I have to wonder how they manage to divine the exact history of an item, like
After that someone made a hole in the ring so that it could still be used as jewellery. It was transported from the Baltic coast c. 5500-6000 years ago as payment for seal skins that were produced in the Kierikki area in the Neolithic Period.
What? You can't be any more exact? I want to know the shape, weight and colour of the seal skins, and who bought them.
Otherwise a nice story. I have to go back and re-read the second paragraph a third time, though. I'm still trying to find Ms. Hossein and Ms. Rumana in the photo.
In the same way that training and employing teachers and scientists in state run schools and universities is not propaganda.
Ofcourse their idea is to "influence" people by raising awareness about renewable energy, but I'm having a hard time thinking how this would be a somehow insidious activity, a connotation of the word "propaganda". Sheesh, this is the most transparent possible medium, and they are being open about the sponsorship. Their work is open for the public to scrutinize and any effort at manipulation would surely blow up in their face.
Let's put it this way, how is the state influencing the people when it chooses _not_ to support expanding our knowledge of alternative fuels? Not intervening is also a policy, and a political choice. Who benefits? Who suffers?
I find it a lot more insidious when a government is engaged in a legitimate and beneficial activity, somebody tries to cast the whole effort into a dubious light by connoting that there is something underhanded about it, or that ulterior motives are involved. "The evil green German state is trying to manipulate us, let us quickly turn back to Fox News to cleanse our minds of their distortions. Everything will be so clear."
It's the parent's fault. Seriously. Children know how to take advantage of your weaknesses. They also know if parents cannot present a united front. You can't blame them. You've just got to be calm and consistent, and eventually the kids learn that it's not worth screaming, and that if they don't eat the vegetables there will not be any sweets later.
Too often parents want to spare themselves having to deal with tantrums, especially in public places. Consistency has a lot to do with it. If you make an exception to a rule, the child will keep demanding for more exceptions for a LONG time (someone said it's on average 80 times), and parents eventually get fed up and give in. Idle threats are also a bad one. You shouldn't make any threats (no dessert etc) if you don't carry them out. Inconsistency is cruel - to let them get away with something 90% of the time but then to blow your top the other 10% of the time.
I'm not sure if it's always a good thing to have all the features packed into one format. Instead of choosing a format for a task, now you have to wade through a bunch of save-as options to get an image to fit a given situation. This is probably OK for the tech savvy, but you'll probably have problems explaining it to a layman.
"But mr. newspaper editor, I _did_ send the photo in a format you requested. What do you mean 'lossy'? Have you lost it already? Oh, I see. Could you please tell me which tab in the Save As dialog I'll find that in? Hmm... Still can't find that option. Yes, it's probably called something else in the software I use. No, I don't have a Mac. I use Windows."
You've got to be kidding. "Free software" is even more useless than "open source".
It's only the geek crowd, and specifically in the software context, that thinks of free as freedom. For most people "free" connotes free as in beer (zero cost), even in the software context. A little test to put yourself in Joe Average's shoes: imagine yourself outside a bookstore. A sign above a shelf in the window says "free books". Now, do you think "cool, freebies", or do you REALLY think "cool, books that I can copy, modify and sell"?
The simple truth is that people just have to learn about the nuances. You can't create a cover-all term and expect everyone to agree on the meaning and trust everyone not to abuse it.
Aspects such as cost, availability of source and restrictions on use and redistribution are not necessarily tied together at all. I can devise a libre-but-not-zero-cost license that allows people to modify and resell the software, but forbids them from giving it away for free. Or an "zero-cost-redistributable-modifiable-only-for-pri vate-use" license stipulating that the source may be viewed and modified for private use, but the modified versions may not be resold. Ad infinitum.
It's already virtually impossible to build a product on open source software without infringing on someone's IPR. It's ridiculous. We need a system that protects and promotes innovation.
The cost of labour is a much greater factor than environmental controls. I haven't heard of manufacturing industry moving to Africa, nor have I seen a monitor made in Nigeria.
I've been wondering the same. And how come it's taken so long for _this_ to come out? Why use humans as weapons platforms - lousy senses, wobbly aim?
We have automated weapons systems for taking out vehicles on the ground, air and water. Most use humans to designate the target and the machine does the rest. Ships have totally automated antiaircraft cannons. These are fairly large scale, but that is no limitation. Portable anti-tank systems exist. Digital SLRs have had cheap tracking technology for taking pictures of fast moving targets since the early 90s.
My guess is there will eventually be an AT-missile type antipersonnel weapon that will combine traits from digital cameras and existing large scale weapon systems. Put the MG or launcher on a tripod and aim at the enemy, or perhaps define a kill sector by pointing and clicking. The platform will figure out what your intended target is and do the sub-millimetre adjustments that are required to hit the target, possibly compensating for target movement.
Even servo control is not necessarily required. You aim and squeeze the trigger but the weapon will fire the round only once it has decided you are going to hit the mark.
This was my thought exactly. They'd probably restrict their support to a subset of a few well known hardware vendors' products.
Oracle's support is already less then perfect, especially with Linux. I wonder how it will be when it gets bombarded with the questions that are now fielded by RedHat and SuSe.
On the other hand perhaps this could herald some improvements in Oracle's support for Linux. Now they have guys who apparently have never heard of Linux bonding and 8021q. It seems interfaces names "bond0.1001" and "vlan1001" don't work with RAC because they're too long.
Spot on. I've only used Windows because of Office and games in particular. I've now got a laptop from work with XP and Office on it, and decided to sell off my games and gaming PC. This is my second at switching from Windows to Linux on my desktop. This time I've got the knowhow and less pressure to switch back. Just in time before Vista comes along. Good riddance.
You have no idea how big an issue licensing is. My view is this is the other big difference (apart from extended support for each release) between hobbyist and enterprise distros. Think of these the next time you ask why there are so few packages in distro X compared to Debian.
Even the enterprise distros can't satisfy the most careful of customers. Open source is good, but big companies that are juicy targets for litigious patent trolls want to be veeery careful.
A guy I know works for an employer with "enough" legal resources and a commitment to open source. The legal eagles go through EVERY source file in a distro they use and tell the engineers "you can't use file AAAA.h because of missing attribution nor feature ZZZZ because of patents". They get lots of giggles and headaches from this because these are sometimes trivial things like manpages or obvious features you'd never think would be covered by potentially problematic patents.
Goes to show how important copyright and patent legislation is, so a "good job" to Slashdot for keeping the readers up to date with what's going on.
Good point. My impression is none of the modern "interpreted" languages are compiled every time. Most are hybrids with bytecode and features like cached executables.
Re:China has cheap broadband access
on
Spam from Taiwan
·
· Score: 1
Taiwan is one of the Asian Tigers, like South Korea. They are a multiparty democracy and have a standard of on par with Western Europe. Why are you surprised?
Users are able to use their computers despite them becoming infected. It's bad because the entire Internet is being threatened by nasty people utilizing zombie networks.
Slashdot Mirror
What? You can't be any more exact? I want to know the shape, weight and colour of the seal skins, and who bought them.
Otherwise a nice story. I have to go back and re-read the second paragraph a third time, though. I'm still trying to find Ms. Hossein and Ms. Rumana in the photo.
Nah, a squirrel mesh?
Oh, never mind.
In the same way that training and employing teachers and scientists in state run schools and universities is not propaganda.
Ofcourse their idea is to "influence" people by raising awareness about renewable energy, but I'm having a hard time thinking how this would be a somehow insidious activity, a connotation of the word "propaganda". Sheesh, this is the most transparent possible medium, and they are being open about the sponsorship. Their work is open for the public to scrutinize and any effort at manipulation would surely blow up in their face.
Let's put it this way, how is the state influencing the people when it chooses _not_ to support expanding our knowledge of alternative fuels? Not intervening is also a policy, and a political choice. Who benefits? Who suffers?
I find it a lot more insidious when a government is engaged in a legitimate and beneficial activity, somebody tries to cast the whole effort into a dubious light by connoting that there is something underhanded about it, or that ulterior motives are involved. "The evil green German state is trying to manipulate us, let us quickly turn back to Fox News to cleanse our minds of their distortions. Everything will be so clear."
*sigh* How can you get your government sorted out if you can't even spell a four letter word?
Bollocks. This has been around for years. It looks like one vendor, Chilisoft, has been snapped up by Sun.
Right on! Too many people know jack and yet feel obliged to share their wisdom. But then again this is Slashdot... ;)
Regards from a fellow IT drone in Europe.
to "star topology".
It's the parent's fault. Seriously. Children know how to take advantage of your weaknesses. They also know if parents cannot present a united front. You can't blame them. You've just got to be calm and consistent, and eventually the kids learn that it's not worth screaming, and that if they don't eat the vegetables there will not be any sweets later.
Too often parents want to spare themselves having to deal with tantrums, especially in public places. Consistency has a lot to do with it. If you make an exception to a rule, the child will keep demanding for more exceptions for a LONG time (someone said it's on average 80 times), and parents eventually get fed up and give in. Idle threats are also a bad one. You shouldn't make any threats (no dessert etc) if you don't carry them out. Inconsistency is cruel - to let them get away with something 90% of the time but then to blow your top the other 10% of the time.
I'm not sure if it's always a good thing to have all the features packed into one format. Instead of choosing a format for a task, now you have to wade through a bunch of save-as options to get an image to fit a given situation. This is probably OK for the tech savvy, but you'll probably have problems explaining it to a layman.
"But mr. newspaper editor, I _did_ send the photo in a format you requested. What do you mean 'lossy'? Have you lost it already? Oh, I see. Could you please tell me which tab in the Save As dialog I'll find that in? Hmm... Still can't find that option. Yes, it's probably called something else in the software I use. No, I don't have a Mac. I use Windows."
You must not alter the contract!
NTP uses UTC and has nothing to do with DST.
You've got to be kidding. "Free software" is even more useless than "open source".
i vate-use" license stipulating that the source may be viewed and modified for private use, but the modified versions may not be resold. Ad infinitum.
It's only the geek crowd, and specifically in the software context, that thinks of free as freedom. For most people "free" connotes free as in beer (zero cost), even in the software context. A little test to put yourself in Joe Average's shoes: imagine yourself outside a bookstore. A sign above a shelf in the window says "free books". Now, do you think "cool, freebies", or do you REALLY think "cool, books that I can copy, modify and sell"?
The simple truth is that people just have to learn about the nuances. You can't create a cover-all term and expect everyone to agree on the meaning and trust everyone not to abuse it.
Aspects such as cost, availability of source and restrictions on use and redistribution are not necessarily tied together at all. I can devise a libre-but-not-zero-cost license that allows people to modify and resell the software, but forbids them from giving it away for free. Or an "zero-cost-redistributable-modifiable-only-for-pr
It's already virtually impossible to build a product on open source software without infringing on someone's IPR. It's ridiculous. We need a system that protects and promotes innovation.
HalfLife in 45 minutes
Even the company name has been chosen to be conflated with CERT. What a bunch of bollox.
The cost of labour is a much greater factor than environmental controls. I haven't heard of manufacturing industry moving to Africa, nor have I seen a monitor made in Nigeria.
I've been wondering the same. And how come it's taken so long for _this_ to come out? Why use humans as weapons platforms - lousy senses, wobbly aim?
We have automated weapons systems for taking out vehicles on the ground, air and water. Most use humans to designate the target and the machine does the rest. Ships have totally automated antiaircraft cannons. These are fairly large scale, but that is no limitation. Portable anti-tank systems exist. Digital SLRs have had cheap tracking technology for taking pictures of fast moving targets since the early 90s.
My guess is there will eventually be an AT-missile type antipersonnel weapon that will combine traits from digital cameras and existing large scale weapon systems. Put the MG or launcher on a tripod and aim at the enemy, or perhaps define a kill sector by pointing and clicking. The platform will figure out what your intended target is and do the sub-millimetre adjustments that are required to hit the target, possibly compensating for target movement.
Even servo control is not necessarily required. You aim and squeeze the trigger but the weapon will fire the round only once it has decided you are going to hit the mark.
Uhhh, which one of the US states is Colombia? A sovereign state, you say? OK ...
This was my thought exactly. They'd probably restrict their support to a subset of a few well known hardware vendors' products.
Oracle's support is already less then perfect, especially with Linux. I wonder how it will be when it gets bombarded with the questions that are now fielded by RedHat and SuSe.
On the other hand perhaps this could herald some improvements in Oracle's support for Linux. Now they have guys who apparently have never heard of Linux bonding and 8021q. It seems interfaces names "bond0.1001" and "vlan1001" don't work with RAC because they're too long.
Spot on. I've only used Windows because of Office and games in particular. I've now got a laptop from work with XP and Office on it, and decided to sell off my games and gaming PC. This is my second at switching from Windows to Linux on my desktop. This time I've got the knowhow and less pressure to switch back. Just in time before Vista comes along. Good riddance.
You have no idea how big an issue licensing is. My view is this is the other big difference (apart from extended support for each release) between hobbyist and enterprise distros. Think of these the next time you ask why there are so few packages in distro X compared to Debian.
Even the enterprise distros can't satisfy the most careful of customers. Open source is good, but big companies that are juicy targets for litigious patent trolls want to be veeery careful.
A guy I know works for an employer with "enough" legal resources and a commitment to open source. The legal eagles go through EVERY source file in a distro they use and tell the engineers "you can't use file AAAA.h because of missing attribution nor feature ZZZZ because of patents". They get lots of giggles and headaches from this because these are sometimes trivial things like manpages or obvious features you'd never think would be covered by potentially problematic patents.
Goes to show how important copyright and patent legislation is, so a "good job" to Slashdot for keeping the readers up to date with what's going on.
Good point. My impression is none of the modern "interpreted" languages are compiled every time. Most are hybrids with bytecode and features like cached executables.
Taiwan is one of the Asian Tigers, like South Korea. They are a multiparty democracy and have a standard of on par with Western Europe. Why are you surprised?
Users are able to use their computers despite them becoming infected. It's bad because the entire Internet is being threatened by nasty people utilizing zombie networks.