Even if you could offer people a constant youthful physique and extreme longevity, how many of us are really going to make it to even 200? Unless you live your entire life underground in a room with little windows, never venturing forth into the world, something's going to get you.
In this day and age, assuming you are in a developed country, you're probably going to even die of heart disease/stroke or cancer.
"old age" death is due to cell damage -- fix that, and cancer is already cured.
I'm not sure about the heart disease -- with a healthy diet, would it be a problem after X years? My gut instinct says it won't be for 200 years, perhaps longer.
Ditto stroke.
Congrats! Now don't get hit by a bus on the way out.
Not true. There was a lot of on-campus protest including the Kent State one (against the invasion of Cambodia, four students killed).
The book "Lies My Teacher Told Me" has the reference, unfortunately, I don't have it in front of me.
Gist of it was some research from 1971 which showed that the well-off, educated folks tended to support the war, while the poor, uneducated folks tended not to.
Grab the book, it is rather good at providing references for its assertions.
The more education you have, the more likely you are to actually think about what the federal government is doing.
Which is why, during the Vietnam War, college educated people tended to support the war, while the less educated, lower income folks were against the war.
Remember, for the vast majority of users, their requests are reasonable, and you are just doing your job. Have some self-control, learn not to let every little thing stress you out.
Its not your environment, its how you approach your environment. Remember, you are a clueless user as well, don't think you are special because you know a bit about computers.
Let me preface this by saying that in my area you can only get 28.8 dialup. There is nothing better available. Not even 56K. (And yes, I know there are some here stuck on 19.2 and 21.6... I feel for you all.)
Our gateway box is a Win2k machine. It hasn't been patched in months upon months because it would tie up the connection for a long time. (Downloading patches over 28.8 is slow and we have eight computers in the house sharing that connection.) That gateway machine is totally clean. No spyware, no worms, etc. This is confirmed by proper antivirus and anti spyware software.
Why not either start a download going each night after you go to bed?
If you want a local copy, use wget to retrieve files.
If you don't care, use windows update.
In an 8 hour night, you can pull down about 100mb.
I'm just posting this an in interesting observation. This makes sense because a zombie on a dialup line is pretty damn worthles anyway.
Dangerous assumption. The worms don't care what sort of line you are on. In addition, due to asynchronous connections, the upload speed of a dozen or so zombie dialup PC's can match the upload speed of one broadband connection -- rather useful for spamming or DDOSing.
Your post was probably intended to be humorous, but the point is valid.
As we move from traditional letters to email and finally to instant messaging, it appears that we are taking less time and care in the composition of the messages.
A carefully written message is more effective at transmitting an idea than a hastily written message. Proper spelling and grammar results in easier reading and a better impression of the author and the value of the message.
I used to work for someone who would always use cute AOLisms in messages (e.i. "b4", "u", etc). While face-to-face conversations gave most people the impression that he was an intelligent guy, online he appeared to be a lot more ignorant, due to how he wrote.
As I spend more and more time online writing quick messages, I find that my writing skills are slowly degrading. Hopefully, ten years down the road, the quality of my writing won't have suffered too much. But even now, writing this post, I see sentences that could be phrased better, words that should be replaced, etc.
It got me thinking, though, that I could do cut-rate (only $150/hour!) emergency plumbing and significantly improve my income. I wouldn't even have to be that good, just good enough to patch things until a real plumber was available for reasonable rates. Mostly idle thinking, but...
To do plumbing work on your own, you must be licensed by the state. In many states, that requires apprenticing yourself to a plumber for several years.
Have you ever noticed that, at least in the US, those who save their money aren't considered as well-off as those who spend a lot of money?
Good book about this is "The Millionare Next Door" which talks about the average millionare in the US who owns a blue-collar business and probably doesn't drive a new car.
Several votes for bash, and a mention of python or perl so far.
Any scripting language will work. Check out freshmeat and sourceforge, there are several scripts available that will access the CDDB and dump the artist/track information.
The only thing missing is a trained monkey to operate the CD drive all day. Better start searching.:)
Googling, I find that you are off by about two orders of magnitude on the price.
I'm seeing a range of $150-$650 for the seats.
Still spendy, but if you consider the costs of an engineer for a few hours, the requirements of said seat, and the small volume manufactured, it make a lot of sense, and seems reasonable.
Consider, you need an engineer.
You need to do a bit of research (a toilet designed for one G doesn't work the same in zero G).
You need to figure out what materials will work (NASA probably has strict tolerances for flammability, weight, and strength, for obvious reasons.)
You need to figure out how it will interface with the rest of the system (attachments, clearences, etc).
You need to build a prototype or mockup and test.
In the end, you have a very small production run and sell a small quantity to NASA.
I wonder if it's possible to live in a IP-free environment. Let's assume that you build your house from a public domain blueprint, you read only books written by authors who died before 1954, you use self-assembled PC running only free software, you use only generic drugs and own devices that either never were patented or whose patents have already expired. I think it's possible without resorting to Amish-style technophobia and living in such environment might even be quite comfortable and stylish (imagine all those 1960's refrigerators, air conditioning systems, eight-track stereo with nothing but folk and classic music etc.). Am I wrong? Any educated comment, please?
As mentioned by another poster, your computer hardware is probably embraced by patented IP.
Your automobile would probably still have patented IP.
Don't forget your local phone system you are using.
I think its impossible, for all except the loosest definition.
On the other hand, a life without a computer, car, or phone might be quite comfortable.:)
I've noticed that in the last few years (maybe it's just my perspective, I don't know) doctors seem less and less likely to actually listen to their patients. I have recurring tonsilitis that I get at least once a year and usually more. I have been going through this since I was 6, when the doctors refused to take my tonsils out even though my mother wanted them to.
So basically, you are trusting your mother's medical judgement over your doctor's medical judgement?
IANAD, but googling, there seems to be some debate in the medical community about the value of tonsillectomies in children, especially considering that they sometimes grow back. According to the usual sources, roughly one in twenty tonsillectomies require emergency surgery days later to stop bleeding.
Sure, a lot of the bedside manner of doctors couleld be improved, but the average doctor probably knows more than you. If you go to several experts and discount their diagnosises,
perhaps you are right -- but I would bet that the majority of the time, you would be wrong.
As for the antibiotics, let me tell you a tale:
About a year ago, I got pretty damn sick. In my own manner, I stayed in bed. I didn't drink all the fluids I should have, and became a tad dehydrated. On the way to the loo, the floor moved sideways, and I ended up falling down, which was the point my wife ended up taking me to urgent care.
After a bit of saline, and a few tests, the doctors prescribed some antibiotics. Being a well-read lad, I asked about if they were really effective -- how did he know that I had a bacterial infection rather than a virus.
The answer was interesting. He admitted he didn't know. But in a large percentage of people with my symptoms, it was due to a bacterial infection. The antibiotics cost less then the lab work, and the lab work took time, meaning that if I did have a bacterial infection, I wouldn't get effective treatment until after the tests.
Re:DANGER WILL ROBINSON!!!
on
Clusters at Home?
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
Never, ever, EVER put electronic parts anywhere in the general vicinity of wood - you're just asking for a conflagration if you do.
The temperature that wood burns at: roughly 450 degress F.
When is the last time you've seen a properly maintained computer system burst into flames?
I've seen chips burn, plastic melt, but I've never seen a system that was cleared of dust burst into flames. If you keep your computer in a shop full of wood chips and oil, then I could see a problem...
Computer systems tend not to have a lot of items inside that can sustain a fire. You can test this for yourself -- find a lighter and some old computers: try to create a sustained fire. Be careful of dripping plastic, it'll burn you.
I would be more worried about cheap (faulty) electronics in the home -- clock radios where you missed the recall, old VCRs, etc. That probably isn't as much of a risk as faulty home wiring and mice though.
As for a shelf full of electronic equipment, I've heard of people using mineral oil in transformers, which is flammable. Transformers, regardless of the oil, will fail in spectacular, much-spark inducing ways if they ever develop a leak. UPSs with improper batteries or circuits may also be fire hazards -- APC replaced my little UPS a year ago because of a faulty circuit. I've seen monitors fail in interesting ways, and they tend to be filled with dust. I've never seen one catch on fire, but I wouldn't be surprised if they do. I tend to turn mine off when I'm not in the room.
Considering how many computers are out there on wooden desks, and how many televisions, radios, vcrs, TVs, etc are on wooden entertainment centers, if the average piece of electronics equipment presented a fire hazard, homes would be burning down left and right.
That's personally why I think the most psychologically damaging thing you can do to a person is to raise them catholic or any one of the other rigid "moralistic" faiths out there. Nothing like being taught from day one that every completely natural urge you have is evil and an indicator of your own inner sin.
I'm not sure about the Catholics, but the Protestants are plenty "moralistic", yet don't consider sex to be a sin.
They do have issues with premarital sex, but the last time I was in church and heard the pastor's sermon about sex, it stressed how it was blessed by God, but only within the confines of marriage.
[ Snip long discussion of complex scheme to hide messages ]
That's a tad too obvious that something is up.
Do it this way:
Log into #somestupidchannel on irc.commonnetwork.net
If you say you bought a new Athlon, it means planting a bomb on the subway. If you say you bought a new Pentium 4, it means planting a bomb in the underground tunnel. If you upgraded to play Doom 3, that means that its the Nov 30 for the date. If you upgraded to play Halflife 2, it means the date is December 15th. If you bought it from Fry's, you are meeting at Bob's house, if you bought it from Best Buy, the meeting place is the warehouse.
If you say that you bought a new Mac and have to wait for a Mac OSX version, the plan is aborted.
Of course, that's if geeks were doing the planning. In the average terrorist's case, assuming they used IRC at all, it would probably be talking about family members, when the baby was expected, who just gained a new job or lost an old job, etc.
The point is made though -- your method is damn suspicious. This method is inane chatter.
Ignoring the whole "does $deity exist?" question, there are still several benefits of faith.
One of which is longer, healthier lives, with less illness and healthier immune systems.
Roll your eyes all you want, but studies have shown that in addition to many other benefits, faith tends to reduce stress, which benefits human health. In the girl's case, it was luck that she survived -- but luck favors those who were prepared. It sounds as though she had a strong, supportive family, and her religious background could have given her an outlet for stress.
In her family's case, their faith probably helped them to stay together and offload some of their stress, as well as gave them a chance to feel productive. While in a pure empirical sense, it is doubtful that this would have helped their daughter, at the very least, it helped keep their own health up. And who knows what a person in a coma senses? Perhaps the daughter picked up on their voices, their touch, or even their smell and processed it.
Its popular to believe that religion is an inane institution with no benefits what-so-ever. Considering how widespread religious belief systems are, and how long they have been imbedded in human society, it would be foolish to discredit the possibility that they no survival value.
83 cell phones have exploded or caught fire--but there are millions that haven't, so it is not a big deal.
Hmmm... How well did that logic work against Ephedra or Firestone Wilderness AT tires?
Rational people calcate risk with math.
Ephedra: 1% of all dietary suppliment sales, yet 64% of all adverse reactions. With an analysis of the data available at the time, there was enough indication of serious risks (heart attacks, strokes) that starting a clinical study to analyze the risks would have been unethical. Meta-analysis of the data available revealed that risk of serious side effects was 1 in 1000.
Cellphones: From the above story -- 83 have exploded or caught fire. Injuries? A few. Number of cell phones in use? 164 million phones were sold in the second quarter alone of 2004.
Lets be generous and say that most people replace their phones once every 6 months. That's 83 injuries out of 300 million, or one out of ever 3.6 million.
So, to review:
Ephedra risk: 1 out of 1000. Firestone tires risk: 1 out of 20,000. Cell phone risk: 1 out of 3,600,000.
See the problem?
Now, if these were all the same brand of cellphones, I'd suggest a recall. There has been a few recalls of a few possible problem designs, but most of the cases seem to be bootleg batteries.
You have a 1 in a million risk of dying from cancer if you live in a brick building for 2 months -- that is over 3x the risk of a cell battery exploding. You have roughly the same
risk (1 in a million) from dying in your bathtub -- time to outlaw tubs, hope you like showers.
40 tablespoons of peanut butter also gives you a one-in-a-million risk, due to low levels of carcigens. There are a lot of deadly things out there.
First, file systems have supported a hierachy for awhile now -- use it !
Second, sort as soon as you get the file.
Third, seperate public files (things you won't mind sharing across the local network) from private files.
Fourth, (a tip for windows users) keep a "zipped_programs" or similar directory. Build a hierarchy inside of it for task, program name, then version. It may look like such:
If I have a CD of software I've installed, I tend to rip it and keep it in its own directory, along with the serial/key in a seperate file. Then put the CD in a binder and store it somewhere safe. If you download a no-cd crack, store it as well. Congrats, you just made your life a lot easier.
Finally, manage your home directory as well. Seperate folders for seperate tasks. Include a ~/tmp/ directory, its useful.
That is my system, across windows and linux, developed by me. It works well, and it makes any windows installs go quickly. In addition, since I'm on a dialup link, its nice to have a program archive for installing updates onto all machines on the local lan.
I only have one complaint with the system, and its for linux -- I would prefer to have a method of keeping track of any changed configuration files, including versioning.
Of course, there are many possible solutions to this problem. I'm leaning towards having a/custom directory, with a symlink of any file I've changed, and a script to check it all into RCS if there are any changes. So, for example,/custom/etc/X11/XF86Config-4 would be a symlink to/etc/X11/XF86Config-4 and the RCS file would be saved under/custom/etc/X11/.RCS/XF86Config-4,v
What's wrong with the general public is they don't give a damn about computer security. Nor should they have to -- a computer is supposed to be a generic consumer product, usable by anyone.
That would work if a computer had about the same features and abilities of a toaster.
Unfortunately, a computer is mixture of hardware and computer software that can do office tasks, multimedia, file sharing, communications, and gaming. The feature set is easy to upgrade and expand through software installations.
In addition, due to most computers being connected to the rest of the world, the cost benefits of spyware/viruses (creating spamming relays is big money) and the fact that trying to infect an individual computer is effectively free, the problem is apparent.
Any product with a ton of features and abilities requires user training. Its possible to easily design a car that doesn't require knowledge to drive -- as long as everyone will only go to the mall or the grocery store. But people use their autos for many destinations, over many different roads, and thus we require people to learn how to use cars.
A computer is no different.
Want to write documents? A typewriter works. Some of the electric ones were quite nice. Want to send text messages? SMS over mobile phones. Want to send documents? Fedex. Games? A console. Music? A radio.
Want to do all of the above, and more, with the ability to extend the features and easily upgrade for less cost? Okay. But it will require some training.
If you disconnect yourself from the internet, and lose that feature set, you will probably be secure. Even disconnected, not knowing what you are doing will have consequences. If you are lucky, the only consequence will be wasting your own time. If you are unlucky, you will be frustrated by fighting with the computer all the time to do what you want, how you want it.
Do you want to connect to the net? Congratulations, now you are exposed to the worst people in the world. Would you be cautious walking down a street in Romania with your credit cards in your wallet? Why aren't you cautious while you are online, making purchases, connected to the same network as a Romanian hacker?
I'm sorry, but we can't not create an idiot-proof box. We can't even make a box that requires zero knowledge to run. Our best bet is education.
Somalia can be considered several regions. Somaliland (western Somalia) considers itself a seperate country and maintains a working government (working by the standards of a 3rd world African nation). Puntland also maintains some rule of order (not as much as Somaliland, it seems), but considers itself a part of Somalia, and wants to see the creation of a federated Somalia. The southwest portion of Somalia is what we would consider to be the anarchistic Somalia, with small regions being held by whoever can collect guns and followers. In addition, in southwest Somalia is Mogadishu, which is partially controlled by the transitional gov't. (For those counting, that's three named governments/regions (Somaliland, Puntland, the transitional gov't/Mogadishu) and a good chunk of the country run by local warlords.)
So which part are we talking about? The (mostly unrecognized by the world at large, relatively stable) country of Somaliland, the (somewhat stable) autonomous region of Puntland, or the rest of Somalia?
Good telecom in Somaliland and Puntland wouldn't be an example of a telephone system in an anarchistic land. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if a powerful warlord with a large holding had decent telecom service.
TFA gives me the impression that the researcher is only talking about Mogadishu, which, from what I can tell, is just outside of the territory that Puntland claims, but still within its sphere of influence, with parts controlled by the transitional government of Somalia. Mogadishu wasn't stable during the US Military action there a decade ago, and googling, I find articles about kidnappings and murders. At the same time, I find an article which implies that southern Mogadishu is more stable than northern Mogadishu.
I'd be impressed if the telecoms stayed working in areas which were under true anarchy and lawlessness. I'd be less impressed if the telecoms are opperating in and from areas where a particular warlord or government is strong.
In any case, my google refresher on Somalia gives me no urge to live under anarchy, regardless of the benefits. The natives of Somalia seem to agree with me -- even the telecoms want to pay taxes, if it means a stable gov't.
Slashdot Mirror
Even if you could offer people a constant youthful physique and extreme longevity, how many of us are really going to make it to even 200? Unless you live your entire life underground in a room with little windows, never venturing forth into the world, something's going to get you.
In this day and age, assuming you are in a developed country, you're probably going to even die of heart disease/stroke or cancer.
"old age" death is due to cell damage -- fix that, and cancer is already cured.
I'm not sure about the heart disease -- with a healthy diet, would it be a problem after X years? My gut instinct says it won't be for 200 years, perhaps longer.
Ditto stroke.
Congrats! Now don't get hit by a bus on the way out.
There is also the problem of reviewers depending on the money of the companies they review for income...
That is a biggie, IMHO.
That was the two most useful features, after "Search". Boo. :(
Author search appears to be missing as well.
So, who has a good searchable usenet archive with the above features?
I used Windows 95 and Windows 98 for three and a half years
If you have a poor ISP or a cheapass winmodem, problems may result.
If you have a decent ISP and a decent modem, large downloads tend to work.
While windows has its failings, dropping PPP connections isn't one of them.
PS: Windows isn't spelled with any dollar signs.
PPS: For large downloads under windows, I prefer the win32 compile of wget.
Not true. There was a lot of on-campus protest including the Kent State one (against the invasion of Cambodia, four students killed).
The book "Lies My Teacher Told Me" has the reference, unfortunately, I don't have it in front of me.
Gist of it was some research from 1971 which showed that the well-off, educated folks tended to support the war, while the poor, uneducated folks tended not to.
Grab the book, it is rather good at providing references for its assertions.
Oh, and one event does not a trend make. :)
The more education you have, the more likely you are to actually think about what the federal government is doing.
Which is why, during the Vietnam War, college educated people tended to support the war, while the less educated, lower income folks were against the war.
Oopsie, sorry, bad example. ;)
Be careful with your assumptions.
Remember, for the vast majority of users, their requests are reasonable, and you are just doing your job. Have some self-control, learn not to let every little thing stress you out.
Its not your environment, its how you approach your environment. Remember, you are a clueless user as well, don't think you are special because you know a bit about computers.
Let me preface this by saying that in my area you can only get 28.8 dialup. There is nothing better available. Not even 56K. (And yes, I know there are some here stuck on 19.2 and 21.6 ... I feel for you all.)
Our gateway box is a Win2k machine. It hasn't been patched in months upon months because it would tie up the connection for a long time. (Downloading patches over 28.8 is slow and we have eight computers in the house sharing that connection.) That gateway machine is totally clean. No spyware, no worms, etc. This is confirmed by proper antivirus and anti spyware software.
Why not either start a download going each night after you go to bed?
If you want a local copy, use wget to retrieve files.
If you don't care, use windows update.
In an 8 hour night, you can pull down about 100mb.
If you want to apply patches to several computers while using windows update, try downloading rather than installing the patches.
I'm just posting this an in interesting observation. This makes sense because a zombie on a dialup line is pretty damn worthles anyway.
Dangerous assumption. The worms don't care what sort of line you are on. In addition, due to asynchronous connections, the upload speed of a dozen or so zombie dialup PC's can match the upload speed of one broadband connection -- rather useful for spamming or DDOSing.
Your post was probably intended to be humorous, but the point is valid.
As we move from traditional letters to email and finally to instant messaging, it appears that we are taking less time and care in the composition of the messages.
A carefully written message is more effective at transmitting an idea than a hastily written message. Proper spelling and grammar results in easier reading and a better impression of the author and the value of the message.
I used to work for someone who would always use cute AOLisms in messages (e.i. "b4", "u", etc). While face-to-face conversations gave most people the impression that he was an intelligent guy, online he appeared to be a lot more ignorant, due to how he wrote.
As I spend more and more time online writing quick messages, I find that my writing skills are slowly degrading. Hopefully, ten years down the road, the quality of my writing won't have suffered too much. But even now, writing this post, I see sentences that could be phrased better, words that should be replaced, etc.
It got me thinking, though, that I could do cut-rate (only $150/hour!) emergency plumbing and significantly improve my income. I wouldn't even have to be that good, just good enough to patch things until a real plumber was available for reasonable rates. Mostly idle thinking, but...
To do plumbing work on your own, you must be licensed by the state. In many states, that requires apprenticing yourself to a plumber for several years.
Re: Stealing focus
SkipMapping under FVWM can prevent the stealing focus behavior.
StartsOnPage and StartsOnDesk is useful for forcing an application to always start on one virtual desktop/page.
Have you ever noticed that, at least in the US, those who save their money aren't considered as well-off as those who spend a lot of money?
Good book about this is "The Millionare Next Door" which talks about the average millionare in the US who owns a blue-collar business and probably doesn't drive a new car.
Several votes for bash, and a mention of python or perl so far.
Any scripting language will work. Check out freshmeat and sourceforge, there are several scripts available that will access the CDDB and dump the artist/track information.
The only thing missing is a trained monkey to operate the CD drive all day. Better start searching. :)
Googling, I find that you are off by about two orders of magnitude on the price.
I'm seeing a range of $150-$650 for the seats.
Still spendy, but if you consider the costs of an engineer for a few hours, the requirements of said seat, and the small volume manufactured, it make a lot of sense, and seems reasonable.
Consider, you need an engineer.
You need to do a bit of research (a toilet designed for one G doesn't work the same in zero G).
You need to figure out what materials will work (NASA probably has strict tolerances for flammability, weight, and strength, for obvious reasons.)
You need to figure out how it will interface with the rest of the system (attachments, clearences, etc).
You need to build a prototype or mockup and test.
In the end, you have a very small production run and sell a small quantity to NASA.
Now do you understand the cost?
I wonder if it's possible to live in a IP-free environment. Let's assume that you build your house from a public domain blueprint, you read only books written by authors who died before 1954, you use self-assembled PC running only free software, you use only generic drugs and own devices that either never were patented or whose patents have already expired. I think it's possible without resorting to Amish-style technophobia and living in such environment might even be quite comfortable and stylish (imagine all those 1960's refrigerators, air conditioning systems, eight-track stereo with nothing but folk and classic music etc.). Am I wrong? Any educated comment, please?
As mentioned by another poster, your computer hardware is probably embraced by patented IP.
Your automobile would probably still have patented IP.
Don't forget your local phone system you are using.
I think its impossible, for all except the loosest definition.
On the other hand, a life without a computer, car, or phone might be quite comfortable. :)
I've noticed that in the last few years (maybe it's just my perspective, I don't know) doctors seem less and less likely to actually listen to their patients. I have recurring tonsilitis that I get at least once a year and usually more. I have been going through this since I was 6, when the doctors refused to take my tonsils out even though my mother wanted them to.
So basically, you are trusting your mother's medical judgement over your doctor's medical judgement?
IANAD, but googling, there seems to be some debate in the medical community about the value of tonsillectomies in children, especially considering that they sometimes grow back. According to the usual sources, roughly one in twenty tonsillectomies require emergency surgery days later to stop bleeding.
Sure, a lot of the bedside manner of doctors couleld be improved, but the average doctor probably knows more than you. If you go to several experts and discount their diagnosises, perhaps you are right -- but I would bet that the majority of the time, you would be wrong.
As for the antibiotics, let me tell you a tale:
About a year ago, I got pretty damn sick. In my own manner, I stayed in bed. I didn't drink all the fluids I should have, and became a tad dehydrated. On the way to the loo, the floor moved sideways, and I ended up falling down, which was the point my wife ended up taking me to urgent care.
After a bit of saline, and a few tests, the doctors prescribed some antibiotics. Being a well-read lad, I asked about if they were really effective -- how did he know that I had a bacterial infection rather than a virus.
The answer was interesting. He admitted he didn't know. But in a large percentage of people with my symptoms, it was due to a bacterial infection. The antibiotics cost less then the lab work, and the lab work took time, meaning that if I did have a bacterial infection, I wouldn't get effective treatment until after the tests.
Never, ever, EVER put electronic parts anywhere in the general vicinity of wood - you're just asking for a conflagration if you do.
The temperature that wood burns at: roughly 450 degress F.
When is the last time you've seen a properly maintained computer system burst into flames?
I've seen chips burn, plastic melt, but I've never seen a system that was cleared of dust burst into flames. If you keep your computer in a shop full of wood chips and oil, then I could see a problem...
Computer systems tend not to have a lot of items inside that can sustain a fire. You can test this for yourself -- find a lighter and some old computers: try to create a sustained fire. Be careful of dripping plastic, it'll burn you.
I would be more worried about cheap (faulty) electronics in the home -- clock radios where you missed the recall, old VCRs, etc. That probably isn't as much of a risk as faulty home wiring and mice though.
As for a shelf full of electronic equipment, I've heard of people using mineral oil in transformers, which is flammable. Transformers, regardless of the oil, will fail in spectacular, much-spark inducing ways if they ever develop a leak. UPSs with improper batteries or circuits may also be fire hazards -- APC replaced my little UPS a year ago because of a faulty circuit. I've seen monitors fail in interesting ways, and they tend to be filled with dust. I've never seen one catch on fire, but I wouldn't be surprised if they do. I tend to turn mine off when I'm not in the room.
Considering how many computers are out there on wooden desks, and how many televisions, radios, vcrs, TVs, etc are on wooden entertainment centers, if the average piece of electronics equipment presented a fire hazard, homes would be burning down left and right.
That's personally why I think the most psychologically damaging thing you can do to a person is to raise them catholic or any one of the other rigid "moralistic" faiths out there. Nothing like being taught from day one that every completely natural urge you have is evil and an indicator of your own inner sin.
I'm not sure about the Catholics, but the Protestants are plenty "moralistic", yet don't consider sex to be a sin.
They do have issues with premarital sex, but the last time I was in church and heard the pastor's sermon about sex, it stressed how it was blessed by God, but only within the confines of marriage.
Not quite the same thing.
[ Snip long discussion of complex scheme to hide messages ]
That's a tad too obvious that something is up.
Do it this way:
Log into #somestupidchannel on irc.commonnetwork.net
If you say you bought a new Athlon, it means planting a bomb on the subway. If you say you bought a new Pentium 4, it means planting a bomb in the underground tunnel. If you upgraded to play Doom 3, that means that its the Nov 30 for the date. If you upgraded to play Halflife 2, it means the date is December 15th. If you bought it from Fry's, you are meeting at Bob's house, if you bought it from Best Buy, the meeting place is the warehouse.
If you say that you bought a new Mac and have to wait for a Mac OSX version, the plan is aborted.
Of course, that's if geeks were doing the planning. In the average terrorist's case, assuming they used IRC at all, it would probably be talking about family members, when the baby was expected, who just gained a new job or lost an old job, etc.
The point is made though -- your method is damn suspicious. This method is inane chatter.
Ignoring the whole "does $deity exist?" question, there are still several benefits of faith.
One of which is longer, healthier lives, with less illness and healthier immune systems.
Roll your eyes all you want, but studies have shown that in addition to many other benefits, faith tends to reduce stress, which benefits human health. In the girl's case, it was luck that she survived -- but luck favors those who were prepared. It sounds as though she had a strong, supportive family, and her religious background could have given her an outlet for stress.
In her family's case, their faith probably helped them to stay together and offload some of their stress, as well as gave them a chance to feel productive. While in a pure empirical sense, it is doubtful that this would have helped their daughter, at the very least, it helped keep their own health up. And who knows what a person in a coma senses? Perhaps the daughter picked up on their voices, their touch, or even their smell and processed it.
Its popular to believe that religion is an inane institution with no benefits what-so-ever. Considering how widespread religious belief systems are, and how long they have been imbedded in human society, it would be foolish to discredit the possibility that they no survival value.
Just my $.02
83 cell phones have exploded or caught fire--but there are millions that haven't, so it is not a big deal.
Hmmm... How well did that logic work against Ephedra or Firestone Wilderness AT tires?
Rational people calcate risk with math.
Ephedra: 1% of all dietary suppliment sales, yet 64% of all adverse reactions. With an analysis of the data available at the time, there was enough indication of serious risks (heart attacks, strokes) that starting a clinical study to analyze the risks would have been unethical. Meta-analysis of the data available revealed that risk of serious side effects was 1 in 1000.
Firestone Wilderness AT tires: 174 deaths, 700 injuries reported, out of roughly 20 million tires recalled. Roughly about one serious event in 20 thousand or so, and this is not counting blowouts that did not lead to bodily harm.
Cellphones: From the above story -- 83 have exploded or caught fire. Injuries? A few. Number of cell phones in use? 164 million phones were sold in the second quarter alone of 2004. Lets be generous and say that most people replace their phones once every 6 months. That's 83 injuries out of 300 million, or one out of ever 3.6 million.
So, to review:
Ephedra risk: 1 out of 1000. Firestone tires risk: 1 out of 20,000. Cell phone risk: 1 out of 3,600,000.
See the problem?
Now, if these were all the same brand of cellphones, I'd suggest a recall. There has been a few recalls of a few possible problem designs, but most of the cases seem to be bootleg batteries.
So what should we recall?
Speaking of risk, perhaps this old post to sci.environment would be helpful, even if some of the information is probably out of date.
You have a 1 in a million risk of dying from cancer if you live in a brick building for 2 months -- that is over 3x the risk of a cell battery exploding. You have roughly the same risk (1 in a million) from dying in your bathtub -- time to outlaw tubs, hope you like showers. 40 tablespoons of peanut butter also gives you a one-in-a-million risk, due to low levels of carcigens. There are a lot of deadly things out there.
Doom 3: Runs under linux.
Halflife 2: Does not.
First, file systems have supported a hierachy for awhile now -- use it !
Second, sort as soon as you get the file.
Third, seperate public files (things you won't mind sharing across the local network) from private files.
Fourth, (a tip for windows users) keep a "zipped_programs" or similar directory. Build a hierarchy inside of it for task, program name, then version. It may look like such:
If I have a CD of software I've installed, I tend to rip it and keep it in its own directory, along with the serial/key in a seperate file. Then put the CD in a binder and store it somewhere safe. If you download a no-cd crack, store it as well. Congrats, you just made your life a lot easier.
Finally, manage your home directory as well. Seperate folders for seperate tasks. Include a ~/tmp/ directory, its useful.
That is my system, across windows and linux, developed by me. It works well, and it makes any windows installs go quickly. In addition, since I'm on a dialup link, its nice to have a program archive for installing updates onto all machines on the local lan.
I only have one complaint with the system, and its for linux -- I would prefer to have a method of keeping track of any changed configuration files, including versioning.
Of course, there are many possible solutions to this problem. I'm leaning towards having a /custom directory, with a symlink of any file I've changed, and a script to check it all into RCS if there are any changes. So, for example, /custom/etc/X11/XF86Config-4 would be a symlink to /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 and the RCS file would be saved under /custom/etc/X11/.RCS/XF86Config-4,v
What's wrong with the general public is they don't give a damn about computer security. Nor should they have to -- a computer is supposed to be a generic consumer product, usable by anyone.
That would work if a computer had about the same features and abilities of a toaster.
Unfortunately, a computer is mixture of hardware and computer software that can do office tasks, multimedia, file sharing, communications, and gaming. The feature set is easy to upgrade and expand through software installations.
In addition, due to most computers being connected to the rest of the world, the cost benefits of spyware/viruses (creating spamming relays is big money) and the fact that trying to infect an individual computer is effectively free, the problem is apparent.
Any product with a ton of features and abilities requires user training. Its possible to easily design a car that doesn't require knowledge to drive -- as long as everyone will only go to the mall or the grocery store. But people use their autos for many destinations, over many different roads, and thus we require people to learn how to use cars.
A computer is no different.
Want to write documents? A typewriter works. Some of the electric ones were quite nice. Want to send text messages? SMS over mobile phones. Want to send documents? Fedex. Games? A console. Music? A radio.
Want to do all of the above, and more, with the ability to extend the features and easily upgrade for less cost? Okay. But it will require some training.
If you disconnect yourself from the internet, and lose that feature set, you will probably be secure. Even disconnected, not knowing what you are doing will have consequences. If you are lucky, the only consequence will be wasting your own time. If you are unlucky, you will be frustrated by fighting with the computer all the time to do what you want, how you want it.
Do you want to connect to the net? Congratulations, now you are exposed to the worst people in the world. Would you be cautious walking down a street in Romania with your credit cards in your wallet? Why aren't you cautious while you are online, making purchases, connected to the same network as a Romanian hacker?
I'm sorry, but we can't not create an idiot-proof box. We can't even make a box that requires zero knowledge to run. Our best bet is education.
Somalia can be considered several regions. Somaliland (western Somalia) considers itself a seperate country and maintains a working government (working by the standards of a 3rd world African nation). Puntland also maintains some rule of order (not as much as Somaliland, it seems), but considers itself a part of Somalia, and wants to see the creation of a federated Somalia. The southwest portion of Somalia is what we would consider to be the anarchistic Somalia, with small regions being held by whoever can collect guns and followers. In addition, in southwest Somalia is Mogadishu, which is partially controlled by the transitional gov't. (For those counting, that's three named governments/regions (Somaliland, Puntland, the transitional gov't/Mogadishu) and a good chunk of the country run by local warlords.)
So which part are we talking about? The (mostly unrecognized by the world at large, relatively stable) country of Somaliland, the (somewhat stable) autonomous region of Puntland, or the rest of Somalia?
Good telecom in Somaliland and Puntland wouldn't be an example of a telephone system in an anarchistic land. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if a powerful warlord with a large holding had decent telecom service.
TFA gives me the impression that the researcher is only talking about Mogadishu, which, from what I can tell, is just outside of the territory that Puntland claims, but still within its sphere of influence, with parts controlled by the transitional government of Somalia. Mogadishu wasn't stable during the US Military action there a decade ago, and googling, I find articles about kidnappings and murders. At the same time, I find an article which implies that southern Mogadishu is more stable than northern Mogadishu.
I'd be impressed if the telecoms stayed working in areas which were under true anarchy and lawlessness. I'd be less impressed if the telecoms are opperating in and from areas where a particular warlord or government is strong.
In any case, my google refresher on Somalia gives me no urge to live under anarchy, regardless of the benefits. The natives of Somalia seem to agree with me -- even the telecoms want to pay taxes, if it means a stable gov't.