You'd think, but the telephone company isn't in the business of running power; they just provide local phone service.
It would probably be much more expensive for them to get approval to run power in the same right-of-ways as they run their fiber. Not to mention the voltages would have to be reasonably high to counteract voltage drop, and you'd have to have expensive switchgear and protective equipment at each RT that the telco isn't used to maintaining.
Much easier to just talk to the power company, which does this stuff all the time and can do it cheaper.
What I never understood about this is why the SECRET SERVICE, of all agencies got involved.
Is publishing a few games and novels on your BBS a big enough crime to warrant the attention of the PERSONAL GUARD of the PRESIDENT OF THE US? Come ON!! This sounds like the sort of thing the FBI should handle... Or even local police with an order from the FBI.
The way some of these people were treated is absolutely abominable, when you consider how benign the crime is. All they really need is the information on the disks, so why not just take the disks? Nope, they gotta take EVERYTHING. And take years to give it back.
Still, it makes me wonder why the SS got involved. There may have been suspicion of bigger crimes than we were let on.
Don't be so sure. A lot of telcos have moved to using Remote Terminals (RT's) in neighborhoods. Basically, everyone's voice pairs terminate in the RT, and then there's a few pairs of fiber from the RT to the central office.
The idea is to save money; you have to run MUCH LESS copper, since EACH SUBSCRIBER PAIR doesn't have to go to the CO; it also enables DSL services for individuals who would otherwise be too far from the CO.
The problem: Unlike the CO, RT's don't have a backup generator. They only have batteries. So if there's a long-lasting power failure at the RT, you only get a few hours of battery backup before the RT runs out of juice, and all the local voice pairs coming out of it go dead. Sure, there's still light on the fiber coming from the CO, but what good does that do you?
Now, in a crisis, telcos actually have portable generators on trailers that they can haul out to RT's serving critical facilities, like hospitals. But unless your residence shares an RT with a hospital, don't count on getting more than few hours of continued service after the lights go out.
There's generally thousands of these RT's in areas where they're used; they don't have enough generators for all of them.
I never understood why DVD-RAM never took off. It's such a superior format for data storage (Over DVD+-RW) that it's not even funny.
DVD-RW and +RW have to use "packet writing" and other hacks to simulate random access read/write, and it's slow as heck. DVD-RAM is fast, does random-access natively (no need for special drivers to do finalizing and unfinalizing and all that; just mount the device read-write) and is more robust at handling media errors. There was also an optional cartridge format that protected the media, and allowed for double-sided (9.4GB) media.
There was also a very nice DVD-VR (video recording) standard that used DVD-RAM, which permitted random access recording and editing of video, including playing back one stream on the disc while recording another... But it got poor manufacturer support on the player side.
Sure, it's more expensive NOW, but that's only because it didn't catch on! When the DVD recordable formats first came out, DVD-RAM cost around the same as DVD-RW/+RW.
It's sad that such a good random access removeable storage medium is dying. At least it's not longer a big loss, since 4.7GB doesn't really go too far anymore.
Since the government wants wiretapping so badly, why don't THEY pony up the cost of implementing it?
I really hate it when the government passes stupid laws like this, and expects OTHER PEOPLE to pay for their implementation. The government should be the one paying if they're the ones who want it.
Of course, now Google will be accountable to shareholders, which means their primary goal will be profit, NOT providing a cool Internet search engine.
Maybe it won't happen right away, but I see Google turning into a useless advertising poisoned portal someday which takes an hour to load on a DSL connection and doesn't work on anything but MSIE.
It just shows how far behind we are when it comes to nanotechnology.
Nature accomplishes self replicating biological machines that can fly for much longer than three minutes, process stimuli, find their own fuel supply, and avoid self-damage...
and we can't even come close.
Biology is amazing. It's really the ultimate nano"technology".
I'd love to hear some of the tracks that the Doom music was "ripped off" from. Just because you draw inspiration from another kind of music doesn't mean you ripped it off.
Name some titles? I want to hear this for myself and decide. }:)
Play some classic DOOM! This is a beautiful port of classic DOOM to Linux:
http://prboom.sourceforge.net/
You'll need original WAD files, of course.... But this port can play at high resolutions using OpenGL, has nice sounding music support (something fairly lacking in most DOOM ports) and is fairly accurate to the original.
I've been playing these past few days and have rediscovered what a great game the original DOOM was! And the soundtrack was great too!
We have one of these at work (a new professor speced it out as his workstation when he arrived; no doubt he plays games in his office sometimes) and it's surprisingly quiet when not too busy.
Dell uses nice and quiet temperature controlled fans in most of its systems. When the system isn't too busy, they spin slowly; when things start getting hot they spin up and can get rather loud, but still not annoyingly so.
Dells prices may be a bit high, but I love their cooling systems. Top notch efficient design. You can't do this easily in home built boxes because case fan and CPU placement differs on different cases and motherboards.
I remember the pink demons would fight each other. The thing is it was really tricky to get them to bite each other since the bite wasn't a projectile weapon. Once you got one to bite another, though, they'd gladly chew at each other now and then until one dies.
Considering that in the US, you have to pay royalties just for playing FREE RADIO in your business, I'd say this is indeed the case.
I always thought this was particularly silly, as free radio has advertising in it that pays for it... So wouldn't you think music publishers would be happy that the licensed stations are playing in stores where a lot of people walk in and out?
Apparently not.
The greed of the music industry is simply without limit. Sorry for making this political, but this just simply proves how much government is in bed with the corporations. This wouldn't happen in a country where the will of the people was truly the way.
-Z
Re:Why IT is annoying
on
Are You Annoying?
·
· Score: 2, Informative
Just install the software in your home directory. Then you have your own copy that you maintain.
I have tons of personal stuff I use installed in my home directory at work. The nice thing about UNIX software is that 99% of it can be installed anywhere, and doesn't have to be in system directories. You also don't need root to install 99% of software.
The only downside is fascist admins who discourage the practice, or filling up the disk with your copy of SuperStatistics2002 which takes up 3GB. This is obviously impractical for very large software packages or stuff that requires licensing.
A popular use for modded X-boxes is to turn them into media centers. I know a friend who has done this; the X-box becomes a video jukebox. Great quality, and it can play a HUGE variety of video formats using mplayer as its core.
Would this be possible without a mod chip? NO! Should this be illegal? NO!! Nothing is being copied illegally here.
There ARE legitimate uses for mod-chips. This ruling is evil.
That's what amuses me most about the whole OGG thing.
Considering that you're more likely to trip over a siberian tiger in Manhattan than to find an OGG file, the ability to play OGG is just an icing on the cake, and not really necessary in a portable music player.
Of course, if you're one of those overzealous people who compressed everything in their collection to ogg when the "MP3's are going to be illegal!!!#!##!##!!# WE MUST NOT USE IT!" craze of a few years ago, that's your problem. }:)
They REFUSE to give us an inexpensive iPod. Rather than drop the price of the 15GB, they simply cut it and leave the existing lowest price the same with a bigger disk.
Why do they refuse to offer an iPod for $200? They'd sell like hotcakes. Not everyone needs 40 freakin' gigs.
Oddly enough, we had a PBX system here and every phone DID have its own routable 10 digit number. You could dial the last four digits within campus to call another campus phone, and all phones were reachable from the outside world with the full 10 digit number.
We've since switched to VoIP with Cisco 7960's, but it's still the same; you just have to dial 7 first when calling on campus.
Having a full phone number is nice; makes it easier for folks to call you.
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You'd think, but the telephone company isn't in the business of running power; they just provide local phone service.
It would probably be much more expensive for them to get approval to run power in the same right-of-ways as they run their fiber. Not to mention the voltages would have to be reasonably high to counteract voltage drop, and you'd have to have expensive switchgear and protective equipment at each RT that the telco isn't used to maintaining.
Much easier to just talk to the power company, which does this stuff all the time and can do it cheaper.
-Z
What I never understood about this is why the SECRET SERVICE, of all agencies got involved.
Is publishing a few games and novels on your BBS a big enough crime to warrant the attention of the PERSONAL GUARD of the PRESIDENT OF THE US? Come ON!! This sounds like the sort of thing the FBI should handle... Or even local police with an order from the FBI.
The way some of these people were treated is absolutely abominable, when you consider how benign the crime is. All they really need is the information on the disks, so why not just take the disks? Nope, they gotta take EVERYTHING. And take years to give it back.
Still, it makes me wonder why the SS got involved. There may have been suspicion of bigger crimes than we were let on.
-Z
Don't be so sure. A lot of telcos have moved to using Remote Terminals (RT's) in neighborhoods. Basically, everyone's voice pairs terminate in the RT, and then there's a few pairs of fiber from the RT to the central office.
The idea is to save money; you have to run MUCH LESS copper, since EACH SUBSCRIBER PAIR doesn't have to go to the CO; it also enables DSL services for individuals who would otherwise be too far from the CO.
The problem: Unlike the CO, RT's don't have a backup generator. They only have batteries. So if there's a long-lasting power failure at the RT, you only get a few hours of battery backup before the RT runs out of juice, and all the local voice pairs coming out of it go dead. Sure, there's still light on the fiber coming from the CO, but what good does that do you?
Now, in a crisis, telcos actually have portable generators on trailers that they can haul out to RT's serving critical facilities, like hospitals. But unless your residence shares an RT with a hospital, don't count on getting more than few hours of continued service after the lights go out.
There's generally thousands of these RT's in areas where they're used; they don't have enough generators for all of them.
-Z
I never understood why DVD-RAM never took off. It's such a superior format for data storage (Over DVD+-RW) that it's not even funny.
DVD-RW and +RW have to use "packet writing" and other hacks to simulate random access read/write, and it's slow as heck. DVD-RAM is fast, does random-access natively (no need for special drivers to do finalizing and unfinalizing and all that; just mount the device read-write) and is more robust at handling media errors. There was also an optional cartridge format that protected the media, and allowed for double-sided (9.4GB) media.
There was also a very nice DVD-VR (video recording) standard that used DVD-RAM, which permitted random access recording and editing of video, including playing back one stream on the disc while recording another... But it got poor manufacturer support on the player side.
Sure, it's more expensive NOW, but that's only because it didn't catch on! When the DVD recordable formats first came out, DVD-RAM cost around the same as DVD-RW/+RW.
It's sad that such a good random access removeable storage medium is dying. At least it's not longer a big loss, since 4.7GB doesn't really go too far anymore.
-Z
Since the government wants wiretapping so badly, why don't THEY pony up the cost of implementing it?
I really hate it when the government passes stupid laws like this, and expects OTHER PEOPLE to pay for their implementation. The government should be the one paying if they're the ones who want it.
-Z
I thought Visa and Mastercard were actually owned by the same company? That would make it seem silly not to accept Mastercard.
-Z
I think there's a problem with the banning system. I had an IP banned a few weeks ago too, and haven't really done anything wrong.
Any other people have problems with spurious bans?
-Z
Of course, now Google will be accountable to shareholders, which means their primary goal will be profit, NOT providing a cool Internet search engine.
Maybe it won't happen right away, but I see Google turning into a useless advertising poisoned portal someday which takes an hour to load on a DSL connection and doesn't work on anything but MSIE.
-Zorin the Pessimist
It just shows how far behind we are when it comes to nanotechnology.
Nature accomplishes self replicating biological machines that can fly for much longer than three minutes, process stimuli, find their own fuel supply, and avoid self-damage...
and we can't even come close.
Biology is amazing. It's really the ultimate nano"technology".
I wonder if Nintendo is going to start coming down hard on emulation now that their classic games are selling.
I saw a NES emulator for GBA that actually worked pretty well. Of course you need a flash RAM cart to actually use it, but it was spiffy nonetheless.
ROM download sites will probably be getting cease-and-desist orders soon, in any case...
Ripped off? Or inspired by?
I'd love to hear some of the tracks that the Doom music was "ripped off" from. Just because you draw inspiration from another kind of music doesn't mean you ripped it off.
Name some titles? I want to hear this for myself and decide. }:)
-Z
Play some classic DOOM! This is a beautiful port of classic DOOM to Linux:
http://prboom.sourceforge.net/
You'll need original WAD files, of course.... But this port can play at high resolutions using OpenGL, has nice sounding music support (something fairly lacking in most DOOM ports) and is fairly accurate to the original.
I've been playing these past few days and have rediscovered what a great game the original DOOM was! And the soundtrack was great too!
-Z
We have one of these at work (a new professor speced it out as his workstation when he arrived; no doubt he plays games in his office sometimes) and it's surprisingly quiet when not too busy.
Dell uses nice and quiet temperature controlled fans in most of its systems. When the system isn't too busy, they spin slowly; when things start getting hot they spin up and can get rather loud, but still not annoyingly so.
Dells prices may be a bit high, but I love their cooling systems. Top notch efficient design. You can't do this easily in home built boxes because case fan and CPU placement differs on different cases and motherboards.
-Z
>(two of them -- Lion King and Nemo (yes, I was >travelling cross-country with my son))
No need to excuse yourself; those are both extremely excellent movies, and I don't even have nor want kids!
I remember the pink demons would fight each other. The thing is it was really tricky to get them to bite each other since the bite wasn't a projectile weapon. Once you got one to bite another, though, they'd gladly chew at each other now and then until one dies.
That game was a blast. }:)
-Z
Unfortunately the QUAD-DAMAGE was downgraded to triple damage since QUAD was considered too powerful for the n00b5 to handle.
Alas, less gibs will fly. But all will be well in n00bdom.
-Zorin the Lynx
And the only reason they can afford to provide all these benefits is by raping the rest of the computer industry.
I'm sorry, but abusing monopoly power to make tons of money is wrong, no matter what you do with the money.
-Z
Considering that in the US, you have to pay royalties just for playing FREE RADIO in your business, I'd say this is indeed the case.
I always thought this was particularly silly, as free radio has advertising in it that pays for it... So wouldn't you think music publishers would be happy that the licensed stations are playing in stores where a lot of people walk in and out?
Apparently not.
The greed of the music industry is simply without limit. Sorry for making this political, but this just simply proves how much government is in bed with the corporations. This wouldn't happen in a country where the will of the people was truly the way.
-Z
Just install the software in your home directory. Then you have your own copy that you maintain.
I have tons of personal stuff I use installed in my home directory at work. The nice thing about UNIX software is that 99% of it can be installed anywhere, and doesn't have to be in system directories. You also don't need root to install 99% of software.
The only downside is fascist admins who discourage the practice, or filling up the disk with your copy of SuperStatistics2002 which takes up 3GB. This is obviously impractical for very large software packages or stuff that requires licensing.
-Z
One could argue that the "illegally ripped" BIOS is already on your XBOX anyway, so you're not really "copying" it. All you're doing is patching it.
-Z
Sorry, but I must digress.
A popular use for modded X-boxes is to turn them into media centers. I know a friend who has done this; the X-box becomes a video jukebox. Great quality, and it can play a HUGE variety of video formats using mplayer as its core.
Would this be possible without a mod chip? NO! Should this be illegal? NO!! Nothing is being copied illegally here.
There ARE legitimate uses for mod-chips. This ruling is evil.
-Z
That's what amuses me most about the whole OGG thing.
Considering that you're more likely to trip over a siberian tiger in Manhattan than to find an OGG file, the ability to play OGG is just an icing on the cake, and not really necessary in a portable music player.
Of course, if you're one of those overzealous people who compressed everything in their collection to ogg when the "MP3's are going to be illegal!!!#!##!##!!# WE MUST NOT USE IT!" craze of a few years ago, that's your problem. }:)
-Z
They REFUSE to give us an inexpensive iPod. Rather than drop the price of the 15GB, they simply cut it and leave the existing lowest price the same with a bigger disk.
Why do they refuse to offer an iPod for $200? They'd sell like hotcakes. Not everyone needs 40 freakin' gigs.
-Z
I put my old systems to work on other tasks. Why throw away a perfectly good computer?
-Z
Oddly enough, we had a PBX system here and every phone DID have its own routable 10 digit number. You could dial the last four digits within campus to call another campus phone, and all phones were reachable from the outside world with the full 10 digit number.
We've since switched to VoIP with Cisco 7960's, but it's still the same; you just have to dial 7 first when calling on campus.
Having a full phone number is nice; makes it easier for folks to call you.
-Z