As an avid gun enthusiast I think smart guns are an awful idea and so does everyone i know who shoots. This is/. so I'll start with the technological reasons first.
There are two types of smart gun technology out there. 1) Fingerprint: yeah ok, give me a fingerprint reader that works every time and i'll consider it. Are my hands sweaty? Am I nervous shaking? Covered in dirt? Mud? Sweat? How about Blood? It's winter I"m wearing gloves now what? Will it still work in all those conditions and more? 2.) RFID: this is a wireless signal. Wireless signals can be jammed. If cops/military start carrying smart guns with rfid we'll see this happen no doubt in my mind. Even if they don't people will still figure out how they work and hack them for fun.
But they keep your guns from being used when their stolen. Sure if hackers never exploit the technology, no one figures out how to disable/remove it, and if no one ever posts howtos on youtube... that will never happen...right?
When i carry my gun i need to know it will work every time because if i ever have to use it(very unlikely) it's because i feel my life or someone else's life is depending on it. Even then, I don't know it will work every time. Every now and again you can get a bad/light primer strike not igniting the round, a jam, a misfeed, a broken part like an extractor or mainspring, the list goes on. Guns mostly work all the time, the failure rate is very low, and they're mostly all built on technology that's largely unchanged for over a hundred years for a good reason, it's reliable and works. If you are carrying a gun for self protection, duty, hunting or any other lawful purpose you want it to go bang every single fucking time. Show me a technology that cant be exploited, disabled, and will have zero chance of negatively affecting reliability and then we'll talk. Until then get the hell off my lawn. #'MURICA
Do you need to back up all 20 TB? Or is half of it crap you got from usenet/torrents?
I run a 24 TB usable zfs array that I snapshot regularly so I can restore an event like me being a dumbass and doing an rm -rf/Array/.
As far as backups I separate my content into 3 major categories. original content - this stuff i backup regularly to 2 locations. it contains things like home movies, pictures, documents, etc. I copy to a usb drive and to a cloud backup service (I use crash plan). It's stuff I can not replace and would be devastated if I lost it. rare content - stuff that's hard to find. I back this up too, but only 1 location. It's mostly static, it consist of things that took a lot of time and effort to find but are probably still replaceable. I back it up to the cloud only. replaceable content - stuff that's backed up already on the bit torrent network. It's mostly media i just hoard that i download off of usenet. If i lose it it's not a big deal.
So let me get this straight. I already pay at&t over 100$ a month, but I can't use my cell phone in my new apartment because I have a crappy signal (other providers are fine, but I'm locked into my contract for another year), so I can PAY them for a device to make calls over MY internet connection so they don't have to upgrade their shoddy network! bah humbug!
Note I do have at&t and have no issues at home, but this is the situation a friend of mine is going through and they want him to buy this device to use a service he's already paying for.
For the PC there is a program called Helium, it does exactly what you want and more... Except they want 35$ to register it, the trial version only lets you retag 10 songs at once from cddb. www.helium2.com
One thing I learned from my chem teacher the other year was that most humans have an average REM cycle of 1.5 hours, so you should try to sleep in increments of 1.5 hours. I pretty much usually sleep for 6 or 7.5 hours and i'm usually pretty good when I wake up, but when i sleep for like 12+ hours i'm tired as hell for the rest of the day...
My leatherman is great, but i do have a few problems w/ it. For starters it was a bit difficult to use the plier w/ one hand, but i fixed that w/ a spring i put on it, but i have to attach it every time i want to use the pliers. Also i dislike the positioning of the screw driver, since the bit is not in the middle of the unit it feels very awkward when using it.
I do love the easy access blades that you can open w/ one hand, and talking about hands the scissors are pretty handy for those pesky ingrown finger nails;-).
Oubviousy having a properly adjusted monitor and high refresh rates help, but an LCD display is much easier on the eyes for the following reason: The pixels on a standard CRT monitor are brightest in the center, then dimmer at the edges so your eyes are constantly refoucussing which leads to eye strain and eventually vision problems, the pixels on an LCD do not have this problem which makes them easier on the eyes.
I also read a while back that they have special glasses for computer use (or anything else that uses a crt like a TV), which will help eliminate this problem, but i dont' remember where:-(
I believe that the future of *nix may just lie in the desktop market, but will always have a nice seat in the server market. Apple has already taken a leap with OS X. One of the problems right now is that linux is not exactly a newbies cup of tea. Another problem is that many people are not well informed of the advantages of *nix to other OSes, allthough *nix still needs a lot of work in the GUI department, hopefully OS X will help that out. But for the most part there is no real advantage for a newbie, or even some "power users" to run linux over win 2k right now, due to the fact that 2k is pretty damn stable (relative to win9x).
--I am the end of all that there is, was, or will be. I am destiny, I am the fate that awaits you all. I am the apocalypse, I am the answer to the final question. I am the last page, I am the author, I am he who will burn the book when its time has come. I am the key to the final door, and I am the void that lies beyond. I am the corner of the sphere, the end of the circle, I am the point where parallel lines will meet. I am your most hideous nightmare, I am your final nightmare. My voice shall echo in the vast emptiness as infinity comes to an end. The streets will flow with the blood of children, and the highest-soaring birds will drown in the burning red river that rises. I am, and shall be when all else is not. so, like, i don't give a shit about prekies.
IMHO the definition of an OS is in the eye of the beholder. I believe that Unix an operating system, just a bare OS, which allows for the utmost felxibility and expandibility.
Sorry had to say it, Imagine a Beowulf Cluster of those...
This seems to me like the first steps of an AI which could be dangerous. Don't get me wrong, while creating an AI is a great leap for mankind could it also be the downfall of mankind? Also Will this "robot" be driving against one person or will it be driving in a larger race? I think for it to be a true test of man vs. machine it should be in a real race, having to deal with multiple opponents, as men are forced to do.
When a man sits with a pretty girl for an hour, it seems like a minute.
But let him sit on a hot stove for a minute-- and it's longer than any
hour. That's relativity.
the speed of a chip in Mhz means nothing, when comparing two different types of chips. People are never going to realize this though, they have to start looking at mips and flops to get the low down on how the chip performs...
I don't know when these corporations will learn that the pirating of music is here to stay, if there is not napster there is gnutella (spelling??), ftp, www, hotline (and similar apps), irc, etc... Corporations have to learn to use digital pirating to their advantage rather than to bitch and moan about it. How can they use pirating to their advantage, I don't really know, but i'm sure it's possible... Nothing they can do will stop it, and nothing they can do will get rid of it. Mp3 (if not vorbis) is here to stay...
Well thanks for reading my rant...
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As an avid gun enthusiast I think smart guns are an awful idea and so does everyone i know who shoots. This is /. so I'll start with the technological reasons first.
There are two types of smart gun technology out there.
1) Fingerprint: yeah ok, give me a fingerprint reader that works every time and i'll consider it. Are my hands sweaty? Am I nervous shaking? Covered in dirt? Mud? Sweat? How about Blood? It's winter I"m wearing gloves now what? Will it still work in all those conditions and more?
2.) RFID: this is a wireless signal. Wireless signals can be jammed. If cops/military start carrying smart guns with rfid we'll see this happen no doubt in my mind. Even if they don't people will still figure out how they work and hack them for fun.
But they keep your guns from being used when their stolen. Sure if hackers never exploit the technology, no one figures out how to disable/remove it, and if no one ever posts howtos on youtube... that will never happen...right?
When i carry my gun i need to know it will work every time because if i ever have to use it(very unlikely) it's because i feel my life or someone else's life is depending on it. Even then, I don't know it will work every time. Every now and again you can get a bad/light primer strike not igniting the round, a jam, a misfeed, a broken part like an extractor or mainspring, the list goes on. Guns mostly work all the time, the failure rate is very low, and they're mostly all built on technology that's largely unchanged for over a hundred years for a good reason, it's reliable and works. If you are carrying a gun for self protection, duty, hunting or any other lawful purpose you want it to go bang every single fucking time. Show me a technology that cant be exploited, disabled, and will have zero chance of negatively affecting reliability and then we'll talk. Until then get the hell off my lawn. #'MURICA
Do you need to back up all 20 TB? Or is half of it crap you got from usenet/torrents?
I run a 24 TB usable zfs array that I snapshot regularly so I can restore an event like me being a dumbass and doing an rm -rf /Array/.
As far as backups I separate my content into 3 major categories.
original content - this stuff i backup regularly to 2 locations. it contains things like home movies, pictures, documents, etc. I copy to a usb drive and to a cloud backup service (I use crash plan). It's stuff I can not replace and would be devastated if I lost it.
rare content - stuff that's hard to find. I back this up too, but only 1 location. It's mostly static, it consist of things that took a lot of time and effort to find but are probably still replaceable. I back it up to the cloud only.
replaceable content - stuff that's backed up already on the bit torrent network. It's mostly media i just hoard that i download off of usenet. If i lose it it's not a big deal.
So let me get this straight. I already pay at&t over 100$ a month, but I can't use my cell phone in my new apartment because I have a crappy signal (other providers are fine, but I'm locked into my contract for another year), so I can PAY them for a device to make calls over MY internet connection so they don't have to upgrade their shoddy network! bah humbug!
Note I do have at&t and have no issues at home, but this is the situation a friend of mine is going through and they want him to buy this device to use a service he's already paying for.
My uncle used to have waht is essentially a dictionary on tape. It was pretty cool.
How does this affect Muff Torrent?
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For the PC there is a program called Helium, it does exactly what you want and more... Except they want 35$ to register it, the trial version only lets you retag 10 songs at once from cddb. www.helium2.com
One thing I learned from my chem teacher the other year was that most humans have an average REM cycle of 1.5 hours, so you should try to sleep in increments of 1.5 hours. I pretty much usually sleep for 6 or 7.5 hours and i'm usually pretty good when I wake up, but when i sleep for like 12+ hours i'm tired as hell for the rest of the day...
If you are looking for security go with Slackware, it is a distro well known for having few security holes.
My leatherman is great, but i do have a few problems w/ it. For starters it was a bit difficult to use the plier w/ one hand, but i fixed that w/ a spring i put on it, but i have to attach it every time i want to use the pliers. Also i dislike the positioning of the screw driver, since the bit is not in the middle of the unit it feels very awkward when using it. I do love the easy access blades that you can open w/ one hand, and talking about hands the scissors are pretty handy for those pesky ingrown finger nails ;-).
Oubviousy having a properly adjusted monitor and high refresh rates help, but an LCD display is much easier on the eyes for the following reason: The pixels on a standard CRT monitor are brightest in the center, then dimmer at the edges so your eyes are constantly refoucussing which leads to eye strain and eventually vision problems, the pixels on an LCD do not have this problem which makes them easier on the eyes.
:-(
I also read a while back that they have special glasses for computer use (or anything else that uses a crt like a TV), which will help eliminate this problem, but i dont' remember where
I believe that the future of *nix may just lie in the desktop market, but will always have a nice seat in the server market. Apple has already taken a leap with OS X. One of the problems right now is that linux is not exactly a newbies cup of tea. Another problem is that many people are not well informed of the advantages of *nix to other OSes, allthough *nix still needs a lot of work in the GUI department, hopefully OS X will help that out. But for the most part there is no real advantage for a newbie, or even some "power users" to run linux over win 2k right now, due to the fact that 2k is pretty damn stable (relative to win9x).
--I am the end of all that there is, was, or will be. I am destiny, I am the fate that awaits you all. I am the apocalypse, I am the answer to the final question. I am the last page, I am the author, I am he who will burn the book when its time has come. I am the key to the final door, and I am the void that lies beyond. I am the corner of the sphere, the end of the circle, I am the point where parallel lines will meet. I am your most hideous nightmare, I am your final nightmare. My voice shall echo in the vast emptiness as infinity comes to an end. The streets will flow with the blood of children, and the highest-soaring birds will drown in the burning red river that rises. I am, and shall be when all else is not. so, like, i don't give a shit about prekies.
IMHO the definition of an OS is in the eye of the beholder. I believe that Unix an operating system, just a bare OS, which allows for the utmost felxibility and expandibility.
Sorry had to say it, Imagine a Beowulf Cluster of those...
This seems to me like the first steps of an AI which could be dangerous. Don't get me wrong, while creating an AI is a great leap for mankind could it also be the downfall of mankind? Also Will this "robot" be driving against one person or will it be driving in a larger race? I think for it to be a true test of man vs. machine it should be in a real race, having to deal with multiple opponents, as men are forced to do.
When a man sits with a pretty girl for an hour, it seems like a minute. But let him sit on a hot stove for a minute-- and it's longer than any hour. That's relativity.
-- Albert Einstein
the speed of a chip in Mhz means nothing, when comparing two different types of chips. People are never going to realize this though, they have to start looking at mips and flops to get the low down on how the chip performs...
I don't know when these corporations will learn that the pirating of music is here to stay, if there is not napster there is gnutella (spelling??), ftp, www, hotline (and similar apps), irc, etc... Corporations have to learn to use digital pirating to their advantage rather than to bitch and moan about it. How can they use pirating to their advantage, I don't really know, but i'm sure it's possible... Nothing they can do will stop it, and nothing they can do will get rid of it. Mp3 (if not vorbis) is here to stay... Well thanks for reading my rant...