As the one responsible for hiring new students into our laboratory, I was asked by my professor to get a list of student's e-mail addresses and start mass mailing them with information about our laboratory and available jobs.
To me this sounded a lot like spamming and I refused to do it. The professor didn't agree with my opinion, but since he saw that it was a question of principle to me he let it go -- for the moment at least.
It's unbelievably hard to convince people who don't have their e-mail box clogged by spam (he's got a secretary who goes through the mail first) that spam is a real problem.
IE5.5 is optimized to a single platform so my guess is that Microsoft has basically swept all the problems under the carpet. I've crashed my IE at work (IE5.5/W2K) and the footprint isn't that great either when you really take a look at all the resources IE is consuming.
As far as the rendering anomalies go, as long as web pages are designed by Microsoft software for Microsoft browsers running under a Microsoft operating system, you are bound to get some problems with any non-IE browser.
I got fed up with Mozilla some time ago. It was slow and unstable as hell.
A while ago I decided to give the 0.8.1 version a try and it worked. It was faster and stable. I mean it's not perfect but, unlike previously, you can use it now. Goodbye Netscape 4.7.
I think one of the greatest aspects of the net is that speech is free even for unpopular ideas.
I am personally leaning politically left and find the (neo)nazi propaganda abhorrent and intellectually dishonest. Yet, I would not start censoring the net because preventing discussion has never stopped an ideology from spreading.
Much better an alternative is to let these people spew out all the crap they want and counter it with reasonable argumentation (by posting to newsgroups or starting a anti-nazi website). Yes, it probably won't change their minds but it make a difference to someone who's just forming his/her own political ideas.
looking for self-validation by "getting your papers accepted" to such-such journal and spend your time trying to solve hard problems that don't need this or that journal pedigree to make you look smart!
Do you really think that to "get validated by the community" is only of a psychological value?
It's much more than that. All scientific work is based on the idea that your peers review and test your hypotheses and results against the extisting literature before anything is made public. This process screens out the crackpots and people who don't have any idea of a scientific process. And when you get your paper published in an established journal it means that it has been deemed a scientifically solid piece of work that should be taken seriously. The more respected journal you get to publish in, the better work you have done. It's not merely an ego-trip as you seem to imply.
The academic environment has become so focused on publishing and getting grants that the focus is not on quality but quantity.
Sad but true.
I've just about finished my PhD thesis in Physics and found about that the hard way. I was negotiating my next semester funding with the head of our department, when I was quite bluntly told that my two Physical Review Letters and two Phys. Rev. B:s are, in fact, a lousy result. "Four publications isn't that good a result even for a lone researcher like you. You should have been able to publish at least eight papers like Dr. John Doe here." Well, he did have eight papers in 2000, but they were in sub-standard journals (two of them weren't even peer reviewed).
they aren't motivated by the same incentives that lead most enterprise employees
If countries were lead by people with the corporate mentality, we'd be really screwed. It'd be a damned police state where everybody would have to fear an execution for not performing well enough (or just because excess population must be "laid off" in order to "cut expenses").
The fact is that representative democracy does not work. The next best option after being able to really make a difference by voting is to have an inefficient government. The more inefficient the government is, the less chance it has to control our lives. That's why I favour big government. In fact, seeing how "efficient" the UN is, I would welcome even a World Government.
Apparently the protection can be achieved by some sort of trickery with illegal lead-out positions:
Wie schon gesagt, hat die CDR-Software damit alle Möglichkeiten offen - nur in diesem Modus sind so nette Sachen wie illegale Leadout-Position (Cactus Data Shield), Audiotracks
There already was a rip-proof CD in Europe. If I remember correctly, BMG (of the Napster fame) had a system called Cactus that prevented CDDA extraction.
passive cooling may be all that is needed for Palomino chips running at 1.5 GHz.
I really wish that was true. I might even upgrade my computer just because of that. CPU fans make most of the noise in desktop computers nowadays and I'm really looking forward to getting rid of it.
Actually, the statistics show that in Europe the young people (including both those who can and cannot buy alcohol legally) have started binge drinking and the related health and social problems really escalated in 1990s.
Not binge drinking doesn't mean you don't have a problem with alcohol either. Drinking alcohol, even in relatively small amounts (3-4 beers), every day can lead into a drinking habit or into an outright addiction with the subsequent health problems. I know because that happened to me. It's humiliating to realize that you really need those three drinks every day, and it's even more difficult to admit to admit to yourself that your alcohol intake -- no matter how small it is per day -- is starting to affect your health, work and life in general.
(To those who're interested in treatment, there are good drugs nowadays that will help you to break the habit so you really can start working on the other problems in your life. They're not the cure, but they sure helped me.)
But aren't this kind of extra-value services (packaging, customization, documentation, etc.) just how free software / open source is supposed to make money. Even if you ask RMS.
Slashdot Mirror
You seriously think that an academic organization has enough money to fight a commercial one?
Well, the "select group" was approx. 10000 students and university staff members combined.
To me this sounded a lot like spamming and I refused to do it. The professor didn't agree with my opinion, but since he saw that it was a question of principle to me he let it go -- for the moment at least.
It's unbelievably hard to convince people who don't have their e-mail box clogged by spam (he's got a secretary who goes through the mail first) that spam is a real problem.
As far as the rendering anomalies go, as long as web pages are designed by Microsoft software for Microsoft browsers running under a Microsoft operating system, you are bound to get some problems with any non-IE browser.
A while ago I decided to give the 0.8.1 version a try and it worked. It was faster and stable. I mean it's not perfect but, unlike previously, you can use it now. Goodbye Netscape 4.7.
I think one of the greatest aspects of the net is that speech is free even for unpopular ideas.
I am personally leaning politically left and find the (neo)nazi propaganda abhorrent and intellectually dishonest. Yet, I would not start censoring the net because preventing discussion has never stopped an ideology from spreading.
Much better an alternative is to let these people spew out all the crap they want and counter it with reasonable argumentation (by posting to newsgroups or starting a anti-nazi website). Yes, it probably won't change their minds but it make a difference to someone who's just forming his/her own political ideas.
Do you really think that to "get validated by the community" is only of a psychological value?
It's much more than that. All scientific work is based on the idea that your peers review and test your hypotheses and results against the extisting literature before anything is made public. This process screens out the crackpots and people who don't have any idea of a scientific process. And when you get your paper published in an established journal it means that it has been deemed a scientifically solid piece of work that should be taken seriously. The more respected journal you get to publish in, the better work you have done. It's not merely an ego-trip as you seem to imply.
Sad but true.
I've just about finished my PhD thesis in Physics and found about that the hard way. I was negotiating my next semester funding with the head of our department, when I was quite bluntly told that my two Physical Review Letters and two Phys. Rev. B:s are, in fact, a lousy result. "Four publications isn't that good a result even for a lone researcher like you. You should have been able to publish at least eight papers like Dr. John Doe here." Well, he did have eight papers in 2000, but they were in sub-standard journals (two of them weren't even peer reviewed).
Wish I had mod points. Mod him up!
If countries were lead by people with the corporate mentality, we'd be really screwed. It'd be a damned police state where everybody would have to fear an execution for not performing well enough (or just because excess population must be "laid off" in order to "cut expenses").
The fact is that representative democracy does not work. The next best option after being able to really make a difference by voting is to have an inefficient government. The more inefficient the government is, the less chance it has to control our lives. That's why I favour big government. In fact, seeing how "efficient" the UN is, I would welcome even a World Government.
Then we'll have a real genetic Chernobyl in our hands...
It deals with the same theme and the sociological implications of an immortal "ruling class" in a gerontocracy?
It is if the species masters space colonization.
Sounds a lot like B5 PPGs... ;-)
Yeah, why invent antibiotes and life-prolonging medical techniques because, after all, we all die.
I read that first as "a Minbar representative". ;-)
I did that but I was refused the refund: "It's not faulty if it plays on ordinary CD player".
Apparently the protection can be achieved by some sort of trickery with illegal lead-out positions:
Wie schon gesagt, hat die CDR-Software damit alle Möglichkeiten offen - nur in diesem Modus sind so nette Sachen wie illegale Leadout-Position (Cactus Data Shield), Audiotracks
I am an unfortunate owner of one such CD.
I really wish that was true. I might even upgrade my computer just because of that. CPU fans make most of the noise in desktop computers nowadays and I'm really looking forward to getting rid of it.
Not binge drinking doesn't mean you don't have a problem with alcohol either. Drinking alcohol, even in relatively small amounts (3-4 beers), every day can lead into a drinking habit or into an outright addiction with the subsequent health problems. I know because that happened to me. It's humiliating to realize that you really need those three drinks every day, and it's even more difficult to admit to admit to yourself that your alcohol intake -- no matter how small it is per day -- is starting to affect your health, work and life in general.
(To those who're interested in treatment, there are good drugs nowadays that will help you to break the habit so you really can start working on the other problems in your life. They're not the cure, but they sure helped me.)
Open Source is far more successful as an ideology (sharing from which everybody benefits) than a commercial or technological development model.
But aren't this kind of extra-value services (packaging, customization, documentation, etc.) just how free software / open source is supposed to make money. Even if you ask RMS.
Do you know if it is related to the Gulf stream? As a European I'd like to know if Europe is about to turn into a Siberia-like freezer...
I'll trust my conscience and my conscience alone.
I will not believe something is or is not justified simply because someone or something else ("public morale") disagrees with me.
In reality, delegating responsibility from an individual to a collective is not possible and should not be used as an excuse.