we don't know how often this has happened before because the ??AA makes the accused sign non-disclosure agreements upon settlement
In which case, it might be to everyone's advantage to go public as soon as the ??AA fires their opening volley. Then either EFF or ACLU could keep a running total of grannies and kindergartners being sued, and list those that settle for "undisclosed sums".
OK, here's a thought - do the ??AAs have to publish their accounts?? If so, would they be able to hide those "undisclosed sums"??
And if there happen to be any bored geek kids living inside the gated community it really doesn't matter who's on the gate. The kids can wardrive inside the gated area anyway. Or even war-walk with a laptop in a backpack...
I'd like to see the high school nerds being the cyber crimes division.
I suppose the police chief could get into trouble for it, but it would be really funny if an officer went around to each complainant with a 10-year-old kid and told them, "We're here to help secure your WiFi." "Sure, officer, but why's the kid here?" "Oh, he's the WiFi security expert. I'm just driving him around because he's too young to drive himself..."
There's a similar deal with UK universities, called the "sandwich" course. In a "thin sandwich" course, you do 6 months classwork, then 6 months working at your sponsoring company. Repeat twice more, then your 4th year is solid classwork and finals. Generally the sponsoring company has a job offer for you, contingent on graduating with a certain grade.
It means you're nominally at University for a year longer than someone taking a straight classes, but you graduate with 18 months industrial experience and you probably won't have to go job-hunting. There's also often a "thick sandwich" option, that alternates whole years of classwork and work experience.
Reminds me of something I heard in a bike shop in London about 20 years ago. I'm not sure what preceeded it, but the guy behind the counter was saying, "and in Japan, they won't let you buy a bike without laying it on the floor and watching you pick it up again." Sounded fairly sensible really.
I've had a few occasions when I've dropped a bike on ice or slick roads. Let me tell you, the adrenalin rush you get trying to pick up with traffic whizzing past really helps...:)
I think they're blowing smoke. I mean, a (relatively) small bunch of guys with a $20M budget have just lifted a ship to the edge of space on a rocket burning rubber and nitrous oxide. The same ship, twice, in under a week. The Air Force is embarrassed.
That's pretty much where I was going with that. If SS1 were denied permits in the US, many other countries have airports. I just don't know if those folks would have packed up their gear and moved to another country that was more interested in having a civilian space program.
Come to think of it, all SS1 really needed was permission for the WhiteKnight and SS1 to take off in a mated configuration and to land individually. Hauling ass up to 50,000 for the drop didn't really have to take place over land. Takeoff from LAX and they would have been well out over international waters by the time the pilot lit the rocket engine.
If the permits hadn't been forthcoming... I don't know if they would have done it, but there's an awful lot of other places SS1 could have "launched" from. WhiteKnight/SS1 takes off from a level runway, right?? So, any decent sized airport becomes a launch facility.
and 5) during WWII the Brits took down all road signs, in the hopes of confusing any Germans that might land. Don't know if that would happen here during any kind of internal conflict, but it certainly has potential...:)
What I'd like to see would be the judge saying: "Yep, Sun infringed those patents, but... Given that there's 30 years of prior art showing that the patents should never have been granted, I'm awarding damages of $1."
Actually, you may be wrong there. When you type "gcc -o foo foo.c", gcc "asks for help" from:
1) cpp - to preprocess any include files, macros, conditional compiles, etc; 2) the code generator - to generate assembler; 3) the assembler - to generate object files; 4)the linker - to generate the executable.
On top of that, when you execute the program, the kernel "asks for help" from the dynamic linker, for all those shared libraries your program needs.
Off-hand, I'd say we're fucked... What we really need is to find a way to prove some kind of anti-competitive conspiracy between, say, Microsoft and Kodak, or possibly SCO and Kodak, or even all three...
The point was that covert information could be posted on the flip side, where you wouldn't expect to find anything. Next time you drive down the street, take a look at the signs on the other side. The back side of each sign is clearly visible. So, it would be possible to post alternative signs, pointing to areas of interest, such as open space (for landing zones), airports, harbours, etc.
This was brought up before on/., and as I recall, someone who claimed to have been actually in a Military transport group said that there was no such sign code as TACMARS, because if there was he would have been "in the know" as one who would have had to use it. Of course, he could have been misdirecting us...:)
Yep. It really doesn't matter if the shit you break in orbit is vaporised by laser or busted up by missiles, you still leave debris behind. Whether it's jagged lumps of stuff, or spherical condensed droplets, the debris cloud would be expanding until it impacts some other stuff in orbit. What's the relative proportion of stuff in orbit?? High percentage of US satellites of one kind or another, I think...
Any rocket scientists reading this?? If you burn the Earth-facing side of an orbiting body, isn't it likely that there'd be outgassing (metal boiling off, fuel from thrusters, etc) to push it into a higher orbit??
One of the problems with just shooting at stuff in space is that it's generally in orbit. Shoot at an airplane flying overhead, the pieces fall to the ground. Shoot at a ship, the pieces mostly sink. Shoot at stuff in space, a large percentage of the fragments of the target, and the missile stay in orbit, drifting off in random directions. Sure, over time, the various fragments eventually de-orbit, but until that happens, you can't track all of them and you can't tell what else they're going to hit.
You could end up with a completely one-sided war in space - some random piece of junk takes out a US satellite, the US Military responds by whacking whatever other nation's satellite was nearby. The junk takes out more US satellites. Lather, rinse, repeat.
So, after the appointee has served his term, retire him with a benefit package that depends on the continuous good health of the economy. That would provide some encouragement to think about the long-term.
Anyway, I didn't say it was necessarily a good idea, just that I'd read something similar in a story.
Is the average man-on-the-street allowed to own bazookas, mortars, rocket launchers, tactical nukes?? Could I buy a fully-armed assault helicopter and fly it to work every day?? No?? Why not?? what justification is there not to allow it??
* You couldn't, of course, compel anyone to serve, but you'd want to make serving an attractive proposition, so you'd have to make the experience a financially rewarding one.
* Bribery would be a big problem. You'd have to try to ameliorate through a combination of a healthy salary, draconian punishment, and probably a healthy guaranteed pension for life for those chosen to serve.
I think it was in The Tamuli trilogy, by David Eddings, where something similar was described. I'm not sure if it was by lottery, or by some other method, but when someone was about to be appointed to the government, he was put under guard so that he couldn't run away and avoid his civic duty. The guard was necessary because, on assuming office, all the candidate's property was liquidated and the funds put into the public treasury.
The point of that was to inspire the new appointee to do his very best to ensure that the state prospered, because at the end of his term he would get his money back from the Treasury, in proportion to the rise or fall of the economy. If the state prospered, he'd make a profit. If the state went into decline, he'd lose money.
I think there's also some guilt attached to the web page development programs. No, I don't have specifics, but I'd be very surprised if MS Front Page didn't generate html that subtly screws up with any browser other than IE. And that's not necessarily the web page developer's fault.
most users are of the "use what's there" mentality, and aren't interested in much else.
It's not just that, it's the fact that some things will not let you use an alternative. Even those folks who do get around to installing FireFox or some other browser still end up using IE with things like the help system, and trying to visit "Windows Update" at www.microsoft.com gets you a "gotta use IE" message...
So, no, you're not completely locked-in, in as much as you are able to install an alternative browser, but you will find Windows ignoring your default browser whenever it feels like it. And that brings us right back around to the "use what's there" mentality.
I always though the split would have been better if the OS division was sub-divided into smaller pieces. Spin off NT, Win95 & Win98 (as they were at the time) so that they could compete against each other.
I don't think any sane person who hasn't been convicted of a crime should be prevented from buying any weapon available on the market.
Including fully automatic assault weapons?? What possible justification can there be for allowing the general public to own weapons capable of shredding everything within range??
So maybe one or more Linux vendors should publically call Gartner out on this. Make them either prove it with a properly conducted survey, or retract it.
As long as Microsoft's lapdogs get away with these bogus reports, they'll keep on doing it. If they can't actually prove it, it's libel, and should be dealt with as such.
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In which case, it might be to everyone's advantage to go public as soon as the ??AA fires their opening volley. Then either EFF or ACLU could keep a running total of grannies and kindergartners being sued, and list those that settle for "undisclosed sums".
OK, here's a thought - do the ??AAs have to publish their accounts?? If so, would they be able to hide those "undisclosed sums"??
And if there happen to be any bored geek kids living inside the gated community it really doesn't matter who's on the gate. The kids can wardrive inside the gated area anyway. Or even war-walk with a laptop in a backpack...
I suppose the police chief could get into trouble for it, but it would be really funny if an officer went around to each complainant with a 10-year-old kid and told them, "We're here to help secure your WiFi." "Sure, officer, but why's the kid here?" "Oh, he's the WiFi security expert. I'm just driving him around because he's too young to drive himself..."
It means you're nominally at University for a year longer than someone taking a straight classes, but you graduate with 18 months industrial experience and you probably won't have to go job-hunting. There's also often a "thick sandwich" option, that alternates whole years of classwork and work experience.
I've had a few occasions when I've dropped a bike on ice or slick roads. Let me tell you, the adrenalin rush you get trying to pick up with traffic whizzing past really helps... :)
I think they're blowing smoke. I mean, a (relatively) small bunch of guys with a $20M budget have just lifted a ship to the edge of space on a rocket burning rubber and nitrous oxide. The same ship, twice, in under a week. The Air Force is embarrassed.
They probably want to wait for their tabbed browsing patent application to be granted.
Come to think of it, all SS1 really needed was permission for the WhiteKnight and SS1 to take off in a mated configuration and to land individually. Hauling ass up to 50,000 for the drop didn't really have to take place over land. Takeoff from LAX and they would have been well out over international waters by the time the pilot lit the rocket engine.
That was two flights in under 1 week. It would totally blow away the others if SS1 made a third flight within 2 weeks of the first...
If the permits hadn't been forthcoming... I don't know if they would have done it, but there's an awful lot of other places SS1 could have "launched" from. WhiteKnight/SS1 takes off from a level runway, right?? So, any decent sized airport becomes a launch facility.
and 5) during WWII the Brits took down all road signs, in the hopes of confusing any Germans that might land. Don't know if that would happen here during any kind of internal conflict, but it certainly has potential... :)
What I'd like to see would be the judge saying: "Yep, Sun infringed those patents, but... Given that there's 30 years of prior art showing that the patents should never have been granted, I'm awarding damages of $1."
Actually, you may be wrong there. When you type "gcc -o foo foo.c", gcc "asks for help" from:
1) cpp - to preprocess any include files, macros, conditional compiles, etc;
2) the code generator - to generate assembler;
3) the assembler - to generate object files;
4)the linker - to generate the executable.
On top of that, when you execute the program, the kernel "asks for help" from the dynamic linker, for all those shared libraries your program needs.
Off-hand, I'd say we're fucked... What we really need is to find a way to prove some kind of anti-competitive conspiracy between, say, Microsoft and Kodak, or possibly SCO and Kodak, or even all three...
This was brought up before on /., and as I recall, someone who claimed to have been actually in a Military transport group said that there was no such sign code as TACMARS, because if there was he would have been "in the know" as one who would have had to use it. Of course, he could have been misdirecting us... :)
Yep. It really doesn't matter if the shit you break in orbit is vaporised by laser or busted up by missiles, you still leave debris behind. Whether it's jagged lumps of stuff, or spherical condensed droplets, the debris cloud would be expanding until it impacts some other stuff in orbit. What's the relative proportion of stuff in orbit?? High percentage of US satellites of one kind or another, I think...
Any rocket scientists reading this?? If you burn the Earth-facing side of an orbiting body, isn't it likely that there'd be outgassing (metal boiling off, fuel from thrusters, etc) to push it into a higher orbit??
You could end up with a completely one-sided war in space - some random piece of junk takes out a US satellite, the US Military responds by whacking whatever other nation's satellite was nearby. The junk takes out more US satellites. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Anyway, I didn't say it was necessarily a good idea, just that I'd read something similar in a story.
Is the average man-on-the-street allowed to own bazookas, mortars, rocket launchers, tactical nukes?? Could I buy a fully-armed assault helicopter and fly it to work every day?? No?? Why not?? what justification is there not to allow it??
I think it was in The Tamuli trilogy, by David Eddings, where something similar was described. I'm not sure if it was by lottery, or by some other method, but when someone was about to be appointed to the government, he was put under guard so that he couldn't run away and avoid his civic duty. The guard was necessary because, on assuming office, all the candidate's property was liquidated and the funds put into the public treasury.
The point of that was to inspire the new appointee to do his very best to ensure that the state prospered, because at the end of his term he would get his money back from the Treasury, in proportion to the rise or fall of the economy. If the state prospered, he'd make a profit. If the state went into decline, he'd lose money.
I think there's also some guilt attached to the web page development programs. No, I don't have specifics, but I'd be very surprised if MS Front Page didn't generate html that subtly screws up with any browser other than IE. And that's not necessarily the web page developer's fault.
It's not just that, it's the fact that some things will not let you use an alternative. Even those folks who do get around to installing FireFox or some other browser still end up using IE with things like the help system, and trying to visit "Windows Update" at www.microsoft.com gets you a "gotta use IE" message...
So, no, you're not completely locked-in, in as much as you are able to install an alternative browser, but you will find Windows ignoring your default browser whenever it feels like it. And that brings us right back around to the "use what's there" mentality.
I always though the split would have been better if the OS division was sub-divided into smaller pieces. Spin off NT, Win95 & Win98 (as they were at the time) so that they could compete against each other.
Including fully automatic assault weapons?? What possible justification can there be for allowing the general public to own weapons capable of shredding everything within range??
As long as Microsoft's lapdogs get away with these bogus reports, they'll keep on doing it. If they can't actually prove it, it's libel, and should be dealt with as such.