It's scary how many NT 4 boxes I come across in the work world.
You know, the last couple of years haven't exactly been an economic cakewalk. Lots of companies have better things to do than spend money on new computers when their existing ones are working just fine.
For the record? I still use NT on my desk. Actually, I have two machines - the second runs Linux. Why can't I upgrade NT? Because the machine only has a P2/300 processor in it, and I'm fairly certain that a 'newer' OS will slow it down to something unbearable.
Why don't I care? Because I do all my real work on the Linux machine. The NT box is merely for Outlook, and testing our app using IE. I don't need anything faster, and frankly if the company was spending money, I'd rather have a raise than a replacement for that box.
I figure most people who are still using NT or 9x are probably using it for similar things. If all you're using is Office, why do you need to upgrade when everything works just fine on the machine you've got? And yes, I get irritated that our sales folks always have the newest, shiniest computers on their desks while I have old machines on mine trying to do software development, but I've been able to make do just fine. Perhaps I could use a new machine more than they could, but it's not a battle I would win.
At least for Linux we can use OpenMosix to get some improved performance. The suckers using Windows don't have anything like that.
I think I saw a documentary on this. It's related to the centre of our planet stopping spinning or something like that, and they need to send some nukes down there to restart it.
I think the documentary was called 'The Middle', 'The Core', 'The Deep'... something like that.
RAID 1 schemes (1, 0+1, 10) are also capable of running without a performance hit when one drive fails, unlike RAID 3/4/5 systems, some implementations of which cannot run at all until rebuilt.
Not to nitpick myself, but believe it or not I've run across a Compaq Server (less than 2 years old) that couldn't boot properly while the 0+1 array was being rebuilt. Yes, the data was preserved, but having to wait a few hours to get the machine back up was agonizing.
Fortunately we had a backup server (with just the critical parts of the app), so we switched to that in the meantime, then waited patiently to get everything else up.
We're now working on eliminating the Compaqs from our critical infrastructure. They are way too failure prone, and a failure of a one-inch fan against the CPU (out of 3) meant the box would shut down and refuse to start until it's replaced. And this happened multiple times to several of our servers.
Why have 3 fans at all if you can't tolerate the failure of one of them?
Um, there HAVE been Russians in space. Doncha think they smuggled some Vodka up? I mean, c'mon. A Slav without Vodka is like an Irishman without Guinness.
I mean, correct me if I am out of line here, but doesn't the US version of MTV, which isn't shown on any "legal" cable or satellite provider in Canada get multiple times the number of viewers of the various Canadian music television programs (I.E. Much Music)
No. We all listen to Ann Murray and Celine Dion exclusively.
The occasional brave ones listen to The Tragically Hip. That's about it. We're not interested in your crummy MTV with its formula music.
At the airport a few months ago (Terminal 2), while waiting to pick up my fiancee's family from a trip, I noticed that the 'Arrivals' ticker was obscured by a giant 'Dr Watson' popup dialog.
While not quite a BSOD, it was up there for over 30 minutes while I watched, annoyed, that I couldn't see whether their flight arrived or not (saw the flight number, but couldn't see its status).
I have a better idea: let's attack the decryptor's business model. Talk, talk, talk (especially if you've got those free evenings and weekends). They'll have so much to listen to, they won't be able to sort out anything from the noise.
Even better, use your time to call up spammers who are dumb enough to put 1-800 numbers in their mailings and chat them up for hours.
Anybody using a 3COM 905C-TX card will probably run into this. Let this be a warning to you: disable Kudzu first chance you get. Otherwise the card'll get buggered up and you'll have trouble booting. If you DO manage to boot, you'll never get the card running properly while Kudzu is still active.
Disabling Kudzu service solved the problem. Apparently I'm only one of dozens who has encountered this. The same issue does not appear in any of the half-dozen versions of Linux I've tried before on that particular machine.
When you're done voting, you give your ballot with sleeve to the attendant, and you watch (you have to watch, they make you stay) as it goes into something resembling a giant laser printer
Maybe it was just me, but I thought it looked more like a gigantic shredder.
Too bad they forgot to mention the Town of Markham, billed as Canada's Technology Capital (just north of Toronto). Apparently 11,700 residents registered to vote online this year in this municipal election. (note: it's not a terribly small down - with a population of 190,000)
I was sent the information on how to vote online, but I just don't trust it, what with no paper trail. The elections are today, and I plan on going and filling in my old-fashioned "x in the circle" paper ballot.
'Course the mayor (Don Cousens) is a shoe-in. He's been mayor since forever and there are no viable alternative candidates. Don doesn't seem to be even bothering advertising his platform much - all I've seen is about one or two election signs around town. All the action is between the city council or the regional council positions.
The riaa should learn from this lesson, too. If you try to charge someone more for a product because you assume they're going to do something illegal, people will find a way to get around the higher price. Proactive high prices don't fly in a capitalist society where everyone is waiting for the sale price, and unwilling to believe bullshit about "these are for data, those are for music" when they're identical except for the price.
That reminds me about something else. Some years ago, a contact lens manufacturer was successfully sued because they sold the same lens as both a permanent and and disposable lens. The labelling was different, and the price (something like $1 for the 'disposable' and $100 for the 'permanent'). The quality of the lens was the same.
I thought it had been made illegal to sell the same product deceptively this way and try to charge a higher price because of this ruling.
Someone care to comment on my status? As a Canadian who purchases lots of CDRs (no, I don't use them for music - I need them to do my work), I've been paying the heavy levies on every disc I purchase, which are given to the music industry.
Since I've effectively been paying for music without choosing to do so, does that mean that I can start (legally) copying now?
If not, how does the government justify the levy? Some people are copying, so charge us all like we're all guilty? Doesn't seem fair that I have to pay for music that other people are copying, just because the media is capable of carrying music on it.
Don't laugh. I recently visited (say, three years ago) a large, very well-known law firm in downtown Toronto that was still using token ring. Even their new hardware was all using token ring adapters.
Why? Because they had "so much investment" that they didn't want to have to tear it all out. No joke. They occupy some 9 floors of their building:)
Oh, and can anyone recommend another good Canadian bank now?
I left TD Bank to open my account with Canada Trust. Now TD bought Canada Trust (to non-Canadians, they're now called 'TD Canada Trust'). D'oh!
They're pretty good. I use them because their site, EasyWeb, is intuitive and works with Mozilla. I do all my banking on EasyWeb. The best part, is that if you *do* have to visit a branch, they're open until 8pm during the week. As far as I know, none of the other major banks do that.
Their credit card sucks though. Get yourself a Dividend VISA from CIBC - they'll credit you 1% of your purchases at the end of the year (free money!), and no fees. High interest, though, so beware. You can also get the 'Platinum Dividend' card for $90/year which gives you 2% back.
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It's scary how many NT 4 boxes I come across in the work world.
You know, the last couple of years haven't exactly been an economic cakewalk. Lots of companies have better things to do than spend money on new computers when their existing ones are working just fine.
For the record? I still use NT on my desk. Actually, I have two machines - the second runs Linux. Why can't I upgrade NT? Because the machine only has a P2/300 processor in it, and I'm fairly certain that a 'newer' OS will slow it down to something unbearable.
Why don't I care? Because I do all my real work on the Linux machine. The NT box is merely for Outlook, and testing our app using IE. I don't need anything faster, and frankly if the company was spending money, I'd rather have a raise than a replacement for that box.
I figure most people who are still using NT or 9x are probably using it for similar things. If all you're using is Office, why do you need to upgrade when everything works just fine on the machine you've got? And yes, I get irritated that our sales folks always have the newest, shiniest computers on their desks while I have old machines on mine trying to do software development, but I've been able to make do just fine. Perhaps I could use a new machine more than they could, but it's not a battle I would win.
At least for Linux we can use OpenMosix to get some improved performance. The suckers using Windows don't have anything like that.
I think I saw a documentary on this. It's related to the centre of our planet stopping spinning or something like that, and they need to send some nukes down there to restart it.
I think the documentary was called 'The Middle', 'The Core', 'The Deep'... something like that.
RAID 1 schemes (1, 0+1, 10) are also capable of running without a performance hit when one drive fails, unlike RAID 3/4/5 systems, some implementations of which cannot run at all until rebuilt.
Not to nitpick myself, but believe it or not I've run across a Compaq Server (less than 2 years old) that couldn't boot properly while the 0+1 array was being rebuilt. Yes, the data was preserved, but having to wait a few hours to get the machine back up was agonizing.
Fortunately we had a backup server (with just the critical parts of the app), so we switched to that in the meantime, then waited patiently to get everything else up.
We're now working on eliminating the Compaqs from our critical infrastructure. They are way too failure prone, and a failure of a one-inch fan against the CPU (out of 3) meant the box would shut down and refuse to start until it's replaced. And this happened multiple times to several of our servers.
Why have 3 fans at all if you can't tolerate the failure of one of them?
It's a whole other type of Weapon of Mass Destruction!
- Fast
- Cheap
- Quality
Sorry, can't have all three.Nobody is suggesting putting the binary on a CD. It is already on the users computer - so there is no need.
Great! So we'll read the NTFS drive first, locate the NTFS driver on it, then... oh wait.
(sidewalk for the en_US folks)
I'm en_CA you insensitive clod! (and we use 'sidewalk' too)
current studies involving vegan food production in space involve using rats to assess nutritional adequacies of what's being grown.
I have a simpler solution. Just eat the rats.
Um, there HAVE been Russians in space. Doncha think they smuggled some Vodka up? I mean, c'mon. A Slav without Vodka is like an Irishman without Guinness.
send out fixes for vunerabilities that are free to download
The fixes, or the vulnerabilities?
I mean, correct me if I am out of line here, but doesn't the US version of MTV, which isn't shown on any "legal" cable or satellite provider in Canada get multiple times the number of viewers of the various Canadian music television programs (I.E. Much Music)
No. We all listen to Ann Murray and Celine Dion exclusively.
The occasional brave ones listen to The Tragically Hip. That's about it. We're not interested in your crummy MTV with its formula music.
They better have been careful not to have taken that piece off of my land. I've got mineral rights, you know.
At the airport a few months ago (Terminal 2), while waiting to pick up my fiancee's family from a trip, I noticed that the 'Arrivals' ticker was obscured by a giant 'Dr Watson' popup dialog.
While not quite a BSOD, it was up there for over 30 minutes while I watched, annoyed, that I couldn't see whether their flight arrived or not (saw the flight number, but couldn't see its status).
Sadly I didn't bring a camera.
Rather than pay $4K to encrypt your phone calls
I have a better idea: let's attack the decryptor's business model. Talk, talk, talk (especially if you've got those free evenings and weekends). They'll have so much to listen to, they won't be able to sort out anything from the noise.
Even better, use your time to call up spammers who are dumb enough to put 1-800 numbers in their mailings and chat them up for hours.
Anybody using a 3COM 905C-TX card will probably run into this. Let this be a warning to you: disable Kudzu first chance you get. Otherwise the card'll get buggered up and you'll have trouble booting. If you DO manage to boot, you'll never get the card running properly while Kudzu is still active.
Disabling Kudzu service solved the problem. Apparently I'm only one of dozens who has encountered this. The same issue does not appear in any of the half-dozen versions of Linux I've tried before on that particular machine.
When you're done voting, you give your ballot with sleeve to the attendant, and you watch (you have to watch, they make you stay) as it goes into something resembling a giant laser printer
Maybe it was just me, but I thought it looked more like a gigantic shredder.
Too bad they forgot to mention the Town of Markham, billed as Canada's Technology Capital (just north of Toronto). Apparently 11,700 residents registered to vote online this year in this municipal election. (note: it's not a terribly small down - with a population of 190,000)
I was sent the information on how to vote online, but I just don't trust it, what with no paper trail. The elections are today, and I plan on going and filling in my old-fashioned "x in the circle" paper ballot.
'Course the mayor (Don Cousens) is a shoe-in. He's been mayor since forever and there are no viable alternative candidates. Don doesn't seem to be even bothering advertising his platform much - all I've seen is about one or two election signs around town. All the action is between the city council or the regional council positions.
The MS graph looked steady until May of 2002 them something drastic happened.
According to my charts generated from my logs, the rash of worms started with CodeRed around September of 2001. Nimda followed a month or so later.
Unless you're thinking of a different rash of worms.
More importantly, I hope they don't have to remove this now...
Cool. Maybe they can use Georgy Russell as their new spokesperson. I understand she works for Veritas (according to the page).
The riaa should learn from this lesson, too. If you try to charge someone more for a product because you assume they're going to do something illegal, people will find a way to get around the higher price. Proactive high prices don't fly in a capitalist society where everyone is waiting for the sale price, and unwilling to believe bullshit about "these are for data, those are for music" when they're identical except for the price.
That reminds me about something else. Some years ago, a contact lens manufacturer was successfully sued because they sold the same lens as both a permanent and and disposable lens. The labelling was different, and the price (something like $1 for the 'disposable' and $100 for the 'permanent'). The quality of the lens was the same.
I thought it had been made illegal to sell the same product deceptively this way and try to charge a higher price because of this ruling.
"If you haven't paid for it, you've stolen it."
Someone care to comment on my status? As a Canadian who purchases lots of CDRs (no, I don't use them for music - I need them to do my work), I've been paying the heavy levies on every disc I purchase, which are given to the music industry.
Since I've effectively been paying for music without choosing to do so, does that mean that I can start (legally) copying now?
If not, how does the government justify the levy? Some people are copying, so charge us all like we're all guilty? Doesn't seem fair that I have to pay for music that other people are copying, just because the media is capable of carrying music on it.
Seems some drunk guy hit the Big Box down the road that provided my phone line connection, and they replaced it with a DSL capable box.
There's a lesson to be learned here, I think. Problems can be solved by getting pissed!
Don't laugh. I recently visited (say, three years ago) a large, very well-known law firm in downtown Toronto that was still using token ring. Even their new hardware was all using token ring adapters.
:)
Why? Because they had "so much investment" that they didn't want to have to tear it all out. No joke. They occupy some 9 floors of their building
Oh, and can anyone recommend another good Canadian bank now?
I left TD Bank to open my account with Canada Trust. Now TD bought Canada Trust (to non-Canadians, they're now called 'TD Canada Trust'). D'oh!
They're pretty good. I use them because their site, EasyWeb, is intuitive and works with Mozilla. I do all my banking on EasyWeb. The best part, is that if you *do* have to visit a branch, they're open until 8pm during the week. As far as I know, none of the other major banks do that.
Their credit card sucks though. Get yourself a Dividend VISA from CIBC - they'll credit you 1% of your purchases at the end of the year (free money!), and no fees. High interest, though, so beware. You can also get the 'Platinum Dividend' card for $90/year which gives you 2% back.