I'm a member of my school's P2P task force. We were evaluating various services, and since I'm a Linux geek, I pounded the Apple rep on Linux support at a meeting about half a year ago.
Apple: "We support all operating systems." Me: "Do you? Funny, you don't support Linux." Apple: "All MAJOR operating systems." Me: "So you don't support MacOS?"
Yeah, I was in a bad mood, but they weren't making us a terribly good offer, either.
Anyways, the response to the more specific Linux iTunes query I got was something along the lines of "we never talk about future products or plans". Later, though, I got him to at least admit that "they aren't ruling it out". That's a pretty good start, but I wouldn't exactly hold my breath waiting for Apple to release it.
"Increasingly it seems to be Chinese and Indians with the real fire to try and push ahead."
The problem is, you just contradicted yourself. They're not pushing ahead. They're replicating the feats of 50 years ago, just as you pointed out. All this has been done before.
You're not pushing ahead until you do something NEW. And the Chinese and Indians haven't done that.
Red Hat recently came to our school and talked about this very issue (among many others).
Basically, OpenLDAP sucks. OTOH, Netscape has a very good version that doesn't suck. Therefore, Red Hat bought Netscape's, and will be open sourcing it shortly. All the other alternatives were proprietary, and Red Hat will only ship free software.
Fedora has spawned quite a few community sites, most of which are extremely active. Places like FedoraNews, FedoraFAQ, and FedoraForum are top-notch and very helpful.
I'd say what's more interesting is that this game is selling so well on the 2nd/3rd place console (depending on who's counting where). If you told me that, say, Sonic & Tails on Game Gear was expected to break huge records, I'd be pretty impressed.
Basically, they have nothing in common except shooting something upwards. ICBMs are on a parabola path - that is to say, they start on Earth, arch, and then come right back down. It is a very, very quick process - a full-blown nuclear war need only take half an hour.
The targets are very small (relative to an Earth-killing celestial object), intentionally spoofing your radar, and very, very close to the target (again, relatively). The good news is, they're packed with explosives, and since they're so close, a laser defense system could at least conceivably work. The Israelis supposedly have something working that could handle tasks somewhat like this (Arrow II?).
Compare this to a meteor. Meteors (that we would worry about) are very large compared to an ICBM. They're moving really fast, yes, but with an active detection system, we would probably have a couple years of notice. What's _best_ is that the meteor would be moving on a relatively stable and straight path, and we only need to deflect it - if we knock it off course a year out, it's a non-problem. Blowing the thing to meteor bits is overkill.
This is not quite as easy as it sounds, but I think it's doable with today's technology.
So, really, they are two separate problems. ICBM defense requires a highly accurate system that can engage many, many small targets at close range. Meteor defense requires a system which can engage a single, huge target at massive distances.
I knew that "Collisions in Space" course would be handy someday.
EVERYTHING you can emerge is free as in speech? I think not. Such things as non-free drivers and some various software (the Loki FAKK2 emerge, for instance) come to mind.
Every piece of software Red Hat ships is free as in freedom, with the exception of their trademarks. Gentoo simply isn't competing on that front.
Also, there's no "chain of blame" for Gentoo. In reality, you have very little idea which of those packages you just emerged is really trustworthy, because they're from all sorts of different people. At least with FC, I can point back to Red Hat and blame them if something awful slips through. Someone _in particular_ is taking responsibility for the distro, in other words.
You know, not all Republicans are marching lock step to Bush's beat. In fact, just supporting the guy for re-election doesn't mean that you agree with him on all the issues - it's more of a matter of party loyalty to the politicians.
Arlen Specter, for example, has already been quoted as warning our president against playing games with the Supreme Court appointments. He's not going to let him appoint someone who's far to the right. Indeed, there are quite a few Republican senators who understand that they're there because they're perceived as relatively moderate - A-OK'ing an overturning of Roe V. Wade would cause them quite a few problems in their home districts.
No one's going to be voting to lift term limits. There's been no talk of it, and it would be received VERY badly among most voters. The sky is not falling, Chicken Little.
-Erwos (who is _NOT_ a Republican in any way, shape, or form).
I generally agree that BitTorrent/suprnova.org is the easier target, but if they were trying to target college students in particular for whatever reason, you could get excellent results by smacking down i2hub.
We had this discussion's on UMCP's hub - it's not safe, but it's probably better than anything else out there if you don't want to get sued (short of just sharing with your friends via CD, perhaps).
I guess the problem is that the RIAA/MPAA only has to compromise _one_ computer on the I2 network to be able to do some sniffing and start filing lawsuits. AFAIK, DirectConnect doesn't provide you any real safety via encryption or some such.
You announce that you're doing research into something they don't like. Immediately, protests are launched, much pressure is brought to bear, and the school quietly informs you to research into something else. Meanwhile, the LGBT movement denounces you as crazy, regardless of the academic value of your work. So, while it's not like they firebomb your office, they do exhibit a massive amount of power, and aren't afraid to exercise it. "How dare you call us sick!"
Does it really sound that preposterous? Just recently, the LGBT advocate at my school launched an ad hominem attack in the paper against a prof who sent some email about research as homosexuality as a mental disease.
I know it's hard for you to understand, but there are many people who feel homosexuality is a mental disease[1]. Taken in this context, gay marriage is not something to be encouraged.
I know it's hard for you to understand, but there are many people who feel a fetus is a living person. That's not necesarily a religious view, either. Taken in this context, abortion is evil, and it's a perfectly logical step to attempt to ban it (or at least make it a per-state thing).
The fact that _you_ believe something does not mean everyone else is going to. To you, a fetus isn't a human life, and homosexuality is normal. That's fine. But you need to learn to live with people who you disagree with. Societal change is not going to come from forcing your views onto everyone - you don't appreciate "them" doing it, so why do you think it's OK for you to do it to them? Because you have some sort of superiority complex and view all born-again Christians as ignorant rednecks?[2]
Looks like it's not 50% of America that needs to try tolerance and understanding - it seems to be closer to 100%.
-Erwos
[1] Notably, all research into this area has been quashed by LGBT organizations. What are they so afraid of?
[2] No, I'm not a Christian in any way, shape, or form. But professing (non-classical) liberal views and then assuming everyone who doesn't hold them is like because they're stupid is arrogant and idiotic.
So, curiously, if Bush were to win, what's stopping Europeans from trying to make up with us, or vica versa?
I mean, I understand how Europeans all think Bush is the anti-Christ, despite the fact that he's really done nothing against them (except Kyoto and steel tariffs, the former of which was of rather dubious value, the latter of which is now lifted) besides invade a country without their explicit approval. But, you know, saying you want to be friends anyways would probably go a lot farther than just making vague threats and FUD accusations.
Whoever wins this election isn't going to have done it by bashing European countries for their lack of support on Iraq. It is widely perceived that quite a few European politicians came into power by being anti-US. You can't play this game of "we expect the US to do as we say while we bash them in our own elections". It won't work, and if you think Americans didn't notice, think again.
You catch more flies with honey than vinegar. Lighten up the rhetoric, and maybe Americans will pay more attention to you. Maybe if you took a little time from feeling sympathetic to people who blow up your trains and citizens and started trying to understand your closest ally, you'd make more progress, too.
The citizens of the US don't _want_ wars, especially not with their allies. This bizarre paranoia of "will the US invade Europe and everyone else and take over the world?" is so divorced from reality that you've got to wonder about who the hell is running the media over there. You heard it here first, kids: the US isn't attacking Europe.
In any event, the election is a close one. And even people who voted for Bush don't want to get into a pointless and senseless ideological fight with Europe. Even those people on the evil religious right don't want everyone to hate them - but it takes two people to have a real friendship. Thus, _give Bush another chance_. If he acts the same way he did before, hey, you were right. If he doesn't (and, frankly, he doesn't have the manpower to do anything else you're going to hate), maybe it's time to bury the hatchet and extend a friendly hand. Forgiving people is a virtue for everyone, atheist or religious.
I agree. There doesn't really seem to be anything terribly serious on that list. Just some minor screw-ups. Certainly,
The recurring MoveOn.org story is funny. Honestly, I'm not finding it hard to believe they might have been within a hundred feet in a few different places. But that's not really something to toss out votes over.
Sad to say it, but the election ain't gonna be over until the courts rule on it. There are a lot of people on both sides of the aisle with lawyer-attack-dogs ready to start filing lawsuits no matter what happens. A good example of this is http://www.nov3.us. I get the strong impression that they're going to be causing a ruckus if Bush comes out with a win regardless of whether it was fair or not. Certainly, I'm sure the Republicans are also ready for a legal fight if Kerry wins.
I really appreciate your interest in our great representative democracy, but this election is going to be an embarassment to our great nation even if there isn't fraud. Rest assured that I enjoy following other nations' elections when I can, at least in a general sense (I can't really get worked up over who's going to be the mayor of Hamburg, sorry).
Someday, someone will teach politicians to lose gracefully. Alas, someday is not tomorrow.
The Europeans have no enemies, and instead of worrying about the people who HAVE been killing them, they go and start getting paranoid about their closest ally. Tell me who's crazier again?
"What are the chances of 2 Texas oilmen (financially supported by many more oilmen) giving us a coherent national energy policy which frees us from dependency on oil and the Middle East?"
I'm not voting for Bush tomorrow, but I never expected two Texas oilmen to support Israel like they did, either.
I'm not exactly sure why it matters whether God made us the way we are or whether we evolved that way. I mean, we're here now, and it's pretty obvious that we're not changing significantly in the near future.
I think I'm going to be voting for Tom Clancy on Tuesday, in fact. I mean, hey, at least we know where he stands on the issues (the same place as Jack Ryan, presumably).
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Interestingly enough, I do have a story to tell.
I'm a member of my school's P2P task force. We were evaluating various services, and since I'm a Linux geek, I pounded the Apple rep on Linux support at a meeting about half a year ago.
Apple: "We support all operating systems."
Me: "Do you? Funny, you don't support Linux."
Apple: "All MAJOR operating systems."
Me: "So you don't support MacOS?"
Yeah, I was in a bad mood, but they weren't making us a terribly good offer, either.
Anyways, the response to the more specific Linux iTunes query I got was something along the lines of "we never talk about future products or plans". Later, though, I got him to at least admit that "they aren't ruling it out". That's a pretty good start, but I wouldn't exactly hold my breath waiting for Apple to release it.
-Erwos
"Increasingly it seems to be Chinese and Indians with the real fire to try and push ahead."
The problem is, you just contradicted yourself. They're not pushing ahead. They're replicating the feats of 50 years ago, just as you pointed out. All this has been done before.
You're not pushing ahead until you do something NEW. And the Chinese and Indians haven't done that.
-Erwos
Red Hat recently came to our school and talked about this very issue (among many others).
Basically, OpenLDAP sucks. OTOH, Netscape has a very good version that doesn't suck. Therefore, Red Hat bought Netscape's, and will be open sourcing it shortly. All the other alternatives were proprietary, and Red Hat will only ship free software.
-Erwos
"Limited community"? Is that some sort of joke?
Fedora has spawned quite a few community sites, most of which are extremely active. Places like FedoraNews, FedoraFAQ, and FedoraForum are top-notch and very helpful.
-Erwos
"I forget the details, but I read somewhere that he likes to dress up as a Hebrew priest and hold ceremonies, or something like that."
I think you're thinking of "the pope".
-Erwos
I'd say what's more interesting is that this game is selling so well on the 2nd/3rd place console (depending on who's counting where). If you told me that, say, Sonic & Tails on Game Gear was expected to break huge records, I'd be pretty impressed.
-Erwos
Sadly, this is about as much use as I ever envision getting from it.
-Erwos
Gotta love "DX9-class". It's missing the vertex shaders, kids. This isn't a DX9 GPU.
-Erwos
I'll bite.
Basically, they have nothing in common except shooting something upwards. ICBMs are on a parabola path - that is to say, they start on Earth, arch, and then come right back down. It is a very, very quick process - a full-blown nuclear war need only take half an hour.
The targets are very small (relative to an Earth-killing celestial object), intentionally spoofing your radar, and very, very close to the target (again, relatively). The good news is, they're packed with explosives, and since they're so close, a laser defense system could at least conceivably work. The Israelis supposedly have something working that could handle tasks somewhat like this (Arrow II?).
Compare this to a meteor. Meteors (that we would worry about) are very large compared to an ICBM. They're moving really fast, yes, but with an active detection system, we would probably have a couple years of notice. What's _best_ is that the meteor would be moving on a relatively stable and straight path, and we only need to deflect it - if we knock it off course a year out, it's a non-problem. Blowing the thing to meteor bits is overkill.
This is not quite as easy as it sounds, but I think it's doable with today's technology.
So, really, they are two separate problems. ICBM defense requires a highly accurate system that can engage many, many small targets at close range. Meteor defense requires a system which can engage a single, huge target at massive distances.
I knew that "Collisions in Space" course would be handy someday.
-Erwos
EVERYTHING you can emerge is free as in speech? I think not. Such things as non-free drivers and some various software (the Loki FAKK2 emerge, for instance) come to mind.
Every piece of software Red Hat ships is free as in freedom, with the exception of their trademarks. Gentoo simply isn't competing on that front.
Also, there's no "chain of blame" for Gentoo. In reality, you have very little idea which of those packages you just emerged is really trustworthy, because they're from all sorts of different people. At least with FC, I can point back to Red Hat and blame them if something awful slips through. Someone _in particular_ is taking responsibility for the distro, in other words.
-Erwos
Yes, you can. AFAIK, it's been there since at least Red Hat 8, and probably before. Anaconda kicks a lot of ass.
-Erwos
"And YES, religion is separate from government, and NO, there are no exceptions."
Fascinating. So if I could make a religious argument to uphold Roe V. Wade, what would that lead us to?
Because, frankly, I can. It helps not to be Christian. Not all religion is Islam or Christianity, you know?
-Erwos
You know, not all Republicans are marching lock step to Bush's beat. In fact, just supporting the guy for re-election doesn't mean that you agree with him on all the issues - it's more of a matter of party loyalty to the politicians.
Arlen Specter, for example, has already been quoted as warning our president against playing games with the Supreme Court appointments. He's not going to let him appoint someone who's far to the right. Indeed, there are quite a few Republican senators who understand that they're there because they're perceived as relatively moderate - A-OK'ing an overturning of Roe V. Wade would cause them quite a few problems in their home districts.
No one's going to be voting to lift term limits. There's been no talk of it, and it would be received VERY badly among most voters. The sky is not falling, Chicken Little.
-Erwos (who is _NOT_ a Republican in any way, shape, or form).
I generally agree that BitTorrent/suprnova.org is the easier target, but if they were trying to target college students in particular for whatever reason, you could get excellent results by smacking down i2hub.
We had this discussion's on UMCP's hub - it's not safe, but it's probably better than anything else out there if you don't want to get sued (short of just sharing with your friends via CD, perhaps).
-Erwos
I guess the problem is that the RIAA/MPAA only has to compromise _one_ computer on the I2 network to be able to do some sniffing and start filing lawsuits. AFAIK, DirectConnect doesn't provide you any real safety via encryption or some such.
-Erwos
You announce that you're doing research into something they don't like. Immediately, protests are launched, much pressure is brought to bear, and the school quietly informs you to research into something else. Meanwhile, the LGBT movement denounces you as crazy, regardless of the academic value of your work. So, while it's not like they firebomb your office, they do exhibit a massive amount of power, and aren't afraid to exercise it. "How dare you call us sick!"
Does it really sound that preposterous? Just recently, the LGBT advocate at my school launched an ad hominem attack in the paper against a prof who sent some email about research as homosexuality as a mental disease.
-Erwos
I know it's hard for you to understand, but there are many people who feel homosexuality is a mental disease[1]. Taken in this context, gay marriage is not something to be encouraged.
I know it's hard for you to understand, but there are many people who feel a fetus is a living person. That's not necesarily a religious view, either. Taken in this context, abortion is evil, and it's a perfectly logical step to attempt to ban it (or at least make it a per-state thing).
The fact that _you_ believe something does not mean everyone else is going to. To you, a fetus isn't a human life, and homosexuality is normal. That's fine. But you need to learn to live with people who you disagree with. Societal change is not going to come from forcing your views onto everyone - you don't appreciate "them" doing it, so why do you think it's OK for you to do it to them? Because you have some sort of superiority complex and view all born-again Christians as ignorant rednecks?[2]
Looks like it's not 50% of America that needs to try tolerance and understanding - it seems to be closer to 100%.
-Erwos
[1] Notably, all research into this area has been quashed by LGBT organizations. What are they so afraid of?
[2] No, I'm not a Christian in any way, shape, or form. But professing (non-classical) liberal views and then assuming everyone who doesn't hold them is like because they're stupid is arrogant and idiotic.
So, curiously, if Bush were to win, what's stopping Europeans from trying to make up with us, or vica versa?
I mean, I understand how Europeans all think Bush is the anti-Christ, despite the fact that he's really done nothing against them (except Kyoto and steel tariffs, the former of which was of rather dubious value, the latter of which is now lifted) besides invade a country without their explicit approval. But, you know, saying you want to be friends anyways would probably go a lot farther than just making vague threats and FUD accusations.
Whoever wins this election isn't going to have done it by bashing European countries for their lack of support on Iraq. It is widely perceived that quite a few European politicians came into power by being anti-US. You can't play this game of "we expect the US to do as we say while we bash them in our own elections". It won't work, and if you think Americans didn't notice, think again.
You catch more flies with honey than vinegar. Lighten up the rhetoric, and maybe Americans will pay more attention to you. Maybe if you took a little time from feeling sympathetic to people who blow up your trains and citizens and started trying to understand your closest ally, you'd make more progress, too.
The citizens of the US don't _want_ wars, especially not with their allies. This bizarre paranoia of "will the US invade Europe and everyone else and take over the world?" is so divorced from reality that you've got to wonder about who the hell is running the media over there. You heard it here first, kids: the US isn't attacking Europe.
In any event, the election is a close one. And even people who voted for Bush don't want to get into a pointless and senseless ideological fight with Europe. Even those people on the evil religious right don't want everyone to hate them - but it takes two people to have a real friendship. Thus, _give Bush another chance_. If he acts the same way he did before, hey, you were right. If he doesn't (and, frankly, he doesn't have the manpower to do anything else you're going to hate), maybe it's time to bury the hatchet and extend a friendly hand. Forgiving people is a virtue for everyone, atheist or religious.
Food for thought, anyways.
-Erwos
I agree. There doesn't really seem to be anything terribly serious on that list. Just some minor screw-ups. Certainly,
The recurring MoveOn.org story is funny. Honestly, I'm not finding it hard to believe they might have been within a hundred feet in a few different places. But that's not really something to toss out votes over.
-Erwos
Sad to say it, but the election ain't gonna be over until the courts rule on it. There are a lot of people on both sides of the aisle with lawyer-attack-dogs ready to start filing lawsuits no matter what happens. A good example of this is http://www.nov3.us. I get the strong impression that they're going to be causing a ruckus if Bush comes out with a win regardless of whether it was fair or not. Certainly, I'm sure the Republicans are also ready for a legal fight if Kerry wins.
I really appreciate your interest in our great representative democracy, but this election is going to be an embarassment to our great nation even if there isn't fraud. Rest assured that I enjoy following other nations' elections when I can, at least in a general sense (I can't really get worked up over who's going to be the mayor of Hamburg, sorry).
Someday, someone will teach politicians to lose gracefully. Alas, someday is not tomorrow.
-Erwos
There's not. Stop fucking assuming the worst.
The Europeans have no enemies, and instead of worrying about the people who HAVE been killing them, they go and start getting paranoid about their closest ally. Tell me who's crazier again?
-Erwos
"What are the chances of 2 Texas oilmen (financially supported by many more oilmen) giving us a coherent national energy policy which frees us from dependency on oil and the Middle East?"
I'm not voting for Bush tomorrow, but I never expected two Texas oilmen to support Israel like they did, either.
-Erwos
I'm not exactly sure why it matters whether God made us the way we are or whether we evolved that way. I mean, we're here now, and it's pretty obvious that we're not changing significantly in the near future.
-Erwos
"Does it make sense that the Dreamcast version of HL made it to shelves but not the Mac version? Not to me, either."
Do a little fact-checking before you post - the DC version didn't make it to the shelves.
-Erwos
I think I'm going to be voting for Tom Clancy on Tuesday, in fact. I mean, hey, at least we know where he stands on the issues (the same place as Jack Ryan, presumably).
-Erwos