Shouldn't this be fixed before the problem arises as we will have the ability to address more and more memory?
From what I understand, it's the ability of the processor to count to higher numbers. UNIX's datetime variable is limited to 32-bits, of course, which gives us our 2036 deadline. Of course, with AMD and Intel struggling to be the first to make a viable 64-bit chip available to the end-user, I doubt this will be a problem for long. By the next major Linux kernel revision, and by the next major BSD release, I'm more than certain we'll have the groundwork in place to migrate to 64-bit systems.
With the quality of modern computer systems, and the rate at which they're being updated - do you honestly forsee yourself running any of your current machines a decade from now? Certainly not in any form of mission-critical applications, I'd wager. My screaming fast Athlon XP with DDR RAM will likely be relegated to a backup DNS server by that point, providing it's still alive of course.
So two decades from now - what will we be running? Likely our 'antiques' will be hardware purchased in or about the year 2012. Judging by AMD's Processor Roadmap, we'll be seeing the [Claw/Sledge]Hammer procssors within a year or two, and based on the proliferation of current processors (PII/P4, ThunderBird/Athlon/Athlon XP) I'd bet they'll be either commonplace or outdated by 2012.
There will come a day when 64-bit on the desktop will be the 'norm', and there will be weirdos {cough} still running "Those really old 32-bit processors", just like we now have people running C=64s.:)
UNIX will be prepared for its D-Day with more than a decade of breathing room; mark my words.
Perhaps Samba could overtake its predecessor, detect the presence of other Samba systems and use optimizations between the two while making Windoze look like the slow horse in the race.
You think this is a benefit?? Is this car intended for deep space use far from garages or tyre shops?
Back in my day, we used to carry a spare in the trunk.
I'm not sure where you live, but if it's anywhere near a big city I'm sure you have a freeway, and if it's really close to a big city, your freeway probably has an express section, likely separated from the remainder of the road by concrete barriers. Typically the express lanes of the 401 travel at speeds in excess of 160KPH. Blowing out a tire in one of these lanes is a Very Bad Thing, especially if you happen to be in the middle lane. Getting off to a shoulder is a laudable goal and all, but even that can be one of the most harrowing and dangerous experiences of a motorist's day. When quarter tonne vehicles are travelling past you at that rate of speed...
Long story short, sometimes you're not 'just around the corner' from a gas station so I would certainly see the extra wheels as a benefeit.
Moreover, the car demonstrated in the picture is actually a limosine (I happened to catch a Discovery special on this car last a few nights ago), hence the claim to 'seat 8'. The interior has a typical limo-style seating arrangement, with bench seats running around the outside of the vehicle (looked very spacious and comfortable, I might add). These are apparently a big hit in Japan, where I suppose the 25 million Yen (~$600k USD) pricetag isn't quite so daunting.
My point above (I hit preview twice, but have only one coffee in me..) is that we can either use our own security certification processes, or we can put our trust in a company to issue them for us. Of course, if that company is merely certifying based on track record, prestige, or any number of other factors that don't involve a proper codebase audit, then I'd say the certificates aren't worth the paper they're (not) printed on.
I've always taken online / electronic means of communication with a grain of salt. I prefer the 'less is more' approach to tendering information in any electronic environment. Stick to giving out personal details to the big companies who have more to lose, and are more likely to be able to remunerate me for my inconvenience if my information is leaked/stolen.
My IMAP/POP3 secure servers run an SSL certificate that I generated. So it's not trusted - who cares? I'm the issuer, and if somebody's using my (personal) servers for mail, they're putting their trust in me. As for a commercial application, that gets a bit hairy. If I don't have a certificate signed by a 'trusted authority', I'll be seen as unprofessional and possibly untrustworthy. But does a genuine, bona fide Verisign SSL cert guarantee my customers any more security than my up-to-date server(s) can provide? I don't see how. Almost does seem like a waste of $700+, doesn't it?
Not to be redundant or anything, but this is exactly why we have open sourced software. Nobody is actually forced to run any software, only maintain compatability with your upstream and downstream. So long as your interface is compatible you can use any back-end software you want. With the source code in hand, and if you're that worried about security, you can always hire a few programmers to perform audits on the code. Cost to you is only the salaries for the programmers, savings in the long run could potentially amount to billions of dollars (lost revenues, lost/stolen customer/corporate information, civil suits, fines, whatever).
I'm elated whenever I discover that a company I deal with (securely) is using OSS'd software - that way I can have a look (in my limited capacity) at the products they're using, and get that deep-down warm and fuzzy feeling.
... or it could be due to the fact that we've RMA'd dozens of drives of between 1 and 2 years of age from about four-five different drive manufacturers. Our stack of RMA sheets is starting to become cumbersome.
More and more as time goes by (and drive size increases, and prices drop) I'm seeing much higher percentages of drives with manufacturing defects, or drives that develop errors after several months of typical (home, office, small business, small enterprise server, etc.) use.
I don't even have to resort to 'naming names' - they're all proving bad lately. It's not just our equipment, either. We're handling (on behalf of our customers) RMAs for several different computer resellers in our area, most of whom do not use our supplier(s).
I'm sure anybody would understand the significance of this problem after you've told your tenth customer in a month that their data is irretreivable, AND that they have to wait 4-6 weeks for a new unit or purchase a new one. (Don't even mention data recovery - Joe Homeuser or Suzy Smallbusiness just can't afford thousands of dollars, but it doesn't make their data any less important than a mega-corporation)
I've got a dandy of a hard drive on the bench right now, awaiting customer authorization for replacement. Scandisk froze solid when attempting to diagnose it, so I slave mounted it and began extracting data. After about 200MB or thereabouts, it made the loudest screeching noise I think I've ever heard.
The drive was manufactured less than two years ago, purchased only 1.5 years back.
It's a sad state that the computer industry is in right now, with most components suffering the same fate as hard disk drives. I must replace two power supplies per week, it seems. Granted, we're making a killing on labour on all this defective hardware (why the stores they purchased this equipment from won't help them, I'll never know, and I'm too frightened to investigate) - which, in hindsight, is probably the reason behind the "So what if it only lasts for one year?" line of thinking.
If manufacturers don't have refurb drives or services available, or if they won't replace a defective unit with the next-closest-piece available; that's not our problem, it's clearly a problem with their company policy. Being mechanical, drives are easy enough to repair.
<SUBJECT TYPE=ANALOGY> KDS (Korea Data Systems) still offers three year warranties on their products, and I'm still extremely ecstatic with their work (which is why they're the first monitor we reccomend, and the monitor we include with our systems). The monitor we're using on our accounting machine (KDS VS-7e) is now almost exactly 3 years, 1 month old. On (literally) the last day of the warranty, I phoned them with a request for an RMA number, due to the control buttons functioning erratically. They gave me the number and I shipped it to them four days after the manufacturer warranty expired. Since I got the number in time (and didn't have to wait a month for it, like one particular HDD manufacturer I don't care to name (or deal with!)); on a Tuesday. It was back on our desk by the Friday of that very same week - return shipping paid in full by KDS. We're working on our 90-day warranty extension right now, but I don't forsee any future problems.
</SUBJECT>
So, all in all, I'm extremely dissapointed with hard drive manufacturers, and judging by current industry trends I doubt very much the situation will improve.
well, wouldnt it be more practical (and more on the "cordless spirit") to put the mouse on its cradle while the computer power's off?
I've used a cordless that used a cradle, and let me tell you, nothing is more annoying than your battery dying in the middle of a stint of work. In order to be light enough for the mouse to be comfortable to use, batteries have to be relatively small and light (usually two AAAs), therefore they just can't hold incredible amounts of charge, especially after the few 100th charge.
As to the "cordless spirit", I thought it was intended to help increase productivity by reducing the number of wires on my desk. If I have to literally stop using my mouse for an hour (or more) while it charges, this is decidedly less convenient than pulling out a cable and being traditionally 'corded' for a while. Since the cable shares the voltage of my cell phone, it can double as a cell phone charger when I'm not using it for the mouse. When not in use, it can be coiled up in a corner, say beside my speaker or under my monitor, until the next time it's required.
1: Try and sound interesting in your Hobbies / Interests section, you'll just come across as a twat. Be honest. And DON'T mention Stanley Kubrick. Everyone does that!
I'm not so sure I agree with that. I listed a few of my hobbies and interests (albeit not at the front of my resumee) and my last employer complimented me on them. I showed that I was interested in several other areas (music (listening and production), construction, mechanical interests, etc.) besides just computers. I'm not so sure that companies today want to hire geeks who have nothing better to do than tinker with their latest and greatest electronic toy. IOW, they want people with some semblence of a life.
As I pointed out in an earlier story, A4 Tech has been making a cordless optical mouse for quite some time - but it uses a much better charge mechanism - a USB charge cable. When the batteries run low, you simply attach the cable to the front of the mouse and until they charge, you're using a corded optical mouse.
Saves having to put the mouse in the cradle and sit there uselessly while you wait for it to charge (or, have a hot-spare mouse sitting ready to be swapped in... )
It isn't in the handbook. I'm pretty sure it isn't in the fieldbook either.
It is in the field book, I just have to find it again. As to the hand book, I think it pays lipservice to it, but doesn't explain it very well. It's been a number of years, though.
(For reference; the handbook I used belonged to my father, so it was significantly older than the one carried by most Boy Scouts, even older than many of the scouters' copies, AAMOF).
Thank-you! I've been wracking my brain trying to come up with the name! (And didn't feel like hauling out Google or an old Boy Scouts handbook - that's cheating.;> )
It is better to drive the sticks 12 inches and leave the holes open when you pull them out (or if you really want them plugged, because you don't like breathing, just leave them in).
I found that a couple well placed 'smoke holes' was sufficient for three people to sleep comfortably for a night. Then again, I never used a full-on door, either, which helped.
And a garbage bag full of snow makes a great door to keep the wind out.
Yeah, but then you'd need a garbage bag, and we never lent that much luxury to the scouts. Next, they'd be wanting to bring ground-sheets, pots, or sleeping bags with 'em! Yeesh!
Your timescale is off. I don't know where you are now, but the North Atlantic craton was "molten" at least 540 million years ago.
Like I said - "a few thousand years" is subjective. I don't know for certain when these events happened (and most scientific statements of times have always been approximations and/or estimates based on observations of current trends - which goes back to my "a mere few seconds in the span of a week" analogy).
The majority of cratons are not subject to lava flows (at least, not since the Pre-Cambrian), and won't be
Science 101 - "can't" and "won't" are poor choices of words in a scientific context.
Remember that we can't even predict with any degree of accuracy the next shift of tectonic plates, or the next tornado/hurricane. How are we to know that a geiser won't open up with a new earthquake and send molten lava to the surface? A nuclear plant (8 CANDU reactors) here in Durham is sitting on a fault line - anything's possible (not too terribly likely, definately not certain, but always possible).
I'm of the opinion that this planet knows what we're all about and isn't too terribly fond of us (reference cancer, AIDS, earthquakes/other major natural disasters, etc.) and can/will do anything in its power to demonstrate its complete and infallible dominance over us.
This is why I love watching rainstorms. The angrier the better. Hail, ear-shattering thunder, torrential downpouring of rain - I love it all. It lends humility to the human race. It's Earth saying "I'm still in control, now go cower in your basement without your precious electricity until I'm done schooling you."
If the climate changes drastically, so be it. If the continents shift and separate, so be it. If lava flows render millions of square kilometres of land uninhabitable for a few millenia, so be it.
There's another way to build a domed snow structure that is, arguably, less difficult, or more difficult,depending on how you look at it.
In essence, you make a snow-pile of about 12' across and 5' high. Take a few sticks and insert them 6" deep into the pile at various locations - these are your 'depth guides' for the next step. Wait 4-5 hours for the snow to 'pack' and freeze (good time to find firewood, food, etc..)
Next, dig an opening, and dig down into the snow until you come close to the ground. Also, dig upwards towards the marker sticks until you've carved out a suitably-sized inner space in the dome. Remove the marker sticks from the outside and cover the holes with some snow. Optionally, you could spray (or splash) some water on the outside of the dome for extra hardening.
Ensure that you have atleast one hole somewhere near the top of the dome for smoke to escape if you plan on building a fire.
This method is easier in the regard that you don't need to have hard-packed snow, or have to make and balance blocks. It's more difficult in that you do have to dig out through a hole.
Once completed, though, the interior walls will harden from the generated heat just like an igloo.
Back to the article - I'm fond of the notion that the Earth goes in cycles, and that "Global Warming" is a ridiculous notion. We're measuring in tiny little snapshots of the Earth's overall existance (mere seconds in the span of a week). We have to keep in mind that a few thousand years ago, the places where most of us sit were 100s of feet under solid ice. A few thousand more years back and we're in molten rock.
I firmly believe that eventually the Earth will be again covered in ice, and eventually after that it will be molten. ("few thousand", of course, being highly subjective)
In the office can't you just have security guards and tell the employees to lock the door's.
For the same reason you can't set an IT policy of logging out of your workstation, or changing your password to something different every month or two, or not leaving confidential documents lying face-up on your desk while you visit the powder room or make a coffee run - because it's less convenient for the employee to take minor security measures.
Anything that 'wastes an employees time' ('cuts into employee productivity') are seen as Very Bad Things<tm> in the big bad corporate world of bottom-lines and statistics.
Sorry for the inexactness. What I meant is that in my opinion there can only be one "guru" per project/organisation.
IMHO, if a person can chew kernel code before breakfast and spit out working functions, especially where the VM, scheduler, etc. are involved, they've earned "guru" status.
Remember that the Linux kernel is a compilation of hundreds of unique efforts by people with individual talents in each of their respective fields. There's physical and virtual memory, CPU slicing, SMP, filesystems, framebuffering, DMA access, scheduling, not to mention support for a plethora of hardware that exists on today's market - ranging from low-end to mainframe.
Per your assessment, there is potential for hundreds of Linux Kernel gurus. {smile}
I know how pasee it is to respond to an obvious troll, but primarily since I was moderated as "Flamebait" (Probably because of the AC who responded in flames..), I'd like to respond.
I drive conservatively. I stretch the gas I buy to last as long as possible, and only drive when neccesary. Heck, half the time I walk to the grocery store (I'm able to carry three bags in each hand the few blocks it is from the store with only mild strain). I use electricity conservatively. I use minimal amounts of light, I only leave lights on in the area in which I'm working, and I use dim lighting while watching television. I buy and use energy saving light bulbs, I use power saving features on my computers, and I use a low power setting on my dryer so as not to suck the wattage (I'd prefer my clothes to be slightly damp when the cycle is done, rather than scorched).
This, of course, is beside the point. My post was about sending waste to the scrap heap, which burning 25MB to a CDR tends to do. My car doesn't send anything (Except an oil filter every few thousand KMs) to the scrap heap on a regular basis, and besides, it is a neccesity of modern life. I'm not a tree-hugger extremist by any means. Incidentally, the last demonstration of tree-huggers I saw was one against sour oil wells being dug in (I believe) Alaska. The T.H.s arrived in a large yellow Diesel school bus and the remaining few showed up in mini-vans. My car tested extremely well on the emissions test taken no more than six months ago. I think I'm doing better for emissions than these people, thankyouverymuch.
As to what I send to the scrapheap, very little at best. It generally takes us two weeks to fill a garbage bag, and we always have a slew of recyclable materials. Garden waste is composted in a shared composter behind our unit, and our dog's droppings are buried (away from where the children play) rather than thrown in the garbage or flushed down the toilet.
Since I burn very little to CDRs, and ensure that I either need, or really, REALLY want something burned to them, and coupled with the fact that I generally fill them to the brim, I've thrown out very, VERY few discs. (More coasters than anything, while I was initially testing my CDRW drive, and even that was only 2-3).
My comment was reflective of the people who've basically decided that floppy, ZIP, and other small-media drives are a waste of time and who share everything on CDRs, even if it's only a 2MB driver file, or a copy of their resumee (even worse, at under 1MB). I know (or know through friends/aquaintances) several of these people, and they probably throw out more CDR discs in a week than I buy in six months.
Now, to the topic at hand - this technology of burning a label into a CDR disc implies that you will only burn it into the space not used by actual data. As some posters have pointed out, burning into the outer rim and only wasting 100-200MB of space on a modern 700-800MB disc isn't terribly wasteful, and would be, IMHO, acceptable practise. Would it be enough justification for me to rush out and purchase one of these drives for this privilege? Of course not.
To sumarize, my post ("Flamebait", apparently) was about wanton waste in this technological age. While paperless office isn't a reality, we don't have to double our waste just because paper and CDRs are cheap.
That has nothing to do with this. You know the Check Engine light that people never have checked out? Thats the car's internal diagnostic system giving you a heads up that something's fscked up.
One of my parents' cars had a constantly lit check-engine light. You know what it meant? The check engine light was broken. Cost to fix? Over $500 (they had to tear apart the entire dash, then there's parts, wires, sensor(s), re-assembly of dash, inspector to ensure they don't tinker with the mileage, etc..)
There's a reason they're called "idiot lights", you know.:)
Of course, you could add in interesting challenges along the way such as those in this show or in Survivor, where the scientists could complete some useful task (dye a flag, as mentioned in the episode guide) in return for a tool or supply. THAT I would watch.
That's when I'd promptly change the channel and watch instead a mind-numbing sitcom. Atleast they're more honest than "Reality Television" about what they are.
The idea of a realistic situation like the above is to remove external intervention from the picture altogether. If you're actually stranded on a desert island, you don't get the opportunity to win a hammer - you have to strap a rock to a stick. You're not able to win an 8" sheath knife, you have to scratch a rock into a jagged and/or sharp edge.
I can't recall whom, or on what channel it was featured (I believe it was Discovery) a scientist (outdoor survivalist was, I believe, his actual trade) stranded himself in the bush - dropped his snowmobile (intentionally!) through thin ice out in the wild - miles from any civilization, and with only the most basic set of gear (the things a snowmobiler would typically carry with them, no fancy survival kits) and, of course, a camera (which, I believe, was dropped in advance, I forget how it was situated).
He started out his adventure soaked to the skin, cold, and without food (except for some energy bars he'd brought with him for the trip. Five of them, I believe. "Trail Snacks"). Being early afternoon, he had only a short time to locate a suitable area, build a shelter, start a fire, dry himself off, and find a source of food in the process (being cold and wet come nightfall with two feet of snow on the ground and more coming is a very bad thing<tm>).
He set up complicated camera shots by himself, for example; camera atop a mountain, run down mountain, walk across a field in camera's view, run back up mountain, stop camera (this brought an amusing anecdote where he set up the camera, ran down the mountain, looked up to see the camera tilting forward, forward, forward... thud!)
He used, and tested several survival techniques that he teaches in an outdoor survival course, for example setting up four smoke-signal fires on the extremeties of a cross which he walked into the snow in a large open area. At the end, he determined that it was too much hassle to run back and forth between each of them to light and maintain all the fires. He decided instead to go with a walked-in cross (or X, depending on how you look at it) with pillars at each corner and a single (large) signal fire at one extremity.
All in all, he was in the bush for a little over a week and managed to make himself a cozy living arrangement, including various meat and fish meals at dinner time. Some nights, of course, his fishing instrument didn't work so he didn't eat anything but berries.
To make a long story even longer {smile} - that is what reality television, IMHO, should be. No challenges, no assistance, no winning tools or champagne, no medical crew standing by to assist as soon as the going gets tough - just (an) individual(s) and (his/their) smarts to get through the situation. Camera crew optional.
As someone else who's slept in a snowbank (on purpose!), sorry, but no dice on that one.:)
Snow is an excellent insulator. Consequently, if you burrow yourself a hole in which to sleep you can find yourself quite warm indeed. It's only when you contact the raw snow with your body, thus melting it and wetting your clothes that you get cold.
The heat from even the smallest of fires can heat up the interior of a snow-dwelling to quite a comfortable temperature (just be sure to poke a smoke hole in the top).
The best way to get a boy scout over his fear of snow is to hand him a portable (folding) shovel and tell him to make a home in it for a night or two.
500 MB? Really? Virtually every disc I burn has 100MB or less on it. They're so cheap you can waste the space, and what better way to waste a bit of space than with a cute picture.
That's something I've never been able to do, myself. Yes, they're cheap, but they're also a PITA to the environment and the last thing we need is ways to generate more landfill at a faster rate than we already are. (Don't even suggest recycling programs - governments are pathetic when it comes to that sort of thing, including allowing a corporation to go curb to curb collecting..).
The primary reason I've only gone halfway through my first (and only) spindle is because I force myself to justify the creation of a CD before I burn it. I bought a 5-pack of high speed CD-RWs for the times when I want to throw a couple hundred MBs or less of data onto a disc - because that, IMHO, is expendable.
Heck, I'm even ashamed of myself for burning two Gentoo ISOs when I could have done perfectly well extracting them to my HDD and using a Linux boot disk instead.
Hey, the Yamaha R1 is very fast...why not review that? I'm sure you speed freaks you're gonna love a 170kg 1000cc bike
I'm becomming rather partial to the 1979 Yamaha XS11. Held the speed record until '84, or thereabouts, and it still soars past most moving objects on the road today.
According to the owner (a friend of mine) when you're going about 150 in 5th, you can still give your wrist a twist and take off. Just be careful that she doesn't throw ya, 'cause she will.;)
Why have a 'media side' at all? Why not have data on both sides of a CD?
Personally, I doubt I'd go for this completely, but in some cases I can see it being handy (just not on a large-scale basis). ie; I can't forsee something like that replacing single-sided discs.
Double sided DVDs are great, sure, but consider quantity. How many DVDs does the average person have compared to the number of CDRs? With spindles of 50 selling for as low as $18, these things are as prolific as black ants at a barbecue. Personally, I've only got one spindle on the go (only had my burner for a few short months) and a small spattering of CD-RWs for backups, but I know people who have significantly less HDD space than I do (or more, but are more media-happy) who have everything conceivable on CD. Audio CDs, MP3 CDs, movies, games, files of varying sorts...
Long story short - collections of hundreds of generic CDR discs require some sort of organization. Since spindles don't come with jewel cases (duh!) you need a label, even if it's just with a Sharpie.
So with double-sided discs, yeah, I can write twice the data, but how on Earth am I ever going to find it again? The eyestrain of reading labels written on the little bit of media that surrounds the hole would kill me (being the fine looking four-eyes that I am).
Nope. Can't see them becoming mainstream unless we can come up with a label that's legible, long-lasting, and that standard CD-ROM lasers can penetrate.
I've read a few reviews from Tom's Hardware Guide and haven't (personally) found anything that stands out as being flawed, per se. Do you have any links (clickable this time, if you would.;> ), or a basic explanation?
Slashdot Mirror
With the quality of modern computer systems, and the rate at which they're being updated - do you honestly forsee yourself running any of your current machines a decade from now? Certainly not in any form of mission-critical applications, I'd wager. My screaming fast Athlon XP with DDR RAM will likely be relegated to a backup DNS server by that point, providing it's still alive of course.
So two decades from now - what will we be running? Likely our 'antiques' will be hardware purchased in or about the year 2012. Judging by AMD's Processor Roadmap, we'll be seeing the [Claw/Sledge]Hammer procssors within a year or two, and based on the proliferation of current processors (PII/P4, ThunderBird/Athlon/Athlon XP) I'd bet they'll be either commonplace or outdated by 2012.
There will come a day when 64-bit on the desktop will be the 'norm', and there will be weirdos {cough} still running "Those really old 32-bit processors", just like we now have people running C=64s. :)
UNIX will be prepared for its D-Day with more than a decade of breathing room; mark my words.
Perhaps Samba could overtake its predecessor, detect the presence of other Samba systems and use optimizations between the two while making Windoze look like the slow horse in the race.
Long story short, sometimes you're not 'just around the corner' from a gas station so I would certainly see the extra wheels as a benefeit.
Moreover, the car demonstrated in the picture is actually a limosine (I happened to catch a Discovery special on this car last a few nights ago), hence the claim to 'seat 8'. The interior has a typical limo-style seating arrangement, with bench seats running around the outside of the vehicle (looked very spacious and comfortable, I might add). These are apparently a big hit in Japan, where I suppose the 25 million Yen (~$600k USD) pricetag isn't quite so daunting.
I've always taken online / electronic means of communication with a grain of salt. I prefer the 'less is more' approach to tendering information in any electronic environment. Stick to giving out personal details to the big companies who have more to lose, and are more likely to be able to remunerate me for my inconvenience if my information is leaked/stolen.
My IMAP/POP3 secure servers run an SSL certificate that I generated. So it's not trusted - who cares? I'm the issuer, and if somebody's using my (personal) servers for mail, they're putting their trust in me. As for a commercial application, that gets a bit hairy. If I don't have a certificate signed by a 'trusted authority', I'll be seen as unprofessional and possibly untrustworthy. But does a genuine, bona fide Verisign SSL cert guarantee my customers any more security than my up-to-date server(s) can provide? I don't see how. Almost does seem like a waste of $700+, doesn't it?
I'm elated whenever I discover that a company I deal with (securely) is using OSS'd software - that way I can have a look (in my limited capacity) at the products they're using, and get that deep-down warm and fuzzy feeling.
More and more as time goes by (and drive size increases, and prices drop) I'm seeing much higher percentages of drives with manufacturing defects, or drives that develop errors after several months of typical (home, office, small business, small enterprise server, etc.) use.
I don't even have to resort to 'naming names' - they're all proving bad lately. It's not just our equipment, either. We're handling (on behalf of our customers) RMAs for several different computer resellers in our area, most of whom do not use our supplier(s).
I'm sure anybody would understand the significance of this problem after you've told your tenth customer in a month that their data is irretreivable, AND that they have to wait 4-6 weeks for a new unit or purchase a new one. (Don't even mention data recovery - Joe Homeuser or Suzy Smallbusiness just can't afford thousands of dollars, but it doesn't make their data any less important than a mega-corporation)
I've got a dandy of a hard drive on the bench right now, awaiting customer authorization for replacement. Scandisk froze solid when attempting to diagnose it, so I slave mounted it and began extracting data. After about 200MB or thereabouts, it made the loudest screeching noise I think I've ever heard.
The drive was manufactured less than two years ago, purchased only 1.5 years back.
It's a sad state that the computer industry is in right now, with most components suffering the same fate as hard disk drives. I must replace two power supplies per week, it seems. Granted, we're making a killing on labour on all this defective hardware (why the stores they purchased this equipment from won't help them, I'll never know, and I'm too frightened to investigate) - which, in hindsight, is probably the reason behind the "So what if it only lasts for one year?" line of thinking.
If manufacturers don't have refurb drives or services available, or if they won't replace a defective unit with the next-closest-piece available; that's not our problem, it's clearly a problem with their company policy. Being mechanical, drives are easy enough to repair.
<SUBJECT TYPE=ANALOGY>
KDS (Korea Data Systems) still offers three year warranties on their products, and I'm still extremely ecstatic with their work (which is why they're the first monitor we reccomend, and the monitor we include with our systems). The monitor we're using on our accounting machine (KDS VS-7e) is now almost exactly 3 years, 1 month old. On (literally) the last day of the warranty, I phoned them with a request for an RMA number, due to the control buttons functioning erratically. They gave me the number and I shipped it to them four days after the manufacturer warranty expired. Since I got the number in time (and didn't have to wait a month for it, like one particular HDD manufacturer I don't care to name (or deal with!)); on a Tuesday. It was back on our desk by the Friday of that very same week - return shipping paid in full by KDS. We're working on our 90-day warranty extension right now, but I don't forsee any future problems.
</SUBJECT>
So, all in all, I'm extremely dissapointed with hard drive manufacturers, and judging by current industry trends I doubt very much the situation will improve.
After all, HDD manufacturers have unilaterally (as of today) shortened warranties from 3 years to 1. Some product confidence, eh?
As to the "cordless spirit", I thought it was intended to help increase productivity by reducing the number of wires on my desk. If I have to literally stop using my mouse for an hour (or more) while it charges, this is decidedly less convenient than pulling out a cable and being traditionally 'corded' for a while. Since the cable shares the voltage of my cell phone, it can double as a cell phone charger when I'm not using it for the mouse. When not in use, it can be coiled up in a corner, say beside my speaker or under my monitor, until the next time it's required.
Saves having to put the mouse in the cradle and sit there uselessly while you wait for it to charge (or, have a hot-spare mouse sitting ready to be swapped in ... )
P.S. - Does Logitech pay for these ads?
(For reference; the handbook I used belonged to my father, so it was significantly older than the one carried by most Boy Scouts, even older than many of the scouters' copies, AAMOF).
Remember that we can't even predict with any degree of accuracy the next shift of tectonic plates, or the next tornado/hurricane. How are we to know that a geiser won't open up with a new earthquake and send molten lava to the surface? A nuclear plant (8 CANDU reactors) here in Durham is sitting on a fault line - anything's possible (not too terribly likely, definately not certain, but always possible).
I'm of the opinion that this planet knows what we're all about and isn't too terribly fond of us (reference cancer, AIDS, earthquakes/other major natural disasters, etc.) and can/will do anything in its power to demonstrate its complete and infallible dominance over us.
This is why I love watching rainstorms. The angrier the better. Hail, ear-shattering thunder, torrential downpouring of rain - I love it all. It lends humility to the human race. It's Earth saying "I'm still in control, now go cower in your basement without your precious electricity until I'm done schooling you."
If the climate changes drastically, so be it. If the continents shift and separate, so be it. If lava flows render millions of square kilometres of land uninhabitable for a few millenia, so be it.
In essence, you make a snow-pile of about 12' across and 5' high. Take a few sticks and insert them 6" deep into the pile at various locations - these are your 'depth guides' for the next step. Wait 4-5 hours for the snow to 'pack' and freeze (good time to find firewood, food, etc..)
Next, dig an opening, and dig down into the snow until you come close to the ground. Also, dig upwards towards the marker sticks until you've carved out a suitably-sized inner space in the dome. Remove the marker sticks from the outside and cover the holes with some snow. Optionally, you could spray (or splash) some water on the outside of the dome for extra hardening.
Ensure that you have atleast one hole somewhere near the top of the dome for smoke to escape if you plan on building a fire.
This method is easier in the regard that you don't need to have hard-packed snow, or have to make and balance blocks. It's more difficult in that you do have to dig out through a hole.
Once completed, though, the interior walls will harden from the generated heat just like an igloo.
Back to the article - I'm fond of the notion that the Earth goes in cycles, and that "Global Warming" is a ridiculous notion. We're measuring in tiny little snapshots of the Earth's overall existance (mere seconds in the span of a week). We have to keep in mind that a few thousand years ago, the places where most of us sit were 100s of feet under solid ice. A few thousand more years back and we're in molten rock.
I firmly believe that eventually the Earth will be again covered in ice, and eventually after that it will be molten. ("few thousand", of course, being highly subjective)
Anything that 'wastes an employees time' ('cuts into employee productivity') are seen as Very Bad Things<tm> in the big bad corporate world of bottom-lines and statistics.
Remember that the Linux kernel is a compilation of hundreds of unique efforts by people with individual talents in each of their respective fields. There's physical and virtual memory, CPU slicing, SMP, filesystems, framebuffering, DMA access, scheduling, not to mention support for a plethora of hardware that exists on today's market - ranging from low-end to mainframe.
Per your assessment, there is potential for hundreds of Linux Kernel gurus. {smile}
I drive conservatively. I stretch the gas I buy to last as long as possible, and only drive when neccesary. Heck, half the time I walk to the grocery store (I'm able to carry three bags in each hand the few blocks it is from the store with only mild strain). I use electricity conservatively. I use minimal amounts of light, I only leave lights on in the area in which I'm working, and I use dim lighting while watching television. I buy and use energy saving light bulbs, I use power saving features on my computers, and I use a low power setting on my dryer so as not to suck the wattage (I'd prefer my clothes to be slightly damp when the cycle is done, rather than scorched).
This, of course, is beside the point. My post was about sending waste to the scrap heap, which burning 25MB to a CDR tends to do. My car doesn't send anything (Except an oil filter every few thousand KMs) to the scrap heap on a regular basis, and besides, it is a neccesity of modern life. I'm not a tree-hugger extremist by any means. Incidentally, the last demonstration of tree-huggers I saw was one against sour oil wells being dug in (I believe) Alaska. The T.H.s arrived in a large yellow Diesel school bus and the remaining few showed up in mini-vans. My car tested extremely well on the emissions test taken no more than six months ago. I think I'm doing better for emissions than these people, thankyouverymuch.
As to what I send to the scrapheap, very little at best. It generally takes us two weeks to fill a garbage bag, and we always have a slew of recyclable materials. Garden waste is composted in a shared composter behind our unit, and our dog's droppings are buried (away from where the children play) rather than thrown in the garbage or flushed down the toilet.
Since I burn very little to CDRs, and ensure that I either need, or really, REALLY want something burned to them, and coupled with the fact that I generally fill them to the brim, I've thrown out very, VERY few discs. (More coasters than anything, while I was initially testing my CDRW drive, and even that was only 2-3).
My comment was reflective of the people who've basically decided that floppy, ZIP, and other small-media drives are a waste of time and who share everything on CDRs, even if it's only a 2MB driver file, or a copy of their resumee (even worse, at under 1MB). I know (or know through friends/aquaintances) several of these people, and they probably throw out more CDR discs in a week than I buy in six months.
Now, to the topic at hand - this technology of burning a label into a CDR disc implies that you will only burn it into the space not used by actual data. As some posters have pointed out, burning into the outer rim and only wasting 100-200MB of space on a modern 700-800MB disc isn't terribly wasteful, and would be, IMHO, acceptable practise. Would it be enough justification for me to rush out and purchase one of these drives for this privilege? Of course not.
To sumarize, my post ("Flamebait", apparently) was about wanton waste in this technological age. While paperless office isn't a reality, we don't have to double our waste just because paper and CDRs are cheap.
</RANT>
There's a reason they're called "idiot lights", you know. :)
The idea of a realistic situation like the above is to remove external intervention from the picture altogether. If you're actually stranded on a desert island, you don't get the opportunity to win a hammer - you have to strap a rock to a stick. You're not able to win an 8" sheath knife, you have to scratch a rock into a jagged and/or sharp edge.
I can't recall whom, or on what channel it was featured (I believe it was Discovery) a scientist (outdoor survivalist was, I believe, his actual trade) stranded himself in the bush - dropped his snowmobile (intentionally!) through thin ice out in the wild - miles from any civilization, and with only the most basic set of gear (the things a snowmobiler would typically carry with them, no fancy survival kits) and, of course, a camera (which, I believe, was dropped in advance, I forget how it was situated).
He started out his adventure soaked to the skin, cold, and without food (except for some energy bars he'd brought with him for the trip. Five of them, I believe. "Trail Snacks"). Being early afternoon, he had only a short time to locate a suitable area, build a shelter, start a fire, dry himself off, and find a source of food in the process (being cold and wet come nightfall with two feet of snow on the ground and more coming is a very bad thing<tm>).
He set up complicated camera shots by himself, for example; camera atop a mountain, run down mountain, walk across a field in camera's view, run back up mountain, stop camera (this brought an amusing anecdote where he set up the camera, ran down the mountain, looked up to see the camera tilting forward, forward, forward... thud!)
He used, and tested several survival techniques that he teaches in an outdoor survival course, for example setting up four smoke-signal fires on the extremeties of a cross which he walked into the snow in a large open area. At the end, he determined that it was too much hassle to run back and forth between each of them to light and maintain all the fires. He decided instead to go with a walked-in cross (or X, depending on how you look at it) with pillars at each corner and a single (large) signal fire at one extremity.
All in all, he was in the bush for a little over a week and managed to make himself a cozy living arrangement, including various meat and fish meals at dinner time. Some nights, of course, his fishing instrument didn't work so he didn't eat anything but berries.
To make a long story even longer {smile} - that is what reality television, IMHO, should be. No challenges, no assistance, no winning tools or champagne, no medical crew standing by to assist as soon as the going gets tough - just (an) individual(s) and (his/their) smarts to get through the situation. Camera crew optional.
Snow is an excellent insulator. Consequently, if you burrow yourself a hole in which to sleep you can find yourself quite warm indeed. It's only when you contact the raw snow with your body, thus melting it and wetting your clothes that you get cold.
The heat from even the smallest of fires can heat up the interior of a snow-dwelling to quite a comfortable temperature (just be sure to poke a smoke hole in the top).
The best way to get a boy scout over his fear of snow is to hand him a portable (folding) shovel and tell him to make a home in it for a night or two.
The primary reason I've only gone halfway through my first (and only) spindle is because I force myself to justify the creation of a CD before I burn it. I bought a 5-pack of high speed CD-RWs for the times when I want to throw a couple hundred MBs or less of data onto a disc - because that, IMHO, is expendable.
Heck, I'm even ashamed of myself for burning two Gentoo ISOs when I could have done perfectly well extracting them to my HDD and using a Linux boot disk instead.
According to the owner (a friend of mine) when you're going about 150 in 5th, you can still give your wrist a twist and take off. Just be careful that she doesn't throw ya, 'cause she will. ;)
</OFFTOPIC>
Double sided DVDs are great, sure, but consider quantity. How many DVDs does the average person have compared to the number of CDRs? With spindles of 50 selling for as low as $18, these things are as prolific as black ants at a barbecue. Personally, I've only got one spindle on the go (only had my burner for a few short months) and a small spattering of CD-RWs for backups, but I know people who have significantly less HDD space than I do (or more, but are more media-happy) who have everything conceivable on CD. Audio CDs, MP3 CDs, movies, games, files of varying sorts ...
Long story short - collections of hundreds of generic CDR discs require some sort of organization. Since spindles don't come with jewel cases (duh!) you need a label, even if it's just with a Sharpie.
So with double-sided discs, yeah, I can write twice the data, but how on Earth am I ever going to find it again? The eyestrain of reading labels written on the little bit of media that surrounds the hole would kill me (being the fine looking four-eyes that I am).
Nope. Can't see them becoming mainstream unless we can come up with a label that's legible, long-lasting, and that standard CD-ROM lasers can penetrate.
I've read a few reviews from Tom's Hardware Guide and haven't (personally) found anything that stands out as being flawed, per se. Do you have any links (clickable this time, if you would. ;> ), or a basic explanation?
(Disclaimer: I'm actually genuinely curious here)