I agree that recoding is much harder than moving to FM7. The problem of data access still remains, however.
FM7 does address many of the limitations of its predecessors (file size, tables per file, etc), so that eases the crunch somewhat. However, I'm still locked into a proprietary format (more or less -- I know I can export).
The real problem here is that the original questioner/poster didn't understand that FM7 has an update/rebuild engine built into it. When you open older files, it automatically updates the structure for you.
We're trying to consolidate most of our files into single, related databases (right now there's a lot of unecessary duplication). So, we know the autoupdate is out there, it just won't help us get our DBs cleaned up.
If he had understood that, we wouldn't have this entire article/question.
Whatever.
As for porting, FM does exports to text/cvs very easily.
I know, that's what I've been doing up until now. However, with over 200 "databases" in FM, exporting from each of them just to make the data available gets to be a pain in the butt. It would be much easier if I could access it directly.
Sorry to miss the first three hours of comments, but I was dealing with some network disasters here. I'll try to clarify a few things:
1) I'm not trying to get away from FM just because I'm a DB snob; I know FM7 will scale better than FM6 and will generally do away with the major limitations we have right now. I also know there's a FM6->FM7 conversion tool, but our databases are pretty zany, and all the experts we've talked to have recommended re-structuring the data. That's why we're moving off of FM6.
2) As for why I want to go to FOSS, it's so I can get to the data for other applications without having to export it to TDV or XML and massage it. FM does a great job of holding all our data and making it easy to enter, change, and view. Alas, that doesn't help me for my LDAP database (which needs to be kept in sync), library patrons catalog, and other network-related user information systems. Hence, if it were possible to use an open (e.g., SQL) backend with FM's great front end, I'd be happy.
3) I know FM has a JDBC/ODBC feature to allow external queries, but it doesn't support many facets of SQL (doh), and it doesn't currently work with the Mac version of FM7 (crap -- we're an all-mac shop). Hence another reason why I'd like to keep the backend open; I'm not waiting on FileMaker to "get around" to implementing key features on the Mac.
4) UI is key, however. We have about 20 people who enter data regularly, and they aren't DB admins, so it needs to be simple and painless to enter, search, and report on data. To support that level of user-friendliness would be difficult to acheive in a custom web-based solution. Hence, any pointers on hooking up FM's great UI to a FOSS DB would be great.
5) I have several years of Java, Perl, and PHP programming experience, so I could code this myself, and I fully understand the difficulties of doing so. That's why I was hoping for an off-the-shelf solution; my school simply doesn't have the budget to have me do it, nor to pay someone else to do it.
Thanks for all the feedback so far; I'll post more later.
While this is probably overkill for what you need, you may find it helpful in other parts of your network. I run the network at a private boarding school, and we use it to keep kids off the network at certain times (detention, lights out, etc). Several other schools and colleges in the Northeast also use it.
http://www.bradford-sw.com/
This company makes a product called Campus Manager. It's basically an appliance that talks to your switches (and wireless access points, and other network hardware). It learns MAC addresses and associates them with users, and tracks which physical ports they're connected to.
The system allows you to take actions on ports based on the MAC address connected to them. You can flip VLANs based on who links up to a port, or you can schedule ports to flip on a regular basis. If your WAPs support VLANs, you could do this in your classrooms. If they don't, the device can also act as a RADIUS server and the WAPs can talk to that to allow/deny access.
The system allows you to "force" registration, so users must link their MAC addresses with their names when they first come on the network. Once they've done that, you can easily group students and apply scheduled access to each group.
You can even give limited access to certain users (e.g., the faculty), so they can turn ports/users on and off whenever they want (for example, if they have a test that day).
Again, this may be overkill for what you need, but if you're looking for a more powerful general solution, this may be something you'd want to look in to.
- Program should declare what kind of access it needs to the filesystem to function. No other parts of the "real" filesystem should be visible in the program's namespace at all. - Same for every other resource such as sockets, etc...
This could be achieved through a manifest file of some sort, which the kernel would read and interpret. It could be part of the program image itself. This would be truly beautiful, however anything that implements any of the above is a GOOD thing.
Isn't this what the Java security framework does? Applets get "sandboxed" and can only access the files, directories, sockets, etc that are explicitly granted to it.
I haven't read up much on the recent versions of the security model, so I don't know if this can apply to applications (or just applets), but it seems that's just what you're looking for...
The definitive text is excellent, though a tad dated. There are a few other books that do a good job of explaining (La)TeX.
I highly recommend "A Guide to LaTeX" by Kopka and Daly. It's extremely user-friendly, especially for the beginner. The book gave me enough to write my CS thesis (including figures, citations, and drawings), even though I had no prior knowledge of LaTeX.
Even after you've learned the basics, it makes a handy reference when you can't quite remember how to do something. I've been using LaTeX steadily for over 5 years, and it's still the first book I reach for when I have a question.
I see that it's in its 4th edition now. I'm not that up-to-date, but if the 4th is anything like the 3rd, it's well worth your money.
Also, refcards.com used to have a quick reference sheet for LaTeX, but they don't seem to be up anymore. This guy has one that looks close, though:
http://www.stdout.org/~winston/latex/
Comes in handy when you're still learning the ropes.
I would echo the sentiment of wanting a backup of all that content.
I just finished a small tutorial site this week for students at my high school. I remembered Webmonkey being a good resource for beginners (they even have a "kids" section), so I was psyched to see that it was still alive and kicking.
Now, two days after I posted a link to it at the top of my page of "useful links", Webmonkey goes under.
Anyone know of a good replacement tutorial site for the non- to semi-experienced webmaster?
KTUH had some good programming back in the day, but there was also Radio Free Hawaii, where the playlist was determined through ballot voting (ballots were available all over the state).
It's too bad they weren't popular enough to keep sponsorship... the concept was great and the shows were a welcome departure from the top-40 crap on the other stations at the time.
RFH shut down just before the web really got kicking. If they had stuck it out a little longer, I'm sure tons of people would have gotten on board to vote online.
If you use one-time passwords, you can use a totally insecure connection because the password is invalid immediately after you use it. Thus, even if it gets sniffed, it doesn't give an attacker anything they can use to get into your system. Thus, the connection is totally insecure, but your password remains safe. Sounds to me like just what you would want.
Look into libpam-opie on linux or s/key on the *BSDs for more info. Some good background is available from the FreeBSD manual:
It integrates well with most of the "basic" services on those OSes, so you shouldn't have much trouble getting it off the ground.
The one pain is that you have to look up a new password off of a card or piece of paper every time you log in. Alternately, some programs allow you to compute the OTP challenge/response on the fly (you could even write a script to help you out if you do this often enough).
Many large ISPs (such as AOL) have already started filtering mail based on the IP of the relaying server. So if your SMTP server talks directly to AOL, then AOL may reject your mail simply because you're *likely* to be a spammer relay (even though you're not).
Meanwhile, cable companies like Cox have already implemented a total blackhole on *outgoing* SMTP. Not only is this annoying for people who run servers, but it also sucks for those of us with POP/IMAP accounts... if I'm connected from home I have to set my outgoing SMTP to Cox, and when I come in to work I have to flip it back to my company's mail server. (I've since set up an automatic ssh tunnel to get around Cox, but the average joe has no hope of doing that for themselves.)
Either way, this new idea isn't going to make sending mail from your own domain any harder than the cable companies are going to make it anyway...
I'm afraid I can't help with the import/export part of your problem, though a little perl hacking may be the best route there...
You should check out the Horde Project's Turba module. It provides contact management services that integrate with Horde's other services (such as IMP, the webmail component). Check out the page for Turba here:
http://www.horde.org/turba/
Turba can use several backends, including LDAP (which is how I have it configured). I've never tried to set Turba up standalone (I have it set up as the address book for webmail), but I believe it should be possible (all of the modules are highly configurable and able to operate independently of each other).
It's web-based, so it should work on any platform. All you need is LDAP, and a PHP-cabable web server. And if you set up your LDAP permissions correctly, you can even have multiple address books (e.g., Shared and Personal) so people can keep their own lists that others can't muck with.
I have written a book (well, a 100-page thesis, but it's essentially a book). I wrote it entirely in LaTeX, using EPS figures generated from Adobe Illustrator and my own custom software. Later versions of the doc, however, are all pure PDF, using pdflatex, Illustrator-generated PDFs, and my own PDFs. (If you're really bored, you can download my thesis at: http://www.logn.net/penrose/download/PenroseEmpire sThesis.pdf.)
Since you're starting from scratch, and you're looking to produce a PDF file, I'd suggest using pdfLaTeX (which is often included with newer distributions of latex). Try typing `pdflatex` at the command line to see if you have it.
pdflatex works almost exactly like latex, but it uses PDF as its native file format. That means that it produces PDF files natively, and can import PDF files as graphics seamlessly. Note that other solutions work well also (such as the other post's suggestion of dvipdfm), but if you're starting from scratch (or close enough), pdflatex is seamless to produce hyperlinked PDF documents with a minimum of fuss. With packages like hyperref, pdflatex will autogenerate links to figures, chapters, sections, and so on, as well as custom links defined in the source code.
Most good programs can produce PDF natively (such as dia); otherwise ghostscript (using the ps2pdf tool) can convert postscript to PDF, and almost anything can produce postscript.
If you're producing your own figures, the PDF format isn't too hard. Someone above suggested that your software produce postscript directly. That works fine, but you should know that PDF is basically just like postscript, except that it includes a little header info and can be compressed (it has other tricks too, but for simple graphics, that's all you need to know). I wrote a quick PDF output library for my software -- it wasn't too hard. Plus, you might be able to find a library that will do it for you now (I wrote my stuff a few years ago). If you can, go native with PDF, as that way you won't have to convert to PDF from anything.
The output is highly professional, works on almost any platform, prints beautifully, and costs nothing to you to produce. If you are halfway good at LaTeX, it's what I would recommend.
I totally agree that finding out for yourself is the best way to get what you like. That said, there is a *lot* of stuff out there, so it helps to have a few suggestions. I'm a computer geek, but I played in a big band during college. Here are some of my picks FWIW:
The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra (with Wynton Marsalis). These guys are some of the finest jazz musicians playing today. Their "Live from Swing City" album is all Duke, and it's superb. Even if you have the Duke himself (which you should), get this album as well, especially if you're into swing.
The Mingus Big Band. Organized by Sue Mingus (Charles' wife), these guys get together to play tunes written by the great bassist. I've seen them in concert, and I don't have the words to describe their awesomeness.
Jimmy Smith moved the organ from the church into the concert hall. His short career (a few years in the 60s) saw numerous albums with some great grooves. If you like him, you might look into the current group Soulive (they've moved on to a more modern sound, but their earlier albums are all soul, and impossible not to dance to).
For a little splash of New Orleans, check out the Dirty Dozen Brass Band (I'm a tuba player, so they hold a special place in my heart).
Thelonious Monk, Herbie Hancock, Quincy Jones... there's so many to choose from! Talk to your friends, trade your CDs (while it's still legal), and see what you like!
PXE describes a method where the NIC in the computer bootstraps the information it needs to boot off of the network. Many modern computers have NICs that support this. Newworld Macintoshes can netboot, as can most recent 3com cards (even my 3 year old Dell supports it).
Basically, the NIC makes a DHCP (or BOOTP) request for an IP address. The DHCP protocol allows the server to return the address of a TFTP (Trivial FTP) server along with the IP address for the client. The client contacts the TFTP server to get a kernel (vmlinuz), and then boots directly into that. From there, the kernel should be configured to mount its filesystems over NFS, and finish the boot process. I'm sure Google can point you to a more complete explanation.
What makes ClusterKnoppix so cool is that it's usually a huge pain to set up a TFTP/DHCP/NFS server correctly for multiple clients. ClusterKnoppix does it all for you, so all you need are some (really) "dumb" clients and all the heavy lifting is done for you.
I know smart people who were blasted by the subject test...
Amen to that. While I'm no CS genius, I was a CS major in a good program during college. I took the GRE CS subject test during my senior year, and I got reamed by it. Biggest waste of $130/4 hours I've ever experienced. And I wasn't the only one; most of my friends had the same experience.
I took the exam because 1 school I was applying to required it. Had I known what the exam was going to do to me, I would have just skipped that school. While I don't want to sound like a chicken, you should seriously consider whether you need to take this exam or not.
If you insist on taking the exam, I suggest you read the major texts from each section of CS, especially those that you haven't studied. Look through the course catalog and find all the courses you didn't take (pay attention to Compilers, Operating Systems, Programming Languages, and Theory of Computation). I got nailed because I took the exam without having taken compilers yet. Turns out a lot of that year's exam was related to compilers. Whoops.
Most interesting is the ability to hold two weapons at once, each operating individually on the left trigger or the right.
I've been able to do this for a great many years now by playing Marathon, Bungie's FPS for the Mac. (Here's a screenshot of me doing it.) Though I guess Halo2 will let you hold a different weapon in each hand, which would be new and cool.
BTW... I know that Marathon is old and ugly compared to newer 3D games, but I have a soft spot for it. Maybe I'm crazy, but I think it's more fun. Ah well...
Filing with the Mass AG is a good idea -- when I've talked to them they've always been very helpful (I live in Mass).
Furthermore, the practice described in the article seems to violate a major provision of the Mass Consumer Protection Law (emphasis mine):
Disclosure of Facts
Mass. Gen. Law Chapter 93A
940 Code of Mass. Regs. 3.05
When you buy from a merchant, you are entitled to all the key facts
about the purchase before you buy.
A merchant is obligated under the law to disclose any fact, the
disclosure of which may have influenced the buyer not to enter into
the transaction to start with.
Similarly, sellers are required in advertising to disclose all
material facts concerning the product or service which, if not
disclosed, might directly or by implication, mislead the consumer.
Private party sellers, except in car sales, do not have the same
obligation to disclose material facts unless asked.
Seems to me that since this change would have affected the decision to make the purchase, the law is pretty cut and dried on this. Of course, IANAL....
Guess what. Nobody has ever collected. In fact, nobody has ever passed a preliminary screening test for the prize.
I don't have a copy of Randi's An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural with me at work, but I'm sure there's an entry about cattle mutilations. You might borrow that book from the library sometime (or any of Randi's other books, or a tape of his PBS Nova special). It would definitely give you some perspective, even if it didn't answer your questions about dead bovines.
Skeptics are skeptical because we believe that there are a set of rules to follow when observing phenomena and formulating explainations for them. The burden of proof lies with those who wish to believe. Just because I can't readily provide a rational explanation for dead cattle doesn't mean that "aliens must have done it." If that sounds like a cop-out, consider it this way: just because I can't provide a rational explanation of how a magician appears to levitate somebody on stage doesn't mean that he has supernatural powers. Most of us know that magicians don't have super-powers, yet most of us can't explain how their tricks work (at least, the good ones).
Add to that the fact that many people want to believe in the supernatural, even if they're proven wrong! Many people still believe that crop circles are made by visitors from another world, even though it has been shown (many times!) that all you need is a 2x4, some surveyor's tape, a few buddies, and 6 hours in the dark.
So skeptics aren't negative, they're just less easily excited. That may make them seem like party-poopers, but it's really just the fact that many people are waaaaaaaay too willing to believe.
If the software were tied to an SQL backend, then you could even offer a web enabled front end, perhaps even with a tie in to projects like IMP.
The Horde Framework (of which IMP is a sub-project) has it's own web-enabled calendar. The project is called Kronolith, and it's moving towards what you need.
While not all of its features are complete, it looks to include support for shared calendars, the iCal standard, and ICAP support through MCAL (other posts have addressed ICAP and it's not-quite-settled status). Thus, when the dust has settled, it should interoperate with other calendars. In the meantime, it's web-based right now, so that might provide what you need before all the formats are finished.
Disclaimer: I am friends with members of the Horde dev team.
The MIT Swap Fest runs during the spring and summer in Cambridge. It's $5 to enter ($4 if you bring the flyer from the website):
http://web.mit.edu/w1mx/www/swapfest.html
It used to be primarily radio gear, but now there's a lot of computer stuff as well. Things range from brand new, to "fell off a truck". Depending on your negotiating skills, you can get a pretty good deal on used stuff. There are a *lot* of sellers there, and it's a lot of fun if you like poking around looking for stuff.
I remember reading a long time ago about companies in Japan that would do this in the real world (as opposed as to in blogs).
They would give teenagers (usually girls) all sorts of fun toys (cell phones, PDAs, and other gadgets) and some spending money. The teenagers would go to the mall to spend their money, all the while playing with the stuff the companies gave them. Naturally, other kids would notice the new gadgets...
It was a pretty beautiful system, really. The kids got money so they could buy whatever they wanted (which probably made them appear more popular, since they could spend more money on stuff). Meanwhile, they also had all the cool products that hadn't hit the streets yet, which increased demand. The kids became popular, and the companies sold more products.
Astroturfing feels a little "icky", but as long as the companies aren't requiring the users to promote the products in a favorable light, then I think it's all right. If you're *required* to like the products, then you've become a salesperson, and should disclose that fact.
And just because somebody mentions Dr. Pepper in a blog, doesn't mean you have to go an buy it. If a blog you read starts handing out too many bad "endorsements" of products, guess what? You're going to stop reading. So I think there's a self-corrective measure built in to the system.
Slashdot Mirror
I agree that recoding is much harder than moving to FM7. The problem of data access still remains, however.
FM7 does address many of the limitations of its predecessors (file size, tables per file, etc), so that eases the crunch somewhat. However, I'm still locked into a proprietary format (more or less -- I know I can export).
The real problem here is that the original questioner/poster didn't understand that FM7 has an update/rebuild engine built into it. When you open older files, it automatically updates the structure for you.
We're trying to consolidate most of our files into single, related databases (right now there's a lot of unecessary duplication). So, we know the autoupdate is out there, it just won't help us get our DBs cleaned up.
If he had understood that, we wouldn't have this entire article/question.
Whatever.
As for porting, FM does exports to text/cvs very easily.
I know, that's what I've been doing up until now. However, with over 200 "databases" in FM, exporting from each of them just to make the data available gets to be a pain in the butt. It would be much easier if I could access it directly.
Sorry to miss the first three hours of comments, but I was dealing with some network disasters here. I'll try to clarify a few things:
1) I'm not trying to get away from FM just because I'm a DB snob; I know FM7 will scale better than FM6 and will generally do away with the major limitations we have right now. I also know there's a FM6->FM7 conversion tool, but our databases are pretty zany, and all the experts we've talked to have recommended re-structuring the data. That's why we're moving off of FM6.
2) As for why I want to go to FOSS, it's so I can get to the data for other applications without having to export it to TDV or XML and massage it. FM does a great job of holding all our data and making it easy to enter, change, and view. Alas, that doesn't help me for my LDAP database (which needs to be kept in sync), library patrons catalog, and other network-related user information systems. Hence, if it were possible to use an open (e.g., SQL) backend with FM's great front end, I'd be happy.
3) I know FM has a JDBC/ODBC feature to allow external queries, but it doesn't support many facets of SQL (doh), and it doesn't currently work with the Mac version of FM7 (crap -- we're an all-mac shop). Hence another reason why I'd like to keep the backend open; I'm not waiting on FileMaker to "get around" to implementing key features on the Mac.
4) UI is key, however. We have about 20 people who enter data regularly, and they aren't DB admins, so it needs to be simple and painless to enter, search, and report on data. To support that level of user-friendliness would be difficult to acheive in a custom web-based solution. Hence, any pointers on hooking up FM's great UI to a FOSS DB would be great.
5) I have several years of Java, Perl, and PHP programming experience, so I could code this myself, and I fully understand the difficulties of doing so. That's why I was hoping for an off-the-shelf solution; my school simply doesn't have the budget to have me do it, nor to pay someone else to do it.
Thanks for all the feedback so far; I'll post more later.
While this is probably overkill for what you need, you may find it helpful in other parts of your network. I run the network at a private boarding school, and we use it to keep kids off the network at certain times (detention, lights out, etc). Several other schools and colleges in the Northeast also use it.
http://www.bradford-sw.com/
This company makes a product called Campus Manager. It's basically an appliance that talks to your switches (and wireless access points, and other network hardware). It learns MAC addresses and associates them with users, and tracks which physical ports they're connected to.
The system allows you to take actions on ports based on the MAC address connected to them. You can flip VLANs based on who links up to a port, or you can schedule ports to flip on a regular basis. If your WAPs support VLANs, you could do this in your classrooms. If they don't, the device can also act as a RADIUS server and the WAPs can talk to that to allow/deny access.
The system allows you to "force" registration, so users must link their MAC addresses with their names when they first come on the network. Once they've done that, you can easily group students and apply scheduled access to each group.
You can even give limited access to certain users (e.g., the faculty), so they can turn ports/users on and off whenever they want (for example, if they have a test that day).
Again, this may be overkill for what you need, but if you're looking for a more powerful general solution, this may be something you'd want to look in to.
Jason
- Program should declare what kind of access it needs to the filesystem to function. No other parts of the "real" filesystem should be visible in the program's namespace at all.
- Same for every other resource such as sockets, etc...
This could be achieved through a manifest file of some sort, which the kernel would read and interpret. It could be part of the program image itself. This would be truly beautiful, however anything that implements any of the above is a GOOD thing.
Isn't this what the Java security framework does? Applets get "sandboxed" and can only access the files, directories, sockets, etc that are explicitly granted to it.
I haven't read up much on the recent versions of the security model, so I don't know if this can apply to applications (or just applets), but it seems that's just what you're looking for...
The definitive text is excellent, though a tad dated. There are a few other books that do a good job of explaining (La)TeX.
I highly recommend "A Guide to LaTeX" by Kopka and Daly. It's extremely user-friendly, especially for the beginner. The book gave me enough to write my CS thesis (including figures, citations, and drawings), even though I had no prior knowledge of LaTeX.
Even after you've learned the basics, it makes a handy reference when you can't quite remember how to do something. I've been using LaTeX steadily for over 5 years, and it's still the first book I reach for when I have a question.
I see that it's in its 4th edition now. I'm not that up-to-date, but if the 4th is anything like the 3rd, it's well worth your money.
Also, refcards.com used to have a quick reference sheet for LaTeX, but they don't seem to be up anymore. This guy has one that looks close, though:
http://www.stdout.org/~winston/latex/
Comes in handy when you're still learning the ropes.
I would echo the sentiment of wanting a backup of all that content.
I just finished a small tutorial site this week for students at my high school. I remembered Webmonkey being a good resource for beginners (they even have a "kids" section), so I was psyched to see that it was still alive and kicking.
Now, two days after I posted a link to it at the top of my page of "useful links", Webmonkey goes under.
Anyone know of a good replacement tutorial site for the non- to semi-experienced webmaster?
KTUH had some good programming back in the day, but there was also Radio Free Hawaii, where the playlist was determined through ballot voting (ballots were available all over the state).
It's too bad they weren't popular enough to keep sponsorship... the concept was great and the shows were a welcome departure from the top-40 crap on the other stations at the time.
RFH shut down just before the web really got kicking. If they had stuck it out a little longer, I'm sure tons of people would have gotten on board to vote online.
More info about the station and how it works is available in this local news article.
I can only hope somebody else gives this concept another try; the station was a lot of fun to listen to. Also, I miss Sheriff Norm...
they say they have posted a beta version of the software but I've yet to find it.
How about here:
http://www.apple.com/acg/xgrid/
There's a link on the right to download the preview release.
If you use one-time passwords, you can use a totally insecure connection because the password is invalid immediately after you use it. Thus, even if it gets sniffed, it doesn't give an attacker anything they can use to get into your system. Thus, the connection is totally insecure, but your password remains safe. Sounds to me like just what you would want.
s /h andbook/skey.html
Look into libpam-opie on linux or s/key on the *BSDs for more info. Some good background is available from the FreeBSD manual:
http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/book
It integrates well with most of the "basic" services on those OSes, so you shouldn't have much trouble getting it off the ground.
The one pain is that you have to look up a new password off of a card or piece of paper every time you log in. Alternately, some programs allow you to compute the OTP challenge/response on the fly (you could even write a script to help you out if you do this often enough).
Definitely worth a look...
You're screwed already anyway....
Many large ISPs (such as AOL) have already started filtering mail based on the IP of the relaying server. So if your SMTP server talks directly to AOL, then AOL may reject your mail simply because you're *likely* to be a spammer relay (even though you're not).
Meanwhile, cable companies like Cox have already implemented a total blackhole on *outgoing* SMTP. Not only is this annoying for people who run servers, but it also sucks for those of us with POP/IMAP accounts... if I'm connected from home I have to set my outgoing SMTP to Cox, and when I come in to work I have to flip it back to my company's mail server. (I've since set up an automatic ssh tunnel to get around Cox, but the average joe has no hope of doing that for themselves.)
Either way, this new idea isn't going to make sending mail from your own domain any harder than the cable companies are going to make it anyway...
I'm afraid I can't help with the import/export part of your problem, though a little perl hacking may be the best route there...
You should check out the Horde Project's Turba module. It provides contact management services that integrate with Horde's other services (such as IMP, the webmail component). Check out the page for Turba here:
http://www.horde.org/turba/
Turba can use several backends, including LDAP (which is how I have it configured). I've never tried to set Turba up standalone (I have it set up as the address book for webmail), but I believe it should be possible (all of the modules are highly configurable and able to operate independently of each other).
It's web-based, so it should work on any platform. All you need is LDAP, and a PHP-cabable web server. And if you set up your LDAP permissions correctly, you can even have multiple address books (e.g., Shared and Personal) so people can keep their own lists that others can't muck with.
Good luck!
I heartily second the use of pdfLaTeX!
e sThesis.pdf.)
I have written a book (well, a 100-page thesis, but it's essentially a book). I wrote it entirely in LaTeX, using EPS figures generated from Adobe Illustrator and my own custom software. Later versions of the doc, however, are all pure PDF, using pdflatex, Illustrator-generated PDFs, and my own PDFs. (If you're really bored, you can download my thesis at: http://www.logn.net/penrose/download/PenroseEmpir
Since you're starting from scratch, and you're looking to produce a PDF file, I'd suggest using pdfLaTeX (which is often included with newer distributions of latex). Try typing `pdflatex` at the command line to see if you have it.
pdflatex works almost exactly like latex, but it uses PDF as its native file format. That means that it produces PDF files natively, and can import PDF files as graphics seamlessly. Note that other solutions work well also (such as the other post's suggestion of dvipdfm), but if you're starting from scratch (or close enough), pdflatex is seamless to produce hyperlinked PDF documents with a minimum of fuss. With packages like hyperref, pdflatex will autogenerate links to figures, chapters, sections, and so on, as well as custom links defined in the source code.
Most good programs can produce PDF natively (such as dia); otherwise ghostscript (using the ps2pdf tool) can convert postscript to PDF, and almost anything can produce postscript.
If you're producing your own figures, the PDF format isn't too hard. Someone above suggested that your software produce postscript directly. That works fine, but you should know that PDF is basically just like postscript, except that it includes a little header info and can be compressed (it has other tricks too, but for simple graphics, that's all you need to know). I wrote a quick PDF output library for my software -- it wasn't too hard. Plus, you might be able to find a library that will do it for you now (I wrote my stuff a few years ago). If you can, go native with PDF, as that way you won't have to convert to PDF from anything.
The output is highly professional, works on almost any platform, prints beautifully, and costs nothing to you to produce. If you are halfway good at LaTeX, it's what I would recommend.
I totally agree that finding out for yourself is the best way to get what you like. That said, there is a *lot* of stuff out there, so it helps to have a few suggestions. I'm a computer geek, but I played in a big band during college. Here are some of my picks FWIW:
The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra (with Wynton Marsalis). These guys are some of the finest jazz musicians playing today. Their "Live from Swing City" album is all Duke, and it's superb. Even if you have the Duke himself (which you should), get this album as well, especially if you're into swing.
The Mingus Big Band. Organized by Sue Mingus (Charles' wife), these guys get together to play tunes written by the great bassist. I've seen them in concert, and I don't have the words to describe their awesomeness.
Jimmy Smith moved the organ from the church into the concert hall. His short career (a few years in the 60s) saw numerous albums with some great grooves. If you like him, you might look into the current group Soulive (they've moved on to a more modern sound, but their earlier albums are all soul, and impossible not to dance to).
For a little splash of New Orleans, check out the Dirty Dozen Brass Band (I'm a tuba player, so they hold a special place in my heart).
Thelonious Monk, Herbie Hancock, Quincy Jones... there's so many to choose from! Talk to your friends, trade your CDs (while it's still legal), and see what you like!
PXE describes a method where the NIC in the computer bootstraps the information it needs to boot off of the network. Many modern computers have NICs that support this. Newworld Macintoshes can netboot, as can most recent 3com cards (even my 3 year old Dell supports it).
Basically, the NIC makes a DHCP (or BOOTP) request for an IP address. The DHCP protocol allows the server to return the address of a TFTP (Trivial FTP) server along with the IP address for the client. The client contacts the TFTP server to get a kernel (vmlinuz), and then boots directly into that. From there, the kernel should be configured to mount its filesystems over NFS, and finish the boot process. I'm sure Google can point you to a more complete explanation.
What makes ClusterKnoppix so cool is that it's usually a huge pain to set up a TFTP/DHCP/NFS server correctly for multiple clients. ClusterKnoppix does it all for you, so all you need are some (really) "dumb" clients and all the heavy lifting is done for you.
I know smart people who were blasted by the subject test...
Amen to that. While I'm no CS genius, I was a CS major in a good program during college. I took the GRE CS subject test during my senior year, and I got reamed by it. Biggest waste of $130/4 hours I've ever experienced. And I wasn't the only one; most of my friends had the same experience.
I took the exam because 1 school I was applying to required it. Had I known what the exam was going to do to me, I would have just skipped that school. While I don't want to sound like a chicken, you should seriously consider whether you need to take this exam or not.
If you insist on taking the exam, I suggest you read the major texts from each section of CS, especially those that you haven't studied. Look through the course catalog and find all the courses you didn't take (pay attention to Compilers, Operating Systems, Programming Languages, and Theory of Computation). I got nailed because I took the exam without having taken compilers yet. Turns out a lot of that year's exam was related to compilers. Whoops.
Most interesting is the ability to hold two weapons at once, each operating individually on the left trigger or the right.
I've been able to do this for a great many years now by playing Marathon, Bungie's FPS for the Mac. (Here's a screenshot of me doing it.) Though I guess Halo2 will let you hold a different weapon in each hand, which would be new and cool.
BTW... I know that Marathon is old and ugly compared to newer 3D games, but I have a soft spot for it. Maybe I'm crazy, but I think it's more fun. Ah well...
Filing with the Mass AG is a good idea -- when I've talked to them they've always been very helpful (I live in Mass).
Furthermore, the practice described in the article seems to violate a major provision of the Mass Consumer Protection Law (emphasis mine):
Seems to me that since this change would have affected the decision to make the purchase, the law is pretty cut and dried on this. Of course, IANAL....
C'mon skeptics, put your money where your mouth is.
You obviously have never heard of James Randi. He (and his foundation) have offered a $1,000,000 prize to anyone who can scientifically prove claims of the paranormal.
Guess what. Nobody has ever collected. In fact, nobody has ever passed a preliminary screening test for the prize.
I don't have a copy of Randi's An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural with me at work, but I'm sure there's an entry about cattle mutilations. You might borrow that book from the library sometime (or any of Randi's other books, or a tape of his PBS Nova special). It would definitely give you some perspective, even if it didn't answer your questions about dead bovines.
Skeptics are skeptical because we believe that there are a set of rules to follow when observing phenomena and formulating explainations for them. The burden of proof lies with those who wish to believe. Just because I can't readily provide a rational explanation for dead cattle doesn't mean that "aliens must have done it." If that sounds like a cop-out, consider it this way: just because I can't provide a rational explanation of how a magician appears to levitate somebody on stage doesn't mean that he has supernatural powers. Most of us know that magicians don't have super-powers, yet most of us can't explain how their tricks work (at least, the good ones).
Add to that the fact that many people want to believe in the supernatural, even if they're proven wrong! Many people still believe that crop circles are made by visitors from another world, even though it has been shown (many times!) that all you need is a 2x4, some surveyor's tape, a few buddies, and 6 hours in the dark.
So skeptics aren't negative, they're just less easily excited. That may make them seem like party-poopers, but it's really just the fact that many people are waaaaaaaay too willing to believe.
If the software were tied to an SQL backend, then you could even offer a web enabled front end, perhaps even with a tie in to projects like IMP.
The Horde Framework (of which IMP is a sub-project) has it's own web-enabled calendar. The project is called Kronolith, and it's moving towards what you need.
While not all of its features are complete, it looks to include support for shared calendars, the iCal standard, and ICAP support through MCAL (other posts have addressed ICAP and it's not-quite-settled status). Thus, when the dust has settled, it should interoperate with other calendars. In the meantime, it's web-based right now, so that might provide what you need before all the formats are finished.
Disclaimer: I am friends with members of the Horde dev team.
The MIT Swap Fest runs during the spring and summer in Cambridge. It's $5 to enter ($4 if you bring the flyer from the website):
http://web.mit.edu/w1mx/www/swapfest.html
It used to be primarily radio gear, but now there's a lot of computer stuff as well. Things range from brand new, to "fell off a truck". Depending on your negotiating skills, you can get a pretty good deal on used stuff. There are a *lot* of sellers there, and it's a lot of fun if you like poking around looking for stuff.
I remember reading a long time ago about companies in Japan that would do this in the real world (as opposed as to in blogs).
They would give teenagers (usually girls) all sorts of fun toys (cell phones, PDAs, and other gadgets) and some spending money. The teenagers would go to the mall to spend their money, all the while playing with the stuff the companies gave them. Naturally, other kids would notice the new gadgets...
It was a pretty beautiful system, really. The kids got money so they could buy whatever they wanted (which probably made them appear more popular, since they could spend more money on stuff). Meanwhile, they also had all the cool products that hadn't hit the streets yet, which increased demand. The kids became popular, and the companies sold more products.
Astroturfing feels a little "icky", but as long as the companies aren't requiring the users to promote the products in a favorable light, then I think it's all right. If you're *required* to like the products, then you've become a salesperson, and should disclose that fact.
And just because somebody mentions Dr. Pepper in a blog, doesn't mean you have to go an buy it. If a blog you read starts handing out too many bad "endorsements" of products, guess what? You're going to stop reading. So I think there's a self-corrective measure built in to the system.
I have a trademark and a patent on the concept of a "First Google Link". You'll be hearing from my lawyers shortly.
Best wishes,
Jason
May as well have some more... (some of these are from before when dubya was 'elected' president)
"The vast majority of our imports come from outside the country."
"If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure."
"One word sums up probably the responsibility of any Governor, and that one word is 'to be prepared'."
"I have made good judgments in the past. I have made good judgments in the future."
"The future will be better tomorrow."
"We're going to have the best educated American people in the world."
"We have a firm commitment to NATO, we are a part of NATO. We have a firm commitment to Europe. We are a part of Europe."
"Public speaking is very easy."
"A low voter turnout is an indication of fewer people going to the polls."
"We are ready for any unforeseen event that may or may not occur."
"For NASA, space is still a high priority."
"Quite frankly, teachers are the only profession that teach our children."
"It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it."
"It's time for the human race to enter the solar system."
"I stand by all the misstatements that I've made."
What fool runs their cvs pserver as root?
Ummm... People using Debian?
On a stock Woody box:
grep cvs /etc/inetd.conf /usr/sbin/tcpd /usr/sbin/cvs-pserver
cvspserver stream tcp nowait.400 root