BeOS really prompted me to start exploring other operating systems. Before that I had toyed with Linux once or twice, but it never worked quite the way I was hoping to. I started hearing some buzz about BeOS and actually/bought/ r4.5.2, along with the BeOS Bible. This was one of the only pieces of software I/paid/ for (as opposed to warezed) since maybe DOS 6.0.
I was fortunate enough to have an external USR modem, as well as a VooDoo 3 graphics card; no problem with compatibility, in fact I had the perfect system. Aside from the OS being incredibly fast, it more or less worked the way it was supposed to. I also thought the GUI combined the best of both Windows and MacOS. For those that say it lacked applications, that's true - but at the time it wasn't really any worse than running Linux. There was a decent office suite, Opera for a Net+ replacement, and a couple different mail apps to choose from. I can't remember which one I settled for, but I remember using a hex editor to remove its unregistered tagline:). BeOS was not a server OS, but ruled on the desktop.
As Be the corporation started dying, I was seeing less and less work put into the OS. In r5 Pro OpenGL support had been removed for some reason, and to my knowledge never returned. It started to become clear that the OS was seeing its last days, and I didn't really want to be like the Amiga zealots who still exist today, so I went searched for some alternatives.
The thing is, using Be showed me that using my computer could be kind of fun again; maybe not fun, but at least enjoyable. I started toying with Linux on an old Pentium box, only with the intention to make it into a firewall for the box that was running Windows and Be (since Be had no firewall). Eventually this led me to install Redhat 6.2 on another partition on my main workstation (the box running Be), and I was using Linux as my primary OS for maybe a year or two.
Meanwhile, I was toying around with the old Pentium firewall more and more, and making it do some really great things under Linux - as a server. On the other hand, getting day to day tasks done in Linux on my workstation box was a new issue every day. I kept Linux running on my server (where it's still running) and axed both Linux and Be on my workstation, opting instead to Windows 2000 Pro. I hated how Windows looked and felt, and didn't much like the company who made it - but things more or less worked . . . at least for six months or so, then something breaks for some reason and a format is necessary.
Last year I acquired an old Macintosh Quadra 700 with OpenBSD on it. This little Mac, alongside the interest I already had in OS X, really nudged me even closer to putting down the money for a Power Mac G4, and so I did this May. OS X is most of the things I loved in BeOS (a nice, logical GUI) and consistency (it generally does not require reinstallation after 6 months, for no reason at all). At the same time, it fills the gaps that Linux did. It's UNIX, and works nicely alongside my BSD and Redhat boxes; when I'm not sure how to do something the 'Apple way' I can just open up a terminal and do it the way I would on any other UNIX box. On the more evil side, Office and Photoshop are there, so I don't have to reboot just to get something done. And if worse comes to absolute worst, Virtual PC can be used for any Windows-only app I might encounter (but it hasn't really occurred yet).
Maybe it just wasn't clear to him because he thought a menu showing choices for only two different kinds of network cards/had/ to be a mistake, and fixable in some way.
Anyone know of an app that can record the audio from a modem in a PowerMac G4? I want to get back at some telemarkters next time they call and record it . . .
I'm a recent switcher and can't speak very well for OS 9 or prior, but in OS X there seems to be a fair amount of keyboard shortcuts, some more useful than anything in Windows. For example, if you want to open up your home directory just hit shift + apple + H; if you want to view your applications folder do the same but hit A. To mount a network drive press apple + K. Most applications have keyboard shortcuts for commonly used operations.
One thing that was awkward for me at first was Apple + C/V to cut and paste, instead of using Control, like on PC's. It actually makes more sense to me now, since the Apple key is a shorter distance than Control from C and V; it feels more natural. Cutting and pasting in Linux I've always found to be a little bit clumsy; a lot of times I'd end up making mistakes, copying or pasting things I didn't actually want to.
Just from browsing the FAQ, the main advantage over current CD's, at least in the/average/ consumer's eyes seems to be more than two channels. There's definitely an imrpovement in sound, but not one drastic as say, the jump from analog tape to CDs.
In the early 70's Quadraphonic vinyl was released, which was backward compatible with stereo styli -- and it never caught on because it required hardware upgrades, and presented no real clear advantage over standard LPs; this seems to be a similar concept.
A few years ago, John Ashcroft was nicknamed the Crisco Kid after he "anointed" himself with the supermarket favorite the night before he was sworn in to the Senate. Ever since he was nominated for attorney general, there's been a widely circulating e-mail campaign to make the greasy label stick: "Say no with Crisco," it says, suggesting that anti-Ashcroft folks mail bottles of Crisco to the Senate Judiciary Committee. New York Magazine http://www.nymag.com/page.cfm?page_id=4323
2) Writes 'Patriotic' songs, tells staff to memorize
Footage of Ashcroft singing: http://www.cnn.com/video/us/2002/02/25/ashcroft.si ngs.wbtv.med.html
America's Attorney General, John Ashcroft, has taken his fondness for morning prayer meetings at the US Department of Justice one step further - he is asking his staff to start the day by singing patriotic songs he wrote himself. BBC News http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/1854922. stm
3) Believes Calico Cats are a sign of Satan
Shortly after becoming Attorney General, John Ashcroft was headed abroad. An advance team showed up at the American embassy in the Hague to check out the digs, saw cats in residence, and got nervous. They were worried there might be a calico cat. No, they were told, no calicos. Visible relief. Their boss, they explained, believes calico cats are signs of the devil. (The advance team also spied a statue of a naked woman in the courtyard and discussed the possibility of its being covered for the visit, though that request was not ultimately made.) AndrewTobias.com http://www.andrewtobias.com/newcolumns/011120.html
4) As a Pentacostal, interprets the Bible literally
What differentiates Pentecostals from other Protestants is their expressive, emotional form of worship. It's also what makes some people most suspicious of the movement -- all that emotion, coupled with an intense, literal reading of the Bible. This has some has some critics worried that one of the nation's most famous Pentecostal, attorney general nominee John Ashcroft, might not be able to separate his religious beliefs from his political duties. ABC News http://abcnews.go.com/sections/wnt/WorldNews To night/wnt010116_pentecostalism_feature.html
5) Supports indefinite detentions without charges
"Ashcroft supports indefinite detention without the necessity of bringing charges for those suspected of terrorist activity. " Indiana University Law http://www.law.indiana.edu/pubs/front/20011008_sca nlan.html
6) Insists Staffers call him simply, 'General'
"John Ashcroft, chief among the Bush warlords, likes to be called simply 'General.' Has this ever happened before with an Attorney General? Did anyone but a mail room intern ever call Janet Reno or Ramsey Clark 'General'?" CounterPunch.com http://www.counterpunch.org/vest0618.html
7) Sings in a Republican Barbershop Quartet
"Despite singing bass in the quartet with Jeffords, Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) and Attorney General John Ashcroft, a former Republican senator from Missouri, Lott has been unable to change Jeffords' discordant ways." Milwaukee Journal Sentinel http://www.jsonline.com/news/nat/may01/profile 24052301.asp
8) Supports secret trials and deportation hearings
At the end of March, in New Jersey, state Superior Court Judge Arthur D'Italia, declaring that secret arrests are "odious to a democracy," ordered the release of the names of immigrant detainees held in New Jersey county jails.... In Michigan in April, U.S. District Judge Nancy G. Edmunds ruled against the closed deportation hearings, noting, "Openness is necessary for the public to maintain confidence in the value and soundness of the government's actions, as secrecy only breeds suspicion..."... Of the more than 1,000 noncitizens arrested after Sept 11 (we don't know how many) hundreds have been released (we don't know how many) and some deported (we don't know how many)--of this group, the government announced no indictments relating to Sept. 11. The Oregonian http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/oregonian/ in dex.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_standard.xsl?/base/editorial/1023278144287930.xml
9) Lost an Election to a dead man
"After serving one term in the Senate, Ashcroft ran in a bitter and tense race for re-election against Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan. After the governor answered a request from Pope John Paul II and commuted the death sentence of a notorious murder, Ashcroft portrayed Carnahan as a liberal who was soft on crime. Carnahan tried to portray Ashcroft as a right-wing conservative. The two candidates had argued over issues of abortion rights and tax cuts. Three weeks before Election Day, Carnahan was killed when the plane he was traveling to a campaign event crashed in bad weather near St. Louis. Because his death was so close to Election Day, the governor's name was still on the ballot. And despite his death, Carnahan won a narrow victory over Ashcroft on Nov. 7. " ABC News http://abcnews.go.com/sections/politics/DailyNew s/ ashcroft001222.html
Can someone explain this to me? It seems that M$/must/ make Mac software of some sort, or did the following become invalid with time?
October 24th, 1985: John Sculley signs the worst contract Apple ever has made. He agrees that Microsoft may use some Mac GUI (Graphical User Interface) technologies if it continues producing software for the Mac (Word, Excel). If Sculley wouldn't have signed this deal Windows would have never been introduced since the similarities to the MacOS were so obvious that Apple would have easily won any lawsuits against Microsoft!
January 1988: Microsoft releases Windows 2.0.3
March 17th, 1988: Apple sues Microsoft and Hewlett Packard accusing them of violating copyrights of Apple on the MacOS. Windows 2.0.3 features Mac-like icons.
I'm glad to see that there's Arabic support coming in 10.2. One question though: does anyone know if IE properly displays Arabic encoded pages when run under 10.2? Also, anyone have an idea about mail apps that properly display, and allow Arabic input? I know that Mozilla Mail can handle it to a certain extent, but I'd prefer to stick with mail app.
Correct me if I'm wrong, Word will still allow Arabic input and display Arabic documents correctly, but just will not be localized? If that's the only problem it's not a huge one.
Interestingly enough, in the last update of Messenger the Arabic names in my contact list now display correctly, and I can even read Arabic messages properly, provided that the Arabic fonts are installed.
Just for clarification, Apple supported Hebrew/Arabic long before Microsoft touched it, and did it better in my opinion. One of the things I like about the Arabic support in earlier versions of MacOS is that you could map the keys to their English equivalents, something Windows still won't let you do.
The God part doesn't bother me, it's the fact that children from kindergarten on are generally forced by faculty to recite something that they don't truly grasp the meaning of. It's a form of indoctrination. Not to mention it's kind of hard to justify, since that 'justice' treated blacks as second class citizens until about 40 years ago. Oh, and never mind that whole Native American thing, stealing the land, etc.
What a joke. There's no difference between having a group of children bow down and praise Jesus with rosary beads and making them essentially worship and give their allegiance to a stupid piece of fabric.
If you feel like worshipping a flag do it at home, on your own time. It's one thing to have an individual decide he or she would like to pledge, it's another to MAKE them do it ritualistically every day, with no explanation other than "this is the right thing to do."
I setup an account on my mail server just called "spam;" whenever a site like Real.com asks me for an E-Mail address, I give them that. In fact, I don't even remember the password for the account, and I usually have to su to it from root to get the confirmation. Out of sight out of mind.
The really amazing thing you left out about the RL is that it had no cooling fan -- so 120 degrees was quite impressive.
My first PC was a 1000 HX, that I think I purchased around '89. I managed to get some guy to hack an internal Teac 5.25" drive from a PC (360k), put it in an external enclosure, and get it to work on the HX; it was a lot cheaper than getting the one Radio Shack sold.
By '89 though, stores like EB had a small 3.5" section, that usually wasn't too bad. I actually had more 3.5" disks than 5.25" ones I think.
The thing is, I migrated from my c64 to the Tandy. Going from the c64 to a PC was weird; I went from cool graphics to 4 color CGA and beeps for sound. When the PcJr/Tandy 16 color graphics support was available though, games could be pretty cool. Thexder was one of the first games I picked up for it, which supported the PcJr graphics/sound.
BTW, the RL came with 512kb standard, and Radio Shack sold an upgrade to take it to 768kb; at least that's how mine was. Some third party companies sold the 1mb+ upgrades.
Tandys were sturdy computers, but their hardware was completely incompatible with the rest of the PC world. The HX didn't take normal PC boards, but these weird piggy back adapters, and only certain boards would allow you to stack more on top (3 total, my 300bps modem couldn't have anything else stacked on it). Heh, another funny thing about the HX was that the battery to maintain your date and time was an add-on; I think the RL was the same way. The joystick ports were non-standard too, and were the same type that the CoCo's used.
I'm pretty sure the RL used a standard PC slot though, except there was only one, and it was occupited by my massive 1200bps modem. I agree though, the sound on that machine was kinda cool . . .
Could Deskmate multitask on those Machines? I can't remember . . . Frankly, I was quite happy to say goodbye to all the proprietary hardware in those things when I got my 386.
I still wouldn't pay for any "shareware" or "trial" programs. There's always free alternatives to most programs; for example, SecureCRT is nice, but if I coudln't find a crack for it, I'd pretty happily use Putty.
I pay for stuff I like whether it's free or not; I bought Redhat and BeOS (although both could've been warezed easily enough); more recently I paid for Max Payne . . .
If you make quality product, vital to someone's everyday activities, then people will pay you. Point is, if cracks and serails weren't available, people would probably find something else, or just decide it's not that critical.
Remember, companies like ID wouldn't have nearly the amount of popularity they have if it weren't for piracy. Piracy creates underground buzz, and causes the general (paying) public to buy things. A similar parallel can be drawn between warez and the Dj scene. People hear a song on a Dj's mix tape or mix show, want a legitimate (uninterepeted, uncut) copy, and buy it. If it's some average trash however, people will probably be happy with their radio dub...
What about those running proxys like Squid and Junkbuster (or in my case, both together?) In that case everything is genuinely originating from the Linux machine.
"Or better yet, kill service to a block of houses, and wait for the support calls to roll in. Yes sir, we'll have a technician come right out sir. He may need to have full access to your computer or computer(s), sir."
Not a big deal; clear the other PC's out of the room or hand him a laptop with a NIC in it.
Even this isn't really something they can validate; how many times have you had three or four SSH session open to different places on one computer? One or more FTP sessions open? This will always be a scare tactic thing, just like how you're supposed to pay extra for more than one television.
Besides, have you ever talked to 'technical support' at broadband providers? I don't see them becoming sophisticated enough to deal with this, especially just for an extra $5/month.
If most people are like me they're rarely fully utilizing all computers at one time anyway.
An Adelhpia guy came to my house last week to install Powerlink. I put the NIC into my Linux box (that has three other boxes hooked up to it) right in front of him. He was just happy he didn't have to do any other installation other than make sure the splitters in the basement were up to standard.
What I found funny was their port blocking. My friend who lives 15 minutes away has port 80 wide open, but 25 incoming (not outgoing) is blocked. On the other hand, my port 80 is blocked, and all others (with the exception of netbios) are shut off to the public.
I can understand why you'd want to block port 25, due to spammers, but wouldn't it make more sense to block it *outgoing*?
I've been playing around with Linux for a few years now, getting to understand networking and things of that nature. But I've reached the point where I'd actually like to create, specifically for Linux, since it's where I spend the majority of my time.
What would be a good book that would help me learn the basics of programming in Linux (this one seems to assume you already *know* a programming language or two). Should I begin with C? What about PHP and others? I'm looking for some specific titles.
"Black Hawk Down" - Hollywood drags bloody corpse of truth across movie screens
By Larry Chin
January 3, 2002 -- True to its post-9/11 government-sanctioned role as US war propaganda headquarters, Hollywood has released "Black Hawk Down," a fictionalized account of the tragic 1993 US raid in Somalia. The Pentagon assisted with the production, pleased for an opportunity to "set the record straight." The film is a lie that compounds the original lie that was the operation itself.
Somalia: the facts
According to the myth, the Somalia operation of 1993 was a humanitarian mission, and a shining example of New World Order morality and altruism. In fact, US and UN troops waged an undeclared war against an Islamic African populace that was hostile to foreign interests.
Also contrary to the legend, the 1993 Somalia raid was not a "Clinton foreign policy bungle." In fact, the incoming Clinton administration inherited an operation that was already in full swing -- planned and begun by outgoing President George Herbert Walker Bush, spearheaded by deputy national security adviser Jonathan Howe (who remained in charge of the UN operation after Clinton took office), and approved by Colin Powell, then head of the Joint Chiefs.
The operation had nothing to do with humanitarianism or Africa-love on the part of Bush or Clinton. Several US oil companies, including Conoco, Amoco, Chevron and Phillips were positioned to exploit Somalia's rich oil reserves. The companies had secured billion-dollar concessions to explore and drill large portions of the Somali countryside during the reign of pro-US President Mohamed Siad Barre. (In fact, Conoco's Mogadishu office housed the US embassy and military headquarters.) A "secure" Somalia also provided the West with strategic location on the coast of Arabian Sea.
UN military became necessary when Barre was overthrown by warlord Mohammed Farrah Aidid, suddenly rendering Somalia inhospitable to US corporate interests.
Although the pretext for the mission was to safeguard food shipments, and stop the "evil Aidid" from stealing the food, the true UN goal was to remove Aidid from the political equation, and form a pro-Western coalition government out of the nation's warring clans. The US operation was met with "surprisingly fierce resistance" -- surprising to US officials who underestimated Somalian resolve, and even more surprising to US troops who were victims and pawns of UN policy makers.
The highly documented series by Mark Bowden of the Philadelphia Inquirer on which the film is based , focuses on the participants, and the "untenable" situation in which troops were placed. But even Bowden's gung-ho account makes no bones about provocative American attacks that ultimately led to the decisive defeat in Mogadishu.
Bowden writes: " Task Force Ranger was not in Mogadishu to feed the hungry. Over six weeks, from late August to Oct. 3, it conducted six missions, raiding locations where either Aidid or his lieutenants were believed to be meeting. The mission that resulted in the Battle of Mogadishu came less than three months after a surprise missile attack by U.S. helicopters (acting on behalf of the UN) on a meeting of Aidid clansmen. Prompted by a Somalian ambush on June 5 that killed more than 20 Pakistani soldiers, the missile attack killed 50 to 70 clan elders and intellectuals, many of them moderates seeking to reach a peaceful settlement with the United Nations. After that July 12 helicopter attack, Aidid's clan was officially at war with America -- a fact many Americans never realized."
Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Somalis were killed in the course of US incursions that took place over three months. In his book The New Military Humanism, Noam Chomsky cites other under-reported facts. "In October 1993, criminal incompetence by the US military led to the slaughter of 1,000 Somalis by American firepower." Chomsky writes. "The official estimate was 6-10,000 Somali casualties in the summer of 1993 alone, two-thirds women and children. Marine Lt. Gen. Anthony Zinni, who commanded the operation, informed the press that 'I'm not counting bodies . . . I'm not interested.' Specific war crimes of US forces included direct military attacks on a hospital and on civilian gatherings. Other Western armies were implicated in serious crimes as well. Some of these were revealed at an official Canadian inquiry, not duplicated by the US or other governments."
Bowden's more forgiving account does not contradict Chomsky's in this regard:
"Official U.S. estimates of Somalian casualties at the time numbered 350 dead and 500 injured. Somalian clan leaders made claims of more than 1,000 deaths. The United Nations placed the number of dead at ``between 300 to 500.'' Doctors and intellectuals in Mogadishu not aligned with the feuding clans say that 500 dead is probably accurate.
The attack on Mogadishu was particularly vicious. Quoting Bowden: "The Task Force Ranger commander, Maj. Gen. William F. Garrison, testifying before the Senate, said that if his men had put any more ammunition into the city 'we would have sunk it.' Most soldiers interviewed said that through most of the fight they fired on crowds and eventually at anyone and anything they saw."
After 18 US Special Forces soldiers were killed in the final Mogadishu firefight, which included the downing of a US helicopter, television screens filled with the scene of a dead US soldier being dragged through the streets by jubilant Somalis. Clinton immediately called off the operation. US forces left Somalia in disgrace. Some 19,000 UN troops remained for a short period, but eventually left in futility.
The Somalia defeat elicited howls of protest and rage from the military brass, congressional hawks, and right-wing provocateurs itching for an excuse to declare political war on the "liberal" Clinton administration.
The "Somalia syndrome" would dog Clinton throughout his presidency, and mar every military mission during his tenure.
Today, as right-wing extremist George W. Bush occupies the White House, surrounded by his father's operatives, and many of the architects of the original raid, military fanaticism is all the rage. A global war "without end" has just begun.
What a perfect moment to "clean up" the past.
Hollywood to the rescue
In promoting the film, producer Jerry Bruckheimer (who rewrote another humiliating episode of US military history with "Pearl Harbor") is seeking to convince Americans that the Somalia operation was "not America's darkest hour, but America's brightest hour;" that a bungled imperialist intervention was a noble incident of grand moral magnificence.
CNN film reviewer Paul Tatara describes "Black Hawk Down" as "pound for pound, one of the most violent films ever released by a major studio," from "two of the most pandering, tactless filmmakers in Hollywood history (Jerry Bruckheimer and Ridley Scott)" who are attempting to "teach us about honor among soldiers."
More important are the film's true subtexts, and the likely emotional reaction of viewers.
What viewers see is "brave and innocent young American boys" getting shot at and killed for "no reason" by "crazy black Islamists" that the Americans are "just trying to help." (Subtext one: America is good, and it is impossible to understand why "they hate us." Subtext two: "Those damned ungrateful foreigners." Subtext three: "Those damned blacks." Subtext four: "Kill Arabs.")
What viewers will remember is a line spoken by one of the "brave soldiers" about how, in the heat of combat, "politics goes out the window." (Subtext one: there is no need for thought; shoot first, talk later. Subtext two: it is right to abandon one's sanity, morality and ethics when faced with chaos. Subtext three: when the Twin Towers went down on 9/11, America was right in embracing radical militarism and extreme violence, throwing all else "out the window.")
In the currently lethal political climate, in which testosterone rage, mob mentality, and love of war pass for normal behavior (while reason, critical thinking, and tolerance are considered treasonous), "Black Hawk Down" will appeal to the most violent elements of American society. Many who have seen the film report leaving the theater feeling angry, itching to "kick some ass." In short, the film is dangerous. And those who "love" it are dangerous.
Considering the fact that Somalia is one of the targets in the next phase of the Bush administration's "war on terrorism," the timing of the film is no coincidence.
As Herbert London of the Hudson Institute said of "Black Hawk Down," "I would never deny the importance of heroism in battle, but just as we should recognize and honor heroes, we should also respect the truthfulness of the events surrounding their heroic acts. In the case of 'Black Hawk Down,' we get a lot of the former and almost nothing of the latter."
Slashdot Mirror
I have a DVD drive in a firewire enclosure; anyone think it would be safe to just disable the fan in it?
BeOS really prompted me to start exploring other operating systems. Before that I had toyed with Linux once or twice, but it never worked quite the way I was hoping to. I started hearing some buzz about BeOS and actually /bought/ r4.5.2, along with the BeOS Bible. This was one of the only pieces of software I /paid/ for (as opposed to warezed) since maybe DOS 6.0.
:). BeOS was not a server OS, but ruled on the desktop.
I was fortunate enough to have an external USR modem, as well as a VooDoo 3 graphics card; no problem with compatibility, in fact I had the perfect system. Aside from the OS being incredibly fast, it more or less worked the way it was supposed to. I also thought the GUI combined the best of both Windows and MacOS. For those that say it lacked applications, that's true - but at the time it wasn't really any worse than running Linux. There was a decent office suite, Opera for a Net+ replacement, and a couple different mail apps to choose from. I can't remember which one I settled for, but I remember using a hex editor to remove its unregistered tagline
As Be the corporation started dying, I was seeing less and less work put into the OS. In r5 Pro OpenGL support had been removed for some reason, and to my knowledge never returned. It started to become clear that the OS was seeing its last days, and I didn't really want to be like the Amiga zealots who still exist today, so I went searched for some alternatives.
The thing is, using Be showed me that using my computer could be kind of fun again; maybe not fun, but at least enjoyable. I started toying with Linux on an old Pentium box, only with the intention to make it into a firewall for the box that was running Windows and Be (since Be had no firewall). Eventually this led me to install Redhat 6.2 on another partition on my main workstation (the box running Be), and I was using Linux as my primary OS for maybe a year or two.
Meanwhile, I was toying around with the old Pentium firewall more and more, and making it do some really great things under Linux - as a server. On the other hand, getting day to day tasks done in Linux on my workstation box was a new issue every day. I kept Linux running on my server (where it's still running) and axed both Linux and Be on my workstation, opting instead to Windows 2000 Pro. I hated how Windows looked and felt, and didn't much like the company who made it - but things more or less worked . . . at least for six months or so, then something breaks for some reason and a format is necessary.
Last year I acquired an old Macintosh Quadra 700 with OpenBSD on it. This little Mac, alongside the interest I already had in OS X, really nudged me even closer to putting down the money for a Power Mac G4, and so I did this May. OS X is most of the things I loved in BeOS (a nice, logical GUI) and consistency (it generally does not require reinstallation after 6 months, for no reason at all). At the same time, it fills the gaps that Linux did. It's UNIX, and works nicely alongside my BSD and Redhat boxes; when I'm not sure how to do something the 'Apple way' I can just open up a terminal and do it the way I would on any other UNIX box. On the more evil side, Office and Photoshop are there, so I don't have to reboot just to get something done. And if worse comes to absolute worst, Virtual PC can be used for any Windows-only app I might encounter (but it hasn't really occurred yet).
Maybe it just wasn't clear to him because he thought a menu showing choices for only two different kinds of network cards /had/ to be a mistake, and fixable in some way.
Should be easy; I have ZTerm installed. I can just tell the modem to pick up.
Anyone know of an app that can record the audio from a modem in a PowerMac G4? I want to get back at some telemarkters next time they call and record it . . .
http://freshmeat.net/projects/recover/?topic_id=43 %2C19%2C137%2C142
I first saw this story and thought it said "Public Domain Superhoes." Nevermind.
I'm a recent switcher and can't speak very well for OS 9 or prior, but in OS X there seems to be a fair amount of keyboard shortcuts, some more useful than anything in Windows. For example, if you want to open up your home directory just hit shift + apple + H; if you want to view your applications folder do the same but hit A. To mount a network drive press apple + K. Most applications have keyboard shortcuts for commonly used operations.
One thing that was awkward for me at first was Apple + C/V to cut and paste, instead of using Control, like on PC's. It actually makes more sense to me now, since the Apple key is a shorter distance than Control from C and V; it feels more natural. Cutting and pasting in Linux I've always found to be a little bit clumsy; a lot of times I'd end up making mistakes, copying or pasting things I didn't actually want to.
Just from browsing the FAQ, the main advantage over current CD's, at least in the /average/ consumer's eyes seems to be more than two channels. There's definitely an imrpovement in sound, but not one drastic as say, the jump from analog tape to CDs.
In the early 70's Quadraphonic vinyl was released, which was backward compatible with stereo styli -- and it never caught on because it required hardware upgrades, and presented no real clear advantage over standard LPs; this seems to be a similar concept.
Besides, $30 for a disc? No thanks.
1) 'Annoints' himself with 'holy' Crisco oil
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... In Michigan in April, U.S. District Judge Nancy G. Edmunds ruled against the closed deportation hearings, noting, "Openness is necessary for the public to maintain confidence in the value and soundness of the government's actions, as secrecy only breeds suspicion..." ... Of the more than 1,000 noncitizens arrested after Sept 11 (we don't know how many) hundreds have been released (we don't know how many) and some deported (we don't know how many)--of this group, the government announced no indictments relating to Sept. 11. n dex.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_standard.xsl?/base /editorial/1023278144287930.xml
w s/ ashcroft001222.html
A few years ago, John Ashcroft was nicknamed the Crisco Kid after he "anointed" himself with the supermarket favorite the night before he was sworn in to the Senate. Ever since he was nominated for attorney general, there's been a widely circulating e-mail campaign to make the greasy label stick: "Say no with Crisco," it says, suggesting that anti-Ashcroft folks mail bottles of Crisco to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
New York Magazine http://www.nymag.com/page.cfm?page_id=4323
2) Writes 'Patriotic' songs, tells staff to memorize
Footage of Ashcroft singing: http://www.cnn.com/video/us/2002/02/25/ashcroft.s
America's Attorney General, John Ashcroft, has taken his fondness for morning prayer meetings at the US Department of Justice one step further - he is asking his staff to start the day by singing patriotic songs he wrote himself.
BBC News http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/1854922
3) Believes Calico Cats are a sign of Satan
Shortly after becoming Attorney General, John Ashcroft was headed abroad. An advance team showed up at the American embassy in the Hague to check out the digs, saw cats in residence, and got nervous. They were worried there might be a calico cat. No, they were told, no calicos. Visible relief. Their boss, they explained, believes calico cats are signs of the devil. (The advance team also spied a statue of a naked woman in the courtyard and discussed the possibility of its being covered for the visit, though that request was not ultimately made.)
AndrewTobias.com http://www.andrewtobias.com/newcolumns/011120.htm
4) As a Pentacostal, interprets the Bible literally
What differentiates Pentecostals from other Protestants is their expressive, emotional form of worship. It's also what makes some people most suspicious of the movement -- all that emotion, coupled with an intense, literal reading of the Bible.
This has some has some critics worried that one of the nation's most famous Pentecostal, attorney general nominee John Ashcroft, might not be able to separate his religious beliefs from his political duties.
ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/wnt/WorldNews
T
5) Supports indefinite detentions without charges
"Ashcroft supports indefinite detention without the necessity of bringing charges for those suspected of terrorist activity. "
Indiana University Law http://www.law.indiana.edu/pubs/front/20011008_sc
6) Insists Staffers call him simply, 'General'
"John Ashcroft, chief among the Bush warlords, likes to be called simply 'General.' Has this ever happened before with an Attorney General? Did anyone but a mail room intern ever call Janet Reno or Ramsey Clark 'General'?"
CounterPunch.com http://www.counterpunch.org/vest0618.html
7) Sings in a Republican Barbershop Quartet
"Despite singing bass in the quartet with Jeffords, Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) and Attorney General John Ashcroft, a former Republican senator from Missouri, Lott has been unable to change Jeffords' discordant ways."
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
http://www.jsonline.com/news/nat/may01/profile
8) Supports secret trials and deportation hearings
At the end of March, in New Jersey, state Superior Court Judge Arthur D'Italia, declaring that secret arrests are "odious to a democracy," ordered the release of the names of immigrant detainees held in New Jersey county jails.
The Oregonian
http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/oregonian/
i
9) Lost an Election to a dead man
"After serving one term in the Senate, Ashcroft ran in a bitter and tense race for re-election against Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan.
After the governor answered a request from Pope John Paul II and commuted the death sentence of a notorious murder, Ashcroft portrayed Carnahan as a liberal who was soft on crime. Carnahan tried to portray Ashcroft as a right-wing conservative. The two candidates had argued over issues of abortion rights and tax cuts.
Three weeks before Election Day, Carnahan was killed when the plane he was traveling to a campaign event crashed in bad weather near St. Louis. Because his death was so close to Election Day, the governor's name was still on the ballot.
And despite his death, Carnahan won a narrow victory over Ashcroft on Nov. 7. "
ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/politics/DailyNe
10) Spent $8K to cover semi-nude 'Justice' statue
Forgot this part:
August 24th, 1993: The court decides that Windows 2.0.3 was covered by the 1985 deal between Apple and Microsoft.
Can someone explain this to me? It seems that M$ /must/ make Mac software of some sort, or did the following become invalid with time?
October 24th, 1985: John Sculley signs the worst contract Apple ever has made. He agrees that Microsoft may use some Mac GUI (Graphical User Interface) technologies if it continues producing software for the Mac (Word, Excel). If Sculley wouldn't have signed this deal Windows would have never been introduced since the similarities to the MacOS were so obvious that Apple would have easily won any lawsuits against Microsoft!
January 1988: Microsoft releases Windows 2.0.3
March 17th, 1988: Apple sues Microsoft and Hewlett Packard accusing them of violating copyrights of Apple on the MacOS. Windows 2.0.3 features Mac-like icons.
(http://www.theapplemuseum.com)
I'm glad to see that there's Arabic support coming in 10.2. One question though: does anyone know if IE properly displays Arabic encoded pages when run under 10.2? Also, anyone have an idea about mail apps that properly display, and allow Arabic input? I know that Mozilla Mail can handle it to a certain extent, but I'd prefer to stick with mail app.
Correct me if I'm wrong, Word will still allow Arabic input and display Arabic documents correctly, but just will not be localized? If that's the only problem it's not a huge one.
Interestingly enough, in the last update of Messenger the Arabic names in my contact list now display correctly, and I can even read Arabic messages properly, provided that the Arabic fonts are installed.
Just for clarification, Apple supported Hebrew/Arabic long before Microsoft touched it, and did it better in my opinion. One of the things I like about the Arabic support in earlier versions of MacOS is that you could map the keys to their English equivalents, something Windows still won't let you do.
The God part doesn't bother me, it's the fact that children from kindergarten on are generally forced by faculty to recite something that they don't truly grasp the meaning of. It's a form of indoctrination. Not to mention it's kind of hard to justify, since that 'justice' treated blacks as second class citizens until about 40 years ago. Oh, and never mind that whole Native American thing, stealing the land, etc.
What a joke. There's no difference between having a group of children bow down and praise Jesus with rosary beads and making them essentially worship and give their allegiance to a stupid piece of fabric.
If you feel like worshipping a flag do it at home, on your own time. It's one thing to have an individual decide he or she would like to pledge, it's another to MAKE them do it ritualistically every day, with no explanation other than "this is the right thing to do."
Seanbaby's Page:
t p://www.seanbaby.com/nes/w20-1.htm
http://www.seanbaby.com/nes/basedoncrap.htm
ht
Compiling on a 68k Mac running OpenBSD 3.0. Mine will probably take a little longer than yours :)
I setup an account on my mail server just called "spam;" whenever a site like Real.com asks me for an E-Mail address, I give them that. In fact, I don't even remember the password for the account, and I usually have to su to it from root to get the confirmation. Out of sight out of mind.
The really amazing thing you left out about the RL is that it had no cooling fan -- so 120 degrees was quite impressive.
My first PC was a 1000 HX, that I think I purchased around '89. I managed to get some guy to hack an internal Teac 5.25" drive from a PC (360k), put it in an external enclosure, and get it to work on the HX; it was a lot cheaper than getting the one Radio Shack sold.
By '89 though, stores like EB had a small 3.5" section, that usually wasn't too bad. I actually had more 3.5" disks than 5.25" ones I think.
The thing is, I migrated from my c64 to the Tandy. Going from the c64 to a PC was weird; I went from cool graphics to 4 color CGA and beeps for sound. When the PcJr/Tandy 16 color graphics support was available though, games could be pretty cool. Thexder was one of the first games I picked up for it, which supported the PcJr graphics/sound.
BTW, the RL came with 512kb standard, and Radio Shack sold an upgrade to take it to 768kb; at least that's how mine was. Some third party companies sold the 1mb+ upgrades.
Tandys were sturdy computers, but their hardware was completely incompatible with the rest of the PC world. The HX didn't take normal PC boards, but these weird piggy back adapters, and only certain boards would allow you to stack more on top (3 total, my 300bps modem couldn't have anything else stacked on it). Heh, another funny thing about the HX was that the battery to maintain your date and time was an add-on; I think the RL was the same way. The joystick ports were non-standard too, and were the same type that the CoCo's used.
I'm pretty sure the RL used a standard PC slot though, except there was only one, and it was occupited by my massive 1200bps modem. I agree though, the sound on that machine was kinda cool . . .
Could Deskmate multitask on those Machines? I can't remember . . . Frankly, I was quite happy to say goodbye to all the proprietary hardware in those things when I got my 386.
I still wouldn't pay for any "shareware" or "trial" programs. There's always free alternatives to most programs; for example, SecureCRT is nice, but if I coudln't find a crack for it, I'd pretty happily use Putty.
I pay for stuff I like whether it's free or not; I bought Redhat and BeOS (although both could've been warezed easily enough); more recently I paid for Max Payne . . .
If you make quality product, vital to someone's everyday activities, then people will pay you. Point is, if cracks and serails weren't available, people would probably find something else, or just decide it's not that critical.
Remember, companies like ID wouldn't have nearly the amount of popularity they have if it weren't for piracy. Piracy creates underground buzz, and causes the general (paying) public to buy things. A similar parallel can be drawn between warez and the Dj scene. People hear a song on a Dj's mix tape or mix show, want a legitimate (uninterepeted, uncut) copy, and buy it. If it's some average trash however, people will probably be happy with their radio dub...
What about those running proxys like Squid and Junkbuster (or in my case, both together?) In that case everything is genuinely originating from the Linux machine.
"Or better yet, kill service to a block of houses, and wait for the support calls to roll in. Yes sir, we'll have a technician come right out sir. He may need to have full access to your computer or computer(s), sir."
Not a big deal; clear the other PC's out of the room or hand him a laptop with a NIC in it.
Even this isn't really something they can validate; how many times have you had three or four SSH session open to different places on one computer? One or more FTP sessions open? This will always be a scare tactic thing, just like how you're supposed to pay extra for more than one television.
Besides, have you ever talked to 'technical support' at broadband providers? I don't see them becoming sophisticated enough to deal with this, especially just for an extra $5/month.
If most people are like me they're rarely fully utilizing all computers at one time anyway.
An Adelhpia guy came to my house last week to install Powerlink. I put the NIC into my Linux box (that has three other boxes hooked up to it) right in front of him. He was just happy he didn't have to do any other installation other than make sure the splitters in the basement were up to standard.
What I found funny was their port blocking. My friend who lives 15 minutes away has port 80 wide open, but 25 incoming (not outgoing) is blocked. On the other hand, my port 80 is blocked, and all others (with the exception of netbios) are shut off to the public.
I can understand why you'd want to block port 25, due to spammers, but wouldn't it make more sense to block it *outgoing*?
I've been playing around with Linux for a few years now, getting to understand networking and things of that nature. But I've reached the point where I'd actually like to create, specifically for Linux, since it's where I spend the majority of my time.
What would be a good book that would help me learn the basics of programming in Linux (this one seems to assume you already *know* a programming language or two). Should I begin with C? What about PHP and others? I'm looking for some specific titles.
"Black Hawk Down" - Hollywood drags bloody corpse of truth across movie screens
By Larry Chin
January 3, 2002 -- True to its post-9/11 government-sanctioned role as US war propaganda headquarters, Hollywood has released "Black Hawk Down," a fictionalized account of the tragic 1993 US raid in Somalia. The Pentagon assisted with the production, pleased for an opportunity to "set the record straight." The film is a lie that compounds the original lie that was the operation itself.
Somalia: the facts
According to the myth, the Somalia operation of 1993 was a humanitarian mission, and a shining example of New World Order morality and altruism. In fact, US and UN troops waged an undeclared war against an Islamic African populace that was hostile to foreign interests.
Also contrary to the legend, the 1993 Somalia raid was not a "Clinton foreign policy bungle." In fact, the incoming Clinton administration inherited an operation that was already in full swing -- planned and begun by outgoing President George Herbert Walker Bush, spearheaded by deputy national security adviser Jonathan Howe (who remained in charge of the UN operation after Clinton took office), and approved by Colin Powell, then head of the Joint Chiefs.
The operation had nothing to do with humanitarianism or Africa-love on the part of Bush or Clinton. Several US oil companies, including Conoco, Amoco, Chevron and Phillips were positioned to exploit Somalia's rich oil reserves. The companies had secured billion-dollar concessions to explore and drill large portions of the Somali countryside during the reign of pro-US President Mohamed Siad Barre. (In fact, Conoco's Mogadishu office housed the US embassy and military headquarters.) A "secure" Somalia also provided the West with strategic location on the coast of Arabian Sea.
UN military became necessary when Barre was overthrown by warlord Mohammed Farrah Aidid, suddenly rendering Somalia inhospitable to US corporate interests.
Although the pretext for the mission was to safeguard food shipments, and stop the "evil Aidid" from stealing the food, the true UN goal was to remove Aidid from the political equation, and form a pro-Western coalition government out of the nation's warring clans. The US operation was met with "surprisingly fierce resistance" -- surprising to US officials who underestimated Somalian resolve, and even more surprising to US troops who were victims and pawns of UN policy makers.
The highly documented series by Mark Bowden of the Philadelphia Inquirer on which the film is based , focuses on the participants, and the "untenable" situation in which troops were placed. But even Bowden's gung-ho account makes no bones about provocative American attacks that ultimately led to the decisive defeat in Mogadishu.
Bowden writes: " Task Force Ranger was not in Mogadishu to feed the hungry. Over six weeks, from late August to Oct. 3, it conducted six missions, raiding locations where either Aidid or his lieutenants were believed to be meeting. The mission that resulted in the Battle of Mogadishu came less than three months after a surprise missile attack by U.S. helicopters (acting on behalf of the UN) on a meeting of Aidid clansmen. Prompted by a Somalian ambush on June 5 that killed more than 20 Pakistani soldiers, the missile attack killed 50 to 70 clan elders and intellectuals, many of them moderates seeking to reach a peaceful settlement with the United Nations. After that July 12 helicopter attack, Aidid's clan was officially at war with America -- a fact many Americans never realized."
Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Somalis were killed in the course of US incursions that took place over three months. In his book The New Military Humanism, Noam Chomsky cites other under-reported facts. "In October 1993, criminal incompetence by the US military led to the slaughter of 1,000 Somalis by American firepower." Chomsky writes. "The official estimate was 6-10,000 Somali casualties in the summer of 1993 alone, two-thirds women and children. Marine Lt. Gen. Anthony Zinni, who commanded the operation, informed the press that 'I'm not counting bodies . . . I'm not interested.' Specific war crimes of US forces included direct military attacks on a hospital and on civilian gatherings. Other Western armies were implicated in serious crimes as well. Some of these were revealed at an official Canadian inquiry, not duplicated by the US or other governments."
Bowden's more forgiving account does not contradict Chomsky's in this regard:
"Official U.S. estimates of Somalian casualties at the time numbered 350 dead and 500 injured. Somalian clan leaders made claims of more than 1,000 deaths. The United Nations placed the number of dead at ``between 300 to 500.'' Doctors and intellectuals in Mogadishu not aligned with the feuding clans say that 500 dead is probably accurate.
The attack on Mogadishu was particularly vicious. Quoting Bowden: "The Task Force Ranger commander, Maj. Gen. William F. Garrison, testifying before the Senate, said that if his men had put any more ammunition into the city 'we would have sunk it.' Most soldiers interviewed said that through most of the fight they fired on crowds and eventually at anyone and anything they saw."
After 18 US Special Forces soldiers were killed in the final Mogadishu firefight, which included the downing of a US helicopter, television screens filled with the scene of a dead US soldier being dragged through the streets by jubilant Somalis. Clinton immediately called off the operation. US forces left Somalia in disgrace. Some 19,000 UN troops remained for a short period, but eventually left in futility.
The Somalia defeat elicited howls of protest and rage from the military brass, congressional hawks, and right-wing provocateurs itching for an excuse to declare political war on the "liberal" Clinton administration.
The "Somalia syndrome" would dog Clinton throughout his presidency, and mar every military mission during his tenure.
Today, as right-wing extremist George W. Bush occupies the White House, surrounded by his father's operatives, and many of the architects of the original raid, military fanaticism is all the rage. A global war "without end" has just begun.
What a perfect moment to "clean up" the past.
Hollywood to the rescue
In promoting the film, producer Jerry Bruckheimer (who rewrote another humiliating episode of US military history with "Pearl Harbor") is seeking to convince Americans that the Somalia operation was "not America's darkest hour, but America's brightest hour;" that a bungled imperialist intervention was a noble incident of grand moral magnificence.
CNN film reviewer Paul Tatara describes "Black Hawk Down" as "pound for pound, one of the most violent films ever released by a major studio," from "two of the most pandering, tactless filmmakers in Hollywood history (Jerry Bruckheimer and Ridley Scott)" who are attempting to "teach us about honor among soldiers."
More important are the film's true subtexts, and the likely emotional reaction of viewers.
What viewers see is "brave and innocent young American boys" getting shot at and killed for "no reason" by "crazy black Islamists" that the Americans are "just trying to help." (Subtext one: America is good, and it is impossible to understand why "they hate us." Subtext two: "Those damned ungrateful foreigners." Subtext three: "Those damned blacks." Subtext four: "Kill Arabs.")
What viewers will remember is a line spoken by one of the "brave soldiers" about how, in the heat of combat, "politics goes out the window." (Subtext one: there is no need for thought; shoot first, talk later. Subtext two: it is right to abandon one's sanity, morality and ethics when faced with chaos. Subtext three: when the Twin Towers went down on 9/11, America was right in embracing radical militarism and extreme violence, throwing all else "out the window.")
In the currently lethal political climate, in which testosterone rage, mob mentality, and love of war pass for normal behavior (while reason, critical thinking, and tolerance are considered treasonous), "Black Hawk Down" will appeal to the most violent elements of American society. Many who have seen the film report leaving the theater feeling angry, itching to "kick some ass." In short, the film is dangerous. And those who "love" it are dangerous.
Considering the fact that Somalia is one of the targets in the next phase of the Bush administration's "war on terrorism," the timing of the film is no coincidence.
As Herbert London of the Hudson Institute said of "Black Hawk Down," "I would never deny the importance of heroism in battle, but just as we should recognize and honor heroes, we should also respect the truthfulness of the events surrounding their heroic acts. In the case of 'Black Hawk Down,' we get a lot of the former and almost nothing of the latter."