I am very definitely interested in the facts. I haven't had time to read your post completely. I will read it, however, and if there are changes I should make, I will make them.
Sometimes pure logic brings us to conclusions that we may find difficult to accept. I know a lot of technically knowledgeable people are uncomfortable with the notion, but here it is: KDE (and other Open Source software, of course) is an enormous act of love.
Open Source software is people working for the benefit of other people. That's love and love is beautiful.
Okay, those who wish can go back to feeling negative or cynical.
Don't be upset. The information about how to find the name was printed in the Yahoo article.
The address is of her company, not her. She's a contractor. She doesn't work there.
She, and the public relations company, participated in a lie about Microsoft. News articles were written about her. That makes her, in a limited way, a public figure.
Sorry, it was written in haste. Everyone knows the positives about MS; most Slashdot readers use MS software. What people don't know, really know, is the negatives that might make an executive change his mind in small ways. Most executives do not have the option to change in big ways; Microsoft has a virtual monopoly.
"Because the 13 year old script kiddie crowd wouldn't stoop that low."
The "13 year old script kiddies" are smart enough to remove not only the web
page, but the files to which it links. Not Microsoft. You can still download
the original files, using the original links, which I copied from the source
of the original page (my italics):
Do you have an idea for a story? We'd love to hear from you. How have you
used Microsoft software to make your home or work life easier, more fun,
faster, or simpler? Submit your ideas, and you could get published on the
Insider Web site! Submit Your Idea Today!
Note that, if you look at the binary of the.DOC file, you can see this:
Comments To Valerie Mallinson (Wes Rataushk & Assc Inc)
A google search says Wes Rataushk & Associates, Inc is located at 5904 105th
Ave NE, Kirkland, Washington. If you are in the area, stop by to joke with
them about their business ethics.
It seems likely that someone downloading and submitting the form would have no
chance of getting their story published because Wes Rataushk & Associates is
paid to write them.
I've had major problems just in getting good sound into a computer. The environment is too electrically noisy just to connect a microphone. It is better if the digitizing is done outside the general purpose computer.
Also, I've found no good applications for recording sound to a disk file.
You can patent it yourself. If you are smart enough to make a new form of
encryption, you are smart enough to learn the patent law and procedures. See
the book Patent It Yourself.
After a trip to the Washington, D.C. U.S. Patent and Trademark office, I found that the
patent procedure was as corrupt as the people who make money from it could
make it. However, you can do it yourself even though there are many people who work in the patent industry who
will try to stand in your way.
The patent examiners themselves, who work for
the U.S. government, are quite friendly and helpful, I found. That's a very
good thing. I'm proud of the U.S. government for its personal, friendly
service, which I've found is quite common.
Another idea is to prepare the patent yourself and have an honest attorney (if
you can find one) look at it and make comments for improvement. It's a lot of
work to prepare everything yourself, but it is a lot of work supervising an
attorney, too. If my experience is any guide, patent attorneys will try to
steal as much as possible, while being somewhat disinterested in the exact
technology of your claims.
There is a huge, huge problem in the United States with lawyers being
dishonest. Something should be done about this. I guess the dishonesty goes
along with all the other corruption, such as wanting war so that the rich
people that own weapons manufacturing companies can get richer: What should be the Response to
Violence?. The present U.S. President George W. Bush was arrested once
for drunk driving, and U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney was arrested twice for
drunk driving. Former U.S. president Bill Clinton was the child of alcoholics.
If you know the culture of alcoholics, you know that both presidents show
plenty of evidence in their personalities of their involvement with alchohol. (Yes, Clinton abused sexuality, but Clinton was intellectually capable of being president.) My family has no experience with
alcoholism, but in researching the (unfinished) book I've talked with many
alcoholics who say that it usually requires several years of drunk driving
before you get so relaxed with drunkenness that you get arrested while
driving. There is a huge, huge leadership shortage in the United States. The best leaders in the U.S. are
two men who have been arrested for a serious crime a total of three times? That's a shortage of leadership.
Anyhow, patenting something requires personal attention from you. It is not like buying a car; you cannot pay and walk away. You need to be very knowledgeable about the construction of claims. If you know that, and you can express yourself well in writing, it is not difficult to prepare all the documents. However, it is a lot of work.
Yes, I know about shaded-pole motors. Yes, it would be better to have a very, very quiet fan that was designed for the operating voltage.
However, running these fans at less than the rated voltage works. There are two running now in the room in which I am working. They've been running for at least 7 years, except when all the power is turned off to the monitors. There is another that I've used for about 10 years, that now happens to be off. The idea works, with no drawbacks. The fan motors do NOT get hot, for the obvious reason: The fans cool them.
There's an easy answer. Buy an axial fan that is meant for 205 volts AC operation. They run silently at 115 volts AC, but still move an acceptable amount of air. Alternatively, it might be possible to buy a very quiet 115 volt AC fan and use it at its intended voltage, 115 volts. Fans meant for 230 volts AC may work, also.
I have no experience with this model, but this is the kind of fan that I use: Whisper AC. The 29 dBA noise level of the WR2A1 model may be low enough. A fan that is very quiet and is used at a slightly lower than rated voltage may work also.
I bought 5 axial 205 volt fans from a local surplus electronics dealer. They cost me $3.95 each. They are expensive fans, but were being sold cheaply because they were the wrong voltage. Who would want a 205 volt fan?
I use a fan on top of the vent holes on my stereo power amplifier. I also use a fan on top of each of my computer monitors. Heat is the enemy of electronics. Heat accelerates chemical change; if it is working now, you don't want changes.
You could also use a 12 volt DC computer cooling fan and run it at perhaps 7 volts. An old 6 volt DC wall transformer (wall wart) meant for some old appliance might supply the correct voltage at the small load of a fan. (At small load, the output of a transformer/rectifier wall wart combination is higher than the rated voltage, sometimes considerably higher.) If you use a resistor to lower the 12 volt output voltage of an old computer power supply, remember that the resistor generates heat, and should be outside the stereo enclosure.
Stereo entertainment center enclosures have have a small vent at the top of the glass door in front; the glass does not come all the way up to the wood. If you put an axial fan at the bottom in back, blowing in, you create flow-through ventilation that is helped by the tendency of hot air to rise. Stereos don't require much ventilation; it is the completely dead air of an entertainment center without forced ventilation that causes the problems.
If you use a fan on top of a computer monitor, get a block of foam rubber. Put a fan-size hole in it and glue it to the fan. The foam rubber will hold the fan on the sloping top vent holes of the monitor with friction.
The big problem here is that the entertainment center manufacturers don't design a quiet fan into their products. These fans are VERY cheap when bought from the Chinese or Taiwanese fan manufacturers in quantity.
Did you ever notice that one company is taking over the Internet? The company is called "Click here to get the plugin."
Okay, okay, maybe it's because I don't like this:
By editing the Flash header (SWF), it is possible to run any code on the
computer of a visitor to a web page, according to an eEye Digital
Security Alert. The vulnerability exists in all versions of Flash and in
all browsers that support Flash, making it "... trivial to bypass firewalls
and attack the user at his desktop." eEye reported a
previous vulnerability last May.
I've always disliked how Flash tends to
be an advertisement for Flash. Visitors to a page with Flash often get upgrade
notices.
TheBrainLess could realize that a lot of people deleted the Flash plugin during one of the previous security alerts.
"Unfortunately, this has been the trend with too many reviewers - they look at the superficial stuff, and make up their minds based on whether the colors are pretty, and this passes as in-depth journalism."
I agree. Someone taking the review seriously, and having no basis of comparison, would think that SuSE was a terrible distribution. Also, it is somewhat irrelevant that the distribution doesn't install well at the resolution used by 24" monitors.
I also agree with this: "It was thinking (if you can call it that) like this that gave us the dot.bomb crash."
"However, if SuSE fix some of the issues they have, get rid or redesign that package manager, license the Web Fonts, add some more GUI settings panels for wireless support, FTP & HTTP servers, better integration with Windows, fix some of their untested or buggy applications they include in their CDs, modify Star Office and GTK+ application to look more as their primary Qt platform and other such details, I believe that Red Hat's 'empire' in the Linux world will be in jeopardy."
You said, "Do not discharge packs of batteries below 1 volt/cell."
I've discharged NiCad (not NiMH) batteries to zero volts numerous times, with no problems. My original post that started this thread suggested discharging with a 510 Ohm resistor. This is such a slow discharge that apparently it causes no problems. It may take 48 hours to completely discharge a battery, so this is a method for people with backup cells.
However, you are bringing up an important issue. The discharge should be very slow. A slow discharge is NOT the same as using an appliance until the batteries are dead, or putting the batteries in a flashlight until they are dead.
I also would also guess that most NiCad slow chargers would charge NiMH batteries. NiMH fast chargers should not be used with NiCads because the normal charge rate of NiMH batteries is higher.
Slashdot Mirror
The article calls Valerie a "PR bunny". Okay, I think that is punishment enough.
I've spent about 3 3/4 years outside the U.S. in the last 17 years. I agree with the parent post.
I am very definitely interested in the facts. I haven't had time to read your post completely. I will read it, however, and if there are changes I should make, I will make them.
It was probably just Slashdot effect. The link is working now.
"The american government is quick to drop bombs on other countries..."
Since you raised that issue, here is a link to a draft of a book I wrote about the subject:
What should be the Response to Violence?
It's difficult for many people to believe, isn't it? But, do you see any other logical explanation?
LOL
Sometimes pure logic brings us to conclusions that we may find difficult to accept. I know a lot of technically knowledgeable people are uncomfortable with the notion, but here it is: KDE (and other Open Source software, of course) is an enormous act of love.
Open Source software is people working for the benefit of other people. That's love and love is beautiful.
Okay, those who wish can go back to feeling negative or cynical.
I took Latin for 4 years in high school. It has proven utterly useless.
I am very interested to know what they say. I think they might be approached in a friendly way. Then you could tell us all at Slashdot.
Don't be upset. The information about how to find the name was printed in the Yahoo article.
The address is of her company, not her. She's a contractor. She doesn't work there.
She, and the public relations company, participated in a lie about Microsoft. News articles were written about her. That makes her, in a limited way, a public figure.
Sorry, it was written in haste. Everyone knows the positives about MS; most Slashdot readers use MS software. What people don't know, really know, is the negatives that might make an executive change his mind in small ways. Most executives do not have the option to change in big ways; Microsoft has a virtual monopoly.
"Because the 13 year old script kiddie crowd wouldn't stoop that low."
The "13 year old script kiddies" are smart enough to remove not only the web page, but the files to which it links. Not Microsoft. You can still download the original files, using the original links, which I copied from the source of the original page (my italics):
Do you have an idea for a story? We'd love to hear from you. How have you used Microsoft software to make your home or work life easier, more fun, faster, or simpler? Submit your ideas, and you could get published on the Insider Web site! Submit Your Idea Today!
- Download the submission form in Adobe PDF format
(ShowOffYourSkills.pdf, 64kb)
- Download the submission form in Word format
(ShowOffYourSkills.doc, 27kb)"
Note that, if you look at the binary of theComments To Valerie Mallinson (Wes Rataushk & Assc Inc)
A google search says Wes Rataushk & Associates, Inc is located at 5904 105th Ave NE, Kirkland, Washington. If you are in the area, stop by to joke with them about their business ethics.
It seems likely that someone downloading and submitting the form would have no chance of getting their story published because Wes Rataushk & Associates is paid to write them.
I try to help people have a balanced view of Microsoft: http://www.hevanet.com/peace/microsoft.htm.
Is this story suggesting that Microsoft would be dishonest? I'm shocked... Not.
More Microsoft issues: Windows XP shows the Direction Microsoft is Going.
I've had major problems just in getting good sound into a computer. The environment is too electrically noisy just to connect a microphone. It is better if the digitizing is done outside the general purpose computer.
Also, I've found no good applications for recording sound to a disk file.
Don't worry. He was just joking (partly).
Or, he places sensible limits on his circle of friends.
"(and the $20,000 to patent it)"
You can patent it yourself. If you are smart enough to make a new form of encryption, you are smart enough to learn the patent law and procedures. See the book Patent It Yourself.
After a trip to the Washington, D.C. U.S. Patent and Trademark office, I found that the patent procedure was as corrupt as the people who make money from it could make it. However, you can do it yourself even though there are many people who work in the patent industry who will try to stand in your way.
The patent examiners themselves, who work for the U.S. government, are quite friendly and helpful, I found. That's a very good thing. I'm proud of the U.S. government for its personal, friendly service, which I've found is quite common.
Another idea is to prepare the patent yourself and have an honest attorney (if you can find one) look at it and make comments for improvement. It's a lot of work to prepare everything yourself, but it is a lot of work supervising an attorney, too. If my experience is any guide, patent attorneys will try to steal as much as possible, while being somewhat disinterested in the exact technology of your claims.
There is a huge, huge problem in the United States with lawyers being dishonest. Something should be done about this. I guess the dishonesty goes along with all the other corruption, such as wanting war so that the rich people that own weapons manufacturing companies can get richer: What should be the Response to Violence? . The present U.S. President George W. Bush was arrested once for drunk driving, and U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney was arrested twice for drunk driving. Former U.S. president Bill Clinton was the child of alcoholics. If you know the culture of alcoholics, you know that both presidents show plenty of evidence in their personalities of their involvement with alchohol. (Yes, Clinton abused sexuality, but Clinton was intellectually capable of being president.) My family has no experience with alcoholism, but in researching the (unfinished) book I've talked with many alcoholics who say that it usually requires several years of drunk driving before you get so relaxed with drunkenness that you get arrested while driving. There is a huge, huge leadership shortage in the United States. The best leaders in the U.S. are two men who have been arrested for a serious crime a total of three times? That's a shortage of leadership.
Anyhow, patenting something requires personal attention from you. It is not like buying a car; you cannot pay and walk away. You need to be very knowledgeable about the construction of claims. If you know that, and you can express yourself well in writing, it is not difficult to prepare all the documents. However, it is a lot of work.
Yes, I know about shaded-pole motors. Yes, it would be better to have a very, very quiet fan that was designed for the operating voltage.
However, running these fans at less than the rated voltage works. There are two running now in the room in which I am working. They've been running for at least 7 years, except when all the power is turned off to the monitors. There is another that I've used for about 10 years, that now happens to be off. The idea works, with no drawbacks. The fan motors do NOT get hot, for the obvious reason: The fans cool them.
There's an easy answer. Buy an axial fan that is meant for 205 volts AC operation. They run silently at 115 volts AC, but still move an acceptable amount of air. Alternatively, it might be possible to buy a very quiet 115 volt AC fan and use it at its intended voltage, 115 volts. Fans meant for 230 volts AC may work, also.
I have no experience with this model, but this is the kind of fan that I use: Whisper AC. The 29 dBA noise level of the WR2A1 model may be low enough. A fan that is very quiet and is used at a slightly lower than rated voltage may work also.
I bought 5 axial 205 volt fans from a local surplus electronics dealer. They cost me $3.95 each. They are expensive fans, but were being sold cheaply because they were the wrong voltage. Who would want a 205 volt fan?
I use a fan on top of the vent holes on my stereo power amplifier. I also use a fan on top of each of my computer monitors. Heat is the enemy of electronics. Heat accelerates chemical change; if it is working now, you don't want changes.
You could also use a 12 volt DC computer cooling fan and run it at perhaps 7 volts. An old 6 volt DC wall transformer (wall wart) meant for some old appliance might supply the correct voltage at the small load of a fan. (At small load, the output of a transformer/rectifier wall wart combination is higher than the rated voltage, sometimes considerably higher.) If you use a resistor to lower the 12 volt output voltage of an old computer power supply, remember that the resistor generates heat, and should be outside the stereo enclosure.
Stereo entertainment center enclosures have have a small vent at the top of the glass door in front; the glass does not come all the way up to the wood. If you put an axial fan at the bottom in back, blowing in, you create flow-through ventilation that is helped by the tendency of hot air to rise. Stereos don't require much ventilation; it is the completely dead air of an entertainment center without forced ventilation that causes the problems.
If you use a fan on top of a computer monitor, get a block of foam rubber. Put a fan-size hole in it and glue it to the fan. The foam rubber will hold the fan on the sloping top vent holes of the monitor with friction.
The big problem here is that the entertainment center manufacturers don't design a quiet fan into their products. These fans are VERY cheap when bought from the Chinese or Taiwanese fan manufacturers in quantity.
Did you ever notice that one company is taking over the Internet? The company is called "Click here to get the plugin."
Okay, okay, maybe it's because I don't like this:
By editing the Flash header (SWF), it is possible to run any code on the computer of a visitor to a web page, according to an eEye Digital Security Alert. The vulnerability exists in all versions of Flash and in all browsers that support Flash, making it "... trivial to bypass firewalls and attack the user at his desktop." eEye reported a previous vulnerability last May.
I've always disliked how Flash tends to be an advertisement for Flash. Visitors to a page with Flash often get upgrade notices.
TheBrainLess could realize that a lot of people deleted the Flash plugin during one of the previous security alerts.
"Unfortunately, this has been the trend with too many reviewers - they look at the superficial stuff, and make up their minds based on whether the colors are pretty, and this passes as in-depth journalism."
I agree. Someone taking the review seriously, and having no basis of comparison, would think that SuSE was a terrible distribution. Also, it is somewhat irrelevant that the distribution doesn't install well at the resolution used by 24" monitors.
I also agree with this: "It was thinking (if you can call it that) like this that gave us the dot.bomb crash."
It wasn't the reviewer's best work.
"However, if SuSE fix some of the issues they have, get rid or redesign that package manager, license the Web Fonts, add some more GUI settings panels for wireless support, FTP & HTTP servers, better integration with Windows, fix some of their untested or buggy applications they include in their CDs, modify Star Office and GTK+ application to look more as their primary Qt platform and other such details, I believe that Red Hat's 'empire' in the Linux world will be in jeopardy."
Does that mean she likes it, or not?
Andy,
You said, "Do not discharge packs of batteries below 1 volt/cell."
I've discharged NiCad (not NiMH) batteries to zero volts numerous times, with no problems. My original post that started this thread suggested discharging with a 510 Ohm resistor. This is such a slow discharge that apparently it causes no problems. It may take 48 hours to completely discharge a battery, so this is a method for people with backup cells.
However, you are bringing up an important issue. The discharge should be very slow. A slow discharge is NOT the same as using an appliance until the batteries are dead, or putting the batteries in a flashlight until they are dead.
I also would also guess that most NiCad slow chargers would charge NiMH batteries. NiMH fast chargers should not be used with NiCads because the normal charge rate of NiMH batteries is higher.
Good warning, then. Don't fully discharge NiMH batteries. Only NiCads need it.