I always drop by the Forum when I am out on the Island. I definitely want to get down soon to visit some friends (other Forumites Heidi and Gary), but it's the old time/money thing...you rarely have enough of both to do long trips!
Historicly, it was very common to be "pressed" into service on a ship...and if you were drunk and/or passed out, it made the job of the press gang that much easier. The chances of that happening in the future are good, since so many people know nothing of history, and are thus doomed to repeat it.
I know that many writers set a side stories and novels for a huge variety of reasons...yes, sometimes because they think it isn't working out, or that they didn't think it was any good. But I can tell you one thing that a number of editors and agents have told me...editors are the ones who decide if a work is good enough to publish or not. Many writers are too hard on their own works, and what a writer may think is a work that sucks, an editor may see as a new, brilliant work. Ultimately, the public will vote with their dollars. It may not be the best system to judge a work by, but it is the one we are working with.
Of course, sometimes the opposite is true, too!:-)
I like to think that somewhere, out there, the universe's ultimate book lauch party is happening, where people like Heinlein, Baen, and a huge host of Fans, Writers, Editors and other such folk are having a great time. I am going to be looking forward to this book for many the same reasons you are...although I will be looking forward to that pun...:-)
Well, if you have an ATI TV Wonder card, you can simply modify a value in the source code that will eliminate Macrovision "interference". I do this on my home system so that I can watch my DVDs and Video Tapes on my 17" monitor. I don't have a lot of room where I live, and I sold my TV a while ago. So I have a dual monitor setup, with one being used as my "TV".
I don't see why modifying said value could be so hard for the other drivers...but it probably works on all BT8x8 based cards.
There is no TGZ hell...unless, of course, you can't understand TAR and ZIP. There is no braindead dependancy checking, something that Debian does much, much better. But Slackware is about knowing your system, being able to work "under the hood", and using your Goddess given intellengece to RTFM and find out what the dependancies of the program you are installing are.
RPM is so braindead...many times I have had to manually install or "force" software on RH based systems because the "needed" dependancy is already installed, but is a newer, or slight revision off the "needed" one. Debian's package management system is great, if you just want something to work "automatically", and is far superior to RPM. But I do things like compile my own customer kernels, and install software from source.
To Patrick Volkerding, his wife and Volkerding 2.0!
This is the oldest existing Linux Distro! Possibly one of the most stable as well. It retains the Unix philosophy that it does a few things really, really well, and gives you the tools to add on to it. It's tanj simple to maintain and update, no "RPM Hell". And it's one person's vision, which gives it a consistancy that is lacking in other "art by committee" Distros.
And I am biased...I moved to Slackware from Soft Landing Systems (SLS) Linux, and although I have tried many different Distros over the years, I keep on comming back to Slackware...and not just for religious reasons, either!
Do you mean in a Microsoft world, or a Linux world?
In a Microsoft world 99% done means only another 20 or so releases until it is officially done...then another 5 years before it is finally finished after it's officially done.
In a Linux world, 99% done means is probably more functional than a Microsoft product 5 years after release!
Because it's considered more stable, and supports things that haven't been up-ported to the 2.6 kernels.
Patrick aims at the most stable distro...not the latest, flashiest distro. That is why it is used on a large variety of servers...in fact, it has the probably more server installs than any other Distro still built by one person, and his wife. Debian is probably closest, but it is now a large team that works on it.
Slackware just works...and works...and works...it's sort of the Energizer Bunny of Distros!
This is a well known phenonena, and has been used for a long time now. If you ever read the book "The Shockwave Rider" by John Brunner, and shame on you if you haven't, you will recognize the "Delphi Boards". They were basically a legalized betting system that allowed you to wager on the possiblity of something happening...for example, a cure for cancer. I won't go more into the story, but you can check it out for yourself!
It is technically known as the Delphi Effect, and you can read more about it here:
Far too many people in the movie industry are like the music industry...they all want a #1 hit, rather than a good product/art that sells reasonably well. Both used to have a bread & butter business of "B" level releases which were rarely blockbusters, but just sold and sold and sold and sold. An artists/studios/directors catalog of releases were as important, sometimes more so, than any one mega hit.
Since Big Media Business has a hardon for mega hits, rather than catalog, they go with things that were hits before...sometimes to the exclusion of new ideas! Look at the number of remakes in the movie business, and the number of cover tunes in music...And it's killing both businesses.
Sometimes that doesn't work...I've tried using a mouse on either hand, as I am abidexterous...but that only meant that I developed RSI on both wrists...I tried trackballs, and the thumb based ones made it worse...but the only solution, one that I use to this day, is the Logitech Marble Mouse...it's a symetrical trackball, and can be used either left handed or right handed. Ever since then, I haven't had any problems. But that's probably just me.
This seems to be an Astroturf article...the web site in question is a Canadian Neo-Con oriented site. The Canadian Neo-Con Government lead by Mr. Harper are global warming deniers, either because they think that The Rapture is comming (Many Neo-Cons are Fundamentalist Christians), or pro-oil...The most powerful members of Harper's cabinet, including Harper himself, have a backround in Big Oil and Big Oil Policy.
That's because the US Department of Labour doesn't collect data on unpaid hours. If you add in the unpaid hours, you will find that the US is does not fair well. I know from person experience and talking to friends all across the US that everyone one of them put in more hours than they are paid for. And that artificially inflates the level of "productivity".
For example, I know that I regularly put in 50+ hours a week, and sometimes a lot more, but as a salaried worker, only was paid for 35.5 hours.
For the years I worked in the US, I worked more national holidays, unpaid overtime, and from home than any job, including my own business, in Canada. I believe that studies find Americans work more hours than almost any where else, but are ultimately less productive than most other countries. Hours at work do not equal productivity!
I know people who work/worked at a certain US hardware vendor where members of the software *engineering* group are forced to work 24 hour on-call as FIRST LEVEL support on over 5,000 servers at various sites around the US in addition to their regular work. Is it any wonder why they keep on loosing members left, right and center, and can't recruit people? Is it any wonder why their engineering work frequently slips and or is badly engineered?
The company I used to work (let's call them ACROSS) for in North Carolina asked the developer of a popular open source program to modify their program, and offered to pay them a sum of money to do so. Fair enough.
But after we got the modifications working, my boss kept on insisting that since they had paid this developer money, the developer must continue to supply tech support...
The problem was, the contact was just to make the modifications to the application, and it ended when the program functional in the way it was specified in the contract. But my boss at ACROSS kept on insisting that they continue to provide technical support for this open source project. As is usual with ACROSS, they threatened to sue the developer...like they threaten to sue anyone who doesn't knuckle under to what they want.
The moral of the story is to make sure you put everything in the contract that you want, and everything that you are willing to provide...and do nothing more or less. And until we get rid of all the Lawyers, that is the only way to work in this sue-happy world we live in.:-(
Slashdot Mirror
I wanted to make it to ICON, but didn't. :-(
I always drop by the Forum when I am out on the Island. I definitely want to get down soon to visit some friends (other Forumites Heidi and Gary), but it's the old time/money thing...you rarely have enough of both to do long trips!
ttyl
Farrell
Historicly, it was very common to be "pressed" into service on a ship...and if you were drunk and/or passed out, it made the job of the press gang that much easier. The chances of that happening in the future are good, since so many people know nothing of history, and are thus doomed to repeat it.
ttyl
Farrell
I used to be an anarchist, but it had too many rules, like having to hate government, own guns ,etc... :-)
ttyl
Farrell
I know that many writers set a side stories and novels for a huge variety of reasons...yes, sometimes because they think it isn't working out, or that they didn't think it was any good. But I can tell you one thing that a number of editors and agents have told me...editors are the ones who decide if a work is good enough to publish or not. Many writers are too hard on their own works, and what a writer may think is a work that sucks, an editor may see as a new, brilliant work. Ultimately, the public will vote with their dollars. It may not be the best system to judge a work by, but it is the one we are working with.
:-)
Of course, sometimes the opposite is true, too!
ttyl
Farrell
I like to think that somewhere, out there, the universe's ultimate book lauch party is happening, where people like Heinlein, Baen, and a huge host of Fans, Writers, Editors and other such folk are having a great time. I am going to be looking forward to this book for many the same reasons you are...although I will be looking forward to that pun...:-)
ttyl
I agree with you about Spider...I'm as much a fan of his work as I am of Heinlein's! This will be a must-have book!
BTW, are you a Forumite? I used to hang around the Forum myself...
ttyl
Farrell
Well, if you have an ATI TV Wonder card, you can simply modify a value in the source code that will eliminate Macrovision "interference". I do this on my home system so that I can watch my DVDs and Video Tapes on my 17" monitor. I don't have a lot of room where I live, and I sold my TV a while ago. So I have a dual monitor setup, with one being used as my "TV".
I don't see why modifying said value could be so hard for the other drivers...but it probably works on all BT8x8 based cards.
ttyl
There is no TGZ hell...unless, of course, you can't understand TAR and ZIP. There is no braindead dependancy checking, something that Debian does much, much better. But Slackware is about knowing your system, being able to work "under the hood", and using your Goddess given intellengece to RTFM and find out what the dependancies of the program you are installing are.
RPM is so braindead...many times I have had to manually install or "force" software on RH based systems because the "needed" dependancy is already installed, but is a newer, or slight revision off the "needed" one. Debian's package management system is great, if you just want something to work "automatically", and is far superior to RPM. But I do things like compile my own customer kernels, and install software from source.
ttyl
Farrell
To Patrick Volkerding, his wife and Volkerding 2.0!
This is the oldest existing Linux Distro! Possibly one of the most stable as well. It retains the Unix philosophy that it does a few things really, really well, and gives you the tools to add on to it. It's tanj simple to maintain and update, no "RPM Hell". And it's one person's vision, which gives it a consistancy that is lacking in other "art by committee" Distros.
And I am biased...I moved to Slackware from Soft Landing Systems (SLS) Linux, and although I have tried many different Distros over the years, I keep on comming back to Slackware...and not just for religious reasons, either!
Thanx you Patrick and Co for keeping the vision!
ttyl
Farrell
Or, download Slacke17, the newest Enlightenment, packages for Slackware as a slackpack. It even makes a 700 Mhz PIII look cool and fast!
http://slacke17.sourceforge.net/
ttyl
Farrell
Do you mean in a Microsoft world, or a Linux world?
In a Microsoft world 99% done means only another 20 or so releases until it is officially done...then another 5 years before it is finally finished after it's officially done.
In a Linux world, 99% done means is probably more functional than a Microsoft product 5 years after release!
ttyl
Farrell
Because it's considered more stable, and supports things that haven't been up-ported to the 2.6 kernels.
Patrick aims at the most stable distro...not the latest, flashiest distro. That is why it is used on a large variety of servers...in fact, it has the probably more server installs than any other Distro still built by one person, and his wife. Debian is probably closest, but it is now a large team that works on it.
Slackware just works...and works...and works...it's sort of the Energizer Bunny of Distros!
ttyl
Farrell
This is a well known phenonena, and has been used for a long time now. If you ever read the book "The Shockwave Rider" by John Brunner, and shame on you if you haven't, you will recognize the "Delphi Boards". They were basically a legalized betting system that allowed you to wager on the possiblity of something happening...for example, a cure for cancer. I won't go more into the story, but you can check it out for yourself!
It is technically known as the Delphi Effect, and you can read more about it here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delphi_effect
ttyl
Farrell
Far too many people in the movie industry are like the music industry...they all want a #1 hit, rather than a good product/art that sells reasonably well. Both used to have a bread & butter business of "B" level releases which were rarely blockbusters, but just sold and sold and sold and sold. An artists/studios/directors catalog of releases were as important, sometimes more so, than any one mega hit.
Since Big Media Business has a hardon for mega hits, rather than catalog, they go with things that were hits before...sometimes to the exclusion of new ideas! Look at the number of remakes in the movie business, and the number of cover tunes in music...And it's killing both businesses.
ttyl
Farrell
Sometimes that doesn't work...I've tried using a mouse on either hand, as I am abidexterous...but that only meant that I developed RSI on both wrists...I tried trackballs, and the thumb based ones made it worse...but the only solution, one that I use to this day, is the Logitech Marble Mouse...it's a symetrical trackball, and can be used either left handed or right handed. Ever since then, I haven't had any problems. But that's probably just me.
ttyl
Farrell
I wonder if this is the reason why Bell Canada recently stated that it will be monitoring content? Perhaps?
ttyl
Farrell
Digg is also probably going to pull the story...
ttyl
Farrell
This seems to be an Astroturf article...the web site in question is a Canadian Neo-Con oriented site. The Canadian Neo-Con Government lead by Mr. Harper are global warming deniers, either because they think that The Rapture is comming (Many Neo-Cons are Fundamentalist Christians), or pro-oil...The most powerful members of Harper's cabinet, including Harper himself, have a backround in Big Oil and Big Oil Policy.
ttyl
Farrell
That's because the US Department of Labour doesn't collect data on unpaid hours. If you add in the unpaid hours, you will find that the US is does not fair well. I know from person experience and talking to friends all across the US that everyone one of them put in more hours than they are paid for. And that artificially inflates the level of "productivity".
For example, I know that I regularly put in 50+ hours a week, and sometimes a lot more, but as a salaried worker, only was paid for 35.5 hours.
ttyl
Farrell
For the years I worked in the US, I worked more national holidays, unpaid overtime, and from home than any job, including my own business, in Canada. I believe that studies find Americans work more hours than almost any where else, but are ultimately less productive than most other countries. Hours at work do not equal productivity!
I know people who work/worked at a certain US hardware vendor where members of the software *engineering* group are forced to work 24 hour on-call as FIRST LEVEL support on over 5,000 servers at various sites around the US in addition to their regular work. Is it any wonder why they keep on loosing members left, right and center, and can't recruit people? Is it any wonder why their engineering work frequently slips and or is badly engineered?
ttyl
Farrell
"Campus Crusade for Cthulhu...IT found ME!"
ttyl
That same time, we called those who penetrated systems as Crackers, and those who wrote amazing code Hackers. Steven Levy wrote about them.
It was a nice time.
ttyl
Farrell
DDR...Line Dancing for the Rave Generation!
ttyl
Hail Ilapalazoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooo!
[splash]
ttyl
Farrell
The company I used to work (let's call them ACROSS) for in North Carolina asked the developer of a popular open source program to modify their program, and offered to pay them a sum of money to do so. Fair enough.
:-(
But after we got the modifications working, my boss kept on insisting that since they had paid this developer money, the developer must continue to supply tech support...
The problem was, the contact was just to make the modifications to the application, and it ended when the program functional in the way it was specified in the contract. But my boss at ACROSS kept on insisting that they continue to provide technical support for this open source project. As is usual with ACROSS, they threatened to sue the developer...like they threaten to sue anyone who doesn't knuckle under to what they want.
The moral of the story is to make sure you put everything in the contract that you want, and everything that you are willing to provide...and do nothing more or less. And until we get rid of all the Lawyers, that is the only way to work in this sue-happy world we live in.
ttyl
Farrell