Dating agencies are your best friend when you're looking for a new wife. But unless you are planning to stay with the same wife for the rest of your life I'd be polite but not a push over while talking to them. If you are at the moment not looking for a new wife simply tell them so and most will not bother you again for the next 6 month which is when they'll check up on you again. I find this quite convenient and every so often I actually take the time to listen them out to get a better feel for the wife market and what's out there and most importantly what amount of dowry it pays.
> Okay, unless I'm reading this wrong, he's suing the writer of Blog A > because it was linked to Site B which then further linked to Site C > which may contain information of a defamatory nature?
1) And dee first blog is connected to dee second blog 2) And dee second blog is connected to dee third blog 3) And dee third blog is connected to dee fourth blog 4) ??? 5) Profit?
...I am telling you that 95% of end-users don't have a bleeping clue about how to administer a server. And if you can come up with a *USABLE* zero-admin server that *NEVER* requires patching, you have more brains than the rest of the human race put together. In the real world, real servers require constant monitoring and frequent patching. Joe lunchbox simply doesn't have the necessary skills. As for me, I could run a reasonably secure MTA *IF I ABSOLUTELY HAD TO*. Considering my hourly rate at work, I prefer to outsource that task to my ISP.
And *NO BLEEPING WAY* do I want my fridge/stove/TV/toaster/etc to be accessable to Russian gangsters to use for sending spam or mounting DOS attacks against the root servers.
In linux, read the file/usr/linux/src/Documentation/sysrq.txt and select the following kernel option while running "make menuconfig"
Kernel hacking ---> [*] Magic SysRq key
If your system is locked up, you can at least hit {ALT-SysRq-s} to force a sync to save data before hitting the power button. This can avoid filesystem corruption. There are various commands that can be executed. Read the documentation file I mentioned above for more details.
1) There are some sensitive environments (military, etc) where you simply do *NOT* connect your internal network to "teh interweb". No ifs, ands, ors, buts. The result is a broken browser where the DTD's are required.
2) Remember the incident where popular "safe" Superbowl sites were compromised and laced with malware-installing code? What happens to millions of Firefox-on-Windows users when a bunch of Russian mobsters or Chinese government agents hijack a DTD host and load it with a zero-day Windows exploit?
3) Remember "pharming", where DNS servers are hijacked to redirect *CORRECTLY TYPED URLS* to malware-infested sites. Even if the bad-guys can't hijack the DTD host, they can still hijack Windows-based DNS servers (ptui!) and anybody who relies on them gets redirected to a malware-install site.
That's the problem; here's my solution. It's composed of two parts.
A) DTDs will be *LOCAL FILES ON YOUR WORKSTATION* (excepting "thin clients").
B) Browsers (or possibly Operating Systems) will include new DTDs with updates. In posix OS's (*NIX, BSD) DTDs will be stored in/etc/dtd/ and users will be able to add their own DTDs in ~/.dtd Windows will have its own locations. When you get your regular update for your browser (or alternatively, your OS), part of the update will be any new DTDs. There will be a separate file for each DTD and version, so that your browser can properly handle multiple tabs opening to sites using different versions of the same base DTD.
> I wonder if her realizes those lights (whether they're on, off, or blinking) ACTUALLY MEAN SOMETHING! > As a Network Professional, the more indicator lights I have on a router, switch, or other piece of > hardware, the faster I can identify critical status of a system, whether it is link state (up/down), > link speed (10/100/1000/etc...), power, activity, and much much more... These lights are not just > pretty, they're ESSENTIAL aspects to the design of technology. WE NEED OUR LEDS! Please don't take > away our freedom to shine.
Back in the old days, car dashboards had it right. If oil pressure was low, the oil pressure light came on. If the engine was overheating, the temperature warning light came on. That's *THE RIGHT WAY* to use status lights.
I have an external USB drive I use to back up my PCs. It has a F***ING BRIGHT blue LED that *FLASHES LIKE CRAZY* when there's any hard drive activity. It only has USB 1.1, so a backup can be an overnight job. If I do not close the bedroom door, the blinking from the hard drive keeps me from falling asleep.
I have a USB extender cable with a honking bright blue LED. It puts on a very annoying lightshow when the PC is writing to or reading from a USB key that I plug into the cable.
I agree that annoyingly bright flashing lights are great for attracting attention when there's a problem. But please, no "heartbeat" lights. If you can't sleep with a with a solid-state electronic device in your bedroom *OPERATING NORMALLY*, that device is stupidly designed.
The current RIAA-controlled version of Napster has been using the slogan "Own nothing, have everything". Here's how an RIAA-controlled "linux" would work, when implemented as a "service".
1) you'd get a very thin client that would resemble a cable-TV STB (Set Top Box) with a keyboard. 2) all data, including downloads, would reside on the central server. 3) all data, including downloads, would be periodically scanned for "copyright compliance". 4) all data, including downloads, would be periodically scanned for "homeland security compliance". 5) the client would *NOT* be able to
- download "your data" to a local device
- connect to an "unauthorized machine"
- run "unauthorized programs",
- make "unauthorized changes" to any config files, let alone to source code. That would actually be pointless, because compilers would be "unauthorized programs". 7) all "licenced video" would only be allowed to be sent to "authorized goggles" with HDCP DRM 8) all "licenced audio" would only be allowed to be sent to "authorized headphones" with HDCP-equivalent DRM 9) if you didn't pay your monthly bill, your access gets cut off. After falling behind 30 days, all of "your data" would be wiped
1) Netscape (under AOL). It was gonna be the ultimate OS-on-top-of-the-OS. Applications would run on Netscape's API, rather than on the OS itself. AOL f'ing destroyed Netscape.
2) Then we got Mozilla "about:kitchensink" jokes when the developers put email and usenet news and HTML webpage editing into Mozilla. Enough people screamed and eventually a *BROWSER* was created, called Phoenix. Due to trademark issues, it was eventually rename to Firefox.
Now we're going through the same thing all over again.
> and don't get me started on Flash and its ability to store data on your computer > without you even noticing (a "feature" that's enabled by default, one might add, > and that can't even (easily) be disabled without going to Adobe's website).
In linux, add the following line to the user's crontab to zap the.macromedia directory in the "user" home dir every hour at the top of the hour. 0 * * * * exec/bin/rm -rf/home/user/.macromedia
In Windows, the "Windows Task Scheduler" does something similar. Obviously the "Flash-cookie" directory will be named differently, but the principle is the same. See Microsoft's knowledgebase article for instructions on running a command at scheduled intervals.
Actually, there are a lot of idiots criticizing Gentoo. Why do I use it...
1) Good-bye to dependancy-hell. I started off in 2000 on Redhat. It was nice for beginners (through 7.3) but some relatively simple programs were murder to install. The developer who put together the RPM for a program I wanted happened to have optional package A on his machine, so the RPM linked to it as a mandatory dependancy. Package A depended on package B, which depended on library C, etc, etc. It would take forever to track down RPMs for the dependancies. And woe unto you if you wanted 2 apps, where the RPM maintainer of app A had different versions of some libraries than the RPM maintainer of app B. Try the following dependancy torture test... - install a text-only base system - attempt to install Gimp Gentoo will figure out and, pull in, and compile the base X libs, and all the necessary dependancies, and a few hours later (I run it overnight and get some sleep) you'll end up with a working X, running basic TWM, and a working Gimp. Try that on an RPM-based distro, I dare ya. I actually prefer Blackbox as my WM, so I "emerge bbkeys". SInce bbkeys depends on Blackbox, portage pulls in Blackbox, and all is copacetic.
2) I can control what optional crap is/isn't built in. I got rid of pam and java and ipv6, via the USE variable. The thing about *PERSONAL* computers is that they're personal, and one size does not fit all. For those of you running a server with multiple people logging on, yes pam is a good idea. For my personal 1-user home machine, it's overkill. If you need something that needs java, fine. What I don't understand is why java can be squeezed into a cellphone, but takes up almost a gig on my harddrive just to allow a singing/dancing webpage. I don't miss it. And my ISP doesn't support ipv6, so I don't see the point in various apps calling ipv6 addresses first, waiting for the timeout, and them getting around to connect on ipv4.
3) Yes, there is a speedup on *SOME* apps. Obviously, disk I/O bound apps won't benefit. I did have a "negative experience" with an old video game "Xboing". I used to run it on my 1999 Dell 450 mhz PIII with 128 megs of ram and 8 meg video card. I could handle it up to "speed level 3". On Gentoo, it flew by so fast that it was unplayable, even at speed level 1. Yes, *THE SAME MACHINE*, no upgrades at all. I had to manually step through the "emerge" process, and patch the delay loop. See http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-131884-highli ght-xboing.html for details.
The problem is that if Pluto is a planet, then so is Charon. They'd be a double-planet because they they revolve around a center-of-mass that is not inside Pluto. So including Pluto as a planet means we have to include any Charon-sized object (other than a satellite/moon) as a planet. The most up-to-date list I've found is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Neptunian_objec t which shows 14 objects...
Subtract Pluto from them, and you've got 13. Do you *REALLY* want your kids' schoolbooks to list 22 planets (or 23 if Pluto and Charon are counted separately)? And the floodgates have just barely been opened. Get a replacement for Hubble into orbit, and start scanning, and you're going to see over 100 in a few years. Sorry, we've got to draw a line in the sand somewhere.
This is sort of like how paleontology mucks up our nice current animal classifications. There's a major difference between modern mammals and modern reptiles and modern birds. But as you go back to their common ancestors, it gets a lot uglier trying to figure out what is mammal/reptile/bird.
It happens whether you use Firefox or IE. Google use your IP address to make the decision. This allows them to sell ads to German companies, and know that only people in Germany will see those ads. I'm in Canada, and Google re-directs www.google.com to www.ggogle.ca. You can over-ride local re-direction by going to http://www.google.com/intl/en/
Consider also, MS Word. It's got tons of "features" which you or I don't want need. But a few people somewhere need each one. They probably complain about "unnecessary stuff" that you or I consider essential. You can't satisfy everybody with one set of features. The best approach is to make a basic browser, and let people add in whatever extensions they want.
It's called the Kuiper Belt. Quote...
Starting in 1992, astronomers have become aware of a vast population of small bodies orbiting the sun beyond Neptune. There are at least 70,000 "trans-Neptunians" with diameters larger than 100 km in the radial zone extending outwards from the orbit of Neptune (at 30 AU) to 50 AU. Observations show that the trans-Neptunians are mostly confined within a thick band around the ecliptic, leading to the realization that they occupy a ring or belt surrounding the sun. This ring is generally referred to as the Kuiper Belt.
Check this list of 1,000 km scale KBOs (Kuiper Belt Objects).
> Would a U.S.-based company (like my favorite, Radio Paradise) not > still be required to pay it, even if their servers were in Canada?
I'd assume the worst. Witness stuff like... a) the Lucent-Microsoft patent lawsuit over sales outside the US of stuff covered by an American patent b) the arrests of foreign internet-gambling executives as they made connecting flights via the USA c) the lawsuit, in the USA, against Spamhaus, which is based in England
Just to be on the safe side, it would have to be a totally non-American setup, run by non-Americans, who never set foot in the USA.
> Good luck. Almost all countries with high-speed access to the Internet are > members of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works.
None of them implement the American extra royalties for internet radio, and most of them have copyrights expiring after 50 years. E.g. in Canada and the UK, everything Elvis did to the end of 1956 is already public domain. That means *ABSOLUTELY NO ROYALTIES WHATSOEVER* on
- from 1955 That's All Right/Blue Moon of Kentucky Baby Let's Play House/I'm Left, Your Right, She's Gone Good Rockin' Tonight/I Don't care If The Sun Don't Shine Milkcow Blues Boogie / You're A Heartbreaker Mystery Train/ I Forgot To Remember To Forget
- from 1956 Heartbreak Hotel I Was the One Hound Dog Don't Be Cruel Love Me Tender I Want You, I Need You, I Love You When My Blue Moon Turns to Gold Again Anyway You Want Me (That's How I Will Be) Blue Suede Shoes
The RIAA is afraid their current crap^H^H^H^Hcrop can't compete with 50+ year-old music. That is the most stinging put-down of today's (so called) music.
This stuff happens a lot in "market ecosystems"...
1) Microsoft's bread+butter is its Windows OS and Office software (85% profit margin), with some additional revenue from support services. Open Source businesses give away software for free, and make money from supporting it. Microsoft whines because their high-margin product is "competing with free".
2) The following scenario actually happened in Canada years ago. Background... Banks' bread+butter is profits from loans. Insurance industry makes money off car insurance.
a) Car dealers seeking a competitive advantage started offering artificially-low-interest loans. They didn't care if they made absolutely no profit on the loan, or even lost a small amount. It increase car sales, which is all the car dealers worried about.
b) Banks fought back by offering stamdard-priced car loans with low-priced auto insurance thrown in. This hurt the auto insurance companies.
c) Insurance companies went whining to regulators about unfair competition.
3) IBM's bread+butter is hardware sales. To them, software is a necessary evil that is required to give customers a reason to buy the hardware. One of the things that got IBM into anti-trust troubles decades ago was giving away "free software" with their mainframes. They don't make any margin on software sales. Hardware sales (and software support) is where the money's at. "Free software" was a part of IBM's business model in the 1960's. So it's only natural that they support Open Source today. IBM learned "the hard way" that they would get into trouble for distributing "free software" for their hardware. That's why you won't see an "IBM Linux". This time around. they let Redhat etal distribute "free software".
Now we get to Apple Computers (Jobs' company, not The Beatles' company). They're a hardware company, not a software company. They don't give a hoot if they never make a penny off of the Itunes Store. Hardware (e.g. the Ipod) is where the money's at. Apple Computers' best interest is served by commoditizing music (forcing the price down) so that customers have more money to spend on Ipods and accesories.
How would Apple Music (The Beatles' company, not Jobs' company) do something similar? Their best approach would be to produce a dirt-cheap music player at a fraction the price of an Ipod (let's call it an "Applet") and sell their music at high prices, with really strong DRM. That's basically what many cellphone providers do, offering "free cellphones", but requiring a contract.
Current/Past situation... - snow falls and accumulates into snowpack over the winter - snowpack melts during spring and summer, supplying water for irrigation during the growing season - snowpack doesn't melt completely during summer. This means there's a reserve that can handle a couple of dry years
Future situation - rain falls during the winter and runs off to the sea - no water during the summer - a couple of dry winters makes things even worse
Do you have any idea how huge a dam you'd need to hold water equivalant to the snow cover on a mountain range?
...connected to the public internet in the first place. Most sensitive US DOD sites have armed soldiers guarding the physical gateways. They don't let the general public meander through the grounds. Yet they're doing exactly that with their computers.
An attempt to shut down Groklaw?
on
SCO Vs. Groklaw
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
Part of SCOX's strategy was to cause IBM so much bad PR, that it would be worth their while to settle. What Groklaw has done is to expose SCOX's case (or lack thereof), destroyed SCOX's PR offensive, and nullified much of SCOX's FUD. The result is that IBM isn't hurting anywhere near as much as SCOX had hoped. Simply by reporting the truth, PJ has made things very difficult for SCOX. If she is named as a witness, PJ would be very restricted in what public statements she could make, and Groklaw gets effectively shut down. This might be a new legal tactic in the age of blogging. Strategic Subpeona Against Public Participation == SSAPP
Another reason why SCOX's case depends on showing that she had inside info from IBM. If you agree that a person with some legal background, with research contributed by a loose group of volunteers over the internet, but no inside info from IBM, could put together documentation that so totally destroys SCOX's legal case...
then you have to agree that a university student with some computing background, with research contributed by a loose group of volunteers over the internet, but no inside info from IBM, could put together an OS that totally destroys SCOX's OS in the marketplace... oops.
Slashdot Mirror
Dating agencies are your best friend when you're looking for a new wife. But unless you are planning to stay with the same wife for the rest of your life I'd be polite but not a push over while talking to them. If you are at the moment not looking for a new wife simply tell them so and most will not bother you again for the next 6 month which is when they'll check up on you again. I find this quite convenient and every so often I actually take the time to listen them out to get a better feel for the wife market and what's out there and most importantly what amount of dowry it pays.
In Soviet Russia... the Internet sues you!
> Okay, unless I'm reading this wrong, he's suing the writer of Blog A
> because it was linked to Site B which then further linked to Site C
> which may contain information of a defamatory nature?
1) And dee first blog is connected to dee second blog
2) And dee second blog is connected to dee third blog
3) And dee third blog is connected to dee fourth blog
4) ???
5) Profit?
...I am telling you that 95% of end-users don't have a bleeping clue about how to administer a server. And if you can come up with a *USABLE* zero-admin server that *NEVER* requires patching, you have more brains than the rest of the human race put together. In the real world, real servers require constant monitoring and frequent patching. Joe lunchbox simply doesn't have the necessary skills. As for me, I could run a reasonably secure MTA *IF I ABSOLUTELY HAD TO*. Considering my hourly rate at work, I prefer to outsource that task to my ISP.
And *NO BLEEPING WAY* do I want my fridge/stove/TV/toaster/etc to be accessable to Russian gangsters to use for sending spam or mounting DOS attacks against the root servers.
In linux, read the file /usr/linux/src/Documentation/sysrq.txt and select the following kernel option while running "make menuconfig"
Kernel hacking --->
[*] Magic SysRq key
If your system is locked up, you can at least hit {ALT-SysRq-s} to force a sync to save data before hitting the power button. This can avoid filesystem corruption. There are various commands that can be executed. Read the documentation file I mentioned above for more details.
1) There are some sensitive environments (military, etc) where you simply do *NOT* connect your internal network to "teh interweb". No ifs, ands, ors, buts. The result is a broken browser where the DTD's are required.
/etc/dtd/ and users will be able to add their own DTDs in ~/.dtd
2) Remember the incident where popular "safe" Superbowl sites were compromised and laced with malware-installing code? What happens to millions of Firefox-on-Windows users when a bunch of Russian mobsters or Chinese government agents hijack a DTD host and load it with a zero-day Windows exploit?
3) Remember "pharming", where DNS servers are hijacked to redirect *CORRECTLY TYPED URLS* to malware-infested sites. Even if the bad-guys can't hijack the DTD host, they can still hijack Windows-based DNS servers (ptui!) and anybody who relies on them gets redirected to a malware-install site.
That's the problem; here's my solution. It's composed of two parts.
A) DTDs will be *LOCAL FILES ON YOUR WORKSTATION* (excepting "thin clients").
B) Browsers (or possibly Operating Systems) will include new DTDs with updates. In posix OS's (*NIX, BSD) DTDs will be stored in
Windows will have its own locations. When you get your regular update for your browser (or alternatively, your OS), part of the update will be any new DTDs. There will be a separate file for each DTD and version, so that your browser can properly handle multiple tabs opening to sites using different versions of the same base DTD.
> I wonder if her realizes those lights (whether they're on, off, or blinking) ACTUALLY MEAN SOMETHING!
> As a Network Professional, the more indicator lights I have on a router, switch, or other piece of
> hardware, the faster I can identify critical status of a system, whether it is link state (up/down),
> link speed (10/100/1000/etc...), power, activity, and much much more... These lights are not just
> pretty, they're ESSENTIAL aspects to the design of technology. WE NEED OUR LEDS! Please don't take
> away our freedom to shine.
Back in the old days, car dashboards had it right. If oil pressure was low, the oil pressure light came on. If the engine was overheating, the temperature warning light came on. That's *THE RIGHT WAY* to use status lights.
I have an external USB drive I use to back up my PCs. It has a F***ING BRIGHT blue LED that *FLASHES LIKE CRAZY* when there's any hard drive activity. It only has USB 1.1, so a backup can be an overnight job. If I do not close the bedroom door, the blinking from the hard drive keeps me from falling asleep.
I have a USB extender cable with a honking bright blue LED. It puts on a very annoying lightshow when the PC is writing to or reading from a USB key that I plug into the cable.
I agree that annoyingly bright flashing lights are great for attracting attention when there's a problem. But please, no "heartbeat" lights. If you can't sleep with a with a solid-state electronic device in your bedroom *OPERATING NORMALLY*, that device is stupidly designed.
The current RIAA-controlled version of Napster has been using the slogan "Own nothing, have everything". Here's how an RIAA-controlled "linux" would work, when implemented as a "service".
/.
1) you'd get a very thin client that would resemble a cable-TV STB (Set Top Box) with a keyboard.
2) all data, including downloads, would reside on the central server.
3) all data, including downloads, would be periodically scanned for "copyright compliance".
4) all data, including downloads, would be periodically scanned for "homeland security compliance".
5) the client would *NOT* be able to
- download "your data" to a local device
- connect to an "unauthorized machine"
- run "unauthorized programs",
- make "unauthorized changes" to any config files, let alone to source code. That would actually be pointless, because compilers would be "unauthorized programs".
7) all "licenced video" would only be allowed to be sent to "authorized goggles" with HDCP DRM
8) all "licenced audio" would only be allowed to be sent to "authorized headphones" with HDCP-equivalent DRM
9) if you didn't pay your monthly bill, your access gets cut off. After falling behind 30 days, all of "your data" would be wiped
Oh yeah, since this is
10) Profit
> In that case it's called "being cheap".
Or maybe nobody without millionaire parents could afford a university education if their fees had to pay for the required bandwidth.
...it's "affirmative action"... errr uhmmm "equal opportunity hiring".
In reality CRTC == Commission for Repression and Thought Control
...are doomed to repeat it.
1) Netscape (under AOL). It was gonna be the ultimate OS-on-top-of-the-OS. Applications would run on Netscape's API, rather than on the OS itself. AOL f'ing destroyed Netscape.
2) Then we got Mozilla "about:kitchensink" jokes when the developers put email and usenet news and HTML webpage editing into Mozilla. Enough people screamed and eventually a *BROWSER* was created, called Phoenix. Due to trademark issues, it was eventually rename to Firefox.
Now we're going through the same thing all over again.
> and don't get me started on Flash and its ability to store data on your computer
.macromedia directory in the "user" home dir every hour at the top of the hour. /bin/rm -rf /home/user/.macromedia
> without you even noticing (a "feature" that's enabled by default, one might add,
> and that can't even (easily) be disabled without going to Adobe's website).
In linux, add the following line to the user's crontab to zap the
0 * * * * exec
In Windows, the "Windows Task Scheduler" does something similar. Obviously the "Flash-cookie" directory will be named differently, but the principle is the same. See Microsoft's knowledgebase article for instructions on running a command at scheduled intervals.
Actually, there are a lot of idiots criticizing Gentoo. Why do I use it...
i ght-xboing.html for details.
1) Good-bye to dependancy-hell. I started off in 2000 on Redhat. It was nice for beginners (through 7.3) but some relatively simple programs were murder to install. The developer who put together the RPM for a program I wanted happened to have optional package A on his machine, so the RPM linked to it as a mandatory dependancy. Package A depended on package B, which depended on library C, etc, etc. It would take forever to track down RPMs for the dependancies. And woe unto you if you wanted 2 apps, where the RPM maintainer of app A had different versions of some libraries than the RPM maintainer of app B. Try the following dependancy torture test...
- install a text-only base system
- attempt to install Gimp
Gentoo will figure out and, pull in, and compile the base X libs, and all the necessary dependancies, and a few hours later (I run it overnight and get some sleep) you'll end up with a working X, running basic TWM, and a working Gimp. Try that on an RPM-based distro, I dare ya. I actually prefer Blackbox as my WM, so I "emerge bbkeys". SInce bbkeys depends on Blackbox, portage pulls in Blackbox, and all is copacetic.
2) I can control what optional crap is/isn't built in. I got rid of pam and java and ipv6, via the USE variable. The thing about *PERSONAL* computers is that they're personal, and one size does not fit all. For those of you running a server with multiple people logging on, yes pam is a good idea. For my personal 1-user home machine, it's overkill. If you need something that needs java, fine. What I don't understand is why java can be squeezed into a cellphone, but takes up almost a gig on my harddrive just to allow a singing/dancing webpage. I don't miss it. And my ISP doesn't support ipv6, so I don't see the point in various apps calling ipv6 addresses first, waiting for the timeout, and them getting around to connect on ipv4.
3) Yes, there is a speedup on *SOME* apps. Obviously, disk I/O bound apps won't benefit. I did have a "negative experience" with an old video game "Xboing". I used to run it on my 1999 Dell 450 mhz PIII with 128 megs of ram and 8 meg video card. I could handle it up to "speed level 3". On Gentoo, it flew by so fast that it was unplayable, even at speed level 1. Yes, *THE SAME MACHINE*, no upgrades at all. I had to manually step through the "emerge" process, and patch the delay loop. See http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-131884-highl
The problem is that if Pluto is a planet, then so is Charon. They'd be a double-planet because they they revolve around a center-of-mass that is not inside Pluto. So including Pluto as a planet means we have to include any Charon-sized object (other than a satellite/moon) as a planet. The most up-to-date list I've found is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Neptunian_objec t which shows 14 objects...
Kuiper belt: Orcus Pluto Ixion 2002 UX25 Varuna 2002 TX300 2003 EL61 Quaoar 2005 FY9 2002 AW197
Scattered disc: 2002 TC302 Eris 2004 XR190 Sedna
Subtract Pluto from them, and you've got 13. Do you *REALLY* want your kids' schoolbooks to list 22 planets (or 23 if Pluto and Charon are counted separately)? And the floodgates have just barely been opened. Get a replacement for Hubble into orbit, and start scanning, and you're going to see over 100 in a few years. Sorry, we've got to draw a line in the sand somewhere.
This is sort of like how paleontology mucks up our nice current animal classifications. There's a major difference between modern mammals and modern reptiles and modern birds. But as you go back to their common ancestors, it gets a lot uglier trying to figure out what is mammal/reptile/bird.
It happens whether you use Firefox or IE. Google use your IP address to make the decision. This allows them to sell ads to German companies, and know that only people in Germany will see those ads. I'm in Canada, and Google re-directs www.google.com to www.ggogle.ca. You can over-ride local re-direction by going to http://www.google.com/intl/en/
Consider also, MS Word. It's got tons of "features" which you or I don't want need. But a few people somewhere need each one. They probably complain about "unnecessary stuff" that you or I consider essential. You can't satisfy everybody with one set of features. The best approach is to make a basic browser, and let people add in whatever extensions they want.
> in 2 states defining pi = 4 and pi = 3.2, respectively.
See straightdope.com
Starting in 1992, astronomers have become aware of a vast population of small bodies orbiting the sun beyond Neptune. There are at least 70,000 "trans-Neptunians" with diameters larger than 100 km in the radial zone extending outwards from the orbit of Neptune (at 30 AU) to 50 AU. Observations show that the trans-Neptunians are mostly confined within a thick band around the ecliptic, leading to the realization that they occupy a ring or belt surrounding the sun. This ring is generally referred to as the Kuiper Belt.
Check this list of 1,000 km scale KBOs (Kuiper Belt Objects).
> Would a U.S.-based company (like my favorite, Radio Paradise) not
> still be required to pay it, even if their servers were in Canada?
I'd assume the worst. Witness stuff like...
a) the Lucent-Microsoft patent lawsuit over sales outside the US of stuff covered by an American patent
b) the arrests of foreign internet-gambling executives as they made connecting flights via the USA
c) the lawsuit, in the USA, against Spamhaus, which is based in England
Just to be on the safe side, it would have to be a totally non-American setup, run by non-Americans, who never set foot in the USA.
> Good luck. Almost all countries with high-speed access to the Internet are
> members of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works.
None of them implement the American extra royalties for internet radio, and most of them have copyrights expiring after 50 years. E.g. in Canada and the UK, everything Elvis did to the end of 1956 is already public domain. That means *ABSOLUTELY NO ROYALTIES WHATSOEVER* on
- from 1955
That's All Right/Blue Moon of Kentucky
Baby Let's Play House/I'm Left, Your Right, She's Gone
Good Rockin' Tonight/I Don't care If The Sun Don't Shine
Milkcow Blues Boogie / You're A Heartbreaker
Mystery Train/ I Forgot To Remember To Forget
- from 1956
Heartbreak Hotel
I Was the One
Hound Dog
Don't Be Cruel
Love Me Tender
I Want You, I Need You, I Love You
When My Blue Moon Turns to Gold Again
Anyway You Want Me (That's How I Will Be)
Blue Suede Shoes
The RIAA is afraid their current crap^H^H^H^Hcrop can't compete with 50+ year-old music. That is the most stinging put-down of today's (so called) music.
This stuff happens a lot in "market ecosystems"...
1) Microsoft's bread+butter is its Windows OS and Office software (85% profit margin), with some additional revenue from support services. Open Source businesses give away software for free, and make money from supporting it. Microsoft whines because their high-margin product is "competing with free".
2) The following scenario actually happened in Canada years ago.
Background... Banks' bread+butter is profits from loans. Insurance industry makes money off car insurance.
a) Car dealers seeking a competitive advantage started offering artificially-low-interest loans. They didn't care if they made absolutely no profit on the loan, or even lost a small amount. It increase car sales, which is all the car dealers worried about.
b) Banks fought back by offering stamdard-priced car loans with low-priced auto insurance thrown in. This hurt the auto insurance companies.
c) Insurance companies went whining to regulators about unfair competition.
3) IBM's bread+butter is hardware sales. To them, software is a necessary evil that is required to give customers a reason to buy the hardware. One of the things that got IBM into anti-trust troubles decades ago was giving away "free software" with their mainframes. They don't make any margin on software sales. Hardware sales (and software support) is where the money's at. "Free software" was a part of IBM's business model in the 1960's. So it's only natural that they support Open Source today. IBM learned "the hard way" that they would get into trouble for distributing "free software" for their hardware. That's why you won't see an "IBM Linux". This time around. they let Redhat etal distribute "free software".
Now we get to Apple Computers (Jobs' company, not The Beatles' company). They're a hardware company, not a software company. They don't give a hoot if they never make a penny off of the Itunes Store. Hardware (e.g. the Ipod) is where the money's at. Apple Computers' best interest is served by commoditizing music (forcing the price down) so that customers have more money to spend on Ipods and accesories.
How would Apple Music (The Beatles' company, not Jobs' company) do something similar? Their best approach would be to produce a dirt-cheap music player at a fraction the price of an Ipod (let's call it an "Applet") and sell their music at high prices, with really strong DRM. That's basically what many cellphone providers do, offering "free cellphones", but requiring a contract.
Current/Past situation...
- snow falls and accumulates into snowpack over the winter
- snowpack melts during spring and summer, supplying water for irrigation during the growing season
- snowpack doesn't melt completely during summer. This means there's a reserve that can handle a couple of dry years
Future situation
- rain falls during the winter and runs off to the sea
- no water during the summer
- a couple of dry winters makes things even worse
Do you have any idea how huge a dam you'd need to hold water equivalant to the snow cover on a mountain range?
...connected to the public internet in the first place. Most sensitive US DOD sites have armed soldiers guarding the physical gateways. They don't let the general public meander through the grounds. Yet they're doing exactly that with their computers.
Part of SCOX's strategy was to cause IBM so much bad PR, that it would be worth their while to settle. What Groklaw has done is to expose SCOX's case (or lack thereof), destroyed SCOX's PR offensive, and nullified much of SCOX's FUD. The result is that IBM isn't hurting anywhere near as much as SCOX had hoped. Simply by reporting the truth, PJ has made things very difficult for SCOX. If she is named as a witness, PJ would be very restricted in what public statements she could make, and Groklaw gets effectively shut down. This might be a new legal tactic in the age of blogging. Strategic Subpeona Against Public Participation == SSAPP
Another reason why SCOX's case depends on showing that she had inside info from IBM. If you agree that a person with some legal background, with research contributed by a loose group of volunteers over the internet, but no inside info from IBM, could put together documentation that so totally destroys SCOX's legal case...
then you have to agree that a university student with some computing background, with research contributed by a loose group of volunteers over the internet, but no inside info from IBM, could put together an OS that totally destroys SCOX's OS in the marketplace... oops.