I highly recommend downloading a copy of the Ultimate Boot Disc as well. This one's saved a couple of systems for me. It has a great collection of low level disk tools, including hard-drive manufacturor specific tools. I keep a copy of both the UBD and Knoppix by my computer at all times.
Hmm, interesting, NASA is giving contrasting information.
The link I was referring to was the second, labelled tall, narrow ridge, which had this to say:
The ridge is conspicuous in the picture as an approximately 20-kilometer wide (12 miles) band that extends from the western (left) side of the disc almost to the day/night boundary on the right. On the left horizon, the peak of the ridge reaches at least 13 kilometers (8 miles) above the surrounding terrain.
The NASA summary says the ridge can reach 20km/12m wide. The height only reaches 13km/8m, only about half the actual height of Olympus Mons. Proportionally, though, it's about 2.5 times the size of Olympus Mons. Still very impressive.
You've got two monitor solutions, CRT and LCD. The problem with LCDs is that they don't work in cold temperatures. Which leaves CRTS. The big problem with CRTs is the dust. You would absolutely need some kind of enclosure for the CRT.
Every CRT I've seen has a top that is all grill, for the heat to rise out of. It can get fairly warm up there (my cats liked to sit up there before they got so fat they tipped my monitor), and I'd imagine dust finding its way down through the grill will find much warmer areas around the tube itself.
Fine sawdust, the kind you have floating around in a workshop, is definately flammable. I've even heard that under the right circumstances, sawdust can actually be explosive. Do NOT let sawdust collect inside your monitor housing!
Sigh, yep it's true. And it's a shame. I think this just highlights what's wrong with the system.
Frivolous lawsuits more profitable than complex ones, USPTO wary of annoying their largest 'customers'.... Patents should be used to support a business' technology, not to support lawsuits which are the business (financially).
a patent of 2.5 years wouldn't be worth the paper it's printed on
exactly! only those companies that absolutely demand that extra edge will bother. it will also work as means to dissuade frivolous patents.
I didn't know about the TRIPs agreement. It should be expanded to allow for different patent situations. The 17 years was selected (from what I understand) so that the innovations could be utilized at a later date by other companies as means of encouraging the use of innovative ideas. (doesn't the USPTO contend [counterintuitively] that they exist to further innovation?) It only makes sense that industries that move at a faster pace should have a shorter time before using patented innovations.
The examination delays is a problem. That will require some more brainstorming.
The solution hit me the other night. Patents last for 17 years, right? But I've heard statistics saying that the computer industry moves at about 7 times the speed of traditional industries.
So, let them patent software. But have the patents expire in 2.5 years. If they won't outlaw software patents for good, then 2.5 year patents might be a compromise more of us could live with.
The article doesn't go into to much technical detail, but I wonder if the digital watermark has any level on encryption at all. I could imagine a clever hacker working around the digital watermark -- unless is has a formidable amount of encryption.
Even better would be a system where each piece of information was encrypted with a different key.
it takes me a _lot_ longer to read a poorly put together e-mail, than one with good grammar and punctuation. More than a few times I've had to send back "What do you mean?"
This has recently plagued me. One of the companies I subcontract with has recently hired a new part-time project manager. Prime temp agency material.
While she might be nice personally, she can't communicate through email to save her life. Now when I am asked for estimates on projects, it takes a minimum of three rounds of clarifications to figure out what the original email meant.
My first experience with her I couldn't tell if she was asking me to design a label for a CDROM or to create a full photo gallery presentation for a CDROM. Three emails later, I realize all she wants me to do is create thumbnail/fullsize versions of a group of photos she has on CDROM.
I went back to the original email and still couldn't figure out how to read it, even knowing what she was trying to say.
My mother had a fairly bad stroke several years ago. It didn't have a very serious effect on her motor skills, but it nearly wiped out her ability to communicate. Step by step she's regained her ability to read, write, speak, and listen. She's made great improvements over the past few years, but she's still having to work on it every day.
And she writes emails much better than the majority of my clients, and is about even with the rest.
(My client emails are mostly from the business owners or their project managers.)
From what I've heard, statistics like this are always skewed in favor of non-US counties, because not all counties educate all children. In many countries only the more gifted children even go to the high school level, so of course their average is going to be higher.
Are we sure we want to get to be 1,000 years old? The cartiledge in the nose and ears never stop growing. After 1,000 years a person would look ridiculous!
(wasn't there a Bill Plympton cartoon that showed what this would look like?)
They are not just screwing the Tivo users, they are screwing up their core customers, the ones who watch live, commercials and all
Actually, no they're not, and that's the point.
If station A has a show from 9:00 to 10:02, and station B has a show from 10:00 to 10:30, then by extending their minutes, station A's is actually hurting station B's core customers, not their own. Station A is keep their viewers on their channel instead of flipping around, especially if these people are like me and despise missing the first few minutes of a show.
I just don't buy it. I mean, I don't blame him for wanting to get out. But he also could have just said "I don't want to play tomorrow", and walked away. The rules allow for that.
But if you do, then you deny somebody the status of having beaten you. Sure, some people would quit just so there couldn't be somebody that could say they beat them. But from what I understand, Jennings was a very gracious winner. To let somebody beat him (if he did) instead of trying to retain an 'unbeaten' title is selfless and kind.
'natural' light probably refers to light containing a broader spectrum range, but concentrated on frequencies that are 'natural' to us, like sunlight and light bulb colors.
I like the test for stepping back to see if the entire object is a solid color (which confirms that I have a fairly good quality CRT), but to suggest that it's the monitor's fault if you see colors in these images is false. That's an optical illusion, and it occurs in the eyes/brain, not the monitor.
(not to say that there couldn't be a problem with your monitor that would cause colors there, but to say conclusively that it's a monitor problem is misleading)
There's a lot of hilarious stuff you can find like that, or through the occassional random accident. I needed to reinstall Win98 on a machine once, except it of course didn't come with a Windows installation disc, only a copy of the installation files on the hard drive. So I rebooted into DOS and tried running setup.exe, which turned out to have been corrupted already. I got the most splendid error I have ever seen.
setup.exe spit out about 8 pages of binary before stopping, with the last page contained the following phrase, over and over again:
"...was influential during the German Expressionist era. He taught at the Bauhaus during the..."
Firefox f-ing rocks, no doubt about it. It blows IE out of the water. It probably has far fewer security holes. But to say it "lacks security issues" is naieve.
The last security bug I remember hearing about in Firefox had a working patch to fix the problem very quickly. In fact, it was released by about the time I had finished reading the alert in the first place. Microsoft, on the other hand, takes considerably longer.
It's one thing to admit there are security vulnerabilities in Firefox. There have been, and there will continue to be vulnerabilities discovered in Firefox. But as long as the Firefox community fixes these vulnerabilities as quickly as they have in the past, I don't think it's fair to say that Firefox has security issues.
Microsoft, of course, has both security vulnerabilities and security issues. It becomes an issue when the vulnerabilities aren't dealt with quickly enough.
Semantics, I know.... But there is a crucial difference.
Slashdot Mirror
I highly recommend downloading a copy of the Ultimate Boot Disc as well. This one's saved a couple of systems for me. It has a great collection of low level disk tools, including hard-drive manufacturor specific tools. I keep a copy of both the UBD and Knoppix by my computer at all times.
The link I was referring to was the second, labelled tall, narrow ridge, which had this to say:
The NASA summary says the ridge can reach 20km/12m wide. The height only reaches 13km/8m, only about half the actual height of Olympus Mons. Proportionally, though, it's about 2.5 times the size of Olympus Mons. Still very impressive.
You've got two monitor solutions, CRT and LCD. The problem with LCDs is that they don't work in cold temperatures. Which leaves CRTS. The big problem with CRTs is the dust. You would absolutely need some kind of enclosure for the CRT.
Every CRT I've seen has a top that is all grill, for the heat to rise out of. It can get fairly warm up there (my cats liked to sit up there before they got so fat they tipped my monitor), and I'd imagine dust finding its way down through the grill will find much warmer areas around the tube itself.
Fine sawdust, the kind you have floating around in a workshop, is definately flammable. I've even heard that under the right circumstances, sawdust can actually be explosive. Do NOT let sawdust collect inside your monitor housing!
Sigh, yep it's true. And it's a shame. I think this just highlights what's wrong with the system.
Frivolous lawsuits more profitable than complex ones, USPTO wary of annoying their largest 'customers'.... Patents should be used to support a business' technology, not to support lawsuits which are the business (financially).
a patent of 2.5 years wouldn't be worth the paper it's printed on
exactly! only those companies that absolutely demand that extra edge will bother. it will also work as means to dissuade frivolous patents.
I didn't know about the TRIPs agreement. It should be expanded to allow for different patent situations. The 17 years was selected (from what I understand) so that the innovations could be utilized at a later date by other companies as means of encouraging the use of innovative ideas. (doesn't the USPTO contend [counterintuitively] that they exist to further innovation?) It only makes sense that industries that move at a faster pace should have a shorter time before using patented innovations.
The examination delays is a problem. That will require some more brainstorming.
The solution hit me the other night. Patents last for 17 years, right? But I've heard statistics saying that the computer industry moves at about 7 times the speed of traditional industries.
So, let them patent software. But have the patents expire in 2.5 years. If they won't outlaw software patents for good, then 2.5 year patents might be a compromise more of us could live with.
comments?
The article doesn't go into to much technical detail, but I wonder if the digital watermark has any level on encryption at all. I could imagine a clever hacker working around the digital watermark -- unless is has a formidable amount of encryption.
Even better would be a system where each piece of information was encrypted with a different key.
it takes me a _lot_ longer to read a poorly put together e-mail, than one with good grammar and punctuation. More than a few times I've had to send back "What do you mean?"
This has recently plagued me. One of the companies I subcontract with has recently hired a new part-time project manager. Prime temp agency material.
While she might be nice personally, she can't communicate through email to save her life. Now when I am asked for estimates on projects, it takes a minimum of three rounds of clarifications to figure out what the original email meant.
My first experience with her I couldn't tell if she was asking me to design a label for a CDROM or to create a full photo gallery presentation for a CDROM. Three emails later, I realize all she wants me to do is create thumbnail/fullsize versions of a group of photos she has on CDROM.
I went back to the original email and still couldn't figure out how to read it, even knowing what she was trying to say.
My mother had a fairly bad stroke several years ago. It didn't have a very serious effect on her motor skills, but it nearly wiped out her ability to communicate. Step by step she's regained her ability to read, write, speak, and listen. She's made great improvements over the past few years, but she's still having to work on it every day.
And she writes emails much better than the majority of my clients, and is about even with the rest.
(My client emails are mostly from the business owners or their project managers.)
From what I've heard, statistics like this are always skewed in favor of non-US counties, because not all counties educate all children. In many countries only the more gifted children even go to the high school level, so of course their average is going to be higher.
Are we sure we want to get to be 1,000 years old? The cartiledge in the nose and ears never stop growing. After 1,000 years a person would look ridiculous!
(wasn't there a Bill Plympton cartoon that showed what this would look like?)
It won't replace current mp3s. It will only be a method of compressing 5.1 channel surround sound files. It will only be useful for ripping DVD audio
In other words, the MPAA and RIAA are going to come down on this like a 500 ton brick.
They are not just screwing the Tivo users, they are screwing up their core customers, the ones who watch live, commercials and all
Actually, no they're not, and that's the point.
If station A has a show from 9:00 to 10:02, and station B has a show from 10:00 to 10:30, then by extending their minutes, station A's is actually hurting station B's core customers, not their own. Station A is keep their viewers on their channel instead of flipping around, especially if these people are like me and despise missing the first few minutes of a show.
I just don't buy it. I mean, I don't blame him for wanting to get out. But he also could have just said "I don't want to play tomorrow", and walked away. The rules allow for that.
But if you do, then you deny somebody the status of having beaten you. Sure, some people would quit just so there couldn't be somebody that could say they beat them. But from what I understand, Jennings was a very gracious winner. To let somebody beat him (if he did) instead of trying to retain an 'unbeaten' title is selfless and kind.
cool -- thanks for a good explanation!
'natural' light probably refers to light containing a broader spectrum range, but concentrated on frequencies that are 'natural' to us, like sunlight and light bulb colors.
I like the test for stepping back to see if the entire object is a solid color (which confirms that I have a fairly good quality CRT), but to suggest that it's the monitor's fault if you see colors in these images is false. That's an optical illusion, and it occurs in the eyes/brain, not the monitor.
(not to say that there couldn't be a problem with your monitor that would cause colors there, but to say conclusively that it's a monitor problem is misleading)
I think we should dump it all in Ohio....
The real question is, can Disney survive without Pixar? As my magic-8 ball says, "Outlook not so good."
Funny, that's the same thing my computer said. Maybe Disney should try using Thunderbird?
Oops! I clicked the link! Now I'm going to be on some FBI hit-list or something....
What you need is the ColorZilla extension -- it's primary an eyedropper tool, but also has full-page zooming from 20% to 1000%.
There's a lot of hilarious stuff you can find like that, or through the occassional random accident. I needed to reinstall Win98 on a machine once, except it of course didn't come with a Windows installation disc, only a copy of the installation files on the hard drive. So I rebooted into DOS and tried running setup.exe, which turned out to have been corrupted already. I got the most splendid error I have ever seen.
setup.exe spit out about 8 pages of binary before stopping, with the last page contained the following phrase, over and over again:
"...was influential during the German Expressionist era. He taught at the Bauhaus during the..."
Just think, in a year or so it could be the next iTunes killer..
Sorry, the role of "iTunes killer" has already been filled.... Media Monkey replaced Winamp for me a long time ago.
Firefox f-ing rocks, no doubt about it. It blows IE out of the water. It probably has far fewer security holes. But to say it "lacks security issues" is naieve.
The last security bug I remember hearing about in Firefox had a working patch to fix the problem very quickly. In fact, it was released by about the time I had finished reading the alert in the first place. Microsoft, on the other hand, takes considerably longer.
It's one thing to admit there are security vulnerabilities in Firefox. There have been, and there will continue to be vulnerabilities discovered in Firefox. But as long as the Firefox community fixes these vulnerabilities as quickly as they have in the past, I don't think it's fair to say that Firefox has security issues.
Microsoft, of course, has both security vulnerabilities and security issues. It becomes an issue when the vulnerabilities aren't dealt with quickly enough.
Semantics, I know.... But there is a crucial difference.