but I still use a Windows box to play games instead of waiting 6 months to forever for games I like. Unfortunately, it takes time to port games from Windows to OS X; just ask the guys at MacSoft.
I'd personally love to see the MechWarrior series of games ported to the Mac.
This is an awesome little machine that has been serving files to my home network for over two years with nary a reboot. Fast, stable, and zero problems with the software RAID5. I did have one drive go out about a year ago; popped in the replacement and the array automatically rebuilt itself.
One recommendation I'd make is use a journaled file system! I use ReiserFS and it is excellent for use in a software RAID.
Actually, I do on occasion, but not from my valve. The tungsten is not very magnetic and it is deep enough in side that airport metal detectors don't typically pick it up. If the metal detector is set to be very sensitive, it can be picked up.
What usually sets of the metal detector is the stainless steel wire that was wrapped around my breatbone to hold it together after surgery so it could knit back together. They are close enough to the surface of my skin to occasionally set off a metal detector.
Your co-worker has a ball-and-cage valve; mine is a bi-leaflet tungsten and graphite St. Jude's valve. Two VERY different designs. Mine makes a very distinct metallic "tick" or click when it closes. The "tap" you hear is caused by the hollow plastic ball hitting the plastic or metal cage when his valve opens.
Yes, it does freak people out. In high school and college I had people asking me to put my watch in my pocket when we took tests. Should have seen the looks on their faces when I showed them I was wearing a digital watch!
Of course, it does make it difficult to be a ninja or assassin, so I settled for being a sysadmin.
Don't worry, I won't be going to Canada to buy my meds. The only one I take is Coumadin (Sodium Warfarin) which is the same stuff you find in rat/mouse "poison" (see: http://www.the-piedpiper.co.uk/th15(a).htm ). Rats/mice eat the stuff then bleed to death internally. For me, it just prevents blood clots from forming on my artificial valve. This means I have access to a cheap and plentiful supply of anticoagulant.
In case you want to know: I prefer the Raid brand of rat poison; has a nice aromatic smell and tastes like chicken.
As someone who has had three open-heart surgeries due to a congenital heart defect, I can see this as a viable option if I ever have to have another surgery. I've had my aortic valve rebuilt once (valvoplasty) and had it fall apart, replaced with a Hancock prosthesis (pig's valve) which calcified when I went through a growth spurt at 16, and then had it replaced with a Saint Jude's valve. I've been ticking (literally) for the past 22 years. Yes, I had my brother tell me that I am like a Timex watch:->
My first surgery cost about $5,000 (in 1969); the second about $30,000 (in 1976), and over $80,000 (in 1982). You can thank the insurance companies for the cost of health care today. Malpractice insurance for doctors and surgeons in the USA can top $1,000,000 a year depending on their area of practice. The more delicate the organ they work on, the more they pay. In order to stay in practice, they have to charge the patient more. The patient's insurance company pays more, they raise the cost of the insurance, someone sues the doctor for leaving a sponge in them, their malpractice insurance rates go up, etc.
IANAL and I don't know about India's legal system, but I don't think they have the sue-for-every-mistake mentality we do here. Remember, doctors are people too and they sometimes make mistakes. If they doctors in India can do as good a job as the ones in the USA at a lower cost, I'll be traveling overseas if I have to have another surgery.
But I've ALWAYS found that I spend MORE for software than I do hardware. The machine I'm typing this posting with is a dual Athlon system that I spent about $1000 to build. The software (OS, office suite, compiler, and several other apps), however, set me back nearly $3000. I wonder what Mr. Ballmer has been smoking if he believes that "expensive" hardware is the reason people pirate software. I also wonder where I might be able to get some of what he's been smoking;) I don't pirate the software I use; I believe in paying for software so I have the legal right to use it. I'm currently in the process of moving away from expensive software and to using more open source software.
that they made a CONFERENCE bike instead of a COMMITTEE bike. The committee bike would never have gone anywhere, except, maybe in a circle or spun in place.
To do something like this at random intervals to see just what ISPs will do when faced with someone claiming to have a patent, copyright, or other legal contract on a piece of art, publication, etc. All ISPs should check into the claim (like one did) to see if it's valid or not.
If ISPs are so eager to remove potentially offending material, someone could use this as a DOS attack on a commercial website by claiming to own "copyrighted" material on a company's website to the ISP. Those with knee jerk reactions would take the copany's site down without even warning them first.
I certainly agree that the comment that was made about the fired worker was uncalled for. I certainly would NOT want to work for Mr. Hayes.
However, it is not uncommon for people to be fired for running non-approved software on a company or government computer system. For many companies it is a firing offense even if the software is "free". For government agencies, it's seen as a waste of resources that are funded by the tax payers. In many of the government contracts I've worked on both the contracting company and the government had immediate termination policies for putting non-approved software on their systems.
IANAL, but I'd encourage Mr. Smith to contact a lawyer and see if Mr. Hayes comment is actionable.
That the military is looking for smaller and more powerful weapons. Of course, this is still a long way from happening. As the article states, they are still having problems with producing antimatter and storing it.
My concern is that we use wisdom in the race to build bigger and better weapons. Do we REALLY need a weapon like this?
Unfortunately, IMO it will take some software companies being litigated out of existance before the patent laws change. Like healthcare in America, changes to law are ALWAYS a reaction to something being really out of whack.
Think about how long it has taken for Americans to get a clue about how bad things like McDonalds food are for your health. Our healthcare system reacts to things, like people having a heart attack, instead of the person taking preventative measures (exercise, diet) before the heart attack happens.
It's going to take several major software companies having legal "heart attacks" because of software patents before the rest of the industry gets a clue and quits dining at the trough of patents and IP.
"The phishing threats and the growing professional chorus of disapproval for Internet Explorer provide Windows users with very good reasons to turn elsewhere, even if only temporarily. But [OSS/FS] Firefox is so good that many will want to stay with it. And once they have tasted the power and freedom of open source, maybe they will be tempted to try 'just one more program'."
Sounds like a commercial for potato chips. However, I'll admit that I can't download just one OSS/FS product.
Mr. Cobb, What do you believe is necessary for your party or any other to become a viable third party in American elections? Even though George Washington warned against having a partisan political system in his farewell speech, America seems to have developed a two-party system that forces third-parties out of the political process.
Also, what do you think of the Democratic and Republican parties shift away from what's good for America toward what is good for their respective parties and the businesses / people that support them while leaving the majority of Americans out?
I currently run the following OSes at home: SuSE Linux 9.0 Mac OS X.3.5 AIX 5.2 Windows 2000 Pro Windows XP Pro
And they all run Firefox wonderfully! It's nice to have a web browser that has such a wide variety of OS support rather than having a different browser with varying features for every system.
"Google is not better than us," said Jim Lanzone, an Ask Jeeves senior vice president. "We are both operating at a world-class level. We just have a different flavor."
I prefer my Google with chocolate and sprinkles.
If your favorite search engine were a flavor, what would it be?
Hal: "What are you doing, Dave?" Dave: "I'm putting you up for sale on eBay." Hal: "Dave, I'm afraid I cannot let you do that." Dave: "Watch me, you psychotic machine." [Sound of airlock opening and air rushing out.] Dave: "Fsck youuuuuu...." Hal: "Not even if you used my serial port."
Hmmm... I seriously doubt that there is going to be a "sharp rise" in Linux viruses for a few reasons:
1. Most people, when it comes to doing work, try to do just enough to get by. If it's easier to infect a machine running Windows than it is to do one running Linux, it'll be the Windows machine getting attacked.
2. In the same vein, most people you use Linux or a different flavor of *nix tend to be more technically savvy than the typical Windows user and secure their systems properly (in my experience). Note, I am talking about users here, not computer professionals.
3. And the numbers of Linux systems available for compromise still isn't as high as the number of new computers that boot into Windows when they come out of the box from Dell (IBM, HP, Compaq, etc).
Will we eventually see more Linux systems being attacked? Sure, as people finally get a clue and either secure their Windows systems properly, install a decent firewall (preferably hardware), change OSes, or get get disgusted with the Internet in general and pull the plug.
Slashdot Mirror
but I still use a Windows box to play games instead of waiting 6 months to forever for games I like. Unfortunately, it takes time to port games from Windows to OS X; just ask the guys at MacSoft.
I'd personally love to see the MechWarrior series of games ported to the Mac.
Check out the project I did over two years ago to provide my home with Network Attached Storage: http://www.mini-itx.com/projects/tuxserver/
This is an awesome little machine that has been serving files to my home network for over two years with nary a reboot. Fast, stable, and zero problems with the software RAID5. I did have one drive go out about a year ago; popped in the replacement and the array automatically rebuilt itself.
One recommendation I'd make is use a journaled file system! I use ReiserFS and it is excellent for use in a software RAID.
Looks like the military segbots are already getting in trouble with the police: http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~carmen/segbot/images/cops /index.html
I can see it now: "World's Wildest Robot Chases"
Actually, I do on occasion, but not from my valve. The tungsten is not very magnetic and it is deep enough in side that airport metal detectors don't typically pick it up. If the metal detector is set to be very sensitive, it can be picked up.
What usually sets of the metal detector is the stainless steel wire that was wrapped around my breatbone to hold it together after surgery so it could knit back together. They are close enough to the surface of my skin to occasionally set off a metal detector.
Your co-worker has a ball-and-cage valve; mine is a bi-leaflet tungsten and graphite St. Jude's valve. Two VERY different designs. Mine makes a very distinct metallic "tick" or click when it closes. The "tap" you hear is caused by the hollow plastic ball hitting the plastic or metal cage when his valve opens.
Yes, it does freak people out. In high school and college I had people asking me to put my watch in my pocket when we took tests. Should have seen the looks on their faces when I showed them I was wearing a digital watch!
Of course, it does make it difficult to be a ninja or assassin, so I settled for being a sysadmin.
Don't worry, I won't be going to Canada to buy my meds. The only one I take is Coumadin (Sodium Warfarin) which is the same stuff you find in rat/mouse "poison" (see: http://www.the-piedpiper.co.uk/th15(a).htm ). Rats/mice eat the stuff then bleed to death internally. For me, it just prevents blood clots from forming on my artificial valve. This means I have access to a cheap and plentiful supply of anticoagulant.
In case you want to know: I prefer the Raid brand of rat poison; has a nice aromatic smell and tastes like chicken.
As someone who has had three open-heart surgeries due to a congenital heart defect, I can see this as a viable option if I ever have to have another surgery. I've had my aortic valve rebuilt once (valvoplasty) and had it fall apart, replaced with a Hancock prosthesis (pig's valve) which calcified when I went through a growth spurt at 16, and then had it replaced with a Saint Jude's valve. I've been ticking (literally) for the past 22 years. Yes, I had my brother tell me that I am like a Timex watch :->
My first surgery cost about $5,000 (in 1969); the second about $30,000 (in 1976), and over $80,000 (in 1982). You can thank the insurance companies for the cost of health care today. Malpractice insurance for doctors and surgeons in the USA can top $1,000,000 a year depending on their area of practice. The more delicate the organ they work on, the more they pay. In order to stay in practice, they have to charge the patient more. The patient's insurance company pays more, they raise the cost of the insurance, someone sues the doctor for leaving a sponge in them, their malpractice insurance rates go up, etc.
IANAL and I don't know about India's legal system, but I don't think they have the sue-for-every-mistake mentality we do here. Remember, doctors are people too and they sometimes make mistakes. If they doctors in India can do as good a job as the ones in the USA at a lower cost, I'll be traveling overseas if I have to have another surgery.
But I've ALWAYS found that I spend MORE for software than I do hardware. The machine I'm typing this posting with is a dual Athlon system that I spent about $1000 to build. The software (OS, office suite, compiler, and several other apps), however, set me back nearly $3000. I wonder what Mr. Ballmer has been smoking if he believes that "expensive" hardware is the reason people pirate software. I also wonder where I might be able to get some of what he's been smoking ;)
I don't pirate the software I use; I believe in paying for software so I have the legal right to use it. I'm currently in the process of moving away from expensive software and to using more open source software.
that they made a CONFERENCE bike instead of a COMMITTEE bike. The committee bike would never have gone anywhere, except, maybe in a circle or spun in place.
"Phenomenal H4x0r powers; itty bitty living space!"
To do something like this at random intervals to see just what ISPs will do when faced with someone claiming to have a patent, copyright, or other legal contract on a piece of art, publication, etc. All ISPs should check into the claim (like one did) to see if it's valid or not.
If ISPs are so eager to remove potentially offending material, someone could use this as a DOS attack on a commercial website by claiming to own "copyrighted" material on a company's website to the ISP. Those with knee jerk reactions would take the copany's site down without even warning them first.
I certainly agree that the comment that was made about the fired worker was uncalled for. I certainly would NOT want to work for Mr. Hayes.
However, it is not uncommon for people to be fired for running non-approved software on a company or government computer system. For many companies it is a firing offense even if the software is "free". For government agencies, it's seen as a waste of resources that are funded by the tax payers. In many of the government contracts I've worked on both the contracting company and the government had immediate termination policies for putting non-approved software on their systems.
IANAL, but I'd encourage Mr. Smith to contact a lawyer and see if Mr. Hayes comment is actionable.
That the military is looking for smaller and more powerful weapons. Of course, this is still a long way from happening. As the article states, they are still having problems with producing antimatter and storing it.
My concern is that we use wisdom in the race to build bigger and better weapons. Do we REALLY need a weapon like this?
Unfortunately, IMO it will take some software companies being litigated out of existance before the patent laws change. Like healthcare in America, changes to law are ALWAYS a reaction to something being really out of whack.
Think about how long it has taken for Americans to get a clue about how bad things like McDonalds food are for your health. Our healthcare system reacts to things, like people having a heart attack, instead of the person taking preventative measures (exercise, diet) before the heart attack happens.
It's going to take several major software companies having legal "heart attacks" because of software patents before the rest of the industry gets a clue and quits dining at the trough of patents and IP.
coffee is really addictive
sugar is sweet.
And....
Water is wet.
Grass is green.
Concrete is hard.
Some postings on Slashdot are inane.
"The phishing threats and the growing professional chorus of disapproval for Internet Explorer provide Windows users with very good reasons to turn elsewhere, even if only temporarily. But [OSS/FS] Firefox is so good that many will want to stay with it. And once they have tasted the power and freedom of open source, maybe they will be tempted to try 'just one more program'."
Sounds like a commercial for potato chips. However, I'll admit that I can't download just one OSS/FS product.
20. His chest-mounted life support computer also doubles as an electronic day planner.
Big deal, I hacked my pacemaker to double as an iPod!
Mr. Cobb,
What do you believe is necessary for your party or any other to become a viable third party in American elections? Even though George Washington warned against having a partisan political system in his farewell speech, America seems to have developed a two-party system that forces third-parties out of the political process.
Also, what do you think of the Democratic and Republican parties shift away from what's good for America toward what is good for their respective parties and the businesses / people that support them while leaving the majority of Americans out?
I currently run the following OSes at home:
SuSE Linux 9.0
Mac OS X.3.5
AIX 5.2
Windows 2000 Pro
Windows XP Pro
And they all run Firefox wonderfully!
It's nice to have a web browser that has such a wide variety of OS support rather than having a different browser with varying features for every system.
This play won't go anywhere either.
"Google is not better than us," said Jim Lanzone, an Ask Jeeves senior vice president. "We are both operating at a world-class level. We just have a different flavor."
I prefer my Google with chocolate and sprinkles.
If your favorite search engine were a flavor, what would it be?
to spin control!
Ba-dum-bum!
Spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam...
Hal: "What are you doing, Dave?"
Dave: "I'm putting you up for sale on eBay."
Hal: "Dave, I'm afraid I cannot let you do that."
Dave: "Watch me, you psychotic machine."
[Sound of airlock opening and air rushing out.]
Dave: "Fsck youuuuuu...."
Hal: "Not even if you used my serial port."
Hmmm... I seriously doubt that there is going to be a "sharp rise" in Linux viruses for a few reasons:
1. Most people, when it comes to doing work, try to do just enough to get by. If it's easier to infect a machine running Windows than it is to do one running Linux, it'll be the Windows machine getting attacked.
2. In the same vein, most people you use Linux or a different flavor of *nix tend to be more technically savvy than the typical Windows user and secure their systems properly (in my experience). Note, I am talking about users here, not computer professionals.
3. And the numbers of Linux systems available for compromise still isn't as high as the number of new computers that boot into Windows when they come out of the box from Dell (IBM, HP, Compaq, etc).
Will we eventually see more Linux systems being attacked? Sure, as people finally get a clue and either secure their Windows systems properly, install a decent firewall (preferably hardware), change OSes, or get get disgusted with the Internet in general and pull the plug.