The article points out that the companies in Canada that are getting the money (currently) are ones like Ubisoft - very large and able to move large numbers of jobs around... Money for independent gamers would be nice. But as things are set up, it makes more sense in some ways to give $$$$$$$(CD) to giant companies instead of the little guys - who I think make better games!
Common Carrier status just means a whole lot of problems for them - they have no reason to want it, and have done lots to avoid it. And they don't have it now (at least for internet).
I've needed > 2 Gig on a Windows system before. And this is with 2 Gig of RAM. Yes, that's right, I've needed this. Granted, I was running multiple instances of a memory intensive application (finance), which is not what a "normal" user would see... But, you can't just say "Oh, no one needs a pagefile" without some pretty hefty fine print. Anyway, after Windows made a total mess of instantaneous resizing, I changed all the machines to use 2 Gig pagefiles.
Linux? Dunno, I'm gonna go for the 1.5x RAM:-) (thanks ppl!)
They are mainly used in the psychology of battle. A mine is not made to kill someone, it is made to disable soldiers and dishearten the rest of them that see it happening.
Like those nasty things evil terrorists are using in Iraq to blow up our soldiers? (or insert proper official story here.) Of course, the US is good at countering that on the home front: most people have no idea of our staggering losses in Iraq. Videos of such things going off are of course censored (you do know google censors itself in the US, right?). But out there in Iraq, the soldiers aren't happy about it at all. I sure as hell wouldn't want to be patrolling a potential minefield!
Alas, mines really are very economical for a warring nation/group that doesn't give a flying fuck about civilians. We won't see the end of them until we see the end of war...and probably not even then.
At the end of the day it is a bussiness decision, and all this emotional crap that all these allegedly rational posters are pulling is just not useful. To get anything done we all have to deal with scum. If you can't take the scum, then stay out of the bedroom.
However, as a business decision, one has to consider whether one wants to encourage such behavior. As a business, it might be much better to avoid such people in the hope that they will eventually starve, after which business will be easier to conduct.
I was pretty damn unimpressed with the quiz myself - how the fsck should I know which one is safe? I'm not going to trust either until I've read a *whole* lot on their site - even then, maybe (probably) not. So stupid...I hope those 3% don't think they can just do whatever they want now.
I used to work in a financial-systems company. On of our customer service people had his.pst fill up when it reached 2 gig. I'd estimate that at *least* 95% of his e-mail was work related. Won't say much else, but it was a pain in the *ss to fix.
It's amazing that such a tiny little transmitter as the one in my phone can transmit a signal strong enough to reach someone in the same room, never mind a tower miles away from my location.
SETI uses one of our interstellar probes as a signal recognition "baseline" - basically a test of whether or not the system is turned on. It's a *huge* fucking signal. The source? The radioactive power-pack on the probe...which puts out as much light as a christmas-tree light (not much more'n a cell-phone, that). Out past Saturn.
We've been screaming "We are here, We are here!" to the cosmos for years.
Nonsense. Is using ssh guarenteeing illegal activity? Not at all. If I want to use my ISP to download the latest Ubuntu (and I will soon), I damn well want it via BitTorrents. And if I encrypt it, that's my business too!
It's funny how so many of the things fortold in 1989 aren't around today - but not because of technological limitations! Consider these:
Desktop libraries - sure, we've got wikipedia, but not in 2001, and there is still *vast* amounts of stuff out there we can't have today. Why not? IP.
Remote controls that let you automatically record a set of TV shows. Sure, there's Tivo...but even Tivo doesn't want you to be able to watch this stuff whenever you want! You're expected to pay money for it.
So many people dreamed of unfettered access to vast amounts of knowledge thanks to the internet... And we do have vast amount of access - but no authoritative, complete libraries at our fingertips. Companies have managed to lay claim to information, and it's no longer shared with everyone, but kept in chains.
They applauded because Bush's proposals to "fix" social security were terrible and no one wanted them except the investement firms and big business who would get to play with all the money. They applauded because they actually managed to stop some small part of the Bush agenda (albiet a small part). I'm surprised they didn't all get arrested for Disturbing the Peace (or whatever it is they use these days to remove disruptive elements).
Why not use an EMP to knock missles out of the air?
1. Hard to get a big enough EMP (unless you're using nukes - see below).
2. Biological warheads are still very dangerous even without any sort of electronic system in the head.
3. Not needed - the missle shield is already effective when you realize that we'll be putting nuclear warheads on the anti-missle missles.
There are too many easy ways to defeat the shield - another really easy choice is to drop dummies all over the place (like missle command, except only a few are live - and you don't know which ones). Balloons can be used to distract targetting too. I went to a pretty convincing talk about this at the Hopkins Physics department.
No, the only way it can be effective is to have nuclear-tipped missles, and they know that. They're just getting us ready for it slowly. "Oh, it worked, but now they have this, so we'll need to use nukes. And we've already spent $183947374984 on it, after all."
Curse you, MS, for getting good Geek press coverage! Your plans for world domination by making free speech easier so you can pump more advertising into China will fail miserably!
They've actually done as close to the Right Thing(tm) as they can (yeah, so I can be radical) - even tho it costs them more work (=money). I'd have to have to administer this one, tho;-)
It's like playing with nuclear weapons....but bigger. What they should do is send the observer spacecraft seperate from the mass. If the mass comes in on a trajectory that's head-on to mars, you could get a *much* bigger explosion!
Of course, then you'd have to make sure your observer was in the right spot at the right time, and it's probably too complicated... but a bigger explosion, so it's worth it anyway!
--LWM
ps - I was hoping we'd build a giant rail-gun to shoot at Mars, but no such luck...
pps - you can be sure the US Gov will be interested in data for its program to put weapons in space...that do the same thing (with smaller rods) to earth.
Slashdot Mirror
He work at Bowling Green State University (bgsu.edu) (in Ohio). The IT acceptable use policy is at http://www.bgsu.edu/its/page9605.html
--LWM
ps - whooooooo telling campus police to p*ss off!
Now, make it even better: coat it with "starlite", and then you've got body armor that's capable of withstanding a nuclear blast.
Man, I've wanted this since the early 90s, and we still haven't got it...
--LWM
I saw an interesting article about subsidies for computer games in Canada:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/issue/70/15
The article points out that the companies in Canada that are getting the money (currently) are ones like Ubisoft - very large and able to move large numbers of jobs around... Money for independent gamers would be nice. But as things are set up, it makes more sense in some ways to give $$$$$$$(CD) to giant companies instead of the little guys - who I think make better games!
We'll see what happens in France, eh?
--LWM
How much would you settle for?
--LWM
Common Carrier status just means a whole lot of problems for them - they have no reason to want it, and have done lots to avoid it. And they don't have it now (at least for internet).
--LWM
I've needed > 2 Gig on a Windows system before. And this is with 2 Gig of RAM. Yes, that's right, I've needed this. Granted, I was running multiple instances of a memory intensive application (finance), which is not what a "normal" user would see... But, you can't just say "Oh, no one needs a pagefile" without some pretty hefty fine print. Anyway, after Windows made a total mess of instantaneous resizing, I changed all the machines to use 2 Gig pagefiles.
:-) (thanks ppl!)
Linux? Dunno, I'm gonna go for the 1.5x RAM
--LWM
Alas, mines really are very economical for a warring nation/group that doesn't give a flying fuck about civilians. We won't see the end of them until we see the end of war...and probably not even then.
--LWM
--LWM
You get what you pay for ;-)
--LWM
I was pretty damn unimpressed with the quiz myself - how the fsck should I know which one is safe? I'm not going to trust either until I've read a *whole* lot on their site - even then, maybe (probably) not. So stupid...I hope those 3% don't think they can just do whatever they want now.
--LWM
I used to work in a financial-systems company. On of our customer service people had his .pst fill up when it reached 2 gig. I'd estimate that at *least* 95% of his e-mail was work related. Won't say much else, but it was a pain in the *ss to fix.
--LWM
Nonsense. Is using ssh guarenteeing illegal activity? Not at all. If I want to use my ISP to download the latest Ubuntu (and I will soon), I damn well want it via BitTorrents. And if I encrypt it, that's my business too!
--LWM
So many people dreamed of unfettered access to vast amounts of knowledge thanks to the internet... And we do have vast amount of access - but no authoritative, complete libraries at our fingertips. Companies have managed to lay claim to information, and it's no longer shared with everyone, but kept in chains.
Welcome to the 21st century!
--LWM
Yes, but...yes, no one cares anymore ;-)
--LWM
What, you think I was a Democrat?
--LWM
ps - the sigh was because debating social security is much less fun then debating nuclear-tipped Star-Wars missle defense shields.
They applauded because Bush's proposals to "fix" social security were terrible and no one wanted them except the investement firms and big business who would get to play with all the money. They applauded because they actually managed to stop some small part of the Bush agenda (albiet a small part). I'm surprised they didn't all get arrested for Disturbing the Peace (or whatever it is they use these days to remove disruptive elements).
--LWM
Why not use an EMP to knock missles out of the air?
1. Hard to get a big enough EMP (unless you're using nukes - see below).
2. Biological warheads are still very dangerous even without any sort of electronic system in the head.
3. Not needed - the missle shield is already effective when you realize that we'll be putting nuclear warheads on the anti-missle missles.
There are too many easy ways to defeat the shield - another really easy choice is to drop dummies all over the place (like missle command, except only a few are live - and you don't know which ones). Balloons can be used to distract targetting too. I went to a pretty convincing talk about this at the Hopkins Physics department.
No, the only way it can be effective is to have nuclear-tipped missles, and they know that. They're just getting us ready for it slowly. "Oh, it worked, but now they have this, so we'll need to use nukes. And we've already spent $183947374984 on it, after all."
--LWM
That's not very helpful if I have 100 machines to check before Friday. And if one should get infected between now and then? Not very handy, that.
--LWM
Curse you, MS, for getting good Geek press coverage! Your plans for world domination by making free speech easier so you can pump more advertising into China will fail miserably!
--LWM
They've actually done as close to the Right Thing(tm) as they can (yeah, so I can be radical) - even tho it costs them more work (=money). I'd have to have to administer this one, tho ;-)
Way to go MS!
--LWM
Unclear strategy.
Heh. If it's unclear, it's because they want it to be unclear.
<tin foil hat>It's all part of the plan to Take Over the World!!</hat>
Seriously, tho - Google doesn't want ppl to know what their plans are. Never have.
--LWM
--LWM
Dude, it's the equivalent of an extra 3 US citizens.
--LWM
It's like playing with nuclear weapons....but bigger. What they should do is send the observer spacecraft seperate from the mass. If the mass comes in on a trajectory that's head-on to mars, you could get a *much* bigger explosion!
Of course, then you'd have to make sure your observer was in the right spot at the right time, and it's probably too complicated... but a bigger explosion, so it's worth it anyway!
--LWM
ps - I was hoping we'd build a giant rail-gun to shoot at Mars, but no such luck...
pps - you can be sure the US Gov will be interested in data for its program to put weapons in space...that do the same thing (with smaller rods) to earth.