Imagine my surprise when I found out that the organization I currently work for employs 'web designers' who exclusively use FrontPage to build the organization's web sites.
Imagine my complete lack of surprise when I found out that these 'developers' couldn't code from scratch in a text editor and had no idea what a CGI was and how it might be useful for interactivity or even form processing.
One of these developers dropped by while I was teaching basic HTML to a class of middle school kids and asked me why I wasn't using FrontPage. I said "because I want to teach them something useful, something that could help them get a job, and no professional web designer uses FrontPage". What a remarkable shade of red he turned....
Let's spell it out plain for the stupid and the cowardly: no amount of government invasion of privacy is ever going to be able to guarrantee your safety. None. Nada. It isn't possible.
*Security is a myth. It will always be a myth. Nothing you do will ever change this reality.*
So get over yourself, grow a goddamned backbone, and try to see that the world is a dangerous place whether you have rights or not, so you might as well keep them.
If you can't see your way clear to not acting like a ball-less moron, then you have an option. It's called 'amending the Constitution'. So if you really think you can put forward a case to the American people for abridging their rights, then get off your fat asses and start the amendment process.
*There is no process whereby government can legally amend Constitutional rights*. Only state legislatures can do that through the amendment process itself. No other power under any circumstance has the right or the authority to touch the Constitution. That simple.
So, put up or shut up. Stop your whining and amend the Constitution, if you aren't too busy sitting in front of the tube every night soaking in reruns of 'Friends'.
The simple fact is that the government has no authority to abridge the Constitution. Only the state legislatures can do that through constitutional amendment.
So it doesn't matter a rat's ass if anyone wants to limit these rights; doing so outside the provisions of a constitutional amendment is *illegal* - no ifs, ands, or buts.
If you want to piss away your freedom, and mine as well, you're welcome to try. But do so through the legal means afforded to you.
Nope, Windows can and will crash without warning, even Win2000 (although it general slows down to a crawl prior to actually dying).
I've been working with networks for more than a decade - in fact, I manage a couple of hundred Win machines right now - and random crashes happen every day. Not many, since I tend to hunt down those that install their own software, but Win *just isn't stable*. It's a 'shit happens' OS, and after trying to find a problem with various networks for years you eventually come to realize that *Windows itself* is the problem.
Especially when you run a Linux network side-by-side with the Win network and see how little maintenance it requires in comparison, when properly set up. I haven't seen a Linux crash now in *three years*. This despite some rather interesting instances of 'imaginative user intervention'.
Guess you can't read for shit. I said *I don't care*. You don't like it, too fucking bad. And if that makes me kin to the assholes who did this, then so be it.
So long as they're obliterated I don't give a shit what you think of me. Rail, moan, and whine all you want about the poor Arab nations, about moral highgrounds, about whatever crap strikes your fancy. Get your panties in a bunch all you like; it won't change a thing in my corner of the universe. Or anyone else's, for that matter.
That's right - fuck justice. Fuck the entire concept. Today I don't give a rats ass about right or wrong, or what U.S. actions might have precipitated or in some indirect way encouraged the insanity I woke up to this morning. I don't care about my country's past crimes, nor do I have one whit of sympathy for anyone even remotely associated with these acts of barbarism. I don't even care if on some bizarre cosmic scale, like a few idiots preach, that "we had it coming."
Because today I saw thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of my fellow Americans murdered on TV. Right there, up close and personal, so many people died that the town I live in would be *entirely obliterated*, down to every last man, woman, and child, if we had suffered so many deaths.
Screw justice, screw history, screw all of it. I don't care for the rationalizations, the armchair historical and political punditry, or the calls for a non-violent solution. I want revenge.
Yeah, that's right. Call me a barbarian, or whine and moan and wring your hands over how 'violence solves nothing'. Go ahead and tell me how immature or short-sighted I am to advocate unrestrained military vengeance against the people who did this thing to my country, and the nations that harbor them. For that's what I do advocate, without shame or remorse or fear that someone will point a finger and tell me that I'm as bad as the terrorists themselves.
I don't care. I want them dead. I want the nations that harbored and funded and trained and protected these bastards to be bombed again and again and again. If Bush orders a nuclear strike against a nation involved in this crime I wouldn't act to stand in his way.
So be it. They declared war in a manner far more brutal than Pearl Harbor ever was. Let them reap the fruits of their labors in the form of fiery hatred from the skies. And yes, let them learn to fear us, let *everyone* who even contemplates such atrocities learn to fear the extremes we'll go to for vengeance.
For that's what I want. No justice, no trials, just vengeance on an order that will shock the entire world into silence. Vengeance so horrible that future terrorists who plan attacks against the U.S. will be torn apart by their own people for fear of what we'll do to them if the terrorists succeed.
This is what I want. Peaceful solutions will never be enough for me. Not now. It's too late for that.
CNN *used* to be a news channel. Have you watched it recently? I sat through a few hours just a week ago and was embarrassed by some of the content that passed for 'news'.
Well, actually I'm for any sort of biological research which holds out the slim chance of eliminating fanatics of all stripes in one fell swoop. Liberal fanatics, conservative fanatics, they're all the same - a bunch of anal-retentive control freaks compelled by a sick id-driven desire to tell other people how to live their lives, especially if said target groups finds the fanatics views distasteful and unpleasant. Nothing like torturing your neighbor with fear and force for fun and kicks.
Of course, the fanatics always tell us moderates that they're doing it for 'our own good'. Yes indeedy, we're just too fucking stupid to figure out for ourselves whether the actions of our neighbors might end up with them pissing in our pool. Thank the gods the fanatics are around to save us from our evil fellow citizens, and from ourselves! Especially the religious shits - which include all those Gaia one-Earth-lets-all-go-back-to-subsistence-farming assholes who'd be dead in a week if civilization actually collapsed.
Christ, but I'm getting sick of all the motherfuckers who think they have the right to order my life about down to the tiniest detail. Who think they have the right to tell me that spending my tax dollars on scientific thing X makes me a minion of their mythical Satan, out to further the handiwork of goose-stepping Nazis. Who're in desperate need of a little post-natal abortion of their own.
Please, tell me there's a gene that promotes fanaticism, and a way to graft that gene into an airborne version of the Ebola virus...maybe then the rest of us will get a little peace and quiet. And a medical advance or two not hindered by some bible-thumping shlock with a woody for fetuses.
And what, precisely, can you do in Windows that you can't do in Linux other than run games?
Once I can play my games in Linux I see no reason whatsoever to use Windows for any purpose. Linux does the job, and better, for everything I need, from email to programming Perl or C to CAD to running any kind of server my heart could desire.
Can any of the I-want-to-suck-Bill boys out there name a single useful function that Windows is better at than Linux? *And* provide proof?
Telling people to shut up when they say things you don't like is the tactic of a three-year-old. Why don't you go whine to Mommy and Daddy, little loser?
Posting from America here, my cherished First Amendment allows me to sling whatever vitriol I delight in at various companies, individuals, or organizations that piss me off. So I can gripe all I please, and a big ol' raspberry blown in your generally direction.
Also under the umbrella of my First Amendment, I can say with wild glee that unbridled capitalism is, in my opinion, the shits. Apparently alot of people thought the same thing around the turn of the century, resulting in things like unionization, retaliation by Pinkertons, and a variety of 'reforms' enacted specifically to counteract the (to them, at least) obvious evils of unchecked capitalism.
It's amusing to see otherwise intelligent people worship at the altar of Capitalism (with a capital 'C') just because they've been conditioned to think that such a thing borders on the holy. Or because they're ignorant enough to believe that they've got what it takes to become the next Bill Gates.
Capitalism isn't the be-all and end-all of economic systems. Anyone with half a brain willing to actually use it for 30 continuous seconds can see that. Capitalism has to be tempered to prevent abuse; even our 'ignorant' 19th century ancestors were able to reason this out. So why can't a great many of you?
Sure, I have a choice. Which is why I run one Linux-only machine and one Linux/Windows dual boot (gotta have those games).
But I'm one of the few people I know who can set up Linux and get all the apps to run properly. Most of the 'average' computer users I deal with aren't that capable. But I'm a programmer, they aren't, and there isn't a reasonable expectation that they should be any more than I should be a mechanic just because I drive a car.
And no, don't go off on how easy Red Hat/SuSe/whatever is to get installed and running. In general, they aren't as easy as Windows. More stable, more functional, yes; easier to install and configure, you're smoking crack. Fanatics can stow it, I *know* Linux is the future (save your breath), but it ain't the *present* for most folks.
And in my state you get just a single cable provider - legal monopolies in all areas. Which is why my choice in channels sucks so horribly, and my choice in cable providers now amounts to just one - @home.
There might be choices, or there might be choices coming, but the current monopolies make it goddamn difficult to find and employ an alternative *now*.
Upload speeds are capped for @home, but they're fairly easy to get around. There are a number of programs available on the net (if you know where to look for them) which remove the cap, with @home none the wiser.
And three hundred and fifty thousand annoying slashdot trolls...
...either employed by Microsoft or harboring the dream that someday THE BILL will bend them over the holy WINDOWS altar and give it to them in person....
Perhaps to you and your particular set of cronies, but when it comes to me and my band of hoodlums 'Linux' means the whole kit and kaboodle. And if Stallman has a problem with that, he needs the pole removed....
But hey, I'm entitled; all the times you lousy morons write 'looser' when it's goddamned LOSER - buy a friggin' dictionary, already! - and I've never said a word about your inability to spell such a simple word incorrectly, until now....
Make you a deal: I'll call it GNU/Linux, as stupid as that sounds, when you convince all the twits to write 'loser' correctly. Then we'll all be happy campers.
Lend-lease was *never* paid for. Or did you forget that the Brits decided that America had a 'moral imperative' to lend a hand, and thus had no right to ask for repayment? The Brits *forgave themselves* the loans. That's an historical fact.
Hitler suing for peace! Bah! What nonsense! No doubt along the lines of 'peace in our time' and 'we'll stop with the Sudetenland, honest'. Jesus Christ, what tripe are they teaching in European schools these days? Hitler wanted time to build up a decent fleet so he could kick the shit out of the Brits on the island, which he knew he could easily do given their abysmal performance in the European theater (that is, until they ran like dogs with their tails between their legs).
Hmmm...I think I've been taken by a troll. No one with the facts at hand could actually believe the crap you put forward as fact. Time to stop being strung along.
Lend-lease was *never* paid for. Or did you forget that the Brits decided that America had a 'moral imperative' to lend a hand, and thus had no right to ask for repayment? The Brits *forgave themselves* the loans. That's an historical fact.
Hitler suing for peace! Bah! What nonsense! No doubt along the lines of 'peace in our time' and 'we'll stop with the Sudetenland, honest'. Jesus Christ, what tripe are they teaching in European schools these days? Hitler wanted time to build up a decent fleet so he could kick the shit out of the Brits on the island, which he knew he could easily do given their abysmal performance in the European theater (that is, until they ran like dogs with their tails between their legs).
Hmmm...I think I've been taken by a troll. No one with the facts at hand could actually believe the crap you put forward as fact. Time to stop being strung along.
max
Given that you only have her two days twice a month, I think I'd try to spend a little time with her. Something not computer-related, perhaps, but rather more interactive.
However, if that's the way you want to do things...I'd suggest discussing things with her prior to surfing. It's impossible to cover all the dweebs, dorks, and loons on the net (hell, just look at the collection on Slashdot alone), but you can give it a shot.
For my kids I told them to come get me if they came across anything that disturbed them or they thought was pornographic and/or upsetting, then let 'em loose. Since my kids tend to be overly honest they do so with alarming frequency, and I try my very best to teach them precisely what it is they're looking at or reading and what I think about it.
The porn really doesn't concern me much; it's the hate sites, the lunatic religious sites (e.g., Scientology), and the 40-year-olds pretending to be 13 on #teenchat that get my goat. These people are sick, twisted bastards that I don't want my
kids anywhere near, and I try to explain to them why it is that I despise these kinds of people so much. Seems to work, so far.
And no, I've never said "don't go there!" to a web site. My comments are more along the lines of "well, it's not a place I'd waste my time on" or on occasion "would you want someone else to walk in and see *that* on your screen"?
Set the example: if your kids respect you it'll do more than any kind of filter or log file will ever do. And without the implied (or overt) distrust.
It's been my experience that MS servers require more maintenance than Linux/Unix boxes, which means more time and more admins. They also tend to choke more often when under load. Just my experience, mind you, but it's in contradiction to yours.
There is one thing that MS can never beat Linux at, one thing that really appealed to the bean counter in my employers: Linux costs nothing and has no licensing fees - ever. Even if Linux and MS products run head-to-head in terms of their viability as servers in real-environment conditions, the cost savings tend to stack up over time. Why pay for a product when the alternative is just as good and free?
And don't go into 'service contracts'. I've never received any remotely useful information from MS for fixing a problem, yet can get extremely knowledgeable assistance for free from Linux fans on the net. And I can rewrite the code to work more efficiently in a specific environment, something you *just can't do* with MS products (this has got to be the most frustrating thing for me - not being able to see the code and change it as I see fit).
Take those things into consideration and Linux doesn't have to be better than MS where server software is concerned - just as good will do.
Oh, yes, quite amusing. Like Brits and Russians claiming they'd still have won the war without American help. Now *that's* to die for. Guess they just plain forgot about Lend-Lease and where they got all the raw (and often finished) goods to continue fighting the good fight. Without Lend-Lease the Brits would've folded from blockade (or eventually the incessant bombing) and the Russians would've been pushed back behind the Urals.
No doubt scholars such as yourself will claim that American aid was inconsequential, and Lend-Lease was just a 'blip' in the conflict.
It's a real laugh to think that Britain would've been able to pursue a ground war against the Germans *by themselves* on the Western Front. Only the most foolish could even think that a real possibility. Dunkirk was a prime example of just how well the Brits did on land.
And don't forget all the countries that rolled over, showed their bellies, and then *contributed* to the German war effort from conquest until liberation. Love to hear those folks go off on how they aided the German, ahem, Allied effort.
Let's not forget about the French - lasted all of 6 weeks, did you? Managed to forget about "Vichy France", eh? Oh, there was the Resistance, yes! Which was so ineffective and littered with German sellouts that American intelligence often required independent confirmation before acting on anything the Resistance told them. The French were complete flakes from beginning to end (Napoleon is rolling over in his grave, I'm sure).
Hell, the Eastern European rebels were far more effective at tying down German troops and supply lines than the French and British combined.
But then, being anti-American seems to be a way of life for some Europeans, so much so they'd rather remember history in a 'different light' - one where they weren't losing WW2 until we Americans decided to lend a hand.
Really - the next time the Germans decide to kick your ass I hope we decide to sit it out. Let Europeans manage their own affairs (which mainly seems to be along the lines of ignoring regional conflicts at all costs, a la the Balkans) and whoever shakes out as the winner, that's who we'll sell to. Who cares who's in charge in Europe so long as they buy from us? It's not like any European power will ever have what it takes to actually threaten the U.S. of A.
There's a solution that I've suggested before: exclude MSIE from browsing the web site.
This isn't rocket science. In fact, it's extremely simple. The main page links to a Perl CGI which interprets a single ENV variable - the browser that's making the web page request. If the browswer identifies itself as IE you redirect the user to an alternate page which reads something along the lines of:
"Hi! It appears you're using IE, which sucks so bad it isn't capable of accessing this web site. However, you can download Opera *here* and that is more than capable of doing the job. Have a nice day!"
I've done this and it works pretty well. Opera is a fast download and install, people have heard about it and are generally willing to try it out. And they discover that they can, indeed, access the web site with Opera whereas they can't with IE. Wow! Opera *must* be better than IE!
But seriously, it's easy to exclude IE users from using the site, which prevents the use of 'smart tags' altogether. By offering a linked alternative like Opera you can tempt the user into downloading a different browser to access the site while at the same time protecting your content from 'alteration'. Stick it to MS twice!
Works for me anyway. And it's certainly more effective than whining, which has *never* changed MS's behavior in the past and has zero chance of doing so in the future. Even the U.S. government seems incapable of affecting MS.
For the MS zealots: this isn't illegal. If you have a problem with it, too goddamned bad. My site, I can do with it as I please. You don't like it, don't go there.
Oh no, we tolerate our fellow countrymen just fine. It's the fact that we have to share the planet with a bunch of arrogant Europeans that drives us to explore space.
Sadly, moving to a new continent proved only to be a stop-gap measure. By creating the internet we managed, much to our dismay, to bring European hubris and ego right back into our living rooms.
It's no wonder private citizens are looking for a way to leave the planet.
Slashdot Mirror
Imagine my surprise when I found out that the organization I currently work for employs 'web designers' who exclusively use FrontPage to build the organization's web sites.
Imagine my complete lack of surprise when I found out that these 'developers' couldn't code from scratch in a text editor and had no idea what a CGI was and how it might be useful for interactivity or even form processing.
One of these developers dropped by while I was teaching basic HTML to a class of middle school kids and asked me why I wasn't using FrontPage. I said "because I want to teach them something useful, something that could help them get a job, and no professional web designer uses FrontPage". What a remarkable shade of red he turned....
Max
And since compiling acts as a form of encryption, let's outlaw the distribution of compiled programs unless the source is included.
You listening, Microsoft?
Max
Let's spell it out plain for the stupid and the cowardly: no amount of government invasion of privacy is ever going to be able to guarrantee your safety. None. Nada. It isn't possible.
*Security is a myth. It will always be a myth. Nothing you do will ever change this reality.*
So get over yourself, grow a goddamned backbone, and try to see that the world is a dangerous place whether you have rights or not, so you might as well keep them.
If you can't see your way clear to not acting like a ball-less moron, then you have an option. It's called 'amending the Constitution'. So if you really think you can put forward a case to the American people for abridging their rights, then get off your fat asses and start the amendment process.
*There is no process whereby government can legally amend Constitutional rights*. Only state legislatures can do that through the amendment process itself. No other power under any circumstance has the right or the authority to touch the Constitution. That simple.
So, put up or shut up. Stop your whining and amend the Constitution, if you aren't too busy sitting in front of the tube every night soaking in reruns of 'Friends'.
Max
The simple fact is that the government has no authority to abridge the Constitution. Only the state legislatures can do that through constitutional amendment.
So it doesn't matter a rat's ass if anyone wants to limit these rights; doing so outside the provisions of a constitutional amendment is *illegal* - no ifs, ands, or buts.
If you want to piss away your freedom, and mine as well, you're welcome to try. But do so through the legal means afforded to you.
Max
Nope, Windows can and will crash without warning, even Win2000 (although it general slows down to a crawl prior to actually dying).
I've been working with networks for more than a decade - in fact, I manage a couple of hundred Win machines right now - and random crashes happen every day. Not many, since I tend to hunt down those that install their own software, but Win *just isn't stable*. It's a 'shit happens' OS, and after trying to find a problem with various networks for years you eventually come to realize that *Windows itself* is the problem.
Especially when you run a Linux network side-by-side with the Win network and see how little maintenance it requires in comparison, when properly set up. I haven't seen a Linux crash now in *three years*. This despite some rather interesting instances of 'imaginative user intervention'.
Max
Guess you can't read for shit. I said *I don't care*. You don't like it, too fucking bad. And if that makes me kin to the assholes who did this, then so be it.
So long as they're obliterated I don't give a shit what you think of me. Rail, moan, and whine all you want about the poor Arab nations, about moral highgrounds, about whatever crap strikes your fancy. Get your panties in a bunch all you like; it won't change a thing in my corner of the universe. Or anyone else's, for that matter.
Max
That's right - fuck justice. Fuck the entire concept. Today I don't give a rats ass about right or wrong, or what U.S. actions might have precipitated or in some indirect way encouraged the insanity I woke up to this morning. I don't care about my country's past crimes, nor do I have one whit of sympathy for anyone even remotely associated with these acts of barbarism. I don't even care if on some bizarre cosmic scale, like a few idiots preach, that "we had it coming."
Because today I saw thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of my fellow Americans murdered on TV. Right there, up close and personal, so many people died that the town I live in would be *entirely obliterated*, down to every last man, woman, and child, if we had suffered so many deaths.
Screw justice, screw history, screw all of it. I don't care for the rationalizations, the armchair historical and political punditry, or the calls for a non-violent solution. I want revenge.
Yeah, that's right. Call me a barbarian, or whine and moan and wring your hands over how 'violence solves nothing'. Go ahead and tell me how immature or short-sighted I am to advocate unrestrained military vengeance against the people who did this thing to my country, and the nations that harbor them. For that's what I do advocate, without shame or remorse or fear that someone will point a finger and tell me that I'm as bad as the terrorists themselves.
I don't care. I want them dead. I want the nations that harbored and funded and trained and protected these bastards to be bombed again and again and again. If Bush orders a nuclear strike against a nation involved in this crime I wouldn't act to stand in his way.
So be it. They declared war in a manner far more brutal than Pearl Harbor ever was. Let them reap the fruits of their labors in the form of fiery hatred from the skies. And yes, let them learn to fear us, let *everyone* who even contemplates such atrocities learn to fear the extremes we'll go to for vengeance.
For that's what I want. No justice, no trials, just vengeance on an order that will shock the entire world into silence. Vengeance so horrible that future terrorists who plan attacks against the U.S. will be torn apart by their own people for fear of what we'll do to them if the terrorists succeed.
This is what I want. Peaceful solutions will never be enough for me. Not now. It's too late for that.
I want blood.
Max
CNN *used* to be a news channel. Have you watched it recently? I sat through a few hours just a week ago and was embarrassed by some of the content that passed for 'news'.
Everything AOL touches turns to shit, eventually.
Max
Well, actually I'm for any sort of biological research which holds out the slim chance of eliminating fanatics of all stripes in one fell swoop. Liberal fanatics, conservative fanatics, they're all the same - a bunch of anal-retentive control freaks compelled by a sick id-driven desire to tell other people how to live their lives, especially if said target groups finds the fanatics views distasteful and unpleasant. Nothing like torturing your neighbor with fear and force for fun and kicks.
Of course, the fanatics always tell us moderates that they're doing it for 'our own good'. Yes indeedy, we're just too fucking stupid to figure out for ourselves whether the actions of our neighbors might end up with them pissing in our pool. Thank the gods the fanatics are around to save us from our evil fellow citizens, and from ourselves! Especially the religious shits - which include all those Gaia one-Earth-lets-all-go-back-to-subsistence-farming assholes who'd be dead in a week if civilization actually collapsed.
Christ, but I'm getting sick of all the motherfuckers who think they have the right to order my life about down to the tiniest detail. Who think they have the right to tell me that spending my tax dollars on scientific thing X makes me a minion of their mythical Satan, out to further the handiwork of goose-stepping Nazis. Who're in desperate need of a little post-natal abortion of their own.
Please, tell me there's a gene that promotes fanaticism, and a way to graft that gene into an airborne version of the Ebola virus...maybe then the rest of us will get a little peace and quiet. And a medical advance or two not hindered by some bible-thumping shlock with a woody for fetuses.
Max
And what, precisely, can you do in Windows that you can't do in Linux other than run games?
Once I can play my games in Linux I see no reason whatsoever to use Windows for any purpose. Linux does the job, and better, for everything I need, from email to programming Perl or C to CAD to running any kind of server my heart could desire.
Can any of the I-want-to-suck-Bill boys out there name a single useful function that Windows is better at than Linux? *And* provide proof?
Max
Telling people to shut up when they say things you don't like is the tactic of a three-year-old. Why don't you go whine to Mommy and Daddy, little loser?
Max
Posting from America here, my cherished First Amendment allows me to sling whatever vitriol I delight in at various companies, individuals, or organizations that piss me off. So I can gripe all I please, and a big ol' raspberry blown in your generally direction.
Also under the umbrella of my First Amendment, I can say with wild glee that unbridled capitalism is, in my opinion, the shits. Apparently alot of people thought the same thing around the turn of the century, resulting in things like unionization, retaliation by Pinkertons, and a variety of 'reforms' enacted specifically to counteract the (to them, at least) obvious evils of unchecked capitalism.
It's amusing to see otherwise intelligent people worship at the altar of Capitalism (with a capital 'C') just because they've been conditioned to think that such a thing borders on the holy. Or because they're ignorant enough to believe that they've got what it takes to become the next Bill Gates.
Capitalism isn't the be-all and end-all of economic systems. Anyone with half a brain willing to actually use it for 30 continuous seconds can see that. Capitalism has to be tempered to prevent abuse; even our 'ignorant' 19th century ancestors were able to reason this out. So why can't a great many of you?
Max
Sure, I have a choice. Which is why I run one Linux-only machine and one Linux/Windows dual boot (gotta have those games).
But I'm one of the few people I know who can set up Linux and get all the apps to run properly. Most of the 'average' computer users I deal with aren't that capable. But I'm a programmer, they aren't, and there isn't a reasonable expectation that they should be any more than I should be a mechanic just because I drive a car.
And no, don't go off on how easy Red Hat/SuSe/whatever is to get installed and running. In general, they aren't as easy as Windows. More stable, more functional, yes; easier to install and configure, you're smoking crack. Fanatics can stow it, I *know* Linux is the future (save your breath), but it ain't the *present* for most folks.
And in my state you get just a single cable provider - legal monopolies in all areas. Which is why my choice in channels sucks so horribly, and my choice in cable providers now amounts to just one - @home.
There might be choices, or there might be choices coming, but the current monopolies make it goddamn difficult to find and employ an alternative *now*.
Max
Upload speeds are capped for @home, but they're fairly easy to get around. There are a number of programs available on the net (if you know where to look for them) which remove the cap, with @home none the wiser.
Max
And three hundred and fifty thousand annoying slashdot trolls...
...either employed by Microsoft or harboring the dream that someday THE BILL will bend them over the holy WINDOWS altar and give it to them in person....
Max
Perhaps to you and your particular set of cronies, but when it comes to me and my band of hoodlums 'Linux' means the whole kit and kaboodle. And if Stallman has a problem with that, he needs the pole removed....
But hey, I'm entitled; all the times you lousy morons write 'looser' when it's goddamned LOSER - buy a friggin' dictionary, already! - and I've never said a word about your inability to spell such a simple word incorrectly, until now....
Make you a deal: I'll call it GNU/Linux, as stupid as that sounds, when you convince all the twits to write 'loser' correctly. Then we'll all be happy campers.
Until then I hold the GNU hostage. And I'm armed.
Max
Lend-lease was *never* paid for. Or did you forget that the Brits decided that America had a 'moral imperative' to lend a hand, and thus had no right to ask for repayment? The Brits *forgave themselves* the loans. That's an historical fact.
Hitler suing for peace! Bah! What nonsense! No doubt along the lines of 'peace in our time' and 'we'll stop with the Sudetenland, honest'. Jesus Christ, what tripe are they teaching in European schools these days? Hitler wanted time to build up a decent fleet so he could kick the shit out of the Brits on the island, which he knew he could easily do given their abysmal performance in the European theater (that is, until they ran like dogs with their tails between their legs).
Hmmm...I think I've been taken by a troll. No one with the facts at hand could actually believe the crap you put forward as fact. Time to stop being strung along.
max
Lend-lease was *never* paid for. Or did you forget that the Brits decided that America had a 'moral imperative' to lend a hand, and thus had no right to ask for repayment? The Brits *forgave themselves* the loans. That's an historical fact. Hitler suing for peace! Bah! What nonsense! No doubt along the lines of 'peace in our time' and 'we'll stop with the Sudetenland, honest'. Jesus Christ, what tripe are they teaching in European schools these days? Hitler wanted time to build up a decent fleet so he could kick the shit out of the Brits on the island, which he knew he could easily do given their abysmal performance in the European theater (that is, until they ran like dogs with their tails between their legs). Hmmm...I think I've been taken by a troll. No one with the facts at hand could actually believe the crap you put forward as fact. Time to stop being strung along. max
Does anyone actually read ZD and think they're going to get unbiased information? Har har har! Buyer beware and all that.
Max
Given that you only have her two days twice a month, I think I'd try to spend a little time with her. Something not computer-related, perhaps, but rather more interactive.
However, if that's the way you want to do things...I'd suggest discussing things with her prior to surfing. It's impossible to cover all the dweebs, dorks, and loons on the net (hell, just look at the collection on Slashdot alone), but you can give it a shot.
For my kids I told them to come get me if they came across anything that disturbed them or they thought was pornographic and/or upsetting, then let 'em loose. Since my kids tend to be overly honest they do so with alarming frequency, and I try my very best to teach them precisely what it is they're looking at or reading and what I think about it.
The porn really doesn't concern me much; it's the hate sites, the lunatic religious sites (e.g., Scientology), and the 40-year-olds pretending to be 13 on #teenchat that get my goat. These people are sick, twisted bastards that I don't want my
kids anywhere near, and I try to explain to them why it is that I despise these kinds of people so much. Seems to work, so far.
And no, I've never said "don't go there!" to a web site. My comments are more along the lines of "well, it's not a place I'd waste my time on" or on occasion "would you want someone else to walk in and see *that* on your screen"?
Set the example: if your kids respect you it'll do more than any kind of filter or log file will ever do. And without the implied (or overt) distrust.
Max
Add to this "do you honestly think *real* hackers use Windows? C'mon, that's the operating system for *your parents*!"
Hook, line, sinker.
Max
It's been my experience that MS servers require more maintenance than Linux/Unix boxes, which means more time and more admins. They also tend to choke more often when under load. Just my experience, mind you, but it's in contradiction to yours.
There is one thing that MS can never beat Linux at, one thing that really appealed to the bean counter in my employers: Linux costs nothing and has no licensing fees - ever. Even if Linux and MS products run head-to-head in terms of their viability as servers in real-environment conditions, the cost savings tend to stack up over time. Why pay for a product when the alternative is just as good and free?
And don't go into 'service contracts'. I've never received any remotely useful information from MS for fixing a problem, yet can get extremely knowledgeable assistance for free from Linux fans on the net. And I can rewrite the code to work more efficiently in a specific environment, something you *just can't do* with MS products (this has got to be the most frustrating thing for me - not being able to see the code and change it as I see fit).
Take those things into consideration and Linux doesn't have to be better than MS where server software is concerned - just as good will do.
Max
Oh, yes, quite amusing. Like Brits and Russians claiming they'd still have won the war without American help. Now *that's* to die for. Guess they just plain forgot about Lend-Lease and where they got all the raw (and often finished) goods to continue fighting the good fight. Without Lend-Lease the Brits would've folded from blockade (or eventually the incessant bombing) and the Russians would've been pushed back behind the Urals.
No doubt scholars such as yourself will claim that American aid was inconsequential, and Lend-Lease was just a 'blip' in the conflict.
It's a real laugh to think that Britain would've been able to pursue a ground war against the Germans *by themselves* on the Western Front. Only the most foolish could even think that a real possibility. Dunkirk was a prime example of just how well the Brits did on land.
And don't forget all the countries that rolled over, showed their bellies, and then *contributed* to the German war effort from conquest until liberation. Love to hear those folks go off on how they aided the German, ahem, Allied effort.
Let's not forget about the French - lasted all of 6 weeks, did you? Managed to forget about "Vichy France", eh? Oh, there was the Resistance, yes! Which was so ineffective and littered with German sellouts that American intelligence often required independent confirmation before acting on anything the Resistance told them. The French were complete flakes from beginning to end (Napoleon is rolling over in his grave, I'm sure).
Hell, the Eastern European rebels were far more effective at tying down German troops and supply lines than the French and British combined.
But then, being anti-American seems to be a way of life for some Europeans, so much so they'd rather remember history in a 'different light' - one where they weren't losing WW2 until we Americans decided to lend a hand.
Really - the next time the Germans decide to kick your ass I hope we decide to sit it out. Let Europeans manage their own affairs (which mainly seems to be along the lines of ignoring regional conflicts at all costs, a la the Balkans) and whoever shakes out as the winner, that's who we'll sell to. Who cares who's in charge in Europe so long as they buy from us? It's not like any European power will ever have what it takes to actually threaten the U.S. of A.
Max
There's a solution that I've suggested before: exclude MSIE from browsing the web site.
This isn't rocket science. In fact, it's extremely simple. The main page links to a Perl CGI which interprets a single ENV variable - the browser that's making the web page request. If the browswer identifies itself as IE you redirect the user to an alternate page which reads something along the lines of:
"Hi! It appears you're using IE, which sucks so bad it isn't capable of accessing this web site. However, you can download Opera *here* and that is more than capable of doing the job. Have a nice day!"
I've done this and it works pretty well. Opera is a fast download and install, people have heard about it and are generally willing to try it out. And they discover that they can, indeed, access the web site with Opera whereas they can't with IE. Wow! Opera *must* be better than IE!
But seriously, it's easy to exclude IE users from using the site, which prevents the use of 'smart tags' altogether. By offering a linked alternative like Opera you can tempt the user into downloading a different browser to access the site while at the same time protecting your content from 'alteration'. Stick it to MS twice!
Works for me anyway. And it's certainly more effective than whining, which has *never* changed MS's behavior in the past and has zero chance of doing so in the future. Even the U.S. government seems incapable of affecting MS.
For the MS zealots: this isn't illegal. If you have a problem with it, too goddamned bad. My site, I can do with it as I please. You don't like it, don't go there.
Max
Oh no, we tolerate our fellow countrymen just fine. It's the fact that we have to share the planet with a bunch of arrogant Europeans that drives us to explore space.
Sadly, moving to a new continent proved only to be a stop-gap measure. By creating the internet we managed, much to our dismay, to bring European hubris and ego right back into our living rooms.
It's no wonder private citizens are looking for a way to leave the planet.
Max