mainly becuase I could get a job with my two degrees here, while (five years ago) I couldn't do that in Aust. (Now the ed. dept. keeps calling my Mum to ask when I'm coming back - aparently they are short on IT-qualified primary teachers. I've told her to tell them I'll return when they pay as well (relative to local cost of living) as China.;-)
China can be pretty horrible - though generally nowhere near as bad as the Western propoganda machines usually make out - but it IS getting better at a very gradual rate. And every time I look out this connection, I see the 'free world' getting worse and worse. My incentive to return home is fast drying up!:-(
of trouble to perpetuate the myth that a vote for a minor party is a wasted vote. And the press is all too willing to help them. The draft National Social Studies Curriculum back in the late '90s had all the stuff about how the Australian Electoral system really works explicitly written out of it by a beaurecrat, and the University Social Studies professors who had contributed to the pre-draft were basicaly put on NDA over it - which they all broke, distributing copies of what they submitted and what was returned for their students to peruse and compare.
the organised crime syndicate will get the same treatment as Joe Schmuck the MP3 dowloader?
The syndicate has much better lawyer access and at least a dozen MPs on leash. Joe Schmuck the MP3 downloader has all his assets frozen and a waiting list for public representation.
as a great big prison for politically inconvenient persons (Perth notwithstanding).
Australians have a long history of 'sticking one up' bad authority. This could get interesting (If we're lucky and the Aussies haven't lost their edge lately)!!
Australia's Govt. tends to be a bit of a lap dog to the US. I think it's mainly because the Brits told us to piss off when we asked for help against the Japanese in WWII (after we sent all those people to fight in Europe) and the US supplied the needed assistance. We are rightly greatful, but our representatives take it too far sometimes.
Note: IANAHistorian! Check my 'facts' before relying on them! Though I think I've stayed general enough to be safe!
biteback ;-)
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· Score: 2, Insightful
Actually, XP isn't too bad, I'll admit.
I DO use XP at work as that is what is installed, so I have got some 'up-to-date' experience and XP is still a dog. Just less of a dog than previous versions (though the physicist downstairs would disagree with me. She very loudly refuses to upgrade from 2k;-).
Sorry about your RH troubles. GNU/Linux is a fiddly bastard. I generally call it 'the least worse OS' and do my share of cursing it too. I then go use XP for a while and that helps me appreciate my GNU/linux system a bit more!
Let's see...
Microsoft Windows - good for maintaining network worm farms. Security a bad joke. Comes pre-installed, which is just as well - the install isn't a walk in the park anymore.
Linux - pain in the posterior to install and configure. But quite secure.
MacOS - Great usability but a little pricey and I trust Jobs with my data less than I do Gates.
That's all I can validly make a comment on from personal experience. But I am always on the lookout for something better. I expect something around 2005-6:-(
Re:Cha ching, reloaded.
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· Score: 5, Insightful
> Why would they want to pay for something (either monetarily, through CPU sharing, etc...) that they've gotten essentially for free
Well, for 94% of them, they'd 'want' whatever Bill Baby had pre-installed on their system when they bought it! If they will put up with and make excuses for a system that allows virus-of-the-week and crash-of-the-day, why not put up with paying for email (especially if free email involves a scary extra software installation). If this thing went live, five years from now most of that 94% would have happily convinced themselves that 'it was always like that.'
That got me thinking. Why don't all those poor Mexicans just break the DMCA in Mexico and the nice people from the US Government will come and get them and take them to the that wonderful place, the USofA. Might stem the flow of IT refugees leaving, too.
Main reason for Mars is that it is close. The distance between planets increases in an exponent-like (note, not an actual exponent) way as you move out. Venus is closer but the temperature and the sulphuric acid in the atmosphere makes keeping probes alive for long a problem.
As for people, very few manned space missions couldn't have been better done by machines better (possibly only missions to determine the effects of space on humans need actual people). Most manned flights (particularly those to the moon) were manned for more PR-reasons (stick one up the Ruskies in return for getting manned orbit first) than the need for human crew. Unmanned probes have the added benefit of not needing to come back. They are subject to mechanical breakdown (especially when the US insists on building their parts in Inches (I thought you guys kicked the Brits out of there?), but humans are pretty fragile in harsh environments too.
That isn't to say we shouldn't send human crews for other reasons (aesthetics, novelty, just because we can - are all as valid reasons as anyone has ever given for bothering to live), but probes are generally a better first step.
BTW, download Celestia (*nix or win) and virtually explore the known and extropolated universe. You can't land on the planets, but you can get a pretty close orbit! Great stuff!
Seems to me to be a problem of semantics. Certainly you shouldn't donate to a company. You can contribute if you like. I believe Mandrake has reworded the page by now.
RE: support by buying the boxed set. Support Mandrake by filling landfills with more plastic and paper? By giving a big comission to the retailer when you can download direct without the middle-man? Just give them the money directly. They will get more money and your grandchildren will have a better envronment to live in.
I am stuck in PR China on a dirty 33.6k line and so ISOs are not an option for me. I ended up building my own Debian-based distro package-at-a-time over many months. I would be more than happy to CONTRIBUTE a reasonable ammount to my distro producer (if I had the means to do it - no international credit cards here) be they comercial or voluntary. As it is I cannot contribute cash so am looking at doing bug reporting and other time-based donations... whoops - CONTRIBUTIONS.
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mainly becuase I could get a job with my two degrees here, while (five years ago) I couldn't do that in Aust. (Now the ed. dept. keeps calling my Mum to ask when I'm coming back - aparently they are short on IT-qualified primary teachers. I've told her to tell them I'll return when they pay as well (relative to local cost of living) as China. ;-)
:-(
China can be pretty horrible - though generally nowhere near as bad as the Western propoganda machines usually make out - but it IS getting better at a very gradual rate. And every time I look out this connection, I see the 'free world' getting worse and worse. My incentive to return home is fast drying up!
of trouble to perpetuate the myth that a vote for a minor party is a wasted vote. And the press is all too willing to help them. The draft National Social Studies Curriculum back in the late '90s had all the stuff about how the Australian Electoral system really works explicitly written out of it by a beaurecrat, and the University Social Studies professors who had contributed to the pre-draft were basicaly put on NDA over it - which they all broke, distributing copies of what they submitted and what was returned for their students to peruse and compare.
I was disgusted!
the organised crime syndicate will get the same treatment as Joe Schmuck the MP3 dowloader?
The syndicate has much better lawyer access and at least a dozen MPs on leash. Joe Schmuck the MP3 downloader has all his assets frozen and a waiting list for public representation.
An attitude like that is self-fulfilling.
Be polite, be informed, be firm.
At the very least, you will use up some of his office's time and help distract them from thinking up more ideas!
as a great big prison for politically inconvenient persons (Perth notwithstanding).
Australians have a long history of 'sticking one up' bad authority. This could get interesting (If we're lucky and the Aussies haven't lost their edge lately)!!
Australia's Govt. tends to be a bit of a lap dog to the US. I think it's mainly because the Brits told us to piss off when we asked for help against the Japanese in WWII (after we sent all those people to fight in Europe) and the US supplied the needed assistance. We are rightly greatful, but our representatives take it too far sometimes.
Note: IANAHistorian! Check my 'facts' before relying on them! Though I think I've stayed general enough to be safe!
Actually, XP isn't too bad, I'll admit.
;-).
:-(
I DO use XP at work as that is what is installed, so I have got some 'up-to-date' experience and XP is still a dog. Just less of a dog than previous versions (though the physicist downstairs would disagree with me. She very loudly refuses to upgrade from 2k
Sorry about your RH troubles. GNU/Linux is a fiddly bastard. I generally call it 'the least worse OS' and do my share of cursing it too. I then go use XP for a while and that helps me appreciate my GNU/linux system a bit more!
Let's see...
Microsoft Windows - good for maintaining network worm farms. Security a bad joke. Comes pre-installed, which is just as well - the install isn't a walk in the park anymore.
Linux - pain in the posterior to install and configure. But quite secure.
MacOS - Great usability but a little pricey and I trust Jobs with my data less than I do Gates.
That's all I can validly make a comment on from personal experience. But I am always on the lookout for something better. I expect something around 2005-6
> Why would they want to pay for something (either monetarily, through CPU sharing, etc...) that they've gotten essentially for free
Well, for 94% of them, they'd 'want' whatever Bill Baby had pre-installed on their system when they bought it! If they will put up with and make excuses for a system that allows virus-of-the-week and crash-of-the-day, why not put up with paying for email (especially if free email involves a scary extra software installation). If this thing went live, five years from now most of that 94% would have happily convinced themselves that 'it was always like that.'
And both 'sticky keyboard' and running out of kleenex problems are solved too!
...Linux pulls a Linux and points out that all the 'copied' code was in Linux or some other OSS project first!
That got me thinking. Why don't all those poor Mexicans just break the DMCA in Mexico and the nice people from the US Government will come and get them and take them to the that wonderful place, the USofA. Might stem the flow of IT refugees leaving, too.
I don't have a DVD player because the improvement over what I had before isn't sufficient to justify the extra expense!
Not all of us.
I thank Microsoft for driving me to Apple.
I thank Apple for driving me to Linux.
And I don't like Sony much!
Main reason for Mars is that it is close. The distance between planets increases in an exponent-like (note, not an actual exponent) way as you move out. Venus is closer but the temperature and the sulphuric acid in the atmosphere makes keeping probes alive for long a problem. As for people, very few manned space missions couldn't have been better done by machines better (possibly only missions to determine the effects of space on humans need actual people). Most manned flights (particularly those to the moon) were manned for more PR-reasons (stick one up the Ruskies in return for getting manned orbit first) than the need for human crew. Unmanned probes have the added benefit of not needing to come back. They are subject to mechanical breakdown (especially when the US insists on building their parts in Inches (I thought you guys kicked the Brits out of there?), but humans are pretty fragile in harsh environments too. That isn't to say we shouldn't send human crews for other reasons (aesthetics, novelty, just because we can - are all as valid reasons as anyone has ever given for bothering to live), but probes are generally a better first step. BTW, download Celestia (*nix or win) and virtually explore the known and extropolated universe. You can't land on the planets, but you can get a pretty close orbit! Great stuff!
Seems to me to be a problem of semantics. Certainly you shouldn't donate to a company. You can contribute if you like. I believe Mandrake has reworded the page by now.
RE: support by buying the boxed set. Support Mandrake by filling landfills with more plastic and paper? By giving a big comission to the retailer when you can download direct without the middle-man? Just give them the money directly. They will get more money and your grandchildren will have a better envronment to live in.
I am stuck in PR China on a dirty 33.6k line and so ISOs are not an option for me. I ended up building my own Debian-based distro package-at-a-time over many months. I would be more than happy to CONTRIBUTE a reasonable ammount to my distro producer (if I had the means to do it - no international credit cards here) be they comercial or voluntary. As it is I cannot contribute cash so am looking at doing bug reporting and other time-based donations... whoops - CONTRIBUTIONS.