatever...), could I basically set up a box to keep a stream playing all the time, randomly jumping around the entire library?
Most apps open an initial window as a splash screen almost immediately. Even if they don't, the session manager places a "Starting [AppName]" in the task bar. Either the session manager or the app should immediately make whatever API call necessary to determine what workspace it is launching from (if workspaces are enabled at all) and either the session manager should control the app based on that info, or the app should deal with it itself. I have not done native X programming, so I don't know...but I would expect there to be a method of creating the initial frame in a "minimized" state to avoid a blank frame on screen. A common trick I've seen in Windows is to create the original frame at off-screen coordinates (-5000,-5000) and waiting until the entire app is finished loading before, as the last step, moving the whole form to (0,0) or whatever on-screen top-left position you want.
Does X support similar functionality?
A well-engineered solution, especially since the components must be relatively cheap (as you said, a UPS can be had for ~US$100), could include the basic function of the UPS in the power supply. Power flickers, no problem, no loss. Power fails, warn the user and give them time to shut down gracefully. It should increase the cost by less than $100, right?
But, would buyers pay $100 more for a PC that wouldn't lose the love letter they were working on when that drunk smashed into a pole down the street?
There are a lot of Windows apps guilty of this. Outlook is terrible. Start it, its splash screen steals focus...switch back to something else while it's loading, then it steals focus to paint its main window...go back to that other thing...and it steals focus again when its done loading all the components inside the main window.
But, to be fair, many X apps do the same crap. Here's one thing about X-Windows (or Gnome maybe) that drives me nuts: Let's say I have four workspaces...I like to use workspace one for Internet-related activities, workspace two is development-related activities, workspace three is productivity-app hell, and workspace four is terminals. Now, let's say I go to workspace one and launch Mozilla...(really any app will do), then, while it's loading, I switch back to workspace two to continue debugging an app while Mozilla loads...then, BING! Mozilla pops on workspace two. Why won't an app stay on the workspace it was originally launched from? Does it have to follow me to the current active workspace?
I would think any app should be smart enough to do two things: (1) know where it is when it's launched and stay there; and, (2) know if it loses focus during start up and NOT re-take it. How hard could that be?
My LCD laptop screen makes the combination of r and n look almost exactly like the letter m. So, what I'm trying to figure out is this: did the person you responded to write coRNtrol or coMtrol? I imagine it was just a fat finger coMtrol, the M being right beside the N and all. But it would be cooler if the person *actually* meant it and wrote coRNtrol.
After all, agribusiness is trying to coRNtrol our minds.
Too bad I'm out of mod points. I was thinking basically the same thing. I was going to respond:
Subject: Fatal Flaw
Comment: There is one fatal flaw in your design that will prevent it from ever being adopted: it makes too much sense.
What this scheme attempts to do is block the illegal part that the others pay no mind to.
And yes I know the usage stats. I know most P2P is violating copyrights. But it's just ignorance to say this scheme "enables" legal music sharing like it's something missing in all other methods. Perhaps the proper verbage is "enforces" legal music sharing...
As for me, I quit my full-time position to start contracting (for my former employer and a new customer) in October. I had had enough. I actually expected my employer to be petty about it...but they surprised me and have been very cool; so I'm still working with them...only not as an employee any longer.
I was freelance for a while a few years back anyway; so, it's not as scary to me. It is somewhat scary, though. I have three children and one on the way. One of them has a genetic disorder. My wife is a stay-at-home Mom. But my job was really that bad. And besides, ownership has always been my goal.
Insurance is going to be a b***h no matter what. Look into COBRA. If the guy's married, but his wife has employment that offers insurance, he should check into getting covered under that. If not, he should look into getting coverage minus dependents. As a last resort, if he would incorporate (form an LLC, S or C corp) he could include his wife on his payroll (if she really does help out say 25 hrs/week) and then qualify under group plans instead of individual plans. The benefit there is that an insurer can generally turn you down just because they don't like you for individual plans. But for group plans, they can't.
Again, the best advice I could give you is this:
- Talk to a trustworthy accountant
- Find a decent lawyer as well
- A financial advisor is a good idea as well but will overlap functionality with the accountant
- ask for guaranteed minimum terms on your contracts (six months or a year)
- work your tail off
I like working for myself tremendously. But the money only comes in if I work. For instance, if I don't work this Thanksgiving, I don't get paid.Linus' decision-making becomes the focus when there is a "tie" (for lack of a better word) between competing visions. And so what if it is? I know many people who run -ac kernels exclusively. And it's still Linux.
Shit, I have SIX. And I'm happily enjoying each of them.
I have a 20GB HDD unit and five 128MB flash units. I take them to conferences and use them for voice audio recording. One 128MB flash unit recording 160Kpbs MP3s will record for close to 90 minutes.
The 20GB unit is for recording 48Khz WAVs of live music.
I use them professionally and although they have a few odd behaviors, they are overall very solid and excellent little mobile recorders. And they beat out Mini-Disc handily imho.
Lastly, the firmware is now free speech software.
Digital Innovations has done a good job. A very good job. Clicky.
Lightning bolt! Lightning bolt! Lightning bolt!
But seriously, this was the first thing I thought of when I read "fairly extreme geek activity"
So, why not a "gaming" documentary? From the LAN game perspective, the RPG-ers, the FRAGG-ers, etc. Then looking at the people who take it to the real world level (the "lightning bolt" folks).
Are the people at the Renaissance Festivals the same folks playing EQ?
And I disagree with you about MS support. It is very much NOT OK. I've had the misfortune of trying it a few times. Godawful comes to mind. I have found that on all but the MOST bizarre of issues it is easier to fix a problem with a Microsoft product by avoiding their tech support than by using it. (There's always the wipe+reinstall answer, eh?)
I will grant that one time (ONCE) I called Microsoft for a problem with SQL Server and IMMEDIATELY REQUESTED ESCALATION. I refuse to talk with the first level techs as they 99.999% of the time cannot help me. I did get to a third tier support level and at least found the person knowledgeable. It appears to me most of their tech support personnel are just perusing TechNet and the knowledge base the same as I can do myself and offering suggestions from there.
SW:G? I thought a graphical, 3D chat environment was a coffee shop...or maybe a strip club if you want more graphics.
What his statement fundamentally misses, though, is that a lot of customers adopt Linux to reduce their dependency on a single, proprietary, monolithic, control-freak of a "business partner" who has their own greed (oops, I meant profit), rather than the customer's best interest at heart...if they have a heart at all.
What's worth remembering is that many Unix vendors (*cough*Sun*cough*) fit this mold as much as Microsoft.
Didn't read the FA, but doubtful he gets this point anywhere else in his interview.
Linux is doing so well not so much because it's free. It's more because it's free. Linux is about control, choice, freedom. I have yet to see a useful measure of those items rolled into a TCO analysis.
I understand. I'm not trying to poo poo Sybase. It's an okay DMBS. I know about the NASDAQ and many other companies that use it. It is, after all, still probably a top 5 commercial DBMS product.
My point, or at least one of them, was that if you are looking at learning a new DBMS, and your selection critera includes marketability of the skill set, Sybase is a poor choice compared to Oracle and DB2.
Microsoft SQL Server is the DBMS leader on Windows platform. If that's your target platform, learn it. Oracle is the leader on Unix platforms. DB2 is Oracle's strongest challenger in this area. If you're looking at commercial DBMS on Linux, I think DB2 is the skillset to acquire. And, they make it relatively easy because you can download DB2 UDB for no charge. Sybase is respectable, but from a career perspective, marketability favors, imho, in this order: Oracle, DB2, Microsoft SQL Server, Sybase.
All, as I said imHo.
There are highly capable DBMS available already. From the ubiquitous PostgreSQL and MySQL to the less familiar Firebird, SAPDB, and Ingres, I'd say there's again almost too much choice in the OSS world.
This is a noteworthy announcement from Sybase, but nothing more than Score: 3, Interesting.
All that being said, it would be different if Sybase literally were to open source their product. The reason for this being that while they have diverged since 6.x, Microsoft SQL Server and Sybase were once one-and-the-same. The divergence is, I'm willing to bet, still a minority of the codebase. Making Sybase a drop-in replacement for SQL Server in an OSS environment would be killer.
Designed and developed lout. Saved me from LaTeX hell.