and yes, I know this could be theoretically done with tagging but then I would have to tag all files when commiting every time and it still does not handle the case when one file of the patchset depends on some other patchset.
Not true. CVS allows you to create the so-called modules, which can be groups of files or a directory. Then you can use commands like `cvs ci modulename' or `cvs co modulename' in order to update/checkout only certain sets of files.
Not sure about your second case, but it sounds more like bad organization than anything else -- have in mind that CVS allows you to create module aliases which refer to groups of modules. Not exactly detecting if a single file in a module depends on files in another module, but still...
Why do we have to be so elitist about this? Why not make the UI make sense for most users instead of the die-hards who've frequently wax nostalgic about the very first slackware beta? Guys like you are the ones that scare new users off from giving linux a shot.
You have a good point, and I admit that my post sounded elitist -- but I really get upset by Windows users who look at Unix/Linux with feeling of superiority and somehow know better what's "user-friendly" and what's not.
To me, any piece of software that crashes randomly, and corrupts user data, cannot be, and never will be, user-friendly. That's why I switched to Linux. I just couldn't stand the annoyance that was Windows.
But to answer your question -- I don't really think you can build a user interface that enables non-technically savvy users to utilize the full potential of their system. You just can't. As an example, I know several people who would be really struggling with the concept of configuring video modes in Windows -- they just don't know what a "video controller" is, and what screen resolutions are. In order to have any kind of a sane interface to configuring the hardware on your system, you have to presuppose technical knowledge, otherwise you end up with an interface which still requires training for new users, and limits experienced users to what they can do. To me, the only way to solve the issue of initial configuration of Linux systems for new users, is to make computer systems with pre-installed Linux, which of course some companies are already doing. That's what allowed Windows PCs to be used as ubiquitous appliances by many people, not the alleged "user-friendliness" of the Windows installer.
Don't you just hate it when a Windows user, who thinks they know about software better than the rest of the world, starts blabbering about Linux (in this case GNU applications and other free/open source software). Let's just go through this list, for example:
1. No 'best' browser.
Right. So we should only have one browser. Diversity bad, Microsoft good. Baaah. He then proceeds to explain how Mozilla isn't "integrated" (whatever that means) with any "desktop environment" and how hard it was to print. Well, here's a clue, mister: in the literate technical world, it is considered poor design and poor engineering to "fuse" software the way Microsoft does; while there may be no Mozilla analog of a KParts API, the well-documented programming interface it provides allows for third-party applications to use the rendering engine in a straightforward manner, without having to run a friggin browser in the kernel at all times. Finally, am I really the only person who simply used the default Mozilla printer settings, in order to print successfully?
2. Prompting for a filesystem scan.
Oooh. Oooh. My favorite. IF YOU DON'T LIKE THE STARTUP BEHAVIOR, CHANGE THE GODDAMN INIT SCRIPT! If you are unwilling to learn the shell scripting language, and understand how the initialization scripts work, then you have no business messing with Unix, and anything more complicated than a microwave oven, for that matter.
3. Printing needs to be easier to configure.
Well, okay -- I installed Mandrake with CUPS, ran the printer configuration tool (printerdrake), and had a working printer setup two minutes later. Exactly what part of this needs to be improved? In fact, I think that the combination of LaTeX/dvips/dvilj/ghostscript and either lpd or CUPS is one of the best printer setups I've ever used, in terms of flexibility and speed. It was always Windows and its fucked up printer drivers that messed things up with dvips and ghostscript. Now, it's also true that I've only used LaserJet printers with Linux, but for high-quality printing that's what you want, anyway, and things shouldn't be any different with any other PostScript printer.
4. Make it easy for the user to find out how to do things.
Please note that both Mandrake and RedHat have big icons pointing to tutorials and documentation on their defaultly configured desktops. Also, learn to be patient, persistent, and studious, and you'll master Unix and the tools it provides. There's no other way to be efficient and productive with computers, just like you can't become a doctor or an engineer in two weeks -- it takes college and learning.
5. Cleaner redraws. Curiously enough, the link mentioned in this part of the article claims that XFree86 has solved this problem in Linux. Moreover, I disagree with the technical explanation, because there's an extension for X that allows caching of the redraw requests, which eliminates this problem (provided the video hardware and drivers are not slow and/or buggy).
6. Die stray processes, die! This is actually somewhat of a good point, but the problem is nothing kill/killall can't solve. Just write a cron job that kills all zombie processes every hour or so. Besides, considering how bad of a problem this is with Windows, and how rare it is in Mandrake Linux, I don't see why this even made in Top 10.
7. Easy way of sharing files.
Yeah, and I bet you'd like to run always as root, too. There's a good reason for the Unix process privilege organization and it is very simple -- protection of the system. Microsoft cludges like right-clicking on a directory and "exporting it", among others, are poor, insecure design. What part of this are we Unix users failing to enunciate properly enough for Microsoft junkies to comprehend?
8. Sound support. Well, it says that ALSA rocks, and I'm certainly not going to disagree there! Audio support for consumer-level audio devices has been pretty good in Linux for a long time.
9. No common editor which supports "soft wrapping." Ever heard of Emacs? That's what I thought.
10. No easy way to configure X - especially change resolution on the fly.
Yeah, I need to change resolutions on the fly all time in X; that would really improve my productivity. But seriously, this guy obviously didn't even bother the read the damn manual -- use Ctrl Alt + and - to cycle through the various configured resolutions. Why is this so difficult?
Can anyone here translate that site with the larger list? That might be the one, but I can't tell what its about.
As another poster suggested, this page is about an email campaign against the NATO bombardments of Serbia in 1999. The short paragraph below the title simply gives some directions on how to use the email addresses and recommends some program for bulk email.
No. Not at all. To verify my statement, go take English 101 with a professor who thinks he is the Bard 2.0.
Also, go take Intro to Physics with a world-class award winning particle physicist.
OK, so I should have said teachers of technical subjects, such as computer science or engineering. You're right, I've had pretentious literature teachers who were pretty damn worthless.
As far as physics is concerned, my father has the introductory physics textbooks written by Richard Feynman, which were apparently used at Caltech for a long time, and I must say that these are some of the most concise, well-written textbooks I've ever read. But of course nowadays many universities, including the school I attend devoutly follow the grand tradition of annual replacement of the expensive introductory calculus and physics textbooks with even more expensive textbooks with even more worthless full-color pictures, so Feynman's textbooks clearly cannot be used.
But I digress...
Regardless, im sure this will raise the popularity of the university. but remember: theres more to a teacher than raw skill, there are alot of other factors involved (marking fairly, communication abilities, attitude)
Well, it is my impression that the more skill one possesses in a particular field, the better teachers they are. It seems logical that when you have a really good grasp of something, it would be much easier to explain it.
Of course, I have to say that of all really good teachers I've had, most were well-experienced in both teaching and their respective profession, and usually at least in their late forties, or older. In the case of Linus, I don't think an arrogant 20-something would be as good of a teacher. So there's definitely a "coming of age" as far as communication and attitude are involved.
If the government creates something original for it's use how can there be any arguement as to if it should be availible to the people..?
Considering the current government's flirtations with Big Business (not to be confused with Big Brother), I'm actually surprised that they didn't just publish their bills as Word documents.
And looking at the XML documents, it does appear that they're using some non-W3C, Microsoft-like XML stylesheet format. I'd argue that this is favoring one commercial product (Internet Exploder) at the expense of all others.
The Zombies? The Zombies?!? Your list doesn't have Led Zeppelin or Soundgarden but it has The Freaking Zombies!
I don't know; to me Soundgarden has exactly one (1) good song. In comparison, the jazzy, unusual style and sophistication of the Zombies is truly the mark of a genius. No contemporary "rock" band could get even close to that.
As far as Led Zeppelin is concerned, I don't think I know their music well enough to adequately judge them, but what I've heard of it I didn't find to be particularly original. You said it right, to each his own.
Allow me to introduce a proper list of greatest rock bands of all time:
The Rolling Stones
The Doors
The Jimi Hendrix Experience
The Beatles
Pink Floyd
Deep Purple
The Who
The Zombies
The Animals
Creedence Clearwater Revival
I am curious about one thing: in a hypothetical case where an evil recording corporation is threatening my security by launching electronic attacks on my means of communication, is it okay to use arms to defend myself? After all, "a well-regulated militia is necessary for the Security of a free State..." right?
Also, why the HELL are there researchers there now?
A careful perusal of the article in question reveals that the ship was changing the crew at two research stations. Seems that work in these stations continues all year long.
What I'm curious about is, why don't they send cargo airplanes to drop off packages of food (or helicopter fuel) near the ship, where they can be picked up by the crew.
As for the Coast Guard ice breakers, the web sites of both the USCGC Healy and the USCGC Polar Star seem to suggest that these ships are operating in the Arctic this year. The web site of the USCGC Polar Sea was shut down, "due to recent events." Ah well.
Re:Two Things I don't like about Portage...
on
Gentoo Linux 1.2
·
· Score: 2
have you tried:
-march=i686 -O3 -pipe
My standard compilation flags were "-mcpu=i686 -O3 -pipe". I guess I feel too lazy to try march now that KDE is working.
Two Things I don't like about Portage...
on
Gentoo Linux 1.2
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
I've been using RPM-based distributions for a long time, and while I like having the ability to build everything from source, I miss a couple of features that RPM has:
Ability to check what package a certain file is in (like `rpm -q -f file').
Ability to list all installed packages (well, you can do that with portage and grep, I guess).
Oh, yeah, I also couldn't get KDE to compile with `-O3 -mcpu=i686' on a fairly new Dell Xeon machine. I'd get all sorts of random errors like 'Illegal instruction', so I had to build all KDE packages with "-mcpu=i486", then I tried i686 again and the kdebase package compiled successfully this time! The mailing lists just advise to play with the compile options in order to get KDE working. Weird.
The Death Ship: The Story of an American Sailor, by B. Traven. Although I disagree with the anarchist/Libertarian political views of the author, he is nevertheless a magnificent story teller, and every time I read this book, I feel as if I'm living with the characters and know their experiences first-hand.
Moby Dick, by Herman Melville. I love sea stories, and I find this to be a very powerful tale of human madness and obsession, although many people find it long and boring. A matter of taste, I suppose.
A Russian Journal, by John Steinbeck. A very interesting historical account of 1948 Soviet Russia. I very much enjoy Steinbeck's narrative style, and if you like Travels with Charley, you'll probably like this one, too.
This guy just proved you can't walk to the North pole solo. Oh sure, perhaps you can do it alone, meaning noone closer than Canada, but quite obviously one needs a rescue crew on standby if they want to live through the attempt.
Um, according to this article in the April issue of the National Geographic magazine, a Norwegian had already reached both Poles by foot and sled. So there.
In news reporting, an initial story may have inaccuracies. One hopes that with each revision, the reported story becomes closer and closer to the actual truth. It is fairly unlikely that the original story is better than the revised one.
Heh. I recommend that you read 1984 again:
[...] This process of continuous alteration was applied not only to newspapers, but to books, periodicals, pamphlets, posters, leaflets, films, sound-tracks, cartoons, photographs -- to every kind of literature or documentation which might conceivably hold any political or ideological significance. Day by day and almost minute by minute the past was brought up to date. In this way every prediction made by the Party could be shown by documentary evidence to have been correct, nor was any item of news, or any expression of opinion, which conflicted with the needs of the moment, ever allowed to remain on record. All history was a palimpsest, scraped clean and reinscribed exactly as often as was necessary. In no case would it have been possible, once the deed was done, to prove that any falsification had taken place. The largest section of the Records Department, far larger than the one on which Winston worked, consisted simply of persons whose duty it was to track down and collect all copies of books, newspapers, and other documents which had been superseded and were due for destruction. A number of The Times which might, because of changes in political alignment, or mistaken prophecies uttered by Big Brother, have been rewritten a dozen times still stood on the files bearing its original date, and no other copy existed to contradict it. Books, also, were recalled and rewritten again and again, and were invariably reissued without any admission that any alteration had been made. Even the written instructions which Winston received, and which he invariably got rid of as soon as he had dealt with them, never stated or implied that an act of forgery was to be committed: always the reference was to slips, errors, misprints, or misquotations which it was necessary to put right in the interests of accuracy.
hmm--need to check the Constitution on how long he needs to be a citizen first), but I would actually support his campaign.
Nine years. From Article I, Section 3:
No person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the age of thirty years, and been nine years a citizen of the United States and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that state for which he shall be chosen.
Well, that's management material right there! You wouldn't want the person in charge of making decisions to articulate their thought clearly and precisely, would you?
How can Microsoft use GPL licensed products, such as GNU GCC, for the express purpose of 'interoperating' with Unix and Linux systems and at the same time deny everybody else the right to use GPL licensed products to interoperate with Microsoft's own products?
Heh. I take it this question is rhetorical. Greed, arrogance, and blatant disregard of professional honor are, I think, the distinguishing marks of Microsoft. But, as other posters have pointed out, it's okay to bundle GPL with non-GPL products.
Let's stretch this a little farther, shall we? Which is harder, being a surgeon or a programmer? I'd put $5,000 down on that one, right now. But somehow, the surgeons end up motivating themselves to go to work and do their job whenever it's required, not just when they "can get into the mindstate".
I can still can go in and fix software bugs, or do other kinds of technical support at any time, without having to be "in the mood." But this is not a creative process. This is just fixing a certain mechanism, using my knowledge of it.
Designing and implementing this mechanism, on the other hand, is in fact a creative process and bears many similarities to writing a novel.
Slashdot Mirror
and yes, I know this could be theoretically done with tagging but then I would have to tag all files when commiting every time and it still does not handle the case when one file of the patchset depends on some other patchset.
Not true. CVS allows you to create the so-called modules, which can be groups of files or a directory. Then you can use commands like `cvs ci modulename' or `cvs co modulename' in order to update/checkout only certain sets of files.
Not sure about your second case, but it sounds more like bad organization than anything else -- have in mind that CVS allows you to create module aliases which refer to groups of modules. Not exactly detecting if a single file in a module depends on files in another module, but still...
Why do we have to be so elitist about this? Why not make the UI make sense for most users instead of the die-hards who've frequently wax nostalgic about the very first slackware beta? Guys like you are the ones that scare new users off from giving linux a shot.
You have a good point, and I admit that my post sounded elitist -- but I really get upset by Windows users who look at Unix/Linux with feeling of superiority and somehow know better what's "user-friendly" and what's not.
To me, any piece of software that crashes randomly, and corrupts user data, cannot be, and never will be, user-friendly. That's why I switched to Linux. I just couldn't stand the annoyance that was Windows.
But to answer your question -- I don't really think you can build a user interface that enables non-technically savvy users to utilize the full potential of their system. You just can't. As an example, I know several people who would be really struggling with the concept of configuring video modes in Windows -- they just don't know what a "video controller" is, and what screen resolutions are. In order to have any kind of a sane interface to configuring the hardware on your system, you have to presuppose technical knowledge, otherwise you end up with an interface which still requires training for new users, and limits experienced users to what they can do. To me, the only way to solve the issue of initial configuration of Linux systems for new users, is to make computer systems with pre-installed Linux, which of course some companies are already doing. That's what allowed Windows PCs to be used as ubiquitous appliances by many people, not the alleged "user-friendliness" of the Windows installer.
Don't you just hate it when a Windows user, who thinks they know about software better than the rest of the world, starts blabbering about Linux (in this case GNU applications and other free/open source software). Let's just go through this list, for example:
1. No 'best' browser.
Right. So we should only have one browser. Diversity bad, Microsoft good. Baaah. He then proceeds to explain how Mozilla isn't "integrated" (whatever that means) with any "desktop environment" and how hard it was to print. Well, here's a clue, mister: in the literate technical world, it is considered poor design and poor engineering to "fuse" software the way Microsoft does; while there may be no Mozilla analog of a KParts API, the well-documented programming interface it provides allows for third-party applications to use the rendering engine in a straightforward manner, without having to run a friggin browser in the kernel at all times. Finally, am I really the only person who simply used the default Mozilla printer settings, in order to print successfully?
2. Prompting for a filesystem scan.
Oooh. Oooh. My favorite. IF YOU DON'T LIKE THE STARTUP BEHAVIOR, CHANGE THE GODDAMN INIT SCRIPT! If you are unwilling to learn the shell scripting language, and understand how the initialization scripts work, then you have no business messing with Unix, and anything more complicated than a microwave oven, for that matter.
3. Printing needs to be easier to configure.
Well, okay -- I installed Mandrake with CUPS, ran the printer configuration tool (printerdrake), and had a working printer setup two minutes later. Exactly what part of this needs to be improved? In fact, I think that the combination of LaTeX/dvips/dvilj/ghostscript and either lpd or CUPS is one of the best printer setups I've ever used, in terms of flexibility and speed. It was always Windows and its fucked up printer drivers that messed things up with dvips and ghostscript. Now, it's also true that I've only used LaserJet printers with Linux, but for high-quality printing that's what you want, anyway, and things shouldn't be any different with any other PostScript printer.
4. Make it easy for the user to find out how to do things.
Please note that both Mandrake and RedHat have big icons pointing to tutorials and documentation on their defaultly configured desktops. Also, learn to be patient, persistent, and studious, and you'll master Unix and the tools it provides. There's no other way to be efficient and productive with computers, just like you can't become a doctor or an engineer in two weeks -- it takes college and learning.
5. Cleaner redraws.
Curiously enough, the link mentioned in this part of the article claims that XFree86 has solved this problem in Linux. Moreover, I disagree with the technical explanation, because there's an extension for X that allows caching of the redraw requests, which eliminates this problem (provided the video hardware and drivers are not slow and/or buggy).
6. Die stray processes, die!
This is actually somewhat of a good point, but the problem is nothing kill/killall can't solve. Just write a cron job that kills all zombie processes every hour or so. Besides, considering how bad of a problem this is with Windows, and how rare it is in Mandrake Linux, I don't see why this even made in Top 10.
7. Easy way of sharing files.
Yeah, and I bet you'd like to run always as root, too. There's a good reason for the Unix process privilege organization and it is very simple -- protection of the system. Microsoft cludges like right-clicking on a directory and "exporting it", among others, are poor, insecure design. What part of this are we Unix users failing to enunciate properly enough for Microsoft junkies to comprehend?
8. Sound support.
Well, it says that ALSA rocks, and I'm certainly not going to disagree there! Audio support for consumer-level audio devices has been pretty good in Linux for a long time.
9. No common editor which supports "soft wrapping."
Ever heard of Emacs? That's what I thought.
10. No easy way to configure X - especially change resolution on the fly.
Yeah, I need to change resolutions on the fly all time in X; that would really improve my productivity. But seriously, this guy obviously didn't even bother the read the damn manual -- use Ctrl Alt + and - to cycle through the various configured resolutions. Why is this so difficult?
Can anyone here translate that site with the larger list? That might be the one, but I can't tell what its about.
As another poster suggested, this page is about an email campaign against the NATO bombardments of Serbia in 1999. The short paragraph below the title simply gives some directions on how to use the email addresses and recommends some program for bulk email.
No. Not at all. To verify my statement, go take English 101 with a professor who thinks he is the Bard 2.0.
Also, go take Intro to Physics with a world-class award winning particle physicist.
OK, so I should have said teachers of technical subjects, such as computer science or engineering. You're right, I've had pretentious literature teachers who were pretty damn worthless.
As far as physics is concerned, my father has the introductory physics textbooks written by Richard Feynman, which were apparently used at Caltech for a long time, and I must say that these are some of the most concise, well-written textbooks I've ever read. But of course nowadays many universities, including the school I attend devoutly follow the grand tradition of annual replacement of the expensive introductory calculus and physics textbooks with even more expensive textbooks with even more worthless full-color pictures, so Feynman's textbooks clearly cannot be used. But I digress...
Regardless, im sure this will raise the popularity of the university. but remember: theres more to a teacher than raw skill, there are alot of other factors involved (marking fairly, communication abilities, attitude)
Well, it is my impression that the more skill one possesses in a particular field, the better teachers they are. It seems logical that when you have a really good grasp of something, it would be much easier to explain it.
Of course, I have to say that of all really good teachers I've had, most were well-experienced in both teaching and their respective profession, and usually at least in their late forties, or older. In the case of Linus, I don't think an arrogant 20-something would be as good of a teacher. So there's definitely a "coming of age" as far as communication and attitude are involved.
If the government creates something original for it's use how can there be any arguement as to if it should be availible to the people..?
Considering the current government's flirtations with Big Business (not to be confused with Big Brother), I'm actually surprised that they didn't just publish their bills as Word documents.
And looking at the XML documents, it does appear that they're using some non-W3C, Microsoft-like XML stylesheet format. I'd argue that this is favoring one commercial product (Internet Exploder) at the expense of all others.
The Zombies? The Zombies?!? Your list doesn't have Led Zeppelin or Soundgarden but it has The Freaking Zombies!
I don't know; to me Soundgarden has exactly one (1) good song. In comparison, the jazzy, unusual style and sophistication of the Zombies is truly the mark of a genius. No contemporary "rock" band could get even close to that.
As far as Led Zeppelin is concerned, I don't think I know their music well enough to adequately judge them, but what I've heard of it I didn't find to be particularly original. You said it right, to each his own.
Your list was totally cool except for this omission.
Oops. You're totally right.
1d0
< The Grateful Dead
Allow me to introduce a proper list of greatest rock bands of all time:
The Rolling Stones
The Doors
The Jimi Hendrix Experience
The Beatles
Pink Floyd
Deep Purple
The Who
The Zombies
The Animals
Creedence Clearwater Revival
I am curious about one thing: in a hypothetical case where an evil recording corporation is threatening my security by launching electronic attacks on my means of communication, is it okay to use arms to defend myself? After all, "a well-regulated militia is necessary for the Security of a free State..." right?
You forgot: "Imagine a Beowulf cluster of Gandalfs!"
And a pot calling the kettle black!
Also, why the HELL are there researchers there now?
A careful perusal of the article in question reveals that the ship was changing the crew at two research stations. Seems that work in these stations continues all year long.
What I'm curious about is, why don't they send cargo airplanes to drop off packages of food (or helicopter fuel) near the ship, where they can be picked up by the crew.
As for the Coast Guard ice breakers, the web sites of both the USCGC Healy and the USCGC Polar Star seem to suggest that these ships are operating in the Arctic this year. The web site of the USCGC Polar Sea was shut down, "due to recent events." Ah well.
have you tried: -march=i686 -O3 -pipe
My standard compilation flags were "-mcpu=i686 -O3 -pipe". I guess I feel too lazy to try march now that KDE is working.
Oh, yeah, I also couldn't get KDE to compile with `-O3 -mcpu=i686' on a fairly new Dell Xeon machine. I'd get all sorts of random errors like 'Illegal instruction', so I had to build all KDE packages with "-mcpu=i486", then I tried i686 again and the kdebase package compiled successfully this time! The mailing lists just advise to play with the compile options in order to get KDE working. Weird.
The Death Ship: The Story of an American Sailor, by B. Traven. Although I disagree with the anarchist/Libertarian political views of the author, he is nevertheless a magnificent story teller, and every time I read this book, I feel as if I'm living with the characters and know their experiences first-hand.
Moby Dick, by Herman Melville. I love sea stories, and I find this to be a very powerful tale of human madness and obsession, although many people find it long and boring. A matter of taste, I suppose.
A Russian Journal, by John Steinbeck. A very interesting historical account of 1948 Soviet Russia. I very much enjoy Steinbeck's narrative style, and if you like Travels with Charley, you'll probably like this one, too.
Oops, I meant the March issue of National Geographic. Read before you post.
This guy just proved you can't walk to the North pole solo. Oh sure, perhaps you can do it alone, meaning noone closer than Canada, but quite obviously one needs a rescue crew on standby if they want to live through the attempt.
Um, according to this article in the April issue of the National Geographic magazine, a Norwegian had already reached both Poles by foot and sled. So there.
Gnu/Matrix ...
Thanks, now I'll have nightmares of RMS dressed in leather and wearing sunglasses...
Geez this article almost makes them sound like some sort of monopoly, which we all know is impossible.....
:-)
Yeah, this is probably deceptive propaganda from that Linux company that's trying to undermine honest American business...
In news reporting, an initial story may have inaccuracies. One hopes that with each revision, the reported story becomes closer and closer to the actual truth. It is fairly unlikely that the original story is better than the revised one.
Heh. I recommend that you read 1984 again:
[...] This process of continuous alteration was applied not only to newspapers, but to books, periodicals, pamphlets, posters, leaflets, films, sound-tracks, cartoons, photographs -- to every kind of literature or documentation which might conceivably hold any political or ideological significance. Day by day and almost minute by minute the past was brought up to date. In this way every prediction made by the Party could be shown by documentary evidence to have been correct, nor was any item of news, or any expression of opinion, which conflicted with the needs of the moment, ever allowed to remain on record. All history was a palimpsest, scraped clean and reinscribed exactly as often as was necessary. In no case would it have been possible, once the deed was done, to prove that any falsification had taken place. The largest section of the Records Department, far larger than the one on which Winston worked, consisted simply of persons whose duty it was to track down and collect all copies of books, newspapers, and other documents which had been superseded and were due for destruction. A number of The Times which might, because of changes in political alignment, or mistaken prophecies uttered by Big Brother, have been rewritten a dozen times still stood on the files bearing its original date, and no other copy existed to contradict it. Books, also, were recalled and rewritten again and again, and were invariably reissued without any admission that any alteration had been made. Even the written instructions which Winston received, and which he invariably got rid of as soon as he had dealt with them, never stated or implied that an act of forgery was to be committed: always the reference was to slips, errors, misprints, or misquotations which it was necessary to put right in the interests of accuracy.
hmm--need to check the Constitution on how long he needs to be a citizen first), but I would actually support his campaign.
Nine years. From Article I, Section 3:
No person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the age of thirty years, and been nine years a citizen of the United States and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that state for which he shall be chosen.
You seem to write at a 3rd or 4th grade level..
:-)
Well, that's management material right there! You wouldn't want the person in charge of making decisions to articulate their thought clearly and precisely, would you?
How can Microsoft use GPL licensed products, such as GNU GCC, for the express purpose of 'interoperating' with Unix and Linux systems and at the same time deny everybody else the right to use GPL licensed products to interoperate with Microsoft's own products?
Heh. I take it this question is rhetorical. Greed, arrogance, and blatant disregard of professional honor are, I think, the distinguishing marks of Microsoft. But, as other posters have pointed out, it's okay to bundle GPL with non-GPL products.
Let's stretch this a little farther, shall we? Which is harder, being a surgeon or a programmer? I'd put $5,000 down on that one, right now. But somehow, the surgeons end up motivating themselves to go to work and do their job whenever it's required, not just when they "can get into the mindstate".
I can still can go in and fix software bugs, or do other kinds of technical support at any time, without having to be "in the mood." But this is not a creative process. This is just fixing a certain mechanism, using my knowledge of it.
Designing and implementing this mechanism, on the other hand, is in fact a creative process and bears many similarities to writing a novel.