The best source for cheap books: Bookarea. This site lets you enter a book, and will ask a bunch of the dealers (currently 32) how much they'll charge, including shipping. Programming Perl is cheapest from Australia?
I just wanted to elaborate on something that I mentioned in my last post. Mindcraft may well have seen posting all those emails not as an attack on Linux but as a defense of Mindcraft. From that point of view, it's quite a different matter to post the worst of what people say about you. Maybe they posted those emails in preparation for addressing the complaints.
If I worked for Mindcraft, I might think something along the lines of "people think bad things about us because Linux people have been saying bad things. Let's undermine the credibility of the complaints against us, which will help to revive our credibility."
This doesn't excuse them from casting Linux users in a bad light, but it was not an unprovoked attack, and perhaps the attack hit more than it was aimed at.
This is going to start a riot, but I don't actually think that posting email is necessarily a bad thing. Sure it's rude, but the people who had their emails posted really haven't earned Mindcraft's politeness. What this should do is reflect very poorly on the people whose emails were posted. Naturally, that's not what will happen, but it would be just. It's like if someone whispered "you're a jerk" in my ear, and then I told everyone I met that this person thought I was a jerk. What's wrong with that?
That's not to say that I find Mindcraft's posting of only the choicest emails in good taste. I think that they should have made it clear that those emails reflected only the worst of an often good lot, and posted the good with the bad... and this only because of the association that people will make with Linux. But being called a whore that many times isn't likely to make you respect the people who call you a whore, whether or not you are one.
It takes guts to publish bad things that people say about you. It can be a first step in addressing their complaints. Time will tell.
Well, not really, if people still complain about the difference between 300dpi printing and 600dpi, then why not complain about it for screens too? I really would like to have a paper-quality monitor.
If only I could get a 21" monitor that did 12800x9600 or so. Then I need a double-buffered video card, with RGBA, so that's what, a tad under a gig of video RAM. Yummy...
So should I get the HP to replace my aging 48S? Or should I get a PalmPilot and some kick-ass math program for it? Presumably the Palm would be better if the calculator were implemented really well. How does its processor compare? When are the colour ones coming out? bc and GnuPlot on PalmLinux would be a good start, but you know what I want...:)
Why does it make me nervous that all the financially troubled companies (ie. those who get beat up by MS) turn to Linux? Ok, so there's IBM and Oracle too.
Hmmm: "The more you tighten your grip, the more they'll slip through your fingers".
I basically asked what their position was (only a tiny bit rudely) and they (mostly alan007) were terse and useless. Upon further questions, I was kicked and banned. I don't think that AOL will mis thoem overmuch.
Just because it's unpopular doesn't mean it's bad... perhaps the opposite is true. Sidewalk (SF at least) ROCKS! I hate to say anything good about MS, but I have rarely been disappointed in Sidewalk. Just thought I'd mention that.
Subtracting your bias because two lawyers you know are family, what have you said? They're normal people. Where I come from, that's not a compliment! But seriously, I think we all know that some lawyers are OK. I know a few, too. But stereotypes don't come from nowhere! There are good ones and bad ones and ones in between, but there seem to be a hell of a lot of bad ones... not too surprising when it's in your best interest for people to fight.
True, it sounded like his historical knowledge was weak. But 27 million? That makes sense! Do you remember where the 5 to 10 million number came from? It came from a study researched and published sometime around late 1997, if my memory serves. The media have all been quoting that same figure for the past year and a half, while saying that popularity growth has been over 100%, as much as 200%. So 10 million well over a year ago could easily be 30 million now.
That's a really great article. He says what I have been thinking for some time. The crucial thing is guaranteeing that everyone can access information, which means that it has to be legal and free and accessible.
I'd like to see a society with telepathy: where you can know when someone is lying. In Babylon 5, the strong teeps can block the weaker ones, which is not good. But restricting information never does anyone but the restrictor any good.
I heard at one point that a burned CD should sound better than a pressed one. The explanation given was that clocking was done more precisely on the burned CD. This presupposes, obviously, that the CD reader in your computer is better than the one in your stereo (not likely in most cases, I would think, but I don't know for sure). The strange thing was that the claim was supported by a few people who had listened. Not that I got a chance to listen, but if someone sends me a CD of something I have...
By the way, I'd rather not have my computer's sound card involved in sound reproduction (sound quality sucks), so a dedicated MP3 player would be just dandy. Even if my computer didn't make any noise...
While they're designing it, couldn't they make some system with good sound quality? CDs basically suck, records are better in a few respects, 48 KHz DATs are a little better, MP3s are a little worse..... while they're turning over the whole music industry, you'd think that they could give us quality at the same time. But I guess we'd all need T1s. Not that I have any objection, of course...:)
More on interstellar travel... Go read that book. It's about Freeman Dyson and his son George, and interstellar travel, and all kinds of nifty stuff. By Kenneth Brower.
What he said sounded like a troll, but think about it. Commercialisation of any OS surely will lead to a monopoly. Whether the monopoly will necessarily be as evil as Microsoft is an open question, but there's no reason for it not to be.
The only hope for the future of computing is for proprietary OSs (libraries, basically) not to exist. Any standalone product is probably OK, but as long as you can wield monopoly power, someone will.
Trademark law obviously needs a complete overhaul. I don't think that this is planned. Does anyone have any idea what we can do to cut this problem out at the source? Letter-writing campaigns are all well and good, but I've stopped contacting site admins about spam, and I'll stop contacting companies about trademarks too in a couple of years. Can we do anything to push for at least some clarification of trademark law?
We'll all be flying along on Earth when the year rolls. What about all those 1800 or so nuclear ICBMs that are on hair-trigger alert to blast off for Russia, or thence hither? What about all the nuclear generators? Or any number of other local hazards. Not the least of which would be if people get the idea that military and police will be on holiday, so they can sack any city they like. I think I'll plan a little holiday to Antarctica, or maybe just be in an airplane on New Year's Eve, just to be safe!
B5 is the best thing to happen to TV since power switches. But only if you've watched the whole series in order. I started with a couple in season 3 and 4, and they made no sense at all, JMS's hopes to the contrary. Then I watched starting with The Gathering and moving on through s4 (everything except ep. 10 in season 1) and MY GOD it was amazing.
I can't seem to get hold of season 5. Does anyone know if I can get it on tape?
Slashdot Mirror
I just wanted to elaborate on something that I mentioned in my last post. Mindcraft may well have seen posting all those emails not as an attack on Linux but as a defense of Mindcraft. From that point of view, it's quite a different matter to post the worst of what people say about you. Maybe they posted those emails in preparation for addressing the complaints.
If I worked for Mindcraft, I might think something along the lines of "people think bad things about us because Linux people have been saying bad things. Let's undermine the credibility of the complaints against us, which will help to revive our credibility."
This doesn't excuse them from casting Linux users in a bad light, but it was not an unprovoked attack, and perhaps the attack hit more than it was aimed at.
This is going to start a riot, but I don't actually think that posting email is necessarily a bad thing. Sure it's rude, but the people who had their emails posted really haven't earned Mindcraft's politeness. What this should do is reflect very poorly on the people whose emails were posted. Naturally, that's not what will happen, but it would be just. It's like if someone whispered "you're a jerk" in my ear, and then I told everyone I met that this person thought I was a jerk. What's wrong with that?
That's not to say that I find Mindcraft's posting of only the choicest emails in good taste. I think that they should have made it clear that those emails reflected only the worst of an often good lot, and posted the good with the bad... and this only because of the association that people will make with Linux. But being called a whore that many times isn't likely to make you respect the people who call you a whore, whether or not you are one.
It takes guts to publish bad things that people say about you. It can be a first step in addressing their complaints. Time will tell.
Well, not really, if people still complain about the difference between 300dpi printing and 600dpi, then why not complain about it for screens too? I really would like to have a paper-quality monitor.
If only I could get a 21" monitor that did 12800x9600 or so. Then I need a double-buffered video card, with RGBA, so that's what, a tad under a gig of video RAM. Yummy...
So should I get the HP to replace my aging 48S? Or should I get a PalmPilot and some kick-ass math program for it? Presumably the Palm would be better if the calculator were implemented really well. How does its processor compare? When are the colour ones coming out? bc and GnuPlot on PalmLinux would be a good start, but you know what I want... :)
Why does it make me nervous that all the financially troubled companies (ie. those who get beat up by MS) turn to Linux? Ok, so there's IBM and Oracle too.
Hmmm: "The more you tighten your grip, the more they'll slip through your fingers".
Perhaps if we all boycotted Cavedog... nah.
CAUCE is good. I trust them. I am on their opt-in list, and have been since the beginning. Not that I want spam, but I want to make opt-in work.
But there are too many evils abroad, and I am boycotting the RIAA (as much as can be done). So no CDNow for me.
By the way, does the RIAA get a cut of used CDs too?
I basically asked what their position was (only a tiny bit rudely) and they (mostly alan007) were terse and useless. Upon further questions, I was kicked and banned. I don't think that AOL will mis thoem overmuch.
Just because it's unpopular doesn't mean it's bad... perhaps the opposite is true. Sidewalk (SF at least) ROCKS! I hate to say anything good about MS, but I have rarely been disappointed in Sidewalk. Just thought I'd mention that.
Subtracting your bias because two lawyers you know are family, what have you said? They're normal people. Where I come from, that's not a compliment! But seriously, I think we all know that some lawyers are OK. I know a few, too. But stereotypes don't come from nowhere! There are good ones and bad ones and ones in between, but there seem to be a hell of a lot of bad ones... not too surprising when it's in your best interest for people to fight.
True, it sounded like his historical knowledge was weak. But 27 million? That makes sense! Do you remember where the 5 to 10 million number came from? It came from a study researched and published sometime around late 1997, if my memory serves. The media have all been quoting that same figure for the past year and a half, while saying that popularity growth has been over 100%, as much as 200%. So 10 million well over a year ago could easily be 30 million now.
That's a really great article. He says what I have been thinking for some time. The crucial thing is guaranteeing that everyone can access information, which means that it has to be legal and free and accessible.
I'd like to see a society with telepathy: where you can know when someone is lying. In Babylon 5, the strong teeps can block the weaker ones, which is not good. But restricting information never does anyone but the restrictor any good.
Education can fight bigotry.
All patents should be approved by someone in particular, who should then be fired if the patent is thrown out in court.
Patent challenges should be free. There should be a way to tell the patent office that it's stupid without paying for the privilege.
These people should be killed. Slowly.
Hmmm... have you run diff on the devices?
I heard at one point that a burned CD should sound better than a pressed one. The explanation given was that clocking was done more precisely on the burned CD. This presupposes, obviously, that the CD reader in your computer is better than the one in your stereo (not likely in most cases, I would think, but I don't know for sure). The strange thing was that the claim was supported by a few people who had listened. Not that I got a chance to listen, but if someone sends me a CD of something I have...
By the way, I'd rather not have my computer's sound card involved in sound reproduction (sound quality sucks), so a dedicated MP3 player would be just dandy. Even if my computer didn't make any noise...
:)
While they're designing it, couldn't they make some system with good sound quality? CDs basically suck, records are better in a few respects, 48 KHz DATs are a little better, MP3s are a little worse..... while they're turning over the whole music industry, you'd think that they could give us quality at the same time. But I guess we'd all need T1s. Not that I have any objection, of course... :)
More on interstellar travel... Go read that book. It's about Freeman Dyson and his son George, and interstellar travel, and all kinds of nifty stuff. By Kenneth Brower.
What he said sounded like a troll, but think about it. Commercialisation of any OS surely will lead to a monopoly. Whether the monopoly will necessarily be as evil as Microsoft is an open question, but there's no reason for it not to be.
The only hope for the future of computing is for proprietary OSs (libraries, basically) not to exist. Any standalone product is probably OK, but as long as you can wield monopoly power, someone will.
Trademark law obviously needs a complete overhaul. I don't think that this is planned. Does anyone have any idea what we can do to cut this problem out at the source? Letter-writing campaigns are all well and good, but I've stopped contacting site admins about spam, and I'll stop contacting companies about trademarks too in a couple of years. Can we do anything to push for at least some clarification of trademark law?
We'll all be flying along on Earth when the year rolls. What about all those 1800 or so nuclear ICBMs that are on hair-trigger alert to blast off for Russia, or thence hither? What about all the nuclear generators? Or any number of other local hazards. Not the least of which would be if people get the idea that military and police will be on holiday, so they can sack any city they like. I think I'll plan a little holiday to Antarctica, or maybe just be in an airplane on New Year's Eve, just to be safe!
:)
B5 is the best thing to happen to TV since power switches. But only if you've watched the whole series in order. I started with a couple in season 3 and 4, and they made no sense at all, JMS's hopes to the contrary. Then I watched starting with The Gathering and moving on through s4 (everything except ep. 10 in season 1) and MY GOD it was amazing.
:)
I can't seem to get hold of season 5. Does anyone know if I can get it on tape?
Cheers