Okay, so we don't want little plastic cards telling us what we can and can't do with our lives. I understand that completely. What each person does in his or her home to break copyrights/encryption schemes is pretty much up to them. Granted, there are laws that can be broken, and persons engaging in such activity must be willing to face charges.
But let's consider a different usage of the cards, one that might prove helpful to the/. crowd: computer security. Smart cards can already be used to let you into your place of business. What a great benefit it could be to security if a smart card was also needed (in addition to username/password) to allow you to log into the computers. Big companies would easily see the advantage--Joe wouldn't be able to walk into his boss's office at night, use a boot disk or even the boss's password (since it's probably on the monitor or in the drawer) and then access files that Joe shouldn't be looking at.
Another big advantage could be at my home. I would love for just a simple device (card, ring, watch) to immediately recognize me, log me in, and go from there. Sure, it's a slight security risk but it doesn't really matter in my own house where the biggest risk is usually the cats. Or what about my kick a$$ stereo in my car? That would sure suck to have someone steal that, and if they tried I'd be happier knowing it wouldn't work. Putting a smartcard into it when I get in the car would be nice for that, as well as having the benefit of remembering exactly what I like to listen to and how it should be played.
I guess I'm having a hard time seeing what's so evil about this idea. Sure, it could be used to prevent "unauthorized use" of digital media but there will always be ways around that. The big benefit would be to prevent others from being able to use your hardware--not your software or media. I can't see a problem with that at all.
You say that you want an IDE HD, CD-RW, the motherboard and two PCI cards. Fine. Now you want to get those into a 1U case? Well, first off, all rackmount cases are pretty custom jobs--though you can find larger (4 or 5U) cases that will support standard motherboards. The 1U motherboards are generally made custom for the particular case, etc. That's why they are so gosh darn expensive. I just really hope you aren't going to try and put your already owned equipment into a box you can buy. No sir, you'll just have to get some fiberglass or resin sheets and make it yourself.
On the other hand, if you just need to have those basic parts inside the 1U case, you may be able to buy something more ready-made. What PCI cards do you need exactly, anyway? If you just want one as an ethernet card, most 1U motherboards come with those on-board as well as other typically needed devices. In a 1U case you just don't have enough room to put much more than one PCI card off a riser inside the case--it is common in the 2U cases, though. Check out VALinux and Penguin Computing before you get yourself into too much trouble.
With all that said, you can get something close to what I think you're looking for here. You may have to cut it down, or maybe they can custom-make exactly what you want. Regardless, expect to spend lots of money and/or time on this little project of yours.
RANT Better re-read the DMCA. Apparently, reverse engineering is illegal at the moment, no matter how easy it is to break. Better make sure that you don't inadvertently "figure out" how someone's code works!/RANT
Ohio State has been offering limited courses online. The system they use is video recording actual classes and then making them available on the web (with login/password). Now, so far it's really just been an experiment. More information can be found at:
http://telr.ohio-state.edu/courses/findcourse.ht ml (Not linked for goatsex safety)
Now, I've taken a couple of classes that were recorded for web access. My feeling is that you probably need to wait a few more years for this to be worth while. The professors just aren't able to adapt to the new technology fast enough and several lectures I watched via the web were just a blank white board and the professor's voice--he was writing on the chalkboard. Similarly, it was difficult to understand some written equations due to bad handwriting, etc.
In all, if you really want your bachelor's degree, you'll probably just have to find a way to go back to school. The WWW might eventually be the way everyone learns, but right now everyone's on the front-end of the learning curve. Give it 5 years, and maybe things will be different.
Cheating is bad, morally wrong, whathaveyou. But half of the problem has always been professors that didn't give a damn about whether or not students cheat. It's great to hear of a professor skilled enough and willing to put in some extra time to find cheaters. To be honest, I really don't care what happens to the people who did the cheating--if they get expelled, that's fine. If not, that's fine too. The important thing is that he's caught them and they won't ever cheat again--and nor will some of the other students there on campus.
Agreed. The absolute best thing the Linux community can do is simply do the best job we can in our respective positions. I'm a consultant, so when I walk into a Microsoft-only business I don't proclaim how terrible their systems are and how I must convert everyone/everything over to Linux. That would just get me fired.
Instead, I do my job. And when new servers/routers/etc are needed, I typically recommend a Linux solution. At first, businesses are uncomfortable with this--and then I tell them the price ($100+ for a supported version of RH) and that I completely support Linux and can do much, much more with a single well-configured Linux box than three or four NT servers. I've never had anyone turn me down.
Microsoft's biggest fear right now is really people like me--the guys that recommend a gradual transfer to Linux. But it's not a true Microsoft vs. Linux situation. If Microsoft had a product that better fit the needs of my customers, then I would recommend it totally. Right now, Linux is a better choice in the back-end. But I believe Win2K is a much better choice for workstations, mostly because people are used to Microsoft's OS and Office products.
The fear at Microsoft is that those of us using/writing free software are not competing with Windows. We're in a different league. We don't play by their rules, and they can't kill free software using the very practices that caused the monopoly cases.
By fighting Microsoft, we are stating they they are a threat to us--but Microsoft isn't our enemy. In fact, we should care less about what Microsoft is doing. Linux and other GPL software is getting to the point of "critical mass" where the software is on par or better (from the "average" user's perspective) with anything Microsoft can produce. Once that critical point is reached, there won't be anything Microsoft, or anyone else, can do to prevent the spreading of GPL software. People will just choose Linux because it's not only cheaper but also because it has a large amounts of advantages over Windows. So why "compete" with a company that only cares about money and market share? Instead, GPL programmers need only be worried about their individual products and inprovements to those. After all, in the GPL community, marketing is done through word-of-mouth and reviews.
All geeks under 30 should also heed the warning: sitting in front of a computer all day and night cannot be healthy. I'm only in my 20's, but the gut has begun to form. Trust me: chicks really don't dig guys with large guts.
My current plan has been to work out 300x more than I used to. That means I go rollerblading around the neighborhood for at least 45 minutes every other day. I'm also trying to do a lot of work on my house since the weather's nice. Basically, I'm spending less time on the computer and more doing more laborious tasks.
Food has been a sticking point, too. I was getting way too much food into my system, and healthy or not it was making me heavy. My solution to this was to eat a very light breakfast and then a nice lunch: turkey or ham sandwich, pickle, and a few chips. I'm also staying away from sodas when possible. For dinner, I tend to fix about the same amount of food I used to eat and separate it over two meals. Another good choice is a baked potato or good french bread and salad.
So far, I've been doing this for about 6 months and have lost a few inches--my jeans feel much nicer now. Oddly enough, I'm also happier because I "seem" to get more work done. Good luck with your endeavor!
In general, simply soldiering the new jacks onto the board won't work. The actual circuit board is common to all revisions and features simply to reduce cost. Each "original" board costs far more, but additional boards are relatively cheap. This is why you see the leads and sometimes even empty sockets.
Even if you do soldier on new jacks, you may also have to soldier on surface-mount resistors, capacitors, etc, to get it to work. And there's still no guarantee. It's quite possible that particular chips are missing (NTSC generator for video out, etc), or even that the major chips are completely different from the more expensive version.
If you're really set on doing this, find a way to compare the cheaper and more expensive versions of the card. If the chip numbers are identical, and there doesn't seem to be any other major differences, then you're probably able to get the features working. And as always, be careful when soldiering onto a PCB--keep animals and small children away.
First of all, no matter what the marketing people tell you, doing everything over IP is not the best solution for every idea out there. You have to ask yourself what you stand to gain by using an IP-based implementation; and in this particular area that isn't much. Intercom systems typically need 4-18# wires run to each station, with is cheaper and just slightly smaller in diameter than CAT5. So you aren't saving wire.
Next, we have to ask if you want to do something special with your intercom; i.e. broadcast it over the internet, have access to a particular station from work, etc. If that's the case, then most off the shelf units require a "master station" that includes ways to connect auxillary devices. This would include a computer. Heck, my intercom system is over ten years old and has this ability. Granted, I only play MP3s to all the intercom units, but getting sound into the server wouldn't be much more difficult.
Lastly, why would you want to give an IP to a device that has only one function? There are multiple ports, protocols, etc. that makes each individual IP address very generic. Why waste an address for something this silly? Certainly there are better uses of resources. Granted, I'm sure you'd be behind a NAT firewall; but that then begs the question why you would be even considering an IP solution.
IP solutions can't save the world, people. They barely make it tolerable.
Funny that this message appears at this time--I was just browsing around on some of my favorite "adult" sites that I haven't seen in quite a while. Now I guess I should feel guilty. Too bad.
Since you're obviously worried about the evil radio waves, I think it would be best if you wrapped yourself in aluminum foil. That way, you can create a Faraday cage around your body so that those nasty EM waves won't interfere with your internal workings. Make sure that there is absolutely _NO_ holes in your special foil suit, as they could allow waves to bounce inside. You'll just have to go without seeing or breathing for a while until all the waves go away. Sorry.
Okay, I can't be the first to think that relations between India and Pakistan aren't exactly the best possible. Once one of those nations started to do nuclear tests, the other followed suit within a week or so. I would go so far as to say they have started their own cold war between them--using the US and Russia whenever possible.
The problem I see here is that Pakistan is going to want to match/beat the Indians. The Pakistanis will certainly be fearful (and rightfully so) if India can place a satellite into orbit but they can't. Medium range missles only get their warheads into most of India, and the surviving portion of India would retaliate and live on. Pakistan wouldn't last past the first assault.
Of course, I could have everything completely wrong...
CNN's website already does this sort of thing. Before you can watch a video clip of theirs, they send a brief commercial. They also show a commercial (usually the same one) after the clip ends. It doesn't seem to make too many people unhappy, plus it helps CNN pay for the bandwidth I'm using and for the content. NBC has also been experimenting with web-broadcasting, which includes the commercials one would regularly see on TV anyways. It's a pretty fair way to go if you ask me.
I did a paper and presentation on these fibers last spring, and even then there was quite a bit of research being done in the area. That being said, everyone seems to wonder just how the little bad boys work. Let me help.
Fibers typically work on the principle of Snell's Law and Total Internal Reflection (TIR). This means that any light entering the fiber (within a certain "acceptance angle") will bounce around continuously while traveling to the other end without any loss. The critical materials here are the core and the cladding--and Snell's Law gives us ways to ensure TIR.
What's so special about holey fibers isn't so much the actual core-cladding interface. Instead, the core has lots of holes that run the length of the fiber, and light is coupled into this region. Snell's Law makes this difficult because light would rather couple into the material with a higher index of refraction; however, the result is the incident light has to come in at a much sharper angle to ensure TIR.
Also what's very nice, and something article briefly touches, is that since the light is travelling in the air region many more photons can be present without melting the fiber. The same is true for speeds. Or, since each hole is continuous and separate, one could treat each hole as a different "fiber" altogether. Perty cool.
I'd hate to play devil's advocate here, but to be honest I rather like this idea. The information isn't any more identifiable than, say, an IP address. One big benefit is if other browsers begin to include this type of information: PHP could use this information to choose the "best" version of a webpage, video stream, etc to send you. I know I personally get annoyed when a webpage is designed for a much higher resolution than I have set. Similarly, inexperienced internet users shouldn't be allowed to attempt to stream 1Mb/Sec of video through a 56K modem. Sure, it'll look like crap and it's all the end-user's fault but marketing people will tell you that if the end-user screws up you can lose customers because of it (they can go elsewhere, you can't).
No joke, talking to a company's current workforce is very important. While they may feel it would be improper to say some of the bad things of the company (which it is), you will certainly get an idea from their body language and what they don't say. I once had an interview with a huge company's R&D division where the manager interviewing me didn't have any clue as to what her group was doing. After speaking to some of the group's employees, I quickly realized that not only didn't she know much, but the group was in serious trouble. Later that week the company released information that sales would be lower than expected due to poor R&D--specifically the group I was interviewing for.
While an employer may not like this idea, if possible you should consider talking to former employees. One can imagine how some people feel when they leave a company, and talking to these people may give you a heads up--just be careful to ensure the fomer employee has justification for his/her opinion.
Also consider calling the BBB. They keep good records of complaints from customers, and working for a company with unethical practices towards its customers certainly can't treat its employees much better. Other good sources of information about each company should be available online.
Finally, if you are interviewing at a small company, ask about the owner/CEO. Find out what his/her personality is. Do the same with the VP. Those are the people that control the majority of the company's policies, and if the owner's a prick you can be sure that he'll do everything he can to screw everyone over.
Whatever you do, beware of arrogance. That's a sure sign of failure on the horizon.
Shoot, if you want something that will last for thousands and even millions of years--just take some data from our oh-so-friendly environmentalists. From what I recall, plastics can be made in such a way as to not biodegrade for many, many years. If you want to be remembered for a long time, I would have a casket made out of clear plastic and have it up on top of the ground. That way everyone can see your body in there--and just how you decompose naturally. Now that's a way to get noticed for centuries!
I'm as much a geek as the next guy, and I think I can safely say that I'm just average on most counts. I didn't let this keep me from finding the "right woman" and marrying her. In my case, I found her by talking one night to a former coworker of mine who was taking classes at a small Christian college. I asked if she knew anyone--and of course the answer was "no". She did, however, have a roommate in a bad relationship. It was the last day of finals, and I emailed Heather (my wife) a marriage proposal making liberal use of Song of Solomon (in the Bible--great romance reading). Sure, Heather laughed histerically at first. But it didn't take long and we really hit it off, and three years later we were married. Perty cool.
Now, I wouldn't recommend this type of solution to others--though if it works for you let me know. Instead, regardless of what you do, be original--and if you can't even do that right, be funny. Heck--I even once picked up a clerk at a department store by just saying "hey--how would you like to go out tonight?" Granted, I dated her for three months and she was psycho--but at least I wasn't lonely.
Finally, think about getting involved with a group that includes an interest of yours--but try to not let it be your day job. Skiing, rollerblading and church are a few of my things. Snow bunnies are cool, but blading chicks have even better thigh muscles (yeah, I'm a guy at heart). Church "singles" groups are usually designed so that you can meet mates. These types of activities are sure to help you in your search.
I've been trying to do this recently myself, and have had a good amount of success. There are a few HOWTOs that you definetly need to read before you get too deep into it. Specifically, the XDMCP HOWTO, Remote-X-Apps MINI-HOWTO, and the XDM-Xterm MINI-HOWTO. Also, I looked at the Diskless HOWTO because essentially what is geared for diskless machines is also helpful.
Now, if you're really feeling good, set up your X Server such that vt7 and vt8 are your local X server, vt9 is your home server, and vt10 is that kickass work computer that you hate to have sit all night without someone monkeying around on it.
If anyone can tell me how I can get simple text-terminals (i.e. a telnet login prompt) sent to my workstation's virtutual terminals, let me know. I can do it via a serial cable, but over TCP/IP it seems much more difficult.
There seems to only be 6 pins, so there's only 64 possible combinations (assuming high-low signals) if the interface isn't serial.
Actually, someone's already seemed to have done this and you can purchase it yourself--just take it apart to find out what's inside. http://www.cwol.com/keypads/MicroPad-632.htm
Granted, more people now have computers than several years ago--that just makes sense. Certainly, there will be a disparity between the haves and have-nots. But we're missing something here.
Over the years, computers overall are getting cheaper and cheaper, and people on lower incomes can not only buy a used computer but also a brand new one with MSN's $400 rebate deal (though I'm not advocating anything here). What should be considered is that as prices for computers, even not top-of-the-line models, drop below the price of a regular television set more and more households will have computers. I think that we all can agree that _most_ people, regardless of income, has at least one television.
So why does the government need to get involved here? If the feds give $400 (just a number) to low-income families, then no new computer will be sold at lower than that price. If the feds just stay away like they have, then computer makers will have no choice but to make cheaper computers if they wish to continue selling computers at the rate they have been.
Of course, selling cheap computer's isn't necessarily a good thing, either. But at least it's a start for competition in that market. I'm sure our wonderful system of capitalism will eventually work it's magic on all of us.
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Okay, so we don't want little plastic cards telling us what we can and can't do with our lives. I understand that completely. What each person does in his or her home to break copyrights/encryption schemes is pretty much up to them. Granted, there are laws that can be broken, and persons engaging in such activity must be willing to face charges.
But let's consider a different usage of the cards, one that might prove helpful to the /. crowd: computer security. Smart cards can already be used to let you into your place of business. What a great benefit it could be to security if a smart card was also needed (in addition to username/password) to allow you to log into the computers. Big companies would easily see the advantage--Joe wouldn't be able to walk into his boss's office at night, use a boot disk or even the boss's password (since it's probably on the monitor or in the drawer) and then access files that Joe shouldn't be looking at.
Another big advantage could be at my home. I would love for just a simple device (card, ring, watch) to immediately recognize me, log me in, and go from there. Sure, it's a slight security risk but it doesn't really matter in my own house where the biggest risk is usually the cats. Or what about my kick a$$ stereo in my car? That would sure suck to have someone steal that, and if they tried I'd be happier knowing it wouldn't work. Putting a smartcard into it when I get in the car would be nice for that, as well as having the benefit of remembering exactly what I like to listen to and how it should be played.
I guess I'm having a hard time seeing what's so evil about this idea. Sure, it could be used to prevent "unauthorized use" of digital media but there will always be ways around that. The big benefit would be to prevent others from being able to use your hardware--not your software or media. I can't see a problem with that at all.
You say that you want an IDE HD, CD-RW, the motherboard and two PCI cards. Fine. Now you want to get those into a 1U case? Well, first off, all rackmount cases are pretty custom jobs--though you can find larger (4 or 5U) cases that will support standard motherboards. The 1U motherboards are generally made custom for the particular case, etc. That's why they are so gosh darn expensive. I just really hope you aren't going to try and put your already owned equipment into a box you can buy. No sir, you'll just have to get some fiberglass or resin sheets and make it yourself.
On the other hand, if you just need to have those basic parts inside the 1U case, you may be able to buy something more ready-made. What PCI cards do you need exactly, anyway? If you just want one as an ethernet card, most 1U motherboards come with those on-board as well as other typically needed devices. In a 1U case you just don't have enough room to put much more than one PCI card off a riser inside the case--it is common in the 2U cases, though. Check out VALinux and Penguin Computing before you get yourself into too much trouble.
With all that said, you can get something close to what I think you're looking for here. You may have to cut it down, or maybe they can custom-make exactly what you want. Regardless, expect to spend lots of money and/or time on this little project of yours.
RANT Better re-read the DMCA. Apparently, reverse engineering is illegal at the moment, no matter how easy it is to break. Better make sure that you don't inadvertently "figure out" how someone's code works! /RANT
Ohio State has been offering limited courses online. The system they use is video recording actual classes and then making them available on the web (with login/password). Now, so far it's really just been an experiment. More information can be found at:
http://telr.ohio-state.edu/courses/findcourse.ht ml (Not linked for goatsex safety)
Now, I've taken a couple of classes that were recorded for web access. My feeling is that you probably need to wait a few more years for this to be worth while. The professors just aren't able to adapt to the new technology fast enough and several lectures I watched via the web were just a blank white board and the professor's voice--he was writing on the chalkboard. Similarly, it was difficult to understand some written equations due to bad handwriting, etc.
In all, if you really want your bachelor's degree, you'll probably just have to find a way to go back to school. The WWW might eventually be the way everyone learns, but right now everyone's on the front-end of the learning curve. Give it 5 years, and maybe things will be different.
Cheating is bad, morally wrong, whathaveyou. But half of the problem has always been professors that didn't give a damn about whether or not students cheat. It's great to hear of a professor skilled enough and willing to put in some extra time to find cheaters. To be honest, I really don't care what happens to the people who did the cheating--if they get expelled, that's fine. If not, that's fine too. The important thing is that he's caught them and they won't ever cheat again--and nor will some of the other students there on campus.
Agreed. The absolute best thing the Linux community can do is simply do the best job we can in our respective positions. I'm a consultant, so when I walk into a Microsoft-only business I don't proclaim how terrible their systems are and how I must convert everyone/everything over to Linux. That would just get me fired.
Instead, I do my job. And when new servers/routers/etc are needed, I typically recommend a Linux solution. At first, businesses are uncomfortable with this--and then I tell them the price ($100+ for a supported version of RH) and that I completely support Linux and can do much, much more with a single well-configured Linux box than three or four NT servers. I've never had anyone turn me down.
Microsoft's biggest fear right now is really people like me--the guys that recommend a gradual transfer to Linux. But it's not a true Microsoft vs. Linux situation. If Microsoft had a product that better fit the needs of my customers, then I would recommend it totally. Right now, Linux is a better choice in the back-end. But I believe Win2K is a much better choice for workstations, mostly because people are used to Microsoft's OS and Office products.
The fear at Microsoft is that those of us using/writing free software are not competing with Windows. We're in a different league. We don't play by their rules, and they can't kill free software using the very practices that caused the monopoly cases.
By fighting Microsoft, we are stating they they are a threat to us--but Microsoft isn't our enemy. In fact, we should care less about what Microsoft is doing. Linux and other GPL software is getting to the point of "critical mass" where the software is on par or better (from the "average" user's perspective) with anything Microsoft can produce. Once that critical point is reached, there won't be anything Microsoft, or anyone else, can do to prevent the spreading of GPL software. People will just choose Linux because it's not only cheaper but also because it has a large amounts of advantages over Windows. So why "compete" with a company that only cares about money and market share? Instead, GPL programmers need only be worried about their individual products and inprovements to those. After all, in the GPL community, marketing is done through word-of-mouth and reviews.
All geeks under 30 should also heed the warning: sitting in front of a computer all day and night cannot be healthy. I'm only in my 20's, but the gut has begun to form. Trust me: chicks really don't dig guys with large guts.
My current plan has been to work out 300x more than I used to. That means I go rollerblading around the neighborhood for at least 45 minutes every other day. I'm also trying to do a lot of work on my house since the weather's nice. Basically, I'm spending less time on the computer and more doing more laborious tasks.
Food has been a sticking point, too. I was getting way too much food into my system, and healthy or not it was making me heavy. My solution to this was to eat a very light breakfast and then a nice lunch: turkey or ham sandwich, pickle, and a few chips. I'm also staying away from sodas when possible. For dinner, I tend to fix about the same amount of food I used to eat and separate it over two meals. Another good choice is a baked potato or good french bread and salad.
So far, I've been doing this for about 6 months and have lost a few inches--my jeans feel much nicer now. Oddly enough, I'm also happier because I "seem" to get more work done. Good luck with your endeavor!
In general, simply soldiering the new jacks onto the board won't work. The actual circuit board is common to all revisions and features simply to reduce cost. Each "original" board costs far more, but additional boards are relatively cheap. This is why you see the leads and sometimes even empty sockets.
Even if you do soldier on new jacks, you may also have to soldier on surface-mount resistors, capacitors, etc, to get it to work. And there's still no guarantee. It's quite possible that particular chips are missing (NTSC generator for video out, etc), or even that the major chips are completely different from the more expensive version.
If you're really set on doing this, find a way to compare the cheaper and more expensive versions of the card. If the chip numbers are identical, and there doesn't seem to be any other major differences, then you're probably able to get the features working. And as always, be careful when soldiering onto a PCB--keep animals and small children away.
First of all, no matter what the marketing people tell you, doing everything over IP is not the best solution for every idea out there. You have to ask yourself what you stand to gain by using an IP-based implementation; and in this particular area that isn't much. Intercom systems typically need 4-18# wires run to each station, with is cheaper and just slightly smaller in diameter than CAT5. So you aren't saving wire.
Next, we have to ask if you want to do something special with your intercom; i.e. broadcast it over the internet, have access to a particular station from work, etc. If that's the case, then most off the shelf units require a "master station" that includes ways to connect auxillary devices. This would include a computer. Heck, my intercom system is over ten years old and has this ability. Granted, I only play MP3s to all the intercom units, but getting sound into the server wouldn't be much more difficult.
Lastly, why would you want to give an IP to a device that has only one function? There are multiple ports, protocols, etc. that makes each individual IP address very generic. Why waste an address for something this silly? Certainly there are better uses of resources. Granted, I'm sure you'd be behind a NAT firewall; but that then begs the question why you would be even considering an IP solution.
IP solutions can't save the world, people. They barely make it tolerable.
Funny that this message appears at this time--I was just browsing around on some of my favorite "adult" sites that I haven't seen in quite a while. Now I guess I should feel guilty. Too bad.
Since you're obviously worried about the evil radio waves, I think it would be best if you wrapped yourself in aluminum foil. That way, you can create a Faraday cage around your body so that those nasty EM waves won't interfere with your internal workings. Make sure that there is absolutely _NO_ holes in your special foil suit, as they could allow waves to bounce inside. You'll just have to go without seeing or breathing for a while until all the waves go away. Sorry.
Okay, I can't be the first to think that relations between India and Pakistan aren't exactly the best possible. Once one of those nations started to do nuclear tests, the other followed suit within a week or so. I would go so far as to say they have started their own cold war between them--using the US and Russia whenever possible.
The problem I see here is that Pakistan is going to want to match/beat the Indians. The Pakistanis will certainly be fearful (and rightfully so) if India can place a satellite into orbit but they can't. Medium range missles only get their warheads into most of India, and the surviving portion of India would retaliate and live on. Pakistan wouldn't last past the first assault.
Of course, I could have everything completely wrong...
CNN's website already does this sort of thing. Before you can watch a video clip of theirs, they send a brief commercial. They also show a commercial (usually the same one) after the clip ends. It doesn't seem to make too many people unhappy, plus it helps CNN pay for the bandwidth I'm using and for the content. NBC has also been experimenting with web-broadcasting, which includes the commercials one would regularly see on TV anyways. It's a pretty fair way to go if you ask me.
I did a paper and presentation on these fibers last spring, and even then there was quite a bit of research being done in the area. That being said, everyone seems to wonder just how the little bad boys work. Let me help.
Fibers typically work on the principle of Snell's Law and Total Internal Reflection (TIR). This means that any light entering the fiber (within a certain "acceptance angle") will bounce around continuously while traveling to the other end without any loss. The critical materials here are the core and the cladding--and Snell's Law gives us ways to ensure TIR.
What's so special about holey fibers isn't so much the actual core-cladding interface. Instead, the core has lots of holes that run the length of the fiber, and light is coupled into this region. Snell's Law makes this difficult because light would rather couple into the material with a higher index of refraction; however, the result is the incident light has to come in at a much sharper angle to ensure TIR.
Also what's very nice, and something article briefly touches, is that since the light is travelling in the air region many more photons can be present without melting the fiber. The same is true for speeds. Or, since each hole is continuous and separate, one could treat each hole as a different "fiber" altogether. Perty cool.
BBB is the Better Business Bureau. See http://www.bbb.org for more info.
I'd hate to play devil's advocate here, but to be honest I rather like this idea. The information isn't any more identifiable than, say, an IP address. One big benefit is if other browsers begin to include this type of information: PHP could use this information to choose the "best" version of a webpage, video stream, etc to send you. I know I personally get annoyed when a webpage is designed for a much higher resolution than I have set. Similarly, inexperienced internet users shouldn't be allowed to attempt to stream 1Mb/Sec of video through a 56K modem. Sure, it'll look like crap and it's all the end-user's fault but marketing people will tell you that if the end-user screws up you can lose customers because of it (they can go elsewhere, you can't).
No joke, talking to a company's current workforce is very important. While they may feel it would be improper to say some of the bad things of the company (which it is), you will certainly get an idea from their body language and what they don't say. I once had an interview with a huge company's R&D division where the manager interviewing me didn't have any clue as to what her group was doing. After speaking to some of the group's employees, I quickly realized that not only didn't she know much, but the group was in serious trouble. Later that week the company released information that sales would be lower than expected due to poor R&D--specifically the group I was interviewing for.
While an employer may not like this idea, if possible you should consider talking to former employees. One can imagine how some people feel when they leave a company, and talking to these people may give you a heads up--just be careful to ensure the fomer employee has justification for his/her opinion.
Also consider calling the BBB. They keep good records of complaints from customers, and working for a company with unethical practices towards its customers certainly can't treat its employees much better. Other good sources of information about each company should be available online.
Finally, if you are interviewing at a small company, ask about the owner/CEO. Find out what his/her personality is. Do the same with the VP. Those are the people that control the majority of the company's policies, and if the owner's a prick you can be sure that he'll do everything he can to screw everyone over.
Whatever you do, beware of arrogance. That's a sure sign of failure on the horizon.
Shoot, if you want something that will last for thousands and even millions of years--just take some data from our oh-so-friendly environmentalists. From what I recall, plastics can be made in such a way as to not biodegrade for many, many years. If you want to be remembered for a long time, I would have a casket made out of clear plastic and have it up on top of the ground. That way everyone can see your body in there--and just how you decompose naturally. Now that's a way to get noticed for centuries!
I'm as much a geek as the next guy, and I think I can safely say that I'm just average on most counts. I didn't let this keep me from finding the "right woman" and marrying her. In my case, I found her by talking one night to a former coworker of mine who was taking classes at a small Christian college. I asked if she knew anyone--and of course the answer was "no". She did, however, have a roommate in a bad relationship. It was the last day of finals, and I emailed Heather (my wife) a marriage proposal making liberal use of Song of Solomon (in the Bible--great romance reading). Sure, Heather laughed histerically at first. But it didn't take long and we really hit it off, and three years later we were married. Perty cool.
Now, I wouldn't recommend this type of solution to others--though if it works for you let me know. Instead, regardless of what you do, be original--and if you can't even do that right, be funny. Heck--I even once picked up a clerk at a department store by just saying "hey--how would you like to go out tonight?" Granted, I dated her for three months and she was psycho--but at least I wasn't lonely.
Finally, think about getting involved with a group that includes an interest of yours--but try to not let it be your day job. Skiing, rollerblading and church are a few of my things. Snow bunnies are cool, but blading chicks have even better thigh muscles (yeah, I'm a guy at heart). Church "singles" groups are usually designed so that you can meet mates. These types of activities are sure to help you in your search.
GOOD LUCK!!!
I've been trying to do this recently myself, and have had a good amount of success. There are a few HOWTOs that you definetly need to read before you get too deep into it. Specifically, the XDMCP HOWTO, Remote-X-Apps MINI-HOWTO, and the XDM-Xterm MINI-HOWTO. Also, I looked at the Diskless HOWTO because essentially what is geared for diskless machines is also helpful.
Now, if you're really feeling good, set up your X Server such that vt7 and vt8 are your local X server, vt9 is your home server, and vt10 is that kickass work computer that you hate to have sit all night without someone monkeying around on it.
If anyone can tell me how I can get simple text-terminals (i.e. a telnet login prompt) sent to my workstation's virtutual terminals, let me know. I can do it via a serial cable, but over TCP/IP it seems much more difficult.
There seems to only be 6 pins, so there's only 64 possible combinations (assuming high-low signals) if the interface isn't serial.
Actually, someone's already seemed to have done this and you can purchase it yourself--just take it apart to find out what's inside. http://www.cwol.com/keypads/MicroPad-632.htm
Granted, more people now have computers than several years ago--that just makes sense. Certainly, there will be a disparity between the haves and have-nots. But we're missing something here.
Over the years, computers overall are getting cheaper and cheaper, and people on lower incomes can not only buy a used computer but also a brand new one with MSN's $400 rebate deal (though I'm not advocating anything here). What should be considered is that as prices for computers, even not top-of-the-line models, drop below the price of a regular television set more and more households will have computers. I think that we all can agree that _most_ people, regardless of income, has at least one television.
So why does the government need to get involved here? If the feds give $400 (just a number) to low-income families, then no new computer will be sold at lower than that price. If the feds just stay away like they have, then computer makers will have no choice but to make cheaper computers if they wish to continue selling computers at the rate they have been.
Of course, selling cheap computer's isn't necessarily a good thing, either. But at least it's a start for competition in that market. I'm sure our wonderful system of capitalism will eventually work it's magic on all of us.