I guess time will tell. It seems to me that at a minimum the gears would have to made of metal. I don't think carbon fiber will stand up that kind of constant grinding.
Why not a carbon fiber chain? That would be pretty simple thing to do and if combined with carbon fiber sprockets it could last a decent while. Coat it with teflon and you would never have to lube it.
Of course it would cost an arm and a leg but what the hell.
Yes. But I don't see the relavance here? Are you talking about a carbon fiber shaft drive system? I certainly don't see that happening anytime soon. maybe you can encase the shaft in carbon fiber but the gears would have to be made out of metal.
"Calfee is now working on carbon fiber recumbents"
Great. But the fact is that a recumbent will still be heavier then a equivalent wedgie. A CF recumbent may be lighter then a steel road bike but it won't be lighter then a CF roadie. The reasons are simple.
1) A recumbent has a bigger and heavier and seat. 2) A recumbent has a longer drivetrain. This means a longer chain. A typical recumbent chain is two to three times as long as regular bike chain. 3) Recumbents always have longer handlebar. Even the under seat handlebars are heavier due to longer stems and the shaft to connect to the front wheel. 4) finally recumbents have more frame material.
"Maybe you can repair your chain on the road (if you have some links, and a chain tool) but chains suck."
Most pocket bike tool kits have a chain breaker. You can safely repair your chain on the road simply by shortening it. Links are also pretty easy to toss in your kit. Chains may suck but up to now no credible alternatives have been successful in replacing them. I suspect that will be the case for a long time. Chains are really efficient and the friction between the plates is really not that much of a problem if you have them properly lubricated.
Cycling geeks are fanatical about weight. The worry and fret about every gram. I don't think shaft drives will catch on anytime soon.
It's hard to imagine any system being simpler to make and maintain then a chain drive. Maybe using belts would be some help (no lubing) but you'd still lose the ability to repair your chain on the road.
The only reason to pay more for a heavier bike is a recumbent. They are much more comfortable to ride all day even if you can't keep up with the wedgies.
Most large banks probably look at these things with a wink and a nod. The amount of money laundering that goes on by drug dealers, arms dealers, terrorists and other criminals must be staggering compared to spammers.
If the banks profit they will find a way to look away. Also there is a "legal" need for corporations to shuttle vast amounts of money to and from overseas accounts to hide profits from the tax collectors all over the world. I imagine it's probably realively easy to ride that wave without being noticed too much.
You refered to him as unwashed. I presumed that you had met him and therefore was able to report that he was dirty and smelly. Apparently you were just smearing him when you said that he was unwashed.
I have seen pictures of him and he does have long hair and beard. Like I said that seems to piss off lots of people here on slashdot (including you apparently). I for one do not care that he has long hair and a beard.
Apparently you also object to the fact that he is not afraid to express his stongly held beliefs. Again that does not bother me. Cable TV is full of zealots who proclaim their strongly held beliefs every day. At least he is not on FOX News every night calling his enemies terrorists and traitors.
Alas the American legal system is fucked up beyond belief. Read this story. A millionare is now free after admitting to killing and dismembering somebody. If that is not fucked up I don't know what is.
"Is open source software in the best interest of professional programmers?"
Yes. the vast majority of programmers in the world work for corporations trying to build internal systems to make business processes work. For those programmers open source projects like ant, zope, python, perl, ruby, eclipse, linux, tomcat etc are a godsend. They are able to leverage other people's efforts to make their company more productive and thereby keep themselves and others employed. The companies which save money may also be able to spend that money hiring more people or paying more to their current programmers.
It is also a boon for consultants who implement turnkey systems and sell support.
For the extremely small percentage of programmers who make commercial software it might mean some loss of jobs if and only if their company is not able to compete with volunteers. This has more to do with the competence of the company then OSS though. If you can't compete with volunteers then you don't really deserve to be in business do you?
"On a side note, how many of you are getting paid to write open source software?"
Not many but you can be sure that almost all programmers use some OSS software to make their lives easier. Whether it's CVS or a bug tracking system or a quickie python script. OSS is invaluable to me and I suspect also to 99% of all programmers in the world.
" A lot of (well, too many) people draw a connection between the promotion of open source/Free Software and piracy"
Do you really think this is because of some sort of an accident? People believe this because powerful organizations continually make this claim. Whether it's MS, SCO, RIAA or whatever. They spend millions of dollars creating this association in the minds of the public and they have succeeded.
Next time some executive at MS makes a casual connection between open source and (communism/cancer/socialism/terrorism) you better sit up and take notice.
" I do not think they should be going to jail. A fine at worst. I myself pirate software, music, and movies."
I think everybody has pirated something sometime. Whether it's ripping MP3 or making a casette (remember those?) or even making a copy down at kinkos. Technically all those things are illegal to some degree. Up to now the ip holders have not been willing to crack down but now they are.
It remains to be seen how effective suing and jailing your customers will be in the end.
BTW are the laws in Australia that different? In the US copyright violations are a civil offences.
"When I talk to average joes who are getting a new computer I ask what software it comes with or what software they're getting and the usual answer is that they're getting someone they know to burn off all the software they need. Is this healthy for the many professional software developers? (Which I suspect a sizeable number of you are)"
No it's not. Pirating software is bad for everybody. If people were forced to pay for software they would be more willing to explore cheaper or OSS alternatives. Open office looks great if the alternative is to shell out $300.00. The fact is though that people simply steal MS office.
"However, they're also more willing to hobble my right to keep and bear arms, which I'm equally opposed to."
Howard Dean is pro gun. He has a perfect rating from the NRA. Gen. Clark is also pro gun and was the supreme allied commander of NATO. John Kerry is a veteran of vietnam.
It seems like you have nothing to worry about with the leading Democratic candidates.
I think most people do. However the only legal way to do that is with a constitutional convention which would require 2/3 of the states to agree. This will never happen.
The other alternative is to join a revolution and seek a violent overthrow. There are lots of militias that train for exactly this. Their likelyhood of succeding is about the same as the first option.
In the mean time you only have two choices. Democrat or Republican. Of the two the democrats are more willing to hobble law enforcement.
"Which is why I want to go to Mars and write a new Constitution. It's a long-term strategy. : )"
That seems less likely then either of the two alternatives I have listed but what the hell you never know.
What if IE could only block some popups but not others. For example it could block all popups except those that come from MS servers. Maybe it will block all ads except where the advertiser paid MS. IE could automatically download an encrypted list of popups to allow.
Mozilla may not have been the first browser with tabs or gestures but IE will be the last.
PS. Why are you defending MS? They have 50 billion in the bank, they have huge PR firms, they have hundreds of lawyers on the payroll. Do they really need your help in defending themselves?
Why not plegde your help to another corporation. Maybe Ford could use your help in fending off bad comments from chevy owners. Or maybe Toshiba could use your help if their fight against Sony.
There are lots of corporations in the world and yet you choose the richest one to pledge your allegience to. I am curious as to why you chose this corporation and not another one.
MS is clearly on the way to controlling the hardware as well as the software. Once they get the XP theme down right and the nice CLI built they will finally have a decent copy of a Mac.
Who would have thought the next Mac clone would have come from MS.
"An honest estimate of when they will de-list me. Well formatted responses (they are automated responses, after all). An automated process for testing fixes to the problem[s] cited. For them to do the things they say the were going to do in the email messages they did send me. For them to send at least one message to "root@[offending IP address]" telling me there was a problem in the first place."
This is not a business. You are not their customer. I'll say it again. You are not their customer. Their customer is the people who got spammed because of you.
They don't owe you anything, they are not answerable to you. You are not giving them any money.
Given that they are a volunteer organization that sides with the people who get spammed they acted perfectly reasonable.
" As a general rule, Democrats want to take away just as many of my civil rights as Republicans do"
I really don't think so.
"If there was a party that reliably paid attention to the WHOLE CONSTITUTION, they'd get my vote every time."
There are parties that claim to do that. There is for example the the constitution party. Also most of the Militia movement also claims to want to go back to protecting the constitution. I don't know you but if you are like most Americans there is little chance you'll find much to like in either one of those parties though.
"So, tell me again: What's voting for?"
The lesser of two evils. That's all you get in a winner take all system. Pick the issues important to you and vote for the candidates that are least likely to undermine those issues. In your case, if creeping police power is important you should vote for Democrats. Why? Liberterians won't win, and the conservatives are unwilling and unable to check the power of the police. The Democrats distrust the police and are more willing to undermine their power and give defendents more rights.
Slashdot Mirror
I guess time will tell. It seems to me that at a minimum the gears would have to made of metal. I don't think carbon fiber will stand up that kind of constant grinding.
Why not a carbon fiber chain? That would be pretty simple thing to do and if combined with carbon fiber sprockets it could last a decent while. Coat it with teflon and you would never have to lube it.
Of course it would cost an arm and a leg but what the hell.
" Ever heard of carbon fiber tube?"
Yes. But I don't see the relavance here? Are you talking about a carbon fiber shaft drive system? I certainly don't see that happening anytime soon. maybe you can encase the shaft in carbon fiber but the gears would have to be made out of metal.
"Calfee is now working on carbon fiber recumbents"
Great. But the fact is that a recumbent will still be heavier then a equivalent wedgie. A CF recumbent may be lighter then a steel road bike but it won't be lighter then a CF roadie. The reasons are simple.
1) A recumbent has a bigger and heavier and seat.
2) A recumbent has a longer drivetrain. This means a longer chain. A typical recumbent chain is two to three times as long as regular bike chain.
3) Recumbents always have longer handlebar. Even the under seat handlebars are heavier due to longer stems and the shaft to connect to the front wheel.
4) finally recumbents have more frame material.
"Maybe you can repair your chain on the road (if you have some links, and a chain tool) but chains suck."
Most pocket bike tool kits have a chain breaker. You can safely repair your chain on the road simply by shortening it. Links are also pretty easy to toss in your kit. Chains may suck but up to now no credible alternatives have been successful in replacing them. I suspect that will be the case for a long time. Chains are really efficient and the friction between the plates is really not that much of a problem if you have them properly lubricated.
Cycling geeks are fanatical about weight. The worry and fret about every gram. I don't think shaft drives will catch on anytime soon.
It's hard to imagine any system being simpler to make and maintain then a chain drive. Maybe using belts would be some help (no lubing) but you'd still lose the ability to repair your chain on the road.
The only reason to pay more for a heavier bike is a recumbent. They are much more comfortable to ride all day even if you can't keep up with the wedgies.
" Surf with Javascript off. "
Generally a good idea except that there are way too many fuckups in this world who think that links should be javascript.
Most large banks probably look at these things with a wink and a nod. The amount of money laundering that goes on by drug dealers, arms dealers, terrorists and other criminals must be staggering compared to spammers.
If the banks profit they will find a way to look away. Also there is a "legal" need for corporations to shuttle vast amounts of money to and from overseas accounts to hide profits from the tax collectors all over the world. I imagine it's probably realively easy to ride that wave without being noticed too much.
A list of the Diebold board and their contributions to the republican party
Property is that which you can defend.
In the case "intangable property" the defense comes via big brother.
You refered to him as unwashed. I presumed that you had met him and therefore was able to report that he was dirty and smelly. Apparently you were just smearing him when you said that he was unwashed.
I have seen pictures of him and he does have long hair and beard. Like I said that seems to piss off lots of people here on slashdot (including you apparently). I for one do not care that he has long hair and a beard.
Apparently you also object to the fact that he is not afraid to express his stongly held beliefs. Again that does not bother me. Cable TV is full of zealots who proclaim their strongly held beliefs every day. At least he is not on FOX News every night calling his enemies terrorists and traitors.
I have never met him but is he really unwashed? Can anybody here who has met him confirm or deny this?
I know he has long hair and that apparently pisses a lot of slashdotters off but I wonder if he is also malodorous.
BTW he would be great in court. He is probably smarter then the lawyer questioning him. I would pay to see that cross examination.
More likely the Directory is responding because huge donors to the administration stand to lose if this patent is upheld.
It was a jury but they were handcuffed by the prosecutor and the judge.
Alas the American legal system is fucked up beyond belief. Read this story. A millionare is now free after admitting to killing and dismembering somebody. If that is not fucked up I don't know what is.
"Is open source software in the best interest of professional programmers?"
Yes. the vast majority of programmers in the world work for corporations trying to build internal systems to make business processes work. For those programmers open source projects like ant, zope, python, perl, ruby, eclipse, linux, tomcat etc are a godsend. They are able to leverage other people's efforts to make their company more productive and thereby keep themselves and others employed. The companies which save money may also be able to spend that money hiring more people or paying more to their current programmers.
It is also a boon for consultants who implement turnkey systems and sell support.
For the extremely small percentage of programmers who make commercial software it might mean some loss of jobs if and only if their company is not able to compete with volunteers. This has more to do with the competence of the company then OSS though. If you can't compete with volunteers then you don't really deserve to be in business do you?
"On a side note, how many of you are getting paid to write open source software?"
Not many but you can be sure that almost all programmers use some OSS software to make their lives easier. Whether it's CVS or a bug tracking system or a quickie python script. OSS is invaluable to me and I suspect also to 99% of all programmers in the world.
" A lot of (well, too many) people draw a connection between the promotion of open source/Free Software and piracy"
Do you really think this is because of some sort of an accident? People believe this because powerful organizations continually make this claim. Whether it's MS, SCO, RIAA or whatever. They spend millions of dollars creating this association in the minds of the public and they have succeeded.
Next time some executive at MS makes a casual connection between open source and (communism/cancer/socialism/terrorism) you better sit up and take notice.
" I do not think they should be going to jail. A fine at worst. I myself pirate software, music, and movies."
I think everybody has pirated something sometime. Whether it's ripping MP3 or making a casette (remember those?) or even making a copy down at kinkos. Technically all those things are illegal to some degree. Up to now the ip holders have not been willing to crack down but now they are.
It remains to be seen how effective suing and jailing your customers will be in the end.
BTW are the laws in Australia that different? In the US copyright violations are a civil offences.
"When I talk to average joes who are getting a new computer I ask what software it comes with or what software they're getting and the usual answer is that they're getting someone they know to burn off all the software they need. Is this healthy for the many professional software developers? (Which I suspect a sizeable number of you are)"
No it's not. Pirating software is bad for everybody. If people were forced to pay for software they would be more willing to explore cheaper or OSS alternatives. Open office looks great if the alternative is to shell out $300.00. The fact is though that people simply steal MS office.
More moderators on crack.
"However, they're also more willing to hobble my right to keep and bear arms, which I'm equally opposed to."
Howard Dean is pro gun. He has a perfect rating from the NRA. Gen. Clark is also pro gun and was the supreme allied commander of NATO. John Kerry is a veteran of vietnam.
It seems like you have nothing to worry about with the leading Democratic candidates.
" I favor changing the system."
I think most people do. However the only legal way to do that is with a constitutional convention which would require 2/3 of the states to agree. This will never happen.
The other alternative is to join a revolution and seek a violent overthrow. There are lots of militias that train for exactly this. Their likelyhood of succeding is about the same as the first option.
In the mean time you only have two choices. Democrat or Republican. Of the two the democrats are more willing to hobble law enforcement.
"Which is why I want to go to Mars and write a new Constitution. It's a long-term strategy. : )"
That seems less likely then either of the two alternatives I have listed but what the hell you never know.
What if IE could only block some popups but not others. For example it could block all popups except those that come from MS servers. Maybe it will block all ads except where the advertiser paid MS. IE could automatically download an encrypted list of popups to allow.
Mozilla may not have been the first browser with tabs or gestures but IE will be the last.
PS. Why are you defending MS? They have 50 billion in the bank, they have huge PR firms, they have hundreds of lawyers on the payroll. Do they really need your help in defending themselves?
Why not plegde your help to another corporation. Maybe Ford could use your help in fending off bad comments from chevy owners. Or maybe Toshiba could use your help if their fight against Sony.
There are lots of corporations in the world and yet you choose the richest one to pledge your allegience to. I am curious as to why you chose this corporation and not another one.
Huh? Why not patent? MS patents tons of things how come you don't consider them bad?
It's called self defense. If you don't defend yourself you will die.
MS is clearly on the way to controlling the hardware as well as the software. Once they get the XP theme down right and the nice CLI built they will finally have a decent copy of a Mac.
Who would have thought the next Mac clone would have come from MS.
It's not original. Read this book. It explains it all much better then I could.
"An honest estimate of when they will de-list me.
Well formatted responses (they are automated responses, after all).
An automated process for testing fixes to the problem[s] cited.
For them to do the things they say the were going to do in the email messages they did send me.
For them to send at least one message to "root@[offending IP address]" telling me there was a problem in the first place."
This is not a business. You are not their customer. I'll say it again. You are not their customer. Their customer is the people who got spammed because of you.
They don't owe you anything, they are not answerable to you. You are not giving them any money.
Given that they are a volunteer organization that sides with the people who get spammed they acted perfectly reasonable.
" As a general rule, Democrats want to take away just as many of my civil rights as Republicans do"
I really don't think so.
"If there was a party that reliably paid attention to the WHOLE CONSTITUTION, they'd get my vote every time."
There are parties that claim to do that. There is for example the the constitution party. Also most of the Militia movement also claims to want to go back to protecting the constitution. I don't know you but if you are like most Americans there is little chance you'll find much to like in either one of those parties though.
"So, tell me again: What's voting for?"
The lesser of two evils. That's all you get in a winner take all system. Pick the issues important to you and vote for the candidates that are least likely to undermine those issues. In your case, if creeping police power is important you should vote for Democrats. Why? Liberterians won't win, and the conservatives are unwilling and unable to check the power of the police. The Democrats distrust the police and are more willing to undermine their power and give defendents more rights.