Yes, put me down as another devout believer of LaTeX's power. A few additional comments:
There are freely available and very powerful diagramming tools
Yes, try xfig it's the best one I've played around with yet. On top of this, download pstoedit to convert your postscript files/drawings to xfig format (or a multitude of other formats for that matter) and then use xfig to modify it more if you want. Xfig takes some time to get used to (not very intuitive), but if you need to work with vector graphics, I haven't come across any better in linux.
The only downside I can think of is the learning curve.
True. However, I bought Helmut Kopka and Patrick Daly's "A Guide to LaTeX" and have found it to be an invaluable source. Couple this book to help you get started and all the resources on the net (searchable by google, of course) and you'll find yourself starting in no time.
There's a lure in having a program that is able to deal with all the typesetting nightmares and all you really have to worry about, after learning how to write LaTeX documents, is your content.
The best part is that it even generates html (with latex2html) and pdf (with pdflatex) which are cross-referenced and hyperlinked!
While this is true. I have one contention with latex2html--it does not follow included files. I have my document broken down to multiple files, each to a chapter. And in the main tex file, I've added the \include{chapter1} etc. where I want the chapters to appear. When I try to latex2html the main tex file, it burps and spits out an error saying it doesn't like included files. I don't want to go through the hassle of cutting and pasting all the text in the chapter files into my main file to get this beast to work. Other than that, in pdf format, the document looks great.
we have 300 million eager consumers, and the government is usually more than willing to let whoever wants to sell whatever they want to try to do so.
This is very true. About a decade and a half ago, Toshiba sold technology to the USSR that made their submarines much quieter, making them difficult to detect. Even after the kicking and screaming by the US government, you can see how big Toshiba is today in the US.
I've met immigrants from China, Vietnam, Egypt, Iran, and all over the place, and they love the fact that in this country, if they work hard, they CAN make a good living.
I agree. Unless you have very very deep pockets and a well trusted connection, doing business in these countries is generally not recommended until the governments show signs of stability. It's not so much that nepotism doesn't occur in the US (because I can give you examples of the typical "Old Boy" network at work). It's that the government already provided safeguards in the system that minimizes these occurences (hence the SEC and other regulatory commissions). Add on top of that a hungry news media that is allowed to report just about anything and is willing to sell an arm and leg to scoop a good story about such and such taking bribes, pulling strings, exploiting loopholes, and the chances of shady business deals drop precipitously in the US compared to other non-Western countries.
Ahhh...you've asked a very good question. There are very few applications out there that can do quick and easy nonlinear regression analysis. As a biologist, I'm not interested in the math and the complicated equations modelling the best fit curve. All I'm interested in is the curve fit and the extrapolation of data after the fit. And so it would be very helpful if there were graphical applications that catered to me (and the thousands of other biologists out there like me). As I said, there are only a few applications out there that do this sufficiently--not even Excel can do a decent job. Yeah sure, maybe MatLab or Mathematica can do what I want, but they're not catered to the life scientist. One good app is GraphPad Prism, whose developer created a great website for biologists at Curvefit.com describing the differences between the historical linear regression analysis and the (much better) non-linear regression analysis. There is yet another piece of software whose name eludes me at the moment. The problem with GraphPad Prism and software like it is their hefty price--even with the student discount, the software costs over $300, which is way over my price-range.
Now, if Gnumeric can only fill this void or any other linux app for that matter....I can see on the Gnumeric webpage screenshots section that one of the tools listed is "Regression" analysis, but I venture to say that it probably means linear regression analysis. Would anyone out there know if non-linear regression analysis will be implemented (if it's not already)--as described at curvefit.com? There is a huge potential market of scientists out there that is yet untapped. I think this is where linux can definitely beat out Windows--that is, if there was a suite of good, affordable, consistent software out there for the scientist (well, I mean the life scientists), more and more of them would migrate to linux rather than use Windows. Just my 2 cents.
Interesting. Looks like part of a bibliography--from your thesis maybe? I'm a biologist (grad student) and this topic sounds very interesting to me. If you're in this research area, can you answer these questions for me?
What advances have been made in the code to simulate naturally occurring mutagenic factors in biology? Such as transposons and viruses.
Reproduction in itself can sort of be considered as a mutagenic factor--you're mixing and matching chromosome sets to produce a new system. Has this been implemented?
Perhaps this field is still in its early stage and my questions aren't yet pertinent.
As a sidenote, I run a dinky Cyrix 300+MHz with 128MB RAM and an all-in-one cheap PCChips motherboard. Not much power, but stabler than ANY of the windows machines that I've ever played with. I've had uptimes of up to 90 days with no problems in between cold boots to update recompiled kernels. I've also setup a lo-fat desktop system with some overlap with this person's setup. Except the following:
Enlightenment (yes, I can run E without Gnome or any other other desktop for that matter on top). Themes for E, I think, are visually very appealing compared to IceWM. E doesn't have a taskbar like IceWM, you really have to rely on all your mouse buttons (left, middle and right) for app menus to pop-up. But I like this aspect since it keeps the desktop very clean.
Wordperfect 8.0. There is still wp8 tar.gz files floating around there on the net to install. It's free for personal use and although it's not a full suite like StarOffice or the like, it still is fast and powerful. Because it's an older piece of software, there may be some problems with running it in newer rpm based distros. You'll have to install older glibc libs and ld-configs--they'll take care of that problem.
Although it doesn't quite count as a word processor, LaTeX is well worth the effort to learn! Add this to pybliographer and bibtex and you have a setup that rivals Windows with Word and EndNote any day.
He's right about text editors and user loyalties. I'm just nuts over my emacs (also another piece of software well worth learning).
I used to use Eterm as my terminal, but has been supplanted by his choice, rxvt.
For the web browser, if I can't use lynx, I usually use Netscape 4. Just about all the other browsers can't compare in speed and functionality.
For the mail client, nothing beats Pine. I'm paranoid over all the email viruses being propagated by Outlook and clients similar to it. My motto is, "if it can't be sent as text, then it shouldn't be sent as email."
I don't use KDE--it's too bloated for my system. Although I have Gnome installed, it's really just for the libs to run Gnome software such as gkrellm, gaim and pybliographer.
Sure, stealing is wrong, but might the term 'piracy' applied here be so over-the-top that young people simply can't take it seriously? What are our other options?
Warez traders already have a term--"leechers"...or should it be "leeches"?
just shut up and don't speculate. God damn couch scholars.
whoa, whoa, whoa. My comment to the parent comment was in no way a flame. No need to crack the whip. Has the MS monopoly in Korea made you that bitter? You see, when there are enough people like you in Korea (that is, enough people bitter at MS practices) they'll band together to work on alternatives. With the growing distrust of the US around the globe (and with the growing distrust by the US of other countries), it's inevitable that MS will face competition in other countries.
Remember the slashdot controversies about the Carnivore system and the SSSCA? Well, what I'm trying to say is that with the current change in the tide by the US public and regarding homeland security, MS will be mandated by the US government to place back doors in their OS to allow the government to "tap" computer usage. My point is this: if other countries, whose primary source of software is pirated software or even legit software for that matter, start using this type of OS from MS, who's to say they won't be tapped by the US government? It's obvious other countries will be hesitant in buying and using MS. It'll come to a threshold point when they'll start writing and developing their own competitive brand, whether Bill Gates likes it or not.
Anyway, I was merely trying to feed a discussion on the ability of other countries to move away from MS. So, you said it yourself, there are Korean distributions...again, just because there's bad language support doesn't mean that language support won't be there in the future. I doubt that the Korean developers of their linux distros have halted development. And with the growing distrust of the US and US companies (by even US citizens for that matter), there will no doubt be grassroots movements in other countries in developing their own software....and guess what, what code base do you think they'll turn to if that happens? Open source--because it's out there, and it's been tested and developed, and it'll save them time and money. I don't think I'm way off here when I say this. Sure it's speculation, but again, this is a slashdot discussion isn't it?
Plus, not to be blunt or anything, but linux's foreign language support is laughably bad.
Foreign language support is dependent on the base of users in that country. I know that many Chinese developers are using linux and hence, the Chinese language support isn't "laugably bad." A year ago, slashdot ran a discussion about China's own brand of distribution for linux (named, no joke, Red Flag...or was it Red Code, which is not to be confused with Code Red...well I know the word Red was in it). This effort was to develop an alternative to Microsoft's OS, which they distrusted, being from a US company and all. Bill Gates' new licensing practice for XP will slowly squeeze some users in these countries, making it more difficult to pirate the OS and it's a sure bet to say that many of them will look to free software options. You've traveled in the asian countries, I see, but how about the rest of the world? Brazil is another country, that I know of, that has decent language support and a substantial base of linux users and developers. The bottom line is, to argue that foreign countries will not adopt linux merely because of bad language support is an inappropriate statement. You are not giving the hackers, coders, programmers in those countries nearly enough credit to be able to roll out their own brand of linux--are we in the developed countries so high and mighty that we assume developing countries can't make it without us? Sure, they may not be using the latest and greatest OS technology, but are they using the latest and greatest hardware also?
Actually, are you sure about this? What people may not realize is that DirecTV and TiVo are two different services, even if they are housed in the same unit. Last time I check the terms of service on the combined unit, I was told I had to pay for BOTH services individually and independent of each other. The $5 you quoted me was actually for DirecTV service for another DirecTV unit in the same household (that is, DirecTV will send you another subscribed card for that unit), I don't know if TiVo service is included--I certainly doubt it, since, again, DirecTV and TiVo services are from two different entities/companies. I certainly hope I'm wrong, because if I am, then this is definitely a loophole. However, I am forever sceptic and don't think that either company dropped the ball on this one--they would have searched long and hard for any loopholes in their service clauses before they agreed to release the dual unit. It looks like it's all speculation on your part, if you have first-hand knowledge (that is, you have this setup all worked out) please let me know otherwise--it would definitely be an option for me if so. BTW, if you check www.techbargains.com, they list vendors who are selling FREE DirecTV/TiVo dual units--you must agree to something like 6 months or a year of subscribed service.
The main obstacle that is preventing me from buying TiVo with the lifetime subscription is that it is only for the life of that ONE unit! You CANNOT transfer the subscription to another unit. So if I was to upgrade to another unit, I'd then have to buy a lifetime sub for that new one too. OR, what irks me more, is that if I was to break the seal and upgrade the drive for more hours of recording, my warranty is invalid and if the unit was to die (by unforeseen circumstances that wasn't my fault), I'm out the lifetime subscription and the unit.
Until TiVo reevaluates their policy on transferring lifetime subscription, I am not going to buy into that option. If TiVo wants to have a customer for life, I think they know what is best for them. When something better comes along, with either transferrable lifetime subscription or free subscription, they'll see their current base of customers flocking. In this day of fast growing technology and services, I don't doubt that their competitors will rise to this demand and offer it in the near future.
can be found here. Building the desk yourself is a very enticing option, especially, as I had mentioned in the previous posting, if you add in monitor arms. With the monitor arms, you lift the monitors (or better yet, your LCD panels) up above the working desk surface and free up the space for your paper clutter. If you use good unfinished plywood or solid wood as your desk surface, I'd personally add a few coats of stain and polyurethane, and then top it off with an epoxy surface (you essentially pour on the epoxy) that gives it a glass-like top, much like what you see on nice bar surfaces. The epoxy kit can be purchased from Environmental Technologies Inc..
"Except as otherwise permitted by the NetMeeting, Remote Assistance, and Remote Desktop features described below, you may not use the Product to permit any Device to use, access, display or run other executable software residing on the Workstation Computer, nor may you permit any Device to use, access, display, or run the Product or Product's user interface, unless the Device has a separate license for the Product." (from: Microsoft Windows XP Pro EULA)
You're absolutely right. After hearing that 5260 and above owners could telnet into their modems, I thought the 5250 had this feature also. To my disappointment, it didn't. And believe me, I tried just about everything to get it working.
I'm not a DJ, nor a musician by any stretch of the definition. I have, though, encountered a very interesting device [mixman.com] that is made by mattel and beatnik (yes, mattel as in the toy manufacturer). It appears to be a great device for music hobbyists everywhere (it's on my xmas wishlist;-) Would any of you DJ's out there know of any open source software available out there that is compatible with this device? Something like the MixMan software available now for windoze? Or maybe even just simple software to create loops importable by MixMan? Something like AcidSound (or was it AcidStudio?)?
I've also been cheated out of my money on occasion on Ebay, and have done nearly the same things listed above to reclaim my goods/money. However, even minor annoyances to let them know that you're on their tail will get things resolved. For example, I've written letters to the person threatening to notify their ISP, be it their email provider or even their broadband provider--most ISP's have terms of use explicitly stating that using accounts for fraud are in strict violation of the service contract and accounts of this nature are subject to removal immediately. If their livelihood is to cheat others of their hard-earned dollars by using their internet access, they'll think twice about not taking heed.
I agree. It's too cumbersome to say 802.11b. It's also cumbersome to say IEEE 1394. Yeah sure, you can use Wi-Fi or Fireport, but for some reason, manufacturers don't. I suspect it's because: 1) People want to be sure what they're getting for their money, 2) Wi-Fi and Fireport each have separate meanings or separate associations, and 3) it just sounds cooler saying 802.11b or IEEE 1394, it sounds like you know what you're talking about. The other day I was watching a woman on the Home Shopping Channel trying to sell a new computer system and intead of saying Fireport, or IEEE _1394_, she just said that the system came with IEEE ports. To me, it sounded completely ridiculous, but I guess to the unknowing suckers who buy stuff from HSC, it sounded like a deal.
As a graduate student in biomed science, here's my perspective: current publishing schemes and costs to access online journals are stifling my ability to learn. Instead of spending the time reading and learning as I should, I would have to say I spend a good 50% of my study time just tracking down whether or not my library has the journal I need (literally tracking down, as in having to travel to the library and walking up and down multiple flights of stairs)--this does not include the time I take to do the literature search (which is part of the learning process). I know full well that most, if not all, the journals to which I would like to have access, are available online.
As a student, how is it affordable for me to pay $100-200 per year per journal for online access? That's $1200-2400 per year I'd have to pay for the journals I'd like to have access to. For a yearly salary of $17,000 (pre-tax), I don't think I'd be able to spend that. Moreover, the library cannot provide full online access for a few journals because, I know for a fact, that the library pays more per person to provide online access than if the person went out himself/herself and subscribed. How is this possible? Wouldn't one think that "buying in bulk" would save the library money?
What I find even more annoying is that because publishers find that this business is so lucrative, each and everyone of them are enacting their own standard of distribution and dissemination online--e.g. Elsevier Science, BioMedNet, CatchWord, Lippincott (just to name a few of the large ones). Instead of agreeing on one good standard of dissemination (i.e. PubMedCentral), they're all broken up and if I wanted access to each publisher's site, that's an entirely different login name and password. Additionally, some publishers are notorious for not providing access to individual journals--access can only be provided via the university library at outrageous costs. Either way I'm SOL, because for certain journals, my library cannot provide access, really just because of the cost.
So from my perspective as a graduate student trying to learn as much as possible, how does the current publishing system benefit science? This is how I see the current University earning and spending cycle: the huge budget that our library carries comes from the university; the university generates a large proportion of its revenue via licenses of its intellectual property (some only comes from the state, even though it's a state university); the intellectual property (IP) of the University comes from it's staff of scientists which do go all the way down the hierarchy to and includes their slaves, the graduate students; IP can only be generated and formulated by the scientist via a fusion of past knowledge and literature provided by the library. Imagine cutting the time in this cycle by provided faster, more consistent, cheaper access to the literature.
The current publishing system is stifling my progress, when it needs not to be. Publishers cannot be dinosaurs of the past, the privatization of their dissemination model is not a good example of how useful they can be, especially when one takes into account the efficiency of training new scientists.
The number of reports of non-profit organizations, local/city governments and state governments starting to use open-source alternatives was growing--I'd always hear/read about so-and-so agency switching. Now, if the SSSCA was enacted, I don't see an alternative for these organizations to use anything else but commercial software when it comes time for them to upgrade/change. The costly consequences of this are endless.
I agree with all the posts that advises building your own desk. However, if you want unfinished furniture, check out www.krisjon.com. I use monitor arms (swinging stands) for all my monitors and underdesk keyboard drawers; they work great in combination, leaving extra room on my desk for paperwork.
Now the beauty with building your own furniture is that you can finish it anyway you want. If it was me, I'd put a clear epoxy coating on the top surface after staining or painting the wood. Essentially, you end up with a thick clear glass-like surface that is impermeable to lots of harsh chemicals--the same type of surface you see on nice bar tops or nice restaurant tables. Goto www.eti-usa.com to find the polymers and kits needed to do this. Directions come with the materials and the site lists lots of different polymer types for the exact type of finish you're looking for.
Although Henrietta Lacks' situation is different than the recent death of a woman in an asthma study at John's Hopkins, this is further historical evidence that the rules and regulations for patient/subject consent has got to be ironed out--even for mere consent of use of blood, plasma, and cells. In the US, it is much easier for companies and institutions to perform research on humans than it is to do research on animals. Right now, the Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP) (under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services), does not have the manpower, nor the clout to enforce any type of regulation (if there was any of substance to begin with). In fact, reporting to the OHRP currently is only voluntary. Think about that....soapbox off.
What one has to realize is that Henrietta Lacks went to Johns Hopkins to be tested and treated. Because it's affiliated with a University, it's a "research hospital," which means that above and beyond the current standard of care, patients should expect that the attendees and physicians also perform research on the side. Now this fact does not condone the conduct of the physician(s) who sent off her cells for culturing without the proper consent (assuming that he or she didn't get consent, because I'm not quite sure if that was the case--this was a research hospital after all). Because the incident occurred in the 1950's, you can be sure that the rules and regulations were not in place and this sort of conduct was probably acceptable. Moreover, the doctor-patient relationship then was nothing like the doctor-patient relationship now. Doctors then were viewed as "doctor knows best," whereas now, patients have the upper hand. I've only merely addressed the issue of patient/subject consent. The whole issue of proper compensation is a whole different subject. At which point can she claim that the cells are her's or is it public domain? Her cancerous cells would have been no use to her unless she had the facilities and the knowledge to keep them cultured and happy.
To learn more about the OHRP and human subject research and consent:
P.S. The "21 CFR 50" only covers research done using chemical/biological agents that will eventually need FDA approval. Imagine the hundreds and thousands of other types of human research that doesn't involve the use of drugs and these agents--hence the type of research that is not federally regulated!
Napkin to be auctioned on eBay, along with a full guarantee to be rid of all your body thetans. Starting bid at $2M. (Part of your proceeds to pay for CoS' legal fees against Panoussis).
Please provide all forms that we need to fill out available online. That way, we'd have all the "paperwork" done prior to even stepping into the office. We can then have them verified by our "digital signature." Hopefully this cuts down on the expected time we need to spend in the office.
If you truly believe that HIV doesn't cause AIDS and if you truly believe that retroviruses don't cause disease (BTW, look up HTLV-I and HTLV-II), would you mind getting pricked by an HIV-infected needle? Or if you don't like needles, we can work out an eye-dropper method of administration. "Alternative" arguments such as yours are not helping the effort to eradicate this disease.
The U.S. process of democracy is working fine the way it is! No need to bring in entirely digital ballots. Let's not lose focus here. Everyone has fair access to the voting process, every vote is fairly counted--even if it takes a long time to count, if by-hand. The problem is people want everything here and now and are not patient. Be patient people, we will have a President-elect, no need to have that instant gratification. I'd rather that we prudently wait and meticulously count than have an electronic process that is less than perfect. The process is not broken! No need to fix it!
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There are freely available and very powerful diagramming tools
Yes, try xfig it's the best one I've played around with yet. On top of this, download pstoedit to convert your postscript files/drawings to xfig format (or a multitude of other formats for that matter) and then use xfig to modify it more if you want. Xfig takes some time to get used to (not very intuitive), but if you need to work with vector graphics, I haven't come across any better in linux.
The only downside I can think of is the learning curve.
True. However, I bought Helmut Kopka and Patrick Daly's "A Guide to LaTeX" and have found it to be an invaluable source. Couple this book to help you get started and all the resources on the net (searchable by google, of course) and you'll find yourself starting in no time.
There's a lure in having a program that is able to deal with all the typesetting nightmares and all you really have to worry about, after learning how to write LaTeX documents, is your content.
While this is true. I have one contention with latex2html--it does not follow included files. I have my document broken down to multiple files, each to a chapter. And in the main tex file, I've added the \include{chapter1} etc. where I want the chapters to appear. When I try to latex2html the main tex file, it burps and spits out an error saying it doesn't like included files. I don't want to go through the hassle of cutting and pasting all the text in the chapter files into my main file to get this beast to work. Other than that, in pdf format, the document looks great.
This is very true. About a decade and a half ago, Toshiba sold technology to the USSR that made their submarines much quieter, making them difficult to detect. Even after the kicking and screaming by the US government, you can see how big Toshiba is today in the US.
I've met immigrants from China, Vietnam, Egypt, Iran, and all over the place, and they love the fact that in this country, if they work hard, they CAN make a good living.
I agree. Unless you have very very deep pockets and a well trusted connection, doing business in these countries is generally not recommended until the governments show signs of stability. It's not so much that nepotism doesn't occur in the US (because I can give you examples of the typical "Old Boy" network at work). It's that the government already provided safeguards in the system that minimizes these occurences (hence the SEC and other regulatory commissions). Add on top of that a hungry news media that is allowed to report just about anything and is willing to sell an arm and leg to scoop a good story about such and such taking bribes, pulling strings, exploiting loopholes, and the chances of shady business deals drop precipitously in the US compared to other non-Western countries.
Now, if Gnumeric can only fill this void or any other linux app for that matter....I can see on the Gnumeric webpage screenshots section that one of the tools listed is "Regression" analysis, but I venture to say that it probably means linear regression analysis. Would anyone out there know if non-linear regression analysis will be implemented (if it's not already)--as described at curvefit.com? There is a huge potential market of scientists out there that is yet untapped. I think this is where linux can definitely beat out Windows--that is, if there was a suite of good, affordable, consistent software out there for the scientist (well, I mean the life scientists), more and more of them would migrate to linux rather than use Windows. Just my 2 cents.
What advances have been made in the code to simulate naturally occurring mutagenic factors in biology? Such as transposons and viruses.
Reproduction in itself can sort of be considered as a mutagenic factor--you're mixing and matching chromosome sets to produce a new system. Has this been implemented?
Perhaps this field is still in its early stage and my questions aren't yet pertinent.
Enlightenment (yes, I can run E without Gnome or any other other desktop for that matter on top). Themes for E, I think, are visually very appealing compared to IceWM. E doesn't have a taskbar like IceWM, you really have to rely on all your mouse buttons (left, middle and right) for app menus to pop-up. But I like this aspect since it keeps the desktop very clean.
Wordperfect 8.0. There is still wp8 tar.gz files floating around there on the net to install. It's free for personal use and although it's not a full suite like StarOffice or the like, it still is fast and powerful. Because it's an older piece of software, there may be some problems with running it in newer rpm based distros. You'll have to install older glibc libs and ld-configs--they'll take care of that problem.
Although it doesn't quite count as a word processor, LaTeX is well worth the effort to learn! Add this to pybliographer and bibtex and you have a setup that rivals Windows with Word and EndNote any day.
He's right about text editors and user loyalties. I'm just nuts over my emacs (also another piece of software well worth learning).
I used to use Eterm as my terminal, but has been supplanted by his choice, rxvt.
For the web browser, if I can't use lynx, I usually use Netscape 4. Just about all the other browsers can't compare in speed and functionality.
For the mail client, nothing beats Pine. I'm paranoid over all the email viruses being propagated by Outlook and clients similar to it. My motto is, "if it can't be sent as text, then it shouldn't be sent as email."
I don't use KDE--it's too bloated for my system. Although I have Gnome installed, it's really just for the libs to run Gnome software such as gkrellm, gaim and pybliographer.
Warez traders already have a term--"leechers"...or should it be "leeches"?
whoa, whoa, whoa. My comment to the parent comment was in no way a flame. No need to crack the whip. Has the MS monopoly in Korea made you that bitter? You see, when there are enough people like you in Korea (that is, enough people bitter at MS practices) they'll band together to work on alternatives. With the growing distrust of the US around the globe (and with the growing distrust by the US of other countries), it's inevitable that MS will face competition in other countries.
Remember the slashdot controversies about the Carnivore system and the SSSCA? Well, what I'm trying to say is that with the current change in the tide by the US public and regarding homeland security, MS will be mandated by the US government to place back doors in their OS to allow the government to "tap" computer usage. My point is this: if other countries, whose primary source of software is pirated software or even legit software for that matter, start using this type of OS from MS, who's to say they won't be tapped by the US government? It's obvious other countries will be hesitant in buying and using MS. It'll come to a threshold point when they'll start writing and developing their own competitive brand, whether Bill Gates likes it or not.
Anyway, I was merely trying to feed a discussion on the ability of other countries to move away from MS. So, you said it yourself, there are Korean distributions...again, just because there's bad language support doesn't mean that language support won't be there in the future. I doubt that the Korean developers of their linux distros have halted development. And with the growing distrust of the US and US companies (by even US citizens for that matter), there will no doubt be grassroots movements in other countries in developing their own software....and guess what, what code base do you think they'll turn to if that happens? Open source--because it's out there, and it's been tested and developed, and it'll save them time and money. I don't think I'm way off here when I say this. Sure it's speculation, but again, this is a slashdot discussion isn't it?
Foreign language support is dependent on the base of users in that country. I know that many Chinese developers are using linux and hence, the Chinese language support isn't "laugably bad." A year ago, slashdot ran a discussion about China's own brand of distribution for linux (named, no joke, Red Flag...or was it Red Code, which is not to be confused with Code Red...well I know the word Red was in it). This effort was to develop an alternative to Microsoft's OS, which they distrusted, being from a US company and all. Bill Gates' new licensing practice for XP will slowly squeeze some users in these countries, making it more difficult to pirate the OS and it's a sure bet to say that many of them will look to free software options. You've traveled in the asian countries, I see, but how about the rest of the world? Brazil is another country, that I know of, that has decent language support and a substantial base of linux users and developers. The bottom line is, to argue that foreign countries will not adopt linux merely because of bad language support is an inappropriate statement. You are not giving the hackers, coders, programmers in those countries nearly enough credit to be able to roll out their own brand of linux--are we in the developed countries so high and mighty that we assume developing countries can't make it without us? Sure, they may not be using the latest and greatest OS technology, but are they using the latest and greatest hardware also?
Actually, are you sure about this? What people may not realize is that DirecTV and TiVo are two different services, even if they are housed in the same unit. Last time I check the terms of service on the combined unit, I was told I had to pay for BOTH services individually and independent of each other. The $5 you quoted me was actually for DirecTV service for another DirecTV unit in the same household (that is, DirecTV will send you another subscribed card for that unit), I don't know if TiVo service is included--I certainly doubt it, since, again, DirecTV and TiVo services are from two different entities/companies. I certainly hope I'm wrong, because if I am, then this is definitely a loophole. However, I am forever sceptic and don't think that either company dropped the ball on this one--they would have searched long and hard for any loopholes in their service clauses before they agreed to release the dual unit. It looks like it's all speculation on your part, if you have first-hand knowledge (that is, you have this setup all worked out) please let me know otherwise--it would definitely be an option for me if so. BTW, if you check www.techbargains.com, they list vendors who are selling FREE DirecTV/TiVo dual units--you must agree to something like 6 months or a year of subscribed service.
Until TiVo reevaluates their policy on transferring lifetime subscription, I am not going to buy into that option. If TiVo wants to have a customer for life, I think they know what is best for them. When something better comes along, with either transferrable lifetime subscription or free subscription, they'll see their current base of customers flocking. In this day of fast growing technology and services, I don't doubt that their competitors will rise to this demand and offer it in the near future.
can be found here. Building the desk yourself is a very enticing option, especially, as I had mentioned in the previous posting, if you add in monitor arms. With the monitor arms, you lift the monitors (or better yet, your LCD panels) up above the working desk surface and free up the space for your paper clutter. If you use good unfinished plywood or solid wood as your desk surface, I'd personally add a few coats of stain and polyurethane, and then top it off with an epoxy surface (you essentially pour on the epoxy) that gives it a glass-like top, much like what you see on nice bar surfaces. The epoxy kit can be purchased from Environmental Technologies Inc..
Straight from the End-User License Agreement
"Except as otherwise permitted by the NetMeeting, Remote Assistance, and Remote Desktop features described below, you may not use the Product to permit any Device to use, access, display or run other executable software residing on the Workstation Computer, nor may you permit any Device to use, access, display, or run the Product or Product's user interface, unless the Device has a separate license for the Product." (from: Microsoft Windows XP Pro EULA)
So run VNC at your own risk.
You're absolutely right. After hearing that 5260 and above owners could telnet into their modems, I thought the 5250 had this feature also. To my disappointment, it didn't. And believe me, I tried just about everything to get it working.
I'm not a DJ, nor a musician by any stretch of the definition. I have, though, encountered a very interesting device [mixman.com] that is made by mattel and beatnik (yes, mattel as in the toy manufacturer). It appears to be a great device for music hobbyists everywhere (it's on my xmas wishlist ;-) Would any of you DJ's out there know of any open source software available out there that is compatible with this device? Something like the MixMan software available now for windoze? Or maybe even just simple software to create loops importable by MixMan? Something like AcidSound (or was it AcidStudio?)?
I've also been cheated out of my money on occasion on Ebay, and have done nearly the same things listed above to reclaim my goods/money. However, even minor annoyances to let them know that you're on their tail will get things resolved. For example, I've written letters to the person threatening to notify their ISP, be it their email provider or even their broadband provider--most ISP's have terms of use explicitly stating that using accounts for fraud are in strict violation of the service contract and accounts of this nature are subject to removal immediately. If their livelihood is to cheat others of their hard-earned dollars by using their internet access, they'll think twice about not taking heed.
I agree. It's too cumbersome to say 802.11b. It's also cumbersome to say IEEE 1394. Yeah sure, you can use Wi-Fi or Fireport, but for some reason, manufacturers don't. I suspect it's because: 1) People want to be sure what they're getting for their money, 2) Wi-Fi and Fireport each have separate meanings or separate associations, and 3) it just sounds cooler saying 802.11b or IEEE 1394, it sounds like you know what you're talking about. The other day I was watching a woman on the Home Shopping Channel trying to sell a new computer system and intead of saying Fireport, or IEEE _1394_, she just said that the system came with IEEE ports. To me, it sounded completely ridiculous, but I guess to the unknowing suckers who buy stuff from HSC, it sounded like a deal.
As a student, how is it affordable for me to pay $100-200 per year per journal for online access? That's $1200-2400 per year I'd have to pay for the journals I'd like to have access to. For a yearly salary of $17,000 (pre-tax), I don't think I'd be able to spend that. Moreover, the library cannot provide full online access for a few journals because, I know for a fact, that the library pays more per person to provide online access than if the person went out himself/herself and subscribed. How is this possible? Wouldn't one think that "buying in bulk" would save the library money?
What I find even more annoying is that because publishers find that this business is so lucrative, each and everyone of them are enacting their own standard of distribution and dissemination online--e.g. Elsevier Science, BioMedNet, CatchWord, Lippincott (just to name a few of the large ones). Instead of agreeing on one good standard of dissemination (i.e. PubMedCentral), they're all broken up and if I wanted access to each publisher's site, that's an entirely different login name and password. Additionally, some publishers are notorious for not providing access to individual journals--access can only be provided via the university library at outrageous costs. Either way I'm SOL, because for certain journals, my library cannot provide access, really just because of the cost.
So from my perspective as a graduate student trying to learn as much as possible, how does the current publishing system benefit science? This is how I see the current University earning and spending cycle: the huge budget that our library carries comes from the university; the university generates a large proportion of its revenue via licenses of its intellectual property (some only comes from the state, even though it's a state university); the intellectual property (IP) of the University comes from it's staff of scientists which do go all the way down the hierarchy to and includes their slaves, the graduate students; IP can only be generated and formulated by the scientist via a fusion of past knowledge and literature provided by the library. Imagine cutting the time in this cycle by provided faster, more consistent, cheaper access to the literature.
The current publishing system is stifling my progress, when it needs not to be. Publishers cannot be dinosaurs of the past, the privatization of their dissemination model is not a good example of how useful they can be, especially when one takes into account the efficiency of training new scientists.
The number of reports of non-profit organizations, local/city governments and state governments starting to use open-source alternatives was growing--I'd always hear/read about so-and-so agency switching. Now, if the SSSCA was enacted, I don't see an alternative for these organizations to use anything else but commercial software when it comes time for them to upgrade/change. The costly consequences of this are endless.
Now the beauty with building your own furniture is that you can finish it anyway you want. If it was me, I'd put a clear epoxy coating on the top surface after staining or painting the wood. Essentially, you end up with a thick clear glass-like surface that is impermeable to lots of harsh chemicals--the same type of surface you see on nice bar tops or nice restaurant tables. Goto www.eti-usa.com to find the polymers and kits needed to do this. Directions come with the materials and the site lists lots of different polymer types for the exact type of finish you're looking for.
What one has to realize is that Henrietta Lacks went to Johns Hopkins to be tested and treated. Because it's affiliated with a University, it's a "research hospital," which means that above and beyond the current standard of care, patients should expect that the attendees and physicians also perform research on the side. Now this fact does not condone the conduct of the physician(s) who sent off her cells for culturing without the proper consent (assuming that he or she didn't get consent, because I'm not quite sure if that was the case--this was a research hospital after all). Because the incident occurred in the 1950's, you can be sure that the rules and regulations were not in place and this sort of conduct was probably acceptable. Moreover, the doctor-patient relationship then was nothing like the doctor-patient relationship now. Doctors then were viewed as "doctor knows best," whereas now, patients have the upper hand. I've only merely addressed the issue of patient/subject consent. The whole issue of proper compensation is a whole different subject. At which point can she claim that the cells are her's or is it public domain? Her cancerous cells would have been no use to her unless she had the facilities and the knowledge to keep them cultured and happy.
To learn more about the OHRP and human subject research and consent:
P.S. The "21 CFR 50" only covers research done using chemical/biological agents that will eventually need FDA approval. Imagine the hundreds and thousands of other types of human research that doesn't involve the use of drugs and these agents--hence the type of research that is not federally regulated!
Napkin to be auctioned on eBay, along with a full guarantee to be rid of all your body thetans. Starting bid at $2M. (Part of your proceeds to pay for CoS' legal fees against Panoussis).
Please provide all forms that we need to fill out available online. That way, we'd have all the "paperwork" done prior to even stepping into the office. We can then have them verified by our "digital signature." Hopefully this cuts down on the expected time we need to spend in the office.
If you truly believe that HIV doesn't cause AIDS and if you truly believe that retroviruses don't cause disease (BTW, look up HTLV-I and HTLV-II), would you mind getting pricked by an HIV-infected needle? Or if you don't like needles, we can work out an eye-dropper method of administration. "Alternative" arguments such as yours are not helping the effort to eradicate this disease.
The U.S. process of democracy is working fine the way it is! No need to bring in entirely digital ballots. Let's not lose focus here. Everyone has fair access to the voting process, every vote is fairly counted--even if it takes a long time to count, if by-hand. The problem is people want everything here and now and are not patient. Be patient people, we will have a President-elect, no need to have that instant gratification. I'd rather that we prudently wait and meticulously count than have an electronic process that is less than perfect. The process is not broken! No need to fix it!