People putting loaded handguns in their homes in the case of a wood-be assailant or robber breaking in. This is not only security theater, it increases the risk you are putting yourself and your family in. Not to mention that in most instances of murder the victim knew the assailant. You're more likely to die of suicide than a robber killing you. You are more likely to die from a pool that a firearms accident. Also while it's true that most robbers won't try and kill you, having a gun in the house could help prevent against theft, rape or other things. By following a few simple safety measures, Firearms can be quite safe.
If you just type in mail.google.com and rely on your browser to prepend the http:/// for you, it will direct you to the secure page for login and then back to the non-secure page for email. If however, you initially type in https://mail.google.com/, login, you will stay on https.
I wouldn't quite say that... you must not have learned some of his tricks. I've pissed of quite a few of my friends by playing DK. He was especially good in a crowded arena.
First, many people in Mexico do see guns, all the times in the hands of the police. (You can't not see them) Secondly, the corruption in Mexico is a good reason for ordinary citizens to have guns. I have a friend who was down in Mexico and got arrested because he and his friends did not have enough money to bribe to local police. He wasn't doing anything wrong, the police searched him and his car and found nothing.
If your ok with criminals having guns then I will remind you that the person who just shot up the school is now a criminal and it matters little if his guns were legal or not. Incidents like this or like Oklahoma are very unique situations and I feel that the people who committed these horrible acts would have gotten guns and/or bombs if they were legal or not.
Times have changed for sure, back in the days of prohibition, the gangsters often shot up one another and the police. However they were very careful about targeting ordinary citizens. Once prohibition was over, they had to find a new source of income. Criminals were now targeting individuals so an average person is less safe now than they were during prohibition.
Look at England where crime rates are up among individuals. It's pretty much a crime to defend yourself there, something I fear is happening here.
Another example of this was a mall shooting that happened out in Utah. Fortunately that was stopped by a plain clothed police officer who had a concealed firearm. The mall was a no-ccw area, which I believe does not apply to duty police officers (on or off duty).
While there are issues with arming everyone (such as identifying who bad guys are if something happens), I think there is a strong deterrent to someone if they have to question how many people might have a gun. Criminals are not afraid of the police shooting them because there are so many regulations put in place to try and prevent police brutality. They are however afraid of homeowners with guns because courts are much more forgiving of a homeowner shooting a trespasser who poses a threat. (Of course your mileage may vary depending on the castle doctrine laws of your state)
So if you like Mexico's laws so much move there, then you will really find out what government corruption means.
I have to laugh because I see two sides to this. One is the hacker type constantly fussing with his system. My MythBox started as a debian system, then got changed to Ubuntu and is now running Gentoo. And now that I did that I just recently saw an article on compiling mythtv to use the framebuffer and qt-embedded and thought about redoing it again... However my wife was patient enough during the last change that I don't want to push my luck.
It also does work most of the time, and when it doesn't, it's because I've been tinkering with it. I can't do that with Tivo as easily so that's out for me but I'm not your average person. However my brother in law is an average person and I built a mythbox for him. He has no problems with it, it just works for him and his family.
While it's not for everyone, if setup properly it can be very stable.
I love slashdot, random people talking out of their ass. There are tons of situations where someone can (and have) gotten up after a motorcycle accident that would have otherwise knocked them unconscious. I myself was involved in a motorcycle accident (a lady ran a stop sign into me who had no stop sign). I suffered no injuries due to my helmet and leather jacket. I was sore, but I could walk, talk and eat. If I didn't have my helmet on I would have hat at the very least a nasty concussion.
That said, I don't think people should be forced to wear one... however you would rarely, if ever, catch me without one.
My town is also going around taking pictures mostly for future disputes, I don't believe they are going to publish the information. No one was informed as the pictures are taken from public property so I guess they don't have to. (They aren't selling the pictures, just using them in case of future disputes)
While I don't really have an issue with it (as long as no one is trespassing) I could see issues arising where a company is trying to do it for profit.
Less walking opportunities = less energy expenditure = more stored energy
Here, here... Fairly recently a bog box store bought up an area of land near where I live. They made it into a shopping complex. Now, I wasn't happy with the choice of store that came in but I'm glad to see something happen to the property. There are however other stores in this complex that I do frequent and the complex is within walking distance of my house. I can walk on sidewalks to get to the entrance of the complex but then the sidewalks end. So to get to any of the stores I have to either trudge through the dirt (which when wet becomes mud) or walk in the middle of what can be a busy parking lot.
Once I reach sidewalk again, I can walk in front of a set of stores but then to get to another group, I have to go through the parking lot. It's obvious the planners didn't care to design the shopping center so people could walk there or walk between all the stores safely.
I'm sure a lot of people don't care as they just get in their car and move to the next set of stores but I really wish designers would make it easier to walk around these complexes.
Snipers are a big threat because they can strike from a long distance and no one knows where the shots are coming from. Anyone remember the DC sniper from a few years back? When someone falls from a shot no one heard, it's not immediately obvious where the shot came from. Plus most real snipers are very good at concealing themselves and moving after the shot without being noticed. Just knowing where they are can be really useful. No where does it say you have to do an air strike on them, this would obviously be a bad idea in a populated area, but if they are in an empty field or in the middle of the desert, it could be one option. Alternatively, now that they know where the sniper is, they could get one of their marksmen to shoot back.
I question how well it can identify the weapon in question but certainly not the usefulness of this device.
You know, there is more than one political party. (Not that you could tell based on our current system)
I find it funny how few people I talk to are true Republicans or Democrats. Most feel that while they don't agree with everything the one party stands for, they agree with the one more than the other so that's what they are. However sometimes there is a third party that they do fit in well with but there's that old adage that if you vote third party you are throwing your vote away.
While I am unfamiliar with the different cellular protocols (Like G3), I can tell you for a fact that if it does not have a GPS receiver in it, it's never going to be able to use GPS. It's not something you can do in software and if it already has a GPS receiver in it, then they probably would have said so.
That said, I only see two reasons why this phone might fail. 1st is lack of GPS... being able to open up google maps and have a marker telling you exactly where you are would be really cool... 2nd is the fact that it's Cingular only.
The fact that they won't let you install 3rd party apps is unfortunate but as long as they have most of the functionality that people want it will sell well. Also I would be curious if this applies to widgets as well. (ie. do they make a distinction between programs and widgets) If you can install your own widgets, this is really less of an issue. (not great, but less of an issue)
As for the GPS, it was the first thing I thought of when I saw the google maps... The only reason I could guess they excluded it was a size issue and not being able to fit the GPS chip in it. I wonder if 1. anyone makes an SD GPS unit and 2. If I can use this to integrate into google maps or a custom widget.
As for the Cingular issue, I've heard lots of bad things about Cingular from both current and ex cingular users. I wonder how much they will rape you on the service plans. In my area, a 450 Minute voice plan with cingular is $39.99 + PDA Connect Unlimited is another $39.99 + 200 messages (their lowest) $4.99. So we're talking almost $85/month for their lowest number of minutes and SMS but unlimited data. (Because let's face it... with the browser on the phone, you'd be stupid to not go unlimited) Hopefully Apple will get to Cingular and they'll offer a nice voice/data/sms package that's reasonable... I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
mysql_escape_string and mysql_real_escape_string should both work [...] but the former is deprecated as PHP 4.3.0 in favor of the latter; it also does not respect the current character set setting.
Does anyone else not see a problem with this? Oh first we had addslashes but a lot of people complained, then we added mysql_escape_string but we decided it didn't work (for whatever reason) so now we have mysql_real_escape_string so people should be happy now. Oh and we have a magic_quotes variable you can set to automatically do this for you, but it might not be enabled on every instance of php.
And then we have: PEAR::DB is a nice database abstraction (somewhat like perl DBI). Although it's been superceded by PEAR::MDB2. PHP 5 has native PDO, which is also like DBI or DB, or MDB2, but each one has a slightly different syntax.
<sarcasm>Wow, these PHP developers really make it easy to do something simple like query a database! </sarcasm>
First I have a problem with lack of namespaces. Yes, you've heard it before but the above illustrates why it's a problem. If I instead had two libraries, mysql_escape and mysql_escape2 (bad names but bear with me), I could now have them use the same function names so I don't need to have mysql_escape_string and mysql_real_escape_string. To upgrade, I just change what library I include and I'm done. Having all these functions always accessible creates an inconsistent naming of functions.
I currently program in PHP as my real job.... I rarely use it in my personal web based projects preferring python or Perl (Possibly looking into Ruby at some point) because I've come to really dislike the language. However I also don't think it's as bad as some people make it out to be.
I think that's a gross oversimplication of the issues concerning geeks vs. non-geeks.
First I think part of the problem, is your average geek would prefer speed and efficiency over simplicity while non-geeks prefer the opposite. Personally I spend most of my time at the command line so I think things like apt-get install are great, however most non-geeks get worried as soon as you tell them to open up a terminal window.
I'm sure you were trying to be funny but really, geeks don't hate non-geeks, they just don't see the problem and thus no reason to fix something that isn't broken. They would rather focus on developing something cool.
This is also why I tell people who are looking at new computers to buy a mac. This way, they get an easy to use computer with all the nice GUI elements that apple provides, and when I have to use their computer, I still have access to the terminal and all the UNIX goodness that is under the hood of OS X.
Personally I would love for Linux to come up with a GUI that is as easy to use as OS X. (Yes, yes, Ubuntu is easy to use but it's still not on par with OS X... some people can be really dim) However, I think most developers don't really know how to solve the problem.
Oh, and you got it wrong, most uber-geeks hate non-geeks trying to be geeks...
First, I'm very biased against Microsoft, primarily for their underhanded business practices in trying to keep their monopoly. That said, I really don't think Microsoft is listening because they really care, they are starting to realize that Open Source is not going away and is really starting to hurt their bottom line. I had to laugh at this whole story because it is typical of Microsoft. When someone is critical of their business, they try to buy good press, be it by lobbying, seriously discounted software or other kickbacks. To me, this is just Microsoft trying to buy some good publicity.
Unfortunately for Microsoft, Open Source advocates don't care about kickbacks, most of them are in it for the true advancement of technology. If Microsoft is really listening, play nicely! I think the biggest thing Microsoft could do to avoid the harsh criticisms from the open source community is to open up your protocols, work with standard groups to develop open standards so everyone can play nicely together.
Unfortunately I just started a new job back in April and because of their lame policies, I don't get any vacation (Other than the small handful of holidays everyone gets) until January. Even then, I only get two weeks vacation.
However, in the past, and when I do have the day off (because fortunately I work 4 10 hour days each week) I most certainly do not think about work. Occasionally if I have a particular coding issue that I'm stumped on I'll work through that in my head in my downtime but for the most part, work stays at work.
However I do have a hard time unplugging, when I'm not coding at work, and I don't have some other activity planned (such as house maint. or whatever) I'm on the computer coding on personal projects.
These figures are tragic, and of course population levels were much lower at the time. But even so, they are minuscule compared with the death tolls produced by the atheist despotisms of the 20th century. In the name of creating their version of a religion-free utopia, Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and Mao Zedong produced the kind of mass slaughter that no Inquisitor could possibly match. Collectively these atheist tyrants murdered more than 100 million people.
First, Adolf Hitler was religious and frequently spoke positively about the German Christian heritage. Also I think you are linking the terrors of an absolute dictatorship to that of Atheism in the same way you link the "religious wars" to wars that don't really involve religion. Most dictators will kill anyone who doesn't agree with them, christian, athiest or whatever.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not, at its core, a religious one. It arises out of a dispute over self-determination and land. WHAT?!?!? are you kidding me? Yes, it's a dispute over land but it's a dispute over HOLY land. Basically they are both claiming that the lands are spiritually significant to them....may advance theological claims - "God gave us this land" and so forth - but the conflict would remain essentially the same even without these religious motives While we're making stuff up, I'd argue that no, if it wasn't over a particular piece of hold land, they could more easily distribute land and neither would care that the other got this temple or that temple. The main differences that divide them are religious. Take that away and there are few differences between the groups and maybe they'd get along.
it also provides a moral code that condemns the slaughter of innocents. In particular, the moral teachings of Jesus provide no support for - indeed they stand as a stern rebuke to - the historical injustices perpetrated in the name of Christianity. Unless you are Muslim, in which case you are required to kill the infidels, and by infidels they mean anyone who isn't Muslim. Also I hate to bring it up but the Crusades were a slaughter of innocents in the name of Christianity. I find your dismissal of the number of deaths a little alarming. Just because they didn't have access to weapons of mass destruction or the same mobility doesn't mean they wouldn't have done the same thing "in the name of God."
I believe that a large number of murders would happen with religion or no religion. Give someone enough power and it can go to their head.
The best example of religious persecution in America is the Salem witch trials. I don't believe this is the best example, I believe the best example is 9/11. A small group of militant religious freaks killed a lot more than 25 people. I also feel the Salem witch trials really only used religion to get the support of the community to kill people that someone didn't like. The fears and superstitions of religious people were exploited in this case. While the crusades and the Salem witch trials may not be the best example of religious extremism, I don't think we should dismiss them. The best example are the Muslim extremists.
I would like to second this. When I graduated, job prospects were few and far between (mostly because of the economy of the time and me being a new graduate with little experience). So I tried to get an interview for pretty much any IT job that I was remotely interested in. I got a job with a company that did Oracle Forms, not what I wanted to do. After that, I got tons of emails from recruiters for jobs that did Forms development. Fortunately I found a company that does PHP/mysql development which is more what I wanted to do. (Though really I'd rather be using Python or Perl)
I've been pretty happy here so I haven't updated my resume in a while or anything but I bet if I do, I'll get a lot of emails about PHP/mysql opportunities. So go with what you enjoy, personally I'd sign up with the Perl shop in a heartbeat over the.NET group, especially because it sounds like you'll fit in with the group better.
First, "there is no other option"... ummm, ever heard of MAC OS X? Personally I feel that is the best option for people who don't want to use windows but don't want to take the time to learn Linux.
As for driver compatibility etc... the only reason most windows PCs just work is because the Vendor they bought the PC from pre-loaded everything. I remember the last time I installed windows it couldn't find my network card so I had to go to another computer to download the network drivers, burn it to a cd so I could install it. Then I had to download and install the video drivers if I wanted any resolution above 800x600. Then I had to download and install Firefox, thunderbird, gaim, etc... and they weren't a simple 'apt-get install gaim firefox thunderbird' and then walk away.
Yes, installing an OS is inherently easier when all the drivers and programs you want are on the cd. This is true for both windows and linux. I've also found Linux to have more built in drivers. Also it comes with a lot of programs to get you up and running, MS just comes with an OS. If everyone had to install their own OS, there would be a lot of people just not using computers.
I'm just tired of this stupid argument that Linux isn't ready for the mainstream because people are too stupid to know how to install it. People are too stupid to know how to install windows too, that doesn't stop them from using it.
Open source works because people who are passionate about developing software can work on software projects that interest them. The internet helps connect people with similar interests, no matter where they may live.
While I'm sure most of these people would love to get paid to do what they do for free, there are a lot of bad coders out there who just code for the money. (Yes, I'm sure there are also good programmers who just code for money as well but that's not my point.)
Now third world countries will be drawn to this because to them it will be a lot of money, other countries, who are better educated, will balk at the wages offered.
A customized CMS system is what you're looking for, or if you have the knowledge (or people who do) using a web framework like django to build your own isn't as painful as it may first seem.
I'd like to second google video/uTube as another option to the internet archive, either way, the space for the documentaries shouldn't be a problem.
As for the design, I'd like to recommend looking at Open Source Web Design. There are a number of great designs on there.
I'd like to second this, I had a mythtv box (using the nvidia drivers) that until recently had a 283 day uptime. However I finally got a dvd burner so I had to bring the box down to install it.
It could possibly be conflicting with something else on your box, but the nVidia driver alone (and with everything on my system) is quite stable.
Well I personally don't think any company could ever be perfect but I have heard next to no complaints about working at google.
They have a great advertizement program funding their search engine (along with the IPO money). Which search engine isn't as good as it used to be IMO. Too much results are from ebay/amazon/and linkfarms lately... Right, this is their core business... a simple no-fancy-graphics and decent search results got them in the limelight. While I'll agree that it's not as good as it used to be, it's still better than the competition.
Other than those 2 things they've had for pretty much forever, what have they done that's overly impressive? gmail is OK... Google maps is pretty good. Video is so-so. But that's about it. Most of their other stuff was bought outright (like youtube, writely, etc). Some of it plain sucks (like their poor excuse for a spread), and besides their search (and perhaps gmail), the number of users is rather low... They just don't have many big successes. So what you're saying is that other than their core business, they haven't had a lot of success? I'd disagree. Google maps/Google earth is really cool along with the API that allows other to use it. I'd also say the user base for google maps is quite large, especially when you look at all the other web apps that use it. (ie. non-google sites)
They also have quite a few other side projects that you didn't mention. Code search, customizable home page with those cool widgets, picasa, google calendar (which I really like), google desktop just to name a few of the more popular ones. I'd also say that it was because of google that AJAX took off the way it did. Google showed the world what cool things AJAX could do. I think it's great that google is so successful that they have the resources to allow their engineers to play and create whatever they want. If something seems useful, they make it public. (Like they just did with their code search) Google could have just stuck with search and e-mail but I think working there would have gotten old once it was done and they would have lost a lot of their talent. By having other cool side projects for people to work on makes people want to stay. I've seen way to many tech companies loose their innovators and then collapse upon themselves.
In comparison, MS is no worse. Look at all the new exciting tech in the.NET Framework 3, Office 2007's new and very innovative UI, Vista's new techs (all kinds of), etc. But what has MS done that's really innovative? From what I understand, Vista's new UI is basically based on the way OS X works. I have read a lot of "innovative" things microsoft is doing with DRM and preventing you from upgrading your hardware. I will say that the XBox seems to have taken a much stronger foothold in the gaming market than I thought it would. Microsoft also has a lot of other projects that seem to go nowhere. The problem with microsoft's failed inventions as opposed to google is that you have to buy microsoft's stuff and you can't just play with it before deciding you like it or not.
Also, they're a younger company, give 'em a few years and they'll be very much alike to MS and older companies. As I mentioned above, I don't think this will happen because google allows their engineers to work on what interests them. If you enjoy your job, you're much less likely to want to leave it. This is where other tech companies fail. What usually happens is that people join up for an interesting challenge. They meet said challenge and move on to the next challenge which usually involves switching companies. If they can easily move to a different challenge within the company, google retains a group of high quality workers.
I do have issues with Google apparently indexing everything (which is why I don't use Google Desktop) but I would certainly put them above Microsoft.
I find your post ammusing. I find those esoteric commands save me quite a bit of time, certainly by now the time savings I've gained by using them have more than made up for the time it took to learn them. Once you learn Linux/UNIX, you will never go back. Some people don't learn to fully utilize it and get frustrated and switch back, but once you learn the CLI, using a GUI to do things becomes painful.
While it still doesn't do better than python, it still helps if you spell perl correctly... "perl rocks" - 4 Results "love perl" - 50 Results
Personally I do prefer python but I think perl still has a place. (Of course I'm still learning python, perhaps one day I will completely replace perl with python)
Slashdot Mirror
If you just type in mail.google.com and rely on your browser to prepend the http:/// for you, it will direct you to the secure page for login and then back to the non-secure page for email. If however, you initially type in https://mail.google.com/, login, you will stay on https.
I wouldn't quite say that... you must not have learned some of his tricks. I've pissed of quite a few of my friends by playing DK. He was especially good in a crowded arena.
For my town in the US it's at least 2 that I know of. (Main street of a small town too)
First, many people in Mexico do see guns, all the times in the hands of the police. (You can't not see them) Secondly, the corruption in Mexico is a good reason for ordinary citizens to have guns. I have a friend who was down in Mexico and got arrested because he and his friends did not have enough money to bribe to local police. He wasn't doing anything wrong, the police searched him and his car and found nothing.
If your ok with criminals having guns then I will remind you that the person who just shot up the school is now a criminal and it matters little if his guns were legal or not. Incidents like this or like Oklahoma are very unique situations and I feel that the people who committed these horrible acts would have gotten guns and/or bombs if they were legal or not.
Times have changed for sure, back in the days of prohibition, the gangsters often shot up one another and the police. However they were very careful about targeting ordinary citizens. Once prohibition was over, they had to find a new source of income. Criminals were now targeting individuals so an average person is less safe now than they were during prohibition.
Look at England where crime rates are up among individuals. It's pretty much a crime to defend yourself there, something I fear is happening here.
Another example of this was a mall shooting that happened out in Utah. Fortunately that was stopped by a plain clothed police officer who had a concealed firearm. The mall was a no-ccw area, which I believe does not apply to duty police officers (on or off duty).
While there are issues with arming everyone (such as identifying who bad guys are if something happens), I think there is a strong deterrent to someone if they have to question how many people might have a gun. Criminals are not afraid of the police shooting them because there are so many regulations put in place to try and prevent police brutality. They are however afraid of homeowners with guns because courts are much more forgiving of a homeowner shooting a trespasser who poses a threat. (Of course your mileage may vary depending on the castle doctrine laws of your state)
So if you like Mexico's laws so much move there, then you will really find out what government corruption means.
I have to laugh because I see two sides to this. One is the hacker type constantly fussing with his system. My MythBox started as a debian system, then got changed to Ubuntu and is now running Gentoo. And now that I did that I just recently saw an article on compiling mythtv to use the framebuffer and qt-embedded and thought about redoing it again... However my wife was patient enough during the last change that I don't want to push my luck.
It also does work most of the time, and when it doesn't, it's because I've been tinkering with it. I can't do that with Tivo as easily so that's out for me but I'm not your average person. However my brother in law is an average person and I built a mythbox for him. He has no problems with it, it just works for him and his family.
While it's not for everyone, if setup properly it can be very stable.
I love slashdot, random people talking out of their ass. There are tons of situations where someone can (and have) gotten up after a motorcycle accident that would have otherwise knocked them unconscious. I myself was involved in a motorcycle accident (a lady ran a stop sign into me who had no stop sign). I suffered no injuries due to my helmet and leather jacket. I was sore, but I could walk, talk and eat. If I didn't have my helmet on I would have hat at the very least a nasty concussion.
That said, I don't think people should be forced to wear one... however you would rarely, if ever, catch me without one.
My town is also going around taking pictures mostly for future disputes, I don't believe they are going to publish the information. No one was informed as the pictures are taken from public property so I guess they don't have to. (They aren't selling the pictures, just using them in case of future disputes)
While I don't really have an issue with it (as long as no one is trespassing) I could see issues arising where a company is trying to do it for profit.
Less walking opportunities = less energy expenditure = more stored energy
Here, here... Fairly recently a bog box store bought up an area of land near where I live. They made it into a shopping complex. Now, I wasn't happy with the choice of store that came in but I'm glad to see something happen to the property. There are however other stores in this complex that I do frequent and the complex is within walking distance of my house. I can walk on sidewalks to get to the entrance of the complex but then the sidewalks end. So to get to any of the stores I have to either trudge through the dirt (which when wet becomes mud) or walk in the middle of what can be a busy parking lot.
Once I reach sidewalk again, I can walk in front of a set of stores but then to get to another group, I have to go through the parking lot. It's obvious the planners didn't care to design the shopping center so people could walk there or walk between all the stores safely.
I'm sure a lot of people don't care as they just get in their car and move to the next set of stores but I really wish designers would make it easier to walk around these complexes.
Wow, you really don't get it do you?
Snipers are a big threat because they can strike from a long distance and no one knows where the shots are coming from. Anyone remember the DC sniper from a few years back? When someone falls from a shot no one heard, it's not immediately obvious where the shot came from. Plus most real snipers are very good at concealing themselves and moving after the shot without being noticed. Just knowing where they are can be really useful. No where does it say you have to do an air strike on them, this would obviously be a bad idea in a populated area, but if they are in an empty field or in the middle of the desert, it could be one option. Alternatively, now that they know where the sniper is, they could get one of their marksmen to shoot back.
I question how well it can identify the weapon in question but certainly not the usefulness of this device.
You know, there is more than one political party. (Not that you could tell based on our current system)
I find it funny how few people I talk to are true Republicans or Democrats. Most feel that while they don't agree with everything the one party stands for, they agree with the one more than the other so that's what they are. However sometimes there is a third party that they do fit in well with but there's that old adage that if you vote third party you are throwing your vote away.
While I am unfamiliar with the different cellular protocols (Like G3), I can tell you for a fact that if it does not have a GPS receiver in it, it's never going to be able to use GPS. It's not something you can do in software and if it already has a GPS receiver in it, then they probably would have said so.
That said, I only see two reasons why this phone might fail. 1st is lack of GPS... being able to open up google maps and have a marker telling you exactly where you are would be really cool... 2nd is the fact that it's Cingular only.
The fact that they won't let you install 3rd party apps is unfortunate but as long as they have most of the functionality that people want it will sell well. Also I would be curious if this applies to widgets as well. (ie. do they make a distinction between programs and widgets) If you can install your own widgets, this is really less of an issue. (not great, but less of an issue)
As for the GPS, it was the first thing I thought of when I saw the google maps... The only reason I could guess they excluded it was a size issue and not being able to fit the GPS chip in it. I wonder if 1. anyone makes an SD GPS unit and 2. If I can use this to integrate into google maps or a custom widget.
As for the Cingular issue, I've heard lots of bad things about Cingular from both current and ex cingular users. I wonder how much they will rape you on the service plans. In my area, a 450 Minute voice plan with cingular is $39.99 + PDA Connect Unlimited is another $39.99 + 200 messages (their lowest) $4.99. So we're talking almost $85/month for their lowest number of minutes and SMS but unlimited data. (Because let's face it... with the browser on the phone, you'd be stupid to not go unlimited) Hopefully Apple will get to Cingular and they'll offer a nice voice/data/sms package that's reasonable... I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
mysql_escape_string and mysql_real_escape_string should both work [...] but the former is deprecated as PHP 4.3.0 in favor of the latter; it also does not respect the current character set setting.
Does anyone else not see a problem with this? Oh first we had addslashes but a lot of people complained, then we added mysql_escape_string but we decided it didn't work (for whatever reason) so now we have mysql_real_escape_string so people should be happy now. Oh and we have a magic_quotes variable you can set to automatically do this for you, but it might not be enabled on every instance of php.
And then we have:
PEAR::DB is a nice database abstraction (somewhat like perl DBI). Although it's been superceded by PEAR::MDB2. PHP 5 has native PDO, which is also like DBI or DB, or MDB2, but each one has a slightly different syntax.
<sarcasm>Wow, these PHP developers really make it easy to do something simple like query a database! </sarcasm>
First I have a problem with lack of namespaces. Yes, you've heard it before but the above illustrates why it's a problem. If I instead had two libraries, mysql_escape and mysql_escape2 (bad names but bear with me), I could now have them use the same function names so I don't need to have mysql_escape_string and mysql_real_escape_string. To upgrade, I just change what library I include and I'm done. Having all these functions always accessible creates an inconsistent naming of functions.
I currently program in PHP as my real job.... I rarely use it in my personal web based projects preferring python or Perl (Possibly looking into Ruby at some point) because I've come to really dislike the language. However I also don't think it's as bad as some people make it out to be.
I think that's a gross oversimplication of the issues concerning geeks vs. non-geeks.
First I think part of the problem, is your average geek would prefer speed and efficiency over simplicity while non-geeks prefer the opposite. Personally I spend most of my time at the command line so I think things like apt-get install are great, however most non-geeks get worried as soon as you tell them to open up a terminal window.
I'm sure you were trying to be funny but really, geeks don't hate non-geeks, they just don't see the problem and thus no reason to fix something that isn't broken. They would rather focus on developing something cool.
This is also why I tell people who are looking at new computers to buy a mac. This way, they get an easy to use computer with all the nice GUI elements that apple provides, and when I have to use their computer, I still have access to the terminal and all the UNIX goodness that is under the hood of OS X.
Personally I would love for Linux to come up with a GUI that is as easy to use as OS X. (Yes, yes, Ubuntu is easy to use but it's still not on par with OS X... some people can be really dim) However, I think most developers don't really know how to solve the problem.
Oh, and you got it wrong, most uber-geeks hate non-geeks trying to be geeks...
First, I'm very biased against Microsoft, primarily for their underhanded business practices in trying to keep their monopoly. That said, I really don't think Microsoft is listening because they really care, they are starting to realize that Open Source is not going away and is really starting to hurt their bottom line. I had to laugh at this whole story because it is typical of Microsoft. When someone is critical of their business, they try to buy good press, be it by lobbying, seriously discounted software or other kickbacks. To me, this is just Microsoft trying to buy some good publicity.
Unfortunately for Microsoft, Open Source advocates don't care about kickbacks, most of them are in it for the true advancement of technology. If Microsoft is really listening, play nicely! I think the biggest thing Microsoft could do to avoid the harsh criticisms from the open source community is to open up your protocols, work with standard groups to develop open standards so everyone can play nicely together.
Unfortunately I just started a new job back in April and because of their lame policies, I don't get any vacation (Other than the small handful of holidays everyone gets) until January. Even then, I only get two weeks vacation.
However, in the past, and when I do have the day off (because fortunately I work 4 10 hour days each week) I most certainly do not think about work. Occasionally if I have a particular coding issue that I'm stumped on I'll work through that in my head in my downtime but for the most part, work stays at work.
However I do have a hard time unplugging, when I'm not coding at work, and I don't have some other activity planned (such as house maint. or whatever) I'm on the computer coding on personal projects.
These figures are tragic, and of course population levels were much lower at the time. But even so, they are minuscule compared with the death tolls produced by the atheist despotisms of the 20th century. In the name of creating their version of a religion-free utopia, Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and Mao Zedong produced the kind of mass slaughter that no Inquisitor could possibly match. Collectively these atheist tyrants murdered more than 100 million people.
...may advance theological claims - "God gave us this land" and so forth - but the conflict would remain essentially the same even without these religious motives
First, Adolf Hitler was religious and frequently spoke positively about the German Christian heritage. Also I think you are linking the terrors of an absolute dictatorship to that of Atheism in the same way you link the "religious wars" to wars that don't really involve religion. Most dictators will kill anyone who doesn't agree with them, christian, athiest or whatever.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not, at its core, a religious one. It arises out of a dispute over self-determination and land.
WHAT?!?!? are you kidding me? Yes, it's a dispute over land but it's a dispute over HOLY land. Basically they are both claiming that the lands are spiritually significant to them.
While we're making stuff up, I'd argue that no, if it wasn't over a particular piece of hold land, they could more easily distribute land and neither would care that the other got this temple or that temple. The main differences that divide them are religious. Take that away and there are few differences between the groups and maybe they'd get along.
it also provides a moral code that condemns the slaughter of innocents. In particular, the moral teachings of Jesus provide no support for - indeed they stand as a stern rebuke to - the historical injustices perpetrated in the name of Christianity.
Unless you are Muslim, in which case you are required to kill the infidels, and by infidels they mean anyone who isn't Muslim. Also I hate to bring it up but the Crusades were a slaughter of innocents in the name of Christianity. I find your dismissal of the number of deaths a little alarming. Just because they didn't have access to weapons of mass destruction or the same mobility doesn't mean they wouldn't have done the same thing "in the name of God."
I believe that a large number of murders would happen with religion or no religion. Give someone enough power and it can go to their head.
The best example of religious persecution in America is the Salem witch trials.
I don't believe this is the best example, I believe the best example is 9/11. A small group of militant religious freaks killed a lot more than 25 people. I also feel the Salem witch trials really only used religion to get the support of the community to kill people that someone didn't like. The fears and superstitions of religious people were exploited in this case. While the crusades and the Salem witch trials may not be the best example of religious extremism, I don't think we should dismiss them. The best example are the Muslim extremists.
I would like to second this. When I graduated, job prospects were few and far between (mostly because of the economy of the time and me being a new graduate with little experience). So I tried to get an interview for pretty much any IT job that I was remotely interested in. I got a job with a company that did Oracle Forms, not what I wanted to do. After that, I got tons of emails from recruiters for jobs that did Forms development. Fortunately I found a company that does PHP/mysql development which is more what I wanted to do. (Though really I'd rather be using Python or Perl)
.NET group, especially because it sounds like you'll fit in with the group better.
I've been pretty happy here so I haven't updated my resume in a while or anything but I bet if I do, I'll get a lot of emails about PHP/mysql opportunities. So go with what you enjoy, personally I'd sign up with the Perl shop in a heartbeat over the
First, "there is no other option"... ummm, ever heard of MAC OS X? Personally I feel that is the best option for people who don't want to use windows but don't want to take the time to learn Linux.
As for driver compatibility etc... the only reason most windows PCs just work is because the Vendor they bought the PC from pre-loaded everything. I remember the last time I installed windows it couldn't find my network card so I had to go to another computer to download the network drivers, burn it to a cd so I could install it. Then I had to download and install the video drivers if I wanted any resolution above 800x600. Then I had to download and install Firefox, thunderbird, gaim, etc... and they weren't a simple 'apt-get install gaim firefox thunderbird' and then walk away.
Yes, installing an OS is inherently easier when all the drivers and programs you want are on the cd. This is true for both windows and linux. I've also found Linux to have more built in drivers. Also it comes with a lot of programs to get you up and running, MS just comes with an OS. If everyone had to install their own OS, there would be a lot of people just not using computers.
I'm just tired of this stupid argument that Linux isn't ready for the mainstream because people are too stupid to know how to install it. People are too stupid to know how to install windows too, that doesn't stop them from using it.
Open source works because people who are passionate about developing software can work on software projects that interest them. The internet helps connect people with similar interests, no matter where they may live.
While I'm sure most of these people would love to get paid to do what they do for free, there are a lot of bad coders out there who just code for the money. (Yes, I'm sure there are also good programmers who just code for money as well but that's not my point.)
Now third world countries will be drawn to this because to them it will be a lot of money, other countries, who are better educated, will balk at the wages offered.
A customized CMS system is what you're looking for, or if you have the knowledge (or people who do) using a web framework like django to build your own isn't as painful as it may first seem.
I'd like to second google video/uTube as another option to the internet archive, either way, the space for the documentaries shouldn't be a problem.
As for the design, I'd like to recommend looking at Open Source Web Design. There are a number of great designs on there.
I'd like to second this, I had a mythtv box (using the nvidia drivers) that until recently had a 283 day uptime. However I finally got a dvd burner so I had to bring the box down to install it.
It could possibly be conflicting with something else on your box, but the nVidia driver alone (and with everything on my system) is quite stable.
And google is perfect?
.NET Framework 3, Office 2007's new and very innovative UI, Vista's new techs (all kinds of), etc.
Well I personally don't think any company could ever be perfect but I have heard next to no complaints about working at google.
They have a great advertizement program funding their search engine (along with the IPO money). Which search engine isn't as good as it used to be IMO. Too much results are from ebay/amazon/and linkfarms lately...
Right, this is their core business... a simple no-fancy-graphics and decent search results got them in the limelight. While I'll agree that it's not as good as it used to be, it's still better than the competition.
Other than those 2 things they've had for pretty much forever, what have they done that's overly impressive? gmail is OK... Google maps is pretty good. Video is so-so. But that's about it. Most of their other stuff was bought outright (like youtube, writely, etc). Some of it plain sucks (like their poor excuse for a spread), and besides their search (and perhaps gmail), the number of users is rather low... They just don't have many big successes.
So what you're saying is that other than their core business, they haven't had a lot of success? I'd disagree. Google maps/Google earth is really cool along with the API that allows other to use it. I'd also say the user base for google maps is quite large, especially when you look at all the other web apps that use it. (ie. non-google sites)
They also have quite a few other side projects that you didn't mention. Code search, customizable home page with those cool widgets, picasa, google calendar (which I really like), google desktop just to name a few of the more popular ones. I'd also say that it was because of google that AJAX took off the way it did. Google showed the world what cool things AJAX could do. I think it's great that google is so successful that they have the resources to allow their engineers to play and create whatever they want. If something seems useful, they make it public. (Like they just did with their code search) Google could have just stuck with search and e-mail but I think working there would have gotten old once it was done and they would have lost a lot of their talent. By having other cool side projects for people to work on makes people want to stay. I've seen way to many tech companies loose their innovators and then collapse upon themselves.
In comparison, MS is no worse. Look at all the new exciting tech in the
But what has MS done that's really innovative? From what I understand, Vista's new UI is basically based on the way OS X works. I have read a lot of "innovative" things microsoft is doing with DRM and preventing you from upgrading your hardware. I will say that the XBox seems to have taken a much stronger foothold in the gaming market than I thought it would. Microsoft also has a lot of other projects that seem to go nowhere. The problem with microsoft's failed inventions as opposed to google is that you have to buy microsoft's stuff and you can't just play with it before deciding you like it or not.
Also, they're a younger company, give 'em a few years and they'll be very much alike to MS and older companies.
As I mentioned above, I don't think this will happen because google allows their engineers to work on what interests them. If you enjoy your job, you're much less likely to want to leave it. This is where other tech companies fail. What usually happens is that people join up for an interesting challenge. They meet said challenge and move on to the next challenge which usually involves switching companies. If they can easily move to a different challenge within the company, google retains a group of high quality workers.
I do have issues with Google apparently indexing everything (which is why I don't use Google Desktop) but I would certainly put them above Microsoft.
I find your post ammusing. I find those esoteric commands save me quite a bit of time, certainly by now the time savings I've gained by using them have more than made up for the time it took to learn them. Once you learn Linux/UNIX, you will never go back. Some people don't learn to fully utilize it and get frustrated and switch back, but once you learn the CLI, using a GUI to do things becomes painful.
While it still doesn't do better than python, it still helps if you spell perl correctly...
"perl rocks" - 4 Results
"love perl" - 50 Results
Personally I do prefer python but I think perl still has a place. (Of course I'm still learning python, perhaps one day I will completely replace perl with python)