I ran into this at the Minneapolis airport, and found it rather amusing. Interestingly enough though, I had an entirely different thought on the matter. It seems to be the staple of a lot of movies to do the hand-off of goods through a subway/airport/bus terminal locker. i.e. I drop of the goods for "safe keeping" someone makes good on the deal and I give them the key. This kind of throws a wrench in the whole trade as you now need *my* finger to get the package (and hopefully (for the finger owner) the reader requires the finger to be in good working order, which would close the gummy bear loop).
Of course on a less criminal note, you also can't give your wife the key to go get something either. I did think about the connection to the back-end database that would check my prints against all the most wanteds out there, but then, I realized that if the government (local or otherwise) actually *was* that organized, then none of this would have become an issue in the first place.
It's fun to be paranoid, but at least in my dealings with the public sector, they're probably years from being able to look up a police report online much less wirelessly inform the flatfoot down the hall that I'm dropping off a bomb.
Wouldn't *all* of this been solved if libraries were simply given credit to buy CD, rather than dump this crap on them?!? If the record companies are not just dumping crap they can't sell on this than the whole thing would be settled by giving each institution credit for X CD's, and be done with it. Then all of these institutions could have, oh, I don't know, expanded their classical offerings, or even the history sections on jazz, or something usefull. It seems odd the the record industry wouldn't opt to give libraries CD's that aren't huge sellers (that people are less likely to buy) just to move that market a bit. As in we all know that the bodyguard didn't do to well, but I'm sure there are a ton of other not so hot CD's that you could dump and at least MAKE IT LOOK LIKE YOUR TRYING.
I guess my point is that we all knew that whoever was handling the case must have fscked up somewhere when we found out that they 'won'. If the companies weren't going to play fair, they could have at least tried a little harder to not make it so obvious.
Ah RadioShack home of overpriced components. I don't know about elsewhere, but in MN all of the RadioShacks here have swept all of their component wares into unkempt drawers. (Not like you could go in and ask for a germanium diode before, but now the most important customer (and in an inexhastable supply at that) is the cell phone buyer.:(
I while back I confronted a salesperson after being ask (yet again) for all of my personal info. There were at least 3 stores in the area and all of them had to ask me the same crap. I had finally reached my breaking point and asked rather tearsly why a company as big as RadioShack couldn't just pool the stores information so at the very least I only had to answer the grand interrogation once. His response was, (and in a rather patronizing, matter of fact voice) "Do you know how big of a network they would need to do that?" To which I of course smuggly replied "I think the Internet might be big enough."
I suppose the bright side was that it was quite easy with the disorganization to go around to each RadioShack, ask for a part (I knew) they didn't have on hand, and then after asking to see the catalog being able to ask again (for the first time) "What's this barcode for? Oh really, CueCat, huh? How much do those run you?"
That is interesting. Any chance you could fill us in on what kind of uses the agreement would or would not allow?
Sorry, that's even better. From the letter:
"According to the settlement approved by the court, the CD's must be used to further music-related programs or purposes reasonably targeted to benefit a substantial number of the purchasers of compact discs and cannot be used to replace or supplant any funding for the purchase of pre-recorded music."
WTF? The school purchases CDs, but I wouldn't say that the kids qualify as "a substantial number of the purchasers of compact discs". (Course Kindergardeners do prolly drop a wad on Raffi CD's these days, right?) Maybe these are for the staff lounge? It's nice that they prevent the school from trying to cut any money gained out of the "Fund For The Purchase of Pre-Recorded Music" (which you know that all schools have) Wouldn't want any of this to hurt future sales, now would we? (Prolly another reason for sending crap they can't use.)
All I can say is that very few CDs in the box could "further music-related programs" on the grade school level, (Unless they add that new Aerosmith competency requirement to the standards) which makes the whole thing moot.
My wife's school just got a box of CD's (which was out of the blue for them) It's a grade school. "Spooky Scary Sounds for Halloween from Martha Stewart" was one of the few CD's that was even useful. The principle basicly wanted the CD's off the school property. A letter with the CD's stated the following:
"We note that the CD's that are being distributed were selected will an eye towards making a distribution that is representative of all generes of prerecorded music. For that reason we wish to caution you that some materials being distributed may be suitable only for use by teenagers, yough adults or adults."
Um, ya. On a brighter note on things, despite the fact that a lot of the CD's where in fact cut-outs the letter goes on to state:
"If you receive CD's which are not appropriate or useful for you collection, or which are duplicative, you may wish to use those CD's for fund-rasing purposes, such as through library sales or auctions. However, if you do so, any funds raised must be used in a manner that complies with the settlement agreement as noted above."
So let me get this straight, they couldn't sell them, but we're welcome to try... Yah, thanks. Someone dropped the ball here. The music companies just basicly got a chance to clean out the warehouse. One of the CD they got was even smashed. I'm sure that the record companies where able to claim the full value of the CD as being donated, hell they are probably even going to get to write it off!
Ah well, at least this halloween the kids will have really spooky music to listen to. (Even spookyer now Martha's going to be an ex-con, eh?)
... Slackware ages well. I have to admit that I'm in the 'old fart' camp and love the chance to 'karma whore' whenever a good Slackware story comes up. Slackware 10 is not different. (And we can all thank Patrick for *NOT* calling it 'Slackware X':)
Seriously. I keep looking at new distros, but when it comes to my box, I'll never stray. I keep coming back to it for the same reasons. Slackware people know their boxes and know their software. (generalization, yes, but you try watching the screen as you're doing a floppy install and *NOT* know everything thats on your box.)
Slackware 9.1 was a breeze to install, and I'm sure 10 will be no different. Keep up the good work Patrick. Let the wipper snappers have their new fangled distros. I'll keep mine, thank you.
I think the Real value here is the fact that the mindshare is shifting. The main issue with the Net is not a lack of good codecs, it's a lack of people using them. You need mind share from bigger names (Real, Novell, RedHat to some extent) so that the content *providers* are encoraged to used the tech. Most sites are already a mess with offering Media Player, Real, and Quicktime, I can see why (though I don't entirely agree with it) they wouldn't want yet another format.
This is where DRM rears it's ugly head as well. People want you to see things, but not copy them. If I have the source, I can do anything with any content you stream me. Most execs don't like that.
I guess I'm a baby steps kinda guy, let me have an open source player, with black box codecs first. The rest will come.
Personally though, I'm watching gStreamer. If we can nail down decoding *and* encoding into moduals that people can then build into real tools, then we'll *really* see things happen.
It's not bloody likely. On two counts. The first being that the Treo 600 may not be compatable. I chased down individuals at the last PalmSource and tried to get to the bottom of why the 802.11 SD drivers where not being released. The main answer was that on some devices, the card would draw too much power (802.11 suck current, fancy that!) and could even fry the unit. ouch!
The second is more political than anything else. Starting with OS 5.0 (and someone correct me if I'm wrong) the drivers aren't as easy to hack, the least of which is that they have to be in native ARM (as opposed to the PACE layer) Hell Armlets^H^H^H^H^H^H^H PNO's where like pulling teeth to write till resently). Things get worse in OS 6.0/Cobalt where the vendor can choose (and PalmOne will, if they ever release a Cobalt device) to require the drivers be signed in order to run. Great for preventing viruses, sucks for hackers such as myself that might want to hack on a device that I may not care to sell/commit to developer fees that may apply.
And all this before reverse engineering the card itself. Better off to wait and hope that PalmOne releases a Treo with Bluetooth built in (nudge, wink)
Actually from what I've seen, a lot is in there. PalmSource (not to be confused with PalmOne mind you) seems to have put a ton of work into making Palm OS a *real* OS with the same mentality that BeOS had (sorry has) of working multimedia into the core of the OS. Let's just say that mine was one of many jaws dropping at PalmSource earlier this year.
So yes, there is a lot of Be in Cobalt (multimedia, POSIX, etc)
Now we just have to see were the market is going. PalmSource seems to be looking at Garnet (which is targeted at the small foot-print phone market space) as the cash cow for the future. I had hoped that Sony would lead the charge and release a Cobalt Clie (as they tend to beat the more conservative PalmOne to market on such things) but with them dropping out. Outlook not so good. I just hope that Colbalt doesn't get infected with the same ahead-of-its-time issue that BeOS suffered. At least to PalmSource's credit, they really bent over backwards to make the old PalmOS stuff work, without polluting the new too badly. (If BeOS had had a WINE for MacOS emulator to bridge the app gap, it might have done better.)
We're having a debate about whether these plants stink. There's currently a proposal being fought near where I live to make a plant that burns tires. My guess is that this would be a bit nicer on the nose. Anyone live by one of these things that can speak to whether people are going to just to have one of these in they're back yard?
Also, wouldn't it make sence to just start pumping sewer waste into one of these things? While this does produce oil (which is't exactly evironmentally friendly) I'm thinking that this has got to be better than burning tires, garbage, etc. Even if you're not looking at the power generated, I'd think you'd want this over an incinerator. Am I wrong on this?
I'm already seeing "Sexually:Explicit -" (rather than "SEXUALLY-EXPLICIT:" It says in Part 316.1.a.1:
Exclude sexually oriented materials from the subject heading for the electronic mail message and include in the subject heading the phrase "SEXUALLY-EXPLICIT:" in capital letters as the first nineteen (19) characters at the beginning of the subject line
Food VS Fuel? Does that mean we should stop doing
this?
For the lazy clickers: "The preeminent source of nitrogen fertilizer is synthesis of ammonia from the hydrogen of natural gas and the nitrogen of the atmosphere, a source without obvious limit."
Of course if you believe the 'without obvious limit' part than this might sober ya up.
Seems like we're already wasting fuel on food.
"SCO understands that for any operating system to be commercially viable, especially Linux, it needs a well-defined roadmap from a trusted supplier, who is committed to and capable of supporting it," said Andy Nagle, director of SCO Linux products.
The question is, is this saying "sorry Andy" or "this is Andy and I'm sorry" (Either way it's a quote worth framing.:)
"SCO understands that for any operating system to be commercially viable,
especially Linux, it needs a well-defined roadmap from a trusted supplier,
who is committed to and capable of supporting it," said Andy Nagle, director
of SCO Linux products.
The question is, is this saying "sorry Andy" or "this is Andy and I'm sorry" (Either way it's a quote worth framing.:)
I had the fortune of seeing an early version of this unit. It was billed as a iPod competitor (yet was not Mac compatible) The only thing that caught my eye was the built in FM transmitter. Other then that it was a yawner. I asked about the small drive and upon cracking the thing open saw that it was just that, a small drive (this was of course before the announcement of the mini 2GB drive the new iPods will use) and was told that it was the biggest drive available for the form factor.
Anyway, I knew the guy, and hated to say it, but the device on the whole is a yawner and not worth the cash. The interface sucks, the FM (granted this was a alpha/beta unit) was iffy, and it has not Linux/Mac support. (which is not a big deal for some, but is for me)
I had an job at a popular burger chain in high school, and while yes, there where a lot of people there that were 'just passing through' as in getting an education and exploiting flexible hours, there were also a fair share of individuals who had 'reached their full potential' shall we say. It's the nature of the fact that you're making minimum wage. At the time, we were required to punch in/out by keying our SSN into the registers. (Which might make people cringe, but your employer needs anyway to pay you). This is really no different and arguably more secure. (How many ways can I currently use you palm scan to steal your identity?)
On the animal note... I can draw more references to the average aptitude needed to operate a fry machine than I can to the way people are treated. That and if your treated unfairly at one burger joint, move your damn cheese. Half the places out there required simply that you speak English (an even this might be waved) and that you are breathing/have a pulse.
When they start taking blood samples ala Gattica or feeding worker rendered coworkers, then complain.
So here is an excellent chance to push
SPF
on the masses. It solves the problem of maintaining lists. Simply tell the customers that if they don't have the excepted mail servers listed in their DNS record, the mail will be refused.
A new worm is sweeping across the Net today. The worm, dubbed JudusUpdate.MSFT, apparently exploits yet another hole in Microsoft's enterprise class security, only this one has a twist, infected machines are instructed to auto-update from a trojan server. Once infected, computers that are able become "evil-update" servers themselves. Microsoft is not commenting at this point.
An odd thought, many legal issues, but still interesting: Suppose someone starts a service that is like file sharing, but is actually time sharing a local POTS connection. i.e. For every x minutes that I donate my land line to the cause, I get x minutes on a gateway somewhere else. Not quite like open access points but similar. Of course there are many kinks (restricting long distance calls, people pranking on the system, hacking, etc) but the idea of a non-fixed, free, distributed POTS gateway is somewhat interesting. The best/worst part of IP telephony is that there is always going to have to be a last mile connector. This means revenue. Somehow though, I see the charges for IP2POTS calls ultimately shifting to the person *being called*. i.e. AT&T allows IP phone to be able to call your cell as a service. Evil, yes, but until IPv6 comes out, the billing models in place work that way. Course right now someone could make some dough with little Mom and Pop gateways... So many options!
It's like an old pair of jeans....
on
Slackware Turns 10
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Speaking from the old folks camp, there are many distros for many people. Slackware is not really a 'newbie' distro, or at least not newbie in the sense of 'I just wanna play with Linux' area. If you are already a technical person, and like detail, Slackware is a great way to learn the insides and out of the system. Very rarely in the 8 or so years of using the distrib have I not been able to find a solution in a howto or usenet. If I download some code and try to compile something, and it does not work, most times I'm the kind of person that will tweak the code and fix it... because I can If I stick with the RPM/DEB/etc thought train, if it don't install.... I'm stuck. No, I don't tell new people to try Slackware, I throw them a KNOPPIX cd and let them play. But I'm an old fart that enjoys fixing a problem and learning about my system. If that's not for you, there are other distros. I was just looking at my box the other day and realized that I've been on the same distrib version since '99! Happy birthday Slackware! Distros came and go, but it's nice to know that at least one is worried more about the rock solid nature that is Linux's longest claim to fame, and less about the creaping featurism that seems to be spreading slowly across the Linux world. "In my day, we downloaded 20+ disks off a 14.4 modem, and loaded them one by one to install Linux... and we liked it!"
So then like someone writes a virus that waits until someone is near a 'soft' bubble and then invert the program to trap them there. The same controls that keep them from going into the city, now prevent them from leaving... so the circle till they're out of gas and crash. Great! The only issue here is that where using technology for a false sense of security. However, if this technology does go in, I could hack a no-fly-zone over my house... never mind, this is a great idea! Carry on!
I have to laugh at this. There are many of us (like myself) that said to hell with it years ago and wrote spam filters (mine is just guilty until proven innocent it's worked fine for 5 years now.) and where done with it. That and the post office is very firm in it's statement that it is _not_ 'junk' mail as all of that crap helps keep the cost of stamps down. I think the solution is simple. The post office should jack up the cost of bulk mailings! The post office makes more money from increased price _and_ volume and I actually concider mailing gramma a card as opposed to e-mailing it!. Seriously though, even though I signed up, most of my calls fall into the beg^H^H^H non-profits soliciting funds for worthy causes. I swear, _those_ lists are sold to other non-profits. That and through the old change-your-middle-initial trick, I've been able to track a number of magazines-for-poor-cancer-kids places to bulk mail (they claim it's the magazine company selling it... could be, but nice cover). I guess I'm all for it, but I think I'm going to just have to hack an guilty-until-proven-innocent answering machine and give the smucks calling me from numbers that don't show on caller-id a pin.
What is needed here is a system similar to phone cards. I can go to any quickie mart these days, drop a 5, 10, or 20 spot into a machine and get a phone card (for 1.9 cents a minute!) It's a safe, secure, anonymous model. Someone hacks a site or lifts my card, I'm out ~$20 at worst. The anonymous, no, it's not that I'm doing something illegal or surfing porn, it's that I do not need more targeted marketing littering my mailbox. I long for a way to purchace things on the Net, with out a long term commitment, another (non)privacy policy that states that they are 'affiliates' with the world, and above all (and this is even in the real world brick and mortor world) you do not need my zip code and you do not need my phone number. Micropayments can work, but only if it is a same as cash kind of thing.
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Undetermined, but most likely Slashdot... I love it!
Hopefully not off topic, but of you out there that have got into the nuts and bolts of GIF, are there any *smart* encoders out there? I mean encoders that analyse the image and use the various options that GIF allows to encode an image (i.e. break a single image into parts, do more than 256 with multiple pallette, etc)? It seems that GIF had a lot of potential, but with all of the patent crap, people didn't really have a chance to explore things.
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I ran into this at the Minneapolis airport, and found it rather amusing. Interestingly enough though, I had an entirely different thought on the matter. It seems to be the staple of a lot of movies to do the hand-off of goods through a subway/airport/bus terminal locker. i.e. I drop of the goods for "safe keeping" someone makes good on the deal and I give them the key. This kind of throws a wrench in the whole trade as you now need *my* finger to get the package (and hopefully (for the finger owner) the reader requires the finger to be in good working order, which would close the gummy bear loop).
Of course on a less criminal note, you also can't give your wife the key to go get something either. I did think about the connection to the back-end database that would check my prints against all the most wanteds out there, but then, I realized that if the government (local or otherwise) actually *was* that organized, then none of this would have become an issue in the first place.
It's fun to be paranoid, but at least in my dealings with the public sector, they're probably years from being able to look up a police report online much less wirelessly inform the flatfoot down the hall that I'm dropping off a bomb.
Wouldn't *all* of this been solved if libraries were simply given credit to buy CD, rather than dump this crap on them?!? If the record companies are not just dumping crap they can't sell on this than the whole thing would be settled by giving each institution credit for X CD's, and be done with it. Then all of these institutions could have, oh, I don't know, expanded their classical offerings, or even the history sections on jazz, or something usefull. It seems odd the the record industry wouldn't opt to give libraries CD's that aren't huge sellers (that people are less likely to buy) just to move that market a bit. As in we all know that the bodyguard didn't do to well, but I'm sure there are a ton of other not so hot CD's that you could dump and at least MAKE IT LOOK LIKE YOUR TRYING.
I guess my point is that we all knew that whoever was handling the case must have fscked up somewhere when we found out that they 'won'. If the companies weren't going to play fair, they could have at least tried a little harder to not make it so obvious.
Ah RadioShack home of overpriced components. I don't know about elsewhere, but in MN all of the RadioShacks here have swept all of their component wares into unkempt drawers. (Not like you could go in and ask for a germanium diode before, but now the most important customer (and in an inexhastable supply at that) is the cell phone buyer. :(
I while back I confronted a salesperson after being ask (yet again) for all of my personal info. There were at least 3 stores in the area and all of them had to ask me the same crap. I had finally reached my breaking point and asked rather tearsly why a company as big as RadioShack couldn't just pool the stores information so at the very least I only had to answer the grand interrogation once. His response was, (and in a rather patronizing, matter of fact voice) "Do you know how big of a network they would need to do that?" To which I of course smuggly replied "I think the Internet might be big enough."
I suppose the bright side was that it was quite easy with the disorganization to go around to each RadioShack, ask for a part (I knew) they didn't have on hand, and then after asking to see the catalog being able to ask again (for the first time) "What's this barcode for? Oh really, CueCat, huh? How much do those run you?"
"Free you say. Really?"
That is interesting. Any chance you could fill us in on what kind of uses the agreement would or would not allow?
Sorry, that's even better. From the letter:
"According to the settlement approved by the court, the CD's must be used to further music-related programs or purposes reasonably targeted to benefit a substantial number of the purchasers of compact discs and cannot be used to replace or supplant any funding for the purchase of pre-recorded music."
WTF? The school purchases CDs, but I wouldn't say that the kids qualify as "a substantial number of the purchasers of compact discs". (Course Kindergardeners do prolly drop a wad on Raffi CD's these days, right?) Maybe these are for the staff lounge? It's nice that they prevent the school from trying to cut any money gained out of the "Fund For The Purchase of Pre-Recorded Music" (which you know that all schools have) Wouldn't want any of this to hurt future sales, now would we? (Prolly another reason for sending crap they can't use.)
All I can say is that very few CDs in the box could "further music-related programs" on the grade school level, (Unless they add that new Aerosmith competency requirement to the standards) which makes the whole thing moot.
My wife's school just got a box of CD's (which was out of the blue for them) It's a grade school. "Spooky Scary Sounds for Halloween from Martha Stewart" was one of the few CD's that was even useful. The principle basicly wanted the CD's off the school property. A letter with the CD's stated the following:
"We note that the CD's that are being distributed were selected will an eye towards making a distribution that is representative of all generes of prerecorded music. For that reason we wish to caution you that some materials being distributed may be suitable only for use by teenagers, yough adults or adults."
Um, ya. On a brighter note on things, despite the fact that a lot of the CD's where in fact cut-outs the letter goes on to state:
"If you receive CD's which are not appropriate or useful for you collection, or which are duplicative, you may wish to use those CD's for fund-rasing purposes, such as through library sales or auctions. However, if you do so, any funds raised must be used in a manner that complies with the settlement agreement as noted above."
So let me get this straight, they couldn't sell them, but we're welcome to try... Yah, thanks. Someone dropped the ball here. The music companies just basicly got a chance to clean out the warehouse. One of the CD they got was even smashed. I'm sure that the record companies where able to claim the full value of the CD as being donated, hell they are probably even going to get to write it off!
Ah well, at least this halloween the kids will have really spooky music to listen to. (Even spookyer now Martha's going to be an ex-con, eh?)
... Slackware ages well. I have to admit that I'm in the 'old fart' camp and love the chance to 'karma whore' whenever a good Slackware story comes up. Slackware 10 is not different. (And we can all thank Patrick for *NOT* calling it 'Slackware X' :)
Seriously. I keep looking at new distros, but when it comes to my box, I'll never stray. I keep coming back to it for the same reasons. Slackware people know their boxes and know their software. (generalization, yes, but you try watching the screen as you're doing a floppy install and *NOT* know everything thats on your box.)
Slackware 9.1 was a breeze to install, and I'm sure 10 will be no different. Keep up the good work Patrick. Let the wipper snappers have their new fangled distros. I'll keep mine, thank you.
I think the Real value here is the fact that the mindshare is shifting. The main issue with the Net is not a lack of good codecs, it's a lack of people using them. You need mind share from bigger names (Real, Novell, RedHat to some extent) so that the content *providers* are encoraged to used the tech. Most sites are already a mess with offering Media Player, Real, and Quicktime, I can see why (though I don't entirely agree with it) they wouldn't want yet another format.
This is where DRM rears it's ugly head as well. People want you to see things, but not copy them. If I have the source, I can do anything with any content you stream me. Most execs don't like that.
I guess I'm a baby steps kinda guy, let me have an open source player, with black box codecs first. The rest will come.
Personally though, I'm watching gStreamer. If we can nail down decoding *and* encoding into moduals that people can then build into real tools, then we'll *really* see things happen.
It's not bloody likely. On two counts. The first being that the Treo 600 may not be compatable. I chased down individuals at the last PalmSource and tried to get to the bottom of why the 802.11 SD drivers where not being released. The main answer was that on some devices, the card would draw too much power (802.11 suck current, fancy that!) and could even fry the unit. ouch!
The second is more political than anything else. Starting with OS 5.0 (and someone correct me if I'm wrong) the drivers aren't as easy to hack, the least of which is that they have to be in native ARM (as opposed to the PACE layer) Hell Armlets^H^H^H^H^H^H^H PNO's where like pulling teeth to write till resently). Things get worse in OS 6.0/Cobalt where the vendor can choose (and PalmOne will, if they ever release a Cobalt device) to require the drivers be signed in order to run. Great for preventing viruses, sucks for hackers such as myself that might want to hack on a device that I may not care to sell/commit to developer fees that may apply.
And all this before reverse engineering the card itself. Better off to wait and hope that PalmOne releases a Treo with Bluetooth built in (nudge, wink)
That aside, no hurt in trying!
Actually from what I've seen, a lot is in there. PalmSource (not to be confused with PalmOne mind you) seems to have put a ton of work into making Palm OS a *real* OS with the same mentality that BeOS had (sorry has) of working multimedia into the core of the OS. Let's just say that mine was one of many jaws dropping at PalmSource earlier this year.
So yes, there is a lot of Be in Cobalt (multimedia, POSIX, etc)
Now we just have to see were the market is going. PalmSource seems to be looking at Garnet (which is targeted at the small foot-print phone market space) as the cash cow for the future. I had hoped that Sony would lead the charge and release a Cobalt Clie (as they tend to beat the more conservative PalmOne to market on such things) but with them dropping out. Outlook not so good. I just hope that Colbalt doesn't get infected with the same ahead-of-its-time issue that BeOS suffered. At least to PalmSource's credit, they really bent over backwards to make the old PalmOS stuff work, without polluting the new too badly. (If BeOS had had a WINE for MacOS emulator to bridge the app gap, it might have done better.)
We're having a debate about whether these plants stink. There's currently a proposal being fought near where I live to make a plant that burns tires. My guess is that this would be a bit nicer on the nose. Anyone live by one of these things that can speak to whether people are going to just to have one of these in they're back yard?
Also, wouldn't it make sence to just start pumping sewer waste into one of these things? While this does produce oil (which is't exactly evironmentally friendly) I'm thinking that this has got to be better than burning tires, garbage, etc. Even if you're not looking at the power generated, I'd think you'd want this over an incinerator. Am I wrong on this?
I'm already seeing "Sexually:Explicit -" (rather than "SEXUALLY-EXPLICIT:" It says in Part 316.1.a.1:
Exclude sexually oriented materials from the subject heading for the electronic mail message and include in the subject heading the phrase "SEXUALLY-EXPLICIT:" in capital letters as the first nineteen (19) characters at the beginning of the subject line
I ready for some FTC smack down, were do I start?
Food VS Fuel? Does that mean we should stop doing this?
For the lazy clickers:
"The preeminent source of nitrogen fertilizer is synthesis of ammonia from the hydrogen of natural gas and the nitrogen of the atmosphere, a source without obvious limit."
Of course if you believe the 'without obvious limit' part than this might sober ya up. Seems like we're already wasting fuel on food.
A a commented before (by kindly reposted anyway...)
:)
Googgling Andy and sco I found this juicy tidbit
"SCO understands that for any operating system to be commercially viable, especially Linux, it needs a well-defined roadmap from a trusted supplier, who is committed to and capable of supporting it," said Andy Nagle, director of SCO Linux products.
The question is, is this saying "sorry Andy" or "this is Andy and I'm sorry" (Either way it's a quote worth framing.
Again, were I big on tinfoil...
Googgling Andy and sco I found this juicy tidbit:
:)
"SCO understands that for any operating system to be commercially viable, especially Linux, it needs a well-defined roadmap from a trusted supplier, who is committed to and capable of supporting it," said Andy Nagle, director of SCO Linux products.
The question is, is this saying "sorry Andy" or "this is Andy and I'm sorry" (Either way it's a quote worth framing.
Again, were I big on tinfoil...
I had the fortune of seeing an early version of this unit. It was billed as a iPod competitor (yet was not Mac compatible) The only thing that caught my eye was the built in FM transmitter. Other then that it was a yawner. I asked about the small drive and upon cracking the thing open saw that it was just that, a small drive (this was of course before the announcement of the mini 2GB drive the new iPods will use) and was told that it was the biggest drive available for the form factor.
Anyway, I knew the guy, and hated to say it, but the device on the whole is a yawner and not worth the cash. The interface sucks, the FM (granted this was a alpha/beta unit) was iffy, and it has not Linux/Mac support. (which is not a big deal for some, but is for me)
I had an job at a popular burger chain in high school, and while yes, there where a lot of people there that were 'just passing through' as in getting an education and exploiting flexible hours, there were also a fair share of individuals who had 'reached their full potential' shall we say. It's the nature of the fact that you're making minimum wage. At the time, we were required to punch in/out by keying our SSN into the registers. (Which might make people cringe, but your employer needs anyway to pay you). This is really no different and arguably more secure. (How many ways can I currently use you palm scan to steal your identity?)
On the animal note... I can draw more references to the average aptitude needed to operate a fry machine than I can to the way people are treated. That and if your treated unfairly at one burger joint, move your damn cheese. Half the places out there required simply that you speak English (an even this might be waved) and that you are breathing/have a pulse.
When they start taking blood samples ala Gattica or feeding worker rendered coworkers, then complain.
So here is an excellent chance to push SPF on the masses. It solves the problem of maintaining lists. Simply tell the customers that if they don't have the excepted mail servers listed in their DNS record, the mail will be refused.
A new worm is sweeping across the Net today. The worm, dubbed JudusUpdate.MSFT, apparently exploits yet another hole in Microsoft's enterprise class security, only this one has a twist, infected machines are instructed to auto-update from a trojan server. Once infected, computers that are able become "evil-update" servers themselves. Microsoft is not commenting at this point.
An odd thought, many legal issues, but still interesting: Suppose someone starts a service that is like file sharing, but is actually time sharing a local POTS connection. i.e. For every x minutes that I donate my land line to the cause, I get x minutes on a gateway somewhere else. Not quite like open access points but similar. Of course there are many kinks (restricting long distance calls, people pranking on the system, hacking, etc) but the idea of a non-fixed, free, distributed POTS gateway is somewhat interesting. The best/worst part of IP telephony is that there is always going to have to be a last mile connector. This means revenue. Somehow though, I see the charges for IP2POTS calls ultimately shifting to the person *being called*. i.e. AT&T allows IP phone to be able to call your cell as a service. Evil, yes, but until IPv6 comes out, the billing models in place work that way. Course right now someone could make some dough with little Mom and Pop gateways... So many options!
Speaking from the old folks camp, there are many distros for many people. Slackware is not really a 'newbie' distro, or at least not newbie in the sense of 'I just wanna play with Linux' area. If you are already a technical person, and like detail, Slackware is a great way to learn the insides and out of the system. Very rarely in the 8 or so years of using the distrib have I not been able to find a solution in a howto or usenet. If I download some code and try to compile something, and it does not work, most times I'm the kind of person that will tweak the code and fix it... because I can If I stick with the RPM/DEB/etc thought train, if it don't install.... I'm stuck.
No, I don't tell new people to try Slackware, I throw them a KNOPPIX cd and let them play. But I'm an old fart that enjoys fixing a problem and learning about my system. If that's not for you, there are other distros. I was just looking at my box the other day and realized that I've been on the same distrib version since '99! Happy birthday Slackware! Distros came and go, but it's nice to know that at least one is worried more about the rock solid nature that is Linux's longest claim to fame, and less about the creaping featurism that seems to be spreading slowly across the Linux world. "In my day, we downloaded 20+ disks off a 14.4 modem, and loaded them one by one to install Linux... and we liked it!"
So then like someone writes a virus that waits until someone is near a 'soft' bubble and then invert the program to trap them there. The same controls that keep them from going into the city, now prevent them from leaving... so the circle till they're out of gas and crash. Great! The only issue here is that where using technology for a false sense of security. However, if this technology does go in, I could hack a no-fly-zone over my house... never mind, this is a great idea! Carry on!
I have to laugh at this. There are many of us (like myself) that said to hell with it years ago and wrote spam filters (mine is just guilty until proven innocent it's worked fine for 5 years now.) and where done with it. That and the post office is very firm in it's statement that it is _not_ 'junk' mail as all of that crap helps keep the cost of stamps down. I think the solution is simple. The post office should jack up the cost of bulk mailings! The post office makes more money from increased price _and_ volume and I actually concider mailing gramma a card as opposed to e-mailing it!. Seriously though, even though I signed up, most of my calls fall into the beg^H^H^H non-profits soliciting funds for worthy causes. I swear, _those_ lists are sold to other non-profits. That and through the old change-your-middle-initial trick, I've been able to track a number of magazines-for-poor-cancer-kids places to bulk mail (they claim it's the magazine company selling it... could be, but nice cover). I guess I'm all for it, but I think I'm going to just have to hack an guilty-until-proven-innocent answering machine and give the smucks calling me from numbers that don't show on caller-id a pin.
What is needed here is a system similar to phone cards. I can go to any quickie mart these days, drop a 5, 10, or 20 spot into a machine and get a phone card (for 1.9 cents a minute!) It's a safe, secure, anonymous model. Someone hacks a site or lifts my card, I'm out ~$20 at worst. The anonymous, no, it's not that I'm doing something illegal or surfing porn, it's that I do not need more targeted marketing littering my mailbox. I long for a way to purchace things on the Net, with out a long term commitment, another (non)privacy policy that states that they are 'affiliates' with the world, and above all (and this is even in the real world brick and mortor world) you do not need my zip code and you do not need my phone number. Micropayments can work, but only if it is a same as cash kind of thing.
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Undetermined, but most likely Slashdot... I love it!
Hopefully not off topic, but of you out there that have got into the nuts and bolts of GIF, are there any *smart* encoders out there? I mean encoders that analyse the image and use the various options that GIF allows to encode an image (i.e. break a single image into parts, do more than 256 with multiple pallette, etc)? It seems that GIF had a lot of potential, but with all of the patent crap, people didn't really have a chance to explore things.