"However, though the potential national security benefits of such a powerful laser are clear, NIF also provides unique opportunities for wholly scientific pursuits."
(article @ )
But don't you think after doing fusion research on millimeter targets they might be tempted to try fusing (sic!) larger, unfriendly objects as they come along?;-)
Besides the probably better-known Disc World Series Pratchett has also written some books for kids, young and old, like the "Bromeliad Trilogy" (originally known as The Nome Trilogy), the story of "The Nomes", a race of small people living at 10 times our speed, who, along the story's thread move from a hole in the ground to a store's suspended ceilings, then to a quarry - that soon gets reopened, and eventually to The Stars. Funny reading, with a lot of insight on how people are, and how the world is working.
Another one by Pratchett: Only You Can Save Mankind. May be it's not exactly Science Fiction (though it has plenty of starships and even space battles in it), but fun anyway.
Enjoy!
Hi.
As someone else mentioned in some German forum, it is probable that all orphaned projects on BerliOS will perish the day BerliOS is taken down for good. - Anyone here who could offer a full mirror of the data. Or would Archive.org be an option?
zapyon
As many others have posted, the problem with 'secure' passwords is often that users will start noting them down and keeping them on their screen or in the drawers of their desk.
I have had good results with instructing 'reluctant' users to select an item in the room (or something on a picture on the wall next to the desk) as their password hint. An elderly secretary very uncomfortable with their computer and very forgetful when it came to passwords finally did well when I recommended her to use the name of a bird on a poster (in German). I think this is still a lot better than either a random password noted on a Post-It or the name of your late pet or 'secret' lover.
But, of course, this is totally insecure in a high security environment. So, eventually, we have to conclude that there is a strong relation between security requirements and user capabilities (and enthusiasm/reluctance). It is a 'social engineering' matter after all, isn't it?
No, Lyx is not and nor is TeXmacs. Both do not use standard shortcuts (i.e. those used in the applications 95% (or more) of computer users are used to, i.e. Ctrl+s for saving or Ctrl+O for opening a file. Also, neither of the two has a good user interface. Though I admit that Lyx can be helpful for people who don't like to type in LaTeX source code. But when I tried to use Lyx, I needed to fix and smooth some things by hand, so I decided to use a plain text editor and write LaTeX sources myself. Not an option for the average user though. Regards, zapyon
I cannot compare GIMP to Photoshop as I do not use Windows any more and have currently no access to a machine with Photoshop right now. But my impression with The GIMP is, that for screen-oriented stuff (WWW, icons, etc.) it is certainly good enough. Also, I have done some photo editing and had the pictures printed (as regular fotos) afterwards. The result was nice for my purposes, I don't know about publishing quality.
But even if GIMP is not (yet) as good as PS (i.e. for professional graphics), it can become this (as the FilmGIMP project (what's their new name, I forgot)) has already proven.
The very negative outcome of the article makes me wonder how well done the porting to MacOSX was done and how nicely that commercial distribution of MacGIMP was setup? The example of that Helvetica text set at 18 points, for example, is totally different to what I get in GIMP when I use the text tool: perfectly set, smooth text at least as nicely done as the PS example given in the article. Is it perhaps an old version, and not well ported, either? Does anyone know?
* Open Office can be a real PIA sometimes. It's unpredictable behavior has cost me more than one migrain headache. OO is ugly - in my opinion. But I've learned to look past it. When I'm working on a document, I don't really notice the borders anyway. But I would really like to see a great looking Office Suite for Linux that was still functional.
I do not understand your problems with OOo. For me, it has always been extremely stable in Linux as well as in Windows (when I still used that OS). Plus, contrary to MS Office, it would not destroy documents with a crash, but usually offer to restore them at the next start of program.
As for the looks: I am using the GNOMEified version with GNOME in Debian and it is very nicely integrated with the GNOMEish look-and-feel. I have also read somewhere that a KDE-oriented frontend is in the works. The Windows GUI was in fact a little oldish, but I guess that will change, too.
Anyway, if you have issues with OOo and still want/need to use it, why not become a member of OpenOffice.org and submit bug reports + suggestions for improvements? Everyone can join and help to make OOo better yet.:-)
Actually there is: In an alley in Bonn (former capital of the Federal Republic of Germany, near Cologne) there is a glass-and-metal-box with a shelf of books for anyone to help themselves to one or more.
You are expected to bring them back after reading and invited to provide some of your own books you don't want to keep. Has been working for approx. 2 years now, not withstanding some vandals who broke the glass doors of the box a couple of times...
It is a collection of Open Source for Windows user. A good starter if you want people to get to like the taste of freedom.;-) It includes OpenOffice.org, The GIMP etc. (IIRC).
That is *not* acceptable for the average end user.
Fully agreed. And even if you know how to do it, it is often simply too time consuming.
Linux OTOH, goes like this: Find the RPM you want. Try to install and get a list of dependencies. Go track down every dependency you need (because you should already have libart_gpl and libtheora, right?!) and then install the dependencies. After spending and hour or two just to install one piece of software, log out and log back in so the menus update. Then try to run the software and hope that you didn't accidently install an incompatible binary. ARRRGGGHHH!!!
It doesn't have to be like this: APT, the "Advanced Package Tool" of Debian, deals with that. I have never known dependency hell since I am using Debian (I used to have installations of Slackware, DLD, SuSE, RedHat and have recently tried KNOPPIX, too. APT and the tools that come with it are also available for RPM-based distros, AFAIK. Also, with "alien" it is possible to transform rpm and some other packages (incl. tgz) into Debian *.deb packages and then install them the usual way... I have done that with several packages, mostly RPM, and in many cases this works flawlessly.
Another help is "checkinstall", which will at least help you install tgz packages with makefiles in a way that automagically generates a Debian package, too.
... at least for a number of years to come. Why? Easy: While MS OSes have reached a state of saturation of the market, Linux is only just entering the exponential part of the growth function -- with many factors playing in favour of Linux.
Re:Beer does not kill people; people kill people.
on
Death by Coffee?
·
· Score: 1
Some time around December/January there was a news article somewhere reporting the death of one student who had drunken too much water (!) betting with his fellow students who could drink most water at a time.
Regards
zapyon
You have installed Knoppix, not Debian. I made the same mistake myself, once, when a colleague needed a machine quickly. There are some packages specific for Knoppix and not compatible with standard Debian. Sadly, these include the kernel and a shell, that is used somewhere during boot process (by initrd?). I forgot the details. There were some USENET postings detailing the procedure, though.
If you can manage to install a standard Debian, get yourself the first CD (if you have a fast connection), install a base system and then upgrade to testing (+ some packages from unstable, like maybe Mozilla, OpenOffice, whatever). You will have less problems with upgrading and maintaining the system as compared to Knoppix.
Slashdot Mirror
"However, though the potential national security benefits of such a powerful laser are clear, NIF also provides unique opportunities for wholly scientific pursuits." (article @ )
–– that was the term I was looking for.
But don't you think after doing fusion research on millimeter targets they might be tempted to try fusing (sic!) larger, unfriendly objects as they come along? ;-)
I thought this "lamp" is meant so "turn off" (permanently) enemy missiles, aircraft, tanks, whatever.
YMMD :-D
According to Betteridge's Law [wikipedia.org] of Headlines this is the correct answer.
my Grammar is sadly long gone, soon after my Grampar. I miss them both.
Well, I get the same message while sitting in DE, may be "outsiders" are not allowed to watch.
No, not all journalists are morons. Some are christians, jews, muslims, pagans, and even atheists. ;-)
Besides the probably better-known Disc World Series Pratchett has also written some books for kids, young and old, like the "Bromeliad Trilogy" (originally known as The Nome Trilogy), the story of "The Nomes", a race of small people living at 10 times our speed, who, along the story's thread move from a hole in the ground to a store's suspended ceilings, then to a quarry - that soon gets reopened, and eventually to The Stars. Funny reading, with a lot of insight on how people are, and how the world is working. Another one by Pratchett: Only You Can Save Mankind. May be it's not exactly Science Fiction (though it has plenty of starships and even space battles in it), but fun anyway. Enjoy!
neutrinos can.
Hi. As someone else mentioned in some German forum, it is probable that all orphaned projects on BerliOS will perish the day BerliOS is taken down for good. - Anyone here who could offer a full mirror of the data. Or would Archive.org be an option? zapyon
As many others have posted, the problem with 'secure' passwords is often that users will start noting them down and keeping them on their screen or in the drawers of their desk.
I have had good results with instructing 'reluctant' users to select an item in the room (or something on a picture on the wall next to the desk) as their password hint. An elderly secretary very uncomfortable with their computer and very forgetful when it came to passwords finally did well when I recommended her to use the name of a bird on a poster (in German). I think this is still a lot better than either a random password noted on a Post-It or the name of your late pet or 'secret' lover.
But, of course, this is totally insecure in a high security environment. So, eventually, we have to conclude that there is a strong relation between security requirements and user capabilities (and enthusiasm/reluctance). It is a 'social engineering' matter after all, isn't it?
Kind regards
zapyon
blabla
No, Lyx is not and nor is TeXmacs. Both do not use standard shortcuts (i.e. those used in the applications 95% (or more) of computer users are used to, i.e. Ctrl+s for saving or Ctrl+O for opening a file. Also, neither of the two has a good user interface. Though I admit that Lyx can be helpful for people who don't like to type in LaTeX source code. But when I tried to use Lyx, I needed to fix and smooth some things by hand, so I decided to use a plain text editor and write LaTeX sources myself. Not an option for the average user though. Regards, zapyon
I cannot compare GIMP to Photoshop as I do not use Windows any more and have currently no access to a machine with Photoshop right now. But my impression with The GIMP is, that for screen-oriented stuff (WWW, icons, etc.) it is certainly good enough. Also, I have done some photo editing and had the pictures printed (as regular fotos) afterwards. The result was nice for my purposes, I don't know about publishing quality.
But even if GIMP is not (yet) as good as PS (i.e. for professional graphics), it can become this (as the FilmGIMP project (what's their new name, I forgot)) has already proven.
The very negative outcome of the article makes me wonder how well done the porting to MacOSX was done and how nicely that commercial distribution of MacGIMP was setup? The example of that Helvetica text set at 18 points, for example, is totally different to what I get in GIMP when I use the text tool: perfectly set, smooth text at least as nicely done as the PS example given in the article. Is it perhaps an old version, and not well ported, either? Does anyone know?
Kind regards
zapyon
* Open Office can be a real PIA sometimes. It's unpredictable behavior has cost me more than one migrain headache. OO is ugly - in my opinion. But I've learned to look past it. When I'm working on a document, I don't really notice the borders anyway. But I would really like to see a great looking Office Suite for Linux that was still functional.
I do not understand your problems with OOo. For me, it has always been extremely stable in Linux as well as in Windows (when I still used that OS). Plus, contrary to MS Office, it would not destroy documents with a crash, but usually offer to restore them at the next start of program.
As for the looks: I am using the GNOMEified version with GNOME in Debian and it is very nicely integrated with the GNOMEish look-and-feel. I have also read somewhere that a KDE-oriented frontend is in the works. The Windows GUI was in fact a little oldish, but I guess that will change, too.
Anyway, if you have issues with OOo and still want/need to use it, why not become a member of OpenOffice.org and submit bug reports + suggestions for improvements? Everyone can join and help to make OOo better yet. :-)
Kind regards
zapyon
Actually there is: In an alley in Bonn (former capital of the Federal Republic of Germany, near Cologne) there is a glass-and-metal-box with a shelf of books for anyone to help themselves to one or more.
You are expected to bring them back after reading and invited to provide some of your own books you don't want to keep. Has been working for approx. 2 years now, not withstanding some vandals who broke the glass doors of the box a couple of times ...
Regards, zapyon
http://www.theopencd.org/
It is a collection of Open Source for Windows user. A good starter if you want people to get to like the taste of freedom. ;-) It includes OpenOffice.org, The GIMP etc. (IIRC).
Regards, zapyon
That is *not* acceptable for the average end user.
Fully agreed. And even if you know how to do it, it is often simply too time consuming.
Linux OTOH, goes like this: Find the RPM you want. Try to install and get a list of dependencies. Go track down every dependency you need (because you should already have libart_gpl and libtheora, right?!) and then install the dependencies. After spending and hour or two just to install one piece of software, log out and log back in so the menus update. Then try to run the software and hope that you didn't accidently install an incompatible binary. ARRRGGGHHH!!!
It doesn't have to be like this: APT, the "Advanced Package Tool" of Debian, deals with that. I have never known dependency hell since I am using Debian (I used to have installations of Slackware, DLD, SuSE, RedHat and have recently tried KNOPPIX, too. APT and the tools that come with it are also available for RPM-based distros, AFAIK. Also, with "alien" it is possible to transform rpm and some other packages (incl. tgz) into Debian *.deb packages and then install them the usual way ... I have done that with several packages, mostly RPM, and in many cases this works flawlessly.
Another help is "checkinstall", which will at least help you install tgz packages with makefiles in a way that automagically generates a Debian package, too.
Regards zapyon... at least for a number of years to come. Why? Easy: While MS OSes have reached a state of saturation of the market, Linux is only just entering the exponential part of the growth function -- with many factors playing in favour of Linux.
Some time around December/January there was a news article somewhere reporting the death of one student who had drunken too much water (!) betting with his fellow students who could drink most water at a time. Regards zapyon
Probably you have to be Non-American (if not Anti-American) to understand this one ;-)
You have installed Knoppix, not Debian. I made the same mistake myself, once, when a colleague needed a machine quickly. There are some packages specific for Knoppix and not compatible with standard Debian. Sadly, these include the kernel and a shell, that is used somewhere during boot process (by initrd?). I forgot the details. There were some USENET postings detailing the procedure, though.
If you can manage to install a standard Debian, get yourself the first CD (if you have a fast connection), install a base system and then upgrade to testing (+ some packages from unstable, like maybe Mozilla, OpenOffice, whatever). You will have less problems with upgrading and maintaining the system as compared to Knoppix.
Kind regards
zapyon
N.T.