Nice to see something other than the "Illuminati" inspired dichotemy: left vs. right, business vs. green, progress vs. conservation, us vs. them. The real issues are more complicated and have endless variations of possible solutions.
I used to live near that windfarm. It's actually neat to see them in action - you don't realize just how damn BIG they are 'till you get up close. That windfarm still didn't make the money grubbing b**tards at PG&E lower any rates.
Hard case like a good briefcase. Fits airline regs. Two part claimsheel design with a watertight O-ring. Combo lock. Gunmetel or brushed aluminum surface.
Long Reply:
I have lost laptops in Desert Storm due to dust (Coffea filters worked for my desktops), a river in southern Panama (bloop! Gone!), and once to a cloths dryer. I also ride motercycles in rough weather. I needed a case that was watertight and hard bodied. The Zero case from halliburton was it. I have had if for four years know, and I expect to have it for twenty years more. It also looks like a briefcase and NOT a laptop bag. Laptop bags are a target for thieves. Downside: you will spend $250 on the case. However, why would you not want to spend $250 on equipment that coasts thousands?
As a Sr. Oracle DBA who has experience on a variety of Database systems as well as coding, architecture, and QA, I must say that Larry owes me time in that Garden of his.
Oracle is built like a GM car in 1972 - badly. It started as a powerful database engine that has now got so much... crap... tacked onto it that is a kludgy mess. Larry wants to be the next Enterprise System of Everything (tm). It's rather like going back to IBM in the sixties - one system, one shop, one software, one hefty price.
A running joke in California is the established list of consultant fees for the State Government. Oracle has the highest rate per hour. The next highest consultant fees are for Nobel Prize-winning think tank consultants.
Larry was THE man with THE right answer at THE right time - a powerful database with SQL that resided on multiple platforms of the day. His salesmanship has parlied it into Software #2. But is his vision anything more than Market Hype nowadays?
Oracle is still plagued by Theta style (WHERE clause) joins, while SQL Server has used JOIN systex. To get Oracle to run well and keep it running requires a lot of knowledge, much of it "tribal". I personally don't mind it much, as being a "high priest" of oracle secrets keeps me employed and my databases running.
I am encouraged by Larry's continued support of Java and simplifying his price schedule, but how much of this is in reaction to the SQL Server threat?
Quite honestly, I find SQL Server a breeze to work with compared to oracle - and most of my fellow DBS's have agreed with me (well, 4 out of 5).
This rant ends, as mine always do, with a trip to the bathroom.
I remember a cool cartoon by the 5th Wave comic artists. It showed a room with a generic mainframe, a long cable attached to a scooter like device. The scooter was roving over the floor. The caption was: Bud and Elliot Grunt develop the mainfrace mouse One guy (Elliot?) was looking at the system admin terminal and saying "Whoh! Back up there a bit bud."
I wish I could find a scan or link for it.:-/
--the original ByterBit
"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not. Nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not. Unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not. The world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence, determination and hard work make the difference." --- Calvin Coolidge
During Desert Shield/Storm, we airmen were faced with a similar problem. We also had no access to anything approaching a proper filtration system. However, we could get coffee filters since us zoomies can't be without coffee ('cept myself, the token tea drinker).
We taped the filters over the preferred intake and plugged up the rest of the vents.
Doubtless you may want something more elegant, but hey if it's an equipment room who cares.
I have suffered through an acute attack of tinnitus - an experience I never wish on anyone. I was lucky that my attack stopped as mysteriously as it started. You suffer through chronic tinnitus. What have you done to keep you sanity/health while living with that problem? What techniques do you use?
People of the US, Western Europe, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand are spoiled when it comes to their postal system. I have found that every other postal system in the world, excepting the above, is staffed by extremely low paid civil service workers who make a living off of their mail. The horror story of trying to ship a 5 pound package to Vladimir-Suzdael I will not repeat.
For a solution, can your friend get to a port? You can try to have a shipping (as in wet) company carry the package. Sometimes the crew or captain will carry something for a small renumeration (bribe). You may even get lucky if you friend can get to a port served by Maersk or SeaLand. (Actually, I think they merged now. Talk about a Trust/Monoply!)
You may also be running afoul of archaic importation laws. The value of the Ruble compared to the US Dollar is pretty severe, and with a new nationalistic government they may have strict import quotas.
as Count Korbinsky once said of semantics. Espoused in A.E. Van Goyt science fiction books (before he became a Scientoligst, that is).
IMHO,
We must think in terms of ideals and metaphors becuase we reduce complex things to simple things. Knowing the vector of every atom is not as useful as knowing Newtons laws of physics. Humans reduce and simplify. This simplifications are what we convey to others.
The only danger is when these ideals and metaphors outlive their natural lifetimes. Racial prejidice in the US made the south an economic powerhouse (King Cotton), and later became the foundation of much hate and ignorance.
The source of much of Mage the Ascension was in the book, TECHNOPOLY The Surrender of Culture to Technology by Neil Postman. A dry read at best, and slightly alarmist in scope. The author is a big-P Paradigm fan.
I'm not sure exactly why Mr. Katz would review the game three years since it's dramatic release to the White Wolf series of games. It owes a lot to the dying Cyberpunk genre. I have a review on my humble web site for those that are interested in my take on the book.
Slashdot Mirror
Nice to see something other than the "Illuminati" inspired dichotemy: left vs. right, business vs. green, progress vs. conservation, us vs. them. The real issues are more complicated and have endless variations of possible solutions.
I used to live near that windfarm. It's actually neat to see them in action - you don't realize just how damn BIG they are 'till you get up close. That windfarm still didn't make the money grubbing b**tards at PG&E lower any rates.
Shortest reply:
Halliburton Zero computer case.
Medium Reply:
Hard case like a good briefcase. Fits airline regs. Two part claimsheel design with a watertight O-ring. Combo lock. Gunmetel or brushed aluminum surface.
Long Reply:
I have lost laptops in Desert Storm due to dust (Coffea filters worked for my desktops), a river in southern Panama (bloop! Gone!), and once to a cloths dryer. I also ride motercycles in rough weather. I needed a case that was watertight and hard bodied. The Zero case from halliburton was it. I have had if for four years know, and I expect to have it for twenty years more. It also looks like a briefcase and NOT a laptop bag. Laptop bags are a target for thieves. Downside: you will spend $250 on the case. However, why would you not want to spend $250 on equipment that coasts thousands?
As a Sr. Oracle DBA who has experience on a variety of Database systems as well as coding, architecture, and QA, I must say that Larry owes me time in that Garden of his.
Oracle is built like a GM car in 1972 - badly. It started as a powerful database engine that has now got so much... crap... tacked onto it that is a kludgy mess. Larry wants to be the next Enterprise System of Everything (tm). It's rather like going back to IBM in the sixties - one system, one shop, one software, one hefty price.
A running joke in California is the established list of consultant fees for the State Government. Oracle has the highest rate per hour. The next highest consultant fees are for Nobel Prize-winning think tank consultants.
Larry was THE man with THE right answer at THE right time - a powerful database with SQL that resided on multiple platforms of the day. His salesmanship has parlied it into Software #2. But is his vision anything more than Market Hype nowadays?
Oracle is still plagued by Theta style (WHERE clause) joins, while SQL Server has used JOIN systex. To get Oracle to run well and keep it running requires a lot of knowledge, much of it "tribal". I personally don't mind it much, as being a "high priest" of oracle secrets keeps me employed and my databases running.
I am encouraged by Larry's continued support of Java and simplifying his price schedule, but how much of this is in reaction to the SQL Server threat?
Quite honestly, I find SQL Server a breeze to work with compared to oracle - and most of my fellow DBS's have agreed with me (well, 4 out of 5).
This rant ends, as mine always do, with a trip to the bathroom.
I remember a cool cartoon by the 5th Wave comic artists. It showed a room with a generic mainframe, a long cable attached to a scooter like device. The scooter was roving over the floor. The caption was:
:-/
Bud and Elliot Grunt develop the mainfrace mouse
One guy (Elliot?) was looking at the system admin terminal and saying "Whoh! Back up there a bit bud."
I wish I could find a scan or link for it.
--the original ByterBit
"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not. Nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not. Unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not. The world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence, determination and hard work make the difference."
--- Calvin Coolidge
Our company sells touch laptops for rugged conditions. The only one I would recommend is one from itronix.
:-)
Check out http://www.itronix.com/ for details.
Then buy from us
Just try to install and run the java JDK 1.4. Crash and boom.
During Desert Shield/Storm, we airmen were faced with a similar problem. We also had no access to anything approaching a proper filtration system. However, we could get coffee filters since us zoomies can't be without coffee ('cept myself, the token tea drinker).
We taped the filters over the preferred intake and plugged up the rest of the vents.
Doubtless you may want something more elegant, but hey if it's an equipment room who cares.
--byterbit
Dear Mr. Shatner:
I have suffered through an acute attack of tinnitus - an experience I never wish on anyone. I was lucky that my attack stopped as mysteriously as it started. You suffer through chronic tinnitus. What have you done to keep you sanity/health while living with that problem? What techniques do you use?
I too have been burnt with sending packages.
People of the US, Western Europe, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand are spoiled when it comes to their postal system. I have found that every other postal system in the world, excepting the above, is staffed by extremely low paid civil service workers who make a living off of their mail. The horror story of trying to ship a 5 pound package to Vladimir-Suzdael I will not repeat.
For a solution, can your friend get to a port? You can try to have a shipping (as in wet) company carry the package. Sometimes the crew or captain will carry something for a small renumeration (bribe). You may even get lucky if you friend can get to a port served by Maersk or SeaLand. (Actually, I think they merged now. Talk about a Trust/Monoply!)
You may also be running afoul of archaic importation laws. The value of the Ruble compared to the US Dollar is pretty severe, and with a new nationalistic government they may have strict import quotas.
Matthew
as Count Korbinsky once said of semantics. Espoused in A.E. Van Goyt science fiction books (before he became a Scientoligst, that is).
IMHO,
We must think in terms of ideals and metaphors becuase we reduce complex things to simple things. Knowing the vector of every atom is not as useful as knowing Newtons laws of physics. Humans reduce and simplify. This simplifications are what we convey to others.
The only danger is when these ideals and metaphors outlive their natural lifetimes. Racial prejidice in the US made the south an economic powerhouse (King Cotton), and later became the foundation of much hate and ignorance.
The source of much of Mage the Ascension was in the book, TECHNOPOLY The Surrender of Culture to Technology by Neil Postman. A dry read at best, and slightly alarmist in scope. The author is a big-P Paradigm fan.
I'm not sure exactly why Mr. Katz would review the game three years since it's dramatic release to the White Wolf series of games. It owes a lot to the dying Cyberpunk genre. I have a review on my humble web site for those that are interested in my take on the book.