About 3 months after I did a Knoppix install on my parents' machine, I had to wipe it and do a from-scratch Debian install, because an apt-get update destroyed the init system.
Not to be picky, but I think you mean apt-get upgrade. Update just pulls down the lists of available software, it doesn't install/remove anything. Oddly enough, I've had the best luck setting apt to 'unstable'. (for the first time ever, I'm actually running the latest release of KDE, not the one installed with a distro) And to be honest, if you can do a 'from-scratch Debian install', you should have been able to fix an apt-get problem.
No, I mean that I have installed half a dozen machines that way, used them extensively, and never experienced any problem due to Knoppix. Installs using the Debian installer have always been much more of a headache.
I have done quite a few Knoppix installs, and there are problems there. I have yet to do an apt-get upgrade where there weren't broken packages. Knoppix sets apt to 'testing', but it appears that they mix 'unstable' in the distro. Not necessarily bad, but it does cause some problems. I have had problems with KDE in the past where they only installed part of a package to save space. The most common problem seems to be files installed by multiple packages, and you end up doing a dpkg force overwrite quite often. Ran into it just like night upgrading to KDE 3.2.2. Of course you could say 'stick to stable and you won't have those problems', but debian stable is not something most people will want.
Knoppix really nice for newbies because if you really screw something up (like last weekend when I forced the wrong package and backleveled my KDE), it's easy to do a fresh install.
Honestly, Knoppix is the only reason I'm using debian. I love apt, but I have never gotten a usuable install from pure Debian.
Maybe it's because they realise that the public at large is apathetic about robots, but gets excited when a human does things...
For an agency that is supposed to be about exploration and research, they're not very good at doing their homework. Raise your hand if you cared about last weeks launch of new astronauts to the ISS? I saw the article, but didn't bother to read it. Now how many people followed the landings of the two mars rovers and the articles about the problems they overcame?
People get excited about new things, and if the shuttle had reached it's intended level of service, it would have been about as interesting as a bus schedule. Here's a new idea for you, put a robot on the moon with a camera and feed streaming video to a NASA website. For the first 6 months to a year it would generate enough interest to make the slashdot effect seem lame by comparison.
Installer: debian.org/devel/debian-installer. I used the 30 meg 'net' install for i386. I knew that the current stable release was too old for what I wanted to do, so I followed the links to the latest beta. It certainly wasn't cfdisk, I use that everytime I install with Knoppix. The new one showed me my two HDs, gave me the option to automatically partition or to manually partition. Manually partition let me create one partition for the 'full' size of the disk. No option for creating more than one partition and no way to see the true size.
On the bootloader, I went through a normal install the first time until it told me it was going to install grub, so I rebooted and started from scratch in expert mode. I skipped the configure grub option and configured lilo, even though it was already installed. Exiting the lilo config option put me back on the grub option. I skipped it again and selected the option to install and it installed grub in the boot sector although the lilo packages were installed too.
I've used a couple (now old) RedHat installs. Probably something like 7.x. Mandrake 7?, 8, 9, and left when I saw what 9.1 did. Debian Woody, which has never given me a bootable system. Debian Sarge. Gentoo and Knoppix. And some really old versions a couple years ago from TurboLinux, Slackware, and some that I no longer remember. To be really honest, the unofficial Knoppix install is the smoothest I have found. If only Knoppix wasn't so big.
The problem with the concept of opensource MMORPGs is that it makes it extremely easy for players to write their own bots to play the game for them, or a trainer of some sorts (speed hack, teleporting, seeing players through walls).
Sounds more like an improperly designed MMORPG. There are plenty of closed source ones that already have those problems. Bots aren't evil. The server shouldn't allow speed hacks, or teleporting, and if the client isn't supposed to see it, the server shouldn't include it in the data packet.
The reason the developers do those things is that either their servers don't scale or some bean counter doesn't want to buy appropriate hardware. So they offload processing to the clients. Maybe that's also why we have EQ players here saying they need 1g of ram to play.
Personally, I don't expect to play for free. My gripe is they want $50 for the software and then $15 a month. If you really need the $$$ up front, then give 3 month subscriptions with the $50 retail package. Although I'd prefer to just download the client.
Beats the hell out of Debian's installer anyway. But that doesn't take much.
Actually, I was just doing a debian install last night using Sarge. And tonight I'll probably reformat the drive. Let's see, 32g out of a 40g drive (don't have that problem with Knoppix), no option to build multiple partitions, no swap partition? I wanted lilo, I configured lilo, lilo was already installed, it installed grub. (in expert mode)
For me, I don't really care about social contracts. Free means I don't have to open my wallet to install it. It's a nice goal, but not something that I'm looking at when I'm building a system.
The things that have kept me using Debian are apt and Knoppix. And the ideal installer would be a Knoppix build that only included the base OS and a full KDE. (I prefer to boot to Knoppix, then knx-hdinstall) I'll apt-get everything else.
2004 or 2005 for Sarge? Doesn't matter, it's so outdated it's already irrelevent.
Here's the thing people, it doesn't matter how many applications are available for Linux if you have to fight with every install. Wanna hear a story about spending 3 hours getting mysql working properly because of one improperly documented setting? PostgreSQL installed fine. MythTV, I'll get it going someday....
Why dilute the alcohol with water? 100 proof alcohol is 50% water, 50% alcohol by volume. Your 50 proof is only 25% alcohol. You'll just spend more time at the gas pump. You're better off using a higher grade alcohol and mixing it with gasoline. You could call it gasohol.:-)
Engine efficiencies are not entirely based on the fuel that is burned. Diesel engines are much heavier and have higher compression. This is fine for a OTR truck. But it wouldn't be suited for a sports car.
E85 engines are normal gasoline engines modified to handle more heat. Heavier blocks, bigger cooling systems. But the same low compression and similar efficiency. Actually, considering the additional heat loss, probably less efficient.
if(bar())// tell me what bar() does, bar is a lousy name for a boolean function
foo = MAGIC; else
foo++;
or
if(bar())
{
foo = MAGIC;
} else
{
foo++;
}
White space doesn't cost anything. I get annoyed at people who choose a construct because it's "less typing" or "fewer lines". If a function gets too long to read on the screen, we have this nifty device called a printer. Although it probably means your function could be more modular.
The problem with doing things cleverly is that they are more difficult to debug. And really, the compiler/computer don't care. It's just a stream of instructions. But for the programmer it is a problem when it comes time to maintain the code. If you're working on someone else's code you think: "that guy was a hack, what did he think he was doing", especially if that programmer is no longer around. When it comes to modifying your own code 2 or 3 years down the road, you will look at it and say: "what the hell was I thinking?"
Here is a quote for the C programmers out there....
"Debugging is twice as hard as writing the code in the first place. Therefore, if you write the code as cleverly as possible, you are, by definition, not smart enough to debug it." Brian Kernighan
Even using heavy acceleration by holding to the floor (engaging "passing gear"), the auto still tends to shift more conservatively than a manual's operator thereby allowing them to take advantage of the higher revs.
"Passing gear"? give me a break. B&M has had shift improver kits for automatic transmissions for well over 20 years. There are a ton of things you could do, and would do, to an automatic if you were racing. There is a reason there is the saying "you can't out-shift an automatic". The simple facts are you can set up an automatic to shift at the correct speeds and you do not have to let off the accelerator to shift.
And this is coming from someone who owns and prefers to drive a manual transmission.
BTW, most 1/4 mile racing isn't about speed, it's about consistancy. You 'dial in' during qualification. The tree is staged. To win you have to be closer to your dial-in time than your competitor without beating it. A 15 second car can beat a 12 second car if the driver is more consistant.
I think the ternary conditional operator in C++ is about the most evil feature in the language. I've often wondered if someone didn't just add that so they could use it in the next obfuscated code contest.
The problem is that most programmers don't document their code. So if I'm having to troubleshoot that, not only do I have to figure out what it's doing, I also have to figure out if it's doing what you think it is supposed to be doing.
But I have an easy way of dealing with it. Just put in the coding standard that you either document your quick hacks at a level the CIO can understand it, or you don't use it.
Is maglev technology still too immature for mass adoption? Yes. But somebody needs to step up now so that one day it is an option.
Do I want to be crammed in closer to other people (taking into account that my windows are currently rattling from my neighbor's stereo), by moving back into the city? No f'ing way.
I don't question if it's illegal. Thanks to recent laws it is. I question if it should be criminal. It's certainly immoral. But based on the intent of the original copyright laws, the crime isn't committed until you distribute the copy you made. Not when you make it. And even then, it's a civil offense and not a criminal one. Copyright laws already had plenty of teeth in them. $70,000 fine per offense plus damages. The problem is, the MPAA and RIAA don't want to shoulder the costs of protecting their IP. They want taxpayers to do it for them.
There are problems with this on a number of levels. First is the metal detectors. I have to go through them at the airport because I have to travel. (I only fly for business) I refuse to go through one to see a movie. I'll be waiting to see how many theatres get sued for civil rights violations. And then of course, P2P networks will get blamed for falling ticket sales.
The next problem is that copyright infringements were intended to be CIVIL crimes. It wasn't until our politians whored themselves to corporations that we got criminal penalties like the ones specified in the DMCA. Plus, recording a movie is not a copyright violation any more than taping a song off the radio is. Copyrights deal with distribution.
And finally, someone uploading a camcorder copy of a movie is not likely to be a threat to their business model. Anybody who would be willing to purchase a ticket would not want to watch such a crappy copy. Now serializing the movies sent to awards show judges, that was a good thing. Those industry insiders were distributing DVD quality movies.
Hardware's another issue... don't expect a lot of cash drawer, manager key, or card reader support without open hardware specs.
A lot could be done without incorporating specialized hardware. Think a little smaller. I have a friend that owns an appliance store. He doesn't need a cash drawer, manager key, and the card reader is on the box he got from the credit card processing company. Same goes for the dealership where I bought my motorcyle.
What he does need is POS entry, customer database, invoice printing, inventory tracking, product serial number tracking, work orders, and an interface into an accounting package. There are probably 10s of thousands of businesses like these.
BTW, barcode scanners are available as keyboard wedge devices and cash drawers are available with a serial interface. www.mscashdrawer.com has technical documentation on how to access their serial and parallel drawers.
Point of sale system, right. You don't do that open source because there's no point. Who'd use it that doesn't have a purchasing department and thus can be expected to outlay a little dough?
How about any small business that is trying to get their systems up to the current century. I've been looking at FOSS POS systems. Few work, some think the web is the answer to everything. The best I have found so far is Quasar, (not free, but reasonably priced) and it doesn't quite meet my clients needs. So if I choose it, I'll end up making modifications or writing extra utilities. I need it to tie into a PostgreSQL server and integrate with some warranty systems/part lookup systems.
Not the sexiest project to work on, but I'll bet you could feed your family supporting it.
The British managed to keep that region in check for quite a long time. They handed back soveriegnty as a reward for helping out in WW1/WW2.
The British gained control over Iraq during WWI and gave them their independence in 1932 although it has been argued that they maintained control through a puppet dictator until WWII when they became no longer financially capable. At that point the US stepped in to try our hand at empire building. Prior to WWI they were ruled by the Ottoman Empire.
And you are saying we should follow the British example for ruling?
"In 1921, Britain imposed a new monarch on Iraq - Faisal, "a king who will be content to reign, but not to govern," in the words of a British Foreign Office bureaucrat. The subsequent mass uproar was suppressed in brutal massacres in 1920-4. The brutality of British rule was captured in an infamous quote from Winston Churchill, who said "I do not understand this squeamishness about the use of gas. I am strongly in favor of using poisoned gas against uncivilized tribes."
I don't know anything about that group, so I searched a little further and found this on GreenPeace.org
"The first use of weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East was by British forces in 1917, at a time when Britain occupied territory that was later to become Iraq. Chemical weapons were used in the process of welding the Kurdish north, the Shia south and the Sunni tribes around Baghdad, into an invented Iraqi 'kingdom' to control the region's oil. Winston Churchill, then Colonial Secretary, found "turbulent tribes" of Arabs were fighting this imperialism with some success and encouraged the use of chemical weapons. There was some opposition to this in Whitehall but Churchill wrote: "I do not understand this squeamishness about the use of gas. I am strongly in favour of using poison gas against uncivilised tribes.""
What city would you like to gas first?
In the end you have the British 'ruling' Iraq for a period of roughly 15 years. And during that period they used poisoned gas to suppress revolts whose purpose was self rule. I guess the dead were peaceful and the rest were too afraid to complain.
Of course osama was revoked his Saudi citizenship because they weren't happy with them. Iraq is an important step in the war on terror. Success in Iraq will be a major blow for the terrorists.
Here is a quote from a 'Special Press Summary' from the Virtual Information Center. I found it by searching FirstGov for information on 9-11
"The Virtual Information Center (VIC) is a six-person cell that conducts research among public domain materials for the CDR U.S. Pacific Command (USPACOM) and his staff. The assessments generated by the VIC's researchers are disseminated to the headquarters staff and many other recipients as part of the VIC's situational-awareness mission."
In the section titled:
Saudi Crown Prince To Visit Moscow
"Fifteen of 19 hijackers in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks were Saudis."
Add Osama to that and you have 16 out of 20 were Saudi citizens. Yet we chose to attack Iraq, their neighbor.
I'm too lazy to look it up, it should be easy to find, but recently several experts on terrorism, and Al Qaeda in particular, have stated that all we have done with our unfocused 'war' is decentr
You haven't been paying attention to history have you? No country governed by christians is ever going to pacify that particular region. That is, short of nuking them into the stone ages. And I'm not even sure that would do it.
And besides that, explain it to the families of the 600+ (and rising) dead soldiers. Oh, and have you been watching the news this week? We are about to get 're-engaged' just to keep from getting run out of Iraq completely.
Now tell me, where are the WMD and the link to Al Qaeda? Remember Al Qaeda, the ones that actually flew the planes into the Trade Center? The ones whose leader is Osama, not Saddam, and their nationality tends toward Saudi and not Iraqi.
And this isn't even close to Europe in either war. Remember, Europe was already at war when we joined in. And in both cases it was in reponse to an attack on American citizens. You do remember Pearl Harbor don't you? How about the Lusitania? (even though it was just one of the reasons/excuses for pulling us out our our isolationism) Tell me, were there any wars in the Middle Eastern region before we attacked Iraq? Israel doesn't count, the Americans and British carry a good deal of blame for that too.
But the whole point was; the American population is not willing to risk lives for space exploration because they are not afraid of it. It's not going to bomb their malls or take away the precious fuel from their SUVs.
BTW, you make too many assumptions about my standards. Maybe you just take sending our citizens off to die a little to lightly.
They're just rehashing an old marketing plan. Think CD or cassette 'singles'. They generally had a hit track and a couple fillers.
From my perspective, online prices are still too high. CD prices are much too high, and what do I gain by buying a $17 CD for $10 online and then spend my time and media burning it? A CDR is less durable than a pressed CD, it requires me to supply the jeweled case or sleeve, and includes no liner notes. I'd rather just go buy a used one. To encourage me to buy digitally, they'd need to price to be less than 50 cents a track and $6 for the whole CD.
But then again, it's not price or P2P that is keeping me from buying CDs now. It's the fact that the artists I buy are not putting out new music and they aren't introducing new artists that interest me.
Why make them re-write all the standard routines over and over again when they can work from templates or crib from a previous project.
A couple reasons. The most important to you is that you don't know what kind of contract they had with previous employers. Why take unnecessary risks. The libraries that they would link or copy/paste are most likely simple, repetitive routines that could easily be re-created.
Another reason is that unless they are job hopping, in which case you probably don't want them anyway, their libraries have accumulated over years. And it would be a good time for them to take another look at them and see what can be improved with more advanced techniques and wisdom.
If the library is significant, then so are the risks of using it. If it's not, then it's trivial to rewrite them. And chances are you already have many of the routines in your current libraries.
Not really. Not with the length and variety of cell ringtones. Also, all you hear with a pager is the beep. You don't have to listen to their whole conversation. Assuming of course they aren't also carrying a cell phone on their batman utility belt and continue their rude behavior.
The problem is, at least in my little part of the world, we have an increasingly rude society. I find it rude when I go to lunch with someone who spends the whole time on their cell phone. (As well as someone else in the restuarant talking loudly to be heard over a bad cell connection) I found it extremely rude when a relative, who will remain nameless, left her phone on during my grandmother's funeral and then had to dig through her purse to make it stop ringing.
If people can't be courteous, then other methods will be taken. If they won't silence their phones, then blockers will be installed and we all lose. If you make the blockers illegal, they'll just refuse to let us in the door with the phone.
All people have to do to stop this is to quit running around like they are the most important person in the world. Businesses won't spend money for devices that aren't necessary.
BTW, I have a situation where at least once a week I am required to silence my cell phone for several hours. It's pretty simple, open the cover and hold down 1 key for a couple seconds. Repeat process when it's over. I don't miss calls and no one is ever disturbed.
I'm not sure why you think the shuttle will ALWAYS be needed to service the ISS. According to a PDF I just found from Florida Space Research Institute, the Shuttle has a maximum payload of 24400 kg to LEO. The new Delta IV Heavy is 26530 and the Atlas V and Titan IV are 20520 and 21680 respectively. We don't seem to be having any trouble getting supplies and personel to ISS now. We just need the shuttle for the heavy lifting for new components. I don't see any reason why the Delta IV can't take over those tasks.
The Mars Society is testing out mission concepts by mucking around in deserts, in Nevada and up above the Arctic circle.
Going to the moon might not be the answer, but playing in the desert isn't either. Mars habitats might not need to be able to work in a vacuum, but it wouldn't hurt. And the trip there will require it.
The thing about the unknown is that you're going to make mistakes. If you are a programmer, would you want to write software on a machine where you can only compile once a day or one that lets you do it once an hour? I'm not convinced that we could test every contingency from orbit. That would make the moon a useful place for failures.
Slashdot Mirror
About 3 months after I did a Knoppix install on my parents' machine, I had to wipe it and do a from-scratch Debian install, because an apt-get update destroyed the init system.
Not to be picky, but I think you mean apt-get upgrade. Update just pulls down the lists of available software, it doesn't install/remove anything. Oddly enough, I've had the best luck setting apt to 'unstable'. (for the first time ever, I'm actually running the latest release of KDE, not the one installed with a distro) And to be honest, if you can do a 'from-scratch Debian install', you should have been able to fix an apt-get problem.
No, I mean that I have installed half a dozen machines that way, used them extensively, and never experienced any problem due to Knoppix. Installs using the Debian installer have always been much more of a headache.
I have done quite a few Knoppix installs, and there are problems there. I have yet to do an apt-get upgrade where there weren't broken packages. Knoppix sets apt to 'testing', but it appears that they mix 'unstable' in the distro. Not necessarily bad, but it does cause some problems. I have had problems with KDE in the past where they only installed part of a package to save space. The most common problem seems to be files installed by multiple packages, and you end up doing a dpkg force overwrite quite often. Ran into it just like night upgrading to KDE 3.2.2. Of course you could say 'stick to stable and you won't have those problems', but debian stable is not something most people will want.
Knoppix really nice for newbies because if you really screw something up (like last weekend when I forced the wrong package and backleveled my KDE), it's easy to do a fresh install.
Honestly, Knoppix is the only reason I'm using debian. I love apt, but I have never gotten a usuable install from pure Debian.
Maybe it's because they realise that the public at large is apathetic about robots, but gets excited when a human does things...
For an agency that is supposed to be about exploration and research, they're not very good at doing their homework. Raise your hand if you cared about last weeks launch of new astronauts to the ISS? I saw the article, but didn't bother to read it. Now how many people followed the landings of the two mars rovers and the articles about the problems they overcame?
People get excited about new things, and if the shuttle had reached it's intended level of service, it would have been about as interesting as a bus schedule. Here's a new idea for you, put a robot on the moon with a camera and feed streaming video to a NASA website. For the first 6 months to a year it would generate enough interest to make the slashdot effect seem lame by comparison.
Installer: debian.org/devel/debian-installer. I used the 30 meg 'net' install for i386. I knew that the current stable release was too old for what I wanted to do, so I followed the links to the latest beta. It certainly wasn't cfdisk, I use that everytime I install with Knoppix. The new one showed me my two HDs, gave me the option to automatically partition or to manually partition. Manually partition let me create one partition for the 'full' size of the disk. No option for creating more than one partition and no way to see the true size.
On the bootloader, I went through a normal install the first time until it told me it was going to install grub, so I rebooted and started from scratch in expert mode. I skipped the configure grub option and configured lilo, even though it was already installed. Exiting the lilo config option put me back on the grub option. I skipped it again and selected the option to install and it installed grub in the boot sector although the lilo packages were installed too.
I've used a couple (now old) RedHat installs. Probably something like 7.x. Mandrake 7?, 8, 9, and left when I saw what 9.1 did. Debian Woody, which has never given me a bootable system. Debian Sarge. Gentoo and Knoppix. And some really old versions a couple years ago from TurboLinux, Slackware, and some that I no longer remember. To be really honest, the unofficial Knoppix install is the smoothest I have found. If only Knoppix wasn't so big.
The problem with the concept of opensource MMORPGs is that it makes it extremely easy for players to write their own bots to play the game for them, or a trainer of some sorts (speed hack, teleporting, seeing players through walls).
Sounds more like an improperly designed MMORPG. There are plenty of closed source ones that already have those problems. Bots aren't evil. The server shouldn't allow speed hacks, or teleporting, and if the client isn't supposed to see it, the server shouldn't include it in the data packet.
The reason the developers do those things is that either their servers don't scale or some bean counter doesn't want to buy appropriate hardware. So they offload processing to the clients. Maybe that's also why we have EQ players here saying they need 1g of ram to play.
Personally, I don't expect to play for free. My gripe is they want $50 for the software and then $15 a month. If you really need the $$$ up front, then give 3 month subscriptions with the $50 retail package. Although I'd prefer to just download the client.
Beats the hell out of Debian's installer anyway. But that doesn't take much.
Actually, I was just doing a debian install last night using Sarge. And tonight I'll probably reformat the drive. Let's see, 32g out of a 40g drive (don't have that problem with Knoppix), no option to build multiple partitions, no swap partition? I wanted lilo, I configured lilo, lilo was already installed, it installed grub. (in expert mode)
For me, I don't really care about social contracts. Free means I don't have to open my wallet to install it. It's a nice goal, but not something that I'm looking at when I'm building a system.
The things that have kept me using Debian are apt and Knoppix. And the ideal installer would be a Knoppix build that only included the base OS and a full KDE. (I prefer to boot to Knoppix, then knx-hdinstall) I'll apt-get everything else.
2004 or 2005 for Sarge? Doesn't matter, it's so outdated it's already irrelevent.
Here's the thing people, it doesn't matter how many applications are available for Linux if you have to fight with every install. Wanna hear a story about spending 3 hours getting mysql working properly because of one improperly documented setting? PostgreSQL installed fine. MythTV, I'll get it going someday....
Why dilute the alcohol with water? 100 proof alcohol is 50% water, 50% alcohol by volume. Your 50 proof is only 25% alcohol. You'll just spend more time at the gas pump. You're better off using a higher grade alcohol and mixing it with gasoline. You could call it gasohol. :-)
Engine efficiencies are not entirely based on the fuel that is burned. Diesel engines are much heavier and have higher compression. This is fine for a OTR truck. But it wouldn't be suited for a sports car.
E85 engines are normal gasoline engines modified to handle more heat. Heavier blocks, bigger cooling systems. But the same low compression and similar efficiency. Actually, considering the additional heat loss, probably less efficient.
The problem with all ICEs are heat loss.
You've never seen my yard in the fall. I think my trees produce enough leaves to power a fleet of cars.
Actually, I would prefer:
// tell me what bar() does, bar is a lousy name for a boolean function
if(bar())
foo = MAGIC;
else
foo++;
or
if(bar())
{
foo = MAGIC;
}
else
{
foo++;
}
White space doesn't cost anything. I get annoyed at people who choose a construct because it's "less typing" or "fewer lines". If a function gets too long to read on the screen, we have this nifty device called a printer. Although it probably means your function could be more modular.
The problem with doing things cleverly is that they are more difficult to debug. And really, the compiler/computer don't care. It's just a stream of instructions. But for the programmer it is a problem when it comes time to maintain the code. If you're working on someone else's code you think: "that guy was a hack, what did he think he was doing", especially if that programmer is no longer around. When it comes to modifying your own code 2 or 3 years down the road, you will look at it and say: "what the hell was I thinking?"
Here is a quote for the C programmers out there....
"Debugging is twice as hard as writing the code in the first place. Therefore, if you write the code as cleverly as possible, you are, by definition, not smart enough to debug it." Brian Kernighan
Even using heavy acceleration by holding to the floor (engaging "passing gear"), the auto still tends to shift more conservatively than a manual's operator thereby allowing them to take advantage of the higher revs.
"Passing gear"? give me a break. B&M has had shift improver kits for automatic transmissions for well over 20 years. There are a ton of things you could do, and would do, to an automatic if you were racing. There is a reason there is the saying "you can't out-shift an automatic". The simple facts are you can set up an automatic to shift at the correct speeds and you do not have to let off the accelerator to shift.
And this is coming from someone who owns and prefers to drive a manual transmission.
BTW, most 1/4 mile racing isn't about speed, it's about consistancy. You 'dial in' during qualification. The tree is staged. To win you have to be closer to your dial-in time than your competitor without beating it. A 15 second car can beat a 12 second car if the driver is more consistant.
I think the ternary conditional operator in C++ is about the most evil feature in the language. I've often wondered if someone didn't just add that so they could use it in the next obfuscated code contest.
The problem is that most programmers don't document their code. So if I'm having to troubleshoot that, not only do I have to figure out what it's doing, I also have to figure out if it's doing what you think it is supposed to be doing.
But I have an easy way of dealing with it. Just put in the coding standard that you either document your quick hacks at a level the CIO can understand it, or you don't use it.
Is maglev an economically a dumb idea? No.
Is maglev technology still too immature for mass adoption? Yes. But somebody needs to step up now so that one day it is an option.
Do I want to be crammed in closer to other people (taking into account that my windows are currently rattling from my neighbor's stereo), by moving back into the city? No f'ing way.
I don't question if it's illegal. Thanks to recent laws it is. I question if it should be criminal. It's certainly immoral. But based on the intent of the original copyright laws, the crime isn't committed until you distribute the copy you made. Not when you make it. And even then, it's a civil offense and not a criminal one. Copyright laws already had plenty of teeth in them. $70,000 fine per offense plus damages. The problem is, the MPAA and RIAA don't want to shoulder the costs of protecting their IP. They want taxpayers to do it for them.
There are problems with this on a number of levels. First is the metal detectors. I have to go through them at the airport because I have to travel. (I only fly for business) I refuse to go through one to see a movie. I'll be waiting to see how many theatres get sued for civil rights violations. And then of course, P2P networks will get blamed for falling ticket sales.
The next problem is that copyright infringements were intended to be CIVIL crimes. It wasn't until our politians whored themselves to corporations that we got criminal penalties like the ones specified in the DMCA. Plus, recording a movie is not a copyright violation any more than taping a song off the radio is. Copyrights deal with distribution.
And finally, someone uploading a camcorder copy of a movie is not likely to be a threat to their business model. Anybody who would be willing to purchase a ticket would not want to watch such a crappy copy. Now serializing the movies sent to awards show judges, that was a good thing. Those industry insiders were distributing DVD quality movies.
Hardware's another issue ... don't expect a lot of cash drawer, manager key, or card reader support without open hardware specs.
A lot could be done without incorporating specialized hardware. Think a little smaller. I have a friend that owns an appliance store. He doesn't need a cash drawer, manager key, and the card reader is on the box he got from the credit card processing company. Same goes for the dealership where I bought my motorcyle.
What he does need is POS entry, customer database, invoice printing, inventory tracking, product serial number tracking, work orders, and an interface into an accounting package. There are probably 10s of thousands of businesses like these.
BTW, barcode scanners are available as keyboard wedge devices and cash drawers are available with a serial interface. www.mscashdrawer.com has technical documentation on how to access their serial and parallel drawers.
Point of sale system, right. You don't do that open source because there's no point. Who'd use it that doesn't have a purchasing department and thus can be expected to outlay a little dough?
How about any small business that is trying to get their systems up to the current century. I've been looking at FOSS POS systems. Few work, some think the web is the answer to everything. The best I have found so far is Quasar, (not free, but reasonably priced) and it doesn't quite meet my clients needs. So if I choose it, I'll end up making modifications or writing extra utilities. I need it to tie into a PostgreSQL server and integrate with some warranty systems/part lookup systems.
Not the sexiest project to work on, but I'll bet you could feed your family supporting it.
I don't see the problem, all you have to do is call the next morning.
I suspect this is futile, you're too busy campaigning to be bothered with facts, but....
Somehow I feel like this has become a process of doing your research for you.
Iraq Timeline
The British managed to keep that region in check for quite a long time. They handed back soveriegnty as a reward for helping out in WW1/WW2.
The British gained control over Iraq during WWI and gave them their independence in 1932 although it has been argued that they maintained control through a puppet dictator until WWII when they became no longer financially capable. At that point the US stepped in to try our hand at empire building. Prior to WWI they were ruled by the Ottoman Empire.
And you are saying we should follow the British example for ruling?
An example of British rule
"In 1921, Britain imposed a new monarch on Iraq - Faisal, "a king who will be content to reign, but not to govern," in the words of a British Foreign Office bureaucrat. The subsequent mass uproar was suppressed in brutal massacres in 1920-4. The brutality of British rule was captured in an infamous quote from Winston Churchill, who said "I do not understand this squeamishness about the use of gas. I am strongly in favor of using poisoned gas against uncivilized tribes."
I don't know anything about that group, so I searched a little further and found this on GreenPeace.org
Greenpeace
"The first use of weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East was by British forces in 1917, at a time when Britain occupied territory that was later to become Iraq. Chemical weapons were used in the process of welding the Kurdish north, the Shia south and the Sunni tribes around Baghdad, into an invented Iraqi 'kingdom' to control the region's oil. Winston Churchill, then Colonial Secretary, found "turbulent tribes" of Arabs were fighting this imperialism with some success and encouraged the use of chemical weapons. There was some opposition to this in Whitehall but Churchill wrote: "I do not understand this squeamishness about the use of gas. I am strongly in favour of using poison gas against uncivilised tribes.""
What city would you like to gas first?
In the end you have the British 'ruling' Iraq for a period of roughly 15 years. And during that period they used poisoned gas to suppress revolts whose purpose was self rule. I guess the dead were peaceful and the rest were too afraid to complain.
Of course osama was revoked his Saudi citizenship because they weren't happy with them. Iraq is an important step in the war on terror. Success in Iraq will be a major blow for the terrorists.
Here is a quote from a 'Special Press Summary' from the Virtual Information Center. I found it by searching FirstGov for information on 9-11
911 Highjackers"
From their web site:
"The Virtual Information Center (VIC) is a six-person cell that conducts research among public domain materials for the CDR U.S. Pacific Command (USPACOM) and his staff. The assessments generated by the VIC's researchers are disseminated to the headquarters staff and many other recipients as part of the VIC's situational-awareness mission."
In the section titled:
Saudi Crown Prince To Visit Moscow
"Fifteen of 19 hijackers in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks were Saudis."
Add Osama to that and you have 16 out of 20 were Saudi citizens. Yet we chose to attack Iraq, their neighbor.
I'm too lazy to look it up, it should be easy to find, but recently several experts on terrorism, and Al Qaeda in particular, have stated that all we have done with our unfocused 'war' is decentr
You haven't been paying attention to history have you? No country governed by christians is ever going to pacify that particular region. That is, short of nuking them into the stone ages. And I'm not even sure that would do it.
And besides that, explain it to the families of the 600+ (and rising) dead soldiers. Oh, and have you been watching the news this week? We are about to get 're-engaged' just to keep from getting run out of Iraq completely.
Now tell me, where are the WMD and the link to Al Qaeda? Remember Al Qaeda, the ones that actually flew the planes into the Trade Center? The ones whose leader is Osama, not Saddam, and their nationality tends toward Saudi and not Iraqi.
And this isn't even close to Europe in either war. Remember, Europe was already at war when we joined in. And in both cases it was in reponse to an attack on American citizens. You do remember Pearl Harbor don't you? How about the Lusitania? (even though it was just one of the reasons/excuses for pulling us out our our isolationism) Tell me, were there any wars in the Middle Eastern region before we attacked Iraq? Israel doesn't count, the Americans and British carry a good deal of blame for that too.
But the whole point was; the American population is not willing to risk lives for space exploration because they are not afraid of it. It's not going to bomb their malls or take away the precious fuel from their SUVs.
BTW, you make too many assumptions about my standards. Maybe you just take sending our citizens off to die a little to lightly.
They're just rehashing an old marketing plan. Think CD or cassette 'singles'. They generally had a hit track and a couple fillers.
From my perspective, online prices are still too high. CD prices are much too high, and what do I gain by buying a $17 CD for $10 online and then spend my time and media burning it? A CDR is less durable than a pressed CD, it requires me to supply the jeweled case or sleeve, and includes no liner notes. I'd rather just go buy a used one. To encourage me to buy digitally, they'd need to price to be less than 50 cents a track and $6 for the whole CD.
But then again, it's not price or P2P that is keeping me from buying CDs now. It's the fact that the artists I buy are not putting out new music and they aren't introducing new artists that interest me.
Why make them re-write all the standard routines over and over again when they can work from templates or crib from a previous project.
A couple reasons. The most important to you is that you don't know what kind of contract they had with previous employers. Why take unnecessary risks. The libraries that they would link or copy/paste are most likely simple, repetitive routines that could easily be re-created.
Another reason is that unless they are job hopping, in which case you probably don't want them anyway, their libraries have accumulated over years. And it would be a good time for them to take another look at them and see what can be improved with more advanced techniques and wisdom.
If the library is significant, then so are the risks of using it. If it's not, then it's trivial to rewrite them. And chances are you already have many of the routines in your current libraries.
Not really. Not with the length and variety of cell ringtones. Also, all you hear with a pager is the beep. You don't have to listen to their whole conversation. Assuming of course they aren't also carrying a cell phone on their batman utility belt and continue their rude behavior.
One idiot spoils it for everybody.
The problem is, at least in my little part of the world, we have an increasingly rude society. I find it rude when I go to lunch with someone who spends the whole time on their cell phone. (As well as someone else in the restuarant talking loudly to be heard over a bad cell connection) I found it extremely rude when a relative, who will remain nameless, left her phone on during my grandmother's funeral and then had to dig through her purse to make it stop ringing.
If people can't be courteous, then other methods will be taken. If they won't silence their phones, then blockers will be installed and we all lose. If you make the blockers illegal, they'll just refuse to let us in the door with the phone.
All people have to do to stop this is to quit running around like they are the most important person in the world. Businesses won't spend money for devices that aren't necessary.
BTW, I have a situation where at least once a week I am required to silence my cell phone for several hours. It's pretty simple, open the cover and hold down 1 key for a couple seconds. Repeat process when it's over. I don't miss calls and no one is ever disturbed.
I'm not sure why you think the shuttle will ALWAYS be needed to service the ISS. According to a PDF I just found from Florida Space Research Institute, the Shuttle has a maximum payload of 24400 kg to LEO. The new Delta IV Heavy is 26530 and the Atlas V and Titan IV are 20520 and 21680 respectively. We don't seem to be having any trouble getting supplies and personel to ISS now. We just need the shuttle for the heavy lifting for new components. I don't see any reason why the Delta IV can't take over those tasks.
The Mars Society is testing out mission concepts by mucking around in deserts, in Nevada and up above the Arctic circle.
Going to the moon might not be the answer, but playing in the desert isn't either. Mars habitats might not need to be able to work in a vacuum, but it wouldn't hurt. And the trip there will require it.
The thing about the unknown is that you're going to make mistakes. If you are a programmer, would you want to write software on a machine where you can only compile once a day or one that lets you do it once an hour? I'm not convinced that we could test every contingency from orbit. That would make the moon a useful place for failures.