I wonder if they'll allow them on planes. Not that a few milliliters of methanol seem dangerous compared to the dozens of tons of kerozene you sit on... But it'd sure be nice to be able to play Quake on those long-haul flights!
Last time I installed Mandrake 8.1, it did actually offer me XFS during install. IIRC, it also offers JFS (as well as an arm-long list of filesystems). I stick to ext3, so can't tell you how XFS behaves on this distro.
All I can say is LM8.1 can get really nice with some cooker and textar rpms (KDE 2.2.2 etc), but the stock install has quite some bugs. Can't wait for the final 8.2 (the.2 releases have always been the best)!
Mandrake converted me to Linux, it's a sweet distro with lots of well organised user support (IMHO, MandrakeUser is prolly better than any personalized "support")
Once he's in Russia, there's no way the americans can 'extradite' Dmitry back to the USA. Countries don't extradite their own citizen, perhaps only except in case of an international court of justice (crimes against humanity...), but that's another story.
You, sir, are an idiot. You miserably fail to envision the nuclear waste problem, which is probably the biggest and shittiest kind of waste you'd ever want to deal with.
The site you mention is nothing else than pro-nuke propaganda, since it's the Nuclear Energy Institute itself (shudder). What else would you expect?
And, just for the fun of it, please tell me *how* "...nuclear is much cleaner [environmentally], efficient and safer then any other power source"? Come_on, either you're trolling or genuinely are a brain-dead idiot. This power generation system (the tower) has ZERO emissions, needs low maintenance and furthermore, the ecological impact (emissions) of its building will be recouped in 2-1/2 years.
That, and the fact it's quite forbidden to 'import' any live animal or vegetal stuff downunder.
I mean, how are they going to contain the area? Even if you put high fences, they'll be eventually destroyed by rabbits or kangaroos, possibly resulting in yet_another_ecological_disaster. Australia has no natural predators for intruders, any introduction of a foreign animal has huge consequences (see rabbits).
The idea's nice on a species conservation point of view, but one has to make sure they don't ruin the host ecosystem.
EnviroMission's site has more information regarding the technology employed, as well as some nice flash animations.
Considering Australia's size and geography, I'm surprise solar power isn't implemented on a wider scale. If only the polititians would get their heads out of their arse, they would realize solar and wind power are the only intelligent, long-term choice. They may bitch about the price, but once these things get to be built in large quantities the price will go down accordingly.
I agree with you up to a certain point. However, yo fail to mention that many countries have strict laws regarding privacy, and mostly as a whole are much less prone to panic and kneejerk decisions than USians. When you got a nervous, trigger-happy paranoid idiot in front of you (you know who I'm talking about, right?), you better say 'yes' to all his demands just to calm him down.
The main problem, IMHO, is how poorly the media relate what's really happening. All we get to see is what shocks people as an excuse to pass any legislation, but without actually explaining in layman's terms what the politicians are doing. It's just like how the DMCA passed: have the whole thing written by lawyers in some twisted legal mumbojumbo, so that almost nobody will understand and thus, pay attention to it. Should the mass media be impartial, you'd get headlines such as 'Senate passes anticonstitutional law voiding individual freedom of speech', but I guess it wouldn't really make the shareholders happy.
Now, I say it'll be interesting seeing how 'W' will stand after the Afghanistan operations. I just hope Americans will stop being blinded by blatant propaganda and start reacting to what's being done to themselves and in the rest of the world.
Between Carnivore, Echelon and now that, I can only think of one thing: should China [replace with your favourite dictatorship] have the money to do it, I'm pretty sure they'd do the same.
If I were a dictator, or planning on becoming one in the near future, I'd watch the USA really closely for practical applications of modern citizen monitoring methods.
What's next? The US selling the technology to other governments? I can imagine the brochure already... "Snoop on all your citizens without moving from your chair" or "Freedom Anihilation for Dummies" sound pretty much like it.
Unfortunately this doesn't really work because people keep using the same operator to keep their phone number. It's like using email address tied to your ISP - you really cannot discontinue contract if you want to keep your address working.
This should change in Finland soon, from what I know. Here in Switzerland we've been able to change mobile operators and keep the same number for a year.
Also, landlines cost a fortune in Finland (I've lived there). Opening the line alone costs a lot (the former monopoly still owns the last mile), and if you're unlucky they'll make you pay for the wiring. No wonder people prefer mobile phones! And you guys must have the cheapest rates in Europe, according to my experience.
Mostly, Finland's topography (it's *really* flat) makes it easier and cheaper to implement a wireless network than landlines. Here in Switzerland the networks have cost a fortune due to 70% of the country being mountains. I bet we need 3 times the amount of antennas to cover our small territory than the Finns with a country 10 times bigger.
IE6 doesn't crash either, but it has some annoying link-bar behavior (open two windows and click a link in the link bar in one window; the page will come up in the other window).
Funny, I had the same problem with IE4 & 5, but it went away with 5.5sp1 and hasn't surfaced since (running IE6 now). Since IE5.5sp2, I have to admit the thing is stable. Still, I'm always using Opera 'cause it's just too fast!
I occasionally use Mozilla, and although it's come a long way in terms of stability and speed, I find it slow compared to Opera and is a memory hog. At least it's not like we don't have a choice, and I like it like that!
My mistake. The Kyocera Palm/phones just aren't unfortunately sold outside the USA (and maybe Japan), which is a bugger for us Euros. That's why it slipped outta my mind:)
I think I saw something like a voice recording functionality with one of the mp3 SpringBoards. Thing is the microphone can ONLY be used with a Springboard, since the Visor doesn't have any audio abilities past the 'beep' thingie.
I'm too lazy to look for the exact links, but I'm sure you'll find an answer at palmgear or on Handspring's site.
The only Palm OS devices that have voice recording built-in is the kickass Handera 330 (but no mp3 to date) and maybe some high-end Sony Clié.
Interresting point you're raising here, but the USA are not a solitary example of SSN ruling:
In Finland, your SSN is used for absolutely everything, and whilst I was living there, I had quite some concerns regarding privacy, since all private and public services connect to a centralized DB. I got surprised to see how many details (bank account balance, etc.) could be seen by people who have no business watching that kind of data.
The European Union is centralizing its citizen database, and in most European countries privacy is not really an issue, since we've lost it numerous times in the past. The general opinion being "if you haven't got anything to hide, you have nothing to worry about", as it seems. When I talk about data privacy, most people look at me with blank eyes (except in Switzerland due to bank secrecy etc.).
The one privacy issue Europeans are really concerned about is their political opinions and activities, for which they have fought for centuries.
Now, to answer your question, identity theft isn't an issue, maybe because we have identity cards (except in the UK) and our governments have always liked to check who's who and where. Not mentioning you need to enter a PIN for each operation. US driving licenses are a real joke as proofs if ID when it comes to security. EU countries are working on a 'smart-card' ID with high encryption (sorry, can't find link) as a response to ID falsification, and the next generation of passports are likely to include biometric identification (fingerprints, DNA sequence...), mostly at the request of the USA (they threatened to reinstate visas otherwise)!!!
IMHO, the USA are facing a rather ironic situation, in which their claims for both security and absolute privacy collide for the simple reason the american ppl don't want "too much government". Instead of having a centralized authority keeping an eye on your most personal data, the subdivision of power upon national ID records leads to huge discrepancies due to miscommunication, loss of records, corruption, alien invaders, greedy megacorporations, etc.
After that, if you're unhappy with what your government does with your data, democracy should be there to help you change this.
I don't want to sound mean or anything, but we've had "smart cards" for ages over here...
In France, there's a ubiquitous system which requires you to type your code for every purchase you do with it. AFAIK, nobody ever complained about it, considering you can't use a stolen French card anywhere in France. If it's combined with a Visa card, you can still use it outside the country where there's no direct way to check its validity.
Here, in Switzerland, my bank card is combined with Visa, and I can set limits for withdrawals and purchases done with the (post)bank part of the card (with a chip), or use the Visa function with equal flexibility.
I suppose it just results from a different banking system between the USA and Europe. In Europe, banks contract the credit card provider (visa, mastercard, etc) and merge their cards. Plus, in most countries, banks have merged their ATM services so you can use any card to pump money from any "hole in the wall".
What strikes me is that Americans see smart cards as a really new things, whereas here we use them for absolutely everything, from e-wallets to bus-pass or phone cards. Smart-card readers are available and cost something around $20...
Bah, real standards have always had hard times getting to the USA, and that's no news!
If the 'net isn't as depressing as it used to be, it's more likely due to the improvement of anti-depressant drugs, which may not have happened without the net itself, yada yada...
Whilst creating a.kids TLD *is* a good idea (we definitely need a few extra more TLDs), I believe creating a.xxx suffix would be quite complementary.
Filtering all the.xxx domains ought to be a lot easier than trying to filter out porn on random pages... Although I don't believe in censorship, I do believe not everybody wants to grant their kids access to porn to without going as extreme as to install filtering software that will block 'normal' pages as well.
And don't come and tell me porn is free speech, pleeeeze.
Try to get another password (from the new interface, the "forgotten password" thingie), maybe it'll reset something in your account. It worked for me once.
In extreme resort, you can still send them a fax. Did this a few weeks ago and they responded immediately to the problem.
Other than that, joker.com has always given me satisfaction, and the root server is 500 meters from my place:)
It seems this info wasn't really supposed to be public for a while, according to a poster on the site who noted the first paragraph of the announcement was missing:
"This letter is sent to all Mandrakesoft shareholders and employees. It gives more details about MandrakeSoft IPO plans. Please keep this letter private - you can say that we do an IPO, but you cannot give any detail until we get the COB agreement."
Can anyone from Mandrake confirm this? For those who don't know, the COB is the French equivalent to the SEC. I'd hate to see the guys at Mandrake get into trouble for that...
Slashdot Mirror
I wonder if they'll allow them on planes. Not that a few milliliters of methanol seem dangerous compared to the dozens of tons of kerozene you sit on... But it'd sure be nice to be able to play Quake on those long-haul flights!
/max
2 examples: here and there ,
:)
That should do
/max
Last time I installed Mandrake 8.1, it did actually offer me XFS during install. IIRC, it also offers JFS (as well as an arm-long list of filesystems). I stick to ext3, so can't tell you how XFS behaves on this distro.
.2 releases have always been the best)!
.02
All I can say is LM8.1 can get really nice with some cooker and textar rpms (KDE 2.2.2 etc), but the stock install has quite some bugs. Can't wait for the final 8.2 (the
Mandrake converted me to Linux, it's a sweet distro with lots of well organised user support (IMHO, MandrakeUser is prolly better than any personalized "support")
just my
/max
Making it a real link surely works better...
Once he's in Russia, there's no way the americans can 'extradite' Dmitry back to the USA. Countries don't extradite their own citizen, perhaps only except in case of an international court of justice (crimes against humanity...), but that's another story.
/jabba
You, sir, are an idiot. You miserably fail to envision the nuclear waste problem, which is probably the biggest and shittiest kind of waste you'd ever want to deal with.
The site you mention is nothing else than pro-nuke propaganda, since it's the Nuclear Energy Institute itself (shudder). What else would you expect?
And, just for the fun of it, please tell me *how* "...nuclear is much cleaner [environmentally], efficient and safer then any other power source"? Come_on, either you're trolling or genuinely are a brain-dead idiot. This power generation system (the tower) has ZERO emissions, needs low maintenance and furthermore, the ecological impact (emissions) of its building will be recouped in 2-1/2 years.
pfffff.
/max
That, and the fact it's quite forbidden to 'import' any live animal or vegetal stuff downunder.
I mean, how are they going to contain the area? Even if you put high fences, they'll be eventually destroyed by rabbits or kangaroos, possibly resulting in yet_another_ecological_disaster. Australia has no natural predators for intruders, any introduction of a foreign animal has huge consequences (see rabbits).
The idea's nice on a species conservation point of view, but one has to make sure they don't ruin the host ecosystem.
/max
EnviroMission's site has more information regarding the technology employed, as well as some nice flash animations.
Considering Australia's size and geography, I'm surprise solar power isn't implemented on a wider scale. If only the polititians would get their heads out of their arse, they would realize solar and wind power are the only intelligent, long-term choice. They may bitch about the price, but once these things get to be built in large quantities the price will go down accordingly.
/max
I agree with you up to a certain point. However, yo fail to mention that many countries have strict laws regarding privacy, and mostly as a whole are much less prone to panic and kneejerk decisions than USians. When you got a nervous, trigger-happy paranoid idiot in front of you (you know who I'm talking about, right?), you better say 'yes' to all his demands just to calm him down.
The main problem, IMHO, is how poorly the media relate what's really happening. All we get to see is what shocks people as an excuse to pass any legislation, but without actually explaining in layman's terms what the politicians are doing. It's just like how the DMCA passed: have the whole thing written by lawyers in some twisted legal mumbojumbo, so that almost nobody will understand and thus, pay attention to it. Should the mass media be impartial, you'd get headlines such as 'Senate passes anticonstitutional law voiding individual freedom of speech', but I guess it wouldn't really make the shareholders happy.
Now, I say it'll be interesting seeing how 'W' will stand after the Afghanistan operations. I just hope Americans will stop being blinded by blatant propaganda and start reacting to what's being done to themselves and in the rest of the world.
[/RANT]
/jabba
Between Carnivore, Echelon and now that, I can only think of one thing: should China [replace with your favourite dictatorship] have the money to do it, I'm pretty sure they'd do the same.
If I were a dictator, or planning on becoming one in the near future, I'd watch the USA really closely for practical applications of modern citizen monitoring methods.
What's next? The US selling the technology to other governments? I can imagine the brochure already... "Snoop on all your citizens without moving from your chair" or "Freedom Anihilation for Dummies" sound pretty much like it.
Scary.
/max
Unfortunately this doesn't really work because people keep using the same operator to keep their phone number. It's like using email address tied to your ISP - you really cannot discontinue contract if you want to keep your address working.
This should change in Finland soon, from what I know. Here in Switzerland we've been able to change mobile operators and keep the same number for a year.
Also, landlines cost a fortune in Finland (I've lived there). Opening the line alone costs a lot (the former monopoly still owns the last mile), and if you're unlucky they'll make you pay for the wiring. No wonder people prefer mobile phones! And you guys must have the cheapest rates in Europe, according to my experience.
Mostly, Finland's topography (it's *really* flat) makes it easier and cheaper to implement a wireless network than landlines. Here in Switzerland the networks have cost a fortune due to 70% of the country being mountains. I bet we need 3 times the amount of antennas to cover our small territory than the Finns with a country 10 times bigger.
/max
Funny, I had the same problem with IE4 & 5, but it went away with 5.5sp1 and hasn't surfaced since (running IE6 now). Since IE5.5sp2, I have to admit the thing is stable. Still, I'm always using Opera 'cause it's just too fast!
I occasionally use Mozilla, and although it's come a long way in terms of stability and speed, I find it slow compared to Opera and is a memory hog. At least it's not like we don't have a choice, and I like it like that!
/max
*bangs head on keyboard*
My mistake, apologies.
/max
299,792,458 m/s...not just a good idea, its the law!
;)
Er... I'm afraid it's 299,792,458 km/s...
Sorry, it's the law!
/max
My mistake. The Kyocera Palm/phones just aren't unfortunately sold outside the USA (and maybe Japan), which is a bugger for us Euros. That's why it slipped outta my mind :)
/max
I think I saw something like a voice recording functionality with one of the mp3 SpringBoards. Thing is the microphone can ONLY be used with a Springboard, since the Visor doesn't have any audio abilities past the 'beep' thingie.
I'm too lazy to look for the exact links, but I'm sure you'll find an answer at palmgear or on Handspring's site.
The only Palm OS devices that have voice recording built-in is the kickass Handera 330 (but no mp3 to date) and maybe some high-end Sony Clié.
/max
Interresting point you're raising here, but the USA are not a solitary example of SSN ruling:
In Finland, your SSN is used for absolutely everything, and whilst I was living there, I had quite some concerns regarding privacy, since all private and public services connect to a centralized DB. I got surprised to see how many details (bank account balance, etc.) could be seen by people who have no business watching that kind of data.
The European Union is centralizing its citizen database, and in most European countries privacy is not really an issue, since we've lost it numerous times in the past. The general opinion being "if you haven't got anything to hide, you have nothing to worry about", as it seems. When I talk about data privacy, most people look at me with blank eyes (except in Switzerland due to bank secrecy etc.).
The one privacy issue Europeans are really concerned about is their political opinions and activities, for which they have fought for centuries.
Now, to answer your question, identity theft isn't an issue, maybe because we have identity cards (except in the UK) and our governments have always liked to check who's who and where. Not mentioning you need to enter a PIN for each operation. US driving licenses are a real joke as proofs if ID when it comes to security. EU countries are working on a 'smart-card' ID with high encryption (sorry, can't find link) as a response to ID falsification, and the next generation of passports are likely to include biometric identification (fingerprints, DNA sequence...), mostly at the request of the USA (they threatened to reinstate visas otherwise)!!!
IMHO, the USA are facing a rather ironic situation, in which their claims for both security and absolute privacy collide for the simple reason the american ppl don't want "too much government". Instead of having a centralized authority keeping an eye on your most personal data, the subdivision of power upon national ID records leads to huge discrepancies due to miscommunication, loss of records, corruption, alien invaders, greedy megacorporations, etc.
After that, if you're unhappy with what your government does with your data, democracy should be there to help you change this.
/max
I don't want to sound mean or anything, but we've had "smart cards" for ages over here...
In France, there's a ubiquitous system which requires you to type your code for every purchase you do with it. AFAIK, nobody ever complained about it, considering you can't use a stolen French card anywhere in France. If it's combined with a Visa card, you can still use it outside the country where there's no direct way to check its validity.
Here, in Switzerland, my bank card is combined with Visa, and I can set limits for withdrawals and purchases done with the (post)bank part of the card (with a chip), or use the Visa function with equal flexibility.
I suppose it just results from a different banking system between the USA and Europe. In Europe, banks contract the credit card provider (visa, mastercard, etc) and merge their cards. Plus, in most countries, banks have merged their ATM services so you can use any card to pump money from any "hole in the wall".
What strikes me is that Americans see smart cards as a really new things, whereas here we use them for absolutely everything, from e-wallets to bus-pass or phone cards. Smart-card readers are available and cost something around $20...
Bah, real standards have always had hard times getting to the USA, and that's no news!
/max
Move to Switzerland, it's legal to grow your own and you can order weed online to have it delivered at your door the same day (at least in Geneva).
Good standard of living, no DMCA, huge freedom... nice.
/jabba
"Not to mention MS marketing parnerships pointing customers to their sites."
What do you think SmartTags(tm) are for?
/max
If the 'net isn't as depressing as it used to be, it's more likely due to the improvement of anti-depressant drugs, which may not have happened without the net itself, yada yada...
/max
Whilst creating a .kids TLD *is* a good idea (we definitely need a few extra more TLDs), I believe creating a .xxx suffix would be quite complementary.
.xxx domains ought to be a lot easier than trying to filter out porn on random pages... Although I don't believe in censorship, I do believe not everybody wants to grant their kids access to porn to without going as extreme as to install filtering software that will block 'normal' pages as well.
Filtering all the
And don't come and tell me porn is free speech, pleeeeze.
/max
Try to get another password (from the new interface, the "forgotten password" thingie), maybe it'll reset something in your account. It worked for me once.
:)
In extreme resort, you can still send them a fax. Did this a few weeks ago and they responded immediately to the problem.
Other than that, joker.com has always given me satisfaction, and the root server is 500 meters from my place
/max
Can anyone from Mandrake confirm this? For those who don't know, the COB is the French equivalent to the SEC. I'd hate to see the guys at Mandrake get into trouble for that...
/max
I can already picture thousands of
/max