You don't have to support the war. Just don't stand in the way. Support the troops, the last thing they want is to put their life on the line to save your sorry ass who thinks they're job is meaningless...
Pull them *out* of Iraq where they aren't going to get *killed*. Make peace -- anyone who thinks that Iraq is stupid enough to not accept a peace offer is on crack
Anyone thinking Saddam would comply with a peace offer is on crack! History has already proven he wouldn't...
What Blix turned up was some guesswork, a very small number of warheads, and now there are people *dying* because of it?
He wasn't supposed to have ANY. And what about the unreported drones? Ah, that's just dirt we can dust under the rug.
Finally, "protecting your family"? Yeah, Iraq is such a terribly nasty threat to your family. Christ. I can just see it now "January 2007 -- Iraq Invades United States!"
Tell that to the victims of 9/11... Who would have thought on 9/10/2001 that terrorists from across the globe would be killing thousands of people in the US tomorrow?
Do you mind if I quote you if an Iraqi led terrorist attack on US soil occurs?
Re:Not necessarily the war yet
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Sorry, how selfish of me...
God Bless the World!
Re:Not necessarily the war yet
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That's fine, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. But, I ask that you keep quiet DURING the war. You've preemptively protested against the war, but now that it's underway stand behind the troops and your country. When it's over go back to complaining about how it could have been handled differently or whatever.
God Bless America!
I wish the best to those serving my country and protecting my family when I am unable.
1) What is this "essence?" I think you just made it up just now. What makes you hypothesize an "essence"? Describe its properties please.
essence n.
The intrinsic or indispensable properties that serve to characterize or identify something.
The most important ingredient; the crucial element.
The inherent, unchanging nature of a thing or class of things.
An extract that has the fundamental properties of a substance in concentrated form.
Something that exists, especially a spiritual or incorporeal entity.
Got a better term? Spirit maybe?
2) Religion doesn't explain anything any better than random descriptions do. What religion can describe consciousness properly, in a testable way that will allow us to change it, or create more or less of it? Or upload it? No religion does that.
Quoting myself:
This is where religion comes into the picture, which may be nothing more than a simple way to explain 'you'...
If you follow any form of Christian religion you would realize that the belief in God is an explanation for human existance. And most, if not all, forms of Christianity preach that when you die your spirit will live on in some form of afterlife. Be it traversing Purgatory, sunning in Heaven or frying in Hell. So, in this respect your spirit can not be transferred to another being or entity. This is why human cloning is so hotly debated in the US. So, if you clone yourself does the clone have a spirit of its own? Does it have a spirit at all?
You're quote:
There's no reason to believe that the person being emulated is any more qualified an observer than anyone else. If it's good enough to fool outside observers, it's good enough to fool the person being emulated.
The split second after your brain was transferred to another entity it would stop being you. There are now 2 entities with the same intelligence and memories up to X time. At that point any new memory would be unique to either entity... So, you're standing there looking at your new mechanical clone and you are no longer exact duplicates because your clone sees you and can not see the world from your perspective after the transfer. Unless, of course, you could stay linked to the clone, but then what's the point?
Yes, to an observer it would appear to be 'you'. But where would 'you' be? What is it that makes you, you? Sure, your brain maybe 100% emulated in another form, but that doesn't mean your "essence" would be transfered as well. The emulated 'you' would be self aware of itself, but that in itself would be emulated as well.
For example, pretend for a moment that a written piece of paper is intelligent and self aware. You photocopy the piece of paper and now have 2 self aware entities exactly mimicking each other. If you burn the original up it's life essence is gone yet, to you, the copy will replace the original. They are separate entities and are each individually self aware yet do not share the same synapsis...
We, as humans, have not figured out what makes us us. This is where religion comes into the picture, which may be nothing more than a simple way to explain 'you'...
This also leads us down the path of human commodities. If we could have cloned past geniuses via emulation we would have an abundant resource pool. But, those individuals ceased to be when they died. A software Einstein would not be Albert...
I think you were attempting to be sarcastic here but in fact failed. I HAVE had my credit card company call me because they thought someone had stolen my card/number. I had typically charged small items on the card like gas and food. Not 24 hours after purchasing an expensive item, can't recall what, might have been a 21" monitor (this was 5 or 6 years ago when 21" monitors were over $1000), the credit card company called me up and stated that purchase came up flagged as a possible stolen card purchase. I thanked them for the call and informed them I was me and everything was fine.
if mcdonalds takes out a smear campaign against BK and BK loses and estimated 10 billion insurance wont cover that.
That's Libel and is protected under government law (in the US anyway) that's regardless if you have a web site, store front, or billboards in your front yard. That is in no way relevant to this discussion. Nobody was "smeared" as you put it, just charged for traffic they weren't intending...
. and insurance in case of over bandwidth use due to crackers is like insurance to cover excessive gas use due to someone siphoning the gas out of your tank, fat chance in hell that will EVER happen.
Again, this is irrelavant to this discussion. Nobody stole anything. To expand on your analogy who would be responsible for the gas if you put a bad set of plugs in your car and your gas mileage drops from 25mpg to 10mpg and you don't notice it for a month because your gas gauge is broken or you don't know how to read it properly?
On the other hand, if you had your oil changed and were shorted a quart and discovered this a month later would you demand the station that changed the oil give you an extra quart? You could have checked your oil at any point from leaving the service station but neglected to because you assumed they filled it. Just as you assume that having a small website on the Internet that you've only given the URL to 10 people to won't generate enough traffic to increase your rent. This is a prime learning experience for both parties involved (the service provider and the consumer) and precautions should be put into place to prevent this from happening again. This could be as simple as a statement in the application that plainly states what party is at fault when this happens. And you're right, if the consumer doesn't like one site's policy they'll go elsewhere...
and in a retail space. its not the ISP's job to bow down to you. you dont like it ? vote with your wallet.
Boy, you must have excelled in retail management with that attitude... I used to work for a top computer distributor that sold an in-house brand of hard drive through a large retail chain (Software Etc...). We'd get drives back stating "won't spin up" and there was a brick (literally, a used masonary block) in the box, or dead leaking batteries, or drives we never carried, etc... The customer, obviously, was stealing from the retailer, but, since this was a large market for us we "ate" the loss. Customer happy (a thief, but none the less happy), the retailer was happy, and we still made a crap load of money in the long run.
What I'm getting at is the ISP, which has no obligation, would be better to waive extra fees to keep the customer happy which benefits them in the long run. For one thing, most ISPs pay for Internet service by bandwidth not by amount of traffic, that's just a means to charge consumers of their service. So, in essence, they aren't losing any money and can write it off as a loss, in effect making money off the deal.
To be honest if I were the ISP (I almost started an ISP about 10 years ago) and I knew some virus was or had wreaked havoc on my customer's bandwidth limits I would calculate an average month's service over the past 6 months and charge them that amount even if it meant a theoretical loss of many thousands of dollars.
Now, put yourself in the consumer's shoes. What would make you happier? Your average monthly charge for the last 6 months was $50 but the last month, due to a malicious virus, rocketed your bill to $500. Would you pay the $500? Call the ISP to dispute the charge? Or feel all warm and fuzzy if you received a letter in the mail with a $50 charge and message that stated your bill would have been $500 but due to a malicious Internet virus we are only charging you based on your actual estimated use.
Which method would bring more business to the ISP?
furthermore their is no way an ISP should just start blocking people because of unwanted traffic. your public facing servers are subject to the same whims that your public facing store is
Not quite. As a store owner you have protection via insurance, if your store is bombarded with rocks taking out every window in the place your insurance should cover it. Another point is hours of access, web servers are on 24/7 whereas most stores are open at specific times. You can stop theft by closing your doors at 2am. You can't stop web traffic so easily...
and when i was at circuit city on black friday i do not recall them saying "we are out of stock go away" or "we have too many people in here. go away".
Yes, but they have the right to do that if they wanted. In fact too many people in the store would get them fined by the FD and I doubt they would want that, there are maximum occupancy limits on buildings. If an extra 50 people rushed the building and they were over capacity who's going to pay the fine?
That is to say that a) the customer is intelligent/experienced enough to know HOW to monitor the site and b) they monitor it on a regular basis (daily)...
If the service provider was nice at all they would provide a log or usage stats via email to the customer stating they are coming close to max bandwidth or a warning that they've exceeded their bandwidth.
The problem, however, is that most of these people are on dial up connections or are unqualified/unable to set them up at home and is why they use web hosting services anyway. Some blame goes to the customer because they didn't search around for a provider that offers these services.
I have Cable Modem service and don't use it's email or web hosting services even though they are free. I have a web server in my basement and I use zoneedit for DNS service (free up to 5 IPs) and have another server co-located for email which doesn't charge for bandwidth.
So, either you should search for a non-bandwidth charging service (you'll probably pay more/mo) or be faced with this possibility.
I liken it to flood insurance. The last few years the Northern MidWest (MN/Dakotas) experienced a lot of flooding. The people living on a flood plane bitched because their house flooded. So they rebuilt it and it flooded again 2 years later, though "scientists" stated floods only happen every 25 - 50 years... What do you expect living in a flood plane?
In this specific situation the ISP should be a little lenient and waive most of the fee which can be written off as a loss anyway . At which point the ISP should provide a specific clause, increase everyone's rate or fix their server to provide better monitoring capabilites and/or automated disabling, etc...
Sh*t happens... What's more important? Losing a few dollars one month or losing a few customers for life???
The Titanium Powerbook only comes/came in a 15.2" model. The new ones you are refering to (12") are Aluminium [sic] and are advertised as such. Apple is dropping the Titanium models in favor of the new AlBooks with the iBook inspired clamshell design. These are also anodized which I don't think is possible with Titanium (not a metallurgist) and are scratch resistant. There have been many complaints about the Ti models paint scratching, though I haven't had any problems with mine (PB OC 500).
I'm planning an upgrade to the 17" PB since I don't use my P/C desktop at all anymore.
A couple of co-workers have older Dell laptops and they seem cheap/flimsy and are butt ugly (IMO).
My biggest question, however, is why do you want to run HDTV on your laptop? DVDs don't support 1920... Wireless HD satellite feed to your laptop?
Lightning is sooo fun. About 5 years ago I was living in a third story apartment. Amidst a heated LAN gaming session...CRACK. The "bolt" musta hit just yards from the window. I had a 35" TV about 8' from the outside wall and 2 corners of the screen were discolored from the EMP. Took out a 3 month old A/V receiver, every network card in the apartment (6 or 7) and 2 hubs. I image the EMP followed the network cable which was strung along the baseboard and it was too much for the hubs and ethernet cards. Lucky for me the receiver was under warranty, I had a couple extra hubs and the enet cards were only about $15/ea...
Here's the solution to both of your problems. Slap a 60 pound lead acid car battery in a backpack and rig a cable down to the Segway. Remove the batteries from the Segway, you have now just lightened it AND increased the power capacity...
If you're really handy with a soldering iron you could strap a small electric generator to your back and REALLY increase the max distance...
The IA64 (1600 Madison) sucks down 130Watts (you'll need a 500W monster power supply for this thing). And has a die size of 374 mm2 with a whopping 410 million transistors. The PPC 970 (1800) uses a paltry 60W in a 118mm2 die (or less than 1/4th the size) and has only 52 million transistors. It isn't apparent if this also includes the L1 or L2 cache, however. I would guess it does, but still 410 million transistors? Holy crap...
Better have some healthy airflow for the IA64 and maybe some active cooling to keep the system from melting down. No way they intend on putting that thing in a laptop...
If that were the case then why didn't they release all three versions at the same time? I wouldn't pay an extra $20 for a fancy box that gets thrown out soon after the shrink wrap comes off, a mug I'd never use and 5th disc of content I would never watch. But an extra 30 minutes of play time in addition to 376 hours of goofs and deleted scenes on a movie I would/did enjoy is worth $10 - $20...
So I waited for the 4 disc version of LOTR. I know a lot of people that bought both (or the 2/5 disc versions) because they wanted to see it right when it came out on DVD. So, they ended up spending $60 - $80 for, essentially 1 movie instead of $20, $40 or $60 if all 3 versions came out simultaneously... DVD manufacturers are not stupid, unfortunately...
Hell, I own 3 copies of "Army of Darkness": The original, the THX version and the extended version, there's a 4th that I haven't picked up...yet. But each of these were only $15 - $20, not $30+ each...
Me too... I still haven't seen it in any version, but did hold out entirely for the extended multi disc platinum gold foil special edition version so I wouldn't know the plot and it'd be a fresh experience. Unfortunately, I now have to find 4 hours that can sit down and watch the movie in its entirety.
I have to agree and was going to post the same comment but you beat me to it.
Yeah, the first time through you're biting your nails waiting for the plot to work itself out. Ohhh, then one of the best gunfight scenes to come along in a long time. Lots of eye candy here kids, cool camera angles and guns, guns, guns! Throughout this enthralling visual and aural cacophony you keep hearing the "little you" in your head saying "I MUST GET THIS ON DVD"... So, 6 months or so later you think back to that singular moment in time that was "The Matrix" and realizing you have forgotten some aspects and want to be "refreshed" and see it on the "little screen" in the privacy of your own home with volume selected at just less than the quietest Led Zeppelin concert 30 years past. So, on a whim, while shopping at your neighborhood Meglomart, you pick up the coveted "The Matrix" in all its Dolby 5.1 glory. You get home late in the evening and "shelf it" ever waiting for the right time to stimulate your mind once more. So, one day you blow the dust off, crank the sound, lower the lights...And BAM! halfway through...you...fall asleep... "Okay, I'll give it another chance when I'm not so dang tired" you think to yourself. So a couple of months pass and you think you can sit through the first half again since it's been so long and...BAM!...you fall asleep halfway through again.
Now, you never want to watch the first 45 minutes of that movie again... You also reminisce about the great acting that is Keanu Reeves...or lack thereof. Cable continually reminds us of why we hate KR..."Speed"..."Bill and Ted's"..."Johnny Mnemonic"...and the oh so wonderful "Point Break". No, KR has not matured as an actor (loosely stated).. Sure, I'll probably wander into a theater to watch the new "Matrixes" ("Matri"?) and I expect to be "wowed" as I was in the first one. I have a feeling I will be pleasantly disappointed, however...But we'll see...
You can install Linux under Virtual PC on OS X right now. VPC 6.0 is quite fast on newer hardware (dual 1+ GHz). This should be extremely quick on the IBM 970 whenever that day comes...
Steve Jobs is a bit on the flakey side but not "bad". He's egotistical, yes, but does that make him a bad person?
I guess, since you stated you currently use Macs, you gave Apple a second chance. The "Scully" years certainly turned many away from Apple, myself included. I was an avid Apple// user/programmer until Scully killed the line off. I never really liked the Mac line until Jobs brought it back from near death with OS X (I'm writing this on a PB 500). Evil != bad, sure Jobs may be a Satan worshipper but that doesn't mean he's "bad", hell he's a vegetarian for crying out loud.:)
Hatred of Sony is justifiable, the only redeeming quality of Sony is a mutual hatred of Microsoft and, personally, that's not enough for me to want to buy their products. I'm not willing to take the chance that Memory Sticks won't follow Sony's past history (BETAMAX, to name one). There are plenty of alternatives available...
2) Maybe, maybe not. 5 1/4 disks from back then were not designed to last more than about 5 years. I started up my Apple//gs a few months ago and found the majority of my disks were unreadable. So, find a way to "back-up" these old disks before it's too late (of course you can probably now find just about every game from the 80's somewhere on the 'net)...
Add to that the fact that gravity affects light and it would be nearly impossible to aim a communication laser. I think our (Human) communication mediums are too primitive to be of use. Take the SETI project, do you REALLY think IF there are other beings capable of sending some sort of signal into space WE would be able to pick it up with primitive radio receivers? HA! We need to look at more advanced (for us) forms of communication, maybe magnetic or gravitational based.
Actually, it is. Look at the states/cities with high gun control (New York, New Jersey, Detroit, et. al) and those that allow CC (Concealed Carry) like Texas. You'll find that states with CC have lower violent crimes. There is a logical pattern to this. Typically, what happens is violent crime increases or stays steady when the CCW is enacted and then dramatically drops after a couple of years. It takes time for people to get licensed, etc... so crime isn't going to drop immediately. For some unknown reason (liberal bias?) the US media only reports on the months/year after the CCW has gone into effect and can then claim it doesn't work. If they (the media) showed an unbiased view passed 2 - 3 years it would really open America's eyes...
I don't have stats about kids accidently killing themselves with guns they find in their parent's closet, but I'm sure it happens. A lot. I can guarantee it will never happen in my house... can you?
How can you "guarntee" it won't happen in your home? What if your kid brings a gun into your house? Or some other kid/person? Typically, gun owners teach their children how to properly handle a gun and teach them not to play around with them. If you're totally "anti-gun" your children are more apt to shoot themselves because of a lack of knowlege if they do happen upon a gun.
How long ago did that revolution end? You afraid Britain might invade again? So why do you need your guns now? You've got your freedom... disarm.
Not from Britain, but our OWN government. That's apart of the 2nd Amendment, to protect the people against their own government. First they take your guns then they take your freedom...
Actually, I hate guns because people like you feel you *need* to have one to protect you.
Personally, I don't "need" to have a gun. I enjoy target shooting, have never gone hunting, and have never shot a living creature in the 10 years I have owned guns. I don't keep loaded guns in the house, even for protection. So, why should I be forced to surrender them??? Some people collect stamps, I collect guns... Does that make me a criminal, or even violent???
Have you ever handled a gun? Most "gun haters" have never handled a gun and fear them as some people fear snakes. It's an irrational phobia...
StarOffice may not be as "polished" as MS Office. But saying it isn't a replacement for MSO is wrong. It depends on the situation. I use Linux at work (the only one in the company with Linux on the desktop, we use Linux for servers elsewhere) and I haven't had a need to use Windows in over 5 years. I write up documentation with StarOffice (5.x == free) and edit my timesheet with out any incompatibiilities. Sure, I don't have "Clippy" (not that I would use it anyway) nor a lot of other tools that I don't need. StarOffice works great for me since I only use it once or twice a month.
For somebody needing typesetting or "professional" grade capabilities there are better products than MSOffice available (Page Maker, Acrobat, et.al.).
So, why exactly do we NEED MS Word? Heck, I even sometimes write up documentation/specs in VIM because it's quick, small and I'm not looking for something I need to spend weeks learning what each little "doodad" does.
When I see a.doc file floating around I cringe because I know that the possiblity of it looking exactly the same on my system is small. I don't view MS as setting standards. How can it be a "standard" if they are the only ones using/modifying it? Hell, they aren't even 100% backward compatible with themselves. They shove upgrades down your throat, if you have one person saving Word files in Office XP everyone in your company better have Office XP or they're screwed...
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Pull them *out* of Iraq where they aren't going to get *killed*. Make peace -- anyone who thinks that Iraq is stupid enough to not accept a peace offer is on crack
Anyone thinking Saddam would comply with a peace offer is on crack! History has already proven he wouldn't...
What Blix turned up was some guesswork, a very small number of warheads, and now there are people *dying* because of it?
He wasn't supposed to have ANY. And what about the unreported drones? Ah, that's just dirt we can dust under the rug.
Finally, "protecting your family"? Yeah, Iraq is such a terribly nasty threat to your family. Christ. I can just see it now "January 2007 -- Iraq Invades United States!"
Tell that to the victims of 9/11... Who would have thought on 9/10/2001 that terrorists from across the globe would be killing thousands of people in the US tomorrow?
Do you mind if I quote you if an Iraqi led terrorist attack on US soil occurs?
Sorry, how selfish of me...
God Bless the World!
That's fine, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. But, I ask that you keep quiet DURING the war. You've preemptively protested against the war, but now that it's underway stand behind the troops and your country. When it's over go back to complaining about how it could have been handled differently or whatever.
God Bless America!
I wish the best to those serving my country and protecting my family when I am unable.
essence n.
The intrinsic or indispensable properties that serve to characterize or identify something.
The most important ingredient; the crucial element.
The inherent, unchanging nature of a thing or class of things.
An extract that has the fundamental properties of a substance in concentrated form.
Something that exists, especially a spiritual or incorporeal entity.
Got a better term? Spirit maybe?
2) Religion doesn't explain anything any better than random descriptions do. What religion can describe consciousness properly, in a testable way that will allow us to change it, or create more or less of it? Or upload it? No religion does that.
Quoting myself: This is where religion comes into the picture, which may be nothing more than a simple way to explain 'you'... If you follow any form of Christian religion you would realize that the belief in God is an explanation for human existance. And most, if not all, forms of Christianity preach that when you die your spirit will live on in some form of afterlife. Be it traversing Purgatory, sunning in Heaven or frying in Hell. So, in this respect your spirit can not be transferred to another being or entity. This is why human cloning is so hotly debated in the US. So, if you clone yourself does the clone have a spirit of its own? Does it have a spirit at all?
You're quote: There's no reason to believe that the person being emulated is any more qualified an observer than anyone else. If it's good enough to fool outside observers, it's good enough to fool the person being emulated.
The split second after your brain was transferred to another entity it would stop being you. There are now 2 entities with the same intelligence and memories up to X time. At that point any new memory would be unique to either entity... So, you're standing there looking at your new mechanical clone and you are no longer exact duplicates because your clone sees you and can not see the world from your perspective after the transfer. Unless, of course, you could stay linked to the clone, but then what's the point?
I do! It's for a future security camera, but hey, it could be modified...
Yes, to an observer it would appear to be 'you'. But where would 'you' be? What is it that makes you, you? Sure, your brain maybe 100% emulated in another form, but that doesn't mean your "essence" would be transfered as well. The emulated 'you' would be self aware of itself, but that in itself would be emulated as well.
For example, pretend for a moment that a written piece of paper is intelligent and self aware. You photocopy the piece of paper and now have 2 self aware entities exactly mimicking each other. If you burn the original up it's life essence is gone yet, to you, the copy will replace the original. They are separate entities and are each individually self aware yet do not share the same synapsis...
We, as humans, have not figured out what makes us us. This is where religion comes into the picture, which may be nothing more than a simple way to explain 'you'...
This also leads us down the path of human commodities. If we could have cloned past geniuses via emulation we would have an abundant resource pool. But, those individuals ceased to be when they died. A software Einstein would not be Albert...
Just do what I do, read the reviews and go to your local favorite bookstore and buy it...
I think you were attempting to be sarcastic here but in fact failed. I HAVE had my credit card company call me because they thought someone had stolen my card/number. I had typically charged small items on the card like gas and food. Not 24 hours after purchasing an expensive item, can't recall what, might have been a 21" monitor (this was 5 or 6 years ago when 21" monitors were over $1000), the credit card company called me up and stated that purchase came up flagged as a possible stolen card purchase. I thanked them for the call and informed them I was me and everything was fine.
It's called good customer service!
That's Libel and is protected under government law (in the US anyway) that's regardless if you have a web site, store front, or billboards in your front yard. That is in no way relevant to this discussion. Nobody was "smeared" as you put it, just charged for traffic they weren't intending...
. and insurance in case of over bandwidth use due to crackers is like insurance to cover excessive gas use due to someone siphoning the gas out of your tank, fat chance in hell that will EVER happen.
Again, this is irrelavant to this discussion. Nobody stole anything. To expand on your analogy who would be responsible for the gas if you put a bad set of plugs in your car and your gas mileage drops from 25mpg to 10mpg and you don't notice it for a month because your gas gauge is broken or you don't know how to read it properly?
On the other hand, if you had your oil changed and were shorted a quart and discovered this a month later would you demand the station that changed the oil give you an extra quart? You could have checked your oil at any point from leaving the service station but neglected to because you assumed they filled it. Just as you assume that having a small website on the Internet that you've only given the URL to 10 people to won't generate enough traffic to increase your rent. This is a prime learning experience for both parties involved (the service provider and the consumer) and precautions should be put into place to prevent this from happening again. This could be as simple as a statement in the application that plainly states what party is at fault when this happens. And you're right, if the consumer doesn't like one site's policy they'll go elsewhere...
and in a retail space. its not the ISP's job to bow down to you. you dont like it ? vote with your wallet.
Boy, you must have excelled in retail management with that attitude... I used to work for a top computer distributor that sold an in-house brand of hard drive through a large retail chain (Software Etc...). We'd get drives back stating "won't spin up" and there was a brick (literally, a used masonary block) in the box, or dead leaking batteries, or drives we never carried, etc... The customer, obviously, was stealing from the retailer, but, since this was a large market for us we "ate" the loss. Customer happy (a thief, but none the less happy), the retailer was happy, and we still made a crap load of money in the long run.
What I'm getting at is the ISP, which has no obligation, would be better to waive extra fees to keep the customer happy which benefits them in the long run. For one thing, most ISPs pay for Internet service by bandwidth not by amount of traffic, that's just a means to charge consumers of their service. So, in essence, they aren't losing any money and can write it off as a loss, in effect making money off the deal.
To be honest if I were the ISP (I almost started an ISP about 10 years ago) and I knew some virus was or had wreaked havoc on my customer's bandwidth limits I would calculate an average month's service over the past 6 months and charge them that amount even if it meant a theoretical loss of many thousands of dollars.
Now, put yourself in the consumer's shoes. What would make you happier? Your average monthly charge for the last 6 months was $50 but the last month, due to a malicious virus, rocketed your bill to $500. Would you pay the $500? Call the ISP to dispute the charge? Or feel all warm and fuzzy if you received a letter in the mail with a $50 charge and message that stated your bill would have been $500 but due to a malicious Internet virus we are only charging you based on your actual estimated use. Which method would bring more business to the ISP?
furthermore their is no way an ISP should just start blocking people because of unwanted traffic. your public facing servers are subject to the same whims that your public facing store is Not quite. As a store owner you have protection via insurance, if your store is bombarded with rocks taking out every window in the place your insurance should cover it. Another point is hours of access, web servers are on 24/7 whereas most stores are open at specific times. You can stop theft by closing your doors at 2am. You can't stop web traffic so easily... and when i was at circuit city on black friday i do not recall them saying "we are out of stock go away" or "we have too many people in here. go away". Yes, but they have the right to do that if they wanted. In fact too many people in the store would get them fined by the FD and I doubt they would want that, there are maximum occupancy limits on buildings. If an extra 50 people rushed the building and they were over capacity who's going to pay the fine?
That is to say that a) the customer is intelligent/experienced enough to know HOW to monitor the site and b) they monitor it on a regular basis (daily)...
/mo) or be faced with this possibility.
If the service provider was nice at all they would provide a log or usage stats via email to the customer stating they are coming close to max bandwidth or a warning that they've exceeded their bandwidth.
The problem, however, is that most of these people are on dial up connections or are unqualified/unable to set them up at home and is why they use web hosting services anyway. Some blame goes to the customer because they didn't search around for a provider that offers these services.
I have Cable Modem service and don't use it's email or web hosting services even though they are free. I have a web server in my basement and I use zoneedit for DNS service (free up to 5 IPs) and have another server co-located for email which doesn't charge for bandwidth.
So, either you should search for a non-bandwidth charging service (you'll probably pay more
I liken it to flood insurance. The last few years the Northern MidWest (MN/Dakotas) experienced a lot of flooding. The people living on a flood plane bitched because their house flooded. So they rebuilt it and it flooded again 2 years later, though "scientists" stated floods only happen every 25 - 50 years... What do you expect living in a flood plane?
In this specific situation the ISP should be a little lenient and waive most of the fee which can be written off as a loss anyway . At which point the ISP should provide a specific clause, increase everyone's rate or fix their server to provide better monitoring capabilites and/or automated disabling, etc...
Sh*t happens... What's more important? Losing a few dollars one month or losing a few customers for life???
Uhm, duh!
The Titanium Powerbook only comes/came in a 15.2" model. The new ones you are refering to (12") are Aluminium [sic] and are advertised as such. Apple is dropping the Titanium models in favor of the new AlBooks with the iBook inspired clamshell design. These are also anodized which I don't think is possible with Titanium (not a metallurgist) and are scratch resistant. There have been many complaints about the Ti models paint scratching, though I haven't had any problems with mine (PB OC 500).
I'm planning an upgrade to the 17" PB since I don't use my P/C desktop at all anymore.
A couple of co-workers have older Dell laptops and they seem cheap/flimsy and are butt ugly (IMO).
My biggest question, however, is why do you want to run HDTV on your laptop? DVDs don't support 1920... Wireless HD satellite feed to your laptop?
Lightning is sooo fun. About 5 years ago I was living in a third story apartment. Amidst a heated LAN gaming session...CRACK. The "bolt" musta hit just yards from the window. I had a 35" TV about 8' from the outside wall and 2 corners of the screen were discolored from the EMP. Took out a 3 month old A/V receiver, every network card in the apartment (6 or 7) and 2 hubs. I image the EMP followed the network cable which was strung along the baseboard and it was too much for the hubs and ethernet cards. Lucky for me the receiver was under warranty, I had a couple extra hubs and the enet cards were only about $15/ea...
Now, I have whole house surge suppression...
Here's the solution to both of your problems. Slap a 60 pound lead acid car battery in a backpack and rig a cable down to the Segway. Remove the batteries from the Segway, you have now just lightened it AND increased the power capacity...
If you're really handy with a soldering iron you could strap a small electric generator to your back and REALLY increase the max distance...
Surely I jest!
The IA64 (1600 Madison) sucks down 130Watts (you'll need a 500W monster power supply for this thing). And has a die size of 374 mm2 with a whopping 410 million transistors. The PPC 970 (1800) uses a paltry 60W in a 118mm2 die (or less than 1/4th the size) and has only 52 million transistors. It isn't apparent if this also includes the L1 or L2 cache, however. I would guess it does, but still 410 million transistors? Holy crap...
Better have some healthy airflow for the IA64 and maybe some active cooling to keep the system from melting down. No way they intend on putting that thing in a laptop...
If that were the case then why didn't they release all three versions at the same time? I wouldn't pay an extra $20 for a fancy box that gets thrown out soon after the shrink wrap comes off, a mug I'd never use and 5th disc of content I would never watch. But an extra 30 minutes of play time in addition to 376 hours of goofs and deleted scenes on a movie I would/did enjoy is worth $10 - $20...
So I waited for the 4 disc version of LOTR. I know a lot of people that bought both (or the 2/5 disc versions) because they wanted to see it right when it came out on DVD. So, they ended up spending $60 - $80 for, essentially 1 movie instead of $20, $40 or $60 if all 3 versions came out simultaneously... DVD manufacturers are not stupid, unfortunately...
Hell, I own 3 copies of "Army of Darkness": The original, the THX version and the extended version, there's a 4th that I haven't picked up...yet. But each of these were only $15 - $20, not $30+ each...
Me too... I still haven't seen it in any version, but did hold out entirely for the extended multi disc platinum gold foil special edition version so I wouldn't know the plot and it'd be a fresh experience. Unfortunately, I now have to find 4 hours that can sit down and watch the movie in its entirety.
I have to agree and was going to post the same comment but you beat me to it.
Yeah, the first time through you're biting your nails waiting for the plot to work itself out. Ohhh, then one of the best gunfight scenes to come along in a long time. Lots of eye candy here kids, cool camera angles and guns, guns, guns! Throughout this enthralling visual and aural cacophony you keep hearing the "little you" in your head saying "I MUST GET THIS ON DVD"... So, 6 months or so later you think back to that singular moment in time that was "The Matrix" and realizing you have forgotten some aspects and want to be "refreshed" and see it on the "little screen" in the privacy of your own home with volume selected at just less than the quietest Led Zeppelin concert 30 years past. So, on a whim, while shopping at your neighborhood Meglomart, you pick up the coveted "The Matrix" in all its Dolby 5.1 glory. You get home late in the evening and "shelf it" ever waiting for the right time to stimulate your mind once more. So, one day you blow the dust off, crank the sound, lower the lights...And BAM! halfway through...you...fall asleep... "Okay, I'll give it another chance when I'm not so dang tired" you think to yourself. So a couple of months pass and you think you can sit through the first half again since it's been so long and...BAM!...you fall asleep halfway through again.
Now, you never want to watch the first 45 minutes of that movie again... You also reminisce about the great acting that is Keanu Reeves...or lack thereof. Cable continually reminds us of why we hate KR..."Speed"..."Bill and Ted's"..."Johnny Mnemonic"...and the oh so wonderful "Point Break". No, KR has not matured as an actor (loosely stated).. Sure, I'll probably wander into a theater to watch the new "Matrixes" ("Matri"?) and I expect to be "wowed" as I was in the first one. I have a feeling I will be pleasantly disappointed, however...But we'll see...
"Excellent"!
You can install Linux under Virtual PC on OS X right now. VPC 6.0 is quite fast on newer hardware (dual 1+ GHz). This should be extremely quick on the IBM 970 whenever that day comes...
Steve Jobs is a bit on the flakey side but not "bad". He's egotistical, yes, but does that make him a bad person?
// user/programmer until Scully killed the line off. I never really liked the Mac line until Jobs brought it back from near death with OS X (I'm writing this on a PB 500). Evil != bad, sure Jobs may be a Satan worshipper but that doesn't mean he's "bad", hell he's a vegetarian for crying out loud. :)
I guess, since you stated you currently use Macs, you gave Apple a second chance. The "Scully" years certainly turned many away from Apple, myself included. I was an avid Apple
Hatred of Sony is justifiable, the only redeeming quality of Sony is a mutual hatred of Microsoft and, personally, that's not enough for me to want to buy their products. I'm not willing to take the chance that Memory Sticks won't follow Sony's past history (BETAMAX, to name one). There are plenty of alternatives available...
2) Maybe, maybe not. 5 1/4 disks from back then were not designed to last more than about 5 years. I started up my Apple //gs a few months ago and found the majority of my disks were unreadable. So, find a way to "back-up" these old disks before it's too late (of course you can probably now find just about every game from the 80's somewhere on the 'net)...
Add to that the fact that gravity affects light and it would be nearly impossible to aim a communication laser. I think our (Human) communication mediums are too primitive to be of use. Take the SETI project, do you REALLY think IF there are other beings capable of sending some sort of signal into space WE would be able to pick it up with primitive radio receivers? HA! We need to look at more advanced (for us) forms of communication, maybe magnetic or gravitational based.
Actually, it is. Look at the states/cities with high gun control (New York, New Jersey, Detroit, et. al) and those that allow CC (Concealed Carry) like Texas. You'll find that states with CC have lower violent crimes. There is a logical pattern to this. Typically, what happens is violent crime increases or stays steady when the CCW is enacted and then dramatically drops after a couple of years. It takes time for people to get licensed, etc... so crime isn't going to drop immediately. For some unknown reason (liberal bias?) the US media only reports on the months/year after the CCW has gone into effect and can then claim it doesn't work. If they (the media) showed an unbiased view passed 2 - 3 years it would really open America's eyes...
How can you "guarntee" it won't happen in your home? What if your kid brings a gun into your house? Or some other kid/person? Typically, gun owners teach their children how to properly handle a gun and teach them not to play around with them. If you're totally "anti-gun" your children are more apt to shoot themselves because of a lack of knowlege if they do happen upon a gun.
How long ago did that revolution end? You afraid Britain might invade again? So why do you need your guns now? You've got your freedom
Not from Britain, but our OWN government. That's apart of the 2nd Amendment, to protect the people against their own government. First they take your guns then they take your freedom...
Actually, I hate guns because people like you feel you *need* to have one to protect you.
Personally, I don't "need" to have a gun. I enjoy target shooting, have never gone hunting, and have never shot a living creature in the 10 years I have owned guns. I don't keep loaded guns in the house, even for protection. So, why should I be forced to surrender them??? Some people collect stamps, I collect guns... Does that make me a criminal, or even violent???
Have you ever handled a gun? Most "gun haters" have never handled a gun and fear them as some people fear snakes. It's an irrational phobia...
StarOffice may not be as "polished" as MS Office. But saying it isn't a replacement for MSO is wrong. It depends on the situation. I use Linux at work (the only one in the company with Linux on the desktop, we use Linux for servers elsewhere) and I haven't had a need to use Windows in over 5 years. I write up documentation with StarOffice (5.x == free) and edit my timesheet with out any incompatibiilities. Sure, I don't have "Clippy" (not that I would use it anyway) nor a lot of other tools that I don't need. StarOffice works great for me since I only use it once or twice a month.
.doc file floating around I cringe because I know that the possiblity of it looking exactly the same on my system is small. I don't view MS as setting standards. How can it be a "standard" if they are the only ones using/modifying it? Hell, they aren't even 100% backward compatible with themselves. They shove upgrades down your throat, if you have one person saving Word files in Office XP everyone in your company better have Office XP or they're screwed...
For somebody needing typesetting or "professional" grade capabilities there are better products than MSOffice available (Page Maker, Acrobat, et.al.).
So, why exactly do we NEED MS Word? Heck, I even sometimes write up documentation/specs in VIM because it's quick, small and I'm not looking for something I need to spend weeks learning what each little "doodad" does.
When I see a