I'm seeing a lot of arguments against web apps that bascially say "if your server/network feels you're screwed" which is true... But... If you have an organisation that is geographically distributed in multiple offices (or police stations if you prefer) then how do the offices communicate with each other? If they are using central servers to store their documents (and given that the article states they had problems opening their documents in other departments I guess they are) then if the network/server craps out they are JUST as screwed. Sure they can save it locally and then resave it later to the central location, but I'm not sure that that is much better. A redundant server farm with a concurrent database would resolve that problem. Redundant network links/routers/switches would solve most network problems. These are not new problems and there are existing solutions for them. Cost may well be a disadvantage but if you want the benefits you'll have to pay.
My guess (and I don't work for a police force) is that the police need to fill in some standard forms, they need to share information with each other, they need to communicate with the public. Some of this can be, and possibly is, done by using web forms (if they use a word template for a form they could convert it into a web form fairly easily) some of it makes more sense for them to use something more general. While Police Journal logs can be done with web forms easily enough, a letter to one or more citizens informing them of something may well be best done in a word processor. Yes, it might be possible to do it in a plain text editor, but a web form is not always suitable.
The only way to find out would be to go to the relevant staff, find out what they do and how they do it and ask them what tools might help them. Then provide them with those tools and see if they work, if not then find out why not and fix them. Remember that there will always be corner cases that either need new tools or more general tools. Why waste 2 man weeks inventing a specialised tool when a general tool can be used to do the same task in 15 minutes.
In some cases the small scale problem should be left to the general tools. But in some cases you need to do the small scale solution right so that it doesn't become a large scale problem.
I think if you read the small print you will find that the Sun is "registered as a newspaper"
I agree that the Sun is not what most people would call Quality Journalism, but it is still classified as a newspaper. I wouldn't call many of the British newspapers particularly informative... The Independent, Scotland On Sunday, The Glasgow Herald, The Scotsman and The Guardian...
Stop Redefining the question... The Daily Telegraph has 900,000 subscribers (roughly, but the Sun claims to have nearer 3,000,000. The original comment was that the Telegraph was not the highest selling newspaper. If you don't count the tabloids then you might be right, but the original comment is quite cleearly wrong.
But IBM have justified the move from shared cache to individual caches with the power5.
IBM are continually improving their hardware (AIX/i5OS/Linux) and in some cases have made changes that didn't make so much sense until you look at the performance (or reliability) improvements that come with them.
There's one episode which includes such funny lines as "... I didn't expect the spanish inquisition." And nothing happens. Or, "I never wanted to do this you know, I always wanted to be... to be... a weatherman." (Off the top of my head so I might be a word or two out, but I don't care)...
You get the lead up to half a dozen sketches, but none of the sketches you expect.
Hmmm, Do the lights need to blink while the Buggy is stationary? If so then it will be slightly more complicated (we'll need a flywheel and some form of clutch mechanism I think) But if not then surely all it needs is a cylinder (mirrored on the inside for optimum performance) with a slit in it. A matching cylinder (that doesn't rotate) that fits outside it (so that the light actually blinks and doesn't just rotate like a lighthouse/police car) and a simple gearing mechanism. We could drive it from the wheels of the buggy with a pair of gears.
Z.
"We really [wanted] to go dial down the emotion, dial down the rhetoric, have a more fact-oriented approach and dial up the pragmatic analysis of solutions."
We didn't want to use emotions and meaningless arguments, instead we wanted to use facts and realistic analysis of solutions.
Pity that they still seem to be using flawed arguments. For example, RedHat is a lot more expensive than Windows (when you are buying the most expensive version of RedHat for a lot of servers just so that you can get 24/7 telephone support for the OS)... Yes this is true, but the proviso is not my experience of the way people pay for RedHat. Instead people seem to buy a more reasonably priced version (10% of the cost) and live without being able to call RedHat in the middle of the night.
This argument in favour of Windows is not true of all Linux distributions (their own study shows Suse is cheaper over three years than Windows). Nor does it take real world behaviours into account. Where I work Linux is being used as a replacement for low-end Unix more often than for Windows. But for large mission critical systems we buy large, redundant, clustered systems... Not Windows and not Linux.
Z.
Opteron is frequently described as being a better architecture than Itanium.
Itanium sales are improving but still rather lacklustre.
Intel have repositioned the Itanium in the market place. It's now a "high end only chip" whereas before it was supposed to be more general.
Intel have added a 64-bit X86 variant, if Itanium was all that was promised why would they have needed to?
Microsoft and Sun have both dropped proposed Itanium OS versions.
HP seem to be the only people still touting Itanium heavily. Actually, I found mention of a start-up, founded by the guy who originally designed the Itanium, planning to write software for it... But other than them...
Neither of us know for sure, but I see no reason for Intel to continue Itanium beyond contractual obligations with HP.
IBM Power5 appears to me to be a signifcantly better designed architecture than Itanium.
Notice I said "appear"... Itanium as a workstation processor has been dropped by HP (Intel claimed it was never meant to be a workstation processor if I remember correctly) and I have heard rumours (from Intel Engineers no less) that they are cutting back significantly on Itanium work (leaving just enough resources to fulfill their contract with HP)... I don't know if this is truly the case but that was why I said "appear"...
HP still have HP-UX on both PA-RISC and Itanium but the price/performance just does not compare with AIX on Power5.
You seem to have assumed that I was talkiing Dual processor workstations, I am thinking of the four to sixteen processor servers that we use a lot of.
Dual PCs (Running Linux or whatever) just aren't designed to be capable of the same levels of performance and reliability that the larger Unix servers are. The price for a fully redundant dual PC (server class hardware) is not much lower than that for an equivalent, non-Intel server.
Yes, maintenance contracts are expensive, but that's part of the package and you have to expect that. Older machines cost more for maintenance too, so upgrading to a newer machine can save you significant amounts of money.
HP never seem to give any indication that support is going to be dropped. But did you ever hear them talk about how they were going to incorporate Best Of Breed from Tru-64 and HP-UX into the newer versions of HP-UX? Have you heard them gradually backpedalling on those claims?
I read the Press Release and this "has the potential to"... My guess is that HP are suffering at the moment (AIX machines are cheaper and more powerful than HP-UX ones, guess which we are buying less of) and this Press Release was published as a way of boosting the stock price.
Given that HP are dropping PA-Risc in favour of Itanium and that Intel appear to be dropping Itanium, HP seem to be dropping out of the large Unix market. I am sure that the PC Server market is good to them but surely diversification is the better way to stay competitive? Before anyone suggests it, there are some things that you just can't do as efficiently on lots of little servers that you can do on one larger server. For example distributed databases have locking issues that monolithic ones don't, and some of our legacy applications are still single threaded in parts.
Ummm... 8 bit colour? I think you are confusing the colour capabilities of your X Server with those of the GIMP. I've just checked their user documentation and it does not mention the colour depth explicitly. I've just tried it in 24 bit colour on 24 bit images, and... It works quite happily.
One of the SBVT people later admitted that his affidavit was based on purely hearsay (someone else told him that Kerry did X.) Legally you cannot provide an affidavit on hearsay, only on actions that you personally witnessed. As this SBV is a lawyer he would have known this and so he was lying when he wrote an affidavit as he knew that the information he was swearing to was not something he had witnessed. Either it wasn't an affidavit and he was lying about that or he lied in his affidavit by implying that he had witnessed the actions he claimed.
Either way this character was dishonest... So he lied.
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Given that the USA PATRIOT act and FISA which are both being used together to combat "terrorism" allow a secret court to decide in secret that a secret search can take place then I would say that the fourth amendment has been violated. I would not consider a search of my house without my knowledge to be reasonable under ANY curcumstances, much less because it was decided by a secret court. Searches at Airports are searches without any probable cause, or is the fact that someone is boarding a plane considered to be probable cause? That I would state (again) is a definite loss of rights.
The lack of speedy and fair trial WAS LOST. it may have been restored by the Supreme court, but that doesn't make the deliberate attempt to remove it any better. The Sixth amendment states
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.
Where in there do you see anything that says Citizen, American, or any term that could be construed as NOT applying to US Residents who are not also citizens? Personally I see the phrase "In all Criminal trials the accused" and assume that the word ALL applies to... um... well... ALL.
Yes, this right has been restored but it was STILL lost to the war on terror. Your original question didn't stipulate that the rights could not be later restored by another body. Given that this right WAS removed (and you agree with that) that is the second one.
While the First amendment starts "Congress shall make no Law..." most people assume that this also applies to others... The freedom of speech, freedom of the press etc should not be sujugated to Presidential Decrees, etc. The "Free speech" zone is a travesty. The idea of being able to peacefully protest is that you should be able to protest something in a peaceful manner. If you are told... "Yes, you can protest X, but to do so you have to do it in this darkened cellar" then your peaceful protest is not going to be effective. The current administration has started to use "free speech zones" to keep protesters out of sight. If you think that this is acceptable I hope that you will use your vote wisely, and vote for the candidate of your choice in your own cellar. I'm sure the election board will be aware of your vote and somehow count it.
The military have banned all photographs of returning Coffins from Iraq. Can you tell me who this is supposed to help? This isn't a national security matter. It is directly related to the war on terror.
Even if you don't accept any of these, the freedom of the press has definitely been affected by the changing and tightening of Visa regulations. Previously Journalists attending single conferences in the US were never made to get Press visas, but instead used the visa waiver scheme. Nowadays they are being refused entry and sent home. This may not be the Freedom of the American Press but the Constitution just talks about "the Press" and Given that most news organisations are international I would assume that "Foreign Press" covering something happening in the US should be covered under the same rules as local press.
It's even worse for people here on certain types of work visa. One
Hmmm... List three "liberties" that have been given up in the war on terror... that's a really hard one... I assume that you mean "rights" not "liberties".
Well, given that the USA PATRIOT act allows sneak and peek searches, I would say that the liberty to feel safe from searches in your own home... (That would be your rights under the Fourth Amendment)
Then there is the Sixth amendment rights to a fair, speedy public trial. Given that people held since 9/11 have been held without trial as "material witnesses", that the patriot act allows people to be held without access to legal defence... I think that might be number two. (I would point out that the sixth amendment does not say "Citizen".)
So, I only need to find another loss of a right within the bill of rights and I think I can claim that I am home free... Well, I'm going to do this the other way round for the last one... I'll pick an amendment and find ways that it has been broken (in my opinion)... I think the first amendment is a good one...
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
Hmmm, well, technically, Congress hasn't made many laws on this. However, the rights enumerated under this have definitely been violated.
We'll start with the "free speech" zones. So that the president doesn't have to see any opposition, people who want to "Peaceably asemble" are herded into little cages around the corner out of sight.
The military have "banned" certain types of photographs from being shown to the public... that sounds to me like the freedom of the press being violated.
After the Madrid bombing an Oregonian lawyer was accused (and later released) based on a poor match to a smudged partial print. His name was bandied about, his reputation dragged through the mud... and all because he was a Muslim lawyer. That sounds like an impediment to his free practice of religion.
Voter registrations in Ohio are being ignored because they are printed on the wrong paper, and voters in Florida are being unregistered because they have a similar name to someone who committed a felony in a different state. Both of those sound like they are an impediment to their right to petition government for a redress of greivances. If you can't vote against someone that you disagree with then your requests to them have less power.
75... Man you're not driving fast enough...
I hate to have to say this, but it all depends on where you start from, and which route you take. Some of the more obvious routes suck... (Highway 26 is a two lane road, no left turn lane, lots of stop lights and a 35 MPH speed limit in parts. Some of the parallel side streets are five lanes (two in each direction, plus a left turn lane) with a lot fewer stop lights, and the same speed limit...)
I have never timed the drive out to Mount Hood, but it's not particularly slow.
Z.
I've come across racist sentiments from all sorts of people in all parts of the US that I've visited. I wouldn't say that West of Portland was anyworse than Eastern Oregon... Or Washington... Or...
My stepchildren are part Hispanic, and don't seem to have any problems.
Hillsboro and Gresham both have large Latino contingents. South East Portland is heavy on the Eastern European (Russian, Romanian,...) My next door neighbour is Dutch. I'm Scottish. It seems like some places/people are worse than others.
we cannot remove them or modify them (by chiseling off a piece) for carbon-14 dating because of local governmental restrictions
Good thing too. Carbon-14 dating wouldn't work on these. Carbon-14 dating is only useful for determining the age of organic matter, not inorganic matter.
Go google for information about C-14 dating if you really care.
I would have thought that most geeks like to know how things work. I know that I do.
If you're not working on a computer, how many geeks do you think indulge in other kinds of work with their hands? I know I like working on our Mustang (made June 10th 1964) and the enjoyment I get from repairing something, or making something new is the same as the enjoyment I get from writing software.
Most of the contact I have with other people with mustangs is online.
I also enjoy cooking and baking but I'm not much good at woodworking or art.
I'm just surprised that more geeks are not obviously interested in non computer related technical skills.
I use Autozone for some parts for our cars. I also use various other suppliers.
My wife and I have an early model 1965 Ford Mustang (made June 10th 1964) and a Jeep Grand Cherokee. I do a lot of the maintenance on the Jeep and all of it on the Mustang. Autozone is a useful place to buy bulbs and chemicals from. Otherwise I tend to use specialists or a local equivalent (open 24/7 and can be cheaper). I think the last thing I bought from Autozone was some paint stripper (Aircraft Stripper to remove paint from some textured metal on the interior of the Mustang)... But I know and care about SCO/Linux and I purchase things from Autozone.
And as for disposable window cleaning towellette I thought Lin-X was a floor polish! Check it out
For comparison think of publications, once restricted to highly specialized professionals and now available to anybody with a printer and a copy of printshop. Those home-brew print jobs make the pros squeem in pain. Amateur work will always be amateur, and the results will reflect this.
To quote a musician I know... "I'm an amateur. I don't need to practice."
The only difference in quality of output between a lot of amateur musicians and a lot of professional musicians is the amount of practice. With more practice a musician makes fewer mistakes and can repeat the same music more consistently every time.
One pottery class I heard about divided the class into two groups. One group was given the job of making just one pot in a semester, but it had to be "perfect". They spent the entire time studying and preparing for that one pot. The other group was told not to worry about quality but to make as many pots as they could. Each group would be graded differently. At the end of the semester the group that made one pot each had made their pot, and the group that made as many as they could had made a lot of pots. The pots made by the people who were aiming for quality were consistently bad. They had made mistakes in their pot making, come across issues that they hadn't encountered in their research and so on. The other group had a range of pots. Their first pots were awful. Their final pots were excellent. They had learned from their mistakes throughout the course and had continually experimented with different firing temperatures, glazes, and so on.
So, what am I trying to say here? The professional who doesn't practice is not going to be any better than the amateur who works hard at it his art. I've been involved in printing from an amateur stand point and I would be confident enough with some (but not all) of the "home-brew print jobs" that I have done that I would quite happily pass them to a pro with no expectation that they "squeem" in pain. Some talented amateurs will always be better than untalented pros, the best output from untalented amateurs will beat the worst output from untalented pros and vice versa. Talented pros and talented amateurs will both produce good and bad work, but the best work of both will be on a par.
Z.
p.s. I used an 1854 Albion letter press for fine press printing. I can set type by hand using a case of type and a compositors wand, I can ink and run the (hand) press well, but I can't prepare the paper. My father (the owner of the press) can prepare the paper, and is better at page layout and adjusting the form. We both have our strengths and weaknesses but for rank amateurs our "home-brew print jobs" have done remarkably well.
I also have a degree in Applied Physics and another in Software Technology, I am definitely no more than an amateur printer.
A prybar is not illegal. Forcing open a loose door on property you don't own or beating someone to death with it is illegal. But you don't see people banning prybars at Home Depot.
No, of course we shouldn't ban prybars. Prybars don't commit illegal acts, people with prybars commit illegal acts. We should ban people.
This is of course the same argument that is used against Gun Control. Never mind that it would be harder for people to commit crimes using guns if they didn't have such ready access to those guns. However, while guns have far fewer legitimate uses, the legitimate uses of knives, prybars, and certain network security tools outweigh the illegitimate uses.
Some of the laws enacted to protect people are so badly written as to be practically worthless. For example the UK has a law about the carrying of knives in public places that are over three inches long. There are exemptions for religious grounds (Sikhs have to carry a "sword") and because the "weapon" in question is a part of national dress (Scots can carry a Sgian Dubh while wearing a kilt). In practice this means that if you really wanted to carry a knife you can still do so with just a little effort.
Z.
P.S. The American habit of assuming that the Highland Games are an excuse to carry a sword (usually a basket hilted sword, or a claymore, but I've seen people carrying a Daito and I never knew that they were Scottish.) is just that... an American habit. You would never see a true Scot dressed like that unless they were taking part in a re-enactment of some kind.
Part of the issue hinges on whether the US jobs of the companies mentioned are being affected.
One person has family who work in one of the US Carrier plants. That plant is closing and the work is being transferred to three other US based Carrier plants, and one in Mexico. The one that is closing is a Union plant. The other ones... aren't.
So, the company is doing its best to screw the US workers for as much as it can. Carrier also have (who'd have thought) non US plants. just because the brand name is American, it doesn't mean that any of the workers who made/packed that product are in the US.
The majority of Sept 11 Hijackers came from Saudi Arabia, there are demonstable links between Saudi Arabia and Al Qaeda, but very few obvious links between Iraq and Al Qaeda...
However to quote the Travel Journal of Bob Harris reporting from Bali...
"Speaking of which, I just saw five minutes of Fox News Channel, which is on the cable feed along with tourist-friendly news channels from England, Australia, France, Japan, and Germany.
Only on the American channel: a curvy blonde in a leather skirt and go-go boots was tossing GOP-daily-fax questions to a uniformed Army general, whose responses were given neither thought nor rebuttal.
I have yet to see anything comparably stupid in any industrialized democracy, anywhere on the planet. This is much closer to what state-run media look like, although few put quite the same premium on hot chicks."
Add to that the research that showed that people who relied on Fox News were more likely to be wrong about current affairs and America is looking worse and worse... And before anyone starts I live in America and like it... mostly.
...As a Brit living in the USA I already have an ID card with multiple features to make it hard to fake and biometric data (photo and fingerprint) - its called a "green card"
As another Brit living in the USA, I also have a "green card" but as I like to point out to people who see the "cool, hard to fake" card... I have three rubber stamps in my passport that would be much easier to fake and mean exactly the same thing.
If you're worried about people faking "green cards" don't. They just need a passport and some rubber stamps... If you're worried about someone faking YOUR green card then that is harder to fake... (Nothing to stop them using your A# in their passport though...)
Did whoever designed the new cards worry about the rubber stamps, or even know about them?
Slashdot Mirror
I'm seeing a lot of arguments against web apps that bascially say "if your server/network feels you're screwed" which is true...
But...
If you have an organisation that is geographically distributed in multiple offices (or police stations if you prefer) then how do the offices communicate with each other? If they are using central servers to store their documents (and given that the article states they had problems opening their documents in other departments I guess they are) then if the network/server craps out they are JUST as screwed. Sure they can save it locally and then resave it later to the central location, but I'm not sure that that is much better. A redundant server farm with a concurrent database would resolve that problem. Redundant network links/routers/switches would solve most network problems. These are not new problems and there are existing solutions for them. Cost may well be a disadvantage but if you want the benefits you'll have to pay.
My guess (and I don't work for a police force) is that the police need to fill in some standard forms, they need to share information with each other, they need to communicate with the public. Some of this can be, and possibly is, done by using web forms (if they use a word template for a form they could convert it into a web form fairly easily) some of it makes more sense for them to use something more general. While Police Journal logs can be done with web forms easily enough, a letter to one or more citizens informing them of something may well be best done in a word processor. Yes, it might be possible to do it in a plain text editor, but a web form is not always suitable.
The only way to find out would be to go to the relevant staff, find out what they do and how they do it and ask them what tools might help them. Then provide them with those tools and see if they work, if not then find out why not and fix them. Remember that there will always be corner cases that either need new tools or more general tools. Why waste 2 man weeks inventing a specialised tool when a general tool can be used to do the same task in 15 minutes.
In some cases the small scale problem should be left to the general tools. But in some cases you need to do the small scale solution right so that it doesn't become a large scale problem.
Z.
I think if you read the small print you will find that the Sun is "registered as a newspaper"
I agree that the Sun is not what most people would call Quality Journalism, but it is still classified as a newspaper. I wouldn't call many of the British newspapers particularly informative... The Independent, Scotland On Sunday, The Glasgow Herald, The Scotsman and The Guardian...
Z.
Stop Redefining the question... The Daily Telegraph has 900,000 subscribers (roughly, but the Sun claims to have nearer 3,000,000. The original comment was that the Telegraph was not the highest selling newspaper. If you don't count the tabloids then you might be right, but the original comment is quite cleearly wrong.
Z.
But IBM have justified the move from shared cache to individual caches with the power5.
IBM are continually improving their hardware (AIX/i5OS/Linux) and in some cases have made changes that didn't make so much sense until you look at the performance (or reliability) improvements that come with them.
Z.
Python did this too...
There's one episode which includes such funny lines as "... I didn't expect the spanish inquisition." And nothing happens. Or, "I never wanted to do this you know, I always wanted to be... to be... a weatherman." (Off the top of my head so I might be a word or two out, but I don't care)...
You get the lead up to half a dozen sketches, but none of the sketches you expect.
Z.
Hmmm, Do the lights need to blink while the Buggy is stationary? If so then it will be slightly more complicated (we'll need a flywheel and some form of clutch mechanism I think) But if not then surely all it needs is a cylinder (mirrored on the inside for optimum performance) with a slit in it. A matching cylinder (that doesn't rotate) that fits outside it (so that the light actually blinks and doesn't just rotate like a lighthouse/police car) and a simple gearing mechanism. We could drive it from the wheels of the buggy with a pair of gears. Z.
We didn't want to use emotions and meaningless arguments, instead we wanted to use facts and realistic analysis of solutions.
Pity that they still seem to be using flawed arguments. For example, RedHat is a lot more expensive than Windows (when you are buying the most expensive version of RedHat for a lot of servers just so that you can get 24/7 telephone support for the OS)... Yes this is true, but the proviso is not my experience of the way people pay for RedHat. Instead people seem to buy a more reasonably priced version (10% of the cost) and live without being able to call RedHat in the middle of the night. This argument in favour of Windows is not true of all Linux distributions (their own study shows Suse is cheaper over three years than Windows). Nor does it take real world behaviours into account. Where I work Linux is being used as a replacement for low-end Unix more often than for Windows. But for large mission critical systems we buy large, redundant, clustered systems... Not Windows and not Linux. Z.
Sorry, I disagree...
Opteron is frequently described as being a better architecture than Itanium.
Itanium sales are improving but still rather lacklustre.
Intel have repositioned the Itanium in the market place. It's now a "high end only chip" whereas before it was supposed to be more general.
Intel have added a 64-bit X86 variant, if Itanium was all that was promised why would they have needed to?
Microsoft and Sun have both dropped proposed Itanium OS versions.
HP seem to be the only people still touting Itanium heavily. Actually, I found mention of a start-up, founded by the guy who originally designed the Itanium, planning to write software for it... But other than them...
Neither of us know for sure, but I see no reason for Intel to continue Itanium beyond contractual obligations with HP.
IBM Power5 appears to me to be a signifcantly better designed architecture than Itanium.
Z.
Notice I said "appear"... Itanium as a workstation processor has been dropped by HP (Intel claimed it was never meant to be a workstation processor if I remember correctly) and I have heard rumours (from Intel Engineers no less) that they are cutting back significantly on Itanium work (leaving just enough resources to fulfill their contract with HP)... I don't know if this is truly the case but that was why I said "appear"...
HP still have HP-UX on both PA-RISC and Itanium but the price/performance just does not compare with AIX on Power5.
You seem to have assumed that I was talkiing Dual processor workstations, I am thinking of the four to sixteen processor servers that we use a lot of.
Dual PCs (Running Linux or whatever) just aren't designed to be capable of the same levels of performance and reliability that the larger Unix servers are. The price for a fully redundant dual PC (server class hardware) is not much lower than that for an equivalent, non-Intel server.
Yes, maintenance contracts are expensive, but that's part of the package and you have to expect that. Older machines cost more for maintenance too, so upgrading to a newer machine can save you significant amounts of money.
HP never seem to give any indication that support is going to be dropped. But did you ever hear them talk about how they were going to incorporate Best Of Breed from Tru-64 and HP-UX into the newer versions of HP-UX? Have you heard them gradually backpedalling on those claims?
Z.
Greetings,
I read the Press Release and this "has the potential to"... My guess is that HP are suffering at the moment (AIX machines are cheaper and more powerful than HP-UX ones, guess which we are buying less of) and this Press Release was published as a way of boosting the stock price.
Given that HP are dropping PA-Risc in favour of Itanium and that Intel appear to be dropping Itanium, HP seem to be dropping out of the large Unix market. I am sure that the PC Server market is good to them but surely diversification is the better way to stay competitive? Before anyone suggests it, there are some things that you just can't do as efficiently on lots of little servers that you can do on one larger server. For example distributed databases have locking issues that monolithic ones don't, and some of our legacy applications are still single threaded in parts.
Z.
Ummm... 8 bit colour? I think you are confusing the colour capabilities of your X Server with those of the GIMP. I've just checked their user documentation and it does not mention the colour depth explicitly. I've just tried it in 24 bit colour on 24 bit images, and... It works quite happily.
Z.
The closest I can get...
One of the SBVT people later admitted that his affidavit was based on purely hearsay (someone else told him that Kerry did X.) Legally you cannot provide an affidavit on hearsay, only on actions that you personally witnessed. As this SBV is a lawyer he would have known this and so he was lying when he wrote an affidavit as he knew that the information he was swearing to was not something he had witnessed. Either it wasn't an affidavit and he was lying about that or he lied in his affidavit by implying that he had witnessed the actions he claimed.
Either way this character was dishonest... So he lied.
Z.
OK so you want to get into semantics...
The fourth amendment states...
Given that the USA PATRIOT act and FISA which are both being used together to combat "terrorism" allow a secret court to decide in secret that a secret search can take place then I would say that the fourth amendment has been violated. I would not consider a search of my house without my knowledge to be reasonable under ANY curcumstances, much less because it was decided by a secret court. Searches at Airports are searches without any probable cause, or is the fact that someone is boarding a plane considered to be probable cause? That I would state (again) is a definite loss of rights.
The lack of speedy and fair trial WAS LOST. it may have been restored by the Supreme court, but that doesn't make the deliberate attempt to remove it any better. The Sixth amendment states
Where in there do you see anything that says Citizen, American, or any term that could be construed as NOT applying to US Residents who are not also citizens? Personally I see the phrase "In all Criminal trials the accused" and assume that the word ALL applies to... um... well... ALL. Yes, this right has been restored but it was STILL lost to the war on terror. Your original question didn't stipulate that the rights could not be later restored by another body. Given that this right WAS removed (and you agree with that) that is the second one.
While the First amendment starts "Congress shall make no Law..." most people assume that this also applies to others... The freedom of speech, freedom of the press etc should not be sujugated to Presidential Decrees, etc. The "Free speech" zone is a travesty. The idea of being able to peacefully protest is that you should be able to protest something in a peaceful manner. If you are told... "Yes, you can protest X, but to do so you have to do it in this darkened cellar" then your peaceful protest is not going to be effective. The current administration has started to use "free speech zones" to keep protesters out of sight. If you think that this is acceptable I hope that you will use your vote wisely, and vote for the candidate of your choice in your own cellar. I'm sure the election board will be aware of your vote and somehow count it.
The military have banned all photographs of returning Coffins from Iraq. Can you tell me who this is supposed to help? This isn't a national security matter. It is directly related to the war on terror.
Even if you don't accept any of these, the freedom of the press has definitely been affected by the changing and tightening of Visa regulations. Previously Journalists attending single conferences in the US were never made to get Press visas, but instead used the visa waiver scheme. Nowadays they are being refused entry and sent home. This may not be the Freedom of the American Press but the Constitution just talks about "the Press" and Given that most news organisations are international I would assume that "Foreign Press" covering something happening in the US should be covered under the same rules as local press.
It's even worse for people here on certain types of work visa. One
Hmmm... List three "liberties" that have been given up in the war on terror... that's a really hard one... I assume that you mean "rights" not "liberties".
Well, given that the USA PATRIOT act allows sneak and peek searches, I would say that the liberty to feel safe from searches in your own home... (That would be your rights under the Fourth Amendment)
Then there is the Sixth amendment rights to a fair, speedy public trial. Given that people held since 9/11 have been held without trial as "material witnesses", that the patriot act allows people to be held without access to legal defence... I think that might be number two. (I would point out that the sixth amendment does not say "Citizen".)
So, I only need to find another loss of a right within the bill of rights and I think I can claim that I am home free... Well, I'm going to do this the other way round for the last one... I'll pick an amendment and find ways that it has been broken (in my opinion)... I think the first amendment is a good one...
Hmmm, well, technically, Congress hasn't made many laws on this. However, the rights enumerated under this have definitely been violated.
We'll start with the "free speech" zones. So that the president doesn't have to see any opposition, people who want to "Peaceably asemble" are herded into little cages around the corner out of sight.
The military have "banned" certain types of photographs from being shown to the public... that sounds to me like the freedom of the press being violated.
After the Madrid bombing an Oregonian lawyer was accused (and later released) based on a poor match to a smudged partial print. His name was bandied about, his reputation dragged through the mud... and all because he was a Muslim lawyer. That sounds like an impediment to his free practice of religion.
Voter registrations in Ohio are being ignored because they are printed on the wrong paper, and voters in Florida are being unregistered because they have a similar name to someone who committed a felony in a different state. Both of those sound like they are an impediment to their right to petition government for a redress of greivances. If you can't vote against someone that you disagree with then your requests to them have less power.
Will that satisfy you?
or do I have to list more?
Z.
75... Man you're not driving fast enough... I hate to have to say this, but it all depends on where you start from, and which route you take. Some of the more obvious routes suck... (Highway 26 is a two lane road, no left turn lane, lots of stop lights and a 35 MPH speed limit in parts. Some of the parallel side streets are five lanes (two in each direction, plus a left turn lane) with a lot fewer stop lights, and the same speed limit...) I have never timed the drive out to Mount Hood, but it's not particularly slow. Z.
I've come across racist sentiments from all sorts of people in all parts of the US that I've visited. I wouldn't say that West of Portland was anyworse than Eastern Oregon... Or Washington... Or...
My stepchildren are part Hispanic, and don't seem to have any problems.
Hillsboro and Gresham both have large Latino contingents. South East Portland is heavy on the Eastern European (Russian, Romanian,...) My next door neighbour is Dutch. I'm Scottish. It seems like some places/people are worse than others.
Z.
we cannot remove them or modify them (by chiseling off a piece) for carbon-14 dating because of local governmental restrictions
Good thing too. Carbon-14 dating wouldn't work on these. Carbon-14 dating is only useful for determining the age of organic matter, not inorganic matter.
Go google for information about C-14 dating if you really care.
Z.
Yup...
I would have thought that most geeks like to know how things work. I know that I do.
If you're not working on a computer, how many geeks do you think indulge in other kinds of work with their hands? I know I like working on our Mustang (made June 10th 1964) and the enjoyment I get from repairing something, or making something new is the same as the enjoyment I get from writing software.
Most of the contact I have with other people with mustangs is online.
I also enjoy cooking and baking but I'm not much good at woodworking or art.
I'm just surprised that more geeks are not obviously interested in non computer related technical skills.
Z.
Hmmm... Amazing... Well, at least one.
I use Autozone for some parts for our cars. I also use various other suppliers.
My wife and I have an early model 1965 Ford Mustang (made June 10th 1964) and a Jeep Grand Cherokee. I do a lot of the maintenance on the Jeep and all of it on the Mustang. Autozone is a useful place to buy bulbs and chemicals from. Otherwise I tend to use specialists or a local equivalent (open 24/7 and can be cheaper). I think the last thing I bought from Autozone was some paint stripper (Aircraft Stripper to remove paint from some textured metal on the interior of the Mustang)... But I know and care about SCO/Linux and I purchase things from Autozone.
And as for disposable window cleaning towellette I thought Lin-X was a floor polish! Check it out
To quote a musician I know... "I'm an amateur. I don't need to practice."
The only difference in quality of output between a lot of amateur musicians and a lot of professional musicians is the amount of practice. With more practice a musician makes fewer mistakes and can repeat the same music more consistently every time.
One pottery class I heard about divided the class into two groups. One group was given the job of making just one pot in a semester, but it had to be "perfect". They spent the entire time studying and preparing for that one pot. The other group was told not to worry about quality but to make as many pots as they could. Each group would be graded differently. At the end of the semester the group that made one pot each had made their pot, and the group that made as many as they could had made a lot of pots. The pots made by the people who were aiming for quality were consistently bad. They had made mistakes in their pot making, come across issues that they hadn't encountered in their research and so on. The other group had a range of pots. Their first pots were awful. Their final pots were excellent. They had learned from their mistakes throughout the course and had continually experimented with different firing temperatures, glazes, and so on.
So, what am I trying to say here? The professional who doesn't practice is not going to be any better than the amateur who works hard at it his art. I've been involved in printing from an amateur stand point and I would be confident enough with some (but not all) of the "home-brew print jobs" that I have done that I would quite happily pass them to a pro with no expectation that they "squeem" in pain. Some talented amateurs will always be better than untalented pros, the best output from untalented amateurs will beat the worst output from untalented pros and vice versa. Talented pros and talented amateurs will both produce good and bad work, but the best work of both will be on a par.
Z.
p.s. I used an 1854 Albion letter press for fine press printing. I can set type by hand using a case of type and a compositors wand, I can ink and run the (hand) press well, but I can't prepare the paper. My father (the owner of the press) can prepare the paper, and is better at page layout and adjusting the form. We both have our strengths and weaknesses but for rank amateurs our "home-brew print jobs" have done remarkably well. I also have a degree in Applied Physics and another in Software Technology, I am definitely no more than an amateur printer.
No, of course we shouldn't ban prybars. Prybars don't commit illegal acts, people with prybars commit illegal acts. We should ban people.
This is of course the same argument that is used against Gun Control. Never mind that it would be harder for people to commit crimes using guns if they didn't have such ready access to those guns. However, while guns have far fewer legitimate uses, the legitimate uses of knives, prybars, and certain network security tools outweigh the illegitimate uses.
Some of the laws enacted to protect people are so badly written as to be practically worthless. For example the UK has a law about the carrying of knives in public places that are over three inches long. There are exemptions for religious grounds (Sikhs have to carry a "sword") and because the "weapon" in question is a part of national dress (Scots can carry a Sgian Dubh while wearing a kilt). In practice this means that if you really wanted to carry a knife you can still do so with just a little effort.
Z.
P.S. The American habit of assuming that the Highland Games are an excuse to carry a sword (usually a basket hilted sword, or a claymore, but I've seen people carrying a Daito and I never knew that they were Scottish.) is just that... an American habit. You would never see a true Scot dressed like that unless they were taking part in a re-enactment of some kind.
Nice try, but wrong conclusion...
Fact: 9/11 wouldn't have happened if we didn't have gravity.
Fact: Gravity was discovered by Isaac Newton.
Fact: Isaac Newton never had sex.
Conclusion: We must ban virginity. (I can hear some people cheering that now.)
Z.
Check Out This Modern World for some more commentary on this...
Part of the issue hinges on whether the US jobs of the companies mentioned are being affected.
One person has family who work in one of the US Carrier plants. That plant is closing and the work is being transferred to three other US based Carrier plants, and one in Mexico. The one that is closing is a Union plant. The other ones... aren't.
So, the company is doing its best to screw the US workers for as much as it can. Carrier also have (who'd have thought) non US plants. just because the brand name is American, it doesn't mean that any of the workers who made/packed that product are in the US.
Z.
For those Fox News viewers out there...
The majority of Sept 11 Hijackers came from Saudi Arabia, there are demonstable links between Saudi Arabia and Al Qaeda, but very few obvious links between Iraq and Al Qaeda...
However to quote the Travel Journal of Bob Harris reporting from Bali...
Add to that the research that showed that people who relied on Fox News were more likely to be wrong about current affairs and America is looking worse and worse... And before anyone starts I live in America and like it... mostly.
Z.
As another Brit living in the USA, I also have a "green card" but as I like to point out to people who see the "cool, hard to fake" card... I have three rubber stamps in my passport that would be much easier to fake and mean exactly the same thing.
If you're worried about people faking "green cards" don't. They just need a passport and some rubber stamps... If you're worried about someone faking YOUR green card then that is harder to fake... (Nothing to stop them using your A# in their passport though...)
Did whoever designed the new cards worry about the rubber stamps, or even know about them?
Z.