It has been known for some considerable time, as a result of experiments by the Viking Landers, that the soil had some interesting chemical properties. It is hardly news. However, methane from the rocks and clay cannot be the source, as the methane has been seen concentrated in small regions, whereas the rocks and soil are fairly uniform across the planet.
Obvious solution: The methane isn't being formed at the surface.
Serpentinization only requires that the olivine (more likely, peridotite - an olivine/pyroxene rock) be moved to cooler temperatures and lower pressures, with a bit of water to make the ions move.
So, in your "small regions" where the methane is concentrated, you have some subsurface olivine and some water getting to it.
Regarding that uniform rock and soil on the martian surface, consider flood basalts over eastern Oregon and Washington. The surface is made up of basalt, yes. However, underneath all that basalt, in many areas, is material that was buried by it.
The average Slashdotter's ethics are still naive and selectively applied.
Here's the exaple that will get me modded as a troll:
It is okay for people to download and listen to copyrighted music 24/7, benefitting from someone's labor without paying for it. The violator's excuse? "I wouldn't have bought it anyway, so no sale was lost. They didn't lose anything."
It is not okay for people to download copyrighted GPL software and make use of it in their own product, benefitting from someone's labor without paying for it. The violator's excuse? "They weren't charging for it anyway. They didn't lose anything."
Now, on the original topic, from what I understand, the applicants knew when the information would be available to them. Therefore, by knowing this, they also should have know that gaining the information earlier could be considered ethically questionable. (I won't go so far as to say "wrong" because the information was poorly secured). Almost all the analogies that have been given to state why it is wrong have failed.
A better analogy might be: I distribute a stack of photocopies of a business report or some other thing I intend to be public. I accidentally include one page of something that I did not intend to distribute... something I may have eventually released, but did not intend to at this time.
Now, suppose you are a recipient of these materials, and got the page in question... you notice this unintentional information has been accidentally made available to you, and you are aware of the original intent. Is reading it in its entirety wrong, right, or questionable? Is telling other people the information right?
The reason I stated that the ethical standards were naive and selectively applied is because the average person cannot put themselves into the other's position.
Think about it this way: Many have stated that gaining the information (that was not intended to be released yet) was ethical. Yet, if those same people had accidentally released confidential information on a web site (though not through any clickable link), and had it been discovered and disseminated against their original intent, you could bet that they might not apply the same standard of ethics.
Though the big violator is the web site operator, of course.
Another analogy: I tell you something, and I say "please don't tell anyone else until June 18th."
I tell person X that I told you some information that you are going to release on June 18th, and to ask you about it then.
If you run off and accidentally give the information to person Y before June 18th, you definitely screwed up. Now Y offers to tell person X before that date.
Since person X knew he/she wasn't supposed to receive the information before that time, if X accepts the offer and gets the information, it would seem to me that X has done something unethical.
Putting it all together: I am Stanford, you are the web site operator, person Y is the discoverer of the URL hack, and person X is an applicant to Stanford.
I guess it looks fairly obvious from my point of view, and perhaps my analogies are also flawed, but I can see why Stanford might have reason to believe that the actions of the people gaining the information before they were intended to have it were unethical.
Allow me to amend that to:...naive and selectively applied...
Re:Cordless Phone interference ?
on
A Private GSM Cell?
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Why in the H*** would a computer geek even consider buying a cordless phone in the 802.11 frequency range.
There are two options, either of which avoids the problem, either 900Mhz or 5Ghz (you weren't planning on deploying 802.11a were you ?)
Please tell me you didn't go out and buy the coolest phone a few years back in the 2.4Ghz range, and now aren't willing to "upgrade" to a 5Ghz phone.
Make sure you take a look at your 5 GHz phone's spec sheet before purchasing.
Many "5.8 GHz" phones I have seen transmit from the phone to the base station on 5 GHz, and the base station to the phone at 2.4 GHz. (It might be the other way around, but you get the idea). If WiFi interference is your concern, many supposed 5 GHz phones are no comfort.
Panasonic FHSS "GigaRange" phones seem to be one of the ones that go 5.8 both ways, but they are not inexpensive.
I just stick with a 900 MHz phone. It even has dual handsets and was... $25 at Sears.
My family has a cabin on a lake outside of Pelican Rapids. I've been looking forward to checking out the lake temperature, but unfortunately it's a 1800 mile drive and I'm a bit short on gas money:(
Re:Too many keyboard layouts
on
Blank Keyboard
·
· Score: 1
10-15 years ago I might have agreed with this, but today there are so many keyboard layouts that it is impossible not to look. The ~ and | symbols are in a different place on every one of the 10 keyboards I use daily, for example.
I routinely switch between my laptop, a PC 104-key, and a Sun Type 5c.
The 5c, of course, has the entire upper-right corner (\, backspace, etc.) in a completely different layout than most PC keyboards, and control and caps are in the right places.
Generally, I don't look at the keyboard, but I realize very quick that I've switched keyboards when I have a \ and backspace reversal, or I keep turning caps on when I want to use control.
The only real requirement I have is that the enter key be a rectangle with it's longest side oriented along the left-right line, with \ being one or two keys above it. No backwards-L shaped enter keys for me.
I think I have you beat. Unless you live in Davis, CA too?;)
Eugene, OR. I imagine Eugene and Davis are similar... I've heard them both described as "little Berkeley".
I can totally understand your situation. I just got done listening to somebody explain that it is ethical to lie about environmental issues because otherwise people won't understand how urgent they are.
I've heard the same kinds of things here, too. Usually from members of OSPIRG.
I've also been told how evil I am for wanting to earn money for a living.
It does, in some cases, though not any of the ones I selected. I did only selected ones that I was sure were real. (Though the fish bait rule is gone).
I wasn't refuting the fact that many are urban legends, I was defending my selections, since you saw fit to say that two of my selections did not appear in statute.
Do you note that the two are not connected? That I was not "defending" or "attacking" anything? Do you see that I even said that the examples given are not the really silly ones that I'm talking about?
There are really silly laws that do, in fact, exist.
One of my favorites. It excludes direct activities of the federal gov't, and excludes basic research, so evidently this is aimed at the nuclear weapons hobbyist.
Of course, many citations on dumblaws.com, even when they cite the law, are one interpretation of a particular law.
For example, a Portola, California law, they say, prohibits carrying a fish into a bar. It's true, but the law really says that no animal, dead or alive, may be carried into *any* food establishment. It would be just as easy to say that the law prohibits someone from bringing a dead cat into a restaurant. It does.
I'll grant though, that many supposed "laws" are completely urban legend.
Both of which have no actual statute attached to them and are merely rated as to how dumb they are. These are good examples of the ones that are ULs.
Or, perhaps they are not in statute because they are due to Oregon Administrative Rules, which have the force of law?
I'll admit that the "canned corn" rule no longer appears to be present, at least not in the form it used to. But, as an angler, I know I have been aware of it, and there was such a rule in the past (though it really didn't say "canned corn"). If I remember correctly, it was the fact that anything not specifically authorized as bait was not permitted. The reason it was associated with canned corn (even though it would apply to a lot more things) is that canned corn is a popular bait for kokanee, and people were annoyed with that.
As it stands now, it is illegal to use any bait in waters where an exception has not been specifically made.
For the "dishes must drip dry", I will point you to some Oregon restaurant regulations. The following comes from the Oregon Administrative Rules chapter on mobile restaurants, found via a quick Google search:
Many are true... but not necessarily dumb. I live in Oregon, I can speak to some of Oregon's more interesting laws.
A selection from dumblaws.com:
Dishes must drip dry.
True. For restaurants. I'm not sure why this law exists, but I'm sure there is a good reason.
Canned corn is not to be used as bait for fishing.
True. Then again, all kinds of angling laws exist.
Drivers must yield to pedestrians who are standing on the sidewalk.
True. But a bicycle being ridden is a vehicle and has a driver. Bicycles are allowed on sidewalks (and must also move at pedestrian speeds when riding on a sidewalk). This also adds another charge against car drivers that do stupid things, like driving on sidewalks.
It is illegal to place a container filled with human fecal matter on the side of any highway.
Not dumb, if you ask me. Ever seen a bottle full of yellow stuff on the side of the road? That's not apple juice. Apparently there are containers of that other thing, too...
Strangely enough, now missing from dumblaws.com is "self-serve gas stations are illegal in Oregon".
This is true, with one exception that I am aware of: On Grand Ronde reservation land where a Sprit Mountain Casino is operated, there is a station with self-serve. Surprised the hell out of me. It was rather pleasant not having to wait for an attendant to arrive to fuel me up.
1 Sun SparcStation 10, running Aurora Linux. Functions as DNS & DHCP server, and other small-scale tasks.
1 Sony VAIO laptop, running Windows XP. Yeah, it's mine. I have my reasons for owning a WinXP box. (Wireless)
1 Averatec laptop, running Windows XP. My wife's machine. (Wireless)
2 Homebrew Athlon XP boxes, one running Fedora Core 3 (mine), the other running Windows 98SE (wife). Used for games, general purpose, etc.
1 Sun Ultra 30, running Solaris 10. Used for learning Solaris 10, some general purpose stuff, and for having local compatibility with the University's Sun boxen.
1 Power Macintosh 6400, MacOS 8.1. Used for TV, and a couple old (but fun) Mac games.
1 D-link 16-port 10/100Mb switch.
1 USR8022 802.11b wireless router. (Used for routing)
1 USR8054 802.11g router. (Used as an access point)
That amendment changed the election of Senators from Governor appointments to popular election (through Electors).
You made a mistake.
The 17th amendment changed article I, section 3, clause 1, which originally said: The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof, for six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote.
I don't see anything about a governor there. But I know you meant legislature.
Anyway, they may, supposedly, maintain the same representation to the Federal government due to some "hints", they are no longer represent the state legislature, and therefore no longer represent the duly elected legislative body of the state.
Instead, the states, in terms of their legislatures, have no accountable representation in the federal government that they signed onto when they ratified the Constitution. Only the people of the state do, at this point.
Of course, since they had to pass the amendment, I guess the legislatures of 3/4 of the several states were okay with this.
Find an old cheap laptop. All you need is a barebones system with PDF support. If it's small enough, the thing will probably take up less space than the manuals would, and if you were thrifty enough be cheaper than pringing 2 or 3 of them.
I have a laptop. You assume that I have space to put it next to another machine, for one.
Additionally, virtual "bookmarks" such as those provided by a web browser are flat-out inferior to a real bookmark in a real book. You see, the bookmarks in a real book are self-organizing, *and* I can write notes on them describing what project any particular mark applies to.
Then there is readability. Books are easier on the eyes, IMNVHAAO.
I've been using and programming computers since my parents got an Apple II plus in 1982. I've since gone on with a formal education in CS, and I still find paper documentation preferable, and will probably never change my mind.
Old habits, I guess.
(I'll give some props to the HTML-based java API documentation, it's one of the least-crappy forms of online documentation I've seen... but it takes too much disk space on my measley laptop.)
It's very sad that programmers still feel the need to have hardcopy manuals, even as producing them becomes less and less practical. (Not just cost -- there's the difficulty of publishing and distributing physical documentation for rapidly-changing products.)
I hate online/on-screen documentation. It's a pain in the ass. Especially when you've only got *one* machine to both work with the program and read the documentation.
Or, perhaps the documentation you need is the service manual for your only (broken) machine that can read the documentation.
Dead trees are just flat out easier to use. For example, when I am working at a computer, say fixing someone else's code, and I need API documentation.
If I'm using online documentation, I have to dink around with the mouse (on-screen documentation is just about worthless to use with a keyboard... the one exception: Unix man). So, I take the mouse, click the button that brings up the documentation, then I have to scroll through and find what I'm looking for. Then I click again, and scroll. Click and scroll... blah. Then, once I have what I am looking for, I click back to the code and start to do what I need to do. Now, I can't memorize the specifics of a complex API call that fast, so I have to click back to the documentation... then back to the code, work... back to the documentation... back to the code, work. Then, if I think I need this again, I save it as a "bookmark"... accessing this bookmark takes longer than my tape flags on a real book.
The same situation using a real book? I use the index. This is fast. I see all the applicable pages at one time, and can make an easy guess at the correct one if the pages are numbered by chapter-page. I turn to this page in the book. I return to my code and read the documentation as needed, maybe turning a page on the book. The code stays on the screen the entire time, and for complicated stuff, I can do a side-by-side comparison without having to juggle windows around. If I might need it again, it gets a color-coded tape flag with a note on what code it applies to written on it.
We should delivering easy-to-use web sites and help files; instead we deliver stupid PDF files that are just huge page dumps.
Web site based documentation... seems like a good idea until you are working somewhere that doesn't have internet access. Like, say, the documentation you need is for the router that's going nuts.
"Help files" and "easy to use" rarely appear in a sentence where "are never" isn't what's in between.
All my/etc/init files contain a line similar to this:
s0:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty -L 9600 ttyS0 vt100
Then, I take the laptop, plug in a null modem cable between it and the machine in question and run any serial comm software. Then login as usual. Of course, this only works on unix-like systems.
Also since most people here noticed I said most not all. I know serial is still used by some, and at work we have 3 parralell printers dot matrix printers. but personally I haven't owned a dot-matrix in 10 years. My only serial toy is my UPS. everything else is USB.
I noticed you said most, too. I was just giving a testimonial and a good reason to have a serial port.
Funny enough, one of the only USB devices I have is a USB->Serial adapter, because my laptop doesn't have a serial port!
Lots of other devices I have do make use of serial ports, though. Two Garmin GPS units and an OBD-II diagnostic reader, for instance.
I also have a parallel printer, but it has a micro print server conneting it to the network instead of a computer.
If I was designing a motherboard, I'd make everyone happy by finding a way to have some kind of removable modular ATX-style I/O connectors. You don't want the serial ports? Don't attach the adapters to the motherboard. Heck, there could be a jumper connection within the connector block itself that could tell the BIOS whether or not to even enable the port.
And why do modern boards still have serial and Parralell ports? They aren't used by 75% of the rest of the world, why are they even included as standard on ALL boards? On Some us because they still have some value but ALL?
Personally, every machine I've built lately has used a serial console instead of a keyboard/monitor.
Then, I just let them do their thing, no clutter, no excess equipment. If I can't log into one of them over the network, I can take the laptop to its location and get on that way.
I rarely use the parallel port, though an organization I am a member of does have a machine that shares several parallel-port printers over the network.
Voice is faster then either Text Messaging or Morse Code, it's already included with your phone plan, and it doesn't make you look like an idiot.
Oh yeah? Tell that to the people who talk on the phone in the movie theater. Or the ones who talk 5 inches from your ear on crowded public transit. Or the f***ing jerk who was talking so loud everyone in the restaurant was pissed off at him last Valentine's Day when I took my wife to a nice restaurant.
Tell that to the moron who can't hold his phone in one hand, and steering wheel in the other. Tell it to the person who talks so loud on the phone, they shout their personal information for all the world to hear.
There are plenty of instances where talking on a cell phone makes you look like an idiot.
Slashdot Mirror
It has been known for some considerable time, as a result of experiments by the Viking Landers, that the soil had some interesting chemical properties. It is hardly news. However, methane from the rocks and clay cannot be the source, as the methane has been seen concentrated in small regions, whereas the rocks and soil are fairly uniform across the planet.
Obvious solution: The methane isn't being formed at the surface.
Serpentinization only requires that the olivine (more likely, peridotite - an olivine/pyroxene rock) be moved to cooler temperatures and lower pressures, with a bit of water to make the ions move.
So, in your "small regions" where the methane is concentrated, you have some subsurface olivine and some water getting to it.
Regarding that uniform rock and soil on the martian surface, consider flood basalts over eastern Oregon and Washington. The surface is made up of basalt, yes. However, underneath all that basalt, in many areas, is material that was buried by it.
Until I can get a 17", minimum 1280x1024, LCD display for $100.
$100 is what my brand new student-budget CRT cost me.
The difference isn't really all that hard to see
Funny, I don't find it hard to see them both as wrong.
The average Slashdotter's ethics are still naive and selectively applied.
Here's the exaple that will get me modded as a troll:
It is okay for people to download and listen to copyrighted music 24/7, benefitting from someone's labor without paying for it. The violator's excuse? "I wouldn't have bought it anyway, so no sale was lost. They didn't lose anything."
It is not okay for people to download copyrighted GPL software and make use of it in their own product, benefitting from someone's labor without paying for it. The violator's excuse? "They weren't charging for it anyway. They didn't lose anything."
Now, on the original topic, from what I understand, the applicants knew when the information would be available to them. Therefore, by knowing this, they also should have know that gaining the information earlier could be considered ethically questionable. (I won't go so far as to say "wrong" because the information was poorly secured). Almost all the analogies that have been given to state why it is wrong have failed.
A better analogy might be: I distribute a stack of photocopies of a business report or some other thing I intend to be public. I accidentally include one page of something that I did not intend to distribute... something I may have eventually released, but did not intend to at this time.
Now, suppose you are a recipient of these materials, and got the page in question... you notice this unintentional information has been accidentally made available to you, and you are aware of the original intent. Is reading it in its entirety wrong, right, or questionable? Is telling other people the information right?
The reason I stated that the ethical standards were naive and selectively applied is because the average person cannot put themselves into the other's position.
Think about it this way: Many have stated that gaining the information (that was not intended to be released yet) was ethical. Yet, if those same people had accidentally released confidential information on a web site (though not through any clickable link), and had it been discovered and disseminated against their original intent, you could bet that they might not apply the same standard of ethics.
Though the big violator is the web site operator, of course.
Another analogy: I tell you something, and I say "please don't tell anyone else until June 18th."
I tell person X that I told you some information that you are going to release on June 18th, and to ask you about it then.
If you run off and accidentally give the information to person Y before June 18th, you definitely screwed up. Now Y offers to tell person X before that date.
Since person X knew he/she wasn't supposed to receive the information before that time, if X accepts the offer and gets the information, it would seem to me that X has done something unethical.
Putting it all together: I am Stanford, you are the web site operator, person Y is the discoverer of the URL hack, and person X is an applicant to Stanford.
I guess it looks fairly obvious from my point of view, and perhaps my analogies are also flawed, but I can see why Stanford might have reason to believe that the actions of the people gaining the information before they were intended to have it were unethical.
(rolls eyes at naive Slashdot ethics)
...naive and selectively applied...
Allow me to amend that to:
Why in the H*** would a computer geek even consider buying a cordless phone in the 802.11 frequency range.
There are two options, either of which avoids the problem, either 900Mhz or 5Ghz (you weren't planning on deploying 802.11a were you ?)
Please tell me you didn't go out and buy the coolest phone a few years back in the 2.4Ghz range, and now aren't willing to "upgrade" to a 5Ghz phone.
Make sure you take a look at your 5 GHz phone's spec sheet before purchasing.
Many "5.8 GHz" phones I have seen transmit from the phone to the base station on 5 GHz, and the base station to the phone at 2.4 GHz. (It might be the other way around, but you get the idea). If WiFi interference is your concern, many supposed 5 GHz phones are no comfort.
Panasonic FHSS "GigaRange" phones seem to be one of the ones that go 5.8 both ways, but they are not inexpensive.
I just stick with a 900 MHz phone. It even has dual handsets and was... $25 at Sears.
People are (generally) hypocritical about things like this. They wouldn't want it to happen to them but they want to see it when it's someone else.
Yeah, the Germans have a word for it, too: schadenfreude.
Literal translation: Damage joy.
payback for bundling IE in the first place.
Netscape's Revenge!
(It's funny, laugh.)
My family has a cabin on a lake outside of Pelican Rapids. I've been looking forward to checking out the lake temperature, but unfortunately it's a 1800 mile drive and I'm a bit short on gas money :(
10-15 years ago I might have agreed with this, but today there are so many keyboard layouts that it is impossible not to look. The ~ and | symbols are in a different place on every one of the 10 keyboards I use daily, for example.
I routinely switch between my laptop, a PC 104-key, and a Sun Type 5c.
The 5c, of course, has the entire upper-right corner (\, backspace, etc.) in a completely different layout than most PC keyboards, and control and caps are in the right places.
Generally, I don't look at the keyboard, but I realize very quick that I've switched keyboards when I have a \ and backspace reversal, or I keep turning caps on when I want to use control.
The only real requirement I have is that the enter key be a rectangle with it's longest side oriented along the left-right line, with \ being one or two keys above it. No backwards-L shaped enter keys for me.
I think I have you beat. Unless you live in Davis, CA too? ;)
Eugene, OR. I imagine Eugene and Davis are similar... I've heard them both described as "little Berkeley".
I can totally understand your situation. I just got done listening to somebody explain that it is ethical to lie about environmental issues because otherwise people won't understand how urgent they are.
I've heard the same kinds of things here, too. Usually from members of OSPIRG.
I've also been told how evil I am for wanting to earn money for a living.
So we agree. You're being awful antagonistic for somebody who agrees with what I said.
I am currently a rather Libertarian student on a rather Marxist college campus. Antagonism is how I survive on a daily basis.
Please listen to what I am saying:
:)
This is Slashdot. Why would I do that?
You list a site that does not cite any laws.
It does, in some cases, though not any of the ones I selected. I did only selected ones that I was sure were real. (Though the fish bait rule is gone).
I wasn't refuting the fact that many are urban legends, I was defending my selections, since you saw fit to say that two of my selections did not appear in statute.
Do you note that the two are not connected? That I was not "defending" or "attacking" anything? Do you see that I even said that the examples given are not the really silly ones that I'm talking about?
There are really silly laws that do, in fact, exist.
One of my favorites. It excludes direct activities of the federal gov't, and excludes basic research, so evidently this is aimed at the nuclear weapons hobbyist.
Or, from Yamhill, Oregon: No professional fortune telling for profit.
Some silly laws really do exist.
Of course, many citations on dumblaws.com, even when they cite the law, are one interpretation of a particular law.
For example, a Portola, California law, they say, prohibits carrying a fish into a bar. It's true, but the law really says that no animal, dead or alive, may be carried into *any* food establishment. It would be just as easy to say that the law prohibits someone from bringing a dead cat into a restaurant. It does.
I'll grant though, that many supposed "laws" are completely urban legend.
Both of which have no actual statute attached to them and are merely rated as to how dumb they are. These are good examples of the ones that are ULs.
... (2) Utensils shall be air dried before being stored or shall be stored in a self-draining position. ...
Or, perhaps they are not in statute because they are due to Oregon Administrative Rules, which have the force of law?
I'll admit that the "canned corn" rule no longer appears to be present, at least not in the form it used to. But, as an angler, I know I have been aware of it, and there was such a rule in the past (though it really didn't say "canned corn"). If I remember correctly, it was the fact that anything not specifically authorized as bait was not permitted. The reason it was associated with canned corn (even though it would apply to a lot more things) is that canned corn is a popular bait for kokanee, and people were annoyed with that.
As it stands now, it is illegal to use any bait in waters where an exception has not been specifically made.
For the "dishes must drip dry", I will point you to some Oregon restaurant regulations. The following comes from the Oregon Administrative Rules chapter on mobile restaurants, found via a quick Google search:
OAR 333-162-0530:
Drying
After sanitizing, all equipment and utensils shall be air dried. Utensils may not be rinsed after the sanitizing cycle.
Stat. Auth.: ORS 624.390
Stats. Implemented: ORS 624.390
Hist.: HD 10-1997, f. & cert. ef. 7-8-97
333-162-0550 (same link)
Storage
(the unquoted paragraphs 1 and 3 are unimportant)
There's more than just statutes, when it comes to law.
Many are true... but not necessarily dumb. I live in Oregon, I can speak to some of Oregon's more interesting laws.
A selection from dumblaws.com:
Dishes must drip dry.
True. For restaurants. I'm not sure why this law exists, but I'm sure there is a good reason.
Canned corn is not to be used as bait for fishing.
True. Then again, all kinds of angling laws exist.
Drivers must yield to pedestrians who are standing on the sidewalk.
True. But a bicycle being ridden is a vehicle and has a driver. Bicycles are allowed on sidewalks (and must also move at pedestrian speeds when riding on a sidewalk). This also adds another charge against car drivers that do stupid things, like driving on sidewalks.
It is illegal to place a container filled with human fecal matter on the side of any highway.
Not dumb, if you ask me. Ever seen a bottle full of yellow stuff on the side of the road? That's not apple juice. Apparently there are containers of that other thing, too...
Strangely enough, now missing from dumblaws.com is "self-serve gas stations are illegal in Oregon".
This is true, with one exception that I am aware of: On Grand Ronde reservation land where a Sprit Mountain Casino is operated, there is a station with self-serve. Surprised the hell out of me. It was rather pleasant not having to wait for an attendant to arrive to fuel me up.
The MPAA also announces that spoons and forks make people fat.
As a relatively long time (15+ yrs) non-pointy-haired boss ...
In other words, now you are just plain bald...
The list of items on the network:
1 Sun SparcStation 10, running Aurora Linux. Functions as DNS & DHCP server, and other small-scale tasks.
1 Sony VAIO laptop, running Windows XP. Yeah, it's mine. I have my reasons for owning a WinXP box. (Wireless)
1 Averatec laptop, running Windows XP. My wife's machine. (Wireless)
2 Homebrew Athlon XP boxes, one running Fedora Core 3 (mine), the other running Windows 98SE (wife). Used for games, general purpose, etc.
1 Sun Ultra 30, running Solaris 10. Used for learning Solaris 10, some general purpose stuff, and for having local compatibility with the University's Sun boxen.
1 Power Macintosh 6400, MacOS 8.1. Used for TV, and a couple old (but fun) Mac games.
1 D-link 16-port 10/100Mb switch.
1 USR8022 802.11b wireless router. (Used for routing)
1 USR8054 802.11g router. (Used as an access point)
1 Shiva Fastpath 5 LocalTalk/EtherTalk/MacIP router.
1 Apple IIgs, System 6.0.1. For my retrocomputing enjoyment... this accesses files on the network via netatalk on the SS10. (Localtalk->Fastpath 5)
Why have all this hooked together? Because I can.
That amendment changed the election of Senators from Governor appointments to popular election (through Electors).
You made a mistake.
The 17th amendment changed article I, section 3, clause 1, which originally said: The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof, for six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote.
I don't see anything about a governor there. But I know you meant legislature.
Anyway, they may, supposedly, maintain the same representation to the Federal government due to some "hints", they are no longer represent the state legislature, and therefore no longer represent the duly elected legislative body of the state.
Instead, the states, in terms of their legislatures, have no accountable representation in the federal government that they signed onto when they ratified the Constitution. Only the people of the state do, at this point.
Of course, since they had to pass the amendment, I guess the legislatures of 3/4 of the several states were okay with this.
Find an old cheap laptop. All you need is a barebones system with PDF support. If it's small enough, the thing will probably take up less space than the manuals would, and if you were thrifty enough be cheaper than pringing 2 or 3 of them.
I have a laptop. You assume that I have space to put it next to another machine, for one.
Additionally, virtual "bookmarks" such as those provided by a web browser are flat-out inferior to a real bookmark in a real book. You see, the bookmarks in a real book are self-organizing, *and* I can write notes on them describing what project any particular mark applies to.
Then there is readability. Books are easier on the eyes, IMNVHAAO.
I've been using and programming computers since my parents got an Apple II plus in 1982. I've since gone on with a formal education in CS, and I still find paper documentation preferable, and will probably never change my mind.
Old habits, I guess.
(I'll give some props to the HTML-based java API documentation, it's one of the least-crappy forms of online documentation I've seen... but it takes too much disk space on my measley laptop.)
It's very sad that programmers still feel the need to have hardcopy manuals, even as producing them becomes less and less practical. (Not just cost -- there's the difficulty of publishing and distributing physical documentation for rapidly-changing products.)
I hate online/on-screen documentation. It's a pain in the ass. Especially when you've only got *one* machine to both work with the program and read the documentation.
Or, perhaps the documentation you need is the service manual for your only (broken) machine that can read the documentation.
Dead trees are just flat out easier to use. For example, when I am working at a computer, say fixing someone else's code, and I need API documentation.
If I'm using online documentation, I have to dink around with the mouse (on-screen documentation is just about worthless to use with a keyboard... the one exception: Unix man). So, I take the mouse, click the button that brings up the documentation, then I have to scroll through and find what I'm looking for. Then I click again, and scroll. Click and scroll... blah. Then, once I have what I am looking for, I click back to the code and start to do what I need to do. Now, I can't memorize the specifics of a complex API call that fast, so I have to click back to the documentation... then back to the code, work... back to the documentation... back to the code, work. Then, if I think I need this again, I save it as a "bookmark"... accessing this bookmark takes longer than my tape flags on a real book.
The same situation using a real book? I use the index. This is fast. I see all the applicable pages at one time, and can make an easy guess at the correct one if the pages are numbered by chapter-page. I turn to this page in the book. I return to my code and read the documentation as needed, maybe turning a page on the book. The code stays on the screen the entire time, and for complicated stuff, I can do a side-by-side comparison without having to juggle windows around. If I might need it again, it gets a color-coded tape flag with a note on what code it applies to written on it.
We should delivering easy-to-use web sites and help files; instead we deliver stupid PDF files that are just huge page dumps.
Web site based documentation... seems like a good idea until you are working somewhere that doesn't have internet access. Like, say, the documentation you need is for the router that's going nuts.
"Help files" and "easy to use" rarely appear in a sentence where "are never" isn't what's in between.
I'm using them as a serial console.
All my
Also since most people here noticed I said most not all. I know serial is still used by some, and at work we have 3 parralell printers dot matrix printers. but personally I haven't owned a dot-matrix in 10 years. My only serial toy is my UPS. everything else is USB.
I noticed you said most, too. I was just giving a testimonial and a good reason to have a serial port.
Funny enough, one of the only USB devices I have is a USB->Serial adapter, because my laptop doesn't have a serial port!
Lots of other devices I have do make use of serial ports, though. Two Garmin GPS units and an OBD-II diagnostic reader, for instance.
I also have a parallel printer, but it has a micro print server conneting it to the network instead of a computer.
If I was designing a motherboard, I'd make everyone happy by finding a way to have some kind of removable modular ATX-style I/O connectors. You don't want the serial ports? Don't attach the adapters to the motherboard. Heck, there could be a jumper connection within the connector block itself that could tell the BIOS whether or not to even enable the port.
And why do modern boards still have serial and Parralell ports? They aren't used by 75% of the rest of the world, why are they even included as standard on ALL boards? On Some us because they still have some value but ALL?
Personally, every machine I've built lately has used a serial console instead of a keyboard/monitor.
Then, I just let them do their thing, no clutter, no excess equipment. If I can't log into one of them over the network, I can take the laptop to its location and get on that way.
I rarely use the parallel port, though an organization I am a member of does have a machine that shares several parallel-port printers over the network.
Newsflash:
Voice is faster then either Text Messaging or Morse Code, it's already included with your phone plan, and it doesn't make you look like an idiot.
Oh yeah? Tell that to the people who talk on the phone in the movie theater. Or the ones who talk 5 inches from your ear on crowded public transit. Or the f***ing jerk who was talking so loud everyone in the restaurant was pissed off at him last Valentine's Day when I took my wife to a nice restaurant.
Tell that to the moron who can't hold his phone in one hand, and steering wheel in the other. Tell it to the person who talks so loud on the phone, they shout their personal information for all the world to hear.
There are plenty of instances where talking on a cell phone makes you look like an idiot.
(No, I don't have one.)
I modeled it after /dev I just give them all a prefix serial number and plop them in one directory, like such:
.
w
/dev model leaves much to be desired? Pfft! Blasphemy!
/etc.
mm000000.mp3
mm000001.mp3
mm000002.mp3
.
.
"mm" stands for "mystery music".
This way, I never need the shuffle button. Stripping the ID3 tags makes it even better. Every song is a surprise!
I also do the same thing with pictures, movies, and everything else. You should see the directory containing my college homework!
~/u/essays/essay001.sxw
~/u/essays/essay002.sx
~/u/essays/essay003.sxw
.
.
.
What, you think the
P.S. I organize all my web bookmarks like