The first time I took a sharp knife away from my son I showed him the scar on my hand from being cut by a sharp knife. And I told him how it happened.
I imagine the first time I discuss drugs I'll tell him about by best friend in the 5Th grade who had a party where they started smoking pot. He got stoned and decided it would be funny to smoke his mom's houseplant. He died that night die to a heart attack brought on by a severe allergic reaction.
Or I could tell him about another friend who decided to go out to the garage at his house and get wasted. After a while he ran out of coke to mix with his drinks and decided to grab off the floor what looked like a bottle of mountain dew. The radiator fluid (ethelene glycol) killed him withing the hour. His loser buddies were too wasted to notice before it was too late and too scared of getting caught with drugs to call for help. Then maybe I'll call up the parents of my friends at let them talk about their experiences.
Then to top it off a trip to the local jail to view the bloodshot dead-eyed, crackheads. Mark Twain told Anecdotes. These are real life experiences with real life people.
People that use this software (the consumers) would rather err on the side of caution. Also true is the fact that if censor software companies published the lists freely then the censored companies are more likely to try to circumvent the software. Maybe their methodology (or more likely one of their methodologies) is too crude. Maybe,like the software we use at work (big company I have no idea what they use) they simply block any file with "Fuvk","Shit"... in the URL. Therefore they could be easily circumvented.
Let me try and choos an anology from the physical world. Since, at its most basic, censorware is a type of security device I'll relate it to that.
Suppose the FooBar mall decided to hire a security service because of recent breakins. They have been broken into numerous times but nobody has been caught due to the slow response time of the local police. FooBar mall is located downtown directly on a street that divides a really posh neighborhoos from a low-income, high crime neighborhood.
After their first week on the job many neighbors notice the security gaurd's vehicle patrolling around the neighborhood. Some of the neighbors are minorities and immediately wonder if their neighborhood is being overly patrolled because they are minorities. Many of the other poor families wonder if they see the patrol vehicle so often because the officer figures poor people are more likely to commit crime. In the posh neighborhood they are annoyed at having a bothersome patrol vehicle driving by at all.
The next time they have a city council meeting the subject of the security patrol is brought up. Some peole think the security patrol should be stopped. Some think the mall should release a drawing of the patrol's route along with a timeline of how long they spend in each neighborhood. After much debate they draw up a proposal. The city council will demand that the mall draw up a map and timeline of the patrol's circuit. Further, the mall must then post copies of this route on all streetcorners of the surrounding area and update the information whenever it changes. Also, if anyone in the community objects to having the security patrol go by their residence the mall must provide written explainaitions why they are patrolling past that residence.
The mall recieves the councils request the next day. Their immediate response after discussing it with the security company is to say that providing that information would be cost prohibitive and allow crooks to circumvent the security patrol's efforts.
Ok,its not a perfect analogy, but pretty close I think. The mall represents consumers, the security patrol represents the censorship software company, and members of the surrounding neighborhood represent all the internet websites. The local police represent the federal government trying to regulate net abuse.
Ok,maybe shelter isn't the correct word. At some level you have to show your kids right from wrong by example. Being overprotective can produce bitterness but it is also true that that bitterness, rebelling againt authority, is a pretty standard feature of the human condition.
If you say nothing is off-limits then you wind up with kids that don't respect authority and get in trouble a lot.
On the other hand if you maintain an authoritative stance and let them experiment with different things as they mature then they are more likely to respect authority. Giving reasons helps also. "Don't do drugs because drugs are for losers. Every person I grew up with who started doing drugs in HS is either dead or working the takeout at McDonalds." or "You are too young to watch porn on the net. maybe when you are a little older I'll help you understand that just because people do things to each other on film or in a picture it doesn't mean that someone your age blah blah blah"
The point is that there are two seperate issues. Getting your kids to respect authority when it deserves respect and showing them that you care enough to want them to gradually be eased into the realities of the world. When I see some punk kid 13YO walking the street with the attitude of an Ex-Con it makes me want to cry. The world is rapidly becoming a big information gererator and repository and kids can become shellshocked running face first into a battleline of uncensored information.
Oohhh neato, look what they did. I don't see the point. Beyond publishing embarrasing lists of unjustly blocked websites that only netheads read. If the point is that you don't want public access facilities filtered through censorware, legislation is the only effective cure. Annoying these companies and giving them a little bad press won't hurt them at all. In fact by hacking/cracking this software they are pushing legislators into the opposite corner.
I mean, lets get real. Mr or Ms. average net user hears about things being cracked or hacked, viruses, DDOS attacks and other techno mumbo jumbo scaryisms all they want to do is complain to the government (thus more restrictive legislation) or buy the pigslop security or "protection" software to err on the better side of caution (what do you think convinces people to buy this junk? Real life experience or the scary stuff they hear from talking heads on the news.
Go ahead and keep up this wonderful line of attack. Give them seemingly good reason to write bs legislation and scare cluless consumers into buying more censorware. I just can't wait until they (MIB) implant that GPS transmitter and thought recorder in my head.
I just got back from watching the movie with my oldest son. Its not 2001 but to tell you the truth I'd rather see a movie with a real ending than the ending that 2001 had. If I had to rate it i'd say its worth seeing. If you are a sci-fi nut like me you'll see it whether it's reviewed well or not. But in this case I wasn't dissappointed.
While I'm at it I'll mention that Pitch Black was worth seeing also. I know it got dogged by the press, but Vince Diesel (sp?) really takes charge of the screen. In The Bioleroom he steals the show. The premise of Pitch Black is really quite novel.
If you had to choose one movie currently playing I'd pick The Insider. Watched it last week with my wife. We both enjoyed the movie and now I finally know why 60 Minutes has thoroughly sucked for the last two years. Pachino is a must see anyhow.
On 22 November 1999 in Prague starting work began for a 6-hour TV filming of the novel " the desert planet " (" Dune ") by Franc Herbert. The TV project, with a budget 20 million US Dollars, is a full time occupation for the crew.
Thus William Hurt (also in "Lost in Space ", "Dark City") admits to us , "among other things" also "Until the End of the World") took over the role of the duke Leto Atreides, also including Italian actors Giancarlo Giannini as Imperator Shaddam IV and Ian McNeice as a bad baron Harkonnen.
Barbara Kodetova plays as Chani opposite the charismatic Paul Atreides, played by Alec Newman. With Uwe ox farmhand, who embodies the Fremen Leaders very convincingly, is represented also a German actor in this internationally filled production. The film script to "Desert Planet" is wrtten by John Harrison, who is also Lead Director; executing producers are Richard P. Rubinstein and Mitchell Galin. The camera work is done by the three-way Oscar winner Vittorio Storaro (Apocalypse Now). The marvelous costume work comes from Theodor Pistek (won a Oscar for the costumes in Amadeus). Additionally the special effects conductor Ernest Farino and the production designer Miljen Kreka Kljakovic are involved in the project. The digital trick effects will come from three studios, among them AREA 51 and nice one digital (Babylon 5).
" Dune " a production of New Amsterdam Entertainment Inc., the Scifi Channel and Kirch Media in co-operation with Tandem Communications. The US Release is planned for the last quarter 2000, in Germany the television filming in the spring 2001 to see will be (only little later).
World-exclusive SF-Film.de can show the first photos of the set and the ongoing work here- now. Thanks to Torsten Dewi!
I wouldn't be one to knock Apple. My first computer was a Mac. They build better computers, better looking computers and innovate more (firewire,GUI design,video integration). The only real problems with Apple are price and software developer support. They tend to run nearly $500-$1000 more for a comparable system, have fewer hardware upgrade options and virtually no software support. Not to mention that the available software is often more expensive since the economy of scale is much smaller.
Were talking the middle to end of next year folks. This system will be way outdated by then. Comparing timelines buying the X-Box with those specs next year is like saying someone is willing to sell you a computer (less monitor) that is a Celeron 300, 32 MB ram and a Rivia TNT card for $300 bucks today. Great deal, but for a gamer system a year from now I'll want a 1GHZ Processor, 128MB ram and a GeForce video card. By then the new games will require much more horsepower.
Then there is the games support. Sure you'll be able to run a plethora of old games and even sucky MS games but what about new games. MS had better cut some major deals with games software companied to provide new games that will attract customers. Personally I hoping that by the end of next year (two years away) I'll be conversing with Slashdot users via a highspeed connection in a virtual world. At a minumum I'll be waiting for good VR FPS games to play.
The internet and computer programming are absolutely huge in India. Many companies farm out their programming work to Indian programming sweat shops. Call it racism if you want but almost every Indian I have actually been acqainted with is excellent in math and engineering. I think these inate traits makes them good programmers too. Then again with such a huge population perhaps the Indians I have been friends with and worked with are the elite.
Go ahead and seach on altivista for "India programming". You get tons of links and good resources for farming out programming work.
I'm not sure Bahrain constitutes a third world country. Like many places in the world there is a stark difference between the havs and have-nots. The haves have satellite dishes on the rooves for watching BayWatch and internet access provided by the local telephone company Batelco. Not to mention lots of other modern technologies.
You would be amazed at the dichotomy within the Middle Eastern culture. On one hand they grasp new technologies with seeminingly little reservation. On the other they cling to traditional values and culturalisms. And contrary to popular myth even Saudi's aren't trapped in their own country by their government. Many travel and become educated abroad and return home to the country they love.
I'm not sure how applicable ths is to other countries like African Nations. I assume wealthy to middle income city dwellers share the same benefits. Poor and rural people probably don't have access to electricity much less computers and phone lines.
I'm sure ATI produces good, reliable products. In the end though quantity doesn't always win. ATI seems happy to sit pat on injecting excitment into the market. Moreover, long term success in the PC industry is often dictated by a company's ability to react to consumer demands and innovate. Case in point is ATI's Rage Fury Maxx (Rage Fury Maxx. Some are thrilled by dropping a Corvette motor into a Chevette but I prefer to see creative engineering from the ground up.
ATI or NVidia, either way I like to see competition. When companies don't give competitors a chance to sit on their laurals the consumer benefits. As long as we have choice. With the recent trend toward integrating video support into the Mainboard chipsets and the threat of integrated solutions like the PSX2 and X-box driving choice out of the market, there are bigger worries.
When I bought a Matrox Millenium to play Duke Nukem II years back hoping to get a glimpse of a virtual world I'd surely hate to see the road to that dream take a sharp turn. Not when recent video hardware advancements make the goal seem so near.
The same way that constellation X contained planetoid y in galaxy z due to the inherent gravitational effects of X and Y. They are obvious because they only need to be seen or read. The methodology for acually reading the sequence may be patentable,"non-obvious" but the actual sequence is, in the most exact use of the words, "obvious" and "prior art" since they are inherent in at leaset a fraction of the population.
What if a researcher discovers that the human response to excitement was to produce adrenaline . So he files patent on the chemical. Now wouldn't that just suck the next time you went out on a date and wanted to get excited? You would have to pay a royalty first. No more cheap dates.
It would seem to me that gene sequences are "obvious". And "obvious" things shouldn't recieve patent or will not stand up in the courts.
For instance, assume I build this bigass telescope to see further out in the universe than anyone else. Sure the telescope technology may be patentable, but all the stars that I see shouldn't be.
Suppose I was the first person to climb Mt. Everest or some other geographically remote place. Can I file patent and say that anyone else that sees the top of Mount Everest or takes pictures owes me a royalty?
Again, patenting obvious things is wrong and can't stand up in court. I'll even be willing to grant that the database structure that they use for the genome project is patentable, heck maybe even the software to access it. We all appreciate the work of these projects, but afterall they should only spend the research money and time if they see some non-obvious economical benefit.
Oh yea, what if someone patents the human genome and for some reason become unable to share the knowledge? What if they get sued and tie the database up in court? Its not just a loss of knowledge, its a loss of life.
People wonder why Sony only releases a small quantity of the PS2 and only in Japan. Half the reason people think Japanese products have such high quality. They Guniea Pig their own consumers first.
Oops. I can henestly see how stuff like this happens though. Aerospace, the Military and Shipbuilding share somthing in common besodes public funding though. Another reason for a lot of the goofy stuff happening is the sheer size of the projects. There aren't really any comperable projects like building a space station or Aircraft Carrier in the civilian world. This level of complexity will inevitably lead to some funny mishaps. Add to that the low rate of retention in government related work and you have a recipe for disaster.
ATI sure is talking a good game, but do they have what is takes to back it up. NVidia did three things that changed the video card industry:
#1 Pruduced the fastest, high quality consumer oriented video chipsets
#2 Consistently met demand in the OEM and retail market
#3 Produced better reference drivers than chipset implementers could produce, and updated these drivers for advancements like Direct X very quickly.
ATI has shown it can produce a good video solution, but lacks in meeting retail market demand and driver support. Matrox builds awesome chipsets and cards (and excellent driver support) but doesn't give a damn about meeting demand. 3DFx kept their 3d spec closed therby limiting potential developer support, lost momentum, and didn't provide good reference drivers.
NVidia has proven they can do all three consistantly. And let's not forget #4 -Support from Software developers. Metting the first three criteria directly impact the fourth. Developers don't waste their time developing for hardware no-one owns.
Another important feature is that these techniques are server side so are independent of the browser used. You can also use PHP with Oracle 8i but most of the really cool stuff is centered around MySQL. Plus, why spend money on software if you don't have to. Spend the money save paying for support or donating to the OpenSource projects (PHP and MySQL). Yet another advantage is that the application can be developed and tested on Windows (read Configuring Windows98 For Local Dev) then uploaded to the Apache Server. A good free program with PHP syntax highlighting and tons of other goodies for developing is HTML-Kit.
Since the merger was announced I find myself repeatedly asking why. The best answers I can come up with are 1) to provide a better dB app for Corel Office (better than Paradox?) to make it a complete product. 2) to provide a suite of developer tools.
On the graphics end they have MS beaten hands down. A good dB app could come in handy, especially one already ported to Unix/Linux. In the end the only real benefit (real enough to endanger shareholder confidence) would be the addition of RAD tools. Corel currently uses VBA, maybe acquiring Delphi will alow them to quit having to play against MS on their turf. Other than that I'm completely baffeled. From a marketing standpoint you have one company suited to businesses and end users and another with products for developers. I just don't see much synergy there unless they completely focus on Linux.
Here are some likely scenarios where MS will port Office to Linux/Unix and still stomp on competitors:
(1) Microsoft is broken up into smaller units due to the anti-trust litigation. This seperate entity has more leeway choosing its destiny and profits are not tied to the sucess or failure of Windows.
(2) Microsoft releases the X-Box as an inexpensive sub $200 system. Instead of taking $100 or the complete system integration profit it gets to take the entire deal. Competing vendors must pay MS for the OS and face narrower profit margins or swith to Linux, Solaris or some other free alternative. The OS for the X-Box is either a dumbed down version of Win2K or NT with gaming improvements or 98 minus the bells and whistles.
(3) Microsoft plays NT (or a variant thereof) against Linux like Intel plays the Celeron against AMD Athlon. NT will be priced to undercut Linux distros while Win2000 becomes the premium choice. Office runs on either but they ensure it runs just a little bit better on NT. NT becomes slightly compatible with Unix but Win2000 and future releases don't. RH, SUSE, Mandrake, and TurboLinux struggle to compete selling distros under $20, providing support and paying the new Suit's salaries. Corel remains the wildcard with the tools necessary to compete with MS.
I meant screws as in propellers. You can imagine how huge they are on a carrier. It took two months to rediscover the propellers in a Navy warehouse where they had been hibernating for over 20 years. The warehouse didn't even know what the propellers were for.
As far as pilferage, as long as it isn't controlled material they seldom get caught. In fact I had one guy try to sell me a spent plutonium source calibartor for an AN-PDR27. The moron had it in his front pocket right next to his nuts. I know its just an Alpha emitter but still...
I've seen this kind of idiocy firsthand. For a year I worked for the Dept of Defense in Bahrain. One of my jobs was dealing with Recycling scrap. One piece of scrap was this bis spool of 4" thick wire. We sent out memos looking for someone to claim it for three months. Then I hand walked a copy of the memo around the base to be signed by each department head. The week after we sold it for $2000 to a local scrapyard someone came looking for it. Turns out it was a central piece of equipment for setting up a new satellite communications station. Oops! Good thing the scrap dude knew it was worth more than $50K or he would have melted it for the metal.
I also met a guy when I was in the Navy who was making a bundle buying nuclear grade parts by the pound at military auctions, doing a little research back to the manufacturer and either selling it back to the Navy or the manufacturer. Said he one made $40K off one valve alone.
And you wonder why the government spends so much money. (P/S. I work for a Navy Shipbuilder now, imagine losing a set of screws for an aircraft carrier).
Slashdot Mirror
The first time I took a sharp knife away from my son I showed him the scar on my hand from being cut by a sharp knife. And I told him how it happened.
I imagine the first time I discuss drugs I'll tell him about by best friend in the 5Th grade who had a party where they started smoking pot. He got stoned and decided it would be funny to smoke his mom's houseplant. He died that night die to a heart attack brought on by a severe allergic reaction.
Or I could tell him about another friend who decided to go out to the garage at his house and get wasted. After a while he ran out of coke to mix with his drinks and decided to grab off the floor what looked like a bottle of mountain dew. The radiator fluid (ethelene glycol) killed him withing the hour. His loser buddies were too wasted to notice before it was too late and too scared of getting caught with drugs to call for help. Then maybe I'll call up the parents of my friends at let them talk about their experiences.
Then to top it off a trip to the local jail to view the bloodshot dead-eyed, crackheads. Mark Twain told Anecdotes. These are real life experiences with real life people.
Let me try and choos an anology from the physical world. Since, at its most basic, censorware is a type of security device I'll relate it to that.
Suppose the FooBar mall decided to hire a security service because of recent breakins. They have been broken into numerous times but nobody has been caught due to the slow response time of the local police. FooBar mall is located downtown directly on a street that divides a really posh neighborhoos from a low-income, high crime neighborhood.
After their first week on the job many neighbors notice the security gaurd's vehicle patrolling around the neighborhood. Some of the neighbors are minorities and immediately wonder if their neighborhood is being overly patrolled because they are minorities. Many of the other poor families wonder if they see the patrol vehicle so often because the officer figures poor people are more likely to commit crime. In the posh neighborhood they are annoyed at having a bothersome patrol vehicle driving by at all.
The next time they have a city council meeting the subject of the security patrol is brought up. Some peole think the security patrol should be stopped. Some think the mall should release a drawing of the patrol's route along with a timeline of how long they spend in each neighborhood. After much debate they draw up a proposal. The city council will demand that the mall draw up a map and timeline of the patrol's circuit. Further, the mall must then post copies of this route on all streetcorners of the surrounding area and update the information whenever it changes. Also, if anyone in the community objects to having the security patrol go by their residence the mall must provide written explainaitions why they are patrolling past that residence.
The mall recieves the councils request the next day. Their immediate response after discussing it with the security company is to say that providing that information would be cost prohibitive and allow crooks to circumvent the security patrol's efforts.
Ok ,its not a perfect analogy, but pretty close I think. The mall represents consumers, the security patrol represents the censorship software company, and members of the surrounding neighborhood represent all the internet websites. The local police represent the federal government trying to regulate net abuse.
Ok ,maybe shelter isn't the correct word. At some level you have to show your kids right from wrong by example. Being overprotective can produce bitterness but it is also true that that bitterness, rebelling againt authority, is a pretty standard feature of the human condition.
If you say nothing is off-limits then you wind up with kids that don't respect authority and get in trouble a lot.
On the other hand if you maintain an authoritative stance and let them experiment with different things as they mature then they are more likely to respect authority. Giving reasons helps also. "Don't do drugs because drugs are for losers. Every person I grew up with who started doing drugs in HS is either dead or working the takeout at McDonalds." or "You are too young to watch porn on the net. maybe when you are a little older I'll help you understand that just because people do things to each other on film or in a picture it doesn't mean that someone your age blah blah blah"
The point is that there are two seperate issues. Getting your kids to respect authority when it deserves respect and showing them that you care enough to want them to gradually be eased into the realities of the world. When I see some punk kid 13YO walking the street with the attitude of an Ex-Con it makes me want to cry. The world is rapidly becoming a big information gererator and repository and kids can become shellshocked running face first into a battleline of uncensored information.
Oohhh neato, look what they did. I don't see the point. Beyond publishing embarrasing lists of unjustly blocked websites that only netheads read. If the point is that you don't want public access facilities filtered through censorware, legislation is the only effective cure. Annoying these companies and giving them a little bad press won't hurt them at all. In fact by hacking/cracking this software they are pushing legislators into the opposite corner.
I mean, lets get real. Mr or Ms. average net user hears about things being cracked or hacked, viruses, DDOS attacks and other techno mumbo jumbo scaryisms all they want to do is complain to the government (thus more restrictive legislation) or buy the pigslop security or "protection" software to err on the better side of caution (what do you think convinces people to buy this junk? Real life experience or the scary stuff they hear from talking heads on the news.
Go ahead and keep up this wonderful line of attack. Give them seemingly good reason to write bs legislation and scare cluless consumers into buying more censorware. I just can't wait until they (MIB) implant that GPS transmitter and thought recorder in my head.
I just got back from watching the movie with my oldest son. Its not 2001 but to tell you the truth I'd rather see a movie with a real ending than the ending that 2001 had. If I had to rate it i'd say its worth seeing. If you are a sci-fi nut like me you'll see it whether it's reviewed well or not. But in this case I wasn't dissappointed.
While I'm at it I'll mention that Pitch Black was worth seeing also. I know it got dogged by the press, but Vince Diesel (sp?) really takes charge of the screen. In The Bioleroom he steals the show. The premise of Pitch Black is really quite novel.
If you had to choose one movie currently playing I'd pick The Insider. Watched it last week with my wife. We both enjoyed the movie and now I finally know why 60 Minutes has thoroughly sucked for the last two years. Pachino is a must see anyhow.
This guy looks like a spaghetti western character. Could be a real star in the making. He's got the Clint Eastwook stare down pat.
On 22 November 1999 in Prague starting work began for a 6-hour TV filming of the novel " the desert planet " (" Dune ") by Franc Herbert. The TV project, with a budget 20 million US Dollars, is a full time occupation for the crew.
Thus William Hurt (also in "Lost in Space ", "Dark City") admits to us , "among other things" also "Until the End of the World") took over the role of the duke Leto Atreides, also including Italian actors Giancarlo Giannini as Imperator Shaddam IV and Ian McNeice as a bad baron Harkonnen.
Barbara Kodetova plays as Chani opposite the charismatic Paul Atreides, played by Alec Newman. With Uwe ox farmhand, who embodies the Fremen Leaders very convincingly, is represented also a German actor in this internationally filled production. The film script to "Desert Planet" is wrtten by John Harrison, who is also Lead Director; executing producers are Richard P. Rubinstein and Mitchell Galin. The camera work is done by the three-way Oscar winner Vittorio Storaro (Apocalypse Now). The marvelous costume work comes from Theodor Pistek (won a Oscar for the costumes in Amadeus). Additionally the special effects conductor Ernest Farino and the production designer Miljen Kreka Kljakovic are involved in the project. The digital trick effects will come from three studios, among them AREA 51 and nice one digital (Babylon 5).
" Dune " a production of New Amsterdam Entertainment Inc., the Scifi Channel and Kirch Media in co-operation with Tandem Communications. The US Release is planned for the last quarter 2000, in Germany the television filming in the spring 2001 to see will be (only little later).
World-exclusive SF-Film.de can show the first photos of the set and the ongoing work here- now. Thanks to Torsten Dewi!
I wouldn't be one to knock Apple. My first computer was a Mac. They build better computers, better looking computers and innovate more (firewire ,GUI design,video integration). The only real problems with Apple are price and software developer support. They tend to run nearly $500-$1000 more for a comparable system, have fewer hardware upgrade options and virtually no software support. Not to mention that the available software is often more expensive since the economy of scale is much smaller.
Were talking the middle to end of next year folks. This system will be way outdated by then. Comparing timelines buying the X-Box with those specs next year is like saying someone is willing to sell you a computer (less monitor) that is a Celeron 300, 32 MB ram and a Rivia TNT card for $300 bucks today. Great deal, but for a gamer system a year from now I'll want a 1GHZ Processor, 128MB ram and a GeForce video card. By then the new games will require much more horsepower.
Then there is the games support. Sure you'll be able to run a plethora of old games and even sucky MS games but what about new games. MS had better cut some major deals with games software companied to provide new games that will attract customers. Personally I hoping that by the end of next year (two years away) I'll be conversing with Slashdot users via a highspeed connection in a virtual world. At a minumum I'll be waiting for good VR FPS games to play.
Go ahead and seach on altivista for "India programming". You get tons of links and good resources for farming out programming work.
You would be amazed at the dichotomy within the Middle Eastern culture. On one hand they grasp new technologies with seeminingly little reservation. On the other they cling to traditional values and culturalisms. And contrary to popular myth even Saudi's aren't trapped in their own country by their government. Many travel and become educated abroad and return home to the country they love.
I'm not sure how applicable ths is to other countries like African Nations. I assume wealthy to middle income city dwellers share the same benefits. Poor and rural people probably don't have access to electricity much less computers and phone lines.
ATI or NVidia, either way I like to see competition. When companies don't give competitors a chance to sit on their laurals the consumer benefits. As long as we have choice. With the recent trend toward integrating video support into the Mainboard chipsets and the threat of integrated solutions like the PSX2 and X-box driving choice out of the market, there are bigger worries.
When I bought a Matrox Millenium to play Duke Nukem II years back hoping to get a glimpse of a virtual world I'd surely hate to see the road to that dream take a sharp turn. Not when recent video hardware advancements make the goal seem so near.
The same way that constellation X contained planetoid y in galaxy z due to the inherent gravitational effects of X and Y. They are obvious because they only need to be seen or read. The methodology for acually reading the sequence may be patentable,"non-obvious" but the actual sequence is, in the most exact use of the words, "obvious" and "prior art" since they are inherent in at leaset a fraction of the population.
What if a researcher discovers that the human response to excitement was to produce adrenaline . So he files patent on the chemical. Now wouldn't that just suck the next time you went out on a date and wanted to get excited? You would have to pay a royalty first. No more cheap dates.
Though 980,000 were actually ordered, a small fraction of that number ware actually delivered.
It would seem to me that gene sequences are "obvious". And "obvious" things shouldn't recieve patent or will not stand up in the courts.
For instance, assume I build this bigass telescope to see further out in the universe than anyone else. Sure the telescope technology may be patentable, but all the stars that I see shouldn't be.
Suppose I was the first person to climb Mt. Everest or some other geographically remote place. Can I file patent and say that anyone else that sees the top of Mount Everest or takes pictures owes me a royalty?
Again, patenting obvious things is wrong and can't stand up in court. I'll even be willing to grant that the database structure that they use for the genome project is patentable, heck maybe even the software to access it. We all appreciate the work of these projects, but afterall they should only spend the research money and time if they see some non-obvious economical benefit.
Oh yea, what if someone patents the human genome and for some reason become unable to share the knowledge? What if they get sued and tie the database up in court? Its not just a loss of knowledge, its a loss of life.
People wonder why Sony only releases a small quantity of the PS2 and only in Japan. Half the reason people think Japanese products have such high quality. They Guniea Pig their own consumers first.
Oops. I can henestly see how stuff like this happens though. Aerospace, the Military and Shipbuilding share somthing in common besodes public funding though. Another reason for a lot of the goofy stuff happening is the sheer size of the projects. There aren't really any comperable projects like building a space station or Aircraft Carrier in the civilian world. This level of complexity will inevitably lead to some funny mishaps. Add to that the low rate of retention in government related work and you have a recipe for disaster.
ATI sure is talking a good game, but do they have what is takes to back it up. NVidia did three things that changed the video card industry:
ATI has shown it can produce a good video solution, but lacks in meeting retail market demand and driver support. Matrox builds awesome chipsets and cards (and excellent driver support) but doesn't give a damn about meeting demand. 3DFx kept their 3d spec closed therby limiting potential developer support, lost momentum, and didn't provide good reference drivers.
NVidia has proven they can do all three consistantly. And let's not forget #4 -Support from Software developers. Metting the first three criteria directly impact the fourth. Developers don't waste their time developing for hardware no-one owns.
Before I forget.
Another important feature is that these techniques are server side so are independent of the browser used. You can also use PHP with Oracle 8i but most of the really cool stuff is centered around MySQL. Plus, why spend money on software if you don't have to. Spend the money save paying for support or donating to the OpenSource projects (PHP and MySQL). Yet another advantage is that the application can be developed and tested on Windows (read Configuring Windows98 For Local Dev) then uploaded to the Apache Server. A good free program with PHP syntax highlighting and tons of other goodies for developing is HTML-Kit.
Freshmeat uses PHP, MySQL and Apache. I'm sure they get a ton of his every day and the entire website amounts to a huge indexed database.
Since the merger was announced I find myself repeatedly asking why. The best answers I can come up with are 1) to provide a better dB app for Corel Office (better than Paradox?) to make it a complete product. 2) to provide a suite of developer tools.
On the graphics end they have MS beaten hands down. A good dB app could come in handy, especially one already ported to Unix/Linux. In the end the only real benefit (real enough to endanger shareholder confidence) would be the addition of RAD tools. Corel currently uses VBA, maybe acquiring Delphi will alow them to quit having to play against MS on their turf. Other than that I'm completely baffeled. From a marketing standpoint you have one company suited to businesses and end users and another with products for developers. I just don't see much synergy there unless they completely focus on Linux.
Here are some likely scenarios where MS will port Office to Linux/Unix and still stomp on competitors:
(1) Microsoft is broken up into smaller units due to the anti-trust litigation. This seperate entity has more leeway choosing its destiny and profits are not tied to the sucess or failure of Windows.
(2) Microsoft releases the X-Box as an inexpensive sub $200 system. Instead of taking $100 or the complete system integration profit it gets to take the entire deal. Competing vendors must pay MS for the OS and face narrower profit margins or swith to Linux, Solaris or some other free alternative. The OS for the X-Box is either a dumbed down version of Win2K or NT with gaming improvements or 98 minus the bells and whistles.
(3) Microsoft plays NT (or a variant thereof) against Linux like Intel plays the Celeron against AMD Athlon. NT will be priced to undercut Linux distros while Win2000 becomes the premium choice. Office runs on either but they ensure it runs just a little bit better on NT. NT becomes slightly compatible with Unix but Win2000 and future releases don't. RH, SUSE, Mandrake, and TurboLinux struggle to compete selling distros under $20, providing support and paying the new Suit's salaries. Corel remains the wildcard with the tools necessary to compete with MS.
No, 10% of professional Unix admins are women.
I meant screws as in propellers. You can imagine how huge they are on a carrier. It took two months to rediscover the propellers in a Navy warehouse where they had been hibernating for over 20 years. The warehouse didn't even know what the propellers were for.
As far as pilferage, as long as it isn't controlled material they seldom get caught. In fact I had one guy try to sell me a spent plutonium source calibartor for an AN-PDR27. The moron had it in his front pocket right next to his nuts. I know its just an Alpha emitter but still...
I also met a guy when I was in the Navy who was making a bundle buying nuclear grade parts by the pound at military auctions, doing a little research back to the manufacturer and either selling it back to the Navy or the manufacturer. Said he one made $40K off one valve alone.
And you wonder why the government spends so much money. (P/S. I work for a Navy Shipbuilder now, imagine losing a set of screws for an aircraft carrier).